Eclipsing binary and white dwarf features associated with K2 target EPIC251248385

White dwarfs, remnants of Sun-like stars which have completed their evolution, are one of the most common types of stars in space. Despite this, very few white dwarfs have been observed in transiting or eclipsing systems, and only two planetary systems around white dwarfs are currently known, thus motivating a search for white dwarfs with transits or eclipses as seen by the Kepler telescope. A systematic search of K2 white dwarf targets revealed one candidate with regular eclipses, but additional research was necessary to confirm the transits and white dwarf signal were coming from the same astrophysical source. The software package PyKe was utilized to adjust the light curve aperture, and perform principal component analysis which revealed that the transits were originating from a single pixel. Generating a new lightcurve from this pixel revealed the absolute transit depth, which was unconstrained previously. Ten additional images taken with the 2m LCOGT telescope revealed that a potential target star in the single Kepler pixel was actually a cluster of three stars, but no clear transits were seen from any of the potential target stars in the followup images. Additionally, analysis of transit depths in the single pixel light curve and additional investigation of nearby bright sources supported the hypothesis that the transits were more likely to be coming from the white dwarf rather than the two other sources. However, the transit duration and shape appear atypical for white dwarf systems. Thus, despite determining the potential sources and relative sizes for the potential eclipsing white dwarf candidate, or whether the eclipses come from the white dwarf target cannot be confirmed without additional data.https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2515-5172/ab5861Published versio

A Practical Collaborative Material Handling Strategy for Cross-docks

Poster

Identifying patients at risk of late recovery (≥8 days) from acute exacerbation of chronic bronchitis and COPD

SummaryObjectivesTo identify factors associated with late recovery (≥8 days from exacerbation start) in patients with acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis/COPD (AECB/AECOPD).MethodsAn international, observational, non-interventional study in outpatients with AECB/AECOPD who received treatment for their exacerbation with the antibiotic moxifloxacin. Factors analyzed for late recovery included patient demographic characteristics, geographic region and disease severity. Additionally, logistic regression analysis was undertaken to identify factors associated with late recovery.ResultsThe analysis population was 40,435 patients aged ≥35 years, from Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Americas and Middle East/Africa. Most were male (63.1%), mean age 60.4 years and current or ex-smokers (60.6%) with history of ≥2 exacerbations in the previous year. Patients who underwent spirometry (n = 6408, 19.7%) had moderate airflow obstruction (mean FEV1 1.7 L). Both clinicians and patients reported that moxifloxacin provided clinical improvement in a mean of 3 days and recovery in 6 days. Clinical factors significantly associated with late recovery were: age ≥65 years, duration of chronic bronchitis >10 years, cardiac comorbidity, >3 exacerbations in the previous 12 months, current exacerbation type (Anthonisen I/II) and hospitalization in the last 12 months.ConclusionsIn a large cohort of patients, all treated with the same antibiotic for an exacerbation of chronic bronchitis or COPD, the main factors associated with late recovery (≥8 days) were: older age, history of frequent exacerbations, current exacerbation type of Anthonisen I/II, history of prior hospitalizations and cardiac comorbid conditions

Program Evaluation of the Summer Youth Employment & Learning Program (SYELP) at the Community Renewal Team (CRT)

The Community Renewal Team (CRT) is an anti‐poverty, non‐profit organization based in Hartford. For over 10 years they have run a Summer Youth Employment & Learning Program (SYELP). While CRT has been running this program for several years, it has recently made some structural modifications in order to improve the impact of the program. Thus, to determine the current impact of the program, to identify best practices and to suggest improvements, we conducted an evaluation of SYELP. Through student survey data collected by CRT and interviews that we conducted with supervisors, we gauged the strengths and weaknesses of the program in order to provide insight on the impact of the program and where improvements can be made to most effectively benefit the youth.https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/ysph_pbchrr/1035/thumbnail.jp

The Man Without Talent

A review of the 2020 book by Yoshiharu Tsuge, translated from Japanese and with an essay by Ryan Holmberg, "The Man Without Talent," for inclusion in ARLIS/NA's 2020 Notable Graphic Novels Review

Manejo integral de la cuenca hidrográfica del bosque protector Umbría, como fuente de aporte para la captación de agua para consumo humano en los barrios occidentales de la parroquia Aloasí, cantón Mejía

La investigación se desarrolla en la cuenca hidrográfica del Bosque Protector Umbría ubicada entre las provincias de Pichincha y Cotopaxi, cuya área representativa es la parroquia Aloasí del cantón Mejía. El diseño experimental consiste en la aplicación del método deductivo e inductivo, basado en la información de tipo primaria y secundaria, recolectada en campo y oficina, y mediante el uso del software ArcGIS 10.5 y Google Earth Pro. Como resultados, la calidad de agua analizada mediante el ICA-NSF en los puntos de muestreo “Agua Potable 1”, “Agua Potable 2” y “Agua Potable 3” es regular. En la quebrada Cumbiteo, se ubica la parte alta, media y baja de la cuenca, donde se evaluaron los puntos “Macroinvertebrados 1”, “Macroinvertebrados 2” y “Macroinvertebrados 3”, siendo el agua de calidad mala y regular. En una hectárea de bosque nativo no intervenido, el grado de contaminación es bajo debido a las actividades antropogénicas desarrolladas; además, el grado de conservación corresponde a seis especies nativas del estrato arbóreo pertenecientes a las categorías No Evaluada, Preocupación Menor y No Evaluada; y la biodiversidad en la subparcela definida es media de acuerdo al índice de Shannon-Wiener. El plan de manejo integral de la cuenca hidrográfica plantea alternativas sostenibles en el aprovechamiento y uso responsable del recurso hídrico para el abastecimiento de agua de consumo humano en los Barrios Occidentales de Aloasí, a través de los planes de “Prevención y Mitigación”, “Contingencia”, “Relaciones Comunitarias”, “Seguimiento y Monitoreo de la Calidad de Agua”, propuestos para la comunidad de interés.The research is carried out in the hydrographic basin of the Umbria Protected Forest located between the provinces of Pichincha and Cotopaxi, whose representative area is the Aloasí parish of the Mejía canton. The experimental design consists of the application of the deductive and inductive method, based on primary and secondary information, collected in the field and in the office, and through the use of ArcGIS 10.5 software and Google Earth Pro. As a result, the quality of the water analyzed by the ICA-NSF in the sampling points "Drinking Water 1", "Drinking Water 2" and "Drinking Water 3" is fair. In the Cumbiteo creek, the upper, middle and lower part of the basin is located, where the points "Macroinvertebrates 1", "Macroinvertebrates 2" and "Macroinvertebrates 3" were evaluated, the water being of poor and regular quality. In one hectare of non-intervened native forest, the degree of contamination is low due to the anthropogenic activities developed; in addition, the degree of conservation corresponds to six native species of the arboreal stratum belonging to the categories Not Evaluated, Least Concern and Not Evaluated; and the biodiversity in the defined subplot is average according to the Shannon-Wiener index. The comprehensive management plan of the hydrographic basin proposes sustainable alternatives in the responsible use and use of water resources for the supply of water for human consumption in the western neighborhoods of Aloasí, through the plans of "Prevention and Mitigation", "Contingency","Community Relations","Follow-up and Monitoring of Water Quality", proposed for the community of interest

Genotypic but not phenotypic historical contingency revealed by viral experimental evolution

[EN] Background: The importance of historical contingency in determining the potential of viral populations to evolve has been largely unappreciated. Identifying the constraints imposed by past adaptations is, however, of importance for understanding many questions in evolutionary biology, such as the evolution of host usage dynamics by multi-host viruses or the emergence of escape mutants that persist in the absence of antiviral treatments. To address this issue, we undertook an experimental approach in which sixty lineages of Tobacco etch potyvirus that differ in their past evolutionary history and degree of adaptation to Nicotiana tabacum were allowed to adapt to this host for 15 rounds of within host multiplication and transfer. We thereafter evaluated the degree of adaptation to the new host as well as to the original ones and characterized the consensus sequence of each lineage. Results: We found that past evolutionary history did not determine the phenotypic outcome of this common host evolution phase, and that the signal of local adaptation to past hosts had largely disappeared. By contrast, evolutionary history left footprints at the genotypic level, since the majority of host-specific mutations present at the beginning of this experiment were retained in the end-point populations and may have affected which new mutations were consequently fixed. This resulted in further divergence between the sequences despite a shared selective environment. Conclusions: The present experiment reinforces the idea that the answer to the question "How important is historical contingency in evolution?" strongly depends on the level of integration of the traits studied. A strong historical contingency was found for TEV genotype, whereas a weak effect of on phenotypic evolution was revealed. 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Mouse embryonic stem cells: The establishment of the system to produce differentiated cell types in vitro

During the last few years, embryonic stem (ES) cells have been a new tool in cell biology which is very promising for the scientific community to develop new cell therapies. ES cells are the only cell type that can differentiate into derivates of the three primary germ layers, not only in vivo but also, and most important, in vitro. This so-called pluripotency has resulted in the field of stem cell technology going into overdrive, and the establishment of many protocols for optimal maintenance, culture, genetic transfection and in vitro differentiation. The first pluripotent cells had been derived from teratocarcinomas, maligne tumors, and showed some disadvantages. Therefore later embryonic stem cells, and now adult stem cells are getting special attention from the scientists. In this study, we established for the first time in our country, the prolonged culture of undifferentiated ES cells in vitro and the pointed induction of cell differentiation into specific cell types. It is the result of an international collaboration program supported by Brazil and Germany, CAPES and DAAD (PROBRAL). The well-established routine should be clearly demonstrated by the continuous culture and propagation of several mouse ES lines in vitro under specific culture conditions preventing differentiation. On the other hand, these ES cells were exposed to defined differentiation induction systems to obtain specialized cells as cardiogenic, neurogenic and myogenic cell types. This demonstrates the successful procedure to induce ES cell line differentiation. In this study, we established both routine systems, with and without differentiation. This results gave us competence and possibility to develop a series of different scientific approaches

Human Developmental Chondrogenesis as a Basis for Engineering Chondrocytes from Pluripotent Stem Cells

Joint injury and osteoarthritis affect millions of people worldwide, but attempts to generate articular cartilage using adult stem/progenitor cells have been unsuccessful. We hypothesized that recapitulation of the human developmental chondrogenic program using pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) may represent a superior approach for cartilage restoration. Using laser-capture microdissection followed by microarray analysis, we first defined a surface phenotype (CD166(low/neg)CD146(low/neg)CD73(+)CD44(low)BMPR1B(+)) distinguishing the earliest cartilage committed cells (prechondrocytes) at 5-6 weeks of development. Functional studies confirmed these cells are chondrocyte progenitors. From 12 weeks, only the superficial layers of articular cartilage were enriched in cells with this progenitor phenotype. Isolation of cells with a similar immunophenotype from differentiating human PSCs revealed a population of CD166(low/neg)BMPR1B(+) putative cartilage-committed progenitors. Taken as a whole, these data define a developmental approach for the generation of highly purified functional human chondrocytes from PSCs that could enable substantial progress in cartilage tissue engineering.Fil: Wu, Ling. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Bluguermann, Carolina. Fundación para la Lucha contra las Enfermedades Neurológicas de la Infancia. Laboratorio de Biología del Desarrollo Celular; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Kyupelyan, Levon. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Latour, Brooke. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Gonzalez, Stephanie. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Shah, Saumya. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Galic, Zoran. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Ge, Sundi. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Zhu, Yuhua. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Petrigliano, Frank A.. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Nsair, Ali. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Miriuka, Santiago Gabriel. Fundación para la Lucha contra las Enfermedades Neurológicas de la Infancia. Laboratorio de Biología del Desarrollo Celular; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Li, Xinmin. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Lyons, Karen M.. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Crooks, Gay M.. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: McAllister, David R.. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Van Handel, Ben. Novogenix Laboratories; Estados UnidosFil: Adams, John S.. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Evseenko, Denis. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados Unido