A return to Teddy Roosevelt’s progressive tradition would help us to tackle the challenge of global warming

Like many Presidents and politicians before him, Barack Obama has pledged to deal with climate change, but domestic opposition and divisions over sovereignty during international negotiations have made his commitment a shallow one. Mark Lytle looks back to President Theodore Roosevelt’s Progressive tradition of over a century ago, whereby an interventionist government, given authority by science, was able to regulate towards sustainability. He argues that, in the face of populist denial of climate change, a return to the Progressive tradition may be what is now needed to address the challenges of climate change

Validity and reliability of a home environment inventory for physical activity and media equipment

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Little is known about how the home environmental supports physical activity and screen media usage. The purpose of this study was to develop and test the reliability and validity of a self-report instrument to comprehensively reflect the availability and accessibility of physical activity and screen media equipment in the home environment.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Ten families participated in the initial field testing to provide feedback for instrument development. Thirty one adult participants, each of whom had at least one child 10–17 years old, completed two Physical Activity and Media Inventory (PAMI) instruments. The first PAMI was completed simultaneously, but independently, with a research assistant to assess validity. A second PAMI was completed by the participant one week later to assess reliability.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The adult participants were mostly mothers/female guardians, mean age 38 ± 7.2 years, mostly Caucasian (52%), college educated (65%), living in single family homes (74%). Test-retest reliability was acceptable to strong for all summary variables (physical activity equipment, ICC = 0.76 to 0.99; media equipment, ICC = 0.72 to 0.96). For validation, reports from participants and research assistants were strongly correlated (physical activity, 0.67 – 0.98; media, 0.79 – 0.96). Compared to participants, research assistants reported a greater percentage of physical activity equipment as "in plain view and easy to get to" and a smaller percentage of items as "put away and difficult to get to".</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results indicate strong evidence for the reliability and validity of the variables calculated from the PAMI. This self report inventory may be useful in assessing the availability of physical activity and screen media equipment in the home environment and could be used in conjunction with other home assessment tools (food availability, parenting styles and feeding practices) to identify obesogenic home environments.</p

Experience, Experiment, Evaluate: A Framework for Assessing Experiential Games

The design of effective educational games has proven itself difficult for many years, leading to sparse and somewhat inconsistent insight into the principles governing such systems. While attempts at constructing frameworks for educational games certainly exist, their nature is often quite general (limiting the practical utility) or noticeably specific (limiting the scope of projects to which that framework might be applied). We present a design framework for a broad, but well-defined genre known as experiential games. We have named our framework the Experience, Experiment, Evaluate (EEE) framework and believe it to be an adequate lens under which to analyze such games. This article presents the EEE framework in detail and provides example analyses of three games (a U.S. Civil War history game, a medical diagnosis game, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time). We present empirical results for two of these games showcasing evidence that presumed adherence to EEE provides benefits in the classroom. In particular, the medical diagnosis game, Rashi, is shown to elicit higher quantity and quality of student responses when features were added that more tightly bound the game to our framework. Additionally, we provide evidence that activities within our U.S. Civil War game, ‘A Nation Divided’, are more successful in providing learning gains to students when those activities more carefully apply the ideas within our framework. We do not present any empirical results regarding Ocarina of Time, but include it as an anecdotal example of how commercial games have applied these principles successfully in order to teach the mechanics of the game to players, and argue that this is, in many ways, an exercise in pedagogy. We end by offering suggestions for strategically incorporating elements of our framework in the development and design of future systems

miRNA_targets : a database for miRNA target predictions in coding and non-coding regions of mRNAs

AbstractMicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that play a role in post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression in most eukaryotes. They help in fine-tuning gene expression by targeting messenger RNAs (mRNA). The interactions of miRNAs and mRNAs are sequence specific and computational tools have been developed to predict miRNA target sites on mRNAs, but miRNA research has been mainly focused on target sites within 3′ untranslated regions (UTRs) of genes. There is a need for an easily accessible repository of genome wide full length mRNA — miRNA target predictions with versatile search capabilities and visualization tools. We have created a web accessible database of miRNA target predictions for human, mouse, cow, chicken, Zebra fish, fruit fly and Caenorhabditis elegans using two different target prediction algorithms, The database has target predictions for miRNA's on 5′ UTRs, coding region and 3′ UTRs of all mRNAs. This database can be freely accessed at http://mamsap.it.deakin.edu.au/mirna_targets/

Downstream Testing and Subsequent Procedures After Coronary Computed Tomographic Angiography Following Coronary Stenting in Patients ≥65 Years of Age

Limited data are available on the use of coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) in patients who have received percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). To evaluate patterns of cardiac testing including CCTA after PCI, we created a retrospective observational data set linking the National Cardiovascular Data Registry® CathPCI Registry® baseline data with longitudinal inpatient and outpatient Medicare claims data for patients who received coronary stenting between November 1, 2005 and December 31, 2007. Among 192,009 PCI patients (median age 74 years), the first test after coronary stenting was CCTA for 553 (0.3%), stress testing for 89,900 (46.8%), and coronary angiography for 22,308 (11.6%); 79,248 (41.3%) had no further testing. Patients referred to CCTA first had generally similar or lower baseline risk than those referred for stress testing or catheterization first. Compared to patients with stress testing first after PCI, patients who underwent CCTA first had higher unadjusted rates of subsequent noninvasive testing (10% vs. 3%), catheterization (26% vs. 15%), and revascularization (13% vs. 8%) within 90 days of initial post-PCI testing (

Are large-scale flow experiments informing the science and management of freshwater ecosystems?

Greater scientific knowledge, changing societal values, and legislative mandates have emphasized the importance of implementing large-scale flow experiments (FEs) downstream of dams. We provide the first global assessment of FEs to evaluate their success in advancing science and informing management decisions. Systematic review of 113 FEs across 20 countries revealed that clear articulation of experimental objectives, while not universally practiced, was crucial for achieving management outcomes and changing dam-operating policies. Furthermore, changes to dam operations were three times less likely when FEs were conducted primarily for scientific purposes. Despite the recognized importance of riverine flow regimes, four-fifths of FEs involved only discrete flow events. Over three-quarters of FEs documented both abiotic and biotic outcomes, but only one-third examined multiple taxonomic responses, thus limiting how FE results can inform holistic dam management. Future FEs will present new opportunities to advance scientifically credible water policies

Evidence for natural antisense transcript-mediated inhibition of microRNA function

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have the potential to regulate diverse sets of mRNA targets. In addition, mammalian genomes contain numerous natural antisense transcripts, most of which appear to be non-protein-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). We have recently identified and characterized a highly conserved non-coding antisense transcript for beta-secretase-1 (BACE1), a critical enzyme in Alzheimer's disease pathophysiology. The BACE1-antisense transcript is markedly up-regulated in brain samples from Alzheimer's disease patients and promotes the stability of the (sense) BACE1 transcript. We report here that BACE1-antisense prevents miRNA-induced repression of BACE1 mRNA by masking the binding site for miR-485-5p. Indeed, miR-485-5p and BACE1-antisense compete for binding within the same region in the open reading frame of the BACE1 mRNA. We observed opposing effects of BACE1-antisense and miR-485-5p on BACE1 protein in vitro and showed that Locked Nucleic Acid-antimiR mediated knockdown of miR-485-5p as well as BACE1-antisense over-expression can prevent the miRNA-induced BACE1 suppression. We found that the expression of BACE1-antisense as well as miR-485-5p are dysregulated in RNA samples from Alzheimer's disease subjects compared to control individuals. Our data demonstrate an interface between two distinct groups of regulatory RNAs in the computation of BACE1 gene expression. Moreover, bioinformatics analyses revealed a theoretical basis for many other potential interactions between natural antisense transcripts and miRNAs at the binding sites of the latter

Autologous microsurgical breast reconstruction and coronary artery bypass grafting: an anatomical study and clinical implications

OBJECTIVE: To identify possible avenues of sparing the internal mammary artery (IMA) for coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in women undergoing autologous breast reconstruction with deep inferior epigastric artery perforator (DIEP) flaps. BACKGROUND: Optimal autologous reconstruction of the breast and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) are often mutually exclusive as they both require utilisation of the IMA as the preferred arterial conduit. Given the prevalence of both breast cancer and coronary artery disease, this is an important issue for women's health as women with DIEP flap reconstructions and women at increased risk of developing coronary artery disease are potentially restricted from receiving this reconstructive option should the other condition arise. METHODS: The largest clinical and cadaveric anatomical study (n=315) to date was performed, investigating four solutions to this predicament by correlating the precise requirements of breast reconstruction and CABG against the anatomical features of the in situ IMAs. This information was supplemented by a thorough literature review. RESULTS: Minimum lengths of the left and right IMA needed for grafting to the left-anterior descending artery are 160.08 and 177.80 mm, respectively. Based on anatomical findings, the suitable options for anastomosis to each intercostals space are offered. In addition, 87-91% of patients have IMA perforator vessels to which DIEP flaps can be anastomosed in the first- and second-intercostal spaces. CONCLUSION: We outline five methods of preserving the IMA for future CABG: (1) lowering the level of DIEP flaps to the fourth- and fifth-intercostals spaces, (2) using the DIEP pedicle as an intermediary for CABG, (3) using IMA perforators to spare the IMA proper, (4) using and end-to-side anastomosis between the DIEP pedicle and IMA and (5) anastomosis of DIEP flaps using retrograde flow from the distal IMA. With careful patient selection, we hypothesize using the IMA for autologous breast reconstruction need not be an absolute contraindication for future CABG