Pulmonary diffusing capacity is unaltered in elite swimmers after restricted breathing training.

Controlled frequency breath (CFB) holding is a swim training modality that involves holding one’s breath for ~12 strokes before taking another breath. We looked to examine the effects of CFB training on pulmonary diffusing capacity for nitric oxide (DLNO) and carbon monoxide (DLCO). Elite swimmers (n = 25) were divided into either the CFB or a group that breathed regularly, every ~3rd stroke. The training intervention included 16 sessions of 12 x 50-m repetitions with either breathing pattern. Approximately 60% of the males and ~20% of the females were above the upper limits of normal for diffusing capacity at baseline. However, neither DLNO nor DLCO was altered after ~4 weeks of training. The CFB and control group exhibited no differences for any of the chosen parameters following intervention. In conclusion, DLNO and DLCO is unaffected by a four week period of CFB training

Developmental lineage of human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiac fibroblast affects their functional phenotype

Cardiac fibroblasts (CFBs) support heart function by secreting extracellular matrix (ECM) and paracrine factors, respond to stress associated with injury and disease, and therefore are an increasingly important therapeutic target. CFBs are thought to be specialized by region and lineage as identified by recent single cell sequencing studies1,2. Here, we describe how developmental lineage of human pluripotent stem cell-derived CFBs, epicardial (EpiC-FB) and second heart field (SHF-FB) impacts transcriptional and functional properties. Both EpiC-FBs and SHF-FBs exhibited CFB transcriptional programs expressing canonical cardiac fibroblast markers POSTN, COL1A1, VIM, THY1, HAND2, and GATA4. When added to human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes at a ratio of 1:3, both hPSC-CFB subtypes improved aggregate formation and calcium handling of the cardiac tissues. EpiC-FB represent the majority of all CFBs in the adult human heart and are identifiable by expression of epicardial-lineage markers TBX3, TBX18, and TBX203. As expected, hPSC-derived EpiC-FBs similarly expressed these markers. Phenotypically, EpiC-FBs have higher stress-induced activation potential to transition to a myofibroblast-like state than SHF-FBs and they secrete Gremlin-1, epidermal growth factor-like protein 7, and connective tissue growth factor, which have been implicated in fibrosis4,5. Thus, one should consider using EpiC-FBs in modeling cardiac fibrosis and anti-fibrotic drug testing where CFB activation and fibrosis are important. SHF-FBs represent a portion of CFBs which arise from the second heart field and can be identified by expression of lineage markers TBX1 and SALL1. hPSC-derived SHF-FBs also expressed second heart field markers as well as noncanonical WNT signaling pathway factors including WNT5A, which developmentally is secreted from second heart field progenitors and is required for proper outflow tract development6–9. Additionally, they lack expression of factors identified in the EpiC-FBs as associated with fibrosis, and therefore may be ideal for cell therapy into an injured or diseased heart, or for other applications where activation is undesired. These phenotypic differences highlight the diversity and complexity of cardiac cell subtypes and inform CFB in vitro model selection. We expect that hPSC-CFBs will be used in a range of applications spanning drug testing, disease modeling, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine cell therapies. 1. Tucker NR, et al., Circulation. Published online 2020. 2. Asp M, et al., Cell. 2019;179(7):1647-1660.e19. 3. Ali SR, et al., Circ Res. 2014;115(7):625-635. 4. Iwabu A, et al., Basic Res Cardiol. 2002;97(3):214-222. 5. Mueller KAL, et al., J Card Fail. 2013;19(10):678-684. 6. Li D, et al., Dev Biol. 2016;412(1):18-31. 7. Sinha T, et al., Hum Mol Genet. 2015;24(6):1704-1716. 8. Schleiffarth JR, et al., Pediatr Res. 2007;61(4):386-391. 9. Chen L, et al., Genet. 2012;8(3)

Workshop, Long and Short Paper, and Poster Proceedings from the Fourth Immersive Learning Research Network Conference (iLRN 2018 Montana), 2018.

ILRN 2018 - Conferência internacional realizada em Montana de 24-29 de june de 2018.Workshop, short paper, and long paper proceedingsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

General practitioners' use and experiences of palliative care services: a survey in south east England

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The role of the General Practitioner (GP) is central to community palliative care. Good liaison between the different professionals involved in a patient's care is extremely important in palliative care patients. In cases where GPs have previously been dissatisfied with palliative services, this may be seen as a barrier to referral when caring for other patients. The aim of this survey is to investigate the use and previous experiences of GPs of two palliative care services, with particular emphasis on barriers to referral and to explore issues surrounding the GP's role in caring for palliative patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Design: Descriptive postal survey of use and experience of palliative care services with particular emphasis on barriers to referral. Setting: One Primary Care Trust (PCT), south London, England, population 298,500. Subjects: 180 GPs in the PCT, which is served by two hospice services (A&B).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>An overall questionnaire response rate of 77% (138) was obtained, with 69% (124) used in analysis. Over 90% of GPs were satisfied with the palliative care services over the preceding two years. Two areas of possible improvement emerged; communication and prescribing practices. GPs identified some patients that they had not referred, most commonly when patients or carers were reluctant to accept help, or when other support was deemed sufficient. Over half of the GPs felt there were areas where improvement could be made; with clarification of the rules and responsibilities of the multi disciplinary team being the most common. The majority of GPs were working, and want to work with, the specialist services as part of an extended team. However, a greater number of GPs want to hand over care to the specialist services than are currently doing so.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A large number of GPs were happy with the service provision of the palliative care services in this area. They suggested that 3 out of 4 terminally ill patients needed specialist input. Views of services were largely positive, and reasons for non referral were unrelated to previous experience of the specialist services.</p

Social Ecology and Behavior of Coyotes

Behavioral patterns are subject to natural selection and behavior like any other attributes of an animal, which contributes to individual survival. The chapter summarizes a long-term study of coyotes that was conducted in the Grand Teton National Park, in the northwest comer of Wyoming. There is remarkable agreement in the results stemming from a limited number of field projects concerned with the social behavior and behavioral ecology of coyotes, and some general principles concerning social ecology, scent marking, predatory behavior, time budgeting, and reproductive and care-giving patterns can be developed that are applicable not only to coyotes but to many other carnivores

A Wide Extent of Inter-Strain Diversity in Virulent and Vaccine Strains of Alphaherpesviruses

Alphaherpesviruses are widespread in the human population, and include herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) and 2, and varicella zoster virus (VZV). These viral pathogens cause epithelial lesions, and then infect the nervous system to cause lifelong latency, reactivation, and spread. A related veterinary herpesvirus, pseudorabies (PRV), causes similar disease in livestock that result in significant economic losses. Vaccines developed for VZV and PRV serve as useful models for the development of an HSV-1 vaccine. We present full genome sequence comparisons of the PRV vaccine strain Bartha, and two virulent PRV isolates, Kaplan and Becker. These genome sequences were determined by high-throughput sequencing and assembly, and present new insights into the attenuation of a mammalian alphaherpesvirus vaccine strain. We find many previously unknown coding differences between PRV Bartha and the virulent strains, including changes to the fusion proteins gH and gB, and over forty other viral proteins. Inter-strain variation in PRV protein sequences is much closer to levels previously observed for HSV-1 than for the highly stable VZV proteome. Almost 20% of the PRV genome contains tandem short sequence repeats (SSRs), a class of nucleic acids motifs whose length-variation has been associated with changes in DNA binding site efficiency, transcriptional regulation, and protein interactions. We find SSRs throughout the herpesvirus family, and provide the first global characterization of SSRs in viruses, both within and between strains. We find SSR length variation between different isolates of PRV and HSV-1, which may provide a new mechanism for phenotypic variation between strains. Finally, we detected a small number of polymorphic bases within each plaque-purified PRV strain, and we characterize the effect of passage and plaque-purification on these polymorphisms. These data add to growing evidence that even plaque-purified stocks of stable DNA viruses exhibit limited sequence heterogeneity, which likely seeds future strain evolution

The Science Performance of JWST as Characterized in Commissioning

This paper characterizes the actual science performance of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), as determined from the six month commissioning period. We summarize the performance of the spacecraft, telescope, science instruments, and ground system, with an emphasis on differences from pre-launch expectations. Commissioning has made clear that JWST is fully capable of achieving the discoveries for which it was built. Moreover, almost across the board, the science performance of JWST is better than expected; in most cases, JWST will go deeper faster than expected. The telescope and instrument suite have demonstrated the sensitivity, stability, image quality, and spectral range that are necessary to transform our understanding of the cosmos through observations spanning from near-earth asteroids to the most distant galaxies

The Science Performance of JWST as Characterized in Commissioning

This paper characterizes the actual science performance of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), as determined from the six month commissioning period. We summarize the performance of the spacecraft, telescope, science instruments, and ground system, with an emphasis on differences from pre-launch expectations. Commissioning has made clear that JWST is fully capable of achieving the discoveries for which it was built. Moreover, almost across the board, the science performance of JWST is better than expected; in most cases, JWST will go deeper faster than expected. The telescope and instrument suite have demonstrated the sensitivity, stability, image quality, and spectral range that are necessary to transform our understanding of the cosmos through observations spanning from near-earth asteroids to the most distant galaxies.Comment: 5th version as accepted to PASP; 31 pages, 18 figures; https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1538-3873/acb29

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure