Microwave irradiation enhances the <i>in vitro </i>antifungal activity of citrus by-product aqueous extracts against <i>Alternaria alternata</i>

The effect of two lemon by-product aqueous extracts at different concentrations (14, 7, 3.5 and 1 mg mL−1) was tested against the in vitro growth of Alternaria alternata. Prior to extraction, one batch of by-product was dehydrated by freeze-drying (untreated by-product), while the other batch was treated by microwave irradiation in conjunction with freeze-drying (microwave-treated by-product). High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was employed for the identification of individual phenolic compounds with potent antifungal activities. Both lemon by-product aqueous extracts inhibited the mycelial growth and suppressed the spore germination of the fungus in a concentration-dependent manner. In general, the extracts obtained from the microwave-treated lemon by-product displayed enhanced antifungal activity than those obtained from the untreated one. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that both lemon by-product extracts affected the hyphal morphology of the fungus. The antifungal activity of the extracts was attributed to their phenolic acid and ascorbic acid contents

Study of the Perceived Effects of a Parental Empowerment Project for Parents of Students of Color

Thesis advisor: Irwin BlumerThis study examines the perceived impact of a parental empowerment project on parents of students of color transitioning into high school. The overarching problem addressed is the achievement gap. The study is an investigation of a means to increase the involvement of parents of color at an important transition. This is a gap closing measure because research dictates that this type of intervention can lead to higher academic achievement for minority students. To this end, seven participants constitute the sample group. Each sample member is treated as an individual case in keeping with the study's design as a qualitative case study. This study seeks to determine how these seven parents had their attitudes and behaviors shifted as a result of their participation in the aforementioned project, and which factors supported and inhibited their involvement as their children transitioned into high school. The researcher finds that all of the sample members perceived some benefit from their participation. These benefits for the parents include fostering a greater role understanding, increased ability to hold their children accountable, and an increased understanding of the high school curriculum. The monthly parent meetings, one of the three elements comprising the empowerment program, were most helpful for parents. Whereas, the scheduling of meetings made it difficult for members of the sample to be as involved as they wanted to be. Ultimately, the study concludes that a program which involves parents during their children's high school transition can help them increase their own sense of efficacy. It suggests opportunities for further research to be done on the impact of such a program on the actual academic performance of students.Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2009.Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education.Discipline: Educational Administration

Simple uncertainty frameworks for selecting weighting schemes and interpreting multimodel ensemble climate change experiments

Future climate change projections are often derived from ensembles of simulations from multiple global circulation models using heuristic weighting schemes. This study provides a more rigorous justification for this by introducing a nested family of three simple analysis of variance frameworks. Statistical frameworks are essential in order to quantify the uncertainty associated with the estimate of the mean climate change response. The most general framework yields the “one model, one vote” weighting scheme often used in climate projection. However, a simpler additive framework is found to be preferable when the climate change response is not strongly model dependent. In such situations, the weighted multimodel mean may be interpreted as an estimate of the actual climate response, even in the presence of shared model biases. Statistical significance tests are derived to choose the most appropriate framework for specific multimodel ensemble data. The framework assumptions are explicit and can be checked using simple tests and graphical techniques. The frameworks can be used to test for evidence of nonzero climate response and to construct confidence intervals for the size of the response. The methodology is illustrated by application to North Atlantic storm track data from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5) multimodel ensemble. Despite large variations in the historical storm tracks, the cyclone frequency climate change response is not found to be model dependent over most of the region. This gives high confidence in the response estimates. Statistically significant decreases in cyclone frequency are found on the flanks of the North Atlantic storm track and in the Mediterranean basin

Trauma ICU Prevalence Project: the diversity of surgical critical care.

Background:Surgical critical care is crucial to the care of trauma and surgical patients. This study was designed to provide a contemporary assessment of patient types, injuries, and conditions in intensive care units (ICU) caring for trauma patients. Methods:This was a multicenter prevalence study of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma; data were collected on all patients present in participating centers' trauma ICU (TICU) on November 2, 2017 and April 10, 2018. Results:Forty-nine centers submitted data on 1416 patients. Median age was 58 years (IQR 41-70). Patient types included trauma (n=665, 46.9%), non-trauma surgical (n=536, 37.8%), medical (n=204, 14.4% overall), or unspecified (n=11). Surgical intensivists managed 73.1% of patients. Of ICU-specific diagnoses, 57% were pulmonary related. Multiple high-intensity diagnoses were represented (septic shock, 10.2%; multiple organ failure, 5.58%; adult respiratory distress syndrome, 4.38%). Hemorrhagic shock was seen in 11.6% of trauma patients and 6.55% of all patients. The most common traumatic injuries were rib fractures (41.6%), brain (38.8%), hemothorax/pneumothorax (30.8%), and facial fractures (23.7%). Forty-four percent were on mechanical ventilation, and 17.6% had a tracheostomy. One-third (33%) had an infection, and over half (54.3%) were on antibiotics. Operations were performed in 70.2%, with 23.7% having abdominal surgery. At 30 days, 5.4% were still in the ICU. Median ICU length of stay was 9 days (IQR 4-20). 30-day mortality was 11.2%. Conclusions:Patient acuity in TICUs in the USA is very high, as is the breadth of pathology and the interventions provided. Non-trauma patients constitute a significant proportion of TICU care. Further assessment of the global predictors of outcome is needed to inform the education, research, clinical practice, and staffing of surgical critical care providers. Level of evidence:IV, prospective observational study

Noncoding deletions reveal a gene that is critical for intestinal function.

Large-scale genome sequencing is poised to provide a substantial increase in the rate of discovery of disease-associated mutations, but the functional interpretation of such mutations remains challenging. Here we show that deletions of a sequence on human chromosome 16 that we term the intestine-critical region (ICR) cause intractable congenital diarrhoea in infants1,2. Reporter assays in transgenic mice show that the ICR contains a regulatory sequence that activates transcription during the development of the gastrointestinal system. Targeted deletion of the ICR in mice caused symptoms that recapitulated the human condition. Transcriptome analysis revealed that an unannotated open reading frame (Percc1) flanks the regulatory sequence, and the expression of this gene was lost in the developing gut of mice that lacked the ICR. Percc1-knockout mice displayed phenotypes similar to those observed upon ICR deletion in mice and patients, whereas an ICR-driven Percc1 transgene was sufficient to rescue the phenotypes found in mice that lacked the ICR. Together, our results identify a gene that is critical for intestinal function and underscore the need for targeted in vivo studies to interpret the growing number of clinical genetic findings that do not affect known protein-coding genes

Ethanol Dehydration over Silica-Supported H₁PW₁₂O₄₀and the Role of Water

Catalytic dehydration of (bioderived) ethanol to ethylene or diethyl ether (DEE) offers an atom-efficient route to commodity chemicals and renewable aviation fuels. Here, the impact of silica support morphology and dispersion of H3PW12O40 (HPW) on the vapor-phase dehydration of ethanol to ethylene and DEE was investigated. Ethanol conversion at 175 °C and ambient pressure was inversely proportional to HPW dispersion over a fumed silica and mesoporous SBA-15 support, with specific activity directly proportional to the crystalline water content, highlighting the importance of catalysis within the pseudo-liquid phase. A common turnover frequency of ∼2500 h–1 was determined for HPW/SBA-15, with all acid sites participating. Catalyst deactivation at 175 °C could be suppressed by co-feeding 10 wt % water, likely by mitigating the loss of crystalline (acidic) water; higher reaction temperatures induce decomposition of the heteropolyanion to WO3 and could also be partially suppressed by co-fed water. In the presence of co-fed water, the optimum 50 wt % HPW/SBA-15 catalyst could be used for three consecutive reactions at 175 °C with minimal loss of activity or selectivity without any reactivation protocol. Ethanol dehydration was selective to DEE (∼80%) for reaction &lt;225 °C, with higher temperatures inducing a switchover to ethylene (87% ≥ 300 °C) in accordance with thermodynamic predictions. Maximum steady-state DEE productivity was 600 mmol·gcat–1·h–1 at 175 °C, and maximum steady-state ethylene productivity was 1800 mmol·gcat–1·h–1 at 225 °C. In situ DRIFTS identified the protonated ethanol dimer (C2H5OH)2H+ as the reactive intermediate to DEE formation, with higher temperatures favoring the formation of protonated ethanol (C2H5OH)H+ and ethoxy intermediates to ethylene

Regulation of sarcomere formation and function in the healthy heart requires a titin intronic enhancer

Heterozygous truncating variants in the sarcomere protein titin (TTN) are the most common genetic cause of heart failure. To understand mechanisms that regulate abundant cardiomyocyte (CM) TTN expression, we characterized highly conserved intron 1 sequences that exhibited dynamic changes in chromatin accessibility during differentiation of human CMs from induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC-CMs). Homozygous deletion of these sequences in mice caused embryonic lethality, whereas heterozygous mice showed an allele-specific reduction in Ttn expression. A 296 bp fragment of this element, denoted E1, was sufficient to drive expression of a reporter gene in hiPSC-CMs. Deletion of E1 downregulated TTN expression, impaired sarcomerogenesis, and decreased contractility in hiPSC-CMs. Site-directed mutagenesis of predicted binding sites of NK2 homeobox 5 (NKX2-5) and myocyte enhancer factor 2 (MEF2) within E1 abolished its transcriptional activity. In embryonic mice expressing E1 reporter gene constructs, we validated in vivo cardiac-specific activity of E1 and the requirement for NKX2-5- and MEF2-binding sequences. Moreover, isogenic hiPSC-CMs containing a rare E1 variant in the predicted MEF2-binding motif that was identified in a patient with unexplained dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) showed reduced TTN expression. Together, these discoveries define an essential, functional enhancer that regulates TTN expression. Manipulation of this element may advance therapeutic strategies to treat DCM caused by TTN haploinsufficiency