The effectiveness and safety of botulinum toxin treatment for sialorrhea due to severe brain injury.

Introduction: Sialorrhea may be a consequence of severe acquired brain injury (ABI). Salivary gland botulinum neurotoxin (SG-BoNT) injections can reduce saliva production, but there is limited evidence for their use in ABI.We reviewed the effectiveness, impact on chest infection frequency, and safety of SG-BoNT for sialorrhea in a cohort of patients with severe ABI.

Development of vegetative oil sorghum: From lab-to-field.

Biomass crops engineered to accumulate energy-dense triacylglycerols (TAG or 'vegetable oils') in their vegetative tissues have emerged as potential feedstocks to meet the growing demand for renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Unlike oil palm and oilseed crops, the current commercial sources of TAG, vegetative tissues, such as leaves and stems, only transiently accumulate TAG. In this report, we used grain (Texas430 or TX430) and sugar-accumulating 'sweet' (Ramada) genotypes of sorghum, a high-yielding, environmentally resilient biomass crop, to accumulate TAG in leaves and stems.

The circular paradox of including people with severe brain injuries and reduced decisional capacity in research: A feasibility study exploring randomized research, consent-based recruitment biases, and the resultant health inequities.

Background: People with severe brain injuries (PSBI) and reduced capacity to consent (CTC) frequently develop muscle contractures. Standard care includes prolonged stretch (PS) but there is limited condition-specific evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

Purpose: Identify factors affecting the inclusion of PSBI and reduced CTC in a PS RCT and methodologies more capable of generating condition-specific outcomes.

Elucidation of Triacylglycerol Overproduction in the C Bioenergy Crop by Constraint-Based Analysis.

Upregulation of triacylglycerols (TAGs) in vegetative plant tissues such as leaves has the potential to drastically increase the energy density and biomass yield of bioenergy crops. In this context, constraint-based analysis has the promise to improve metabolic engineering strategies. Here we present a core metabolism model for the C biomass crop () along with a minimal model for photosynthetic CO assimilation, sucrose and TAG biosynthesis in C plants.

A consensus process to agree best practice for managing physical wellbeing in people with a prolonged disorder of consciousness.

Background: Current practice for physical wellbeing of people in a Prolonged Disorder of Consciousness (PDOC) is variable. A scoping literature review identified no agreed standard of care for physical management of those in a PDOC. This study addressed this deficit using a consensus process applied using nominal group technique.

Modeling Plant Metabolism: From Network Reconstruction to Mechanistic Models.

Mathematical modeling of plant metabolism enables the plant science community to understand the organization of plant metabolism, obtain quantitative insights into metabolic functions, and derive engineering strategies for manipulation of metabolism. Among the various modeling approaches, metabolic pathway analysis can dissect the basic functional modes of subsections of core metabolism, such as photorespiration, and reveal how classical definitions of metabolic pathways have overlapping functionality. In the many studies using constraint-based modeling in plants, numerous computational tools are currently available to analyze large-scale and genome-scale metabolic networks.

High Flux Through the Oxidative Pentose Phosphate Pathway Lowers Efficiency in Developing Camelina Seeds.

Many seeds are green during development, and light has been shown to play a role in the efficiency with which maternally supplied substrates are converted into storage compounds. However, the effects of light on the fluxes through central metabolism that determine this efficiency are poorly understood. Here, we used metabolic flux analysis to determine the effects of light on central metabolism in developing embryos of false flax ().

Unfair trade underground revealed by integrating data with Nash bargaining models.

Mutually beneficial resource exchange is fundamental to global biogeochemical cycles and plant and animal nutrition. However, there is inherent potential conflict in mutualisms, as each organism benefits more when the exchange ratio ('price') minimizes its own costs and maximizes its benefits. Understanding the bargaining power that each partner has in these interactions is key to our ability to predict the exchange ratio and therefore the functionality of the cell, organism, community and ecosystem.

Modelling nutritional mutualisms: challenges and opportunities for data integration.

Nutritional mutualisms are ancient, widespread, and profoundly influential in biological communities and ecosystems. Although much is known about these interactions, comprehensive answers to fundamental questions, such as how resource availability and structured interactions influence mutualism persistence, are still lacking. Mathematical modelling of nutritional mutualisms has great potential to facilitate the search for comprehensive answers to these and other fundamental questions by connecting the physiological and genomic underpinnings of mutualisms with ecological and evolutionary processes.

Correction: Genome, Functional Gene Annotation, and Nuclear Transformation of the Heterokont Oleaginous Alga Nannochloropsis oceanica CCMP1779.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.

Factors associated with caregiver experience in families with a child with cerebral palsy.

Purpose: Managing the stresses of parenting a child with cerebral palsy (CP) can be challenging. This study sought to identify factors that are associated with higher levels of caregiver stress.

Methods: A retrospective review of data from the Learn From Every Patient™ project conducted in an interdisciplinary CP clinic were used to compare caregiver responses on 2 subsets (financial and time/emotional) of the Assessment of Caregiver Experience in Neuromuscular Disorders (ACEND) and physical and medical characteristics of the child.

Enhancing Trifocal Leadership Practices Using Simulation in a Pediatric Charge Nurse Orientation Program.

A well-established charge nurse orientation program was enhanced with the addition of a simulation, addressing three primary populations (the trifocus) with whom charge nurses interact: patients, patients' parents, and other staff members. In this pilot quality improvement project, 20 staff nurses enrolled in the orientation program and were assigned a mentor. Only one participant used the mentorship opportunity; therefore, it is not discussed here.

Analysis of Loss-of-Function Mutants in Aspartate Kinase and Homoserine Dehydrogenase Genes Points to Complexity in the Regulation of Aspartate-Derived Amino Acid Contents.

Biosynthesis of aspartate (Asp)-derived amino acids lysine (Lys), methionine (Met), threonine (Thr), and isoleucine involves monofunctional Asp kinases (AKs) and dual-functional Asp kinase-homoserine dehydrogenases (AK-HSDHs). Four-week-old loss-of-function Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) mutants in the AK-HSDH2 gene had increased amounts of Asp and Asp-derived amino acids, especially Thr, in leaves. To explore mechanisms behind this phenotype, we obtained single mutants for other AK and AK-HSDH genes, generated double mutants from ak-hsdh2 and ak mutants, and performed free and protein-bound amino acid profiling, transcript abundance, and activity assays.

A conserved spiral structure for highly diverged phage tail assembly chaperones.

Tail assembly chaperones (TACs) are a family of proteins likely required for the morphogenesis of all long-tailed phages. In this study, we determined the crystal structure of gp13, the TAC of phage HK97. This structure is similar to that of the TAC from the Lactococcus phage p2 and two unannotated structures of likely TACs encoded in prophage-derived regions of Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus stearothermophilus.

Incorporating physical activity into the schools using a 3-tiered approach.

Background: Public health models have been used to address a number of school-based concerns, notably in the identification and treatment of students at-risk for academic or behavioral deficits. Significant benefits are associated with this model as, compared to a traditional approach, the focus is shifted from remediation to prevention, and from student pathology to student strengths.

Methods: Although this model has been applied to multiple populations and used across a variety of settings, it has yet to be conceptualized as a framework for the integration of school-based physical activity (PA).

Sputum biomarkers and the prediction of clinical outcomes in patients with cystic fibrosis.

Lung function, acute pulmonary exacerbations (APE), and weight are the best clinical predictors of survival in cystic fibrosis (CF); however, underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood. Biomarkers of current disease state predictive of future outcomes might identify mechanisms and provide treatment targets, trial endpoints and objective clinical monitoring tools. Such CF-specific biomarkers have previously been elusive.

VHA Blueprints: redefining the way clinical knowledge is transferred.

Despite a growing interest in health care quality improvement, little has changed regarding how clinicians acquire, assimilate, and transfer knowledge concerning leading practices. Working with hospitals with recognized leading clinical practices, VHA Inc developed an innovative methodology for generating and transferring knowledge using a visual story format that incorporates structural, process, and contextual elements into a comprehensive knowledge transfer vehicle called a VHA Leading Practice Blueprint. The authors describe a validation study comparing the effectiveness of the Blueprint methodology as a knowledge transfer vehicle to 2 commonly used sources of performance improvement knowledge: traditional case study and peer-reviewed journal article.

Essential steps in super user education for ambulatory clinic nurses.

Pre-implementation and education steps for ambulatory care nurses chosen as super users are described in this article. Those chosen as super users supported a new electronic medical record (EMR) within a large academic medical center with more than 200 health care specialty clinics. Essential steps prepared these super users to integrate the EMR into their daily workflows.