Living objects

Sometimes, I find myself sunk into my memories, during daytime when the sun illuminates through the seam of the shutters in my room, or at midnight, when the world is in deep silence. The sound of flipping books brings me back to the time when my mom sat in the living room quietly, with a cup of hot black tea as always. At the time when she read, I always found a stream of light illuminating the table, covering her face partially. One page, two pages, and three pages; as she kept flipping, the repetitive sound made the quiet afternoon peaceful, but emotional. Those pieces of memories pour out inadvertently and occasionally. When I get back to reality, however, I do not find the beautiful moments so often in our daily life. I cannot remember since when things have shifted from physical to digital. People started to lose sensorial connection with physical reality. Living Objects reveals the world I constructed. In this world, every subtle movement brings changes, just like the butterfly effect: have you noticed the gentle breeze created by you while you walk, and how it blew up the leaves on the floor? The ripples in our life might be tiny and you do not even notice. However, it is those subtle ripples that make your ordinary life extraordinary

No evidence for promoter region methylation of the succinate dehydrogenase and fumarate hydratase tumour suppressor genes in breast cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) and fumarate hydratase (FH) are tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle enzymes that are also known to act as tumour suppressor genes. Increased succinate or fumarate levels as a consequence of <it>SDH </it>and <it>FH </it>deficiency inhibit hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) prolyl hydroxylases leading to sustained HIF-1α expression in tumours. Since HIF-1α is frequently expressed in breast carcinomas, DNA methylation at the promoter regions of the <it>SDHA, SDHB, SDHC </it>and <it>SDHD </it>and <it>FH </it>genes was evaluated as a possible mechanism in silencing of <it>SDH </it>and <it>FH </it>expression in breast carcinomas.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>No DNA methylation was identified in the promoter regions of the <it>SDHA</it>, <it>SDHB</it>, <it>SDHC</it>, <it>SDHD </it>and <it>FH </it>genes in 72 breast carcinomas and 10 breast cancer cell lines using methylation-sensitive high resolution melting which detects both homogeneous and heterogeneous methylation.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results show that inactivation via DNA methylation of the promoter CpG islands of <it>SDH </it>and <it>FH </it>is unlikely to play a major role in sporadic breast carcinomas.</p

Unmet Needs are Associated with Increased Stress and Poor Physical and Mental Health in Early Adulthood

Material hardship, such as not being able to pay bills, negatively affects both physical and mental health. This research brief examines how different types of material hardship (difficulty paying for food, bills, and health care) are associated with self-rated health, depression, sleep problems, and suicidal thoughts among U.S. young adults (ages 24-32)

The Washington State Second Chance Expungement Gap

Every time a person is convicted of a crime, this event is memorialized in the person’s criminal record in perpetuity, setting off thousands of potential collateral consequences, including being penalized in searches for employment, housing and volunteer opportunities. To remove these harmful consequences, Washington law allows people whose criminal records meet certain conditions to vacate their records. However, the Second Chance Gap in Washington “expungements” - the share of people who aren’t accessing the vacation remedy because of hurdles in the petition process - we suspect is large. To estimate it, we used research and practice expertise to approximately model the eligibility criteria for vacation set forth in the law and applied it to a sample of records obtained through a records request from the Administrative Office of the Courts of Washington. Importantly, data limitations made it impossible for us to consider out of state charges, payment of fines and fees, and sentence completion, so we did not model these eligibility conditions. Based on our analysis, Washington’s vacation laws allow for approximately 60% of those who live burdened with criminal conviction records, or over 1M people, to potentially receive relief. But less than 5% of those eligible for relief, and less than 1% of the charges eligible for relief have received the remedy. At current rates of vacation, we estimate that it would take over 4,000 years to clear the backlog of eligible charges using current, petition-based methods, based on our calculations regarding the number of charges that we estimate are eligible for vacation, and the actual number of charges that were vacated last year (1,973). Existing racial disparities in the Washington criminal justice system are significant: currently, African-Americans represent 4.2 % of individuals in Washington but within our sample, Afrian-Americans represented 11% of Washingtonians with a criminal record, 15% of Washingtonians with any felony record, and 22% of Washingtonians with a Class A felony record. Among the population of people with criminal records, Clean Slate would apply evenly and therefore not exacerbate but also, would not narrow racial disparities. However, among the general population, Clean Slate would reduce racial disparities significantly as the differences in the share of African-Americans with a record and share of whites with a record would get considerably smaller. Because of the large second chance gap, the filing of petitions by all those who are entitled to could result in a severe congestion at the courts. Washington can close the 95-99% second chance gap between eligibility and delivery of relief by automating relief, solving both problems, but only if it implements the law with some adjustments and compensates for missing and dirty data

Analysis of patient information leaflets (PILs), used in clinical trials using the Informed Consent Evaluation instrument (ICEi)

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Effect of dietary salt intake on epithelial Na\u3csup\u3e+\u3c/sup\u3e channels (ENaCs) in the hypothalamus of Dahl salt-sensitive rats

© 2018 The Authors. Physiological Reports published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of The Physiological Society and the American Physiological Society. All three epithelial Na+ channel (ENaC) subunits (α, β, and γ) and the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR), a known regulator of ENaC, are located in vasopressin (VP) synthesizing magnocellular neurons in the hypothalamic supraoptic (SON) and paraventricular (PVN) nuclei. Our previous study showed that ENaC mediates a Na+ leak current that affects the steady-state membrane potential of VP neurons. This study was conducted in Dahl salt-sensitive (Dahl-SS) rats to determine if any abnormal responses in the expression of ENaC subunits and MR occur in the hypothalamus and kidney in response to a high dietary salt intake. After 21 days of high salt consumption, Dahl-SS rat resulted in a significant increase in γENaC expression and exhibited proteolytic cleavage of this subunit compared to Sprague–Dawley (SD) rats. Additionally, Dahl-SS rats had dense somato-dendritic γENaC immunoreactivity in VP neurons, which was absent in SD rats. In contrast, SD rats fed a high salt diet had significantly decreased αENaC subunit expression in the kidney and MR expression in the hypothalamus. Plasma osmolality measured daily for 22 days demonstrated that Dahl-SS rats fed a high salt diet had a steady increase in plasma osmolality, whereas SD rats had an initial increase that decreased to baseline levels. Findings from this study demonstrate that Dahl-SS rats lack a compensatory mechanism to down regulate ENaC during high dietary salt consumption, which may contribute to the development of hypertension

A Relook at Canada’s Western Canada Sedimentary Basin for Power Generation and Direct-Use Energy Production

The Alberta No. 1 Project, under the terms of Canada’s Federal government’s Emerging Renewable Power Program (ERPP), must produce 5MWe net. The goal of this study was to identify areas where three essential constraining conditions overlap; (1) the temperature gradient is sufficiently high that 120°C brines at depths of 4,500m or less are potentially available, (2) there are formations at the depths targeted with known high fluid flows, and (3) there is adequate existing infrastructure that supports low-cost power grid connection as well as a direct use application. A fluid temperature of at least 120oC is needed to profitably operate the plant. Temperatures below this require increasingly greater amount of fluids to be pumped and injected making them uneconomic. Three hundred liters per second (l/sec) of 120oC water is required to generate 5 MW net of electrical power with an Organic Rankin Cycle (ORC) binary plant. A depth cut off from a project economics perspective is about 4,500m for large diameter geothermal wells. Fortunately, these formations don’t need to be thick to supply these volumes of water to the well bore and thin permeable formations are expected to be laterally extensive in the regional layer cake (Western Canada Sedimentary Basin, WCSB) geology of Alberta. Thus, targeting known high fluid producing geologic units, rather than narrow faults is an important aspect of developing a geothermal project in the WCSB. Alberta No. 1 identified nine study areas to assess for geothermal potential. Of these, the Tri-Municipal Industrial Park (south of Grande Prairie) was determined to be the most suitable for both power production and development, followed by Edson (west-central Alberta). Other areas were identified as being most suitable for basement EGS to produce power, as well as direct use from shallower formations

Intimate-Partner and Client-Initiated Violence among Female Street-Based Sex Workers in China: Does a Support Network Help?

Background Globally, female street-based sex workers are vulnerable to gender-based violence. Previous research has shown having a peer social network can reduce sex workers’ risks of victimization. However, mechanisms of how social network impacts violence among female street-based sex workers are still far from clear. Methods Our study was based on data abstracted from a paper-and-pencil survey administered among 218 female street-based sex workers in Shanghai, China. We focused on self-reported client-initiated violence and intimate-partner violence in emotional, physical, and sexual forms. Social networks were characterized by the size and sources of financial and psychosocial support (e.g. family, friends, and peers). Multi-variable logistic regression was used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (AOR) of each type of violence exposure by social network structure after the adjustment of age, education, and years in Shanghai. Results The street-based female sex workers in our study were primarily rural-to-urban migrants (95.7%) with an average age of 41 years old. 24.3% and 62.8% of the sex workers reported intimate-partner violence and client-initiated violence respectively. Lack of financial support, as defined by having only one individual or none in her peer support system to help financially, was significantly associated with self-reported intimate-partner violence (AOR: 2.5; 95% CI: 1.1–5.9). Respondents who reported client-initiated violence, by contrast, were more likely to report lacked psychosocial support from family (AOR: 2.2, 95% CI: 1.0–4.6) and peers (AOR: 5.1, 95% CI: 2.2–11). Conclusion This study is one of the first to systematically analyze the associations between social network and gender-based violence among street-based female sex worker. We reported a high prevalence of both types of gender-based violence and their complex associations with family, friends, and peer support network. Policies with goals to reduce violence against women may apply these findings to leverage social network in the interventions against gender-based violence

‘Is the library open?’: Correlating unaffiliated access to academic libraries with open access support

© 2019, Igitur, Utrecht Publishing and Archiving Services. All rights reserved. In the context of a growing international focus on open access publishing options and mandates, this paper explores the extent to which the ideals of ‘openness’ are also being applied to physical knowledge resources and research spaces. This study, which forms part of the larger Curtin Open Knowledge Initiative project, investigates the relationship between academic library access policies and institutional positions on open access or open science publishing. Analysis of library access policies and related documents from twenty academic institutions in Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, Africa and the United Kingdom shows that physical access to libraries for members of the public who are not affiliated with a university is often the most restricted category of access. Many libraries impose financial and sometimes security barriers on entry to buildings, limiting access to collections in print and other non-digital formats. The limits placed on physical access to libraries contrast strongly with the central role that these institutions play in facilitating open access in digital form for research outputs through institutional repositories and open access publishing policies. We compared library access policies and practices with open access publishing and research sharing policies for the same institutions and found limited correlation between both sets of policies. Comparing the two assessments using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient confirmed open access policies have a direct association with the narrow aspects of public access provided through online availability of formal publications, but are not necessarily associated (in the universities in this study) with delivering on a broader commitment to public access to knowledge. The results suggest that while institutional mission statements and academic library policies may refer to sharing of knowledge and research and community collaboration, multiple layers of library user categories, levels of privilege and fees charged can inhibit the realisation of these goals. As open access publishing options and mandates expand, physical entry to academic libraries and access to print and electronic resources has contracted. This varies within and across countries, but it conflicts with global library and information commitments to open access to knowledge