A Rancierian analysis of anti-mining resistance in Guatemala

Indigenous people in Guatemala have protested several mining companies since 2004 and have succeeded in halting operations. Further research is warranted to find theoretical explanations for the decades-long resistance and its progress deterring mining operations. This research contributes to the scholarly literature on equality and resistance by analysing behaviour and communication as factors in determining the effectiveness and ineffectiveness of resistance strategies. The strategies of the indigenous people of Guatemala to resist mining activities are examined through the lens of Jacques Rancière’s theories and concepts about power and inequality, with particular attention paid to his concepts of police and politics. His theory of equality finds that protestors are effective when they cause disruption, gain media attention, create their own platform for protest and have an all-inclusive protest slogan. Rancière’s prescription for resisters to create politics is for them to exercise their own agency. The creation of politics is finding equality, not power. Using Rancière’s concepts, this paper assesses the anti-mining movement’s actions (or inaction) and discerns if the movement has had any sustained impact in achieving politics. These concepts are used as tools to analyse the indigenous people’s mining protests intended to oust mining companies. While not directly prescriptive, this study brings to light alternative approaches in leveraging power to address ways the police order creates and maintains inequality. Rancière argues that resistance of injustice must be based on universal fundamental human equality. By having subjects speak for themselves through interviews and by closely analysing print sources, the intent of this research is to find any indication of the protestors achieving (or failing to achieve) a moment which reveals the false construction of inequality, the unfair nature of subjugation. This methodology follows a decolonial method. Data sources include interviews and content analysis of news media, trade magazines and reports from non-governmental organisations. Findings from the data provide new avenues for research in terms of identifying the tactics of the police order and circumventing and countering those tactics.SociologyPh. D. (Sociology

Intratumoral Bacteria in Uveal Melanoma: A Case Report

Purpose Intratumoral bacteria and their potential application to cancer immunotherapy have been a topic of interest in recent studies. To our knowledge, bacteria in uveal melanoma have not been previously reported. Observations We describe a patient with a large choroidal melanoma, measuring 18 × 16 mm in basal dimension and 15 mm in ultrasonographic thickness, managed by plaque brachytherapy. At the time of plaque removal, a prophylactic scleral patch graft was placed to protect from anticipated scleral necrosis. Progressive ocular ischemia led to a blind and painful eye. The enucleated eye demonstrated an extensively necrotic and heavily pigmented mushroom-shaped regressed cilichoroidal mass deep to the scleral patch graft. Numerous Gram-positive cocci were noted within the regressed uveal melanoma and the adjacent sclera. Conclusions and Importance This case highlights the fact that regressed uveal melanomas can contain intra-tumoral bacteria

Oil Extraction from Spent Coffee Grounds: Experimental Studies and Exergoeconomic Analysis

Currently, the spent coffee grounds (SCGs) are considered an agro-industrial waste with a high oil content that can be used as a feedstock in biorefineries. Therefore, the oil extraction from SCGs is considered a main stage, that should be sustainable and low-cost. The aim of this study is to determine and compare the exergetic and economic indicators of two SCGs oil extraction processes: soxhlet extraction (SE) and ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE). The exergoeconomic balances were performed by using Engineering Equation Solver (ESS). In addition, the effects of the solvent to SCGs ratio on the extraction yield and on the exergoeconomic indicators were studied. The analysis aided by computational tools determined that the exergy destruction rate of the SE process (14.3 kJ/kg) is higher compared with the UAE process (4.50 kJ/kg). Therefore, the oil specific cost is reduced to 86% when using UAE process. Furthermore, in the UAE process, the increase in the hexane to SCGs ratio from 5 mL/g to 20 mL/g, reduces the oil specific cost by 68.5 % and increases the oil extraction yield from 10.5 % to 18.8 %. Future studies should focus on the ultrasound-assisted extraction process scale-up

Tree migration-rates : narrowing the gap between inferred post-glacial rates and projected rates

Faster-than-expected post-glacial migration rates of trees have puzzled ecologists for a long time. In Europe, post-glacial migration is assumed to have started from the three southern European peninsulas (southern refugia), where large areas remained free of permafrost and ice at the peak of the last glaciation. However, increasing palaeobotanical evidence for the presence of isolated tree populations in more northerly microrefugia has started to change this perception. Here we use the Northern Eurasian Plant Macrofossil Database and palaeoecological literature to show that post-glacial migration rates for trees may have been substantially lower (60–260 m yr–1) than those estimated by assuming migration from southern refugia only (115–550 m yr–1), and that early-successional trees migrated faster than mid- and late-successional trees. Post-glacial migration rates are in good agreement with those recently projected for the future with a population dynamical forest succession and dispersal model, mainly for early-successional trees and under optimal conditions. Although migration estimates presented here may be conservative because of our assumption of uniform dispersal, tree migration-rates clearly need reconsideration. We suggest that small outlier populations may be a key factor in understanding past migration rates and in predicting potential future range-shifts. The importance of outlier populations in the past may have an analogy in the future, as many tree species have been planted beyond their natural ranges, with a more beneficial microclimate than their regional surroundings. Therefore, climate-change-induced range-shifts in the future might well be influenced by such microrefugia

TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits - the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants - determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait‐based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits - almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives

Contemporary Management of Prostate Cancer [version 1; referees: 2 approved]

Prostate cancer represents a spectrum ranging from low-grade, localized tumors to devastating metastatic disease. We discuss the general options for treatment and recent developments in the field

An Assessment of the Social Determinants of Health in an Urban Emergency Department

Introduction: Social determinants of health (SDOH) have significant impacts on patients who seek care in the emergency department (ED). We administered a social needs screening tool and needs assessment survey to assess SDOH and evaluate for trends in the population of patients visiting our ED. Methods: A survey was distributed via convenience sampling to adult ED patients to capture self-reported demographic information and data about social needs. We categorized the questions related to SDOH based on the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification coding format and created a composite variable called “SDOH Strata” based on the SDOH Index scores (0-5-low, 6-10-middle, or ≥11-high). We conducted bivariate analyses using the sociodemographic characteristics of the patients and their SDOH Strata using Fisher’s exact test. We then conducted multinomial logistic regression to examine the association between the patients’ sociodemographic characteristics and the SDOH Strata.  Results: A total of 269 surveys were collected. We observed that Hispanic/Latino patients were more than two times as likely (odds ratio: 2.04, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.12,-6.51) to be in the higher impact stratum than in the lower impact stratum. Those who were undocumented had 3.43 times increased adjusted odds (95% CI, 1.98, 9.53) of being in the higher than the lower impact stratum compared to US citizens. Additionally, people speaking Spanish as their primary language were 5.16 times as likely to be in the higher impact stratum compared to the reference (English-speaking and lower impact stratum).  Conclusion: In our patient population, patients noted to have the highest impact burden of the SDOH were those who identified as Hispanic/Latino, Spanish-speaking, and undocumented immigrant status

Novel Somatic Copy Number Alteration Identified for Cervical Cancer in the Mexican American Population

Cervical cancer affects millions of Americans, but the rate for cervical cancer in the Mexican American is approximately twice that for non-Mexican Americans. The etiologies of cervical cancer are still not fully understood. A number of somatic mutations, including several copy number alterations (CNAs), have been identified in the pathogenesis of cervical carcinomas in non-Mexican Americans. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate CNAs in association with cervical cancer in the Mexican American population. We conducted a pilot study of genome-wide CNA analysis using 2.5 million markers in four diagnostic groups: reference (n = 125), low grade dysplasia (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN)-I, n = 4), high grade dysplasia (CIN-II and -III, n = 5) and invasive carcinoma (squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), n = 5) followed by data analyses using Partek. We observed a statistically-significant difference of CNA burden between case and reference groups of different sizes (>100 kb, 10–100 kb and 1–10 kb) of CNAs that included deletions and amplifications, e.g., a statistically-significant difference of >100 kb deletions was observed between the reference (6.6%) and pre-cancer and cancer (91.3%) groups. Recurrent aberrations of 98 CNA regions were also identified in cases only. However, none of the CNAs have an impact on cancer progression. A total of 32 CNA regions identified contained tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes. Moreover, the pathway analysis revealed endometrial cancer and estrogen signaling pathways associated with this cancer (p < 0.05) using Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG). This is the first report of CNAs identified for cervical cancer in the U.S. Latino population using high density markers. We are aware of the small sample size in the study. Thus, additional studies with a larger sample are needed to confirm the current findings