Arctic passages: liminality, Iñupiat Eskimo mothers and NW Alaska communities in transition

Background. While the primary goal of the NW Alaska Native maternal transport is safe deliveries for mothers from remote villages, little has been done to question the impact of transport on the mothers and communities involved. This study explores how presence of Iñupiat values influences the desire of indigenous women of differing eras and NW Alaska villages to participate in biomedical birth, largely made available by a tribal health-sponsored transport system. Objective. This paper portrays how important it is (and why) for Alaska Native families and women of different generations from various areas of Iñupiat villages of NW Alaska to get to the hospital to give birth. This research asks: How does a community’s presence of Iñupiat values influence women of different eras and locations to participate in a more biomedical mode of birth? Design. Theoretical frameworks of medical anthropology and maternal identity work are used to track the differences in regard to the maternal transport operation for Iñupiat mothers of the area. Presence of Iñupiat values in each of the communities is compared by birth era and location for each village. Content analysis is conducted to determine common themes in an inductive, recursive fashion. Results. A connection is shown between a community’s manifestation of Iñupiat cultural expression and mothers’ acceptance of maternal transport in this study. For this group of Iñupiat Eskimo mothers, there is interplay between community expression of Iñupiat values and desire and lengths gone to by women of different eras and locations. Conclusions. The more openly manifested the Iñupiat values of the community, the more likely alternative birthing practices sought, lessening the reliance on the existing transport policy. Conversely, the more openly western values are manifested in the village of origin, the less likely alternative measures are sought. For this study group, mothers from study villages with openly manifested western values are more likely to easily acquiesce to policy, and “make the best” of their prenatal travel

Loneliness of Older Immigrant Groups in Canada: Effects of Ethnic-Cultural Background

This study aimed to explore the loneliness of several groups of older immigrants in Canadacompared to native-born older adults. Data from the Canadian General Social Survey, Cycle 22 (Nolder adults = 3,692) were used. The dependent variable is the 6 item De Jong Gierveld lonelinessscale. Determinants of loneliness included country of birth, ethnic background (cultural context);belongingness (community context) and social networks (social context). Results showed that onlysome immigrant groups are significantly lonelier than older adults born in Canada. Immigrants withsimilar language and culture are not lonelier; while those from countries that differ in nativelanguage/culture are significantly higher on loneliness. Multivariate analyses showed the importanceof cultural background, of composition of the network of relatives and friends, and of localparticipation and feelings of belonging to the Canadian society in explaining loneliness of olderimmigrants

Gene expression analyses of immune responses in Atlantic salmon during early stages of infection by salmon louse (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) revealed bi-phasic responses coinciding with the copepod-chalimus transition

The salmon louse (Lepeophtheirus salmonis Krøyer), an ectoparasitic copepod with a complex life cycle causes significant losses in salmon aquaculture. Pesticide treatments against the parasite raise environmental concerns and their efficacy is gradually decreasing. Improvement of fish resistance to lice, through biological control methods, needs better understanding of the protective mechanisms. We used a 21 k oligonucleotide microarray and RT-qPCR to examine the time-course of immune gene expression changes in salmon skin, spleen, and head kidney during the first 15 days after challenge, which encompassed the copepod and chalimus stages of lice development. Results Large scale and highly complex transcriptome responses were found already one day after infection (dpi). Many genes showed bi-phasic expression profiles with abrupt changes between 5 and 10 dpi (the copepod-chalimus transitions); the greatest fluctuations (up- and down-regulation) were seen in a large group of secretory splenic proteases with unknown roles. Rapid sensing was witnessed with induction of genes involved in innate immunity including lectins and enzymes of eicosanoid metabolism in skin and acute phase proteins in spleen. Transient (1-5 dpi) increase of T-cell receptor alpha, CD4-1, and possible regulators of lymphocyte differentiation suggested recruitment of T-cells of unidentified lineage to the skin. After 5 dpi the magnitude of transcriptomic responses decreased markedly in skin. Up-regulation of matrix metalloproteinases in all studied organs suggested establishment of a chronic inflammatory status. Up-regulation of putative lymphocyte G0/G1 switch proteins in spleen at 5 dpi, immunoglobulins at 15 dpi; and increase of IgM and IgT transcripts in skin indicated an onset of adaptive humoral immune responses, whereas MHCI appeared to be down-regulated. Conclusions Atlantic salmon develops rapid local and systemic reactions to L. salmonis, which, however, do not result in substantial level of protection. The dramatic changes observed after 5 dpi can be associated with metamorphosis of copepod, immune modulation by the parasite, or transition from innate to adaptive immune responses

RNA-Seq transcriptomics and pathway analyses reveal potential regulatory genes and molecular mechanisms in high- and low-residual feed intake in Nordic dairy cattle

BACKGROUND: The selective breeding of cattle with high-feed efficiencies (FE) is an important goal of beef and dairy cattle producers. Global gene expression patterns in relevant tissues can be used to study the functions of genes that are potentially involved in regulating FE. In the present study, high-throughput RNA sequencing data of liver biopsies from 19 dairy cows were used to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between high- and low-FE groups of cows (based on Residual Feed Intake or RFI). Subsequently, a profile of the pathways connecting the DEGs to FE was generated, and a list of candidate genes and biomarkers was derived for their potential inclusion in breeding programmes to improve FE. RESULTS: The bovine RNA-Seq gene expression data from the liver was analysed to identify DEGs and, subsequently, identify the molecular mechanisms, pathways and possible candidate biomarkers of feed efficiency. On average, 57 million reads (short reads or short mRNA sequences < ~200 bases) were sequenced, 52 million reads were mapped, and 24,616 known transcripts were quantified according to the bovine reference genome. A comparison of the high- and low-RFI groups revealed 70 and 19 significantly DEGs in Holstein and Jersey cows, respectively. The interaction analysis (high vs. low RFI x control vs. high concentrate diet) showed no interaction effects in the Holstein cows, while two genes showed interaction effects in the Jersey cows. The analyses showed that DEGs act through certain pathways to affect or regulate FE, including steroid hormone biosynthesis, retinol metabolism, starch and sucrose metabolism, ether lipid metabolism, arachidonic acid metabolism and drug metabolism cytochrome P450. CONCLUSION: We used RNA-Seq-based liver transcriptomic profiling of high- and low-RFI dairy cows in two breeds and identified significantly DEGs, their molecular mechanisms, their interactions with other genes and functional enrichments of different molecular pathways. The DEGs that were identified were the CYP’s and GIMAP genes for the Holstein and Jersey cows, respectively, which are related to the primary immunodeficiency pathway and play a major role in feed utilization and the metabolism of lipids, sugars and proteins. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-017-3622-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Genomic Resources for Sea Lice: Analysis of ESTs and Mitochondrial Genomes

Sea lice are common parasites of both farmed and wild salmon. Salmon farming constitutes an important economic market in North America, South America, and Northern Europe. Infections with sea lice can result in significant production losses. A compilation of genomic information on different genera of sea lice is an important resource for understanding their biology as well as for the study of population genetics and control strategies. We report on over 150,000 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from five different species (Pacific Lepeophtheirus salmonis (49,672 new ESTs in addition to 14,994 previously reported ESTs), Atlantic L. salmonis (57,349 ESTs), Caligus clemensi (14,821 ESTs), Caligus rogercresseyi (32,135 ESTs), and Lernaeocera branchialis (16,441 ESTs)). For each species, ESTs were assembled into complete or partial genes and annotated by comparisons to known proteins in public databases. In addition, whole mitochondrial (mt) genome sequences of C. clemensi (13,440 bp) and C. rogercresseyi (13,468 bp) were determined and compared to L. salmonis. Both nuclear and mtDNA genes show very high levels of sequence divergence between these ectoparastic copepods suggesting that the different species of sea lice have been in existence for 37–113 million years and that parasitic association with salmonids is also quite ancient. Our ESTs and mtDNA data provide a novel resource for the study of sea louse biology, population genetics, and control strategies. This genomic information provides the material basis for the development of a 38K sea louse microarray that can be used in conjunction with our existing 44K salmon microarray to study host–parasite interactions at the molecular level. This report represents the largest genomic resource for any copepod species to date

Early Left-Hemispheric Dysfunction of Face Processing in Congenital Prosopagnosia: An MEG Study

Electrophysiological research has demonstrated the relevance to face processing of a negative deflection peaking around 170 ms, labelled accordingly as N170 in the electroencephalogram (EEG) and M170 in magnetoencephalography (MEG). The M170 was shown to be sensitive to the inversion of faces and to familiarity-two factors that are assumed to be crucial for congenital prosopagnosia. In order to locate the cognitive dysfunction and its neural correlates, we investigated the time course of neural activity in response to these manipulations.Seven individuals with congenital prosopagnosia and seven matched controls participated in the experiment. To explore brain activity with high accuracy in time, we recorded evoked magnetic fields (275 channel whole head MEG) while participants were looking at faces differing in familiarity (famous vs. unknown) and orientation (upright vs. inverted). The underlying neural sources were estimated by means of the least square minimum-norm-estimation (L2-MNE) approach.The behavioural data corroborate earlier findings on impaired configural processing in congenital prosopagnosia. For the M170, the overall results replicated earlier findings, with larger occipito-temporal brain responses to inverted than upright faces, and more right- than left-hemispheric activity. Compared to controls, participants with congenital prosopagnosia displayed a general decrease in brain activity, primarily over left occipitotemporal areas. This attenuation did not interact with familiarity or orientation.The study substantiates the finding of an early involvement of the left hemisphere in symptoms of prosopagnosia. This might be related to an efficient and overused featural processing strategy which serves as a compensation of impaired configural processing

Acute ischemic heart disease and interventional cardiology: a time for pause

BACKGROUND: A major change has occurred in the last few years in the therapeutic approach to patients presenting with all forms of acute coronary syndromes. Whether or not these patients present initially to tertiary cardiac care centers, they are now routinely referred for early coronary angiography and increasingly undergo percutaneous revascularization. This practice is driven primarily by the angiographic image and technical feasibility. Concomitantly, there has been a decline in expectant or ischemia-guided medical management based on specific clinical presentation, response to initial treatment, and results of noninvasive stratification. This 'tertiarization' of acute coronary care has been fuelled by the increasing sophistication of the cardiac armamentarium, the peer-reviewed publication of clinical studies purporting to show the superiority of invasive cardiac interventions, and predominantly supporting (non-peer-reviewed) editorials, newsletters, and opinion pieces. DISCUSSION: This review presents another perspective, based on a critical reexamination of the evidence. The topics addressed are: reperfusion treatment of ST-elevation myocardial infarction; the indications for invasive intervention following thrombolysis; the role of invasive management in non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction and unstable angina; and cost-effectiveness and real world considerations. A few cases encountered in recent practice in community and tertiary hospitals are presented for illustrative purposes The numerous and far-reaching scientific, economic, and philosophical implications that are a consequence of this marked change in clinical practice as well as healthcare, decisional and conflict of interest issues are explored. SUMMARY: The weight of evidence does not support the contemporary unfocused broad use of invasive interventional procedures across the spectrum of acute coronary clinical presentations. Excessive and unselective recourse to these procedures has deleterious implications for the organization of cardiac health care and undesirable economic, scientific and intellectual consequences. It is suggested that there is need for a new equilibrium based on more refined clinical risk stratification in the treatment of patients who present with acute coronary syndromes