Implementation of a pharmacogenomics consult service to support the INGENIOUS trial

Hospital systems increasingly utilize pharmacogenomic testing to inform clinical prescribing. Successful implementation efforts have been modeled at many academic centers. In contrast, this report provides insights into the formation of a pharmacogenomics consultation service at a safety-net hospital, which predominantly serves low-income, uninsured, and vulnerable populations. The report describes the INdiana GENomics Implementation: an Opportunity for the UnderServed (INGENIOUS) trial and addresses concerns of adjudication, credentialing, and funding

The Origin, Early Evolution and Predictability of Solar Eruptions

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) were discovered in the early 1970s when space-borne coronagraphs revealed that eruptions of plasma are ejected from the Sun. Today, it is known that the Sun produces eruptive flares, filament eruptions, coronal mass ejections and failed eruptions; all thought to be due to a release of energy stored in the coronal magnetic field during its drastic reconfiguration. This review discusses the observations and physical mechanisms behind this eruptive activity, with a view to making an assessment of the current capability of forecasting these events for space weather risk and impact mitigation. Whilst a wealth of observations exist, and detailed models have been developed, there still exists a need to draw these approaches together. In particular more realistic models are encouraged in order to asses the full range of complexity of the solar atmosphere and the criteria for which an eruption is formed. From the observational side, a more detailed understanding of the role of photospheric flows and reconnection is needed in order to identify the evolutionary path that ultimately means a magnetic structure will erupt

Potasssium chloride as a nutrient seed primer to enhance salt‑tolerance in maize

The objective of this work was to determine if KCl could be a useful nutrient primer for safe seed germination in maize crop under salt stress conditions. Seed priming was done using 50 mmol L‑1 of muriate of potash, and germination and seedling growth were evaluated after salt stress with NaCl up to 50 mmol L‑1. Another set of seeds was tested under the same salt stress conditions without priming. Under salinity stress, germination percentage, germination rate index, germination coefficient, and seedling vigor indexes were higher in primed seeds. In unprimed seeds, mean germination time increased, while the germination rate index and the fresh and dry matter mass decreased more sharply with salinity stress. The Na/K ratio was higher in unprimed seeds

Population consequences of mutual attraction between settling and adult barnacles

1. Spatial patterns of recruitment were compared between populations of the rocky shore barnacles (Crustacea: Cirripedia) Semibalanus balanoides, an obligate cross-fertilizer, and Chthamalus montagui, which can self-fertilize. We tested the hypothesis that recruitment depends on a behaviourally mediated interaction at settlement between the effects of adult background density and adult spacing, which limit free space for settlement and mating opportunities, respectively. Recruitment to patches of cleared rock (10- or 30-cm diameter) was compared between replicate shores with background densities of adult barnacles classed as low (?20 per 25 cm2) and high (>4× low). Replicate patches were cleared of all barnacles surrounding a remnant cluster, comprising 0, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 or 32 adults.2. For S. balanoides, settlement and subsequent recruitment over 5 months varied in direct proportion to remnant cluster size, except on the shore with the highest background density where recruitment was inversely proportional to cluster size. We interpret this inversion to indicate attraction to potential mates at low adult densities (positive density dependence, an Allee effect) switching to attraction to free space at high density (negative density dependence). The strengths and slopes of the regressions increased from shores with the lowest to the highest overall recruitment of barnacles, but retained significance over a five-fold range in recruitment. Positive effects of cluster size on recruitment were consistent between consecutive years, despite considerable variation in recruitment densities. In contrast, recruitment of C. montagui was generally more weakly proportional to cluster size, except for a strong positive correlation at the shore with the highest recruitment.3. Dispersion of recruits within treatment patches was accurately modelled by a computer simulation that allowed each barnacle to settle at random between fixed minimum and maximum distances from the nearest other settled barnacle. The model estimated threshold distances by maximum likelihood fit to observed recruitment into concentric annuli around the central adult cluster. Upper thresholds of separation corresponded to penis length for 65% of S. balanoides and 42% of C. montagui patches. Lower thresholds were ?2× cyprid length for 75% of S. balanoides patches, but were larger than this for C. montagui patches