Community Awareness of Burgeoning Prostate Cancer Screenings

Prostate cancer screening is an ever-changing field because the benefits of using PSA as a screening tool is not clear-cut, subsequently causing a lack of standardization of screening protocols among various providers. In 2012, the USPSTF published their recommendation of grade D to prostate cancer screening, which caused a decrease in its use. However, the USPSTF recently changed their recommendation from grade D to C, conceding that screening can be beneficial to a certain group of people. Patients are understandably confused about what is appropriate for them; now is the perfect time to raise awareness about the importance of prostate cancer screening and to motivate patients to start a shared-decision making conversation with their provider.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/fmclerk/1315/thumbnail.jp

Prenatal Lead Exposure Risk Assessment by Vermont Maternity Care Providers

Introduction. One percent of women of childbearing age in the U.S. have blood lead levels ≥ 5 ug/dL, which are associated with maternal hypertension during pregnancy, neural tube and cardiac defects in infants, low birth weight, prematurity, and spontaneous abortion. It is unknown whether obstetrics providers in Vermont are screening their pregnant patients for lead levels and educating them on lead exposure risks. Objective. To gain an understanding of current lead screening practices in Vermont and issue recommendations for disseminating lead screening information. Methods. We developed and e-mailed a survey to practicing OB/GYN physicians, maternity care focused family medicine physicians, nurse midwives, and professional midwives. The survey assessed current screening practices for lead exposure in their pregnant patients, interest in receiving statewide guidelines, and guideline dissemination preferences. Results. Of the 41 respondents, 12% currently conduct risk assessments for lead exposure with all of their pregnant patients. Fifty four percent of maternity providers give all of their patients educational materials about lead exposure and risk of toxicity. Seventy one percent of maternity providers think that having guidelines provided by the Vermont Department of Health would encourage them to begin or continue lead exposure screening. The two preferred methods of communicating guidelines to physicians were grand rounds and email whereas non-physician providers preferred email and webinar. Discussion. The majority of pregnant patients in Vermont are not properly assessed or educated about lead risks. However, there is interest in having statewide standardized lead risk assessment guidelines, with dissemination preferences differing by provider type.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1248/thumbnail.jp

A Switch from a Gradient to a Threshold Mode in the Regulation of a Transcriptional Cascade Promotes Robust Execution of Meiosis in Budding Yeast

Tight regulation of developmental pathways is of critical importance to all organisms, and is achieved by a transcriptional cascade ensuring the coordinated expression of sets of genes. We aimed to explore whether a strong signal is required to enter and complete a developmental pathway, by using meiosis in budding yeast as a model. We demonstrate that meiosis in budding yeast is insensitive to drastic changes in the levels of its consecutive positive regulators (Ime1, Ime2, and Ndt80). Entry into DNA replication is not correlated with the time of transcription of the early genes that regulate this event. Entry into nuclear division is directly regulated by the time of transcription of the middle genes, as premature transcription of their activator NDT80, leads to a premature entry into the first meiotic division, and loss of coordination between DNA replication and nuclear division. We demonstrate that Cdk1/Cln3 functions as a negative regulator of Ime2, and that ectopic expression of Cln3 delays entry into nuclear division as well as NDT80 transcription. Because Ime2 functions as a positive regulator for premeiotic DNA replication and NDT80 transcription, as well as a negative regulator of Cdk/Cln, we suggest that a double negative feedback loop between Ime2 and Cdk1/Cln3 promotes a bistable switch from the cell cycle to meiosis. Moreover, our results suggest a regulatory mode switch that ensures robust meiosis as the transcription of the early meiosis-specific genes responds in a graded mode to Ime1 levels, whereas that of the middle and late genes as well as initiation of DNA replication, are regulated in a threshold mode

Identification of Genes Directly Involved in Shell Formation and Their Functions in Pearl Oyster, Pinctada fucata

Mollusk shell formation is a fascinating aspect of biomineralization research. Shell matrix proteins play crucial roles in the control of calcium carbonate crystallization during shell formation in the pearl oyster, Pinctada fucata. Characterization of biomineralization-related genes during larval development could enhance our understanding of shell formation. Genes involved in shell biomineralization were isolated by constructing three suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) libraries that represented genes expressed at key points during larval shell formation. A total of 2,923 ESTs from these libraries were sequenced and gave 990 unigenes. Unigenes coding for secreted proteins and proteins with tandem-arranged repeat units were screened in the three SSH libraries. A set of sequences coding for genes involved in shell formation was obtained. RT-PCR and in situ hybridization assays were carried out on five genes to investigate their spatial expression in several tissues, especially the mantle tissue. They all showed a different expression pattern from known biomineralization-related genes. Inhibition of the five genes by RNA interference resulted in different defects of the nacreous layer, indicating that they all were involved in aragonite crystallization. Intriguingly, one gene (UD_Cluster94.seq.Singlet1) was restricted to the ‘aragonitic line’. The current data has yielded for the first time, to our knowledge, a suite of biomineralization-related genes active during the developmental stages of P.fucata, five of which were responsible for nacreous layer formation. This provides a useful starting point for isolating new genes involved in shell formation. The effects of genes on the formation of the ‘aragonitic line’, and other areas of the nacreous layer, suggests a different control mechanism for aragonite crystallization initiation from that of mature aragonite growth

Track D Social Science, Human Rights and Political Science

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138414/1/jia218442.pd

The Barents and Chukchi Seas: Comparison of two Arctic shelf ecosystems

This paper compares and contrasts the ecosystems of the Barents and Chukchi Seas. Despite their similarity in a number of features, the Barents Sea supports a vast biomass of commercially important fish, but the Chukchi does not. Here we examine a number of aspects of these two seas to ascertain how they are similar and how they differ. We then indentify processes and mechanisms that may be responsible for their similarities and differences.Both the Barents and Chukchi Seas are high latitude, seasonally ice covered, Arctic shelf-seas. Both have strongly advective regimes, and receive water from the south. Water entering the Barents comes from the deep, ice-free and "warm" Norwegian Sea, and contains not only heat, but also a rich supply of zooplankton that supports larval fish in spring. In contrast, Bering Sea water entering the Chukchi in spring and early summer is cold. In spring, this Bering Sea water is depleted of large, lipid-rich zooplankton, thus likely resulting in a relatively low availability of zooplankton for fish. Although primary production on average is similar in the two seas, fish biomass density is an order of magnitude greater in the Barents than in the Chukchi Sea. The Barents Sea supports immense fisheries, whereas the Chukchi Sea does not. The density of cetaceans in the Barents Sea is about double that in the Chukchi Sea, as is the density of nesting seabirds, whereas, the density of pinnipeds in the Chukchi is about double that in the Barents Sea. In the Chukchi Sea, export of carbon to the benthos and benthic biomass may be greater. We hypothesize that the difference in fish abundance in the two seas is driven by differences in the heat and plankton advected into them, and the amount of primary production consumed in the upper water column. However, we suggest that the critical difference between the Chukchi and Barents Seas is the pre-cooled water entering the Chukchi Sea from the south. This cold water, and the winter mixing of the Chukchi Sea as it becomes ice covered, result in water temperatures below the physiological limits of the commercially valuable fish that thrive in the southeastern Bering Sea. If climate change warms the Barents Sea, thereby increasing the open water area via reducing ice cover, productivity at most trophic levels is likely to increase. In the Chukchi, warming should also reduce sea ice cover, permitting a longer production season. However, the shallow northern Bering and Chukchi Seas are expected to continue to be ice-covered in winter, so water there will continue to be cold in winter and spring, and is likely to continue to be a barrier to the movement of temperate fish into the Chukchi Sea. Thus, it is unlikely that large populations of boreal fish species will become established in this Arctic marginal sea. © 2012 Elsevier B.V

Trends in Quality of Life Outcomes 5 Years After Prostatectomy

Introduction Prostate cancer is the second most common cause of cancer and continues to be the second leading cause of cancer death among American men. Those diagnosed with prostate cancer can choose to undergo prostatectomy as their treatment. The success of a prostatectomy cannot only be measured by the survival duration, but must also take into consideration the quality of life the patient can expect immediately and years after the treatment is complete. With the 10 year survival rate after prostatectomy being as high as 83%, it is imperative to gain a better understanding how treatment impacts patients’ lives. Materials & Methods Patients who had prostate cancer underwent prostatectomy at the University of Vermont Medical Center. Their health-related quality of life was measured using the Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite (EPIC), which is a validated instrument that specifically monitors for urinary incontinence, urinary irritation/obstruction, bowel, sexual, and vitality/hormonal effects. Each category is scored out of 12 points where a higher score represent a stronger dysfunction. EPIC was given to patients to fill out during their follow-up appointments every 6 months after their surgery. All the EPIC responses for each time point was averaged and graphed to trend the response over the next 5 years after treatment. Results The number of EPIC responses recorded for each time point after prostatectomy was 0.5 years (n=224), 1 years (n=125), 1.5 years (n=98), 2 years (n=94), 2.5 years (n=53), 3 years (n=50), 3.5 years (n=44), 4 years (n=37), 4.5 years (n=22), and 5 years (n=14). Urinary incontinence responses was highest 0.5 year after prostatectomy and decreases and stabilizes by 1.5 years after prostatectomy. Urinary irritation/obstruction responses was highest 0.5 year after prostatectomy and decreases down to the lowest score at 2.5 years after prostatectomy before gradually increasing. Bowel responses was highest at 4.5 years after prostatectomy. Sexual responses was highest 0.5 year after prostatectomy and decreases and stabilizes by 2.5 years after prostatectomy. Vitality/hormonal responses did not follow a discernible pattern over the years after prostatectomy. Total responses was highest 0.5 year after prostatectomy and gradually decreased until 2.5 years after prostatectomy before slightly increasing for the remaining time. Conclusions Out of all the symptoms, prostatectomy seemed to have the biggest effect on sexual response with a score of 8.4 six months after surgery and seems to slightly improve with time and stabilize by 2.5 years, but still remains a big problem at a score of 6.2 five years after surgery. The second biggest problem prostatectomy caused is urinary incontinence, which gradually improved with about 40% reduction in symptoms by five years after surgery. Prostatectomy caused the least bowel adverse effects with the patients surveyed showing a decreasing score over the first 3 years after prostatectomy, but surprisingly increasing to an all-time high score of 1.3 at 4.5 years after prostatectomy before dropping back down at 5 years after surgery. Patients undergoing prostatectomy will most likely experience some adverse effects from their treatment that persist for more than 5 years

TSP1 and TSP2 Have Unique and Overlapping Roles in Protecting against Noise-Induced Auditory Synaptopathy

International audienc