Agency in Transport Service: Implications of Traveller Mode Choice Objective and Latent Attributes Using Random Parameter Logit Model

Abstract: This paper explains how principal-agent theory (PAT) can be used as an analytical tool to understand the traveller-Transport for NSW (TfNSW) relationship and minimise the agency problem in the relationship by examining traveller preferences for mode choices. The paper emphasises latent variables (LVs) and traditional objective attributes (TOAs) together during the choice process within the agency relationship, as a method by which the utility of the principal (traveller) can be maximised and evaluated using a discrete choice experiment, i.e. random parameter logit (RPL) model. The probability of car use is significantly higher than public transport, which indicates that an agency problem exists in the relationship and incorporating traveller preferences in the transport projects may minimise this problem. Citation: Anwar, A.H.M., Tieu, K., Gibson, P., Win, K.T. & Berryman, M.J. (2014). Agency in Transport Service: Implications of Traveller Mode Choice Objective and Latent Attributes Using Ransom Parameter Logit Model. In: Campbell P. and Perez P. (Eds), Proceedings of the International Symposium of Next Generation Infrastructure, 1-4 October 2013, SMART Infrastructure Facility, University of Wollongong, Australia

Relationship of Blood and Urinary Manganese Levels with Cognitive Function in Elderly Individuals in the United States by Race/Ethnicity, NHANES 2011–2014

Manganese (Mn) is an essential metal with a biphasic relationship with health outcomes. High-level exposure to Mn is associated with manganism, but few data explore the effects of chronic, lower-level Mn on cognitive function in adults. We sought to determine the relationship between blood/urinary manganese levels and cognitive function in elderly individuals using 2011–2014 data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Weighted multivariate regression models were used to determine correlations, adjusting for several covariates. Blood Mn was inversely associated with the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s Disease (CERAD) immediate learning of new verbal information (p-value = 0.04), but lost significance after adjusting for medical history (p-value = 0.09). In addition, blood Mn was inversely associated with Animal Fluency scores after adjusting for all covariates. Urinary Mn was inversely associated with CERAD immediate learning after adjusting for all covariates (p-value = 0.01) and inversely associated with the Digit Symbol Substitution Test scores (p-value = 0.0002), but lost significance after adjusting for medical history (p-value = 0.13). Upon stratifying by race/ethnicity, other Races and Non-Hispanic (NH)-Blacks had significantly higher blood Mn levels when compared to NH-Whites. Collectively, these findings suggest that increased blood and urinary Mn levels are associated with poorer cognitive function in an elderly US population

In vivo construction of recombinant molecules within the Caenorhabditis elegans germ line using short regions of terminal homology

Homologous recombination provides a means for the in vivo construction of recombinant DNA molecules that may be problematic to assemble in vitro. We have investigated the efficiency of recombination within the Caenorhabditis elegans germ line as a function of the length of homology between recombining molecules. Our findings indicate that recombination can occur between molecules that share only 10 bp of terminal homology, and that 25 bp is sufficient to mediate relatively high levels of recombination. Recombination occurs with lower efficiency when the location of the homologous segment is subterminal or internal. As in yeast, recombination can also be mediated by either single- or double-stranded bridging oligonucleotides. We find that ligation between cohesive ends is highly efficient and does not require that the ends be phosphorylated; furthermore, precise intermolecular ligation between injected molecules that have blunt ends can also occur within the germ line

Galactic Dynamics via General Relativity: A Compilation and New Developments

We consider the consequences of applying general relativity to the description of the dynamics of a galaxy, given the observed flattened rotation curves. The galaxy is modeled as a stationary axially symmetric pressure-free fluid. In spite of the weak gravitational field and the non-relativistic source velocities, the mathematical system is still seen to be non-linear. It is shown that the rotation curves for various galaxies as examples are consistent with the mass density distributions of the visible matter within essentially flattened disks. This obviates the need for a massive halo of exotic dark matter. We determine that the mass density for the luminous threshold as tracked in the radial direction is $10^{-21.75}$ kg$\cdot$m$^{-3}$ for these galaxies and conjecture that this will be the case for other galaxies yet to be analyzed. We present a velocity dispersion test to determine the extent, if of any significance, of matter that may lie beyond the visible/HI region. Various comments and criticisms from colleagues are addressed.Comment: 35 pages, 13 figure

Quantification of HIV-1 RNA Among Men Who Have Sex With Men Using an At-Home Self-Collected Dried Blood Spot Specimen: Feasibility Study

Background: Suboptimal antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence and disengagement in care present significant public health challenges because of the increased probability of HIV transmission. In the United States, men who have sex with men (MSM) continue to be disproportionately affected by HIV, highlighting a critical need to engage high-risk MSM living with HIV who are not engaged or retained in care. Objective: The aim of the study was to assess the feasibility of at-home blood self-collection and laboratory quantification of HIV-1 RNA viral load (VL) to report laboratory-based VL outcomes and compare self-reported and laboratory-reported VL Methods: Between 2016 and 2017, 766 US HIV-positive MSM enrolled in a Web-based behavioral intervention were invited to participate in an at-home dried blood spot (DBS) collection study using HemaSpot-HF kits (Spot On Sciences, Inc, Austin, TX) for laboratory-quantified VL. Results: Of those invited to participate, 72.3% (554/766) enrolled in the DBS study. Most (79.2%, 439/554) men enrolled reported attempting to collect their blood, 75.5% (418/554) of participants mailed a DBS specimen to the research laboratory, and 60.8% (337/554) had an adequate blood sample for VL testing. Of the 337 specimens tested for VL by the laboratory, 52.5% (177/337) had detectable VL (median: 3508 copies/mL; range: 851-1,202,265 copies/mL). Most men (83.9%, 135/161) who returned a DBS specimen with laboratory-quantified detectable VL self-reported an undetectable VL during their last clinical visit. Conclusions: Home collection of DBS samples from HIV-positive MSM is feasible and has the potential to support clinical VL monitoring. Discrepant laboratory HIV-1 RNA values and self-reported VL indicate a need to address perceived VL status, especially in the era of treatment as prevention. Most participants were willing to use an at-home DBS kit in the future, signaling an opportunity to engage high-risk MSM in long-term HIV care activities

Testing theories of temporal inferences: Evidence from child language

Sentences involving past tense verbs, such as “My dogs were on the carpet”, tend to give rise to the inference that the corresponding present tense version, “My dogs are on the carpet”, is false. This inference is often referred to as a cessation or temporal inference, and is generally analyzed as a type of implicature. There are two main proposals for capturing this asymmetry: one assumes a difference in informativity between the past and present counterparts (Altshuler & Schwarzschild 2013), while the other proposes a structural difference between the two (Thomas 2012). The two approaches are similar in terms of empirical coverage, but differ in their predictions for language acquisition. Using a novel animated picture selection paradigm, we investigated these predictions. Specifically, we compared the performance of a group of 4–6-year-old children and a group of adults on temporal inferences, scalar implicatures arising from “some”, and inferences of adverbial modifiers under negation. The results revealed that overall, children computed all three inferences at a lower rate than adult controls; however they were more adult-like on temporal inferences and inferences of adverbial modifiers than on scalar implicatures. We discuss the implications of the findings, both for a developmental alternatives-based hypothesis (e.g., Barner et al. 2011; Singh et al. 2016; Tieu et al. 2016; 2018), as well as theories of temporal inferences, arguing that the finding that children were more (and equally) adult-like on temporal inferences and adverbial modifiers supports a structural theory of temporal inferences along the lines of Thomas (2012)

Fc gamma receptor is not required for in vivo processing of radio- and drug-conjugates of the dead tumor cell-targeting monoclonal antibody, APOMAB®

The Fc region of a monoclonal antibody (mAb) can play a crucial role in its biodistribution and therapeutic activity. The chimeric mAb, chDAB4 (APOMAB®), which binds to dead tumor cells after DNA-damaging anti- cancer treatment, has been studied pre-clinically in both diagnostic and therapeutic applications in cancer. Given that macrophages contribute to the tumor accumulation of chDAB4 and its potency as an antibody drug con- jugate in vivo, we next wanted to determine whether the Fc region of the chDAB4 mAb also contributed. We found that, regardless of prior labeling with chDAB4, dead EL4 lymphoma or Lewis Lung (LL2) tumor cells were phagocytosed equally by wild-type or Fcγ knock-down macrophage cell lines. A similar result was seen with bone marrow-derived macrophages from wild-type, Fcγ knock-out (KO) and NOTAM mice that express Fcγ but lack immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motif (ITAM) signaling. Among EL4 tumor-bearing wild-type, Fcγ KO or NOTAM mice, no differences were observed in post-chemotherapy uptake of 89Zr-labeled chDAB4. Similarly, no differences were observed between LL2 tumor-bearing wild-type and Fcγ KO mice in post-chemotherapy uptake of 89Zr-chDAB4. Also, the post-chemotherapy activity of a chDAB4-antibody drug conjugate (ADC) directed against LL2 tumors did not differ among tumor-bearing wild-type, Fcγ KO and NOTAM mice, nor did the proportions and characteristics of the LL2 tumor immune cell infiltrates differ significantly among these mice. In conclusion, Fc-FcγR interactions are not essential for the diagnostic or therapeutic applications of chDAB4 conjugates because the tumor-associated macrophages, which engulf the chDAB4-labelled dead cells, respond to endogenous ‘eat me’ signals rather than depend on functional FcγR expression for phagocytosis.Alexander H. Staudacher, Vasilios Liapis, Nicole L. Wittwer, William Tieu, Hiu Chun Lam, Jeanette Leusen, Michael P. Brow

Tetraspanin (TSP-17) Protects Dopaminergic Neurons against 6-OHDA-Induced Neurodegeneration in <i>C. elegans</i>

Parkinson's disease (PD), the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's disease, is linked to the gradual loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. Disease loci causing hereditary forms of PD are known, but most cases are attributable to a combination of genetic and environmental risk factors. Increased incidence of PD is associated with rural living and pesticide exposure, and dopaminergic neurodegeneration can be triggered by neurotoxins such as 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA). In C. elegans, this drug is taken up by the presynaptic dopamine reuptake transporter (DAT-1) and causes selective death of the eight dopaminergic neurons of the adult hermaphrodite. Using a forward genetic approach to find genes that protect against 6-OHDA-mediated neurodegeneration, we identified tsp-17, which encodes a member of the tetraspanin family of membrane proteins. We show that TSP-17 is expressed in dopaminergic neurons and provide genetic, pharmacological and biochemical evidence that it inhibits DAT-1, thus leading to increased 6-OHDA uptake in tsp-17 loss-of-function mutants. TSP-17 also protects against toxicity conferred by excessive intracellular dopamine. We provide genetic and biochemical evidence that TSP-17 acts partly via the DOP-2 dopamine receptor to negatively regulate DAT-1. tsp-17 mutants also have subtle behavioral phenotypes, some of which are conferred by aberrant dopamine signaling. Incubating mutant worms in liquid medium leads to swimming-induced paralysis. In the L1 larval stage, this phenotype is linked to lethality and cannot be rescued by a dop-3 null mutant. In contrast, mild paralysis occurring in the L4 larval stage is suppressed by dop-3, suggesting defects in dopaminergic signaling. In summary, we show that TSP-17 protects against neurodegeneration and has a role in modulating behaviors linked to dopamine signaling

Rituximab for maintenance of remission in ANCA-associated vasculitis: expert consensus guidelines—Executive summary

[This is the executive summary of Rituximab for maintenance of remission in ANCA-associated vasculitis: expert consensus guidelines: full guideline, doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/kez640