Trauma Innovations: MDMA as a Treatment Intervention for PTSD

Aims: To examine the evidence displayed across 3 distinct communities (popular, scientific, & clinical) in conjunction with the use of MDMA-AP as an intervention for PTSD. Method: A mixed method synthesis of qualitative and quantitative research. Data Sources: Four databases were searched [1980-Present] for MDMA & PTSD and/or Mithoefer, et al. 2010 specific scientific literature providing forty-two randomly selected articles; YouTube was searched specifically targeting the same criteria to provide forty-two randomly selected videos; 201 LICSW\u27s from Minnesota were also surveyed. Results: From the three datasets, three common themes emerged: (1) attitudes specifically geared toward MDMA-AP; (2) effusive or willful language; and (3) gaps in the research. Conclusions: Scientific literature is neutral to somewhat supportive of more study of MDMA-AP; primary source videos consider the topic highly newsworthy and are generally supportive of more study; LICSWs are supportive of the idea of further study of MDMA-AP

Trauma Innovations: MDMA as a Treatment Intervention for PTSD

Aims: To examine the evidence displayed across 3 distinct communities (popular, scientific, & clinical) in conjunction with the use of MDMA-AP as an intervention for PTSD. Method: A mixed method synthesis of qualitative and quantitative research. Data Sources: Four databases were searched [1980-Present] for MDMA & PTSD and/or Mithoefer, et al. 2010 specific scientific literature providing forty-two randomly selected articles; YouTube was searched specifically targeting the same criteria to provide forty-two randomly selected videos; 201 LICSW’s from Minnesota were also surveyed. Results: From the three datasets, three common themes emerged: (1) attitudes specifically geared toward MDMA-AP; (2) effusive or willful language; and (3) gaps in the research. Conclusions: Scientific literature is neutral to somewhat supportive of more study of MDMA-AP; primary source videos consider the topic highly newsworthy and are generally supportive of more study; LICSWs are supportive of the idea of further study of MDMA-AP

One Health proof of concept: Bringing a transdisciplinary approach to surveillance for zoonotic viruses at the human-wild animal interface.

As the world continues to react and respond inefficiently to emerging infectious diseases, such as Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome and the Ebola and Zika viruses, a growing transdisciplinary community has called for a more proactive and holistic approach to prevention and preparedness - One Health. Such an approach presents important opportunities to reduce the impact of disease emergence events and also to mitigate future emergence through improved cross-sectoral coordination. In an attempt to provide proof of concept of the utility of the One Health approach, the US Agency for International Development's PREDICT project consortium designed and implemented a targeted, risk-based surveillance strategy based not on humans as sentinels of disease but on detecting viruses early, at their source, where intervention strategies can be implemented before there is opportunity for spillover and spread in people or food animals. Here, we share One Health approaches used by consortium members to illustrate the potential for successful One Health outcomes that can be achieved through collaborative, transdisciplinary partnerships. PREDICT's collaboration with partners around the world on strengthening local capacity to detect hundreds of viruses in wild animals, coupled with a series of cutting-edge virological and analytical activities, have significantly improved our baseline knowledge on the zoonotic pool of viruses and the risk of exposure to people. Further testament to the success of the project's One Health approach and the work of its team of dedicated One Health professionals are the resulting 90 peer-reviewed, scientific publications in under 5 years that improve our understanding of zoonoses and the factors influencing their emergence. The findings are assisting in global health improvements, including surveillance science, diagnostic technologies, understanding of viral evolution, and ecological driver identification. Through its One Health leadership and multi-disciplinary partnerships, PREDICT has forged new networks of professionals from the human, animal, and environmental health sectors to promote global health, improving our understanding of viral disease spillover from wildlife and implementing strategies for preventing and controlling emerging disease threats

What\u27s New in Plant Pathology

Changes to the Disease Management Section of the 2017 Guide for Weed, Disease, and Insect Management in Nebraska Bacterial Leaf Streak of Corn—An Emerging Disease in Nebraska and First Report in the United States Pest and Plant Diagnostic Clinic Position Change New Products … Ethos XB … Majestene Table 1. Foliar products for disease control that were updated in the 2017 Guide for Weed, Disease, and Insect Management in Nebraska Table 2. Seed treatment products for disease control that were updated in the 2017 Guide for Weed, Disease, and Insect Management in Nebraska Table 3. Biological products that were updated in the 2017 Guide for Weed, Disease, and Insect Management in Nebrask

Physician satisfaction with a multi-platform digital scheduling system

Objective: Physician shift schedules are regularly created manually, using paper or a shared online spreadsheet. Mistakes are not unusual, leading to last minute scrambles to cover a shift. We developed a web-based shift scheduling system and a mobile application tool to facilitate both the monthly scheduling and shift exchanges between physicians. The primary objective was to compare physician satisfaction before and after the mobile application implementation. Methods: Over a 9-month period, three surveys, using the 4-point Likert type scale were performed to assess the physician satisfaction. The first survey was conducted three months prior mobile application release, a second survey three months after implementation and the last survey six months after. Results: 51 (77%) of the physicians answered the baseline survey. Of those, 32 (63%) were males with a mean age of 37.8 ± 5.5 years. Prior to the mobile application implementation, 36 (70%) of the responders were using more than one method to carry out shift exchanges and only 20 (40%) were using the official department report sheet to document shift exchanges. The second and third survey were answered by 48 (73%) physicians. Forty-eight (98%) of them found the mobile application easy or very easy to install and 47 (96%) did not want to go back to the previous method. Regarding physician satisfaction, at baseline 37% of the physicians were unsatisfied or very unsatisfied with shift scheduling. After the mobile application was implementation, only 4% reported being unsatisfied (OR = 0.11, p < 0.001). The satisfaction level improved from 63% to 96% between the first and the last survey. Satisfaction levels significantly increased between the three time points (OR = 13.33, p < 0.001). Conclusion: Our web and mobile phone-based scheduling system resulted in better physician satisfaction

Radiação global por modelos simplificados para o Estado de Mato Grosso

The objective of this work was to estimate the global radiation by simplified models for the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. The parameterized coefficients of 15 simplified models were regionally calibrated to estimate the daily global radiation, based only on air temperature, using data from 28 automatic weather stations (AWS) of the network of the Brazilian Meteorology Institute, distributed throughout the different biomes of the state of Mato Grosso. The simplified models are mostly derived from the Hargreaves and Bristow & Campbell methods, with different parameterized coefficients to be calibrated. The coefficient of determination (R2), the mean bias error (MBE), the root mean square error (RMSE), and Willmott’s d index were used to evaluate statistical performance. For the recommendation of models per station and/or biome, the models were rated numerically (position values) according to their specific performance in each statistical indicator. The simplified models derived from Bristow & Campbell showed better statistical performances for estimating daily global radiation. The values of the calibrated coefficients of the same model varied greatly among the AWS and biomes. The R2 values ranged from 0.60 to 0.75, indicating a satisfactory result for the obtained calibrations. The Bristow & Campbell model for the Amazon and the Cerrado and the Goodin model for the Cerrado are recommended, with scattering varying between 1.52 and 4.33 MJ m-2 per day and adjustments greater than 65%.O objetivo deste trabalho foi estimar a radiação global por modelos simplificados para o Estado de Mato Grosso. Os coeficientes parametrizados de 15 modelos simplificados foram regionalmente calibrados para estimativa da radiação global diária, com base apenas na temperatura do ar, a partir de dados de 28 estações meteorológicas automáticas (EMAs) da rede do Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia, distribuídas nos diferentes biomas do Estado de Mato Grosso. Os modelos simplificados avaliados foram derivados principalmente dos métodos de Hargreaves e Bristow & Campbell, com diferentes coeficientes parametrizados a serem calibrados. Para a avaliação do desempenho estatístico, foram empregados o coeficiente de determinação (R2), o erro absoluto médio (MBE), a raiz quadrada do erro quadrático médio (RMSE) e o índice d de Willmott. Para a recomendação de modelos por estação e/ou bioma, os modelos foram classificados numericamente (valores de posição), de acordo com o desempenho específico em cada indicativo estatístico. Os modelos simplificados derivados de Bristow & Campbell apresentaram melhores desempenhos estatísticos para estimativa da radiação global diária. Os valores dos coeficientes calibrados de um mesmo modelo variaram grandemente entre as EMAs e os biomas. Os valores do R2 variaram de 0,60 a 0,75, o que indica resultados satisfatórios nas calibrações obtidas. São indicados o modelo de Bristow & Campbell para a Amazônia e o Cerrado e o de Goodin para o Cerrado, com espalhamentos que variam entre 1,52 e 4,33 MJ m-2 por dia e ajustamentos superiores a 65%

Socializing One Health: an innovative strategy to investigate social and behavioral risks of emerging viral threats

In an effort to strengthen global capacity to prevent, detect, and control infectious diseases in animals and people, the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Emerging Pandemic Threats (EPT) PREDICT project funded development of regional, national, and local One Health capacities for early disease detection, rapid response, disease control, and risk reduction. From the outset, the EPT approach was inclusive of social science research methods designed to understand the contexts and behaviors of communities living and working at human-animal-environment interfaces considered high-risk for virus emergence. Using qualitative and quantitative approaches, PREDICT behavioral research aimed to identify and assess a range of socio-cultural behaviors that could be influential in zoonotic disease emergence, amplification, and transmission. This broad approach to behavioral risk characterization enabled us to identify and characterize human activities that could be linked to the transmission dynamics of new and emerging viruses. This paper provides a discussion of implementation of a social science approach within a zoonotic surveillance framework. We conducted in-depth ethnographic interviews and focus groups to better understand the individual- and community-level knowledge, attitudes, and practices that potentially put participants at risk for zoonotic disease transmission from the animals they live and work with, across 6 interface domains. When we asked highly-exposed individuals (ie. bushmeat hunters, wildlife or guano farmers) about the risk they perceived in their occupational activities, most did not perceive it to be risky, whether because it was normalized by years (or generations) of doing such an activity, or due to lack of information about potential risks. Integrating the social sciences allows investigations of the specific human activities that are hypothesized to drive disease emergence, amplification, and transmission, in order to better substantiate behavioral disease drivers, along with the social dimensions of infection and transmission dynamics. Understanding these dynamics is critical to achieving health security--the protection from threats to health-- which requires investments in both collective and individual health security. Involving behavioral sciences into zoonotic disease surveillance allowed us to push toward fuller community integration and engagement and toward dialogue and implementation of recommendations for disease prevention and improved health security

The ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme, Ubc1, indirectly regulates SNF1 kinase activity via Forkhead-dependent transcription

The SNF1 kinase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is an excellent model to study the regulation and function of the AMP-dependent protein kinase (AMPK) family of serine-threonine protein kinases. Yeast discoveries regarding the regulation of this non-hormonal sensor of metabolic/environmental stress are conserved in higher eukaryotes, including poly-ubiquitination of the α-subunit of yeast (Snf1) and human (AMPKα) that ultimately effects subunit stability and enzyme activity. The ubiquitin-cascade enzymes responsible for targeting Snf1 remain unknown, leading us to screen for those that impact SNF1 kinase function. We identified the E2, Ubc1, as a regulator of SNF1 kinase function. The decreased Snf1 abundance found upon deletion of Ubc1 is not due to increased degradation, but instead is partly due to impaired SNF1 gene expression, arising from diminished abundance of the Forkhead 1/2 proteins, previously shown to contribute to SNF1 transcription. Ultimately, we report that the Fkh1/2 cognate transcription factor, Hcm1, fails to enter the nucleus in the absence of Ubc1. This implies that Ubc1 acts indirectly through transcriptional effects to modulate SNF1 kinase activity

TFPI1 mediates resistance to doxorubicin in breast cancer cells by inducing a hypoxic-like response.

Thrombin and hypoxia are important players in breast cancer progression. Breast cancers often develop drug resistance, but mechanisms linking thrombin and hypoxia to drug resistance remain unresolved. Our studies using Doxorubicin (DOX) resistant MCF7 breast cancer cells reveals a mechanism linking DOX exposure with hypoxic induction of DOX resistance. Global expression changes between parental and DOX resistant MCF7 cells were examined. Westerns, Northerns and immunocytochemistry were used to validate drug resistance and differentially expressed genes. A cluster of genes involved in the anticoagulation pathway, with Tissue Factor Pathway Inhibitor 1 (TFPI1) the top hit, was identified. Plasmids overexpressing TFPI1 were utilized, and 1% O2 was used to test the effects of hypoxia on drug resistance. Lastly, microarray datasets from patients with drug resistant breast tumors were interrogated for TFPI1 expression levels. TFPI1 protein levels were found elevated in 3 additional DOX resistant cells lines, from humans and rats, indicating evolutionarily conservation of the effect. Elevated TFPI1 in DOX resistant cells was active, as thrombin protein levels were coincidentally low. We observed elevated HIF1α protein in DOX resistant cells, and in cells with forced expression of TFPI1, suggesting TFPI1 induces HIF1α. TFPI1 also induced c-MYC, c-SRC, and HDAC2 protein, as well as DOX resistance in parental cells. Growth of cells in 1% O2 induced elevated HIF1α, BCRP and MDR-1 protein, and these cells were resistant to DOX. Our in vitro results were consistent with in vivo patient datasets, as tumors harboring increased BCRP and MDR-1 expression also had increased TFPI1 expression. Our observations are clinically relevant indicating that DOX treatment induces an anticoagulation cascade, leading to inhibition of thrombin and the expression of HIF1α. This in turn activates a pathway leading to drug resistance