Aggressive Reduction Research Articles

High prevalence of coronary artery calcium and aortic calcification in adults with repaired coarctation of the aorta and interrupted aortic arch

Abstract Background There is a high rate of late cardiovascular mortality in patients with repaired coarctation of the aorta (CoA) and interrupted aortic arch (IAA). Coronary artery calcium (CAC) is a marker of cardiovascular disease and there is growing evidence for aortic calcification as a predictor. Recent research in the general population suggests any CAC in males <35 years old and females ≤45 years places them at ≥90th percentile. Aims We aimed (1) to determine the prevalence of CAC, thoracic aorta calcification (TAC), and abdominal aorta calcification (AAC) in patients with CoA or IAA repair, and (2) to compare patients to a control group of Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) patients, a condition with no known increased risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Methods Retrospective cohort study of adult survivors of CoA/IAA repair followed up at an adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) clinic. Patients with at least 1 chest, abdomen, or pelvis computerised tomography (CT) scan for any indication were included. The presence/absence of calcification in the coronary arteries or aorta was assessed qualitatively. Patients on antihypertensive and statin therapy were considered hypertensive and hypercholesterolaemic, respectively. Patients were compared to adult survivors of TOF repair with CT scans for any indication (controls). Results Ninety-three CoA/IAA patients (87% CoA/13% IAA, median age at latest follow-up 34 years) had a total of 169 chest and 37 abdomen/pelvis CTs; 82, 93, and 37 patients had at least 1 CT suitable for CAC, TAC, and AAC review, respectively. CAC was present in 22% (18/82), TAC in 33% (31/93), and AAC in 23% (5/22) of CoA/IAA patients. CAC was present in 12% (18/153) and TAC in 11% (18/158) of TOF patients. CoA/IAA patients were more likely to have CAC and TAC than TOF patients (p=0.04 and p<0.0001; respectively) and be younger at the time of diagnosis (CAC p=0.03, TAC p=0.0001) despite TOF patients being older at time of latest CT scan (p=0.0003) (Table 1). Males aged <35 years and females ≤45 years represented 44% (8/18) of CoA/IAA patients with CAC. CoA/IAA patients with CAC were more likely to be hypertensive and hypercholesterolaemic than those without (78% [14/18] vs 48% [31/64], p=0.03; and 28% [5/18] vs 0% [0/64], p<0.0001; respectively) and was similar for TAC (hypertension p=0.005, hypercholesterolaemia p=0.04) but not AAC. After a mean follow-up of 11±7 years from first ACHD clinic, of the 93 patients, 2 patients died, 5 had coronary artery disease (at least mild stenosis on invasive angiography), 3 had a stroke, and 70% (65/93) were considered hypertensive at latest follow-up. Conclusions There is a high prevalence of CAC, aortic calcification, and hypertension in young adults with repaired CoA/IAA. Coronary and thoracic aortic calcification occurs at a younger age compared to controls. Further studies are warranted to assess the impact of aggressive cardiovascular risk reduction in this high-risk group.

New culling technique provides localised reductions in interspecific aggression and density of Noisy Miners (Manorina melanocephala) without recolonisation

ABSTRACT The Noisy Miner (Manorina melanocephala) is a native Australian honeyeater that reduces avian biodiversity at sites it occupies through aggressive defence. Culling to remove miners has had limited success in some areas due to rapid recolonisation. This experiment trialled ‘doughnut culls’ as a new approach to reduce Noisy Miner aggression within a central area of colonies, by removing up to half the miners present within a 50 m radius of an identified central location in 29 different colonies on the New England Tablelands of NSW. Aggression from miners onsite within this central area was quantified before and after culling by presenting 3D printed models of three different bird species with accompanying vocal playback to resident miners at the centre of culled areas. These presentations identified a significant decline in Noisy Miner aggression onsite after doughnut culls, with this reduced rate of aggression (e.g. over 50% reduction in the maximum number of miners within a 20 m radius of models) remaining until the conclusion of the experiment at 28 days post culling, a timeframe commensurate with the duration of many passerine nesting attempts. Social hierarchy changes among remaining Noisy Miners may be the primary cause of this reduced aggression, with sufficient miners remaining onsite to prevent colony collapse and thus any recolonisation. While additional trials during peak Noisy Miner dispersal periods are warranted, this method provides an effective tool for land managers to reduce localised Noisy Miner aggression over the short to medium term when high conservation areas are identified.

Soundscape augmentation as a nonpharmacological intervention to reduce the behavioural effect of dementia: a randomized controlled trial

Soundscape is an important environmental factor that influences people's behaviour and well-being. People with dementia can benefit from a personalized soundscape to improve the behavioural and psychological syndrome of dementia. This paper is based on a single-blind, repeated-measure pilot randomized clinical trial of soundscape augmentation on the treatment effect of people with severe dementia. Participants were randomized to a personalized soundscape intervention delivered in their room in the morning and evening or treatment-as-usual, with two baseline weeks and four weekly post-randomization assessments of the primary and secondary behavioural outcomes. A linear mixed effects model showed that the soundscape intervention was possible and acceptable. There were improvements in the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (resistance to care) and a significant reduction in aggression in the soundscape group. This study is the first pilot randomized controlled trial of a soundscape intervention for older adults with dementia to improve the behavioural and psychological syndrome of dementia. In this pilot study, soundscape augmentation was a feasible and effective non-pharmacological approach to reducing resistance and improving participants' behaviour. Further studies with larger samples are recommended to confirm our findings. Longitudinal studies are necessary to investigate the long-term effect of an augmented sonic environment on people with dementia.

The Association Between Pulmonary Vascular Resistance and Posttransplant Outcomes Differs by Left Ventricular Assist Device Status.

Elevated pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) is a risk factor for mortality after heart transplantation (HT), but whether this association differs for patients with and without left ventricular assist device (LVAD) support before HT is unknown. We analyzed adult first-time HT recipients from the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) registry transplanted between 2010 and 2021. We quantified the association between PVR and the outcomes of 30 day graft failure and 1 year mortality using multivariable logistic regression, stratified by LVAD support status at the time of HT. Pulmonary vascular resistance was modeled using restricted cubic splines to identify clinically relevant risk thresholds. We also examined the association with 10 year survival using multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression. For PVR values less than approximately 2 WU, higher PVR was independently associated with a higher risk of early graft failure (odds ratio [OR] = 1.58, 95% CI: 1.06-2.36) and a higher risk of 1 year mortality (OR = 1.32, 95% CI: 1.10-1.59) among LVAD patients only (interaction p = 0.023 and 0.03, respectively). However, for patients surviving at least 1 year, PVR was not associated with long-term mortality among either subgroup. Whether more aggressive reduction of PVR among HT candidates supported with LVADs can mitigate these risks requires further study.

Examining the impact of brief couples-based posttraumatic stress disorder treatments on anger and psychological aggression in veterans and their partners.

Anger can adversely impact functioning in veterans. Psychological aggression, which is related to but distinct from anger, is particularly detrimental to veterans' mental health. Research examining anger and psychological aggression following individual therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has demonstrated small effect sizes. Treatments that directly target conflict management and interpersonal functioning, both regarding content and delivery to veterans and their loved ones (e.g., couples-based PTSD treatments), may be more effective in alleviating anger symptoms. This study examined whether larger reductions in anger and psychological aggression would be observed in a couples-based intervention compared to an active comparator at posttreatment and follow-up. Data were derived from a randomized trial comparing brief cognitive-behavioral conjoint therapy for PTSD (bCBCT) and PTSD family education (PFE). Participants were 137 veterans and their intimate partners (bCBCT: n = 92, PFE: n = 45). We observed within-condition significant reductions in angry temperament, d = -0.47, p <.001, and angry reaction, d = -0.26, p =.004, among veterans in bCBCT but not PFE, |d|s = 0.13-0.17, ps =.166-.268. Veterans and partners in both conditions reported reductions in psychological aggression, |d|s = 1.09-1.46, ps <.001. There were no significant differences between the treatment conditions on any outcome, ps =.103-.443, and there were no significant changes in anger between posttreatment and follow-up, |d|s = 0.07-0.24, ps =.052-.582. Couples-based interventions for PTSD, including bCBCT and PFE, can be effective in improving aspects of anger among veterans and their intimate partners.

Tax avoidance, CSR performance and CEO characteristics: Evidence from developed and developing countries

We explore the association between tax avoidance, CEO characteristics, and corporate social responsibility based on environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) ratings, with a specific focus on financial firms in both developed and developing countries. Despite extensive literature on CSR and tax behavior, there is a gap in understanding how these elements interact within the financial sector across diverse economic environments. Using a dataset comprising 996 financial firms from 51 countries, spanning the period from 2002 to 2021, we find a significant negative association between ESG performance and tax avoidance for firms in developed countries, suggesting that firms in developed countries with higher ESG engagement tend to pay more taxes. The results in developed countries also indicate that governance and the social pillar are the factors contributing to the reduction of tax aggressiveness. On the contrary, our results reveal a significant positive relationship between CEO duality and tax avoidance for firms in developing countries. These results not only fill the existing research gap by providing empirical evidence in the links between ESG, CEO characteristics, and tax avoidance in the financial sector but also underscore the importance of institutional differences between developed and developing countries. Our results remain robust when using alternative estimators that control for heteroskedasticity and endogeneity. Our findings have important implications for policymakers and market participants, highlighting the need of a strong corporate governance and tax regulation that consider both ESG performance and CEO attributes.

Agonistic behaviors of boxer shrimps (Stenopus Species): Insights into the importance of antennae, antennules and tactile contact

Agonistic behaviors are crucial and ubiquitous among animals for the competition of limited resources. Although the study of aggression has been a popular topic, plenty of studies focused on model organisms, and typically on crayfish and lobsters for crustaceans. Variations of the agonistic behaviors and the underpinning eliciting cues of other crustaceans therefore have not been fully explored. In the present study, we targeted Stenopus, a genus of shrimp-like crustaceans that displays prominent agonistic behaviors when encountering conspecifics of the same sex owing to their monogamous social structure. Using S. hispidus (Olivier, 1811) and S. cyanoscelis (Goy, 1984) as representatives, we characterized their agonistic behaviors and fighting pattern, conducted experiments to investigate the contribution of visual, olfactory and tactile cues to inducing aggression, and examined the effects of antennal and antennular ablation on their agonistic interactions. A total of seven agonistic behaviors were documented, where antennal entwining and tactile contact is the major driver and seemingly important cue, respectively, in inducing agonistic behaviors in Stenopus. Although ablation of antennae and antennules did not inhibit fighting, behavioral changes, such as the prolonged agonistic interactions and the delayed establishment of dominance were observed, suggesting a reduction of aggressiveness. A comparison of agonistic behaviors with other crustaceans showed that certain features appeared to be unique or distinct in Stenopus, including the potential functional overlap of antennae and antennules, a higher aggressiveness of the fighting behaviors, and the exhibition of crouching behavior by submissive individuals. The present study provides a crucial background understanding for subsequent research on Stenopus and paves the way for its establishment as another crustacean model for studying aggression.

Inverse relationship between LDL-C/HDL-C ratio and atrial fibrillation in chronic kidney disease patients

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is more prevalent in individuals with chronic kidney disease (CKD) compared to the general population. While a potential inverse correlation between lipid levels and AF has been proposed, it remains unclear if this relationship applies to CKD patients. This study examined the connection between the ratio of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C/HDL-C) and the likelihood of AF in CKD patients. Data was gathered from 21,091 consecutive CKD patients between 2006 and December 31, 2015. We examined the link between the LDL-C/HDL-C ratio and AF in CKD patients through binary logistic regression, as well as various sensitivity and subgroup analyses. The dataset that backs up these analyses is available at: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0230189. Of the 21,091 CKD patients, 211 (1.00%) were diagnosed with AF. The cohort, predominantly male (79.93%), had a mean age of 60.89 ± 10.05 years. The mean LDL-C/HDL-C ratio was 1.39 ± 0.35. After adjusting for covariates, a significant inverse association was observed between the LDL-C/HDL-C ratio and the incidence of AF in CKD patients (OR = 0.422, 95% CI 0.273–0.652, P = 0.00010). The robustness of these findings was confirmed through sensitivity analysis. Subgroup analysis revealed a strong correlation between the LDL-C/HDL-C ratio and incident AF in patients without hypertension (HR = 0.26, 95% CI 0.15–0.45). Conversely, this association was absent in hypertensive patients (HR = 1.09, 95% CI 0.54–2.17). Our research shows an independent inverse correlation between the LDL-C/HDL-C ratio and the risk of AF in CKD patients. It is advised to refrain from excessively aggressive reduction of LDL levels in CKD patients, as this could elevate the risk of developing AF.

Sustained corneal nerve loss predicts the development of diabetic neuropathy in type 2 diabetes.

This study was undertaken to investigate whether sustained rather than a single measure of corneal nerve loss was associated with the onset of diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) and the progression of neuropathic symptoms and deficits in individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Participants underwent clinical, metabolic testing and assessment of neuropathic symptoms, vibration perception threshold (VPT), sudomotor function, and corneal confocal microscopy (CCM) at baseline, 1, 2, and 4-7 years. Sustained corneal nerve loss was defined as abnormal corneal nerve fiber density (CNFD, <24 fibers/mm2), corneal nerve branch density (CNBD, <21 branches/mm2), and corneal nerve fiber length (CNFL, <16 mm/mm2) persisting for ≥50% of the study duration. A total of 107 participants with a mean duration of T2D of 13.3 ± 7.3 years, aged 54.8 ± 8.5 years, underwent baseline and follow-up assessments over a median duration of 4 years, ranging from 1 to 7 years. The DPN prevalence at baseline was 18/107 (16.8%), and of the 89 participants without DPN at baseline, 13 (14.6%) developed DPN during follow-up. Approximately half of the cohort had sustained corneal nerve damage, and corneal nerve measures were significantly lower in this group than those without sustained damage (p < 0.0001). Sustained corneal nerve damage was associated with the development of DPN (p < 0.0001), a progressive loss of vibration perception (p ≤ 0.05), an increased incidence of burning pain, numbness, or a combination of both (p = 0.01-0.001), and a borderline association with progressive sudomotor dysfunction (p = 0.07). Sustained abnormal CNFL effectively distinguished between participants who developed DPN and those who did not (AUC: 76.3, 95% CI: 65.9-86.8%, p < 0.0001), while baseline and other sustained measures did not predict DPN onset. Sustained abnormal CCM is associated with more severe corneal nerve damage, DPN development, and the progression of neuropathic symptoms and deficits. Regular CCM monitoring may enable the identification of those at greater risk of developing and worsening DPN who may benefit from more aggressive risk factor reduction.

Evaluation of Tumorigenic Properties of MDA-MB-231 Cancer Stem Cells Cocultured with Telocytes and Telocyte-Derived Mitochondria Following miR-146a Inhibition.

Telocytes have some cytoplasmic extensions called telopodes, which are thought to play a role in mitochondrial transfer in intercellular communication. Besides, it is hypothesized that telocytes establish cell membrane-mediated connections with breast cancer cells in coculture and may contribute to the survival of neoplastic cell clusters together with other stromal cells. The aim of this study is to investigate the contribution of telocytes and telocyte-derived mitochondria, which have also been identified in breast tumors, to the tumor development of breast cancer stem cells (CSCs) via miR-146a-5p. The isolation/characterization of telocytes from bone marrow mononuclear cells and the isolation of mitochondria from these cells were performed, respectively. In the next step, CSCs were isolated from the MDA-MB-231 cell line and were characterized. Then, miR-146a-5p expressions of CSCs were inhibited by anti-miR-146a-5p. The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) was determined by evaluating changes in vimentin protein levels and was evaluated by analyzing BRCA1, P53, SOX2, E-cadherin, and N-cadherin gene expression changes. Our results showed that miR-146a promoted stemness and oncogenic properties in CSCs. EMT (N-cadherin, vimentin, E-cadherin) and tumorigenic markers (BRCA1, P53, SOX2) of CSCs decreased after miR-146a inhibition. Bone marrow-derived telocytes and mitochondria derived from telocytes favored the reduction of CSC aggressiveness following this inhibition.

Uncovering Complexities in Reducing Aggression, Conflict and Restrictive Practices in Acute Mental Healthcare Settings: An Overview of Reviews.

Aggression, conflict and restrictive practices present complexities in acute mental health services, as do implementing service changes to reduce them. Existing published literature needs to offer more high-level guidance on the effectiveness of these service changes and their associated implementation factors. As a result, an overview of systematic reviews was undertaken to identify (i) nonpharmacological interventions to reduce conflict, aggression and restrictive practices in acute mental health settings, and (ii) their effects across different clinical outcomes. A parallel re-extraction from primary studies was then utilised (iii) to identify factors influencing successful intervention implementation. Of 124 articles sourced from nine databases and registries, four reviews were retained for the final analysis, using the direction of effect and tabular and narrative summaries. These reviews included programmes or interventions focused on inpatient adolescent, adult and older adult populations. They reported on alternative containment strategies, risk assessments, Safewards, sensory rooms and equipment, Six Core Strategy-based interventions and staff training. The overview found that a combination of interventions intended to improve relationships and reduce interpersonal conflict may help reduce aggression, conflict and restrictive practices. At the same time, stand-alone staff training and sensory rooms and equipment may have mixed effects. The quality of the evidence linking these interventions to reductions in aggression, conflict and restrictive practices is limited. Successful implementation hinges on multiple factors: intervention characteristics, preparation and planning, evaluation and monitoring, outcome interpretation, stakeholder involvement/investment, staff-related factors and contextual factors. Any implementation initiative may benefit from using pragmatic and complexity-informed research methodologies, including integrating meaningful involvement with service users, peer workers and culturally diverse groups.

Determinants of 1-year mortality after acute myocardial infarction in patients with and without diabetes

The gap in excess mortality between patients with and without diabetes has not decreased over time. The aim of this study was to investigate the determinants of mortality after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in patients with diabetes and without diabetes in a contemporary population. A retrospective analysis of a cohort of 266 patients with a diagnosis of AMI during 2022 was carried out. Patients living with diabetes had higher 1-year mortality, even after adjustment for covariates. Estimated glomerular filtration (eGFR) rate was independently associated with increased mortality in patients with diabetes. Plasma glucose was independently associated with peak troponin in patients both with and without diabetes. These data suggest that patients living with diabetes and with a low eGFR warrant more aggressive risk reduction and use of nephroprotective medications. Further studies are needed to assess whether early blood glucose control improves cardiovascular outcomes in all patients with AMI.

Sparse deep encoded features with enhanced sinogramic red deer optimization for fault inspection in wafer maps

AbstractDue to the complexity and dynamics of the semiconductor manufacturing processes, wafer bin maps (WBM) present various defect patterns caused by various process faults. The defect type detection on wafer maps provides information about the process and equipment in which the defect occurred. Recently, automatic inspection has played a vital role in meeting the high-throughput demand, especially with deep convolutional neural networks (DCNN) which shows promising efficiency. At the same time, the need for a large amount of labeled and balanced datasets limits the performance of such approaches. In addition, complex DCNN in recognition tasks can provide redundant features that cause overfitting and reduce interpretability. In this paper, a new hybrid deep model for wafer map fault detection to get over these challenges is proposed. Firstly, a new convolutional autoencoder (CAE) is employed as a synthetization model to fix the high imbalance problem of the dataset. Secondly, for efficient dimensionality reduction, an embedding procedure is applied to the synthesized maps to get sparse encoded wafer maps by reinforcing a sparsity regularization in an encoder-decoder network to form a sparsity-boosted autoencoder (SBAE). The sparse embedding of wafer maps guarantees more discriminative features with 50% reduction in spatial size compared to the original wafer maps. Then, the 2D encoded sparse maps are converted to 1D sinograms to be fed later into another aggressive feature reduction stage using a new modified red deer algorithm with a new tinkering strategy. The resultant feature pool is reduced to ~ 25 1D feature bases, i.e., ~ 1.5% of the initial size of the 2D wafer maps. Finally, for the prediction stage, a simple 1DCNN model is introduced. The proposed inspection model is tested via different experiments on real-world wafer map dataset (WM-811K). Compared to state-of-the-art techniques, the proposed model outperforms their performance even with small-sized 1D feature pool. The average testing accuracy are 98.77% and 98.8% for 9 and 8 types of faults, respectively.

Optimal robust monetary and fiscal policy under uncertainty on the lower bound

This paper studies robust policy when the policymaker has Knightian uncertainty about the exact position of the effective lower bound (ELB). First, we characterize optimal discretionary policy when a benevolent policymaker controls the nominal interest rate and the level of government spending. Compared to the full information case, an uncertainty-averse policymaker overestimates the level of the ELB, thereby triggering a more aggressive reduction in the nominal interest rate prior to the liquidity trap. Furthermore, the anticipation of a larger increase in public spending improves the trade-off between inflation and the output gap, and dampens the perceived worst-case level of the ELB. As a result, a less conservative fiscal stabilization is desirable to address the uncertainty concerns of the policymaker by partially substituting for the nominal interest rate at the ELB. Moreover, an inflation-conservative policymaker mitigates the impact of uncertainty on equilibrium outcomes even better than a fiscally active policymaker.

Low Contact Strategy to Measure Flutamide’s Effects on Territorial Aggression in C57BL/6J Male Mice

While numerous factors contribute to mouse behavior, biological drivers are paramount to many regulatory processes that undergird behavior. In particular, the sex hormone testosterone plays a key role in the regulation of aggression, physical activity, mating, and other behaviors known to be influenced by the presence of an experimenter. Due to this experimenter bias, strategies that minimize direct and frequent contact with research animals are needed to reduce any undesirable effects. The purpose of this research was to explore the effects of an androgen receptor antagonist (Flutamide) on territorial aggression in male C57BL/6J mice utilizing a low contact technique for chemical delivery. It was hypothesized that the introduction of an androgen receptor inhibiting substance under a low contact delivery strategy would result in effective reduction of the territorial aggression response in mice introduced to an unknown male mouse in the home cage environment, mimicking similar blunting responses characterized in previous work evaluating aggression in rodents. Silastic (Dow Corning, Midland, MI) implants were used as the lower contact delivery strategy for drug administration. This strategy allowed minimal contact with the experimental technician and eliminated the need for daily contact required for the commonly used injection strategies employed elsewhere. A series of aggression trials before, 24, 96, and 192 hours after Flutamide implantation were conducted in three groups of mice. Control mice (n=4) received 100% Cholesterol-containing implants, low exposure mice (n=5) received 80% Cholesterol/20% Flutamide-containing implants, and high exposure mice (n=5) received 100% Flutamide-containing implants. Each aggression trial consisted of introducing a foreign mouse to an experimental mouse’s home cage for an 8-minute period. The time to initial aggression and the total number of aggressions over the 8 minutes was quantified. The time to initial aggression was unaffected by flutamide administration throughout the study [F(26,91) =0.37, p=0.864]. The total number of aggressions were significantly affected by flutamide exposure [F(28,82) = 2.90, p=0.029]. Follow-up post hoc testing indicated a significant reduction in aggression in both the low and high dose groups 24 (low: p = 0.001; high = 0.001) and 96 (low: p = 0.009; high = 0.012) hours after implantation compared to the control at the same time points. The use of Silastic implants to deliver the anti-androgenic compound was a valuable technique that reduced research animal contact with experimental technicians. This technique can be modified for prolonged exposure by lengthening the implant or increasing the diameter of the Silastic tubing. This anti-androgen exposure methodology requiring less interaction reduces the confounding variables that impact mouse behavior and could prove beneficial to observe and study other androgen-related behaviors including physical activity and mating. All funding for this research was provided by the Union University Department of Biology. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

Animal behavior: A tale of two apes

Animal behavior: A tale of two apes

A US perspective on closing the carbon cycle to defossilize difficult-to-electrify segments of our economy.

Electrification to reduce or eliminate greenhouse gas emissions is essential to mitigate climate change. However, a substantial portion of our manufacturing and transportation infrastructure will be difficult to electrify and/or will continue to use carbon as a key component, including areas in aviation, heavy-duty and marine transportation, and the chemical industry. In this Roadmap, we explore how multidisciplinary approaches will enable us to close the carbon cycle and create a circular economy by defossilizing these difficult-to-electrify areas and those that will continue to need carbon. We discuss two approaches for this: developing carbon alternatives and improving our ability to reuse carbon, enabled by separations. Furthermore, we posit that co-design and use-driven fundamental science are essential to reach aggressive greenhouse gas reduction targets.

Inner Peace: Evaluating a Complementary Program Promoting Intra-Personal Peace at Adelaide Women's Prison, Australia.

The Peace Education Program, created in 2012, is a complementary program with potential to supplement official rehabilitation interventions offered in correctional centers. The program promotes "inner peace" as an innate and universal human resource, but whilst inner peace is a key concept in positive psychology and the Good Lives Model, there is a paucity of research regarding how to operationalize and evaluate this concept. The program had not previously been the subject of independent theoretically-informed research. Drawing on a mixed methods study conducted in Adelaide Women's Prison, this article explores the impact of the program on participants' learning regarding inner peace. Participants reported a greater understanding about inner peace, which they described as contributing to a stronger sense of their identity, enhanced self-esteem and increased self-regulation skills, resulting in reductions in impulsivity and reactive aggression. The quantitative data indicated there was a significant increase in participants' subjective ratings of inner peace before the program (M = 12.08) and post-program completion (M = 14.00) (p < .001). Growth in affect-regulation and anger-management skills may contribute to reductions in offending.

Macroeconomic impacts and co-benefits of deep-decarbonization in Thailand

The updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) in 2022 of Thailand includes an aggressive GHG emission reduction target of 40% in 2030 from its baseline emissions. However, the macroeconomic impacts and co-benefits associated with reducing GHG emissions are not addressed. This study analyzes the macroeconomic implications and co-benefits of GHG emission reduction in Thailand to achieve the NDC and net zero emission (NZE) targets by 2050 using the AIM/Hub-Thailand model. This paper provides co-benefits for Thailand on ambitious long-term GHG emission reduction targets. Considering the co-benefit analysis in the policy documents will provide holistic insights on the positive impacts of GHG mitigation. Results show that Thailand would have to bear a GDP loss of 7.7% in 2050 compared to the BAU level if the net zero emissions need to be achieved. Fuel switching from fossil fuel to electricity in the demand side and improvement of technologies in the power sector also reduces air pollutant emissions. The increasing dependence on domestic energy supply in the NZE scenario will make the country less vulnerable to the fluctuating prices in the international energy market. In terms of trade-offs, the land use for sustainable biomass in both the NDC and NZE scenarios will be larger than in the BAU scenario. Results show better land use for biomass production and higher yields in agricultural production. Moreover, the achievement of NZE pathway will require effective usage of land area and better use of energy resources, thereby making the country more energy secure.

Tricuspid regurgitation in pulmonary arterial hypertension: a right ventricular volumetric and functional analysis.

The consequences of tricuspid regurgitation (TR) for right ventricular (RV) function and prognosis in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) are poorly described and effects of tricuspid valve repair on the RV are difficult to predict. In 92 PAH patients with available cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) studies, TR volume was calculated as the difference between RV stroke volume and forward stroke volume, i.e. pulmonary artery (PA) stroke volume. Survival was estimated from the time of the CMR scan to cardiopulmonary death or lung transplantation. In a subgroup, pressure-volume loop analysis including two-parallel elastances was applied to evaluate effective elastances, including net afterload (effective arterial elastance (E a)), forward afterload (effective pulmonary arterial elastance (E pa)) and backward afterload (effective tricuspid regurgitant elastance (E TR)). The effects of tricuspid valve repair were simulated using the online software package Harvi. 26% of PAH patients had a TR volume ≥30 mL. Greater TR volume was associated with increased N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (p=0.018), mean right atrial pressure (p<0.001) and RV end-systolic and -diastolic volume (both p<0.001). TR volume ≥30 mL was associated with a poor event-free survival (p=0.008). In comparison to E a, E pa correlated better with indices of RV dysfunction. Lower end-systolic elastance (E es) (p=0.002) and E TR (p=0.030), higher E pa (p=0.001) and reduced E es/E pa (p<0.001) were found in patients with a greater TR volume. Simulations predicted that tricuspid valve repair increases RV myocardial oxygen consumption in PAH patients with severe TR and low E es unless aggressive volume reduction is accomplished. In PAH, TR has prognostic significance and is associated with low RV contractility and RV-PA uncoupling. However, haemodynamic simulations showed detrimental consequences of tricuspid valve repair in PAH patients with low RV contractility.