76 research outputs found
Cracking the Code on Stem: A People Strategy for Nevada\u27s Economy
Nevada has in place a plausible economic diversification strategyâand itâs beginning to work. Now, the state and its regions need to craft a people strategy. Specifically, the state needs to boost the number of Nevadans who possess at least some postsecondary training in the fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathâthe so-called âSTEMâ disciplines (to which some leaders add arts and design to make it âSTEAMâ).
The moment is urgentâand only heightened by the projected worker needs of Tesla Motorsâ planned âgigafactoryâ for lithium-ion batteries in Storey County.
Even before the recent Tesla commitment, a number of the more high-tech industry sectors targeted by the stateâs new economic diversification strategy had begun to deliver significant growth. Most notable in fast-growing sectors like Business IT Ecosystems (as defined by the Governorâs Office for Economic Development) and large sectors like Health and Medical Services, this growth has begun to increase the demand in Nevada for workers with at least a modicum of postsecondary training in one or more STE M discipline.
However, there is a problem. Even though many available opportunities require no more than the right community college certificate, insufficient numbers of Nevadans have pursued even a little STEM training. As a result, too few Nevadans are ready to participate in the stateâs emerging STEM economy. The upshot: Without concerted action to prepare more Nevadans for jobs in STEM-intensive fields, skills shortages could limit growth in the stateâs most promising target industries and Nevadans could miss out on employment that offers superior paths to opportunity and advancement.
Which is the challenge this report addresses: Aimed at focusing the state at a critical moment, this analysis speaks to Nevadaâs STEM challenge by providing a new assessment of Nevadaâs STEM economy and labor market as well as a review of actions that leaders throughout the stateâwhether in the public, private, civic, or philanthropic sectorsâcan take to develop a workforce capable of supporting continued growth through economic diversification
Athlete perceptions of flavored, menthol-enhanced energy gels ingested prior to endurance exercise in the heat
Background
L-menthol evokes a cooling sensation by activating cold sensing cation channels. Menthol-enhanced fluids can be ergogenic during exercise in the heat by improving thermal perception; hence, the addition of menthol to energy gels may benefit athletes. Previously, unflavored menthol gels were deemed acceptable at 0.1% concentration, but no research has been undertaken on menthol gels with additional flavoring. Therefore, we determined athlete perceptions of flavored energy gels with different menthol concentrations.
Methods
With a randomized, crossover, double-blind, placebo-controlled design, 27 athletes (34.8 ± 6.7 y, 9 females) ingested an energy gel with either 0.1%, 0.3%, 0.5%, or 0.7% menthol concentration, or a non-menthol, flavor-matched placebo (CON), on separate occasions before outdoor exercise. Gels were rated for cooling sensation, irritation, flavor, and overall experience on 100-point sensory and hedonic labeled magnitude scales. The duration of any cooling sensation was also reported.
Results
All menthol gels delivered a greater cooling sensation compared to CON (7.4 ± 8.1 AU) with a significantly greater response for 0.7% (59.9 ± 20.5 AU) and 0.5% (57.7 ± 21.8 AU), compared to all others. Irritation was higher for all menthol gels compared to CON (3.4 ± 7.2 AU) and for 0.7% compared to 0.1% (31.1 ± 31.0 vs. 16.3 ± 21.0 AU, p = 0.041), with none rated above a âmild-moderateâ intensity. The menthol gels delivered a significantly longer cooling sensation duration (12.3-19.6 min) versus CON (2.2 ± 4.8 min) with no difference between menthol gels.
Conclusion
A flavored menthol energy gel at 0.1â0.7% concentration provides a cooling sensation for athletes when ingested before exercise. The 0.5% concentration is recommended to maximize the cooling sensation whilst minimizing irritation
Competing in hot conditions at the Tokyo Olympic Games : Preparation strategies used by Australian race walkers
Introduction: The Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games was anticipated to expose athletes to the most challenging climatic conditions experienced in the history of the modern Olympic Games. This study documents strategies executed by Australian endurance athletes during the team holding camp and Olympic Games experiences, including (1) baseline physiological data, training data, and heat acclimation/acclimatization practices; (2) pre- and in-race cooling and nutritional strategies, and (3) Olympic Games race performance data.
Methods: Six athletes (three males, three females; age 24 ± 4 years; VO2max 63.2 ± 8.7 mLâ
kgâ1â
minâ1; sum of 7 skinfolds 53.1 ± 23.4 mm) were observed prior to and during the team holding camp held in Cairns, QLD, Australia. Athletes completed 6â7 weeks of intermittent heat acclimation training, utilizing a combination of 2â4 passive and active acclimation sessions per week. Active acclimation was systematically increased via exposure time, exercise intensity, temperature, and humidity. In the team holding camp, athletes undertook a further 23 heat acclimatization training sessions over 18 days in a continuous fashion. Hyperhydration (using sodium and glycerol osmolytes), and internal and external pre-and in-race cooling methods were also utilized. A low energy availability intervention was implemented with two athletes, as a strategy to periodize ideal race body composition. Race performance data and environmental conditions from the 2021 Olympic Games were also documented.
Results: The highest values for aerobic capacity were 63.6 mLâ
kgâ1â
minâ1 for female race walkers and 73.7 mLâ
kgâ1â
minâ1 for males. Training volume for the six athletes was the highest in the second week of the team holding camp, and training intensity was lowest in the first week of the team holding camp. Performance outcomes included 6th place in the womenâs 20 km event (1:30:39), which was within 2% of her 20 km personal best time, and 8th place in the menâs 50 km event (3:52:01), which was a personal best performance time.
Conclusion: Periodized training, heat acclimation/acclimatization, cooling and nutritional strategies study may have contributed to the race outcomes in Olympic Games held hot, humid conditions, for the race walkers within this observational study
Identifying the science and technology dimensions of emerging public policy issues through horizon scanning
Public policy requires public support, which in turn implies a need to enable the public not just to understand policy but also to be engaged in its development. Where complex science and technology issues are involved in policy making, this takes time, so it is important to identify emerging issues of this type and prepare engagement plans. In our horizon scanning exercise, we used a modified Delphi technique [1]. A wide group of people with interests in the science and policy interface (drawn from policy makers, policy adviser, practitioners, the private sector and academics) elicited a long list of emergent policy issues in which science and technology would feature strongly and which would also necessitate public engagement as policies are developed. This was then refined to a short list of top priorities for policy makers. Thirty issues were identified within broad areas of business and technology; energy and environment; government, politics and education; health, healthcare, population and aging; information, communication, infrastructure and transport; and public safety and national security.Public policy requires public support, which in turn implies a need to enable the public not just to understand policy but also to be engaged in its development. Where complex science and technology issues are involved in policy making, this takes time, so it is important to identify emerging issues of this type and prepare engagement plans. In our horizon scanning exercise, we used a modified Delphi technique [1]. A wide group of people with interests in the science and policy interface (drawn from policy makers, policy adviser, practitioners, the private sector and academics) elicited a long list of emergent policy issues in which science and technology would feature strongly and which would also necessitate public engagement as policies are developed. This was then refined to a short list of top priorities for policy makers. Thirty issues were identified within broad areas of business and technology; energy and environment; government, politics and education; health, healthcare, population and aging; information, communication, infrastructure and transport; and public safety and national security
Common coding variant in SERPINA1 increases the risk for large artery stroke
Large artery atherosclerotic stroke (LAS) shows substantial heritability not explained by previous genome-wide association studies. Here, we explore the role of coding variation in LAS by analyzing variants on the HumanExome BeadChip in a total of 3,127 cases and 9,778 controls from Europe, Australia, and South Asia. We report on a nonsynonymous single-nucleotide variant in serpin family A member 1 (SERPINA1) encoding alpha-1 antitrypsin [AAT; p.V213A; P = 5.99E-9, odds ratio (OR) = 1.22] and confirm histone deacetylase 9 (HDAC9) as a major risk gene for LAS with an association in the 3?-UTR (rs2023938; P = 7.76E-7, OR = 1.28). Using quantitative microscale thermophoresis, we show that M1 (A213) exhibits an almost twofold lower dissociation constant with its primary target human neutrophil elastase (NE) in lipoprotein-containing plasma, but not in lipid-free plasma. Hydrogen/deuterium exchange combined with mass spectrometry further revealed a significant difference in the global flexibility of the two variants. The observed stronger interaction with lipoproteins in plasma and reduced global flexibility of the Val-213 variant most likely improve its local availability and reduce the extent of proteolytic inactivation by other proteases in atherosclerotic plaques. Our results indicate that the interplay between AAT, NE, and lipoprotein particles is modulated by the gate region around position 213 in AAT, far away from the unaltered reactive center loop (357-360). Collectively, our findings point to a functionally relevant balance between lipoproteins, proteases, and AAT in atherosclerosis
Global Conformational Dynamics of a Y-Family DNA Polymerase during Catalysis
High-resolution analysis of protein, and DNA conformational changes during DNA polymerization, established relationships between the enzymatic function and conformational dynamics of individual domains for a DNA polymerase
Contribution of Common Genetic Variants to Risk of Early-Onset Ischemic Stroke
Background and Objectives Current genome-wide association studies of ischemic stroke have focused primarily on late-onset disease. As a complement to these studies, we sought to identify the contribution of common genetic variants to risk of early-onset ischemic stroke. Methods We performed a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of early-onset stroke (EOS), ages 18-59 years, using individual-level data or summary statistics in 16,730 cases and 599,237 nonstroke controls obtained across 48 different studies. We further compared effect sizes at associated loci between EOS and late-onset stroke (LOS) and compared polygenic risk scores (PRS) for venous thromboembolism (VTE) between EOS and LOS. Results We observed genome-wide significant associations of EOS with 2 variants in ABO, a known stroke locus. These variants tag blood subgroups O1 and A1, and the effect sizes of both variants were significantly larger in EOS compared with LOS. The odds ratio (OR) for rs529565, tagging O1, was 0.88 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.85-0.91) in EOS vs 0.96 (95% CI: 0.92-1.00) in LOS, and the OR for rs635634, tagging A1, was 1.16 (1.11-1.21) for EOS vs 1.05 (0.99-1.11) in LOS; p-values for interaction = 0.001 and 0.005, respectively. Using PRSs, we observed that greater genetic risk for VTE, another prothrombotic condition, was more strongly associated with EOS compared with LOS (p = 0.008). Discussion The ABO locus, genetically predicted blood group A, and higher genetic propensity for venous thrombosis are more strongly associated with EOS than with LOS, supporting a stronger role of prothrombotic factors in EOS.Peer reviewe
CropPol: a dynamic, open and global database on crop pollination
Seventy five percent of the world's food crops benefit from insect pollination. Hence, there has been increased interest in how global change drivers impact this critical ecosystem service. Because standardized data on crop pollination are rarely available, we are limited in our capacity to understand the variation in pollination benefits to crop yield, as well as to anticipate changes in this service, develop predictions, and inform management actions. Here, we present CropPol, a dynamic, open and global database on crop pollination. It contains measurements recorded from 202 crop studies, covering 3,394 field observations, 2,552 yield measurements (i.e. berry weight, number of fruits and kg per hectare, among others), and 47,752 insect records from 48 commercial crops distributed around the globe. CropPol comprises 32 of the 87 leading global crops and commodities that are pollinator dependent. Malus domestica is the most represented crop (32 studies), followed by Brassica napus (22 studies), Vaccinium corymbosum (13 studies), and Citrullus lanatus (12 studies). The most abundant pollinator guilds recorded are honey bees (34.22% counts), bumblebees (19.19%), flies other than Syrphidae and Bombyliidae (13.18%), other wild bees (13.13%), beetles (10.97%), Syrphidae (4.87%), and Bombyliidae (0.05%). Locations comprise 34 countries distributed among Europe (76 studies), Northern America (60), Latin America and the Caribbean (29), Asia (20), Oceania (10), and Africa (7). Sampling spans three decades and is concentrated on 2001-05 (21 studies), 2006-10 (40), 2011-15 (88), and 2016-20 (50). This is the most comprehensive open global data set on measurements of crop flower visitors, crop pollinators and pollination to date, and we encourage researchers to add more datasets to this database in the future. This data set is released for non-commercial use only. Credits should be given to this paper (i.e., proper citation), and the products generated with this database should be shared under the same license terms (CC BY-NC-SA). This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
Psychosocial impact of undergoing prostate cancer screening for men with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations.
OBJECTIVES: To report the baseline results of a longitudinal psychosocial study that forms part of the IMPACT study, a multi-national investigation of targeted prostate cancer (PCa) screening among men with a known pathogenic germline mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes. PARTICPANTS AND METHODS: Men enrolled in the IMPACT study were invited to complete a questionnaire at collaborating sites prior to each annual screening visit. The questionnaire included sociodemographic characteristics and the following measures: the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Impact of Event Scale (IES), 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36), Memorial Anxiety Scale for Prostate Cancer, Cancer Worry Scale-Revised, risk perception and knowledge. The results of the baseline questionnaire are presented. RESULTS: A total of 432 men completed questionnaires: 98 and 160 had mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, respectively, and 174 were controls (familial mutation negative). Participants' perception of PCa risk was influenced by genetic status. Knowledge levels were high and unrelated to genetic status. Mean scores for the HADS and SF-36 were within reported general population norms and mean IES scores were within normal range. IES mean intrusion and avoidance scores were significantly higher in BRCA1/BRCA2 carriers than in controls and were higher in men with increased PCa risk perception. At the multivariate level, risk perception contributed more significantly to variance in IES scores than genetic status. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to report the psychosocial profile of men with BRCA1/BRCA2 mutations undergoing PCa screening. No clinically concerning levels of general or cancer-specific distress or poor quality of life were detected in the cohort as a whole. A small subset of participants reported higher levels of distress, suggesting the need for healthcare professionals offering PCa screening to identify these risk factors and offer additional information and support to men seeking PCa screening
The Science Performance of JWST as Characterized in Commissioning
This paper characterizes the actual science performance of the James Webb
Space Telescope (JWST), as determined from the six month commissioning period.
We summarize the performance of the spacecraft, telescope, science instruments,
and ground system, with an emphasis on differences from pre-launch
expectations. Commissioning has made clear that JWST is fully capable of
achieving the discoveries for which it was built. Moreover, almost across the
board, the science performance of JWST is better than expected; in most cases,
JWST will go deeper faster than expected. The telescope and instrument suite
have demonstrated the sensitivity, stability, image quality, and spectral range
that are necessary to transform our understanding of the cosmos through
observations spanning from near-earth asteroids to the most distant galaxies.Comment: 5th version as accepted to PASP; 31 pages, 18 figures;
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1538-3873/acb29
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