The genetics of lipid storage and human lipodystrophies.

Life depends on securing sufficient energy intake to enable growth, movement, and reproduction. Throughout evolution, lifeforms have struggled to ensure adequate energy intake, and this remains a major challenge for many species. Modern humans are particularly well adapted to store surplus energy efficiently, but they are considerably less well adapted for coping with sustained access to energy-dense food. We briefly review the evolution of adipocytes and the metabolic consequences of suboptimal energy storage, focusing on insights derived from rare human monogenic disorders. From the evidence presented, we argue that a mismatch between the capacity for nutrient storage and the burden of excess energy intake is an important factor in the development of some forms of human insulin resistance.DBS’s work is supported by the Wellcome Trust (091551), the Medical Research Council Metabolic Diseases Unit and the United Kingdom National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre. ALR is supported by the Gates Cambridge Trust.This is the accepted manuscript. The final version is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.molmed.2015.04.00

A Qualitative Study of Role Transition from RN to APN

Role transition from registered nurse to advanced practice nurse is a difficult process. A qualitative thematic analysis guided the integration of various experiences of 24 students in a twocredit, web-based role development course in a Master’s of Science in Nursing program at a large Midwestern university. Findings supported that students had developed an understanding of the core competencies and complexity of the advanced practice nurse role, and that beginning role transition had occurred. An overarching theme, ‘the essence of nursing’ was evident. Three subthemes supported the occurrence of role transition, which included the importance of: a) building a framework for nursing practice, b) direct patient care, and c) comprehension and exemplification of professional responsibilities. This study has implications for nurse educators interested in promoting advanced practice nurse role transition early in the educational process

Strain Hardening in Polymer Glasses: Limitations of Network Models

Simulations are used to examine the microscopic origins of strain hardening in polymer glasses. While traditional entropic network models can be fit to the total stress, their underlying assumptions are inconsistent with simulation results. There is a substantial energetic contribution to the stress that rises rapidly as segments between entanglements are pulled taut. The thermal component of stress is less sensitive to entanglements, mostly irreversible, and directly related to the rate of local plastic arrangements. Entangled and unentangled chains show the same strain hardening when plotted against the microscopic chain orientation rather than the macroscopic strain.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

LIMS Instrument Package (LIP) balloon experiment: Nimbus 7 satellite correlative temperature, ozone, water vapor, and nitric acid measurements

The Limb Infrared Monitor of the Stratosphere (LIMS) LIP balloon experiment was used to obtain correlative temperature, ozone, water vapor, and nitric acid data at altitudes between 10 and 36 kilometers. The performance of the LIMS sensor flown on the Nimbus 7 Satellite was assessed. The LIP consists of the modified electrochemical concentration cell ozonesonde, the ultraviolet absorption photometric of ozone, the water vapor infrared radiometer sonde, the chemical absorption filter instrument for nitric acid vapor, and the infrared radiometer for nitric acid vapor. The limb instrument package (LIP), its correlative sensors, and the resulting data obtained from an engineering and four correlative flights are described

String spectra near some null cosmological singularities

We construct cosmological spacetimes with null Kasner-like singularities as purely gravitational solutions with no other background fields turned on. These can be recast as anisotropic plane-wave spacetimes by coordinate transformations. We analyse string quantization to find the spectrum of string modes in these backgrounds. The classical string modes can be solved for exactly in these time-dependent backgrounds, which enables a detailed study of the near singularity string spectrum, (time-dependent) oscillator masses and wavefunctions. We find that for low lying string modes(finite oscillation number), the classical near-singularity string mode functions are non-divergent for various families of singularities. Furthermore, for any infinitesimal regularization of the vicinity of the singularity, we find a tower of string modes of ultra-high oscillation number which propagate essentially freely in the background. The resulting picture suggests that string interactions are non-negligible near the singularity.Comment: Latex, 30pgs; v2. minor clarifications, references adde

Executive function in first-episode schizophrenia

BACKGROUND: We tested the hypothesis that schizophrenia is primarily a frontostriatal disorder by examining executive function in first-episode patients. Previous studies have shown either equal decrements in many cognitive domains or specific deficits in memory. Such studies have grouped test results or have used few executive measures, thus, possibly losing information. We, therefore, measured a range of executive ability with tests known to be sensitive to frontal lobe function. METHODS: Thirty first-episode schizophrenic patients and 30 normal volunteers, matched for age and NART IQ, were tested on computerized test of planning, spatial working memory and attentional set shifting from the Cambridge Automated Neuropsychological Test Battery. Computerized and traditional tests of memory were also administered for comparison. RESULTS: Patients were worse on all tests but the profile was non-uniform. A componential analysis indicated that the patients were characterized by a poor ability to think ahead and organize responses but an intact ability to switch attention and inhibit prepotent responses. Patients also demonstrated poor memory, especially for free recall of a story and associate learning of unrelated word pairs. CONCLUSIONS: In contradistinction to previous studies, schizophrenic patients do have profound executive impairments at the beginning of the illness. However, these concern planning and strategy use rather than attentional set shifting, which is generally unimpaired. Previous findings in more chronic patients, of severe attentional set shifting impairment, suggest that executive cognitive deficits are progressive during the course of schizophrenia. The finding of severe mnemonic impairment at first episode suggests that cognitive deficits are not restricted to one cognitive domain

Dynamic sampling schemes for optimal noise learning under multiple nonsmooth constraints

We consider the bilevel optimisation approach proposed by De Los Reyes, Sch\"onlieb (2013) for learning the optimal parameters in a Total Variation (TV) denoising model featuring for multiple noise distributions. In applications, the use of databases (dictionaries) allows an accurate estimation of the parameters, but reflects in high computational costs due to the size of the databases and to the nonsmooth nature of the PDE constraints. To overcome this computational barrier we propose an optimisation algorithm that by sampling dynamically from the set of constraints and using a quasi-Newton method, solves the problem accurately and in an efficient way

Finite-element analysis of contact between elastic self-affine surfaces

Finite element methods are used to study non-adhesive, frictionless contact between elastic solids with self-affine surfaces. We find that the total contact area rises linearly with load at small loads. The mean pressure in the contact regions is independent of load and proportional to the rms slope of the surface. The constant of proportionality is nearly independent of Poisson ratio and roughness exponent and lies between previous analytic predictions. The contact morphology is also analyzed. Connected contact regions have a fractal area and perimeter. The probability of finding a cluster of area $a_c$ drops as $a_c^{-\tau}$ where $\tau$ increases with decreasing roughness exponent. The distribution of pressures shows an exponential tail that is also found in many jammed systems. These results are contrasted to simpler models and experiment.Comment: 13 pages, 15 figures. Replaced after changed in response to referee comments. Final two figures change

Work-related psychological health and psychological type among lead elders within the Newfrontiers network of churches in the United Kingdom

Building on a series of recent studies concerned with assessing work-related psychological health and psychological type among various groups of church leaders, this study reports new data provided by 134 Lead Elders within the Newfrontiers network of churches in the United Kingdom who completed the Francis Psychological Type Scales (FPTS) together with the two scales of the Francis Burnout Inventory (FBI) concerned with emotional exhaustion and satisfaction in ministry. Compared with other groups of church leaders, Lead Elders within the Newfrontiers network of churches reported lower levels of emotional exhaustion and higher levels of satisfaction in ministry. Compared with other groups of church leaders, there was a higher proportion of extraverts among Lead Elders within the Newfrontiers network of churches. There was only a weak association between psychological type and burnout

Melting-freezing cycles in a relatively sheared pair of crystalline monolayers

The nonequilibrium dynamical behaviour that arises when two ordered two-dimensional monolayers of particles are sheared over each other is studied in Brownian dynamics simulations. A curious sequence of nonequilibrium states is observed as the driving rate is increased, the most striking of which is a sliding state with irregular alternation between disordered and ordered states. We comment on possible mechanisms underlying these cycles, and experiments that could observe them.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, minor changes in text and figures, references adde