Wikipedias: Collaborative web-based encyclopedias as complex networks

Wikipedia is a popular web-based encyclopedia edited freely and collaboratively by its users. In this paper we present an analysis of Wikipedias in several languages as complex networks. The hyperlinks pointing from one Wikipedia article to another are treated as directed links while the articles represent the nodes of the network. We show that many network characteristics are common to different language versions of Wikipedia, such as their degree distributions, growth, topology, reciprocity, clustering, assortativity, path lengths and triad significance profiles. These regularities, found in the ensemble of Wikipedias in different languages and of different sizes, point to the existence of a unique growth process. We also compare Wikipedias to other previously studied networks.Comment: v3: 9 pages, 12 figures, Change of title, few paragraphs and two figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

How do maternal interaction style and joint attention relate to language development in infants with Down syndrome and typically developing infants?

Down syndrome (DS) is more detrimental to language acquisition compared to other forms of learning disability. It has been shown that early social communication skills are important for language acquisition in the typical population; however few studies have examined the relationship between early social communication and language in DS. The aim of the current study is to compare the relationship between joint attention and concurrent language skills, and maternal interactive style and concurrent language skills in infants with DS and in typically developing (TD) infants matched for mental age. We also investigated if these relationships differ between children with DS and TD children. Twenty-five infants with DS (17–23 months) and 30 TD infants (9–11 months) were assessed on measures of joint attention, maternal interactive style and language. The results indicated a significant positive relationship between responding to joint attention (RJA) and concurrent language for the DS group, and a significant positive relationship between maternal positive expressed emotion (PEEM) and concurrent language for the TD group. We hypothesise that different social-communication factors are associated with language skills in DS, at least between 17 and 23 months of age compared to TD infants of similar non-verbal and general language abilities

The Tobacco Epidemic in South-East Europe: Consequences and Policy Responses. Health, Nutrition and Population Discussion Paper

Smoking is the single largest cause of premature mortality in the developed world. Obtaining accurate estimates of smoking's impacts in south east Europe (SEE) is hindered by the lack of accurate data.. None of the countries of the region yet conduct regular national surveys of adult smoking prevalence and some have no recent nationally representative data available. The very high rates among medical personnel are cause for concern. Youth smoking surveys are now conducted in most countries as part of international projects and show rates broadly similar to the EU. The collapse of communism and the end of the conflicts in the 1990s has led to major changes in the region's tobacco industry. The previously state-owned tobacco monopolies have either undergone or are undergoing privatization and the transnational tobacco companies have been increasingly active both in importing their cigarettes to, and investing in, the region. These changes can be expected to increase competition in the tobacco industry which will in turn drive down prices and increase advertising, thereby stimulating consumption. The available statistics, combined with the changes to the region's tobacco industry, suggest that the health impacts of tobacco in SEE will continue to worsen over coming years

HIV prevalence and characteristics of sex work among female sex workers in Hargeisa, Somaliland, Somalia.

OBJECTIVE: To measure prevalence of HIV and syphilis and describe characteristics of sex work among female sex workers (FSWs) in Hargeisa, Somaliland, Somalia. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey recruited 237 FSWs using respondent-driven sampling (RDS). A face-to-face, structured interview using handheld-assisted personal interviewing (HAPI) on personal digital assistants (PDAs) was completed and blood collected for serological testing. RESULTS: FSWs 15-19 years old accounted for 6.9% of the population; 20-24 year-old constituted an additional 18.0%. The majority (86.6%) never attended school. International (59.0%) and interzonal (10.7%) migration was common. Most (95.7%) reported no other source of income; 13.8% had five or more clients in the last 7 days. A minority (38.4%) had heard of STIs, even fewer (6.9%) held no misconceptions about HIV. Only 24% of FSW reported using a condom at last transactional sex, and 4% reported ever been tested for HIV. HIV prevalence was 5.2% and syphilis prevalence was 3.1%. CONCLUSION: Sex work in Hargeisa, Somaliland, Somalia, is characterized by high numbers of sexual acts and extremely low knowledge of HIV. This study illustrates the need for targeted HIV prevention interventions focusing on HIV testing, risk-reduction awareness raising, and review of condom availability and distribution mechanisms among FSWs and males engaging with FSWs

Evaluation of pollen secondary metabolites in exacerbation of nonallergic asthma, and development of computer-assisted LC-MS batch processing, clustering, and visualization

Pollen project Asthma accounts for one of the many forms of chronic pulmonary diseases. Rather than a single disease, asthma includes a multitude of clinical symptoms related to gas exchange limitation, airway hyper-responsiveness resulting in wheezing and coughing, and airway inflammation. This variety of symptoms depicts very well the complexity of asthma and suggests the involvement of a multitude of triggers and mechanisms. On one side, the allergic asthma is characterized by the inflammation of the airway tissue in response to a load of allergic triggers. Non-allergic triggers are organic and inorganic airway irritants, which modulate neuro-muscular macromolecular targets (receptors, channels) generating airways hyper-responsiveness and smooth muscle contraction. The Transient Receptor Potential cation channel A1 (TRPA1) is a ubiquitous Ca2+-selective protein highly expressed on somatosensory neurons and is activated by environmental irritants inducing pain, cold and itchiness. Its expression on afferent neurons in the airways makes this channel a target for small chemical irritants, resulting in airway hyper-responsiveness to contractile stimuli. Differently, the type I PhosphatidylInositol 4-Phosphate 5-Kinase (PIP5K) gamma isoform is a lipid kinase involved in the regulation of intracellular Ca2+ in smooth muscle cells. The polyamines spermidine and spermine are crucial cofactors for PIP5Kγ activation. The aim of this work was to investigate the potential role of plant pollen secondary metabolites in the non-allergic exacerbation of asthma symptoms. We performed the phytochemical study of pollen from 30 plant species, including the highly allergenic Ambrosia artemisiifolia and Ambrosia psilostachya from the family Asteraceae, and the highly allergic Betula pendula and Corylus avellana from the non-Asteraceae. The spectrophotometric quantification of electrophiles in extracts revealed surprising results. Finally, extracts and pure compounds were tested in murine afferent neurons for their effect on Ca2+ influx measured via calcium imaging, and for constriction of murine tracheal rings in organ bath experiments. Ziziphus project Glycosylated triterpenes are organic molecules belonging to the secondary metabolism of plants and other organisms such as marine invertebrates. The genus Zizyphus (Rhamnaceae) comprises a variety of spiny shrubs and small trees, which leaves are commonly used in the oriental and Middle-East folk medicine for the treatment of various diseases but also to produce natural detergents and shampoos. Phytochemical characterization of glycosylated triterpenes in the hydroalcoholic extract from Ziziphus spina-christi leaves resulted in the identification of ten saponins, of which three were found to be novel dammarane-type aglycones. ACD/Labs project The technological development of LC-MS instrumentation has led to significant improvements in automation, performance, and sensitivity. Complex samples, such as plant extracts can now be analyzed routinely and in high-throughput mode. Software tools allow efficient deconvolution of LC-MS chromatograms to obtain comprehensive information on single constituents. However, the systematic and unbiased comparison of large numbers of complex LC-MS chromatograms remains a challenge. Existing software tools for comparative processing are widely used in scientific fields like systems biology, including disciplines like genomics, proteomic, and metabolomics. Nevertheless, still little application is observed in phytochemistry and drug discovery research. ACD/Labs (Advanced Chemistry Development, Inc., Toronto, Canada) is a commercial analytical platform integrated with a wide range of analytical and predictive functionalities such as LC-MS and NMR data processing and analysis, metabolite identification, and in silico drug likeliness predictions. In this work we focused on creating a two-step protocol comprising a parallel comparative processing integrated in ACD/Labs, and a web platform developed in R language designed for clustering and visualization of chromatographic data