This pilot study investigated feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a high‐intensity functional training (HIFT) group‐exercise programme among adult cancer survivors within 5 years of last cancer ...treatment. Eight participants were assigned to a 5‐week, 3 days/week HIFT intervention with four testing sessions and 12 workouts along with mobility and stretching exercises. Feasibility was assessed by initiation, adherence, and acceptability. Efficacy was determined by changes from baseline to post‐test in health‐related quality of life, body composition and functional movement. The recruitment rate was 80% and the adherence rate was 75%. Significant improvements were found for emotional functioning (P = 0.042) and body composition (lean mass +3.8 ± 2.1 kg, P = 0.008; fat mass −3.3 ± 1.0 kg, P = 0.001; body fat percentage −4.7 ± 1.2%, P < 0.001). Participants also significantly improved on five of seven functional movements: balance (P = 0.032), carrying a weighted object (P = 0.004), lower body strength and power (P = 0.009), aerobic capacity and endurance (P = 0.039), and perceived difficulty for flexibility (P = 0.012). Five weeks of HIFT training was well‐received and feasible for most cancer survivors, and effective for improving emotional functioning, body composition and functional movement.
Summary
Cationic antimicrobial peptides (CAMP) represent a conserved and highly effective component of innate immunity. During infection, the Gram‐negative pathogen Salmonella typhimurium induces ...different mechanisms of CAMP resistance that promote pathogenesis in animals. This study shows that exposure of S. typhimurium to sublethal concentrations of CAMP activates the PhoP/PhoQ and RpoS virulence regulons, while repressing the transcription of genes required for flagella synthesis and the invasion‐associated type III secretion system. We further demonstrate that growth of S. typhimurium in low doses of the α‐helical peptide C18G induces resistance to CAMP of different structural classes. Inducible resistance depends on the presence of PhoP, indicating that the PhoP/PhoQ system can sense sublethal concentrations of cationic antimicrobial peptides. Growth of S. typhimurium in the presence of CAMP also leads to RpoS‐dependent protection against hydrogen peroxide. Because bacterial resistance to oxidative stress and CAMP are induced during infection of animals, CAMP may be an important signal recognized by bacteria on colonization of animal tissues.
Sun Y, Ding J & Frye MJ (2010). Effects of resource availability on tolerance of herbivory in the invasive Alternanthera philoxeroides and the native Alternanthera sessilis. Weed Research 50, ...527–536.
Summary
Resource availability is known to affect herbivore selectivity and the ability of plants to respond to herbivores. However, little information is available for the performance of invasive plants subject to insect herbivory and limited resources availability. We conducted a glasshouse experiment using both the invasive Alternanthera philoxeroides and its native congener Alternanthera sessilis, to compare the effects of resource availability on plant tolerance to herbivory. The results suggest that water availability affects plant tolerance to herbivory, such that stressful water conditions promoted greater herbivore tolerance for A. philoxeroides and decreased herbivore tolerance for A. sessilis. The addition of fertiliser also affected the plant’s ability to respond to herbivory. Fertilised plants of both species generated more biomass and had greater tolerance to herbivory than unfertilised plants. Adding fertiliser appeared to increase the compensation capacity to herbivory for A. philoxeroides. In unfertilised conditions, moisture had no effect on A. philoxeroides tolerance to herbivory, and plants performed better under drought conditions. The results of this study may help to further our understanding of why biological control efforts against A. philoxeroides have been successful in some aquatic environments, but not others. Our study suggests that control of A. philoxeroides in high‐moisture and nutrient poor environments should be more effective than control under nutrient rich and low‐moisture soils. Understanding the mechanism of invasive plant compensation under different environmental conditions will be important for improving and predicting management efficiency.
Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we examined whether individual differences in amygdala activation in response to negative relative to neutral information are related to differences in ...the speed with which such information is evaluated, the extent to which such differences are associated with medial prefrontal cortex function, and their relationship with measures of trait anxiety and psychological well-being (PWB). Results indicated that faster judgments of negative relative to neutral information were associated with increased left and right amygdala activation. In the prefrontal cortex, faster judgment time was associated with relative decreased activation in a cluster in the ventral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC, BA 24). Furthermore, people who were slower to evaluate negative versus neutral information reported higher PWB. Importantly, higher PWB was strongly associated with increased activation in the ventral ACC for negative relative to neutral information. Individual differences in trait anxiety did not predict variation in judgment time or in amygdala or ventral ACC activity. These findings suggest that people high in PWB effectively recruit the ventral ACC when confronted with potentially aversive stimuli, manifest reduced activity in subcortical regions such as the amygdala, and appraise such information as less salient as reflected in slower evaluative speed.
Pharmacies in low- and middle-income countries play an important role in increasing the availability of medical abortion to individuals for self-use. We aimed to document the costs to users of ...medical abortion products at outlets across geographies and understand the diversity of available products, primarily in low- and middle-income countries or in places where access to abortion is restricted. A descriptive analysis of price data was completed for identified medical abortion products at retail outlets visited in 44 countries from November 2017 to February 2018. Median prices and ranges are reported in $US for mifepristone 200 mg tablets, misoprostol 200 mcg tablets, and combipacks. Misoprostol, mifepristone, and combipacks were found in 44, 19, and 16 countries, respectively. Nearly two-thirds of products (321/508) required a prescription. The median price of misoprostol was $0.63 per tablet (range $0.09-$27.63) based on 304 price points. Mifepristone and combipacks had fewer price points available (n = 59 and n = 44, respectively). Median prices were $11.78 per mifepristone tablet (range $1.77-$37.83) and $11.18 per combipack (range $3.50-$35.86). Overall, prices were highest in Latin America and lowest in South/Southeast Asia. Only 11.5% (7/61) of the total unique misoprostol brands were quality-assured (i.e. approved by a stringent regulatory authority or pre-qualified by the World Health Organization), compared to 25.0% (4/16) of unique combipack products. There was wide variation in product pricing and availability across settings. The infrequent availability of mifepristone and combipacks, in addition to the limited availability of quality-assured medicines and high cost of abortion medications, are important factors affecting access to high-quality abortion care.
Persistence and relapse of reinforced behavioral variability Galizio, Ann; Frye, Charles C. J.; Haynes, Jeremy M. ...
Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior,
January 2018, 2018-01-00, 20180101, Volume:
109, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The present study examined persistence and relapse of reinforced behavioral variability in pigeons. Pigeons emitted four‐response sequences across two keys. Sequences produced food according to a lag ...schedule, in which a response sequence was followed by food if it differed from a certain number of previous sequences. In Experiment 1, food was delivered for sequences that satisfied a lag schedule in both components of a multiple schedule. When reinforcement was removed for one component (i.e., extinction), levels of behavioral variability decreased for only that component. In Experiment 2, food was delivered for sequences satisfying a lag schedule in one component of a multiple schedule. In the other component, food was delivered at the same rate, but without the lag variability requirement (i.e., yoked). Following extinction, levels of behavioral variability returned to baseline for both components after response‐independent food delivery (i.e., reinstatement). In Experiment 3, one group of pigeons responded on a lag variability schedule, and the other group responded on a lag repetition schedule. For both groups, levels of behavioral variability increased when alternative reinforcement was suspended (i.e., resurgence). In each experiment, we observed some evidence for extinction‐induced response variability and for variability as an operant dimension of behavior.
Polarization in political culture and the decline of public education for civic engagement have become serious challenges to a healthy constitutional federal republic in the United States. ...Communication as a field of study in American universities is well-poised to address these challenges and contribute meaningfully to improving the civic capacity of individuals and communities. This paper provides an overview of one model of doing this work through university-level communication courses that bring university faculty, students, and community agencies together. This model advocates for cooperative initiatives based on the principles and practices of deliberative democracy and participatory action research leading to annual or semi-annual public for a where structured dialogue and deliberation address specific issues of local, national, and international salience. Such a model may result in stronger university-community relations, applied learning for communication students, meaningful classroom learning activities, authentic public discussion, and situated cognition debriefings. The model shared here is based on a pilot project conducted through the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Humboldt State University during the 2018/2019 Academic Year.
The GlueX experiment at Jefferson Laboratory aims to perform quantitative tests of non-perturbative QCD by studying the spectrum of light-quark mesons and baryons. A Detector of Internally Reflected ...Cherenkov light (DIRC) was installed to enhance the particle identification (PID) capability of the GlueX experiment by providing clean
π
/K separation up to 3.7 GeV/
c
momentum in the forward region (
θ
< 11°), which will allow the study of hybrid mesons decaying into kaon final states with significantly higher efficiency and purity. The new PID system is constructed with radiators from the decommissioned BaBar DIRC counter, combined with new compact photon cameras based on the SuperB FDIRC concept. The full system was successfully installed and commissioned with beam during 2019/2020. The initial PID performance of the system was evaluated and compared to one from Geant4 simulation.
If a frequency band has primary and secondary users, then the cognitive radios of the secondary users must monitor the band and be prepared to cease their transmissions if a primary user's radio ...begins to transmit. Traditional spectrum sensing requires the secondary radios to refrain from communicating while they check for the emergence of primary signals. We propose and evaluate methods by which the secondary radios can continue their communications while simultaneously monitoring the band to detect any transmissions that are initiated by the primary radios. Our methods for spectrum monitoring supplement traditional spectrum sensing and improve the communications efficiency of the secondary radios.
Objective The aim of this study was to determine the demand for hospital resources generated by anastomotic leakage, including surgical, medical, imaging, pathology, and other allied health ...consultations or services and length of postoperative hospital stay.
Method Data were obtained from a comprehensive, prospective hospital registry of all resections for colorectal cancer from January 1995 to December 2004 and from retrospective review of patients’ notes.
Results Forty‐one patients with a leak spent 92 days in intensive care, required 129 days of total parenteral nutrition, 69 days of enteric feeding and 41 days on ventilation and had a median postoperative hospital stay of 28 days (range 11–104). These patients required 24 re‐operations and 2273 separate medical consultations or allied services.
Conclusion Anastomotic leakage generates a very considerable demand for hospital resources and diverts these resources from the hospital population at large.
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