An Analysis of the Governorship of Huey Long

Huey Pierce Long was one of the most flamboyant . and controversial political leaders of the early twentieth century. Elected Governor of Louisiana in 1928 on the platform Every Man a King, Long soon became nationally known for his erratic and picturesque behavior as the Kingfish. The New York Times heralded the election of Huey Long as Governor of the Pelican State as the appearance of a worthy competitor in the field of light political farce. Later, many persons realized. that the statement was not entirely accurate. What Louisiana received in Huey Long was highly political, but it was far from being light and farcical. There were laughs, to be sure; Long did not see any harm in lightening up the tragedy of politics with his burlesque-show antics. Although he felt that it cut both ways, he rationalized that even his critics wouldn\u27t have heard of Huey Long to stab at him if it hadn\u27t been for the Kingfish and some tomfoolery. As chief executive for the people of Louisiana, Long flouted the traditions of an ordinarily dignified office. His Excellency conducted affairs of state from his bedroom of his suite in Baton Roughe\u27s Heidelberg Hotel; engaged in fisticuffs; and, although not much of a singer, received plenty of encores as The Singing Fool at the Frolics cabaret in New Orleans\u27 Vieux Carre. Such conduct, however, failed to break his power and Long, as governor, initiated a legislative program which marked a significant departure from Jeffersonian traditions in the politics of Louisiana. The purpose of this study was to show the relationship between representative legislation of the Long administration and certain social, economic, and political conditions existing in Louisiana at that time

A Comparative Evaluation of Mono-, Di- and Triglyceride of Medium Chain Fatty Acids by Lipid/Surfactant/Water Phase Diagram, Solubility Determination and Dispersion Testing for Application in Pharmaceutical Dosage Form Development

Purpose To compare physiochemical properties of mono-, diand triglycerides of medium chain fatty acids for development of oral pharmaceutical dosage forms of poorly water-soluble drugs using phase diagrams, drug solubility, and drug dispersion experiments. Methods Phase diagrams were prepared using a monoglyceride (glycerol monocaprylocaprate: Capmul MCM ® EP), a diglyceride (glycerol dicaprylate) and two triglycerides (glycerol tricaprylate

Supervision of redeployed surgical trainees during the COVID-19 pandemic: what have we learnt and how can we improve?

Objective When cases of patients presenting with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) overwhelmed existing services in the United Kingdom (UK), surgical trainees were redeployed to assist frontline efforts. This project characterises the effects of redeployment on the supervision of these trainees. The resulting generation of practical recommendations could be implemented for future crises. Design A qualitative approach was utilised, comprised of seven phenomenological interviews with surgical and intensive care consultants, as well as redeployed surgical trainees. Interview recordings were transcribed and subsequently analysed using Thematic Analysis. Setting The project utilised participants currently in surgical training within the London deanery across a variety of surgical specialties representing several UK National Health Service (NHS) Trusts. Participants Three types of participants were interviewed. Four interviews were conducted with redeployed surgical trainees, across all stages of training, in full time employment who were redeployed for two weeks or more. One interview was conducted with an educational supervisor of multiple redeployed trainees. The third group comprised two consultant intensivists who supervised redeployed trainees within their respective departments. Results Four themes were developed: ‘Responding to an unforeseen crisis’, ‘Maintaining surgical identity and culture; A fish out of water?’, ‘Trainee supervision and support’ and ‘Preparation and sequelae’. Participants described a sense of obligation to the pandemic effort. Many described a significant interruption to training, however communication of this to surgical supervisors was suboptimal with minimal mitigation. Supervisors on the frontline were challenged by the assessment of trainee competence and acceptance into a new community of practice. Both trainees and supervisors described the management of uncertainty, advocating for the use of reflective practice to ensure preparation for the future. Conclusion This project presents an insight into several potentially long-lasting effects on surgical training. The recommendations generated may be applicable to trainees returning to work from time out of training, increasing the utility of this work

Interactions of scope and ellipsis

Systematic semantic ambiguities result from the interaction of the two operations that are involved in resolving ellipsis in the presence of scoping elements such as quantifiers and intensional operators: scope determination for the scoping elements and resolution of the elided relation. A variety of problematic examples previously noted - by Sag, Hirschbüihler, Gawron and Peters, Harper, and others - all have to do with such interactions. In previous work, we showed how ellipsis resolution can be stated and solved in equational terms. Furthermore, this equational analysis of ellipsis provides a uniform framework in which interactions between ellipsis resolution and scope determination can be captured. As a consequence, an account of the problematic examples follows directly from the equational method. The goal of this paper is merely to point out this pleasant aspect of the equational analysis, through its application to these cases. No new analytical methods or associated formalism are presented, with the exception of a straightforward extension of the equational method to intensional logic.Engineering and Applied Science

Quantitative EEG as a Prognostic Tool in Suspected Anti-N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptor Antibody Encephalitis

PURPOSE: Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (anti-NMDAR) encephalitis is a form of autoimmune encephalitis associated with EEG abnormalities. In view of the potentially severe outcomes, there is a need to develop prognostic tools to inform clinical management. The authors explored whether quantitative EEG was able to predict outcomes in patients with suspected anti-NMDAR encephalitis. METHODS: A retrospective, observational study was conducted of patients admitted to a tertiary clinical neuroscience center with suspected anti-NMDAR encephalitis. Peak power and peak frequency within delta (<4 Hz), theta (4-8 Hz), alpha (8 - 13 Hz), and beta (13-30 Hz) frequency bands were calculated for the first clinical EEG recording. Outcome was based on the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score at 1 year after hospital discharge. Binomial logistic regression using backward elimination was performed with peak frequency and power, anti-NMDAR Encephalitis One-Year Functional Status score, age, and interval from symptom onset to EEG entered as predictors. RESULTS: Twenty patients were included (mean age 48.6 years, 70% female), of which 7 (35%) had a poor clinical outcome (mRS 2-6) at 1 year. There was no association between reported EEG abnormalities and outcome. The final logistic regression model was significant (χ2(1) = 6.35, P < 0.012) with peak frequency in the delta range (<4 Hz) the only retained predictor. The model explained 38% of the variance (Nagelkerke R2) and correctly classified 85% of cases. Higher peak frequency in the delta range was significantly associated (P = 0.04) with an increased likelihood of poor outcome. CONCLUSIONS: In this exploratory study, it was found that quantitative EEG on routinely collected EEG recordings in patients with suspected anti-NMDAR encephalitis was feasible. A higher peak frequency within the delta range was associated with poorer clinical outcome and may indicate anti-NMDAR-mediated synaptic dysfunction. Quantitative EEG may have clinical utility in predicting outcomes in patients with suspected NMDAR antibody encephalitis, thereby serving as a useful adjunct to qualitative EEG assessment; however, given the small sample size, replication in a larger scale is indicated

In vitro dispersion test that could serve as a predictive method for assessing performance of lipid-based drug delivery systems

A relatively simple in vitro dispersion test using the USP Dissolution Apparatus II filled with 250 ml of dispersion fluid (0.01M HCl) at 37°C and a rotation speed of 50 RPM was used to assess the performance of lipid-based formulations. Solutions of probucol in mixtures with the surfactant Cremophor® EL with four different medium chain lipids (glyceryl monocaprylocaprate, Capmul® MCM EP; glyceryl dicaprylate; glyceryl tricaprylate, Captex® 8000 EP/NF; caprylic/capric triglyceride, Captex® 355 EP/NF) were formulated and filled into Size 00 hard gelatin capsules (~1 g/capsule) for dispersion testing. Drug concentration in the dispersion fluid and the particle size of the dispersed phase as a function of time were measured with, and without, filtration through 0.45 micron filters. All the lipid/surfactant mixtures dispersed in 80%), indicating suitability for their use in immediate-release formulations. The particle size of the unfiltered samples confirmed whether a microemulsion (1000 nm) was formed. The dispersion test developed here could be used to screen different lipid-based formulations for in vitro performance. Justification for using an in vitro dispersion test to predict in vivo performance of lipid-based drug delivery systems has been provided

Reconfigurable Asynchronous Logic Automata (RALA)

Computer science has served to insulate programs and programmers from knowledge of the underlying mechanisms used to manipulate information, however this fiction is increasingly hard to maintain as computing devices decrease in size and systems increase in complexity. Manifestations of these limits appearing in computers include scaling issues in interconnect, dissipation, and coding. Reconfigurable Asynchronous Logic Automata (RALA) is an alternative formulation of computation that seeks to align logical and physical descriptions by exposing rather than hiding this underlying reality. Instead of physical units being represented in computer programs only as abstract symbols, RALA is based on a lattice of cells that asynchronously pass state tokens corresponding to physical resources. We introduce the design of RALA, review its relationships to its many progenitors, and discuss its benefits, implementation, programming, and extensions.National Science Foundation (U.S.) Center for Bits and AtomsUnited States. Army Research Office (Grant number W911NF-08-1-0254)United States. Army Research Office (Grant number W911NF-09-1-0542

Improving HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) adherence and retention in care: Process evaluation and recommendation development from a nationally implemented PrEP programme

Introduction HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), in which people take HIV medication to prevent HIV acquisition, underpins global HIV transmission elimination strategies. Effective prevention needs people to adhere to PrEP and remain in care during periods of risk, but this is difficult to achieve. We undertook a process evaluation of Scotland’s PrEP programme to explore barriers and facilitators to PrEP adherence and retention in care and to systematically develop evidence-based, theoretically-informed recommendations to address them. Methods We conducted semi-structured interviews and focus groups (09/2018-07/2019) with patients who identified as gay or bisexual men and were either using PrEP, had declined the offer of PrEP, had stopped PrEP, or had been assessed as ineligible for PrEP (n = 39 of whom n = 5 (13%) identified as trans, median age 31 years and interquartile range 14 years), healthcare professionals involved in PrEP provision (n = 54 including specialist sexual health doctors and nurses of various grades, PrEP prescribing general practitioners, health promotion officers, midwifes, and a PrEP clinical secretary), and clients (n = 9) and staff (n = 15) of nongovernmental organisations with an HIV prevention remit across Scotland. We used thematic analysis to map key barriers and facilitators to priority areas that could enhance adherence and retention in care. We used implementation science analytic tools (Theoretical Domains Framework, Intervention Functions, Behaviour Change Technique Taxonomy, APEASE criteria) and expert opinion to systematically generate recommendations. Results Barriers included perceived complexity of on-demand dosing, tendency for users to stop PrEP before seeking professional support, troublesome side-effects, limited flexibility in the settings/timings/nature of review appointments, PrEP-related stigma and emerging stigmas around not using PrEP. Facilitators included flexible appointment scheduling, reminders, and processes to follow up non-attenders. Examples of the 25 recommendations include: emphasising benefits of PrEP reviews and providing appointments flexibly within individualised PrEP care; using clinic systems to remind/recall PrEP users; supporting PrEP conversations among sexual partners; clear on-demand dosing guidance; encouraging good PrEP citizenship; detailed discussion on managing side-effects and care/coping planning activities. Conclusions PrEP adherence and retention in care is challenging, reducing the effectiveness of PrEP at individual and population levels. We identify and provide solutions to where and how collaborative interventions across public health, clinical, and community practice could address these challenges