Alien Registration- Lachance, Marie J. (Sanford, York County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/3232/thumbnail.jp

The genomic health of ancient hominins

The genomes of ancient humans, Neandertals, and Denisovans contain many alleles that influence disease risks. Using genotypes at 3180 disease-associated loci, we estimated the disease burden of 147 ancient genomes. After correcting for missing data, genetic risk scores were generated for nine disease categories and the set of all combined diseases. These genetic risk scores were used to examine the effects of different types of subsistence, geography, and sample age on the number of risk alleles in each ancient genome. On a broad scale, hereditary disease risks are similar for ancient hominins and modern-day humans, and the GRS percentiles of ancient individuals span the full range of what is observed in present day individuals. In addition, there is evidence that ancient pastoralists may have had healthier genomes than hunter-gatherers and agriculturalists. We also observed a temporal trend whereby genomes from the recent past are more likely to be healthier than genomes from the deep past. This calls into question the idea that modern lifestyles have caused genetic load to increase over time. Focusing on individual genomes, we find that the overall genomic health of the Altai Neandertal is worse than 97% of present day humans and that Ötzi the Tyrolean Iceman had a genetic predisposition to gastrointestinal and cardiovascular diseases. As demonstrated by this work, ancient genomes afford us new opportunities to diagnose past human health, which has previously been limited by the quality and completeness of remain

Managing at the Speed of Light: Improving Mission-Support Performance

The House and Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittees requested this study to help DOE's three major mission-support organizations improve their operations to better meet the current and future needs of the department. The passage of the Recovery Act only increased the importance of having DOE's mission-support offices working in the most effective, efficient, and timely manner as possible. While following rules and regulations is essential, the foremost task of the mission-support offices is to support the department's mission, i.e., the programs that DOE is implementing, whether in Washington D.C. or in the field. As a result, the Panel offered specific recommendations to strengthen the mission-focus and improve the management of each of the following support functions based on five "management mandates":- Strategic Vision- Leadership- Mission and Customer Service Orientation- Tactical Implementation- Agility/AdaptabilityKey FindingsThe Panel made several recommendations in each of the functional areas examined and some overarching recommendations for the corporate management of the mission-support offices that they believed would result in significant improvements to DOE's mission-support operations. The Panel believed that adopting these recommendations will not only make DOE a better functioning organization, but that most of them are essential if DOE is to put its very large allocation of Recovery Act funding to its intended uses as quickly as possible

L'évaluation de l'économie sociale, quelques enjeux de conceptualisation et de méthodologie

Ce texte vise à discuter d'un certain nombre d'enjeux qui se posent lorsqu'il est question d'évaluation des activités d'économie sociale (ÉS), notamment au plan des concepts et des méthodologies qui viennent en appui de l'évaluation. De plus, la contribution de l'ÉS à la démocratisation de l'économique fait que les enjeux de son évaluation se posent également en termes politiques. Afin de tenir compte de ces particularités de l'ÉS, la démarche d'évaluation doit donc déborder la seule perspective productiviste et ne pas se limiter à un cadre purement économique ou gestionnaire. L'évaluation est également l'un des lieux où s'exerce l'orientation et le contrôle des actions. Il s'agit donc d'un moment fort de la gouvernance des activités d'ÉS

Teledermatology Before, During, and After Covid-19: A Vital Tool to Improve Access and Equity in Specialty Care

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine has rapidly expanded across the nation as medical systems have had to shift to providing care through virtual modalities to ensure the safety of patients and staff. Teledermatology, in particular, is wellsuited for telemedicine, with literature supporting its efficacy, equitable quality and accuracy, and cost-effectiveness in comparison to in-person visits. Teledermatology holds great potential in continuing to increase access to patients and ensuring continuity of care, particularly for those from rural and underserved areas. Although introduced decades ago, the adoption of virtual visits has previously been limited by restrictive coverage policies, lack of reimbursement, and maintenance costs. While the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and most private payers have ensured broad coverage for telehealth since the start of the pandemic, many of these policy changes are temporary and set to expire at the end of the public health emergency. Continued advocacy efforts and future studies highlighting teledermatology’s impact, particularly on minorities and underserved patient populations, are critical for long-term legislative changes to occur and to provide coverage to our most vulnerable patients. In this article, we highlight the state of teledermatology prior to the pandemic, the legislative changes that permitted teledermatology to rapidly expand during the pandemic, and the importance of continued coverage after the pandemic

Gut yeasts do not improve desiccation survival in Drosophila melanogaster

A healthy gut microbiota generally improves the performance of its insect host. Although the effects can be specific to the species composition of the microbial community, the role of gut microbiota in determining water balance has not been well explored. We used axenic and gnotobiotic (reared with a known microbiota) Drosophila melanogaster to test three hypotheses about the effects of gut yeasts on the water balance of adult flies: 1) that gut yeasts would improve desiccation survival in adult flies; 2) that larval yeasts would improve adult desiccation survival; 3) that the effects would be species-specific, such that yeasts closely associated with D. melanogaster in nature are more likely to be beneficial than those rarely found in association with D. melanogaster. We used Saccharomyces cerevisiae (often used in Drosophila cultures, but rarely associated with D. melanogaster in nature), Lachancea kluyveri (associated with some species of Drosophila, but not D. melanogaster), and Pichia kluyveri (associated with D. melanogaster in nature). Adult inoculation with yeasts had no effect on survival of desiccating conditions. Inoculation with P. kluyveri as larvae did not change desiccation survival in adults; however, rearing with L. kluyveri or S. cerevisiae reduced adult desiccation survival. We conclude that adult inoculation with gut yeasts has no impact on desiccation survival, but that rearing with yeasts can have either no or detrimental effect. The effects appear to be species-specific: P. kluyveri did not have a negative impact on desiccation tolerance, suggesting some level of co-adaptation with D. melanogaster. We note that S. cerevisiae may not be an appropriate species for studying the effects of gut yeasts on D. melanogaster

Recommendations for a proposed standard for performing systems analysis

In August 1995, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued a policy statement proposing improved regulatory decisionmaking by increasing the use of PRA [probabilistic risk assessment] in all regulatory matters to the extent supported by the state-of-the-art in PRA methods and data. A key aspect in using PRA in risk-informed regulatory activities is establishing the appropriate scope and attributes of the PRA. In this regard, ASME decided to develop a consensus PRA Standard. The objective is to develop a PRA Standard such that the technical quality of nuclear plant PRAs will be sufficient to support risk-informed regulatory applications. This paper presents examples recommendations for the systems analysis element of a PRA for incorporation into the ASME PRA Standard

Four point parabolic interpolation

We show that four points in the plane may be interpolated by one or two parabolas or possibly by no parabola, depending on the configuration of points. We provide methods for distinguishing the cases and constructing the parabolas.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/29347/1/0000415.pd