Six-Month Mortality among HIV-Infected Adults Presenting for Antiretroviral Therapy with Unexplained Weight Loss, Chronic Fever or Chronic Diarrhea in Malawi.

In sub-Saharan Africa, early mortality is high following initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART). We investigated 6-month outcomes and factors associated with mortality in HIV-infected adults being assessed for ART initiation and presenting with weight loss, chronic fever or diarrhea, and with negative TB sputum microscopy

Decoding the massive genome of loblolly pine using haploid DNA and novel assembly strategies

BACKGROUND: The size and complexity of conifer genomes has, until now, prevented full genome sequencing and assembly. The large research community and economic importance of loblolly pine, Pinus taeda L., made it an early candidate for reference sequence determination. RESULTS: We develop a novel strategy to sequence the genome of loblolly pine that combines unique aspects of pine reproductive biology and genome assembly methodology. We use a whole genome shotgun approach relying primarily on next generation sequence generated from a single haploid seed megagametophyte from a loblolly pine tree, 20-1010, that has been used in industrial forest tree breeding. The resulting sequence and assembly was used to generate a draft genome spanning 23.2 Gbp and containing 20.1 Gbp with an N50 scaffold size of 66.9 kbp, making it a significant improvement over available conifer genomes. The long scaffold lengths allow the annotation of 50,172 gene models with intron lengths averaging over 2.7 kbp and sometimes exceeding 100 kbp in length. Analysis of orthologous gene sets identifies gene families that may be unique to conifers. We further characterize and expand the existing repeat library based on the de novo analysis of the repetitive content, estimated to encompass 82% of the genome. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to its value as a resource for researchers and breeders, the loblolly pine genome sequence and assembly reported here demonstrates a novel approach to sequencing the large and complex genomes of this important group of plants that can now be widely applied

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Breaking through the glass ceiling: only to get stuck in the rafters : a study of gendered legislative leadership in the 50 states

While some women have cracked the glass ceilings of state legislatures, in most states they are still getting stuck in the rafters of the ornately decorated chambers in which they serve when it comes to ascending to top leadership posts. Less than one-third (29%) of the states’ legislative bodies have been headed by women since 1997. Just 40 women in all have served as presiding officers during this period. For the most part, women have been limited to tertiary or secondary committee leadership positions while the increase in women policy leaders have been largely confined to the Executive Branch. This dissertation examined the antecedents to legislative leadership in the states’ lawmaking chambers and examined whether the antecedents varied by gender. This research also investigated whether institutional, electoral and egalitarian factors influenced who became a leader and examined if factors impeded access to top leadership for women as compared to men. Finally, this research compared the individual styles and behaviors of men and women leaders and examined the influence gender purports to play in the policy preferences, proposals and products of leaders. This research found that leaders shared many common traits including higher levels of education, professional, financial and management careers, as well as chamber seniority. Women do not have equal access to top leadership as compared to men; in part, because women start their legislative careers later in life and take-on different family responsibilities. As for structural barriers, factors such as term limits, constitutionally vested powers and chamber size as well as electoral composition appeared to influence who led in the states. The lack of proportional representation by women at both the tertiary and secondary leadership levels had the greatest implications. Overall, the styles and behaviors of women and men leaders were quite similar. Furthermore, women did not attempt to make wholesale changes in the chambers in which they led. The policy preferences of leaders fused along the policy proposals and products priorities of the caucus. The job of top leadership was shaped by the policy and political interests of the caucus, not by the leader.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesIncludes vitaby Debra Ann Borie-Holt

Analysis of visual demands of in-vehicle text displays reveals an age-related increase in time needed to reallocate attention to the road

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to evaluate age differences in the visual demands imposed by reading invehicle text message displays during simulated driving. Visual demand was operationalized in terms of five eye gaze data parameters. Sixteen young (mean age=20) and 16 older (mean age=77) licensed drivers served as participants. They were required to read variable length text messages from a console mounted display while driving on straight segments on a simulated rural highway. Older drivers required much more time to complete the concurrent text reading task -especially for messages of longer lengths. As hypothesized, most of this age-difference resulted from an increase in the time spent reacquiring the road scene between successive glances to the text display. Lane keeping variability increased and driving speed decreased while reading text for older, but not younger, drivers. This pattern of findings is consistent with prior claims that driving performance in older adults is negatively influenced by problems with attention switching mechanisms

Serum Pooling Lowers Cholesterol Recovery

Peer Reviewe

DoMY-Seq: A yeast two-hybrid–based technique for precision mapping of protein–protein interaction motifs

Interactions between proteins are fundamental for every biological process and especially important in cell signaling pathways. Biochemical techniques that evaluate these protein-protein interactions (PPIs), such as in vitro pull downs and coimmunoprecipitations, have become popular in most laboratories and are essential to identify and validate novel protein binding partners. Most PPIs occur through small domains or motifs, which are challenging and laborious to map by using standard biochemical approaches because they generally require the cloning of several truncation mutants. Moreover, these classical methodologies provide limited resolution of the interacting interface. Here, we describe the development of an alternative technique to overcome these limitations termed "Protein Domain mapping using Yeast 2 Hybrid-Next Generation Sequencing" (DoMY-Seq), which leverages both yeast two-hybrid and next-generation sequencing techniques. In brief, our approach involves creating a library of fragments derived from an open reading frame of interest and enriching for the interacting fragments using a yeast two-hybrid reporter system. Next-generation sequencing is then subsequently employed to read and map the sequence of the interacting fragment, yielding a high-resolution plot of the binding interface. We optimized DoMY-Seq by taking advantage of the well-described and high-affinity interaction between KRAS and CRAF, and we provide high-resolution domain mapping on this and other protein-interacting pairs, including CRAF-MEK1, RIT1-RGL3, and p53-MDM2. Thus, DoMY-Seq provides an unbiased alternative method to rapidly identify the domains involved in PPIs by advancing the use of yeast two-hybrid technology

Characteristics of patients with diabetes who accept referrals for care management services

Introduction: Patients with chronic conditions can improve their health through participation in self-care programs. However, awareness of and enrollment in these programs are generally low. Objective: We sought to identify factors influencing patients’ receptiveness to a referral for programs and services supporting chronic disease management. Methods: We analyzed data from 541 high-risk diabetic patients who completed an assessment between 2010 and 2013 from a computer-based, nurse-led Navigator referral program within a large primary care clinic. We compared patients who accepted a referral to those who declined. Results: A total of 318 patients (75%) accepted 583 referrals, of which 52% were for self-care programs. Patients who accepted a referral had more primary care visits in the previous year, were more likely to be enrolled in another program, expressed more interest in using the phone and family or friends for support, and were more likely to report recent pain than those who declined a referral. Discussion: Understanding what factors influence patients’ decisions to consider and participate in self-care programs has important implications for program design and development of strategies to connect patients to programs. This work informs outreach efforts to identify and engage patients who are likely to benefit from self-care activities