Differentiation and treatment of anemia in HIV disease

Anemia is a frequent complication of HIV disease that contributes to decreased quality of life and increased morbidity and mortality. The three major categories of anemia in HIV disease are anemia due to impaired red blood cell production, anemia due to increased red blood cell destruction, and anemia due to increased red blood cell loss. Although anemia of chronic illness is the most common type of anemia in HIV disease, other classifications of anemia may be encountered. Understanding the pathophysiology of anemia and laboratory tests that are frequently used to establish the differential diagnosis of anemia helps to ensure that HIV-infected individuals will receive appropriate treatment

Educating Future Nursing Scientists: Recommendations for Integrating Omics Content in PhD Programs

Preparing the next generation of nursing scientists to conduct high-impact, competitive, sustainable, innovative, and interdisciplinary programs of research requires that the curricula for PhD programs keep pace with emerging areas of knowledge and health care/biomedical science. A field of inquiry that holds great potential to influence our understanding of the underlying biology and mechanisms of health and disease is omics. For the purpose of this article, omics refers to genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, epigenomics, exposomics, microbiomics, and metabolomics. Traditionally, most PhD programs in schools of nursing do not incorporate this content into their core curricula. As part of the Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science\u27s Idea Festival for Nursing Science Education, a work group charged with addressing omics preparation for the next generation of nursing scientists was convened. The purpose of this article is to describe key findings and recommendations from the work group that unanimously and enthusiastically support the incorporation of omics content into the curricula of PhD programs in nursing. The work group also calls to action faculty in schools of nursing to develop strategies to enable students needing immersion in omics science and methods to execute their research goals

Enteric dysbiosis and fecal calprotectin expression in premature infants.

BackgroundPremature infants often develop enteric dysbiosis with a preponderance of Gammaproteobacteria, which has been related to adverse clinical outcomes. We investigated the relationship between increasing fecal Gammaproteobacteria and mucosal inflammation, measured by fecal calprotectin (FC).MethodsStool samples were collected from very-low-birth weight (VLBW) infants at ≤2, 3, and 4 weeks' postnatal age. Fecal microbiome was surveyed using polymerase chain reaction amplification of the V4 region of 16S ribosomal RNA, and FC was measured by enzyme immunoassay.ResultsWe enrolled 45 VLBW infants (gestation 27.9 ± 2.2 weeks, birth weight 1126 ± 208 g) and obtained stool samples at 9.9 ± 3, 20.7 ± 4.1, and 29.4 ± 4.9 days. FC was positively correlated with the genus Klebsiella (r = 0.207, p = 0.034) and its dominant amplicon sequence variant (r = 0.290, p = 0.003), but not with the relative abundance of total Gammaproteobacteria. Klebsiella colonized the gut in two distinct patterns: some infants started with low Klebsiella abundance and gained these bacteria over time, whereas others began with very high Klebsiella abundance.ConclusionIn premature infants, FC correlated with relative abundance of a specific pathobiont, Klebsiella, and not with that of the class Gammaproteobacteria. These findings indicate a need to define dysbiosis at genera or higher levels of resolution

Impact of Maternal Thyroperoxidase Status on Fetal Body and Brain Size

The obstetric consequences of abnormal thyroid function during pregnancy have been established. Less understood is the influence of maternal thyroid autoantibodies on infant outcomes. The objective of this study was to examine the influence of maternal thyroperoxidase (TPO) status on fetal/infant brain and body growth. Six-hundred thirty-one (631) euthyroid pregnant women were recruited from prenatal clinics in Tampa Bay, Florida, and the surrounding area between November 2007 and December 2010. TPO status was determined during pregnancy and fetal/infant brain and body growth variables were assessed at delivery. Regression analysis revealed maternal that TPO positivity was significantly associated with smaller head circumference, reduced brain weight, and lower brain-to-body ratio among infants born to TPO+ white, non-Hispanic mothers only, distinguishing race/ethnicity as an effect modifier in the relationship. No significant differences were noted in body growth measurements among infants born to TPO positive mothers of any racial/ethnic group. Currently, TPO antibody status is not assessed as part of the standard prenatal care laboratory work-up, but findings from this study suggest that fetal brain growth may be impaired by TPO positivity among certain populations; therefore autoantibody screening among high-risk subgroups may be useful for clinicians to determine whether prenatal thyroid treatment is warranted

Improving fleet solution – a case study

Transportation management is a logistical activity with a high impact on a company’s ability to compete in the market. Although the focus on cost reduction is the most usual concern with this activity, lead times and the quality of the service provided should also be considered depending on the market to be served. The goal of this research was to compare different fleet alternatives for a specific construction materials company and discuss which scenario is the most suited to fulfil the company’s customer service policy. A case study approach was developed, and four alternative scenarios were considered. These were compared both regarding the costs they involve, which was analysed using a vehicle routing problem heuristic, and the quality of the customer service they allow, which was assessed based on their ability to provide flexibility in the fleet occupancy rate to respond to unexpected orders. Evidence showed that the current fleet solution is not adequate and investment should be made only if the demand level increases, otherwise outsourcing should be considered along with a minimum level of the self-owned fleet.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Fermiophobic and other non-minimal neutral Higgs bosons at the LHC

The phenomenology of neutral Higgs bosons from non--SUSY, extended Higgs sectors is studied in the context of the LHC, with particular attention given to the case of a fermiophobic Higgs. It is found that enhanced branching ratios to $\gamma\gamma$ and $\tau^+\tau^-$ are possible and can provide clear signatures, while detection of a fermiophobic Higgs will be problematic beyond a mass of 130 GeV.Comment: 16 pages, Latex, 5 figure

Measurement of the Lifetime Difference in the B_s^0 System

We present a study of the decay B_s^0 -> J/psi phi We obtain the CP-odd fraction in the final state at time zero, R_perp = 0.16 +/- 0.10 (stat) +/- 0.02 (syst), the average lifetime of the (B_s, B_sbar) system, tau (B_s^0) =1.39^{+0.13}_{-0.16} (stat) ^{+0.01}_{-0.02} (syst) ps, and the relative width difference between the heavy and light mass eigenstates, Delta Gamma/Gamma = (Gamma_L - Gamma_H)/Gamma =0.24^{+0.28}_{-0.38} (stat) ^{+0.03}_{-0.04} (syst). With the additional constraint from the world average of the B_s^0$lifetime measurements using semileptonic decays, we find tau (B_s^0)= 1.39 +/- 0.06 ~ps and Delta Gamma/\Gamma = 0.25^{+0.14}_{-0.15}. For the ratio of the B_s^0 and B^0 lifetimes we obtain tau(B_s^0)/tau(B^0)} = 0.91 +/- 0.09 (stat) +/- 0.003 (syst).Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett. FERMILAB-PUB-05-324-

Measurement of Semileptonic Branching Fractions of B Mesons to Narrow D** States

Using the data accumulated in 2002-2004 with the DO detector in proton-antiproton collisions at the Fermilab Tevatron collider with centre-of-mass energy 1.96 TeV, the branching fractions of the decays B -> \bar{D}_1^0(2420) \mu^+ \nu_\mu X and B -> \bar{D}_2^{*0}(2460) \mu^+ \nu_\mu X and their ratio have been measured: BR(\bar{b}->B) \cdot BR(B-> \bar{D}_1^0 \mu^+ \nu_\mu X) \cdot BR(\bar{D}_1^0 -> D*- pi+) = (0.087+-0.007(stat)+-0.014(syst))%; BR(\bar{b}->B)\cdot BR(B->D_2^{*0} \mu^+ \nu_\mu X) \cdot BR(\bar{D}_2^{*0} -> D*- \pi^+) = (0.035+-0.007(stat)+-0.008(syst))%; and (BR(B -> \bar{D}_2^{*0} \mu^+ \nu_\mu X)BR(D2*0->D*- pi+)) / (BR(B -> \bar{D}_1^{0} \mu^+ \nu_\mu X)\cdot BR(\bar{D}_1^{0}->D*- \pi^+)) = 0.39+-0.09(stat)+-0.12(syst), where the charge conjugated states are always implied.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

A search for W bb and W Higgs production in ppbar collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV

We present a search for W b \bar{b} production in p \bar{p} collisions at sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV in events containing one electron, an imbalance in transverse momentum, and two b-tagged jets. Using 174 pb-1 of integrated luminosity accumulated by the D0 experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron collider, and the standard-model description of such events, we set a 95% C.L. upper limit on W b \bar{b}$production of 6.6 pb for b quarks with transverse momenta p_T^b > 20 GeV and b \bar{b} separation in pseudorapidity-azimuth space Delta R_bb > 0.75. Restricting the search to optimized b \bar{b} mass intervals provides upper limits on$WH$production of 9.0$-$12.2 pb, for Higgs-boson masses of 105$-$135 GeV.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, submitted to Physical Review Letter