1,596 research outputs found
Diary of Charles Lowell Walker
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs/1170/thumbnail.jp
Sticky Doors and Crusty Floors: Zooming in on Messiness And Parenthood in Virtual Work Meetings
This study examines how the condition of an employee’s home background setting (messy vs. tidy) and the presence of a child on screen (present vs. not present) impact observer judgments of the target’s professionalism, competence, and career success. Participants (N=711) were randomly assigned to one of 16 experimental conditions with two levels for performance (high or low), target gender (male or female), background (messy or tidy), and child (present or not present). The results show that messiness alone results in less favorable perceptions of the target employee’s professionalism and career outcomes, but not competence. Having a child present did not impact any of the dependent variables. The study’s most consistent finding was that individuals with a messy background experience a buffer effect if they have a child present. That is, individuals with a messy background were rated higher in professionalism, competence, and career outcomes when they had a child present than when there was no child present
Low Bone Mineral Density, Renal Dysfunction, and Fracture Risk in HIV Infection: A Cross-Sectional Study
BackgroundReduced bone mineral density (BMD) is common in adults infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The role of proximal renal tubular dysfunction (PRTD) and alterations in bone metabolism in HIV-related low BMD are incompletely understood MethodsWe quantified BMD (dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry), blood and urinary markers of bone metabolism and renal function, and risk factors for low BMD (hip or spine T score, −1 or less) in an ambulatory care setting. We determined factors associated with low BMD and calculated 10-year fracture risks using the World Health Organization FRAX equation ResultsWe studied 153 adults (98% men; median age, 48 years; median body mass index, 24.5; 67 [44%] were receiving tenofovir, 81 [53%] were receiving a boosted protease inhibitor [PI]). Sixty-five participants (42%) had low BMD, and 11 (7%) had PRTD. PI therapy was associated with low BMD in multivariable analysis (odds ratio, 2.69; 95% confidence interval, 1.09-6.63). Tenofovir use was associated with increased osteoblast and osteoclast activity (P⩽.002). The mean estimated 10-year risks were 1.2% for hip fracture and 5.4% for any major osteoporotic fracture ConclusionsIn this mostly male population, low BMD was significantly associated with PI therapy. Tenofovir recipients showed evidence of increased bone turnover. Measurement of BMD and estimation of fracture risk may be warranted in treated HIV-infected adult
Evolutionarily informed deep learning methods for predicting relative transcript abundance from DNA sequence
Deep learning methodologies have revolutionized prediction in many fields and show potential to do the same in molecular biology and genetics. However, applying these methods in their current forms ignores evolutionary dependencies within biological systems and can result in false positives and spurious conclusions. We developed two approaches that account for evolutionary relatedness in machine learning models: (i) gene-family–guided splitting and (ii) ortholog contrasts. The first approach accounts for evolution by constraining model training and testing sets to include different gene families. The second approach uses evolutionarily informed comparisons between orthologous genes to both control for and leverage evolutionary divergence during the training process. The two approaches were explored and validated within the context of mRNA expression level prediction and have the area under the ROC curve (auROC) values ranging from 0.75 to 0.94. Model weight inspections showed biologically interpretable patterns, resulting in the hypothesis that the 3′ UTR is more important for fine-tuning mRNA abundance levels while the 5′ UTR is more important for large-scale changes
High-resolution temporal profiling of transcripts during Arabidopsis leaf senescence reveals a distinct chronology of processes and regulation
Leaf senescence is an essential developmental process that impacts dramatically on crop yields and involves altered
regulation of thousands of genes and many metabolic and signaling pathways, resulting in major changes in the leaf. The
regulation of senescence is complex, and although senescence regulatory genes have been characterized, there is little
information on how these function in the global control of the process. We used microarray analysis to obtain a highresolution
time-course profile of gene expression during development of a single leaf over a 3-week period to senescence.
A complex experimental design approach and a combination of methods were used to extract high-quality replicated data
and to identify differentially expressed genes. The multiple time points enable the use of highly informative clustering to
reveal distinct time points at which signaling and metabolic pathways change. Analysis of motif enrichment, as well
as comparison of transcription factor (TF) families showing altered expression over the time course, identify clear groups
of TFs active at different stages of leaf development and senescence. These data enable connection of metabolic
processes, signaling pathways, and specific TF activity, which will underpin the development of network models to
elucidate the process of senescence
The Effects of Acute Beetroot Juice Ingestion on Exercise and Cognitive Performance in Female Athletes
Nitrate-rich beetroot juice can enhance intense exercise performance which is attributed to enhanced skeletal muscle contractility. However, limited data exist in females and it is unknown whether dietary nitrate has an ergogenic effect in this population. PURPOSE: To investigate the potential effects of acute nitrate ingestion on a battery of exercise performance and cognitive tests before and after fatiguing intermittent running exercise. METHODS: Fifteen female team-sport athletes were assigned in a randomized, double-blind, crossover design to consume nitrate-rich beetroot juice (BR; 12 mmol of nitrate) and nitrate-depleted beetroot juice (PL; 0.10 mmol of nitrate) 2.5 h prior to performing the exercise protocol, with a washout period of 7 days between trials. Running 10 m and 20 m sprint split times, sprint reaction time, upper- and lower-body power, handgrip strength, and cognitive flexibility were measured before and after the Yo-Yo intermittent recovery level 1 (Yo-Yo IR1) test, during which performance and rate of perceived exertion were recorded. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in any performance outcome or cognitive flexibility (P \u3e 0.05). CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that acute nitrate ingestion does not influence performance in sprints, intermittent running, power, strength, or cognitive function in young adult female team-sport athletes
The DEEP Groth Strip Galaxy Redshift Survey. III. Redshift Catalog and Properties of Galaxies
The Deep Extragalactic Evolutionary Probe (DEEP) is a series of spectroscopic
surveys of faint galaxies, targeted at the properties and clustering of
galaxies at redshifts z ~ 1. We present the redshift catalog of the DEEP 1 GSS
pilot phase of this project, a Keck/LRIS survey in the HST/WFPC2 Groth Survey
Strip. The redshift catalog and data, including reduced spectra, are publicly
available through a Web-accessible database. The catalog contains 658 secure
galaxy redshifts with a median z=0.65, and shows large-scale structure walls to
z = 1. We find a bimodal distribution in the galaxy color-magnitude diagram
which persists to z = 1. A similar color division has been seen locally by the
SDSS and to z ~ 1 by COMBO-17. For red galaxies, we find a reddening of only
0.11 mag from z ~ 0.8 to now, about half the color evolution measured by
COMBO-17. We measure structural properties of the galaxies from the HST
imaging, and find that the color division corresponds generally to a structural
division. Most red galaxies, ~ 75%, are centrally concentrated, with a red
bulge or spheroid, while blue galaxies usually have exponential profiles.
However, there are two subclasses of red galaxies that are not bulge-dominated:
edge-on disks and a second category which we term diffuse red galaxies
(DIFRGs). The distant edge-on disks are similar in appearance and frequency to
those at low redshift, but analogs of DIFRGs are rare among local red galaxies.
DIFRGs have significant emission lines, indicating that they are reddened
mainly by dust rather than age. The DIFRGs in our sample are all at z>0.64,
suggesting that DIFRGs are more prevalent at high redshifts; they may be
related to the dusty or irregular extremely red objects (EROs) beyond z>1.2
that have been found in deep K-selected surveys. (abridged)Comment: ApJ in press. 24 pages, 17 figures (12 color). The DEEP public
database is available at http://saci.ucolick.org
Dust and Gas in the Magellanic Clouds from the HERITAGE Herschel Key Project. II. Gas-to-Dust Ratio Variations across ISM Phases
The spatial variations of the gas-to-dust ratio (GDR) provide constraints on
the chemical evolution and lifecycle of dust in galaxies. We examine the
relation between dust and gas at 10-50 pc resolution in the Large and Small
Magellanic Clouds (LMC and SMC) based on Herschel far-infrared (FIR), H I 21
cm, CO, and Halpha observations. In the diffuse atomic ISM, we derive the
gas-to-dust ratio as the slope of the dust-gas relation and find gas-to-dust
ratios of 380+250-130 in the LMC, and 1200+1600-420 in the SMC, not including
helium. The atomic-to-molecular transition is located at dust surface densities
of 0.05 Mo pc-2 in the LMC and 0.03 Mo pc-2 in the SMC, corresponding to AV ~
0.4 and 0.2, respectively. We investigate the range of CO-to-H2 conversion
factor to best account for all the molecular gas in the beam of the
observations, and find upper limits on XCO to be 6x1020 cm-2 K-1 km-1 s in the
LMC (Z=0.5Zo) at 15 pc resolution, and 4x 1021 cm-2 K-1 km-1 s in the SMC
(Z=0.2Zo) at 45 pc resolution. In the LMC, the slope of the dust-gas relation
in the dense ISM is lower than in the diffuse ISM by a factor ~2, even after
accounting for the effects of CO-dark H2 in the translucent envelopes of
molecular clouds. Coagulation of dust grains and the subsequent dust emissivity
increase in molecular clouds, and/or accretion of gas-phase metals onto dust
grains, and the subsequent dust abundance (dust-to-gas ratio) increase in
molecular clouds could explain the observations. In the SMC, variations in the
dust-gas slope caused by coagulation or accretion are degenerate with the
effects of CO-dark H2. Within the expected 5--20 times Galactic XCO range, the
dust-gas slope can be either constant or decrease by a factor of several across
ISM phases. Further modeling and observations are required to break the
degeneracy between dust grain coagulation, accretion, and CO-dark H2
The FENIKS Survey: Spectroscopic Confirmation of Massive Quiescent Galaxies at z ~ 3-5
The measured ages of massive, quiescent galaxies at imply that
massive galaxies quench as early as . While the number of
spectroscopic confirmations of quiescent galaxies at has increased over
the years, there are only a handful at . We report spectroscopic
redshifts of one secure () and two tentative (, )
massive () quiescent galaxies with 11 hours of
Keck/MOSFIRE -band observations. Our candidates were selected from the
FENIKS survey, which uses deep Gemini/Flamingos-2 imaging optimized
for increased sensitivity to the characteristic red colors of galaxies at with strong Balmer/4000 \AA\ breaks. The rest-frame and
colors of 3/4 quiescent candidates are consistent with Gyr old stellar
populations. This places these galaxies as the oldest objects at these
redshifts, and challenges the notion that quiescent galaxies at are all
recently-quenched, "post-starburst'' galaxies. Our spectroscopy shows that the
other quiescent-galaxy candidate is a broad-line AGN () with strong,
redshifted +[O III] emission with a velocity offset km/s,
indicative of a powerful outflow. The star-formation history of our highest
redshift candidate suggests that its progenitor was already in place by , reaching 10 by . These observations
reveal the limit of what is possible with deep near-infrared photometry and
targeted spectroscopy from the ground and demonstrate that secure spectroscopic
confirmation of quiescent galaxies at is only feasible with JWST.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, submitted to Ap
Effects of Dietary Nitrate Supplementation on Performance and Muscle Oxygenation during Resistance Exercise in Men
The purpose of the current study was to assess the effects of acute and short-term nitrate (NO3−)-rich beetroot juice (BR) supplementation on performance outcomes and muscle oxygenation during bench press and back squat exercise. Fourteen recreationally active males were assigned in a randomized, double-blind, crossover design to supplement for 4 days in two conditions: (1) NO3−-depleted beetroot juice (PL; 0.10 mmol NO3− per day) and (2) BR (11.8 mmol NO3− per day). On days 1 and 4 of the supplementation periods, participants completed 2 sets of 2 × 70%1RM interspersed by 2 min of recovery, followed by one set of repetitions-to-failure (RTF) at 60%1RM for the determination of muscular power, velocity, and endurance. Quadriceps and pectoralis major tissue saturation index (TSI) were measured throughout exercise. Plasma [NO3−] and nitrite ([NO2−]) were higher after 1 and 4 days of supplementation with BR compared to PL (p \u3c 0.05). Quadriceps and pectoralis major TSI were not different between conditions (p \u3e 0.05). The number of RTF in bench press was 5% greater after acute BR ingestion compared to PL (PL: 23 ± 4 vs. BR: 24 ± 5, p \u3c 0.05). There were no differences between BR and PL for RTF for back squat or power and velocity for back squat or bench press (p \u3e 0.05). These data improve understanding on the ergogenic potential of BR supplementation during resistance exercise
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