This article extends Michael L. Radelet’s 1989 study of rare cases in which Whites have been executed for committing capital crimes against Blacks to include an assessment of White executions involving Latinx and Asian victims. The threefold aim is to (1) establish the frequency of such rare cases, and (2) explore the extent to which status characteristics (beyond race, ethnicity or gender) are present for these rare events; and (3) offer social dominance theory as a viable explanation for the patterns found in the data. An analysis of unique data from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows that out of 570 executions imposed between April 1982 and July 2020, only six cases led to the execution of Whites for crimes against Blacks (1.1%), sixteen cases for crimes against Hispanics (2.8%), and one case for crimes against an Asian American (0.18%). Beyond the minority status of the victim, two or more status markers were present when Whites were executed for crimes against people of color. The results, which are consistent with expectations drawn from social dominance theory, highlight the differential value placed on minority lives and call into question the legitimacy of the death penalty in the United States.

Metabolites produced by microbial fermentation in the human intestine, especially short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), are known to play important roles in colonic and systemic health. Our aim here was to advance our understanding of how and why their concentrations and proportions vary between individuals. We have analysed faecal concentrations of microbial fermentation acids from 10 human volunteer studies, involving 163 subjects, conducted at the Rowett Institute, Aberdeen, UK over a 7-year period. In baseline samples, the % butyrate was significantly higher, whilst % iso-butyrate and % iso-valerate were significantly lower, with increasing total SCFA concentration. The decreasing proportions of iso-butyrate and iso-valerate, derived from amino acid fermentation, suggest that fibre intake was mainly responsible for increased SCFA concentrations. We propose that the increase in % butyrate among faecal SCFA is largely driven by a decrease in colonic pH resulting from higher SCFA concentrations. Consistent with this, both total SCFA and % butyrate increased significantly with decreasing pH across five studies for which faecal pH measurements were available. Colonic pH influences butyrate production through altering the stoichiometry of butyrate formation by butyrate-producing species, resulting in increased acetate uptake and butyrate formation, and facilitating increased relative abundance of butyrate-producing species (notably Roseburia and Eubacterium rectale).

Whiteite-(MnMnMn), Mn2+Mn2+Mn2+2Al2(PO4)4(OH)2⋅8H2O, is a new whiteite-subgroup member of the jahnsite group from the Foote Lithium Company mine, Kings Mountain district, Cleveland County, North Carolina, USA. It was found in small vugs of partially oxidised pegmatite minerals on the East dump of the mine, in association with eosphorite, hureaulite, fairfieldite, mangangordonite, whiteite-(CaMnMn) and jasonsmithite. It occurs as sugary aggregates of blade-like crystals up to 0.1 mm long and as epitaxial overgrowths on whiteite-(CaMnMn). The crystals are colourless to very pale brown, with a vitreous lustre and a white streak. The blades are flattened on {001} and elongated along [010], with poor cleavage on {001}. The calculated density is 2.82 g⋅cm–3. Optically it is biaxial (–) with α = 1.599(2), β = 1.605(2), γ = 1.609(2) (white light); 2V (calc.) = 78.2°, having no observable dispersion or pleochroism, and with orientation X = b. Electron microprobe analyses and structure refinement gave the empirical formula (Mn2+0.59Ca0.38Na0.03)Σ1.00Mn1.00(Mn2+1.04Fe3+0.58Fe2+0.23Zn0.16Mg0.08)Σ2.09Al2.04(PO4)3.89(OH)3.18(H2O)7.26. Whiteite-(MnMnMn) is monoclinic, P2/a, a = 15.024(3) Å, b = 6.9470(14) Å, c = 9.999(2) Å, β = 110.71(3)°, V = 976.2(4) Å3 and Z = 2. The crystal structure was refined using synchrotron single-crystal data to wRobs = 0.057 for 2014 reflections with I > 3σ(I). Site occupancy refinements confirm the ordering of dominant Mn in the X, M1 and M2 sites of the general jahnsite-group formula XM1(M2)2(M3)2(H2O)8(OH)2(PO4)4. A review of published crystallochemical data for jahnsite-group minerals shows a consistent chemical pressure effect in these minerals, manifested as a contraction of the unit-cell parameter, a, as the mean size of the X and M1 site cations increases. This is analogous to negative thermal expansion, but with increasing cation size, rather than heating, inducing octahedral rotations that result in an anisotropic contraction of the unit cell.

Knotweed (Fallopia spp.) is an herbaceous perennial from East Asia that was brought to Europe and North America and, despite control efforts, subsequently spread aggressively on both continents. Data are available on knotweed’s modes of sexual and asexual spread, historical spread, preferred habitat, and ploidy levels. Incomplete information is available on knotweed’s current global geographic distribution and genetic diversity. The chemical composition of knotweed leaves and rhizomes has been partially discovered as related to its ability to inhibit growth and germination of neighboring plant communities via phytochemicals. There is still critical information missing. There are currently no studies detailing knotweed male and female fertility. Specifically, information on pollen viability would be important for further understanding sexual reproduction as a vector of spread in knotweed. This information would help managers determine the potential magnitude of knotweed sexual reproduction and the continued spread of diverse hybrid swarms. The potential range of knotweed and its ability to spread into diverse habitats makes studies on knotweed seed and rhizome cold tolerance of utmost importance, yet to date no such studies have been conducted. There is also a lack of genetic information available on knotweed in the upper Midwest. Detailed genetic information, such as ploidy levels and levels of genetic diversity, would answer many questions about knotweed in Minnesota, including understanding its means of spread, what species are present in what densities, and current levels of hybridization. This literature review summarizes current literature on knotweed to better understand its invasiveness and to highlight necessary future research that would benefit and inform knotweed management in the upper Midwest.

Engaging communities can increase the speed of translating health and health equity research into practice. Effective engagement requires a shared understanding of the health of a community. This can be challenging without timely and accurate local health data, or ways to provide that data, that are directly applicable to improving community health outcomes. The University of Wisconsin Institute for Clinical and Translational Research formed the Neighborhood Health Partnerships Program (NHP) to overcome this challenge, making sub-county health data available to researchers and community stakeholders while incorporating community voice into data delivery processes. The NHP team used a human-centered design approach to facilitate community engagement. Through co-design, the team created NHP reports and data-to-action tools to maximize accessibility and utility for a diverse set of community stakeholders. Early indicators show that the final co-designed NHP reports and data-to-action tools will be immediately useful in promoting community–academic partnerships and in planning, implementing, and evaluating research and other initiatives in communities. The NHP program demonstrates that an effective co-design strategy can lead to increased usability and adoption of Clinical and Translational Science Award resources, enabling a shared understanding of community health and ultimately leading to the successful translation of research into practice.

In recent years, a variety of efforts have been made in political science to enable, encourage, or require scholars to be more open and explicit about the bases of their empirical claims and, in turn, make those claims more readily evaluable by others. While qualitative scholars have long taken an interest in making their research open, reflexive, and systematic, the recent push for overarching transparency norms and requirements has provoked serious concern within qualitative research communities and raised fundamental questions about the meaning, value, costs, and intellectual relevance of transparency for qualitative inquiry. In this Perspectives Reflection, we crystallize the central findings of a three-year deliberative process—the Qualitative Transparency Deliberations (QTD)—involving hundreds of political scientists in a broad discussion of these issues. Following an overview of the process and the key insights that emerged, we present summaries of the QTD Working Groups’ final reports. Drawing on a series of public, online conversations that unfolded at www.qualtd.net, the reports unpack transparency’s promise, practicalities, risks, and limitations in relation to different qualitative methodologies, forms of evidence, and research contexts. Taken as a whole, these reports—the full versions of which can be found in the Supplementary Materials—offer practical guidance to scholars designing and implementing qualitative research, and to editors, reviewers, and funders seeking to develop criteria of evaluation that are appropriate—as understood by relevant research communities—to the forms of inquiry being assessed. We dedicate this Reflection to the memory of our coauthor and QTD working group leader Kendra Koivu.1

Our recent exploration into the use of biodegradable metals and surface treatments resulting in sufficient strength for skeletal reconstruction applications has led to the need to test these devices’ cytotoxicity. More specifically, our group has developed a resorbable magnesium alloy, Mg–1.2Zn–0.5Ca–0.5Mn, that can be strengthened by heat treatment and coated with a ceramic layer offering time-certain resorption of a medical device. This in vitro study shows that these treatments do not result in cytotoxicity. Both heat-treated (HT) and HT + ceramic-coated (sol–gel) coupons demonstrated more than 70% viability. Thus, these processing steps are likely to be useful in producing biocompatible, resorbable implants that incorporate our Mg–1.2Zn–0.5Ca–0.5Mn alloy.

Background: Endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) has shown efficacy in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients with infective endocarditis (IE). The possibility to undertake advanced histopathological clot analysis following EVT offers a new avenue to establish the etiological basis of the stroke – which is often labelled “cryptogenic.” In this paper, we present our findings from four consecutive patients with IE who underwent EVT following an AIS at our tertiary referral comprehensive stroke centre. Methods: Comprehensive histopathological analysis of clot retrieved after EVT, including morphology, was undertaken. Results: The consistent observation was the presence of dense paucicellular fibrinoid material mixed/interspersed with clusters of bacterial cocci. This clot morphology may be specific to septic embolus due to IE unlike incidental bacteraemia and could possibly explain the refractoriness of such clots to systemic thrombolysis. Conclusion: Detailed morphological and histopathological analysis of EVT-retrieved clots including Gram staining can assist in etiological classification of the clot. Understanding the composition of the clot may be of clinical value in early diagnostics and mapping treatment planning in IE.

The South Caucasus occupies the divide between ancient Mesopotamia and prehistoric Europe, and was thus crucial in the development of Old World societies. Chronologies for the region, however, have lacked the definition achieved in surrounding areas. Concentrating on the Tsaghkahovit Plain of north-western Armenia, Project ArAGATS's multi-site radiocarbon dataset has now produced Bayesian modelling, which provides tight chronometric support for tracing the transmission of technology, population movement and social developments that shaped the Eurasian Bronze and Iron Ages.