Genetic Ancestry, Social Classification, and Racial Inequalities in Blood Pressure in Southeastern Puerto Rico

The role of race in human genetics and biomedical research is among the most contested issues in science. Much debate centers on the relative importance of genetic versus sociocultural factors in explaining racial inequalities in health. However, few studies integrate genetic and sociocultural data to test competing explanations directly.We draw on ethnographic, epidemiologic, and genetic data collected in Southeastern Puerto Rico to isolate two distinct variables for which race is often used as a proxy: genetic ancestry versus social classification. We show that color, an aspect of social classification based on the culturally defined meaning of race in Puerto Rico, better predicts blood pressure than does a genetic-based estimate of continental ancestry. We also find that incorporating sociocultural variables reveals a new and significant association between a candidate gene polymorphism for hypertension (alpha(2C) adrenergic receptor deletion) and blood pressure.This study addresses the recognized need to measure both genetic and sociocultural factors in research on racial inequalities in health. Our preliminary results provide the most direct evidence to date that previously reported associations between genetic ancestry and health may be attributable to sociocultural factors related to race and racism, rather than to functional genetic differences between racially defined groups. Our results also imply that including sociocultural variables in future research may improve our ability to detect significant allele-phenotype associations. Thus, measuring sociocultural factors related to race may both empower future genetic association studies and help to clarify the biological consequences of social inequalities

Spin Transfer in Exclusive Lambda Production from pp Collisions at 3.67 GeV/c

We report the first polarization transfer measurements for exclusive hyperon production reactions. The normal spin transfer coefficient DNN for pp -> p K+ Lambda is large and negative for forward Lambda production at a beam momentum of 3.67 GeV/c, a result qualitatively consistent with expectations for a mechanism dominated by kaon-exchange and rescattering. The sign of DNN is opposite to that observed in the fragmentation regime for inclusive Lambda production at much higher energies

On the consistency of Runge-Kutta methods up to order three applied to the optimal control of scalar conservation laws

Higher-order Runge-Kutta (RK) time discretization methods for the optimal control of scalar conservation laws are analyzed and numerically tested. The hyperbolic nature of the state system introduces specific requirements on discretization schemes such that the discrete adjoint states associated with the control problem converge as well. Moreover, conditions on the RK-coefficients are derived that coincide with those characterizing strong stability preserving Runge-Kutta methods. As a consequence, the optimal order for the adjoint state is limited, e.g., to two even in the case where the conservation law is discretized by a third-order method. Finally, numerical tests for controlling Burgers equation validate the theoretical results