Bad Taste?:Culture and Consumption in the Great Acceleration

&#8216;The climate crisis is also a crisis of culture.&#8217; Amitav Ghosh The Great Derangement This symposium takes the planetary ecological crisis as an urgent occasion to reflect on the history and politics of taste. Talk of taste today is considered outmoded, if not suspect. But is this not itself suspect in the ongoing Great Acceleration, a period defined since the 1950s by excesses of consumption and corresponding disruptions to the earth? In the context of the contemporary ecological crisis, examination of the implicit relation between taste and consumption seems all the more pressing. To what extent has the Great Acceleration been propelled by taste? What might such a question contribute to understanding these twin crises of climate and culture? Attending to taste in the Great Acceleration involves analyzing the proliferation and the allure of certain aesthetic forms, materials, and attitudes – as well as the obfuscation of the associated production of waste. And it means revisiting historical debates since the 1950s in aesthetic theory and culture critique for their blindspots and evasions as much as for their insights. Might reflection on the politics of taste indicate an intersection of affective embodied experience with the ostensibly more abstract categories of cosmopolitan politics, the global economy, and planetary ecology? Is there an alternative sensus communis to the rampant consumerism that has driven the Great Acceleration and that can no longer be dismissed as mere bad taste?Bad Taste?: Culture and Consumption in the Great Acceleration, symposium, ICI Berlin, 17 June 2022 <https://doi.org/10.25620/e220617

Getting to Finished: Strategies to Ensure Completion of the Doctoral Dissertation

This paper reports the results of focus group conversations with thirty-four doctoral students enrolled in an educational leadership program. Doctoral students were asked to provide suggestions and strategies used to complete the doctoral dissertation. The results of these conversations reinforce the value of the collaborative cohort and the proactive interdependence students experienced as a result of working together. These findings highlight the need to examine how doctoral students experience the university context particularly as it relates to the dissertation phase of study. Citation: Holmes, B., Robinson, L., Seay, A.D. (2010). Getting to Finished: Strategies to Ensure Completion of the Doctoral Dissertation. Contemporary Issues in Education Research 3,(7).https://openriver.winona.edu/educationeddfacultyworks/1013/thumbnail.jp

The actin networks of chytrid fungi reveal evolutionary loss of cytoskeletal complexity in the fungal kingdowm

Cells from across the eukaryotic tree use actin polymer networks for a wide variety of functions, including endocytosis, cytokinesis, and cell migration. Despite this functional conservation, the actin cytoskeleton has undergone significant diversification, highlighted by the differences in the actin networks of mammalian cells and yeast. Chytrid fungi diverged before the emergence of the Dikarya (multicellular fungi and yeast) and therefore provide a unique opportunity to study actin cytoskeletal evolution. Chytrids have two life stages: zoospore cells that can swim with a flagellum and sessile sporangial cells that, like multicellular fungi, are encased in a chitinous cell wall. Here, we show that zoospores of the amphibian-killing chytrid Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) build dynamic actin structures resembling those of animal cells, including an actin cortex, pseudopods, and filopodia-like spikes. In contrast, Bd sporangia assemble perinuclear actin shells and actin patches similar to those of yeast. The use of specific small-molecule inhibitors indicate that nearly all of Bd’s actin structures are dynamic and use distinct nucleators: although pseudopods and actin patches are Arp2/3 dependent, the actin cortex appears formin dependent and actin spikes require both nucleators. Our analysis of multiple chytrid genomes reveals actin regulators and myosin motors found in animals, but not dikaryotic fungi, as well as fungal-specific components. The presence of animal- and yeast-like actin cytoskeletal components in the genome combined with the intermediate actin phenotypes in Bd suggests that the simplicity of the yeast cytoskeleton may be due to evolutionary loss

Guideline for the Prevention of Oral and Oropharyngeal Mucositis in Children Receiving Treatment for Cancer or Undergoing Haematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

PURPOSE: To develop an evidence-based clinical practice guideline for the prevention of oral mucositis in children (0-18 years) receiving treatment for cancer or undergoing haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). METHODS: The Mucositis Prevention Guideline Development Group was interdisciplinary and included internationally recognised experts in paediatric mucositis. For the evidence review, we included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) conducted in either children or adults evaluating the following interventions selected according to prespecified criteria: cryotherapy, low level light therapy (LLLT) and keratinocyte growth factor (KGF). We also examined RCTs of any intervention conducted in children. For all systematic reviews, we synthesised the occurrence of severe oral mucositis. The Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach was used to describe quality of evidence and strength of recommendations. RESULTS: We suggest cryotherapy or LLLT may be offered to cooperative children receiving chemotherapy or HSCT conditioning with regimens associated with a high rate of mucositis. We also suggest KGF may be offered to children receiving HSCT conditioning with regimens associated with a high rate of severe mucositis. However, KGF use merits caution as there is a lack of efficacy and toxicity data in children, and a lack of long-term follow-up data in paediatric cancers. No other interventions were recommended for oral mucositis prevention in children. CONCLUSIONS: All three specific interventions evaluated in this clinical practice guideline were associated with a weak recommendation for use. There may be important organisational and cost barriers to the adoption of LLLT and KGF. Considerations for implementation and key research gaps are highlighted

Covid-19 lockdowns, income distribution, and food security : an analysis for South Africa

Abstract:Absent vaccines and pharmaceutical interventions, the only tool available to mitigate its demographic effects is some measure of physical distancing, to reduce contagion by breaking social and economic contacts. Policy makers must balance the positive health effects of strong distancing measures, such as lockdowns, against their economic costs, especially the burdens imposed on low income and food insecure households. The distancing measures deployed by South Africa impose large economic costs and have negative implications for the factor distribution of income. Labor with low education levels are much more strongly affected than labor with secondary or tertiary education. As a result, households with low levels of educational attainment and high dependence on labor income would experience an enormous real income shock that would clearly jeopardize the food security of these households. However, in South Africa, total incomes for low income households are significantly insulated by government transfer payments. From public health, income distribution and food security perspectives, the remarkably rapid and severe shocks imposed because of Covid-19 illustrate the value of having in place transfer policies that support vulnerable households in the event of ‘black swan’ type shocks

The Distribution and Origin of Smooth Plains on Mercury

Orbital images from the MESSENGER spacecraft show that ~27% of Mercury's surface is covered by smooth plains, the majority (greater than 65%) of which are interpreted to be volcanic in origin. Most smooth plains share the spectral characteristics of Mercury's northern smooth plains, suggesting they also share their magnesian alkali-basalt-like composition. A smaller fraction of smooth plains interpreted to be volcanic in nature have a lower reflectance and shallower spectral slope, suggesting more ultramafic compositions, an inference that implies high temperatures and high degrees of partial melting in magma source regions persisted through most of the duration of smooth plains formation. The knobby and hummocky plains surrounding the Caloris basin, known as Odin-type plains, occupy an additional 2% of Mercury’s surface. The morphology of these plains and their color and stratigraphic relationships suggest that they formed as Caloris ejecta, although such an origin is in conflict with a straightforward interpretation of crater size-frequency distributions. If some fraction is volcanic, this added area would substantially increase the abundance of relatively young effusive deposits inferred to have more mafic compositions. Smooth plains are widespread on Mercury, but they are more heavily concentrated in the north and in the hemisphere surrounding Caloris. No simple relationship between plains distribution and crustal thickness or radioactive element distribution is observed. A likely volcanic origin for some older terrain on Mercury suggests that the uneven distribution of smooth plains may indicate differences in the emplacement age of large-scale volcanic deposits rather than differences in crustal formational process

Management of non-urgent paediatric emergency department attendances; a retrospective observational study

BACKGROUND: Non-urgent emergency department(ED) attendances are common among children. Primary care management may not only be more clinically appropriate, but also improve patient experience and cost-effectiveness. AIM: To determine the impact of integrating a general practitioner(GP) into a paediatric ED, on admissions, waiting times, antibiotic prescribing, and treatment costs. DESIGN AND SETTING: Retrospective cohort study of non-urgent ED-presentations in an English paediatric ED. METHOD: From October-2015-September-2017, a GP was situated within the ED, from 2pm-10pm, seven-days-a-week. All children triaged green using the Manchester Triage System(non-urgent) were considered ‘GP-appropriate’. In cases of GP non-availability, non-urgent children were managed by ED-staff. We compared clinical, operational outcomes, and healthcare costs, of children managed by GPs and ED-staff over the same timeframe(2pm-10pm), over a two-year period. RESULTS: Of 115,000 children attending the ED over the study period, 13,099 children were designated ‘GP appropriate’, 8,404(64.2%) managed by GPs and 4,695(35.8%) by ED-staff. Median duration of ED-stay was 39min(IQR 16-108) in the GP-group and 165min(IQR 104-222) in the ED-group(p&lt;0.001). The GP-group were less likely to: be admitted as inpatients (OR 0.16,95%CI 0.13-0.2) and wait longer than four-hours (OR 0.1,95%CI 0.08-0.13), but more likely to receive antibiotics (OR 1.42,95%CI 1.27-1.58). Treatment costs were 18.4% lower in the GP-group,p&lt;0.0001. CONCLUSION: Based on retrospective observational data, children seen by the GP waited less time, had fewer inpatient admissions and lower costs, but experienced higher antibiotic prescribing. Given rising demand for children’s emergency services, ‘GP in ED’ care models may improve the management of non-urgent ED presentations, however further research incorporating causative study designs is required

Clinical Practice Guideline for Systemic Antifungal Prophylaxis in Pediatric Patients With Cancer and Hematopoietic Stem-Cell Transplantation Recipients

PURPOSE: To develop a clinical practice guideline for systemic antifungal prophylaxis in pediatric patients with cancer and hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) recipients. METHODS: Recommendations were developed by an international multidisciplinary panel that included a patient advocate. We conducted a systematic review of systemic antifungal prophylaxis in children and adults with cancer and HSCT recipients. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation approach was used to make strong or weak recommendations and to classify level of evidence as high, moderate, low, or very low. The panel considered directness of the data to pediatric patients. RESULTS: There were 68 randomized trials included in the systematic review, of which 6 (9%) were conducted in a solely pediatric population. Strong recommendations were made to administer systemic antifungal prophylaxis to children and adolescents receiving treatment of acute myeloid leukemia, to those undergoing allogeneic HSCT pre-engraftment, and to those receiving systemic immunosuppression for graft-versus-host disease treatment. A strong recommendation was made to administer a mold-active agent with an echinocandin or a mold-active azole when systemic antifungal prophylaxis is warranted. For children younger than 13 years of age, an echinocandin, voriconazole, or itraconazole is suggested. Posaconazole may also be used in those age 13 years or older. A strong recommendation against routine administration of amphotericin as systemic antifungal prophylaxis was made. CONCLUSION: We developed a clinical practice guideline for systemic antifungal prophylaxis administration in pediatric patients with cancer and HSCT recipients. Implementation and assessment of guideline-concordant rates and impacts are important future steps

Guideline for the Management of Fever and Neutropenia in Pediatric Patients With Cancer and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation Recipients: 2023 Update.

PURPOSE To update a clinical practice guideline (CPG) for the empiric management of fever and neutropenia (FN) in pediatric patients with cancer and hematopoietic cell transplantation recipients. METHODS The International Pediatric Fever and Neutropenia Guideline Panel reconvened to conduct the second update of this CPG. We updated the previous systematic review to identify new randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating any strategy for the management of FN in pediatric patients. Using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation framework, evidence quality was classified as high, moderate, low, or very low. The panel updated recommendations related to initial management, ongoing management, and empiric antifungal therapy. Changes from the 2017 CPG were articulated, and good practice statements were considered. RESULTS We identified 10 new RCTs in addition to the 69 RCTs identified in previous FN CPGs to inform the 2023 FN CPG. Changes from the 2017 CPG included two conditional recommendations regarding (1) discontinuation of empiric antibacterial therapy in clinically well and afebrile patients with low-risk FN if blood cultures remain negative at 48 hours despite no evidence of marrow recovery and (2) pre-emptive antifungal therapy for invasive fungal disease in high-risk patients not receiving antimold prophylaxis. The panel created a good practice statement to initiate FN CPG-consistent empiric antibacterial therapy as soon as possible in clinically unstable febrile patients. CONCLUSION The updated FN CPG incorporates important modifications on the basis of recently published trials. Future work should focus on addressing knowledge gaps, improving CPG implementation, and measuring the impact of CPG-consistent care

Transdifferentiating Astrocytes Into Neurons Using ASCL1 Functionalized With a Novel Intracellular Protein Delivery Technology

Cellular transdifferentiation changes mature cells from one phenotype into another by altering their gene expression patterns. Manipulating expression of transcription factors, proteins that bind to DNA promoter regions, regulates the levels of key developmental genes. Viral delivery of transcription factors can efficiently reprogram somatic cells, but this method possesses undesirable side effects, including mutations leading to oncogenesis. Using protein transduction domains (PTDs) fused to transcription factors to deliver exogenous transcription factors serves as an alternative strategy that avoids the issues associated with DNA integration into the host genome. However, lysosomal degradation and inefficient nuclear localization pose significant barriers when performing PTD-mediated reprogramming. Here, we investigate a novel PTD by placing a secretion signal sequence next to a cleavage inhibition sequence at the end of the target transcription factor–achaete scute homolog 1 (ASCL1), a powerful regulator of neurogenesis, resulting in superior stability and nuclear localization. A fusion protein consisting of the amino acid sequence of ASCL1 transcription factor with this novel PTD added can transdifferentiate cerebral cortex astrocytes into neurons. Additionally, we show that the synergistic action of certain small molecules improves the efficiency of the transdifferentiation process. This study serves as the first step toward developing a clinically relevant in vivo transdifferentiation strategy for converting astrocytes into neurons