The Importance of Regulatory Network Structure for Complex Trait Heritability and Evolution.

Complex traits are determined by many loci-mostly regulatory elements-that, through combinatorial interactions, can affect multiple traits. Such high levels of epistasis and pleiotropy have been proposed in the omnigenic model and may explain why such a large part of complex trait heritability is usually missed by genome-wide association studies while raising questions about the possibility for such traits to evolve in response to environmental constraints. To explore the molecular bases of complex traits and understand how they can adapt, we systematically analyzed the distribution of SNP heritability for ten traits across 29 tissue-specific Expression Quantitative Trait Locus (eQTL) networks.

Risk factors for incomplete telehealth appointments among patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic led to the urgent implementation of telehealth visits in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) care; however, data assessing feasibility remain limited.

Objectives: We looked to determine the completion rate of telehealth appointments for adults with IBD, as well as to evaluate demographic, clinical, and social predictors of incomplete appointments.

Design: We conducted a retrospective analysis of all patients with IBD who had at least one scheduled telehealth visit at the NYU IBD Center between 1 March 2020 and 31 August 2021, with only the first scheduled telehealth appointment considered.

Does Incident Cardiovascular Disease Lead to Greater Odds of Functional and Cognitive Impairment? Insights From the Health and Retirement Study.

Background: Although studies to date have broadly shown that cardiovascular disease (CVD) increases cognitive and physical impairment risk, there is still limited understanding of the magnitude of this risk among relevant CVD subtypes or age cohorts.

Methods: We analyzed longitudinal data from 16 679 U.S.

The RightSTEPS initiative: Continuing education impact on clinicians' optimal medical therapy practices for chronic heart failure.

Purpose: Despite the existence of expert recommendations that can improve morbidity and mortality, reduce the need for hospitalization or readmission, and enhance quality of life in patients with heart failure (HF), many patients do not receive optimal medical therapy (OMT). The goal of this initiative, titled RightSTEPS, was to help physicians take the right steps to apply-evidence-based HF management strategies in clinical practice.

Methods: Using the PRECEDE-PROCEED Model aimed at improving the clinical behavior of the learner, the instructional design featured 23 online and live face-to-face activities offering up to 16 credit hours of CME/CNE credit.

The Right (Way) to Represent: The Emotional Politics of Remembering Mass Rape in Germany After 1945.

(1954) has undoubtedly shaped global understanding of wartime rape. The present article focuses on the diarist's use of humor to process her disorientation, assert her subjectivity, and build affective links with other victims. I consider how the diary's tone influenced its reception and thus how aesthetic analysis might illuminate the conditions under which stories about sexual violence become audible, as well as the ways in which the "cultural politics of emotion" (to quote the title of Sarah Ahmed's 2004 study) can both foster and obstruct human rights projects.

Interpretation of tympanic membrane findings varies according to level of experience.

The authors administered a written survey consisting of colour images of 28 tympanic membranes (TM) to four groups of examiners: 86 medical students, 68 paediatric residents, 62 paediatricians and seven expert otoscopists. For each image, examiners were asked to indicate whether redness or bulging of the TM was present and to assign a diagnosis. The odds of diagnosing acute otitis media (AOM) was examined according to perceived redness or bulging of the TM.

Anomalously Rapid Hydration Water Diffusion Dynamics Near DNA Surfaces.

The emerging Overhauser effect dynamic nuclear polarization (ODNP) technique measures the translational mobility of water within the vicinity (5-15 Å) of preselected sites. The work presented here expands the capabilities of the ODNP technique and illuminates an important, previously unseen, property of the translational diffusion dynamics of water at the surface of DNA duplexes. We attach nitroxide radicals (i.

Determining the oligomeric structure of proteorhodopsin by Gd3+ -based pulsed dipolar spectroscopy of multiple distances.

The structural organization of the functionally relevant, hexameric oligomer of green-absorbing proteorhodopsin (G-PR) was obtained from double electron-electron resonance (DEER) spectroscopy utilizing conventional nitroxide spin labels and recently developed Gd3+ -based spin labels. G-PR with nitroxide or Gd3+ labels was prepared using cysteine mutations at residues Trp58 and Thr177. By combining reliable measurements of multiple interprotein distances in the G-PR hexamer with computer modeling, we obtained a structural model that agrees with the recent crystal structure of the homologous blue-absorbing PR (B-PR) hexamer.

Structural insight into proteorhodopsin oligomers.

Oligomerization has important functional implications for many membrane proteins. However, obtaining structural insight into oligomeric assemblies is challenging, as they are large and resist crystallization. We focus on proteorhodopsin (PR), a protein with seven transmembrane α-helices that was found to assemble to hexamers in densely packed lipid membrane, or detergent-solubilized environments.

Thermally-limited exciton delocalization in superradiant molecular aggregates.

We present two-dimensional Fourier transform optical spectroscopy measurements of two types of molecular J-aggregate thin films and show that temperature-dependent dynamical effects govern exciton delocalization at all temperatures, even in the presence of significant inhomogeneity. Our results indicate that in the tested molecular aggregates, even when the static structure disorder dominates exciton dephasing dynamics, the extent of exciton delocalization may be limited by dynamical fluctuations, mainly exciton-phonon coupling. Thus inhomogeneous dephasing may mediate the exciton coherence time whereas dynamical fluctuations mediate the exciton coherence length.

Invited article: The coherent optical laser beam recombination technique (COLBERT) spectrometer: coherent multidimensional spectroscopy made easier.

We have developed an efficient spectrometer capable of performing a wide variety of coherent multidimensional measurements at optical wavelengths. The two major components of the largely automated device are a spatial beam shaper which controls the beam geometry and a spatiotemporal pulse shaper which controls the temporal waveform of the femtosecond pulse in each beam. We describe how to construct, calibrate, and operate the device, and we discuss its limitations.

Pulsed electron spin resonance resolves the coordination site of Cu²(+) ions in α1-glycine receptor.

Herein, we identify the coordination environment of Cu²(+) in the human α1-glycine receptor (GlyR). GlyRs are members of the pentameric ligand-gated ion channel superfamily (pLGIC) that mediate fast signaling at synapses. Metal ions like Zn²(+) and Cu²(+) significantly modulate the activity of pLGICs, and metal ion coordination is essential for proper physiological postsynaptic inhibition by GlyR in vivo.

February 2010: a dramatic shift away from private fee-for-service plans in rural Medicare Advantage enrollment.

In a reversal of recent trends, private fee-for-service (PFFS) enrollment fell dramatically in rural areas in early 2010. As a result, Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollment in rural areas (excluding other prepaid plans) fell slightly in early 2010 for the first time in years. The dramatic drop in PFFS enrollment was offset by increases in enrollment in preferred provider organization (PPO) and health maintenance organization (HMO) plans.

Consistent condom use is associated with lower prevalence of human papillomavirus infection in men.

Introduction: Reported associations between condom use and human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in men have been inconsistent.

Methods: We tested 463 men, ages 18-40 years, in 2 cities in the United States for 37 HPV types in samples from 5 anogenital sites. Men answered questionnaires regarding number of partners and frequency of condom use during vaginal sex in the past 3 months (5 categories, from "always" to "never").

Three-dimensional electronic spectroscopy of excitons in GaAs quantum wells.

We demonstrate three-dimensional (3D) electronic Fourier transform spectroscopy of GaAs quantum wells using four fully phase-coherent, noncollinear optical fields. Since the full complex signal field is measured as a function of all three time intervals, nearly every peak in the resulting 3D spectral solid arises from a distinguishable sequence of transitions represented by a single Feynman pathway. We use the 3D spectral peaks to separate two pathways involving weakly bound mixed biexcitons generated in different time orders.

Exciton-exciton correlations revealed by two-quantum, two-dimensional fourier transform optical spectroscopy.

The Coulomb correlations between photoexcited charged particles in materials such as photosynthetic complexes, conjugated polymer systems, J-aggregates, and bulk or nanostructured semiconductors produce a hierarchy of collective electronic excitations, for example, excitons, and biexcitons, which may be harnessed for applications in quantum optics, light-harvesting, or quantum information technologies. These excitations represent correlations among successively greater numbers of electrons and holes, and their associated multiple-quantum coherences could reveal detailed information about complex many-body interactions and dynamics. However, unlike single-quantum coherences involving excitons, multiple-quantum coherences do not radiate; consequently, they have largely eluded direct observation and characterization.

Two-quantum 2D FT electronic spectroscopy of biexcitons in GaAs quantum wells.

The motions of electrons in solids may be highly correlated by strong, long-range Coulomb interactions. Correlated electron-hole pairs (excitons) are accessed spectroscopically through their allowed single-quantum transitions, but higher-order correlations that may strongly influence electronic and optical properties have been far more elusive to study. Here we report direct observation of bound exciton pairs (biexcitons) that provide incisive signatures of four-body correlations among electrons and holes in gallium arsenide (GaAs) quantum wells.

Risk factors for incident herpes simplex type 2 virus infection among women attending a sexually transmitted disease clinic.

Objectives: To estimate the incidence of herpes simplex type 2 virus (HSV-2) infection, to identify risk factors for its acquisition, and to assess the protective effect of condoms.

Study Design: Prospective study of 293 HSV-2 seronegative women, aged 18 to 35 years, attending a sexually transmitted disease clinic in Alabama from 1992 to 1995.

Results: Incidence of HSV-2 infection was 20.

Prevalence of HPV infection among men: A systematic review of the literature.

Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is estimated to be the most common sexually transmitted infection; an estimated 6.2 million persons are newly infected every year in the United States. There are limited data on HPV infection in heterosexual men.

Testing for sexually transmitted diseases in U.S. Public health laboratories in 2004.

Objective: Appropriate laboratory testing practices are a critical part of sexually transmitted disease (STD) control.

Goal: The goal of this study was to describe the type and volume of STD tests performed in public health laboratories in the United States in 2004.

Study Design: A web-based survey was made available to 144 members of the Association of Public Health Laboratories.

Analysis of replica pulses in femtosecond pulse shaping with pixelated devices.

We present a detailed analysis of commonly encountered waveform distortions in femtosecond pulse shaping with pixelated devices, including the effects of discrete sampling, pixel gaps, smooth pixel boundaries, and nonlinear dispersion of the laser spectrum. Experimental and simulated measurements are used to illustrate the effects. The results suggest strategies for reduction of some classes of distortions.

Condom use and risk of gonorrhea and Chlamydia: a systematic review of design and measurement factors assessed in epidemiologic studies.

Background: Studies of condom use to reduce risk of most sexually transmitted infection provide inconsistent results. This inconsistency is often attributed to methodologic limitations yet has not been assessed systematically.

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to review studies of condom use and risk of gonorrhea and chlamydia, and to evaluate the importance of 4 key design and measurement factors on condom effectiveness estimates.