Objectives/Goals: Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP1) use prior to bariatric surgery may represent a novel approach to treating obesity. The objectives of this study were to describe trends in pre-bariatric GLP1 use, investigate social and clinical factors associated with their use, and evaluate differences in clinical outcomes based on preoperative GLP1RA use. Methods/Study Population: Patients who underwent bariatric surgery at three Indiana hospitals from 2018 to 2023 were identified. Patients who utilized GLP1 in the year preceding surgery were compared to those who did not. Social determinants of health included insurance, income, and unemployment. Outcomes included rates of GLP1 use, 30-day postoperative readmissions, ED visits, and percent total weight lost (%TWL) at one year. Associations between preoperative GLP1 use and outcomes of interest were evaluated using multivariable logistic and linear regressions. Results/Anticipated Results: Of 2,169 patients who underwent surgery, 293 (13.5%) utilized GLP1 preoperatively. The rate of GLP1 utilization increased threefold from 2018 to 2023. Males were more likely to receive preoperative GLP1 (20.1% vs, 12.2%, p<0.001). There were no significant differences in social determinants of health or 30-day postoperative outcomes between patients who did and did not use GLP1RA preoperatively. Similarly, there were no significant differences in %TWL at one year postoperatively between groups (median 25.5% vs. 27.3%, coefficient: -0.78, 95%CI: -2.26–0.70). Discussion/Significance of Impact: Utilization of GLP1 in the year prior to bariatric surgery has significantly increased. Preoperative GLP1 use is not associated with worse 30-day outcomes or differences in %TWL at one year postoperatively. Further work is needed to evaluate whether GLP1 dosing and duration of treatment impact postoperative outcomes.

Decades of research has debated whether women first need to reach a “critical mass” in the legislature before they can effectively influence legislative outcomes. This study contributes to the debate using supervised tree-based machine learning to study the relationship between increasing variation in women's legislative representation and the allocation of government expenditures in three policy areas: education, healthcare, and defense. We find that women's representation predicts spending in all three areas. We also find evidence of critical mass effects as the relationships between women's representation and government spending are nonlinear. However, beyond critical mass, our research points to a potential critical mass interval or critical limit point in women's representation. We offer guidance on how these results can inform future research using standard parametric models.

Most of the existing literature on inclusion and exclusion among older adults focuses on community-dwelling individuals. In this article, we draw on the results of a comparative case study to explore how older adults in two assisted living settings experience inclusion and exclusion. One site was a low-income facility and the other a higher-end facility in a mid-sized Canadian city. Bridging together geographies of encounter and gerontological approaches on social inclusion, we analyse interviews with tenants and key informants to explore when, where and in what ways these groups experience inclusion and exclusion in these particular settings. Tenants’ narratives reveal how their encounters, and in turn their experiences of exclusion and inclusion are shaped by experiences throughout their lifecourse, the organisation of assisted living spaces, communities beyond the facility, and pervasive discourses of ageism and ‘dementiaism’. We argue that addressing experiences of exclusion for older adults within these settings involves making more time and space for positive encounters and addressing pervasive discourses around ageism and ‘dementiaism’ among tenants and staff.

Glaciological experiments have been carried out at Dôme du Goûter (4300 m a.s.l.), Mont Blanc, in order to understand the flow of firn/ice in this high-altitude Alpine glacierized area. Accumulation measurements from stakes show a very strong spatial variability and an unusual feature of mass-balance fluctuations for the Alps, i.e. the snow accumulation does not show any seasonal patterns. Measured vertical velocities which should match with long-term mean mass balance are consistent with observed accumulations. Therefore, the measurement of vertical velocities seems a good way of quickly obtaining reliable mean accumulation values for several decades in such a region.

A simple flow model can be used to determine the main flowlines of the glacier and to propose snow/ice age of core samples from the two boreholes drilled down tο the bedrock in June 1994. These results coincide with radioactivity measurements made to identify the well-known radioactive snow layers of 1963 and 1986. We can hope to obtain ice samples 55–60 years old about 20 or 30 m above the bedrock (110 m deep). Below, the deformation of the ice layers is loo great to be dated accurately.

A significant fraction (~ 30%) of the gamma-ray sources detected by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is still of unknown origin, being not yet associated with counterparts at lower energies. Many unidentified gamma-ray sources (UGSs) could be blazars, the largest identified population of extragalactic gamma-ray sources and the rarest class of active galactic nuclei. In particular, it has been found that blazars occupy a defined region in WISE three dimensional color space, well separated from that occupied by other sources in which thermal emission prevails. For farther sources with weaker IR emission, additional informations can be obtained combining WISE data with X-ray or radio emission. Alternatively, the low-frequency radio emission can be used for identifying potential gamma-ray candidate blazars. However, optical spectroscopic observations represent the tell-tale tool to confirm the exact nature of these sources. To this end, an extensive observational campaign has been performed with several optical telescopes, aimed at pinpointing the exact nature of gamma-ray candidate blazars selected with the different selection methods mentioned above. The results of this campaign lead to the discovery of 60 new gamma-ray blazars, thus confirming the effectiveness of these selection criteria.

This descriptive longitudinal study was conducted to investigate the faecal shedding of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) in finishing swine and to characterize the swine STEC isolates that were recovered. Three cohorts of finishing swine (n = 50/cohort; total 150 pigs) were included in the longitudinal study. Individual faecal samples were collected every 2 weeks (8 collections/pig) from the beginning (pig age 10 weeks) to the end (pig age 24 weeks) of the finishing period. STEC isolates were recovered in at least one sample from 65·3% (98/150) of the pigs, and the frequency distribution of first-time STEC detection during the finishing period resembled a point-source outbreak curve. Nineteen O:H serotypes were identified among the STEC isolates. Most STEC isolates (n = 148) belonged to serotype O59:H21 and carried the stx 2e gene. One O49:H21 STEC isolate carried the stx 2e and eae genes. High prevalence rates of STEC during the finishing period were observed, and STEC isolates in various non-O157 serogroups were recovered. These data enhance understanding of swine STEC epidemiology, and future research is needed to confirm whether or not swine STEC are of public health concern.

This paper examines the relationship between attitudes of filial responsibility and five different types of care-giving behaviours to parents among three cultural groups. It does so within an assessment of the relative importance of cultural versus structural factors for care-giving behaviours. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 100 Caucasian-Canadians, 90 Chinese-Canadians and 125 Hong Kong-Chinese. Multiple regression analyses assessed the association of cultural and structural factors with behaviours among the total sample and each of the three cultural groups. Limited support was found for an association between care-giving attitudes and care-giving behaviours. Attitudes are related to emotional support only among the two Chinese groups as well as to financial support among Chinese-Canadian respondents and to companionship among Hong Kong-Chinese respondents. Attitudes are not the strongest predictors and are unrelated to assistance with basic and instrumental activities of daily living. However, cultural group per se is a strong predictor of care-giving behaviours as are: parental ill health, living arrangements, and relationship quality. This study suggests gerontological assumptions about the role of societal norms and personal attitudes in parental care-giving should be questioned. It also suggests the need for further inquiry into unpacking those aspects of ‘cultural group’ that are related to behavioural differences, and the importance of examining multiple types of care-giving behaviours and of distinguishing task-oriented helping behaviour from other types of assistance.

This article reviews the international English-language literature on social support and caregiving in gerontology since the early 1990s. The literature has grown, but consensus on the terms’ meaning and measurement is lacking. Interest is ongoing in practical help, in benefits of social support, and in demands and negative outcomes for caregivers, with growing but less emphasis on more theoretical questions, on negative outcomes from the receipt of support, and on positive consequences of providing care. Nevertheless, social support is duly recognized as a social determinant of health and receiving attention at policy levels – both are significant shifts from two decades ago and add to the interest this area will receive from researchers in coming decades. There remain many unanswered questions regarding the changing societal context, but it is clear that the social support of others – throughout our lives including old age – will continue in the future, albeit in ever-changing forms.

This study retrospectively reviewed 183 cases of adenoid cystic carcinoma treated over 40 years. The local recurrence free survival rate was 68.2 per cent at five years and 40.8 per cent at 10 years. At 10 years, local recurrence free survival was significantly worse following radiotherapy alone (0 per cent), compared with surgery alone (41.8 per cent, p = 0.004) or combined with post-operative radiotherapy (43.5 per cent, p = 0.001). Neither tumour stage three or four, perineural invasion, solid subtype nor involved margins predicted local recurrence. Treatment with radiotherapy alone resulted in worse survival than surgery alone (p = 0.002) or combined with post-operative radiotherapy (p = 0.001). Survival rates following local recurrence (n = 34) were higher following surgery (p = 0.006) but not significantly improved following radiotherapy (p = 0.139). Chemotherapy for distant metastases did not prolong survival (p = 0.747) but did result in improved eating and aesthetics scores, while decreasing overall physical health. These results indicate that surgery is preferable for primary and recurrent adenoid cystic carcinoma of the head and neck. The incidence of local recurrence following surgery and postoperative radiotherapy was similar to surgery alone cases although the latter had less adverse prognostic features. Contemporary chemotherapy may benefit quality of life but not survival in patients with distant metastases due to adenoid cystic carcinoma of the head and neck.

Beckwith and Morris raise concerns about the value of twin studies for understanding the role of genetics in complex human behavior, but virtually all of their concerns have been raised and rebutted before. When it comes to the equal environments assumption (EEA), the best approach is to test for and control possible violations of the EEA on heritability estimates rather than merely rejecting all empirical evidence because of the possibility of EEA violations. In many respects, since the study of the genetic basis of complex human behaviors now includes many methods in addition to twin studies, Beckwith and Morris's critique applies more to the behavioral genetics of a quarter century ago than to today's multifaceted behavioral genetics. Twin studies establish that there is a sizeable genetic component to political orientations, thereby giving cause to look further at the nature of that role by using other methodologies, including molecular genetics. We conclude by pointing out that the normative implications of the relevance of genes to human behavior are not nearly as worrisome as Beckwith and Morris seem to believe.

In the past, most political scientists have been oblivious to the growing empirical evidence challenging environmental determinism. Professor Charney, apparently as a result of the fact that genes and the environment interact in a complex fashion, advocates that this passive unawareness be replaced by active denial. Science, however, does not advance by avoiding important relationships merely because they are complicated and, fortunately, science is not heeding Charney's ideologically-based fears. Molecular geneticists, often working in tandem with political scientists, are quickly moving beyond twin studies to identify the specific suites of genes and biological systems that predict variation in core political preferences, whatever labels those preferences might be given in a particular culture at a particular time. We sympathize with the fact that our empirical findings, like those of so many behavioral geneticists, make Charney uncomfortable; still, his critique serves up nothing new—empirically or otherwise. Just as analyses of the roots of sexual preferences cannot presumptively ignore genetics, neither can analyses of the roots of political preferences.

We test the possibility that political attitudes and behaviors are the result of both environmental and genetic factors. Employing standard methodological approaches in behavioral genetics—specifically, comparisons of the differential correlations of the attitudes of monozygotic twins and dizygotic twins—we analyze data drawn from a large sample of twins in the United States, supplemented with findings from twins in Australia. The results indicate that genetics plays an important role in shaping political attitudes and ideologies but a more modest role in forming party identification; as such, they call for finer distinctions in theorizing about the sources of political attitudes. We conclude by urging political scientists to incorporate genetic influences, specifically interactions between genetic heritability and social environment, into models of political attitude formation.

Up to now we have evidence for some 15 planets moving in double stars. They are all of the so-called S-type, which means that they are orbiting one of the primaries. Only two of the binaries have separations in the order of the distances where the planets in our Solar system orbit the Sun, namely Gliese 86 and ϒ Cep. In this study we investigate the stability of the recently discovered planet in ϒ Cep with respect to the orbital parameters of the binary and of the planet. Additionally we check the region inside and outside the planet’s orbit (a = 2.1 AU). Even when the mass of an additional planet in 1 AU would be in the order of that of Jupiter, the discovered planet would be in a stable orbit.

We report electron microscopy studies of nanoparticles ( 500 ≤ n ≤ 104, where n is the number of atoms in a given cluster) that are sputtered from the surface by high-energy ion impacts. Measurements of the sizes of these clusters yielded an inverse power-law distribution with an exponent of –2 that is independent of irradiating ion species and total sputtering yield. This inverse-square dependence indicates that these nanoclusters are produced when shock waves, generated by sub-surface displacement cascades, impact and ablate the surface. Such nanoparticles consist of simple fragments of the original surface, i.e., ones that have not undergone any large thermal excursion. As discussed below, this “ion ablation” technique should therefore be useful for synthesizing nanoparticles of a wide variety of alloy compositions and phases.

Candidate characteristics are often treated as a lump sum that can be pulled apart but ultimately sum together in models of candidate evaluation. The present study asks, first, whether distinctions among traits are useful for models of candidate evaluation. Second, it considers whether the role of substantive trait dimensions in overall evaluation is uniform across candidates or varies by candidate and electoral context. Latent variable structural equation models are used to test the impact of trait dimensions on thermometer ratings of presidential candidates from 1984 to 1996. Results support the separation of traits into substantive content dimensions. Trait dimensions vary in their effect on candidate evaluations depending on the candidate and election year. This is consistent with a model of attitude response based on changing considerations. These results suggest that as candidates and campaigns call attention to different underlying trait dimensions, the bases for overall evaluation vary accordingly.

Thymic epithelial cells are an important source of cytokines and other regulatory peptides which guide thymocyte proliferation and maturation. Parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP), a cytokine-like peptide, has been reported to affect the proliferation of lymphocytes in vitro. The studies presented here were undertaken to test the hypotheses that PTHrP is produced locally within the thymus where it could influence thymocyte maturation and, more specifically, that thymic epithelial cells (TEC) could be the intrathymic source of PTHrP expression. To this end, immunohistochemical studies were performed to localise PTHrP and the PTH/PTHrP receptor within the adult rat thymus. Antibodies directed against 2 different PTHrP epitopes, PTHrP(1–34) and PTHrP(34–53), demonstrated prominent specific PTHrP immunoreactivity in both subcapsular and medullary TEC. In addition, faint but specific staining for PTHrP was seen in the cortex, interdigitating between cortical lymphocytes while sparing epithelial-free subcapsular areas, thus suggesting that cortical TEC could also be a source of PTHrP immunoreactivity. In contrast, PTH/PTHrP receptor immunoreactivity was only seen in medullary and occasional septal TEC; no evidence of cortical or lymphocytic PTH/PTHrP receptor immunoreactivity was detected. Immunohistochemical studies of cultured cytokeratin-positive rat TEC confirmed the results of these in situ studies as cultured TEC were immunoreactive both for PTHrP and the PTH/PTHrP receptor. Thus these results demonstrate that PTHrP is produced by the epithelial cells of the mature rat thymus. This suggests that PTHrP, a peptide with known cytokine, growth factor and neuroendocrine actions, could exert important intrathymic effects mediated by direct interactions with TEC, or indirect effects on PTH/PTHrP receptor-negative thymocytes.

The persistence hypothesis holds that core political predispositions tend to be highly stable through the life span. It has rarely been tested directly, given the scarcity of long-term, large-sample longitudinal studies. We address it using the Terman longitudinal study, in which the party identification and ideology of 1,272 respondents were measured on four occasions between 1940 and 1977, from roughly age 30 to retirement age. These partisan attitudes were highly stable over this long period, yielding continuity coefficients of about.80 between each measurement (separated by at least 10 years), and.65 for the full 37-year span. Examination of the trajectories of individual attitudes reveals that the most common pattern was constancy across time. A substantial minority changed in small but consistent ways, but changes from one partisan side to the other were not very common. Surprisingly, early-life racial attitudes had a resurgent effect on partisan attitudes in the 1970s. There was evidence of increasing attitude crystallization through the life span, infusing core predispositions with increasing psychological strength over time. Limitations of the study include the high intelligence of the respondents and the “steady state” of the party system through most of this period.