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Recent media coverage of the rape chant at Saint Mary's University, the misogynist Facebook posts at Dalhousie's dental school, and the suspension of the University of Ottawa's hockey team have brought the topic of campus sexual assault under intense public scrutiny and the media accounts point to a widespread systemic rape culture on Canadian campuses. The objective of this paper is to examine the existing structure of campus sexual assault services at Canadian universities and colleges in order to highlight best practices and barriers to their success. The study's data collection entailed an environmental scan of existing programs and campus-community collaborations across Canada, and a half-day symposium in which stakeholders reviewed the scan's results and developed recommendations. The study's findings indicate that most campus sexual assault and women's centres rely on volunteers and collaboration with off-campus organizations in order to maintain a breadth of services for sexual assault survivors. Funding challenges were found to impose significant limitations to the functionality of the centres. The paper closes with recommendations for improvements, including public education programming and dedicated services provided by professionals with specialized training and experience.

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in rapid adoption of telemedicine in rheumatology. We described perspectives of patients with rheumatic diseases related to telemedicine use. Methods: An anonymous online survey for people with rheumatic diseases was launched in January 2021. We collected data on reasons for telemedicine use, perceived benefits, disadvantages and obstacles of telemedicine, perceived telemedicine effectiveness for different clinical tasks, level of satisfaction with telemedicine use, and future preferences for telemedicine. We summarized results with descriptive statistics and identified themes in free text responses to describe perspectives of telemedicine qualitatively. Results: We received 596 complete responses (85% female and 47% 41–60 years old). During the COVID-19 pandemic, 78% (467/596) of respondents used telemedicine, and 61% (283/467) of telemedicine users reported that telemedicine was as effective or more effective than an in-person visit. Younger participants and those in North America reported effectiveness and satisfaction with telemedicine at higher frequencies. Participants reported similar effectiveness to in-person visits for making medication changes and discussing disease symptoms or complications. Conclusion: Most respondents found telemedicine at least as effective as in-person visits. Participants found telemedicine to be effective for specific scenarios, such as making medication changes and discussion of disease activity. Telemedicine may continue to be of importance in the care of patients with rheumatic diseases post pandemic, but likely for specific subsets of patients for specific visit indications. Key Points • Most patients with rheumatic disease found telemedicine as effective as in-person visits, particularly for some indications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The objective of this paper was to identify predictors of a vaginal birth in individuals with singleton pregnancies and a Bishop Score <4, following Induction of Labor (IoL) using dinoprostone vaginal insert (DVI). Secondarily, we sought to understand the association between oxytocin use for labor augmentation and IoL outcomes. Methods: We developed and internally validated a multivariate prediction model using machine learning (ML) applied to data from two Phase‐III randomized controlled double‐blind trials (NCT01127581, NCT00308711). The model was internally validated using 10‐fold cross‐validation. Results: This study included 1107 participants. Despite unfavorable cervical status and inclusion of high‐risk pregnancies, 72% of participants had vaginal births. The model's area under receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.73. The following factors increased the chance of vaginal birth: being parous; being between 37 and 41 weeks of gestation; having a lower Body Mass Index; having a lower maternal age; having fewer maternal comorbidities; and having a higher Bishop score. Parity alone correctly predicted the outcome in ~50% of cases, at a ~10% false‐negative rate. Participants whose labors progressed without requiring oxytocin had a higher probability of vaginal birth than those requiring oxytocin for either induction or augmentation (81% vs 70% vs 77%, respectively). Discussion: Even in high‐risk pregnancies and with low Bishop scores, the use of DVI results in a high chance of vaginal birth. Parity is a critical predictor of success. The judicious use of oxytocin for labor induction or augmentation can increase the chance of vaginal birth. Our study validates the use of ML and predictive modeling for treatment response prediction when considering IoL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recurrence of DRESS syndrome is poorly characterized, and dermatologists must be prepared to predict, identify, and manage patients after treatment of the initial presentation. In this study, a primary literature search was conducted using PubMed, capturing all articles recording cases of DRESS syndrome recurrence. Forty-two articles were included for review comprising a total of 60 patients. The average age of patients was 46.3 years and time to recurrence was 123 days. Recurrent episodes presented more frequently with a higher fever and eosinophil absolute peak. Relapse was most often attributed to the introduction of a new medication (n = 18). Of the 17 cases in which outcome data were available, the survival rate of those experiencing recurrence was 71%. Viral reactivation with HHV-6 and organ involvement of the liver were frequently recorded complications. In essence, viral reactivation, severe internal organ involvement, and hematological abnormalities all portended a poorer prognosis in those experiencing DRESS syndrome recurrence. An adequate course of treatment should be maintained until clinical and laboratory parameters normalize, with a slow taper to minimize the likelihood of relapse in those most at risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We tested two competing models linking daily stress, mindfulness, and psychological distress in adolescence: 1) whether daily mindfulness moderates the impact of daily stressors on psychological distress or 2) whether mindfulness mediates the relationship between greater daily stressors and psychological distress. Every evening for a week, 138 adolescents completed ecological momentary assessments (EMAs). Daily diaries assessed negative events, work-school conflict, mindfulness, and perceived stress. Multilevel mediation and moderation were tested. Results indicated that there were meaningful variations in adolescent mindfulness from day-to-day, and supported mediation rather than moderation; the within-person association between stressors and psychological distress was mediated by mindfulness at the daily level. It may be too challenging for adolescents to remain in a mindful state during stress to effectively use mindfulness as a buffer. Instead, daily stressors may indirectly impact psychological distress through decreasing mindfulness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focused ultrasound (FUS) mediated blood–brain barrier disruption (BBBD) targets the delivery of systemically‐administered therapeutics to the central nervous system. Preclinical investigations of BBBD have been performed on different anesthetic backgrounds; however, the influence of the choice of anesthetic on the molecular response to BBBD is unknown, despite its potential to critically affect interpretation of experimental therapeutic outcomes. Here, using bulk RNA sequencing, we comprehensively examined the transcriptomic response of both normal brain tissue and brain tissue exposed to FUS‐induced BBBD in mice anesthetized with either isoflurane with medical air (Iso) or ketamine/dexmedetomidine (KD). In normal murine brain tissue, Iso alone elicited minimal differential gene expression (DGE) and repressed pathways associated with neuronal signaling. KD alone, however, led to massive DGE and enrichment of pathways associated with protein synthesis. In brain tissue exposed to BBBD (1 MHz, 0.5 Hz pulse repetition frequency, 0.4 MPa peak‐negative pressure), we systematically evaluated the relative effects of anesthesia, microbubbles, and FUS on the transcriptome. Of particular interest, we observed that gene sets associated with sterile inflammatory responses and cell–cell junctional activity were induced by BBBD, regardless of the choice of anesthesia. Meanwhile, gene sets associated with metabolism, platelet activity, tissue repair, and signaling pathways, were differentially affected by BBBD, with a strong dependence on the anesthetic. We conclude that the underlying transcriptomic response to FUS‐mediated BBBD may be powerfully influenced by anesthesia. These findings raise considerations for the translation of FUS‐BBBD delivery approaches that impact, in particular, metabolism, tissue repair, and intracellular signaling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper implements the continuous Hindi Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) system using the proposed integrated features vector with Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) based Language Modeling (LM). The proposed system also implements the speaker adaptation using Maximum-Likelihood Linear Regression (MLLR) and Constrained Maximum likelihood Linear Regression (C-MLLR). This system is discriminatively trained by Maximum Mutual Information (MMI) and Minimum Phone Error (MPE) techniques with 256 Gaussian mixture per Hidden Markov Model(HMM) state. The training of the baseline system has been done using a phonetically rich Hindi dataset. The results show that discriminative training enhances the baseline system performance by up to 3%. Further improvement of ~7% has been recorded by applying RNN LM. The proposed Hindi ASR system shows significant performance improvement over other current state-of-the-art techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers a gender/queer, first-person perspective of the necessary role educators play in the link between museums and local communities who have been historically and systemically oppressed (BIPOC, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities and intersections therein). By linking racial and labor equity, this article argues for a deeper consideration of the ways museums are activated and transformed through educators' labor and praxes. In order to create greater equity and to achieve museums' missions, we must look to educators as leaders in the work of transforming white supremacy culture. This article offers the "handle" as a model for political understanding of how relationships are structured through power and oppression, thereby locating ways we can radically transform our institutions by centering equity, anti-racism, and education. Critical to any social justice work, art is the active space that is essential for creative expression and our holistic well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is the predominant subtype of lung cancer, with increasing evidence showing clinical benefits of immunotherapy. However, a lack of integrated profiles of complex LUAD immune microenvironments hampers the application of immunotherapy, resulting in limited eligible patient populations as well as drug resistance problems. Here, we aimed to systematically profile the immune signatures of LUADs and to assess the role of the immune microenvironment in patient outcome. Methods: We systematically profiled the immune signatures of LUADs deposited in the TCGA and GEO databases using a total of 730 immune-related genes. Differential expression analysis was used to identify dysregulated genes. Univariate Cox analysis followed by robust likelihood-based survival analysis and multivariate Cox analysis were applied to construct an immune-related prognostic model. Results: We found that differentially expressed immune genes were mainly enriched in immune cell proliferation, migration, activation and the NF-κB and TNF signaling pathways. The 10-immune gene predictive model that we constructed could differentiate LUAD patients with different overall survival times in several datasets, with areas under the curve (AUCs) of 0.67, 0.69, 0.72 and 0.74. LUAD patients with high- or low-risk scores exhibited distinct immune cell compositions, which may explain the prognostic significance of our model. Conclusions: Our results add to the current knowledge of immune processes in LUADs and underscore the critical role of the immune microenvironment in LUAD patient outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Rett syndrome (RTT) and epileptic encephalopathy (EE) are devastating neurodevelopmental disorders with distinct diagnostic criteria. However, highly heterogeneous and overlapping clinical features often allocate patients into the boundary of the two conditions, complicating accurate diagnosis and appropriate medical interventions. Therefore, we investigated the specific molecular mechanism that allows an understanding of the pathogenesis and relationship of these two conditions.Methods: We screened novel genetic factors from 34 RTT-like patients without MECP2 mutations, which account for ∼90% of RTT cases, by whole-exome sequencing. The biological function of the discovered variants was assessed in cell culture and Xenopus tropicalis models.Results: We identified a recurring de novo variant in GABAB receptor R2 (GABBR2) that reduces the receptor function, whereas different GABBR2 variants in EE patients possess a more profound effect in reducing receptor activity and are more responsive to agonist rescue in an animal model.Interpretation: GABBR2 is a genetic factor that determines RTT- or EE-like phenotype expression depending on the variant positions. GABBR2-mediated γ-aminobutyric acid signaling is a crucial factor in determining the severity and nature of neurodevelopmental phenotypes. Ann Neurol 2017;82:466-478. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For several decades, a small body of legal scholarship has addressed the gender pay gap, which compares the median full-time earnings of women and men. More recently, legal scholars have begun to address the racial wealth gap, which measures racial disparities in family economic security and wealth accumulation. Yet a crucial component of both the gender pay gap and the racial wealth gap remains unaddressed in the legal literature: the pay gap between the earnings of White workers and workers of color. Today, all women average eighty-two cents to each dollar men earn, but Black and Latinx workers average only seventy-four cents on the dollar to White workers. Black and Latinx women, affected by both racial and gender pay gaps, average a mere sixty-three and fifty-five cents respectively per White men's dollar. And while the gender pay gap has narrowed, albeit slowly over time, the racial pay gap has grown. Black and Latinx workers now earn less relative to White workers than they did in the late 1970s. The lack of legal attention to the racial pay gap reflects a belief that to remedy the problem would take major social change to dismantle the education, criminal justice, and other systems that lead Black and Latinx workers to disproportionately hold lower paid jobs. While widescale change may be necessary (and still insufficient) to fully close the racial pay gap, more can and should be done to narrow it now. The racial pay gap has worsened despite significant gains in educational attainment by Black and Latinx Americans. Economists have documented that between one-third and two-thirds of today's racial pay gap cannot be attributed to known causes and is due to 'unobservable' factors including discrimination. A handful of states have added the protected class of race in recent amendments to strengthen their state law versions of the federal Equal Pay Act. This Article details the scope of the racial pay gap that may be reachable through antidiscrimination law and provides new legal strategies for doing so. Yet beyond strengthening pay discrimination claims, this Article argues for tackling structural pieces of the racial pay gap even as we work toward improving those structures--for example, by limiting the present effects on pay of racially disparate criminal justice and education systems. Recent public reckoning from the #MeToo and Time's Up movements has sparked renewed interest in closing the gender pay gap. The growth of the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of the killing of George Floyd has drawn attention to the racial wealth gap as part of the legacy of White supremacy. But interest in the equally important--and not insurmountable--issue of closing the racial pay gap has yet to catch on. This Article begins the process of reframing to highlight how confronting the racial pay gap is an essential but overlooked piece of the zeitgeist, key to resolving the gender pay gap for women of color, the racial wealth gap, and income inequality overall., INTRODUCTION 1403 I. DATA ON THE RACIAL PAY GAP AND ITS CAUSES 1407 A. The Racial Pay Gap and the Gender Pay Gap 1408 B. The Racial Pay Gap and [...]