The impact of different British accents on perceptions of eyewitness statements

The current study looked at the impact of British regional accents on evaluations of eyewitness testimony in criminal trials. Ninety participants were randomly presented with one of three video recordings of eyewitness testimony manipulated to be representative of Received Pronunciation (RP), Multicultural London English (MLE) or Birmingham accents. The impact of the accent was measured through eyewitness (a) accuracy, (b) credibility, (c) deception, (d) prestige, and (e) trial outcome (defendant guilt and sentence). RP was rated more favourably than MLE on accuracy, credibility and prestige. Accuracy and prestige were significant with RP rated more highly than a Birmingham accent. RP appears to be viewed more favourably than the MLE and Birmingham accents although the witness’s accents did not affect ratings of defendant guilt. Taken together, these findings show a preference for eyewitnesses to have RP speech over some regional accent

Characterisation of the SUMO-like domains of Schizosaccharomyces pombe Rad60

The S. pombe Rad60 protein is required for the repair of DNA double strand breaks, recovery from replication arrest, and is essential for cell viability. It has two SUMO-like domains (SLDs) at its C-terminus, an SXS motif and three sequences that have been proposed to be SUMO-binding motifs (SBMs). SMB1 is located in the middle of the protein, SBM2 is in SLD1 and SBM3 is at the C-terminus of SLD2. We have probed the functions of the two SUMO-like domains, SLD1 and SLD2, and the putative SBMs. SLD1 is essential for viability, while SLD2 is not. rad60-SLD2Δ cells are sensitive to DNA damaging agents and hydroxyurea. Neither ubiquitin nor SUMO can replace SLD1 or SLD2. Cells in which either SBM1 or SBM2 has been mutated are viable and are wild type for response to MMS and HU. In contrast mutation of SBM3 results in significant sensitivity to MMS and HU. These results indicate that the lethality resulting from deletion of SLD1 is not due to loss of SBM2, but that mutation of SBM3 produces a more severe phenotype than does deletion of SLD2. Using chemical denaturation studies, FPLC and dynamic light scattering we show this is likely due to the destabilisation of SLD2. Thus we propose that the region corresponding to the putative SBM3 forms part of the hydrophobic core of SLD2 and is not a SUMO-interacting motif. Over-expression of Hus5, which is the SUMO conjugating enzyme and known to interact with Rad60, does not rescue rad60-SLD2Δ, implying that as well as having a role in the sumoylation process as previously described [1], Rad60 has a Hus5-independent function

Lysosomal trafficking functions of mucolipin-1 in murine macrophages

BACKGROUND:Mucolipidosis Type IV is currently characterized as a lysosomal storage disorder with defects that include corneal clouding, achlorhydria and psychomotor retardation. MCOLN1, the gene responsible for this disease, encodes the protein mucolipin-1 that belongs to the "Transient Receptor Potential" family of proteins and has been shown to function as a non-selective cation channel whose activity is modulated by pH. Two cell biological defects that have been described in MLIV fibroblasts are a hyperacidification of lysosomes and a delay in the exit of lipids from lysosomes.RESULTS:We show that mucolipin-1 localizes to lysosomal compartments in RAW264.7 mouse macrophages that show subcompartmental accumulations of endocytosed molecules. Using stable RNAi clones, we show that mucolipin-1 is required for the exit of lipids from these compartments, for the transport of endocytosed molecules to terminal lysosomes, and for the transport of the Major Histocompatibility Complex II to the plasma membrane.CONCLUSION:Mucolipin-1 functions in the efficient exit of molecules, destined for various cellular organelles, from lysosomal compartments.This item is part of the UA Faculty Publications collection. For more information this item or other items in the UA Campus Repository, contact the University of Arizona Libraries at [email protected]

Nestling White-backed Vulture (Gyps africanus) eaten by a Verreaux’s Eagle (Aquila verreauxii) at a nest occupied for a record 21 years.

An adult Verreaux’s Eagle (Aquila verreauxii) was observed eating a White-backed Vulture (Gyps africanus) nestling at a nest at Sango in the Savé Valley Conservancy, south-eastern Zimbabwe on 13 October 2017. This nest has been regularly occupied for 21 successive breeding seasons. To our knowledge, this observation represents a previously unrecorded species in the diet of Verreaux’s Eagle, and it is also apparently the longest known continually-occupied White-backed Vulture nest

A study of the effects of sensory state on rhesus monkey postural control

Thesis (Ph. D. in Biomedical Engineering)--Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. "September 2013." Pages 215 and 216 blank.Includes bibliographical references (pages 208-214).Although many take the seemingly simple ability to balance in order to maintain posture for granted, approximately 8 million American adults have chronic balance impairment issues derived from vestibular dysfunction. For patients suffering from severe vestibular dysfunction, maintaining balance in daily activities, such as walking on an uneven surface at night, turning one's head, or attempting to stand on a moving surface, can prove extremely challenging. Unfortunately, many vestibular-loss sufferers are left with limited treatment options and can become permanently debilitated. In order to aid the vestibular-impaired population in partially restoring postural stability, it is important to develop rehabilitative solutions. For subjects suffering from severe bilateral vestibular loss, but with intact eighth nerve function, the invasive vestibular prosthesis is a potential rehabilitative solution. This must be developed and fully characterized in non-human primates in parallel with human implementation. In this research, we characterized the postural response of a severely vestibular-lesioned non-human primate instrumented with a prototype invasive vestibular prosthesis. We showed that the severely vestibular-impaired animal aided by the prosthesis was able to utilize the partially restored vestibular cues to increase its stability compared to the severely-impaired state. We also explored the impact on balance of (1) supplying an additional cue (light-touch) and (2) compensative strategies that the subject develops when suffering from mild or severe vestibular-impairment. We determined that the severely-impaired animal decreased its trunk sway when provided the light-touch cue, however a mildly-impaired animal did not. We also determined that an animal with mild vestibular impairment spontaneously compensated for its vestibular loss to stabilize itself both for stationary support surface conditions and for support surface perturbations. This thesis is the first time that animal posture measures for different levels of vestibular impairment have been used in conjunction with a feedback controller model to investigate the postural control mechanisms used. The results reported within this thesis begin to establish the baseline database of primate postural responses to a wide variety of test situations for different levels of vestibular impairment that will be needed for further investigation and evaluation of rehabilitative solutions, such as prototype vestibular implant systems.by Lara A. Thompson.Ph.D.in Biomedical Engineerin

Physics of Eclipsing Binaries: Heartbeat Stars and Tidally Induced Pulsations

Heartbeat stars are a relatively new class of eccentric ellipsoidal variable first discovered by Kepler. An overview of the current field is given with details of some of the interesting objects identified in our current Kepler sample of 135 heartbeats stars. Three objects that have recently been or are undergoing detailed study are described along with suggestions for further avenues of research. We conclude by discussing why heartbeat stars are an interesting new tool to study tidally induced pulsations and orbital dynamics

Everolimus Exposure as a Predictor of Toxicity in Renal Cell Cancer Patients in the Adjuvant Setting: Results of a Pharmacokinetic Analysis for SWOG S0931 (EVEREST), a Phase III Study (NCT01120249).

BackgroundS0931 is assessing recurrence-free survival in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) patients randomized to receive everolimus (EVE) versus placebo for one year following nephrectomy. Due to a higher than expected dropout rate, we assessed EVE trough levels in the adjuvant setting to evaluate the relationship between EVE exposure and probability of toxicity.MethodsPatients received 10 mg daily EVE for nine 6-week cycles. Pre-dose whole blood samples were collected pre-cycle 2 and pre-cycle 3 and analyzed for EVE. Patients with pre-cycle 2 and/or pre-cycle 3 EVE results were used in the analysis. Patients were segregated into quartiles (Q) based on EVE levels and logistic regression was used to model the most common adverse event outcomes using EVE trough as a predictor. Hazard and odds ratios were adjusted for age, BMI and performance status.ResultsA total of 467 patients were included in this analysis. Quartiles normalized to an EVE dose of 10 mg/day were < 9.0, 9.0-12.9, 12.9-22.8, and > 22.8 ng/mL, respectively. EVE trough levels increased with increasing age (p < 0.001). Furthermore, EVE trough levels were higher in men than women (19.4 versus 15.4 ng/mL, p = 0.01). Risk of grade 2 + triglycerides was increased in Q2 and Q3 vs Q1 (OR = 2.08; p = 0.02 and OR = 2.63; p = 0.002). Risk of grade 2 + rash was increased in Q2 and Q4 vs Q1 (OR = 2.99; p = 0.01 and OR = 2.90; p = 0.02). There was also an increased risk of any grade 3 + tox in Q2 vs Q1 (OR = 1.71; p = 0.05).ConclusionsWe identified significant gender and age-related differences in EVE trough levels in patients receiving adjuvant treatment for RCC. Furthermore, our analysis identified significant associations between EVE exposure and probability of toxicity

RekomGNN: Visualizing, Contextualizing and Evaluating Graph Neural Networks Recommendations

Content recommendation tasks increasingly use Graph Neural Networks, but it remains challenging for machine learning experts to assess the quality of their outputs. Visualization systems for GNNs that could support this interrogation are few. Moreover, those that do exist focus primarily on exposing GNN architectures for tuning and prediction tasks and do not address the challenges of recommendation tasks. We developed RekomGNN, a visual analytics system that supports ML experts in exploring GNN recommendations across several dimensions and making annotations about their quality. RekomGNN straddles the design space between Neural Network and recommender system visualization to arrive at a set of encoding and interaction choices for recommendation tasks. We found that RekomGNN helps experts make qualitative assessments of the GNN's results, which they can use for model refinement. Overall, our contributions and findings add to the growing understanding of visualizing GNNs for increasingly complex tasks