PAssive Thermal Coating Observatory Operating in Low earth orbit (PATCOOL)

Poster presentation for the Pathways summer intern showcase. Describes thermal desktop model simulating ISS orbit for a CubeSat scientific mission. The purpose of the simulation is to reaffirm the expected temperature range of some thermal coating samples compared to the state-of-the-art coatings currently used

Rural regeneration through direct marketing of Audubon County meats

Audubon County Family Farms direct-marketed their farm products through the downtown farmers market in Des Moines. In addition to selling their products, the farmers encouraged dialogue with urban consumers through personal interaction and educational activities

Dissecting a complex chemical stress: chemogenomic profiling of plant hydrolysates.

The efficient production of biofuels from cellulosic feedstocks will require the efficient fermentation of the sugars in hydrolyzed plant material. Unfortunately, plant hydrolysates also contain many compounds that inhibit microbial growth and fermentation. We used DNA-barcoded mutant libraries to identify genes that are important for hydrolysate tolerance in both Zymomonas mobilis (44 genes) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (99 genes). Overexpression of a Z. mobilis tolerance gene of unknown function (ZMO1875) improved its specific ethanol productivity 2.4-fold in the presence of miscanthus hydrolysate. However, a mixture of 37 hydrolysate-derived inhibitors was not sufficient to explain the fitness profile of plant hydrolysate. To deconstruct the fitness profile of hydrolysate, we profiled the 37 inhibitors against a library of Z. mobilis mutants and we modeled fitness in hydrolysate as a mixture of fitness in its components. By examining outliers in this model, we identified methylglyoxal as a previously unknown component of hydrolysate. Our work provides a general strategy to dissect how microbes respond to a complex chemical stress and should enable further engineering of hydrolysate tolerance

Dollar Works 2: Impact Evaluation Summary

This is the summary report. The full report is also available.This archival publication may not reflect current scientific knowledge or recommendations. Current information available from the University of Minnesota Extension: https://www.extension.umn.edu.Dollar Works 2 education is effective for money behaviors, financial satisfaction, and access to financial information when delivered in a sixhour dosage. The impact evaluation study was with community participants who are considered high risk in the financial education field. If financial education can be effective for this population, it will be effective with groups that have fewer problems and tend to seek solutions to their financial issues. This study was conducted during a time that the economic environment was difficult for many people including these who participated in the study. Dollar Works 2 is a personal financial education program developed by the University of Minnesota Extension

Dollar Works 2: Impact Evaluation Report

This is the full report. A summary report is also available.This archival publication may not reflect current scientific knowledge or recommendations. Current information available from the University of Minnesota Extension: https://www.extension.umn.edu.Dollar Works 2 education is effective for money behaviors, financial satisfaction, and access to financial information when delivered in a six-hour dosage. The impact evaluation study was with community participants who are considered high risk in the financial education field. If financial education can be effective for this population, it will be effective with groups that have fewer problems and tend to seek solutions to their financial problems. This study was conducted during a time when the economic environment was difficult for many people including those who participated in the study. Dollar Works 2 is a personal financial education program that was developed by the University of Minnesota Extension

Association of nutritional status and serum albumin levels with development of toxicity in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer treated with paclitaxel-cisplatin chemotherapy: a prospective study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A frequent manifestation of advanced NSCLC is malnutrition, even though there are many studies which relate it with a poor survival, its relation with toxicity has not yet been consistently reported. The aim of this study was to associate malnutrition and albumin serum levels with the occurrence of chemotherapy-induced toxicity in cisplatin plus paclitaxel chemotherapy-treated NSCLC.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We prospectively evaluated 100 stage IV NSCLC patients treated with paclitaxel (175 mg/m²) and cisplatin (80 mg/m²). Malnutrition was assessed using SGA prior treatment. Neutrophil Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) and the Platelet Lymphocyte Ratio (PLR) were used to determine the presence of systemic inflammatory response (SIR) and were related to the development of toxicity. Toxicity was graded according to NCI CTCAE version 3.0 after two chemotherapy cycles.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Median age was 58 ± 10 years, 51% of patients were malnourished, 50% had albumin ≤3.0 mg/mL. NLR ≥ 5 was associated with basal hypoalbuminemia (mean ranks, 55.7 vs. 39 p = 0.006), ECOG = 2 (47.2 vs. 55.4 p = 0.026) and PLR ≥ 150 were significantly related with a basal body mass index ≤20 (56.6 vs. 43.5; p = 0.02) and hypoalbuminemia (58.9 vs. 41.3; p = 0.02). Main toxicities observed after 2 cycles of chemotherapy were alopecia (84%), nausea (49%), neuropathy (46%), anemia (33%), lymphopenia (31%), and leukopenia (30%). Patients malnourished and with hypoalbuminemia developed more chemotherapy-induced toxicity overall when compared with those without malnutrition (31 vs 22; <it>p </it>= 0.02) and normal albumin (mean ranks, 62 vs 43; <it>p </it>= 0.002), respectively. Hypoalbuminemia was associated with anemia (56 vs 47; <it>p </it>= 0.05), fatigue (58 vs 46; <it>p </it>= 0.01), and appetite loss (57.1 vs 46.7; <it>p </it>= 0.004) compared with normal albumin. PLR ≥ 150 was related with the development of toxicity grade III/IV (59.27 vs. 47.03 p = 0.008) and anemia (37.9 vs 53.8 p = 0.004).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>SIR parameters were associated with malnutrition, weight loss and hypoalbuminemia. Chemotherapy-induced toxicity in NSCLC patients treated with paclitaxel and cisplatin was associated with malnutrition and hypoalbuminemia. Early nutritional assessment and support might confer beneficial effects.</p

Genetic correlation between amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and schizophrenia

A. Palotie on työryhmän Schizophrenia Working Grp Psychiat jäsen.We have previously shown higher-than-expected rates of schizophrenia in relatives of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), suggesting an aetiological relationship between the diseases. Here, we investigate the genetic relationship between ALS and schizophrenia using genome-wide association study data from over 100,000 unique individuals. Using linkage disequilibrium score regression, we estimate the genetic correlation between ALS and schizophrenia to be 14.3% (7.05-21.6; P = 1 x 10(-4)) with schizophrenia polygenic risk scores explaining up to 0.12% of the variance in ALS (P = 8.4 x 10(-7)). A modest increase in comorbidity of ALS and schizophrenia is expected given these findings (odds ratio 1.08-1.26) but this would require very large studies to observe epidemiologically. We identify five potential novel ALS-associated loci using conditional false discovery rate analysis. It is likely that shared neurobiological mechanisms between these two disorders will engender novel hypotheses in future preclinical and clinical studies.Peer reviewe

Meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies for postpartum depression

Objective: Postpartum depression (PPD) is a common subtype of major depressive disorder (MDD) that is more heritable, yet is understudied in psychiatric genetics. The authors conducted meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies (GWASs) to investigate the genetic architecture of PPD. Method: Meta-analyses were conducted on 18 cohorts of European ancestry (17,339 PPD cases and 53,426 controls), one cohort of East Asian ancestry (975 cases and 3,780 controls), and one cohort of African ancestry (456 cases and 1,255 controls), totaling 18,770 PPD cases and 58,461 controls. Post-GWAS analyses included 1) single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)–based heritability (), 2) genetic correlations between PPD and other phenotypes, and 3) enrichment of the PPD GWAS findings in 27 human tissues and 265 cell types from the mouse central and peripheral nervous system. Results: No SNP achieved genome-wide significance in the European or the trans-ancestry meta-analyses. The of PPD was 0.14 (SE=0.02). Significant genetic correlations were estimated for PPD with MDD, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder, insomnia, age at menarche, and polycystic ovary syndrome. Cell-type enrichment analyses implicate inhibitory neurons in the thalamus and cholinergic neurons within septal nuclei of the hypothalamus, a pattern that differs from MDD. Conclusions: While more samples are needed to reach genome-wide levels of significance, the results presented confirm PPD as a polygenic and heritable phenotype. There is also evidence that despite a high correlation with MDD, PPD may have unique genetic components. Cell enrichment results suggest GABAergic neurons, which converge on a common mechanism with the only medication approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for PPD (brexanolone)