Application of Chlorosulfonyl Isocyanate (CSI) in the Synthesis of Fused Tetracyclic Ketone Ring Systems.

Chlorosulfonyl isocyanate (CSI) is a complex reagent capable of facilitating numerous synthetic transformations, including lactam/lactone formation, sulfonylation, Friedel-Crafts-type acylations, and cycloadditions. Annulation reactions to form nitrogen-, oxygen-, and sulfur-bearing heterocycles have been observed with CSI; however, the application of CSI toward the generation of fused cyclic ketone ring systems has not been previously reported. A serendipitous discovery of the pertinence of CSI occurred during a structure-activity relationship campaign around our established lead benzosuberene-based molecule that functions as a potent inhibitor of tubulin polymerization.

Order and timing of infection with different parasite life stages impacts host and parasite life histories.

Co-exposure to multiple parasites can alter parasite success and host life history when compared to single infections. These infection outcomes can be affected by the order of parasite arrival, the host immune response, and the interspecific interactions among co-infecting parasites. In this study, we examined how the arrival order of two trematode parasites, Schistosoma mansoni and Echinostoma caproni, influenced parasite ecology and the life history of their snail host, Biomphalaria glabrata.

Structure Guided Design, Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of Oxetane-Containing Indole Analogues.

The oxetane functional group offers a variety of potential advantages when incorporated within appropriate therapeutic agents as a ketone surrogate. OXi8006, a 2-aryl-3-aroyl-indole analogue, functions as a small-molecule inhibitor of tubulin polymerization that has a dual mechanism of action as both an antiproliferative agent and a tumor-selective vascular disrupting agent. Replacement of the bridging ketone moiety in OXi8006 with an oxetane functional group has expanded structure activity relationship (SAR) knowledge and provided insights regarding oxetane incorporation within this class of molecules.

Correction: Opportunity or catastrophe? effect of sea salt on host-parasite survival and reproduction.

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

Sublethal effects of parasitism on ruminants can have cascading consequences for ecosystems.

Parasitic infections are common, but how they shape ecosystem-level processes is understudied. Using a mathematical model and meta-analysis, we explored the potential for helminth parasites to trigger trophic cascades through lethal and sublethal effects imposed on herbivorous ruminant hosts after infection. First, using the model, we linked negative effects of parasitic infection on host survival, fecundity, and feeding rate to host and producer biomass.

Opportunity or catastrophe? effect of sea salt on host-parasite survival and reproduction.

Seawater intrusion associated with decreasing groundwater levels and rising seawater levels may affect freshwater species and their parasites. While brackish water certainly impacts freshwater systems globally, its impact on disease transmission is largely unknown. This study examined the effect of artificial seawater on host-parasite interactions using a freshwater snail host, Biomphalaria alexandrina, and the human trematode parasite Schistosoma mansoni.

Lack of trade-offs in host offspring produced during fecundity compensation.

Host-parasite coevolution may result in life-history changes in hosts that can limit the detrimental effects of parasitism. Fecundity compensation is one such life-history response, occurring when hosts increase their current reproductive output to make up for expected losses in future reproduction due to parasitic infection. However, the potential trade-offs between this increase in quantity and the quality of offspring have been relatively unexplored.

Host exposure history and priority effects impact the development and reproduction of a dominant parasite.

Within a single organism, numerous parasites often compete for space and resources. This competition, together with a parasite's ability to locate and successfully establish in a host, can contribute to the distribution and prevalence of parasites. Coinfection with trematodes in snail intermediate hosts is rarely observed in nature, partly due to varying competitive abilities among parasite taxa.

Infectious Diseases, Livestock, and Climate: A Vicious Cycle?

Ruminant livestock are a significant contributor to global methane emissions. Infectious diseases have the potential to exacerbate these contributions by elevating methane outputs associated with animal production. With the increasing spread of many infectious diseases, the emergence of a vicious climate-livestock-disease cycle is a looming threat.

The Road Not Taken: Host Infection Status Influences Parasite Host-Choice.

The manipulation of host organisms by their parasites has captured the attention of ecologists, parasitologists, and the public. However, our knowledge of parasite behavior independent of a host is limited despite the far-reaching implications of parasite behavior. Parasite behaviors can help explain trematode community structure, the aggregation of parasites within host populations, and can potentially be harnessed in biocontrol measures.

Parasites and Their Impact on Ecosystem Nutrient Cycling.

Consumer species alter nutrient cycling through nutrient transformation, transfer, and bioturbation. Parasites have rarely been considered in this framework despite their ability to indirectly alter the cycling of nutrients via their hosts. A simple mathematical framework can be used to assess the relative importance of parasite-derived nutrients in an ecosystem.

Providing context for a medical school basic science curriculum: The importance of the humanities.

Introduction: To increase students' understanding of what it means to be a physician and engage in the everyday practice of medicine, a humanities program was implemented into the preclinical curriculum of the medical school curriculum. The purpose of our study was to determine how medical students' views of being a doctor evolved after participating in a required humanities course.

Methods: Medical students completing a 16-clock hour humanities course from 10 courses were asked to respond to an open-ended reflection question regarding changes, if any, of their views of being a doctor.

Landscape influence on spatial patterns of meningeal worm and liver fluke infection in white-tailed deer.

Parasites that primarily infect white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), such as liver flukes (Fascioloides magna) and meningeal worm (Parelaphostrongylus tenuis), can cause morbidity and mortality when incidentally infecting moose (Alces alces). Ecological factors are expected to influence spatial variation in infection risk by affecting the survival of free-living life stages outside the host and the abundance of intermediate gastropod hosts. Here, we investigate how ecology influenced the fine-scale distribution of these parasites in deer in Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota.

Functional realism: a defense of narrative medicine.

In this paper we (1) define and describe the practice of narrative medicine, (2) reveal the need for narrative medicine by exposing the presuppositions that give rise to its discounting, including a reductive empiricism and a strict dichotomy between scientific fact and narrative value, (3) show evidence of the effects of education in narrative competence in the medical clinic, and (4) present Peircean realism as the proper conceptual model for our argument that the medical school curriculum committees should give space to the employment of the scientific and literary knowledge in medical practice. On account of our argument, we contend that the medical community should tend to latitude and openness with regard to the tools we use to resolve medical problems. These tools include both biomedical and narrative knowledge.

Meeting the family: promoting humanism in gross anatomy.

Background: Human dissection commonly occurs early in the undergraduate medical school curriculum, thus presenting an immediate opportunity for educators to teach and encourage humanistic qualities of respect, empathy, and compassion.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to measure the impact of the Donor Luncheon, a unique program in which medical students meet the families of the anatomical donor prior to dissection in the anatomy course at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine.

Methods: Students were randomized into groups of 8 to attend the luncheon and either met with family of the donor or attended the luncheon with no donor family present.

Locus of control and metabolic control of diabetes: a meta-analysis.

Purpose: The purpose of this meta-analysis was to investigate whether locus of control (LOC) for internal LOC, powerful others, or chance is correlated with how well people control diabetes (measured by H1C).

Methods: The literature search included Medline, CINAHL, PsychINFO, PsychArticles, Health Source, Academic Search Elite, EMBASE, Current Contents, and BIOsis databases, which yielded 296 articles. Selection criteria for inclusion were adult participants with diabetes mellitus, use of glycosylated hemoglobin (H1C) as a measure of glycemic control, measurement of a locus-of control scale, and a Pearson correlation (r) value.

Part seven: The role of narrative in the everyday practice of medicine developing narrative competence.

It has been the thesis of this symposium that medicine is a narrative enterprise. We have presented our case that the work in is largely narrative. If that is true, then one of the goals of medical education should be to create methods of improving the narrative competencies in learners and practitioners of medicine.