Effect of invasive Typha on sediment nutrient composition of Great Lakes coastal wetlands across a water depth gradient

The invasive hybrid cattail, Typha x glauca (hereafter, Typha) forms dense monocultural stands in the shallow waters of Great Lakes coastal wetlands. When Typha dies, its biomass accumulates in nutrient-rich floating mats. I hypothesized that the sediment in wetlands invaded by Typha will have significantly higher levels of carbon and nitrogen due to the accumulation of organic litter by Typha. I analyzed sediment samples from Typha invaded and uninvaded coastal wetlands to determine how biodiversity affects sediment nutrient composition paired with water level gradients. I found that sediment taken from deep water zones had lower concentrations of carbon and nitrogen

On the pulmonary toxicity of oxygen. 4. The thyroid arena

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2011. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Experimental and Molecular Pathology 92 (2012): 140-154, doi:10.1016/j.yexmp.2011.11.006.Normally developed thyroid function is critical to the transition from fetal to neonatal life with the onset of independent thermoregulation, the most conspicuous of the many ways in which thyroid secretions act throughout the body. A role for thyroid secretions in growth and maturation of the lungs as part of the preparation for the onset of breathing has been recognized for some time but how this contributes to tissue and cell processes and defenses under the duress of respiratory distress has not been well examined. Extensive archival autopsy material was searched for thyroid and adrenal weights, first by gestational age, and then for changes during the first hours after birth as ratios to body weight. After a gestational age of 22 weeks the fetal thyroid and adrenal glands at autopsy in those with hyaline membrane disease are persistently half the size of those in "normal" infants dying with other disorders. When the thyroid is examined shortly after birth it reveals a post natal loss of mass per body weight of similar orders of magnitude which does not occur in the control group. A clinical sample of premature infants with (12) and without (14) hyaline membrane disease was tested for T4, TSH, TBG, and total serum protein. The results also demonstrate a special subset with lower birth weights at the same gestational age, and lower serum T4 and total serum protein. Ventilatory distress in newborn rabbits was induced by bilateral cervical vagotomy at 24 hours post natal following earlier injection of thyroxine (T4) or thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and comparisons were made with untreated animals and by dose. Early life thyroidectomy was performed followed by exposure to either air or 100% oxygen. A final experiment in air was vagotomy after thyroidectomy. Composite analysis of these methods indicates that thyroid factors are both operative and important in the newborn animal with ventilatory distress. This work and the archival data indicate those infants destined to develop hyaline membrane disease through respiratory distress are a distinct developmental and clinical subset with the point of departure from otherwise normal development and maturation in the second or early third trimester. This interval is known to be a period of marked variation in the overview indicators of fetal progress through gestational time. The initiating factor or circumstance which then separates this special subset from normal future development is placed by these observations firmly into the period when human fetal TSH dramatically rises 7-fold (17.5-25.5 weeks) followed by a lesser 3 to 4 fold increase in T4 which is extended into the early third trimester. The earlier part of this interval is characterized by the thyrotrophic action of chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). The possibility that abnormalities in the intrauterine environment secondary to maternal infection play a role within this time frame is indicated by the demonstration that interleukin-2 (IL-2) induces an anterior pituitary release of TSH. Since IL-2 has this property and is not an acute phase cytokine, some form of chronic infection or an immunopathic process seems more likely as a possible active factor in pathogenesis.The work in this report was performed under a grant to the University of Chicago from the John A. Hartford Foundation

Strategic Operational Redesign Improves Prior Authorization Access: A Validation Study

Purpose: Obtaining prior authorization (PA) before treatment is becoming increasingly burdensome in oncology, especially in radiation oncology. Here, we describe the impact of a strategic novel operational PA redesign to shorten authorization time and to improve patient access to cancer care at a large United States academic proton therapy center. We ask whether such a redesign may be replicable and adoptable across oncology centers. Materials and Methods: Our PA redesign strategy was based on a 3-tiered approach. Specifically, we (1) held payors accountable to legally backed timelines, (2) leveraged expertise on insurance policies and practices, and (3) updated the submission, appeal writing, and planning procedures for PA. Metrics were compared at the following 3 time points: 6 months before, at phase-in, and at 6 months after intervention. Results: In analyzing the impact of improving PA access to care, the percentage of approvals for commercial proton beam therapy improved by an absolute 30.6% postintervention (P < .001). The proportion of commercially insured patients treated with proton beam therapy also increased by 6.2%, and the number of new starts rose by 11.7 patients/mo. Overall patient census increased by 13 patients/d. Median authorization time was 1 week, and 90% of surveyed providers reported reduced PA burden and improved patient care. Conclusion: This is the first validated, comprehensive operational strategy to improve access to cancer therapy while reducing the burden of PA. This novel approach may be helpful for addressing barriers to PA in medical and surgical oncology because the redesign is predicated on laws that regulate PA across disciplines

Modulation of visual attention by prismatic adaptation.

Visuo-motor adaptation via rightward-deviating prisms has been repeatedly shown to alleviate lateralized deficits in neglect, including detection of targets as well as endogenous and exogenous orienting of attention. We review here evidence relevant to the underlying neural mechanisms. Rightward prismatic adaptation was shown to shift visual field representation from right to left inferior parietal lobule, changing thus hemispheric dominance within the ventral attentional system. This change is likely to redirect visual input to the dorsal attentional system and to re-install balance between its left- and right-hemispheric components in neglect. We propose a model based on the shift in hemispheric dominance within the ventral attentional system (SHD-VAS), which offers a parsimonious explanation for the effect of rightward prismatic adaptation on spatial bias in neglect and on behavioral data in normal subjects

Inside the leader relationship : constructive controversy for team effectiveness in China

Research is needed to understand the dynamics by which high-quality leader relationships have their productive effects on followers. This study proposes that these leader relationships do not simply induce compliance but encourage employees and managers to discuss their diverse views open-mindedly and constructively. Team leaders indicated leader-member relationship with employees who rated their constructive controversy and their team\u27s effectiveness and feelings of respect, support, and reduced stress. Structural equation analysis suggested that leader-member relationship affects employee team productivity and emotions through constructive controversy. The study\u27s findings and previous research were interpreted as suggesting that high-quality leader relationships coupled with constructive controversy provide a foundation for effective team leadership in China