Convergent Evolution of Pregnancy in Vertebrates.

Viviparity (live birth) represents a significant evolutionary innovation that has emerged in hundreds of lineages of invertebrate and vertebrate animals. The evolution of this trait from the ancestral state of egg laying has involved complex morphological, behavioral, physiological, and genetic changes, which enable internal development of embryos within the female reproductive tract. Comparable changes have also occurred in oviparous, brooding species that carry developing embryos in locations other than the female reproductive tract.

Parkinson's families project: a UK-wide study of early onset and familial Parkinson's disease.

The Parkinson's Families Project is a UK-wide study aimed at identifying genetic variation associated with familial and early-onset Parkinson's disease (PD). We recruited individuals with a clinical diagnosis of PD and age at motor symptom onset ≤45 years and/or a family history of PD in up to third-degree relatives. Where possible, we also recruited affected and unaffected relatives.

Evaluation of Cerebrospinal Fluid α-Synuclein Seed Amplification Assay in Progressive Supranuclear Palsy and Corticobasal Syndrome.

Background: Seed amplification assay (SAA) testing has been developed as a biomarker for the diagnosis of α-synuclein-related neurodegenerative disorders.

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the rate of α-synuclein SAA positivity in progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and corticobasal syndrome (CBS) and to analyze clinical and pathological features of SAA-positive and -negative cases.

Methods: A total of 96 cerebrospinal fluid samples from clinically diagnosed PSP (n = 59) and CBS (n = 37) cases were analyzed using α-synuclein SAA.

Effect of repeated steam sterilizations on insertional torque, torque to failure, and axial pullout strength of 3.5-mm and 2.0-mm cortical bone screws.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the effects of repeated steam sterilization cycles on the biomechanical properties of surgical screws.

Methods: 42 3.5-mm and 42 2.

SHP2 as a primordial epigenetic enzyme expunges histone H3 pTyr-54 to amend androgen receptor homeostasis.

Mutations that decrease or increase the activity of the tyrosine phosphatase, SHP2 (encoded by PTPN11), promotes developmental disorders and several malignancies by varying phosphatase activity. We uncovered that SHP2 is a distinct class of an epigenetic enzyme; upon phosphorylation by the kinase ACK1/TNK2, pSHP2 was escorted by androgen receptor (AR) to chromatin, erasing hitherto unidentified pY54-H3 (phosphorylation of histones H3 at Tyr54) epigenetic marks to trigger a transcriptional program of AR. Noonan Syndrome with Multiple Lentigines (NSML) patients, SHP2 knock-in mice, and ACK1 knockout mice presented dramatic increase in pY54-H3, leading to loss of AR transcriptome.

Interstitial pulmonary disease and aluminum trihydrate exposure: A single case report and detailed workplace analysis.

Exposure to aluminum compounds is clearly associated with pulmonary function decrements, and several animal models document possible mechanisms of aluminum- compound-induced pulmonary toxicity. Nevertheless, disagreements remain about the precise mechanism by which exposures lead to damage. We present a strong case for attributing a case of interstitial pulmonary disease to occupational exposure to aluminum trihydrate.

Negativity and Positivity in the ICU: Exploratory Development of Automated Sentiment Capture in the Electronic Health Record.

Objectives: To develop proof-of-concept algorithms using alternative approaches to capture provider sentiment in ICU notes.

Design: Retrospective observational cohort study.

Setting: The Multiparameter Intelligent Monitoring of Intensive Care III (MIMIC-III) and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) deidentified notes databases.

Choice of Oral Anticoagulant: Outcomes in Atrial Fibrillation Patients Post-Stroke Despite Direct Oral Anticoagulant Use.

Background: For patients with atrial fibrillation who have an ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) despite taking direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs), the optimal strategy for ongoing anticoagulation is unknown.

Methods: Using provincial administrative databases in Alberta, Canada, we compared anticoagulant use before/after the breakthrough stroke/TIA and assessed recurrence of stroke/TIA or bleeding, with consideration of medication adherence. Adherence was defined as the proportion of days covered (PDC) being ≥ 80%.

The effect of increasing work rate amplitudes from a common metabolic baseline on the kinetic response of V̇o, blood flow, and muscle deoxygenation.

A step-transition in external work rate (WR) increases pulmonary O uptake (V̇o) in a monoexponential fashion. Although the rate of this increase, quantified by the time constant (τ), has frequently been shown to be similar between multiple different WR amplitudes (ΔWR), the adjustment of O delivery to the muscle (via blood flow; BF), a potential regulator of V̇o kinetics, has not been extensively studied. To investigate the role of BF on V̇o kinetics, 10 participants performed step-transitions on a knee-extension ergometer from a common baseline WR (3 W) to: 24, 33, 45, 54, and 66 W.

Filter Fluorometer Calibration Without the Fluorometer.

We recently described a lightweight, low-power, waterproof filter fluorometer using a 180° backscatter geometry for chlorophyll-a (chl-) detection. Before it was constructed it was modeled to ensure it would have satisfactory performance. This manuscript repeats the modeling process that allows the calibration slope and detection limit for a fluorescent analyte in water to be estimated from system component performance and conventional spectrofluorometry alone.

Reflexive and volitional saccadic eye movements and their changes in age and progressive supranuclear palsy.

Background And Objectives: Saccades, rapid movements of the eyes towards a visual or remembered target, are useful in understanding the healthy brain and the pathology of neurological conditions such as progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). We set out to investigate the parameters of horizontal reflexive and volitional saccades, both visually guided and memory-guided, over a 1 min epoch in healthy individuals and PSP patients.

Methods: An experimental paradigm tested reflexive, volitional visually guided, and volitional memory-guided saccades in young healthy controls (n = 14; 20-31 years), PSP patients (n = 11; 46-75 years) and older age-matched healthy controls (n = 6; 56-71 years).

Fluorometer Control and Readout Using an Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense Board.

We describe the control and interfacing of a fluorometer designed for aerial drone-based measurements of chlorophyll- using an Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense board. This 64 MHz controller board provided suitable resolution and speed for analog-to-digital (ADC) conversion, processed data, handled communications via the Robot Operating System (ROS) and included a variety of built-in sensors that were used to monitor the fluorometer for vibration, acoustic noise, water leaks and overheating. The fluorometer was integrated into a small Uncrewed Aircraft System (sUAS) for automated water sampling through a Raspberry Pi master computer using the ROS.

Chlorophyll Fluorometer for Intelligent Water Sampling by a Small Uncrewed Aircraft System (sUAS).

We describe a waterproof, lightweight (1.3 kg), low-power (∼1.1 W average power) fluorometer operating on 5 V direct current deployed on a small uncrewed aircraft system (sUAS) to measure chlorophyll and used for triggering environmental water sampling by the sUAS.

Pathologising 'Refusal': Prison, Health and Conscientious Objectors during the First World War.

This article examines the extent to which the refusals of British conscientious objectors (COs) to fight during the First World War were pathologised through the lens of physical and mental health, and the ways in which such a pathology impacted their treatment in penal establishments. It argues that the government compromised the physical the mental health of absolutist COs. The article also analyses the effects of the state's pathologising efforts upon objectors, and the methods through which the physical bodies of COs were utilised against, or annexed by, the authorities.

Interleukin-6 as a prognostic biomarker of clinical outcomes after traumatic brain injury: a systematic review.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. There are currently no early biomarkers for prognosis in routine clinical use. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a potential biomarker in the context of the established role of neuroinflammation in TBI recovery.

Building consensus on author selection practices for industry-sponsored research: recommendations from an expert task force of medical publication professionals.

Background: Many biomedical journals follow the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommendations and criteria for authorship. ICMJE criterion 1 provides the basis for selecting authors according to their substantial contributions to the work reported in the publication. Identifying substantial contributions and their application for author selection can be challenging, especially for multicenter studies with large numbers of investigators and contributors.

Severe asthma and death in a worker using methylene diphenyl diisocyanate MDI asthma death.

Diisocyanates are well-recognized to cause occupational asthma, yet diisocyanate asthma can be challenging to diagnose and differentiate from asthma induced by other allergens. The present study assesses the potential contribution of methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) to a workplace fatality. Examination of medical records, tissue, and blood from the deceased worker were undertaken.

OSHA Workplace Violence Enforcement.

Objective: To examine violence inspections at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

Methods: The authors examined all inspections that involved violence against workers begun by January 1, 2019. They conducted semi-structured interviews with compliance officers who had conducted inspections on a sample of facilities that received General Duty Clause (GDC) citations (n = 22) or Hazard Alert Letters (HALs) (n = 22).

Hospitalised heat-related acute kidney injury in indoor and outdoor workers in the USA.

Objectives: To characterise heat-related acute kidney injury (HR-AKI) among US workers in a range of industries.

Methods: Two data sources were analysed: archived case files of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) Office of Occupational Medicine and Nursing from 2010 through 2020; and a Severe Injury Reports (SIR) database of work-related hospitalisations that employers reported to federal OSHA from 2015 to 2020. Confirmed, probable and possible cases of HR-AKI were ascertained by serum creatinine measurements and narrative incident descriptions.

Data analysis technique influences blood flow kinetics parameter estimates for moderate- and heavy-intensity exercise transitions.

New Findings: What is the central question of this study? During exercise, there are fluctuations in conduit artery blood flow (BF) caused by both cardiac and muscle contraction-relaxation cycles. What is the optimal method to process Doppler ultrasound-measured BF for the purpose of characterizing the dynamic response of BF during step-transitions in exercise? What is the main finding and its importance? Continuous BF data were processed in relation to either cardiac or muscle contraction-relaxation cycles and computed based on 'binned' or 'rolling' averages over one, two or five consecutive cycles. Kinetics characterization revealed no data processing technique-specific differences in steady-state BF, but variability in the rapidity at which BF attained steady-state (i.

Pain Assessment for Individuals with Advanced Dementia in Care Homes: A Systematic Review.

Pain is prevalent in older people, especially in those with advanced dementia who have communication impairments. Although pain is recognised to be present in this population, it is often under-assessed and ineffectively managed. The assessment of pain in advanced dementia is extremely challenging and complex, particularly in institutional settings such as care homes.

A cluster of hypersensitivity pneumonitis associated with exposure to metalworking fluids.

Background: Workers exposed to metalworking fluids (MWF) can develop respiratory illnesses including hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP). These respiratory manifestations are likely due to microbial contamination of aerosolized MWF. This paper reports a cluster of HP and respiratory symptoms at a manufacturing plant where MWF and workplace air were contaminated with bacterial endotoxin despite frequent negative bacterial cultures of MWF.