Distinct comorbidity phenotypes among post-9/11 Veterans with epilepsy are linked to diverging outcomes and mortality risks.

Objective: To investigate phenotypes of comorbidity before and after an epilepsy diagnosis in a national cohort of post-9/11 Service Members and Veterans and explore phenotypic associations with mortality.

Methods: Among a longitudinal cohort of Service Members and Veterans receiving care in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) from 2002 to 2018, annual diagnoses for 26 conditions associated with epilepsy were collected over 5 years, ranging from 2 years prior to 2 years after the year of first epilepsy diagnosis. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to identify probabilistic comorbidity phenotypes with distinct health trajectories.

Combined genomic evaluation of Merino and Dohne Merino Australian sheep populations.

Background: The Dohne Merino sheep was introduced to Australia from South Africa in the 1990s. It was primarily used in crosses with the Merino breed sheep to improve on attributes such as reproduction and carcass composition. Since then, this breed has continued to expand in Australia but the number of genotyped and phenotyped purebred individuals remains low, calling into question the accuracy of genomic selection.

The Sexually Dichromatic Use of Chromatophores for Cryptic Coloration in the Shrimp .

AbstractSexual dimorphism typically arises as a result of sexual selection or sex-specific natural selection. Species that exhibit cryptic coloration provide an excellent system for studying sex-specific selection for sexual dichromatism. In this study, we examined the sexually dichromatic use of chromatophores in the seawhip shrimp, (Borradaile, 1920), which commonly resides on colonies of (Lamarck, 1815), a gorgonian octocoral that occurs in multiple color morphs.

Analysis of nondegradable cyclins reveals distinct roles of the mitotic cyclins in Drosophila meiosis.

Meiosis is a complex variant of the mitotic cell cycle, and as such relies on many of the same proteins involved in mitosis, but utilizes these in novel ways. As in mitosis, Cdk1 and its cyclin partners, Cyclin A, B, and B3 are required at multiple steps in meiosis. Here, we study the effect of stabilized forms of the three mitotic cyclins to study the consequences of failure to degrade the cyclins in meiosis.

Skp2-Cyclin A Interaction Is Necessary for Mitotic Entry and Maintenance of Diploidy.

Skp2, the substrate recognition component of the SCF ubiquitin ligase, has been implicated in the targeted destruction of a number of key cell cycle regulators and the promotion of S-phase. One of its critical targets is the Cyclin dependent kinase (Cdk) inhibitor p27, and indeed the overexpression of Skp2 in a number of cancers is directly correlated with the premature degradation of p27. Skp2 was first identified as a protein that interacts with Cyclin A in transformed cells, but its role in this complex has remained unclear.

CAnceR IN PreGnancy (CARING) - a retrospective study of cancer diagnosed during pregnancy in the United Kingdom.

Background: The incidence of cancer diagnosed during pregnancy is increasing. Data relating to investigation and management, as well as maternal and foetal outcomes is lacking in a United Kingdom (UK) population.

Methods: In this retrospective study we report data from 119 patients diagnosed with cancer during pregnancy from 14 cancer centres in the UK across a five-year period (2016-2020).

Making bioinformatics training FAIR: the EMBL-EBI training portal.

EMBL-EBI provides a broad range of training in data-driven life sciences. To improve awareness and access to training course listings and to make digital learning materials findable and simple to use, the EMBL-EBI Training website, www.ebi.

Imaging Strain-Localized Single-Photon Emitters in Layered GaSe below the Diffraction Limit.

Nanoscale strain control of exciton funneling is an increasingly critical tool for the scalable production of single photon emitters (SPEs) in two-dimensional materials. However, conventional far-field optical microscopies remain constrained in spatial resolution by the diffraction limit and thus can provide only a limited description of nanoscale strain localization of SPEs. Here, we quantify the effects of nanoscale heterogeneous strain on the energy and brightness of GaSe SPEs on nanopillars with correlative cathodoluminescence, photoluminescence, and atomic force microscopy, supported by density functional theory simulations.

Improving Strain-localized GaSe Single Photon Emitters with Electrical Doping.

Exciton localization through nanoscale strain has been used to create highly efficient single-photon emitters (SPEs) in 2D materials. However, the strong Coulomb interactions between excitons can lead to nonradiative recombination through exciton-exciton annihilation, negatively impacting SPE performance. Here, we investigate the effect of Coulomb interactions on the brightness, single photon purity, and operating temperatures of strain-localized GaSe SPEs by using electrostatic doping.

Including genomic information in the genetic evaluation of production and reproduction traits in South African Merino sheep.

Genomic selection (GS) has become common in sheep breeding programmes in Australia, New Zealand, France and Ireland but requires validation in South Africa (SA). This study aimed to compare the predictive ability, bias and dispersion of pedigree BLUP (ABLUP) and single-step genomic BLUP (ssGBLUP) for production and reproduction traits in South African Merinos. Animals in this study originated from five research and five commercial Merino flocks and included between 54,072 and 79,100 production records for weaning weight (WW), yearling weight (YW), fibre diameter (FD), clean fleece weight (CFW) and staple length (SL).

Comorbidity and polypharmacy impact neurobehavioral symptoms and symptom validity failure among post-9/11 veterans with mild traumatic brain injury.

Objective: The study aimed to examine the association between post-concussive comorbidity burdens [post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and/or headache] and central nervous system (CNS) polypharmacy (five or more concurrent medications) with reported neurobehavioral symptoms and symptom validity screening among post-9/11 veterans with a history of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI).

Setting: Administrative medical record data from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) were used in the study.

Participants: Post-9/11 veterans with mTBI and at least 2 years of VA care between 2001 and 2019 who had completed the comprehensive traumatic brain injury evaluation (CTBIE) were included in the study.

Factors That Impact the Long-Term Outcome of Postconcussive Dizziness Among Post-9/11 Veterans.

Purpose: The primary aim of this study was to examine the factors associated with long-term outcomes of postconcussive disruptive dizziness in Veterans of the post-9/11 wars.

Method: For this observational cohort study, the Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory-Vestibular subscale (NSI-V) score was used as an outcome measure for dizziness in 987 post-9/11 Veterans who indicated disruptive dizziness at an initial Veterans Health Administration Comprehensive Traumatic Brain Injury Evaluation (CTBIE). An NSI-V change score was calculated as the difference in the scores obtained at the initial CTBIE and on a subsequent survey.

Differential effects of mutations of POPDC proteins on heteromeric interaction and membrane trafficking.

The Popeye domain containing (POPDC) genes encode sarcolemma-localized cAMP effector proteins. Mutations in blood vessel epicardial substance (BVES) also known as POPDC1 and POPDC2 have been associated with limb-girdle muscular dystrophy and cardiac arrhythmia. Muscle biopsies of affected patients display impaired membrane trafficking of both POPDC isoforms.

A Comparison of Spinal Robotic Systems and Pedicle Screw Accuracy Rates: Review of Literature and Meta-Analysis.

 The motivation to improve accuracy and reduce complication rates in spinal surgery has driven great advancements in robotic surgical systems, with the primary difference between the newer generation and older generation models being the presence of an optical camera and multijointed arm. This study compares accuracy and complication rates of pedicle screw placement in older versus newer generation robotic systems reported in the literature.  We performed a systemic review and meta-analysis describing outcomes of pedicle screw placement with robotic spine surgery.

Evaluation of a Daily Nine-Item "Handbook for Self-Care at Work" for Palliative Care Clinicians.

A daily nine-item "Handbook for Self-Care at Work" was created to increase the well-being and satisfaction of the staff at the department of palliative care of a tertiary oncological center in the United States. To evaluate the perceived usefulness of and adherence to the Handbook. An anonymous survey was conducted among the palliative care staff asking for the frequency of utilization and the perception of usefulness of the Handbook.

Prevalence of Acute Neck Pain Following Sports-Related Concussion in High School Athletes.

Objectives: To explore the prevalence of acute neck pain in high school athletes following sports-related concussion (SRC) and to examine the role of acute neck pain in modifying or amplifying concurrent concussive symptoms.

Design: Retrospective observational.

Setting: High school sporting events.

Sub-occipital muscle pressure pain thresholds correlate to direction of symptomatic active comfortable sustained neck rotation testing in post-concussive headache: a retrospective observational cross-sectional study.

Objectives: To compare sub-occipital muscle pressure sub pain thresholds (PPTs) in individuals with persistent-post-traumatic-headache (PPTH) in relation to the presence or not of cranial nerve and/or autonomic symptoms reported during sustained neck rotation (SNR).

Background: Previously 81% of military service members with PPTH demonstrated symptoms with SNR up to 60 seconds. Of these, 54% reported symptoms in one (Uni-Symp) and 46% in both directions of rotation (Bi-Symp).

Possible autonomic or cranial nerve symptoms triggered during sustained neck rotation in persistent headache post-concussion: a retrospective observational cross-sectional study.

Objectives: To examine and categorize symptoms occurring within 60 s of vertebrobasilar-insufficiency (VBI) testing (left- and right-neck rotation) in individuals with persistent post-traumatic headache.

Background: As part of routine clinical cervical screening in our patients, we found extended VBI testing often triggered additional symptoms. Therefore, we aimed to document the prevalence and precise symptoms occurring during each movement direction of this test and determine any demographic or baseline signs or symptoms associated with a positive test.

Magnetoencephalography Language Mapping Using Auditory Memory Retrieval and Silent Repeating Task.

Purpose: The study aims to (1) examine the spatiotemporal map of magnetoencephalography-evoked responses during an Auditory Memory Retrieval and Silent Repeating (AMRSR) task, and determine the hemispheric dominance for language, and (2) evaluate the accuracy of the AMRSR task in Wernicke and Broca area localization.

Methods: In 30 patients with brain tumors and/or epilepsies, the AMRSR task was used to evoke magnetoencephalography responses. We applied Fast VEctor-based Spatial-Temporal Analyses with minimum L1-norm source imaging method to the magnetoencephalography responses for localizing the brain areas evoked by the AMRSR task.

Breeding objectives for dairy cattle under low, medium and high production systems in the tropics.

A deterministic bio-economic model was developed to estimate economic weights for genetic improvement of lactation milk yield, fat yield, age at first calving, calving interval, mature weight and survival under low, medium and high production systems in the Tropics. Input parameters were obtained from dairy production systems in Kenya which has a tropical environment. The highest proportion of revenue is from the sale of milk followed by sale of heifers, cull cows and sale of male calves under all production systems.

Biomarkers of systemic inflammation predict survival with first-line immune checkpoint inhibitors in non-small-cell lung cancer.

Introduction: Pembrolizumab is an established first-line option for patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) expressing programmed death-ligand 1 ≥50%. Durable responses are seen in a subset of patients; however, many derive little clinical benefit. Biomarkers of the systemic inflammatory response predict survival in NSCLC.