Personal Perceptions of Privacy and Security

The US government is utilizing multiple controversial methods to detect and prevent terrorism. Do government officers, such as police, view these programs differently than university students? What other differences may exist to explain the difference in viewpoint? Surveys were given to the students of Georgia Southern University and officers of the Statesboro Police Department. They provided their respective opinions on these programs. The data suggested that police were more open to the use of surveillance to prevent terrorism. Police were more willing to allow the government to use surveillance against Muslims, Latinos, Liberals, Christians, and Conservatives. Also between the two groups, police were more likely to think the USA PATRIOT ACT is helpful in stopping terrorism. There were distinct differences between these two populations in their views on surveillance and the threats posed by terrorist organizations. From these differences in perceptions, two different pictures of the state of the nation can be taken away

Managing Opioid-Tolerant Patients in the Perioperative Surgical Home.

Management of acute postoperative pain is important to decrease perioperative morbidity and improve patient satisfaction. Opioids are associated with potential adverse events that may lead to significant risk. Uncontrolled pain is a risk factor in the transformation of acute pain to chronic pain. Balancing these issues can be especially challenging in opioid-tolerant patients undergoing surgery, for whom rapidly escalating opioid doses in an effort to control pain can be associated with increased complications. In the perioperative surgical home model, anesthesiologists are positioned to coordinate a comprehensive perioperative analgesic plan that begins with the preoperative assessment and continues through discharge

Non-unitary representations of the SU(2) algebra in the Dirac equation with a Coulomb potential

A novel realization of the classical SU(2) algebra is introduced for the Dirac relativistic hydrogen atom defining a set of operators that, besides, allow the factorization of the problem. An extra phase is needed as a new variable in order to define the algebra. We take advantage of the operators to solve the Dirac equation using algebraic methods. To acomplish this, a similar path to the one used in the angular momentum case is employed; hence, the radial eigenfuntions calculated comprise non unitary representations of the algebra. One of the interesting properties of such non unitary representations is that they are not labeled by integer nor by half-integer numbers as happens in the usual angular momentum representation.Comment: 20 pages 1 eps figure in a single zipped file, submitted to J. Math. Phy

A Geometric Representation for the Proca Model

The Proca model is quantized in an open-path dependent representation that generalizes the Loop Representation of gauge theories. The starting point is a gauge invariant Lagrangian that reduces to the Proca Lagrangian when certain gauge is selected.Comment: 10 pages, Late

Heat Capacity Measurements in Pulsed Magnetic Fields

The new NHMFL 60T quasi-continuous magnet produces a flat-top field for a period of 100 ms at 60 Tesla, and for longer time at lower fields, e.g. 0.5 sec at 35 Tesla. We have developed for the first time the capability to measure heat capacity at very high magnetic fields in the NHMFL 60 T quasi-continuous magnet at LANL, using a probe built out of various plastic materials. The field plateau allows us to utilize a heat-pulse method to obtain heat capacity data. Proof-of-principle heat capacity experiments were performed on a variety of correlated electron systems. Both magnet performance characteristics and physical properties of various materials studied hold out a promise of wide application of this new tool.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, World Scientific Pub. Co., to be publishe

The Efficacy of Peripheral Opioid Antagonists in Opioid-Induced Constipation and Postoperative Ileus: A Systematic Review of the Literature.

Opioid-induced constipation has a negative impact on quality of life for patients with chronic pain and can affect more than a third of patients. A related but separate entity is postoperative ileus, which is an abnormal pattern of gastrointestinal motility after surgery. Nonselective μ-opioid receptor antagonists reverse constipation and opioid-induced ileus but cross the blood-brain barrier and may reverse analgesia. Peripherally acting μ-opioid receptor antagonists target the μ-opioid receptor without reversing analgesia. Three such agents are US Food and Drug Administration approved. We reviewed the literature for randomized controlled trials that studied the efficacy of alvimopan, methylnaltrexone, and naloxegol in treating either opioid-induced constipation or postoperative ileus. Peripherally acting μ-opioid receptor antagonists may be effective in treating both opioid-induced bowel dysfunction and postoperative ileus, but definitive conclusions are not possible because of study inconsistency and the relatively low quality of evidence. Comparisons of agents are difficult because of heterogeneous end points and no head-to-head studies

Management of varices and variceal hemorrhage in cirrhosis

Variceal hemorrhage is a lethal complication of cirrhosis, particularly in patients in whom clinical decompensation (i.e., ascites, encephalopathy, a previous episode of hemorrhage, or jaundice) has already developed. Practice guidelines for the management of varices and variceal hemorrhage1 in cirrhosis are mostly based on evidence in the literature that has been summarized and prioritized at consensus conferences..

Evaluating the impact and use of Transparent Reporting of Evaluations with Non-randomised Designs (TREND) reporting guidelines.

notes: PMCID: PMC3533093Freely available Open Access paper. Cite published version at: doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2012-002073INTRODUCTION: Accurate and full reporting of evaluation of interventions in health research is needed for evidence synthesis and informed decision-making. Evidence suggests that biases and incomplete reporting affect the assessment of study validity and the ability to include this data in secondary research. The Transparent Reporting of Evaluations with Non-randomised Designs (TREND) reporting guideline was developed to improve the transparency and accuracy of the reporting of behavioural and public health evaluations with non-randomised designs. Evaluations of reporting guidelines have shown that they can be effective in improving reporting completeness. Although TREND occupies a niche within reporting guidelines, and despite it being 8 years since publication, no study yet has assessed its impact on reporting completeness or investigated what factors affect its use by authors and journal editors. This protocol describes two studies that aim to redress this. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Study 1 will use an observational design to examine the uptake and use of TREND by authors, and by journals in their instructions to authors. A comparison of reporting completeness and study quality of papers that do and do not use TREND to inform reporting will be made. Study 2 will use a cross-sectional survey to investigate what factors inhibit or facilitate authors' and journal editors' use of TREND. Semistructured interviews will also be conducted with a subset of authors and editors to explore findings from study 1 and the surveys in greater depth. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: These studies will generate evidence of how implementation and dissemination of the TREND guideline has affected reporting completeness in studies with experimental, non-randomised designs within behavioural and public health research. The project has received ethics approval from the Research Ethics Committee of the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, Universities of Exeter and Plymouth

Sex, drugs, bugs, and age: Rational selection of empirical therapy for outpatient urinary tract infection in an era of extensive antimicrobial resistance

AbstractBackgroundOptimal empirical therapy of urinary tract infection requires accurate knowledge of local susceptibility patterns, which may vary with organism and patient characteristics.MethodsAmong 9,798 consecutive, non-duplicate, community-source urine isolates from ambulatory patients ≥ 13 years old, from clinical laboratory and an academic medical center in Curitiba, Brazil (May 1st to December 1st, 2009), susceptibility data for ampicillin, nitrofurantoin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, gentamicin, fluoroquinolones, and ceftriaxone/cefotaxime were compared with organism and patient gender and age.ResultsThe female-to-male ratio decreased with age, from 28.1 (among 20–29 year-olds) to 3.3 (among > 80 year-olds). Overall, susceptibility prevalence varied widely by drug class, from unacceptably low levels (53.5% and 61.1%: ampicillin and trimethoprimsulfamethoxazole) to acceptable but suboptimal levels (81.2% to 91.7%: fluoroquinolones, ceftriaxone, nitrofurantoin, and gentamicin). E. coli isolates exhibited higher susceptibility rates than other isolates, from 3–4% higher (fluoroquinolones, gentamicin) to ≥ 30% (nitrofurantoin, ceftriaxone). Males exhibited lower susceptibility rates than females. Within each gender, susceptibility declined with increasing age. For females, only nitrofurantoin and gentamicin were suitable for empirical therapy (≥ 80% susceptibility) across all age cohorts; fluoroquinolones were suitable only through age 60, and ceftriaxone only through age 80. For males, only gentamicin yielded ≥ 80% susceptibility in any age cohort.ConclusionFew suitable empirical treatment options for community-source urinary tract infection were identified for women aged over 60 years or males of any age. Empirical therapy recommendations must consider the patient's demographic characteristics. Site-specific, age and gender-stratified susceptibility surveillance involving all uropathogens is needed