Introduction
The racial riots of 2020 in the US, beginning in Minneapolis, had a global impact inciting protests internationally. We look at the impact of COVID, the social isolation and frustration ...that therefore existed and how this effected the instigation of the riots.
Objectives
--To review the history of racism in the United States and the abolition theories, comparing US and UK. --To consider the impact of international immigration on the cultural tension in the US; Minnesota accepted a large population of Somalis in 1992 as refugees. --To explore how this progress toward racial equality has stagnated under the leadership of President Donald Trump. --To look at how COVID in the context of the above historical factors has served as a unwitting catalyst to racial riots and global protests.
Methods
Literature research including historical accounts of principles of abolition, post-civil war reconstructive political manuevers, 1950’s segregation protests and political supports (US and UK), refugee relief efforts made by the US specifically related to Somalia, and reports regarding the impact of COVID on the 2020 reaction to racial injustice.
Results
Evidence suggests that across time periods, recourses of politicians US and global resulted in negative relations internationally with respect to immigration. The unique situation created by COVID resulted in a crucible effect following the death of George Floyd.
Conclusions
Previous attempts at creating equality have proven unsuccessful and apathetic on the part of those in power. This has lead to a situation where COVID created a perfect storm in order to ignite racial tensions in the US.
Cognitive impairments are currently regarded as important determinants of functional domains and are promising treatment goals in schizophrenia. Nevertheless, the exact nature of the interdependent ...relationship between neurocognition and social cognition as well as the relative contribution of each of these factors to adequate functioning remains unclear. The purpose of this article is to systematically review the findings and methodology of studies that have investigated social cognition as a mediator variable between neurocognitive performance and functional outcome in schizophrenia. Moreover, we carried out a study to evaluate this mediation hypothesis by the means of structural equation modeling in a large sample of 148 schizophrenia patients. The review comprised 15 studies. All but one study provided evidence for the mediating role of social cognition both in cross-sectional and in longitudinal designs. Other variables like motivation and social competence additionally mediated the relationship between social cognition and functional outcome. The mean effect size of the indirect effect was 0.20. However, social cognitive domains were differentially effective mediators. On average, 25% of the variance in functional outcome could be explained in the mediation model. The results of our own statistical analysis are in line with these conclusions: Social cognition mediated a significant indirect relationship between neurocognition and functional outcome. These results suggest that research should focus on differential mediation pathways. Future studies should also consider the interaction with other prognostic factors, additional mediators, and moderators in order to increase the predictive power and to target those factors relevant for optimizing therapy effects.
Prenatal stress is associated with an increased vulnerability to neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism and schizophrenia. To determine the critical time window when fetal antecedents may ...induce a disease predisposition, we examined behavioral responses in offspring exposed to stress during early, mid, and late gestation. We found that male offspring exposed to stress early in gestation displayed maladaptive behavioral stress responsivity, anhedonia, and an increased sensitivity to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor treatment. Long-term alterations in central corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) and glucocorticoid receptor (GR) expression, as well as increased hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis responsivity, were present in these mice and likely contributed to an elevated stress sensitivity. Changes in CRF and GR gene methylation correlated with altered gene expression, providing important evidence of epigenetic programming during early prenatal stress. In addition, we found the core mechanism underlying male vulnerability may involve sex-specific placenta responsivity, where stress early in pregnancy significantly increased expression of PPARalpha (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha), IGFBP-1 (insulin-like growth factor binding protein 1), HIF3alpha (hypoxia-inducible factor 3a), and GLUT4 (glucose transporter 4) in male placentas but not females. Examination of placental epigenetic machinery revealed basal sex differences, providing further evidence that sex-specific programming begins very early in pregnancy, and may contribute to the timing and vulnerability of the developing fetus to maternal perturbations. Overall, these results indicate that stress experience early in pregnancy may contribute to male neurodevelopmental disorders through impacts on placental function and fetal development.
The release of untreated sewage introduces non-indigenous microbial populations of uncertain composition into surface waters. We used massively parallel 454 pyrosequencing of hypervariable regions in ...rRNA genes to profile microbial communities from eight untreated sewage influent samples of two wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in metropolitan Milwaukee. The sewage profiles included a discernible human faecal signature made up of several taxonomic groups including multiple Bifidobacteriaceae, Coriobacteriaceae, Bacteroidaceae, Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcaceae genera. The faecal signature made up a small fraction of the taxa present in sewage but the relative abundance of these sequence tags mirrored the population structures of human faecal samples. These genera were much more prevalent in the sewage influent than standard indicators species. High-abundance sequences from taxonomic groups within the Beta- and Gammaproteobacteria dominated the sewage samples but occurred at very low levels in faecal and surface water samples, suggesting that these organisms proliferate within the sewer system. Samples from Jones Island (JI - servicing residential plus a combined sewer system) and South Shore (SS - servicing a residential area) WWTPs had very consistent community profiles, with greater similarity between WWTPs on a given collection day than the same plant collected on different days. Rainfall increased influent flows at SS and JI WWTPs, and this corresponded to greater diversity in the community at both plants. Overall, the sewer system appears to be a defined environment with both infiltration of rainwater and stormwater inputs modulating community composition. Microbial sewage communities represent a combination of inputs from human faecal microbes and enrichment of specific microbes from the environment to form a unique population structure.
In recent years, new research has brought the field of electroencephalogram (EEG)-based brain-computer interfacing (BCI) out of its infancy and into a phase of relative maturity through many ...demonstrated prototypes such as brain-controlled wheelchairs, keyboards, and computer games. With this proof-of-concept phase in the past, the time is now ripe to focus on the development of practical BCI technologies that can be brought out of the lab and into real-world applications. In particular, we focus on the prospect of improving the lives of countless disabled individuals through a combination of BCI technology with existing assistive technologies (AT). In pursuit of more practical BCIs for use outside of the lab, in this paper, we identify four application areas where disabled individuals could greatly benefit from advancements in BCI technology, namely, "Communication and Control", "Motor Substitution", "Entertainment", and "Motor Recovery". We review the current state of the art and possible future developments, while discussing the main research issues in these four areas. In particular, we expect the most progress in the development of technologies such as hybrid BCI architectures, user-machine adaptation algorithms, the exploitation of users' mental states for BCI reliability and confidence measures, the incorporation of principles in human-computer interaction (HCI) to improve BCI usability, and the development of novel BCI technology including better EEG devices.
Objective
To characterise the bladder microbiota of continent adult women.
Design
Cross‐sectional study of adult women who contributed catheterised urine samples, completed validated symptom ...questionnaires, and provided demographic data.
Setting
US academic medical centre.
Population
Well‐characterised continent adult women.
Methods
Participants contributed symptoms questionnaires, demographic data, and catheterised urine samples that were analysed by enhanced urine culture methodology and 16S rRNA gene sequencing.
Main outcome measures
Associations between demographics and microbial community state structures (urotypes, defined by the dominant taxon of each specimen).
Results
The bladder microbiota (urobiome) of a control group of 224 continent women were characterised, demonstrating variability in terms of urotype. The most common urotype was Lactobacillus (19%), which did not differ with any demographic. In contrast, the Gardnerella (P < 0.001) and Escherichia (P = 0.005) urotypes were more common in younger and older women, respectively.
Conclusions
For urobiome research, enhanced culture methods and/or DNA sequencing are the preferred techniques for bacterial detection. The interpretation of clinical tests, such as the standard urine culture, should incorporate the knowledge that some women have Gardnerella or Escherichia urotypes without evidence of any clinical disorder. Clinical care strategies should preserve or restore the beneficial effects of the native urobiome, as disruption of that microbial community could result in unintended vulnerability to uropathogen invasion or opportunistic pathogen overgrowth. Longitudinal studies of urobiome responses to therapies should be encouraged.
Tweetable
In continent adult women bladder microbiome composition differs by age, with relevance for clinical practice.
Tweetable
In continent adult women bladder microbiome composition differs by age, with relevance for clinical practice.
Solid‐state lighting is a rapidly evolving, emerging technology whose efficiency of conversion of electricity to visible white light is likely to approach 50% within the next several years. This ...efficiency is significantly higher than that of traditional lighting technologies, giving solid‐state lighting the potential to enable significant reduction in the rate of world energy consumption. Further, there is no fundamental physical reason why efficiencies well beyond 50% could not be achieved, which could enable even more significant reduction in world energy usage. In this article, we discuss in some detail: (a) the several approaches to inorganic solid‐state lighting that could conceivably achieve “ultra‐high,” 70% or greater, efficiency, and (b) the significant research questions and challenges that would need to be addressed if one or more of these approaches were to be realized.
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