A survey of music books for the high school library.

Thesis (M.M.)--Boston Universit

The Impact of Flooding on Malarial Transmission within Roadway Communities in the Peruvian Amazon

<p>Severe flooding inundated the lowlands of Peru between 2011 and 2012. The rainfall and ensuing elevation in river levels coincided with a marked increase in human malaria. This study analyzes sampled Anopheles mosquitoes in twenty communities located on a new roadway system within the lowland Peruvian Amazon over a period of twelve months. 3,913 mosquitoes were captured and tested for Plasmodium sporozoite proteins via laboratory ELISA. Over eighty five percent (85%) of the samples were Anopheles darlingi. Half of the sampled communities reported at least one positive mosquito during the four rounds of collection. Transmission intensity was highly variable between communities, including the observation of spatial clustering of mosquito infectivity between communities near block sixteen (16). A negative binomial regression demonstrated smaller communities, closer to a river, were subject to higher mosquito densities. These same geographic sites did not exhibit statistically significant predicted rates of mosquito infectivity. Therefore, no additional conclusions can be made with regards to river distance on malaria burden. However, the observed heterogeneous patterns of malaria in collection sites could be driven by farm-to-market travel, previously explored in other investigations.</p>Thesi

The Future of Hydrocarbon Development in Greenland: Perspectives from Residents of the North Slope of Alaska

 Although Greenland has pursued hydrocarbon development over the last four decades, no viable reserves have been found to date. Therefore, local Greenland communities have little experience or knowledge of how such development might affect their way of life or how to influence project development and outcomes should a significant reserve be found. On the North Slope of Alaska, in contrast, hydrocarbon extraction was commercialized in the 1970s, and the industry is now highly developed. North Slope residents have experienced dramatic influences on their everyday lives and well-being as a result of large-scale hydrocarbon projects. Some consequences have been welcomed, such as economic development and higher employment rates; however, other impacts are harmful, such as reduced ability of local peoples to maintain subsistence hunting practices. The villages on Alaska’s North Slope share many features in common with settlements in Greenland, such as small size, isolation, and limited political influence. In this study, we explore how Greenlanders might learn from the Alaska experience by examining the comments of North Slope residents. We propose that increased local-to-local recommendation-sharing across the Arctic would better guide sustainable development practices and benefits into potential future projects in Greenland. We conclude that an Arctic “Community Guide” and the process to create one could improve planning and implementation of hydrocarbon projects across the Arctic and promote locally appropriate sustainable development in the affected communities. Bien que le Groenland se soit adonné à l’exploration d’hydrocarbures ces quatre dernières décennies, aucune réserve rentable n’a été trouvée à ce jour. Par conséquent, les communautés du Groenland possèdent peu d’expérience ou de connaissances pour savoir comment des travaux de mise en valeur pourraient modifier leur mode de vie ou comment elles pourraient influencer le développement et les résultats d’un projet en cas de découverte de réserves importantes. En revanche, sur le North Slope de l’Alaska, l’extraction d’hydrocarbures a été commercialisée dans les années 1970, si bien que cette industrie y est maintenant fortement développée. La vie de tous les jours et le bien-être des résidents du North Slope ont connu des influences dramatiques en raison d’importants projets de mise en valeur d’hydrocarbures. Certaines incidences ont été bien accueillies, comme le développement économique et la hausse des taux d’emploi, mais d’autres ont été nuisibles, comme la diminution des occasions de pratiquer la chasse de subsistance dans la région. Les villages du North Slope de l’Alaska ont de nombreuses caractéristiques en commun avec ceux du Groenland, comme leur petite taille, leur isolement et leur influence politique restreinte. Dans cette étude, nous explorons la façon dont les Groenlandais pourraient tirer profit de l’expérience de l’Alaska en dépouillant les commentaires des gens du North Slope. Nous proposons que le partage accru de recommandations locales à l’échelle de l’Arctique permettrait de mieux orienter les pratiques de développement durable et leurs retombées dans le cadre de projets susceptibles de se concrétiser plus tard au Groenland. Nous concluons en affirmant qu’un « guide communautaire » de l’Arctique et le processus de création d’un tel guide pourraient améliorer la planification et la mise en oeuvre de projets d’hydrocarbures dans l’Arctique, en plus de favoriser un développement durable local adéquat dans les localités concernées

Differential sensitivity of mucosal organs to transient exposure to hydrogen sulphide in post-smolt Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)

Mortality related to hydrogen sulphide (H2S) has recently become a serious concern in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) farming, particularly in saline recirculating aquaculture systems (RASs), where the risk of H2S formation is high. H2S has a distinct odour of rotten eggs, and its production is associated with the anaerobic bacterial decomposition of protein and other sulphur-containing organic matter. Significant advances have been made in elucidating its formation in RAS, but the biological consequences of this toxicant in salmon remain elusive. We report the physiological consequences of transient exposure of post-smolt Atlantic salmon to H2S. The fish were exposed to one of three levels of H2S for 1 h: 0 µM (unexposed), 0.6 µM (low exposure), and 1.2 µM (high exposure). Fish were allowed to recover for 24 h and then sampled for gene expression, histology, and metabolomics analyses. Molecular profiling was performed on a subset of genes with known functions in sulphide detoxification, mucins, immunity, and stress responses, which focused on the gills, olfactory organ, skin, and distal gut. With the exception of interleukin 10, all genes studied were significantly affected in the skin, where high H2S triggered significant upregulation. Stress-related genes were mostly affected in the gills, where the high H2S level also induced significant upregulation. Downregulation of the marker genes was identified in the olfactory organ especially in the low-dose group. The distal gut was less sensitive to H2S, regardless of the dose. Histological health scoring of the four mucosal organs revealed no substantial structural alterations and only sporadic cases of mild-moderate unspecific tissue damage. High-throughput metabolomics revealed that transient H2S exposure had a substantial mucosal impact rather than a systemic impact, as shown by changes in skin mucus metabolome. Functional annotation indicated that 10 metabolomic pathways were significantly affected in the skin mucus, including tRNA charging, the superpathway of branched-chain amino acid biosynthesis, and glucosilinate biosynthesis from phenylalanine. The physiological alterations following transient exposure to H2S showed that the mucosal organs exhibited distinct response profiles, where transcriptional impacts were more pronounced in the skin and gills. The results contribute to a better understanding of the biological functions of exogenous H2S in teleost fish, as well as the development of mitigation strategies for salmon-production facilities and the risk of H2S exposure.Differential sensitivity of mucosal organs to transient exposure to hydrogen sulphide in post-smolt Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)publishedVersio

Akt in the pathogenesis of COPD

In this review we consider the therapeutic potential of targeting Akt for the treatment of COPD. Akt is a serine/threonine protein kinase that functions as a signaling intermediate linked to multiple signaling programs involved in survival, inflammation, and growth. Akt is closely associated with key membrane-bound receptors and represents a convergent integration point for multiple stimuli implicated in COPD pathogenesis. Persistent activation of Akt secondary to somatic mutations in regulatory oncogenes, such as PTEN, may explain why inflammation in COPD does not resolve when smoking is ceased. Akt is also implicated in the systemic manifestations of COPD such as skeletal muscle wasting and metabolic disturbances. Furthermore, targeting Akt may provide a useful means of limiting the severity and duration of disease exacerbations in COPD. As such, Akt represents a particularly attractive therapeutic target for the treatment of COPD. Interestingly, current knowledge suggests that both inhibitors and activators of Akt may be useful for treating different clinical subpopulations of COPD patients

Mapping neurotransmitter systems to the structural and functional organization of the human neocortex

Neurotransmitter receptors support the propagation of signals in the human brain. How receptor systems are situated within macro-scale neuroanatomy and how they shape emergent function remain poorly understood, and there exists no comprehensive atlas of receptors. Here we collate positron emission tomography data from more than 1,200 healthy individuals to construct a whole-brain three-dimensional normative atlas of 19 receptors and transporters across nine different neurotransmitter systems. We found that receptor profiles align with structural connectivity and mediate function, including neurophysiological oscillatory dynamics and resting-state hemodynamic functional connectivity. Using the Neurosynth cognitive atlas, we uncovered a topographic gradient of overlapping receptor distributions that separates extrinsic and intrinsic psychological processes. Finally, we found both expected and novel associations between receptor distributions and cortical abnormality patterns across 13 disorders. We replicated all findings in an independently collected autoradiography dataset. This work demonstrates how chemoarchitecture shapes brain structure and function, providing a new direction for studying multi-scale brain organization