Application of the van der Pauw method for electrical conductivity measurements at high temperatures using an insulating compressing ring.

High quality data on the high temperature electrical properties of ceramics, particularly oxides, is of great value for material selection, design, and modeling for a broad range of emerging applications. Utilizing the mismatch in the coefficient of thermal expansion between two materials, a purely mechanical method for establishing electrical contact in the van der Pauw geometry to measure the bulk resistivity of ceramic disks at high temperatures is presented. Measurements of a reference material, 20 mol.

Artificial Chemist: An Autonomous Quantum Dot Synthesis Bot.

The optimal synthesis of advanced nanomaterials with numerous reaction parameters, stages, and routes, poses one of the most complex challenges of modern colloidal science, and current strategies often fail to meet the demands of these combinatorially large systems. In response, an Artificial Chemist is presented: the integration of machine-learning-based experiment selection and high-efficiency autonomous flow chemistry. With the self-driving Artificial Chemist, made-to-measure inorganic perovskite quantum dots (QDs) in flow are autonomously synthesized, and their quantum yield and composition polydispersity at target bandgaps, spanning 1.

The Oxytricha trifallax macronuclear genome: a complex eukaryotic genome with 16,000 tiny chromosomes.

The macronuclear genome of the ciliate Oxytricha trifallax displays an extreme and unique eukaryotic genome architecture with extensive genomic variation. During sexual genome development, the expressed, somatic macronuclear genome is whittled down to the genic portion of a small fraction (∼5%) of its precursor "silent" germline micronuclear genome by a process of "unscrambling" and fragmentation. The tiny macronuclear "nanochromosomes" typically encode single, protein-coding genes (a small portion, 10%, encode 2-8 genes), have minimal noncoding regions, and are differentially amplified to an average of ∼2,000 copies.

Tetrahymena Genome Database Wiki: a community-maintained model organism database.

When funding for Tetrahymena Genome Database (TGD) ended in 2006, no further updates were made to this important community resource and the main database was taken offline in 2008. We have restored and updated this important resource for use by the Tetrahymena research community. We have also retooled the TGD website (now TGD Wiki) to allow members of the community to directly update the information presented for each gene, including gene names, descriptions and Gene Ontology annotations, from a web browser.

Influence of familial risk on diabetes risk-reducing behaviors among U.S. adults without diabetes.

Objective: To test the association of family history of diabetes with the adoption of diabetes risk-reducing behaviors and whether this association is strengthened by physician advice or commonly known factors associated with diabetes risk.

Research Design And Methods: We used cross-sectional data from the 2005-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) to examine the effects of family history of diabetes on the adoption of selected risk-reducing behaviors in 8,598 adults (aged ≥20 years) without diabetes. We used multiple logistic regression to model three risk reduction behaviors (controlling or losing weight, increasing physical activity, and reducing the amount of dietary fat or calories) with family history of diabetes.

Current priorities for public health practice in addressing the role of human genomics in improving population health.

In spite of accelerating human genome discoveries in a wide variety of diseases of public health significance, the promise of personalized health care and disease prevention based on genomics has lagged behind. In a time of limited resources, public health agencies must continue to focus on implementing programs that can improve health and prevent disease now. Nevertheless, public health has an important and assertive leadership role in addressing the promise and pitfalls of human genomics for population health.