A study of finite symmetrical groups

This study discovered several important groups that involve the classical and sporadic groups. These groups appeared as finite homomorphic images of the progenitors 3*8 : PGL₂(7), 2*¹⁴ : L₃ (2), 5*³ : S₃ and 7*2 : m S₃

Plasmid-mediated Quinolone Resistance among Non-TyphiSalmonella enterica Isolates, USA

We determined the prevalence of plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance mechanisms among non-Typhi Salmonella spp. isolated from humans, food animals, and retail meat in the United States in 2007. Six isolates collected from humans harbored aac(6′)Ib-cr or a qnr gene. Most prevalent was qnrS1. No animal or retail meat isolates harbored a plasmid-mediated mechanism

Community health workers improve disease control and medication adherence among patients with diabetes and/or hypertension in Chiapas, Mexico: an observational stepped-wedge study

Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) contribute greatly to morbidity and mortality in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). Community health workers (CHWs) may improve disease control and medication adherence among patients with NCDs in LMICs, but data are lacking. We assessed the impact of a CHW-led intervention on disease control and adherence among patients with diabetes and/or hypertension in Chiapas, Mexico. Methods: We conducted a prospective observational study among adult patients with diabetes and/or hypertension, in the context of a stepped-wedge roll-out of a CHW-led intervention. We measured self-reported adherence to medications, blood pressure and haemoglobin A1c at baseline and every 3 months, timed just prior to expansion of the intervention to a new community. We conducted individual-level mixed effects analyses of study data, adjusting for time and clustering by patient and community. Findings: We analysed 108 patients. The CHW-led intervention was associated with a twofold increase in the odds of disease control (OR 2.04, 95% CI 1.15 to 3.62). It was also associated with optimal adherence assessed by 30-day recall (OR 1.86; 95% CI 1.15 to 3.02) and a positive self-assessment of adherence behaviour (OR 2.29; 95% CI 1.26 to 4.15), but not by 5-day recall. Interpretation A CHW-led adherence intervention was associated with disease control and adherence among adults with diabetes and/or hypertension. This study supports a role of CHWs in supplementing comprehensive primary care for patients with NCDs in LMICs. Trial registration number NCT02549495

The Surgical Infection Society revised guidelines on the management of intra-abdominal infection

Background: Previous evidence-based guidelines on the management of intra-abdominal infection (IAI) were published by the Surgical Infection Society (SIS) in 1992, 2002, and 2010. At the time the most recent guideline was released, the plan was to update the guideline every five years to ensure the timeliness and appropriateness of the recommendations. Methods: Based on the previous guidelines, the task force outlined a number of topics related to the treatment of patients with IAI and then developed key questions on these various topics. All questions were approached using general and specific literature searches, focusing on articles and other information published since 2008. These publications and additional materials published before 2008 were reviewed by the task force as a whole or by individual subgroups as to relevance to individual questions. Recommendations were developed by a process of iterative consensus, with all task force members voting to accept or reject each recommendation. Grading was based on the GRADE (Grades of Recommendation Assessment, Development, and Evaluation) system; the quality of the evidence was graded as high, moderate, or weak, and the strength of the recommendation was graded as strong or weak. Review of the document was performed by members of the SIS who were not on the task force. After responses were made to all critiques, the document was approved as an official guideline of the SIS by the Executive Council. Results: This guideline summarizes the current recommendations developed by the task force on the treatment of patients who have IAI. Evidence-based recommendations have been made regarding risk assessment in individual patients; source control; the timing, selection, and duration of antimicrobial therapy; and suggested approaches to patients who fail initial therapy. Additional recommendations related to the treatment of pediatric patients with IAI have been included. Summary: The current recommendations of the SIS regarding the treatment of patients with IAI are provided in this guideline

Recommendations for Effective Integration of Ethics and Responsible Conduct of Research (E/RCR) Education into Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences: A Meeting Report.

Advancement of the scientific enterprise relies on individuals conducting research in an ethical and responsible manner. Educating emergent scholars in the principles of ethics/responsible conduct of research (E/RCR) is therefore critical to ensuring such advancement. The recent impetus to include authentic research opportunities as part of the undergraduate curriculum, via course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), has been shown to increase cognitive and noncognitive student outcomes. Because of these important benefits, CUREs are becoming more common and often constitute the first research experience for many students. However, despite the importance of E/RCR in the research process, we know of few efforts to incorporate E/RCR education into CUREs. The Ethics Network for Course-based Opportunities in Undergraduate Research (ENCOUR) was created to address this concern and promote the integration of E/RCR within CUREs in the biological sciences and related disciplines. During the inaugural ENCOUR meeting, a four-pronged approach was used to develop guidelines for the effective integration of E/RCR in CUREs. This approach included: 1) defining appropriate student learning objectives; 2) identifying relevant curriculum; 3) identifying relevant assessments; and 4) defining key aspects of professional development for CURE facilitators. Meeting outcomes, including the aforementioned E/RCR guidelines, are described herein

Economic evaluation of a novel community-based diabetes care model in rural Mexico: a cost and cost-effectiveness study.

OBJECTIVES: Diabetes is the leading cause of disability-adjusted life years in Mexico, and cost-effective care models are needed to address the epidemic. We sought to evaluate the cost and cost-effectiveness of a novel community-based model of diabetes care in rural Mexico, compared with usual care. DESIGN: We performed time-driven activity-based costing to estimate annualised costs associated with typical diabetes care in Chiapas, Mexico, as well as a novel diabetes care model known as Compañeros En Salud Programa de Enfermedades Crónicas (CESPEC). We conducted Markov chain analysis to estimate the cost-effectiveness of CESPEC compared with usual care from a societal perspective. We used patient outcomes from CESPEC in 2016, as well as secondary data from existing literature. SETTING: Rural primary care clinics in Chiapas, Mexico. PARTICIPANTS: Adults with diabetes. INTERVENTIONS: CESPEC is a novel, comprehensive, diabetes care model that integrates community health workers, provider education, supply chain management and active case finding. OUTCOME MEASURE: The primary outcome was the incremental cost-effectiveness of CESPEC compared with care as usual, per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained, expressed in 2016 US dollars. RESULTS: The economic cost of the CESPEC diabetes model was US$144 per patient per year, compared with US$125 for diabetes care as usual. However, CESPEC care was associated with 0.13 additional years of health-adjusted life expectancy compared with usual care and 0.02 additional years in the first 5 years of treatment. This translated to an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of US$2981 per QALY gained over a patient's lifetime and an ICER of US$10 444 over the first 5 years. Findings were robust to multiple sensitivity analyses. CONCLUSIONS: CESPEC is a cost-effective, community-based model of diabetes care for patients in rural Mexico. Given the high prevalence and significant morbidity associated with diabetes in Mexico and other countries in Central America, this model should be considered for broader scale up and evaluation

Recovering simulated planet and disk signals using SCALES aperture masking

The Slicer Combined with Array of Lenslets for Exoplanet Spectroscopy (SCALES) instrument is a lenslet-based integral field spectrograph that will operate at 2 to 5 microns, imaging and characterizing colder (and thus older) planets than current high-contrast instruments. Its spatial resolution for distant science targets and/or close-in disks and companions could be improved via interferometric techniques such as sparse aperture masking. We introduce a nascent Python package, NRM-artist, that we use to design several SCALES masks to be non-redundant and to have uniform coverage in Fourier space. We generate high-fidelity mock SCALES data using the scalessim package for SCALES' low spectral resolution modes across its 2 to 5 micron bandpass. We include realistic noise from astrophysical and instrument sources, including Keck adaptive optics and Poisson noise. We inject planet and disk signals into the mock datasets and subsequently recover them to test the performance of SCALES sparse aperture masking and to determine the sensitivity of various mask designs to different science signals

Simulating medium-spectral-resolution exoplanet characterization with SCALES angular/reference differential imaging

SCALES (Slicer Combined with Array of Lenslets for Exoplanet Spectroscopy) is a 2 - 5 micron high-contrast lenslet-based integral field spectrograph (IFS) designed to characterize exoplanets and their atmospheres. The SCALES medium-spectral-resolution mode uses a lenslet subarray with a 0.34 x 0.36 arcsecond field of view which allows for exoplanet characterization at increased spectral resolution. We explore the sensitivity limitations of this mode by simulating planet detections in the presence of realistic noise sources. We use the SCALES simulator scalessim to generate high-fidelity mock observations of planets that include speckle noise from their host stars, as well as other atmospheric and instrumental noise effects. We employ both angular and reference differential imaging as methods of disentangling speckle noise from the injected planet signals. These simulations allow us to assess the feasibility of speckle deconvolution for SCALES medium resolution data, and to test whether one approach outperforms another based on planet angular separations and contrasts

Melting, bubble-like expansion and explosion of superheated plasmonic nanoparticles

We report on time-resolved coherent diffraction imaging of gas-phase silver nanoparticles, strongly heated via their plasmon resonance. The x-ray diffraction images reveal a broad range of phenomena for different excitation strengths, from simple melting over strong cavitation to explosive disintegration. Molecular dynamics simulations fully reproduce this behavior and show that the heating induces rather similar trajectories through the phase diagram in all cases, with the very different outcomes being due only to whether and where the stability limit of the metastable superheated liquid is crossed.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures (including supplemental material