What information do shoppers share? The effect of personnel-, retailer-, and country-trust on willingness to share information

The relationship between consumers' privacy concerns and their willingness to disclose personal information to retailers is more complex than a simple negative one. The multi-faced context, within which privacy decisions take place, shapes and bounds this relationship. Drawing on privacy contextual integrity theory, we model the privacy decisions as influenced by individuals' multilevel trusting surroundings, which include trust in a retailer and in its personnel at the micro-level, and trust in a country at the macro-level. Based on 22,050 survey data across seven product categories in fourteen countries, our Bayesian multilevel modeling reveals that micro- and macro-level trust may promote consumers' disclosure intentions via three mechanisms: (1) micro-level trust positive effect on consumers' willingness to disclose their data; (2) micro-level trust effect by attenuating privacy concerns' negative influence on this willingness; and (3) the positive indirect effect of trust in the country on both the direct and indirect impacts of trust in a retailer and in its personnel. Interestingly, trust's direct effects are found in all the investigated types of information (i.e., identification, medical, financial, locational, demographic, lifestyle, and media usage data), whereas the indirect effects are found to vary across information types. Our post-hoc cluster analysis shows that different retail contexts can be classified into three clusters and help retailers understand whether they should invest in developing both trust in their retail company and in their personnel, or mainly on one of the two. By taking different types of trust and context effects into consideration, our findings help different retailers encourage customers to disclose their data with them. (C) 2020 New York University. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

The Dlk1-Gtl2 Locus Preserves LT-HSC Function by Inhibiting the PI3K-mTOR Pathway to Restrict Mitochondrial Metabolism

The mammalian imprinted Dlk1-Gtl2 locus produces multiple non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) from the maternally inherited allele, including the largest miRNA cluster in the mammalian genome. This locus has characterized functions in some types of stem cell, but its role in hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) is unknown. Here, we show that the Dlk1-Gtl2 locus plays a critical role in preserving long-term repopulating HSCs (LT-HSCs). Through transcriptome profiling in 17 hematopoietic cell types, we found that ncRNAs expressed from the Dlk1-Gtl2 locus are predominantly enriched in fetal liver HSCs and the adult LT-HSC population and sustain long-term HSC functionality. Mechanistically, the miRNA mega-cluster within the Dlk1-Gtl2 locus suppresses the entire PI3K-mTOR pathway. This regulation in turn inhibits mitochondrial biogenesis and metabolic activity and protects LT-HSCs from excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. Our data therefore show that the imprinted Dlk1-Gtl2 locus preserves LT-HSC function by restricting mitochondrial metabolism

Benchmarking non-photorealistic rendering of portraits

We present a set of images for helping NPR practitioners evaluate their image-based portrait stylisation algorithms. Using a standard set both facilitates comparisons with other methods and helps ensure that presented results are representative. We give two levels of difficulty, each consisting of 20 images selected systematically so as to provide good coverage of several possible portrait characteristics. We applied three existing portrait-specific stylisation algorithms, two general-purpose stylisation algorithms, and one general learning based stylisation algorithm to the first level of the benchmark, corresponding to the type of constrained images that have often been used in portrait-specific work. We found that the existing methods are generally effective on this new image set, demonstrating that level one of the benchmark is tractable; challenges remain at level two. Results revealed several advantages conferred by portrait-specific algorithms over general-purpose algorithms: portrait-specific algorithms can use domain-specific information to preserve key details such as eyes and to eliminate extraneous details, and they have more scope for semantically meaningful abstraction due to the underlying face model. Finally, we provide some thoughts on systematically extending the benchmark to higher levels of difficulty

A Whole-Chromosome Analysis of Meiotic Recombination in Drosophila melanogaster

Although traditional genetic assays have characterized the pattern of crossing over across the genome in Drosophila melanogaster, these assays could not precisely define the location of crossovers. Even less is known about the frequency and distribution of noncrossover gene conversion events. To assess the specific number and positions of both meiotic gene conversion and crossover events, we sequenced the genomes of male progeny from females heterozygous for 93,538 X chromosomal single-nucleotide and InDel polymorphisms. From the analysis of the 30 F1 hemizygous X chromosomes, we detected 15 crossover and 5 noncrossover gene conversion events. Taking into account the nonuniform distribution of polymorphism along the chromosome arm, we estimate that most oocytes experience 1 crossover event and 1.6 gene conversion events per X chromosome pair per meiosis. An extrapolation to the entire genome would predict approximately 5 crossover events and 8.6 conversion events per meiosis. Mean gene conversion tract lengths were estimated to be 476 base pairs, yielding a per nucleotide conversion rate of 0.86 × 10−5 per meiosis. Both of these values are consistent with estimates of conversion frequency and tract length obtained from studies of rosy, the only gene for which gene conversion has been studied extensively in Drosophila. Motif-enrichment analysis revealed a GTGGAAA motif that was enriched near crossovers but not near gene conversions. The low-complexity and frequent occurrence of this motif may in part explain why, in contrast to mammalian systems, no meiotic crossover hotspots have been found in Drosophila

Fructose-Bisphophate Aldolase Exhibits Functional Roles between Carbon Metabolism and the hrp System in Rice Pathogen Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzicola

Fructose-bisphophate aldolase (FbaB), is an enzyme in glycolysis and gluconeogenesis in living organisms. The mutagenesis in a unique fbaB gene of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzicola, the causal agent of rice bacterial leaf streak, led the pathogen not only unable to use pyruvate and malate for growth and delayed its growth when fructose was used as the sole carbon source, but also reduced extracellular polysaccharide (EPS) production and impaired bacterial virulence and growth in rice. Intriguingly, the fbaB promoter contains an imperfect PIP-box (plant-inducible promoter) (TTCGT-N9-TTCGT). The expression of fbaB was negatively regulated by a key hrp regulatory HrpG and HrpX cascade. Base substitution in the PIP-box altered the regulation of fbaB with the cascade. Furthermore, the expression of fbaB in X. oryzae pv. oryzicola RS105 strain was inducible in planta rather than in a nutrient-rich medium. Except other hrp-hrc-hpa genes, the expression of hrpG and hrpX was repressed and the transcripts of hrcC, hrpE and hpa3 were enhanced when fbaB was deleted. The mutation in hrcC, hrpE or hpa3 reduced the ability of the pathogen to acquire pyruvate and malate. In addition, bacterial virulence and growth in planta and EPS production in RΔfbaB mutant were completely restored to the wild-type level by the presence of fbaB in trans. This is the first report to demonstrate that carbohydrates, assimilated by X. oryzae pv. oryzicola, play critical roles in coordinating hrp gene expression through a yet unknown regulator

Nucleosome Chiral Transition under Positive Torsional Stress in Single Chromatin Fibers

Using magnetic tweezers to investigate the mechanical response of single chromatin fibers, we show that fibers submitted to large positive torsion transiently trap positive turns, at a rate of one turn per nucleosome. A comparison with the response of fibers of tetrasomes (the (H3-H4)2 tetramer bound with ~50 bp of DNA) obtained by depletion of H2A-H2B dimers, suggests that the trapping reflects a nucleosome chiral transition to a metastable form built on the previously documented righthanded tetrasome. In view of its low energy, <8 kT, we propose this transition is physiologically relevant and serves to break the docking of the dimers on the tetramer which in the absence of other factors exerts a strong block against elongation of transcription by the main RNA polymerase.Comment: 33 pages (double spacing), 7 figure

Genetic effects on gene expression across human tissues

Characterization of the molecular function of the human genome and its variation across individuals is essential for identifying the cellular mechanisms that underlie human genetic traits and diseases. The Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project aims to characterize variation in gene expression levels across individuals and diverse tissues of the human body, many of which are not easily accessible. Here we describe genetic effects on gene expression levels across 44 human tissues. We find that local genetic variation affects gene expression levels for the majority of genes, and we further identify inter-chromosomal genetic effects for 93 genes and 112 loci. On the basis of the identified genetic effects, we characterize patterns of tissue specificity, compare local and distal effects, and evaluate the functional properties of the genetic effects. We also demonstrate that multi-tissue, multi-individual data can be used to identify genes and pathways affected by human disease-associated variation, enabling a mechanistic interpretation of gene regulation and the genetic basis of diseas

Hyperoxemia and excess oxygen use in early acute respiratory distress syndrome : Insights from the LUNG SAFE study

Publisher Copyright: © 2020 The Author(s). Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.Background: Concerns exist regarding the prevalence and impact of unnecessary oxygen use in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). We examined this issue in patients with ARDS enrolled in the Large observational study to UNderstand the Global impact of Severe Acute respiratory FailurE (LUNG SAFE) study. Methods: In this secondary analysis of the LUNG SAFE study, we wished to determine the prevalence and the outcomes associated with hyperoxemia on day 1, sustained hyperoxemia, and excessive oxygen use in patients with early ARDS. Patients who fulfilled criteria of ARDS on day 1 and day 2 of acute hypoxemic respiratory failure were categorized based on the presence of hyperoxemia (PaO2 > 100 mmHg) on day 1, sustained (i.e., present on day 1 and day 2) hyperoxemia, or excessive oxygen use (FIO2 ≥ 0.60 during hyperoxemia). Results: Of 2005 patients that met the inclusion criteria, 131 (6.5%) were hypoxemic (PaO2 < 55 mmHg), 607 (30%) had hyperoxemia on day 1, and 250 (12%) had sustained hyperoxemia. Excess FIO2 use occurred in 400 (66%) out of 607 patients with hyperoxemia. Excess FIO2 use decreased from day 1 to day 2 of ARDS, with most hyperoxemic patients on day 2 receiving relatively low FIO2. Multivariate analyses found no independent relationship between day 1 hyperoxemia, sustained hyperoxemia, or excess FIO2 use and adverse clinical outcomes. Mortality was 42% in patients with excess FIO2 use, compared to 39% in a propensity-matched sample of normoxemic (PaO2 55-100 mmHg) patients (P = 0.47). Conclusions: Hyperoxemia and excess oxygen use are both prevalent in early ARDS but are most often non-sustained. No relationship was found between hyperoxemia or excessive oxygen use and patient outcome in this cohort. Trial registration: LUNG-SAFE is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02010073publishersversionPeer reviewe

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements