Muscle Mitochondrial Function at Different Phases of the Menstrual Cycle

The effect of menstrual cycle (MC) phase on muscle recovery from damage has been studied using markers of strength and soreness, but remains inconclusive. Mitochondrial function is essential for muscle recovery, and has been found to be influenced by estradiol (E2). Understanding the relationship between MC phase and mitochondria can provide further insight into women’s muscle health. The PURPOSE of this study was to determine how MC phase affects markers of muscle damage and recovery, with emphasis on mitochondrial function, following electrically-stimulated muscle contractions. METHODS: 22 premenopausal females were recruited and split into two groups, early follicular (EF) and late follicular (LF). After menstrual cycle tracking and phase confirmation, subjects performed a baseline maximum voluntary knee extension contraction (MVC) and provided a muscle biopsy one week prior to test day. On test day, subjects underwent 200 electrically stimulated eccentric muscle contractions (ES). Subjects reported for follow-up strength tests on days 2, 4, and 7 post damage, and gave a final biopsy on day 7. RESULTS: MVC decreased an average of 14 ± 6% immediately following ES and recovered to 6 ± 7% below baseline by day 4, with no differences between groups for percent decrease in MVC (p=.67). Average peak soreness was 4.0 ± 1.9, with no differences between groups (p=.91). Average change in max coupled mitochondrial respiration was -14.3 ± 15.5 pmolO2ᐧs-1ᐧmg-1 for the EF group and 1.3 ± 22.3 pmolO2ᐧs-1ᐧmg-1 for the LF group (p=.03). Average change in fatty acid supported respiration was -3.6 ± 7.4 pmolO2ᐧs-1ᐧmg-1 for the EF group and 7.5 ± 10.5 pmolO2ᐧs-1ᐧmg-1 for the LF group (p=.046). However, these results are complicated by baseline differences in respiration, with max coupled respiration being significantly higher (p=.02) in the mid-luteal phase (EF group baseline) than the early-follicular phase (LF group baseline). CONCLUSIONS: Results show novel findings that baseline mitochondrial respiration and mitochondrial response to damage differ between MC phases. This finding supports previous research relating mitochondrial function and E2 levels, and suggests further research on mitochondrial function throughout the menstrual cycle

Workplace Traumatic Stress and Mental Health Sequelae among Public Safety Telecommunications Officers in Florida

Background: Public safety telecommunications officers (PSTCOs), aka emergency “dispatchers,” are exposed to workplace traumatic stress and can experience situations characterized by uncertainty, communication difficulties, and a lack of resources. Traumatic stress experienced by emergency dispatchers has led to mental health symptoms. Purpose: This paper aims to describe the results of a study examining the patterns of workplace traumatic stress and the relationship between workplace traumatic stress and mental health concerns among a sample of PSTCOs. Methods: PSTCOs (n=54) participated in a cross-sectional, anonymous survey including screeners for depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), suicidal thoughts, and harmful alcohol use. Respondents also completed the Life Events Checklist (LEC) to screen for exposure to emergency calls identified as having the potential to induce traumatic stress. Results: 18.4% of respondents reported experiencing moderate to severe levels of depression, and 12% reported moderate to severe anxiety. Of the sample, 14% met the criteria for a provisional diagnosis of PTSD, 40% reported hazardous drinking levels, and 10% met the criteria of being at risk for suicide. Overall, 72.2% of PSTCOs experienced at least one form of job-related trauma and varied significantly by marital status. Poisson regression revealed statistically significant relationships between exposure to job-related traumatic events and screener scale scores. For example, those exposed to assault with a weapon had depression scores 2.29 points higher compared to those who were not exposed (p≤0.05). Discussion: Employing organizations of PSTCOs should strive to incorporate comprehensive wellness programs emphasizing education, prevention, early intervention, and recognition of traumatic stress among dispatchers. These programs should emphasize peer support and non-punitive policies to encourage help-seeking. In addition, given that findings in this study indicate exposure to traumatic emergency calls predicts PTSD symptomology, legislation could consider including PSTCOs in Florida Statute 118.1215

Distance models as a tool for modelling detection probability and density of native bumblebees

Effective monitoring of native bee populations requires accurate estimates of population size and relative abundance among habitats. Current bee survey methods, such as netting or pan trapping, may be adequate for a variety of study objectives but are limited by a failure to account for imperfect detection. Biases due to imperfect detection could result in inaccurate abundance estimates or erroneous insights about the response of bees to different environments. To gauge the potential biases of currently employed survey methods, we compared abundance estimates of bumblebees (Bombus spp.) derived from hierarchical distance sampling models (HDS) to bumblebee counts collected from fixed‐area net surveys (“net counts”) and fixed‐width transect counts (“transect counts”) at 47 early‐successional forest patches in Pennsylvania. Our HDS models indicated that detection probabilities of Bombus spp. were imperfect and varied with survey‐ and site‐covariates. Despite being conspicuous, Bombus spp. were not reliably detected beyond 5 m. Habitat associations of Bombus spp. density were similar across methods, but the strength of association with shrub cover differed between HDS and net counts. Additionally, net counts suggested sites with more grass hosted higher Bombus spp. densities whereas HDS suggested that grass cover was associated with higher detection probability but not Bombus spp. density. Density estimates generated from net counts and transect counts were 80%–89% lower than estimates generated from distance sampling. Our findings suggest that distance modelling provides a reliable method to assess Bombus spp. density and habitat associations, while accounting for imperfect detection caused by distance from observer, vegetation structure, and survey covariates. However, detection/ non‐detection data collected via point‐counts, line‐transects and distance sampling for Bombus spp. are unlikely to yield species‐specific density estimates unless individuals can be identified by sight, without capture. Our results will be useful for informing the design of monitoring programs for Bombus spp. and other pollinators

Readability of COVID-19 Parental Guidance Documents

The purpose of this study is to examine the readability levels of the state departments of education guidance documents regarding COVID-19 protocols for families of students receiving special education services. The authors searched the 50 states and the District of Columbia’s departments of education websites for their COVID-19, special education, parental guidance documents for the 2020-2021 school year. Parental guidance documents were available from 90% (46/51) of the department of education websites with 61% (31/51) of those documents specifically designed for parents of children receiving special education services. The researchers used the Flesch Reading Ease (FRES) to analyze the reading level of the 31 documents that the departments of education websites created for families of individuals receiving special education services. The FRES score was 43.05, indicating that the average reading difficulty was “difficult” with a “college reading level.” The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL) average score for the reviewed documents revealed an average U.S. grade level of 12.34. Thus, documents produced during the COVID-19 pandemic significantly exceeded the appropriate reading level recommended by the current research (Nagro & Stein, 2016). To improve communication and provide caregivers with the necessary information to make informed decisions regarding their children’s educational need during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is essential for parental guidance documents to be written at lower reading levels to accommodate the general population

Plasma Phospholipid Saturated Fatty Acids and Incident Atrial Fibrillation: The Cardiovascular Health Study

Background: Prior studies suggest that circulating fatty acids may influence the risk of atrial fibrillation (AF), but little is known about the associations of circulating saturated fatty acids with risk of AF. Methods and Results: The study population included 2899 participants from the Cardiovascular Health Study, a community‐based longitudinal cohort of adults aged 65 years or older in the United States who were free of prevalent coronary heart disease and AF in 1992. Cox regression was used to assess the association of all the long‐chain saturated fatty acids—palmitic acid (16:0), stearic acid (18:0), arachidic acid (20:0), behenic acid (22:0), and lignoceric acid (24:0)—with incident AF. During a median of 11.2 years of follow‐up, 707 cases of incident AF occurred. After adjustment for other AF risk factors, higher levels of circulating 16:0 were associated with a higher risk of AF (hazard ratio comparing highest and lowest quartiles: 1.48; 95% CI: 1.18, 1.86). In contrast, higher levels of circulating 18:0, 20:0, 22:0, and 24:0 were each associated with a lower risk of AF. The hazard ratios (95% CI) for AF in the top and bottom quartiles were 0.76 (95% CI: 0.61, 0.95) for 18:0; 0.78 (95% CI: 0.63, 0.97) for 20:0; 0.62 (95% CI: 0.50, 0.78) for 22:0; and 0.68 (95% CI: 0.55, 0.85) for 24:0. Conclusions: Results from this prospective cohort study of older adults demonstrate divergent associations of circulating 16:0 versus longer‐chain saturated fatty acids with incident AF, highlighting the need to investigate both determinants of these levels and potential pathways of the observed differential risk

Comparing Adult Cannabis Treatment-Seekers Enrolled in a Clinical Trial with National Samples of Cannabis Users in the United States

Background—Cannabis use rates are increasing among adults in the United States (US) while the perception of harm is declining. This may result in an increased prevalence of cannabis use disorder and the need for more clinical trials to evaluate efficacious treatment strategies. Clinical trials are the gold standard for evaluating treatment, yet study samples are rarely representative of the target population. This finding has not yet been established for cannabis treatment trials. This study compared demographic and cannabis use characteristics of a cannabis cessation clinical trial sample (run through National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network) with three nationally representative datasets from the US; 1) National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2) National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions-III, and 3) Treatment Episodes Data Set – Admissions. Methods—Comparisons were made between the clinical trial sample and appropriate cannabis using sub-samples from the national datasets, and propensity scores were calculated to determine the degree of similarity between samples. Results—Results showed that the clinical trial sample was significantly different from all three national datasets, with the clinical trial sample having greater representation among older adults, African Americans, Hispanic/Latinos, adults with more education, non-tobacco users, and daily and almost daily cannabis users. Conclusions—These results are consistent with previous studies of other substance use disorder populations and extend sample representation issues to a cannabis use disorder population. This illustrates the need to ensure representative samples within cannabis treatment clinical trials to improve the generalizability of promising findings

Putting the “Sensory” Into Sensorimotor Control: The Role of Sensorimotor Integration in Goal-Directed Hand Movements After Stroke

Integration of sensory and motor information is one-step, among others, that underlies the successful production of goal-directed hand movements necessary for interacting with our environment. Disruption of sensorimotor integration is prevalent in many neurologic disorders, including stroke. In most stroke survivors, persistent paresis of the hand reduces function and overall quality of life. Current rehabilitative methods are based on neuroplastic principles to promote motor learning that focuses on regaining motor function lost due to paresis, but the sensory contributions to motor control and learning are often overlooked and currently understudied. There is a need to evaluate and understand the contribution of both sensory and motor function in the rehabilitation of skilled hand movements after stroke. Here, we will highlight the importance of integration of sensory and motor information to produce skilled hand movements in healthy individuals and individuals after stroke. We will then discuss how compromised sensorimotor integration influences relearning of skilled hand movements after stroke. Finally, we will propose an approach to target sensorimotor integration through manipulation of sensory input and motor output that may have therapeutic implications

Paraneoplastic thrombocytosis in ovarian cancer

<p>Background: The mechanisms of paraneoplastic thrombocytosis in ovarian cancer and the role that platelets play in abetting cancer growth are unclear.</p> <p>Methods: We analyzed clinical data on 619 patients with epithelial ovarian cancer to test associations between platelet counts and disease outcome. Human samples and mouse models of epithelial ovarian cancer were used to explore the underlying mechanisms of paraneoplastic thrombocytosis. The effects of platelets on tumor growth and angiogenesis were ascertained.</p> <p>Results: Thrombocytosis was significantly associated with advanced disease and shortened survival. Plasma levels of thrombopoietin and interleukin-6 were significantly elevated in patients who had thrombocytosis as compared with those who did not. In mouse models, increased hepatic thrombopoietin synthesis in response to tumor-derived interleukin-6 was an underlying mechanism of paraneoplastic thrombocytosis. Tumorderived interleukin-6 and hepatic thrombopoietin were also linked to thrombocytosis in patients. Silencing thrombopoietin and interleukin-6 abrogated thrombocytosis in tumor-bearing mice. Anti–interleukin-6 antibody treatment significantly reduced platelet counts in tumor-bearing mice and in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer. In addition, neutralizing interleukin-6 significantly enhanced the therapeutic efficacy of paclitaxel in mouse models of epithelial ovarian cancer. The use of an antiplatelet antibody to halve platelet counts in tumor-bearing mice significantly reduced tumor growth and angiogenesis.</p> <p>Conclusions: These findings support the existence of a paracrine circuit wherein increased production of thrombopoietic cytokines in tumor and host tissue leads to paraneoplastic thrombocytosis, which fuels tumor growth. We speculate that countering paraneoplastic thrombocytosis either directly or indirectly by targeting these cytokines may have therapeutic potential. </p&gt

Oncolysis of malignant human melanoma tumors by Coxsackieviruses A13, A15 and A18

Many RNA viruses are displaying great promise in the field of oncolytic virotherapy. Previously, we reported that the picornavirus Coxsackievirus A21 (CVA21) possessed potent oncolytic activity against cultured malignant melanoma cells and melanoma xenografts in mice. In the present study, we demonstrate that three additional Group A Coxsackieviruses; Coxsackievirus A13 (CVA13), Coxsackievirus A15 (CVA15) and Coxsackievirus A18 (CVA18), also have similar oncolytic activity against malignant melanoma. Each of the viruses grew quickly to high titers in cancer cells expressing ICAM-1 and intratumoral injection of preformed subcutaneous SK-Mel-28 xenografts in mice with CVA13, CVA15 and CVA18 resulted in significant tumor volume reduction