Meta-Analysis of U.S. Wartime Dress Research

Meta-analysis is a research method that can reveal relationships or patterns across several research studies. There has been some research on studying trends of historic clothing and textile research,1 but there has not been a meta-analysis of a single historic style period

We wore “sloppy sweaters [and] tweed skirts:” Proposed styles for the wartime college woman

By Fall 1943 about half of all U. S. college students were women as men left the campuses to fight in World War II. Because of this shift many U.S. colleges tailored their courses and programs to female students.2 National periodicals also focused attention on the coeds. The purpose of this study was to examine proposed styles for college women during WWII to help historians analyze and put into context dress worn by college women during the war. This study aids in understanding of home front life and U.S. consumer behavior during WWII

Investigation of hospital discharge cases and SARS-CoV-2 introduction into Lothian care homes

Background The first epidemic wave of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Scotland resulted in high case numbers and mortality in care homes. In Lothian, over one-third of care homes reported an outbreak, while there was limited testing of hospital patients discharged to care homes. Aim To investigate patients discharged from hospitals as a source of SARS-CoV-2 introduction into care homes during the first epidemic wave. Methods A clinical review was performed for all patients discharges from hospitals to care homes from 1st March 2020 to 31st May 2020. Episodes were ruled out based on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) test history, clinical assessment at discharge, whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data and an infectious period of 14 days. Clinical samples were processed for WGS, and consensus genomes generated were used for analysis using Cluster Investigation and Virus Epidemiological Tool software. Patient timelines were obtained using electronic hospital records. Findings In total, 787 patients discharged from hospitals to care homes were identified. Of these, 776 (99%) were ruled out for subsequent introduction of SARS-CoV-2 into care homes. However, for 10 episodes, the results were inconclusive as there was low genomic diversity in consensus genomes or no sequencing data were available. Only one discharge episode had a genomic, time and location link to positive cases during hospital admission, leading to 10 positive cases in their care home. Conclusion The majority of patients discharged from hospitals were ruled out for introduction of SARS-CoV-2 into care homes, highlighting the importance of screening all new admissions when faced with a novel emerging virus and no available vaccine

SARS-CoV-2 Omicron is an immune escape variant with an altered cell entry pathway

Vaccines based on the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 are a cornerstone of the public health response to COVID-19. The emergence of hypermutated, increasingly transmissible variants of concern (VOCs) threaten this strategy. Omicron (B.1.1.529), the fifth VOC to be described, harbours multiple amino acid mutations in spike, half of which lie within the receptor-binding domain. Here we demonstrate substantial evasion of neutralization by Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 variants in vitro using sera from individuals vaccinated with ChAdOx1, BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273. These data were mirrored by a substantial reduction in real-world vaccine effectiveness that was partially restored by booster vaccination. The Omicron variants BA.1 and BA.2 did not induce cell syncytia in vitro and favoured a TMPRSS2-independent endosomal entry pathway, these phenotypes mapping to distinct regions of the spike protein. Impaired cell fusion was determined by the receptor-binding domain, while endosomal entry mapped to the S2 domain. Such marked changes in antigenicity and replicative biology may underlie the rapid global spread and altered pathogenicity of the Omicron variant

Oligogalactolipid production during cold challenge is conserved in early diverging lineages

Oligogalactolipid production is a response to severe cold in many land plant lineages. It occurs during times of membrane damage and can be reproduced in multiple species by cytosolic acidification. Severe cold, defined as a damaging cold beyond acclimation temperatures, has unique responses, but the signaling and evolution of these responses are not well understood. Production of oligogalactolipids, which is triggered by cytosolic acidification in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), contributes to survival in severe cold. Here, we investigated oligogalactolipid production in species from bryophytes to angiosperms. Production of oligogalactolipids differed within each clade, suggesting multiple evolutionary origins of severe cold tolerance. We also observed greater oligogalactolipid production in control samples instead of temperature challenged samples of some species. Further examination of representative species revealed a tight association between temperature, damage, and oligogalactolipid production that scaled with the cold tolerance of each species. Based on oligogalactolipid production and transcript changes, multiple angiosperm species share a signal of oligogalactolipid production initially described in Arabidopsis, cytosolic acidification. Together, these data suggest that oligogalactolipid production is a severe cold response that originated from an ancestral damage response that remains in many land plant lineages and that cytosolic acidification may be a common signaling mechanism for its activation

Prevalence of Chest Injury With the Presence of NEXUS Chest Criteria: Data to Inform Shared Decisionmaking About Imaging Use.

Study objectiveThe NEXUS chest decision instrument identifies a very-low-risk population of patients with blunt trauma for whom chest imaging can be avoided. However, it requires that all 7 National Emergency X-Ray Utilization Study (NEXUS) chest criteria be absent. To inform patient and physician shared decisionmaking about imaging, we describe the test characteristics of individual criteria of the NEXUS chest decision instrument and provide the prevalence of injuries when 1, 2, or 3 of the 7 criteria are present.MethodsWe conducted this secondary analysis of 2 prospectively collected cohorts of patients with blunt trauma who were older than 14 years and enrolled in NEXUS chest studies between December 2009 and January 2012. Physicians at 9 US Level I trauma centers recorded the presence or absence of the 7 NEXUS chest criteria. We calculated test characteristics of each criterion and combinations of criteria for the outcome measures of major clinical injuries and thoracic injury observed on chest imaging.ResultsWe enrolled 21,382 patients, of whom 992 (4.6%) had major clinical injuries and 3,135 (14.7%) had thoracic injuries observed on chest imaging. Sensitivities of individual test characteristics ranged from 15% to 56% for major clinical injury and 14% to 53% for thoracic injury observed on chest imaging, with specificities varying from 71% to 84% for major clinical injury and 67% to 84% for thoracic injury observed on chest imaging. Individual criteria were associated with a prevalence of major clinical injury between 1.9% and 3.8% and of thoracic injury observed on chest imaging between 5.3% and 11.5%.ConclusionPatients with isolated NEXUS chest criteria have low rates of major clinical injury. The risk of major clinical injury for patients with 2 or 3 factors range from 1.7% to 16.6%, depending on the combination of criteria. Criteria-specific risks could be used to inform shared decisionmaking about the need for imaging by patients and their physicians

Sequence of Physical Changes to the Cell Membrane During Glucocorticoid-Induced Apoptosis in S49 Lymphoma Cells

During apoptosis, physical changes in the plasma membrane prepare the cell for clearance by phagocytes and hydrolysis by secretory phospholipase A2 (sPLA2). The relationships among these changes have not been adequately established, especially for hormone-stimulated apoptosis. This study addresses these issues for glucocorticoid-induced apoptosis in S49 lymphoma cells. Flow cytometry, microscopy, and fluorescence spectroscopy were used to assess merocyanine 540 emission, laurdan generalized polarization, phosphatidylserine exposure, caspase activation, and membrane permeability to propidium iodide in the absence and presence of sPLA2. The earliest event observed was activation of cellular caspases. Results with membrane probes suggest that interlipid spacing also increases early during apoptosis and precedes transbilayer migration of phosphatidylserine, DNA fragmentation, and a general increase in lipid order associated with blebbing and dissolution of the cells. The activity of sPLA2 appeared to be linked more to lipid spacing than to loss of membrane asymmetry. The early nature of some of these events and their ability to promote activity of a proinflammatory enzyme suggests the possibility of an inflammatory response during T-lymphocyte apoptosis