Cooperation on Competition: The Multistate Tax Commission and State Corporate Tax Uniformity

This report explores how interstate uniformity of state corporate income taxes has varied over time, the role played by the MTC, and how likely it is that uniformity will be achieved. FRC Report 11

Inflammatory or rheumatoid arthritis patients’ perspectives on the effect of arthritis gloves on their hand pain and function (A-GLOVES TRIAL) : a qualitative study

Background: Arthritis (compression) gloves are frequently provided to people with inflammatory (IA) or rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in the NHS, to help reduce swelling and alleviate hand pain by providing compression and improving circulation. However evidence for their effectiveness is limited.[1] Objectives: Nested within a randomised controlled trial (RCT) testing the effectiveness of intervention (compression) gloves with control gloves (fitted at least one size too big) in people with RA and IA, this qualitative study aimed to explore patients’ perspectives on the effect of the arthritis gloves on their hand pain and function. Methods: Once randomised, participants were provided joint protection and hand exercise booklets and fitted with either the intervention or the control glove(s) by a trained occupational therapist.[2] Both gloves had similar thermal qualities but control gloves did not apply compression. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 participants, purposively selected from each group (n=20) following 12 weeks of glove wear. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed by three researchers using thematic analysis with a critical realist perspective. Results: Participants’ perspectives on the effects of the arthritis gloves had three emergent sub-themes. These were: Usage: both groups predominantly used the gloves for activities such as wearing them outdoors to keep hands warm, night-time wear to help with sleep, and doing light domestic activities (e.g. dusting). Gloves were not used for cooking or washing-up or for personal activities of daily living (e.g. toileting, grooming) “What didn’t help as such, obviously was with washing etc. and toileting because I had to keep taking them off and putting them back on again”; Symptomatology: while some reported that gloves helped to keep their “hand pain in check” others said that gloves had no effect on their hand pain or that they’d found “it’s made them worse”. Participants from both groups frequently mentioned the warmth element of the gloves, as a positive attribute to help with their symptoms; Aesthetics: participants had opposing views on the appearance of the arthritis gloves. Some felt that the intervention gloves “look a bit ugly with the seams outside” or stated that they “would not want to wear that colour” but did not think they were obtrusive. Most noticeably, patients seemed to view the arthritis gloves as ordinary everyday gloves, rather than a medical device “if it was cold I wore them outside”. Conclusions: Trial participants reported experiencing similar effects from wearing either the intervention or control gloves, with varied perspectives on whether or not gloves affected hand pain and/or function. Overall, patients did not reflect on the compressive but rather the thermal qualities of the gloves, as warmth was the main effect perceived. References: Hammond, et al. Clin Rehabil 2016 30:213–24 Prior, et al. Rheum 2017(Supp1) Acknowledgements: This project was funded by the NIHR Research for Patient Benefit Programme (PB-PG-0214–33010). The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health

Progress toward an ambulatory pump-lung

ObjectivesCurrently available therapies for acute and chronic lung diseases have not been effective and have various problems associated with the technologies used. We present a novel active mixing pump-lung with the goal of providing total respiratory support to ambulatory patients.MethodsThe pump-lung is based on the concept of active mixing oxygenation within a constrained vortex. The rotation of hollow-fiber membranes disrupts the concentration boundary layer, increasing gas exchange efficiency, and simultaneously pumps the blood. Consequently, the amount of membranes required to achieve gas transfer sufficient for total respiratory support is considerably small. A series of studies, including computational design, experimental bench testing, and in vivo animal experiments, have been performed to implement this concept into a viable artificial pump-lung device.ResultsA series of pump-lung prototypes with a membrane surface area of 0.17 to 0.5 m2 were designed and characterized in vitro with bovine blood, demonstrating extremely high gas exchange efficiency. The prototype with a gas exchange surface area of 0.5 m2 was evaluated in calves. The device provided oxygen transfer of approximately 115 mL/min for respiratory support of an animal for up to 5 days.ConclusionsProgress to date suggests a high likelihood of success for an extracorporeal shorter-term lung that can be switched in and out like dialysis devices. Our device is unique in that it incorporates an integrated pumping and active mixing principle for excellent gas transfer and eliminates the need of the native right ventricle’s ability to power blood through the artificial and natural lungs

Modification of plant cell walls with hydroxycinnamic acids by BAHD acyltransferases

In the last decade it has become clear that enzymes in the "BAHD" family of acyl-CoA transferases play important roles in the addition of phenolic acids to form ester-linked moieties on cell wall polymers. We focus here on the addition of two such phenolics-the hydroxycinnamates, ferulate and p-coumarate-to two cell wall polymers, glucuronoarabinoxylan and to lignin. The resulting ester-linked feruloyl and p-coumaroyl moities are key features of the cell walls of grasses and other commelinid monocots. The capacity of ferulate to participate in radical oxidative coupling means that its addition to glucuronoarabinoxylan or to lignin has profound implications for the properties of the cell wall - allowing respectively oxidative crosslinking to glucuronoarabinoxylan chains or introducing ester bonds into lignin polymers. A subclade of similar to 10 BAHD genes in grasses is now known to (1) contain genes strongly implicated in addition of p-coumarate or ferulate to glucuronoarabinoxylan (2) encode enzymes that add p-coumarate or ferulate to lignin precursors. Here, we review the evidence for functions of these genes and the biotechnological applications of manipulating them, discuss our understanding of mechanisms involved, and highlight outstanding questions for future research

Cancer Patient Experience of Uncertainty While Waiting for Genome Sequencing Results.

There is limited knowledge about cancer patients' experiences of uncertainty while waiting for genome sequencing results, and whether prolonged uncertainty contributes to psychological factors in this context. To investigate uncertainty in patients with a cancer of likely hereditary origin while waiting for genome sequencing results, we collected questionnaire and interview data at baseline, and at three and 12 months follow up (prior to receiving results). Participants (N = 353) had negative attitudes towards uncertainty (M = 4.03, SD 0.68) at baseline, and low levels of uncertainty at three (M = 8.23, SD 7.37) and 12 months (M = 7.95, SD 7.64). Uncertainty about genome sequencing did not change significantly over time [t(210) = 0.660, p = 0.510]. Greater perceived susceptibility for cancer [r(348) = 0.14, p < 0.01], fear of cancer recurrence [r(348) = 0.19, p < 0.01], perceived importance of genome sequencing [r(350) = 0.24, p < 0.01], intention to change behavior if a gene variant indicating risk is found [r(349) = 0.29, p < 0.01], perceived ability to cope with results [r(349) = 0.36, p < 0.01], and satisfaction with decision to have genome sequencing [r(350) = 0.52, p < 0.01] were significantly correlated with negative attitudes towards uncertainty at baseline. Multiple primary cancer diagnoses [B = -2.364 [-4.238, -0.491], p = 0.014], lower perceived ability to cope with results [B = -0.1.881 [-3.403, -0.359], p = 0.016] at baseline, greater anxiety about genome sequencing (avoidance) [B = 0.347 [0.148, 0.546], p = 0.0012] at 3 months, and greater perceived uncertainty about genome sequencing [B = 0.494 [0.267, 0.721] p = 0.000] at 3 months significantly predicted greater perceived uncertainty about genome sequencing at 12 months. Greater perceived uncertainty about genome sequencing at 3 months significantly predicted greater anxiety (avoidance) about genome sequencing at 12 months [B = 0.291 [0.072, 0.509], p = 0.009]. Semi-structured interviews revealed that while participants were motivated to pursue genome sequencing as a strategy to reduce their illness and risk uncertainty, genome sequencing generated additional practical, scientific and personal uncertainties. Some uncertainties were consistently discussed over the 12 months, while others emerged over time. Similarly, some uncertainty coping strategies were consistent over time, while others emerged while patients waited for their genome sequencing results. This study demonstrates the complexity of uncertainty generated by genome sequencing for cancer patients and provides further support for the inter-relationship between uncertainty and anxiety. Helping patients manage their uncertainty may ameliorate psychological morbidity

Quantum state and mode profile tomography by the overlap

VS acknowledge support from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) of Brazil, grant 304129/2015-1, and by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), grant 2015/23296-8. DM acknowledge support from the EUproject Horizon-2020 SUPERTWIN id.686731, the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus program ‘Convergence’ and FAPESP grant 2014/21188-0. NK acknowledges the support from the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance (SUPA) and from the International Max Planck Partnership (IMPP) with Scottish Universities. JT and CS acknowledge support from European Union Grant No. 665148 (QCUMbER). TB acknowledges support from theDFG under TRR 142.Any measurement scheme involving interference of quantum states of the electromagnetic field necessarily mixes information about the spatiotemporal structure of these fields and quantum states in the recorded data. Weshow that in this case, a trade-off is possible between extracting information about the quantum states and the structure of the underlying fields, with the modal overlap being either a goal or a convenient tool of the reconstruction. Weshow that varying quantum states in a controlled way allows one to infer temporal profiles of modes. Vice versa, for the known quantum state of the probe and controlled variable overlap, one can infer the quantum state of the signal. We demonstrate this trade-off. by performing an experiment using the simplest on-off detection in an unbalanced weak homodyning scheme. For the single-mode case, we demonstrate experimentally inference of the overlap and a few-photon signal state. Moreover, we show theoretically that the same single-detector scheme is sufficient even for arbitrary multi-mode fields.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

A pilot metabolomic study of drug interaction with the immune response to seasonal influenza vaccination.

Many human diseases, including metabolic diseases, are intertwined with the immune system. The understanding of how the human immune system interacts with pharmaceutical drugs is still limited, and epidemiological studies only start to emerge. As the metabolomics technology matures, both drug metabolites and biological responses can be measured in the same global profiling data. Therefore, a new opportunity presents itself to study the interactions between pharmaceutical drugs and immune system in the high-resolution mass spectrometry data. We report here a double-blinded pilot study of seasonal influenza vaccination, where half of the participants received daily metformin administration. Global metabolomics was measured in the plasma samples at six timepoints. Metformin signatures were successfully identified in the metabolomics data. Statistically significant metabolite features were found both for the vaccination effect and for the drug-vaccine interactions. This study demonstrates the concept of using metabolomics to investigate drug interaction with the immune response in human samples directly at molecular levels

Evaluating the impact of the Tissue Viability Seating guidelines

Internationally, guidelines are developed to ensure safe, effective, person centred, timely, efficient, and effective practice. However, their use in clinical practice is found to be variable. The Tissue Viability Society (TVS) published updated seating guidelines in 2017, yet, little is known about how these guidelines are being used. The aim of this evaluation was to gauge the impact of the Tissue Viability Seating Guidelines on clinical practice and policy. A cross-sectional questionnaire was used to elicit the responses from anyone with an interest or role within seating and pressure ulcer prevention and management. The survey was distributed through a variety of methods including email to members of the Tissue Viability Society and social media platforms from September to December 2019. and Discussion: There were thirty-nine responses, the bulk of which were from healthcare professionals across primary and secondary care. All but one respondent was from the United Kingdom. Eleven had incorporated the latest TVS seating guidance into policy and sixteen into practice. The results of our survey demonstrates congruence with the literature as the main themes that emerged included incorporating the guidance into everyday clinical practice, education, and training, and as a resource or dissemination tool. Barriers to implementation included being unaware of the guidelines and unaware of one's own professional and collective organisational responsibility to guideline dissemination. However, many respondents were planning to incorporate the guidelines using a variety of methods. This survey has shown there are some examples of successful implementation of the TVS Seating guidelines. Future TVS guidelines should include implementation strategies, interventions, and goals for local champions to ensure barriers to implementation are both assessed and addressed. Future work could also include a trial of the guidelines within a pilot project. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Phenotypic and genotypic analysis of benzimidazole resistance in reciprocal genetic crosses of Haemonchus contortus

Haemonchus contortus is arguably one of the most economically important and ubiquitous parasites of livestock globally and commonly involved in cases of anthelmintic resistance. Here, we performed reciprocal genetic crosses using susceptible (MHco3(ISE)) and multiple anthelmintic resistant (MHco18(UGA2004)) H. contortus isolates. Resultant admixed populations were designated MHco3/18 or MHco18/3, where the lead isolate reflects the origin of the females. Three independent filial generations were generated for each cross, which were subjected to bioassays, molecular approaches and population genetic analyses to investigate the phenotypic and genotypic inheritance of benzimidazole (BZ) resistance at each stage. A panel of microsatellite markers confirmed the success of the genetic cross as markers from both parents were seen in the F(1) crosses. Egg hatch tests revealed a stark difference between the two F(1) crosses with ED(50) estimates for MHco18/3 being 9 times greater than those for MHco3/18. Resistance factors based on ED(50) estimates ranged from 6 to 57 fold in the filial progeny compared to MHco3(ISE) parents. Molecular analysis of the F167Y and F200Y SNP markers associated with BZ resistance were analysed by pyrosequencing and MiSeq deep amplicon sequencing, which showed that MHco3/18.F(1) and MHco18/3.F(1) both had similar frequencies of the F200Y resistant allele (45.3% and 44.3%, respectively), whereas for F167Y, MHco18/3.F(1) had a two-fold greater frequency of the resistant-allele compared to MHco3/18.F(1) (18.2% and 8.8%, respectively). Comparison between pyrosequencing and MiSeq amplicon sequencing revealed that the allele frequencies derived from both methods were concordant at codon 200 (r(c) = 0.97), but were less comparable for codon 167 (r(c) = 0.55). The use of controlled reciprocal genetic crosses have revealed a potential difference in BZ resistance phenotype dependent on whether the resistant allele is paternally or maternally inherited. These findings provide new insight and prompt further investigation into the inheritance of BZ resistance in H. contortus

Critical role of smoking and household dampness during childhood for adult phlegm and cough: a research example from a prospective cohort study in Great Britain.

To examine independent associations between childhood exposures to smoking and household dampness, and phlegm and cough in adulthood