Hospitality in necessitudine : hospices, hostels and hospitals

In the continuing series reflecting on hospitality Mario Conti, Kevin O'Gorman and David McAlpine explore an aspect of hospitality often overlooked - the constantly evolving religious practice of providing hospitality to those in most need. They present an overview of the evolution of hospitality for the needy and consider how throughout history, even when religion is under attack, there has always been recognition of the importance of charitable hospitality: hospitality in necessitudine

Are routine investigations in acute paediatric admissions justified?

Aim: To assess the appropriateness of investigations and their impact on management of acute paediatric admissions. Method: All investigations performed within the first six hours in all consecutive paediatric admissions (n=138) over a 6 week period, in a teaching general hospital, were recorded retrospectively and the results were analysed for normality/ abnormality and effect on patient management. Results: Out of a total of 480 emergency investigations performed on 89 patients, the complete blood count, electrolytes and chest X-rays were the three investigations most likely to be deranged and influenced management in 5% (n=3), 25% (n=8) and 46% (n=6) of subjects with an abnormal result, respectively. Impact on management was more evident on analysing a subgroup admitted with mild gastroenteritis, in whom serum electrolytes were abnormal in 50% (n=19), and 42% (n=8) of these needed a change in their management. Conclusion: Rationalising the number of investigations in acute paediatric admissions would result in less discomfort to children and in a significant cost benefit.peer-reviewe

The insider on the outside: a novel system for the detection of information leakers in social networks

Confidential information is all too easily leaked by naive users posting comments. In this paper we introduce DUIL, a system for Detecting Unintentional Information Leakers. The value of DUIL is in its ability to detect those responsible for information leakage that occurs through comments posted on news articles in a public environment, when those articles have withheld material non-public information. DUIL is comprised of several artefacts, each designed to analyse a different aspect of this challenge: the information, the user(s) who posted the information, and the user(s) who may be involved in the dissemination of information. We present a design science analysis of DUIL as an information system artefact comprised of social, information, and technology artefacts. We demonstrate the performance of DUIL on real data crawled from several Facebook news pages spanning two years of news articles

Measurements of total scattering spectra from bocaccio (Sebastes paucispinis)

Marine sportfishing in southern California is a huge industry with annual revenues totaling many billions of dollars. However, the stocks of lingcod and six rockfish species have been declared overfished by the Pacific Fisheries Management Council. As part of a multifaceted fisheries management plan, marine conservation areas, covering many million square nautical miles, have been mandated. To monitor the recovery of the rockfish stocks in these areas, scientists are faced with the following challenges: 1) multiple species of rockfish exist in these areas; 2) the species reside near or on the bottom at depths of 80 to 300 m; and 3) they are low in numerical density. To meet these challenges, multifrequency echosounders, multibeam sonar, and cameras mounted on remotely operated vehicles are frequently used (Reynolds et al., 2001). The accuracy and precision of these echosounder results are largely dependent upon the accuracy of the species classification and target strength estimation (MacLennan and Simmonds, 1992)

Elevated numbers of PD-L1 expressing B cells are associated with the development of AIDS-NHL.

The risk for non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is markedly increased in persons living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, and remains elevated in those on anti-retroviral therapy (cART). Both the loss of immunoregulation of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infected cells, as well as chronic B-cell activation, are believed to contribute to the genesis of AIDS-related NHL (AIDS-NHL). However, the mechanisms that lead to AIDS-NHL have not been completely defined. A subset of B cells that is characterized by the secretion of IL10, as well as the expression of the programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1/CD274), was recently described. These PD-L1+ B cells can exert regulatory function, including the dampening of T-cell activation, by interacting with the program cell death protein (PD1) on target cells. The role of PD-L1+ B cells in the development of AIDS-NHL has not been explored. We assessed B cell PD-L1 expression on B cells preceding AIDS-NHL diagnosis in a nested case-control study of HIV+ subjects who went on to develop AIDS-NHL, as well as HIV+ subjects who did not, using multi-color flow cytometry. Archival frozen viable PBMC were obtained from the UCLA Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS). It was seen that the number of CD19+CD24++CD38++and CD19+PD-L1+cells was significantly elevated in cases 1-4 years prior to AIDS-NHL diagnosis, compared to controls, raising the possibility that these cells may play a role in the etiology of AIDS-NHL. Interestingly, most PD-L1+ expression on CD19+ cells was seen on CD19+CD24++CD38++ cells. In addition, we showed that HIV can directly induce PD-L1 expression on B cells through interaction of virion-associated CD40L with CD40 on B cells

Shining a Light on the Federal Reserve’s Foreign Affairs

Throughout its history, the U.S. Federal Reserve has engaged in international diplomacy, outside the bounds of (and sometimes in conflict with) the priorities of the White House and U.S. State Department. In directing monetary policy, the Fed’s primary concern is to benefit the U.S. economy. In the process, the Fed at times acts in concert with foreign central banks, as was the case in setting new bank regulations after the 2008 financial crisis. At other times, the Fed acts in ways that other countries view as detrimental to their economic interests. Either way, the Fed operates with little public accountability and can wind up complicating the work of U.S. diplomats. This issue brief focuses on the questions of whether and how greater oversight of the Fed’s international activities should be pursued. It recommends not an overhaul of the Fed’s structure or the elimination of its role in international affairs but instead calls for greater disclosure of its international activities. The Fed should provide testimony to Congress twice per year on its foreign policies, just as it does for monetary and regulatory policy. This kind of disclosure permits broader discussion of the Fed’s activities without eliminating the benefits of its institutional independence for monetary policy.https://repository.upenn.edu/pennwhartonppi/1063/thumbnail.jp

Private Markets, Public Options, and the Payment System

The speed at which money moves between people and businesses in the United States lags well behind international standards. Slow payment speeds lead to inefficiency across the economy, drive demand for high-cost credit products, and have hampered the federal response to 2020’s pandemic-driven economic crisis. To speed up the payment system, the Federal Reserve (“Fed”) has announced its intention to build “FedNow,” a publicly operated, real-time payment platform, which would compete with a privately run platform in the interbank payment market. Critics claim that the Fed’s plan represents a historically unprecedented—and possibly illegal—encroachment on turf that properly belongs to the private sector. Against the Fed’s critics, we argue that the FedNow plan holds the capacity to achieve three objectives at the heart of payment policy in the United States: to catalyze innovation, enhance access to developing payment networks, and shore up financial stability