Marketing an Established Institutional Repository: Marquette Libraries’ Research Stewardship Survey

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the results of Marquette University Libraries’ survey measuring faculty knowledge and attitudes about the institution’s repository, for the purposes of creating a marketing plan for the institutional repository (IR). Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts a quantitative approach through the use of a survey. Findings Like many other endeavors to measure faculty engagement with the IR, the investigators discovered that faculty knowledge of the IR is not universal. Moreover, the perceived values and motivators for faculty use of the IR were also not surprising, with faculty viewing online dissemination of their work to be the most valuable feature offered by the IR, and furthering their own careers was the prime motivator. The importance of continual and varied methods of marketing is reaffirmed. Originality/value Whereas many articles on faculty recruitment for IRs agree on the importance of marketing, very few suggest specific strategies. The investigators make suggestions for continual and varied marketing methods based on their findings

Improved Urinary Continence for Stroke Survivors in Inpatient Rehab

https://digitalcommons.psjhealth.org/summit_all/1013/thumbnail.jp

COVID-19: self-reported reductions in physical activity and increases in sedentary behaviour during the first national lockdown in the United Kingdom

Purpose The United Kingdom (UK) government imposed its first national lockdown in response to COVID-19 on the 23rd of March 2020. Physical activity and sedentary behaviour levels are likely to have changed during this period. Methods An online survey was completed by n=266 adults living within the UK. Differences in day-to-day and recreational physical activity (at moderate and vigorous intensities), travel via foot/cycle, and sedentary behaviour were compared before and during the initial COVID-19 lockdown. Results The median level of total weekly physical activity significantly reduced (− 15%, p £25,000). Conclusions Now that the UK is transitioning to a state of normal living, strategies that can help individuals gradually return to physical activities, in accordance with the 2020 WHO guidelines, are of paramount importance to reducing risks to health associated with physical inactivity and sedentary behaviour

Embryonic exposure to the fungicide vinclozolin causes virilization of females and alteration of progesterone receptor expression in vivo: an experimental study in mice

BACKGROUND: Vinclozolin is a fungicide that has been reported to have anti-androgenic effects in rats. We have found that in utero exposure to natural or synthetic progesterones can induce hypospadias in mice, and that the synthetic progesterone medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) feminizes male and virilizes female genital tubercles. In the current work, we selected a relatively low dose of vinclozolin to examine its in utero effects on the development of the genital tubercle, both at the morphological and molecular levels. METHODS: We gave pregnant dams vinclozolin by oral gavage from gestational days 13 through 17. We assessed the fetal genital tubercles from exposed fetuses at E19 to determine location of the urethral opening. After determination of gonadal sex, either genital tubercles were harvested for mRNA quantitation, or urethras were injected with a plastic resin for casting. We analyzed quantified mRNA levels between treated and untreated animals for mRNA levels of estrogen receptors α and β, progesterone receptor, and androgen receptor using nonparametric tests or ANOVA. To determine effects on urethral length (males have long urethras compared to females), we measured the lengths of the casts and performed ANOVA analysis on these data. RESULTS: Our morphological results indicated that vinclozolin has morphological effects similar to those of MPA, feminizing males (hypospadias) and masculinizing females (longer urethras). Because these results reflected our MPA results, we investigated the effects of in utero vinclozolin exposure on the mRNA expression levels of androgen, estrogen α and β, and progesterone receptors. At the molecular level, vinclozolin down-regulated estrogen receptor α mRNA in females and up-regulated progesterone receptor mRNA. Vinclozolin-exposed males exhibited up-regulated estrogen receptor α and progesterone receptor mRNA, effects we have also seen with exposure to the synthetic estrogen, ethinyl estradiol. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that vinclozolin virilizes females and directly or indirectly affects progesterone receptor expression. It also affects estrogen receptor expression in a sex-based manner. We found no in vivo effect of vinclozolin on androgen receptor expression. We propose that vinclozolin, which has been designated an anti-androgen, may also exert its effects by involving additional steroid-signaling pathways

Suppressing quantum errors by scaling a surface code logical qubit

Practical quantum computing will require error rates that are well below what is achievable with physical qubits. Quantum error correction offers a path to algorithmically-relevant error rates by encoding logical qubits within many physical qubits, where increasing the number of physical qubits enhances protection against physical errors. However, introducing more qubits also increases the number of error sources, so the density of errors must be sufficiently low in order for logical performance to improve with increasing code size. Here, we report the measurement of logical qubit performance scaling across multiple code sizes, and demonstrate that our system of superconducting qubits has sufficient performance to overcome the additional errors from increasing qubit number. We find our distance-5 surface code logical qubit modestly outperforms an ensemble of distance-3 logical qubits on average, both in terms of logical error probability over 25 cycles and logical error per cycle ($2.914\%\pm 0.016\%$ compared to $3.028\%\pm 0.023\%$). To investigate damaging, low-probability error sources, we run a distance-25 repetition code and observe a $1.7\times10^{-6}$ logical error per round floor set by a single high-energy event ($1.6\times10^{-7}$ when excluding this event). We are able to accurately model our experiment, and from this model we can extract error budgets that highlight the biggest challenges for future systems. These results mark the first experimental demonstration where quantum error correction begins to improve performance with increasing qubit number, illuminating the path to reaching the logical error rates required for computation.Comment: Main text: 6 pages, 4 figures. v2: Update author list, references, Fig. S12, Table I

Non-Abelian braiding of graph vertices in a superconducting processor

Indistinguishability of particles is a fundamental principle of quantum mechanics. For all elementary and quasiparticles observed to date - including fermions, bosons, and Abelian anyons - this principle guarantees that the braiding of identical particles leaves the system unchanged. However, in two spatial dimensions, an intriguing possibility exists: braiding of non-Abelian anyons causes rotations in a space of topologically degenerate wavefunctions. Hence, it can change the observables of the system without violating the principle of indistinguishability. Despite the well developed mathematical description of non-Abelian anyons and numerous theoretical proposals, the experimental observation of their exchange statistics has remained elusive for decades. Controllable many-body quantum states generated on quantum processors offer another path for exploring these fundamental phenomena. While efforts on conventional solid-state platforms typically involve Hamiltonian dynamics of quasi-particles, superconducting quantum processors allow for directly manipulating the many-body wavefunction via unitary gates. Building on predictions that stabilizer codes can host projective non-Abelian Ising anyons, we implement a generalized stabilizer code and unitary protocol to create and braid them. This allows us to experimentally verify the fusion rules of the anyons and braid them to realize their statistics. We then study the prospect of employing the anyons for quantum computation and utilize braiding to create an entangled state of anyons encoding three logical qubits. Our work provides new insights about non-Abelian braiding and - through the future inclusion of error correction to achieve topological protection - could open a path toward fault-tolerant quantum computing

Working to improve survival and health for babies born very preterm: The WISH project protocol

Background: Babies born very preterm (before 30 weeks gestation) are at high risk of dying in their first weeks of life, and those who survive are at risk of developing cerebral palsy in childhood. Recent high-quality evidence has shown that giving women magnesium sulphate immediately prior to very early birth can significantly increase the chances of their babies surviving free of cerebral palsy. In 2010 Australian and New Zealand clinical practice guidelines recommended this therapy. The WISH (Working to Improve Survival and Health for babies born very preterm) Project aims to bi-nationally improve and monitor the use of this therapy to reduce the risk of very preterm babies dying or having cerebral palsy. Methods/Design: The WISH Project is a prospective cohort study. The 25 Australian and New Zealand tertiary level maternity hospitals will be provided with a package of active implementation strategies to guide the introduction and local adaptation of guideline recommendations. Surveys will be conducted at individual hospitals to evaluate outcomes related to local implementation progress and the use and value of the WISH implementation strategies. For the hospitals participating in the ‘WISH audit of uptake and health outcomes data collection’, the primary health outcomes (assessed through case note review, and 24 month corrected age questionnaires) will be: the proportion of eligible women receiving antenatal magnesium sulphate; and rates of death prior to primary hospital discharge and cerebral palsy at two years corrected age in infants born to eligible mothers. For hospitals wishing to assess factors influencing translation locally, barriers and facilitators will be measured through interviews with health care professionals, to further guide implementation strategies. Study outcomes for the early phase of the project (Year 1) will be compared with the later intervention phase (Years 2 and 3). Discussion: The WISH Project will offer insight into the effectiveness of a multifaceted implementation strategy to improve the uptake of a novel neuroprotective therapy in obstetric clinical practice. The successful implementation of antenatal magnesium sulphate for fetal neuroprotection in Australia and New Zealand could lead to over 90 fewer very preterm babies dying or suffering the long-term consequences of cerebral palsy each year.Caroline A Crowther, Philippa F Middleton, Emily Bain, Pat Ashwood, Tanya Bubner, Vicki Flenady, Jonathan Morris, Sarah McIntyre for the WISH Project Tea

The impact of immediate breast reconstruction on the time to delivery of adjuvant therapy: the iBRA-2 study

Background: Immediate breast reconstruction (IBR) is routinely offered to improve quality-of-life for women requiring mastectomy, but there are concerns that more complex surgery may delay adjuvant oncological treatments and compromise long-term outcomes. High-quality evidence is lacking. The iBRA-2 study aimed to investigate the impact of IBR on time to adjuvant therapy. Methods: Consecutive women undergoing mastectomy ± IBR for breast cancer July–December, 2016 were included. Patient demographics, operative, oncological and complication data were collected. Time from last definitive cancer surgery to first adjuvant treatment for patients undergoing mastectomy ± IBR were compared and risk factors associated with delays explored. Results: A total of 2540 patients were recruited from 76 centres; 1008 (39.7%) underwent IBR (implant-only [n = 675, 26.6%]; pedicled flaps [n = 105,4.1%] and free-flaps [n = 228, 8.9%]). Complications requiring re-admission or re-operation were significantly more common in patients undergoing IBR than those receiving mastectomy. Adjuvant chemotherapy or radiotherapy was required by 1235 (48.6%) patients. No clinically significant differences were seen in time to adjuvant therapy between patient groups but major complications irrespective of surgery received were significantly associated with treatment delays. Conclusions: IBR does not result in clinically significant delays to adjuvant therapy, but post-operative complications are associated with treatment delays. Strategies to minimise complications, including careful patient selection, are required to improve outcomes for patients