Fumblings and faux pas: Reflections on attempting to engage in participatory research with people with an intellectual disability

Reflexivity is fundamental to developing methodologically and ethically sound research and is particularly important for researchers exploring experiences of oppression. Method We offer reflections on the process of engaging in participatory research with people with an intellectual disability (ID). A reflexive journal was maintained throughout the duration of a research project that used photovoice and conversational interviewing to explore the identities and social roles of 18 members of an advocacy agency for people with ID. Results Challenges and tensions arose throughout the research process, including difficulties reproducing “ideal” participatory research, issues of informed consent, and tensions surrounding the beneficiaries of the research. Broader social processes were mirrored in interactions with the members, and damaging stereotyped identities were unknowingly imposed. Conclusions Self-awareness and critical reflection is necessary to ensure that the existing power relations in traditional disability research (and wider society) are not replicated during the research process

The Prevalence and Clinical Implications of Comorbid Back Pain in Shoulder Instability: A Multicenter Orthopaedic Outcomes Network (MOON) Shoulder Instability Cohort Study.

Background:Understanding predictors of pain is critical, as recent literature shows that comorbid back pain is an independent risk factor for worse functional and patient-reported outcomes (PROs) as well as increased opioid dependence after total joint arthroplasty. Purpose/Hypothesis:The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether comorbid back pain would be predictive of pain or self-reported instability symptoms at the time of stabilization surgery. We hypothesized that comorbid back pain will correlate with increased pain at the time of surgery as well as with worse scores on shoulder-related PRO measures. Study Design:Cross-sectional study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods:As part of the Multicenter Orthopaedic Outcomes Network (MOON) Shoulder Instability cohort, patients consented to participate in pre- and intraoperative data collection. Demographic characteristics, injury history, preoperative PRO scores, and radiologic and intraoperative findings were recorded for patients undergoing surgical shoulder stabilization. Patients were also asked, whether they had any back pain. Results:The study cohort consisted of 1001 patients (81% male; mean age, 24.1 years). Patients with comorbid back pain (158 patients; 15.8%) were significantly older (28.1 vs 23.4 years; P < .001) and were more likely to be female (25.3% vs 17.4%; P = .02) but did not differ in terms of either preoperative imaging or intraoperative findings. Patients with self-reported back pain had significantly worse preoperative pain and shoulder-related PRO scores (American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons score, Western Ontario Shoulder Instability Index) (P < .001), more frequent depression (22.2% vs 8.3%; P < .001), poorer mental health status (worse scores for the RAND 36-Item Health Survey Mental Component Score, Iowa Quick Screen, and Personality Assessment Screener) (P < .01), and worse preoperative expectations (P < .01). Conclusion:Despite having similar physical findings, patients with comorbid back pain had more severe preoperative pain and self-reported symptoms of instability as well as more frequent depression and lower mental health scores. The combination of disproportionate shoulder pain, comorbid back pain and mental health conditions, and inferior preoperative expectations may affect not only the patient's preoperative state but also postoperative pain control and/or postoperative outcomes

Constraints on the Progenitor of SN 2016gkg From Its Shock-Cooling Light Curve

SN 2016gkg is a nearby Type IIb supernova discovered shortly after explosion. Like several other Type IIb events with early-time data, SN 2016gkg displays a double-peaked light curve, with the first peak associated with the cooling of a low-mass extended progenitor envelope. We present unprecedented intranight-cadence multi-band photometric coverage of the first light-curve peak of SN 2016gkg obtained from the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope network, the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, the Swift satellite and various amateur-operated telescopes. Fitting these data to analytical shock-cooling models gives a progenitor radius of ~25-140 solar radii with ~2-30 x 10^-2 solar masses of material in the extended envelope (depending on the model and the assumed host-galaxy extinction). Our radius estimates are broadly consistent with values derived independently (in other works) from HST imaging of the progenitor star. However, the shock-cooling model radii are on the lower end of the values indicated by pre-explosion imaging. Hydrodynamical simulations could refine the progenitor parameters deduced from the shock-cooling emission and test the analytical models.Comment: Accepted by ApJ

Intratumor Heterogeneity of the Estrogen Receptor and the Long-term Risk of Fatal Breast Cancer.

Background:Breast cancer patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive disease have a continuous long-term risk for fatal breast cancer, but the biological factors influencing this risk are unknown. We aimed to determine whether high intratumor heterogeneity of ER predicts an increased long-term risk (25 years) of fatal breast cancer. Methods:The STO-3 trial enrolled 1780 postmenopausal lymph node-negative breast cancer patients randomly assigned to receive adjuvant tamoxifen vs not. The fraction of cancer cells for each ER intensity level was scored by breast cancer pathologists, and intratumor heterogeneity of ER was calculated using Rao's quadratic entropy and categorized into high and low heterogeneity using a predefined cutoff at the second tertile (67%). Long-term breast cancer-specific survival analyses by intra-tumor heterogeneity of ER were performed using Kaplan-Meier and multivariable Cox proportional hazard modeling adjusting for patient and tumor characteristics. Results:A statistically significant difference in long-term survival by high vs low intratumor heterogeneity of ER was seen for all ER-positive patients (P < .001) and for patients with luminal A subtype tumors (P = .01). In multivariable analyses, patients with high intratumor heterogeneity of ER had a twofold increased long-term risk as compared with patients with low intratumor heterogeneity (ER-positive: hazard ratio [HR] = 1.98, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.31 to 3.00; luminal A subtype tumors: HR = 2.43, 95% CI = 1.18 to 4.99). Conclusions:Patients with high intratumor heterogeneity of ER had an increased long-term risk of fatal breast cancer. Interestingly, a similar long-term risk increase was seen in patients with luminal A subtype tumors. Our findings suggest that intratumor heterogeneity of ER is an independent long-term prognosticator with potential to change clinical management, especially for patients with luminal A tumors

Mercury Biogeochemical Cycling: A Synthesis of Recent Scientific Advances

The focus of this paper is to briefly discuss the major advances in scientific thinking regarding: a) processes governing the fate and transport of mercury in the environment; b) advances in measurement methods; and c) how these advances in knowledge fit in within the context of the Minamata Convention on Mercury. Details regarding the information summarized here can be found in the papers associated with this Virtual Special Issue of STOTEN

Review Article MR technology for biological studies in mice

ABSTRACT: Mouse models are crucial for the study of genetic factors and processes that influence human disease. In addition to tools for measuring genetic expression and establishing genotype, tools to accurately and comparatively assess mouse phenotype are essential in order to characterize pathology and make comparisons with human disease. MRI provides a powerful means of evaluating various anatomical and functional changes and hence is growing in popularity as a phenotypic readout for biomedical research studies. To accommodate the large numbers of mice needed in most biological studies, mouse MRI must offer high-throughput image acquisition and efficient image analysis. This article reviews the technology of multiple-mouse MRI, a method that images multiple mice or specimens simultaneously as a means of enabling high-throughput studies. Aspects of image acquisition and computational analysis in multiple-mouse studies are also described

A manifesto for reproducible science

Improving the reliability and efficiency of scientific research will increase the credibility of the published scientific literature and accelerate discovery. Here we argue for the adoption of measures to optimize key elements of the scientific process: methods, reporting and dissemination, reproducibility, evaluation and incentives. There is some evidence from both simulations and empirical studies supporting the likely effectiveness of these measures, but their broad adoption by researchers, institutions, funders and journals will require iterative evaluation and improvement. We discuss the goals of these measures, and how they can be implemented, in the hope that this will facilitate action toward improving the transparency, reproducibility and efficiency of scientific research

Intertwined superfluid and density wave order in two-dimensional 4He

Superfluidity is a manifestation of the operation of the laws of quantum mechanics on a macroscopic scale. The conditions under which superfluidity becomes manifest have been extensively explored experimentally in both quantum liquids (liquid 4He being the canonical example) and ultracold atomic gases1, 2, including as a function of dimensionality3, 4. Of particular interest is the hitherto unresolved question of whether a solid can be superfluid5, 6. Here we report the identification of a new state of quantum matter with intertwined superfluid and density wave order in a system of two-dimensional bosons subject to a triangular lattice potential. Using a torsional oscillator we have measured the superfluid response of the second atomic layer of 4He adsorbed on the surface of graphite, over a wide temperature range down to 2 mK. Superfluidity is observed over a narrow range of film densities, emerging suddenly and subsequently collapsing towards a quantum critical point. The unusual temperature dependence of the superfluid density in the limit of zero temperature and the absence of a clear superfluid onset temperature are explained, self-consistently, by an ansatz for the excitation spectrum, reflecting density wave order, and a quasi-condensate wavefunction breaking both gauge and translational symmetry

Brief of Amici Curiae 56 Professors of Law and Economics in Support of Petition of Writ of Certiorari

28 U.S.C. § 1400(b) provides that a defendant in a patent case may be sued where the defendant is incorporated or has a regular and established place of business and has infringed the patent. This Court made clear in Fourco Glass Co. v. Transmirra Prods. Corp., 353 U.S. 222, 223 (1957), that those were the only permissible venues for a patent case. But the Federal Circuit has rejected Fourco and the plain meaning of § 1400(b), instead permitting a patent plaintiff to file suit against a defendant anywhere there is personal jurisdiction over that defendant. The result has been rampant forum shopping, particularly by patent trolls. 44% of 2015 patent lawsuits were filed in a single district: the Eastern District of Texas, a forum with plaintiff-friendly rules and practices, and where few of the defendants are incorporated or have established places of business. And an estimated 86% of 2015 patent cases were filed somewhere other than the jurisdictions specified in the statute. Colleen V. Chien & Michael Risch, Recalibrating Patent Venue, Santa Clara Univ. Legal Studies Research Paper No. 10-1 (Sept. 1, 2016), Table 3. This Court should grant certiorari to review the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 1400(b) because the Federal Circuit’s dubious interpretation of the statute plays an outsized and detrimental role, both legally and economically, in the patent system