The Gift: Who\u27s Hungry?

This course, Mythology and the Movies, investigated the topic of the Living Dead in cultures around the world and across time. After studying the theories about the mythologies of zombies, ghosts, vampires, and mummies, the students were assigned a 15-20 page graphic novel that they had to write and illustrate. The story was set during a zombie apocalypse and was required to have a mythological theme and the narrative elements of conflict, change, and choice.https://repository.upenn.edu/showcase_comics/1011/thumbnail.jp

Correlates of physical activity and sedentary time in young adults: The Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study

Background: The socioecological model proposes a wide array of factors that influence behaviours. There is a need to understand salient correlates of these activity behaviours in a specific population. However, few studies identified socio-demographic, behavioural, physical, and psychological correlates of objectively-assessed physical activity and sedentary time in young adults. Methods: This was a cross-sectional analysis of participants in the Raine Study (a pregnancy cohort started in 1989). Australian young adults (mean 22.1 years ± SD 0.6) wore Actigraph GT3X+ accelerometers on the hip 24 h/day for seven days to assess moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary time (n = 256 women, n = 219 men). Potential correlates were assessed via clinical assessment and questionnaire and included socio-demographic variables (ethnicity, relationship status, work/study status, education, mothers education), health behaviours (food intake, alcohol consumption, smoking status, sleep quality), and physical and psychological health aspects (anthropometrics, diagnosed disorders, mental health, cognitive performance). Backwards elimination (p < 0.2 for retention) with mixed model regressions were used and the gender-stratified analyses were adjusted for demographic variables, waking wear time and number of valid days. Results: Increased time spent in MVPA was associated with: being single (IRR 1.44 vs in a relationship living together, 95%CI: 1.17, 1.77, p =.001) in women; and better sleep quality in men (lower scores better IRR 0.97, 95%CI: 0.93, 1.00). Less time spent sedentary was associated with: lower mother's education (- 32.1 min/day, 95%CI -52.9, 11.3, p = 0.002 for having mother with no university degree vs at least a baccalaureate degree) and smoking (- 44.3 min/day, 95%CI: - 72.8, - 15.9, p =.0002) for women; lower education status (- 32.1 min/day, 95%CI: -59.5, - 4.8, p = 0.021 for having no university degree vs at least a baccalaureate degree) and lower depression scores in men (- 2.0, 95%CI: - 3.5, - 0.4, p = 0.014); more alcoholic drinks per week for women (- 1.9 min/day, 95%CI: -3.1, - 0.6, p = 0.003) and men (- 1.0, 95%CI: -1.8, - 0.3, p = 0.007). Conclusions: Less desirable correlates were associated with positive levels of activity in young Australian adult women and men. Interventions to increase MVPA and decrease sedentary activity in young adults need to specifically consider the life stage of young adults

Aerobic Exercise Training Adaptations Are Increased by Postexercise Carbohydrate-Protein Supplementation

Carbohydrate-protein supplementation has been found to increase the rate of training adaptation when provided postresistance exercise. The present study compared the effects of a carbohydrate and protein supplement in the form of chocolate milk (CM), isocaloric carbohydrate (CHO), and placebo on training adaptations occurring over 4.5 weeks of aerobic exercise training. Thirty-two untrained subjects cycled 60 min/d, 5 d/wk for 4.5 wks at 75–80% of maximal oxygen consumption (VO2 max). Supplements were ingested immediately and 1 h after each exercise session. VO2 max and body composition were assessed before the start and end of training. VO2 max improvements were significantly greater in CM than CHO and placebo. Greater improvements in body composition, represented by a calculated lean and fat mass differential for whole body and trunk, were found in the CM group compared to CHO. We conclude supplementing with CM postexercise improves aerobic power and body composition more effectively than CHO alone

Telemetry tracking of salmon smolt migrations through the Salish Sea: examining behaviour, survival and causes of mortality

The Salish Sea is an important migratory corridor and feeding area for juvenile salmonids yet little is known regarding movement behaviours and survival through this region. We used acoustic telemetry tracking in sockeye and steelhead smolts to: 1) identify marine travel rates and routes, 2) estimate migration survival rates, and 3) identify factors contributing to mortality. Sockeye smolts travelled at 10 km / day in their clear natal river, 200 km / day in the turbid Fraser River mainstem, and 10-15 km / day in the marine environment. Steelhead smolts travelled approximately 2-3 times faster in the same marine segments, potentially owing to their larger size. Both sockeye and steelhead seemed to prefer migrating through western or central routes en-route to the open ocean, rather than more easterly routes when transiting the Discovery Islands chain – and survival to the open ocean, at least for steelhead, was higher if travelling through the most western route. Survival was poorest through the earliest migratory segments for both species and both exhibited less than 10% survival by the final acoustic receiver station near northern Vancouver Island. Several factors were associated with mortality including smolt age, size, tag burden, and fish health as assessed by biomarkers and pathogens. Pathogen-laden sockeye were far more likely to be predated upon (found in the stomachs of bull trout). Sockeye smolts could increase their probability of survival by out-migrating in high densities – survival probability doubled with ~ 2-fold increase in migrating density. This evidence of depensatory mortality indicates that salmonid smolts may survive poorly in years of low marine abundance

Complete Genome Sequence of Geobacter sp. Strain FeAm09, a Moderately Acidophilic Soil Bacterium

A moderately acidophilic Geobacter sp. strain, FeAm09, was isolated from forest soil. The complete genome sequence is 4,099,068 bp with an average GC content of 61.1%. No plasmids were detected. The genome contains a total of 3,843 genes and 3,608 protein-coding genes, including genes supporting iron and nitrogen biogeochemical cycling

The Simons Observatory: Magnetic Shielding Measurements for the Universal Multiplexing Module

The Simons Observatory (SO) includes four telescopes that will measure the temperature and polarization of the cosmic microwave background using over 60,000 highly sensitive transition-edge bolometers (TES). These multichroic TES bolometers are read out by a microwave RF SQUID multiplexing system with a multiplexing factor of 910. Given that both TESes and SQUIDs are susceptible to magnetic field pickup and that it is hard to predict how they will respond to such fields, it is important to characterize the magnetic response of these systems empirically. This information can then be used to limit spurious signals by informing magnetic shielding designs for the detectors and readout. This paper focuses on measurements of magnetic pickup with different magnetic shielding configurations for the SO universal multiplexing module (UMM), which contains the SQUIDs, associated resonators, and TES bias circuit. The magnetic pickup of a prototype UMM was tested under three shielding configurations: no shielding (copper packaging), aluminum packaging for the UMM, and a tin/lead-plated shield surrounding the entire dilution refrigerator 100 mK cold stage. The measurements show that the aluminum packaging outperforms the copper packaging by a shielding factor of 8-10, and adding the tin/lead-plated 1K shield further increases the relative shielding factor in the aluminum configuration by 1-2 orders of magnitude.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure, conference proceedings submitted to the Journal of Low Temperature Physic

Utilizing direct skin feeding assays for development of vaccines that interrupt malaria transmission: A systematic review of methods and case study.

Shifting the malaria priorities from a paradigm of control and elimination to a goal of global eradication calls for renewed attention to the interruption of malaria transmission. Sustained progress toward eradication will require both improved understanding of infectious reservoirs and efficient development of novel transmission-blocking interventions, such as rapidly acting and highly efficacious therapeutics and vaccines. Here, we review the direct skin feeding assay (DSF), which has been proposed as a valuable tool for measuring the in natura transmission of malaria parasites from human hosts to mosquito vectors across heterogeneous populations. To capture the methodological breadth of this assay's use, we first systematically review and qualitatively synthesize previously published investigations using DSFs to study malaria transmission in humans. Then, using a recent Phase 1 trial in Mali of the Pfs25H-EPA/Alhydrogel® vaccine candidate (NCT01867463) designed to interrupt Plasmodium falciparum transmission as a case study, we describe the potential opportunities and current limitations of utilizing the endpoints measured by DSF in making early clinical decisions for individually randomized transmission-interrupting intervention candidates. Using simulations based on the data collected in the clinical trial, we demonstrate that the capacity of the DSF to serve as an evaluative tool is limited by the statistical power constraints of the "effective sample size" (i.e. the number of subjects that are capable of transmitting at the time of feeding). Altogether, our findings suggest DSFs have great potential utility for assessing the public health impacts of emerging antimalarial tools, but additional research is needed to address issues of scalability and to establish correlation with community-wide clinical endpoints as well as complementary in vitro measures, such as standard membrane feeding assays

Development of a Cx46 Targeting Strategy for Cancer Stem Cells

Gap-junction-mediated cell-cell communication enables tumor cells to synchronize complex processes. We previously found that glioblastoma cancer stem cells (CSCs) express higher levels of the gap junction protein Cx46 compared to non-stem tumor cells (non-CSCs) and that this was necessary and sufficient for CSC maintenance. To understand the mechanism underlying this requirement, we use point mutants to disrupt specific functions of Cx46 and find that Cx46-mediated gap-junction coupling is critical for CSCs. To develop a Cx46 targeting strategy, we screen a clinically relevant small molecule library and identify clofazimine as an inhibitor of Cx46-specific cell-cell communication. Clofazimine attenuates proliferation, self-renewal, and tumor growth and synergizes with temozolomide to induce apoptosis. Although clofazimine does not cross the blood-brain barrier, the combination of clofazimine derivatives optimized for brain penetrance with standard-of-care therapies may target glioblastoma CSCs. Furthermore, these results demonstrate the importance of targeting cell-cell communication as an anti-cancer therapy

Objectively measured patterns of sedentary time and physical activity in young adults of the Raine study cohort

Background: To provide a detailed description of young adults' sedentary time and physical activity. Methods: 384 young women and 389 young men aged 22.1±0.6 years, all participants in the 22 year old follow-up of the Raine Study pregnancy cohort, wore Actigraph GT3X+ monitors on the hip for 24 h/day over a one-week period for at least one 'valid' day (=10 h of waking wear time). Each minute epoch was classified as sedentary, light, moderate or vigorous intensity using 100 count and Freedson cut-points. Mixed models assessed hourly and daily variation; t-tests assessed gender differences. Results: The average (mean±SD) waking wear time was 15.0±1.6 h/day, of which 61.4±10.1 % was spent sedentary, 34.6±9.1 % in light-, 3.7±5.3 % in moderate- and, 0.3±0.6 % in vigorous-intensity activity. Average time spent in moderate to vigorous activity (MVPA) was 36.2±27.5 min/day. Relative to men, women had higher sedentary time, but also higher vigorous activity time. The 'usual' bout duration of sedentary time was 11.8±4.5 min in women and 11.7±5.2 min in men. By contrast, other activities were accumulated in shorter bout durations. There was large variation by hour of the day and by day of the week in both sedentary time and MVPA. Evenings and Sundays through Wednesdays tended to be particularly sedentary and/or inactive. Conclusion: For these young adults, much of the waking day was spent sedentary and many participants were physically inactive (low levels of MVPA). We provide novel evidence on the time for which activities were performed and on the time periods when young adults were more sedentary and/or less active. With high sedentary time and low MVPA, young adults may be at risk for the life-course sequelae of these behaviours