ΦCrAss001 represents the most abundant bacteriophage family in the human gut and infects Bacteroides intestinalis

peer-reviewedCrAssphages are an extensive and ubiquitous family of tailed bacteriophages, predicted to infect bacteria of the order Bacteroidales. Despite being found in ~50% of individuals and representing up to 90% of human gut viromes, members of this viral family have never been isolated in culture and remain understudied. Here, we report the isolation of a CrAssphage (ΦCrAss001) from human faecal material. This bacteriophage infects the human gut symbiont Bacteroides intestinalis, confirming previous in silico predictions of the likely host. DNA sequencing demonstrates that the bacteriophage genome is circular, 102 kb in size, and has unusual structural traits. In addition, electron microscopy confirms that ΦcrAss001 has a podovirus-like morphology. Despite the absence of obvious lysogeny genes, ΦcrAss001 replicates in a way that does not disrupt proliferation of the host bacterium, and is able to maintain itself in continuous host culture during several weeks

Advancing Health Behavior Research and Scholarship through Mentorship of First Generation, Underrepresented Undergraduate Students

This article provides perspectives about mentorship of undergraduate mentees from directors of formal, externally funded training programs within the context of one of the most ethnically diverse national universities. The authors reflect about their mentorship of first generation and underrepresented undergraduate students and offer recommendations for others training similar students

Stress Response to Winter Warfare Training: Potential Impact of Location

Winter Warfare Training (WWT) is a critical component of military training to prepare individuals to move effectively in harsh conditions. Moving through snow and heavy terrain increases overall stress to the entire human system. PURPOSE: The purpose of this effort was to quantify the stress response during WWT to determine the level of physiological adaptation to extreme environments. METHODS: Mountain and mobility operators (age: 31.5±1.4 years; height: 71.1±0.5 inches; weight: 192.5±6.6 lbs.; body fat percentage: 18.0±5.0%) were recruited for this effort. Participants engaged in baseline laboratory metrics at their home station located in Colorado (CO) prior to WWT for one week in Montana (MT) and one week in Alaska (AK). WWT was separated by approximately one month. Blood was collected upon wake on the first and last day at each location. Plasma was analyzed for anabolic and stress-related hormones via enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA). RESULTS: Plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) levels increased from baseline to pre- (p=0.004), decreased from pre- to post-WWT in MT (p=0.004), and increased in from pre- to post-WWT in AK (p=0.005). Plasma cortisol levels decreased from pre- to post-WWT in MT (p=0.001) and, conversely, increased from pre- to post-WWT in AK (pCONCLUSION: The increase in stress-related hormones (i.e., ACTH and cortisol) exhibited throughout during WWT in AK suggest that operators experienced heightened physiological strain during WWT in AK compared to MT, despite similar training. We speculate that differences in sleep environment, changes in environmental temperature and terrain between MT and AK, and cumulative training load may have exacerbated the overall physiological strain on the operators

Retrieving Aerosol in a Cloudy Environment: Aerosol Availability as a Function of Spatial and Temporal Resolution

The challenge of using satellite observations to retrieve aerosol properties in a cloudy environment is to prevent contamination of the aerosol signal from clouds, while maintaining sufficient aerosol product yield to satisfy specific applications. We investigate aerosol retrieval availability at different instrument pixel resolutions, using the standard MODIS aerosol cloud mask applied to MODIS data and a new GOES-R cloud mask applied to GOES data for a domain covering North America and surrounding oceans. Aerosol availability is not the same as the cloud free fraction and takes into account the technqiues used in the MODIS algorithm to avoid clouds, reduce noise and maintain sufficient numbers of aerosol retrievals. The inherent spatial resolution of each instrument, 0.5x0.5 km for MODIS and 1x1 km for GOES, is systematically degraded to 1x1 km, 2x2 km, 4x4 km and 8x8 km resolutions and then analyzed as to how that degradation would affect the availability of an aerosol retrieval, assuming an aerosol product resolution at 8x8 km. The results show that as pixel size increases, availability decreases until at 8x8 km 70% to 85% of the retrievals available at 0.5 km have been lost. The diurnal pattern of aerosol retrieval availability examined for one day in the summer suggests that coarse resolution sensors (i.e., 4x4 km or 8x8 km) may be able to retrieve aerosol early in the morning that would otherwise be missed at the time of current polar orbiting satellites, but not the diurnal aerosol properties due to cloud cover developed during the day. In contrast finer resolution sensors (i.e., 1x1 km or 2x2 km) have much better opportunity to retrieve aerosols in the partly cloudy scenes and better chance of returning the diurnal aerosol properties. Large differences in the results of the two cloud masks designed for MODIS aerosol and GOES cloud products strongly reinforce that cloud masks must be developed with specific purposes in mind and that a generic cloud mask applied to an independent aerosol retrieval will likely fail

Cruise summaries of Oceanus cruises 205, leg 8, and 216

A study of the upper ocean thermal and density structure in the northwestern Atlantic in 1989 compared temperature and density measurements made with Expendable Bathythermograph (XBT) and Conductivity-Temperature-Depth instruments with current data from an acoustic Doppler current profiler and satellite infrared imagery and altimetry. Two cruises were made in the spring and winter of 1989 with the goal of directly measuring the upper ocean currents and variabilty of the Gulf Stream. The XBT observations were used to extend the measured velocities geostrophically from the near-surface region to depths of 750 meters, thereby allowing transport estimates to be made for the upper ocean. In April the measurments were compared and used with the GEOSAT altimeter which, unfortunately, was not operating during the December cruise.Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation through Grant No. OCE-SS-1769S

International education: a force for peace and cross-cultural understanding?

This paper discusses the notion that the international sojourn has the potential to transform sojourners into cultural mediators who carry the power to improve global relations. A year-long ethnographic study of the adjustment experiences of international postgraduate students in England revealed a universal early enthusiasm for cross-cultural contact that was matched by a widespread adoption of segregated patterns of interacting. The most common friendship networks were described by bonds with conationals, and yet all students attested to an increase in their cultural learning and mindfulness by the end of the sojourn. Nevertheless, intercultural competence was maximised only in those few students who pursued a multicultural strategy of interaction, leading the researcher to call on Higher Education Institutions to instigate policies to encourage lasting cross-cultural contact

Intensive care utilisation and outcomes after high-risk surgery in Scotland: a population based cohort study.

Chief Scientist’s Office Scotland (grant no. CHZ/821/4)

TNF Receptor-Associated Factor 4 (TRAF4) is a novel binding partner of glycoprotein Ib and glycoprotein VI in human platelets.

Background: Reactive oxygen species generation is one consequence of ligand engagement of platelet glycoprotein (GP) receptors GPIb-IX-V and GPVI, which bind VWF/collagen and initiate thrombosis at arterial shear, however the precise molecular mechanism coupling redox pathway activation to engagement of these receptors is unknown. Objective: The objective of this study was to identify novel binding partners for GPIb-IX-V and GPVI that could provide a potential link between redox pathways and early platelet signalling events. Methods and Results: Using protein array analysis and affinity-binding assays, we demonstrated that the orphan TNF receptor-associated factor (TRAF) family member, TRAF4, selectively binds cytoplasmic sequences of GPIbβ and GPVI. TRAF4, p47(phox) (of the NADPH oxidase (Nox2) enzyme complex), and other redox relevant signalling proteins such as Hic-5, co-immunoprecipitate with GPIb/GPVI from human platelet lysates whilst MBP-TRAF4 or MBP-p47(phox) fusion proteins specifically pull-down GPIb/GPVI. GPIb- or GPVI-selective agonists induce phosphorylation of the TRAF4-associated proteins, Hic-5 and Pyk2, with phosphorylation attenuated by Nox2 inhibition. Conclusion: These results describe the first direct association of TRAF4 with a receptor, and identify a novel binding partner for GPIb-IX-V and GPVI, providing a potential link between these platelet receptors and downstream TRAF4/Nox2-dependent redox pathways

Cumulative Risk Factors Associated with Food Insecurity among Adults who Experience Homelessness

There is a dearth of research on the determinants of food insecurity among adults who experience homelessness. According to cumulative risk theory, it is the accumulation of risk factors that places individuals in jeopardy for negative health consequences. Building on the cumulative risk theory, domain specific indices were created to examine the relationship between four cumulative risk factors and food insecurity among adults who experience homelessness. Adult participants were recruited from six area shelters in Oklahoma City (N = 565) during July – August of 2016. Participants who affirmatively responded to two to six items of the six-item USDA Food Security Scale-Short form were categorized as food insecure. Four indices of cumulative risk were created based on affirmative survey responses: poor health & risky health behaviors index, personal and sexual victimization index, household disruption, and financial strain. Covariate-adjusted logistic regression models predicted the odds of adults experiencing food insecurity. Seventy-eight percent of the sample experienced food insecurity. Higher scores for the poor health and risky health behaviors index predicted higher odds of experiencing food insecurity (OR = 1.80, CI: 1.51 – 2.14). Higher scores for the personal and sexual victimization index also predicted higher odds of experiencing food insecurity (OR = 1.57, CI: 1.20 – 2.04). To facilitate food security among adults experiencing homelessness, shelters and community-based programs need to consider homelessness and food insecurity to be multi-faceted public health problems that are interrelated

Economics of education research: a review and future prospects

In this paper we offer an appraisal of the economics of education research area, charting its history as a field and discussing the ways in which economists have contributed both to education research and to education policy-making. In particular, we highlight the theoretical and methodological contributions that economists have made to the field of education during the last 50 years. Despite the success of the economics of education as a field of inquiry, we argue that some of the contributions made by economists could be limited if the economics of education is seen as quite distinct from the other disciplines working in the field of education. In these areas of common interest, economists need to work side by side with the other major disciplines in the field of education if their contribution to the field is to be maximised, particularly in terms of applying improved methodology. We conclude that the study of education acquisition and its economic and social impact in the economics of education research area is very likely to remain a fertile research ground. Acknowledgement