Association of Electronic Health Records with Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Infection in a National Sample

This study examined the relationship between advanced electronic health record (EHR) use in hospitals and rates of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection in an inpatient setting. National Inpatient Sample (NIS) and Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Annual Survey are combined in the retrospective, cross-sectional analysis. A twenty percent simple random sample of the combined 2009 NIS and HIMSS datasets included a total of 1,032,905 patient cases of MRSA in 550 hospitals. Results of the propensity-adjusted logistic regression model revealed a statistically significant association between advanced EHR and MRSA, with patient cases from an advanced EHR being less likely to report a MRSA diagnosis code

Coherent backscattering of ultrasound without a source

Coherent backscattering is due to constructive interferences of reciprocal paths and leads to an enhancement of the intensity of a multiply scattered field near its source. To observe this enhancement an array of receivers is conventionally placed close to the source. Our approach here is different. In a first experiment, we recover the coherent backscattering effect (CBE) within an array of sources and a distant receiver using time correlation of diffuse fields. The enhancement cone has an excellent spatial resolution. The dynamics of the enhancement factor is studied in a second experiment using correlation of thermal phonons at the same ultrasonic frequencies, without any active source

Dose Effects of Recombinant Adenovirus Immunization in Rodents

Recombinant adenovirus type 5 (rAd) has been used as a vaccine platform against many infectious diseases and has been shown to be an effective vaccine vector. The dose of the vaccine varies significantly from study to study, making it very diffcult to compare immune responses and vaccine effcacy. This study determined the immune correlates induced by serial dilutions of rAd vaccines delivered intramuscularly (IM) and intranasally (IN) to mice and rats. When immunized IM, mice had substantially higher antibody responses at the higher vaccine doses, whereas, the IN immunized mice showed a lower response to the higher rAd vaccine doses. Rats did not show dose-dependent antibody responses to increasing vaccine doses. The IM immunized mice and rats also showed significant dose-dependent T cell responses to the rAd vaccine. However, the T cell immunity plateaued in both mice and rats at 109 and 1010 vp/animal, respectively. Additionally, the highest dose of vaccine in mice and rats did not improve the T cell responses. A final vaccine analysis using a lethal influenza virus challenge showed that despite the differences in the immune responses observed in the mice, the mice had very similar patterns of protection. This indicates that rAd vaccines induced dose-dependent immune responses, especially in IM immunized animals, and that immune correlates are not as predictive of protection as initially thought

Vaccines within vaccines: The use of adenovirus types 4 and 7 as influenza vaccine vectors

adenovirus Types 4 and 7 (ad4 and ad7) are associated with acute respiratory distress (aRD). In order to prevent wide- spread ad-associated aRD (ad-aRD) the United states military immunizes new recruits using a safe and effective lyophi- lized wildtype ad4 and ad7 delivered orally in an enteric-coated capsule. We cloned ad4 and ad7 and modified them to express either a GFP-Luciferase (GFPLuc) fusion gene or a centralized influenza H1 hemagglutinin (Ha1-con). BaLB/c mice were injected with GFPLuc expressing viruses intramuscularly (i.m.) and intranasally (i.n.). ad4 induced significantly higher luciferase expression levels as compared with ad7 by both routes. ad7 transduction was restored using a human cD46+ transgenic mouse model. Mice immunized with serial dilutions of viruses expressing the Ha1-con influenza vac- cine gene were challenged with 100 MLD50 of influenza virus. ad4 protected BaLB/c mice at a lower dose by i.m. immu- nization as compared with ad7. Unexpectedly, there was no difference in protection by i.n. immunization. although ad7 i.m. transduction was restored in cD46+ transgenic mice, protection against influenza challenge required even higher doses as compared with the BaLB/c mice. However, ad7 i.n. immunized cD46+ transgenic mice were better protected as compared with ad4. Interestingly, the restoration of ad7 transduction in cD46+ mice did not increase vaccine efficacy and indicates that ad7 may transduce a different subset of cells through alternative receptors in the absence of cD46. These data indicate that both ad4 and ad7 can effectively induce anti-H1N1 immunity against a heterologous challenge using a centralized H1 gene. Future studies in non-human primates or human clinical trials will determine the overall effectiveness of ad4 and ad7 as vaccines for influenza

A Detailed Phylogenetic Analysis of FIV in the United States

Background: Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) is a lentivirus associated with AIDS-like illnesses in cats and has been used as a model for the study of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). A feature of HIV and FIV infection is the continually increasing divergence among viral isolates between different individuals, as well as within the same individuals. Methodology/Principal Findings: The goal of this study was to determine the phylogenetic patterns of viral isolates obtained within the United States (U.S.) by focusing on the variable, V3-V4, region of the FIV envelope gene. Conclusions/Significance: Data indicate that FIV, from within the U.S., localize to four viral clades, A, B, C, and F. Also shown is the geographic isolation of strains where clade A and clade B are found predominately on the west coast; however, clade B is also found throughout the U.S. and represents the predominant clade. This study presents a complete and conclusive analysis of FIV isolates from within the U.S. and may be used as the essential basis for the development of an effective multiclade vaccine

The Princip Cult and What it Evokes in Hungary

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Hungarian Views of the Bunjevci in Habsburg Times and the Inter-war Period

The status and image of minorities often depends not on their self-perceptions, but on the official stance taken by the state in which they live. While identity is commonly recognized as malleable and personal, the official status of minorities is couched in stiff scientific language claiming to be authoritative. But as polities change, these supposedly scientific categorizations of minorities also change. Based on academic reports and parliamentary decisions, in Hungary today the Catholic South Slavs known as Bunjevci are officially regarded as an obscure branch of the Croatian nation. This has not always been the case. Early records of the Bunjevci categorized them in a variety of ways, most commonly as Catholic Serbs, Dalmatians, and Illyrians. In the nineteenth century Bunjevac elites were able to project to the Hungarian public a mythological positive historical image of the Bunjevci, delineating them from the negative stereotypes of other South Slavs. This positive image, fixed in encyclopaedias and maintained until the Second World War, represented the Bunjevci as Catholic Serbs who (unlike Croats or Orthodox Serbs) were constantly faithful to the Hungarian state and eager to assimilate. In the 1920s and 1930s traditional Hungarian stereotypes of Bunjevci protected them from abuses suffered by other South Slavs. As political relations transformed, official views of the Bunjevci also changed. With the massive upheaval during and after the Second World War, there was a change in accounts of who the Bunjevci were. The transformation from communism and the break-up of Yugoslavia have also evoked demands for changes in identity from some Bunjevci, and brought new impositions of identity upon them

Supporting Entrepreneurs: Preliminary Findings from Accion & Opportunity Fund Small Business Lending Impact Study

As two of the nation's leading nonprofit small business lenders, Accion, The US Network (Accion) and Opportunity Fund help entrepreneurs thrive by providing affordable capital and support services so they can start a new business endeavor or grow an existing enterprise.Accion and Opportunity Fund came together to develop a first-of-its-kind national longitudinal study of the impact of small business loans in the United States. With lead funding from The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, JPMorgan Chase Foundation, and with support from S&P Global, the study aims to uncover the qualitative impacts of lending on individuals, their businesses, and their broader communities. This study, conducted by Harder+Company Community Research, builds on the body of previous evaluation work that showed small businesses that receive loans create and retain jobs, increase revenue, and have high business survival rates. Following a cohort of more than 500 borrowers across the country, this study examines how business owners define success and how access to finance improves their entrepreneurial goals, financial health, and quality of life. By focusing on the longer-term impacts of small business lending while examining variations due to business type, geography, and other factors, the study will help deepen our understanding of how mission-based business lending impacts individuals, families, and communities.This report includes preliminary findings collected during this first phase of the study. While entrepreneurs reported perceived and actual impact to date, these changes will be tracked over time to examine the ways in which they are or are not sustained, and how these changes compare across and within lending regions

Low Seroprevalent Species D Adenovirus Vectors as Influenza Vaccines

Seasonal and pandemic influenza remains a constant threat. While standard influenza vaccines have great utility, the need for improved vaccine technologies have been brought to light by the 2009 swine flu pandemic, highly pathogenic avian influenza infections, and the most recent early and widespread influenza activity. Species C adenoviruses based on serotype 5 (AD5) are potent vehicles for gene-based vaccination. While potent, most humans are already immune to this virus. In this study, low seroprevalent species D adenoviruses Ad26, 28, and 48 were cloned and modified to express the influenza virus A/PR/8/34 hemagglutinin gene for vaccine studies. When studied in vivo, these species D Ad vectors performed quite differently as compared to species C Ad vectors depending on the route of immunization. By intramuscular injection, species D vaccines were markedly weaker than species C vaccines. In contrast, the species D vaccines were equally efficient as species C when delivered mucosally by the intranasal route. Intranasal adenovirus vaccine doses as low as 108 virus particles per mouse induced complete protection against a stringent lethal challenge dose of influenza. These data support translation of species D adenoviruses as mucosal vaccines and highlight the fundamental effects of differences in virus tropism on vaccine applications