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Background: Health conditions, immune dysfunction, and premature aging associated with trisomy 21 (Down syndrome, DS) may impact the clinical course of COVID-19. Methods: The T21RS COVID-19 Initiative launched an international survey for clinicians or caregivers on patients with COVID-19 and DS. Data collected between April and October 2020 (N=1046) were analysed and compared with the UK ISARIC4C survey of hospitalized COVID-19 patients with and without DS. Findings: The mean age of COVID-19 patients with DS in the T21RS survey was 29 years (SD = 18). Similar to the general population, the most frequent signs and symptoms of COVID-19 were fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Joint/muscle pain and vomiting or nausea were less frequent (p

Individuals with Down syndrome (DS) are among the groups with the highest risk for severe COVID-19. Better understanding of the efficacy and risks of COVID-19 vaccines for individuals with DS may help improve uptake of vaccination. The T21RS COVID-19 Initiative launched an international survey to obtain information on safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines for individuals with DS. De-identified survey data collected between March and December 2021 were analyzed. Of 2172 individuals with DS, 1973 (91%) had received at least one vaccine dose (57% BNT162b2), 107 (5%) were unvaccinated by choice, and 92 (4%) were unvaccinated for other reasons. Most participants had either no side effects (54%) or mild ones such as pain at the injection site (29%), fatigue (12%), and fever (7%). Severe side effects occurred in

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) are hematologic malignancies that originate from different oligopotent progenitor stem cells, namely, common myeloid and lymphoid progenitor cells, respectively. Although blastic transformation of CML can occur in the lymphoid lineage and CML has been related to non-Hodgkin lymphoma on transformation, to our knowledge, de novo and synchronous occurrence of CML and MCL has not been reported. Herein, we report the first case of synchronous CML and MCL in an otherwise healthy 38-year-old man. Potential etiologies and pathological relationships between the two malignancies are explored, including the possibility that the downstream effects of BCR-ABL may link it to an overexpression of cyclin D1, which is inherent to the etiology of MCL.

Urban school districts are viable recruitment sources for higher education in agriculture and have the ability to play a significant role in efforts to increase agricultural education program numbers at the secondary level. Secondary school increases should lead to growth in agricultural college enrollments across the country. Increasing agricultural literacy and overall enrollment at the collegiate level provides opportunities to increase minority populations pursuing higher education and careers in agriculture. Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) drove this study with qualitative methods used to explore instructional perspectives of three adults associated with the agricultural education program at an urban charter school. A phenomenological approach guided collection of qualitative data. Consensus was reported through participant belief that inclusion of agricultural education courses into curricula played a major role in breaking students' stereotypes regarding agricultural careers and higher education opportunities. Although participants believed agricultural education vital to instruction, challenges to teaching agricultural education in urban schools led them to focus on STEM related agricultural careers as opposed to agricultural production careers.

Kansas is legendary for geographical monotony, for a landscape allegedly so absent of trees and relief that the state has become the butt of national jokes and a cultural synonym for flat. U.S. Forest Service researchers noted in 1999 that forests covered slightly less than 3 percent of the state. So prevalent is the idea of a treeless Kansas that few people are aware of the many concerted attempts, during its first seventy years, to forest the state artificially.

Individuals with Down syndrome (DS) are among the groups with the highest risk for severe COVID-19. Better understanding of the efficacy and risks of COVID-19 vaccines for individuals with DS may help improve uptake of vaccination. The T21RS COVID-19 Initiative launched an international survey to obtain information on safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines for individuals with DS. De-identified survey data collected between March and December 2021 were analyzed. Of 2172 individuals with DS, 1973 (91%) had received at least one vaccine dose (57% BNT162b2), 107 (5%) were unvaccinated by choice, and 92 (4%) were unvaccinated for other reasons. Most participants had either no side effects (54%) or mild ones such as pain at the injection site (29%), fatigue (12%), and fever (7%). Severe side effects occurred in <0.5% of participants. About 1% of the vaccinated individuals with DS contracted COVID-19 after vaccination, and all recovered. Individuals with DS who were unvaccinated by choice were more likely to be younger, previously recovered from COVID-19, and also unvaccinated against other recommended vaccines. COVID-19 vaccines have been shown to be safe for individuals with DS and effective in terms of resulting in minimal breakthrough infections and milder disease outcomes among fully vaccinated individuals with DS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Catlin's Lament: Indians, Manifest Destiny, and the Ethics of Nature. By John Hausdoerffer. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2009. xvi +184 pp. Photos, notes, index, and bibliography. $34.95 (cloth). John [...]

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) are hematologic malignancies that originate from different oligopotent progenitor stem cells, namely, common myeloid and lymphoid progenitor cells, respectively. Although blastic transformation of CML can occur in the lymphoid lineage and CML has been related to non-Hodgkin lymphoma on transformation, to our knowledge, de novo and synchronous occurrence of CML and MCL has not been reported. Herein, we report the first case of synchronous CML and MCL in an otherwise healthy 38-year-old man. Potential etiologies and pathological relationships between the two malignancies are explored, including the possibility that the downstream effects of BCR-ABL may link it to an overexpression of cyclin D1, which is inherent to the etiology of MCL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gene expression profiles from microarray time course experiments provide a unique opportunity to examine genome-wide signal processing and gene responses. A fundamental issue in microarray experiments is that the treatment condition can only be controlled at the cell level rather than at the gene level. The treatment condition does not affect all genes equally. Some genes depend on other genes to detect external changes. The dependency between genes is not fully deterministic and may vary with treatment condition. Thus the expression of each gene is potentially affected by two confounding effects: the treatment effect and the gene context effect arising from the regulatory interactions among genes. This gene context effect is hard to isolate. Neither can it be simply ignored. Instead, this gene context information which may be different under different treatment conditions is of primary biological interest. We introduce an approach which deals with the confounding effects and takes into account the uncontrollable gene context effect. Our method is based on the estimation of the number of hidden states, which, in our development, corresponds to the order of a hidden Markov model (HMM). For each gene, its observed expression is modeled by a gamma distribution determined by the corresponding hidden state at each time point. Those genes showing evidence for more than one hidden state can be categorized as the signalling genes, or in a wider sense, as the response genes which are coordinated by a cell system in reaction to a specific external condition. These response genes can be used in the comparison of different treatment conditions, to investigate the gene context effect under different treatments. Microarray time course data are also analyzed to demonstrate our method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents the short story "Short Bus," by Brian Allen Carr.

Adults with Down Syndrome (DS) are at higher risk for severe outcomes of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) than the general population, but evidence is required to understand the risks for children with DS, which is necessary to inform COVID-19 shielding advice and vaccination priorities. We aimed to determine the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 in children with DS. Using data from an international survey obtained from a range of countries and control data from the United States, we compared the prevalence of symptoms and medical complications and risk factors for severe outcomes between DS and non-DS paediatric populations with COVID-19. Hospitalised COVID-19 patients <18 years with DS had a higher incidence of respiratory symptoms, fever, and several medical complications from COVID-19 than control patients without DS <18 years. Older age, obesity, and epilepsy were significant risk factors for hospitalisation among paediatric COVID-19 patients with DS, and age and thyroid disorder were significant risk factors for acute respiratory distress syndrome. Mortality rates were low in all paediatric COVID-19 patients (with and without DS), contrasting with previous findings in adults with DS (who exhibit higher mortality than those without DS). Children with DS are at increased risk for more severe presentations of COVID-19. Efforts should be made to ensure the comprehensive and early detection of COVID-19 in this population and to identify children with DS who present comorbidities that pose a risk for a severe course of COVID-19. Our results emphasize the importance of vaccinating children with DS as soon as they become eligible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assesses the effect of succinylsulfathiazole on the apparent bioavailability of folate added to milk-containing diets. Impact of milk type on bioavailability of folate after pasteurization; Plasma folate concentration; Intestinal biosynthesis of folate.

Purpose: Mutations or copy number abnormalities of genes involved in homologous recombination (HR) occur in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). DNA-based measures of HR deficiency (HRD) have been developed and may help identify tumors with better response to DNA-damaging agents. This study aimed to describe the HR pathway mutations and HRD status and determine their association with treatment response and outcome in patients with PDAC., Patients and Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of tumor samples from patients treated at Indiana University for locally advanced or metastatic PDAC. Patients were included if they received gemcitabine plus nanoparticle albumin-bound paclitaxel (control) or fluorouracil, oxaliplatin, leucovorin, and irinotecan (FOLFIRINOX) and had adequate follow-up to assess survival and response to therapy. Tumor analysis generated a three-biomarker HRD score and mutation data for 44 genes., Results: Ninety-one samples met inclusion criteria, and 78 samples (formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded, n = 15; fine-needle aspiration, n = 63) generated mutation data. HRD analysis was successful for 57 samples (HRD score: median, 18; range, 5 to 61); the primary cause of failure was low tumor cellularity. Six BRCA1 / 2 mutations were detected, four with HRD scores in the top decile ( P = .011). There was no statistically significant correlation between HRD score and radiographic response (odds ratio per interquartile range, 1.40; P = .32 adjusted for treatment) in either treatment group. In patients treated with FOLFIRINOX, HRD score dichotomized at the median was not associated with progression-free survival (median, 5.3 v 9.4 months for low v high HRD score, respectively; P = .083) or overall survival (median, 11.9 v 10.7 months for low v high HRD score, respectively; P = .76)., Conclusion: Mutations in DNA repair genes occur in PDAC, and HRD scores can be generated in the majority of patients. The HRD score was not significantly associated with higher response rate or prolonged survival in patients treated with FOLFIRINOX.

Purpose: Multiple-gene, next-generation sequencing panels are increasingly used to assess hereditary cancer risks of patients with diverse personal and family cancer histories. The magnitude of breast and ovarian cancer risk associated with many clinically tested genes, and independent of family cancer history, remains to be quantified., Methods: We queried a commercial laboratory database of 95,561 women tested clinically for hereditary cancer risk with a 25-gene ( APC , ATM , BARD1 , BMPR1A , BRCA1 , BRCA2 , BRIP1 , CDH1 , CDK4 , CHEK2 , MLH2 , MSH2 , MSH6 , MUTYH , NBN , P14ARF , P16 , PALB2 , PMS2 , PTEN , RAD51C , RAD51D , SMAD4 , STK11 , and TP53 ) next-generation sequencing panel. Multivariable logistic regression models accounting for family history were used to examine the association between pathogenic mutations and breast or ovarian cancer. As a confirmatory approach, a matched case-control analysis was conducted, defining cases as patients with breast or ovarian cancer and controls as women without cancer., Results: One or more pathogenic mutations were detected in 6,775 (7%) of 95,561 women. Eight genes ( ATM , BARD1 , BRCA1 , BRCA2 , CHEK2 , PALB2 , PTEN , and TP53 ) were associated with breast cancer, with odds ratios (ORs) ranging from two-fold ( ATM : OR, 1.74; 95% CI, 1.46 to 2.07) to six-fold ( BRCA1 : OR, 5.91; 95% CI, 5.25 to 6.67). Eleven genes ( ATM , BRCA1 , BRCA2 , BRIP1 , MLH1 , MSH2 , MSH6 , NBN , STK11 , RAD51C , and RAD51D ) were associated with ovarian cancer, with OR ranging from two-fold ( ATM : OR, 1.69; 95% CI, 1.19 to 2.40) to 40-fold ( STK11 : OR, 41.9; 95% CI, 5.55 to 315). Multivariable models and matched case-control analyses yielded similar results., Conclusion: Among nearly 100,000 clinically tested women, 7% carried a pathogenic mutation in one or more cancer-associated genes. Associated breast and ovarian cancer risks ranged from two- to 40-fold after controlling for family history. These results may inform cancer risk counseling.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis. Symptomatically characterized by stiffness and pain, OA is a chronic degenerative disease of joints. Of note, there is growing interest in the potential use of plant-based compounds for symptomatic treatment of OA. Arthrocen is a plant-derived agent consisting of a one to two ratio of avocado and soy unsaponifiable extracts. In order to decipher the potential mechanisms of Arthrocen's action at the molecular level, we employed an in vitro assay using cultured human THP-1 cells (a model cell line for monocytes) to study its effects. By pairing protein arrays enriched for inflammatory markers, transcriptomic pathway analysis using RNA-Sequencing, and eicosanoid specific lipidomics, we have begun to unravel its potential mechanism of action. Specifically, we found that Arthrocen can attenuate the inflammatory response at the transcript level while inducing significant changes in numerous cytokines. Furthermore, we discovered that while Arthrocen alone did not increase IL-8 or MCP-1 levels, its presence had a synergistic effect on the observed increase in response to LPS stimulation. Additionally, this synergistic effect of Arthrocen on LPS stimulation of IL-8 and MCP-1 protein levels was also observed at the mRNA level and suggests a regulatory mechanism at the transcriptional level. Interestingly, Arthrocen induced no changes in any of the eicosanoids studied. This multi-omics approach implies that Arthrocen functions at the level of gene transcription to dampen inflammation mediated by monocytes in OA.