Metagenome tracking biogeographic agroecology: Phytobiota of tomatoes from Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and California.

Describing baseline microbiota associated with agricultural commodities in the field is an important step towards improving our understanding of a wide range of important objectives from plant pathology and horticultural sustainability, to food safety. Environmental pressures on plants (wind, dust, drought, water, temperature) vary by geography and characterizing the impact of these variable pressures on phyllosphere microbiota will contribute to improved stewardship of fresh produce for both plant and human health. A higher resolution understanding of the incidence of human pathogens on food plants and co-occurring phytobiota using metagenomic approaches (metagenome tracking) may contribute to improved source attribution and risk assessment in cases where human pathogens become introduced to agro-ecologies.

HISTONE DEACETYLASE 19 and the flowering time gene FD maintain reproductive meristem identity in an age-dependent manner.

The shoot apical meristem (SAM) undergoes developmental transitions that include a shift from vegetative to reproductive growth. This transition is triggered by flowering time genes, which up-regulate floral meristem (FM) identity genes that, in turn, control flower development by activating floral organ identity genes. This cascade of transcriptional activation is refined by repression mechanisms that temporally and spatially restrict gene expression to ensure proper development.

Circulating cell-free DNA as a biomarker of tissue injury: Assessment in a cardiac xenotransplantation model.

Background: Observational studies suggest that cell-free DNA (cfDNA) is a biomarker of tissue injury in a range of conditions including organ transplantation. However, the lack of model systems to study cfDNA and its relevance to tissue injury has limited the advancements in this field. We hypothesized that the predictable course of acute humoral xenograft rejection (AHXR) in organ transplants from genetically engineered donors provides an ideal system for assessing circulating cfDNA as a marker of tissue injury.

Late manifestation of alloantibody-associated injury and clinical pulmonary antibody-mediated rejection: Evidence from cell-free DNA analysis.

Background: Antibody-mediated rejection (AMR) often progresses to poor health outcomes in lung transplant recipients (LTRs). This, combined with the relatively insensitive clinical tools used for its diagnosis (spirometry, histopathology) led us to determine whether clinical AMR is diagnosed significantly later than its pathologic onset. In this study, we leveraged the high sensitivity of donor-derived cell-free DNA (ddcfDNA), a novel genomic tool, to detect early graft injury after lung transplantation.

Serological and haematological values in geriatric broad-breasted white turkeys.

Blood samples from 1-, 5- and 10-year-old broad-breasted white turkeys were used to determine haematological and serum values. There were 8 turkeys in each age group. Mean haematocrit, haemoglobin and creatinine values were higher in the 1-year-old than in 10-year-old turkeys.

Using a Control to Better Understand Phyllosphere Microbiota.

An important data gap in our understanding of the phyllosphere surrounds the origin of the many microbes described as phyllosphere communities. Most sampling in phyllosphere research has focused on the collection of microbiota without the use of a control, so the opportunity to determine which taxa are actually driven by the biology and physiology of plants as opposed to introduced by environmental forces has yet to be fully realized. To address this data gap, we used plastic plants as inanimate controls adjacent to live tomato plants (phyllosphere) in the field with the hope of distinguishing between bacterial microbiota that may be endemic to plants as opposed to introduced by environmental forces.

Comparison of Microbial Communities Isolated from Feces of Asymptomatic Salmonella-Shedding and Non-Salmonella Shedding Dairy Cows.

In the United States Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serotypes Kentucky and Cerro are frequently isolated from asymptomatic dairy cows. However, factors that contribute to colonization of the bovine gut by these two serotypes have not been identified.

Effectiveness of Fresh to You, a Discount Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Market in Low-Income Neighborhoods, on Children's Fruit and Vegetable Consumption, Rhode Island, 2010-2011.

Introduction: Eating fruits and vegetables is associated with lowered risk for many chronic diseases. However, most Americans, especially members of low-income and minority populations, do not eat adequate amounts. Fresh to You is a public-private partnership program that brings discount fresh produce markets into low-income neighborhoods.

Objective Assessment and Thematic Categorization of Patient-audible Information in an Emergency Department.

Objectives: The objective was to assess and categorize the understandable components of patient-audible information (e.g., provider conversations) in emergency department (ED) care areas and to initiate a baseline ED soundscape assessment.

Psychological and autonomic effects of art making in college-aged students.

Background And Objectives: Anxiety disorders comprise the most common category of mental illness among US young adults. Art making might be one method to help reduce anxiety, but the few studies investigating this have used only subjective measures of anxiety.

Design: This study employed both subjective (self-reported state anxiety from the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) and objective (heart rate variability) measures to assess whether 30-minute periods of art making reduced anxiety in 47 first-year college students prior to their final examinations.

The impact of systemic and copper pesticide applications on the phyllosphere microflora of tomatoes.

Background: Contamination of tomatoes by Salmonella can occur in agricultural settings. Little is currently understood about how agricultural inputs such as pesticide applications may impact epiphytic crop microflora and potentially play a role in contamination events. We examined the impact of two materials commonly used in Virginia tomato agriculture: acibenzolar-S-methyl (crop protectant) and copper oxychloride (pesticide) to identify the effects these materials may exert on baseline tomato microflora and on the incidence of three specific genera; Salmonella, Xanthomonas and Paenibacillus.

Skin cancer education and early detection at the beach: a randomized trial of dermatologist examination and biometric feedback.

Background: There are limited data on the effectiveness of skin cancer prevention education and early detection programs at beaches.

Objectives: We evaluate 4 strategies for addressing skin cancer prevention in beach settings.

Methods: This prospective study at 4 beaches included 4 intervention conditions: (1) education only; (2) education plus biometric feedback; (3) education plus dermatologist skin examination; or (4) education plus biometric feedback and dermatologist skin examination.

Reproductive and developmental toxicities of zinc supplemented rats.

Reproductive and developmental toxicities of zinc supplementation in F(0) rats and F(1) progeny were examined. Rats were treated by gavaging with zinc chloride (ZnCl(2)) at 0.0, 7.

The SunWise Policy intervention for school-based sun protection: a pilot study.

Skin cancer is highly preventable, but clearly there is a critical need to focus on better ways to disseminate information about known skin cancer prevention. The U.S.

Multiple levels of influence in the adoption of sun protection policies in elementary schools in Massachusetts.

Objective: To understand the factors that may influence sun protection policy development if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines are to be realized.

Design: Qualitative research methodology incorporating a socioecological framework using individual or small-group interviews, surveys, and environmental assessments with school superintendents, elementary school principals, elementary school nurses, and parent-teacher organization presidents and co-chairs as well as coding of school documents.

Setting: Elementary schools in Massachusetts.

Gross and microscopic lesions in young chickens experimentally infected with Salmonella enteritidis.

One-day-old and 7-day-old specific-pathogen-free chickens were orally infected with a field isolate of Salmonella enteritidis phage type 13A. Chickens were sequentially euthanatized at various intervals until 42 days of age, and selected tissues were collected for microscopic evaluation. Eleven of 53 chickens (21%) infected at 1 day of age and 2 of 28 chickens (7%) infected at 7 days of age died.

A new bioprosthesis in large abdominal wall defects.

A collagen-coated Vicryl mesh bioprosthesis was used to repair a 4 x 4 cm full-thickness abdominal wall defect, created in experimental rats. The tensile strength of the repair at 6 months reached 70% of the original abdominal wall. Implant collagen could not be differentiated from host collagen after 2 weeks.

Collagen arrangements in ureter.

The collagen fibres of rabbit and human ureter were exposed by digestion with trypsin and hyaluronidase. The fibre structure was examined using an SEM and examples of the inner and outer fibre structures are shown together with the effects of different types of mechanical strain. An interesting difference between the arrangements of the inner fibres of human and rabbit was seen where the human ureter had a cross-ply structure while in the rabbit it was helical.

Ectopic egg yolk in the abdominal cavity of a cockatiel.

A mature cockatiel was presented to the teaching hospital with acute, severe dyspnea and a markedly enlarged abdomen. The bird died 2 hours after admission and was necropsied. A 3-cm egg yolk was present in the abdominal cavity and caused cranial displacement of the abdominal viscera.

Effect of chemical modifications on the susceptibility of collagen to proteolysis. II. Dehydrothermal crosslinking.

Collagen was dehydrothermally treated (heat cured) by heating dry under vacuum at 60, 80, 100 and 120 degrees C. The change in stability was determined by subjecting to measurement of gross crosslinking, content of lysino-alanine and naturally occurring collagen crosslinks, shrinkage temperature (TM), susceptibility to digestion by lysosomal thiol proteases, and susceptibility to pepsin and trypsin. Morphological changes were examined by electron microscopy.

Collagen vicryl--a new dural prosthesis.

No ideal dural grafting material is currently available. Many materials have been evaluated in this role, and for many neurosurgeons cadaveric human lyophilized dura has been popular. Recently this material has been putatively associated with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

The effect of modification on the susceptibility of collagen to proteolysis: I. Chemical modification of amino acid side chains.

A series of chemically modified collagens were subjected to proteolysis by lysozomal cathepsins, pepsin and trypsin. Modifications of the collagens included acetylation, succinylation, methylation and borohydride reduction. Changes in the integrity of the materials were also monitored by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).

First clinical report of a new biodegradable membrane for use in urological surgery.

Following preliminary in vitro and in vivo experiments a new collagen Vicryl mesh has been devised. The membrane has been extensively tested in the laboratory and has been found to resist the passage of urine. It holds sutures well and has been shown on an experimental animal to be biodegradable.