Genome Sequence of the Cluster CD Gordonia Phage Widow.

Widow is a novel cluster CD bacteriophage isolated from a soil sample using the bacterial host Gordonia terrae. The Widow genome is 43,656 bp in length and encodes 64 protein-coding genes and no tRNAs. The genome shares 52 to 92% gene content with other cluster CD members.

Monitoring of Campylobacter jejuni in a chicken infection model by measuring specific volatile organic compounds and by qPCR.

Campylobacter is one of the leading bacterial foodborne pathogens worldwide. Poultry is the host species with this pathogen with the highest clinical impact. Flocks become colonised with Campylobacter, which leads to contamination of product entering the food-chain. Rapid and reliable Campylobacter detection methods could support controls to minimize the risks of contamination within the food-chain, which would easier enable the implementation of a logistical slaughter schedule or other control options. The present study evaluates current and emerging C. jejuni detection technologies on air samples in a unique study set-up of pre-defined C. jejuni prevalences. Both non-invasive detection technologies on air samples by subsequent measuring of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or by qPCR detected the C. jejuni presence and could additionally distinguish between the number of present C. jejuni-positive birds in the study set-up. Nevertheless, electrostatic air samplers diagnosed fewer birds as C. jejuni-positive compared to the cultivation-based method. By measuring the VOCs, it was possible to detect the presence of two positive birds in the room. This apparent high sensitivity still needs to be verified in field studies. Techniques, such as these promising methods, that can facilitate C. jejuni surveillance in poultry flocks are desirable to reduce the risk of infection for humans.

Disability and the Family in South Wales Coalfield Society, c.1920-1939.

This article utilises the south Wales coalfield in the interwar period as a case study to illustrate the applicability of two sociological theories - family systems theory and the social ecology of the family - to impairment in the past. It demonstrates that a theoretically-informed approach can help to situate impairment in its particular contexts, most especially the family and the community, and give a better sense of the lived experience of disability. It also demonstrates the complexity of the experience of disability as the family and economic circumstances of each impaired individual varied and led to different forms of care-giving or the utilisation of different sources of support. The article also sheds further light on the ubiquity of disability as many families included a number of individuals with different impairments and this too had consequences for experiences and coping strategies.

'This is the country of premature old men' Ageing and Aged Miners in the South Wales Coalfield, c.1880-1947.

This article considers the effects of work in the south Wales coal industry either side of the turn of the twentieth century and, specifically, the ways in which work aged workers prematurely. It examines the consequences of working practices for miners' bodies, the expedients utilized by miners to try and cope with the effects of premature ageing, and the consequences for their living standards, experiences and status. It situates these phenomena in the contexts of industrial relations and welfare provision. In so doing, the article engages with historiographies of the life-cycle, the aged, and pensions provision in modern Britain.

'A Plentiful Crop of Cripples Made by All This Progress': Disability, Artificial Limbs and Working-Class Mutualism in the South Wales Coalfield, 1890-19481.

Historians of orthopaedics, artificial limbs and disability have devoted a great deal of attention to children and soldiers but have neglected to give sufficient space in their studies to industrial workers, the other patient group that has been identified as crucial to the development of these areas. Furthermore, this attention has led to an imbalanced focus on charitable and philanthropic activities as the main means of assistance and the neglect of a significant part of the voluntary sphere, the labour movement. This article, focusing on industrial south Wales, examines the efforts of working-class organisations to provide artificial limbs and a range of other surgical appliances to workers and their family members in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It finds that a distinctive, labourist conception of disability existed which envisaged disabled workers as an important priority and one to which significant time, effort and resources were devoted.

A systematic review of the diagnostic accuracy of prostate specific antigen.

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer is the fourth commonest cancer in the UK, and the incidence is rising. The reference standard for diagnosing this condition is prostate biopsy, an invasive procedure. This study systematically reviews recent literature on tPSA accuracy. The time period was restricted to ensure that the estimates referred to contemporary tPSA tests and prostate cancer reference standards. The focus of this review was restricted to European populations as tPSA levels are known to vary by population group. METHODS: Medline was searched (from 01/1998 to 01/2008) and Embase (from 01/1998 to 01/2008), which returned 3087 citations. These were assessed by 6 reviewers, who shortlisted 54 of possible relevance. 2 reviewers assessed each using the following inclusion criteria: data collection between 1998-2008; tPSA measurements for all participants; histological confirmation of the diagnosis; samples from a European population and sufficient data to calculate 2 x 2 tables. The final set of 10 included studies represented 5373 participants. Quality of the included studies was assessed in duplicate using criteria suggested by the Cochrane Collaboration. Review Manager 5.0 software was used to analyse the data, including plotting a series of summary receiver operator curve spaces (SROC). RESULTS: tPSA sensitivities ranged from 0.78 to 1.00 and specificities from 0.06 to 0.66. Positive likelihood ratios ranged from 0.83 to 2.90 and negative likelihood ratios ranged from 0.00 to 3.75 CONCLUSION: tPSA has a role to play as one of several indicators for prostate biopsy along with abnormal digital rectal examination and urinary symptoms. However, tPSA test has a high false positive and significant false negative rate. It is important that clinicians understand these limitations.