Sexual dimorphism and mechanics of the human hip: A multivariate assessment

The present research was undertaken to determine the effects of sexual dimorphism in the human pelvis and femur on the mechanics of human locomotion. The analysis was based on six biomechanical variables determined from 25 male and 32 female skeletal remains from the Dickson Mound site. Discriminant function analysis indicates that the mechanical variables which primarily contribute to dimorphism are the moment arm of the gluteus medius and the torque produced by the abductors at the hip. These mechanical aspects of hip function produce greater pressure on the femoral head in females.     

The Pacific Ocean Virome (POV): A Marine Viral Metagenomic Dataset and Associated Protein Clusters for Quantitative Viral Ecology

Bacteria and their viruses (phage) are fundamental drivers of many ecosystem processes including global biogeochemistry and horizontal gene transfer. While databases and resources for studying function in uncultured bacterial communities are relatively advanced, many fewer exist for their viral counterparts. The issue is largely technical in that the majority (often 90%) of viral sequences are functionally ‘unknown’ making viruses a virtually untapped resource of functional and physiological information. Here, we provide a community resource that organizes this unknown sequence space into 27 K high confidence protein clusters using 32 viral metagenomes from four biogeographic regions in the Pacific Ocean that vary by season, depth, and proximity to land, and include some of the first deep pelagic ocean viral metagenomes. These protein clusters more than double currently available viral protein clusters, including those from environmental datasets. Further, a protein cluster guided analysis of functional diversity revealed that richness decreased (i) from deep to surface waters, (ii) from winter to summer, (iii) and with distance from shore in surface waters only. These data provide a framework from which to draw on for future metadata-enabled functional inquiries of the vast viral unknown.     

Can environmental flows moderate riparian invasions? The influence of seedling morphology and density on scour losses in experimental floods

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First Nations status and emergency department triage scores in Alberta: a retrospective cohort study

Background:Previous studies have found that race is associated with emergency department triage scores, raising concerns about potential health care inequity. As part of a project on quality of care for First Nations people in Alberta, we sought to understand the relation between First Nations status and triage scores.Methods:We conducted a population-based retrospective cohort study of health administrative data from April 2012 to March 2017 to evaluate acuity of triage scores, categorized as a binary outcome of higher or lower acuity score. We developed multivariable multilevel logistic mixed-effects regression models using the levels of emergency department visit, patient (for patients with multiple visits) and facility. We further evaluated the triage of visits related to 5 disease categories and 5 specific diagnoses to better compare triage outcomes of First Nations and non–First Nations patients.Results:First Nations status was associated with lower odds of receiving higher acuity triage scores (odds ratio [OR] 0.93, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.92–0.94) compared with non–First Nations patients in adjusted models. First Nations patients had lower odds of acute triage for all 5 disease categories and for 3 of 5 diagnoses, including long bone fractures (OR 0.82, 95% CI 0.76–0.88), acute upper respiratory infection (OR 0.90, 95% CI 0.84–0.98) and anxiety disorder (OR 0.67, 95% CI 0.60–0.74).Interpretation:First Nations status was associated with lower odds of higher acuity triage scores across a number of conditions and diagnoses. This may reflect systemic racism, stereotyping and potentially other factors that affected triage assessments.

Health outcomes are markedly worse for First Nations than non–First Nations people. Although this is largely because of inequities in the social determinants of health,^1–4 inequities in the provision of health care also exist.^5,6 Emergency departments serve as a point of accessible health care. Status First Nations patients make up 4.8% of unique patients and 9.4% of emergency visits in Alberta,⁷ and Canadian studies describe First Nations patients’ experiences with racism when seeking emergency care.^8,9Evaluating triage contributes empirically to understanding the health care of First Nations patients insofar as triage is a quantifiable, intermediate process by which systemic racism¹⁰ may influence patient outcomes. The Canadian Triage Acuity Scale¹¹ is a 5-level scale used to classify the severity of patient symptoms. Triage nurses use a brief assessment, medical history, and presenting signs and symptoms to assign each patient a triage score that determines the priority in which the patient should be seen by a provider. Therefore, accurate triage is important for patient health outcomes.¹² In practice, triage is a social interaction where local practice, biases, stereotypes and communication barriers come into play. Studies have found that women receive less acute triage scores than men,^13,14 and that racial minority^13,15–17 and Indigenous^18–20 patients receive less acute triage scores than white or non-Indigenous patients. Indeed, Indigenous patients in Canada have described a perception “of social triaging in the [emergency department], whereby decisions about who is seen first seemed to them [to be] based less on triaged clinical priorities but on the social positioning of the patient.”²¹ Differential triage scores for minority populations raise health equity concerns.As part of a larger mixed-methods project evaluating the quality of emergency care for First Nations people in Alberta, we sought to evaluate quantitative differences in emergency visit characteristics and outcomes of First Nations and non–First Nations people in Alberta. Specifically, we aimed to estimate the relation between First Nations status and acuity of triage, and to evaluate whether predictors of acuity differ by First Nations status.     

Neuroprotective drug riluzole amplifies the heat shock factor 1 (HSF1)- and glutamate transporter 1 (GLT1)-dependent cytoprotective mechanisms for neuronal survival

Heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) mediates the cellular response to stress to increase the production of heat shock protein (HSP) chaperones for proper protein folding, trafficking, and degradation; failure of this homeostatic mechanism likely contributes to neurodegeneration. We show that the neuroprotective drug riluzole increased the amount of HSF1 in NG108-15 neuroprogenitor cells by slowing the specific turnover of HSF1 and supporting a more robust and sustained activation of HSF1. Using Hsp70-luciferase as a functional readout of the activity of HSF1, we show that riluzole amplified the heat shock induction of the reporter gene with an optimal increase at 1 μM. Immunocytochemical staining and Western blot quantitation of HSP70 in NG108-15 neuroprogenitor cells and embryonic spinal cord neurons provided corroborative evidence that riluzole amplified the HSF1-dependent regulation of HSP70 expression. Parallel studies on the GLT1 glutamate transporter showed that riluzole increased GLT1-reporter and GLT1 protein expression and that the increase was enhanced by heat shock and coincident with the increased expression of HSP70 and HSP90. This result is consistent with the anti-glutamatergic profile of riluzole and the presence of multiple heat shock elements on the GLT1 gene promoter, suggesting that riluzole may modulate GLT1 expression through HSF1. The increased HSP chaperones and GLT1 transporter blunted glutamate-induced and N-methyl D-aspartate receptor-mediated excitotoxic death. In summary, we show that riluzole increased the amount and activity of HSF1 to boost the expression of HSPs and GLT1 for neuroprotection under stress.