Increase Postpartum Gestational Diabetes Screening

Introduction: Diabetic women did not get follow up screening after delivery. Nurses are finding a way to screen more women

Subleading-N_c corrections in non-linear small-x evolution

We explore the subleading-N_c corrections to the large-N_c Balitsky-Kovchegov (BK) evolution equation by comparing its solution to that of the all-N_c Jalilian-Marian-Iancu-McLerran-Weigert-Leonidov-Kovner (JIMWLK) equation. In earlier simulations it was observed that the difference between the solutions of JIMWLK and BK is unusually small for a quark dipole scattering amplitude, of the order of 0.1%, which is two orders of magnitude smaller than the naively expected 1/N_c^2 or 11%. In this paper we argue that this smallness is not accidental. We show that saturation effects and correlator coincidence limits fixed by group theory constraints conspire with the particular structure of the dipole kernel to suppress subleading-N_c corrections reducing the difference between the solutions of JIMWLK and BK to 0.1%. We solve the JIMWLK equation with improved numerical accuracy and verify that the remaining 1/N_c corrections, while small, still manage to slow down the rapidity-dependence of JIMWLK evolution compared to that of BK. We demonstrate that a truncation of JIMWLK evolution in the form of a minimal Gaussian generalization of the BK equation captures some of the remaining 1/N_c contributions leading to an even better agreement with JIMWLK evolution. As the 1/N_c corrections to BK include multi-reggeon exchanges one may conclude that the net effect of multi-reggeon exchanges on the dipole amplitude is rather small.Comment: discussion of phase space regions streamlined, version to be published in NP

The Pleiotropic CymR Regulator of Staphylococcus aureus Plays an Important Role in Virulence and Stress Response

We have characterized a novel pleiotropic role for CymR, the master regulator of cysteine metabolism. We show here that CymR plays an important role both in stress response and virulence of Staphylococcus aureus. Genes involved in detoxification processes, including oxidative stress response and metal ion homeostasis, were differentially expressed in a ΔcymR mutant. Deletion of cymR resulted in increased sensitivity to hydrogen peroxide-, disulfide-, tellurite- and copper-induced stresses. Estimation of metabolite pools suggests that this heightened sensitivity could be the result of profound metabolic changes in the ΔcymR mutant, with an increase in the intracellular cysteine pool and hydrogen sulfide formation. Since resistance to oxidative stress within the host organism is important for pathogen survival, we investigated the role of CymR during the infectious process. Our results indicate that the deletion of cymR promotes survival of S. aureus inside macrophages, whereas virulence of the ΔcymR mutant is highly impaired in mice. These data indicate that CymR plays a major role in virulence and adaptation of S. aureus for survival within the host

Fe en accion/faith in action: Design and implementation of a church-based randomized trial to promote physical activity and cancer screening among churchgoing Latinas

Objectives: To describe both conditions of a two-group randomized trial, one that promotes physical activity and one that promotes cancer screening, among churchgoing Latinas. The trial involves promotoras (community health workers) targeting multiple levels of the Ecological Model. This trial builds on formative and pilot research findings. Design: Sixteen churches were randomly assigned to either the physical activity intervention or cancer screening comparison condition (approximately 27 women per church). In both conditions, promotoras from each church intervened at the individual- (e.g., beliefs), interpersonal- (e.g., social support), and environmental- (e.g., park features and access to health care) levels to affect change on target behaviors. Measurements: The study’s primary outcome is min/wk of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) at baseline and 12 and 24 months following implementation of intervention activities. We enrolled 436 Latinas (aged 18–65 years) who engaged in less than 250 min/wk of MVPA at baseline as assessed by accelerometer, attended church at least four times per month, lived near their church, and did not have a health condition that could prevent them from participating in physical activity. Participants were asked to complete measures assessing physical activity and cancer screening as well as their correlates at 12- and 24-months. Summary: Findings from the current study will address gaps in research by showing the long term effectiveness of multi-level faith-based interventions promoting physical activity and cancer screening among Latino communities

Lack of collagen XVIII leads to lipodystrophy and perturbs hepatic glucose and lipid homeostasis

Abstract Liver and adipose tissues play important roles in the regulation of systemic glucose and lipid metabolism. Extracellular matrix synthesis and remodelling are significantly altered in these tissues in obesity and type 2 diabetes. Collagen XVIII is a ubiquitous extracellular matrix component, and it occurs in three isoforms which differ in terms of molecular size, domain structure and tissue distribution. We recently showed that, in mice, the lack of collagen XVIII, and especially its medium and long isoforms, leads to reduced adiposity and dyslipidaemia. To address the metabolic consequences of these intriguing observations, we assessed whole‐body glucose homeostasis in mice challenged with a high‐fat diet and in normal physiological conditions. We observed that, in the high caloric diet, the overall adiposity was decreased by 30%, serum triglyceride values were threefold higher and the steatotic area in liver was twofold larger in collagen XVIII knockout mice compared with controls. We demonstrated that mice lacking either all three collagen XVIII isoforms, or specifically, the medium and long isoforms develop insulin resistance and glucose intolerance. Furthermore, we found that ablation of collagen XVIII leads to increased heat production in low temperatures and to reduction of the high blood triglyceride levels of the knockout mice to the level of wild‐type mice. Our data indicate that collagen XVIII plays a role in the regulation of glucose tolerance, insulin sensitivity and lipid homeostasis, principally through its ability to regulate the expansion of the adipose tissue. These findings advance the understanding of metabolic disorders

Context-Dependent Pharmacology Exhibited by Negative Allosteric Modulators of Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor 7S⃞

Phenotypic studies of mice lacking metabotropic glutamate receptor subtype 7 (mGluR7) suggest that antagonists of this receptor may be promising for the treatment of central nervous system disorders such as anxiety and depression. Suzuki et al. (J Pharmacol Exp Ther 323:147–156, 2007) recently reported the in vitro characterization of a novel mGluR7 antagonist called 6-(4-methoxyphenyl)-5-methyl-3-(4-pyridinyl)-isoxazolo[ 4,5-c]pyridin-4(5H)-one (MMPIP), which noncompetitively inhibited the activity of orthosteric and allosteric agonists at mGluR7. We describe that MMPIP acts as a noncompetitive antagonist in calcium mobilization assays in cells coexpressing mGluR7 and the promiscuous G protein Gα15. Assessment of the activity of a small library of MMPIP-derived compounds using this assay reveals that, despite similar potencies, compounds exhibit differences in negative cooperativity for agonist-mediated calcium mobilization. Examination of the inhibitory activity of MMPIP and analogs using endogenous Gi/o-coupled assay readouts indicates that the pharmacology of these ligands seems to be context-dependent, and MMPIP exhibits differences in negative cooperativity in certain cellular backgrounds. Electrophysiological studies reveal that, in contrast to the orthosteric antagonist (2S)-2-amino-2-[(1S,2S)-2-carboxyclycloprop-1-yl]-3-(xanth-9-yl) propanoic acid (LY341495), MMPIP is unable to block agonist-mediated responses at the Schaffer collateral-CA1 synapse, a location at which neurotransmission has been shown to be modulated by mGluR7 activity. Thus, MMPIP and related compounds differentially inhibit coupling of mGluR7 in different cellular backgrounds and may not antagonize the coupling of this receptor to native Gi/o signaling pathways in all cellular contexts. The pharmacology of this compound represents a striking example of the potential for context-dependent blockade of receptor responses by negative allosteric modulators