Structure-function relations in phosphorylcholine-binding mouse myeloma proteins

The binding site interactions between the phosphorylcholine (phosphocholine)-binding mouse myeloma proteins TEPC 15, W3207, McPC 603, MOPC 167, and MOPC 511 and the isotopically substituted hapten phosphoryl-[methyl-13C]choline have been investigated using 13C and 31P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Each protein exhibits a unique NMR pattern, but extensive similarities in chemical shift parameters upon binding of hapten to immunoglobulin suggest a significant degree of conservation of important hapten-binding site interactions. Moreover, independent binding studies, in conjunction with the NMR data, allow construction of a simple model of the binding sites of these antibodies, analyzed in terms of the relative strength of interaction between hapten and two main subsites. The NMR evidence supports the view that the heavy chains of these proteins dominate in interacting with bound phosphorylcholine; the various subspecificities of these proteins for phosphorylcholine analogues can be accounted for by amino acid changes in the hypervariable regions of the heavy chains

Embracing the Struggle - Strategies to Improve Physical Activity for Exhausted Nurses

According to the World Health Organization, 1 in 4 adults do not meet the globally recommended physical activity levels (WHO, 2022). There is a 20-30% increased risk of death among persons who are not physically active (WHO, 2022). Multiple organizations have goals to increase physical activity to improve health: Healthy People 2030 (Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, n.d.), American College of Lifestyle Medicine (Lianov et al., 2022), World Health Organization (2022), Center for Disease Control & Prevention – Healthy People, Healthy Nation initiative (CDC, 2022). Healthcare workers, including nurses, experience challenges engaging in adequate physical activity (Jun et al., 2019; Nepper et al., 2021; Owusu-Sekyere, 2020; Saridi et al., 2019; Wolff et al., 2021). In December 2020, I tested positive for COVID-19. Over the previous few years, I gradually decreased my physical activity and increased my weight. This was a wake-up call. Since then, I’ve lost over 20 pounds and improved my physical activity and energy levels. In December 2022, I became a certified personal trainer. My goal is to help busy nurses incorporate simple strategies to prioritize self-care and improve overall health. During this workshop, you will learn practical solutions to embrace the struggle and consistently increase your physical activity and improve your overall health. References Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022, June 3). About Active People, Healthy NationSM. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/activepeoplehealthynation/about-active-people-healthy-nation.html Jun, S.Y., Kim, J., Choi, H., Kim, J.S., Lim, S.H., Sul, B., & Hong, B.Y. (2019). Physical activity of workers in a hospital. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2019; 16(4):532. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16040532 Lianov, L. S., Adamson, K., & Rea, B. L. (2022). Lifestyle medicine core competencies: 2022 update. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, 16(6), 734-739. https://doi.org/10.1177/15598276221121580 Nepper, M.J., McAtee, J.R., & Chai, W. (2021). Effect of a workplace weight-loss program for overweight and obese healthcare workers. American Journal of Health Promotion, 35(3), 352-361. https://doi.org/10.1177/0890117120960393 Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (n.d.). Physical Activity. Healthy People 2030. Retrieved from https://health.gov/healthypeople/objectives-and-data/browse-objectives/physical-activity Owusu-Sekyere, F. (2020). Assessing the effect of physical activity and exercise on nurses’ well-being. Nursing Standard. https://doi.org/10.7748/ns.2020.e11533 Saridi, M., Filippopoulou, T, Tzitzikos, G., Sarafis, P., Souliotis, K., & Karakatsani, D. (2019). Correlating physical activity and quality of life of healthcare workers. BMC Research Notes, 208(12), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-019-4240-1 Wolff M. B., O’Connor P. J., Wilson M. G., & Gay J.L. (2021). Associations between occupational and leisure-time physical activity with employee stress, burnout and well-being among healthcare industry workers. American Journal of Health Promotion, 35(7): 957-965. https://doi.org/10.1177/08901171211011372 World Health Organization (2022, October 5). Physical activity. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activit

On Upper Bounds for the Tail Distribution of Geometric Sums of Subexponential Random Variables

The approach used by Kalashnikov and Tsitsiashvili for constructing upper bounds for the tail distribution of a geometric sum with subexponential summands is reconsidered. By expressing the problem in a more probabilistic light, several improvements and one correction are made, which enables the constructed bound to be significantly tighter. Several examples are given, showing how to implement the theoretical result.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure

All for One and One for All! Disparity Between Overall Crew’s and Individual Rowers’ Pacing Strategies During Rowing

Purpose: This study examined individual contributions to overall pacing strategy during 2- and 5-km rowing trials in a cox-less-4 boat. Methods: A crew of 4 male rowers performed maximal-effort on-water trials over 2 and 5 km, and power output during every individual stroke was measured for each crew member. Mean overall boat and individual rower stroke power were calculated for each 25% epoch (25% of total strokes taken), and power for each individual epoch was calculated as a percentage of mean power maintained over the entire distance. The coefficient of variation was used to determine stroke-to-stroke and epoch-to-epoch variability for individual rowers and the overall boat. Results: In both trials, the overall pacing strategy consisted of a high power output in the initial 25% that decreased in the middle 50% and increased again in the final 25%. However, individual rower data indicate wide variation in individual power profiles that did not always mimic the overall boat profile. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that overall boat power profiles during 2- and 5-km rowing trials are similar to velocity profiles previously reported for individual ergometry and on-water racing events. However, this over-all profile is achieved despite considerable variation in individual rower profiles. Further research is warranted to determine the mechanisms through which individual contributions to overall pacing strategy are regulated and the effectiveness or oth-erwise of seemingly disparate individual strategies on overall performance

Assessing the potential for tertiary nitrification in sub-surface flow constructed wetlands

The challenge of how to maintain or improve wastewater treatment performance without causing an excessive increase in energy or costs is increasingly focussed towards ammonia. On small sewage treatment works, solutions have historically been energy intensive: to divert waste to a larger plant, add a polishing step to the end of the process flow sheet or upgrade and replace upstream processes. Constructed wetlands (CWs) offer a low energy alternative to meet these challenges. This review explores oxygen transfer theory; nitrification performance of existing CW systems, and the key affecting factors to be considered when implementing the technology for tertiary treatment upgrades. Future perspectives include the use of artificial aeration and greater consideration of vertical sub-surface flow systems as they achieve the nitrification capacity in a smaller footprint than horizontal flow systems and, where suitable hydraulics permit, can be operated under very low energy demand

Some non-standard approaches to the study of sums of heavy-tailed distributions

Heavy-tailed phenomena arise whenever events with very low probability have sufficiently large consequences that these events cannot be treated as negligible. These are sometimes described as low intensity, high impact events. Sums of heavy-tailed random variables play a major role in many areas of applied probability, for instance in risk theory, insurance mathematics, financial mathematics, queueing theory, telecommunications and computing, to name but a few areas. The theory of the asymptotic behaviour of a sum of independent heavy-tailed random variables is well-understood. We give a review of known results in this area, stressing the importance of some insensitivity properties of the class of long-tailed distributions. We introduce the new concept of the Boundary Class for a long-tailed distribution, and describe some of its properties and uses. We give examples of calculating the boundary class. Geometric sums of random variables are a useful model in their own right, for instance in reliability theory, but are also useful because they model the maximum of a random walk, which is itself a model that occurs in many applications. When the summands are heavy-tailed and independent then the asymptotic behaviour has been known since the 1970s. The asymptotic expression for the geometric sum is often used as an approximation to the actual distribution, owing to the (usually) analytically intractable form of the exact distribution. However the accuracy of this asymptotic approximation can be very poor, as we demonstrate. Following and further developing work by Kalashnikov and Tsitsiashvili we construct an upper bound for the relative accuracy of this approximation. We then develop new techniques for the application of our analytical results, and apply these in practice to several examples. Source code viii for the computer algorithms used in these calculations is given. As we have said, the asymptotic behaviour of a sum of heavy-tailed random variables is well-understood when the random variables are independent, the main characteristic being the principle of the single big jump. However, the case when the random variables are dependent is much less clear. We study this case for both deterministic and random sums using a novel approach, by considering conditional independence structures on the random variables. We seek sufficient conditions for the results of the theory with independent random variables still to hold. We give several examples to show how to apply and check our conditions, and the examples demonstrate a variety of effects owing to the dependence, and are also interesting in their own right. All the results we develop on this topic are entirely new. Some of the examples also include results that are new and have not been obtainable through previously existing techniques. For some examples we study the asymptotic behaviour is known, and this allows us to contrast our approach with previous approaches

Aboriginal Title or the Paramountcy Doctrine? \u3ci\u3eJohnson v. McIntosh\u3c/i\u3e Flounders in Federal Waters off Alsaka in \u3ci\u3eNative Village of Eyak v. Trawler Diane Marie, Inc.\u3c/i\u3e

In Johnson v. McIntosh and its progeny, the United States Supreme Court established the principle that aboriginal title allows Indian tribes to exclusively use and occupy their territories after they come under United States sovereignty. In Native Village of Eyak v. Trawler Diane Marie, Inc., five Alaska Native villages asserted aboriginal title to areas of the seabed and ocean off Alaska. The villages argued that federal fisheries regulations violate their aboriginal title by allowing non-Natives to fish within those areas, while excluding most of the villagers. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected the villages\u27 claim, holding that the paramountcy doctrine had extinguished the villages\u27 aboriginal title. Under the paramountcy doctrine, the federal government must control exploitation of the seabed and ocean to fulfill its duty to defend the nation and to regulate international commerce. The Eyak court held that aboriginal title would conflict with federal supremacy over the seabed and ocean off Alaska. This Comment argues that the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit en banc or the U.S. Supreme Court should hold that the paramountcy doctrine did not extinguish aboriginal title to the seabed and waters off Alaska because aboriginal title does not interfere with the federal government\u27s ability to protect the nation or to regulate international trade