Surface Gravities for 228 M, L, and T Dwarfs in the NIRSPEC Brown Dwarf Spectroscopic Survey

We combine 131 new medium-resolution (R~2000) J-band spectra of M, L, and T dwarfs from the Keck NIRSPEC Brown Dwarf Spectroscopic Survey (BDSS) with 97 previously published BDSS spectra to study surface-gravity-sensitive indices for 228 low-mass stars and brown dwarfs spanning spectral types M5-T9. Specifically, we use an established set of spectral indices to determine surface gravity classifications for all M6-L7 objects in our sample by measuring equivalent widths (EW) of the K I lines at 1.1692, 1.1778, 1.2529 um, and the 1.2 um FeHJ absorption index. Our results are consistent with previous surface gravity measurements, showing a distinct double peak - at ~L5 and T5 - in K I EW as a function of spectral type. We analyze K I EWs of 73 objects of known ages and find a linear trend between log(Age) and EW. From this relationship, we assign age ranges to the very low gravity, intermediate gravity, and field gravity designations for spectral types M6-L0. Interestingly, the ages probed by these designations remain broad, change with spectral type, and depend on the gravity sensitive index used. Gravity designations are useful indicators of the possibility of youth, but current datasets cannot be used to provide a precise age estimate.Comment: 33 pages, 13 figures, ApJ in pres

Daily Sleep Quality is Associated with Daily Cognition in Late-Life

Background: Older adults often face sleep disturbance or cognitive decline that goes beyond the scope of normal aging. The present study examined the relationship between self-reported sleep quality and self-reported daytime attention in a community-dwelling sample of older men at the between-persons and within-persons levels of association. Methods: Thirty-eight participants (M age =75.36 years, SD age =7.51 years, range=66-90 years) completed a twice-daily sleep diary for one week. Sleep quality and attention were assessed using a single-item 0-10 rating scales from the morning diary (“How was the quality of your sleep last night?”) and from the evening diary (“How was your attention today?”). A two-level multilevel model was parameterized with days nested within individuals to examine whether nightly sleep quality predicts an individual’s daily attention rating. Results: A multilevel model predicting self-reported attention revealed (1) older individuals who reported better sleep quality reported having better daily attention [Beta=0.64, t(248.15)=10.12, p\u3c0.001] and (2) following a day of above-average sleep quality, older individuals experienced above-average attention [Beta=0.16, t(259.79)=2.75, p=.006]. Conclusion: Not only was overall sleep quality associated with self-reported attention, but a good night\u27s sleep was associated with better self-reported next-day attention. Results point to the potential importance of fluctuations in sleep quality for daytime functioning. Interventions aimed at improving nightly sleep consistency may be worth exploring as methods to improve daytime cognitive functioning in older adults. Support: This work was supported by the Sleep Research Society Foundation/Jazz Pharmaceuticals (001JP13, PI: Dzierzewski) and by the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number K23AG049955 (PI: Dzierzewski), and National Heart Lung and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health under award number K24HL143055 (PI: Martin). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health or the Department of Veterans Affairs.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/gradposters/1089/thumbnail.jp

Source, character and weathering style of building stone in Culzean Castle & Country Park, Ayrshire

This report describes an assessment of the source, character and weathering style of the building stone that has been used in Culzean Castle and other historic structures that lie within Culzean Castle & Country Park (CCCP), in Ayrshire. The assessment was conducted by the Building Stones team of the British Geological Survey (BGS) on behalf of National Trust for Scotland (NTS). The project was funded by Historic Scotland, and the work has been conducted under the Memorandum of Agreement (2011-2016) between Historic Scotland and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC; as represented by BGS). The main building stone in CCCP structures is sandstone sourced locally from the Swanshaw Sandstone Formation. Descriptions of the quarries that are thought to have supplied the stone, and a brief assessment of the potential for obtaining new supplies of the same stone from these and other quarries, are presented in section 2 of this report. The results of a brief review of historical records of local quarrying activity and building history in CCCP are tabulated in an appendix and presented in section 3 as a ‘timeline’. The geological character of Swanshaw sandstone is described in section 4, and the main causes of weathering in sandstone are reviewed briefly in section 5. The character of weathering in the stonework of CCCP buildings, and some of the factors that are likely to be causing accelerated stone decay, are described in section 6. Recommendations for ‘best practice’ procedure in the long-term repair and maintenance of stonework in CCCP are presented in section 7. Key conclusions are summarised in section 8

Provenance of building stones in four 'galley castles' in Argyll

This report describes the outcomes of a project to assess the character and provenance of decorative stones in four ‘galley castles’ in Argyll. This includes a comparative investigation with a number of potential sources of sandstone and metamorphic rocks in Argyll and the surrounding region, which could have been quarried in the past

Enzymatic Activity in the Chorion for Hatching in the California Grunion

Leuresthes tenuis is a small, silverside fish that spawns on the beaches during some of the highest tides of the summer months. Of the many unique traits to the species including that the eggs develop fully out of water to the point of hatching competence but will not hatch until presented with an environmental cue, which causes them to hatch in less than a minute. The purpose of this study is to better understand the role of enzymes called chorionases, which act to break down the chorion (egg membrane). I hypothesize that the chorion begins to weaken in this species when it is hatching competent but before it receives the stimulus to hatch. Unlike most organisms, the grunion embryo reaches hatching competence when it is fully developed, once it reaches competence, it stalls development and waits for an environmental cue. Before this, the egg is not hatching competent and will not hatch even if the trigger is there. The fact that it hatches so quickly could be evidence that an enzyme is acting to break down the chorion and this is what I hypothesize causes hatching competence. Some related fish have two chorionases while some only have one. To see whether one or two enzymes act in hatching in the grunion, I made a solution of the hatching enzyme, concentrated it, ran both SDS-PAGE and native-PAGE gels to separate out the protein by size, and cut out and sent those bands away for sequencing. To test whether the egg weakens upon hatching competence, I measured change in diameter of eggs that were pressed under a weight. We found no significant difference in pliability between the two groups of eggs using this methodology. If there are two enzymes, one may be acting before the other. If there is only one enzyme, another mechanism is at play

Women’s experiences of maternity care in England: preliminary development of a standard measure

Background: As maternity services evolve and the population of women served also changes, there is a continuing need to effectively document the views of women with recent experience of care. A woman's maternity experience can have a positive or negative effect upon her emotional well-being and health, in the immediate and the long-term, which can also impact the infant and the wider family system. Measuring women's perceptions of maternity services is an important way of monitoring the quality of care provision, as well as providing key indicators to organisations of the services that they are providing. It follows that, without information identifying possible areas in need of improvement, it is not clear what changes should be made to improve the experiences of women during their journey through maternity services from pregnancy to the early weeks at home with a new baby. The objective is to describe the development process and psychometric properties of a measure of women's experience of maternity care covering the three distinctly different phases of maternity - pregnancy, labour and birth, and the early postnatal period. Methods: Data from a national survey of women who had recently given birth (n = 504) were used. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic methods were employed. The measure was assessed for underlying latent factor structure, as well as for reliability, internal consistency, and validity (predictive, convergent and discriminant). Results: The models developed confirmed the use of three separate, but related scales about experience of maternity care during pregnancy, labour and birth and the postnatal period. Data reduction was effective, resulting in a measure with 36 items (12 per scale). Conclusion: The need for a psychometrically robust and qualitatively comprehensive measure of women's experience of maternity care has been addressed in the development and validation of this prototype measure. The whole measure can be used at one time point, or the three separate subscales used as individual measures of experience during particular phases of the maternity journey with identified factor structures in their own right

Ethylene signaling increases reactive oxygen species accumulation to drive root hair initiation in Arabidopsis

Root hair initiation is a highly regulated aspect of root development. The plant hormone ethylene and its precursor, 1-amino-cyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid, induce formation and elongation of root hairs. Using confocal microscopy paired with redox biosensors and dyes, we demonstrated that treatments that elevate ethylene levels lead to increased hydrogen peroxide accumulation in hair cells prior to root hair formation. In the ethylene-insensitive receptor mutant, etr1-3, and the signaling double mutant, ein3eil1, the increase in root hair number or reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation after ACC and ethylene treatment was lost. Conversely, etr1-7, a constitutive ethylene signaling receptor mutant, has increased root hair formation and ROS accumulation, similar to ethylene-treated Col-0 seedlings. The caprice and werewolf transcription factor mutants have decreased and elevated ROS levels, respectively, which are correlated with levels of root hair initiation. The rhd2-6 mutant, with a defect in the gene encoding the ROS-synthesizing RESPIRATORY BURST OXIDASE HOMOLOG C (RBOHC), and the prx44-2 mutant, which is defective in a class III peroxidase, showed impaired ethylene-dependent ROS synthesis and root hair formation via EIN3EIL1-dependent transcriptional regulation. Together, these results indicate that ethylene increases ROS accumulation through RBOHC and PRX44 to drive root hair formation.Fil: Martin, R. Emily. University Wake Forest; Estados UnidosFil: Marzol, Eliana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires. Fundación Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Estevez, Jose Manuel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires. Fundación Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Muday, Gloria K.. University Wake Forest; Estados Unido

Insulin Sensitivity and Secretion in Arab Americans with Glucose Intolerance

Background: This study examined the pathophysiological abnormalities in Arab Americans with impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and/or impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). Subjects and Methods: Homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), homeostasis model assessment of insulin secretion (HOMA-%?), and the Matsuda Insulin Sensitivity Index composite (ISIcomposite) were calculated from the fasting and stimulated glucose and insulin concentrations measured during the oral glucose tolerance test in a population-based, representative, cross-sectional sample of randomly selected Arab Americans. Results: In total, 497 individuals (42±14 years old; 40% males; body mass index [BMI], 29±6?kg/m2) were studied. Multivariate linear regression models were performed to compare HOMA-IR, HOMA-%?, and ISIcomposite among individuals with normal glucose tolerance (NGT) (n=191) versus isolated IFG (n=136), isolated IGT (n=22), combined IFG/IGT (n=43), and diabetes (n=105). Compared with individuals with NGT (2.9±1.6), HOMA-IR progressively increased in individuals with isolated IFG (4.8±2.7, P<0.001), combined IFG/IGT (6.0±4.3, P<0.001), and diabetes (9.7±8.3, P<0.001) but not in those with isolated IGT (3.0±1.7, P=0.87). After adjustment for sex and BMI, these associations remained unchanged. Whole-body insulin sensitivity as measured by ISIcomposite was significantly lower in individuals with isolated IFG (3.9±2.3, P<0.001), isolated IGT (2.8±1.5, P<0.001), combined IFG/IGT (1.9±1.1, P<0.001), and diabetes (1.6±1.1, P<0.001) compared with those with NGT (6.1±3.5). HOMA-%? was significantly lower in diabetes (113.7±124.9, P<0.001) compared with NGT (161.3±92.0). After adjustment for age, sex, and BMI, isolated IFG (146.6±80.2) was also significantly associated with a decline in HOMA-%? relative to NGT (P=0.005). Conclusions: This study suggests that differences in the underlying metabolic defects leading to diabetes in Arab Americans with IFG and/or IGT exist and may require different strategies for the prevention of diabetes.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140352/1/dia.2013.0045.pd

Selective outcome reporting in randomised controlled trials including participants with stroke or transient ischaemic attack:A systematic review

IntroductionThe prevalence of outcome reporting bias (ORB, i.e. selective reporting according to the results observed) across primary outcomes in randomised controlled trials (RCTs) including participants with stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA) is unknown.Materials and methodsWe searched the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews on 3 February 2021 for reviews published 2008-2020 with at least one RCT of a therapeutic intervention, for participants with stroke or TIA, and a safety or efficacy outcome. We took a random sample of these RCTs and included those with a trial registry record or protocol published before reporting results. Two reviewers assessed discrepancies in outcome reporting across the trial registry record, protocol, statistical analysis plan, and publication for each RCT, using the classification system designed by the Outcome Reporting Bias in Trials group.ResultsOf 600 RCTs, we identified a trial registry record in 120 (20%), a protocol in 28 (5%), and a statistical analysis plan in 5 (1%) with 123 (21%) distinct RCTs being eligible for assessment: 110 (89%, 95% CI 83-94) were at no risk, 7 (6%, 95% CI 3-11) RCTs were at low risk, and 6 (5%, 95% CI 2-10) were at high risk of ORB.DiscussionThe prevalence of ORB in primary outcomes was low in stroke/TIA RCTs that were included in Cochrane reviews and had an identifiable trial registry record or protocol. Concerningly, we were unable to identify a trial registry record or protocol in most of our sample.ConclusionWork is needed to further reduce ORB in stroke/TIA RCTs and explore the generalisability of these findings to RCTs outside of Cochrane reviews or without a registry record or protocol, as well as to secondary outcomes