INVESTIGATION OF OMNIVOROUS TROPHIC POSITION IN THE DRILLING GASTROPOD, UROSALPINX CINEREA, USING STABLE ISOTOPE ANALYSIS

Drill-holes found in the fossil record are an important tool to study ecological patterns of the past. It is therefore important to gain a better understanding of the role of extant drilling snails in modern ecosystems. Although traditionally considered a predator, trophic position of 3.0, specimens of the muricid Urosalpinx cinerea from Long Island Sound revealed trophic positions between 2.3 and 2.5, suggestive of an omnivorous diet. This study addresses the generality of this result by examining a U. cinerea population from Wilmington, North Carolina. Preliminary whole body, soft tissue stable isotope analysis of nitrogen and carbon was conducted on five U. cinerea specimens. Isotopic baseline for the study area was calculated using proxy taxa, including Geukensia demissa for the pelagic baseline and Littoraria irrorata for the littoral baseline. Trophic position for these U. cinerea specimens ranged from 2.4 to 2.9. Working hypotheses to explain a trophic position lower than 3.0 in U. cinerea include: trophic omnivory driven by plant consumption, or a lower-than-average nitrogen discrimination factor. Although no studies on the nitrogen fractionation factors of muricids currently exist, the naticid Neverita duplicata from Long Island Sound has recently been demonstrated to have a normal nitrogen fractionation factor and omnivorous isotopic signatures. The difference between the trophic ranges of the two locations may indicate that U. cinerea have a more predatory diet in North Carolina than in Long Island Sound. However, further work is needed to confirm that these values reflect dietary differences, not a below average nitrogen fractionation factor

Novel rat tail discitis model using bioluminescent Staphylococcus aureus

Management of spondylodiscitis is a challenging clinical problem requiring medical and surgical treatment strategies. The purpose of this study was to establish a rat model of spondylodiscitis that utilizes bioluminescent Staphylococcus aureus, thus permitting in-vivo surveillance of infection intensity. Inocula of the bioluminescent S. aureus strain XEN36 were created in concentrations of 102 CFU/0.1 mL, 104 CFU/0.1 mL, and 106 CFU/0.1 mL. Three groups of rats were injected with the bacteria in the most proximal intervertebral tail segment. The third most proximal tail segment was injected with saline as a control. Bioluminescence was measured at baseline, 3 days, and weekly for a total of 6 weeks. Detected bioluminescence for each group peaked at day three and returned to baseline at 21 days. The average intensity was highest for the experimental group injected with the most concentrated bacterial solution (106 CFU/0.1 mL). Radiographic analysis revealed loss of intervertebral disc space and evidence of osseous bridging. Saline injected spaces exhibited no decrease in intervertebral spacing as compared to distal sites. Histologic analysis revealed neutrophilic infiltrates, destruction of the annulus fibrosus and nucleus pulposus, destruction of vertebral endplates, and osseous bridging. Saline injected discs exhibited preserved annulus fibrosus and nucleus pulposus on histology. This study demonstrates that injection of bioluminescent S. aureus into the intervertebral disc of a rat tail is a viable animal model for spondylodiscitis research. This model allows for real-time, in-vivo quantification of infection intensity, which may decrease the number of animals required for infection studies of the intervertebral disc

The ‘school of devotion’: Imagination and cognition in medieval meditations on Christ

This dissertation focuses on the best-known literary form of “popular” devotion in the late Middle Ages, the meditation on the life and passion of Christ, or gospel meditation. Locating the meditation\u27s origins in late thirteenth-century scholasticism, the dissertation begins with Bonaventure\u27s theory of mental images, according to which mental images receive the aid of illumination to convert knowledge of the natural world into knowledge of God, to the extent possible. Bonaventure uses this theory, in dialogue with the cognitive theories of his contemporaries, to establish the theological validity of imagining Christ\u27s life systematically in gospel meditations. Although early fourteenth-century theologians dismantle their predecessors\u27 theories of cognition, Bonaventure\u27s understanding of mental images and imagination persists in Latin and English gospel meditations. Thus texts such as the Meditationes vitae Christi embrace the complexity of Bonaventure\u27s cognitive theory by entrusting mental images to effect spiritual enlightenment. Likewise belonging to this tradition is William Langland\u27s ever enigmatic character Ymaginatif. Uniquely capable of transforming material into spiritual knowing, Ymaginatif adopts Bonaventure\u27s epistemological system even as corrupt clerics destroy it by impeding lay access to spiritual knowledge. Thus, although gospel meditations are typically understood as unsophisticated and lay because of their reliance on mental images, I argue that there is little in their early development to support such a reading. Only with the advent of the fifteenth century do thinkers treat imagination, and the gospel meditations based on it, as fanciful. Most clearly endorsing this position is Nicholas Love, who presents imagination as inherently material and unreliable in his translation of the Meditationes . Equating imagination and affect with lay piety, Love argues that gospel meditations constitute a valid exercise for lay people precisely because meditations lack spiritual efficacy. Love\u27s reading, however, is not generally applicable to earlier or later gospel meditations, and thus this project revises the common assumption that mental images, like visual ones, were quaint tools of devotion designed for simple lay consumption in the Middle Ages

The ‘school of devotion’: Imagination and cognition in medieval meditations on Christ

This dissertation focuses on the best-known literary form of “popular” devotion in the late Middle Ages, the meditation on the life and passion of Christ, or gospel meditation. Locating the meditation\u27s origins in late thirteenth-century scholasticism, the dissertation begins with Bonaventure\u27s theory of mental images, according to which mental images receive the aid of illumination to convert knowledge of the natural world into knowledge of God, to the extent possible. Bonaventure uses this theory, in dialogue with the cognitive theories of his contemporaries, to establish the theological validity of imagining Christ\u27s life systematically in gospel meditations. Although early fourteenth-century theologians dismantle their predecessors\u27 theories of cognition, Bonaventure\u27s understanding of mental images and imagination persists in Latin and English gospel meditations. Thus texts such as the Meditationes vitae Christi embrace the complexity of Bonaventure\u27s cognitive theory by entrusting mental images to effect spiritual enlightenment. Likewise belonging to this tradition is William Langland\u27s ever enigmatic character Ymaginatif. Uniquely capable of transforming material into spiritual knowing, Ymaginatif adopts Bonaventure\u27s epistemological system even as corrupt clerics destroy it by impeding lay access to spiritual knowledge. Thus, although gospel meditations are typically understood as unsophisticated and lay because of their reliance on mental images, I argue that there is little in their early development to support such a reading. Only with the advent of the fifteenth century do thinkers treat imagination, and the gospel meditations based on it, as fanciful. Most clearly endorsing this position is Nicholas Love, who presents imagination as inherently material and unreliable in his translation of the Meditationes . Equating imagination and affect with lay piety, Love argues that gospel meditations constitute a valid exercise for lay people precisely because meditations lack spiritual efficacy. Love\u27s reading, however, is not generally applicable to earlier or later gospel meditations, and thus this project revises the common assumption that mental images, like visual ones, were quaint tools of devotion designed for simple lay consumption in the Middle Ages

PharmGKB summary: Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia pathway, adverse drug reaction

12 month embargo; published 30 April 2022This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Advancing Precision Medicine Through the New Pharmacogenomics Global Research Network

The new Pharmacogenomics Global Research Network (PGRN) is an independent society that builds on the National Institutes of Health (NIH)–funded Pharmacogenomics Research Network that was established in 2000. Leveraging the original PGRN’s previous success, the new network continues to be a leader in the field of personalized medicine focusing on research, discovery, and translation of genomic variation influencing drug efficacy and adverse events, while simultaneously increasing inclusion in the field and expanding globally

Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium (CPIC) Guideline for CYP2C9 and HLA-B Genotypes and Phenytoin Dosing: 2020 Update

Phenytoin is an antiepileptic drug with a narrow therapeutic index and large interpatient pharmacokinetic variability, partly due to genetic variation in CYP2C9. Furthermore, the variant allele HLA-B*15:02 is associated with an increased risk of Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis in response to phenytoin treatment. We summarize evidence from the published literature supporting these associations and provide therapeutic recommendations for the use of phenytoin based on CYP2C9 and/or HLA-B genotypes (updates on cpicpgx.org)