The Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation (NREF) provides research support for in-training and early career neurosurgeon-scientists. To define the impact of this funding, the authors ...assessed the success of NREF awardees in obtaining subsequent National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding.
NREF in-training (Research Fellowship RF for residents) and early career awards/awardees (Van Wagenen Fellowship VW and Young Clinician Investigator YCI award for neurosurgery faculty) were analyzed. NIH funding was defined by individual awardees using the NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting tool (1985-2014).
Between 1985 and 2014, 207 unique awardees were supported by 218 NREF awards ($9.84 million M in funding), including 117 RF ($6.02 M), 32 VW ($1.68 M), and 69 YCI ($2.65 M) awards. Subspecialty funding included neuro-oncology (79 awards; 36% of RF, VW, and YCI awards), functional (53 awards; 24%), vascular (37 awards; 17%), spine (22 awards; 10%), pediatrics (18 awards; 8%), trauma/critical care (5 awards; 2%), and peripheral nerve (4 awards; 2%). These awardees went on to receive $353.90 M in NIH funding that resulted in an overall NREF/NIH funding ratio of 36.0:1 (in dollars). YCI awardees most frequently obtained later NIH funding (65%; $287.27 M), followed by VW (56%; $41.10 M) and RF (31%; $106.59 M) awardees. YCI awardees had the highest NREF/NIH funding ratio (108.6:1), followed by VW (24.4:1) and RF (17.7:1) awardees. Subspecialty awardees who went on to obtain NIH funding included vascular (19 awardees; 51% of vascular NREF awards), neuro-oncology (40 awardees; 51%), pediatrics (9 awardees; 50%), functional (25 awardees; 47%), peripheral nerve (1 awardees; 25%), trauma/critical care (2 awardees; 20%), and spine (2 awardees; 9%) awardees. Subspecialty NREF/NIH funding ratios were 56.2:1 for vascular, 53.0:1 for neuro-oncology, 47.6:1 for pediatrics, 34.1:1 for functional, 22.2:1 for trauma/critical care, 9.5:1 for peripheral nerve, and 0.4:1 for spine. Individuals with 2 NREF awards achieved a higher NREF/NIH funding ratio (83.3:1) compared to those with 1 award (29.1:1).
In-training and early career NREF grant awardees are an excellent investment, as a significant portion of these awardees go on to obtain NIH funding. Moreover, there is a potent multiplicative impact of NREF funding converted to NIH funding that is related to award type and subspecialty.
Treatment of osteochondral lesions of the talus proves to be challenging given the unique anatomy of the intra-articular surface and associated complexity of larger lesions. Simple bone ...marrow-stimulating procedures for large complex lesions often lead to poor results with increased risk of lesion progression, refractory pain, and associated functional limitations. Other methods of osteochondral autografts or allografts often require osteotomies, bone windows, or fibrin glue, which are associated with donor pain and nonunion. Thus, for larger and cystic lesions, we report our experience using a modified low-flow arthroscopic sandwich technique consisting of autologous cancellous bone graft, followed by a viable cryopreserved cartilage fiber, cartilage allograft matrix putty.
The T2K experiment has observed electron neutrino appearance in a muon neutrino beam produced 295 km from the Super-Kamiokande detector with a peak energy of 0.6 GeV. A total of 28 electron neutrino ...events were detected with an energy distribution consistent with an appearance signal, corresponding to a significance of 7.3σ when compared to 4.92±0.55 expected background events. In the Pontecorvo-Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata mixing model, the electron neutrino appearance signal depends on several parameters including three mixing angles θ12, θ23, θ13, a mass difference Δm(32)(2) and a CP violating phase δ(CP). In this neutrino oscillation scenario, assuming |Δm(32)(2)|=2.4×10(-3) eV(2), sin(2)θ(23)=0.5, and Δm322>0 (Δm(32)(2)<0), a best-fit value of sin(2)2θ(13)=0.140(-0.032)(+0.038) (0.170(-0.037)(+0.045)) is obtained at δ(CP)=0. When combining the result with the current best knowledge of oscillation parameters including the world average value of θ(13) from reactor experiments, some values of δ(CP) are disfavored at the 90% C.L.
Although the fields of organization theory and social movement theory have long been viewed as belonging to different worlds, recent events have intervened, reminding us that organizations are ...becoming more movement-like - more volatile and politicized - while movements are more likely to borrow strategies from organizations. Organization theory and social movement theory are two of the most vibrant areas within the social sciences. This collection of original essays and studies both calls for a closer connection between these fields and demonstrates the value of this interchange. Three introductory, programmatic essays by leading scholars in the two fields are followed by eight empirical studies that directly illustrate the benefits of this type of cross-pollination. The studies variously examine the processes by which movements become organized and the role of movement processes within and among organizations. The topics covered range from globalization and transnational social movement organizations to community recycling programs.
The prone sleeping position, particularly in prematurely born infants, is associated with an increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome. A possible mechanism is an impaired ability to respond to ...respiratory compromise. The hypothesis that the ventilatory response to a carbon dioxide (CO(2)) challenge in convalescent, prematurely born infants would be lower in the prone compared with the supine position was therefore tested.
In each position, ventilatory responses to increasing levels of inspired CO(2) were assessed. The airway pressure change after the first 100 ms of an occluded inspiration (P(0.1)) and the maximum inspiratory pressure with an occluded airway during crying (P(imax)) were measured; the ratio of the P(0.1) to the P(imax) at each inspired CO(2) level and the slope of the P(0.1)/P(imax) response were calculated. Chest and abdominal wall asynchrony was assessed using inductance plethysmography and functional residual capacity (FRC) measured using a helium gas dilution technique.
Eighteen infants with a median postmenstrual age of 35 (range 35-37) weeks were studied. In the prone versus the supine position, the mean P(0.1) (p=0.002), the mean P(imax) (p=0.006), the increase in P(0.1) with increasing CO(2) (p=0.007) and the P(0.1)/P(imax) response slope (p=0.007) were smaller. Thoracoabdominal asynchrony was not significantly influenced by position or inspired CO(2). FRC was higher in the prone position (p=0.019).
Convalescent, prematurely born infants have a reduced ventilatory response to CO(2) challenge in the prone position, suggesting they may have an impaired ability to respond to respiratory compromise in that position.
Grid level energy storage systems are a cornerstone of future power networks and smart grid development. Better energy storage systems are one of the last hurdles hindering the integration of ...renewable generation. There are currently many methods of implementing energy storage, ranging from pumped hydro storage to sodium-sulfur battery storage. All energy storage technologies share a common disadvantage which is high initial installation costs. This survey was undertaken with the intent of identifying the technological state of battery energy storage for power systems, as well as providing a background on the modeling and simulation of those battery technologies.
The Nankai Trough accretionary prism is considered an “end‐member” prism accreting a coarse terrigenous sediment section in a setting with structural simplicity, unparalleled resolution by seismic ...and other geophysical techniques, and large historic earthquakes. It therefore has been the focus of Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) drilling to address several unresolved questions concerning accretionary processes and prism evolution. At six sites cored along two transects across the Nankai Trough accretionary prism during ODP Leg 190, lithostratigraphy and sediment diagenesis vary markedly. For the first time, reference sites at the seaward ends of the two transects defined the stratigraphic framework of the accreting/subducting Shikoku Basin sedimentary section. A thick section of Miocene turbidites and smectite‐rich mudstone is present within the subducting section at the Ashizuri site. The turbidites and mudstones are absent in the correlative section at the Muroto site; variations in lithology, mineralogy, and hydrologic properties of the incoming sediments probably contribute to the difference in prism wedge taper between the two transects, while possibly controlling the seismic character of the active plate boundary. The décollement in both transects is localized within a common stratigraphic unit (∼5.9–7 Ma) within the lower Shikoku Basin facies. The décollement is also a major boundary for both physical and mechanical properties. A broad low‐chloride pore water anomaly in the lower Shikoku Basin unit, first identified at Site 808, progressively decreases in magnitude from prism to basin along the Muroto Transect. Physical properties relationships, evidence for mineralogic changes in the sediments, and pore fluid chemistry suggest that the chloride anomaly results primarily from in situ diagenetic reactions in the sediments, possibly augmented by flow of freshened fluid from depth. New constraints on stratigraphy and age of units along more landward parts of the Muroto Transect have dramatically changed our ideas about the tectonic evolution of the prism in this area. Growth of the seaward‐most part of the prism took place very rapidly, with 40 km of accretion within the past 2 Myr. This rate is at least 3 times greater than growth rates in a comparable prism.
How the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) activates is incompletely understood. The intracellular portion of the receptor is intrinsically active in solution, and to study its regulation, we ...measured autophosphorylation as a function of EGFR surface density in cells. Without EGF, intact EGFR escapes inhibition only at high surface densities. Although the transmembrane helix and the intracellular module together suffice for constitutive activity even at low densities, the intracellular module is inactivated when tethered on its own to the plasma membrane, and fluorescence cross-correlation shows that it fails to dimerize. NMR and functional data indicate that activation requires an N-terminal interaction between the transmembrane helices, which promotes an antiparallel interaction between juxtamembrane segments and release of inhibition by the membrane. We conclude that EGF binding removes steric constraints in the extracellular module, promoting activation through N-terminal association of the transmembrane helices.
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► Interactions with the membrane help suppress ligand-independent EGFR activation ► Dependence of EGFR activation on cell surface density reveals control mechanisms ► Intrinsic dimerization of the cytoplasmic module is suppressed at the membrane ► Activation requires structural coupling of transmembrane and juxtamembrane segments
NMR and functional analyses of EGFR indicate that EGF binding removes steric constraints in the extracellular module, promoting activation through a specific configuration of the transmembrane helices and the release of inhibition by the plasma membrane.
Fire is a powerful ecological and evolutionary force that regulates organismal traits, population sizes, species interactions, community composition, carbon and nutrient cycling and ecosystem ...function. It also presents a rapidly growing societal challenge, due to both increasingly destructive wildfires and fire exclusion in fire‐dependent ecosystems. As an ecological process, fire integrates complex feedbacks among biological, social and geophysical processes, requiring coordination across several fields and scales of study.
Here, we describe the diversity of ways in which fire operates as a fundamental ecological and evolutionary process on Earth. We explore research priorities in six categories of fire ecology: (a) characteristics of fire regimes, (b) changing fire regimes, (c) fire effects on above‐ground ecology, (d) fire effects on below‐ground ecology, (e) fire behaviour and (f) fire ecology modelling.
We identify three emergent themes: the need to study fire across temporal scales, to assess the mechanisms underlying a variety of ecological feedbacks involving fire and to improve representation of fire in a range of modelling contexts.
Synthesis: As fire regimes and our relationships with fire continue to change, prioritizing these research areas will facilitate understanding of the ecological causes and consequences of future fires and rethinking fire management alternatives.
We describe the diversity of ways in which fire operates as a fundamental ecological and evolutionary process on Earth. We explore research priorities in six categories of fire ecology. We identify three needs: to study fire across temporal scales, to assess the mechanisms underlying a variety of ecological feedbacks involving fire and to improve representation of fire in modeling contexts.
We introduce a free and open-source software package (PES-Learn) which largely automates the process of producing high-quality machine learning models of molecular potential energy surfaces (PESs). ...PES-Learn incorporates a generalized framework for producing grid points across a PES that is compatible with most electronic structure theory software. The newly generated or externally supplied PES data can then be used to train and optimize neural network or Gaussian process models in a completely automated fashion. Robust hyperparameter optimization schemes designed specifically for molecular PES applications are implemented to ensure that the best possible model for the data set is fit with high quality. The performance of PES-Learn toward fitting a few semiglobal PESs from the literature is evaluated. We also demonstrate the use of PES-Learn machine learning models in carrying out high-level vibrational configuration interaction computations on water and formaldehyde.
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