Assessing the Validity of Preconceptions about Dog Parks: Cleanliness and Disease Transmission

When urban dog owners are not able to utilize standard exercise methods (i.e. walking on a leash or running in the backyard) there are ever-increasing numbers of off-leash dog parks that they can rely on. Some commonly identified benefits of off-leash dog areas (OLDAs) include community building, exercise for dogs and humans, and freedom for dogs. However, some identified struggles facing OLDAs include the preconceptions that OLDAs are dirty, contain aggressive dogs, and possibly spread disease. I found that these preconceptions are largely false. Also, the opinions and some general care patterns between owners who attend OLDAs and those who do not are not significantly different. This signifies that OLDAs are not as bad as some dog owners may be led to believe

Further Characteristics of an Anomalous Temperature Response of Hypocotyls in Some Soybean Cultivars

Some soybean cultivars exhibit a bimodal temperature response. Their hypocotyls elongate normally at 20 and 30 C but are inhibited at 25 C. The inhibition is inducible. It manifests itself, or continues to be manifest, after seedlings are transferred to 20 or 30 C. Sensitivity to 25 C is limited to early seedling development and disappears about 6 days after seeds are supplied with water

Bud Formation and Shoot Development In Vitro: Observations on Stem and Bud Explants of Psychotria punctata (Rubiaceae)

Protuberances tentatively identified as buds were initiated on callus proliferating from the bases of excised terminal buds of Psychotria punctata (Rubiaceae) cultured on media containing 10(-4) and 10(-5)M zeatin. Only those cultures maintained in a greenhouse during mid-summer formed such buds. A high cytokinin concentration together with one or more specific environmental conditions appear to be required for their formation. In contrast, large nodule-bearing shoots developed directly from terminal buds when these were excised during the fall and cultured on the same medium in controlled environment chambers providing temperatures and light intensities lower than in the greenhouse. Zeatin was required for shoot development on this medium; little development occurred in its absence. Shoot development occurred in both 8- and 16-hr days in the chambers; it did not occur in darkness, in continuous, predominantly incandescent light, or in the greenhouse

Developing Cross-Cultural Empathy through Mindfulness

INTRODUCTION: The murder of George Floyd sparked international movements to address racial inequality. These movements have prompted critical conversations about medical racism, bias, and social determinants of health. These events have caused us to turn inwardly and question what we know, the limits of our understanding, and the role of medical training in developing the skills and perspectives needed to address racial inequality in health care systems. The purpose of this session is to share the design and preliminary outcomes of a curricular intervention that aims to train pediatrics residents to use mindful reflective practice to develop cross-cultural empathy and engage with anti-racist ideas. STUDY OBJECTIVE: To develop and implement a curriculum that teaches mindful reflective practice as a tool for developing cross-cultural empathy and advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in healthcare. METHODS: Pediatrics and combined medicine-pediatrics residents participated in four 90-minute small group sessions: (1) cultivating critical awareness of racism in medicine, (2) unpacking bias, microaggressions, and coded language, (3) exploring personal identity and intersectionality, and (4) committing to action and curriculum reflections/feedback. Each session was co-led by 3 facilitators (LB, JL, FW) and structured to provide opportunities for learners to engage, explore, explain, and elaborate on the content presented. Each session began with a guided mindfulness activity and concluded with individual written reflection. Participants completed the Maslach Burnout Inventory, Mindful Attention Awareness Scale, Empathy Quotient, and Stanford Professional Fulfillment assessments prior to session 1, following session 4, and 3 months after completion of the curriculum. Participants also completed the Social Justice and Empathy Assessment following session 4, and 3 months post-curriculum. Quantitative data was analyzed for pre-post changes using t-tests. Curriculum acceptability, facilitator effectiveness, and perceived benefit of each portion of session content was reviewed. Participants engaged in a brief audio-recorded focus group at the end of session 4. The transcribed focus groups and participants’ written reflections following each session were qualitatively analyzed to identify common themes. RESULTS: Preliminary results from first two cohorts (N=9) indicate that all residents found the course to be sufficiently challenging and that it helped them to pursue growth. The majority of participants expressed increased understanding of curriculum domains; mindfulness (77.8%), medical racism (88.9%), bias/coded language/microaggressions (100%), and identity/oppression/intersectionality (88.9%) and rated the overall course as excellent (88.9%). All residents endorsed agreement for facilitator’s content expertise and excellence in teaching skills. Qualitative analysis of focus groups is ongoing at this time. Preliminary review suggests that participants enjoyed the curriculum, found it to be unique in their residency experience, and desire more opportunities to discuss DEIJ issues in small groups. We expect full quantitative an qualitative analysis of all 6 cohorts in this pilot study will be completed and available for presentation at IU Education Day

Temperature-dependent Inhibition of Hypocotyl Elongation in Some Soybean Cultivars: I. Localization of Ethylene Evolution and Role of Cotyledons 1 Downloaded from

Apical 2-cm hypocotyl segments from seedlings of a "short-hypocotyl" cultivar Amsoy 71, like whole seedlings, evolve about twice as much ethylene at 25°C as at 30°C. Segments consisting of two cotyledons and an attached epicotyl evolve ethylene at low rates at both 25°C and 30°C. Hypocotyl segments from seedlings of Cutler 71 also show enhanced ethylene evolution at 25°C. Hypocotyl segments from Corsoy, a "longhypocotyl" cultivar, however, evolve ethylene at low rates at both 25°C and 30°C. Wounding of Amsoy 71 hypocotyl segments does not increase their ethylene evolution. Ethylene evolution at 25°C is reduced and the short-hypocotyl phenomenon is reversed by partial (50%) removal of Amsoy 71 cotyledons at planting time. Key words: Cotyledons -Ethylene -Hypocotyl elongation -Temperature sensitivity. Certain soybean cultivars exhibit poor emergence when planted at a depth of 10 cm and grown at 25°C. The poor emergence is a consequence of reduced hypocotyl elongation (Burris and Fehr 1971 Abbreviations: H, apical 2-cm hypocotyl segment; HW, wounded hypocotyl segment; C + E, cotyledons+ epicotyl; C + E+H, cotyledons+epicotyl + hypocotyl segment left attached to each other; pt, plant part; PVC, polyvinyl chloride; SD, standard deviation

Energy aware software evolution for wireless sensor networks

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are subject to high levels of dynamism arising from changing environmental conditions and application requirements. Reconfiguration allows software functionality to be optimized for current environmental conditions and supports software evolution to meet variable application requirements. Contemporary software modularization approaches for WSNs allow for software evolution at various granularities; from monolithic re-flashing of OS and application functionality, through replacement of complete applications, to the reconfiguration of individual software components. As the nodes that compose a WSN must typically operate for long periods on a single battery charge, estimating the energy cost of software evolution is critical. This paper contributes a generic model for calculating the energy cost of the reconfiguration in WSN. We have embedded this model in the LooCI middleware, resulting in the first energy aware reconfigurable component model for sensor networks. We evaluate our approach using two real-world WSN applications and find that (i.) our model accurately predicts the energy cost of reconfiguration and (ii.) component-based reconfiguration has a high initial cost, but provides energy savings during software evolution

Short-term synaptic plasticity in the nociceptive thalamic-anterior cingulate pathway

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Although the mechanisms of short- and long-term potentiation of nociceptive-evoked responses are well known in the spinal cord, including central sensitization, there has been a growing body of information on such events in the cerebral cortex. In view of the importance of anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in chronic pain conditions, this review considers neuronal plasticities in the thalamocingulate pathway that may be the earliest changes associated with such syndromes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A single nociceptive electrical stimulus to the sciatic nerve induced a prominent sink current in the layer II/III of the ACC <it>in vivo</it>, while high frequency stimulation potentiated the response of this current. Paired-pulse facilitation by electrical stimulation of midline, mediodorsal and intralaminar thalamic nuclei (MITN) suggesting that the MITN projection to ACC mediates the nociceptive short-term plasticity. The short-term synaptic plasticities were evaluated for different inputs <it>in vitro </it>where the medial thalamic and contralateral corpus callosum afferents were compared. Stimulation of the mediodorsal afferent evoked a stronger short-term synaptic plasticity and effectively transferred the bursting thalamic activity to cingulate cortex that was not true for contralateral stimulation. This short-term enhancement of synaptic transmission was mediated by polysynaptic pathways and NMDA receptors. Layer II/III neurons of the ACC express a short-term plasticity that involves glutamate and presynaptic calcium influx and is an important mechanism of the short-term plasticity.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The potentiation of ACC neuronal activity induced by thalamic bursting suggest that short-term synaptic plasticities enable the processing of nociceptive information from the medial thalamus and this temporal response variability is particularly important in pain because temporal maintenance of the response supports cortical integration and memory formation related to noxious events. Moreover, these modifications of cingulate synapses appear to regulate afferent signals that may be important to the transition from acute to chronic pain conditions associated with persistent peripheral noxious stimulation. Enhanced and maintained nociceptive activities in cingulate cortex, therefore, can become adverse and it will be important to learn how to regulate such changes in thalamic firing patterns that transmit nociceptive information to ACC in early stages of chronic pain.</p

Development of bile duct bezoars following cholecystectomy caused by choledochoduodenal fistula formation: a case report

BACKGROUND: The formation of bile duct bezoars is a rare event. Its occurrence when there is no history of choledochoenteric anastomosis or duodenal diverticulum constitutes an extremely scarce finding. CASE PRESENTATION: We present a case of obstructive jaundice, caused by the concretion of enteric material (bezoars) in the common bile duct following choledochoduodenal fistula development. Six years after cholecystectomy, a 60-year-old female presented with abdominal pain and jaundice. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography demonstrated multiple filling defects in her biliary tract. The size of the obstructing objects necessitated surgical retrieval of the stones. A histological assessment of the objects revealed fibrinoid materials with some cellular debris. Post-operative T-tube cholangiography (9 days after the operation) illustrated an open bile duct without any filling defects. Surprisingly, a relatively long choledochoduodenal fistula was detected. The fistula formation was assumed to have led to the development of the bile duct bezoar. CONCLUSION: Bezoar formation within the bile duct should be taken into consideration as a differential diagnosis, which can alter treatment modalities from surgery to less invasive methods such as more intra-ERCP efforts. Suspicions of the presence of bezoars are strengthened by the detection of a biliary enteric fistula through endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography. Furthermore, patients at a higher risk of fistula formation should undergo a thorough ERCP in case there is a biliodigestive fistula having developed spontaneously