LibGuides Guided: How Research and Collaboration Leads to Success

Come learn how librarians at a public Master’s granting institution with a large undergraduate population upgraded to LibGuides v2. Beyond migrating our content, we took the opportunity to revamp our guides using the latest research in usability and guide design. Our poster will display our current design, the research supporting each of our design choices, information about how we created our own template, categorized our guides, and planned our upgrade

Commercial weight loss diets meet nutrient requirements in free living adults over 8 weeks: A randomised controlled weight loss trial

Objective: To investigate the effect of commercial weight loss programmes on macronutrient composition and micronutrient adequacy over a 2 month period

Three Pathogens in Sympatric Populations of Pumas, Bobcats, and Domestic Cats: Implications for Infectious Disease Transmission

Anthropogenic landscape change can lead to increased opportunities for pathogen transmission between domestic and non-domestic animals. Pumas, bobcats, and domestic cats are sympatric in many areas of North America and share many of the same pathogens, some of which are zoonotic. We analyzed bobcat, puma, and feral domestic cat samples collected from targeted geographic areas. We examined exposure to three pathogens that are taxonomically diverse (bacterial, protozoal, viral), that incorporate multiple transmission strategies (vector-borne, environmental exposure/ ingestion, and direct contact), and that vary in species-specificity. Bartonella spp., Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV), and Toxoplasma gondii IgG were detected in all three species with mean respective prevalence as follows: puma 16%, 41% and 75%; bobcat 31%, 22% and 43%; domestic cat 45%, 10% and 1%. Bartonella spp. were highly prevalent among domestic cats in Southern California compared to other cohort groups. Feline Immunodeficiency Virus exposure was primarily associated with species and age, and was not influenced by geographic location. Pumas were more likely to be infected with FIV than bobcats, with domestic cats having the lowest infection rate. Toxoplasma gondii seroprevalence was high in both pumas and bobcats across all sites; in contrast, few domestic cats were seropositive, despite the fact that feral, free ranging domestic cats were targeted in this study. Interestingly, a directly transmitted species-specific disease (FIV) was not associated with geographic location, while exposure to indirectly transmitted diseases – vectorborne for Bartonella spp. and ingestion of oocysts via infected prey or environmental exposure for T. gondii – varied significantly by site. Pathogens transmitted by direct contact may be more dependent upon individual behaviors and intra-specific encounters. Future studies will integrate host density, as well as landscape features, to better understand the mechanisms driving disease exposure and to predict zones of cross-species pathogen transmission among wild and domestic felids

Chronic testicular Chlamydia muridarum infection impairs mouse fertility and offspring development

With approximately 131 million new genital tract infections occurring each year, Chlamydia is the most common sexually transmitted bacterial pathogen worldwide. Male and female infections occur at similar rates and both cause serious pathological sequelae. Despite this, the impact of chlamydial infection on male fertility has long been debated, and the effects of paternal chlamydial infection on offspring development are unknown. Using a male mouse chronic infection model, we show that chlamydial infection persists in the testes, adversely affecting the testicular environment. Infection increased leukocyte infiltration, disrupted the blood:testis barrier and reduced spermiogenic cell numbers and seminiferous tubule volume. Sperm from infected mice had decreased motility, increased abnormal morphology, decreased zona-binding capacity, and increased DNA damage. Serum anti-sperm antibodies were also increased. When both acutely and chronically infected male mice were bred with healthy female mice, 16.7% of pups displayed developmental abnormalities. Female offspring of chronically infected sires had smaller reproductive tracts than offspring of noninfected sires. The male pups of infected sires displayed delayed testicular development, with abnormalities in sperm vitality, motility, and sperm-oocyte binding evident at sexual maturity. These data suggest that chronic testicular Chlamydia infection can contribute to male infertility, which may have an intergenerational impact on sperm quality

Pathogenic variants in SQOR encoding sulfide:quinone oxidoreductase are a potentially treatable cause of Leigh disease

Hydrogen sulfide, a signaling molecule formed mainly from cysteine, is catabolized by sulfide:quinone oxidoreductase (gene SQOR). Toxic hydrogen sulfide exposure inhibits complex IV. We describe children of two families with pathogenic variants in SQOR. Exome sequencing identified variants; SQOR enzyme activity was measured spectrophotometrically, protein levels evaluated by western blotting, and mitochondrial function was assayed. In family A, following a brief illness, a 4- year- old girl presented comatose with lactic acidosis and multiorgan failure. After stabilization, she remained comatose, hypotonic, had neurostorming episodes, elevated lactate, and Leigh- like lesions on brain imaging. She died shortly after. Her 8- year- old sister presented with a rapidly fatal episode of coma with lactic acidosis, and lesions in the basal ganglia and left cortex. Muscle and liver tissue had isolated decreased complex IV activity, but normal complex IV protein levels and complex formation. Both patients were homozygous for c.637G- >- A, which we identified as a founder mutation in the Lehrerleut Hutterite with a carrier frequency of 1 in 13. The resulting p.Glu213Lys change disrupts hydrogen bonding with neighboring residues, resulting in severely reduced SQOR protein and enzyme activity, whereas sulfide generating enzyme levels were unchanged. In family B, a boy had episodes of encephalopathy and basal ganglia lesions. He was homozygous for c.446delT and had severely reduced fibroblast SQOR enzyme activity and protein levels. SQOR dysfunction can result in hydrogen sulfide accumulation, which, consistent with its known toxicity, inhibits complex IV resulting in energy failure. In conclusion, SQOR deficiency represents a new, potentially treatable, cause of Leigh disease.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162807/2/jimd12232.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162807/1/jimd12232_am.pd

Upper limits on the strength of periodic gravitational waves from PSR J1939+2134

The first science run of the LIGO and GEO gravitational wave detectors presented the opportunity to test methods of searching for gravitational waves from known pulsars. Here we present new direct upper limits on the strength of waves from the pulsar PSR J1939+2134 using two independent analysis methods, one in the frequency domain using frequentist statistics and one in the time domain using Bayesian inference. Both methods show that the strain amplitude at Earth from this pulsar is less than a few times $10^{-22}$.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, to appear in the Proceedings of the 5th Edoardo Amaldi Conference on Gravitational Waves, Tirrenia, Pisa, Italy, 6-11 July 200

Improving the sensitivity to gravitational-wave sources by modifying the input-output optics of advanced interferometers

We study frequency dependent (FD) input-output schemes for signal-recycling interferometers, the baseline design of Advanced LIGO and the current configuration of GEO 600. Complementary to a recent proposal by Harms et al. to use FD input squeezing and ordinary homodyne detection, we explore a scheme which uses ordinary squeezed vacuum, but FD readout. Both schemes, which are sub-optimal among all possible input-output schemes, provide a global noise suppression by the power squeeze factor, while being realizable by using detuned Fabry-Perot cavities as input/output filters. At high frequencies, the two schemes are shown to be equivalent, while at low frequencies our scheme gives better performance than that of Harms et al., and is nearly fully optimal. We then study the sensitivity improvement achievable by these schemes in Advanced LIGO era (with 30-m filter cavities and current estimates of filter-mirror losses and thermal noise), for neutron star binary inspirals, and for narrowband GW sources such as low-mass X-ray binaries and known radio pulsars. Optical losses are shown to be a major obstacle for the actual implementation of these techniques in Advanced LIGO. On time scales of third-generation interferometers, like EURO/LIGO-III (~2012), with kilometer-scale filter cavities, a signal-recycling interferometer with the FD readout scheme explored in this paper can have performances comparable to existing proposals. [abridged]Comment: Figs. 9 and 12 corrected; Appendix added for narrowband data analysi

1963: Abilene Christian College Bible Lectures - Full Text

THE CHRISTIAN AND MORALITY” Being the Abilene Christian College Annual Bible Lectures 1963 Price: $3.95 Published by ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE STUDENTS EXCHANGE ACC Station Abilene, Texa