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While urban green infrastructure has a great importance with regard to the urban climate, human welfare and well-being due to the positive impact of ecosystem services, it also offers opportunities to practice democracy. The quality of a green infrastructure development process depends on the quality of the partnership between the many stakeholders. Municipalities have a permanent task and a role to play in building partnerships. Landscape architects often go beyond their engineering tasks to give priority to their professional vocations in public involvement processes. In our research, we examine the roles and responsibilities of these main stakeholder groups.

We describe two new species of Salvia from the Antillean dry forests, belonging to Salvia section Urbania. These species’ names honor two Latin American botanists who have advanced our understanding either of the Dominican flora or the mint family (Lamiaceae). Salvia claseana is found in the Sierra Martín García. It resembles S. calaminthifolia but differs in having strigose stems, rhombic to trullate leaves with a cuneate, decurrent base, and larger flowers. Salvia martineziana inhabits the Sierra de Bahoruco. It resembles Salvia brachyphylla but differs in having strigose stems with retrorse trichomes and flowers disposed in the axils of the distal leaves. We provide descriptions, photographs, a distribution map and an identification key for the species of Salvia section Urbania from the Dominican Republic. Additionally, we sequenced three molecular markers (nrITS, trnL-trnF, and trnH-psbA) for the new taxa and other Dominican and Haitian Salvia species to investigate their phylogenetic relationships.

In dialogue with science education and learning sciences research, in this article we develop a disciplinary-specific view on youth and community agency for community-based technology education. Cultivating agency is a central principle in our design and empirical study of the Young People's Race, Power, and Technology Program (YPRPT), a program designed to engage youth in critical inquiry about the technologies impacting their local communities. In this article, drawing from our multiyear partnership with a community-based youth organization, we examine how agency was supported and constrained as a function of the practices we engaged in as a research team committed to participatory and justice-centered education. Our findings illustrate ways that the emergence and enactment of agency, at both individual and community levels, works to interrupt, subvert, and creatively "jam" systems of power. We argue that cultivating agency in community-driven science and technology learning requires an honest reckoning with the deeply entrenched racial and economic oppression in the United States. We contend that it is equally essential to commit to learning from, co-designing with, and working in solidarity alongside the youth and communities that are most impacted by technologies that mediate our experiences--toward unveiling, resisting, and reimagining their powerful roles in our collective lives.

Background Cardiovascular disease has declined but remains a major disease burden across developed countries. Objective To assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of statin therapy across United Kingdom population categories. Design The cardiovascular disease microsimulation model, developed using Cholesterol Treatment Trialists’ Collaboration data and the United Kingdom Biobank cohort, projected cardiovascular events, mortality, quality of life and healthcare costs using participant characteristics. Setting United Kingdom primary health care. Participants A total of 117,896 participants in 16 statin trials in the Cholesterol Treatment Trialists’ Collaboration; 501,854 United Kingdom Biobank participants by previous cardiovascular disease status, sex, age (40–49, 50–59 and 60–70 years), 10-year cardiovascular disease risk [QRISK®3 (%):

Abstract Leveraging high performance computing, remote sensing, geographic data science, machine learning, and computer vision, Oak Ridge National Laboratory has partnered with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to build a baseline structure inventory covering the US and its territories to support disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. The dataset contains more than 125 million structures with critical attribution, and is ready to be used by federal agencies, local government and first responders to accelerate on-the-ground response to disasters, further identify vulnerable areas, and develop strategies to enhance the resilience of critical structures and communities. Data can be freely and openly accessed through Figshare data repository, ESRI’s Living Atlas or FEMA’s Geodata platform.

Abstract Background Between 2020 and 2022, eight calves in a Nebraska herd (composite Simmental, Red Angus, Gelbvieh) displayed exercise intolerance during forced activity. In some cases, the calves collapsed and did not recover. Available sire pedigrees contained a paternal ancestor within 2–4 generations in all affected calves. Pedigrees of the calves’ dams were unavailable, however, the cows were ranch-raised and retained from prior breeding seasons, where bulls used for breeding occasionally had a common ancestor. Therefore, it was hypothesized that a de novo autosomal recessive variant was causative of exercise intolerance in these calves. Results A genome-wide association analysis utilizing SNP data from 6 affected calves and 715 herd mates, followed by whole-genome sequencing of 2 affected calves led to the identification of a variant in the gene PYGM (BTA29:g.42989581G > A). The variant, confirmed to be present in the skeletal muscle transcriptome, was predicted to produce a premature stop codon (p.Arg650*). The protein product of PYGM, myophosphorylase, breaks down glycogen in skeletal muscle. Glycogen concentrations were fluorometrically assayed as glucose residues demonstrating significantly elevated glycogen concentrations in affected calves compared to cattle carrying the variant and to wild-type controls. The absence of the PYGM protein product in skeletal muscle was confirmed by immunohistochemistry and label-free quantitative proteomics analysis; muscle degeneration was confirmed in biopsy and necropsy samples. Elevated skeletal muscle glycogen persisted after harvest, resulting in a high pH and dark-cutting beef, which is negatively perceived by consumers and results in an economic loss to the industry. Carriers of the variant did not exhibit differences in meat quality or any measures of animal well-being. Conclusions Myophosphorylase deficiency poses welfare concerns for affected animals and negatively impacts the final product. The association of the recessive genotype with dark-cutting beef further demonstrates the importance of genetics to not only animal health but to the quality of their product. Although cattle heterozygous for the variant may not immediately affect the beef industry, identifying carriers will enable selection and breeding strategies to prevent the production of affected calves.

Abstract Objectives B cells are important in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis. It is yet unknown which subsets may be involved, but atypical B cells have been proposed as mediators of autoimmunity. In this study, we investigated differences in B‐cell subsets between controls and patients with untreated and anti‐CD20‐treated multiple sclerosis. Methods We recruited 155 participants for an exploratory cohort comprising peripheral blood and cerebrospinal fluid, and a validation cohort comprising peripheral blood. Flow cytometry was used to characterize B‐cell phenotypes and effector functions of CD11c+ atypical B cells. Results There were no differences in circulating B cells between controls and untreated multiple sclerosis. As expected, anti‐CD20‐treated patients had a markedly lower B‐cell count. Of B cells remaining after treatment, we observed higher proportions of CD11c+ B cells and plasmablasts. CD11c+ B cells were expanded in cerebrospinal fluid compared to peripheral blood in controls and untreated multiple sclerosis. Surprisingly, the proportion of CD11c+ cerebrospinal fluid B cells was higher in controls and after anti‐CD20 therapy than in untreated multiple sclerosis. Apart from the presence of plasmablasts, the cerebrospinal fluid B‐cell composition after anti‐CD20 therapy resembled that of controls. CD11c+ B cells demonstrated a high potential for both proinflammatory and regulatory cytokine production. Interpretation The study demonstrates that CD11c+ B cells and plasmablasts are less efficiently depleted by anti‐CD20 therapy, and that CD11c+ B cells comprise a phenotypically and functionally distinct, albeit heterogenous, B‐cell subset with the capacity of exerting both proinflammatory and regulatory functions.

Abstract Bimetallic nickel‐iron based oxides are regarded as one of the most promising catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). In this study, we show that the precursor metal salts can affect the OER activity of the resulting Ni/Fe oxide under the same hydrothermal synthesis conditions. Pure sulfate, pure nitrate and mixed sulfate/nitrate metal salts were used to fabricate NiFe based oxide materials and to study the importance of the precursor choice for the OER. The results show that the nature of the precursor used in the synthesis of the bimetallic nickel‐iron materials can influence different multi‐phase catalysts to form which effects the OER.

Purpose: Intravascular tumor emboli in axillary soft tissue (ITE) is a rare pathologic finding in breast cancer and is associated with higher axillary nodal disease burden. The independent prognostic and predictive value of this entity is unknown, as is the role of radiation therapy for ITE. Methods and Materials: We analyzed a prospectively maintained database of breast cancer patients treated from 1992 to 2020. Patients with ITE were matched to those without (1:2) based on propensity scores to control for potential confounding factors. Locoregional (LRR) and distant recurrence (DR) were evaluated using competing risks methods accounting for death as a competing event. Overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were evaluated by Cox regression models. Among patients with ITE, we also evaluated whether RT improved outcomes. Results: Among 2377 total patients, 129 had ITE, of whom 126 were propensity score matched to 252 without ITE. Median follow-up from time of surgery was 5.5 years (IQR 2.3, 9.7). There were no statistically significant differences in the 5-year incidence of LRR between groups (5.4% [95% CI, 1.6%-13%] with ITE vs 10% [95% CI, 6.7%-15%] without, P = .53) or DR (24% [95% CI, 15% 35%] with ITE vs 21% [95% CI, 16%-27%] without, P = .51). Five-year OS and DFS did not differ between groups (P > .9 for both comparisons, patients with ITE vs without ITE). In analyzing the effect of RT among patients with ITE, receipt of RT was associated with significantly improved DFS (HR, 0.34, 95% CI, 0.12-0.93, P = .04). Conclusions: Patients with ITE do not exhibit significantly worse LRR, DR, DFS, or OS compared with a propensity-score-matched cohort without ITE. However, among patients with ITE, those who received RT demonstrated significantly improved DFS. Larger studies with longer follow-up are needed to evaluate the prognostic and predictive implications of ITE.