Sex and Age Differences in Near-infrared Spectroscopy Responses and the Resulting Influences on Cognition

Vascular dysfunction is the earliest known marker of neurodegeneration. However, limited research has been conducted to determine if changes in peripheral vascular function track differences in brain health. Therefore, the purpose was to determine if previously reported sex differences in near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) vascular occlusion test (VOT) parameters persist across the lifespan and if these differences track age- and sex-related differences in a cognitive task. Ninety-nine healthy, cognitively intact adults (50 women, 49 men) across the adult lifespan (19-81 yrs) were used for analysis. The combination of NIRS-VOT was used to quantify microvascular function. Cognition was defined as the time to completion on Part A and Part B of the trail-making test (TMT). Five, separate 2-way between factor ANOVAs (sex x age) were used to determine mean differences in each NIRS-VOT derived variable and TMT outcome. Regardless of age, men exhibited faster rates of desaturation (p \u3c 0.001; ̅Δ = 0.031 %·s-1) during ischemia and achieved a higher magnitude of total re-saturation (p = 0.006; ̅Δ = -2.5 %) (StO2max) following ischemia. Independent of sex, StO2max progressively decreased with increased age (p \u3c 0.001; 2 = 0.274). TMT Part A indicated that men (p \u3c 0.001; 2 = 0.546) and women (p = 0.020; 2 = 0.154) exhibited sex specific rates of decline in processing speed, whereas Part B decreased across age independent of sex (p \u3c 0.001; 2 = 0.188). This was the first study to demonstrate that sex differences in NIRS-VOT outcomes, StO2max and desaturation rate, persist across the adult lifespan

Kinetics and Mechanisms of Oxidation of Hemoprotein Model Compounds

The kinetics of reaction of oxyheme complexes with dithionite ion and with deoxyheme were studied. Because rates of autooxidation of oxyheme complexes were inversly proportional to oxygen pressure and proportional to the square of the total heme concentration, it was concluded that the reaction proceeds through Heme- 00-Heme as suggested by Cohen and Caughey. The direct reaction of dithionite ion with oxyheme complexes accords with the Fe+o 2- · formulation of the iron-oxygen bond

Initial Acoustoelastic Measurements in Olivine: Investigating the Effect of Stress on P- and S-Wave Velocities

It is well known that elasticity is a key physical property in the determination of the structure and composition of the Earth and provides critical information for the interpretation of seismic data. This study investigates the stress-induced variation in elastic wave velocities, known as the acoustoelastic effect, in San Carlos olivine. A recently developed experimental ultrasonic acoustic system, the Directly Integrated Acoustic System Combined with Pressure Experiments (DIASCoPE), was used with the D-DIA multi-anvil apparatus to transmit ultrasonic sound waves and collect the reflections. We use the DIASCoPE to obtain longitudinal (P) and shear (S) elastic wave velocities from San Carlos olivine at pressures ranging from 3.2–10.5 GPa and temperatures from 450–950°C which we compare to the stress state in the D-DIA derived from synchrotron X-ray diffraction. We use elastic-plastic self-consistent (EPSC) numerical modeling to forward model X-ray diffraction data collected in D-DIA experiments to obtain the macroscopic stress on our sample. We can observe the relationship between the relative elastic wave velocity change (ΔV/V) and macroscopic stress to determine the acoustoelastic constants, and interpret our observations using the linearized first-order equation based on the model proposed by Hughes and Kelly (1953), https://doi.org/10.1103/physrev.92.1145. This work supports the presence of the acoustoelastic effect in San Carlos olivine, which can be measured as a function of pressure and temperature. This study will aid in our understanding of the acoustoelastic effect and provide a new experimental technique to measure the stress state in elastically deformed geologic materials at high pressure conditions

Helping or Hurting?: Understanding Women’s Perceptions of Male Allies

In the past decade, organizational scholars have begun to explore the role of allies in mitigating workplace discrimination toward women and members of minority groups. However, this nascent literature has, to this point, failed to consider the perspective of targets of ally behavior. That is, we do not yet know how targets of discrimination experience others’ intervention or advocacy. To begin to understand these issues, we examine target perceptions of allyship through a qualitative critical incident approach, asking women to describe experiences in which a man has effectively and ineffectively acted as an ally to them in the workplace. Our findings from surveying 100 women provide new insights regarding who engages in ally behaviors, what behaviors these allies enact, when and where the behaviors take place, and why participants believed their male ally engaged in this behavior

Family Medicine’s Role in Addressing the Intersections of Redlining and Climate Change

Redlining, the practice of discriminating against specific neighborhoods based on race and socioeconomic status, leads to persistent environmental hazards and socioeconomic inequalities that have lasting adverse health effects on their populations. Health disparities are further exacerbated through the concentration of environmental hazards, as well as the escalating impact of climate change, which poses an increased risk of respiratory illness, cardiovascular disease, mental health issues, heat-related illness, infectious diseases, food insecurity, and socioeconomic difficulties in redline neighborhoods. This paper examines the interplay of redlining, climate change, and health disparities, with an emphasis on the enduring consequences for these marginalized communities. Through our research, we hope to foster a more equitable and just society for all by making an urgent call to action to dismantle the historical legacy of redlining and its health impacts, including climate change, for marginalized populations. Our research found that family medicine physicians, as well as other interdisciplinary collaborators and stakeholders, are pivotal to the development of comprehensive and equitable solutions for promoting health equity and resilience, as well as implementing strategies to mitigate these climate-related health issues through equitable healthcare access for all populations

Gene Expression Response to Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease Transmission in M. cavernosa and O. faveolata From Florida

Since 2014, corals within Florida’s Coral Reef have been dying at an unprecedented rate due to stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD). Here we describe the transcriptomic outcomes of three different SCTLD transmission experiments performed at the Smithsonian Marine Station and Mote Marine Laboratory between 2019 and 2020 on the corals Orbicella faveolata and Montastraea cavernosa. Overall, diseased O. faveolata had 2194 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) compared with healthy colonies, whereas diseased M. cavernosa had 582 DEGs compared with healthy colonies. Many significant DEGs were implicated in immunity, extracellular matrix rearrangement, and apoptosis. These included, but not limited to, peroxidases, collagens, Bax-like, fibrinogen-like, protein tyrosine kinase, and transforming growth factor beta. A gene module was identified that was significantly correlated to disease transmission. This module possessed many apoptosis and immune genes with high module membership indicating that a complex apoptosis and immune response is occurring in corals during SCTLD transmission. Overall, we found that O. faveolata and M. cavernosa exhibit an immune, apoptosis, and tissue rearrangement response to SCTLD. We propose that future studies should focus on examining early time points of infection, before the presence of lesions, to understand the activating mechanisms involved in SCTLD

WAPA: A wearable framework for aerobatic pilot aid

Disorientation induced by G-forces during aerobatic flight generates difficulties for the pilots to perfectly align their aerobatic maneuver. This paper presents a modular wearable system for enhancing training of aerobatic pilots. A combination of accelerometers and a gyroscope is used to detect possible deviations compared to the optimum trajectory. The wearable system informs the user in real time about the corrections to apply via vibrotactile actuators and speech synthesis. This publication presents a work in progress in order to validate the system in simulation

Genome-Wide Meta-analysis identifies three novel loci associated with stroke

We conducted a European‐only and transancestral genome‐wide association meta‐analysis in 72,147 stroke patients and 823,869 controls using data from UK Biobank (UKB) and the MEGASTROKE consortium. We identified an exonic polymorphism in NOS3 (rs1799983, p.Glu298Asp; p = 2.2E‐8, odds ratio [OR] = 1.05, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.04–1.07) and variants in an intron of COL4A1 (rs9521634; p = 3.8E‐8, OR = 1.04, 95% CI = 1.03–1.06) and near DYRK1A (rs720470; p = 6.1E‐9, OR = 1.05, 95% CI = 1.03–1.07) at genome‐wide significance for stroke. Effect sizes of known stroke loci were highly correlated between UKB and MEGASTROKE. Using Mendelian randomization, we further show that genetic variation in the nitric oxide synthase–nitric oxide pathway in part affects stroke risk via variation in blood pressure