Transcriptomic Response of Fusarium verticillioides to Variably Inhibitory Environmental Isolates of Streptomyces

Fusarium verticillioides is a mycotoxigenic fungus that is a threat to food and feed safety due to its common infection of maize, a global staple crop. A proposed strategy to combat this threat is the use of biological control bacteria that can inhibit the fungus and reduce mycotoxin contamination. In this study, the effect of multiple environmental isolates of Streptomyces on F. verticillioides was examined via transcriptome analysis. The Streptomyces strains ranged from inducing no visible response to dramatic growth inhibition. Transcriptionally, F. verticillioides responded proportionally to strain inhibition with either little to no transcript changes to thousands of genes being differentially expressed. Expression changes in multiple F. verticillioides putative secondary metabolite gene clusters was observed. Interestingly, genes involved in the fusaric acid gene cluster were suppressed by inhibitory strains of Streptomyces. A F. verticillioides beta-lactamase encoding gene (FVEG_13172) was found to be highly induced by specific inhibitory Streptomyces strains and its deletion increased visible response to those strains. This study demonstrates that F. verticillioides does not have an all or nothing response to bacteria it encounters but rather a measured response that is strain specific and proportional to the strength of inhibition

Prospective evaluation of methylated SEPT9 in plasma for detection of asymptomatic colorectal cancer

As screening methods for colorectal cancer (CRC) are limited by uptake and adherence, further options are sought. A blood test might increase both, but none has yet been tested in a screening setting

The Association of Body Mass Index, Perceived Body Mass Index, and Predictors of Eating Disorders among a Sample of College Students

Rates of eating disorders have increased recently and are a public health concern especially among college students. Understanding variables that are associated with eating disorders could be helpful in preventing them. Participants (N=525) were students from a large southwestern university. It was hypothesized that a desire for an underweight body mass index (BMI) would be predicted by one\u27s ability to accurately identify one\u27s current BMI while controlling for variables previously shown to be associated with eating behaviors, which included body dissatisfaction; drive for thinness; social physique anxiety; bulimia tendencies; dietary restraint; age; race; Greek membership; and gender were included in the regression model. Women scored higher than men on measures of social physique anxiety, body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, and dietary restraint, although more then twice the proportion of men (49%) as compared with women (22%) were overweight or obese. Women were more accurate in correctly identifying their own BMI category. However, incorrectly identifying one\u27s BMI was the only significant predictor of desiring an underweight BMI among women. No independent variables predicted the desire for an underweight BMI among men. Future research should assess the preventive and predictive power of accurately assessing one\u27s BMI with eating behaviors

Process Optimization of Multiple Lymphocyte Reaction in Immunotherapy

https://openworks.mdanderson.org/sumexp21/1023/thumbnail.jp

Children\u27s Experiences of Food Insecurity Can Assist In Understanding Its Effect On Their Well-Being

An understanding of the experience of food insecurity by children is essential for better measurement and assessment of its effect on children\u27s nutritional, physical, and mental health. Our qualitative study explored children\u27s perceptions of household food insecurity to identify these perceptions and to use them to establish components of children\u27s food insecurity experience. Children (n = 32; 11-16 y old) from after school programs and a middle school in low-income areas participated in individual semistructured in-depth interviews. Children as young as 11 y could describe behaviors associated with food insecurity if they had experienced it directly or indirectly. Using the constant comparative method of qualitative data analysis, children\u27s descriptions of behaviors associated with food insecurity were categorized into components of quantity of food, quality of food, psychological aspects, and social aspects described in the household food insecurity literature. Aspects of quantity included eating less than usual and eating more or eating fast when food was available. Aspects of quality included use of a few kinds of low-cost foods. Psychological aspects included worry/anxiety/sadness about the family food supply, feelings of having no choice in the foods eaten, shame/fear of being labeled as poor, and attempts to shield children. Social aspects of food insecurity centered on using social networks to acquire food or money and social exclusion. These results provide valuable information in understanding the effect of food insecurity on children\u27s well-being especially relative to the social and emotional aspects of well-being

Development and Feasibility of SymTrak, aMulti-domain Tool for Monitoring Symptoms of Older Adults in Primary Care

BACKGROUND: A clinically practical, brief, user-friendly, multi-domain self-report and caregiver-report tool is needed for tracking actionable symptoms in primary care for elderly patients with multiple chronic conditions (MCCs). OBJECTIVE: Develop and assess usability, administration time, and internal reliability of SymTrak. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS: Phase I: legacy instruments, content validity, analyses of existing data, focus groups (physicians, nurses, patients, informal caregivers), and Think Aloud interviews (patients, caregivers) were used to develop SymTrak. Phase II (pilot feasibility study): 81 (27 patient-caregiver dyads, 27 patients without an identified caregiver) participants were self-administered SymTrak in clinic. MAIN MEASURES: SymTrak and demographic questions. KEY RESULTS: Consistent themes emerged from phase I focus groups. Ambiguous wording was corrected with Think Aloud feedback. In phase II, patients and caregivers preferred circling words instead of numbers for item response options. SymTrak self-administration completion time in clinic was brief; mean was 2.4, 3.0, and 3.3 min for the finalized circlingwords version, respectively, for caregivers, dyadic patients, and patients without a caregiver; and the maximum was 6.2 min for any participant. Usability questionnaire ratings were high. Cronbach's alpha for the SymTrak 23-item total score was 0.86, 0.79, and 0.81 for caregivers, dyadic patients, and patients without a caregiver, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: SymTrak demonstrates content validity, positive qualitative findings, high perceived usability, brief self-administered completion time, and good internal reliability

Reliability and Validity of SymTrak, a Multi-Domain Tool for Monitoring Symptoms of Older Adults with Multiple Chronic Conditions

BACKGROUND: A reliable and valid clinically practical multi-domain self-report and caregiver-report tool is needed for tracking actionable symptoms in primary care for elderly patients with multiple chronic conditions (MCCs). OBJECTIVE: Assess internal consistency reliability, test-retest reliability, construct validity, and sensitivity to change for SymTrak. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS: Among 600 (200 patient-caregiver dyads, 200 patients without an identified caregiver) participants, SymTrak was telephone interviewer-administered at baseline and 3-month follow-up, and at 24 h post-baseline for assessing test-retest reliability in a random subsample of 180 (60 dyads, 60 individual patients) participants. MAIN MEASURES: Demographic questions, SymTrak, Health Utility Index Mark 3 (HUI3). KEY RESULTS: Exploratory factor analysis indicated a single dominant dimension for SymTrak items for both patients and caregivers. Coefficient alpha and 24-h test-retest reliability, respectively, were high for the 23-item SymTrak total score for both patient-reported (0.85; 0.87) and caregiver-reported (0.86; 0.91) scores. Construct validity was supported by monotone decreasing relationships between the mean of SymTrak total scores across the poor-to-excellent categories of physical and emotional general health, and by high correlations with HUI3 overall utility score, even after adjusting for demographic covariates (standardized linear regression coefficient = -0.84 for patients; -0.70 for caregivers). Three-month change in the SymTrak total score was sensitive to detecting criterion standard 3-month reliable change categories (Improved, Stable, Declined) in HUI3-based health-related quality of life, especially for caregiver-reported scores. CONCLUSIONS: SymTrak demonstrates good internal consistency and test-retest reliability, construct validity, and sensitivity to change over a 3-month period, supporting its use for monitoring symptoms for older adults with MCCs