Alien Registration- Partridge, Alice L. (Gardiner, Kennebec County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/29068/thumbnail.jp

UKRN Institutional tasks implied by the UK Open Research Data Concordat

This UKRN working paper outlines the tasks that are either explicitly or implicitly proposed for research institutions by the UK Open Research Data Concordat (2016). It also reflects on how those tasks are relevant to the recommendations from the 2018 report issued by the UK Government from the Open Research Data Task Force. The aim of this paper is to describe more clearly what UK research institutions might be expected to do to support open research data, which may be a helpful basis for sector-wide discussion on both those expectations and how they are being met. The tasks are grouped under the headings of organisational support, infrastructure, recognition, restrictions on open data, costs, and strategy

Engaging in Health Behaviors to Lower Risk for Breast Cancer Recurrence

Purpose While post-treatment breast cancer survivors face up to twice the cancer risk of the general population, modifiable health behaviors may somewhat reduce this risk. We sought to better understand health behaviors that early stage breast cancer survivors engage in to reduce recurrence risk. Methods Data came from a cross-sectional multi-site survey of 186 early-stage breast cancer survivors who received genomic testing for breast cancer recurrence risk (Oncotype DX) during their clinical care. Study outcomes were meeting health behavior recommendations (daily fruit and vegetable intake, regular physical activity, and having a healthy body mass index (BMI)). Results Approximately three-quarters of survivors we surveyed believed the 3 behaviors might reduce their cancer risk but many did not engage in these behaviors for this purpose: 62% for BMI, 36% for fruit and vegetable consumption, and 37% for physical activity. Survivors with higher recurrence risk, as indicated by their genomic test results, were no more likely to meet any of the three health behavior recommendations. Adherence to health behavior recommendations was higher for women who were white, college-educated, and had higher incomes. Conclusions Many nonadherent breast cancer survivors wish to use these behavioral strategies to reduce their risk for recurrence, suggesting an important opportunity for intervention. Improving BMI, which has the largest association with cancer risk, is an especially promising target

The Satellite Cell in Male and Female, Developing and Adult Mouse Muscle: Distinct Stem Cells for Growth and Regeneration

Satellite cells are myogenic cells found between the basal lamina and the sarcolemma of the muscle fibre. Satellite cells are the source of new myofibres; as such, satellite cell transplantation holds promise as a treatment for muscular dystrophies. We have investigated age and sex differences between mouse satellite cells in vitro and assessed the importance of these factors as mediators of donor cell engraftment in an in vivo model of satellite cell transplantation. We found that satellite cell numbers are increased in growing compared to adult and in male compared to female adult mice. We saw no difference in the expression of the myogenic regulatory factors between male and female mice, but distinct profiles were observed according to developmental stage. We show that, in contrast to adult mice, the majority of satellite cells from two week old mice are proliferating to facilitate myofibre growth; however a small proportion of these cells are quiescent and not contributing to this growth programme. Despite observed changes in satellite cell populations, there is no difference in engraftment efficiency either between satellite cells derived from adult or pre-weaned donor mice, male or female donor cells, or between male and female host muscle environments. We suggest there exist two distinct satellite cell populations: one for muscle growth and maintenance and one for muscle regeneration

Adjuvant Chemotherapy in Older Women with Early-Stage Breast Cancer

Older women with breast cancer are underrepresented in clinical trials, and data on the effects of adjuvant chemotherapy in such patients are scant. We tested for the noninferiority of capecitabine as compared with standard chemotherapy in women with breast cancer who were 65 years of age or older

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

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

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 <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