The Derivation of a Conceptual Model for Outsourcing IT Security

IT security outsourcing is the establishment of a contractual relationship between an organization with an outside vendor which assumes responsibility for the organisation’s security functions. Outsourcing in IS has had a variable history of success and the complexity of the decision making process leads to a substantial degree of uncertainty. This is especially so in the realm of IS security since the protection of both hardware and software systems is placed in the hands of an external provider. This paper is a fuller and more comprehensive paper of a previous paper outlining the effectiveness of the decision making process by means of a conceptual model using Soft System Methodology techniques that integrates security benefits, costs and their respective performance measures. In this paper the methodology used to develop the model is discussed in detail

Enzymatically-triggered, isothermally responsive polymers: re-programming poly(oligoethylene glycols) to respond to phosphatase

Polymers which can respond to externally applied stimuli have found much application in the biomedical field due to their (reversible) coil–globule transitions. Polymers displaying a lower critical solution temperature are the most commonly used, but for blood-borne (i.e., soluble) biomedical applications the application of heat is not always possible, nor practical. Here we report the design and synthesis of poly(oligoethylene glycol methacrylate)-based polymers whose cloud points are easily varied by alkaline phosphatase-mediated dephosphorylation. By fine-tuning the density of phosphate groups on the backbone, it was possible to induce an isothermal transition: A change in solubility triggered by removal of a small number of phosphate esters from the side chains activating the LCST-type response. As there was no temperature change involved, this serves as a model of a cell-instructed polymer response. Finally, it was found that both polymers were non cytotoxic against MCF-7 cells (at 1 mg·mL–1), which confirms promise for biomedical applications

Antimicrobial Stewardship Meets Transitions of Care: Defining Length of Therapy for Community-Acquired Pneumonia (CAP)

Introduction: Hospital-based antimicrobial stewardship efforts have traditionally focused on inpatient settings. Antibiotic prescribing at discharge is often an overlooked area of focus for antimicrobial stewardship programs. Discharge prescribing optimization is necessary to combat antibiotic overuse. Methods: This was an observational, retrospective cohort study at a four–adult community hospital system. Four hundred adult patients admitted with community-acquired pneumonia and discharged with antibiotics were included. The primary outcome was overall (inpatient and discharge) antibiotic length of therapy. The secondary outcome was percentage of patients discharged on a fluoroquinolone who had not received one in the hospital. Descriptive statistics were utilized. Results: The median total antibiotic length of therapy was 9.5 days (IQR 8, 11). The median inpatient and discharge antibiotic lengths of therapy were 4 days (IQR 3, 5) and 5 days (IQR 5, 7), respectively. Of the 108 patients prescribed a fluoroquinolone at discharge, 43% (46/108) had not previously received a fluoroquinolone while hospitalized. Conclusion: Both length of therapy and fluoroquinolone stewardship at discharge may represent possible antimicrobial stewardship targets in community-acquired pneumonia patients

Concomitant invasive pneumococcal disease in a patient with COVID-19 – A case report from the Louisville Epidemiology Study

A 60-year-old male presented to the Emergency Department (ED) with a one-two day history of confusion, headache, and subjective fever. Because he had met with a contact two days prior to admission who had recently traveled from the Bahamas, a COVID-19 nasopharyngeal (NP) and oropharyngeal (OP) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test was ordered. He was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis based on presenting neurologic symptoms and the identification of Streptococcus pneumoniae from blood cultures. The COVID-19 NP and OP test returned positive, although he never developed shortness of breath, cough, other respiratory symptoms, diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, or any change in sense of smell or taste. On day three of admission, the patient had improved clinically on intravenous (IV) antibiotics and was discharged home with instructions to self-quarantine. This case demonstrates the possibility of co-infections with COVID-19 and raises the possibility of an association between COVID-19 and patient susceptibility to invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD)

False-negative SARS-CoV-2 Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) is an Important Consideration for Patient Management and Infection Prevention: A Case Report from The Louisville COVID-19 Epidemiology Study

We report a case of false negative SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR on nasopharyngeal swab. Treating clinicians and infection preventionists should maintain a high suspicion for COVID-19 in the appropriate clinical setting despite negative test results. Utilization of chest CT should be strongly considered in the diagnostic work-up for suspected COVID-19, particularly in areas with limited RT-PCR availability

Why Every Hospital Needs a COVID-19 Clinical Case Review Team

A hospital’s response to a global pandemic requires a coordinated effort to provide consistent guidance as information rapidly changes. In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, diagnosis and subsequent containment was challenging due to unfamiliarity with disease presentation, unknown reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction sensitivity and inconsistent access to testing supplies. A centralized COVID-19 clinical case review team can provide guidance on test interpretation, isolation, resource coordination and more

A critical comparison of technologies for a plant genome sequencing project

BACKGROUND: A high-quality genome sequence of any model organism is an essential starting point for genetic and other studies. Older clone-based methods are slow and expensive, whereas faster, cheaper short-read-only assemblies can be incomplete and highly fragmented, which minimizes their usefulness. The last few years have seen the introduction of many new technologies for genome assembly. These new technologies and associated new algorithms are typically benchmarked on microbial genomes or, if they scale appropriately, on larger (e.g., human) genomes. However, plant genomes can be much more repetitive and larger than the human genome, and plant biochemistry often makes obtaining high-quality DNA that is free from contaminants difficult. Reflecting their challenging nature, we observe that plant genome assembly statistics are typically poorer than for vertebrates. RESULTS: Here, we compare Illumina short read, Pacific Biosciences long read, 10x Genomics linked reads, Dovetail Hi-C, and BioNano Genomics optical maps, singly and combined, in producing high-quality long-range genome assemblies of the potato species Solanum verrucosum. We benchmark the assemblies for completeness and accuracy, as well as DNA compute requirements and sequencing costs. CONCLUSIONS: The field of genome sequencing and assembly is reaching maturity, and the differences we observe between assemblies are surprisingly small. We expect that our results will be helpful to other genome projects, and that these datasets will be used in benchmarking by assembly algorithm developers.</p