Observations of high-velocity SAPS-like flows with the King Salmon SuperDARN radar

In this study, a focused investigation of the potential for the King Salmon (KS) SuperDARN HF radar to monitor high-velocity flows near the equatorial edge of the auroral oval is undertaken. Events are presented with line-of-sight velocities as high as 2km/s, observed roughly along the L-shell. Statistically, the enhanced flows are shown to be typical for the dusk sector (16:00–23:00 MLT), and the average velocity in this sector is larger (smaller) for winter (summer) conditions. It is also demonstrated that the high-velocity flows can be very dynamical with more localized enhancements existing for just several minutes. These short-lived enhancements occur when the luminosity at the equatorial edge of the auroral oval suddenly decreases during the substorm recovery phase. The short-lived velocity enhancements can be established because of proton and ion injections into the inner magnetosphere and low conductance of the ionosphere and not because of enhanced tail reconnection. This implies that some KS velocity enhancements have the same origin as subauroral polarization streams (SAPS)

An unfolding signifier: London's Baltic Exchange in Tallinn

In the summer of 2007 an unusual cargo arrived at Muuga and Paldiski harbors outside Tallinn. It consisted of nearly 50 containers holding over 1,000 tons of building material ranging from marble columns, staircases and fireplaces, to sculpted allegorical figures, wooden paneling and old-fashioned telephone booths. They were once part of the Baltic Exchange in the City of London. Soon they will become facets of the landscape of Tallinn. The following article charts this remarkable story and deploys this fragmented monument to analyze three issues relating to the Estonian capital: the relocation of the ‘Bronze Soldier’, the demolition of the Sakala Culture Center, and Tallinn’s future role as European Cultural Capital in 2011

The Color of Childhood: The Role of the Child/Human Binary in the Production of Anti-Black Racism

The binary between the figure of the child and the fully human being is invoked with regularity in analyses of race, yet its centrality to the conception of race has never been fully explored. For most commentators, the figure of the child operates as a metaphoric or rhetorical trope, a non-essential strategic tool in the perpetuation of White supremacy. As I show in the following, the child/human binary does not present a contingent or merely rhetorical construction but, rather, a central feature of racialization. Where Black peoples are situated as objects of violence it is often precisely because Blackness has been identified with childhood and childhood is historically identified as the archetypal site of naturalized violence and servitude. I proceed by offering a historical account of how Black peoples came to inherit the subordination and dehumanization of European childhood and how White youth were subsequently spared through their partial categorization as adults

Vancomycin Dosing Practices among Critical Care Pharmacists: A Survey of Society of Critical Care Medicine Pharmacists

Introduction: Critically ill patients and their pharmacokinetics present complexities often not considered by consensus guidelines from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists. Prior surveys have suggested discordance between certain guideline recommendations and reported infectious disease pharmacist practice. Vancomycin dosing practices, including institutional considerations, have not previously been well described in the critically ill patient population. Objectives: To evaluate critical care pharmacists\u27 self-reported vancomycin practices in comparison to the 2009 guideline recommendations and other best practices identified by the study investigators. Methods: An online survey developed by the Research and Scholarship Committee of the Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacology (CPP) Section of the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) was sent to pharmacist members of the SCCM CPP Section practicing in adult intensive care units in the spring of 2017. This survey queried pharmacists\u27 self-reported practices regarding vancomycin dosing and monitoring in critically ill adults. Results: Three-hundred and sixty-four responses were received for an estimated response rate of 26%. Critical care pharmacists self-reported largely following the 2009 vancomycin dosing and monitoring guidelines. The largest deviations in guideline recommendation compliance involve consistent use of a loading dose, dosing weight in obese patients, and quality improvement efforts related to systematically monitoring vancomycin-associated nephrotoxicity. Variation exists regarding pharmacist protocols and other practices of vancomycin use in critically ill patients. Conclusion: Among critical care pharmacists, reported vancomycin practices are largely consistent with the 2009 guideline recommendations. Variations in vancomycin dosing and monitoring protocols are identified, and rationale for guideline non-adherence with loading doses elucidated

An evaluation of urinary microRNA reveals a high sensitivity for bladder cancer

Background: Urinary biomarkers are needed to improve the care and reduce the cost of managing bladder cancer. Current biomarkers struggle to identify both high and low-grade cancers due to differing molecular pathways. Changes in microRNA (miR) expression are seen in urothelial carcinogenesis in a phenotype-specific manner. We hypothesised that urinary miRs reflecting low- and high-grade pathways could detect bladder cancers and overcome differences in genetic events seen within the disease. Methods: We investigated urinary samples (n ¼ 121) from patients with bladder cancer (n ¼ 68) and age-matched controls (n ¼ 53). Fifteen miRs were quantified using real-time PCR. Results: We found that miR is stable within urinary cells despite adverse handling and detected differential expression of 10 miRs from patients with cancer and controls (miRs 15a/15b/24-1/27b/100/135b/203/212/328/1224, ANOVA Po0.05). Individually, miR-1224-3p had the best individual performance with specificity, positive and negative predictive values and concordance of 83%, 83%, 75% and 77%, respectively. The combination of miRs-135b/15b/1224-3p detected bladder cancer with a high sensitivity (94.1%), sufficient specificity (51%) and was correct in 86% of patients (concordance). Conclusion: The use of this panel in patients with haematuria would have found 94% of urothelial cell carcinoma, while reducing cystoscopy rates by 26%. However, two invasive cancers (3%) would have been missed

Technique: Large‐scale ionospheric conductance estimated from combined satellite and ground‐based electromagnetic data

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95266/1/jgra18651.pd

Climate and colonialism

Recent years have seen a growth in scholarship on the intertwined histories of climate, science and European imperialism. Scholarship has focused both on how the material realities of climate shaped colonial enterprises, and on how ideas about climate informed imperial ideologies. Historians have shown how European expansion was justified by its protagonists with theories of racial superiority, which were often closely tied to ideas of climatic determinism. Meanwhile, the colonial spaces established by European powers offered novel ‘laboratories’ where ideas about acclimatisation and climatic improvement could be tested on the ground. While historical scholarship has focused on how powerful ideas of climate informed imperial projects, emerging scholarship in environmental history, history of science and historical geography focuses instead on the material and cognitive practices by which the climates of colonial spaces were made known and dealt with in fields such as forestry, agriculture and human health. These heretofore rather disparate areas of historical research carry great contemporary relevance of studies of how climates and their changes have been understood, debated and adapted to in the past

A Heart-Hand Syndrome Gene: Tfap2b Plays a Critical Role in the Development and Remodeling of Mouse Ductus Arteriosus and Limb Patterning

BACKGROUND: Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) is one of the most common forms of congenital heart disease. Mutations in transcription factor TFAP2B cause Char syndrome, a human disorder characterized by PDA, facial dysmorphysm and hand anomalies. Animal research data are needed to understand the mechanisms. The aim of our study was to elucidate the pathogenesis of Char syndrome at the molecular level. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Gene expression of Tfap2b during mouse development was studied, and newborns of Tfap2b-deficient mice were examined to identify phenotypes. Gel shift assays had been carried out to search for Tfap2 downstream genes. Promoters of candidate genes were cloned into a reporter construct and used to demonstrate their regulation by Tfap2b in cell transfection. In situ hybridizations showed that the murine transcription factor Tfap2b was expressed during the entire development of mouse ductus arteriosus. Histological examination of ductus arteriosus from Tfap2b knockout mice 6 hours after birth revealed that they were not closed. Consequently, the lungs of Tfap2b(-/-) mice demonstrated progressive congestion of the pulmonary capillaries, which was postulated to result secondarily from PDA. In addition, Tfap2b was expressed in the limb buds, particularly in the posterior limb field during development. Lack of Tfap2b resulted in bilateral postaxial accessory digits. Further study indicated that expressions of bone morphogenetic protein (Bmp) genes, which are reported to be involved in the limb patterning and ductal development, were altered in limb buds of Tfap2b-deficient embryos, due to direct control of Bmp2 and Bmp4 promoter activity by Tfap2b. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Tfap2b plays important roles in the development of mouse ductus arteriosus and limb patterning. Loss of Tfap2b results in altered Bmp expression that may cause the heart-limb defects observed in Tfap2b mouse mutants and Char syndrome patients. The Tfap2b knockout mouse may add to the very limited available animal models of PDA

Association of T-Zone Reticular Networks and Conduits with Ectopic Lymphoid Tissues in Mice and Humans

Ectopic or tertiary lymphoid tissues (TLTs) are often induced at sites of chronic inflammation. They typically contain various hematopoietic cell types, high endothelial venules, and follicular dendritic cells; and are organized in lymph node–like structures. Although fibroblastic stromal cells may play a role in TLT induction and persistence, they have remained poorly defined. Herein, we report that TLTs arising during inflammation in mice and humans in a variety of tissues (eg, pancreas, kidney, liver, and salivary gland) contain stromal cell networks consisting of podoplanin+ T-zone fibroblastic reticular cells (TRCs), distinct from follicular dendritic cells. Similar to lymph nodes, TRCs were present throughout T-cell–rich areas and had dendritic cells associated with them. They expressed lymphotoxin (LT) β receptor (LTβR), produced CCL21, and formed a functional conduit system. In rat insulin promoter–CXCL13–transgenic pancreas, the maintenance of TRC networks and conduits was partially dependent on LTβR and on lymphoid tissue inducer cells expressing LTβR ligands. In conclusion, TRCs and conduits are hallmarks of secondary lymphoid organs and of well-developed TLTs, in both mice and humans, and are likely to act as important scaffold and organizer cells of the T-cell–rich zone