Development, characterization, and deployment of a high-resolution time-of-flight chemical ionization mass spectrometer (HR-TOF-CIMS) for the detection of carboxylic acids and trace-gas species in the troposphere

Includes bibliographical references.2016 Summer.A historical account of the advances leading to modern high-resolution time-of-flight chemical ionization mass spectrometers (HR-TOF-CIMS) for gas-phase measurements is presented. Recent literature detailing the description of the HR-TOF-CIMS is critically evaluated and put into the context of the historical literature. The development of the HR-TOF-CIMS with reagent ion switching capabilities in the negative mode (acetate and iodide reagent ions), and a novel, low-pressure high-flow inlet with online calibration system is shown to work well in the field. Findings from the deployment of this measurement system during the 2013 Southern Oxidant and Aerosol Study are discussed. Subsequent work with voltage scanning methodologies for controlling cluster transmission is presented and applied to potential aerosol mass chamber experiments examining the oxidation of alpha-pinene. The applicability of acetate chemical ionization to the direct headspace analysis of beer samples is presented. Lastly, the future directions of acetate chemical ionization and voltage scanning are discussed in relation to numerous recent developments related to both gas-phase measurements and new particle formation

Metabolomics in Neonatology

Throughout recent decades, the incidence of preterm birth has risen worldwide, and although the majority of preterm neonates now survive infancy, many suffer from debilitating morbidities in the short term and/or increased disease risks in the long term. Traditional diagnostic biomarkers suffer from considerable confounders, limiting their use in the early identification of diseases. There is a need to develop novel biomarkers that can identify, in real time, the evolution of organ dysfunction in an early diagnostic, monitoring, and prognostic fashion. Use of “omics,” particularly metabolomics, may provide valuable information regarding functional pathways underlying different pathologies and prediction of clinical outcomes. The emerging knowledge generated by the application of metabolomics in neonatology provides new insights that can help to identify markers of early diagnosis, disease progression, response to treatment, and new therapeutic targets. In this chapter, we review the current knowledge of different metabolomics technologies in neonatal‐perinatal medicine, including biomarker discovery, defining as yet unrecognized biologic therapeutic targets, and linking of metabolomics to relevant standard indices and long‐term outcomes

Personality Marker Identification within Select Learning Communities of Students Segmented by Major Field of Study

One of the most complex issues of learning institutions today is that of understanding the learning culture. This research project shall observe and identify the diversity of personality types within learning communities at Texas A&M University and quantitatively portray the diversity of personality types by providing statistical trend information within different learning communities. Understanding the personalities that make up the population of different learning communities at Texas A&M University will help to understand the overall learning culture. This project is relevant to learning communities today because of the expanding interconnectivity between departments and majors in modern academia. Although different personalities help to create varied opinions and assist in learning, there is a growing need to understand students better to influence the learning environment so education can be meaningful for students. This study will allow for a better understanding of individuals in learning communities through determining quantitative trends in personality

PromptSet: A Programmer's Prompting Dataset

The rise of capabilities expressed by large language models has been quickly followed by the integration of the same complex systems into application level logic. Algorithms, programs, systems, and companies are built around structured prompting to black box models where the majority of the design and implementation lies in capturing and quantifying the `agent mode'. The standard way to shape a closed language model is to prime it for a specific task with a tailored prompt, often initially handwritten by a human. The textual prompts co-evolve with the codebase, taking shape over the course of project life as artifacts which must be reviewed and maintained, just as the traditional code files might be. Unlike traditional code, we find that prompts do not receive effective static testing and linting to prevent runtime issues. In this work, we present a novel dataset called PromptSet, with more than 61,000 unique developer prompts used in open source Python programs. We perform analysis on this dataset and introduce the notion of a static linter for prompts. Released with this publication is a HuggingFace dataset and a Github repository to recreate collection and processing efforts, both under the name \texttt{pisterlabs/promptset}.Comment: 8 pages, ICSE '24 LLM4Code Worksho

The Impact of Erythropoietin on Short- and Long-Term Kidney-Related Outcomes in Neonates of Extremely Low Gestational Age. Results of a Multicenter, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Randomized Clinical Trial.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether extremely low gestational age neonates (ELGANs) randomized to erythropoietin have better or worse kidney-related outcomes during hospitalization and at 22-26 months of corrected gestational age (cGA) compared with those randomized to placebo. STUDY DESIGN: We performed an ancillary study to a multicenter double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial of erythropoietin in ELGANs. RESULTS: The prevalence of severe (stage 2 or 3) acute kidney injury (AKI) was 18.2%. We did not find a statistically significant difference between those randomized to erythropoietin vs placebo for in-hospital primary (severe AKI) or secondary outcomes (any AKI and serum creatinine/cystatin C values at days 0, 7, 9, and 14). At 22-26 months of cGA, 16% of the cohort had an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) <90 mL/min/1.73 m2, 35.8% had urine albumin/creatinine ratio >30 mg/g, 23% had a systolic blood pressure (SBP) >95th percentile for age, and 40% had a diastolic blood pressure (DBP) >95th percentile for age. SBP >90th percentile occurred less often among recipients of erythropoietin (P < .04). This association remained even after controlling for gestational age, site, and sibship (aOR 0.6; 95% CI 0.39-0.92). We did not find statistically significant differences between treatment groups in eGFR, albumin/creatinine ratio, rates of SBP >95th percentile, or DBP >90th or >95th percentiles at the 2 year follow-up visit. CONCLUSIONS: ELGANs have high rates of in-hospital AKI and kidney-related problems at 22-26 months of cGA. Recombinant erythropoietin may protect ELGANs against long-term elevated SBP but does not appear to protect from AKI, low eGFR, albuminuria, or elevated DBP at 22-26 months of cGA

Fluid balance as a biomarker: impact of fluid overload on outcome in critically ill patients with acute kidney injury

Fluid therapy is fundamental to the acute resuscitation of critically ill patients. In general, however, early and appropriate goal-directed fluid therapy contributes to a degree of fluid overload in most if not all patients. Recent data imply that a threshold may exist beyond which, after acute resuscitation, additional fluid therapy may cause harm. In patients with acute kidney injury and/or oliguria, a positive fluid balance is almost universal. Few studies have examined the impact of fluid balance on clinical outcomes in critically ill adults with acute kidney injury. Payen and coworkers, in a secondary analysis of the SOAP (Sepsis Occurrence in Acutely Ill Patients) study, now present evidence that there is an independent association between mortality and positive fluid balance in a cohort of critically ill patients with acute kidney injury. In this commentary, we discuss these findings within the context of prior literature and propose that assessment of fluid balance should be considered as a potentially valuable biomarker of critical illness

Use of intraoperative neural monitoring for prognostication of recovery of vocal mobility and reduction of permanent vocal paralysis after thyroidectomy

Introduction: The benefits of intraoperative neural monitoring (IONM) of recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) on post-thyroidectomy vocal cord palsy (VCP) rates are contentious. We wished to study impact of IONM on permanent VCP after thyroidectomy. Methods: Retrospective review of prospective series of 1011 (1539 nerves-at-risk) patients undergoing thyroidectomy without (418, group 1) and with (583, group 2) IONM. Results: There were three recognized nerve injuries in group 1, vs one in group 2 (P =.3). There were no differences in overall VCP rates. However, patients in group 2 with immediate postoperative VCP had higher likelihood of full recovery than patients in group 1 (55 of 56 vs 23 of 29 patients, P =.01), and lower incidence of total permanent VCP (2 of 917 vs 9 of 647 patients, P =.01). Conclusion: Among patients with immediate postoperative VCP after thyroidectomy, IONM is associated with a higher likelihood of regaining normal vocal function. This may be related to better identification of RLN branching in IONM cases

The effect of an intervention to improve newly qualified teachers’ interpersonal style, students motivation and psychological need satisfaction in sport-based physical education

Recent developments in self-determination theory research in the educational setting (e.g., Reeve, Deci, & Ryan, 2004), suggest that teachers’ interpersonal style should be considered as consisting of three dimensions: autonomy-support, structure and interpersonal involvement. Based on this theoretical proposition, the purpose of the present study was to test the effects of a training program for three physical education newly qualified teachers on the aforementioned teachers’ overt behaviors and students’ psychological needs satisfaction, self-determined motivation and engagement in sport-based physical education. After a baseline period of four lessons, the teachers attended an informational session on adaptive student motivation and how to support it. The training program also included individualized guidance during the last four lessons of the cycle. Results revealed that from pre- to post-intervention: (1) teachers managed to improve their teaching style in terms of all three dimensions, and (2) students were receptive to these changes, as shown by increases in their reported need satisfaction, self-determined motivation and engagement in the class

Pediatric patients with multi-organ dysfunction syndrome receiving continuous renal replacement therapy

Pediatric patients with multi-organ dysfunction syndrome receiving continuous renal replacement therapy.BackgroundCritical illness leading to multi-organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) and associated acute renal failure (ARF) is less common in children compared to adult patients. As a result, many issues plague the pediatric ARF outcome literature, including a relative lack of prospective study, a lack of modality stratification in subject populations and inconsistent controls for patient illness severity in outcome analysis.MethodsWe now report data from the first multicenter study to assess the outcome of pediatric patients with MODS receiving continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT). One hundred twenty of 157 Registry patients (63 male/57 female) experienced MODS during their course.ResultsOne hundred sixteen patients had complete data available for analysis. The most common causes leading to CRRT were sepsis (N = 47; 39.2%) and cardiogenic shock (N = 24; 20%). Overall survival was 51.7%. Pediatric Risk of Mortality (PRISM 2) score, central venous pressure (CVP), and% fluid overload (%FO) at CRRT initiation were significantly lower for survivors versus nonsurvivors. Multivariate analysis controlling for severity of illness using PRISM 2 at CRRT initiation revealed that%FO was still significantly lower for survivors versus nonsurvivors (P < 0.05) even for patients receiving both mechanical ventilation and vasoactive pressors. We speculate that increased fluid administration from PICU admission to CRRT initiation is an independent risk factor for mortality in pediatric patients with MODS receiving CRRT.ConclusionWe suggest that after initial resuscitative efforts, an increased emphasis should be placed on early initiation of CRRT and inotropic agent use over fluid administration to maintain acceptable blood pressure