Correction to: Development of a new reproductive tissue cryopreservation clinical service for children: the Oxford programme.

In the published version, the Acknowledgements section was missing a funding note of co-author Dr C Verrill. The corrected version should read as follows.

Development of a new reproductive tissue cryopreservation clinical service for children: the Oxford programme.

PURPOSE: This article describes the development of a new reproductive tissue cryopreservation clinical service for children at high risk of infertility in the NHS during times of severe financial constraints in the health service. METHOD: A development plan with two phases was drawn up. Phase 1 restricted the service to childhood cancer patients referred to the Oxford Paediatric Oncology and Haematology Principle Treatment Centre. It was estimated that there would be 10 patients/year and used existing staff and facilities from paediatric oncology, surgery, anaesthetics radiology, pathology, psychology, teenage-young adult gynaecology, and an existing Human Tissue Authority tissue bank with a licence for storage of tissue under a Human Sector Licence. Phase 2 extended the service to include children and young adults across England, Wales and Ireland-patients from Scotland having access to a research programme in Edinburgh. The main challenge in phase 2 being resources and the need for patients to be able to be treated as close to home as safely as possible. RESULTS: The Oxford team developed information resources and eligibility criteria based on published best practice, referral and treatment pathways, multidisciplinary team meetings, a network of third party sites, and a dedicated case management and database. As the programme expanded, the Oxford team was able to justify to management the need for a dedicated theatre list. Patient feedback through questionnaires, qualitative work conducted as part of a Ph.D. thesis as well as direct patient stories and interviews in TV, and radio features underpins the positive impact the programme has on patients and their families. CONCLUSION: The Oxford Reproductive Cryopreservation programme delivers fertility preservation treatment to children and young adults at high risk of infertility safely, effectively and as close to home as possible. The onward view is to apply for national funding for this programme for recognition and sustainability.

Physical activity interventions in children and young people with Type 1 diabetes mellitus: a systematic review with meta-analysis.

AIMS: To synthesize evidence from randomized and non-randomized studies of physical activity interventions in children and young people with Type 1 diabetes so as to explore clinically relevant health outcomes and inform the promotion of physical activity. METHOD: We conducted a search of CINAHL Plus, the Cochrane Library, EMBASE, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, SCOPUS, SportDiscus and Web of Science between October and December 2012. Eligible articles included subjects aged ≤18 years with Type 1 diabetes and a physical activity intervention that was more than a one-off activity session. Physiological, psychological, behavioural or social outcomes were those of interest. RESULTS: A total of 26 articles (10 randomized and 16 non-randomized studies), published in the period 1964-2012, were reviewed. Although there was heterogeneity in study design, methods and reporting, 23 articles reported at least one significant beneficial health outcome at follow-up. Meta-analyses of these studies showed potential benefits of physical activity on HbA1c (11 studies, 345 participants, standardized mean difference -0.52, 95% CI -0.97 to -0.07; P = 0.02), BMI (four studies, 195 participants, standardized mean difference -0.41, 95% CI -0.70 to -0.12; P = 0.006) and triglycerides (five studies, 206 participants, standardized mean difference -0.70, 95% CI -1.25 to -0.14; P = 0.01).The largest effect size was for total cholesterol (five studies, 206 participants, standardized mean difference -0.91, 95% CI -1.66 to -0.17; P = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Physical activity is important for diabetes management and has the potential to delay cardiovascular disease, but there is a lack of studies that are underpinned by psychological behaviour change theory, promoting sustained physical activity and exploring psychological outcomes. There remains a lack of knowledge of how to promote physical activity in people with Type 1 diabetes.

Kinetic and thermodynamic analysis of mutant type II DNA topoisomerases that cannot covalently cleave DNA.

DNA topoisomerase II catalyzes two different chemical reactions as part of its DNA transport cycle: ATP hydrolysis and DNA breakage/religation. The coordination between these reactions was studied using mutants of yeast topoisomerase II that are unable to covalently cleave DNA. In the absence of DNA, the ATPase activities of these mutant enzymes are identical to the wild type activity. DNA binding stimulates the ATPase activity of the mutant enzymes, but with steady-state parameters different from those of the wild type enzyme. These differences were examined through DNA binding experiments and pre-steady-state ATPase assays. One mutant protein, Y782F, binds DNA with the same affinity as wild type protein. This mutant topologically traps one DNA circle in the presence of a nonhydrolyzable ATP analog under the same conditions that the wild type protein catenates two circles. Rapid chemical quench and pulse-chase ATPase experiments reveal that the mutant proteins bound to DNA have the same sequential hydrolysis reaction cycle as the wild type enzyme. Binding of ATP to the mutants is not notably impaired, but hydrolysis of the first ATP is slower than for the wild type enzyme. Models to explain these results in the context of the entire DNA topoisomerase II reaction cycle are discussed.

Type II DNA topoisomerase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a stable dimer.

Type II DNA topoisomerases function as homodimeric enzymes in transiently cleaving double-stranded DNA to catalyze unlinking and unknotting reactions. The dimeric enzyme creates a DNA double-strand break by forming a covalent attachment between an active site tyrosine from each monomer and a 5'-phosphate from each strand of DNA. The dimer must be very stable to dissociation or subunit exchange when covalently attached to DNA to prevent directly or indirectly catalyzed rearrangements of the genome. Past studies have indicated conflicting results for the monomer-dimer stability of topoisomerase II in solution. Here, we report results from sedimentation equilibrium studies and two different subunit exchange assays indicating that purified Saccharomyces cerevisiae DNA topoisomerase II exists as a stable dimer in solution, with a Kd estimated to be < or = 10(-11) M. This high dimer stability is not detectably altered by a change of ionic strength or by the presence of ATP, ADP, or DNA.

Structurally integrated fiber optic damage assessment system for composite materials.

Progress toward the development of a fiber optic damage assessment system for composite materials is reported. This system, based on the fracture of embedded optical fibers, has been characterized with respect to the orientation and location of the optical fibers in the composite. Together with a special treatment, these parameters have been tailored to yield a system capable of detecting the threshold of damage for various impacted Kevlar/epoxy panels. The technique has been extended to measure the growth of a damage region which could arise from either impact, manufacturing flaws, or static overloading. The mechanism of optical fiber fracture has also been investigated. In addition, the influence of embedded optical fibers on the tensile and compressive strength of the composite material has been studied. Image enhanced backlighting has been shown to be a powerful and convenient method of assessing internal damage to translucent composite materials.

Effects of concurrent negative feedback on performance of two motor tasks.

The effects of stress on state anxiety and on HR of male high school Ss were investigated using two psychomotor tasks. In the Stress Condition, Ss received negative feedback about performance; Ss in the Nonstress Condition were given rest intervals. Ss in the two conditions showed similar pretask, p> .05, A-State and HR measures. However, during the tasks the groups showed differing regression lines. The Nonstress Group maintained the same A-State level across the tasks with increased HR occurring as a result of the motor task. The Stress Group increased in A-State and HR measures. The two groups were significantly different, p<.01, in all within-task measures. The Stress Group performed better on the two motor skill tasks.