6,403 research outputs found
HEALTH AND SAFETY REGULATION OF SMALL, HIGH-RISK SUBPOPULATIONS
The choice of decision framework used to set regulatory tolerance levels for hazardous substances can be divided into rigid and flexible tolerance levels. Rigid decision frameworks include zero or deminimis that fix risk levels for some subpopulation. and/or highly tolerances The accelerating identification of highly sensitive exposed individuals and the division of the population into ever smaller subpopulations at higher risk could prove to be tremendously burdensome on regulatory systems, particularly for rigid decision frameworks. Rigid tolerance levels, philosophically based on "rights" to zero or arbitrarily low excess risks for individuals, do not contain sufficient flexibility to account for small high-risk subpopulations. Furthermore, the equal protection for all such groups is an illusion, mainly because of the potentially large number of such subgroups and the relatively fixed regulatory resources. Thus, deminimis regulation is seen as a minimal but inadequate improvement over zero risk regulation. with improved measures of the heterogeneous demand for risk reduction by various high-risk subpopulations, augmented cost-benefit analyses leading to flexible tolEr2.nces could provide a richer analytic framework for more efficient regulatory decisions. Additionally, it may be useful to attempt to c2.tegorize hazards and subpopulations on the basis of the ability to self-protect.De minimis, sensitive, decision framework, cost benefit, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy,
Non-Cointegration and Econometric Evaluation of Models of Regional Shift and Share
This paper tests for cointegration between regional output of an industry and national output of the same industry. An equilibrium economic theory is presented to argue for the plausibility of cointegration, however, regional economic forecasting using the shift and share framework often acts as if cointegration does not exist. Data analysis on broad industrial sectors for 20 states finds very little evidence for cointegration. Forecasting models with and without imposing cointegration are than constructed and used to forecast out of sample. The simplest, non-cointegrating models are the best.
Gut microbial trimethylamine is elevated in alcohol-associated hepatitis and contributes to ethanol-induced liver injury in mice
There is mounting evidence that microbes residing in the human intestine contribute to diverse alcohol-associated liver diseases (ALD) including the most deadly form known as alcohol-associated hepatitis (AH). However, mechanisms by which gut microbes synergize with excessive alcohol intake to promote liver injury are poorly understood. Furthermore, whether drugs that selectively target gut microbial metabolism can improve ALD has never been tested. We used liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry to quantify the levels of microbe and host choline co-metabolites in healthy controls and AH patients, finding elevated levels of the microbial metabolite trimethylamine (TMA) in AH. In subsequent studies, we treated mice with non-lethal bacterial choline TMA lyase (CutC/D) inhibitors to blunt gut microbe-dependent production of TMA in the context of chronic ethanol administration. Indices of liver injury were quantified by complementary RNA sequencing, biochemical, and histological approaches. In addition, we examined the impact of ethanol consumption and TMA lyase inhibition on gut microbiome structure via 16S rRNA sequencing. We show the gut microbial choline metabolite TMA is elevated in AH patients and correlates with reduced hepatic expression of the TMA oxygenase flavin-containing monooxygenase 3 (FMO3). Provocatively, we find that small molecule inhibition of gut microbial CutC/D activity protects mice from ethanol-induced liver injury. CutC/D inhibitor-driven improvement in ethanol-induced liver injury is associated with distinct reorganization of the gut microbiome and host liver transcriptome. The microbial metabolite TMA is elevated in patients with AH, and inhibition of TMA production from gut microbes can protect mice from ethanol-induced liver injury
Spiderweb Masks for High-Contrast Imaging
Motivated by the desire to image exosolar planets, recent work by us and
others has shown that high-contrast imaging can be achieved using specially
shaped pupil masks. To date, the masks we have designed have been symmetric
with respect to a cartesian coordinate system but were not rotationally
invariant, thus requiring that one take multiple images at different angles of
rotation about the central point in order to obtain high-contrast in all
directions. In this paper, we present a new class of masks that have rotational
symmetry and provide high-contrast in all directions with just one image. These
masks provide the required 10^{-10} level of contrast to within 4 lambda/D, and
in some cases 3 lambda/D, of the central point, which is deemed necessary for
exosolar planet finding/imaging. They are also well-suited for use on
ground-based telescopes, and perhaps NGST too, since they can accommodate
central obstructions and associated support spiders.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, to appear in Ap
Enhancing the Psychology Curriculum Through Service Learning
Educators in psychology should aspire to encourage students’ holistic growth in academic, personal, and civic domains. We propose that service learning is the most potent pedagogy for developing well-rounded, psychologically literate citizens capable of meeting the goals for the undergraduate psychology major. This article defines service learning, delineates the rationales for service learning, and summarizes research demonstrating the efficacy of this pedagogical approach. The article also describes the learning objectives derived from the American Psychological Association Guidelines for the Undergraduate Major (Version 2.0, 2013), with an emphasis on the ways in which service learning contributes to academic learning, civic learning, and personal growth. Finally, the article illustrates the four types of service learning, and it provides a concrete example for structuring reflection in order to connect community experiences with course content in a service learning psychology course
Darwin in Mind: New Opportunities for Evolutionary Psychology
Evolutionary Psychology (EP) views the human mind as organized into many modules, each underpinned by psychological adaptations designed to solve problems faced by our Pleistocene ancestors. We argue that the key tenets of the established EP paradigm require modification in the light of recent findings from a number of disciplines, including human genetics, evolutionary biology, cognitive neuroscience, developmental psychology, and paleoecology. For instance, many human genes have been subject to recent selective sweeps; humans play an active, constructive role in co-directing their own development and evolution; and experimental evidence often favours a general process, rather than a modular account, of cognition. A redefined EP could use the theoretical insights of modern evolutionary biology as a rich source of hypotheses concerning the human mind, and could exploit novel methods from a variety of adjacent research fields
Evaluating Alternatives for Communicating About Food Risk
This article describes the development and preliminary evaluation of model materials designed as one-step in helping consumers understand how scientists assess food risk, how that information is used in food safety policy decisions and what individuals can do to protect themselves from residual risks
Vanishing Geometric Discord in Non-Inertial Frames
We show that quantum field correlations in non-inertial frames are not as
persistent as previously thought. We perform a simple calculation showing that
the geometric discord, a measure of quantum correlations, does decay to zero in
the infinite acceleration limit. This result is seen to be a natural and
expected consequence of considering correlations in an infinite dimensional
system, and it sheds doubt on the existence of useable quantum correlations in
this regime. We contrast our results with previous research showing that the
acceleration-induced degradation of quantum discord was not strong enough to
extinguish discord in the large acceleration limit.Comment: 9 pages, revtex4, 2 figures. V2 Added journal reference and updated
to published versio
Automatic Tachycardia Recognition
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73320/1/j.1540-8159.1984.tb04948.x.pd
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