Tempering Title VII\u27s Straight Arrow Approach: Recognizing and Protecting Gay Victims of Employment Discrimination

Consider the following scenario: Jerry, an outstanding graduate of Superior University\u27s business school, has worked for Moneytree & Cashdollar, a prestigious investment banking firm, for three years. In that period, Jerry\u27s hard work and keen instincts helped increase Moneytree\u27s revenues by several million dollars. In addition, Jerry received two awards for landing important new clients. The firm\u27s managing partners have discussed promoting Jerry to junior vice president, an executive position typically reserved for qualified fifth year employees. Jerry\u27s supervisors and peers enthusiastically commend his dedication and skill. Two weeks before the vote on his promotion, Jerry lured a particularly valuable client away from a competing firm, thus all but ensuring his ascent to junior vice president. The partners consider Jerry the consummate candidate. Unbeknownst to the partners, Jerry is also a homosexual. One week prior to the vote, Moneytree\u27s personnel director sat down with Jerry to explain the potential changes in his benefits package. Jerry knew that some companies offer benefits to their employees\u27 same-sex partners and inquired whether Moneytree would do the same. Visibly shocked, the director explained that the firm never had considered such an option. Jerry did not push the issue. After Jerry left his office, however, the director immediately phoned a managing partner and informed him of Jerry\u27s inquiry. Both agreed that Jerry\u27s homosexuality presented a problem. The partner called a board meeting, and the board decided that promoting Jerry to an executive position would be disadvantageous to the firm. The partners informed Jerry of their decision, citing his unacceptable lifestyle. Jerry argued that his sexual orientation had nothing to do with his work and never had affected his professional relationships. Despite Jerry\u27s protests, the partners re- fused to reconsider their position

Evaluation of right ventricular function performed by 3d-echocardiography in scleroderma patients

The impairment of the right ventricle (RV) in systemic sclerosis (SSc) is usually related to pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). New echocardiographic techniques, such as 3-dimensional echocardiography (3DE) and 2-dimensional speckle tracking (2DSTE), allow an accurate evaluation of the RV function. The aim of this study was to evaluate the RV function using 3DE and 2DSTE in SSc patients with no history of heart disease and no PAH. Forty-five SSc patients, 42 females and 3 males, 28 with limited cutaneous SSc (lcSSc) and 17 with diffuse cutaneous SSc (dcSSc), were studied. Forty-three age- and gender-matched healthy subjects were enrolled as controls. All of them underwent a 3DE and 2DSTE ecocardiographic evaluation of the RV function. Systolic pulmonary arterial pressure (sPAP) and total pulmonary vascular resistance (tPVR) were also estimated by power doppler. RV echocardiographic parameters were compared in the different subsets of SSc patients. A statistical analysis was performed by t-test, ANOVA and multiple logistic regression. RV areas in 2DSTE and volumes in 3DE were higher and RV function parameters were reduced in SSc patients compared with controls. Also sPAP and tVPR were higher, but they did not reach pathological values. Echocardiographic alterations were more pronounced in patients with lcSSc. 3DE and 2DSTE echocardiography allowed us to detect morphological and functional alterations of the RV in a group of SSc patients with no clinical signs of heart disease and no PAH. These patients had significantly higher sPAP and tPVR than healthy controls without reporting values compatible with PAH. These data suggest that RV alterations are related to a pressure overload rather than to an intrinsic myocardial involvement in SSc

Is nut consumption related to a sustainable diet? A pilot study on italian male consumers

(1) Background: In recent years, the EAT-Lancet Commission has suggested the inclusion of nuts among proteins from vegetable sources, but this inclusion would imply a higher consumption of nuts compared with a healthy Mediterranean diet. (2) Objective: In this work, we sought to provide a comparison between the macronutrient intakes and environmental impacts of two different types of diet: a diet including nuts and a diet without nuts. (3) Methods: In this pilot study, we recruited 89 Italians divided into two groups: nut consumers (44 individuals) and non-consumers (45 individuals). Food consumption was monitored by a seven-day diary, while the Mediterranean diet scores, habitual physical activity scores, and orthorexia nervosa scores were evaluated through standardized questionnaires. (4) Results: We found that nut consumers had higher physical activity and energy intake levels. High consumption of fat (p < 0.001) and protein (p < 0.001) was observed among nut consumers compared with the levels observed among non-consumers. Moreover, a higher environmental impact of total dietary intake was observed among nut consumers, in terms of carbon (p < 0.05) and land (p < 0.05) footprints; impacts on the water footprint was almost significant (p = 0.06). (5) Conclusions: We suggest that, among plant food proteins, the consumption of complementary proteins from legumes and cereals should be preferred to the consumption of proteins from nuts

Data driven theory for knowledge discovery in the exact sciences with applications to thermonuclear fusion

In recent years, the techniques of the exact sciences have been applied to the analysis of increasingly complex and non-linear systems. The related uncertainties and the large amounts of data available have progressively shown the limits of the traditional hypothesis driven methods, based on first principle theories. Therefore, a new approach of data driven theory formulation has been developed. It is based on the manipulation of symbols with genetic computing and it is meant to complement traditional procedures, by exploring large datasets to find the most suitable mathematical models to interpret them. The paper reports on the vast amounts of numerical tests that have shown the potential of the new techniques to provide very useful insights in various studies, ranging from the formulation of scaling laws to the original identification of the most appropriate dimensionless variables to investigate a given system. The application to some of the most complex experiments in physics, in particular thermonuclear plasmas, has proved the capability of the methodology to address real problems, even highly nonlinear and practically important ones such as catastrophic instabilities. The proposed tools are therefore being increasingly used in various fields of science and they constitute a very good set of techniques to bridge the gap between experiments, traditional data analysis and theory formulation

Detection of Causal Relations in Time Series Affected by Noise in Tokamaks Using Geodesic Distance on Gaussian Manifolds

Modern experiments in Magnetic Confinement Nuclear Fusion can produce Gigabytes of data, mainly in form of time series. The acquired signals, composing massive databases, are typically affected by significant levels of noise. The interpretation of the time series can therefore become quite involved, particularly when tenuous causal relations have to be investigated. In the last years, synchronization experiments, to control potentially dangerous instabilities, have become a subject of intensive research. Their interpretation requires quite delicate causality analysis. In this paper, the approach of Information Geometry is applied to the problem of assessing the effectiveness of synchronization experiments on JET (Joint European Torus). In particular, the use of the Geodesic Distance on Gaussian Manifolds is shown to improve the results of advanced techniques such as Recurrent Plots and Complex Networks, when the noise level is not negligible. In cases affected by particularly high levels of noise, compromising the traditional treatments, the use of the Geodesic Distance on Gaussian Manifolds allows deriving quite encouraging results. In addition to consolidating conclusions previously quite uncertain, it has been demonstrated that the proposed approach permit to successfully analyze signals of discharges which were otherwise unusable, therefore salvaging the interpretation of those experiments.EURATOM 63305

Enhanced in vitro antitumor activity of a titanocene complex encapsulated into polycaprolactone (PCL) electrospun fibers.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this work was to achieve detailed biomaterials characterization of a drug delivery system for local cancer treatment based on electrospun titanocene trichloride-loaded resorbable polycaprolactone (PCL) fibers. METHODS: The PCL fibers were characterized for their structural, morphologic and physical properties. The drug release kinetics of the titanocene complex was investigated at different concentrations, to obtain a set of correlations between structure and tuneable release. After exposing cancer cells directly onto the surface of PCL fibers, the anti-proliferative effects of titanocene-loaded PCL were assessed by: (i) counting viable cells via live/dead staining methods, and (ii) analyzing cell apoptosis. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Titanocene concentration influenced fiber diameters reduced for PCL filled with titanocene. X-ray analysis suggested that the titanocene, encapsulated into the PCL fibers, is not allowed to crystallize and exists as amorphous aggregates into the fibers. The titanocene release curves presented two stages unrelated to PCL degradation: an initial burst release followed by a release linear with time, extending for a very long time. All of the titanocene-loaded fibers revealed sustained drug release properties suggesting their potential clinical applicability for the treatment of local cancer diseases

Optical coherence tomography angiography findings in Huntington’s disease

Objectives: To evaluate the retinal and choriocapillaris vascular networks in macular region and the central choroidal thickness (CCT) in patients affected by Huntington disease (HD), using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) and enhanced depth imaging spectral-domain OCT (EDI SD-OCT). Methods: We assessed the vessel density (VD) in superficial capillary plexus (SCP), deep capillary plexus (DCP), and choriocapillaris (CC) using OCTA, while CCT was measured by EDI SD-OCT. Results: Sixteen HD patients (32 eyes) and thirteen healthy controls (26 eyes) were enrolled in this prospective study. No significant difference in retinal and choriocapillaris VD was found between HD patients and controls while CCT turned to be thinner in patients respect to controls. There were no significant relationships between OCTA findings and neurological parameters. Conclusion: The changes in choroidal structure provide useful information regarding the possible neurovascular involvement in the physiopathology of HD. Choroidal vascular network could be a useful parameter to evaluate the vascular impairment that occurs in this neurodegenerative disease