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Political scientists are increasingly using digitized documents from archives. This article is a practical introduction to doing digital archival research. First, it explains when and why political scientists use evidence from archival research. Second, it argues that the remote accessibility of digitized records provides new opportunities for comparative and transnational research. However, digital archival research also risks aggravating five types of biases that pose challenges for qualitative, quantitative, interpretive, and mixed-methods research: survival, transfer, digitization, and reinforcement bias at the level of record collection and source bias at the level of record creation. Third, this article offers concrete strategies for anticipating and mitigating these biases by walking readers through the experience of entering, being in, and leaving an archive, while also underscoring the importance of learning the structure of an archive. The article concludes by addressing the ethical implications to archival research as a type of field research for political scientists.

This article analyzes the efficacy of border enforcement against smuggling. We argue that walls, fences, patrols, and other efforts to secure porous borders can reduce smuggling, but only in the absence of collusion between smugglers and state agents at official border crossings. When such corruption occurs, border enforcement merely diverts smuggling flows without reducing their overall volume. We also identify the conditions under which corruption occurs and characterize border enforcement as a sorting mechanism that allows high-skilled smugglers to forge alternative border-crossing routes while deterring low-skilled smugglers or driving them to bribe local border agents. Combining a formal model and an archival case study of opium smuggling in Southeast Asia, we demonstrate that border enforcement has conditional effects on the routes and volumes of smuggling, depending on the nature of interactions between smugglers and border agents. By drawing attention to the technological and organizational aspects of smuggling, this article brings scholarship on criminal governance into the study of international relations, and contributes to debates on the effects of border enforcement and border politics more generally.

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of periocular topical triamcinolone cream on intraocular pressure. Methods: A retrospective chart review identified 57 patients, 114 eyes using triamcinolone cream (0.1%, 0.025%) with subsequent intraocular pressure (IOP) checks at three follow-up visits. Descriptive, univariate, and multivariate analyses were performed to assess effects of age, therapy duration, consecutive weeks on steroid, prescription strength, time of day, and method of measurement on IOP levels. Generalized Estimating Equations were used in regression models to account for correlation of eyes within subjects and across visits. Results: We identified 57 patients using triamcinolone cream for allergic or eczematous dermatitis of the eyelid. Prescription strengths were 0.025% or 0.1% and patients were followed for a median of 4.9 months. Measurements of IOP at baseline did not change as compared to all IOP measurements at follow-ups and did not change with steroid strength. The mean change in IOP at all follow-up visits was 0.07 mm Hg (95% confidence interval [CI]: –0.36, 0.50). After adjustment for the method of tonometer and the patient’s age, the mean change was 0.03 mm Hg (95% CI: –0.68, 0.73, P = 0.93). Prescription strength and consecutive weeks of therapy were not associated with IOP. Two patients experienced a significant elevation in IOP of >10 mm Hg, one through the concomitant consequences of systemic corticosteroids usage and the other through prolonged topical application. Conclusion: In patients taking periocular triamcinolone cream, there was no clinically meaningful change in mean IOP between baseline and follow-up visits, and IOP measurements were not related to variances in prescription strength or duration of therapy.

Neutral heavier group 13 metals aluminum, gallium, and indium have been utilized as Lewis acid catalysts in various organic transformations ranging from classical organic reactions to polymerization reactions. The introduction of cationic charge can enhance the Lewis acidity of metal centers and allow cationic group 13 complexes to be excellent catalysts in Lewis acid catalysis, including most of the transformations achieved with neutral group 13 complexes. While cationic aluminum complexes have been investigated extensively in catalysis, there is a more recent push to explore the catalytic reactivities of cationic gallium and indium complexes. The field of cationic group 13 complexes has been expanding with discrete cationic complexes supported by purposely designed ligands. This review aims to provide an overview of what has been done to date and ideas of what can be possibly done from now in the growing field of cationic group 13 complexes as catalysts.

Sox17 is a critical regulator of arterial identity during early embryonic vascular development. However, its role in adult endothelial cells (ECs) are not fully understood. Sox17 is highly expressed in arterial ECs but not in venous ECs throughout embryonic development to adulthood suggesting that it may play a functional role in adult arteries. Here, we investigated Sox17 mediated phenotypical changes in adult ECs. To precisely control the temporal expression level of Sox17, we designed a tetracycline-inducible lentiviral gene expression system to express Sox17 selectively in cultured venous ECs. We confirmed that Sox17-induced ECs exhibit a gene profile favoring arterial and tip cell identity. Furthermore, in comparison to control ECs, Sox17-activated ECs under shear leads to greater expression of arterial markers and suppression of venous identity. These data suggest that Sox17 enables greater hemodynamic adaptability of ECs in response to fluid shear stress. Here, we also demonstrate key morphogenic behaviors of Sox17-mediated ECs. In both vasculogenic and angiogenic 3D fibrin gel studies, Sox17-mediated ECs prefer to form cohesive vessels with one another while interfering the vessel formation of the control ECs. Sox17-mediated ECs elicit hyper-sprouting behavior in the presence of pericytes but not fibroblasts, suggesting Sox17 mediated sprouting frequency is dependent on supporting cell type. Using a microfluidic chip, we also show that Sox17-mediated ECs maintain thinner diameter vessels that do not widen under interstitial flow like the control ECs. Taken together, these data showed that Sox17 mediated EC gene expression and phenotypical changes are highly modulated in the context of biomechanical stimuli, suggesting Sox17 plays a role in regulating the arterial ECs adaptability under arterial hemodynamics as well as tip cells behavior during angiogenesis and vasculogenesis. The results from this study may be valuable in improving vein graft adaptation to arterial hemodynamics and bioengineering microvasculature for tissue engineering applications.

Dance Therapy (DT) is an effective treatment to promote emotional, social, cognitive and physical integration of the individual. Its benefits are of particular interest in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), whose caretakers are burdened with the high cost and rigorous demand of treatment. This paper presents a Dance Therapy program that will attempt to encourage physical, social, and cognitive development amongst students through concepts of mirroring and Teaching Dance for Understanding. This program will require less resources than other types of therapies because children will not have to be supervised individually; routines are consistent and repetitive. Although more quantitative research needs to be conducted, it represents a positive step toward providing children with ASD with an optimal environment.

Vasculature plays a vital role in human biology as blood vessels transport nutrients and oxygen throughout the body. Endothelial cells (ECs), specifically, are key as they maintain barrier functions between the circulating blood and the surrounding tissues. ECs derived from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) are utilized to study vascular development and disease mechanisms within in vitro models. Additionally, ECs derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) hold great promise for advancing personalized medicine, cell therapies, and tissue-engineered constructs by creating patient-specific cell populations. Here, we describe a xeno-free, serum-free differentiation protocol for deriving ECs from hPSCs. In brief, mesoderm progenitor cells are derived via WNT pathway activation. Following this, EC maturation is achieved with exogenous vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) and basic fibroblast growth factor 2 (bFGF2). We have characterized these cells as expressing mature EC markers and have illustrated their functionality in vitro.

Vasculature plays a vital role in human biology as blood vessels transport nutrients and oxygen throughout the body. Endothelial cells (ECs), specifically, are key as they maintain barrier functions between the circulating blood and the surrounding tissues. ECs derived from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) are utilized to study vascular development and disease mechanisms within in vitro models. Additionally, ECs derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) hold great promise for advancing personalized medicine, cell therapies, and tissue-engineered constructs by creating patient-specific cell populations. Here, we describe a xeno-free, serum-free differentiation protocol for deriving ECs from hPSCs. In brief, mesoderm progenitor cells are derived via WNT pathway activation. Following this, EC maturation is achieved with exogenous vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) and basic fibroblast growth factor 2 (bFGF2). We have characterized these cells as expressing mature EC markers and have illustrated their functionality in vitro.

Purpose Obesity has been shown to be strongly associated with the development of breast and gynecologic cancers. PIK3CA is one of the most commonly altered genes in solid tumors, and patients who have alterations are routinely initiated on therapies that target this pathway. However, response can vary greatly between patients, and the reason for differences in response has yet to be completely understood. Obesity has been shown to alter cancer metabolism and further dysregulate the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway which may affect response to target therapy. L. Cantley and colleagues suggest that the state of consistent hyperinsulinemia, which is common in obesity, can compromise the clinical benefit of PI3K-pathway targeted therapy, as insulin is a known potent stimulator of this pathway. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare clinical outcomes between obese and non-obese patients on pathway-directed therapy. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on 140 patients with breast, ovarian, cervical, or endometrial malignancies at Avera Cancer Institute. Female patients with a documented oncogenic PIK3CA alteration were included in the study. Overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS) were the primary endpoints. BMI groups were determined by using existing clinical categories of obesity as defined by the CDC. Patients were stratified into 2 BMI groups: Group A 25 kg/m2 and Group B 25 kg/m2. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to derive time-to-event estimates and test for significance. A cox proportional-hazard model was utilized to determine the association between survival time for patients with BMI being the predictor variable. Results Of the 140 patients, 106 patients had breast cancer, 21 patients had endometrial cancer, 9 patients had ovarian cancer, 3 patients had cervical cancer, and 1 patient had vaginal melanoma. There were 52 patients in Group A and 88 patients in Group B. 25 of the 140 patients had documented PIK3CA alterations but were never initiated on targeted therapy. Group B was found to reduce the hazard by a factor of 0.63 (p=0.09). The subset of Group B with PI3K/mTOR targeted therapy was found to reduce the hazard by a factor of 0.43 (p=0.008). Among the 43 patients who were included in PFS analysis, it was found that there was no statistically significant (p=0.6) improved PFS between the two groups. Conclusion In this analysis, patients with a PIK3CA mutation and who had a higher BMI had an improved response rate from targeted therapy and overall survival than compared to patients with a lower BMI. Treatment lines prior to initiation of targeted therapy varied greatly, and differences in the multiple types of malignancies studied in this analysis was a limitation. More prospective studies that are statistically powered are warranted in order to assess the true impact of obesity on improved OS compared to patients with a BMI 25. Citation Format: Diana Kim, Bing Xu, Rachel Elsey, Tobias Meissner, Casey Williams. Clinical outcomes between obese and non-obese breast and gynecological cancer patients with alterations in the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 1385.

Vascular endothelial cells (ECs) differentiated from pluripotent stem cells have enormous potential to be used in a variety of therapeutic areas such as tissue engineering of vascular grafts and re-vascularization of ischemic tissues. To date, various protocols have been developed to differentiate stem cells toward vascular ECs. However, current methods are still not sufficient to drive the distinct arterial venous differentiation. Therefore, developing refined method of arterial-venous differentiation is critically needed to address this gap. Here, we developed a biomaterial platform to mimic multivalent ephrin-B2/EphB4 signaling and investigated its role in the early arterial and venous specification of pluripotent stem cells. Our results show immobilized ephrinB2 or EphB4 on hydrogel substrates have a distinct effect on arterial venous differentiation by regulating several arterial venous markers. When in combination with Wnt pathway agonist or BMP4 signaling, the ephrin-B2/EphB4 biomaterial platform can create diverging EC progenitor populations, demonstrating differential gene expression pattern across a wide range of arterial and venous markers, as well as phenotypic markers such as anti-thrombotic, pro-atherogenic and osteogenic genes, that are consistent with the in vivo expression patterns of arterial and venous ECs. Importantly, this distinct EC progenitor population cannot be achieved by current methods of applying soluble factors or hemodynamic stimuli alone, illustrating that fine-tuning of developmental signals using the biomaterial platform offers a new approach to better control the arterial venous differentiation of stem cells.