Musical Pasts and Postmodern Musicologies: A Response to Lawrence Kramer

Tomlinson responds to a piece by Lawrence Kramer entitled 'The Musicology of the Future". According to Tomlinson, 'The Musicology of the Future" seems to linger over old viewpoints more than suggest new ones. It reveals patterns of thought that not only already threaten to harden into new orthodoxies of postmodern musicology but that have, at the deepest level, moved little from the putative truths they aim to leave behind. What follows is a brief rejoinder to Kramer's vision of the new musicology. He claims, Enough. More than enough. We both, Kramer and I, write books, and have published ones recently that, if not the last words on our approaches, at least give a clearer sense of their differences in practice than will be had from this exchange. Readers who care to follow these differences might well turn to Music as Cultural Practice and Music in Renaissance Magic

Independent and combined effects of diethylhexyl phthalate and polychlorinated biphenyl 153 on sperm quality in the human and dog

A temporal decline in human and dog sperm quality is thought to reflect a common environmental aetiology. This may reflect direct effects of seminal chemicals on sperm function and quality. Here we report the effects of diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) and polychlorinated biphenyl 153 (PCB153) on DNA fragmentation and motility in human and dog sperm. Human and dog semen was collected from registered donors (n = 9) and from stud dogs (n = 11) and incubated with PCB153 and DEHP, independently and combined, at 0x, 2x, 10x and 100x dog testis concentrations. A total of 16 treatments reflected a 4 × 4 factorial experimental design. Although exposure to DEHP and/or PCB153 alone increased DNA fragmentation and decreased motility, the scale of dose-related effects varied with the presence and relative concentrations of each chemical (DEHP.PCB interaction for: DNA fragmentation; human p < 0.001, dog p < 0.001; Motility; human p < 0.001, dog p < 0.05). In both human and dog sperm, progressive motility negatively correlated with DNA fragmentation regardless of chemical presence (Human: P < 0.0001, r = −0.36; dog P < 0.0001, r = −0.29). We conclude that DEHP and PCB153, at known tissue concentrations, induce similar effects on human and dog sperm supporting the contention of the dog as a sentinel species for human exposure

Global research priorities to accelerate early child development in the sustainable development era

CITATION: Dua, T. et al. 2016. Global research priorities to accelerate early child development in the sustainable development era. Lancet Global Health, 4(12):e887–e889, doi:10.1016/S2214-109X(16)30218-2.The original publication is available at https://www.journals.elsevier.com/the-lancet-global-healthBetween 1990 and 2015, the under-5 mortality rate declined by 53%, resulting in approximately 48 million more children reaching their fifth birthday than would have occurred had 1990 mortality rates continued.1 Many of these children, however, continue to live in conditions of adversity—marked by extreme poverty, undernutrition, conflict, and insecurity—and are not afforded the level of care required to ensure that they meet their developmental potential.2 Neuroscience research in the past two decades is unequivocal that the period from conception through early childhood (ie, at least the first 3 years) is foundational in terms of brain development.Grand Challenges Canadahttp://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(16)30218-2/fulltextPublisher's versio

ACE inhibitor and angiotensin receptor-II antagonist prescribing and hospital admissions with acute kidney injury:a longitudinal ecological study

BACKGROUND: ACE Inhibitors (ACE-I) and Angiotensin-Receptor Antagonists (ARAs) are commonly prescribed but can cause acute kidney injury (AKI) during intercurrent illness. Rates of hospitalization with AKI are increasing. We aimed to determine whether hospital AKI admission rates are associated with increased ACE-I/ARA prescribing. METHODS AND FINDINGS: English NHS prescribing data for ACE-I/ARA prescriptions were matched at the level of the general practice to numbers of hospital admissions with a primary diagnosis of AKI. Numbers of prescriptions were weighted for the demographic characteristics of general practices by expressing prescribing as rates where the denominator is Age, Sex, and Temporary Resident Originated Prescribing Units (ASTRO-PUs). We performed a mixed-effect Poisson regression to model the number of admissions for AKI occurring in each practice for each of 4 years from 1/4/2007. From 2007/8-2010/11, crude AKI admission rates increased from 0.38 to 0.57 per 1000 patients (51.6% increase), and national annual ACE-I/ARA prescribing rates increased by 0.032 from 0.202 to 0.234 (15.8% increase). There was strong evidence (p<0.001) that increases in practice-level prescribing of ACE-I/ARA over the study period were associated with an increase in AKI admission rates. The increase in prescribing seen in a typical practice corresponded to an increase in admissions of approximately 5.1% (rate ratio = 1.051 for a 0.03 per ASTRO-PU increase in annual prescribing rate, 95%CI 1.047-1.055). Using the regression model we predict that 1,636 (95%CI 1,540-1,780) AKI admissions would have been avoided if prescribing rates were at the 2007/8 level, equivalent to 14.8% of the total increase in AKI admissions. CONCLUSION: In this ecological analysis, up to 15% of the increase in AKI admissions in England over a 4-year time period is potentially attributable to increased prescribing of ACE-I and ARAs. However, these findings are limited by the lack of patient level data such as indication for prescribing and patient characteristics

Mimesis stories: composing new nature music for the shakuhachi

Nature is a widespread theme in much new music for the shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute). This article explores the significance of such music within the contemporary shakuhachi scene, as the instrument travels internationally and so becomes rooted in landscapes outside Japan, taking on the voices of new creatures and natural phenomena. The article tells the stories of five compositions and one arrangement by non-Japanese composers, first to credit composers’ varied and personal responses to this common concern and, second, to discern broad, culturally syncretic traditions of nature mimesis and other, more abstract, ideas about the naturalness of sounds and creative processes (which I call musical naturalism). Setting these personal stories and longer histories side by side reveals that composition creates composers (as much as the other way around). Thus it hints at much broader terrain: the refashioning of human nature at the confluence between cosmopolitan cultural circulations and contemporary encounters with the more-than-human world

The accuracy of diagnostic coding for acute kidney injury in England - a single centre study.

BACKGROUND: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is an independent risk factor for mortality and is responsible for a significant burden of healthcare expenditure, so accurate measurement of its incidence is important. Administrative coding data has been used for assessing AKI incidence, and shows an increasing proportion of hospital bed days attributable to AKI. However, the accuracy of coding for AKI and changes in coding over time have not been studied in England. METHODS: We studied a random sample of admissions from 2005 and 2010 where ICD-10 code N17 (acute renal failure) was recorded in the administrative coding data at one acute NHS Foundation Trust in England. Using the medical notes and computerised records we examined the demographic and clinical details of these admissions. RESULTS: Against a 6.3% (95% CI 4.8-7.9%) increase in all non-elective admissions, we found a 64% increase in acute renal failure admissions (95% CI 41%-92%, p < 0.001) in 2010 compared to 2005. Median age was 78 years (IQR 72-87), 11-25% had a relevant pre-admission co-morbidity and 64% (55-73%) were taking drugs known to be associated with AKI. Over both years, 95% (91-99%) of cases examined met the Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes criteria for AKI. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with hospital admissions where AKI has been coded are elderly with multiple co-morbidities. Our results demonstrate a high positive predictive value of coding data for a clinical diagnosis of AKI, with no suggestion of marked changes in coding of AKI between 2005 and 2010.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

The Neogene seismic stratigraphy and uplift history of the Otago Shelf, New Zealand

The Otago continental shelf is a prospective petroleum area on the east side of the South Island New Zealand. During the Neogene it evolved from a post-rift to passive margin as giant progrades extended eastward across the shelf, fed by tectonic uplift and erosion of the Southern Alps to the west. Seismic reflection profiles reveal an uplifted limestone horizon near the Dunedin Volcano. This may be caused by a buoyant load under the lithosphere and can be spatially and temporally linked to the Dunedin Volcano and geophysical anomalies in the area. This thesis utilises 2D and 3D seismic data to map Neogene sequence boundaries over the Otago Shelf. Seven such sequence boundaries have been mapped based on distinctive seismic characteristics above and below these surfaces. These surfaces have been tied to nearby petroleum and Integrated Ocean Drilling Project wells using biostratigraphic data and then used to generate a series of isopach and depth maps that document the Neogene evolution of this margin. The maps depict the deposition of Neogene sediment and provide age constraints to structural events in the basin such as the uplift near Dunedin and fault movement on the Endeavour High. The maps are then used to develop a lithospheric flexure model where uplift is interpreted to have been caused by asthenospheric upwelling beneath Dunedin. The model provides insight into the conditions that led to the flexure of the lithosphere, specifically the elastic thickness of the plate and the magnitude and depth distribution of buoyant intrusive material that fed the Dunedin Volcano. Asthenospheric upwelling explains elevated heat flow around Dunedin and would result in enhanced petroleum maturity. This highlights the potential for petroleum generation in source rocks immediately offshore from Dunedin

A new method to remove hybridization bias for interspecies comparison of global gene expression profiles uncovers an association between mRNA sequence divergence and differential gene expression in Xenopus

The recent sequencing of a large number of Xenopus tropicalis expressed sequences has allowed development of a high-throughput approach to study Xenopus global RNA gene expression. We examined the global gene expression similarities and differences between the historically significant Xenopus laevis model system and the increasingly used X.tropicalis model system and assessed whether an X.tropicalis microarray platform can be used for X.laevis. These closely related species were also used to investigate a more general question: is there an association between mRNA sequence divergence and differences in gene expression levels? We carried out a comprehensive comparison of global gene expression profiles using microarrays of different tissues and developmental stages of X.laevis and X.tropicalis. We (i) show that the X.tropicalis probes provide an efficacious microarray platform for X.laevis, (ii) describe methods to compare interspecies mRNA profiles that correct differences in hybridization efficiency and (iii) show independently of hybridization bias that as mRNA sequence divergence increases between X.laevis and X.tropicalis differences in mRNA expression levels also increase

Understanding complex LNAPL sites : Illustrated handbook of LNAPL transport and fate in the subsurface

The goal of the paper is to highlight the management of the complexities and risks for light non-aqueous phase liquid (LNAPL) sites, and how the “Illustrated Handbook of LNAPL Transport and Fate in the Subsurface” (CL:AIRE, London. ISBN 978-1-905046-24-9. http://www.CL:AIRE.co.uk/LNAPL; LNAPL illustrated handbook) is useful guidance and a tool for professionals to understand these complexities and risks. The LNAPL illustrated handbook provides a clear and concise best-practice guidance document, which is a valuable decision support tool for use in discussions and negotiations regarding LNAPL impacted sites with respect to the risks of LNAPL sites. The LNAPL illustrated handbook is a user-friendly overview of the nature of LNAPL contamination in various geological settings including unconsolidated, consolidated, and fractured rock environments to best understand its fate and behavior leading to the appropriate management and/or remedial approach of the two major risks associated with a LNAPL source. As a source term, LNAPL has chemicals that form dissolved- and vapor-phase plumes, which are referred to as composition-based risks; and being a liquid there is the risk that the source may expand impacting a greater volume of the aquifer, which are referred to as saturation-based risks. There have been significant developments in recent years on the understanding of the complex behavior of LNAPL and associated groundwater and vapor plumes; however, the state of practice has often lagged these improvements in knowledge. The LNAPL illustrated handbook aids the site investigator, site owners, and regulators to understand these risks, and understand how these risks behave through better conceptual understanding of LNAPL transport and fate in the subsurface