Congress' Wicked Problem: Seeking Knowledge Inside the Information Tsunami

The lack of shared expert knowledge capacity in the U.S. Congress has created a critical weakness in our democratic process. Along with bipartisan cooperation, many contemporary and urgent questions before our legislators require nuance, genuine deliberation and expert judgment. Congress, however, is missing adequate means for this purpose and depends on outdated and in some cases antiquated systems of information referral, sorting, communicating, and convening. Congress is held in record low esteem by the public today. Its failings have been widely analyzed and a multitude of root causes have been identified. This paper does not put forward a simple recipe to fix these ailments, but argues that the absence of basic knowledge management in our legislature is a critical weakness. Congress struggles to make policy on complex issues while it equally lacks the wherewithal to effectively compete on substance in today's 24 hour news cycle.This paper points out that Congress is not so much venal and corrupt as it is incapacitated and obsolete. And, in its present state, it cannot serve the needs of American democracy in the 21st Century.The audience for this paper is those who are working in the open government, civic technology and transparency movements as well as other foundations, think tanks and academic entities. It is also for individuals inside and outside of government who desire background about Congress' current institutional dilemmas, including lack of expertise

Policy Matters: Educating Congress on Peace and Security

Provides a guide to the inner workings of the U.S. Congress to aid organizations and individuals that are concerned with foreign policy matters and wish to initiate dialogue with Congress

Conceptions of students as partners

Engaging students as partners (SaP) in teaching and learning is an emerging yet contested topic in higher education. This study interviewed 16 students and staff working in partnership across 11 Australian universities to understand how they conceptualised SaP and the opportunities they believed SaP afforded their universities. Thematic analysis revealed three overlapping conceptions of partnership: SaP as counter-narrative, SaP as values-based practice, and SaP as cultural change. The findings are first interpreted through the lens of liminality and an ethic of care. This is followed by a discussion of inclusivity of involvement, resistance, and reinforcement of neoliberal agendas despite good intentions. Finally, implications for cautious enactment of both practice and research are offered

Prevalence of select vector-borne disease agents in owned dogs of Ghana

Ticks, sera and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) blood were collected from dogs evaluated at the Amakom Veterinary Clinic in Kumasi, Ghana. Sera were evaluated for Dirofilaria immitis antigen and antibodies against Borrelia burgdorferi, Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Ehrlichia canis. Conventional polymerase chain reaction assays designed to amplify the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) ofEhrlichia spp. or Anaplasma spp. or Neorickettsia spp. or Wolbachia spp., Babesia spp., Rickettsia spp., Hepatozoon spp., Bartonella spp. and the haemoplasmas were performed on DNA extracted from EDTA blood and all positive amplicons were sequenced. This small survey shows that the following vector-borne pathogens are present in urban Ghanian dogs: Ehrlichia canis, Hepatozoon canis,Dirofilaria immitis and Anaplasma platys. Bartonella henselae was isolated from ticks but not from the dogs

Caractérisation hydrogéologique du substratum rocheux fracture du site pollue de Ville-Mercier

Avant la mise en place d'un système de décontamination et de restauration de la formation aquifère rocheuse au site pollué de Ville-Mercier, il est important de définir les caractéristiques géométriques et hydrauliques du système de fractures de même que les propriétés hydrauliques de la matrice poreuse afin de mieux comprendre le mouvement des polluants dans le milieu rocheux. La caractérisation hydrogéologique du massif rocheux, réalisé au site pollué de Ville-Mercier, vise à définir la nature du roc, la géométrie du système de fractures, de même que les propriétés hydrauliques des fractures et de la matrice poreuse. Les roches de la région, qui sont peu déformées, ont un faible pendage vers le sud-est et le nord-ouest avec une direction qui varie de N 10° à N 125°. Des relevés sur le terrain montrent que ces roches sont recoupées par deux familles de fractures sub-verticales et orthogonales, orientées N 120° et N 30°, et perpendiculaires aux axes des grands plis ouverts de la région. Au niveau du site pollué, sept forages verticaux carottés "NQ" ont été exécutés à l'automne 1988. Chaque forage pénètre sur une longueur inférieure à 14 m, un orthoquartzite à litage sub-horizontal de la Formation de Thérésa du Groupe de Beekmantown. Des fractures et des zones fracturées sub-horizontales ont été intersectées par ces forages et la présence de polluants a été remarquée à l'intérieur de plusieurs discontinuités ouvertes. L'instrumentation de surveillance à niveaux multiples mise en place dans les forages, a permis d'échantillonner l'eau contaminée et de mesurer la charge hydraulique. Un fort gradient hydraulique vertical ascendant est observé au toit du rocher. Des essais de pompage et des essais d'injection entre obturateurs pneumatiques ont permis de définir le profil de la conductivité hydraulique du massif rocheux fracturé. Cette dernière varie de 105 m/s dans les zones fracturées à <10-10 m/s au niveau de la roche saine. En laboratoire, des essais d'injection radiale sur des carottes dans un perméamètre ont montré la très faible contribution de la matrice rocheuse à l'écoulement La conductivité hydraulique radiale de la matrice, mesurée parallèlement au litage, varie de 10-11 à 10-13 m/s. La porosité de la matrice a été déterminée à l'aide d'essais d'injection au mercure, ainsi qu'à partir de diverses analyses sur des lames minces et au microscope électronique à balayage. Une porosité effective évaluée à environ 2%, associée à une faible dimension des pores, laissent supposer que les polluants immiscibles et de forte viscosité peuvent difficilement pénétrer à l'intérieur de la matrice poreuse

Gene expression profiling of prostate tissue identifies chromatin regulation as a potential link between obesity and lethal prostate cancer

BACKGROUND: Obese men are at higher risk of advanced prostate cancer and cancer-specific mortality; however, the biology underlying this association remains unclear. This study examined gene expression profiles of prostate tissue to identify biological processes differentially expressed by obesity status and lethal prostate cancer. METHODS: Gene expression profiling was performed on tumor (n = 402) and adjacent normal (n = 200) prostate tissue from participants in 2 prospective cohorts who had been diagnosed with prostate cancer from 1982 to 2005. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated from the questionnaire immediately preceding cancer diagnosis. Men were followed for metastases or prostate cancer–specific death (lethal disease) through 2011. Gene Ontology biological processes differentially expressed by BMI were identified using gene set enrichment analysis. Pathway scores were computed by averaging the signal intensities of member genes. Odds ratios (ORs) for lethal prostate cancer were estimated with logistic regression. RESULTS: Among 402 men, 48% were healthy weight, 31% were overweight, and 21% were very overweight/obese. Fifteen gene sets were enriched in tumor tissue, but not normal tissue, of very overweight/obese men versus healthy-weight men; 5 of these were related to chromatin modification and remodeling (false-discovery rate 7, 41% vs 17%; P = 2 × 10⁻⁴) and an increased risk of lethal disease that was independent of grade and stage (OR, 5.26; 95% confidence interval, 2.37-12.25). CONCLUSIONS: This study improves our understanding of the biology of aggressive prostate cancer and identifies a potential mechanistic link between obesity and prostate cancer death that warrants further study.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant P01 CA055075)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant R01 CA133891)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant R01 CA141298)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant R01 CA136578)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant R01 CA174206)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant UM1 CA167552

Tackling Diversity in Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials: A Report From the Diversity Working Group of the IRONMAN Registry

Prostate cancer disproportionately affects racial and ethnic minority populations. Reasons for disparate outcomes among minority patients are multifaceted and complex, involving factors at the patient, provider, and system levels. Although advancements in our understanding of disease biology have led to novel therapeutics for men with advanced prostate cancer, including the introduction of biomarker-driven therapeutics, pivotal translational studies and clinical trials are underrepresented by minority populations. Despite attempts to bridge the disparities gap, there remains an unmet need to expand minority engagement and participation in clinical trials to better define the impact of therapy on efficacy outcomes, quality of life, and role of biomarkers in diverse patient populations. The IRONMAN registry (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03151629 ), a global, prospective, population-based study, was borne from this unmet medical need to address persistent gaps in our knowledge of advanced prostate cancer. Through integrated collection of clinical outcomes, patient-reported outcomes, epidemiologic data, and biospecimens, IRONMAN has the goal of expanding our understanding of how and why prostate cancer outcomes differ by race and ethnicity. To this end, the Diversity Working Group of the IRONMAN registry has developed informed strategies for site selection, recruitment, engagement and retention, and trial design and eligibility criteria to ensure broad inclusion and needs awareness of minority participants. In concert with systematic strategies to tackle the complex levels of disparate care, our ultimate goal is to expand minority engagement in clinical research and bridge the disparities gap in prostate cancer care