Gavin D. Merrifield

Overview of 20th/21st century science and Christianity activity in Scotland by various parachurch groups and organisations.

The Transformers is an international science fiction franchise that, to date, spans a nearly 40-year history. Many of its stories revolve around areas typical of science fiction – robotics/AI, encounters with extra-terrestrials, human enhancement and the exploration of gender amongst others. These are also areas of increasing consideration in acade...

Presentation overviewing the first four Science Wonder Day events run by Believing Science.

We report the first in vivo cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measurements of Theraphosidae spiders. MRI scanning is performed on six spiders under isoflurane‐induced anaesthesia. Retrospective self‐gating cine‐cardiac MRI (RG‐CINE‐MRI) is used to overcome the difficulties of prospective cardiac gating in this species. The resulting RG‐CINE‐...

Increasing scientific interest in the zebrafish as a model organism across a range of biomedical and biological research areas raises the need for the development of in vivo imaging tools appropriate to this subject. Development of the embryonic and early stage forms of the subject can currently be assessed using optical based techniques due to the...

The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is an important model organism for biomedical research with many practical advantages over alternative rodent models. These include a short life cycle, simplicity of large-scale breeding and low maintenance costs which make the costs of large scale studies involving this organism far more timely and economic than is poss...

Introduction While the embryonic zebrafish has been widely used for basic cardiac research the adult zebrafish has been used less partly due to difficulties in evaluating the hearts structure and function in-vivo. Currently available cardiac imaging techniques are limited by the hearts small size and rapid rate. Successful development of cardiac MR...

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) based studies are rapidly expanding in the field of preclinical research. The majority of these studies use Echo Planar Imaging (EPI) to measure Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD) signal contrasts in the brain. In such studies the magnitude and statistical significances of these contrasts are then...

Hypertension is linked with an increased risk of white matter hyperintensities; however, recent findings have questioned this association. We examined whether hypertension and additional cerebrovascular risk factors impacted on white matter integrity in an inducible hypertensive rat. No white matter hyperintensities were observed on magnetic resona...

Debate piece response to paper 'Do Many Worlds Make Light Work?' (John Turl, S & CB 24 (1), April 2012).

A functional MRI (fMRI) phantom was used to characterize the stability and behaviour of Echo Planar Imaging (EPI) on a number of preclinical MRI scanners. Large variations in functional Contrast to Noise Ratios (fCNR) were observed. Additionally a longitudinal study at a single site recorded significant changes in fCNR across time. A proportion of...

We evaluated the use of kt-broad-use linear acquisition speed-up technique (kt-BLAST) acceleration of mouse cardiac imaging in order to reduce scan times, thereby minimising physiological variation and improving animal welfare. Conventional cine cardiac MRI data acquired from healthy mice (n = 9) were subsampled to simulate kt-BLAST acceleration. C...

The zebrafish has emerged as an excellent model for cardiovascular research, with many researchers being attracted by the increasing availability of molecular, genetic and physiological research tools. However, unlike with mammalian models, live imaging of heart function remains challenging in the adult zebrafish. Unlike embryos (<5day), the skin o...

To assess the potential of existing MRI scanner performance to evaluate novel model animal species cardiac MRI was performed on large spiders. The acquired images were used to extract the first direct in vivo measurements of cardiac function in this type of animal. Measurements revealed a previously unknown relationship between animal mass and card...

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a powerful method for exploring emotional and cognitive brain responses in humans. However rodent fMRI has not previously been applied to the analysis of learned behaviour in awake animals, limiting its use as a translational tool. Here we have developed a novel paradigm for studying brain activation...

To investigate the water diffusion tensor properties of ex vivo tissue in the fibroid uterus, including the influence of degeneration, and the relevance of the principal eigenvector orientation to the underlying tissue structure. Following hysterectomy, high-resolution structural T(2) -weighted and diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DT-MR...

AIM: To understand the relationship between chronic cerebral hypoperfusion, white matter injury and blood-brain barrier (BBB) integrity.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has established itself as a powerful investigatory technique in both clinical and preclinical arenas allowing the longitudinal and non-invasive study of a variety of subjects. Using MRI it is possible to obtain structural, functional and chemical information from scanned subjects. Recent years have seen the growth...

Manganese (Mn(2+))-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging (MEMRI) in rodents offers unique opportunities for the longitudinal study of hippocampal structure and function in parallel with cognitive testing. However, Mn(2+) is a potent toxin and there is evidence that it can interfere with neuronal function. Thus, apart from causing adverse periphe...

White matter (WM) abnormalities, possibly resulting from hypoperfusion, are key features of the aging human brain. It is unclear, however, whether in vivo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) approaches, such as diffusion tensor and magnetization transfer MRI are sufficiently sensitive to detect subtle alterations to WM integrity in mouse models develo...

11β-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 1 (11β-HSD1) amplifies intracellular glucocorticoid levels in many tissues, including liver, adipose tissue, and hippocampus. Selective inhibitors reduce tissue glucocorticoid action and are efficacious in pre-clinical models of obesity, diabetes, atherogenesis and cognitive dysfunction. Tissue-specific dysregulatio...