Increasing Physical Activity Among African-American Women and Girls

WHITT-GLOVER, M. C., D. J. BRAND, M. E. TURNER, S. A. WARD, and E. M. JACKSON. Increasing physical activity among African-American women and girls. Curr. Sports Med. Rep., Vol. 8, No. 6, pp. 318-324, 2009. The benefits of physical activity on diseases and risk factors are well known. Despite the known benefits, many segments of the population, particularly African-American women and girls, do not obtain adequate levels of physical activity. Strategies are needed to identify successful and sustainable interventions to increase physical activity among this population. We reviewed literature published between 2007 and 2009 that focused on increasing physical activity or fitness among this population. We identified 37 studies, 11 of which focused on increasing physical activity. This article summarizes the findings from those 11 studies and provides recommendations for improving strategies to increase physical activity in African-American women and girls

OpenContrails: Benchmarking Contrail Detection on GOES-16 ABI

Contrails (condensation trails) are line-shaped ice clouds caused by aircraft and are likely the largest contributor of aviation-induced climate change. Contrail avoidance is potentially an inexpensive way to significantly reduce the climate impact of aviation. An automated contrail detection system is an essential tool to develop and evaluate contrail avoidance systems. In this paper, we present a human-labeled dataset named OpenContrails to train and evaluate contrail detection models based on GOES-16 Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) data. We propose and evaluate a contrail detection model that incorporates temporal context for improved detection accuracy. The human labeled dataset and the contrail detection outputs are publicly available on Google Cloud Storage at gs://goes_contrails_dataset

Time of harvest affects United States-grown Aronia mitschurinii berry polyphenols, ◦Brix, and acidity

The goal of this study was to determine how the date of harvest impacts the quality characteristics of Aronia mitschurinii (A. K. Skvortsov and Maitul.) ‘Viking’ and ‘Galicjanka’ berries. Aronia berries were collected from farms in the Midwestern and Northeastern United States over seven weeks of harvest during 2018, 2019 and 2020. The berries were analyzed for total phenol, anthocyanins, proanthocyanins, sugar, and acid. Aronia berry composition modestly deviated between each year of the study. Berries harvested in 2018 had the highest total phenols and proanthocyanidins, both increasing in content from weeks 1–5 from 15.90 ± 3.15–19.65 mg gallic acid equivalents/g fw, a 24% increase, and 2.22 ± 0.40–2.94 mg (+)-catechin equivalents/g fw, a 32% increase, respectively. Berries harvested in 2019 had the lowest total phenol and proanthocyanidin levels and had increasing anthocyanins until week 4. In 2020, aronia berry proanthocyanidins differed from those in 2018 by having 38% lower levels after the 4th week. Across years, berries had increasing ◦Brix, ◦Brix: acid, and pH throughout the seven weeks of harvest. Additionally, all years had slight, but statistically insignificant decreases in acidity over the harvest period. Moreover, analysis from berries collected in 2019 suggests no significant difference in quality factors between Viking and Galicjanka aronia cultivars. In conclusion, aronia berry total phenols, proanthocyanidins, pH, and berry size can be significantly affected by the growing year and time of harvest. Acidity was impacted more by growing year than harvest week. In contrast, anthocyanins and ◦Brix were consistent between years, but influenced considerably by the week of harvest

A scalable system to measure contrail formation on a per-flight basis

Persistent contrails make up a large fraction of aviation's contribution to global warming. We describe a scalable, automated detection and matching (ADM) system to determine from satellite data whether a flight has made a persistent contrail. The ADM system compares flight segments to contrails detected by a computer vision algorithm running on images from the GOES-16 Advanced Baseline Imager. We develop a 'flight matching' algorithm and use it to label each flight segment as a 'match' or 'non-match'. We perform this analysis on 1.6 million flight segments. The result is an analysis of which flights make persistent contrails several orders of magnitude larger than any previous work. We assess the agreement between our labels and available prediction models based on weather forecasts. Shifting air traffic to avoid regions of contrail formation has been proposed as a possible mitigation with the potential for very low cost/ton-CO2e. Our findings suggest that imperfections in these prediction models increase this cost/ton by about an order of magnitude. Contrail avoidance is a cost-effective climate change mitigation even with this factor taken into account, but our results quantify the need for more accurate contrail prediction methods and establish a benchmark for future development.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figure

Antileishmanial activity of Handroanthus serratifolius (Vahl) S. Grose (Bignoniaceae).

This study aimed to evaluate the leishmanicidal activity of ethanol extract, fractions, and isolated substance from Handroanthus serratifolius against Leishmania amazonensis. Furthermore, this activity was related to cytotoxicity, and the selectivity index was determined.The ethanol extract was obtained by maceration of the stem powder, and the extract was subjected to fractionation on chromatographic column. The lapachol was obtained by acid base extraction followed by purification in chromatographic column. The antipromastigote activity and cytotoxicity tests were carried out by the cell viabilitymethod (MTT).Modified THP-1 cells were infected with L. amazonensis promastigotes and treated for 24 h with different concentrations of the extract, fractions, and lapachol. Theethanol extract, dichloromethane, and ethyl acetate fractions were not active against promastigotes (IC50 > 200 ?g/mL) or cytotoxic (CC50 > 500 ?g/mL), and the selectivity index (SI)was greater than 2.5.The ethyl acetate fractionwas active only in promastigotes; it is not cytotoxic (CC50 > 500 ?g/mL, SI > 5).The lapachol was selectively active only against amastigote (IS > 2.5, CC50 > 500 ?g/mL). In summary, lapachol and ethyl acetate fraction are promising against amastigote and promastigote forms, respectively

The genomic landscape of balanced cytogenetic abnormalities associated with human congenital anomalies

Despite the clinical significance of balanced chromosomal abnormalities (BCAs), their characterization has largely been restricted to cytogenetic resolution. We explored the landscape of BCAs at nucleotide resolution in 273 subjects with a spectrum of congenital anomalies. Whole-genome sequencing revised 93% of karyotypes and demonstrated complexity that was cryptic to karyotyping in 21% of BCAs, highlighting the limitations of conventional cytogenetic approaches. At least 33.9% of BCAs resulted in gene disruption that likely contributed to the developmental phenotype, 5.2% were associated with pathogenic genomic imbalances, and 7.3% disrupted topologically associated domains (TADs) encompassing known syndromic loci. Remarkably, BCA breakpoints in eight subjects altered a single TAD encompassing MEF2C, a known driver of 5q14.3 microdeletion syndrome, resulting in decreased MEF2C expression. We propose that sequence-level resolution dramatically improves prediction of clinical outcomes for balanced rearrangements and provides insight into new pathogenic mechanisms, such as altered regulation due to changes in chromosome topology

A study of CP violation in B-+/- -> DK +/- and B-+/- -> D pi(+/-) decays with D -> (KSK +/-)-K-0 pi(-/+) final states

A first study of CP violation in the decay modes $B^\pm\to [K^0_{\rm S} K^\pm \pi^\mp]_D h^\pm$ and $B^\pm\to [K^0_{\rm S} K^\mp \pi^\pm]_D h^\pm$, where $h$ labels a $K$ or $\pi$ meson and $D$ labels a $D^0$ or $\overline{D}^0$ meson, is performed. The analysis uses the LHCb data set collected in $pp$ collisions, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb$^{-1}$. The analysis is sensitive to the CP-violating CKM phase $\gamma$ through seven observables: one charge asymmetry in each of the four modes and three ratios of the charge-integrated yields. The results are consistent with measurements of $\gamma$ using other decay modes

Measurement of Upsilon production in collisions at root s=2.76 TeV

The production of $\Upsilon(1S)$, $\Upsilon(2S)$ and $\Upsilon(3S)$ mesons decaying into the dimuon final state is studied with the LHCb detector using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.3 $pb^{-1}$ collected in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=2.76$ TeV. The differential production cross-sections times dimuon branching fractions are measured as functions of the $\Upsilon$ transverse momentum and rapidity, over the ranges $p_{\rm T} Upsilon(1S) X) x B(Upsilon(1S) -> mu+mu-) = 1.111 +/- 0.043 +/- 0.044 nb, sigma(pp -> Upsilon(2S) X) x B(Upsilon(2S) -> mu+mu-) = 0.264 +/- 0.023 +/- 0.011 nb, sigma(pp -> Upsilon(3S) X) x B(Upsilon(3S) -> mu+mu-) = 0.159 +/- 0.020 +/- 0.007 nb, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic

Measurement of CP asymmetry in B-s(0) -> D-s(-/+) K--/+ decays

We report on measurements of the time-dependent CP violating observables in $B^0_s\rightarrow D^{\mp}_s K^{\pm}$ decays using a dataset corresponding to 1.0 fb$^{-1}$ of pp collisions recorded with the LHCb detector. We find the CP violating observables $C_f=0.53\pm0.25\pm0.04$, $A^{\Delta\Gamma}_f=0.37\pm0.42\pm0.20$, $A^{\Delta\Gamma}_{\bar{f}}=0.20\pm0.41\pm0.20$, $S_f=-1.09\pm0.33\pm0.08$, $S_{\bar{f}}=-0.36\pm0.34\pm0.08$, where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. We use these observables to make the first measurement of the CKM angle $\gamma$ in $B^0_s\rightarrow D^{\mp}_s K^{\pm}$ decays, finding $\gamma$ = (115$_{-43}^{+28}$)$^\circ$ modulo 180$^\circ$ at 68% CL, where the error contains both statistical and systematic uncertainties.We report on measurements of the time-dependent CP violating observables in B$_{s}^{0}$  → D$_{s}^{∓}$ K$^{±}$ decays using a dataset corresponding to 1.0 fb$^{−1}$ of pp collisions recorded with the LHCb detector. We find the CP violating observables C$_{f}$ = 0.53±0.25±0.04, A$_{f}^{ΔΓ}$  = 0.37 ± 0.42 ± 0.20, ${A}_{\overline{f}}^{\varDelta \varGamma }=0.20\pm 0.41\pm 0.20$ , S$_{f}$ = −1.09±0.33±0.08, ${S}_{\overline{f}}=-0.36\pm 0.34\pm 0.08$ , where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. Using these observables together with a recent measurement of the B$_{s}^{0}$ mixing phase −2β$_{s}$ leads to the first extraction of the CKM angle γ from B$_{s}^{0}$  → D$_{s}^{∓}$ K$^{±}$ decays, finding γ = (115$_{− 43}^{+ 28}$ )° modulo 180° at 68% CL, where the error contains both statistical and systematic uncertainties.We report on measurements of the time-dependent CP violating observables in $B^0_s\rightarrow D^{\mp}_s K^{\pm}$ decays using a dataset corresponding to 1.0 fb$^{-1}$ of pp collisions recorded with the LHCb detector. We find the CP violating observables $C_f=0.53\pm0.25\pm0.04$, $A^{\Delta\Gamma}_f=0.37\pm0.42\pm0.20$, $A^{\Delta\Gamma}_{\bar{f}}=0.20\pm0.41\pm0.20$, $S_f=-1.09\pm0.33\pm0.08$, $S_{\bar{f}}=-0.36\pm0.34\pm0.08$, where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. Using these observables together with a recent measurement of the $B^0_s$ mixing phase $-2\beta_s$ leads to the first extraction of the CKM angle $\gamma$ from $B^0_s \rightarrow D^{\mp}_s K^{\pm}$ decays, finding $\gamma$ = (115$_{-43}^{+28}$)$^\circ$ modulo 180$^\circ$ at 68% CL, where the error contains both statistical and systematic uncertainties