Codemakers

Codemakers is a book of poems by Dawn Manning divided into three sections: Topophilia, Goodwill, and Women\u27s Work

Validation of the 6-Item Cognitive Impairment Test and the 4AT test for combined delirium and dementia screening in older Emergency Department attendees

Background screening for cognitive impairment in Emergency Department (ED) requires short, reliable tools. Objective to validate the 4AT and 6-Item Cognitive Impairment Test (6-CIT) for ED dementia and delirium screening. Design diagnostic accuracy study. Setting/subjects attendees aged ≥70 years in a tertiary care hospital’s ED. Methods: trained researchers assessed participants using the Standardised Mini Mental State Examination, Delirium Rating Scale-Revised 98 and Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly, informing ultimate expert diagnosis using Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) criteria for dementia and delirium (reference standards). Another researcher blindly screened each participant, within 3 h, using index tests 4AT and 6-CIT.Resultof 419 participants (median age 77 years), 15.2% had delirium and 21.5% had dementia. For delirium detection, 4AT had positive predictive value (PPV) 0.68 (95% confidence intervals: 0.58–0.79) and negative predictive value (NPV) 0.99 (0.97–1.00). At a pre-specified 9/10 cut-off (9 is normal), 6-CIT had PPV 0.35 (0.27–0.44) and NPV 0.98 (0.95–0.99). Importantly, 52% of participants had no family present. A novel algorithm for scoring 4AT item 4 where collateral history is unavailable (score 4 if items 2–3 score ≥1; score 0 if items 1–3 score is 0) proved reliable; PPV 0.65 (0.54–0.76) and NPV 0.99 (0.97–1.00). For dementia detection, 4AT had PPV 0.39 (0.32–0.46) and NPV 0.94 (0.89–0.96); 6-CIT had PPV 0.46 (0.37–0.55) and NPV 0.94 (0.90–0.97). Conclusion: 6-CIT and 4AT accurately exclude delirium and dementia in older ED attendees. 6-CIT does not require collateral history but has lower PPV for delirium

National Outreach Programming for Landowners—Natural Resource Enterprises

We conducted a survey of Mississippi landowners to determine revenues collected and expenditures incurred during 1996-1998 for fee hunting on their properties (inflated to 2011 estimates). Study findings revealed that respondents diversified incomes derived through fee hunting enterprises on their lands. This information has been used to design a series of multi-state landowner workshops about natural resource enterprises development and conservation practices on private lands. With state and local collaborator assistance, we have conducted over 50 landowner workshops in nine U.S. states and Sweden and have received requests to expand outreach programming to other U.S. states

Feasibility of TEE-guided stroke risk assessment in atrial fibrillation—background, aims, design and baseline data of the TIARA pilot study

Contains fulltext : 97916.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)BACKGROUND: Antithrombotic management in atrial fibrillation (AF) is currently based on clinical characteristics, despite evidence of potential fine-tuning with transoesophageal echocardiography (TEE). This open, randomised, multicentre study addresses the hypothesis that a comprehensive strategy of TEE-based aspirin treatment in AF patients is feasible and safe. METHODS: Between 2005 and 2009, ten large hospitals in the Netherlands enrolled AF patients with a moderate risk of stroke. Patients without thrombogenic TEE characteristics were randomised to aspirin or vitamin K antagonists (VKA). The primary objective is to show that TEE-based aspirin treatment is safe compared with VKA therapy. The secondary objective tests feasibility of TEE as a tool to detect echocardiographic features of high stroke risk. This report compares randomised to non-randomised patients and describes the feasibility of a TEE-based approach. RESULTS: In total, 310 patients were included. Sixty-nine patients were not randomised because of non-visualisation (n = 6) or TEE risk factors (n = 63). Compared with non-randomised patients, randomised patients (n = 241) were younger (65 +/- 11 vs. 69 +/- 9 years, p = 0.004), had less coronary artery disease (9 vs. 20%, p = 0.018), previous TIA (1.7 vs. 7.2%, p = 0.029), AF during TEE (25 vs. 54%, p < 0.001), mitral incompetence (55 vs. 70%, p = 0.038), VKA use (69 vs. 82%, p = 0.032), had a lower mean CHADS(2) score (1.2 +/- 0.6 vs. 1.6 +/- 1.0, p = 0.004), and left ventricular ejection fraction (59 +/- 8 vs. 56 +/- 8%, p = 0.016). CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that a TEE-based approach for fine-tuning stroke risk in AF patients with a moderate risk for stroke is feasible. Follow-up data will address the safety of this TEE-based approach

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy

DNA-Free Recombinant SV40 Capsids Protect Mice from Acute Renal Failure by Inducing Stress Response, Survival Pathway and Apoptotic Arrest

Viruses induce signaling and host defense during infection. Employing these natural trigger mechanisms to combat organ or tissue failure is hampered by harmful effects of most viruses. Here we demonstrate that SV40 empty capsids (Virus Like Particles-VLPs), with no DNA, induce host Hsp/c70 and Akt-1 survival pathways, key players in cellular survival mechanisms. We postulated that this signaling might protect against organ damage in vivo. Acute kidney injury (AKI) was chosen as target. AKI is critical, prevalent disorder in humans, caused by nephrotoxic agents, sepsis or ischemia, via apoptosis/necrosis of renal tubular cells, with high morbidity and mortality. Systemic administration of VLPs activated Akt-1 and upregulated Hsp/c70 in vivo. Experiments in mercury-induced AKI mouse model demonstrated that apoptosis, oxidative stress and toxic renal failure were significantly attenuated by pretreatment with capsids prior to the mercury insult. Survival rate increased from 12% to >60%, with wide dose response. This study demonstrates that SV40 VLPs, devoid of DNA, may potentially be used as prophylactic agent for AKI. We anticipate that these finding may be projected to a wide range of organ failure, using empty capsids of SV40 as well as other viruses

Large-scale comparative genomic ranking of taxonomically restricted genes (TRGs) in bacterial and archaeal genomes

BACKGROUND: Lineage-specific, or taxonomically restricted genes (TRGs), especially those that are species and strain-specific, are of special interest because they are expected to play a role in defining exclusive ecological adaptations to particular niches. Despite this, they are relatively poorly studied and little understood, in large part because many are still orphans or only have homologues in very closely related isolates. This lack of homology confounds attempts to establish the likelihood that a hypothetical gene is expressed and, if so, to determine the putative function of the protein. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We have developed "QIPP" ("Quality Index for Predicted Proteins"), an index that scores the "quality" of a protein based on non-homology-based criteria. QIPP can be used to assign a value between zero and one to any protein based on comparing its features to other proteins in a given genome. We have used QIPP to rank the predicted proteins in the proteomes of Bacteria and Archaea. This ranking reveals that there is a large amount of variation in QIPP scores, and identifies many high-scoring orphans as potentially "authentic" (expressed) orphans. There are significant differences in the distributions of QIPP scores between orphan and non-orphan genes for many genomes and a trend for less well-conserved genes to have lower QIPP scores. CONCLUSIONS: The implication of this work is that QIPP scores can be used to further annotate predicted proteins with information that is independent of homology. Such information can be used to prioritize candidates for further analysis. Data generated for this study can be found in the OrphanMine at http://www.genomics.ceh.ac.uk/orphan_mine

Diverse perspectives on interdisciplinarity from the Members of the College of the Royal Society of Canada

Various multiple-disciplinary terms and concepts (although most commonly “interdisciplinarity”, which is used herein) are used to frame education, scholarship, research, and interactions within and outside academia. In principle, the premise of interdisciplinarity may appear to have many strengths; yet, the extent to which interdisciplinarity is embraced by the current generation of academics, the benefits and risks for doing so, and the barriers and facilitators to achieving interdisciplinarity represent inherent challenges. Much has been written on the topic of interdisciplinarity, but to our knowledge there have been few attempts to consider and present diverse perspectives from scholars, artists, and scientists in a cohesive manner. As a team of 57 members from the Canadian College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada (the College) who self-identify as being engaged or interested in interdisciplinarity, we provide diverse intellectual, cultural, and social perspectives. The goal of this paper is to share our collective wisdom on this topic with the broader community and to stimulate discourse and debate on the merits and challenges associated with interdisciplinarity. Perhaps the clearest message emerging from this exercise is that working across established boundaries of scholarly communities is rewarding, necessary, and is more likely to result in impact. However, there are barriers that limit the ease with which this can occur (e.g., lack of institutional structures and funding to facilitate cross-disciplinary exploration). Occasionally, there can be significant risk associated with doing interdisciplinary work (e.g., lack of adequate measurement or recognition of work by disciplinary peers). Solving many of the world’s complex and pressing problems (e.g., climate change, sustainable agriculture, the burden of chronic disease, and aging populations) demand thinking and working across long-standing, but in some ways restrictive, academic boundaries. Academic institutions and key support structures, especially funding bodies, will play an important role in helping to realize what is readily apparent to all who contributed to this paper—that interdisciplinarity is essential for solving complex problems; it is the new norm. Failure to empower and encourage those doing this research will serve as a great impediment to training, knowledge, and addressing societal issues

New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution.

Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P < 5 × 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms