Reverse Revolution: Russia\u27s Constitutional Crisis

Russia is experiencing a crisis that threatens the continued relevance of its Constitution. This is demonstrated first by Vladimir Putin’s return to the presidency and the political crisis it has fueled. Second, it is shown by the Constitution’s inability to remedy the political crisis due to the collapse of separation of powers and federalism in Russia, and severe party underdevelopment. Part A of this note discusses Russia’s political crisis, namely the demise of democracy. Part B discusses the Constitution’s injuries, specifically the collapse of federalism, the demise of the separation of powers, and the state’s party underdevelopment. Together, these factors signify a constitutional crisis which can be cured only through substantive changes to the Constitution and Russia’s electoral laws, and a normative shift in Russian politics

Mindfulness, Self-Compassion, Executive Functioning, and Stress: Exploring a Process Model in Adolescents

The association of trait mindfulness with emotional well-being has been found to be mediated by executive functioning. However, there is little empirical evidence on this process in adolescents. Therefore, this study tested these associations using an adolescent sample participating in a physical education yoga class. This study extended previous research by also including self-compassion and state mindfulness in addition to trait mindfulness. A prospective design employed a pilot yoga curriculum in a high school physical education class. Adolescents (N = 20) completed assessments of trait mindfulness and self-compassion at baseline, state mindfulness experienced during yoga classes over the 12 week physical education yoga class, and six indices of executive functioning and stress at the end of the 12 weeks. Path analysis was used to test the process model found by Short with the extensions of self-compassion and state mindfulness. Self-compassion directly predicted problems with activity level impulse control and indirectly predicted stress. When self-compassion did not predict specific executive functioning indicators, state mindfulness experienced in yoga predicted stress. This study contributes preliminary evidence that suggests further research into the unique effects of trait and state mindfulness as well as self-compassion on adolescent cognitive and affective outcomes. Results support the use of contemplative practices, such as yoga, in adolescent physical education as a strategy to boost emotion regulation processes

Cigarette Excise Taxes Protect the Public's Health and Improve North Carolina's Economy: A Policy Analysis

Tobacco use is the number one cause of preventable death and disease in the United States and in North Carolina. The carcinogenic composition and addictive nature of tobacco products make tobacco use a difficult public health problem to address. In North Carolina, cigarette smoking is responsible for thousands of deaths and billions of dollars in health care costs each year. Smoking is not only harmful to the smoker, but also to persons exposed to secondhand smoke and to unborn fetuses whose mother's smoke while pregnant. Despite the negative effects of smoking in North Carolina, the agricultural sector still perceives the tobacco crop to be of considerable importance to North Carolina's economy. Furthermore many North Carolinians perceive tobacco farming to be a primary contributor to the overall welfare of the state. Therefore, measures that reduce tobacco consumption are often deemed unacceptable by lawmakers in the state. However, evidence shows that reducing tobacco consumption in North Carolina is neither the primary nor a major cause of declines in demand for North Carolina grown tobacco. In order to effectively reduce tobacco consumption, and specifically smoking rates, lawmakers must be presented with a policy option that would protect the public's health while simultaneously providing assistance to tobacco farmers - regardless ofthe cause of declining demand for North Carolina grown tobacco. A substantial cigarette excise tax increase would significantly decrease cigarette consumption in North Carolina and the resulting new state tax revenues could be spent on initiatives to help tobacco farmers who are already facing declining demand for their crop. Since 1995, the U.S. has seen a number of cigarette excise tax increases as the health community gains evidence that this policy intervention is the most effective way to reduce smoking rates. Research indicates that for every 10% increase in the cigarette excise tax there is a 4%-5% decline in consumption, demonstrating the inelasticity of demand for cigarettes ("Raising Cigarette Taxes," 2002). Regardless of this relatively small decline in consumption, price increases appear to be the most cost-effective and feasible means for addressing the tobacco use problem in the U.S. Excise tax increases, coupled with health behavior interventions such as media campaigns, education and health services have resulted in a consumption decline of approximately 3% nationally since 1995 ("Raising Cigarette Taxes," 2002). However, demand for U.S. grown tobacco has declined by almost 32% during the same time period. In states where a number of communities are dependent on tobacco as a cash crop, this decline has had a significant effect on the economy (Gale, Foreman, & Capehart, 2000). In NC, where tobacco is the fourth leading cash crop (NC Dept. of Agriculture, 2003), farmers struggle to maintain their income level and oppose measures that contribute to declines in demand for their crop. Despite a number of government sanctioned reports in the early 1990s, however, it has become clear that public health interventions, and indeed cigarette excise tax increases, are not the major cause of declining demand for domestically grown tobacco (Foreman, 2003). More recent evidence indicates that American tobacco manufacturing companies have significantly increased their purchase of foreign-grown tobacco since the mid-1990s while steadily decreasing the amount they purchase from U.S. farmers (Gale et.al., 2000). Clearly, a number of factors have influenced this trend, and this analysis will attempt to make clear why the tobacco industry has changed its purchasing behavior. Specifically, this analysis will attempt to pinpoint the factors that have reduced demand for North Carolina grown tobacco and to demonstrate the degree to which a revenue-raising cigarette excise tax could provide assistance to the state's struggling tobacco farmer and overall relief to the state's economic crisis.Master of Public Healt

Composite Bonded Joint: Repair Development

This report documents the details of my work as a NASA KSC intern for the Fall Session from August 27th to December 14th, 2018. My efforts and contributions were with the Materials Science Branch, a staffed organization within the Laboratories, Development, & Testing (NE-L) Division of the Engineering Directorate. The principle responsibilities of the Materials Science group are to support the design, development, and operations activities for materials and processes with the purpose of providing unique solutions for flight hardware, ground support equipment, and customer requests. My role as an intern focused on assisting engineers in developing repair processes to mature bonded joint technology in support of SLS ? scale hardware. My primary goals for this internship were to become more familiar with composite materials and learn more about processes I was unfamiliar with, such as prepregs and out-of-autoclave processing. This project allowed me to learn new skills such as scarfing and curing composites. Additional goals I had were to learn more about NASA's laboratories and projects under development. This internship not only provided me with those experiences, but also allowed me to build relationships with inspiring engineers; a takeaway I will never forget

Treatment-resistant depression in adolescents: is the addition of cognitive behavioral therapy of benefit?

BACKGROUND: Many young people with major depression fail first-line treatments. Treatment-resistant depression has various definitions in the literature but typically assumes nonresponse to medication. In young people, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the recommended first-line intervention, thus the definition of treatment resistance should be expanded. Therefore, our aim was to synthesize the existing evidence of any interventions for treatment-resistant depression, broadly defined, in children and adolescents and to investigate the effectiveness of CBT in this context. METHODS: We used Cochrane Collaboration methodology, with electronic searches of Medline, PsycINFO, Embase, and the Cochrane Depression Anxiety and Neurosis Group trials registers. Only randomized controlled trials were included, and were assessed for risk of bias. Meta- analysis was undertaken where possible and appropriate. RESULTS: Of 953 articles retrieved, four trials were eligible for inclusion. For one study, only the trial registration document was available, because the study was never completed. All other studies were well conducted with a low risk of bias, although one study had a high dropout rate. Two studies assessed the effect of adding CBT to medication. While an assertive trial of antidepressants does appear to lead to benefit, when compared with placebo, there was no significant advantage, in either study, or in a meta-analysis of data from these trials, that clearly demonstrated an additional benefit of CBT. The third trial showed little advantage of a tricyclic antidepressant over placebo in the context of an inpatient admission. CONCLUSION: Few randomized controlled trials have investigated interventions for treatment-resistant depression in young people, and results from these show modest benefit from antidepressants with no additional benefit over medication from CBT. Overall, there is a lack of evidence about effective interventions to treat young people who have failed to respond to evidence-based interventions for depression. Research in this area is urgently required

Impact of the cost-of-living crisis on the nature of attempts to stop smoking and to reduce alcohol consumption in Great Britain: A representative population survey, 2021-2022

BACKGROUND: Smoking and excessive drinking place a strain on household budgets. We aimed to examine the impact of the cost-of-living crisis in Great Britain on the nature of smoking cessation and alcohol reduction attempts, and explore changes in health professionals offering support. METHODS: Data were from 14,567 past-year smokers and high-risk drinkers (AUDIT-C ≥5) participating in monthly representative surveys, January-2021 through December-2022. We estimated time trends in cost as a motive driving the most recent (smoking cessation/alcohol reduction) attempt, use of paid or evidence-based support, and receipt of GP offer of support for smoking cessation or alcohol reduction, and tested for moderation by occupational social grade. RESULTS: The proportion of attempts motivated by cost did not change significantly over time among smokers (25.4% [95%CI = 23.8-26.9%]), but increased between December-2021 and December-2022 among high-risk drinkers from less advantaged social grades (from 15.3% [95%CI 12.1-19.3] to 29.7% [20.1-44.1]). The only change in support use was an increase in smokers using paid support, specifically e-cigarettes (from 28.1% [23.7-33.3] to 38.2% [33.0-44.4]). Among those visiting their GP, the proportion who received an offer of support was similar over time among smokers (27.0% [25.7-28.2]) and high-risk drinkers (1.4% [1.1-1.6%]). CONCLUSIONS: There is limited evidence that the 2021/22 cost-of-living crisis affected the nature of attempts to stop smoking and reduce alcohol consumption, or receipt of GP offer of support. It is encouraging that use of evidence-based support has not declined and that use of e-cigarettes in quit attempts has increased. However, cost is increasingly motivating alcohol reduction attempts among less advantaged drinkers, and rates of GPs offering support, especially for alcohol reduction, remain very low

Optical Tweezers as an Effective Tool for Spermatozoa Isolation from Mixed Forensic Samples

A single focus optical tweezer is formed when a laser beam is launched through a high numerical aperture immersion objective. This objective focuses the beam down to a diffraction-limited spot, which creates an optical trap where cells suspended in aqueous solutions can be held fixed. Spermatozoa, an often probative cell type in forensic investigations, can be captured inside this optical trap and dragged one by one across millimeter-length distances in order to create a cluster of cells which can be subsequently drawn up into a capillary for collection. Sperm cells are then ejected onto a sterile cover slip, counted, and transferred to a tube for DNA analysis workflow. The objective of this research was to optimize sperm cell collection for maximum DNA yield, and to determine the number of trapped sperm cells necessary to produce a full STR profile. A varying number of sperm cells from both a single-source semen sample and a mock sexual assault sample were isolated utilizing optical tweezers and processed using conventional STR analysis methods. Results demonstrated that approximately 50 trapped spermatozoa were required to obtain a consistently full DNA profile. A complete, single-source DNA profile was also achieved by isolating sperm cells via optical trapping from a mixture of sperm and vaginal epithelial cells. Based on these results, optical tweezers are a viable option for forensic applications such as separation of mixed populations of cells in forensic evidence

Nicotine strength of e-liquids used by adult vapers in Great Britain:a population survey 2016 to 2024

Background and aims: In March 2024, the UK government announced plans to introduce a Vaping Products Duty that will tax e-liquids based on their nicotine strength. This study examined trends in the nicotine strength of e-liquids used by adult vapers and differences in those currently used across relevant subgroups.Design: Nationally-representative, cross-sectional household survey, July 2016 to January 2024.Setting: Great Britain.Participants: 7,981 adult vapers.Measurements: Participants were asked whether the e-cigarette they mainly use contains nicotine (yes/no) and the e-liquid strength (no nicotine/&gt;0-≤6/7-11/12-19/≥20 mg/ml). We also collected information on the main device type used (disposable/refillable/pod), age, gender, occupational social grade, history of ≥1 mental health conditions, smoking status, and (among past-year smokers) level of cigarette addiction.Findings: The proportion of vapers in England using high-strength (≥20mg/ml) e-liquids increased from an average of 3.8% [95% confidence interval [CI] 2.9-5.0%] up to June 2021 to 32.5% [27.9-37.4%] in January 2024 (the vast majority of whom (93.3% in January 2024) reported using exactly 20mg/ml; the legal limit). This rise was most pronounced among those using disposable e-cigarettes, those aged 18-24y, and all smoking statuses (including never smokers) except long-term (≥1y) ex-smokers. Of those surveyed in 2022-24 in Great Britain, overall, 89.5% [88.1-90.8%] said they usually used e-cigarettes containing nicotine, 8.7% [7.5-10.0%] used nicotine-free e-cigarettes, and 1.8% [1.2-2.4%] were unsure. The proportion using ≥20mg/ml was higher among those mainly using disposable (47.9%) compared with pod (16.3%) or refillable (11.5%) devices; never smokers (36.0%), current smokers (28.8%), or recent (&lt;1y) ex-smokers (27.4%), compared with long-term ex-smokers (13.9%); and younger (16-24y; 44.2%) compared with older (≥25y; range 9.4-25.1%) age groups. There were no notable differences across other subgroups of interest.Conclusions: Use of high-strength nicotine e-liquids in England appears to have increased sharply in recent years. Most adult vapers in Great Britain appear to use e-cigarettes that contain nicotine but different subgroups use different strengths: nicotine strengths tend to be higher among those who mainly use disposable devices and those aged 16-24y, and lower among long-term ex-smokers.<br/

Evaluation of soil carbon simulation in CMIP6 Earth system models

The response of soil carbon represents one of the key uncertainties in future climate change. The ability of Earth system models (ESMs) to simulate present-day soil carbon is therefore vital for reliably estimating global carbon budgets required for Paris Agreement targets. In this study CMIP6 ESMs are evaluated against empirical datasets to assess the ability of each model to simulate soil carbon and related controls: net primary productivity (NPP) and soil carbon turnover time (τs). Comparing CMIP6 with the previous generation of models (CMIP5), a lack of consistency in modelled soil carbon remains, particularly the underestimation of northern high-latitude soil carbon stocks. There is a robust improvement in the simulation of NPP in CMIP6 compared with CMIP5; however, an unrealistically high correlation with soil carbon stocks remains, suggesting the potential for an overestimation of the long-term terrestrial carbon sink. Additionally, the same improvements are not seen in the simulation of τs. These results suggest that much of the uncertainty associated with modelled soil carbon stocks can be attributed to the simulation of below-ground processes, and greater emphasis is required on improving the representation of below-ground soil processes in future developments of models. These improvements would help to reduce the uncertainty in projected carbon release from global soils under climate change and to increase confidence in the carbon budgets associated with different levels of global warming.</p

Integrating genome-wide polygenic risk scores and non-genetic risk to predict colorectal cancer diagnosis: a cohort study in UK Biobank

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the benefit of combining polygenic risk scores with the QCancer-10 (colorectal cancer) prediction model for non-genetic risk to identify people at highest risk of colorectal cancer. DESIGN: Population based cohort study. SETTING: Data from the UK Biobank study, collected between March 2006 and July 2010. PARTICIPANTS: 434 587 individuals with complete data for genetics and QCancer-10 predictions were included in the QCancer-10 plus polygenic risk score modelling and validation cohorts. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Prediction of colorectal cancer diagnosis by genetic, non-genetic, and combined risk models. Using data from UK Biobank, six different polygenic risk scores for colorectal cancer were developed using LDpred2 polygenic risk score software, clumping, and thresholding approaches, and a model based on genome-wide significant polymorphisms. The top performing genome-wide polygenic risk score and the score containing genome-wide significant polymorphisms were combined with QCancer-10 and performance was compared with QCancer-10 alone. Case-control (logistic regression) and time-to-event (Cox proportional hazards) analyses were used to evaluate risk model performance in men and women. RESULTS: Polygenic risk scores derived using the LDpred2 program performed best, with an odds ratio per standard deviation of 1.584 (95% confidence interval 1.536 to 1.633), and top age and sex adjusted C statistic of 0.733 (95% confidence interval 0.710 to 0.753) in logistic regression models in the validation cohort. Integrated QCancer-10 plus polygenic risk score models out-performed QCancer-10 alone. In men, the integrated LDpred2 model produced a C statistic of 0.730 (0.720 to 0.741) and explained variation of 28.2% (26.3 to 30.1), compared with 0.693 (0.682 to 0.704) and 21.0% (18.9 to 23.1) for QCancer-10 alone. In women, the C statistic for the integrated LDpred2 model was 0.687 (0.673 to 0.702) and explained variation was 21.0% (18.7 to 23.7), compared with 0.645 (0.631 to 0.659) and 12.4% (10.3 to 14.6) for QCancer-10 alone. In the top 20% of individuals at highest absolute risk, the sensitivity and specificity of the integrated LDpred2 models for predicting colorectal cancer diagnosis was 47.8% and 80.3% respectively in men, and 42.7% and 80.1% respectively in women, with increases in absolute risk in the top 5% of risk in men of 3.47-fold and in women of 2.77-fold compared with the median. Illustrative decision curve analysis indicated a small incremental improvement in net benefit with QCancer-10 plus polygenic risk score models compared with QCancer-10 alone. CONCLUSIONS: Integrating polygenic risk scores with QCancer-10 modestly improves risk prediction over use of QCancer-10 alone. Given that QCancer-10 data can be obtained relatively easily from health records, use of polygenic risk score in risk stratified population screening for colorectal cancer currently has no clear justification. The added benefit, cost effectiveness, and acceptability of polygenic risk scores should be carefully evaluated in a real life screening setting before implementation in the general population