2,810 research outputs found
Water immersion increases the concentration of the immunoreactive N-terminal fragment of pro-atrial natriuretic factor in human plasma
Atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) N-terminal (ANF 1–98) and C-terminal (ANF 99–126) fragments were determined by radioimmunoassay in human plasma. Mean basal plasma ANF N-terminal concentrations in 9 healthy subjects were 461 ± 58 fmol/ml,significantly (p<0.0001) higher than ANF C-terminal concentrations ( 4.8 ± 0.5 fmol/ml). Central volume stimulation by one hour head-out water immersion (WI) induced a significant (p<0.01) increase of the C-terminal peptide levels to 11.6 ± 2.3 fmol/ml,paralleled by a significant (p<0.001) increase of the N-terminal fragment levels to 749 ± 96 fmol/ml. Increases of plasma concentrations of both fragments upon WI correlated significantly (r=0.71;p<0.05). These data suggest cosecretion of the N-terminal fragment with the C-terminal fragment of pro ANF 1–126 following a physiological stimulus of ANF release in man
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Newly Insured Californians Would Fall by More than 1 Million Under the Affordable Care Act Without the Requirement to Purchase Insurance
Compares the estimated number and percentage of currently uninsured Californians who will be insured by 2019 under the Affordable Care Act with the individual mandate and without. Highlights the need for the mandate to ensure affordable coverage
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Achieving Equity by Building a Bridge From Eligible to Enrolled
Calls for multilingual outreach and enrollment efforts to enable Californians of color and those with limited English proficiency to benefit from the Health Benefit Exchange. Recommends targeting high-need groups and strengthening data collection
Effect of stress-triaxiality on void growth in dynamic fracture of metals: a molecular dynamics study
The effect of stress-triaxiality on growth of a void in a three dimensional
single-crystal face-centered-cubic (FCC) lattice has been studied. Molecular
dynamics (MD) simulations using an embedded-atom (EAM) potential for copper
have been performed at room temperature and using strain controlling with high
strain rates ranging from 10^7/sec to 10^10/sec. Strain-rates of these
magnitudes can be studied experimentally, e.g. using shock waves induced by
laser ablation. Void growth has been simulated in three different conditions,
namely uniaxial, biaxial, and triaxial expansion. The response of the system in
the three cases have been compared in terms of the void growth rate, the
detailed void shape evolution, and the stress-strain behavior including the
development of plastic strain. Also macroscopic observables as plastic work and
porosity have been computed from the atomistic level. The stress thresholds for
void growth are found to be comparable with spall strength values determined by
dynamic fracture experiments. The conventional macroscopic assumption that the
mean plastic strain results from the growth of the void is validated. The
evolution of the system in the uniaxial case is found to exhibit four different
regimes: elastic expansion; plastic yielding, when the mean stress is nearly
constant, but the stress-triaxiality increases rapidly together with
exponential growth of the void; saturation of the stress-triaxiality; and
finally the failure.Comment: 35 figures, which are small (and blurry) due to the space
limitations; submitted (with original figures) to Physical Review B. Final
versio
Similarity-Detection and Localization
The detection of similarities between long DNA and protein sequences is
studied using concepts of statistical physics. It is shown that mutual
similarities can be detected by sequence alignment methods only if their amount
exceeds a threshold value. The onset of detection is a continuous phase
transition which can be viewed as a localization-delocalization transition. The
``fidelity'' of the alignment is the order parameter of that transition; it
leads to criteria for the selection of optimal alignment parameters.Comment: 4 pages including 4 figures (308kb post-script file
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Soft topographic map for clustering and classification of bacteria
In this work a new method for clustering and building a
topographic representation of a bacteria taxonomy is presented. The method is based on the analysis of stable parts of the genome, the so-called “housekeeping genes”. The proposed method generates topographic maps of the bacteria taxonomy, where relations among different
type strains can be visually inspected and verified. Two well known DNA alignement algorithms are applied to the genomic sequences. Topographic maps are optimized to represent the similarity among the sequences according to their evolutionary distances. The experimental analysis is carried out on 147 type strains of the Gammaprotebacteria
class by means of the 16S rRNA housekeeping gene. Complete sequences of the gene have been retrieved from the NCBI public database. In the experimental tests the maps show clusters of homologous type strains and present some singular cases potentially due to incorrect classification
or erroneous annotations in the database
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Comparing Factors Associated with Increased Stimulant Use in Relation to HIV Status Using a Machine Learning and Prediction Modeling Approach
Stimulant use is an important driver of HIV/STI transmission among men who have sex with men (MSM). Evaluating factors associated with increased stimulant use is critical to inform HIV prevention programming efforts. This study seeks to use machine learning variable selection techniques to determine characteristics associated with increased stimulant use and whether these factors differ by HIV status. Data from a longitudinal cohort of predominantly Black/Latinx MSM in Los Angeles, CA was used. Every 6 months from 8/2014-12/2020, participants underwent STI testing and completed surveys evaluating the following: demographics, substance use, sexual risk behaviors, and last partnership characteristics. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (lasso) was used to select variables and create predictive models for an interval increase in self-reported stimulant use across study visits. Mixed-effects logistic regression was then used to describe associations between selected variables and the same outcome. Models were also stratified based on HIV status to evaluate differences in predictors associated with increased stimulant use. Among 2095 study visits from 467 MSM, increased stimulant use was reported at 20.9% (n = 438) visits. Increased stimulant use was positively associated with unstable housing (adjusted [a]OR 1.81; 95% CI 1.27-2.57), STI diagnosis (1.59; 1.14-2.21), transactional sex (2.30; 1.60-3.30), and last partner stimulant use (2.21; 1.62-3.00). Among MSM living with HIV, increased stimulant use was associated with binge drinking, vaping/cigarette use (aOR 1.99; 95% CI 1.36-2.92), and regular use of poppers (2.28; 1.38-3.76). Among HIV-negative MSM, increased stimulant use was associated with participating in group sex while intoxicated (aOR 1.81; 95% CI 1.04-3.18), transactional sex (2.53; 1.40-2.55), and last partner injection drug use (1.96; 1.02-3.74). Our findings demonstrate that lasso can be a useful tool for variable selection and creation of predictive models. These results indicate that risk behaviors associated with increased stimulant use may differ based on HIV status and suggest that co-substance use and partnership contexts should be considered in the development of HIV prevention/treatment interventions
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