How remote work can foster a more inclusive environment for transgender developers

In this position paper, we claim that remote work offers a mechanism of control for identity disclosure and empowerment of software developers from marginalized communities. By talking to several transgender software developers we identified three themes that resonate across the trans experience and intersect with the advantages to working in software development remotely: identity disclosure, high-impact technical work and the autonomy to disengage and re-engage. Based on these themes we identify several open questions that the research community should address.</p

Wanted: standards for automatic reproducibility of computational experiments

Those seeking to reproduce a computational experiment often need to manually look at the code to see how to build necessary libraries, configure parameters, find data, and invoke the experiment; it is not automatic. Automatic reproducibility is a more stringent goal, but working towards it would benefit the community. This work discusses a machine-readable language for specifying how to execute a computational experiment. We invite interested stakeholders to discuss this language at https://github.com/charmoniumQ/execution-description .Comment: Submitted to SE4RS'23 Portland, O

Aortic Complications Associated With Pregnancy in Marfan Syndrome: The NHLBI National Registry of Genetically Triggered Thoracic Aortic Aneurysms and Cardiovascular Conditions (GenTAC)

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/139073/1/jah31693.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/139073/2/jah31693_am.pd

Bicuspid and unicuspid aortic valves: Different phenotypes of the same disease? Insight from the GenTAC Registry

BackgroundUnicuspid aortic valve (UAV) is a rare disorder, often difficult to distinguish from bicuspid aortic valve (BAV). BAV and UAV share valve pathology such as the presence of a raphe, leaflet fusion, aortic stenosis, aortic regurgitation, and/or ascending aortic dilatation, but a comprehensive echocardiographic comparison of patients with UAV and BAV has not been previously performed.MethodsWe investigated UAV and BAV patients at an early stage of disease included in GenTAC, a national registry of genetically related aortic aneurysms and associated cardiac conditions. Clinical and echocardiographic data from the GenTAC Registry were compared between 17 patients with UAV and 17 matched‐controls with BAV.ResultsBaseline characteristics including demographics, clinical findings including family history of BAV and aortic aneurysm/coarctation, and echocardiographic variables were similar between BAV and UAV patients; aortic stenosis was more common and more severe in patients with UAV. This was evidenced by higher mean and peak gradient, smaller aortic valve area, and more advanced valvular degeneration (all P < .05). There were no significant differences in aortic dimensions, with a similar pattern of enlargement of the ascending aorta.ConclusionsThe similar baseline characteristics with more accelerated aortic valve degeneration and stenosis suggest that UAV represents an extreme in the spectrum of BAV syndromes. Therefore, it is reasonable to consider application of recommendations for the management of patients with BAV to those with the rarer UAV.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/139976/1/chd12520.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/139976/2/chd12520_am.pd

GenTAC registry report: Gender differences among individuals with genetically triggered thoracic aortic aneurysm and dissection

Previous data suggest women are at increased risk of death from aortic dissection. Therefore, we analyzed data from the GenTAC registry, the NIH‐sponsored program that collects information about individuals with genetically triggered thoracic aortic aneurysms and cardiovascular conditions. We performed cross‐sectional analyses in adults with Marfan syndrome (MFS), familial thoracic aortic aneurysm or dissection (FTAAD), bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) with thoracic aortic aneurysm or dissection, and subjects under 50 years of age with thoracic aortic aneurysm or dissection (TAAD <50 years). Women comprised 32% of 1,449 subjects and were 21% of subjects with BAV, 34% with FTAAD, 22% with TAAD <50 years, and 47% with MFS. Thoracic aortic dissections occurred with equal gender frequency yet women with BAV had more extensive dissections. Aortic size was smaller in women but was similar after controlling for BSA. Age at operation for aortic valve dysfunction, aneurysm or dissection did not differ by gender. Multivariate analysis (adjusting for age, BSA, hypertension, study site, diabetes, and subgroup diagnoses) showed that women had fewer total aortic surgeries (OR = 0.65, P  < 0.01) and were less likely to receive angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEi; OR = 0.68, P  < 0.05). As in BAV, other genetically triggered aortic diseases such as FTAAD and TAAD <50 are more common in males. In women, decreased prevalence of aortic operations and less treatment with ACEi may be due to their smaller absolute aortic diameters. Longitudinal studies are needed to determine if women are at higher risk for adverse events. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/97193/1/35836_ftp.pd

First international Competition on Runtime Verification: rules, benchmarks, tools, and final results of CRV 2014

The first international Competition on Runtime Verification (CRV) was held in September 2014, in Toronto, Canada, as a satellite event of the 14th international conference on Runtime Verification (RV’14). The event was organized in three tracks: (1) offline monitoring, (2) online monitoring of C programs, and (3) online monitoring of Java programs. In this paper, we report on the phases and rules, a description of the participating teams and their submitted benchmark, the (full) results, as well as the lessons learned from the competition.ICT COST ActionFFG HARMONIAAustrian Science Fund (FWF)31704

Cardiovascular Outcomes in Aortopathy: GenTAC Registry of Genetically Triggered Aortic Aneurysms and Related Conditions.

BACKGROUND: The GenTAC (Genetically Triggered Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm and Cardiovascular Conditions) Registry enrolled patients with genetic aortopathies between 2007 and 2016. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to compare age distribution and probability of elective surgery for proximal aortic aneurysm, any dissection surgery, and cardiovascular mortality among aortopathy etiologies. METHODS: The GenTAC study had a retrospective/prospective design. Participants with bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) with aneurysm (n = 879), Marfan syndrome (MFS) (n = 861), nonsyndromic heritable thoracic aortic disease (nsHTAD) (n = 378), Turner syndrome (TS) (n = 298), vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (vEDS) (n = 149), and Loeys-Dietz syndrome (LDS) (n = 121) were analyzed. RESULTS: The 25% probability of elective proximal aortic aneurysm surgery was 30 years for LDS (95% CI: 18-37 years), followed by MFS (34 years; 95% CI: 32-36 years), nsHTAD (52 years; 95% CI: 48-56 years), and BAV (55 years; 95% CI: 53-58 years). Any dissection surgery 25% probability was highest in LDS (38 years; 95% CI: 33-53 years) followed by MFS (51 years; 95% CI: 46-57 years) and nsHTAD (54 years; 95% CI: 51-61 years). BAV experienced the largest relative frequency of elective surgery to any dissection surgery (254/33 = 7.7), compared with MFS (273/112 = 2.4), LDS (35/16 = 2.2), or nsHTAD (82/76 = 1.1). With MFS as the reference population, risk of any dissection surgery or cardiovascular mortality was lowest in BAV patients (HR: 0.13; 95% CI: 0.08-0.18; HR: 0.13; 95%: CI: 0.06-0.27, respectively). The greatest risk of mortality was seen in patients with vEDS. CONCLUSIONS: Marfan and LDS cohorts demonstrate age and event profiles congruent with the current understanding of syndromic aortopathies. BAV events weigh toward elective replacement with relatively few dissection surgeries. Nonsyndromic HTAD patients experience near equal probability of dissection vs prophylactic surgery, possibly because of failure of early diagnosis

Vertebral Tortuosity Is Associated With Increased Rate of Cardiovascular Events in Vascular Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome

Background Arterial tortuosity is associated with adverse events in Marfan and Loeys-Dietz syndromes but remains understudied in Vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Methods and Results Subjects with a pathogeni