Injury in Aged Animals Robustly Activates Quiescent Olfactory Neural Stem Cells

While the capacity of the olfactory epithelium (OE) to generate sensory neurons continues into middle age in mice, it is presumed that this regenerative potential is present throughout all developmental stages. However, little experimental evidence exists to support the idea that this regenerative capacity remains in late adulthood, and questions about the functionality of neurons born at these late stages remain unanswered. Here, we extend our previous work in the VNO to investigate basal rates of proliferation in the OE, as well as after olfactory bulbectomy, a commonly used surgical lesion. In addition, we show that the neural stem cell retains its capacity to generate mature olfactory sensory neurons in aged animals. Finally, we demonstrate that regardless of age, a stem cell in the OE, the horizontal basal cell (HBC), exhibits a morphological switch from a flattened, quiescent phenotype to a pyramidal, proliferative phenotype following chemical lesion in aged animals. These findings provide new insights into determining whether an HBC is active or quiescent based on a structural feature as opposed to a biochemical one. More importantly, it suggests that neural stem cells in aged mice are responsive to the same signals triggering proliferation as those observed in young mice

High-resolution array CGH clarifies events occurring on 8p in carcinogenesis.

BACKGROUND: Rearrangement of the short arm of chromosome 8 (8p) is very common in epithelial cancers such as breast cancer. Usually there is an unbalanced translocation breakpoint in 8p12 (29.7 Mb - 38.5 Mb) with loss of distal 8p, sometimes with proximal amplification of 8p11-12. Rearrangements in 8p11-12 have been investigated using high-resolution array CGH, but the first 30 Mb of 8p are less well characterised, although this region contains several proposed tumour suppressor genes. METHODS: We analysed the whole of 8p by array CGH at tiling-path BAC resolution in 32 breast and six pancreatic cancer cell lines. Regions of recurrent rearrangement distal to 8p12 were further characterised, using regional fosmid arrays. FISH, and quantitative RT-PCR on over 60 breast tumours validated the existence of similar events in primary material. RESULTS: We confirmed that 8p is usually lost up to at least 30 Mb, but a few lines showed focal loss or copy number steps within this region. Three regions showed rearrangements common to at least two cases: two regions of recurrent loss and one region of amplification. Loss within 8p23.3 (0 Mb - 2.2 Mb) was found in six cell lines. Of the genes always affected, ARHGEF10 showed a point mutation of the remaining normal copies in the DU4475 cell line. Deletions within 12.7 Mb - 19.1 Mb in 8p22, in two cases, affected TUSC3. A novel amplicon was found within 8p21.3 (19.1 Mb - 23.4 Mb) in two lines and one of 98 tumours. CONCLUSION: The pattern of rearrangements seen on 8p may be a consequence of the high density of potential targets on this chromosome arm, and ARHGEF10 may be a new candidate tumour suppressor gene

Linezolid Clearance During Continuous Venovenous Hemodiafiltration: A Case Report

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90207/1/phco.23.8.1071.32874.pd

Multi-Sector Analysis of the Progress and Challenges of Soil-Transmitted Helminth Eradication in Rural Udaipur

India is home to 240 million children currently at risk of Soil-Transmitted Helminthiasis, which is spread via unclean water, soil, and food, and causes acute pain and malnutrition. While acknowledging the research debates over WASH and mass drug administration, this study seeks to identify the systemic multidisciplinary issues affecting STH elimination efforts in rural Udaipur. Twenty-three interviews were conducted in villages, government departments, NGOs, and medical sectors to identify the challenges within each approach to deworming, and their experiences with multi-sectoral collaboration. The most recurring issues across disciplines were need for invested local leadership, increase in health literacy of adults, and coordination between NGO and government. Specifically there is a need for consistent communication and reporting between government health and education departments. The results of this study and further research hope to make deworming treatment and prevention more comprehensive and efficient so that India might achieve the WHO goal of eliminating STH-related mortality by 2020

Influences of Maternal Obesity on Induction of Labor Requiring Cervical Ripening

Statement of the Problem Although obese women are less likely to initiate spontaneous labor than normal weight women, have longer labors, and higher rates of cesarean birth, evidence suggests little is known about the most effective methods for labor induction requiring cervical ripening in women with obesity. Using a population-based sample we evaluated the relationships between maternal obesity and methods for induction of labor requiring cervical ripening. Methods This retrospective cohort study used data from 41,359 women in the nationally representative Consortium of Safe Labor (CSL) dataset, collected from 2006 to 2012. Women with a low risk pregnancy (cephalic, singleton, and term gestation), undergoing induction of labor were included. The primary outcome of this study was cesarean birth after the use of cervical ripening methods. The secondary outcome was the time to birth with the use of cervical ripening methods. Binomial regression models and a survival analysis were adjusted for age, parity, race, insurance, and hospital type. Results Of the 41,359 cases included in the study, 6,035 women received one or more cervical ripening methods for induction of labor. The odds for cesarean birth in the vi highest obesity category (obese cat 3) were lower after using misoprostol [aOR 3.44; CI 1.95-6.07] than using other prostaglandins [aOR 7.03; CI 3.98-12.43], and lower using mechanical means [aOR 3.69; CI 2.04-6.68} then using either prostaglandin [aOR 3.94; CI 2.67-2.54] compared to normal weight women. The time to birth in the highest obesity category (Obese Cat 3) had higher hazard after using other prostaglandins [aHR 1.62; CI 1.20-2.11] and lower hazard after using mechanical means [aHR .91; CI .65-1.28] when compared to the use of misoprostol. Conclusions These data suggest women with obesity have more cesarean births with the use of other prostaglandins for cervical ripening than with the use of mechanical means when misoprostol is the comparison group. Women with obesity also require a longer time to birth after using other prostaglandins and a shorter time to birth after using mechanical means when compared to using misoprostol. Clinicians can better support women with obesity requiring cervical ripening for induction of labor with careful consideration of cervical ripening method choice and effective counseling on length of labor induction, and risk for cesarean birth

GNOSIS: the first instrument to use fibre Bragg gratings for OH suppression

GNOSIS is a prototype astrophotonic instrument that utilizes OH suppression fibres consisting of fibre Bragg gratings and photonic lanterns to suppress the 103 brightest atmospheric emission doublets between 1.47-1.7 microns. GNOSIS was commissioned at the 3.9-meter Anglo-Australian Telescope with the IRIS2 spectrograph to demonstrate the potential of OH suppression fibres, but may be potentially used with any telescope and spectrograph combination. Unlike previous atmospheric suppression techniques GNOSIS suppresses the lines before dispersion and in a manner that depends purely on wavelength. We present the instrument design and report the results of laboratory and on-sky tests from commissioning. While these tests demonstrated high throughput and excellent suppression of the skylines by the OH suppression fibres, surprisingly GNOSIS produced no significant reduction in the interline background and the sensitivity of GNOSIS and IRIS2 is about the same as IRIS2. It is unclear whether the lack of reduction in the interline background is due to physical sources or systematic errors as the observations are detector noise-dominated. OH suppression fibres could potentially impact ground-based astronomy at the level of adaptive optics or greater. However, until a clear reduction in the interline background and the corresponding increasing in sensitivity is demonstrated optimized OH suppression fibres paired with a fibre-fed spectrograph will at least provide a real benefits at low resolving powers.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures, accepted to A

Evaluation of Human and AutomationRobotics Integration Needs for Future Human Exploration Missions

NASA employs Design Reference Missions (DRMs) to define potential architectures for future human exploration missions to deep space, the Moon, and Mars. While DRMs to these destinations share some components, each mission has different needs. This paper focuses on the human and automation/robotic integration needs for these future missions, evaluating them with respect to NASA research gaps in the area of space human factors engineering. The outcomes of our assessment is a human and automation/robotic (HAR) task list for each of the four DRMs that we reviewed (i.e., Deep Space Sortie, Lunar Visit/Habitation, Deep Space Habitation, and Planetary), a list of common critical HAR factors that drive HAR design

A Case Study On The Effects a TBI Has On Learning

Young adults are one of the highest risk groups for sustaining a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) (Hux, et al., 2009). Hence, some of the most frequent survivors are of school age. Upon reentry into education, survivors of TBI often display a gamut of challenges that interfere with academic performance with deficits in cognitive processes, such as executive functioning, memory, attention and concentration. Survivors may also experience social, emotional, or physical limitations that interfere with academic performance. Thus, "the magnitude and persistence of challenges faced by survivors of severe TBI necessitates establishing supportive environments and appropriate accommodations to support academic endeavors" (Hux et al., 2009, pg. 13). However, because of the variability and complexity of deficits survivors of severe TBI present, it is challenging to investigate the appropriate supports and accommodations for those reentering school (Hux et al., 2009). In fact, research on supports and accommodations used in the classroom for students with TBIs has been minimal, and mostly quantitative. Experts in the field, such as Ylvisaker, Todis and Glang have expressed the need for qualitative research "to explore the interaction of multiple factors affecting recovery and school integration experiences of students with TBI" (Hux, et al., 2009, pg. 14). This thesis provides such research in the form of a case study about a survivor of a TBI, Victoria, which is a pseudonym to protect the identity of the participant. This case study investigates the effects of a TBI on Victoria’s ability to learn and describes her experiences upon reentering education.SUNY BrockportEducation and Human DevelopmentMaster of Science in Education (MSEd)Education and Human Development Master's These