The Evolution of Locally Adaptive Chromosome Inversions in Mimulus guttatus.

Chromosomal inversion polymorphisms are ubiquitous across the diversity of diploid organisms and play a significant role in the evolution of adaptations in those species. Inversions are thought to operate as supergenes by trapping adaptive alleles at multiple linked loci through the suppression of recombination. While there is now considerable support for the supergene mechanism of inversion evolution, the extent to which inversions trap pre-existing adaptive genetic variation versus accumulate new adaptive variants over time remains unclear.

Effects of a paternal diet high in animal protein (casein) versus plant protein (pea protein with added methionine) on offspring metabolic and gut microbiota outcomes in rats.

Evidence suggests that paternal diet can influence offspring metabolic health intergenerationally but whether dietary animal and plant proteins differ in their impact on fathers and their offspring is not known. Our objective was to examine the effects of a paternal diet high in casein versus pea protein on fathers and their offspring. Five-week-old male rats were fed: (1) control, (2) high animal protein (AP, 36.

Resilient plants, sustainable future.

The accelerated pace of climate change over the past several years should serve as a wake-up call for all scientists, farmers, and decision makers, as it severely threatens our food supply and could result in famine, migration, war, and an overall destabilization of our society. Rapid and significant changes are therefore needed in the way we conduct research on plant resilience, develop new crop varieties, and cultivate those crops in our agricultural systems. Here, we describe the main bottlenecks for these processes and outline a set of key recommendations on how to accelerate research in this critical area for our society.

Antimicrobial Prescribing Patterns in GP Practices in Northern Ireland.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global health threat requiring immediate attention as it is set to cause ten million deaths worldwide by 2050, overtaking that of cancer. Continuation of overuse and/or misuse of these crucial medicines will prevent future generations from reaping the benefits, as the pandemic of AMR spirals out of control. The primary aim of this study was to investigate antimicrobial prescribing patterns in General Practices throughout Northern Ireland.

Don't break the (blood) bank: Can waste be minimized in a whole blood program?

Background: Wastage concerns are a barrier to adopting whole blood (WB) therapy in trauma patients. Converting aging WB to red blood cell units (RBCs) may minimize wastage.

Methods: Blood bank records for WB and standard blood products were retrospectively reviewed at a level 1 trauma center from 8/2020 - 3/2023.

Review of ecological valuation and equivalency analysis methods for assessing temperate nearshore submerged aquatic vegetation.

Nearshore seagrass, kelp, and other macroalgae beds (submerged aquatic vegetation [SAV]) are productive and important ecosystems. Mitigating anthropogenic impacts on these habitats requires tools to quantify their ecological value and the debits and credits of impact and mitigation. To summarize and clarify the state of SAV habitat quantification and available tools, we searched peer-reviewed literature and other agency documents for methods that either assigned ecological value to or calculated equivalencies between impact and mitigation in SAV.

Ocean exposure and latitude drive multiple clines within the coastal perennial ecotype of the yellow monkeyflower, Mimulus guttatus.

Premise: A key goal of evolutionary biologists is to understand how and why genetic variation is partitioned within species. In the yellow monkeyflower, Mimulus guttatus (syn. Erythranthe guttata), coastal perennial populations constitute a single genetically and morphologically differentiated ecotype compared to inland M.

Ocean cavity regime shift reversed West Antarctic grounding line retreat in the late Holocene.

Recent geologic and modeled evidence suggests that the grounding line of the Siple Coast of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) retreated hundreds of kilometers beyond its present position in the middle to late Holocene and readvanced within the past 1.7 ka. This grounding line reversal has been attributed to both changing rates of isostatic rebound and regional climate change.

Evaluation of the Potential of Chitosan Nanoparticles as a Delivery Vehicle for Gentamicin for the Treatment of Osteomyelitis.

Chitosan nanoparticle delivery systems have the potential for enhancing bone healing and addressing osteomyelitis. The objective was to deliver antimicrobial agents capable of preventing or treating osteomyelitis. Each formulation was optimized to achieve desired characteristics in terms of size (ranging from 100 to 400 nm), PDI (less than 0.

Associations Between Health Behaviors, Gastrointestinal Symptoms, and Gut Microbiota in a Cross-Sectional Sample of Cancer Survivors: Secondary Analysis from the Chemo-Gut Study.

Background: Health behaviors, such as diet and exercise, are actions individuals take that can potentially impact gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms and the gut microbiota. Little is known about how health behaviors impact GI symptoms and the gut microbiota after anti-cancer therapies.

Methods: This is a secondary analysis of a cross-sectional study that investigated relationships between GI symptoms, gut microbiota, and patient-reported outcomes in adult cancer survivors.

Potent lung tumor promotion by inhaled MWCNT.

In the lung, carcinogenesis is a multi-stage process that includes initiation by a genotoxic agent, promotion that expands the population of cells with damaged DNA to form a tumor, and progression from benign to malignant neoplasms. We have previously shown that Mitsui-7, a long and rigid multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT), promotes pulmonary carcinogenesis in a mouse model. To investigate the potential exposure threshold and dose-response for tumor promotion by this MWCNT, 3-methylcholanthrene (MC) initiated (10 μg/g, i.

Exercise combined with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for chronic pain: One-year follow-up from a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a type of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, which has demonstrated positive outcomes in individuals with chronic pain. The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of an 8-week programme combining Exercise with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ExACT) with a standalone supervised exercise programme at 1-year follow-up.

Methods: One hundred and seventy-five people with chronic pain were randomly assigned to ExACT or supervised exercise only.

Ground-Based Mobile Measurements to Track Urban Methane Emissions from Natural Gas in 12 Cities across Eight Countries.

To mitigate methane emission from urban natural gas distribution systems, it is crucial to understand local leak rates and occurrence rates. To explore urban methane emissions in cities outside the U.S.

Resurrected seeds from herbarium specimens reveal rapid evolution of drought resistance in a selfing annual.

Premise: Increased aridity and drought associated with climate change are exerting unprecedented selection pressures on plant populations. Whether populations can rapidly adapt, and which life history traits might confer increased fitness under drought, remain outstanding questions.

Methods: We utilized a resurrection ecology approach, leveraging dormant seeds from herbarium collections to assess whether populations of Plantago patagonica from the semi-arid Colorado Plateau have rapidly evolved in response to approximately ten years of intense drought in the region.

The 141-year period for Dr. Beal's seed viability experiment: A hybrid surprise.

Premise: In 1879, Dr. William Beal buried 20 glass bottles filled with seeds and sand at a single site at Michigan State University. The goal of the experiment was to understand seed longevity in the soil, a topic of general importance in ecology, restoration, conservation, and agriculture, by periodically assaying germinability of these seeds over 100 years.

Melting ice and rising seas - connecting projected change in Antarctica's ice sheets to communities in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Changes in global mean sea level are a clear indicator of a warming climate, but local factors including land subsidence or uplift, cause changes in relative sea level that drive shoreline shifts. These local changes and their impact on coastal hazards matter to coastal communities. NZ SeaRise produced relative sea level projections for Aotearoa to include the latest global climate and Antarctic Ice Sheet research and estimates of vertical land movement at high spatial resolution.

Contemporary management and outcomes of penetrating colon injuries: Validation of the 2020 AAST Colon Organ Injury Scale.

Introduction: The American Association for the Surgery of Trauma Colon Organ Injury Scale (OIS) was updated in 2020 to include a separate OIS for penetrating colon injuries and included imaging criteria. In this multicenter study, we describe the contemporary management and outcomes of penetrating colon injuries and hypothesize that the 2020 OIS system correlates with operative management, complications, and outcomes.

Methods: This was a retrospective study of patients presenting to 12 Level 1 trauma centers between 2016 and 2020 with penetrating colon injuries and Abbreviated Injury Scale score of <3 in other body regions.

Select human milk oligosaccharide supplementation in post-weanling rats affects metabolism and gut microbiota into adulthood.

Objective: Feeding infants with human milk versus formula can produce long-lasting benefits, including reduced risk of inflammatory diseases. Most infant formulas do not contain human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs), which are important carbohydrates in human breast milk displaying prebiotic properties. The study's aim was to examine the effect of select HMOs in the post-weaning period.

Wellbeing and mental health outcomes amongst hospital healthcare workers during COVID-19.

Background: Global healthcare systems have been particularly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Healthcare workers (HCWs) are widely reported to have experienced increased levels of baseline psychological distress relative to the general population, and the COVID-19 pandemic may have had an additive effect. However, previous studies are typically restricted to physicians and nurses with limited data available on hospital HCWs.

The COMFORT trial: a randomised control trial comparing group-based COMpassion-FOcussed therapy and breathing pattern ReTraining with treatment as usual on the psychological functioning of patients diagnosed with cancer recurrence during COVID.

Background: A cancer diagnosis is a known precipitant of psychological distress, with fear of recurrence being a well-documented distressing consequence of cancer. Cancer recurrence often results in an additional psychological burden, which may exacerbate as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: This is a single-centre, prospective, randomised controlled trial.

Cold acclimation threshold induction temperatures of switchgrass ecotypes grown under a long and short photoperiod.

Plants can cold acclimate to enhance their freezing tolerance by sensing declining temperature and photoperiod cues. However, the factors influencing genotypic variation in the induction of cold acclimation are poorly understood among perennial grasses. We hypothesized that the more northern upland switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.

Comparison of the performance of a clinical classification tree versus clinical gestalt in predicting sepsis with extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing gram-negative rods.

A clinical decision tree was developed using point-of-care characteristics to identify patients with culture-proven sepsis due to extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing (ESBL-PE). We compared its performance with the clinical gestalt of emergency department (ED) clinicians and hospital-based clinicians. The developed tree outperformed ED-based clinicians but was comparable to inpatient-based clinicians.