The Coast As A Vernacular Region

The study of regions and regional identity is one of the cornerstones of the field of geography. Historically within regionally-based research, there has been interest in vernacular regions and the use of business names as a data source for mapping patterns in regional identity. However, few studies of regional identity and names have taken full advantage of digital methods and the use of powerful online databases and GIS/mapping software. ReferenceUSA, an electronic database was used to collect all business names in the United States that contain the term coast(al). Once data were collected and cleaned, two distinctive avenues of analysis were conducted.   The first was a quantitative mapping of coast(al) business name patterns, finding that even inland establishments identify themselves with the coast. Several maps were produced to visualize the distribution and frequency of coast(al) named businesses and to better understand the spatial patterns of people's identification with the coast as a vernacular region. The second avenue is more of a qualitative image analysis of place naming and branding. Analysis has been done to examine how the physical environment is incorporated into a people's sense of place and why the coast is such a popular and powerful symbol.  M.A

Identifying Grasp and Pinch Patterns in Ceramic Interventions: Video Analysis of Adults Completing Ceramic Activities

Background: Occupation-based interventions are effective in hand rehabilitation. The purpose of this study was to identify the grasp and pinch patterns used during specific ceramic activities for rehabilitative interventions. Method: A convenience sample of 59 videos with 38 subjects were taken of adults without hand dysfunction completing various ceramic activities. Elementary Grasp Actions (EGA’s) were analyzed to identify the different grasps and pinch patterns. Results: The EGA’s occurred 279 times across 12 ceramics activities. The EGA’s with the highest frequencies include nonprehensile, pinch, and lateral pinch. Nonprehensile was the most frequently used grasp used by the left hand. The EGA’s with the most prolonged durations were nonprehensile, special pinch, and oblique. The mean frequency and duration of each grasp and pinch pattern for specific ceramic activities are presented. Conclusion: Therapists can use the results of this study to help individuals with hand dysfunction through specific ceramic activity interventions

Solving the shepherding problem: heuristics for herding autonomous, interacting agents.

Herding of sheep by dogs is a powerful example of one individual causing many unwilling individuals to move in the same direction. Similar phenomena are central to crowd control, cleaning the environment and other engineering problems. Despite single dogs solving this 'shepherding problem' every day, it remains unknown which algorithm they employ or whether a general algorithm exists for shepherding. Here, we demonstrate such an algorithm, based on adaptive switching between collecting the agents when they are too dispersed and driving them once they are aggregated. Our algorithm reproduces key features of empirical data collected from sheep-dog interactions and suggests new ways in which robots can be designed to influence movements of living and artificial agents

The VITAH Trial Vitamin D supplementation and cardiac autonomic tone in hemodialysis: a blinded, randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) have a high rate of mortality and specifically an increased risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD). Impaired cardiac autonomic tone is associated with elevated risk of SCD. Moreover, patients with ESKD are often vitamin D deficient, which we have shown may be linked to autonomic dysfunction in humans. To date, it is not known whether vitamin D supplementation normalizes cardiac autonomic function in the high-risk ESKD population. The VITamin D supplementation and cardiac Autonomic tone in Hemodialysis (VITAH) randomized trial will determine whether intensive vitamin D supplementation therapies improve cardiac autonomic tone to a greater extent than conventional vitamin D supplementation regimens in ESKD patients requiring chronic hemodialysis. METHODS/DESIGN: A total of 60 subjects with ESKD requiring thrice weekly chronic hemodialysis will be enrolled in this 2x2 crossover, blinded, randomized controlled trial. Following a 4-week washout period from any prior vitamin D therapy, subjects are randomized 1:1 to intensive versus standard vitamin D therapy for 6 weeks, followed by a 12-week washout period, and finally the remaining treatment arm for 6 weeks. Intensive vitamin D treatment includes alfacalcidiol (activated vitamin D) 0.25mcg orally with each dialysis session combined with ergocalciferol (nutritional vitamin D) 50 000 IU orally once per week and placebo the remaining two dialysis days for 6 weeks. The standard vitamin D treatment includes alfacalcidiol 0.25mcg orally combined with placebo each dialysis session per week for 6 weeks. Cardiac autonomic tone is measured via 24 h Holter monitor assessments on the first dialysis day of the week every 6 weeks throughout the study period. The primary outcome is change in the low frequency: high frequency heart rate variability (HRV) ratio during the first 12 h of the Holter recording at 6 weeks versus baseline. Secondary outcomes include additional measures of HRV. The safety of intensive versus conventional vitamin D supplementation is also assessed. DISCUSSION: VITAH will determine whether an intensive vitamin D supplementation regimen will improve cardiac autonomic tone compared to conventional vitamin D supplementation and will assess the safety of these two supplementation regimens in ESKD patients receiving chronic hemodialysis. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT0177481

Field-Grown Transgenic Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) with Altered Lignin Does Not Affect Soil Chemistry, Microbiology, and Carbon Storage Potential

Cell wall recalcitrance poses a major challenge on cellulosic biofuel production from feedstocks such as switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.). As lignin is a known contributor of recalcitrance, transgenic switchgrass plants with altered lignin have been produced by downregulation of caffeic acid O-methyltransferase (COMT). Field trials of COMT-downregulated plants previously demonstrated improved ethanol conversion with no adverse agronomic effects. However, the rhizosphere impacts of altering lignin in plants are unknown. We hypothesized that changing plant lignin composition may affect residue degradation in soils, ultimately altering soil processes. The objective of this study was to evaluate effects of two independent lines of COMT-downregulated switchgrass plants on soils in terms of chemistry, microbiology, and carbon cycling when grown in the field. Over the first two years of establishment, we observed no significant differences between transgenic and control plants in terms of soil pH or the total concentrations of 19 elements. An analysis of soil bacterial communities via high-throughput 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing revealed no effects of transgenic plants on bacterial diversity, richness, or community composition. We also did not observe a change in the capacity for soil carbon storage: There was no significant effect on soil respiration or soil organic matter. After five years of establishment, δ13C of plant roots, leaves, and soils was measured and an isotopic mixing model used to estimate that 11.2 to 14.5% of soil carbon originated from switchgrass. Switchgrass-contributed carbon was not significantly different between transgenic and control plants. Overall, our results indicate that over the short term (two and five years), lignin modification in switchgrass through manipulation of COMT expression does not have an adverse effect on soils in terms of total elemental composition, bacterial community structure and diversity, and capacity for carbon storage

Differential diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease using spectrochemical analysis of blood

The progressive aging of the world’s population makes a higher prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases inevitable. The necessity for an accurate, but at the same time, inexpensive and minimally invasive, diagnostic test is urgently required, not only to confirm the presence of the disease but also to discriminate between different types of dementia to provide the appropriate management and treatment. In this study, attenuated total reflection FTIR (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy combined with chemometric techniques were used to analyze blood plasma samples from our cohort. Blood samples are easily collected by conventional venepuncture, permitting repeated measurements from the same individuals to monitor their progression throughout the years or evaluate any tested drugs. We included 549 individuals: 347 with various neurodegenerative diseases and 202 age-matched healthy individuals. Alzheimer’s disease (AD; n = 164) was identified with 70% sensitivity and specificity, which after the incorporation of apolipoprotein ε4 genotype (APOE ε4) information, increased to 86% when individuals carried one or two alleles of ε4, and to 72% sensitivity and 77% specificity when individuals did not carry ε4 alleles. Early AD cases (n = 14) were identified with 80% sensitivity and 74% specificity. Segregation of AD from dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB; n = 34) was achieved with 90% sensitivity and specificity. Other neurodegenerative diseases, such as frontotemporal dementia (FTD; n = 30), Parkinson’s disease (PD; n = 32), and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP; n = 31), were included in our cohort for diagnostic purposes. Our method allows for both rapid and robust diagnosis of neurodegeneration and segregation between different dementias

Community-Guided Focus Group Analysis to Examine Cancer Disparities

Accountability for Cancer Care through Undoing Racism and Equity (ACCURE) is a systems-change intervention addressing disparities in treatment initiation and completion and outcomes for early stage Black and White breast and lung cancer patients. Using a community-based participatory research approach, ACCURE is guided by a diverse partnership involving academic researchers, a non-profit community-based organization, its affiliated broader-based community coalition, and providers and staff from two cancer centers