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The gardens of Luciano Giubbilei
Since 1997 Luciano Giubbilei has been creating beautiful gardens in locations on three continents. This book examines gardens from Giubbilei's portfolio. Each project is fully documented, from the preparation of mood boards to final planting and finishing.
Book
Defective perlecan-associated basement membrane regeneration and altered modulation of transforming growth factor beta in corneal fibrosis
In the cornea, the epithelial basement membrane (EBM) and corneal endothelial Descemet’s basement membrane (DBM) critically regulate the localization, availability and, therefore, the functions of transforming growth factor (TGF)β1, TGFβ2, and platelet-derived growth factors (PDGF) that modulate myofibroblast development. Defective regeneration of the EBM, and notably diminished perlecan incorporation, occurs via several mechanisms and results in excessive and prolonged penetration of pro-fibrotic growth factors into the stroma. These growth factors drive mature myofibroblast development from both corneal fibroblasts and bone marrow-derived fibrocytes, and then the persistence of these myofibroblasts and the disordered collagens and other matrix materials they produce to generate stromal scarring fibrosis. Corneal stromal fibrosis often resolves completely if the inciting factor is removed and the BM regenerates. Similar defects in BM regeneration are likely associated with the development of fibrosis in other organs where perlecan has a critical role in the modulation of signaling by TGFβ1 and TGFβ2. Other BM components, such as collagen type IV and collagen type XIII, are also critical regulators of TGF beta (and other growth factors) in the cornea and other organs. After injury, BM components are dynamically secreted and assembled through the cooperation of neighboring cells—for example, the epithelial cells and keratocytes for the corneal EBM and corneal endothelial cells and keratocytes for the corneal DBM. One of the most critical functions of these reassembled BMs in all organs is to modulate the pro-fibrotic effects of TGFβs, PDGFs and other growth factors between tissues that comprise the organ.
Journal Article
Social media as social science data
\"Social media has put mass communication in the hands of normal people on an unprecedented scale, and has also given social scientists the tools necessary to listen to the voices of everyday people around the world. This book gives social scientists the skills necessary to leverage that opportunity and transform social media's vast stream of information into social science data. The book combines the big data techniques of computer science with social science methodology. Intended as a text for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and researchers in the social sciences, this book provides a methodological pathway for scholars who want to make use of this new and evolving source of data. It provides a framework for building one's own data collection and analysis infrastructure, a toolkit of content analysis, geographic analysis, and network analysis, and meditations on the ethical implications of social media data\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
The ASQ Certified Food Safety and Quality Auditor Handbook
Federal regulatory agencies have embraced Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) as the most effective method to offer farm-to-table food safety and quality in the United States-but it is important to look beyond HACCP. The ASQ Certified Food Safety and Quality Auditor (CFSQA) Handbook serves as a baseline of knowledge for auditors of food safety and quality systems that covers other aspects of food production, including preventive controls. This handbook assists certification candidates in preparing for the ASQ Certified Food Safety and Quality Auditor (CFSQA) examination. Its chapters cover the HACCP audit and auditor, preventive principles, and quality assurance analytical tools.The updated fourth edition also includes: The history of primitive and modern food preservation methods, including the introduction of HACCP methodsThe evolution of prerequisite programs, such as chemical and microbiological controlsThe importance of other food system support programs, such as product traceability and recall, facility design, and environmental control and monitoringPreliminary tasks for developing a HACCP planAbout the DivisionThe mission of the ASQ Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Division is to achieve increased customer satisfaction and continuous improvement by identifying, communicating, and promoting knowledge and the use of management concepts, technologies, and regulations as they relate to quality principles in all functional areas of the food, drug, and cosmetic industries. The Division holds conferences, confers awards annually, awards scholarships, and provides training and networking opportunities for participants in these industries.
eBook
Social media and vaccine hesitancy
BackgroundUnderstanding the threat posed by anti-vaccination efforts on social media is critically important with the forth coming need for world wide COVID-19 vaccination programs. We globally evaluate the effect of social media and online foreign disinformation campaigns on vaccination rates and attitudes towards vaccine safety.MethodsWe use a large-n cross-country regression framework to evaluate the effect of social media on vaccine hesitancy globally. To do so, we operationalize social media usage in two dimensions: the use of it by the public to organize action (using Digital Society Project indicators), and the level of negatively oriented discourse about vaccines on social media (using a data set of all geocoded tweets in the world from 2018-2019). In addition, we measure the level of foreign-sourced coordinated disinformation operations on social media ineach country (using Digital Society Project indicators). The outcome of vaccine hesitancy is measured in two ways. First, we use polls of what proportion of the public per country feels vaccines are unsafe (using Wellcome Global Monitor indicators for 137 countries). Second, we use annual data of actual vaccination rates from the WHO for 166 countries.ResultsWe found the use of social media to organise offline action to be highly predictive of the belief that vaccinations are unsafe, with such beliefs mounting as more organisation occurs on social media. In addition, the prevalence of foreign disinformation is highly statistically and substantively significant in predicting a drop in mean vaccination coverage over time. A 1-point shift upwards in the 5-point disinformation scale is associated with a 2-percentage point drop in mean vaccination coverage year over year. We also found support for the connection of foreign disinformation with negative social media activity about vaccination. The substantive effect of foreign disinformation is to increase the number of negative vaccine tweets by 15% for the median country.ConclusionThere is a significant relationship between organisation on social media and public doubts of vaccine safety. In addition, there is a substantial relationship between foreign disinformation campaigns and declining vaccination coverage.
Journal Article
Coordinated Modulation of Corneal Scarring by the Epithelial Basement Membrane and Descemet's Basement Membrane
To provide an overview of the importance of the coordinated role of the epithelial basement membrane (EBM) and Descemet's basement membrane (DBM) in modulating scarring (fibrosis) in the cornea after injuries, infections, surgeries, and diseases of the cornea.
Literature review.
Despite their molecular and ultrastructural differences, the EBM and DBM act in a coordinated fashion to modulate the entry of transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) and other growth factors from the epithelium/tear film and aqueous humor, respectively, into the corneal stroma where persistent levels of these modulators trigger the development and persistence of myofibroblasts that produced disordered, opaque extracellular matrix not usually present in the corneal stroma. The development of these myofibroblasts and the extracellular matrix they produce is often detrimental to visual function of the cornea after penetrating keratoplasty, LASIK buttonhole flaps, persistent epithelial defects, microbial keratitis, Descemet stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty, or Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty, while being beneficial in other situations such as the scarred edge of LASIK flaps and donor-recipient interface in penetrating keratoplasty. Efforts to modulate the repair or replacement of the EBM and DBM, and thereby the development or disappearance of myofibroblasts, should be a major emphasis of treatments provided by refractive and corneal surgeries, infections, trauma, or diseases of the cornea.
The EBM and DBM are critical modulators of the localization of profibrotic growth factors, such as TGF-β, that modulate the development and persistence of myofibroblasts that produce corneal scars (stromal fibrosis). Therapeutic efforts to regenerate or repair EBM and/or DBM, and interfere with the development of myofibroblasts or facilitate their disappearance are often the key to clinical outcomes. [J Refract Surg. 2019;35(8):506-516.].
Journal Article
In Memory of Yaron S. Rabinowitz, MD, 1953 to 2023
Sensing something was wrong, I again made multiple efforts to contact him, but to no avail. [...]I heard the sudden word, that a friend of mine was dead. In 1990, Yaron set up his private cornea and refractive surgery practice (“I prefer not to have bosses anymore”) and the Ocular Genetics Research Program affiliated with Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills. In many ways, his earliest molecular genetic investigations on keratoconus led to an explosion of interest by other investigators throughout the world and the discovery of links between over two dozen genes and the disease, which Yaron himself reviewed in his last molecular genetics and keratoconus article that Mary Ann Stepp and I commissioned him to write for a special issue of Experimental Eye Research.1 He was also proud of the Atlas of Corneal Topography he co-published with Dr. Klyce and me in 1993.2 When I would visit his office in Beverly Hills, he never failed to pull down his worn copy from the shelf and wave it with that big grin, chirping, “This is still very popular, you know!” With his wide-ranging medical and scientific talents, Yaron rose to become Clinical Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at Jules Stein Eye Institute, University of California–Los Angeles School of Medicine and Director of Ophthalmology Research and The Ocular Genetics Research Program at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Journal Article
The Yin and Yang of Mesenchymal Cells in the Corneal Stromal Fibrosis Response to Injury: The Cornea as a Model of Fibrosis in Other Organs
Mesenchymal cells (keratocytes, corneal fibroblasts, and myofibroblasts), as well as mesenchymal progenitor bone marrow-derived fibrocytes, are the major cellular contributors to stromal fibrosis after injury to the cornea. Corneal fibroblasts, in addition to being major progenitors to myofibroblasts, also have anti-fibrotic functions in (1) the production of non-basement membrane collagen type IV that binds activated transforming growth factor (TGF) beta-1 and TGF beta-2 to downregulate TGF beta effects on cells in the injured stroma, (2) the production of chemokines that modulate the entry of bone marrow-derived cells into the stroma, (3) the production of hepatocyte growth factor and keratinocyte growth factor to regulate corneal epithelial healing, (4) the cooperation with the epithelium or corneal endothelium in the regeneration of the epithelial basement membrane and Descemet’s membrane, and other functions. Fibrocytes also serve as major progenitors to myofibroblasts in the corneal stroma. Thus, mesenchymal cells and mesenchymal cell progenitors serve Yin and Yang functions to inhibit and promote tissue fibrosis depending on the overall regulatory milieu within the injured stroma.
Journal Article