GAISEing into Computer-Based Statistical Instructional Tools

Poster presented at the meeting of the United States Conference on Teaching Statistics (USCOTS), Cary, NC

Soziale Ungleichheit – Kein Schnee von gestern!

Alle Menschen gehören sozialen Gruppen an. Wir unterscheiden etwa zwischen höheren und niedrigen Schichten, zwischen hoch und gering qualifizierten Personen oder Männern und Frauen. Die Zugehörigkeit zu sozialen Gruppen ist häufig mit sozialen Ungleichheiten verbunden. Was unter sozialer Ungleichheit zu verstehen ist und welche Erklärungen es dafür gibt, ist das Thema dieses Readers. Er versammelt zentrale theoretische Texte zur Sozialstrukturanalyse, die jeder Studierende der Sozialwissenschaften während des Studiums lesen sollte. Nach der Einleitung, in der die wichtigsten Grundbegriffe vorgestellt werden, folgt eine Zusammenstellung der klassischen Theorien zur sozialen Ungleichheit etwa von Davis/Moore, Marx, Weber und Bourdieu. Danach zeichnen unter anderen Texte von Dahrendorf, Schelsky und Beck die Debatten um Klasse und Schicht nach. Es folgen Beiträge zu neueren Theorien und Lebens(ver)laufsansätzen. In seiner knappen und dennoch umfassenden Anlage eignet sich dieser Reader zum Selbststudium und als Lektüregrundlage für Seminare zur Sozialstrukturanalyse

Red Blood Cell Distribution Width (RDW) Predicts COVID-19 Severity: A Prospective, Observational Study from the Cincinnati SARS-CoV-2 Emergency Department Cohort

Since previous evidence has demonstrated that red blood cell distribution width (RDW) may be a useful prognostic parameter in many critical illnesses and infectious diseases, we investigated the utility of RDW for monitoring patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The study population consisted of 49 COVID-19 patients, including 16 (32.6%) with severe illness, 12 (24.5%) with severe acute kidney injury (AKI), and 8 (16.3%) requiring renal replacement therapy (RRT). The predictive value of blood tests, performed during emergency department evaluation, was then addressed. A progressive increase of RDW was observed with advancing COVID-19 severity. The area under the curve (AUC) of RDW was 0.73 for predicting severe illness, 0.80 for severe AKI, and 0.83 for RRT, respectively. In multivariate analysis, elevated RDW was associated with 9-fold and 16-fold increased odds of severe COVID-19 and AKI, respectively. The results of this study suggest that RDW should be part of routine laboratory assessment and monitoring of COVID-19

Evolution Semigroups in Supersonic Flow-Plate Interactions

We consider the well-posedness of a model for a flow-structure interaction. This model describes the dynamics of an elastic flexible plate with clamped boundary conditions immersed in a supersonic flow. A perturbed wave equation describes the flow potential. The plate's out-of-plane displacement can be modeled by various nonlinear plate equations (including von Karman and Berger). We show that the linearized model is well-posed on the state space (as given by finite energy considerations) and generates a strongly continuous semigroup. We make use of these results to conclude global-in-time well-posedness for the fully nonlinear model. The proof of generation has two novel features, namely: (1) we introduce a new flow potential velocity-type variable which makes it possible to cover both subsonic and supersonic cases, and to split the dynamics generating operator into a skew-adjoint component and a perturbation acting outside of the state space. Performing semigroup analysis also requires a nontrivial approximation of the domain of the generator. And (2) we make critical use of hidden regularity for the flow component of the model (in the abstract setup for the semigroup problem) which allows us run a fixed point argument and eventually conclude well-posedness. This well-posedness result for supersonic flows (in the absence of rotational inertia) has been hereto open. The use of semigroup methods to obtain well-posedness opens this model to long-time behavior considerations.Comment: 31 page

Changes in the Transcriptome of Human Astrocytes Accompanying Oxidative Stress-Induced Senescence

Aging is a major risk factor for many neurodegenerative disorders. A key feature of aging biology that may underlie these diseases is cellular senescence. Senescent cells accumulate in tissues with age, undergo widespread changes in gene expression, and typically demonstrate altered, pro-inflammatory profiles. Astrocyte senescence has been implicated in neurodegenerative disease, and to better understand senescence-associated changes in astrocytes, we investigated changes in their transcriptome using RNA sequencing. Senescence was induced in human fetal astrocytes by transient oxidative stress. Brain-expressed genes, including those involved in neuronal development and differentiation, were downregulated in senescent astrocytes. Remarkably, several genes indicative of astrocytic responses to injury were also downregulated, including glial fibrillary acidic protein and genes involved in the processing and presentation of antigens by major histocompatiblity complex class II proteins, while pro-inflammatory genes were upregulated. Overall, our findings suggest that senescence-related changes in the function of astrocytes may impact the pathogenesis of age-related brain disorders

Assessment of the optimization of affinity and specificity at protein–DNA interfaces

The biological functions of DNA-binding proteins often require that they interact with their targets with high affinity and/or high specificity. Here, we describe a computational method that estimates the extent of optimization for affinity and specificity of amino acids at a protein–DNA interface based on the crystal structure of the complex, by modeling the changes in binding-free energy associated with all individual amino acid and base substitutions at the interface. The extent to which residues are predicted to be optimal for specificity versus affinity varies within a given protein–DNA interface and between different complexes, and in many cases recapitulates previous experimental observations. The approach provides a complement to traditional methods of mutational analysis, and should be useful for rapidly formulating hypotheses about the roles of amino acid residues in protein–DNA interfaces

Review of Interventional Therapies for Refractory Pediatric Migraine.

This is a review of the latest and seminal evidence in pediatric migraine. It covers the etiology and pathophysiology known today, and then will review treatment options, efficacy and safety, quality of data and indications. Though migraine is usually regarded as an infliction in adults, it is not uncommon in the pediatric population and affects up to 8% of children. Children may experience migraine differently than adults, and present not only with headache but also frequent gastrointestinal symptoms. They are frequently shorter in duration than in adults. Traditional migraine treatment in adults is less effective in children. In this population, adjunct therapies - such as interventional techniques - should be considered when traditional treatment fails, including Botulinum Toxin A (BTA) injections, peripheral nerve and ganglion blocks. BTA injections are FDA approved for migraine prophylaxis in adults, but currently not in children; however, recent evidence shows efficacy and safety in pediatric migraine management. Nerve blocks stop nociceptive afferent fibers through injection of local anesthetics, and it may be associated with the local injection of corticosteroids. Although more common in adults, recent data suggests they are safe and effective in children and adolescents. Blocking the sphenopalatine ganglion can be achieved through nasal approach, and achieves a similar action by blocking the entire ganglion. Interventional techniques may provide a key component in the alleviation of this otherwise debilitating chronic migraine pain. Though most studies have been performed in adults, new studies provide encouraging results for treatment in children