Modelling the emergence of social-bird biological controls to mitigate invasions of the spotted lanternfly and similar invasive pests.

The spotted lanternfly is an emerging global invasive insect pest. Due to a lack of natural enemies where it is invasive, human intervention is required. Extensive management has been applied but the spread continues. Recently, the idea of bird-based biological controls has re-emerged and shown effective in studies. However, it is questionable, if birds are able to effectively control unfamiliar and occasionally toxic invasive pests in short timeframes. Unless, perhaps, the birds are effective social learners and toxicity of the invaders is rare. Here, we introduce a mathematical model for social learning in a great tit-like bird to investigate conditions for the emergence of a collective biological control of a pest that is occasionally toxic, like the lanternfly. We find that the social observation rate relative to the proportion of toxic lanternfly dictate when collective biological controls will emerge. We also implement the social learning model into a model of collective motion in bird-like animals, and find that it produces results consistent with the mathematical model. Our work suggests that social birds may be useful in managing the spotted lanternfly, and that removing the toxicity-inducing preferred host of the lanternfly should be a priority to facilitate this.

Mesothelial Cells Exhibit Characteristics of Perivascular Cells in an In Vitro Angiogenesis Assay.

Mesothelial cells have been shown to have remarkable plasticity towards mesenchymal cell types during development and in disease situations. Here, we have characterized the potential of mesothelial cells to undergo changes toward perivascular cells using an in vitro angiogenesis assay. We demonstrate that GFP-labeled mesothelial cells (GFP-MCs) aligned closely and specifically with endothelial networks formed when human dermal microvascular endothelial cells (HDMECs) were cultured in the presence of VEGF-A165 on normal human dermal fibroblasts (NHDFs) for a 7-day period. The co-culture with GFP-MCs had a positive effect on branch point formation indicating that the cells supported endothelial tube formation. We interrogated the molecular response of the GFP-MCs to the angiogenic co-culture by qRT-PCR and found that the pericyte marker Ng2 was upregulated when the cells were co-cultured with HDMECs on NHDFs, indicating a change towards a perivascular phenotype. When GFP-MCs were cultured on the NHDF feeder layer, they upregulated the epithelial-mesenchymal transition marker Zeb1 and lost their circularity while increasing their size, indicating a change to a more migratory cell type. We analyzed the pericyte-like behavior of the GFP-MCs in a 3D cardiac microtissue (spheroid) with cardiomyocytes, cardiac fibroblasts and cardiac endothelial cells where the mesothelial cells showed alignment with the endothelial cells. These results indicate that mesothelial cells have the potential to adopt a perivascular phenotype and associate with endothelial cells to potentially support angiogenesis.

How Parents in Multiethnic-Racial Families Share Cultural Assets with Their Children.

Relatively little psychology research has investigated racial-ethnic socialization processes in multiethnic-racial families despite the fact that more than 1 in 7 children born in the United States today have parents from different ethnic-racial backgrounds. The present study seeks to contribute to the extant research by exploring how parents in multiethnic-racial families seek to help their children access and benefit from two (or more) sets of cultural assets. Accordingly, this study considers key themes about cultural socialization that emerged in qualitative interviews with parents in multiethnic-racial families (n = 37). Key themes emerging from these interviews included the importance of both co-parents: (a) putting in the time and effort to learn about each other's cultures and cultural practices; (b) being reflective about the practices, values, and traditions that were and were not important to them to share with their children; and (c) protecting their children from racial micro-aggressions in a variety of settings by advocating for the recognition, inclusion, and appreciation of their children's multiple ethnic-racial heritages. There is such a paucity of research on cultural socialization approaches in multiethnic-racial families that these perspectives from parents offer both valuable building blocks for future research efforts as well as practical guidance to the growing number of multiethnic-racial families in the United States and elsewhere.

Novel intravesical therapeutics in the treatment of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer: Horizon scanning.

Introduction: Non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) is a common and heterogeneous disease; many patients develop recurrent or progress to muscle-invasive disease. Intravesical drug therapy is a pillar in the current management of NMIBC; notwithstanding, Mitomycin C (MMC) and Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) have numerous limitations including international supply issues, and local and systemic toxicity. Here we review novel intravesical therapeutic options and drug delivery devices with potential for clinical use in the treatment of NMIBC. Methods: PubMed, ClinicalTrials.gov and Cochrane Library searches were undertaken. Systematic reviews, meta-analyses, randomised controlled trials, single-arm clinical trials and national/international conference proceedings were included. Results: Novel intravesical drugs, including chemotherapeutic agents, immune checkpoint inhibitors, monoclonal antibodies and gene therapies, have demonstrated varying efficacy in the treatment of NMIBC. Current evidence for the majority of treatments is mostly limited to single-arm trials in patients with recurrent NMIBC. Various novel methods of drug delivery have also been investigated, with encouraging preliminary results supporting the intravesical delivery of hyperthermic MMC and MMC hydrogel formulations. Conclusions: Novel therapeutic agents and drug delivery systems will be important in the future intravesical management of NMIBC. As our understanding of the molecular diversity of NMIBC develops, molecular subtyping will become fundamental in the personalisation of intravesical treatments. Further randomised studies are urgently required to investigate the efficacy of novel intravesical treatments and novel regimens, in comparison to current standards-of-care, particularly in the context of international BCG shortages.

Restricted differentiative capacity of Wt1-expressing peritoneal mesothelium in postnatal and adult mice.

Previously, genetic lineage tracing based on the mesothelial marker Wt1, appeared to show that peritoneal mesothelial cells have a range of differentiative capacities and are the direct progenitors of vascular smooth muscle in the intestine. However, it was not clear whether this was a temporally limited process or continued throughout postnatal life. Here, using a conditional Wt1-based genetic lineage tracing approach, we demonstrate that the postnatal and adult peritoneum covering intestine, mesentery and body wall only maintained itself and failed to contribute to other visceral tissues. Pulse-chase experiments of up to 6 months revealed that Wt1-expressing cells remained confined to the peritoneum and failed to differentiate into cellular components of blood vessels or other tissues underlying the peritoneum. Our data confirmed that the Wt1-lineage system also labelled submesothelial cells. Ablation of Wt1 in adult mice did not result in changes to the intestinal wall architecture. In the heart, we observed that Wt1-expressing cells maintained the epicardium and contributed to coronary vessels in newborn and adult mice. Our results demonstrate that Wt1-expressing cells in the peritoneum have limited differentiation capacities, and that contribution of Wt1-expressing cells to cardiac vasculature is based on organ-specific mechanisms.

Dirty Work and Intimacy: Creating an Abortion Worker.

Abortion work has changed in the decades since Roe v. Wade, and concerns over efficiency and cost reduction have resulted in increased specialization and compartmentalization of duties among health workers. This study examines the current state of surgical abortion at a clinic in southern California. Drawing on 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork at an abortion clinic, I use theories of dirty work and intimate work to examine how abortion work is organized and allocated among staff. I find that work in the clinic is best understood as existing on two intersecting spectrums of intimacy and dirtiness. Whereas existing research on abortion workers has primarily focused on doctors and nurses, this study includes medical assistants and compares experiences across different occupations. I conclude that frequency, intensity, and purpose of intimate work and dirty work coalesce to create distinct types of abortion workers.

"It's a horrible assignment": A qualitative study of labor and delivery nurses' experience caring for patients undergoing labor induction for fetal anomalies or fetal demise.

OBJECTIVES: This study sought to explore labor and delivery (L&D) nurses' experiences caring for women undergoing induction for intrauterine fetal demise (IUFD) or termination for fetal anomalies, and to characterize reluctance towards participation in abortion care or - conversely - the commitment to provide services. STUDY DESIGN: Researchers conducted a qualitative study that consisted of open-ended, semistructured interviews with 15 registered nurses who care for women on L&D at a large metropolitan hospital. We analyzed these data for content and themes. RESULTS: Labor and delivery nurses struggle emotionally, logistically, and morally with bereavement care, whether their patients are experiencing an IUFD or termination for fetal anomalies. The analysis generated the following themes: the emotionally intense work of perinatal loss, feelings of incompetence in bereavement care, ethical conflicts, and judgment of both termination and IUFD patients. In addition, nurses who chose to provide care for patients undergoing induction termination for fetal anomalies described a duty to care for all patients despite the increased logistic and emotional burden. CONCLUSIONS: Much of the discomfort L&D nurses reported caring for patients undergoing induction termination stems from the emotional toll, lack of skills, and bureaucratic burden of bereavement care rather than a moral objection to abortion. Instituting interventions to improve staffing, simplify paperwork, augment bereavement training, and improve support for the emotional burden of caring for these patients may therefore increase access to competent and compassionate abortion care. IMPLICATIONS: Labor and delivery nurses struggle with bereavement care whether their patients are experiencing an IUFD or termination for fetal anomalies. Instituting interventions - like interdisciplinary simulation - to support nurses in bereavement care may increase the number willing to participate in abortion care, thereby improving patient access.

Review: Social networking sites and associations with depressive and anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents - a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Given social networking sites (SNSs) have become a pervasive part of culture; it is critical to understand the ways in which they may be advantageous or detrimental to the mental health of young people. This systematic narrative review examined the relationships between SNS and depressive and anxiety symptoms in the child and adolescent population (5-18 years). METHODS: Four databases were searched, and all articles between January 2005 and March 2019 were identified. RESULTS: Increased time spent or frequency of SNS use, and problematic and addictive behaviour on SNS were significantly associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms. Two cross-sectional studies found that increased time spent or frequency of SNS use and higher levels of investment on SNS were significantly associated with higher levels of anxiety symptoms. However, other potential confounding factors could explain the relationship between SNS and depressive and anxiety symptoms, including perceived social support, social comparison and fear of missing out (FoMO). CONCLUSIONS: While there is evidence that there is a relationship between SNS and anxiety and depressive symptoms, the effect size tends to be small and informed by studies of poor quality. Therefore, results should be interpreted cautiously. Methodological issues in conceptualising SNS complicated the findings. Future studies should explore the various conditions by which SNS may either interfere or enhance the development of emotional regulation in young people. These findings help to inform clinicians and educators in targeting vulnerable young people who are at risk of developing mental health problems.

Preoperative Depression, Smoking, and Employment Status are Significant Factors in Patient Satisfaction After Lumbar Spine Surgery.

STUDY DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether comorbidities and demographics, identified preoperatively, can impact patient outcomes and satisfaction after lumbar spine surgery. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: The surgical treatment of lower back pain does not always eliminate a patient's pain and symptoms. Revision surgeries are costly and expose the patient to additional risk. We aim to identify patient characteristics that may suggest a greater or lesser likelihood of postsurgical success by examining patient-reported measures and outcomes after surgery. METHODS: Preoperative smoking status, self-reported depression, prevalence of diabetes, obesity, level of education, and employment status were assessed in the context of patient outcome and satisfaction after lumbar spine surgery. Patients were contacted before surgery, and at 3 and 12 months postoperatively, and responded to Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and EuroQol-5 Dimensions (EQ-5D) self-assessment examinations, as well as a satisfaction measure. RESULTS: A total of 166 patients who underwent lumbar spine surgeries at Iowa Spine and Brain Institute, a department of Covenant Medical Center, and were included in the National Neurosurgery Quality and Outcomes Database were assessed preoperatively, and at 3 and 12 months postoperatively using self-assessment tools. Depression, smoking, and employment status were found to be significant factors in patient satisfaction. Depressed patients, smokers, and patients on disability at the time of surgery have worse ODI and EQ-5D scores at all of the timepoints (baseline, 3 months, and 12 months postsurgery). CONCLUSIONS: Depression, smoking, and employment status, specifically whether a patient is on disability at the time of surgery, are all significant factors in patient satisfaction after lumbar spine surgery. These factors are also shown in impact ODI and EQ-5D scores. Surgeons should consider these particular characteristics when developing a lower back pain treatment plan involving surgery.

Bilateral psoas abscess caused by Janibacter terrae, an unusual condition and organism resulting in laboratory and management conundrums.

Psoas abscess is commonly regarded as an unusual cause for back pains and usually associated with significant risk factors or co-morbidities. We describe the clinical presentation and findings of a young male Caucasian with bilateral psoas abscesses caused by an unusual organism, Janibacter terrae (an environmental organism) not previously described in literature and the challenges faced in managing this infection. There are very few case reports of this organism causing opportunistic infections, all reported bacteraemia mainly in patients with significant co-morbidities. This case highlights the importance of psoas abscess as a differential diagnosis in patients presenting with back pain and the potential for this organism to cause abscesses in healthy individuals which was difficult to identify using conventional laboratory methods. Management of this infection was challenging and there is limited experience with antimicrobial treatment for this organism.

Characterisation of Cultured Mesothelial Cells Derived from the Murine Adult Omentum.

The human omentum has been long regarded as a healing patch, used by surgeons for its ability to immunomodulate, repair and vascularise injured tissues. A major component of the omentum are mesothelial cells, which display some of the characteristics of mesenchymal stem/stromal cells. For instance, lineage tracing studies have shown that mesothelial cells give rise to adipocytes and vascular smooth muscle cells, and human and rat mesothelial cells have been shown to differentiate into osteoblast- and adipocyte-like cells in vitro, indicating that they have considerable plasticity. However, so far, long-term cultures of mesothelial cells have not been successfully established due to early senescence. Here, we demonstrate that mesothelial cells isolated from the mouse omentum could be cultured for more than 30 passages. While epithelial markers were downregulated over passages in the mesothelial cells, their mesenchymal profile remained unchanged. Early passage mesothelial cells displayed clonogenicitiy, expressed several stem cell markers, and up to passage 5 and 13, respectively, could differentiate along the adipogenic and osteogenic lineages, demonstrating stem/progenitor characteristics and differentiation potential.

Mesenchymal stromal cell-mediated neuroprotection and functional preservation of retinal ganglion cells in a rodent model of glaucoma.

BACKGROUND AIMS: Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness involving loss of retinal ganglion cells (RGC). Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) have shown promise as a paracrine-mediated therapy for compromised neurons. It is, however, unknown whether dental pulp stem cells (DPSC) are effective as a cellular therapy in glaucoma and how their hypothesized influence compares with other more widely researched MSC sources. The present study aimed to compare the efficacy of adipose-derived stem cells, bone marrow-derived MSC (BMSC) and DPSC in preventing the loss of RGC and visual function when transplanted into the vitreous of glaucomatous rodent eyes. METHODS: Thirty-five days after raised intraocular pressure (IOP) and intravitreal stem cell transplantation, Brn3a(+) RGC numbers, retinal nerve fibre layer thickness (RNFL) and RGC function were evaluated by immunohistochemistry, optical coherence tomography and electroretinography, respectively. RESULTS: Control glaucomatous eyes that were sham-treated with heat-killed DPSC had a significant loss of RGC numbers, RNFL thickness and function compared with intact eyes. BMSC and, to a greater extent, DPSC provided significant protection from RGC loss and RNFL thinning and preserved RGC function. DISCUSSION: The study supports the use of DPSC as a neuroprotective cellular therapy in retinal degenerative disease such as glaucoma.

Mutations in Caenorhabditis briggsae identify new genes important for limiting the response to EGF signaling during vulval development.

Studies of vulval development in the nematode C. elegans have identified many genes that are involved in cell division and differentiation processes. Some of these encode components of conserved signal transduction pathways mediated by EGF, Notch, and Wnt. To understand how developmental mechanisms change during evolution, we are doing a comparative analysis of vulva formation in C. briggsae, a species that is closely related to C. elegans. Here, we report 14 mutations in 7 Multivulva (Muv) genes in C. briggsae that inhibit inappropriate division of vulval precursors. We have developed a new efficient and cost-effective gene mapping method to localize Muv mutations to small genetic intervals on chromosomes, thus facilitating cloning and functional studies. We demonstrate the utility of our method by determining molecular identities of three of the Muv genes that include orthologs of Cel-lin-1 (ETS) and Cel-lin-31 (Winged-Helix) of the EGF-Ras pathway and Cel-pry-1 (Axin), of the Wnt pathway. The remaining four genes reside in regions that lack orthologs of known C. elegans Muv genes. Inhibitor studies demonstrate that the Muv phenotype of all four new genes is dependent on the activity of the EGF pathway kinase, MEK. One of these, Cbr-lin(gu167), shows modest increase in the expression of Cbr-lin-3/EGF compared to wild type. These results argue that while Cbr-lin(gu167) may act upstream of Cbr-lin-3/EGF, the other three genes influence the EGF pathway downstream or in parallel to Cbr-lin-3. Overall, our findings demonstrate that the genetic program underlying a conserved developmental process includes both conserved and divergent functional contributions.

A survey on hair modeling: styling, simulation, and rendering.

Realistic hair modeling is a fundamental part of creating virtual humans in computer graphics. This paper surveys the state of the art in the major topics of hair modeling: hairstyling, hair simulation, and hair rendering. Because of the difficult, often unsolved problems that arise in all these areas, a broad diversity of approaches are used, each with strengths that make it appropriate for particular applications. We discuss each of these major topics in turn, presenting the unique challenges facing each area and describing solutions that have been presented over the years to handle these complex issues. Finally, we outline some of the remaining computational challenges in hair modeling.

Desensitization to imatinib in patients with leukemia.

BACKGROUND: Imatinib mesylate is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor used for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia and hypereosinophilic syndrome. Imatinib is associated with a variety of adverse cutaneous reactions, including urticaria, maculopapular exanthem, generalized exanthematous pustulosis, exfoliative dermatitis, and Stevens-Johnson syndrome. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of oral desensitization by administering incremental dosages of imatinib mesylate to patients with leukemia who have had rashes associated with prior exposure. METHODS: Ten patients with leukemia and imatinib-associated recurrent rash underwent a 4-hour outpatient oral desensitization procedure. Beginning with 10 ng, we administered oral imatinib elixir in increasing dosages every 15 minutes. Patient outcomes were monitored by a return clinic visit and by telephone follow-up for a median of approximately 3 years. RESULTS: No episodes of anaphylaxis or serious adverse effects occurred during or immediately after desensitization. Four patients (all with urticaria) had no recurrence of rash after desensitization, and 4 had recurrent rash that resolved after temporary glucocorticosteroid and antihistamine administration. Two patients developed a recurrent rash 5 hours and several days after the procedure and were unable to resume therapy. CONCLUSION: This oral desensitization protocol appears to help some leukemic patients with recurrent rash tolerate imatinib mesylate, thus permitting continuation of this life-prolonging therapy. These findings suggest that some adverse cutaneous reactions to imatinib may be due to a hypersensitivity mechanism rather than a pharmacologic effect.

Injury-related causes of acute knee pain.

This detailed overview covers the anatomy, function, and examination of the knee and describes the phases of treatment for acute knee pain secondary to injury.

Is substance abuse treatment providing services to the right population?

This study examined the relationship between treatment retention, and drug severity level in a therapeutic community setting for drug and alcohol treatment. Treatment retention is significant because length of time in treatment has been shown to correlate with success after treatment that impacts everyone. The design of this study was exploratory, descriptive, and cross-sectional. Data were collected in 2000 from a convenience sample of 18 to 25 year-old, primarily low-income and minority addicts who were currently in a therapeutic community in New Jersey, USA. The participants were then tracked for 90 days as to their status in the program and staff completed a motivation measure. Results indicated that severity of addiction was significant to treatment retention.