Providing True Opportunity for Opportunity Youth: Promising Practices and Principles for Helping Youth Facing Barriers to Employment

Many "opportunity youth" -- youth who are not working or in school -- would benefit substantially from gaining work experience but need help overcoming barriers to employment and accessing the labor market.Those opportunity youth facing the most significant challenges, such as extreme poverty, homelessness, and justice system involvement, often need even more intensive assistance in entering and keeping employment, and are at risk of being left behind even by employment programs that are specifically designed to serve opportunity youth.This paper builds on the research literature with extensive interviews with employment program providers who have had success in helping the most vulnerable opportunity youth succeed in the workforce. Six principles for effectively serving these youth are identified

Genetic, serological and biochemical characterization of Leishmania tropica from foci in northern Palestine and discovery of zymodeme MON-307

Background Many cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) have been recorded in the Jenin District based on their clinical appearance. Here, their parasites have been characterized in depth. Methods Leishmanial parasites isolated from 12 human cases of CL from the Jenin District were cultured as promastigotes, whose DNA was extracted. The ITS1 sequence and the 7SL RNA gene were analysed as was the kinetoplast minicircle DNA (kDNA) sequence. Excreted factor (EF) serotyping and multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (MLEE) were also applied. Results This extensive characterization identified the strains as Leishmania tropica of two very distinct sub-types that parallel the two sub-groups discerned by multilocus microsatellite typing (MLMT) done previously. A high degree of congruity was displayed among the results generated by the different analytical methods that had examined various cellular components and exposed intra-specific heterogeneity among the 12 strains. Three of the ten strains subjected to MLEE constituted a new zymodeme, zymodeme MON-307, and seven belonged to the known zymodeme MON-137. Ten of the 15 enzymes in the profile of zymodeme MON-307 displayed different electrophoretic mobilities compared with the enzyme profile of the zymodeme MON-137. The closest profile to that of zymodeme MON-307 was that of the zymodeme MON-76 known from Syria. Strains of the zymodeme MON-307 were EF sub-serotype A2 and those of the zymodeme MON-137 were either A9 or A9B4. The sub-serotype B4 component appears, so far, to be unique to some strains of L. tropica of zymodeme MON-137. Strains of the zymodeme MON-137 displayed a distinctive fragment of 417 bp that was absent in those of zymodeme MON-307 when their kDNA was digested with the endonuclease RsaI. kDNA-RFLP after digestion with the endonuclease MboI facilitated a further level of differentiation that partially coincided with the geographical distribution of the human cases from which the strains came. Conclusions The Palestinian strains that were assigned to different genetic groups differed in their MLEE profiles and their EF types. A new zymodeme, zymodeme MON-307 was discovered that seems to be unique to the northern part of the Palestinian West Bank. What seemed to be a straight forward classical situation of L. tropica causing anthroponotic CL in the Jenin District might be a more complex situation, owing to the presence of two separate sub-types of L. tropica that, possibly, indicates two separate transmission cycles involving two separate types of phlebotomine sand fly vector

The climatic role of interactive leaf phenology in the vegetation-atmosphere system of radiative-convective equilibrium storm-resolving simulations

Storm-resolving simulations where deep convection can be explicitly resolved are performed in the idealized radiative-convective equilibrium framework to explore the climatic role of interactive leaf phenology. By initializing the system with different initial soil moisture and leaf area index (LAI) conditions, we find three categories of potential equilibrium climatic and vegetation states: a hot desert planet without vegetation, an intermediate sparsely vegetated planet, and a wet fully vegetated planet. The wet fully vegetated equilibrium category occurs over the widest range of initial soil moisture as it occurs as soon as soil saturation is 19 higher than the permanent wilting point (35). This indicates that a quite harsh environment is needed in our modeling system to force leaves to be shed. The attained equilibrium states are only dependent upon the initial soil moisture, not the initial LAI. However, interactive leaves do allow an earlier transition from the intermediate to the wet vegetated equilibrium category. Hence, interactive leaves make the vegetation-atmosphere system more stable and more resilient to drying. This effect could be well approximated by just prescribing the LAI to its maximum value. Finally, our sensitivity experiments reveal that leaves influence the climate equally through their controls on canopy conductance and vegetation cover, whereas albedo changes play a negligible role. © 2022 The Author(s)

Theory of Cylindrical Tubules and Helical Ribbons of Chiral Lipid Membranes

We present a general theory for the equilibrium structure of cylindrical tubules and helical ribbons of chiral lipid membranes. This theory is based on a continuum elastic free energy that permits variations in the direction of molecular tilt and in the curvature of the membrane. The theory shows that the formation of tubules and helical ribbons is driven by the chirality of the membrane. Tubules have a first-order transition from a uniform state to a helically modulated state, with periodic stripes in the tilt direction and ripples in the curvature. Helical ribbons can be stable structures, or they can be unstable intermediate states in the formation of tubules.Comment: 43 pages, including 12 postscript figures, uses REVTeX 3.0 and epsf.st

Isolation and Genetic Analysis of Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus from Infected Cattle in Indiana

Species and biotype distribution was determined in 44 bovine viral diarrhea virus- (BVDV-) positive samples submitted to the Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (ADDL) in Indiana during 2006–2008. BVDV RNA was detected in the 5′-untranslated region and Npro region using reverse transcriptase PCR followed by sequencing analysis of the PCR product. Additionally, cases were classified into one of six categories according to history and/or lesions: acute symptomatic, hemorrhagic, respiratory distress, reproductive, persistent infection (PI), and mucosal disease (MD). Of 44 BVDV-positive samples, 33 were noncytopathic (ncp), 10 were cytopathic (cp), and one presented both ncp and cp biotypes. Sequencing analysis demonstrated that all samples belonged to BVDV-1a, BVDV-1b, or BVDV-2. The most common isolate was ncp BVDV-1b, (44%) followed by ncp BVDV-2a (24%). Among the six categories, respiratory clinical signs were the most common (36%) followed by PI (25%) and MD (16%)

Theory of Chiral Order in Random Copolymers

Recent experiments have found that polyisocyanates composed of a mixture of opposite enantiomers follow a chiral ``majority rule:'' the chiral order of the copolymer, measured by optical activity, is dominated by whichever enantiomer is in the majority. We explain this majority rule theoretically by mapping the random copolymer onto the random-field Ising model. Using this model, we predict the chiral order as a function of enantiomer concentration, in quantitative agreement with the experiments, and show how the sharpness of the majority-rule curve can be controlled.Comment: 13 pages, including 4 postscript figures, uses REVTeX 3.0 and epsf.st

Detailed volcanostratigraphy of an accreted seamount: Implications for intraplate seamount formation

Seamounts are a ubiquitous feature of the seafloor but relatively little is known about their internal structure. A seamount preserved in the Franciscan mélange of California suggests a sequence of formation common to all seamounts. Field mapping, geophysical measurements, and geochemical analyses are combined to interpret three stages of seamount growth consistent with the formation of other intraplate seamounts such as the Hawaiian volcanoes and the island of La Palma. A seamount begins to form as a pile of closely packed pillows with a high density and low porosity. Small pillow mound volcanoes common at mid-ocean ridges are seamounts that do not grow beyond this initial stage of formation. The second stage of seamount formation is marked by the first occurrence of breccia. As the seamount grows and becomes topographically more complex, slope varies and fractured material may begin to accumulate. Magma supply may also become spatially diffuse as the seamount grows and new supply pathways develop through the edifice. The second stage thus exhibits variability in both flow morphologies and geophysical properties. The final cap stage is composed of thin flows of various morphologies. These sequences reflect the shoaling of the seamount and a greater variability in extrusion rate resulting from waning magma supply and increased mass wasting. Understanding the growth and structure of seamounts has important implications for intraplate volcanism and for models of hydrothermal circulation in the oceanic crust.Keywords: pillow lavas, porosity, ophiolites, seamounts

Inflammatory bowel disease addressed by Caco-2 and monocyte-derived macrophages : an opportunity for an in vitro drug screening assay

Infammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a widespread disease, afecting a growing demographic. The treatment of chronic infammation located in the GI-tract is dependent on the severity; therefore, the IBD treatment pyramid is commonly applied. Animal experimentation plays a key role for novel IBD drug development; nevertheless, it is ethically questionable and limited in its throughput. Reliable and valid in vitro assays ofer the opportunity to overcome these limitations. We combined Caco-2 with monocyte-derived macrophages and exposed them to known drugs, targeting an in vitro-in vivo correlation (IVIVC) with a focus on the severity level and its related drug candidate. This co-culture assay addresses namely the intestinal barrier and the immune response in IBD. The drug efcacy was analyzed by an LPS-infammation of the co-culture and drug exposure according to the IBD treatment pyramid. Efcacy was defned as the range between LPS control (0%) and untreated co-culture (100%) independent of the investigated read-out (TEER, Papp, cytokine release: IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF-α). The release of IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α was identifed as an appropriate readout for a fast drug screening (“yes–no response”). TEER showed a remarkable IVIVC correlation to the human treatment pyramid (5-ASA, Prednisolone, 6-mercaptopurine, and infiximab) with an R2 of 0.68. Similar to the description of an adverse outcome pathway (AOP) framework, we advocate establishing an “Efcacy Outcome Pathways (EOPs)” framework for drug efcacy assays. The in vitro assay ofers an easy and scalable method for IBD drug screening with a focus on human data, which requires further validation

Identification of geographically distributed sub-populations of Leishmania (Leishmania) major by microsatellite analysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Leishmania </it>(<it>Leishmania</it>) <it>major</it>, one of the agents causing cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in humans, is widely distributed in the Old World where different species of wild rodent and phlebotomine sand fly serve as animal reservoir hosts and vectors, respectively. Despite this, strains of <it>L. (L.) major </it>isolated from many different sources over many years have proved to be relatively uniform. To investigate the population structure of the species highly polymorphic microsatellite markers were employed for greater discrimination among it's otherwise closely related strains, an approach applied successfully to other species of <it>Leishmania</it>.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Multilocus Microsatellite Typing (MLMT) based on 10 different microsatellite markers was applied to 106 strains of <it>L. (L.) major </it>from different regions where it is endemic. On applying a Bayesian model-based approach, three main populations were identified, corresponding to three separate geographical regions: Central Asia (CA); the Middle East (ME); and Africa (AF). This was congruent with phylogenetic reconstructions based on genetic distances. Re-analysis separated each of the populations into two sub-populations. The two African sub-populations did not correlate well with strains' geographical origin. Strains falling into the sub-populations CA and ME did mostly group according to their place of isolation although some anomalies were seen, probably, owing to human migration.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The model- and distance-based analyses of the microsatellite data exposed three main populations of <it>L. (L.) major</it>, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa, each of which separated into two sub-populations. This probably correlates with the different species of rodent host.</p