Everybody’s Publishing but Me! How a Writing Group Can Help Actualize Your Publishing Dreams

On any given day, one can go to the Chronicle of Higher Education and see a new article on the trials and tribulations of publishing and seeking tenure in academia. Anxiety inducing titles such as “Measuring Up” and “The Stress of Academic Publishing” reaffirm the notion that one must publish, or perish. While this type of pressure pushes some to success, for others, it makes it harder to write. However, you don’t have to travel this writing and publishing road alone. Inspired by the book Every Other Thursday: Stories and Strategies from Successful Women Scientists by Ellen Daniell, a small group of women academics and professionals in Logan, Utah found their support team through the creation of a writing group in Spring 2009

RELATIONSHIP OF SERUM DIPEPTIDYL PEPTIDASE-IV ACTIVITY AND ANTI-CASEIN ANTIBODIES TO GASTROINTESTINAL SYMPTOMS AMONG CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER: AN EGYPTIAN STUDY

 Objectives: The objectives of the study were to assess serum dipeptidyl peptidase-IV (DPP-IV) activity in autistic children suffering from severe gastrointestinal (GI) disorder and to examine the hypothesis that there is a link between DPP-IV activity in serum and GI disorder in a subgroup of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).Subjects and Methods: Serum levels of casein antibodies and DPP-IV enzyme activity from 40 autistic children with chronic GI symptoms, and 40 of age-matched children without autism or gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms were assayed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits.Results: In comparison with controls, developmental milestones were delayed among autistic children. The serum DPP-IV activity was significantly lower in the studied patients (p<0.05), while the mean serum levels of casein antibodies were statistically significantly higher in the studied patients (p<0.01). Multiple logistic regression analysis recorded significant association between the high serum level of antibodies to casein, food selectivity and recurrent attacks of abdominal pain (p<0.05), while the low serum DPP-IV enzyme activity was associated with recurrent attacks of abdominal pain in the studied patients with a prediction of 95% (p<0.05).Conclusions: Serum levels of casein antibodies were higher in children with ASD, and maybe contributes to their abdominal pain, and food selectivity. Serum DPP-IV enzyme activity was lower and associated with recurrent attacks of abdominal pain in the studied patients. They may benefit from a supplemental digestive enzyme formula

Inverse plasma equilibria

We illustrate in some detail a 2D inverse-equilibrium solver that was constructed to analyze tokamak configurations and stellarators (the latter in the context of the average method). To ensure that the method is suitable not only to determine equilibria, but also to provide appropriately represented data for existing stability codes, it is important to be able to control the Jacobian, tilde J is identical to delta(R,Z)/delta(rho, theta). The form chosen is tilde J = J/sub 0/(rho)R/sup l/rho where rho is a flux surface label, and l is an integer. The initial implementation is for a fixed conducting-wall boundary, but the technique can be extended to a free-boundary model

Hybrid Group IV Nanophotonic Structures Incorporating Diamond Silicon-Vacancy Color Centers

We demonstrate a new approach for engineering group IV semiconductor-based quantum photonic structures containing negatively charged silicon-vacancy (SiV$^-$) color centers in diamond as quantum emitters. Hybrid SiC/diamond structures are realized by combining the growth of nanoand micro-diamonds on silicon carbide (3C or 4H polytype) substrates, with the subsequent use of these diamond crystals as a hard mask for pattern transfer. SiV$^-$ color centers are incorporated in diamond during its synthesis from molecular diamond seeds (diamondoids), with no need for ionimplantation or annealing. We show that the same growth technique can be used to grow a diamond layer controllably doped with SiV$^-$ on top of a high purity bulk diamond, in which we subsequently fabricate nanopillar arrays containing high quality SiV$^-$ centers. Scanning confocal photoluminescence measurements reveal optically active SiV$^-$ lines both at room temperature and low temperature (5 K) from all fabricated structures, and, in particular, very narrow linewidths and small inhomogeneous broadening of SiV$^-$ lines from all-diamond nano-pillar arrays, which is a critical requirement for quantum computation. At low temperatures (5 K) we observe in these structures the signature typical of SiV$^-$ centers in bulk diamond, consistent with a double lambda. These results indicate that high quality color centers can be incorporated into nanophotonic structures synthetically with properties equivalent to those in bulk diamond, thereby opening opportunities for applications in classical and quantum information processing

Bacteremia in critical care units at Bugando Medical Centre, Mwanza, Tanzania: the role of colonization and contaminated cots and mothers’ hands in cross-transmission of multidrug resistant Gram-negative bacteria

Background: Multidrug resistance (MDR) is a major clinical problem in tertiary hospitals in Tanzania and jeopardizes the life of neonates in critical care units (CCUs). To better understand methods for prevention of MDR infections, this study aimed to determine, among other factors, the role of MDR-Gram-negative bacteria (GNB) contaminating neonatal cots and hands of mothers as possible role in transmission of bacteremia at Bugando Medical Centre (BMC), Mwanza, Tanzania. Methods: This cross-sectional, hospital-based study was conducted among neonates and their mothers in a neonatal intensive care unit and a neonatology unit at BMC from December 2018 to April 2019. Blood specimens (n = 200) were sub-cultured on 5% sheep blood agar (SBA) and MacConkey agar (MCA) plates. Other specimens (200 neonatal rectal swabs, 200 maternal hand swabs and 200 neonatal cot swabs) were directly inoculated on MCA plates supplemented with 2 μg/ml cefotaxime (MCA-C) for screening of GNB resistant to third generation cephalosporins, r-3GCs. Conventional biochemical tests, Kirby-Bauer technique and resistance to cefoxitin 30 μg were used for identification of bacteria, antibiotic susceptibility testing and detection of MDR-GNB and screening of potential Amp-C beta lactamase producing GNB, respectively. Results: The prevalence of culture confirmed bacteremia was 34.5% of which 85.5% were GNB. Fifty-five (93.2%) of GNB isolated from neonatal blood specimens were r-3GCs. On the other hand; 43% of neonates were colonized with GNB r-3GCs, 32% of cots were contaminated with GNB r-3GCs and 18.5% of hands of neonates’ mothers were contaminated with GNB r-3GCs. The prevalences of MDR-GNB isolated from blood culture and GNB r-3GCs isolated from neonatal colonization, cots and mothers’ hands were 96.6, 100, 100 and 94.6%, respectively. Significantly, cyanosis (OR[95%CI]: 3.13[1.51–6.51], p = 0.002), jaundice (OR[95%CI]: 2.10[1.07–4.14], p = 0.031), number of invasive devices (OR[95%CI]: 2.52[1.08–5.85], p = 0.031) and contaminated cot (OR[95%CI]: 2.39[1.26–4.55], p = 0.008) were associated with bacteremia due to GNB. Use of tap water only (OR[95%CI]: 2.12[0.88–5.09], p = 0.040) was protective for bacteremia due to GNB. Conclusion: High prevalence of MDR-GNB bacteremia and intestinal colonization, and MDR-GNB contaminating cots and mothers’ hands was observed. Improved cots decontamination strategies is crucial to limit the spread of MDR-GNB. Further, clinical presentations and water use should be considered in administration of empirical therapy whilst awaiting culture results

The hospital environment versus carriage: transmission pathways for third-generation cephalosporin-resistant bacteria in blood in neonates in a low-resource country healthcare setting

Neonatal bloodstream infections (BSI) can lead to sepsis, with high morbidity and mortality, particularly in low-income settings. The high prevalence of third-generation cephalosporin-resistant organisms (3GC-RO) complicates the management of BSI. Whether BSI is linked to carriage of 3GC-RO, or to acquisition from the hospital environment is important for infection prevention and control, but the relationship remains unclear, especially in low-income settings. At a tertiary hospital in Mwanza, Tanzania, we screened neonatal blood and rectal samples from 200 neonates, and 400 (hospital) environmental samples. We used logistic regression to identify risk factors, and Kolmogorov–Smirnov tests and randomisation analyses to compare distributions of species and resistance patterns to assess potential routes of transmission. We found that BSIs caused by 3GC-RO were frequent (of 59 cases of BSI, 55 were caused by 3GC-RO), as was carriage of 3GC-RO, particularly Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Acinetobacter species. In the 28 infants with both a carriage and blood isolate, there were more (4 of 28) isolate pairs of the same species and susceptibility profile than expected by chance (p < 0.05), but most pairs were discordant (24 of 28). Logistic regression models found no association between BSI and carriage with either 3GC-RO or only 3GC-R K. pneumoniae. These analyses suggest that carriage of 3GC-RO is not a major driver of BSI caused by 3GC-RO in this setting. Comparison with environmental isolates showed very similar distributions of species and resistance patterns in the carriage, BSI, and the environment. These similar distributions, a high frequency of Acinetobacter spp. isolations, the lack of strong association between carriage and BSI, together with the high proportion of 3GC-RO in BSI all suggest that these neonates acquire multidrug-resistant carriage and blood isolates directly from the hospital environment