Qualitative and mixed methods: informing and enhancing exposure science.

Addressing complex environmental health challenges necessitates the integration of multiple research methodologies to fully understand the social, economic, and health impacts of exposure to environmental hazards. Qualitative and mixed methods (QMM) are vital in uncovering the sociocultural dynamics that influence people's interactions with their environment and subsequent health-related outcomes. QMM has the potential to reveal insights that quantitative methods might overlook.

Somatic and autonomic nerve density and distribution within the clitoris: an immunohistochemical study in adult female cadavers.

Introduction And Hypothesis: Knowledge of clitoral neuroanatomy is critical to vulvar surgery. We sought to characterize the density and distribution of autonomic and somatic nerves supplying the clitoris.

Methods: Pelvic tissue harvested from female cadavers was sectioned axially at three anatomic levels: the proximal aspect of the clitoral body (CB), the distal CB, and the glans.

What a mix! Volatile organic compounds and worker exposure in small business beauty salons in Tucson, Arizona.

Introduction: Small business beauty salons have volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in their workplace air. VOCs are present as ingredients in beauty or hair products. They may also form because of chemical reactions, where thermal-styling elements accelerate the volatilization of these compounds.

Somatic and autonomic nerve density of the urethra, periurethral tissue, and anterior vaginal wall: an immunohistochemical study in adult female cadavers.

Introduction And Hypothesis: Retropubic procedures may disrupt nerves supplying the pelvic viscera; however, knowledge of pelvic neuroanatomy is limited. We sought to characterize somatic and autonomic nerve density within the urethra, periurethral tissue, and anterior vagina.

Methods: Axial sections were obtained from pelvic tissue harvested from female cadavers ≤24 h from death at three anatomical levels: the midurethra, proximal urethra, and upper trigone.

Endogenous pathology in tauopathy mice progresses via brain networks.

Neurodegenerative tauopathies are hypothesized to propagate via brain networks. This is uncertain because we have lacked precise network resolution of pathology. We therefore developed whole-brain staining methods with anti-p-tau nanobodies and imaged in 3D PS19 tauopathy mice, which have pan-neuronal expression of full-length human tau containing the P301S mutation.

Anatomic relationships of the clitoral body, bulbs of the vestibule, and urethra.

Background: Although recent studies have enhanced our understanding of the anatomy of the clitoris and its somatic innervation, less emphasis has been placed on the anatomic relationships of the clitoris to its surrounding structures.

Objective: This study aimed to further characterize the gross and histologic relationships of the clitoris, vestibular bulbs, and urethra.

Study Design: Detailed dissections were performed in 30 unembalmed female cadavers.

Review: Milk Small Extracellular Vesicles for Use in the Delivery of Therapeutics.

Small extracellular vesicles (sEVs, "exosomes") in milk have attracted considerable attention for use in delivering therapeutics to diseased tissues because of the following qualities. The production of milk sEVs is scalable, e.g.

Small Extracellular Vesicles in Milk Cross the Blood-Brain Barrier in Murine Cerebral Cortex Endothelial Cells and Promote Dendritic Complexity in the Hippocampus and Brain Function in C57BL/6J Mice.

Human milk contains large amounts of small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) and their microRNA cargos, whereas infant formulas contain only trace amounts of sEVs and microRNAs. We assessed the transport of sEVs across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and sEV accumulation in distinct regions of the brain in brain endothelial cells and suckling mice. We further assessed sEV-dependent gene expression profiles and effects on the dendritic complexity of hippocampal granule cells and phenotypes of EV depletion in neonate, juvenile and adult mice.

Autoantigen microarrays reveal myelin basic protein autoantibodies in morphea.

Background: Morphea is an autoimmune, sclerosing skin disorder. Despite the recent emphasis on immune dysregulation in morphea, the role of autoantibodies in morphea pathogenesis or utility as biomarkers are poorly defined.

Methods: Autoantigen microarray was used to profile autoantibodies from the serum of participants from the Morphea in Adults and Children (MAC) cohort.

Establishment of patient-derived organoid models of lower-grade glioma.

Background: Historically, creating patient-derived models of lower-grade glioma (LGG) has been challenging, contributing to few experimental platforms that support laboratory-based investigations of this disease. Although organoid modeling approaches have recently been employed to create in vitro models of high-grade glioma (HGG), it is unknown whether this approach can be successfully applied to LGG.

Methods: In this study, we developed an optimized protocol for the establishment of organoids from LGG primary tissue samples by utilizing physiologic (5%) oxygenation conditions and employed it to produce the first known suite of these models.

VAMP4 Maintains a Ca-Sensitive Pool of Spontaneously Recycling Synaptic Vesicles.

Spontaneous neurotransmitter release is a fundamental property of synapses in which neurotransmitter filled vesicles release their content independent of presynaptic action potentials (APs). Despite their seemingly random nature, these spontaneous fusion events can be regulated by Ca signaling pathways. Here, we probed the mechanisms that maintain Ca sensitivity of spontaneous release events in synapses formed between hippocampal neurons cultured from rats of both sexes.

B cells migrate into remote brain areas and support neurogenesis and functional recovery after focal stroke in mice.

Lymphocytes infiltrate the stroke core and penumbra and often exacerbate cellular injury. B cells, however, are lymphocytes that do not contribute to acute pathology but can support recovery. B cell adoptive transfer to mice reduced infarct volumes 3 and 7 d after transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAo), independent of changing immune populations in recipient mice.

Visualization and Quantification of Post-stroke Neural Connectivity and Neuroinflammation Using Serial Two-Photon Tomography in the Whole Mouse Brain.

Whole-brain volumetric microscopy techniques such as serial two-photon tomography (STPT) can provide detailed information on the roles of neuroinflammation and neuroplasticity throughout the whole brain post-stroke. STPT automatically generates high-resolution images of coronal sections of the entire mouse brain that can be readily visualized in three dimensions. We developed a pipeline for whole brain image analysis that includes supervised machine learning (pixel-wise random forest models via the "ilastik" software package) followed by registration to a standardized 3-D atlas of the adult mouse brain (Common Coordinate Framework v3.

Anatomy, histology, and nerve density of clitoris and associated structures: clinical applications to vulvar surgery.

Background: A precise understanding of structures comprising the female external genitalia is essential in obstetric and gynecologic practice.

Objective: To further characterize the anatomy, histology, and nerve density of the clitoris and associated structures, and to provide clinical correlations to vulvar surgery.

Materials And Methods: Unembalmed female cadavers were examined.

Gross and Histologic Anatomy of the Pelvic Ureter: Clinical Applications to Pelvic Surgery.

Objective: To further evaluate relationships of the pelvic ureter to clinically relevant structures and to characterize the anatomy, histology, and nerve density of the distal ureter.

Methods: In this observational cadaveric study, 35 female cadavers were examined, 30 by gross dissections and five microscopically. Ureter length and segments of pelvic ureter were measured.

Gross and histologic relationships of the retropubic urethra to lateral pelvic sidewall and anterior vaginal wall in female cadavers: clinical applications to retropubic surgery.

Background: Knowledge of the retropubic space anatomy is essential for safe entry and surgical applications within this space.

Objective: The objectives of this study were to examine the gross and histologic anatomy of the retropubic urethra, paraurethral tissue, and urethrovaginal space and to correlate findings to retropubic procedures.

Study Design: Anatomic relationships of the retropubic urethra were examined grossly in unembalmed female cadavers.

Cell-Specific Loss of SNAP25 from Cortical Projection Neurons Allows Normal Development but Causes Subsequent Neurodegeneration.

Synaptosomal associated protein 25 kDa (SNAP25) is an essential component of the SNARE complex regulating synaptic vesicle fusion. SNAP25 deficiency has been implicated in a variety of cognitive disorders. We ablated SNAP25 from selected neuronal populations by generating a transgenic mouse (B6-Snap25tm3mcw (Snap25-flox)) with LoxP sites flanking exon5a/5b.

Application of phytoscreening to three hazardous waste sites in Arizona.

The great majority of prior phytoscreening applications have been conducted in humid and temperate environments wherein groundwater is relatively shallow (~1-6m deep). The objective of this research is to evaluate its use in semi-arid environments for sites with deeper groundwater (>10m). To that end, phytoscreening is applied to three chlorinated-solvent hazardous-waste sites in Arizona.

Persistence of parenchymal and perivascular T-cells in treatment-refractory anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor encephalitis.

Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis is an autoimmune disease mediated by IgG1 or IgG3 antibodies to the GluN1 subunit of the NMDAR, resulting in downregulation of NMDARs. Early diagnosis, prompt reduction of anti-NMDAR antibodies, and removal of associated ovarian tumors when identified are important drivers of prognosis. Immunohistochemical studies were carried out to evaluate B cell, plasma cell, and T-cell infiltrates in the brain of a 3-year-old patient with anti-NMDAR encephalitis who failed to show improvement after plasma exchange and Rituximab treatment.

Loss of Doc2-Dependent Spontaneous Neurotransmission Augments Glutamatergic Synaptic Strength.

Action potential-evoked vesicle fusion comprises the majority of neurotransmission within chemical synapses, but action potential-independent spontaneous neurotransmission also contributes to the collection of signals sent to the postsynaptic cell. Previous work has implicated spontaneous neurotransmission in homeostatic synaptic scaling, but few studies have selectively manipulated spontaneous neurotransmission without substantial changes in evoked neurotransmission to study this function in detail. Here we used a quadruple knockdown strategy to reduce levels of proteins within the soluble calcium-binding double C2 domain (Doc2)-like protein family to selectively reduce spontaneous neurotransmission in cultured mouse and rat neurons.

Transferable Training Modules: Building Environmental Education Opportunities With and for Mexican Community Health Workers (Promotores de Salud).

Community health workers (promotores de salud) have the ability to empower communities to mitigate negative health outcomes. Current training efforts in environmental topics are lacking. This project addressed this gap by developing 4 transferable training modules on environmental health.

Selective molecular impairment of spontaneous neurotransmission modulates synaptic efficacy.

Recent studies suggest that stimulus-evoked and spontaneous neurotransmitter release processes are mechanistically distinct. Here we targeted the non-canonical synaptic vesicle SNAREs Vps10p-tail-interactor-1a (vti1a) and vesicle-associated membrane protein 7 (VAMP7) to specifically inhibit spontaneous release events and probe whether these events signal independently of evoked release to the postsynaptic neuron. We found that loss of vti1a and VAMP7 impairs spontaneous high-frequency glutamate release and augments unitary event amplitudes by reducing postsynaptic eukaryotic elongation factor 2 kinase (eEF2K) activity subsequent to the reduction in N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) activity.

A Longitudinal Study of Cultural Adaptation among Mexican and Dominican Immigrant Women.

The present longitudinal study examined cultural adaptation (i.e., acculturation and enculturation) and its correlates in a sample of 189 Mexican and Dominican immigrant women.