Characterization of trichomes in Lens spp. and their effect on drought resistance, herbicide efficacy, and pea aphid fecundity

Drought, weeds, and increasing insect pressure are imminent threats to lentil production in the Canadian prairies. This research characterized trichomes (surface hairs) in wild and cultivated lentil and explored their role in imparting resistance to drought, herbicides, and the pea aphid. In a growth chamber study, 20 wild and cultivated lentil genotypes from seven species were subjected to fully watered and moderate drought conditions. Microstructures on adaxial leaf surfaces were characterized and transpiration rate in 12 genotypes across all species was determined. Drought response of trichomes across species was inconsistent and differed with genotype: While some genotypes increased their trichomes under drought, others decreased them. Similar results were observed upon measuring traits of trichome length, epidermal cell density, and stomatal index. Among the 12 genotypes in which transpiration rate was determined, most genotypes reduced transpiration under drought and this decrease was associated with an increase in trichome density. However, some genotypes responded to drought by increasing transpiration and reducing trichomes, indicating that response to drought is unique to each genotype and other mechanisms are responsible for drought tolerance in lentil. Greenhouse experiments were conducted to test trichome influence on glyphosate tolerance and spray droplet retention using water and water + non-ionic surfactant solution. A set of recombinant inbred lines using L. culinaris CDC Redberry and L. tomentosus IG 72805 as parents were selected based on varying trichome characteristics on adaxial leaf surfaces. While glyphosate tolerance studies proved inconclusive, surface spray retention decreased with increasing trichome density upon addition of non-ionic surfactant. Results indicate that trichomes might improve herbicide resistance by preventing surface droplet retention. Lastly, pea aphid performance was monitored on lentil cultivars CDC Redberry and CDC Maxim, and L. tom. IG 72805, which exhibit low, intermediate, and high trichome density on adaxial leaf surfaces, respectively. Pea aphids had the least mortality, largest adult size and least maturity time on L. tom. IG 72805. Their biosis was lowest on CDC Maxim and intermediate on CDC Redberry, suggesting that cultivated lentil has antibiosis potential. Altogether, this research shows that the role of trichomes in imparting drought resistance in lentil is complex and genotype dependent. While trichomes are not beneficial in imparting pea aphid resistance, they might help in the development of herbicide tolerant lentil cultivars

Characterization of the relationship between radiographic grading and biomarkers in patients with knee osteoarthritis

"Osteoarthritis (OA) is a whole-joint degenerative disease, affecting more than 25% of the adult population. Currently, OA is most commonly diagnosed based on radiographic documentation. However, radiographic grading is only able to diagnose OA at later stages of the disease. Thus, in recent years research into serum, urine and synovial fluid biomarkers has increased in hopes of developing diagnostic, disease stage and prognostic models for OA and increase our understanding of disease biology. The objective of this study was to develop biomarker panels using serum, urine and synovial fluid to predict radiographic grade based on the Kellgren Lawrence (K-L), JS-I-O and Composite scoring systems, and to determine biomarker differences in patients with varying degrees of radiographic marker severity based on the Composite scoring system. Methods: Bilateral anterior posterior and merchant radiographs were obtained from patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty. Serum, urine and synovial fluid were collected from patients prior to or during surgery. Fluid samples were analyzed for biomarkers relating to degradation, synthesis, inflammation and bone metabolism. Results: Biomarker panels were created for each of the radiographic scoring systems. The biomarker panel for composite scoring had the highest overall predictive ability and the K-L grading system had the lowest. Further, each biomarker panel was unique and highlighted different OA disease mechanisms. When examining differences in biomarkers based on radiographic marker severity assessed by the Composite scoring system, biomarker levels were different in patients with: medial and lateral joint space narrowing, osteophyte formation, medial cyst formation, lateral chondrocalcinosis, patellofemoral joint space loss and misalignment. Discussion: These results suggests how you radiographically assess a patient can place them into different cohorts and significantly affect the biomarkers required for development of predictive panels. Further, these results show that differences in biomarker concentrations exist between patients with varying degrees of radiographic markers in specific compartments of the knee. Taken together, this study shows that radiographic grading with the addition of biomarkers can improve our understanding of disease biology, ultimately leading to earlier diagnosis, improved prediction of disease progression, better clinical decision making and better treatment monitoring."--IntroductionIncludes bibliographical reference

L’importance de la formation interprofessionnelle dans le domaine de la santé illustrée par un concours de cas interactif à la Faculté des sciences de la santé de l’Université Queen’s

Implication Statement On March 4, 2021, OSLER Kingston and KHealth, student-run organizations at Queen’s Faculty of Health Sciences, hosted a two-hour-long virtual interprofessional case competition called “OSLER x KHealth IPR Case Competition: Homelessness,” focusing on housing insecurity and homelessness. This event demonstrated that integrating interprofessional education (IPE) competencies into educational experiences of health professional students is feasible to organize and implement while also being valuable. Students who participated found IPE to be helpful for their learning. Consequently, we encourage medical school curriculum leaders and student-led groups to prioritize IPE in their preclerkship curricular and extracurricular offerings.  Énoncé des implications de la recherche Le 4 mars 2021, OSLER Kingston et KHealth, deux organisations étudiantes de la Faculté des sciences de la santé de l’Université Queen’s, ont organisé un concours virtuel de cas interprofessionnels d’une durée de deux heures intitulé « OSLER x KHealth IPR Case Competition : Homelessness », qui portait sur l’insécurité du logement et l’itinérance. Cette activité a montré qu’il est non seulement possible, mais aussi utile d’intégrer les compétences en formation interprofessionnelle (FIP) dans le parcours d’apprentissage des étudiants des professions de la santé. Les étudiants qui y ont participé ont trouvé que la FIP était utile à leur apprentissage. Nous encourageons donc les responsables de programme des facultés de médecine et les organisations étudiantes à donner la priorité à la FIP dans leurs activités de prexternat et hors programme

Unlocking Electronic Lock using Biometrics

Being an engineering student, it often happens students have to carry a lot of things to college: mini drafter, project models, football, laptop et cetera. There is always a chance of breaking, losing these things while travelling to and from college. Students forget their assignments and submissions on their due dates. So out of curiosity we began wondering about possibility of having lockers in our college. How better it would be for students! All the unwanted stuff for the lecture can be stuffed inside the lockers till the time required. So this project aims at implementing a way to control electronic lock in the locker to unlock when the user has his identity identified by using biometrics. Biometrics is a growing research and development field. By using biometrics for user identity verification in our project we are encouraging ourselves to explore the field of biometrics which has tremendous potential in the near-future

Evaluation of the first year of the Oxpal Medlink: A web-based partnership designed to address specific challenges facing medical education in the occupied Palestinian territories

Objectives: To (1) evaluate educational needs of clinical students at Al-Quds University Medical School in the West Bank; (2) address these needs where possible using synchronous distance learning, with clinicians in Oxford providing case-based tutorials to undergraduates in the West Bank via an online platform (WizIQ) and (3) assess the impact of this education. Design: Review of online OxPal Medlink database for tutorials held between March 2012 and April 2013. Needs assessment and evaluation of student and tutor experiences through online questionnaires, focus groups and semi-structured interviews. Setting: Oxford University Hospitals, Oxford, UK, and Al-Quds University Medical School, Abu Dies, Palestine. Participants: Doctors at Oxford University Hospitals and fourth-, fifth- and sixth-year medical students and faculty members at Al-Quds Medical School. Main outcome measures Number of tutorials, student participation, student-rated satisfaction and qualitative feedback from tutors and students. Results: Students demonstrated strong theoretical knowledge but struggled to apply this in presentation-based scenarios. Between March 2012 and April 2013, 90 tutorials were delivered to 60 students. Feedback: >95% respondents rated tutorials as ‘Excellent’ or ‘Good’ and ‘Very’ or ‘Fairly’ relevant to their future practice in Palestine. Students reported the programme had modified their approach to patients but requested better synchronization with concurrent attachments and clarification of learning outcomes. Conclusions: OxPal Medlink is a novel, web-based distance-learning partnership designed to overcome some of the challenges to local medical education in the occupied Palestinian territories. Evaluation of the first year indicates teaching is relevant to local practice and of high quality. This approach may have the potential to strengthen local capacity for medical education

Association between poor oral health and diabetes among Indian adult population: potential for integration with NCDs.

BACKGROUND: Studies in high-income countries have reported associations between oral health and diabetes. There is however a lack of evidence on this association from low and middle-income countries, especially India. The current study aimed to assess the prevalence of common oral diseases and their association with diabetes. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was nested within the second Cardiometabolic Risk Reduction in South Asia Surveillance Study. A subset of study participants residing in Delhi were administered the World Health Organization's Oral Health Assessment Questionnaire and underwent oral examination for caries experience and periodontal health assessment using standard indices. Diabetes status was ascertained by fasting blood glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin values or self-reported medication use. Information was captured on co-variates of interest. The association between oral health and diabetes was investigated using Multivariable Zero-Inflated Poisson (ZIP) regression analysis. RESULTS: Out of 2045 participants, 47% were women and the mean age of study participants was 42.17 (12.8) years. The age-standardised prevalence (95% confidence interval) estimates were 78.9% (75.6-81.7) for dental caries, 35.9% (32.3-39.6) for periodontitis. Nearly 85% participants suffered from at least one oral disease. Compared to diabetes-free counterparts, participants with diabetes had more severe caries experience [Mean Count Ratio (MCR)?=?1.07 (1.03-1.12)] and attachment loss [MCR?=?1.10 (1.04-1.17)]. Also, the adjusted prevalence of periodontitis was significantly higher among participants with diabetes [42.3%(40.0-45.0)] compared to those without diabetes [31.3%(30.3-32.2)]. CONCLUSION: We found that eight out of ten participants in urban Delhi suffered from some form of oral disease and participants with diabetes had worse oral health. This highlights the need for public health strategies to integrate oral health within the existing Non-Communicable Disease control programs

Sphingolipid Modulation Activates Proteostasis Programs to Govern Human Hematopoietic Stem Cell Self-Renewal.

Cellular stress responses serve as crucial decision points balancing persistence or culling of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) for lifelong blood production. Although strong stressors cull HSCs, the linkage between stress programs and self-renewal properties that underlie human HSC maintenance remains unknown, particularly at quiescence exit when HSCs must also dynamically shift metabolic state. Here, we demonstrate distinct wiring of the sphingolipidome across the human hematopoietic hierarchy and find that genetic or pharmacologic modulation of the sphingolipid enzyme DEGS1 regulates lineage differentiation. Inhibition of DEGS1 in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells during the transition from quiescence to cellular activation with N-(4-hydroxyphenyl) retinamide activates coordinated stress pathways that coalesce on endoplasmic reticulum stress and autophagy programs to maintain immunophenotypic and functional HSCs. Thus, our work identifies a linkage between sphingolipid metabolism, proteostatic quality control systems, and HSC self-renewal and provides therapeutic targets for improving HSC-based cellular therapeutics.E.L. is supported by Wellcome grant 107630/Z/15/Z and a core support grant from the Wellcome and MRC to the Wellcome-Medical Research Council Cambridge Stem Cell Institute. C.L. is supported by U.S. NIH, NCI Grant P01-CA097132. JED is supported by funds from the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre Foundation, Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Joint Canada-Israel Health Research Program, Terry Fox Foundation, and a Canada Research Chair

Epidemiological pattern of COVID-19 and its association with periodontal health in an urban Indian cohort

BackgroundStudies have highlighted a possible influence of gingival and periodontal disease (PD) on COVID-19 risk and severity. However, the evidence is based on hospital-based studies and community-level data are sparse.ObjectivesWe described the epidemiological pattern of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Delhi and evaluated the associations of gingival and PD with incident COVID-19 disease in a regionally representative urban Indian population.MethodsIn a prospective study nested within the Centre for Cardiometabolic Risk Reduction in South-Asia (CARRS) study, participants with clinical gingival and periodontal status available at baseline (2014–16) (n = 1,727) were approached between October 2021 to March 2022. Information on COVID-19 incidence, testing, management, severity was collected as per the WHO case criteria along with COVID-19 vaccination status. Absolute incidence of COVID-19 disease was computed by age, sex, and oral health. Differences in rates were tested using log-rank test. Poisson regression models were used to evaluate independent associations between gingival and PD and incidence of COVID-19, adjusted for socio-demographic and behavioral factors, presence of comorbidity, and medication use.ResultsAmong 1,727 participants, the mean age was 44.0 years, 45.7% were men, 84.5% participants had baseline gingival or PD and 89.4% participants had received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Overall, 35% (n = 606) participants were tested for COVID-19 and 24% (n = 146/606) tested positive. As per the WHO criteria total number of cases was 210, constituting 12% of the total population. The age and sex-specific rates of COVID-19 were higher among men and older participants, but women aged >60 years had higher rates than men of same age. The incidence rate did not differ significantly between those having gingival or PD and healthy periodontium (19.1 vs. 16.5/1,000 person-years) and there was no difference in risk of COVID-19 by baseline oral disease status.ConclusionGingival and PD were not associated with increased risk of COVID-19

Global incidence, prevalence, years lived with disability (YLDs), disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), and healthy life expectancy (HALE) for 371 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

Background: Detailed, comprehensive, and timely reporting on population health by underlying causes of disability and premature death is crucial to understanding and responding to complex patterns of disease and injury burden over time and across age groups, sexes, and locations. The availability of disease burden estimates can promote evidence-based interventions that enable public health researchers, policy makers, and other professionals to implement strategies that can mitigate diseases. It can also facilitate more rigorous monitoring of progress towards national and international health targets, such as the Sustainable Development Goals. For three decades, the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) has filled that need. A global network of collaborators contributed to the production of GBD 2021 by providing, reviewing, and analysing all available data. GBD estimates are updated routinely with additional data and refined analytical methods. GBD 2021 presents, for the first time, estimates of health loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The GBD 2021 disease and injury burden analysis estimated years lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), and healthy life expectancy (HALE) for 371 diseases and injuries using 100 983 data sources. Data were extracted from vital registration systems, verbal autopsies, censuses, household surveys, disease-specific registries, health service contact data, and other sources. YLDs were calculated by multiplying cause-age-sex-location-year-specific prevalence of sequelae by their respective disability weights, for each disease and injury. YLLs were calculated by multiplying cause-age-sex-location-year-specific deaths by the standard life expectancy at the age that death occurred. DALYs were calculated by summing YLDs and YLLs. HALE estimates were produced using YLDs per capita and age-specific mortality rates by location, age, sex, year, and cause. 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated for all final estimates as the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles values of 500 draws. Uncertainty was propagated at each step of the estimation process. Counts and age-standardised rates were calculated globally, for seven super-regions, 21 regions, 204 countries and territories (including 21 countries with subnational locations), and 811 subnational locations, from 1990 to 2021. Here we report data for 2010 to 2021 to highlight trends in disease burden over the past decade and through the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings: Global DALYs increased from 2·63 billion (95% UI 2·44–2·85) in 2010 to 2·88 billion (2·64–3·15) in 2021 for all causes combined. Much of this increase in the number of DALYs was due to population growth and ageing, as indicated by a decrease in global age-standardised all-cause DALY rates of 14·2% (95% UI 10·7–17·3) between 2010 and 2019. Notably, however, this decrease in rates reversed during the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic, with increases in global age-standardised all-cause DALY rates since 2019 of 4·1% (1·8–6·3) in 2020 and 7·2% (4·7–10·0) in 2021. In 2021, COVID-19 was the leading cause of DALYs globally (212·0 million [198·0–234·5] DALYs), followed by ischaemic heart disease (188·3 million [176·7–198·3]), neonatal disorders (186·3 million [162·3–214·9]), and stroke (160·4 million [148·0–171·7]). However, notable health gains were seen among other leading communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional (CMNN) diseases. Globally between 2010 and 2021, the age-standardised DALY rates for HIV/AIDS decreased by 47·8% (43·3–51·7) and for diarrhoeal diseases decreased by 47·0% (39·9–52·9). Non-communicable diseases contributed 1·73 billion (95% UI 1·54–1·94) DALYs in 2021, with a decrease in age-standardised DALY rates since 2010 of 6·4% (95% UI 3·5–9·5). Between 2010 and 2021, among the 25 leading Level 3 causes, age-standardised DALY rates increased most substantially for anxiety disorders (16·7% [14·0–19·8]), depressive disorders (16·4% [11·9–21·3]), and diabetes (14·0% [10·0–17·4]). Age-standardised DALY rates due to injuries decreased globally by 24·0% (20·7–27·2) between 2010 and 2021, although improvements were not uniform across locations, ages, and sexes. Globally, HALE at birth improved slightly, from 61·3 years (58·6–63·6) in 2010 to 62·2 years (59·4–64·7) in 2021. However, despite this overall increase, HALE decreased by 2·2% (1·6–2·9) between 2019 and 2021. Interpretation: Putting the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of a mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive list of causes of health loss is crucial to understanding its impact and ensuring that health funding and policy address needs at both local and global levels through cost-effective and evidence-based interventions. A global epidemiological transition remains underway. Our findings suggest that prioritising non-communicable disease prevention and treatment policies, as well as strengthening health systems, continues to be crucially important. The progress on reducing the burden of CMNN diseases must not stall; although global trends are improving, the burden of CMNN diseases remains unacceptably high. Evidence-based interventions will help save the lives of young children and mothers and improve the overall health and economic conditions of societies across the world. Governments and multilateral organisations should prioritise pandemic preparedness planning alongside efforts to reduce the burden of diseases and injuries that will strain resources in the coming decades. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation