Structure and belonging: Pathways to success for underrepresented minority and women PhD students in STEM fields.

The advancement of underrepresented minority and women PhD students to elite postdoctoral and faculty positions in the STEM fields continues to lag that of majority males, despite decades of efforts to mitigate bias and increase opportunities for students from diverse backgrounds. In 2015, the National Science Foundation Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (NSF AGEP) California Alliance (Berkeley, Caltech, Stanford, UCLA) conducted a wide-ranging survey of graduate students across the mathematical, physical, engineering, and computer sciences in order to identify levers to improve the success of PhD students, and, in time, improve diversity in STEM leadership positions, especially the professoriate. The survey data were interpreted via path analysis, a method that identifies significant relationships, both direct and indirect, among various factors and outcomes of interest.

Limitations and Misinterpretations of E-Values for Sensitivity Analyses of Observational Studies.

The E-value was recently introduced on the basis of earlier work as "the minimum strength of association…that an unmeasured confounder would need to have with both the treatment and the outcome to fully explain away a specific treatment-outcome association, conditional on the measured covariates." E-values have been proposed for wide application in observational studies evaluating causality. However, they have limitations and are prone to misinterpretation.

Favorable Cardiovascular Health at Young and Middle Ages and Dementia in Older Age-The CHA Study.

Background Data are sparse on the association of cardiovascular health ( CVH ) in younger/middle age with the incidence of dementia later in life. Methods and Results We linked the CHA (Chicago Heart Association Detection Project in Industry) study data, assessed in 1967 to 1973, with 1991 to 2010 Medicare and National Death Index data. Favorable CVH was defined as untreated systolic blood pressure/diastolic blood pressure ≤120/≤80 mm Hg, untreated serum total cholesterol <5.

Percutaneous Treatment of Non-paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation: A Paradigm Shift from Pulmonary Vein to Non-pulmonary Vein Trigger Ablation?

Pulmonary vein antrum isolation is the most effective rhythm control strategy in patients with paroxysmal AF. However, catheter ablation of non-paroxysmal AF has a lower success rate, even when persistent isolation of pulmonary veins (PVs) is achieved. As a result of arrhythmia-related electophysiological and structural changes in the atria, sites other than the PVs can harbour triggers.

Sleep duration, timing, variability and measures of adiposity among 8- to 12-year-old children with obesity.

Objectives: Sleep disruption in laboratory studies increases adiposity and decreases glucose tolerance. However, few epidemiological studies have used objective measures of sleep. This study aims to assess associations between sleep duration, timing and regularity with measures of adiposity.

Statins Reduce Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm Growth in Marfan Syndrome Mice via Inhibition of the Ras-Induced ERK (Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase) Signaling Pathway.

Background Statins reduce aneurysm growth in mouse models of Marfan syndrome, although the mechanism is unknown. In addition to reducing cholesterol, statins block farnesylation and geranylgeranylation, which participate in membrane-bound G-protein signaling, including Ras. We dissected the prenylation pathway to define the effect of statins on aneurysm reduction.

Improved Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Performance With CODE ACES: A Resuscitation Quality Bundle.

Background Over 6000 children have an in-hospital cardiac arrest in the United States annually. Most will not survive to discharge, with significant variability in survival across hospitals suggesting improvement in resuscitation performance can save lives. Methods and Results A prospective observational study of quality of chest compressions ( CC ) during pediatric in-hospital cardiac arrest associated with development and implementation of a resuscitation quality bundle.

Correction: Noble metal supported hexagonal boron nitride for the oxygen reduction reaction: a DFT study.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1039/C8NA00059J.].

Rationale and design of a large-scale, app-based study to identify cardiac arrhythmias using a smartwatch: The Apple Heart Study.

Background: Smartwatch and fitness band wearable consumer electronics can passively measure pulse rate from the wrist using photoplethysmography (PPG). Identification of pulse irregularity or variability from these data has the potential to identify atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter (AF, collectively). The rapidly expanding consumer base of these devices allows for detection of undiagnosed AF at scale.

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors and Bleeding Risk in Anticoagulated Patients With Atrial Fibrillation: An Analysis From the ROCKET AF Trial.

Background There is concern that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors ( SSRI s) substantially increase bleeding risk in patients taking anticoagulants. Methods and Results We studied 737 patients taking SSRI s in the ROCKET AF (Rivaroxaban Once Daily Oral Direct Factor Xa Inhibition Compared With Vitamin K Antagonism for Prevention of Embolism and Stroke Trial in Atrial Fibrillation) trial of rivaroxaban compared with warfarin for the prevention of stroke/systemic embolism in patients with atrial fibrillation. These patients were propensity score matched 1:1 to 737 patients not taking SSRI s.

Small Molecule Derived From Carboxyethylpyrrole Protein Adducts Promotes Angiogenesis in a Mouse Model of Peripheral Arterial Disease.

Background CEP (ω-[2-carboxyethyl]pyrrole) protein adducts are the end products of lipid oxidation associated with inflammation and have been implicated in the induction of angiogenesis in pathological conditions such as tissue ischemia. We synthesized small molecules derived from CEP protein adducts and evaluated the angiogenic effect of the CEP analog CEP 03 in the setting of peripheral arterial disease. Methods and Results The angiogenic effect of CEP 03 was assessed by in vitro analysis of primary human microvascular endothelial cell proliferation and tubelike formation in Matrigel (Corning).

Mitochondrial DNA Sequence Variants Associated With Blood Pressure Among 2 Cohorts of Older Adults.

Background Age-related changes in blood pressure are associated with a variety of poor health outcomes. Genetic factors are proposed contributors to age-related increases in blood pressure, but few genetic loci have been identified. We examined the role of mitochondrial genomic variation in blood pressure by sequencing the mitochondrial genome.

Effect of Fetal Growth on 1-Year Mortality in Neonates With Critical Congenital Heart Disease.

Background Infants with critical congenital heart disease ( CCHD ) are more likely to be small for gestational age (GA). It is unclear how this affects mortality. The authors investigated the effect of birth weight Z score on 1-year mortality separately in preterm (GA <37 weeks), early-term (GA 37-38 weeks), and full-term (GA 39-42 weeks) infants with CCHD .

Breastfeeding History and Risk of Stroke Among Parous Postmenopausal Women in the Women's Health Initiative.

Background Stroke is the third leading cause of death among US Hispanic and non-Hispanic black women aged 65 and older. One factor that may protect against stroke is breastfeeding. Few studies have assessed the association between breastfeeding and stroke and whether this association differs by race and ethnicity.

Central Obesity and Visceral Adipose Tissue Are Not Associated With Incident Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Events in Older Men.

Background Visceral adipose tissue ( VAT ) and other measures of central obesity predict incident atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease ( ASCVD ) events in middle-aged individuals, but these associations are less certain in older individuals age 70 years and older. Our objective was to estimate the associations of VAT and the android-gynoid fat mass ratio, another measure of central obesity, with incident ASCVD events among a large cohort of older men. Methods and Results Two thousand eight hundred ninety-nine men (mean [ SD ] age 76.

Noble metal supported hexagonal boron nitride for the oxygen reduction reaction: a DFT study.

Discovering active, stable and cost-effective catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is of utmost interest for commercialization of fuel cells. Scarce and expensive noble metals such as Pt and Pd are the state-of-the-art active ORR catalysts but suffer from low stability against CO poisoning. Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is a particularly attractive material due to its low cost and stability; however, it suffers from intrinsic low activity toward the ORR in the pristine form as a result of its inherently low conductivity with a large band gap of ∼5.

Accelerating the Drug Delivery Pipeline for Acute and Chronic Pancreatitis: Summary of the Working Group on Drug Development and Trials in Chronic Pancreatitis at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Workshop.

The lack of effective therapeutic agents specifically tailored for chronic pancreatitis (CP) has hampered clinical care and negatively impacted patients' lives. New mechanistic insights now point to novel therapies, which involve both recently developed and/or repurposed agents. This working group focused on 2 main outcomes for CP: pain and progression of disease.

A Novel On-Chip Method for Differential Extraction of Sperm in Forensic Cases.

One out of every six American women has been the victim of a sexual assault in their lifetime. However, the DNA casework backlog continues to increase outpacing the nation's capacity since DNA evidence processing in sexual assault casework remains a bottleneck due to laborious and time-consuming differential extraction of victim's and perpetrator's cells. Additionally, a significant amount (60-90%) of male DNA evidence may be lost with existing procedures.

Nanoarchitectonic-Based Material Platforms for Environmental and Bioprocessing Applications.

The challenges of pollution, environmental science, and energy consumption have become global issues of broad societal importance. In order to address these challenges, novel functional systems and advanced materials are needed to achieve high efficiency, low emission, and environmentally friendly performance. A promising approach involves nanostructure-level controls of functional material design through a novel concept, nanoarchitectonics.