Evaluation of a Self-collected Device for Human Papillomavirus Screening to Increase Cervical Cancer Screening.

Objective: The authors compared the performance of a novel self-collect device with clinician-collected samples for detection of high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV).

Materials And Methods: Eighty-two (82) participants were recruited from 5 clinical sites in the United States. Each participant performed self-collect sampling using the self-collect device followed by a standard of care clinician-collected sample.

SNAPSHOT USA 2021: A third coordinated national camera trap survey of the United States.

SNAPSHOT USA is a multicontributor, long-term camera trap survey designed to survey mammals across the United States. Participants are recruited through community networks and directly through a website application (https://www.snapshot-usa.

Mammal responses to global changes in human activity vary by trophic group and landscape.

Wildlife must adapt to human presence to survive in the Anthropocene, so it is critical to understand species responses to humans in different contexts. We used camera trapping as a lens to view mammal responses to changes in human activity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Across 163 species sampled in 102 projects around the world, changes in the amount and timing of animal activity varied widely.

A kinematic-geometric model based on ankles' depth trajectory in frontal plane for gait analysis using a single RGB-D camera.

The emergence of RGB-D cameras and the development of pose estimation algorithms offer opportunities in biomechanics. However, some challenges still remain when using them for gait analysis, including noise which leads to misidentification of gait events and inaccuracy. Therefore, we present a novel kinematic-geometric model for spatio-temporal gait analysis, based on ankles' trajectory in the frontal plane and distance-to-camera data (depth).

SNAPSHOT USA 2020: A second coordinated national camera trap survey of the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Managing wildlife populations in the face of global change requires regular data on the abundance and distribution of wild animals, but acquiring these over appropriate spatial scales in a sustainable way has proven challenging. Here we present the data from Snapshot USA 2020, a second annual national mammal survey of the USA. This project involved 152 scientists setting camera traps in a standardized protocol at 1485 locations across 103 arrays in 43 states for a total of 52,710 trap-nights of survey effort.

Microbotanical residues for the study of early hominin tools.

More than 2 million years ago in East Africa, the earliest hominin stone tools evolved amidst changes in resource base, with pounding technology playing a key role in this adaptive process. Olduvai Gorge (now Oldupai) is a famed locality that remains paramount for the study of human evolution, also yielding some of the oldest battering tools in the world. However, direct evidence of the resources processed with these technologies is lacking entirely.

Fine Detection of Human Motion During Activities of Daily Living as a Clinical Indicator for the Detection and Early Treatment of Chronic Diseases: The E-Mob Project.

Methods to measure physical activity and sedentary behaviors typically quantify the amount of time devoted to these activities. Among patients with chronic diseases, these methods can provide interesting behavioral information, but generally do not capture detailed body motion and fine movement behaviors. Fine detection of motion may provide additional information about functional decline that is of clinical interest in chronic diseases.

SNAPSHOT USA 2019: a coordinated national camera trap survey of the United States.

With the accelerating pace of global change, it is imperative that we obtain rapid inventories of the status and distribution of wildlife for ecological inferences and conservation planning. To address this challenge, we launched the SNAPSHOT USA project, a collaborative survey of terrestrial wildlife populations using camera traps across the United States. For our first annual survey, we compiled data across all 50 states during a 14-week period (17 August-24 November of 2019).

Earliest Olduvai hominins exploited unstable environments ~ 2 million years ago.

Rapid environmental change is a catalyst for human evolution, driving dietary innovations, habitat diversification, and dispersal. However, there is a dearth of information to assess hominin adaptions to changing physiography during key evolutionary stages such as the early Pleistocene. Here we report a multiproxy dataset from Ewass Oldupa, in the Western Plio-Pleistocene rift basin of Olduvai Gorge (now Oldupai), Tanzania, to address this lacuna and offer an ecological perspective on human adaptability two million years ago.

Soil and plant phytoliths from the mosaics at Oldupai Gorge (Tanzania).

This article studies soil and plant phytoliths from the Eastern Serengeti Plains, specifically the mosaics from Oldupai Gorge, Tanzania, as present-day analogue for the environment that was contemporaneous with the emergence of the genus . We investigate whether phytolith assemblages from recent soil surfaces reflect plant community structure and composition with fidelity. The materials included 35 topsoil samples and 29 plant species (20 genera, 15 families).

Extracting Geometric Structures in Images with Delaunay Point Processes.

We introduce Delaunay Point Processes, a framework for the extraction of geometric structures from images. Our approach simultaneously locates and groups geometric primitives (line segments, triangles) to form extended structures (line networks, polygons) for a variety of image analysis tasks. Similarly to traditional point processes, our approach uses Markov Chain Monte Carlo to minimize an energy that balances fidelity to the input image data with geometric priors on the output structures.

Optical Method to Quantify Mechanical Contraction and Calcium Transients of Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes.

Differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells into cardiomyocytes (hPS-CMs) holds promise for myocardial regeneration therapies, drug discovery, and models of cardiac disease. Potential cardiotoxicities may affect hPS-CM mechanical contraction independent of calcium signaling. Herein, a method using an image capture system is described to measure hPS-CM contractility and intracellular calcium concurrently, with high spatial and temporal resolution.

Functional Effects of Delivering Human Mesenchymal Stem Cell-Seeded Biological Sutures to an Infarcted Heart.

Stem cell therapy has the potential to improve cardiac function after myocardial infarction (MI); however, existing methods to deliver cells to the myocardium, including intramyocardial injection, suffer from low engraftment rates. In this study, we used a rat model of acute MI to assess the effects of human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSC)-seeded fibrin biological sutures on cardiac function at 1 week after implant. Biological sutures were seeded with quantum dot (Qdot)-loaded hMSCs for 24 h before implantation.

Active Traction Force Response to Long-Term Cyclic Stretch Is Dependent on Cell Pre-stress.

Mechanical stimulation is recognized as a potent modulator of cellular behaviors such as proliferation, differentiation, and extracellular matrix assembly. However, the study of how cell-generated traction force changes in response to stretch is generally limited to short-term stimulation. The goal of this work is to determine how cells actively alter their traction force in response to long-term physiological cyclic stretch as a function of cell pre-stress.

Delivering stem cells to the healthy heart on biological sutures: effects on regional mechanical function.

Current cardiac cell therapies cannot effectively target and retain cells in a specific area of the heart. Cell-seeded biological sutures were previously developed to overcome this limitation, demonstrating targeted delivery with > 60% cell retention. In this study, both cell-seeded and non-seeded fibrin-based biological sutures were implanted into normal functioning rat hearts to determine the effects on mechanical function and fibrotic response.

Shigella spp. with reduced azithromycin susceptibility, Quebec, Canada, 2012-2013.

During 2012-2013 in Montreal, Canada, 4 locally acquired Shigella spp. pulse types with the mph(A) gene and reduced susceptibility to azithromycin were identified from 9 men who have sex with men, 7 of whom were HIV infected. Counseling about prevention of enteric sexually transmitted infections might help slow transmission of these organisms.

Acute reductions in mechanical wall strain precede the formation of intimal hyperplasia in a murine model of arterial occlusive disease.

Objective: Intimal hyperplasia (IH) continues to plague the durability of vascular interventions. Employing a validated murine model, ultrasound biomicroscopy, and speckle-tracking algorithms, we tested the hypothesis that reduced cyclic arterial wall strain results in accentuated arterial wall IH.

Methods: A 9-0 suture was tied around the left mouse (n = 10) common carotid artery and a 35-gauge (outer diameter = 0.

A simplified murine intimal hyperplasia model founded on a focal carotid stenosis.

Murine models offer a powerful tool for unraveling the mechanisms of intimal hyperplasia and vascular remodeling, although their technical complexity increases experimental variability and limits widespread application. We describe a simple and clinically relevant mouse model of arterial intimal hyperplasia and remodeling. Focal left carotid artery (LCA) stenosis was created by placing 9-0 nylon suture around the artery using an external 35-gauge mandrel needle (middle or distal location), which was then removed.

Development and characterization of a 3D multicell microtissue culture model of airway smooth muscle.

Airway smooth muscle (ASM) cellular and molecular biology is typically studied with single-cell cultures grown on flat 2D substrates. However, cells in vivo exist as part of complex 3D structures, and it is well established in other cell types that altering substrate geometry exerts potent effects on phenotype and function. These factors may be especially relevant to asthma, a disease characterized by structural remodeling of the airway wall, and highlights a need for more physiologically relevant models of ASM function.

Open-label, randomized, parallel-group controlled clinical trial of massage for treatment of depression in HIV-infected subjects.

Objectives: The study objectives were to determine whether massage therapy reduces symptoms of depression in subjects with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease.

Design: Subjects were randomized non-blinded into one of three parallel groups to receive Swedish massage or to one of two control groups, touch or no intervention for eight weeks.

Settings/location: The study was conducted at the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, which provided primary clinical care in an institutional setting.

Murine ultrasound imaging for circumferential strain analyses in the angiotensin II abdominal aortic aneurysm model.

Objective: The underlying causes of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) remain obscure, although research tools such as the angiotensin II (Ang II) apolipoprotein E-deficient (apoE(-/-)) mouse model have aided investigations. Longitudinal imaging and determination of biomechanical forces in this small-scale model have been difficult. We hypothesized that high-frequency ultrasound biomicroscopy combined with speckle-tracking analytical strategies can be used to define the role of circumferential mechanical strain in AAA formation in the Ang II/apoE(-/-) mouse model of AAAs.

Cortical surface mapping using topology correction, partial flattening and 3D shape context-based non-rigid registration for use in quantifying atrophy in Alzheimer's disease.

Magnetic resonance (MR) provides a non-invasive way to investigate changes in the brain resulting from aging or neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). Performing accurate analysis for population studies is challenging because of the interindividual anatomical variability. A large set of tools is found to perform studies of brain anatomy and population analysis (FreeSurfer, SPM, FSL).

[Pregnancy after infiltrative breast cancer treatment: experience of the CHRU of Strasbourg with literature review].

Objectives: Identification of women who survived infiltrative breast cancer and subsequently conceived and determination of the rate of pregnancy, the time from diagnosis to pregnancy, the outcome of breast cancer and of subsequent pregnancies.

Patients And Methods: Women treated for breast cancer at the Gynaecology and Obstetrics Unit of the University Hospital of Strasbourg between 1993 and 2007 who subsequently conceived were prospectively registered and followed yearly.

Results: Twenty pregnancies subsequent to surgery for breast carcinoma were observed in 598 patients.

Are Ayurvedic herbs for diabetes effective?

Objective: To evaluate and synthesize the evidence on the effect of Ayurvedic therapies for diabetes mellitus.

Design: Systematic review of trials.

Measurements And Main Results: We found no study that assessed Ayurvedic as a system of care.