Catalogue Search | MBRL
Are you sure you want to remove the book from the shelf?
{{itemTitle}}
122
result(s) for
"Braun, Jerome"
Sort by:
Analytical Validation of Esopredict, an Epigenetic Prognostic Assay for Patients with Barrett’s Esophagus
EsopredictTM is a prognostic assay that risk-stratifies Barrett’s esophagus patients to predict future progression to high-grade dysplasia (HGD) or esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). Established based on foundational studies at Johns Hopkins University, a risk algorithm was developed and clinically validated in two independent studies (n = 320). EsopredictTM is currently offered as a clinical test under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) guidelines. Here we present the analytical validation by repeated testing of FFPE tissues (n = 26 patients), cell lines, and contrived DNA controls to determine assay performance regarding analytical sensitivity (as defined by the limit of detection (LOD)), analytical specificity (as defined by the limit of blank (LOB)), accuracy as determined from the average positive and negative agreement, repeatability, and reproducibility. The LOD for the assay at 1.5% DNA methylation was significantly higher than the LOB, as determined by an unmethylated DNA control (0% methylated DNA). Inter- and intra-assay average positive agreement (APA) were 88% and 94%, respectively, while average negative agreement (ANA) values were 90% and 94%, respectively. Average inter- and intra-assay precision were <9% and <5% coefficient of variation (CV), respectively. These results confirm that EsopredictTM is a highly reproducible, sensitive, and specific risk categorization assay for the prediction of progression to HGD or EAC within 5 years.
Journal Article
How Neoliberalism Changed Liberalism
This review essay uses Mariana Mazzucato, The Value of Everything: Making and Taking in the Global Economy (Penguin Books, 2018), and William Davies, The Limits of Neoliberalism: Authority, Sovereignty, and the Logic of Competition (SAGE, 2017) to illustrate the end results of historical changes starting in the 18th century, primarily but not exclusively in Britain and America, in ideas on social solidarity and economic value that have influenced jurisprudence relating to the place of government in setting standards and regulating economic markets. The result has been a cultural evolution from the values of liberalism, where the economy is made safe for the functioning of society as ruled by government, in essence their version of the rule of law, to the values of neoliberalism where the government is made safe for the functioning of markets, thus another version of the rule of law. The preparatory material sets the stage for discussing the recent book by Joseph Fishkin and William E. Forbath, The Anti-Oligarchy Constitution: Reconstructing the Economic Foundations of American Democracy (Harvard University Press, 2022) where they very much make the case that the early American constitutional tradition embodies what I call classical liberal values that emphasize the purpose of government for reducing social class tensions by limiting the growth of maldistribution of wealth and power and the growth of oligarchy. They claim this original tradition has been severely undercut by values that put economic markets on a pedestal so that in many ways they undercut and substitute for governmental action in producing economic justice that would otherwise weaken the growth of oligarchy. This development has reached the point that the values of neoliberalism have started to replace the values of classical liberalism as fundamental sources of constitutional interpretation, a development that existed in the past, but that has gained major strength more recently, particularly within the last generation. I then discuss Francis Fukuyama, Liberalism and Its Discontents (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022) as a book that exemplifies classical liberal ideals while discussing economic consequences mostly in a broad sense.
Journal Article
Magnitude and Complexity of Rectal Mucosa HIV-1-Specific CD8+ T-Cell Responses during Chronic Infection Reflect Clinical Status
The intestinal mucosa displays robust virus replication and pronounced CD4+ T-cell loss during acute human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection. The ability of HIV-specific CD8+ T-cells to modulate disease course has prompted intensive study, yet the significance of virus-specific CD8+ T-cells in mucosal sites remains unclear.
We evaluated five distinct effector functions of HIVgag-specific CD8+ T-cells in rectal mucosa and blood, individually and in combination, in relationship to clinical status and antiretroviral therapy (ART). In subjects not on ART, the percentage of rectal Gag-specific CD8+ T-cells capable of 3, 4 or 5 simultaneous effector functions was significantly related to blood CD4 count and inversely related to plasma viral load (PVL) (p<0.05). Polyfunctional rectal CD8+ T-cells expressed higher levels of MIP-1beta and CD107a on a per cell basis than mono- or bifunctional cells. The production of TNFalpha, IFN-gamma, and CD107a by Gag-specific rectal CD8+ T-cells each correlated inversely (p<0.05) with PVL, and MIP-1beta expression revealed a similar trend. CD107a and IFN-gamma production were positively related to blood CD4 count (p<0.05), with MIP-1beta showing a similar trend. IL-2 production by rectal CD8+ T-cells was highly variable and generally low, and showed no relationship to viral load or blood CD4 count.
The polyfunctionality of rectal Gag-specific CD8+ T-cells appears to be related to blood CD4 count and inversely related to PVL. The extent to which these associations reflect causality remains to be determined; nevertheless, our data suggest a potentially important role for mucosal T-cells in limiting virus replication during chronic infection.
Journal Article
John R. Commons and the Moral Foundations of American Labor Law
John R. Commons’ Legal Foundations of Capitalism (1924) is relevant for American labor law because it represented in some ways the pinnacle of the Progressive Movement at the beginning of the twentieth century. Commons believed that markets were not automatically self-correcting so that workers would not necessarily be treated fairly. This view explains why he was a founder of institutional economics, as opposed to a supporter of neoclassical economics. Commons also discussed the limitations of the American legal system in favoring big business rather than labor unions. In this essay, I discuss Commons’ criticisms, supplemented by contemporary scholars’ work. In modern society, procedures are often understood better than the goals that they are meant to facilitate. This means that many writers in the Law and Economics field are no longer comfortable in conceptualizing how quantitative measures of value can be usefully combined with qualitative measures of value, resulting in justice. The ideas of John R. Commons as a founder of institutional economics are discussed as a remedy for this.
Journal Article
The Present Relevance of Christopher Lasch’s The Culture of Narcissism for Studying the Sociology of Morality
Christopher Lasch’s most influential book The Culture of Narcissism was first published in 1979 but many of the issues he raised still have relevance, including for sociologists who wish to use ideas on psychology to create a firm basis for understanding principles and practices in society that can underlie a Sociology of Morality, something that is now only developed in a very preliminary way. Though this book was well-received by the public at large this book had much less influence in academic circles, both in liberal arts curricula and in business schools. I discuss some of the reasons for this, and then go on to details of this book and in particular how Lasch was influenced by rather dour psychoanalysts such as Melanie Klein and Otto Kernberg who emphasized the seriousness of narcissism-inducing ego weakness dating back to the conditions of early childhood. Even if one discounts the prevalence of the pathologies Lasch feels are the norm, since it can be argued that less serious narcissism is prevalent also, the discussion of cultural changes in modern society that stimulate and condone narcissism make this book a useful reference on this subject. I also refer to the work of such sociologists as Eva Illouz, Richard Sennett, and Michael Mann, and the earlier work of Pitirim Sorokin. I end by recounting that in the 40 years since this book was published, the cultural environment that is conducive for encouraging narcissism has remained in place, and in terms of the use of technology as a substitute for direct communication between people, the cultural environment that encourages fantasies has become even more pervasive.
Journal Article
A Critique of Max Horkheimer's \Critique of Instrumental Reason\
I produce a critique of Marx Horkheimer's book Critique of Instrumental Reason as a way to introduce the concept of pragmatic critical theory. I start by mentioning that C. Wright Mills's concept of \"The Sociological Imagination\" has many of the qualities of critical theory while emphasizing its potential for pragmatic solutions to social problems. I discuss some of the qualities of German social theory including its tendency toward over-philosophizing, before going on to discussing this book as well as the work of such scholars as W. I. Thomas and Emile Durkheim who produced morally-relevant social analysis, and especially the work of Max Weber whose exposition on the nature of rationality is used to provide background information that puts the work of Max Horkheimer in broader sociological context. I discuss how fantasies and substitute satisfactions are substitutes for a well-balanced life. I emphasize why Horkheimer and the Frankfurt School in general did not appreciate the American concern for pragmatism, but I nevertheless show the importance of a pragmatic approach to social reform. His critique of nationalism that runs as a theme throughout this book as offering a poor substitute for a sense of community is also pertinent. I end by emphasizing that Horkheimer's emphasis on authoritarianism as a reaction to modernization, and Christopher Lasch 's emphasis on narcissism as a reaction to modernization, both emphasize negative aspects of their own societies, and learning how to avoid both extremes is a useful lesson to take away from both of their writings.
Journal Article
What Social Theory Can Learn from Hans Gerth and C. Wright Mills's \Character and Social Structure: The Psychology of Social Institutions\
I emphasize the usefulness of American sociology that follows the pragmatic structural-fimctionalism of the 1930's, heavily influenced by the Chicago School of Sociology, by doing a major critique of Hans Gerth and C. Wright Mills, Character and Social Structure: The Psychology of Social Institutions, emphasizing its holistic and pragmatic qualities, as well as its relation to the work of Max Weber. I then follow up with a critique of French and German social theory, based to a large extent on Louis Dumont, Essays on Individualism: Modern Ideology in Anthropological Perspective. I suggest the usefulness of supplementing what I consider to be their unpragmatic tendencies, particularly with their approaches to the relation between social structure and self-fulfillment, and here I consider the work of Jűrgen Habermas to be only a partial corrective.
Journal Article
What social theory can learn from Hans Gerth and C. Wright Mills's italic character and social structure: the psychology of social institutions
I emphasize the usefulness of American sociology that follows the pragmatic structural-functionalism of the 1930's, heavily influenced by the Chicago School of Sociology, by doing a major critique of Hans Gerth and C. Wright Mills, Italic Character and Social Structure: The Psychology of Social Institutions, emphasizing its holistic and pragmatic qualities, as well as its relation to the work of Max Weber. I then follow up with a critique of French and German social theory, based to a large extent on Louis Dumont, Italic Essays on Individualism: Modern Ideology in Anthropological Perspective . I suggest the usefulness of supplementing what I consider to be their unpragmatic tendencies, particularly with their approaches to the relation between social structure and self-fulfillment, and here I consider the work of Jxurgen Habermas to be only a partial corrective. Reprinted by permission of Springer
Journal Article