Detroit to Flint and Back Again: Solidarity Forever

For several years the authors have been working in Detroit with grassroots coalitions resisting Emergency Management. In this essay, we focus on how community groups in Detroit and Flint advanced common struggles for clean, safe, affordable water as a human right, particularly during the period of 2014 to 2016. We explore how, through a series of direct interventions – including public meetings and international gatherings, independent journalism and social media, community-based research projects, and citizen-led policy initiatives – these groups contributed to challenging neoliberal governance, to undermining the legitimacy of state officials and their policies, and to shifting public consciousness around the human right to water

Immunomodulatory roles of endotoxin and glutaraldehyde in the development of latex allergy

Although much data has been obtained related to the clinical manifestations of latex allergy and the characterization of the protein allergens, little is known regarding the natural history of the disease. These studies were undertaken to demonstrate the immunological relevance of both dermal and respiratory exposure in the development of latex allergy and to investigate the role of co-exposure by these routes to other agents in the health care environment on the development of NRL sensitization.;An initial study in female BALB/c mice demonstrated comparable rates of induction of latex specific IgE following dermal and respiratory latex exposure, demonstrating the importance of both routes in the development of latex allergy. Upon further investigation using whole body plethysmography, non-specific airway hyper-reactivity to methacholine was observed in mice following both dermal and intratracheal sensitization with latex proteins. In contrast, at these exposure levels latex specific airway hyper-reactivity was only observed in dermally sensitized mice.;Endotoxin, a common contaminant of powdered gloves, and glutaraldehyde, a frequently used cold sterilant, were chosen to investigate the Immunomodulatory effects of other agents in the health care setting on the development of latex allergy. In comparison with mice exposed to latex alone, mice concurrently exposed to latex and increasing concentrations of endotoxin demonstrated ∼50% lower levels of latex specific IgE and a decrease in latex specific airway hyper-reactivity and mucin production. The same animals demonstrated increased levels of latex specific IgG2a and IgA, cellular infiltration (i.e. macrophages and neutrophils) into the peribronchial and perivascular regions of the lung, messenger IFN-gamma and IL-12 levels in the draining mediastinal lymph nodes, and non-specific airway hyper-reactivity upon respiratory challenge with methacholine. Upon concurrent dermal exposure to latex and concentrations of glutaraldehyde surrounding the permissible exposure limit, mice demonstrated a dose responsive increase in latex specific IgE levels through an as yet undetermined mechanism.;These studies demonstrate the potential for mixed exposures in the health care environment to diversely modulate the development of IgE mediated responses to NRL proteins underscoring the importance of environmental factors in the development of allergies to foreign antigens

Comparative Growth and Survival of Juvenile Atlantic Cod (Gadus morhua)Cultured in Copper and Nylon Net Pens

Bio-fouling on net pens has been a major concern for the marine aquaculture industry. As cage systems increase in size, so does the surface area for the attachment of colonial organisms that create drag on the net, reduce water flow important to fish health, and increase operational expenses due to net cleaning. To solve this problem, the International Copper Association (ICA) has been developing copper alloy netting for sea cages. Copper netting has unique properties that minimize bio-fouling, reduce the risk of fish escapement, prevent predators from entering the net pen, and is recyclable. To test the alloy netting, an experiment was conducted to compare juvenile cod cultured in traditional nylon nets with cod grown in Seawire copper netting ([email protected]). Six, 0.78 m3 cages were each stocked with 200 Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) averaging 29 ± 2.2 g and grown for 4 months in coastal waters of New Hampshire, USA. Results of the study indicated no significant differences in cod growth, survival, feed conversion ratio (FCR), specific growth rate (SGR), or Fulton’s condition factor (K) between the fish grown in the copper alloy and nylon nets. A chemical analysis was conducted on the cod and indicated no differences in copper levels in muscle, liver and gill tissues taken from the net treatments. Nylon nets with antifouling paint accumulated significantly more bio-fouling than the copper nets. Materials that were in direct contact with the copper netting (plastic cable ties) fouled heavily with hydroids indicating minimal leaching to the environment. This study describes some of the beneficial attributes of copper netting, however future studies need to be conducted over a longer period of time, on a larger scale, and in a more energetic environment to definitively test the utility of this new product

Age and growth estimates of the winter skate (Leucoraja ocellata) in the western Gulf of Maine

Age and growth estimates for the winter skate (Leucoraja ocellata) were estimated from vertebral band counts on 209 fish ranging in size from 145 to 940 mm total length (TL). An index of average percent error (IAPE) of 5.8% suggests that our aging method represents a precise approach to the age assessment of L. ocellata. Marginal increments were significantly different between months (Kruskal-Wallis P<0.001) and a distinct trend of increasing monthly increment growth began in July. Estimates of von Bertalanffy growth parameters suggest that females attain a slightly larger asymptotic TL (L∞=1374 mm) than males (L∞=1218 mm) and grow more slowly (k=0.059 and 0.074, respectively). The oldest ages obtained for the winter skate were 19 years for males and 18 years for females, which corresponded to total lengths of 932 mm and 940 mm, respectively. The results indicate that the winter skate exhibits the characteristics that have made other elasmobranch populations highly susceptible to exploitation by commercial fisheries

The Gravitational Wave Treasure Map: A Tool to Coordinate, Visualize, and Assess the Electromagnetic Follow-Up of Gravitational Wave Events

We present the Gravitational Wave Treasure Map, a tool to coordinate, visualize, and assess the electromagnetic follow-up of gravitational wave (GW) events. With typical GW localization regions of hundreds to thousands of square degrees and dozens of active follow-up groups, the pursuit of electromagnetic (EM) counterparts is a challenging endeavor, but the scientific payoff for early discovery of any counterpart is clear. With this tool, we provide a website and API interface that allows users to easily see where other groups have searched and better inform their own follow-up search efforts. A strong community of Treasure Map users will increase the overall efficiency of EM counterpart searches and will play a fundamental role in the future of multi-messenger astronomy.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, Accepted to Ap

Measuring the quality of inpatient specialist consultation in the intensive care unit: Nursing and family experiences of communication

Rationale: Critically ill patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) often require the care of specialist physicians for clinical or procedural expertise. The current state of communication between specialist physicians and families and nurses has not been explored. Objectives: To document the receipt of communication by nurses and family members regarding consultations performed on their patient or loved one, and to quantify how this impacts their overall perceptions of the quality of specialty care. Methods: Prospective survey of 60 adult family members and 90 nurses of 189 ICU patients who received a specialist consultation between March and October of 2015 in a single academic medical center in the United States. Surveys measured the prevalence of direct communication—defined as communication conducted in person, via telephone, or via text-page in which the specialist team gathered information about the patient from the nurse/family member and/or shared recommendations for care—and perceived quality of care. Results: In about two-thirds of family surveys (40/60) and one-half of nurse surveys (75/160), respondents had no direct communication with the specialist team that performed the consultation. Compared to nurses who had no direct communication with the specialists, those who did were 1.5 times more likely to rate the consultation as “excellent” (RR 1.48, 95% CI 1.2–1.8, p Conclusions: Most ICU families and nurses have no interaction with specialist providers. Nurses’ frequent exclusion from conversations about specialty care may pose safety risks and increase the likelihood of mixed messages for patients and families, most of whom desire some interaction with specialists. Future research is needed to identify effective mechanisms for information sharing that keep nurses and families aware of consultation requests, delivery, and outcomes without increasing the risk of mixed messages.</p

Experimental evolution of an alternating uni- and multicellular life cycle in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

The transition to multicellularity enabled the evolution of large, complex organisms, but early steps in this transition remain poorly understood. Here we show that multicellular complexity, including development from a single cell, can evolve rapidly in a unicellular organism that has never had a multicellular ancestor. We subject the alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii to conditions that favour multicellularity, resulting in the evolution of a multicellular life cycle in which clusters reproduce via motile unicellular propagules. While a single-cell genetic bottleneck during ontogeny is widely regarded as an adaptation to limit among-cell conflict, its appearance very early in this transition suggests that it did not evolve for this purpose. Instead, we find that unicellular propagules are adaptive even in the absence of intercellular conflict, maximizing cluster-level fecundity. These results demonstrate that the unicellular bottleneck, a trait essential for evolving multicellular complexity, can arise rapidly via co-option of the ancestral unicellular form. © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved

Treatment of atopic dermatitis with ruxolitinib cream (JAK1/JAK2 inhibitor) or triamcinolone cream

BACKGROUND: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a highly pruritic chronic inflammatory skin disorder. Ruxolitinib, a selective inhibitor of Janus kinase 1 and Janus kinase 2, potently suppresses cytokine signaling involved in AD pathogenesis. OBJECTIVE: We sought to evaluate the efficacy and safety of ruxolitinib (RUX) cream in adults with AD. METHODS: In this phase 2 study (NCT03011892), 307 adult patients with AD, an Investigator\u27s Global Assessment score of 2 or 3 (mild or moderate), and 3% to 20% affected body surface area were equally randomized for 8 weeks of double-blind treatment to RUX (1.5% twice daily [BID], 1.5% once daily [QD], 0.5% QD, 0.15% QD), vehicle, or triamcinolone cream (0.1% BID for 4 weeks, then vehicle for 4 weeks). Subsequently, patients could apply 1.5% RUX BID for 4 additional weeks of open-label treatment. The primary end point was the comparison between 1.5% RUX cream BID and vehicle in mean percentage change from baseline in Eczema Area and Severity Index at week 4. RESULTS: All RUX regimens demonstrated therapeutic benefit at week 4; 1.5% BID provided the greatest improvement in Eczema Area and Severity Index (71.6% vs 15.5%; P \u3c .0001) and Investigator\u27s Global Assessment responses (38.0% vs 7.7%; P \u3c .001) versus vehicle. Rapid reductions in the itch numerical rating scale score occurred within 36 hours (1.5% BID vs vehicle, ‒1.8 vs ‒0.2; P \u3c .0001) and were sustained through 12 weeks. Patients who transitioned to 1.5% RUX BID improved in all measures. RUX was not associated with clinically significant application-site reactions. CONCLUSIONS: RUX cream provided rapid and sustained improvements in AD symptoms and was well tolerated

A model for the break-up of a tuft of fibers

A simple model for the forces acting on a single fiber as it is withdrawn from a tangled fiber assembly is proposed. Particular emphasis is placed on understanding the dynamics of the reptating fiber with respect to the entanglement of fibers within the tuft. The resulting two-parameter model captures the qualitative features of experimental simulation. The model is extended to describe the break-up of a tuft. The results show good agreement with experiment and indicate where a fiber is most likely to fracture based on the density of fiber end-points

Empirical relationships among oliguria, creatinine, mortality, and renal replacement therapy in the critically ill

Purpose: The observation periods and thresholds of serum creatinine and urine output defined in the Acute Kidney Injury Network (AKIN) criteria were not empirically derived. By continuously varying creatinine/urine output thresholds as well as the observation period, we sought to investigate the empirical relationships among creatinine, oliguria, in-hospital mortality, and receipt of renal replacement therapy (RRT). Methods: Using a high-resolution database (Multiparameter Intelligent Monitoring in Intensive Care II), we extracted data from 17,227 critically ill patients with an in-hospital mortality rate of 10.9 %. The 14,526 patients had urine output measurements. Various combinations of creatinine/urine output thresholds and observation periods were investigated by building multivariate logistic regression models for in-hospital mortality and RRT predictions. For creatinine, both absolute and percentage increases were analyzed. To visualize the dependence of adjusted mortality and RRT rate on creatinine, the urine output, and the observation period, we generated contour plots. Results: Mortality risk was high when absolute creatinine increase was high regardless of the observation period, when percentage creatinine increase was high and the observation period was long, and when oliguria was sustained for a long period of time. Similar contour patterns emerged for RRT. The variability in predictive accuracy was small across different combinations of thresholds and observation periods. Conclusions: The contour plots presented in this article complement the AKIN definition. A multi-center study should confirm the universal validity of the results presented in this articleNational Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (U.S.) (Grant R01 EB001659