Racial Disparities in ICU Outcomes: A Systematic Review.

Objectives: Racial disparities in the United States healthcare system are well described across a variety of clinical settings. The ICU is a clinical environment with a higher acuity and mortality rate, potentially compounding the impact of disparities on patients. We sought to systematically analyze the literature to assess the prevalence of racial disparities in the ICU.

A 47-Year Old Woman With Rapidly Progressive Hypoxemic Respiratory Failure.

A 47-year-old Hispanic woman presented to a pulmonology clinic with 2 weeks of cough productive of white sputum and worsening dyspnea on exertion, requiring increasing supplemental oxygen. In addition, she reported fatigue, night sweats, diffuse myalgias, and extremity weakness. She denied hemoptysis, fevers, chills, weight loss, or rash.

Decision aid prototype for treatment of pediatric sleep disordered breathing: A randomized pilot study.

Objectives: 1) To examine the feasibility and usability of a decision aid prototype (DA) for pediatric obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). 2) to estimate parameters for a future randomized controlled trial.

Study Design: Multicenter randomized pilot trial.

Clinician time used for decision making: a best case workflow study using cardiovascular risk assessments and Ask Mayo Expert algorithmic care process models.

Background: Risk calculation is increasingly used in lipid management, congestive heart failure, and atrial fibrillation. The risk scores are then used for decisions about statin use, anticoagulation, and implantable defibrillator use. Calculating risks for patients and making decisions based on these risks is often done at the point of care and is an additional time burden for clinicians that can be decreased by automating the tasks and using clinical decision-making support.

A single generation of domestication heritably alters the expression of hundreds of genes.

The genetic underpinnings associated with the earliest stages of plant and animal domestication have remained elusive. Because a genome-wide response to selection can take many generations, the earliest detectable changes associated with domestication may first manifest as heritable changes to global patterns of gene expression. Here, to test this hypothesis, we measured differential gene expression in the offspring of wild and first-generation hatchery steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) reared in a common environment.

De novo transcriptome assembly and analyses of gene expression during photomorphogenesis in diploid wheat Triticum monococcum.

Background: Triticum monococcum (2n) is a close ancestor of T. urartu, the A-genome progenitor of cultivated hexaploid wheat, and is therefore a useful model for the study of components regulating photomorphogenesis in diploid wheat. In order to develop genetic and genomic resources for such a study, we constructed genome-wide transcriptomes of two Triticum monococcum subspecies, the wild winter wheat T.

Analysis of global gene expression in Brachypodium distachyon reveals extensive network plasticity in response to abiotic stress.

Brachypodium distachyon is a close relative of many important cereal crops. Abiotic stress tolerance has a significant impact on productivity of agriculturally important food and feedstock crops. Analysis of the transcriptome of Brachypodium after chilling, high-salinity, drought, and heat stresses revealed diverse differential expression of many transcripts.

Sequencing and characterization of the anadromous steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) transcriptome.

Identifying the traits that differ between hatchery and wild fish may allow for pragmatic changes to hatchery practice. To meet those ends, we sequenced, assembled, and characterized the anadromous steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) transcriptome. Using the Illumina sequencing platform, we sequenced nearly 41million 76-mer reads representing 3.

Parallel analysis of RNA ends enhances global investigation of microRNAs and target RNAs of Brachypodium distachyon.

Background: The wild grass Brachypodium distachyon has emerged as a model system for temperate grasses and biofuel plants. However, the global analysis of miRNAs, molecules known to be key for eukaryotic gene regulation, has been limited in B. distachyon to studies examining a few samples or that rely on computational predictions.

The Burmese python genome reveals the molecular basis for extreme adaptation in snakes.

Snakes possess many extreme morphological and physiological adaptations. Identification of the molecular basis of these traits can provide novel understanding for vertebrate biology and medicine. Here, we study snake biology using the genome sequence of the Burmese python (Python molurus bivittatus), a model of extreme physiological and metabolic adaptation.

Comparative analyses reveal potential uses of Brachypodium distachyon as a model for cold stress responses in temperate grasses.

Background: Little is known about the potential of Brachypodium distachyon as a model for low temperature stress responses in Pooideae. The ice recrystallization inhibition protein (IRIP) genes, fructosyltransferase (FST) genes, and many C-repeat binding factor (CBF) genes are Pooideae specific and important in low temperature responses. Here we used comparative analyses to study conservation and evolution of these gene families in B.

A multi-organ transcriptome resource for the Burmese Python (Python molurus bivittatus).

Background: Snakes provide a unique vertebrate system for studying a diversity of extreme adaptations, including those related to development, metabolism, physiology, and venom. Despite their importance as research models, genomic resources for snakes are few. Among snakes, the Burmese python is the premier model for studying extremes of metabolic fluctuation and physiological remodelling.

Global profiling of rice and poplar transcriptomes highlights key conserved circadian-controlled pathways and cis-regulatory modules.

Background: Circadian clocks provide an adaptive advantage through anticipation of daily and seasonal environmental changes. In plants, the central clock oscillator is regulated by several interlocking feedback loops. It was shown that a substantial proportion of the Arabidopsis genome cycles with phases of peak expression covering the entire day.

Discovery of highly divergent repeat landscapes in snake genomes using high-throughput sequencing.

We conducted a comprehensive assessment of genomic repeat content in two snake genomes, the venomous copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix) and the Burmese python (Python molurus bivittatus). These two genomes are both relatively small (∼1.4 Gb) but have surprisingly extensive differences in the abundance and expansion histories of their repeat elements.

Expression, splicing, and evolution of the myosin gene family in plants.

Plants possess two myosin classes, VIII and XI. The myosins XI are implicated in organelle transport, filamentous actin organization, and cell and plant growth. Due to the large size of myosin gene families, knowledge of these molecular motors remains patchy.

The genome of woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca).

The woodland strawberry, Fragaria vesca (2n = 2x = 14), is a versatile experimental plant system. This diminutive herbaceous perennial has a small genome (240 Mb), is amenable to genetic transformation and shares substantial sequence identity with the cultivated strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) and other economically important rosaceous plants. Here we report the draft F.

Revision to malabsorptive Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (MRNYGBP) provides long-term (10 years) durable weight loss in patients with failed anatomically intact gastric restrictive operations: long-term effectiveness of a malabsorptive Roux-en-Y gastric bypass in salvaging patients with poor weight loss or complications following gastroplasty and adjustable gastric bands.

Background: Twenty percent of gastric restrictive operations require revision. Conversion to Proximal Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (PRNYGBP) is associated with weight regain. Forty-one percent of these fail to achieve a body mass index (BMI) < 35.

Genome-wide mapping of alternative splicing in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Alternative splicing can enhance transcriptome plasticity and proteome diversity. In plants, alternative splicing can be manifested at different developmental stages, and is frequently associated with specific tissue types or environmental conditions such as abiotic stress. We mapped the Arabidopsis transcriptome at single-base resolution using the Illumina platform for ultrahigh-throughput RNA sequencing (RNA-seq).

Applications of ultra-high-throughput sequencing.

The genomics era has enabled scientists to more readily pose truly global questions regarding mutation, evolution, gene and genome structure, function, and regulation. Just as Sanger sequencing ushered in a paradigm shift that enabled the molecular basis of biological questions to be directly addressed, to an even greater degree, ultra-high-throughput DNA sequencing is poised to dramatically change the nature of biological research. New sequencing technologies have opened the door for novel questions to be addressed at the level of the entire genome in the areas of comparative genomics, systems biology, metagenomics, and genome biology.

Neutrophil-specific chemokines are produced by astrocytic cells but not by neuronal cells.

Background: Neutrophils have a central role in the inflammatory conditions of the central nervous system (CNS). ELR chemokines direct neutrophil migration, but the source of chemokines in the CNS is unclear. We quantified chemokine production using cell-line models of astrocytic and neuronal cells, specifically NT2.

The effects and comparative differences of neutrophil specific chemokines on neutrophil chemotaxis of the neonate.

Neutrophil specific chemokines are potent chemoattractants for neutrophils. IL-8/CXCL8 is the most extensively studied member of this group, and its concentrations increase during inflammatory conditions of the newborn infant including sepsis and chronic lung disease. A significant amount of information exists on the effects of IL-8/CXCL8 on neutrophil chemotaxis of neonates, but little is known about the other neutrophil specific chemokines.

Interleukin-8/CXCL8 forms an autocrine loop in fetal intestinal mucosa.

IL-8/CXC ligand (CXCL) 8 is ingested in high concentrations by the human fetus/neonate with amniotic fluid and human milk, and is also produced constitutively by intestinal epithelial cells (IEC). We have shown that recombinant human IL-8/CXCL8 (rhIL-8/CXCL8) protects cultured IEC against tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and cycloheximide-induced cytotoxicity. In view of its constitutive production, we hypothesized that IL-8/CXCL8 might play an autocrine role in fetal enterocyte maintenance.

Evidence that the granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) receptor plays a role in the pharmacokinetics of G-CSF and PegG-CSF using a G-CSF-R KO model.

The covalent attachment of polyethylene glycol to filgrastim results in a new molecule pegfilgrastim, which has a significantly longer half-life than filgrastim. It is likely that the clearance of both filgrastim and pegfilgrastim involves granulocyte colony simulating factor (G-CSF) receptor binding, but the pharmacokinetics of these drugs have not been compared in mice with and without a functional G-CSF receptor. We sought to clarify the role of receptor-mediated clearance of filgrastim and pegfilgrastim using wild-type (WT) mice or mice with a non-functional G-CSF-R (knockout, KO).