Vedic and Upanisadic ideas of death, deathlessness, and forms of existence after death.

Abstract Not Provided

Shared genetic risk between eating disorder- and substance-use-related phenotypes:Evidence from genome-wide association studies

First published: 16 February 202

Support and Assessment for Fall Emergency Referrals (SAFER 1): Cluster Randomised Trial of Computerised Clinical Decision Support for Paramedics

Objective: To evaluate effectiveness, safety and cost-effectiveness of Computerised Clinical Decision Support (CCDS) for paramedics attending older people who fall. Design: Cluster trial randomised by paramedic; modelling. Setting: 13 ambulance stations in two UK emergency ambulance services. Participants: 42 of 409 eligible paramedics, who attended 779 older patients for a reported fall. Interventions: Intervention paramedics received CCDS on Tablet computers to guide patient care. Control paramedics provided care as usual. One service had already installed electronic data capture. Main Outcome Measures: Effectiveness: patients referred to falls service, patient reported quality of life and satisfaction, processes of care. Safety: Further emergency contacts or death within one month. Cost-Effectiveness Costs and quality of life. We used findings from published Community Falls Prevention Trial to model cost-effectiveness. Results: 17 intervention paramedics used CCDS for 54 (12.4%) of 436 participants. They referred 42 (9.6%) to falls services, compared with 17 (5.0%) of 343 participants seen by 19 control paramedics [Odds ratio (OR) 2.04, 95% CI 1.12 to 3.72]. No adverse events were related to the intervention. Non-significant differences between groups included: subsequent emergency contacts (34.6% versus 29.1%; OR 1.27, 95% CI 0.93 to 1.72); quality of life (mean SF12 differences: MCS −0.74, 95% CI −2.83 to +1.28; PCS −0.13, 95% CI −1.65 to +1.39) and non-conveyance (42.0% versus 36.7%; OR 1.13, 95% CI 0.84 to 1.52). However ambulance job cycle time was 8.9 minutes longer for intervention patients (95% CI 2.3 to 15.3). Average net cost of implementing CCDS was £208 per patient with existing electronic data capture, and £308 without. Modelling estimated cost per quality-adjusted life-year at £15,000 with existing electronic data capture; and £22,200 without. Conclusions: Intervention paramedics referred twice as many participants to falls services with no difference in safety. CCDS is potentially cost-effective, especially with existing electronic data capture

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Competition and Combative Advertising: An Historical Analysis

Fred K. Beard (PhD, University of Oklahoma) is a professor of advertising in the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Oklahoma. His research interests include comparative advertising, advertising humor, and advertising history. His work has appeared in the Journal of Advertising, the Journal of Advertising Research, the Journal of Business Ethics, the Journal of Business Research, Journalism History, the Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, the Journal of Macromarketing, and the Journal of Marketing Communications, among others.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Effects of Solvent Composition and Hydrogen Pressure on the Catalytic Conversion of 1,2,4,5-Tetrachlorobenzene to Cyclohexane

Halogenated hydrophobic organic compounds (HHOCs) such as 1,2,4,5-tetrachlorobenzene (TeCB) present a threat to both human health and the environment. The common occurrence and recalcitrant nature of HHOCs as soil contaminants necessitate an effective soil remediation method. Wee and Cunningham (2008, 2011, 2013) proposed a clean-up technology called Remedial Extraction and Catalytic Hydrodehalogenation (REACH), which pairs solvent extraction of HHOC contaminants from soil with catalytic hydrodehalogenation to destroy contaminants. Wee and Cunningham (2008, 2011, 2013) utilized a palladium (Pd) catalyst to hydrodehalogenate TeCB to benzene. However, benzene is still a toxic contaminant. Prior research has demonstrated that Pd-catalyzed hydrodehalogenation (HDH) can be paired with Rh-catalyzed hydrogenation to transform TeCB to cyclohexane, which is a less toxic end product (Osborn 2011; Ticknor 2012). However, there remains a need to quantify the effects of different operating conditions on the catalytic reaction rates upon which the technology relies. It was hypothesized that (1) an increased ratio of water to ethanol in water/ethanol solvents would increase the reaction rates of both Pd-catalyzed HDH and Rh-catalyzed hydrogenation, and (2) catalytic reaction rates would be constant above a hydrogen pressure threshold, but would decrease with decreasing hydrogen pressure beneath the threshold. Thus, the objective of this thesis was to contribute to the development of optimal operating parameters for the REACH technology by quantifying the effects of solvent composition and hydrogen pressure on the catalytic conversion of TeCB to cyclohexane in water/ethanol solvents in a batch reactor. Complete conversion of TeCB to cyclohexane was achieved at all experimental conditions tested. The data were consistent with an apparent first-order kinetics model where Pd-catalyzed HDH and Rh-catalyzed hydrogenation occur in series. The effects of three water/ethanol solvent compositions (33:67, 50:50, 67:33) were investigated at 50 psi hydrogen pressure. HDH rate coefficients increased monotonically with an increasing fraction of water in the solvent. When the water fraction in the solvent was increased from 50% to 67%, a larger HDH rate coefficient increase was observed than when the water fraction was increased from 33% to 50%. In both cases, the observed increases were statistically significant at a 95% confidence level. For hydrogenation, rate coefficients at 33% and 50% water were approximately equal. The hydrogenation rate coefficient at 67% water was much greater than the rate coefficients at 50% and 33% water, but the increase was not statistically significant at a 95% confidence level. The observed time for complete conversion of TeCB to cyclohexane decreased with an increasing fraction of water in the solvent, from 12-18 hours with a 33% water solvent to 8-12 hours with a 50% water solvent, and to 1-1.5 hours with a 67% water solvent. The effects of three hydrogen pressures (50 psi, 30 psi, 10 psi) were investigated with a 50:50 water/ethanol solvent. HDH rate coefficients increased monotonically with decreasing hydrogen pressure, though the trend was not statistically significant at a 95% confidence level until the pressure was decreased from 30 psi to 10 psi. This trend can be attributed to the displacement of TeCB by hydrogen on the catalyst surface at higher hydrogen pressures. For hydrogenation, the data suggest that rate coefficients are independent of hydrogen pressure in the pressure range of 10-50 psi, since no statistically significant hydrogen pressure effect was observed. Complete conversion of TeCB to cyclohexane was achieved at hydrogen pressures as low as 5 psi. These findings suggest that a greater fraction of water in the solvent should be utilized in the REACH system when feasible to maximize catalytic reaction rates. These findings also suggest that the REACH system could be operated at hydrogen pressures as low as 5 psi, which would further improve the safety of the technology

Effects of Solvent Composition and Hydrogen Pressure on the Catalytic Conversion of 1,2,4,5-Tetrachlorobenzene to Cyclohexane

Toward the development of a “green” technology for cleaning soil contaminated by halogenated hydrophobic organic contaminants, here we demonstrate that combined use of palladium (Pd) and rhodium (Rh) catalysts enables the conversion of 1,2,4,5-tetrachlorobenzene (TeCB) to cyclohexane in mixtures of water and ethanol. We tested the hypotheses that, in batch reactors, (1) an increased ratio of water to ethanol in water/ethanol solvents would increase the reaction rates of both Pd-catalyzed hydrodehalogenation (HDH) and Rh-catalyzed hydrogenation, and (2) catalytic reaction rate coefficients would be constant above a hydrogen (H2) pressure threshold, but would decrease with decreasing H2 pressure below that threshold. These hypotheses were derived from a Langmuir–Hinshelwood model for the heterogeneous catalytic reactions. Complete conversion of TeCB to cyclohexane was achieved at all experimental conditions tested, suggesting that the proposed technology may be technically viable. Concentration data were consistent with an apparent first-order kinetic model in which Pd-catalyzed HDH and Rh-catalyzed hydrogenation occur in series. As expected, HDH and hydrogenation rate coefficients increased as the fraction of water in the solvent increased. However, contrary to expectations, HDH rate coefficients decreased when H2 pressure increased from 69 to 207 to 345 kPa. We attributed this to the displacement of TeCB by H2 on the catalyst surface at higher H2 pressures. No statistically significant effect of H2 pressure on hydrogenation rate coefficients was observed. The findings suggest that the proposed technology should be operated with at least 50% water in the solvent and a H2 pressure as low as 30–70 kPa