Changes in social support of pregnant and postnatal mothers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective: Our objectives were to assess in perinatal women: the most effective methods used to meet social support needs during COVID-19, the impact of COVID-19 on self-reported social support levels, and how perceived change in social support related to distress, depression, and mental health.

Design: One-time survey administered from April to August 2020 SETTING: Online PARTICIPANTS: Pregnant and postpartum women with infants less than 6 months of age MEASUREMENT AND FINDINGS: Participants indicated the methods they used to meet social support needs during COVID-19. They self-rated their social support level pre- and during pandemic and their distress, depressive symptoms, and mental health changes on a Likert scale.

Toxicogenomic responses of Caenorhabditis elegans to pristine and transformed zinc oxide nanoparticles.

Manufactured nanoparticles (MNPs) undergo transformation immediately after they enter wastewater treatment streams and during their partitioning to sewage sludge, which is applied to agricultural soils in form of biosolids. We examined toxicogenomic responses of the model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans to pristine and transformed ZnO-MNPs (phosphatized pZnO- and sulfidized sZnO-MNPs). To account for the toxicity due to dissolved Zn, a ZnSO treatment was included Transformation of ZnO-MNPs reduced their toxicity by nearly ten-fold, while there was almost no difference in the toxicity of pristine ZnO-MNPs and ZnSO.

Paramedic and Surgeon Views on Trauma Surgical Readiness: Implications for Guideline Implementation.

Centers for disease control (CDC) Guidelines for Field Triage are effective when proper implementation by EMS personnel is paired with surgeon willingness to care for trauma victims. We hypothesized that in a state with an immature trauma system, a discrepancy exists between medic and surgeon perception of surgical readiness, coinciding with inconsistent implementation of protocols. Surveys were conducted among medics and general surgeons.

Outcomes for Students Receiving School-Based Physical Therapy as Measured by the School Function Assessment.

Purpose: To describe School Function Assessment (SFA) outcomes after 6 months of school-based physical therapy and the effects of age and gross motor function on outcomes.

Methods: Within 28 states, 109 physical therapists and 296 of their students with disabilities, ages 5 to 12 years, participated. After training, therapists completed 10 SFA scales on students near the beginning and end of the school year.

Distinct transcriptomic responses of Caenorhabditis elegans to pristine and sulfidized silver nanoparticles.

Manufactured nanoparticles (MNP) rapidly undergo aging processes once released from products. Silver sulfide (Ag2S) is the major transformation product formed during the wastewater treatment process for Ag-MNP. We examined toxicogenomic responses of pristine Ag-MNP, sulfidized Ag-MNP (sAg-MNP), and AgNO3 to a model soil organism, Caenorhabditis elegans.

Impact of Professional Student Mentored Research Fellowship on Medical Education and Academic Medicine Career Path.

Context: This study explores the long-term impact of the Professional Student Mentored Research Fellowship (PSMRF) program at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine (UKCOM) on medical students' research productivity and career paths.

Methods: Demographic characteristics, academic profiles, number of publications and residency placements from 2007 to 2012 were used to assess 119 PSMRF graduates against a comparison cohort of 898 UKCOM (non-PSMRF) students.

Results: PSMRF students had higher MCAT scores at admission (31.

Impact of sulfidation on the bioavailability and toxicity of silver nanoparticles to Caenorhabditis elegans.

Sulfidation is a major transformation product for manufactured silver nanoparticles (Ag-MNPs) in the wastewater treatment process.We studied the dissolution, uptake, and toxicity of Ag-MNP and sulfidized Ag-MNPs (sAg-MNPs) to a model soil organism, Caenorhabditis elegans. Our results show that reproduction was the most sensitive endpoint tested for both Ag-MNPs and sAg-MNPs.

Physical impairment in patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies is associated with the American College of Rheumatology functional status measure.

The goals of this study were to assess the predictive value of chart-abstracted American College of Rheumatology functional status (ACR-FS) with patient-reported ACR-FS and to relate it with measures of muscle function in a single-institution cohort of patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs). Demographic and clinical data of 102 patients with IIMs regularly followed in the Rheumatology and Neurology Clinics at the University of Kentucky Medical Center between 2006 and 2012 were obtained through retrospective chart review. Clinical and functional status evaluation, muscle performance testing, and body composition measures were performed on a subset of 21 patients.

Particle size distributions by transmission electron microscopy: an interlaboratory comparison case study.

This paper reports an interlaboratory comparison that evaluated a protocol for measuring and analysing the particle size distribution of discrete, metallic, spheroidal nanoparticles using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The study was focused on automated image capture and automated particle analysis. NIST RM8012 gold nanoparticles (30 nm nominal diameter) were measured for area-equivalent diameter distributions by eight laboratories.

Regulation of thrombospondin-1 expression in alternatively activated macrophages and adipocytes: role of cellular cross talk and omega-3 fatty acids.

Thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) expression in human adipose positively correlates with body mass index and may contribute to adipose dysfunction by activating transforming growth factor-β and/or inhibiting angiogenesis. Our objective was to determine how TSP-1 is regulated in adipocytes and polarized macrophages using a coculture system and to determine whether fatty acids, including the ω-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), regulate TSP-1 expression. Coculture of M1, M2a or M2c macrophages with adipocytes induced TSP-1 gene expression in adipocytes (from 2.

Short-term molecular-level effects of silver nanoparticle exposure on the earthworm, Eisenia fetida.

Short-term changes in levels of expression of nine stress response genes and oxidative damage of proteins were examined in Eisenia fetida exposed to polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) coated Ag nanoparticles (Ag-NP) and AgNO(3) in natural soils. The responses varied significantly among days with the highest number of significant changes occurring on day three. Similarity in gene expression patterns between Ag-NPs and AgNO(3) and significant relationships of expression of CAT and HSP70 with Ag soil concentration suggest similarity in toxicity mechanisms of Ag ions and NPs.

Regulation of small ubiquitin-like modifier-1, nuclear receptor coreceptor, histone deacetylase 3, and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ in human adipose tissue.

Background: This study investigated the regulation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ), the histone deacetylase 3 (HDAC3)-nuclear receptor coreceptor (NCoR) complex (a corepressor of transcription used by PPARγ), and small ubiquitin-like modifier-1 (SUMO-1) (a posttranslational modifier of PPARγ) in human adipose tissue and both adipocyte and macrophage cell lines. The objective was to determine whether there were alterations in the human adipose tissue gene expression levels of PPARγ, HDAC3, NCoR, and SUMO-1 associated either with obesity or with treatment of impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) subjects with insulin-sensitizing medications.

Methods: We obtained subcutaneous adipose tissue biopsies from 86 subjects with a wide range of body mass index (BMI) and insulin sensitivity (S(I)).

DHA reduces the atrophy-associated Fn14 protein in differentiated myotubes during coculture with macrophages.

Macrophages are an important component of muscle where they are involved in complex processes such as repair, regeneration and hypertrophy. We recently reported that macrophage numbers increase in the muscle of obese patients, suggesting that muscle-resident macrophages could be involved in the development of muscle insulin resistance that is associated with obesity. Coculture of activated macrophages with human muscle cells impairs insulin signaling and induces atrophy signaling pathways in the human muscle cells; this is exacerbated by the addition of palmitic acid.

Nuclear magnetic resonance and biochemical measurements of glucose utilization in the cone-dominant ground squirrel retina.

Purpose: To provide quantitative information on glucose utilization in cone-dominant ground squirrel retinas.

Methods: Ground squirrel eyecups were incubated in medium containing (14)C-glucose, and the production of (14)CO(2) was measured. Measurements were also made of lactic acid production (glycolysis).

Reexamining the hyperglycemic pseudohypoxia hypothesis of diabetic oculopathy.

Purpose: To test the hypothesis that diabetes alters retinal NAD+-to-NADH ratios early in the course of the disease (e.g., the hyperglycemic pseudohypoxia hypothesis).

Cultured retinal neuronal cells and Müller cells both show net production of lactate.

Glucose has long been considered the substrate for energy metabolism in the retina. Recently, an alternative hypothesis (metabolic coupling) suggested that mitochondria in retinal neurons utilize preferentially the lactate produced specifically by Müller cells, the principal glial cell in the retina. These two views of retinal metabolism were examined using confluent cultures of photoreceptor cells, Müller cells, ganglion cells, and retinal pigment epithelial cells incubated in modified Dulbecco's minimal essential medium containing glucose or glucose and lactate.

Effects of L-glutamate/D-aspartate and monensin on lactic acid production in retina and cultured retinal Müller cells.

We have investigated the dependence of the rate of lactic acid production on the rate of Na(+) entry in cultured transformed rat Müller cells and in normal and dystrophic (RCS) rat retinas that lack photoreceptors. To modulate the rate of Na(+) entry, two approaches were employed: (i) the addition of L-glutamate (D-aspartate) to stimulate coupled uptake of Na(+) and the amino acid; and (ii) the addition of monensin to enhance Na(+) exchange. Müller cells produced lactate aerobically and anaerobically at high rates.

Metabolic mapping in mammalian retina: a biochemical and 3H-2-deoxyglucose autoradiographic study.

It has long been known that mammalian retinas metabolize glucose aerobically to lactic acid and carbon dioxide. The classical view holds that glucose is the primary substrate for energy metabolism in all retinal cells, and that photoreceptor cells have the highest rates of glycolysis and respiration. A different and more recent view is that the Müller cells are the principal, if not sole aerobic producers of lactate, which then serves as the primary fuel for the mitochondria in photoreceptor cells and other retinal neurons.

Modulation of the Pasteur effect in retinal cells: implications for understanding compensatory metabolic mechanisms.

The purpose of the present experiments was to enhance understanding of the factors that are critical for the survival of retinal cells exposed to mitochondrial inhibition. Confluent cultures of Müller cells (rMC-1) and human retinal pigment epithelial cells (hRPE) were incubated in Dulbecco's minimal essential medium in the presence and absence of 1x10(-5)M Antimycin A, an inhibitor of mitochondrial electron transport. To modulate the rates of aerobic and anaerobic glycolysis, cells were incubated in media containing varying concentrations of glucose and 1-100 micro M of iodoacetic acid (IAA), an inhibitor of glyceraldehdye-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (G3PDH).