Deriving life-course residential histories in brain bank cohorts: A feasibility study.

Introduction: The exposome is theorized to interact with biological mechanisms to influence risk for Alzheimer's disease but is not well-integrated into existing Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC) brain bank data collection.

Methods: We apply public data tracing, an iterative, dual abstraction and validation process rooted in rigorous historic archival methods, to develop life-course residential histories for 1254 ADRC decedents.

Results: The median percentage of the life course with an address is 78.

E-Cigarette-Related Nicotine Misinformation on Social Media.

Twitter provides an opportunity to examine misperceptions about nicotine and addiction as they pertain to electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS). The purpose of this study was to systematically examine a sample of ENDS-related tweets that presented information about nicotine or addiction for the presence of potential misinformation. A total of 10.

Impact of the Rural Physician Associate Program on Workforce Outcomes.

Background And Objectives: The Rural Physician Associate Program (RPAP) at the University of Minnesota Medical School (UMMS) is a 9-month rural longitudinal integrated clerkship (LIC) for third-year medical students built on a foundation of family medicine. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between participation in the RPAP program and the desired workforce outcomes of practice in Minnesota, primary care specialty (particularly family medicine), and rural practice.

Methods: We analyzed workforce outcomes for UMMS graduates who completed postgraduate training between 1975 and 2017, comparing RPAP participants (n=1,217) to noparticipants (n=7,928).

A systematic review of the engagement with social media-delivered interventions for improving health outcomes among sexual and gender minorities.

Background: Sexual and gender minority (SGM) persons face a number of physical and mental health disparities closely linked to discrimination, social stigma, and victimization. Despite the acceptability and increasing number of digital health interventions focused on improving health outcomes among SGM people, there is a lack of reviews summarizing whether and how researchers assess engagement with social media-delivered health interventions for this group.

Objective: The objective of this systematic review was to synthesize and critique the evidence on evaluation of engagement with social media-delivered interventions for improving health outcomes among SGM persons.

"I Don't Feel Like the Odd One": Utilizing Content Analysis to Compare the Effects of Social Media Use on Well-Being Among Sexual Minority and Nonminority US Young Adults.

Purpose: Although there is evidence of associations between social media (SM) use and mental well-being among the general population, these associations among lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) persons are poorly understood. This study compared the influence of SM experiences on mental well-being between LGB and non-LGB persons.

Design And Setting: Online cross-sectional survey.

Building a Medical Education Outcomes Center: Development Study.

Background: Medical education outcomes and clinical data exist in multiple unconnected databases, resulting in 3 problems: (1) it is difficult to connect learner outcomes with patient outcomes, (2) learners cannot be easily tracked over time through the education-training-practice continuum, and (3) no standard methodology ensures quality and privacy of the data.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to develop a Medical Education Outcomes Center (MEOC) to integrate education data and to build a framework to standardize the intake and processing of requests for using these data.

Methods: An inventory of over 100 data sources owned or utilized by the medical school was conducted, and nearly 2 dozen of these data sources have been vetted and integrated into the MEOC.

Identification of a hydroxy substituted calamenene--a sesquiterpene associated with wound reactions in non-infected xylem of Tilia spp.

Xylem of lime trees (Tilia spp.) with wound reactions was structurally investigated by scanning (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) as well as chemically analyzed by direct thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (DTD-GC-MS). Wound reactions in the outer xylem lead to distinct discolorations around the wound.

Analyses of the wood preservative component N-cyclohexyl-diazeniumdioxide in impregnated pine sapwood by direct thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Investigations concerning the qualitative and quantitative determination of the organic wood preservative component N-cyclohexyl-diazeniumdioxide (HDO) in treated timber were carried out by means of direct thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (DTD-GC-MS). It could be shown that the identification of HDO in treated pine sapwood (Pinus sylyestris L.) is relatively simple using this analytical technique.

Compression of ECG signals by optimized quantization of discrete cosine transform coefficients.

This paper presents an ECG compressor based on optimized quantization of Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) coefficients. The ECG to be compressed is partitioned in blocks of fixed size, and each DCT block is quantized using a quantization vector and a threshold vector that are specifically defined for each signal. These vectors are defined, via Lagrange multipliers, so that the estimated entropy is minimized for a given distortion in the reconstructed signal.

Design and construction of a hybrid immunoglobulin domain with properties of both heavy and light chain variable regions.

The complementarity-determining regions (CDRs) of a human kappa light chain were replaced with CDRs from a murine gamma-1 heavy chain and, by use of molecular modeling, key heavy chain framework residues were identified and thus included to preserve the native conformation of the heavy chain CDRs. Co-expression of this hybrid human kappa chain (V[HB]C[L]) with a human kappa chain counterpart (V[L]C[L], engineered to contain murine light chain CDRs) resulted in the secretion of high levels of a heterodimeric protein (V[HB]C[L]::V[L]C[L]) termed 'kappabody'. This protein also had equivalent affinity for antigen as the Fab' of the parent murine IgG1.

A COOH-terminal peptide confers regiospecific orientation and facilitates atomic force microscopy of an IgG1.

An antibody (IgG1) was designed for oriented adherence to a metal-containing surface. This was achieved by adding a metal-chelating peptide, (CP = His-Trp-His-His-His-Pro), to the COOH-terminus of the heavy chain through genetic engineering. Electroporation of the engineered heavy chain gene into cells expressing the complimentary light chain yielded colonies secreting an intact antibody containing the metal-chelating peptide (IgG1-CP) which had high affinity for a nickel-loaded iminodiacetate column.

Effects of cereal and vegetable fiber feeding on potential risk factors for colon cancer.

The effects of two doses of cereal fiber and vegetable fiber on mean transit time, stool weight, fecal pH and fecal bile acids were examined in 34 healthy volunteers. Subjects consumed five diets in random order for 23 days each, consisting of a fiber-free liquid diet and quick breads containing 0 g added dietary fiber, 10 g fiber as wheat bran (WB), 30 g fiber as WB, 10 g fiber as vegetable fiber (VF), and 30 g fiber as VF. Fecal wet and dry weights were 43% and 19% higher, respectively, on WB as compared to VF (P < 0.

Effects of high-fiber diet on fecal blood content (HemoQuant assay) in healthy subjects.

Consumption of high-fiber diets has been recommended prior to fecal blood testing to increase bleeding from polyps, cancer, and other lesions associated with mucosal erosion in the gastrointestinal tract. The effect of a high-fiber diet on fecal hemoglobin loss was examined in 17 healthy subjects during two dietary periods: (1) self-selected diet, (2) same diet plus 24 g/day dietary fiber (Fiber One Cereal). Five-day fecal composites were weighed and homogenized, and hemoglobin concentration was determined by the HemoQuant test.

Methane production and bowel function parameters in healthy subjects on low- and high-fiber diets.

Colon cancer patients are more likely than healthy subjects to excrete breath methane, and methane production has been suggested as a screening method to predict risk of developing colon cancer. To assess whether methane production is related to fiber ingestion and bowel function, we measured end-alveolar breath methane in 126 healthy subjects; 36% produced methane (greater than 3 ppm). Fifteen methane producers and nine controls were selected to participate in a 17-day study: a self-selected diet for 7 days, followed by the same diet plus 24 g/day dietary fiber (Fiber One Cereal) for 10 days.

Cloning and high level expression of a chimeric antibody with specificity for human carcinoembryonic antigen.

A mouse/human chimeric antibody has been constructed by using variable light and variable heavy regions from a murine hybridoma specific for human carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) (CEM231.6.7).

Superoxide radicals and hemorrhagic shock: are intravascular radicals associated with mortality?

Superoxide radicals (SORs) are formed during hemorrhagic shock. However, the association between SOR formation and mortality remains undefined. Would neutralization of SORs during shock improve survival? Superoxide dismutase (SOD) was covalently linked to Ficoll to prolong vascular persistence and ensure ongoing neutralization of intravascular SORs.