Backing the wrong horse

Airway smooth muscle stretch and airway hyperresponsiveness in asthma: have we chased the wrong horse?

WHY DO HUMANS WITH ASTHMA have hyperresponsive airways? About 20 years ago, a delightfully simple hypothesized mechanism emerged that lack of stretch on the airway smooth muscle (ASM) can be causal to hyperresponsive airways as it occurs in asthma. On the face of it, this mechanism seemed to bridge the gap between two ends of biological length scales associated with hyperreactivity: the ASM and...

Hybrid backing

Sometimes, a scientific development that might be expected to trigger media frenzy and noisy protest fails to do so. One example was the cloning of Dolly the sheep at the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1996. Given the science fiction background, this event could easily have provoked widespread public alarm and hostility. Dolly's predominantly reasonable reception owed a good deal...

Backing up the Big Data Stack

Backing Rich Credentials with a Blockchain PKI∗

This is the second of a series of papers describing the results of a project whose goal was to identify five remote identity proofing solutions that can be used as alternatives to knowledge-based verification. This paper describes the second solution, which makes use of a rich credential adapted for use on a blockchain and backed by a blockchain PKI. A rich credential, also used in Solution 1, ...

Wrong-side/wrong-site, wrong-procedure, and wrong-patient adverse events: Are they preventable?

HYPOTHESIS Wrong-side/wrong-site, wrong-procedure, and wrong-patient adverse events (WSPEs) are devastating, unacceptable, and often result in litigation, but their frequency and root causes are unknown. Wrong-side/wrong-site, wrong-procedure, and wrong-patient events are likely more common than realized, with little evidence that current prevention practice is adequate. DESIGN Analysis of se...