Prenatal Decision-Making Process of Patients in Three Cities in South Carolina

Purpose: Noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) has changed the landscape of prenatal genetic evaluation. This novel test can be performed as early as 10 weeks gestation without risk of pregnancy complication and has evoked questions about its applicability, appropriate use, and patient response. The purpose of this study was to evaluate patient decision-making processes about prenatal testing options as NIPT is integrated into the clinical realm. Method: Prenatal patients who were offered NIPT during genetic counseling (N = 105) in three cities in South Carolina completed a survey to address the goals of this study. Results: The top five factors most frequently rated as important by participants were as follows: (1) To be prepared if the baby had a disability (91%), (2) To avoid the risk of miscarriage (88%), (3) For reassurance the baby does not have a genetic condition (86%), (4) To obtain genetic information about the fetus as early as possible (81%), and (5) To have a test that provides more accurate information than other tests (77%). Three factors were found to be significantly more important to participants who selected NIPT than to participants who did not: (1) To obtain genetic information about the fetus as early as possible (p = .021), (2) To have a test that provides more accurate information than other tests (p = .025), and (3) To be prepared if the baby had a disability (p = .001). In addition, a majority of participants (74%) felt consideration of termination if the baby had a chromosome condition was irrelevant to their decision. This factor was not an NIPT-selection factor, meaning participants who selected NIPT were not significantly more likely to consider termination of an affected pregnancy important to their decision than participants who did not select NIPT. Conclusions: Patients are faced with new decisions as NIPT is integrated into prenatal care. This study evaluated the top five factors most frequently rated important by participants about their prenatal testing decision and identified three NIPT-selection factors. While every patient should be counseled as a unique individual, the results from this study are observations that may help healthcare providers better understand patient perspective. This study reveals five factors important to patient decision-making regarding prenatal testing; of these, three factors (obtaining genetic information about the fetus as early as possible, having a test that provides more accurate information than other tests, and being prepared if the baby had a disability) were significantly influential in patient selection of NIPT. Keywords: Noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT), patient decision making, decision-making process, prenatal genetic testin

Teacher Perspectives on Equitable Education for Immigrant Students

The purpose of this video is to introduce you to four teachers In Eastern Nebraska. Plus myself, a professor at the University of Nebraska (Lincoln). All of us with experience teaching immigrant students and all of us with expertise related to how to best serve the needs, as well as attend to the aspirations and opportunities of immigrant students. This Vodcast will share different perspectives from different folks. We\u27re going to start this Vodcast, and we imagine this as the beginning of the series, basically by introducing ourselves, who are we, why are we on your screen. And then we\u27re going to add on to that a handful of belief statements. I don\u27t think it\u27s easy to figure out what school is supposed to do unless we articulate what we think school is supposed to do, and then from that strategies will follow. Today we are recording who are we, and what do we believe comments, and to kick this off I\u27m going to start, just because I\u27ve already got the mic. My name is Edmund Hamann, although I go as Ted. I\u27m a professor in the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education at the University of Nebraska (Lincoln), and I\u27m also an equity fellow at the Midwest and Plains Equity Assistance Center. I began my career back in the early 1990s, leading an experimental bilingual family literacy program called Family Reading. Which had been co-developed by the National Council of La Raza and the Education Testing Service. The theme of considering immigrant students and families continued, I was the first in my work, but it continued when I wrote my master\u27s thesis on bilingual paraprofessionals in Kansas, mediating between Spanish speaking households and primarily English speaking public schools, and then again when I wrote my dissertation on a partnership that connected Georgia\u27s first majority Latino school district with a university in Mexico. That effort, the Georgia Project, included sending U.S. teachers on summer travel study to Mexico to learn about schools there. It included hiring Mexican teachers to serve temporarily as instructors in Georgia schools. It included a reimagining, revisioning, of the curriculum to be more responsive to those, in this case Mexican newcomers to Georgia. And then since then, first for the federally funded Northeastern Islands Regional Education Laboratory, which was then around university, and then more recently to the University of Nebraska. I have variously considered how school reform includes or excludes English learners, how school districts have responded to immigration enforcement actions, ICE actions In their communities, how curriculum can be adapted to be more accessible to international newcomers, and most extensively how schools in Mexico have received students with prior experience in the United States. In sum then, the biggest part of what I do is think about how schools and school systems respond to the transnationally mobile, whether students or parents, whether from Latin America to the U.S., or the U.S. to Latin America, and then how can they respond better. Transcript attached below

Probing the Inner Circumgalactic Medium and Quasar Illumination around the Reddest `Extremely Red Quasar' (ERQ)

Dusty quasars might be in a young stage of galaxy evolution with prominent quasar feedback. A recently discovered population of luminous, extremely red quasars at $z\sim$~2--4 has extreme spectral properties related to exceptionally powerful quasar-driven outflows. We present Keck/KCWI observations of the reddest known ERQ, at $z=$\,2.3184, with extremely fast [\ion{O}{III}]~$\lambda$5007 outflow at $\sim$6000~km~s$^{-1}$. The Ly$\alpha$ halo spans $\sim$100~kpc. The halo is kinematically quiet, with velocity dispersion $\sim$300~km~s$^{-1}$ and no broadening above the dark matter circular velocity down to the spatial resolution $\sim$6~kpc from the quasar. We detect spatially-resolved \ion{He}{II}~$\lambda$1640 and \ion{C}{IV}~$\lambda$1549 emissions with kinematics similar to the Ly$\alpha$ halo and a narrow component in the [\ion{O}{III}]~$\lambda$5007. Quasar reddening acts as a coronagraph allowing views of the innermost halo. A narrow Ly$\alpha$ spike in the quasar spectrum is inner halo emission, confirming the broad \ion{C}{IV}~$\lambda$1549 in the unresolved quasar is blueshifted by $2240$~km~s$^{-1}$ relative to the halo frame. We propose the inner halo is dominated by moderate-speed outflow driven in the past and the outer halo dominated by inflow. The high central concentration of the halo and the symmetric morphology of the inner region are consistent with the ERQ being in earlier evolutionary stage than blue quasars. The \ion{He}{II}~$\lambda$1640/Ly$\alpha$ ratio of the inner halo and the asymmetry level of the overall halo are dissimilar to Type~II quasars, suggesting unique physical conditions for this ERQ that are beyond orientation differences from other quasar populations. We find no evidence of mechanical quasar feedback in the Ly$\alpha$-emitting halo.Comment: 20 pages, 18 figures, published in MNRA

GoOrganic - ökologisches Zuchtprogramm für Milchziegen

Im vorliegenden Projekt soll modellhaft ein ökologisches Zuchtprogramm für Milchziegen entwickelt werden. Zuchtziel ist eine hohe Milchlebensleistung bei guten Inhaltsstoffen und Robustheit. Hierfür müssen geeignete Merkmale abgeleitet und in die Leistungsprüfung integriert werden. Zudem ist die aktive Einbindung der Ziegenzüchter in die Durchführung des Zuchtprogramms ein wichtiges Element. Es wurden verschiedene Einflussfaktoren auf die Milchlebensleistung untersucht. Von besonderem Interesse ist, in wie weit auf der Basis der ersten 120-Tage-Leistung eine Aussage zu den Lebensleistungsmerkmalen getroffen werden kann. Flankierend wurde ein Diagnosecode für ein Gesundheits- und Robustheitsmonitoring erstellt. Zur partizipativen Weiterentwicklung des Zuchtprogramms wurden Schulungen und Workshops durchgeführt. Zudem soll die Datenbank ZDV so ausgebaut werden, dass sie Berater und Züchter in der aktiven Zuchtarbeit unterstützt

Acesso e adesão a medicamentos entre pessoas com diabetes no Brasil : evidências da PNAUM

Objective: To describe people with diabetes in Brazil and to compare their sociodemographic characteristics, access and self-reported adherence to diabetes prescribed drugs. Methods: Data analysis from the National Survey on Access, Use and Promotion of the Rational Use of Medicines, a household survey, with sampling by clusters, according to sex and age domains and national and macro-regional representativeness. Adults (≥ 20 years old) who reported having diabetes constituted the sample. The weighted frequencies of the variables in the sample were analyzed and the Pearson χ2 test was applied to evaluate the statistical significance of the differences between the strata for the data of access, form of financing and adherence to the drugs, considering the level of significance of 5%. Results: We found a higher proportion of women, people over 60 years and economy class C. Most participants reported having two or more comorbidities, in addition to diabetes, and taking five or more drugs. Regarding access, 97.8% say they have access to prescription drugs for diabetes and 70.7% say they get them totally free of charge. There was low adherence to anti-diabetic treatment, with significant macro-regional differences (p = 0,001), and greater vulnerability in the South and Northeast regions. Conclusion: Better access to diabetes medicines in the country has been demonstrated. However, to improve the efficiency of health public spending, it is necessary to achieve higher rates of adherence to treatment.Objetivo: Descrever as pessoas com diabetes no Brasil e comparar suas características sociodemográficas, o acesso e a adesão autorreferida aos medicamentos prescritos. Métodos: Análise de dados oriundos da Pesquisa Nacional sobre Acesso, Utilização e Promoção do Uso Racional de Medicamentos, um inquérito domiciliar, com plano amostral por conglomerados, segundo domínios de sexo e idade e representatividade nacional e macrorregional. Os adultos (≥ 20 anos) que referiram ter diabetes constituíram a amostra. Analisaram-se as frequências ponderadas das variáveis na amostra e aplicou-se o teste do χ2 de Pearson para avaliar a significância estatística das diferenças entre os estratos para os dados de acesso, forma de financiamento e adesão aos medicamentos, considerando o nível de significância de 5%. Resultados: Encontrou-se uma maior proporção de mulheres, de maiores de 60 anos e da classe econômica C. A maioria referiu ter duas ou mais comorbidades além do diabetes e tomar cinco ou mais medicamentos. Quanto ao acesso, 97,8% dizem ter acesso aos medicamentos prescritos para diabetes e 70,7%, que os obtêm de forma totalmente gratuita. Verificou-se baixa adesão ao tratamento farmacológico, com diferenças macrorregionais significativas (p = 0,001) e maior vulnerabilidade nas regiões sul e nordeste. Conclusão: Demonstrou-se melhor acesso aos medicamentos para diabetes no país. Entretanto, para melhorar a eficiência dos gastos públicos, ficou demonstrada a necessidade de melhorar a adesão ao tratamento medicamentoso

Exploring the antiviral activity of flavonoids from Strychnos variabilis leaves against SARS-CoV-2

peer reviewedStrychnos variabilis De Wild. is a small deciduous tree that is primarily distributed in and around Brazzaville and Kinshasa, located on both sides of the Congo River in Africa [1]. While the leaves have only trace amounts of indoline alkaloids (retuline series) [2] [3], our laboratory isolated numerous rare flavonoids, including flavonol glycosides, from the leaves over three decades ago [4] [5] [6]. Flavonoids are known for their antiviral activity, especially when in glycosidic form, which increases their solubility and effectiveness compared to their non- glycosidic forms [7] [8]. Therefore, our present study aims to investigate the potential antiviral activity of S. variabilis leaves against SARS-CoV-2. Our findings revealed that the total extract of S. variabilis exhibits significant antiviral activity with an IC50 range of 12.5 to 6.25 µg/mL. Moreover, we tested two flavonoids, variabilosides C and D [5], which demonstrated even greater potency with an IC50 range of 6.9 to 3.5 µM. We suggest that the flavonoids present in S. variabilis leaves could provide a promising pathway for the development of a new herbal substrate used as an adjunctive therapeutic in the treatment of coronavirus disease. Further investigation into the pharmacological properties of these flavonoids is thus warranted to fully explore their potential as therapeutic agents against SARS-CoV-2

Mitosis can drive cell cannibalism through entosis.

Entosis is a form of epithelial cell cannibalism that is prevalent in human cancer, typically triggered by loss of matrix adhesion. Here, we report an alternative mechanism for entosis in human epithelial cells, driven by mitosis. Mitotic entosis is regulated by Cdc42, which controls mitotic morphology. Cdc42 depletion enhances mitotic deadhesion and rounding, and these biophysical changes, which depend on RhoA activation and are phenocopied by Rap1 inhibition, permit subsequent entosis. Mitotic entosis occurs constitutively in some human cancer cell lines and mitotic index correlates with cell cannibalism in primary human breast tumours. Adherent, wild-type cells can act efficiently as entotic hosts, suggesting that normal epithelia may engulf and kill aberrantly dividing neighbours. Finally, we report that Paclitaxel/taxol promotes mitotic rounding and subsequent entosis, revealing an unconventional activity of this drug. Together, our data uncover an intriguing link between cell division and cannibalism, of significance to both cancer and chemotherapy

Entosis Controls a Developmental Cell Clearance in C. elegans.

Metazoan cell death mechanisms are diverse and include numerous non-apoptotic programs. One program called entosis involves the invasion of live cells into their neighbors and is known to occur in cancers. Here, we identify a developmental function for entosis: to clear the male-specific linker cell in C. elegans. The linker cell leads migration to shape the gonad and is removed to facilitate fusion of the gonad to the cloaca. We find that the linker cell is cleared in a manner involving cell-cell adhesions and cell-autonomous control of uptake through linker cell actin. Linker cell entosis generates a lobe structure that is deposited at the site of gonad-to-cloaca fusion and is removed during mating. Inhibition of lobe scission inhibits linker cell death, demonstrating that the linker cell invades its host while alive. Our findings demonstrate a developmental function for entosis: to eliminate a migrating cell and facilitate gonad-to-cloaca fusion, which is required for fertility

RHAMM deficiency disrupts folliculogenesis resulting in female hypofertility

The postnatal mammalian ovary contains the primary follicles, each comprising an immature oocyte surrounded by a layer of somatic granulosa cells. Oocytes reach meiotic and developmental competence via folliculogenesis. During this process, the granulosa cells proliferate massively around the oocyte, form an extensive extracellular matrix (ECM) and differentiate into cumulus cells. As the ECM component hyaluronic acid (HA) is thought to form the backbone of the oocyte-granulosa cell complex, we deleted the relevant domain of the Receptor for HA Mediated Motility (RHAMM) gene in the mouse. This resulted in folliculogenesis defects and female hypofertility, although HA-induced signalling was not affected. We report that wild-type RHAMM localises at the mitotic spindle of granulosa cells, surrounding the oocyte. Deletion of the RHAMM C-terminus in vivo abolishes its spindle association, resulting in impaired spindle orientation in the dividing granulosa cells, folliculogenesis defects and subsequent female hypofertility. These data reveal the first identified physiological function for RHAMM, during oogenesis, and the importance of this spindle-associated function for female fertility