David Madden and Peter Marcuse (2016) In Defense of Housing: The Politics of Crisis

This book is a well-thought out and thought-provoking read. Although the focus is firmly on the US context, it does draw upon international examples with several mentions of UK movements and issues.  There are 5 main sections to the book along with an introduction and conclusion. The contributions are well-researched and draw upon copious amounts of evidence to argue their case for a systemic overhaul of the contemporary housing landscape. It has an easily accessible and readable format and is arguably a 'call to action' as much as it is a factual reading

Improving Development in Youth: My implementation of an after-school dance program

Dance has proven to have many benefits to children’s learning and development. The use of movement supports students processing, social emotional, and motor skills. Research shows that the integration of dance in education increases development in the affective domain providing an avenue for students to express themselves and explore emotions. It also has been linked to improved cognitive development resulting in higher test scores and grade point averages. This study of an after school dance program with first and second grade students supported the research. The surveys and observations gathered from the dance program showed many positive short term affects on development connected to the dance education

REGULATING THE POLITICAL WILD WEST: STATE EFFORTS TO DISCLOSE SOURCES OF ONLINE POLITICAL ADVERTISING

The problem of disinformation in online political advertising is growing, with ongoing and potential threats to campaigns coming from both within and outside the United States. Most scholarship in this area has focused on either disclosures and disclaimers under the proposed Honest Ads Act or other fixes aimed at a gridlocked Federal Election Commission (“FEC”). With federal reform at a standstill, states have jumped into the void. Between the 2016 presidential election and early 2020, eight states passed legislation to expressly regulate online political advertising for state candidates and ballot measures, including Maryland, whose state law was declared unconstitutional as applied to a group of media plaintiffs by a federal appellate court. This Article examines these state laws as well as the one federal appellate court opinion as a springboard for thinking about efforts at the national level to address the problem. We raise important considerations for future legislation in light of the appellate court decision. We propose that a law establishing independent record-keeping bodies, similar to those the state of New York has established for independent expenditure committees, is more likely to pass First Amendment scrutiny than a law requiring record-keeping of platforms or websites

Incidence of surgical site infection following mastectomy with and without immediate reconstruction using private insurer claims data

OBJECTIVE: The National Healthcare Safety Network classifies breast operations as clean procedures with an expected 1–2% surgical site infection (SSI) incidence. We assessed differences in SSI incidence following mastectomy with and without immediate reconstruction in a large, geographically diverse population. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. PATIENTS: Commercially-insured women aged 18–64 years with ICD-9-CM procedure or CPT-4 codes for mastectomy from 1/1/2004–12/31/2011. METHODS: Incident SSIs within 180 days after surgery were identified by ICD-9-CM diagnosis codes. The incidence of SSI after mastectomy +/− immediate reconstruction was compared by the chi-square test. RESULTS: From 2004–2011, 18,696 mastectomy procedures among 18,085 women were identified, with immediate reconstruction in 10,836 (58%) procedures. The 180-day incidence of SSI following mastectomy with or without reconstruction was 8.1% (1,520/18,696). Forty-nine percent of SSIs were identified within 30 days post-mastectomy, 24.5% between 31–60 days, 10.5% between 61–90 days, and 15.7% between 91–180 days. The incidence of SSI was 5.0% (395/7,860) after mastectomy-only, 10.3% (848/8,217) after mastectomy plus implant, 10.7% (207/1,942) after mastectomy plus flap, and 10.3% (70/677) after mastectomy plus flap and implant (p<0.001). The SSI risk was higher after bilateral compared with unilateral mastectomy with (11.4% vs. 9.4%, p=0.001) and without (6.1% vs. 4.7%, p=0.021) immediate reconstruction. CONCLUSIONS: SSI incidence was two-fold higher after mastectomy with immediate reconstruction than after mastectomy alone. Only 49% of SSIs were coded within 30 days after operation. Our results suggest stratification by procedure type will facilitate comparison of SSI rates after breast operations between facilities

NATPGE: understanding registered nurses’ attitudes towards post graduate education

Nursing education is a dynamic process designed to enable nurses to competently meet the healthcare needs of society. Health system restructuring has been associated with diminishing postgraduate specialist nursing numbers worldwide. Valid instruments that monitor and evaluate nurses’ attitudes to gauge educational barriers and facilitators are a central component in planning effective education, and have been unavailable. Overall both the CE and the RNs ranked the NATPGE, using the CVI, as a realistic training platform that would be useful for evaluating RNs’ attitudes towards postgraduate education. The comments received from the CE resulted in some minor changes to the wording of some items for better clarity and simplicity. No particular concerns were raised about any of the items by the CE. The CE was agreeable that the items were arranged in a positively and negatively worded sequence, which was intentional as to prevent response bias. The present research indicates very good content and face validity and whilst the test-retest reliability overall was moderate, several individual questions did have poor kappa values

ELMO1 has an essential role in the internalization of Salmonella Typhimurium into enteric macrophages that impacts disease outcome.

Backgrounds and aims4-6 million people die of enteric infections each year. After invading intestinal epithelial cells, enteric bacteria encounter phagocytes. However, little is known about how phagocytes internalize the bacteria to generate host responses. Previously, we have shown that BAI1 (Brain Angiogenesis Inhibitor 1) binds and internalizes Gram-negative bacteria through an ELMO1 (Engulfment and cell Motility protein 1)/Rac1-dependent mechanism. Here we delineate the role of ELMO1 in host inflammatory responses following enteric infection.MethodsELMO1-depleted murine macrophage cell lines, intestinal macrophages and ELMO1 deficient mice (total or myeloid-cell specific) was infected with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. The bacterial load, inflammatory cytokines and histopathology was evaluated in the ileum, cecum and spleen. The ELMO1 dependent host cytokines were detected by a cytokine array. ELMO1 mediated Rac1 activity was measured by pulldown assay.ResultsThe cytokine array showed reduced release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including TNF-α and MCP-1, by ELMO1-depleted macrophages. Inhibition of ELMO1 expression in macrophages decreased Rac1 activation (~6 fold) and reduced internalization of Salmonella. ELMO1-dependent internalization was indispensable for TNF-α and MCP-1. Simultaneous inhibition of ELMO1 and Rac function virtually abrogated TNF-α responses to infection. Further, activation of NF-κB, ERK1/2 and p38 MAP kinases were impaired in ELMO1-depleted cells. Strikingly, bacterial internalization by intestinal macrophages was completely dependent on ELMO1. Salmonella infection of ELMO1-deficient mice resulted in a 90% reduction in bacterial burden and attenuated inflammatory responses in the ileum, spleen and cecum.ConclusionThese findings suggest a novel role for ELMO1 in facilitating intracellular bacterial sensing and the induction of inflammatory responses following infection with Salmonella

Facial Expressions of Emotion: Are Angry Faces Detected More Efficiently?

The rapid detection of facial expressions of anger or threat has obvious adaptive value. In this study, we examined the efficiency of facial processing by means of a visual search task. Participants searched displays of schematic faces and were required to determine whether the faces displayed were all the same or whether one was different. Four main results were found: (1) When displays contained the same faces, people were slower in detecting the absence of a discrepant face when the faces displayed angry (or sad/angry) rather than happy expressions. (2) When displays contained a discrepant face people were faster in detecting this when the discrepant face displayed an angry rather than a happy expression. (3) Neither of these patterns for same and different displays was apparent when face displays were inverted, or when just the mouth was presented in isolation. (4) The search slopes for angry targets were significantly lower than for happy targets. These results suggest that detection of angry facial expressions is fast and efficient, although does not 'pop-out, in the traditional sense

The effect of cure cycle heating rate on the fibre/matrix interface

Development of civil aerospace composites is key to future &ldquo;greener&rdquo; aircraft. Aircraft manufacturers must improve efficiency of their product and manufacturing processes to remain viable. The aerospace industry is undergoing a materials revolution in the design and manufacture of composite airframes. The Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 (both due to enter service in the latter part of this decade) will push utilisation levels of&nbsp; composite materials beyond 50% of the total airframe by weight. This&nbsp; change requires massive investment in materials technology, manufacturing capability and skills development. The Quickstep process provides the ability to rapidly cure aerospace standard composite materials whilst providing enhanced mechanical properties. Utilising fluid to transfer heat to the&nbsp;&nbsp; composite component during the curing process allows far higher heat rates than with conventional cure techniques. The rapid heat-up rates reduce the viscosity of the resin system greatly to provide a longer processing window introducing greater flexibility and removing the need for high pressure during cure. Interlaminar fracture toughness (Mode I) and Interfacial Shear Strength of aerospace standard materials cured using Quickstep have been&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; compared to autoclave cured laminates. Results suggest an improvement in fibre-matrix adhesion.<br /