Nearly Four Million California Adults Are Victims of Intimate Partner Violence

Based on 2007 California Health Interview Survey data, analyzes the incidence and nature of physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence by gender, race/ethnicity, nativity, marital status, and sexual orientation

A randomized crossover trial assessing patient preference for two different types of portable infusion-pump devices

Background: A variety of anticancer agents are better tolerated and more effective if given as continuous compared to bolus administration. Portable pump devices are needed to allow outpatient continuous infusion. Different types of portable pumps are available and we tested patient preference in a randomized crossover design. Patients and methods: Patients on continuous infusion fluorouracil were randomly assigned to start treatment with an elastomeric infusor (Baxter) or a mechanical, electronically controlled pump (CADD-1™, Pharmacia) and crossed over to the alternative model after three weeks. After exposure to both pump types patients were asked to indicate their preferred device. Results: After 10 patients the study was closed because all study participants preferred the elastomeric pump (P < 0.01). Reasons were pump weight (100%), smaller pump size (89%), interference with daily activities (89%), user friendliness (56%), impact on sleep (44%), and lack of technical problems (22%). Although the mechanical pump required more handling time for the first two refillings, the learning curve suggested about equal time requirement thereafter. Conclusion: In the interest of patient comfort, the disposable elastomeric infusor is an acceptable alternative to the more accurate electronically controlled pumps especially for drugs with a short half-life and a favorable toxicity profil

Change in liana density over 30 years in a Bornean rain forest supports the escape hypothesis

Liana dynamics may influence tree dynamics and vice versa. Only long-term studies can perhaps disentangle them. In two permanent plots of lowland dipterocarp forest at Danum, a liana census in 1988 was repeated in 2018. The primary forest was still in a late stage of recovery from an inferred large and natural disturbance in the past. Mean number of lianas per tree decreased by 22% and 34% in plots 1 and 2, and in different ways. By 2018, there were relatively more trees with few lianas and relatively fewer trees with many lianas than in 1988. The redistribution was strongest for overstory trees of the Dipterocarpaceae (more with no lianas by 2018) and understory trees of the Euphorbiaceae (many losing high loads in especially plot 2). Proportion of trees with lianas increased overall by 3.5%. The number of lianas per tree showed a quadratic relationship with tree size: maximal for large trees, and fewer for smaller and very large trees. Tree survival and stem growth rate were significantly negatively related to the number of lianas after accounting for spatial autocorrelation. Monte Carlo random subsampling of trees in 1988 and 2018, to achieve statistical independence, established significance of change. Dipterocarps and euphorbs clearly differed in their liana dynamics between plots. Regression models had different forms for the two plots, which reflected a complicated structural–spatial variability in host–liana dynamics. Analysis of the abundant tree species individually highlighted a group of emergent dipterocarps with low liana counts decreasing with time. Building on an earlier hypothesis for this forest type and site, these very large trees appear to have been losing their lianas by branch shedding, as they moved into and out of the main canopy. They were evidently escaping from the parasite. The process may in part explain the characteristically very uneven forest canopy at Danum. Change in liana density was therefore contingent on both forest history and site succession, and plot-level structure and tree dynamics. Liana promotion in the intermittent ENSO dry periods was seemingly being offset by closing of the forest and dominance by dipterocarps in late seral stages

JACIE accreditation for blood and marrow transplantation: past, present and future directions of an international model for healthcare quality improvement.

Blood and marrow transplantation (BMT) is a complex and evolving medical speciality that makes substantial demands on healthcare resources. To meet a professional responsibility to both patients and public health services, the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) initiated and developed the Joint Accreditation Committee of the International Society for Cellular Therapy and EBMT-better known by the acronym, JACIE. Since its inception, JACIE has performed over 530 voluntary accreditation inspections (62% first time; 38% reaccreditation) in 25 countries, representing 40% of transplant centres in Europe. As well as widespread professional acceptance, JACIE has become incorporated into the regulatory framework for delivery of BMT and other haematopoietic cellular therapies in several countries. In recent years, JACIE has been validated using the EBMT registry as an effective means of quality improvement with a substantial positive impact on survival outcomes. Future directions include development of Europe-wide risk-adjusted outcome benchmarking through the EBMT registry and further extension beyond Europe, including goals to faciliate access for BMT programmes in in low- and middle-income economies (LMIEs) via a 'first-step' process

Wärmepumpe mit Zwischeneinspritzung bei Scrollkompressoren

This project is evaluating a heat pump cycle with midstage injection at scroll compressors. The injected refrigerant is evaporated partially by an internal heat exchanger (fig. 2.1). A glycol-water heat pump with 12 kW heat capacity at B-5/W50 was built and tested in the laboratory at several conditions (B- 5/0/5 at W35/50 and B-10/W60). The refrigerant is R407C. For the theoretical analysis the exact geometry of the injection wholes is determined. The results are discussed in the hypothesis of a monovalent heating implementation in the market of retrofitting fuel based heating systems. Measurements at stationary test conditions with injection show an increase of the heat output by 15% compared to the values without injection (fig 4.2 and 4.5). The heat output is not affected by the position of the manually regulated injection valve. The end of compression temperature can be controlled by the amount of injected refrigerant. The application range for this heat pump is enlarged and at the point B-10/W60 the maximum system temperature has been reduced from 110°C to 75°C. The coefficient of performance (COP) with and without injection is comparable at the major part of the tested points (fig. 4.1 and 4.4). The only available compressor type with the possibility of injection has a geometry which is not adapted for saturated vapor. The resulting reduction in performance is equivalent to the gain by the better thermodynamic concept. The optimum COP is reached with an injection rate issued by a thermostatic valve control. With higher injection rate, the COP is decreasing linearly and a reduction up to 15% is achieved at B-10/W60. Two injection configurations (the injected refrigerant is separated before and after the economizer exchanger) have been compared and show equivalent results. The simulation model has been developed considering the test results. For the compression phase during injection a correction factor has been introduced. The simulation can be used to analyse of the qualitative behavior. A high potential of performance improvement can be achieved by reducing the injection pressure level (table 5.2). Shifting the position of the injection wholes in higher pressure regions does not affect the performances but can keep the compression curve away from the saturation limit

Species recognition limits mating between hybridizing ant species

Identifying mechanisms limiting hybridization is a central goal of speciation research. Here, we studied pre-mating and post-mating barriers to hybridization between two ant species, Formica selysi and Formica cinerea. These species hybridize in the Rhône valley in Switzerland, where they form a mosaic hybrid zone, with limited introgression from F. selysi into F. cinerea. There was no sign of temporal isolation between the two species in the production of queens and males. With choice experiments, we showed that queens and males strongly prefer to mate with conspecifics. Yet, we did not detect post-mating barriers caused by genetic incompatibilities. Specifically, hybrids of all sexes and castes were found in the field and F1 hybrid workers did not show reduced viability compared to non-hybrid workers. To gain insights into the cues involved in species recognition, we analyzed the cuticular hydrocarbons of queens, males and workers and staged dyadic encounters between workers. Cuticular hydrocarbon profiles differed markedly between species, but were similar in F. cinerea and hybrids. Accordingly, workers also discriminated species, but they did not discriminate F. cinerea and hybrids. We discuss how the CHC-based recognition system of ants may facilitate the establishment of pre-mating barriers to hybridization, independent of hybridization costs. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Population Structure Analyses Provide Insight into the Source Populations Underlying Rural Isolated Communities in Illinois

We have previously hypothesized that relatively small and isolated rural communities may experience founder effects, defined as the genetic ramifications of small population sizes at the time of a community’s establishment. To explore this, we used an Illumina Infinium Omni2.5Exome-8 chip to collect data from 157 individuals from four Illinois communities, three rural and one urban. Genetic diversity estimates of 999,259 autosomal markers suggested that the reduction in heterozygosity due to shared ancestry was approximately 0, indicating a randomly mating population. An eigenanalysis, which is similar to a principal component analysis but ran on a genetic coancestry matrix, conducted in the SNPRelate R package revealed that the majority of these individuals formed one cluster with a few putative outliers obscuring population variation. An additional eigenanalysis on the same markers in a combined data set including the 2,504 individuals in the 1000 Genomes database found that most of the 157 Illinois individuals clustered into one group in close proximity to individuals of European descent. A final eigenanalysis of the Illinois individuals with the 503 individuals of European descent (within the 1000 Genomes Project) revealed two clusters of individuals and likely two source populations; one British and one consisting of multiple European subpopulations. We therefore demonstrate the feasibility of examining genetic relatedness across Illinois populations and assessing the number of source populations using publicly available databases. When assessed, it becomes possible for population structure information to contribute to the understanding of genetic history in rural populations

Identifying Areas with Disproportionate Local Health Department Services Relative to Opioid Overdose, HIV and Hepatitis C Diagnosis Rates: A Study of Rural Illinois

Background: U.S. rural populations have been disproportionately affected by the syndemic of opioid-use disorder (OUD) and the associated increase in overdoses and risk of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission. Local health departments (LHDs) can play a critical role in the response to this syndemic. We utilized two geospatial approaches to identify areas of discordance between LHD service availability and disease burden to inform service prioritization in rural settings.Methods: We surveyed rural Illinois LHDs to assess their OUD-related services, and calculated county-level opioid overdose, HIV, and hepatitis C diagnosis rates. Bivariate choropleth maps were created to display LHD service provision relative to disease burden in rural Illinois counties. Results: Most rural LHDs provided limited OUD-related services, although many LHDs provided HIV and HCV testing. Bivariate mapping showed rural counties with limited OUD treatment and HIV services and with corresponding higher outcome/disease rates to be dispersed throughout Illinois. Additionally, rural counties with limited LHD-offered hepatitis C services and high hepatitis C diagnosis rates were geographically concentrated in southern Illinois. Conclusions: Bivariate mapping can enable geographic targeting of resources to address the opioid crisis and related infectious disease by identifying areas with low LHD services relative to high disease burden

In Vivo Binding and Retention of CD4-Specific DARPin 57.2 in Macaques

The recently described Designed Ankyrin Repeat Protein (DARPin) technology can produce highly selective ligands to a variety of biological targets at a low production cost.To investigate the in vivo use of DARPins for future application to novel anti-HIV strategies, we identified potent CD4-specific DARPins that recognize rhesus CD4 and followed the fate of intravenously injected CD4-specific DARPin 57.2 in rhesus macaques. The human CD4-specific DARPin 57.2 bound macaque CD4(+) cells and exhibited potent inhibitory activity against SIV infection in vitro. DARPin 57.2 or the control E3_5 DARPin was injected into rhesus macaques and the fate of cell-free and cell-bound CD4-specific DARPin was evaluated. DARPin-bound CD4(+) cells were detected in the peripheral blood as early as 30 minutes after the injection, decreasing within 6 hours and being almost undetectable within 24 hours. The amount of DARPin bound was dependent on the amount of DARPin injected. CD4-specific DARPin was also detected on CD4(+) cells in the lymph nodes within 30 minutes, which persisted with similar kinetics to blood. More extensive analysis using blood revealed that DARPin 57.2 bound to all CD4(+) cell types (T cells, monocytes, dendritic cells) in vivo and in vitro with the amount of binding directly proportional to the amount of CD4 on the cell surface. Cell-free DARPins were also detected in the plasma, but were rapidly cleared from circulation.We demonstrated that the CD4-specific DARPin can rapidly and selectively bind its target cells in vivo, warranting further studies on possible clinical use of the DARPin technology