Intersection of COVID-19, Cancer, and Racial Health Disparities

In this article, the authors explore the intersection between the COVID-19 pandemic with cancer and the health disparities experienced by African Americans. Using extant literature and contemporaneous data, they point out how overlooking the intersections of this triad could lead to the exacerbation of existing disparities for cancer patients based on race and ethnicity. They suggest best practices to balance cancer treatment and survivorship with increasing the potential COVID-19 exposures for patients, families, and health care workers. Drawing upon their analysis, the authors offer a list of recommendations and strategies for system level responses that are designed to foster practice and policy for cancer care health care equity and relate to cancer care equity, infection prevention and control,  and cancer pain management, that may reduce disparities among African Americans

The Ursinus Weekly, February 21, 1966

Mrs. Pancoast speaks for traditional Color Day • M-singers plan concert tour • Curtain Club to give 3 one acts • Winter IF Weekend greatest ever • Chem. Dept. offers guest lecturers • Dean\u27s list • Y-SAC presents Pfeiffer Players • The rush is on • Editorial: Freeland a go-go, a retrospection • Letter to the editor • 78% would forgo weekend migrations to socialize at Freeland on Fridays: Poll shows a-go-go tops in minds of UC students • 800 eager students thrilled by thunderous Olatunji show • Dominican ambassador to brief model UN panel • Lantern seeks new contributors among swinging, lazy students • Intramural corner • Courtmen win thriller in overtime battle • Grapplers win two; Bring log to 5-2 • Ursinus women splash their way to victory • Indoor track meet • Badminton roundup • Greek gleanings • Veterinary group gives book to Ursinus library • Dr. Eugene H. Miller is author of new case bookhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/weekly/1217/thumbnail.jp

The Ursinus Weekly, February 21, 1966

Mrs. Pancoast speaks for traditional Color Day • M-singers plan concert tour • Curtain Club to give 3 one acts • Winter IF Weekend greatest ever • Chem. Dept. offers guest lecturers • Dean\u27s list • Y-SAC presents Pfeiffer Players • The rush is on • Editorial: Freeland a go-go, a retrospection • Letter to the editor • 78% would forgo weekend migrations to socialize at Freeland on Fridays: Poll shows a-go-go tops in minds of UC students • 800 eager students thrilled by thunderous Olatunji show • Dominican ambassador to brief model UN panel • Lantern seeks new contributors among swinging, lazy students • Intramural corner • Courtmen win thriller in overtime battle • Grapplers win two; Bring log to 5-2 • Ursinus women splash their way to victory • Indoor track meet • Badminton roundup • Greek gleanings • Veterinary group gives book to Ursinus library • Dr. Eugene H. Miller is author of new case bookhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/weekly/1217/thumbnail.jp

Aperiodic dynamical decoupling sequences in presence of pulse errors

Dynamical decoupling (DD) is a promising tool for preserving the quantum states of qubits. However, small imperfections in the control pulses can seriously affect the fidelity of decoupling, and qualitatively change the evolution of the controlled system at long times. Using both analytical and numerical tools, we theoretically investigate the effect of the pulse errors accumulation for two aperiodic DD sequences, the Uhrig's DD UDD) protocol [G. S. Uhrig, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 98}, 100504 (2007)], and the Quadratic DD (QDD) protocol [J. R. West, B. H. Fong and D. A. Lidar, Phys. Rev. Lett {\bf 104}, 130501 (2010)]. We consider the implementation of these sequences using the electron spins of phosphorus donors in silicon, where DD sequences are applied to suppress dephasing of the donor spins. The dependence of the decoupling fidelity on different initial states of the spins is the focus of our study. We investigate in detail the initial drop in the DD fidelity, and its long-term saturation. We also demonstrate that by applying the control pulses along different directions, the performance of QDD protocols can be noticeably improved, and explain the reason of such an improvement. Our results can be useful for future implementations of the aperiodic decoupling protocols, and for better understanding of the impact of errors on quantum control of spins.Comment: updated reference

An integrated approach to cardioprotection in lymphomas

In potentially curable cancers, long-term survival depends not only on the successful treatment of the malignancy but also on the risks associated with treatment-related toxicity, especially cardiotoxicity. Malignant lymphomas affect patients at any age, with acute and late toxicity risks that could have a severe effect on morbidity, mortality, and quality of life. Although our understanding of chemotherapy-associated and radiotherapy-associated cardiovascular disease has advanced considerably, new drugs with potential cardiotoxicity have been introduced for the treatment of lymphomas. In this Review, we summarise the mechanisms of treatment-related cardiac injury, available clinical data, and protocols for optimising cardioprotection in lymphomas. We discuss ongoing research strategies to advance our knowledge of the molecular basis of drug-induced and radiation-induced toxicity. Additionally, we emphasise the potential for personalised follow-up and early detection, including the role of biomarkers and novel diagnostic tests, highlighting the role of the cardio-oncology team

Variance of transmitted power in multichannel dissipative ergodic structures invariant under time reversal

We use random matrix theory (RMT) to study the first two moments of the wave power transmitted in time reversal invariant systems having ergodic motion. Dissipation is modeled by a number of loss channels of variable coupling strength. To make a connection with ultrasonic experiments on ergodic elastodynamic billiards, the channels injecting and collecting the waves are assumed to be negligibly coupled to the medium, and to contribute essentially no dissipation. Within the RMT model we calculate the quantities of interest exactly, employing the supersymmetry technique. This approach is found to be more accurate than another method based on simplifying naive assumptions for the statistics of the eigenfrequencies and the eigenfunctions. The results of the supersymmetric method are confirmed by Monte Carlo numerical simulation and are used to reveal a possible source of the disagreement between the predictions of the naive theory and ultrasonic measurements.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure

Collider signature of T-quarks

Little Higgs models with T Parity contain new vector-like fermions, the T-odd quarks or ''T-quarks'', which can be produced at hadron colliders with a QCD-strength cross section. Events with two acoplanar jets and large missing transverse energy provide a simple signature of T-quark production. We show that searches for this signature with the Tevatron Run II data can probe a significant part of the Little Higgs model parameter space not accessible to previous experiments, exploring T-quark masses up to about 400 GeV. This reach covers parts of the parameter space where the lightest T-odd particle can account for the observed dark matter relic abundance. We also comment on the prospects for this search at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)

International Research Institute for Climate and Society

Although many natural disasters have hydro-meteorological antecedents, little advantage has been taken of the availability of weather and climate data, advanced diagnostics and seasonal predictions for disaster risk management. In this study, methodologies for use of hydro-meteorological data in hazard risk assessment are presented laying the ground work for future dynamic hazard predictions. A high-resolution assessment of natural hazards, vulnerability to hazards and of multi- hazard disaster risk has been carried out for Sri Lanka. Drought, flood, cyclone and landslide hazards, and vulnerability were identified using data from Sri Lankan government agencies. Drought and flood prone areas were mapped using rainfall data that was gridded at a resolution of 10-km. Cyclone and landslide hazardousness were mapped based on long-term historical incidence data. Indices for regional industrial development, infrastructure development and agricultural production were estimated based on proxies. An assessment of regional food insecurity from the World Food Programme was used in the analysis. Records of emergency relief were used in estimating a spatial proxy for disaster risk. A multi-hazardousness map was developed for Sri Lanka. The hazardousness estimates for drought, floods, cyclones, landslides were weighted for their associated disaster risk with proxies for economic losses to provide a risk map or a hotspots map. Our principal findings are summarized below. Useful hazard and vulnerability analysis can be carried out with the type of data that is available in-country. The hazardousness estimates for droughts, floods, cyclones and landslides show marked spatial variability. Vulnerability shows marked spatial variability as well. Thus, the resolution of analysis needs to match the resolution of spatial variations in relief, climate and other features. The higher resolution information is needed in planning and action for disaster management. Multi-hazard analysis brought out regions of high risk in Sri Lanka such as the Kegalle and Ratnapura Districts in the South West and Ampara, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Mullaitivu and Killinochchi districts in the North-East and the districts of Nuwara Eliya, Badulla, Ampara and Matale that contain some of the sharpest hill slopes of the central mountain massifs. There is a distinct seasonality to risks posed by drought, floods, landslides and cyclones. Whereas the Eastern slopes regions have hotspots during the boreal fall and early winter, the Western slopes regions is risk prone in the summer and the early fall. Thus attention is warranted not only on Hot-Spots but also on “Hot-Seasons”. Climate data was useful in estimating hazardousness in the case of droughts, floods and cyclones and for estimating flood and landslide risk. The methodologies presented here for hazard analysis of floods and droughts present an explicit link between climate and hazard. The results from this study coupled with the high-resolution seasonal climate prediction techniques developed in a related study point the way to using historical, current and predictive climate information to inform disaster management policy, and early warning systems. Climate, environmental and social change such as deforestation, urbanization and war affect the hazardousness and vulnerability. It is more difficult to quantify such changes rather than the baseline conditions. Our analysis was carried out for a period since 1960 that included a period of civil war after 1983. This war affected the North-East of the island in particular. To put things in context, while natural disasters accounted for 1,483 fatalities in this period, the civil wars accounted for over 65,000. Wars and conflict poses complications for hazard and vulnerability analysis. Yet, the vulnerabilities created by the war make such efforts to reduce disaster risks all the more important. Technical details of our work have been included in a case study published by the World Bank and in journals listed in the outputs

Surveillance in ubiquitous network societies: Normative conflicts related to the consumer in-store supermarket experience in the context of the Internet of Things

Peer-reviewed journal articleThe Internet of Things (IoT) is an emerging global infrastructure that employs wireless sensors to collect, store, and exchange data. Increasingly, applications for marketing and advertising have been articulated as a means to enhance the consumer shopping experience, in addition to improving efficiency. However, privacy advocates have challenged the mass aggregation of personally identifiable information in databases and geotracking, the use of location-based services to identify one’s precise location over time. This paper employs the framework of contextual integrity related to privacy developed by Nissenbaum (Privacy in context: technology, policy, and the integrity of social life. Stanford University Press, Stanford, 2010) as a tool to understand citizen response to implementation IoT-related technology in the supermarket. The purpose of the study was to identify and understand specific changes in information practices brought about by the IoT that may be perceived as privacy violations. Citizens were interviewed, read a scenario of near-term IoT implementation, and were asked to reflect on changes in the key actors involved, information attributes, and principles of transmission. Areas where new practices may occur with the IoT were then highlighted as potential problems (privacy violations). Issues identified included the mining of medical data, invasive targeted advertising, and loss of autonomy through marketing profiles or personal affect monitoring. While there were numerous aspects deemed desirable by the participants, some developments appeared to tip the balance between consumer benefit and corporate gain. This surveillance power creates an imbalance between the consumer and the corporation that may also impact individual autonomy. The ethical dimensions of this problem are discussed