Why are some voters less likely to align with their group when group-based voting is both the norm and advantageous? I argue that the answer to this question can be found in the extent to which individuals are apparently consistent with the prototypical individual in their group. I develop a concept of racial distance, which improves upon the in-group out-group focus of the race and ethnic politics literature. Empirically, I investigate this relationship in South Africa using an original panel survey, which brackets the 2014 national elections. I find that those who are not readily identified as members of their group are less likely to vote with their group and more likely to change their vote due to an election campaign. Analyzing data from the South Africa 2016 the US 2012 elections suggests that this relationship holds for racial majorities but only minorities with a relatively weak sense of solidarity.

Non-tuberculous mycobacterium encephalitis is rare. Since 2013, a global outbreak of Mycobacterium chimaera infection has been attributed to point-source contamination of heater cooler units used in cardiac surgery. Disseminated M. chimaera infection has presented many unique challenges, including non-specific clinical presentations with delays in diagnosis, and a high mortality rate among predominantly immunocompetent adults. Here, we describe three patients with fatal disseminated Mycobacterium chimaera infection showing initially non-specific, progressively worsening neurocognitive decline, including confusion, delirium, depression and apathy. Autopsy revealed widespread granulomatous encephalitis of the cerebrum, brain stem and spinal cord, along with granulomatous chorioretinitis. Cerebral involvement and differentiation between mycobacterial granulomas and microangiopathic changes can be assessed best on MRI with contrast enhancement. The prognosis of M. chimaera encephalitis appears to be very poor, but might be improved by increased awareness of this new syndrome and timely antimicrobial treatment.

One major challenge facing policy-makers is to design education and workplace training programs that are appropriately challenging. We review previous research that suggests that difficult training is better than easy training. However, surveys we conducted of students and of expert sport coaches showed that many prescribed easy rather than difficult training for those they coached. We analyzed the performance of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball teams in postseason tournaments to see whether the existing research, largely on individuals in short-term situations, would generalize to teams in the long run. Indeed, playing difficult nonconference (training) games modestly improved performance for NCAA teams in the postseason. Difficult training particularly benefitted teams that lost many nonconference games, and the effect of difficulty was positive within the range of difficulty NCAA teams actually encounter, making it clear that difficult training is superior. We suggest that our results can be generalized beyond sports, although with careful consideration of differences between NCAA basketball teams and other teams that may limit generalizability. These results suggest that policy-makers might consider amplifying the difficulty of team training exercises under certain conditions.

The study examined (a) whether alcohol use subgroups could be identified among African Americans assessed from adolescence through early adulthood, and (b) whether subgroup membership was associated with the interaction between internalizing symptoms and antisocial behavior polygenic risk scores (PRSs) and environmental characteristics (i.e., parental monitoring, community disadvantage). Participants (N = 436) were initially recruited for an elementary school-based prevention trial in a Mid-Atlantic city. Youths reported on the frequency of their past year alcohol use from ages 14–26. DNA was obtained from participants at age 21. Internalizing symptoms and antisocial behavior PRSs were created based on a genome-wide association study (GWAS) conducted by Benke et al. (2014) and Tielbeek et al. (2017), respectively. Parental monitoring and community disadvantage were assessed at age 12. Four classes of past year alcohol use were identified: (a) early-onset, increasing; (b) late-onset, moderate use; (c) low steady; and (d) early-onset, decreasing. In high community disadvantaged settings, participants with a higher internalizing symptoms PRS were more likely to be in the early-onset, decreasing class than the low steady class. When exposed to elevated community disadvantage, participants with a higher antisocial behavior PRS were more likely to be in the early-onset, increasing class than the early-onset, decreasing and late-onset, moderate use classes.

We demonstrate a suspended graphene-(poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) polymer angular displacement actuator enabled by variable elastic modulus of the perforated stacked structure. Azimuthal flexures support a central disc-shaped membrane, and compression of the membrane can be used to control the rotation of the entire structure. Irradiating the PMMA on graphene stack with 5 kV electrons in a convention scanning electron microscope reduces the elastic modulus of the PMMA and allows graphene’s built in strain to dominate and compress the flexures, thus rotating the actuator.

Here, different tissue surfaces of tomato root were characterized employing atomic force microscopy on day 7 and day 21 of growth through Young's modulus and plasticity index. These parameters provide quantitative information regarding the mechanical behavior of the tomato root under fresh conditions in different locations of the cross-section of root [cell surface of the epidermis, parenchyma (Pa), and vascular bundles (Vb)]. The results show that the mechanical parameters depend on the indented region, tissue type, and growth time. Thereby, the stiffness increases in the cell surface of epidermal tissue with increasing growth time (from 9.19 ± 0.68 to 13.90 ± 1.68 MPa) and the cell surface of Pa tissue displays the opposite behavior (from 1.74 ± 0.49 to 0.48 ± 0.55); the stiffness of cell surfaces of Vb tissue changes from 10.60 ± 0.58 to 6.37 ± 0.53 MPa, all cases showed a statistical difference (p < 0.05). Viscoelastic behavior dominates the mechanical forces in the tomato root. The current study is a contribution to a better understanding of the cell mechanics behavior of different tomato root tissues during growth.

Background: Hereditary transthyretin-mediated (hATTR) amyloidosis a hereditary, multi-systemic and life-threatening disease resulting in neuropathy and cardiomyopathy. In the APOLLO study, patisiran, an investigational RNAi therapeutic targeting hepatic TTR production resulted in significant improvement in neuropathy and QoL compared to placebo and was generally well tolerated. Methods: APOLLO, a Phase 3 study of patisiran vs. placebo (NCT01960348) prespecified a cardiac subpopulation (n=126 of 225 total) that included patients with baseline left ventricular (LV) wall thickness ≥ 13mm and no medical history of aortic valve disease or hypertension. Cardiac measures included structure and function by electrocardiography, changes in NT-proBNP and 10-MWT gait speed. Results: At 18 months, patisiran treatment resulted in a mean reduction in LV wall thickness of 1 mm (p=0.017) compared to baseline, which was associated with significant improvements relative to placebo in LV end diastolic volume (+8.31 mL, p=0.036), global longitudinal strain (-1.37%, p=0.015) and NT-proBNP (55% reduction, p=7.7 x 10-8) (Figure 1). Gait speed was also improved relative to placebo (+0.35 m/sec, p=7.4 x 10-9). Rate of death or hospitalization was lower with patisiran. mNIS+7 results in the cardiac subpopulation will also be presented. Conclusions: These data suggest patisiran has the potential to halt or reverse cardiac manifestations of hATTR amyloidosis.

Field experiments were conducted in 2016 and 2017 in Champaign County, IL, to study a waterhemp [Amaranthus tuberculatus (Moq.) J. D. Sauer] population (CHR) resistant to 2,4-D and 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD)-, photosystem II–, acetolactate synthase (ALS)-, and protoporphyrinogen oxidase–inhibiting herbicides. Two field experiments were designed to investigate the efficacy of very-long-chain fatty-acid (VLCFA)-inhibiting herbicides, including a comparison of active ingredients at labeled use rates and a rate titration experiment. Amaranthus tuberculatus density and control were evaluated at 28 and 42 d after treatment (DAT). Nonencapsulated acetochlor, alachlor, and pyroxasulfone provided the greatest PRE control of CHR (56% to 75%) at 28 DAT, while metolachlor, S-metolachlor, dimethenamid-P, and encapsulated acetochlor provided less than 27% control. In the rate titration study, nonencapsulated acetochlor controlled CHR more than equivalent field use rates of S-metolachlor. Subsequent dose–response experiments with acetochlor, S-metolachlor, dimethenamid-P, and pyroxasulfone in the greenhouse included three multiple herbicide–resistant (MHR) A. tuberculatus populations: CHR-M6 (progeny generated from CHR), MCR-NH40 (progeny generated from Mclean County, IL), and ACR (Adams County, IL), in comparison with a sensitive population (WUS). Both CHR-M6 and MCR-NH40 are MHR to atrazine and HPPD, and ALS inhibitors and demonstrated higher survival rates (LD50) to S-metolachlor, acetochlor, dimethenamid-P, or pyroxasulfone than ACR (atrazine resistant but HPPD-inhibitor sensitive) and WUS. Based on biomass reduction (GR50), resistant to sensitive (R:S) ratios between CHR-M6 and WUS were 7.5, 6.1, 5.5, and 2.9 for S-metolachlor, acetochlor, dimethenamid-P, and pyroxasulfone, respectively. Values were greater for MCR-NH40 than CHR-M6, and ACR was the most sensitive to all VLCFA inhibitors tested. Complete control of all populations was achieved at or below a field use rate of acetochlor. In summary, field studies demonstrated CHR is not controlled by several VLCFA-inhibiting herbicides. Greenhouse dose–response experiments corroborated field results and generated R:S ratios (LD50) ranging from 4.5 to 64 for CHR-M6 and MCR-NH40 among the four VLCFA-inhibiting herbicides evaluated.

Experiments were initiated to characterize a waterhemp population (CHR) discovered in a central Illinois corn field after it was not controlled by the 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD) inhibitor topramezone. Field experiments conducted during 2014–2015 indicated that acetolactate synthase (ALS)-, protoporphyrinogen oxidase (PPO)-, photosystem II (PSII)-, and HPPD-inhibiting herbicides and the synthetic auxin 2,4-D did not control the CHR population. Laboratory experiments confirmed target site–based resistance mechanisms to ALS- and PPO-inhibiting herbicides. Herbicide doses required to reduce dry biomass 50% (GR50) were determined in greenhouse dose–response experiments, and indicated 16-fold resistance to the HPPD inhibitor mesotrione, 9.5-fold resistance to the synthetic auxin 2,4-D, and 252-fold resistance to the PSII inhibitor atrazine. Complementary results from field, laboratory, and greenhouse investigations indicate that the CHR population has evolved resistance to herbicides from five sites of action (SOAs): ALS-, PPO-, PSII-, and HPPD-inhibiting herbicides and 2,4-D. Herbicide use history for the field in which CHR was discovered indicates no previous use of 2,4-D.

The 3.8 MeV proton beam from the University of Florida Van de Graaff accelerator has been used to perform trace element analysis of approximately 1200 samples (mostly from autopsies) of human tissues by proton-induced X-ray emission analysis (PIXE). Fifteen different organs and a variety of diseases have been studied. Preliminary data are presented indicating the variations of various elements in human kidney as a function of age. Analysis of samples from infants also indicate essential and non-essential elements in human kidney. On the average twelve trace elements (with atomic number equal to or larger than nineteen) are observed in each organ. Quantitative measurements have been made on several elements including K, Ca, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Pb, Br, Rb, Sr, Cd, and Ba.