Electronic Nicotine Product (ENP) Graphic Warnings: Association between Exposure and Changes in Perceived Susceptibility and Severity of Explosion and Lung Injuries

Electronic nicotine products (ENPs) are the most prevalent form of tobacco use among U.S. young adults. Research is needed to investigate how to communicate new risks from ENPs to the public. In this study, we tested the comparative persuasiveness of ENP explosion and lung injury graphic warnings. We recruited a sample of 343 young adults (18 to 28 years; 146 male, 197 female), including both ENP users and nonusers, via Amazon Mechanical Turk in October 2020. We randomly assigned participants to one of six exposure conditions: two images of lung injuries with prevalence statistics, two images of battery explosion injuries with prevalence statistics, and two images of ENPs with messages about chemicals or nicotine/addiction. We measured perceptions and intention to use ENPs before and after exposure. Linear regression models examined whether exposure conditions were associated with post-exposure perceived susceptibility and severity of ENP lung injuries and explosion injuries, perceived intensity, fear, and intention to use, adjusting for baseline values and potential confounders. Compared to the chemicals/nicotine messages, explosion and lung injury stimuli were perceived to be more intense (p \u3c .001) and evoked greater fear (p \u3c .001). Both explosion injury images were associated with increased perceived susceptibility (p \u3c .01) and severity (p \u3c .001). One lung injury image was associated with increased perceived susceptibility (p \u3c .01) and reduced intention to use ENPs (p \u3c .05). Our results show that ENP graphic warnings can increase threat perceptions about ENP lung and explosion injuries among young adults. Similar graphic warnings may be effective for other harms associated with ENPs

Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transitions in an easy-plane ferromagnetic superfluid

A two-dimensional (2D) spin-1 Bose gas exhibits two Berezenskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transitions in the easy-plane ferromagnetic phase. The higher temperature transition is associated with superfluidity of the mass current determined predominantly by a single spin component. The lower temperature transition is associated with superfluidity of the axial spin current, quasi-long range order of the transverse spin density and binding of polar-core spin vortices (PCVs). Above the spin BKT temperature, the component circulations that make up each PCV spatially separate, suggesting possible deconfinement analogous to quark deconfinement in high energy physics. Intercomponent interactions give rise to superfluid drag between the spin components, which we calculate analytically at zero temperature. We present the mass/spin superfluid phase diagram as a function of quadratic Zeeman energy $q$. At $q=0$ the system is in an isotropic spin phase with $\mathrm{SO}(3)$ symmetry. Here the fluid response exhibits a system size dependence, suggesting the absence of a BKT transition. Despite this, for finite systems the decay of spin correlations changes from exponential to algebraic as the temperature is decreased.Comment: 4 pages + refs, 3 figures. Interpretation of Fig. 3 results has changed since v

Unemployment and digital public goods contribution

Economic crises often result in massive job loss. However, although reduced employment has been shown to have many negative consequences for the affected individuals, it may also push them into new activities, such as provision of service to their communities. In this paper, we show how individuals engage in socially useful activities after an increase in unemployment. Specifically we document increased online content generation at Wikipedia, the world's largest user generated knowledge repository. Leveraging German district-level and European country-level unemployment data we analyze the relationship between the economic crisis in 2008-2010 and contributions to Wikipedia. For both data sets we find increased socially valuable activity in the form of knowledge acquisition and contributions to Wikipedia. For German districts, we observe an increased rate of content generation on Wikipedia in districts that faced greater increases in unemployment. The effect of unemployment on content generation is even stronger at the European country level. Our findings suggest that public goods provision increases as a positive side effect of economic crises

Functional dynamic genetic effects on gene regulation are specific to particular cell types and environmental conditions

Genetic effects on gene expression and splicing can be modulated by cellular and environmental factors; yet interactions between genotypes, cell type and treatment have not been comprehensively studied together. We used an induced pluripotent stem cell system to study multiple cell types derived from the same individuals and exposed them to a large panel of treatments. Cellular responses involved different genes and pathways for gene expression and splicing, and were highly variable across contexts. For thousands of genes, we identified variable allelic expression across contexts and characterized different types of gene-environment interactions, many of which are associated with complex traits. Promoter functional and evolutionary features distinguished genes with elevated allelic imbalance mean and variance. On average half of the genes with dynamic regulatory interactions were missed by large eQTL mapping studies, indicating the importance of exploring multiple treatments to reveal previously unrecognized regulatory loci that may be important for disease

Functional dynamic genetic effects on gene regulation are specific to particular cell types and environmental conditions

Genetic effects on gene expression and splicing can be modulated by cellular and environmental factors; yet interactions between genotypes, cell type and treatment have not been comprehensively studied together. We used an induced pluripotent stem cell system to study multiple cell types derived from the same individuals and exposed them to a large panel of treatments. Cellular responses involved different genes and pathways for gene expression and splicing, and were highly variable across contexts. For thousands of genes, we identified variable allelic expression across contexts and characterized different types of gene-environment interactions, many of which are associated with complex traits. Promoter functional and evolutionary features distinguished genes with elevated allelic imbalance mean and variance. On average half of the genes with dynamic regulatory interactions were missed by large eQTL mapping studies, indicating the importance of exploring multiple treatments to reveal previously unrecognized regulatory loci that may be important for disease

Option Pricing Kernels and the ICAPM

We estimate the parameters of pricing kernels that depend on both aggregate wealth and state variables that describe the investment opportunity set, using FTSE 100 and S&P 500 index option returns as the returns to be priced. The coefficients of the state variables are highly significant and remarkably consistent across specifications of the pricing kernel, and across the two markets. The results provide further evidence that, consistent with Merton's (1973) Intertemporal Capital Asset Pricing Model, state variables in addition to market risk are priced

Large scale meta-analysis characterizes genetic architecture for common psoriasis associated variants

Psoriasis is a complex disease of skin with a prevalence of about 2%. We conducted the largest meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for psoriasis to date, including data from eight different Caucasian cohorts, with a combined effective sample size amp;gt;39,000 individuals. We identified 16 additional psoriasis susceptibility loci achieving genome-wide significance, increasing the number of identified loci to 63 for European-origin individuals. Functional analysis highlighted the roles of interferon signalling and the NFkB cascade, and we showed that the psoriasis signals are enriched in regulatory elements from different T cells (CD8(+) T-cells and CD4(+) T-cells including T(H)0, T(H)1 and T(H)17). The identified loci explain similar to 28% of the genetic heritability and generate a discriminatory genetic risk score (AUC = 0.76 in our sample) that is significantly correlated with age at onset (p = 2 x 10(-89)). This study provides a comprehensive layout for the genetic architecture of common variants for psoriasis.Funding Agencies|National Institutes of Health [R01AR042742, R01AR050511, R01AR054966, R01AR063611, R01AR065183]; Foundation for the National Institutes of Health; Dermatology Foundation; National Psoriasis Foundation; Arthritis National Research Foundation; Ann Arbor Veterans Affairs Hospital; Dawn and Dudley Holmes Foundation; Babcock Memorial Trust; Medical Research Council [MR/L011808/1]; German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF); Doris Duke Foundation [2013106]; National Institute of Health [K08AR060802, R01AR06907]; Taubman Medical Research Institute; Department of Health via the NIHR comprehensive Biomedical Research Center; Kings College London; KCH NHS Foundation Trust; Barbara and Neal Henschel Charitable Foundation; Heinz Nixdorf Foundation; Estonian Ministry of Education and Research [IUT20-46]; Centre of Translational Genomics of University of Tartu (SP1GVARENG); European Regional Development Fund (Centre of Translational Medicine, University of Tartu); German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF); National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health [R44HG006981]; International Psoriasis Council</p

Broad-Scale Recombination Patterns Underlying Proper Disjunction in Humans

Although recombination is essential to the successful completion of human meiosis, it remains unclear how tightly the process is regulated and over what scale. To assess the nature and stringency of constraints on human recombination, we examined crossover patterns in transmissions to viable, non-trisomic offspring, using dense genotyping data collected in a large set of pedigrees. Our analysis supports a requirement for one chiasma per chromosome rather than per arm to ensure proper disjunction, with additional chiasmata occurring in proportion to physical length. The requirement is not absolute, however, as chromosome 21 seems to be frequently transmitted properly in the absence of a chiasma in females, a finding that raises the possibility of a back-up mechanism aiding in its correct segregation. We also found a set of double crossovers in surprisingly close proximity, as expected from a second pathway that is not subject to crossover interference. These findings point to multiple mechanisms that shape the distribution of crossovers, influencing proper disjunction in humans

Interactions between Glucocorticoid Treatment and Cis-Regulatory Polymorphisms Contribute to Cellular Response Phenotypes

Glucocorticoids (GCs) mediate physiological responses to environmental stress and are commonly used as pharmaceuticals. GCs act primarily through the GC receptor (GR, a transcription factor). Despite their clear biomedical importance, little is known about the genetic architecture of variation in GC response. Here we provide an initial assessment of variability in the cellular response to GC treatment by profiling gene expression and protein secretion in 114 EBV-transformed B lymphocytes of African and European ancestry. We found that genetic variation affects the response of nearby genes and exhibits distinctive patterns of genotype-treatment interactions, with genotypic effects evident in either only GC-treated or only control-treated conditions. Using a novel statistical framework, we identified interactions that influence the expression of 26 genes known to play central roles in GC-related pathways (e.g. NQO1, AIRE, and SGK1) and that influence the secretion of IL6

The Mechanism of Antifungal Action of Essential Oil from Dill (Anethum graveolens L.) on Aspergillus flavus

The essential oil extracted from the seeds of dill (Anethum graveolens L.) was demonstrated in this study as a potential source of an eco-friendly antifungal agent. To elucidate the mechanism of the antifungal action further, the effect of the essential oil on the plasma membrane and mitochondria of Aspergillus flavus was investigated. The lesion in the plasma membrane was detected through flow cytometry and further verified through the inhibition of ergosterol synthesis. The essential oil caused morphological changes in the cells of A. flavus and a reduction in the ergosterol quantity. Moreover, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), acidification of external medium, and mitochondrial ATPase and dehydrogenase activities were detected. The reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation was also examined through fluorometric assay. Exposure to dill oil resulted in an elevation of MMP, and in the suppression of the glucose-induced decrease in external pH at 4 µl/ml. Decreased ATPase and dehydrogenase activities in A. flavus cells were also observed in a dose-dependent manner. The above dysfunctions of the mitochondria caused ROS accumulation in A. flavus. A reduction in cell viability was prevented through the addition of L-cysteine, which indicates that ROS is an important mediator of the antifungal action of dill oil. In summary, the antifungal activity of dill oil results from its ability to disrupt the permeability barrier of the plasma membrane and from the mitochondrial dysfunction-induced ROS accumulation in A. flavus