Genome sequence of Streptomyces griseus strain XylebKG-1, an ambrosia beetle-associated actinomycete.

Streptomyces griseus strain XylebKG-1 is an insect-associated strain of the well-studied actinobacterial species S. griseus. Here, we present the genome of XylebKG-1 and discuss its similarity to the genome of S.

The genome sequence of the leaf-cutter ant Atta cephalotes reveals insights into its obligate symbiotic lifestyle.

Leaf-cutter ants are one of the most important herbivorous insects in the Neotropics, harvesting vast quantities of fresh leaf material. The ants use leaves to cultivate a fungus that serves as the colony's primary food source. This obligate ant-fungus mutualism is one of the few occurrences of farming by non-humans and likely facilitated the formation of their massive colonies.

Draft genome of the globally widespread and invasive Argentine ant (Linepithema humile).

Ants are some of the most abundant and familiar animals on Earth, and they play vital roles in most terrestrial ecosystems. Although all ants are eusocial, and display a variety of complex and fascinating behaviors, few genomic resources exist for them. Here, we report the draft genome sequence of a particularly widespread and well-studied species, the invasive Argentine ant (Linepithema humile), which was accomplished using a combination of 454 (Roche) and Illumina sequencing and community-based funding rather than federal grant support.

Intrinsic functional-connectivity networks for diagnosis: just beautiful pictures?

Resting-state functional connectivity has become a topic of enormous interest in the Neuroscience community in the last decade. Because resting-state data (1) harbor important information that often is diagnostically relevant and (2) are easy to acquire, there has been a rapid increase in the development of a variety of network analytic techniques for diagnostic applications, stimulating methodological research in general. While we are among those who welcome the increased interest in the resting state and multivariate analytic tools, we would like to draw attention to some entrenched practices that undermine the scientific quality of diagnostic functional-connectivity research, but whose correction is relatively easy to accomplish.

Differential co-localization with choline acetyltransferase in nervus terminalis suggests functional differences for GnRH isoforms in bonnethead sharks (Sphyrna tiburo).

The nervus terminalis (NT) is a vertebrate cranial nerve whose function in adults is unknown. In bonnethead sharks, the nerve is anatomically independent of the olfactory system, with two major cell populations within one or more ganglia along its exposed length. Most cells are immunoreactive for either gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) or RF-amide-like peptides.

Investing in preventive dental care for the Medicare population: a preliminary analysis.

Objectives: We estimated the use of preventive dental care services by the US Medicare population, and we assessed whether money spent on preventive dental care resulted in less money being spent on expensive nonpreventive procedures.

Methods: We used data from the 2002 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey to estimate a multinomial logistic model to analyze the influence of predisposing, enabling, and need variables in identifying those beneficiaries who used preventive dental care, only nonpreventive dental care, or no dental care in a multiple-variable context. We used regression models with similar controls to estimate the influence of preventive care on the utilization and cost of nonpreventive dental care and all dental care.

The pattern recognition molecule deleted in malignant brain tumors 1 (DMBT1) and synthetic mimics inhibit liposomal nucleic acid delivery.

Liposomal nucleic acid delivery is a preferred option for therapeutic settings. The cellular pattern recognition molecule DMBT1, secreted at high levels in various diseases, and synthetic mimics efficiently inhibit liposomal nucleic acid delivery to human cells. These findings may have relevance for therapeutic nucleic acid delivery strategies.

Storage time of allogeneic red blood cells is associated with risk of severe postoperative infection after coronary artery bypass grafting.

Objective: The storage time of allogeneic red blood cells (RBCs) has been linked with the risk of severe postoperative infections following cardiac surgery. However, existing data are sparse and inconsistent. We therefore examined the association between the age of transfused RBCs and development of severe postoperative infection following coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in a large population-based cohort study.

Gender differences in platelet aggregation in healthy individuals.

This study evaluated gender variability in platelet aggregation in response to common agonists. Platelet aggregation was measured in 36 healthy men and women free of any antiplatelet medication, aged 22-36 years, of Caucasian (White not of Hispanic origin), Hispanic, and African-American not of Hispanic origin. In this ex-vivo study, we investigated platelet aggregation in response to adenosine-5'-diphosphate (ADP), epinephrine (EPI), arachidonic acid (AA) and collagen (COL), using a platelet ionized calcium aggregometer (Chrono-Log Co.

Dental care expenditures and retirement.

Objectives: To examine the relationship of dental care coverage, retirement, and out-of-pocket (OOP) dental expenditures in an aging population, using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS).

Methods: We estimate OOP dental expenditures among individuals who have dental utilization as a function of dental care coverage status, retirement, and individual and household characteristics. We also estimate a multivariate model controlling for potentially confounding variables.

The recognition unit of FIBCD1 organizes into a noncovalently linked tetrameric structure and uses a hydrophobic funnel (S1) for acetyl group recognition.

We have recently identified FIBCD1 (Fibrinogen C domain containing 1) as a type II transmembrane endocytic receptor located primarily in the intestinal brush border. The ectodomain of FIBCD1 comprises a coiled coil, a polycationic region, and a C-terminal FReD (fibrinogen-related domain) that assembles into disulfide-linked homotetramers. The FIBCD1-FReD binds Ca(2+) dependently to acetylated structures like chitin, N-acetylated carbohydrates, and amino acids.

Physicians' beliefs and attitudes about end-of-life care: a comparison of selected regions in Hungary and the United States.

Context: Unlike primary care physicians in the U.S., it is only recently that Hungarian primary care physicians have had the educational resources for providing end-of-life care and the availability of hospice services as part of the Hungarian health care system.

Dental care coverage transitions.

Objective: To examine dental insurance transition dynamics in the context of changing employment and retirement status.

Study Design: Data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) were analyzed for individuals 51 years and older between the 2004 and 2006 waves of the HRS.

Methods: The primary focus of the analysis is the relationship between retirement and transitions in dental care coverage.

Age-related networks of regional covariance in MRI gray matter: reproducible multivariate patterns in healthy aging.

Healthy aging is associated with brain volume reductions that involve the frontal cortex, but also affect other brain regions. We sought to identify an age-related network pattern of MRI gray matter using a multivariate statistical model of regional covariance, the Scaled Subprofile Model (SSM) with voxel based morphometry (VBM) in 29 healthy adults, 23-84 years of age (Group 1). In addition, we evaluated the reproducibility of the age-related gray matter pattern derived from a prior SSM VBM study of 26 healthy adults, 22-77 years of age (Group 2; Alexander et al.

Dental care utilization and retirement.

Objective: The authors examine the relationship of dental care coverage, retirement, and utilization in an aging population using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS).

Methods: The authors estimate dental care use as a function of dental care coverage status, retirement, and individual and household characteristics. They also estimate a multivariate model controlling for potentially confounding variables.

Characterization of FIBCD1 as an acetyl group-binding receptor that binds chitin.

Chitin is a highly acetylated compound and the second most abundant biopolymer in the world next to cellulose. Vertebrates are exposed to chitin both through food ingestion and when infected with parasites, and fungi and chitin modulate the immune response in different directions. We have identified a novel homotetrameric 55-kDa type II transmembrane protein encoded by the FIBCD1 gene and highly expressed in the gastrointestinal tract.

Dental care coverage and retirement.

Objectives: To examine the convergence of an aging population and a decreased availability of dental care coverage using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS).

Methods: We calculate national estimates of the number and characteristics of those persons age 51 years and above covered by dental insurance by labor force, retirement status, and source of coverage. We also estimate a multivariate model controlling for potentially confounding variables.

The Balanced Scorecard of acute settings: development process, definition of 20 strategic objectives and implementation.

Context: Strategy development and implementation in acute care settings is often restricted by competing challenges, the pace of policy reform and the existence of parallel hierarchies.

Objective: To describe a generic approach to strategy development, illustrate the use of the Balanced Scorecard as a tool to facilitate strategy implementation and demonstrate how to break down strategic goals into measurable elements.

Design: Multi-method approach using three different conceptual models: Health Promoting Hospitals Standards and Strategies, the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Model and the Balanced Scorecard.

Regional cerebral blood flow and metabolic rate in persistent Lyme encephalopathy.

Context: There is controversy regarding whether objective neurobiological abnormalities exist after intensive antibiotic treatment for Lyme disease.

Objectives: To determine whether patients with a history of well-characterized Lyme disease and persistent cognitive deficit show abnormalities in global or topographic distributions of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) or cerebral metabolic rate (rCMR).

Design: Case-controlled study.

Measurements of spatial line emission profiles in the main scrape-off layer of the DIII-D tokamak.

A video camera system is described as that measures the spatial distribution of visible line emission emitted from the main scrape-off layer (SOL) of plasmas in the DIII-D tokamak. A wide-angle lens installed on an equatorial port and an in-vessel mirror, which intercepts part of the lens' view, provide simultaneous tangential views of the SOL on the low-field and high-field sides of the plasma's equatorial plane. Tomographic reconstruction techniques are used to calculate the two-dimensional (2D) poloidal profiles from the raw data, and one-dimensional (1D) poloidal profiles simulating chordal views of other optical diagnostics from the 2D profiles.

Control of oxidative reactions of hemoglobin in the design of blood substitutes: role of the ascorbate-glutathione antioxidant system.

Uncontrolled oxidative reactions of hemoglobin (Hb) are still the main unresolved problem for Hb-based blood substitute developers. Spontaneous oxidation of acellular ferrous Hb into a nonfunctional ferric Hb generates superoxide anion. Hydrogen peroxide, formed after superoxide anion dismutation, may react with ferrous/ferric Hb to produce toxic ferryl Hb, fluorescent heme degradation products, and/or protein-based free radicals.

Intrinsic toxicity of hemoglobin: how to counteract it.

The development of safe and effective blood substitutes is of great importance in both civilian and military medicine. The currently tested hemoglobin (Hb)-based oxygen carriers, however, have toxicity and efficacy problems. A number of unwanted effects have been observed in human trials, creating doubts about their clinical usefulness.

A dissolution-diffusion model for the TAXUS drug-eluting stent with surface burst estimated from continuum percolation.

A two-layer dissolution-diffusion model is derived which incorporates a surface burst component that is estimated from continuum percolation models of overlapping Poisson distributed spheres. The model is shown to adequately describe the release properties of paclitaxel from a hydrophobic polymer matrix, including the surface burst and sustained release dependence on drug loading.