Prediction of falls among the elderly at risk : part 2

Further investigation entails a close examination by a specialist to reassess and review medications, such as supplementation of Vitamin D, and psychotropic or anxiolytic medications, as well as carry out necessary tests to rule out any chronic medical conditions that may be contributing to the occurrence of falls. However one must not forget to asses and look closely to the physical conditions that may be further contributing to this scenario, with the help of a physiotherapist.peer-reviewe

Developmental Expression of Monocarboxylate Transporter 1 and 4 in Rat Liver

PURPOSE: Monocarboxylate transporters (MCT) are proton-coupled integral membrane proteins that control the influx and efflux of endogenous monocarboxylates such as lactate, acetate and pyruvate. They also transport and mediate the clearance of drugs such as valproate and gamma-hydroxybutyrate. CD147 functions as ancillary protein that chaperones MCT1 and MCT4 to the cell membrane. There is limited data on the maturation of MCT and CD147 expression in tissues related to drug distribution and clearance. The objective of the present study was to quantify hepatic MCT1, MCT4, and CD147 mRNA, whole cell and membrane protein expression from birth to sexual maturity. METHODS: Liver tissues were collected from male and female Sprague Dawley rats at postnatal days (PND) 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, 14, 18, 21, 28, 35, and 42 (n = 3 - 5). Hepatic mRNA, total and membrane protein expression of MCT1, MCT4, and CD147 was evaluated via qPCR and western blot. RESULTS: MCT1 mRNA and protein demonstrated nonlinear maturation patterns. MCT1 and CD147 membrane protein exhibited low expression at birth, with expression increasing three-fold by PND14, followed by a decline in expression at sexual maturity. MCT4 mRNA had highest expression at PND 1, with decreasing expression towards sexual maturity. In contrast, MCT4 membrane protein exhibited minimal expression from birth through weaning before a 10-fold surge at PND35, whereupon there was a sharp decline in expression at PND42. There was a significant positive correlation between MCT1 and CD147 whole cell and membrane expression, while MCT4 membrane expression demonstrated a weak negative correlation with CD147. CONCLUSION: Our study elucidates the transcriptional and translational maturation patterns of MCT1, MCT4 and CD147 expression, with isoform- dependent differences in the liver. Changes in transporter expression during development may greatly influence drug distribution and clearance in pediatric populations

Challenging Domestic Injustice Through International Human Rights Advocacy: Addressing Homelessness in The United States

This Article explores how international human rights norms and procedures can serve as a powerful tool in addressing injustice in the United States context, using work addressing the criminalization of homelessness as a case study. Moreover, it explores how civil and political rights and negative obligations by the government can serve as an entry point for asserting a more robust understanding of rights that includes social and economic rights and affirmative obligations by government. The Article documents and analyzes original work led by the National Homelessness Law Center and other pioneering advocates, reflecting on lessons learned and next steps to make the human right to housing a legal obligation in our country

Examining the Effectiveness of a Nutrition Education Intervention for Hispanic Participants

Background: The Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) Food Talk nutrition education curriculum in the state of Georgia was specifically tailored towards Hispanic EFNEP participants in order to test the effectiveness of the intervention in the Hispanic population. Methods: 455 Hispanic EFNEP individuals ages 18-61 in the state of Georgia participated in the data collection. Measures collected include a 24 hour diet recall, and a food behavior checklist to compare consumption and food behavior practices both before and after nutrition education intervention. Results: Measurable objectives of the study include statistically significant (p\u3c.001) in fruit, vegetable and milk consumption and consumption of fruits, vegetables and milk group foods closer to the recommended levels of USDA MyPlate guidelines for the nutrition education intervention group. Results also showed statistically significant (p\u3c.0001) improvements in nutrition-related behaviors. Conclusion: This study supports a nutrition intervention developed to improve dietary behaviors for EFNEP participants will be effective in the Hispanic population of Georgia with modifications to the nutrition education curriculum

Metabolic reprogramming of human CD8+ memory T cells through loss of SIRT1.

The expansion of CD8+CD28- T cells, a population of terminally differentiated memory T cells, is one of the most consistent immunological changes in humans during aging. CD8+CD28- T cells are highly cytotoxic, and their frequency is linked to many age-related diseases. As they do not accumulate in mice, many of the molecular mechanisms regulating their fate and function remain unclear. In this paper, we find that human CD8+CD28- T cells, under resting conditions, have an enhanced capacity to use glycolysis, a function linked to decreased expression of the NAD+-dependent protein deacetylase SIRT1. Global gene expression profiling identified the transcription factor FoxO1 as a SIRT1 target involved in transcriptional reprogramming of CD8+CD28- T cells. FoxO1 is proteasomally degraded in SIRT1-deficient CD8+CD28- T cells, and inhibiting its activity in resting CD8+CD28+ T cells enhanced glycolytic capacity and granzyme B production as in CD8+CD28- T cells. These data identify the evolutionarily conserved SIRT1-FoxO1 axis as a regulator of resting CD8+ memory T cell metabolism and activity in humans

Attacking logo-based phishing website detectors with adversarial perturbations

Recent times have witnessed the rise of anti-phishing schemes powered by deep learning (DL). In particular, logo-based phishing detectors rely on DL models from Computer Vision to identify logos of well-known brands on webpages, to detect malicious webpages that imitate a given brand. For instance, Siamese networks have demonstrated notable performance for these tasks, enabling the corresponding anti-phishing solutions to detect even "zero-day" phishing webpages. In this work, we take the next step of studying the robustness of logo-based phishing detectors against adversarial ML attacks. We propose a novel attack exploiting generative adversarial perturbations to craft "adversarial logos" that evade phishing detectors. We evaluate our attacks through: (i) experiments on datasets containing real logos, to evaluate the robustness of state-of-the-art phishing detectors; and (ii) user studies to gauge whether our adversarial logos can deceive human eyes. The results show that our proposed attack is capable of crafting perturbed logos subtle enough to evade various DL models-achieving an evasion rate of up to 95%. Moreover, users are not able to spot significant differences between generated adversarial logos and original ones.Comment: To appear in ESORICS 202

Comparison of clustering tools in R for medium-sized 10x Genomics single-cell RNA-sequencing data [version 1; referees: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations]

Background: The commercially available 10x Genomics protocol to generate droplet-based single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) data is enjoying growing popularity among researchers. Fundamental to the analysis of such scRNA-seq data is the ability to cluster similar or same cells into non-overlapping groups. Many competing methods have been proposed for this task, but there is currently little guidance with regards to which method to use. Methods: Here we use one gold standard 10x Genomics dataset, generated from the mixture of three cell lines, as well as three silver standard 10x Genomics datasets generated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells to examine not only the accuracy but also robustness of a dozen methods. Results: We found that some methods, including Seurat and Cell Ranger, outperform other methods, although performance seems to be dependent on the complexity of the studied system. Furthermore, we found that solutions produced by different methods have little in common with each other. Conclusions: In light of this, we conclude that the choice of clustering tool crucially determines interpretation of scRNA-seq data generated by 10x Genomics. Hence practitioners and consumers should remain vigilant about the outcome of 10x Genomics scRNA-seq analysis

A Community-Based Survey to Assess Knowledge, Attitudes, Beliefs and Practices Regarding Herpes Zoster in an Urban Setting

Introduction: In the USA, nearly one in three people will experience herpes zoster (HZ) in their lifetime. Underserved communities may be at even higher risk due to several factors, including access to healthcare, education, and co-morbid conditions. The purpose of this study was to investigate current knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and practices (KABP) relative to HZ and HZ vaccines in a large urban city. Methods: A cross-sectional KABP survey was conducted via in-person interview among 381 participants aged ≥ 50 years in Detroit, MI, USA, from June to August 2018. Survey results were stratified into two groups [\u3c 60 and ≥ 60 years of age (YO)] for comparison. Results: Of the 381 participants, 373 reported their age (110 \u3c 60 YO and 263 ≥ 60 YO). Overall, the majority of participants reported having heard of HZ and HZ vaccines. In addition, receiving a recommendation from a healthcare provider (37.5%) followed by gaining a better understanding of HZ vaccine (36.7%) and of HZ (29.9%) were leading factors that influenced participants’ willingness to receive the vaccine. Of note, 65.5% of participants \u3c 60 YO reported the belief that HZ is preventable versus only 53.2% in those ≥ 60 YO (p = 0.001). Conclusion: Our findings underscore the need to educate patients in underserved communities about HZ as well as new HZ vaccine recommendations to improve vaccination rates and reduce the incidence of HZ and its associated sequelae

Wnt/β-catenin signaling is critical for regenerative potential of distal lung epithelial progenitor cells in homeostasis and emphysema

Wnt/β-catenin signaling regulates progenitor cell fate decisions during lung development and in various adult tissues. Ectopic activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling promotes tissue repair in emphysema, a devastating lung disease with progressive loss of parenchymal lung tissue. The identity of Wnt/β-catenin responsive progenitor cells and the potential impact of Wnt/β-catenin signaling on adult distal lung epithelial progenitor cell function in emphysema are poorly understood. Here, we used a TCF/Lef:H2B/GFP reporter mice to investigate the role of Wnt/β-catenin signaling in lung organoid formation. We identified an organoid-forming adult distal lung epithelial progenitor cell population characterized by a low Wnt/β-catenin activity, which was enriched in club and alveolar epithelial type (AT)II cells. Endogenous Wnt/β-catenin activity was required for the initiation of multiple subtypes of distal lung organoids derived from the Wntlow epithelial progenitors. Further ectopic Wnt/β-catenin activation specifically led to an increase in alveolar organoid number; however, the subsequent proliferation of alveolar epithelial cells in the organoids did not require constitutive Wnt/β-catenin signaling. Distal lung epithelial progenitor cells derived from the mouse model of elastase-induced emphysema exhibited reduced organoid forming capacity. This was rescued by Wnt/β-catenin signal activation, which largely increased the number of alveolar organoids. Together, our study reveals a novel mechanism of lung epithelial progenitor cell activation in homeostasis and emphysema