Pediatric Preventative Health Education

Current education by primary care providers on preventative lifestyle and health habits for the pediatric population could be more effective. Limitations include short visit times, confusing existing resources, and lack of engagement from patients and their families. This project aims to develop a concise, interactive handout with specific, actionable recommendations for children ages 5-10 for healthy behaviors that can lead to improvements in chronic diseases

Rotten to the Core

The goal of the Rotten to the Core Drag Show was to raise funds and donate a portion of ticket sales to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS while also increasing awareness of HIV/AIDS. This is a cause that educates individuals on the realities of the diseases, but also preventable measures. By coordinating this production and donating a percentage of ticket sales, I am helping to progress the cause of awareness to everyone. We took some time in the production to talk about the organization, the cause and the importance of activism and awareness. The promotions and marketing also showcased the donations to the organization. Surveys were conducted at the end of the show with a question asking what the audience learned about BC/EFA, and a large response was that it increased awareness and was a cause that the majority were interested in looking into more. Most of the wristbands and ribbons were given out supporting the cause. In the future, we hope that a fund raiser will be conducted to benefit this cause and spread the awareness of HIV/AIDS. The audience responded positively to the activism and educational aspect of the show and showed their own interest in the cause. For future endeavors, I recommend that organizers provide different mini-events or activism activities prior to the fund raiser

The Mg/Ca–temperature relationship in brachiopod shells: calibrating a potential palaeoseasonality proxy

Brachiopods are long-lived, long-ranging, extant organisms, of which some groups precipitate a relatively diagenetically stable low magnesium calcite shell. Previous work has suggested that the incorporation of Mg into brachiopod calcite may be controlled by temperature (Brand et al., 2013). Here we build upon this work by using laser ablation sampling to define the intra-shell variations in two modern brachiopod species,Terebratulina retusa (Linnaeus, 1758) and Liothyrella neozelanica (Thomson, 1918). We studied three T. retusa shells collected live from the Firth of Lorne, Scotland, which witnessed annual temperature variations on the order of 7 °C, in addition to four L. neozelanica shells, which were dredged from a water depth transect (168–1488 m) off the north coast of New Zealand. The comparison of intra-shell Mg/Ca profiles with shell δ<sup>18</sup>O confirms a temperature control on brachiopod Mg/Ca and supports the use of brachiopod Mg/Ca as a palaeoseasonality indicator. Our preliminary temperature calibrations are Mg/Ca = 1.76 ± 0.27 e<sup>(0.16 ± 0.03)T</sup>, R<sup>2</sup> = 0.75, for T. retusa and Mg/Ca = 0.49 ± 1.27 e<sup>(0.2 ± 0.11)T</sup>, R<sup>2</sup> = 0.32, for L. neozelanica (errors are 95% confidence intervals)

Demographic buffering and compensatory recruitment promotes the persistence of disease in a wildlife population.

Published onlineLETTERDemographic buffering allows populations to persist by compensating for fluctuations in vital rates, including disease-induced mortality. Using long-term data on a badger (Meles meles Linnaeus, 1758) population naturally infected with Mycobacterium bovis, we built an integrated population model to quantify impacts of disease, density and environmental drivers on survival and recruitment. Badgers exhibit a slow life-history strategy, having high rates of adult survival with low variance, and low but variable rates of recruitment. Recruitment exhibited strong negative density-dependence, but was not influenced by disease, while adult survival was density independent but declined with increasing prevalence of diseased individuals. Given that reproductive success is not depressed by disease prevalence, density-dependent recruitment of cubs is likely to compensate for disease-induced mortality. This combination of slow life history and compensatory recruitment promotes the persistence of a naturally infected badger population and helps to explain the badger's role as a persistent reservoir of M. bovis.NERCUK Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affair

HPV and Cancer Prevention: It’s Not Just About the Warts

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, adjustments in the provision of health care resources have caused a significant decrease in cancer screenings. These missed screenings may have considerable impacts on patients, health care practitioners and health systems. In addition to the importance of resuming timely screening, studies have shown that a large portion of cancer deaths stemming from breast, skin, and colorectal cancer are preventable by risk factor modification at the patient level. Many people remain uncertain of how best to prevent cancers, despite general awareness of concerns. Raising awareness can empower patients to reduce their risk factors for developing breast, skin and colorectal cancer. It has been shown that increased knowledge of colorectal cancer screening leads to increased participation in early screening, which can lead to better overall outcomes.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1313/thumbnail.jp

Levofloxacin Cures Experimental Pneumonic Plague in African Green Monkeys

Yersinia pestis is the causative agent of bubonic plague as well as a rare severe form known as primary pneumonic plague resulting from the inhalation of contaminated aerosols. The relative ease of aerosol preparation and high virulence makes Y. pestis a dangerous bioweapon. The current study describes the treatment of established pneumonic plague with the widely available, broad-spectrum fluoroquinolone antibiotic levofloxacin in a nonhuman primate model. African green monkeys inhaled a target dose of 100 lethal doses for 50% of animals (LD50) and were monitored for fever and vital signs by telemetry. Fever was the first sign of illness, correlating with bacteremia but preceding radiographic pneumonia, and initiated intravenous levofloxacin treatment in doses designed to mimic antibiotic levels achieved in humans. All animals treated with saline died and all animals completing 10 days of treatment survived, with resolution of high fever within 24–48 hours. We conclude that levofloxacin may be an appropriate broad-spectrum antibiotic for presumptive therapy in an aerosolized bioweapons attack and should be studied for treatment of bubonic plague

Comparisons in heart rate readings between the Bioconnected wireless exercise earpiece and a Polar T31-Coded Chest Strap during a GXT

Purpose. The advent of mobile technology has provided a convenient method of measuring heart rate in clinical settings and athletic training with limited support. Therefore the purpose of this research was to evaluate the validity of an earpiece HR monitoring device against a previously validated chest strap HR monitoring device. Method. A convenient sample of college students (n=15), performing a modified Bruce protocol, provided 25 data samples. Heart rates obtained from both the Bioconnected wireless exercise earpieces and a Polar T31-Coded Chest Strap where compared by correlation and coefficient. The Bioconnected wireless exercise earpieces were considered to be valid if the correlation between the recorded heart rate of the Bioconnected device and the corresponding heart rate Polar T31-Coded Chest Strap measurement was r ≥0.90. Results. Five samples were corrupted due to displacement of chest strap (n=3) and dislodgement of earpiece (n=2) during testing, as such data from those tests were excluded from the correlation analysis. The remaining 20 data samples provided mean totals of 521±117 HR data points (earpiece) and 517±118 HR data points (chest strap). A strong correlation (r=0.97) between the Bioconnected wireless exercise earpieces and a Polar T31-Coded Chest Strap. Conclusions. The results of this study show that the HR measurements of the Bioconnected wireless exercise earpieces and the Polar Chest Strap are highly correlated, supporting the Bioconnected wireless exercise earpieces in monitoring HR during a GXT on a treadmill in healthy adults. However, as exercise transitioned from walking to jogging, at times, both devices had problems with displacement and loss of HR signal, suggesting the need for improved methods of securing both devices. Future research of the Bioconnected wireless exercise earpiece is required to evaluate performance in varying environments, levels of low light and increased background noise

Widefield two-photon excitation without scanning : live cell microscopy with high time resolution and low photo-bleaching

We demonstrate fluorescence imaging by two-photon excitation without scanning in biological specimens as previously described by Hwang and co-workers, but with an increased field size and with framing rates of up to 100 Hz. During recordings of synaptically-driven Ca2+ events in primary rat hippocampal neurone cultures loaded with the fluorescent Ca2+ indicator Fluo-4 AM, we have observed greatly reduced photo-bleaching in comparison with single-photon excitation. This method, which requires no costly additions to the microscope, promises to be useful for work where high time-resolution is required

The Baryonic Halos of Elliptical Galaxies: Radial Distribution of Globular Clusters and Diffuse Hot Gas

For a sample of 9 well-studied giant ellipticals we compare the projected radial distribution of their red and blue globular cluster (GC) subpopulations with their host galaxy stellar and X-ray surface brightness profiles. We support previous findings that the surface density distribution of red (metal-rich) GCs follows that of the host galaxy starlight. We find good agreement between the outer slope of the blue GC surface density and that of the galaxy X-ray emission. This coincidence of projected radial profiles is likely due to the fact that both blue GCs and X-ray emitting hot gas share the same gravitational potential in equilibrium. When deprojected the X-ray emitting hot gas has a radial density dependence that is the square root of that for the GC density. We further show that the energy per unit mass for blue GCs is roughly half that of the hot gas.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA