Cost of Producing Milk: A Comparison by State

Livestock Production/Industries,

Suicidal Ideation and Self-injury Prevalence and Impairment in an Urban Integrated Primary Care Clinic

Introduction: Suicide is the second leading cause of death for adolescents (Rosenbaum & Ougrin, 2019). Pediatric primary care staff are often the first line of intervention for youth presenting with suicidal thoughts and NSSI (Taliaferro et al., 2013). The primary aim of the current study was to describe reported suicidal ideation, attempts, and NSSI in youth presenting to an urban integrated primary care setting. Methods: Within an outpatient pediatric primary care clinic, patients were referred by medical staff and introduced to behavioral health services. Patients were asked about their history of suicidal thoughts/attempts and NSSI (Mage = 12.63; SD = 4.51; 66.3% female, 66.3% Black; 69.6% Medicaid). Patients were also screened using the Pediatric Symptom Checklist-17 (PSC17; Gardner et al., 2007) and Top Problems (Weisz et al., 2001). Results: Seventeen percent of patients endorsed a history of either suicidal ideation/attempts or NSSI. Chi-square analyses identified a significant association between patient race and suicidal ideation/attempts [χ2(6) = 13.56, p = .035]. The sample’s mean internalizing score on the PSC17 fell within the clinical range (M = 6.13, SD = 2.49). Further results reflecting findings, interventions used, and top problem areas will be presented. Conclusion: Results highlight a demand for establishing and sustaining effective screening and engagement in mental health treatment for youth suicidality and self-injury in integrated care settings. Future directions will be discussed.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/gradposters/1111/thumbnail.jp

When Inflation Causes No Increase in Claim Amounts

It is well known that when (re)insurance coverages involve a deductible, the impact of inflation of loss amounts is distorted, and the changes in claims paid by the (re)insurer cannot be assumed to reflect the rate of inflation. A particularly interesting phenomenon occurs when losses follow a Pareto distribution. In this case, the observed loss amounts (those that exceed the deductible) are identically distributed from year to year even in the presence of inflation. Nevertheless, in this paper we succeed in estimating the inflation rate from the observations. We develop appropriate statistical inferential methods to quantify the inflation rate and illustrate them using simulated data. Our solution hinges on the recognition that the distribution of the number of observed losses changes from year to year depending on the inflation rate

Performance Evaluation of Fixed- and Variable-Area Rocket Exhaust Diffusers Using Single and Clustered Nozzles with and Without Gimbaling

An investigation of exhaust diffusers used for altitude simulation in testing rocket engines was conducted with model diffusers and gaseous nitrogen as the working fluid. This investigation was conducted to evaluate the effects on performance of gimbaling clustered nozzles in a single fixed-area exhaust diffuser. A two-nozzle cluster was gimbaled in all attitudes in four different exhaust-diffuser configurations: (1) a straight circular tube, (2) a straight figure-eight tube, (3) a circular tube with a second throat, and (4) a figure-eight tube with a second throat. Gimbaling clustered nozzles had little effect on the operating pressure ratio for either straight-tube or second-throat diffusers, but caused a large increase in the starting-pressure-ratio requirements in some straight-tube exhaust diffusers. The performance of two or four clustered nozzles with no gimbaling was compared with single-nozzle performance on the basis of the ratio of diffuser area to nozzle-throat area. The performance was found to be dependent on the diffuser- to nozzle-throat-area ratio and independent of both the number of primary nozzles and the nozzle-area ratio. A separate investigation was also conducted to evaluate the performance improvement obtainable with a variable-area exhaust diffuser. This type of diffuser achieved a 26-percent reduction in starting pressure ratio, a 40-percent reduction in operating pressure ratio, and a 50-percent reduction in the overall diffuser length over the values attainable with a fixed-area second-throat diffuser

Occasional papers

no.4 (1994

Information scraps: how and why information eludes our personal information management tools

In this paper we describe information scraps -- a class of personal information whose content is scribbled on Post-it notes, scrawled on corners of random sheets of paper, buried inside the bodies of e-mail messages sent to ourselves, or typed haphazardly into text files. Information scraps hold our great ideas, sketches, notes, reminders, driving directions, and even our poetry. We define information scraps to be the body of personal information that is held outside of its natural or We have much still to learn about these loose forms of information capture. Why are they so often held outside of our traditional PIM locations and instead on Post-its or in text files? Why must we sometimes go around our traditional PIM applications to hold on to our scraps, such as by e-mailing ourselves? What are information scraps' role in the larger space of personal information management, and what do they uniquely offer that we find so appealing? If these unorganized bits truly indicate the failure of our PIM tools, how might we begin to build better tools? We have pursued these questions by undertaking a study of 27 knowledge workers. In our findings we describe information scraps from several angles: their content, their location, and the factors that lead to their use, which we identify as ease of capture, flexibility of content and organization, and avilability at the time of need. We also consider the personal emotive responses around scrap management. We present a set of design considerations that we have derived from the analysis of our study results. We present our work on an application platform, jourknow, to test some of these design and usability findings

Plasma enhanced vortex fluidic device manipulation of graphene oxide

Open Access Article. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence.A vortex fluid device (VFD) with non-thermal plasma liquid processing within dynamic thin films has been developed. This plasma–liquid microfluidic platform facilitates chemical processing which is demonstrated through the manipulation of the morphology and chemical character of colloidal graphene oxide in water

A Randomized, Controlled, Phase 2 Study of Maralixibat in the Treatment of Itching Associated With Primary Biliary Cholangitis.

Primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) is typically associated with elevated serum bile acid levels and pruritus, but pruritus is often refractory to treatment with existing therapies. This phase 2 study assessed the efficacy and safety of maralixibat, a selective, ileal, apical, sodium-dependent, bile acid transporter inhibitor, in adults with PBC and pruritus. Adults with PBC and pruritus who had received ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) for ≥6 months or were intolerant to UDCA were randomized 2:1 to maralixibat (10 or 20 mg/day) or placebo for 13 weeks in combination with UDCA (when tolerated). The primary outcome was change in Adult Itch Reported Outcome (ItchRO™) average weekly sum score (0, no itching; 70, maximum itching) from baseline to week 13/early termination (ET). The study enrolled 66 patients (maralixibat [both doses combined], n = 42; placebo, n = 24). Mean ItchRO™ weekly sum scores decreased from baseline to week 13/ET with maralixibat (-26.5; 95% confidence interval [CI], -31.8, -21.2) and placebo (-23.4; 95% CI, -30.3, -16.4). The difference between groups was not significant (P = 0.48). In the maralixibat and placebo groups, adverse events (AEs) were reported in 97.6% and 70.8% of patients, respectively. Gastrointestinal disorders were the most frequently reported AEs (maralixibat, 78.6%; placebo, 50.0%). Conclusion: Reductions in pruritus did not differ significantly between maralixibat and placebo. However, a large placebo effect may have confounded assessment of pruritus. Lessons learned from this rigorously designed and executed trial are indispensable for understanding how to approach trials assessing pruritus as the primary endpoint and the therapeutic window of bile acid uptake inhibition as a therapeutic strategy in PBC

Contaminants in commercial preparations of ‘purified’ small leucine-rich proteoglycans may distort mechanistic studies

The authors are grateful to Genodisc (EC’s 7th Framework Programme (FP7, 2007-2013) under grant agreement no. HEALTH-F2-2008-201626) and the Orthopaedic Institute Ltd for funding.This paper reports the perplexing results that came about because of seriously impure commercially available reagents. Commercial reagents and chemicals are routinely ordered by scientists and are expected to have been rigorously assessed for their purity. Unfortunately, we found this assumption to be risky. Extensive work was carried out within our laboratory using commercially-sourced preparations of the small leucine-rich proteoglycans, decorin and biglycan, to investigate their influence on nerve cell growth. Unusual results compelled us to analyse the composition and purity of both preparations of these proteoglycans using both mass spectrometry and Western blotting, with and without various enzymatic deglycosylations. Commercial ‘decorin’ and ‘biglycan’ were found to contain a mixture of proteoglycans including not only both decorin and biglycan but also fibromodulin and aggrecan. The unexpected effects of ‘decorin’ and ‘biglycan’ on nerve cell growth could be explained by these impurities. Decorin and biglycan contain either chondroitin or dermatan sulphate glycosaminoglycan chains whilst fibromodulin only contains keratan sulphate and the large (>2,500 kDa), highly glycosylated aggrecan, contains both keratan and chondroitin sulphate. The different structure, molecular weights and composition of these impurities significantly affected our work and any conclusions that could be made. These findings beg the question as to whether scientists need to verify the purity of each commercially obtained reagent used in their experiments. The implications of these findings are vast, since the effects of these impurities may already have led to inaccurate conclusions and reports in the literature with concomitant loss of researchers’ funds and time.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe