UGT8 mediated sulfatide synthesis modulates BAX localization and dictates apoptosis sensitivity of colorectal cancer.

Elevated de novo lipid synthesis is a remarkable adaptation of cancer cells that can be exploited for therapy. However, the role of altered lipid metabolism in the regulation of apoptosis is still poorly understood. Using thermal proteome profiling, we identified Manidipine-2HCl, targeting UGT8, a key enzyme in the synthesis of sulfatides.

Passenger and heavy vehicle collisions with pedestrians: Assessment of injury mechanisms and risk.

Objective: Automated Driving System (ADS) fleets are currently being deployed in several dense-urban operational design domains within the United States. In these dense-urban areas, pedestrians have historically comprised a significant portion, and sometimes the majority, of injury and fatal collisions. An expanded understanding of the injury risk in collision events involving pedestrians and human-driven vehicles can inform continued ADS development and safety benefits evaluation.

A "win-win" perspective on workplace accommodations: RETAIN Kentucky's self-advocacy guide to promote successful return to work and stay at work outcomes for workers with disabilities.

Background: Research has long documented the low cost and effectiveness of most workplace accommodations to enable qualified people with disabilities to seek, secure, and maintain employment.

Objective And Method: RETAIN Kentucky's return to work and stay at work intervention involves focused training for participants on requesting needed accommodations from their employers.

Results: In this article, we describe the win-win approach to reasonable accommodations, which serves as the basis for helping Kentuckians with disabilities identify and request on-the-job supports to aid in their efforts to remain in the workforce.

Phenotypic and genetic diversity of domestic yak (Bos grunniens) in high-altitude rangelands of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan.

Due to climate change, irrigated agriculture may become restricted in the mountain valleys in northern Pakistan in the future. Hence, the importance of yak (Bos grunniens) keeping in the mountain ranges as risk-mitigating strategy for mountain dwellers will potentially increase. However, little is known about the current status of the domestic yak in this region.

Development of a breeding program for improving the milk yield performance of Butana cattle under smallholder production conditions using a stochastic simulation approach.

Butana is one of the local dairy cattle breeds of Sudan commonly kept by smallholder producers. This breed has been strongly promoted to advance the dairy production sector in the country. The main problem, however, is the lack of a systematic breeding program that involves smallholder producers.

Gastrointestinal nematode and Eimeria spp. infections in dairy cattle along a rural-urban gradient.

Endoparasite infections can lead to considerable economic losses in dairy cattle due to decreases in milk yield and quality. Environmental and host-related factors contribute to endoparasite infection intensity and probability. Moreover, advancing urbanization influences parasite infection dynamics in livestock due to close human-animal cohabitation and changes in animal housing conditions.

Application of the laser methane detector for measurements in freely grazing goats: impact on animals' behaviour and methane emissions.

The laser methane detector (LMD) has been increasingly used in the last decade to assess the methane (CH) concentration in the exhaled air of ruminants. The CH concentration was mostly measured indoors, where animals were either retained in a feed fence or manually by a person to facilitate the LMD measurements. By contrast, the use of the LMD for measurements under outdoor conditions has been limited to very few studies.

Exploration of production conditions: a step towards the development of a community-based breeding program for Butana cattle.

In Sudan, many Butana cattle farmers practice indiscriminate crossbreeding to improve the milk yield performance of cows, as organized breeding programs are lacking. Objectives of this study were to identify the current production conditions of Butana cattle and to determine farmers' production objectives and trait preferences using a field survey. The overall aim was to explore the possibility of establishing a community-based breeding program for the genetic improvement of the breed.

Personal, health and function, and career maintenance factors as determinants of quality of life among employed people with multiple sclerosis.

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an intrusive disease that significantly affects labor force participation.

Objective: This study examined the extent to which factors at the personal, health and function, and environmental/career maintenance levels contribute to the predictability power for quality of life among employed people with MS.

Method: Participants consisted of 523 members of nine National Multiple Sclerosis Society chapters representing 21 states and Washington, DC.

Processed false yam seed meals in broiler chicken diets: effects on feed preference and apparent nutrient digestibility.

This study evaluated feed preference and apparent nutrient digestibility of a maize-based diet and modified diets containing treated false yam seed meals (TFYSM). False yam seeds were sun-dried (Un_T), or first soaked in water and treated with one of the following: urea (Urea_T), sodium chloride (NaCl_T), sodium hydroxide (NaOH_T), or potassium hydroxide (KOH_T) and blanched. The TFYSM replaced maize (wt/wt) in experimental diets at 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, and 50%, respectively in a feed preference test (experiment 1).

Selection Decisions and Trait Preferences for Local and Imported Cattle and Sheep Breeds in Peri-/Urban Livestock Production Systems in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

Background: Participatory approaches of designing livestock breeding programs for tropical production systems have been extensively applied for rural livestock, whereas the peri-/urban livestock production sector tends to be widely neglected. In order to ensure the viability of the commercial cattle and sheep production sector in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, structured breed improvement programs are needed. The study aims to better understand selection decisions of cattle and sheep breeders and their trait preferences for local and imported breeds.

Genetic and nongenetic factors affecting on-farm performance of peri-urban dairy cattle in west Africa.

Population growth and urbanization lead to an increasing demand for milk in sub-Saharan Africa, but the production potential of the 65.9 million dairy cows in the region is far from being fully exploited to meet this demand. With the aim to support decision-making for breeding and management of dairy cattle in commercial farms, we performed a comparative study of daily milk offtake, chemical composition of milk, prevalence of metabolic disorders, and body weight development of local and crossbred cattle genotypes in peri-urban commercial farms in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

JIP2 haploinsufficiency contributes to neurodevelopmental abnormalities in human pluripotent stem cell-derived neural progenitors and cortical neurons.

Phelan-McDermid syndrome (also known as 22q13.3 deletion syndrome) is a syndromic form of autism spectrum disorder and currently thought to be caused by heterozygous loss of . However, patients most frequently present with large chromosomal deletions affecting several additional genes.

Qualitative case studies of professional-level workers with traumatic brain injuries: A contextual approach to job accommodation and retention.

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a multi-systemic disability that causes a wide range of difficulties with personal and social functioning.

Methods: Four individuals with TBI participated in an evaluation of barriers to their continued employment following graduation from college. A trained interviewer completed the Work Experience Survey (WES) in teleconsultation sessions with each participant.

Phenotypic diversity, major genes and production potential of local chickens and guinea fowl in Tamale, northern Ghana.

Objective: Our study provides information on phenotypes of local chickens and guinea fowl and their body measures as well as on major genes in local chickens in northern Ghana.

Methods: Qualitative and morphometric traits were recorded on 788 local chickens and 394 guinea fowl in urban households in Tamale, Ghana.

Results: The results showed considerable variation of color traits and numerous major genes in local chickens, while color variations and related genotypes in guinea fowl were limited.

Antagonizing midkine accelerates fracture healing in mice by enhanced bone formation in the fracture callus.

Background And Purpose: Previous findings suggest that the growth and differentiation factor midkine (Mdk) is a negative regulator of osteoblast activity and bone formation, thereby raising the possibility that a specific Mdk antagonist might improve bone formation during fracture healing.

Experimental Approach: In the present study, we investigated the effects of a monoclonal anti-Mdk antibody (Mdk-Ab) on bone healing using a standardized femur osteotomy model in mice. Additional in vitro experiments using chondroprogenitor and preosteoblastic cells were conducted to analyse the effects of recombinant Mdk and Mdk-Ab on differentiation markers and potential binding partners in these cells.

Quality of life among people with multiple sclerosis: Replication of a three-factor prediction model.

Background: This article presents a replication of Rumrill, Roessler, and Fitzgerald's 2004 analysis of a three-factor model of the impact of multiple sclerosis (MS) on quality of life (QOL). The three factors in the original model included illness-related, employment-related, and psychosocial adjustment factors.

Objective: To test hypothesized relationships between QOL and illness-related, employment-related, and psychosocial variables using data from a survey of the employment concerns of Americans with MS (N = 1,839).

The employment concerns of Americans with multiple sclerosis: Perspectives from a national sample.

Background: The recent rehabilitation literature does not include a thorough assessment of the employment concerns of people with MS.

Objective: This article presents descriptive findings from a national survey of the employment concerns of Americans with multiple sclerosis (MS; N = 1,924), representing nine chapters of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Methods: Respondents were asked to evaluate 38 employment concerns items on two dimensions, importance and satisfaction, for the purpose of identifying strengths and weaknesses in the employment policies and practices affecting the labor force participation of people with MS.

Patterns in workplace accommodations for people with multiple sclerosis to overcome cognitive and other disease-related limitations.

Background: Cognitive symptoms and other functional limitations associated with multiple sclerosis (MS) have a significant negative impact on employment status. Work accommodations positively impact the ability of a person with MS to obtain and retain employment, however, current understanding of the role of accommodations in the careers of adults with MS is limited.

Objective: To analyze the percentage of American workers with MS who utilize workplace accommodations as per Title I of the ADA, the types of accommodations most frequently required, and differences in disease variables, job-related factors, and quality of life between workers using and not using work accommodations.

Direct lineage conversion of adult mouse liver cells and B lymphocytes to neural stem cells.

Overexpression of transcription factors has been used to directly reprogram somatic cells into a range of other differentiated cell types, including multipotent neural stem cells (NSCs), that can be used to generate neurons and glia. However, the ability to maintain the NSC state independent of the inducing factors and the identity of the somatic donor cells remain two important unresolved issues in transdifferentiation. Here we used transduction of doxycycline-inducible transcription factors to generate stable tripotent NSCs.

Detailed analysis of the genetic and epigenetic signatures of iPSC-derived mesodiencephalic dopaminergic neurons.

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) hold great promise for in vitro generation of disease-relevant cell types, such as mesodiencephalic dopaminergic (mdDA) neurons involved in Parkinson's disease. Although iPSC-derived midbrain DA neurons have been generated, detailed genetic and epigenetic characterizations of such neurons are lacking. The goal of this study was to examine the authenticity of iPSC-derived DA neurons obtained by established protocols.

Characterisation of the RNA interference response against the long-wavelength receptor of the honeybee.

Targeted knock-down is the method of choice to advance the study of sensory and brain functions in the honeybee by using molecular techniques. Here we report the results of a first attempt to interfere with the function of a visual receptor, the long-wavelength-sensitive (L-) photoreceptor. RNA interference to inhibit this receptor led to a reduction of the respective mRNA and protein.

Specialized housing and transportation needs of adults with multiple sclerosis.

This study evaluated the specialized housing, transportation, and resource needs and barriers of adults with MS. Information pertaining to barriers and barrier removal strategies related to housing and transportation issues for adults with MS was gathered as part of a national survey of a randomly selected and representative sample of 5082 adults with MS, in cooperation with affiliate chapters of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS) and the North American Research Committee on Multiple Sclerosis (NARCOMS). This article presents a qualitative analysis of participants' responses to questions addressing: (a) barriers to obtaining specialized housing and adapted transportation for individuals with MS, (b) factors contributing to maintenance of an independent lifestyle, and (c) information and referral resources pertinent to obtaining specialized housing and adapted transportation.

Constraints and challenges of meeting the water requirements of livestock in Ethiopia: cases of Lume and Siraro districts.

Compared to the total water use in livestock production systems, water for livestock drinking is small in amount but is an important requirement for health and productivity of animals. This study was carried out to assess constraints and challenges of meeting drinking water requirements of livestock in rural mixed smallholder crop-livestock farming districts in the Ethiopian Rift Valley area. Data was collected by individual interviews with randomly selected respondents and farmer group discussions.

Induced pluripotent stem cell technology and direct conversion: new possibilities to study and treat Parkinson's disease.

Recent developments in in vitro disease modeling and regenerative medicine have placed induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) in the center of attention as a unique source to study Parkinson's disease. After only 5 years of intensive research, human iPSCs can be generated without viral integration and under xeno-free conditions. This, combined with increasingly sophisticated methods to differentiate iPSCs into functional dopaminergic (DA) neurons, led us to recapitulate the most important findings concerning the use of iPSC technology as a prospective tool to treat symptoms of Parkinson's disease as well as to obtain insight in disease related cell pathogenesis.