The effect of longitudinal sleep monitoring on clinician agreement in obstructive sleep apnea diagnosis: The ELSA study

There is strong evidence for clinically relevant night‐to‐night variability of respiratory events in patients with suspected obstructive sleep apnea. Sleep experts retrospectively evaluated diagnostic data in 56 patients with suspected obstructive sleep apnea. Experts were blinded to the fact that they were diagnosing the same case twice, once based on a short report of a single in‐laboratory respiratory polygraphy and once with the additional information of 14 nights of pulse oximetry at home. All experts (n = 22) were highly qualified, 13 experts (59.1%) treated > 100 patients with suspected obstructive sleep apnea per year. In 12 patients, the apnea–hypopnea index in the respiratory polygraphy was  100 per year compared with 0–29 patients per year (Coef. [95% confidence interval] −0.63 [−1.22/−0.04] and −0.61 [−1.07/−0.15], respectively). Experts found already a high level of consensus regarding obstructive sleep apnea diagnosis, severity and continuous positive airway pressure recommendation after a single respiratory polygraphy. However, longitudinal sleep monitoring could help increase consensus in selected patients with diagnostic uncertainty

Environmentally relevant fungicide levels modify fungal community composition and interactions but not functioning

Aquatic hyphomycetes (AHs), a group of saprotrophic fungi adapted to submerged leaf litter, play key functional roles in stream ecosystems as decomposers and food source for higher trophic levels. Fungicides, controlling fungal pathogens, target evolutionary conserved molecular processes in fungi and contaminate streams via their use in agricultural and urban landscapes. Thus fungicides pose a risk to AHs and the functions they provide. To investigate the impacts of fungicide exposure on the composition and functioning of AH communities, we exposed four AH species in monocultures and mixed cultures to increasing fungicide concentrations (0, 5, 50, 500, and 2500 mg/L). We assessed the biomass of each species via quantitative real-time PCR. Moreover, leaf decomposition was investigated. In monocultures, none of the species was affected at environmentally relevant fungicide levels (5 and 50 mg/L). The two most tolerant species were able to colonize and decompose leaves even at very high fungicide levels (>= 500 mg/L), although less efficiently. In mixed cultures, changes in leaf decomposition reflected the response pattern of the species most tolerant in monocultures. Accordingly, the decomposition process may be safeguarded by tolerant species in combination with functional redundancy. In all fungicide treatments, however, sensitive species were displaced and interactions between fungi changed from complementarity to competition. As AH community composition determines leaves' nutritional quality for consumers, the data suggest that fungicide exposures rather induce bottom-up effects in food webs than impairments in leaf decomposition. (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd

Analysis of Epithelial Growth Factor-Receptor (EGFR) Phosphorylation in Uterine Smooth Muscle Tumors

Uterine fibroids are the commonest uterine benign tumors. A potential mechanism of malignant transformation from leiomyomas to leiomyosarcomas has beendescribed. Tyrosine phosphorylation is a key mechanism that controls biological functions, such as proliferation and cell differentiation. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the phosphorylation of epithelial growth factor-receptor (EGFR) in normal myometrium, uterine myomas and uterine leiomyosarcomas. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue samples from normal myometrium, leiomyomas and leiomyosarcomas were studied. Samples were immunohistochemically (IHC) assessed using the anti-EGFR phosphorylation of Y845 (pEGFR-Y845) and anti-pEGFR-Y1173 phosphorylation-specific antibodies. IHC staining was evaluated using a semiquantitative score. The expression of pEGFR-Y845 was significantly upregulated in leiomyosarcomas (p < 0.001) compared to leiomyomas and normal myometrium. In contrast, pEGFR-Y1173 did not differ significantly between the three groups of the study. Correlation analysis revealed an overall positive correlation between pEGFR Y845 and mucin 1 (MUC1). Further subgroup analysis within the tumoral group (myomas and leiomyosarcomas) revealed an additional negative correlation between pEGFR Y845 and galectin-3 (gal-3) staining. On the contrary no significant correlation was noted within the non-tumoral group. An upregulated EGFR phosphorylation of Y845 in leiomyosarcomas compared to leiomyomas implicates EGFR activation at this special receptor site. Due to these pEGFR-Y845 variations, it can be postulated that MUC1 interacts with it, whereas gal-3 seems to be cleaved from Y845 phosphorylated EGFR. Further research on this field could focus on differences in EGFR pathways as a potentially advantageous diagnostic tool for investigation of benign and malignant signal transduction processes

Subsidy Quality Affects Common Riparian Web-Building Spiders: Consequences of Aquatic Contamination and Food Resource

Anthropogenic stressors can affect the emergence of aquatic insects. These insects link aquatic and adjacent terrestrial food webs, serving as high-quality subsidy to terrestrial consumers, such as spiders. While previous studies have demonstrated that changes in the emergence biomass and timing may propagate across ecosystem boundaries, the physiological consequences of altered subsidy quality for spiders are largely unknown. We used a model food chain to study the potential effects of subsidy quality: Tetragnatha spp. were exclusively fed with emergent Chironomus riparius cultured in the absence or presence of either copper (Cu), Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Bti), or a mixture of synthetic pesticides paired with two basal resources (Spirulina vs. TetraMin (R)) of differing quality in terms of fatty acid (FA) composition. Basal resources shaped the FA profile of chironomids, whereas their effect on the FA profile of spiders decreased, presumably due to the capacity of both chironomids and spiders to modify (dietary) FA. In contrast, aquatic contaminants had negligible effects on prey FA profiles but reduced the content of physiologically important polyunsaturated FAs, such as 20:4n-6 (arachidonic acid) and 20:5n-3 (eicosapentaenoic acid), in spiders by approximately 30% in Cu and Bti treatments. This may have contributed to the statistically significant decline (40%-50%) in spider growth. The observed effects in spiders are likely related to prey nutritional quality because biomass consumption by spiders was, because of our experimental design, constant. Analyses of additional parameters that describe the nutritional quality for consumers such as proteins, carbohydrates, and the retention of contaminants may shed further light on the underlying mechanisms. Our results highlight that aquatic contaminants can affect the physiology of riparian spiders, likely by altering subsidy quality, with potential implications for terrestrial food webs. (c) 2023 The Authors. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of SETAC

The Lantern Vol. 42, No. 2, Spring 1976

• Cape Cod • Thoughts • Circle of Stone • Ursinus: A Collegiate Game for All Ages • Spring • And The Clown Sings • Tainted Dreams • The Funeral • With Apologies to Ken Nordeen • Curiosity • Crystaline Magical Hue • Time • The Stalemate • Back Porch Genocide • T-18 • Photo Album • Eunuchhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1108/thumbnail.jp

The Lantern Vol. 40, No. 2, Spring 1974

• Response • Roads • Ghost Dance • Natator • Make Believe • An English Sonnet • A Cinquain • Icarus • Alchemy • Pain • Love • Scramblen\u27 Zone • In the Gathering Wind • The Circus • Streams • The Showdown on the Corner of Main Street and Koscuisko Drive!!! • Fandango • Ode to an Orange Orangutan • Nauseahttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1104/thumbnail.jp

The Lantern Vol. 41, No. 2, Spring 1975

• Awakening • 10:27 • The Box • God\u27s Children • The Blasphemous Bean Beetle Levels Limpidland • First Flight • In April • Butterfly • In the Garden • The Emperor\u27s Pond • The Mob • Date with Destiny • While Awaiting Death • Sweet Jane • Final Thoughtshttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1106/thumbnail.jp

The Lantern Vol. 42, No. 1, Fall 1975

• The House • The Empty Man • Time • Corporea • Take Me • Elements of Nature • Hope • Acclimation • Road to Elat • Sinai • Jerusalem • Fatman • Ode to Grand Rapids • Ode to Cora • The Apple Cart • Next Time You\u27re Down South • Star Wreck • Eulogy to John Doe • A Postal Preoccupation • The Interview May Be Real (But Don\u27t Bet On It) • Winter Eve • My Love • God\u27s Children • A View From a Hill • Freedom For Us • Sleep Demonhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1107/thumbnail.jp

Implementation of immunohistochemistry on frozen ear notch tissue samples in diagnosis of bovine viral diarrhea virus in persistently infected cattle

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Bovine viral diarrhea is a contagious disease of domestic and wild ruminants and one of the most economically important diseases in cattle. Bovine viral diarrhea virus belongs to the genus <it>Pestivirus</it>, within the family <it>Flaviviridae</it>. The identification and elimination of the persistently infected animals from herds is the initial step in the control and eradication programs. It is therefore necessary to have reliable methods for diagnosis of bovine viral diarrhea virus. One of those methods is immunohistochemistry. Immunohistochemistry on formalin fixed, paraffin embedded tissue is a routine technique in diagnosis of persistently infected cattle from ear notch tissue samples. However, such technique is inappropriate due to complicated tissue fixation process and it requires more days for preparation. On the contrary, immunohistochemistry on frozen tissue was usually applied on organs from dead animals. In this paper, for the first time, the imunohistochemistry on frozen ear notch tissue samples was described.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>Seventeen ear notch tissue samples were obtained during the period 2008-2009 from persistently infected cattle. Samples were fixed in liquid nitrogen and stored on -20°C until testing. Ear notch tissue samples from all persistently infected cattle showed positive results with good section quality and possibility to determinate type of infected cells.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Although the number of samples was limited, this study indicated that immunohistochemistry on formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissue can be successfully replaced with immunohistochemistry on frozen ear notch tissue samples in diagnosis of persistently infected cattle.</p

Biodiversity-stability relationships strengthen over time in a long-term grassland experiment.

Numerous studies have demonstrated that biodiversity drives ecosystem functioning, yet how biodiversity loss alters ecosystems functioning and stability in the long-term lacks experimental evidence. We report temporal effects of species richness on community productivity, stability, species asynchrony, and complementarity, and how the relationships among them change over 17 years in a grassland biodiversity experiment. Productivity declined more rapidly in less diverse communities resulting in temporally strengthening positive effects of richness on productivity, complementarity, and stability. In later years asynchrony played a more important role in increasing community stability as the negative effect of richness on population stability diminished. Only during later years did species complementarity relate to species asynchrony. These results show that species complementarity and asynchrony can take more than a decade to develop strong stabilizing effects on ecosystem functioning in diverse plant communities. Thus, the mechanisms stabilizing ecosystem functioning change with community age