418 research outputs found
Using a Historical Tour to Teach Extension Audiences About Diversity and Human Rights
Idaho\u27s Journey for Diversity and Human Rights is a traveling workshop designed to teach about the roots of the state\u27s people and their human rights challenges. Designers planned to acquaint participants with the richness and diversity of Idaho\u27s past and broaden their perspective on the way in which past residents coped with issues not much different from those current residents face. Participants report gains in knowledge of Idaho\u27s past and present challenges of human rights and diversity and plan to apply that knowledge in their daily lives. Educators can modify and replicate Idaho\u27s Journey to fit any state or region
NASA advanced design program: Analysis, design, and construction of a solar powered aircraft
Increase in energy demands coupled with rapid depletion of natural energy resources have deemed solar energy as the most logical alternative source of power. The major objective of this project was to build a solar powered remotely controlled aircraft to demonstrate the feasibility of solar energy as an effective, alternate source of power. The final design was optimized for minimum weight and maximum strength of the structure. These design constraints necessitated a carbon fiber composite structure. Surya is a lightweight, durable aircraft capable of achieving level flight powered entirely by solar cells
Latent states extraction through Kalman Filter for the prediction of heart failure decompensation events
[EN] Cardiac function deterioration of heart failure patients is frequently manifested by the occurrence of decompensation events. One relevant step to adequately prevent cardiovascular status degradation is to predict decompensation episodes in order to allow preventive medical interventions.In this paper we introduce a methodology with the goal of finding onsets of worsening progressions from multiple physiological parameters which may have predictive value in decompensation events. The best performance was obtained for the model composed by only two features using a telemonitoring dataset (myHeart) with 41 patients. Results were achieved by applying leave-one-subject-out validation and correspond to a geometric mean of 83.67%. The obtained performance suggests that the methodology has the potential to be used in decision support solutions and assist in the prevention of this public health burden.The authors acknowledge the financial support of the international project Link (H2020-692023).Nunes, D.; Rocha, T.; Traver Salcedo, V.; Teixeira, C.; Ruano, M.; Paredes, S.; Carvalho, P.... (2019). Latent states extraction through Kalman Filter for the prediction of heart failure decompensation events. IEEE. 3947-3950. https://doi.org/10.1109/EMBC.2019.8857591S3947395
The cost of promiscuity: sexual transmission of Nosema microsporidian parasites in polyandrous honey bees
Multiple mating (and insemination) by females with different males, polyandry, is widespread across animals, due to material and/or genetic benefits for females. It reaches particularly high levels in some social insects, in which queens can produce significantly fitter colonies by being polyandrous. It is therefore a paradox that two thirds of eusocial hymenopteran insects appear to be exclusively monandrous, in spite of the fitness benefits that polyandry could provide. One possible cost of polyandry could be sexually transmitted parasites, but evidence for these in social insects is extremely limited. Here we show that two different species of Nosema microsporidian parasites can transmit sexually in the honey bee Apis mellifera. Honey bee males that are infected by the parasite have Nosema spores in their semen, and queens artificially inseminated with either Nosema spores or the semen of Nosema-infected males became infected by the parasite. The emergent and more virulent N. ceranae achieved much higher rates of infection following insemination than did N. apis. The results provide the first quantitative evidence of a sexually transmitted disease (STD) in social insects, indicating that STDs may represent a potential cost of polyandry in social insects
Setting priorities for EU healthcare workforce IT skills competence improvement
A major challenge for healthcare quality improvement is the lack of IT skills and knowledge of healthcare workforce as well as their ambivalent attitudes towards IT. This paper identifies and prioritises actions needed to improve the IT skills of healthcare workforce across the EU. 46 experts, representing different fields of expertise in healthcare and geolocations systematically list and scored actions that would improve IT skills among healthcare workforce. The Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative methodology was used for research priority-setting. The participants evaluated the actions using the following criteria: feasibility, effectiveness, deliverability, and maximum impact on IT skills improvement. The leading priority actions were related to appropriate training, integrating eHealth in curricula, involving healthcare workforce in the eHealth solution development, improving awareness of eHealth and learning arrangement. As the different professionals’ needs are prioritised, healthcare workforce should be actively and continuously included in the development of eHealth solutions
Solar Powered Multipurpose Remotely Powered Aircraft
Increase in energy demands coupled with rapid depletion of natural energy resources have deemed solar energy as an attractive alternative source of power. The focus was to design and construct a solar powered, remotely piloted vehicle to demonstrate the feasibility of solar energy as an effective, alternate source of power. The final design included minimizing the power requirements and maximizing the strength-to-weight and lift-to-drag ratios. Given the design constraints, Surya (the code-name given to the aircraft), is a lightweight aircraft primarily built using composite materials and capable of achieving level flight powered entirely by solar energy
A dashboard-based system for supporting diabetes care
[EN] Objective To describe the development, as part of the European Union MOSAIC (Models and Simulation Techniques for Discovering Diabetes Influence Factors) project, of a dashboard-based system for the management of type 2 diabetes and assess its impact on clinical practice.
Methods The MOSAIC dashboard system is based on predictive modeling, longitudinal data analytics, and the reuse and integration of data from hospitals and public health repositories. Data are merged into an i2b2 data warehouse, which feeds a set of advanced temporal analytic models, including temporal abstractions, care-flow mining, drug exposure pattern detection, and risk-prediction models for type 2 diabetes complications. The dashboard has 2 components, designed for (1) clinical decision support during follow-up consultations and (2) outcome assessment on populations of interest. To assess the impact of the clinical decision support component, a pre-post study was conducted considering visit duration, number of screening examinations, and lifestyle interventions. A pilot sample of 700 Italian patients was investigated. Judgments on the outcome assessment component were obtained via focus groups with clinicians and health care managers.
Results The use of the decision support component in clinical activities produced a reduction in visit duration (P¿¿¿.01) and an increase in the number of screening exams for complications (P¿<¿.01). We also observed a relevant, although nonstatistically significant, increase in the proportion of patients receiving lifestyle interventions (from 69% to 77%). Regarding the outcome assessment component, focus groups highlighted the system¿s capability of identifying and understanding the characteristics of patient subgroups treated at the center.
Conclusion Our study demonstrates that decision support tools based on the integration of multiple-source data and visual and predictive analytics do improve the management of a chronic disease such as type 2 diabetes by enacting a successful implementation of the learning health care system cycle.This work was supported by the European Union in the Seventh Framework Programme, grant number 600914.Dagliati, A.; Sacchi, L.; Tibollo, V.; Cogni, G.; Teliti, M.; Martinez-Millana, A.; Traver Salcedo, V.... (2018). A dashboard-based system for supporting diabetes care. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. 25(5):538-547. https://doi.org/10.1093/jamia/ocx159S538547255Sim, I., Gorman, P., Greenes, R. A., Haynes, R. B., Kaplan, B., Lehmann, H., & Tang, P. C. (2001). Clinical Decision Support Systems for the Practice of Evidence-based Medicine. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 8(6), 527-534. doi:10.1136/jamia.2001.0080527Palmer, A. 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Academic freedom: in justification of a universal ideal
This paper examines the justification for, and benefits of, academic freedom to academics, students, universities and the world at large. The paper surveys the development of the concept of academic freedom within Europe, more especially the impact of the reforms at the University of Berlin instigated by Wilhelm von Humboldt. Following from this, the paper examines the reasons why the various facets of academic freedom are important and why the principle should continue to be supported
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T-Lymphoblastic Lymphoma Cells Express High Levels of BCL2, S1P1, and ICAM1, Leading to a Blockade of Tumor Cell Intravasation
The molecular events underlying the progression of T-lymphoblastic lymphoma (T-LBL) to acute T-lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) remain elusive. In our zebrafish model, concomitant overexpression of bcl-2 with Myc accelerated T-LBL onset while inhibiting progression to T-ALL. The T-LBL cells failed to invade the vasculature and showed evidence of increased homotypic cell-cell adhesion and autophagy. Further analysis using clinical biopsy specimens revealed autophagy and increased levels of BCL2, S1P1, and ICAM1 in human T-LBL compared with T-ALL. Inhibition of S1P1 signaling in T-LBL cells led to decreased homotypic adhesion in vitro and increased tumor cell intravasation in vivo. Thus, blockade of intravasation and hematologic dissemination in T-LBL is due to elevated S1P1 signaling, increased expression of ICAM1, and augmented homotypic cell-cell adhesion.Stem Cell and Regenerative Biolog
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