Publications by authors named "Phelps J"

Preliminary data from a prospective micro-longitudinal study (30 days) that examined the co-evolution of return to use risk among people diagnosed with an alcohol use disorder (AUD) in residential substance treatment is presented. Data assessed the feasibility of using the open dynamic interaction network (ODIN) responsive ecological momentary assessment (rEMA). rEMA collected daily estimates on affect, urges, sober-support engagement, and use.

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Importance: Management of maternal cardiac arrest (MCA) requires understanding the unique physiology of pregnancy and modifications to life support. Health care professionals have historically demonstrated inadequate knowledge and skills necessary to treat MCA.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of Obstetric Life Support (OBLS) education on health care professionals' cognitive performance, skills, and self-efficacy in managing MCA.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study focuses on how decision-making for individuals living with dementia and their care partners can be improved through knowledge translation (KT) interventions, particularly in areas like advance care planning (ACP).
  • - Researchers reviewed 22 previous studies and identified 32 different KT interventions, finding that discussions around ACP were the most common focus among them.
  • - The analysis revealed that most interventions were geared towards care partners, enhancing their knowledge and confidence, while leading to reduced uncertainty in decision-making for both parties involved.
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Establishing validated science programs for students with or at risk for learning disabilities requires testing treatment effects and exploring differential response patterns. This study explored whether students' initial mathematics and reading skills influenced their treatment response to a whole-class, second-grade science program called Scientific Explorers (Sci2). The original Sci2 study employed a cluster randomized controlled design and included 294 students from 18 second-grade classrooms.

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Article Synopsis
  • Animal movement is directed by motor neurons that connect the central nervous system to muscles, with complex premotor networks coordinating these movements for various behaviors.
  • Researchers analyzed the wiring of premotor circuits in Drosophila flies to understand how motor networks control leg and wing movements.
  • They discovered that leg motor modules have a hierarchical structure based on the size of motor neurons, while wing circuits are more flexible in their connectivity, highlighting differences in motor control for distinct body parts.
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  • This study focuses on understanding how neural circuits in the brain manage behavior by analyzing the Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) ventral nerve cord, which mirrors the spinal cord in vertebrates.
  • Researchers mapped approximately 45 million synapses and 14,600 neuron cell bodies within the fruit fly's nerve cord to comprehend its neural connections.
  • They created a motor neuron atlas that identifies which muscles are targeted by motor neurons, aiding in the understanding of leg and wing movement coordination, especially during take-off.
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  • In complex nervous systems like those of insects, the neck connective serves as a crucial link between the brain and the ventral nerve cord, facilitating sensorimotor control through various types of neurons.
  • This study integrates multiple electron microscopy datasets to provide a detailed map of ascending and descending neurons in the female nervous system, while also making comparisons to the male nerve cord.
  • The findings highlight specific neuron types linked to sex-related behaviors, including those involved in female egg-laying and male courtship, marking a groundbreaking analysis of the animal's entire central nervous system at the electron microscopy level.
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The All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI) in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) seeks to document every species of living thing in the park. The ATBI is decades in progress, yet some taxa remain virtually untouched by taxonomists. Such "high priority" taxa include the hyper-diverse parasitoid wasp family Ichneumonidae.

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Interrupted blood flow in the brain due to ischemic injuries such as ischemic stroke or traumatic brain injury results in irreversible brain damage, leading to cognitive impairment associated with inflammation, disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), and cell death. Since the BBB only allows entry to a small class of drugs, many drugs used to treat ischemia in other tissues have failed in brain-related disorders. The administration of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) has shown promise in improving the functional recovery of the brain following cerebral ischemia by inducing blood vessel formation.

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Developments in preconception and prenatal technologies have led to undeniable advances in how health-care providers screen and treat patients. Despite these advances, at any point errors can occur leading to misdiagnosis or a missed diagnosis. In some instances, the missed information can lead to the birth of a child with health issues where short of the error, the decision to avoid conception or terminate the pregnancy might have been made.

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Environmental changes associated with rapid climate change in the Arctic, such as the increased rates of sedimentation from climatic or anthropogenic sources, can enhance the impact of abiotic stressors on coastal ecosystems. High sedimentation rates can be detrimental to nearshore kelp abundance and distribution, possibly due to increased mortality at the spore settlement stage. Spore settlement and viability of the Arctic kelp Laminaria solidungula were examined through a series of lab-based sedimentation experiments.

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Background: Perfused cadavers are viable training models for operating room surgical skills, increasing fidelity of vascular anatomy, dissection, and tissue handling. In addition, perfused cadavers may have benefits in military medical training environments with a focus on hemorrhage control and vascular access.

Objectives: We created a large-scale training exercise with perfused cadavers in three different environments and aim to share the curricular design and feedback from the exercise.

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Methods for the synthesis of α-branched alkylamines are important due to their ubiquity in biologically active molecules. Despite the development of many methods for amine preparation, C(sp)-rich nitrogen-containing compounds continue to pose challenges for synthesis. While carbonyl reductive amination (CRA) between ketones and alkylamines is the cornerstone method for α-branched alkylamine synthesis, it is sometimes limited by the sterically demanding condensation step between dialkyl ketones and amines and the more restricted availability of ketones compared to aldehydes.

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Natural behaviors are a coordinated symphony of motor acts that drive reafferent (self-induced) sensory activation. Individual sensors cannot disambiguate exafferent (externally induced) from reafferent sources. Nevertheless, animals readily differentiate between these sources of sensory signals to carry out adaptive behaviors through corollary discharge circuits (CDCs), which provide predictive motor signals from motor pathways to sensory processing and other motor pathways.

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Aim: Low doses of lithium, as might be used for mood or dementia prevention, do not carry the same renal, toxicity, and tolerability problems of doses used for prophylaxis or treatment of mania. However, thyroid effects of low doses have not been investigated. Our goal in this study was to assess the changes in thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) associated with a broad range of lithium levels, including those well below the therapeutic range for bipolar disorders.

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Disruption of the HBV capsid assembly process through small-molecule interaction with HBV core protein is a validated target for the suppression of hepatitis B viral replication and the development of new antivirals. Through combination of key structural features associated with two distinct series of capsid assembly modulators, a novel aminochroman-based chemotype was identified. Optimization of anti-HBV potency through generation of SAR in addition to further core modifications provided a series of related functionalized aminoindanes.

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Small extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as a focal point of EV research due to their significant role in a wide range of physiological and pathological processes within living systems. However, uncertainties about the nature of these vesicles have added considerable complexity to the already difficult task of developing EV-based diagnostics and therapeutics. Whereas small EVs have been shown to be negatively charged, their surface charge has not yet been properly quantified.

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The extent to which humans share with both kin and non-kin is a defining characteristic of our species. Evolutionary research suggests that pervasive reliance on inter-individual transfers of goods and services may have evolved to support a cooperative breeding adaptation in humans. However, while intensive food sharing between individuals and families has frequently been investigated in small-scale human societies, a comprehensive analysis of the daily transfers of all material goods has not been attempted.

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Background: Following an ischemic injury to the brain, the induction of angiogenesis is critical to neurological recovery. The angiogenic benefits of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been attributed at least in part to the actions of extracellular vesicles (EVs) that they secrete. EVs are membrane-bound vesicles that contain various angiogenic biomolecules capable of eliciting therapeutic responses and are of relevance in cerebral applications due to their ability to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB).

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Our ability to sense and move our bodies relies on proprioceptors, sensory neurons that detect mechanical forces within the body. Different subtypes of proprioceptors detect different kinematic features, such as joint position, movement, and vibration, but the mechanisms that underlie proprioceptor feature selectivity remain poorly understood. Using single-nucleus RNA sequencing (RNA-seq), we found that proprioceptor subtypes in the Drosophila leg lack differential expression of mechanosensitive ion channels.

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Animal movement is controlled by motor neurons (MNs), which project out of the central nervous system to activate muscles. MN activity is coordinated by complex premotor networks that allow individual muscles to contribute to many different behaviors. Here, we use connectomics to analyze the wiring logic of premotor circuits controlling the leg and wing.

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Natural behaviors are a coordinated symphony of motor acts which drive self-induced or reafferent sensory activation. Single sensors only signal presence and magnitude of a sensory cue; they cannot disambiguate exafferent (externally-induced) from reafferent sources. Nevertheless, animals readily differentiate between these sources of sensory signals to make appropriate decisions and initiate adaptive behavioral outcomes.

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Comprehensive, synapse-resolution imaging of the brain will be crucial for understanding neuronal computations and function. In connectomics, this has been the sole purview of volume electron microscopy (EM), which entails an excruciatingly difficult process because it requires cutting tissue into many thin, fragile slices that then need to be imaged, aligned, and reconstructed. Unlike EM, hard X-ray imaging is compatible with thick tissues, eliminating the need for thin sectioning, and delivering fast acquisition, intrinsic alignment, and isotropic resolution.

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Objectives: We aimed to describe the quality of sedation and additional clinically-meaningful outcomes associated with different intranasal dexmedetomidine-based regimens in children undergoing nonpainful procedures.

Methods: A multicenter prospective observational study of children aged 2 months to 17 years undergoing intranasal dexmedetomidine sedation for MRI, auditory brainstem response testing, echocardiogram, EEG, or computed tomography scan. Regimens varied by dose of dexmedetomidine and use of adjunct sedatives.

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