Alien Registration- Wise, Lillian G. (Houlton, Aroostook County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/35090/thumbnail.jp

Letrozole treatment of pubertal female mice results in activational effects on reproduction, metabolism and the gut microbiome.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine disorder in reproductive-aged women that is comprised of two out of the following three features: hyperandrogenism, oligo- or amenorrhea, or polycystic ovaries. In addition to infertility, many women with PCOS have metabolic dysregulation that increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Changes in the gut microbiome are associated with PCOS and gut microbes may be involved in the pathology of this disorder. Since PCOS often manifests in the early reproductive years, puberty is considered to be a critical time period for the development of PCOS. Exposure to sex steroid hormones during development results in permanent, organizational effects, while activational effects are transient and require the continued presence of the hormone. Androgens exert organizational effects during prenatal or early post-natal development, but it is unclear whether androgen excess results in organizational or activational effects during puberty. We recently developed a letrozole-induced PCOS mouse model that recapitulates both reproductive and metabolic phenotypes of PCOS. In this study, we investigated whether letrozole treatment of pubertal female mice exerts organizational or activational effects on host physiology and the gut microbiome. Two months after letrozole removal, we observed recovery of reproductive and metabolic parameters, as well as diversity and composition of the gut microbiome, indicating that letrozole treatment of female mice during puberty resulted in predominantly activational effects. These results suggest that if exposure to excess androgens during puberty leads to the development of PCOS, reduction of androgen levels during this time may improve reproductive and metabolic phenotypes in women with PCOS. These results also imply that continuous letrozole exposure is required to model PCOS in pubertal female mice since letrozole exerts activational rather than organizational effects during puberty

Mesozooplankton Distribution and Abundance in the Pagan River: A Nutrient Enriched Subestuary of the James River, Virginia

The mesozooplankton in the Pagan River was dominated by calanoid copepods, with abundance peaks occurring during late winter-early spring and from late summer into early fall. This included spring, summer, and fall abundance maxima. The total mean abundance of the mesozooplankton was 3,008/m3

Maternal pomegranate juice intake and brain structure and function in infants with intrauterine growth restriction: A randomized controlled pilot study.

Polyphenol-rich pomegranate juice has been shown to have benefit as a neuroprotectant in animal models of neonatal hypoxic-ischemia. No published studies have investigated maternal polyphenol administration as a potential neuroprotectant in at-risk newborns, such as those with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). This was a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind pilot study to investigate the impact of maternal pomegranate juice intake in pregnancies with IUGR, on newborn brain structure and function at term-equivalent age (TEA). Mothers with IUGR at 24-34 weeks\u27 gestation were recruited from Barnes-Jewish Hospital obstetrical clinic. Consented mothers were randomized to treatment (8 oz. pomegranate juice) or placebo (8 oz. polyphenol-free juice) and continued to take juice daily from enrollment until delivery (mean 20.1 and 27.1 days, respectively). Infants underwent brain MRI at TEA (36-41 weeks\u27 gestation). Brain measures were compared between groups including: brain injury score, brain metrics, brain volumes, diffusion tensor imaging and resting state functional connectivity. Statistical analyses were undertaken as modified intention-to-treat (including randomized participants who received their allocated intervention and whose infants received brain MRI) and per-protocol (including participants who strictly adhered to the protocol, based on metabolite status). Seventy-seven mothers were randomized to treatment (n = 40) or placebo (n = 37). Of these, 28 and 27 infants, respectively, underwent term-equivalent MRI. There were no group differences in brain injury, metrics or volumes. However, treatment subjects displayed reduced diffusivity within the anterior and posterior limbs of the internal capsule compared with placebo. Resting state functional connectivity demonstrated increased correlation and covariance within several networks in treatment subjects, with alterations most apparent in the visual network in per-protocol analyses. Direct effects on health were not found. In conclusion, maternal pomegranate juice intake in pregnancies with known IUGR was associated with altered white matter organization and functional connectivity in the infant brain, suggesting differences in brain structure and function following in utero pomegranate juice exposure, warranting continued investigation. Clinical trial registration. NCT00788866, registered November 11, 2008, initial participant enrollment August 21, 2012

Failing Forward Quickly as a Developmental Evaluator: Lessons from Year One of the LiveWell Kershaw Journey

Background: Learning to be a developmental evaluator is challenging because it is relatively new and sparsely documented in the scholarly literature. Developmental evaluation is intended to support the ever-changing and adaptive nature of complex environments. In a developmental, systems-oriented evaluation framework, the evaluator is embedded in the process to support and generate learnings from ongoing findings. Purpose: This article presents the lessons learned through one case study and how the concept of failing forward can guide the evaluator’s reflective process through a developmental evaluation.Setting: Free clinic and community setting in Kershaw County, South Carolina Intervention: NA Research Design: NA Data Collection and Analysis: The Evaluator documented mistakes and lessons learned during the beginning, planning and implementation stages of a complex community health initiative. Findings: The evaluation team shares five mistakes made along during the journey and lessons learned.  It’s important for teams to understand what differentiates developmental evaluation from other types of evaluation and the role of the evaluator.  The “critical friend” boundary can be easily crossed and the evaluator needs to have a strong understanding of the needs of the initiative

Resilabificación incompleta y acoplamiento gestual ambisilábico en español

In the generative literature, the pattern of coronal fricative lenition found in the traditional Chinato Spanish dialect is commonly cited as a phonological argument that the resyllabification of word-final prevocalic consonants is complete, in the sense that onsets derived by resyllabification are structurally identical to canonical (word-level) onsets. However, recent acoustic studies of Northern-Central Peninsular Spanish have problematized the completeness of resyllabification with experimental evidence that /s̺/ is shorter and more voiced as a derived onset than as a canonical onset. Using a split-gesture, competitive, coupled oscillator model of the syllable in Articulatory Phonology, which divides consonants into a separate constriction and release gesture, we propose a novel representation of ambisyllabicity that predicts the phonetic behavior of derived onset /s̺/ in Northern-Central Peninsular Spanish. We then show that ambisyllabic coupling permits a simpler phonological analysis of coronal fricative lenition in Chinato Spanish as compared to alternative accounts. Our analysis makes typological predictions that are confirmed by patterns from other contemporary Spanish varieties. Lastly, we examine the consequences of ambisyllabicity for the analysis of Spanish rhotic consonants, which have also been argued to support complete resyllabification. We offer an analysis of rhotics that is entirely compatible with an ambisyllabic representation of incomplete resyllabification.En la literatura generativa, el debilitamiento de fricativas coronales en el dialecto chinato del español peninsular se cita comúnmente como un argumento fonológico a favor de la resilabificación completa de consonantes prevocálicas finales de palabra, o sea que los arranques derivados por resilabificación son idénticos estructuralmente a los arranques canónicos a nivel de palabra. Sin embargo, algunos estudios acústicos recientes han problematizado la resilabificación completa en el español peninsular centro-norteño al presentar evidencia experimental de que la /s̺/ es más corta y sonorizada como arranque derivado que como arranque canónico. Utilizamos un modelo de acoplamiento competitivo desde la Fonología Articulatoria, el cual divide a las consonantes en un gesto de constricción y de soltura, para proponer una nueva representación de la ambisilabicidad que predice el comportamiento fonético de la /s̺/ como arranque derivado en el español peninsular centro-norteño. Luego, demostramos que el acoplamiento ambisilábico permite analizar mejor el debilitamiento de fricativas coronales en el español chinato, en comparación con otras explicaciones alternativas. Confirmamos las predicciones tipológicas de nuestro análisis para otras variedades contemporáneas del español. Por último, examinamos las consecuencias de la ambisilabicidad para el análisis de las consonantes róticas del español, también citadas como otro argumento a favor de la resilabificación completa. Ofrecemos un análisis de las róticas que es totalmente compatible con una representación ambisilábica de la resilabificación incompleta

Seasonal Abundance of Autotrophic Picoplankton in the Pagan River, a Nutrient Enriched Subestuary of the James River, Virginia

Autotrophic picoplankton had average monthly concentrations of 73.5 X 106 cells/L in the Pagan River, with summer-early fall maxima of 108 cells/L. The abundance peaks increased with rising water temperatures, declining to their least abundance in mid-winter (105 cells/L)

Uptake of Virtual Visits in A Geriatric Primary Care Clinic During the COVID‐19 Pandemic

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/156159/2/jgs16534.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/156159/1/jgs16534_am.pd

Depression, Loneliness, and Life Satisfaction in Emerging Adults

Abstract: Existing research indicates that loneliness can lead to negative outcomes such as depression and anxiety (United States Department of Health and Human Services, 2023). When examining the role sleep plays in this relationship, research has shown that an increase in sleep quality is related to a decrease in levels of loneliness (Hladek, 2021). In addition, we examined the relationship between depression and life satisfaction, with the variable gratitude serving as a mediator to that relationship. Previous research has indicated that higher levels of gratitude negatively effects levels of depression (Wood et al., 2008). In previous research, as levels of depression began to decrease, life satisfaction levels increased with hope and gratitude both serving as mediators (Kwok, 2016). However, within our study we are focusing our research on emerging adults and focusing solely on gratitude to evaluate a mediated relationship. Within our study, emerging adult college students (N= 46) took a Qualtrics survey that measured: demographics and levels of life satisfaction, gratitude, loneliness, and sleep quality. Results indicated that higher levels of loneliness did not significantly predict lower levels of life satisfaction, considering sleep quality as a mediator. However, there was a significant indirect effect of depression on life satisfaction via gratitude as a mediator, b = -0.237, boot SE = 0.094, 95% bootstrap CI [-0.432, -0.071]. These results indicate that lower levels of gratitude can be attributed as a reason why high depression leads to lower life satisfaction, and further suggests that improving gratitude may be necessary to combat the negative effects of depression on life satisfaction in the emerging adult population