Evaluating the Diversity of Emergency Medicine Foundation (EMF) Grant Recipients in the Last Decade

On behalf of the ACEP Research CommitteeIntroduction: To study diversity of researchers and barriers to success among Emergency Medicine Foundation (EMF) grant recipients in the last 10 years.Methods: EMF grant awardees were approached to complete a brief survey, which included demographics, queries related to contributions to the literature, success in obtaining grants, and any perceived barriers they encountered.Results: Of the 342 researchers contacted by email, a total of 147 completed the survey for a response rate of 43%. The respondents were predominately mid to late career white-male-heterosexual-Christian with an average age of 44 years (range 25-69 years of age). With regards to training and education, the majority of respondents (50%) were either Associate or Professor clinical rank (8% instructor/resident/fellow and 31% Assistant). Sixty-two percent of the respondents reported perceived barriers to career advancement since completion of residency. The largest perceived barrier to success was medical specialty (26%), followed by gender (21%) and age (16%).Conclusion: Our survey of EMF grant recipients in the last 10 years shows a considerable lack of diversity. The most commonly perceived barriers to career advancement by this cohort were medical specialty, gender, and age. An opportunity exists for further definition of barriers and development of mechanisms to overcome them, with a goal of increased success for those that are underrepresented. 

Respiratory Muscle Paralysis Associated With Colistin, Polymyxin B, and Muscle Relaxants Drugs: A Case Report

Polymyxins B and E (colistin) exert a bactericidal effect on the gram-negative bacterial cell wall, causing permeability changes in the cytoplasmic membrane, leading to cell death. Their use was substantially decreased in clinical practice from the 1970s to 2000s due to their significant nephrotoxicity and neurotoxicity compared to the newly introduced antibiotics. The increasing prevalence of multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacteria infections in this century has led to an upsurge in the use of these “older” drugs. Respiratory paralysis caused by neuromuscular blockage associated with the use of polymyxin B and E was reported mostly in literature published in the 1960s to 1970s with a few reports after 2000. In addition, such a reaction might be enhanced by the presence of other classes of drugs. We report a case of polymyxin B and E–induced apnea in a patient receiving “muscle relaxants.

Estimating the multiplicities of conflicts in multiple access channels

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Retrospective Data Filter

In a target detection communication system, apparatus and method for determining the presence of probable targets based on contacts (which can indicate the presence of a target, noise, chatter, or objects not of interest) detected within a predefined position sector or sectors over a specified number of scans. The position of each detected contact, as a contact of interest, is compared with the positions of contacts detected at previous times or scans. Velocity profiles indicate which previous contacts support the likelihood that the contact of interest represents a target having a velocity within a defined band. The likelihood, which can be represented by a quality value, may be a function of number of contacts, timing of contacts, or both the number and timing of contacts in a given velocity profile. A preselected threshold value, which is related to false alarm rate, is compared to the most likely, or highest quality, velocity profile associated with a contact of interest. If the highest quality value exceeds the threshold value, an output is provided indicating that the contact of interest represents a probable target having a velocity within the band defined by the highest quality velocity profile

Origin and Dynamics of the Mutually Inclined Orbits of Upsilon Andromedae c and d

We evaluate the orbital evolution and several plausible origins scenarios for the mutually inclined orbits of Upsilon Andromedae c and d. These two planets have orbital elements that oscillate with large amplitudes and lie close to the stability boundary. This configuration, and in particular the observed mutual inclination, demands an explanation. The planetary system may be influenced by a nearby low-mass star, Upsilon And B, which could perturb the planetary orbits, but we find it cannot modify two coplanar orbits into the observed mutual inclination of ~30 deg. However, it could incite ejections or collisions between planetary companions that subsequently raise the mutual inclination to >30 deg. Our simulated systems with large mutual inclinations tend to be further from the stability boundary than Upsilon And, but we are able to produce similar systems. We conclude that scattering is a plausible mechanism to explain the observed orbits of Upsilon And c and d, but we cannot determine whether the scattering was caused by instabilities among the planets themselves or by perturbations from Upsilon And B. We also develop a procedure to quantitatively compare numerous properties of the observed system to our numerical models. Although we only implement this procedure to Upsilon And, it may be applied to any exoplanetary system.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures, accepted to Astrophysical Journa

Characterizing Multi-planet Systems with Classical Secular Theory

Classical secular theory can be a powerful tool to describe the qualitative character of multi-planet systems and offer insight into their histories. The eigenmodes of the secular behavior, rather than current orbital elements, can help identify tidal effects, early planet-planet scattering, and dynamical coupling among the planets, for systems in which mean-motion resonances do not play a role. Although tidal damping can result in aligned major axes after all but one eigenmode have damped away, such alignment may simply be fortuitous. An example of this is 55 Cancri (orbital solution of Fischer et al., 2008) where multiple eigenmodes remain undamped. Various solutions for 55 Cancri are compared, showing differing dynamical groupings, with implications for the coupling of eccentricities and for the partitioning of damping among the planets. Solutions for orbits that include expectations of past tidal evolution with observational data, must take into account which eigenmodes should be damped, rather than expecting particular eccentricities to be near zero. Classical secular theory is only accurate for low eccentricity values, but comparison with other results suggests that it can yield useful qualitative descriptions of behavior even for moderately large eccentricity values, and may have advantages for revealing underlying physical processes and, as large numbers of new systems are discovered, for triage to identify where more comprehensive dynamical studies should have priority.Comment: Published in Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy, 25 pages, 10 figure

Thinking like a man? The cultures of science

Culture includes science and science includes culture, but conflicts between the two traditions persist, often seen as clashes between interpretation and knowledge. One way of highlighting this false polarity has been to explore the gendered symbolism of science. Feminism has contributed to science studies and the critical interrogation of knowledge, aware that practical knowledge and scientific understanding have never been synonymous. Persisting notions of an underlying unity to scientific endeavour have often impeded rather than fostered the useful application of knowledge. This has been particularly evident in the recent rise of molecular biology, with its delusory dream of the total conquest of disease. It is equally prominent in evolutionary psychology, with its renewed attempts to depict the fundamental basis of sex differences. Wars over science have continued to intensify over the last decade, even as our knowledge of the political, economic and ideological significance of science funding and research has become ever more apparent