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Inoculant Rate and Nodulation on Peanut and suggestions for proper handling and application of Rhizobium Inoculants
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Do People Support Physician-Assisted Euthanasia More for Physical or Psychiatric Illnesses?
Get PDFEuthanasia, often known as "killing on request," refers to the intentional giving of drugs to a patient by a medical practitioner at that patient's competent and willing request. According to earlier studies, most wealthy countries have seen strong public support for euthanasia over the past 30 years, but medical endorsement has been less universal. This study examined support for access to physician-assisted euthanasia for physical and psychiatric illnesses to examine potential differences in support based on the illness type and whether one's belief in free will is associated with physician-assisted euthanasia support. We obtained a sample of undergraduate students from Texas A&M University who answered a questionnaire that assessed the extent to which they believe in free will and their reactions to several vignettes about different physical-assisted euthanasia scenarios. These items were examined along with items like religiosity and political orientation. It was hypothesized that those who had a high belief in free will would be more in favor of the administration of euthanasia to a patient by a doctor for both psychiatric and physical illnesses. A repeated measures ANOVA found that individuals were more in favor of physician-assisted euthanasia being granted for physical rather than psychiatric illnesses. Additionally, a Pearson correlation found that free will beliefs were negatively related to support for physician-assisted euthanasia. Women expressed greater support for the granting of physician-assisted euthanasia, encompassing both physical and psychiatric illnesses, compared to men. Support for physician-assisted euthanasia was notably linked to political orientation and religiosity for both types of illnesses as well. Those who are more politically liberal reported more support for physician-assisted euthanasia; furthermore, those with higher levels of religiosity reported less support for physician-assisted euthanasia
Genomic Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance Under Selective Pressure in Treated Cancer Patients
Get PDFThe development of antibiotic resistance by opportunistic pathogens is a growing concern in healthcare. Although resistance is naturally occurring, the overuse of antibiotics has affected the efficacy and reliability of antibiotics to treat infections. As well, overuse of antibiotics is accelerating resistance rates. This project investigates the genomic evolution of antibiotic resistance under selective pressure among strains of bacteria collected during antibiotic and chemotherapy administration for Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). Stool samples and infection isolates were longitudinally collected from treated AML patients. 16S amplicon-sequencing was used to identify stool samples that could be colonized with antibiotic resistant pathogens. Selective and differential media along with MALDI-TOF and VITEK2 were used to extract and identify antibiotic resistant pathogens. DNA was extracted from the bacterial isolates, and whole genome sequencing analysis was performed to understand genetic mutations leading to antibiotic resistance or virulence within patient longitudinal isolates. A species and antibiotic frequently seen to cause a specific genetic change across multiple patients was selected for in vitro analysis. The in vitro genetic changes were compared to that of the in vivo patient data. Understanding the genetic changes that lead to antibiotic resistance in bacteria under antibiotic selective pressure may help inform antimicrobial stewardship practices and improve the outcomes of cancer patients
Characterization of Copper and Iron Trafficking Between the Cytosol and Mitochondria of Saccharomyces cerevisiae
No full textMetals are essential to biological systems. Their acquisition from the environment must be balanced by homeostatic and trafficking mechanisms in order to prevent damage associated with dysregulation. Further understanding of these systems has implications for the advancement of treatment strategies regarding metal-associated diseases. We have primarily utilized M��ssbauer spectroscopy and a combination of liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry to characterize Fe and Cu species in the model eukaryotic organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
We initially set out to establish the necessity of vacuolar functionality in eventual iron trafficking to the mitochondria. We found that V-ATPase deficiency resulted in the altered oxidation state of the storage form of Fe within vacuoles from Fe(III) to Fe(II). Our results indicated that vacuoles were not an essential component of an Fe trafficking pathway to the mitochondria.
We identified a coeluting species in the cytosol and IMS of yeast as the Cu-binding metallothionein CUP1, which constituted a significant proportion of mitochondrial Cu. Import of CUP1 into the mitochondrial IMS appeared to be independent of OM pores. The concentration of LMM Cu complexes within the mitochondria, either in the IMS or the matrix, were far lower than anticipated.
We also characterized the components of the cytosolic Cu pool. We detected numerous Cu-bound proteins and LMM complexes, a surprising proportion of which were present in the apo- form. We found that the pool diversified at high levels of supplemented Cu, but also that these new species did not affect FeS cluster fidelity nor induce Cu toxicity