The influence of food material properties on jaw kinematics in the primate, Cebus.

Objective: To quantify the impact of food material properties on temporal and spatial variables of chewing kinematics at the level of the feeding sequence, gape cycle, and gape cycle phases.

Design: Three-dimensional kinematics were quantified from two adult, male capuchin monkeys (genus Cebus) while chewing on foods grouped by material properties into two categories, foods of high toughness and foods of low toughness.

Results: Total sequence duration and the total number of chews in a sequence are significantly influenced by food material properties, with foods of high toughness having shorter sequence durations and lower total chew numbers per sequence.

Evolutionary history of mammalian sucking lice (Phthiraptera: Anoplura).

Background: Sucking lice (Phthiraptera: Anoplura) are obligate, permanent ectoparasites of eutherian mammals, parasitizing members of 12 of the 29 recognized mammalian orders and approximately 20% of all mammalian species. These host specific, blood-sucking insects are morphologically adapted for life on mammals: they are wingless, dorso-ventrally flattened, possess tibio-tarsal claws for clinging to host hair, and have piercing mouthparts for feeding. Although there are more than 540 described species of Anoplura and despite the potential economical and medical implications of sucking louse infestations, this study represents the first attempt to examine higher-level anopluran relationships using molecular data.

Origin of clothing lice indicates early clothing use by anatomically modern humans in Africa.

Clothing use is an important modern behavior that contributed to the successful expansion of humans into higher latitudes and cold climates. Previous research suggests that clothing use originated anywhere between 40,000 and 3 Ma, though there is little direct archaeological, fossil, or genetic evidence to support more specific estimates. Since clothing lice evolved from head louse ancestors once humans adopted clothing, dating the emergence of clothing lice may provide more specific estimates of the origin of clothing use.

Evaluating the potential of native ureolytic microbes to remediate a 90Sr contaminated environment.

This study was a preliminary evaluation of ureolytically driven calcite precipitation and strontium coprecipitation for remediating (90)Sr contamination at the Hanford 100-N Area in Washington; in particular the approach is suitable for treating sorbed (90)Sr that could otherwise be a long-term source for groundwater contamination. Geochemical conditions at the site are compatible with long-term calcite stability, and therefore groundwater and sediment samples were examined to assess the ureolytic capabilities of the native microbiota. Quantitative assays detected up to 2 × 10(4) putative ureC gene copies mL(-1) in water and up to 9 × 10(5) copies g(-1) in sediment.

Development of the Huntington disease family concerns and strategies survey from focus group data.

Health concerns and management strategies among families of young and middle-age adults with Huntington's disease (HD) are unknown. This study developed and tested psychometric properties of the Huntington Disease Family Concerns and Strategies Survey (HDFCSS). Focus group data from 91 adult family members were used to develop content.

Inbreeding depression increases with environmental stress: an experimental study and meta-analysis.

Inbreeding-environment interactions occur when inbreeding leads to differential fitness loss in different environments. Inbred individuals are often more sensitive to environmental stress than are outbred individuals, presumably because stress increases the expression of deleterious recessive alleles or cellular safeguards against stress are pushed beyond the organism's physiological limits. We examined inbreeding-environment interactions, along two environmental axes (temperature and rearing host) that differ in the amount of developmental stress they impose, in the seed-feeding beetle Callosobruchus maculatus.

Decisional involvement: staff nurse and nurse manager perceptions.

Enhancing involvement in organizational decisions is one strategy to improve the work environment of registered nurses and to increase their recruitment and retention. Little is known about the type of decision making and the level of involvement nurses desire. This was a descriptive study exploring staff nurse and nurse manager ratings of actual and preferred decisional involvement and differences between staff nurses and nurse managers.

Nonclinical dose formulation analysis method validation and sample analysis.

Nonclinical dose formulation analysis methods are used to confirm test article concentration and homogeneity in formulations and determine formulation stability in support of regulated nonclinical studies. There is currently no regulatory guidance for nonclinical dose formulation analysis method validation or sample analysis. Regulatory guidance for the validation of analytical procedures has been developed for drug product/formulation testing; however, verification of the formulation concentrations falls under the framework of GLP regulations (not GMP).

Genome sequences of the human body louse and its primary endosymbiont provide insights into the permanent parasitic lifestyle.

As an obligatory parasite of humans, the body louse (Pediculus humanus humanus) is an important vector for human diseases, including epidemic typhus, relapsing fever, and trench fever. Here, we present genome sequences of the body louse and its primary bacterial endosymbiont Candidatus Riesia pediculicola. The body louse has the smallest known insect genome, spanning 108 Mb.

Genotyping of human lice suggests multiple emergencies of body lice from local head louse populations.

Background: Genetic analyses of human lice have shown that the current taxonomic classification of head lice (Pediculus humanus capitis) and body lice (Pediculus humanus humanus) does not reflect their phylogenetic organization. Three phylotypes of head lice A, B and C exist but body lice have been observed only in phylotype A. Head and body lice have different behaviours and only the latter have been involved in outbreaks of infectious diseases including epidemic typhus, trench fever and louse borne recurrent fever.

A new scale to measure family members' perception of community health care services for persons with Huntington disease.

Unlabelled: RATIONALE, AIMS, AND OBJECTIVES: Huntington disease (HD) is a progressive genetic brain disease leading to disruptive cognitive, behavioural and physical impairments. Persons with the condition and their caregivers need appropriate and accessible health care services to help them manage the disease adequately. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of a new scale that measures family members' perception of community health care services (CHCS) for persons with HD.

Responses of ammonia-oxidizing bacterial and archaeal populations to organic nitrogen amendments in low-nutrient groundwater.

To evaluate the potential for organic nitrogen addition to stimulate the in situ growth of ammonia oxidizers during a field scale bioremediation trial, samples collected from the Eastern Snake River Plain Aquifer in Idaho before, during, and after the addition of molasses and urea were subjected to PCR analysis of ammonia monooxygenase subunit A (amoA) genes. Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and archaea (AOA) were present in all of the samples tested, with AOA amoA genes outnumbering AOB amoA genes in all of the samples. Following urea addition, nitrate levels rose and bacterial amoA copy numbers increased dramatically, suggesting that urea hydrolysis stimulated nitrification.

When it comes to inbreeding: slower is better.

The extent to which genetic diversity is lost from inbred populations is important for conservation biology, evolutionary ecology, and plant and animal breeding. This importance stems from the fact that the amount of genetic diversity a population has is expected to correlate with evolutionary potential. A population's ability to avert extinction during rapidly changing environmental conditions, or the magnitude of response to selection on a trait, depend on the ability of the genome to maintain potentially adaptive genetic variation in the face of random genetic drift.

Reactions of 2-(pyrrol-1-yl)benzyl radicals and related species under flash vacuum pyrolysis conditions.

2-(Pyrrol-1-yl)phenoxyl, aminyl, thiophenoxyl and benzyl radicals 2a-2d, respectively, were generated in the gas-phase under flash vacuum pyrolysis conditions. In all cases except the phenoxyl, cyclisation took place providing acceptable synthetic routes to the fused heterocycles 11, 14 and 15, respectively. Only sigmatropic rearrangement products were isolated, in low yields, from the phenoxyl 2a.

MAP kinase pathway is involved in IGF-1-stimulated proliferation of human retinal pigment epithelial cells (hRPE).

Purpose: To investigate the mitogenic activity of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) on the proliferation of human retinal pigment epithelial cells (hRPE) and to elucidate the role of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and MAP kinase (MAPK) in the IGF-1 signaling cascade.

Methods: Human RPE specimens were obtained from postmortem non-pathological eyes and cultured in vitro through several passages. Cellular proliferation in the presence of increasing concentrations of IGF-1 and IGF-1 + PD98059 (a known MAPK inhibitor) was measured by [(3)H]thymidine incorporation; trypan blue exclusion studies (T) verified cell viability.

Effects of 14 days of microgravity on fast hindlimb and diaphragm muscles of the rat.

The purpose of the present study was to determine the effects of 14 days of microgravity on specific rat fast-twitch muscles, and to compare these data with previous data from rat fast-twitch muscles exposed to microgravity for 10 days (Kraemer et al. 2000). Hindlimb muscles containing predominately fast fibers [extensor digitorum longus (EDL), superficial "white" (GSW) and deep "red" (GDR) gastrocnemius] and the diaphragm (DIA) were removed from flight and ground-based control animals and analyzed for: muscle mass, fiber type distribution, cross-sectional area, and myosin heavy chain (MHC) isoform content.

Ecological consequences of scaling of chew cycle duration and daily feeding time in primates.

Feeding systems and behaviors must evolve to satisfy the metabolic needs of organisms. This includes modifications to feeding systems as body size and metabolic needs change. Using our own data and data from the literature, we examine how size-related changes in metabolic needs are met by size-related changes in daily feeding time, chew cycle duration, volume of food processed per chew, and daily food volume intake in primates.

Progress toward personalized medicine for glaucoma.

How will you respond when a patient asks, "Doctor, what can I do to prevent myself from going blind from glaucoma like mom?". There is optimism that genetic profiling will help target patients to individualized treatments based on validated disease risk alleles, validated pharmacogenetic markers and behavioral modification. Personalized medicine will become a reality through identification of disease and pharmacogenetic markers, followed by careful study of how to employ this information in order to improve treatment outcomes.

Mutational meltdown in primary endosymbionts: selection limits Muller's ratchet.

Background: Primary bacterial endosymbionts of insects (p-endosymbionts) are thought to be undergoing the process of Muller's ratchet where they accrue slightly deleterious mutations due to genetic drift in small populations with negligible recombination rates. If this process were to go unchecked over time, theory predicts mutational meltdown and eventual extinction. Although genome degradation is common among p-endosymbionts, we do not observe widespread p-endosymbiont extinction, suggesting that Muller's ratchet may be slowed or even stopped over time.

Focused atorvastatin therapy in managed-care patients with coronary heart disease and CKD.

Background: This post hoc analysis of the Aggressive Lipid-Lowering Initiation Abates New Cardiac Events (ALLIANCE) Study investigates the effect of focused atorvastatin therapy versus usual care on cardiovascular outcomes in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) with and without chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Study Design: Prospective randomized open-label; median follow-up, 54.3 months.

Washington State's initiative to disseminate and implement high-fidelity ACT teams.

This column describes Washington State's historic statewide initiative to implement ten high-fidelity assertive community treatment teams. Legislative support and administrative leadership facilitated the implementation of this evidence-based practice as part of a comprehensive transformation initiative within public mental health services for people with serious mental illness. Stakeholder feedback and initial fidelity reviews suggest that the first year has been successful.

Multigene analysis of phylogenetic relationships and divergence times of primate sucking lice (Phthiraptera: Anoplura).

Cospeciation between hosts and parasites offers a unique opportunity to use information from parasites to infer events in host evolutionary history. Although lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) are known to cospeciate with their hosts and have frequently served as important markers to infer host evolutionary history, most molecular studies are based on only one or two markers. Resulting phylogenies may, therefore, represent gene histories (rather than species histories), and analyses of multiple molecular markers are needed to increase confidence in the results of phylogenetic analyses.

Scaling of chew cycle duration in primates.

The biomechanical determinants of the scaling of chew cycle duration are important components of models of primate feeding systems at all levels, from the neuromechanical to the ecological. Chew cycle durations were estimated in 35 species of primates and analyzed in conjunction with data on morphological variables of the feeding system estimating moment of inertia of the mandible and force production capacity of the chewing muscles. Data on scaling of primate chew cycle duration were compared with the predictions of simple pendulum and forced mass-spring system models of the feeding system.

Geographic distributions and origins of human head lice (Pediculus humanus capitis) based on mitochondrial data.

Human head lice (Pediculus humanus capitis) are subdivided into 3 deeply divergent mitochondrial clades (Clades A, B, and C), each having unique geographical distributions. Determining the evolutionary history and geographic distribution of these mitochondrial clades can elucidate the evolutionary history of the lice as well as their human hosts. Previous data suggest that lice belonging to mitochondrial Clade B may have originated in North America or Asia; however, geographic sampling and sample sizes have been limited.

Experimental evolution of the genetic load and its implications for the genetic basis of inbreeding depression.

The degree to which, and rapidity with which, inbreeding depression can be purged from a population has important implications for conservation biology, captive breeding practices, and invasive species biology. The degree and rate of purging also informs us regarding the genetic mechanisms underlying inbreeding depression. We examine the evolution of mean survival and inbreeding depression in survival following serial inbreeding in a seed-feeding beetle, Stator limbatus, which shows substantial inbreeding depression at all stages of development.