64 research outputs found

    Social Interactions as a Source of Information about E-Cigarettes: A Study of U.S. Adult Smokers

    Get PDF
    The novelty of e-cigarettes and ambiguity about their effects may foster informal sharing of information, such as through social interactions. We aimed to describe smokers’ social interactions about e-cigarettes and their recommendations that others use e-cigarettes. Data were collected from 2149 adult smokers in North Carolina and California who participated in a study of the impact of pictorial cigarette pack warnings. In the previous month, almost half of participants (45%) reported talking to at least one person about e-cigarettes and nearly a third of participants (27%) recommended e-cigarettes to someone else. Smokers recommended e-cigarettes to cut back on smoking (57%), to quit smoking (48%), for health reasons (36%), and for fun (27%). In adjusted analyses, more frequent e-cigarette use, positive views about typical e-cigarette users, and attempting to quit smoking in the past month were associated with recommending e-cigarettes for health reasons (all p < 0.05). Social interactions appear to be a popular method of information-sharing about e-cigarettes among smokers. Health communication campaigns may help to fill in the gaps of smokers’ understanding of e-cigarettes and their long-term effects

    Offspring of mice exposed to a low-protein diet in utero demonstrate changes in mTOR signaling in pancreatic islets of langerhans, associated with altered glucagon and insulin expression and a lower β-cell mass

    Get PDF
    Low birth weight is a risk factor for gestational and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Since mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) controls pancreatic β-cell mass and hormone release, we hypothesized that nutritional insult in utero might permanently alter mTOR signaling. Mice were fed a low-protein (LP, 8%) or control (C, 20%) diet throughout pregnancy, and offspring examined until 130 days age. Mice receiving LP were born 12% smaller and β-cell mass was significantly reduced throughout life. Islet mTOR levels were lower in LP-exposed mice and localized predominantly to α-rather than β-cells. Incubation of isolated mouse islets with rapamycin significantly reduced cell proliferation while increasing apoptosis. mRNA levels for mTORC complex genes mTOR, Rictor and Raptor were elevated at 7 days in LP mice, as were the mTOR and Raptor proteins. Proglucagon gene expression was similarly increased, but not insulin or the immune/metabolic defense protein STING. In human and mouse pancreas STING was strongly associated with islet β-cells. Results support long-term changes in islet mTOR signaling in response to nutritional insult in utero, with altered expression of glucagon and insulin and a reduced β-cell mass. This may contribute to an increased risk of gestational or type 2 diabetes

    Public understanding of cigarette smoke constituents: three US surveys

    Get PDF
    The Tobacco Control Act requires public disclosure of information about toxic constituents in cigarette smoke. To inform these efforts, we studied public understanding of cigarette smoke constituents

    Gene expression profiling in NOD mice reveals that B cells are highly educated by the pancreatic environment during autoimmune diabetes

    Get PDF
    Aims/hypothesis: B cells play an important role in driving the development of type 1 diabetes; however, it remains unclear how they contribute to local beta cell destruction during disease progression. Here, we use gene expression profiling of B cell subsets identified in inflamed pancreatic tissue to explore their primary functional role during the progression of autoimmune diabetes. Methods: Transcriptional profiling was performed on FACS-sorted B cell subsets isolated from pancreatic islets and the pancreatic lymph nodes of NOD mice. Results: B cells are highly modified by the inflamed pancreatic tissue and can be distinguished by their transcriptional profile from those in the lymph nodes. We identified both a discrete and a core shared gene expression profile in islet CD19+CD138– and CD19+CD138+ B cell subsets, the latter of which is known to have enriched autoreactivity during diabetes development. On localisation to pancreatic islets, compared with CD138– B cells, CD138+ B cells overexpress genes associated with adhesion molecules and growth factors. Their shared signature consists of gene expression changes related to the differentiation of antibody-secreting cells and gene regulatory networks associated with IFN signalling pathways, proinflammatory cytokines and Toll-like receptor (TLR) activation. Finally, abundant TLR7 expression was detected in islet B cells and was enhanced specifically in CD138+ B cells. Conclusions/interpretation: Our study provides a detailed transcriptional analysis of islet B cells. Specific gene signatures and interaction networks have been identified that point towards a functional role for B cells in driving autoimmune diabetes. Graphical abstract

    Mothers’ support for voluntary provision of HPV vaccine in schools

    Get PDF
    HPV vaccination rates among adolescents in the United States lag behind some other developed countries, many of which routinely offer the vaccine in schools. We sought to assess mothers’ willingness to have their adolescent daughters receive HPV vaccine at school. A national sample of mothers of adolescent females ages 11–14 completed our internet survey (response rate = 66%). The final sample (n = 496) excluded mothers who did not intend to have their daughters receive HPV vaccine in the next year. Overall, 67% of mothers who intended to vaccinate their daughters or had vaccinated their daughters reported being willing to have their daughters receive HPV vaccine at school. Mothers were more willing to allow their daughters to receive HPV vaccine in schools if they had not yet initiated the vaccine series for their daughters or resided in the Midwest or West (all p < .05). The two concerns about voluntary school-based provision of HPV vaccine that mothers most frequently cited were that their daughters’ doctors should keep track of her shots (64%) and that they wished to be present when their daughters were vaccinated (40%). Our study suggests that most mothers who support adolescent vaccination for HPV find school-based HPV vaccination an acceptable option. Ensuring communication of immunization records with doctors and allowing parents to be present during immunization may increase parental support

    SNAPSHOT USA 2019 : a coordinated national camera trap survey of the United States

    Get PDF
    This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.With the accelerating pace of global change, it is imperative that we obtain rapid inventories of the status and distribution of wildlife for ecological inferences and conservation planning. To address this challenge, we launched the SNAPSHOT USA project, a collaborative survey of terrestrial wildlife populations using camera traps across the United States. For our first annual survey, we compiled data across all 50 states during a 14-week period (17 August - 24 November of 2019). We sampled wildlife at 1509 camera trap sites from 110 camera trap arrays covering 12 different ecoregions across four development zones. This effort resulted in 166,036 unique detections of 83 species of mammals and 17 species of birds. All images were processed through the Smithsonian's eMammal camera trap data repository and included an expert review phase to ensure taxonomic accuracy of data, resulting in each picture being reviewed at least twice. The results represent a timely and standardized camera trap survey of the USA. All of the 2019 survey data are made available herein. We are currently repeating surveys in fall 2020, opening up the opportunity to other institutions and cooperators to expand coverage of all the urban-wild gradients and ecophysiographic regions of the country. Future data will be available as the database is updated at eMammal.si.edu/snapshot-usa, as well as future data paper submissions. These data will be useful for local and macroecological research including the examination of community assembly, effects of environmental and anthropogenic landscape variables, effects of fragmentation and extinction debt dynamics, as well as species-specific population dynamics and conservation action plans. There are no copyright restrictions; please cite this paper when using the data for publication.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

    Evaluating the Effects of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Mutation D614G on Transmissibility and Pathogenicity.

    Get PDF
    Global dispersal and increasing frequency of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein variant D614G are suggestive of a selective advantage but may also be due to a random founder effect. We investigate the hypothesis for positive selection of spike D614G in the United Kingdom using more than 25,000 whole genome SARS-CoV-2 sequences. Despite the availability of a large dataset, well represented by both spike 614 variants, not all approaches showed a conclusive signal of positive selection. Population genetic analysis indicates that 614G increases in frequency relative to 614D in a manner consistent with a selective advantage. We do not find any indication that patients infected with the spike 614G variant have higher COVID-19 mortality or clinical severity, but 614G is associated with higher viral load and younger age of patients. Significant differences in growth and size of 614G phylogenetic clusters indicate a need for continued study of this variant

    Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

    Get PDF
    Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals &lt;1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

    Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

    Get PDF
    The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

    Investigation of hospital discharge cases and SARS-CoV-2 introduction into Lothian care homes

    Get PDF
    Background The first epidemic wave of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Scotland resulted in high case numbers and mortality in care homes. In Lothian, over one-third of care homes reported an outbreak, while there was limited testing of hospital patients discharged to care homes. Aim To investigate patients discharged from hospitals as a source of SARS-CoV-2 introduction into care homes during the first epidemic wave. Methods A clinical review was performed for all patients discharges from hospitals to care homes from 1st March 2020 to 31st May 2020. Episodes were ruled out based on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) test history, clinical assessment at discharge, whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data and an infectious period of 14 days. Clinical samples were processed for WGS, and consensus genomes generated were used for analysis using Cluster Investigation and Virus Epidemiological Tool software. Patient timelines were obtained using electronic hospital records. Findings In total, 787 patients discharged from hospitals to care homes were identified. Of these, 776 (99%) were ruled out for subsequent introduction of SARS-CoV-2 into care homes. However, for 10 episodes, the results were inconclusive as there was low genomic diversity in consensus genomes or no sequencing data were available. Only one discharge episode had a genomic, time and location link to positive cases during hospital admission, leading to 10 positive cases in their care home. Conclusion The majority of patients discharged from hospitals were ruled out for introduction of SARS-CoV-2 into care homes, highlighting the importance of screening all new admissions when faced with a novel emerging virus and no available vaccine
    corecore