Food, Farm, and Industry

This paper evaluates Oregon\u27s interpretations of the Pure Food Act and looks at the history of the Pure Food Act on both the national and regional level. By looking at the newspapers of Oregon\u27s rural and urban regions, one can learn a lot about the opinions of these cities on the topic of the Pure Food Acts of 1906 and 1907

Integrated Heart - Coupling multiscale and multiphysics models for the simulation of the cardiac function

Mathematical modelling of the human heart and its function can expand our understanding of various cardiac diseases, which remain the most common cause of death in the developed world. Like other physiological systems, the heart can be understood as a complex multiscale system involving interacting phenomena at the molecular, cellular, tissue, and organ levels. This article addresses the numerical modelling of many aspects of heart function, including the interaction of the cardiac electrophysiology system with contractile muscle tissue, the sub-cellular activation-contraction mechanisms, as well as the hemodynamics inside the heart chambers. Resolution of each of these sub-systems requires separate mathematical analysis and specially developed numerical algorithms, which we review in detail. By using specific sub-systems as examples, we also look at systemic stability, and explain for example how physiological concepts such as microscopic force generation in cardiac muscle cells, translate to coupled systems of differential equations, and how their stability properties influence the choice of numerical coupling algorithms. Several numerical examples illustrate three fundamental challenges of developing multiphysics and multiscale numerical models for simulating heart function, namely: (i) the correct upscaling from single-cell models to the entire cardiac muscle, (ii) the proper coupling of electrophysiology and tissue mechanics to simulate electromechanical feedback, and (iii) the stable simulation of ventricular hemodynamics during rapid valve opening and closure

BLOOM: A 176B-Parameter Open-Access Multilingual Language Model

Large language models (LLMs) have been shown to be able to perform new tasks based on a few demonstrations or natural language instructions. While these capabilities have led to widespread adoption, most LLMs are developed by resource-rich organizations and are frequently kept from the public. As a step towards democratizing this powerful technology, we present BLOOM, a 176B-parameter open-access language model designed and built thanks to a collaboration of hundreds of researchers. BLOOM is a decoder-only Transformer language model that was trained on the ROOTS corpus, a dataset comprising hundreds of sources in 46 natural and 13 programming languages (59 in total). We find that BLOOM achieves competitive performance on a wide variety of benchmarks, with stronger results after undergoing multitask prompted finetuning. To facilitate future research and applications using LLMs, we publicly release our models and code under the Responsible AI License

The effects of pregravid body mass index and gestational weight gain on indicators of placental health

Background: Pregravid obesity and abnormal gestational weight gain added to the physiological stresses of pregnancy have been shown to be associated with increased risks of morbidity and mortality for both the infant and mother. However, their effects on placental health are still uncertain. The placenta and the umbilical cord facilitate the interchange of nutrients between the maternal-fetal dyad. Recent research suggests that the placenta influences the metabolic environment in utero, which can in turn affect birth outcomes. Therefore, understanding how obesity affects the health of the placenta is vital. Methods: This dissertation consists of three studies using data from the University of California San Diego Perinatal Biospecimen Repository Cohort. Study 1 evaluated the effect maternal BMI has on indicators of placental health and assessed GDM as a mediator within the casual pathway. Study 2 assessed the effect gestational weight gain has on indicators of placental health. Study 3 built upon results from the first study by stratifying analyses to determine if the effect of maternal BMI on indicators of placental health were modified by fetal sex. The attenuation of the effect of obese maternal BMI on placental outcomes in the presence of chronic villitis was also evaluated in Study 3. Results: We found that maternal obesity was significantly associated with increased risk of larger placentas, longer umbilical cords, and chronic villitis (Study 1). Women with excessive gestational weight gain were shown to have higher risks of longer umbilical cords, especially in pregnancies with male fetuses (Study 2). We found that in pregnancies with female fetuses, the risk of chronic villitis is increased in women with obesity while other measurements of abnormal placental health were not at an increased risk. This varied in pregnancies with male fetuses, where the risk of larger placentas and longer umbilical cords were increased in women with maternal obesity, but no increased risk of chronic villitis was reported (Study 3). Discussion: Maternal BMI and gestational weight gain are associated with indicators of placental health. Each can be used to help identify women at high risk for abnormal placentas and provide the opportunity for increased surveillance and early intervention

Outcomes of follow-up care after an emergency department visit among pediatric asthmatics in the military health system

<p><i>Background and Objectives</i>: Asthma exacerbations frequently trigger emergency department (ED) visits. Guidelines recommend timely follow-up after an ED visit for asthma, however, other studies have questioned the quality of follow-up care and their effect on subsequent ED utilization. We evaluated follow-up care on asthma outcomes in pediatric asthmatics enrolled in the Military Health System (MHS) after an ED visit for asthma. <i>Methods</i>: This retrospective study utilized MHS data to evaluate 2–17-year-old persistent asthmatics with an ED visit for asthma between 2010–2012. Demographics, medication dispensing, and subsequent asthma related ED and hospital utilization were compared between those with or without a 28-day follow-up appointment. <i>Results</i>: 10,460 of 88,837 persistent asthmatics met inclusion criteria for an asthma ED visit. 4,964 (47.5%) had ≥ 1 follow-up visit. In the 29–365 days after their ED visit, 21.1% of the follow-up cohort required an ED re-visit compared to 24.0% of the patients without follow-up. Follow-up care was associated with a reduction in ED re-visits (adjusted hazard ratio 0.86; 95% confidence interval 0.79, 0.93). Controller medications were dispensed to 76.0% of the follow-up cohort within 90 days of their ED visit compared to 49.7% in the group without follow-up. <i>Conclusions</i>: Despite universal access to healthcare, less than half of pediatric MHS asthma patients had follow-up within 28 days of an ED visit. Those with follow-up were more likely to fill a controller medication within 90 days post-ED visit, and less likely to have an asthma ED re-visit in the subsequent year.</p

Factors associated with persistent posttraumatic stress disorder among U.S. military service members and veterans

Abstract Background Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can have long-term and far-reaching impacts on health and social and occupational functioning. This study examined factors associated with persistent PTSD among U.S. service members and veterans. Methods Using baseline and follow-up (2001–2013) questionnaire data collected approximately every 3 years from the Millennium Cohort Study, multivariable logistic regression was conducted to determine factors associated with persistent PTSD. Participants included those who screened positive for PTSD using the PTSD Checklist–Civilian Version at baseline (N = 2409). Participants were classified as having remitted or persistent PTSD based on screening negative or positive, respectively, at follow-up. Results Almost half of participants (N = 1132; 47%) met criteria for persistent PTSD at the first follow-up; of those, 804 (71%) also screened positive for PTSD at the second follow-up. Multiple factors were independently associated with persistent PTSD in an adjusted model at the first follow-up, including older age, deployment with high combat exposure, enlisted rank, initial PTSD severity, depression, history of physical assault, disabling injury/illness, and somatic symptoms. Among those with persistent PTSD at the first follow-up, additional factors of less sleep, separation from the military, and lack of social support were associated with persistent PTSD at the second follow-up. Conclusions Combat experiences and PTSD severity were the most salient risk factors for persistent PTSD. Comorbid conditions, including injury/illness, somatic symptoms, and sleep problems, also played a significant role and should be addressed during treatment. The high percentage of participants with persistent PTSD supports the need for more comprehensive and accessible treatment, especially after separation from the military