EFFECTS OF CHIGGER MITE (ACARI: TROMBICULIDAE) INFECTIONS ON AMEIVA (SQUAMATA: TEIIDAE) FROM THE ANGUILLA BANK

We examined 152 Ameiva plei from four sites on Anguilla and from Scrub Island, a nearby satellite, and 12 A. corax from Little Scrub Island, another Anguillian satellite, generated indices of condition by dividing mass (g) by SVL (mm), and quantified degrees of eutrombiculid chigger mite infections by measuring the total areas (mm2) of each lizard covered by one or more clusters of mites. Prevalence in infected A. plei (N = 77) varied significantly by site, but frequencies of infected males and females within sites did not differ signifi cantly. Indices of condition of infected and mite-free lizards did not differ significantly, nor was area covered by mites significantly correlated with condition, suggesting that mite infections are relatively asymptomatic. All Ameiva corax were infected, and area covered by mites was not significantly correlated with condition. Indices of condition for A. corax were signifi cantly lower than for infected A. plei, probably refl ecting the poorer condition of lizards occupying a food-deficient habitat

Functional Microcircuitry of the Granular Retrosplenial Cortex

The granular retrosplenial cortex (RSG) is essential for successful spatial navigation and memory, but the cell types and cellular computations underlying these functions remain poorly understood. Using a multifaceted approach combining whole-cell patch clamp recordings, imaging, pharmacological interventions, and computational models, this dissertation provides a comprehensive investigation of the cells, circuits, and computations employed by the RSG to support navigational functions. In Chapter 2, we identify a unique, hyperexcitable pyramidal cell type localized to the superficial layers of RSG, which we name the low-rheobase (LR) neuron. We show that the intrinsic properties of LR cells make them ideally suited to encode persistent spatial information over long durations. In Chapter 3, we then show that these LR neurons are strongly and preferentially targeted by directional and spatial inputs from the anterior thalamus and dorsal subiculum due to the precise anatomical overlap of LR dendrites and thalamic/subicular afferents. In contrast, neighboring regular-spiking (RS) cells are targeted by mostly non-spatial claustral and anterior cingulate inputs, establishing parallel RSG circuits that encode spatial versus non-spatial signals. Using computational modeling, we show that LR cells can conjunctively encode head direction and speed as a result of the uniquely depressing nature of their anterior thalamic synaptic inputs, providing a robust mechanism for the conjunctive encoding of spatial orientation information in the RSG. Lastly, in Chapter 4, we show that LR neuron activity is not directly modulated by acetylcholine, suggesting that LR spatial coding is consistent across behavioral states and independent of cholinergic tone. Taken together, the results presented in this dissertation strongly suggest that LR neurons are critical for the encoding of spatial orientation information in the RSG and provide a specific circuit and synaptic mechanisms underlying retrosplenial contributions to successful navigational control.PHDNeuroscienceUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/169755/1/ewixted_1.pd

A Complex Interaction Between Reduced Reelin Expression and Prenatal Organophosphate Exposure Alters Neuronal Cell Morphology.

Genetic and environmental factors are both likely to contribute to neurodevelopmental disorders including schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorders, and major depressive disorders. Prior studies from our laboratory and others have demonstrated that the combinatorial effect of two factors-reduced expression of reelin protein and prenatal exposure to the organophosphate pesticide chlorpyrifos oxon-gives rise to acute biochemical effects and to morphological and behavioral phenotypes in adolescent and young adult mice. In the current study, we examine the consequences of these factors on reelin protein expression and neuronal cell morphology in adult mice. While the cell populations that express reelin in the adult brain appear unchanged in location and distribution, the levels of full length and cleaved reelin protein show persistent reductions following prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos oxon. Cell positioning and organization in the hippocampus and cerebellum are largely normal in animals with either reduced reelin expression or prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos oxon, but cellular complexity and dendritic spine organization is altered, with a skewed distribution of immature dendritic spines in adult animals. Paradoxically, combinatorial exposure to both factors appears to generate a rescue of the dendritic spine phenotypes, similar to the mitigation of behavioral and morphological changes observed in our prior study. Together, our observations support an interaction between reelin expression and chlorpyrifos oxon exposure that is not simply additive, suggesting a complex interplay between genetic and environmental factors in regulating brain morphology

Recruitment of Progenitor Cell Populations by Chemoattractant Degradation Products of Extracellular Matrix Scaffolds

Biologic scaffolds composed of extracellular matrix (ECM) have been successfully used as templates for the constructive remodeling of numerous tissues in preclinical studies and human clinical applications. The mechanisms by which ECM induces remodeling are largely unknown, but the degradation products of ECM may play key roles in constructive remodeling. This dissertation investigated the hypothesis that ECM degradation products possess chemoattractant properties for progenitor cell (PC) populations that participate in constructive remodeling. We investigated different methods of in vitro degradation of ECM and determined physiologically relevant methods of degradation yielded degradation products with chemoattractant activity. Both pepsin and collagenase digestion of ECM resulted in chemoattraction of two distinct PC populations. We then investigated if ECM degradation products from a given tissue have more potent chemoattractant properties for PCs derived from the same tissue type than for PCs derived from other tissues. Although ECM derived from skin, liver, small intestine, and urinary bladder were all chemoattractive for at least one PC population, a tissue-specific chemotactic effect was not observed in studies using skin, liver, and intestinal PCs. However, results showed that the age and species from which ECM is harvested has an effect on the chemoattractant potential of the ECM for some PC populations. We investigated if prevention or retardation of ECM degradation in vivo would reduce bone marrow-derived PC involvement in constructive remodeling, yielding a different histomorphologic outcome than normal ECM degradation. Bone marrow-derived cells (BMCs) participated in the early remodeling of wounded mouse skin treated with rapidly degrading ECM scaffolds. By 28 days post-surgery, the number of BMCs returned to normal levels, suggesting that these cells do not participate in long-term constructive remodeling of mouse skin. Slowly degrading chemically crosslinked ECM scaffolds did not recruit more BMCs than are found in normal uninjured mouse skin at any time investigated. Wounds treated with rapidly degrading ECM appeared to remodel more rapidly than other treatment groups. These results suggest that scaffold type affects the temporal remodeling of injured mouse skin and that while BMCs participate in remodeling of skin wounds in mice, local tissue cells may also play an important role

The Genre STEM Switch Guide

The Genre STEM Switch Guide is supplementary material for the Science+SciComm+Work book chapter, The Genre Switch Game: Tailoring for Audience and Format. Please use this guide in conjunction with the chapter for a complete lesson plan suitable for secondary school students to graduate students and fellows in STEM fields.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/166089/1/Genre-Switch-Guide.pdfDescription of Genre-Switch-Guide.pdf : Main guideSEL

Science Through Storytelling

The Science Through Storytelling Worksheet is supplementary material for the book chapter "The Genre Switch Game: Tailoring for Audience and Format" in Science+SciComm+Work. The worksheet can be used as a stand-alone resource but is best accompanied by the complete lesson plan within the book chapter.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/166090/1/Science-Through-Storytelling-Worksheet.pdfDescription of Science-Through-Storytelling-Worksheet.pdf : WorksheetSEL

"A Sort of Rathmines Version of a Dior Design": Maeve Brennan, Self-Fashioning, and the Uses of Style

This article explores the politics of style in the writing of Maeve Brennan. Brennan's concern with style, subjectivity and power is strikingly visible in her short stories and ‘Talk of the Town’ essays for the New Yorker. While in some of her short stories published in the New Yorker in the 1950s, Brennan seems to offer an extended critique of dandyism, elsewhere in her writing self-fashioning takes on an altogether more positive value and is steeped in the political as well as literary commitments of her work. The article argues that Brennan's interest in the politics of style, both personally and in her writing, is informed by the different strategies she deployed as an Irish woman writer establishing her place amongst a New York literary elite in the mid twentieth century.This work began as a conversation with Neil Sammells about Irish women's writing and self-fashioning, and his encouragement and insightful responses to ideas in development were invaluable to the progress of the research. I am also very grateful to Maureen O'Connor and Caitríona Clear, whose work on the Irish woman writer and dandyism, and women and magazine culture, lays an all-important foundation for the arguments developed here. Archival research for the article was made possible by a Fulbright Scholarship in the Humanities (September 2012—January 2013), and I am most grateful to my host institution, Fordham University in New York. I would like to thank the literary estate of Maeve Brennan for kind permission to cite from Maeve Brennan's letters and unpublished material held in the Special Collections at the University of Delaware and the Manuscripts and Archives Division of the New York Public Library. The work was completed with the assistance of a Moore Institute Visiting Fellowship to the National University of Ireland, Galway in 2015, which provided a valuable opportunity to present work in progress as part of the seminar series hosted by the Centre for Irish Studies. Finally, I am grateful to the anonymous peer reviewers and editors at Women: A Cultural Review for their thorough and expert responses to the article

Cost-effectiveness of insulin pumps compared with multiple daily injections, both provided with structured education, for adults with type 1 diabetes:a health economic analysis of the Relative Effectiveness of Pumps over Structured Education (REPOSE) randomised controlled trial

Objectives To assess the long-term cost-effectiveness of insulin pumps and Dose Adjustment for Normal Eating (pumps+DAFNE) compared with multiple daily insulin injections and DAFNE (MDI+DAFNE) for adults with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) in the UK. Methods We undertook a cost–utility analysis using the Sheffield Type 1 Diabetes Policy Model and data from the Relative Effectiveness of Pumps over Structured Education (REPOSE) trial to estimate the lifetime incidence of diabetic complications, intervention-based resource use and associated effects on costs and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). All economic analyses took a National Health Service and personal social services perspective and discounted costs and QALYs at 3.5% per annum. A probabilistic sensitivity analysis was performed on the base case. Further uncertainties in the cost of pumps and the evidence used to inform the model were explored using scenario analyses. Setting Eight diabetes centres in England and Scotland. Participants Adults with T1DM who were eligible to receive a structured education course and did not have a strong clinical indication or a preference for a pump. Intervention Pumps+DAFNE. Comparator MDI+DAFNE. Main outcome measures Incremental costs, incremental QALYs gained and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs). Results Compared with MDI+DAFNE, pumps+DAFNE was associated with an incremental discounted lifetime cost of +£18 853 (95% CI £6175 to £31 645) and a gain in discounted lifetime QALYs of +0.13 (95% CI -0.70 to +0.96). The base case mean ICER was £142 195 per QALY gained. The probability of pump+DAFNE being cost-effective using a cost-effectiveness threshold of £20 000 per QALY gained was 14.0%. All scenario and subgroup analyses examined indicated that the ICER was unlikely to fall below £30 000 per QALY gained. Conclusions Our analysis of the REPOSE data suggests that routine use of pumps in adults without an immediate clinical need for a pump, as identified by National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, would not be cost-effective. Trial registration number ISRCTN61215213

Exploring the Use of Body Worn Cameras in Acute Mental Health Wards: a mixed-method evaluation of a pilot intervention

Background: Body worn cameras (BWC) are mobile audio and video capture devices that can be secured to clothing allowing the wearer to record some of what they see and hear. This technology is being introduced in a range of healthcare settings as part of larger violence reduction strategies aimed at reducing incidents of aggression and violence on inpatient wards, however limited evidence exists to understand if this technology achieves such goals.Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the implementation of BWCs on two inpatient mental health wards, including the impact on incidents, the acceptability to staff and patients, the sustainability of the resource use and ability to manage the use of BWCs on these wards. Methods: The study used a mixed-methods design comparing quantitative measures including ward activity and routinely collected incident data at three time-points before during and after the pilot implementation of BWCs on one acute ward and one psychiatric intensive care unit, alongside pre and post pilot qualitative interviews with patients and staff, analysed using a framework based on the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. Results: Results showed no clear relationship between the use of BWCs and rates or severity of incidents on either ward, with limited impact of using BWCs on levels of incidents. Qualitative findings noted mixed perceptions about the use of BWCs and highlighted the complexity of implementing such technology as a violence reduction method within a busy healthcare setting Furthermore, the qualitative data collected during this pilot period highlighted the potential systemic and contextual factors such as low staffing that may impact on the incident data presented. Conclusion: This study sheds light on the complexities of using such BWCs as a tool for ‘maximising safety’ on mental health settings. The findings suggest that BWCs have a limited impact on levels of incidents on wards, something that is likely to be largely influenced by the process of implementation as well as a range of contextual factors. As a result, it is likely that while BWCs may see successes in one hospital site this is not guaranteed for another site as such factors will have a considerable impact on efficacy, acceptability, and feasibility. <br/

American Telemedicine Association’s Principles for Delivering Telerehabilitation Services

Telehealth is a broad term used to describe the use of electronic or digital information and communications technologies to support clinical healthcare, patient and professional health related education, and public health and health administration. Telerehabilitation refers to the delivery of rehabilitation and habilitation services via information and communication technologies (ICT), also commonly referred to as” telehealth” technologies. Telerehabilitation services can include evaluation, assessment, monitoring, prevention, intervention, supervision, education, consultation, and coaching. Telerehabilitation services can be deployed across all patient populations and multiple healthcare settings including clinics, homes, schools, or community-based worksites. This document was adapted from the American Telemedicine Association’s (ATA) “A Blueprint for Telerehabilitation Guidelines” (2010) and reflects the current utilization of telerehabilitation services. It was developed collaboratively by members of the ATA Telerehabilitation Special Interest Group, with input and guidance from other practitioners in the field, strategic stakeholders, and ATA staff. Its purpose is to inform and assist practitioners in providing effective and secure services that are based on client needs, current empirical evidence, and available technologies. Rehabilitation professionals, in conjunction with professional associations and other organizations are encouraged to use this document as a resource for developing discipline-specific standards, guidelines, and practice requirements.Keywords: American Telemedicine Association, Habilitation, Rehabilitation, Telehealth, Telepractice