Phenotypic Plasticity of Native vs. Invasive Purple Loosestrife: A Two-state Multivariate Approach

The differences in phenotypic plasticity between invasive (North American) and native (German) provenances of the invasive plant Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife) were examined using a multivariate reaction norm approach testing two important attributes of reaction norms described by multivariate vectors of phenotypic change: the magnitude and direction of mean trait differences between environments. Data were collected for six life history traits from native and invasive plants using a split-plot design with experimentally manipulated water and nutrient levels. We found significant differences between native and invasive plants in multivariate phenotypic plasticity for comparisons between low and high water treatments within low nutrient levels, between low and high nutrient levels within high water treatments, and for comparisons that included both a water and nutrient level change. The significant genotype × environment (G × E) effects support the argument that invasiveness of purple loosestrife is closely associated with the interaction of high levels of soil nutrient and flooding water regime. Our results indicate that native and invasive plants take different strategies for growth and reproduction; native plants flowered earlier and allocated more to flower production, while invasive plants exhibited an extended period of vegetative growth before flowering to increase height and allocation to clonal reproduction, which may contribute to increased fitness and invasiveness in subsequent years

Hydrocarbon formation and oxidation in spark-ignition engines

This report summarizes the key results and conceptual findings from a three year research program on hydrocarbon formation and oxidation mechanisms in spark-ignition engines. Research was carried out in four areas: laminar flame quenching experimental and analytical studies; quench layer studies in a spark-ignition engine using a rapid-acting gas sampling valve; flow visualization studies in a transparent engine to determine quench layer and quench crevice gas motion; studies of heat transfer, mixing and HC oxidation in the exhaust port. More detailed descriptions of the individual research activities in these areas can be found in the theses and publications completed to date which form Volumes II to XI of the final report on this program.Final report on a research program funded by General Motors Research Laboratories, September 1976 to August 1979

Candidate Regulators of Dyslipidemia in Chromosome 1 Substitution Lines Using Liver Co-Expression Profiling Analysis

Dyslipidemia is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Although many genetic factors have been unveiled, a large fraction of the phenotypic variance still needs further investigation. Chromosome 1 (Chr 1) harbors multiple gene loci that regulate blood lipid levels, and identifying functional genes in these loci has proved challenging. We constructed a mouse population, Chr 1 substitution lines (C1SLs), where only Chr 1 differs from the recipient strain C57BL/6J (B6), while the remaining chromosomes are unchanged. Therefore, any phenotypic variance between C1SLs and B6 can be attributed to the differences in Chr 1. In this study, we assayed plasma lipid and glucose levels in 13 C1SLs and their recipient strain B6. Through weighted gene co-expression network analysis of liver transcriptome and "guilty-by-association" study, eight associated modules of plasma lipid and glucose were identified. Further joint analysis of human genome wide association studies revealed 48 candidate genes. In addition, 38 genes located on Chr 1 were also uncovered, and 13 of which have been functionally validated in mouse models. These results suggest that C1SLs are ideal mouse models to identify functional genes on Chr 1 associated with complex traits, like dyslipidemia, by using gene co-expression network analysis

Drying and deposition of poly(ethylene oxide) droplets determined by P\'eclet number

We report results of a detailed experimental investigation into the drying of sessile droplets of aqueous poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) polymer solutions under various experimental conditions. Samples are prepared with a range of initial concentrations c_0 and are filtered to remove traces of undissolved PEO clusters. In typical experiments, droplets with initial volumes between 5\muL and 50\muL are left to evaporate while temperature and relative humidity are monitored. Droplets either form a disk-like solid "puddle" or a tall conical "pillar". The droplet mass is monitored using a microbalance and the droplet profile is recorded regularly using a digital camera. Subsequent processing of the data allows values of droplet volume V, surface area A, base radius R, contact angle {\theta} and height h to be determined throughout drying. From this data we identify four stages during pillar formation: pinned drying; pseudo-dewetting; bootstrap building; solid contraction and propose physical models to explain key aspects of each stage and to predict the transition from each stage to the next. The experimental parameters of relative humidity, temperature, pressure, droplet volume and initial contact angle are all systematically varied and observed to influence the drying process and consequently whether the droplet forms a pillar or a puddle. We combine these parameters into a dimensionless P\'eclet number Pe, which compares the relative effects of evaporation and diffusion, and show that the drying behaviour is only dependent on c_0 and Pe.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figure

Optimising medication data collection in a large-scale clinical trial

© 2019 Lockery et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Objective: Pharmaceuticals play an important role in clinical care. However, in community-based research, medication data are commonly collected as unstructured free-text, which is prohibitively expensive to code for large-scale studies. The ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) study developed a two-pronged framework to collect structured medication data for 19,114 individuals. ASPREE provides an opportunity to determine whether medication data can be cost-effectively collected and coded, en masse from the community using this framework. Methods: The ASPREE framework of type-to-search box with automated coding and linked free text entry was compared to traditional method of free-text only collection and post hoc coding. Reported medications were classified according to their method of collection and analysed by Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) group. Relative cost of collecting medications was determined by calculating the time required for database set up and medication coding. Results Overall, 122,910 participant structured medication reports were entered using the type-tosearch box and 5,983 were entered as free-text. Free-text data contributed 211 unique medications not present in the type-to-search box. Spelling errors and unnecessary provision of additional information were among the top reasons why medications were reported as freetext. The cost per medication using the ASPREE method was approximately USD $0.03 compared with USD$0.20 per medication for the traditional method. Conclusion Implementation of this two-pronged framework is a cost-effective alternative to free-text only data collection in community-based research. Higher initial set-up costs of this combined method are justified by long term cost effectiveness and the scientific potential for analysis and discovery gained through collection of detailed, structured medication data

Regional differentiation of felid vertebral column evolution: a study of 3D shape trajectories

Recent advances in geometric morphometrics provide improved techniques for extraction of biological information from shape and have greatly contributed to the study of ecomorphology and morphological evolution. However, the vertebral column remains an under-studied structure due in part to a concentration on skull and limb research, but most importantly because of the difficulties in analysing the shape of a structure composed of multiple articulating discrete units (i.e. vertebrae). Here, we have applied a variety of geometric morphometric analyses to three-dimensional landmarks collected on 19 presacral vertebrae to investigate the influence of potential ecological and functional drivers, such as size, locomotion and prey size specialisation, on regional morphology of the vertebral column in the mammalian family Felidae. In particular, we have here provided a novel application of a method—phenotypic trajectory analysis (PTA)—that allows for shape analysis of a contiguous sequence of vertebrae as functionally linked osteological structures. Our results showed that ecological factors influence the shape of the vertebral column heterogeneously and that distinct vertebral sections may be under different selection pressures. While anterior presacral vertebrae may either have evolved under stronger phylogenetic constraints or are ecologically conservative, posterior presacral vertebrae, specifically in the post-T10 region, show significant differentiation among ecomorphs. Additionally, our PTA results demonstrated that functional vertebral regions differ among felid ecomorphs mainly in the relative covariation of vertebral shape variables (i.e. direction of trajectories, rather than in trajectory size) and, therefore, that ecological divergence among felid species is reflected by morphological changes in vertebral column shape

International consensus is needed on a core outcome set to advance the evidence of best practice in cancer prehabilitation services and research.

Prehabilitation aims to optimise patients’ physical and psychological status before treatment. The types of outcomes measured to assess the impact of prehabilitation interventions vary across clinical research and service evaluation, limiting the ability to compare between studies and services and to pool data. An international workshop involving academic and clinical experts in cancer prehabilitation was convened in May 2022 at Sheffield Hallam University’s Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre, England. The workshop substantiated calls for a core outcome set to advance knowledge and understanding of best practice in cancer prehabilitation and to develop national and international databases to assess outcomes at a population level

Hyperoxemia and excess oxygen use in early acute respiratory distress syndrome : Insights from the LUNG SAFE study

Publisher Copyright: © 2020 The Author(s). Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.Background: Concerns exist regarding the prevalence and impact of unnecessary oxygen use in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). We examined this issue in patients with ARDS enrolled in the Large observational study to UNderstand the Global impact of Severe Acute respiratory FailurE (LUNG SAFE) study. Methods: In this secondary analysis of the LUNG SAFE study, we wished to determine the prevalence and the outcomes associated with hyperoxemia on day 1, sustained hyperoxemia, and excessive oxygen use in patients with early ARDS. Patients who fulfilled criteria of ARDS on day 1 and day 2 of acute hypoxemic respiratory failure were categorized based on the presence of hyperoxemia (PaO2 > 100 mmHg) on day 1, sustained (i.e., present on day 1 and day 2) hyperoxemia, or excessive oxygen use (FIO2 ≥ 0.60 during hyperoxemia). Results: Of 2005 patients that met the inclusion criteria, 131 (6.5%) were hypoxemic (PaO2 < 55 mmHg), 607 (30%) had hyperoxemia on day 1, and 250 (12%) had sustained hyperoxemia. Excess FIO2 use occurred in 400 (66%) out of 607 patients with hyperoxemia. Excess FIO2 use decreased from day 1 to day 2 of ARDS, with most hyperoxemic patients on day 2 receiving relatively low FIO2. Multivariate analyses found no independent relationship between day 1 hyperoxemia, sustained hyperoxemia, or excess FIO2 use and adverse clinical outcomes. Mortality was 42% in patients with excess FIO2 use, compared to 39% in a propensity-matched sample of normoxemic (PaO2 55-100 mmHg) patients (P = 0.47). Conclusions: Hyperoxemia and excess oxygen use are both prevalent in early ARDS but are most often non-sustained. No relationship was found between hyperoxemia or excessive oxygen use and patient outcome in this cohort. Trial registration: LUNG-SAFE is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02010073publishersversionPeer reviewe

Identifying associations between diabetes and acute respiratory distress syndrome in patients with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure: an analysis of the LUNG SAFE database

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a common co-existing disease in the critically ill. Diabetes mellitus may reduce the risk of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), but data from previous studies are conflicting. The objective of this study was to evaluate associations between pre-existing diabetes mellitus and ARDS in critically ill patients with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure (AHRF). Methods: An ancillary analysis of a global, multi-centre prospective observational study (LUNG SAFE) was undertaken. LUNG SAFE evaluated all patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) over a 4-week period, that required mechanical ventilation and met AHRF criteria. Patients who had their AHRF fully explained by cardiac failure were excluded. Important clinical characteristics were included in a stepwise selection approach (forward and backward selection combined with a significance level of 0.05) to identify a set of independent variables associated with having ARDS at any time, developing ARDS (defined as ARDS occurring after day 2 from meeting AHRF criteria) and with hospital mortality. Furthermore, propensity score analysis was undertaken to account for the differences in baseline characteristics between patients with and without diabetes mellitus, and the association between diabetes mellitus and outcomes of interest was assessed on matched samples. Results: Of the 4107 patients with AHRF included in this study, 3022 (73.6%) patients fulfilled ARDS criteria at admission or developed ARDS during their ICU stay. Diabetes mellitus was a pre-existing co-morbidity in 913 patients (22.2% of patients with AHRF). In multivariable analysis, there was no association between diabetes mellitus and having ARDS (OR 0.93 (0.78-1.11); p = 0.39), developing ARDS late (OR 0.79 (0.54-1.15); p = 0.22), or hospital mortality in patients with ARDS (1.15 (0.93-1.42); p = 0.19). In a matched sample of patients, there was no association between diabetes mellitus and outcomes of interest. Conclusions: In a large, global observational study of patients with AHRF, no association was found between diabetes mellitus and having ARDS, developing ARDS, or outcomes from ARDS. Trial registration: NCT02010073. Registered on 12 December 2013