Using mercury and lead stable isotopes to assess mercury, lead, and trace metal source contributions to Great Salt Lake, Utah, USA.

Great Salt Lake is a critical habitat for migratory birds that is threatened by elevated metal concentrations, including mercury (Hg) and lead (Pb), and is subject to severe hydrologic changes, such as declining lake level. When assessing metal profiles recorded in Great Salt Lake sediment, a large data gap exists regarding the sources of metals within the system, which is complicated by various source inputs to the lake and complex biogeochemistry. Here, we leverage Hg and Pb stable isotopes to track relative changes in metal source contributions to Great Salt Lake over time.

Arrhythmogenic effects of acute electronic cigarette compared to tobacco cigarette smoking in people living with HIV.

The leading cause of death in people living with HIV (PLWH) is cardiovascular disease, and the high prevalence of tobacco cigarette (TC) smoking is a major contributor. Switching to electronic cigarettes (ECs) has been promoted as a harm reduction strategy. We sought to determine if acute EC compared to TC smoking had less harmful effects on arrhythmogenic risk factors including acute changes in hemodynamics, heart rate variability (HRV), and ventricular repolarization (VR).

Spinocerebellar Ataxia 36: From Mutations Toward Therapies.

Spinocerebellar ataxia 36 (SCA36) is a type of repeat expansion-related neurodegenerative disorder identified a decade ago. Like other SCAs, the symptoms of SCA36 include the loss of coordination like gait ataxia and eye movement problems, but motor neuron-related symptoms like muscular atrophy are also present in those patients. The disease is caused by a GGCCTG hexanucleotide repeat expansion in the gene , and the demographic incidence map showed that this disease was more common among the ethnic groups of Japanese and Spanish descendants.

Natural Products That Target the Arginase in Parasites Hold Therapeutic Promise.

Parasites of the genus cause a variety of devastating and often fatal diseases in humans worldwide. Because a vaccine is not available and the currently small number of existing drugs are less than ideal due to lack of specificity and emerging drug resistance, the need for new therapeutic strategies is urgent. Natural products and their derivatives are being used and explored as therapeutics and interest in developing such products as antileishmanials is high.

The impact of antithrombotic therapy on surgical delay and 2-year mortality in older patients with hip fracture: a prospective observational study.

Purpose: To analyze the associations of oral anticoagulant and antiplatelet treatments in older patients requiring surgical treatment for hip fracture with mortality, length of stay, waiting time to surgery and postsurgical immediate complications.

Methods: A prospective observational study, including surgically treated hip fracture patients aged 65 years and older. We analyzed admission status variables, and time to surgery, length of stay and immediate surgical and medical complications.

Evaluation of human obstructive sleep apnea using computational fluid dynamics.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) severity might be correlated to the flow characteristics of the upper airways. We aimed to investigate the severity of OSA based on 3D models constructed from CT scans coupled with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The CT scans of seven adult patients diagnosed with OSA were used to reconstruct the 3D models of the upper airways and CFD modeling and analyses were performed.

Clustering and switching in semantic fluency: predictors of the development of Alzheimer's disease.

Objective: The aims of the study are twofold: (1) to compare semantic fluency, clustering and switching performance among subjects with memory complaints, patients with Alzheimer Disease (AD), and healthy controls; and (2) to examine the clinical utility of the clustering/switching scoring system in the prediction of incident AD in subjects with memory complaints.

Methods: A semantic fluency task was used to compare thirty eight subjects with memory complaints, forty two AD patients and twenty five healthy controls on the total number of words generated, clustering and switching performance. Subjects with memory complaints were followed-up for a maximum period of two years and re-evaluated.