Bulletin of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering (BCSEE)
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Successful quality improvement project to increase hydroxyurea prescriptions for children with sickle cell anaemia
No full textHydroxyurea (HU) is an effective but underused disease-modifying therapy for patients with sickle cell anaemia (SCA). EMBRACE SCD, a sickle cell disease treatment demonstration project, aimed to improve access to HU by increasing prescription (Rx) rates by at least 10% from baseline in children with SCA.The Model for Improvement was used as the quality improvement framework. HU Rx was assessed from clinical databases in three paediatric haematology centres. Children aged 9 months–18 years with SCA not on chronic transfusions were eligible for HU treatment. The health belief model was the conceptual framework to discuss with patients and promote HU acceptance. A visual aid showing erythrocytes under the effect of HU and the American Society of Hematology HU brochure were used as educational tools. At least 6 months after offering HU, a Barrier Assessment Questionnaire was given to assess reasons for HU acceptance and refusals. If HU was declined, the providers discussed with family again. We conducted chart audits to find missed opportunities to prescribe HU as one plan–do–study–act cycle.At initial measurement, 50.2% of 524 eligible patients had HU prescribed. During the testing and initial implementation phase, the mean performance after 10 data points was 53%. After 2 years, the mean performance was 59%, achieving an 11% increase in mean performance and a 29% increase from initial to the last measurement (64.8% HU Rx). During a 15-month period, 32.1% (N=168) of the eligible patients who were offered HU completed the barrier questionnaire with 19% (N=32) refusing HU, mostly based on not perceiving enough severity of their children’s SCA or fearing side effects.Reviewing patient charts for missed opportunity of offering HU with feedback and evaluating the reasons of declining HU via a questionnaire were key components in increasing HU Rx in our population
Analysis of Student Reflections on "What Matters Most" to Palliative Care Patients: A Narrative Medicine Exercise
No full textEffective communication with ill patients requires practice, yet, the traditional history overlooks patients' personal stories. This information is vital to determining goals of care and facilitates partnership by building trust.We implemented a narrative medicine exercise for students during their palliative medicine rotation to highlight humanism. Impact was determined through thematic analysis of students' reflections.Students elicited "what matters most" to patients, transcribing this plus a personal reflection. Using an inductive and iterative approach, 100 reflections were analyzed, developing codes then broader themes.Four main themes (Getting to know the patient, Student Reaction, Building-blocks of patient-physician relationship, Student Personal Insights) were identified, with 15 subthemes.The power of uncovering patients' backgrounds and values was demonstrated, reinforcing a palliative medicine approach. Analysis showed a positive impact and the possibility of change to future practice. The intervention was feasible, well received, and encouraged reflection on the physician-patient relationship beyond the medical domain
Phenotypic and functional features of B cells from two different human subcutaneous adipose depots
No full textIn this study, we have compared frequencies, phenotype, function and metabolic requirements of B cells isolated from the breast and abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue (AT) of women with obesity who underwent weight reduction surgeries. Results show that B cells from the abdominal AT are more inflammatory than those from the breast, characterized by higher frequencies of inflammatory B cell subsets and higher expression of RNA for inflammatory markers associated with senescence. Secretion of autoimmune antibodies is also higher in the abdominal AT as compared to the breast, and is associated with higher frequencies of autoimmune B cells with the membrane phenotype CD21lowCD95+ B cells expressing the transcription factor T-bet. Moreover, glucose uptake is higher in B cells from the abdominal AT as compared to the breast, thereby suggesting a better capacity to perform glycolysis, needed to support intrinsic B cell inflammation and autoimmune antibody secretion
Iconicity ratings for 14,000+ English words
No full textIconic words and signs are characterized by a perceived resemblance between aspects of their form and aspects of their meaning. For example, in English, iconic words include peep and crash, which mimic the sounds they denote, and wiggle and zigzag, which mimic motion. As a semiotic property of words and signs, iconicity has been demonstrated to play a role in word learning, language processing, and language evolution. This paper presents the results of a large-scale norming study for more than 14,000 English words conducted with over 1400 American English speakers. We demonstrate the utility of these ratings by replicating a number of existing findings showing that iconicity ratings are related to age of acquisition, sensory modality, semantic neighborhood density, structural markedness, and playfulness. We discuss possible use cases and limitations of the rating dataset, which is made publicly available
Assessing physiologic changes during sexual activity using wearable devices: a pilot study
No full textCrisis, Gender Role Congruency, and Perceptions of Executive Leadership
No full textAt a time of pandemics, international economic downturns, and increasing environmental threats due to climate change, countries around the world are facing numerous crises. What impact might we expect these crises to have on the already common perception that executive leadership is a masculine domain? For years, women executives' ability to lead has been questioned (Jalalzai 2013). However, the outbreak of COVID-19 brought headlines like CNN's "Women Leaders Are Doing a Disproportionately Great Job at Handling the Pandemic " (Fincher 2020). Do crises offer women presidents and prime ministers opportunities to be perceived as competent leaders? Or do they prime masculinized leadership expectations and reinforce common conceptions that women are unfit to lead? We maintain that people's perceptions of crisis leadership will depend on whether the crisis creates role (in)congruity between traditional gender norms and the leadership expectations generated by the particular crisis
Matrices characterizing non-local OAM transformations of light beams
No full textMatrices characterizing the orbital angular momentum (OAM) transformations of deterministic and random light beams by commonly used OAM-modulating optical systems are revealed. Such matrices are the counterparts of the Jones and the Mueller matrices in polarization optics defined for the input and output OAM indices and the radial variables. In particular, matrices of systems leading to OAM mode shift, dispersion, and coupling are discussed
RAMPing up the Florida Keys spiny lobster fishery: The development of a reflex action mortality predictor (RAMP) for Caribbean spiny lobster (Panulirus argus)
No full textIn recent decades, scientists and fishers have developed tools to evaluate the health and quality of a variety of commercially targeted fisheries species. These have been developed by various research questions and goals, such as assessing fishery population health using blood serum protein or sorting catch by grade to increase socioeconomic benefits for the fishing industry. One such tool is the reflex action mortality predictor, or RAMP, which establishes a relationship between reflex impairment and mortality. The Caribbean spiny lobster, Panulirus argus, plays a key role in the ecosystem, economy, and culture of the Florida Keys. P. argus has been a heavily targeted species since the 1940s, but despite this, the Florida spiny lobster fishery remains largely a localized market, with a very limited export market. However, this export market remains highly valuable to the current fishery. A unique quality of the Keys lobster fishery is the use of live, undersized lobsters as bait. These baits are maintained in traps for extended periods of time, and due to starvation, delayed mortality of these bait lobsters has become a concern. By assessing and selecting reflexes based on stress responses in the spiny lobster, our goal was to create a RAMP model for P. argus similar to other mortality studies. Lobsters were acquired from a local fish house, where the staff sorted the lobsters into two different grades. These grades determine the destination and sale of the lobsters, which we will refer to as ‘live’ or ‘frozen’. Active animals are sent to a high value live market, and weak animals are frozen whole or tailed. By purchasing lobsters from both grades, we ensured a variety of demographics across various levels of presumed health in our sample. Each of the lobsters was tested (i.e., degree of responsiveness) using selected reflexes and monitored over 14 days to assess delayed mortality. We were able to identify a select group of reflexes that produced the best models for predicting survival, and created a RAMP model for P. argus
Assessing the impacts of projected sea level rise on a sea turtle index nesting beach at Dry Tortugas National Park, FL, U.S.A
No full textSea turtles play essential roles in marine ecosystems. Despite their importance, they have been driven to historic low numbers in much of their ranges by natural and anthropogenic threats. Anthropogenic climate change in particular threatens sea turtles through impacts associated with increasing temperatures, storm frequency, sea level; all of which impact reproductive processes and success at key nesting beaches. This project investigated the potential impacts of sea level rise on sea turtle nesting habitat at Dry Tortugas National Park (DRTO).The predominant species nesting at DRTO are loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and green (Chelonia mydas) sea turtles. This study used the Emery method to create a beach profile of Loggerhead Key, the only beach in the federal sea turtle nesting index program. The profiles were used to create an up-to-date digital elevation model (DEM) which then had different sea level rise scenarios projected on it. These models predicted changes in available nesting habitat under different SLR scenarios and identify which areas of beach are at the greatest risk. Nest depth from the 2022 nesting season was used to estimate the proportion of loggerhead and green clutches that would be inundated under the same scenarios. Finally, historic shoreline data was included to demonstrate shoreline migration trends over time and identify areas of the island that may be more susceptible to increasing sea level and changing beach morphology. The models predicted a loss of 0.03-2.6% of suitable nesting habitat by 2050 and 2.5-98.2% by 2100. Green sea turtle nests were predicted to have the highest percentage of inundated nests from 21-37% by 2050 and 36-82% by 2100 while loggerheads varied from 9-24% by 2050 and 21-81% by 2100. The northwest quadrant of the island was predicted to have the highest combined risk of both beach and nest inundation and the southeast was predicted to have the lowest. This project established a detailed beach profile for Loggerhead Key from ground data, which was lacking, and provides a glimpse into what sea turtle nesting on Loggerhead Key may look like in the future, which can aid in management decisions and strategies. This profile provides a starting point to continue monitoring changes to this important and historic nesting beach
The Gut-Brain-Microbe Axis in Gastrointestinal Dysfunction in Zebrafish Models of Autism Spectrum Disorder
No full textAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) refers to a collection of neurodevelopmental disorders that affect an estimated 1-2% of the population worldwide. Despite being classically diagnosed and defined by impairments in socialization and communication, many forms of ASD are comorbid with physiological disruptions. Gastrointestinal (GI) comorbidities are highly represented in ASD, especially among the population of patients affected by SYNGAP1-related intellectual disability and Phelan-McDermid Syndrome (PMDS). Following previous studies in CRISPR-generated stable mutant lines of both conditions that show GI dysmotility, we sought to test the various mechanisms controlled by the brain-gut-microbe axis that could contribute to the aberrant phenotypes. We found sensory deficits in syngap1+/- enteroendocrine cells (EECs) in response to glucose, as well as reduced numbers of enteric neurons in syngap1-/- mutants. We established a method for gut explant culture to assay motility absent CNS input. Finally, we did not find evidence of microbial influence on or by the shank3 mutant phenotype but determined that further understanding of the microbiotic composition is warranted. These results further our understanding of GI dysmotility in ASD-model zebrafish and could point to potential clinical targets.</p