A Novel Lumbar Motion Segment Classification to Predict Changes in Segmental Sagittal Alignment After Lateral Interbody Fixation.

Study designRetrospective cohort study.ObjectivesLateral interbody fixation is being increasingly used for the correction of segmental sagittal parameters. One factor that affects postoperative correction is the resistance afforded by posterior hypertrophic facet joints in the degenerative lumbar spine. In this article, we describe a novel preoperative motion segment classification system to predict postoperative correction of segmental sagittal alignment after lateral lumbar interbody fusion.MethodsPreoperative computed tomography scans were analyzed for segmental facet osseous anatomy for all patients undergoing lateral lumbar interbody fusion at 3 institutions. Each facet was assigned a facet grade (min = 0, max = 2), and the sum of the bilateral facet grades was the final motion segment grade (MSG; min = 0, max = 4). Preoperative and postoperative segmental lordosis was measured on standing lateral radiographs. Postoperative segmental lordosis was also conveyed as a percentage of the implanted graft lordosis (%GL). Simple linear regression was conducted to predict the postoperative segmental %GL according to MSG.ResultsA total of 36 patients with 59 operated levels were identified. There were 19 levels with MSG 0, 14 levels with MSG 1, 13 levels with MSG 2, 8 levels with MSG 3, and 5 levels with MSG 4. Mean %GL was 115%, 90%, 77%, 43%, and 5% for MSG 0 to 4, respectively. MSG significantly predicted postoperative %GL (P < .01). Each increase in MSG was associated with a 28% decrease in %GL.ConclusionsWe propose a novel facet-based motion segment classification system that significantly predicted postoperative segmental lordosis after lateral lumbar interbody fusion

Women’s Disempowerment and Preferences for Skin Lightening Products that Reinforce Colorism: Experimental Evidence from India

Global racism and colorism, the preference for fairer skin even within ethnic and racial groups, leads millions of women of African, Asian, and Latin descent to use products with chemical ingredients intended to lighten skin color. Drawing from literatures on the impact of chronic and situational disempowerment on behavioral risk-taking to enhance status, we hypothesized that activating feelings of disempowerment would increase women of color’s interest in stronger and riskier products meant to lighten skin tone quickly and effectively. In two experiments (Experiment 1: N = 253 women and 264 men; Experiment 2: replication study, N = 318 women) with distinct samples of Indian participants, we found that being in a state of psychological disempowerment (vs. empowerment) increased Indian women’s preference for stronger and riskier skin lightening products but not for milder products. Indian men’s interest in both types of products was unaffected by the same psychological disempowerment prime. Based on these findings, we recommend increased consideration among teaching faculty, research scholars, and clinicians on how feeling disempowered can lead women of color to take risks to lighten their skin as well as other issues of intersectionality and with respect to colorism. We also encourage the adoption of policies aimed at empowering women of color and minimizing access to harmful skin lightening products

Compositional Variations in the \u3cem\u3eFire Clay Coal Bed\u3c/em\u3e of Eastern Kentucky: Geochemistry, Petrography, Palynology, and Paleoecology

Bench samples of the Fire Clay coal bed, collected from 28 localities in a study area of eight 7.5-minute quadrangles in the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field, were analyzed geochemically, petrographically, and palynologically to determine any spatial or temporal trends among the studied parameters. At most sample sites the Fire Clay is split by a flint-clay parting of probable volcanic origin. The upper bench of the Fire Clay coal generally is thick, laterally continuous, low in ash yield and sulfur content, has a moderate to high calorific value, and is high in total vitrinite content. In contrast, the lower bench generally is thin, laterally discontinuous, moderate to high in ash yield and sulfur content, has a low to moderate calorific value, and has high liptinite and inertinite contents. Rider coals, present at two sample sites, are thin, laterally discontinuous, and high in both ash yield and sulfur content. Fire Clay coal extracted from underground mines typically contains roof and floor rock, which is separated by conventional coal-cleaning methods. The analytical data were grouped into categories of increasing coal purity to approximate a cleaned coal product. Results indicate that some parameters (Btu and total vitrinite content) increase along a trend from higher ash to lower ash coal. Other parameters (ash yield, total sulfur content, and several minor elements) decrease. Still others (thickness and total moisture) show no trend at all. A comparison of these data with previously accumulated data from 64 cleaned coal samples (collected from preparation plants) confirms these trends. This is significant, especially with regard to Titles III and IV of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, in that many deleterious components of coal appear to be removable by conventional coal-cleaning methods prior to combustion in an industrial furnace. Examples of these undesirable constituents include pyrite, chromium, cobalt, and nickel. The Fire Clay coal was grouped into four compositional categories for paleoecological interpretation. The categories are (1) a Lycospora-dominant group with high vitrinite contents that is interpreted to have formed in areas of the Fire Clay paleomire that were kept very wet, to the point of having standing water, a majority of the time (this group probably developed in areas of the mire that were dominantly rheotrophic and planar); (2) a mixed-palynoflora group with high vitrinite contents that is defined by having a more diverse palynoflora than the first group (increased percentages of small lycopsid, fern, and calamite spores), and high percentages of vitrinite (this group is also interpreted to have formed in areas that were very wet most of the time, and were predominantly rheotrophic and planar); (3) a mixed-palynoflora group with moderate to low vitrinite contents that contains increased percentages of inertinite compared to the first two groups and a diverse palynoflora, possibly because the mire became more ombrotrophic and domed; and (4) a mixed-palynoflora group with high ash yield whose palynoflora is marked by various mixtures of lycopsids (trees and small forms), ferns (tree-like and small forms), calamites, and cordaite spores; samples defined by this group contain elevated percentages of liptinite and inertinite macerals, as well as higher ash yields. The conditions under which group 4 formed probably were rheotrophic and planar. Group 4 defines all the samples in the lower bench of the Fire Clay coal bed

Geochemistry, Petrology, and Palynology of the Princess No. 3 Coal, Greenup County, Kentucky

The high volatile C bituminous-rank, Bolsovian-age Princess No. 3 coal, a correlative of the heavily-mined Hazard No. 7 coal and the Peach Orchard and Coalburg Lower Split coals, was investigated three sites at a mine in Greenup County, Kentucky. The coal exhibits a “dulling upwards” trend, with decreasing vitrinite and a greater tendency towards dull clarain and bone lithotypes towards the top of the coal. The relatively vitrinite-rich basal lithotype is marked by a dominance of lycopod tree spores. The palynology transitions upwards to a middle parting co-dominated by tree fern and small lycopod spores and an upper bench dominated by tree ferns with contributions from small ferns, cordaites, and calamites. The lithotypes generally have a moderate- to high-S content with a variable ash yield. Sulfur, Fe2O3, and certain siderophile elements are highest near the top of the coal. As observed in other coals, uranium and Ge are enriched at the top and bottom margins of the coal. The rare earth chemistry at the top of the coal has a significantly lighter distribution (higher LREE/HREE) than at the base of the coal

Analysis of Devonian Black Shales in Kentucky for Potential Carbon Dioxide Sequestration and Enhanced Natural Gas Production

Carbonaceous (black) Devonian gas shales underlie approximately two-thirds of Kentucky. In these shales, natural gas occurs in the intergranular and fracture porosity and is adsorbed on clay and kerogen surfaces. This is analogous to methane storage in coal beds, where CO2 is preferentially adsorbed, displacing methane. Black shales may similarly desorb methane in the presence of CO2. Drill cuttings from the Kentucky Geological Survey Well Sample and Core Library were sampled to determine both CO2 and CH4 adsorption isotherms. Sidewall core samples were acquired to investigate CO2 displacement of methane. An elemental capture spectroscopy log was acquired to investigate possible correlations between adsorption capacity and mineralogy. Average random vitrinite reflectance data range from 0.78 to 1.59 (upper oil to wet gas and condensate hydrocarbon maturity range). Total organic content determined from acid-washed samples ranges from 0.69 to 14 percent. CO2 adsorption capacities at 400 psi range from a low of 14 scf/ton in less organic-rich zones to more than 136 scf/ton in the more organic-rich zones. There is a direct linear correlation between measured total organic carbon content and the adsorptive capacity of the shale; CO2 adsorption capacity increases with increasing organic carbon content. Initial volumetric estimates based on these data indicate a CO2 sequestration capacity of as much as 28 billion tons total in the deeper and thicker parts of the Devonian shales in Kentucky. In the Big Sandy Gas Field area of eastern Kentucky, calculations using the net thickness of shale with 4 percent or greater total organic carbon, indicate that 6.8 billion tonnes of CO2 could be sequestered in the five county area. Discounting the uncertainties in reservoir volume and injection efficiency, these results indicate that the black shales of Kentucky are a potentially large geologic sink for CO2. Moreover, the extensive occurrence of gas shales in Paleozoic and Mesozoic basins across North America make them an attractive regional target for economic CO2 storage and enhanced natural gas production

Complex Adaptations Can Drive the Evolution of the Capacitor [PSI+], Even with Realistic Rates of Yeast Sex

The [PSI+] prion may enhance evolvability by revealing previously cryptic genetic variation, but it is unclear whether such evolvability properties could be favored by natural selection. Sex inhibits the evolution of other putative evolvability mechanisms, such as mutator alleles. This paper explores whether sex also prevents natural selection from favoring modifier alleles that facilitate [PSI+] formation. Sex may permit the spread of “cheater” alleles that acquire the benefits of [PSI+] through mating without incurring the cost of producing [PSI+] at times when it is not adaptive. Using recent quantitative estimates of the frequency of sex in Saccharomyces paradoxus, we calculate that natural selection for evolvability can drive the evolution of the [PSI+] system, so long as yeast populations occasionally require complex adaptations involving synergistic epistasis between two loci. If adaptations are always simple and require substitution at only a single locus, then the [PSI+] system is not favored by natural selection. Obligate sex might inhibit the evolution of [PSI+]-like systems in other species

A cross-sectional study of periportal fibrosis and Schistosoma mansoni infection among school-aged children in a hard-to-reach area of Madagascar.

BACKGROUND: A cross-sectional survey was performed to estimate the prevalence of periportal fibrosis in children based on ultrasound examination in the Marolambo district of the Atsinanana region of Madagascar. This is a remote area known to have a high prevalence of intestinal schistosomiasis. METHODS: School-aged children (5-14 y) were selected from six villages for parasitological and sonographic examination. Circulating cathodic antigen (CCA) tests and Kato Katz (KK) stool microscopy were performed. Video-clips of liver views were recorded with a SonoSite iViz and interpreted in the UK by comparison with standardised images (WHO protocol). RESULTS: The prevalence of schistosomiasis according to CCA testing was 97.8% (269/275) and 73.8% (203/275) by KK. Sonographic evidence of periportal fibrosis was observed in 11.3% (31/275). The youngest children with fibrosis were aged 6 y. Fibrosis was more common in older children (p=0.03) but was not associated with either infection intensity category (p=0.07) or gender (p=0.67). CONCLUSIONS: Findings of periportal fibrosis among children in these hard-to-reach villages suggests chronic Schistosoma mansoni infection from a very young age. This may reflect other similarly remote schistosomiasis-endemic areas and reinforces the need to investigate morbidity in neglected communities to understand the true extent of disease burden in endemic countries