Showing papers by "Paul Morris published in 2012"
TL;DR: This article found that familiarity with animals is an important determinant of belief about emotions in animals and animal mind in general, and that keeping more than one animal did not increase the number of emotions reported.
Abstract: Belief in the mental lives of nonhuman animals can have an impact on how we view and treat them, yet little is known about how and why laypeople attribute emotions to other species. The current study investigated how familiarity with animals (in terms of ownership) relates to beliefs regarding different emotions within and across species. An opportunity sample of 200 participants completed a questionnaire that measured familiarity with animals and beliefs about the capacity of a variety of species to experience a range of 16 different emotions. Participants reported varied levels of experience with animals and it was found that, regardless of familiarity, participants reported a wide variety of emotions in all the species they were asked to consider. However, participants who had never lived with an animal reported far fewer emotions than those who had, regardless of species. Keeping more than one animal did not increase the number of emotions reported. Keepers of a particular species always reported more emotions for that species than nonkeepers of that species. We conclude that familiarity with animals is an important determinant of belief about emotions in animals and animal mind in general.
77 citations
TL;DR: The 'cause' versus 'effect' controversy, regarding low testosterone levels in men with coronary heart disease, as well as concerns over the use of testosterone replacement therapy in middle aged and elderly men are discussed.
Abstract: Despite regional variations in the prevalence of coronary artery disease (CAD), men are consistently more at risk of developing and dying from CAD than women, and the gender-specific effects of sex hormones are implicated in this inequality. This ‘Perspectives' article reviews the current evidence regarding the cardiovascular effects of testosterone in men including an examination of the age-related decline in testosterone, the relationship between testosterone levels and coronary disease, coronary risk factors and mortality. We also review the vaso-active effects of testosterone, and discuss how these have been used in men with heart failure and angina. We discuss the ‘cause' versus ‘effect' controversy, regarding low testosterone levels in men with coronary heart disease, as well as concerns over the use of testosterone replacement therapy in middle aged and elderly men. The article concludes with a discussion regarding the future direction for work in this interesting area, including the relative merits of screening for, and treating hypogonadism with testosterone replacement therapy in men with heart disease.
75 citations
TL;DR: The characterization of the first plant polyamine transporter sets the stage for a systems approach that can be used to build a model to fully define how the biosynthesis, degradation, and transport of polyamines in plants mediate developmental and biotic responses.
Abstract: Polyamines are nitrogenous compounds found in all eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells and absolutely essential for cell viability. In plants, they regulate several growth and developmental processes and the levels of polyamines are also correlated with the plant responses to various biotic and abiotic stresses. In plant cells, polyamines are synthesized in plastids and cytosol. This biosynthetic compartmentation indicates that the specific transporters are essential to transport polyamines between the cellular compartments. In the present study, a phylogenetic analysis was used to identify candidate polyamine transporters in rice. A full-length cDNA rice clone AK068055 was heterologously expressed in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae spermidine uptake mutant, agp2∆. Radiological uptake and competitive inhibition studies with putrescine indicated that rice gene encodes a protein that functioned as a spermidine-preferential transporter. In competition experiments with several amino acids at 25-fold higher levels than spermidine, only methionine, asparagine, and glutamine were effective in reducing uptake of spermidine to 60% of control rates. Based on those observations, this rice gene was named polyamine uptake transporter 1 (OsPUT1). Tissue-specific expression of OsPUT1 by semiquantitative RT-PCR showed that the gene was expressed in all tissues except seeds and roots. Transient expression assays in onion epidermal cells and rice protoplasts failed to localize to a cellular compartment. The characterization of the first plant polyamine transporter sets the stage for a systems approach that can be used to build a model to fully define how the biosynthesis, degradation, and transport of polyamines in plants mediate developmental and biotic responses.
61 citations
TL;DR: Preliminary phylogenetic and functional analysis has identified two clades of genes that are predictive of polyamine transport activity and surmise that the genes in Entamoeba species were acquired by phagotrophy of Discicristates.
Abstract: The rice gene POLYAMINE UPTAKE TRANSPORTER1 (PUT1) was originally identified based on its homology to the polyamine uptake transporters LmPOT1 and TcPAT12 in Leishmania major and Trypanosoma cruzi, respectively. Here we show that five additional transporters from rice and Arabidopsis that cluster in the same clade as PUT1 all function as high affinity spermidine uptake transporters. Yeast expression assays of these genes confirmed that uptake of spermidine was minimally affected by 166 fold or greater concentrations of amino acids. Characterized polyamine transporters from both Arabidopsis thaliana and Oryza sativa along with the two polyamine transporters from L. major and T. cruzi were aligned and used to generate a hidden Markov model. This model was used to identify significant matches to proteins in other angiosperms, bryophytes, chlorophyta, discicristates, excavates, stramenopiles and amoebozoa. No significant matches were identified in fungal or metazoan genomes. Phylogenic analysis showed that some sequences from the haptophyte, Emiliania huxleyi, as well as sequences from oomycetes and diatoms clustered closer to sequences from plant genomes than from a homologous sequence in the red algal genome Galdieria sulphuraria, consistent with the hypothesis that these polyamine transporters were acquired by horizontal transfer from green algae. Leishmania and Trypansosoma formed a separate cluster with genes from other Discicristates and two Entamoeba species. We surmise that the genes in Entamoeba species were acquired by phagotrophy of Discicristates. In summary, phylogenetic and functional analysis has identified two clades of genes that are predictive of polyamine transport activity.
49 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined two major issues in relation to primary/secondary subtypes of psychopathy and the reinforcement sensitivity theory of personality: the roles played by (a) fear and anxiety (related to the behavioural inhibition system, BIS), and (b) different aspects of the behavioural approach system (BAS).
31 citations
TL;DR: Reversible heart failure caused by toxic effects can be caused by drugs (prescribed and illicit) and by tachycardic arrhythmia (tachycardiomyopathy), and are caused by abnormalities of mitochondrial function and myocytic calcium processing.
Abstract: Heart failure is usually a relentless condition associated with a poor prognosis. Triggered by a physiological insult, maladaptive neurohumoral processes result in an ever-spiralling deterioration of cardiovascular function. However, there are certain underlying conditions which are associated with a temporary reduction in contractile function leading to reversible heart failure. These conditions affect a relatively small number of patients when compared with heart failure secondary to inherited cardiomyopathies and ischaemic heart disease. There are two broad mechanisms responsible for reversible myocyte dysfunction: acute inflammatory activation in which cytokines depress myocyte function, and toxic effects in which there is impairment of intra-cellular energetics. In this review, we discuss reversible heart failure caused by toxic effects. These effects can be caused by drugs (prescribed and illicit) and by tachycardic arrhythmia (tachycardiomyopathy), and are caused by abnormalities of mitochondrial function and myocytic calcium processing. The underlying pathological mechanisms, clinical features and management options are discussed, illustrated by clinical case studies.
17 citations
TL;DR: A novel, user-friendly workflow that takes a single rotational angiogram, reconstructs the 3-dimensional arterial tree and applies computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to calculate the FFR without the need to induce hyperaemia or perform invasive pressure measurements is developed.
Abstract: Background Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) guided by fractional flow reserve (FFR) measurement is superior to visual angiographic assessment alone. We have developed a workflow that takes a single rotational angiogram (RoCA), reconstructs the 3-dimensional arterial tree and applies computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to calculate the FFR without the need to induce hyperaemia or perform invasive pressure measurements. Methods 20 patients, scheduled for elective PCI underwent RoCA. The FFR was measured with a Combowire (Volcano), under resting and hyperaemic conditions. Physiologically significant lesions were stented and the measurements repeated. The arterial anatomy was reconstructed on a Philips 3DCA workstation. Generic boundary conditions for CFD were derived from the measured data. The calculated (“virtual”) and measured FFR values were then compared. Results There were 11 right coronary artery (RCA) cases (6 stented) and 12 left coronary artery (LCA) cases (8 stented). The anatomy was reconstructed, and the FFR computed in each case (pre- and post-stenting). The CFD model accurately predicted which lesions were physiologically significant (FFR 0.8) in all cases. The virtual FFR values deviated from the measured by ±6% (SD=6%) for both RCA and LCA cases. Conclusion We have developed a novel, user-friendly workflow, which has the potential to predict FFR without the need for invasive measurements or inducing hyperaemic conditions. Our model identified lesions requiring intervention in all cases. Further work will optimise and refine the model by better characterising the downstream generic boundary conditions. We aim to improve the accuracy of the optimised model with more complex patients and lesions.
2 citations
TL;DR: A 43 year old Asian woman was referred to the cardiology outpatient clinic with recurrent episodes of chest pain, which she had experienced since early childhood, and had recently developed paroxysms of fast regular palpitations, which had prompted her referral.
Abstract: A 43 year old Asian woman was referred to the cardiology outpatient clinic with recurrent episodes of chest pain, which she had experienced since early childhood. She described the chest pain as a central tightness that occurred when she exercised. She had recently developed paroxysms of fast regular palpitations, which had prompted her referral. Her only known coronary risk factor was a family history of premature coronary disease. Physical examination was unremarkable and her blood pressure was 110/56 mm Hg. Routine haematology and biochemistry tests, including her thyroid stimulating hormone concentration, were all within normal limits. A 12 lead electrocardiogram (ECG) showed normal sinus rhythm. A 24 hour Holter ECG showed sinus rhythm with occasional supraventricular ectopic beats and no suggestions of any ST segment change (no diary entries). Chest radiography, echocardiography, and pulmonary function tests were unremarkable. She went on to have a Bruce protocol exercise tolerance test. Her ECG at peak exercise (eight minutes) is shown (fig 1⇓).
Fig 1 Exercise tolerance electrocardiogram
### 1 What does the exercise tolerance ECG show?
#### Short answer
Down-sloping ST segment depression in the lateral leads (V4-V6), which is suggestive of myocardial ischaemia (fig 2⇓).
Fig 2 Exercise tolerance electrocardiogram showing ST segment depression in leads V4, V5, and V6 (arrows)
#### Long answer
Down-sloping and planar (horizontal) ST segment depression are more specific for underlying ischaemia than up-sloping ST depression, which can be a normal phenomenon during exercise. The depth of ST depression (1.5 mm in this case) is …
TL;DR: A previously fit and well 25-year-old man presented with palpitations and dizziness and his pulse was irregular and tachycardic (162 bpm).
Abstract: A previously fit and well 25-year-old man presented with palpitations and dizziness. His pulse was irregular and tachycardic (162 bpm). His admission ECG is shown (figure 1 …