Innominate vein redirection to the pulmonary venous atrium has been used in single ventricle patients in order to relieve lymphatic complications resulting from systemic venous hypertension. This has been achieved both surgically, known as the Hraska procedure and via transcatheter approach, known as the Rome procedure. Determining the pathway from the innominate vein to the pulmonary venous atrium is challenging with important intra- and extra-cardiac structures close-by. We present two cases; one surgical and one transcatheter approach, where 3D-printed cardiac models were used to assist in the pre-procedural planning of this relatively novel and challenging strategy.

This paper examines possessive pronoun forms in Welsh, a feature thought to be undergoing change (Davies, 2016). First, we seek to add to the understanding about how and in which stylistic contexts these forms are used. Second, we examine whether students in Welsh-medium schools with different home language backgrounds show the same sociolinguistic competence. In contrast to what is prescribed in many grammar books, the colloquial form mam fi ‘my mum’ is used at much higher rates than the traditional literary fy mam and sandwich variants fy mam i. This is particularly the case in more casual styles. We also find differences between north and south Wales in overall rates of use, but within the two schools studied, the English home language students broadly show the same patterns and constraints as the Welsh home language students, underlining that language background does not affect the acquisition of sociolinguistic competence.

The American criminal legal system is an important site of political socialization: scholars have shown that criminal legal contact reduces turnout and that criminalization pushes people away from public institutions more broadly. Despite this burgeoning literature, few analyses directly investigate the causal effect of lower-level police contact on voter turnout. To do so, we leverage individual-level administrative ticketing data from Hillsborough County, Florida. We show that traffic stops materially decrease participation for Black and non-Black residents alike, and we also find temporal variation in the effect for Black voters. Although stops reduce turnout more for Black voters in the short term, they are less demobilizing over a longer time horizon. Although even low-level contacts with the police can reduce political participation across the board, our results point to a unique process of political socialization vis-à-vis the carceral state for Black Americans.

Previous research has shown that pre-aspiration can be a phonemic and a variable linguistic feature susceptible to linguistic and extra-linguistic influences. In the case of Welsh, previous exploratory work has found the presence of pre-aspiration (Ball 1984, Morris 2010, Spooner 2016, Iosad forthcoming), but the phonetic and phonological properties of this feature and its sociophonetic patterning in the language are not known. This article presents analyses of the variety of Welsh spoken in Bethesda (Gwynedd). It reports the frequency of occurrence of pre-aspiration, its duration, and noisiness. As well as describing pre-aspiration, it attempts to ascertain the extent to which this feature is influenced by linguistic and extra-linguistic factors. Wordlist data were analysed from 16 Welsh–English bilinguals from Bethesda (Gwynedd, North Wales). Speakers were aged between 16 and 18 years old and the sample was stratified by speaker sex and home language (either Welsh or English). The results indicate that pre-aspiration is frequent in both fortis and lenis plosives (the latter of which are typically devoiced in Welsh). In addition to a number of linguistic influences on its production, both speaker sex and home language were found to be significant predictors of variation for some measures. The results are discussed with reference to previous studies of pre-aspiration in other languages and work on phonetic variation in Welsh–English bilingual speech.

Renal disease has a high incidence in cats, and some evidence implicates dietary P as well. To investigate this further, two studies in healthy adult cats were conducted. Study 1 (36 weeks) included forty-eight cats, stratified to control or test diets providing 1·2 or 4·8 g/1000 kcal (4184 kJ) P (0 or approximately 3·6 g/1000 kcal (4184 kJ) inorganic P, Ca:P 1·2, 0·6). Study 2 (29 weeks) included fifty cats, stratified to control or test diets, providing 1·3 or 3·6 g/1000 kcal (4184 kJ) P (0 or approximately 1·5 g/1000 kcal (4184 kJ) inorganic P, Ca:P 1·2, 0·9). Health markers, glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and mineral balance were measured regularly, with abdominal ultrasound. Study 1 was halted after 4 weeks as the test group GFR reduced by 0·4 (95 % CI 0·3, 0·5) ml/min per kg, and ultrasound revealed changes in renal echogenicity. In study 2, at week 28, no change in mean GFR was observed (P >0·05); however, altered renal echogenicity was detected in 36 % of test cats. In agreement with previous studies, feeding a diet with Ca:P <1·0, a high total and inorganic P inclusion resulted in loss of renal function and changes in echogenicity suggestive of renal pathology. Feeding a diet containing lower total and inorganic P with Ca:P close to 1·0 led to more subtle structural changes in a third of test cats; however, nephrolithiasis occurred in both diet groups, complicating data interpretation. We conclude that the no observed adverse effects level for total dietary P in adult cats is lower than 3·6 g/1000 kcal (4184 kJ), however the effect of inorganic P sources and Ca:P require further investigation.

Iodine-129 is a high-yield fission product formed in nuclear reactors and is a risk-driving radionuclide in both contaminated land and radioactive waste disposal due to its high mobility and long half-life. Here, the bioreduction behaviour of iodate was investigated by tracking iodine speciation and concentration in solution during the development of progressive anoxia in sediment microcosm experiments incubated at neutral pH. Experiments with acetate added as an electron donor showed the expected cascade of terminal electron-accepting processes. Analysis of solution chemistry showed reduction of iodate to iodide during the early stages of metal (Mn(IV) and Fe(III)) reduction, but with no significant retention of iodine species on solids. There was, however, a net release of natural iodine associated with the sediments to solution when robust iron reduction / sulfate reduction had developed. In addition, over 210 days, the controls with no electron donor and the sterile controls showed no Mn(IV) or Fe(III) reduction but displayed modest sorption of iodate to the sediments in the absence of bioreduction. Overall these results show that under oxic conditions iodate may be partially sorbed to sediments over extended periods but that development of mildly reducing conditions leads to the reductive release of iodine to solution as iodide.

Neptunium-237 will be present in radioactive wastes over extended time periods due to its long half-life (2.13 × 106 years). Understanding its behaviour under conditions relevant to radioactive waste disposal is therefore of particular importance. Here, microcosm experiments were established using sediments from a legacy lime workings with high-pH conditions as an analogue of cementitious intermediate-level radioactive waste disposal. To probe the influence of Fe biogeochemistry on Np(V) in these systems, additional Fe(III) (as ferrihydrite) was added to select experiments. Biogeochemical changes were tracked in experiments with low levels of Np(V) (20 Bq ml–1; 3.3 μM), whilst parallel higher concentration systems (2.5 KBq ml–1; 414 μM) allowed X-ray absorption spectroscopy. As expected, microbial reduction processes developed in microbially-active systems with an initial pH of 10; however, during microbial incubations the pH dropped from 10 to ∼7, reflecting the high levels of microbial metabolism occurring in these systems. In microbially-active systems without added Fe(III), 90% sorption of Np(V) occurred within one hour with essentially complete removal by one day. In the ferrihydrite-amended systems, complete sorption of Np(V) to ferrihydrite occurred within one hour. For higher-activity sediments, X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) at end points where Fe(II) ingrowth was observed confirmed that complete reductive precipitation of Np(V) to Np(IV) had occurred under similar conditions to low-level Np experiments. Finally, pre-reduced, Fe(III)-reducing sediments, with and without added Fe(III) and held at pH 10, were spiked with Np(V). These alkaline pre-reduced sediments showed significant removal of Np to sediments, and XAS confirmed partial reduction to Np(IV) with the no Fe system, and essentially complete reduction to Np(IV) in the Fe(III)-enriched systems. This suggested an indirect, Fe(II)-mediated pathway for Np(V) reduction under alkaline conditions. Microbial analyses using 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing suggested a role for alkali-tolerant, Gram-positive Firmicutes in coupled Fe(III) reduction and Np immobilization in these experiments.

Although the implications of long-term high Ca intakes have been well documented in growing dogs, the health consequences of Ca excess in adult dogs remain to be established. To evaluate the impact of feeding a diet containing 7·1 g/4184 kJ (1000 kcal) Ca for 40 weeks on Ca balance and health parameters in adult dogs, eighteen neutered adult Labrador Retrievers, (nine males and nine females) aged 2·5–7·4 years were randomised to one of two customised diets for 40 weeks. The diets were manufactured according to similar nutritional specifications, with the exception of Ca and P levels. The diets provided 1·7 and 7·1 g/4184 kJ (1000 kcal) (200(SD26) and 881(SD145) mg/kg body weight0·75 per d, respectively) Ca, respectively, with a Ca:P ratio of 1·6. Clinical examinations, ultrasound scans, radiographs, health parameters, metabolic effects and mineral balance were recorded at baseline and at 8-week intervals throughout the study. Dogs in both groups were healthy throughout the trial without evidence of urinary, renal or orthopaedic disease. In addition, there were no clinically relevant changes in any of the measures made in either group (all P>0·05). The high-Ca diet resulted in a 3·3-fold increase in faecal Ca excretion (P<0·001), whereas apparent Ca digestibility (%) and net Ca balance (g/d) did not significantly change from baseline or differ between the groups at any time point (both P>0·05). Ca intakes of up to 7·1 g/4184 kJ (1000 kcal) are well tolerated over a period of 40 weeks, with no adverse effects that could be attributed to the diet or to a high mineral intake.

In this article, we chronicle our experience in team-teaching large-lecture sections of “Introduction to American Government.” A dual-instructor approach allows us to accommodate 250 students, which obviates the need for five separate sections (and instructors) of the course. In addition, our “Crossfire Approach,” in which we engage one another in frequent and unstructured political debate, generates student interest in the course and in the political science major. Students who were enrolled in this course from 2007 through 2011 were significantly more likely to declare political science as their major than those who took it from any other instructor or either of us teaching it individually. This approach conserves departmental resources while simultaneously growing the program—a clear win-win situation.

Previous studies have reported inconsistent associations between maternal serum ferritin concentrations and the risk of spontaneous preterm birth (sPTB). The aim of the present study was to examine the association between Fe biomarkers, including serum ferritin concentrations, and the risk of total ( < 37 weeks), early ( < 34 weeks) and moderate-to-late (34–36 weeks) sPTB. The study cohort included 2254 women with singleton pregnancies attending first-trimester screening in New South Wales, Australia. sPTB included births following spontaneous labour or preterm premature rupture of the membranes. Serum collected at a mean gestational age of 12·0 (sd 0·9) weeks was analysed for Fe biomarkers, including serum ferritin and soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR), and the inflammatory biomarker C-reactive protein. Multivariate logistic regression analysis evaluated the association between low and high Fe levels and sPTB. Women with elevated serum ferritin concentrations were more likely to be older, nulliparous or have gestational diabetes. The multivariate analysis found increased odds of sPTB for women with elevated ferritin levels defined as >75th percentile ( ≥ 43 μg/l) (OR 1·49, 95 % CI 1·06, 2·10) and >90th percentile ( ≥ 68 μg/l) (OR 1·92, 95 % CI 1·25, 2·96). Increased odds of early and moderate-to-late sPTB were associated with ferritin levels >90th percentile (OR 2·50, 95 % CI 1·32, 4·73) and >75th percentile (OR 1·56, 95 % CI 1·03, 2·37), respectively. No association was found between the risk of sPTB and elevated sTfR levels or Fe deficiency. In conclusion, elevated maternal serum ferritin levels in early pregnancy are associated with an increased risk of sPTB from 34 weeks of gestation. The usefulness of early pregnancy ferritin levels in identifying women at risk of sPTB warrants further investigation.