Comparative cultural cognition.

Cultural learning is an adaptive mechanism which can lead to changes in behavior and cognition much faster than naturally selected genetic change. Although social learning is prevalent in many species, the capacity for significant cumulative culture remains restricted to humans. This capacity has been a driving force behind the evolution of complexity in our technologies and societies, and has allowed us to become the most widespread mammal on earth.

Next generation sequencing: advances in characterizing the methylome.

Epigenetic modifications play an important role in lymphoid malignancies. This has been evidenced by the large body of work published using microarray technologies to generate methylation profiles for numerous types and subtypes of lymphoma and leukemia. These studies have shown the importance of defining the epigenome so that we can better understand the biology of lymphoma.

Cost reduction in health systems: lessons from an analysis of $200 million saved by top-performing organizations.

The number of healthcare organizations that require targeted cost reduction due to state and federal budget shortfalls demands intense senior leader accountability. Leaders are discovering that traditional methods for curbing expenses have been largely exhausted, and they seek fresh approaches to meet their strategic imperatives. This study of more than 200 U.

Expression of the ethylene biosynthetic machinery in maize roots is regulated in response to hypoxia.

Ethylene regulates plant growth in response to many adverse environmental conditions, including the induction of aerenchyma, i.e. the formation of air spaces, in flooded roots in an effort to maintain oxygen levels.

Label-free analysis of DNA methylation using optofluidic ring resonators.

We demonstrate the utility of the opto-fluidic ring resonator (OFRR) sensor for analyzing methylated oligonucleotides. Cytosine methylation, a regular epigenetic function in cellular growth and metabolism, may have ties to abnormal suppression of key genes involved with cellular proliferation. Such behavior is suspected to be strongly related to the occurrence of several types of cancers.

Depressive symptoms in nonresident african american fathers and involvement with their sons.

Objective: Our objective was to determine whether paternal depressive symptoms were associated with less father involvement among African American fathers not living with their children (ie, nonresident fathers).

Methods: We analyzed survey data for 345 fathers enrolled in a program for nonresident African American fathers and their preteen sons. Father involvement included measures of contact, closeness, monitoring, communication, and conflict.

The role of APC in mitosis and in chromosome instability.

The established role of APC in regulating microtubules and actin in polarized epithelia naturally raises the possibility that APC similarly influences the mitotic cytoskeleton. The recent accumulation of experimental evidence in mitotic cells supports this supposition. APC associates with mitotic spindle microtubules, most notably at the plus-ends of microtubules that interact with kinetochores.

Hypermethylation of the DLC1 CpG island does not alter gene expression in canine lymphoma.

Background: This study is a comparative epigenetic evaluation of the methylation status of the DLC1 tumor suppressor gene in naturally-occurring canine lymphoma. Canine non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) has been proposed to be a relevant preclinical model that occurs spontaneously and may share causative factors with human NHL due to a shared home environment. The canine DLC1 mRNA sequence was derived from normal tissue.

Rapid and label-free detection of breast cancer biomarker CA15-3 in clinical human serum samples with optofluidic ring resonator sensors.

Sensitive and specific detection of breast cancer biomarker CA15-3 in human serum is an important step toward successful evaluation of clinical treatment and prediction of breast cancer recurrence. In this work, we developed an optofluidic ring resonator (OFRR) sensor and the corresponding sensing protocols for label-free CA15-3 detection without any additional signal amplification steps. Nonspecific serum protein adsorption was minimized with effective surface blocking methods.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa exotoxin pyocyanin causes cystic fibrosis airway pathogenesis.

The cystic fibrosis (CF) airway bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa secretes multiple virulence factors. Among these, the redox active exotoxin pyocyanin (PCN) is produced in concentrations up to 100 mumol/L during infection of CF and other bronchiectatic airways. However, the contributions of PCN during infection of bronchiectatic airways are not appreciated.

Social learning mechanisms and cumulative cultural evolution. Is imitation necessary?

Cumulative cultural evolution has been suggested to account for key cognitive and behavioral attributes that distinguish modern humans from their anatomically similar ancestors, but researchers have yet to establish which cognitive mechanisms are responsible for this kind of learning and whether they are unique to humans. Here, we show that human participants' cumulative learning is not always reliant on sources of social information commonly assumed to be essential. Seven hundred participants were organized into 70 microsocieties and completed a task involving building a paper airplane.

Interviewer effects in public health surveys.

Interviewer effects can have a substantial impact on survey data and may be particularly operant in public health surveys, where respondents are likely to be queried about racial attitudes, sensitive behaviors and other topics prone to socially desirable responding. This paper defines interviewer effects, argues for the importance of measuring and controlling for interviewer effects in health surveys, provides advice about how to interpret research on interviewer effects and summarizes research to date on race, ethnicity and gender effects. Interviewer effects appear to be most likely to occur when survey items query attitudes about sociodemographic characteristics or respondents' engagement in sensitive behaviors such as substance use.

Automated radiation targeting in head-and-neck cancer using region-based texture analysis of PET and CT images.

Purpose: A co-registered multimodality pattern analysis segmentation system (COMPASS) was developed to automatically delineate the radiation targets in head-and-neck cancer (HNC) using both (18)F-fluoro-deoxy glucose-positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) images. The performance of the COMPASS was compared with the results of existing threshold-based methods and radiation oncologist-drawn contours.

Methods And Materials: The COMPASS extracted texture features from corresponding PET and CT voxels.

DNA hypermethylation accompanied by transcriptional repression in follicular lymphoma.

High-throughput microarray technologies were used to study DNA methylation accompanied by transcriptional changes in follicular lymphoma (FL). Using Methylated CpG Island Amplification with Microarrays to study CpG Island DNA methylation in FL, we discovered widespread hypermethylation of homeobox genes and previously identified targets of polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) in cell lines and primary tumors, but not in benign follicular hyperplasia (BFH). DNA methylation for HOXA11, HOXD10, HOXB7, HOXC12, PAX6, LHX9, SFMBT2, EN2, and PAX7 was independently validated in the RL cell line and HOXA11, HOXD10, PAX6, and EN2 in primary tumors.

The cannabinoid receptor 2 is critical for the host response to sepsis.

Leukocyte function can be modulated through the cannabinoid receptor 2 (CB2R). Using a cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) model of sepsis, we examined the role of the CB2R during the immune response to an overwhelming infection. CB2R-knock out (KO) mice showed decreased survival as compared with wild-type mice.

What predicts sex partners' age differences among African American youth? A longitudinal study from adolescence to young adulthood.

Partner age is associated with youth's sex risk behaviors and sexually transmitted infections. At present, however, it is not known whether the co-occurrence of other risk behaviors is associated with having older sex partners during adolescence and young adulthood. Using growth curve modeling, this study first describes the shape of the age difference between participants and their sex partners across adolescence and young adulthood in a sample of African American youth.

Enteric nervous system stem cells derived from human gut mucosa for the treatment of aganglionic gut disorders.

Background & Aims: Enteric nervous system stem cells (ENSSCs) provide potential therapeutic tools to replenish absent ganglia in Hirschsprung's disease. Although full-thickness human postnatal gut tissue can be used to generate ENSSCs, reliance on its harvesting from surgical resection poses significant practical limitations. This study aimed to explore whether gut tissue obtained utilizing minimally invasive routine endoscopy techniques could be used to generate ENSSCs and whether such cells retain the potential to generate an ENS upon transplantation into aganglionic gut.

Distinct contributions of CD4+ T cell subsets in hepatic ischemia/reperfusion injury.

Helper T cells are known to mediate hepatic ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. However, the precise mechanisms and subsets of CD4(+) T cells that contribute to this injury are still controversial. Therefore, we sought to determine the contributions of different CD4(+) T cell subsets during hepatic I/R injury.

Coregistered FDG PET/CT-based textural characterization of head and neck cancer for radiation treatment planning.

Coregistered fluoro-deoxy-glucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) has shown potential to improve the accuracy of radiation targeting of head and neck cancer (HNC) when compared to the use of CT simulation alone. The objective of this study was to identify textural features useful in distinguishing tumor from normal tissue in head and neck via quantitative texture analysis of coregistered 18F-FDG PET and CT images. Abnormal and typical normal tissues were manually segmented from PET/CT images of 20 patients with HNC and 20 patients with lung cancer.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa hypoxic or anaerobic biofilm infections within cystic fibrosis airways.

The airways of patients afflicted with cystic fibrosis (CF) are colonized by many pathogens, the most predominant of which is the Gram-negative bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In the thick CF airway mucus, P. aeruginosa forms antibiotic- and phagocyte-resistant structures known as biofilms, which enable the survival and growth of the organism.

HCV response in patients with end stage renal disease treated with combination pegylated interferon alpha-2a and ribavirin.

Goals: To determine the efficacy and safety of combination therapy in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and end-stage renal disease (ESRD).

Background: There is little data on the treatment of ESRD patients with pegylated interferon and ribavirin. We designed a pilot study to determine the initial and 12-week posttreatment viral response.

Work and sexual trajectories among African American youth.

The beneficial or deleterious effects of employment on youth and well-being have been highly contested. This study explores whether work influences youths' sexual risk correlates in a sample of African Americans (N = 562; 55% females; M = 14.5 years, SD = 0.