216 research outputs found
Compulsory convenience? How large arterials and land use affect midblock crossing in Fushun, China
JTLU vol 3, no 3, pp 61-82 (2010)This study focuses on how street design and land uses influence pedestrian behavior in a medium-sized Chinese city, Fushun. In cities throughout China, the change from workplace-managed and assigned housing to market housing has had profound effects on pedestrians. Coupled with motorization, pedestrian trips are increasingly external, pushed out of the protected space of the gated block and onto massive arterials that now carry automobiles, trucks, and buses in growing numbers. Long blocks, unenforced zebra crossings, and inadequate green time at traffic signals do not equitably accommodate those on foot; thus, pedestrians violate the system by crossing midblock. In Fushun, the long block lengths and large arterials, lack of enforcement, and unfavorable pedestrian policies creates an environment which incentivizes midblock crossing behavior
Measuring the Performance of Online Distributed Team Innovation (Learning) Services
Copyright câ—‹2004 by the authors. Leifer et al.: Measuring the Performance of Online Distributed Team Innovation
Impact of minimal residual disease status in patients with relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia treated with inotuzumab ozogamicin in the phase III INO-VATE trial.
Minimal residual disease (MRD) negativity is a key prognostic indicator of outcome in acute lymphocytic leukemia. In the INO-VATE trial (clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT01564784), patients with relapsed/refractory acute lymphocytic leukemia who received inotuzumab versus standard chemotherapy achieved greater remission and MRD-negativity rates as well as improved overall survival: hazard ratio 0.75, one-sided P = 0.0105. The current analysis assessed the prognostic value of MRD negativity at the end of inotuzumab treatment. All patients who received inotuzumab (n = 164) were included. Among patients with complete remission/complete remission with incomplete hematologic response (CR/CRi; n = 121), MRD-negative status (by multiparametric flow cytometry) was defined as <1 × 10-4 blasts/nucleated cells. MRD negativity was achieved in 76 patients at the end of treatment. Compared with MRD-positive, MRD-negative status with CR/CRi was associated with significantly improved overall survival and progression-free survival, respectively: hazard ratio (97.5% confidence interval; one-sided P-value) 0.512 (97.5% CI [0.313-0.835]; P = 0.0009) and 0.423 (97.5% CI [0.256-0.699]; P < 0.0001). Median overall survival was 14.1 versus 7.2 months, in the MRD-negative versus MRD-positive groups. Patients in first salvage who achieved MRD negativity at the end of treatment experienced significantly improved survival versus that seen in MRD-positive patients, particularly for those patients who proceeded to stem cell transplant. Among patients with relapsed/refractory acute lymphocytic leukemia who received inotuzumab, those with MRD-negative CR/CRi had the best survival outcomes
Phylogenetic Findings Suggest Possible New Habitat and Routes of Infection of Human Eumyctoma
Eumycetoma is a traumatic fungal infection in tropical and subtropical areas that may lead to severe disability. Madurella mycetomatis is one of the prevalent etiologic agents in arid Northeastern Africa. The source of infection has not been clarified. Subcutaneous inoculation from plant thorns has been hypothesized, but attempts to detect the fungus in relevant material have remained unsuccessful. The present study aims to find clues to reveal the natural habitat of Madurella species using a phylogenetic approach, i.e. by comparison of neighboring taxa with known ecology. Four species of Madurella were included in a large data set of species of Chaetomium, Chaetomidium, Thielavia, and Papulaspora (n = 128) using sequences of the universal fungal barcode gene rDNA ITS and the partial LSU gene sequence. Our study demonstrates that Madurella species are nested within the Chaetomiaceae, a family of fungi that mainly inhabit animal dung, enriched soil, and indoor environments. We hypothesize that cattle dung, ubiquitously present in rural East Africa, plays a significant role in the ecology of Madurella. If cow dung is an essential factor in inoculation by Madurella, preventative measures may involve the use of appropriate footwear in addition to restructuring of villages to reduce the frequency of contact with etiologic agents of mycetoma. On the other hand, the Chaetomiaceae possess a hidden clinical potential which needs to be explored
The protein structure initiative structural genomics knowledgebase
The Protein Structure Initiative Structural Genomics Knowledgebase (PSI SGKB, http://kb.psi-structuralgenomics.org) has been created to turn the products of the PSI structural genomics effort into knowledge that can be used by the biological research community to understand living systems and disease. This resource provides central access to structures in the Protein Data Bank (PDB), along with functional annotations, associated homology models, worldwide protein target tracking information, available protocols and the potential to obtain DNA materials for many of the targets. It also offers the ability to search all of the structural and methodological publications and the innovative technologies that were catalyzed by the PSI's high-throughput research efforts. In collaboration with the Nature Publishing Group, the PSI SGKB provides a research library, editorials about new research advances, news and an events calendar to present a broader view of structural biology and structural genomics. By making these resources freely available, the PSI SGKB serves as a bridge to connect the structural biology and the greater biomedical communitie
Changes in reflectin protein phosphorylation are associated with dynamic iridescence in squid
Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2009. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of The Royal Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of The Royal Society Interface 6 (2010): 549-560, doi:10.1098/rsif.2009.0299.Many cephalopods exhibit remarkable dermal iridescence, a component of their complex,
dynamic camouflage and communication. In the species Euprymna scolopes, the light-organ iridescence
is static and is due to reflectin protein-based platelets assembled into lamellar thin-film
reflectors called iridosomes, contained within iridescent cells called iridocytes. Squid in the
family Loliginidae appear to be unique in that the dermis possesses a dynamic iridescent component,
with reflective, colored structures that are assembled and disassembled under the control of
the muscarinic cholinergic system and the associated neurotransmitter acetylcholine (Mathger et
al. 2004). Here we present the sequences and characterization of three new members of the reflectin
family associated with the dynamically changeable iridescence in Loligo and not found in
static Euprymna iridophores. In addition, we show that application of genistein, a protein tyrosine
kinase inhibitor, suppresses acetylcholine- and calcium-induced iridescence in Loligo. We
further demonstrate that two of these novel reflectins are extensively phosphorylated in concert
with the activation of iridescence by exogenous acetylcholine. This phosphorylation and the correlated
iridescence can be blocked with genistein. Our results suggest that tyrosine phosphorylation
of reflectin proteins is involved in the regulation of dynamic iridescence in Loligo.We gratefully acknowledge support from Anteon contract F33615-03-D-5408 to the Marine
Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA and grant # W911NF-06-1-0285 from the Army
Research Office to D.E.M
Taking the pulse of COVID-19: A spatiotemporal perspective
The sudden outbreak of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) swept across the
world in early 2020, triggering the lockdowns of several billion people across
many countries, including China, Spain, India, the U.K., Italy, France,
Germany, and most states of the U.S. The transmission of the virus accelerated
rapidly with the most confirmed cases in the U.S., and New York City became an
epicenter of the pandemic by the end of March. In response to this national and
global emergency, the NSF Spatiotemporal Innovation Center brought together a
taskforce of international researchers and assembled implemented strategies to
rapidly respond to this crisis, for supporting research, saving lives, and
protecting the health of global citizens. This perspective paper presents our
collective view on the global health emergency and our effort in collecting,
analyzing, and sharing relevant data on global policy and government responses,
geospatial indicators of the outbreak and evolving forecasts; in developing
research capabilities and mitigation measures with global scientists, promoting
collaborative research on outbreak dynamics, and reflecting on the dynamic
responses from human societies.Comment: 27 pages, 18 figures. International Journal of Digital Earth (2020
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