We take our customers happiness seriously and work hard to achieve it. We don't always get things right but when we get them wrong, we work even harder hard to sort it out.
We don't hide behind complaints teams and processes, customers wishing to make a formal complaint or give feedback can email our CEO, Greg Jackson directly.
We ask our customers for feedback after every interaction. This ensures we stay close to how we are doing and respond quickly if there is something we aren't doing quite right.
Over the last quarter, 79% of customers said they were happy with their service experience with 13% rating their experience with us a neutral.
We also look to 3rd party review sites to see how we are doing. So far this year, 92% of customers rate us as 5 stars on review site TrustPilot.
Organising field engineers and contractors can often be as difficult for an energy supplier as they are for you and I. Sometimes jobs go wrong for a range of reasons but we know that our customers don't judge us by the errors we make but by the way we handle them.
Our customer Holly had an incorrect meter installed on a faulty gas meter replacement job. The issue originated from a shortage of gas meters at the time but long story short, we kept in close contact with our customer 24/7 and the contracts doing to work to make sure Holly was looked after as best a possible.
So my 'energy experience' hasn't exactly been an easy ride to say the least. After moving into my new property, I discovered my gas meter was broken. No numbers were coming up, meaning I could not provide a meter reading. I quickly messaged Octopus Energy through their facebook page, baring in mind this was a Sunday. I quickly got a reply from them, sent them a photo and they were very helpful! An engineer was booked to come and have a look. The engineer came, the meter was changed, however, and this is where it gets tricky, he had put in the wrong meter. Instead of fitting a new credit meter he put in a pay as you go meter. In the notes for him it had been highlighted that it would be a credit to credit change and the previous meter was obviously credit. Since then, the engineer company called me saying they would come around on a certain day as well as octopus energy telling them to come on that day, but they didn't. Following this I called octopus energy and they arranged for someone to come around and make sure the pay as you go meter was topped up, assured me I will never be without gas and even offered me to order a takeaway for up to £30. Throughout this entire 'ordeal' I have been speaking to Emily from octopus energy and I cannot fault her one bit. The fault of one engineer has meant that she has had to deal with different companies and myself. She is always to hand, whether that be on the phone or through messenger, morning and night, weekdays and weekends. I know if I call to say my gas is running low, she will organise for someone to come and top it up. This has also been at no expense to myself. I am still paying less than quoted by any other company I looked at. If I could, I would give Emily a raise! Or at least a very, very, VERY big and expensive bottle of wine!
Based on Holly's recommendation, we gave Emily a VERY big and expensive bottle of wine!
Our customers tell us that the big 6 are always quick to take money but not always so quick to give it back. We care about our customers and get frustrated when their old supplier isn't treating them fairly.
Rather than telling our customers to call their old supplier, we do it for them where we can. That means we can often get these issues sorted quicker as we understand the processes and rules which helps us advocate the best outcome.
One of our customers John was having trouble getting a final bill (and big refund) from their old energy supplier. We sorted out by calling John's old supplier, making sure they had what they needed and getting a commitment that the final bill (and refund) would be with them as promised.
OCTOPUS - A company where Service counts!
Switching to Octopus was so easy it was unbelievable. They did all the work.
Catching a bus is more difficult than switching to Octopus Energy!
When previous company (One of the "Big 6" - no names mentioned) was proving difficult about returning money to me I emailed Octopus for advice at 7.30pm, expecting a reply in the morning.
30 minutes later I had a reply!!
Lily had checked the information out, and confirmed that SSE (Ooops!) had been sent the information they denied having received. All well and good.
Then she said she would contact SSE to sort the matter out for me in the morning! Now, that is Real Customer Service!!
It is reassuring to know that this company does care about its customers! I feel safe with them.
Message to SSE - any more problems, and being economical with the truth, I will unleash Lil again!!
In 2018 Ofgem updated the reporting requirements.
Improved communications during the transfer process to better explain the steps and timeframes involved.
More active advocacy on behalf of our customers with their old suppliers to help them resolve disputes that arise during the transfer. In particular, establishing a process to assist customers where the pervious supplier has failed to issue meter technical details for the correct meter following a recent smart meter installation.
Improved handling of meter reading issues and enhanced validation when meter readings are provided. This also included changes to our billing processes to reduce the number of customer bills that contain part estimates.
Revising our processes and providers of metering services to improve timeliness of non-emergency metering work.


Are you looking for a Crimsafe Security Door Aldinga. Did you know that Max Security are the specialists in all things Crimsafe security doors in Aldinga. We are even one of Adelaide's largest dealers of all Crimsafe products. We pride ourselves on our range of Crimsafe products and services. The end goal is to leave your home or business as safe as possible. Call today for all of our services both on security doors and security windows on all of our Crimsafe security doors in Aldinga. We offer a free measure and quote for all fully custom screen door or security windows.
Did you know that the Crimsafe security door is like no other. All Crimsafe security mesh is a heavy duty and highly technological mesh screen. Making it un penetrable by intruders. It will leave your home as safe as it can be. No matter what colour or design you are after. The team at Max Security Doors and Screens will be able to accommodate you and make sure you are getting the best solution and product available.
Here at Max Security Screens and Doors we recently installed a Crimsafe Security Door Aldinga. This security window screen was made to measure and had stainless steel materials as well as vision restricted mesh. It allowed the screen it to flow with the surroundings and outlay of the house and protect its owners from all intruders. Insects and prevent any broken windows. No matter what your security door needs are you can't go past our CrimSafe security mesh which is an option for all security screen doors and security window screens. We will be able to walk you through the variety of options available so you can make the best choice.
The photo below is a completed job that the team has done for a Crimsafe Security Door Aldinga. Black is a safe choice of colour and it is done in one of our more popular designs. If you would like something similar to this, or even just want to get a free measure and quote and see what other options are available please contact us on 08 8186 5733 and one of our friendly staff will help you out.


text:
BellaStylista
Nengi Hampson Transforms Into An Oriental Princess In This New Kelechi Amadi-Obi Lensed Shoot
Food Critic Live: #BellaStylistas, Don't Go On A Diet!
Thinking of Rocking Protective Styles in 2021? Here's All You Need to Know About Caring for Your Hair
Kitan Akinniraye Wore a Gorgeous High Slit Dress to Ring in Her 30th Birthday
Know About Interior Designer Mali Langa – From South Africa To The World!
South African interior decorator Mali Langa had one mission in mind when she set out to launch her brand TASK Interior Styling; become a force to be reckoned with in the design industry locally and internationally. Now almost 5 years after, her high octane designs are seen in some of the best locations in various parts of Africa.
I have always loved interiors since I was a little girl watching my aunt do the interior of her house, I knew that this was something I wanted to do.
Through her work, she shows off the wealth of South Africa and Africa as a whole. Constantly raising the bar with her emphasis on luxury, uniqueness and a pop of colour to excite and bring the spaces to life.
In this new interview with BellaNaija Style, Mali Langa tells us about her journey so far in a male-dominated industry, her favourite projects and the next best thing for her brand.
BNS: Tell us about your brand
Mali Langa: TASK Interior Styling is a turn-key award-winning interior design studio born out of a love for beautiful objects, functional design, colour and a flair for luxurious living. No corporate, residential or commercial brief is too big or small to benefit from our team of talented interior designers and industry professionals. Our motto, "innovation through collaboration", drives us forward as we aim to bring original interior designs, creative projects, and products to market. TASK is aiming to be a leading authority in interior design on the African continent.
BNS: Why did you go into interior designing?
Mali Langa: TASK was born in 2016 (with a brand makeover in 2019) out of a love for beauty in all shapes and forms. What started out as just a hobby quickly grew into a fully-fledged business opportunity. What it comes down to is that I have always loved interiors since I was a little girl watching my aunt do the interior of her house, I knew that this was something I wanted to do. It's like they say, do what you love and you will never work a day in your life!
BNS: What inspires the work you do?
Mali Langa: My inspiration grows from a love for travel. Having had the privilege of seeing many different corners of the world, I am always awestruck at the variety the human race has to offer. Different cultures and people opened my eyes to beauties I had never considered. I really love bringing together different styles of interiors from all over the globe and then adding to it an African twist, that something which gives it VAVA!
BNS: What is your design style?
Mali Langa: My design philosophy revolves around collaboration not only with clients but also with other talented creatives from all walks of life. I bring my projects together with an emphasis on luxury, uniqueness and always a pop of colour to excite and bring the design to life. I love bringing different materials together to up the overall contrast and have them complement one another. Luxurious finishes, a variety of textures, an element of greenery and a dash of colour will never be missing in any project of mine.
What I love most about interior design is my first interaction with clients, where I get to analyse and interpret their personalities. I love taking the data we collect at a briefing session or a site visit and then unpacking it with my team to come up with a brilliant design. And let's not forget the excitement of implementation, of finally getting to the point where you add the final touches and hand over to a satisfied client!
BNS: The most challenging part of being one of the leading designers in South Africa?
Mali Langa: Being the first and only female on the board of directors of a male-dominated company in a male-dominated industry like the mining industry was one of the biggest challenges I have faced in my professional career. But looking back on these experiences, I know that it helped me to grow, and to all women out there, I say, never back down!
BNS: What are some of your top projects? What are some your favourites?
Mali Langa: Looking back at our completed projects, my favourite was doing my first ever large residential project. Creating a home where there was previously just a house was a fascinating journey. Being a family oriented person myself, the joys of doing a project for a big family home were truly unrivalled. I also really love kids, and creating their bedrooms and playroom was something that really spoke to me. Other than that, I think my 2019 stand at the Decorex Design Expo in Johannesburg was probably the highlight of my career thus far. We blew the competition away and TASK was awarded Best Newcomer as well as Best Décor Stand.
A post shared by TASK Interior Styling (@task.interiors) on Aug 7, 2019 at 10:31am PDT
BNS: Is there anything exciting that you are working on at the moment that you can tell us about?
Mali Langa: Interior Design projects take so much longer than what people generally know, so I am very excited to be completing a project in Limpopo which I was involved in from the planning and breaking ground phases of the house. Having put so many hours into this project, which also happens to be located in the region I grew up in, is very exciting. I am also thrilled to have just started work on a holiday home in Zimbali, Durban, and another one in Cape Town.
Connect with Mali Langa on Instagram @madame.langa and TASK Interiors @task.interiors
Mali Langa
TASK Interior Styling
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Failure to work out a withdrawal agreement from the European Union could disrupt the aerospace industry on both sides of the Atlantic, says former FAA Administrator Michael Huerta.
The UK government urgently needs to hammer out a withdrawal agreement from the European Union to avoid massive disruption to the aerospace industry on both sides of the Atlantic, says former FAA Administrator Michael Huerta.
Huerta, who spent time at the FAA on what he describes as "shuttle diplomacy" missions between London and Brussels, notes that "the UK's position has been . . . [that] they would just figure out how to have some sort of associate relationship with EASA. . . . The European view of that was very clear: They asked for the divorce—so isn't it up to them to figure it out, and, no, we are not going to make any special accommodation for the UK," Huerta adds.


text:
Q: ItemTemplate Wrapper in UserControl Based on ItemsControl I am working on my own user control which derives from ItemsControl. To give a brief description of what I want to achieve here is what the XAML looks like right now:
<ItemsControl x:Class="MyApp.MyUserControl"
             xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
             xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
             xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
             xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
             xmlns:local="clr-namespace:MyApp"
             mc:Ignorable="d"
             d:DesignHeight="60" d:DesignWidth="600">
    <ItemsControl.ItemsPanel>
        <ItemsPanelTemplate>
            <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal"/>
        </ItemsPanelTemplate>
    </ItemsControl.ItemsPanel>
    <ItemsControl.Template>
        <ControlTemplate>
            <Grid>
                <Border Background="{TemplateBinding Background}"
                        BorderBrush="{TemplateBinding BorderBrush}"
                        BorderThickness="{TemplateBinding BorderThickness}">
                    <ItemsPresenter/>
                </Border>
            </Grid>
        </ControlTemplate>
    </ItemsControl.Template>
</ItemsControl>

This presents my data the way I want to, in a horizontal StackPanel, nothing fancy. In the visual tree you'll see this:
  ItemsControl
    [...Other Visual Item in The Tree...]
    ItemsPresenter
      ContentPresenter
         Item1 (ItemTemplate)
      ContentPresenter
         Item2 (ItemTemplate)

Now I would like to modify the XAML of my user control so that the tree would look like this:
  ItemsControl
    [...Other Visual Item in The Tree...]
    ItemsPresenter
      ContentPresenter
         SomeContainerDefinedInMyUserControlXAML
           Item1 (ItemTemplate)
      ContentPresenter
         SomeContainerDefinedInMyUserControlXAML
           Item2 (ItemTemplate)

The goal here is to have a wrapper container around the templated item. Its behavior would be bound to internal properties of the UserControl, allowing me to define item behaviors immune to the ItemTemplate choice made by the user of my control.
I was trying to add DataTemplates on ContentPresenter in ItemsControl.Resources, but that failed. Could someone help me out here? :)

A: You may create a derived ContentPresenter or ContentControl in the ItemControl's GetContainerForItemOverride method:
public class MyContainer : ContentControl
{
}

public class MyItemsControl : ItemsControl
{
    protected override DependencyObject GetContainerForItemOverride()
    {
        return new MyContainer();
    }

    protected override bool IsItemItsOwnContainerOverride(object item)
    {
        return item is MyContainer;
    }
}

I'd also suggest to move the derived ItemsControl's XAML to a default Style in Themes\Generic.xaml (as done by default for custom controls):
<Style TargetType="local:MyItemsControl">
    <Setter Property="ItemsPanel">
        <Setter.Value>
            <ItemsPanelTemplate>
                <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal"/>
            </ItemsPanelTemplate>
        </Setter.Value>
    </Setter>
    <Setter Property="Template">
        <Setter.Value>
            <ControlTemplate TargetType="local:MyItemsControl">
                <Border Background="{TemplateBinding Background}"
                        BorderBrush="{TemplateBinding BorderBrush}"
                        BorderThickness="{TemplateBinding BorderThickness}">
                    <ItemsPresenter/>
                </Border>
            </ControlTemplate>
        </Setter.Value>
    </Setter>
</Style>

Also add
static MyItemsControl()
{
    DefaultStyleKeyProperty.OverrideMetadata(
        typeof(MyItemsControl),
        new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(typeof(MyItemsControl)));
}

to the control's code.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Gladewater Economic Development Corporation (GEDCO) is pleased to announce that it has finalized an agreement with Sunbelt Manufacturing to move its operations to Gladewater, Texas.
Sunbelt Manufacturing creates ready-made and custom-sized canvas and stretched frames, along with screen-printing frames for artists and silk-screening companies throughout East Texas and across the country.
Sunbelt purchased the GEDCO-owned building and property located at 101 S. Pine Street in Gladewater and signed a three-year lease for the adjacent property and warehouse with an option to buy. Conner hopes the warehouse will open up new opportunities and enable his company to reach its full potential. Sunbelt also plans to increase its workforce by nine employees or more over the next five years.
The GEDCO incentive package provides up to $40,000 in incentives to assist the company with moving costs, equipment upgrades/installation and ensuring the buildings are up to code.
The company plans to hire and buy locally, and a number of other Gladewater businesses have already benefitted by the addition of Sunbelt Manufacturing, from G & L Safety, a safety equipment supplier, to Gladewater hardware stores. Plus, many of the city's annual events, such as The Gladewater Main Street Art Stroll, East Texas Gusher Days and the Gladewater Arts and Crafts Festival, may benefit from partnering with Sunbelt Manufacturing.
Sunbelt Manufacturing is currently in the process of moving into its new spaces, and an official Gladewater Chamber of Commerce ribbon-cutting ceremony will be announced at a later date.
Founded in 1982 and family owned-and-operated, Sunbelt Manufacturing creates ready-made and custom-sized canvas and stretched frames for artists and companies throughout East Texas and nationwide. The company also sells and reconditions silk-screening frames and stocks a line of silk-screening supplies for imprinting clothes and athletic wear.
The Gladewater Economic Development Corporation is dedicated to attracting and retaining businesses to the city of Gladewater. GEDCO acts as a resource and liaison, providing financial and informational assistance, as well as a focus on increasing local job opportunities and skills development. GEDCO also encourages capital investment and community development. The organization shares an active partnership with the City of Gladewater and invests in and supports numerous infrastructure and civil improvement projects, along with festivals and public events that benefit the entire Gladewater community.


text:
Senza musica è un libro di Claudio Baglioni, (a cura di Giuseppe Cesaro), pubblicato 2005 dalla casa editrice Bompiani.

Il libro è una raccolta di scritti, in stile diario del celebre cantautore che vanno dal 1974 ai giorni nostri ed in cui traspare il suo desiderio di raccontare il percorso compiuto attraverso episodi e momenti della sua carriera ma anche della sua vita privata.

Numerosi i temi trattati, alcuni anche d'impronta sociale, come gli scritti di riflessione sulla guerra, sull'avvento del terzo millennio, sul problema dell'immigrazione clandestina, oltre ai racconti di suoi viaggi e tournée in paesi dell'Africa, del Sudamerica, dell'Europa dell'est.

Non mancano i racconti dei difficili momenti degli inizi nel mondo della musica e considerazioni sui sentimenti e sulla paura dell'uomo moderno, da cui traspare comunque una speranza per l'avvenire; non a caso il cantautore afferma: «a volte più che di un mondo nuovo, c'è bisogno di occhi nuovi per guardare il mondo».

Edizioni

Libri di memorie di autori italiani

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: PHP Log output formatted date I want to write some logs to a file via PHP but when I want to output the date I don't find anything "standard" to simply write a complete date like : Wed Aug 13 12:38:02 2014 (and with the timezone, etc).
I found a lot of examples with the date() function but you have to pass a lot of args (and I'm not sure if it's standard). By standard I mean something POSIX compliant (or something similar), understood by any program which want to parse this log file.

A: It is up to you how to format the date.
Actually, the date function is pretty easy to handle.

echo date("Y-m-d") // will output: 2014-08-13
echo date("Y-m-d H:i") // will output: 2014-08-13 16:25

the date function accepts a 2nd parameter, which is by default time() (so the actual timestamp).
You can specifiy the output by just adding the / changing the parameters in the brackets.
For example:
echo date("d.m.Y") // will output 13.08.2014


text:
Commercial Real Estate & Advisory
Why Sinvin
Sales & Investments
The Sinvin Team
Commercial Real Estate's Great Reckoning
NPR | By NPR | October 7, 2020
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON, BYLINE: NPR.
(SOUNDBITE OF DROP ELECTRIC SONG, "WAKING UP TO THE FIRE")
STACEY VANEK SMITH, HOST:
So, Cardiff, whenever I think about commercial real estate or read a story about it, I think about our offices at NPR in New York.
CARDIFF GARCIA, HOST:
VANEK SMITH: I know. They're right by Times Square. We worked on the 19th floor of this big skyscraper. It was filled with workers, people in publishing, fashion, insurance, a lot of lawyers.
GARCIA: Yeah, that's right. The streets around midtown Manhattan are, like, full of people in suits, and they're rushing to and from the subway. They're catching Ubers, grabbing coffees, talking on their phones.
VANEK SMITH: Yes. And that area of Manhattan is some of the most expensive real estate in the world. Commercial real estate in that area is just, like, very, very high stakes.
GARCIA: Steve Rappaport has been in the commercial real estate business in Manhattan for 15 years. And he says it is not for the faint of heart. It's competitive. It's fast-paced. It's all commission-based.
STEVE RAPPAPORT: Exciting – I love it.
VANEK SMITH: Oh, yes. The ABCs of getting paid in commercial real estate – always be closing. Always be closing.
You have to hustle for everything.
RAPPAPORT: Yup, so no deals, no commission. And in the brokerage world, 10% of the brokers make about 90% of the money.
VANEK SMITH: Were you in the 10%?
RAPPAPORT: I think I'm in a good position.
VANEK SMITH: He was in the 10%, don't you think?
GARCIA: Yeah. I'm guessing he was, and he just was, you know, being modest.
VANEK SMITH: He was being modest. And, of course, it's not just the real estate side of things that's competitive. I mean, New York is not an easy place for a business to thrive. It's very cutthroat. And Steve says business owners have to be really careful about the location and the space they choose because that is the kind of thing that could make or break a business.
RAPPAPORT: It has to be the right price, the right configuration, the right ceiling height. They have to feel that it creates the right environment because retail is drama. You're setting the stage.
GARCIA: If you set the right stage, you can make a fortune. If you set the wrong stage, you could lose everything, lose your shirt. Steve says in the world of commercial real estate, 500 square feet is generally the smallest space. That would be like a tiny, little coffee shop with no tables. But that tiny space packs a big rent punch.
RAPPAPORT: In Times Square and Fifth Avenue, spaces could be 2,000 per square foot.
VANEK SMITH: That's like a million dollars a year.
RAPPAPORT: In those neighborhoods, yeah – and you don't find many 500-square-foot stores on Fifth Avenue.
VANEK SMITH: So it starts at a million dollars a year.
RAPPAPORT: Yeah.
GARCIA: Wow. You got to sell a lot of coffee to pay that kind of rent.
VANEK SMITH: That is so much coffee.
GARCIA: (Laughter) But those are the rents people were paying, and those rents had been going up for years and years. And then in March, they stopped. In fact, everything stopped.
RAPPAPORT: It really flatlined business.
VANEK SMITH: Steve says everything just hit a wall. People who had been looking for space to open up a restaurant or bar – they all stopped looking. People who had a space to rent – they were not getting any bites.
RAPPAPORT: There were very many people quite frightened.
VANEK SMITH: Were you frightened?
RAPPAPORT: You know, I was not happy.
VANEK SMITH: (Laughter).
RAPPAPORT: I was sad because…
VANEK SMITH: Yeah.
RAPPAPORT: I was sad for those who were hurt and who were losing their businesses and are still losing their businesses. It's an uncertain future.
GARCIA: Steve says there is some action now, but business is not even a third of what it was just eight months ago.
VANEK SMITH: I mean, how long do you think it'll be before you're back to 100%?
RAPPAPORT: Two years – within two years, we're really going to see a definite uptick.
VANEK SMITH: And you think you'll be back to 100% maybe.
RAPPAPORT: Or the new 100%, you know, whatever that is.
VANEK SMITH: So here is the problem with real estate right now. This is not a typical recession because this recession has been accompanied by stay-at-home orders and a big cultural shift in the way that we work. And commercial real estate right now is getting it from all sides.
GARCIA: Yeah. First, a lot of businesses have closed in the U.S., nearly 100,000 since March. All of those storefronts and offices are now empty.
VANEK SMITH: And that has major ripple effects because it is not just the empty office buildings that are feeling the effects of the current change. It's all the businesses around the empty office buildings.
GARCIA: Yeah – bars, coffee shops, restaurants, dry cleaners, clothing stores. Those businesses count on people commuting and moving around town and coming to work and going out after work. And when people are staying at home, it's just less business for everyone.
VANEK SMITH: And even when people do start going back to work, chances are they'll be going in less often. And also, there probably won't be nearly as many people going back to the office.
MOE VELA: Oh, no, I think this is a permanent change.
VANEK SMITH: Coming up after the break, the new business of helping people work from home.
VANEK SMITH: So on the one hand, you've got Steve Rappaport leasing million-dollar spaces to coffee shops and restaurants and clothing stores in Manhattan. His business counts on people being out and about, going to shops, counts on foot traffic.
GARCIA: Yeah. On the other hand, you've got this guy.
VELA: Everyone wins in a remote workforce model, so why would you not do it?
GARCIA: Moe Vela is a remote workplace consultant with a company called TransparentBusiness. Moe called us from his little farmhouse in the mountains of Vermont.
VELA: And I was able to conduct my global consulting business in a place of tranquility and serenity.
VANEK SMITH: Do you have, like, a country routine? Do you go on, like, a hike? Or…
VELA: Yes, I do every day. In fact, in about an hour and a half is my daily two-mile hike.
VANEK SMITH: Moe says he spends a lot of his days talking to, like, CEOs and heads of businesses and giving them his remote work sales pitch.
VELA: Let's start with employers. They save on the average of $11,000 per employee per year.
VANEK SMITH: Is that, like, rent and stuff?
VELA: Yeah, rents. Productivity goes up all the way as much as 40% in some cases. Employees – Stacey, think about no stinky trains, no stuffed-up buses, no bumper-to-bumper traffic.
GARCIA: You can work in your pajamas, take a Netflix break with no shame – not that we ever do that.
VANEK SMITH: That's right.
GARCIA: And if that's not enough to convince you…
VELA: The fifth category of winners in a remote workforce model is climate change and battling climate change and saving the planet because carbon emissions are down in a remote workforce model.
GARCIA: Working from home will save the world, I think, is the claim here.
VANEK SMITH: Planet saved if you work from home. I know, and it seems like a lot of companies are jumping on this bandwagon. A recent survey of hundreds of CEOs found that nearly 70% of them were planning to permanently cut back on their office space.
GARCIA: Facebook, for example, has said that it expects about half of its workforce to work from home in the future. Twitter, Zappos and Slack all saying the same thing – and Pinterest just paid $90 million almost to get out of its lease at a big building in downtown San Francisco.
VANEK SMITH: So where does that leave Steve Rappaport and our million-dollar coffee shop? Steve says right now rent prices have dropped around 20%, and he expects they'll drop about 15% more. But Steve says, you know, he has seen recessions and cultural shifts and workplace changes come and go. And what stayed the same? New York real estate is always a good bet.
RAPPAPORT: Perhaps office occupancy will drop, but something else will develop to take its place. I am not in the doom-and-gloom group on thinking that New York will permanently change.
VANEK SMITH: It's kind of a sizable group.
RAPPAPORT: Yeah. Many times, many people are wrong.
GARCIA: And, in fact, Steve says he's already seeing some people invest right now – people buying buildings, expanding their businesses, taking advantage of a moment when so many others think commercial real estate could be over. Steve says he has seen this before – Sept. 11, 2008 housing crash. People were saying the same things back then after those events, and those people turned out to be wrong.
VANEK SMITH: It sounds like you really believe in the business of New York.
RAPPAPORT: I believe in the business of New York, and I believe in the soul of New York.
VANEK SMITH: Oh.
RAPPAPORT: And, you know, they're both strong, both resilient and both very beautiful.
VANEK SMITH: This episode of THE INDICATOR was produced by Jamila Huxtable and Darian Woods. It was fact-checked by Sean Saldana. THE INDICATOR is edited by Paddy Hirsch and is a production of NPR.
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What are the potential limitations of an ex vivo model in assessing reperfusion injury, and how can these limitations be mitigated?
Reperfusion injury has been evaluated by innumerable studies over a 50 year period from the onset of cardiopulmonary bypass utilized in surgery. The primary problem in cardiopulmonary bypass is the adequate cardioplegic administration during cardiac arrest. Generally two accepted methods of cardioplegic are accepted, normothermic and hypothermic. Both are given intermittently due to the effluent from the coronary sinus obscuring the surgical site. Depending upon the surgical preference, the composition of the cardioplegia can be modified to include a variety of electrolytes, sugars, proteins, and autologous whole blood. A large meta-analysis of cold blood vs. cold crystalloid cardioplegia in 2012 found no difference in patient survival. Similar meta-analyses of warm vs. cold cardioplegia have also been published which again show no significant differences in survival.
Is there any difference between blood and crystalloid cardioplegia for myocardial protection during cardiac surgery? A meta-analysis of 5576 patients from 36 randomized trials. Sá MP, Rueda FG, Ferraz PE, Chalegre ST, Vasconcelos FP, Lima RC. Perfusion. 2012 Nov;27(6):535-46.
Obviously, a clinical transplant trial whereby the donor heart is preserved in the conventional manner of hypothermic static storage vs. a new preservation method is the penultimate test of effectiveness whereby morbidity and mortality can be compared to published literature and the control results. If we take as a corollary the meta-analysis results of the cold vs warm clinical trials; there was no significant difference in long-term post operative cardiac outcomes, however warm cardioplegia was associated with an improved cardiac index, lower troponin and creatinine kinase levels.
How clinical results correlate to an ex vivo model which is studied over a period of a few hours, days, or weeks of examination is unclear. However, the cardiac function and cellular markers may represent the overall quality of the preservation method. Typically in heart preservation studies, one of four evaluation methods are utilized: orthotopic transplantation, Langendorff perfusion, isolated (4 chamber) working heart, and heterotophic transplantation. When examining these methods a variety of functional assessments can be made including: LV pressures, dp/dt, cardiac output, coronary flow, endothelial function.
The traditional Langendorff perfusion setup provides only flow to the aorta and coronary arteries with venous drainage from the coronary sinus. This type of setup does not generally allow for functional assessment of the LV. However, a balloon tipped catheter can be inserted in the LV for pressures assessments. In comparison a 4 chamber working heart is more complex and the cannulas and pumps must be arranged to provide both pre-load, and after-load of the ventricles.
Transplantation has limitations due to the high cost of the procedure, and rejection from unmatched organs. Whereas, an ex vivo evaluation allows examination of an isolated heart with fewer confounding factors.
Histological studies provide an insight into the ultrastructual cellular composition of the heart preservation quality. Light microscopy is a low cost and simple evaluation method to examine the effects of both the preservation and possibly reperfusion injury by taking serial samples over time with an ex vivo method. The obviously the heart cannot be biosied too many times. Electron microscopy is a demanding evaluation which may provide additional detail at the level of the mitochondria and outer cell membranes. Reperfusion injury is though to be due to an excessive amount of free radical production when energy substrate is provided by restoration of normal perfusion following donor heart preservation.
Perhaps the easiest method to assess reperfusion injury is to examine lactate levels of the effluent of the coronary sinus as a surrogate of the intrinsic myocardial acidosis. Alternatively, the pH of the myocardium can be measured directly with a needle probe. Other methods could include measuring troponin which is a byproduct of cardiomyocyte myofibril disruption. The limitations of this method for evaluation are that the timecourse to completely demonstrate the extent of tissue damage by Troponin T or Troponin I in the clinical setting can be greater than 6 hrs and last to up to 72 hrs. This timespan is often much greater than what can be tested in the ex vivo setting. Fortunately the absolute amount of Troponin released is proportional to the amount of cellular damage, the peak of which occurs between 24-36 hours, again this is generally much longer than an ex vivo study lasts.
In addition to markers for cell injury and function, histology, and the use of allogeneic blood during reperfusion, what measures can be taken to improve the data generated in an ex vivo model?
The stem of the question relates to either the accuracy of the scientific apparatus measuring the heart, or falsification of data generated. Presuming the measuring instruments are standardized, then that leaves data integrity as the remaining issue. An audit trail of the data using GLP standards would be reasonable. Perhaps submission of the raw data for evaluation could also be considered.
In an in vivo model, what are strategies to limit confounding factors, such as immunological responses and hemodynamic instability, from affecting the assessment of device-related reperfusion injury?
Tissue matching could be done prior to transplantation, or possible utilizing leukocyte depleted blood. Given the effort to do a transplant, the extra steps to tissue match could be considered for a long-term survival study. Again, the cost of doing a transplant is generally prohibitive for a company trying to demonstrate effectiveness of a new preservation method with the small market of heart transplantation. Heterotopic heart transplantation has been used in the past in small studies. This would probably be the best way to limit hemodynamic instablity due to orthotopic transplant complications. A heterotopic transplant typically is connected to the carotid artery and vein in the neck of the animal. This type of transplant allows the researcher to assess primarily for immediate graft failure or immunological modulations in xenotransplantation. Although, could be utilized as a method to evaluate organs preserved in novel ways with high risk for failure.
Is there a perceived hierarchy of evidence regarding data obtained from an ex vivo model and those obtained from an in vivo model? Or rather, is itmore judicious to view the two models as complements of each other?
Certainly, a heart transplant is a tour de force and penultimate evaluation of a preservation method. Whether or not this is required prior to human use is unclear. If the FDA requires a pre-clinical heart transplant prior to clinical approval, this will significantly limit the ability of new technologies to be adopted clinically. An ex vivo method also has limitations as elucidated above, but is generally supportive of the entire evaluation.
What role does the risk of the device play in the utilization of in vivo and ex vivo models? Regarding specific experimental parameters (e.g.,length of preservation, total ischemic time), under what circumstances is it appropriate to test the worst-case scenario?
Given the extensive history of heart preservation using the Shumway method of cold ischemic static storage, all attempts should be done to compare the risk of a new preservation method to this well-established method. If the device is intended to preserve the heart to 24 hrs, then the experimental parameters must be extended to evaluate that situation. Also, if the harvesting methods vary from accepted standards (such as deceased donor procurement), then additional controls numbers should be obtained to balance the higher risk of post-preservation and post-transplant organ failure. It would not be acceptable to compare the data from a DCD donor preserved using a new method without understanding the risk of a transplant from a DCD donor preserved in the standard method. Just to highlight, there is a massive amount of cellular death that occurs in the first few minutes following global ischemia. The ability of a preservation method to "rescue" the heart is limited and most likely will be optimal at preserving what portion viable myocardium remains intact.
What are the organ-specific challenges in developing in vivo and ex vivo models to assess reperfusion injury?
My experience is limited to the heart, and the organ specific issues are highlighted above.
What approaches would improve the in vivo and ex vivo study designs to ensure the generation of sufficient, meaningful data while limiting the number of animals used in such studies?
Again, transplantation is a highly complex and demanding surgical procedure in the animal model and should be used sparingly. Perhaps this would be best utilized not in a research setting, rather than in training the surgeon for receiving the preserved heart and then proceeding to transplantation.
From a literature review of comparable cardiac transplantation studies the group sizes are typically 5-6 animals. A group size of 6, in a similarly designed study was used at the Alberts-Ludwigs-University in Freiburg, Germany. Other investigators at the Catholic University Leuven, Belgium and at the UTHSC San Antonio, TX have used 'n' numbers of 5 for similar studies. Furthermore, another group in Japan used an 'N' number of 6 for their study titled: "Cardiac Transplantation Following a 24hr Preservation using a Perfusion Apparatus" An 'N' number of 6 in each group is consistent with reports of similar research published. Our previous investigations using porcine hearts determined that an N of 9 is capable of demonstrating a pH difference with a p < .005.
A sample size calculation would be acceptable based upon prior published data for ex vivo evaluations. This should take in account sample sizes in the literature as well as the number of sample point. For example, taking more than one biopsy of the myocardium at a particular time point may not improve the meaningfulness of the data. So the methodology should be based upon clinically relevant outcomes and weighted toward data that can be measured in transplant patients.
To support a clinical trial application (IDE), we would like to see results from both ex-vivo and in-vivo models. Because there is more unknown/risk, we may ask the sponsor to conduct a staged clinical study with a small lead-in group, or a small feasibility study with only a few patients. What are your thoughts on this and if this does happen, are there additional clinical strategies (additional procedures/follow-ups) to mitigate safety risks in these patients?
A small clinical feasibility study with a few patients is likely less helpful than an appropriately powered clinical study. What if there is a death in the first patient immediately post-transplant. Is this evaluated any differently in a feasibility study vs. an appropriately powered clinical study? The adverse event would need to be reported to the IRB, FDA, and DSMB. Also, if the organ is damaged prior to transplant and the transplant is cancelled, then this too could be considered an adverse event because the organ would otherwise be transplanted with a morbidity and mortality matching the national standards. Finally a full scale randomized clinical trial would be clearly acceptable by heart transplant surgeons as evidence of safety of the new technique.


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Are cytokines (IL-6, CRP and adiponectin) associated with bone mineral density in a young adult birth cohort?
Ana Maria Baptista Menezes1,
Paula Duarte Oliveira ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5495-32591,
Helen Gonçalves1,
Isabel O. Oliveira1,
Maria Cecilia F. Assunção1,
Luciana Tovo-Rodrigues1,
Gustavo Dias Ferreira2 &
Fernando César Wehrmeister1
BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders volume 19, Article number: 427 (2018) Cite this article
Studies have shown that cytokines play a role in bone remodeling.
In 1993, all hospital births occurred in Pelotas (Brazil) were identified and a total of 5249 newborns were included in the present cohort. Sub-samples of this cohort were visited during childhood and all members were traced at 11, 15, 18 and 22 years old. At 18 and 22 years the following biomarkers were measured: IL-6, CRP and adiponectin (the last one in a sub-sample) and bone mineral density (BMD-mg/cm2) was evaluated at 22 years. Crude regression analysis as well as adjusted for confounders (birth weight, pregnancy maternal smoking, gestational age, skin color, schooling, income, smoking, alcohol, physical activity, medical diagnosis of asthma, diabetes and hypertension, BMI, height, calcium intake, corticosteroid use, age at menarche, insulin and testosterone) were performed between the three biomarkers and the whole-body, lumbar spine and femoral BMD.
No statistical significant association was found between IL-6 and CRP with BMD, in males. Significant inverse association in the adjusted analysis, among females, was found for the highest tertiles of CRP at 22 y (beta − 15.2 mg/cm2; 95% CI: -25.4; − 4.9; p = 004), of CRP and IL-6 at 22 years (beta − 20.0 mg/cm2; 95% CI: -31.7; − 8.3; p = 0.003), and of IL-6 and CRP at both ages (beta − 20.3 mg/cm2; 95% CI: -38.0; − 2.5; p = 0.001) with total body BMD. Significant association, among males, was also found between the highest tertile of adiponectin at 22 y (beta − 23.3 mg/cm2; 95% CI: -35.5; − 11.1; p = < 001; beta − 22.5 mg/cm2; 95% CI: -42.9; − 2.2; p = 0.03; and beta − 31.8 mg/cm2; 95% CI: -55.5; − 9.1; p = 0.006) and total body, lumbar spine and femur neck BMD, respectively; and, among females, − 17.8 mg/cm2; 95% CI: -34.9; − 0.9; p = 0.033, with lumbar spine BMD.
CRP at 22 years, in females, seems to be a marker for total body BMD; adiponectin at 22 years is also a marker for BMD at the three sites, in males, and for lumbar spine BMD, in females.
Peak bone mass, which is attained in young adulthood, is an important predictor of bone mineral density (BMD) late in life [1, 2]. Also, there is evidence in the literature that lower bone mass values in adulthood are associated with higher chance of low-energy osteoporotic fractures [3, 4].
Inflammation seems to be one of the determinants of bone fragility, being optimal control of inflammation part of the prevention of osteoporosis. However, this relationship is still under study, and the potential role of inflammatory markers modulating the effects on bone can help us to identify early measures for preventing future bone diseases.
Among the various cytokines affecting bone metabolism, interleukin-6 (IL-6), C-reactive protein (CRP) and adiponectin can play an important role [5,6,7] in the activation of osteoclasts, but studies on this subject are still ongoing, mainly at young adulthood and with longitudinal design.
The relationship between cytokines and BMD should be evaluated considering potential confounders, such as obesity, since a positive IL-6 and CRP association and a negative adiponectin and adiposity association have been demonstrated [8,9,10]. Other variables may also be responsible for this association such as health behaviors (physical activity, smoking and drinking), socioeconomic status, morbidities, diet and hormonal levels; in addition to these exposures, it is known that smoking during pregnancy, gestational age and birth weight can also influence bone health during life [11].
The aim of this study was to identify whether there was an association of cytokines at 18 and 22 years old with bone mineral density at 22 years old, shedding some light in the understanding of osteoporosis and consequent susceptibility to fractures in older ages.
All livebirths occurred in the five hospitals in the city of Pelotas, Brazil, in the 1993 calendar year, were eligible to participate in a birth cohort study. A total of 5249 newborns were included in the study (16 refusals) and we were able to interview the mothers about their pregnancy and to carry out anthropometric measurements of the babies; more detailed information about the perinatal phase of the study have been published previously [12]. Sub-samples of this cohort were visited during childhood and all members of the cohort were traced at 11, 15, 18 and 22 years old with a response rate of 81.4 and 76.3% including the deaths, in the last two visits, respectively [13, 14].
Bone mineral density (BMD) at 22 years was measured in milligrams per square centimeter (mg/cm2), at three sites (total body, lumbar spine and femoral neck) by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) using a Lunar Prodigy Advance Bone Densitometer (GE, Germany). Every morning, before measurements, daily quality assurance procedure was completed and if the system did not pass the test, the quality assurance procedure was done again. Two trained technicians were responsible for the exams, with participants in supine position using light and tight-fitting shorts and sleeveless tops. DXA scans were not performed in wheelchair users and/or individuals with osteoarticular deformities, extremely obese individuals, or those with height over1.92 m; participants should remove all metal accessories such as bracelets, earrings or piercings. The examiners assessed the quality of DXA exams with participants still on the machine and repeated it if necessary; BMD was analyzed as a continuous variable.
At the age of 18 and 22 years, non-fasting blood samples were drawn by venipuncture using vacutainer tubes and samples were processed and stored in ultra-low temperature freezers in a central biorepository. Three cytokines were evaluated and considered as the main exposures: a) IL-6 (pg/mL) analyzed by the Quantikine® HS Human IL-6 immunoassay kit (R&D Systems®, Inc.; Minneapolis, MN55413, USA); b) CRP (mg/L) by immunoturdimetric assay (Labtest Diagnóstica SA, Minas Gerais, Brazil); and c) Adiponectin (μg/mL) assayed with the ELISA Quantikine Human Total Adiponectin Immunoassay kit (R&D Systems, Inc., Minneapolis, USA); at the age of 18 years, adiponectin was measured in a small random sample because the lack of funding for carrying out the analysis among all the members of the cohort.
The intra and inter assay precision of the tests were: for adiponectin (9.11–13.18%), IL-6 (4.1–13.37%) and for hsCRP (1.98–2.09%), respectively.
Due to the observed non-linear relationship in some of the fractional polynomials models applied to test the association between the main exposures and BMD, we opted for the tertiles categorization of the exposures; however, we carried out the same analysis using linear regression using the continuous variables excluding outliers (values out of ±2 z-score range - log scale for CRP and IL-6) (see Additional file 1: Table S1 and Additional file 2: Figures. S1 to S6). The cytokines were categorized as follow: a) CRP and IL-6 in tertiles at 18 and 22 years; b) CRP and IL-6 in the highest tertile, classified as none, only CRP or IL-6, and both CRP and IL-6 in each age; c) CRP or/and IL-6 in the highest tertile, combining the two follow-ups, classified as none, only at 18, only at 22, and both 18 and 22 years. Adiponectin was classified in the same way, except for the exposure of combined cytokines; the results were reported in a separate table due to the anti-inflammatory role of adiponectin compared to the inflammatory role of IL-6 and CRP.
The exclusion criteria for the blood sample and for DXA were refusal or pregnancy in women.
The covariates taken into account in the present analysis were: a) collected at birth: gestational age (weeks) estimated from the last menstrual period; smoking during pregnancy as a dichotomous variable (smoker/non-smoker); maternal skin color (white/black/brown/others); and birth weight (measured by hospital staff with 10-g precision pediatric scales calibrated regularly by the research team); b) collected at 18 and 22-years follow-ups: age at menarche for females (collected at the 18 years visit), smoking (no/yes for smoking at least one time per week), harmful alcohol intake (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test – AUDIT) [15], physical activity (minutes/week - measured through standardized and previously tested International Physical Activity Questionnaire - IPAQ) [16], daily calcium intake (mg adjusted by total calories consumption - measured through Food Frequency Questionnaire) [17, 18] and, collected at 18 and 22 years, but only 22-years follow-up information was included in the analyses: schooling (successfully complete years); asset index (quintiles); body mass index (BMI - kg/m2); medical diagnosis at any time during life referred by the participants (yes/no for hypertension, asthma and/or diabetes), and insulin (μU/mL) and testosterone (ng/d) blood sample (the last two measurements available only for the age of 22 years).
Descriptive analyses were performed using absolute and relative frequencies for categorical variables and mean and standard deviations (SD) for continuous variables. Association of all cytokines according to tertiles at the different ages of follow-ups and BMD at all sites was tested by unadjusted and adjusted linear regression analysis and reported as β coefficients and its 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). We tested the interaction between the main exposures and sex including an interaction term in the regression models; since most of the results achieved a p value lower than 0.05, analysis was stratified according to sex. P-values were obtained by Wald's test for linear tendency or Wald's test for heterogeneity, as appropriate. Variance inflation factor test was performed after regressions to ensure the absence of multicollinearity in the adjusted models.
All analysis was performed using Stata 12 software (StataCorp, College Station, Texas).
All the cohort follow-up projects were approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Federal University of Pelotas Medical School after 1996 (ethical approval for studies was not required in Brazil until the referred year). At the 18 and 22 follow-ups, the projects were approved under the protocols 05/11 and 1.250.366, respectively.
All participants, or their parents or caregivers in the follow-ups before the participants reached 18 years, signed a written consent form in each follow-up and dataset was anonymized for the analyses.
The sample was composed by 3523 subjects (52.8% females), who had complete information on IL-6 and CRP and bone mineral density at the age of 18 and 22 follow-ups; for adiponectin, the total sample was 1706, due to the very small sample size with measured adiponectin at 18 years. Perinatal information (Table 1) shows 9.3% of low birthweight, 10.3% of prematurity and one third of maternal smoking during pregnancy. Whereas the percentage of current smoking, physical inactivity and obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) increased from 18 to 22 years around one quarter, 40 % and nearly twice, respectively, there was a reduction of around 16% for harmful alcohol intake in the period. Medical diagnosis of hypertension, diabetes and asthma was slightly more frequent at the 22 years than at 18 years; at the last visit, almost 3% referred to use corticosteroid in the last 3 months, and oral contraceptive, among females, was reported by 60%; around 11% of the women were currently breastfeeding and 52% reported the age at menarche from 12 to 13 years old (Table 1).
Table 1 Sample description according to categorical covariates
The mean (SD) of the anthropometric variables, cytokines (IL-6, CRP and adiponectin) and bone mineral density (BMD) at three sites (whole-body, lumbar spine and femoral neck) are shown in Table 2, stratified by sex.
Table 2 Sample description according exposures, outcomes and continuous covariates
Tables 3 and 4 show the unadjusted and adjusted association between IL-6 and CRP measured at both visits with whole-body, lumbar spine and femoral neck BMD, in males and females, respectively, measured at 22 y. Due to the change of direction in some of the adjusted regression coefficients compared to the unadjusted coefficients (from direct coefficients in the crude to inverse coefficients in the adjusted analysis), only the adjusted results will be mentioned in the text. For males (Table 3), no statistical significance was found for the association between cytokines (IL-6 and CRP) at 18 or 22 years and BMD at the different sites. For females (Table 4), there was no statistical difference for the association between IL-6 and CRP at 18 years with BMD, and the majority of the regression coefficients in the adjusted analysis did not show a change of direction. Nevertheless, CRP in the highest tertile at 22 years, and both cytokines in the highest tertile analyzed together, showed an inverse and statistical significant association with total body BMD, respectively (− 15.2 mg/cm2 95% CI: -25.4; − 4.9; p = 0.004 and − 20.0 mg/cm2 95% CI: -31.7; − 8.3; p = 0.003). CRP in the highest tertile at 18 and 22 y also showed an inverse statistical significant association with total body BMD (p = 0.002). For both cytokines in the highest tertile at both ages we found an inverse beta of − 20.3 mg/cm2 (95% CI: -38.0; − 2.5) with a p = 0.001;
Table 3 CRP and Il-6 at 18 and 22 years old and BMD at 22 years, males
Table 4 CRP and Il-6 at 18 and 22 years old and BMD at 22 years, females
Association between adiponectin and BMD can be seen in Tables 5 and 6, for males and females, respectively. An inverse association was found between adiponectin and BMD in most of the unadjusted and adjusted analysis. For males (Table 5), statistical significant association was observed for adiponectin in the third tertile at 22 years and total body BMD (− 23.3 mg/cm2; 95% CI: -35.5; − 11.1; p < 001), lumbar spine BMD (− 22.5 mg/cm2; 95% CI: -42.9; − 2.2; p = 0.003) and femural neck (− 31.8 mg/cm2 95% CI: -55.5; − 9.1). For females (Table 6), a borderline significance was found for adiponectin at 22 y and total body BMD (− 9.9 mg/cm2 95% CI: -18.3; 0.6; p = 0.058) and for the third tertile of adiponectin and lumbar spine BMD (− 17.8 mg/cm2 95% CI: -34.9; − 0.9; p = 0.033).
Table 5 Adiponectin at 18 and 22 years old and BMD at 22 years, males
Table 6 Adiponectin at 18 and 22 years old and BMD at 22 years, females
The findings using continuous exposures for linear regression, instead of tertiles, were the same for both analysis (Additional file 1: Table S1 and Additional file 2: Figures S1 to S6).
In general, our findings point to an inverse association mainly between CRP and adiponectin at 22 years and BMD at the same age, although most of the results did not reach statistical significance. The inverse association observed in the adjusted analysis was due to the presence of negative confounders; statistical significance was present for the association of higher tertiles of CRP at 22 y and total body BMD, in females. Higher tertiles of adiponectin at 22 years showed an inverse and significant association with BMD in the adjusted analysis for total body, lumbar spine and femoral neck BMD, in males, and for lumbar spine BMD, in females.
An important message in the present paper is the change of the direction of some regression coefficients between IL-6, CRP and BMD, after adjustment for confounders; the main confounder responsible for the change from positive to negative (or inverse) beta, was the covariate BMI. This can be seen in the Additional file 3: Table S2; there was a positive association between BMD and the exposures in the crude analysis, but the addition of all confounders in the full adjusted model changed the direction of the association from positive to negative regression coefficients; if we do not add BMI as a confounder, the direction of the association does not change. BMI is highly associated with IL-6 and CRP in a positive direction according to our previous paper on the same cohort [8]. Any analysis on the association of these cytokines and densitometry should always take into account adiposity, otherwise the results can be misleading. On the other hand, adiponectin is inversely associated with BMI [8], therefore, the inclusion of this covariate in the model did not change the direction of the association with BMD, with an inverse beta remaining in most of the unadjusted and adjusted analysis.
It is well known that the pubertal maturation affects bone size and its trajectory from birth to a maximal value by the end of the second or beginning of the third decade, according to the gender and skeletal site examined. Therefore, in young adults the sexual dimorphisms in BMD appears to be due to a greater gain in bone size in males than in females during puberty [19]; in our cohort the increase in the mean total body BMD in males from 18 to 22 years was 3.6% compared to 2.0% in females. In this way, adjustment for hormonal covariates should be performed; although testosterone, hormonal contraceptive use and age at menarche have been taken into account in our analysis, we were not able to adjust for blood female hormones, since they were not available in the cohort; we cannot exclude residual confounding as a possible explanation for the differences found according to sex and age in the present paper.
The literature shows some studies on cytokines and BMD, but most of these data have been obtained from small sample sizes, studies composed only by women, older ages and cross-sectional designs [20,21,22]. In the ALSPAC cohort the authors investigated the relationship between adiponectin at the age of 9.9 years and BMD at this age and at 15 years measured by DXA and tomography; IL-6 and CRP were considered as confounders in the analysis. The authors found an inverse effect size between adiponectin and BMD after adjustment for fat mass, height and lean mass and stronger associations in boys than in girls [7], similar to our findings. This raised the possibility that puberty partly attenuates the influence of adiponectin on bone development, particularly in girls. It has been postulated that rising estrogen levels influence cortical bone development in pubertal girls [23], although the basis for any interaction with adiponectin is currently unknown; puberty did not entirely weaken the relationship between adiponectin and bone mass observed in the ALSPAC cohort.
A systematic review and meta-analysis from Biver [24] on the influence of adipokines on bone mineral density concluded that adiponectin is the most relevant adipokine (among leptin, resistin and visfatin) negatively associated with BMD (pooled r from - 0.14 to - 0.4) independent of gender, fat mass parameters and menopausal status; it should be mentioned that most of the 59 studies included in this meta-analysis were cross-sectional and subjects aged less than 18 years were excluded. It has been proposed that adiponectin can activate transcription factor NF- κB regulating pro-inflammatory gene expression according to its oligomerization state [25]. In our young cohort we also found the highest inverse regression coefficients for adiponectin at 22 years and BMD (in males) compared to the other inflammatory markers. It should be mentioned that a possible reason for the lack of statistical significance at 18 years could be the small sample size at this age (we did not measure adiponectin in the whole cohort at the 18 y follow-up due to funding); although the higher negative regression coefficients for adiponectin and BMD at all sites, the confidence intervals were very large.
A recent review paper from Naot [26] mentioned three studies where circulating adiponectin was inversely correlated with BMD and positively correlated with an increased risk of fracture; this fracture risk was observed in men only [27,28,29], and the authors suggest that the effect of adiponectin on bones is sex-dependent, and that in men, adiponectin could be a novel risk factor for increased fracture risk, independent of body composition and BMD.
Limitations of the present study are related to the absence of potential confounders, such as: a) blood measures of progesterone and estrogen, which could explain the different findings between sexes; b) osteocalcin measurement as a marker of bone formation; and c) the performance of only DXA to assess BMD without tomography, which would allow us to assess the bone periosteal circumference and cortical thickness. Regarding the measurement of adiponectin, we can also mention that adiponectin exists as high-, medium-, and low-molecular-weight isoforms, which may have distinct functions; high-molecular-weight adiponectin may be a better predictor of insulin resistance and diabetes than total adiponectin [38], but in the present study we measured only total adiponectin levels; at 18 years, due to economic reasons, we were able to measure adiponectin in a very small sample. Non fasting blood can be also considered as a limitation, although in large health cohort studies as the present one it is very difficult to obtain fasting samples of blood. Another limitation of our study is the fact that we evaluated BMD at one point in time and we cannot be certain about the future implications of the biomarkers on the BMD.
The main strengths of this study are the longitudinal design, which allowed us to explore the exposure at two follow-ups (18 and 22 years); the adjustment for relevant confounders during the whole life-course from pregnancy to the beginning of adulthood; and the good response rates at the different follow-ups, ensuring the representativeness of the original sample.
Taken together, our findings suggest that adiponectin at 22 years can be a marker for BMD at the same age, in males; CRP and adiponectin also showed a negative association with total body and lumbar spine BMD, respectively, in females; long-term implications of these cytokines as markers for skeletal strength still need to be more investigated in longitudinal studies.
BMD:
Bone mineral density
BMI:
CRP:
Soluble receptors
TNFα:
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Victora CG, Barros FC, Tomasi E, Menezes AM, Horta BL, Weiderpass E, et al. Tendências e diferenciais na saúde materno-infantil: delineamento e metodologia das coortes de 1982 e 1993 de mães e crianças de Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul. Cad Saúde Públ. 1996;12(Supl 1):7–14.
Goncalves H, Wehrmeister FC, Assuncao MCF, Tovo-Rodrigues L, Oliveira IO, Murray J, et al. Cohort Profile Update: The 1993 Pelotas (Brazil) birth cohort follow-up at 22 years. Int J Epidemiol. 2017, 47(5):1389–1390e.
Goncalves H, Assuncao MC, Wehrmeister FC, Oliveira IO, Barros FC, Victora CG, et al. Cohort profile update: the 1993 Pelotas (Brazil) birth cohort follow-up visits in adolescence. Int J Epidemiol. 2014;43(4):1082–8.
World Health Organization. The alcohol use disorders identification test: guidelines for use in primary care. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2001.
Bastos JP, Araujo CL, Hallal PC. Prevalence of insufficient physical activity and associated factors in Brazilian adolescents. J Phys Act Health. 2008;5(6):777–94.
Sichieri R, Everhart J. Validity of a Brazilian food frequency questionnaire against dietary recalls and estimated energy intake. Nutr Res. 1998;18(10):1649–59.
Schneider BC, dos Santos Motta JV, Muniz LC, Bielemann RM, Madruga SW, Orlandi SP, et al. Desenho de um questionário de frequência alimentar digital autoaplicado para avaliar o consumo alimentar de adolescentes e adultos jovens: coortes de nascimentos de Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul. Revista Brasileira de Epidemiologia. 2018;19(2):419–32.
Bonjour JP, Chevalley T. Pubertal timing, bone acquisition, and risk of fracture throughout life. Endocr Rev. 2014;35(5):820–47.
Jurimae J, Rembel K, Jurimae T, Rehand M. Adiponectin is associated with bone mineral density in perimenopausal women. Horm Metab Res. 2005;37(5):297–302.
Lenchik L, Register TC, Hsu FC, Lohman K, Nicklas BJ, Freedman BI, et al. Adiponectin as a novel determinant of bone mineral density and visceral fat. Bone. 2003;33(4):646–51.
Richards JB, Valdes AM, Burling K, Perks UC, Spector TD. Serum adiponectin and bone mineral density in women. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2007;92(4):1517–23.
Wang Q, Alen M, Nicholson PH, Halleen JM, Alatalo SL, Ohlsson C, et al. Differential effects of sex hormones on peri- and endocortical bone surfaces in pubertal girls. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2006;91(1):277–82.
Biver E, Salliot C, Combescure C, Gossec L, Hardouin P, Legroux-Gerot I, et al. Influence of adipokines and ghrelin on bone mineral density and fracture risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2011;96(9):2703–13.
Tsao TS, Tomas E, Murrey HE, Hug C, Lee DH, Ruderman NB, et al. Role of disulfide bonds in Acrp30/adiponectin structure and signaling specificity. Different oligomers activate different signal transduction pathways. J Biol Chem. 2003;278(50):50810–7.
Naot D, Musson DS, Cornish J. The activity of adiponectin in bone. Calcif Tissue Int. 2017;100(5):486–99.
Araneta MR, von Muhlen D, Barrett-Connor E. Sex differences in the association between adiponectin and BMD, bone loss, and fractures: the rancho Bernardo study. J Bone Miner Res. 2009;24(12):2016–22.
Kanazawa I, Yamaguchi T, Yamamoto M, Yamauchi M, Yano S, Sugimoto T. Relationships between serum adiponectin levels versus bone mineral density, bone metabolic markers, and vertebral fractures in type 2 diabetes mellitus. Eur J Endocrinol. 2009;160(2):265–73.
Barbour KE, Zmuda JM, Boudreau R, Strotmeyer ES, Horwitz MJ, Evans RW, et al. Adipokines and the risk of fracture in older adults. J Bone Miner Res. 2011;26(7):1568–76.
This work was supported by the Science and Technology Department, Brazilian Ministry of Health, with resources transferred through the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) [grant number 400943/2013–1]. The study 'Pelotas Birth Cohort, 1993' was conducted by the Postgraduate Program in Epidemiology at Universidade Federal de Pelotas, with the collaboration of the Brazilian Public Health Association (ABRASCO) and was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001. From 2004 to 2013, the Wellcome Trust supported the 1993 Birth Cohort study [grant number 086974/Z/08/Z]. The initial phases of the cohort were funded by the European Union and the Brazilian National Program for Centers of Excellence (PRONEX), the National Research Council (CNPq), and the Ministry of Health. The funding body had no influence in the design, analysis and interpretation of data and in the writing of the manuscript.
The 1993 Pelotas Birth Cohort dataset used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Federal University of Pelotas – Post-Graduate Program in Epidemiology, Rua Marechal Deodoro, 1160, 3° andar, Pelotas, RS, Zip code: 96020-220, Brazil
Ana Maria Baptista Menezes, Paula Duarte Oliveira, Helen Gonçalves, Isabel O. Oliveira, Maria Cecilia F. Assunção, Luciana Tovo-Rodrigues & Fernando César Wehrmeister
Department of Physiology and Pharmacology Campus Capão do Leão, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Zip code: 96010-900, Brazil
Gustavo Dias Ferreira
Ana Maria Baptista Menezes
Paula Duarte Oliveira
Helen Gonçalves
Isabel O. Oliveira
Maria Cecilia F. Assunção
Luciana Tovo-Rodrigues
Fernando César Wehrmeister
AMB was the main responsible for the interpretation of data and drafted the article. PDO and FCW were the main responsible for the analysis. PDO, HG, IO, MCA, LTR, GDF and FCW made substantial contributions to conception, design, and interpretation of data and drafting of the article. AMB, HG, IO, MCA, LTR and GDF contributed to acquisition of data and all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work were appropriately investigated and resolved. All authors revised the article critically and approved the final version to be published.
Correspondence to Paula Duarte Oliveira.
Table S1. Crude and adjusted linear regressions between continuous CRP, Il-6 and adiponectin at 18 and 22 years old and BMD at 22 years. (DOCX 79 kb)
Figure S1. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protein (CRP) at 18 years and bone mineral density (BMD - mg/cm2) at 22 years, males. Figure S2. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protein (CRP) and bone mineral density (BMD - mg/cm2) at 22 years, males. Figure S3. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protein (CRP) at 18 years and bone mineral density (BMD - mg/cm2) at 22 years, females. Figure S4. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protein (CRP) and bone mineral density (BMD - mg/cm2) at 22 years, females. Figure S5. Adiponectin (μg/mL) at 18 and 22 years and bone mineral density (BMD - mg/cm2) at 22 years, males. Figure S6. Adiponectin (μg/mL) at 18 and 22 years and bone mineral density (BMD - mg/cm2) at 22 years, females. (PDF 1104 kb)
Additional file 3
Table S2. CRP and IL-6 at 18 and 22 years old and BMD at 22 years, females - models with and without BMI comparison. (DOCX 70 kb)
Menezes, A.M.B., Oliveira, P.D., Gonçalves, H. et al. Are cytokines (IL-6, CRP and adiponectin) associated with bone mineral density in a young adult birth cohort?. BMC Musculoskelet Disord 19, 427 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12891-018-2357-3
Anti-inflammatory markers
Submission enquiries: bmcmusculoskeletaldisorders@biomedcentral.com


Do Startups Have A Diversity Advantage?
We often talk with large employers about their diversity and inclusion initiatives — both their struggles and their truimphs — but what about small companies? Can smaller firms and startups afford to think about gender, race, diversity and inclusion?
Fairygodboss obviously began as a startup, so we have a visceral understanding that startups are in hyper-growth mode, focused on just the essentials, and often cash and resource-constrained. On the surface, it may seem therefore, that startups would have a harder time focusing on diversity than larger companies with massive budgets. However, there are several reasons to think that smaller companies and startups actually have an advantage (and possibly bigger incentives) in implementing diversity in their culture and policies.
Startups don't have any laurels, historical brand, or client good-will to fall back upon. That also means that the quality of every decision is, by definition, critical to survival.
First Round Capital is a well-known investment fund that makes early-stage investments in companies. They analyzed their investments over the past 10 years, looking at 300 of it's portfolio companies. What they discovered is that a team with at least one female founder did 63% better than teams with all-male founders, in terms of that company's growth in valuation since investment.
In other words, gender diversity seems to lead to an improved bottom line. Why that's the case is difficult to prove, but it accords with other research that shows that diverse teams correlates with better performance outcomes.
Sometimes once you realize there is a problem, it can take a long time to create meaningful change. This is not for lack of institutional will or effort. At the most simple level, you cannot just fire people in order to make room for new people, with more diverse backgrounds. Long tenure on boards, for example, is one reason that directorships of companies remain so stubbornly male. If there is not a lot of employee turn-over, there is no opportunity to put someone new in place.
One of the reasons that start-ups end up looking less than diverse is that founders often rely on their immediate network for referrals and hires. In a typical company, referrals comprise 10% of new hires. At a startup that number can be a lot higher simply because founders look to their immediate network to solve immediate gaps in their teams and tend to be short on time and low on risk-appetite.
On the flip side, a startup is typically tightly controlled by a small management team (at least in the early years). This means that culture can be "monolithic" and less middle-management-dependent. This in turn means that a strong leadership team can really lead by example and effectively implement a culture with inclusive values. That's why efforts like Project Include are so interesting. They are a non-profit whose aim is to improve diversity, with a focus on the management teams of early to mid-stage tech startups.
When you're a rapidly growing company, it may be a challenge to focus distracting to focus on diversity, but at least you have the ability to make changes with literally every new decision, interview and new employee you hire.
Do you have ideas or opinions about how to improve diversity at in your workplace? Join the conversation in our community and share your perspective with other women in the workplace!
Yes, startups do have an advantage in terms of diversity. However this tends to extend only to gender, race and ethnicity. Ageism is still an issue across the board.


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In Defense of the Genre is a new pop punk/emo/etc column on BV (5 best songs of January included)
Andrew Sacher Published: February 4, 2020
Last decade we saw once-maligned punk subgenres like pop punk and emo make big comebacks within "cooler" music (like, y'know, "indie rock") and really reach a point where critics couldn't pan, laugh at, or simply ignore those bands like they did in the previous decade. Many of those previously out-of-fashion bands made some of the best punk & emo albums of the 2010s, a decade so full of great punk -- across all its subgenres -- that I had trouble narrowing it down to just 100 great albums. This theme is something I've been exploring for a while. Earlier in the decade, I took a look at pop punk's complicated relationship with indie rock and the enduring influence of pop punk. I also spent a lot of time thinking about the often-blurry lines between maligned emo (which you're supposed to grow out of) and critically acclaimed indie rock (which you're not), and looked at some highly respected bands who escaped getting pigeonholed into emo and some emo bands who didn't even sound that different from Nine Inch Nails or U2 or Radiohead. I also wondered why any of this even matters that much. The life of a music nerd is just an endless food chain of people telling each other whatever music they like isn't as cool or as important or as original as something else, and eventually it all just starts to look like the Spiderman pointing at Spiderman meme. Especially in the age of poptimism, which posits that all art forms are valid art forms and should be evaluated for what they are rather than in opposition to theoretically superior art forms, the continued stigma attached to this type of music -- which does still exist, just less than it used to -- just feels outdated and boring.
Times have also changed since this music first began making its comeback and getting its critical reappraisal. When the "emo revival" began, it was about bringing emo back to its underground '90s-era roots, and bands and fans would say things like "emo, but not like, the My Chemical Romance kind." Now, My Chemical Romance are reunited, and it feels like one of the most exciting, most talked-about reunions in a year that also includes Rage Against the Machine, Pavement, and Mr. Bungle reunions (all bands who, for what it's worth, had been broken up for more time than My Chemical Romance). And maybe I'm biased, but it feels like there's nothing uncool about the MCR reunion. It just seems like one of the biggest deals in music right now. Certainly a bigger deal than when Braid reunited.
As the emo/pop punk/etc comeback goes on and continues to change shape, we're starting to see the influence of even the really maligned stuff manifest itself in interesting ways. We're fresh off the 20th anniversary of a very pivotal year for both pop punk and emo, 1999, and last year it was as valid to look back fondly on American Football as it was to do so for Enema of the State. These are the reasons I was inspired to start this new recurring column on BrooklynVegan called In Defense of the Genre, where I'll be looking at the long history of punk and its many offshoots, including and often especially the bands and albums and trends and subgenres that haven't already long been canonized. The column is named after Say Anything's 2007 album of the same name, and like that album -- whose many guests include members of Paramore, Dashboard Confessional, My Chemical Romance, Saves The Day, Alkaline Trio, Taking Back Sunday, Rainer Maria, Bayside, New Found Glory, Hot Rod Circuit, Circa Survive, Underoath, Face To Face, and The Starting Line -- "the genre" just means all the various forms of punk, emo, hardcore, etc that were never taken seriously enough. A lot of the artists I'll talk about in this column are artists we regularly talk about on BrooklynVegan, but some will fall outside of our usual coverage. It's not "Defend Pop Punk," which was an early 2010s trend that argued it would be okay if every band sounded like New Found Glory, but it is a place where I'll take a band like New Found Glory as seriously as their heroes Gorilla Biscuits. It's a place where I'll often try to look at the ways that classic hardcore and TRL-era pop punk and modern-day indie rock connect, rather than draw lines to separate them.
The column is going to have a heavy focus on retrospective pieces about older music, but I'll discuss exciting stuff going on today too, because nostalgia's a hell of a drug and it's important to keep looking forward and not get too sucked into reliving the past. I wanted to start a column where I could dedicate a lot of space to older music because 1) as much as I love constantly talking about new albums (which I do weekly in Notable Releases), sometimes you need that palate cleanser of diving back into some old music you love or haven't even discovered yet; 2) it's fun and exciting and worthwhile to look at older music with a new perspective, as a person's take on a certain band or album or song constantly changes; and 3) since so much of this music was ignored by critics in real time and not really canonized after the fact, I feel like there's more to be said about a lot of it. With all due respect to all the Kid A 20th anniversary pieces that are coming this year, I just can't imagine what's possibly left to say about that album. But a current-day take on the stuff you'd find on Punk-O-Rama or Hopelessly Devoted To You comps? I think there's still a void there and I hope to bring something to the table for whoever else still cares -- or is just starting to care for the first time -- about this kind of stuff. To bring Say Anything back up, Max Bemis already wrote a better takedown than I could ever write of the snobby music critic culture that stuck their noses up at this kind of music three years before writing In Defense of the Genre, so I'll try not to harp too much on the "cool"/"uncool" divide that got us here in the first place. My "defense" will mostly be giving these guilt-free pleasures the guilt-free deep dives they deserve.
Right now, the premise of the column is that even when it's a retrospective piece, at the end I'll recommend some newer songs to balance out the nostalgia fest. Part of the idea here -- and maybe it's just wishful thinking -- is to possibly use the retrospective-review angle to connect older and newer music fans. I know people who would go see Hot Water Music play classic albums on their 25th anniversary tour but don't know their Higher Power from their Highly Lonely Power and are probably too caught up living their real adult lives to care about changing that. (Weird, right?!) If some aging punks check this out and get into some newer bands because of it, or vice versa, then this column just might serve a purpose beyond looking like an extension of the "10 albums you loved in high school" meme.
For an idea of what kinds of pieces to expect, I've done some on BV before -- like ranking Rancid albums, ranking blink-182 albums, and a look back on Saves the Day's Through Being Cool (see more at the bottom of this post) -- but now things will just be a little more organized with all those kinds of pieces in one place. The second edition of this column will be the first "real" edition -- consider this one more like a prelude -- but before I go, let me leave you with some music. For this first edition, here are my picks for the five best songs of January 2020 that fall somewhere under the umbrella of "The Genre."
Anti-Flag 20/20 Vision
Anti-Flag - "Un-American"
Anti-Flag's new anti-Trump album 20/20 Vision is a blast to listen to, despite being all about the sad state of the world we're currently living in. It's heaviest on the kinds of melodic punk anthems that Anti-Flag have excelled at since the '90s and still excel at today, but my favorite song on it is one that changes the pace a bit. "Un-American" finds Anti-Flag giving their unique twist to 1960s-style protest folk (without necessarily sounding like "folk punk"), and simultaneously coming out with an incisive critique of America and one of the album's most memorable choruses.
(Would be remiss not to mention that Anti-Flag also added tour dates today.)
The Suicide Machines
The Suicide Machines - "Awkward Always"
Well this was unexpected! The Suicide Machines announced their first new album in 15 years and dropped a new single that finds them sounding just as impassioned as they did when they last left off. With ska-punk making a bit of a comeback, it's a good time for the return of The Suicide Machines, and if you're only cautiously ska-curious, these guys -- who always leaned more on the punk/hardcore side of the ska-punk fence -- are a good entry point. And the infectious "Awkward Always" is just as good a taste of this band's sound as their classics. New album Revolution Spring arrives March 27 via Fat Wreck Chords... let's hope it's got more where this came from.
photo by Lindsey Byrnes
Hayley Williams - "Simmer"
This song isn't pop punk or emo or anything like that at all, and Paramore already made the transition from Warped Tour regulars to critically acclaimed veterans on 2017's new wavey, decade-list-dominating After Laughter, but Hayley (who sang on an American Football album last year) is still loyal to the emo world and we emos are prone to getting excited about just about anything she does. Her latest endeavor is her first solo album (called Petals for Armor, due May 8 via Atlantic), and lead single "Simmer" is already enough to get excited about. It finds Hayley going in a dark, atmospheric art pop direction, and she's as good at this kind of thing as she is at songs like "That's What You Get."
Higher Power - "In The Meantime"
UK band Higher Power's great sophomore album and Roadrunner debut 27 Miles Underwater is like '80s/'90s NYHC, Jane's Addiction, Smashing Pumpkins, Glassjaw, and Deftones in a blender. It's the modern-day equivalent to when bands like CIV and Shelter polished up their hardcore enough for MTV to play it, and in a just world, we'll soon start seeing Higher Power on whatever the modern-day equivalent to MTV is. 27 Miles Underwater is too good and too accessible to be stuck in the niche hardcore scene, and that's never clearer than on "In The Meantime," an acoustic alt-rock ballad that isn't a Helmet or a Spacehog cover but kinda sounds like an emo version of "Jane Says" and "Disarm."
Drug Church
photo by Kat Nijmeddin
Drug Church - "Bliss Out"
As we speak, Drug Church are on tour with the very "In Defense..." friendly lineup of Thrice (playing Vheissu in full), mewithoutYou (one of their last tours before hiatus), and new Triple Crown band Holy Fawn, and right before the tour began they dropped this killer little under-two-minute nugget. It's a song from the sessions for 2018's great Cheer, and it kinda sounds like if someone took the guitar riff from Say Anything's "Spidersong," sped it up, and gave it a raspy, hardcore twist. Like the rest of Cheer, it's pure ear candy for anyone who likes '90s / early 2000s punk and it manages to sound fresh today too.
And now to recap, here's some further related reading if you haven't read already:
* 100 best punk & emo albums of the 2010s
* 12 great screamo releases from 2019
* Pop punk's complicated relationship with indie rock
* blink-182 and Descendents' comebacks, and the enduring influence of pop punk
* A brief history of emo bands making art rock
* 10 great emo songs by non-emo bands
* Green Day's 'Insomniac' is their best album
* blink-182 albums ranked
* Rancid albums ranked
* Black Flag albums and EPs ranked
* a look back on Saves The Day's 'Through Being Cool' for its 20th anniversary
* American Football's highly influential debut album turns 20
* 15 '90s metalcore albums that still resonate today
* 10 must-have Lookout! Records albums
* why Ramones' 'Leave Home' is their best album
* 'The Stooges' turns 50; a look back on the album that helped birth punk
And see you soon in the second edition of In Defense of the Genre.
Filed Under: Anti-Flag, Best of 2020, Best Punk Songs of January 2020, Drug Church, emo, Hayley Williams, Higher Power, In Defense of the Genre, Paramore, pop punk, punk, The Suicide Machines
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Bamboozle reveals 2023 lineup: "the festival will not have high priced headliners"
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ENG 336: American Renaissance
Finding Literary Critism and Context
ENG 336: American Renaissance: Finding Literary Critism and Context
Scholarship is Conversation
You'll be raising a question or proposing a theory about literature during the American Renaissance. To do this, use library resources to explore the conversations around the authors, works, and themes you are most interested in. You'll be using these sources to create an annotated bibliography and to develop your original ideas in writing. From the syllabus:
The paper should deal with at least one author/text that the class has read during the semester, and should develop an original argument that demonstrates some aspect of the author's intentions or relationship to a larger historical or literary movement relevant during the American Renaissance. . . You will be expected to put your own ideas in conversation with those of your 5 scholarly sources, showing how your own argument/reading of the text(s) in question deepens or complicates the existing scholarly research on your topic.
As you see what other literary scholars have written, put yourself in conversation with them. What do they have to say? Do you agree? Where do you diverge? What new ideas do you have to offer? How do your new ideas fit into and extend what literary scholars have already said?
Looking for Literary Criticism and Context
As you take a look to see what literary scholars have said about and writer and a topic, think about these questions:
What theoretical approach does the author take?
What theme or themes does the author focus on?
When was this published? (Approaches to literature change over time.)
How does this fit with my ideas? With other scholars' ideas?
Look for criticism that is relevant and appears to be of high quality. You may have to skim a lot of works of criticism before you decide which works you think should be part of your conversation.
This is the mother lode for literary criticism. It includes books, book chapters, articles, and dissertations about language and literature, and it's massive. The good news is that it includes a lot. The bad news is that it includes a lot of stuff we don't have and sometimes can't get. But it's worth a try. Use the "find it" link to request a book or article from another library.
Full text backfiles of selected scholarly journals are found here. You can limit a search to language and literature. You can also expand your search to include content we don't have here but which we can get from another library.
Project Muse Basic College Collection
Like JSTOR, a collection of full-text academic journals, including Legacy: A Journal of American Women Writers.
Reference Books for Background and Context
A New Literary History of America by Greil Marcus (Editor); Werner Sollors (Editor)
Call Number: Reference PS 92 .N39 2009
A chronological account of American literature that maps a 2009 sensibility on the historiography of literary studies. Selective and interpretive.
The Oxford Companion to Women's Writing in the United States by Cathy N. Davidson (Editor); Linda Wagner-Martin (Editor); Elizabeth Ammons (Editor); Trudier Harris (Editor); Ann Kibbey (Editor); Amy Ling (Editor); Janice Radway (Editor)
Call Number: Reference PS 147 .O94 1995
Oxford Companions are like an erudite butler who can answer questions quickly and concisely. This one focuses on women writers, but there are also companions for American literature in general, African-American authors, and other topics. Good for getting super-quick answers.
Dictionary of Literary Biography by Wesley T. Mott (Contribution by)
Call Number: Reference PS 221, volumes 1, 223, and 235
There are three volumes in this set that deal with the American Renaissance. What you'll find here is basic biographical background, summaries of literary reception and critical approaches, and some background information. You could use these to ground yourself and see what criticism might be worth pursuing, but they are basically like Wikipedia - useful, but not something you'd cite as a source.
For historical and cultural background and context
Encyclopedia of the United States in the Nineteenth Century by Reference E 169.1 .E626 2001
Short background articles in alphabetical order, handy for unfamiliar events or people.
Encyclopedia of American Cultural and Intellectual History
Call Number: Reference E 169.1 .E624 2001
Offers broad but scholarly overviews of topics such as slavery and race, antislavery, transcendentalism, women in the public sphere, domesticity and sentimentalism, and more.
Encyclopedia of American Social Movements by Immanuel Ness
Call Number: Reference HN 57 .E594 2004
Includes coverage of rural utopian movements, the anti-slavery movement, women's suffrage, plus many more recent movements.
Women in American History by Peg A. Lamphier (Editor); Rosanne Marie Welch (Editor)
Call Number: Reference HQ 1410 .W6468 2017
A social, political, and cultural encyclopedia and document collection (subtitle). Volume 2 covers Antebellum America through the Gilded Age.
Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619-1895 by Paul Finkelman (Editor)
Call Number: Reference 185 .E545 2006
Good for background on African American experiences of US history, events, and people.
Encyclopedia of Religion in America by Charles H. Lippy (Editor); Peter W. Williams (Editor)
Call Number: Reference BL 2520 .E52 2010
A good place to get information about American religious traditions, denominations, and movements.
Reference Librarians
Last Updated: Nov 3, 2021 11:15 AM
URL: https://libguides.gustavus.edu/ENG336Spring2019
Subjects: English, Ye Olde Course Guides 2019 Spring