A prospective randomized trial of content expertise versus process expertise in small group teaching

Article deposited according to agreement with BMC, December 6, 2010.YesFunding provided by the Open Access Authors Fund

Thirdhand Tobacco Smoke: Emerging Evidence and Arguments for a Multidisciplinary Research Agenda

There is broad consensus regarding the health impact of tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure, yet considerable ambiguity exists about the nature and consequences of thirdhand smoke (THS). We introduce definitions of THS and THS exposure and review recent findings about constituents, indoor sorption-desorption dynamics, and transformations of THS; distribution and persistence of THS in residential settings; implications for pathways of exposure; potential clinical significance and health effects; and behavioral and policy issues that affect and are affected by THS. Physical and chemical transformations of tobacco smoke pollutants take place over time scales ranging from seconds to months and include the creation of secondary pollutants that in some cases are more toxic (e.g., tobacco-specific nitrosamines). THS persists in real-world residential settings in the air, dust, and surfaces and is associated with elevated levels of nicotine on hands and cotinine in urine of nonsmokers residing in homes previously occupied by smokers. Much still needs to be learned about the chemistry, exposure, toxicology, health risks, and policy implications of THS. The existing evidence on THS provides strong support for pursuing a programmatic research agenda to close gaps in our current understanding of the chemistry, exposure, toxicology, and health effects of THS, as well as its behavioral, economic, and sociocultural considerations and consequences. Such a research agenda is necessary to illuminate the role of THS in existing and future tobacco control efforts to decrease smoking initiation and smoking levels, to increase cessation attempts and sustained cessation, and to reduce the cumulative effects of tobacco use on morbidity and mortality

Devotions for Advent 2023 Return & Rebuild The Temple of God An Advent & Christmastide Devotional

Greetings in the name of Christ! Across two seminaries, across several states, and across this Advent and Christmastide, we have gathered devotions from several students- both at CTSFW and CSL- to guide us in our consideration of this season. As new theologians and workers in the Church, we have a chance to encourage our brothers and sisters and stir each other up to look to Christ. So who is this Christ? He is the culmination of the entire Scriptures, and so we find Him everywhere. The books of Ezra and Haggai are center stage in the Advent portion: God provides a way to return, to contribute to the presence of God among His people by building His Temple. Yes, Advent is a penitential season, a season of recognizing our vocations and how we have fallen short- but also how Christ comes among us nevertheless. We all have a part to play in rebuilding the body of Christ, the true Temple of God. Let not fear of our persecutors rule over us, because God will shame them and vindicate those who wait for Him! In the joy of Christmastide, enjoy the season with a smattering of texts and devotions (as well as 3 sermons!) on the fulfillment of God’s Temple, the incarnate God! What Zerubabbel sought to accomplish, Christ has fulfilled, and He will not let us go without a reminder of our duties to the Church. His body is worthy of every gift we can bring! The Church is now God’s Temple, and even our individual bodies. How great a stewardship that we have, to build up the Body of the crucified, risen, and ascended Lord! Indeed, God’s manifold word, both Law and Gospel, have much to say to us this season. Thank you to all who contributed your wisdom and meditations for the communities’ use- and may God bless your reading and prayer.https://scholar.csl.edu/osp/1024/thumbnail.jp

Devotions for Lent 2023 Hymns of Lent

This Lent, we will continue reflecting on hymns of faith, namely, some of our most beloved Lenten hymns. 10 such hymns have been chosen to fill the 40(+) days of Lent. Therefore, this devotional, different from previous editions, does not proceed on a weekly basis, but merely flows from one hymn to the next. Also different from previous editions, the devotional reflections are specifically based on the stanzas of the selected hymns. Therefore, each day’s reflection features the text of the hymn stanza, a devotion based on that stanza, a prayer, and then a Scripture passage or passages for further meditation. I pray these reflections may be of edification for you during this Lenten season.https://scholar.csl.edu/osp/1022/thumbnail.jp

The Distribution of Sexually-Transmitted Human Papillomaviruses in HIV Positive and Negative Patients in Zambia, Africa

Background: Human Papillomaviruses (HPV) are double-stranded DNA viruses, considered to be the primary etiological agents in cervical intraepithelial neoplasias and cancers. Approximately 15–20 of the 40 mucosal HPVs confer a high-risk of progression of lesions to invasive cancer. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of sexually transmitted HPVs in Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) positive and negative patients in Zambia, Africa. The rate of high-risk HPV genotypes worldwide varies within each country. Thus, we sought to investigate the rates of HPV infection in sub-Saharan Africa and the potential role of HIV in affecting the HPV genotype distribution. Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study reports findings on the association and effects of HIV on HPV infections in an existing cohort of patients at University Teaching Hospital (UTH) Lusaka, Zambia. The objective of this study was to assess HPV prevalence, genotype distribution and to identify co-factors that influence HPV infection. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with two standard consensus primer sets (CpI/II and GP5+/6+) was used to test for the presence of HPV DNA. Primers specific for β-actin were used to monitor DNA quality. Vaginal lavage samples, collected between 1998-1999 from a total of 70 women, were part of a larger cohort that was also analyzed for HIV and human herpesvirus infection. Seventy of the samples yielded usable DNA. HIV status was determined by two rapid assays, Capillus and Determine. The incidence of HIV and HPV infections and HPV genotype distributions were calculated and statistical significance was determined by Chi-Squared test. Results: We determined that most common HPV genotypes detected among these Zambian patients were types 16 and 18 (21.6% each), which is approximately three-fold greater than the rates for HPV16, and ten-fold greater than the rates for HPV18 in the United States. The worldwide prevalence of HPV16 is approximately 14% and HPV18 is 5%. The overall ratio of high-risk (HR) to low-risk (LR) HPVs in the patient cohort was 69% and 31% respectively; essentially identical to that for the HR and LR distributions worldwide. However, we discovered that HIV positive patients were two-times as likely to have an HR HPV as HIV negative individuals, while the distribution of LR HPVs was unaffected by HIV status. Interestingly, we observed a nine-fold increase in HPV18 infection frequency in HIV positive versus HIV negative individuals. Conclusion: The rate of oncogenic HPVs (type 16 and 18) in Zambia was much higher than in the U.S., potentially providing an explanation for the high-rates of cervical cancer in Zambia. Surprisingly, we discovered a strong association between positive HIV status and the prevalence of HR HPVs, and specifically HPV18

Directed cell migration in multi-cue environments

Cell migration plays a critical role in development, angiogenesis, immune response, wound healing and cancer metastasis. During these processes, cells are often directed to migrate towards targets by sensing aligned fibers or gradients in concentration, mechanical properties or electric field. Often times, cells must integrate migrational information from several of these different cues. While the cell migration behavior, signal transduction and cytoskeleton dynamics elicited by individual directional cues has been largely determined, responses to multiple directional cues are much less understood. However, initial work has pointed to several interesting behaviors in multi-cue environments, including competition and cooperation between cues to determine the migrational responses of cells. Much of the work on multi-cue sensing has been driven by the recent development of approaches to systematically and simultaneously control directional cues in vitro coupled with analysis and modeling that quantitatively describe those responses. In this review we present an overview of multi-cue directed migration with an emphasis on how cues compete or cooperate. We outline how multi-cue responses such as cue dominance might change depending on other environmental inputs. Finally, the challenges associated with the design of the environments to control multiple cues and the analysis and modeling of cell migration in multi-cue environments as well as some interesting biological questions associated with migration in complex environments are discussed. Understanding multi-cue migrational responses is critical to the mechanistic description of physiology and pathology, but also to the design of engineered tissues, where cell migration must be orchestrated to form specific tissue structures

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements