Northern New Mexico College

To examine how persons using different methamphetamine-opioid combinations differ with respect to social, risk, and health characteristics, and to identify patterns of vulnerability across simultaneous, sequential, and independent use. 414 people who use illicit drugs were surveyed, 384 of whom reported polydrug use involving methamphetamine, in Nevada and New Mexico between June 2022 and August 2023. Participants were classified into three mutually exclusive groups based on self-reported methamphetamine and opioid use patterns: simultaneous use (deliberately using both drugs together), sequential use (using both drugs but not deliberately using simultaneously), and independent use (using methamphetamine alone or with non-opioid drugs). Prevalence ratios were calculated to examine associations between use patterns and social, economic, health, and drug use characteristics. We identified three distinct use patterns: simultaneous (53.1%), sequential (17.7%), and independent (29.2%). Individuals in these risk groups exhibited differential social, economic, carceral, and health-related risk: those engaged in simultaneous showed higher vulnerability relative to people who use independently and sequentially. Healthcare engagement was associated with lower simultaneous use. These findings suggest the need to support development of strategies to support transition from higher to lower-risk drug use patterns.

Abstract T cells are required to clear infection, moving first in lymph nodes to interact with antigen bearing dendritic cells leading to activation. T cells then move to sites of infection to find and clear infection. T cell motion plays a role in how quickly a T cell finds its target, from initial naïve T cell activation by a dendritic cell to interaction with target cells in infected tissue. To better understand how different tissue environments might affect T cell motility, we compared multiple features of T cell motion including speed, persistence, turning angle, directionality, and confinement of motion from T cells moving in multiple tissues using tracks collected with microscopy from murine tissues. We quantitatively analyzed naïve T cell motility within the lymph node and compared motility parameters with activated CD8 T cells moving within the villi of small intestine and lung under different activation conditions.Our motility analysis found that while the speeds and the overall displacement of T cells vary within all tissues analyzed, T cells in all tissues tended to persist at the same speed, particularly if the previous speed is very slow (less than 2µm/min) or very fast (greater than 8µm/min) with the exception of T cells in the villi for speeds greater than 10µm/min. Interestingly, we found that turning angles of T cells in the lung show a marked population of T cells turning at close to 180o, while T cells in lymph nodes and villi do not exhibit this “reversing” movement. Additionally, T cells in the lung showed significantly decreased meandering ratios and increased confinement compared to T cells in lymph nodes and villi. The combination of these differences in motility patterns led to a decrease in the total volume scanned by T cells in lung compared to T cells in lymph node and villi. These results suggest that the tissue environment in which T cells move can impact the type of motility and ultimately, the efficiency of T cell search for target cells within specialized tissues such as the lung.

The goal of this study is to determine if the annual pollen integral (APIn) for the top tree allergens in the City of Albuquerque is correlated with meteorological variables. This analysis would be the first of its kind for this area. We used 17 consecutive years from 2004 to 2020 and data collected by the city of Albuquerque using a Spore Trap (Burkard) volumetric air sampler in a location designed to represent a typical desert environment. The pollen studied include Juniper, Elm, Ash, Cottonwood, and Mulberry. We found a negative linear correlation with early summer temperatures of the previous year and APIn for Elm, Cottonwood, and Mulberry, and early fall temperatures for Juniper. Linear regression models developed for Elm, Cottonwood, and Mulberry used the monthly mean maximum temperature for the month of June of the prior year as the independent variable to yield a R squared statistic (R2) of 0.88, 0.91 and 0.78, respectively. For Juniper, the average monthly mean minimum temperature for the previous September and October served as the independent variable and yielded the R2 value of 0.80. We also observed a positive trend for the annual maximum temperature over time and a negative trend for the total APIn. Summers in New Mexico are hot and dry, and they may be getting hotter and drier because of climate change. Our analysis predicts that climate change in this area may lead to reduced allergies if temperatures continue to increase and if precipitation patterns remain the same.

Abstract Cytotoxic T cells can promote protective immunity or exacerbate lung damage during influenza infections. Fine-tuning the functional activity of cytotoxic T cells in situ within influenza-infected lungs is a potential strategy to balance immunity and immunopathology. Using a murine model of influenza, we found that CXCR4 expression strongly correlated with cytotoxic T cell degranulation and that inhibition of CXCR4 reduced the degranulation of cytotoxic T cells in vitro and in vivo. Live tissue imaging revealed that influenza-specific T cells had prolonged dwell times when they were in regions with high levels of influenza antigen. Inhibition of CXCR4 led to increased T cell speed and decreased stop times in influenza-high areas. Moreover, inhibition of CXCR4 expedited the recovery of flu-infected mice. These data identify CXCR4 as a positive regulator of the stop-signal in lung-infiltrating CD8+ T cells and suggest that targeting this pathway could enhance recovery from influenza-induced weight loss.

Understanding Consciousness can almost be said to have a plot/narrative, or a dramatic structure similar to the ‘three-act structure’ model used by numerous screenwriters. In Part I—the Setup—Velmans surveys “mind-body theories and their problems”, in part II—the Confrontation—he reconstructs “a new analysis: how to marry science with experience”, and in part III—the Resolution—he shares with us “a new synthesis: reflexive monism” (v-vi). Velmans starts off in the first chapter with perhaps one of the most basic, nevertheless hard, questions in the field of consciousness studies: “what is consciousness?”

Nanostructured Antireflections Layers (NALs) are a promising substitute for conventional antireflection layers. In the nature, such structures have long existed on insects’ eyes. Here, we have derived a general form of mathematical relation that generates a profile close to that of surface of a Moth’s eye. By properly designing NALs over dielectric, light has been efficiently transmitted through our high index nanostructures with minimal reflection. The parameters determining the transmission efficiency are the pitch and the profile of the periodic nanostructures. By optimizing the profile, we have designed NALs with transmission reaching 100%. Our periodic structures have minimal dependence on the pitch. This makes it possible to fabricate NALs with the very broadband transmission, without inducing diffraction to lower wavelengths of the transmitted light. Also, our periodic NALs make it possible to transmit laser lights without scattering.

School quality indicators such as student test scores have been shown to be capitalized into the value of local homes. The presence of households with different preferences for education implies that the implicit price of improvements in school quality might vary even within a region. In this paper, we employ a finite mixture model (FMM) to capture unobserved heterogeneity in household preferences. Using school quality and residential property sales data from Pitt County, North Carolina, we find evidence of two subpopulations of houses, where the prices for one group are virtually invariant to school quality. Consistent with recent research by Davis et al. (2017) these results indicate that heterogeneous valuation of educational quality by households with different socio-economic backgrounds should be taken into consideration when devising policies targeted at the local level.