Team Up. Pressure Down. Addressing hypertension to improve cardiovascular health

IMPACT. 1: Number of patients reached since April, 2014 nearly doubled -- 2. Educated 219 new patients and 31 recurring patients about HTN -- 3. Provided 41 BP monitors and 14 large sized cuffs.PRIMARY CONTACT: Abbey Strazar, Mary VincentTeam Up, Pressure Down (TUPD) is a pharmacist-driven HTN education program developed to improve cardiovascular health and reduce strokes for the uninsured and underserved in Franklin County

Place learning overrides innate behaviors in Drosophila

Animals in a natural environment confront many sensory cues. Some of these cues bias behavioral decisions independent of experience, and action selection can reveal a stimulus–response (S–R) connection. However, in a changing environment it would be a benefit for an animal to update behavioral action selection based on experience, and learning might modify even strong S–R relationships. How animals use learning to modify S–R relationships is a largely open question. Three sensory stimuli, air, light, and gravity sources were presented to individual Drosophila melanogaster in both naïve and place conditioning situations. Flies were tested for a potential modification of the S–R relationships of anemotaxis, phototaxis, and negative gravitaxis by a contingency that associated place with high temperature. With two stimuli, significant S–R relationships were abandoned when the cue was in conflict with the place learning contingency. The role of the dunce (dnc) cAMP-phosphodiesterase and the rutabaga (rut) adenylyl cyclase were examined in all conditions. Both dnc1 and rut2080 mutant flies failed to display significant S–R relationships with two attractive cues, and have characteristically lower conditioning scores under most conditions. Thus, learning can have profound effects on separate native S–R relationships in multiple contexts, and mutation of the dnc and rut genes reveal complex effects on behavior.</jats:p

Reflections on Software Failure Analysis

Failure studies are important in revealing the root causes, behaviors, and life cycle of defects in software systems. These studies either focus on understanding the characteristics of defects in specific classes of systems or the characteristics of a specific type of defect in the systems it manifests in. Failure studies have influenced various software engineering research directions, especially in the area of software evolution, defect detection, and program repair. In this paper, we reflect on the conduct of failure studies in software engineering. We reviewed a sample of 52 failure study papers. We identified several recurring problems in these studies, some of which hinder the ability of the engineering community to trust or replicate the results. Based on our findings, we suggest future research directions, including identifying and analyzing failure causal chains, standardizing the conduct of failure studies, and tool support for faster defect analysis.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures To be published in: Proceedings of the 30th ACM Joint European Software Engineering Conference and Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering (ESEC/FSE '22

Reflections on Software Failure Analysis

Failure studies are important in revealing the root causes, behaviors, and life cycle of defects in software systems. These studies either focus on understanding the characteristics of defects in specific classes of systems or the characteristics of a specific type of defect in the systems it manifests in. Failure studies have influenced various software engineering research directions, especially in the area of software evolution, defect detection, and program repair. In this paper, we reflect on the conduct of failure studies in software engineering. We reviewed a sample of 52 failure study papers. We identified several recurring problems in these studies, some of which hinder the ability of the engineering community to trust or replicate the results. Based on our findings, we suggest future research directions, including identifying and analyzing failure causal chains, standardizing the conduct of failure studies, and tool support for faster defect analysis

Determinants of Depressive Symptoms at 1 Year Following ICU Discharge in Survivors of $ 7 Days of Mechanical Ventilation : Results From the RECOVER Program, a Secondary Analysis of a Prospective Multicenter Cohort Study

Abstract : Background: Moderate to severe depressive symptoms occur in up to one-third of patients at 1 year following ICU discharge, negatively affecting patient outcomes. This study evaluated patient and caregiver factors associated with the development of these symptoms. Methods: This study used the Rehabilitation and Recovery in Patients after Critical Illness and Their Family Caregivers (RECOVER) Program (Phase 1) cohort of 391 patients from 10 medical/surgical university-affiliated ICUs across Canada. We determined the association between patient depressive symptoms (captured by using the Beck Depression Inventory II [BDI-II]), patient characteristics (age, sex, socioeconomic status, Charlson score, and ICU length of stay [LOS]), functional independence measure (FIM) motor subscale score, and caregiver characteristics (Caregiver Assistance Scale and Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale) by using linear mixed models at time points 3, 6, and 12 months. Results: BDI-II data were available for 246 patients. Median age at ICU admission was 56 years (interquartile range, 45-65 years), 143 (58%) were male, and median ICU LOS was 19 days (interquartile range, 13-32 days). During the 12-month follow-up, 67 of 246 (27.2%) patients had a BDI-II score ≥ 20, indicating moderate to severe depressive symptoms. Mixed models showed worse depressive symptoms in patients with lower FIM motor subscale scores (1.1 BDI-II points per 10 FIM points), lower income status (by 3.7 BDI-II points; P = .007), and incomplete secondary education (by 3.8 BDI-II points; P = .009); a curvilinear relation with age (P = .001) was also reported, with highest BDI-II at ages 45 to 50 years. No associations were found between patient BDI-II and comorbidities (P = .92), sex (P = .25), ICU LOS (P = .51), or caregiver variables (Caregiver Assistance Scale [P = .28] and Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale [P = .74]). Conclusions: Increased functional dependence, lower income, and lower education are associated with increased severity of post-ICU depressive symptoms, whereas age has a curvilinear relation with symptom severity. Knowledge of risk factors may inform surveillance and targeted mental health follow-up. Early mobilization and rehabilitation aiming to improve function may serve to modify mood disorders

Timing and spatial heterogeneity of leptospirosis transmission in Northeast Thailand

International audienceThailand experienced an explosive country-wide outbreak of leptospirosis in the late 1990s, followed by high endemic transmission. The key barrier to effective control has been a lack of knowledge about the factors driving the timing and spatial distribution of this persistent transmission. We obtained data on weekly leptospirosis incidence in the 320 districts of northeastern Thailand between 2000 and 2014 from the Thai passive notifiable disease surveillance system (R506). We modeled incidence using a spatiotemporally explicit Poisson model and first examined the effects of current and lagged rainfall and temperature (Thai Meteorology Department). We then collected data on environmental covariates—land use (Thai Land Development Department), livestock and irrigation (FAO), NDVI, NDWI, and elevation (Google Earth Engine)—and evaluated their effects on spatial variation in incidence. Between 2000 and 2014, 53,719 cases of leptospirosis were reported in northeastern Thailand. The timing of peak incidence varied between early August and mid-October and did not coincide with periods of rice planting or harvesting. Instead, weekly incidence was strongly associated with rainfall and temperature in the current and two prior weeks. Districts with high flooding propensity (NWDI, OR = 95.24 per 0.01 index point), a high percentage of rice paddies (OR = 1.057 per %), and low cattle density (OR = 0.98 per head) had significantly higher leptospirosis incidence. We also encountered significant spatiotemporal residuals in our model that appear to represent focal outbreaks. Our study found that rainfall and temperature, not specific events in the agricultural cycle, were the main determinants of peak transmission. We also identified specific environmental features associated with persistent high transmission which may serve as targets for prevention. However, in addition to this endemic pattern, outbreaks contribute to the burden of leptospirosis. Understanding the sources of these epidemics will be important for leptospirosis control in this region