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A mosaic of cross-phylum chemical interactions occurs between all metazoans and their microbiomes. A number of molecular families that are known to be produced by the microbiome have a marked effect on the balance between health and disease.sup.1-9. Considering the diversity of the human microbiome (which numbers over 40,000 operational taxonomic units.sup.10), the effect of the microbiome on the chemistry of an entire animal remains underexplored. Here we use mass spectrometry informatics and data visualization approaches.sup.11-13 to provide an assessment of the effects of the microbiome on the chemistry of an entire mammal by comparing metabolomics data from germ-free and specific-pathogen-free mice. We found that the microbiota affects the chemistry of all organs. This included the amino acid conjugations of host bile acids that were used to produce phenylalanocholic acid, tyrosocholic acid and leucocholic acid, which have not previously been characterized despite extensive research on bile-acid chemistry.sup.14. These bile-acid conjugates were also found in humans, and were enriched in patients with inflammatory bowel disease or cystic fibrosis. These compounds agonized the farnesoid X receptor in vitro, and mice gavaged with the compounds showed reduced expression of bile-acid synthesis genes in vivo. Further studies are required to confirm whether these compounds have a physiological role in the host, and whether they contribute to gut diseases that are associated with microbiome dysbiosis. Metabolomics data from germ-free and specific-pathogen-free mice reveal effects of the microbiome on host chemistry, identifying conjugations of bile acids that are also enriched in patients with inflammatory bowel disease or cystic fibrosis., Author(s): Robert A. Quinn [sup.1] [sup.2] , Alexey V. Melnik [sup.1] , Alison Vrbanac [sup.3] , Ting Fu [sup.4] , Kathryn A. Patras [sup.3] , Mitchell P. Christy [sup.1] , [...]

Rapid advances in DNA sequencing, metabolomics, proteomics and computational tools are dramatically increasing access to the microbiome and identification of its links with disease. In particular, time-series studies and multiple molecular perspectives are facilitating microbiome-wide association studies, which are analogous to genome-wide association studies. Early findings point to actionable outcomes of microbiome-wide association studies, although their clinical application has yet to be approved. An appreciation of the complexity of interactions among the microbiome and the host's diet, chemistry and health, as well as determining the frequency of observations that are needed to capture and integrate this dynamic interface, is paramount for developing precision diagnostics and therapies that are based on the microbiome., The role of individual species of microbes in infectious disease has been known since the work of microbiologists Robert Koch and Louis Pasteur in the nineteenth century. Yet the part [...]

ABSTRACT Epizootic shell disease (ESD) is an emerging form of shell disease of the American lobster (Homarus americanus) that has had detrimental effects on the fishery in southern New England. [...]

ABSTRACT Shell disease in Crustacea is a widely recognized syndrome having a polymicrobial etiology, and manifesting itself as lesions of the shell with a variable structure and shell location. We [...]

A study was conducted to evaluate whether or not there was an increase in nephrology visits and health care resource use before and after reporting on estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR). Results indicated that there was an increase in such visits following GFR reporting.

ABSTRACT Epizootic shell disease (ESD) is a recently described form of shell disease affecting the American lobster (Homarus americanus, H. Milne Edwards). The disease has caused serious losses to the [...]

The study aims to evaluate and assess the risk of chronic dialysis and mortality among those individuals that have survived acute kidney injury requiring dialysis. The results indicate that there was an increased risk of chronic dialysis in the case of such patients; however, not all-cause mortality.

The priliminary study results from comparing the effects of frequent nocturnal hemodialysis vs conventional hemodialysis on change in left ventricular mass and health-related quality of life over 6 months is presented.

The design and construction of Guthrie Theatre Complex in Minneapolis is discussed.

A theory of how social individuals compose their reflected best-self portrait is proposed that enables individual development in work organizations. The gathered information of microlevel theories of personal change and macrolevel theories of human resource development reveals an important means by which work organizations affect people's capacity to realize their potential.

Four transformative questions are presented for assessing one's leadership state, emphasizing being results centered, internally directed, focused on others, and externally open.

Guidelines for improving one's job performance include requesting feedback, finding patterns in the feedback provided, creating a self-portrait of skills, and taking steps to redesign work tasks/job description to make best use of those skills.

Issues are presented concerning the principles which can be learnt by mathematics students investigating matrices. The use of graphing calculators to expand principles is discussed. Four questions which can be set are included.

A mathematics lesson involving coins, regular dice, decahedral dice and calculators is an effective and fun way of teaching students about random variables. The lesson is designed for advanced second-year-algebra students in grades 11 and 12. It works by forming students into pairs and requiring each pair to find an empirical and theoretical probability for each of the three given random variables. The activities can be performed in about one and half hours.

The article describes a field study of a large-scale management development program designed to stimulate middle managerial change. The development of a change typology suggests that middle managers are capable of making both transformational and transactional change targeted at themselves, their work unit, and their organization. Those with low levels of self-esteem, job affect, and social support tended to limit their efforts to changing themselves and thus had little impact on the organization. In contrast, individuals with high levels of self-esteem, job affect, and social support were more likely to make transformational changes. Thus the analyses suggest that individual mind-set prior to attending the program moderates the type of change undertaken by the middle managers. The most surprising finding is that those middle managers who were plateaued were most likely to make the most radical changes. The findings have implications for change mastery as well as resistance to change. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

An executive leadership model is developed based on competing demands that top executives face. The model consists of four competing roles: vision setter, motivator, analyzer and task master. The four roles were given their specific hypotheses and were operationalized based on firm performance using data collected from 916 completed surveys. The results revealed that the highest firm performance levels were achieved by chief executive officers (CEOs) possessing 'behavioral complexity' - the ability of CEOs to play multiple, competing roles. In addition, CEOs achieving high scores on all four roles perform at high levels regardless of the size of the firm or competitive environment. The study also revealed that organizational factors and environmental context, rather than leadership, exert greater influence on the financial performance of a particular firm.