16 research outputs found

    Social Value at Universities: Policy and Practice Guidance

    Get PDF
    Universities globally can be major hubs of social and economic activity which drive change in society. We know that they can create multiple and diverse routes into employment, can have significant purchasing power which can inform standards across supply chains, can create learning opportunities which directly nourish and enrich local communities, and can deliver research and innovation which impact health for the better. However, the measurable difference these make to lives – and how universities and the funding bodies account for this impact - is still unknown. We created the Global Symposia for Social Value at Universities in 2022, as a way to accelerate the movement. Over 130 joined from 12 countries to contribute to the analysis, from different disciplines such as health, arts, environmental sciences, alongside private, public and third sector stakeholders. There were two symposiums. The first was related to understanding policy and practice across disciplines at universities; the second was focused on one of the biggest sectors, business and management studies. This report presents the findings from both symposiums from the perspective of different stakeholders: 1. what is currently being done that is valued 2. recommendations for improvement The Global Symposia at Universities 2022 was co-hosted between Social Value UK and Liverpool John Moores University, the British Academy of Management (Sustainable and Responsible Business SIG), Principles for Responsible Management Education (Working Group on Poverty), University Vocational Awards Council, Social Value International, The Academy of Business in Society, American International Accreditation Association for Schools and Colleges, and the National Society for Experiential Education. Maddy England and Clare Bentley at Social Value UK were also central to delivering this guidance. Supported by Liverpool John Moores University’s Quality Research Funds

    Implementation of genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in the Caribbean: Lessons learned for sustainability in resource-limited settings

    Get PDF
    The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of global genomic surveillance to monitor the emergence and spread of SARS-CoV-2 variants and inform public health decision-making. Until December 2020 there was minimal capacity for viral genomic surveillance in most Caribbean countries. To overcome this constraint, the COVID-19: Infectious disease Molecular epidemiology for PAthogen Control & Tracking (COVID-19 IMPACT) project was implemented to establish rapid SARS-CoV-2 whole genome nanopore sequencing at The University of the West Indies (UWI) in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) and provide needed SARS-CoV-2 sequencing services for T&T and other Caribbean Public Health Agency Member States (CMS). Using the Oxford Nanopore Technologies MinION sequencing platform and ARTIC network sequencing protocols and bioinformatics pipeline, a total of 3610 SARS-CoV-2 positive RNA samples, received from 17 CMS, were sequenced in-situ during the period December 5th 2020 to December 31st 2021. Ninety-one Pango lineages, including those of five variants of concern (VOC), were identified. Genetic analysis revealed at least 260 introductions to the CMS from other global regions. For each of the 17 CMS, the percentage of reported COVID-19 cases sequenced by the COVID-19 IMPACT laboratory ranged from 0·02% to 3·80% (median = 1·12%). Sequences submitted to GISAID by our study represented 73·3% of all SARS-CoV-2 sequences from the 17 CMS available on the database up to December 31st 2021. Increased staffing, process and infrastructural improvement over the course of the project helped reduce turnaround times for reporting to originating institutions and sequence uploads to GISAID. Insights from our genomic surveillance network in the Caribbean region directly influenced non-pharmaceutical countermeasures in the CMS countries. However, limited availability of associated surveillance and clinical data made it challenging to contextualise the observed SARS-CoV-2 diversity and evolution, highlighting the need for development of infrastructure for collecting and integrating genomic sequencing data and sample-associated metadata

    Medical image of the week: atherosclerotic aneurysm of aortic arch and descecnding thoracic aorta

    No full text
    No abstract available. Article truncated after 150 words. A 94-year-old Spanish-speaking woman presented to the hospital with intermittent episodes of dyspnea and abdominal pain for one week. Her past medical history was notable for 30 pack-year smoking history and hypertension, which was reportedly controlled with medical therapy. Physical exam showed trace peripheral edema bilaterally, intact peripheral pulses, and a mild abdominal bruit. Work up at the emergency department revealed a non-ST elevation myocardial infarction with troponin T of 0.34 ng/mL but no ST-wave abnormality on electrocardiography. Chest x-ray displayed an incidental thoracic aneurysm (Figure 1). Chest computed tomography with contrast demonstrated a continuous aneurysm of the aortic arch and descending thoracic aorta with diameters measuring 6.8 cm and 6 cm, respectively (Figure 2A and 2B). Eccentric thrombi are noted in the aortic arch and the descending aorta. Interestingly, the distal descending thoracic aorta curves as it transitions to the abdominal aorta, which is evidence of a tortuous descending ..

    Medical image of the week: intraventricular hemorrhage casting

    No full text
    No abstract available. Article truncated at 150 words. An 80-year-old woman with a past medical history of hypertension and hypercholesterolemia presented to an outlying hospital at 11:00 hours with slurred speech, left arm drift, and headache. A non-contrast CT of the head revealed an intraparenchymal hematoma in the right thalamus measuring 3.4 x 4.2 cm with an associated intraventricular rupture (Figure 1A, blue arrow). An intraventricular hemorrhage cast with secondary hydrocephalus was also noted on initial imaging (Figure 1A, red arrow). She was placed on a nicardipine drip for blood pressure control and subsequently transferred to OSF St. Francis Medical Center (OSFMC) for a higher level of care. Upon arrival to OSFMC, the patient was poorly responsive, non-verbal, and could not follow commands. She was directly admitted to the Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit for further management. Vitals signs were stable on presentation. Neurologic examination revealed a comatose patient with asymmetric and minimally reactive pupils, absent gag reflex, right ..

    Reinforcement learning prioritizes general applicability in reaction optimization

    No full text
    Reaction conditions that are generally applicable to a wide variety of substrates are highly desired. While many approaches exist to evaluate the general applicability of developed conditions, a universal approach to efficiently discover such conditions during optimizations de novo is rare. In this work, we report the design, implementation, and application of reinforcement learning bandit optimization models to identify generally applicable conditions in a variety of chemical transformations. Performance benchmarking on existing datasets statistically showed high accuracies for identifying general conditions. A palladium-catalyzed imidazole C–H arylation reaction and an aniline amide coupling reaction were investigated experimentally to demonstrate utilities of our learning model in practice
    corecore