Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) is a relatively simple, inexpensive and non-invasive technique to measure body composition and is therefore suitable in field studies and larger surveys.
We ...performed an overview of BIA-derived body fat percentages (BF%) from 55 published studies of healthy populations aged 6-80 years. In addition, the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and body composition is documented in the context of BIA as a good alternative to closely differentiate which composition of the body better relates to the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs)and all-cause mortality.
BIA-estimated percentage of BF varies greatly with population and age. BIA-estimated BF% is directly and closely related to various health outcomes such as CVDs, which is in contrast to BMI where both high and low BMIs are associated with increased risk of developing chronic diseases. Studies, among others using BIA, suggest that low BMI may reflect low muscle and high BMI fat mass (FM). BIA-derived lean and FM is directly associated with morbidity and mortality. To the contrary, BMI is rather of limited use for measuring BF% in epidemiological studies.
Paper is a material made from renewable resources, and it has been used intensively for almost 2000 years. It is a highly porous, bendable, and foldable flat structure of randomly arranged and ...connected fiber-like basic building blocks. The capability to transport fluids without pumps and sophisticated dosing systems is attractive. Paper microfluidics especially has gained increasing interest, particularly in the last decade. Although a number of interesting demonstration devices for easy-to-use diagnostic systems have been reported, only a limited number of these have found applications. This is mainly due to the geometric and chemical complexity of the material. While chemical functionalization (e.g., for defining hydrophobic barriers for spatially resolved fluid transport) is well advanced, understanding and controlling capillary-driven transport of a fluid within the complex porous matrix of paper. This article highlights recent advances and outlines design strategies for successful microfluidic paper-based applications.
Organizations are increasingly aware that a better vocational inclusion of persons with disabilities (PWD) is in their self-interest for reasons such as a shortage of skilled labor, an increasing ...prevalence of disability in their aging workforces, and changed societal attitudes and laws regarding the promotion of diversity and equity in the workplace. Human resource (HR) practices have been identified as a primary enabler of inclusion, yet research on disability-related HR Management is scattered across disciplines. To provide an evidence-based analysis and integration, this article systematically reviews the literature on HR management in the context of employing persons with disabilities, using the high-performance work practices 'selection and staffing', 'training and development', '(performance) appraisal, promotion, and career management' and 'compensation and benefits' as an organizing framework. We systematically reviewed and summarized the key findings of 74 empirical studies conducted from 1990 through 2020. Most studies focused on selection and staffing practices, providing strong evidence that standardization and structure reduce bias in the appraisal of PWD and related employment decisions. Research regarding appropriate HR practices that allow to utilize, develop and reward PWDs' potential, in contrast, is still in its infancy.
Background
Visual data are particularly amenable for machine learning techniques. With clinical photography established for skin surveillance and documentation purposes as well as progress checks, ...dermatology is an ideal field for the development and application of emerging machine learning health care applications (ML‐HCAs). To date, several ML‐HCAs have detected malignant skin lesions on par with experts or found overlooked visual patterns that correlate with certain dermatological diseases. However, it is well established that ML‐HCAs come with ethical and social implications.
Objectives
Currently, there is a lack of research that establishes model design, training, usage and regulation of such technologies sufficient to ensure ethically and socially responsible development and clinical translation, specifically within the field of dermatology. With this paper, we aim to give an overview of currently discussed ethical issues relating to dermatological ML‐HCAs.
Methods
On the basis of a thematic, keyword‐based literature search, we performed an ethical analysis against established frameworks of biomedical ethics. We combined our results with current, relevant normative machine learning ethics literature to identify the status quo of the ethics of ML‐HCAs in dermatology. We describe the benefits and risks of dermatological ML‐HCAs that are currently being developed for clinical purposes.
Results
The potential benefits range from better patient outcomes to better knowledge accessibility to decreasing health care disparities, that is, standards of care between different population groups. The risks associated with ML‐HCAs range from confidentiality issues to individual patient outcomes as well as the exacerbation of prevalent health care disparities. We discuss the practical implications for all stages of dermatological ML‐HCA development.
Conclusion
We found that ML‐HCAs present stakeholder‐specific risks for patients, health care professionals and society, which need to be considered separately. The discipline lacks sufficient biomedical ethics research that could standardize the approach to ML‐HCA model design, training, use and regulation of such technologies.
The outstanding diversity of Zr-based frameworks is inherently linked to the variable coordination geometry of Zr-oxo clusters and the conformational flexibility of the linker, both of which allow ...for different framework topologies based on the same linker–cluster combination. In addition, intrinsic structural disorder provides a largely unexplored handle to further expand the accessibility of novel metal–organic framework (MOF) structures that can be formed. In this work, we report the concomitant synthesis of three topologically different MOFs based on the same M6O4(OH)4 clusters (M = Zr or Hf) and methane-tetrakis(p-biphenyl-carboxylate) (MTBC) linkers. Two novel structural models are presented based on single-crystal diffraction analysis, namely, cubic c-(4,12)MTBC-M6 and trigonal tr-(4,12)MTBC-M6, which comprise 12-coordinated clusters and 4-coordinated tetrahedral linkers. Notably, the cubic phase features a new architecture based on orientational cluster disorder, which is essential for its formation and has been analyzed by a combination of average structure refinements and diffuse scattering analysis from both powder and single-crystal X-ray diffraction data. The trigonal phase also features structure disorder, although involving both linkers and secondary building units. In both phases, remarkable geometrical distortion of the MTBC linkers illustrates how linker flexibility is also essential for their formation and expands the range of achievable topologies in Zr-based MOFs and its analogues.
Aims. The relationship between baryonic and dark components in galaxies varies with the environment and cosmic time. Galaxy scaling relations describe strong trends between important physical ...properties. A very important quantitative tool in case of spiral galaxies is the Tully-Fisher relation (TFR), which combines the luminosity of the stellar population with the characteristic rotational velocity (Vmax) taken as proxy for the total mass. In order to constrain galaxy evolution in clusters, we need measurements of the kinematic status of cluster galaxies at the starting point of the hierarchical assembly of clusters and the epoch when cosmic star formation peaks. Methods. We took spatially resolved slit FORS2 spectra of 19 cluster galaxies at z ~ 1.4, and 8 additional field galaxies at 1 < z < 1.2 using the ESO Very Large Telescope. The targets were selected from previous spectroscopic and photometric campaigns as OII and Hα emitters. Our spectroscopy was complemented with HST/ACS imaging in the F775W and F850LP filters, which is mandatory to derive the galaxy structural parameters accurately. We analyzed the ionized gas kinematics by extracting rotation curves from the two-dimensional spectra. Taking into account all geometrical, observational, and instrumental effects, we used these rotation curves to derive the intrinsic maximum rotation velocity. Results. Vmax was robustly determined for six cluster galaxies and three field galaxies. Galaxies with sky contamination or insufficient spatial rotation curve extent were not included in our analysis. We compared our sample to the local B-band TFR and the local velocity-size relation (VSR), finding that cluster galaxies are on average 1.6 mag brighter and a factor 2–3 smaller. We tentatively divided our cluster galaxies by total mass (i.e., Vmax) to investigate a possible mass dependency in the environmental evolution of galaxies. The averaged deviation from the local TFR is ⟨ ΔMB ⟩ = −0.7 for the high-mass subsample (Vmax > 200 km s-1). This mild evolution may be driven by younger stellar populations (SP) of distant galaxies with respect to their local counterparts, and thus, an increasing luminosity is expected toward higher redshifts. However, the low-mass subsample (Vmax < 200 km s-1) is made of highly overluminous galaxies that show ⟨ ΔMB ⟩ = −2.4 mag. When we repeated a similar analysis with the stellar mass TFR, we did not find significant offsets in our subsamples with respect to recent results at similar redshift. While the B-band TFR is sensitive to recent episodes of star formation, the stellar mass TFR tracks the overall evolution of the underlying stellar population. In order to understand the discrepancies between these two incarnations of the TFR, the reported B-band offsets can no longer be explained only by the gradual evolution of stellar populations with lookback time. We suspect that we instead see compact galaxies whose star formation was enhanced during their infall toward the dense regions of the cluster through interactions with the intracluster medium.
Aims. While many aspects of the impact of dense environments on late-type galaxies at redshifts below unity have been scrutinized in the past few decades, observational studies of the interplay ...between environment and disk galaxy evolution at z > 1 are still scarce. We observed star-forming galaxies at z ≈ 1.5 selected from the HyperSuprimeCam Subaru Strategic Program. The galaxies are part of two significant overdensities of O II emitters identified via narrowband imaging and photometric redshifts from g r i z y photometry. Methods. We used the K -band Multi-Object Spectrograph (KMOS) to carry out H α integral field spectroscopy of 46 galaxies in total. Ionized gas maps, star formation rates, and velocity fields were derived from the H α emission line. We quantified morphological and kinematical asymmetries in order to look for potential gravitational (e.g., galaxy-galaxy) or hydrodynamical (e.g., ram-pressure) interactions. Results. H α emission was detected in 36 of our targets. Of these galaxies, 34 are members of two (proto-)clusters at z = 1.47, confirming our selection strategy to be highly efficient. By fitting model velocity fields to the observed ones, we determined the intrinsic maximum rotation velocity V max of 14 galaxies. Utilizing the luminosity–velocity (Tully–Fisher) relation, we find that these galaxies are more luminous than their local counterparts of similar mass by up to ∼4 mag in the rest-frame B -band. In contrast to field galaxies at z < 1, the offsets of the z ≈ 1.5 (proto-)cluster galaxies from the local Tully–Fisher relation are not correlated with their star formation rates but with the ratio between V max and gas velocity dispersion σ g . This probably reflects that fewer disks have settled to purely rotational kinematics and high V max / σ g ratios, as is observed in the field at similar redshifts. Tests with degraded low-redshift cluster galaxy data show that we cannot identify purely hydrodynamical interactions with the imaging currently at hand. Due to relatively low galaxy velocity dispersions ( σ v < 400 km s −1 ) of the (proto-)clusters, gravitational interactions are likely more efficient, resulting in higher kinematical asymmetries than in present-days clusters.
ABSTRACT
Backsplash galaxies are those that traverse and overshoot cluster cores as they fall into these structures. They are affected by environment, and should stand out in contrast to the ...infalling population. We target galaxies in the vicinity of clusters (R ≳ R200) and select a sample in projected phase space (PPS), from the compilation of Sampaio et al. based on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey data. We present a statistical analysis, comparing two regions in PPS, with the same projected distance to the cluster but different velocity. The analysis relies on the presence of variations in the stellar population content of backsplash galaxies. We find a lower limit in the fractional contribution of ∼5 per cent with respect to the general sample of infalling galaxies at similar group-centric distance when using single line strength analysis, or ∼15–30 per cent when adopting bivariate distributions. The stellar populations show a subtle but significant difference towards older ages, and a higher fraction of quiescent galaxies. We also compare this set with a general field sample, where a substantially larger difference in galaxy properties is found, with the field sample being consistently younger, metal poorer, and with a lower fraction of quiescent galaxies. Noting that our ‘cluster’ sample is located outside of the virial radius, we expect this difference to be caused by pre-processing of the infalling galaxies in the overall higher density regions.
Platelets release the immune-modulating lipid sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P). However, the mechanisms of platelet S1P secretion are not fully understood.
The present study investigates the function of ...thromboxane (TX) for platelet S1P secretion during platelet activation and the consequences for monocyte chemotaxis.
S1P was detected using thin-layer chromatography in (3)Hsphingosine-labeled platelets and by mass spectrometry. Monocyte migration was measured in modified Boyden chamber chemotaxis assays.
Release of S1P from platelets was stimulated with protease-activated receptor-1-activating peptide (PAR-1-AP, 100 μM). Acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) and two structurally unrelated reversible cyclooxygenase inhibitors diclofenac and ibuprofen suppressed S1P release. Oral ASA (500-mg single dose or 100 mg over 3 days) attenuated S1P release from platelets in healthy human volunteers ex vivo. This was paralleled by inhibition of TX formation. S1P release was increased by the TX receptor (TP) agonist U-46619, and inhibited by the TP antagonist ramatroban and by inhibitors of ABC-transport. Furthermore, thrombin-induced release of S1P was attenuated in platelets from TP-deficient mice. Supernatants from PAR-1-AP-stimulated human platelets increased the chemotactic capacity of human peripheral monocytes in a S1P-dependent manner via S1P receptors-1 and -3. These effects were inhibited by ASA-pretreatment of platelets.
TX synthesis and TP activation mediate S1P release after thrombin receptor activation. Inhibition of this pathway may contribute to the anti-inflammatory actions of ASA, for example by affecting activity of monocytes at sites of vascular injury.
We use optical integral field spectroscopy from VLT/MUSE, as well as photometric observations from
Hubble
Space Telescope and VLT/HAWK-I, to study the morpho-kinematics of 17 low-mass (log(
M
/
M
⊙
) ...< 9.5) MACS J0416.1-2403 cluster galaxies at
R
200
and five field galaxies with a redshift of
z
∼ 0.4. By measuring fluxes of strong emission lines from the MUSE data, we have recovered the star formation rates, gas-phase metallicities, and spatially resolved gas kinematics, and we have also investigated the ionising mechanisms. We have analysed the structure and morphology of the galaxies from the optical and infrared photometric data, performing a multi-component decomposition into a bulge and a disk. The spatially resolved gas velocity fields of the cluster members and field galaxies were modelled using a 3D approach, which allowed us to retrieve their intrinsic gas kinematics, including the maximum rotation velocity and velocity dispersion. This enabled us to study scaling relations such as the Tully–Fisher and the stellar mass–
S
0.5
relation for low-mass galaxies in different environments and to search for signatures of cluster-specific processes using disturbed gas velocity fields as tracers. Most galaxies from our sample fall in the star-forming and composite region in the diagnostic diagram, which allows for the ionising sources in a galaxy to be disentangled. The cluster and field population can be classified as star-forming main-sequence galaxies, with only a sub-sample of four quenched systems. We observe significant scatter for the cluster galaxies in the mass-metallicity plane, and the lowest-mass systems deviate from the predictions of the fundamental metallicity relation, showing higher metallicities, whereas the higher-mass ones are in accordance with the model predictions. This might hint at the cutoff of pristine gas inflow and/or the removal of the hot halo gas as the mechanisms driving these offsets. Our morpho-kinematic analysis reveals a sub-sample of dwarfs with maximum velocities
v
max
< 50 km s
−1
and
v
max, gas
/
σ
gas
< 1, which depart from the Tully–Fisher relation. This might indicate that their interstellar medium is affected by external environmental processes, such as ram pressure stripping. However, ∼30% of the cluster galaxies have rotation-dominated gas disks and follow the Tully–Fisher relation within 1
σ
. Using the
S
0.5
parameter, which links the dynamical support of ordered motions with that of random motions, we can differentiate between galaxies affected by gravitational processes and systems affected by hydrodynamical ones. In the stellar mass–
S
0.5
plane, both cluster and field galaxies follow a tight sequence, with only a sub-population of five galaxies strongly departing (> 4
σ
) from this relation, showing high
σ
gas
values. Both the morphology and kinematics of the outlier galaxies hint at a combination of pre-processing and cluster-specific interactions affecting their stellar and gas disks.
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