Alterations to the Gastrointestinal Microbiome Associated with Methamphetamine Use among Young Men who have Sex with Men.

Methamphetamine (MA) use is a major public health problem in the United States, especially among people living with HIV (PLWH). Many MA-induced neurotoxic effects are mediated by inflammation and gut microbiota may play a role in this process, yet the effects of MA on the microbiome have not been adequately explored. Therefore, we performed 16S rRNA gene sequencing on rectal swab samples from 381 men who have sex with men, 48% of whom were PLWH and 41% of whom used MA. We compared microbiome composition between MA users and non-users while testing for potential interactions with HIV and controlling for numerous confounders using inverse probability of treatment weighting. We found that MA use explained significant variation in overall composition (R2 = 0.005, p = 0.008) and was associated with elevated Finegoldia, Parvimonas, Peptoniphilus, and Porphyromonas and reduced Butyricicoccus and Faecalibacterium, among others. Genera including Actinomyces and Streptobacillus interacted with HIV status, such that they were increased in HIV+ MA users. Finegoldia and Peptoniphilus increased with increasing frequency of MA use, among others. In summary, MA use was associated with a microbial imbalance favoring pro-inflammatory bacteria, including some with neuroactive potential and others that have previously been associated with poor HIV outcomes

Courses Relating to Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Minnesota.

Prepared for the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs by the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, University of Minnesota

Global emergency remote education in secondary schools during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review

The worldwide shift to emergency remote education in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic impacted billions of students and teachers. A range of teaching and learning strategies were employed by schools as a result, despite confusing and sometimes contradictory government guidance, with systemic issues such as equity and access impacting heavily on disadvantaged students. In light of the findings of a recent IPPO evidence snapshot and roundtable event, and in order to gain further insight into how emergency remote education was experienced by secondary school students, parents and educators, a systematic review was conducted that collates and synthesises primary empirical studies across five key research questions focusing on student engagement, online assessment, peer collaboration, parent engagement, and future directions for online learning. Studies were searched for in May 2021 using Web of Science, Scopus, ERIC, Microsoft Academic Graph, ResearchGate and the COVID-19 living map, and were included if they focused on teaching and learning using blended or online approaches in secondary schools during the pandemic, that were published in English. Following quality assessment on scope and methodological rigour, 81 studies were included for narrative synthesis. The research studies were conducted in 38 countries, with 37% of studies from low or lower-middle income countries, and 63% from upper-middle income or high-income countries. Most of the evidence came from students (64%), followed by teachers (53%), with very few studies exploring the perceptions and experiences of parents (6%) or school leaders (5%). Findings reveal that self-regulation and understanding were the most frequently reported indicators of student engagement, with online assessment tools, learning management systems with collaborative tools, live synchronous lessons with peer and teacher interaction, and teacher-made videos considered particularly engaging. Social isolation was the most frequently reported indicator of disengagement, characterised by poor attendance in live lessons, a lack of opportunities to seek help with challenges and difficulties facilitating peer collaboration. Although many articles reported that assessment online was particularly challenging, 21 different types of online assessments strategies were identified, with online quizzes and formative online feedback the most frequently used. Live marking or recorded feedback and assessment were found to be particularly beneficial, as providing feedback during live lessons was sometimes challenging. Peer collaboration was facilitated through peer assessment, inquiry-based group work and experiments, aided by the use of collaborative software and combining multiple applications. Parental involvement and support contributed to student learning, although issues of equity impacted the extent to which they could engage with their children's learning, alongside gaps in family content knowledge and technological skills. Numerous implications for future policy relating to online and blended learning are provided

Comparative removal of As(V) and Sb(V) from aqueous solution by sulfide-modified α-FeOOH

Efficient elimination of As(V) and Sb(V) from wastewater streams has long been a major challenge. Herein, sulfide-modified α-FeOOH adsorbent was fabricated via a simple sulfidation reaction for removing As(V) and Sb(V) from aqueous media. Compared with the pristine α-FeOOH, sulfide-modified α-FeOOH increased the adsorption of As(V) from 153.8 to 384.6 mg/g, and Sb(V) adsorption from 277.8 to 1111.1 mg/g. The enhanced adsorption of both As(V) and Sb(V) was maintained at the pH range from 2 to 11, and was not interfered by various coexisting anions such as Cl−, SO42−, NO3−, SiO32− and PO43−. The adsorption affinity increased from 0.0047 to 0.0915 and 0.0053 to 0.4091 for As(V) and Sb(V), respectively. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic investigation demonstrated a reductive conversion of As(V) to As(III) during the adsorption process with sulfide-modified α-FeOOH, but with no obvious variation of Sb(V) speciation. While the removal mechanism for As(V) was reduction followed by adsorption via hydroxyl groups, mainly surface complexation was involved in the removal of Sb(V). This study presented a simple strategy to enhance the adsorption capacity and adsorption affinity of α-FeOOH toward As(V)/Sb(V) via sulfide-modification

De Novo Assembly of Mud Loach (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus) Skin Transcriptome to Identify Putative Genes Involved in Immunity and Epidermal Mucus Secretion

Fish skin serves as the first line of defense against a wide variety of chemical, physical and biological stressors. Secretion of mucus is among the most prominent characteristics of fish skin and numerous innate immune factors have been identified in the epidermal mucus. However, molecular mechanisms underlying the mucus secretion and immune activities of fish skin remain largely unclear due to the lack of genomic and transcriptomic data for most economically important fish species. In this study, we characterized the skin transcriptome of mud loach using Illumia paired-end sequencing. A total of 40364 unigenes were assembled from 86.6 million (3.07 gigabases) filtered reads. The mean length, N50 size and maximum length of assembled transcripts were 387, 611 and 8670 bp, respectively. A total of 17336 (43.76%) unigenes were annotated by blast searches against the NCBI non-redundant protein database. Gene ontology mapping assigned a total of 108513 GO terms to 15369 (38.08%) unigenes. KEGG orthology mapping annotated 9337 (23.23%) unigenes. Among the identified KO categories, immune system is the largest category that contains various components of multiple immune pathways such as chemokine signaling, leukocyte transendothelial migration and T cell receptor signaling, suggesting the complexity of immune mechanisms in fish skin. As for mucin biosynthesis, 37 unigenes were mapped to 7 enzymes of the mucin type O-glycan biosynthesis pathway and 8 members of the polypeptide N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase family were identified. Additionally, 38 unigenes were mapped to 23 factors of the SNARE interactions in vesicular transport pathway, indicating that the activity of this pathway is required for the processes of epidermal mucus storage and release. Moreover, 1754 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) were detected in 1564 unigenes and dinucleotide repeats represented the most abundant type. These findings have laid the foundation for further understanding the secretary processes and immune functions of loach skin mucus.Fish skin serves as the first line of defense against a wide variety of chemical, physical and biological stressors. Secretion of mucus is among the most prominent characteristics of fish skin and numerous innate immune factors have been identified in the epidermal mucus. However, molecular mechanisms underlying the mucus secretion and immune activities of fish skin remain largely unclear due to the lack of genomic and transcriptomic data for most economically important fish species. In this study, we characterized the skin transcriptome of mud loach using Illumia paired-end sequencing. A total of 40364 unigenes were assembled from 86.6 million (3.07 gigabases) filtered reads. The mean length, N50 size and maximum length of assembled transcripts were 387, 611 and 8670 bp, respectively. A total of 17336 (43.76%) unigenes were annotated by blast searches against the NCBI non-redundant protein database. Gene ontology mapping assigned a total of 108513 GO terms to 15369 (38.08%) unigenes. KEGG orthology mapping annotated 9337 (23.23%) unigenes. Among the identified KO categories, immune system is the largest category that contains various components of multiple immune pathways such as chemokine signaling, leukocyte transendothelial migration and T cell receptor signaling, suggesting the complexity of immune mechanisms in fish skin. As for mucin biosynthesis, 37 unigenes were mapped to 7 enzymes of the mucin type O-glycan biosynthesis pathway and 8 members of the polypeptide N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase family were identified. Additionally, 38 unigenes were mapped to 23 factors of the SNARE interactions in vesicular transport pathway, indicating that the activity of this pathway is required for the processes of epidermal mucus storage and release. Moreover, 1754 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) were detected in 1564 unigenes and dinucleotide repeats represented the most abundant type. These findings have laid the foundation for further understanding the secretary processes and immune functions of loach skin mucus

Association between free testosterone levels and anal human papillomavirus Types 16/18 infections in a cohort of men who have sex with men

Background Human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16 and 18 cause invasive cervical cancer and most invasive anal cancers (IACs). Overall, IAC rates are highest among men who have sex with men (MSM), especially MSM with HIV infection. Testosterone is prescribed for men showing hypogonadism and HIV-related wasting. While there are direct and indirect physiological effects of testosterone in males, its role in anal HPV16/18 infections in men is unknown. Methods Free testosterone (FT) was measured in serum from 340 Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) participants who were tested for anal HPV16/18-DNA approximately 36 months later. The effect of log10-transformed current FT level on anal HPV16/18 prevalence was modeled using Poisson regression with robust error variance. Multivariate models controlled for other HPV types, cumulative years of exogenous testosterone use, race, age, lifetime number of receptive anal intercourse partnerships, body mass index, tobacco smoking, HIV-infection and CD4+ T-cell counts among HIV-infected, and blood draw timing. Results Participants were, on average, 60 (+5.4) years of age, White (86%), and HIV-uninfected (56%); Twenty-four percent tested positive for anal HPV16 and/or 18-DNA (HPV16 prevalence= 17.1%, HPV18=9.1%). In adjusted analysis, each half-log10 increase of FT was associated with a 1.9-fold (95% Confidence Interval: 1.11, 3.24) higher HPV16/18 prevalence. Additionally, other Group 1 high-risk HPVs were associated with a 1.56-fold (1.03, 2.37) higher HPV16/18 prevalence. Traditional risk factors for HPV16/18 infection (age, tobacco smoking; lifetime number of sexual partners, including the number of receptive anal intercourse partnerships within 24 months preceding HPV testing) were poorly correlated with one another and not statistically significantly associated with higher prevalence of HPV16/ 18 infection in unadjusted and adjusted analyses. Conclusions Higher free testosterone was associated with increased HPV16/18 prevalence measured approximately three years later, independent of sexual behavior and other potential confounders. The mechanisms underlying this association remain unclear and warrant further study

Predicting User-Perceived Quality Ratings from Streaming Media Data

Abstract—Media stream quality is highly dependent on under-lying network conditions, but identifying scalable, unambiguous metrics to discern the user-perceived quality of a media stream in the face of network congestion is a challenging problem. User-perceived quality can be approximated through the use of carefully chosen application layer metrics, precluding the need to poll users directly. We discuss the use of data mining prediction techniques to analyze application layer metrics to determine user-perceived quality ratings on media streams. We show that several such prediction techniques are able to assign correct (within a small tolerance) quality ratings to streams with a high degree of accuracy. The time it takes to train and tune the predictors and perform the actual prediction are short enough to make such a strategy feasible to be executed in real time and on real computer networks. I