Do Social Media Usage and The Endorsement of Collective Values Predict Loneliness?

It has been suggested that an individual’s loneliness is associated with uses of social media as well as with different cultural beliefs (i.e., individualism and collectivism). However, there is little evidence about whether the time spent on social media (e.g., WeChat, Weibo, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat) and collectivism can predict loneliness in a country that embraces multi-cultures (i.e., Canada). The current study was designed to analyze the relationships between loneliness social media usage (average time spent on social media in a day) as well as the endorsement of collective values. It was expected that the higher endorsement of collective values will offset loneliness and more time spent on social media will facilitate loneliness. Multiple linear regression of data collected from 25 University students in Canada revealed that the score of the endorsement of collective values and average time spent on social media in a day did not predict individuals’ perceived loneliness. Future follow-up studies should emphasize motivations and objective measures of using social media regarding the correlation between collectivism and loneliness and causality of social media usage and collectivism on loneliness in a larger size of sample size

Prevalence of albuminuria and cardiovascular risk profile in a referred cohort of patients with type 2 diabetes: An Asian perspective

Background: Microalbuminuria (MA) is a risk marker for diabetic nephropathy and cardiovascular (CV) disease (CVD) in patients with diabetes. This study aimed to describe the prevalence of albuminuria, CV risk factors, and treatments for renal and CV protection in an Asian population with type 2 diabetes. Methods: This cross-sectional study conducted in eight Asian countries enrolled normotensive/hypertensive adults with type 2 diabetes without known proteinuria and/or non-diabetic kidney disease. Exclusion criteria were type 1 diabetes, menstruation, pregnancy, and acute fever. A single random urinary albumin/creatinine test was carried out in all patients. Results: Of 8,561 patients, 14% had diabetic retinopathy, and 17% and 21% had history of CV disease and smoking, respectively. Normoalbuminuria was seen in 44%, MA in 44%, and macroalbuminuria in 12%. Target glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) (<7%) was reached in only 37% of 3,834 patients with available values. Diabetes was managed by diet alone in 6%, while others received oral hypoglycemic drugs and/or insulin. In total, 75% did not reach target blood pressure (BP) of ≤130/80 mm Hg. Antihypertensive drugs were prescribed to 52%, with the number of drugs increasing as the level of systolic BP increased. Drugs blocking the renin-angiotensin system were most commonly prescribed, followed by calcium channel blockers. Lipid-lowering drugs and anticoagulant/antiplatelet agents were used in about 30% and 25% of patients, respectively. Conclusions: Asian patients with type 2 diabetes had a high prevalence of MA and reduced kidney function. Furthermore, BP and HbA1c control was only achieved in a minority of patients. Aggressive risk management by administration of reno- and cardioprotective treatments is urgently needed. © 2008 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.published_or_final_versio

Multiphoton Interference in Quantum Fourier Transform Circuits and Applications to Quantum Metrology

© 2017 American Physical Society. Quantum Fourier transforms (QFTs) have gained increased attention with the rise of quantum walks, boson sampling, and quantum metrology. Here, we present and demonstrate a general technique that simplifies the construction of QFT interferometers using both path and polarization modes. On that basis, we first observe the generalized Hong-Ou-Mandel effect with up to four photons. Furthermore, we directly exploit number-path entanglement generated in these QFT interferometers and demonstrate optical phase supersensitivities deterministically

Identification of pre-leukaemic haematopoietic stem cells in acute leukaemia.

In acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), the cell of origin, nature and biological consequences of initiating lesions, and order of subsequent mutations remain poorly understood, as AML is typically diagnosed without observation of a pre-leukaemic phase. Here, highly purified haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), progenitor and mature cell fractions from the blood of AML patients were found to contain recurrent DNMT3A mutations (DNMT3A(mut)) at high allele frequency, but without coincident NPM1 mutations (NPM1c) present in AML blasts. DNMT3A(mut)-bearing HSCs showed a multilineage repopulation advantage over non-mutated HSCs in xenografts, establishing their identity as pre-leukaemic HSCs. Pre-leukaemic HSCs were found in remission samples, indicating that they survive chemotherapy. Therefore DNMT3A(mut) arises early in AML evolution, probably in HSCs, leading to a clonally expanded pool of pre-leukaemic HSCs from which AML evolves. Our findings provide a paradigm for the detection and treatment of pre-leukaemic clones before the acquisition of additional genetic lesions engenders greater therapeutic resistance

Preferential Paths of Air-water Two-phase Flow in Porous Structures with Special Consideration of Channel Thickness Effects.

Accurate understanding and predicting the flow paths of immiscible two-phase flow in rocky porous structures are of critical importance for the evaluation of oil or gas recovery and prediction of rock slides caused by gas-liquid flow. A 2D phase field model was established for compressible air-water two-phase flow in heterogenous porous structures. The dynamic characteristics of air-water two-phase interface and preferential paths in porous structures were simulated. The factors affecting the path selection of two-phase flow in porous structures were analyzed. Transparent physical models of complex porous structures were prepared using 3D printing technology. Tracer dye was used to visually observe the flow characteristics and path selection in air-water two-phase displacement experiments. The experimental observations agree with the numerical results used to validate the accuracy of phase field model. The effects of channel thickness on the air-water two-phase flow behavior and paths in porous structures were also analyzed. The results indicate that thick channels can induce secondary air flow paths due to the increase in flow resistance; consequently, the flow distribution is different from that in narrow channels. This study provides a new reference for quantitatively analyzing multi-phase flow and predicting the preferential paths of immiscible fluids in porous structures

Contact frequency determines outcome of basal insulin initiation trials in type 2 diabetes

Aims/hypothesis The aim of the present study was to investigate whether predetermined contact frequency with the study teamand endpoint insulin dose are associated with study outcomes in basal insulin initiation trials in type 2 diabetes. Methods A systematic Medline search was performed. Using data from the selected studies, contact frequency was plotted against HbA(1c) reduction and endpoint insulin dose. The importance of face-to-face vs telephone contact was also analysed. Insulin dose was plotted against HbA(1c) reduction, hypoglycaemia rate and weight gain. To investigate non-specific study effects, the relationship between contact frequency and HbA(1c) was also assessed in dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor trials. Results The reduction in HbA(1c) was highly correlated with contact frequency and endpoint insulin dose (r(2)=0.751, p<0.001 and r(2)=0.433, p=0.008, respectively). However, after adjusting for contact frequency, the relationship between insulin dose and HbA(1c) reduction was no longer significant (p=0.270). The frequency of both clinical and telephone contacts were independent predictors of HbA(1c) improvement (p=0.010 and p<0.001, respectively). We found no dose response relationship between end-of-study insulin dose and hypoglycaemia or weight gain. In DPP-4 inhibitor studies, contact frequency was not positively associated with HbA(1c). Conclusions/interpretation The frequency of contact with the study team is highly correlated with the improvement in HbA(1c) achieved in basal insulin initiation trials in type 2 diabetic patients. This has important implications for trial design and interpretation, as well as for clinical car

Photonic transistor and router using a single quantum-dotconfined spin in a single-sided optical microcavity

The future Internet is very likely the mixture of all-optical Internet with low power consumption and quantum Internet with absolute security guaranteed by the laws of quantum mechanics. Photons would be used for processing, routing and com-munication of data, and photonic transistor using a weak light to control a strong light is the core component as an optical analogue to the electronic transistor that forms the basis of modern electronics. In sharp contrast to previous all-optical tran-sistors which are all based on optical nonlinearities, here I introduce a novel design for a high-gain and high-speed (up to terahertz) photonic transistor and its counterpart in the quantum limit, i.e., single-photon transistor based on a linear optical effect: giant Faraday rotation induced by a single electronic spin in a single-sided optical microcavity. A single-photon or classical optical pulse as the gate sets the spin state via projective measurement and controls the polarization of a strong light to open/block the photonic channel. Due to the duality as quantum gate for quantum information processing and transistor for optical information processing, this versatile spin-cavity quantum transistor provides a solid-state platform ideal for all-optical networks and quantum networks

TEAD and YAP regulate the enhancer network of human embryonic pancreatic progenitors.

The genomic regulatory programmes that underlie human organogenesis are poorly understood. Pancreas development, in particular, has pivotal implications for pancreatic regeneration, cancer and diabetes. We have now characterized the regulatory landscape of embryonic multipotent progenitor cells that give rise to all pancreatic epithelial lineages. Using human embryonic pancreas and embryonic-stem-cell-derived progenitors we identify stage-specific transcripts and associated enhancers, many of which are co-occupied by transcription factors that are essential for pancreas development. We further show that TEAD1, a Hippo signalling effector, is an integral component of the transcription factor combinatorial code of pancreatic progenitor enhancers. TEAD and its coactivator YAP activate key pancreatic signalling mediators and transcription factors, and regulate the expansion of pancreatic progenitors. This work therefore uncovers a central role for TEAD and YAP as signal-responsive regulators of multipotent pancreatic progenitors, and provides a resource for the study of embryonic development of the human pancreas

Siglecg Limits the Size of B1a B Cell Lineage by Down-Regulating NFκB Activation

BACKGROUND: B1 B cells are believed to be a unique lineage with a distinct developmental pathway, function and activation requirement. How this lineage is genetically determined remained largely obscure. METHODS AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using the Siglecg-deficient mice with a knockin of green-fluorescent protein encoding sequence, we show here that, although the Siglecg gene is broadly expressed at high levels in all stages and/or lineages of B cells tested and at lower levels in other lineages, its deletion selectively expanded the B1a B cell lineages, including the frequency of the B1 cell progenitor in the bone marrow and the number of B1a cells in the peritoneal cavity, by postnatal expansion. The expansion of B1a B cells in the peritoneal correlated with enhanced activation of NFkappaB and was ablated by an IKK inhibitor. CONCLUSION AND SIGNIFICANCE: Our data revealed a critical role for Siglec G-NFkappaB pathway in regulating B1a B cell lineage. These data lead to a novel model of B1a lineage development that explains a large array of genetic data in this field

Mineral Preservatives in the Wood of Stradivari and Guarneri

Following the futile efforts of generations to reach the high standard of excellence achieved by the luthiers in Cremona, Italy, by variations of design and plate tuning, current interest is being focused on differences in material properties. The long-standing question whether the wood of Stradivari and Guarneri were treated with wood preservative materials could be answered only by the examination of wood specimens from the precious antique instruments. In a recent communication (Nature, 2006), we reported about the degradation of the wood polymers in instruments of Stradivari and Guarneri, which could be explained only by chemical manipulations, possibly by preservatives. The aim of the current work was to identify the minerals from the small samples of the maple wood which were available to us from the antique instruments. The ashes of wood from one violin and one cello by Stradivari, two violins by Guarneri, one viola by H. Jay, one violin by Gand-Bernardel were analyzed and compared with a variety of commercial tone woods. The methods of analysis were the following: back-scattered electron imaging, X-ray fluorescence maps for individual elements, wave-length dispersive spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and quantitative microprobe analysis. All four Cremonese instruments showed the unmistakable signs of chemical treatments in the form of chemicals which are not present in natural woods, such as BaSO4, CaF2, borate, and ZrSiO4. In addition to these, there were also changes in the common wood minerals. Statistical evaluation of 12 minerals by discriminant analysis revealed: a. a difference among all four Cremona instruments, b. the difference of the Cremonese instruments from the French and English antiques, and c. only the Cremonese instruments differed from all commercial woods. These findings may provide the answer why all attempts to recreate the Stradivarius from natural wood have failed. There are many obvious implications with regard to how the green tone wood should be treated, which chould lead to changes in the practice of violin-making. This research should inspire others to analyze more antique violins for their chemical contents