Search

The polyextremotolerant black yeast Exophiala dermatitidis is a tractable model system for investigation of adaptations under extreme conditions. Foremost amongst these adaptations is production of the defensive pigments melanins and carotenoids. A particularly important question is their metabolic production cost. However, this investigation has been hindered by a relatively poor systems-level understanding of E. dermatitidis metabolism. To address this challenge, a genome-scale model (iEde2091) was developed. Using iEde2091, carotenoids were found to be more expensive to produce than melanins. Given their overlapping protective functions, this suggests that carotenoids have an underexplored yet important role of photo-protection under high-energy visible light. Furthermore, multiple defensive pigments with overlapping functions might allow E. dermatitidis to minimize cost. Because iEde2091 revealed that E. dermatitidis synthesizes the same melanins as humans and the active sites of the key tyrosinase enzyme are highly conserved, this model may enable a broader understanding of melanin production across kingdoms.

The Rio Caldera occupies the northernmost subbasin of the Rio Chiriqui watershed area. Two of its tributaries, Quebrada Grande and Quebrada Jaramillo, occur in close proximity and on opposi...

Through 2014, 73 species of microcaddisflies (Trichoptera: Hydroptilidae) were recorded from Panama. From 2015 to the present, an additional 91 species have been discovered. The reasons for this increase include more intensive collecting, repeated sampling over time at the same locations, and use of multiple collecting techniques. For the countries from Mexico to Colombia, only Mexico, Panama, and Costa Rica have been significantly collected. Calculation of Jaccard Similarity values amongst these three countries indicates little similarity amongst their hydroptilid faunas (all less than 10%). The affinity of Panama with other neighbouring regions is greatest within Central America and with Mexico. Based on recent work (2015–2017), we project a minimum of 300 microcaddisfly species and 550 total caddisfly species will be recorded for Panama within the next 10 years. At present, the greatest need is for training of native Panamanians in caddisfly systematics and biogeography.

Little is known about divorce decision making, the process of deciding whether to divorce when a marriage is distressed. The focus of this qualitative study was to explore the roles of love and hap...

Research on relationship education (RE) programs generally shows their effectiveness, but it is important to understand what the mechanisms of change are, how they occur within programs, and what p...

The 18th Annual Santa Fe Bone Symposium was held on August 4–5, 2017, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. The symposium convenes health-care providers and clinical researchers to present and discuss clinical applications of recent advances in research of skeletal diseases. The program includes lectures, oral presentations by endocrinology fellows, case-based panel discussions, and breakout sessions on topics of interest, with emphasis on participation and interaction of all participants. Topics included the evaluation and treatment of adult survivors with pediatric bone diseases, risk assessment and management of atypical femur fractures, nonpharmacologic strategies in the care of osteoporosis, and skeletal effects of parathyroid hormone with opportunities for therapeutic intervention. Management of skeletal complications of rheumatic diseases was discussed. Insights into sequential and combined use of antiresorptive agents were presented. Individualization of patient treatment decisions when clinical practice guidelines may not be applicable was covered. Challenges and opportunities with osteoporosis drug development were discussed. There was an update on progress of Bone Health TeleECHO (Bone Health Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes), a teleconferencing strategy for sharing knowledge and expanding capacity to deliver best-practice skeletal health care.

Research on the role that religion and spirituality play in divorce is fairly limited and what has been published deals mostly with postdivorce adjustment. Very little research examines the role re...

At the end of the nineteenth century, the states’-system saw off a challenge from international lawyers and peace advocates who sought saw arbitration as a means to constrain raison d’état and state discretion over the decision to go to war. While there is no evidence that statesmen engaged in a vast conspiracy, the statements and actions of diplomats from all the great powers demonstrate a consistent pattern of opposition to arbitration, restricting its application prior to, at, and after the Hague Conferences. In so doing, they worked to create the appearance of meeting public demand for an alternative to war. It is no surprise, therefore, that arbitration was never a meaningful part of international relations and can hardly be blamed for the descent into war in 1914.

Distinctive Lutheran and Reformed theologies of the relationship between Word and Spirit influenced the history of Protestant exegesis of 1 Corinthians 2:13, which states, ‘we speak not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit’. The interpretation of the time of the Spirit's teaching (past or present) and the identity of the words taught (scripture or preaching/teaching) are seen to depend upon and develop these respective Lutheran and Reformed theologies. The essay concludes with a brief evaluation of the adequacy of these interpretations in light of the divine economy and some ecumenical considerations.

Protein phosphorylation is a major means of regulation for cellular processes, and is important in cell signaling, growth, and cell proliferation. To study phosphorylated proteins, high throughput phosphoproteomic technologies, such as reverse phase protein array, phospho-specific flow cytometry, and mass spectrometry (MS) based technologies, have been developed. Among them, mass spectrometry has become the primary tool employed for the identification of phosphoproteins and phosphosites in fungi, leading to an improved understanding of a number of signaling pathways. Using mass spectrometry techniques, researchers have discovered new kinase substrates, established connections between kinases and fungal pathogenicity, and studied the evolutionary lineage of kinases between different fungal species. Further, many specific phosphorylation sites recognized by individual kinases have been described. In this review, we will focus on recent discoveries made in yeast and filamentous fungi using phosphoproteomic analysis.

Although treatment for osteoporosis is recommended by U.S. clinical guidelines, a lack of diagnosis and treatment is common among patients with osteoporotic fractures.To determine the rates of osteoporosis diagnosis and treatment before and after various types of fractures.This was a retrospective claims analysis using data from the Humana Medicare Advantage claims (Medicare group) and Optum Insight Clinformatics Data Mart commercial claims (Commercial group). Patients included in the study had a claim for a qualifying fracture occurring between January 2008 and December 2013 (the index fracture), were continuously enrolled in the health plan for ≥ 1 year before and after the index fracture, and were aged ≥ 65 years in the Medicare group or ≥ 50 years in the Commercial group at the time of the index fracture. Fragility fractures and osteoporosis diagnoses were identified from ICD-9-CM codes. Treatment for osteoporosis included oral and injectable therapies identified by National Drug Code numbers and Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System codes. Diagnosis and treatment rates were assessed during the 1-year periods before and after the index fracture. All analyses were conducted by fracture type (vertebral, hip, nonhip/nonvertebral [NHNV], and multiple), with stratification by age and sex. No comparisons were made between the Medicare and Commercial groups; rather, McNemar tests were used to compare prefracture versus postfracture diagnosis and treatment rates within each group.For inclusion in the Medicare group, 45,603 patients were identified, and 54,145 patients were identified for the Commercial group. In the prefracture period, the osteoporosis diagnosis rates ranged from 12.0% (NHNV) to 21.5% (vertebral) in the Medicare group and from 5.3% (NHNV) to 12.1% (vertebral) in the Commercial group. In the postfracture period, diagnosis rates significantly increased (P0.001)-and nearly doubled-for all fracture types but did not exceed 42.1% (vertebral) in the Medicare group and 27.7% (vertebral) in the Commercial group. Pre-index treatment rates were similarly low, ranging from 9.4% (hip) to 16.6% (vertebral) among Medicare patients, and 7.5% (NHNV) to 14.4% (vertebral) in Commercial patients. Osteoporosis treatment rates improved significantly in the postfracture year, ranging from 12.5% (NHNV) to 26.5% (vertebral) among Medicare patients, and 8.3% (NHNV) to 21.4% (vertebral) in Commercial patients. Larger increases in diagnosis rates and smaller increases in treatment rates were observed in stratified analyses of men and women and of different age groups, with women and older patients having higher overall rates of diagnosis and treatment before and after fracture.In men and women, osteoporosis diagnosis rates were low before the index fracture and improved substantially after the fracture, yet still remained low overall (under 50%). Osteoporosis treatment rates among patients experiencing a fracture were low before the index fracture and improved only minimally afterwards.This study was funded by MerckCo. Other than through the employer relationship disclosed here, MerckCo. did not have a role in the study design, data collection, interpretation of the data, in writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. Weaver is an employee of MerckCo. Sajjan was an employee of MerckCo. and owned stock in the company at the time of the study. Lewiecki has received consulting and/or speaker honoraria from MerckCo., AbbVie, AgNovos Healthcare, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Amgen, Eli Lilly and Company, Radius Health, Shire, and TheraNova, along with research grant support from MerckCo., Amgen, and Eli Lilly and Company, and serves as a board member for the National Osteoporosis Foundation, the International Society for Clinical Densitometry, and the Osteoporosis Foundation of New Mexico. Harris has received consulting honoraria from MerckCo., Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Amgen, Eli Lilly and Company, Gilead Sciences, Primus Pharmaceuticals, and Radius Health. Study concept and design were contributed by Weaver and Sajjan. Sajjan collected the data, and data interpretation was performed by all the authors. The manuscript was written and revised by Weaver, Lewiecki, and Harris.

This study reports on a nationally representative sample of married individuals ages 25-50 (N = 3,000) surveyed twice (1 year apart) to investigate the phenomenon of divorce ideation, or what people are thinking when they are thinking about divorce. Twenty-eight percent of respondents had thought their marriage was in serious trouble in the past but not recently. Another 25% had thoughts about divorce in the last 6 months. Latent Class Analysis revealed three distinct groups among those thinking about divorce at Time 1: soft thinkers (49%), long-term-serious thinkers (45%), and conflicted thinkers (6%). Yet, divorce ideation was not static; 31% of Time 1 thinkers were not thinking about it 1 year later (and 36% of nonthinkers at Time 1 were thinking about it 1 year later). Also, Latent Transition Analysis revealed 49% of Time 1 long-term-serious thinkers, 56% of soft thinkers, and 51% of conflicted thinkers had shifted groups at Time 2, mostly in the direction of less and softer thinking about divorce. Overall, divorce ideation is common but dynamic, and it is not necessarily an indication of imminent marital dissolution.

The disappearance of most state socialist regimes in 1989/1991 afforded scholars from a range of disciplines new opportunities to examine the history of socialist cities and their post-socialist transformations. Recent scholarship has focused particularly on such cities in their corresponding national contexts and with the passing of the Cold War, broader commonalities with the urban history of Western cities have come into sharper focus. Absent in most recent work on socialist cities, however, is attention to the broader ideological, political, and cultural world—the socialist Second World—that bound these cities and their countries together. Similarly lacking is a deeper appreciation of the specificities of the socialist city in contrast to its counterparts in the capitalist West and the global South. Read together, the essays in this special collection underscore the value of re-examining how socialist cities were once part of the myriad relations that gave the Second World its ideological and material coherence in pursuit of socialist urbanity.

The prevalence of patients with opioid misuse in medical settings continues to rise, and it is unknown how much exposure medical family therapists (MedFTs) have in treating this issue. This study explored the attitudes of MedFTs (n = 58) when working with patients struggling with opioid use disorder in clinical practice. Results revealed that 43% of MedFTs had a low comfort level in working with this population and preferred to make referrals to primary care providers. Given that opioid use disorder cases are rising in healthcare settings, emerging mental health professionals would benefit from additional training to effectively treat this population.

Healthcare working environments are complex, and intensive care units (ICUs) are particularly complex due to the influx of data to the healthcare professionals who are providing continuous care to the most critically ill patients. Systems that are designed to work in these environments should take into consideration varied patient conditions, the clinical professionals who use these systems, and the features and performance requirements that will support their efforts to provide care to their patients. We suggest that developing systems that will meet these challenges requires customized design approach, including cognitive system engineering. Until recently, this work domain has been largely ignored by manufacturers of patient monitoring systems. This panel brought together two separate teams who have been using such an approach independently to design new systems for information integration and display in ICU settings. The goals of this panel discussion were to take a close look at the tools and methods that are being used for such a cognitive system engineering approach to the design processes, and to review the recommendations and concepts that are emerging from these processes from each of the two independent teams. This paper summarizes the presentations made during the panel by the two teams regarding updates of ongoing work followed by a lively discussion between panelists and the symposium participants in the audience. Each team had its unique design process that was customized to the specific target ICU, the available resources and goals. The designed systems have original features that evolve from the unique needs of the target unit, yet the designs also share some common features.

The prevalence and cost of subsequent fractures among patients with an incident fracture are not well defined.To assess the prevalence of, and costs associated with, subsequent fractures in the year after an incident fracture.This was a retrospective claims database analysis using data from Humana Medicare Advantage claims (Medicare group) and Optum Insight Clinformatics Data Mart commercial claims (commercial group). Patients included in the study had a claim for a qualifying fracture occurring between January 2008 and December 2013 (index fracture), were continuously enrolled in the health plan for ≥ 1 year before and after the index fracture, and were aged ≥ 65 years in the Medicare group or ≥ 50 years in the commercial group at the time of the index fracture. Subsequent fractures were identified by ICD-9-CM codes and were defined as the second fracture occurring ≥ 3 to ≤ 12 months after the index fracture (≥ 6 to ≤ 12 months for fractures at the same site as the index fracture). Rates of subsequent fractures were calculated as the number of patients who had a subsequent fracture divided by the total sample size. After propensity matching of demographic and clinical variables, we determined the total medical and pharmacy costs accrued within 1 year of the index fracture by patients with and without a subsequent fracture. Health care costs were compared between patients with and without a subsequent fracture using McNemar's test.A total of 45,603 patients were included in the Medicare group, and 54,145 patients were included in the commercial group. In the Medicare group, 7,604 (16.7%) patients experienced a subsequent fracture. The proportion of patients with a subsequent fracture was highest among patients with multiple index fractures (26.2%, n = 905), followed by those with hip (25.5%, n = 1,280) and vertebral (20.2%, n = 1,908) index fractures. In the commercial group, 6,256 (11.6%) patients experienced a subsequent fracture. The proportion of patients with a subsequent fracture paralleled those observed in the Medicare group: 24.5% (n = 808) in patients with multiple index fractures, 22.0% (n = 525) in those with hip fracture, and 14.5% (n = 841) in those with vertebral fracture. For vertebral, hip, and nonhip nonvertebral fractures, subsequent fractures were most frequently of the same type as the index fracture. The mean total health care cost (sum of medical and pharmacy costs) in the year following the incident fracture for the Medicare group was $27,844 and differed significantly between patients with and without a subsequent fracture ($34,897 vs. $20,790; P0.001). The mean total health care cost in the year following the incident fracture for the commercial group was $29,316 and also differed significantly between patients with and without a subsequent fracture ($39,501 vs. $19,131; P0.001).Among patients with an incident fracture, those who experienced a subsequent fracture in the following year had significantly higher health care costs than those who did not. A subsequent fracture is most likely to be of the same type as the initial fracture.This study was funded by MerckCo. Other than through the employer relationships disclosed here, MerckCo did not have a role in the study design, data collection, interpretation of the data, in writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. Weaver and Marvos are employees of MerckCo. Sajjan was an employee of MerckCo. and owned stock in the company at the time of the study. Lewiecki has received consulting and/or speaker honoraria from Merck, AbbVie, AgNovos Healthcare, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Amgen, Eli Lilly and Company, Radius Health, Shire, and TheraNova. Lewiecki has received research grant support from Merck, Amgen, and Eli Lilly and Company and serves as a board member for the National Osteoporosis Foundation, the International Society for Clinical Densitometry, and the Osteoporosis Foundation of New Mexico. Harris has received consulting honoraria from Merck, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Amgen, Eli Lilly and Company, Gilead Sciences, Primus Pharmaceuticals, and Radius Health. Study concept and design were contributed by Weave and Sajjan. Lewiecki collected the data, and data interpretation was performed by all the authors. The manuscript was written and revised by Weaver, Lewiecki, and Harris.

There is a well-established literature dedicated to why couples divorce, transitions associated with divorce, and the impact of divorce on families. However, little is known about the divorce decision-making process. We conducted in-depth interviews with individuals who have recently considered divorce (n = 30) and asked specifically about the roles of 2 concepts in their decision-making process: clarity and confidence. Three major themes emerged from the data: (a) Clarity about a decision to divorce or stay married is desired, it fluctuates, and takes time to find; (b) pivotal moments can bring clarity; and (c) confidence (in the final decision) is desired. Clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed.

International audience; The radiation of life on Earth was accompanied by the diversification of multicellular body plans in the eukary-otic kingdoms Animalia, Plantae, Fungi and Chromista. Branching forms are ubiquitous in nature and evolved repeatedly in the above lineages. The developmental and genetic basis of branch formation is well studied in the three-dimensional shoot and root systems of land plants, and in animal organs such as the lung, kidney, mammary gland, vasculature, etc. Notably, recent thought-provoking studies combining experimental analysis and computational modeling of branching patterns in whole animal organs have identified global patterning rules and proposed unifying principles of branching morphogenesis. Filamentous branching forms represent one of the simplest expressions of the multicellular body plan and constitute a key step in the evolution of morphological complexity. Similarities between simple and complex branching forms distantly related in evolution are compelling, raising the question whether shared mechanisms underlie their development. Here, we focus on filamentous branching organisms that represent major study models from three distinct eukaryotic kingdoms, including the moss Physcomitrella patens (Plantae), the brown alga Ectocarpus sp. (Chromista), and the ascomycetes Neurospora crassa and Aspergillus nidulans (Fungi), and bring to light developmental regulatory mechanisms and design principles common to these lineages. Throughout the review we explore how the regulatory mechanisms of branching morphogenesis identified in other models, and in particular animal organs, may inform our thinking on filamentous systems and thereby advance our understanding of the diverse strategies deployed across the eukaryotic tree of life to evolve similar forms. Introduction The evolution of multicellularity was a prerequisite to the diversification of complex morphologies in living organisms. The multi-cellular body plan (as defined in [1]) has three basic variants that can be described by the number of planes that orient cell division , which is typically mirrored in development by the dimen-sionality of tissue growth. A single cell that cleaves repeatedly in one plane gives rise to unbranched uniseriate filaments, cleav-age in two planes gives rise to branching uniseriate filaments or pseudo-parenchymatous tissues, and cleavage in three planes leads to parenchymatous tissues [2-5]. Unicellularity represents the morphological condition preceding the origin of multicellular forms across the tree of life. The unbranched filament is likely the simplest and most ancient variant of the multicellular body plan, and filamentous branching forms represent a key step in the evolution of complex three-dimensional multicellular morphologies [6]. It is noteworthy that despite the constraints imposed by cell division patterns, development may also occur in three dimensions in branching filaments through the establishment of new growth directions when branch points are specified. Multi-cellularity arose repeatedly in the different eukaryotic kingdoms, leading to multiple independent acquisitions of branched fila-mentous forms. These forms have been maintained as a dominant (e.g., brown, red and green algae, fungi) or transient state

We calculate the bulk-viscous dissipation time for adiabatic density oscillations in nuclear matter at densities of 1-7 times nuclear saturation density and at temperatures ranging from 1 MeV, where corrections to previous low-temperature calculations become important, up to 10 MeV, where the assumption of neutrino transparency is no longer valid. Under these conditions, which are expected to occur in neutron star mergers, damping of density oscillations arises from beta equilibration via weak interactions. We find that for 1 kHz oscillations the shortest dissipation times are in the 5 to 20 ms range, depending on the equation of state, which means that bulk viscous damping could affect the dynamics of a neutron star merger. For higher frequencies the dissipation time can be even shorter., 13 pages v2: Matches journal version

In filamentous fungi, an important kinase responsible for adaptation to changes in available nutrients is cyclic AMP (cAMP)-dependent protein kinase (protein kinase A [PKA]). This kinase has been well characterized at a molecular level, but its systemic action and direct/indirect targets are generally not well understood in filamentous fungi. In this work, we used a pkaA deletion strain (ΔpkaA) to identify Aspergillus nidulans proteins for which phosphorylation is dependent (either directly or indirectly) on PKA. A combination of phosphoproteomic and transcriptomic analyses revealed both direct and indirect targets of PKA and provided a global perspective on its function. One of these targets was the transcription factor CreA, the main repressor responsible for carbon catabolite repression (CCR). In the ΔpkaA strain, we identified a previously unreported phosphosite in CreA, S319, which (based on motif analysis) appears to be a direct target of Stk22 kinase (AN5728). Upon replacement of CreA S319 with an alanine (i.e., phosphonull mutant), the dynamics of CreA import to the nucleus are affected. Collectively, this work provides a global overview of PKA function while also providing novel insight regarding significance of a specific PKA-mediated phosphorylation event. IMPORTANCE The cyclic AMP (cAMP)-dependent protein kinase A (PKA) signaling pathway is well conserved across eukaryotes, and previous work has shown that it plays an important role in regulating development, growth, and virulence in a number of fungi. PKA is activated in response to extracellular nutrients and acts to regulate metabolism and growth. While a number of components in the PKA pathway have been defined in filamentous fungi, current understanding does not provide a global perspective on PKA function. Thus, this work is significant in that it comprehensively identifies proteins and functional pathways regulated by PKA in a model filamentous fungus. This information enhances our understanding of PKA action and may provide information on how to manipulate it for specific purposes.

Patients often start treatment to reduce fracture risk because of a bone mineral density T-score consistent with osteoporosis (≤ −2.5). Others with a T-score above −2.5 may be treated when there is a history of fragility fracture or when a fracture risk algorithm categorizes them as having a high risk for fracture. It is common to initiate therapy with a generic oral bisphosphonate, unless contraindicated, and continue therapy if the patient is responding as assessed by stability or an increase in bone mineral density. However, some patients may respond well to an oral bisphosphonate, yet remain with an unacceptably high risk for fracture. Recognition of this occurrence has led to the development of an alternative strategy: treat-to-target. This involves identifying a biological marker (treatment target) that represents an acceptable fracture risk and then initiating treatment with an agent likely to reach this target. If the patient is on a path to reaching the target with initial therapy, treatment is continued. If it appears the target will not be reached with initial therapy, treatment is changed to an agent more likely to achieve the goal.

Lichens are traditionally defined as a symbiotic relationship between fungi and algae and/or cyanobacteria. This union forms a unique structure called the thallus, which attaches to surfaces such as rocks and tree bark. Recent reports challenge the view that lichens are comprised of one fungus and one photobiont, and instead suggest that they are a consortium of microbes. Much of lichen biology remains unknown as most of our knowledge of lichens is limited to morphological characteristics with little to no functional analysis of lichen genes. However, lichens and biofilms share many similar physiological traits which when compared may assist in our understanding of lichens. Similarities between the two are rooted in their lifestyle, where these microbes and their extracellular products attach themselves to a surface and grow in a community structure. Biofilms and lichens alike have distinct features that allow for their lifestyle and identification, such as specific developmental patterns, formation of an extracellular matrix, and their ability to resist abiotic stressors. We argue here that one can gain insight into the cellular processes and evolutionary origins of lichens, which are currently undetermined, by applying knowledge gleaned from studies on microbial biofilms, with a particular focus on fungal biofilms.

Couple and relationship education (CRE) has effectively improved communication and relationship satisfaction, but some question its effectiveness for couples who are at risk. Mixed findings may derive from focusing on aggregated sample results. This study explored the benefit of using a person-oriented analysis for evaluating CRE program effectiveness with low-income couples and individuals. Couple participants reported moderate improvement in communication and relationship satisfaction, but the magnitude of reported improvement varied for male participants from different ethnic groups. An outcomes-focused cluster analysis showed that variance in reported improvement can be explained by pre-workshop outcome measures, with couples starting in the middle range of scores reporting the most improvement. Similar patterns were found for individual participants. Researchers and practitioners should further investigate the use of person-oriented methods in CRE program evaluation and the use of pre-workshop assessments to adjust CRE interventions on the basis of the state of participants' relationships at intake.

Although principles of nonviolence have been applied in sociopolitical arenas, they can also be helpful in understanding intimate partner relationships. This is because couples who handle conflict in a constructive way are often using techniques and ideas congruent with nonviolent philosophies. Relationships that handle conflict by becoming aggressive could potentially apply principles of nonviolence to help them address problems in constructive ways. The purpose of this study was to explore qualitative data that described intimate partner dynamics (including conflict, violence, appraisals, and safety) to better understand how individuals apply principles of nonviolence in their partnerships to achieve healthier relationship outcomes. Three qualitative data sets were analyzed using grounded theory methodology. From this secondary analysis, emerged categories and concepts that illustrate the ways couples demonstrate nonviolence principles in these relationships. The first main category was awareness, which included accountability, reflection, commitment, and justice. The second category was action, which included the concepts of authenticity, resistance, repair, and care. These are shown in a process model that in undergirded by the category of context, which includes interaction, gender/culture, and family of origin. Implications for clinical practice and research are provided.

The authors present the results of a 15-year review of research on the effects of pornography on couple relationships, including intimacy. This review includes 26 empirically-based studies that were conducted between 2000 and 2016. This research topic has mostly been approached from an exploratory and descriptive perspective. Criticisms of the literature center on the lack of attention paid to the theoretical level of analysis and the unit of observation. The difficulty researchers have with defining “pornography” affects the measures used to assess pornography’s effects on couple relationships and limits the external validity of results. Findings indicate that there are both positive and negative effects of pornography use within committed relationships. These effects appear to be mediated largely by communication between both partners. Research with attention to a consistent theoretical level of analysis and unit of observation is needed to more fully understand the impact of pornography use on a couple’s relationship. Recommendations for future research are provided.

The goal of this project is to improve clinical decision-making in the intensive care unit (ICU) environment. Making the optimal decisions depends on the quality and timeliness of the information available to the clinician. We believe that healthcare professionals will make better clinical decisions when the relevant information is collected and organized in a manner appropriate to support in situ decision-making. This is especially important in complex situations such those commonly encountered in the ICU environment. Currently there is no single integrated source of information that presents relevant information to clinicians. This project is developing methods to identify the core information required to engineer the information exchange among medical devices, and the information presentation layer, to support clinical decision-making in the ICU.

Purpose A large proportion of women with osteoporosis do not comply with current osteoporosis therapies, resulting in diminished therapeutic effect. Noncompliance may be due to the occurrence of gastrointestinal (GI) events during the course of therapy. The objective of this study was to estimate the rate of GI events among women taking oral bisphosphonates and to determine the association between GI events and compliance with bisphosphonate therapy. Methods This was a retrospective analysis of data from a US Medicare claims database (HUMANA). The study period was from January 2007 to June 2013. The index date was the date of the first oral bisphosphonate prescription (alendronate, ibandronate, or risedronate) occurring between January 2008 and June 2012. The pre- and postindex periods were the 1-year periods before and after the index date, respectively. The analysis included women 65 years of age and older who were naive to all osteoporosis treatments before the index date. GI events included nausea/vomiting; dysphagia; esophagitis; esophageal reflux; esophageal, gastric, duodenal, and peptic ulcer; stricture, perforation, or hemorrhage of the esophagus; acute gastritis; and GI hemorrhage. GI events were assessed during the preindex period and at 3, 6, and 12 months in the postindex period. Compliance was defined as a medication possession ratio of ≥80%. The medication possession ratio was calculated as the total days׳ supply of bisphosphonate in the postindex period divided by 365 days. The association of postindex GI events with compliance was assessed using multivariate logistic regression. Findings The analysis included 37,886 women initiating oral bisphosphonate therapy. In the preindex year, 37.5% of the women experienced a GI event, and in the postindex year, 38.9% had a GI event. Patients with preindex GI events had numerically higher rates of postindex GI events than patients without preindex GI events (61.8% vs 25.1% at 12 months postindex). Patients who experienced postindex GI events were less likely to be compliant with bisphosphonate therapy, with odds of compliance of 0.76 (95% CI, 0.72–0.80) after 12 months. Implications Among US women who were prescribed oral bisphosphonates, on-treatment GI events were associated with decreased compliance at 1 year.

The Rho-related family of GTPases are pivotal regulators of morphogenetic processes in diverse eukaryotic organisms. In the filamentous fungi two related members of this family, Cdc42 and Rac1, perform particularly important roles in the establishment and maintenance of hyphal polarity. The activity of these GTPases is tightly controlled by two sets of regulators: guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs) and GTPase-activating proteins (GAPs). Despite the importance of Cdc42 and Rac1 in polarized hyphal growth, the morphogenetic functions of their cognate GEFs and GAPs have not been widely characterized in filamentous fungi outside the Saccharomycotina. Here we present a functional analysis of the Aspergillus nidulans homologs of the yeast GEF Cdc24 and the yeast GAP Rga1. We show that Cdc24 is required for the establishment of hyphal polarity and localizes to hyphal tips. We also show that Rga1 is necessary for the suppression of branching in developing conidiophores. During asexual development Rga1 appears to act primarily via Cdc42 and in doing so serves as a critical determinant of conidiophore architecture. Our results provide new insight into the roles of Cdc42 during development in A nidulans.

Objective: The development of these guidelines is sponsored by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) Board of Directors and American College of Endocrinology (ACE) Board of Trustees and adheres with published AACE protocols for the standardized production of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs). Methods: Recommendations are based on diligent reviews of the clinical evidence with transparent incorporation of subjective factors, according to established AACE/ACE guidelines for guidelines protocols. Results: The Executive Summary of this 2020 updated guideline contains 52 recommendations: 21 Grade A (40%), 24 Grade B (46%), 7 Grade C (14%), and no Grade D (0%). These detailed, evidence-based recommendations allow for nuance-based clinical decision-making that addresses multiple aspects of real-world care of patients. The evidence base presented in the subsequent Appendix provides relevant supporting information for the Executive Summary recommendations. This update contains 368 citations: 123 (33.5%) evidence level (EL) 1 (highest), 132 (36%) EL 2 (intermediate), 20 (5.5%) EL 3 (weak), and 93 (25%) EL 4 (lowest). New or updated topics in this CPG include: clarification of the diagnosis of osteoporosis, stratification of the patient according to high-risk and very-high-risk features, a new dual-action therapy option, and transitions from therapeutic options. Conclusion: This guideline is a practical tool for endocrinologists, physicians in general, regulatory bodies, health-related organizations, and interested laypersons regarding the diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of post-menopausal osteoporosis.

The history of international law has been Eurocentric, and properly so. That particular concatenation of state practice, political theory, religious and philosophical influences, diplomatic practices and events and imperial engagements that has led to the dominance of our current global states system has been driven primarily from Europe, by Europe, and for Europe. At the same time, the reconsideration of the history of international law over the past few decades has begun to integrate perspectives not only from outside of Europe—from individuals, cultures, and governments who were subjects of this aspect of European modernity over the past five hundred years—but also from ideas and practices of pre-contact cultures.

Supernovae and cooling neutron stars have long been used to constrain the properties of axions, such as their mass and interactions with nucleons and other Standard Model particles. We investigate the prospects of using neutron star mergers as a similar location where axions can be probed in the future. We examine the impact axions would have on mergers, considering both the possibility that they free-stream through the dense nuclear matter and the case where they are trapped. We calculate the mean free path of axions in merger conditions, and find that they would free-stream through the merger in all thermodynamic conditions. In contrast to previous calculations, we integrate over the entire phase space while using a relativistic treatment of the nucleons, assuming the matrix element is momentum-independent. In particular, we use a relativistic mean field theory to describe the nucleons, taking into account the precipitous decrease in the effective mass of the nucleons as density increases above nuclear saturation density. We find that within current constraints on the axion-neutron coupling, axions could cool nuclear matter on timescales relevant to neutron star mergers. Our results may be regarded as first steps aimed at understanding how axions affect merger simulations and potentially interface with observations., v2: matches version accepted by JCAP

We show that the commonly used criterion for beta equilibrium in neutrino-transparent dense nuclear matter becomes invalid as temperatures rise above 1 MeV. Such temperatures are attained in neutron star mergers. By numerically computing the relevant weak interaction rates we find that the correct criterion for beta equilibrium requires an isospin chemical potential that can be as large as 10-20 MeV, depending on the temperature at which neutrinos become trapped., Comment: Section on neutrino mean free paths added. Discussion and plot of effect of isospin chemical potential on beta-equilibrium proton fraction added

In filamentous fungi, the formation of hyphal branches is a critical process that supports the ability of mycelia to radiate across and colonize growth substrates. Branching can occur at hyphal tips (apical branching) or from subapical hyphal compartments (lateral branching). The primary focus of this review is on lateral branching. Current understanding of the physiological and molecular mechanisms that underlie the formation of lateral branches is summarized. This includes emphasis on the spatial regulation of branch formation as well as the roles of the morphogenetic machinery in branch emergence. An improved understanding of hyphal branching will provide greater insight into the morphological differentiation of fungal mycelia.

Filamentous fungi are widely used in the production of a variety of industrially relevant enzymes and proteins as they have the unique ability to secrete tremendous amounts of proteins. However, the secretory pathways in filamentous fungi are not completely understood. Here, we investigated the role of a mutation in the POlarity Defective (podB) gene on growth, protein secretion, and cell wall organization in Aspergillus nidulans using a temperature sensitive (Ts) mutant. At restrictive temperature, the mutation resulted in lack of biomass accumulation, but led to a significant increase in specific protein productivity. Proteomic analysis of the secretome showed that the relative abundance of 584 (out of 747 identified) proteins was altered due to the mutation. Of these, 517 were secreted at higher levels. Other phenotypic differences observed in the mutant include up-regulation of unfolded protein response (UPR), deformation of Golgi apparatus and uneven cell wall thickness. Furthermore, proteomic analysis of cell wall components in the mutant revealed the presence of intracellular proteins in higher abundance accompanied by lower levels of most cell wall proteins. Taken together, results from this study suggest the importance of PodB as a target when engineering fungal strains for enhanced secretion of valuable biomolecules.

Introduction This study utilizes triadic data to examine the association between mother-father-adolescent concordance (agreement) and discordance (disagreement) on home environment factors (i.e., parental encouragement of dieting, family functioning) and adolescent unhealthy weight control behaviors and binge eating. Method A subsample of adolescent-mother-father triads (n = 833; adolescents ages 10-22) from two coordinated population-based studies (EAT 2010 and F-EAT) were used. Poisson regression analysis was used to estimate the relative risks of each eating disordered behavior. Results Triads were more concordant (range 9-42%) than discordant (range 4-24%). Triadic agreement that parents did not encourage dieting was associated with a lower risk of adolescent eating disordered behaviors in some triadic combinations. Additionally, triadic concordance on high family functioning was also associated with a lower risk of adolescent eating disordered behaviors among some triadic combinations. Discussion Results suggest that triadic concordance on healthy home environment factors is associated with fewer adolescent disordered eating behaviors in some triads. Family based interventions may want to consider focusing on strategies to help move mother-father-adolescent triads closer on seeing the home environment more similarly. Future research is needed on triadic concordance/discordance and disordered eating behaviors to confirm study results and to inform the development of family based interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record