Book Review: Sex and Manners: Female Emancipation in the West 1890-2000

Review of Sex and Manners: Female Emancipation in the West 1890-2000 by Cas Wouter

Nonlinear Control of Tunneling Through an Epsilon-Near-Zero Channel

The epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) tunneling phenomenon allows full transmission of waves through a narrow channel even in the presence of a strong geometric mismatch. Here we experimentally demonstrate nonlinear control of the ENZ tunneling by an external field, as well as self-modulation of the transmission resonance due to the incident wave. Using a waveguide section near cut-off frequency as the ENZ system, we introduce a diode with tunable and nonlinear capacitance to demonstrate both of these effects. Our results confirm earlier theoretical ideas on using an ENZ channel for dielectric sensing, and their potential applications for tunable slow-light structures

Chronic Hepatitis B Reactivation: Deadly, But Preventable

Chronic Hepatitis B Reactivation: Deadly, But Preventable Sarah Xie, DO Providence Portland Medical Center – Portland, OR Additional Authors: Andrea Roast, MD, FACP; Jesse Powell, MD A 51-year-old Vietnamese male with chronic hepatitis B presents with symptoms of acute hepatitis. 2 months prior, his PCP had discontinued Tenofovir, for which he had been taking for the past decade, based on an undetectable viral load and a negative HBeAg. 1 month later, his viral load soared to 796 million so Tenofovir was restarted. On admission a few days later, the patient had scleral icterus and jaundiced skin. He had severe transaminitis, coagulopathy, and a total bilirubin of 7.7. His CT showed hepatitis, but no cirrhosis. With other etiologies ruled out, he was diagnosed with acute on chronic hepatitis B reactivation due to discontinuation of Tenofovir. He was discharged once his LFTs improved though his total bilirubin continued to rise. The liver transplant team followed the patient post discharge and one month later, he represented with decompensated liver cirrhosis which progressed to fulminant hepatic failure requiring a liver transplant. An estimated 350 million people in the US live with chronic hepatitis B, though only a third are aware of their diagnosis. Untreated hep B accounts for over 600,000 deaths per year from HCC and end stage liver disease. There is no cure because hep B virus remains in hepatocytes by integrating its DNA into our own and by turning its DNA into stable mini-chromosomes. Tenofovir AF, the 1st line treatment, works only by inhibiting viral replication outside the nucleus, but does not eradicate viral DNA (point). A negative viral load, as seen in our patient, indicates only medication adherence and not a cure. Only 1% of patients achieve “seroclearance of HBsAg,” constituting a functional cure and can discontinue medications at that point, but 99% of patient require indefinite treatment. Our patient did not have labs consistent with a functional cure. Tenofovir has a black box warning that if discontinued, can cause hepatitis B reactivation leading to severe hepatic injury and even fulminant hepatic failure. It took only one month of discontinued Tenofovir to set in motion our patient’s path for a liver transplant. Fortunately, he is doing well now. The take home points are that, unlike Hepatitis C, 99% of hep B patients require indefinite treatment to minimize the risk of premature death. Physicians should recognize that only seroclearance of HBsAg suggests a functional cure. Undetectable viral loads indicate successful treatment adherence. Discontinuation of treatment can result in hepatitis B reactivation and even fulminant hepatic failure. From a broader perspective, clinicians need to be vigilant of undiagnosed chronic hepatitis B carriers, especially in patients immigrating from countries with high prevalence or patient with high risk behaviors. These patients are at risk for reactivation with any immunosuppressive therapy such as steroids or cancer therapies.https://digitalcommons.psjhealth.org/ppmc_internal/1015/thumbnail.jp

Correcting the Fabry-Perot artifacts in metamaterial retrieval procedures

We discuss the well-known limitations in the retrieval of homogenized constitutive parameters based on reflection and transmission from metamaterial slabs arising near the Fabry-Perot resonances of the samples under analysis. The associated artifacts ca

Nonlinear Control of Tunneling Through an Epsilon-Near-Zero Channel

The epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) tunneling phenomenon allows full transmission of waves through a narrow channel even in the presence of a strong geometric mismatch. Here we experimentally demonstrate nonlinear control of the ENZ tunneling by an external field, as well as self-modulation of the transmission resonance due to the incident wave. Using a waveguide section near cut-off frequency as the ENZ system, we introduce a diode with tunable and nonlinear capacitance to demonstrate both these effects. Our results confirm earlier theoretical ideas on using an ENZ channel for dielectric sensing and their potential applications for tunable slow-light structures

Impact of No Child Left Behind on Curriculum and Instruction in Rural Schools

This article examines the influence of the No Child Left Behind Act on the decision making of rural principals and teachers about curriculum and instruction as well as the possible long-term effects on rural education. Data were gathered from 101 rural elementary school principals in Missouri and 76 rural elementary school teachers in Maine. Missouri principals were concerned about losing their autonomy and abilities to be instructional leaders. Maine teachers reported that NCLB benefited some groups of students more than others and that it has a negative effect on student motivation. There were significant changes in instructional time for some subjects and non-instructional time for recess and kindergarten nap time. The most important influence on principals’ educational vision for the future and the need for professional development was meeting AYP and raising test scores

Indirect Genetic Effects and the Spread of Infectious Disease: Are We Capturing the Full Heritable Variation Underlying Disease Prevalence?

Reducing disease prevalence through selection for host resistance offers a desirable alternative to chemical treatment. Selection for host resistance has proven difficult, however, due to low heritability estimates. These low estimates may be caused by a failure to capture all the relevant genetic variance in disease resistance, as genetic analysis currently is not taylored to estimate genetic variation in infectivity. Host infectivity is the propensity of transmitting infection upon contact with a susceptible individual, and can be regarded as an indirect effect to disease status. It may be caused by a combination of physiological and behavioural traits. Though genetic variation in infectivity is difficult to measure directly, Indirect Genetic Effect (IGE) models, also referred to as associative effects or social interaction models, allow the estimation of this variance from more readily available binary disease data (infected/non-infected). We therefore generated binary disease data from simulated populations with known amounts of variation in susceptibility and infectivity to test the adequacy of traditional and IGE models. Our results show that a conventional model fails to capture the genetic variation in infectivity inherent in populations with simulated infectivity. An IGE model, on the other hand, does capture some of the variation in infectivity. Comparison with expected genetic variance suggests that there is scope for further methodological improvement, and that potential responses to selection may be greater than values presented here. Nonetheless, selection using an index of estimated direct and indirect breeding values was shown to have a greater genetic selection differential and reduced future disease risk than traditional selection for resistance only. These findings suggest that if genetic variation in infectivity substantially contributes to disease transmission, then breeding designs which explicitly incorporate IGEs might help reduce disease prevalence