Consumer Connectivity in a Complex, Technology-Enabled, and Mobile-Oriented World with Smart Products

Today’s consumers are immersed in a vast and complex array of networks. Each network features an interconnected mesh of people and firms, and now, with the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), also objects. Technology (particularly mobile devices) enables such connections, and facilitates many kinds of interactions in these networks - from transactions, to social information sharing, to people interfacing with connected devices (e.g., wearable technology). We introduce the POP-framework, discuss how People, Objects and the Physical world interconnect with each other and how it results in an increasing amount of connected data, and briefly summarize existing knowledge on these inter-connections. We also provide an agenda for future research focused on examining potential impact of IoT and smart products on consumer behavior and firm strategies

The Lantern Vol. 43, No. 1, Fall 1976

• Frustration • Think Again • My Sweet • Secret Society of One • November Ghosts • A Lonely Girl\u27s Prayer • Visions of You • The Innocence Baby • Society • Silence • Don\u27t Turn Around • Waves • Loneliness • Time Writer • Brood • It\u27s Not Funny • Four Haiku, Entwined • We\u27ll Have to Stop Meeting Like This • Castles In the Sand • The Seahttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1109/thumbnail.jp

Fully Resolved assembly of Cryptosporidium Parvum

BACKGROUND: Cryptosporidium parvum is an apicomplexan parasite commonly found across many host species with a global infection prevalence in human populations of 7.6%. Understanding its diversity and genomic makeup can help in fighting established infections and prohibiting further transmission. The basis of every genomic study is a high-quality reference genome that has continuity and completeness, thus enabling comprehensive comparative studies. FINDINGS: Here, we provide a highly accurate and complete reference genome of Cryptosporidium parvum. The assembly is based on Oxford Nanopore reads and was improved using Illumina reads for error correction. We also outline how to evaluate and choose from different assembly methods based on 2 main approaches that can be applied to other Cryptosporidium species. The assembly encompasses 8 chromosomes and includes 13 telomeres that were resolved. Overall, the assembly shows a high completion rate with 98.4% single-copy BUSCO genes. CONCLUSIONS: This high-quality reference genome of a zoonotic IIaA17G2R1 C. parvum subtype isolate provides the basis for subsequent comparative genomic studies across the Cryptosporidium clade. This will enable improved understanding of diversity, functional, and association studies

Multiple RSV strains infecting HEp-2 and A549 cells reveal cell line-dependent differences in resistance to RSV infection

Background: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the major viral driver of a global pediatric respiratory disease burden disproportionately borne by the poor1. Thus, RSV, like SARS-CoV-2, combines with congenital and environmental and host-history-dependent factors to create a spectrum of disease with greatest severity most frequently occurring in those least able to procure treatment. Methods: Here we apply whole genome sequencing and a suite of other molecular biological techniques to survey host-virus dynamics in infections of two distinct cell lines (HEp2 and A549) with four strains representative of known RSV genetic diversity. Results: We observed non-gradient patterns of RSV gene expression and a single major difference in transcriptional readthrough correlating with a deep split in the RSV phylogenetic tree. We also observed increased viral replication in HEp2 cells along with a pro-inflammatory host-response; and decreased viral replication in A549 cells with a more potent antiviral response in host gene expression and levels of secreted cytokines. Conclusions: Our findings suggest HEp2 and A549 cell lines can be used as complementary models of host response leading to more or less severe RSV disease. In vitro perturbations inspired by actual environmental and host-history-dependent factors associated with greater disease can be tested for their ability to shift the antiviral response of A549 cells to the more pro-inflammatory response of HEp2 cells. Such studies would help illuminate the tragic costs of poverty and suggest public health-level interventions to reduce the global disease burden from RSV and other respiratory viruses

Pathology and Viral Antigen Distribution of Lethal Pneumonia in Domestic Cats Due to Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 Influenza A Virus

A novel swine-origin H1N1 influenza A virus has been identified as the cause of the 2009 influenza pandemic in humans. Since then, infections with the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza virus have been documented in a number of animal species. The first known cases of lethal respiratory disease associated with pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza virus infection in house pets occurred in domestic cats in Oregon. A 10-year-old, neutered male and an 8-year-old, spayed female domestic short hair cat died shortly after developing severe respiratory disease. Grossly, lung lobes of both cats were diffusely firm and incompletely collapsed. Histologically, moderate to severe, necrotizing to pyonecrotizing bronchointerstitial pneumonia was accompanied by serofibrinous exudation and hyaline membranes in the alveolar spaces. Influenza A virus was isolated from nasal secretions of the male and from lung homogenate of the female cat. Both isolates were confirmed as pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza virus by real-time reverse transcriptase PCR (rRT-PCR). Using immunohistochemistry, influenza A viral antigen was demonstrated in bronchiolar epithelial cells, pneumocytes and alveolar macrophages in pneumonic areas. The most likely sources of infection were people in the household with influenza-like illness or confirmed pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza. The two cases reported here provide, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the first description of the pathology and viral antigen distribution of lethal respiratory disease in domestic cats after natural pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza virus infection, probably transmitted from humans.This is an author's peer-reviewed final manuscript, as accepted by the publisher. The article is published by Sage Publications on behalf of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists, European College of Veterinary Pathologists, and the Japanese College of Veterinary. The published article can be found at: http://vet.sagepub.com/.Keywords: influenza, pneumonia, pandemic, pH1N1, lung, immunohistochemistry, ca

The Consolidation of the White Southern Congressional Vote

This article explores the initial desertion and continued realignment of about one-sixth of the white voters in the South who, until 1994, stood by Democratic congressional candidates even as they voted for Republican presidential nominees. Prior to 1994, a sizable share of the white electorate distinguished between Democratic congressional and presidential candidates; since 1994 that distinction has been swept away. In 1992, a majority of white southern voters was casting their ballot for the Democratic House nominee; by 1994, the situation was reversed and 64 percent cast their ballot for the Republican. Virtually all categories of voters increased their support of Republican congressional candidates in 1994 and the following elections further cement GOP congressional support in the South. Subsequent elections are largely exercises in partisanship, as the congressional votes mirror party preferences. Republicans pull nearly all GOP identifiers, most independents, and a sizeable minority of Democratic identifiers. Democrats running for Congress no longer convince voters that they are different from their party’s presidential standard bearers—a group that has consistently been judged unacceptable to overwhelming proportions of the southern white electorate.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Micropapillary bladder cancer: Current treatment patterns and review of the literature

No guidelines exist for management of micropapillary bladder cancer (MPBC) and the majority of reports of this variant of urothelial carcinoma (UC) are case series comprised of small numbers of patients. We sought to determine current practice patterns for MPBC using a survey sent to the Society of Urologic Oncology (SUO) and to present those results in the setting of a comprehensive review of the existing literature

Intratumoral Genetic and Functional Heterogeneity in Pediatric Glioblastoma.

Pediatric glioblastoma (pGBM) is a lethal cancer with no effective therapies. To understand the mechanisms of tumor evolution in this cancer, we performed whole-genome sequencing with linked reads on longitudinally resected pGBM samples. Our analyses showed that all diagnostic and recurrent samples were collections of genetically diverse subclones. Clonal composition rapidly evolved at recurrence, with less than 8% of nonsynonymous single-nucleotide variants being shared in diagnostic-recurrent pairs. To track the origins of the mutational events observed in pGBM, we generated whole-genome datasets for two patients and their parents. These trios showed that genetic variants could be (i) somatic, (ii) inherited from a healthy parent, or (iii) de novo in the germlines of pGBM patients. Analysis of variant allele frequencies supported a model of tumor growth involving slow-cycling cancer stem cells that give rise to fast-proliferating progenitor-like cells and to nondividing cells. Interestingly, radiation and antimitotic chemotherapeutics did not increase overall tumor burden upon recurrence. These findings support an important role for slow-cycling stem cell populations in contributing to recurrences, because slow-cycling cell populations are expected to be less prone to genotoxic stress induced by these treatments and therefore would accumulate few mutations. Our results highlight the need for new targeted treatments that account for the complex functional hierarchies and genomic heterogeneity of pGBM. SIGNIFICANCE: This work challenges several assumptions regarding the genetic organization of pediatric GBM and highlights mutagenic programs that start during early prenatal development.Graphical Abstract: http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/canres/79/9/2111/F1.large.jpg.Wellcome Trust Royal Societ