An Examination of Lookism in Scholarly Literature

The aim of this paper is to examine scholarly literature to identify how lookism has been defined and studied. A qualitative theme and content analyses were used to assess scholarly literature on lookism. The search resulted in 43 scholarly works with 36 written in English. Examining the scholarly literature on lookism suggests it: i) is an emerging concept in scholarly literature; ii) is a form of discrimination, particularly in the workplace; ii) includes a variety of physical features (e.g. age, facial symmetry, tattoos); iii) is multicultural; iv) supports popular literature that these biases exist (e.g., Ayto, 1999), and v) needs to be studied further to fully understand and define it. Lookism is a significant topic that apparel and textile (AT) researchers can utilize their expertise to examine further, defining lookism further, examining and comparing lookism in varying cultural contexts, and seeking reliable and valid methods to research lookism.

Discovery of widespread transcription initiation at microsatellites predictable by sequence-based deep neural network

Using the Cap Analysis of Gene Expression (CAGE) technology, the FANTOM5 consortium provided one of the most comprehensive maps of transcription start sites (TSSs) in several species. Strikingly, ~72% of them could not be assigned to a specific gene and initiate at unconventional regions, outside promoters or enhancers. Here, we probe these unassigned TSSs and show that, in all species studied, a significant fraction of CAGE peaks initiate at microsatellites, also called short tandem repeats (STRs). To confirm this transcription, we develop Cap Trap RNA-seq, a technology which combines cap trapping and long read MinION sequencing. We train sequence-based deep learning models able to predict CAGE signal at STRs with high accuracy. These models unveil the importance of STR surrounding sequences not only to distinguish STR classes, but also to predict the level of transcription initiation. Importantly, genetic variants linked to human diseases are preferentially found at STRs with high transcription initiation level, supporting the biological and clinical relevance of transcription initiation at STRs. Together, our results extend the repertoire of non-coding transcription associated with DNA tandem repeats and complexify STR polymorphism

An Examination of "Lookism" in Scholarly Literature

The aim of this paper is to examine scholarly literature to identify how "lookism" has been defined and studied. A qualitative theme and content analyses were used to assess scholarly literature on lookism. The search resulted in 43 scholarly works with 36 written in English. Examining the scholarly literature on lookism suggests it: i) is an emerging concept in scholarly literature; ii) is a form of discrimination, particularly in the workplace; ii) includes a variety of physical features (e.g. age, facial symmetry, tattoos); iii) is multicultural; iv) supports popular literature that these biases exist (e.g., Ayto, 1999), and v) needs to be studied further to fully understand and define it. Lookism is a significant topic that apparel and textile (AT) researchers can utilize their expertise to examine further, defining lookism further, examining and comparing lookism in varying cultural contexts, and seeking reliable and valid methods to research lookism..</p

The impact of diabetes on tuberculosis treatment outcomes: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Multiple studies of tuberculosis treatment have indicated that patients with diabetes mellitus may experience poor outcomes.We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to quantitatively summarize evidence for the impact of diabetes on tuberculosis outcomes. METHODS: We searched PubMed, EMBASE and the World Health Organization Regional Indexes from 1 January 1980 to 31 December 2010 and references of relevant articles for reports of observational studies that included people with diabetes treated for tuberculosis. We reviewed the full text of 742 papers and included 33 studies of which 9 reported culture conversion at two to three months, 12 reported the combined outcome of failure and death, 23 reported death, 4 reported death adjusted for age and other potential confounding factors, 5 reported relapse, and 4 reported drug resistant recurrent tuberculosis. RESULTS: Diabetes is associated with an increased risk of failure and death during tuberculosis treatment. Patients with diabetes have a risk ratio (RR) for the combined outcome of failure and death of 1.69 (95% CI, 1.36 to 2.12). The RR of death during tuberculosis treatment among the 23 unadjusted studies is 1.89 (95% CI, 1.52 to 2.36), and this increased to an effect estimate of 4.95 (95% CI, 2.69 to 9.10) among the 4 studies that adjusted for age and other potential confounding factors. Diabetes is also associated with an increased risk of relapse (RR, 3.89; 95% CI, 2.43 to 6.23). We did not find evidence for an increased risk of tuberculosis recurrence with drug resistant strains among people with diabetes. The studies assessing sputum culture conversion after two to three months of tuberculosis therapy were heterogeneous with relative risks that ranged from 0.79 to 3.25. CONCLUSIONS: Diabetes increases the risk of failure and death combined, death, and relapse among patients with tuberculosis. This study highlights a need for increased attention to treatment of tuberculosis in people with diabetes, which may include testing for suspected diabetes, improved glucose control, and increased clinical and therapeutic monitoring