"Global Central Bank Focus: Facts on the Ground"

The developed world faces a cyclical deficiency of aggregate demand, the product of a liquidity trap and the paradox of thrift, in the context of headwinds born of ongoing structural realignments. According to Paul McCulley, PIMCO, front-loaded fiscal austerity would only add to that deflationary cocktail. This is why the market vigilantes are fleeing risk assets, which depend on growth for valuation support, rather than the sovereign debt of fiat-currency countries. McCulley bases his outlook on the financial balances approach (double-entry bookkeeping) pioneered by the late Wynne Godley, who was a distinguished scholar at the Levy Institute. Godley’s analytical framework, says McCulley, should be the workhorse of discussions on global rebalancing.

Climate Change Extension: Presenting the Science is Necessary But Insufficient

Why Should We Consider How to Present Scientific Information? To engage a wide spectrum of agricultural producers in the discussion of human-induced climate change and its mitigation. What Did We Do? Our initial Extension efforts on climate change in Kentucky were based on an information-deficit model, which assumes that citizens fail to accept climate change because they don’t understand the science. However, social science research indicates that this topic has cultural significance for many agricultural producers, suggesting that presentation of sound scientific information alone is likely to be unpersuasive. Based on social science research, we redesigned our outreach efforts to emphasize: (1) more selective presentation of geophysical data; (2) positive messages as frequently as possible; and (3) messages that speak to core identities of citizens with diverse worldviews. What Have We Learned? Starting discussions on this sensitive topic are more successful if we make it clear to producers how much we appreciate their role in producing our food and, yes, in helping to reduce climate change. For example, U.S. producers deserve to be congratulated for the dramatic improvements made in agricultural productivity over the decades, since this has resulted in substantial reductions in carbon emissions when expressed per unit of production (per bushel, per gallon of milk, etc). We also point out practices they already do that help to reduce climate change, including energy-conservation measures and capturing biogas. Future Plans We plan to continue providing and refining our outreach on climate change, based on feedback from audiences and research from the social sciences. While we recognize that our current efforts may not quickly result in increased action on climate-change mitigation, our approach is designed to build acceptance of climate change as a topic deserving of the engagement of a wide range of citizens. Our working assumption is that promoting discussion on this highly divisive topic requires sensitivity to, and respect for, the diversity of worldviews held by Americans

Comparison of Two Digital Stethoscopes with the Traditional Stethoscope Used on International Space Station

A traditional stethoscope is currently flown on the International Space Station (ISS). The background noise on the ISS is much higher than a normal exam room, and the literature shows that traditional stethoscopes are unable to function effectively in high noise environments. Digital stethoscopes provide amplification which improves the audibility in a quiet environment. This study is designed to determine if digital stethoscopes offer any advantage over traditional stethoscopes in being able to identify normal and abnormal sounds in the ISS noise environment. Methods: An ISS noise simulation facility was created to reproduce ISS noise profiles by modifying pink noise with a software-based graphic equalizer. The files were played in a continuous loop on a computer, amplified through a high-end stereo system and adjusted using a sound level meter. Nine caregiver analogues were given the same auscultation lesson received by astronauts. They began testing by becoming familiar with normal and abnormal sounds on a Student Auscultation Manikin . They then used two digital stethoscopes and a traditional stethoscope identical to the one flown on the ISS to auscultate the manikin sounds in the noise facility. They identified the sounds on a questionnaire and picked which of the three stethoscopes they preferred. Results: Evaluators displayed equivalent accuracy in sound identification when using either the 3M model 4000 digital stethoscope or traditional stethoscope. However, the 3M was preferred 2 to 1 by the evaluators, primarily because of additional amplification of the sounds. Discussion: Although our results show that the current ISS stethoscope and the "best-of-breed" digital stethoscope provide essentially the same auscultation utility, the latter has the advantage of recording and transmitting sounds to a remote physician. Since the astronaut caregivers are non-physiCians, this capability may be worth the additional expense and effort needed to certify the digital stethoscope for flight

An Ophthalmologic Summit for On-Orbit Care

Ophthalmologic issues are a source of concern for NASA flight surgeons, due to the remote nature of the space station as well as the microg ravity environment. Methods: A panel of external consultants was conv ened to evaluate the adequacy of the current in-flight medical system for the diagnosis and treatment of ophthalmologic issues. Participants were acknowledged experts in their field who also had experience in operational medicine. Results: Nine extramural experts provided assi stance, and six of them participated in a face to face meeting held a t NASA-Johnson Space Center. Changes were recommended for the space s tation pharmacopoeia, and diagnostic, therapeutic, and deorbit criteria protocols for a variety of ocular conditions were developed. Discus sion: The results of the panel provide an evidence based approach to the diagnosis and care of ophthalmologic conditions on the International Space Statio

Large-scale discovery of enhancers from human heart tissue.

Development and function of the human heart depend on the dynamic control of tissue-specific gene expression by distant-acting transcriptional enhancers. To generate an accurate genome-wide map of human heart enhancers, we used an epigenomic enhancer discovery approach and identified ∼6,200 candidate enhancer sequences directly from fetal and adult human heart tissue. Consistent with their predicted function, these elements were markedly enriched near genes implicated in heart development, function and disease. To further validate their in vivo enhancer activity, we tested 65 of these human sequences in a transgenic mouse enhancer assay and observed that 43 (66%) drove reproducible reporter gene expression in the heart. These results support the discovery of a genome-wide set of noncoding sequences highly enriched in human heart enhancers that is likely to facilitate downstream studies of the role of enhancers in development and pathological conditions of the heart

The co-chaperone and reductase ERdj5 facilitates rod opsin biogenesis and quality control

This work was supported by Fight for Sight, RP Fighting Blindness, The Big Lottery Fund and The Wellcome Trust (to M.E.C.). Funding to pay the Open Access publication charges for this article was provided by UCL Library

Interleukin-1beta Promoter (−31T/C and −511C/T) Polymorphisms in Major Recurrent Depression

To elucidate a genetic predisposition to major depressive disorder, we investigated two polymorphisms (−31T/C and −511C/T) in the interleukin-1beta promoter region in patients who suffered from major recurrent depression. The aim of the current work was to compare alleles and genotype layout between patients with major recurrent depression and healthy people. We would like to indicate such combination of genotypes which corresponds with major recurrent depression. Correlations between genotypes for analyzed polymorphisms and number of episodes, number of points in Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, and age of onset were investigated as well. The study group consisted of 94 patients diagnosed with major recurrent depression. The control group included 206 healthy individuals. Both groups involved representatives of Caucasian population. Genotyping of polymorphisms was performed by using PCR-RFLP technique. A specific haplotype, composed of the C allele at −31 and the T allele at −511, has a tendency to have a statistically significant difference (p = 0.064) between patients and control group. Correspondence analysis revealed that genotype T/T at −31 and genotype C/C at −511 are associated with major recurrent depression. No association was found between genotypes for studied polymorphic sites and number of episodes, number of points in Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, and age of onset