A Systematic Review of the Health Impact of Employer-sponsored Wellness Programs

The CDC has identified the four modifiable health risk behaviors of physical activity, poor nutrition, tobacco use, and alcohol use as being responsible for much of the illness and early death associated with chronic disease. The purpose of this review to is analyze the literature on existing employer sponsored lifestyle management wellness programs targeted at these risk factors and their associated biometric measures, the characteristics of these programs, and the demonstrated health impact. A literature review was conducted using PUBMEB and CINAHL for studies published from 2009-2013 within the United States. The employer characteristics, characteristics of the wellness program, incentives used within the wellness program, employee characteristics of those who participated in the wellness program, and outcome of the intervention were extracted from the studies. The review yielded five relevant studies with a total of 47 outcomes assessed. The studies indicated that employer sponsored wellness programs can be successful with the proper level of resources, incentivizing, and commitment by the employer, however additional future studies with comparison groups are recommended

Evaluating the Success of Written Mitigation in Reducing Prison Sentences and Achieving Alternatives to Incarceration for Parole Violations

It is estimated that 2.4 million individuals are incarcerated in federal, state, and county prisons and jails in the United States, the largest number seen in the developed world (Flatow, 2014). In addition, there are an estimated 4.75 million, or 1 in 51, adults under community supervision in the United States (Herberman & Bonczar, 2014). This includes individuals on probation, parole, and other forms of post-prison supervision. There are issues with the mass incarceration system in the United States that extend beyond the sheer number of individuals incarcerated. For instance, people of color make up 30% of the population but 60% of those imprisoned (Kerby, 2012). For the about 850,000 on parole, many face struggles adapting to society and attaining basic needs such as health care, housing, and employment. These factors, among many others, lead these individuals to violate parole and become re-imprisoned, creating a cycle of perpetual contact with the legal system. The Parole Revocation Defense Unit at the Legal Aid Society provides services for those who have had their parole revoked or face parole revocation. Social workers work together with lawyers to provide comprehensive plans to reduce sentences and recommend alternatives to incarceration. One tool, known to be powerful within PRDU at the Legal Aid Society, is written mitigation, a process used to advocate for and provide holistic presentations of clients. This paper evaluates the benefits of written mitigation by looking at the sentencing for 20 cases before and after written mitigation. The findings show that written mitigation was helpful in reducing sentences and resulting in alternatives to incarceration with statistical significance. This information learned contributes to the larger discussion of the relevance of social workers in legal settings to provide holistic services and broader conversations of criminal justice reform and elimination of institutions that produce outcomes that do more harm than good

Infection by a foliar endophyte elicits novel arabidopside-based plant defence reactions in its host, Cirsium arvense

Endophytic fungi live asymptomatically within plants. They are usually regarded as non-pathogenic or even mutualistic, but whether plants respond antagonistically to their presence remains unclear, particularly in the little-studied associations between endophytes and nong-raminoid herbaceous plants. We investigated the effects of the endophyte Chaetomium cochlioides on leaf chemistry in Cirsium arvense. Plants were sprayed with spores; leaf material from both subsequent new growth and the sprayed leaves was analysed 2 wk later. Infection frequency was 91% and63% for sprayed and new growth, respectively, indicating that C. cochlioides rapidly infects new foliage. Metabolomic analyses revealed marked changes in leaf chemistry with infection, especially in new growth. Changes in several novel oxylipin metabolites were detected, including arabi-dopsides reported here for the first time in a plant species other than Arabidopsis thaliana,and a jasmonate-containing galactolipid. The production of these metabolites in response to endophyte presence, particularly in newly infected foliage, suggests that endophytes elicit similar chemical responses in plants to those usually produced following wounding, herbivory and pathogen invasion. Whether en-dophytes benefit their hosts may depend on a complex series of chemically mediated interactions between the plant, the endophyte, other microbial colonists and natural enemies

Assessment of dry-aged beef from commercial aging locations across the United States

Modern dry-aging is a culinary-inspired practice that involves storing meat at refrigerated temperatures without protective packaging. The dry-aging process has been observed to create unique flavors. The objective of the current study was to survey commercial dry-aging facility environments and observe palatability differences related to consumer acceptance. Seventy-two bone-in beef strip loins (Institutional Meat Purchase Specification #175) were acquired. Strip loins were randomly assigned to each of ten commercial dry-aging facilities. Additionally, a set of strip loins were wet-aged at the University of Idaho meat laboratory. Strip loins were shipped overnight to respective aging locations and dry-aged for 45-days then returned overnight to the University of Idaho meat laboratory. Strip loins were fabricated into steaks, vacuum packaged, and then frozen until further analyzed. Commercial dry-aging facility cooler conditions were observed to be different (P 0.05) among treatment-locations. Consumer taste panels indicated a difference (P < 0.01) in acceptability (6.27–7.24), tenderness (6.65–7.54), and flavor (5.58–6.79) based on aging treatment-location. Overall, the findings indicate that conditions within individual dry-aging facilities aid in producing unique dry-aged beef flavors.Funded by the Idaho Beef Council. We gratefully acknowledge Idaho Beef Council’s financial support (AG3963

Thermoacclimation and genome adaptation of the membrane lipidome in marine Synechococcus

The marine cyanobacteria of the genus Synechococcus are important primary producers, displaying a wide latitudinal distribution that is underpinned by diversification into temperature ecotypes. The physiological basis underlying these ecotypes is poorly known. In many organisms, regulation of membrane fluidity is crucial for acclimating to variations in temperature. Here, we reveal the detailed composition of the membrane lipidome of the model strain Synechococcus sp. WH7803 and its response to temperature variation. Unlike freshwater strains, membranes are almost devoid of C18, mainly containing C14 and C16 chains with no more than two unsaturations. In response to cold, we observed a rarely observed process of acyl chain shortening that likely induces membrane thinning, along with specific desaturation activities. Both of these mechanisms likely regulate membrane fluidity, facilitating the maintenance of efficient photosynthetic activity. A comprehensive examination of 53 Synechococcus genomes revealed clade-specific gene sets regulating membrane lipids. In particular, the genes encoding desaturase enzymes, which is a key to the temperature stress response, appeared to be temperature ecotype-specific, with some of them originating from lateral transfers. Our study suggests that regulation of membrane fluidity has been among the important adaptation processes for the colonization of different thermal niches by marine Synechococcus

Telomerase promoter mutations in cancer: an emerging molecular biomarker?

João Vinagre, Vasco Pinto and Ricardo Celestino contributed equally to the manuscript.Cell immortalization has been considered for a long time as a classic hallmark of cancer cells. Besides telomerase reactivation, such immortalization could be due to telomere maintenance through the “alternative mechanism of telomere lengthening” (ALT) but the mechanisms underlying both forms of reactivation remained elusive. Mutations in the coding region of telomerase gene are very rare in the cancer setting, despite being associated with some degenerative diseases. Recently, mutations in telomerase (TERT) gene promoter were found in sporadic and familial melanoma and subsequently in several cancer models, notably in gliomas, thyroid cancer and bladder cancer. The importance of these findings has been reinforced by the association of TERT mutations in some cancer types with tumour aggressiveness and patient survival. In the first part of this review, we summarize the data on the biology of telomeres and telomerase, available methodological approaches and non-neoplastic diseases associated with telomere dysfunction. In the second part, we review the information on telomerase expression and genetic alterations in the most relevant types of cancer (skin, thyroid, bladder and central nervous system) on record, and discuss the value of telomerase as a new biomarker with impact on the prognosis and survival of the patients and as a putative therapeutic target