The burden of multiple sclerosis: A community health survey

© 2008 Jones et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Faculty Recital: John Warren, clarinet

KSU School of Music presents John Warren, clarinet.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/1142/thumbnail.jp

Faculty Recital: John Warren, clarinet

KSU School of Music presents John Warren, clarinet.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/1269/thumbnail.jp

Identifying key health system components associated with improved outcomes to inform the reconfiguration of services for adults with rare autoimmune rheumatic diseases : a mixed methods study.

Open Access via the Elsevier agreementPeer reviewe

Scholarship Series: KSU Faculty Showcase

Kennesaw State University School of Music presents Faculty Showcase, a KSU School of Music Scholarship Series concert.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/1534/thumbnail.jp

Isotopic and chemical assessment of the dynamics of methane sources and microbial cycling during early development of an oil sands pit lake

Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).NSERC (CRDPJ 488301-15) and COSIA; FONDECYT, Grant 11191138 (ANID Chile); COPAS COASTAL ANID, FB210021Peer ReviewedWater-capped tailings technology (WCTT) is a key component of the reclamation strategies in the Athabasca oil sands region (AOSR) of northeastern Alberta, Canada. The release of microbial methane from tailings emplaced within oil sands pit lakes, and its subsequent microbial oxidation, could inhibit the development of persistent oxygen concentrations within the water column, which are critical to the success of this reclamation approach. Here, we describe the results of a four-year (2015–2018) chemical and isotopic (δ13C) investigation into the dynamics of microbial methane cycling within Base Mine Lake (BML), the first full-scale pit lake commissioned in the AOSR. Overall, the water-column methane concentrations decreased over the course of the study, though this was dynamic both seasonally and annually. Phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) distributions and δ13C demonstrated that dissolved methane, primarily input via fluid fine tailings (FFT) porewater advection, was oxidized by the water column microbial community at all sampling times. Modeling and under-ice observations indicated that the dissolution of methane from bubbles during ebullition, or when trapped beneath ice, was also an important source of dissolved methane. The addition of alum to BML in the fall of 2016 impacted the microbial cycling in BML, leading to decreased methane oxidation rates, the short-term dominance of a phototrophic community, and longer-term shifts in the microbial community metabolism. Overall, our results highlight a need to understand the dynamic nature of these microbial communities and the impact of perturbations on the associated biogeochemical cycling within oil sands pit lakes

Identifying key health system components associated with improved outcomes to inform the reconfiguration of services for adults with rare autoimmune rheumatic diseases: a mixed methods study

Background Adults with rare autoimmune rheumatic diseases face unique challenges and struggles to navigate health-care systems designed to manage common conditions. Evidence to inform an optimal service framework for their care is scarce. Using systemic vasculitis as an exemplar, we aimed to identify and explain the key service components underpinning effective care for rare diseases. Methods In this mixed-methods study, data were collected as part of a survey of vasculitis service providers across the UK and Ireland, interviews with patients, and from organisational case studies to identify key service components that enable good care. The association between these components and patient outcomes (eg, serious infections, mortality) and provider outcomes (eg, emergency hospital admissions) were examined in a population-based data linkage study using routine health-care data obtained from patients with antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis from national health datasets in Scotland. We did univariable and multivariable analyses using Bayesian poisson and negative binomial regression to estimate incident rate ratios (IRRs), and Cox proportional hazards models to estimate hazard ratios (HRs). People with lived experiences were involved in the research and writing process. Findings Good care was characterised by service components that supported timely access to services, integrated care, and expertise. In 1420 patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis identified from national health datasets, service-reported average waiting times for new patients of less than 1 week were associated with fewer serious infections (IRR 0·70 [95% credibility interval 0·55–0·88]) and fewer emergency hospital admissions (0·78 [0·68–0·92]). Nurse-led advice lines were associated with fewer serious infections (0·76 [0·58–0·93]) and fewer emergency hospital admissions (0·85 [0·74–0·96]). Average waiting times for new patients of less than 1 week were also associated with reduced mortality (HR 0·59 [95% credibility interval 0·37–0·93]). Cohorted clinics, nurse-led clinics, and specialist vasculitis multi-disciplinary team meetings were associated with fewer serious infections (IRR 0·75 [0·59–0·96] for cohorted clinics; 0·65 [0·39–0·84] for nurse-led clinics; 0·72 [0·57–0·90] for specialist vasculitis multi-disciplinary team meetings) and emergency hospital admissions (0·81 [0·71–0·91]; 0·75 [0·65–0·94]; 0·86 [0·75–0·96]). Key components were characterised by their ability to overcome professional tensions between specialties. Interpretation Key service components associated with important health outcomes and underpinning factors were identified to inform initiatives to improve the design, delivery, and effectiveness of health-care models for rare autoimmune rheumatic diseases

A Disintegrating Minor Planet Transiting a White Dwarf

White dwarfs are the end state of most stars, including the Sun, after they exhaust their nuclear fuel. Between 1/4 and 1/2 of white dwarfs have elements heavier than helium in their atmospheres1,2, even though these elements should rapidly settle into the stellar interiors unless they are occasionally replenished3–5. The abundance ratios of heavy elements in white dwarf atmospheres are similar to rocky bodies in the Solar system6,7. This and the existence of warm dusty debris disks8–13 around about 4% of white dwarfs14–16 suggest that rocky debris from white dwarf progenitors’ planetary systems occasionally pollute the stars’ atmospheres17. The total accreted mass can be comparable to that of large asteroids in the solar system1. However, the process of disrupting planetary material has not yet been observed. Here, we report observations of a white dwarf being transited by at least one and likely multiple disintegrating planetesimals with periods ranging from 4.5 hours to 4.9 hours. The strongest transit signals occur every 4.5 hours and exhibit varying depths up to 40% and asymmetric profiles, indicative of a small object with a cometary tail of dusty effluent material. The star hosts a dusty debris disk and the star’s spectrum shows prominent lines from heavy elements like magnesium, aluminium, silicon, calcium, iron, and nickel. This system provides evidence that heavy element pollution of white dwarfs can originate from disrupted rocky bodies such as asteroids and minor planets.Astronom

Checkpoint-Dependent and -Independent Roles of Swi3 in Replication Fork Recovery and Sister Chromatid Cohesion in Fission Yeast

Multiple genome maintenance processes are coordinated at the replication fork to preserve genomic integrity. How eukaryotic cells accomplish such a coordination is unknown. Swi1 and Swi3 form the replication fork protection complex and are involved in various processes including stabilization of replication forks, activation of the Cds1 checkpoint kinase and establishment of sister chromatid cohesion in fission yeast. However, the mechanisms by which the Swi1–Swi3 complex achieves and coordinates these tasks are not well understood. Here, we describe the identification of separation-of-function mutants of Swi3, aimed at dissecting the molecular pathways that require Swi1–Swi3. Unlike swi3 deletion mutants, the separation-of-function mutants were not sensitive to agents that stall replication forks. However, they were highly sensitive to camptothecin that induces replication fork breakage. In addition, these mutants were defective in replication fork regeneration and sister chromatid cohesion. Interestingly, unlike swi3-deleted cell, the separation-of-functions mutants were proficient in the activation of the replication checkpoint, but their fork regeneration defects were more severe than those of checkpoint mutants including cds1Δ, chk1Δ and rad3Δ. These results suggest that, while Swi3 mediates full activation of the replication checkpoint in response to stalled replication forks, Swi3 activates a checkpoint-independent pathway to facilitate recovery of collapsed replication forks and the establishment of sister chromatid cohesion. Thus, our separation-of-function alleles provide new insight into understanding the multiple roles of Swi1-Swi3 in fork protection during DNA replication, and into understanding how replication forks are maintained in response to different genotoxic agents

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead