Comparison of the Effects of Toxic Cyanobacteria on the Reproductive Success of Eurytemora affinis Populations in the Baltic Sea and Green Bay, Wisconsin

The Northern Baltic Sea, off the southern coast of Finland, and Green Bay, off Lake Michigan in Wisconsin, both experience large toxic cyanobacteria blooms, especially during the summer and early fall months. Nodularia spumigena is the toxic algae in the Baltic Sea and produces the toxin Nodularin. Nodularin is a toxin that has branched from the toxin Microcystin, which is produced by Microcystis, the toxic algae forming blooms in Green Bay. While the toxin often acts as a defense mechanism to deter zooplankton from grazing, the calenoid copepod Eurytemora affinis, with populations in both the Baltic and Green Bay, does feed and consume these toxic algal cells and is able to survive. The consequences in terms of reproductive success from the consumption of this toxin are relatively unexplored. This study focuses on whether or not the two populations have similar responses to feeding on each of these toxic algae in laboratory studies. In both locations, the copepods were collected from the field and put through grazing experiments to examine their grazing and filtration rates in addition to their egg production in various food treatments. Both populations were able to feed and survive but had decreased egg production in a treatment consisting of a mixture of toxic algae and algae considered a good food source (Rhodomonas in Baltic experiments; Scenedesmus in Green Bay experiments). When exposed to the mixture of the good food source with the filtrate of the toxic algae, the Baltic population had a 43% decrease in survivorship, but egg production was comparable to that of the Rhodomonas control. The filtrate treatment had a 91% survivorship in Green Bay and nearly a double increase in egg production compared to the Scenedesmus control. This leads to the need for further investigation of the effects of the intracellular and intercellular toxins on both copepod populations

Digital Documentation and the Archaeology of the Lower Pecos Canyonlands

[EN] The Lower Pecos Canyonlands of southwest Texas and northern Mexico house some of the most complex and compositionally intricate prehistoric rock art in the world. Because of the unique nature and the incomparable richness of this cultural legacy, it is imperative to create a permanent visual, auditory and textual archive for present and future generations and to promote preservation of this resource through education. SHUMLA’s Lower Pecos Rock Art Recording and Preservation Project is meeting this need through digital documentation of rock art sites, creation of a digital library to archive rock art data, establishment of a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary research program, and continuation of hands-on education programs that connect people of all ages to this unique cultural legacy.[ES] Las cañadas de la parte baja del Rio Pecos en el suroeste de Texas y el norte de México se abren una serie de cuevas con impresionantes pictografias que presentan algunas de las composiciones más complejas e intrincadas del mundo. Debido a sus cualidades excepcionales y a la incomparable riqueza de este legado cultural, es urgente crear un archivo visual permanente, auditivo y documental que puedan aprovechar las generaciones presentes y futuras. El proyecto Shumla’s Lower Pecos Rock Art Recording and Preservation Project pretende lograr este objetivo a través de la documentación digital de los sitios con arte rupestre, de la creación de una biblioteca digital para archivar los datos relacionados con el arte rupestre y el desarrollo de un programa coherente de investigación multidiciplinaria.Boyd, CE.; Marcos Marín, F.; Goodmaster, C.; Johnson, A.; Castaneda, A.; Dwyer, B. (2012). Digital Documentation and the Archaeology of the Lower Pecos Canyonlands. Virtual Archaeology Review. 3(5):98-103. https://doi.org/10.4995/var.2012.4535OJS9810335BOYD, Carolyn E. (2003): Rock Art of the Lower Pecos. College Station: Texas A&M University Press.BOYD, Carolyn E. (2010): "El Arte Rupestre de Tejas: Análisis Contextual de Motivos Recurrentes en el Área de la Desembocadura del Río Pecos" in Revista Iberoamericana de Lingüística no 5, pp. 5-42.MARCOS-MARÍN, Francisco (2010): "Arte rupestre y Lingüística amerindia. Estilos y conceptos", in Revista Iberoamericana de Lingüística, no 5, pp. 43-71.MUELLER, Stephanie (2010): Museums and the Conservation and Interpretation of Rock Art. MA Thesis. Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas.ROWE, Marvin W. (2009): "Radiocarbon Dating of Ancient Rock Paintings" in Analytical Chemistry, 81(5), pp. 1728-1735. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ac802555gTURPIN, Solveig A. (2004): "The Lower Pecos River Region of Texas and Northern Mexico", in The Prehistory of Texas, edited by Timothy K. Perttula. Texas A&M University Press. College Station.WILLIAMS, William Carlos (1970): Imaginations. New York: New Directions Publishing

Gender Identity, Health, and the Law: An Overview of Key Laws Impacting the Health of Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming People

A growing population of transgender, nonbinary, and other gender non-conforming Americans experience the burden of multiple physical and mental health inequities. Largely rooted in discrimination and stigma, these disparities are compounded by barriers to respectful, appropriate healthcare. A range of new policies, including state laws attempting to limit access to gender-affirming care for minors, may further compound health disparities. However, in some states and at the federal level, protective laws seek to prohibit discrimination and support access to care. Meanwhile, the constitutional status of gender identity under the Equal Protection Clause, and the legality of certain federal protections challenged on various grounds, remain undecided. This Article offers a snapshot of this rapidly evolving legal landscape, as well as the challenges and opportunities it offers for the health of transgender, nonbinary, and other gender non-conforming people

Drawing on the Strengths of Community Health Workers to Address Sexually Transmitted Infections: Roles, Medicaid Reimbursement, and Partnerships

Rates of bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the United States are high and, largely, still soaring. Though chlamydia cases have decreased slightly since 2017, gonorrhea and syphilis have increased by 25% and 68%, respectively, and congenital syphilis has increased by 184%. Bacterial STI can lead to pain, infertility, and even, in the case of syphilis and congenital syphilis, death. With appropriate detection and treatment, all of these STIs are curable. And yet a range of barriers between communities and the healthcare system perpetuate the STI epidemic. Community health workers (CHWs) could play a key role in helping bridge the gap between the public health and healthcare systems and communities to provide STI education, prevention, detection and treatment services. The Medicaid program, which covers 89 million Americans, is slowly beginning to include CHWs into payment models. However, to date, CHWs’ potential to help address STIs has not been fully explored. This study was undertaken to identify ways that CHWs could be integrated into the STI field with the support of Medicaid coverage and in collaboration with the existing STI workforce

Reliability and validity of a life course passive smoke exposure questionnaire in an australian cohort from childhood to adulthood

Objectives:Life course exposure to passive smoke may predict health, but there are few validated measures. We tested the reliability and validity of a retrospective life course passive smoking questionnaire. Methods:Participants from the third follow-up of the Childhood Determinants of Adult Health study (2014-2019, ages 36-49 years) retrospectively reported mother/father/other household member smoking when living at home during childhood, including duration (years) and smoking location (never/sometimes/always inside house). The severity of exposure index (SEI; sum of mother/father/other years smoked multiplied by smoking location), cumulative years of exposure (CYE; sum of mother/father/other years), and total household smokers (THS) were derived. The reliability of retrospective passive smoking reports was examined with intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) using household smoking reported 34 years earlier in 1985 by participants when aged 7-15 years. Construct validity was examined by correlating retrospective passive smoking with participants’ smoking in adulthood and lung function in childhood and adulthood. Results:Among 2082 participants (mean±standard deviation [SD], 45.0±2.5 years; 55.2% females), THS ranged from 0 to 5 (mean± SD, 0.9±1.0), CYE ranged from 0 to 106 (mean±SD, 10.5±13.9), and SEI ranged from 0 to 318 (mean±SD, 24.4±36.0). Retrospective measures showed moderate agreement with total household smokers reported in childhood (ICC, 0.58 to 0.62). The retrospective measures were weakly but significantly (pConclusions:The retrospective passive smoking questionnaire showed reasonable reliability and validity. This measure may be useful for epidemiological studies.</p

A design for cancer case–control studies using only incident cases: experience with the GEM study of melanoma

BACKGROUND: The population-based case-control study is not suited to the evaluation of rare genetic (or environmental) factors. The use of a novel case-control design in which cases have second primaries and controls are cancer survivors has been proposed for this purpose. METHODS: We report results from an international study of melanoma that involved population-based ascertainment of incident cases of second or subsequent primary melanoma as the 'case' group and incident cases of first primary melanoma as the 'control' group. We evaluate the validity of the study design by comparing the results obtained for phenotypic factors that have been shown consistently to be associated with melanoma in previous conventional studies with the results from a conventional case-control study conducted in Connecticut and from literature reviews. RESULTS: All but one of the known risk factors for melanoma were shown to be significantly associated with melanoma in our study, though the individual odds ratios appear to be somewhat attenuated relative to the magnitudes typically observed in the literature. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with a second or subsequent primary cancer of a single type represent a potentially valuable and under-utilized resource for the study of cancer aetiology

CDKN2A Germline Mutations in Individuals with Cutaneous Malignant Melanoma

Cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor type 2A (CDKN2A) has been identified as a major melanoma susceptibility gene based on the presence of germline mutations in high-risk melanoma families. In this study, we sought to identify and characterize the spectrum of CDKN2A mutations affecting p16 inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinase type 4 (INK4a) in individuals with melanoma using a population-based study design. DNA samples from 1189 individuals with incident multiple primary melanoma (MPM) and 2424 with incident single primary melanoma unselected for family history of melanoma were available for screening of CDKN2A (p16INK4a) mutations. Variants were classified for functional impact based on intragenic position, existing functional data, sequence, and structural analysis. The impact of individual mutations and functional groupings was assessed by comparing frequencies in cases of MPM versus cases with a single first primary melanoma, and by comparing the reported incidence rates in first-degree relatives. Our results show that mutations occur infrequently in these high-risk groups, and that they occur mainly in exons 1alpha and 2. Rare coding variants with putative functional impact are observed to increase substantially the risk of melanoma. With the exception of the variant in position -34 of CDKN2A of known functional consequence, the remaining rare variants in the non-coding region have no apparent impact on risk

A Novel T-Cell Engaging Bi-specific Antibody Targeting the Leukemia Antigen PR1/HLA-A2

Despite substantial advances in the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), only 30% of patients survive more than 5 years. Therefore, new therapeutics are much needed. Here, we present a novel therapeutic strategy targeting PR1, an HLA-A2 restricted myeloid leukemia antigen. Previously, we have developed and characterized a novel T-cell receptor-like monoclonal antibody (8F4) that targets PR1/HLA-A2 and eliminates AML xenografts by antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC). To improve the potency of 8F4, we adopted a strategy to link T-cell cytotoxicity with a bi-specific T-cell-engaging antibody that binds PR1/HLA-A2 on leukemia and CD3 on neighboring T-cells. The 8F4 bi-specific antibody maintained high affinity and specific binding to PR1/HLA-A2 comparable to parent 8F4 antibody, shown by flow cytometry and Bio-Layer Interferometry. In addition, 8F4 bi-specific antibody activated donor T-cells in the presence of HLA-A2+ primary AML blasts and cell lines in a dose dependent manner. Importantly, activated T-cells lysed HLA-A2+ primary AML blasts and cell lines after addition of 8F4 bi-specific antibody. In conclusion, our studies demonstrate the therapeutic potential of a novel bi-specific antibody targeting the PR1/HLA-A2 leukemia-associated antigen, justifying further clinical development of this strategy

Probing conformational states of glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase by fragment screening

The first crystal structure is reported of a glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase in the apo state without flavin adenine dinucleotide cofactor bound. Additional structures with small molecules complexed in the catalytic active site were obtained by fragment-based screening

UNBOUND

Featured here, are the extraordinary works of our graduating Fashion Design class. This accomplishment is truly a celebration of the tree years of passion, hard work, and dedication of our students. It\u27s our hope that the fashion industry will partake in the creative endeavors of the emerging designers from the Fashion Design program at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario.https://first.fanshawec.ca/famd_design_fashiondesign_unbound/1002/thumbnail.jp