Effects of different block designs on low back and shoulders biomechanical loads and postural stability during crab pot handling.

In commercial Dungeness crab fishing vessels, the block pulls crab pots for harvesting and typically positions them to the side of vessels, rather than the sorting tables on board. Consequently, fishermen must reach outside the vessel to grab the pots, posing increased risk of musculoskeletal and fall-related injuries. To investigate the effects of block design on these risks, 25 participants in a repeated-measures laboratory study handled a pot under two block conditions: away-from-table (conventional setting) and above-table (intervention).

Claustrum modulation drives altered prefrontal cortex dynamics and connectivity.

This study delves into the claustrum's role in modulating spontaneous and sensory-evoked network activity across cortical regions. Using mesoscale calcium imaging and Gi and Gq DREADDs in anesthetized mice, we show that decreasing claustral activity enhances prefrontal cortical activity, while activation reduces prefrontal cortical activity. This claustrum modulation also caused changes to the brain's large-scale functional networks, emphasizing the claustrum's ability to influence long-range functional connectivity in the cortex.

Vertical-dominant and multi-axial vibration associated with heavy vehicle operation: Effects on dynamic postural control.

Heavy vehicle operators suffer from increased fall risk, potentially due to exposure to whole-body vibration (WBV) that compromises postural control. This study aimed to characterize the relative impacts of multi-axial WBV vs. vertical-dominant WBV on dynamic postural control during sit-to-stand transition and stair descent, following prolonged vibration exposures.

The Underlying Neurobiological Mechanisms of Psychosis: Focus on Neurotransmission Dysregulation, Neuroinflammation, Oxidative Stress, and Mitochondrial Dysfunction.

Psychosis, defined as a set of symptoms that results in a distorted sense of reality, is observed in several psychiatric disorders in addition to schizophrenia. This paper reviews the literature relevant to the underlying neurobiology of psychosis. The dopamine hypothesis has been a major influence in the study of the neurochemistry of psychosis and in development of antipsychotic drugs.

Alterations in brain network connectivity and subjective experience induced by psychedelics: a scoping review.

Intense interest surrounds current research on psychedelics, particularly regarding their potential in treating mental health disorders. Various studies suggest a link between the subjective effects produced by psychedelics and their therapeutic efficacy. Neuroimaging evidence indicates an association of changes in brain functional connectivity with the subjective effects of psychedelics.

A fishermen-developed intervention reduced musculoskeletal load associated with commercial Dungeness crab harvesting.

This study characterized physical risk factors associated with injuries during a Dungeness crab harvesting task and evaluated the efficacy of a fishermen-developed ergonomic control (banger bar) in mitigating physical risk factors, including biomechanical loads in the low back, shoulders, and upper extremities, and postural instability. In a repeated-measures laboratory study, 25 healthy male participants performed manual crab harvesting tasks in five conditions: without any banger bar (control) and with 4 bars of differing heights or designs. The results showed that the ergonomic control reduced trunk and shoulder angles, L5/S1, and shoulder moments; muscle activities in low back, shoulders, and upper extremities; perceived exertion ratings; and postural sway measures.

Testing for EGFR Variants in Pleural and Pericardial Effusion Cell-Free DNA in Patients With Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

Importance: Molecular testing in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is commonly limited by inadequate tumor sample. Plasma cell-free DNA (cfDNA) genotyping as a complementary test is specific but only moderately sensitive. Genotyping of cfDNA in pleural and pericardial effusion (PE-cfDNA) can further optimize molecular diagnostic yield and reduce the need for repeated biopsies.

Fragment Ends of Circulating Microbial DNA as Signatures for Pathogen Detection in Sepsis.

Background: Nuclear-derived cell-free DNA (cfDNA) molecules in blood plasma are nonrandomly fragmented, bearing a wealth of information related to tissues of origin. DNASE1L3 (deoxyribonuclease 1 like 3) is an important player in shaping the fragmentation of nuclear-derived cfDNA molecules, preferentially generating molecules with 5 CC dinucleotide termini (i.e.

Jagged Ends on Multinucleosomal Cell-Free DNA Serve as a Biomarker for Nuclease Activity and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

Background: Jagged ends of plasma DNA are a recently recognized class of fragmentomic markers for cell-free DNA, reflecting the activity of nucleases. A number of recent studies have also highlighted the importance of jagged ends in the context of pregnancy and oncology. However, knowledge regarding the generation of jagged ends is incomplete.

Altered cortical processing of sensory input in Huntington disease mouse models.

Huntington disease (HD), a hereditary neurodegenerative disorder, manifests as progressively impaired movement and cognition. Although early abnormalities of neuronal activity in striatum are well established in HD models, there are fewer in vivo studies of the cortex. Here, we record local field potentials (LFPs) in YAC128 HD model mice versus wild-type mice.

Characterizing observable COVID-19 controls in Pacific Northwest grocery stores.

Utilizing a longitudinal, observational study, grocery store health and safety controls implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic across stores in two cities were characterized. Sixteen stores between Seattle, WA (n = 9) and Portland, OR (n = 7) were visited monthly by the study team from May 2020 to January 2021, and observations of controls were recorded using a standardized checklist in REDCap. The checklist included questions on the presence or absence of controls such as physical barriers, social distancing markers, required masking of customers, cleaning of check-out stands, and closures of store areas.

Germline Polymorphisms and Length of Survival of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma: An Exome-Wide Association Study in Multiple Cohorts.

Germline polymorphisms are linked with differential survival outcomes in cancers but are not well studied in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Here, a two-phase association study is conducted to discover germline polymorphisms that are associated with the prognosis of NPC. The discovery phase includes two consecutive hospital cohorts of patients with NPC from Southern China.

Recent Advances in the Development of Biomarkers and Chemoradiotherapeutic Approaches for Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) associated nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is endemic in Southern China, and the prognosis of this cancer has improved in part due to advances in radiotherapy (RT) techniques, broadened therapeutic options, and more precise prognostic stratification of patients. RT is the primary curative treatment of NPC, and the incorporation of chemotherapy (induction, concurrent, adjuvant) to RT has contributed to improved survival in patients with locoregionally advanced NPC. Concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) in combination with adjuvant or induction chemotherapy is now the standard treatment of locoregionally advanced NPC, but the ideal CCRT therapeutic strategy for NPC remains controversial.

Stress impacts sensory variability through cortical sensory activity motifs.

Medically unexplained symptoms in depression are common. These individual-specific complaints are often considered an 'idiom of distress', yet animal studies suggest that cortical sensory representations are flexible and influenced by spontaneous cortical activity. We hypothesized that stress would reveal activity dynamics in somatosensory cortex resulting in greater sensory-evoked response variability.

Strongly Coordinating Ligands To Form Weakly Coordinating Yet Functional Organometallic Anions.

Weakly coordinating anions (WCAs) are generally tailored to act as spectators with little or no function. Here we describe the implementation of strongly coordinating dianionic carboranyl N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) to create organometallic -ate complexes of Au(I) that serve both as WCAs and functional catalysts. These organometallic WCAs can be utilized to form both heterobimetallic (Au(I)/Ag(I); Au(I)/Ir(I)) and organometallic/main group ion pairs (Au(I)/(CPh or SiEt).

LFP clustering in cortex reveals a taxonomy of Up states and near-millisecond, ordered phase-locking in cortical neurons.

During slow-wave sleep and anesthesia, mammalian cortex exhibits a synchronized state during which neurons shift from a largely nonfiring to a firing state, known as an Up-state transition. Up-state transitions may constitute the default activity pattern of the entire cortex (Neske GT. 9: 88, 2016) and could be critical to understanding cortical function, yet the genesis of such transitions and their interaction with single neurons is not well understood.

Correlations of health-related quality of life with serum inflammatory indicators IL-8 and mIBI in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Purpose: Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is a significant prognostic factor for overall survival in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients, and this is independent of stage and liver function. Inflammation plays a significant role in HCC development and progression. It was hypothesized that the inflammatory status of HCC patients may affect their HRQoL.

Status of inflammation in relation to health related quality of life in hepatocellular carcinoma patients.

Purpose: Both Inflammation and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) are independent prognosticators in HCC patients. We hypothesized that inflammation can cause impairment in HRQoL and investigated the correlation between inflammatory status and HRQoL in HCC patients.

Methods: Clinical, laboratory and HRQoL (using EORTC QLQ-C30, QLQ-HCC18, C30 and HCC18 index-scores) data were prospectively collected from HCC patients at diagnosis.

Low-dose radiation: interagency collaboration on planning research could improve information on health effects.

In September 2017, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report on the scientific basis for federal protections against the harmful effects of ionizing radiation-particularly low-dose radiation, or below about 100 millisieverts (10 rem). The report provided examples of how federal agencies developed and applied radiation protection requirements and guidance for workers and the public and examined the extent to which federal agencies funded epidemiological and radiobiological research on the health effects of low-dose radiation and their efforts at coordination of this research. The report found that agencies collaborated on individual projects on radiation's health effects but did not have a mechanism to coordinate research priorities.

Podocalyxin is required for maintaining blood-brain barrier function during acute inflammation.

Podocalyxin (Podxl) is broadly expressed on the luminal face of most blood vessels in adult vertebrates, yet its function on these cells is poorly defined. In the present study, we identified specific functions for Podxl in maintaining endothelial barrier function. Using electrical cell substrate impedance sensing and live imaging, we found that, in the absence of Podxl, human umbilical vein endothelial cells fail to form an efficient barrier when plated on several extracellular matrix substrates.

Good Vibrations: Resting-State Functional Connectivity Reflects Entrainment of Vasomotion.

In this issue of Neuron,Mateo et al. (2017) suggest that hemodynamic measures of resting-state functional connectivity in cortex are reporting the consequences of entrainment of arteriole vasomotion by neuronal activity.

Cortical functional hyperconnectivity in a mouse model of depression and selective network effects of ketamine.

See Huang and Liston (doi:10.1093/awx166) for a scientific commentary on this article.Human depression is associated with glutamatergic dysfunction and alterations in resting state network activity.

Mesoscale Mapping of Mouse Cortex Reveals Frequency-Dependent Cycling between Distinct Macroscale Functional Modules.

Connectivity mapping based on resting-state activity in mice has revealed functional motifs of correlated activity. However, the rules by which motifs organize into larger functional modules that lead to hemisphere wide spatial-temporal activity sequences is not clear. We explore cortical activity parcellation in head-fixed, quiet awake GCaMP6 mice from both sexes by using mesoscopic calcium imaging.

Mapping cortical mesoscopic networks of single spiking cortical or sub-cortical neurons.

Understanding the basis of brain function requires knowledge of cortical operations over wide-spatial scales, but also within the context of single neurons. In vivo, wide-field GCaMP imaging and sub-cortical/cortical cellular electrophysiology were used in mice to investigate relationships between spontaneous single neuron spiking and mesoscopic cortical activity. We make use of a rich set of cortical activity motifs that are present in spontaneous activity in anesthetized and awake animals.

Altered Cortical Dynamics and Cognitive Function upon Haploinsufficiency of the Autism-Linked Excitatory Synaptic Suppressor MDGA2.

Mutations in a synaptic organizing pathway contribute to autism. Autism-associated mutations in MDGA2 (MAM domain containing glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor 2) are thought to reduce excitatory/inhibitory transmission. However, we show that mutation of Mdga2 elevates excitatory transmission, and that MDGA2 blocks neuroligin-1 interaction with neurexins and suppresses excitatory synapse development.