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The generalized use of molecular identification tools indicated that multispecific green tides are more common than previously thought. Temporal successions between bloom-forming species on a seasonal basis were also revealed in different cold temperate estuaries, suggesting a key role of photoperiod and temperature controlling bloom development and composition. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, water temperatures are predicted to increase around 4°C by 2100 in Ireland, especially during late spring coinciding with early green tide development. Considering current and predicted temperatures, and photoperiods during bloom development, different eco-physiological experiments were developed. These experiments indicated that the growth of Ulva lacinulata was controlled by temperature, while U. compressa was unresponsive to the photoperiod and temperatures assayed. Considering a scenario of global warming for Irish waters, an earlier development of bloom is expected in the case of U. lacinulata. This could have significant consequences for biomass balance in Irish estuaries and the maximum accumulated biomass during peak bloom. The observed seasonal patterns and experiments also indicated that U. compressa may facilitate U. lacinulata development. When both species were co-cultivated, the culture performance showed intermediate responses to experimental treatments in comparison with monospecific cultures of both species.

To evaluate gastrointestinal (GI) risk factors for bronchiectasis in children. We hypothesized that upper GI tract dysmotility would be associated with increased risk of bronchiectasis.Subjects in this retrospective cohort study included those evaluated for persistent pulmonary symptoms in the Aerodigestive Center at Boston Children's Hospital who underwent chest computed tomography (CT) between 2002 and 2019. To determine gastrointestinal predictors of bronchiectasis, baseline characteristics, comorbidities, enteral tube status, medications received, gastroesophageal reflux burden, adequacy of swallow function, esophageal dysmotility, gastric dysmotility, and neutrophil count on bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) were compared between patients with and without bronchiectasis. Proportions were compared with Fisher's exact test and binary logistic regression with stepwise selection was used for multivariate analysis. ROC analyses were utilized to compare BAL neutrophils and bronchiectasis.Of 192 subjects, 24% were found to have evidence of bronchiectasis on chest CT at age 7.9 ± 0.5 years. Enteral tubes (OR 5.77, 95% CI 2.25-14.83, p 0.001) and increased BAL neutrophil count (OR 5.79, 95% CI 1.87-17.94, p = 0.002) were associated with increased risk while neurologic comorbidities were associated with decreased risk (OR 0.24, 95% CI 0.09-0.66, p = 0.006). Gastroesophageal reflux was not found to be a significant risk factor. Neutrophil counts10% had 72% sensitivity and 60% specificity for identifying bronchiectasis.Enteral tubes were associated with significantly increased risk of bronchiectasis but gastroesophageal reflux was not. Providers should consider obtaining chest CT to evaluate for bronchiectasis in children found to have unexplained elevated BAL neutrophil count.

Utreloxastat (PTC857) is a 15-lipoxygenase inhibitor being developed to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. This first-in-human study investigated the safety and pharmacokinetics of utreloxastat in healthy volunteers (N = 82) in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. The effects of a single ascending dose (100-1000 mg), multiple ascending doses (150-500 mg), and food (500 mg) on the pharmacokinetics and safety of utreloxastat were evaluated. Following single doses, the time to maximum plasma concentration (C

Disturbances in the brain's capacity to meet its energy demand increase the risk of synaptic loss, neurodegeneration, and cognitive decline. Nutritional and metabolic interventions that target metabolic pathways combined with diagnostics to identify deficits in cerebral bioenergetics may therefore offer novel therapeutic potential for Alzheimer's disease (AD) prevention and management. Many diet-derived natural bioactive components can govern cellular energy metabolism but their effects on brain aging are not clear. This review examines how nutritional metabolism can regulate brain bioenergetics and mitigate AD risk. We focus on leading mechanisms of cerebral bioenergetic breakdown in the aging brain at the cellular level, as well as the putative causes and consequences of disturbed bioenergetics, particularly at the blood-brain barrier with implications for nutrient brain delivery and nutritional interventions. Novel therapeutic nutrition approaches including diet patterns are provided, integrating studies of the gut microbiome, neuroimaging, and other biomarkers to guide future personalized nutritional interventions.

Journal clubs are well regarded as a highly effective means of engaging graduate students with the contemporary research literature, where individual students prepare and deliver presentations on selected research articles to their peers, followed by a group discussion. Regular journal clubs have the advantage of enhancing student scientific reading, assessment and communication skills as well as developing a better understanding of the field. We developed a flipped journal club program as part of the one semester module 'Genomics Research Methods' with the goal of enhancing-and quantifying-individual student ability to engage with the genomics scientific literature. This involves all students and faculty reviewing a given manuscript, with the former submitting research relevant questions they would wish to ask the presenting student at the journal club, and the latter grading them. These questions are then ranked based on their median grade, and subsequently discussed in class. This cycle repeats weekly until all students have presented. Our analysis of question grade data over three consecutive years demonstrated clear improvements in student performance for all students between the start and end of the module. While no difference in performance was noted based on gender over the full semester, improvement in performance was significantly evident for the female cohort between the start and end of the module. Our results are consistent with module survey feedback of overall reported enhanced research self-efficacy. This demonstrates that this flipped journal club implementation is a highly effective means of both assessing and improving individual student learning in genomics research ability. The involvement of the teaching faculty furthermore offers a means to foster a dynamic research community for all participants involved. This methodology is easily transferable to other bioscience graduate/undergraduate programs seeking to effectively teach essential research ability skills and enhance student self-efficacy.

Caregivers of children with medical complexity (CMC) face decisions about life-sustaining treatments (LST) like tracheostomy. We sought to develop a clinically relevant and realistic model for decision-making about tracheostomy placement that might apply to other LST in CMC.This qualitative study, conducted between 2013 and 2015, consisted of 41 interviews with 56 caregivers of CMC who had received tracheostomies and 5 focus groups of 33 healthcare providers (HCPs) at a tertiary-care children's hospital in North Carolina. Participants were asked about their perspectives on the tracheostomy decision-making process. Data were transcribed, and coded. Using thematic content analysis, we inductively developed a tracheostomy decision-making framework and process.Many factors influenced caregivers' decisions, including children's well-being and caregivers' values, faith, knowledge, experience, emotional state, and social factors; preserving the child's life was the most important. HCPs consider many clinical and nonclinical factors; recommending tracheostomy for children with limited survival, perceived poor functioning and quality of life, and progressive conditions is ethically difficult. The framework of tracheostomy decision-making has inter-related caregiver- and HCP-level factors that influence the process. The framework contains elements not captured in a shared decision-making model, but better fits a collaborative decision-making (CDM) model. The tracheostomy CDM process that emerged from the data has two nonsequential components that HCPs could use: (1) gaining understanding and (2) holding decision-making conversations.CDM could be a useful model for clinicians guiding families about tracheostomy for CMC. The applicability of CDM for decision-making about other LSTs needs further exploration.

There is often considerable uncertainty in parameters in ecological models. This uncertainty can be incorporated into models by treating parameters as random variables with distributions, rather than fixed quantities. Recent advances in uncertainty quantification methods, such as polynomial chaos approaches, allow for the analysis of models with random parameters. We introduce these methods with a motivating case study of sea ice algal blooms in heterogeneous environments. We compare Monte Carlo methods with polynomial chaos techniques to help understand the dynamics of an algal bloom model with random parameters. Modelling key parameters in the algal bloom model as random variables changes the timing, intensity and overall productivity of the modelled bloom. The computational efficiency of polynomial chaos methods provides a promising avenue for the broader inclusion of parametric uncertainty in ecological models, leading to improved model predictions and synthesis between models and data.

In recent years, the usage of drones in last-mile logistics has stirred great interest in the operations research community. Many papers have considered schemes of hybrid truck-and-drone delivery. In this paper, we focus on the Multivisit Drone Routing Problem with Edge Launches (MVDRP-EL) which assumes: a heterogenous set of packages, a drone capable of carrying multiple packages at a time and that can be launched and retrieved along an edge, a flexible launch/retrieval site set, and a user-defined energy depletion function. We believe this paper is the first to exploit edge launch ability through a global continuous approach. In this context, we propose an original formulation based on the Covering Salesman Problem to compute a valid lower bound for the problem and an iterative solution method to determine a MVDRP-EL solution with quality launch/retrieval sites along the road network edges. Each iteration of the solution method consists of two phases. In the first phase, the road network edges are discretized to obtain launch/retrieval sites, and a first solution is determined. In the second phase, the truck route is set and we reduce the completion time by carefully synchronizing truck and drone routes by solving an original Mixed Integer Second Order Cone Program. The lower bound formulation and the proposed method have been tested on several instances and results indicate the effectiveness of the proposed method and the potential value of launching along an edge, respectively.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) with intrachromosomal amplification of chromosome 21 (iAMP21-ALL) represents a recurrent high-risk cytogenetic abnormality and accurate identification is critical for appropriate clinical management. Identification of iAMP21-ALL has historically relied on fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) using a RUNX1 probe. Current classification requires ≥ five copies of RUNX1 per cell and ≥ three additional copies of RUNX1 on a single abnormal iAMP21-chromosome. We sought to evaluate the performance of the RUNX1 probe in the identification of iAMP21-ALL. This study was a retrospective evaluation of iAMP21-ALL in the Mayo Clinic and Children's Oncology Group cohorts. Of 207 cases of iAMP21-ALL, 188 (91%) were classified as "typical" iAMP21-ALL, while 19 (9%) cases were classified as "unusual" iAMP21-ALL. The "unusual" iAMP21 cases did not meet the current definition of iAMP21 by FISH but were confirmed to have iAMP21 by chromosomal microarray. Half of the "unusual" iAMP21-ALL cases had less than five RUNX1 signals, while the remainder had ≥ five RUNX1 signals with some located apart from the abnormal iAMP21-chromosome. Nine percent of iAMP21-ALL cases fail to meet the FISH definition of iAMP21-ALL demonstrating that laboratories are at risk of misidentification of iAMP21-ALL when relying only on the RUNX1 FISH probe. Incorporation of chromosomal microarray testing circumvents these risks.

Tobacco use prevalence is higher in rural compared to urban settings, possibly due to differences in tobacco availability, including the option to purchase food and other essential items in stores that do not sell tobacco (tobacco-free food retailers). The goal of this research is to determine whether tobacco-free food retailer availability varies by urbanicity/rurality.Using the 2017 National Establishment Time-Series database, we identified food retailers across all census tracts containing food retailers in the United States (n = 66,053). We used multivariable logistic and linear regression models to test whether tobacco-free food retailer availability varied across 4-levels of census tract urbanicity/rurality (urban, suburban, large town, and small town/rural) for 2 outcomes: (1) the presence of at least 1 tobacco-free food retailer and (2) the percent of all food retailers that were tobacco-free.Compared to urban core census tracts, suburban census tracts had a lower odds (aOR = 0.77, 95% CI = 0.73, 0.81) of having at least 1 tobacco-free food retailer, while small town/rural census tracts had greater odds (aOR = 1.23, 95% CI = 1.15, 1.32). Suburban census tracts (B = -2.29, P.001) and large town census tracts (B = -1.90, P.001) also had a lower percentage of tobacco-free food retailers compared to urban census tracts.Compared to urban cores, tobacco-free food retailers were less prevalent in suburban and large town areas, though similarly or slightly more available in rural areas. Future research should assess whether these differences depend on varying store types.

Little is known about how different school racial climate experiences influence the critical reflection and subsequent critical action behaviors of racially minoritized youth. Therefore, the current study examined how critical reflection mediated the relationship between school racial climate profiles and critical action behaviors. Participants were 559 Black and Latinx adolescents, aged 13-17 who completed an online survey. Results indicated that critical reflection significantly mediated the relationships between interpersonal interactions (i.e., equal status) and anti-racist critical action behaviors. Similarly, the relationships between school racial socialization messages (i.e., cultural and critical consciousness socialization) and anti-racist critical action behaviors were also mediated by critical reflection. Findings have implications for how dimensions of the school racial climate differentially relate to racially minoritized youth's critical consciousness.