Recently, there have been a large number of studies using resting state fMRI to characterize abnormal brain connectivity in patients with a variety of neurological, psychiatric and developmental ...disorders. However, interpreting what the differences in resting state functional connectivity (rsfMRI-FC) actually reflect in terms of the underlying neural pathology has proved to be elusive because of the complexity of brain anatomical connectivity. The same is the case for task-based fMRI studies. In the last few years, several groups have used large-scale neural modeling to help provide some insight into the relationship between brain anatomical connectivity and the corresponding patterns of fMRI-FC. In this paper we review several efforts at using large-scale neural modeling to investigate the relationship between structural connectivity and functional/effective connectivity to determine how alterations in structural connectivity are manifested in altered patterns of functional/effective connectivity. Because the alterations made in the anatomical connectivity between specific brain regions in the model are known in detail, one can use the results of these simulations to determine the corresponding alterations in rsfMRI-FC. Many of these simulation studies found that structural connectivity changes do not necessarily result in matching changes in functional/effective connectivity in the areas of structural modification. Often, it was observed that increases in functional/effective connectivity in the altered brain did not necessarily correspond to increases in the strength of the anatomical connection weights. Note that increases in rsfMRI-FC in patients have been interpreted in some cases as resulting from neural plasticity. These results suggest that this interpretation can be mistaken. The relevance of these simulation findings to the use of functional/effective fMRI connectivity as biomarkers for brain disorders is also discussed.
The abundance and distribution of Culex spp. mosquitoes, mosquito-eating fish (Gambusia affinis), and other macroinvertebrates were assessed within wide (width: 20m) and narrow (width: 3m) bands of ...California bulrush (Schoenoplectus californicus) and in the open water adjacent to emergent vegetation in two marshes of an ammonia-dominated wastewater treatment wetland in southern California. Emergence traps and minnow traps were used to collect fauna along transects perpendicular to the path of water flow at three distances (1.5, 5 and 10m) from the vegetation–open water interface in the wide bands of emergent vegetation, at the center of narrow bands of emergent vegetation and at 1.5m from the edge of emergent vegetation in the open water. Mosquito production was least from the open water sites and, relative to sites within the wide band of vegetation in each of the two marshes studied, was significantly lower from the narrow bands of emergent vegetation where mosquitofish populations increased comparatively more during the summer and nektonic predatory insects (Notonectidae) were more abundant. Adult mosquito production was greatest at the middle of wide bands of bulrush. Despite an ongoing integrated mosquito management (IMM) program that included routine application of larvicides and adulticides, Culex mosquitoes emerged in large numbers (>200 individuals/m2/day) along transects within the interiors of wide bands of emergent vegetation in the late spring and summer. The width of bands of emergent vegetation in constructed treatment wetlands should be minimized to the greatest extent possible to achieve water quality goals yet to facilitate both ecological and, when necessary, chemical control of mosquitoes.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Introduction
Sustained undetectable viral loads (UDVLs) on antiretroviral therapy (ART) eliminate sexual HIV transmission. We measured prevalence and correlates of sexual anxiety among women living ...with HIV.
Methods
We used questionnaire data collected between August 2013 and May 2015 from 1422 women ≥ 16 years in the Canadian HIV Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Cohort Study. Among women reporting consensual sex in the past month (
n
= 474), we determined the proportion who reported high anxiety (“always/usually became anxious or inhibited during sexual activity with a partner”), low anxiety (“sometimes/seldom”), and no anxiety. Logistic regression identified medical, psychological, relational, and social correlates, including awareness of ART prevention benefits (i.e., “makes the risk of transmitting HIV a lot lower
”
).
Results
Cohort diversity is reflected in age (range 17–66; median 39), gender (5.7% trans), ethnicity (41.6% White, 24.5% Indigenous, 27.0% African/Caribbean/Black), sexual orientation (14.2% lesbian/queer), and time living with HIV (range 18 days–30 years.). Overall, 58.6% reported feeling no sexual anxiety, while the remainder said that they always/usually (14.6%) or sometimes/seldom (26.8%) became anxious or inhibited during sex. Current sex work, previous illicit drug use, and depression were associated with higher adjusted odds of sexual anxiety, while greater emotional closeness and more equitable relationship power were associated with lower odds. There was no correlation between awareness of ART prevention benefits and sexual anxiety.
Conclusions
Relatively few women reported high anxiety during sex with a partner. This was more socially and relationally influenced than linked to understanding ART prevention benefits.
Policy Implications
Women living with HIV should be supported to have great sex, free from worry, by tackling unequal power in women’s intimate relationships, lack of access to resources, and mental health difficulties.
We report a straightforward route for preparing bulk quantities of size-controlled and low size dispersity copper oxide nanoclusters on amorphous silica. Adsorption of the copper–dendrimer complex on ...the silica surface minimizes aggregation, which results in previously unachieved low size dispersity of the nanoclusters. Copper oxide nanoclusters with mean diameters of 1–5
nm with size dispersities of only 8–15% were prepared by calcination of silica impregnated with Cu(II)–poly(propylene imine) dendrimer complexes of varying stoichiometry. The size and size distribution of the copper oxide nanoparticles are tunably controlled by the ratio of the Cu(II) to the terminal primary amines in the copper–dendrimer complex, DAB-Am
n
–Cu(II)
x
, the surface coverage of the DAB-Am
n
–Cu(II)
x
, and the impregnation procedure. This method is anticipated to be useful in the preparation of other metal oxide nanoparticles, e.g., Ni and Fe, and with other oxide substrates.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Background: Countries worldwide are expending significant resources to improve air quality partly to improve the health of their citizens. Are these societal expenditures improving public health? ...Objectives: We consider these issues by tracking the risk of death associated with outdoor air pollution over both space and time in Canadian cities. Materials and methods: We propose two multi-year estimators that use current plus several previous years of data to estimate current year risk. The estimators are derived from sequential time series analyses using moving time windows. To evaluate the statistical properties of the proposed methods, a simulation study with three scenarios of changing risk was conducted based on 12 Canadian cities from 1981 to 2000. Then an optimal estimator was applied to 24 of Canada's largest cities over the 17-year period from 1984 to 2000. Results: The annual average daily concentrations of ozone appeared to be increasing over the time period, whereas those of nitrogen dioxide were decreasing. However, the proposed method returns different time trends in public health risks. Evidence for some monotonic increasing trends in the annual risks is weak for O₃ (p = 0.3870) but somewhat stronger for NO₂ (p = 0.1082). In particular, an increasing time trend becomes apparent when excluding year 1998, which reveals lower risk than proximal years, even though concentrations of NO₂ were decreasing. The simulation results validate our two proposed methods, producing estimates close to the preassigned values. Conclusions: Despite decreasing ambient concentrations, public health risks related to NO₂ appear to be increasing. Further investigations are necessary to understand why the concentrations and adverse effects of NO₂ show opposite time trends.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NMLJ, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
Chondrosarcomas are among the most malignant skeletal tumors. Dedifferentiated chondrosarcoma is a highly aggressive subtype of chondrosarcoma, with lung metastases developing within a few months of ...diagnosis in 90% of patients. In this paper we performed comparative analyses of the transcriptomes of five individual metastatic lung lesions that were surgically resected from a patient with dedifferentiated chondrosarcoma. We document for the first time a high heterogeneity of gene expression profiles among the individual lung metastases. Moreover, we reveal a signature of “multifunctional” genes that are expressed in all metastatic lung lesions. Also, for the first time, we document the occurrence of massive macrophage infiltration in dedifferentiated chondrosarcoma lung metastases.
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DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
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