Analysis of bolted flanged panel joint for GRP sectional tanks

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Reducing HIV Risks Among Active Injection Drug and Crack Users: The Safety Counts Program

The efficacy of Safety Counts, a CDC-diffused intervention, was reanalyzed. In a quasi experimental, cross-over design, injection drug users (IDU) and crack users in two neighborhoods were assigned by neighborhood to receive individual Voluntary HIV Counseling and Testing or Safety Counts and 78% were reassessed at 5–9 months. Drug users in the Safety Counts program reported significantly greater reductions in risky sex, crack and hard drug use, and risky drug injection. The more sessions of Safety Counts attended, the greater were the reductions in risky acts. Different analytic decisions result in very different findings for the same intervention. Safety Counts is an effective intervention for IDU and crack users. Analytic decision of intervention outcomes is highly related to evaluations of an intervention’s efficacy

Depth refuge and the impacts of SCUBA spearfishing on coral reef fishes

In recent decades, spearfishing with SCUBA has emerged as an efficient method for targeting reef fish in deeper waters. However, deeper waters are increasingly recognised as a potential source of refuge that may help sustain fishery resources. We used a combination of historical catch data over a 20-year time period and fishery-independent surveys to investigate the effects of SCUBA spearfishing on coral reef fish populations in the southern Mariana Islands. Two jurisdictions were studied; Guam, where SCUBA spearfishing is practiced, and the nearby Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), where SCUBA spearfishing has been banned since 2003. Fishery-independent data were collected using baited remote underwater stereo-video systems (stereo-BRUVs) stratified by depth, marine protected area status and jurisdiction. Herbivores (primary consumers) dominated spearfishing catches, with parrotfish (scarines) and surgeonfish/unicornfish (acanthurids) the main groups harvested. However, the large, endangered humphead wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) was the main species by weight landed by SCUBA spearfishers. SCUBA spearfishing was associated with declining size of scarines over time and catches shifting from a dominance of large parrotfishes to a mixed assemblage with increasing proportions of acanthurids. Comparisons between Guam and the nearby CNMI revealed differences in the assemblage of fished species and also greater size of scarines and acanthurids in deep water where SCUBA fishing is banned. These results suggest that SCUBA spearfishing impacts reef fish populations and that the restriction of this fishing method will ensure refuge for fish populations in deeper waters. We recommend a ban on SCUBA spearfishing to preserve or aid the recovery of large, functionally important coral reef species and to improve the sustainability of coral reef fisheries

Should I Stay or Should I Go? A Habitat-Dependent Dispersal Kernel Improves Prediction of Movement

The analysis of animal movement within different landscapes may increase our understanding of how landscape features affect the perceptual range of animals. Perceptual range is linked to movement probability of an animal via a dispersal kernel, the latter being generally considered as spatially invariant but could be spatially affected. We hypothesize that spatial plasticity of an animal's dispersal kernel could greatly modify its distribution in time and space. After radio tracking the movements of walking insects (Cosmopolites sordidus) in banana plantations, we considered the movements of individuals as states of a Markov chain whose transition probabilities depended on the habitat characteristics of current and target locations. Combining a likelihood procedure and pattern-oriented modelling, we tested the hypothesis that dispersal kernel depended on habitat features. Our results were consistent with the concept that animal dispersal kernel depends on habitat features. Recognizing the plasticity of animal movement probabilities will provide insight into landscape-level ecological processes

The importance of perceptual experience in the esthetic appreciation of the body.

Several studies suggest that sociocultural models conveying extreme thinness as the widespread ideal of beauty exert an important influence on the perceptual and emotional representation of body image. The psychological mechanisms underlying such environmental influences, however, are unclear. Here, we utilized a perceptual adaptation paradigm to investigate how perceptual experience modulates body esthetic appreciation. We found that the liking judgments of round bodies increased or decreased after brief exposure to round or thin bodies, respectively. No change occurred in the liking judgments of thin bodies. The results suggest that perceptual experience may shape our esthetic appreciation to favor more familiar round body figures. Importantly, individuals with more deficits in interoceptive awareness were less prone to increase their liking ratings of round bodies after exposure, suggesting a specific risk factor for the susceptibility to the influence of the extreme thin vs. round body ideals of beauty portrayed by the media

Memory for medication side effects in younger and older adults: the role of subjective and objective importance

Older adults often experience memory impairments, but can sometimes use selective processing and schematic support to remember important information. The current experiments investigate to what degree younger and healthy older adults remember medication side effects that were subjectively or objectively important to remember. Participants studied a list of common side effects, and rated how negative these effects were if they were to experience them, and were then given a free recall test. In Experiment 1, the severity of the side effects ranged from mild (e.g., itching) to severe (e.g., stroke), and in Experiment 2, certain side effects were indicated as critical to remember (i.e., “contact your doctor if you experience this”). There were no age differences in terms of free recall of the side effects, and older adults remembered more severe side effects relative to mild effects. However, older adults were less likely to recognize critical side effects on a later recognition test, relative to younger adults. The findings suggest that older adults can selectively remember medication side effects, but have difficulty identifying familiar but potentially critical side effects, and this has implications for monitoring medication use in older age

Dual-task costs while walking increase in old age for some, but not for other tasks: an experimental study of healthy young and elderly persons

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>It has been suggested in the past that the ability to walk while concurrently engaging in a second task deteriorates in old age, and that this deficit is related to the high incidence of falls in the elderly. However, previous studies provided inconsistent findings about the existence of such an age-related dual-task deficit (ARD). In an effort to explain this inconsistency, we explored whether ARD while walking emerges for some, but not for other types of task.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Healthy young and elderly subjects were tested under five different combinations of a walking and a non-walking task. The results were analysed jointly with those of a previous study from our lab, such that a total of 13 task combinations were evaluated. For each task combination and subject, we calculated the mean dual-task costs across both constituent tasks, and quantified ARD as the difference between those costs in elderly and in young subjects.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>An analysis of covariance yielded no significant effects of obstacle presence and overall task difficulty on ARD, but a highly significant effect of visual demand: non-walking tasks which required ongoing visual observation led to ARD of more than 8%, while those without such requirements led to near-zero ARD. We therefore concluded that the visual demand of the non-walking task is critical for the emergence of ARD while walking.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Combinations of walking and concurrent visual observation, which are common in everyday life, may contribute towards disturbed gait and falls during daily activities in old age. Prevention and rehabilitation programs for seniors should therefore include training of such combinations.</p

3D Mapping of the SPRY2 Domain of Ryanodine Receptor 1 by Single-Particle Cryo-EM

The type 1 skeletal muscle ryanodine receptor (RyR1) is principally responsible for Ca2+ release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum and for the subsequent muscle contraction. The RyR1 contains three SPRY domains. SPRY domains are generally known to mediate protein-protein interactions, however the location of the three SPRY domains in the 3D structure of the RyR1 is not known. Combining immunolabeling and single-particle cryo-electron microscopy we have mapped the SPRY2 domain (S1085-V1208) in the 3D structure of RyR1 using three different antibodies against the SPRY2 domain. Two obstacles for the image processing procedure; limited amount of data and signal dilution introduced by the multiple orientations of the antibody bound in the tetrameric RyR1, were overcome by modifying the 3D reconstruction scheme. This approach enabled us to ascertain that the three antibodies bind to the same region, to obtain a 3D reconstruction of RyR1 with the antibody bound, and to map SPRY2 to the periphery of the cytoplasmic domain of RyR1. We report here the first 3D localization of a SPRY2 domain in any known RyR isoform

Men’s oppressive beliefs predict their breast size preferences in women

Previous studies of men’s breast size preferences have yielded equivocal findings, with studies variously indicating a preference for small, medium, or large breasts. Here, we examined the impact of men’s oppressive beliefs in shaping their female breast size ideals. British White men from the community in London, England (N = 361) viewed figures of women that rotated in 360° and varied in breast size along five levels. They then rated the figure that they found most physically attractive and also completed measures assessing their sexist attitudes and tendency to objectify women. Results showed that medium breasts were rated most frequent as attractive (32.7 %), followed by large (24.4 %) and very large (19.1 %) breasts. Further analyses showed that men’s preferences for larger female breasts were significantly associated with a greater tendency to be benevolently sexist, to objectify women, and to be hostile towards women. These results were discussed in relation to feminist theories, which postulate that beauty ideals and practices in contemporary societies serve to maintain the domination of one sex over the other

Negative Autoregulation by Fas Stabilizes Adult Erythropoiesis and Accelerates Its Stress Response

Erythropoiesis maintains a stable hematocrit and tissue oxygenation in the basal state, while mounting a stress response that accelerates red cell production in anemia, blood loss or high altitude. Thus, tissue hypoxia increases secretion of the hormone erythropoietin (Epo), stimulating an increase in erythroid progenitors and erythropoietic rate. Several cell divisions must elapse, however, before Epo-responsive progenitors mature into red cells. This inherent delay is expected to reduce the stability of erythropoiesis and to slow its response to stress. Here we identify a mechanism that helps to offset these effects. We recently showed that splenic early erythroblasts, ‘EryA’, negatively regulate their own survival by co-expressing the death receptor Fas, and its ligand, FasL. Here we studied mice mutant for either Fas or FasL, bred onto an immune-deficient background, in order to avoid an autoimmune syndrome associated with Fas deficiency. Mutant mice had a higher hematocrit, lower serum Epo, and an increased number of splenic erythroid progenitors, suggesting that Fas negatively regulates erythropoiesis at the level of the whole animal. In addition, Fas-mediated autoregulation stabilizes the size of the splenic early erythroblast pool, since mutant mice had a significantly more variable EryA pool than matched control mice. Unexpectedly, in spite of the loss of a negative regulator, the expansion of EryA and ProE progenitors in response to high Epo in vivo, as well as the increase in erythropoietic rate in mice injected with Epo or placed in a hypoxic environment, lagged significantly in the mutant mice. This suggests that Fas-mediated autoregulation accelerates the erythropoietic response to stress. Therefore, Fas-mediated negative autoregulation within splenic erythropoietic tissue optimizes key dynamic features in the operation of the erythropoietic network as a whole, helping to maintain erythroid homeostasis in the basal state, while accelerating the stress response