Intravenous immunoglobulin for acute hemorrhagic leukoencephalitis refractory to plasmapheresis

A grant from the One-University Open Access Fund at the University of Kansas was used to defray the author's publication fees in this Open Access journal. The Open Access Fund, administered by librarians from the KU, KU Law, and KUMC libraries, is made possible by contributions from the offices of KU Provost, KU Vice Chancellor for Research & Graduate Studies, and KUMC Vice Chancellor for Research. For more information about the Open Access Fund, please see http://library.kumc.edu/authors-fund.xml

Design of an anti-inflammatory diet (ITIS diet) for patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Background:Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic autoimmune disease that affects synovial joints, leading to inflammation, joint destruction, loss of function, and disability. Although recent pharmaceutical advances have improved treatment of RA, patients with RA often inquire about dietary interventions to improve RA symptoms, as they perceive rapid changes in their symptoms after consumption of certain foods. There is evidence that some ingredients have pro- or anti-inflammatory effects. In addition, recent literature has shown a link between diet and microbiome changes. Both diet and the gut microbiome are linked to circulating metabolites that may modulate inflammation. However, evidence of the effects of an anti-inflammatory and probiotic-rich diet in patients with RA is scarce. There is also a need for biological data to support its anti-inflammatory effects. Methods:The main goal of this study is to delineate the design process for a diet tailored to our RA population. To achieve this goal, we collected information on diet, supplements, cooking methods, and intake of different ingredients for each patient. Different groups were interviewed, and their feedback was assessed to design a diet that incorporates suggested anti-inflammatory ingredients in a manner that was easy for patients to adopt based on their lifestyles and backgrounds. Results:We designed a diet that includes a high intake of potential anti-inflammatory ingredients. Feedback from highly motivated patients was critical in constructing an anti-inflammatory diet (ITIS diet) with elevated adherence. Conclusion:In order to tailor our diet, we surveyed our patients on several different parameters. We obtained important feedback on how feasible our ITIS diet is for RA patients. Using this feedback, we made minor improvements and finalized the design of the ITIS diet. This diet is being used in an on-going pilot study to determine their anti-inflammatory effect in pain and joint swelling in RA patients. Trial registration:Not applicable

GEOMATICS FOR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PURPOSES:DESIGN OF A GLOBAL GEODATABASE

Nowadays, the world is facing disasters on an unprecedented scale: millions of people are affected by natural disasters globally each year and, only in the last decade, more than 80% of all disaster-related deaths were caused by natural hazards. Scientific predictions and evidence indicate that global climate changes are increasing the number of extreme events, creating more frequent and intensified natural hazards such as floods and windstorms. Population growth, urbanization and the inability of poor populations to escape from the vicious cycle of poverty are conditions to foresee that there will most likely be an increase in the number of people who are vulnerable to natural hazards, with a resulting increase of natural disasters and environmental emergencies. In recent years, international preoccupation for disasters and their impacts has intensified and risen closer to the top of the development agenda. For many years, response to disasters was largely confined to emergency relief and short-term life-saving actions. But over the last two decades, the critical importance of disaster preparedness, mitigation, and prevention has been widely recognized. The humanitarian and the United Nations system are therefore called to intensify their efforts to improve their capacity in order to provide support to the countries in need and to be better prepared to intervene. Such request came, amongst others, from the UN General Secretary in various occasions. In the frame of humanitarian operations, the World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations is in the front line. The WFP is the biggest UN Agency and responds to more than 120 emergencies per year worldwide. According to the UN reform, WFP is also the leader of logistics for UN and international bodies during emergency response operations. WFP initiated a process to reinforce its capacity to be a leading force in the area of emergency response, improving its Information Management capacity in support to emergency preparedness and response. To do so, an agreement of collaboration with the recently formed Information Technology for Humanitarian Assistance Cooperation and Action (ITHACA) Association has been signed and a joint collaboration started in February 2007. One of the objectives of the collaboration is about the use of Geomatics and Information Technology instruments in the Early Warning and Early Impact analysis field. Many worldwide experiences conducted in this area, show that the use of remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technologies, combined with up-to-date, reliable and easily accessible reference base geographic datasets, constitute the key factor for the success of emergency operations and for developing valuable natural disaster preparedness, mitigation and prevention systems. As a matter of fact, the unique characteristics associated with geographic, or geospatial, information technologies facilitate the integration of scientific, social and economic data through space and time, opening up interesting possibilities for monitoring, assessment and change detection activities, thus enabling better informed interventions in human and natural systems. Besides its proven value, the geospatial information is an expensive resource and needs to be fully utilized to maximize the return on investment required for its generation, management and use. Reuse and sharing of spatial information for multiple purposes is an important approach applied in countries where investment in spatial data collection and in their appropriate management has advanced on the basis of its known asset value. Very substantial economic benefits have been estimated by countries that have moved in the direction of optimizing data reuse. However, it is still relatively easy to find examples of projects and other development activities from around the globe that required expensive recapture of essential spatial data because they were originally captured in unique or non-standard file formats, or perhaps discarded after initial use. Recapture of data has also been undertaken in many cases simply because its prior existence was known only by its originators. The United Nations has not been immune to this problem, both within and between the multitude of entities that make up the Secretariat and its agencies, funds and programmes. Historically, the production and use of geospatial data within the UN entities has been accomplished by its component organizations, according to their individual needs and expertise. This has resulted in multiple efforts, reduced opportunities for sharing and reuse of data, and a unnecessary cost burden for the UN system as a whole. Thus, a framework data development approach has been considered necessary. This has resulted in the proposal that implement an UN Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI). The term SDI is used to denote the relevant base collection of technologies, policies and institutional arrangements that facilitate the availability of and access to spatial data. A SDI hosts geographic data and attributes, sufficient documentation (metadata), a means to discover, visualize and evaluate the data (catalogues and Web mapping), and some methods to provide access to the geographic data. Beyond this, it will also host additional services or software to support applications of the data. The concept of developing a Spatial Data Infrastructure to fulfil UN data management needs was duly approved by United Nations Geographic Information Working Group (UNGIWG) members in 2005 at their 6th Plenary Meeting in Addis Ababa, in the context of a UN-specific SDI, or UNSDI. The WFP, like all other UN agencies, has been called to develop a Spatial Data Infrastructure, according to the UNGIWG recommendations. Therefore, during the last year the different units of WFP involved in the use of geospatial data worked at defining and implementing a WFP SDI with the aim of contributing at the whole UNSDI project. This effort was coordinated and supported by the ITHACA association. Aim of the study The objective of the conducted research has been to investigate the better solution for collecting and organizing geospatial data within a suitable geodatabase with two main purposes:  to support the WFP SDI effort: the development of consistent reusable themes of base cartographic content, known as Framework, Fundamental or Core Data, is recognized as a main and first ingredient in the construction of a SDI. Therefore, the definition of a geodatabase supporting all the WFP units dealing with GIS and geospatial data can be considered a fundamental and necessary step in the whole complex process of the development of the WFP SDI. Common used data provide key for the integration and, in the context of the SDI implementation, the definition of a Core Data geodatabase can be thought as one instrumentality to help improving interoperability, reducing expenses resulting from the inevitable duplications. Moreover, the major aim of the planned geodatabase is to supply all WFP users of a "minimum spatial dataset" which assures valuable geographic analyses and mapping, in support to decision makers during emergencies operations.  to support all activities carried out by ITHACA: the planned geodatabase must constitute a suitable instrument which realizes the integration and the organization of the large geospatial data needed by all ITHACA units in their activities, allowing their effective distribution, sharing and reuse, avoiding any duplication. Moreover, the implemented solution must also guarantee the correct management and updating of the data, keeping their integrity. Finally, this instrument must also allow the easy and fast sharing of necessary information produced by ITHACA during Early Impact activities with the WFP's users engaged in the emergencies rescue operations. In conclusion, the major expected output of the study carried out, described in this thesis, has been the design and the development of a global database and of related rules and procedures in order to correctly store, manage, and exchange geospatial data needed either by WFP humanitarian workers and ITHACA users. The developed database solution allows integrating and updating globally consistent geographic data coming from different sources in many formats, providing each user with the latest datasets, thus avoiding duplications and mistakes. In methodological terms, the following procedure has been adopted: - defining requirements, identification of all activities supported by the geodatabase, analysis of the data flows expected in all supported activities, examining existing data sources and relevant standards (particularly those proposed by the UNGIWG); - development of the data model. The data model has been shaped according to specific needs and demands of the involved user groups within the different interested organizations. The adopted design techniques do not wander off the techniques proposed in literature for general database design, even if it has been necessary, in some steps, to consider the specific features of geographic data; - geodatabase schema generation and implementation of the defined geographic database model as an ESRI ArcSDE Enterprise Geodatabase based on Oracle 10g as DBM

A Content Analysis of Consistency of Information Available on State Archives Websites

This study analyzed state archives websites and the consistency of information provided on the website from state-to-state. The study analyzed all fifty state archives websites in the United States of America. The web addresses were collected from the Council of State Archivists (CoSA) website. The study focused on contact information, social media, digital collections, services, list of record types and a genealogical section. The study concluded that information was not consistent on state archives websites

Blue‐collar workers, career success and innovation in manufacturing

In the article the main marketing features of business portfolio evaluation process were shown. It was emphasized, that market correlation between business portfolio components is required to be mentioned during its balance estimation. In case it was figured out, those components (strategic business units (SBU) and supporting market activities) need to be in business directions organized. One of the effective ways of solving those business challenges is the algorithm of finding and forming balanced portfolio which was discribed in this article. To be successfully completed it should include the following input values: correlation matrix of SBU; the range within which the number of SBU in the portflio changes; the final number of optimal business portfolios.В статье предложен один из путей решения задачи поиска и формирования сбалансированного портфеля бизнесов предприятия. Он представляет собой алгоритм объединения составляющих первого уровня агрегации - стратегических единиц бизнеса и поддерживающих видов деятельности - в комплексные бизнес-направления (второй уровень агрегации). Алгоритм базируется на оценке баланса бизнес-направлений с помощью рыночной корреляции этих составляющих между собой. У статті запропоновано один із шляхів вирішення задачі пошуку та формування збалансованого портфеля бізнесів підприємства. Він являє собою алгоритм об’єднання складових першого рівня агрегації – стратегічних одиниць бізнесу та підтримуючих видів діяльності – у комплексні бізнес-напрями (другий рівень агрегації). Алгоритм базується на оцінці балансу бізнес-напрямів за допомогою ринкової кореляції цих складових між собою

Detection of satellite remnants in the Galactic Halo with Gaia III. Detection limits for Ultra Faint Dwarf Galaxies

We present a method to identify Ultra Faint Dwarf Galaxy (UFDG) candidates in the halo of the Milky Way using the future Gaia catalogue and we explore its detection limits and completeness. The method is based on the Wavelet Transform and searches for over-densities in the combined space of sky coordinates and proper motions, using kinematics in the search for the first time. We test the method with a Gaia mock catalogue that has the Gaia Universe Model Snapshot (GUMS) as a background, and use a library of around 30 000 UFDGs simulated as Plummer spheres with a single stellar population. For the UFDGs we use a wide range of structural and orbital parameters that go beyond the range spanned by real systems, where some UFDGs may remain undetected. We characterize the detection limits as function of the number of observable stars by Gaia in the UFDGs with respect to that of the background and their apparent sizes in the sky and proper motion planes. We find that the addition of proper motions in the search improves considerably the detections compared to a photometric survey at the same magnitude limit. Our experiments suggest that Gaia will be able to detect UFDGs that are similar to some of the known UFDGs even if the limit of Gaia is around 2 magnitudes brighter than that of SDSS, with the advantage of having a full-sky catalogue. We also see that Gaia could even find some UFDGs that have lower surface brightness than the SDSS limit.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA

Knowledge in Transition in Healthcare

Organizations are challenged by the need to transform Dynamic Knowledge, embedded in each worker, into Static Knowledge, rooted in factual documental information. However, innovation and knowledge creation seem to be facilitated by the personal knowledge and life experiences of people, which appear to be dynamic. The tensions between Dynamic and Static Knowledge in facilitating the transfer and sharing of knowledge arise as compelling research as well as practical topic for organizations. Our paper aims to investigate such tensions by employing a case study. We decided to deepen such dynamics in the healthcare field, given its importance for business and society. In more detail, we analyzed one Emergency Room (ER) department through a series of interviews. Our findings highlight the importance of the right balance between Static and Dynamic Knowledge. On the one hand, the healthcare organization recognized the need to incorporate knowledge into practical and tangible instruments. On the other hand, the flows of Dynamic Knowledge must be fostered through a culture of knowledge translation and sharing, and the development of soft skills

Análisis de la relación entre la pobreza y empleo en el departamento de Loreto, periodo 2015 - 2019

One of the most efficient ways to combat poverty is by creating jobs in the formal sector. This research aims to determine the relationship between poverty and employment in the department of Loreto, in the period 2015 - 2019. Oriented by this purpose, the present study of a Quantitative type, Correlational level and Non-Experimental design was carried out. The research concludes that poverty has not relationship or determination with employment, a conclusion supported by the statistical test that resulted in the Correlation Coefficient r = -0.402558360; and in the Correlation Coefficient R2 = 0.162053233; which demonstrates the lack of statistical association or significance between poverty and employment. The type of employment that predominates in the department of Loreto is informal employment, where 81.35% of workers are located, equivalent to 411,510 people. For its part, formal employment only employed 94,350 workers, which represents 18.65. The average real monthly per capita income had a variable behavior during the five years, reaching its maximum value in 2017 being S /. 697.00 and the lowest in 2016 with S /. 654.00. The average real monthly per capita expenditure measures the well-being of the population, and had a variable evolution throughout the five-year period, the highest value being S /. 551.00 in 2018, and the lowest S /. 517.00 of the year 2016.Una de las formas más eficientes de combatir la pobreza es mediante la generación de puestos de trabajo en el sector formal. En la presente investigación se pretende determinar la relación entre la pobreza y el empleo en el departamento de Loreto, en el periodo 2015 – 2019. Orientado por este propósito, se ejecutó el presente estudio de tipo Cuantitativo, nivel Correlacional y de diseño No Experimental. La investigación concluye que la pobreza no tiene relación ni determinación con el empleo, conclusión apoyada en el test estadístico que dio como resultado que el Coeficiente de Correlación r = -0.402558360; y en el Coeficiente de Correlación R2 = 0.162053233; con lo que se demuestra la inexistencia de asociación estadística ni significancia entre la pobreza y el empleo. El tipo de empleo que predomina en el departamento de Loreto es el empleo informal, en el que ubica el 81.35% de los trabajadores equivalente a 411,510 personas. Por su lado, el empleo formal solamente ocupó a 94,350 trabajadores que representa el 18.65. El ingreso real promedio per cápita mensual tuvo un comportamiento variable durante los cinco años, llegando a su máximo valor el año 2017 siendo S/. 697.00 y el más bajo el año 2016 con S/. 654.00. El gasto real promedio per cápita mensual mide el bienestar de la población, y tuvo una evolución variable a lo largo del quinquenio, siendo el valor más alto S/. 551.00 del año 2018, y el más bajo S/. 517.00 del año 2016