For the past nine years, we have been offering an interdisciplinary course for science majors: The Biology and Chemistry of Brewing. This course is primarily laboratory-and inquiry-based; from a total of 24 h of student/instructor contact time, approximately 6 h are devoted to lecture, and the other 18 h are divided between laboratory exercises, research, and field trips. Here, we describe course development as well as a summary of the laboratory assignments, with complete details of laboratory exercises available in the supporting information. This course is appropriate for students who have one year of general chemistry and general biology.

BackgroundPrior research on the microorganisms associated with the brine shrimp, Artemia franciscana, has mainly been limited to culture-based identification techniques or feeding studies for aquaculture. Our objective was to identify bacteria and archaea associated with Artemia adults and encysted embryos to understand the role of microbes in the Artemia life cycle and, therefore, their importance in a hypersaline food chain.ResultsWe used small subunit (SSU) 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing to identify bacteria and archaea associated with adults and encysted Artemia embryos from one of their natural environments – Great Salt Lake (GSL), Utah, USA. We found that bacterial sequences most closely related to the genera Halomonas and Vibrio were commonly extracted from GSL adult Artemia, while bacterial sequences most similar to the genera Halomonas, Psychroflexus and Alkalilimnicola dominate in GSL water. Encysted embryos (cysts) yielded bacterial sequences from the genera Idiomarina and Salinivibrio, which were absent from adults and water. Common archaeal sequences in adults were most closely related to the genera Haloterrigena and Haloarcula, while all of the archaeal sequences from GSL water were most similar to the genus Halogeometricum. Cyst derived archaeal sequences were most closely related to the genera Halorubrum and Haloarcula.ConclusionsIn addition to identifying microbial rRNA sequences that are specific to different stages of the Artemia life cycle, we observed striking differences in the sequences associated with the adult Artemia population in samples collected from GSL at different times and locations. While our study was limited in scope and the sample was small, our findings provide a foundation for future research into how the bacteria and archaea associated with Artemia influence the Artemia life cycle, and GSL food web.

No abstract

In case of severe bleeding, the physician must rapidly and effectively halt bleeding without the risk of thromboembolic complications. Despite widespread use, no study has directly compared recombinant activated factor VII (rFVIIa), the rFVIIa and 3‐factor prothrombin complex concentrate (PCC) combination (“combination”), and 4‐factor PCC on their effectiveness in improving patient outcomes. This study examined the medical records of 299 patients, 65.2% on warfarin prior to admission, who received these hemostatic agents and were admitted to an ICU or through the emergency department at Oregon Health & Science University. Mortality, length of stay, change in international normalized ratio (INR), plasma use, and number of thromboembolic complications were used to assess effectiveness. In patients receiving warfarin, the combination group had the greatest decrease in INR as well as lowest overall INR, but experienced a higher number of clotting complications, while the rFVIIa group used the most plasma. Non‐warfarin patients in the combination group had the shortest length of stay among survivors, but the rFVIIa group had the lowest mortality. Based on this data, it may be prudent to further study the use of rFVIIa in treating extreme bleeding in the non‐warfarin patient, while this study supports other data that 4‐factor PCC may be the most prudent for the warfarin patient. Am. J. Hematol. 91:705–708, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.