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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.