Comparative transcriptomics reveals human-specific cortical features.

The cognitive abilities of humans are distinctive among primates, but their molecular and cellular substrates are poorly understood. We used comparative single-nucleus transcriptomics to analyze samples of the middle temporal gyrus (MTG) from adult humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, rhesus macaques, and common marmosets to understand human-specific features of the neocortex. Human, chimpanzee, and gorilla MTG showed highly similar cell-type composition and laminar organization as well as a large shift in proportions of deep-layer intratelencephalic-projecting neurons compared with macaque and marmoset MTG.

Local connectivity and synaptic dynamics in mouse and human neocortex.

We present a unique, extensive, and open synaptic physiology analysis platform and dataset. Through its application, we reveal principles that relate cell type to synaptic properties and intralaminar circuit organization in the mouse and human cortex. The dynamics of excitatory synapses align with the postsynaptic cell subclass, whereas inhibitory synapse dynamics partly align with presynaptic cell subclass but with considerable overlap.

Impact of Social Distancing and Travel Restrictions on Non-Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Non-COVID-19) Respiratory Hospital Admissions in Young Children in Rural Alaska.

Hospitalizations due to non-coronavirus disease 2019 (non-COVID-19) respiratory illnesses decreased dramatically after social distancing was implemented in a high-risk population in rural Alaska; an unprecedented decline compared to the past 10 respiratory seasons. This demonstrates the potential secondary benefits of implementing social distancing and travel restrictions on respiratory illnesses.

Rat-Bite Fever in the United States: An Analysis Using Multiple National Data Sources, 2001-2015.

Background: Rat-bite fever is a rare disease associated with rat bites or direct/indirect rodent contact.

Methods: We examined rat-bite fever and rat-bite injury diagnoses in the United States during 2001-2015. We analyzed national, state, and Indian Health Service healthcare encounter datasets for rat-bite fever and rat-bite injury diagnoses.

Immunogenicity of the hepatitis A vaccine 20 years after infant immunization.

To determine the duration of immunity provided by the Hepatitis A vaccination (HepA), we evaluated a cohort of participants in Alaska 20 years after being immunized as infants. At recruitment, participants received two doses of inactivated HepA vaccine on one of three schedules. We conducted hepatitis A antibody (anti-HAV) testing for participants at the 20-year time-point.

Respiratory syncytial virus and influenza hospitalizations in Alaska native adults.

Background: Alaska Native (AN) infants from Yukon Kuskokwim Delta (YKD) have the highest U.S. infant hospitalization rate for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

Community water service and incidence of respiratory, skin, and gastrointestinal infections in rural Alaska, 2013-2015.

Background: Communities in rural Alaska have access to multiple types of water service (piped, vehicle-hauled, and self-hauled) and experience varying levels of water service coverage. We assessed the incidence rate of inpatient and outpatient infectious disease visits among communities with different water service types and coverage levels.

Methods: We classified ICD-9 codes for inpatient and outpatient visits to the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation facilities between 2013 and 2015 into six infectious disease categories.

Lack of in-home piped water and reported consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages among adults in rural Alaska.

Objective: To assess whether a community water service is associated with the frequency of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) consumption, obesity, or perceived health status in rural Alaska.

Design: We examined the cross-sectional associations between community water access and frequency of SSB consumption, body mass index categories, and perceived health status using data from the 2013 and 2015 Alaska Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). Participants were categorized by zip code to 'in-home piped water service' or 'no in-home piped water service' based on water utility data.

Bright and photostable chemigenetic indicators for extended in vivo voltage imaging.

Genetically encoded voltage indicators (GEVIs) enable monitoring of neuronal activity at high spatial and temporal resolution. However, the utility of existing GEVIs has been limited by the brightness and photostability of fluorescent proteins and rhodopsins. We engineered a GEVI, called Voltron, that uses bright and photostable synthetic dyes instead of protein-based fluorophores, thereby extending the number of neurons imaged simultaneously in vivo by a factor of 10 and enabling imaging for significantly longer durations relative to existing GEVIs.

Risk-Based Prenatal Hepatitis C Testing Practices and Results, Alaska 2013-2016.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in pregnant women is of concern as it presents a health threat not only to the mother, but also to her infant. A retrospective analysis was performed to evaluate HCV testing and exposure in women who delivered infants between 2013 and 2016 at a referral hospital in Alaska. Multiple risk behaviors were evaluated, including drug dependency or abuse (drug abuse), tobacco use, alcohol dependency or abuse, and late presentation to prenatal care.

Hepatitis C in pregnant American Indian and Alaska native women; 2003-2015.

Recent reports have found a rise in Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in reproductive age women in the USA. Surveillance data suggests one group that is at increased risk of HCV infection is the American Indian and Alaska Native population (AI/AN). Using the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) birth certificate and the Indian Health Services, Tribal, and Urban Indian (IHS) databases, we evaluated reported cases of HCV infection in pregnant women between 2003 and 2015.

Inferring Cortical Connectivity from ECoG Signals Using Graph Signal Processing.

A novel method to characterize connectivity between sites in the cerebral cortex of primates is proposed in this paper. Connectivity graphs for two macaque monkeys are inferred from Electrocorticographic (ECoG) activity recorded while the animals were alert. The locations of ECoG electrodes are considered as nodes of the graph, the coefficients of the auto-regressive (AR) representation of the signals measured at each node are considered as the signal on the graph and the connectivity strengths between the nodes are considered as the edges of the graph.

Cognitive Function Prediction of Performance During Dual-Tasks Across Adults With and Without Hearing Loss.

Background: Dual-task procedures are commonly implemented to examine cognitive load and listening effort as individual differences in cognition often determine successful listening. However, which methods are most efficacious is unclear. Specifically, standardized, targeted assessment procedures for establishing cognitive function, and age-related changes that might account for changes in dual-task performance have yet to be established.

Sparse recurrent excitatory connectivity in the microcircuit of the adult mouse and human cortex.

Generating a comprehensive description of cortical networks requires a large-scale, systematic approach. To that end, we have begun a pipeline project using multipatch electrophysiology, supplemented with two-photon optogenetics, to characterize connectivity and synaptic signaling between classes of neurons in adult mouse primary visual cortex (V1) and human cortex. We focus on producing results detailed enough for the generation of computational models and enabling comparison with future studies.

Cognitive function predicts listening effort performance during complex tasks in normally aging adults.

Purpose: This study examines whether cognitive function, as measured by the subtests of the Woodcock-Johnson III (WCJ-III) assessment, predicts listening-effort performance during dual tasks across the adults of varying ages.

Materials And Methods: Participants were divided into two groups. Group 1 consisted of 14 listeners (number of females = 11) who were 41-61 years old [mean = 53.

A Mindfulness Practice for Communication Sciences and Disorders Undergraduate and Speech-Language Pathology Graduate Students: Effects on Stress, Self-Compassion, and Perfectionism.

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to explore the effects of a mindfulness practice on participants' levels of self-compassion, perfectionism, attention, and perceived and biological stress.

Method: This was a between-groups design. Experimental participants engaged in a short mindfulness practice weekly for one academic semester; control participants did not.

Trends in Otitis Media and Myringotomy With Tube Placement Among American Indian and Alaska Native Children and the US General Population of Children After Introduction of the 13-valent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine.

Background: American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) children have experienced higher otitis media (OM) outpatient visit rates than other US children. To understand recent trends, we evaluated AI/AN OM rates before and after 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine introduction.

Methods: We analyzed outpatient visits listing OM as a diagnosis among AI/AN children <5 years of age from the Indian Health Service National Patient Information Reporting System for 2010-2013.

Paired Stimulation for Spike-Timing-Dependent Plasticity in Primate Sensorimotor Cortex.

Classic studies have described spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) at a synapse: the connection from neuron A to neuron B is strengthened (or weakened) when A fires before (or after) B within an optimal time window. Accordingly, more recent works have demonstrated behavioral effects consistent with an STDP mechanism; however, many relied on single-unit recordings. The ability to modify cortical connections becomes useful in the context of injury, when connectivity and associated behavior are compromised.

Infectious Disease Hospitalizations Among American Indian/Alaska Native and Non-American Indian/Alaska Native Persons in Alaska, 2010-2011.

Objective: Reports about infectious disease (ID) hospitalization rates among American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) persons have been constrained by data limited to the tribal health care system and by comparisons with the general US population. We used a merged state database to determine ID hospitalization rates in Alaska.

Methods: We combined 2010 and 2011 hospital discharge data from the Indian Health Service and the Alaska State Inpatient Database.

Potentially preventable hospitalizations for acute and chronic conditions in Alaska, 2010-2012.

Objective: The U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Prevention Quality Indicators comprise acute and chronic conditions for which hospitalization can be potentially prevented by high-quality ambulatory care.

Infant and maternal risk factors related to necrotising enterocolitis-associated infant death in the United States.

Aim: To evaluate necrotising enterocolitis (NEC)-associated infant death and identify risk factors related to NEC infant death in the United States.

Methods: The United States Period Linked Birth/Infant Death data for 2010-2013 were utilised to determine risk factors associated with NEC infant death. Infant mortality rates (IMRs) were calculated and a retrospective matched case-control analysis was performed.

Lower respiratory tract infection hospitalizations among American Indian/Alaska Native children and the general United States child population.

Background: The lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI)-associated hospitalization rate in American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) children aged <5 years declined during 1998-2008, yet remained 1.6 times higher than the general US child population in 2006-2008.

Purpose: Describe the change in LRTI-associated hospitalization rates for AI/AN children and for the general US child population aged <5 years.

Comparison of Psychophysiological and Dual-Task Measures of Listening Effort.

Purpose: We wished to make a comparison of psychophysiological measures of listening effort with subjective and dual-task measures of listening effort for a diotic-dichotic-digits and a sentences-in-noise task.

Method: Three groups of young adults (18-38 years old) with normal hearing participated in three experiments: two psychophysiological studies for two different listening tasks and a dual-task measure for a sentences-in-noise task. Psychophysiological variables included skin conductance, heart-rate variability, and heart rate; the dual-task measure was a letter-identification task.

Ebola Virus Disease--Sierra Leone and Guinea, August 2015.

The Ebola virus disease (Ebola) outbreak in West Africa began in late 2013 in Guinea (1) and spread unchecked during early 2014. By mid-2014, it had become the first Ebola epidemic ever documented. Transmission was occurring in multiple districts of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, and for the first time, in capital cities (2).

Elimination of Ebola Virus Transmission in Liberia - September 3, 2015.

Following 42 days since the last Ebola virus disease (Ebola) patient was discharged from a Liberian Ebola treatment unit (ETU), September 3, 2015, marks the second time in a 4-month period that the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared Liberia free of Ebola virus transmission (1). The first confirmed Ebola cases in West Africa were identified in southeastern Guinea on March 23, 2014, and within 1 week, cases were identified and confirmed in Liberia (1). Since then, Liberia has reported 5,036 confirmed and probable Ebola cases and 4,808 Ebola-related deaths.