Otolaryngology

 Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology

Neural Switch Asymmetry in Feature-Based Auditory Attention Tasks

Abstract Active listening involves dynamically switching attention between competing talkers and is essential to following conversations in everyday environments. Previous investigations in human listeners have examined the neural mechanisms that support switching auditory attention within the acoustic featural cues of pitch and auditory space. Here, we explored the cortical circuitry underlying endogenous switching of auditory attention between pitch and spatial cues necessary...

Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology

18h

Mark above section as read

 Otorhinolaryngology

Hypereosinophilic syndrome presenting with bilateral ear fullness

Publication date: Available online 23 January 2019Source: European Annals of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck DiseasesAuthor(s): H.J. Jung, G.H. Yu, J.H. ParkAbstractIntroductionHypereosinophilic syndrome is a rare disease with hypereosinophilia resulting in end-organ dysfunction. Patients present with organ-associated symptoms, and the targets frequently affected are heart, lung, skin, or the nervous system, and the middle ear involvement is rare.Case reportA 30-year-old female with left ear fullness...

Otorhinolaryngology

1d

Mark above section as read

 Case Reports in Otolaryngology

A Rare Presentation of Inflammatory Myofibroblastic Tumor in the Nasolabial Fold

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (IMT) is a benign lesion that occurs most frequently in the soft tissues and viscera. In the head and neck region, the tumor has been reported to occur in the orbit, tongue, nasopharynx, larynx, and paranasal sinuses and the central nervous system. Despite being a benign lesion, it exhibits infiltrative and destructive behaviours, making histopathological examination necessary to confirm the diagnosis. We report the case of a 38-year-old female presented with a...

Case Reports in Otolaryngology

1d

Mark above section as read

 Clinical Otolaryngology

Comparing Gelfoam vs. fat as a sealing material in stapedotomy; A prospective double blind randomized clinical trial

Abstract Objectives One research aspect of stapes surgery is various materials that are used to seal the oval window. Several materials are used to seal the oval window, for example; adipose tissue, perichondrium, vein graft, gelatin sponge (Gelfoam), blood clot, and soft connective tissue. Up to now, there has been no randomized clinical trial that has evaluated the effects of different types of sealing material on hearing outcomes after stapedotomy. Hence, the present study aimed to find out...

Clinical Otolaryngology

3h

Our experience of shorter stay and lower cost for local versus general anaesthetic placement of tracheoesphageal fistulae in 27 patients

Abstract Secondary trache‐oesophageal puncture and fistula formation is often undertaken after laryngectomy to restore voice. The procedure was historically carried out under general anaesthesia (GA). This has been largely supplanted by local anaesthetic (LA) techniques as GA puts patients at a greater risk and the procedure is a more technically difficult undertaking. LA techniques have, however, never been validated against GA techniques in terms of length of stay, cost and complication rates....

Clinical Otolaryngology

1d

Recurrent Bell's palsy

Abstract Objective Although recurrent facial palsy was first reported in 1871, the etiology, definitions, classifications, pathogenesis, treatment options, and prognosis have not been clearly determined. There have been no systematic reviews and meta‐analyses of recurrent Bell's palsy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical manifestations of recurrent Bell's palsy through a systematic review and meta‐analysis. Design The SCOPUS, PubMed, Cochrane Library, and EBSCO databases...

Clinical Otolaryngology

1d

Validation of french versions of the facial disability index (fdi) and the facial clinimetric evaluation (face) scale, specific quality of life scales for peripheral facial palsy patients

Abstract Objectives To translate and validate French versions of two health‐related quality of life questionnaires for patients with peripheral facial palsy: Facial Disability Index (FDI) and Facial Clinimetric Evaluation (FaCE) scale. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting University tertiary referral center. Participants A pilot test was performed on 10 subjects (5 patients with facial palsy of more than 1‐month duration and 5 normal subjects), then 67 adult patients with...

Clinical Otolaryngology

1d

Mark above section as read

 American Journal of Otolaryngology

Management of jugular bulb injury during drilling of the internal auditory canal (ICA) for vestibular schwannoma surgery

Publication date: Available online 24 January 2019Source: American Journal of OtolaryngologyAuthor(s): Sajjad Muhammad, Martin Lehecka, Saku T. Sinkkonen, Mika NiemeläAbstractThe retrosigmoid approach for vestibular schwannoma surgery has remained the standard approach by most neurosurgeons. Drilling the posterior wall of the internal auditory meatus (IAM) is an essential step in removing the intrameatal tumor. During IAM drilling, three anatomical structures can be encountered, including the posterior...

American Journal of Otolaryngology

4h

Impact of allergic rhinitis on quality of life after powered intracapsular tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy

Publication date: Available online 22 January 2019Source: American Journal of OtolaryngologyAuthor(s): Su Jin Kim, Ho Yun Lee, Jung Wook Kang, Oh. Eun Kwon, Kun Hee LeeAbstractBackgroundAllergic rhinitis (AR) has been reported to worsen quality of life (QoL) after adenotonsillectomy. Although powered intracapsular tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy (PITA) has been widely performed, it is not clear whether comorbid AR may worsen QoL in patients who undergo PITA.PurposeTo evaluate QoL after PITA in relation...

American Journal of Otolaryngology

1d

Mark above section as read

 Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology

A cross-sectional evaluation of outcomes of pediatric branchial cleft cyst excision

Publication date: Available online 23 January 2019Source: International Journal of Pediatric OtorhinolaryngologyAuthor(s): Jillian Mattioni, Sarah Azari, Travis Hoover, Daniel Weaver, Sri Kiran ChennupatiAbstractObjectiveTo examine complications following pediatric branchial cleft cyst excision by surgical specialty, demographics, and comorbid conditions.MethodsA retrospective review of the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database was performed. Pediatric cases from January 1, 2015...

Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology

1d

Acute otitis media in infants younger than two months of age: Epidemiologic and microbiologic characteristics in the era of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines

Publication date: Available online 23 January 2019Source: International Journal of Pediatric OtorhinolaryngologyAuthor(s): Oren Ziv, Mordechai Kraus, Racheli Holcberg, Anat Bahat Dinur, Sofia Kordeluk, Dan Kaplan, Hadar Naidorf Rosenblatt, Shalom Ben-Shimol, David Greenberg, Eugene LeibovitzAbstractObjectivesTo evaluate the epidemiology, microbiology, Streptococcus pneumoniae serotypes distribution and serious bacterial infections (SBIs) occurrence in infants <2 months of age with tympanocentesis-documented...

Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology

1d

Metastatic Cellular Neurothekeoma in Childhood

Publication date: Available online 22 January 2019Source: International Journal of Pediatric OtorhinolaryngologyAuthor(s): Kaitlyn Zenner, John Dahl, Gail Deutsch, Erin Rudzinski, Randall Bly, Jonathan A. Perkins

Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology

1d

Endoscopic Arytenoid Abduction Lateropexy for the treatment of Neonatal Bilateral Vocal Cord Paralysis – long-term results

Publication date: Available online 22 January 2019Source: International Journal of Pediatric OtorhinolaryngologyAuthor(s): Balázs Sztanó, Ádám Bach, Vera Matievics, Eszter Erdélyi, Ilona Szegesdi, Christopher T. Wootten, László RovóABSTRACTOBJECTIVESBilateral vocal cord paralysis often causes severe dyspnea requiring an early airway intervention in neonates. Endoscopic arytenoid abduction lateropexy (EAAL) with suture is a quick, reversible, minimally-invasive vocal cord lateralizing technique to...

Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology

1d

Prospective analysis of mid-facial fractures in a single-center pediatric-adolescent cohort

Publication date: Available online 22 January 2019Source: International Journal of Pediatric OtorhinolaryngologyAuthor(s): Waldemar Reich, Oliver Aust, Alexander EckertAbstractBackgroundThe complex architecture of the midface renders diagnosing and treating fractures challenging, especially for young patients who present the additional risk of suffering growth and development deficiencies, which is to be avoided at all costs.ObjectivesThis study sought to characterize pediatric mid-facial fractures...

Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology

1d

Mark above section as read

 Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery

Open anterior skull base surgery in the pediatric population: anatomy, approaches, and considerations

Publication date: Available online 24 January 2019Source: Operative Techniques in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck SurgeryAuthor(s): Tristan Tham, Peter CostantinoThe objectives of this paper are to synthesize the existing literature on open approaches to the anterior skull base in children. First, we review the developmental anatomy of the anterior skull base. Next, we describe the most commonly used open approaches to the anterior skull base and other adjunctive procedures. Lastly, we review the reconstructive...

Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery

5h

Surgical management of nasal dermoid lesions

Publication date: Available online 23 January 2019Source: Operative Techniques in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck SurgeryAuthor(s): Craig Miller, Scott Manning, Randall BlyNasal dermoids are the most common congenital midline nasal lesions. They often present as a midline pit or nasal mass and arise from incomplete or failed regression of the dural diverticulum during embryogenesis. Management requires complete resection of the tract and an appropriate surgical approach is based on location, extent,...

Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery

1d

Introduction

Publication date: Available online 23 January 2019Source: Operative Techniques in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck SurgeryAuthor(s): Meghan N. Wilson

Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery

1d

European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology

The European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino

Decreased Treg-derived miR-181a and miR-155 correlated with reduced number and function of Treg cells in allergic rhinitis children.

Decreased Treg-derived miR-181a and miR-155 correlated with reduced number and function of Treg cells in allergic rhinitis children. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2019 Jan 23;: Authors: Liu W, Ouyang H, Zeng Q, Luo R, Lu G Abstract BACKGROUND: Regulatory cells (Tregs) have been proved to be deeply involved in allergic airway inflammation. This study aims to evaluate the expression of miRNA in children with AR and their association with Tregs as well as...

http://link.springer.com/journal/405,European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology,The European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino

2h

Salvage surgery for advanced stage head and neck squamous cell carcinoma following radiotherapy or chemoradiation.

Salvage surgery for advanced stage head and neck squamous cell carcinoma following radiotherapy or chemoradiation. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2019 Jan 23;: Authors: Elbers JBW, Veldhuis LI, Bhairosing PA, Smeele LE, Jóźwiak K, van den Brekel MWM, Verheij M, Al-Mamgani A, Zuur CL Abstract PURPOSE: Salvage surgery for recurrent advanced stage head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is known to result in poor prognosis. As there are only small and...

http://link.springer.com/journal/405,European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology,The European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino

2h

Acute invasive fungal rhinosinusitis: our 2 year experience and outcome analysis.

Related ArticlesAcute invasive fungal rhinosinusitis: our 2 year experience and outcome analysis. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2019 Jan 22;: Authors: Shanbag R, Rajan NR, Kumar A Abstract PURPOSE: The incidence of Acute invasive fungal rhinosinusitis (AIFRS) is on the rise considering the multitude of comorbidities present in a single patient.The delay in suspecting the fungal etiology, presentation of the patient for an Otorhinolaryngology consult and...

http://link.springer.com/journal/405,European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology,The European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino

2h

Is intensity-modulated radiotherapy superior to conventional techniques to prevent late ear complications of nasopharyngeal cancer?

Related ArticlesIs intensity-modulated radiotherapy superior to conventional techniques to prevent late ear complications of nasopharyngeal cancer? Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2019 Jan 22;: Authors: Ant A, Yazici Ö, Atabey P, Aslan FF, Duran A, Ozlugedik S, Kemaloglu YK Abstract PURPOSE: This study analyzed the late ear complications of radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) and compared the conventional and intensity-modulated radiotherapy (2D-RT...

http://link.springer.com/journal/405,European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology,The European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino

2h

Outcomes of salvage surgery for the oropharynx and larynx: a contemporary experience in a UK Cancer Centre.

Related ArticlesOutcomes of salvage surgery for the oropharynx and larynx: a contemporary experience in a UK Cancer Centre. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2019 Jan 21;: Authors: Hay A, Simo R, Hall G, Tharavai S, Oakley R, Fry A, Cascarini L, Lei M, Guerro-Urbano T, Jeannon JP Abstract INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study was to review our recent experience of salvage surgery, comparing larynx and oropharynx recurrence patterns. METHODS: A single...

http://link.springer.com/journal/405,European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology,The European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino

1d

Correlation between the duration of locoregional control and survival in T1-T2 oropharyngeal cancer patients.

Related ArticlesCorrelation between the duration of locoregional control and survival in T1-T2 oropharyngeal cancer patients. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2019 Jan 21;: Authors: Caula A, Boukhris M, Guerlain J, Tao Y, Breuskin I, Mirghani H, Temam S, Gorphe P Abstract PURPOSE: To investigate the correlation between the time to locoregional recurrence and survival in T1-T2 oropharyngeal squamous-cell carcinoma (OPSCC) patients. METHODS: A retrospective,...

http://link.springer.com/journal/405,European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology,The European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino

1d

Effects of treatment on anxiety levels among patients with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.

Related ArticlesEffects of treatment on anxiety levels among patients with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2019 Jan 21;: Authors: Gunes A, Yuzbasioglu Y Abstract PURPOSE: The association of vertigo with anxiety disorders is well known. Herein, we aimed to determine the relationship between pre-treatment and post-treatment anxiety levels, assessed with Beck anxiety inventory, with educational status among patients diagnosed...

http://link.springer.com/journal/405,European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology,The European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino

1d

The Laryngoscope

 The Laryngoscope

Establishment and verification of a mouse model of nasal wound healing

Objectives Poor wound healing as reflected by the development of synechia and osteitis after endoscopic sinus surgery may trigger disease recurrence. Animal models provide insights into the pathogenesis of poor wound healing and may aid in the development of new therapeutics. Here, we established a mouse model of nasal wound healing and confirmed its utility. Study Design Animal study. Methods Unilateral intranasal wounds were induced using a small interdental brush in 6‐week‐old C57BL/6...

The Laryngoscope

4h

Taste disorders are partly genetically determined: Role of the TAS2R38 gene, a pilot study

Objectives/Hypothesis Taste sensitivity varies greatly among individuals influencing eating behavior and health, consequently the disorders of this sense can affect the quality of life. The ability to perceive the bitter of thiourea compounds, such as phenylthiocarbamide (PTC), has been largely reported as a marker of the general taste sensitivity, food preferences, and health. PTC sensitivity is mediated by the TAS2R38 receptor and its genetic common variants. We study the role of the TAS2R38 receptor...

The Laryngoscope

4h

Somatosensory evoked potential: Preventing brachial plexus injury in transaxillary robotic surgery

Objectives/Hypothesis The potential for brachial plexopathy due to arm positioning is a major concern regarding the robotic transaxillary approach. Intraoperative nerve monitoring via somatosensory evoked potential (SSEP) has been suggested to prevent such injury. In this study, we examined the use of SSEP in detecting imminent brachial plexus traction during robotic transaxillary thyroid and parathyroid surgery. Study Design Retrospective case series. Methods A analysis was performed...

The Laryngoscope

1d

Comparative Assessment of Drug‐Induced Sleep Endoscopy Scoring Systems in Pediatric Sleep Apnea

Objectives/Hypothesis A wide variety of drug‐induced sleep endoscopy (DISE) scoring systems has been used to evaluate sites of upper airway obstruction in children and adults; however, a universally accepted DISE scoring system dedicated to children has not been developed. We evaluated the utility of DISE scoring systems in the assessment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) using a single cohort of pediatric patients. Study Design Retrospective chart review. Methods The medical records...

The Laryngoscope

1d

Pediatric dysphagia: Is interarytenoid mucosal height significant?

Objectives The clinical significance of the interarytenoid mucosal height (IAMH) in pediatric dysphagia, ranging from normal anatomy to a laryngeal cleft, is unknown. This study seeks to evaluate a cohort of patients who underwent evaluation of their IAMH during microdirect laryngoscopy (MDL) for associations between IAMH and dysphagia as diagnosed on preoperative videofluoroscopic swallow study (VFSS). Methods A retrospective case series of 1,351 patients who underwent MDL between 2011 and...

The Laryngoscope

1d

Validation of the Chinese Velopharyngeal Insufficiency Effects on Life Outcomes Instrument

Objectives/Hypothesis To translate the Velopharyngeal Insufficiency Effects on Life Outcomes (VELO) instrument into Chinese and test its psychometric properties. Study Design Quality of life instrument translation and validation. Methods The original English version of the VELO instrument was translated into Mandarin, back‐translated, and adapted among the Chinese population, based on the standardized guidelines for the cross‐culture adaption process. Velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI)...

The Laryngoscope

1d

KFC: Mission Accomplished on Antibiotics

from Climate Change Skeptic Blogs via hj on Inoreader https://on.nrdc.org/2RbTkNO

A history of Dr. Ben Santer and his IPCC “trick”

Guest Opinion: Dr. Tim Ball I will not apologize for my outrage at being lectured to about my moral obligations concerning climate change from the likes of Benjamin Santer, from his position at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Ironically, and sadly, he is right that we need to address climate change, but for the wrong…

from Climate Change Skeptic Blogs via hj on Inoreader http://bit.ly/2FWpUBi

STEPHEN GLOVER: We’re sitting on a gold mine. Yet ignorant politicians risk the lights going out on our country

By Paul Homewood

 

 

An eminently sensible piece by Stephen Glover today:

 

Almost everyone I know is against fracking. Not that many of them understand much about it. But this doesn't prevent them from pursing their lips and shaking their heads while looking solemn and generally disapproving whenever the subject is raised.

What about the United States, I sometimes ask, where fracking on a massive scale has made the country much less reliant on expensive imports of oil and gas? America has vast unpopulated areas, they reply. Britain is a crowded island. They may then add that fracking — which involves extracting gas from underground rocks by injecting high-pressure chemicals — causes earthquakes and ruins the countryside.

It is because of views like these that fracking in the UK has barely got going despite there being enormous reserves of potentially recoverable shale gas, which if extracted would greatly improve our chances of keeping the lights on and the wheels of the economy turning.

Labour is against fracking. As are the Lib Dems. So is the SNP government in Scotland, which has banned all exploration north of the border. Opinion polls suggest a majority of the public is against. And of course every environmentalist you care to mention thinks fracking is the work of the Devil.

As for the Conservative Government, although supposedly pro-fracking, it proceeds cautiously, and seldom defends the practice. I can't recall the underwhelming Greg Clark, Business Secretary and the Minister with overall responsibility, ever singing its praises.

The Government's greatest terror is that the process might cause earthquakes. In 2011, shale gas test-drilling triggered tremors in Lancashire, and fracking was banned for a time.

So it's no surprise that Mr Clark's department is apparently ignoring the conclusion of two advisers in the government's Oil and Gas Authority that the existing low limit on tremors caused by fracking be raised because the risk of harm is 'vanishingly small'.

All in all, it is hard to find anyone in public life who will speak up for fracking, excepting Natascha Engel, the former Labour MP for North East Derbyshire, who was appointed Commissioner for Shale Gas last autumn by the Government. She recently told the Mail that fracking, if safely and sensibly pursued, could create tens of thousands of jobs, and provide Britain's energy needs for 50 years.

But hers, so far, is a rare voice in a dispute where the naysayers and doom-mongers make nearly all the running and create most of the noise, confident that they have the unthinking support of millions of people, most of whom — let's be honest — don't know much about fracking.

It's a roaring shame we can't have a reasoned debate. Consider this: on Tuesday, which was unpleasantly cold, the National Grid could supply enough power only by relying on energy produced by the coal-fired power stations that environmentalists hate (13 per cent of the total) and on imported electricity from France and Holland (five per cent).

Because there was very little wind on Tuesday, less than three per cent of our energy was supplied by off-shore and on-shore turbines. That's the trouble with wind power. When demand is high, as it is bound to be in cold weather, all the wind turbines in the world won't help if there isn't even a gentle breeze.

Isn't it a bit alarming that in a country of around 65 million people, which is the fifth or sixth biggest economy in the world, the National Grid can only keep the show on the road by cranking up coal power stations and depending on imported electricity?

It wouldn't take much to go wrong — a ruptured pipeline carrying gas from Norway or Europe, or a tanker carrying the stuff to our shores running aground — for us to discover there isn't any spare capacity in the system, and for everything to go kaput.

Looking to the future, plenty of people believe the danger of shortages is likely to increase. Britain's coal-fired power plants will all be shut down by the mid-2020s. Several have already been closed under EU anti-pollution rules.

Meanwhile, the country's ageing nuclear power stations, which provide 21 per cent of current power supplies, are expected to be de-commissioned by the 2030s. But the replacement programme has been severely dented by the recent decision of two Japanese companies to pull out of building two nuclear power stations with state-of-the-art reactors in Cumbria and on Anglesey.

With the £20 billion Chinese-financed Hinkley Point now the only new nuclear reactor being built, it seems possible, if not probable, that, in 15 years' time, nuclear power stations will supply a smaller proportion of our energy needs than they do at present.

In short, as coal-fired power stations are certain to be cashiered, and nuclear power seems likely to be curtailed, there is a looming energy gap which new off-shore turbines can't be guaranteed to fill because the wind does not always blow.

Nor would it be sensible to make up the impending shortfall by importing more gas from Russia. It would be foolhardy to put ourselves at the mercy of a hostile regime. That is the perilous path down which Germany has recklessly gone — 20 per cent of its energy needs are supplied by Moscow — and we would be mad to follow suit.

How easy it is for virtue-signalling or ignorant politicians to condemn fracking without giving any thought to the consequences in ten or 20 years' time, or indeed for the thousands of new jobs, often in depressed areas of northern England, which it might create.

 

Read the full story here.

from Climate Change Skeptic Blogs via hj on Inoreader http://bit.ly/2RJSQ6M

[ASAP] Understanding Shuttling Effect in Sodium Ion Batteries for the Solution of Capacity Fading: FeS2 as an Example

The Journal of Physical Chemistry C

DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.8b11069

from Journals via hj on Inoreader http://bit.ly/2R9ifla

[ASAP] Dinuclear Organoruthenium Complexes Exhibiting Antiproliferative Activity through DNA Damage and a Reactive-Oxygen-Species-Mediated Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Pathway

Inorganic Chemistry

DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.8b03447

from Journals via hj on Inoreader http://bit.ly/2RaSJfp

Preparation of Membrane-Mimicking Lamellar Structures by Molecular Confinement of Hybrid Nanocomposites

Chem. Commun., 2019, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C8CC09399G, Communication

David Vrbata, Vladimir Dordovic, Jani Seitsonen, Janne Ruokolainen, Olga Janoušková, Mariusz Uchman, Pavel Matejicek
Hybrid nanocomposites are multiphase systems with a wide range of applications. Some nanocomposites are water insoluble thereby preventing several applications. Thus, we prepared telechelic PEO with glucose molecules to form...
The content of this RSS Feed (c) The Royal Society of Chemistry

from Journals via hj on Inoreader https://rsc.li/2TbIp8H

Female Claims 0s and 1s Are Patriarchal, Biased

Men swim in idiocy, and always have. It is only when a culture enters its declining phase that it becomes incurably decadent. Decadence can last some time, but not forever. Perhaps the article "Aristotle's binary philosophies created today's AI bias" by some female at Quartz, a once-respected magazine, signals we are entering the latter stages of decadence.

The female first notices that computers are largely based on binary numbers. "Don't be fooled, though," she says, "These 0s and 1s don't mean that the machine understands the world and languages like we do." Machines, of course, don't understand the world, or anything, at all. There is as much understanding in a computer as there is in your can opener.

Binary reduces everything to meaningless 0s and 1s, when life and intelligence operates XY in tandem. It makes it more convenient, efficient, and cost-effective for machines to read and process quantitative data, but it does this at the expense of the nuances, richness, context, dimensions, and dynamics in our languages, cultures, values, and experiences.

But we shouldn't bemoan Silicon Valley developers for the biased binary system—we should blame Aristotle.

I remind readers that Aristotle was a white man.

The female writer said Aristotle, the big meanie, "socially engineered a hierarchical patriarchy and divisive polarity that was rooted in his internal values and biases against others: The items he ordained to have more worth became 1s, and those of lesser importance 0s." Of course, her internal values and biases that she seeks to impose on us are better because she is a non-male.

Alas, Aristotle's hierarchical classification system got implemented into AI, load-weighting in favor of men like him. The very system on which all modern technology is built contains the artefacts of sexism from 2,000 years ago.

It appears 1s are superior because they are associated maleness, and 0s inferior because they are associated with femaleness. It did not occur to the female writer to swap the labels and thereby solve the problem.

She continues:

If Aristotle had created democracy—and democracy is meant to be about true representation—women and people of color should have had equal access to education, voices in the forums, and the right to vote back in 350 BC. There'd have been no need to fight until 1920 for the female vote to be ratified in the US. There'd have been no slavery …

Aristotle loathed democracy, understanding it as a corruption in the body politic that always gave rise to tyranny, as anybody who has actually read him would know. He disliked it a least for the reason that females writers like ours would have a vote.

Yet she says "Aristotle's biased [binary] ranking is now being looped and reinforced by more than 15 million engineers, without them being aware of its binary and undemocratic origins."

It should be noted that successful software projects, even open-source ones, are not democratic.

Our female writer moves from disparaging the sexism of Aristotle to that evinced by Descartes, whose mistake was to "put Aristotle's lines of syllogistic logic into a tree structure. These tree structures are now used in NLP's (Natural Language Processing) recurrent neural networks." Leibniz was also judged to have not been a female.

Want more evidence of the insidious patriarchy in computing? Well did you know "swipe right = 1, swipe left = 0", and "clicking 'like' on Facebook = 1, not clicking like = 0"? Other similar horrors are cataloged.

Now comes the hardcore philosophy, where we learn the ugly consequences of our binary way:

But the problem with binary logic is that it provides no scope for understanding and modeling why and how people have chosen one option over another. The machines are simply registering that people have made a choice, and there's an outcome.

Golly.

We don't classify and qualify the world around us with Aristotle's hierarchical binary biases. But the way data is collected is black (0) and white (1), with shades of grays provided by percentages of confidence. Meanwhile, nature and Eastern philosophies show that our perceptions are whole waves of rainbow colors.

Our earnest non-male writer doesn't tell us how we can code this Eastern rainbows as substitutes for binary arithmetic. She is certain, we imagine, some lady coders will figure out a way.

Nor does our non-male heroine understand that in her judging Aristotle wrong and herself right is the result of applying binary logic. I recommend not telling her, as I don't think she could handle that knowledge.

from Climate Change Skeptic Blogs via hj on Inoreader http://bit.ly/2Dv4vhd

Small-molecule-based Human Genome G4 Profiling Reveals Potential Gene Regulation Activity

Chem. Commun., 2019, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C8CC10052G, Communication

Xiang Zhou, Weiwu Zeng, Fan Wu, Chaoxing Liu, Yan Yang, Bingyao Wang, Yushu Yuan, Jiaqi Wang, Yuqi Chen, Boshi Fu, Zhiguo Wu
Small-molecule-based G4s isolation from genomic DNA has identified a total of 51446 PQS (potential G-quadruplex site). Incubating cells with PDP for 3 h to 72 h resulted in the differential...
The content of this RSS Feed (c) The Royal Society of Chemistry

from Journals via hj on Inoreader https://rsc.li/2AYT5R9

An open letter to RealClimate.org

Guest summary by Sheldon Walker RealClimate recently published an article called "The Climate Scientists are Alright". The article is about the "climate scientist blues". I posted the following comment under this article. ==================== Sheldon Walker says: ——————– I am willing to believe that most climate scientists are trying to do a good job. However, it…

from Climate Change Skeptic Blogs via hj on Inoreader http://bit.ly/2FLLl96

Remote control of electronic coupling – modification of excited-state electron-transfer rates in Ru(tpy)2-based donor-acceptor systems by remote ligand design

Chem. Commun., 2019, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C8CC10075F, Communication

Yusen Luo, Jens Hoan Tran, Maria Wächtler, Martin Schulz, Kevin Barthelmes, Andreas Winter, Sven Rau, Ulrich Sigmar Schubert, Benjamin Dietzek
A comprehensive understanding of how the molecular structure influences the electronic coupling (HDA) is crucial in optimizing (supra)molecular assemblies for photoinduced electron transfer. Here, we report that the electronic coupling...
The content of this RSS Feed (c) The Royal Society of Chemistry

from Journals via hj on Inoreader https://rsc.li/2R9DGCM

Atmospheric Physicists: A Human Signature Hasn’t Shown Up In 40 Years Of Temperature Change Observations

"It is not possible to reliably support the view of the presence of
global warming in the sense of an enhanced greenhouse effect
due to human activities." — Drs. Varotsos and Efstathiou, 2019

Image Source: Varotsos and Efstathiou, 2019

In a step-by-step dissection of the anthropogenic global warming (AGW) hypothesis, or "greenhouse hypothesis of global warming", two prominent Greek atmospheric physicists  – Dr. Carlos Varotsos and Dr. Maria Efstathiou – expose the withering contradictions between (a) what is hypothesized to occur atmospherically according to AGW models and (b) what was actually observed from satellite measurements during 1978 to 2018.

According to AGW models, there was supposed to be "a consistent warming with gradual increase from low to high latitudes in both hemispheres" in response to the dramatic increase in greenhouse gases over the last 40 years.

According to temperature change observations in the satellite era (December, 1978, to present), this pattern did not occur.

According to AGW models, there was supposed to be an evident intrinsic relationship between lower stratospheric temperatures and tropospheric temperatures in accordance with the explosive increase in anthropogenic CO2 emissions during 1978-2018.

Satellite observations do not indicate that such a stratospheric-tropospheric relationship existed during this period.

The fundamental discrepancies between AGW models and real-world observations led these climate scientists to conclude that (a) "climate models are not able to simulate real climate", and (b) the view that increases in greenhouse gases from human activities are what caused the global warming over the last 40 years cannot be reliably supported by observed evidence.

---

Varotsos and Efstathiou, 2019

Has global warming already arrived? 

• "The enhancement of the atmospheric greenhouse effect due to the increase in the atmospheric greenhouse gases is often considered as responsible for global warming (known as greenhouse hypothesis of global warming). In this context, the temperature field of global troposphere and lower stratosphere over the period 12/1978–07/2018 is explored using the recent Version 6 of the UAH MSU/AMSU global satellite temperature dataset. Our analysis did not show a consistent warming with gradual increase from low to high latitudes in both hemispheres, as it should be from the global warming theory."

• "In addition, in the lower stratosphere the temperature cooling over both poles is lower than that over tropics and extratropics. To study further the thermal field variability we investigated the long-range correlations throughout the global lower troposphere-lower stratosphere region. The results show that the temperature field displays power-law behaviour that becomes stronger by going from the lower troposphere to the tropopause. This power-law behaviour suggests that the fluctuations in global tropospheric temperature at short intervals are positively correlated with those at longer intervals in a power-law manner. The latter, however, does not apply to global temperature in the lower stratosphere. This suggests that the investigated intrinsic properties of the lower stratospheric temperature are not related to those of the troposphere, as is expected by the global warming theory."

• "In summary, the tropospheric temperature has not increased over the last four decades, in both hemispheres, in a way that is more amplified at high latitudes near the surface. In addition, the lower stratospheric temperature did not decline as a function of latitude. Finally, the intrinsic properties of the tropospheric temperature are different from those of the lower stratosphere. Based on these results and bearing in mind that the climate system is complicated and complex with the existing uncertainties in the climate predictions, it is not possible to reliably support the view of the presence of global warming in the sense of an enhanced greenhouse effect due to human activities."

• "Over the last decades, the rise in surface air temperature in regions of our planet has led to a debate in the scientific community about the causes and impacts of this temperature rise, especially if it comes from anthropogenic activities or is of natural origin."

• "[R]eal climate change results from the non-linear interactions between numerous components of the climatic system. In these should also be taken into consideration and possible contributions by external forcings e.g., cosmic factors, such as solar activity. Despite the projected exponential growth in computer power, these processes will not be adequately resolved in numerical climate models in the near future (Franzke et al., 2015). Stochastic methods for numerical climate prediction may allow for an adequate representation of uncertainties, the reduction of systematic biases and improved representation of long-term climate variability (e.g., Droegemeier, 2009). Some analyses show that current models are not able to simulate real climate. The main reason is that climate is a high-dimensional forced and dissipative complex system with chaotic dynamics that displays different physical and chemical properties of its various components and coupling mechanisms."

Image Source: Varotsos and Efstathiou, 2019

• "An identifiable signature of [anthropogenic] global warming is the combination of tropospheric heating and stratospheric cooling leading to an increase in the height of tropopause. However, according to Figure 1 this is not the case, because the TA [tropopause air] trend at the tropopause is near zero."

• "According to Hoskins (1991) the expectation for global warming is to be more enhanced at high latitudes near the surface. That is, in the case of global warming occurrence, warming would have been stronger at the poles and would gradually decrease by approaching the equator. However, the pattern depicted in Table 1 does not comply with the gradual increase of the warming with latitude as predicted by the global warming theory."

• "[A]ccording to the results obtained by Xia et al. (2018) the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere are heated by ozone, which affects the high clouds (due to its effect on relative humidity) and the stratospheric water vapor (due to its impact on the tropical tropopause temperature). Consequently, the thermal regime in the lower stratosphere is mainly affected by the ozone dynamics in this area and not by the thermal regime in the troposphere alone. Therefore, the observed cooling in the lower stratosphere can not be attributed unambiguously to the warming of the troposphere, as dictated by the theory of global warming."

from Climate Change Skeptic Blogs via hj on Inoreader http://bit.ly/2FMh0XY

A new strategy for the selective oxidation of alcohol catalyzed by polyoxometalate-based hybrid surfactant at biphasic systems

Chem. Commun., 2019, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C8CC09628G, Communication

Xueli Bai, Xin Huang, Liang Wen, Nianze Song, Jian Zhang, Yue Zhang, Yongxiang Zhao
A hybrid surfactant with catalytic oxidation activity and interfacial activity was prepared via a combination of the polyoxometalate [PW11O39]7- anion and the alkoxysilane by a covalent bond. The organic-inorganic hybrid...
The content of this RSS Feed (c) The Royal Society of Chemistry

from Journals via hj on Inoreader https://rsc.li/2FXHRQe

Ligand-controlled iridium-catalyzed semihydrogenation of alkynes with ethanol: highly stereoselective synthesis of E- and Z-alkenes

Chem. Commun., 2019, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C8CC09714C, Communication

Jinfei Yang, Chengniu Wang, Yufeng Sun, Xuyan Man, Jinxia Li, Fei Sun
A ligand-controlled iridium-catalyzed semihydrogenation of alkynes to E- and Z-alkenes with ethanol was developed.
To cite this article before page numbers are assigned, use the DOI form of citation above.
The content of this RSS Feed (c) The Royal Society of Chemistry

from Journals via hj on Inoreader https://rsc.li/2CBwxWk

GHCN in MySQL – Preliminary Inventory Load

I've got a full copy of the v3 GHCN "station inventory" file loaded into a MySQL table now. Still needs some "fixing up" as it is crude (all character fields and no keys / indexes yet) but reports from it are still fast. Code included for any "home gamers' playing along ;-) Continue reading →

from Climate Change Skeptic Blogs via hj on Inoreader http://bit.ly/2MtRCXB

The “tippy top” plan for a “Green New Deal’s” same-old misanthropy

Guest essay by Dr. Charles Battig Organized by the Sunrise Movement, over 200 youth activists supported by Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took over House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's office the morning of November 13, 2018 lobbying Democrats to act decisively on climate change. However, Pelosi's first address to the 116th session of Congress Thursday, January 3, 2019 stating that she…

from Climate Change Skeptic Blogs via hj on Inoreader http://bit.ly/2MqOtaX

Warning: Money on fire in Vic and SA electricity prices at $14,000 per MW

Prices are "off the chart" in Vic and SA right now and likely for the next few hours. Factories will be closing. Diesel generators will be running, but only in South Australia and Victoria.

In QLD and NSW where there are old or evil coal fired plants the wholesale electricity costs are only $105/MWh.

…

…

…

./..

…

h/t Ian B

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

from Climate Change Skeptic Blogs via hj on Inoreader http://bit.ly/2AZp2sh