Exploring Pacifier-Activated Music Systems in the NICU: Improving Outcomes and Shortening Length of Stay.

There is ample research discussing the benefits of a pacifier-activated music system with preterm and high-risk infants. Benefits include improving the quality of nonnutritive sucking (NNS) and increased feeding volume/attempts/endurance, which lead to decreased time to full oral feedings and shortened hospital stays. The use of pacifier-activated music systems supports a faster transition to oral feeding in preterm infants while learning to breastfeed or bottle feed in the NICU.

Hyperfunctional T cell responses unchecked by regulatory T cells are unable to resolve hepaciviral infection without humoral contribution.

Background & Aims: The most recent T cell-based vaccine against HCV tested in humans failed to swing the pendulum from chronicity to resolution, despite eliciting cellular responses in most individuals. These results naturally evoke the question of whether hyperactivated responses of a single adaptive immune arm are capable of inducing HCV clearance or if coordinated efforts between antibodies and T cells are indeed necessary. Here, we sought to address this point in determining whether the suppression of antiviral T cell and IgG responses by regulatory T cells (Tregs) is a critical prerequisite of delayed viral clearance or overt chronicity.

The effect of a direct-fed microbial (10-G) on live animal performance, carcass characteristics, and prevalence of fed beef heifers.

The objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of the direct-fed microbial 10-G upon cattle growth performance, liver and lung health, carcass quality, and yield outcomes, as well as prevalence and enumeration of in feces and lymph nodes. Fed beef heifers ( = 1,400; initial shrunk body weight [] 343.3 ± 36.

The distribution of fitness effects during adaptive walks using a simple genetic network.

The tempo and mode of adaptation depends on the availability of beneficial alleles. Genetic interactions arising from gene networks can restrict this availability. However, the extent to which networks affect adaptation remains largely unknown.

Ancient and Modern Genomes Reveal Microsatellites Maintain a Dynamic Equilibrium Through Deep Time.

Microsatellites are widely used in population genetics, but their evolutionary dynamics remain poorly understood. It is unclear whether microsatellite loci drift in length over time. This is important because the mutation processes that underlie these important genetic markers are central to the evolutionary models that employ microsatellites.

Diabetic Cardiomyopathy and Cell Death: Focus on Metal-Mediated Cell Death.

Cardiac myocyte death is an essential initiator of the pathogenesis and progression of various etiological cardiomyopathies, including diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM), a disease that has been reported since 1972. Cardiac cell death has been detected in the hearts of patients with diabetes and in animal models, and the role of cell death in the pathogenesis of DCM has been extensively investigated. The first review by the authors, specifically focusing on "Cell death and diabetic cardiomyopathy," was published in the journal, Cardiovascular Toxicology in 2003.

A distance-based model for convergent evolution.

Convergent evolution is an important process in which independent species evolve similar features usually over a long period of time. It occurs with many different species across the tree of life, and is often caused by the fact that species have to adapt to similar environmental niches. In this paper, we introduce and study properties of a distance-based model for convergent evolution in which we assume that two ancestral species converge for a certain period of time within a collection of species that have otherwise evolved according to an evolutionary clock.

Concerted synergy between viral-specific IgG and CD8 + T cells is critical for clearance of an HCV-related rodent hepacivirus.

Background And Aims: Evidence assessing the role of B cells and their antibodies, or lack thereof, in the spontaneous resolution of acute HCV infection is conflicting. Utilization of a strictly hepatotropic, HCV-related rodent hepacivirus (RHV) model circumvents many of the challenges facing the field in characterizing the immunological correlates of dichotomous infection outcomes. This study seeks to elucidate the importance of B cells in the clearance of acute RHV infection.

Models for the retention of duplicate genes and their biological underpinnings.

Gene content in genomes changes through several different processes, with gene duplication being an important contributor to such changes. Gene duplication occurs over a range of scales from individual genes to whole genomes, and the dynamics of this process can be context dependent. Still, there are rules by which genes are retained or lost from genomes after duplication, and probabilistic modeling has enabled characterization of these rules, including their context-dependence.

The effect of different implant programs on beef × dairy steer feedlot growth performance and carcass characteristics.

The objective of this study was to evaluate potency and timing of trenbolone acetate () administration on live performance and carcass characteristics of beef × dairy steers. A total of 6,895 beef × dairy steers [initial body weight () = 157 ± 5.2 kg] were allotted into 30 pens, with pen as the experimental unit.

Integrative Systematics and Biogeography of the Hydrozoans (Leptothecata: Eirenidae) Kramp, 1953 and Kubota and Horita, 1992 from Japan and China with Comments on Pacific Ocean Distributions.

The hydrozoan family Eirenidae is known scientifically for its morphological plasticity and challenges in species identification. We used an integrative taxonomic approach based on morphological, molecular and life history evidence to systematically assess field-collected medusae of Kramp 1953 and captive raised polyps of both and Kubota and Horita 1992. Following morphological review, we updated the genus description to include the presence of rudimentary bulbs (warts) on the ring canal in at least eight of the 24 valid species.

Phenotype and fate of liver-resident CD8 T cells during acute and chronic hepacivirus infection.

Immune correlates of hepatitis C virus (HCV) clearance and control remain poorly defined due to the lack of an informative animal model. We recently described acute and chronic rodent HCV-like virus (RHV) infections in lab mice. Here, we developed MHC class I and class II tetramers to characterize the serial changes in RHV-specific CD8 and CD4 T cells during acute and chronic infection in C57BL/6J mice.

Biomarker-Directed Therapy in Black and White Men With Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer.

Importance: Black men have higher incidence and mortality from prostate cancer. Whether precision oncology disparities affect Black men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) is unknown.

Objective: To compare precision medicine data and outcomes between Black and White men with mCRPC.

Food waste biorefinery towards circular economy in Australia.

Staggering amounts of food waste are produced in Australia, and this review provides food waste based biorefinery opportunities in moving towards a circular economy in Australia. The current food waste scenario in Australia including an overview of primary food waste sources, government regulation, and current management practices is presented. The major food waste streams include fruit and vegetable (waste from wine grapes, citrus, apple, potato, and tomato), nuts (almond processing waste), seafood (Fish waste), dairy whey, sugarcane bagasse, and household and businesses.

A genome-scale metabolic reconstruction of soybean and Bradyrhizobium diazoefficiens reveals the cost-benefit of nitrogen fixation.

Nitrogen-fixing symbioses allow legumes to thrive in nitrogen-poor soils at the cost of diverting some photoassimilate to their microsymbionts. Effort is being made to bioengineer nitrogen fixation into nonleguminous crops. This requires a quantitative understanding of its energetic costs and the links between metabolic variations and symbiotic efficiency.

Cold temperature and aridity shape the evolution of drought tolerance traits in Tasmanian species of Eucalyptus.

Perennial plant species from water-limiting environments (including climates of extreme drought, heat and freezing temperatures) have evolved traits that allow them to tolerate these conditions. As such, traits that are associated with water stress may show evidence of adaptation to climate when compared among closely related species inhabiting contrasting climatic conditions. In this study, we tested whether key hydraulic traits linked to drought stress, including the vulnerability of leaves to embolism (P50 leaf) and the minimum diffusive conductance of shoots (gmin), were associated with climatic characteristics of 14 Tasmanian eucalypt species from sites that vary in precipitation and temperature.

Soluble ORF2 protein enhances HEV replication and induces long-lasting antibody response and protective immunity in vivo.

Background And Aims: The HEV is a small positive-sense RNA virus that encodes a cytoplasmic form of the capsid protein (ORF2c), essential for virion structure, and a secreted glycosylated form (ORF2s) that accumulates at high titer in serum and can mask neutralizing epitopes. We explored the contribution of ORF2s to HEV replication and its role in generating antibodies against ORF2 in a nonhuman primate model.

Approach And Results: We used a recombinant HEV genotype 3 variant that does not express ORF2s due to the introduction of stop codons (ORF2s mut ).

A randomized trial and multisite pooled trial analyses comparing effects of two hormonal implant programs and differing days-on-feed on carcass characteristics and feedlot performance of beef heifers.

Research objectives were to evaluate effects of two implant programs for beef heifers fed three different durations (days-on-feed; DOF) on carcass weight and composition (primary outcomes) and feedlot performance (secondary outcomes) at commercial feedlots. Data from a randomized trial in Kansas were analyzed separately and also pooled with data from two previously published trials conducted in Texas. Heifers were randomly allocated to pens within a block, and pens were randomized to treatments in a 2 × 3 factorial randomized complete block design.

Evaluation of the Relative Performance of the Subflattenings Method for Phylogenetic Inference.

The algebraic properties of flattenings and subflattenings provide direct methods for identifying edges in the true phylogeny-and by extension the complete tree-using pattern counts from a sequence alignment. The relatively small number of possible internal edges among a set of taxa (compared to the number of binary trees) makes these methods attractive; however, more could be done to evaluate their effectiveness for inferring phylogenetic trees. This is the case particularly for subflattenings, and the work we present here makes progress in this area.

The midline interlaminar ligament of the spine: An anatomical study.

Introduction: During routine cadaveric dissection, Simonds et al. in 2019 found a previously undocumented ligament, which they termed the midline interlaminar ligament (MIL), in 24 out of 36 (76.5%) lumbar spinal levels.

Performance of Akaike Information Criterion and Bayesian Information Criterion in Selecting Partition Models and Mixture Models.

In molecular phylogenetics, partition models and mixture models provide different approaches to accommodating heterogeneity in genomic sequencing data. Both types of models generally give a superior fit to data than models that assume the process of sequence evolution is homogeneous across sites and lineages. The Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), an estimator of Kullback-Leibler divergence, and the Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) are popular tools to select models in phylogenetics.

Co-Operative Design of a Coach Dashboard for Training Monitoring and Feedback.

Athlete development depends on many factors that need to be balanced by the coach. The amount of data collected grows with the development of sensor technology. To make data-informed decisions for training prescription of their athletes, coaches could be supported by feedback through a coach dashboard.

The effect of supplementing CLOSTAT 500 ( PB6) to yearling steers in a commercial feedyard on health, spp. prevalence, feedlot growth performance and carcass characteristics.

British and British × Continental crossbred beef steers, = 2,100; 313 ± 38 kg of initial body weight (BW) were used to evaluate the effects of supplementation to yearling steers in a commercial feedyard on health, prevalence of spp., growth performance, and carcass characteristics. Steers were blocked by arrival date and assigned randomly to pens within the block; pens were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 dietary treatments within block.