USING PRIMARY AND SECONDARY DATA TO CONSTRUCT AN INPUT-OUTPUT TABLE--A CASE STUDY OF FOUR CITIES IN NORTHEASTERN MINNESOTA AND DOUGLAS COUNTY, WISCONSIN

The purpose of this paper is report on the construction of the thirty-five sector input-output table which represents the interindustry flows in a four-city area. The incorporated areas of the cities of Duluth, Two Harbors, and Cloquet in Minnesota, and Superior in Wisconsin are included in the study.Community/Rural/Urban Development,

An Unpublished Caricatura by Domenico Tiepolo

Includes bibliographical reference

Last male sperm precedence in a polygamous squid

Differential sperm usage from consecutive matings, or sperm precedence, is vital in determining male reproductive success and the outcome of sperm competition for many organisms. Sperm precedence also has significant consequences for mating system dynamics, including both male and female adaptations for increasing reproductive success and avoiding the costs of mating. Despite sexual selection being a strong driver of reproductive behaviour and morphology in cephalopods, surprisingly few studies have investigated sperm dynamics in this group. To redress this gap, we experimentally quantified sperm precedence patterns in the dumpling squid, Euprymna tasmanica, controlling for recent male mating history (first vs. second mating), mating position, and mating frequency. We found that the last male to mate gains an advantage in this system, with the second mating male siring up to 75% of offspring at the beginning of the laying period. The proportion of offspring attributable to the second mating male decreases to 54% by the end of the laying period, potentially as a result of changes in the velocity or number of sperm released from spermatangia over time. There is also significant variation among females in patterns of sperm precedence. This variation was not associated with whether it was the male's first or second mating, male mass, the duration of copulation or the number of pumps (sperm removal behaviour) by the second male. If widespread in cephalopods, last male sperm precedence could help to explain the evolution of mate guarding (or long copulation duration) and sperm removal behaviour in this group

Bostonia: The Boston University Alumni Magazine. Volume 32

Founded in 1900, Bostonia magazine is Boston University's main alumni publication, which covers alumni and student life, as well as university activities, events, and programs

Newsprint coverage of smoking in cars carrying children : a case study of public and scientific opinion driving the policy debate

Acknowledgements Date of Acceptance:17/10/2014 Acknowledgements: This project was funded by Cancer Research UK (MC_U130085862) and the Scottish School of Public Health Research. Cancer Research UK and the Scottish School of Public Health Research was not involved in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, writing of the manuscript or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. Shona Hilton, Karen Wood, Josh Bain and Chris Patterson are funded by the UK Medical Research Council as part of the Understandings and Uses of Public Health Research programme (MC_UU_12017/6) at the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow. We thank Alan Pollock who provided assistance with coding.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

FAK acts as a suppressor of RTK-MAP kinase signalling in Drosophila melanogaster epithelia and human cancer cells

Receptor Tyrosine Kinases (RTKs) and Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK) regulate multiple signalling pathways, including mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase pathway. FAK interacts with several RTKs but little is known about how FAK regulates their downstream signalling. Here we investigated how FAK regulates signalling resulting from the overexpression of the RTKs RET and EGFR. FAK suppressed RTKs signalling in Drosophila melanogaster epithelia by impairing MAPK pathway. This regulation was also observed in MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells, suggesting it is a conserved phenomenon in humans. Mechanistically, FAK reduced receptor recycling into the plasma membrane, which resulted in lower MAPK activation. Conversely, increasing the membrane pool of the receptor increased MAPK pathway signalling. FAK is widely considered as a therapeutic target in cancer biology; however, it also has tumour suppressor properties in some contexts. Therefore, the FAK-mediated negative regulation of RTK/MAPK signalling described here may have potential implications in the designing of therapy strategies for RTK-driven tumours

Health information seeking on the Internet: a double divide? Results from a representative survey in the Paris metropolitan area, France, 2005–2006

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Internet is a major source of information for professionals and the general public, especially in the field of health. However, despite ever-increasing connection rates, a digital divide persists in the industrialised countries. The objective of this study was to assess the determinants involved in: 1) having or not having Internet access; and 2) using or not using the Internet to obtain health information.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional survey of a representative random sample was conducted in the Paris metropolitan area, France, in the fall of 2005 (n = 3023).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Close to 70% of the adult population had Internet access, and 49% of Internet users had previously searched for medical information. Economic and social disparities observed in online health information seeking are reinforced by the economic and social disparities in Internet access, hence a double divide. While individuals who reported having a recent health problem were less likely to have Internet access (odds ratio (OR): 0.72, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.53–0.98), it is they who, when they have Internet access, are the most likely to search for health information (OR = 1.44, 95% CI = 1.11–1.87).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In the French context of universal health insurance, access to the Internet varies according to social and socioeconomic status and health status, and its use for health information seeking varies also with health beliefs, but not to health insurance coverage or health-care utilisation. Certain economic and social inequalities seem to impact cumulatively on Internet access and on the use of the Internet for health information seeking. It is not obvious that the Internet is a special information tool for primary prevention in people who are the furthest removed from health concerns. However, the Internet appears to be a useful complement for secondary prevention, especially for better understanding health problems or enhancing therapeutic compliance.</p

Language experience impacts brain activation for spoken and signed language in infancy: Insights from unimodal and bimodal bilinguals

Recent neuroimaging studies suggest that monolingual infants activate a left lateralised fronto-temporal brain network in response to spoken language, which is similar to the network involved in processing spoken and signed language in adulthood. However, it is unclear how brain activation to language is influenced by early experience in infancy. To address this question, we present functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) data from 60 hearing infants (4-to-8 months): 19 monolingual infants exposed to English, 20 unimodal bilingual infants exposed to two spoken languages, and 21 bimodal bilingual infants exposed to English and British Sign Language (BSL). Across all infants, spoken language elicited activation in a bilateral brain network including the inferior frontal and posterior temporal areas, while sign language elicited activation in the right temporo-parietal area. A significant difference in brain lateralisation was observed between groups. Activation in the posterior temporal region was not lateralised in monolinguals and bimodal bilinguals, but right lateralised in response to both language modalities in unimodal bilinguals. This suggests that experience of two spoken languages influences brain activation for sign language when experienced for the first time. Multivariate pattern analyses (MVPA) could classify distributed patterns of activation within the left hemisphere for spoken and signed language in monolinguals (proportion correct = 0.68; p = 0.039) but not in unimodal or bimodal bilinguals. These results suggest that bilingual experience in infancy influences brain activation for language, and that unimodal bilingual experience has greater impact on early brain lateralisation than bimodal bilingual experience

What traits are carried on mobile genetic elements, and why?

Although similar to any other organism, prokaryotes can transfer genes vertically from mother cell to daughter cell, they can also exchange certain genes horizontally. Genes can move within and between genomes at fast rates because of mobile genetic elements (MGEs). Although mobile elements are fundamentally self-interested entities, and thus replicate for their own gain, they frequently carry genes beneficial for their hosts and/or the neighbours of their hosts. Many genes that are carried by mobile elements code for traits that are expressed outside of the cell. Such traits are involved in bacterial sociality, such as the production of public goods, which benefit a cell's neighbours, or the production of bacteriocins, which harm a cell's neighbours. In this study we review the patterns that are emerging in the types of genes carried by mobile elements, and discuss the evolutionary and ecological conditions under which mobile elements evolve to carry their peculiar mix of parasitic, beneficial and cooperative genes

Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies from the CHARGE consortium identifies common variants associated with carotid intima media thickness and plaque

Carotid intima media thickness (cIMT) and plaque determined by ultrasonography are established measures of subclinical atherosclerosis that each predicts future cardiovascular disease events. We conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association data in 31,211 participants of European ancestry from nine large studies in the setting of the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) Consortium. We then sought additional evidence to support our findings among 11,273 individuals using data from seven additional studies. In the combined meta-analysis, we identified three genomic regions associated with common carotid intima media thickness and two different regions associated with the presence of carotid plaque (P < 5 × 10 -8). The associated SNPs mapped in or near genes related to cellular signaling, lipid metabolism and blood pressure homeostasis, and two of the regions were associated with coronary artery disease (P < 0.006) in the Coronary Artery Disease Genome-Wide Replication and Meta-Analysis (CARDIoGRAM) consortium. Our findings may provide new insight into pathways leading to subclinical atherosclerosis and subsequent cardiovascular events