Complete Chloroplast Genome of Topotype Material of the Coast Live Oak Quercus agrifolia Née var. agrifolia (Fagaceae) from California.

Here, we present the chloroplast genome sequence of Quercus agrifolia Née, the California live oak, an ecologically important oak species along the coast of California. The genome is 161,283 bp in length, encodes 132 genes, and has a high level of gene synteny to other Fagaceae.

High trait anxiety blocks olfactory plasticity induced by aversive learning.

Aversive learning normally induces alterations in sensory function as the brain's sensory systems are tuned to optimize detection and discrimination of threat-predictive stimuli. Anxiety disorders can disrupt behavioral discrimination between threat-predictive and neutral stimuli, resulting in overgeneralization of negative affective responses to non-threatening situations. We thus hypothesized that anxiety could disrupt learning-induced improvement in sensory discrimination. We tested perceptual discrimination between similar odorants before and after discriminative aversive conditioning. Participants exhibiting normal levels of trait anxiety developed a larger skin conductance response (SCR) to the shock-predictive odorant and substantial improvement in their perceptual discrimination between the two odors. Repeated exposure to the odors without shock partially extinguished the SCRs but the perceptual effect persisted. By contrast, participants with high levels of trait anxiety developed comparably sized SCRs to both odors and displayed no perceptual improvement. Learning-induced perceptual plasticity can thus be impaired in people with high levels of trait anxiety.

The complete chloroplast genome of the threatened Napa False Indigo Amorpha californica var. napensis Jeps. 1925 (Fabaceae) from Northern California, USA.

Amorpha californica var. napensis Jeps. 1925, the Napa false indigo, is a threatened shrub endemic to northern California. Here the complete chloroplast genome of topotype material of var. napensis was assembled and characterized to contribute to the bioinformatics, systematics, and conservation of this variety. The chloroplast genome (GenBank accession OK274088) is 158,294 base pairs (bp) in length, encodes 130 genes including 85 protein-coding, 37 tRNA, 8 rRNA, and shows a high-level of gene synteny to other Papilionoideae. Phylogenetic analysis fully resolved var. napensis in a clade with A. fruticosa L. and A. roemeriana Scheele, sister to the Dalbergieae. The newly sequenced chloroplast genome shows that the genetic differences between var. napensis and Amorpha californica Nutt. var. californica are greater than the variation observed between var. napensis and many other Amorpha spp. sequences deposited in GenBank. These data suggest that var. napensis should be elevated to full species rank.

Emotion regulation therapy for cancer caregivers-an open trial of a mechanism-targeted approach to addressing caregiver distress.

Informal caregivers (ICs) are integral to care provided to patients facing life-threatening or incurable illnesses. This responsibility causes considerable burden, as approximately one half of ICs report clinically significant symptoms of depression and/or anxiety that persist when left untreated. Psychosocial interventions containing efficacious treatment principles (e.g., cognitive behavior therapy [CBT]) show disappointing results in reducing anxiety and depression in ICs. This may reflect failure of these interventions to specifically target crucial mechanisms underlying the central feature of distress caused by the patient's illness-notably, perseverative negative thinking (PNT). Emotion Regulation Therapy (ERT) is an efficacious CBT developed to explicitly target mechanisms underlying PNT and the emotional concomitants that arise in response to stressful situations. This open trial was conducted to evaluate the acceptability and initial efficacy of ERT adapted to the experience of cancer ICs (ERT-C). Thirty-one ICs provided informed consent and completed eight weekly individual sessions of ERT-C. Participants completed self-report measures of depression and anxiety symptoms, PNT, emotion regulation deficits, and caregiver burden before and after treatment. ERT-C was well tolerated as indicated by 22 treatment completers and feedback provided in exit interviews. ICs demonstrated reduced depression and anxiety symptoms, PNT, and emotion regulation deficits with moderate to large effect sizes (Hedge's g range: 0.36-0.92). Notably, caregiver burden was not reduced but ICs expressed more ability to confront caregiving-related challenges. Findings offer promising but preliminary support for ERT-C as a conceptual model and treatment modality for distressed cancer ICs.

Streamlining a blood center and hospital transfusion service supply chain with an informatics vendor-managed inventory solution: development, implementation, and 3-month follow-up.

BACKGROUND: The ordering process at Stanford Health Care involved twice-daily shipments predicated upon current stock levels from the blood center to the hospital transfusion service. Manual census determination is time consuming and error prone. We aimed to enhance inventory management by developing an informatics platform to streamline the ordering process and reallocate staff productivity. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: The general inventory accounts for more than 50 product categories based on characteristics including component, blood type, irradiation status, and cytomegalovirus serology status. Over a 5-month calibration period, inventory levels were determined algorithmically and electronically. An in-house software program was created to determine inventory levels, optimize the electronic ordering process, and reduce labor time. A 3-month pilot period was implemented using this program. RESULTS: This system showed noninferiority while saving labor time. The average weekly transfused:stocked ratios for cryoprecipitate, plasma, and red blood cells, respectively, were 1.03, 1.21, and 1.48 before the pilot period, compared with 0.88, 1.17, and 1.40 during (p = 0.28). There were 27 (before) and 31 (during) average STAT units ordered per week (p = 0.86). The number of monthly wasted products due to expiration was 226 (before) and 196 (during) units, respectively (p = 0.28). An estimated 7 hours per week of technologist time was reallocated to other tasks. CONCLUSION: An in-house electronic ordering system can enhance information fidelity, reallocate and optimize valuable staff productivity, and further standardize ordering. This system showed noninferiority to the labor-intensive manual system while freeing up over 360 hours of staff time per year.

Hierarchically Porous Graphitic Carbon with Simultaneously High Surface Area and Colossal Pore Volume Engineered via Ice Templating.

Developing hierarchical porous carbon (HPC) materials with competing textural characteristics such as surface area and pore volume in one material is difficult to accomplish, particularly for an atomically ordered graphitic carbon. Herein we describe a synthesis strategy to engineer tunable HPC materials across micro-, meso-, and macroporous length scales, allowing the fabrication of a graphitic HPC material (HPC-G) with both very high surface area (>2500 m2/g) and pore volume (>11 cm3/g), the combination of which has not been attained previously. The mesopore volume alone for these materials is up to 7.53 cm3/g, the highest ever reported, higher than even any porous carbon's total pore volume, which for our HPC-G material was >11 cm3/g. This HPC-G material was explored for use both as a supercapacitor electrode and for oil adsorption, two applications that require either high surface area or large pore volume, textural properties that are typically exclusive to one another. We accomplished these high textural characteristics by employing ice templating not only as a route for macroporous formation but as a synergistic vehicle that enabled the significant loading of the mesoporous hard template. This design scheme for HPC-G materials can be utilized in broad applications, including electrochemical systems such as batteries and supercapacitors, sorbents, and catalyst supports, particularly supports where a high degree of thermal stability is required.