Impact of Intervention on College Students' Vending Selections.

Objectives: To place in vending machines and determine if different sales strategies affect selection.

Participants: University students living in resident halls.

Methods: Vending machines included 50% and 50% non compliant snacks.

Physical activity in the Families in Transformation (FIT) weight management program for children.

The purpose was to determine if an 8-week nutrition education and exercise program for families could influence health and fitness parameters, and retention of nutrition knowledge. Eighteen children (mean age: 10.52 ± 1.

Lake Nutrient Responses to Integrated Conservation Practices in an Agricultural Watershed.

Watershed-scale management efforts to reduce nutrient loads and improve the conservation of lakes in agricultural watersheds require effective integration of a variety of agricultural conservation best management practices (BMPs). This paper documents watershed-scale assessments of the influence of multiple integrated BMPs on oxbow lake nutrient concentrations in a 625-ha watershed of intensive row-crop agricultural activity during a 14-yr monitoring period (1996-2009). A suite of BMPs within fields and at field edges throughout the watershed and enrollment of 87 ha into the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) were implemented from 1995 to 2006.

Locus-specific epigenetic remodeling controls addiction- and depression-related behaviors.

Chronic exposure to drugs of abuse or stress regulates transcription factors, chromatin-modifying enzymes and histone post-translational modifications in discrete brain regions. Given the promiscuity of the enzymes involved, it has not yet been possible to obtain direct causal evidence to implicate the regulation of transcription and consequent behavioral plasticity by chromatin remodeling that occurs at a single gene. We investigated the mechanism linking chromatin dynamics to neurobiological phenomena by applying engineered transcription factors to selectively modify chromatin at a specific mouse gene in vivo.

Engineered zinc-finger transcription factors activate OCT4 (POU5F1), SOX2, KLF4, c-MYC (MYC) and miR302/367.

Artificial transcription factors are powerful tools for regulating gene expression. Here we report results with engineered zinc-finger transcription factors (ZF-TFs) targeting four protein-coding genes, OCT4, SOX2, KLF4 and c-MYC, and one noncoding ribonucleic acid (RNA) gene, the microRNA (miRNA) miR302/367 cluster. We designed over 300 ZF-TFs whose targets lie within 1 kb of the transcriptional start sites (TSSs), screened them for increased messenger RNA or miRNA levels in transfected cells, and identified potent ZF-TF activators for each gene.

Role in tumor growth of a glycogen debranching enzyme lost in glycogen storage disease.

Background: Bladder cancer is the most common malignancy of the urinary system, yet our molecular understanding of this disease is incomplete, hampering therapeutic advances.

Methods: Here we used a genome-wide functional short-hairpin RNA (shRNA) screen to identify suppressors of in vivo bladder tumor xenograft growth (n = 50) using bladder cancer UMUC3 cells. Next-generation sequencing was used to identify the most frequently occurring shRNAs in tumors.

Mitigating agrichemicals from an artificial runoff event using a managed riverine wetland.

We examined the mitigation efficiency of a managed riverine wetland amended with a mixture of suspended sediment, two nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus), and three pesticides (atrazine, metolachlor, and permethrin) during a simulated agricultural runoff event. Hydrologic management of the 500 m-long, 25 m-wide riverine wetland was done by adding weirs at both ends. The agrichemical mixture was amended to the wetland at the upstream weir simulating a four-hour, ~1cm rainfall event from a 16ha agricultural field.

Responses of Hyalella azteca and phytoplankton to a simulated agricultural runoff event in a managed backwater wetland.

We assessed the aqueous toxicity mitigation capacity of a hydrologically managed floodplain wetland following a synthetic runoff event amended with a mixture of sediments, nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus), and pesticides (atrazine, S-metolachlor, and permethrin) using 48-h Hyalella azteca survival and phytoplankton pigment, chlorophyll a. The runoff event simulated a 1h, 1.27 cm rainfall event from a 16 ha agricultural field.

RNA interference in marine and freshwater sponges: actin knockdown in Tethya wilhelma and Ephydatia muelleri by ingested dsRNA expressing bacteria.

Background: The marine sponge Tethya wilhelma and the freshwater sponge Ephydatia muelleri are emerging model organisms to study evolution, gene regulation, development, and physiology in non-bilaterian animal systems. Thus far, functional methods (i.e.

Toxicity evaluation of a conservation effects assessment program watershed, Beasley Lake, in the Mississippi Delta, USA.

Beasley Lake was assessed monthly in 2005 for biological impairment from 17 historic and current-use pesticides in water and leaf litter using Hyalella azteca (Saussure). Sixteen pesticides were detected in both water and leaf litter with peak detections in spring and summer. Detections ranged from 1-125 ng L(-1) in water and 1-539 ng g(-1) OC in leaf litter.

Effects of an atrazine, metolachlor and fipronil mixture on Hyalella azteca (Saussure) in a modified backwater wetland.

We examined the toxicity mitigation efficiency of a hydrologically modified backwater wetland amended with a pesticide mixture of atrazine, metolachlor, and fipronil, using 96 h survival bioassays with Hyalella azteca. Significant H. azteca 96 h mortality occurred within the first 2 h of amendment at the upstream amendment site but not at any time at the downstream site.

Hyalella azteca (Saussure) responses to Coldwater River backwater sediments in Mississippi, USA.

Sediment from three Coldwater River, Mississippi backwaters was examined using 28 day Hyalella azteca bioassays and chemical analyses for 33 pesticides, seven metals and seven PCB mixtures. Hydrologic connectivity between the main river channel and backwater varied widely among the three sites. Mortality occurred in the most highly connected backwater while growth impairment occurred in the other two.

Agricultural pesticides in Mississippi Delta oxbow lake sediments during autumn and their effects on Hyalella azteca.

Agricultural pesticide contamination of sediments from five Mississippi Delta oxbow lakes and their effects and bioavailablity to Hyalella azteca were assessed during a low-application season-autumn. Three reference oxbow lakes were located in the White River National Wildlife Refuge (WRNWR), Arkansas and two impaired lakes, according to the US Environmental Agency Sect. 303 (d) Clean Water Act, were located in Mississippi.

Reduction of turbulent boundary layer induced interior noise through active impedance control.

The use of a single actuator tuned to an optimum impedance to control the sound power radiated from a turbulent boundary layer (TBL) excited aircraft panel into the aircraft interior is examined. An approach to calculating the optimum impedance is defined and the limitations on the reduction in radiated power by a single actuator tuned to that impedance are examined. It is shown that there are too many degrees of freedom in the TBL and in the radiation modes of the panel to allow a single actuator to control the radiated power.

Glia maturation factor overexpression in neuroblastoma cells activates glycogen synthase kinase-3beta and caspase-3.

In the present study we report that a replication-defective adenovirus construct of GMF cDNA (GMF-V) induced overexpression of GMF protein in neuroblastoma (N18) cells caused cytotoxicity and loss of cell viability. A significant increase in activation of GSK-3beta occurred after infection with GMF-V when compared with mock and lacZ controls. Overexpression of GMF also increased caspase-3 activity, an early marker of apoptosis.

Can warmwater streams be rehabilitated using watershed-scale standard erosion control measures alone?

Degradation of warmwater streams in agricultural landscapes is a pervasive problem, and reports of restoration effectiveness based on monitoring data are rare. Described is the outcome of rehabilitation of two deeply incised, unstable sand-and-gravel-bed streams. Channel networks of both watersheds were treated using standard erosion control measures, and aquatic habitats within 1-km-long reaches of each stream were further treated by addition of instream structures and planting woody vegetation on banks ("habitat rehabilitation").

A novel role of glia maturation factor: induction of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor and pro-inflammatory cytokines.

The glia maturation factor (GMF), which was discovered in our laboratory, is a highly conserved protein predominantly localized in astrocytes. GMF is an intracellular regulator of stress-related signal transduction. We now report that the overexpression of GMF in astrocytes leads to the destruction of primary oligodendrocytes by interactions between highly purified cultures of astrocytes, microglia, and oligodendrocytes.

Influence of watershed system management on herbicide concentrations in Mississippi Delta oxbow lakes.

The Mississippi Delta Management Systems Evaluation Area (MD-MSEA) project was established in 1994 in three small watersheds (202 to 1,497 ha) that drain into oxbow lakes (Beasley, Deep Hollow, and Thighman). The primary research objective was to assess the implications of management practices on water quality. Monthly monitoring of herbicide concentrations in lake water was conducted from 2000 to 2003.

A hybrid active/passive exhaust noise control system for locomotives.

A prototype hybrid system consisting of active and passive components for controlling far-field locomotive exhaust noise has been designed, assembled, and tested on a locomotive. The system consisted of a resistive passive silencer for controlling high-frequency broadband noise and a feedforward multiple-input, multiple-output active control system for suppressing low-frequency tonal noise. The active system used ten roof-mounted bandpass speaker enclosures with 2-12-in.

The role of RNA editing by ADARs in RNAi.

Adenosine deaminases that act on RNA (ADARs) are RNA-editing enzymes that deaminate adenosines to create inosines in double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). Here we demonstrate that ADARs are not required for RNA interference (RNAi) and that they do not antagonize the pathway to a detectable level when RNAi is initiated by injecting dsRNA. We find, however, that transgenes expressed in the somatic tissues of wild-type animals are silenced in strains with deletions in the two genes encoding ADARs, adr-1 and adr-2.

Comparison of two methods of fibrescope-guided tracheal intubation.

We have compared intubation time and cardiovascular effects of fibrescope-guided orotracheal intubation aided by the Berman 11 Intubating Airway with those of the tongue traction method of fibreoptic intubation and with conventional Macintosh intubation. We studied 75 patients who received a standard general anaesthetic which included non-depolarizing neuromuscular block; they were allocated randomly to one of the three groups immediately before intubation. The mean time required to effect Berman airway intubation (34.

Cardiovascular effects of fibrescope-guided nasotracheal intubation.

The cardiovascular effects of fibrescope-guided nasotracheal intubation were compared to those of a control group of patients who were intubated using the Macintosh laryngoscope. The 60 patients studied received a standard anaesthetic technique which included a muscle relaxant and were allocated randomly to one of two groups immediately before tracheal intubation. Systolic and diastolic arterial pressures in the fibreoptic group were significantly lower than in the control group during the first minute after intubation.