Approaches to Faith, Guest Editorial Preface

Springer. We find in contemporary culture starkly contrasting estimates of the value of faith. On the one hand, for many people, faith is a virtue or positive human value, something associated with understanding, hope, and love, something to be inculcated, maintained, and cherished. On the other hand, for many people, faith is a vice, something associated with dogmatism, arrogance, and close-mindedness, something to be avoided at all costs. The papers included in this special (double) issue on approaches to faith explore questions about faith in a variety of settings through a diverse range of examples, both secular and religious. The attempt to deepen our understanding of faith in the context of ordinary human relationships (e.g., between parents and children, friends, generals and their armies, business partners, citizens and the state), a commitment to ideals, or the pursuit of significant goals is clearly of general philosophical interest, as is the examination of potential connections between faith and topics such as trust or reliance

Effective Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder among African Americans

The current opioid epidemic substantially affects African Americans given their historical rate of disparities in access to effective substance use disorder (SUD) treatment. Yet, there is limited information about factors that may improve access to effective opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment for members of this racial group. This chapter describes policy, management, and treatment practices that may enhance access and engagement of African Americans in OUD treatment considering the current opioid epidemic and the state of public treatment systems in the United States. Drawing from a sociocultural framework on disparities in access to care, I present a comprehensive approach based on culturally competent and medication-assisted treatment that may reduce the wait time to enter treatment and increase treatment engagement and recovery rates among African Americans seeking OUD treatment. I focus on the role of public insurance (i.e., Medicaid), the diversification of the workforce, as well as delivery of adequate dosages of maintenance opioid medications (methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone) to improve engagement and recovery. Implications for health policy, program design, and service delivery are discussed to abate the effect of the opioid epidemic on African American communities

High-Speed Projects in the United States: Identifying the Elements for Success-Part 1, MTI Report 05-01

For almost half a century, high-speed ground transportation (HSGT) has held the promise of fast, convenient, and environmentally sound travel for distances between 40 and 600 miles. While a number of HSGT systems have been developed and deployed in Asia and Europe, none has come close to being implemented in the United States. Yet this is not for lack of trying. There have been several efforts around the country, most of which have failed, some of which are still in the early stages, and a few of which might come to pass. The goal of this study was to identify lessons learned for successfully developing and implementing high-speed rail (HSR) in the United States. Through a broad literature review, interviews, and three specific case studies—Florida, California, and the Pacific Northwest—this study articulates those lessons and presents themes for future consideration

Differential Effects of Race and Poverty on Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions

This study is a continuation of an earlier study that examined hospitalization rates for ambulatory care sensitive (ACS) conditions, as a proxy for quality of care, and found evidence of a racial disparity among African American and White Medicare beneficiaries. The current study sought to determine whether neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) explained this disparity. Differences in rates of ACS hospitalizations by race were assessed using Cochran-Mantel Haenszel tests and Poisson regression. Unadjusted rate ratios for ACS hospitalization for African Americans vs. Whites were found to be higher in low poverty areas (rate ratio (RR)=1.13; 95% CI (1.08, 1.17)) than in high poverty areas (RR=0.97; 95% CI (0.89, 1.05)). After controlling for various indicators of area SES in multivariate analyses race differences in ACS hospitalization rates persisted. Rural neighborhoods and those with higher percent of non-high school graduates were associated with greater risk of ACS hospitalizations

Racial Health Disparities in Coronavirus Deaths

Preliminary racial data on the coronavirus pandemic indicates that African Americans are much more likely to experience infections, hospitalizations, and death from the virus in comparison to other racial groups. While this appears to be an alarming health outcome regarding African Americans, it is, in fact, not surprising, nor even new information, considering the historical context of racial health disparities and the marginal health of African Americans in the United States. The leading causes of death for African Americans generally and historically reflects the leading causes of death for the entire United States population. More research, and obviously data, is needed to fully understand the factors that cause the overall racial health disparities, in general, and racial disparities in coronavirus cases and deaths, in particular. In the case of the coronavirus pandemic, the racial disparities in deaths reflect racial differences in the way that African Americans live, work, and exist as a result of their ‘second-class citizenship’ with respect to their lower socioeconomic status in comparison to other racial groups. From a health policy perspective, challenges exist to reversing the current trend in coronavirus deaths among African Americans due to a myriad of historic, consistent, and pervasive societally-induced deficits within African American life. The proposed chapter will rely on systematic review of the extant literature on racial health disparities to identify multiple factors that may affect African American deaths due to the current coronavirus pandemic. The chapter will also rely on this framework to inform evidence-based approaches to improve public health for African Americans

Mathematical modelling of tissue-engineering angiogenesis

We present a mathematical model for the vascularisation of a porous scaffold following implantation in vivo. The model is given as a set of coupled non-linear ordinary differential equations (ODEs) which describe the evolution in time of the amounts of the different tissue constituents inside the scaffold. Bifurcation analyses reveal how the extent of scaffold vascularisation changes as a function of the parameter values. For example, it is shown how the loss of seeded cells arising from slow infiltration of vascular tissue can be overcome using a prevascularisation strategy consisting of seeding the scaffold with vascular cells. Using certain assumptions it is shown how the system can be simplified to one which is partially tractable and for which some analysis is given. Limited comparison is also given of the model solutions with experimental data from the chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay

K2-231 b: A sub-Neptune exoplanet transiting a solar twin in Ruprecht 147

We identify a sub-Neptune exoplanet ($R_p = 2.5 \pm 0.2$ R$_\oplus$) transiting a solar twin in the Ruprecht 147 star cluster (3 Gyr, 300 pc, [Fe/H] = +0.1 dex). The ~81 day light curve for EPIC 219800881 (V = 12.71) from K2 Campaign 7 shows six transits with a period of 13.84 days, a depth of ~0.06%, and a duration of ~4 hours. Based on our analysis of high-resolution MIKE spectra, broadband optical and NIR photometry, the cluster parallax and interstellar reddening, and isochrone models from PARSEC, Dartmouth, and MIST, we estimate the following properties for the host star: $M_\star = 1.01 \pm 0.03$ M$_\odot$, $R_\star= 0.95 \pm 0.03$ R$_\odot$, and $T_{\rm eff} = 5695 \pm 50$ K. This star appears to be single, based on our modeling of the photometry, the low radial velocity variability measured over nearly ten years, and Keck/NIRC2 adaptive optics imaging and aperture-masking interferometry. Applying a probabilistic mass-radius relation, we estimate that the mass of this planet is $M_p = 7 +5 -3$ M$_\oplus$, which would cause a RV semi-amplitude of $K = 2 \pm 1$ m s$^{-1}$ that may be measurable with existing precise RV facilities. After statistically validating this planet with BLENDER, we now designate it K2-231 b, making it the second sub-stellar object to be discovered in Ruprecht 147 and the first planet; it joins the small but growing ranks of 23 other planets found in open clusters.Comment: 24 pages, 7 figures, light curve included as separate fil

Prevalence of Dyskinesia and OFF by 30-Minute Intervals Through the Day and Assessment of Daily Episodes of Dyskinesia and OFF: Novel Analyses of Diary Data from Gocovri Pivotal Trials.

BACKGROUND: Parkinson\u27s disease (PD) patients using levodopa commonly develop dyskinesia and OFF episodes that reduce quality of life. OBJECTIVE: Evaluate prevalence of troublesome dyskinesia and OFF through the day, assessed by 30-minute intervals, as well as the mean number and duration of troublesome dyskinesia and OFF episodes, transitions between PD states, and effects of Gocovri® (amantadine) extended release capsules on these episodes. METHODS: Evaluate diary data from pooled Gocovri phase 3, placebo-controlled trials-analyzed for 17 hours following wake-up-at baseline and week 12. RESULTS: Diaries were evaluable for 162 patients. At baseline, 67% of patients woke up OFF, with prevalence decreasing to 13% at 2 hours and then remaining relatively steady at ∼12% (range, 6-17%) across half-hour intervals thereafter. Troublesome dyskinesia prevalence rose steadily from 5% to 24% over the first 2 hours, then fluctuated between 20% and 44% through the rest of the waking day. At baseline, patients experienced a mean of 3.0 daily episodes of troublesome dyskinesia (average duration 2.0 hours each), and 2.2 daily episodes of OFF (average duration 1.1 hour each). At week 12, Gocovri-treated patients showed greater reductions than placebo in troublesome dyskinesia and OFF episodes per day (treatment difference: -1.0 episodes and -0.4 episodes, respectively) and average episode duration (treatment difference: -0.6 hours and -0.3 hours, respectively). Mean duration of individual episodes of ON without troublesome dyskinesia (Good ON) increased by 5.0 hours for Gocovri, compared with 2.0 hours for placebo. Patients taking Gocovri experienced 2.2 fewer transitions between states than patients taking placebo. CONCLUSIONS: Troublesome dyskinesia and OFF occurred in the morning and throughout the waking day. Gocovri-treated patients experienced fewer, shorter episodes of both troublesome dyskinesia and OFF, thereby increasing the duration of continuous Good ON episodes and reducing the frequency of transitions between motor states

Structural Insight into KCNQ (Kv7) Channel Assembly and Channelopathy

SummaryKv7.x (KCNQ) voltage-gated potassium channels form the cardiac and auditory IKs current and the neuronal M-current. The five Kv7 subtypes have distinct assembly preferences encoded by a C-terminal cytoplasmic assembly domain, the A-domain Tail. Here, we present the high-resolution structure of the Kv7.4 A-domain Tail together with biochemical experiments that show that the domain is a self-assembling, parallel, four-stranded coiled coil. Structural analysis and biochemical studies indicate conservation of the coiled coil in all Kv7 subtypes and that a limited set of interactions encode assembly specificity determinants. Kv7 mutations have prominent roles in arrhythmias, deafness, and epilepsy. The structure together with biochemical data indicate that A-domain Tail arrhythmia mutations cluster on the solvent-accessible surface of the subunit interface at a likely site of action for modulatory proteins. Together, the data provide a framework for understanding Kv7 assembly specificity and the molecular basis of a distinct set of Kv7 channelopathies