Survey of Laboratory Stewardship Governance at US Academic Medical Centers.

Background: Efforts to appropriately utilize laboratory tests have been underway for several decades. However, limited information is available regarding the status of laboratory stewardship at academic medical centers. Prior to initiating a laboratory stewardship committee, a study was initiated to gain insights from peer institutions.

Associations Between Exercise Capacity and Psychological Functioning in Children and Adolescents with Fontan Circulation.

Individuals with Fontan circulation (FC) often have diminished exercise capacity and are at risk for psychological problems. The current study examines associations between exercise capacity and psychological functioning in children and adolescents with FC. A multidisciplinary team evaluated participants in a clinic for pediatric patients with FC.

Single-cell multiomics guided mechanistic understanding of Fontan-associated liver disease.

The Fontan operation is the current standard of care for single-ventricle congenital heart disease. Individuals with a Fontan circulation (FC) exhibit central venous hypertension and face life-threatening complications of hepatic fibrosis, known as Fontan-associated liver disease (FALD). The fundamental biology and mechanisms of FALD are little understood.

Construction of relatedness matrices in autopolyploid populations using low-depth high-throughput sequencing data.

An improved estimator of genomic relatedness using low-depth high-throughput sequencing data for autopolyploids is developed. Its outputs strongly correlate with SNP array-based estimates and are available in the package GUSrelate. High-throughput sequencing (HTS) methods have reduced sequencing costs and resources compared to array-based tools, facilitating the investigation of many non-model polyploid species.

Nanoscale imaging of Fe-rich inclusions in single-crystal zircon using X-ray ptycho-tomography.

We apply X-ray ptycho-tomography to perform high-resolution, non-destructive, three-dimensional (3D) imaging of Fe-rich inclusions in paleomagnetically relevant materials (zircon single crystals from the Bishop Tuff ignimbrite). Correlative imaging using quantum diamond magnetic microscopy combined with X-ray fluorescence mapping was used to locate regions containing potential ferromagnetic remanence carriers. Ptycho-tomographic reconstructions with voxel sizes 85 nm and 21 nm were achievable across a field-of-view > 80 µm; voxel sizes as small as 5 nm were achievable over a limited field-of-view using local ptycho-tomography.

Direct purification and immobilization of his-tagged enzymes using unmodified nickel ferrite NiFeO magnetic nanoparticles.

Purification of valuable engineered proteins and enzymes can be laborious, costly, and generating large amount of chemical waste. Whilst enzyme immobilization can enhance recycling and reuse of enzymes, conventional methods for immobilizing engineered enzymes from purified samples are also inefficient with multiple-step protocols, regarding both the carrier preparation and enzyme binding. Nickel ferrite magnetic nanoparticles (NiFeO MNPs) offer distinct advantages in both purification and immobilization of enzymes.

Southern pine beetle (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) and its associated insect community: similarities and key differences between northeastern and southeastern pine forests.

We examine consequences of climate-induced range expansion on community composition and diversity within trees attacked by the southern pine beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann). At the northernmost limit of the southern pine beetle range where populations have persisted for multiple years (currently Long Island, NY), we collected and reared bark samples and placed emergence traps on southern pine beetle-attacked pitch pine, Pinus rigida Mill. (Pinales: Pinaceae).

Large-scale analysis of sheep rumen metagenome profiles captured by reduced representation sequencing reveals individual profiles are influenced by the environment and genetics of the host.

Background: Producing animal protein while reducing the animal's impact on the environment, e.g., through improved feed efficiency and lowered methane emissions, has gained interest in recent years.

Advocacy at the Eighth World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery.

The (WCPCCS) will be held in Washington DC, USA, from Saturday, 26 August, 2023 to Friday, 1 September, 2023, inclusive. The will be the largest and most comprehensive scientific meeting dedicated to paediatric and congenital cardiac care ever held. At the time of the writing of this manuscript, has 5,037 registered attendees (and rising) from 117 countries, a truly diverse and international faculty of over 925 individuals from 89 countries, over 2,000 individual abstracts and poster presenters from 101 countries, and a Best Abstract Competition featuring 153 oral abstracts from 34 countries.

Addressing vaccine concerns through the spectrum of vaccine acceptance.

Rationale/objective: Several studies have examined attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines, giving prominence to hesitancy and conceptual models that seek to explain its prevalence, mostly in high-income contexts. An alternative conceptual approach that prioritises an understanding of vaccine concerns, the rationality of the questions people have, the political and media ecologies that raise them, will help recommend ways in which such concerns can be addressed. This current study employs the Spectrum of Vaccine Acceptance as a conceptual framework to explain vaccine concerns, in a low-income context.

Combining host and rumen metagenome profiling for selection in sheep: prediction of methane, feed efficiency, production, and health traits.

Background: Rumen microbes break down complex dietary carbohydrates into energy sources for the host and are increasingly shown to be a key aspect of animal performance. Host genotypes can be combined with microbial DNA sequencing to predict performance traits or traits related to environmental impact, such as enteric methane emissions. Metagenome profiles were generated from 3139 rumen samples, collected from 1200 dual purpose ewes, using restriction enzyme-reduced representation sequencing (RE-RRS).

Genetic parameter analysis of bareness and tail traits in New Zealand sheep.

Physical traits that improve welfare and disease outcomes for sheep are becoming increasingly important due to both increased climate challenges and societal expectations. Such traits include tail length, the amount of skin (vs. wool) on the underside of the tail, and the area of no-wool (hair) on the belly and breech areas (surrounding the anus) of the animal.

Potential of in-plant intramuscular fat predictions to enable sheep breeders to incorporate consumer preferences in breeding programmes.

The inclusion of eating quality traits in sheep genetic improvement programmes is desirable. Intramuscular fat (IMF) plays a key role in ensuring consumer satisfaction when eating lamb, but genetic progress for IMF is constrained by a lack of routine data collection. This study investigated the potential for IMF predictor traits to substitute for measured IMF in genetic improvement programmes.

Efficiency of genotyping by sequencing in inferring genomic relatedness and molecular insights into fat tail selection in Tunisian sheep.

In developing countries, the use of simple and cost-efficient molecular technology is crucial for genetic characterization of local animal resources and better development of conservation strategies. The genotyping by sequencing (GBS) technique, also called restriction enzyme- reduced representational sequencing, is an efficient, cost-effective method for simultaneous discovery and genotyping of many markers. In the present study, we applied a two-enzyme GBS protocol (PstI/MspI) to discover and genotype SNP markers among 197 Tunisian sheep samples.

Anatomical distribution of CGRP-containing lumbosacral spinal afferent neurons in the mouse uterine horn.

Sensory stimuli from the uterus are detected by spinal afferent neurons whose cell bodies arise from thoracolumbar and lumbosacral dorsal root ganglia (DRG). Using an survival surgical technique developed in our laboratory to remove select DRG from live mice, we recently quantified the topographical distribution of thoracolumbar spinal afferents innervating the mouse uterine horn, revealed by loss of immunoreactivity to calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP). Here, we used the same technique to investigate the distribution of lumbosacral uterine spinal afferents, in which L5-S1 DRG were unilaterally removed from adult female C57BL/6J mice ( = 6).

Impact of breeding for reduced methane emissions in New Zealand sheep on maternal and health traits.

Enteric methane emissions from ruminants account for ∼35% of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions. This poses a significant threat to the pastoral sector. Breeding has been shown to successfully lower methane emissions, and genomic prediction for lowered methane emissions has been introduced at the national level.

Can we have our steak and eat it: The impact of breeding for lowered environmental impact on yield and meat quality in sheep.

Global agreements in place to reduce methane emissions in livestock are a potential threat to food security. Successful but independent breeding strategies for improved production and lower methane are in place. The unanswered questions are whether these strategies can be combined and how they impact one another, physically and economically.

Disengaging spinal afferent nerve communication with the brain in live mice.

Our understanding of how abdominal organs (like the gut) communicate with the brain, via sensory nerves, has been limited by a lack of techniques to selectively activate or inhibit populations of spinal primary afferent neurons within dorsal root ganglia (DRG), of live animals. We report a survival surgery technique in mice, where select DRG are surgically removed (unilaterally or bilaterally), without interfering with other sensory or motor nerves. Using this approach, pain responses evoked by rectal distension were abolished by bilateral lumbosacral L5-S1 DRG removal, but not thoracolumbar T13-L1 DRG removal.

Genetic parameters for residual feed intake, methane emissions, and body composition in New Zealand maternal sheep.

There is simultaneous interest in improving the feed efficiency of ruminant livestock and reducing methane (CH) emissions. The relationship (genetic and phenotypic) between feed efficiency (characterized as residual feed intake: RFI) and greenhouse gases [methane (CH) and carbon dioxide (CO)] traits in New Zealand (NZ) maternal sheep has not previously been investigated, nor has their relationship with detailed estimates of body composition. To investigate these relationships in NZ maternal sheep, a feed intake facility was established at AgResearch Invermay, Mosgiel, NZ in 2015, comprising automated feeders that record individual feeding events.

Quantification of CGRP-immunoreactive myenteric neurons in mouse colon.

Quantitative data of biological systems provide valuable baseline information for understanding pathology, experimental perturbations, and computational modeling. In mouse colon, calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) is expressed by myenteric neurons with multiaxonal (Dogiel type II) morphology, characteristic of intrinsic primary afferent neurons (IPANs). Analogous neurons in other species and gut regions represent 5-35% of myenteric neurons.

Hitchhiking Mapping of Candidate Regions Associated with Fat Deposition in Iranian Thin and Fat Tail Sheep Breeds Suggests New Insights into Molecular Aspects of Fat Tail Selection.

The fat tail is a phenotype that divides indigenous Iranian sheep genetic resources into two major groups. The objective of the present study is to refine the map location of candidate regions associated with fat deposition, obtained via two separate whole genome scans contrasting thin and fat tail breeds, and to determine the nature of the selection occurring in these regions using a hitchhiking approach. Zel (thin tail) and Lori-Bakhtiari (fat tail) breed samples that had previously been run on the Illumina Ovine 50 k BeadChip, were genotyped with a denser set of SNPs in the three candidate regions using a Sequenom Mass ARRAY platform.