Social foraging and the associated benefits of group-living in Cliff Swallows decrease over 40 years.

Animals that feed socially can sometimes better locate prey, often by transferring information about food that is patchy, dense, and temporally and spatially unpredictable. Information transfer is a potential benefit of living in breeding colonies where unsuccessful foragers can more readily locate successful ones and thereby improve feeding efficiency. Most studies on social foraging have been short-term, and how long-term environmental change affects both foraging strategies and the associated benefits of coloniality is generally unknown.

Unsupervised Exercise in Interstitial Lung Disease: A Delphi Study to Develop a Consensus Preparticipation Screening Tool for Lymphangioleiomyomatosis.

Background: Little research is available to provide practical guidance to health care providers for exercise preparticipation screening and referral of patients with interstitial lung diseases (ILDs), including lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), to participate in remote, unsupervised exercise programs.

Research Question: What exercise preparticipation screening steps are essential to determine whether a patient with LAM is medically appropriate to participate in a remote, unsupervised exercise program?

Study Design And Methods: Sixteen experts in LAM and ILD participated in a two-round modified Delphi study, ranking their level of agreement for 10 statements related to unsupervised exercise training in LAM, with an a priori definition of consensus. Additionally, 60 patients with LAM completed a survey of the perceived risks and benefits of remote exercise training in LAM.

Extrapulmonary manifestations of pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Introduction: Extrapulmonary manifestations of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) may play a critical pathobiological role and a deeper understanding will advance insight into mechanisms and novel therapeutic targets. This manuscript reviews our understanding of extrapulmonary manifestations of PAH.

Areas Covered: A group of experts was assembled and a complimentary PubMed search performed (October 2023 - March 2024).

Coping with COVID-19: Standing up a comprehensive behavioral health response to the pandemic.

Integrating behavioral health (BH) into disaster preparedness and response is essential to mitigate and address the BH impacts of disasters, support incident response personnel well-being, and to integrate disaster BH concepts into response strategies and communications. This article describes the development, implementation, and lessons learned from a statewide BH response to this disaster by the COVID-19 Behavioral Health Group (COVID-19 BHG). Operating within the Washington State Department of Health (WA DOH), the BHG is comprised of psychologists and psychiatrists with expertise in disaster BH and response, BH epidemiologists, data analysts, systems specialists, emergency managers, and other DOH staff.

Sequencing and characterization of Helcococcus ovis: a comprehensive comparative genomic analysis of virulence.

Background: Helcococcus ovis (H. ovis) is an emerging bacterial pathogen that commonly causes opportunistic respiratory, mammary, and uterine infections across mammalian hosts. This study applied long- and short-read whole genome sequencing technologies to identify virulence factors in five H.

A remote monitoring-enabled home exercise prescription for patients with interstitial lung disease at risk for exercise-induced desaturation.

Rationale: Alternatives to center-based pulmonary rehabilitation are needed to improve patient access to this important therapy. A critical challenge to overcome is how to maximize safety of unsupervised exercise for at-risk patients. We investigated if a novel remote monitoring-enabled mobile health (mHealth) program is safe, feasible, and effective for patients who experience exercise-induced hemoglobin desaturation.

Cell based dATP delivery as a therapy for chronic heart failure.

Transplanted human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hPSC-CMs) improve ventricular performance when delivered acutely post-myocardial infarction but are ineffective in chronic myocardial infarction/heart failure. 2'-deoxy-ATP (dATP) activates cardiac myosin and potently increases contractility. Here we engineered hPSC-CMs to overexpress ribonucleotide reductase, the enzyme controlling dATP production.

Skeletal muscle blood flow during exercise is reduced in a rat model of pulmonary hypertension.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is characterized by exercise intolerance. Muscle blood flow may be reduced during exercise in PAH; however, this has not been directly measured. Therefore, we investigated blood flow during exercise in a rat model of monocrotaline (MCT)-induced pulmonary hypertension (PH).

Insulin blood-brain barrier transport and interactions are greater following exercise in mice.

Exercise has multiple beneficial effects including improving peripheral insulin sensitivity, improving central function such as memory, and restoring a dysregulated blood-brain barrier (BBB). Central nervous system (CNS) insulin resistance is a common feature of cognitive impairment, including Alzheimer's disease. Delivery of insulin to the brain can improve memory.

Nicotine Induces Maternal and Fetal Inflammatory Responses Which Predispose Intrauterine Infection Risk in a Rat Model.

Introduction: Both smoking and infection adversely impact pregnancy. Previously, our group identified in a rodent model that 6 mg/kg/d nicotine increased the risk of fetal infection at gestation day (GD) 18. Here, we investigate lower nicotine doses.

Molecular characterization of "Candidatus Anaplasma testudinis": An emerging pathogen in the threatened Florida gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus).

Members of the family Anaplasmataceae are obligate intracellular bacteria that replicate within membrane bound vacuoles in the cytoplasm of cells in vertebrate and invertebrate hosts. This study reports a putative new Anaplasma species in gopher tortoises in Florida. Two Florida gopher tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus) presented at the University of Florida Veterinary Hospital with anemia and intracytoplasmic vacuoles filled with bacteria within erythrocytes.

Dynamic right ventricular function response to incremental exercise in pulmonary hypertension.

Pulmonary hypertension is a progressive disease whose survival is linked to adequate right ventricle adaptation to its afterload. In the current study, we performed an in-depth characterization of right ventricle function during maximum incremental exercise in patients with pulmonary hypertension and how it relates to exercise capacity. A total of 377 pulmonary hypertension patients who completed a maximum symptom-limited invasive cardiopulmonary exercise testing were evaluated to identify 45 patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, 48 with exercise pulmonary hypertension, and 47 with established pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Ecological correlates of group integrity among dispersing cliff swallows.

Breeding colonies of birds represent groups of individuals that associate during one breeding season, at least partially dissociate for the non-breeding season, and may re-associate the next year through collective settlement at another breeding site. Little is known about the extent to which colonial birds maintain group integrity when occupying different sites in different years or the benefits of long-term associations among colonial individuals. For cliff swallows () in western Nebraska, USA, we examined ecological correlates and potential benefits associated with group integrity.

Efficacy data of halogenated phenazine and quinoline agents and an NH125 analogue to veterinary mycoplasmas.

Background: Mycoplasmas primarily cause respiratory or urogenital tract infections impacting avian, bovine, canine, caprine, murine, and reptilian hosts. In animal husbandry, mycoplasmas cause reduced feed-conversion, decreased egg production, arthritis, hypogalactia or agalactia, increased condemnations, culling, and mortality in some cases. Antibiotics reduce transmission and mitigate clinical signs; however, concerning levels of antibiotic resistance in Mycoplasma gallisepticum and M.

A Uniquely Altered Oral Microbiome Composition Was Observed in Pregnant Rats With Induced Periodontal Disease.

is an anaerobic bacterium commonly found in the oral cavity and associated with the development of periodontal disease. has also been linked to several systemic vascular and inflammatory diseases including poor pregnancy outcomes. Little is known about the changes in the oral flora during pregnancy in connection to infection.

Voluntary Wheel Running Has Beneficial Effects in a Rat Model of CKD-Mineral Bone Disorder (CKD-MBD).

Background: Reduced bone and muscle health in individuals with CKD contributes to their higher rates of morbidity and mortality.

Methods: We tested the hypothesis that voluntary wheel running would improve musculoskeletal health in a CKD rat model. Rats with spontaneous progressive cystic kidney disease (Cy/+ ) and normal littermates (NL) were given access to a voluntary running wheel or standard cage conditions for 10 weeks starting at 25 weeks of age when the rats with kidney disease had reached stage 2-3 of CKD.

Turning the Tide against Antibiotic Resistance by Evaluating Novel, Halogenated Phenazine, Quinoline, and NH125 Compounds against Species Clinical Isolates and Type Strains.

Escalating levels of antibiotic resistance in mycoplasmas, particularly macrolide resistance in and , have narrowed our antibiotic arsenal. Further, mycoplasmas lack a cell wall and do not synthesize folic acid, rendering common antibiotics, such as beta-lactams, vancomycin, sulfonamides, and trimethoprim, of no value. To address this shortage, we screened nitroxoline, triclosan, and a library of 20 novel, halogenated phenazine, quinoline, and NH125 analogues against species and clinical isolates from urine.

Measurement of nitrate and nitrite in biopsy-sized muscle samples using HPLC.

Studies of rats have indicated that skeletal muscle plays a central role in whole-body nitrate ( )/nitrite ( )/nitric oxide (NO) metabolism. Extending these results to humans, however, is challenging due to the small size of needle biopsy samples. We therefore developed a method to precisely and accurately quantify and in biopsy-sized muscle samples.

Reproductive ecology of interior least tern and piping plover in relation to Platte River hydrology and sandbar dynamics.

In a recent study, Farnsworth et al. (2017) used distributions of nest initiation dates drawn mostly from human-created, off-channel habitats and a model of emergent sandbar habitat to evaluate the hypothesis that least terns () and piping plovers () are physiologically adapted to initiate nests concurrent with the cessation of spring river flow rises on two sections of the Platte River, Nebraska. The study by Farnsworth et al.

Porphyromonas gingivalis strain-dependent inhibition of uterine spiral artery remodeling in the pregnant rat.

Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg) is an important periodontal pathogen that is also implicated in pregnancy complications involving defective deep placentation (DDP). We hypothesized that Pg invasion of the placental bed promotes DDP. Pregnant rats were intravenously inoculated with sterile vehicle, Pg strain W83, or A7436 at gestation day (GD) 14 (acute cohort).

Why come back home? Breeding-site fidelity varies with group size and parasite load in a colonial bird.

Fidelity to a past breeding site is widespread among animals and may confer both costs and benefits. Colonial species occur at specific sites that can accommodate multiple breeders, and the choice of whether to return to last year's site or disperse elsewhere can affect colony site use, the colony size distribution and individual fitness. For the colonial cliff swallow, , which occupies colonies of widely different sizes, we used a 30-year field study in western Nebraska to investigate how the extent of infestation by ectoparasites and colony size affected breeders' colony site fidelity between years.

Disinhibiting neurons in the dorsomedial hypothalamus delays the onset of exertional fatigue and exhaustion in rats exercising in a warm environment.

Stimulants cause hyperthermia, in part, by increasing heat generation through exercise. Stimulants also delay the onset of fatigue and exhaustion allowing animals to exercise longer. If used in a warm environment, this combination (increased exercise and decreased fatigue) can cause heat stroke.