Ganaxolone Therapy After Preterm Birth Restores Cerebellar Oligodendrocyte Maturation and Myelination in Guinea Pigs.

The postnatal environment is challenging for the preterm neonate with exposure to hypoxic and excitotoxic events, amplified by premature loss of placentally derived neurosteroids. Between preterm birth and term equivalent age (TEA), cerebellar development continues despite these challenges. We hypothesize that neurosteroid replacement therapy during this time will support optimal cerebellar development.

Ongoing effects of preterm birth on the dopaminergic and noradrenergic pathways in the frontal cortex and hippocampus of guinea pigs.

Children born preterm have an increased likelihood of developing neurobehavioral disorders such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and anxiety. These disorders have a sex bias, with males having a higher incidence of ADHD, whereas anxiety disorder tends to be more prevalent in females. Both disorders are underpinned by imbalances to key neurotransmitter systems, with dopamine and noradrenaline in particular having major roles in attention regulation and stress modulation.

Maternal Vitamin C Intake during Pregnancy Influences Long-Term Offspring Growth with Timing- and Sex-Specific Effects in Guinea Pigs.

Our previous work in guinea pigs revealed that low vitamin C intake during preconception and pregnancy adversely affects fertility, pregnancy outcomes, and foetal and neonatal growth in a sex-dependent manner. To investigate the long-term impact on offspring, we monitored their growth from birth to adolescence (four months), recorded organ weights at childhood equivalence (28 days) and adolescence, and assessed physiological parameters like oral glucose tolerance and basal cortisol concentrations. We also investigated the effects of the timing of maternal vitamin C restriction (early vs.

A continuum mechanics model of the plant cell wall reveals interplay between enzyme action and cell wall structure.

Plant cell growth is regulated through manipulation of the cell wall network, which consists of oriented cellulose microfibrils embedded within a ground matrix incorporating pectin and hemicellulose components. There remain many unknowns as to how this manipulation occurs. Experiments have shown that cellulose reorients in cell walls as the cell expands, while recent data suggest that growth is controlled by distinct collections of hemicellulose called biomechanical hotspots, which join the cellulose molecule together.

Effects of Low Vitamin C Intake on Fertility Parameters and Pregnancy Outcomes in Guinea Pigs.

Identifying how specific nutrients can impact fertility, pregnancy, and neonatal outcomes will yield important insights into the biological mechanisms linking diet and reproductive health. Our study investigates how dietary vitamin C intake affects various fertility parameters and pregnancy and neonatal outcomes in the guinea pig, a natural model of vitamin C dependency. Dunkin Hartley guinea pigs were fed an optimal (900 mg/kg feed) or low (100 mg/kg feed) vitamin C diet ad libitum for at least three weeks prior to mating and throughout pregnancy.

Preterm-born individuals: a vulnerable population at risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality during thermal extremes?

New Findings: What is the topic of this review? Thermal extremes disproportionately affect populations with cardiovascular conditions. Preterm birth, across all gestational age ranges below 37 weeks, has been identified as a non-modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The hypothesis is presented that individuals born preterm are at an increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality during thermal extremes.

A novel whole-body thermal stress test for monitoring cardiovascular responses in guinea pigs.

Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Stress tests are frequently employed to expose early signs of cardiovascular dysfunction or disease and can be employed, for example, in the context of preterm birth. We aimed to establish a safe and effective thermal stress test to examine cardiovascular function.

Quantification and uncertainty of root growth stimulation by elevated CO in a mature temperate deciduous forest.

Increasing CO levels are a major global challenge, and the potential mitigation of anthropogenic CO emissions by natural carbon sinks remains poorly understood. The uptake of elevated CO (eCO) by the terrestrial biosphere, and subsequent sequestration as biomass in ecosystems, remain hard to quantify in natural ecosystems. Here, we combine field observations of fine root stocks and flows, derived from belowground imaging and soil cores, with image analysis, stochastic modelling, and statistical inference, to elucidate belowground root dynamics in a mature temperate deciduous forest under free-air eCO to 150 ppm above ambient levels.

Examining Neurosteroid-Analogue Therapy in the Preterm Neonate For Promoting Hippocampal Neurodevelopment.

Preterm birth can lead to brain injury and currently there are no targeted therapies to promote postnatal brain development and protect these vulnerable neonates. We have previously shown that the neurosteroid-analogue ganaxolone promotes white matter development and improves behavioural outcomes in male juvenile guinea pigs born preterm. Adverse side effects in this previous study necessitated this current follow-up dosing study, where a focus was placed upon physical wellbeing during the treatment administration and markers of neurodevelopment at the completion of the treatment period.

Impact of Interfacing Near Point of Care Clinical Chemistry and Hematology Analyzers at Urgent Care Clinics at an Academic Health System.

Background: Point-of-care (POC) testing equipment is commonly utilized in outpatient clinics. Our institution recently interfaced POC chemistry and hematology devices at two outpatient clinics via middleware software to the central electronic health record (EHR), facilitating a comparison of manual transcription versus automatic reporting via interface. This allowed for estimation of serious/obvious error rates and manual time savings.

The Epigenetic Role of Vitamin C in Neurodevelopment.

The maternal diet during pregnancy is a key determinant of offspring health. Early studies have linked poor maternal nutrition during gestation with a propensity for the development of chronic conditions in offspring. These conditions include cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and even compromised mental health.

A survey of mastitis pathogens including antimicrobial susceptibility in southeastern Australian dairy herds.

The objectives for this study were to (1) describe the pathogen profile in quarters from cows with clinical mastitis and in cows with subclinical mastitis in southeastern Australia; and (2) describe antimicrobial susceptibility among isolated pathogens. As a secondary objective, we aimed to compare antimicrobial resistance prevalence in pathogens isolated from clinical and subclinical mastitis samples. A convenience sample of dairy herds (n = 65) from 4 regions in southeastern Australia (Gippsland, Northern Victoria, Tasmania, Western Victoria) were invited to submit milk samples from cows with clinical and subclinical mastitis over a 14-mo period (January 2011 to March 2012).

Differential effects of four intramuscular sedatives on cardiorespiratory stability in juvenile guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus).

Background: Non-invasive physiological monitoring can induce stress in laboratory animals. Sedation reduces the level of restraint required, thereby improving the validity of physiological signals measured. However, sedatives may alter physiological equilibrium introducing unintended bias and/or, masking the experimental outcomes of interest.

Lockhart with a twist: Modelling cellulose microfibril deposition and reorientation reveals twisting plant cell growth mechanisms.

Plant morphology emerges from cellular growth and structure. The turgor-driven diffuse growth of a cell can be highly anisotropic: significant longitudinally and negligible radially. Such anisotropy is ensured by cellulose microfibrils (CMF) reinforcing the cell wall in the hoop direction.

Nitrous oxide improves cardiovascular, respiratory, and thermal stability during prolonged isoflurane anesthesia in juvenile guinea pigs.

Anesthesia is frequently used to facilitate physiological monitoring during interventional animal studies. However, its use may induce cardiovascular (central and peripheral), respiratory, and thermoregulatory depression, confounding results in anesthetized animals. Despite the wide utility of guinea pigs as a translational platform, anesthetic protocols remain unstandardized for extended physiological studies in this species.

The benefits of peer transparency in safe workplace operation post pandemic lockdown.

The benefits of different levels of engagement with test, trace and isolate procedures are investigated for a pandemic in which there is little population immunity, in terms of productivity and public health. Simple mathematical modelling is used in the context of a single, relatively closed workplace such as a factory or back-office where, in normal operation, each worker has lengthy interactions with a fixed set of colleagues. A discrete-time SEIR model on a fixed interaction graph is simulated with parameters that are motivated by the recent COVID-19 pandemic in the UK during a post-peak phase, including a small risk of viral infection from outside the working environment.

The case for integrated health and community literacy to achieve transformational community engagement and improved health outcomes: an inclusive approach to addressing rural and remote health inequities and community healthcare expectations.

Context: Despite the substantial investment by Australian health authorities to improve the health of rural and remote communities, rural residents continue to experience health care access challenges and poorer health outcomes. Health literacy and community engagement are both considered critical in addressing these health inequities. However, the current focus on health literacy can place undue burdens of responsibility for healthcare on individuals from disadvantaged communities whilst not taking due account of broader community needs and healthcare expectations.

Fructose Consumption During Pregnancy Influences Milk Lipid Composition and Offspring Lipid Profiles in Guinea Pigs.

Excess dietary fructose is a major public health concern (1-4). Evidence shows increased fructose intake can cause insulin resistance, hepatic lipogenesis, hypertriglyceridemia, obesity and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) (5-9). However, little is known about the effects of fructose during pregnancy and its influence on offspring development and predisposition to later-life disease.

Methamphetamine administration increases hepatic CYP1A2 but not CYP3A activity in female guinea pigs.

Methamphetamine use has increased over the past decade and the first use of methamphetamine is most often when women are of reproductive age. Methamphetamine accumulates in the liver; however, little is known about the effect of methamphetamine use on hepatic drug metabolism. Methamphetamine was administered on 3 occassions to female Dunkin Hartley guinea pigs of reproductive age, mimicking recreational drug use.

Oriented suspension mechanics with application to improving flow linear dichroism spectroscopy.

Flow linear dichroism is a biophysical spectroscopic technique that exploits the shear-induced alignment of elongated particles in suspension. Motivated by the broad aim of optimizing the sensitivity of this technique, and more specifically by a hand-held synthetic biotechnology prototype for waterborne-pathogen detection, a model of steady and oscillating pressure-driven channel flow and orientation dynamics of a suspension of slender microscopic fibres is developed. The model couples the Fokker-Planck equation for Brownian suspensions with the narrow channel flow equations, the latter modified to incorporate mechanical anisotropy induced by the particles.

Model selection and parameter estimation for root architecture models using likelihood-free inference.

Plant root systems play vital roles in the biosphere, environment and agriculture, but the quantitative principles governing their growth and architecture remain poorly understood. The 'forward problem' of what root forms can arise from given models and parameters has been well studied through modelling and simulation, but comparatively little attention has been given to the 'inverse problem': what models and parameters are responsible for producing an experimentally observed root system? Here, we propose the use of approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) to infer mechanistic parameters governing root growth and architecture, allowing us to learn and quantify uncertainty in parameters and model structures using observed root architectures. We demonstrate the use of this platform on synthetic and experimental root data and show how it may be used to identify growth mechanisms and characterize growth parameters in different mutants.

Arginine vasopressin improves cerebral perfusion following controlled haemorrhage in adult ewes.

Key Points: Traumatic haemorrhagic shock carries significant morbidity and mortality related to the severity and duration of tissue hypoperfusion, much of which occurs in the pre-hospital environment where therapy must be easy to use and would augment, not replace, local haemorrhage control measures. Vasopressor therapy use in haemorrhagic shock remains controversial. Potential benefits from improved blood pressure and tissue perfusion need to be weighed against possible harm from increased blood loss if haemorrhage is uncontrolled.