Peer review and citation data in predicting university rankings, a large-scale analysis

Most Performance-based Research Funding Systems (PRFS) draw on peer review and bibliometric indicators, two different method- ologies which are sometimes combined. A common argument against the use of indicators in such research evaluation exercises is their low corre- lation at the article level with peer review judgments. In this study, we analyse 191,000 papers from 154 higher education institutes which were peer reviewed in a national research evaluation exercise. We combine these data with 6.95 million citations to the original papers. We show that when citation-based indicators are applied at the institutional or departmental level, rather than at the level of individual papers, surpris- ingly large correlations with peer review judgments can be observed, up to r <= 0.802, n = 37, p < 0.001 for some disciplines. In our evaluation of ranking prediction performance based on citation data, we show we can reduce the mean rank prediction error by 25% compared to previous work. This suggests that citation-based indicators are sufficiently aligned with peer review results at the institutional level to be used to lessen the overall burden of peer review on national evaluation exercises leading to considerable cost savings

Semaglutide Effects on Cardiovascular Outcomes in People With Overweight or Obesity (SELECT) rationale and design

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Although it has been widely appreciated that obesity is a major risk factor for CVD, treatments that produce effective, durable weight loss and the impact of weight reduction in reducing cardiovascular risk have been elusive. Instead, progress in CVD risk reduction has been achieved through medications indicated for controlling lipids, hyperglycemia, blood pressure, heart failure, inflammation, and/or thrombosis. Obesity has been implicated as promoting all these issues, suggesting that sustained, effective weight loss may have independent cardiovascular benefit. GLP-1 receptor agonists (RAs) reduce weight, improve glycemia, decrease cardiovascular events in those with diabetes, and may have additional cardioprotective effects. The GLP-1 RA semaglutide is in phase 3 studies as a medication for obesity treatment at a dose of 2.4 mg subcutaneously (s.c.) once weekly. Semaglutide Effects on Heart Disease and Stroke in Patients with Overweight or Obesity (SELECT) is a randomized, double-blind, parallel-group trial testing if semaglutide 2.4 mg subcutaneously once weekly is superior to placebo when added to standard of care for preventing major adverse cardiovascular events in patients with established CVD and overweight or obesity but without diabetes. SELECT is the first cardiovascular outcomes trial to evaluate superiority in major adverse cardiovascular events reduction for an antiobesity medication in such a population. As such, SELECT has the potential for advancing new approaches to CVD risk reduction while targeting obesity

Semaglutide for cardiovascular event reduction in people with overweight or obesity: SELECT study baseline characteristics

Objective: This paper describes the baseline characteristics of the Semaglutide Effects on Heart Disease and Stroke in Patients with Overweight or Obesity (SELECT) study, one of the largest cardiovascular (CV) outcome studies in the field of obesity, which evaluates the effect of semaglutide versus placebo on major CV events. Methods: SELECT enrolled individuals with overweight or obesity without diabetes, with prior myocardial infarction, stroke, and/or peripheral artery disease. This study reports participants' baseline characteristics in the full study population and subgroups defined by baseline glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c; <5.7%, ≥5.7 to <6.0%, ≥6.0 to <6.5%), baseline waist to height ratio tertile, and qualifying prior CV event or condition. Results: The study enrolled 17,605 participants (72.5% male) with an average (SD) age of 61.6 (8.9) years and BMI of 33.34 (5.04) kg/m2. The most common prior CV event was myocardial infarction (76.3% of participants), followed by stroke (23.3%) and peripheral artery disease (8.6%). Furthermore, 24.3% had a heart failure diagnosis. Two-thirds of participants (66%) had HbA1c in the prediabetes range (5.7%-6.4%). Across groups of increasing HbA1c, prevalence of all CV risk factors increased. Conclusions: The enrolled population in SELECT includes participants across a broad range of relevant risk categories. This will allow the study to garner information about the CV benefits of semaglutide across these relevant clinical subgroups

The effect of Gonioscopy on keratometry and corneal surface topography

BACKGROUND: Biometric procedures such as keratometry performed shortly after contact procedures like gonioscopy and applanation tonometry could affect the validity of the measurement. This study was conducted to understand the short-term effect of gonioscopy on corneal curvature measurements and surface topography based Simulated Keratometry and whether this would alter the power of an intraocular lens implant calculated using post-gonioscopy measurements. We further compared the effect of the 2-mirror (Goldmann) and the 4-mirror (Sussman) Gonioscopes. METHODS: A prospective clinic-based self-controlled comparative study. 198 eyes of 99 patients, above 50 years of age, were studied. Exclusion criteria included documented dry eye, history of ocular surgery or trauma, diabetes mellitus and connective tissue disorders. Auto-Keratometry and corneal topography measurements were obtained at baseline and at three follow-up times – within the first 5 minutes, between the 10(th)-15(th )minute and between the 20(th)-25(th )minute after intervention. One eye was randomized for intervention with the 2-mirror gonioscope and the other underwent the 4-mirror after baseline measurements. t-tests were used to examine differences between interventions and between the measurement methods. The sample size was calculated using an estimate of clinically significant lens implant power changes based on the SRK-II formula. RESULTS: Clinically and statistically significant steepening was observed in the first 5 minutes and in the 10–15 minute interval using topography-based Sim K. These changes were not present with the Auto-Keratometer measurements. Although changes from baseline were noted between 20 and 25 minutes topographically, these were not clinically or statistically significant. There was no significant difference between the two types of gonioscopes. There was greater variability in the changes from baseline using the topography-based Sim K readings. CONCLUSION: Reversible steepening of the central corneal surface is produced by the act of gonioscopy as measured by Sim K, whereas no significant differences were present with Auto-K measurements. The type of Gonioscope used does not appear to influence these results. If topographically derived Sim K is used to calculate the power of the intraocular lens implant, we recommend waiting a minimum of 20 minutes before measuring the corneal curvature after gonioscopy with either Goldmann or Sussman contact lenses

Engaging Undergraduates in Science Research: Not Just About Faculty Willingness.

Despite the many benefits of involving undergraduates in research and the growing number of undergraduate research programs, few scholars have investigated the factors that affect faculty members' decisions to involve undergraduates in their research projects. We investigated the individual factors and institutional contexts that predict faculty members' likelihood of engaging undergraduates in their research project(s). Using data from the Higher Education Research Institute's 2007-2008 Faculty Survey, we employ hierarchical generalized linear modeling to analyze data from 4,832 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty across 194 institutions to examine how organizational citizenship behavior theory and social exchange theory relate to mentoring students in research. Key findings show that faculty who work in the life sciences and those who receive government funding for their research are more likely to involve undergraduates in their research project(s). In addition, faculty at liberal arts or historically Black colleges are significantly more likely to involve undergraduate students in research. Implications for advancing undergraduate research opportunities are discussed

The VISTA ZYJHKs photometric system: Calibration from 2MASS

In this paper we describe the routine photometric calibration of data taken with the VIRCAM instrument on the ESO VISTA telescope. The broadband ZYJHKs data are directly calibrated from 2MASS point sources visible in every VISTA image. We present the empirical transformations between the 2MASS and VISTA, and WFCAM and VISTA, photometric systems for regions of low reddening. We investigate the long-term performance of VISTA+VIRCAM. An investigation of the dependence of the photometric calibration on interstellar reddening leads to these conclusions: (1) For all broadband filters, a linear colour-dependent correction compensates the gross effects of reddening where $E(B-V)<5.0$. (2) For $Z$ and $Y$, there is a significantly larger scatter above E(B-V)=5.0, and insufficient measurements to adequately constrain the relation beyond this value. (3) The $JHK\!s$ filters can be corrected to a few percent up to E(B-V)=10.0. We analyse spatial systematics over month-long timescales, both inter- and intra-detector and show that these are present only at very low levels in VISTA. We monitor and remove residual detector-to-detector offsets. We compare the calibration of the main pipeline products: pawprints and tiles. We show how variable seeing and transparency affect the final calibration accuracy of VISTA tiles, and discuss a technique, {\it grouting}, for mitigating these effects. Comparison between repeated reference fields is used to demonstrate that the VISTA photometry is precise to better than $\simeq2\%$ for the $Y$$J$$H$$Ks$ bands and $3\%$ for the $Z$ bands. Finally we present empirically determined offsets to transform VISTA magnitudes into a true Vega system

Endangered right whales enhance primary productivity in the bay of fundy

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Marine mammals have recently been documented as important facilitators of rapid and efficient nutrient recycling in coastal and offshore waters. Whales enhance phytoplankton nutrition by releasing fecal plumes near the surface after feeding and by migrating from highly productive, high-latitude feeding areas to low-latitude nutrient-poor calving areas. In this study, we measured NH4 + and PO4 3- release rates from the feces of North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis), a highly endangered baleen whale. Samples for this species were primarily collected by locating aggregations of whales in surface- Active groups (SAGs), which typically consist of a central female surrounded by males competing for sexual activity. When freshly collected feces were incubated in seawater, high initial rates of N release were generally observed, which decreased to near zero within 24 hours of sampling, a pattern that is consistent with the active role of gut microflora on fecal particles. We estimate that at least 10% of particulate N in whale feces becomes available as NH4 + within 24 hours of defecation. Phosphorous was also abundant in fecal samples: Initial release rates of PO4 3- were higher than for NH4 +, yielding low N/P nutrient ratios over the course of our experiments. The rate of PO4 3- release was thus more than sufficient to preclude the possibility that nitrogenous nutrients supplied by whales would lead to phytoplankton production limited by P availability. Phytoplankton growth experiments indicated that NH4 + released from whale feces enhance productivity, as would be expected, with no evidence that fecal metabolites suppress growth. Although North Atlantic right whales are currently rare (approximately 450 individuals), they once numbered about 14,000 and likely played a substantial role in recycling nutrients in areas where they gathered to feed and mate. Even though the NH4 + released from fresh whale fecal material is a small fraction of total whale fecal nitrogen, and recognizing the fact that the additional nitrogen released in whale urine would be difficult to measure in a field study, the results of this study support the idea that the distinctive isotopic signature of the released NH4 + could be used to provide a conservative estimate of the contribution of the whale pump to primary productivity in coastal regions where whales congregate

A Freeze Frame View of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus Transcription Defines a Minimal Length of RNA for 5′ Processing

The RNA synthesis machinery of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) comprises the genomic RNA encapsidated by the viral nucleocapsid protein (N) and associated with the RNA dependent RNA polymerase, the viral components of which are a large protein (L) and an accessory phosphoprotein (P). The 241 kDa L protein contains all the enzymatic activities necessary for synthesis of the viral mRNAs, including capping, cap methylation and polyadenylation. Those RNA processing reactions are intimately coordinated with nucleotide polymerization such that failure to cap results in termination of transcription and failure to methylate can result in hyper polyadenylation. The mRNA processing reactions thus serve as a critical check point in viral RNA synthesis which may control the synthesis of incorrectly modified RNAs. Here, we report the length at which viral transcripts first gain access to the capping machinery during synthesis. By reconstitution of transcription in vitro with highly purified recombinant polymerase and engineered templates in which we omitted sites for incorporation of UTP, we found that transcripts that were 30-nucleotides in length were uncapped, whereas those that were 31-nucleotides in length contained a cap structure. The minimal RNA length required for mRNA cap addition was also sufficient for methylation since the 31-nucleotide long transcripts were methylated at both ribose-2′-O and guanine-N-7 positions. This work provides insights into the spatial relationship between the active sites for the RNA dependent RNA polymerase and polyribonucleotidyltransferase responsible for capping of the viral RNA. We combine the present findings with our recently described electron microscopic structure of the VSV polymerase and propose a model of how the spatial arrangement of the capping activities of L may influence nucleotide polymerization

Population-based prevalence survey of follicular trachoma and trachomatous trichiasis in the Casamance region of Senegal.

BACKGROUND: Trachoma, caused by ocular infection with Chlamydia trachomatis, is the leading infectious cause of blindness worldwide. We conducted the first population-based trachoma prevalence survey in the Casamance region of Senegal to enable the Senegalese National Eye Care Programme (NECP) to plan its trachoma control activities. The World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines state that any individual with trachomatous trichiasis (TT) should be offered surgery, but that surgery should be prioritised where the prevalence is >0.1%, and that districts and communities with a trachomatous inflammation, follicular (TF) prevalence of ≥10% in 1-9 year-olds should receive mass antibiotic treatment annually for a minimum of three years, along with hygiene promotion and environmental improvement, before re-assessing the prevalence to determine whether treatment can be discontinued (when TF prevalence in 1-9 year-olds falls 1% in all districts. CONCLUSION: With a prevalence <5%, TF does not appear to be a significant public health problem in this region. However, TF monitoring and surveillance at sub-district level will be required to ensure that elimination targets are sustained and that TF does not re-emerge as a public health problem. TT surgery remains the priority for trachoma elimination efforts in the region, with an estimated 1819 TT surgeries to conduct

Biophysical Assessment of Single Cell Cytotoxicity: Diesel Exhaust Particle-Treated Human Aortic Endothelial Cells

Exposure to diesel exhaust particles (DEPs), a major source of traffic-related air pollution, has become a serious health concern due to its adverse influences on human health including cardiovascular and respiratory disorders. To elucidate the relationship between biophysical properties (cell topography, cytoskeleton organizations, and cell mechanics) and functions of endothelial cells exposed to DEPs, atomic force microscope (AFM) was applied to analyze the toxic effects of DEPs on a model cell line from human aortic endothelial cells (HAECs). Fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry were also applied to further explore DEP-induced cytotoxicity in HAECs. Results revealed that DEPs could negatively impair cell viability and alter membrane nanostructures and cytoskeleton components in a dosage- and a time-dependent manner; and analyses suggested that DEPs-induced hyperpolarization in HAECs appeared in a time-dependent manner, implying DEP treatment would lead to vasodilation, which could be supported by down-regulation of cell biophysical properties (e.g., cell elasticity). These findings are consistent with the conclusion that DEP exposure triggers important biochemical and biophysical changes that would negatively impact the pathological development of cardiovascular diseases. For example, DEP intervention would be one cause of vasodilation, which will expand understanding of biophysical aspects associated with DEP cytotoxicity in HAECs