Developmental bisphenol S toxicity in two freshwater animal models.

Freshwater animals are exposed to anthropogenic contaminants and are biomonitors of water quality and models of the deleterious impacts of exposure. Sponges, such as Ephydatia muelleri, constantly pump water and are effective indicators of water-soluble contaminants. Zebrafish (Danio rerio), native to Southeast Asia, live in the water column and feed at the water-sediment interface and are exposed to both water-soluble and insoluble contaminants.

Emergency Medicine Case Study on Giant Cell Arteritis.

The purpose of this case study on giant cell arteritis (GCA) is to ensure that emergency nurse practitioners (ENPs) are knowledgeable on this disease process to prevent serious complications such as permanent blindness in patients presenting to the emergency department (ED). The case study reviews emergency management of GCA, which includes diagnostic workup, pharmacological treatment, consults, disposition, follow-up care, and when to return to the ED. The classification criteria will be discussed for GCA from the American College of Rheumatology and the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology.

Establishment of Host-Algal Endosymbioses: Genetic Response to Symbiont Versus Prey in a Sponge Host.

The freshwater sponge Ephydatia muelleri and its Chlorella-like algal partner is an emerging model for studying animal: algal endosymbiosis. The sponge host is a tractable laboratory organism, and the symbiotic algae are easily cultured. We took advantage of these traits to interrogate questions about mechanisms that govern the establishment of durable intracellular partnerships between hosts and symbionts in facultative symbioses.

ACEP Emergency Department COVID-19 Management Tool: A Review of the Updated Guidelines.

This review examines the American College of Emergency Physicians' (ACEP) Emergency Department COVID-19 Management Tool (2021). The authors and contributors developed a tool to provide a framework to assist with severity classification, risk assessment, diagnostic workup, disposition, and treatment of patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 in the emergency department. By utilizing the tool from this study, the emergency nurse practitioner can confidently treat COVID-19 and reduce patient risks from unnecessary treatments or unneeded admissions.

Addressing Fall Risk From the Emergency Department: What Are We Missing?

The Research to Practice column focuses on improving the research critique skills of emergency nurses and advanced practice providers to assist with the translation of research into practice. In this issue, we discuss the findings of a secondary data analysis conducted by K. Davenport, M.

Freshwater sponge hosts and their green algae symbionts: a tractable model to understand intracellular symbiosis.

In many freshwater habitats, green algae form intracellular symbioses with a variety of heterotrophic host taxa including several species of freshwater sponge. These sponges perform important ecological roles in their habitats, and the poriferan:green algae partnerships offers unique opportunities to study the evolutionary origins and ecological persistence of endosymbioses. We examined the association between and its chlorophyte partner to identify features of host cellular and genetic responses to the presence of intracellular algal partners.

Revising Diabetes Programming for Black Men and Their Families.

Type-2 diabetes has increased 160% for African American males in the United States. This two-part study's purpose was to apply social marketing theory to understand the Type-2 diabetes education needs of men in Iowa. Study One was a preference assessment of Type-2 diabetes education strategies.

Education and training for preventing and minimizing workplace aggression directed toward healthcare workers.

Background: Workplace aggression constitutes a serious issue for healthcare workers and organizations. Aggression is tied to physical and mental health issues at an individual level, as well as to absenteeism, decreased productivity or quality of work, and high employee turnover rates at an organizational level. To counteract these negative impacts, organizations have used a variety of interventions, including education and training, to provide workers with the knowledge and skills needed to prevent aggression.

Tracing animal genomic evolution with the chromosomal-level assembly of the freshwater sponge Ephydatia muelleri.

The genomes of non-bilaterian metazoans are key to understanding the molecular basis of early animal evolution. However, a full comprehension of how animal-specific traits, such as nervous systems, arose is hindered by the scarcity and fragmented nature of genomes from key taxa, such as Porifera. Ephydatia muelleri is a freshwater sponge found across the northern hemisphere.

Secreted frizzled related protein is a target of PaxB and plays a role in aquiferous system development in the freshwater sponge, Ephydatia muelleri.

Canonical and non-canonical Wnt signaling, as well as the Pax/Six gene network, are involved in patterning the freshwater sponge aquiferous system. Using computational approaches to identify transcription factor binding motifs in a freshwater sponge genome, we located putative PaxB binding sites near a Secreted Frizzled Related Protein (SFRP) gene in Ephydatia muelleri. EmSFRP is expressed throughout development, but with highest levels in juvenile sponges.

Ontogeny of symbiont community structure in two carotenoid-rich, viviparous marine sponges: comparison of microbiomes and analysis of culturable pigmented heterotrophic bacteria.

Marine sponges harbour diverse communities of microbes. Mechanisms used to establish microbial symbioses in sponges are poorly understood, and the relative contributions of horizontal and vertical transmission are unknown for most species. We examined microbial communities in adults and larvae of carotenoid-rich Clathria prolifera and Halichondria bowerbanki from the mid-Atlantic region of the eastern United States.

Wnt signaling and polarity in freshwater sponges.

Background: The Wnt signaling pathway is uniquely metazoan and used in many processes during development, including the formation of polarity and body axes. In sponges, one of the earliest diverging animal groups, Wnt pathway genes have diverse expression patterns in different groups including along the anterior-posterior axis of two sponge larvae, and in the osculum and ostia of others. We studied the function of Wnt signaling and body polarity formation through expression, knockdown, and larval manipulation in several freshwater sponge species.

Methylation specific targeting of a chromatin remodeling complex from sponges to humans.

DNA cytosine methylation and methyl-cytosine binding domain (MBD) containing proteins are found throughout all vertebrate species studied to date. However, both the presence of DNA methylation and pattern of methylation varies among invertebrate species. Invertebrates generally have only a single MBD protein, MBD2/3, that does not always contain appropriate residues for selectively binding methylated DNA.

ROCK inhibition abolishes the establishment of the aquiferous system in Ephydatia muelleri (Porifera, Demospongiae).

The Rho associated coiled-coil protein kinase (ROCK) plays crucial roles in development across bilaterian animals. The fact that the Rho/Rock pathway is required to initiate epithelial morphogenesis and thus to establish body plans in bilaterians makes this conserved signaling pathway key for studying the molecular mechanisms that may control early development of basally branching metazoans. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether or not the main components of this signaling pathway exist in sponges, and if present, to investigate the possible role of the regulatory network in an early branching non-bilaterian species by evaluating ROCK function during Ephydatia muelleri development.

Insights into Frizzled evolution and new perspectives.

The Frizzled proteins (FZDs) are a family of trans-membrane receptors that play pivotal roles in Wnt pathways and thus in animal development. Based on evaluation of the Amphimedon queenslandica genome, it has been proposed that two Fzd genes may have been present before the split between demosponges and other animals. The major purpose of this study is to go deeper into the evolution of this family of proteins by evaluating an extended set of available data from bilaterians, cnidarians, and different basally branching animal lineages (Ctenophora, Placozoa, Porifera).

Transcriptomic analysis of differential host gene expression upon uptake of symbionts: a case study with Symbiodinium and the major bioeroding sponge Cliona varians.

Background: We have a limited understanding of genomic interactions that occur among partners for many symbioses. One of the most important symbioses in tropical reef habitats involves Symbiodinium. Most work examining Symbiodinium-host interactions involves cnidarian partners.

Nearly complete 28S rRNA gene sequences confirm new hypotheses of sponge evolution.

The highly collaborative research sponsored by the NSF-funded Assembling the Porifera Tree of Life (PorToL) project is providing insights into some of the most difficult questions in metazoan systematics. Our understanding of phylogenetic relationships within the phylum Porifera has changed considerably with increased taxon sampling and data from additional molecular markers. PorToL researchers have falsified earlier phylogenetic hypotheses, discovered novel phylogenetic alliances, found phylogenetic homes for enigmatic taxa, and provided a more precise understanding of the evolution of skeletal features, secondary metabolites, body organization, and symbioses.

Reconstruction of family-level phylogenetic relationships within Demospongiae (Porifera) using nuclear encoded housekeeping genes.

Background: Demosponges are challenging for phylogenetic systematics because of their plastic and relatively simple morphologies and many deep divergences between major clades. To improve understanding of the phylogenetic relationships within Demospongiae, we sequenced and analyzed seven nuclear housekeeping genes involved in a variety of cellular functions from a diverse group of sponges.

Methodology/principal Findings: We generated data from each of the four sponge classes (i.

The physiology and molecular biology of sponge tissues.

Sponges have become the focus of studies on molecular evolution and the evolution of animal body plans due to their ancient branching point in the metazoan lineage. Whereas our former understanding of sponge function was largely based on a morphological perspective, the recent availability of the first full genome of a sponge (Amphimedon queenslandica), and of the transcriptomes of other sponges, provides a new way of understanding sponges by their molecular components. This wealth of genetic information not only confirms some long-held ideas about sponge form and function but also poses new puzzles.

Experimental manipulation of sponge/bacterial symbiont community composition with antibiotics: sponge cell aggregates as a unique tool to study animal/microorganism symbiosis.

Marine sponges can harbor dense and diverse bacterial communities, yet we have a limited understanding of important aspects of this symbiosis. We developed an experimental methodology that permits manipulating the composition of the microbial community. Specifically, we evaluated sponge cell aggregates (SCA) from Clathria prolifera that had been treated with different classes of antibiotics to determine whether this system might offer novel experimental approaches to the study of sponge/bacterial symbioses.

The magnesium inhibition and arrested phagosome hypotheses: new perspectives on the evolution and ecology of Symbiodinium symbioses.

Zooxanthella symbioses are arguably the most important ecological interaction on coral reefs because they energetically subsidize the entire community, and enhance the calcification process that provides structure for all other organisms. While we have developed a detailed understanding of the diversity among and within the Symbiodinium clades, we currently lack a mechanistic explanation for which factors favoured zooxanthella invasion of the intracellular habitat in heterotrophic hosts, and for what molecular mechanisms permit residence within the cell. We propose two hypotheses that explain important evolutionary and ecological features of zooxanthella symbioses.

RNA interference in marine and freshwater sponges: actin knockdown in Tethya wilhelma and Ephydatia muelleri by ingested dsRNA expressing bacteria.

Background: The marine sponge Tethya wilhelma and the freshwater sponge Ephydatia muelleri are emerging model organisms to study evolution, gene regulation, development, and physiology in non-bilaterian animal systems. Thus far, functional methods (i.e.

Symbiodinium diversity among host clionaid sponges from Caribbean and Pacific reefs: Evidence of heteroplasmy and putative host-specific symbiont lineages.

Among the Porifera, symbiosis with Symbiodinium spp. (i.e.