Determination of Linear, Nonlinear, and the Optical Limiting Properties of Sudan Brown RR in a Solid Film and Solution.

The casting technique is employed to prepare the film from a mixture of sudan brown RR (SBRR) dye and poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA). The surface profile of this film is identified using a scanning probe microscope and image J software. The linear optical (LO) properties of the solid film were studied. The nonlinear optical (NLO) properties of SBRR/PMMA film and sudan brown (RR) solution in dimethylformamide (DMF) as a solvent are evaluated using two methods including diffraction ring patterns and Z-scan. The optical limiting (OLg) property for the SBRR/PMMA film and SBRR solution was extensively investigated. The values of nonlinear refractive index (NRI) and threshold limiting (TH) of the solid film and dye solution were compared.

Macroeconomic consequences of stay-at-home policies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Risks related to the coronavirus infection differ significantly across the age and the health status of individuals which suggest lockdowns targeting the unhealthy could reduce the fatalities due to the pandemic. In addition, labor productivities differ significantly across these groups, which suggest the economic consequences of targeted lockdowns could be quite different. Using an overlapping generations model with rich heterogeneity, we show that a targeted lockdown policy based on preexisting health status would have reduced the economic severity of the pandemic by 43% compared to a random lockdown. A simple system where government transfers are paid to those who stay home, financed by lump-sum taxes, could have achieved results similar to this health based lockdown.

Antiviral Activity of Olanexidine-Containing Hand Rub against Human Noroviruses.

Human norovirus (HuNoV) is the leading cause of epidemic and sporadic acute gastroenteritis worldwide. HuNoV transmission occurs predominantly by direct person-to-person contact, and its health burden is associated with poor hand hygiene and a lack of effective antiseptics and disinfectants. Specific therapies and methods to prevent and control HuNoV spread previously were difficult to evaluate because of the lack of a cell culture system to propagate infectious virus. This barrier has been overcome with the successful cultivation of HuNoV in nontransformed human intestinal enteroids (HIEs). Here, we report using the HIE cultivation system to evaluate the virucidal efficacy of an olanexidine gluconate-based hand rub (OLG-HR) and 70% ethanol (EtOH70%) against HuNoVs. OLG-HR exhibited fast-acting virucidal activity against a spectrum of HuNoVs including GII.4 Sydney[P31], GII.4 Den Haag[P4], GII.4 New Orleans[P4], GII.3[P21], GII.17[P13], and GI.1[P1] strains. Exposure of HuNoV to OLG-HR for 30 to 60 s resulted in complete loss of the ability of virus to bind to the cells and reduced in vitro binding to glycans in porcine gastric mucin. By contrast, the virucidal efficiency of EtOH70% on virus infectivity was strain specific. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) and electron microscopy of virus-like particles (VLPs) show that OLG-HR treatment causes partial disassembly and possibly conformational changes in VP1, interfering with histo-blood group antigen (HBGA) binding and infectivity, whereas EtOH70% treatment causes particle disassembly and clumping of the disassembled products, leading to loss of infectivity while retaining HBGA binding. The highly effective inactivation of HuNoV infectivity by OLG-HR suggests that this compound could reduce HuNoV transmission. IMPORTANCE Human noroviruses (HuNoVs) are highly contagious and cause nonbacterial acute gastroenteritis in all age groups worldwide. Since the introduction of rotavirus vaccines, HuNoVs have become the leading cause of diarrheal illness in children. These viruses are very stable in the environment and resistant to common disinfectants. This study evaluated the virucidal efficacy of a new disinfectant, olanexidine-based hand rub (OLG-HR), against HuNoV strains in an ex vivo human intestinal stem cell-derived enteroid (HIE) cultivation system. Exposure of multiple HuNoV strains to OLG-HR for 30 to 60 s resulted in complete loss of infectivity and binding to HBGAs, possibly due to partial disassembly and conformational changes in the major virus capsid (VP1). By comparison, the virucidal efficiency of EtOH70% was strain specific, leading to loss of infectivity while retaining HBGA binding. These findings show the utility of the ex vivo HIE cultivation system to test the effectiveness of disinfectants and report a highly effective product.

The Effect of Health Shock and Basic Medical Insurance on Family Educational Investment for Children in China.

This paper explores the role of basic medical insurance in protecting family investment in child education. First, this paper establishes a two-phase overlapping generation model to theoretically analyse the impact of basic medical insurance on investment in child education under the influence of the impact of parental health. The results show that health shock reduces parental investment in child education, and medical insurance significantly alleviates the negative impact of parental health shock on investment in child education. Furthermore, this paper establishes a two-way fixed effect regression model based on the data of China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) in 2014 and 2016 to empirically test the above results. The results showed that parental health shocks negatively affect investment in child education, and paternal health shock has a more significant impact than maternal health shock. However, medical insurance significantly reduces this negative impact, provides security in investment in child education, and promotes the improvement of human capital.

The relationship between public and private health investment and economic development based on the overlapping generations (olg) model / Relação entre investimento público e privado em saúde e desenvolvimento econômico com base no modelo de gerações sobrepostas (olg) / Investigación sobre la relación entre la inversión en salud pública y privada y el desarrollo económico a partir del modelo de generación superpuesta

ABSTRACT As an important part of human capital, healthy human capital plays a great role in promoting economic development. Based on the overlapping generations (OLG) model, this study establishes a correlation analysis model between healthy human capital and economic growth. This model takes utility maximization as the theoretical carrier to study how individuals promote economic growth while pursuing the maximization of their own health capital accumulation. The model can analyze the promotion mechanism of healthy human capital on economic growth, so as to provide decision support for relevant personnel. Taking the panel data of 11 provinces and cities in China as samples, this paper makes an empirical analysis of the model. The results show that healthy human capital investment in coastal areas is generally high, and the relationship between healthy human capital and economic growth conforms to the inverted U-shaped development model, so we should pay attention to the reasonable proportion of healthy human capital investment. In addition, from the fitting effect of the regression model, the F-statistic values of model 1 and model 2 are 672.6327 and 1240.188, which shows that the fitting accuracy of the two regression models is higher.

RESUMO Como parte importante do capital humano, o capital humano saudável desempenha um grande papel na promoção do desenvolvimento econômico. Com base no modelo de gerações gerações sobrepostas (OLG), este estudo estabelece um modelo de análise de correlação entre o capital humano saudável e o crescimento econômico. Este modelo leva à maximização da utilidade como suporte teórico para estudar como os indivíduos promovem o crescimento econômico, enquanto procedem à maximização de sua própria acumulação de capital saudável. O modelo pode analisar o mecanismo de promoção de capital humano saudável em crescimento econômico, de modo a fornecer suporte de decisão para os profissionais. Tomando os dados do painel de 11 províncias e cidades da China como amostra, o presente estudo faz uma análise empírica do modelo. Os resultados mostram que o investimento em capital humano para a saúde nas zonas costeiras é geralmente elevado, e a relação entre o capital humano saudável e o crescimento econômico está em conformidade com o modelo de desenvolvimento invertido em forma de U, pelo que devemos prestar atenção à proporção razoável de investimento em capital humano saudável. Além disso, a partir do efeito de ajuste do modelo de regressão, os valores F-estatísticos do modelo 1 e do modelo 2 são 672.6327 e 1240.188, o que mostra que a precisão de ajuste dos dois modelos de regressão é maior.

RESUMEN Como parte importante del capital humano, la salud juega un papel importante en la promoción del desarrollo económico. Basado en el modelo de generaciones superpuestas (OLG), este estudio establece un modelo de análisis de correlación entre capital humano saludable y crecimiento económico. Este modelo toma la maximización de la utilidad como portador teórico para estudiar cómo los individuos promueven el crecimiento económico mientras persiguen la maximización de su propia acumulación de capital en salud. El modelo puede analizar el mecanismo de promoción del capital humano saludable sobre el crecimiento económico, a fin de brindar apoyo a las decisiones del personal relevante. Tomando como muestra los datos de panel de 11 provincias y ciudades de China, este artículo realiza un análisis empírico del modelo. Los resultados muestran que la inversión de capital humano saludable en las áreas costeras es generalmente alta, y la relación entre capital humano saludable y crecimiento económico se ajusta al modelo de desarrollo en forma de U invertida, por lo que debemos prestar atención a la proporción razonable de inversión de capital humano saludable. Además, del efecto de ajuste del modelo de regresión, los valores del estadístico F del modelo 1 y del modelo 2 son 672,6327 y 1240,188, lo que muestra que la precisión de ajuste de los dos modelos de regresión es mayor.

OLGenie: Estimating Natural Selection to Predict Functional Overlapping Genes.

Purifying (negative) natural selection is a hallmark of functional biological sequences, and can be detected in protein-coding genes using the ratio of nonsynonymous to synonymous substitutions per site (dN/dS). However, when two genes overlap the same nucleotide sites in different frames, synonymous changes in one gene may be nonsynonymous in the other, perturbing dN/dS. Thus, scalable methods are needed to estimate functional constraint specifically for overlapping genes (OLGs). We propose OLGenie, which implements a modification of the Wei-Zhang method. Assessment with simulations and controls from viral genomes (58 OLGs and 176 non-OLGs) demonstrates low false-positive rates and good discriminatory ability in differentiating true OLGs from non-OLGs. We also apply OLGenie to the unresolved case of HIV-1's putative antisense protein gene, showing significant purifying selection. OLGenie can be used to study known OLGs and to predict new OLGs in genome annotation. Software and example data are freely available at https://github.com/chasewnelson/OLGenie (last accessed April 10, 2020).

Matrine protects oligodendrocytes by inhibiting their apoptosis and enhancing mitochondrial autophagy.

Stressed oligodendrocytes (OLGs) activate microglia to produce an inflammatory response, and the impairment of mitochondria further aggravates OLG damage, which is the earliest pathological change in multiple sclerosis (MS), an inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. Matrine (MAT), a tetracyclic quinolizine alkaloid derived from the herb radix sophorae flavescentis, has been shown to effectively ameliorate clinical signs of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model of MS. However, the mechanisms underlying the effect of MAT treatment need to be further studied. In the present study, we show that MAT effectively suppressed ongoing EAE, and significantly reduced the expression of caspase-3 and alpha B-crystallin in OLGs, therefore lessen OLG apoptosis, microglial activation and inflammatory factors secretion. MAT treatment also reduced the content of cytochrome c and malondialdehyde, an oxidative stress marker, in the central nervous system. In contrast, the levels of autophagy-related proteins Beclin1, microtubule-associated protein l light chain 3 and glutathione peroxidase was upregulated, hence enhancing mitochondrial autophagy and alleviating the imbalance of the oxidation/antioxidation system caused by mitochondrial damage. Our research indicates that MAT is effective in treating EAE, at least in part, by protecting OLGs through inhibiting their apoptosis and enhancing mitochondrial autophagy.

Long-term care and births timing.

Due to the aging process, the provision of long-term care (LTC) to the dependent elderly has become a major challenge of our epoch. But our societies are also characterized, since the 1970s, by a postponement of births, which, by raising the intergenerational age gap, can affect the provision of LTC by children. In order to examine the impact of those demographic trends on the optimal policy, we develop a four-period OLG model where individuals, who receive children's informal LTC at the old age, must choose, when being young, how to allocate births along their life cycle. It is shown that, in line with empirical evidence, early children provide more LTC to their elderly parents than do late children, because they face a lower opportunity cost of providing LTC. When comparing the laissez-faire with the long-run social optimum, it appears that individuals have, at the laissez-faire, too few early births, and too many late births. We then study, in first-best and second-best settings, how the social optimum can be decentralized by encouraging early births, in such a way as to reduce the social burden of LTC provision.

TNF receptor 2 protects oligodendrocyte progenitor cells against oxidative stress.

The neuroprotective role of TNF receptor 2 (TNFR2) has been shown in various studies. However, a direct role of TNFR2 in oligodendrocyte function has not yet been demonstrated. Using primary oligodendrocytes of transgenic mice expressing human TNFR2, we show here that TNFR2 is primarily expressed on oligodendrocyte progenitor cells. Interestingly, preconditioning with a TNFR2 agonist protects these cells from oxidative stress, presumably by increasing the gene expression of distinct anti-apoptotic and detoxifying proteins, thereby providing a potential mechanism for the neuroprotective role of TNFR2 in oligodendrocyte progenitor cells.