Gravity vs radiation model: on the importance of scale and heterogeneity in commuting flows

We test the recently introduced radiation model against the gravity model for the system composed of England and Wales, both for commuting patterns and for public transportation flows. The analysis is performed both at macroscopic scales, i.e. at the national scale, and at microscopic scales, i.e. at the city level. It is shown that the thermodynamic limit assumption for the original radiation model significantly underestimates the commuting flows for large cities. We then generalize the radiation model, introducing the correct normalisation factor for finite systems. We show that even if the gravity model has a better overall performance the parameter-free radiation model gives competitive results, especially for large scales.Comment: in press Phys. Rev. E, 201

OBILJEŽJA RODITELJA I UPORABA RAČUNALA UČENIKA POČINITELJA KAZNENIH DJELA

When we speak about the potential influence of computer use the most vulnerable segment of the population in particular is that of pupils that go through the process of socialization and who are most susceptible to different influences. The influence of parents on a young person will, in this respect, depend on a serious of characteristics such as the parents’ child-rearing practices, their competence to provide timely and adequate intervention, their personality etc.51 The goals of this work are directed towards detecting the differences for the purpose of which computers are most frequently used and the characteristics of the parents in groups of pupils that perpetrated criminal acts (N=100) treated by the Centre for social care Pula in the period from 01/04/2004 until 31/3/2007. The purpose of the research is to determine precise indicators for the interpretation of this phenomenon, to provide guidelines for prevention and treatment of pupils that perpetrated various criminal acts and their parents. The results indicate that the groups of pupils that perpetrated various criminal acts have almost the same characteristics of the parents. There are differences between groups for the purpose of which computers are most frequently used.Kada govorimo o potencijalnom utjecaju uporabe računala najranjiviji dio populacije su upravno učenici koji prolaze kroz proces socijalizacije i u toj su dobi najpodložniji različitim utjecajima. Utjecaji roditelja na mladu osobu će u ovom pogledu ovisiti o nisu obilježja kao što su njihovi odgojni postupci, kompetencije da pravovremeno i odgovarajuće interveniraju, njihova osobnost i sl. Ciljevi ovog rada usmjereni su ka utvrđivanju razlika u obilježjima roditelja između skupina učenika počinitelja različitih kaznenih djela i u svrsi najčešće njihove uporabe računala (N=100) koji su bili u tretmanu Centra za socijalu skrb Pula tijekom tri godine. Svrha istraživanja ukazala bi na preciznije tumačenje pojave, određivanje preventivnih i tretmanskih smjernica za učenike počinitelje različitih kaznenih djela i njihove roditelje. Rezultati pokazuju da promatrane skupine učenika počinitelja različitih kaznenih djela imaju gotovo ista obilježja roditelja, dok se razlikuju u svrsi uporabe računala

A genome-wide association study identifies a susceptibility locus for biliary atresia on 2p16.1 within the gene EFEMP1

Biliary atresia (BA) is a rare pediatric cholangiopathy characterized by fibrosclerosing obliteration of the extrahepatic bile ducts, leading to cholestasis, fibrosis, cirrhosis, and eventual liver failure. The etiology of BA remains unknown, although environmental, inflammatory, infectious, and genetic risk factors have been proposed. We performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in a European-American cohort of 343 isolated BA patients and 1716 controls to identify genetic loci associated with BA. A second GWAS was performed in an independent European-American cohort of 156 patients with BA and other extrahepatic anomalies and 212 controls to confirm the identified candidate BA-associated SNPs. Meta-analysis revealed three genome-wide significant BA-associated SNPs on 2p16.1 (rs10865291, rs6761893, and rs727878; P < 5 ×10-8), located within the fifth intron of the EFEMP1 gene, which encodes a secreted extracellular protein implicated in extracellular matrix remodeling, cell proliferation, and organogenesis. RNA expression analysis showed an increase in EFEMP1 transcripts from human liver specimens isolated from patients with either BA or other cholestatic diseases when compared to normal control liver samples. Immunohistochemistry demonstrated that EFEMP1 is expressed in cholangiocytes and vascular smooth muscle cells in liver specimens from patients with BA and other cholestatic diseases, but it is absent from cholangiocytes in normal control liver samples. Efemp1 transcripts had higher expression in cholangiocytes and portal fibroblasts as compared with other cell types in normal rat liver. The identification of a novel BA-associated locus, and implication of EFEMP1 as a new BA candidate susceptibility gene, could provide new insights to understanding the mechanisms underlying this severe pediatric disorder

GeneLink: a database to facilitate genetic studies of complex traits

BACKGROUND: In contrast to gene-mapping studies of simple Mendelian disorders, genetic analyses of complex traits are far more challenging, and high quality data management systems are often critical to the success of these projects. To minimize the difficulties inherent in complex trait studies, we have developed GeneLink, a Web-accessible, password-protected Sybase database. RESULTS: GeneLink is a powerful tool for complex trait mapping, enabling genotypic data to be easily merged with pedigree and extensive phenotypic data. Specifically designed to facilitate large-scale (multi-center) genetic linkage or association studies, GeneLink securely and efficiently handles large amounts of data and provides additional features to facilitate data analysis by existing software packages and quality control. These include the ability to download chromosome-specific data files containing marker data in map order in various formats appropriate for downstream analyses (e.g., GAS and LINKAGE). Furthermore, an unlimited number of phenotypes (either qualitative or quantitative) can be stored and analyzed. Finally, GeneLink generates several quality assurance reports, including genotyping success rates of specified DNA samples or success and heterozygosity rates for specified markers. CONCLUSIONS: GeneLink has already proven an invaluable tool for complex trait mapping studies and is discussed primarily in the context of our large, multi-center study of hereditary prostate cancer (HPC). GeneLink is freely available at

Rural Parent\u27s Experiences of Stress and Resilience During the COVID-19 Pandemic and School Closure

The COVID-19 pandemic has generated social and economic disruptions, resulting in cascading effects on the health and well-being of global citizens. However, little research has focused on how COVID-19 has affected rural regions, despite rurality being a critical factor for understanding community impact and response to the pandemic. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the experiences of rural Nebraskan parents with young children during the COVID-19 pandemic and school shutdown, and the strategies they used to support their families during that time. We conducted individual and group interviews with 22 white, non-Hispanic mothers living in rural towns, villages, and farms in the Great Plains region of the United States. Thematic analysis was used to generate the following themes related to pandemic challenges: Impacts on Children’s Education and Development, Impact on Parent’s Work, and Social-emotional Impacts. Additionally, we generated themes related to the ways that rural parents responded to those challenges: Successful Parenting Strategies, Children’s Strategies, Using Community Provided Resources, Finding Unexpected Benefits, and Hope. This study is meaningful because it documented the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and school shutdown on rural families with young children, and their responses to pandemic-related stressors. Our findings provide further insights into families’ experiences of how COVID-19 affected their lives. Limitations and future directions are also discussed

Diverse inflammatory responses in transgenic mouse models of Alzheimer's disease and the effect of immunotherapy on these responses

While the presence of an inflammatory response in AD (Alzheimer's disease) is well known, the data on inflammation are conflicting, suggesting that inflammation either attenuates pathology, exacerbates it or has no effect. Our goal was to more fully characterize the inflammatory response in APP (amyloid precursor protein) transgenic mice with and without disease progression. In addition, we have examined how anti-Aβ (amyloid β-peptide) immunotherapy alters this inflammatory response. We have used quantitative RT–PCR (reverse transcription–PCR) and protein analysis to measure inflammatory responses ranging from pro-inflammatory to anti-inflammatory and repair factors in transgenic mice that develop amyloid deposits only (APPSw) and amyloid deposits with progression to tau pathology and neuron loss [APPSw/NOS2−/− (nitric oxide synthase 2−/−)]. We also examined tissues from previously published immunotherapy studies. These studies were a passive immunization study in APPSw mice and an active vaccination study in APPSw/NOS2−/− mice. Both studies have already been shown to lower amyloid load and improve cognition. We have found that amyloid deposition is associated with high expression of alternative activation and acquired deactivation genes and low expression of pro-inflammatory genes, whereas disease progression is associated with a mixed phenotype including increased levels of some classical activation factors. Immunotherapy targeting amyloid deposition in both mouse models resulted in decreased alternative inflammatory markers and, in the case of passive immunization, a transient increase in pro-inflammatory markers. Our results suggest that an alternative immune response favours retention of amyloid deposits in the brain, and switching away from this state by immunotherapy permits removal of amyloid

Rare variant analyses across multiethnic cohorts identify novel genes for refractive error

Peer reviewe

Lifting the lid: a clinical audit on commode cleaning

Many healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs) are preventable by infection control procedures designed to interrupt the transmission of organisms from a source. Commodes are in use constantly throughout healthcare facilities. Therefore commode surfaces are constantly handled, and any pathogens present have the potential to be transferred to not only other surfaces but also, more importantly, to patients, thus compromising patient safety. In order to examine the effectiveness and thoroughness of cleaning commodes an audit was undertaken to assess compliance with evidence-based practice. This audit demonstrates a cycle which includes defining best practice, implementing best practice, monitoring best practice and taking action to improve practice. The audit results confirmed an issue that the authors had long suspected. That is, that commodes allocated to individual patients are not always cleaned after every use. Using adenosine triphosphate (ATP) bioluminescence as an indicator of organic soiling also demonstrated that commodes that were considered clean were not always cleaned to a high standard. Implementing the audit recommendations improves staff knowledge through education, standardises cleaning procedures and ultimately improves patient safety

Inclusive Decays of Heavy Quarkonium to Light Particles

We derive the imaginary part of the potential NRQCD Hamiltonian up to order 1/m^4, when the typical momentum transfer between the heavy quarks is of the order of Lambda_{QCD} or greater, and the binding energy E much smaller than Lambda_{QCD}. We use this result to calculate the inclusive decay widths into light hadrons, photons and lepton pairs, up to O(mv^3 x (Lambda_{QCD}^2/m^2,E/m)) and O(mv^5) times a short-distance coefficient, for S- and P-wave heavy quarkonium states, respectively. We achieve a large reduction in the number of unknown non-perturbative parameters and, therefore, we obtain new model-independent QCD predictions. All the NRQCD matrix elements relevant to that order are expressed in terms of the wave functions at the origin and six universal non-perturbative parameters. The wave-function dependence factorizes and drops out in the ratio of hadronic and electromagnetic decay widths. The universal non-perturbative parameters are expressed in terms of gluonic field-strength correlators, which may be fixed by experimental data or, alternatively, by lattice simulations. Our expressions are expected to hold for most of the charmonium and bottomonium states below threshold. The calculations and methodology are explained in detail so that the evaluation of higher order NRQCD matrix elements in this framework should be straightforward. An example is provided.Comment: 61 pages, 9 figures. Minor change

The QCD Potential at O(1/m)O(1/m)

Within an effective field theory framework, we obtain an expression for the next-to-leading term in the $1/m$ expansion of the singlet $Q{\bar Q}$ QCD potential in terms of Wilson loops, which holds beyond perturbation theory. The ambiguities in the definition of the QCD potential beyond leading order in $1/m$ are discussed and a specific expression for the $1/m$ potential is given. We explicitly evaluate this expression at one loop and compare the outcome with the existing perturbative results. On general grounds we show that for quenched QED and fully Abelian-like models this expression exactly vanishes.Comment: 19 pages, LaTeX, 1 figure. Journal version. Discussion refined, misprints corrected, few references added; results unchange