How resilience is strengthened by exposure to stressors: the systematic self-reflection model of resilience strengthening.

Background: Exposure to demands is normally considered to drain resources and threaten wellbeing. However, studies have indicated a resilience-strengthening role for stressors.

Objectives: This paper introduces a unifying model, including five testable hypotheses regarding how resilience can be strengthened progressively via exposure to life-stressors.

Surviving Deadly Lung Infections: Innate Host Tolerance Mechanisms in the Pulmonary System.

Much research on infectious diseases focuses on clearing the pathogen through the use of antimicrobial drugs, the immune response, or a combination of both. Rapid clearance of pathogens allows for a quick return to a healthy state and increased survival. Pathogen-targeted approaches to combating infection have inherent limitations, including their pathogen-specific nature, the potential for antimicrobial resistance, and poor vaccine efficacy, among others.

Self-management behaviors in World Trade Center rescue and recovery workers with asthma.

Background: Asthma is a major source of morbidity among World Trade Center (WTC) rescue and recovery workers. While physical and mental health comorbidities have been associated with poor asthma control, the potential role and determinants of adherence to self-management behaviors (SMB) among WTC rescue and recovery workers is unknown.

Objectives: To identify modifiable determinants of adherence to asthma self-management behaviors in WTC rescue and recovery worker that could be potential targets for future interventions.

Surgical Simulation: Markers of Proficiency.

Objective: Surgical simulation has become an integral component of surgical training. Simulation proficiency determination has been traditionally based upon time to completion of various simulated tasks. We aimed to determine objective markers of proficiency in surgical simulation by comparing novel assessments with conventional evaluations of technical skill.

Photothermal Heating and Cooling of Nanostructures.

A vast range of insulating, semiconducting, and metallic nanomaterials have been studied over the past several decades with the aim of understanding how continuous-wave or pulsed laser radiation can influence their chemical functionality and local environment. Many fascinating observations have been made during laser irradiation including, but not limited to, the superheating of solvents, mass-transport-mediated morphology evolution, photodynamic therapy, morphology dependent resonances, and a range of phase transformations. In addition to laser heating, recent experiments have demonstrated the laser cooling of nanoscale materials through the emission of upconverted, anti-Stokes photons by trivalent rare-earth ions.

Effect of Chronic Social Stress on Prenatal Transfer of Antitetanus Immunity in Captive Breeding Rhesus Macaques ().

Because tetanus can cause significant morbidity and mortality in NHP, colonywide vaccination with tetanus toxoid is recommended for outdoor breeding colonies of rhesus macaques, with primary immunizations commonly given to infants at 6 mo of age followed by booster vaccines every 10 y. Maternal antibodies are thought to offer protective immunity to infants younger than 6 mo. However, historical colony data from the Yerkes National Primate Research Center show a higher incidence of tetanus among infants (≤ 6 mo old) born to subordinate dams.

Multiple Myeloma and Its Precursor Disease Among Firefighters Exposed to the World Trade Center Disaster.

Importance: The World Trade Center (WTC) attacks on September 11, 2001, created an unprecedented environmental exposure to known and suspected carcinogens suggested to increase the risk of multiple myeloma. Multiple myeloma is consistently preceded by the precursor states of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) and light-chain MGUS, detectable in peripheral blood.

Objective: To characterize WTC-exposed firefighters with a diagnosis of multiple myeloma and to conduct a screening study for MGUS and light-chain MGUS.

Public support for bicycling and transport policies in inner Sydney, Australia: a cross-sectional survey.

Objective: To describe the degree of community support - and factors associated with this support - for a number of potential transport policy options among an inner-city sample of residents in Sydney, Australia.

Methods: This study analysed data collected from a cross-sectional online survey: Wave 3 of the Sydney Transport and Health Study, conducted in September-October 2015 (n=418).

Results: There was a high level of overall support for policies to make public transport cheaper (85%), have more bicycle paths separated from motor vehicles (82%) and have a public bike-share program (72%), with similar levels of support across usual commute mode, age and sex.

Development of a Physiological Frailty Index for the World Trade Center General Responder Cohort.

Responders to the 9/11/2001 WTC attacks were exposed to multiple toxic pollutants. Since 2002, the health of the responder cohort has been continuously tracked by the WTC Health Monitoring Program. However, no assessments have been made of frailty, an important health metric given the current average age of the WTC responder cohort (55 years).

"Wish You Were Here": Examining Characteristics, Outcomes, and Statistical Solutions for Missing Cases in Web-Based Psychotherapeutic Trials.

Background: Missing cases following treatment are common in Web-based psychotherapy trials. Without the ability to directly measure and evaluate the outcomes for missing cases, the ability to measure and evaluate the effects of treatment is challenging. Although common, little is known about the characteristics of Web-based psychotherapy participants who present as missing cases, their likely clinical outcomes, or the suitability of different statistical assumptions that can characterize missing cases.

"Experience Isn't Everything": How Emotion Affects the Relationship Between Experience and Cue Utilization.

Objective: This research examined whether negative and positive arousal emotions modify the relationship between experience level and cue utilization among anesthetists.

Background: The capacity of a practitioner to form precise associations between clusters of features (e.g.

Parental posttraumatic stress and child behavioral problems in world trade center responders.

Background: We investigated trans-generational associations between Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms in World Trade Center (WTC) responders and behavioral problems in their children.

Methods: Participants were WTC responders-8034 police and 8352 non-traditional (eg, construction workers)-with one or more children at the time of their first visit to the World Trade Center Health Program (WTC-HP). Self-report questionnaires were administered approximately 4 years after the 9/11 WTC attack.

The paths of mortality: how understanding the biology of aging can help explain systems behavior of single cells.

Aging is a fundamental aspect of life, yet also one of the most confounding. In individual cells, aging results in a progressive decline which affects all organelles and reduces a cell's ability to maintain homeostasis. Because of the interconnected nature of cellular systems, the failure of even a single organelle can have cascading effects.

Design standards for experimental and field studies to evaluate diagnostic accuracy of tests for infectious diseases in aquatic animals.

Design and reporting quality of diagnostic accuracy studies (DAS) are important metrics for assessing utility of tests used in animal and human health. Following standards for designing DAS will assist in appropriate test selection for specific testing purposes and minimize the risk of reporting biased sensitivity and specificity estimates. To examine the benefits of recommending standards, design information from published DAS literature was assessed for 10 finfish, seven mollusc, nine crustacean and two amphibian diseases listed in the 2017 OIE Manual of Diagnostic Tests for Aquatic Animals.

Trauma rates and patterns in specific pathogen free (SPF) rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) groups.

There are some predictable patterns of trauma in captive rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) social groups. Several factors have been documented to contribute to these patterns, including group formation of unrelated animals, and the establishment of dominance ranks. Here, we report on how socially induced trauma in groups of rhesus monkeys is influenced by the breeding season, numbers of matrilines per group and matriline size.

Can be transmitted from donor to recipient through the embryo? Two case reports outlining losses in bovine embryo pregnancies.

Two bovine embryo recovery results are outlined from different herds. Both cases involve significant late gestational loss from embryos relating back to a single donor. was confirmed in 3 of 4 cases submitted for postmortem examination.

A toolkit for DNA assembly, genome engineering and multicolor imaging for .

One way scientists can observe and quantify processes in living cells is to engineer the genomes of animals to express multiple fluorescent proteins and then quantify those signals by various imaging techniques. To allow our laboratories to confidently quantify mixed (overlapping) fluorescent signals for our studies in the basic biology of gene expression and aging in , we developed a comprehensive toolkit for that we describe here. The Toolkit consists of two components: 1) a series of vectors for DNA assembly by homologous recombination (HR) in the yeast, and 2) a set of ten worm strains that each express a single, spectrally distinct fluorescent protein, under control of either the or promoters.

Electrophysiological Measures of Aging Pharynx Function in C. elegans Reveal Enhanced Organ Functionality in Older, Long-lived Mutants.

The function of the pharynx, an organ in the model system Caenorhabditis elegans, has been correlated with life span and motility (another measure of health) since 1980. In this study, in order to further understand the relationship between organ function and life span, we measured the age-related decline of the pharynx using an electrophysiological approach. We measured and analyzed electropharyngeograms (EPG) of wild type animals, short-lived hsf-1 mutants, and long-lived animals with genetically decreased insulin signaling or increased heat shock pathway signaling; we recorded a total of 2,478 EPGs from 1,374 individuals.

Assessment of cumulative health risk in the World Trade Center general responder cohort.

Background: Multiple comorbidities have been reported among rescue/recovery workers responding to the 9/11/2001 WTC disaster. In this study, we developed an index that quantifies the cumulative physiological burden of comorbidities and predicts life expectancy in this cohort.

Methods: A machine learning approach (gradient boosting) was used to model the relationship between mortality and several clinical parameters (laboratory test results, blood pressure, pulmonary function measures).

Young adult waterpipe tobacco users' perceived addictiveness of waterpipe tobacco.

Introduction: Young adults generally do not perceive waterpipe tobacco smoking (WTS) to be addictive. Underlying reasons for these false perceptions have received limited research attention and little is known about effective WTS prevention messaging. This study examined perceptions of the addictiveness of WTS among young adults and ascertained their feedback on WTS prevention message content.

Randomized trial comparing group size of periodic in-person sessions in a remotely delivered weight loss intervention.

Background: Few randomized studies have examined differential effects of group size in behavioral weight control, especially in hybrid programs that include Internet treatment approaches.

Methods: Randomized controlled trial (n = 195) comparing a 4 month hybrid internet weight loss program coupled with monthly face to face groups of 100 persons (Large Group, LG; 1 group) or to the same approach with monthly groups of 20 persons (Small Group, SG; 4 groups). Repeated-measures mixed-model analysis with age and race as covariates were used to estimate primary (weight) and secondary outcomes, and to test group differences in change over time.

Surgical resident technical skill self-evaluation: increased precision with training progression.

Background: Surgical resident ability to accurately evaluate one's own skill level is an important part of educational growth. We aimed to determine if differences exist between self and observer technical skill evaluation of surgical residents performing a single procedure.

Materials And Methods: We prospectively enrolled 14 categorical general surgery residents (six post-graduate year [PGY] 1-2, three PGY 3, and five PGY 4-5).

Queensland Alcohol-related violence and Night Time Economy Monitoring project (QUANTEM): a study protocol.

Background: Alcohol-related harm is a substantial burden on the community in Australia and internationally, particularly harm related to risky drinking practices of young people in the night-time economy. This protocol paper describes a study that will report on the changes in a wide range of health and justice outcome measures associated with major policy changes in the state of Queensland, Australia. A key element includes trading hours restrictions for licensed premises to 2 am for the state and 3 am in Safe Night Precincts (SNPs).

Morphologically constrained and data informed cell segmentation of budding yeast.

Motivation: Although high-content image cytometry is becoming increasingly routine, processing the large amount of data acquired during time-lapse experiments remains a challenge. The majority of approaches for automated single-cell segmentation focus on flat, uniform fields of view covered with a single layer of cells. In the increasingly popular microfluidic devices that trap individual cells for long term imaging, these conditions are not met.

Weight Loss Strategies Utilized in a Men's Weight Loss Intervention.

Men are underrepresented in weight loss programs and little is currently known about the weight loss strategies men prefer. This study describes the weight loss strategies used by men during a men-only weight loss program. At baseline, 3 months, and 6 months, participants reported how frequently they used 45 weight loss strategies including strategies frequently recommended by the program (i.