ANSS Currents

Introduction from the article, "Studies of indigenous people in North America have grown significantly in the last generation. While they began largely in the writings of anthropologists, missionaries and government administrators, today’s indigenous studies are multidisciplinary and cover the literatures of the social sciences, the humanities, and the sciences. They extend from the populations of Canada’s Arctic North to Northern Mexico and from Hawaii to the Caribbean. There is a real need for in-depth indexing on Native topics that meets the specialized needs of scholars in these fields. There is also growing consciousness that indigenous people deserve to speak for themselves; that their stories will differ in many ways from the stories that have been told for them. Access to primary source documents such as census records, treaties, and tribal membership rolls, especially those which were removed to the Indian Territory and underwent allotment of their lands in the nineteenth century can provide insights not available from secondary sources. With this goal, we have chosen two sources published by EBSCO that provide in-depth information on Native North Americans.

Gaussian Optical Ising Machines

It has recently been shown that optical parametric oscillator (OPO) Ising machines, consisting of coupled optical pulses circulating in a cavity with parametric gain, can be used to probabilistically find low-energy states of Ising spin systems. In this work, we study optical Ising machines that operate under simplified Gaussian dynamics. We show that these dynamics are sufficient for reaching probabilities of success comparable to previous work. Based on this result, we propose modified optical Ising machines with simpler designs that do not use parametric gain yet achieve similar performance, thus suggesting a route to building much larger systems.Comment: 6 page

Quantifying patient- and hospital-level antimicrobial resistance dynamics in Staphylococcus aureus from routinely collected data

Introduction. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to all antibiotic classes has been found in the pathogen Staphylococcus aureus . The reported prevalence of these resistances varies, driven by within-host AMR evolution at the patient level, and between-host transmission at the hospital level. Without dense longitudinal sampling, pragmatic analysis of AMR dynamics at multiple levels using routine surveillance data is essential to inform control measures. Gap Statement. The value and limitations of routinely collected hospital data to gain insight into AMR dynamics at the hospital and individual levels simultaneously are unclear. Methodology. We explored S. aureus AMR diversity in 70 000 isolates from a UK paediatric hospital between 2000–2021, using electronic datasets containing multiple routinely collected isolates per patient with phenotypic antibiograms and information on hospitalization and antibiotic consumption. Results. At the hospital level, the proportion of isolates that were meticillin-resistant (MRSA) increased between 2014–2020 from 25–50 %, before sharply decreasing to 30%, likely due to a change in inpatient demographics. Temporal trends in the proportion of isolates resistant to different antibiotics were often correlated in MRSA, but independent in meticillin-susceptible S. aureus . Ciprofloxacin resistance in MRSA decreased from 70–40 % of tested isolates between 2007–2020, likely linked to a national policy to reduce fluoroquinolone usage in 2007. At the patient level, we identified frequent AMR diversity, with 4 % of patients ever positive for S. aureus simultaneously carrying, at some point, multiple isolates with different resistances. We detected changes over time in AMR diversity in 3 % of patients ever positive for S. aureus . These changes equally represented gain and loss of resistance. Conclusion. Within this routinely collected dataset, we found that 65 % of changes in resistance within a patient’s S. aureus population could not be explained by antibiotic exposure or between-patient transmission of bacteria, suggesting that within-host evolution via frequent gain and loss of AMR genes may be responsible for these changing AMR profiles. Our study highlights the value of exploring existing routine surveillance data to determine underlying mechanisms of AMR. These insights may substantially improve our understanding of the importance of antibiotic exposure variation, and the success of single S. aureus clones

Variation by ethnic group in premature mortality risk following self-harm: a multicentre cohort study in England

Background: Incidence and risk factors for self-harm vary according to ethnicity. People who self-harm have been shown to have increased risk of premature death, but little is known about mortality following self-harm in ethnic minority groups. Methods: A prospective cohort study of self-harm presentations to three English cities (Derby, Manchester, Oxford) between 2000 and 2010. We linked to a national mortality dataset to investigate premature death in South Asian and Black people in comparison with White people to the end of 2012. Results: Ethnicity was known for 72 % of the 28,512 study cohort members: 88 % were White, 5 % were South Asian, and 3 % were Black. After adjusting for age, gender and area-level socioeconomic deprivation, the risk of all-cause mortality was lower in South Asian (hazard ratio [HR] 0.51, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 0.42 – 0.62) and Black people (HR 0.46, 95 % CI 0.39 – 0.55) versus White people. Suicide risk was significantly lower in Black people (HR 0.43, 95 % CI 0.19 – 0.97) than in White people. Prevalence of risk factors for premature death, such as previous self-harm, psychiatric treatment or concurrent alcohol misuse, was lower in South Asian and Black people than in White people. Conclusions: The risk of death following self-harm is lower in South Asian and Black people than White people in the UK, and they also have lower prevalence of risk factors for premature death. Awareness of both protective and risk factors might help to inform clinical decisions following assessment.</p

3D printed facial laser scans for the production of localised radiotherapy treatment masks

This study investigates the use of 3D printing for patients that require localised radiotherapy treatment to the face. The current process involves producing a lead mask in order to protect the healthy tissue from the effects of the radiotherapy. The mask is produced by applying a thermoplastic sheet to the patient’s face and allowing to set hard. This can then be used as a mould to create a plaster impression of the patient’s face. A sheet of lead is then hammered on to the plaster to create a bespoke fitted face mask. This process can be distressing for patients and can be problematic when the patient is required to remain motionless for a prolonged time while the thermoplastic sets. In this study, a 1:1 scale 3D print of a patient’s face was generated using a laser scanner. The lead was hammered directly on to the surface of the 3D print in order to create a bespoke fitted treatment mask. This eliminated the thermoplastic moulding stage and significantly reduced the time needed for the patient to be in clinic. The higher definition impression of the face resulted in a more accurate, better fitting treatment mask

CASRAI-UK: Using the CASRAI approach to develop standards for communicating and sharing research information in the UK

This paper explains how the Consortia Advancing Standards in Research Administration Information (CASRAI) might be used to share research information in an open and sustainably governed approach, led by research organisations. CASRAI is an international non-profit organisation dedicated to reducing administrative burden and improving outcomes and impact reporting through good stewardship of information requirements by research organisations (universities, colleges, teaching hospitals and other research centres). The objective is to improve the flow of information within and between research stakeholders. The approach sees the ‘user-led’ development and maintenance of standard information agreements. These agreements include (a) specifications defining what data elements (entities) are needed for various key business processes in the research lifecycle and (b) definitions for all the terms appearing in these specifications. The open and standardised definitions are curated and maintained in an open online dictionary that can then be used by system providers and others to exchange information in a standard, agreed format e.g.by using CERIF-XML as the transfer mechanism