2,928 research outputs found
Amniotic fluid from healthy term pregnancies does not harbor a detectable microbial community
Abstract Recent studies have conflicting data regarding the presence of intra-amniotic microbiota. Viral communities are increasingly recognized as important although overlooked components of the human microbiota. It is unknown if the developing fetus is exposed to a community of viruses (virome). Given the debate over the existence of an intra-amniotic microbial community and the importance of understanding how the infant gut is populated, we characterized the virome and bacterial microbiota of amniotic fluid from 24 uncomplicated term pregnancies using next-generation sequencing methods. Contrary to expectations, the bacterial microbiota of amniotic fluid was indistinguishable from contamination controls. Viral reads were sparse in the amniotic fluid, and we found no evidence of a core viral community across samples
Incidence of Behavior Problems in Toddlers and Preschool Children from Families Living in Poverty
Few studies have examined the incidence of behavior problems in toddlers and preschool children from families living in poverty. The available research suggests behavior problems occur at higher rates in children living in poverty and may have long-term negative outcomes if not identified and properly treated. This study included an ethnically representative sample of 357 children, five years of age and younger, from a diverse, low-income, urban area. All families’ incomes met the federal threshold for living in poverty. Behavior problems were assessed by parent report through a questionnaire specifically designed for low-income families. Boys and younger children were reported as demonstrating a higher rate of externalizing behaviors than girls and older children. The overall rate of children scoring at least one standard deviation above the sample\u27s mean for challenging behaviors was 17.4% and was not related to the child\u27s gender, age or ethnicity. This study also sampled children\u27s positive behaviors, which is unique in studies of behavior problems. Gender and age were not related to the frequency of reported positive behaviors. Ethnicity did influence scores on the positive scale. African American children appeared to present their parents more difficulty on items reflecting cooperative behaviors than Caucasian or Latino children. The implications of the study are discussed based on the recognized need for universal screening of behavior problems in young children and the small number professional training programs targeting the identification and treatment of early childhood behavior problems, despite the availability of evidence-based treatment programs tailored to young children in low-income families
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Genetic inference of population dynamics in the American pika: Identifying appropriate scales of inference within a region of declining survival
How species will respond to the changing climate is poorly understood, but will become increasingly important to understand as the climate changes further. One way to predict the eventual effects of climate change on many species is to study early effects of contemporary climate change on a model species that is known to be climate-sensitive. The American Pika (Ochotona princeps) typically occurs in alpine habitats and has a thermally sensitive physiology, making it an ideal model that is already being widely studied for these effects. This study used SNPs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms) from RADseq (Restriction site Associated DNA sequencing), a novel genetic analysis technique, to analyze the genetic composition of a regional pika population in the Colorado Rocky Mountains predicted to have three subpopulations. Using this method of analysis, the pika in this region were found to be genetically similar with little differentiation between subpopulations. For this population heterozygosity was generally low, but there were differences in levels of inbreeding between individuals and some subpopulations. These results show high levels connectivity under current conditions, and variable dispersal at the local level. This study also highlights the differences between data from SNPs and microsatellites used in previous studies, and provides a baseline for the comparison of future studies using SNPs from RADseq
Health Insurance and the Supply of Entrepreneurs
Some commentators have suggested that the absence of portable health insurance impedes people from leaving their jobs to start new firms. We investigate this belief by comparing wage-earners who become self-employed during a given period of time with their counterparts who do not. By examining the impact of variables relating to the health insurance and health status of these workers and their families, we can infer whether the lack of health insurance portability affects the probability that they become self-employed. The evidence does not support the conjecture that the current health insurance system affects the propensity to become self-employed. Hence, whatever its other merits, there is no reason to believe that the introduction of universal health insurance would significantly enhance entrepreneurial activity.
Older Adults and Forgoing Cancer Screening
Although there is a growing recognition that older adults and those with extensive comorbid conditions undergo cancer screening too frequently, there is little information about patients’ perceptions regarding cessation of cancer screening. Information on older adults’ views of screening cessation would be helpful both for clinicians and for those designing interventions to reduce overscreening
Progression of pediatric celiac disease from potential celiac disease to celiac disease: A retrospective cohort study
BACKGROUND: A subset of patients with serology suggesting celiac disease have an initially negative biopsy but subsequently develop histopathologic celiac disease. Here we characterize patients with potential celiac disease who progress to celiac disease.
METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of children (0-18 years of age) with biopsy-confirmed celiac disease seen at St. Louis Children\u27s Hospital between 2013 and 2018.
RESULTS: Three hundred sixteen of 327 (96%) children with biopsy-confirmed celiac disease were diagnosed on initial biopsy. The 11 children with potential celiac disease who progressed to celiac disease had lower anti-tissue transglutaminase (anti-TTG IgA) concentrations (2.4 (1.6-5) X upper limit of normal (ULN) vs. 6.41 (3.4-10.5) X ULN) at time of first biopsy. Their median anti-TTG IgA concentrations rose from 2.4 (1.6-5) X ULN to 3.6 (3.1-9.2) X ULN between biopsies.
CONCLUSIONS: Four percent of biopsy confirmed celiac patients initially had a negative biopsy, but later developed histopathologic celiac disease. This is likely an underestimate as no surveillance algorithm was in place. We recommend repeat assessment in children whose serology suggests celiac disease despite normal small bowel biopsy
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Frio pilot in CO2 sequestration in brine-bearing sandstones: The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, report to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to accompany a class V application for an experimental technology pilot injection well.
GEOSEQ project (LBNL, LLNL, ORNL), NETL, Schlumberger–Doll Research Center, Transpetco, Sandia TechnologiesJackson School of Geoscience
Functions preserving nonnegativity of matrices
The main goal of this work is to determine which entire functions preserve
nonnegativity of matrices of a fixed order -- i.e., to characterize entire
functions with the property that is entrywise nonnegative for every
entrywise nonnegative matrix of size . Towards this goal, we
present a complete characterization of functions preserving nonnegativity of
(block) upper-triangular matrices and those preserving nonnegativity of
circulant matrices. We also derive necessary conditions and sufficient
conditions for entire functions that preserve nonnegativity of symmetric
matrices. We also show that some of these latter conditions characterize the
even or odd functions that preserve nonnegativity of symmetric matrices.Comment: 20 pages; expanded and corrected to reflect referees' remarks; to
appear in SIAM J. Matrix Anal. App
Global Existence and Regularity for the 3D Stochastic Primitive Equations of the Ocean and Atmosphere with Multiplicative White Noise
The Primitive Equations are a basic model in the study of large scale Oceanic
and Atmospheric dynamics. These systems form the analytical core of the most
advanced General Circulation Models. For this reason and due to their
challenging nonlinear and anisotropic structure the Primitive Equations have
recently received considerable attention from the mathematical community.
In view of the complex multi-scale nature of the earth's climate system, many
uncertainties appear that should be accounted for in the basic dynamical models
of atmospheric and oceanic processes. In the climate community stochastic
methods have come into extensive use in this connection. For this reason there
has appeared a need to further develop the foundations of nonlinear stochastic
partial differential equations in connection with the Primitive Equations and
more generally.
In this work we study a stochastic version of the Primitive Equations. We
establish the global existence of strong, pathwise solutions for these
equations in dimension 3 for the case of a nonlinear multiplicative noise. The
proof makes use of anisotropic estimates, estimates on the
pressure and stopping time arguments.Comment: To appear in Nonlinearit
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