Incidental Outcome Research Articles

Observed germline BRCA1/2 and TP53 tumor genomic profiling allele frequencies.

e22533 Background: Tumor genomic profiling (TGP) is increasingly used to assist with cancer treatment planning. While these tests are not intended to find germline variants, they are a possible incidental outcome. Currently there are no clear guidelines on when to suspect if a somatic variant identified on TGP may need confirmatory germline genetic testing. Variant allele frequency (VAF) is one tool commonly used to assess if a variant may be germline. While some studies have demonstrated germline VAF ranges on TGP, the data is limited. The purpose of this study was to review VAF ranges of BRCA1/2 and TP53 variants at a large reference laboratory to better understand VAF ranges of confirmed germline variants. Methods: A retrospective review of test results from 184 patients who underwent TGP and hereditary cancer germline testing at a large reference laboratory was performed. Patients were included in the study if they had both TGP and germline testing performed, regardless of the order of testing. Results were analyzed to determine variants identified and VAF. Analysis of BRCA1/2 and TP53 variants included patients who had variants identified on TGP and had germline testing that would have confirmed the variants if present in the germline. The VAFs were obtained, and simple statistics were used to describe the findings. Results: Twenty-one patients were found to have 23 BRCA1/2 variants identified on TGP (2 patients had 2 BRCA1/2 TGP variants). Of these TGP variants, 16 were confirmed on germline testing (69.6%). The TGP VAF for these patients ranged from 38.2% to 85.1%. The mean was 61.0% and the median was 61.8%. The remaining 7 TGP variants that were not confirmed on germline testing ranged from 7.2% to 63.4%. The mean was 31.1% and the median was 28%. Thirty-eight patients were found to have 41 TP53 variants identified on TGP (3 patients had 2 TP53 TGP variants). Of these patients, 1 had a TP53 variant confirmed on germline testing with a VAF of 44.7%. The 40 remaining variants in this dataset were not confirmed on germline testing. The VAF for these 40 variants ranged from 1.3% to 95.3%. The mean was 38.4% and the median was 34.5%. Conclusions: In this study, 69.6% of BRCA1/2 TGP variants were confirmed on germline testing compared to 2.4% of TP53 TGP variants. Confirmed germline variants identified on TGP had VAFs that were > 38%. It’s important to note that TP53 variants may have very high VAFs (up to 95.3% in this study) and not be.

The role of allochrony in influencing interspecific differences in foraging distribution during the non-breeding season between two congeneric crested penguin species.

Mechanisms promoting coexistence between closely related species are fundamental for maintaining species diversity. Mechanisms of niche differentiation include allochrony which offsets the peak timing of resource utilisation between species. Many studies focus on spatial and temporal niche partitioning during the breeding season, few have investigated the role allochrony plays in influencing interspecific segregation of foraging distribution and ecology between congeneric species during the non-breeding season. We investigated the non-breeding migrations of Snares (Eudyptes robustus) and Fiordland penguins (Eudyptes pachyrhynchus), closely related species breeding between 100–350 km apart whose migration phenology differs by two months. Using light geolocation tracking, we examined the degree of overlap given the observed allochrony and a hypothetical scenario where the species commence migration simultaneously. We found that Fiordland penguins migrated to the Sub-Antarctic Frontal Zone and Polar Frontal Zone in the austral autumn whereas Snares penguins disperse westwards staying north of the Sub-Tropical Front in the austral winter. Our results suggest that allochrony is likely to be at the root of segregation because the relative profitability of the different water masses that the penguins forage in changes seasonally which results in the two species utilising different areas over their core non-breeding periods. Furthermore, allochrony reduces relatively higher levels of spatiotemporal overlap during the departure and arrival periods, when the close proximity of the two species’ colonies would cause the birds to congregate in similar areas, resulting in high interspecific competition just before the breeding season. Available evidence from other studies suggests that the shift in phenology between these species has arisen from adaptive radiation and phenological matching to the seasonality of local resource availability during the breeding season and reduced competitive overlap over the non-breeding season is likely to be an incidental outcome.

Ungoverning the climate

ABSTRACT In this article I canvass four kinds or ‘modes’ of ungovernance, which I characterise as agnostic, experimental, inoculative, and catastrophic. I then turn to climate change, and the questions of climate governance and climate equity, which, I argue, exemplify each of these four modes in different ways. The fact of climate change might be characterised as the materialisation of ungovernance, insofar as it is the incidental or accidental outcome of an aggregate of rational decisions underpinned by a vast but selective regulatory apparatus. But more poignantly, the international law apparatus that has grown up around the climate problem presumes and embeds uncertainty regarding any resolution.

The constructability of Cheops Pyramid

The aim of this paper is to forecast the methodology by which Cheops Pyramid as a historic building was built, based on notions of modular patterns discovered within the following planar illustrations, starting at the apex and descending to its grand base.Some of Cheops’ heritage in terms of form and function has existed for millennia, as its mark was recapped with a front line that was constructed thousands of years before. Such a voyage through the missing captures of the building techniques wouldn’t have occurred without the incidental outcome that resulted from overlaying the various pixelated plans of block arrangements on the floor maps of Cheops. This building is believed to exhibit norms similar to those governing the balance between matter and void in the universe.By assessing this historical masonry structure of Giza, we have come to find some regulatory approaches concerning how to asses the construction of such a building by predicting their interiors, spatial definitions, customs, and layouts. As there are no major records of their plans, the best practice anticipated in this paper is to modularize the figurative appearance of such buildings, by imitating themes of the repetitive patterns of past regional Egyptian architecture seen as pixels. This led to the fundamental solution to such a dilemma in building construction.

A binational analysis of 252 pancreatic resections for chronic pancreatitis with regard to incidental carcinoma sequence and overall postoperative outcome

A binational analysis of 252 pancreatic resections for chronic pancreatitis with regard to incidental carcinoma sequence and overall postoperative outcome

Prey in oceanic sound scattering layers organize to get a little help from their friends

AbstractGroup formation in animals is a widespread phenomenon driven by food acquisition, reproduction, and defense. Life in the ocean is characteristically aggregated into horizontally extensive layers as a result of strong vertical gradients in the environment. Each day, animals in high biomass aggregations called “deep scattering layers” migrate vertically, comprising the largest net animal movement on earth. This movement is commonly thought of as a predator avoidance tactic, however, the aggregation of animals into layers has been viewed as an incidental outcome of similar responses by many individuals to the risk of visual predation coupled with the location of resources including food and oxygen rather than active, socially mediated congregation for defense purposes. Here, using a newly adapted autonomous vehicle to measure individual characteristics, we provide the first measures of the internal layer structure, demonstrating that these features are made up of many topologically scaled, mono‐specific aggregations, or “schools” rather than an indiscriminate mix of sizes and species. Schools responded to predators using behavior much like flash compression while neighboring aggregations increased their spacing to maintain coherent layers. Rather than simply an incidental outcome, the formation of layers of life in the sea is a highly organized process driven, at least in part, by biotic pressures for cohesion with broad adaptive significance for the myriad species that inhabit these ubiquitous features. These observations highlight the range of spatial scales we must examine in order to understand the strong impacts these high‐biomass layers have on ecological and biogeochemical processes in the sea.

Embracing risk in the Canadian woodlands: Four children’s risky play and risk-taking experiences in a Canadian Forest Kindergarten

Children are born with an intrinsic drive and natural curiosity to explore the world around them. Just as young children are attracted to the natural world, they too are enticed by the physical challenges and risk-taking experiences that such environments provide. Based on research conducted at one of Canada’s first Forest Kindergartens and using Sandseter’s conceptualization of risk, this article aims to explore the safe risk-taking and risky play experiences of four children at a nature-based early years programme in rural Ontario. Not only does this research add to the growing body of empirical evidence surrounding risk and nature-based learning in the early years but also provides a unique Canadian perspective not often discussed in the literature. An incidental outcome of this work is exposing researchers and practitioners to the types of safe risk-taking and risky play experiences that may occur within an early years Canadian context.

Increased serum NKG2D-ligands and downregulation of NKG2D in peripheral blood NK cells of patients with major burns.

Immune suppression following major thermal injury directly impacts the recovery potential. Limited data from past reports indicate that natural killer cells might be suppressed due to a putative soluble factor that has remained elusive up to date. Here we comparatively study cohorts of patients with Major and Non-Major Burns as well as healthy donors. MICB and ULBP1 are stress ligands of NKG2D that can be induced by heat stress. Remarkably, serum concentration levels of MICB and ULBP1 are increased by 3-fold and 20-fold, respectively, already within 24h post major thermal injury, and are maintained high for 28 days. In contrast, milder thermal injuries do not similarly enhance the serum levels of MICB and ULBP1. This kinetics coincides with a significant downregulation of NKG2D expression among peripheral blood NK cells. Downregulation of NKG2D by high concentration of soluble MICB occurs in cancer patients and during normal pregnancy due to over production by cancer cells or extravillous trophoblasts, respectively, as an active immune-evasion mechanism. In burn patients this seems an incidental outcome of extensive thermal injury, leading to reduced NKG2D expression. Enhanced susceptibility of these patients to opportunistic viral infections, particularly herpes viruses, could be explained by the reduced NKG2D expression. Further studies are warranted for translation into innovative diagnostic or therapeutic technologies.

The Incidence and Risk Factors for Lumbar or Sciatic Scoliosis in Lumbar Disc Herniation and the Outcomes after Percutaneous Endoscopic Discectomy

Background: Some patients with lumbar herniated intervertebral disc disease (HIVD) suffer from both pain and lateral shift or trunk list. In addition to pain, patients have concerns regarding whether trunk list is reversible. Surgical treatment is performed when pain is intractable to conservative management, but a reversal of trunk list is an incidental outcome. Percutaneous lumbar endoscopic discectomy (PELD) is one of the surgical treatment options for lumbar HIVD, but no results concerning its effect on trunk list have been reported. Objectives: The objectives of the present study were to determine the incidence of, and risk factors for, trunk list scoliosis or lateral shift and to report the outcomes of trunk list after PELD. Study Design: Retrospective case study. IRB No. H 1111-025-384 Setting; University medical Center, Seoul, Korea. Methods: We selected 164 patients who were less than 60 years old, complained of unilateral leg pain, and underwent PELD. We measured the maximum trunk shift from the central sacral vertical line (CSVL-max) on preoperative whole spine radiographs and classified trunk list as CSVL-max ≥ 10 mm. CSVL-max was measured on serial radiographs taken at one, 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively in patients with trunk list. Results: Twenty-nine patients (17.9%) had trunk list (M:F=10:19; mean age, 37.1 ± 11.24 years). Female gender (OR 4.28; 95% CI, 1.49 – 12.3) and HIVD at L4-5 (OR 5.6; 95% CI, 1.8 - 16.7) were risk factors for trunk list. Trunk list was normalized (CSVL-max < 10 mm) in 15 (52%) patients after PELD, and the median time for normalization was 3 – 6 months. Prognostic factors for the recovery of trunk list were not identified. Limitations: Selection bias should be considered in interpreting these results. Conclusion: Trunk list, scoliosis or lateral shift, was observed in 18% of the patients at the time of surgery. Female gender and L4-5 disc herniation were risk factors for trunk list. Trunk list was reversible in more than 50% of patients within 6 months of PELD. Key words: Lumbar, scoliosis, lumbar/sciatic, trunk list, endoscope, disc, discectomy, sciatica, spine, percutaneous endoscopic discectomy

Post-Maidan Europe and the New Ukrainian Studies

Twenty years ago, in his article “Does Ukraine Have a History?,” Mark von Hagen observed that “by the indexes of the intellectual organization of history teaching, Ukraine has not had a history,” and defi ned this problem as a part of a greater dilemma in eastern and central Europe—a region “associated with nationalism, anti-Semitism and ethnic irredentism” and “denied full historiographical legitimacy.”1 Nowadays this point sounds no less relevant. The complicated recent events usually called the “Ukraine crisis” revealed, among other things, the strength of historical stereotypes and conventional categories of explanation. In the descriptions of what has happened and what is going on, Ukraine is oft en portrayed as an apple of discord or a battlefi eld of the super powers without its own historical and cultural subjectivity. In other words, post-Soviet Ukraine is frequently seen as just a by-product of imperial politics or an incidental outcome of the Soviet Union’s attempts to solve the national question. For those who accept such logic, there is no need to know the Ukrainian language or the country’s history to comment on the so-called Ukraine crisis, because “there is actually no Ukraine”!2 I have been observing this simultaneously old and new stereotyping from within German academia. At the moment the Maidan started, none of the German universities had regular positions in Ukrainian literature or history.

Purification of xylose in simulated hemicellulosic hydrolysates using a two-step emulsion liquid membrane process

Purification of xylose in simulated hemicellulosic hydrolysates was attempted using a two-step emulsion liquid membrane (ELM) process. The effects of various experimental variables on extraction of each component in the hydrolysates were investigated in the ELM steps. In the first ELM step, acetic acid could be selectively removed from the hydrolysates and highly enriched in the stripping phase, and loss of xylose was insignificant. In the second ELM step, sulfuric acid could be selectively removed from simulated acetic acid-free hemicellulosic hydrolysates and somewhat enriched in the stripping phase. There was just small loss of xylose, and the final pH of the feed phase approached a pH level suitable for ethanol fermentation. Also, concentration of xylose in the feed phase was attained as an incidental outcome during each ELM run. Conclusively, the two-step ELM process was found to be a promising futuristic technology for purification of sugars in real hemicellulosic hydrolysates.

From the Guest Editors: Fostering intentional learning with technologies

The researchers of the seven papers in this special issue of the Australian Journal of Education take different approaches and use various theoretical foundations to frame their arguments. Although diverse in nature, similar themes emerge which provide insights to enhance our understanding of intentional learning, and inform our practices in the use of technologies to foster intentional learning. Our aim in this special issue is to make a concerted effort to bring together discussions on the role of technologies in intentional learning. Bereiter and Scardamalia (1989) suggested that learners are not only active in their construction of meaning but can also be intentional, which means that they are cognitively engaged in the learning process, monitoring, and regulating their learning (Sinatra & Pintrich, 2003). Taasoobshirazi and Sinatra (2011), drawing from Bereiter and Scardamalia (1989), suggest that an intentional learner is someone who uses ‘‘knowledge and beliefs to engage in internally-initiated, goal-directed action, in the service of knowledge or skill acquisition’’ (p. 210). Schnotz and Kurschner (2007) defined two different types of explicit learning. Incidental learning is learning without the intention to learn, while still being aware of what is being learned. On the other hand, when learning is intentional, the learner not only has the intention to learn but also possesses an awareness of what has been learned. Intentional learning is explicit when the learner acquires a specific set of target knowledge and when he or she is aware of and able to articulate what has been learned (Frensch, 1998; Kirkhart, 2001). Bereiter and Scardamalia (1989) used the term intentional learning to refer to cognitive processes that have learning as a goal rather than as an incidental outcome. It is an ‘‘achievement, not an automatic consequence of human intelligence’’ (p. 366). As put forth by Scardamalia and Bereiter (2006), intentional cognition is more than self-regulated learning; it is the ‘‘active pursuit of a mental life’’ (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 2002, p. 246), whereas self-regulated learning is usually a set of study skills and learning-to-learn strategies.

The Rise, and Fall, and Rise, of International Criminal Justice

The era of romanticization of international criminal justice, ushered in during the 1990s is over. As romance fades, we are confronted with grim reality: the constraints and complexities of international criminal justice, the selectivity, the price tag, the inordinate length of international trials. Yet, the goals and objectives of international criminal justice must be (re)defined in order to assess success or failure. Success is when the International Criminal Court (ICC) remains idle: by preventing the commission of mass atrocities in the first place, and by empowering national jurisdictions. Reconciliation, on the other hand, can be no more than an incidental outcome of international criminal justice, not its purpose. All in all, there is a need to creatively confront the challenges the ICC’s normative empire faces today, for international criminal justice to rise again with adjusted expectations.

WE WILL ALWAYS HAVE TAMPERE: A Case Study on the Regulation of the Residence Status of Long-Term Migrants

While European Union citizenship gradually moved from a matter of employmentrights toward a matter of fundamental rights, the status of third-country nationals (TCNs)remained locked in the policy areas of security and economic cooperation. This changed sincethe late-1990s under gradual developments favouring the centralization of migration policy. Thecurrent paper makes a contribution to trace this process by presenting a case study of the 2003Directive concerning the status of third-country nationals who are long-term residents. Anoverview of the process leading to the adoption of the Directive is followed by an examination ofthe practicalities involved in its transposition into domestic law in Portugal, a country in whichthe relative novelty of the immigration phenomenon and an inconstant economic trajectory arecritically entwined. It is concluded that migration policy can be developed at the EU level withouta common position on integration being taken. Far from an incidental outcome, this enablesnation-states to both concede benefits claimed through political mobilization for theadvancement of immigrants’ rights and reassert their gate-keeping capacity in the regulation ofmigration. The combination of protective advancements for TCNs and increased securitizationof their mobility stands out as a piece of key explanatory value to understand the adoption of theDirective in a context of tightening immigration policy in various member-states.

The Location of Pay Discrimination in the National Hockey League

Past studies have only uncovered a limited amount of evidence regarding salary discrimination in the National Hockey League (NHL). Only French Canadian defensemen sometimes seemed to be underpaid. It has been argued recently that the lack of evidence may be more a reflection of excessive aggregation than an absence of pay discrimination. In the present article, both national origin and the location of a player’s team are taken into account in salary regressions. The main outcome of the study is that salary discrimination based on team location appears to be a weak but pervasive phenomenon, more surely so in English Canada. An incidental outcome is that players located in English Canada cities were underpaid during the 1993-1994 season.

An NMR microscopy study of water absorption in cork

NMR Microscopy is used to measure the imbibition of water into natural cork, extractives-free cork and desuberised cork. The results clearly indicate that suberin is the key constituent which determines the ability of cork to resist water uptake. Furthermore, a particular suberin with distinct spectral properties as viewed by 13C NMR is shown to be the component responsible for cork resistance to water absorption. Laser confocal microscopy suggests that this function is associated with the role of suberin in preserving cell wall structure but the highly hydrophobic nature of suberin may also play an important role. The NMR microscopy study shows that the water absorbed by natural cork, after soaking for three days, is confined to the lenticels, narrow channels on the order of 1000 to 1500 μm in diameter. One incidental outcome is the observation of a clear down-field shift in NMR frequency for water near the cut transverse surfaces of the cork, an effect~associated with susceptibility inhomogeneity.

Synchronous and Alternating Choruses in Insects and Anurans: Common Mechanisms and Diverse Functions

SYNOPSIS. Neighboring males in rhythmically calling insects and anurans often chorus in a synchronizing or alternating fashion. Neuroethological investigations of chorusing species reveal that their rhythms are maintained by pacemakers and that a basic interactive algorithm, common to many species, yields the collective synchrony or alternation observed. Traditionally, synchrony has been viewed as a cooperative event. However, recent evidence suggests that a collective synchronous display can also be an incidental outcome of signal “jamming” activities between neighboring males competing to attract females. This arises when female phonotaxis is influenced by a precedence effect in which the first of two or more closely synchronized calls is preferred. Under such circumstances, males are selected to adopt a timing mechanism averting following calls. If males happen to call at comparable rates, the adopted mechanism can yield synchrony as a by-product. Alternation, too, may be produced by a similar mechanism and also represent an epiphenomenon. That alternation, as opposed to synchrony, results may be a mere artefact of the species' solo calling rate, but perceptual constraints may select specifically for alternation in some species.

Methodological considerations in the evaluation of differential components of supplementary education programs

Details procedures to be followed in analyzing multiple program options and time allocation for significant effects. A multiple-option supplementary education program was evaluated by the application of multiple regression analysis as a general data analytic system. One analysis reports the relative merits of supplementary education components when more than one type of program was operated by the same school system and when the criteria for evaluation were end-of-year achievement tests. A second evaluation demonstrates that an analysis of program input variables such as aide time allocation did produce significant improvement in achievement when an analysis of the differential effect of the input variables was considered. An incidental outcome of this study was that significant improvement in reading and mathematics achievement for children in supplementary education programs was more likely to occur with second- and third-grade pupils than with thise at later grade levels.