Tipping points for broadband users

This paper draws upon Malcom Gladwell\u27s notion of The Tipping Point in the context of the development of new broadband services. The new Rudd Labor government has committed $4.7 billion of Australian government capital to assist in the construction of a new national fibre broadband network. Broadband platforms have enabled a different service paradigm from all of their predecessors, and three categories of broadband services are discussed here, called managed, unmanaged, and publicly supported services. Examples of related service innovations are drawn upon from overseas models, particularly The Netherlands and Canada. The notion of the \u27tipping point\u27 is then examined in the context of three different end _user domains related to broadband systems; namely social networking sites, community ownership models that build community services, and the vexed eHealth service domain. The government National Broadband Network (NBN) tender process appears to have given little attention to what services are likely to be acceptable to, or needed by, Australian broadband consumers in the future. Hence a call is made for the \u27tipping point\u27 that is so much needed _ a new policy framework that will provide constructive consumer participation on key policy decision making

Levofloxacin Cures Experimental Pneumonic Plague in African Green Monkeys

Yersinia pestis is the causative agent of bubonic plague as well as a rare severe form known as primary pneumonic plague resulting from the inhalation of contaminated aerosols. The relative ease of aerosol preparation and high virulence makes Y. pestis a dangerous bioweapon. The current study describes the treatment of established pneumonic plague with the widely available, broad-spectrum fluoroquinolone antibiotic levofloxacin in a nonhuman primate model. African green monkeys inhaled a target dose of 100 lethal doses for 50% of animals (LD50) and were monitored for fever and vital signs by telemetry. Fever was the first sign of illness, correlating with bacteremia but preceding radiographic pneumonia, and initiated intravenous levofloxacin treatment in doses designed to mimic antibiotic levels achieved in humans. All animals treated with saline died and all animals completing 10 days of treatment survived, with resolution of high fever within 24–48 hours. We conclude that levofloxacin may be an appropriate broad-spectrum antibiotic for presumptive therapy in an aerosolized bioweapons attack and should be studied for treatment of bubonic plague

Fine tuned personalized machine learning models to detect insomnia risk based on data from a smart bed platform

IntroductionInsomnia causes serious adverse health effects and is estimated to affect 10–30% of the worldwide population. This study leverages personalized fine-tuned machine learning algorithms to detect insomnia risk based on questionnaire and longitudinal objective sleep data collected by a smart bed platform.MethodsUsers of the Sleep Number smart bed were invited to participate in an IRB approved study which required them to respond to four questionnaires (which included the Insomnia Severity Index; ISI) administered 6 weeks apart from each other in the period from November 2021 to March 2022. For 1,489 participants who completed at least 3 questionnaires, objective data (which includes sleep/wake and cardio-respiratory metrics) collected by the platform were queried for analysis. An incremental, passive-aggressive machine learning model was used to detect insomnia risk which was defined by the ISI exceeding a given threshold. Three ISI thresholds (8, 10, and 15) were considered. The incremental model is advantageous because it allows personalized fine-tuning by adding individual training data to a generic model.ResultsThe generic model, without personalizing, resulted in an area under the receiving-operating curve (AUC) of about 0.5 for each ISI threshold. The personalized fine-tuning with the data of just five sleep sessions from the individual for whom the model is being personalized resulted in AUCs exceeding 0.8 for all ISI thresholds. Interestingly, no further AUC enhancements resulted by adding personalized data exceeding ten sessions.DiscussionThese are encouraging results motivating further investigation into the application of personalized fine tuning machine learning to detect insomnia risk based on longitudinal sleep data and the extension of this paradigm to sleep medicine

Canalization of the evolutionary trajectory of the human influenza virus

Since its emergence in 1968, influenza A (H3N2) has evolved extensively in genotype and antigenic phenotype. Antigenic evolution occurs in the context of a two-dimensional 'antigenic map', while genetic evolution shows a characteristic ladder-like genealogical tree. Here, we use a large-scale individual-based model to show that evolution in a Euclidean antigenic space provides a remarkable correspondence between model behavior and the epidemiological, antigenic, genealogical and geographic patterns observed in influenza virus. We find that evolution away from existing human immunity results in rapid population turnover in the influenza virus and that this population turnover occurs primarily along a single antigenic axis. Thus, selective dynamics induce a canalized evolutionary trajectory, in which the evolutionary fate of the influenza population is surprisingly repeatable and hence, in theory, predictable.Comment: 29 pages, 5 figures, 10 supporting figure

Prevalence of alternative lengthening of telomeres in pediatric sarcomas determined by the telomeric DNA C-circle assay

IntroductionAlternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) occurs in sarcomas and ALT cancers share common mechanisms of therapy resistance or sensitivity. Telomeric DNA C-circles are self-primed circular telomeric repeats detected with a PCR assay that provide a sensitive and specific biomarker exclusive to ALT cancers. We have previously shown that 23% of high-risk neuroblastomas are of the ALT phenotype. Here, we investigate the frequency of ALT in Ewing’s family sarcoma (EFS), rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS), and osteosarcoma (OS) by analyzing DNA from fresh frozen primary tumor samples utilizing the real-time PCR C-circle Assay (CCA).MethodsWe reviewed prior publications on ALT detection in pediatric sarcomas. DNA was extracted from fresh frozen primary tumors, fluorometrically quantified, C-circles were selectively enriched by isothermal rolling cycle amplification and detected by real-time PCR.ResultsThe sample cohort consisted of DNA from 95 EFS, 191 RMS, and 87 OS primary tumors. One EFS and 4 RMS samples were inevaluable. Using C-circle positive (CC+) cutoffs previously defined for high-risk neuroblastoma, we observed 0 of 94 EFS, 5 of 187 RMS, and 62 of 87 OS CC+ tumors.ConclusionsUtilizing the ALT-specific CCA we observed ALT in 0% of EFS, 2.7% of RMS, and 71% of OS. These data are comparable to prior studies in EFS and OS using less specific ALT markers. The CCA can provide a robust and sensitive means of identifying ALT in sarcomas and has potential as a companion diagnostic for ALT targeted therapeutics

The Lantern Vol. 71, No. 2, Spring 2004

• Football Captain • Grass Blades • Identity Theft • Her Shoulders • Doing 100 • Watching the • Fifteen Lines for Five • Plague • On the Occasion of Kissing You Less Than I Used To • Decomposey • Broomhandles • Just a Minute • War of the Words • Seguidille • At the End of One\u27s Rope • The Ride and Joe • I Want Soft Curls • Broken • Stories of a Hypochondriac • The TV is in Jail & My Mom is the Wardenhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1164/thumbnail.jp