LIFE SCIENCES, PUBLIC HEALTH AND MOBILITY

Archive for 2013|Yearly archive page

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Light rapid transit policy in the UK

In Public Transport on 7 March 2013 at 22:13

nottingham

Introduction: a new age of light rapid transit

The numerous electric street tramway systems created during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the United Kingdom were gradually closed down by the 1950s and eventually replaced by buses, considered more flexible and cheaper. Only one such early system (in Blackpool) survives to this day and is being upgraded to modern standards.

Transport plans developed in the 1970s by the Passenger Transport Authorities following their empowerment by the 1968 Transport Act emphasised the need for major improvements to public transport. With heavy rail found to be prohibitively expensive, light rail transit was envisaged as a low cost alternative that could also be more seamlessly integrated into the urban fabric. With the help of significant Government contributions towards the cost of such public transport infrastructure projects, 7 light rail systems were opened between 1980 and 2004 for a total of 151 route miles. The private sector designed, constructed, operates and maintains most of the existing schemes.

As of November 2011, extensions to the Manchester system are under construction, upgrades to the Blackpool tram are nearly complete, modernisation of the Tyne and Wear Metro are beginning, and work is in progress on the Edinburgh tram line. While the Department for Transport (DfT) supports some of the financial burden of the construction, local bodies are expected to contribute as well as to bring in private sector funds.

Policy objectives

As a condition for DfT funding, light rail scheme applications must establish that they contribute to the government’s overall transport objectives. According to the Green light for light rail White Paper (DfT, 2011b), successful light rail systems stimulate economic growth and help reducing carbon, both key objectives of the current Coalition government. Similar objectives were already present in the previous White Paper, Delivering a sustainable transport system: a transport scheme is expected to support economic competitiveness and growth, tackle climate change by reducing emissions, contribute to better safety and health, promote equality of opportunity and improve the quality of life (DfT, 2008). Read the rest of this entry »

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A gene expression atlas of the domestic pig

In Genetics on 7 March 2013 at 22:11

The work described in this paper constitutes the first genome-wide analysis of the transcriptional landscape of the pig. A new porcine expression array was designed in order to provide comprehensive coverage of the known pig transcriptome. The new array was used to generate a genome-wide expression atlas of pig tissues derived from 62 tissue/cell types. These data were subjected to network correlation analysis and clustering using the BioLayout Express3D software.

This analysis provides a detailed functional clustering of the pig transcriptome where transcripts are grouped according to their expression pattern, so one can infer the function of an uncharacterized gene from the company it keeps and the locations in which it is expressed. We describe the overall transcriptional signatures present in the tissue atlas, where possible assigning those signatures to specific cell populations or pathways. In particular, we discuss the expression signatures associated with the gastrointestinal tract, an organ that was sampled at 15 sites along its length and whose biology in the pig is similar to human. We identify sets of genes that define specialized cellular compartments and region-specific digestive functions. Finally, we performed a network analysis of the transcription factors expressed in the gastrointestinal tract and demonstrate how they sub-divide into functional groups that may control cellular gastrointestinal development.

As an important livestock animal with a physiology that is more similar than mouse to man, we provide a major new resource for understanding gene expression with respect to the known physiology of mammalian tissues and cells. The data and analyses are available on the websites http://biogps.org and http://www.macrophages.com/pig-atlas.

(In Freeman TC et al. “A gene expression atlas of the domestic pig.” BMC Biol, Vol. 10, No. 90, 2012)

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Alveolar macrophage involvement in the pathogenesis of influenza A virus

In Influenza on 7 March 2013 at 21:59

The H1N1 flu pandemic of 2009 underscored the importance of the pig population both as a reservoir and a mixing vessel for influenza strains, and provided added impetus for comparing the biology of influenza in human and pig populations.

Examining the susceptibility to infection of pig lung (alveolar) macrophages (AM) and bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMM), we determined that while pig BMM supported productive replication of a human seasonal H3N2 virus strain, pig AM didn’t release functional viral particles. H3N2 did replicate within pig AM as shown by viral nucleoprotein immunostaining, suggesting that it could still hijack and alter the cell biology even though AM do not release functional viral particles. On the other hand, pig AM are resistant to pandemic H1N1 infection, as has been shown for human AM. Therefore, differential susceptibility of lung macrophages to infection could be a determinant of virulence and lung pathology in both humans and pigs.

In parallel, through collaboration with the RIKEN Omics Science Centre in Yokohama, the gene expression responses of human macrophages to flu infection were compared by cap-analysis of gene expression (CAGE). Key insights include an important inter-individual variation in the human response to infection, which can range from varying levels of activation of specific genes to different time courses of activation.

We are currently comparing CAGE data to pig microarray data and contrast in great detail the host response to infection in those immunologically similar organisms. The comparative analysis of human and pig response to influenza is key to understanding how host response is specifically tailored to this infection, as well as defining influenza-specific targets for therapeutic intervention.

(From a conference paper presented at the European Macrophage and Dendritic Cell Society 2012 Meeting, September 1-3, 2012, Debrecen, Hungary)