Study of radiation damage and substrate resistivity effects from beam test of silicon microstrip detectors using LHC readout electronics

We present the beam test results of single-sided silicon microstrip detectors, with different substrate resistivities. The effects of radiation damage are studied for a detector irradiated to a fluence of 2.4 multiplied by 10**1**4 n/cm**2. The detectors are read out with the APV6 chip, which is compatible with the 40 MHz LHC clock. The performance of different detectors and readout modes are studied in terms of signal-to-noise ratio and efficiency

The Italian arm of the PREPARE study: an international project to evaluate and license a maternal vaccine against group B streptococcus.

BACKGROUND: Group B streptococcus (GBS) is a leading cause of sepsis, pneumonia and meningitis in infants, with long term neurodevelopmental sequelae. GBS may be associated with poor pregnancy outcomes, including spontaneous abortion, stillbirth and preterm birth. Intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis (IAP) is currently the only way to prevent early-onset disease (presenting at 0 to 6 days of life), although it has no impact on the disease presenting over 6 days of life and its implementation is challenging in resource poor countries. A maternal vaccine against GBS could reduce all GBS manifestations as well as improve pregnancy outcomes, even in low-income countries. MAIN BODY: The term "PREPARE" designates an international project aimed at developing a maternal vaccination platform to test vaccines against neonatal GBS infections by maternal immunization. It is a non-profit, multi-center, interventional and experimental study (promoted by the St George University of London. [UK]) with the aim of developing a maternal vaccination platform, determining pregnancy outcomes, and defining the extent of GBS infections in children and mothers in Africa. PREPARE also aims to estimate the protective serocorrelates against the main GBS serotypes that cause diseases in Europe and Africa and to conduct two trials on candidate GBS vaccines. PREPARE consists of 6 work packages. In four European countries (Italy, UK, Netherlands, France) the recruitment of cases and controls will start in 2020 and will end in 2022. The Italian PREPARE network includes 41 centers. The Italian network aims to collect: GBS isolates from infants with invasive disease, maternal and neonatal sera (cases); cord sera and GBS strains from colonized mothers whose infants do not develop GBS infection (controls). SHORT CONCLUSION: PREPARE will contribute information on protective serocorrelates against the main GBS serotypes that cause diseases in Europe and Africa. The vaccine that will be tested by the PREPARE study could be an effective strategy to prevent GBS disease

Analysis of shared common genetic risk between amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and epilepsy

Because hyper-excitability has been shown to be a shared pathophysiological mechanism, we used the latest and largest genome-wide studies in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (n = 36,052) and epilepsy (n = 38,349) to determine genetic overlap between these conditions. First, we showed no significant genetic correlation, also when binned on minor allele frequency. Second, we confirmed the absence of polygenic overlap using genomic risk score analysis. Finally, we did not identify pleiotropic variants in meta-analyses of the 2 diseases. Our findings indicate that amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and epilepsy do not share common genetic risk, showing that hyper-excitability in both disorders has distinct origins

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Everyday roles and development of selves : understanding women's identity over time across work, family and involvement outside the household.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Rochester. Margaret Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development, 2014.This study examines the social construction of identity by women using a quantitative methodological framework and multi-level modeling techniques. Identity construction is a social process that takes place over time and includes nested levels of influence ranging from individual to society. In case of women, these identity constructions are distinctly complex because they play different roles in everyday lives--as wives, mothers, and labor market and community participants. Drawing on theories of social identity and the development of self, which claim that identity is formed and maintained socially, and changes over time, the study attempts to understand the longitudinal relationships between the identities that women construct as participants in the (1) labor market, (2) family, and (3) community, and their attitudes about self, and how that changes over time. Socially constructed identities are based on core values and beliefs like social approval, belonging, sense of responsibility, and caring that evolve from the micro factors of life through a process of negotiation of everyday roles and help in the development of the self. Thus, the primary question that guides this research is how the identity constructs formed by women in performing different everyday roles are related to the development of the self over time. Data for my dissertation comes from the National Longitudinal Surveys of the Young Women (NLSYW) cohort, collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, covering the period 1968-2003. My study uses data from the last seven waves of the survey, covering a period of twelve years. Specifically, I analyzed the data using descriptive statistics, correlational statistic, hierarchical linear model (HLM) analysis and residual change multiple regression analysis to explain within and across women, and across time variances. The results suggest that there is a complex effect of women taking on a more diverse set of roles within their daily lives both inside and outside their households. One of my main findings is that women, who exhibit community participation like volunteering, feel less negative about themselves over time. However, the rate of change of positive feeling about self, while improving with better economic conditions of the household, gets thwarted with bigger household sizes (probably with increase in family responsibilities). My dissertation hopes to strengthen the understanding of complex problems related with identity constructions and self-development in everyday-role-performances by women and how these issues can be studied using unique research methodologies

The Impact of a multicultural course on graduate students’ formation of cultural competent dispositions in speech-language pathology

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Rochester. Margaret Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development, 2009.The purpose of this study was to explore students’ response to a multicultural course for graduate level speech-language pathology preservice candidates grounded in a sociocultural conceptual framework. This study will describe: 1) the innovative instructional methods used for the delivery of multicultural course content, 2) student’s perceptions and experience in developing cultural competency before and after completing the course, and 3) in-depth analysis of students’ responsiveness to the multicultural course with a specific focus on the students’ attitudes and belief systems associated with the development of cultural competence. The participants in this study were speech-language pathology graduate students enrolled in a multicultural course offered at a small private college. All data used for analysis came from routine documentation collected as part of the course requirements. This qualitative case study employed a multiple methods strategy that allowed for triangulation of data collected from several sources, which included an informal cultural diversity awareness screening, an informal cultural competency survey developed by the principal investigator, reflective journals, individual interviews, a final class project and instructor’s field notes and reflex journal. Results of the study revealed that the course had a positive and multifaceted impact on the students’ multicultural awareness and progression toward development of cultural competency. The students identified several instructional strategies, including self-reflection, critical discussion and cross-cultural immersion experiences, as contributing most significantly to their favorable response to the course and the achievement of the targeted student learning outcomes. The results of this study have implications for future multicultural course work and curriculum development for pre-service training of speech-language pathology students