Creating a Safe Haven in the Online-Dating Community

Internet dating websites have become an increasingly popular way for people to meet their significant others. These websites provide an easily accessible way to engage in the dating world, in a time when lifestyles have become jammed packed with other obligations. Safety concerns accompany this increased usage because of the nature of these websites. Member profiles only provide a glimpse of the potential partner, and often times are false or misleading. A user may unknowingly be communicating with a sex offender, and not even know it. This interaction has the potential of leading to a sexual offense. This post was originally published on the Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal website on March 2, 2015. The original post can be accessed via the Archived Link button above

PUBH 3432 – Introduction to Global Health Policy

This course introduces the range of cultural and policy approaches different countries take to health, healthcare access, and related population-level health interventions. As part of this course, students will compare different healthcare systems from selected countries. (3 credits

PUBH 4233 Topics in Global Epidemiology

This course will introduce students to the field of epidemiology as applied in a global context. Students will be introduced to basic concepts of epidemiology as well as an overview of topics across the discipline. Special emphasis will be placed on health issues in the low and middle-income countries and case studies will be used as examples to illustrate concepts and topics of epidemiology. (3 credits

Embodied Ethics : Transformation, Care, and Activism Through Artistic Engagement

In what follows, I highlight negative environmental perspectives and actions based on traditional patterns of Western dualist thought with the ultimate aim of developing an alternative way of relating to the environment and the ‘other’, in general. In pursuit of such an alternative, I utilize embodied artistic practices in order to present the notion that one can engage more holistically with one’s environment, and the other. Through habitual, lifelong ‚Ways‛ cultivating specific practices generally necessary to creating and to viewing art, I argue, one can refine one’s ethical awareness and action. Following the aims of care ethics’ more context and experience-oriented approach to moral concern and to treatment of the other, as well as the philosophies of Japan, and feminist philosopher, Irigaray, I show how these artistic practices form a new awareness and stance that encompasses components of care. Finally, I briefly highlight how art has been used for positive activism

Branch length estimation and divergence dating: estimates of error in Bayesian and maximum likelihood frameworks

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Estimates of divergence dates between species improve our understanding of processes ranging from nucleotide substitution to speciation. Such estimates are frequently based on molecular genetic differences between species; therefore, they rely on accurate estimates of the number of such differences (i.e. substitutions per site, measured as branch length on phylogenies). We used simulations to determine the effects of dataset size, branch length heterogeneity, branch depth, and analytical framework on branch length estimation across a range of branch lengths. We then reanalyzed an empirical dataset for plethodontid salamanders to determine how inaccurate branch length estimation can affect estimates of divergence dates.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The accuracy of branch length estimation varied with branch length, dataset size (both number of taxa and sites), branch length heterogeneity, branch depth, dataset complexity, and analytical framework. For simple phylogenies analyzed in a Bayesian framework, branches were increasingly underestimated as branch length increased; in a maximum likelihood framework, longer branch lengths were somewhat overestimated. Longer datasets improved estimates in both frameworks; however, when the number of taxa was increased, estimation accuracy for deeper branches was less than for tip branches. Increasing the complexity of the dataset produced more misestimated branches in a Bayesian framework; however, in an ML framework, more branches were estimated more accurately. Using ML branch length estimates to re-estimate plethodontid salamander divergence dates generally resulted in an increase in the estimated age of older nodes and a decrease in the estimated age of younger nodes.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Branch lengths are misestimated in both statistical frameworks for simulations of simple datasets. However, for complex datasets, length estimates are quite accurate in ML (even for short datasets), whereas few branches are estimated accurately in a Bayesian framework. Our reanalysis of empirical data demonstrates the magnitude of effects of Bayesian branch length misestimation on divergence date estimates. Because the length of branches for empirical datasets can be estimated most reliably in an ML framework when branches are <1 substitution/site and datasets are ≥1 kb, we suggest that divergence date estimates using datasets, branch lengths, and/or analytical techniques that fall outside of these parameters should be interpreted with caution.</p

Bioprinted in vitro model of human glioblastoma

Glioblastoma multiform (GBM) is one of the most aggressive forms of primary brain tumors. GBM is fast progressing and resistant to treatment, resulting in a low survival rate. Conventional 2-dimensional tissue culture models cannot fully replicate the complexities of cancer lesions that contain multiple cell types and structures (e.g. vessels composed of endothelial cells, cancer cells, normal cells, etc.) as well as an intricate scaffold of proteins comprising the extracellular matrix (ECM). In addition, animal models cannot translate into the clinical disease in patients. Thus, this study has developed a bioprintable organ-on-a-chip (OOAC) model that mimics the important ECM factors of the GBM tumor microenvironment to study GBM invasive migration in vitro. Gelatin methacrylol (GelMA), endothelial cell (HUVEC) lined channels, human GBM cells (U87) and hyaluronic acid (HA) were selected to create bioinks to print the OOAC. 5-7% (w/v). GelMA with variable levels of HA was found to be mechanically comparable to native ECM of the brain. Different bioink combinations were explored to match the Young\u27s modulus of common GBM tumors found in literature. Spreading of endothelial cells in a microfluidic channel were observed with a monoculture OOAC, and a viable bioink composition and culture method were developed to support co-culture in the OOAC. Our diseased tissue model can replicate the GBM ECM and can allow for multi-cell culture migration studies in the future

Variation in DNA Substitution Rates among Lineages Erroneously Inferred from Simulated Clock-Like Data

BACKGROUND: The observation of variation in substitution rates among lineages has led to (1) a general rejection of the molecular clock model, and (2) the suggestion that a number of biological characteristics of organisms can cause rate variation. Accurate estimates of rate variation, and thus accurate inferences regarding the causes of rate variation, depend on accurate estimates of substitution rates. However, theory suggests that even when the substitution process is clock-like, variable numbers of substitutions can occur among lineages because the substitution process is stochastic. Furthermore, substitution rates along lineages can be misestimated, particularly when multiple substitutions occur at some sites. Although these potential causes of error in rate estimation are well understood in theory, such error has not been examined in detail; consequently, empirical studies that estimate rate variation among lineages have been unable to determine whether their results could be impacted by estimation error. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: To evaluate the extent to which error in rate estimation could erroneously suggest rate variation among lineages, we examined rate variation estimated for datasets simulated under a molecular clock on trees with equal and variable branch lengths. Thus, any apparent rate variation in these datasets reflects error in rate estimation rather than true differences in the underlying substitution process. We observed substantial rate variation among lineages in our simulations; however, we did not observe rate variation when average substitution rates were compared between different clades. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our results confirm previous theoretical work suggesting that observations of among lineage rate variation in empirical data may be due to the stochastic substitution process and error in the estimation of substitution rates, rather than true differences in the underlying substitution process among lineages. However, conclusions regarding rate variation drawn from rates averaged across multiple branches are likely due to real, systematic variation in rates between groups

Genome-scale Profiling Reveals Noncoding Loci Carry Higher Proportions of Concordant Data

Many evolutionary relationships remain controversial despite whole-genome sequencing data. These controversies arise in part due to challenges associated with accurately modeling the complex phylogenetic signal coming from genomic regions experiencing distinct evolutionary forces. Here we examine how different regions of the genome support or contradict well-established hypotheses among three mammal groups using millions of orthologous parsimony-informative biallelic sites [PIBS] distributed across primate, rodent, and Pecora genomes. We compared PIBS concordance percentages among locus types (e.g. coding sequences, introns, intergenic regions), and contrasted PIBS utility over evolutionary timescales. Sites derived from noncoding sequences provided more data and proportionally more concordant sites compared with those from coding sequences [CDS] in all clades. CDS PIBS were also predominant drivers of tree incongruence in two cases of topological conflict. PIBS derived from most locus types provided surprisingly consistent support for splitting events spread across the timescales we examined, although we find evidence that CDS and intronic PIBS may, respectively and to a limited degree, inform disproportionately about older and younger splits. In this era of accessible whole genome sequence data, these results (1) suggest benefits to more intentionally focusing on noncoding loci as robust data for tree inference, and (2) reinforce the importance of accurate modeling, especially when using CDS data

A Composite Genome Approach to Identify Phylogenetically Informative Data from Next-Generation Sequencing

We have developed a novel method to rapidly obtain homologous genomic data for phylogenetics directly from next-generation sequencing reads without the use of a reference genome. This software, called SISRS, avoids the time consuming steps of de novo whole genome assembly, genome-genome alignment, and annotation. For simulations SISRS is able to identify large numbers of loci containing variable sites with phylogenetic signal. For genomic data from apes, SISRS identified thousands of variable sites, from which we produced an accurate phylogeny. Finally, we used SISRS to identify phylogenetic markers that we used to estimate the phylogeny of placental mammals. We recovered phylogenies from multiple datasets that were consistent with previous conflicting estimates of the relationships among mammals. SISRS is open source and freely available at https://github.com/rachelss/SISRS.Comment: 12 pages plus36 figures, 1 supplementary table, 3 supplementary figure