Alaska Victimization Survey: 2011 Results for Bristol Bay

This is a handout of a Powerpoint slide presentation providing an overview of key results from the 2011 Alaska Victimization Survey for the Bristol Bay region, which was conducted from April to June 2011, with results released on October 12, 2011 in Dillingham. Findings include: * Over 50% of adult women in the Bristol Bay Region have experienced intimate partner violence, sexual violence or both, in their lifetime; * Nearly 15% have experienced intimate partner violence, sexual violence or both, in the past year; * 3 out of every 10 adult women in the Bristol Bay Region have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime; and * 4 out of every 10 have experienced intimate partner violence in their lifetime.Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, Alaska Department of Public SafetyAlaska Victimization Survey in Bristol Bay / Intimate Partner Violence Definitions / Intimate Partner Violence Estimates / Sexual Violence Definitions / Sexual Violence Estimates / Summary of Past Year Estimates / Summary of Lifetime Estimates / Lifetime Estimates / Important Limitations / A Special Thank You! / Contact

Alaska Victimization Survey: From Research to Policy and Practice

This project was supported by the Alaska Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. Points of view in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the Council, the Alaska Department of Public Safety, or the State of Alaska.The Justice Center at the University of Alaska Anchorage partnered with the Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault to conduct a statewide victimization survey. The Alaska Victimization Survey was modeled after the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Surveillance System (NISVSS) survey, developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in collaboration with the National Institute of Justice and the Department of Defense. The NISVSS survey is designed to “generate accurate and reliable lifetime and 12-month incidence and prevalence estimates on intimate partner violence (physical aggression, psychological aggression, and sexual violence); sexual violence (unwanted sexual situations, abusive sexual contact, and completed or attempted sex without consent); and stalking” (CDC). This poster presents key results from the Alaska Victimization Survey and identifies how survey results are being used to impact policy and practice.Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, Alaska Department of Public SafetyAbstract / UCR Forcible Rape Statistice: 1996–2009 / Survey Methods / Measures / Results / Dissemination / Impact on Policy & Practic

Upper semi-continuity of the Royden-Kobayashi pseudo-norm, a counterexample for H\"olderian almost complex structures

If $X$ is an almost complex manifold, with an almost complex structure $J$ of class \CC^\alpha, for some $\alpha >0$, for every point $p\in X$ and every tangent vector $V$ at $p$, there exists a germ of $J$-holomorphic disc through $p$ with this prescribed tangent vector. This existence result goes back to Nijenhuis-Woolf. All the $J$ holomorphic curves are of class \CC^{1,\alpha} in this case. Then, exactly as for complex manifolds one can define the Royden-Kobayashi pseudo-norm of tangent vectors. The question arises whether this pseudo-norm is an upper semi-continuous function on the tangent bundle. For complex manifolds it is the crucial point in Royden's proof of the equivalence of the two standard definitions of the Kobayashi pseudo-metric. The upper semi-continuity of the Royden-Kobayashi pseudo-norm has been established by Kruglikov for structures that are smooth enough. In [I-R], it is shown that \CC^{1,\alpha} regularity of $J$ is enough. Here we show the following: Theorem. There exists an almost complex structure $J$ of class \CC^{1\over 2} on the unit bidisc \D^2\subset \C^2, such that the Royden-Kobayashi seudo-norm is not an upper semi-continuous function on the tangent bundle.Comment: 5 page

Generalization of a theorem of Gonchar

Let $X, Y$ be two complex manifolds, let $D\subset X,$ $G\subset Y$ be two nonempty open sets, let $A$ (resp. $B$) be an open subset of $\partial D$ (resp. $\partial G$), and let $W$ be the 2-fold cross $((D\cup A)\times B)\cup (A\times(B\cup G)).$ Under a geometric condition on the boundary sets $A$ and $B,$ we show that every function locally bounded, separately continuous on $W,$ continuous on $A\times B,$ and separately holomorphic on $(A\times G) \cup (D\times B)$ "extends" to a function continuous on a "domain of holomorphy" $\hat{W}$ and holomorphic on the interior of $\hat{W}.$Comment: 14 pages, to appear in Arkiv for Matemati

Dynamic Nuclear Polarization-Enhanced Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy of GNNQQNY Nanocrystals and Amyloid Fibrils

Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) utilizes the inherently larger polarization of electrons to enhance the sensitivity of conventional solid-state NMR experiments at low temperature. Recent advances in instrumentation development and sample preparation have transformed this field and have opened up new opportunities for its application to biological systems. Here, we present DNP-enhanced [superscript 13]C–[superscript 13]C and [superscript 15]N–[superscript 13]C correlation experiments on GNNQQNY nanocrystals and amyloid fibrils acquired at 9.4 T and 100 K and demonstrate that DNP can be used to obtain assignments and site-specific structural information very efficiently. We investigate the influence of temperature on the resolution, molecular conformation, structural integrity and dynamics in these two systems. In addition, we assess the low-temperature performance of two commonly used solid-state NMR experiments, proton-driven spin diffusion (PDSD) and transferred echo double resonance (TEDOR), and discuss their potential as tools for measurement of structurally relevant distances at low temperature in combination with DNP.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant EB002804)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant EB003151)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant EB002026

Cross theorems with singularities

We establish extension theorems for separately holomorphic mappings defined on sets of the form W\setminus M with values in a complex analytic space which possesses the Hartogs extension property. Here W is a 2-fold cross of arbitrary complex manifolds and M is a set of singularities which is locally pluripolar (resp. thin) in fibers.Comment: 30 pages. A previous version is available at the ICTP preprints website (ref. IC2007073

Affine modifications and affine hypersurfaces with a very transitive automorphism group

We study a kind of modification of an affine domain which produces another affine domain. First appeared in passing in the basic paper of O. Zariski (1942), it was further considered by E.D. Davis (1967). The first named author applied its geometric counterpart to construct contractible smooth affine varieties non-isomorphic to Euclidean spaces. Here we provide certain conditions which guarantee preservation of the topology under a modification. As an application, we show that the group of biregular automorphisms of the affine hypersurface $X \subset C^{k+2}$ given by the equation $uv=p(x_1,...,x_k)$ where $p \in C[x_1,...,x_k],$ acts $m-$transitively on the smooth part reg$X$ of $X$ for any $m \in N.$ We present examples of such hypersurfaces diffeomorphic to Euclidean spaces.Comment: 39 Pages, LaTeX; a revised version with minor changes and correction

Pseudomonas aeruginosa Expresses a Functional Human Natriuretic Peptide Receptor Ortholog: Involvement in Biofilm Formation

This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.Considerable evidence exists that bacteria detect eukaryotic communication molecules and modify their virulence accordingly. In previous studies, it has been demonstrated that the increasingly antibiotic-resistant pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa can detect the human hormones brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) at micromolar concentrations. In response, the bacterium modifies its behavior to adapt to the host physiology, increasing its overall virulence. The possibility of identifying the bacterial sensor for these hormones and interfering with this sensing mechanism offers an exciting opportunity to directly affect the infection process. Here, we show that BNP and CNP strongly decrease P. aeruginosa biofilm formation. Isatin, an antagonist of human natriuretic peptide receptors (NPR), prevents this effect. Furthermore, the human NPR-C receptor agonist cANF(4-23) mimics the effects of natriuretic peptides on P. aeruginosa, while sANP, the NPR-A receptor agonist, appears to be weakly active. We show in silico that NPR-C, a preferential CNP receptor, and the P. aeruginosa protein AmiC have similar three-dimensional (3D) structures and that both CNP and isatin bind to AmiC. We demonstrate that CNP acts as an AmiC agonist, enhancing the expression of the ami operon in P. aeruginosa. Binding of CNP and NPR-C agonists to AmiC was confirmed by microscale thermophoresis. Finally, using an amiC mutant strain, we demonstrated that AmiC is essential for CNP effects on biofilm formation. In conclusion, the AmiC bacterial sensor possesses structural and pharmacological profiles similar to those of the human NPR-C receptor and appears to be a bacterial receptor for human hormones that enables P. aeruginosa to modulate biofilm expression. IMPORTANCE: The bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a highly dangerous opportunist pathogen for immunocompromised hosts, especially cystic fibrosis patients. The sites of P. aeruginosa infection are varied, with predominance in the human lung, in which bacteria are in contact with host molecular messengers such as hormones. The C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP), a hormone produced by lung cells, has been described as a bacterial virulence enhancer. In this study, we showed that the CNP hormone counteracts P. aeruginosa biofilm formation and we identified the bacterial protein AmiC as the sensor involved in the CNP effects. We showed that AmiC could bind specifically CNP. These results show for the first time that a human hormone could be sensed by bacteria through a specific protein, which is an ortholog of the human receptor NPR-C. The bacterium would be able to modify its lifestyle by favoring virulence factor production while reducing biofilm formation.We thank Magalie Barreau and Olivier Maillot for technical assistance. We thank Christine Farmer for linguistic insight for the manuscript. T. Rosay is a recipient of a doctoral fellowship from the French Ministry of Research (MRE). This work was supported by grants from the Communauté d’Agglomération d’Evreux, the Conseil Général de l’Eure, European Union (FEDER no. 31970), the French Association “Vaincre la Mucoviscidose” and the InterReg IVA PeReNE project

Different Dose-Dependent Modes of Action of C-Type Natriuretic Peptide on Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilm Formation.

We have previously shown that the C-type Natriuretic Peptide (CNP), a peptide produced by lungs, is able to impact Pseudomonasaeruginosa physiology. In the present work, the effect of CNP at different concentrations on P. aeruginosa biofilm formation was studied and the mechanisms of action of this human hormone on P. aeruginosa were deciphered. CNP was shown to inhibit dynamic biofilm formation in a dose-dependent manner without affecting the bacterial growth at any tested concentrations. The most effective concentrations were 1 and 0.1 µM. At 0.1 µM, the biofilm formation inhibition was fully dependent on the CNP sensor protein AmiC, whereas it was only partially AmiC-dependent at 1 µM, revealing the existence of a second AmiC-independent mode of action of CNP on P. aeruginosa. At 1 µM, CNP reduced both P. aeruginosa adhesion on glass and di-rhamnolipid production and also increased the bacterial membrane fluidity. The various effects of CNP at 1 µM and 0.1 µM on P. aeruginosa shown here should have major consequences to design drugs for biofilm treatment or prevention

UAA Justice Center's Ongoing DVSA Research

This Powerpoint presentation describes ongoing research on domestic violence and sexual assault presented to the Alaska Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (CDVSA) at its June 2017 quarterly meeting. Research discussed includes a recently completed survey on Alaskans’ knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs (KAB) regarding domestic violence and sexual assault; a Results First Initiative cost-benefit analysis of batterer intervention programs; psychological and physical abuse against women 60 and older from the Alaska Victimization Survey (2010-2015) (AVS) with a comparison to national data from the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (2010); and an update on the Alaska Victimization Survey.UPDATE: Survey on Alaskans’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and Beliefs / UPDATE: Results First and Batterer Intervention Programs / UPDATE: Psychological and Physical Abuse Against Elders / UPDATE: Alaska Victimization Surve