THE SCHOOL FOOD ENVIRONMENT AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH DIETARY INTAKE AMONG RURAL ADOLESCENTS

The school food environment has the ability to increase the consumption of fruit and vegetables in rural adolescents. This study used a survey to allow adolescents in seven rural counties to self-report their fruit and vegetable intake as well as utilizing the USDA Mathematica tool and the School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study audits to evaluate what food and beverage products were actually available to adolescents. By using these two measures, associations between fruit and vegetable intake and availability of healthy and unhealthy foods were determined. The availability of healthy snacks and beverages was found to be associated with sugar-sweetened beverage intake in adolescents (p \u3c 0.001); the availability of unhealthy snacks and beverages was associated with fruit and vegetable intake in adolescents (p \u3c 0.001); the school marketing of water bottle stations and/or water dispenser availability was associated with sugar- sweetened beverage intake in adolescents (p \u3c 0.001). Increasing the availability and school marketing of healthy foods and beverages in rural schools may be an effective way to improve fruit and vegetable consumption in adolescents

Structure-Guided Design of Fluorescent S-Adenosylmethionine Analogs for a High-Throughput Screen to Target SAM-I Riboswitch RNAs

SummaryMany classes of S-adenosylmethionine (SAM)-binding RNAs and proteins are of interest as potential drug targets in diverse therapeutic areas, from infectious diseases to cancer. In the former case, the SAM-I riboswitch is an attractive target because this structured RNA element is found only in bacterial mRNAs and regulates multiple genes in several human pathogens. Here, we describe the synthesis of stable and fluorescent analogs of SAM in which the fluorophore is introduced through a functionalizable linker to the ribose. A Cy5-labeled SAM analog was shown to bind several SAM-I riboswitches via in-line probing and fluorescence polarization assays, including one from Staphylococcus aureus that controls the expression of SAM synthetase in this organism. A fluorescent ligand displacement assay was developed and validated for high-throughput screening of compounds to target the SAM-I riboswitch class

ASSESSMENT OF THE VALUE OF POSITIVE PRESSURE BREATHING APPARATUS IN INDUCING COUGH1 1Received August, 1978.

In the last decade, numerous papers have discussed what has been called the indiscriminate use of intermittent positive pressure breathing therapy (IPPB) for the treatment of obstructive airways disease (Curtis et al., 1968; Loke and Anthonisen, 1974; Cheney et al., 1976; Baker, 1974; Murray, 1974; Barach and Segal, 1975; Sheldon and Gold, 1976; Dolovich et al., 1977). These papers have all failed to show any advantage of positive pressure breathing therapy, either in the acute or chronic stages of obstructive airways disease. IPPB apparatus is expensive, requires careful maintenance and cleaning and may lead to patient dependence. However, physiotherapists in this hospital gained the impression that patients who were receiving nebulisation with positive pressure appeared to cough more frequently, and to produce greater volumes of sputum, suggesting that IPPB apparatus may be a useful adjunct of physiotherapy. Therefore a study was designed to compare the effectiveness of nebulisation therapy, with and without positive pressure, on the production of cough and sputum volume in patients with chronic obstructive airways disease

Exposure of Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis to Milk Oligosaccharides Increases Adhesion to Epithelial Cells and Induces a Substantial Transcriptional Response

Devon Kavanaugh is in receipt of a Teagasc Walsh Fellowship. The authors would also like to acknowledge the support of Science Foundation Ireland under Grant No. 08/SRC/B1393 and the Alimentary Glycoscience Research Cluster (AGRC).peer-reviewedIn this study, we tested the hypothesis that milk oligosaccharides may contribute not only to selective growth of bifidobacteria, but also to their specific adhesive ability. Human milk oligosaccharides (3′sialyllactose and 6′sialyllactose) and a commercial prebiotic (Beneo Orafti P95; oligofructose) were assayed for their ability to promote adhesion of Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis ATCC 15697 to HT-29 and Caco-2 human intestinal cells. Treatment with the commercial prebiotic or 3′sialyllactose did not enhance adhesion. However, treatment with 6′sialyllactose resulted in increased adhesion (4.7 fold), while treatment with a mixture of 3′- and 6′-sialyllactose substantially increased adhesion (9.8 fold) to HT-29 intestinal cells. Microarray analyses were subsequently employed to investigate the transcriptional response of B. longum subsp. infantis to the different oligosaccharide treatments. This data correlated strongly with the observed changes in adhesion to HT-29 cells. The combination of 3′- and 6′-sialyllactose resulted in the greatest response at the genetic level (both in diversity and magnitude) followed by 6′sialyllactose, and 3′sialyllactose alone. The microarray data was further validated by means of real-time PCR. The current findings suggest that the increased adherence phenotype of Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis resulting from exposure to milk oligosaccharides is multi-faceted, involving transcription factors, chaperone proteins, adhesion-related proteins, and a glycoside hydrolase. This study gives additional insight into the role of milk oligosaccharides within the human intestine and the molecular mechanisms underpinning host-microbe interactions.Science Foundation IrelandTeagasc Walsh Fellowship Programm

Progressive changes in microglia and macrophages in spinal cord and peripheral nerve in the transgenic rat model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The role of neuroinflammation in motor neuron death of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is unclear. The human mutant superoxide dismutase-1 (hmSOD1)-expressing murine transgenic model of ALS has provided some insight into changes in microglia activity during disease progression. The purpose of this study was to gain further knowledge by characterizing the immunological changes during disease progression in the spinal cord and peripheral nerve using the more recently developed hmSOD1 rat transgenic model of ALS.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Using immunohistochemistry, the extent and intensity of tissue CD11b expression in spinal cord, lumbar nerve roots, and sciatic nerve were evaluated in hmSOD1 rats that were pre-clinical, at clinical onset, and near disease end-stage. Changes in CD11b expression were compared to the detection of MHC class II and CD68 microglial activation markers in the ventral horn of the spinal cord, as well as to the changes in astrocytic GFAP expression.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our study reveals an accumulation of microglia/macrophages both in the spinal cord and peripheral nerve prior to clinical onset based on CD11b tissue expression. The microglia formed focal aggregates in the ventral horn and became more widespread as the disease progressed. Hypertrophic astrocytes were not prominent in the ventral horn until after clinical onset, and the enhancement of GFAP did not have a strong correlation to increased CD11b expression. Detection of MHC class II and CD68 expression was found in the ventral horn only after clinical onset. The macrophages in the ventral nerve root and sciatic nerve of hmSOD1 rats were observed encircling axons.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These findings describe for the first time in the hmSOD1 rat transgenic model of ALS that enhancement of microglia/macrophage activity occurs pre-clinically both in the peripheral nerve and in the spinal cord. CD11b expression is shown to be a superior indicator for early immunological changes compared to other microglia activation markers and astrogliosis. Furthermore, we suggest that the early activity of microglia/macrophages is involved in the early phase of motor neuron degeneration and propose that studies involving immunomodulation in hmSOD1transgenic models need to consider effects on macrophages in peripheral nerves as well as to microglia in the spinal cord.</p

Strain-dependent variation in the early transcriptional response to CNS injury using a cortical explant system

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>While it is clear that inbred strains of mice have variations in immunological responsiveness, the influence of genetic background following tissue damage in the central nervous system is not fully understood. A cortical explant system was employed as a model for injury to determine whether the immediate transcriptional response to tissue resection revealed differences among three mouse strains.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Immunological mRNAs were measured in cerebral cortex from SJL/J, C57BL/6J, and BALB/cJ mice using real time RT-PCR. Freshly isolated cortical tissue and cortical sections incubated in explant medium were examined. Levels of mRNA, normalized to β-actin, were compared using one way analysis of variance with pooled samples from each mouse strain.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In freshly isolated cerebral cortex, transcript levels of many pro-inflammatory mediators were not significantly different among the strains or too low for comparison. Constitutive, baseline amounts of CD74 and antisecretory factor (ASF) mRNAs, however, were higher in SJL/J and C57BL/6J, respectively. When sections of cortical tissue were incubated in explant medium, increased message for a number of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines occurred within five hours. Message for chemokines, IL-1α, and COX-2 transcripts were higher in C57BL/6J cortical explants relative to SJL/J and BALB/cJ. IL-1β, IL-12/23 p40, and TNF-α were lower in BALB/cJ explants relative to SJL/J and C57BL/6J. Similar to observations in freshly isolated cortex, CD74 mRNA remained higher in SJL/J explants. The ASF mRNA in SJL/J explants, however, was now lower than levels in both C57BL/6J and BALB/cJ explants.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The short-term cortical explant model employed in this study provides a basic approach to evaluate an early transcriptional response to neurological damage, and can identify expression differences in genes that are influenced by genetic background.</p

Partial flux ordering and thermal Majorana metals in (higher-order) spin liquids

In frustrated quantum magnetism, chiral spin liquids are a particularly intriguing subset of quantum spin liquids in which the fractionalized parton degrees of freedom form a Chern insulator. Here we study an exactly solvable spin-3/2 model which harbors not only chiral spin liquids but also spin liquids with higher-order parton band topology -- a trivial band insulator, a Chern insulator with gapless chiral edge modes, and a second-order topological insulator with gapless corner modes. With a focus on the thermodynamic precursors and thermal phase transitions associated with these distinct states, we employ numerically exact quantum Monte Carlo simulations to reveal a number of unconventional phenomena. This includes a heightened thermal stability of the ground state phases, the emergence of a partial flux ordering of the associated $\mathbb{Z}_2$ lattice gauge field, and the formation of a thermal Majorana metal regime extending over a broad temperature range.Comment: 18 page

Solar variability indications from Nimbus 7 satellite data

The cavity pyrheliometer sensor of the Nimbus 7 Earth Radiation Experiment indicated low-level variability of the total solar irradiance. The variability appears to be inversely correlated with common solar activity indicators in an event sense. the limitations of the measuring system and available data sets are described

The deleterious effect of arteriovenous flow reversal during experimental free muscle transfer.

Arteriovenous flow reversal (AVR) has been used experimentally to salvage ischemic limbs and to create novel skin flaps with some success. The clinical applicability of AVR in muscle by way of two arteriovenous anastomoses in the rabbit was investigated. Twenty-four rabbits were divided into two groups. In Group 1 (control), the rectus femoris muscle was harvested and transplanted in the opposite thigh, anastomosing the donor femoral artery to the recipient femoral artery, and the donor rectus femoris vein to the recipient femoral vein. In Group 2 (flow reversal), the same procedure was done except the donor artery was anastomosed to the recipient vein and vice versa. Six and 24 hr postoperatively, specimens were compared macroscopically and by weight and histology. Reversed flow muscles were significantly heavier than control muscles at 6 hr and at 24 hr. Histologically, 6 hr of AVR caused edema, intramuscular hemorrhage, neutrophil infiltration, and thrombosis of most vessels. By 24 hr muscle cell degeneration was well advanced. All control muscles were viable, with only mild edema and slight peripheral necrosis. Possible reasons for the failure of AVR in muscle are discussed. On the basis of these results, AVR in free muscle transfer is not advocated

CBU_1932: A Hypothetical DNA-Binding Protein of the Q Fever Pathogen Coxiella Burnetii

Coxiella burnetii is an obligate intracellular bacterial pathogen that resides within a lysosome-like acidic compartment of the eukaryotic host cell and may cause acute and chronic human infections.  Our recent transcriptome analysis of C. burnetii demonstrated that the CBU_1932 open reading frame displayed an exceptionally high transcript level at 11,481 transcripts per million (TPM), well above average transcript quantity for remaining ORFs in the genome.  Due to it’s high transcript level we hypothesize the corresponding protein may play an important role for Coxiella.  Analysis of the CBU_1932 locus indicates that one of the adjacent ORFs, CBU_1933 is a hypothetical DNA binding protein.  The protein encoded by CBU_1932 ORF consists of 66 amino acid residues with an unusually high percentage (42%) of residues being basic, including 20 lysines.  Using BLAST algorithms we found CBU_1932 had no similarity with currently defined proteins, but has orthologues in other human intracellular pathogens such as Legionella and Chlamydia. Due to the high number of basic residues in CBU_1932, and linkage with a hypothetical DNA binding protein (CBU_1933), we hypothesize that CBU_1932 may also encode a protein involved with binding DNA or other negatively charged substrates.  To address this hypothesis, we are in the process of cloning the 201-base pair CBU_1932 ORF into pMAL-c5x expression plasmid and analyzing the recombinant protein using DNA-binding protocols including electrophoretic mobility-shift assay EMSA.  We are confident that characterization of this high-level transcript/highly basic protein will lead to a better understanding of the unique metabolism of Coxiella and other intracellular pathogens