Extension\u27s Role in Developing Opinion Leaders to Drive Water Conservation

With concern over the future of water availability in Florida increasing, Extension professionals targeting water conservation behaviors must use the most effective approaches possible. Florida population survey data obtained by the Center for Public Issues Education at the University of Florida\u27s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences demonstrated that both willingness to engage in water conservation behaviors and voting behavior serve as predictors of opinion leadership. Extension professionals may be able to maximize the impact of water conservation initiatives by focusing on these indirect variables in developing relevant opinion leaders

Characterizing the neurotranscriptomic states in alternative stress coping styles

Background: Animals experience stress in many contexts and often successfully cope. Individuals exhibiting the proactive versus reactive stress coping styles display qualitatively different behavioral and neuroendocrine responses to stressors. The predisposition to exhibiting a particular coping style is due to genetic and environmental factors. In this study we explore the neurotranscriptomic and gene network biases that are associated with differences between zebrafish (Danio rerio) lines selected for proactive and reactive coping styles and reared in a common garden environment. Results: Using RNA-sequencing we quantified the basal transcriptomes from the brains of wild-derived zebrafish lines selectively bred to exhibit the proactive or reactive stress coping style. We identified 1953 genes that differed in baseline gene expression levels. Weighted gene coexpression network analyses identified one gene module associated with line differences. Together with our previous pharmacological experiment, we identified a core set of 62 genes associated with line differences. Gene ontology analyses reveal that many of these core genes are implicated in neurometabolism (e.g. organic acid biosynthetic and fatty acid metabolic processes). Conclusions: Our results show that proactive and reactive stress coping individuals display distinct basal neurotranscriptomic states. Differences in baseline expression of select genes or regulation of specific gene modules are linked to the magnitude of the behavioral response and the display of a coping style, respectively. Our results expand the molecular mechanisms of stress coping from one focused on the neurotransmitter systems to a more complex system that involves an organism’s capability to handle neurometabolic loads and allows for comparisons with other animal taxa to uncover potential conserved mechanisms

Common Secondary and Tertiary Structural Features of Aptamer–Ligand Interaction Shared by RNA Aptamers with Different Primary Sequences

Aptamer selection can yield many oligonucleotides with different sequences and affinities for the target molecule. Here, we have combined computational and experimental approaches to understand if aptamers with different sequences but the same molecular target share structural and dynamical features. NEO1A, with a known NMR-solved structure, displays a flexible loop that interacts differently with individual aminoglycosides, its ligand affinities and specificities are responsive to ionic strength, and it possesses an adenosine in the loop that is critical for high-affinity ligand binding. NEO2A was obtained from the same selection and, although they are only 43% identical in overall sequence, NEO1A and NEO2A share similar loop sequences. Experimental analysis by 1D NMR and 2-aminopurine reporters combined with molecular dynamics modeling revealed similar structural and dynamical characteristics in both aptamers. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that the target ligand drives aptamer structure and also selects relevant dynamical characteristics for high-affinity aptamer-ligand interaction. Furthermore, they suggest that it might be possible to “migrate” structural and dynamical features between aptamer group members with different primary sequences but with the same target ligand

General Surgery Mobile Procedure Cart: Providing Safe and Efficient Procedure Based Care to the Bedside

Objective To create a mobile supply cart with all necessary supplies needed for the most common general surgery bedside procedures in order to decrease the amount of times residents need to “shop” for supplies from other locations and prevent delays in procedures to get supplies that are not available. In turn, this will increase patient safety and quality of procedure-based care delivered

Prevalence of and Factors Associated with Negative Microscopic Diagnosis of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Rural Peru.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is endemic to South America where diagnosis is most commonly conducted via microscopy. Patients with suspected leishmaniasis were referred for enrollment by the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Lima, Iquitos, Puerto Maldonado, and several rural areas of Peru. A 43-question survey requesting age, gender, occupation, characterization of the lesion(s), history of leishmaniasis, and insect-deterrent behaviors was administered. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was conducted on lesion materials at the Naval Medical Research Unit No. 6 in Lima, and the results were compared with those obtained by the MoH using microscopy. Factors associated with negative microscopy and positive PCR results were identified using

Hepatic Stellate Cells and Hepatocarcinogenesis

Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) are a significant component of the hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tumor microenvironment (TME). Activated HSCs transform into myofibroblast-like cells to promote fibrosis in response to liver injury or chronic inflammation, leading to cirrhosis and HCC. The hepatic TME is comprised of cellular components, including activated HSCs, tumor-associated macrophages, endothelial cells, immune cells, and non-cellular components, such as growth factors, proteolytic enzymes and their inhibitors, and other extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. Interactions between HCC cells and their microenvironment have become topics under active investigation. These interactions within the hepatic TME have the potential to drive carcinogenesis and create challenges in generating effective therapies. Current studies reveal potential mechanisms through which activated HSCs drive hepatocarcinogenesis utilizing matricellular proteins and paracrine crosstalk within the TME. Since activated HSCs are primary secretors of ECM proteins during liver injury and inflammation, they help promote fibrogenesis, infiltrate the HCC stroma, and contribute to HCC development. In this review, we examine several recent studies revealing the roles of HSCs and their clinical implications in the development of fibrosis and cirrhosis within the hepatic TME

Hepatocellular Carcinoma-The Influence of Immunoanatomy and the Role of Immunotherapy

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a leading cause of cancer-related morbidity and mortality worldwide. Most patients are diagnosed with advanced disease, limiting their options for treatment. While current treatments are adequate for lower staged disease, available systemic treatments are limited, with marginal benefit at best. Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy, effective in treating liquid tumors such as B-cell lymphoma, presents a potentially promising treatment option for advanced HCC. However, new challenges specific to solid tumors, such as tumor immunoanatomy or the immune cell presence and position anatomically and the tumor microenvironment, need to be defined and overcome. Immunotherapy currently in use must be re-engineered and re-envisioned to treat HCC with the hopes of ushering in an answer to advanced stage solid tumor disease processes. Future therapy options must address the uniqueness of the tumors under the umbrella of HCC. This review strives to summarize HCC, its staging system, current therapy and immunotherapy medications currently being utilized or studied in the treatment of HCC with the hopes of highlighting what is being done and suggesting what needs to be done in the future to champion this therapy as an effective option

Rare occurrence of pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP) syndrome arising from a malignant transformed ovarian primary mature cystic teratoma treated by cytoreductive surgery and HIPEC: a case report

Background: Pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP) syndrome is a disease process that typically occurs from ruptured appendiceal mucocele neoplasms. PMP syndrome arising from malignant transformation of an ovarian primary mature cystic teratoma (MCT) is a pathogenesis rarely encountered. Case presentation: Herein, we report a 28-year-old patient evaluated and treated for a right ovarian mass and large volume symptomatic abdominopelvic mucinous ascites. Molecular profiling and genetic analysis revealed mutations in ATM, GNAS, and KRAS proteins while IHC demonstrated gastrointestinal-specific staining for CK20, CDX2, CK7, and SATB2. Peritoneal cytology showed paucicellular mucin. Diffuse peritoneal adenomucinosis (DPAM) variant of PMP arising from a ruptured ovarian primary MCT after malignant transformation to a low-grade appendiceal-like mucinous neoplasm was ultimately confirmed. Treatment included staged therapeutic tumor debulking and right salpingo-oophorectomy followed by cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC). Conclusions: Our report builds upon the existing literature supporting this aggressive treatment option reserved for advanced abdominal malignancies utilized in this patient with a rare clinical entity

What a girl’s gotta do: the labour of the biopolitical celebrity in austerity Britain

This article debunks the wide-spread view that young female celebrities, especially those who rise to fame through reality shows and other forms of media-orchestrated self-exposure, dodge ‘real’ work out of laziness, fatalism and a misguided sense of entitlement. Instead, we argue that becoming a celebrity in a neoliberal economy such as that of the United Kingdom, where austerity measures disproportionately disadvantage the young, women and the poor is not as irregular or exceptional a choice as previously thought, especially since the precariousness of celebrity earning power adheres to the current demands of the neoliberal economy on its workforce. What is more, becoming a celebrity involves different forms of labour that are best described as biopolitical, since such labour fully involves and consumes the human body and its capacities as a living organism. Weight gain and weight loss, pregnancy, physical transformation through plastic surgery, physical symptoms of emotional distress and even illness and death are all photographically documented and supplemented by extended textual commentary, usually with direct input from the celebrity, reinforcing and expanding on the visual content. As well as casting celebrity work as labour, we also maintain that the workings of celebrity should always be examined in the context of wider cultural and real economies