Publication metrics and success on the academic job market

SummaryThe number of applicants vastly outnumbers the available academic faculty positions. What makes a successful academic job market candidate is the subject of much current discussion [1–4]. Yet, so far there has been no quantitative analysis of who becomes a principal investigator (PI). We here use a machine-learning approach to predict who becomes a PI, based on data from over 25,000 scientists in PubMed. We show that success in academia is predictable. It depends on the number of publications, the impact factor (IF) of the journals in which those papers are published, and the number of papers that receive more citations than average for the journal in which they were published (citations/IF). However, both the scientist’s gender and the rank of their university are also of importance, suggesting that non-publication features play a statistically significant role in the academic hiring process. Our model (www.pipredictor.com) allows anyone to calculate their likelihood of becoming a PI

Frontline Science: Rapid adipose tissue expansion triggers unique proliferation and lipid accumulation profiles in adipose tissue macrophages

Obesityâ related changes in adipose tissue leukocytes, in particular adipose tissue macrophages (ATMs) and dendritic cells (ATDCs), are implicated in metabolic inflammation, insulin resistance, and altered regulation of adipocyte function. We evaluated stromal cell and white adipose tissue (WAT) expansion dynamics with high fat diet (HFD) feeding for 3â 56 days, quantifying ATMs, ATDCs, endothelial cells (ECs), and preadipocytes (PAs) in visceral epididymal WAT and subcutaneous inguinal WAT. To better understand mechanisms of the early response to obesity, we evaluated ATM proliferation and lipid accumulation. ATMs, ATDCs, and ECs increased with rapid WAT expansion, with ATMs derived primarily from a CCR2â independent resident population. WAT expansion stimulated proliferation in resident ATMs and ECs, but not CD11c+ ATMs or ATDCs. ATM proliferation was unperturbed in Csf2â and Rag1â deficient mice with WAT expansion. Additionally, ATM apoptosis decreased with WAT expansion, and proliferation and apoptosis reverted to baseline with weight loss. Adipocytes reached maximal hypertrophy at 28 days of HFD, coinciding with a plateau in resident ATM accumulation and the appearance of lipidâ laden CD11c+ ATMs in visceral epididymal WAT. ATM increases were proportional to tissue expansion and adipocyte hypertrophy, supporting adipocyteâ mediated regulation of resident ATMs. The appearance of lipidâ laden CD11c+ ATMs at peak adipocyte size supports a role in responding to ectopic lipid accumulation within adipose tissue. In contrast, ATDCs increase independently of proliferation and may be derived from circulating precursors. These changes precede and establish the setting in which largeâ scale adipose tissue infiltration of CD11c+ ATMs, inflammation, and adipose tissue dysfunction contributes to insulin resistance.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/142947/1/jlb10097_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/142947/2/jlb10097.pd

UWISH2 -- The UKIRT Widefield Infrared Survey for H2

We present the goals and preliminary results of an unbiased, near-infrared, narrow-band imaging survey of the First Galactic Quadrant (10deg<l<65deg ; -1.3deg<b<+1.3deg). This area includes most of the Giant Molecular Clouds and massive star forming regions in the northern hemisphere. The survey is centred on the 1-0S(1) ro-vibrational line of H2, a proven tracer of hot, dense molecular gas in star-forming regions, around evolved stars, and in supernova remnants. The observations complement existing and upcoming photometric surveys (Spitzer-GLIMPSE, UKIDSS-GPS, JCMT-JPS, AKARI, Herschel Hi-GAL, etc.), though we probe a dynamically active component of star formation not covered by these broad-band surveys. Our narrow-band survey is currently more than 60% complete. The median seeing in our images is 0.73arcsec. The images have a 5sigma detection limit of point sources of K=18mag and the surface brightness limit is 10^-19Wm^-2arcsec^-2 when averaged over our typical seeing. Jets and outflows from both low and high mass Young Stellar Objects are revealed, as are new Planetary Nebulae and - via a comparison with earlier K-band observations acquired as part of the UKIDSS GPS - numerous variable stars. With their superior spatial resolution, the UWISH2 data also have the potential to reveal the true nature of many of the Extended Green Objects found in the GLIMPSE survey.Comment: 14pages, 8figures, 2tables, accepted for publication by MNRAS, a version with higher resolution figures can be found at http://astro.kent.ac.uk/~df

Severe Dengue Epidemics in Sri Lanka, 2003–2006

One-sentence summary for table of contents: Changes in transmission dynamics and virus genes are likely increasing emergence of severe epidemics in this country

Pharmacoinformatic investigation of medicinal plants from East Africa

Medicinal plants have widely been used in the traditional treatment of ailments and have been proven effective. Their contribution still holds an important place in modern drug discovery due to their chemical, and biological diversities. However, the poor documentation of traditional medicine, in developing African countries for instance, can lead to the loss of knowledge related to such practices. In this study, we present the Eastern Africa Natural Products Database (EANPDB) containing the structural and bioactivity information of 1870 unique molecules isolated from about 300 source species from the Eastern African region. This represents the largest collection of natural products (NPs) from this geographical region, covering literature data of the period from 1962 to 2019. The computed physicochemical properties and toxicity profiles of each compound have been included. A comparative analysis of some physico-chemical properties like molecular weight, H-bond donor/acceptor, logP(o/w), etc. as well scaffold diversity analysis has been carried out with other published NP databases. EANPDB was combined with the previously published Northern African Natural Products Database (NANPDB), to form a merger African Natural Products Database (ANPDB), containing similar to 6500 unique molecules isolated from about 1000 source species (freely available at http://african-compounds.org). As a case study, latrunculins A and B isolated from the spongeNegombata magnifica(Podospongiidae) with previously reported antitumour activities, were identified via substructure searching as molecules to be explored as putative binders of histone deacetylases (HDACs)

Hi-GAL, theHerschelinfrared Galactic Plane Survey: photometric maps and compact source catalogues

Aims. We present the first public release of high-quality data products (DR1) from Hi-GAL, the Herschel infrared Galactic Plane Survey. Hi-GAL is the keystone of a suite of continuum Galactic plane surveys from the near-IR to the radio and covers five wavebands at 70, 160, 250, 350 and 500 µm, encompassing the peak of the spectral energy distribution of cold dust for 8 < T < 50 K. This first Hi-GAL data release covers the inner Milky Way in the longitude range 68◦ > t > −70◦ in a |b| ≤ 1◦ latitude strip. ∼ ∼ ∼ ∼ Methods. Photometric maps have been produced with the ROMAGAL pipeline, which optimally capitalizes on the excellent sensitivity and stability of the bolometer arrays of the Herschel PACS and SPIRE photometric cameras. It delivers images of exquisite quality and dynamical range, absolutely calibrated with Planck and IRAS, and recovers extended emission at all wavelengths and all spatial scales, from the point-spread function to the size of an entire 2◦ × 2◦ “tile” that is the unit observing block of the survey. The compact source catalogues were generated with the CuTEx algorithm, which was specifically developed to optimise source detection and extraction in the extreme conditions of intense and spatially varying background that are found in the Galactic plane in the thermal infrared. Results. Hi-GAL DR1 images are cirrus noise limited and reach the 1σ-rms predicted by the Herschel Time Estimators for parallel-mode obser- vations at 6011 s−1 scanning speed in relatively low cirrus emission regions. Hi-GAL DR1 images will be accessible through a dedicated web-based image cutout service. The DR1 Compact Source Catalogues are delivered as single-band photometric lists containing, in addition to source posi- tion, peak, and integrated flux and source sizes, a variety of parameters useful to assess the quality and reliability of the extracted sources. Caveats and hints to help in this assessment are provided. Flux completeness limits in all bands are determined from extensive synthetic source experiments and greatly depend on the specific line of sight along the Galactic plane because the background strongly varies as a function of Galactic longitude. Hi-GAL DR1 catalogues contain 123210, 308509, 280685, 160972, and 85460 compact sources in the five bands