Boston College

About: Boston College is a education organization based out in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 9749 authors who have published 25406 publications receiving 1105145 citations. The organization is also known as: BC.

Consequences of twenty-first-century policy for multi-millennial climate and sea-level change

Abstract: Most of the policy debate surrounding the actions needed to mitigate and adapt to anthropogenic climate change has been framed by observations of the past 150 years as well as climate and sea-level projections for the twenty-first century. The focus on this 250-year window, however, obscures some of the most profound problems associated with climate change. Here, we argue that the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, a period during which the overwhelming majority of human-caused carbon emissions are likely to occur, need to be placed into a long-term context that includes the past 20 millennia, when the last Ice Age ended and human civilization developed, and the next ten millennia, over which time the projected impacts of anthropogenic climate change will grow and persist. This long-term perspective illustrates that policy decisions made in the next few years to decades will have profound impacts on global climate, ecosystems and human societies — not just for this century, but for the next ten millennia and beyond.

Effects of Music Training on the Child's Brain and Cognitive Development

Abstract: Research has revealed structural and functional differences in the brains of adult instrumental musicians compared to those of matched nonmusician controls, with intensity/duration of instrumental training and practice being important predictors of these differences. Nevertheless, the differential contributions of nature and nurture to these differences are not yet clear. The musician-nonmusician comparison is an ideal model for examining whether and, if so, where such functional and structural brain plasticity occurs, because musicians acquire and continuously practice a variety of complex motor, auditory, and multimodal skills (e.g., translating visually perceived musical symbols into motor commands while simultaneously monitoring instrumental output and receiving multisensory feedback). Research has also demonstrated that music training in children results in long-term enhancement of visual-spatial, verbal, and mathematical performance. However, the underlying neural bases of such enhancements and whether the intensity and duration of instrumental training or other factors, such as extracurricular activities, attention, motivation, or instructional methods can contribute to or predict these enhancements are yet unknown. Here we report the initial results from our studies examining the brain and cognitive effects of instrumental music training on young children in a longitudinal study and a cross-sectional comparison in older children. Further, we present a comparison of the results in these children's studies with observations from our cross-sectional studies with adults.

Soluble CD163, a Novel Marker of Activated Macrophages, Is Elevated and Associated With Noncalcified Coronary Plaque in HIV-Infected Patients

Abstract: Background. Pro-inflammatory monocytes/macrophagesmay contribute to increased atherosclerosis in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)‐infected patients. We investigatedto our knowledge, for the first timedsCD163 and other markers of monocyte activation in relationship to atherosclerotic plaque in HIV-infected patients. Methods. One hundred two HIV-infected and 41 HIV-seronegative men with equivalent cardiovascular risk factors and without history of coronary artery disease were prospectively recruited and underwent computed tomography coronary angiography. Results. sCD163 levels and presence of plaque were significantly higher among antiretroviral-treated subjects with undetectable HIV RNA levels, compared with seronegative controls (1172 6 646 vs. 883 6561 ng/mL[P 5 .02] for sCD163 and 61% vs. 39% [P 5 .03] for presence of plaque). After adjusting for age, race, lipids, blood pressure, glucose, smoking, sCD14, and HIV infection, sCD163 remained independently associated with noncalcified plaque (P 5 .008). Among HIV-infected patients, sCD163 was associated with coronary segments with noncalcified plaque (r 5 0.21; P 5 .04), but not with calcium score. In contrast, markers of generalized inflammation, including C-reactive protein level, and D-dimer were not associated with sCD163 or plaque among HIV-infected patients. Conclusions. sCD163, a monocyte/macrophage activation marker, is increased in association with noncalcified coronary plaque in men with chronic HIVinfectionand low or undetectable viremia. These data suggest a potentially important role of chronic monocyte/macrophage activation in the development of noncalcified vulnerable plaque. Clinical Trial Registration. NCT00455793.

Resiliency of Environmental and Social Stocks: An Analysis of the Exogenous COVID-19 Market Crash

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown brought about an exogenous and unparalleled stock market crash The crisis thus provides a unique opportunity to test theories of environmental and social (ES) policies This paper shows that stocks with higher ES ratings have significantly higher returns, lower return volatility, and higher operating profit margins during the first quarter of 2020 ES firms with higher advertising expenditures experience higher stock returns, and stocks held by more ES-oriented investors experience less return volatility during the crash This paper highlights the importance of customer and investor loyalty to the resiliency of ES stocks