Financial impact associated with implementation of the low back pain clinical practice guideline in outpatient physical therapist practice at a large academic medical center.

Introduction: Low back pain (LBP) is the top health condition requiring rehabilitation in the United States. The financial burden of managing LBP is also amongst the highest in the United States. Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) provide management recommendations and have the potential to lower health costs.

Phylogeny-Aware Analysis of Metagenome Community Ecology Based on Matched Reference Genomes while Bypassing Taxonomy.

We introduce the operational genomic unit (OGU) method, a metagenome analysis strategy that directly exploits sequence alignment hits to individual reference genomes as the minimum unit for assessing the diversity of microbial communities and their relevance to environmental factors. This approach is independent of taxonomic classification, granting the possibility of maximal resolution of community composition, and organizes features into an accurate hierarchy using a phylogenomic tree. The outputs are suitable for contemporary analytical protocols for community ecology, differential abundance, and supervised learning while supporting phylogenetic methods, such as UniFrac and phylofactorization, that are seldom applied to shotgun metagenomics despite being prevalent in 16S rRNA gene amplicon studies.

New RNA Structural Elements Identified in the Coding Region of the Coxsackie B3 Virus Genome.

Here we present a set of new structural elements formed within the open reading frame of the virus, which are highly probable, evolutionarily conserved and may interact with host proteins. This work focused on the coding regions of the CVB3 genome (particularly the V4-, V1-, 2C-, and 3D-coding regions), which, with the exception of the -acting replication element (CRE), have not yet been subjected to experimental analysis of their structures. The SHAPE technique, chemical modification with DMS and RNA cleavage with Pb, were performed in order to characterize the RNA structure.

Analysis of miRNA expression associated with the Lr46 gene responsible for APR resistance in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.).

Lr46/Yr29/Pm39 (Lr46) is a gene for slow rusting resistance in wheat. The aim of the study was to analyze the miRNA expression in selected common wheat cultivars carrying resistance genes, Lr46 among others (HN Rod, Pavon'S', Myna'S', Frontana'S', and Sparrow'S') in response to leaf rust infection caused by Puccinia triticina Erikss. In the Pavon 'S', Myna 'S', Frontana'S', and Sparow'S' varieties a product with a length of 242 bp has been identified, which is specific to the Xwmc44 marker linked to the brown rust resistance gene Lr46.

Towards Food Security: Current State and Future Prospects of Agrobiotechnology.

The consistent increase in the global population, estimated to reach 9 billion people by 2050, poses a serious challenge for the achievement of global food security. Therefore, the need to feed an increasing world population and to respond adequately to the effects of climate change must be urgently considered. Progress may be achieved by applying knowledge of molecular and genetic mechanisms to create and/or improve agricultural and industrial processes.

Deciphering the soybean molecular stress response via high-throughput approaches.

As a result of thousands of years of agriculture, humans had created many crop varieties that became the basis of our daily diet, animal feed and also carry industrial application. Soybean is one of the most important crops worldwide and because of its high economic value the demand for soybean products is constantly growing. In Europe, due to unfavorable climate conditions, soybean cultivation is restricted and we are forced to rely on imported plant material.

Thermally Conductive-Silicone Composites with Thermally Reversible Cross-links.

Thermally conductive-silicone composites that contain thermally reversible cross-links were prepared by blending diene- and dienophile-functionalized polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) with an aluminum oxide conductive filler. This class of thermally conductive-silicones are useful as thermal interface materials (TIMs) within Information Technology (IT) hardware applications to allow rework of valuable components. The composites were rendered reworkable via retro Diels-Alder cross-links when temperatures were elevated above 130 °C and required little mechanical force to remove, making them advantageous over other TIM materials.

The Contact Activation System (CAS) in cord blood: Measurement of CAS components and comparison with mother's blood. A pilot study.

Introduction: Classical reference data concerning the coagulation system and fibrinolysis in fetuses and newborns date back to the 1990 s. Since that time a number of methodological or other improvements have been implemented, which may cast some doubt on timeliness of the data. The study objective was to measure the levels of Contact Activation System (CAS) components by antigen, i.

Targeting Highly Structured RNA by Cooperative Action of siRNAs and Helper Antisense Oligomers in Living Cells.

RNA target accessibility is one of the most important factors limiting the efficiency of RNA interference-mediated RNA degradation. However, targeting RNA viruses in their poorly accessible, highly structured regions can be advantageous because these regions are often conserved in sequence and thus less prone to viral escape. We developed an experimental strategy to attack highly structured RNA by means of pairs of specifically designed small interfering RNAs and helper antisense oligonucleotides using the 5' untranslated region (5'UTR) of coxsackievirus B3 as a model target.

Gut microbiota in multiple sclerosis: possible influence of immunomodulators.

Objectives: Differences in gut bacteria have been described in several autoimmune disorders. In this exploratory pilot study, we compared gut bacteria in patients with multiple sclerosis and healthy controls and evaluated the influence of glatiramer acetate and vitamin D treatment on the microbiota.

Methods: Subjects were otherwise healthy white women with or without relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis who were vitamin D insufficient.

An in vitro culture model to study the dynamics of colonic microbiota in Syrian golden hamsters and their susceptibility to infection with Clostridium difficile.

Clostridium difficile infections (CDI) are caused by colonization and growth of toxigenic strains of C. difficile in individuals whose intestinal microbiota has been perturbed, in most cases following antimicrobial therapy. Determination of the protective commensal gut community members could inform the development of treatments for CDI.

Identifying qualitative effects of different grazing types on below-ground communities and function in a long-term field experiment.

Herbivory is an important modulator of plant biodiversity and productivity in grasslands, but our understanding of herbivore-induced changes on below-ground processes and communities is limited. Using a long-term (17 years) experimental site, we evaluated impacts of rabbit and invertebrate grazers on some soil functions involved in carbon cycling, microbial diversity, structure and functional composition. Both rabbit and invertebrate grazing impacted soil functions and microbial community structure.

Changes in abundance of oral microbiota associated with oral cancer.

Individual bacteria and shifts in the composition of the microbiome have been associated with human diseases including cancer. To investigate changes in the microbiome associated with oral cancers, we profiled cancers and anatomically matched contralateral normal tissue from the same patient by sequencing 16S rDNA hypervariable region amplicons. In cancer samples from both a discovery and a subsequent confirmation cohort, abundance of Firmicutes (especially Streptococcus) and Actinobacteria (especially Rothia) was significantly decreased relative to contralateral normal samples from the same patient.

Comparative genomics of the Bifidobacterium breve taxon.

Background: Bifidobacteria are commonly found as part of the microbiota of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) of a broad range of hosts, where their presence is positively correlated with the host's health status. In this study, we assessed the genomes of thirteen representatives of Bifidobacterium breve, which is not only a frequently encountered component of the (adult and infant) human gut microbiota, but can also be isolated from human milk and vagina.

Results: In silico analysis of genome sequences from thirteen B.

Murine norovirus infection does not cause major disruptions in the murine intestinal microbiota.

Background: Murine norovirus (MNV) is the most common gastrointestinal pathogen of research mice and can alter research outcomes in biomedical mouse models of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Despite indications that an altered microbiota is a risk factor for IBD, the response of the murine intestinal microbiota to MNV infection has not been examined. Microbiota disruption caused by MNV infection could introduce the confounding effects observed in research experiments.

New observations on procoagulant properties of amniotic fluid: microparticles (MPs) and tissue factor-bearing MPs (MPs-TF), comparison with maternal blood plasma.

Introduction: Microparticles (MPs) are submicron fragments of the cell membrane affecting many biological processes, e.g. coagulation.

[Bayesian network as a tool to study health behaviors of students from selected schools of Suwalki, Bialystok and Grodno].

Unlabelled: A research project targeting college students of the eastern region was carried for the second straight year. The main objective of the study was to analyze the relation between smoking, drinking alcohol and drug use and students attitude towards health beaviours. The study drew attention to aspects of the importance of family ties.

Effectiveness of physical therapist administered spinal manipulation for the treatment of low back pain: a systematic review of the literature.

Background Context: Low back pain (LBP) is a prevalent disorder in society that has been associated with increased loss of work time and medical expenses. A common intervention for LBP is spinal manipulation, a technique that is not specific to one scope of practice or profession.

Purpose: The purpose of this systematic review was to examine the effectiveness of physical therapy spinal manipulations for the treatment of patients with low back pain.

A microbiota signature associated with experimental food allergy promotes allergic sensitization and anaphylaxis.

Background: Commensal microbiota play a critical role in maintaining oral tolerance. The effect of food allergy on the gut microbial ecology remains unknown.

Objective: We sought to establish the composition of the gut microbiota in experimental food allergy and its role in disease pathogenesis.

Using QIIME to analyze 16S rRNA gene sequences from microbial communities.

QIIME (canonically pronounced "chime") is a software application that performs microbial community analysis. It is an acronym for Quantitative Insights Into Microbial Ecology, and has been used to analyze and interpret nucleic acid sequence data from fungal, viral, bacterial, and archaeal communities. The following protocols describe how to install QIIME on a single computer and use it to analyze microbial 16S sequence data from nine distinct microbial communities.

Human gut microbiome viewed across age and geography.

Gut microbial communities represent one source of human genetic and metabolic diversity. To examine how gut microbiomes differ among human populations, here we characterize bacterial species in fecal samples from 531 individuals, plus the gene content of 110 of them. The cohort encompassed healthy children and adults from the Amazonas of Venezuela, rural Malawi and US metropolitan areas and included mono- and dizygotic twins.

The Biological Observation Matrix (BIOM) format or: how I learned to stop worrying and love the ome-ome.

Background: We present the Biological Observation Matrix (BIOM, pronounced "biome") format: a JSON-based file format for representing arbitrary observation by sample contingency tables with associated sample and observation metadata. As the number of categories of comparative omics data types (collectively, the "ome-ome") grows rapidly, a general format to represent and archive this data will facilitate the interoperability of existing bioinformatics tools and future meta-analyses.

Findings: The BIOM file format is supported by an independent open-source software project (the biom-format project), which initially contains Python objects that support the use and manipulation of BIOM data in Python programs, and is intended to be an open development effort where developers can submit implementations of these objects in other programming languages.

Experimental and analytical tools for studying the human microbiome.

The human microbiome substantially affects many aspects of human physiology, including metabolism, drug interactions and numerous diseases. This realization, coupled with ever-improving nucleotide sequencing technology, has precipitated the collection of diverse data sets that profile the microbiome. In the past 2 years, studies have begun to include sufficient numbers of subjects to provide the power to associate these microbiome features with clinical states using advanced algorithms, increasing the use of microbiome studies both individually and collectively.

Using QIIME to analyze 16S rRNA gene sequences from microbial communities.

QIIME (canonically pronounced "chime") is a software application that performs microbial community analysis. It is an acronym for Quantitative Insights Into Microbial Ecology, and has been used to analyze and interpret nucleic acid sequence data from fungal, viral, bacterial, and archaeal communities. The following protocols describe how to install QIIME on a single computer and use it to analyze microbial 16S sequence data from nine distinct microbial communities.