Accuracy Rates of Sex Estimation by Forensic Anthropologists through Comparison with DNA Typing Results in Forensic Casework.

A common task in forensic anthropology involves the estimation of the biological sex of a decedent by exploiting the sexual dimorphism between males and females. Estimation methods are often based on analysis of skeletal collections of known sex and most include a research-based accuracy rate. However, the accuracy rates of sex estimation methods in actual forensic casework have rarely been studied.

Long-term Blood Pressure Measurement in Freely Moving Mice Using Telemetry.

During the development of new vasoactive agents, arterial blood pressure monitoring is crucial for evaluating the efficacy of the new proposed drugs. Indeed, research focusing on the discovery of new potential therapeutic targets using genetically altered mice requires a reliable, long-term assessment of the systemic arterial pressure variation. Currently, the gold standard for obtaining long-term measurements of blood pressure in ambulatory mice uses implantable radio-transmitters, which require artery cannulation.

STIM1-dependent Ca(2+) microdomains are required for myofilament remodeling and signaling in the heart.

In non-excitable cells stromal interaction molecule 1 (STIM1) is a key element in the generation of Ca(2+) signals that lead to gene expression, migration and cell proliferation. A growing body of literature suggests that STIM1 plays a key role in the development of pathological cardiac hypertrophy. However, the precise mechanisms involving STIM-dependent Ca(2+) signaling in the heart are not clearly established.

Longitudinal Course of Disease in a Large Cohort of Myositis Patients With Autoantibodies Recognizing the Signal Recognition Particle.

Objective: Patients with immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy (IMNM) often have autoantibodies recognizing the signal recognition particle (SRP) or HMG-CoA reductase (HMGCR). Here, we studied a cohort of anti-SRP patients to identify factors associated with disease severity and clinical improvement; we also compared the severity of weakness in those with anti-SRP versus anti-HMGCR autoantibodies.

Methods: All anti-SRP patients in the Johns Hopkins Myositis Cohort from 2002 to 2015 were included.

Early Life Factors Associated with Adult-Onset Systemic Lupus Erythematosus in Women.

Background: Exposure early in life can influence adult disease and immunity, but the role of early life exposures in risk of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is not established.

Methods: Women in a national cohort (ages 35-74) provided data on perinatal, maternal, and sociodemographic factors, longest residence to age 14, and residential farm history of at least 12 months to age 18. Cases (N = 124) reported SLE diagnosed age 16 years or older with use of disease modifying antirheumatic drugs.

Lipid-free Fluoropolymer-based Propofol Emulsions and Lipid Reversal of Propofol Anesthesia in Rats.

Background: Propofol, as a lipid-based emulsion, is effective at inducing anesthesia. It does, however, suffer from several drawbacks, including microbial growth, hyperlipidemia, and pain on injection. In this study, the authors examined the ability of four lipid-free propofol nanoemulsions to induce anesthesia in rats and tested whether a subsequent lipid bolus would accelerate emergence from anesthesia.

Eliminating health disparities in unintended pregnancy with long-acting reversible contraception (LARC).

Significant public health disparities exist surrounding teen and unplanned pregnancy in the United States. Women of color and those with lower education and socioeconomic status are at much greater risk of unplanned pregnancy and the resulting adverse outcomes. Unplanned pregnancies reduce educational and career opportunities and may contribute to socioeconomic deprivation and widening income disparities.

Perceived stress and telomere length: A systematic review, meta-analysis, and methodologic considerations for advancing the field.

Importance: Psychological stress contributes to numerous diseases and may do so in part through damage to telomeres, protective non-coding segments on the ends of chromosomes.

Objective: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine the association between self-reported, perceived psychological stress (PS) and telomere length (TL).

Data Sources: We searched 3 databases (PubMed, PsycInfo, and Scopus), completed manual searches of published and unpublished studies, and contacted all study authors to obtain potentially relevant data.

Non-Native Plant Invasion along Elevation and Canopy Closure Gradients in a Middle Rocky Mountain Ecosystem.

Mountain environments are currently among the ecosystems least invaded by non-native species; however, mountains are increasingly under threat of non-native plant invasion. The slow pace of exotic plant invasions in mountain ecosystems is likely due to a combination of low anthropogenic disturbances, low propagule supply, and extreme/steep environmental gradients. The importance of any one of these factors is debated and likely ecosystem dependent.

Childhood and Adolescent Pesticide Exposure and Breast Cancer Risk.

Background: To date, epidemiologic studies have not strongly supported an association between pesticide exposure and breast cancer. However, few previous studies had the ability to assess specific time periods of exposure. Studies that relied on adult serum levels of metabolites of organochlorine pesticides may not accurately reflect exposure during developmental periods.

Co-potentiation of antigen recognition: A mechanism to boost weak T cell responses and provide immunotherapy in vivo.

Adaptive immunity is mediated by antigen receptors that can induce weak or strong immune responses depending on the nature of the antigen that is bound. In T lymphocytes, antigen recognition triggers signal transduction by clustering T cell receptor (TCR)/CD3 multiprotein complexes. In addition, it hypothesized that biophysical changes induced in TCR/CD3 that accompany receptor engagement may contribute to signal intensity.

Occupational exposures and chronic kidney disease: Possible associations with endotoxin and ultrafine particles.

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) carries a high public health burden yet there is limited research on occupational factors, which are examined in this retrospective case-control study.

Methods: Newly diagnosed cases of CKD (n = 547) and controls (n = 508) from North Carolina provided detailed work histories in telephone interviews. Unconditional logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

"Hyperglutamatergic cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical circuit" breaker drugs alleviate tics in a transgenic circuit model of Tourette׳s syndrome.

The brain circuits underlying tics in Tourette׳s syndrome (TS) are unknown but thought to involve cortico/amygdalo-striato-thalamo-cortical (CSTC) loop hyperactivity. We previously engineered a transgenic mouse "circuit model" of TS by expressing an artificial neuropotentiating transgene (encoding the cAMP-elevating, intracellular A1 subunit of cholera toxin) within a small population of dopamine D1 receptor-expressing somatosensory cortical and limbic neurons that hyperactivate cortico/amygdalostriatal glutamatergic output circuits thought to be hyperactive in TS and comorbid obsessive-compulsive (OC) disorders. As in TS, these D1CT-7 ("Ticcy") transgenic mice׳s tics were alleviated by the TS drugs clonidine and dopamine D2 receptor antagonists; and their chronic glutamate-excited striatal motor output was unbalanced toward hyperactivity of the motoric direct pathway and inactivity of the cataleptic indirect pathway.

A prospective study of occupational physical activity and breast cancer risk.

Purpose: Physical activity has been associated with reduced breast cancer risk, but studies of occupational activity have produced inconsistent results. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between occupational physical activity and breast cancer in a prospective study of women with a family history of breast cancer.

Methods: We studied breast cancer risk in 47,649 Sister Study participants with an occupational history.

A review of ethylphenidate in deaths in east and west Scotland.

Ethylphenidate is a psychostimulant and analogue of methylphenidate. Interestingly it is also produced as a metabolite from the co-ingestion of methylphenidate and alcohol (ethanol). In the UK, between April and June 2015, ethylphenidate and 6 other methylphenidate based novel psychoactive substances (NPS) were subjected to a temporary class drug order under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

Insecticide exposure and farm history in relation to risk of lymphomas and leukemias in the Women's Health Initiative observational study cohort.

Purpose: Relationships of farm history and insecticide exposure at home or work with lymphohematopoietic (LH) neoplasm risk were investigated in a large prospective cohort of US women.

Methods: In questionnaires, women self-reported history living or working on a farm, personally mixing or applying insecticides, insecticide application in the home or workplace by a commercial service, and treating pets with insecticides. Relationships with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL), diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), follicular lymphoma, plasma cell neoplasms, and myeloid leukemia were investigated using Cox proportional hazard models.

Vaccine-Induced Simian Immunodeficiency Virus-Specific CD8+ T-Cell Responses Focused on a Single Nef Epitope Select for Escape Variants Shortly after Infection.

Unlabelled: Certain major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I) alleles (e.g., HLA-B*27) are enriched among human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-infected individuals who suppress viremia without treatment (termed "elite controllers" [ECs]).

Associations Between Selected Xenobiotics and Antinuclear Antibodies in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999-2004.

Background: Potential associations between background environmental chemical exposures and autoimmunity are understudied.

Objectives: Our exploratory study investigated exposure to individual environmental chemicals and selected mixtures in relation to the presence of antinuclear antibodies (ANA), a widely used biomarker of autoimmunity, in a representative sample of the U.S.

Personal hand gel for improved hand hygiene compliance on the regional anesthesia team.

Purpose: Hand hygiene reduces healthcare-associated infections, and several recent publications have examined hand hygiene in the perioperative period. Our institution's policy is to perform hand hygiene before and after patient contact. However, observation suggests poor compliance.

Canine distemper virus neutralization activity is low in human serum and it is sensitive to an amino acid substitution in the hemagglutinin protein.

Serum was analyzed from 146 healthy adult volunteers in eastern Africa to evaluate measles virus (MV) and canine distemper virus (CDV) neutralizing antibody (nAb) prevalence and potency. MV plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT) results indicated that all sera were positive for MV nAbs. Furthermore, the 50% neutralizing dose (ND50) for the majority of sera corresponded to antibody titers induced by MV vaccination.

Management of Chiari I malformation in children: effectiveness of intra-operative ultrasound for tailoring foramen magnum decompression.

Purpose: Patients with Chiari I malformation (CM-1) commonly undergo foramen magnum decompression (FMD). However, there is no consensus on how this should be achieved. An approach would be to rationalize surgical steps based on pre-operative imaging and intra-operative findings.

Chemical exposures in the workplace and breast cancer risk: A prospective cohort study.

We investigated the relationship between workplace chemical exposures and breast cancer risk among women enrolled in the Sister Study, a prospective cohort study of US and Puerto Rican women. A total of 47,640 participants reported work outside of the home. Workplace exposure to eleven agents (acids, dyes or inks, gasoline or other petroleum products, glues or adhesives, lubricating oils, metals, paints, pesticides, soldering materials, solvents and stains or varnishes) was characterized based on self-reports of frequency and duration of use.