Public and private sector compensation: what is affordable in this recession and beyond? -- a conference summary

On February 26, 2009, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and The Civic Federation hosted a forum to examine the differences in wages and benefits between the public sector and private sector and to discuss best practices in work force sustainability.Wages ; Recessions ; Displaced workers

Are suggestible people more likely to change their belief in the occurrence of autobiographical events?

peer reviewedA “nonbelieved memory” (NBM) refers to an autobiographical memory that is no longer believed to represent an event that actually took place, despite a vivid recollection of the event. While most studies have sought tocharacteriseNBMs (e.g. their frequency, dating, phenomenological characteristics), very few studies have attempted to differentiate individuals who report these memories from those who do not. The aim of the present study was thus to examine the role of suggestibility on the occurrence of NBMs and on the reasons for changes in belief in the occurrence of an event. One hundred and eighty-three people aged between 20 and 60 first completed the short version of the Multidimensional Iowa Suggestibility Scale and the Gudjonsson Compliance Scale. They were then asked whether or not they could report an NBM.If so, they had to describe the event, explain why they had stopped believing in its occurrence, and rate the phenomenological characteristics of their memory.In addition, participants had to describe an age-matched believed memory (BM) so that the characteristics of both types of memories could be compared. The results showed that a higher level of suggestibility was associated with a greater likelihood of reporting an NBM. However, contrary to our hypothesis that more suggestible people would tend to change their belief due to social feedback, there was no link between reasons for changing one’s belief and individual levels of suggestibility

The SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics' resources: focus on curated databases

The SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (www.isb-sib.ch) provides world-class bioinformatics databases, software tools, services and training to the international life science community in academia and industry. These solutions allow life scientists to turn the exponentially growing amount of data into knowledge. Here, we provide an overview of SIB's resources and competence areas, with a strong focus on curated databases and SIB's most popular and widely used resources. In particular, SIB's Bioinformatics resource portal ExPASy features over 150 resources, including UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot, ENZYME, PROSITE, neXtProt, STRING, UniCarbKB, SugarBindDB, SwissRegulon, EPD, arrayMap, Bgee, SWISS-MODEL Repository, OMA, OrthoDB and other databases, which are briefly described in this article

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570

Adaptive behavior within technological stability: field experiments with potters from five cultures.

International audienc

Carotid blowout syndrome in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma: three cases

Carotid blowout syndrome (CBS) is a rare complication of radiation therapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), for which angiography is the gold standard for diagnosis and treatment. We report three NPC cases treated with irradiation and complicated by bleeding from the internal carotid artery. The first case presented with multiple episodes of limited nosebleeding followed by massive bleeding. Bleeding was initially stopped by internal carotid artery embolisation. A few months later, meningitis related to skull base osteoradionecrosis occurred and the patient died from sceptic shock. The second case was admitted to the hospital with severe repetitive epistaxis and despite several attempts to manage the bleeding, the patient passed away. The third case presented with a massive epistaxis that resolved itself without any treatment. Spontaneous occlusion of the internal carotid artery occurred without any neurological defects. A nasopharyngeal muscle flap was constructed to prevent meningitis. CBS is a rare but life-threatening complication that requires emergency treatment. Re-irradiation and skull base radioosteonecrosis are strong predisposing factors

Post-irradiated Carotid Blowout Syndrome in patients with Nasopharyngeal Tumor: about 3 cases

Introduction Rupture of the internal carotid artery (Carotid blowout syndrome) is a rare complication of irradiated nasopharyngeal tumor. We report three cases nasopharyngeal tumors treated with radiotherapy complicated with bleeding of the internal carotid artery presenting as a massive epistaxis. Case Series The first case presented a few episodes of small nose bleeding before a massive one. Internal carotid embolisation was performed to stop the bleeding. Unfortunately, few month later, he presented a meningitis related to skull base osteoradionecrosis and died from sceptic shock. The second case was transferred to our hospital with severe repetitive epistaxis that had been occurring for hours. No endovascular treatment was possible in his case and he died in intensive care unitthe dayof his admission. The thrid case presented one massive epistaxis which stopped without any treatment or compression. A spontaneous occlusion of his internal carotid artery occured without any neurological defects. He recently benefited from a nasopharyngeal muscle flap for the coverage of the carotid artery. These three patients all presented with a history of nasopharyngeal tumor handled by radiotherapy. Pathogenesis, treatment, and outcome are discussed on the light of a comprehensive literature review. Conclusions Carotid blowout syndrome secondary to radiation therapy is rare but life-threatening. Re-irradiation and skull base osteoradionecrosis are strong predisposing factors