An acute bout of cycling does not induce compensatory responses in pre-menopausal women not using hormonal contraceptives

There is a clear need to improve understanding of the effects of physical activity and exercise on appetite control. Therefore, the acute and short-term effects (three days) of a single bout of cycling on energy intake and energy expenditure were examined in women not using hormonal contraceptives. Sixteen active (n = 8) and inactive (n = 8) healthy pre-menopausal women completed a randomised crossover design study with two conditions (exercise and control). The exercise day involved cycling for 1 h (50% of maximum oxygen uptake) and resting for 2 h, whilst the control day comprised 3 h of rest. On each experimental day participants arrived at the laboratory fasted, consumed a standardised breakfast and an ad libitum pasta lunch. Food diaries and combined heart rate-accelerometer monitors were used to assess free-living food intake and energy expenditure, respectively, over the subsequent three days. There were no main effects or condition (exercise vs control) by group (active vs inactive) interaction for absolute energy intake (P > 0.05) at the ad libitum laboratory lunch meal, but there was a condition effect for relative energy intake (P = 0.004, ηp2 = 0.46) that was lower in the exercise condition (1417 ± 926 kJ vs. 2120 ± 923 kJ). Furthermore, post-breakfast satiety was higher in the active than in the inactive group (P = 0.005, ηp2 = 0.44). There were no main effects or interactions (P > 0.05) for mean daily energy intake, but both active and inactive groups consumed less energy from protein (14 ± 3% vs. 16 ± 4%, P = 0.016, ηp2 = 0.37) and more from carbohydrate (53 ± 5% vs. 49 ± 7%, P = 0.031, ηp2 = 0.31) following the exercise condition. This study suggests that an acute bout of cycling does not induce compensatory responses in active and inactive women not using hormonal contraceptives, while the stronger satiety response to the standardised breakfast meal in active individuals adds to the growing literature that physical activity helps improve the sensitivity of short-term appetite control

The use of graphs in annual reports of major Italian companies

This paper shows the potential benefits and risks, in terms of communication, involved in the use of graphs in corporate annual reports.Financial support from the University of Tuscia - Viterbo (Italy

Low Velocity Airdrop Tests of an X-38 Backup Parachute Design

The NASA Johnson Space Center's X-38 program designed a new backup parachute system to recover the 25,000 lb X-38 prototype for the Crew Return Vehicle spacecraft. Due to weight and cost constraints, the main backup parachute design incorporated rapid and low cost fabrication techniques using off-the-shelf materials. Near the vent, the canopy was constructed of continuous ribbons, to provide more damage tolerance. The remainder of the canopy was a constructed with a continuous ringslot design. After cancellation of the X-38 program, the parachute design was resized, built, and drop tested for Natick Soldiers Center's Low Velocity Air Drop (LVAD) program to deliver cargo loads up to 22,000 lbs from altitudes as low as 500 feet above the ground. Drop tests results showed that the 500-foot LVAD parachute deployment conditions cause severe skirt inversion and inflation problems for large parachutes. The bag strip occurred at a high angle of attack, causing skirt inversion before the parachute could inflate. The addition of a short reefing line prevented the skirt inversion. Using a lower porosity in the vent area, than is normally used in large parachutes, improved inflation. The drop testing demonstrated that the parachute design could be refined to meet the requirements for the 500-foot LVAD mission

Description of Anteon seramense (Hymenoptera. Dryinidae), a new species from Indonesia

Anteon seramense sp. nov. is described from Seram Island (Indonesia). Seram is an island situated in a transition area between the Oriental and the Australian regions. Anteon seramense can be distinguished from the related Australian species A. giluwense Olmi and A. chelogynoides (Perkins) by the different sculpture of the scutum (granulated in A. seramense, punctate and unsculptured among punctures in A. giluwense and A. chelogynoides) and the different distal apex of the protarsal segment 5 (deeply hollow in A. seramense, not hollow in A. giluwense and A. chelogynoides). Anteon seramense sp. nov. can be distinguished from the related Oriental species A. heppneri Olmi and A. thai Olmi by the different shape of the protarsal segment 5 (basal part slightly longer than distal part in A. seramense, much longer in A. heppneri and A. thai)

Pengaruh Pengetahuan Anggaran, Partisipasi Masyarakat dan Transparansi Kebijakan Publik terhadap Fungsi Dewan dalam Pengawasan Anggaran Pendapatan dan Belanja Daerah (APBD)

The purpose of this research is to examine the effect of the knowledge of budget, public participation and public policy transparency towards the local council function within budget control. The results shows that budgets knowledge, public participation and public policy transparency affect the council functions within local budget control. Only transparency of public policies that affect partially the council functions within regional budget control, while the budget knowledge and public participation did not affect the function of the local council within the budget control. The budget knowledge did not affect the council functions within budget control because it poorly supported by the competency level of councilors, while the public participation had no effect because the overall respondents answer can be concluded that public critique and suggestions is less accommodated especially public involvement in the budget advocacy

Navigating the Ocean of Biases: Political Bias Attribution in Language Models via Causal Structures

The rapid advancement of Large Language Models (LLMs) has sparked intense debate regarding their ability to perceive and interpret complex socio-political landscapes. In this study, we undertake an exploration of decision-making processes and inherent biases within LLMs, exemplified by ChatGPT, specifically contextualizing our analysis within political debates. We aim not to critique or validate LLMs' values, but rather to discern how they interpret and adjudicate "good arguments." By applying Activity Dependency Networks (ADNs), we extract the LLMs' implicit criteria for such assessments and illustrate how normative values influence these perceptions. We discuss the consequences of our findings for human-AI alignment and bias mitigation. Our code and data at https://github.com/david-jenny/LLM-Political-Study

Misreporting of Patient Outcomes in the South African National HIV Treatment Database: Consequences for Programme Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation.

Background: Monitoring progress toward global treatment targets using HIV programme data in sub-Saharan Africa has proved challenging. Constraints in routine data collection and reporting can lead to biased estimates of treatment outcomes. In 2010, South Africa introduced an electronic patient monitoring system for HIV patient visits, TIER.Net. We compare treatment status and outcomes recorded in TIER.Net to outcomes ascertained through detailed record review and tracing in order to assess discrepancies and biases in retention and mortality rates. Methods: The Agincourt Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) in north-eastern South Africa is served by eight public primary healthcare facilities. Since 2014, HIV patient visits are logged electronically at these clinics, with patient records individually linked to their HDSS record. These data were used to generate a list of patients >90 days late for their last scheduled clinic visit and deemed lost to follow-up (LTFU). Patient outcomes were ascertained through a review of the TIER.Net database, physical patient files, registers kept by two non-government organizations that assist with patient tracing, cross-referencing with the HDSS records and supplementary physical tracing. Descriptive statistics were used to compare patient outcomes reported in TIER.Net to their outcome ascertained in the study. Results: Of 1,074 patients that were eligible for this analysis, TIER.Net classified 533 (49.6%) as LTFU, 80 (7.4%) as deceased, and 186 (17.3%) as transferred out. TIER.Net misclassified 36% of patient outcomes, overestimating LTFU and underestimating mortality and transfers out. TIER.Net missed 40% of deaths and 43% of transfers out. Patients categorized as LTFU in TIER.Net were more likely to be misclassified than patients classified as deceased or transferred out. Discussion: Misclassification of patient outcomes in TIER.Net has consequences for programme forecasting, monitoring and evaluation. Undocumented transfers accounted for the majority of misclassification, suggesting that the transfer process between clinics should be improved for more accurate reporting of patient outcomes. Processes that lead to correct classification of patient status including patient tracing should be strengthened. Clinics could cross-check all available data sources before classifying patients as LTFU. Programme evaluators and modelers could consider using correction factors to improve estimates of outcomes from TIER.Net

Transcriptomic assessment of resistance to effects of an aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) agonist in embryos of Atlantic killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus) from a marine Superfund site

© The Author(s), 2011. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in BMC Genomics 12 (2011): 263, doi:10.1186/1471-2164-12-263.Populations of Atlantic killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus) have evolved resistance to the embryotoxic effects of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other halogenated and nonhalogenated aromatic hydrocarbons that act through an aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR)-dependent signaling pathway. The resistance is accompanied by reduced sensitivity to induction of cytochrome P450 1A (CYP1A), a widely used biomarker of aromatic hydrocarbon exposure and effect, but whether the reduced sensitivity is specific to CYP1A or reflects a genome-wide reduction in responsiveness to all AHR-mediated changes in gene expression is unknown. We compared gene expression profiles and the response to 3,3',4,4',5-pentachlorobiphenyl (PCB-126) exposure in embryos (5 and 10 dpf) and larvae (15 dpf) from F. heteroclitus populations inhabiting the New Bedford Harbor, Massachusetts (NBH) Superfund site (PCB-resistant) and a reference site, Scorton Creek, Massachusetts (SC; PCB-sensitive). Analysis using a 7,000-gene cDNA array revealed striking differences in responsiveness to PCB-126 between the populations; the differences occur at all three stages examined. There was a sizeable set of PCB-responsive genes in the sensitive SC population, a much smaller set of PCB-responsive genes in NBH fish, and few similarities in PCB-responsive genes between the two populations. Most of the array results were confirmed, and additional PCB-regulated genes identified, by RNA-Seq (deep pyrosequencing). The results suggest that NBH fish possess a gene regulatory defect that is not specific to one target gene such as CYP1A but rather lies in a regulatory pathway that controls the transcriptional response of multiple genes to PCB exposure. The results are consistent with genome-wide disruption of AHR-dependent signaling in NBH fish.This work was supported in part by National Institutes of Health grants P42ES007381 (Superfund Basic Research Program at Boston University) and by a grant from the WHOI Ocean Life Institute

‘Asking for help’:a qualitative interview study exploring the experiences of interpersonal counselling (IPC) compared to low-intensity cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for women with depression during pregnancy.

Abstract Background Treating depression early in pregnancy can improve health outcomes for women and their children. Current low-intensity psychological therapy for perinatal depression is a supported self-help approach informed by cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) principles. Interpersonal counselling (IPC) may be a more appropriate low-intensity talking therapy for addressing the problems experienced by pregnant women with depression. A randomised feasibility trial (ADAGIO) has compared the acceptability of offering IPC for mild-moderate antenatal depression in routine NHS services compared to low-intensity CBT. This paper reports on a nested qualitative study which explored women’s views and expectations of therapy, experiences of receiving IPC, and Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners (PWPs - junior mental health workers) views of delivering the low-intensity therapy. Methods A qualitative study design using in-depth semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Thirty-two pregnant women received talking therapy within the ADAGIO trial; 19 contributed to the interview study from July 2019 to January 2020; 12 who had IPC and seven who had CBT. All six PWPs trained in IPC took part in a focus group or interview. Interviews and focus groups were recorded, transcribed, anonymised, and analysed using thematic methods. Results Pregnant women welcomed being asked about their mental health in pregnancy and having the chance to have support in accessing therapy. The IPC approach helped women to identify triggers for depression and explored relationships using strategies such as ‘promoting self-awareness through mood timelines’, ‘identifying their circles of support’, ‘developing communication skills and reciprocity in relationships’, and ‘asking for help’. PWPs compared how IPC differed from their prior experiences of delivering low-intensity CBT. They reported that IPC included a useful additional emotional component which was relevant to the perinatal period. Conclusions Identifying and treating depression in pregnancy is important for the future health of both mother and child. Low-intensity perinatal-specific talking therapies delivered by psychological wellbeing practitioners in routine NHS primary care services in England are acceptable to pregnant women with mild-moderate depression. The strategies used in IPC to manage depression, including identifying triggers for low mood, and communicating the need for help, may be particularly appropriate for the perinatal period. Trial registration ISRCTN 11513120. 02/05/2019