STRATIGRAPHICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE GORNY ALTAI ALLUVIAL DEPOSITS IN THE LATE PLEISTOCENE AND HOLOCENE

It is shown that representative sections of the Late Pleistocene alluvial deposits are found mainly in planations of main valleys and intermountain basins of the Gorny Altai. The data of optically stimulated luminescence and radiocarbon dating characterizing the Malyi Yaloman alluvium in the stratotypic Malyi Yaloman section and in same-age reference sections in the upper, middle and lower reaches of the Katun River are presented. That implied the regional stratigraphical significance of the Malyi Yaloman alluvium and it attribution to the epoch separating two Late Quaternary glaciations of the Gorny Altai. The question is raised of the need to identify the stratigraphical significance of regional and local events that caused not only glacial, but also seismic damming of the Gorny Altai valleys in the Late Pleistocene.

Duration of lead time in screening for gastric cancer

Objective: Estimates of lead time (LT), i.e., from detection of cancer in asymptomatic persons to manifestations of the disease, can be obtained by follow-up of populations at risk, reviews of the past histories of patients with cancer, estimates of tumor doubling time, and from the ratio between the prevalence of cancer at the first round of screening and its annual incidence on subsequent screening rounds. Aim of this study is to derive the LT of gastric cancer (GC) from published studies. Material and Methods: An overview of longitudinal studies and screening trials of GC; search of the reference sections of the retrieved papers for additional relevant studies; and calculation of the LT derived from these studies. Results: LT was 2.8 – 7.3 years if derived from prospective follow-up studies; 1.0 - 4.0 years if derived from retrospective reviews of the patients' histories before the clinical diagnosis of GC; 5.9 - 8.6 years if derived from tumor doubling time; and 1.8 - 4.3 years if derived from prevalence / /incidence ratios. Conclusions: There is wide variability in estimates of the LT of GC. Since an LT exceeding 6 six years may explain the improved survival of patients with screen-detected GS, the present survey does not obviate the need for randomized clinical trials of the effect of screening on gastric cancer mortality.

Addressing Military Sexual Violence by Proposing a Social Media Influencer Model

Military sexual violence (MSV) is a prevalent issue that uniquely affects mission readiness. Although research on MSV and social media is growing, examinations of possible interventions like those employing social media in this population are scant. Given the growing interest in targeting MSV, the present systematic review was conducted. The PRISMA framework was used to conduct a systematic review of MSV and social media ( N = 71). Queries were limited to articles published between 2010 and 2020. SAGE Journals, PubMed, and JSTOR were utilized. Terms and potential combinations were entered into the databases in varying Boolean combinations. Additional recorders were identified for inclusion via the reference sections of relevant records. After removing duplicates from the query results, we selected records of suspected relevance by title and screened abstracts. Finally, articles with relevant abstracts were reviewed thoroughly to determine whether they met inclusion criteria for the review. The employments of military leaders in a social media intervention puts into practice the military’s central values and development of its leadership core. This intervention promotes group solidarity while maximizing conversations around meaningful messages. Findings in this review suggest military leaders could feasibly employ a cost-effective global intervention using social media, as a tool to help actively address MSV.

Pre-Zanclean end of the Messinian Salinity Crisis: new evidence from central Mediterranean reference sections

The concept of a geologically instantaneous earliest Zanclean reflooding of the Mediterranean Basin after the Messinian drawdown has dominated geological thinking and is ingrained in the scientific literature. The base of the Trubi Formation in southern Italy, formally defined as the Zanclean Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) at 5.33 Ma, has traditionally been considered as marking the marine reflooding of the Mediterranean. However, several studies provide evidence that marine reflooding occurred prior to the Zanclean GSSP, the most reliable of which comes from southern Calabria. Here, we show that the sedimentary coastal prism cropping out extensively immediately below the base of the Trubi Formation in this region and correlatable with the Arenazzolo Unit in Sicily contains a fully marine micropalaeontological association of calcareous nannofossils and dinoflagellate cysts, thus pointing to both a high sea-level and marine conditions before deposition of the Trubi Formation (i.e. in the latest Messinian).

Gender (Im)balance in Citation Practices in Cognitive Neuroscience

In the field of neuroscience, despite the fact that the proportion of peer-reviewed publications authored by women has increased in recent decades, the proportion of citations of women-led publications has not seen a commensurate increase: In five broad-scope journals, citations of papers first- and/or last-authored by women have been shown to be fewer than would be expected if gender was not a factor in citation decisions [Dworkin, J. D., Linn, K. A., Teich, E. G., Zurn, P., Shinohara, R. T., & Bassett, D. S. The extent and drivers of gender imbalance in neuroscience reference lists. Nature Neuroscience, 23, 918–926, 2020]. Given the important implications that such underrepresentation may have on the careers of women researchers, it is important to determine whether this same trend is true in subdisciplines of the field, where interventions might be more targeted. Here, we report the results of an extension of the analyses carried out by Dworkin et al. (2020) to citation patterns in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. The results indicate that the underrepresentation of women-led publications in reference sections is also characteristic of papers published in Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience over the past decade. Furthermore, this pattern of citation imbalances is present regardless of author gender, implicating systemic factors. These results contribute to the growing body of evidence that intentional action is needed to address inequities in the way that we carry out and communicate our science.

Palaeocarpological and palaeoclimatic studies of the murtic interglacial flora of the Belarusian upland

The Muravian interglacial horizon is the last warm period of time span closest to our time, as well as one of the marking horizons in the complex composed layer of Quaternary deposits in Belarus. The study of the Muravian deposits, as well as an elucidation of the paleogeographic conditions that existed at that time, can make it possible to predict climate changes on our planet in the future. Based on the analysis of palaeocarpological materials obtained by the author in the study of reference sections located within the territory of the Belarusian upland and reflecting the optimal phases of the Muravian interglacial, a brief analysis of the composition of fossil floras is carried out, the conditions for their formation are established, and paleoclimatic reconstructions were performed on the basis of the obtained materials. The data obtained indicate that the average July temperatures at the optimum of the Muravian interglacial on the territory of the Belarusian upland were +17.0 till +24.0 °С for the eastern regions and +17.0 till +21.2 °С for the Grodno upland. The average January temperature ranged from +2.0...+7.0 to –3.0...–7.2 ºC. The results obtained are in good agreement with the data of other methods, in particular, palynological analysis based on the study of fossil pollen and spores. In accordance with the modern climatic indicators of the territory of Belarus, the climate at the optimum of the Muravian interglacial was at least several degrees warmer than the current one, and the winters were much milder.

Systematic Review of Grief Interventions

Grief interventions address pain and suffering in response to the death of a significant other. Evidence-based grief psychotherapies treat normative grief to symptoms of persistent complex bereavement disorder, the latter of which is characterized by difficulty accepting the loss and persistent yearning for the decedent. We reviewed published randomized controlled trials (RCT) of grief-focused psychotherapies to test two hypotheses. First, participants receiving grief-focused psychotherapies should demonstrate decline of grief symptoms from pre- to post-intervention. Second, participants receiving grief-focused psychotherapies should demonstrate lower grief symptoms post-intervention than participants receiving control treatments. Published studies were identified using academic search engines (Web of Science, PsycInfo, and Google Scholar) and by reviewing reference sections of published RCTs. Twelve published RCTs were identified. Effect sizes (Hodges’ g) and confidence intervals were calculated. Results support our first hypothesis and partially support our second hypothesis. Grief-related symptoms declined from pre- to post-intervention (g ranged from -0.39 to -2.51), with all studies reporting statistically significant effects. When comparing post-intervention differences in grief-focused psychotherapies versus control groups, effects were more variable (g ranged from -2.40 to 3.02), with seven studies demonstrating greater improvement among grief intervention recipients than control treatment recipients. Grief interventions appear to be effective for reducing grief-related symptoms pre- to post-intervention. However, they were only more effective than control treatments in just over half of published RCTs. While grief interventions were more effective, point estimate ranges are wide, suggesting that treatment effectiveness probably depends on factors other than the treatments themselves.

Advancing the pragmatic measurement of sustainment: a narrative review of measures

Background Sustainment, an outcome indicating an intervention continues to be implemented over time, has been comparatively less studied than other phases of the implementation process. This may be because of methodological difficulties, funding cycles, and minimal attention to theories and measurement of sustainment. This review synthesizes the literature on sustainment measures, evaluates the qualities of each measure, and highlights the strengths and gaps in existing sustainment measures. Results of the review will inform recommendations for the development of a pragmatic, valid, and reliable measure of sustainment. Methods A narrative review of published sustainment outcome and sustainability measures (i.e., factors that influence sustainment) was conducted, including appraising measures in the Society of Implementation Research Collaboration (SIRC) instrument review project (IRP) and the Dissemination and Implementation Grid-Enabled Measures database initiative (GEM-D&I). The narrative review used a snowballing strategy by searching the reference sections of literature reviews and definitions of sustainability and sustainment. Measures used frequently and judged to be comprehensive and/or validated by a team of implementation scientists were extracted for analysis. Results Eleven measures were evaluated. Three of the included measures were found in the SIRC-IRP, three in the GEM-D&I database, (one measure was in both databases) and six were identified in our additional searches. Thirteen constructs relating to sustainment were coded from selected measures. Measures covered a range of determinants for sustainment (i.e., construct of sustainability) as well as constructs of sustainment as an outcome. Strengths of the measures included, development by expert panels knowledgeable about particular interventions, fields or contexts, and utility in specific scenarios. A number of limitations were found in the measures analyzed including inadequate assessment of psychometric characteristics, being overly intervention or context specific, being lengthy and/or complex, and focusing on outer context factors. Conclusion There is a lack of pragmatic and psychometrically sound measures of sustainment that can be completed by implementation stakeholders within inner context settings (e.g., frontline providers, supervisors).

Gender (im)balance in citation practices in cognitive neuroscience

In the field of neuroscience, despite the fact that the proportion of peer-reviewed publications authored by women has increased in recent decades, the proportion of citations of women-led publications has not seen a commensurate increase: In five broad-scope journals, citations of papers first- and/or last-authored by women have been shown to be fewer than would be expected if gender was not a factor in citation decisions (Dworkin et al., 2020). Given the important implications that such underrepresentation may have on the careers of women researchers, it is important to determine whether this same trend is true in subdisciplines of the field, where interventions might be more effective. Here, we report the results of an extension of the analyses carried out by Dworkin et al. (2020) to citation patterns in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience (JoCN). The results indicate that the underrepresentation of women-led publications in reference sections is also characteristic of papers published in JoCN over the past decade. Furthermore, this pattern of citation imbalances is present for all gender classes of authors, implicating systemic factors. These results contribute to the growing body of evidence that intentional action is needed to address inequities in the way that we carry out and communicate our science.

Crash Modification Functions for Passing Relief Lanes on Two-Lane Rural Roads

Passing relief lanes on two-lane rural roads provide passing opportunities that would otherwise be scarce where there are extensive no-passing zones, high opposing traffic volumes, or both. This paper addresses the safety effects of installing a passing lane or lengthening an existing one. It stands to reason that the effect of installing a passing lane will depend on the actual length of that lane. By extension, it is also reasonable to expect that the safety effects of lengthening an existing one will depend not only on the amount of the lengthening, but also on the original length. Yet, knowledge that can be applied to estimate these two sets of effects in a design process is lacking. The crash modification factors (CMFs) in the Highway Safety Manual (HSM) and in the CMF Clearinghouse for installing a passing lane are all single-valued, of the order of 0.75. And neither source provides CMFs for lengthening an existing passing lane. This paper seeks to address these voids by developing continuous crash modification functions (CMFunctions) for both sets of design decisions using Michigan, U.S., and Ontario, Canada, crash, geometric, and traffic data for passing lane and reference sections. Generalized linear modeling and full Bayes Markov Chain Monte Carlo (FB MCMC) simulation are used to develop cross-section regression models from which crash modification functions are derived and compared. The results are consistent with those from credible before-after studies, so are recommended for implementation in practice, in particular for HSM applications.