The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to understand the bereaved Older males’ experiences with the interaction and ownership of a companion animal after the death of their ...partner. The primary researcher recruited 13 participants via a criterion-based purposeful sampling method to assure the quality of the information collected. Results revealed six themes: (a) bonds with their pets grew stronger and closer after the loss of their wife; (b) men were able to express their grief to their pets; (c) companion animals helped the men psychologically during grief; (d) pets were influential during times when the wife’s presence would have been valuable; (e) companion animals helped men with loneliness and social connection; and (f) companion animals helped men find a new normal by providing a purpose and routine during bereavement. The pets proved to be a source of support for these widowed men.
The insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) are polypeptides in plasma that are chemically related to insulin and have mitogenic and insulin-like activity. Unlike insulin, the IGFs circulate in plasma ...bound to specific high molecular weight carrier proteins that regulate their delivery to target tissues. To define the sites on the IGFs that allow them to be recognized by carrier proteins, we constructed hybrid molecules containing different portions of the insulin, IGF-I, and IGF-II molecules. The presence of the B domain of IGF-I, but not the D domain of IGF-II, enables these insulin-IGF hybrid molecules to be recognized by acid-stripped IGF carrier proteins from rat serum and other sources. By contrast, neither the BIGF-Inor DIGF-IIdomain is sufficient to enable binding to type II IGF receptors, despite the fact that type II receptors, like the carrier protein, specifically bind IGF-I and IGF-II but do not interact with insulin. By differentiating those sites on the IGF molecule required for binding to IGF carrier protein and receptors, the insulin-IGF hybrid molecules should help delineate the role of the carrier protein in presenting biologically active IGF to target tissues.
During their life span, T cells are tasked with patrolling the body for potential pathogens. To do so, T cells migrate through numerous distinct anatomical sites and tissue environments with ...different biophysical characteristics. To migrate through these different environments, T cells use various motility strategies that rely on actin network remodeling to generate shape changes and mechanical forces. In this review, we initially discuss the migratory journey of T cells and then cover the actin polymerization effectors at play in T cells, and finally, we focus on the function of these effectors of actin cytoskeleton remodeling in mediating T‐cell migration through diverse tissue environments. Specifically, we will discuss the current state of the field pertaining to our understanding of the roles in T‐cell migration played by members of the three main families of actin polymerization machinery: the Arp2/3 complex; formin proteins; and Ena/VASP proteins.
To perform their functions, T cell migrate through tissue environments with varying biophysical properties. Migration within these different tissues relies on actin network remodeling and the use of various motility strategies. In this review, we discuss the role of actin polymerizing proteins, including formins, Ena/VASP proteins, and the Arp2/3 complex, in enabling T‐cell migration modes through diverse tissue environments.
ABSTRACT BACKGROUND Understanding the complex interaction of risk factors that increase the likelihood of developing common diseases is challenging. The Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow Project ...(CPTP) is a prospective cohort study created as a population-health research platform for assessing the effect of genetics, behaviour, family health history and environment (among other factors) on chronic diseases. METHODS Volunteer participants were recruited from the general Canadian population for a confederation of 5 regional cohorts. Participants were enrolled in the study and core information obtained using 2 approaches: attendance at a study assessment centre for all study measures (questionnaire, venous blood sample and physical measurements) or completion of the core questionnaire (online or paper), with later collection of other study measures where possible. Physical measurements included height, weight, percentage body fat and blood pressure. Participants consented to passive follow-up through linkage with administrative health databases and active follow-up through recontact. All participant data across the 5 regional cohorts were harmonized. RESULTS A total of 307 017 participants aged 30–74 from 8 provinces were recruited. More than half provided a venous blood sample and/or other biological sample, and 33% completed physical measurements. A total of 709 harmonized variables were created; almost 25% are available for all participants and 60% for at least 220 000 participants. INTERPRETATION Primary recruitment for the CPTP is complete, and data and biosamples are available to Canadian and international researchers through a data-access process. The CPTP will support research into how modifiable risk factors, genetics and the environment interact to affect the development of cancer and other chronic diseases, ultimately contributing evidence to reduce the global burden of chronic disease.
Investigation of activity budgets in relation to seasonal, intrinsic (age, sex) and extrinsic (time of day, spatial) covariates enables an understanding of how such covariates shape behavioural ...strategies. However, conducting such investigations in the wild is challenging, because of the required large sample size of individuals across the annual cycle, and difficulties in categorising behavioural states and analysing the resulting individual‐referenced and serially correlated data. In this study, from telemetry tags deployed on 63 grey seals Halichoerus grypus and 126 harbour seals Phoca vitulina we used behavioural data, and movement data within a Bayesian state–space model (SSM), to define population‐level activity budgets around Britain. Using generalised estimating equations (GEEs) we then examined how time spent in four states (resting on land (hauled out), resting at sea, foraging and travelling) was influenced by seasonal, intrinsic and extrinsic covariates. We present and discuss the following key findings. 1) We found no evidence that regional variation in foraging effort was linked to regional population trajectories in harbour seals. 2) Grey seals demonstrated sex‐specific seasonal differences in their activity budgets, independent from those related to reproductive costs. 3) In these sympatric species there was evidence of temporal separation in time hauled out, but not in time foraging. 4) In both species, time spent resting at sea was separated into inshore (associated with tidal haul out availability) and offshore areas. Time spent resting at sea and on land was interchangeable to some extent, suggesting a degree of overlap in their functionality. This may result in a relaxation of the constraints associated with a central place foraging strategy. More generally, we demonstrate how a large dataset, incorporating differing tag parameters, can be analysed to define activity budgets and subsequently address important ecological questions.
Nearly all cases of melioidosis in the continental United States are related to international travel to areas to which Burkholderia pseudomallei, the bacterium that causes melioidosis, is endemic. We ...report the diagnosis and clinical course of melioidosis in a patient from the United States who had no international travel history and the public health investigation to determine the source of exposure. We tested environmental samples collected from the patient’s home for B. pseudomallei by PCR and culture. Whole-genome sequencing was conducted on PCR-positive environmental samples, and results were compared with sequences from the patient’s clinical specimen. Three PCR-positive environmental samples, all collected from a freshwater home aquarium that had contained imported tropical fish, were a genetic match to the clinical isolate from the patient. This finding suggests a novel route of exposure and a potential for importation of B. pseudomallei, a select agent, into the United States from disease-endemic areas.
The avian H7N9 influenza outbreak in 2013 resulted from an unprecedented incidence of influenza transmission to humans from infected poultry. The majority of human H7N9 isolates contained a ...hemagglutinin (HA) mutation (Q226L) that has previously been associated with a switch in receptor specificity from avian-type (NeuAcα2-3Gal) to human-type (NeuAcα2-6Gal), as documented for the avian progenitors of the 1957 (H2N2) and 1968 (H3N2) human influenza pandemic viruses. While this raised concern that the H7N9 virus was adapting to humans, the mutation was not sufficient to switch the receptor specificity of H7N9, and has not resulted in sustained transmission in humans. To determine if the H7 HA was capable of acquiring human-type receptor specificity, we conducted mutation analyses. Remarkably, three amino acid mutations conferred a switch in specificity for human-type receptors that resembled the specificity of the 2009 human H1 pandemic virus, and promoted binding to human trachea epithelial cells.
Background: Word class naming deficits are commonly seen in aphasia resulting from stroke (StrAph) and primary progressive aphasia (PPA), with differential production of nouns (objects) and verbs ...(actions) found based on StrAph type or PPA variant for some individuals. However, studies to date have not compared word class naming (or comprehension) ability in the two aphasic disorders. In addition there are no available measures for testing word class deficits, which control for important psycholinguistic variables across language domains. This study examined noun and verb production and comprehension in individuals with StrAph and PPA using a new test, the Northwestern Naming Battery (NNB; Thompson & Weintraub, experimental version), developed explicitly for this purpose. In addition we tested verb type effects, based on verb argument structure characteristics, which also is addressed by the NNB.
Method: A total of 52 participants with StrAph (33 agrammatic, Broca's (StrAg); 19 anomic (StrAn)) and 28 PPA(10 agrammatic (PPA-G); 14 logopenic (PPA-L); 4 semantic (PPA-S)) were included in the study. Nouns and verbs were tested in the Confrontation Naming and Auditory Comprehension subtests of the NNB, with scores used to compute noun to verb ratios as well as performance by verb type. Performance patterns within and across StrAph and PPA groups were then examined. The external validity of the NNB was also tested by comparing (a) NNB Noun Naming scores to the Boston Naming Test (BNT; Kaplan, Goodglass, & Weintraub,
2001
) and Western Aphasia Battery (WAB-R; Kertesz,
2007
) Noun Naming subtest scores, (b) NNB Verb Naming scores to the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination (BDAE; Goodglass, Kaplan, & Barresi,
2001
) Action Naming score (for StrAph participants only), and (c) NNB Comprehension subtest scores to WAB-R Auditory Comprehension subtest scores.
Outcomes & Results: Both agrammatic (StrAg and PPA-G) groups showed significantly greater difficulty producing verbs compared to nouns, but no comprehension impairment for either word class, whereas three of the four PPA-S participants showed poorer noun compared to verb production, as well as comprehension. However, neither the StrAn nor the PPA-L participants showed significant differences between the two word classes in production or comprehension. In addition, similar to the agrammatic participants, the StrAn participants showed a significant transitivity effect, producing intransitive (one-argument) verbs with greater accuracy than transitive (two- and three-argument) verbs. However, no transitivity effects were found for the PPA-L or PPA-S participants. There were significant correlations between NNB scores and all external validation measures.
Conclusions: These data indicate that the NNB is sensitive to word class deficits in stroke and neurodegenerative aphasia. This is important both clinically for treatment planning and theoretically to inform both psycholinguistic and neural models of language processing.
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