Familial angiosarcoma of the heart

Primary cardiac tumors are rare and about 75% are benign, of which 75% are atrial myxomas. Angiosarcomas are the most common malignant primary cardiac tumors, with 90% arising in the left atrium and 10% in the right atrium. This is the first report of a primary cardiac tumor, an angiosarcoma, with a familial incidence.peer-reviewe

Partial Computation in Real-Time Database Systems

A critical component of real-time systems in the database, which is used to store external input such as environmental readings from sensors, as well as system information. Typically these databases are large, due to vast quantities of historical data, and are distributed, due to the distributed topology of the devices controlling the application. Hence, sophisticated database management systems are needed. However, most of the time database systems are hand-coded. Off-the-shelf database management systems are not used due in part to a lack of predictability of response [1, 2]. We motivate the use of partial computation of database queries as a method of improving the fault-tolerance and predictability of response in real-time database systems

Foundation species loss affects vegetation structure more than ecosystem function in a northeastern USA forest

Loss of foundation tree species rapidly alters ecological processes in forested ecosystems. Tsuga canadensis, an hypothesized foundation species of eastern North American forests, is declining throughout much of its range due to infestation by the nonnative insect Adelges tsugae and by removal through pre-emptive salvage logging. In replicate 0.81-ha plots, T. canadensis was cut and removed, or killed in place by girdling to simulate adelgid damage. Control plots included undisturbed hemlock and mid-successional hardwood stands that represent expected forest composition in 50–100 years. Vegetation richness, understory vegetation cover, soil carbon flux, and nitrogen cycling were measured for two years prior to, and five years following, application of experimental treatments. Litterfall and coarse woody debris (CWD), including snags, stumps, and fallen logs and branches, have been measured since treatments were applied. Overstory basal area was reduced 60%–70% in girdled and logged plots. Mean cover and richness did not change in hardwood or hemlock control plots but increased rapidly in girdled and logged plots. Following logging, litterfall immediately decreased then slowly increased, whereas in girdled plots, there was a short pulse of hemlock litterfall as trees died. CWD volume remained relatively constant throughout but was 3–4× higher in logged plots. Logging and girdling resulted in small, short-term changes in ecosystem dynamics due to rapid regrowth of vegetation but in general, interannual variability exceeded differences among treatments. Soil carbon flux in girdled plots showed the strongest response: 35% lower than controls after three years and slowly increasing thereafter. Ammonium availability increased immediately after logging and two years after girdling, due to increased light and soil temperatures and nutrient pulses from leaf-fall and reduced uptake following tree death. The results from this study illuminate ecological processes underlying patterns observed consistently in region-wide studies of adelgid-infested hemlock stands. Mechanisms of T. canadensis loss determine rates, magnitudes, and trajectories of ecological changes in hemlock forests. Logging causes abrupt, large changes in vegetation structure whereas girdling (and by inference, A. tsugae) causes sustained, smaller changes. Ecosystem processes depend more on vegetation cover per se than on species composition. We conclude that the loss of this late-successional foundation species will have long-lasting impacts on forest structure but subtle impacts on ecosystem function.Organismic and Evolutionary Biolog

Chapter 26: the temporal dynamics of emotional responding: implications for well-being and health from the MIDUS

In this chapter findings are reviewed from the MIDUS Neuroscience Project that underscore the value in examining the temporal dynamics of responses to brief emotional provocation for understanding linkages among emotions and factors contributing to health and well-being across the MIDUS study. This rich dataset has allowed the exploration of associations between individual differences in the affective chronometry of negative and positive emotional responses in vulnerable vs. resilient profiles. Findings from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) as well as electromyographic recordings (EMG) of the facial muscles to objectively measure emotional responses demonstrate that the temporal dynamics of emotional responses to affective stimuli are associated with aging, personality, psychopathology, stress exposure, biomarkers, and well-being. Overall, these findings suggest that variation in health and well-being are differentially predicted by specific temporal parameters of the emotional response, such as the magnitude of the immediate response to the presence of a stimulus (i.e., reactivity), residual activity and its duration after stimulus offset (i.e., recovery), as well as the change in response – or habituation - across repeated presentations of similarly-valenced stimuli. Besides the seemingly obvious import of recovering quickly from negative or unpleasant provocations, the chronometry of positive emotional responses appears to be particularly vital for determining how emotional processes may take a physiological toll or promote resiliency in the face of stress and disease. By examining such temporal dynamics in response to affective stimuli in MIDUS, a better understanding of the brain-behavior associations underlying emotion, and how emotions “get under the skin” to impact well-being and health across the lifespan is gained

Relationships between changes in sustained fronto-striatal connectivity and positive affect with antidepressant treatment in major depression

Objective: Deficits in positive affect and their neural bases have been associated with major depression. However, whether reductions in positive affect result solely from an overall reduction in nucleus accumbens activity and fronto-striatal connectivity or the additional inability to sustain engagement of this network over time is unknown. The authors sought to determine whether treatment-induced changes in the ability to sustain nucleus accumbens activity and fronto-striatal connectivity during the regulation of positive affect are associated with gains in positive affect. Method: Using fMRI, the authors assessed the ability to sustain activity in reward-related networks when attempting to increase positive emotion during per- formance of an emotion regulation para- digm in 21 depressed patients before and after 2 months of antidepressant treat- ment. Over the same interval, 14 healthy comparison subjects underwent scanning as well. Results: After 2 months of treatment, self-reported positive affect increased. The patients who demonstrated the largest increases in sustained nucleus accumbens activity over the 2 months were those who demonstrated the largest increases in positive affect. In addition, the patients who demonstrated the largest increases in sustained fronto-striatal connectivity were also those who demonstrated the largest increases in positive affect when control- ling for negative affect. None of these associations were observed in healthy comparison subjects. Conclusions: Treatment-induced change in the sustained engagement of fronto- striatal circuitry tracks the experience of positive emotion in daily life. Studies examining reduced positive affect in a va- riety of psychiatric disorders might benefit from examining the temporal dynamics of brain activity when attempting to under- stand changes in daily positive affect

An incoherent regulatory network architecture that orchestrates B cell diversification in response to antigen signaling

B cell receptor signaling controls the expression of IRF-4, a transcription factor required for B cell differentiation. This study shows that IRF-4 regulates divergent B cell fates via a ‘kinetic-control' mechanism that determines the duration of a transient developmental state

Reducing Housing Cost-Burden Among Black Residents Through Investment in Community Land Trust Housing and A Mobile Market Nutrition Program in Durham County, NC

Economic stability is a social determinant of health that impacts a wide range of health risks and outcomes through the environment in which people are born, live, learn, and work. A lack of affordable housing as a factor contributing to economic instability forces many Durham County residents to spend a large portion of their income on rent, leaving many people in poverty. Having fewer economic resources prevents people from affording healthy food and preventative healthcare and puts them at greater risk of chronic conditions and premature mortality. The proposed program and policy aim to prevent Durham County residents from making trade-offs between affording housing and obtaining nutritious food. The program will partner with the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle to expand their mobile market model to the McDougald Terrace public housing community, and the policy will expand the Durham Community Land Trust (DCLT) with permanent municipal funding in the Durham County budget. Keywords: Durham County, North Carolina, social determinants of health, economic stability, mobile market, affordable housing, Community Land Trust, poverty, equityMaster of Public Healt

REDUCING HOUSING COST-BURDEN AMONG BLACK RESIDENTS THROUGH INVESTMENT IN COMMUNITY LAND TRUST HOUSING AND A MOBILE MARKET NUTRITION PROGRAM IN DURHAM COUNTY, NC

Economic stability is a social determinant of health that impacts a wide range of health risks and outcomes through the environment in which people are born, live, learn, and work. A lack of affordable housing as a factor contributing to economic instability forces many Durham County residents to spend a large portion of their income on rent, leaving many people in poverty. Having fewer economic resources prevents people from affording healthy food and preventative healthcare and puts them at greater risk of chronic conditions and premature mortality. The proposed program and policy aim to prevent Durham County residents from making trade-offs between affording housing and obtaining nutritious food. The program will partner with the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle to expand their mobile market model to the McDougald Terrace public housing community, and the policy will expand the Durham Community Land Trust (DCLT) with permanent municipal funding in the Durham County budget. Keywords: Durham County, North Carolina, social determinants of health, economic stability, mobile market, affordable housing, Community Land Trust, poverty, equityMaster of Public Healt