Current treatments for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections require intravenously delivered vancomycin; however, systemically delivered vancomycin has its problems. To determine the feasibility and safety of locally delivering vancomycin hydrochloride (~25 mg/Kg) to the medullary canal of long bones, we conducted a pharmacokinetics study using a rat tibia model. We found that administering the vancomycin intraosseously resulted in very low concentrations of vancomycin in the blood plasma and the muscle surrounding the tibia, reducing the risk for systemic toxicity, which is often seen with traditional intravenous administration of vancomycin. Additionally, we were able to inhibit the development of osteomyelitis in the tibia if the treatment was administered locally at the same time as a bacterial inoculum (i.e., Log10 7.82 CFU/mL or 6.62x107 CFU/mL), when compared to an untreated group. These findings suggest that local intramedullary vancomycin delivery can achieve sufficiently high local concentrations to prevent development of osteomyelitis while minimizing systemic toxicity.
Background: To assess the demographic and attitudinal factors associated with HPV vaccine initiation and completion among 18–26 year old women in Utah. Method: Between January 2013 and December 2013, we surveyed 325 women from the University of Utah Community Clinics about their HPV vaccine related beliefs and behaviors. Odds ratios (ORs) were estimated from logistic regression models to identify variables related to HPV vaccine initiation and series completion. Results: Of the 325 participants, 204 (62.8 %) had initiated the vaccine and 159 (48.9 %) had completed the 3-dose series. The variables associated with HPV vaccine initiation were lower age (OR = 1.18 per year); being unmarried (OR = 3.62); not practicing organized religion (OR = 2.40); knowing how HPV spreads (OR = 6.29); knowing the connection between HPV and cervical cancer (OR = 3.90); a belief in the importance of preventive vaccination (OR = 2.45 per scale unit); strength of doctor recommendation (OR = 1.86 per scale unit); and whether a doctor’s recommendation was influential (OR = 1.70 per scale unit). These variables were also significantly associated with HPV vaccine completion. Conclusion: The implications of these findings may help inform policies and interventions focused on increasing HPV vaccination rates among young women. For example, without this information, programs might focus on HPV awareness; however, the results of this study illustrate that awareness is already high (near saturation) in target populations and other factors, such as strong and consistent physician recommendations, are more pivotal in increasing likelihood of vaccination. Additionally, our findings indicate the need for discussions of risk assessment be tailored to the young adult population.
Weather-related research often requires synthesizing vast amounts of data that need archival solutions that are both economical and viable during and past the lifetime of the project. Public cloud computing services (e.g., from Amazon, Microsoft, or Google) or private clouds managed by research institutions are providing object data storage systems appropriate for long-term archives of such large geophysical data sets. , Current Status:
Our research group no longer needs to maintain archives of High Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) model output at the University of Utah since complete publicly-accessible archives of HRRR model output are now available from the Google Cloud Platform and Amazon Web Services (AWS) as part of the NOAA Open Data Program.
Google and AWS store the HRRR model output in GRIB2 format, a file type that efficiently stores hundreds of two-dimensional variable fields for a single valid time. Despite the highly compressible nature of GRIB2 files, they are often on the order of several hundred MB each, making high-volume input/output applications challenging due to the memory and compute resources needed to parse these files.
With support from the Amazon Sustainability Data Initiative, our group is now creating and maintaining HRRR model output in an optimized format, Zarr, in a publicly-accessible S3 bucket- hrrrzarr. HRRR-Zarr contains sets for each model run of analysis and forecast files sectioned into 96 small chunks for every variable. The structure of the HRRR-Zarr files are designed to allow users the flexibility to access only the data they need through selecting subdomains and parameters of interest without the overhead that comes from accessing numerous GRIB2 files.
, and
History:
This effort began in 2015 to illustrate the use of a private cloud object store developed by the Center for High Performance Computing (CHPC) at the University of Utah. We began archiving thousands of two-dimensional gridded fields (each one containing over 1.9 million values over the contiguous United States) from the High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) data assimilation and forecast modeling system. The archive has been used for retrospective analyses of meteorological conditions during high-impact weather events, assessing the accuracy of the HRRR forecasts, and providing initial and boundary conditions for research simulations. The archive has been accessible interactively and through automated download procedures for researchers at other institutions that can be tailored by the user to extract individual two-dimensional grids from within the highly compressed files. Over a thousand users have voluntarily registered to use the HRRR archive at the University of Utah.
Our archive has grown to over 130 Tbytes of model output but we no longer need to continue that effort since the GRIB2 files are available now via Google and AWS. As mentioned above, we now provide much of the same information in an alternative format that is appropriate particularly for machine-learning applications.
While several studies have qualitatively investigated age- and region-dependent adhesion between the vitreous and retina, no studies have directly measured the vitreoretinal strength of adhesion. In this study, we developed a rotational peel device and associated methodology to measure the maximum and steady-state peel forces between the vitreous and the retina. Vitreoretinal adhesion in the equator and posterior pole were measured in human eyes from donors ranging 30 to 79 years of age, and in sheep eyes from premature, neonatal, young lamb, and young adult sheep. In human eyes, maximum peel force in the equator (7.24 ± 4.13 mN) was greater than in the posterior pole (4.08 ± 2.03 mN). This trend was especially evident for younger eyes from donors 30 to 39 years of age. After 60 years of age, there was a significant decrease in the maximum equatorial (4.69 ± 2.52 mN, p = 0.016) and posterior pole adhesion (2.95 ± 1.25 mN, p = 0.037). In immature sheep eyes, maximum adhesion was 7.60 ± 3.06 mN, and did not significantly differ between the equator and posterior pole until young adulthood. At this age, the maximum adhesion in the equator nearly doubled (16.67 ± 7.45 mN) that of the posterior pole, similar to the young adult human eyes. Light microscopy images suggest more disruption of the inner limiting membrane (ILM) in immature sheep eyes compared to adult sheep eyes. Interestingly, in human eyes, ILM disruption was significantly greater in the posterior pole (p < 0.05) and in people over 60 years of age (p < 0.02). These findings supplement the current discussion surrounding age-related posterior vitreous detachment, and the risk factors and physiological progressions associated with this condition. In addition, these data further our understanding of the biomechanical mechanisms of vitreoretinal adhesion, and can be used to develop age- appropriate computational models simulating retinal detachment, hemorrhaging, or retinal trauma.
See Creveling CJ, Colter J, Coats B. 2018. Changes in vitreoretinal adhesion with age and region in human and sheep eyes. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2018.00153.
The Purkinje system (PS) and the His bundle have been recently implicated as an important driver of the rapid activation rate after 1-2 minutes of ventricular fibrillation (VF). It is unknown whether activations during VF propagate through the His-Purkinje system to other portions of the the working myocardium (WM). Little is known about restitution characteristic differences between the His bundle and working myocardium at short cycle lengths. In this study, rabbit hearts (n=9) were isolated, Langendorff- perfused, and electromechanically uncoupled with blebbistatin (10 μM). Pacing pulses were delivered directly to the His bundle. By using standard glass microelectrodes, action potentials duration (APD) from the His bundle and WM were obtained simultaneously over a wide range of stimulation cycle lengths (CL). The global F-test indicated that the two restitution curves of the His bundle and the WM are statistically significantly different (P<0.05). Also, the APD of the His bundle was significantly shorter than that of WM throughout the whole pacing course (P<0.001). The CL at which alternans developed in the His bundle vs. the WM were shorter for the His bundle (134.2±13.1ms vs. 148.3±13.3ms, P<0.01) and 2:1 block developed at a shorter CL in the His bundle than in WM (130.0±10.0 vs. 145.6±14.2ms, P<0.01). The His bundle APD was significantly shorter than that of WM under both slow and rapid pacing rates, which suggest that there may be an excitable gap during VF and that the His bundle may conduct wavefronts from one bundle branch to the other at short cycle lengths and during VF.
This dataset contains the electric field data sampled along ocean-continent boundaries during space weather hazards. A finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) technique is used to study potential space weather hazards to electric power grids located at the proximity of the coast. The most of the data are in floating point representation, and the data files are in .txt format. The data can be visualized using software such as MATLAB and Python. The data can be used to plot electric and magnetic fields along the ocean-continent boundaries for different scenarios (different depths of an ocean, different conductivities of a lithosphere and different frequencies of ionospheric disturbance).
Tropical convective clouds evolve over a wide range of temporal and spatial scales, which makes them difficult to simulate numerically. Here we propose that cloud statistical properties can be derived within a simplified time-independent coordinate system of cloud number n, saturated static energy h⋆, and cloud perimeter λ. Under the constraint that circulations around cloud edge compete with each other for total buoyant energy and air, we show that the product of cloud number and cloud perimeter nλ is invariant with λ and that cloud number follows a negative exponential with respect to cloud-edge deviations of h⋆ with respect to the mean. Overall, the summed perimeter of all clouds scales as the square root of the atmospheric static stability. These theoretical results suggest that the complexity of cloud field structures can be viewed statistically as an emergent property of atmospheric bulk thermodynamics. Comparison with a detailed tropical cloud field simulation shows general agreement to within ≤13%. For the sake of developing hypotheses about cloud temporal evolution that are testable in high resolution simulations, the shapes of tropical cloud perimeter distributions are predicted to be invariant as climate warms, although with a modest increase in total cloud amount.
The data set includes individual images of mouse cochleae, both scanning electron micrographs and fluorescent micrographs, used to generate aggregated data described in Pecha PP, Almishaal AA, Mathur PD, et al. Role of Free Radical Formation in Murine Cytomegalovirus–Induced Hearing Loss. Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery. 2020;162(5):709-717. doi:10.1177/0194599820901485 and Objectives
The goal of the study was to determine whether reactive oxygen species (ROS) mediates cytomegalovirus (CMV)–induced labyrinthitis.
Study Design
Murine model of CMV infection.
Subjects and Methods
Nrf2 knockout mice were inoculated with murine CMV. Auditory brainstem response (ABR) and distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) were then performed on these and uninfected controls. BALB/c mice were inoculated with murine CMV to determine whether a marker for ROS production, dihydroethidium (DHE), is expressed 7 days after inoculation. Finally, 2 antioxidants—D-methionine and ACE-Mg (vitamins A, C, and E with magnesium)—were administered 1 hour before and after infection in inoculated mice for 14 days. Temporal bones were harvested at postnatal day 10 for DHE detection. ABR and DPOAE testing was done at postnatal day 30. Scanning electron microscopy was also performed at postnatal day 30 to evaluate outer hair cell integrity.
Results
Nrf2-infected mice had worse hearing than uninfected mice (P < .001). A statistically significant increase in DHE fluorescence was detected in BALB/c-infected mice as compared with uninfected mice 7 days after inoculation. D-methionine- and ACE-Mg-treated mice demonstrated an attenuation of the DHE fluorescence and a significant improvement in ABR and DPOAE thresholds when compared with untreated infected controls (P < .0001). Scanning electron microscopy demonstrated less outer hair cell loss in the treated versus untreated infected controls.
Conclusion
These results demonstrate for the first time that excessive ROS mediates CMV-induced hearing loss in a mouse model.
This SAS program can be used to calculate Grocery Purchase Quality Index-2016 (GPQI-2016) total and component scores from food purchase data (dollars and cents) that have been summarized into the 29 categories of the USDA Food Plans. The code can be adapted to calculate GPQI-2016 scores for data that use a smaller number of categories.
Background. Common cold viruses create significant health and financial burdens, and understanding key loci of transmission would help focus control strategies. This study (1) examines factors that influence when individuals transition from a negative to positive test (acquisition) or a positive to negative test (loss) of rhinovirus (HRV) and other respiratory tract viruses in 26 households followed weekly for one year, (2) investigates evidence for intrahousehold and interhousehold transmission and the characteristics of individuals implicated in transmission, and (3) builds data-based simulation models to identify factors that most strongly affect patterns of prevalence. Methods. We detected HRV, coronavirus, paramyxovirus, influenza and bocavirus with the FilmArray polymerase chain reaction (PCR) platform (BioFire Diagnostics, LLC). We used logistic regression to find covariates affecting acquisition or loss of HRV including demographic characteristics of individuals, their household, their current infection status, and prevalence within their household and across the population. We apply generalized linear mixed models to test robustness of results. Results. Acquisition of HRV was less probable in older individuals and those infected with a coronavirus, and higher with a higher proportion of other household members infected. Loss of HRV is reduced with a higher proportion of other household members infected. Within households, only children and symptomatic individuals show evidence for transmission, while between households only a higher number of infected older children (ages 5-19) increases the probability of acquisition. Coronaviruses, paramyxoviruses and bocavirus also show evidence of intrahousehold transmission. Simulations show that age-dependent susceptibility and transmission have the largest effects on mean HRV prevalence. Conclusions. Children are most likely to acquire and most likely to transmit HRV both within and between households, with infectiousness concentrated in symptomatic children. Simulations predict that the spread of HRV and other respiratory tract viruses can be reduced but not eliminated by practices within the home.
The mechanisms governing tree drought mortality and recovery remain a subject of inquiry and active debate given their role in the terrestrial carbon cycle and their concomitant impact on climate change. Counter-intuitively, many trees do not die during the drought itself. Indeed, observations globally have documented that trees often grow for several years after drought before mortality. A combination of meta-analysis and tree physiological models demonstrate that optimal carbon allocation after drought explains observed patterns of delayed tree mortality and provides a predictive recovery framework. Specifically, post-drought, trees attempt to repair water transport tissue and achieve positive carbon balance through regrowing drought-damaged xylem. Further, the number of years of xylem regrowth required to recover function increases with tree size, explaining why drought mortality increases with size. These results indicate that tree resilience to drought-kill may increase in the future, provided that CO2 fertilization facilitates more rapid xylem regrowth.
The widely documented phenomenon of nighttime stomatal conductance (gsn) could lead to substantial water loss with no carbon gain, and thus it remains unclear whether nighttime stomatal conductance confers a functional advantage. Given that studies of gsn have focused on controlled environments or small numbers of species in natural environments, a broad phylogenetic and biogeographic context could provide insights into potential adaptive benefits of gsn.
We measured gsn on a diverse suite of species (n = 73) across various functional groups and climates-of-origin in a common garden to study the phylogenetic and biogeographic/climatic controls on gsn and further assessed the degree to which gsn co-varied with leaf functional traits and daytime gas exchange rates.
Closely related species were more similar in gsn than expected by chance. Herbaceous species had higher gsn than woody species. Species that typically grow in climates with lower mean annual precipitation – where the fitness cost of water loss should be the highest – generally had higher gsn.
Our results reveal the highest gsn rates in species from environments where neighboring plants compete most strongly for water, suggesting a possible role for the competitive advantage of gsn.
This project was a NSF-funded collaborative research project entitled: Collaborative Research: Deciphering Eolian Paleoenvironmental and Hydrodynamic records: Lower Jurassic Navajo Sandstone, Colorado Plateau, USA This was a multifaceted interdisciplinary study of the Lower Jurassic Navajo Sandstone (Ss)--a unique and distinctive unit in all of geologic history. This unit represents the largest known ancient desert (erg), and is typically classified as a record of a hyperarid environment. Furthermore, the Navajo Ss was deposited at a time when mammals were undergoing their first major diversification, and dinosaurs began to dominate the landscape in number and diversity. Our goal was to examine sedimentary features of the erg margin that recorded the active paleohydrology of the desert regime, and examine abundant trace- and body-fossil material to more fully document the structure and evolution of the biota in a variably arid landscape through Navajo Ss deposition. Field studies involved sedimentology and paleoecology. Laboratory studies involved isotope geochemistry of carbonate deposits, as well as thin section petrography.
The data were generated by computer simulations using the C++ code "Orchestra", a proprietary hybrid code that follows the dynamical evolution of solids and gas orbiting a central object. Algorithms in the code are described in the following papers (author names abbreviated to B for Bromley, K for Kenyon, and L for Jane X Luu along with a year for publication date, AJ = Astronomical Journal, ApJ = Astrophysical Journal, S=Supplement): KL1998, AJ 115:2136; KL1999, AJ 118:1101; KB2001,AJ 121:538; KB2002,AJ 123:1757; KB2004, AJ 127:513; BK2006, AJ 131:2737; KB2006, AJ 131:1837; KB2008, ApJS 179:451; KB2010, ApJS 188:242; BK2011, ApJ 731:101; KB2012, AJ 143:63; KB2014, AJ 147:8. Initial conditions for these simulations described in the published paper.
Various C and fortran programs are used to analyze the data for the calculations. Several C programs needed to extract information from the computer generated binary output files are included with the dataset. The C programs include basic summaries of the structure of the data files and the usage to extract data from each binary file.
Micrometer-scale maps of authigenic microstructures in submarine basaltic tuff from a 1979 Surtsey volcano, Iceland, drill core acquired 15 years after eruptions terminated describe the initial alteration of oceanic basalt in a low temperature hydrothermal system. An integrative investigative approach uses synchrotron source X-ray microdiffraction (µXRD), microfluoresence (µXRF), micro-computed tomography (µCT), and scanning transmission electron microscopy (S/TEM) coupled with Raman spectroscopy to create finely resolved spatial frameworks that record a continuum of alteration in glass and olivine. Micro-analytical maps of vesicular and fractured lapilli in specimens from 157.1, 137.9, and 102.6 m depth, and borehole temperatures of 83, 93.9 and 141.3 °C measured in 1980, respectively, describe the production of nanocrystalline clay mineral, zeolites, and Al-tobermorite in diverse microenvironments. Irregular alteration fronts at 157.1 m depth resemble microchannels associated with biological activity in older basalts. By contrast, linear microstructures with little resemblance to previously described alteration features have nanocrystalline clay mineral (nontronite) and zeolite (amicite) texture. The crystallographic preferred orientation rotates around an axis parallel to the linear feature. Raman spectra indicating degraded and poorly-ordered carbonaceous matter of possible biological origin are associated with nanocrystalline clay mineral in a crystallographically-oriented linear microstructure in altered olivine at 102.6 m and with sub-circular nanoscale cavities in altered glass at 137.9 m depth. Although evidence for biotic processes is inconclusive, the integrated analyses describe the complex organization of previously unrecognized mineral texture in very young basalt. They provide a foundational mineralogical reference for longitudinal, time-lapse characterizations of palagonitized basalt in oceanic environments.
Future projections suggest an increase in drought globally with climate change. Current vegetation models typically regulate the plant photosynthetic response to soil moisture stress through an empirical function, rather than a mechanistic response where plant water potentials respond to changes in soil water. This representation of soil moisture stress may introduce significant uncertainty into projections for the terrestrial carbon cycle. We examined the use of the soil moisture limitation function in historical and future emissions scenarios in nine Earth system models. We found that soil moisture-limited productivity across models represented a large and uncertain component of the simulated carbon cycle, comparable to 3-286% of current global productivity. Approximately 40-80% of the intermodel variability was due to the functional form of the limitation equation alone. Our results highlight the importance of implementing mechanistic water limitation schemes in models and illuminate several avenues for improving projections of the land carbon sink.