Safety Of \u3ci\u3eBrucella Abortus\u3c/i\u3e Strain Rb51 In Black Bears

In two studies conducted from October 1999 to March 2000 and December 2000 to April 2001, adult black bears (Ursus americanus) were orally inoculated with 1.4–3.1X1010 colony-forming units (CFU) of Brucella abortus strain RB51 (SRB51, n=12) or 2 ml of 0.15 M NaCl solution (saline, n=11). We did not detect a difference (P\u3e0.05) in antibody titers to SRB51 in serum obtained before vaccination, at 8 wk after vaccination, or at necropsy at 21 or 23 wk after vaccination between SRB51-vaccinated and nonvaccinated bears. The SRB51 vaccine strain was recovered from tissues obtained at necropsy from one of six SRB51-vaccinated bears in study 1, but none of the six SRB51-vaccinated bears in study 2. Vaccination of black bears with SRB51 did not appear to influence (P\u3e0.05) reproductive performance

Cross-Modal Health State Estimation

Individuals create and consume more diverse data about themselves today than any time in history. Sources of this data include wearable devices, images, social media, geospatial information and more. A tremendous opportunity rests within cross-modal data analysis that leverages existing domain knowledge methods to understand and guide human health. Especially in chronic diseases, current medical practice uses a combination of sparse hospital based biological metrics (blood tests, expensive imaging, etc.) to understand the evolving health status of an individual. Future health systems must integrate data created at the individual level to better understand health status perpetually, especially in a cybernetic framework. In this work we fuse multiple user created and open source data streams along with established biomedical domain knowledge to give two types of quantitative state estimates of cardiovascular health. First, we use wearable devices to calculate cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), a known quantitative leading predictor of heart disease which is not routinely collected in clinical settings. Second, we estimate inherent genetic traits, living environmental risks, circadian rhythm, and biological metrics from a diverse dataset. Our experimental results on 24 subjects demonstrate how multi-modal data can provide personalized health insight. Understanding the dynamic nature of health status will pave the way for better health based recommendation engines, better clinical decision making and positive lifestyle changes.Comment: Accepted to ACM Multimedia 2018 Conference - Brave New Ideas, Seoul, Korea, ACM ISBN 978-1-4503-5665-7/18/1

Modern and possible paleotsunami deposits in Samenoura, Sanriku Coast, and their relation to tsunami source mechanisms

Samenoura is situated in the bay head of a small inlet on the Pacific coast of Oshika Peninsula, one of the nearest places to the epicenter of the 2011 Tohoku-oki Earthquake. According to the Joint Survey Group, wave heights were measured at more than 20 m near the coastline. This area was severely damaged as a result of both co-seismic subsidence and tsunami inundation. We carried out field surveys of the Tohoku-oki and paleotsunami deposits at Samenoura in March, May and October 2013. Sandy deposits laid down by the Tohoku-oki tsunami were up to 20 cm thick at locations with an elevation greater than 10 m, and were several cm thick within the forest higher up. The tsunami deposit also contained numerous shell fragments and foraminifera. Although some possible sources of the tsunami deposits can be attributed to narrow sandy beaches near the study area, the deposition of such a thick sandy deposit is more or less enigmatic, considering the steep Ria-type coastal topography.Using a gouge auger and geoslicer, we found at least two sand layers intercalated within muddy sediments. A volcanic ash layer, which corresponds to the AD 915 Towada-a tephra, was also identified from a horizon between these sand layers. The underlying sand layer was most probably laid down by the 869 Jogan earthquake tsunami, one of the large-scale events known to have affected the region. Previous studies of the Jogan tsunami have proposed several possible source models that involve an interplate thrust earthquake. Given that the local bathymetry and topography of Samenoura Bay may be sensitive to the waveform of a large-scale tsunami, paleotsunami deposits found from this area may be the key to determining the source mechanisms of events on the Sanriku Coast.In this presentation, the possible correlation of the sandy deposits with known paleotsunami events based on detailed radiocarbon dating is discussed. The hydrodynamic character and processes of tsunami sediment erosion and deposition in Samenoura Bay are analyzed using numerical modeling of both interplate and outer-rise earthquake scenarios.Copyright on Japan Geoscience Union Meeting, 2014

Pan-European early switch/early discharge opportunities exist for hospitalised patients with methicillin-resistant <em>Staphylococcus</em> <em>aureus</em> complicated skin and soft-tissue infections

AbstractThe objective of this study was to document pan-European real-world treatment patterns and healthcare resource use and estimate opportunities for early switch (ES) from intravenous (IV) to oral antibiotics and early discharge (ED) in hospitalized patients with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) complicated skin and soft tissue infections (cSSTIs). This retrospective observational medical chart review study enrolled 342 physicians across 12 European countries who collected data from 1542 patients with documented MRSA cSSTI who were hospitalized (July 2010 to June 2011) and discharged alive (by July 2011). Data included clinical characteristics and outcomes, hospital length of stay (LOS), MRSA-targeted IV and oral antibiotic use, and ES and ED eligibility according to literature-based and expert-validated criteria. The most frequent initial MRSA-active antibiotics were vancomycin (50.2%), linezolid (15.1%), clindamycin (10.8%), and teicoplanin (10.4%). Patients discharged with MRSA-active antibiotics (n = 480) were most frequently prescribed linezolid (42.1%) and clindamycin (19.8%). IV treatment duration (9.3 ± 6.5 vs. 14.6 ± 9.9 days; p <0.001) and hospital LOS (19.1 ± 12.9 vs. 21.0 ± 18.2 days; p 0.162) tended to be shorter for patients switched from IV to oral treatment than for patients who received IV treatment only. Of the patients, 33.6% met ES criteria and could have discontinued IV treatment 6.0 ± 5.5 days earlier, and 37.9% met ED criteria and could have been discharged 6.2 ± 8.2 days earlier. More than one-third of European patients hospitalized for MRSA cSSTI could be eligible for ES and ED, resulting in substantial reductions in IV days and bed-days, with potential savings of €2000 per ED-eligible patient

Central circulatory hemodynamics as a function of gravitational stress

This study focuses on an evaluation of the central hemodynamics in a nonhuman primate model to variations in gravitational states. The baboon, phylogenectically close to man, was chosen as the human surrogate. The study environments selected are head-down and head-up tilt in the physiology laboratory, centrifugation to test hypergravic stress, and parabolic flights to test transient acute responses to microgravity

The Drosophila snr1 and brm Proteins are Related to Yeast SWI/SNF Proteins and are Components of a Large Protein Complex

During most of Drosophila development the regulation of homeotic gene transcription is controlled by two groups of regulatory genes, the trithorax group of activators and the Polycomb group of repressors. brahma (brm), a member of the trithorax group, encodes a protein related to the yeast SWI2/SNF2 protein, a subunit of a protein complex that assists sequence-specific activator proteins by alleviating the repressive effects of chromatin. To learn more about the molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of homeotic gene transcription, we have investigated whether a similar complex exists in flies. We identified the Drosophila snr1 gene, a potential homologue of the yeast SNF5 gene that encodes a subunit of the yeast SWI/SNF complex. The snr1 gene is essential and genetically interacts with brm and trithorax (trx), suggesting cooperation in regulating homeotic gene transcription. The spatial and temporal patterns of expression of snr1 are similar to those of brm. The snr1 and brm proteins are present in a large (> 2 x 10(6) Da) complex, and they co-immunoprecipitate from Drosophila extracts. These findings provide direct evidence for conservation of the SWI/SNF complex in higher eucaryotes and suggest that the Drosophila brm/snr1 complex plays an important role in maintaining homeotic gene transcription during development by counteracting the repressive effects of chromatin

The Drosophila snr1 and brm Proteins are Related to Yeast SWI/SNF Proteins and are Components of a Large Protein Complex

During most of Drosophila development the regulation of homeotic gene transcription is controlled by two groups of regulatory genes, the trithorax group of activators and the Polycomb group of repressors. brahma (brm), a member of the trithorax group, encodes a protein related to the yeast SWI2/SNF2 protein, a subunit of a protein complex that assists sequence-specific activator proteins by alleviating the repressive effects of chromatin. To learn more about the molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of homeotic gene transcription, we have investigated whether a similar complex exists in flies. We identified the Drosophila snr1 gene, a potential homologue of the yeast SNF5 gene that encodes a subunit of the yeast SWI/SNF complex. The snr1 gene is essential and genetically interacts with brm and trithorax (trx), suggesting cooperation in regulating homeotic gene transcription. The spatial and temporal patterns of expression of snr1 are similar to those of brm. The snr1 and brm proteins are present in a large (> 2 x 10(6) Da) complex, and they co-immunoprecipitate from Drosophila extracts. These findings provide direct evidence for conservation of the SWI/SNF complex in higher eucaryotes and suggest that the Drosophila brm/snr1 complex plays an important role in maintaining homeotic gene transcription during development by counteracting the repressive effects of chromatin

Estimating the workload associated with symptoms-based ovarian cancer screening in primary care: an audit of electronic medical records

BACKGROUND: Ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynaecological malignancy in the United Kingdom (UK). Studies have found that many women with ovarian cancer have symptoms for several months before diagnosis. Using a symptoms-based tool to diagnose ovarian cancer (OC) earlier is appealing, but may increase general practitioner (GP) workload because the symptoms are typically vague and non-specific. This study aimed to provide estimates of the GP workload associated with offering symptoms-based ovarian cancer screening. METHODS: A cross-sectional analysis of electronic records from four general practices in England, UK. We downloaded anonymous data on women aged 45–74 who consulted over one week to estimate the proportion who would be offered ‘screening’ according to the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines and a symptoms index (Index 2) over one year. We used previous consultations (censoring women with no prior symptom at the date of their last recorded consultation) to estimate the proportion of women presenting with a new (not recorded in previous 12 months) NICE symptom each year. RESULTS: Data were obtained from 19,558 women. The proportion presenting over one week varied between practices (5%-14%), however, the proportion with an OC symptom was similar (17% overall). Over one year, an estimated 51.8% (95% CI 44.0%-59.7%) would present with an OC symptom, 26.6% (95% CI 19.3%-35.1%) with a NICE symptom and 20.3% (95% CI 13.7%-28.5%) with an Index 2 symptom. Each year, an estimated 11.9% (95% CI 5.0%-18.3%) of women would present with a new NICE symptom. CONCLUSION: One in two women aged 45–74 present to primary care at least once a year with an OC symptom, 11.9% with a new NICE symptom. This would be comparable to 2 to 8 yearly screening (depending on what symptoms triggered testing)