Mice Hemizygous for a Pathogenic Mitofusin-2 Allele Exhibit Hind Limb/Foot Gait Deficits and Phenotypic Perturbations in Nerve and Muscle.

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 2A (CMT2A), the most common axonal form of hereditary sensory motor neuropathy, is caused by mutations of mitofusin-2 (MFN2). Mitofusin-2 is a GTPase required for fusion of mitochondrial outer membranes, repair of damaged mitochondria, efficient mitochondrial energetics, regulation of mitochondrial-endoplasmic reticulum calcium coupling and axonal transport of mitochondria. We knocked T105M MFN2 preceded by a loxP-flanked STOP sequence into the mouse Rosa26 locus to permit cell type-specific expression of this pathogenic allele. Crossing these mice with nestin-Cre transgenic mice elicited T105M MFN2 expression in neuroectoderm, and resulted in diminished numbers of mitochondria in peripheral nerve axons, an alteration in skeletal muscle fiber type distribution, and a gait abnormality

Organizational justice perceptions of Virginia high school teachers: Relationships to organizational citizenship behavior and student achievement

An emergent research base suggests that teacher perceptions of fairness with respect to interactions with school administrators, decision-making processes, and decision outcomes have much to contribute to our understanding of effective schools. This study focused on the relationship between organizational justice and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) in the high school setting and their relationships to student achievement. Correlational analysis was used to analyze and measure the strength of the relationships between examined variables. The study found a positive and significant relationship between organizational justice and organizational citizenship behavior in Virginia public high schools. No evidence was found for a significant correlation between organizational justice and student achievement. Results of the study are discussed in terms of their implications for future research on organizational justice

Existence, positivity and stability for a nonlinear model of cellular proliferation

In this paper, we investigate a system of two nonlinear partial differential equations, arising from a model of cellular proliferation which describes the production of blood cells in the bone marrow. Due to cellular replication, the two partial differential equations exhibit a retardation of the maturation variable and a temporal delay depending on this maturity. We show that this model has a unique solution which is global under a classical Lipschitz condition. We also obtain the positivity of the solutions and the local and global stability of the trivial equilibrium

Deletion of astroglial CXCL10 delays clinical onset but does not affect progressive axon loss in a murine autoimmune multiple sclerosis model.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is characterized by central nervous system (CNS) inflammation, demyelination, and axonal degeneration. CXCL10 (IP-10), a chemokine for CXCR3+ T cells, is known to regulate T cell differentiation and migration in the periphery, but effects of CXCL10 produced endogenously in the CNS on immune cell trafficking are unknown. We created floxed cxcl10 mice and crossed them with mice carrying an astrocyte-specific Cre transgene (mGFAPcre) to ablate astroglial CXCL10 synthesis. These mice, and littermate controls, were immunized with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein peptide 35-55 (MOG peptide) to induce experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). In comparison to the control mice, spinal cord CXCL10 mRNA and protein were sharply diminished in the mGFAPcre/CXCL10fl/fl EAE mice, confirming that astroglia are chiefly responsible for EAE-induced CNS CXCL10 synthesis. Astroglial CXCL10 deletion did not significantly alter the overall composition of CD4+ lymphocytes and CD11b+ cells in the acutely inflamed CNS, but did diminish accumulation of CD4+ lymphocytes in the spinal cord perivascular spaces. Furthermore, IBA1+ microglia/macrophage accumulation within the lesions was not affected by CXCL10 deletion. Clinical deficits were milder and acute demyelination was substantially reduced in the astroglial CXCL10-deleted EAE mice, but long-term axon loss was equally severe in the two groups. We concluded that astroglial CXCL10 enhances spinal cord perivascular CD4+ lymphocyte accumulation and acute spinal cord demyelination in MOG peptide EAE, but does not play an important role in progressive axon loss in this MS model

Satellite surface soil moisture from SMOS and Aquarius: Assessment for applications in agricultural landscapes

AbstractSatellite surface soil moisture has become more widely available in the past five years, with several missions designed specifically for soil moisture measurement now available, including the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission and the Soil Moisture Active/Passive (SMAP) mission. With a wealth of data now available, the challenge is to understand the skill and limitations of the data so they can be used routinely to support monitoring applications and to better understand environmental change. This paper examined two satellite surface soil moisture data sets from the SMOS and Aquarius missions against in situ networks in largely agricultural regions of Canada. The data from both sensors was compared to ground measurements on both an absolute and relative basis. Overall, the root mean squared errors for SMOS were less than 0.10m3m−3 at most sites, and less where the in situ soil moisture was measured at multiple sites within the radiometer footprint (sites in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario). At many sites, SMOS overestimates soil moisture shortly after rainfall events compared to the in situ data; however this was not consistent for each site and each time period. SMOS was found to underestimate drying events compared to the in situ data, however this observation was not consistent from site to site. The Aquarius soil moisture data showed higher root mean squared errors in areas where there were more frequent wetting and drying cycles. Overall, both data sets, and SMOS in particular, showed a stable and consistent pattern of capturing surface soil moisture over time

An evidenced based evaluation on the outcome of osteopathic manipulative treatment on postoperative coronary artery bypass and sternotomy patients

The recent COVID-19 pandemic caused a widespread strain on healthcare systems around the world, including the United States. With limited resources, such as healthcare staff and available beds in intensive care units (ICU), consideration must be placed on effective solutions. The goal of our study is to find evidence supporting the effectiveness of osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) on ICU length of stay for post-operative patients that have undergone coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery via sternotomy. We believe our findings will increase awareness of application of the beneficial effects of OMT in critical care patients

The silver bullet that wasn’t: Rapid agronomic weed adaptations to glyphosate in North America

The rapid adoption of glyphosate-resistant crops at the end of the 20th century caused a simplification of weed management that relied heavily on glyphosate for weed control. However, the effectiveness of glyphosate has diminished. A greater understanding of trends related to glyphosate use will shed new light on weed adaptation to a product that transformed global agriculture. Objectives were to (1) quantify the change in weed control efficacy from postemergence (POST) glyphosate use on troublesome weeds in corn and soybean and (2) determine the extent to which glyphosate preceded by a preemergence (PRE) improved the efficacy and consistency of weed control compared to glyphosate alone. Herbicide evaluation trials from 24 institutions across the United States of America and Canada from 1996 to 2021 were compiled into a single database. Two subsets were created; one with glyphosate applied POST, and the other with a PRE herbicide followed by glyphosate applied POST. Within each subset, mean and variance of control ratings for seven problem weed species were regressed over time for nine US states and one Canadian province. Mean control with POST glyphosate alone decreased over time while variability in control increased. Glyphosate preceded by a labeled PRE herbicide showed little change in mean control or variability in control over time. These results illustrate the rapid adaptation of agronomically important weed species to the paradigm-shifting product glyphosate. Including more diversity in weed management systems is essential to slowing weed adaptation and prolonging the usefulness of existing and future technologies