The Critical Nexus Atkinson, Charles M
2008, 2008-12-19, 2009., 2008-12-25, 2008-11-17
eBook
This book confronts an enigma of early writings on music: why chant, which was understood to be divinely inspired, needed to be altered in order to work within the then-operative modal system. To ...unravel this mystery, the book creates a broad framework that moves from Greek harmonic theory to the various stages in the transmission of Roman chant, citing numerous music treatises from the 6th to the 12th century. Out of this examination emerges the central point behind the problem: the tone system advocated by writers coming from the Greek harmonic tradition was not suited to the notation of chant and this basic incompatibility led to the creation of new theoretical constructs. By tracing the path of subsequent adaptation at the nexus of tone system, mode, and notation, the book promises insights into what mode meant to the medieval musician and how the system responded to its inherent limitations. Through an examination of the major musical treatises from the 6th through the 12th centuries, this text establishes a central dichotomy between classical harmonic theory and the practices of the Christian church. The book builds the foundation for a broad and original reinterpretation of the modal system and how it relates to melody, grammar, and notation.
Background
The US EPA considers glyphosate as “not likely to be carcinogenic to humans.” The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to ...humans (Group 2A).” EPA asserts that there is no convincing evidence that “glyphosate induces mutations in vivo via the oral route.” IARC concludes there is “strong evidence” that exposure to glyphosate is genotoxic through at least two mechanisms known to be associated with human carcinogens (DNA damage, oxidative stress). Why and how did EPA and IARC reach such different conclusions?
Results
A total of 52 genotoxicity assays done by registrants were cited by the EPA in its 2016 evaluation of technical glyphosate, and another 52 assays appeared in the public literature. Of these, one regulatory assay (2%) and 35 published assays (67%) reported positive evidence of a genotoxic response. In the case of formulated, glyphosate-based herbicides (GBHs), 43 regulatory assays were cited by EPA, plus 65 assays published in peer-reviewed journals. Of these, none of the regulatory, and 49 published assays (75%) reported evidence of a genotoxic response following exposure to a GBH. IARC considered a total of 118 genotoxicity assays in six core tables on glyphosate technical, GBHs, and aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA), glyphosate’s primary metabolite. EPA’s analysis encompassed 51 of these 118 assays (43%). In addition, IARC analyzed another 81 assays exploring other possible genotoxic mechanisms (mostly related to sex hormones and oxidative stress), of which 62 (77%) reported positive results. IARC placed considerable weight on three positive GBH studies in exposed human populations, whereas EPA placed little or no weight on them.
Conclusions
EPA and IARC reached diametrically opposed conclusions on glyphosate genotoxicity for three primary reasons: (1) in the core tables compiled by EPA and IARC, the EPA relied mostly on registrant-commissioned, unpublished regulatory studies, 99% of which were negative, while IARC relied mostly on peer-reviewed studies of which 70% were positive (83 of 118); (2) EPA’s evaluation was largely based on data from studies on technical glyphosate, whereas IARC’s review placed heavy weight on the results of formulated GBH and AMPA assays; (3) EPA’s evaluation was focused on typical, general population dietary exposures assuming legal, food-crop uses, and did not take into account, nor address generally higher occupational exposures and risks. IARC’s assessment encompassed data from typical dietary, occupational, and elevated exposure scenarios. More research is needed on real-world exposures to the chemicals within formulated GBHs and the biological fate and consequences of such exposures.
The classic view of sensorineural hearing loss has been that the primary damage targets are hair cells and that auditory nerve loss is typically secondary to hair cell degeneration. Recent work has ...challenged that view. In noise-induced hearing loss, exposures causing only reversible threshold shifts (and no hair cell loss) nevertheless cause permanent loss of >50% of the synaptic connections between hair cells and the auditory nerve. Similarly, in age-related hearing loss, degeneration of cochlear synapses precedes both hair cell loss and threshold elevation. This primary neural degeneration has remained a "hidden hearing loss" for two reasons: 1) the neuronal cell bodies survive for years despite loss of synaptic connection with hair cells, and 2) the degeneration is selective for auditory nerve fibers with high thresholds. Although not required for threshold detection when quiet, these high-threshold fibers are critical for hearing in noisy environments. Research suggests that primary neural degeneration is an important contributor to the perceptual handicap in sensorineural hearing loss, and it may be key to the generation of tinnitus and other associated perceptual anomalies. In cases where the hair cells survive, neurotrophin therapies can elicit neurite outgrowth from surviving auditory neurons and re-establishment of their peripheral synapses; thus, treatments may be on the horizon.
Tracking Retail Investor Activity BOEHMER, EKKEHART; JONES, CHARLES M.; ZHANG, XIAOYAN ...
The Journal of finance (New York),
October 2021, Volume:
76, Issue:
5
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
ABSTRACT
We provide an easy method to identify marketable retail purchases and sales using recent, publicly available U.S. equity transactions data. Individual stocks with net buying by retail ...investors outperform stocks with negative imbalances by approximately 10 bps over the following week. Less than half of the predictive power of marketable retail order imbalance is attributable to order flow persistence, while the rest cannot be explained by contrarian trading (proxy for liquidity provision) or public news sentiment. There is suggestive, but only suggestive, evidence that retail marketable orders might contain firm‐level information that is not yet incorporated into prices.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Aging listeners experience greater difficulty understanding speech in adverse listening conditions and exhibit degraded temporal resolution, even when audiometric thresholds are normal. When ...threshold evidence for peripheral involvement is lacking, central and cognitive factors are often cited as underlying performance declines. However, previous work has uncovered widespread loss of cochlear afferent synapses and progressive cochlear nerve degeneration in noise-exposed ears with recovered thresholds and no hair cell loss (Kujawa and Liberman 2009). Here, we characterize age-related cochlear synaptic and neural degeneration in CBA/CaJ mice never exposed to high-level noise. Cochlear hair cell and neuronal function was assessed via distortion product otoacoustic emissions and auditory brainstem responses, respectively. Immunostained cochlear whole mounts and plastic-embedded sections were studied by confocal and conventional light microscopy to quantify hair cells, cochlear neurons, and synaptic structures, i.e., presynaptic ribbons and postsynaptic glutamate receptors. Cochlear synaptic loss progresses from youth (4 weeks) to old age (144 weeks) and is seen throughout the cochlea long before age-related changes in thresholds or hair cell counts. Cochlear nerve loss parallels the synaptic loss, after a delay of several months. Key functional clues to the synaptopathy are available in the neural response; these can be accessed noninvasively, enhancing the possibilities for translation to human clinical characterization.
In light of current concerns with replicability and reporting false-positive effects in psychology, we examine Type I errors and power associated with 2 distinct approaches for the assessment of ...mediation, namely the component approach (testing individual parameter estimates in the model) and the index approach (testing a single mediational index). We conduct simulations that examine both approaches and show that the most commonly used tests under the index approach risk inflated Type I errors compared with the joint-significance test inspired by the component approach. We argue that the tendency to report only a single mediational index is worrisome for this reason and also because it is often accompanied by a failure to critically examine the individual causal paths underlying the mediational model. We recommend testing individual components of the indirect effect to argue for the presence of an indirect effect and then using other recommended procedures to calculate the size of that effect. Beyond simple mediation, we show that our conclusions also apply in cases of within-participant mediation and moderated mediation. We also provide a new R-package that allows for an easy implementation of our recommendations.
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CEKLJ, FFLJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PEFLJ, UPUK
Advances in nanoscience and nanotechnology critically depend on the development of nanostructures whose properties are controlled during synthesis. We focus on this critical concept using ...semiconductor nanowires, which provide the capability through design and rational synthesis to realize unprecedented structural and functional complexity in building blocks as a platform material. First, a brief review of the synthesis of complex modulated nanowires in which rational design and synthesis can be used to precisely control composition, structure, and, most recently, structural topology is discussed. Second, the unique functional characteristics emerging from our exquisite control of nanowire materials are illustrated using several selected examples from nanoelectronics and nano-enabled energy. Finally, the remarkable power of nanowire building blocks is further highlighted through their capability to create unprecedented, active electronic interfaces with biological systems. Recent work pushing the limits of both multiplexed extracellular recording at the single-cell level and the first examples of intracellular recording is described, as well as the prospects for truly blurring the distinction between nonliving nanoelectronic and living biological systems.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Silver nanoparticles have been of great interest as plasmonic substrates for sensing and imaging, catalysts, or antimicrobial systems. Their physical properties are strongly dependent on parameters ...that remain challenging to control such as size, chemical composition, and spatial distribution. We report here on supramolecular assemblies of a novel peptide amphiphile containing aldehyde functionality in order to reduce silver ions and subsequently nucleate silver metal nanoparticles in water. This system spontaneously generates monodisperse silver particles at fairly regular distances along the length of the filamentous organic assemblies. The metal–organic hybrid structures exhibited antimicrobial activity and significantly less toxicity toward eukaryotic cells. Metallized organic nanofibers of the type described here offer the possibility to create hydrogels, which integrate the useful functions of silver nanoparticles with controllable metallic content.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM
The dental literature contains 25 years of accumulated reports and clinical studies addressing the utility of lasers in the treatment of periodontitis, both as a monotherapy or as an adjunct to ...surgical and nonsurgical therapy. Yet, the evidence from the 118 human clinical studies cited in this narrative review remains conflicted and insufficient to suggest that integration of a laser in a periodontal treatment protocol will provide antimicrobial and healing outcomes superior to those achieved by traditional therapy. When viewed as a collective body of evidence, it becomes apparent that a majority of the studies are underpowered and exhibit significant heterogeneity in design. Furthermore, the collected studies report a varied choice of parameters, even within the same wavelength of laser. There is little uniformity between studies in the reporting of measured clinical parameters. Most studies reported 3‐ and/or 6‐month post‐treatment results; however, the range of time intervals includes studies reporting results from 1 week to up to 1–12 months or longer. Lastly, many studies were considered at risk for bias as a result of a lack of examiner masking and/or calibration. There is great need for well‐designed, highly controlled multicenter clinical trials that are adequately powered in terms of subject enrollment, that use similar protocols in terms of laser parameters and that report measureable outcomes in a uniform manner. Without such studies, the questions surrounding the use of lasers in the treatment of periodontal disease will persist.
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BFBNIB, CMK, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
40.
Chronic insomnia Morin, Charles M, Dr; Benca, Ruth, MD
The Lancet (British edition),
03/2012, Volume:
379, Issue:
9821
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Summary Insomnia is a prevalent complaint in clinical practice that can present independently or comorbidly with another medical or psychiatric disorder. In either case, it might need treatment of ...its own. Of the different therapeutic options available, benzodiazepine-receptor agonists (BzRAs) and cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) are supported by the best empirical evidence. BzRAs are readily available and effective in the short-term management of insomnia, but evidence of long-term efficacy is scarce and most hypnotic drugs are associated with potential adverse effects. CBT is an effective alternative for chronic insomnia. Although more time consuming than drug management, CBT produces sleep improvements that are sustained over time, and this therapy is accepted by patients. Although CBT is not readily available in most clinical settings, access and delivery can be made easier through use of innovative methods such as telephone consultations, group therapy, and self-help approaches. Combined CBT and drug treatment can optimise outcomes, although evidence to guide clinical practice on the best way to integrate these approaches is scarce.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
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