Long-term exclusion of invasive ungulates alters tree recruitment and functional traits but not total forest carbon.

Forests are major carbon (C) sinks, but their ability to sequester C and thus mitigate climate change, varies with the environment, disturbance regime, and biotic interactions. Herbivory by invasive, nonnative ungulates can have profound ecosystem effects, yet its consequences for forest C stocks remain poorly understood. We determined the impact of invasive ungulates on C pools, both above- and belowground (to 30 cm), and on forest structure and diversity using 26 paired long-term (>20 years) ungulate exclosures and adjacent unfenced control plots located in native temperate rainforests across New Zealand, spanning 36-41° S.

Toxicity and human health assessment of an alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) synthetic kerosene developed under an international agreement with Sweden.

Alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) Synthetic Kerosene with Aromatics (SKA) fuels are produced by dehydration and refining of alcohol feed stocks. ATJ SKA fuel known as SB-8 was developed by Swedish Biofuels as a cooperative agreement between Sweden and AFRL/RQTF. SB-8 including standard additives was tested in a 90-day toxicity study with male and female Fischer 344 rats exposed to 0, 200, 700, or 2000 mg/m fuel in an aerosol/vapor mixture for 6 hr/day, 5 days/week.

Structural Optimization of siRNA Conjugates for Albumin Binding Achieves Effective MCL1-Targeted Cancer Therapy.

The high potential for therapeutic application of siRNAs to silence traditionally undruggable oncogenic drivers remains largely untapped due to the challenges of tumor cell delivery. Here, siRNAs were optimized for binding to albumin through C lipid modifications to improve pharmacokinetics and tumor delivery. Systematic variation of siRNA conjugates revealed a lead structure with divalent C lipids each linked through three repeats of hexaethylene glycol connected by phosphorothioate bonds.

Modern Approaches to Alternative Flap-Based Breast Reconstruction: Profunda Artery Perforator Flap.

Autologous free flap breast reconstruction allows for natural-appearing breasts, while avoiding the risks associated with implants, including exposure, rupture, and capsular contracture. However, this is offset by a much higher technical challenge. The abdomen remains the most common tissue source for autologous breast reconstruction.

Modern Approaches to Abdominal-Based Breast Reconstruction.

Modern approaches to abdominal-based breast reconstruction have evolved since the introduction of the transverse musculocutaneous flap by Dr Carl Hartrampf in the 1980s. The natural evolution of this flap is the deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) flap, as well as the superficial inferior epigastric artery flap. As breast reconstruction has advanced, so too has the utility and nuances of abdominal-based flaps, including the deep circumflex iliac artery flap, extended flaps, stacked flaps; neurotization; and perforator exchange techniques.

Intratumoral CD16+ Macrophages Are Associated with Clinical Outcomes of Patients with Metastatic Melanoma Treated with Combination Anti-PD-1 and Anti-CTLA-4 Therapy.

Purpose: This study characterizes intratumoral macrophage populations within baseline melanoma biopsies from patients with advanced melanoma who received either anti-PD-1 monotherapy or a combination with anti-CTLA-4. Particularly, FcγRIIIa (CD16)-expressing macrophage densities were investigated for associations with response and progression-free survival.

Experimental Design: Patients with advanced melanoma who received either anti-PD-1 monotherapy or combination anti-PD-1 and anti-CTLA-4 were retrospectively identified.

PCSK6 and Survival in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a devastating disease characterized by limited treatment options and high mortality. A better understanding of the molecular drivers of IPF progression is needed. To identify and validate molecular determinants of IPF survival.

Leveraging global multi-ancestry meta-analysis in the study of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis genetics.

The research of rare and devastating orphan diseases, such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) has been limited by the rarity of the disease itself. The prognosis is poor-the prevalence of IPF is only approximately four times the incidence, limiting the recruitment of patients to trials and studies of the underlying biology. Global biobanking efforts can dramatically alter the future of IPF research.

Evaluation of two collocated federal equivalent method PM instruments over a wide range of concentrations in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Two widely used PM monitors in the United States (U.S.) designated as federal equivalent methods (FEMs) by the U.

Visual working memory phenomena based on categorical tasks replicate using a continuous measure: A simple interpretation and some methodological considerations.

An increasingly popular method for investigating visuospatial working memory assumes stored features of objects such as color and orientation vary along continua subject to internal noise. It adapts the stimulus adjustment procedure from perceptual psychophysics to assess the precision with which stored features are represented in memory. This contrasts with methods using discrete, categorical measures of feature retention.

Acute intermittent renal replacement therapy in a rural Scottish intensive care unit - a review of patient and renal outcomes.

In this study we report 5-year outcomes for patients who received intermittent haemodiafiltration for Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) between 2010 and 2014 in a small Scottish Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Dialysis independence and mortality at ICU discharge, 30 and 90 days, one and five years were determined. There were 1496 admissions to ICU during the study period.

Paraspinal muscle gene expression across different aetiologies in individuals undergoing surgery for lumbar spine pathology.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to understand potential baseline transcriptional expression differences in paraspinal skeletal muscle from patients with different underlying lumbar pathologies by comparing multifidus gene expression profiles across individuals with either disc herniation, facet arthropathy, or degenerative spondylolisthesis.

Methods: Multifidus biopsies were obtained from patients (n = 44) undergoing lumbar surgery for either disc herniation, facet arthropathy, or degenerative spondylolisthesis. Diagnostic categories were based on magnetic resonance images, radiology reports, and intraoperative reports.

Topographical aspects of brief-stimulus presentations: A re-examination of the problem of conditioned reinforcement.

Three pigeons were exposed to second-order schedules in which responding under a fixed-interval (FI) component schedule was reinforced according to a variable-interval (VI) schedule of food reinforcement. Completion of each component resulted in either (1) brief presentation of a stimulus present during reinforcement (paired brief stimulus), (2) brief presentation of a stimulus not present during reinforcement (nonpaired brief stimulus), or (3) no stimulus presentation (tandem schedule). Under the two nonpaired brief stimulus conditions, either a change in keylight color or onset of houselight illumination was used as the brief stimulus.

Continuing Nursing Research During a Pandemic.

The coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic disrupted traditional research practices with the cessation of face-to-face contact with study participants. Researchers needed to respond with alternative methods to continue nurse-led clinical research. A rapid pivot to remote processes for recruitment, enrollment, data collection, and participant incentives can enable research to continue despite restrictions on in-person activities.

Paravertebral Blocks in Tissue Expander Breast Reconstruction: Propensity-Matched Analysis of Opioid Consumption and Patient Outcomes.

Background: The paravertebral block (PVB) is an adjunctive perioperative pain control method for patients undergoing breast reconstruction that may improve perioperative pain control and reduce narcotic use. This study determined the efficacy of preoperative PVBs for perioperative pain management in patients undergoing tissue expander breast reconstruction.

Methods: A retrospective review was performed of patients who underwent tissue expander breast reconstruction from December of 2017 to September of 2019.

Jagged-1 Reduces Th2 Inflammation and Memory Cell Expansion in Allergic Airway Disease.

Notch ligands present during interactions between T cells and dendritic cells (DCs) dictate cell phenotype through a myriad of effects including the induction of T cell regulation, survival, and cytokine response. The presence of Notch ligands on DCs varies with the context of the inflammatory response; Jagged-1 is constitutively expressed, whereas Delta-like 1 and Delta-like 4 are induced in response to pathogen exposure. Although Delta-like and Jagged ligands send different signals through the same Notch receptor, the role of these two ligands in peripheral T cell immunity is not clear.

Quality of Life in Breast Reconstruction Patients after Irradiation to Tissue Expander: A Propensity-Matched Preliminary Analysis.

Background: Tissue expanders (TEs) are routinely placed as a first step in breast reconstruction for women who require postmastectomy radiation therapy (PMRT). The final reconstruction can then be performed with implants or conversion to autologous tissues. The purpose of this study was to compare patient-reported outcomes and surgical complications in autologous (ABR) versus implant-based breast reconstruction (IBR) patients following TE-PMRT.

A 17-year time-series of fungal environmental DNA from a coastal marine ecosystem reveals long-term seasonal-scale and inter-annual diversity patterns.

Changing patterns in diversity are a feature of many habitats, with seasonality a major driver of ecosystem structure and function. In coastal marine plankton-based ecosystems, seasonality has been established through long-term time-series of bacterioplankton and protists. Alongside these groups, fungi also inhabit coastal marine ecosystems.

A Systematic Survey of Reversibly Covalent Dipeptidyl Inhibitors of the SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease.

SARS-CoV-2 is the coronavirus pathogen of the currently prevailing COVID-19 pandemic. It relies on its main protease (M ) for replication and pathogenesis. M is a demonstrated target for the development of antivirals for SARS-CoV-2.

An analysis of data curated from 5 years of identifying human remains.

An archive of 5 years of cases involving the identification of human remains was curated, collecting information on: The sample type submitted, the number of STR loci yielding interpretable results, the kinship challenge posed, and the outcome for the case. A total of 129 cases of remains ID were investigated using manual DNA extraction and recovery methods with amplification of STR markers using the Power Plex 21 multiplex STR kit from Promega Corp. In 52 cases, blood spots collected by the ME were provided as sample and in 100% of those cases, probabilities of relatedness to the reference samples was ≥99%.

Elucidating the unknown transcriptional responses and PHR1-mediated biotic and abiotic stress tolerance during phosphorus limitation.

Phosphorus (P) limitation in the majority of world soils is a major constraint for plant growth and crop productivity. RNA sequencing was used to discover novel P-responsive gene transcripts (PRGTs) in leaves and roots of Arabidopsis. Hisat StringTie and the Cufflinks TopHat transcript assembler were used to analyze reads and identify 1074 PRGTs with a >5-fold altered abundance during P limitation.

Outcomes and Perioperative Risk Factors after Oncologic Free-Flap Scalp Reconstruction.

Background:  Little is known about the risk factors associated with complications after free flap scalp reconstruction. The purpose of this study was to identify patient, scalp defect, and flap characteristics associated with increased risk of surgical complications.

Methods:  A retrospective study was performed of free-flap scalp reconstruction in oncologic patients at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center from 2002 to 2017.

Sensitivity analysis for live birth bias in the Ulaanbaatar Gestation and Air Pollution Research study.

Unlabelled: The Ulaanbaatar Gestation and Air Pollution Research (UGAAR) study is a randomized controlled trial of the effects of portable high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter air cleaner use during pregnancy on fetal growth and child health outcomes. A challenge with the study is that the outcome variables cannot be measured in the absence of a live birth. Thus pregnancy loss is a competing event for the outcome variables that can obscure the intervention-outcome relationship.