The spleen: a hub connecting nervous and immune systems in cardiovascular and metabolic diseases

Metabolic disorders have been identified as major health problems affecting a large portion of the world population. In addition, obesity and insulin resistance are principal risk factors for the development of cardiovascular diseases. Altered immune responses are common features of both hypertension and obesity and, moreover, the involvement of the nervous system in the modulation of immune system is gaining even more attention in both pathophysiological contexts. For these reasons, during the last decades, researches focused their efforts on the comprehension of the molecular mechanisms connecting immune system to cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. On the other hand, it has been reported that in these pathological conditions, central neural pathways modulate the activity of the peripheral nervous system, which is strongly involved in onset and progression of the disease. It is interesting to notice that neural reflex can also participate in the modulation of immune functions. In this scenario, the spleen becomes the crucial hub allowing the interaction of different systems differently involved in metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. Here, we summarize the major findings that dissect the role of the immune system in disorders related to metabolic and cardiovascular dysfunctions, and how this could also be influenced by neural reflexes

Where Do I Start?

In this session, we will start at the beginning and talk about what you need to think about in setting up research analytics capabilities for your organization. There are so many options for tools and other resources to get started, but what if you only have Excel? How do you get reporting off the ground when it hasn’t been done (or done consistently) at your workplace? We’ll talk about ways to get started, including who you need to talk with, what you need to consider, and how to move forward with basic reporting

Promoting Interprofessional Collaboration Among Pediatric Physical Therapy Students Through Remote Simulation

Interprofessional collaboration must be taught in healthcare curriculum to ready graduates for the clinic, however, limited evidence is available to guide pediatric physical therapy faculty in best practices. This quantitative retrospective pretest-posttest study examined collaborative competency attainment, satisfaction, and self-confidence of 84 Doctor of Physical Therapy students from four campuses of a private university. Students participated in a live, remote simulated learning experience and completed the Student Satisfaction and Self-Confidence in Learning scale and the Interprofessional Collaborative Competencies Attainment Survey–Revised. There was significant improvement in student collaborative competencies after the simulated learning experience and students were satisfied and confident in the learning experience regardless of demographics. Findings support implementation of a remote simulation for the purpose of interprofessional collaboration in pediatric physical therapy education and may relate to other fields. Future research may explore the influence of interdisciplinary, remote simulation interventions on student behavior in the clinic and patient outcomes

Event-Driven Environmental News in the U.S. and Canada

This paper presents results from a content analytic study of U.S. and Canadian evening news programs on energy and environmental topics from 1999 to 2009. The analysis reveals the importance of coverage of weather and natural disasters in both countries — importance not just in terms of the volume of coverage, but in the role that coverage plays in driving discussion of broader, more thematic coverage of pollution and climate change. Indeed, causality tests reveal that coverage of climate change, pollution and related issues are strongly affected by — or, rather, dependent on — coverage of disasters and other weather events

Extend Your Experience: The Northwest\u27s Natural and Cultural Landscape

The article provides information on the natural and cultural landscape of the Pacific Northwest, the venue for the Association of the College and Research Libraries (ACRL) 14th National Conference in Seattle, Washington on March 12-15, 2009. It discusses various tourist attractions found within the area, as well as its climate. A recount of various historical events that happened in the place, as well as the culture of the living inhabitants is also presented. Computer information resources of several sceneries found within the area of Washington state is presented

Early College, Early Success: Early College High School Initiative Impact Study

In 2002, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched the ECHSI with the primary goal of increasing the opportunity for underserved students to earn a postsecondary credential. To achieve this goal, Early Colleges provide underserved students with exposure to, and support in, college while they are in high school. Early Colleges partner with colleges and universities to offer all students an opportunity to earn an associate's degree or up to two years of college credits toward a bachelor's degree during high school at no or low cost to the students. The underlying assumption is that engaging underrepresented students in a rigorous high school curriculum tied to the incentive of earning college credit will motivate them and increase their access to additional postsecondary education and credentials after high school. Since 2002, more than 240 Early Colleges have opened nationwideThis study focused on the impact of Early Colleges. It addressed two questions:1. Do Early College students have better outcomes than they would have had at other high schools?2. Does the impact of Early Colleges vary by student background characteristics (e.g., gender and family income)? To answer these questions, we conducted a lottery-based randomized experiment, taking advantage of the fact that some Early Colleges used lotteries in their admissions processes. By comparing the outcomes for students who participated in admissions lotteries and were offered enrollment with the outcomes for students who participated in the lotteries but were not offered enrollment, we can draw causal conclusions about the impact of Early Colleges.The primary student outcomes for this study were high school graduation, college enrollment, and college degree attainment. We also examined students' high school and college experiences. Data on student background characteristics and high school outcomes came from administrative records from schools, districts, and states; data on collegeoutcomes came from the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC); and data on high school and college experiences and intermediate outcomes such as college credit accrual camefrom a student surveyWe assessed the impact of Early Colleges on these outcomes for a sample of 10 Early Colleges that did the following:-Enrolled students in grades 9 -- 12 and had high school graduates in the study years (2005 -- 2011)-Used lotteries as part of the admission processes in at least one of the study cohorts (students who entered ninth grade in 2005 -- 06, 2006 -- 07, or 2007 -- 08)-Retained the lottery recordsEight of the 10 Early Colleges in the study were included in the student survey. The overall study sample included 2,458 students and the survey sample included 1,294 students. The study extended through three years past high school

Investigating the Effects of Stress on Cognitive and Emotional Moral Decision Making

The dual-process theory accounts for how moral judgments are made: personal emotional dilemmas and impersonal cognitive dilemmas (Greene, 2007). In the Fisher and Ravizza (1992) Trolley Problem personal dilemma, you stop a runaway trolley and save all the workmen by pushing and killing one person on the tracks. In the Trolley Problem impersonal dilemma, you divert a runaway trolley and save all the workmen by throwing a switch and diverting the trolley killing one person on the tracks. In support of the dual-process theory, brain imaging research has demonstrated that brain regions linked with emotion (e.g., amygdala) are activated during the personal dilemmas, and brain regions associated with working memory (prefrontal cortex, parietal lobe) are activated during the impersonal dilemmas. Stress can interfere with rational, deliberative processes, causing decision-makers to rely on intuitive, automatic processes. In the present study, we are including two stressful conditions - physiological and cognitive - in order to see if stress has a differential effect on utilitarian decisions. Participants listened to moral dilemmas while experiencing baseline, stressor and control conditions. Stress was self-reported on an 11-point scale. Significance was found in utilitarian decisions, with the majority of participants reporting it “was appropriate to kill” during baseline and cognitive stress (i.e., counting backwards). Participants reported it was “not appropriate to kill” during physiological stress (i.e., cold pressor task). In addition, participants reported more stress during cognitive stress and more pain during physiological stress. In conclusion, utilitarian decision making seems to be affected when experiencing physiological stress

Updates from Opt-Out Counseling for Indiana University Pediatric Residents

Presented as a Poster Presentation at 2020 IUSM Education Da

Climate shaped the worldwide distribution of human mitochondrial DNA sequence variation

There is an ongoing discussion in the literature on whether human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) evolves neutrally. There have been previous claims for natural selection on human mtDNA based on an excess of non-synonymous mutations and higher evolutionary persistence of specific mitochondrial mutations in Arctic populations. However, these findings were not supported by the reanalysis of larger datasets. Using a geographical framework, we perform the first direct test of the relative extent to which climate and past demography have shaped the current spatial distribution of mtDNA sequences worldwide. We show that populations living in colder environments have lower mitochondrial diversity and that the genetic differentiation between pairs of populations correlates with difference in temperature. These associations were unique to mtDNA; we could not find a similar pattern in any other genetic marker. We were able to identify two correlated non-synonymous point mutations in the ND3 and ATP6 genes characterized by a clear association with temperature, which appear to be plausible targets of natural selection producing the association with climate. The same mutations have been previously shown to be associated with variation in mitochondrial pH and calcium dynamics. Our results indicate that natural selection mediated by climate has contributed to shape the current distribution of mtDNA sequences in humans