The Great Salt Lake’s Deep Brine Layer and Its Importance for Mercury Bioaccumulation in Brine Shrimp (Artemia franciscana)

Mercury in water bodies is receiving increased attention due to the toxicity of methylmercury (MeHg). Some authors have suggested that stratified lakes with anoxic hypolimnia experience higher rates of mercury methylation. It is believed that this biochemical pathway is promoted by high levels of H2S and organic matter in the deep layers that fuel sulfate‐reducing bacteria that produce methylmercury as a byproduct

Establishing the Learned Effect of Repeated Wingate Anaerobic Tests

The Wingate anaerobic test (WAnT) is a recognized and well-established measure of power output, muscular endurance, and fatigue. However, a learning effect could reduce the reliability of these measures. PURPOSE: To establish the number of WAnT trials needed to produce a learned effect. METHODS: Thirty-six apparently healthy college-aged men (n=20) and women (n=16) who had not previously performed a WAnT participated in five WAnT trials separated by a minimum of 72 hours. Peak Power (PP) and Mean Power (MP) were recorded for each trial. Resistance for trials was calculated at 7.5% of each respective participant’s weight. RESULTS: In men, paired samples t-test revealed PP increased on all trials (2-5) when compared to trial 1 (+44.66W, +49.19W, +55.80W, +63.95W; p=0.02, p=0.01, p=0.01, p=0.00, respectively). PP significantly increased from trial 1 to trial 2 (849.21±127.41 watts to 893.87±143.92 watts, p\u3c.05), but leveled thereafter with no significant differences between trials 2-5 (p\u3e.05). The same results were found for MP, with a significant increase from trial 1 to 2 (627.90±79.01 watts to 660.04±79.66 watts, p\u3c.01), but no differences found between trials 2-5 (p\u3e.05). There was a trend toward an elicited peak MP at trial 3 (p=.09, Cohen’s d= -.83). In women, the average PP and MP for trial 1 was 547.74±94.56 watts and 415.91±68.21 watts, respectively, with no significant differences found between trials (p\u3e.05). These results suggest that a learned effect is present within PP and MP until trial 2 of the WAnT, with a trend toward peak MP at trial 3 for male participants. CONCLUSION: Thereby, suggesting that when performing WAnT, utilizing less than 3 practice trials might elicit significant power increase in male participants due to this learned effect. Current data suggests that female participants elicit peak power at trial 1 of the WAnT, with no significant increase in subsequent trials. Additional research should be conducted in order to further investigate the non-significant trend of increasing power output across WAnT trials in male participants as well the lack of female learned response

Project ATTAIN: Advancing Trauma-Informed Care for Youth with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and/or Gender Diverse Youth

Children with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) and/or gender diversity are at higher risk of experiencing trauma. Provider knowledge is lacking; trauma, disability, and LGBTQ+ resources are often siloed; and few providers screen for trauma in this population. This paper describes the design, delivery, and initial evaluation of Project ATTAIN (Access to Trauma-informed Treatment and Assessment for Neurodivergent and/or Gender-expansive Youth). ATTAIN is an ongoing 5-year state-wide initiative aiming to assess readiness to engage in new roles and practices over time; provide state-wide training and consultation in trauma, disability, and LGBTQ+-informed practices; install screening and assessment of trauma exposure and PTSD and quality of life into IDD and gender service settings; and include people with lived experience. A readiness assessment identified pre-training gaps between role responsibilities and practice engagement across five professional sectors serving our target population (n=39) in LGBTQ+-, disability-, and trauma-informed practices. We learned that specific sectors would benefit from introductory training to increase buy-in and promote role expansion; others would benefit from advanced instruction and implementation support. So far, we have trained 966 unique providers in trauma-informed care and have seen changes in the attitudes or perspectives of participants. Participants were highly satisfied with our provided training and saw increased knowledge across training. We screened 49 people in an IDD service setting for PTSD and quality of life. Two people with lived experience are active members of our research team, participating in project planning, training delivery, and manuscript authorship. Individuals who work with IDD and/or gender-diverse youth would benefit from increased training to expand their knowledge on LGBTQ+-, disability-, and trauma-informed practices. In year three, we intend to continue outreach and evidence-informed training focused on the intersection of trauma, IDD, and gender diversity. Ongoing evaluation of our outreach, training, and screening efforts will continue to inform program activities

Validation of the Chronic Airways Assessment Test in the NOVELTY Study

Peer reviewedPostprin

Phenothiazine-mediated rescue of cognition in tau transgenic mice requires neuroprotection and reduced soluble tau burden

Abstract Background It has traditionally been thought that the pathological accumulation of tau in Alzheimer's disease and other tauopathies facilitates neurodegeneration, which in turn leads to cognitive impairment. However, recent evidence suggests that tau tangles are not the entity responsible for memory loss, rather it is an intermediate tau species that disrupts neuronal function. Thus, efforts to discover therapeutics for tauopathies emphasize soluble tau reductions as well as neuroprotection. Results Here, we found that neuroprotection alone caused by methylene blue (MB), the parent compound of the anti-tau phenothiaziazine drug, Rember™, was insufficient to rescue cognition in a mouse model of the human tauopathy, progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and fronto-temporal dementia with parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17 (FTDP17): Only when levels of soluble tau protein were concomitantly reduced by a very high concentration of MB, was cognitive improvement observed. Thus, neurodegeneration can be decoupled from tau accumulation, but phenotypic improvement is only possible when soluble tau levels are also reduced. Conclusions Neuroprotection alone is not sufficient to rescue tau-induced memory loss in a transgenic mouse model. Development of neuroprotective agents is an area of intense investigation in the tauopathy drug discovery field. This may ultimately be an unsuccessful approach if soluble toxic tau intermediates are not also reduced. Thus, MB and related compounds, despite their pleiotropic nature, may be the proverbial "magic bullet" because they not only are neuroprotective, but are also able to facilitate soluble tau clearance. Moreover, this shows that neuroprotection is possible without reducing tau levels. This indicates that there is a definitive molecular link between tau and cell death cascades that can be disrupted.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78314/1/1750-1326-5-45.xmlhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78314/2/1750-1326-5-45.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78314/3/1750-1326-5-45-S1.PDFPeer Reviewe

FXR1P Limits Long-Term Memory, Long-Lasting Synaptic Potentiation, and De Novo GluA2 Translation

SummaryTranslational control of mRNAs allows for rapid and selective changes in synaptic protein expression that are required for long-lasting plasticity and memory formation in the brain. Fragile X Related Protein 1 (FXR1P) is an RNA-binding protein that controls mRNA translation in nonneuronal cells and colocalizes with translational machinery in neurons. However, its neuronal mRNA targets and role in the brain are unknown. Here, we demonstrate that removal of FXR1P from the forebrain of postnatal mice selectively enhances long-term storage of spatial memories, hippocampal late-phase long-term potentiation (L-LTP), and de novo GluA2 synthesis. Furthermore, FXR1P binds specifically to the 5′ UTR of GluA2 mRNA to repress translation and limit the amount of GluA2 that is incorporated at potentiated synapses. This study uncovers a mechanism for regulating long-lasting synaptic plasticity and spatial memory formation and reveals an unexpected divergent role of FXR1P among Fragile X proteins in brain plasticity

The Simons Observatory: Large-Scale Characterization of 90/150 GHz TES Detector Modules

The Simons Observatory (SO) is a cosmic microwave background instrumentation suite being deployed in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. The telescopes within SO use three types of dichroic transition-edge sensor (TES) detector arrays, with the 90 and 150 GHz Mid-Frequency (MF) arrays containing 65% of the approximately 68,000 detectors in the first phase of SO. All of the 26 required MF detector arrays have now been fabricated, packaged into detector modules, and tested in laboratory cryostats. Across all modules, we find an average operable detector yield of 84% and median saturation powers of (2.8, 8.0) pW with interquartile ranges of (1, 2) pW at (90, 150) GHz, respectively, falling within their targeted ranges. We measure TES normal resistances and superconducting transition temperatures on each detector wafer to be uniform within 3%, with overall central values of 7.5 mohm and 165 mK, respectively. Results on time constants, optical efficiency, and noise performance are also presented and are consistent with achieving instrument sensitivity forecasts.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures. Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Low Temperature Detectors (LTD20). Accepted to JLT

Pathways to Progress. Volume I: Community Development Challenges for San Angelo, Texas and Surrounding Communities

In 2011, we at Community Development Initiatives (CDI) met with Jack Cowan and Mike Kelly, editors of the San Angelo Standard Times newspaper. We sought approval to write a monthly article for the paper that would focus on stimulating thought and discussion about the social problems facing residents of San Angelo and the Concho Valley on a daily basis. We believe that such discussion is a key path to progress. The problems CDI deals with often focus on residents that seem most troublesome to many citizens. They concern the poor, the elderly, the disabled, the youth, the unemployed and the racial/ethnic minority members of the community. Jack and Mike were enthusiastic about our proposal and they have been staunch supporters ever since the publication of our initial article in August of 2011. Since that article, the Standard Times published monthly articles for more than five years. Those articles comprise our Pathways to Progress series.ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (8) — SOCIAL HEALTH INDEX FOR THE CONCHO VALLEY (9) — Solving Our Problems Together (10) — Quality of Life Figures in Decline (13) — Vast Differences in Quality of Life across City (19) — Looking for Answers (23) — Taking a Balanced Approach (25) — Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back in Measure (28) — Community Woes Linger (32) — Quality of Life (35) — CHILDREN OF THE CONCHO VALLEY (38) — Falling Through the Cracks (40) — The Well-Being of Children in Tom Green County (43) — Battle against Child Poverty Goes On (46) — Child Abuse in our Area (49) — It Takes a Village to Raise Kids Right (51) — Children Are All of Our Future (54) — How Are the Children? (57) — Local Domestic and Child Abuse Levels Too High (60) — Saying NO to Citizen Complacency (62) — Teen Births Cost us All (67) — No Reason for Complacency (70) — Disconnected Youth (73) — SENIORS OF THE CONCHO VALLEY (76) — Truly Grand Parents (77) — They worked, now it's Up to Us (80) — City Has High Levels of Elderly Abuse, Accidents (84) — Texas Should Get Atop the Coming Demographic Wave (88) — Not All Seniors Equal (92) — Isolation among the Elderly (95) — HEALTH CARE IN THE CONCHO VALLEY (98) — Caring About Care (101) — Not so well being (103) — Giving Thanks, Getting Checked (107) — Door to Reform (109) — West Texas' Wide Open Spaces a Challenge for Health Care (112) — Driven to Live a Healthier Lifestyle (115) — Ounces of Prevention (118) — Index Raises Red Flags (121) — The Gift of Health (124) — Getting With the ACA Program (127) — Kid's Health Index Reveals Disparities (130) — Standard of Safety (134) — Abortion Rate Declining (137) — White Midlife Despair (140) — Health Status of Poor (143) — THE ECONOMY OF THE CONCHO VALLEY (145) — Contributions of Immigrants Must Not be ignored (147) — US Needs to Commit to Paying a Living Wage (150) — GI Bill: A Success (153) — A Community Divided (156) — Let's Get Serious About Reducing Poverty (160) — HOUSEHOLDS OF THE CONCHO VALLEY (162) — College Education Crucial, Not Cheap (164) — Overcoming San Angelo's Housing Hurdles (168) — Avoiding Complacency (171) — Area Public Transportation Must Prepare for Future Needs (174) — Hunger in the Land of Plenty (177) — Seeing a Pattern Here (181) — Many Struggle to Keep a Roof over Their Heads (184) — Figures behind Tax Burden (188) — Solving Social Security (193) — Grading our Schools (196) — INEQUALITY IN THE CONCHO VALLEY (200) — Inequality Imperils Us (202) — Pay Roles (205) — Blaming the Poor for Being Poor (208) — Income Inequality by the Numbers (212) — Drifting Apart? (216) — Waking Up From the American Dream (220) — A Great Revolt? (223) — Different Kind of Segregation Occurring (226) — CONTRIBUTORS (231