‘Sentiment mining’ – i.e. trying to gauge the Public’s attitude towards an institution, product, firm (etc. etc.) though automatic analysis of Social Media posts (etc. etc.) is now considered an essential tool for market researchers and ‘reputation managers’. But there are problems. One of which is sarcasm. Given its prevalence, serious errors can be introduced […]

There is no description for this file!

There is no description for this file!

Lots of fun stuff to discuss in this one, such as the new expansion of the Harry Potter park!

Episode 253 — PotterCast Filch

Find the latest episode and explore PotterCast interviews, discussions and more at PotterCast.com

Visit the-leaky-cauldron.org for the latest and greatest from Harry Potter's Wizard World.

There are three games in this episode! We recommend putting yourself into the mode of a contestant as you listen to the first.

Remember!

1. Visit Mischief Merch to purchase this limited edition PotterCast: After All This Time shirt.
2. Don’t forget that we have a Patreon where you can get extra (sorting-related!) content!
3. Check out our new sponsor, Shaker and Spoon

Support this Podcast by visiting Jim’s Patreon Page   David Collum is the Betty R. Miller Professor of Chemistry at Cornell University. He is the intellectual utility infielder of internet commentary, covering all the bases: culture, politics, finance, science, and technology, with often surprising views on the the predicaments of our time. Here we attempt to more »

The post KunstlerCast 326 — Confab with David Collum of Cornell U about Corona Virus, Markets Gone Wild, and Politics appeared first on Kunstler.

Support this Podcast by visiting Jim’s Patreon Page Gail Tverberg is an analyst who has been researching the connection between oil limits and the economy for nearly 10 years.  She writes a widely-followed blog called Our Finite World. Her background is as an actuary, working as a consultant to insurance companies. She also has a foot more »

The post KunstlerCast 327 — Conversation with Gail Tverberg of Our Finite World appeared first on Kunstler.

Support this Podcast by visiting Jim’s Patreon Page   Charles Hugh Smith founded his blog, Of Two Minds, in 2005 after 17 years of free-lance journalism in the San Francisco Bay Area. Of Two Minds has grown to thousands of posts that have logged tens of millions of page views on his site and many others more »

The post KunstlerCast 328 — Chatting with Charles Hugh Smith from the OfTwoMinds Blog appeared first on Kunstler.

Farewell Arcadia Day 57 Wednesday 8th April 2020 Today well be anchoring out at Tenerife.When we opened the curtains we were still sailing but by breakfast time we were anchored. Looks like a nice day but only forecast abou

From the archives: How Ed O'Bannon didn't let a torn knee ligament stop him from propelling UCLA to its 11th NCAA title win in 1995.

A growing army of hot rodders is cannibalizing crashed electric cars and turning them into custom vehicles with electric power trains.

Investigators believe the shooting occurred early Saturday after a physical altercation occurred between two adult male neighbors.

Numéricable has selected the Calix E7-2 Ethernet Service Access Platform and gigabit passive optical network technology to upgrade its service delivery platform in Belgium and Luxembourg. Calix, along with optical specialist Arcadiz Telecom, will work closely to roll out Numéricable’s new high-speed broadband networks to deliver business services across the region. The new platform will enable Numéricable’s customers to take advantage of advanced voice, video, and data services at symmetrical speeds ranging from 30 megabits per second (30 Mbps) up to 1 gigabit per second (1 Gbps).

Numéricable serves over 150,000 customers in Brussels with triple-play services for residential subscribers. Owned by Coditel and with a close relationship to the French Numéricable organization, with whom it shares a range of resources, Numéricable Belgium is a long-established operator with a highly dispersed coax cable network. The company has traditionally delivered triple-play residential services over its hybrid fiber coax infrastructure, but in recent years has moved increasingly towards using its fiber to connect businesses and has developed a number of specific niche markets. The company is now looking at ways to maximize the potential of its fiber infrastructure in Belgium and Luxembourg and deliver revenue-generating advanced services to its business customers.

France defender Samuel Umtiti has picked up a calf injury in just the second session since Barcelona returned to training from the cornonavirus quarantine.

3-Mercaptopyruvate sulfur transferase (MPST) catalyzes the desulfuration of 3-mercaptopyruvate (3-MP) and transfers sulfane sulfur from an enzyme-bound persulfide intermediate to thiophilic acceptors such as thioredoxin and cysteine. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S), a signaling molecule implicated in many physiological processes, can be released from the persulfide product of the MPST reaction. Two splice variants of MPST, differing by 20 amino acids at the N terminus, give rise to the cytosolic MPST1 and mitochondrial MPST2 isoforms. Here, we characterized the poorly-studied MPST1 variant and demonstrated that substitutions in its Ser–His–Asp triad, proposed to serve a general acid–base role, minimally affect catalytic activity. We estimated the 3-MP concentration in murine liver, kidney, and brain tissues, finding that it ranges from 0.4 μmol·kg−1 in brain to 1.4 μmol·kg−1 in kidney. We also show that N-acetylcysteine, a widely-used antioxidant, is a poor substrate for MPST and is unlikely to function as a thiophilic acceptor. Thioredoxin exhibits substrate inhibition, increasing the KM for 3-MP ∼15-fold compared with other sulfur acceptors. Kinetic simulations at physiologically-relevant substrate concentrations predicted that the proportion of sulfur transfer to thioredoxin increases ∼3.5-fold as its concentration decreases from 10 to 1 μm, whereas the total MPST reaction rate increases ∼7-fold. The simulations also predicted that cysteine is a quantitatively-significant sulfane sulfur acceptor, revealing MPST's potential to generate low-molecular-weight persulfides. We conclude that the MPST1 and MPST2 isoforms are kinetically indistinguishable and that thioredoxin modulates the MPST-catalyzed reaction in a physiologically-relevant concentration range.

dlberek posted a photo:

Liz Vivas
Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 148 (2020), 2525-2537.
Abstract, references and article information

Acidosis is a key driver for many diseases, including cancer, sepsis, and stroke. The spatiotemporal dynamics of dysregulated pH across disease remains elusive and current diagnostic strategies do not provide localization of pH alterations. We sought to explore if PET imaging using hydrophobic cyclic peptides that partition into the cellular membrane at low extracellular pH (denoted as "pHLIC") can permit accurate in vivo visualization of acidosis. Methods: Acid-sensitive cyclic peptide c[E4W5C] pHLIC was conjugated to bifunctional maleimide-NO2A and radiolabeled with copper-64 (t1/2 = 12.7 h). C57BL/6J mice were administered LPS (15 mg/kg) or saline (vehicle) and serially imaged with [⁶⁴Cu]Cu-c[E4W5C] over 24 h. Ex vivo autoradiography was performed on resected brain slices and subsequently stained with cresyl violet to enable high-resolution spatial analysis of tracer accumulation. A non- pH-sensitive cell-penetrating control peptide (c[R4W5C]) was used to confirm specificity of [⁶⁴Cu]Cu-c[E4W5C]. CD11b (macrophage/microglia) and TMEM119 (microglia) immunostaining was performed to correlate extent of neuroinflammation with [⁶⁴Cu]Cu-c[E4W5C] PET signal. Results: [⁶⁴Cu]Cu-c[E4W5C] radiochemical yield and purity was >95% and >99% respectively, with molar activity >0.925 MBq/nmol. Significantly increased [⁶⁴Cu]Cu-c[E4W5C] uptake was observed in LPS-treated mice (vs. vehicle) within peripheral tissues including blood, lungs, liver, and small intestines (P < 0.001-0.05). Additionally, there was significantly increased [⁶⁴Cu]Cu-c[E4W5C] uptake in the brains of LPS-treated animals. Autoradiography confirmed increased uptake in the cerebellum, cortex, hippocampus, striatum, and hypothalamus of LPS-treated mice (vs. vehicle). Immunohistochemical (IHC) analysis revealed microglial/macrophage infiltrate, suggesting activation in brain regions containing increased tracer uptake. [⁶⁴Cu]Cu-c[R4W5C] demonstrated significantly reduced uptake in the brain and periphery of LPS mice compared to the acid-mediated [⁶⁴Cu]Cu-c[E4W5C] tracer. Conclusion: Here, we demonstrate that a pH-sensitive PET tracer specifically detects acidosis in regions associated with sepsis-driven pro-inflammatory responses. This study suggests that [⁶⁴Cu]Cu-pHLIC is a valuable tool to noninvasively assess acidosis associated with both central and peripheral innate immune activation.

This discussion on the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) showcases MPI Fellow Charles Kamasaki's book, Immigration Reform: The Corpse That Will Not Die. Kamasaki is joined by other veterans of the IRCA debate for a conversation on the lessons, the intended and unintended consequences, and how the law’s legacy has shaped contemporary politics on immigration.

This policy brief traces the successes and failures of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, which represented the first and most comprehensive legislation to take on the issue of illegal immigration to the United States. The brief makes the case that IRCA's major flaws were rooted in statutory design more than regulatory challenges and implementation by the administrative agencies.

This provocative discussion showcases Charles Kamasaki's book, Immigration Reform: The Corpse That Will Not Die, and explores the lessons that can be learned from the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, its intended and unintended consequences, and how the law’s legacy has shaped contemporary politics surrounding immigration.

Jessica K. Hargreaves, Marina I. Knight, Jon W. Pitchford, Rachael J. Oakenfull, Sangeeta Chawla, Jack Munns, Seth J. Davis.

Source: The Annals of Applied Statistics, Volume 13, Number 3, 1817--1846.

Abstract:
Rhythmic data are ubiquitous in the life sciences. Biologists need reliable statistical tests to identify whether a particular experimental treatment has caused a significant change in a rhythmic signal. When these signals display nonstationary behaviour, as is common in many biological systems, the established methodologies may be misleading. Therefore, there is a real need for new methodology that enables the formal comparison of nonstationary processes. As circadian behaviour is best understood in the spectral domain, here we develop novel hypothesis testing procedures in the (wavelet) spectral domain, embedding replicate information when available. The data are modelled as realisations of locally stationary wavelet processes, allowing us to define and rigorously estimate their evolutionary wavelet spectra. Motivated by three complementary applications in circadian biology, our new methodology allows the identification of three specific types of spectral difference. We demonstrate the advantages of our methodology over alternative approaches, by means of a comprehensive simulation study and real data applications, using both published and newly generated circadian datasets. In contrast to the current standard methodologies, our method successfully identifies differences within the motivating circadian datasets, and facilitates wider ranging analyses of rhythmic biological data in general.

Italian translation of the BIS press release about the BIS Quarterly Review, December 2017

Italian translation of the BIS press release about the BIS Quarterly Review, March 2018

Italian translation of the BIS press release about the BIS Quarterly Review, September 2018

Italian translation of the BIS press release about the BIS Quarterly Review, March 2019

Spanish translation of the BIS press release about the BIS Quarterly Review, March 2018

Spanish version of Press release about new members joining the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (19 March 2018)

Spanish translation of "Frequently asked questions on market risk capital requirements" by the Basel Committee, March 2018.

Spanish translation of the BIS press release about the BIS Quarterly Review, September 2018

Spanish translation of the BIS press release about the BIS Quarterly Review, March 2019

SNP MP Steven Bonnar has apologised after a heated altercation with a neighbour.

Sudden infant death syndrome remains the major cause of postneonatal death in developed countries. Although infant-parent bed-sharing following antenatal smoking or maternal consumption of alcohol on the bed-sharing night increases the risk of death, the mechanism is not known.

Bed-sharing infants experienced more oxygen desaturations and episodes of carbon dioxide rebreathing than cot-sleeping infants but showed appropriate behavioral and physiologic responses. A deficit in these responses in vulnerable infants could link to increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome. (Read the full article)

The new Arcade1Up NBA Jam cabinet is the first to feature Wi-Fi internet connectivity, enabling multiplayer with other cabinet owners.

A new supercapacitor based on manganese oxide could combine the storage capacity of batteries with the high power and fast charging of other supercapacitors, according to researchers at Penn State and two universities in China.

Talking to FE, principal secretary, excise and sugar industry and cane development, Sanjay R Bhoosreddy said this arrangement has been made in face of the lockdown.

The order also directs the village sarpanchs (heads) to permit these workers to enter their villages, and to make an official note recording their entry.

Launched in 2010 to mark the 30th anniversary of the launch of the original Pac-Man video game, the game was Google’s first playable doodle.