Mycobacterium tuberculosis and the host response

Mycobacterium tuberculosis remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Advances reported at a recent international meeting highlight insights and controversies in the genetics of M. tuberculosis and the infected host, the nature of protective immune responses, adaptation of the bacillus to host-imposed stresses, animal models, and new techniques

Modeling Ertapenem: The Impact of Body Mass Index on Distribution of the Antibiotic in the Body

Ertapenem is an antibiotic commonly used to treat a broad spectrum of infections and is part of a broader class of antibiotics called carbapenems. Unlike other carbapenems, ertapenem has a longer half-life and thus only has to be administered once a day. Previously, a physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model was developed to investigate the uptake, distribution, and elimination of ertapenem following a single one gram dose in normal height, normal weight males. Due to the absorption properties of ertapenem, the amount of fat in the body can influence how the drug binds, how quickly the drug passes through the body, and thus how effective the drug might be. Thus, we have revised the model so that it is applicable to males and females of differing body mass index (BMI). Simulations were performed to consider the distribution of the antibiotic in males and females with varying body mass indexes. These results could help to determine if there is a need for altered dosing regimens in the future

KSU Opera: The Stoned Guest and The Medium

Kennesaw State University School of Music presents: The Medium and The Stoned Guest.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/1569/thumbnail.jp

Microbial Symbionts and Ecological Divergence of Caribbean Sponges: A New Perspective on an Ancient Association

Marine sponges host diverse communities of microbial symbionts that expand the metabolic capabilities of their host, but the abundance and structure of these communities is highly variable across sponge species. Specificity in these interactions may fuel host niche partitioning on crowded coral reefs by allowing individual sponge species to exploit unique sources of carbon and nitrogen, but this hypothesis is yet to be tested. Given the presence of high sponge biomass and the coexistence of diverse sponge species, the Caribbean Sea provides a unique system in which to investigate this hypothesis. To test for ecological divergence among sympatric Caribbean sponges and investigate whether these trends are mediated by microbial symbionts, we measured stable isotope (δ13C and δ15N) ratios and characterized the microbial community structure of sponge species at sites within four regions spanning a 1700 km latitudinal gradient. There was a low (median of 8.2 %) overlap in the isotopic niches of sympatric species; in addition, host identity accounted for over 75% of the dissimilarity in both δ13C and δ15N values and microbiome community structure among individual samples within a site. There was also a strong phylogenetic signal in both δ15N values and microbial community diversity across host phylogeny, as well as a correlation between microbial community structure and variation in δ13C and δ15N values across samples. Together, this evidence supports a hypothesis of strong evolutionary selection for ecological divergence across sponge lineages and suggests that this divergence is at least partially mediated by associations with microbial symbionts

Estimating Severe Coccidioidomycosis in California

We used hospital discharge data to estimate incidence and distribution of coccidioidomycosis-associated hospitalizations in California. For 1997–2002, the average annual rate of hospitalization was 3.67 per 100,000 population. County of residence, older age, black race, male sex, HIV infection, and pregnancy were strongly associated with increased risk for hospitalization

Giving birth : a hermeneutic study of the expectations and experiences of healthy primigravid women in Switzerland

Switzerland experiences one of the highest caesarean section rates in Europe but it is unclear why and when the decision is made to perform a caesarean section. Many studies have examined from a medical and physiological point of view, but research from a women's standpoint is lacking. Our aim was to develop a model of the emerging expectations of giving birth and the subsequent experiences of healthy primigravid women, across four cantons in Switzerland. This longitudinal study included 30 primigravidae from the German speaking, 14 from the French speaking and 14 from the Italian speaking cantons who were purposively selected. Data were collected by semi-structured interviews taking place around 22 and 36 weeks of pregnancy and six weeks and six months postnatally. Following Gadamer's hermeneutic, which in this study comprised 5 stages, a model was developed. Four major themes emerged: Decisions, Care, Influences and Emotions. Their meandering paths and evolution demonstrate the complexity of the expectations and experiences of women becoming mothers. In this study, women's narrated mode of birth expectations did not foretell how they gave birth and their lived experiences. A hermeneutic discontinuity arises at the 6 week postnatal interview mark. This temporary gap illustrates the bridge between women's expectations of birth and their actual lived experiences, highlighting the importance of informed consent, parent education and ensuring women have a positive birth and immediate postnatal experiences. Other factors than women's preferences should be considered to explain the increasing caesarean section rates

School start time changes in the COMPASS study: associations with youth sleep duration, physical activity, and screen time

The final publication is available at Elsevier via https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2018.09.020� 2018. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Background To date, no longitudinal population-based studies of school start times have been conducted within Canada. School schedule changes provided an opportunity to examine start times in association with youth sleep, physical activity, and screen use over time. Methods This longitudinal study included grade 9�12 students attending 49 Ontario secondary schools that participated in at least two consecutive years of the COMPASS study (2012�2017). Fixed effects models tested whether differences in within-student change in self-reported sleep duration, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, and screen time were associated with school start time changes, adjusting for student- (grade, sex, ethnicity, spending money) and school-level covariates (median income, urbanicity, geographical area). Results Thirteen start time changes of 5�10�min were reported. Ten-minute advances at earlier clock times (8:30 AM�8:20 AM; 8:40 AM�8:30 AM) were associated with steeper sleep duration declines than schools with consistent start times but had no effect at later times (9:00 AM�8:50 AM). While sleep change did not differ with 5-min�delays, 10-min�delays (8:50 AM�9:00 AM) were associated with additional sleep (23.7�min). Apart from one school that shifted from 8:30 AM to 8:35 AM, in which screen time and physical activity decreased more steeply, no effect was found for screen time, and 5-min�delays were associated with more physical activity (10.9�min) and advances with less activity (_8.0�min). Conclusions Results support start time delays as a valuable strategy to help ameliorate sleep debt among youth. Interference with physical activity or increased screen time appear unlikely with modest schedule changes. Potential adverse impacts on sleep require consideration with 10-min�advances.Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes [grant OOP-110788]Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Population and Public Health [grant MOP-114875]Canadian Institutes of Health Research Project Grant [grant PJT-148562]Canadian Institutes of Health Research New Investigator Salary AwardCanadian Institutes of Health Research Doctoral Research Awar

Red Galaxy Clustering in the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey

We have measured the clustering of z<0.9 red galaxies and constrained models of the evolution of large-scale structure using the initial 1.2 sq. degree data release of the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey (NDWFS). The area and BwRI passbands of the NDWFS allow samples of >1000 galaxies to be selected as a function of spectral type, absolute magnitude, and photometric redshift. Spectral synthesis models can be used to predict the colors and luminosities of a galaxy population as a function of redshift. We have used PEGASE2 models, with exponentially declining star formation rates, to estimate the observed colors and luminosity evolution of galaxies and to connect, as an evolutionary sequence, related populations of galaxies at different redshifts. A red galaxy sample, with present-day rest-frame Vega colors of Bw-R>1.44, was chosen to allow comparisons with the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey and Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We find the spatial clustering of red galaxies to be a strong function of luminosity, with r0 increasing from 4.4+/-0.4 Mpc/h at M_R=-20 to 11.2+/-1.0 Mpc/h at M_R=-22. Clustering evolution measurements using samples where the rest-frame selection criteria vary with redshift, including all deep single-band magnitude limited samples, are biased due to the correlation of clustering with rest-frame color and luminosity. The clustering of M_R=-21, Bw-R>1.44 galaxies exhibits no significant evolution over the redshift range observed with r0= 6.3+/-0.5 Mpc/h in comoving coordinates. This is consistent with recent LCDM models where the bias of L* galaxies undergoes rapid evolution and r0 evolves very slowly at z<2.Comment: 34 pages, 10 figures, Accepted for Publication in ApJ. Selection criteria for one of the red galaxy samples have been revise

Walks4work: Rationale and study design to investigate walking at lunchtime in the workplace setting

Background: Following recruitment of a private sector company, an 8week lunchtime walking intervention was implemented to examine the effect of the intervention on modifiable cardiovascular disease risk factors, and further to see if walking environment had any further effect on the cardiovascular disease risk factors. Methods. For phase 1 of the study participants were divided into three groups, two lunchtime walking intervention groups to walk around either an urban or natural environment twice a week during their lunch break over an 8week period. The third group was a waiting-list control who would be invited to join the walking groups after phase 1. In phase 2 all participants were encouraged to walk during their lunch break on self-selecting routes. Health checks were completed at baseline, end of phase 1 and end of phase 2 in order to measure the impact of the intervention on cardiovascular disease risk. The primary outcome variables of heart rate and heart rate variability were measured to assess autonomic function associated with cardiovascular disease. Secondary outcome variables (Body mass index, blood pressure, fitness, autonomic response to a stressor) related to cardiovascular disease were also measured. The efficacy of the intervention in increasing physical activity was objectively monitored throughout the 8-weeks using an accelerometer device. Discussion. The results of this study will help in developing interventions with low researcher input with high participant output that may be implemented in the workplace. If effective, this study will highlight the contribution that natural environments can make in the reduction of modifiable cardiovascular disease risk factors within the workplace. © 2012 Brown et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd