Memorial Fund Research Articles

Sex differences in houselessness, injection drug use, and mental health conditions among people newly diagnosed with HIV in Manitoba, Canada from 2018 to 2021: a retrospective cohort study

Manitoba saw the highest number of new HIV diagnoses in the province's history in 2021 and is the only Canadian province not meeting any of the previous UNAIDS 90-90-90 targets. Our goal was to describe sex differences and syndemic conditions within an incident HIV cohort in Manitoba, and the HIV treatment initiation and undetectable viral load outcomes. This was a retrospective cohort study of all people 18 years and older newly diagnosed with HIV in Manitoba, Canada between January 1st, 2018 and December 31st, 2021. Data was collected as follows: before HIV diagnosis: chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis, and/or hepatitis C antibodies. At the time of HIV diagnosis: age, sex, gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation. During follow-up: CD4 counts, viral load, HIV treatment, hospitalizations, and number of visits to HIV care. Main exposures evaluated: methamphetamine use, injection drug use, houselessness, and mental health conditions. Outcomes: started antiretroviral treatment and achieved an undetectable viral load. A descriptive statistical analysis was used. There were 404 new HIV diagnoses in Manitoba from 2018 to 2021; 44.8% were female, 55.2% male; 76.% self-identified as Indigenous, 13.4% white/European, 4.7% African/black; 86.6% cis-gender; 60.9% heterosexual, 13.4% gay, bisexual and men who have sex with men, and 1.7% lesbian. Injection drug use was reported by 71.8% and 43.5% of females and males respectively. Methamphetamine was the most frequently injected drug (62.4%). Amongst females, 81.8% experienced at least one of the following: houselessness (43.1%), mental health comorbidities (46.4%), and injection drug use (71.8%). Only 64.9% of all individuals had an undetectable viral load (61.1% females and 67.9% males), 56.5% among people experiencing houselessness, 59% among young people (≤29 years), and 60.1% among people who inject drugs. People newly diagnosed with HIV in Manitoba are disproportionately experiencing houselessness, mental illness, and injection drug use (mostly methamphetamine). This pattern is more pronounced for female individuals. These findings highlight the need for syndemic and gender-specific approaches, simultaneously addressing social and health conditions, to treat HIV. This work was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, The Manitoba Medical Service Foundation, The James Farley Memorial Fund and the Canada Research Chairs Program.

Tipping the balance — the move of aging females towards higher ERβ:ERα ratio and away from estrogen mediated vascular protection

Objective: The menopausal transition, marked by the cessation of endogenous estrogen production, is a hallmark of vascular aging in women, as the vascular function radically declines in the years hereafter (Parker et al. 2010). Primarily based on animal and in-vitro studies (Novella et al. 2012; Novensà et al. 2011; Park et al. 2017) it has been hypothesized that this is linked to menopause-dependent changes in the balance between the two dominant estrogen receptors, ERα and ERβ; as previous studies suggest that ERα favors NO-bioavailability whereas ERβ mediates increases in oxidative stress. However, it remains unresolved how aging actually influences changes in the balance between ERα and ERβ in skeletal muscle of females and how changes are related to downstream protein targets such as eNOS and NADPH oxidases. Study design: We measured skeletal muscle protein expression of estrogen receptors, androgen receptors, eNOS, SOD2, GPX1, gp91phox/-NOX2 and NOX4 in 82 females ranging from 20-70 yrs. of age. For age comparisons, data from the muscle biopsies were grouped by 5-year intervals. Statistical analyses were conducted by on one-way ANOVA and Pearson’s product moment correlations Results: The ERβ:ERα ratio was significantly higher in the 65+ yrs. compared to all other groups (p<0.01) and correlation analysis revealed that the ERβ/ERα ratio increased with aging (p=0.02, R2=0.07). The 65+ yrs. group presented a lower eNOS expression (p<0.05) than the 20-54 yrs. groups and correlation analysis showed a decrease in eNOS expression with aging (p=0.0002 R2=0.16). Gp91phox/-NOX2 expression correlated with ERβ and the expression of gp91phox/NOX2 (p=<0.0001 R2=0.4) was lower in the three middle groups, 45-59 yrs., compared with both the younger and older groups (p<0.05). ERα correlated with the antioxidants SOD2 and GPX1 (p=0.0001 R2=0.18 and p=<0.0001 R2=0.21, respectively). Conclusions: This study is the first to show that skeletal muscle expression of ERβ:ERα increases with age and that the expression of eNOS in skeletal muscle declines as a function of age in females. Our data also provides indirect support for that aging is associated with a shift from a more prominent ERα coupled antioxidant effect, through - SOD2/GPX1 related mechanisms, towards a more pro-oxidant environment through an ERβ mediated upregulation of Gp91phox/-NOX2. This shift, combined with the observation of an age induced decline in eNOS expression, could be mechanisms underlying reduced NO bioavailability in aging females. Further analyses are ongoing to throw light in these mechanisms and additional studies are warranted to fully elucidate the mechanistic pathways involved. Funding The study was funded by The Danish Ministry of Culture Fund for Research in Sports, The Independent Research Fund Denmark, Eva and Henry Frænkel Memorial Fund, and the Toyota Foundation. The study is part of The Copenhagen Women Study for which fi- nancial support was provided by the University of Copenhagen Excellence Programme for Interdisciplinary Research. The study was also supported by The Danish Ministry of Culture: Sports Research. Financial support is greatly appreciated from the Aarhus University Research Foundation (AUFF); the Hartmann Foundation; the A.P. Møller Foundation; the Toyota-Fonden, Denmark; and the Augustinus Foundation and Team Denmark. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

Roger Brocket Memorial Fund

Roger Brocket Memorial Fund

Abstract C001: A pilot study of palliadelic treatment with psilocybin to reduce psychological distress and improve quality of life in patients with advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma

Abstract Background: Psychological distress is a common reaction to a cancer diagnosis and its treatment. Distress impacts quality of life, adherence to treatment, decision making and survival. Patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC) experience exceptionally high rates of psychological distress, most commonly depression, anxiety and suicidality. Psilocybin, a serotonergic psychedelic which is the active component in “magic mushrooms,” is a promising treatment for several mental health disorders. Prior studies in patients with cancer have combined a single dose of psilocybin with preparation and integration counseling and have shown significant, rapid and sustained improvement in depression, anxiety and quality of life. These studies have primarily been conducted in psychiatry or neuroscience clinics in heterogenous groups of patients, many of whom had completed cancer treatment. This study will evaluate the feasibility and safety of psilocybin-assisted therapy delivered in the outpatient palliative care clinic in patients with advanced PDAC who are receiving chemotherapy. Methods: This is a single center, open label pilot study of a psilocybin-assisted therapy integrated with palliative care in patients with advanced PDAC. The primary endpoints are the feasibility and safety of this strategy when integrated into routine palliative care. Secondary endpoints include short term changes in depression, anxiety and demoralization and changes in neuronal activity by functional MRI (fMRI). After 2-4 outpatient preparation sessions with a palliative medicine physician (PMP), the subject will take psilocybin (25mg capsule) at an individual session supported by a PMP and a trained mental health professional. Up to 3 integration sessions with a PMP will follow. Patient-reported measures of psychological distress and quality of life will be assessed at baseline, after the psilocybin dose and periodically during follow-up. Neuronal changes will be measured using fMRI before and after the psilocybin dose. Eligible patients are adults (ECOG 0-3) with advanced PDAC with adequate organ function. Patients with psychiatric conditions which preclude safe cessation of psychotropic drugs or requires hospitalization, a personal or family history of schizophrenia, psychotic disorder or bipolar disorder, who have a high risk of suicide or have serious or uncontrolled hypertension or cardiovascular disease are ineligible. Given the exploratory nature of the study, a formal statistical assessment of the sample size was not conducted. Twelve evaluable subjects will provide sufficient power to detect large effect sizes (Cohen’s d1.0) in the secondary endpoints. Wilcoxon signed rank test will determine the reduction in distress scores before and after the psilocybin session. Enrollment began in June 2023; two subjects have enrolled. The study is funded by the Jim Young Pancreatic Cancer Research Memorial Fund. Psilocybin is provided by Usona. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05220046 Citation Format: Kelsey A. Klute, Lou Lukas, Soonjo Hwang, Yeongjin Gwon, Mridula Krishnan, Jean Grem, Sunil Hingorani, Jody Koenig Kellas. A pilot study of palliadelic treatment with psilocybin to reduce psychological distress and improve quality of life in patients with advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference in Cancer Research: Pancreatic Cancer; 2023 Sep 27-30; Boston, Massachusetts. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(2 Suppl):Abstract nr C001.

Contested Statues: The Clive Memorial Fund, Imperial Heroes, and the Reimaginings of Indian History

AbstractThis article considers the Clive Memorial Fund and the campaigns surrounding proposed statues to Robert Clive in London and Calcutta between 1907 and 1912. The author argues that this campaign was an attempt to glorify Clive's actions, focused on the battle of Plassey and its aftermath, as foundation stones for the Indian Empire. The statues were an anxious attempt to situate Britain as a natural part of Indian history, but the campaign instead provoked a developing Indian counternarrative around resistance to colonial rule, particularly from newspapers in Bengal. Although the fund garnered support in Britain, it was greeted in India with official irritation and widespread Indian opposition, highlighting the importance of considering imperial statues in their imperial frame. This reaction, demonizing Clive's treachery and praising his opponent, Siraj-ud-Daula, the nawab of Bengal, was indicative of the place of history in both Bengali nationalism and imperial self-identity. Using newspapers in Britain and Bengal and the correspondence of the Clive Memorial Committee, the author examines the competing narratives of history that emerged in the campaigns around the fund.

The Margaret Wrong Memorial Fund, Late Colonial Development, and the Prizing of African Literatures, 1950–62

ABSTRACT: As scholars such as Caroline Ritter have recently demonstrated, late colonial development policy exercised significant influence on the print culture infrastructures of decolonizing African nations. The history of the Margaret Wrong Memorial Fund (MWMF) and its literary prize (1950–62) renders visible the influence of the ideology of late colonial development on this emergent field: while the positioning of language in the field was bound up in the metropolitan conferral of literary legitimacy on European languages (and, conversely, in African struggles to confer the same legitimacy on African vernaculars), the positioning of language in the surrounding field of power formed the site of a different kind of struggle regarding late colonial development in British Africa. Those members of the MWMF administrative committee who advocated after 1949 and through the 1950s for the inclusion of African vernaculars were appealing to the early twentieth-century ideology of Phelps-Stokeism, a theory of differentiated education for Africans that was based on a Social Darwinist assumption of racial inferiority. Associated with Wrong’s interwar and wartime work for the International Committee on Christian Literature for Africa and particularly with the late colonial development impulses of this work, the Phelps-Stokeist rationale for legitimizing African languages does not always line up neatly with African nationalist and anticolonial motivations for supporting vernaculars. The influence of late colonial development on the emergence of the postcolonial field of cultural production matters: the history of this field must be tracked via the metropolitan (British) welfare state and the emergent postwar development paradigm, both of which shaped debates about language, for instance, that have long been attributed to the influence of metropolitan publishers and the African nationalisms of figures such as Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, among other forces.

Арт. Феличе. Воспоминания актрисы (Людмила Андреевна Ямщикова-Дмитриева: к 130-летию со дня рождения)

We dedicate the publication of a fragment of the fictionalized autobiography of Lyudmila Andreevna Yamshchikova-Dmitrieva (1893‒1978), “Aktrisa” (“The Actress”), to her memory and her 130th anniversary. Another forgotten name that did not continue the ancestral branch of its famous ancestors Rokotov and Tolstoy. She left no descendants, was a dramatic actress and writer, made a certain contribution to Russian historical prose for young people in the first half of the 20th century and memorably served the theater, playing the main roles in plays of classical and modern repertoire. According to the memoirs of the playwright V.S. Rozov, who personally knew Lyudmila Andreevna and her mother, Margarita Vladimirovna Yamshchikova (1872‒1959), known in literature under the pseudonym Al. Altaev, Lyudmila shone on the provincial stage for about thirty years, quietly, imperceptibly died within the walls of the Leningrad House of Veterans of the Scene, named after her unforgettable teacher M.G. Savina. In literature, Lyudmila Andreevna performed under the pseudonym Art. Felice: that was the name of the “Ovod” (“Gadfly”) in the novel of the same name by E. Voynich, wrote books from the history of England, Italy, and the Netherlands, small biographies for children about great scientists, inventors, was a co-author of her mother in several works. The manuscript “Aktrisa” (“The Actress”), a fragment of which is offered to readers, has two copies. They are kept in the Altaev Memorial Fund (Coll. 1370) and in the fund of the Altaev Literary Memorial Museum, which is located in the village of Lositsy in the Plyussky district of the Pskov region, in the former Log estate. Lyudmila Yamshchikova herself did not intend for the manuscript “The Actress” to be published, but for those who are engaged in the history of the Russian provincial theater, this material will be very useful both in historical and research terms.

'A proposal for research in the epidemiology of psychiatric disorders', by Alexander H Leighton (1950).

The Classic Text is an outline of the Stirling County Study as conceptualized by Alexander H Leighton. It was first presented at a conference held in 1949 organized by the Milbank Memorial Fund, an American philanthropic foundation. The meeting brought together 30-40 experts from across North America. Leighton succinctly explained his frame of reference for the epidemiology of mental disorders and the methodology of the community-based study he conducted in Nova Scotia. The introduction to the text explains contextual points, certain specificities of Leighton's framework, and the discussions that surrounded it, largely dominated by a group of Harvard professors, including Erich Lindemann and John E Gordon.

IEEE Roger Brockett Memorial Fund

IEEE Roger Brockett Memorial Fund

Paying the Debts of the ‘Economy of Sacrifice’: Military Charities as Brokers in Veteran Care, 1919–1929

This article examines the hitherto overlooked contribution of military charities to veteran welfare and reintegration after the First World War. I use the records of the King’s Own Scottish Borderers Association War Memorial Fund (KOSB WMF), which operated similarly to other regimental charities, to argue that the scale of this apparatus – its social reach and its funding capacity – may be comparable to the better-known and nationally recognised British Legion. It thus represents an important arena to examine processes that informed veteran reintegration, especially for the wider, non-disabled veteran population whose experiences have been largely omitted from histories of veteran welfare. These archives not only demonstrate the interventions of military associational life in veteran welfare. They also provide an entry point to examine how the system worked holistically. Military charities, like the KOSB WMF, represented one of a range of agencies that cooperated to support veterans in the ‘mixed economy of welfare’. Their bureaucratic archival traces provide a productive route to illuminate the relationships behind fund allocation and delivery and to assess what politics animated these processes.

Celebrating Judith Masters and introducing a memorial fund to support scholars under‐represented in biogeography

Celebrating Judith Masters and introducing a memorial fund to support scholars under‐represented in biogeography

Use of probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) exhibit compositional changes in their gut microbiome, which represents a potential therapeutic target. Probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics are microbiome-targeted therapies that have been proposed as treatment for NAFLD. We aim to systematically review the effects of these therapies in liver-related outcomes of NAFLD patients. We conducted a systematic search in Embase (Ovid), Medline (Ovid), Scopus, Cochrane, and EBSCOhost from inception to August 19, 2022. We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that treated NAFLD patients with prebiotics and/or probiotics. We meta-analyzed the outcomes using standardized mean difference (SMD) and assessed study heterogeneity using Cochran's Q test and I2 statistics. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Risk-of-Bias 2 tool. A total of 41 (18 probiotics, 17 synbiotics, and 6 prebiotics) RCTs were included. Pooled data demonstrated that the intervention had significantly improved liver steatosis (measured by ultrasound grading) (SMD: 4.87; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.27, 7.25), fibrosis (SMD: -0.61kPa; 95% CI: -1.12, -0.09kPa), and liver enzymes including alanine transaminase (SMD: -0.86U/L; 95% CI: -1.16, -0.56U/L), aspartate transaminase (SMD: -0.87U/L; 95% CI: -1.22, -0.52U/L), and gamma-glutamyl transferase (SMD: -0.77U/L; 95% CI: -1.26, -0.29U/L). Microbiome-targeted therapies were associated with significant improvements in liver-related outcomes in NAFLD patients. Nevertheless, limitations in existing literature like heterogeneity in probiotic strains, dosage, and formulation undermine our findings. This study was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42022354562) and supported by the Nanyang Technological University Start-up Grant and Wang Lee Wah Memorial Fund.

Diagnosis of imminent placentitis in mares

Pregnancy loss and neonatal mortality have a significant economic impact on the equine industry. Placentitis is a common cause of abortion, stillbirths, and neonatal infections. Early diagnosis of placentitis allows prompt treatment and increases the chances of a pregnancy reaching term. Our study was designed to identify blood parameters that are diagnostic of imminent placentitis under natural conditions. We hypothesized that differences from physiological parameters of a healthy pregnancy indicate imminent placentitis. Blood sample collections and reproductive exams were prospectively performed, monthly, between 180 to 320 days of gestation, in a cohort of mares from 2 large broodmare herds in Lexington, KY. Twelve mares were diagnosed with placentitis based on rectal ultrasonographic examination (opening at the cervix, thickened placenta, fluid collection, placental edema, and/or placental separation). Blood samples collected on the day of placentitis diagnosis were designated as early onset, and the blood samples collected in the previous reproductive exam with no ultrasonographic abnormalities of the fetoplacental unit were named as pre-onset (before placentitis diagnosis). In addition, 12 gestion and age-matched control mares carrying healthy pregnancies based on the same parameters were paired to the mares with placentitis. We measured several immunological, inflammatory, and hormonal parameters (Table 1). Values were compared between groups within the same timepoint (placentitis vs control) and between timepoints (pre-onset vs early onset) using Paired Student's T test and Mann-Whitney U test, and significance set at p < 0.05. According to the gestational age, the interval between pre-onset timepoint and the diagnosis of placentitis (early onset) was around 40 days (227±6 days and 267±5 days, respectively).No differences were found between groups and timepoints for immunological and inflammatory parameters in the maternal circulation, including serum amyloid A (SAA) and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP). Both proteins have been shown to markedly increase in maternal circulation after experimental induction of placentitis. In the hormonal analyses, no differences were found in plasma progesterone levels and estradiol-17β/progesterone ratio. Plasma estradiol-17β concentration approached statistical difference (p=0.08) in mares at early onset of placentitis (408±35 pg/mL) compared to the control group (498±35 pg/mL). In conclusion, our data showed that early events of spontaneous placentitis do not increase inflammatory and immunological parameters in the maternal circulation. In addition, plasma estradiol-17β may be further investigated as an early indicator of placental dysfunction in mares with naturally occurring placentitis. Acknowledgments: We thank the Harry M. Zweig Memorial Fund for Equine Research for supporting our study.

Electrocardiographic characteristics of definite drug induced Brugada patients

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: Private grant(s) and/or Sponsorship. Main funding source(s): The Robert Lancaster Memorial Fund sponsored by McColl’s Research Group British Heart Foundation. Background Clinical, electrocardiographic, and genomic factors associated with the development of the drug induced type 1 Brugada pattern (DI-T1BP), in response to sodium channel blocker provocation (SCBP) have been investigated. However, these prior analyses have mostly been concerned with the prediction of the DI-T1BP rather than the strength or validity of the diagnosis of Brugada syndrome (BrS). We sought to analyse and compare the ECG response to SCBP with Ajmaline in a cohort of healthy subjects (Healthy Controls) and clinical patients with a DI-T1BP and a Shanghai Score (ShS) &amp;gt;3.5 (Definite-BrS group). Methods From an existing clinical cohort of consecutive patients investigated at our centre between 2010 - 2022, we identified those with a DI-T1BP and a ShS &amp;gt;3.5. Respondents to a national advertisement, completed an online medical questionnaire. Those fulfilling the inclusion criteria were invited to undergo further evaluation with eligible subjects being recruited to the healthy control group. All subjects received a diagnostic AP (1mg/kg max. 100mg over 5 minutes). A continuous ECG was recorded in the standard and high right precordial lead (HRPL) position. Automated analysis of conventional and novel ECG measurements were made at baseline and at peak drug effect, which was defined as the point of maximum QRS duration (excluding precordial leads). Results One hundred healthy controls and 166 patients with definite BrS were recruited, Table 1.0. This included 51 (31%) BrS probands. In the definite BrS group, the mean pre-ajmaline ShS was 2.1 (± 0.80) and mean final ShS was 4.3 (± 0.75). In comparison to healthy controls, the time to peak drug effect was significantly earlier in definite BrS patients, 05:18 (±02:05) vs. 05:59 (± 01:20). Whilst the increase in global QRS duration was greater in the definite BrS group, ∆37.78ms (± 18.16ms) vs. ∆25.66ms (±11.98) P&amp;lt;0.01, the increase in PR interval was greater in the healthy control group, ∆43.36ms (±17.27ms) vs. ∆20.77ms (±31.64ms), P&amp;lt;0.01. Compared to the healthy controls, the definite BrS group experienced a pronounced increase in anterior ST-J point amplitude ∆27.58µV (±27.70) vs. 115.37µV(±106.41), P&amp;lt;0.01, respectively. In contrast, whilst there was a reduction in inferior and lateral ST-J point amplitude in the definite BrS group, healthy controls demonstrated an increase in amplitude in these regions, Table 2.0. Mean QRS area was significantly greater at peak drug effect in the definite BrS group, ∆0.14V/s (±0.31) vs. ∆-0.20 (±0.18), P &amp;lt;0.01, whilst T wave area showed a reduction. Conclusion In addition to the DI-T1BP patients with definite BrS experience a number of ECG characteristics that might allow for a quantitative refinement of the diagnosis.

Clinical trial report: the electrocardiographic response to ajmaline provocation in healthy subjects

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: Foundation. Main funding source(s): British Heart Foundation The Robert Lancaster Memorial Fund sponsored by McColl’s Research Group Background The electrocardiographic (ECG) response to diagnostic ajmaline provocation (AP) testing has been studied extensively in clinical cohorts. However, the healthy ECG response has not been described. We undertook a trial examining ECG changes in response to AP in a cohort of systematically recruited asymptomatic Caucasian healthy subjects with no family history of sudden death and normal baseline ECG and echocardiogram. Methods Applicants responded to a national recruitment advertisement and completed an online medical questionnaire. Those fulfilling inclusion criteria were invited to undergo further evaluation with eligible subjects undergoing a diagnostic ajmaline challenge (1mg/kg, max. 100mg over 5 minutes). A continuous ECG was recorded in the standard and high right precordial lead (HRPL) position. Automated analysis of conventional and novel ECG measurements were made at baseline and at peak drug effect, which was defined as the point of maximum QRS duration (excluding precordial leads). Results One hundred healthy Caucasian subjects underwent AP. The mean age was 26.84 years (SD ± 8.01 years) and 52% were male. A drug induced type 1 Brugada pattern (DI-T1BP) was observed in 3/100 (3%) of the cohort. We performed a paired comparison of ECG measures at baseline versus peak drug effect (Table 1). AP had a similar effect on global QRS duration and global PR interval, with both increasing by 28%, mean ∆ 25.66ms and mean ∆ 43.36ms respectively. Changes in S wave parameters in lead II were pronounced, with a 97% increase in S wave duration and a 101% increase in S wave negative amplitude. ST-J point elevation in the anterior, inferior, and lateral regions was comparable, with a 57%, 51% and 57% increase in ST-J amplitude respectively. AP had a greater effect on cardiac conduction in females compared to males (Table 2). In contrast, changes in STJ point amplitude and combined and segmented QRST segment area were greater in males. Conclusion The healthy ECG response to AP elicits a pronounced effect on cardiac conduction, more so in females compared to males, whilst changes in STJ point amplitude and QRST area were greater in male subjects. The DI-T1BP is part of the healthy response to AP.

Maternal exercise improves markers of metabolic signaling and reduces inflammation in brown adipose tissue of offspring

Maternal obesity impacts approximately one-third of pregnant people and impacts offspring through the transmission of obesogenic and diabetic traits. Pregnant patients often spend considerable time sedentary, which has been associated with harmful cardiometabolic changes. Our recent data show that compared with sedentary conditions, voluntary exercise during pregnancy in mice shifts adipose distribution of offspring away from energy storing white adipose tissue towards energy burning brown adipose tissue (BAT), which could improve energy metabolism over the lifespan. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that voluntary exercise in pregnant mice improves metabolic signaling pathways and reduces markers of inflammation in BAT from offspring. To test this, female C57BL/6J mice were placed on control diet and allocated to sedentary versus voluntary running wheel exercise cages. Voluntary wheel running was allowed for two weeks prior to breeding and throughout weaning. When offspring were 16 weeks of age, they were euthanized for collection of BAT. The study groups were male sedentary (n=9), female sedentary (n=11), male exercise (n=12), female exercise (n=8). Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to measure mRNA of fibroblast-growth factor receptors (β-klotho, Fgfr1, Fgfr2) and inflammation markers (IL10, IL1β, TNFα) in BAT. Outcomes were analyzed by two-way ANOVA to assess effects of exercise, sex, and their interaction. Offspring from exercised mothers had a significant decrease in mRNA of IL1β (1.4±0.4 male sedentary vs. 0.4±0.1 male exercise vs. 1.1±0.2 female sedentary vs. 0.8 ±0.2 female exercise; PSex=0.668, PEX=0.006, PInt=0.098) and TNFα (0.9±0.1 male sedentary vs. 0.5±0.1 male exercise vs. 1.3±0.3 female sedentary vs. 0.6 ±0.1 female exercise; PSex=0.126, PEX=0.007, PInt=0.562) and an increase in Fgfr2 (1.1±0.2 male sedentary vs. 1.7±0.3 male exercise vs. 1.3±0.3 female sedentary vs. 3.8 ±1.2 female exercise; PSex=0.063, PEX=0.011, PInt=0.096) in BAT, which was largely independent of sex. There was no significant main effect of either sex or exercise on IL10, Fgfr1, or β-klotho mRNA in BAT. These data suggest that maternal exercise is associated with decreased inflammation and increased protective metabolic signaling in BAT. This could impact energy metabolism given increasing evidence for advantageous metabolic adaptations with increased BAT health and signaling. Additional studies are needed to further understand the impact of maternal exercise on adipose health, energy metabolism, and cardiovascular outcomes in offspring over the lifespan. American Heart Association Undergraduate Summer Fellowship, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Penn State Milton S Hershey Medical Center, and Dani Peress MD Memorial Fund from the Society of Maternal Fetal Medicine This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2023 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

In Case You Haven't Heard …

A memorial fund has been created to support people facing mental health challenges in honor of Cheslie Kryst, who was a Charlotte, North Carolina native and former Miss USA, WSOC‐TV 9 reported Jan. 30. Kryst died by suicide on Jan. 30, 2022 (see “Suicide in the Black community renews discussions about MH access, supports,” MHW, Feb. 21, 2022; https://doi.org/10.1002/mhw.33119). Now, one year after her death, her family is partnering with the National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI) to launch the Cheslie C. Kryst Memorial Fund for Mental Health. Kryst, in addition to being a former Miss USA, was an attorney and Extra‐TV correspondent. Kryst's mom, April Simpkins, first announced the fund earlier this month at the Miss Universe pageant. “The Cheslie you saw didn't always match the way she felt inside,” Simpkins said while announcing the fund. “Just because someone tells you they're fine, doesn't mean they are.” The goal of the memorial fund is to “honor her legacy and provide help and hope to others experiencing mental health challenges, including high‐functioning depression,” a news release read.

The Critical Reception of Mark Twain's Introduction to English as She is Taught

The Critical Reception of Mark Twain's Introduction to <i>English as She is Taught</i>

Edgar Sydenstricker, a pioneer of health economics

The economist Edgar Sydenstricker, who spent most of his working life at the United States Public Health Service and at the Milbank Memorial Fund, examined a wide range of health economics issues. He contributed to the debate around the cause of the disease pellagra. This research was followed by many studies quantifying income-related health inequalities. Sydenstricker was heavily involved in the use of surveys to collect information and he was instrumental in the development of the first US National Health Survey. Other contributions include extending health insurance in the United States and methods of evaluating public health programs.

Krebs Memorial Fund 2022 awardees

Krebs Memorial Fund 2022 awardees