From Rainman to Rainmaker: A Presentation of Jim’s Journey and Rapidly Advancing Technologies: Integrating Proven Behavioral Therapies with Emergent Measurement and Testing Advances Will Result in Transformational Progress in Autistic Individuals

The autism treatment status quo was reviewed and accompanied by a narrative contextualizing past and present progress with my younger brother Jim’s journey with the condition, sharing proposed next steps for bettering the current state of affairs in the space. The impetus for this piece was to share in the lessons of Jim’s life thus far and the revelations of those who have supported him, as well as to determine ways to create more impactful, lasting change in the limited window of early intervention therapy whilst empowering individuals on the spectrum to optimize for their skills and talents rather than just simply mitigating the downsides of autism spectrum disorder. Feedback as to how to improve the prevailing course of treatment: (education and therapy) was solicited by leading experts in the fields of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), Electroencephalography (EEG), and autism more generally in the context of politics, insurability, and savant syndrome and splinter skills. The advice of the various vertical experts were synthesized and distilled into a new proposed course of treatment which were submitted to all respective experts for further feedback and review prior to publication. It was discovered that there is significant feedback to suggest that the prevailing wisdom that splinter skills and savant syndrome are found in a small minority of individuals with autism spectrum disorder may not be true and that further research is warranted that would implement the new proposed course of treatment and attempt to unlock the talents and gifts of these individuals consistent with the success we encountered raising Jim. While our methods were resource-intensive and conducted manually with many hours of intensive in-home therapy, there is significant feedback to suggest that a technology-driven approach to reforming autism treatment would achieve same or greater results with far fewer resources in the near and long term. By unlocking the greatest minds of our society (the majority of savants have historically been autistic) to take on the greatest challenges of our time, we can rapidly accelerate the progress of humanity and exponentially better the trajectory of society’s future at the global scale

Effects of Resident Species on Recruitment into a Community: Larval Settlement Versus Post-Settlement Mortality in the Oyster Crassostrea virginica

Laboratory and field experiments revealed that a variety of species of common, sessile invertebrates, including barnacles, ascidians, and bryozoans, affected the settlement and post-settlement abundance of the oyster Crassostrea virginica (Gmelin). While the nature of the effects varied, most species both reduced oyster settlement by covering and removing substrate available for attachment, and increased settlement on adjacent surfaces. The solitary ascidians Ciona intestinalis (L.) and Styela clava (Herdman), were found to be predators of oyster larvae. Post-settlement survivorship and growth were also strongly affected by the presence of sessile species. In most cases the effects were negative and correlated with the abundances of the species. Data suggest that competition for planktonic food was the mostly likely cause of reduced growth and survivorship. For many resident species, the combination of reduced oyster settlement on their own exposed surfaces, increased settlement on substrate adjacent to them, and decreased post-settlement survivorship in their presence resulted in these species having little effect on net recruitment. These results demonstrate the need for distinguishing interactions among benthic invertebrate populations during the period from settlement to recruitment

Effects of Inter-Specific Density and Food Supply on Survivorship and Growth of Newly Settled Benthos

Using a laboratory model system comprised of newly settled oysters Crassostrea virginica and established fouling species (Botrylloides sp. initially, and others including Styela clava and Ciona intestinalis as the experiment progressed), we tested how differences in food supply and competitor density may affect post-settlement surivorship and growth of sessile marine invertebrates over a 44 d period. After 15 d, results were mixed but indicated that both food and density conditions affected growth and survivorship significantly, with some suggestion of high food levels ameliorating high density effects However, 44 d after settlement, oysters had reduced survivorship and growth when competitors were present regardless of food level. This study suggests that localized food depletion by juveniles and/or adults of resident species may have a negative effect on recruitment in fouling communities, even when space is not limiting

Hectospec, the MMT's 300 Optical Fiber-Fed Spectrograph

The Hectospec is a 300 optical fiber fed spectrograph commissioned at the MMT in the spring of 2004. A pair of high-speed six-axis robots move the 300 fiber buttons between observing configurations within ~300 s and to an accuracy ~25 microns. The optical fibers run for 26 m between the MMT's focal surface and the bench spectrograph operating at R~1000-2000. Another high dispersion bench spectrograph offering R~5,000, Hectochelle, is also available. The system throughput, including all losses in the telescope optics, fibers, and spectrograph peaks at ~10% at the grating blaze in 1" FWHM seeing. Correcting for aperture losses at the 1.5" diameter fiber entrance aperture, the system throughput peaks at $\sim$17%. Hectospec has proven to be a workhorse instrument at the MMT. Hectospec and Hectochelle together were scheduled for 1/3 of the available nights since its commissioning. Hectospec has returned \~60,000 reduced spectra for 16 scientific programs during its first year of operation.Comment: 68 pages, 28 figures, to appear in December 2005 PAS

Variation in external rotation moment arms among subregions of supraspinatus, infraspinatus, and teres minor muscles

A rotator cuff tear causes morphologic changes in rotator cuff muscles and tendons and reduced shoulder strength. The mechanisms by which these changes affect joint strength are not understood. This study's purpose was to empirically determine rotation moment arms for subregions of supraspinatus, infraspinatus, and for teres minor, and to test the hypothesis that subregions of the cuff tendons increase their effective moment arms through connections to other subregions. Tendon excursions were measured for full ranges of rotation on 10 independent glenohumeral specimens with the humerus abducted in the scapular plane at 10 and 60°. Supraspinatus and infraspinatus tendons were divided into equal width subregions. Two conditions were tested: tendon divided to the musculotendinous junction, and tendon divided to the insertion on the humerus. Moment arms were determined from tendon excursion via the principle of virtual work. Moment arms for the infraspinatus ( p  < 0.001) and supraspinatus ( p  < 0.001) were significantly greater when the tendon was only divided to the musculotendinous junction versus division to the humeral head. Moment arms across subregions of infraspinatus ( p  < 0.001) and supraspinatus ( p  < 0.001) were significantly different. A difference in teres minor moment arm was not found for the two cuff tendon conditions. Moment arm differences between muscle subregions and for tendon division conditions have clinical implications. Interaction between cuff regions could explain why some subjects retain strength after a small cuff tear. This finding helps explain why a partial cuff repair may be beneficial when a complete repair is not possible. Data presented here can help differentiate between cuff tear cases that would benefit from cuff repair and cases for which cuff repair might not be as favorable. © 2006 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 24:1737–1744, 2006Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/55787/1/20188_ftp.pd

Association studies of up to 1.2 million individuals yield new insights into the genetic etiology of tobacco and alcohol use.

Tobacco and alcohol use are leading causes of mortality that influence risk for many complex diseases and disorders1. They are heritable2,3 and etiologically related4,5 behaviors that have been resistant to gene discovery efforts6-11. In sample sizes up to 1.2 million individuals, we discovered 566 genetic variants in 406 loci associated with multiple stages of tobacco use (initiation, cessation, and heaviness) as well as alcohol use, with 150 loci evidencing pleiotropic association. Smoking phenotypes were positively genetically correlated with many health conditions, whereas alcohol use was negatively correlated with these conditions, such that increased genetic risk for alcohol use is associated with lower disease risk. We report evidence for the involvement of many systems in tobacco and alcohol use, including genes involved in nicotinic, dopaminergic, and glutamatergic neurotransmission. The results provide a solid starting point to evaluate the effects of these loci in model organisms and more precise substance use measures

Dynamic lattice distortions driven by surface trapping in semiconductor nanocrystals

Nonradiative processes limit optoelectronic functionality of nanocrystals and curb their device performance. Nevertheless, the dynamic structural origins of nonradiative relaxations in nanocrystals are not understood. Here, femtosecond electron diffraction measurements corroborated by atomistic simulations uncover transient lattice deformations accompanying radiationless electronic processes in semiconductor nanocrystals. Investigation of the excitation energy dependence shows that hot carriers created by a photon energy considerably larger than the bandgap induce structural distortions at nanocrystal surfaces on few picosecond timescales associated with the localization of trapped holes. On the other hand, carriers created by a photon energy close to the bandgap result in transient lattice heating that occurs on a much longer 200 ps timescale, governed by an Auger heating mechanism. Elucidation of the structural deformations associated with the surface trapping of hot holes provides atomic-scale insights into the mechanisms deteriorating optoelectronic performance and a pathway towards minimizing these losses in nanocrystal devices.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figure

Impact of general practice endorsement on the social gradient in uptake in bowel cancer screening

This is a summary of independent research funded by the National Institute for Health. Research (NIHR)’s Programme Grants for Applied Research Programme (RP-PG-0609–10106

Measurement of inclusive D*+- and associated dijet cross sections in photoproduction at HERA

Inclusive photoproduction of D*+- mesons has been measured for photon-proton centre-of-mass energies in the range 130 < W < 280 GeV and a photon virtuality Q^2 < 1 GeV^2. The data sample used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 37 pb^-1. Total and differential cross sections as functions of the D* transverse momentum and pseudorapidity are presented in restricted kinematical regions and the data are compared with next-to-leading order (NLO) perturbative QCD calculations using the "massive charm" and "massless charm" schemes. The measured cross sections are generally above the NLO calculations, in particular in the forward (proton) direction. The large data sample also allows the study of dijet production associated with charm. A significant resolved as well as a direct photon component contribute to the cross section. Leading order QCD Monte Carlo calculations indicate that the resolved contribution arises from a significant charm component in the photon. A massive charm NLO parton level calculation yields lower cross sections compared to the measured results in a kinematic region where the resolved photon contribution is significant.Comment: 32 pages including 6 figure

Measurement of Jet Shapes in Photoproduction at HERA

The shape of jets produced in quasi-real photon-proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies in the range $134-277$ GeV has been measured using the hadronic energy flow. The measurement was done with the ZEUS detector at HERA. Jets are identified using a cone algorithm in the $\eta - \phi$ plane with a cone radius of one unit. Measured jet shapes both in inclusive jet and dijet production with transverse energies $E^{jet}_T>14$ GeV are presented. The jet shape broadens as the jet pseudorapidity ($\eta^{jet}$) increases and narrows as $E^{jet}_T$ increases. In dijet photoproduction, the jet shapes have been measured separately for samples dominated by resolved and by direct processes. Leading-logarithm parton-shower Monte Carlo calculations of resolved and direct processes describe well the measured jet shapes except for the inclusive production of jets with high $\eta^{jet}$ and low $E^{jet}_T$. The observed broadening of the jet shape as $\eta^{jet}$ increases is consistent with the predicted increase in the fraction of final state gluon jets.Comment: 29 pages including 9 figure