Elastic Chiral Waveguides with Gyro-Hinges

This article presents a novel chiral structure, consisting of Euler–Bernoulli beams connected to gyroscopic spinners.Anew type of boundary condition is introduced, which is referred to as a gyrohinge. In this system, flexural waves are coupled with rotational motion.Time-harmonic conditions are derived by assuming small nutation angles of the spinners. It is shown that the eigenfrequencies of a finite beam with gyro-hinges at one or both ends change dramatically with the moments of inertia and the spin and precession rates of the spinners. The formulation is then extended to elastic beams with periodically-spaced gyro-hinges, whose dispersion properties are investigated in detail. In particular, it is shown how stop-bands and standing modes are affected by the introduction of gyroscopic spinners at the junctions. It is also demonstrated that a periodic system composed of beams connected by gyro-hinges represents a good approximation of a gyrobeam, a theoretical structural element consisting of an elastic beam possessing a continuous distribution of stored angular momentum. The gyricity coefficient of a gyrobeam is then interpreted in terms of the physical parameters of the system of beams with gyroscopic spinners. This article opens a new perspective on the design and practical implementation of chiral mechanical systems

Targeted Next-Generation Sequencing Analysis of 1,000 Individuals with Intellectual Disability.

To identify genetic causes of intellectual disability (ID), we screened a cohort of 986 individuals with moderate to severe ID for variants in 565 known or candidate ID-associated genes using targeted next-generation sequencing. Likely pathogenic rare variants were found in ∼11% of the cases (113 variants in 107/986 individuals: ∼8% of the individuals had a likely pathogenic loss-of-function [LoF] variant, whereas ∼3% had a known pathogenic missense variant). Variants in SETD5, ATRX, CUL4B, MECP2, and ARID1B were the most common causes of ID. This study assessed the value of sequencing a cohort of probands to provide a molecular diagnosis of ID, without the availability of DNA from both parents for de novo sequence analysis. This modeling is clinically relevant as 28% of all UK families with dependent children are single parent households. In conclusion, to diagnose patients with ID in the absence of parental DNA, we recommend investigation of all LoF variants in known genes that cause ID and assessment of a limited list of proven pathogenic missense variants in these genes. This will provide 11% additional diagnostic yield beyond the 10%-15% yield from array CGH alone.Action Medical Research (SP4640); the Birth Defect Foundation (RG45448); the Cambridge National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre (RG64219); the NIHR Rare Diseases BioResource (RBAG163); Wellcome Trust award WT091310; The Cell lines and DNA bank of Rett Syndrome, X-linked mental retardation and other genetic diseases (member of the Telethon Network of Genetic Biobanks (project no. GTB12001); the Genetic Origins of Congenital Heart Disease Study (GO-CHD)- funded by British Heart Foundation (BHF)This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Wiley via http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/humu.2290

Trust, Salience and Deterrence: Evidence from an Antitrust Experiment

We present results from a laboratory experiment identifying the main channels through which different law enforcement strategies deter organized economic crime. The absolute level of a fine has a strong deterrence effect, even when the exogenous probability of apprehension is zero. This effect appears to be driven by distrust or fear of betrayal, as it increases significantly when the incentives to betray partners are strengthened by policies offering amnesty to “turncoat whistleblowers”. We also document a strong deterrence effect of the sum of fines paid in the past, which suggests a significant role for salience or availability heuristic in law enforcement

Sexual Signalling in Propithecus verreauxi: Male “Chest Badge” and Female Mate Choice

Communication, an essential prerequisite for sociality, involves the transmission of signals. A signal can be defined as any action or trait produced by one animal, the sender, that produces a change in the behaviour of another animal, the receiver. Secondary sexual signals are often used for mate choice because they may inform on a potential partner's quality. Verreaux's sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi) is characterized by the presence of two different morphs of males (bimorphism), which can show either a stained or clean chest. The chest becomes stained by secretions of the sternal gland during throat marking (rubbing throat and chest on a vertical substrate while smearing the scent deposition). The role of the chest staining in guiding female mate choice was previously hypothesized but never demonstrated probably due to the difficulty of observing sifaka copulations in the wild. Here we report that stained-chested males had a higher throat marking activity than clean-chested males during the mating season, but not during the birth season. We found that females copulated more frequently with stained-chested males than the clean-chested males. Finally, in agreement with the biological market theory, we found that clean-chested males, with a lower scent-releasing potential, offered more grooming to females. This “grooming for sex” tactic was not completely unsuccessful; in fact, half of the clean-chested males copulated with females, even though at low frequency. In conclusion, the chest stain, possibly correlated with different cues targeted by females, could be one of the parameters which help females in selecting mates

Characteristics and clinical implications of carbapenemase-producing klebsiella pneumoniae colonization and infection, Italy

Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase-producing K. pneumoniae (KPC-Kp) has been endemic in Italy since 2013. In a multicenter cohort study, we investigated various aspects of KPC-Kp among patients, including 15-day mortality rates and delays in adequate therapy. Most (77%) KPC-Kp strains were sequence types ST512 or ST307. During 2017, KPC-Kp prevalence was 3.26 cases/1,000 hospitalized patients. Cumulative incidence of KPC-Kp acquired >48 hours after hospital admission was 0.68% but varied widely between centers. Among patients with mild infections and noninfected colonized patients, 15-day mortality rates were comparable, but rates were much higher among patients with severe infections. Delays of >4 days in receiving adequate therapy more frequently occurred among patients with mild infections than those with severe infections, and delays were less common for patients with known previous KPC-Kp colonization. Italy urgently needs a concerted surveillance system to control the spread of KPC-Kp

Socioeconomic Status Is Not Related with Facial Fluctuating Asymmetry: Evidence from Latin-American Populations

The expression of facial asymmetries has been recurrently related with poverty and/or disadvantaged socioeconomic status. Departing from the developmental instability theory, previous approaches attempted to test the statistical relationship between the stress experienced by individuals grown in poor conditions and an increase in facial and corporal asymmetry. Here we aim to further evaluate such hypothesis on a large sample of admixed Latin Americans individuals by exploring if low socioeconomic status individuals tend to exhibit greater facial fluctuating asymmetry values. To do so, we implement Procrustes analysis of variance and Hierarchical Linear Modelling (HLM) to estimate potential associations between facial fluctuating asymmetry values and socioeconomic status. We report significant relationships between facial fluctuating asymmetry values and age, sex, and genetic ancestry, while socioeconomic status failed to exhibit any strong statistical relationship with facial asymmetry. These results are persistent after the effect of heterozygosity (a proxy for genetic ancestry) is controlled in the model. Our results indicate that, at least on the studied sample, there is no relationship between socioeconomic stress (as intended as low socioeconomic status) and facial asymmetries