Eisenhower Statue

Every day thousands of students walk across the Gettysburg College campus. They are distracted by thinking about class, or homework, or the latest happenings in their social lives. Whether or not they think about it daily the students are aware of the historical place in which they are present, the battlefields which surround the campus and the Civil War re-enactors who are reminders of the historical significance of this area. But what is much less obvious to the students is that on their walks to and from classes and to meals or to check their mail they pass what is referred to as “hidden history.” This history is hidden in plain sight, photographs or paintings, plaques, and statues, all of these objects help to tell the story of Gettysburg College. The people in the past and the events that took place on campus, have helped to shape the college of today. That is why these people and events have been commemorated in some form on campus, but the majority of these objects are seen in passing, but never really observed by students. Once a statue or painting is researched the story behind it unfolds, and a little more about the campus is revealed. The story of when, why, and what it has meant to the campus community is important when researching the history in plain sight. An example of “hidden history” on the campus is the Eisenhower statue adjacent to the Dwight D. Eisenhower House, at 300 Carlisle Street. [excerpt] Course Information: Course Title: HIST 300: Historical Method Academic Term: Spring 2006 Course Instructor: Dr. Michael J. Birkner \u2772 Hidden in Plain Sight is a collection of student papers on objects that are hidden in plain sight around the Gettysburg College campus. Topics range from the Glatfelter Hall gargoyles to the statue of Eisenhower and from historical markers to athletic accomplishments. You can download the paper in pdf format and click View Photo to see the image in greater detail.https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/hiddenpapers/1019/thumbnail.jp

Process evaluation of the Getting it Right study and acceptability and feasibility of screening for depression with the aPHQ-9

The Getting it Right study determined the validity, sensitivity, specificity and acceptability of the culturally adapted 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (aPHQ-9) as a screening tool for depression in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (hereafter referred to as Indigenous) people. In this process evaluation we aimed to explore staff perceptions about whether Getting it Right was conducted per protocol, and if the aPHQ-9 was considered an acceptable and feasible screening tool for depression in primary healthcare. This process evaluation will provide information for clinicians and policy makers about the experiences of staff and patients with Getting it Right and what they thought about using the aPHQ-9. Process evaluation using grounded theory approaches. Semi-structured interviews with primary healthcare staff from services participating in Getting it Right were triangulated with feedback (free-text and elicited) from participants collected during the validation study and field notes. Data were thematically analysed according to the Getting it Right study protocol to identify the acceptability and feasibility of the aPHQ-9. Primary healthcare staff (n = 36) and community members (n = 4) from nine of the ten participating Getting it Right services and Indigenous participants (n = 500) from the ten services that took part. Most staff reported that the research was conducted according to the study protocol. Staff from two services reported sometimes recruiting opportunistically (rather than recruiting consecutive patients attending the service as outlined in the main study protocol), when they spoke to patients who they knew from previous interactions, because they perceived their previous relationship may increase the likelihood of patients participating. All Getting it Right participants responded to at least six of the seven feedback questions and 20% provided free-text feedback. Most staff said they would use the aPHQ-9 and most participants said that the questions were easy to understand (87%), the response categories made sense (89%) and that they felt comfortable answering the questions (91%). Getting it Right was predominantly conducted according to the study protocol. The aPHQ-9, the first culturally adapted, nationally validated, freely available depression screening tool for use by Indigenous people, appears to be acceptable and feasible to use. Australian New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry ANZCTR12614000705684 , 03/07/2014

Increase in pediatric recurrent fever evaluations during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in North America

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on new diagnoses of recurrent fevers and autoinflammatory diseases is largely unknown. The Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance (CARRA) PFAPA/AID Working Group aimed to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the number of pediatric patients evaluated for recurrent fevers and autoinflammatory diseases in North America. The absolute number of new outpatient visits and the proportion of these visits attributed to recurrent fever diagnoses during the pre-pandemic period (1 March 2019–29 February 2020) and the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (1 March 2020–28 February 2021) were examined. Data were collected from 27 sites in the United States and Canada. Our results showed an increase in the absolute number of new visits for recurrent fever evaluations in 21 of 27 sites during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period. The increase was observed across different geographic regions in North America. Additionally, the proportion of new visits to these centers for recurrent fever in relation to all new patient evaluations was significantly higher during the first year of the pandemic, increasing from 7.8% before the pandemic to 10.9% during the pandemic year (p < 0.001). Our findings showed that the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with a higher number of evaluations by pediatric subspecialists for recurrent fevers. Further research is needed to understand the reasons behind these findings and to explore non-infectious triggers for recurrent fevers in children

Abstracts from the 8th International Conference on cGMP Generators, Effectors and Therapeutic Implications

This work was supported by a restricted research grant of Bayer AG

Food Insecurity across the Life-Course and Cognitive Function among Older Mexican Adults

Background: Food insecurity remains a global public health problem. Experiencing food insecurity is related to poorer cognitive function among older adults. However, few studies have examined how food insecurity, experienced over the life-course, relates to cognitive function among older adults in Mexico. Methods: Data came from the 2015 Mexican Health and Aging Study (n = 11,507 adults aged 50 and over). Early- and late-life food insecurity were ascertained by self-report. We evaluated how both measures of food insecurity related to the performance of multiple cognitive tasks (Verbal Learning, Verbal Recall, Visual Scanning, and Verbal Fluency), while controlling for key health and sociodemographic confounders using linear regression. Results: In descriptive analyses, respondents who experienced food insecurity in either early or late life performed significantly worse on all cognitive tasks when compared to the food secure. In models adjusted for health and sociodemographic confounders, early-life food insecurity predicted worse Verbal Learning performance and late-life food insecurity was associated with poorer Visual Scanning performance. Conclusions: Food insecurity was related to poorer cognitive function in a nationally representative sample of older adults in Mexico. However, results suggested that the significance of effects depended on cognitive task and when in the life-course food insecurity was experienced

Safety and immunogenicity of a recombinant Staphylococcus aureus α-toxoid and a recombinant Panton-Valentine leukocidin subunit, in healthy adults

We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled dose-escalation study in healthy adults to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of recombinant Staphylococcus aureus candidate vaccine antigens, recombinant α-toxoid (rAT) and a sub-unit of Panton-Valentine leukocidin (rLukS-PV). 176 subjects were enrolled and randomized within 1 of 11 treatment cohorts: monovalent rAT or rLukS-PV dosages of 10, 25, 50, and 100 μg; bivalent rAT:rLukS dosages of 10:10, 25:25, and 50:50 μg; and alum or saline placebo. All subjects were assessed at Days 0, 7, 14, 28, and 84. Subjects in the 50:50 μg bivalent cohort received a second injection on Day 84 and were assessed on Days 98 and 112. Incidence and severity of reactogenicity and adverse events (AEs) were compared. Geometric mean serum concentrations (GMC) and neutralizing activity of anti-rAT and anti-rLukS-PV IgG were assessed. Reactogenicity incidence was significantly higher in vaccine than placebo recipients (77% versus 55%, respectively; p = 0.006). However, 77% of reactogenicity events were mild and 19% were moderate in severity. The AE incidence and severity were similar between the cohorts. All monovalent and bivalent rAT dosages resulted in a significant increase in the anti-rAT IgG and anti- rLukS-PV GMCs between day 0 and 28 compared with placebo, and persisted through Day 84. Exploratory subgroup analyses suggested a higher GMC and neutralizing antibody titers for the 50 μg monovalent or bivalent rAT and rLukS-PV dose as compared to the other doses. No booster effect was observed after administration of the second dose. We conclude that the rAT and rLukS-PV vaccine formulations were well-tolerated and had a favorable immunogenicity profile, producing antibody with neutralizing activity through day 84. There was no benefit observed with a booster dose of the vaccine

Objective assessment of deformable image registration in radiotherapy: A multi-institution study

The looming potential of deformable alignment tools to play an integral role in adaptive radiotherapy suggests a need for objective assessment of these complex algorithms. Previous studies in this area are based on the ability of alignment to reproduce analytically generated deformations applied to sample image data, or use of contours or bifurcations as ground truth for evaluation of alignment accuracy. In this study, a deformable phantom was embedded with 48 small plastic markers, placed in regions varying from high contrast to roughly uniform regional intensity, and small to large regional discontinuities in movement. CT volumes of this phantom were acquired at different deformation states. After manual localization of marker coordinates, images were edited to remove the markers. The resulting image volumes were sent to five collaborating institutions, each of which has developed previously published deformable alignment tools routinely in use. Alignments were done, and applied to the list of reference coordinates at the inhale state. The transformed coordinates were compared to the actual marker locations at exhale. A total of eight alignment techniques were tested from the six institutions. All algorithms performed generally well, as compared to previous publications. Average errors in predicted location ranged from 1.5 to 3.9 mm, depending on technique. No algorithm was uniformly accurate across all regions of the phantom, with maximum errors ranging from 5.1 to 15.4 mm. Larger errors were seen in regions near significant shape changes, as well as areas with uniform contrast but large local motion discontinuity. Although reasonable accuracy was achieved overall, the variation of error in different regions suggests caution in globally accepting the results from deformable alignment