MacDonald-Miller Correspondence

This file is an exchange of letters, e-mails, and documents between Norman Miller and Duncan MacDonald, MD, including a four-volume collection of MacDonald’s writings, over a 30-year period, all on witchcraft, some 600 pages extracted from the original 1100. As such, the following material is unfinished, presenting sketches of ideas, concepts, and arguments. Duncan MacDonald served as a physician in Zambia and Kenya, including a period as a Flying Doctor . He later served as a provincial psychiatrist in Cornwall, UK. His parallel interests in economic development and international witchcraft issues led to long-term research on these issues, the witchcraft concerns in conjunction with Norman Miller

Basic Life Support and Opioid Overdose Management: Knowledge and Attitudes Among Students Matriculating into Medical School - A Cross-Sectional Analysis to Inform Curricular Change

Purpose: While Basic Life Support (BLS) skills are typically included in undergraduate medical education (UME) curricula, graduating students continue to demonstrate substandard skills retention. In the setting of the opioid epidemic, effective opioid overdose management (OOM) training should likewise take place during UME. To date, there is a paucity of literature that describes incoming medical students’ knowledge and attitudes on these topics prior to beginning their studies. The purpose of this study is to describe medical students’ knowledge and attitudes towards BLS and OOM prior to their medical training to inform curricular change in UME. Methods: We conducted an observational, cross-sectional study of 1st-year medical students at a major academic medical school in Philadelphia, the epicenter of the opioid epidemic. Survey items assessed participants’ knowledge and attitudes on BLS and OOM. The survey was voluntary and deployed through Qualtrics. Results and Conclusions: 258 students of 272 (95% response rate) completed the survey. 32% of respondents had been previously certified in BLS / ACLS, and only 15% had previously received any level of OOM training. Students reported a moderate comfort level with administering chest compressions (5.14 [Likert Scale 1-10, 10=most comfortable]); and a low comfort level using an AED (4.80 3.1) or assisting an opioid victim (3.74 3.1). Up to 74% failed to correctly answer knowledge-based questions regarding basic management principles. Matriculating students do not have adequate BLS or OOM knowledge upon entering medical school, but wish to have these skills taught to them during their pre-clinical training. Findings should inform UME curricular changes to address the growing opioid epidemic

Survey of HIE Leaders: Assessment of HIE Research Participation and Perceptions

Introduction: Health information exchanges (HIEs) allow for healthcare providers to effectively and securely access patient information from various healthcare networks. Some HIEs have acknowledged the important role they can play in research, however, this is not standard practice despite recognition that availability of research and outcomes data is a main limitation to evidence-based practice. Methods: We created an electronic survey in collaboration with Health Share Exchange (an HIE in Philadelphia) with the aim of assessing HIE leader perceptions regarding the importance of and barriers to participation in research. The survey was disseminated via a Strategic Health Information Exchange Collaborative (the national association for HIEs) listserv that encompasses 70 HIEs in 49 states. Results: Leaders of HIEs from Philadelphia, Georgia, Colorado, and Michigan responded to our survey (n = 4). All HIEs represented in this survey either participate in research currently or indicated an interest in participating in research, and all noted that they face barriers to participating in research, including (but not limited to) legal concerns, logistical barriers to sharing data, and reluctance from clients to allow sharing of data for research purposes. HIEs that indicated the need for assistance with research participation noted that legal and policy-related support is needed to improve research participation. Conclusions: The HIEs that participated in our survey indicated that although they are interested in participating in research, there are legal and logistical barriers that prevent them from doing so. Future work should survey additional HIEs across the U.S. and discuss solutions to the barriers acknowledged in this work

HIL-validation of an extremum seeking-based controller for advanced der management

Paradigm shifts in electricity generation are leading to more renewable and distributed energy resources (DER) on the grid. There is a strong interest to utilize these resources for various grid services, but the practicality of commanding multiple DER is often an obstacle to such approaches. In this article, we seek to validate through Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) simulation an extremum seeking (ES) based control scheme proposed in previous work. The method aggregates and coordinates multiple distributed controllers to offer transmission grid level services. The HIL validation uses a prototype real-time implementation of the controller's logic on distributed devices and photovoltaic (PV) inverters operating on a simulated utility distribution feeder. Several grid services, including load following and voltage regulation, were validated to demonstrate the deployment feasibility of the ES control approach on equipment already installed on the grid

The novel 5-lipoxygenase inhibitor ABT-761 attenuates cerebral vasospasm in a rabbit model of subarachnoid hemorrhage

OBJECTIVE: Eicosanoids have been implicated in the pathogenesis of cerebral vasospasm after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Leukotrienes, 5-hydroxyperoxyeicosatetraenoic acid, and 5-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid are part of this group of substances, resulting from the 5-lipoxygenase activity on arachidonic acid metabolism. This study examined the effects of ABT-761, a new 5-lipoxygenase inhibitor, on cerebral vasospasm in an in vivo rabbit model of SAH. METHODS: A total of 48 rabbits were assigned to one of six groups: SAH + placebo (n = 8), SAH + ABT-761 20 mg/kg (n = 8), SAH + ABT-761 30 mg/kg (n = 8), control + placebo (n = 8), control + ABT-761 20 mg/kg (n = 8), and control + ABT-761 30 mg/kg (n = 8). Drug administration was initiated 30 minutes after induction of SAH and repeated 24 hours later. The animals were killed 48 hours after SAH, using the perfusion-fixation method. The cross sectional areas of basilar artery histological sections were measured by an investigator blinded to the treatment groups of the individual samples. RESULTS: In placebo-treated animals, the average luminal cross sectional area of the basilar artery was reduced by 68% after SAH as compared with controls (P < 0.0001). After SAH, the vasospastic response was attenuated in animals treated with 20 or 30 mg/kg representing a 28 or 35% reduction, respectively (P = 0.0011 and P = 0.0038). CONCLUSION: The results demonstrated that ABT-761 is effective in attenuating experimental cerebral vasospasm, indicating that this new drug represents a potential therapeutic agent for the treatment of vasospasm after SAH

Prevalence of USA300 colonization or infection and associated variables during an outbreak of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in a marginalized urban population

et al. Prevalence of USA300 colonization or infection and associated variables during an outbreak of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in a marginalized urban population. Can J Infect Dis Med Microbiol 2007;18(6):357-362. BACKGROUND: In 2004, an outbreak of the USA300 strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was identified in persons with histories of homelessness, illicit drug use or incarceration in the Calgary Health Region (Calgary, Alberta). A prevalence study was conducted to test the hypotheses for factors associated with USA300 colonization or infection. METHODS: Participants were recruited at sites accessed by this marginalized population. Health care staff administered a questionnaire and collected crack pipes and nasal, axillary and skin infection swabs. Pipes and swabs were cultured according to standard techniques. MRSA isolates were further characterized by polymerase chain reaction (mecA, Panton-Valentine leukocidin and Staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec) and typing methods (pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, staphylococcal protein A typing and multilocus sequence typing). Colonization or infection was determined by having any one of nasal, axillary, skin infection or pipe swabs positive for USA300. Colonized participants had one or more nasal, axillary or pipe swab positive for USA300; infected participants had one or more skin infection swab positive for USA300. RESULTS: The prevalence of USA300 colonization or infection among 271 participants was 5.5% (range 3.1% to 9.0%). USA300 cases were more likely to report manipulation of skin infections (OR 9.55; 95% CI 2.74 to 33.26); use of crack pipes was not significant despite identification of the USA300 strain on two of four crack pipes tested. USA300 cases were more likely to report drug use between sex trade workers and clients (OR 5.86; 95% CI 1.63 to 21.00), and with casual sex partners (OR 5.40; 95% CI 1.64 to 17.78). CONCLUSION: Ongoing efforts to promote the appropriate treatment of skin infections in this population are warranted. The association of USA300 colonization or infection and drug use with sexual partners suggest a role for sexual transmission of the USA300 strain of MRSA

Conducting and Mitigating Portable Thermal Imaging Attacks on User Authentication using AI-driven Methods

Thermal cameras have become portable enough to integrate into wearables, such as glasses, and can be used maliciously to infer passwords observing heat traces left on keyboards, keypads and screens. While prior work showed how AI-driven approaches can be used to further enhance the effectiveness of these attacks, we use similar approaches to detect vulnerable interfaces and obfuscate heat traces to defend against thermal attacks. At our Augmented Humans 2023 demo, attendees will have the chance to use a thermal camera to observe thermal traces on a keyboard, and observe how machine learning can both automatically identify keys pressed based and identify, then obfuscate, thermal images of a keyboard to prevent thermal attacks. This demo will provoke thought and discussion about the security risks presented by discrete, wearable thermal cameras and how these risks can be mitigated by both designers and users

Change Policy or Users? Mitigating the Security Risks of Thermal Attacks

Attacks on passwords by thermal cameras are a poignant example of how emerging technologies can pose unforeseen security risks. Despite being easy to perform and effective, thermal attacks are not commonly understood or counteracted, hence a strategy to mitigate this is required. In this paper, we propose an AI-driven strategy to obfuscate vulnerable interfaces in the view of thermal cameras automatically, then discuss the advantages and limitations of attempting to enforce such a system-centred solution as policy, versus instead attempting to shape user behaviour