Time to Mobility Is Associated With Pulmonary Complications in Patients With Spine Fractures.

Introduction: Treatment of spine fractures may require periods of prolonged immobilization which prevents effective pulmonary toileting. We hypothesized that patients with longer time to mobilization, as measured by time to first physical therapy (PT) session, would have higher pulmonary complications.

Methods: We performed a retrospective review of all trauma patients with cervical and thoracolumbar spinal fractures admitted to a level 1 trauma center over a 12-month period.

What Are Essential Skills and Concepts for Teaching Mass Spectrometry to Undergraduates?

Instructors of college-level science courses often have a strong desire to use techniques and concepts from the fields of educational psychology and pedagogy, but it can be difficult to adapt information from those fields to specific technical topics such as mass spectrometry. A useful technique to apply various learning theories to teaching a specific topic is to distinguish between skills and concepts that are needed to understand and apply that topic to various problems. This report summarizes information gathered at the American Society for Mass Spectrometry 2021 Undergraduate Research Interest Group Workshop and seeks to identify essential skills and concepts that need to be taught to undergraduate students learning about mass spectrometry.

Characterization of protein-ligand binding interactions of enoyl-ACP reductase (FabI) by native MS reveals allosteric effects of coenzymes and the inhibitor triclosan.

The enzyme enoyl-ACP reductase (also called FabI in bacteria) is an essential member of the fatty acid synthase II pathway in plants and bacteria. This enzyme is the target of the antibacterial drug triclosan and has been the subject of extensive studies for the past 20 years. Despite the large number of reports describing the biochemistry of this enzyme, there have been no studies that provided direct observation of the protein and its various ligands.

A systems approach for resources management during the COVID-19 pandemic: Multi-agency perspectives from New England.

The emergence of COVID-19 in the United States has overwhelmed local hospitals, produced shortages in critical protective supplies for medical staff, and created backlogs in burials and cremations. Because systemic disruptions occur most acutely at a local scale, facilitating resource coordination across a broad region can assist local responses to COVID-19 surges. This article describes a structured systems approach for coordinating COVID-19 resource distribution across the six New England states of the United States.

Protein Adducts and Protein Oxidation as Molecular Mechanisms of Flavonoid Bioactivity.

There are tens of thousands of scientific papers about flavonoids and their impacts on human health. However, despite the vast amount of energy that has been put toward studying these compounds, a unified molecular mechanism that explains their bioactivity remains elusive. One contributing factor to the absence of a general mechanistic explanation of their bioactivity is the complexity of flavonoid chemistry in aqueous solutions at neutral pH.

The challenges of data usage for the United States' COVID-19 response.

During the coronavirus pandemic, policy makers need to interpret available public health data to make decisions affecting public health. However, the United States' coronavirus response faced data gaps, inadequate and inconsistent definitions of data across different governmental jurisdictions, ambiguous timing in reporting, problems in accessing data, and changing interpretations from scientific institutions. These present numerous problems for the decision makers relying on this information.

Physiological and metabolic characteristics of novel double-mutant female mice with targeted disruption of both growth hormone-releasing hormone and growth hormone receptor.

Mice with disruptions of growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) or growth hormone receptor (GHR) exhibit similar phenotypes of prolonged lifespan and delayed age-related diseases. However, these two models respond differently to calorie restriction indicating that they might carry different and/or independent mechanisms for improved longevity and healthspan. In order to elucidate these mechanisms, we generated GHRH and GHR double-knockout mice (D-KO).

A guided-inquiry investigation of bacterial membrane potential using flow cytometry for an undergraduate biochemistry laboratory course.

Flow cytometry has become an important tool in the life sciences and medical fields, yet there are often few opportunities for undergraduate students to receive training with this type of instrumentation as part of life science curricula at many colleges and universities. We describe a straightforward laboratory exercise designed for a college-level biochemistry course that uses flow cytometry to investigate changes in bacterial membrane potential and cell viability in response to various treatments. Anecdotally, we have noticed that many students often have difficulty understanding the concept of membrane potential and the essential role that it plays in cellular processes.

Immunomodulatory and Antibacterial Properties of the Chumash Medicinal Plant Trichostema lanatum.

The woody shrub Benth. (Lamiaceae) is native to Southern California and was reportedly used by the Chumash people as a disinfectant and for the treatment of rheumatism. Based on its traditional uses, this study investigated the antibacterial and immunomodulatory properties of extracts from A methanolic extract of the leaves and stems of was tested for immunomodulatory activity by measuring the proliferation of murine macrophage cell cultures and the production of the pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-α by the cells after treatment with .

Antibacterial activity of fractions from three Chumash medicinal plant extracts and in vitro inhibition of the enzyme enoyl reductase by the flavonoid jaceosidin.

We have investigated the in vitro antibacterial bioactivity of dichloromethane-soluble fractions of Artemisia californica, Trichostema lanatum, Salvia apiana, Sambucus nigra ssp. cerulea and Quercus agrifolia Née against a ΔtolC mutant strain of Escherichia coli. These plants are traditional medicinal plants of the Chumash American Indians of Southern California.

4',4‴,7,7″-tetra-O-methylcupressuflavone inhibits seed germination of Lactuca sativa.

Biflavonoids have been isolated from a wide variety of plant species, but little is known about their native biological functions. Here we report a possible ecological role for biflavonoids by describing the isolation of the biflavonoid 4',4‴,7,7″-tetra-O-methylcupressuflavone (1) from Araucaria columnaris and its inhibitory effect on seed germination. Compound 1 was isolated from needles of a single A.

Briarane diterpenes diminish COX-2 expression in human colon adenocarcinoma cells.

Exploration of a soft coral (Briareum sp.) from Vanuatu led to the isolation of three new briaranes, designated brialalepolides A (1), B (2), and C (3). Compounds 2 and 3 reduced the expression of COX-2 in human colon adenocarcinoma cells, as well as in murine macrophage cells.

Bringing natural products into the fold - exploring the therapeutic lead potential of secondary metabolites for the treatment of protein-misfolding-related neurodegenerative diseases.

A review with 187 references, describing natural products that exhibit bioactive properties relevant to the treatment of protein aggregation-related neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., Huntington's, Parkinson's, and prion diseases) and comparing the chemical properties of these secondary metabolite leads to compounds in clinical use for treating central nervous system conditions.

Mutanobactin A from the human oral pathogen Streptococcus mutans is a cross-kingdom regulator of the yeast-mycelium transition.

The recent investigation of a gene cluster encoding for a hybrid PKS-NRPS metabolite in the oral pathogen Streptococcus mutans UA159 yielded evidence that this natural product might play an important role regulating a range of stress tolerance factors. We have now characterized the major compound generated from this gene cluster, mutanobactin A, and demonstrated that this secondary metabolite is also capable of influencing the yeast-mycelium transition of Candida albicans.

Probing the metabolic aberrations underlying mutant huntingtin toxicity in yeast and assessing their degree of preservation in humans and mice.

Metabolomics is a powerful multiparameter tool for evaluating phenotypic traits associated with disease processes. We have used (1)H NMR metabolome profiling to characterize metabolic aberrations in a yeast model of Huntington's disease that are attributable to the mutant huntingtin protein's gain-of-toxic-function effects. A group of 11 metabolites (alanine, acetate, galactose, glutamine, glycerol, histidine, proline, succinate, threonine, trehalose, and valine) exhibited significant concentration changes in yeast expressing the N-terminal fragment of a mutant human huntingtin gene.

A chemical epigenetics approach for engineering the in situ biosynthesis of a cryptic natural product from Aspergillus niger.

A new fungal metabolite, nygerone A (), featuring a unique 1-phenylpyridin-4(1H)-one core that had previously not been reported from any natural source, has been obtained from Aspergillus niger using a chemical epigenetics methodology.

Bioactivity profiling with parallel mass spectrometry reveals an assemblage of green tea metabolites affording protection against human huntingtin and alpha-synuclein toxicity.

Aberrant protein aggregation and misfolding are key pathological features of many neurodegenerative disorders, including Huntington's and Parkinson's diseases. Compounds that offer protection from toxicity associated with aggregation-prone neurodegenerative proteins may have applications for the treatment of a multitude of disorders. A high-throughput bioassay system with parallel electrospray ionization mass spectrometry screening has been designed for critical evaluation of milligram quantities of natural product extracts, including dietary substances, for compounds of pharmacological relevance to the treatment of human neurodegenerative diseases.