198 research outputs found
Support for Social Programs: Effects of Class, Race, Political Ideology, and Poverty Beliefs
This paper examines the main factors affecting support for social programs: class, race, political ideology, and beliefs about poverty. Using ordinary least squares regression (OLS) and bivariate correlation models, I examine how racial priming influences blacks\u27 and whites\u27 support for social programs such as welfare and unemployment. The premise of a racial primer is that people\u27s racial attitudes or beliefs, overt or hidden, will be enhanced when reading information that confirms their attitudes or beliefs. While the racial primers did not directly influence support for social programs, they did moderate the independent variables\u27 affect on the levels of support for social programs. I also found that racial attitudes significantly influenced support for social programs across all five of the dependent variables used in this study; positive and negative attitudes of welfare, support for extreme and assistive intervention methods, and fear of losing status to minorities. Finally, this research offers a renewed interest in direct and hidden prejudices held by both blacks and whites
Contactless Spectral-Dependent Measurement of Bulk Lifetime and Surface Recombination Velocity in Silicon Photovoltaic Materials
Charge carrier lifetime measurements in bulk or unfinished photovoltaic (PV) materials allow for a more accurate estimate of power conversion efficiency in completed solar cells. In this work, carrier lifetimes in PV- grade silicon wafers are obtained by way of quasi-steady state photoconductance measurements. These measurements use a contactless RF system coupled with varying narrow spectrum input LEDs, ranging in wavelength from 460 nm to 1030 nm. Spectral dependent lifetime measurements allow for determination of bulk and surface properties of the material, including the intrinsic bulk lifetime and the surface recombination velocity. The effective lifetimes are fit to an analytical physics-based model to determine the desired parameters. Passivated and non-passivated samples are both studied and are shown to have good agreement with the theoretical model
Hospitalization at the end of life in patients with multiple myeloma
A grant from the One-University Open Access Fund at the University of Kansas was used to defray the author's publication fees in this Open Access journal. The Open Access Fund, administered by librarians from the KU, KU Law, and KUMC libraries, is made possible by contributions from the offices of KU Provost, KU Vice Chancellor for Research & Graduate Studies, and KUMC Vice Chancellor for Research. For more information about the Open Access Fund, please see http://library.kumc.edu/authors-fund.xml.Background
Despite advances in treatment, multiple myeloma (MM) remains incurable and results in significant morbidity and mortality. Further research investigating where MM patients die and characterization of end-of-life hospitalizations is needed.
Methods
We utilized the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) to explore the hospitalization burden of MM patients at the end of their lives.
Results
The percent of patients dying in the hospital as a percent of overall MM deaths ranged from 54% in 2002 to 41.4% in 2017 (p < 0.01). Blood transfusions were received in 32.7% of these hospitalizations and infections were present in 47.8% of patients. Palliative care and/or hospice consultations ranged from 5.3% in 2002 to 31.4% in 2017 (p < 0.01).
Conclusion
Our study demonstrates that patients with MM dying in the hospital have a significant requirement for blood transfusions and have a high infection burden. We also show that palliative care and hospice involvement at the end of life has increased over time but remains low, and that ultimately, inpatient mortality has decreased over time, but MM patients die in the hospital at a higher rate than the general population
Hybrid Architecture Performance and Evaluation for Quantitative and Comparative Analysis
As space becomes an increasingly heterogeneous blend of multi-national commercial, civil, and government systems, additional capability can be leveraged by taking a hybrid approach to space-based services. The choice of service provider must be weighed against requirements such as timeliness, quality, and confidence in the results. We present a method to quantitatively evaluate the overall performance of any space architecture from traditional monolithic systems to fully hybrid systems-of-systems that blend contributions from multiple providers with distinct capabilities. The results can inform operational, planning, and acquisition decisions for both current and future space missions
Chefs in Future Integrated Healthcare - Current State and Innovation Needs: A First Overview of the NECTAR Project (aN Eu Curriculum for Chef gasTro-Engineering in Primary Food Care)
: People in need of care, chronic or acute, often present problematic food intake and special nutritional needs. Integrated, person-centred and pro-active food and nutritional care delivery has been proven effective for people in health care. However, skills mismatches have been reported in different professions involved, which also applies to the role of chefs in healthcare. The EU funded project NECTAR aims at closing this gap by creating a new job profile, called Chef Gastro-Engineering (CGE). The current publication summarizes the status quo in hospitals and gives a perspective on the future role of chefs in integrated healthcare delivery
The Novel Atypical Dopamine Uptake Inhibitor (S)-CE-123 Partially Reverses the Effort-Related Effects of the Dopamine Depleting Agent Tetrabenazine and Increases Progressive Ratio Responding
Animal studies of effort-based choice behavior are being used to model effort-related
motivational dysfunctions in humans. With these procedures, animals are offered a choice
between high-effort instrumental actions leading to highly valued reinforcers vs. low effort/
low reward options. Several previous studies have shown that dopamine (DA) uptake
inhibitors, including GBR12909, lisdexamfetamine, methylphenidate, and PRX-14040,
can reverse the effort-related effects of the vesicular monoamine transport blocker
tetrabenazine, which inhibits DA storage. Because many drugs that block DA transport
act as major stimulants that also release DA, and produce a number of undesirable
side effects, there is a need to develop and characterize novel atypical DA transport
inhibitors. (S)-CE-123 ((S)-5-((benzhydrylsulfnyl) methyl)thiazole) is a recently developed
analog of modafnil with the biochemical characteristics of an atypical DA transport
blocker. The present paper describes the enantioselective synthesis and initial chemical
characterization of (S)-CE-123, as well as behavioral experiments involving effort-based
choice and microdialysis studies of extracellular DA. Rats were assessed using the fxed
ratio 5/chow feeding choice test. Tetrabenazine (1.0 mg/kg) shifted choice behavior,
decreasing lever pressing and increasing chow intake. (S)-CE-123 was coadministered
at doses ranging from 6.0 to 24.0 mg/kg, and the highest dose partially but signifcantly
reversed the effects of tetrabenazine, although this dose had no effect on fxed ratio
responding when administered alone. Additional experiments showed that (S)-CE-123
signifcantly increased lever pressing on a progressive ratio/chow feeding choice task and
that the effective dose (24.0 mg/kg) increased extracellular DA in nucleus accumbens core.
In summary, (S)-CE-123 has the behavioral and neurochemical profle of a compound
that can block DA transport, reverse the effort-related effects of tetrabenazine, and
increase selection of high-effort progressive ratio responding. This suggests that (S)-CE-
123 or a similar compound could be useful as a treatment for effort-related motivational
dysfunction in humans
The Transcriptional Response of Drosophila melanogaster to Infection with the Sigma Virus (Rhabdoviridae)
Bacterial and fungal infections induce a potent immune response in Drosophila melanogaster, but it is unclear whether viral infections induce an antiviral immune response. Using microarrays, we examined the changes in gene expression in Drosophila that occur in response to infection with the sigma virus, a negative-stranded RNA virus (Rhabdoviridae) that occurs in wild populations of D. melanogaster. We detected many changes in gene expression in infected flies, but found no evidence for the activation of the Toll, IMD or Jak-STAT pathways, which control immune responses against bacteria and fungi. We identified a number of functional categories of genes, including serine proteases, ribosomal proteins and chorion proteins that were overrepresented among the differentially expressed genes. We also found that the sigma virus alters the expression of many more genes in males than in females. These data suggest that either Drosophila do not mount an immune response against the sigma virus, or that the immune response is not controlled by known immune pathways. If the latter is true, the genes that we identified as differentially expressed after infection are promising candidates for controlling the host's response to the sigma virus
Results of the Basin and Range Geoscientific Experiment (BARGE): A marine-style seismic reflection survey across the eastern boundary of the central Basin and Range Province
Cryptic Diversity of African Tigerfish (Genus Hydrocynus) Reveals Palaeogeographic Signatures of Linked Neogene Geotectonic Events
The geobiotic history of landscapes can exhibit controls by tectonics over biotic evolution. This causal relationship positions ecologically specialized species as biotic indicators to decipher details of landscape evolution. Phylogeographic statistics that reconstruct spatio-temporal details of evolutionary histories of aquatic species, including fishes, can reveal key events of drainage evolution, notably where geochronological resolution is insufficient. Where geochronological resolution is insufficient, phylogeographic statistics that reconstruct spatio-temporal details of evolutionary histories of aquatic species, notably fishes, can reveal key events of drainage evolution. This study evaluates paleo-environmental causes of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) based phylogeographic records of tigerfishes, genus Hydrocynus, in order to reconstruct their evolutionary history in relation to landscape evolution across Africa. Strong geographical structuring in a cytochrome b (cyt-b) gene phylogeny confirms the established morphological diversity of Hydrocynus and reveals the existence of five previously unknown lineages, with Hydrocynus tanzaniae sister to a clade comprising three previously unknown lineages (Groups B, C and D) and H. vittatus. The dated phylogeny constrains the principal cladogenic events that have structured Hydrocynus diversity from the late Miocene to the Plio-Pleistocene (ca. 0–16 Ma). Phylogeographic tests reveal that the diversity and distribution of Hydrocynus reflects a complex history of vicariance and dispersals, whereby range expansions in particular species testify to changes to drainage basins. Principal divergence events in Hydrocynus have interfaced closely with evolving drainage systems across tropical Africa. Tigerfish evolution is attributed to dominant control by pulses of geotectonism across the African plate. Phylogenetic relationships and divergence estimates among the ten mtDNA lineages illustrates where and when local tectonic events modified Africa's Neogene drainage. Haplotypes shared amongst extant Hydrocynus populations across northern Africa testify to recent dispersals that were facilitated by late Neogene connections across the Nilo-Sahelian drainage. These events in tigerfish evolution concur broadly with available geological evidence and reveal prominent control by the African Rift System, evident in the formative events archived in phylogeographic records of tigerfish
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