Older Single Women in Transition: Moving to a Supportive Retirement Community

This study explored role changes, resilience, social, and health challenges encountered by older women who transitioned to a retirement community that provided social, health, and safety support structures. The aim of this study was to analyze and describe the transition from the viewpoint of the participants. Although previous research has shown transitions lead to psychosocial, emotional, physical, and health changes, the importance of this study stems from the lack of research on older women moving to supportive communities and their unique challenges. A convenience sample of 39 women, aged 70-94, who had been living alone before moving to a church supported or private retirement community were recruited. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed using Grounded Theory methodology. Grounded Theory was the selected method of research as it focuses on social processes grounded in individual experiences, and searches for common experiences, common meanings, and common behaviors which lead to a broad knowledge base for theory development. Audio-recorded, transcribed data was analyzed and coded; major dimensions were identified; themes and linkages examined; and a theoretical model was developed. Dimensional analysis and a feminist perspective of power, social reality and reflexivity completed the development of a theoretical model. Data analysis revealed themes of time for change , gathering resources , letting go , and a sense of home from the perspective of maintaining control throughout the transition process. The women made decisions supporting control and independence; and they took time to explore and discuss changes. The transition involved both letting go and balancing the familiar with the new; and required resilience and adaptability. The transition was complete when the women felt at home in their new surroundings. This study provides an understanding of the experiences of older women during a period of transition and leads to a theoretical model of transition. Psychosocial, health, and economic challenges faced by the older women in this study informs the knowledge base of healthcare providers. This study indicated the need for further gender sensitive and age sensitive research. Additionally, this study suggests that future health policy must address the needs of this expanding senior population

Clonal and microclonal mutational heterogeneity in high hyperdiploid acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

High hyperdiploidy (HD), the most common cytogenetic subtype of B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL), is largely curable but significant treatment-related morbidity warrants investigating the biology and identifying novel drug targets. Targeted deep-sequencing of 538 cancer-relevant genes was performed in 57 HD-ALL patients lacking overt KRAS and NRAS hotspot mutations and lacking common B-ALL deletions to enrich for discovery of novel driver genes. One-third of patients harbored damaging mutations in epigenetic regulatory genes, including the putative novel driver DOT1L (n=4). Receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK)/Ras/MAPK signaling pathway mutations were found in two-thirds of patients, including novel mutations in ROS1, which mediates phosphorylation of the PTPN11-encoded protein SHP2. Mutations in FLT3 significantly co-occurred with DOT1L (p=0.04), suggesting functional cooperation in leukemogenesis. We detected an extraordinary level of tumor heterogeneity, with microclonal (mutant allele fraction <0.10) KRAS, NRAS, FLT3, and/or PTPN11 hotspot mutations evident in 31/57 (54.4%) patients. Multiple KRAS and NRAS codon 12 and 13 microclonal mutations significantly co-occurred within tumor samples (p=4.8x10-4), suggesting ongoing formation of and selection for Ras-activating mutations. Future work is required to investigate whether tumor microheterogeneity impacts clinical outcome and to elucidate the functional consequences of epigenetic dysregulation in HD-ALL, potentially leading to novel therapeutic approaches

Linking scales of sea ice surface topography: evaluation of ICESat-2 measurements with coincident helicopter laser scanning during MOSAiC

Information about sea ice surface topography and related deformation is crucial for studies of sea ice mass balance, sea ice modeling, and ship navigation through the ice pack. The Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2), part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Earth Observing System, has been on orbit for over 4 years, sensing the sea ice surface topography with six laser beams capable of capturing individual features such as pressure ridges. To assess the capabilities and uncertainties of ICESat-2 products, coincident high-resolution measurements of sea ice surface topography are required. During the yearlong Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition in the Arctic Ocean, we successfully carried out a coincident underflight of ICESat-2 with a helicopter-based airborne laser scanner (ALS), achieving an overlap of more than 100 km. Despite the comparably short data set, the high-resolution centimeter-scale measurements of the ALS can be used to evaluate the performance of ICESat-2 products. Our goal is to investigate how the sea ice surface roughness and topography are represented in different ICESat-2 products as well as how sensitive ICESat-2 products are to leads and small cracks in the ice cover. Here, we compare the ALS measurements with ICESat-2's primary sea ice height product, ATL07, and the high-fidelity surface elevation product developed by the University of Maryland (UMD). By applying a ridge-detection algorithm, we find that 16 % (4 %) of the number of obstacles in the ALS data set are found using the strong (weak) center beam in ATL07. Significantly higher detection rates of 42 % (30 %) are achieved when using the UMD product. While only one lead is indicated in ATL07 for the underflight, the ALS reveals many small, narrow, and only partly open cracks that appear to be overlooked by ATL07

Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation reconstructed from trans-Pacific tree rings: 1350–2004 CE

The interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO) represents the decadal mode of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation phenomenon. As such the IPO is one of the dominant modes of decadal climate variability on both sides of the Pacific Ocean basin. For this paper we utilized a newly developed tree-ring data network comprised of five multi-centennial Vietnamese cypress ring-width chronologies that range from around 11°N–23°N latitude. We combined these data with an average of tree-ring derived drought indices from the North American Drought Atlas over the south central USA, from a box that spans from 27.5°N–35.0°N, 85.0°–110.0°W and contains 55 gridpoints and more than 100 tree ring site chronologies, these 2 locations exhibit rainfall variations that are strongly, negatively correlated with each other and are representative of the influence of the IPO on terrestrial rainfall. The final reconstruction model, weighted most heavily on the three most southerly of the five Vietnamese cypress records, spans from 1350 to 2004, and explains nearly 57% of the variance in the original IPO data for the 5-month season of October–February. The reconstruction model passes all standard statistical tests using a split calibrationverification scheme. We reveal 15 positive and 15 negative phase shifts of the IPO prior to the period of instrumentation, suggesting that the IPO has been active for at least the past seven centuries with varying degrees of intensity. We compare our reconstruction with two related millennial records: the MacDonald and Case (Geophys Res Lett 32(8):L08703, 2005) tree ring-derived reconstruction of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, and an ice core-derived reconstruction of the IPO from the Law Dome Ice core in Antarctica by Vance et al. (Geophys Res Lett 33(6):L06712, 2015). While there is good general agreement with the latter record, there are three key periods of the past where the two records are out of phase, and we explore the reasons for this disparity. Direct comparison with the related Tripole Index (TPI) shows weaker correlation, likely owing to the stronger relationship between our tree ring data and the equatorial Pacific region relative to the north and south regions of the Pacific that combine to comprise the TPI calculation

Genomic characterization of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in radiation-exposed Chornobyl cleanup workers

Background Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) was the predominant leukemia in a recent study of Chornobyl cleanup workers from Ukraine exposed to radiation (UR-CLL). Radiation risks of CLL significantly increased with increasing bone marrow radiation doses. Current analysis aimed to clarify whether the increased risks were due to radiation or to genetic mutations in the Ukrainian population. Methods A detailed characterization of the genomic landscape was performed in a unique sample of 16 UR-CLL patients and age- and sex-matched unexposed general population Ukrainian-CLL (UN-CLL) and Western-CLL (W-CLL) patients (n = 28 and 100, respectively). Results Mutations in telomere-maintenance pathway genes POT1 and ATM were more frequent in UR-CLL compared to UN-CLL and W-CLL (both p < 0.05). No significant enrichment in copy-number abnormalities at del13q14, del11q, del17p or trisomy12 was identified in UR-CLL compared to other groups. Type of work performed in the Chornobyl zone, age at exposure and at diagnosis, calendar time, and Rai stage were significant predictors of total genetic lesions (all p < 0.05). Tumor telomere length was significantly longer in UR-CLL than in UN-CLL (p = 0.009) and was associated with the POT1 mutation and survival. Conclusions No significant enrichment in copy-number abnormalities at CLL-associated genes was identified in UR-CLL compared to other groups. The novel associations between radiation exposure, telomere maintenance and CLL prognosis identified in this unique case series provide suggestive, though limited data and merit further investigation