Analysis of Wattpad E-Community: A Model-Based Virtual Collaboration

This study conducted an Analysis of Wattpad E-Community: A Model-Based Virtual Collaboration. Specifically, it sought to answer the following: (1) What information can be obtained based on the analysis of Wattpad E-Community in terms of (a) strengths, (b) weakness, (c) opportunities, and (d) threats?; and (2) What program can be proposed based on the S.W.O.T analysis of Wattpad E-Community?. This descriptive-quantitative research collected data via survei which were analyzed and interpreted using Weighted Mean, ranking, and verbal descriptors. The SWOT analysis indicated that ideal platform, learning experience, and sociable environment are among the group’s strengths, whereas excessive liberty, technical difficulties, and exclusivity belong to its weaknesses. In addition, the discovered opportunities in the group include possibility to meet and learn from professionals/expert, development of online learning community, and potential feasibility in data gathering, while possibility to transfer to another e-community, cyber security hazards, and frequent power outages are considered as threats. Therefore, it is recommended to propose the implementation of Project VIBE (Virtual, Interactive, and Boundless Engagement), alongside the application of the improvements and revisions generated from the results of the SWOT Analysis

Osteocyte dysfunction promotes osteoarthritis through MMP13-dependent suppression of subchondral bone homeostasis.

Osteoarthritis (OA), long considered a primary disorder of articular cartilage, is commonly associated with subchondral bone sclerosis. However, the cellular mechanisms responsible for changes to subchondral bone in OA, and the extent to which these changes are drivers of or a secondary reaction to cartilage degeneration, remain unclear. In knee joints from human patients with end-stage OA, we found evidence of profound defects in osteocyte function. Suppression of osteocyte perilacunar/canalicular remodeling (PLR) was most severe in the medial compartment of OA subchondral bone, with lower protease expression, diminished canalicular networks, and disorganized and hypermineralized extracellular matrix. As a step toward evaluating the causality of PLR suppression in OA, we ablated the PLR enzyme MMP13 in osteocytes while leaving chondrocytic MMP13 intact, using Cre recombinase driven by the 9.6-kb DMP1 promoter. Not only did osteocytic MMP13 deficiency suppress PLR in cortical and subchondral bone, but it also compromised cartilage. Even in the absence of injury, osteocytic MMP13 deficiency was sufficient to reduce cartilage proteoglycan content, change chondrocyte production of collagen II, aggrecan, and MMP13, and increase the incidence of cartilage lesions, consistent with early OA. Thus, in humans and mice, defects in PLR coincide with cartilage defects. Osteocyte-derived MMP13 emerges as a critical regulator of cartilage homeostasis, likely via its effects on PLR. Together, these findings implicate osteocytes in bone-cartilage crosstalk in the joint and suggest a causal role for suppressed perilacunar/canalicular remodeling in osteoarthritis

The Portrayal of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Mass Print Magazines Since 1980

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to examine and describe the portrayal of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in mass print media magazines. Design: The sample included all 37 articles found in magazines with circulation rates of greater than 1 million published in the United States and Canada from 1980 to 2005. The analysis was quantitative and qualitative and included investigation of both manifest and latent magazine story messages. Results: Manifest analysis noted that CAM was largely represented as a treatment for a patient with a medically diagnosed illness or specific symptoms. Discussions used biomedical terms such as patient rather than consumer and disease rather than wellness. Latent analysis revealed three themes: (1) CAMs were described as good but not good enough; (2) individualism and consumerism were venerated; and (3) questions of costs were raised in the context of confusion and ambivalence

Sostdc1 deficiency accelerates fracture healing by promoting the expansion of periosteal mesenchymal stem cells

Loss of Sostdc1, a growth factor paralogous to Sost, causes the formation of ectopic incisors, fused molars, abnormal hair follicles, and resistance to kidney disease. Sostdc1 is expressed in the periosteum, a source of osteoblasts, fibroblasts and mesenchymal progenitor cells, which are critically important for fracture repair. Here, we investigated the role of Sostdc1 in bone metabolism and fracture repair. Mice lacking Sostdc1 (Sostdc1−/−) had a low bone mass phenotype associated with loss of trabecular bone in both lumbar vertebrae and in the appendicular skeleton. In contrast, Sostdc1−/− cortical bone measurements revealed larger bones with higher BMD, suggesting that Sostdc1 exerts differential effects on cortical and trabecular bone. Mid-diaphyseal femoral fractures induced in Sostdc1−/− mice showed that the periosteal population normally positive for Sostdc1 rapidly expands during periosteal thickening and these cells migrate into the fracture callus at 3 days post fracture. Quantitative analysis of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) and osteoblast populations determined that MSCs express Sostdc1, and that Sostdc1−/− 5 day calluses harbor > 2-fold more MSCs than fractured wildtype controls. Histologically a fraction of Sostdc1-positive cells also expressed nestin and α-smooth muscle actin, suggesting that Sostdc1 marks a population of osteochondral progenitor cells that actively participate in callus formation and bone repair. Elevated numbers of MSCs in D5 calluses resulted in a larger, more vascularized cartilage callus at day 7, and a more rapid turnover of cartilage with significantly more remodeled bone and a thicker cortical shell at 21 days post fracture. These data support accelerated or enhanced bone formation/remodeling of the callus in Sostdc1−/− mice, suggesting that Sostdc1 may promote and maintain mesenchymal stem cell quiescence in the periosteum

LEGaTO: first steps towards energy-efficient toolset for heterogeneous computing

LEGaTO is a three-year EU H2020 project which started in December 2017. The LEGaTO project will leverage task-based programming models to provide a software ecosystem for Made-in-Europe heterogeneous hardware composed of CPUs, GPUs, FPGAs and dataflow engines. The aim is to attain one order of magnitude energy savings from the edge to the converged cloud/HPC.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

A domestic space of the end of the first millennium in El Colorado, south of Yocavil, Catamarca, Argentina: First results of field research

Este trabajo aporta a la elaboración de una imagen sobre los ámbitos domésticos construidos y habitados durante los últimos siglos del primer milenio d.C en Yocavil, una época para la que existe escaso registro en la actualidad. Se presenta una síntesis de las tres últimas temporadas de campo, efectuadas en 2016, 2017 y 2018, en la localidad arqueológica El Colorado, sur de Yocavil, provincia de Catamarca, Argentina. Las actividades se centraron en la indagación de una unidad residencial "Detección 28" compuesta por dos recintos (Estructura 65 y Estructura 66), situada en el Sector Conoide Norte de la localidad. Las excavaciones en área permitieron detectar una ocupación en la E 65, en la cual se alcanzaron depósitos estériles, y un mínimo de dos ocupaciones en la E 66, cuya excavación aún no ha concluido. Considerando los resultados de un fechado radiocarbónico y las características estilísticas de la arquitectura y de los materiales recuperados en las superficies de uso, se estableció que la E 65 y la ocupación superior de la E 66 corresponden a los últimos siglos del primer milenio de la era. Se presentarán detalles de la arquitectura y tendencias observadas en los conjuntos cerámico y lítico recuperados.This work contributes to the elaboration of an image about the domestic areas built and inhabited during the last centuries of the first millennium A.D. in Yocavil, a time for which there is currently little record. We present a synthesis of the last three field seasons, carried out in 2016, 2017 and 2018, in the archaeological town of El Colorado, south of Yocavil, province of Catamarca, Argentina. The activities focused on the investigation of a residential unit “Detection 28” composed of two enclosures (Structure E65 and Structure E66), located in the North Conoid Sector of the locality. Excavations in the area allowed to detect an occupation in E65, in which sterile deposits were reached, and a minimum of two occupations in E66, whose excavation has not yet been completed. Considering the results of a radiocarbon dating and the stylistic characteristics of the architecture and materials recovered in the use surfaces, it was established that E65 and the superior occupation of E66 correspond to the last centuries of the first millennium of the era. Details of the architecture, and advances in the analysis of the ceramic and lithic set will be presented.Fil: Palamarczuk, Valeria. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Museo Etnográfico "Juan B. Ambrosetti"; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto de las Culturas. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Instituto de las Culturas; ArgentinaFil: Raices Montero, Cecilia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto de las Culturas. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Instituto de las Culturas; Argentina. Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Productiva. Banco Nacional de Datos Genéticos; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Museo Etnográfico "Juan B. Ambrosetti"; ArgentinaFil: Petrucci, Natalia Silvana. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Laboratorio de Etnobotánica y Botánica Aplicada; ArgentinaFil: Greco Mainero, Mariano Catriel. Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas y Naturales. Departamento de Geología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Luis; ArgentinaFil: Molina, Cristina N.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Museo Etnográfico "Juan B. Ambrosetti"; ArgentinaFil: García, María Cristal. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Museo Etnográfico "Juan B. Ambrosetti"; ArgentinaFil: Castiglioni, María Valeria. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Museo Etnográfico "Juan B. Ambrosetti"; Argentin

Transient, Isolated Head Tremor in “Unaffected” Individuals: Is Essential Tremor an Even More Prevalent Disease Than We Suppose?

Background: Mild and transient head tremor may sometimes be observed in otherwise tremor-free relatives of essential tremor (ET) cases, although its prevalence is unclear. A diagnostic question is whether this transient, isolated head tremor, often observed as no more than a wobble, is an early manifestation of ET or whether it is a normal finding. A direct comparison with controls is needed.Methods: Two hundred and forty-one first-degree relatives of ET cases (FD-ET) and 77 spousal controls (Co) were enrolled in a study of ET. Each underwent a detailed evaluation that included a tremor history and videotaped neurological examination. None of the enrollees reported tremor, had a prior diagnosis of ET, or had significant tremor on screening spirals. All videotaped examinations were initially reviewed by a movement disorder neurologist blinded to subject type, and among those with head tremor on examination, co-reviewed by two additional movement disorders neurologists.Results: Twenty-six (10.8, 95% Confidence interval [CI] = 7.5–15.3%) of 241 FD-ET vs. 2 (2.6, 95% CI = 0.7–9.0%) of 77 Co had isolated, transient head tremor (odds ratio = 4.54, 95% CI = 1.05–19.57, p = 0.04). No enrollee had significant upper extremity tremor and none met inclusion criteria for ET based on the presence of upper extremity tremor. With one exception, head tremor occurred during or after phonation. It was always transient (generally a single back and forth wobble) and rare (observed briefly on one or two occasions during the videotaped examination) and had a faster frequency, lower amplitude and a different quality than voluntary head shaking.Conclusion: The basis for the observed isolated head tremor is unknown, but it could be an early feature of ET in ET families.Indeed, one-in-ten otherwise unaffected first-degree relatives of ET cases exhibited such tremor. To a far lesser extent it was also observed in “unaffected” controls. In both, it is likely a sign of early, emerging, undiagnosed ET, although follow-up studies are needed to confirm this. If it were ET, it would indicate that the prevalence of ET may be considerably higher than previously suspected

A harmonized database of European forest simulations under climate change

Process-based forest models combine biological, physical, and chemical process understanding to simulate forest dynamics as an emergent property of the system. As such, they are valuable tools to investigate the effects of climate change on forest ecosystems. Specifically, they allow testing of hypotheses regarding long-term ecosystem dynamics and provide means to assess the impacts of climate scenarios on future forest development. As a consequence, numerous local-scale simulation studies have been conducted over the past decades to assess the impacts of climate change on forests. These studies apply the best available models tailored to local conditions, parameterized and evaluated by local experts. However, this treasure trove of knowledge on climate change responses remains underexplored to date, as a consistent and harmonized dataset of local model simulations is missing. Here, our objectives were (i) to compile existing local simulations on forest development under climate change in Europe in a common database, (ii) to harmonize them to a common suite of output variables, and (iii) to provide a standardized vector of auxiliary environmental variables for each simulated location to aid subsequent investigations. Our dataset of European stand- and landscape-level forest simulations contains over 1.1 million simulation runs representing 135 million simulation years for more than 13,000 unique locations spread across Europe. The data were harmonized to consistently describe forest development in terms of stand structure (dominant height), composition (dominant species, admixed species), and functioning (leaf area index). Auxiliary variables provided include consistent daily climate information (temperature, precipitation, radiation, vapor pressure deficit) as well as information on local site conditions (soil depth, soil physical properties, soil water holding capacity, plant-available nitrogen). The present dataset facilitates analyses across models and locations, with the aim to better harness the valuable information contained in local simulations for large-scale policy support, and for fostering a deeper understanding of the effects of climate change on forest ecosystems in Europe