The Impact of Volunteering on Seniors’ Health and Quality of Life: An Assessment of the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program

Past research suggests that senior citizens often face challenges related to deteriorating physical and men- tal health, and the quality of their lives may suffer as a result. Past research also suggests that volunteering can improve the health and quality of life for seniors. In the present study, 451 volunteers enrolled in the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) completed surveys including questions regarding their volunteer experiences and how these experiences have affected their health and quality of life. The results suggest that volunteering through RSVP is associated with improvements in health and quality of life across a variety of dimensions. Furthermore, these improvements may be particularly greater for women, current volunteers, and older seniors. These findings may help guide interventions designed to enhance the health and well-being of senior citizens in a variety of settings

Bradyzoite pseudokinase 1 is crucial for efficient oral infectivity of the Toxoplasma gondii tissue cyst.

The tissue cyst formed by the bradyzoite stage of Toxoplasma gondii is essential for persistent infection of the host and oral transmission. Bradyzoite pseudokinase 1 (BPK1) is a component of the cyst wall, but nothing has previously been known about its function. Here, we show that immunoprecipitation of BPK1 from in vitro bradyzoite cultures, 4 days postinfection, identifies at least four associating proteins: MAG1, MCP4, GRA8, and GRA9. To determine the role of BPK1, a strain of Toxoplasma was generated with the bpk1 locus deleted. This BPK1 knockout strain (Δbpk1) was investigated in vitro and in vivo. No defect was found in terms of in vitro cyst formation and no difference in pathogenesis or cyst burden 4 weeks postinfection (wpi) was detected after intraperitoneal (i.p.) infection with Δbpk1 tachyzoites, although the Δbpk1 cysts were significantly smaller than parental or BPK1-complemented strains at 8 wpi. Pepsin-acid treatment of 4 wpi in vivo cysts revealed that Δbpk1 parasites are significantly more sensitive to this treatment than the parental and complemented strains. Consistent with this, 4 wpi Δbpk1 cysts showed reduced ability to cause oral infection compared to the parental and complemented strains. Together, these data reveal that BPK1 plays a crucial role in the in vivo development and infectivity of Toxoplasma cysts

<i>Schizosaccharomyces pombe</i> Pol II transcription elongation factor ELL functions as part of a rudimentary super elongation complex

ELL family transcription factors activate the overall rate of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) transcription elongation by binding directly to Pol II and suppressing its tendency to pause. In metazoa, ELL regulates Pol II transcription elongation as part of a large multisubunit complex referred to as the Super Elongation Complex (SEC), which includes P-TEFb and EAF, AF9 or ENL, and an AFF family protein. Although orthologs of ELL and EAF have been identified in lower eukaryotes including Schizosaccharomyces pombe, it has been unclear whether SEClike complexes function in lower eukaryotes. In this report, we describe isolation from S. pombe of an ELL-containing complex with features of a rudimentary SEC. This complex includes S. pombe Ell1, Eaf1, and a previously uncharacterized protein we designate Ell1 binding protein 1 (Ebp1), which is distantly related to metazoan AFF family members. Like the metazoan SEC, this S. pombe ELL complex appears to function broadly in Pol II transcription. Interestingly, it appears to have a particularly important role in regulating genes involved in cell separation

Gaussian Process Modelling for Improved Resolution in Faraday Depth Reconstruction

The incomplete sampling of data in complex polarization measurements from radio telescopes negatively affects both the rotation measure (RM) transfer function and the Faraday depth spectra derived from these data. Such gaps in polarization data are mostly caused by flagging of radio frequency interference and their effects worsen as the percentage of missing data increases. In this paper we present a novel method for inferring missing polarization data based on Gaussian processes (GPs). Gaussian processes are stochastic processes that enable us to encode prior knowledge in our models. They also provide a comprehensive way of incorporating and quantifying uncertainties in regression modelling. In addition to providing non-parametric model estimates for missing values, we also demonstrate that Gaussian process modelling can be used for recovering rotation measure values directly from complex polarization data, and that inferring missing polarization data using this probabilistic method improves the resolution of reconstructed Faraday depth spectra.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, submitted to MNRA

Current challenges in software solutions for mass spectrometry-based quantitative proteomics

This work was in part supported by the PRIME-XS project, grant agreement number 262067, funded by the European Union seventh Framework Programme; The Netherlands Proteomics Centre, embedded in The Netherlands Genomics Initiative; The Netherlands Bioinformatics Centre; and the Centre for Biomedical Genetics (to S.C., B.B. and A.J.R.H); by NIH grants NCRR RR001614 and RR019934 (to the UCSF Mass Spectrometry Facility, director: A.L. Burlingame, P.B.); and by grants from the MRC, CR-UK, BBSRC and Barts and the London Charity (to P.C.

Southeast Asia and the Politics of Vulnerability

The economic and political crises that have recently engulfed the countries of Southeast Asia provide a stark reminder of just how difficult the challenge of sustained regional development remains. In retrospect, the hyperbole that surrounded the 'East Asian miracle' looks overblown, and testimony to the manner in which rhetoric can outstrip reality, especially in the minds of international investors. Certainly, some observers had questioned the depth and resilience of capitalist development in Southeast Asia, but in the years immediately prior to 1997 such analyses tended to be in the minority. Now, of course, it is painfully obvious that much of Southeast Asia's economic and political development was extremely fragile. When seen in historical context, this outcome should not have been surprising since the countries of modern Southeast Asia, both as independent nations and as colonies of various imperial powers, have been highly vulnerable to the actions of powerful external political and economic forces. This paper will examine the economic bases and the political consequences of this vulnerablity, both domestically and at a regional level. I argue that the recent crisis has served as an unwelcome reminder of just how constrained, dependent and vulnerable the Southeast Asia region's development prospects remain, a situation that is exacerbated by, and which contributes to, domestic political crises

Constraints on the χ_(c1) versus χ_(c2) polarizations in proton-proton collisions at √s = 8 TeV

The polarizations of promptly produced χ_(c1) and χ_(c2) mesons are studied using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC, in proton-proton collisions at √s=8  TeV. The χ_c states are reconstructed via their radiative decays χ_c → J/ψγ, with the photons being measured through conversions to e⁺e⁻, which allows the two states to be well resolved. The polarizations are measured in the helicity frame, through the analysis of the χ_(c2) to χ_(c1) yield ratio as a function of the polar or azimuthal angle of the positive muon emitted in the J/ψ → μ⁺μ⁻ decay, in three bins of J/ψ transverse momentum. While no differences are seen between the two states in terms of azimuthal decay angle distributions, they are observed to have significantly different polar anisotropies. The measurement favors a scenario where at least one of the two states is strongly polarized along the helicity quantization axis, in agreement with nonrelativistic quantum chromodynamics predictions. This is the first measurement of significantly polarized quarkonia produced at high transverse momentum