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Accurate national carbon budget assessments allow nations to evaluate their progress in cutting carbon emissions and therefore be aligned with the Paris Climate Agreement goals. To support the initiative of The REgional Carbon Cycle Assessment and Processes (RECCAP-2), we built a synthesis of the Australasia (Australia and New Zealand) terrestrial carbon budget for 2010-2019 based on top-down and bottom-up approaches. Major carbon flux components in the bottom-up budget (e.g., net primary productivity and heterotrophic respiration) were simulated by CABLE model, Biome-BGC model and Cewn simulations. In addition, this budget include carbon flux components from the land-ocean aquatic continuum, such as inland waters, estuaries, blue carbon ecosystems, and continental shelves and carbon fluxes embodied in trade (export and import) of crops, woods, livestock and fossil fuel. We reconciled Australia and New Zealand bottom-up budgets separately with fluxes derived from regional and global OCO-2, GOSAT flux inversions, as well as fluxes obtained from in-situ measurement only (CarbonWatchNZ). We found that annual mean budgets for Australia agree relatively well (within the uncertainty range) with regional and global top-down GOSAT and OCO-2 flux estimates. New Zealand's annual bottom-up carbon budget also agrees relatively well with fluxes derived from CarbonWatchNZ inversion and GOSAT but disagrees with global flux estimates from OCO-2.

Documents sent to hospitals to collect tumor samples for the Cancer Prevention Study-II Nutrition Cohort Colorectal Tissue Repository.

Background: To better understand colorectal cancer etiology and prognosis, archived surgical tissues were collected from Cancer Prevention Study II (CPS-II) Nutrition Cohort participants who were diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Herein, the methodology for this collection is described to help inform other efforts to collect tissues.Methods: The main components to accruing tissue were: (i) obtaining consent from participants or next-of-kin; (ii) contacting hospitals to request materials; and (iii) pathology review and laboratory processing.Results: In CPS-II, we identified 3,643 participants diagnosed with colorectal cancer between 1992/1993 and 2009. Of these, tissue could not be sought from cases verified through state cancer registry linkage (N = 1,622), because of insufficient information on tissue location. We sought tissue from the 2,021 cases verified using medical records, and received tissue from 882. When hospitals were contacted within 10 years of diagnosis, we received 87% of tissue materials; beyond that 10-year mark, we received 32%. Compared with the 2,761 colorectal cancer cases without tissue, the 882 cases with tissue were more likely to be alive, diagnosed more recently during follow-up, and had less-advanced staged disease. Cases with and without tissues were similar with respect to age at diagnosis, smoking, body mass index, physical activity, and other epidemiologic factors.Conclusions: Some of the most important elements in forming a tissue repository included having the cases' hospital contact and surgical accession information as well as contacting patients/next-of-kin and hospitals within 10 years of surgery.Impact: This tissue repository will serve as an important resource for colorectal cancer studies.See all the articles in this CEBP Focus section, “Biomarkers, Biospecimens, and New Technologies in Molecular Epidemiology.”Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 23(12); 2694–702. ©2014 AACR.

Documents sent to participants or spouses to obtain informed consent for participating in the Cancer Prevention Study-II Nutrition Cohort Colorectal Tissue Repository.

Quantification of land surface-atmosphere fluxes of carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes and their trends and uncertainties is essential for monitoring progress of the EU27+UK bloc as it strives to meet ambitious targets determined by both international agreements and internal regulation. This study provides a consolidated synthesis of fossil sources (CO2 fossil) and natural sources and sinks over land (CO2 land) using bottom-up (BU) and top-down (TD) approaches for the European Union and United Kingdom (EU27+UK), updating earlier syntheses (Petrescu et al., 2020, 2021b). Given the wide scope of the work and the variety of approaches involved, this study aims to answer essential questions identified in the previous syntheses and understand the differences between datasets, particularly for poorly characterized fluxes from managed ecosystems. The work integrates updated emission inventory data, process-based model results, data-driven sectoral model results, and inverse modeling estimates, extending the previous period 1990–2018 to the year 2020 to the extent possible. BU and TD products are compared with European National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (NGHGIs) reported by Parties including the year 2019 under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The uncertainties of the EU27+UK NGHGI were evaluated using the standard deviation reported by the EU Member States following the guidelines of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and harmonized by gap-filling procedures. Variation in estimates produced with other methods, such as atmospheric inversion models (TD) or spatially disaggregated inventory datasets (BU), originate from within-model uncertainty related to parameterization as well as structural differences between models. By comparing NGHGIs with other approaches, key sources of differences between estimates arise primarily in activities. System boundaries and emission categories create differences in CO2 fossil datasets, while different land use definitions for reporting emissions from Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) activities result in differences for CO2 land. The latter has important consequences for atmospheric inversions, leading to inversions reporting stronger sinks in vegetation and soils than are reported by the NGHGI. For CO2 fossil emissions, after harmonizing estimates based on common activities and selecting the most recent year available for all datasets, the UNFCCC NGHGI for the EU27+UK accounts for 3392 ± 49 Tg CO2 yr-1 (926 ± 13 Tg C yr-1), while eight other BU sources report a mean value of 3340 [3238,3401] [25th,75th percentile] Tg CO2 yr-1 (948 [937,961] Tg C yr-1). The sole top-down inversion of fossil emissions currently available accounts for 3800 Tg CO2 yr-1 (1038 Tg C yr-1), a value close to that of the NGHGI, but for which uncertainty estimates are not yet available. For the net CO2 land fluxes, during the most recent five-year period including the NGHGI estimates, the NGHGI accounted for -91 ± 32 Tg C yr-1 while six other BU approaches reported a mean sink of -62 [-117,-49] Tg C yr-1 and a 15-member ensemble of dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs) reported -69 [-152,-5] Tg C yr-1. The five-year mean of three TD regional ensembles combined with one non-ensemble inversion of -73 Tg C yr-1 has a slightly smaller spread (0th–100th percentile of [-135,45] Tg C yr-1), and was calculated after removing land-atmosphere CO2 fluxes caused by lateral transport of carbon (crops, wood trade and inland waters) resulting in increased agreement with the the NGHGI and bottom-up approaches. Results at the sub-sector level (Forestland, Cropland, Grassland) show generally good agreement between the NGHGI and sub-sector-specific models, but results for a DGVM are mixed. Overall, for both CO2 fossil and net CO2 land fluxes, we find current independent approaches are consistent with the NGHGI at the scale of the EU27+UK. We conclude that CO2 emissions from fossil sources have decreased over the past 30 years in the EU27+UK, while large uncertainties on net uptake of CO2 by the land surface prevent trend identification. In addition, a gap on the order of 1000 Tg C yr-1 between CO2 fossil emissions and net CO2 uptake by the land exists regardless of the type of approach (NGHGI, TD, BU), falling well outside all available estimates of uncertainties. However, uncertainties in top-down approaches to estimate CO2 fossil emissions remain uncharacterized and are likely substantial. The data used to plot the figures are available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7365863.

Many biological studies of transcriptional control mechanisms produce lists of genes and non-coding genomic intervals from corresponding gene expression and epigenomic assays. In higher organisms, such as eukaryotes, genes may be regulated by distal elements, with these elements lying 10s–100s of kilobases away from a gene transcription start site. To gain insight into these distal regulatory mechanisms, it is important to determine comparative enrichment of genes of interest in relation to genomic regions of interest, and to be able to do so at a range of distances. Existing bioinformatics tools can annotate genomic regions to nearest known genes, or look for transcription factor binding sites in relation to gene transcription start sites. Here, we present PEGS (Peak set Enrichment in Gene Sets). This tool efficiently provides an exploratory analysis by calculating enrichment of multiple gene sets, associated with multiple non-coding elements (peak sets), at multiple genomic distances, and within topologically associated domains. We apply PEGS to gene sets derived from gene expression studies, and genomic intervals from corresponding ChIP-seq and ATAC-seq experiments to derive biologically meaningful results. We also demonstrate an extended application to tissue-specific gene sets and publicly available GWAS data, to find enrichment of sleep trait associated SNPs in relation to tissue-specific gene expression profiles.

In 2019, in a world of instant gratification, what are the expectations of patients and dentists? Is training sufficient to meet these expectations? Decisionmaking in dentistry impacts the treatment choices patients are given, and may influence the outcomes of such treatment. It is therefore important to ensure as much standardisation as possible. In order to achieve this, it is important to know the current standard and the views of dentist as this will influence dental treatment planning. Clinical Relevance This paper captures the treatment planning dilemmas of dentists, specifically of those in their Foundation Training year, in order to aid targeting of training and development. Objective Statement To understand treatment decisions of general dental practitioners and specialists.

Background The impact of radiotherapy (RT) on the efficacy and toxicity of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in patients with metastatic non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is unclear. Materials and Methods We identified patients with metastatic NSCLC treated with the anti-programmed death 1 antibodies nivolumab or pembrolizumab between January 2016 and May 2019 at 3 tertiary centers, who were also treated with palliative RT either during or within 3 months of starting anti-programmed death 1 treatment. Patient demographics, tumor characteristics, and treatment history were collected. Response rates, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) were analyzed and correlated with RT use. Results A total of 269 patients were identified, with a median follow-up of 19.4 months. The median age was 70 years (range, 35-90 years), and they were 63% male, 60% smokers, and 65% had adenocarcinoma histology. At the commencement of ICI treatment, the majority (86%) had ≥ 1 line of prior therapy and 34% had brain metastases. A total of 102 (38%) patients received RT within 3 months of starting ICI or subsequently during ICI treatment. Of patients that received RT, 86 (84%) received conventional hypofractionated RT, and, in the majority, 81 (79%) the intent of RT was symptom control. The use of RT did not increase grade 3/4 immune-related adverse events. The overall median PFS was 2.0 months (95% confidence interval, 1.3-2.6 months) and the median OS was 9.0 months (95% confidence interval, 6.4-9.5 months). There were no significant differences in median PFS (3.0 vs. 2.0 months; P = .515) and median OS (9.0 vs. 9.0 months; P = .917) in the patients who received RT versus those that did not. Conclusions In patients with metastatic NSCLC, the addition of RT to ICI was not associated with increased toxicity or improved survival.

Abstract: When faced with a tooth that is failing due to pulpal or periapical infection, a difficult treatment planning decision must be made between retention of the tooth through endodontic treatment or extraction and potential replacement with a dental implant. Survival rates for these treatment modalities appear similar from the literature. This review article attempts to explore different factors that should be taken into consideration, in particular the available evidence, predictability and risks of treatment, patient centred-outcomes and cost-effectiveness of the different treatment options. CPD/Clinical Relevance: This review article aims to provide an overview of the recent evidence and factors to consider, to aid in treatment planning decisions between endodontic treatment and dental implant replacement for a failing tooth.

Abstract: There have been many advances in the replacement of teeth, especially using dental implants. There are a number of other options for when a tooth is lost; however, there is also value in maintaining a tooth with the provision of root canal treatment and a good coronal seal. This article summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of each option with supporting evidence from the literature. CPD/Clinical Relevance: This review article provides an updated practical perspective to decision-making when it comes to teeth requiring root canal treatment.

•Foot deformities are frequently observed in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease patients.•Surgical management is variable among centres.•During the workshop current surgical approaches were reviewed.•Recommendations for foot surgery in CMT patients were agreed by the participants.

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated a restructuring of cancer care due to resourcing demands and revised risk-benefit considerations which relate the risks of cancer progression with the risks of COVID-19 related morbidity and mortality. Specific treatment adjustments for individual patients have not been widely reported. The impact of treatment changes on the outcome of cancer patients have also not been well documented. We report the experience of a large Australian metropolitan multisite cancer service that undertook proactive review of systemic anti-cancer therapy (SACT) of all patients in response to the pandemic. The aim was to re-balance the risks and benefits of current treatment strategies in light of the pandemic. Method From March-April 2020, all current SACT orders (excluding those related to clinical trials) were reviewed by an independent team of clinicians. Patients on curative therapy, or with large perceived benefit were reviewed but not included in further processing. For all other SACT orders, a documented recommendation regarding planned treatment was sent to the patient's individual clinician for consideration. A categorical assessment of the recommendations is presented. Results 570 SACT orders were reviewed, pertaining to 317 patients. 731 individual recommendations were made. The cohort consisted of 130 males and 187 females, with a median age of 62 years. Treatment was undertaken with curative intent in 38% of patients, while 62% of patients were treated with palliative intent. Distribution by tumour types was typical of epidemiology and casemix of a metropolitan oncology service. The most frequent recommendations made by the independent review team were: no change (23%), change in formulation of same drug (9%), shorten duration of treatment (9%), treatment break (8%), re-evaluate benefit of current treatment (8%), treatment cessation (7%), and referral for home-based treatment (6%). Overall, 71% of recommendations of the review team were accepted by the patient’s individual clinician. A variation to recommendations suggested by the review team was implemented for 8% of SACT orders. Recommendations which were not implemented were mostly initiated by the patient’s individual clinician (70%), while 14% were due to patient choice. Conclusion This is the only dataset known to date of the impact of COVID-19 on adjustments of SACT for cancer patients at the start of the pandemic in Australia, and provides key insights into discrete adjustments made for cancer patients. The majority of patients underwent modifications in their cancer therapy made in the context of competing risks to their health posed by COVID-19. Citation Format: Elizabeth Liow, Cameron McLaren, Samuel Tipping-Smith, Sarah Latham, Jun Beng Kong, Marissa Lam, Caroline Lum, Amy Body, Peter Briggs, Eva Segelov. Systemic anticancer treatment changes at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in a large Australian metropolitan health service [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Virtual Meeting: COVID-19 and Cancer; 2021 Feb 3-5. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2021;27(6_Suppl):Abstract nr P19.

Increasing international student enrollment has been a key priority for many institutions of higher education in the United States. Such recruitment efforts, however, are often carried out without much consideration for providing sufficient support services to these students once they arrive to campus. This article proposes a model for structuring an international student support office to be successful at serving the academic, social and cultural needs of international students through a collaborative programming and outreach model with student affairs and other support service units on campus., ISSN: 2162-3104 Print/ ISSN: 2166-3750 Online Volume 7, Issue 4 (2017), pp. 1080-1095 © Journal of International Students http://jistudents.org/ doi: 10.5281/zenodo.1035969

Chinese undergraduate enrollments grew at Michigan State University from 43 in the fall of 2005 to close to 4000 in the fall of 2014, representing an extraordinary increase of more than 80 times over 9 years. The purpose of this chapter is to tell the story of the issues MSU faced with the growth of the Chinese undergraduate enrollments and describe its responses from a variety of campus perspectives including international student services, central administration, admissions, residential life, academic departments, ESL services, mental health services, and community interactions.