5 research outputs found
Ischemic Stroke Survivors’ Opinion Regarding Research Utilizing Exception from Informed Consent
No full text<i>Introduction:</i> ‘Exception from informed consent for research’ (EFIC) is a rigorous procedure regulated by the FDA that requires community assent but allows enrollment without patient or family consent. Recently, several acute stroke trials have explored the use of EFIC to improve enrollment. We obtained ischemic stroke survivors’ opinions regarding hypothetical enrollment into a clinical trial at the time of their stroke without personal or proxy consent. <i>Methods:</i> During 2005, 460 ischemic stroke patients (or their proxy) who met case criteria were prospectively interviewed and followed. After 2 years, patients were asked to think back to the time of their stroke and indicate whether they would have wished to be enrolled in an acute stroke research study before individual or proxy consent could be obtained, understanding that consent would be sought as soon as possible thereafter, and they rated how agreeable they would have been to acute stroke research with different levels of invasiveness. Predictors of a positive opinion regarding the hypothetical research were analyzed using logistic regression. Variables included in the model were age, race, sex, education, initial NIHSS, modified Rankin Scale prior to stroke and 30 days after stroke, and proxy versus patient responder. <i>Results:</i> At 2 years after stroke, after excluding patient deaths, missing data or refusals, there were 194 patient/proxy responses included in this analysis. Overall, 72–79% of responses were favorable for chart review or blood draw without consent. The proportions answering agreeably to questions about medications or invasive strategies were smaller (62.9 and 59.8%). Older subjects were less likely to offer an agreeable response regarding use of medications [OR 0.97 per year (95% CI 0.94–0.99)] and invasive procedures [OR 0.97 per year (95% CI 0.94–0.99)]. Nonblacks tended to be more agreeable than blacks to invasive procedures. Men had twice the odds of being agreeable to blood draws than women. <i>Conclusions:</i> We found that the majority of interviewed ischemic stroke patients were agreeable to being enrolled in acute stroke research with exception from informed consent, although the rates of agreement were lower than we expected among a cohort of patients who had already agreed to research. Older subjects, black race, and women were less likely to agree to blood draws or treatment strategies.</jats:p
Emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs): chemical compositions and separation of sources
No full textConcentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) emit a large number of
volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to the atmosphere. In this study, we
conducted mobile laboratory measurements of VOCs, methane (CH4) and
ammonia (NH3) downwind of dairy cattle, beef cattle, sheep and chicken
CAFO facilities in northeastern Colorado using a hydronium ion
time-of-flight chemical-ionization mass spectrometer (H3O+
ToF-CIMS), which can detect numerous VOCs. Regional measurements of CAFO
emissions in northeastern Colorado were also performed using the NOAA WP-3D
aircraft during the Shale Oil and Natural Gas Nexus (SONGNEX) campaign.
Alcohols and carboxylic acids dominate VOC concentrations and the reactivity
of the VOCs with hydroxyl (OH) radicals. Sulfur-containing and phenolic
species provide the largest contributions to the odor activity values and
the nitrate radical (NO3) reactivity of VOC emissions, respectively.
VOC compositions determined from mobile laboratory and aircraft measurements
generally agree well with each other. The high time-resolution mobile
measurements allow for the separation of the sources of VOCs from different
parts of the operations occurring within the facilities. We show that the
emissions of ethanol are primarily associated with feed storage and
handling. Based on mobile laboratory measurements, we apply a multivariate
regression analysis using NH3 and ethanol as tracers to determine the
relative importance of animal-related emissions (animal exhalation and
waste) and feed-related emissions (feed storage and handling) for different
VOC species. Feed storage and handling contribute significantly to emissions
of alcohols, carbonyls, carboxylic acids and sulfur-containing species.
Emissions of phenolic species and nitrogen-containing species are
predominantly associated with animals and their waste
The antiprotease SPINK7 serves as an inhibitory checkpoint for esophageal epithelial inflammatory responses
No full textLoss of esophageal SPINK7 unleashes protease activity, impairs barrier function, and induces proinflammatory responses.</jats:p
Atomic data for modelling fusion and astrophysical plasmas
No full textThe paper presents an integrated view of the population structure and its role in establishing the ionization state of light elements in dynamic, finite density, laboratory and astrophysical plasmas. There are four main issues, the generalized collisional-radiative picture for metastables in dynamic plasmas with Maxwellian free electrons and its particularizing to light elements, the methods of bundling and projection for manipulating the population equations, the systematic production/use of state selective fundamental collision data in the metastable resolved picture to all levels for collisonal-radiative modelling and the delivery of appropriate derived coefficients for experiment analysis. The ions of carbon, oxygen and neon are used in illustration. The practical implementation of the methods described here is part of the ADAS Project
