Hot topics, urgent priorities, and ensuring success for racial/ethnic minority young investigators in academic pediatrics.

BackgroundThe number of racial/ethnic minority children will exceed the number of white children in the USA by 2018. Although 38% of Americans are minorities, only 12% of pediatricians, 5% of medical-school faculty, and 3% of medical-school professors are minorities. Furthermore, only 5% of all R01 applications for National Institutes of Health grants are from African-American, Latino, and American Indian investigators. Prompted by the persistent lack of diversity in the pediatric and biomedical research workforces, the Academic Pediatric Association Research in Academic Pediatrics Initiative on Diversity (RAPID) was initiated in 2012. RAPID targets applicants who are members of an underrepresented minority group (URM), disabled, or from a socially, culturally, economically, or educationally disadvantaged background. The program, which consists of both a research project and career and leadership development activities, includes an annual career-development and leadership conference which is open to any resident, fellow, or junior faculty member from an URM, disabled, or disadvantaged background who is interested in a career in academic general pediatrics.MethodsAs part of the annual RAPID conference, a Hot Topic Session is held in which the young investigators spend several hours developing a list of hot topics on the most useful faculty and career-development issues. These hot topics are then posed in the form of six "burning questions" to the RAPID National Advisory Committee (comprised of accomplished, nationally recognized senior investigators who are seasoned mentors), the RAPID Director and Co-Director, and the keynote speaker.Results/conclusionsThe six compelling questions posed by the 10 young investigators-along with the responses of the senior conference leadership-provide a unique resource and "survival guide" for ensuring the academic success and optimal career development of young investigators in academic pediatrics from diverse backgrounds. A rich conversation ensued on the topics addressed, consisting of negotiating for protected research time, career trajectories as academic institutions move away from an emphasis on tenure-track positions, how "non-academic" products fit into career development, racism and discrimination in academic medicine and how to address them, coping with isolation as a minority faculty member, and how best to mentor the next generation of academic physicians

Effect of natural zeolite on live weight changes, ruminal fermentation and nitrogen metabolism of ewe lambs

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of natural zeolite on the performance and nitrogen metabolism of Rambouillet ewe lambs. Forty Rambouillet ewe lambs with an initial weight of 41.06 ± 3.9 kg were randomly assigned to one of four experimental diets, namely 0, 20, 40 and 60 g of natural zeolite (Comercializadora Omega® México) per kg dietary dry matter in a completely randomized design and sixteen ewe lambs were used in a 4 x 4 Latin square metabolism study. Performance was not modified by natural zeolite levels in the diet, and daily gain showed a quadratic response. Ammonia concentration at 8 and 12 hours increased linearly with zeolite. Zeolite increased ruminal pH linearly at 8 and 12 hours. Acetate and butyrate presented a quadratic response, and total ruminal volatile fatty acid concentration was linearly increased by zeolite. Nitrogen retention showed a linear and quadratic response to zeolite. The estimated fractions of protein digested in the small intestine, when rumen-fermentable energy was limiting (PDIE) and when rumen-fermentable nitrogen was limiting, showed a linear and quadratic response to zeolite. PDIE was positively correlated (r = 0.96) with average daily gain.Keywords: Sheep, ammonium, ruminal fermentation, productive, soluble nitroge

Shaping point- and mirror-symmetric proto-planetary nebulae by the orbital motion of the central binary system

We present 3D hydrodynamical simulations of a jet launched from the secondary star of a binary system inside a proto-planetary nebula. The secondary star moves around the primary in a close eccentric orbit. From the gasdynamic simulations we compute synthetic [NII] 6583 emission maps. Different jet axis inclinations with respect to the orbital plane, as well as different orientations of the flow with respect to the observer are considered. For some parameter combinations, we obtain structures that show point- or mirror-symmetric morphologies depending on the orientation of the flow with respect to the observer. Furthermore, our models can explain some of the emission distribution asymmetries that are summarized in the classification given by Soker & hadar (2002).Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables, Accepted in Apj Letter

Parent-perceived neighbourhood environment, parenting practices and preschool-aged children physical activity and screen time: a cross-sectional study of two culturally and geographically diverse cities

Background: Preschool-aged children’s physical activity (PA) and screen time (ST) are important health-related behaviours likely influenced by PA opportunities, parental perceptions of neighbourhood safety and parenting practices pertaining to PA and ST. How these factors interact to impact on young children’s PA and ST, and whether their effects are generalisable across cultures and geographical location is not known. This study addressed these knowledge gaps by conducting pooled analyses of comparable data from two culturally and geographically diverse samples – Chinese parent-child dyads from an ultra-dense city (Hong Kong, China) and Latino parent-child dyads from a low-density city (Houston, USA). Methods: The analytical sample consisted of 164 Hong Kong Chinese and 84 US Latino parent-child dyads with data on socio-demographic characteristics, parent-perceived neighbourhood destinations and facilities for children’s PA, physical and social safety-related neighbourhood attributes, PA-related parenting practices and child’s ST and accelerometer-assessed PA. Generalised linear models with robust standard errors accounting for neighbourhoodlevel clustering were used to estimate associations and interaction effects. Results: Hong Kong Chinese children accumulated less PA than US Latino children, although the latter had more ST. Hong Kong Chinese parents reported more parenting practices promoting inactivity. Neighbourhood PA opportunities were positively related to children’s PA only if parental perceptions of neighbourhood safety were favourable, and the associations of physical neighbourhood environment characteristics with children’s PA and ST depended on PA-related parenting practices. Community cohesion was positively related to children’s PA and negatively related to ST, while parental promotion of ST was positively associated with children’s ST. Correlates of children’s PA and ST did not differ by city. Conclusions: The substantial diferences in activity patterns between Hong Kong Chinese and US Latino preschoolaged children observed in this study are likely due to a combination of cultural and built environmental factors. However, the fact that no between-city differences in correlates of PA and ST were detected indicates that both populations of children are equally affected by parent-perceived neighbourhood environmental characteristics and parenting practices. Overall, this study highlights the importance of considering how various individual-, home- and neighbourhood physical and social factors interact to influence young children’s health-promoting activity levels

One-dimensional Cooper pairing

We study electron pairing in a one-dimensional (1D) fermion gas at zero temperature under zero- and finite-range, attractive, two-body interactions. The binding energy of Cooper pairs (CPs) with zero total or center-of-mass momentum (CMM) increases with attraction strength and decreases with interaction range for fixed strength. The excitation energy of 1D CPs with nonzero CMM display novel, unique properties. It satisfies a dispersion relation with \textit{two} branches: a\ phonon-like \textit{linear }excitation for small CP CMM; this is followed by roton-like \textit{quadratic} excitation minimum for CMM greater than twice the Fermi wavenumber, but only above a minimum threshold attraction strength. The expected quadratic-in-CMM dispersion \textit{in vacuo }when the Fermi wavenumber is set to zero is recovered for \textit{any% } coupling. This paper completes a three-part exploration initiated in 2D and continued in 3D.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure

Brokered Graph State Quantum Computing

We describe a procedure for graph state quantum computing that is tailored to fully exploit the physics of optically active multi-level systems. Leveraging ideas from the literature on distributed computation together with the recent work on probabilistic cluster state synthesis, our model assigns to each physical system two logical qubits: the broker and the client. Groups of brokers negotiate new graph state fragments via a probabilistic optical protocol. Completed fragments are mapped from broker to clients via a simple state transition and measurement. The clients, whose role is to store the nascent graph state long term, remain entirely insulated from failures during the brokerage. We describe an implementation in terms of NV-centres in diamond, where brokers and clients are very naturally embodied as electron and nuclear spins.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

CREB is a critical regulator of normal hematopoiesis and leukemogenesis

The cAMP-responsive element binding protein (CREB) is a 43-kDa nuclear transcription factor that regulates cell growth, memory, and glucose homeostasis. We showed previously that CREB is amplified in myeloid leukemia blasts and expressed at higher levels in leukemia stem cells from patients with myeloid leukemia. CREB transgenic mice develop myeloproliferative disease after 1 year, but not leukemia, suggesting that CREB contributes to but is not sufficient for leukemogenesis. Here, we show that CREB is most highly expressed in lineage negative hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). To understand the role of CREB in hematopoietic progenitors and leukemia cells, we examined the effects of RNA interference (RNAi) to knock down CREB expression in vitro and in vivo. Transduction of primary HSCs or myeloid leukemia cells with lentiviral CREB shRNAs resulted in decreased proliferation of stem cells, cell- cycle abnormalities, and inhibition of CREB transcription. Mice that received transplants of bone marrow transduced with CREB shRNA had decreased committed progenitors compared with control mice. Mice injected with Ba/F3 cells expressing either Bcr-Abl wild-type or T315I mutation with CREB shRNA had delayed leukemic infiltration by bioluminescence imaging and prolonged median survival. Our results suggest that CREB is critical for normal myelopoiesis and leukemia cell proliferation

Centerscope

Centerscope, formerly Scope, was published by the Boston University Medical Center "to communicate the concern of the Medical Center for the development and maintenance of improved health care in contemporary society.

DC-electric-field-induced and low-frequency electromodulation second-harmonic generation spectroscopy of Si(001)-SiO2_2 interfaces

The mechanism of DC-Electric-Field-Induced Second-Harmonic (EFISH) generation at weakly nonlinear buried Si(001)-SiO$_2$ interfaces is studied experimentally in planar Si(001)-SiO$_2$-Cr MOS structures by optical second-harmonic generation (SHG) spectroscopy with a tunable Ti:sapphire femtosecond laser. The spectral dependence of the EFISH contribution near the direct two-photon $E_1$ transition of silicon is extracted. A systematic phenomenological model of the EFISH phenomenon, including a detailed description of the space charge region (SCR) at the semiconductor-dielectric interface in accumulation, depletion, and inversion regimes, has been developed. The influence of surface quantization effects, interface states, charge traps in the oxide layer, doping concentration and oxide thickness on nonlocal screening of the DC-electric field and on breaking of inversion symmetry in the SCR is considered. The model describes EFISH generation in the SCR using a Green function formalism which takes into account all retardation and absorption effects of the fundamental and second harmonic (SH) waves, optical interference between field-dependent and field-independent contributions to the SH field and multiple reflection interference in the SiO$_2$ layer. Good agreement between the phenomenological model and our recent and new EFISH spectroscopic results is demonstrated. Finally, low-frequency electromodulated EFISH is demonstrated as a useful differential spectroscopic technique for studies of the Si-SiO$_2$ interface in silicon-based MOS structures.Comment: 31 pages, 14 figures, 1 table, figures are also available at http://kali.ilc.msu.su/articles/50/efish.ht

Computational fact checking from knowledge networks

Traditional fact checking by expert journalists cannot keep up with the enormous volume of information that is now generated online. Computational fact checking may significantly enhance our ability to evaluate the veracity of dubious information. Here we show that the complexities of human fact checking can be approximated quite well by finding the shortest path between concept nodes under properly defined semantic proximity metrics on knowledge graphs. Framed as a network problem this approach is feasible with efficient computational techniques. We evaluate this approach by examining tens of thousands of claims related to history, entertainment, geography, and biographical information using a public knowledge graph extracted from Wikipedia. Statements independently known to be true consistently receive higher support via our method than do false ones. These findings represent a significant step toward scalable computational fact-checking methods that may one day mitigate the spread of harmful misinformation