docid: yuimimlr

title: An Intelligent Cloud-Based Platform for Effective Monitoring of Patients with Psychotic Disorders

text: The therapy of patients with psychotic disorders (i.e., bipolar disorder and schizophrenia) could benefit from the constant monitoring of their physiological and motor parameters. In this paper, we present an innovative and advanced cloud based platform that facilitates the effective monitoring of such patients. A commodity smartwatch is used for biosignal and motion data collection at a 24/7 basis. The paper describes the technical details of the implemented application both on the smartwatch and the cloud server side. Technical challenges regarding the upload, the storage and the battery constraints of the smartwatch are also discussed, along with the initial results regarding data visualization and processing.


title: Autonomous Navigation for Drone Swarms in GPS-Denied Environments Using Structured Learning

text: Drone swarms are becoming a new tool for many tasks including surveillance, search, rescue, construction, and defense related activities. As their usage increases, so does the possibility of adversarial attacks on their contribution to these use cases. One possible avenue, whether deliberate or not, is to deny access to the position feedback offered by the Global Positioning System (GPS). Operating in these ‘GPS denied’ environments poses a new challenge; both in navigation, and in collision avoidance. This study proposes two novel concepts; a structural model of environmental deviance to aid in autonomous navigation, and a method to use the output of said model to implement a collision avoidance system. Both of these concepts are developed and tested in the framework of a simulated environment that mimics a GPS-denied scenario. Using data from hundreds of simulated swarm flights, this work shows structured learning can improve navigational accuracy without the need for externally provided position feedback.


title: Know Yourself: An Adaptive Causal Network Model for Therapeutic Intervention for Regaining Cognitive Control

text: Long term stress often causes depression and neuronal atrophies that in turn can lead to a variety of health problems. As a result of these cellular changes, also molecular changes occur. These changes, that include increase of glucocorticoids and decrease of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor, have the unfortunate effect that they decrease the cognitive abilities needed for the individual to solve the stressful situation. Such cognitive abilities like reappraisal and their adaptation mechanisms turn out to be substantially impaired while they are needed for regulation of the negative emotions. However, antidepressant treatments and some other therapies have proved to be quite effective for the strengthening of such cognitive abilities. This study introduces an adaptive causal network model for this phenomenon where a subject loses his or her cognitive abilities (negative metaplasticity) due to long-term stress and re-improve these cognitive abilities (positive metaplasticity) through mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT). Simulation results have been reported for demonstration of the phenomenon.


title: Innovative Deep Neural Network Fusion for Pairwise Translation Evaluation

text: A language independent deep learning (DL) architecture for machine translation (MT) evaluation is presented. This DL architecture aims at the best choice between two MT (S1, S2) outputs, based on the reference translation (Sr) and the annotation score. The outputs were generated from a statistical machine translation (SMT) system and a neural machine translation (NMT) system. The model applied in two language pairs: English - Greek (EN-EL) and English - Italian (EN-IT). In this paper, a variety of experiments with different parameter configurations is presented. Moreover, linguistic features, embeddings representation and natural language processing (NLP) metrics (BLEU, METEOR, TER, WER) were tested. The best score was achieved when the proposed model used source segments (SSE) information and the NLP metrics set. Classification accuracy has increased up to 5% (compared to previous related work) and reached quite satisfactory results for the Kendall τ score.


title: Regularized Evolution for Macro Neural Architecture Search

text: Neural Architecture Search is becoming an increasingly popular research field and method to design deep learning architectures. Most research focuses on searching for small blocks of deep learning operations, or micro-search. This method yields satisfactory results but demands prior knowledge of the macro architecture’s structure. Generally, methods that do not utilize macro structure knowledge perform worse but are able to be applied to datasets of completely new domains. In this paper, we propose a macro NAS methodology which utilizes concepts of Regularized Evolution and Macro Neural Architecture Search (DeepNEAT), and apply it to the Fashion-MNIST dataset. By utilizing our method, we are able to produce networks that outperform other macro NAS methods on the dataset, when the same post-search inference methods are used. Furthermore, we are able to achieve 94.46% test accuracy, while requiring considerably less epochs to fully train our network.


title: Harnessing Social Interactions on Twitter for Smart Transportation Using Machine Learning

text: Twitter is generating a large amount of real-time data in the form of microblogs that has potential knowledge for various applications like traffic incident analysis and urban planning. Social media data represents the unbiased actual insights of citizens’ concerns that may be mined in making cities smarter. In this study, a computational framework has been proposed using word embedding and machine learning model to detect traffic incidents using social media data. The study includes the feasibility of using machine learning algorithms with different feature extraction and representation models for the identification of traffic incidents from the Twitter interactions. The comprehensive proposed approach is the combination of following four steps. In the first phase, a dictionary of traffic-related keywords is formed. Secondly, real-time Twitter data has been collected using the dictionary of identified traffic related keywords. In the third step, collected tweets have been pre-processed, and the feature generation model is applied to convert the dataset eligible for a machine learning classifier. Further, a machine learning model is trained and tested to identify the tweets containing traffic incidents. The results of the study show that machine learning models built on top of right feature extraction strategy is very promising to identify the tweets containing traffic incidents from micro-blogs.


title: Versatile Internet of Things for Agriculture: An eXplainable AI Approach

text: The increase of the adoption of IoT devices and the contemporary problem of food production have given rise to numerous applications of IoT in agriculture. These applications typically comprise a set of sensors that are installed in open fields and measure metrics, such as temperature or humidity, which are used for irrigation control systems. Though useful, most contemporary systems have high installation and maintenance costs, and they do not offer automated control or, if they do, they are usually not interpretable, and thus cannot be trusted for such critical applications. In this work, we design Vital, a system that incorporates a set of low-cost sensors, a robust data store, and most importantly an explainable AI decision support system. Our system outputs a fuzzy rule-base, which is interpretable and allows fully automating the irrigation of the fields. Upon evaluating Vital in two pilot cases, we conclude that it can be effective for monitoring open-field installations.


title: Bridging the Gap Between AI and Healthcare Sides: Towards Developing Clinically Relevant AI-Powered Diagnosis Systems

text: Despite the success of Convolutional Neural Network-based Computer-Aided Diagnosis research, its clinical applications remain challenging. Accordingly, developing medical Artificial Intelligence (AI) fitting into a clinical environment requires identifying/bridging the gap between AI and Healthcare sides. Since the biggest problem in Medical Imaging lies in data paucity, confirming the clinical relevance for diagnosis of research-proven image augmentation techniques is essential. Therefore, we hold a clinically valuable AI-envisioning workshop among Japanese Medical Imaging experts, physicians, and generalists in Healthcare/Informatics. Then, a questionnaire survey for physicians evaluates our pathology-aware Generative Adversarial Network (GAN)-based image augmentation projects in terms of Data Augmentation and physician training. The workshop reveals the intrinsic gap between AI/Healthcare sides and solutions on Why (i.e., clinical significance/interpretation) and How (i.e., data acquisition, commercial deployment, and safety/feeling safe). This analysis confirms our pathology-aware GANs’ clinical relevance as a clinical decision support system and non-expert physician training tool. Our findings would play a key role in connecting inter-disciplinary research and clinical applications, not limited to the Japanese medical context and pathology-aware GANs.


title: Chemical Laboratories 4.0: A Two-Stage Machine Learning System for Predicting the Arrival of Samples

text: This paper presents a two-stage Machine Learning (ML) model to predict the arrival time of In-Process Control (IPC) samples at the quality testing laboratories of a chemical company. The model was developed using three iterations of the CRoss-Industry Standard Process for Data Mining (CRISP-DM) methodology, each focusing on a different regression approach. To reduce the ML analyst effort, an Automated Machine Learning (AutoML) was adopted during the modeling stage of CRISP-DM. The AutoML was set to select the best among six distinct state-of-the-art regression algorithms. Using recent real-world data, the three main regression approaches were compared, showing that the proposed two-stage ML model is competitive and provides interesting predictions to support the laboratory management decisions (e.g., preparation of testing instruments). In particular, the proposed method can accurately predict 70% of the examples under a tolerance of 4 time units.


title: Exploring NLP and Information Extraction to Jointly Address Question Generation and Answering

text: Question Answering (QA) and Question Generation (QG) have been subjects of an intensive study in recent years and much progress has been made in both areas. However, works on combining these two topics mainly focus on how QG can be used to improve QA results. Through existing Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques, we have implemented a tool that addresses these two topics separately. We further use them jointly in a pipeline. Thus, our goal is to understand how these modules can help each other. For QG, our methodology employs a detailed analysis of the relevant content of a sentence through Part-of-speech (POS) tagging and Named Entity Recognition (NER). Ensuring loose coupling with the QA task, in the latter we use Information Retrieval to rank sentences that might contain relevant information regarding a certain question, together with Open Information Retrieval to analyse the sentences. In its current version, the QG tool takes a sentence to formulate a simple question. By connecting QG with the QA component, we provide a means to effortlessly generate a test set for QA. While our current QA approach shows promising results, when enhancing the QG component we will, in the future, provide questions for which a more elaborated QA will be needed. The generated QA datasets contribute to QA evaluation, while QA proves to be an important technique for assessing the ambiguity of the questions.


Correction to: Transmission Cycle of SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2


title: Hypotheses Tests Using Non-asymptotic Fuzzy Estimators and Fuzzy Critical Values

text: In fuzzy hypothesis testing we use fuzzy test statistics produced by fuzzy estimators and fuzzy critical values. In this paper we use the non-asymptotic fuzzy estimators in fuzzy hypothesis testing. These are triangular shaped fuzzy numbers that generalize the fuzzy estimators based on confidence intervals in such a way that eliminates discontinuities and ensures compact support. Our approach is particularly useful in critical situations, where subtle fuzzy comparisons between almost equal statistical quantities have to be made. In such cases the hypotheses tests that use non-asymptotic fuzzy estimators give better results than the previous approaches, since they give us the possibility of partial rejection or not of [Formula: see text].


title: Preservation of the Exchange Principle via Lattice Operations on (S,N)– Implications

text: In this paper, we investigate a special case of an open problem that is related to the exchange principle, a property of fuzzy implications. We focus on the cases of (S,N)– implications and the preservation of the exchange principle via lattice operations. We present and prove some sufficient conditions such that the exchange principle is preserved under the join and meet operations if we use (S,N)– implications.


title: Applying Deep Learning to Predicting Dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment

text: Dementia has a large negative impact on the global healthcare and society. Diagnosis is rather challenging as there is no standardised test. The purpose of this paper is to conduct an analysis on ADNI data and determine its effectiveness for building classification models to differentiate the categories Cognitively Normal (CN), Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), and Dementia (DEM), based on tuning three Deep Learning models: two Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP1 and MLP2) models and a Convolutional Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (ConvBLSTM) model. The results show that the MLP1 and MLP2 models accurately distinguish the DEM, MCI and CN classes, with accuracies as high as 0.86 (SD 0.01). The ConvBLSTM model was slightly less accurate but was explored in view of comparisons with the MLP models, and for future extensions of this work that will take advantage of time-related information. Although the performance of ConvBLSTM model was negatively impacted by a lack of visit code data, opportunities were identified for improvement, particularly in terms of pre-processing.


title: An Introduction of FD-Complete Constraints

text: The performance of solving a constraint problem can often be improved by converting a subproblem into a single constraint (for example into a regular membership constraint or a table constraint). In the past, it stood out, that specialist constraint solvers (like simplex solver or SAT solver) outperform general constraint solvers, for the problems they can handle. The disadvantage of such specialist constraint solvers is that they can handle only a small subset of problems with special limitations to the domains of the variables and/or to the allowed constraints. In this paper we introduce the concept of fd-complete constraints and fd-complete constraint satisfaction problems, which allow combining both previous approaches. More accurately, we convert general constraint problems into problems which use only one, respectively one kind of constraint. The goal is it to interpret and solve the converted constraint problems with specialist solvers, which can solve the transformed constraint problems faster than the original solver the original constraint problems.


Living evidence in response to controversies about the use of antimalarials in COVID-19


POPCoRN One-Pagers: Educational Materials for Pediatric Providers Caring For Adults


title: Using Multimodal Contextual Process Information for the Supervised Detection of Connector Lock Events

text: The field of sound event detection is a growing sector which has mainly focused on the identification of sound classes from daily life situations. In most cases these sound detection models are trained on publicly available sound databases, up to now, however, they do not include acoustic data from manufacturing environments. Within manufacturing industries, acoustic data can be exploited in order to evaluate the correct execution of assembling processes. As an example, in this paper the correct plugging of connectors is analyzed on the basis of multimodal contextual process information. The latter are the connector’s acoustic properties and visual information recorded in form of video files while executing connector locking processes. For the first time optical microphones are used for the acquisition and analysis of connector sound data in order to differentiate connector locking sounds from each other respectively from background noise and sound events with similar acoustic properties. Therefore, different types of feature representations as well as neural network architectures are investigated for this specific task. The results from the proposed analysis show, that multimodal approaches clearly outperform unimodal neural network architectures for the task of connector locking validation by reaching maximal accuracy levels close to 85[Formula: see text]. Since in many cases there are no additional validation methods applied for the detection of correctly locked connectors in manufacturing industries, it is concluded that the proposed connector lock event detection framework is a significant improvement for the qualitative validation of plugging operations.


title: Backward-Forward Sequence Generative Network for Multiple Lexical Constraints

text: Advancements in Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) Networks have shown remarkable success in various Natural Language Generation (NLG) tasks. However, generating sequence from pre-specified lexical constraints is a new, challenging and less researched area in NLG. Lexical constraints take the form of words in the language model’s output to create fluent and meaningful sequences. Furthermore, most of the previous approaches cater this problem by allowing the inclusion of pre-specified lexical constraints during the decoding process, which increases the decoding complexity exponentially or linearly with the number of constraints. Moreover, some of the previous approaches can only deal with single constraint. Additionally, most of the previous approaches only deal with single constraints. In this paper, we propose a novel neural probabilistic architecture based on backward-forward language model and word embedding substitution method that can cater multiple lexical constraints for generating quality sequences. Experiments shows that our proposed architecture outperforms previous methods in terms of intrinsic evaluation.


Serious cardiac AEs with hydroxychloroquine during COVID-19 pandemic


Cardiac adverse reactions with off-label Covid-19 treatments


title: Prognostic accuracy of SIRS criteria and qSOFA score for in-hospital mortality among influenza patients in the emergency department

text: BACKGROUND: The seasonal influenza epidemic is an important public health issue worldwide. Early predictive identification of patients with potentially worse outcome is important in the emergency department (ED). Similarly as with bacterial infection, influenza can cause sepsis. This study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of the Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS) criteria and the quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA) score as prognostic predictors for ED patients with influenza. METHODS: This single-center, retrospective cohort study investigated data that was retrieved from a hospital-based research database. Adult ED patients (age ≥ 18 at admission) with laboratory-proven influenza from 2010 to 2016 were included for data analysis. The initial SIRS and qSOFA scores were both collected. The primary outcome was the utility of each score in the prediction of in-hospital mortality. RESULTS: For the study period, 3561 patients met the study inclusion criteria. The overall in-hospital mortality was 2.7% (95 patients). When the qSOFA scores were 0, 1, 2, and 3, the percentages of in-hospital mortality were 0.6, 7.2, 15.9, and 25%, respectively. Accordingly, the odds ratios (ORs) were 7.72, 11.92, and 22.46, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity was 24 and 96.2%, respectively, when the qSOFA score was ≥2. However, the SIRS criteria showed no significant associations with the primary outcome. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was 0.864, which is significantly higher than that with SIRS, where the AUC was 0.786 (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The qSOFA score potentially is a useful prognostic predictor for influenza and could be applied in the ED as a risk stratification tool. However, qSOFA may not be a good screening tool for triage because of its poor sensitivity. The SIRS criteria showed poor predictive performance in influenza for mortality as an outcome. Further research is needed to determine the role of these predictive tools in influenza and in other viral infections.


docid: xaehtmjf

title: Recruitment pattern of the diaphragm and extradiaphragmatic inspiratory muscles in response to different levels of pressure support

text: BACKGROUND: Inappropriate ventilator assist plays an important role in the development of diaphragm dysfunction. Ventilator under-assist may lead to muscle injury, while over-assist may result in muscle atrophy. This provides a good rationale to monitor respiratory drive in ventilated patients. Respiratory drive can be monitored by a nasogastric catheter, either with esophageal balloon to determine muscular pressure (gold standard) or with electrodes to measure electrical activity of the diaphragm. A disadvantage is that both techniques are invasive. Therefore, it is interesting to investigate the role of surrogate markers for respiratory dive, such as extradiaphragmatic inspiratory muscle activity. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effect of different inspiratory support levels on the recruitment pattern of extradiaphragmatic inspiratory muscles with respect to the diaphragm and to evaluate agreement between activity of extradiaphragmatic inspiratory muscles and the diaphragm. METHODS: Activity from the alae nasi, genioglossus, scalene, sternocleidomastoid and parasternal intercostals was recorded using surface electrodes. Electrical activity of the diaphragm was measured using a multi-electrode nasogastric catheter. Pressure support (PS) levels were reduced from 15 to 3 cmH(2)O every 5 min with steps of 3 cmH(2)O. The magnitude and timing of respiratory muscle activity were assessed. RESULTS: We included 17 ventilated patients. Diaphragm and extradiaphragmatic inspiratory muscle activity increased in response to lower PS levels (36 ± 6% increase for the diaphragm, 30 ± 6% parasternal intercostals, 41 ± 6% scalene, 40 ± 8% sternocleidomastoid, 43 ± 6% alae nasi and 30 ± 6% genioglossus). Changes in diaphragm activity correlated best with changes in alae nasi activity (r(2) = 0.49; P < 0.001), while there was no correlation between diaphragm and sternocleidomastoid activity. The agreement between diaphragm and extradiaphragmatic inspiratory muscle activity was low due to a high individual variability. Onset of alae nasi activity preceded the onset of all other muscles. CONCLUSIONS: Extradiaphragmatic inspiratory muscle activity increases in response to lower inspiratory support levels. However, there is a poor correlation and agreement with the change in diaphragm activity, limiting the use of surface electromyography (EMG) recordings of extradiaphragmatic inspiratory muscles as a surrogate for electrical activity of the diaphragm.


Fingolimod: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 infection: case report


Lopinavir: Various toxicities: 4 case reports


Azathioprine/infliximab/prednisolone: Epstein-Barr virus infection reactivation-associated lymphoid interstitial pneumonia and Cytomegalovirus colitis: case report


Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine increase risk of death in COVID-19


Labelling or packaging variation implementation time extended


title: The effects of body mass index on outcomes for patients undergoing surgical aortic valve replacement

text: BACKGROUND: Most of the studies of obesity and postoperative outcome have looked predominantly at coronary artery bypass grafting with fewer focused on valvular disease. The purpose of this study was to compare the outcomes of patients undergoing aortic valve replacement stratified by body mass index (BMI, kg/m^2). METHODS: The Alberta Provincial Project for Outcome Assessment in Coronary Heart Disease registry captured 4780 aortic valve replacements in Alberta, Canada from January 2004 to December 2018. All recipients were stratified by BMI into five groups (BMI: < 20, 20–24.9, 25–29.9, 30–34.9, and > = 35). Log-rank test and Cox regression were used to examine the crude and adjusted survival differences. RESULTS: Intra-operative clamp time and pump time were similar among the five groups. Significant statistical differences between groups existed for the incidence of isolated AVR, AVR and CABG, hemorrhage, septic infection, and deep sternal infection (p < 0.05). While there was no significant statistical difference in the mortality rate across the BMI groups, the underweight AVR patients (BMI < 20) were associated with increased hazard ratio (1.519; 95% confidence interval: 1.028–2.245) with regards to all-cause mortality at the longest follow-up compared with normal weight patients. CONCLUSION: Overweight and obese patients should be considered as readily for AVR as normal BMI patients.


title: Basics of Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM)

text: In this chapter, an overview of the basic principles of fused deposition modelling, commonly known as 3D printing technology, is presented. The chapter begins by introducing the holistic concept of additive manufacturing and its scientific principle as the technology for the modern and future industry. Then, the science of 3D printing is described. The applications of FDM in various fields are also highlighted with a focus on an interesting role the 3D printing technology is playing in the fight against Covid-19 pandemic. The chapter also gives a highlight of the parameters involved in fused deposition modelling of polymers and their basic interaction with the properties of the manufactured components. In relation to the process parameters, quality aspects of FDM products have also been briefly described in the chapter.


docid: gjppepsv

title: The Pandemic Century: One Hundred Years of Panic, Hysteria and Hubris


title: Rethinking cancer clinical trials for COVID-19 and beyond

text: The risks posed to patients with cancer by the current COVID-19 pandemic demand rapid structural changes in healthcare delivery, with many positive changes likely to continue long term. An immediate critical reassessment of trial methodology based on clinical and scientific priorities is essential to ensure the resilience of clinical cancer research and optimize patient-centered care.


docid: xztkhkwq

title: Cardiovascular Disease

text: Cardiac disease is increasingly diagnosed in pet rabbits, presumably because of their lengthening life span and the increased sophistication of their veterinary care. However, relatively little is known about the origins of and therapy for cardiac disease in pet rabbits. Dyspnea, murmurs, and arrhythmias are common clinical signs in rabbits with cardiac disease. However, rabbits with congestive heart failure may hide signs of illness until the disease has become severe. Unique physiologic characteristics (e.g., obligate nasal breathing and limited collateral circulation to the myocardium) predispose rabbits to collapse from stress and oxygen deprivation; therefore, oxygen supplementation and stabilization are priorities for the rabbit presenting in cardiorespiratory distress. The diagnostic workup for cardiac disease in rabbits is very similar to that for traditional pets and involves radiography, electrocardiography, and echocardiography. Cardiomyopathy and valvular degeneration are relatively common forms of cardiac disease in rabbits, while congenital anomalies are rare. Use and dosing of therapeutic agents is extrapolated from dogs and cats. Spontaneous arteriosclerosis is prevalent in rabbits, with an historical incidence of up to 40% in large breeds.


title: Infections that cause secondary immune deficiency

text: Discriminating between patients with microbial infections that cause secondary immune effects from those with the same infection who have primary immune deficiency disease can be difficult. There are many microbes that temporarily “stun” innate and/or adaptive immunity during a primary infection. The common result of temporary inhibition, or permanent depletion of host immunity during some primary infections is the development of superinfections of other microbes that cause significant morbidity, and on occasion, mortality. In addition, microbes that cause persistent infection, such as the human immune deficiency virus, deplete effective immunity over time and can also lead to secondary infections with other microbes ultimately leading to death if not appropriately treated. In some cases, such as influenza virus infection, mortality can be dramatic due in large part to acquired secondary bacterial infections. Many microbes manipulate host immunity and thereby inhibit the ability of patients to combat secondary microbial infections. The overall survival of patients primarily infected with some viruses, parasites, or bacteria, is closely linked to the ability of secondary infections to take advantage of the immune modulation induced by the primary infection. Herein we discuss some of the secondary immune defects caused by select viruses (measles, influenza, HIV1, HTLV), parasites, (leishmania, malaria), and bacteria (Bordetella pertussis). Furthermore, the genetic susceptibility of a given host to become infected, or develop severe disease, also determines whether an infected individual who becomes infected with a secondary microbe survives. Future studies are needed to explore not only the immunomodulation caused by select microbes, but also the repertoire of immune responses expressed by infected individuals in order to predict clinical outcomes of these infections. Thus, understanding the delicate balance that exists between “immune altering” microbes that suppress immune responses during primary infections leading to severe secondary infections versus those infections found in patients with inborn errors of innate or adaptive immunity, is essential in predicting the clinical outcome and the appropriate treatment for these two different patient populations.


docid: ghvymlyq

title: The Epicenter We Need: Science


Breaking News: Using Facebook Live to Transmit Radiologic Information Quickly on a Global Scale


docid: iocjjrjy

title: “Being a Nurse” in the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife


title: Nonlinearity + Networks: A 2020 Vision

text: I briefly survey several fascinating topics in networks and nonlinearity. I highlight a few methods and ideas, including several of personal interest, that I anticipate to be especially important during the next several years. These topics include temporal networks (in which a network’s entities and/or their interactions change in time), stochastic and deterministic dynamical processes on networks, adaptive networks (in which a dynamical process on a network is coupled to dynamics of network structure), and network structure and dynamics that include “higher-order” interactions (which involve three or more entities in a network). I draw examples from a variety of scenarios, including contagion dynamics, opinion models, waves, and coupled oscillators.


The Impact of Social Distancing on the Transmission of Influenza Virus, South Korea, 2020


Ensuring practical feasibility and sustainability of research work: Need of the hour


CT Perfusion for the Detection of Delayed Cerebral Ischemia in the Presence of Neurologic Confounders


docid: wajppdvj

title: The Importance of Universal Preprocedural Testing for the Novel Coronavirus 2019


title: Personalized Ventilation to Multiple Patients Using a Single Ventilator: Description and Proof of Concept

text: OBJECTIVES: To design and test a ventilator circuit that can be used for ventilation of two or more patients with a single ventilator, while allowing individualization of tidal volume, fractional concentration of oxygen, and positive end-expiratory pressure to each patient, irrespective of the other patient’s respiratory system mechanics. DESIGN: Description and proof of concept studies. SETTINGS: Respiratory therapy laboratory. SUBJECTS: Ventilation of mechanical test lungs. INTERVENTIONS: Following a previously advocated design, we used components readily available in our hospital to assemble two “bag-in-a-box” breathing circuits. Each patient circuit consisted of a flexible bag in a rigid container connected via one-way valve to a test lung, along with an inline positive end-expiratory pressure valve, connected to the ventilator’s expiratory limb. Compressed gas fills the bags during “patient” exhalation. During inspiration, gas from the ventilator, in pressure control mode, enters the containers and displaces gas from the bags to the test lungs. We varied tidal volume, “respiratory system” compliance, and positive end-expiratory pressure in one lung and observed the effect on the tidal volume of the other. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: We were able to obtain different tidal volume, dynamic driving pressure, and positive end-expiratory pressure in the two lungs under widely different compliances in both lungs. Complete obstruction, or disconnection at the circuit connection to one test lung, had minimal effect (< 5% on average) on the ventilation to the co-ventilated lung. CONCLUSIONS: A secondary circuit “bag-in-the-box” system enables individualized ventilation of two lungs overcoming many of the concerns of ventilating more than one patient with a single ventilator.


title: Percutaneous Tracheostomy With Apnea During Coronavirus Disease 2019 Era: A Protocol and Brief Report of Cases

text: OBJECTIVE: To assess feasibility of modified protocol during percutaneous tracheostomy in coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic era. DESIGN: A retrospective review of cohort who underwent percutaneous tracheostomy with modified protocol. SETTINGS: Medical, surgical, and neurologic ICUs. SUBJECTS: Patients admitted in medical, surgical, and neurologic units with prolonged need of mechanical ventilation or inability to liberate from the ventilator. INTERVENTIONS: A detailed protocol was written. Steps were defined to be performed before apnea and during apnea. A feasibility study of 28 patients was conducted. The key aerosol-generating portions of the procedure were performed with the ventilator switched to standby mode with the patient apneic. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Data including patient demographics, primary diagnosis, age, body mass index, and duration of apnea time during the tracheostomy were collected. Average ventilator standby time (apnea) during the procedure was 238 seconds (3.96 min) with range 149 seconds (2.48 min) to 340 seconds (5.66 min). Single-use (disposable) bronchoscopes (Ambu A/S [Ballerup, Denmark] or Glidescope [Verathon, Inc., Bothell, WA]) were used during all procedures except in nine. No desaturation events occurred during any procedure. CONCLUSIONS: Percutaneous tracheostomy performed with apnea protocol may help minimize aerosolization, reducing risk of exposure of coronavirus disease 2019 to staff. It can be safely performed with portable bronchoscopes to limit staff and minimize the surfaces requiring disinfection post procedure.


title: Critical Care Clinician Reports on Coronavirus Disease 2019: Results From a National Survey of 4,875 ICU Providers

text: IMPORTANCE: Global cases of coronavirus disease 2019 infection continue to increase, and significant numbers of patients are critically ill, placing an immense burden on ICU resources. Understanding baseline resource needs and surge capacity in the ICU will be essential to meet current and projected healthcare needs. Continued appraisal of the state of readiness for healthcare systems at individual, regional and national levels will be paramount to ensure we are poised to continue the fight against coronavirus disease 2019. OBJECTIVES: This study queried U.S. ICU clinician perspectives on ICU preparedness and concerns regarding delivering coronavirus disease 2019 patient care. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: An anonymous web-based survey administered from March 18, 2020, to March 25, 2020 (email and newsletter) used survey methodology to query members of U.S. national critical care organizations. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Through a 12-item descriptive questionnaire, ICU clinicians were assessed regarding preparedness, techniques employed to augment critical care capacity, and concerns related to caring for coronavirus disease 2019 patients. RESULTS: A total of 4,875 ICU clinicians responded to the survey. Respondents included ICU nurses (n = 3,470, 71.3%), physicians (n = 664, 13.6%), advanced practice providers (nurse practitioners and physician assistants; n = 334, 6.9%), respiratory therapists (n = 236, 4.9%), and pharmacists (n = 79, 1.6%). Over half (n = 2,552, 52.5%) reported having cared for a presumed or confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 patient. The majority (n = 4,010, 82.9%) identified that their hospital was employing techniques to augment critical care capacity. However, 64.5% (n = 3,125) believed that their ICU facility and team were inadequately prepared to treat coronavirus disease 2019 patients. The majority (n = 4,547, 93.9%) anticipated ICU personal protective equipment shortages based upon their current use profile. The chief reported concerns include ICU resource shortages such as supplies, medications, beds, ICU staffing shortages, and patient surge leading to overcrowding. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: This national ICU clinician survey indicates that hospitals are expanding ICU bed capacity to prepare for coronavirus disease 2019 patient surge. Importantly, amid this preparation, ICU clinicians harbor concerns regarding preparedness, staffing, and common use resources that merit specific education as well as resource allocation and utilization planning.


Evidence of Steroids in Patients With Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome in Coronavirus Disease 2019


Medication for Abortion and Miscarriage in Primary Care: Important and Possible for General Internists


docid: sjvytgit

title: Spur cell anemia related to alcoholic liver cirrhosis managed without liver transplantation: a case report and literature review

text: Spur cell anemia is an acquired hemolytic anemia associated with liver cirrhosis and is characterized by the presence of increased large red blood cells, which are covered with spike-like projections that vary in width, length, and distribution. A 26-year-old man was referred to our hospital presenting with jaundice, lower limb edema, and dyspnea. The patient was subsequently diagnosed with spur cell anemia related to alcoholic liver cirrhosis. Spur cell anemia is an independent predictor of mortality in liver cirrhosis and has been associated with extremely poor prognosis. The most effective treatment for spur cell anemia is liver transplantation. As seen in the literature, the treatment of spur cell anemia without liver transplantation is quite challenging. This report highlights the importance of management and treatment strategies, including control of fluid retention, blood transfusion, plasma diafiltration, and administration of diuretics. Our treatment strategies might be useful in patients who are not candidate of liver transplantation or patients waiting for liver transplantation.


title: The prevalence of occult HBV infection in immunized children with HBsAg-positive parents: a hospital-based analysis

text: BACKGROUND AND OBJECT: The risk of occult HBV infection (OBI) in children whose mothers are HBV carriers has received more widespread attention, but there were few reports to focus on the children with HBsAg-positive parents. In this study, we aimed to investigate the prevalence of OBI in immunized children with HBsAg-positive parents. METHODS: HBV-vaccinated Chinese hospitalized children with HBsAg-positive parents were analyzed in our investigation. Eligible subjects were tested using a standard nested PCR for all HBV genes, and analyzed by direct sequencing. RESULTS: There were 327 HBsAg-negative children included in the study out of about 9800 involved HBV-vaccinated hospitalized children. The positive rate of OBI was 3.1% (10/327) in the eligible children and 14.1% (46/327) with HBV DNA detectable. No significant differences were found between one and at least two regions positive groups (p > 0.05). The proportions of HBV DNA detectable in children with HBV father-carriers and mother-carriers were similar. The risk factors for HBV DNA-positive children could be male, anti-HBs levels, and anti-HBc positive. CONCLUSION: There are 3.1% of OBIs and 14.1% of suspected OBI in vaccinated children with HBsAg-positive parents. The potential risk of suspected OBI in children with HBsAg-positive father should not be ignored. Anti-HBc positivity may be a useful seromarker for suspected OBI screening in vaccinated children. To prevent HBV breakthrough infection, accurate and convenient method is needed to detect OBI timely and exhaustively. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s12072-020-10055-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.


title: The Belt and Road Initiative: A Legal Analysis—An Introduction

text: So far, the debate on the BRI has mostly been dominated by scholars in international relations and geopolitics and economists. More recently, lawyers tried to enter into this interdisciplinary debate. Western scholars frequently refer to the initiative as mere propaganda while the Eastern contributions on the topic are above all descriptive (however, germs of a proper and critical legal approach can be found in recent articles). This volume aims to overcome this divide, taking into consideration the different Eastern and Western perspectives.


Visions of the electrochemical future, past and present: Plus ca change?


Message de la rédactrice en chef


docid: vzylrlxz

title: Outside front cover


Message from the Editor


title: Bioengineering horizon scan 2020

text: Horizon scanning is intended to identify the opportunities and threats associated with technological, regulatory and social change. In 2017 some of the present authors conducted a horizon scan for bioengineering (Wintle et al., 2017). Here we report the results of a new horizon scan that is based on inputs from a larger and more international group of 38 participants. The final list of 20 issues includes topics spanning from the political (the regulation of genomic data, increased philanthropic funding and malicious uses of neurochemicals) to the environmental (crops for changing climates and agricultural gene drives). The early identification of such issues is relevant to researchers, policy-makers and the wider public.


Antiviral Effects of Sulfated Exopolysaccharide from the Marine Microalga Gyrodinium impudicum Strain KG03


title: Human Metapneumovirus or Influenza A Upper Respiratory Tract Infection Associated with Increased Risk of Bacterial Superinfection in Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplant Recipients

text: INTRODUCTION: Bacterial superinfection following moderate to severe respiratory viral infections (RVIs), especially influenza (Flu), is well described in immunocompetent hosts. The clinical impact of preceding RVIs on the development of bacterial superinfection in hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) recipients may be significant although data are limited. Furthermore, the impact of upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) on this outcome has not been systematically evaluated. OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether URTI due to specific respiratory viruses was associated with increased risk of developing bacteremia or bacterial pneumonia post-HCT. METHODS: In a longitudinal surveillance study of RVIs among allogeneic HCT recipients conducted from 2005-10, weekly post-HCT nasal washes were collected through day 100. Nasal and bronchoalveolar lavage samples were tested by multiplex PCR for respiratory syncytial virus, parainfluenza viruses (PIV)1–4, Flu A/B, human metapneumovirus (HMPV), adenovirus, rhinoviruses and coronaviruses. URTI was defined as having respiratory virus detected from nasal samples with respiratory symptoms. Bacteremia and bacterial pneumonia were defined as growth of significant bacteria (e.g., Coagulase-negative staphylococci was defined as insignificant bacteria) from blood and lower respiratory tract samples including bronchoalveolar lavage, respectively. Separate Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine associations between first URTI for individual viruses and the subsequent development of first bacteremia and/or bacterial pneumonia by 100 days post-HCT. RESULTS: We identified 471 HCT recipients (median age: 51 years, range 8 months-75 years). Number of patients for each first outcome event by 100 days post-HCT included the following: Gram-positive bacteremia (n=64), Gram-negative bacteremia (n=53), Gram-positive pneumonia (n=46), Gram-negative pneumonia (n=8), and either bacteremia or pneumonia (n=152). After adjusting for pre-transplant factors only and pre- and post-transplant factors, significant URTI variables for outcomes in both models were (1) Flu A for gram-positive bacteremia, (2) HMPV for gram-positive pneumonia, and (3) HMPV for bacteremia or bacterial pneumonia (Figure). The association between PIV URTI and development of bacteremia or pneumonia approached statistical significance. CONCLUSION: In HCT recipients, URTIs due to Flu A and HMPV are significant risk factors for the development of gram-positive bacteremia and pneumonia, respectively. Further studies are needed to assess whether prevention or early diagnostic and treatment strategies for RVIs can reduce the risk of bacterial infection.


Multiplex Technology for Detection Respiratory tract Infection in Clinical Specimens


Etiology of childhood pneumonia in Tacloban, the Philippines


Many Viruses Are Present in Infants During Winter - Impact for Isolation Procedures


The First Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trial of Mask Use in Households to Prevent Respiratory Virus Transmission


Host-symbionts interactions between bats and coronaviruses


Prevalence of Respiratory Viruses in Acute Respiratory Infections in Korea, 2007


Detection of Human Metapneumovirus and Human Bocavirus from Patients with Influenza-Like Illness in the Philippines


Life after plague


docid: foucabzy

title: Assessment and evaluation with clarifying purposes for policy and practice


title: The hard problem of AI rights

text: In the past few years, the subject of AI rights—the thesis that AIs, robots, and other artefacts (hereafter, simply ‘AIs’) ought to be included in the sphere of moral concern—has started to receive serious attention from scholars. In this paper, I argue that the AI rights research program is beset by an epistemic problem that threatens to impede its progress—namely, a lack of a solution to the ‘Hard Problem’ of consciousness: the problem of explaining why certain brain states give rise to experience. To motivate this claim, I consider three ways in which to ground AI rights—namely: superintelligence, empathy, and a capacity for consciousness. I argue that appeals to superintelligence and empathy are problematic, and that consciousness should be our central focus, as in the case of animal rights. However, I also argue that AI rights is disanalogous from animal rights in an important respect: animal rights can proceed without a solution to the ‘Hard Problem’ of consciousness. Not so with AI rights, I argue. There we cannot make the same kinds of assumptions that we do about animal consciousness, since we still do not understand why brain states give rise to conscious mental states in humans.


George Hevesy Medal Award 2020: an addendum


COVID-19: Status neurologischer und psychiatrischer Praxen am Beispiel des Netzwerks NeuroTransData


title: Spinal cord infarction during venoarterial-extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support

text: Spinal cord infarction (SCI) is a rare disease among central nervous system vascular diseases. Only a little is known about venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO)-related SCI. Retrospective observational study conducted, from 2006 to 2019, in a tertiary referral center on patients who developed VA-ECMO-related neurovascular complications, focusing on SCI. During this period, among the 1893 patients requiring VA-ECMO support, 112 (5.9%) developed an ECMO-related neurovascular injury: 65 (3.4%) ischemic strokes, 40 (2.1%) intracranial bleeding, one cerebral thrombophlebitis (0.05%) and 6 (0.3%) spinal cord infarction. Herein, we report a series of six patients with refractory cardiogenic shock or cardiac arrest receiving circulatory support with VA-ECMO who developed subsequent SCI during ECMO course, confirmed by spine MRI after ECMO withdrawal. All six patients had long-term neurological disabilities. VA-ECMO-related SCI is a rare but catastrophic complication. Its diagnosis is usually delayed due to sedation requirement and/or ICU acquired weakness after sedation withdrawal, leading to difficulties in monitoring their neurological status. Even if no specific treatment exist for SCI, its prompt diagnosis is mandatory, to prevent secondary spine insults of systemic origin. Based on these results, we suggest that daily sedation interruption and neurological exam of the lower limbs should be performed in all VA-ECMO patients. Large registries are mandatory to determine VA-ECMO-related SCI risk factor and potential therapy. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s10047-020-01179-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.


Erste Hilfe leisten bei psychischen Problemen


Persönliche Infektionsgefahr und finanzielle Sorgen dominieren


Gedanken zur Krise


docid: efjjptlt

title: Preventing Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia in Intensive Care Unit by improved Oral Care: a Review of Randomized Control Trials

text: To assess the effects of various oral care methods on the incidence of VAP in patients receiving mechanical ventilation in intensive care units, an exhaustive literature search was undertaken using MEDLINE as well as a manual review of the relevant literature and citations. Eight publications were selected for this review. The primary endpoint was the incidence of VAP. Different oral care methods for preventing VAP were the subject of this review. Two studies that were reviewed in this article showed significant statistical difference between the intervention group and the control group regarding different oral care for lowering the incidence of VAP. The rest of the studies showed no significant statistical difference between the intervention group and the control group, but showed the importance of meticulous oral hygiene in those patients. Mechanically ventilated patients who suffer from poor oral hygiene are exposed to the harmful accumulation of oral plaque and the initiation of VAP. Proper oral care by qualified care givers can reduce the incidence of VAP. Proper oral care needs to be considered part of the medical treatment plan when a patient is admitted to the ICU to lower the incidence rates of VAP. Oral care treatment of ventilated patients in the intensive care units, for prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia, is with high clinical relevance, decreasing morbidity and mortality in the ICU. We recommend that ICU medical teams will plan a protocol of oral care treatment, based on our article results, and implement it as part of the daily routine.


Praxisorganisation in Zeiten von SARS-CoV-2


"Charakter zeigt sich in der Krise"


Mehr angestellte Ärzte und in Teilzeit Tätige


title: Investigation of the antigenicity and protective efficacy of Leishmania promastigote membrane antigens in search of potential diagnostic and vaccine candidates against visceral leishmaniasis

text: BACKGROUND: Visceral leishmaniasis (VL), is a parasitic disease that causes serious medical consequences if treatment is delayed. Despite a decline in the number of VL cases in the Indian subcontinent, the commencement of the disease in newer areas continues to be a major concern. Although serological diagnosis mainly by immunochromatographic tests has been found to be effective, a test of cure in different phases of treatment is still desired. Even though a good prophylactic response has been obtained in murine models by a number of vaccine candidates, few have been proposed for human use. METHODS: In this study, nine antigenic components (31, 34, 36, 45, 51, 63, 72, 91 and 97 kDa) of Leishmania promastigote membrane antigens (LAg), were electroeluted and evaluated through ELISA to diagnose and distinguish active VL from one month cured and six months post-treatment patients. Further, to investigate the immunogenicity of electroeluted proteins, human PBMCs of cured VL patients were stimulated with 31, 34, 51, 63, 72 and 91 kDa proteins. RESULTS: We found that 34 and 51 kDa proteins show 100% sensitivity and specificity with healthy controls and other diseases. After six months post-treatment, antibodies to 72 and 91 kDa antigens show a significant decline to almost normal levels. This suggests that 34 and 51 kDa proteins are efficient in diagnosis, whereas 72 and 91 kDa proteins may be used to monitor treatment outcome. In another assay, 51 and 63 kDa proteins demonstrated maximum ability to upregulate IFN-γ and IL-12 with minimum induction of IL-10 and TGF-β. The results indicating that 51 and 63 kDa proteins could be strong candidates for human immunization against VL. In contrast, 34 and 91 kDa proteins demonstrated a reverse profile and may not be a good vaccine candidate. CONCLUSIONS: The preliminary data obtained in this study proposes the potential of some of the antigens in Leishmania diagnosis and for test of cure. Additionally, some antigens demonstrated good immunoprophylactic cytokine production through T cell-mediated immune response, suggesting future vaccine candidates for VL. However, further studies are necessary to explore these antigens in diagnosis and to access the long-term immune response. [Image: see text]


Multidisciplinary telemedicine and the importance of being seen


Seeding the value based health care and standardised measurement of quality of life after burn debate


Medical Journal Publishing: Continued struggle is essential to Achieve and maintain standards


title: Advances in PTSD Treatment Delivery: Review of Findings and Clinical Considerations for the Use of Telehealth Interventions for PTSD

text: PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Effective treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) remain underutilized and individuals with PTSD often have difficulty accessing care. Telehealth, particularly clinical videoconferencing (CVT), can overcome barriers to treatment and increase access to care for individuals with PTSD. The purpose of this review is to summarize the literature on the delivery of PTSD treatments through office-based and home-based videoconferencing, and outline areas for future research. RECENT FINDINGS: Evidence-based PTSD treatments delivered through office-based and home-based CVT have been studied in pilot studies, non-randomized trials, and randomized clinical trials. The studies have consistently demonstrated feasibility and acceptability of these modalities as well as significant reduction in PTSD symptoms, non-inferior outcomes, and comparable dropout rates when compared with traditional face-to-face office-based care. Finally, it has been shown that using CVT does not compromise the therapeutic process. SUMMARY: Office-based and home-based CVT can be used to deliver PTSD treatments while retaining efficacy and therapeutic process. The use of these modalities can increase the number of individuals that can access efficacious PTSD care.


title: Quality Infrastructure of India and Its Importance for Inclusive National Growth

text: In this feature article, the quality infrastructure (QI) of India is discussed. A national QI is comprised of internationally recognized metrology, standards and accreditation. The QI built on a technical hierarchy to ensure the accuracy and precision of measurements traceable to SI units, is basic enabling system for providing the conformity assessment (calibration and testing, certification and inspection). The QI is an invisible force that binds the four helices, namely government, university, S&T institutions, civil society & media and enterprises, which are responsible for the growth of economy and quality of life. The existing apex capabilities of National Physical Laboratory, India—the National Metrology Institute of the country, National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories and the Bureau of Indian Standards, are described. The mechanisms of enhancing the individual capabilities of these QI institutions and to boost synergy amongst them are presented. The need of a robust QI facility by various stakeholders in the areas of implementation of regulations, industrial growth, international trade, food safety, environmental monitoring, sustainable energy, affordable health, attraction of foreign investments, etc. is highlighted.


title: The opportunity to create a business: Systemic banking crisis, institutional factor conditions and trade openness

text: This study examines the impact of several institutional factor conditions on entrepreneurship in difficult macroeconomic environments such as a systemic banking crisis. It uses data from the National Expert Survey (NES–GEM). A total of 1771 national entrepreneurship experts representing 44 countries were included in the analysis. Using Laeven and Valencia (2013)’s criteria, 20 countries were considered as most affected by the global economic crisis (group 1) and 24 as less affected (included in group 2) in order to test if opportunity perceptions are significantly affected in times of recovery. In terms of findings, the study confirms that institutional factor conditions strongly impact on the opportunity to create a new business regardless of how damaged the economy of countries hit by the crisis was. Among the six institutional factors studied, four are found to be statistically significant and two are partially significant. The interacting effects of systemic banking crisis and the exposure to international conditions kept the previous relationship relatively unchanged. In terms of contributions, the study first highlights the importance of the institutional view in explaining the opportunities to start-up in the aftermath of a crisis. Second, the study compares the proposed relationships between four sub-sample data sets based on trade openness and banking crisis severity. From a practical and government perspective, this study provides a useful picture of the yet limited understanding of the role that institutions and trade openness can play in entrepreneurs’ perceptions and thus in economic recovery dynamics.


title: Crisis management, global challenges, and sustainable development from an Asian perspective

text: Research on crisis management has accumulated a vast body of knowledge that has assisted us with comprehending complex business and management phenomena. Yet, the existing studies have not paid sufficient attention to global challenges and sustainable development. We join the current conversation being conducted from the global challenges perspective of crisis management by suggesting that investigating global challenges and sustainable development can advance our collective understanding of crisis management in important ways. This article has three general objectives. First, we show that crisis management has been a long-standing issue in business and management research and provide an overview of the puzzles that informed and motivated this focussed issue. Second, we highlight the key insights and contributions made by the papers included in this focussed issue by reviewing their theoretical underpinnings, methodological approaches, and findings. Finally, we invite scholars to join the debate in order to move this important crisis management research agenda forward by tackling global challenges with the goal of achieving sustainable development.


title: Molecular, Structural, Functional, and Pharmacological Sites for Vesicular Glutamate Transporter Regulation

text: Vesicular glutamate transporters (VGLUTs) control quantal size of glutamatergic transmission and have been the center of numerous studies over the past two decades. VGLUTs contain two independent transport modes that facilitate glutamate packaging into synaptic vesicles and phosphate (Pi) ion transport into the synaptic terminal. While a transmembrane proton electrical gradient established by a vacuolar-type ATPase powers vesicular glutamate transport, recent studies indicate that binding sites and flux properties for chloride, potassium, and protons within VGLUTs themselves regulate VGLUT activity as well. These intrinsic ionic binding and flux properties of VGLUTs can therefore be modulated by neurophysiological conditions to affect levels of glutamate available for release from synapses. Despite their extraordinary importance, specific and high-affinity pharmacological compounds that interact with these sites and regulate VGLUT function, distinguish between the various modes of transport, and the different isoforms themselves, are lacking. In this review, we provide an overview of the physiologic sites for VGLUT regulation that could modulate glutamate release in an over-active synapse or in a disease state.


docid: uskjhaxw

title: TFDA takes actions to help mitigate supply disruptions or shortages of drug


Educación médica durante la crisis por Covid-19


Last year was bad enough for pigment suppliers, but 2020 will be much worse


China's TiO(2) output passed 3 M tonnes/y mark, of which one-third was exported in 2019


docid: pheeqogv

title: Malaysian palm oil price falls 10%, as Indonesia gains exports


China: Tronox – TiO(2)


Surfactants playing their part


The common community


title: CREATE (Community deRivEd AutomaTEd insulin delivery) trial. Randomised parallel arm open label clinical trial comparing automated insulin delivery using a mobile controller (AnyDANA-loop) with an open-source algorithm with sensor augmented pump therapy in type 1 diabetes

text: BACKGROUND: Commercialised automated insulin delivery (AID) systems have demonstrated improved outcomes in type 1 diabetes (T1D), however, they have limited capacity for algorithm individualisation, and can be prohibitively expensive if an individual is without access to health insurance or health funding subsidy. Freely available open-source algorithms, which have the ability to individualise algorithm parameters paired with commercial insulin pumps, and continuous glucose monitoring make up the so-called "do it yourself" (DIY) approach to AID. Limited data on the open-source approach have shown promising results, but data from a large randomised control trial are lacking. METHODS: The CREATE (Community deRivEd AutomaTEd insulin delivery) trial is an open-labelled, randomised, parallel 24-week, multi-site trial comparing sensor augmented pump therapy (SAPT) to our AnyDANA-loop. The three components of AnyDANA-loop are: 1) OpenAPS algorithm implemented in a smartphone (a version of AndroidAPS), 2) DANA-i™ insulin pump and, 3) Dexcom G6(R) continuous glucose monitor (CGM). The primary outcome measure is the percentage of time in target sensor glucose range (3.9 -10mmol/L). Secondary outcomes include psycho-social factors and platform performance. Analysis of online collective learning, characteristic of the open-source approach, is planned. 100 participants with T1D aged 7 – 70 years (age stratified into children/adolescents 7–15 years and adults 16–70 years), will be recruited from four sites in New Zealand. A 24-week continuation phase follows, to assess long-term safety.


School-Based Health Centers: At the Intersection of Health and Education


Quaranteenagers: A Single Country Pandemic Curfew Targeting Adolescents in Turkey


Right-Sided Infective Endocarditis


title: Preparing interdisciplinary leadership for a sustainable future

text: Urgent sustainability challenges require effective leadership for inter- and trans-disciplinary (ITD) institutions. Based on the diverse experiences of 20 ITD institutional leaders and specific case studies, this article distills key lessons learned from multiple pathways to building successful programs. The lessons reflect both the successes and failures our group has experienced, to suggest how to cultivate appropriate and effective leadership, and generate the resources necessary for leading ITD programs. We present two contrasting pathways toward ITD organizations: one is to establish a new organization and the other is to merge existing organizations. We illustrate how both benefit from a real-world focus, with multiple examples of trajectories of ITD organizations. Our diverse international experiences demonstrate ways to cultivate appropriate leadership qualities and skills, especially the ability to create and foster vision beyond the status quo; collaborative leadership and partnerships; shared culture; communications to multiple audiences; appropriate monitoring and evaluation; and perseverance. We identified five kinds of resources for success: (1) intellectual resources; (2) institutional policies; (3) financial resources; (4) physical infrastructure; and (5) governing boards. We provide illustrations based on our extensive experience in supporting success and learning from failure, and provide a framework that articulates the major facets of leadership in inter- and trans-disciplinary organizations: learning, supporting, sharing, and training.


title: A framework to manage reluctance to bad news reporting on software projects in state universities in Zimbabwe

text: Failure of IT projects has risen to become an eyesore for most organisations. This is often attributed to the ‘mum effect’- an individual’s reluctance to report the exact position of troubled software projects. With the increasing digitalization of operations by most State Universities in Zimbabwe, the mum effect has the potential to rise to exponential proportions. Guided by the Design Science approach data was gathered from an intensity sample of 15 participants comprising 7 software project team members, 3 ICT project managers, and 5 users of the system drawn from three Zimbabwean state universities. The data collection was done using key informant interviews and focus group discussions. Data were analysed using thematic analysis and NVivo (version 11) software was used to store, organise, and code data transcripts. Factors suppressing Bad News Reporting were grouped into three broad categories which included organisational factors, personal factors, and situational factors. The findings suggest the need to incorporate these multi-level factors in the design and implementation of software projects if they are to be efficacious. This study recommends the establishment of clear channels of communication to manage bad news reporting and creating formal structures that function outside the traditional organisational hierarchy to convey information regarding anomalies. This study contributes to practice by providing appropriate interventions based on empirical evidence based on the centrality of software project team members’ insights, experiences as well as practices.


Obesity and 2019-nCoV: A risky relationship()


How to perform a nasopharyngeal swab – an otolaryngology perspective


A.I.D.A.A. News #6


docid: wfzkokjs

title: Challenging the Status Quo: Increasing Diversity in Dermatology


Challenges in the practice of Sexual Medicine, Sex Therapy, and Sexual Counseling in the time of COVID-19


title: Review 1: Lung transplant—from donor selection to graft preparation

text: For various end-stage lung diseases, lung transplantation remains one of the only viable treatment options. While the demand for lung transplantation has steadily risen over the last few decades, the availability of donor grafts is limited, which have resulted in progressively longer waiting lists. In the early years of lung transplantation, only the ‘ideal’ donor grafts are considered for transplantation. Due to the donor shortages, there is ongoing discussion about the safe use of ‘suboptimal’ grafts to expand the donor pool. In this review, we will discuss the considerations around donor selection, donor-recipient matching, graft preparation and graft optimisation.


title: Technologies of Trauma: Flesh Witnessing to Livestreaming Online

text: This paper examines the trajectory of witnessing and testimony through modernity, utilizing the notion of ‘technologies of trauma’. Such a notion acknowledges humanity’s reliance on technologies to transmute history, trauma, or memory, transforming technologies from medium and machine into artefacts for circulation and exchange. The transcendence of medium into artefacts as sites of trauma equally highlights the socio-political frames within which testimony is extracted and witnessing is enacted, unleashing trauma as a cultural form and a resonant genre of popular consumption. This paper, in tracing the trajectory of these technologies of trauma and its cultural turn from the sensorial to mass witnessing to the aesthetic regimes of immediacy in the digital age, comes to term with our machinic bind in releasing trauma and its aestheticization as a cultural artefact and the unethical challenges, which unfold in such a proposition. The development of print, photography, television, and digital platforms as technologies of trauma reiterates the popularization of trauma, witnessing and testimony as cultural forms reiterating how these are intimately implicated in our emergence as active consuming communities of trauma and in tandem how these remake us as vulnerable subjects through the circulation of trauma as a cultural form.


title: Antibiotics, Inflammation, and Preterm Labor: A Missed Conclusion

text: Regarding the risk of antibiotic therapy during pregnancy, any medication given to the mother should be according to the indications due to the risk of possible side effects. Antibiotics are one of the most important groups of these medications to be considered. Along with direct antibiotic-induced side effects, indirect pathways also affect the fetus through the maternal changes. According to the data, different cytokines including interleukin-1β (IL-1β), IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) are involved in both term and preterm parturition. These cytokines could trigger expression of different substances such as prostaglandins (PGs), their receptors, and PGs synthetizing molecules with already proven roles in parturition. Moreover, IL-1, IL-6, and TNF-α knocked-out mice have delayed parturition and lower levels of PGs compared to the wild types. The earlier-mentioned cytokines are able to induce matrix metalloproteinases and are also involved in parturition. Certain antibiotics have been shown capable of inducing inflammation cascade directly. Both in-vivo and in-vitro studies in human have also demonstrated this inflammation as elevated levels of inflammatory cytokines especially IL-1, IL-6, and TNF-α. This increase has been observed both in the presence and the absence of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Moreover, antibiotics can induce endotoxemia in healthy cases which finally leads to the pro-inflammatory cytokine release. Regarding the role of mentioned pro-inflammatory cytokines in both term and preterm parturition, it seems that non-indicated use of antibiotics during pregnancy may increase the risk of preterm labor.


The COVID Cross


DOT announces $25B to respond to COVID‐19


Plasma therapy cured a COVID‐19 patient with long duration of viral shedding for 49 days: The clinical features, laboratory tests, plasma therapy, and implications for public health management


Union Elections During Pandemic


Man with fever, cough and atypical chest pain


Cancer and COVID‐19: A call for comments


title: Genetic and antigenic characterization of influenza A/H5N1 viruses isolated from patients in Indonesia, 2008–2015

text: Since the initial detection in 2003, Indonesia has reported 200 human cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 (HPAI H5N1), associated with an exceptionally high case fatality rate (84%) compared to other geographical regions affected by other genetic clades of the virus. However, there is limited information on the genetic diversity of HPAI H5N1 viruses, especially those isolated from humans in Indonesia. In this study, the genetic and antigenic characteristics of 35 HPAI H5N1 viruses isolated from humans were analyzed. Full genome sequences were analyzed for the presence of substitutions in the receptor binding site, and polymerase complex, as markers for virulence or human adaptation, as well as antiviral drug resistance substitutions. Only a few substitutions associated with human adaptation were observed, a remarkably low prevalence of the human adaptive substitution PB2-E627K, which is common during human infection with other H5N1 clades and a known virulence marker for avian influenza viruses during human infections. In addition, the antigenic profile of these Indonesian HPAI H5N1 viruses was determined using serological analysis and antigenic cartography. Antigenic characterization showed two distinct antigenic clusters, as observed previously for avian isolates. These two antigenic clusters were not clearly associated with time of virus isolation. This study provides better insight in genetic diversity of H5N1 viruses during human infection and the presence of human adaptive markers. These findings highlight the importance of evaluating virus genetics for HPAI H5N1 viruses to estimate the risk to human health and the need for increased efforts to monitor the evolution of H5N1 viruses across Indonesia. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s11262-020-01765-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.


Higher Education Corner


Turning sandstorms into pearls


Keeping a cut above the coronavirus disease: surgical perspectives from a public health institution in Singapore during Covid‐19


docid: neinkkzm

title: In Case You Haven't Heard…

text: Thirty‐five percent of workers who telecommute said their mental health had deteriorated as a result of doing so amid the COVID‐19 lockdown, according to a survey conducted by researchers at Keio University in Tokyo, among other institutions, Fox Business reported April 13. The survey was conducted online March 26–28, involving 8,475 employees — including nonregular workers — aged 20 to 64. Of the 21% of respondents who said they work from home, one‐half of them did so in response to the COVID‐19 outbreak. Among the telecommuters, 50.7% said it had no impact on their mental health, and 14.3% said their mental health had improved. Of the respondents who said doing telework had worsened their mental state, 41.3% said it was difficult to separate their work and personal lives, followed by 39.9% who said they weren't able to exercise enough and 39.7% who said they had difficulty communicating with co‐workers. Professor Isamu Yamamoto of the Keio University Faculty of Business and Commerce, who conducted the survey, said: “There is a risk that working hours will get longer if the boundaries between work and personal life become blurred. It is necessary to establish a rigid system in which work can be carried out in a planned manner, such as by setting working hours and the timing of contact with supervisors.”


An elderly woman with respiratory distress


title: Built‐in RNA‐mediated chaperone (chaperna) for antigen folding tailored to immunized hosts

text: High‐quality antibody (Ab) production depends on the availability of immunologically relevant antigens. We present a potentially universal platform for generating soluble antigens from bacterial hosts, tailored to immunized animals for Ab production. A novel RNA‐dependent chaperone, in which the target antigen is genetically fused with an RNA‐interacting domain (RID) docking tag derived from the immunized host, promotes the solubility and robust folding of the target antigen. We selected the N‐terminal tRNA‐binding domain of lysyl‐tRNA synthetase (LysRS) as the RID for fusion with viral proteins and demonstrated the expression of the RID fusion proteins in their soluble and native conformations; immunization predominantly elicited Ab responses to the target antigen, whereas the “self” RID tag remained nonimmunogenic. Differential immunogenicity of the fusion proteins greatly enriched and simplified the screening of hybridoma clones of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), enabling specific and sensitive serodiagnosis of MERS‐CoV infection. Moreover, mAbs against the consensus influenza hemagglutinin stalk domain enabled a novel assay for trivalent seasonal influenza vaccines. The Fc‐mediated effector function was demonstrated, which could be harnessed for the design of next‐generation “universal” influenza vaccines. The nonimmunogenic built‐in antigen folding module tailored to a repertoire of immunized animal hosts will drive immunochemical diagnostics, therapeutics, and designer vaccines.


title: Conclusion and Further Thoughts

text: The conclusion chapter not only summarizes the main results of the research conducted for this book but also connects the events and discussions between the 1960s and 1980s to later political developments. It shows striking ideational and institutional continuity and reveals a substantial character of European integration: by relying on powerful political framings and discourses, as well as on sturdy institutions, the European Community/Union was able to move into areas that were not sanctioned by the treaties. The chapter further argues that to stay relevant, the EU research policy must be capable of breaking with the past and dramatically expand its mission to embrace the social and environmental challenges of the twenty-first century. In fact, with the existential threat of climate change and other global challenges, and the urgent need for socio-technological transformation at scale, opportunities and imperatives for European level activity in research might be greater than ever.


Precision Vision: Empowering Innovation and Well-Being


title: Das Streben nach dem Sinn

text: Viele Perspektiven der Sinnfrage geben zahlreiche Möglichkeiten sich dieser anzunähern. Gerade in einer Zeit des ständigen Wandels siegt Schnelllebigkeit meist über Selbstreflexion. Darüberhinaus wird man durch einen Überfluss an negativen Informationen von der Bereicherung positiver Innovationen und Prozessen abgelenkt. Gerade dann können Entwicklungsstrategien vor Sinnlosigkeit bewahren und ebnen den Weg zur inneren Haltung durch fünf grundlegende Aspekte.


title: Mit welchen Risiken leben wir?

text: Jede Technik, sei es zur Energieerzeugung, für die Mobilität, den Warentransport oder für industrielle Prozesse, bringt nicht nur Nutzen, sondern auch Risiken. Wenn der Mensch nicht auf die Vorzüge solcher Technologien verzichten will, muss er lernen, so damit umzugehen, dass er die Kontrolle darüber behält und dass die zusätzlichen Risiken kontrollierbar und so niedrig wie möglich bleiben. Viele Pannen, Unfälle und Katastrophen sind auf menschliches Fehlverhalten oder Versagen zurückzuführen, seltener auch auf kriminelle Absichten. Der Sicherheitskultur kommt daher oberste Priorität zu. Dazu gehört auch die entsprechende Ausbildung und Motivation der verantwortlichen Mitarbeitenden, verbunden mit einer kontinuierlichen sicherheitstechnischen Überprüfung und Nachrüstung aller technischen Anlagen und Einrichtungen während ihrer gesamten Betriebszeit. Eine wichtige Funktion haben hier auch kompetente und unbestechliche Bewilligungs- und Aufsichtsbehörden.


From COVID-19 to the End of Neoliberalism()


title: Histopathology of Respiratory System and Mediastinum

text: Biopsies from respiratory system like bronchial and lung parenchymal are among the commonest ones. Besides conventional bronchoscopic biopsies, tiny CT-guided biopsies are also frequent. On the flip side, treating physicians require more and more information not only in terms of a definitive entity but also what therapy they are likely to respond. This puts immense pressure on the pathologists to be highly judicious in performing IHC markers to leave enough tissue for mutational analysis like EGFR, ALK, ROS1 and PD-L1. Among non-neoplastic lesions, ‘interstitial lung diseases’ are among the most demanding and challenging with subtle and overlapping features requiring quick revision of the subject. Pleural biopsies are also at times challenging. Mediastinal pathology is markedly diverse, and almost any kind of pathology may be seen in this region. In this chapter however our focus is on those entities which are indigenous to this region like various types of thymoma.


Facing COVID-19, lets get the flu shot!


Perspective: Keeping Risk in Context While Rethinking the Setting of Asthma Biologics in Patient-Centered Care


Jesús Vaquero Crespo (1950-2020)


Response to letter to the Editor JVSVL-D-20-00135


Implementation of a preoperative screening tool to identify patients at risk for adverse perioperative pulmonary outcomes secondary to E-cigarette vaping: A pilot study


Is This a 737 Max Moment for Brolucizumab?


A potpourri of pediatric urology


title: Pregnancy outcomes and risk of placental malaria after artemisinin-based and quinine-based treatment for uncomplicated falciparum malaria in pregnancy: a WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network systematic review and individual patient data meta-analysis

text: BACKGROUND: Malaria in pregnancy, including asymptomatic infection, has a detrimental impact on foetal development. Individual patient data (IPD) meta-analysis was conducted to compare the association between antimalarial treatments and adverse pregnancy outcomes, including placental malaria, accompanied with the gestational age at diagnosis of uncomplicated falciparum malaria infection. METHODS: A systematic review and one-stage IPD meta-analysis of studies assessing the efficacy of artemisinin-based and quinine-based treatments for patent microscopic uncomplicated falciparum malaria infection (hereinafter uncomplicated falciparum malaria) in pregnancy was conducted. The risks of stillbirth (pregnancy loss at ≥ 28.0 weeks of gestation), moderate to late preterm birth (PTB, live birth between 32.0 and < 37.0 weeks), small for gestational age (SGA, birthweight of < 10th percentile), and placental malaria (defined as deposition of malaria pigment in the placenta with or without parasites) after different treatments of uncomplicated falciparum malaria were assessed by mixed-effects logistic regression, using artemether-lumefantrine, the most used antimalarial, as the reference standard. Registration PROSPERO: CRD42018104013. RESULTS: Of the 22 eligible studies (n = 5015), IPD from16 studies were shared, representing 95.0% (n = 4765) of the women enrolled in literature. Malaria treatment in this pooled analysis mostly occurred in the second (68.4%, 3064/4501) or third trimester (31.6%, 1421/4501), with gestational age confirmed by ultrasound in 91.5% (4120/4503). Quinine (n = 184) and five commonly used artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) were included: artemether-lumefantrine (n = 1087), artesunate-amodiaquine (n = 775), artesunate-mefloquine (n = 965), and dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (n = 837). The overall pooled proportion of stillbirth was 1.1% (84/4361), PTB 10.0% (619/4131), SGA 32.3% (1007/3707), and placental malaria 80.1% (2543/3035), and there were no significant differences of considered outcomes by ACT. Higher parasitaemia before treatment was associated with a higher risk of SGA (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.14 per 10-fold increase, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.03 to 1.26, p = 0.009) and deposition of malaria pigment in the placenta (aOR 1.67 per 10-fold increase, 95% CI 1.42 to 1.96, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The risks of stillbirth, PTB, SGA, and placental malaria were not different between the commonly used ACTs. The risk of SGA was high among pregnant women infected with falciparum malaria despite treatment with highly effective drugs. Reduction of malaria-associated adverse birth outcomes requires effective prevention in pregnant women.


Editorial: Cardiomyocyte Microdomains: An Emerging Concept of Local Regulation and Remodeling


title: Behavioral Welfare Economics

text: A growing body of normative work explores whether and how deference to people’s choices might be reconciled with behavioral findings about human error. This work has strong implications for economic analysis of law, cost–benefit analysis, and regulatory policy. In light of behavioral findings, regulators should adopt a working presumption in favor of respect for people’s self-regarding choices, but only if those choices are adequately informed and sufficiently free from behavioral biases. The working presumption should itself be rebuttable on welfare grounds, with an understanding that the ends that people choose might make their lives go less well. For example, people might die prematurely or suffer from serious illness, and what they receive in return might not (on any plausible account of welfare) be nearly enough. The underlying reason might involve a lack of information or a behavioral bias, identifiable or not, in which case intervention can fit with the working presumption, but the real problem might involve philosophical questions about the proper understanding of welfare, and about what it means for people to have a good life.


Anouchka Grose: Apocalypse now


title: Newly developed stroke in patients admitted to non-neurological intensive care units

text: BACKGROUND: Little is known about newly developed stroke in patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate characteristics and outcomes of newly developed stroke in patients admitted to the non-neurological intensive care units (ICU-onset stroke, IOS). METHODS: A consecutive series of adult patients who were admitted to the non-neurological ICU were included in this study. We compared neurological profiles, risk factors, and mortality rates between patients with IOS and those without IOS. RESULTS: Of 18,604 patients admitted to the ICU for non-neurological illness, 218 (1.2%) developed stroke (ischemic, n = 182; hemorrhagic, n = 36). The most common neurological presentation was altered mental status (n = 149), followed by hemiparesis (n = 55), and seizures (n = 28). The most common etiology of IOS was cardioembolism (50% [91/182]) for ischemic IOS and coagulopathy (67% [24/36]) for hemorrhagic IOS. In multivariable analysis, the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) score (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.04, 95% CI = 1.03−1.06, P < 0.001), prothrombin time (AOR = 0.99, 95% CI = 0.98−0.99, P = 0.013), cardiovascular surgery (AOR = 1.84, 95% CI = 1.34−2.50, P < 0.001), mechanical ventilation (AOR = 6.75, 95% CI = 4.87−9.45, P < 0.001), and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (AOR = 2.77, 95% CI = 1.62−4.55, P < 0.001) were related to the development of IOS. Stroke was associated with increased 3-month mortality after hospital discharge (AOR, 2.20; 95% CI, 1.58–3.05; P < 0.001), after adjustment for APACHE II and comorbidities. CONCLUSIONS: Patients who developed IOS had characteristics of initial critical illness and managements performed in the ICU as well as neurological presentations. The occurrence of IOS was related to high morbidity and mortality. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s00415-020-09955-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.


docid: ztopusgj

title: Response to ‘Inaccurate conclusions by Tang and colleagues’


docid: bytgqpdu

title: School leadership in unpredictable times


Different future


title: Macroeconomic spillover effects of the Chinese economy

text: The slowdown of economy and widening of domestic imbalances in China bothers economists and politicians across the globe. We estimate the influence of a negative output shock in China on a number of different economies. We concentrate on China's neighboring countries. We compare the results from the Global VAR model and from the Bayesian VAR models. Also using Bayesian model averaging we search for determinants of Chinese spillovers for the global economy. We find that spillovers are stronger to economies with less flexible exchange rates, a higher share of manufacturing in gross value added and to economies which are larger.


title: Modeling and Prediction for Processes on Network Graphs

text: Throughout this book so far, we have seen numerous examples of network graphs that provide representations—useful for various purposes—of the interaction among elements in a system under study. Often, however, it is some quantity (or attribute) associated with each of the elements that ultimately is of most interest. In such settings it frequently is not unreasonable to expect that this quantity be influenced in an important manner by the interactions among the elements. For example, the behaviors and beliefs of people can be strongly influenced by their social interactions; proteins that are more similar to each other, with respect to their DNA sequence information, often are responsible for the same or related functional roles in a cell; computers more easily accessible to a computer infected with a virus may in turn themselves become more quickly infected; and the relative concentration of species in an environment (e.g., animal species in a forest or chemical species in a vat) can vary over time as a result of the nature of the relationships among species.


title: In Case You Haven't Heard…

text: Last week, Congress passed its fourth (actually, it was 3.5) stimulus “coronavirus relief” bill. The funding goes mainly to small businesses, followed by hospitals and testing. Originally, it was all going to go to small business, which ran out of its allotment from the $2 trillion in the first package in short order. Democrats added the hospitals and testing. None goes to states for public health or to substance use disorder treatment or prevention. Reporters covering the separate stories of the stimulus package and opioid overdoses never converged on coverage, and most of the opioid stories predicted that the pandemic would make the opioid crisis worse. The opportunity to make changes for the better was restricted, in this field, to removing regulations, not to increasing funding. It is hoped that more funding for treatment for substance use disorder will follow.


docid: kuovofih

title: Movement Disorder Society–Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale Use in the Covid‐19 Era


title: World Economic Prospects Monthly

text: Overview: World GDP now seen falling 2.8% in 2020 ▀ With much of the global economy now in some form of lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, we expect world GDP to contract by about 7% in H1 2020. Activity is expected to rebound sharply in H2, but even so the severity of the shock is likely to lead to a permanent GDP loss for the global economy. ▀ While Chinese activity picked up in late‐Q1 as lockdown restrictions were unwound, we expect Q1 GDP to have fallen 12% q/q before rebounding sharply in Q2. But this Q2 boost looks set to be swamped by the collapse in activity caused by the rest of the world going into lockdown. ▀ Although shutdown restrictions elsewhere are less severe than those imposed in China, business survey and labour market data still point to sharp falls in activity in most countries in Q2. Quarterly GDP declines of 8% or more in the US and eurozone seem likely. Overall, world GDP could fall by about 7% in H1, roughly double the size of the contraction during start of the global financial crisis in 2009. ▀ In those economies subject to some form of lockdown, we expect restrictions to begin to be lifted during Q2. As a result, growth should resume in Q3 as sectors that have been forced to shut down see some pick‐up. But despite this rebound, world GDP is now seen shrinking 2.8% in 2020 overall — in 2009, the global GDP fall was 1.1%. ▀ The H2 pick‐up, followed by a return to more normal conditions next year, will result in world GDP growth rising to almost 6% in 2021, helped also by the recent collapse in oil prices to about $30pb. But the scale of the disruption means that we expect a permanent loss of output from the shock. We expect global GDP in the medium term to be some 1.5% below the level we had anticipated before the coronavirus outbreak. ▀ The risks around this forecast are large and broadly balanced. But were stringent lockdowns or widespread disruption, perhaps due to renewed outbreaks of the virus, to extend into Q3, global GDP could fall by as much as 8% this year.


title: Working from home? Follow these tips for successful remote work

text: So you're asked to work from home as COVID‐19 cases spread. Some jobs lend themselves to remote work better than others, but if your college or university says it's time to head home, you can accomplish a lot, no matter what your job responsibilities entail.


News briefs


COVID‐19, Post‐acute Care Preparedness and Nursing Homes: Flawed Policy in the Fog of War


title: The new frontier of consumer experiences: escape through pain

text: Terms such as consumer experience and experiential consumption have become ubiquitous in the realm of marketing. The last decades have seen a dramatic increase in academic publications exploring these concepts across many different streams and have resulted in significant advances in scholarly understanding. Consumer culture theory (CCT) scholars have particularly participated in this effort by investigating extraordinary experiences and framing them as escapes from everyday life. This paper proposes a summary of CCT contributions on extraordinary experiences and emphasizes the way these works have used the structural/anti-structural coexistence theory to depict the experiences consumers live through. Then it mobilizes a fiction to improve the understanding of escape. This paper highlights how painful leisure pursuits enable consumers to reconnect with their bodies, affording them moments of escape from an otherwise saturated self. The paper shows how the concept of self-escape is important to envision the possibilities in marketing painful experiences.


Neue Therapie für die schwere Herzinsuffizienz


title: Single‐Cell RNA Sequencing for Precision Oncology: Current State-of-Art

text: Tumors exhibit genetic and phenotypic diversity leading to intra-tumor heterogeneity (ITH). Further complex ecosystem (stromal and immune cells) of tumors contributes into the ITH. This ITH allows tumors to overcome various selection pressures such as anti-cancer therapies and metastasis at distant organs. Single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) has provided unprecedented insights into ITH and its implications in drug resistance and metastasis. As scRNA-seq technology grows and provides many new findings, new tools on different programming platforms are frequently generated. Here, we aim to provide a framework and guidelines for new entrants into the field of scRNA-seq. In this review, we discuss the current state-of-art of scRNA-seq analysis step-by-step including filtering, normalization and analysis. First, we discuss the brief history of experimental methods, followed by data processing and implications in precision oncology.


title: Israelization and Lived Religion: Conflicting Accounts of Contemporary Judaism

text: The article begins with an analysis of Yossi Shain, Ha-Me’ah ha-Yisraelit ve-ha-Yisraelizaziyah shel ha-Yahadut (The Israeli Century and the Israelization of Judaism) (2019), which puts forward a novel and enlightening revisionist view of the relationship between Israeli and American Jewries. The second part of the article reveals essential problems with Shain’s central argument. These come to a fore through the study of Judaism as a lived religion. Three examples are discussed at length to illustrate this point: developments in the religious lives of liberal Jews, Chabad, and Orthodox Feminism.