Residential On-Site Carsharing and Off-Street Parking Policy in the San Francisco Bay Area, Research Report 11-28

In light of rising motorization, transportation planners have increasingly supported alternatives to the indiscriminate use of the car. Off-street parking policy and carsharing have emerged as credible alternatives for discouraging car ownership. This report explores an initiative that could connect these policy fields and build on their synergy: the provision of on-site carsharing service in residential developments. It evaluates the performance of on-site carsharing programs in the San Francisco Bay Area by interviewing developers, planners, and carsharing service providers. Interviews were conducted in four Bay Area cities that support the provision of carsharing as an alternative to the private automobile. Based on these interviews, this report identifies the principal factors contributing to the success or failure of on-site carsharing: the unbundling status of off-street parking in residential developments; ties to off-street parking standards; financial constraints; and the level of coordination among stakeholders. The interviews revealed that on-site carsharing has been accepted by developers, planners, and service providers, particularly in densely-populated, transit-rich communities. Nevertheless, there appears to be a gap between on-site carsharing programs and off-street parking standards, and between carsharing programs and carsharing business operations. The authors recommend that a few models for establishing carsharing policy be tested: a model designed to serve high-density cities with traditional carsharing; and another designed to serve moderately-dense communities, with new carsharing options (e.g., peer-to-peer). In the case of the latter, trip reduction can be achieved through the promotion of alternative modes along major corridors

Amenity or Necessity? Street Standards as Parking Policy, Research Report 11-23

This paper explores the rationales underlying the use of minimum street width requirements to mandate street parking. A survey of 97 cities reveals that this mandate is not a technical necessity based on safety concerns or an amenity reflecting market demand, two common beliefs held by decision-makers. Many residents are likely unwilling to pay for street parking if it is unbundled from housing. The hidden parking policies should be made transparent and subject to public oversight, the double standard between private and public streets should be eliminated, and parking on residential streets should be optional

Gram-negative bacterial molecules associate with Alzheimer disease pathology.

ObjectiveWe determined whether Gram-negative bacterial molecules are associated with Alzheimer disease (AD) neuropathology given that previous studies demonstrate Gram-negative Escherichia coli bacteria can form extracellular amyloid and Gram-negative bacteria have been reported as the predominant bacteria found in normal human brains.MethodsBrain samples from gray and white matter were studied from patients with AD (n = 24) and age-matched controls (n = 18). Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and E coli K99 pili protein were evaluated by Western blots and immunocytochemistry. Human brain samples were assessed for E coli DNA followed by DNA sequencing.ResultsLPS and E coli K99 were detected immunocytochemically in brain parenchyma and vessels in all AD and control brains. K99 levels measured using Western blots were greater in AD compared to control brains (p < 0.01) and K99 was localized to neuron-like cells in AD but not control brains. LPS levels were also greater in AD compared to control brain. LPS colocalized with Aβ1-40/42 in amyloid plaques and with Aβ1-40/42 around vessels in AD brains. DNA sequencing confirmed E coli DNA in human control and AD brains.ConclusionsE coli K99 and LPS levels were greater in AD compared to control brains. LPS colocalized with Aβ1-40/42 in amyloid plaques and around vessels in AD brain. The data show that Gram-negative bacterial molecules are associated with AD neuropathology. They are consistent with our LPS-ischemia-hypoxia rat model that produces myelin aggregates that colocalize with Aβ and resemble amyloid-like plaques

Prevalence of Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus in Uygur and Han populations from the Urumqi and Kashgar regions of Xinjiang, China

Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is the infectious etiologic agent associated with Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS), primary effusion lymphoma, and multicentric Castleman disease. It has been shown that high KSHV prevalence and high incidence of both classic KS and AIDSassociated KS are found mostly among people of Uygur ethnicity in Xinjiang, while people of Han ethnicity in Xinjiang have a higher KSHV seroprevalence than those of other Han populations in mainland China. However, it is still unclear why there is such geographical and population variation in KSHV distribution in China. In this work, we focused on the populations in the Kashgar region and Urumqi area, where a total of 1294 research subjects were randomly selected to investigate the potential correlation between KSHV prevalence and different ethnicities in endemic areas of Xinjiang, and to determine risk factors that may affect KSHV infection rates or KS incidence. We identified a high seroprevalence of KSHV and high peripheral blood DNA infection in the general Uygur and Han populations in both Urumqi and Kashgar regions of Xinjiang, and determined that advancing age, low education level, and stationary population status affect KSHV infection rates. Further, KSHV-positive Uygur participants were shown to have higher prevalence of neutralizing antibodies and neutralizing antibody titers than KSHV-positive Han participants

Assessing accuracy and precision for space-based measurements of carbon dioxide: An associated statistical methodology revisited

Analyzing retrieval accuracy and precision is an important element of space‐based CO_2 retrievals. However, this error analysis is sometimes challenging to perform rigorously because of the subtlety of Multivariate Statistics. To help address this issue, we revisit some fundamentals of Multivariate Statistics that help reveal the statistical essence of the associated error analysis. We show that the related statistical methodology is useful for revealing the intrinsic discrepancy and relation between the retrieval error for a nonzero‐variate CO_2 state and that for a zero‐variate one. Our study suggests that the two scenarios essentially yield the same‐magnitude accuracy, while the latter scenario yields a better precision than the former. We also use this methodology to obtain a rigorous framework systematically and explore a broadly used approximate framework for analyzing CO_2 retrieval errors. The approximate framework introduces errors due to an essential, but often forgotten, fact that a priori climatology in reality is never equal to the true state. Due to the nature of the problem considered, realistic numerical simulations that produce synthetic spectra may be more appropriate than remote sensing data for our specific exploration. As highlighted in our retrieval simulations, utilizing the approximate framework may not be universally satisfactory in assessing the accuracy and precision of X_(co_2) retrievals (with errors up to 0.17–0.28 ppm and 1.4–1.7 ppm, respectively, at SNR = 400). In situ measurements of CO_2 are needed to further our understanding of this issue and related implications

Identification and Characterization of Circular RNAs in Brassica rapa in Response to \u3ci\u3ePlasmodiophora brassicae\u3c/i\u3e

Plasmodiophora brassicae is a soil-borne pathogen that attacks the roots of cruciferous plants and causes clubroot disease. CircRNAs are noncoding RNAs, widely existing in plant and animal species. Although knowledge of circRNAs has been updated continuously and rapidly, information about circRNAs in the regulation of clubroot disease resistance is extremely limited in Brassica rapa. Here, Chinese cabbage (BJN 222) containing clubroot resistance genes (CRa) against P. brassicae Pb4 was susceptible to PbE. To investigate the mechanism of cicRNAs responsible for clubroot disease resistance in B. rapa, circRNA-seq was performed with roots of ‘BJN 222’ at 0, 8, and 23 days postinoculated (dpi) with Pb4 and PbE. A total of 231 differentially expressed circRNAs were identified between the groups. Based on the differentially expressed circRNAs, the circRNA–miRNA–mRNA network was constructed using the target genes directly or indirectly related to plant resistance. Upregulated novel_circ_000495 suppressed the expression of miR5656-y, leading to the upregulation of Bra026508, which might cause plant resistance. Our results provide new insights into clubroot resistance mechanisms and lay a foundation for further studies exploring complex gene regulation networks in B. rapa

Polymicrobial periodontal disease triggers a wide radius of effect and unique virome.

Periodontal disease is a microbially-mediated inflammatory disease of tooth-supporting tissues that leads to bone and tissue loss around teeth. Although bacterially-mediated mechanisms of alveolar bone destruction have been widely studied, the effects of a polymicrobial infection on the periodontal ligament and microbiome/virome have not been well explored. Therefore, the current investigation introduced a new mouse model of periodontal disease to examine the effects of a polymicrobial infection on periodontal ligament (PDL) properties, changes in bone loss, the host immune response, and the microbiome/virome using shotgun sequencing. Periodontal pathogens, namely Porphyromonas gingivalis, Treponema denticola, Tannerella forsythia, and Fusobacterium nucleatum were used as the polymicrobial oral inoculum in BALB/cByJ mice. The polymicrobial infection triggered significant alveolar bone loss, a heightened antibody response, an elevated cytokine immune response, a significant shift in viral diversity and virome composition, and a widening of the PDL space; the latter two findings have not been previously reported in periodontal disease models. Changes in the PDL space were present at sites far away from the site of insult, indicating that the polymicrobial radius of effect extends beyond the bone loss areas and site of initial infection and wider than previously appreciated. Associations were found between bone loss, specific viral and bacterial species, immune genes, and PDL space changes. These findings may have significant implications for the pathogenesis of periodontal disease and biomechanical properties of the periodontium. This new polymicrobial mouse model of periodontal disease in a common mouse strain is useful for evaluating the features of periodontal disease

Fostering bioinformatics education through skill development of professors: Big Genomic Data Skills Training for Professors.

Bioinformatics has become an indispensable part of life science over the past 2 decades. However, bioinformatics education is not well integrated at the undergraduate level, especially in liberal arts colleges and regional universities in the United States. One significant obstacle pointed out by the Network for Integrating Bioinformatics into Life Sciences Education is the lack of faculty in the bioinformatics area. Most current life science professors did not acquire bioinformatics analysis skills during their own training. Consequently, a great number of undergraduate and graduate students do not get the chance to learn bioinformatics or computational biology skills within a structured curriculum during their education. To address this gap, we developed a module-based, week-long short course to train small college and regional university professors with essential bioinformatics skills. The bioinformatics modules were built to be adapted by the professor-trainees afterward and used in their own classes. All the course materials can be accessed at https://github.com/TheJacksonLaboratory/JAXBD2K-ShortCourse

Prevalence of Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus in Uygur and Han populations from the Urumqi and Kashgar regions of Xinjiang, China

Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is the infectious etiologic agent associated with Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS), primary effusion lymphoma, and multicentric Castleman disease. It has been shown that high KSHV prevalence and high incidence of both classic KS and AIDSassociated KS are found mostly among people of Uygur ethnicity in Xinjiang, while people of Han ethnicity in Xinjiang have a higher KSHV seroprevalence than those of other Han populations in mainland China. However, it is still unclear why there is such geographical and population variation in KSHV distribution in China. In this work, we focused on the populations in the Kashgar region and Urumqi area, where a total of 1294 research subjects were randomly selected to investigate the potential correlation between KSHV prevalence and different ethnicities in endemic areas of Xinjiang, and to determine risk factors that may affect KSHV infection rates or KS incidence. We identified a high seroprevalence of KSHV and high peripheral blood DNA infection in the general Uygur and Han populations in both Urumqi and Kashgar regions of Xinjiang, and determined that advancing age, low education level, and stationary population status affect KSHV infection rates. Further, KSHV-positive Uygur participants were shown to have higher prevalence of neutralizing antibodies and neutralizing antibody titers than KSHV-positive Han participants

Structure-Based Discovery of mPGES-1 Inhibitors Suitable for Preclinical Testing in Wild-Type Mice as a New Generation of Anti-Inflammatory Drugs

Human mPGES-1 is recognized as a promising target for next generation of anti-inflammatory drugs without the side effects of currently available anti-inflammatory drugs, and various inhibitors have been reported in the literature. However, none of the reported potent inhibitors of human mPGES-1 has shown to be also a potent inhibitor of mouse or rat mPGES-1, which prevents using the well-established mouse/rat models of inflammation-related diseases for preclinical studies. Hence, despite of extensive efforts to design and discover various human mPGES-1 inhibitors, the promise of mPGES-1 as a target for the next generation of anti-inflammatory drugs has never been demonstrated in any wild-type mouse/rat model using an mPGES-1 inhibitor. Here we report discovery of a novel type of selective mPGES-1 inhibitors potent for both human and mouse mPGES-1 enzymes through structure-based rational design. Based on in vivo studies using wild-type mice, the lead compound is indeed non-toxic, orally bioavailable, and more potent in decreasing the PGE2 (an inflammatory marker) levels compared to the currently available drug celecoxib. This is the first demonstration in wild-type mice that mPGES-1 is truly a promising target for the next generation of anti-inflammatory drugs