Serum and synovial fluid lipidomic profiles predict obesity-associated osteoarthritis, synovitis, and wound repair

High-fat diet-induced obesity is a major risk factor for osteoarthritis (OA) and diminished wound healing. The objective of this study was to determine the associations among serum and synovial fluid lipid levels with OA, synovitis, adipokine levels, and wound healing in a pre-clinical obese mouse model of OA. Male C57BL/6 J mice were fed either a low-fat (10% kcal) or one of three high-fat (HF, 60% kcal) diets rich in saturated fatty acids (SFAs), ω-6 or ω-3 polyunsaturated FAs (PUFAs). OA was induced by destabilization of the medial meniscus. Mice also received an ear punch for evaluating wound healing. Serum and synovial fluid were collected for lipidomic and adipokine analyses. We demonstrated that the serum levels of ω-3 PUFAs were negatively correlated with OA and wound size, but positively correlated with adiponectin levels. In contrast, most ω-6 PUFAs exhibited positive correlations with OA, impaired healing, and inflammatory adipokines. Interestingly, levels of pentadecylic acid (C15:0, an odd-chain SFA) and palmitoleic acid were inversely correlated with joint degradation. This study extends our understanding of the links of FAs with OA, synovitis and wound healing, and reports newly identified serum and synovial fluid FAs as predictive biomarkers of OA in obesity

Promoting Student Understanding of Occupation-Centered Practice and Updated Inter-Rater Reliability of the Occupation-Centered Intervention Assessment

The Occupation-Centered Intervention Assessment (OCIA) was developed as a reflective tool for students to improve their comprehension of occupation-centered practice. Finding new and innovative ways to incorporate occupation-centered assignments can serve as a strategy to develop student integration of occupation-centered practice and allow educators to appraise student comprehension. The purpose of this study was to evaluate student understanding of occupation-centered practice by utilizing various statistical analyses, including updated inter-rater reliability, of the OCIA using student assignments. Utilizing a methodological approach, 121 first-year students analyzed 10 physical rehabilitation videos utilizing the OCIA to rate the interventions for their level of occupation-centeredness. Overall, the students demonstrated good agreement (α =.864), indicating the OCIA has good inter-rater reliability with first year students. Individual and aggregate student OCIA scores and standard deviations provided valuable information to the course instructors for threshold concepts to reinforce throughout the course and program. The use of the OCIA facilitates student comprehension and application of occupation-centered reasoning and can be woven into didactic curricula as a learning tool

Watershed Outreach Professionals' Behavior Change Practices, Challenges, and Needs: Insights and Recommendations for the Chesapeake Bay Trust

This project was conducted in collaboration with a Maryland non-profit grant-making organization, the Chesapeake Bay Trust (CBT). The goal of the project was to determine how to assist local organizations in implementing environmental outreach programs (EOPs) that foster environmentally responsible behaviors (ERB) within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Based on findings from a review of conservation psychology literature, interviews with outreach program leaders, and observations of EOPs, the team designed and administered a survey to the CBT grant applicants (n=108, r=55%). The survey determined the EOP practices, challenges, and needs of these organizations. Survey results demonstrated that the majority of respondents’ organizations seek to motivate individuals to protect the Bay (97%) and that their EOPs have behavioral objectives (62%). Respondents reported that they motivate people in variety of ways, such as raising awareness (91 %). Their EOPs, however, also demonstrated misperceptions about how to achieve behavior change, for example suggesting that raising awareness will lead to ERB. Responses further revealed that many organizations are incorporating behavior change strategies and outreach best practices, such as targeting audiences (76%) and conducting internal evaluations (78%). Respondents, however, face challenges in implementing EOPs including: recruiting audiences not already environmentally motivated (53%); intentionally using behavior change strategies (52%); and developing EOPs with limited resources (48%). Finally, respondents felt their EOPs would most benefit from increased collaboration with other organizations (73%), opportunities to learn more about evaluation (63%), and training in how to incorporate academic research on ERB (53%). These survey results, as well as interview, observation, grant review, and presentation findings, led to the development of recommendations for the CBT and other funders interested in supporting EOPs to motivate ERB. Recommendations focused on facilitating effective program design include, addressing behavior change misconceptions, offering opportunities to learn more about behavior change, and developing outreach best practices skills, such as audience targeting and assessment. The recommendations also focus on ways to ensure that the needs of under-resourced grantees are met by encouraging collaboration and providing user-friendly, Bay-specific resources, such as the Rapid Assessment tool and guide to Strategies for Motivating Watershed Behavior created by the team.Master of ScienceNatural Resources and EnvironmentUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90869/1/Watershed Outreach Professionals' Behavior Change Practices, Challenges, and Needs[1].pd

Application of multicomponent reactions to antimalarial drug discovery. Part 3: discovery of aminoxazole 4-aminoquinolines with potent antiplasmodial activity in vitro.

The synthesis and antimalarial activity of a novel series of first generation 4-aminoquinoline-containing 2,4,5-trisubstituted aminoxazoles against two strains of the Plasmodium falciparum parasite in vitro is described. A number of compounds significantly more potent than the standard drug chloroquine were identified

Partner choice, relationship satisfaction, and oral contraception: the congruency hypothesis

Hormonal fluctuation across the menstrual cycle explains temporal variation in women’s judgment of the attractiveness of members of the opposite sex. Use of hormonal contraceptives could therefore influence both initial partner choice and, if contraceptive use subsequently changes, intrapair dynamics. Associations between hormonal contraceptive use and relationship satisfaction may thus be best understood by considering whether current use is congruent with use when relationships formed, rather than by considering current use alone. In the study reported here, we tested this congruency hypothesis in a survey of 365 couples. Controlling for potential confounds (including relationship duration, age, parenthood, and income), we found that congruency in current and previous hormonal contraceptive use, but not current use alone, predicted women’s sexual satisfaction with their partners. Congruency was not associated with women’s nonsexual satisfaction or with the satisfaction of their male partners. Our results provide empirical support for the congruency hypothesis and suggest that women’s sexual satisfaction is influenced by changes in partner preference associated with change in hormonal contraceptive use

Textbook of Adult Emergency Medicine

Now fully revised and updated, Textbook of Adult Emergency Medicine provides clear and consistent coverage of this rapidly evolving specialty. Building on the success of previous editions, it covers all the major topics that present to the trainee doctor in the emergency department. It will also prove invaluable to the range of other professionals working in this setting - including nurse specialists and paramedics - who require concise, highly practical guidance, incorporating latest best practice and current guidelines. For the first time this edition now comes with a complete and enhanced electronic version, providing a richer learning experience and making rapid reference easier than ever before, anytime, anywhere

Determining Quasar Black Hole Mass Functions from their Broad Emission Lines: Application to the Bright Quasar Survey

We describe a Bayesian approach to estimating quasar black hole mass functions (BHMF) when using the broad emission lines to estimate black hole mass. We show how using the broad line mass estimates in combination with statistical techniques developed for luminosity function estimation leads to statistically biased results. We derive the likelihood function for the BHMF based on the broad line mass estimates, and derive the posterior distribution for the BHMF, given the observed data. We develop our statistical approach for a flexible model where the BHMF is modelled as a mixture of Gaussian functions. Statistical inference is performed using markov chain monte carlo (MCMC) methods. Our method has the advantage that it is able to constrain the BHMF even beyond the survey detection limits at the adopted confidence level, accounts for measurement errors and the intrinsic uncertainty in broad line mass estimates, and provides a natural way of estimating the probability distribution of any quantities derived from the BHMF. We conclude by using our method to estimate the local active BHMF using the z < 0.5 Bright Quasar Survey sources. At z = 0.2, the quasar BHMF falls off approximately as a power law with slope ~ 2 for M_{BH} > 10^8. Our analysis implies that z < 0.5 broad line quasars have a typical Eddington ratio of ~ 0.4 and a dispersion in Eddington ratio of < 0.5 dex (abridged).Comment: 25 pages, 14 figures, emulate ApJ style, accepted by Ap

Guest Ensemble: Stiletto Brass Quintet

Center for the Performing ArtsApril 6, 2012Friday Evening8 p.m

CAOS software for use in character-based DNA barcoding

Author Posting. © The Authors, 2008. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Blackwell Publishing for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Molecular Ecology Resources 8 (2008): 1256-1259, doi:10.1111/j.1755-0998.2008.02235.x.The success of character based DNA barcoding depends on the efficient identification of diagnostic character states from molecular sequences that have been organized hierarchically (e.g., according to phylogenetic methods). Similarly, the reliability of these identified diagnostic character states must be assessed according to their ability to diagnose new sequences. Here, a set of software tools is presented that implement the previously described Characteristic Attribute Organization System for both diagnostic identification and diagnostic-based classification. The software is publicly available from http://sarkarlab.mbl.edu/CAOS