Rutgers University

About: Rutgers University is a education organization based out in New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 68736 authors who have published 159418 publications receiving 6713860 citations. The organization is also known as: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey & Rutgers.

The Study of Critical Junctures: Theory, Narrative, and Counterfactuals in Historical Institutionalism

Abstract: The causal logic behind many arguments in historical institutionalism emphasizes the enduring impact of choices made during critical junctures in history. These choices close off alternative options and lead to the establishment of institutions that generate self-reinforcing path-dependent processes. Despite the theoretical and practical importance of critical junctures, however, analyses of path dependence often devote little attention to them. The article reconstructs the concept of critical junctures, delimits its range of application, and provides methodological guidance for its use in historical institutional analyses. Contingency is the key characteristic of critical junctures, and counterfactual reasoning and narrative methods are necessary to analyze contingent factors and their impact. Finally, the authors address specific issues relevant to both cross-sectional and longitudinal comparisons of critical junctures.

Gut bacteria selectively promoted by dietary fibers alleviate type 2 diabetes

Abstract: The gut microbiota benefits humans via short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) production from carbohydrate fermentation, and deficiency in SCFA production is associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). We conducted a randomized clinical study of specifically designed isoenergetic diets, together with fecal shotgun metagenomics, to show that a select group of SCFA-producing strains was promoted by dietary fibers and that most other potential producers were either diminished or unchanged in patients with T2DM. When the fiber-promoted SCFA producers were present in greater diversity and abundance, participants had better improvement in hemoglobin A1c levels, partly via increased glucagon-like peptide-1 production. Promotion of these positive responders diminished producers of metabolically detrimental compounds such as indole and hydrogen sulfide. Targeted restoration of these SCFA producers may present a novel ecological approach for managing T2DM.

Electric-Magnetic Duality in Supersymmetric Non-Abelian Gauge Theories

Abstract: We demonstrate electric-magnetic duality in N=1 supersymmetric non-Abelian gauge theories in four dimensions by presenting two different gauge theories (different gauge groups and quark representations) leading to the same non-trivial long distance physics. The quarks and gluons of one theory can be interpreted as solitons (non-Abelian magnetic monopoles) of the elementary fields of the other theory. The weak coupling region of one theory is mapped to a strong coupling region of the other. When one of the theories is Higgsed by an expectation value of a squark, the other theory is confined. Massless glueballs, baryons and Abelian magnetic monopoles in the confining description are the weakly coupled elementary quarks (i.e.\ solitons of the confined quarks) in the dual Higgs description.

Twice-daily compared with once-daily thoracic radiotherapy in limited small-cell lung cancer treated concurrently with cisplatin and etoposide

Abstract: Background For small-cell lung cancer confined to one hemithorax (limited small-cell lung cancer), thoracic radiotherapy improves survival, but the best ways of integrating chemotherapy and thoracic radiotherapy remain unsettled. Twice-daily accelerated thoracic radiotherapy has potential advantages over once-daily radiotherapy. Methods We studied 417 patients with limited small-cell lung cancer. All the patients received four 21-day cycles of cisplatin plus etoposide. We randomly assigned these patients to receive a total of 45 Gy of concurrent thoracic radiotherapy, given either twice daily over a three-week period or once daily over a period of five weeks. Results Twice-daily treatment beginning with the first cycle of chemotherapy significantly improved survival as compared with concurrent once-daily radiotherapy (P=0.04 by the log-rank test). After a median follow-up of almost 8 years, the median survival was 19 months for the once-daily group and 23 months for the twice-daily group. The survival rat...

Self-promotion as a risk factor for women: the costs and benefits of counterstereotypical impression management.

Abstract: Three experiments tested and extended recent theory regarding motivational influences on impression formation (S. T. Fiske & S. L. Neuberg, 1990; J. L. Hilton & J. M. Darley, 1991) in the context of an impression management dilemma that women face: Self-promotion may be instrumental for managing a competent impression, yet women who self-promote may suffer social reprisals for violating gender prescriptions to be modest. Experiment 1 investigated the influence of perceivers' goals on processes that inhibit stereotypical thinking, and reactions to counterstereotypical behavior. Experiments 2-3 extended these findings by including male targets. For female targets, self-promotion led to higher competence ratings but incurred social attraction and hireability costs unless perceivers were outcome-dependent males. For male targets, self-effacement decreased competence and hireability ratings, though its effects on social attraction were inconsistent.