Hollow futures? Tree decline, lag effects and hollow-dependent species

Tree hollows are a critical breeding resource for many organisms globally. Where hollow-bearing trees are in decline, population limitation can be a serious conservation issue. A particular problem in addressing hollow limitation is the long time that ho

A Mentoring Guide for Female Faculty in Engineering

One widely accepted method for increasing the chances of success of female engineering and science students and faculty alike is to provide access to female role models and mentors. In this article we offer to new female faculty, and to those who would mentor them, an annotated list of text and electronic resources that address most of the most important challenges facing new female faculty in science and engineering

Radio Frequency Identification and Privacy Law: An Integrative Approach

The indiscriminate nature of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)1 technology creates unique privacy issues.2 Currently privacy standards for the type of information gathered through RFID and the use of that information do not exist.3 With few exceptions, compatible readers may legally access from a remote location RFID devices and the information these devices contain. After gathering information, the legal uses of that information are innumerable in terms of aggregation and re-use

Geochemical evidence of the seasonality, affinity and pigmenation of Solenopora jurassica

Solenopora jurassica is a fossil calcareous alga that functioned as an important reef-building organism during the Palaeozoic. It is of significant palaeobiological interest due to its distinctive but poorly understood pink and white banding. Though widely accepted as an alga there is still debate over its taxonomic affinity, with recent work arguing that it should be reclassified as a chaetetid sponge. The banding is thought to be seasonal, but there is no conclusive evidence for this. Other recent work has, however demonstrated the presence of a unique organic boron-containing pink/red pigment in the pink bands of S. jurassica. We present new geochemical evidence concerning the seasonality and pigmentation of S. jurassica. Seasonal growth cycles are demonstrated by X-ray radiography, which shows differences in calcite density, and by varying δ13C composition of the bands. Temperature variation in the bands is difficult to constrain accurately due to conflicting patterns arising from Mg/Ca molar ratios and δ18O data. Fluctuating chlorine levels indicate increased salinity in the white bands, when combined with the isotope data this suggests more suggestive of marine conditions during formation of the white band and a greater freshwater component (lower chlorinity) during pink band precipitation (δ18O). Increased photosynthesis is inferred within the pink bands in comparison to the white, based on δ13C. Pyrolysis Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (Py-GCMS) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) show the presence of tetramethyl pyrrole, protein moieties and carboxylic acid groups, suggestive of the presence of the red algal pigment phycoerythrin. This is consistent with the pink colour of S. jurassica. As phycoerythrin is only known to occur in algae and cyanobacteria, and no biomarker evidence of bacteria or sponges was detected we conclude S. jurassica is most likely an alga. Pigment analysis may be a reliable classification method for fossil algae

Glycemic Benefits with Adherence to testosterone therapy in men with hypogonadism and type 2 diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND: While previous studies have demonstrated testosterone\u27s beneficial effects on glycemic control in men with hypogonadism and Type 2 Diabetes, the extent to which these improvements are observed based on the degree of treatment adherence has been unclear. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effects of long-term testosterone therapy in A1C levels in men with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and hypogonadism, controlling for BMI, pre-treatment A1C, and age among different testosterone therapy adherence groups. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of 1737 men with diabetes and hypogonadism on testosterone therapy for 5 years of data from 2008-2018, isolating A1C, lipid panels, and BMI results for analysis. Subjects were categorized into adherence groups based on quartiles of the proportion of days covered (\u3e 75% of days, 51-75% of days, 26-50% of days and 0-25% of days), with \u3e75% of days covered considered adherent to therapy. RESULTS: Pre-treatment median A1C was 6.8%. Post-treatment median A1C was 7.1%. The adherent group, \u3e75%, was the only group notable for a decrease in A1C, with a median decrease of -0.2 (p = 0.0022). BMI improvement was associated with improved post-treatment A1C (p = 0.007). When controlling for BMI, age, and pre-treatment A1C, the \u3e75% adherence group was associated with improved post-treatment A1C (p \u3c 0.001). DISCUSSION: When controlling for all studied variables, testosterone adherence was associated with improved post-treatment A1C. The higher the initial A1C at the initiation of therapy, the higher the potential for lowering the patient\u27s A1C with \u3e75% adherence. Further, all groups showed some reduction in BMI, which may indicate that testosterone therapy may affect A1C independent of weight loss. CONCLUSION: Even when controlling for improved BMI, pre-treatment A1C, and age, testosterone positively impacted glycemic control in diabetes patients with hypogonadism, with the most benefit noted in those most adherent to therapy (\u3e75%)

Intra-and inter-observer reliability of nailfold videocapillaroscopy - A possible outcome measure for systemic sclerosis-related microangiopathy

OBJECTIVES: Our aim was to assess the reliability of nailfold capillary assessment in terms of image evaluability, image severity grade ('normal', 'early', 'active', 'late'), capillary density, capillary (apex) width, and presence of giant capillaries, and also to gain further insight into differences in these parameters between patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc), patients with primary Raynaud's phenomenon (PRP) and healthy control subjects.METHODS: Videocapillaroscopy images (magnification 300×) were acquired from all 10 digits from 173 participants: 101 patients with SSc, 22 with PRP and 50 healthy controls. Ten capillaroscopy experts from 7 European centres evaluated the images. Custom image mark-up software allowed extraction of the following outcome measures: overall grade ('normal', 'early', 'active', 'late', 'non-specific', or 'ungradeable'), capillary density (vessels/mm), mean vessel apical width, and presence of giant capillaries.RESULTS: Observers analysed a median of 129 images each. Evaluability (i.e. the availability of measures) varied across outcome measures (e.g. 73.0% for density and 46.2% for overall grade in patients with SSc). Intra-observer reliability for evaluability was consistently higher than inter- (e.g. for density, intra-class correlation coefficient [ICC] was 0.71 within and 0.14 between observers). Conditional on evaluability, both intra- and inter-observer reliability were high for grade (ICC 0.93 and 0.78 respectively), density (0.91 and 0.64) and width (0.91 and 0.85).CONCLUSIONS: Evaluability is one of the major challenges in assessing nailfold capillaries. However, when images are evaluable, the high intra- and inter-reliabilities suggest that overall image grade, capillary density and apex width have potential as outcome measures in longitudinal studies

Updated Clinical Guidelines for Diagnosing Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders

The adverse effects of prenatal alcohol exposure constitute a continuum of disabilities (fetal alcohol spectrum disorders [FASD]). In 1996, the Institute of Medicine established diagnostic categories delineating the spectrum but not specifying clinical criteria by which diagnoses could be assigned. In 2005, the authors published practical guidelines operationalizing the Institute of Medicine categories, allowing for standardization of FASD diagnoses in clinical settings. The purpose of the current report is to present updated diagnostic guidelines based on a thorough review of the literature and the authors’ combined expertise based on the evaluation of >10 000 children for potential FASD in clinical settings and in epidemiologic studies in conjunction with National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism–funded studies, the Collaborative Initiative on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, and the Collaboration on FASD Prevalence. The guidelines were formulated through conference calls and meetings held at National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism offices in Rockville, MD. Specific areas addressed include the following: precise definition of documented prenatal alcohol exposure; neurobehavioral criteria for diagnosis of fetal alcohol syndrome, partial fetal alcohol syndrome, and alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder; revised diagnostic criteria for alcohol-related birth defects; an updated comprehensive research dysmorphology scoring system; and a new lip/philtrum guide for the white population, incorporating a 45-degree view. The guidelines reflect consensus among a large and experienced cadre of FASD investigators in the fields of dysmorphology, epidemiology, neurology, psychology, developmental/behavioral pediatrics, and educational diagnostics. Their improved clarity and specificity will guide clinicians in accurate diagnosis of infants and children prenatally exposed to alcohol

Analysis of the Human Kinome Using Methods Including Fold Recognition Reveals Two Novel Kinases

Background: Protein sequence similarity is a commonly used criterion for inferring the unknown function of a protein from a protein of known function. However, proteins can diverge significantly over time such that sequence similarity is difficult, if not impossible, to find. In some cases, a structural similarity remains over long evolutionary time scales and once detected can be used to predict function. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here we employed a high-throughput approach to assign structural and functional annotation to the human proteome, focusing on the collection of human protein kinases, the human kinome. We compared human protein sequences to a library of domains from known structures using WU-BLAST, PSI-BLAST, and 123D. This approach utilized both sequence comparison and fold recognition methods. The resulting set of potential protein kinases was cross-checked against previously identified human protein kinases, and analyzed for conserved kinase motifs. Conclusions/Significance: We demonstrate that our structure-based method can be used to identify both typical and atypical human protein kinases. We also identify two potentially novel kinases that contain an interesting combination o

A South African mixed race lip/philtrum guide for diagnosis of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders

The adverse effects of maternal alcohol use during pregnancy represent a spectrum of growth restriction, facial dysmorphology, and neurocognitive challenges in the offspring. The continuum of diagnoses is referred to as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). Short palpebral fissures, a smooth philtrum, and a thin vermilion border of the upper lip comprise the three cardinal facial features of FASD. Early attempts to define a smooth philtrum and thin vermilion border of the upper lip were subjective. Astley and colleagues introduced a 5-point Likert-scaled lip/philtrum guide based on Caucasian North American subjects as an objective tool for the evaluation of the facial dysmorphology in FASD. This Caucasian guide has been incorporated into all current diagnostic schemes for FASD. However, broad international clinical experience with FASD indicates racial and ethnic differences with respect to the facial morphology. Because of the substantial number of children with FASD in South Africa among the Cape Coloured (mixed race) population in the Western Cape Province, we developed a specific lip/philtrum guide for that population. The guide incorporates a 45-degree view of the philtrum that enables an enhanced 3-dimensional evaluation of philtral height not possible with a frontal view alone. The guide has proven to be a more specific and sensitive tool for evaluation of the facial dysmorphology of FASD in the Cape Coloured population than the use of the previous North American Caucasian guide and points to the utility of racial and ethnic-specific dysmorphology tools in the evaluation of children with suspected FASD

New genetic loci implicated in fasting glucose homeostasis and their impact on type 2 diabetes risk.

Levels of circulating glucose are tightly regulated. To identify new loci influencing glycemic traits, we performed meta-analyses of 21 genome-wide association studies informative for fasting glucose, fasting insulin and indices of beta-cell function (HOMA-B) and insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) in up to 46,186 nondiabetic participants. Follow-up of 25 loci in up to 76,558 additional subjects identified 16 loci associated with fasting glucose and HOMA-B and two loci associated with fasting insulin and HOMA-IR. These include nine loci newly associated with fasting glucose (in or near ADCY5, MADD, ADRA2A, CRY2, FADS1, GLIS3, SLC2A2, PROX1 and C2CD4B) and one influencing fasting insulin and HOMA-IR (near IGF1). We also demonstrated association of ADCY5, PROX1, GCK, GCKR and DGKB-TMEM195 with type 2 diabetes. Within these loci, likely biological candidate genes influence signal transduction, cell proliferation, development, glucose-sensing and circadian regulation. Our results demonstrate that genetic studies of glycemic traits can identify type 2 diabetes risk loci, as well as loci containing gene variants that are associated with a modest elevation in glucose levels but are not associated with overt diabetes