Parental stress in Asian American and non-Asian American families of children with developmental disabilities during COVID-19

Past research has found higher levels of parental stress in Asian American families of children with developmental disabilities as compared to their non-Asian counterparts. This study examined whether this trend remains in the setting of the COVID-19 global pandemic, as well as considering the relationships between parental stress and COVID-19 stressors, the experience of discrimination during the pandemic, the type and severity of developmental disability, and child age. This study used a sequential explanatory mixed methods approach to quantitatively measure parental stress in 48 Asian American and 62 non-Asian American parents, and qualitatively collect data regarding the specific personal experiences of a subset of these families during the COVID-19 pandemic. As expected, the Asian American parents demonstrated higher levels of parental stress than the non-Asian American parents, and all parents perceived the COVID-19 pandemic as a stressful experience that has significantly impacted both themselves and their children with developmental disabilities. This research has important implications for supporting and advocating for Asian American and non-Asian American families of children with developmental disabilities in times of crisis

Operational Trans-Resistance Amplifier Based Tunable Wave Active Filter

In this paper, Operational Trans-Resistance Amplifier (OTRA) based wave active filter structures are presented. They are flexible and modular, making them suitable to implement higher order filters. The circuits implement the resistors using matched transistors, operating in linear region, making them well suited for IC fabrication. They are insensitive to parasitic input capacitances and input resistances due to the internally grounded input terminals of OTRA. As an application, a doubly terminated third order Butterworth low pass filter has been implemented, by substituting OTRA based wave equivalents of passive elements. PSPICE simulations are given to verify the theoretical analysis

Solar cells in bulk InP using an open tube diffusion process

A simple open tube diffusion technique for the fabrication of n+p junction solar cells is described. Large area (greater than 0.25 square cm) solar cells have been made by this process with a photovoltaic conversion efficiency of 15.2 percent under simulated AMO illumination. An ideality factor is 1.04 and a saturation current density of 9.6 times 10 to the minus 16th power A/square cm have been observed for these cells. These are the lowest (best) values reported to date for diffused structures in bulk InP

Extrinsic Fluorescent Dyes as Tools for Protein Characterization

Noncovalent, extrinsic fluorescent dyes are applied in various fields of protein analysis, e.g. to characterize folding intermediates, measure surface hydrophobicity, and detect aggregation or fibrillation. The main underlying mechanisms, which explain the fluorescence properties of many extrinsic dyes, are solvent relaxation processes and (twisted) intramolecular charge transfer reactions, which are affected by the environment and by interactions of the dyes with proteins. In recent time, the use of extrinsic fluorescent dyes such as ANS, Bis-ANS, Nile Red, Thioflavin T and others has increased, because of their versatility, sensitivity and suitability for high-throughput screening. The intention of this review is to give an overview of available extrinsic dyes, explain their spectral properties, and show illustrative examples of their various applications in protein characterization

International Consensus Statement on Rhinology and Allergy: Rhinosinusitis

Background: The 5 years since the publication of the first International Consensus Statement on Allergy and Rhinology: Rhinosinusitis (ICAR‐RS) has witnessed foundational progress in our understanding and treatment of rhinologic disease. These advances are reflected within the more than 40 new topics covered within the ICAR‐RS‐2021 as well as updates to the original 140 topics. This executive summary consolidates the evidence‐based findings of the document. Methods: ICAR‐RS presents over 180 topics in the forms of evidence‐based reviews with recommendations (EBRRs), evidence‐based reviews, and literature reviews. The highest grade structured recommendations of the EBRR sections are summarized in this executive summary. Results: ICAR‐RS‐2021 covers 22 topics regarding the medical management of RS, which are grade A/B and are presented in the executive summary. Additionally, 4 topics regarding the surgical management of RS are grade A/B and are presented in the executive summary. Finally, a comprehensive evidence‐based management algorithm is provided. Conclusion: This ICAR‐RS‐2021 executive summary provides a compilation of the evidence‐based recommendations for medical and surgical treatment of the most common forms of RS

2D QSAR Studies of Several Potent Aminopyridine, Anilinopyrimidine and Pyridine Carboxamide-based JNK Inhibitors

The c-Jan N-terminal kinases are members of the mitogen activated protein kinase family of signaling proteins. Amino pyridine based compounds, 4-anilino pyrimidine derivatives, and 2-pyridine carboxamide derivatives have been identified as potent JNK inhibitors with good cellular activity. In this study we calculated molecular topological and quantum chemical descriptors of 15 training compounds and three quantitative structure activity relationships models have been constructed. The significance of three models is judged on the basis of correlation, Fischer F test and quality factor (Q). This study is helpful for screening potent inhibitors of protein kinases

Role of binding energy in the generation of photocurrent in bulk heterojunction organic materials

588-592The role of binding energy of electron hole pair in the generation of photocurrent has been studied using Braun’s model based on Onsager theory. For the study, two bulk heterojunction devices namely poly (2-methoxy-5-(3′,7′- dimethyloctyloxy)-p-phenylene vinylene)(OC₁C₁₀-PPV) and poly (2-methoxy-5-(3′, 7′-dimethyloctyloxy)-1-4-phenylene vinylene) (MDMO-PPV) have been chosen. These materials act as electron donor in the bulk hetero-junctions and are based on intermixing of conjugate polymers and fullerene derivatives. Photocurrent has been calculated theoretically for different values of exciton binding energies. The variation of photocurrent with binding energy shows that a constant value of photocurrent is obtained up to a threshold value of 0.6 eV. When binding energy exceeds the threshold value, photocurrent diminishes rapidly. Thus, binding energy plays an important role in the generation of photocurrent and can be used as a primary parameter for the characterization of organic semiconductors in solar cell applications

<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:Mangal;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:HI" lang="EN-GB">In silico</span></i><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:Mangal;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:HI" lang="EN-GB"> analysis reveals the role of horizontally transferred genes (HGTs) in shaping the pathogenicity of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Xanthomonas</i></span>

404-411The role of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Xanthomonas spp. as phytopathogen has been well recognized in diseases of important crops like rice, canola, tomato, citrus, etc. The genomes of a number of Xanthomonas strains are also fully sequenced and they are made available in various data bases. In the present study, in silico analysis of six Xanthomonas genomes was carried out. Synonymous codon usage pattern study in these genomes revealed that pathogenicity related (PR)-horizontally transferred genes (HGTs) were, in general, expressed lowly and were less biased in comparison with average protein coding genes and ribosomal protein genes. Moreover, the correspondence analysis showed that the ribosomal genes were clustered at one end, while the HGTs and the PR-HGTs were all scattered. It has been also revealed that how the virulent HGTs, in spite of having low expression levels, did enhance the pathogenicity of the Xanthomonas strains to certain extent by targeting important cellular functions