Desmozoon lepeophtherii n. gen., n. sp., (Microsporidia: Enterocytozoonidae) infecting the salmon louse Lepeophtheirus salmonis (Copepoda: Caligidae)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A microsporidian was previously reported to infect the crustacean parasite, <it>Lepeophtheirus salmonis </it>(Krøyer, 1837) (Copepoda, Caligidae), on farmed Atlantic salmon (<it>Salmo salar </it>L.) in Scotland. The microsporidian was shown to be a novel species with a molecular phylogenetic relationship to <it>Nucleospora </it>(Enterocytozoonidae), but the original report did not assign it to a genus or species. Further studies examined the development of the microsporidian in <it>L. salmonis </it>using electron microscopy and re-evaluated the molecular findings using new sequence data available for the group. Here we report a full description for the microsporidian and assign it to a new genus and species.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The microsporidian infects subcuticular cells that lie on the innermost region of the epidermal tissue layer beneath the cuticle and along the internal haemocoelic divisions. The mature spores are sub-spherical with a single nucleus and an isofilar polar filament with 5-8 turns in a double coil. The entire development is in direct contact with the host cell cytoplasm and is polysporous. During early merogony, a diplokaryotic nuclear arrangement exists which is absent throughout the rest of the developmental cycle. Large merogonial plasmodia form which divide to form single uninucleate sporonts. Sporogonial plasmodia were not observed; instead, binucleate sporonts divide to form two sporoblasts. Prior to final division, there is a precocious development of the polar filament extrusion apparatus which is associated with large electron lucent inclusions (ELIs). Analyses of DNA sequences reveal that the microsporidian is robustly supported in a clade with other members of the Enterocytozoonidae and confirms a close phylogenetic relationship with <it>Nucleospora</it>.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The ultrastructural findings of the precocious development of the polar filament and the presence of ELIs are consistent with those of the Enterocytozoonidae. However, the confirmed presence of an early diplokaryotic stage and a merogonial plasmodium that divides to yield uninucleate sporonts instead of transforming into a sporogonial syncitium, are features not currently associated with the family. Yet, analyses of DNA sequence data clearly place the microsporidian within the Enterocytozoonidae. Therefore, due to the novelty of the copepod host, the ultrastructural findings and the robust nature of the phylogenetic analyses, a new genus should be created within the Enterocytozoonide; <it>Desmozoon lepeophtherii </it>n. gen. n. sp. is proposed.</p

Accessing the most lethal product on the market : community perceptions of tobacco accessibility in NSW, Australia

Aim: This study aims to describe the perceived ease of accessing tobacco retail outlets in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, and the sociodemographic factors associated with reported higher density of tobacco retail outlets. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted with a sample of NSW adults in February 2019. The accessibility of cigarettes was assessed and a binary logistic regression model was used to examine characteristics associated with having four or more retailers within a 5-minute drive of their home. Results: A total of 3213 NSW adults completed the survey. The vast majority of participants, 89.9% (n = 2888), described cigarettes as being easily accessed from where they live. Half of the participants (50.7%) reported having four or more tobacco retail outlets within a 5-minute drive of their home. Never-smokers were significantly less likely than daily smokers to report four or more tobacco retailers within a 5-minute drive of their home, although non-smokers may be less likely to identify tobacco retailers. Females, those living in regional areas of NSW and those with a university qualification were also less likely to report having four or more tobacco retailers within a 5-minute drive of their home. Conclusion: The ease of access to tobacco retailers in NSW is incongruent with the significant health risks associated with tobacco use and highlights the need for measures to reduce the supply of tobacco, such as a fee-based tobacco licensing system

Original observations of Desmozoon lepeophtherii, a microsporidian hyperparasite infecting the salmon louse Lepeophtheirus salmonis, and its subsequent detection by other researchers

A microsporidian hyperparasite, Desmozoon lepeophtherii, of the parasitic copepod Lepeophtheirus salmonis (salmon louse), infecting farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), was first discovered in the west of Scotland in 2000. Heavily infected salmon lice are easily recognised as they have large opaque inclusions distributed throughout the body. The prevalence of salmon lice with visible signs of microsporidiosis can be up to 10% of the population from certain farm sites. The microsporidian was also isolated from the host Atlantic salmon suggesting it may have a two host life cycle. The authors believe that the infection in immunocompetent salmon may be latent, becoming acute during periods of infection with another pathogen or during sexual maturation. Since its first discovery in Scotland, Desmozoon lepeophtherii has been subsequently reported from Norway, and more recently from the Pacific coast of North America

On the Use of Cloud Computing for Scientific Workflows

This paper explores the use of cloud computing for scientific workflows, focusing on a widely used astronomy application-Montage. The approach is to evaluate from the point of view of a scientific workflow the tradeoffs between running in a local environment, if such is available, and running in a virtual environment via remote, wide-area network resource access. Our results show that for Montage, a workflow with short job runtimes, the virtual environment can provide good compute time performance but it can suffer from resource scheduling delays and wide-area communications

An Arts-Integrated Alaska Studies Course

Passages Alaska targets 9th grade students, in order to fulfill their required pursuit of Alaska Studies in that year. Educators are encouraged to adapt, differentiate, and extend the course for students of other grade levels and/or to meet each learner where they are. Students who journey through this curriculum will achieve Advanced fulfillment of Alaska Arts Anchor Standards 10 and 11, and the Alaska Cultural Standards embedded within Created in partnership with Lower Kuskokwim School District by Ping Chong and Company artist-scholars Ryan Conarro, Asia Freeman, Nita Yurrliq Rearden, & Jennifer Tungatuq Romer, with support from Christina Bixland, Chaesong Kim, Gary Upaayuilnguq Beaver, Justin Perkins, Nadia Kim, & Kayla Killiebrew. The work was supported in part by the Alaska State Council on the Arts and the New England Foundation for the Arts. © 2022Through deep engagement with Ping Chong and Company’s interdisciplinary theater production ALAXSXA | ALASKA, students and educators in Passages Alaska explore little-known Alaska histories, and they create artistic expressions of personal stories and community stories that acknowledge and celebrate their lived experiences as integral parts of that Alaska history. The course unfolds as nine units, one week each (5 sessions, 90 minutes each). The lessons and units may be adapted to other course structures. Each of the nine units fulfills Alaska History content standards through an arts-based, arts-integrated pursuit that is linked directly to, or inspired by, the content of Ping Chong and Company’s interdisciplinary theater production ALAXSXA | ALASKA, created by Ping Chong, Ryan Conarro, Gary Upay’aq Beaver, and Justin Perkins. Each unit features video excerpts from the production, provided as part of curriculum materials. The journey of the course culminates with a viewing of the full production, followed by dialogue and reflection. Each unit also links to EncountersAlaska.com, a web archive of real contemporary Alaska stories created by Ryan Conarro and Ping Chong alongside the production ALAXSXA | ALASKA. Each unit in Passages Alaska articulates fulfillment of one or more Alaska Arts Standards, Alaska Cultural Standards, SEL Standards, and Alaska History Content Standards. Each unit invites learners to explore their own personal stories, and the stories of their families and communities, in response to cultural and academic content.Created in partnership with Lower Kuskokwim School District by Ping Chong and Company artist-scholars Ryan Conarro, Asia Freeman, Nita Yurrliq Rearden, & Jennifer Tungatuq Romer, with support from Christina Bixland, Chaesong Kim, Gary Upaayuilnguq Beaver, Justin Perkins, Nadia Kim, & Kayla Killiebrew. The work was supported in part by the Alaska State Council on the Arts and the New England Foundation for the Arts. © 2022Overview & Contents / Assessments Quizzes and Answer Guide / Pronunciation Recordings / Unit 1-9 Lesson Plan

The long-term relationship between cannabis and heroin use:An 18-20-year follow-up of the Australian Treatment Outcome Study (ATOS)

Objective: Cannabis use is common among those with opioid use disorders (OUD), but it remains unclear whether cannabis use is associated with an increase or reduction in illicit opioid use. To extend upon previous longitudinal studies with limited follow-ups, the current study examined a within-person reciprocal relationship between cannabis and heroin use at several follow-ups over 18-20-years. Methods: The Australian Treatment Outcome Study (ATOS) recruited 615 people with heroin dependence in 2001-2002 and reinterviewed at 3-, 12-, 24-, 36-months, 11 and 18-20-years post-baseline. Heroin and cannabis use were assessed at each time point using the Opiate Treatment Index (OTI). A random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) was conducted to identify within-person relationships between cannabis use and heroin use at subsequent follow-ups. Results: After accounting for a range of demographic, other substance use, mental and physical health measures, an increase in cannabis use at 24-months was associated with an increase in heroin use at 36months (Estimate = 0.21, SE = 0.10, p = 0.03). Additionally, an increase in heroin use at 3-months and 24-months post-baseline was associated with a decrease in cannabis use at 12-months (Estimate = -0.27, SE = 0.09, p &lt;0.01) and 36-months post-baseline (Estimate = -0.22, SE = 0.08, p &lt;0.01). All other cross-lagged associations were not significant. Conclusions: Although there was some evidence of a significant relationship between cannabis and heroin use at earlier follow-ups, this was sparse, and inconsistent across time-points. Overall, there was insufficient evidence to suggest a unidirectional or bidirectional relationship between the use of these substances

The Accuracy of Blood Pressure Measurement by Two Cuff-Less Wearable and Portable Health Devices

Introduction: Wearable and portable devices that claim to measure blood pressure without the need of a cuff are becoming increasingly popular among consumers. Given that hypertension is the leading cause for cardiovascular mortality worldwide, a portable technology that allows consumers to easily measure their BP several times a day would be of great value. However, the convenience that portable health technology provides is useless, and even dangerous, if the measurements are inaccurate. Objective: Investigate the accuracy of two popular commercial cuff-less BP device, the Bodimetrics Performance Monitor and Everlast TR10 watch. Methods: A sample of 127 ambulatory patients (\u3e18y) were recruited from the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital Preadmission Testing Center. Following the 2013 ANSI/AAMI/ISO standard protocol for evaluating non-invasive automated sphygmomanometers, four reference and three investigational BP measurements were obtained after a five minute initial rest period. Reference measurements were taken with the validated Cardiocap 5 sphygmomanometer. Results: 85 subjects met inclusion criteria. The average absolute differences (SD) between the Everlast watch and reference were 22.7 (27.4) mmHg for SBP and 6.9 (6.2) mmHg for DBP. The average absolute difference (SD) between the BodiMetrics Performance Monitor and the reference was 5.3 (4.7) mmHg for systolic BP. Discussion: The Everlast fitness watch tested is not accurate enough to be used as BP measurement device. The Bodimetrics device was more accurate, likely due to calibration immediately prior to validation, but even with this advantage the BP device failed to meet accuracy guidelines. Widespread use of this technology likely results in the misclassification of patients’ BP status

The Accuracy of Blood Pressure Measurement by a Smartwatch and a Portable Health Device

Introduction: Hypertension is a leading cause of mortality. Proper blood pressure (BP) control can be achieved by lifestyle modification, pharmacotherapy, and frequent measurements. With the growing popularity of cuffless blood pressure monitors, it is important to independently validate their accuracy. Objective: We evaluated two cuffless blood pressure monitors, The Everlast TR10 fitness watch and the BodiMetrics Performance Monitor, for their accuracy and precision in BP measurements. Methods: Using a protocol derived from the ANSI/AAMI/ISO 2013 standard for evaluating automated sphygmomanometers, we measured the blood pressures of 85 patients recruited from the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital Preadmission Testing Center with two experimental devices and a validated automated sphygmomanometer cuff. We compared the mean absolute differences in measurements between the investigational and reference devices. Comparisons were analyzed with Spearman correlation and T-test, p\u3c0.05. Results: The BodiMetrics Performance Monitor SBP measurements correlated well with the reference SBP measurements (ρ = 0.88, P \u3c 0.01), whereas the Everlast TR10 fitness watch did not (SBP: ρ = -0.19, P \u3c 0.01; DBP: ρ = -0.01, P \u3c 0.01). The BodiMetrics performance monitor reported a hypertensive BP (≥140 mm Hg) for 80% of the hypertensive reference SBP measurements, whereas the Everlast watch measured no hypertensive BP values for any of the hypertensive reference SBP or DBP measurements. Discussion: The Everlast fitness watch and BodiMetrics Performance Monitor are not accurate enough to use for blood pressure monitoring. Use of these devices will likely result in misclassifying patients with hypertension as normotensive, which is a public health concern

Gemfibrozil Inhibits Legionella pneumophila and Mycobacterium tuberculosis Enoyl Coenzyme A Reductases and Blocks Intracellular Growth of These Bacteria in Macrophages

We report here that gemfibrozil (GFZ) inhibits axenic and intracellular growth of Legionella pneumophila and of 27 strains of wild-type and multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis in bacteriological medium and in human and mouse macrophages, respectively. At a concentration of 0.4 mM, GFZ completely inhibited L. pneumophila fatty acid synthesis, while at 0.12 mM it promoted cytoplasmic accumulation of polyhydroxybutyrate. To assess the mechanism(s) of these effects, we cloned an L. pneumophila FabI enoyl reductase homolog that complemented for growth an Escherichia coli strain carrying a temperature-sensitive enoyl reductase and rendered the complemented E. coli strain sensitive to GFZ at the nonpermissive temperature. GFZ noncompetitively inhibited this L. pneumophila FabI homolog, as well as M. tuberculosis InhA and E. coli FabI