Nightcaps and Vignettes: Reflections Through Poetry

Through the Honors Program at Angelo State University I have traveled and been given opportunities beyond those generally available to undergraduates. Throughout these experiences I wrote poetry and other creative works and now, as a senior, have compiled them as a record of my growth as both writer and scholar. This selections presented here reflect the range of opportunities from special courses to conferences and independent travel that characterize an Honors education. They also reflect the friendships forged in an interdisciplinary learning community

Development and application of an agent based model for glass eel selective tidal stream transport

Temperate eel populations have been in severe decline due to anthropogenic influences. In Europe, acts of regulation are in place for the sustainable management of the European eel (A. anguilla) population, through annual assessment of commercial landings and recruitment trends. Recruitment of juvenile eels into estuaries and subsequent rivers is thought to occur through usage of the flood, ebb and slack tides (Selective Tidal Stream Transport, STST) and other environmental variables. However, instalment of estuarine barriers is known to affect upstream migration with adverse consequences for the population. To evaluate anthropogenic impact (e.g. estuarine barriers) on recruitment and aid in the improvement of population assessment, we present an Agent-Based Model (ABM) for the upstream migration of glass eels/ elvers through estuaries. A systematic review of the impacts of environmental factors based on a meta-analysis of the literature provided the behavioural parameters of the agents. The ABM is coupled to a hydrodynamic model of the Thames Estuary (UK) and simulations are validated with catchment data from different sampling sites along this waterway. Results from the meta-analysis show that the predominant mechanisms for upstream migration include drifting with the flood tide and remaining in the substratum during ebb tide, whereas exploitation of the slack tide is debatable. Water temperature, the salinity gradient, and the moon phase are the most reported environmental variables affecting STST/ migration. Based on this, the ABM proved to be successful in predicting upstream migration along the Thames while explaining the efficiency of STST. Finally, the ABM is applied The Milford Haven Waterway (UK), which is heavily exploited by human activities, to provide information on possible recruitment success here and illustrate its functionality in the context of estuarine barrier management

Interventions Delivered in Clinical Settings are Effective in Reducing Risk of HIV Transmission Among People Living with HIV: Results from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)’s Special Projects of National Significance Initiative

To support expanded prevention services for people living with HIV, the US Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) sponsored a 5-year initiative to test whether interventions delivered in clinical settings were effective in reducing HIV transmission risk among HIV-infected patients. Across 13 demonstration sites, patients were randomized to one of four conditions. All interventions were associated with reduced unprotected vaginal and/or anal intercourse with persons of HIV-uninfected or unknown status among the 3,556 participating patients. Compared to the standard of care, patients assigned to receive interventions from medical care providers reported a significant decrease in risk after 12 months of participation. Patients receiving prevention services from health educators, social workers or paraprofessional HIV-infected peers reported significant reduction in risk at 6 months, but not at 12 months. While clinics have a choice of effective models for implementing prevention programs for their HIV-infected patients, medical provider-delivered methods are comparatively robust

BHPR research: qualitative1. Complex reasoning determines patients' perception of outcome following foot surgery in rheumatoid arhtritis

Background: Foot surgery is common in patients with RA but research into surgical outcomes is limited and conceptually flawed as current outcome measures lack face validity: to date no one has asked patients what is important to them. This study aimed to determine which factors are important to patients when evaluating the success of foot surgery in RA Methods: Semi structured interviews of RA patients who had undergone foot surgery were conducted and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis of interviews was conducted to explore issues that were important to patients. Results: 11 RA patients (9 ♂, mean age 59, dis dur = 22yrs, mean of 3 yrs post op) with mixed experiences of foot surgery were interviewed. Patients interpreted outcome in respect to a multitude of factors, frequently positive change in one aspect contrasted with negative opinions about another. Overall, four major themes emerged. Function: Functional ability & participation in valued activities were very important to patients. Walking ability was a key concern but patients interpreted levels of activity in light of other aspects of their disease, reflecting on change in functional ability more than overall level. Positive feelings of improved mobility were often moderated by negative self perception ("I mean, I still walk like a waddling duck”). Appearance: Appearance was important to almost all patients but perhaps the most complex theme of all. Physical appearance, foot shape, and footwear were closely interlinked, yet patients saw these as distinct separate concepts. Patients need to legitimize these feelings was clear and they frequently entered into a defensive repertoire ("it's not cosmetic surgery; it's something that's more important than that, you know?”). Clinician opinion: Surgeons' post operative evaluation of the procedure was very influential. The impact of this appraisal continued to affect patients' lasting impression irrespective of how the outcome compared to their initial goals ("when he'd done it ... he said that hasn't worked as good as he'd wanted to ... but the pain has gone”). Pain: Whilst pain was important to almost all patients, it appeared to be less important than the other themes. Pain was predominately raised when it influenced other themes, such as function; many still felt the need to legitimize their foot pain in order for health professionals to take it seriously ("in the end I went to my GP because it had happened a few times and I went to an orthopaedic surgeon who was quite dismissive of it, it was like what are you complaining about”). Conclusions: Patients interpret the outcome of foot surgery using a multitude of interrelated factors, particularly functional ability, appearance and surgeons' appraisal of the procedure. While pain was often noted, this appeared less important than other factors in the overall outcome of the surgery. Future research into foot surgery should incorporate the complexity of how patients determine their outcome Disclosure statement: All authors have declared no conflicts of interes

Age-related immune response heterogeneity to SARS-CoV-2 vaccine BNT162b2

Abstract: Although two-dose mRNA vaccination provides excellent protection against SARS-CoV-2, there is little information about vaccine efficacy against variants of concern (VOC) in individuals above eighty years of age1. Here we analysed immune responses following vaccination with the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine2 in elderly participants and younger healthcare workers. Serum neutralization and levels of binding IgG or IgA after the first vaccine dose were lower in older individuals, with a marked drop in participants over eighty years old. Sera from participants above eighty showed lower neutralization potency against the B.1.1.7 (Alpha), B.1.351 (Beta) and P.1. (Gamma) VOC than against the wild-type virus and were more likely to lack any neutralization against VOC following the first dose. However, following the second dose, neutralization against VOC was detectable regardless of age. The frequency of SARS-CoV-2 spike-specific memory B cells was higher in elderly responders (whose serum showed neutralization activity) than in non-responders after the first dose. Elderly participants showed a clear reduction in somatic hypermutation of class-switched cells. The production of interferon-γ and interleukin-2 by SARS-CoV-2 spike-specific T cells was lower in older participants, and both cytokines were secreted primarily by CD4 T cells. We conclude that the elderly are a high-risk population and that specific measures to boost vaccine responses in this population are warranted, particularly where variants of concern are circulating

Single-cell multi-omics analysis of the immune response in COVID-19

Funder: Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine; doi: https://doi.org/10.13039/501100001255Funder: University College London, Birkbeck MRC Doctoral Training ProgrammeFunder: The Jikei University School of MedicineFunder: Action Medical Research (GN2779)Funder: NIHR Clinical Lectureship (CL-2017-01-004)Funder: NIHR (ACF-2018-01-004) and the BMA FoundationFunder: Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (grant 2017-174169) and from Wellcome (WT211276/Z/18/Z and Sanger core grant WT206194)Funder: UKRI Innovation/Rutherford Fund Fellowship allocated by the MRC and the UK Regenerative Medicine Platform (MR/5005579/1 to M.Z.N.). M.Z.N. and K.B.M. have been funded by the Rosetrees Trust (M944)Funder: Barbour FoundationFunder: ERC Consolidator and EU MRG-Grammar awardsFunder: Versus Arthritis Cure Challenge Research Grant (21777), and an NIHR Research Professorship (RP-2017-08-ST2-002)Funder: European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL)Abstract: Analysis of human blood immune cells provides insights into the coordinated response to viral infections such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, which causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We performed single-cell transcriptome, surface proteome and T and B lymphocyte antigen receptor analyses of over 780,000 peripheral blood mononuclear cells from a cross-sectional cohort of 130 patients with varying severities of COVID-19. We identified expansion of nonclassical monocytes expressing complement transcripts (CD16+C1QA/B/C+) that sequester platelets and were predicted to replenish the alveolar macrophage pool in COVID-19. Early, uncommitted CD34+ hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells were primed toward megakaryopoiesis, accompanied by expanded megakaryocyte-committed progenitors and increased platelet activation. Clonally expanded CD8+ T cells and an increased ratio of CD8+ effector T cells to effector memory T cells characterized severe disease, while circulating follicular helper T cells accompanied mild disease. We observed a relative loss of IgA2 in symptomatic disease despite an overall expansion of plasmablasts and plasma cells. Our study highlights the coordinated immune response that contributes to COVID-19 pathogenesis and reveals discrete cellular components that can be targeted for therapy

SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617.2 Delta variant replication and immune evasion

Abstract: The B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first identified in the state of Maharashtra in late 2020 and spread throughout India, outcompeting pre-existing lineages including B.1.617.1 (Kappa) and B.1.1.7 (Alpha)1. In vitro, B.1.617.2 is sixfold less sensitive to serum neutralizing antibodies from recovered individuals, and eightfold less sensitive to vaccine-elicited antibodies, compared with wild-type Wuhan-1 bearing D614G. Serum neutralizing titres against B.1.617.2 were lower in ChAdOx1 vaccinees than in BNT162b2 vaccinees. B.1.617.2 spike pseudotyped viruses exhibited compromised sensitivity to monoclonal antibodies to the receptor-binding domain and the amino-terminal domain. B.1.617.2 demonstrated higher replication efficiency than B.1.1.7 in both airway organoid and human airway epithelial systems, associated with B.1.617.2 spike being in a predominantly cleaved state compared with B.1.1.7 spike. The B.1.617.2 spike protein was able to mediate highly efficient syncytium formation that was less sensitive to inhibition by neutralizing antibody, compared with that of wild-type spike. We also observed that B.1.617.2 had higher replication and spike-mediated entry than B.1.617.1, potentially explaining the B.1.617.2 dominance. In an analysis of more than 130 SARS-CoV-2-infected health care workers across three centres in India during a period of mixed lineage circulation, we observed reduced ChAdOx1 vaccine effectiveness against B.1.617.2 relative to non-B.1.617.2, with the caveat of possible residual confounding. Compromised vaccine efficacy against the highly fit and immune-evasive B.1.617.2 Delta variant warrants continued infection control measures in the post-vaccination era

Behavioural and physiological responses of domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) to agonistic growls from conspecifics

Motivation-structural rule theory predicts that a sender producing harsh, low frequency sounds directed at a conspecific modifies the receiver's behaviour, in part, by communicating its willingness to escalate to an attack. Motivation-structural (MS) rules generally assume that receivers respond to this signal by retreating because of the threat encoded in the acoustic characteristics of the vocalisation. This assumption does not consider if alternative behavioural responses exist or how internal and environmental contexts affect receivers. This becomes an area for potential development of the MS theory when acknowledging that physiological and behavioural reactions may be related to distinct antithetical responses, such as Passive and Proactive coping strategies. To test if aggressive sound stimuli elicit consistent retreat responses by receivers, 42 dogs from shelters and private dog breeders were graded on behaviour and measures of salivary cortisol (a stress related steroid hormone) in response to an agonistic growl from an unknown, similarly sized conspecific. Results revealed that 52.4% (22/42) of dogs displayed retreat behaviours (Passive response), 33.3% (14/42) actively approached the growl source (Proactive response) and 14.3% (6/42) neither approached nor retreated (Neutral response). Post-test cortisol levels differed significantly between dogs in the Proactive, Passive and Neutral categories. Passively responding dogs averaged an 80% change in cortisol levels, Proactive dogs exhibited a 16.5% average cortisol change and Neutral responders displayed only a 6.4% change in cortisol. Although shelter dogs exhibited greater changes in cortisol, they did not differ significantly from the privately-owned dogs. This study verified that overt, observable behavioural responses reflect the physiological stress responses as measured by cortisol changes exhibited by domestic dogs. Results also suggested that experiences may influence how dogs to threatening stimuli from conspecifics respond-behaviourally and physiologically. A protocol providing a simulated threatening interaction with a dog, which does not bring the animals into direct contact, would have important implications for shelter staff in terms of how dog-dog introductions are managed, housing arrangements, potential training, matching dogs to owners and what advice shelter staff could offer to new owners. A corrigendum to this article was published in Applied animal behaviour science, 164, p. 92, doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2015.01.0018 page(s