Diversity Speaker Series: Dr. Anna Kaatz

Dr. Anna Kaatz is the Director of Computational Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.Her research focuses on broadening the diversity of the science and medical workforce, which is an evidence-based approach to promote research innovation and to address human health disparities. Dr. Kaatz\u27s current projects seek to understand reasons why highly qualified women and racial/ethnic minorities tend to fare worse in peer review processes, such as for NIH grants and journal manuscripts, which limits their participation in research careers. This work applies research from social psychology and techniques from data and text mining, computational linguistics, and machine learning to mine text written by peer reviewers (e.g., reviewers\u27 critiques of grants) for linguistic forms of bias (e.g., race and gender bias that may arise from the inadvertent influence of cultural stereotypes on judgment).https://digitalcommons.imsa.edu/dei_speakers/1002/thumbnail.jp

A gender bias habit-breaking intervention led to increased hiring of female faculty in STEMM departments

Addressing the underrepresentation of women in science is a top priority for many institutions, but the majority of efforts to increase representation of women are neither evidence-based nor rigorously assessed. One exception is the gender bias habit-breaking intervention (Carnes et al., 2015), which, in a cluster-randomized trial involving all but two departmental clusters (N = 92) in the 6 STEMM focused schools/colleges at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, led to increases in gender bias awareness and self-efficacy to promote gender equity in academic science departments. Following this initial success, the present study compares, in a preregistered analysis, hiring rates of new female faculty pre- and post-manipulation. Whereas the proportion of women hired by control departments remained stable over time, the proportion of women hired by intervention departments increased by an estimated 18 percentage points (OR = 2.23, dOR = 0.34). Though the preregistered analysis did not achieve conventional levels of statistical significance (p \u3c 0.07), our study has a hard upper limit on statistical power, as the cluster-randomized trial has a maximum sample size of 92 departmental clusters. These patterns have undeniable practical significance for the advancement of women in science, and provide promising evidence that psychological interventions can facilitate gender equity and diversity

Toczeń rumieniowaty układowy u 39-letniego mężczyzny z objawami niewydolności serca

Toczeń rumieniowaty układowy (SLE) jest układową chorobą autoimmunizacyjną o zróżnicowanym obrazie klinicznym. Przyczyna SLE jest nieznana. U osób predysponowanych genetycznie pod wpływem czynników środowiskowych dochodzi do reakcji autoimmunologicznych z powstawaniem autoprzeciwciał i rozwoju przewlekłego procesu zapalnego. Objawy ze strony układu krążenia w aktywnym SLE występują pod postacią zapalenia osierdzia, zapalenia mięśnia sercowego, zapalenia wsierdzia z brodawkowatymi aseptycznymi wegetacjami na zastawkach: mitralnej i aortalnej. Ostre zapalenie mięśnia sercowego występuje rzadko, ale może być pierwszym objawem SLE. Objawy są najczęściej łagodne i rzadko obserwuje się istotną dysfunkcję lewej komory. W niniejszej pracy przedstawiono przypadek ciężkich zaburzeń kurczliwości mięśnia sercowego, wykrytych przypadkowo u 39-letniego mężczyzny, u którego rozwinął się pełnoobjawowy obraz kliniczny i serologiczny SLE. Zalecone leczenie kardiologiczne oraz glukokortykosteroidy z immunosupresją doprowadziły do uzyskania remisji objawów SLE oraz poprawy kurczliwości mięśnia sercowego

Low agreement among reviewers evaluating the same NIH grant applications

Obtaining grant funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is increasingly competitive, as funding success rates have declined over the past decade. To allocate relatively scarce funds, scientific peer reviewers must differentiate the very best applications from comparatively weaker ones. Despite the importance of this determination, little research has explored how reviewers assign ratings to the applications they review and whether there is consistency in the reviewers’ evaluation of the same application. Replicating all aspects of the NIH peer-review process, we examined 43 individual reviewers’ ratings and written critiques of the same group of 25 NIH grant applications. Results showed no agreement among reviewers regarding the quality of the applications in either their qualitative or quantitative evaluations. Although all reviewers received the same instructions on how to rate applications and format their written critiques, we also found no agreement in how reviewers “translated” a given number of strengths and weaknesses into a numeric rating. It appeared that the outcome of the grant review depended more on the reviewer to whom the grant was assigned than the research proposed in the grant. This research replicates the NIH peer-review process to examine in detail the qualitative and quantitative judgments of different reviewers examining the same application, and our results have broad relevance for scientific grant peer review

Aerial dissemination of Clostridium difficile spores

Background: Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhoea (CDAD) is a frequently occurring healthcare-associated infection, which is responsible for significant morbidity and mortality amongst elderly patients in healthcare facilities. Environmental contamination is known to play an important contributory role in the spread of CDAD and it is suspected that contamination might be occurring as a result of aerial dissemination of C. difficile spores. However previous studies have failed to isolate C. difficile from air in hospitals. In an attempt to clarify this issue we undertook a short controlled pilot study in an elderly care ward with the aim of culturing C. difficile from the air. Methods: In a survey undertaken during February (two days) 2006 and March (two days) 2007, air samples were collected using a portable cyclone sampler and surface samples collected using contact plates in a UK hospital. Sampling took place in a six bedded elderly care bay (Study) during February 2006 and in March 2007 both the study bay and a four bedded orthopaedic bay (Control). Particulate material from the air was collected in Ringer's solution, alcohol shocked and plated out in triplicate onto Brazier's CCEY agar without egg yolk, but supplemented with 5 mg/L of lysozyme. After incubation, the identity of isolates was confirmed by standard techniques. Ribotyping and REP-PCR fingerprinting were used to further characterise isolates. Results: On both days in February 2006, C. difficile was cultured from the air with 23 samples yielding the bacterium (mean counts 53 – 426 cfu/m3 of air). One representative isolate from each of these was characterized further. Of the 23 isolates, 22 were ribotype 001 and were indistinguishable on REP-PCR typing. C. difficile was not cultured from the air or surfaces of either hospital bay during the two days in March 2007. Conclusion: This pilot study produced clear evidence of sporadic aerial dissemination of spores of a clone of C. difficile, a finding which may help to explain why CDAD is so persistent within hospitals and difficult to eradicate. Although preliminary, the findings reinforce concerns that current C. difficile control measures may be inadequate and suggest that improved ward ventilation may help to reduce the spread of CDAD in healthcare facilities

Adverse clinical sequelae after skin branding: a case series

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

ISTH guidelines for antithrombotic treatment in COVID-19

Antithrombotic agents reduce risk of thromboembolism in severely ill patients. Patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) may realize additional benefits from heparins. Optimal dosing and timing of these treatments and benefits of other antithrombotic agents remain unclear. In October 2021, ISTH assembled an international panel of content experts, patient representatives, and a methodologist to develop recommendations on anticoagulants and antiplatelet agents for patients with COVID-19 in different clinical settings. We used the American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association methodology to assess level of evidence (LOE) and class of recommendation (COR). Only recommendations with LOE A or B were included. Panelists agreed on 12 recommendations: three for non-hospitalized, five for non-critically ill hospitalized, three for critically ill hospitalized, and one for post-discharge patients. Two recommendations were based on high-quality evidence, the remainder on moderate-quality evidence. Among non-critically ill patients hospitalized for COVID-19, the panel gave a strong recommendation (a) for use of prophylactic dose of low molecular weight heparin or unfractionated heparin (LMWH/UFH) (COR 1); (b) for select patients in this group, use of therapeutic dose LMWH/UFH in preference to prophylactic dose (COR 1); but (c) against the addition of an antiplatelet agent (COR 3). Weak recommendations favored (a) sulodexide in non-hospitalized patients, (b) adding an antiplatelet agent to prophylactic LMWH/UFH in select critically ill, and (c) prophylactic rivaroxaban for select patients after discharge (all COR 2b). Recommendations in this guideline are based on high-/moderate-quality evidence available through March 2022. Focused updates will incorporate future evidence supporting changes to these recommendations

A pan-European epidemiological study reveals honey bee colony survival depends on beekeeper education and disease control

Reports of honey bee population decline has spurred many national efforts to understand the extent of the problem and to identify causative or associated factors. However, our collective understanding of the factors has been hampered by a lack of joined up trans-national effort. Moreover, the impacts of beekeeper knowledge and beekeeping management practices have often been overlooked, despite honey bees being a managed pollinator. Here, we established a standardised active monitoring network for 5 798 apiaries over two consecutive years to quantify honey bee colony mortality across 17 European countries. Our data demonstrate that overwinter losses ranged between 2% and 32%, and that high summer losses were likely to follow high winter losses. Multivariate Poisson regression models revealed that hobbyist beekeepers with small apiaries and little experience in beekeeping had double the winter mortality rate when compared to professional beekeepers. Furthermore, honey bees kept by professional beekeepers never showed signs of disease, unlike apiaries from hobbyist beekeepers that had symptoms of bacterial infection and heavy Varroa infestation. Our data highlight beekeeper background and apicultural practices as major drivers of honey bee colony losses. The benefits of conducting trans-national monitoring schemes and improving beekeeper training are discussed

Drei jüdische Theaterstücke

herausgegeben von der Henry Jones Loge U.O.B.B. zu HamburgAus der Sammlung des Leo Baeck Institute, digitalisiert in Kooperation mit dem Center for Jewish History, N

Comparing the proportions of patients that meet criteria for extended prophylaxis with betrixaban based on APEX Trial and FDA Indication

Background: Betrixaban is the first anticoagulant approved in the United States for extended venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis in hospitalized medical patients. The evidence of benefit was based on data from the Acute Medically Ill VTE Prevention with Extended Duration Betrixaban (APEX) trial, which used a study population enriched with patients at high risk for VTE, such as those with elevated D-dimer or ≥75 years. However, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved indication covers a broader population with less defined risk. Aims: Compare the proportion of real-world hospitalized medical patients eligible for betrixaban using APEX trial criteria with those using FDA-approved indication. Methods: Trained abstractors collected data from a representative sample of medical patients discharged between January 2012 and November 2017 (prior to betrixaban approval) at 57 hospitals participating in the Michigan Hospital Medicine Safety consortium. Adult, non-pregnant patients without an initial intensive care unit (ICU) stay or surgery were included in this analysis. Applicable elements of APEX trial eligibility and FDA-approved indication were mapped to consortium data. Results: Of 107,803 patients in our multi-center cohort of hospitalized medical patients 1499 (1.4%) would be eligible for betrixaban based on APEX selection criteria and 32,012 (29.7%) based on FDA-approved indication, P\u3c0.001 The proportions of patients meeting each select element of APEX criteria and FDA indication are shown in the Table. Conclusions: Over a quarter of hospitalized medical patients would be considered for betrixaban extended prophylaxis per FDA approval yet a minority would meet APEX final protocol criteria. Marked differences were seen with age, medical conditions and immobility status. Further risk stratification may be necessary to identify patients that would benefit most from betrixaban. Our analysis is limited by absence of data on D-dimer results