Aortic regurgitation is associated with African American and Asian race, smoking, renal disease, and numerous autoimmune diseases in addition to traditional cardiovascular risk factors but has lower risk with alcohol intake.

Background: Aortic regurgitation (AR) is associated with increasing age, rheumatic heart disease, and a bicuspid aortic valve, but its association with other comorbidities and race is less known. The purpose of this study was to investigate any association between AR and comorbid conditions in older adults above 40.

Method: The large Nationwide Inpatient Sample database was utilized for our study using uni- and multivariate analysis.

Independent association of aortic stenosis with many known cardiovascular risk factors and many inflammatory diseases.

Background: Aortic valve stenosis is associated with age, rheumatic fever and bicuspid aortic valve, but its association with other co-morbidities, such as inflammatory disease and race/ethnicity, is less known.

Aim: To investigate any association between aortic stenosis and many co-morbidities.

Methods: We used the large Nationwide Inpatient Sample database to evaluate any association between aortic stenosis and risk factors.

Focal versus craniospinal radiation for disseminated atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor following favorable response to systemic therapy.

Purpose: Radiotherapy (RT) is associated with improved survival in atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor (ATRT); however, optimal RT delivery is unknown. A meta-analysis was conducted for disseminated (M+) ATRT receiving focal or craniospinal radiation (CSI).

Methods: After abstract screening, 25 studies (1995-2020) contained necessary patient, disease, and radiation treatment information (N = 96).

Sequential order spatial memory in male rats: Characteristics and impact of medial prefrontal cortex and hippocampus disruption.

Remembering an experience entails linking what happened, where the event transpired, and when it occurred. Most rodent hippocampal studies involve tests of spatial memory, but fewer investigate temporal and sequential order memory. Here we provide a demonstration of rats learning an aversive sequential order task using a radial arm water maze.

Outcomes of Patients Treated in the UK Proton Overseas Programme: Central Nervous System Group.

Aims: In 2008, the UK National Health Service started the Proton Overseas Programme (POP), to provide access for proton beam therapy (PBT) abroad for selected tumour diagnoses while two national centres were being planned. The clinical outcomes for the patient group treated for central nervous system (CNS), base of skull, spinal and paraspinal malignancies are reported here.

Materials And Methods: Since the start of the POP, an agreement between the National Health Service and UK referring centres ensured outcomes data collection, including overall survival, local tumour control and late toxicity data.

Developmental Manipulation-Induced Changes in Cognitive Functioning.

Schizophrenia is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder with as-yet no identified cause. The use of animals has been critical to teasing apart the potential individual and intersecting roles of genetic and environmental risk factors in the development of schizophrenia. One way to recreate in animals the cognitive impairments seen in people with schizophrenia is to disrupt the prenatal or neonatal environment of laboratory rodent offspring.

The effects of neonatal procedural pain and maternal isolation on hippocampal cell proliferation and reelin concentration in neonatal and adult male and female rats.

Preterm births accounted for over 10% of all U.S. live births in 2019 and the rate is rising.

Coarse-grained simulation of PEGylated and tethered protein devices at all experimentally accessible surface residues on β-lactamase for stability analysis and comparison.

PEGylated and surface-tethered proteins are used in a variety of biotechnological applications, but traditional methods offer little control over the placement of the functionalization sites on the protein. Fortunately, recent experimental methods functionalize the protein at any location on the amino acid sequence, so the question becomes one of selecting the site that will result in the best protein function. This work shows how molecular simulation can be used to screen potential attachment sites for surface tethering or PEGylation.

Proton therapy for pediatric malignancies: Fact, figures and costs. A joint consensus statement from the pediatric subcommittee of PTCOG, PROS and EPTN.

Radiotherapy plays an important role in the management of childhood cancer, with the primary aim of achieving the highest likelihood of cure with the lowest risk of radiation-induced morbidity. Proton therapy (PT) provides an undisputable advantage by reducing the radiation 'bath' dose delivered to non-target structures/volume while optimally covering the tumor with tumoricidal dose. This treatment modality comes, however, with an additional costs compared to conventional radiotherapy that could put substantial financial pressure to the health care systems with societal implications.

GTL001, A Therapeutic Vaccine for Women Infected with Human Papillomavirus 16 or 18 and Normal Cervical Cytology: Results of a Phase I Clinical Trial.

Purpose: Women infected with human papillomavirus (HPV) with normal cytology to mild abnormalities currently have no treatment options other than watchful waiting or surgery if high-grade cervical lesions or cancer develop. A therapeutic vaccine would offer the possibility of preventing high-grade lesions in HPV-infected women. GTL001 is a therapeutic vaccine composed of recombinant HPV16 and HPV18 E7 proteins fused to catalytically inactive Bordetella pertussis CyaA.

Human perception of visual stimuli modulated by direction of linear polarization.

This study explores both theoretically and experimentally the human perception of polarized light beyond that currently established. The radial analyser theory of Haidinger's phenomenon (HP) is used to predict the effect of observing visual stimuli comprising patterned zones characterized by orthogonal planes of linear polarization (linear polarization direction fields, LPD-fields). Any pattern can be represented as an LPD-field including optotypes and geometric forms.

High-resolution digital holography utilized by the subpixel sampling method.

A novel (to our knowledge) approach for resolution improvement in digital holography is presented in this paper. The proposed method is based on recording the incoming interference field on a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) camera with subpixel resolution. The method takes advantage of the small pixel size of the CMOS sensor, while overcoming the reduced fill factor.

Graduate students' teaching experiences improve their methodological research skills.

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduate students are often encouraged to maximize their engagement with supervised research and minimize teaching obligations. However, the process of teaching students engaged in inquiry provides practice in the application of important research skills. Using a performance rubric, we compared the quality of methodological skills demonstrated in written research proposals for two groups of early career graduate students (those with both teaching and research responsibilities and those with only research responsibilities) at the beginning and end of an academic year.

Effects of dietary fat modification on skeletal muscle fatty acid handling in the metabolic syndrome.

Objective: In the metabolic syndrome (MetS), increased fat storage in 'nonadipose' tissues such as skeletal muscle may be related to insulin resistance ('lipid overflow' hypothesis). The objective of this study was to examine the effects of dietary fat modification on the capacity of skeletal muscle to handle dietary and endogenous fatty acids (FAs).

Subjects And Methods: In total, 29 men with the MetS were randomly assigned to one of four diets for 12 weeks: a high-fat saturated fat diet (HSFA, n=6), a high-fat monounsaturated fat diet (HMUFA, n=7) and two low-fat high-complex carbohydrate diets supplemented with (LFHCCn-3, n=8) or without (LFHCC, n=8) 1.

Curricular reform and inquiry teaching in biology: where are our efforts most fruitfully invested?

University faculty often express frustration with the accuracy of students' understanding of science in general and of evolution in particular. A rich research literature suggests that inquiry-based pedagogies are more effective in producing meaningful learning than are traditional, didactic approaches. A pragmatic investigation into the efficacy of inquiry-based curricular reforms compared to traditional laboratory activities was undertaken in the introductory biology course for majors at a large state university in the southeastern United States.

New developments in external beam radiotherapy for retinoblastoma: from lens to normal tissue-sparing techniques.

Historically, retinoblastoma was treated with external beam radiotherapy (EBR) and for many years this was the accepted standard of care. With greater knowledge of radiation-induced morbidity and mortality, the trend over the past decade has shifted towards primary chemotherapy for most globe conservative treatments. Such a radical change in treatment modalities has restrained EBR to second-line and salvage indications with little consensus regarding dose, timing and techniques.

Error-compensating phase-calculation algorithm in rapid-switching double-pulsed holographic interferometry.

An algorithm is presented for calculating the phase difference that is obtained with rapid-switching, double-pulsed holographic interferometry. Imperfect switching between reference beams in between two laser pulses causes a distortion in the phase-stepped interferograms that results in erroneous phase calculation when conventional phase-calculating algorithms are used. Instead of estimating the error that is involved, an extra step is added to a more conventional algorithm such as Carré's algorithm, so that this leakage effect is compensated for.

Sensitivity of intensity modulated proton therapy plans to changes in patient weight.

Purpose: A retrospective study to investigate the sensitivity of intensity modulated proton therapy (IMPT) to changes in body weight occurring during the course of radiotherapy for patients treated in the sacral region.

Materials And Methods: During therapy, important weight gain and loss were observed for two patients treated to para-spinal tumors, which resulted in both patients being re-scanned and re-planned. Both patients were treated as part of their therapy, with a narrow-angle IMPT (NA-IMPT) plan delivering a 'dose hole' around the cauda equina (CE), which was mainly formed through modulation of Bragg peaks in depth.

Recipient hemodynamics during non-heart-beating donor kidney transplantation are major predictors of primary nonfunction.

Non-heart-beating donor (NHBD) kidneys may substantially expand the donor pool, but many transplant centers are reluctant to use these kidneys because of the relatively high incidence of primary nonfunction (PNF). In heart-beating donor kidneys, intravascular fluid depletion during transplant surgery is associated with delayed graft function (DGF). Therefore, we studied the effect of the recipients' hemodynamic status on the outcome of 177 NHBD kidney transplantations.

A very rapid and simple assay based on trogocytosis to detect and measure specific T and B cell reactivity by flow cytometry.

Detection, quantification, separation and characterization of T and B cells reactive to specific antigens are important tasks in both basic and clinical immunology. Here, we describe an approach allowing the performance of all four tasks on a functional basis by flow cytometry. The assay is based on the property of lymphocytes to capture membrane components from the cells they interact with, in a process we call trogocytosis.

Eradication of established tumors by vaccination with recombinant Bordetella pertussis adenylate cyclase carrying the human papillomavirus 16 E7 oncoprotein.

High-risk human papillomaviruses (HPV) such as HPV16 are associated with the development of cervical cancer. The HPV16-E6 and HPV16-E7 oncoproteins are expressed throughout the replicative cycle of the virus and are necessary for the onset and maintenance of malignant transformation. Both these tumor-specific antigens are considered as potential targets for specific CTL-mediated immunotherapy.

Ethene and other biomarkers of oxidative stress in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.

Objective: An increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) and lipid peroxides and a comprised antioxidant status has been implicated in the pathophysiology of severe preeclampsia. This study investigates whether oxidative stress and impaired antioxidant systems also contribute to milder forms of hypertensive disorders in pregnancy. Furthermore, ethene in exhaled air, a noninvasive measure for oxidative stress, was evaluated and compared with two other more established biomarkers.

Use of an extracorporeal circuit to evaluate effects of intraluminal distention and decompression on the equine jejunum.

Objective: To use an extracorporeal circuit to evaluate effects of intraluminal distention on the jejunum of healthy horses.

Sample Population: 2 jejunal segments from each of 5 horses.

Procedure: Jejunal segments were harvested and maintained in an extracorporeal circuit.