George Hunter's map of the Cherokee country and the path thereto in 1730

George Hunter, who prepared this map from Col. John Herbert's map of the Cherokee country and his "own Observations", was a surveyor and subsequently became Surveyor General of the province of South Carolina. The several notes which lie has made on the map are most valuable historically. One of the significant historical values of this map j, its refutation of the myth about a Cherokee Indian maiden bearing the mythical name of Catechee who rode to a mythical fort to warn a lover that the Indians were coming to massacre the garrison and t he settlers, and who named the streams, as she reached them, on the basis of the number of miles she had traveled, Ninety Six being one of the names she applied

A Student-Designed Multimodal Sex- and Gender-Based Women\u27s Health Elective Program: Advocacy Curriculum for Medical Students

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this article is to describe the design and implementation of a multimodal, student-driven, sex- and gender-based women\u27s health (SGBWH) elective with a curricular focus on patient and legislative advocacy. In this single arm, pre/post design, interventional study, we detail and evaluate the use of social media, newsletters, and round-table discussions in conjunction with a traditional lecture-based educational format to engage medical students in a virtual learning environment. METHODS: We developed a 22-week SGBWH curriculum for pre-clinical and clinical medical students, which included a series of lectures on multi-specialty and gender-inclusive topics related to SGBWH, small group discussions with community leaders and legislators involved in women\u27s health advocacy, and other self-directed resources such as social media, a website, and digital newsletters. Students were surveyed before and after completing the curriculum to assess for increases in self-reported confidence in advocating for their female and gender minority patients. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: One hundred and one students completed the anonymous pre- and post-elective surveys. There was statistically significant improvement in 8 of the 12 self-reported confidence measures. Eight (8%) participants identified their sex as male. Fifty-five (55%) participants stated future interest in primary care specialties (Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Pediatrics). Our curriculum improved medical students\u27 self-reported confidence in advocating for their female and gender minority patients when controlling for sex and specialty interest of participants. The success of our multimodal approach demonstrates the value in incorporating resources such as social media as tools for education and advocacy in the evolving landscape of medical education

Needs assessment to strengthen capacity in water and sanitation research in Africa:experiences of the African SNOWS consortium

Despite its contribution to global disease burden, diarrhoeal disease is still a relatively neglected area for research funding, especially in low-income country settings. The SNOWS consortium (Scientists Networked for Outcomes from Water and Sanitation) is funded by the Wellcome Trust under an initiative to build the necessary research skills in Africa. This paper focuses on the research training needs of the consortium as identified during the first three years of the project

Mineralisation of soft and hard tissues and the stability of biofluids

Evidence is provided from studies on natural and artificial biofluids that the sequestration of amorphous calcium phosphate by peptides or proteins to form nanocluster complexes is of general importance in the control of physiological calcification. A naturally occurring mixture of osteopontin peptides was shown, by light and neutron scattering, to form calcium phosphate nanoclusters with a core–shell structure. In blood serum and stimulated saliva, an invariant calcium phosphate ion activity product was found which corresponds closely in form and magnitude to the ion activity product observed in solutions of these osteopontin nanoclusters. This suggests that types of nanocluster complexes are present in these biofluids as well as in milk. Precipitation of amorphous calcium phosphate from artificial blood serum, urine and saliva was determined as a function of pH and the concentration of osteopontin or casein phosphopeptides. The position of the boundary between stability and precipitation was found to agree quantitatively with the theory of nanocluster formation. Artificial biofluids were prepared that closely matched their natural counterparts in calcium and phosphate concentrations, pH, saturation, ionic strength and osmolality. Such fluids, stabilised by a low concentration of sequestering phosphopeptides, were found to be highly stable and may have a number of beneficial applications in medicine

Utilisation of an operative difficulty grading scale for laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background A reliable system for grading operative difficulty of laparoscopic cholecystectomy would standardise description of findings and reporting of outcomes. The aim of this study was to validate a difficulty grading system (Nassar scale), testing its applicability and consistency in two large prospective datasets. Methods Patient and disease-related variables and 30-day outcomes were identified in two prospective cholecystectomy databases: the multi-centre prospective cohort of 8820 patients from the recent CholeS Study and the single-surgeon series containing 4089 patients. Operative data and patient outcomes were correlated with Nassar operative difficultly scale, using Kendall’s tau for dichotomous variables, or Jonckheere–Terpstra tests for continuous variables. A ROC curve analysis was performed, to quantify the predictive accuracy of the scale for each outcome, with continuous outcomes dichotomised, prior to analysis. Results A higher operative difficulty grade was consistently associated with worse outcomes for the patients in both the reference and CholeS cohorts. The median length of stay increased from 0 to 4 days, and the 30-day complication rate from 7.6 to 24.4% as the difficulty grade increased from 1 to 4/5 (both p < 0.001). In the CholeS cohort, a higher difficulty grade was found to be most strongly associated with conversion to open and 30-day mortality (AUROC = 0.903, 0.822, respectively). On multivariable analysis, the Nassar operative difficultly scale was found to be a significant independent predictor of operative duration, conversion to open surgery, 30-day complications and 30-day reintervention (all p < 0.001). Conclusion We have shown that an operative difficulty scale can standardise the description of operative findings by multiple grades of surgeons to facilitate audit, training assessment and research. It provides a tool for reporting operative findings, disease severity and technical difficulty and can be utilised in future research to reliably compare outcomes according to case mix and intra-operative difficulty

Functional Neuronal Circuits Promote Disease Progression in Cancer

The molecular and functional contributions of intratumoral nerves to disease remain largely unknown. We localized synaptic markers within tumors suggesting that these nerves form functional connections. Consistent with this, electrophysiological analysis shows that malignancies harbor significantly higher electrical activity than benign disease or normal tissues. We also demonstrate pharmacologic silencing of tumoral electrical activity. Tumors implanted in transgenic animals lacking nociceptor neurons show reduced electrical activity. These data suggest that intratumoral nerves remain functional at the tumor bed. Immunohistochemical staining demonstrates the presence of the neuropeptide, Substance P (SP), within the tumor space. We show that tumor cells express the SP receptor, NK1R, and that ligand/receptor engagement promotes cellular proliferation and migration. Our findings identify a mechanism whereby intratumoral nerves promote cancer progression

Long wavelength-sensing cones of zebrafish retina exhibit multiple layers of transcriptional heterogeneity

IntroductionUnderstanding how photoreceptor genes are regulated is important for investigating retinal development and disease. While much is known about gene regulation in cones, the mechanism by which tandemly-replicated opsins, such as human long wavelength-sensitive and middle wavelength-sensitive opsins, are differentially regulated remains elusive. In this study, we aimed to further our understanding of transcriptional heterogeneity in cones that express tandemly-replicated opsins and the regulation of such differential expression using zebrafish, which express the tandemly-replicated opsins lws1 and lws2.MethodsWe performed bulk and single cell RNA-Seq of LWS1 and LWS2 cones, evaluated expression patterns of selected genes of interest using multiplex fluorescence in situ hybridization, and used exogenous thyroid hormone (TH) treatments to test selected genes for potential control by thyroid hormone: a potent, endogenous regulator of lws1 and lws2 expression.ResultsOur studies indicate that additional transcriptional differences beyond opsin expression exist between LWS1 and LWS2 cones. Bulk RNA-Seq results showed 95 transcripts enriched in LWS1 cones and 186 transcripts enriched in LWS2 cones (FC &gt; 2, FDR &lt; 0.05). In situ hybridization results also reveal underlying heterogeneity within the lws1- and lws2-expressing populations. This heterogeneity is evident in cones of mature zebrafish, and further heterogeneity is revealed in transcriptional responses to TH treatments.DiscussionWe found some evidence of coordinate regulation of lws opsins and other genes by exogenous TH in LWS1 vs. LWS2 cones, as well as evidence of gene regulation not mediated by TH. The transcriptional differences between LWS1 and LWS2 cones are likely controlled by multiple signals, including TH

Masses, radii, and orbits of small Kepler planets : The transition from gaseous to rocky planets

We report on the masses, sizes, and orbits of the planets orbiting 22 Kepler stars. There are 49 planet candidates around these stars, including 42 detected through transits and 7 revealed by precise Doppler measurements of the host stars. Based on an analysis of the Kepler brightness measurements, along with high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy, Doppler spectroscopy, and (for 11 stars) asteroseismology, we establish low false-positive probabilities (FPPs) for all of the transiting planets (41 of 42 have an FPP under 1%), and we constrain their sizes and masses. Most of the transiting planets are smaller than three times the size of Earth. For 16 planets, the Doppler signal was securely detected, providing a direct measurement of the planet's mass. For the other 26 planets we provide either marginal mass measurements or upper limits to their masses and densities; in many cases we can rule out a rocky composition. We identify six planets with densities above 5 g cm-3, suggesting a mostly rocky interior for them. Indeed, the only planets that are compatible with a purely rocky composition are smaller than 2 R ⊕. Larger planets evidently contain a larger fraction of low-density material (H, He, and H2O).Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Changes in the distribution of red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in urban areas in Great Britain: findings and limitations of a media-driven nationwide survey

Urbanization is one of the major forms of habitat alteration occurring at the present time. Although this is typically deleterious to biodiversity, some species flourish within these human-modified landscapes, potentially leading to negative and/or positive interactions between people and wildlife. Hence, up-to-date assessment of urban wildlife populations is important for developing appropriate management strategies. Surveying urban wildlife is limited by land partition and private ownership, rendering many common survey techniques difficult. Garnering public involvement is one solution, but this method is constrained by the inherent biases of non-standardised survey effort associated with voluntary participation. We used a television-led media approach to solicit national participation in an online sightings survey to investigate changes in the distribution of urban foxes in Great Britain and to explore relationships between urban features and fox occurrence and sightings density. Our results show that media-based approaches can generate a large national database on the current distribution of a recognisable species. Fox distribution in England and Wales has changed markedly within the last 25 years, with sightings submitted from 91% of urban areas previously predicted to support few or no foxes. Data were highly skewed with 90% of urban areas having &lt;30 fox sightings per 1000 people km-2. The extent of total urban area was the only variable with a significant impact on both fox occurrence and sightings density in urban areas; longitude and percentage of public green urban space were respectively, significantly positively and negatively associated with sightings density only. Latitude, and distance to nearest neighbouring conurbation had no impact on either occurrence or sightings density. Given the limitations associated with this method, further investigations are needed to determine the association between sightings density and actual fox density, and variability of fox density within and between urban areas in Britain