"New Music Ambassadors to the World": A Biography of the California E.A.R. Unit

This dissertation is a biography of the California E.A.R. Unit (1981-2012), a contemporary music ensemble founded by graduate students at the California Institute of the Arts. Arguably one of the first of its kind in Los Angeles, the EAR Unit gained international recognition for its eclectic programming and versatility in a wide range of avant-garde styles. I examine its career in the context of expanding institutional support for contemporary music in Los Angeles throughout the 1980s, as well as increased national focus on composition in academia. To begin, I show that CalArts made the EAR Unit’s cohort the central focus of its new graduate curriculum in contemporary music, offering the students unlimited access to dozens of internationally recognized composers at the yearly Contemporary Music Festivals. My writing follows the EAR Unit through its other institutional affiliations, which included the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Monday Evening Concerts, Music in Motion, and the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater in the Walt Disney Concert Hall complex. Combining interviews and archival research, this biography highlights strategies musicians used to navigate the growing infrastructure for contemporary classical concert music on an increasingly globalized stage. I attend to the texture of these experiences, and how this type of institutionalized creative work was both exciting and motivating. In doing so, I offer biography as a powerful tool for understanding the historical precursors to modern iterations of the contemporary music ensemble

Clinical Characteristics of Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration without Typical Drusen

Purpose. To evaluate the clinical characteristics of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) patients without typical drusen. Methods. We retrospectively studied 165 eyes in 165 patients with treatment-naïve nAMD, including typical AMD and polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV). According to the fellow eye condition, the patients were divided into nAMD with and without typical drusen groups. Eyes with soft drusen or subretinal drusenoid deposits were classified into the nAMD with the typical drusen group. Smoking status and diagnoses of hypertension and diabetes were identified from hospital records and patient recall. We assessed best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), central retinal thickness (CRT) at the fovea, subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT), and the number of injections received. Results. The nAMD without typical drusen group was significantly younger (77.9 ± 7.6 vs. 71.8 ± 8.3, P<0.001) and had thicker SFCT at baseline (207.9 ± 99.5 vs. 260.1 ± 113.2 μm, P=0.007) and a higher proportion of PCV (30.6 vs. 63.1%, P<0.001). The proportion of ever-smokers was significantly higher in the nAMD without typical drusen group (54.8 vs. 70.9%, P=0.036). There were no statistically significant differences in the proportion of patients with hypertension or diabetes; BCVA, CRT, or SFCT changes; or the number of injections between the nAMD with and without typical drusen groups. Conclusion. The clinical features of patients in the nAMD without typical drusen group were almost identical to those of pachychoroid-driven choroidal neovascularization (CNV) patients. The nAMD without typical drusen group had a significantly higher proportion of ever-smokers than the nAMD with typical drusen group. Smoking could be a risk factor for the development of pachychoroid-driven CNV

Laparoscopic liver resection for liver metastasis of leiomyosarcoma of the thigh : a case report

Background Although there is no established treatment strategy for liver metastasis of leiomyosarcoma, liver resection has been reported to be effective in some cases. However, almost all liver resections performed for liver metastasis of primary leiomyosarcoma are reported to be open resections, and there are few reports of liver resection performed by laparoscopy. Here, we report a case of laparoscopic liver resection for liver metastasis of a leiomyosarcoma in the right thigh. Case presentation An 80-year-old man was diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma of the right thigh with liver metastasis. The primary tumor was first resected, and he was discharged on the 25th postoperative day. Four months after primary tumor resection, a laparoscopic right posterior sectionectomy was performed. There were no postoperative complications, and the patient was discharged on the 11th postoperative day with a histopathological diagnosis of liver metastasis of leiomyosarcoma and negative resection margins. Currently, 9 months have passed since the resection of the primary tumor, and 5 months have passed since the laparoscopic liver resection; there is no recurrence. Conclusions The liver metastasis of leiomyosarcoma was successfully removed, with good short-term outcomes after the laparoscopic liver resection. Laparoscopic liver resection seems to be effective for liver metastasis of leiomyosarcoma, which is characterized by a high recurrence rate after surgery. However, more case studies may be necessary to examine the effectiveness and long-term results of laparoscopic liver resection for the treatment of liver metastasis of leiomyosarcoma