Active Learning Exercises in Synaptic Physiology and Connectivity for the Neuroscience Lecture Hall, Laboratory Course, or Outreach Setting.

It is well-understood that active learning approaches have positive learning outcomes and improve retention. Active learning strategies for the neuroscience laboratory setting have been extensively developed. Fewer active learning approaches are available for the traditional lecture-based setting.

Effects of seven days' fasting on physical performance and metabolic adaptation during exercise in humans.

Humans have, throughout history, faced periods of starvation necessitating increased physical effort to gather food. To explore adaptations in muscle function, 13 participants (7 males and 6 females) fasted for seven days. They lost 4.

'Authentic' or 'corny': LGBTQ+ young adults respond to visual, thematic and semantic elements of culturally targeted tobacco public education advertisements.

Background: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) young adults (YA) experience disparities in nicotine and tobacco use. Mass-reach health communications can prevent nicotine and tobacco initiation and progression, but LGBTQ+adults report low engagement. Although cultural targeting (CT) could reach LGBTQ+YA, we know little about the strategies that resonate with this population.

Leveraging a Longitudinally Linked Dataset to Assess Recurrence of Severe Maternal Morbidity.

Objectives: Among those with a severe maternal morbidity (SMM) event and a subsequent birth, we examined how the risk of a second SMM event varied by patient characteristics and intrapartum hospital utilization.

Methods: We used a Massachusetts population-based dataset that longitudinally linked in-state births, hospital discharge records, prior and subsequent births, and non-birth-related hospital utilizations for birthing individuals and their children from January 1, 1999, to December 31, 2018, representing 1,460,514 births by 907,530 birthing people. We restricted our study sample to 2,814 people who had their first SMM event associated with a singleton birth and gave birth a second time within the study period.

Philosophical Reflections on Music Therapy Musicianship.

This philosophical inquiry critically examines music therapy musicianship in order to reconceptualize the ways in which musicianship is conceived of and taught in education and training programs in the United States. Through a constructive and critical interaction with historical and extant literature, we seek to create space for the uniqueness of musicianship in our field. We challenge the relevance of the conservatory model, the primacy of the work concept, and the focus on fine art often found in educational settings.

H2A.Z chaperones converge on E2F target genes for melanoma cell proliferation.

High levels of H2A.Z promote melanoma cell proliferation and correlate with poor prognosis. However, the role of the two distinct H2A.

Nicotinamide Riboside Augments Human Macrophage Migration via SIRT3-Mediated Prostaglandin E2 Signaling.

NAD boosting via nicotinamide riboside (NR) confers anti-inflammatory effects. However, its underlying mechanisms and therapeutic potential remain incompletely defined. Here, we showed that NR increased the expression of CC-chemokine receptor 7 (CCR7) in human M1 macrophages by flow cytometric analysis of cell surface receptors.

Modeling target-density-based cull strategies to contain foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks.

Total ring depopulation is sometimes used as a management strategy for emerging infectious diseases in livestock, which raises ethical concerns regarding the potential slaughter of large numbers of healthy animals. We evaluated a farm-density-based ring culling strategy to control foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in the United Kingdom (UK), which may allow for some farms within rings around infected premises (IPs) to escape depopulation. We simulated this reduced farm density, or "target density", strategy using a spatially-explicit, stochastic, state-transition algorithm.

Respectful Maternity Care in the United States-Characterizing Inequities Experienced by Birthing People.

Objective:  The purpose of this study is to understand experiences of respectful maternity care (RMC) from the perspective of birthing people in the United States from 2013 to 2018.

Methods:  We conducted an online cross-sectional survey of United States birthing people ages 18-50 in April 2018 using SurveyMonkey Audience. Quantitative survey data consisted of demographics and responses to RMC indicators.

Living while fat: Development and validation of the Fat Microaggressions Scale.

Fat microaggressions are microlevel social practices in the form of commonplace everyday indignities that insult fat people and have been documented anecdotally and qualitatively. However, no psychometrically validated scale exists for measuring fat microaggressions, despite decades of microaggression research demonstrating their negative health associations. This research describes the development and construct validation of the Fat Microaggressions Scale across four studies.

Arachidonic acid inhibition of the NLRP3 inflammasome is a mechanism to explain the anti-inflammatory effects of fasting.

Elevated interleukin (IL)-1β levels, NLRP3 inflammasome activity, and systemic inflammation are hallmarks of chronic metabolic inflammatory syndromes, but the mechanistic basis for this is unclear. Here, we show that levels of plasma IL-1β are lower in fasting compared to fed subjects, while the lipid arachidonic acid (AA) is elevated. Lipid profiling of NLRP3-stimulated mouse macrophages shows enhanced AA production and an NLRP3-dependent eicosanoid signature.

Propionate functions as a feeding state-dependent regulatory metabolite to counter proinflammatory signaling linked to nutrient load and obesity.

Generally, fasting and refeeding confer anti- and proinflammatory effects, respectively. In humans, these caloric-load interventions function, in part, via regulation of CD4+ T cell biology. However, mechanisms orchestrating this regulation remain incomplete.

A systematic review of ecological momentary assessment studies on weight stigma and a call for a large-scale collaboration.

Background: Weight stigma is associated with poor mental health correlates in cross-sectional research. Researchers are increasingly using Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) methods, collecting comprehensive within-person data to understand the temporal nature of weight stigma and its biopsychosocial correlates.

Aim: To systematically review EMA studies on the effect of weight stigma on biopsychosocial correlates and integrate the findings.

H2A.Z chaperones converge on histone H4 acetylation for melanoma cell proliferation.

High levels of H2A.Z promote melanoma cell proliferation and correlate with poor prognosis. However, the role of the two distinct H2A.

Leadership and Teamwork During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experiences of Music Therapy Business Leaders.

This study investigated the experiences of music therapy private practice business leaders providing services in school, healthcare, and community settings, including clients' homes, during the first 12 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Qualitative content analysis was utilized to analyze semi-structured interview data collected from 10 business leaders (5 CEOs and 5 clinical directors) recruited from 5 businesses. 8 themes were revealed: (1) significant impact shaped by uncertainty and values, (2) temporal dimensions of change, (3) changing dynamics of relationships, (4) issues leading to burnout, (5) unexpected opportunities for all stakeholders, (6) the weight of being responsive, (7) the ambiguity of role changes, and (8) the collective functioning of the clinical team.

Historical trends demonstrate a pattern of increasingly frequent and severe spillover events of high-consequence zoonotic viruses.

The COVID-19 pandemic has focused attention on patterns of infectious disease spillover. Climate and land-use changes are predicted to increase the frequency of zoonotic spillover events, which have been the cause of most modern epidemics. Characterising historical trends in zoonotic spillover can provide insights into the expected frequency and severity of future epidemics, but historical epidemiological data remains largely fragmented and difficult to analyse.

Prior Hospitalization, Severe Maternal Morbidity, and Pregnancy-Associated Deaths in Massachusetts From 2002 to 2019.

Objective: To examine demographic and clinical precursors to pregnancy-associated deaths overall and when pregnancy-related deaths are excluded.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study based on a Massachusetts population-based data system linking data from live birth and fetal death certificates to corresponding delivery hospital discharge records and a birthing individual's nonbirth hospital contacts and associated death records. Exposures included maternal demographics, severe maternal morbidity (without transfusion), hospitalizations in the 3 years before pregnancy, comorbidities during pregnancy, and opioid use.

Racial, Ethnic, and Sex Diversity in Academic Medical Leadership.

Importance: For the past 50 years, significant gaps have existed in gender and racial diversity across various medical specialties, despite the many benefits of a diverse physician workforce. One proposed approach to increasing diversity is top-down diversification, in which diverse leadership results in increased minority and female workforce representation.

Objective: To investigate the changes in academic medical leadership diversity from 2007 to 2019 and to assess the recent leadership diversity of various specialties compared with the averages across all specialties.

Development of a Maternal Equity Safety Bundle to Eliminate Racial Inequities in Massachusetts.

Objective: The PNQIN (Perinatal-Neonatal Quality Improvement Network of Massachusetts) sought to adapt the Reduction of Peripartum Racial and Ethnic Disparities Conceptual Framework and Maternal Safety Consensus Bundle by selecting and defining measures to create a bundle to address maternal health inequities in Massachusetts. This study describes the process of developing consensus-based measures to implement the PNQIN Maternal Equity Bundle across Massachusetts hospitals participating in the Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health Initiative.

Methods: Our team used a mixed-methods approach to create the PNQIN Maternal Equity Bundle through consensus including a literature review, expert interviews, and a modified Delphi process to compile, define, and select measures to drive maternal equity-focused action.

Strategies to Promote Maternal Health Equity: The Role of Perinatal Quality Collaboratives.

Perinatal quality improvement is a method to increase obstetric safety and promote health equity. Increasing trends of maternal deaths, life-threatening complications of pregnancy, and persistent racial inequities are unacceptable. This Narrative Review examines the role and strategies of perinatal quality initiatives and collaboratives to deliver safe and equitable maternity care and the evidence of demonstrated success.

Adverse childhood experiences and early initiation of substance use: A survival analysis.

Objective: Early adversity, such as adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), is a risk factor for the development of substance use disorder (SUD). ACEs are associated with earlier initiation of substance use. This study examined the relationship between ACEs and age of initiation of substance use using survival analysis.

Boosting NAD preferentially blunts Th17 inflammation via arginine biosynthesis and redox control in healthy and psoriasis subjects.

To evaluate whether nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide-positive (NAD) boosting modulates adaptive immunity, primary CD4 T cells from healthy control and psoriasis subjects were exposed to vehicle or nicotinamide riboside (NR) supplementation. NR blunts interferon γ (IFNγ) and interleukin (IL)-17 secretion with greater effects on T helper (Th) 17 polarization. RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis implicates NR blunting of sequestosome 1 (sqstm1/p62)-coupled oxidative stress.

WNTinib is a multi-kinase inhibitor with specificity against β-catenin mutant hepatocellular carcinoma.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. β-Catenin (CTNNB1)-mutated HCC represents 30% of cases of the disease with no precision therapeutics available. Using chemical libraries derived from clinical multi-kinase inhibitor (KI) scaffolds, we screened HCC organoids to identify WNTinib, a KI with exquisite selectivity in CTNNB1-mutated human and murine models, including patient samples.

Scaling and sustaining COVID-19 vaccination through meaningful community engagement and care coordination for underserved communities: hybrid type 3 effectiveness-implementation sequential multiple assignment randomized trial.

Background: COVID-19 inequities are abundant in low-income communities of color. Addressing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy to promote equitable and sustained vaccination for underserved communities requires a multi-level, scalable, and sustainable approach. It is also essential that efforts acknowledge the broader healthcare needs of these communities including engagement in preventive services.