Russia in Afghanistan and Chechnya: Military Strategic Culture and the Paradoxes of Asymmetric Conflict

The author uses a detailed assessment of the Russian experience in Afghanistan and Chechnya to draw important conclusions about asymmetric warfare. He then uses this to provide recommendations for the U.S. military, particularly the Army. Major Cassidy points out that small wars are difficult for every great power, yet are the most common kind. Even in this era of asymmetry, the U.S. Army exhibits a cultural preference for the big war paradigm. He suggests that the U.S. military in general, including the Army, needs a cultural transformation to master the challenge of asymmetry fully. From this will grow doctrine and organizational change.https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1805/thumbnail.jp

Evaluation of the Efficacy and Safety of a Marine-Derived Bacillus Strain for Use as an In-Feed Probiotic for Newly Weaned Pigs

peer-reviewedForty eight individual pigs (8.7±0.26 kg) weaned at 28±1 d of age were used in a 22-d study to evaluate the effect of oral administration of a Bacillus pumilus spore suspension on growth performance and health indicators. Treatments (n = 16) were: (1) non-medicated diet; (2) medicated diet with apramycin (200 mg/kg) and pharmacological levels of zinc oxide (2,500 mg zinc/kg) and (3) B. pumilus diet (non-medicated diet + 1010 spores/day B. pumilus). Final body weight and average daily gain tended to be lower (P = 0.07) and feed conversion ratio was worsened (P<0.05) for the medicated treatment compared to the B. pumilus treatment. Ileal E. coli counts were lower for the B. pumilus and medicated treatments compared to the non-medicated treatment (P<0.05), perhaps as a result of increased ileal propionic acid concentrations (P<0.001). However, the medicated treatment reduced fecal (P<0.001) and cecal (P<0.05) Lactobacillus counts and tended to reduce the total cecal short chain fatty acid (SCFA) concentration (P = 0.10). Liver weights were lighter and concentrations of liver enzymes higher (P<0.05) in pigs on the medicated treatment compared to those on the non-medicated or B. pumilus treatments. Pigs on the B. pumilus treatment had lower overall lymphocyte and higher granulocyte percentages (P<0.001) and higher numbers of jejunal goblet cells (P<0.01) than pigs on either of the other two treatments or the non-medicated treatment, respectively. However, histopathological examination of the small intestine, kidneys and liver revealed no abnormalities. Overall, the B. pumilus treatment decreased ileal E. coli counts in a manner similar to the medicated treatment but without the adverse effects on growth performance, Lactobacillus counts, cecal SCFA concentration and possible liver toxicity experienced with the medicated treatment.The study was funded by the Higher Education Authority/Institutes of Technology Ireland Technological Sector Research Strand III Programme

Impact of a Student-teach-student Model for IPE Between Pharmacists and Dermatologists on Student Knowledge and Attitude

Introduction: The effective delivery of patient care is a complex venture, often requiring efficient collaboration among varied healthcare professions. Not surprisingly, research continues to indicate collaboration between these diverse professionals can be challenging. Early exposure of health professions students to interprofessional education (IPE) offers a promising way to improve this collaboration and, in turn, improve patient care and service delivery. Objectives: This study examines the impact of an innovative IPE cocurricular event on knowledge, understanding, and attitudes, regarding future healthcare delivery between medical and pharmacy students. Method: Students developed and conducted an IPE cocurricular event involving medical students of a dermatology-interest club, and pharmacy students of a compounding-interest club. Medical students introduced a patient case, delivered in a standardized-patient format. This was followed by a pharmacy student presentation representing compounding the prescriptions needed for the patient case and writing accurate prescriptions. Following both presentations, students from each program were paired.  Each interprofessional pair then communicated and compounded two medications for the case, working collaboratively.  Pre- and post-questionnaires were designed with rating scales and open-ended questions for data collection.  Results: Both parametric and nonparametric tests revealed significant differences between the pretests and posttests. There was no significant difference in responding between the groups. Inspection of the open-ended questions revealed changes in attitudes regarding collaboration and learning. Conclusions: This study found students of both professions reported significant improvements in their level of knowledge, understanding, and interest in interprofessional collaboration. The open-ended questions revealed both groups of students began the event with different expectations regarding cooperation and interprofessional activities but left the session with very similar perspectives. By including similar IPE activities in early healthcare education, medical students will gain an understanding of the knowledge, skills, and services that a compounding pharmacist can offer in personalized patient care, and pharmacy students will acquire clinical reasoning based on patient presentations. Both factors promote collaboration between professions and ultimately show promise in improving outcomes in patient care

Lipin-1 contributes to IL-4 mediated macrophage polarization

Macrophage responses contribute to a diverse array of pathologies ranging from infectious disease to sterile inflammation. Polarization of macrophages determines their cellular function within biological processes. Lipin-1 is a phosphatidic acid phosphatase in which its enzymatic activity contributes to macrophage pro-inflammatory responses. Lipin-1 also possesses transcriptional co-regulator activity and whether this activity is required for macrophage polarization is unknown. Using mice that lack only lipin-1 enzymatic activity or both enzymatic and transcriptional coregulator activities from myeloid cells, we investigated the contribution of lipin-1 transcriptional co-regulator function toward macrophage wound healing polarization. Macrophages lacking both lipin-1 activities did not elicit IL-4 mediated gene expression to levels seen in either wild-type or lipin-1 enzymatically deficient macrophages. Furthermore, mice lacking myeloid-associated lipin-1 have impaired full thickness excisional wound healing compared to wild-type mice or mice only lacking lipin-1 enzymatic activity from myeloid cell. Our study provides evidence that lipin-1 transcriptional co-regulatory activity contributes to macrophage polarization and influences wound healin

Resolved Mid-IR Emission in the Narrow Line Region of NGC 4151

We present subarcsecond resolution mid infrared images of NGC 4151 at 10.8 micron and 18.2 micron. These images were taken with the University of Florida mid-IR camera/spectrometer OSCIR at the Gemini North 8-m telescope. We resolve emission at both 10.8 micron and 18.2 micron extending ~ 3.5" across at a P.A. of ~ 60 degrees. This coincides with the the narrow line region of NGC 4151 as observed in [OIII] by the Hubble Space Telescope. The most likely explanation for this extended mid-IR emission is dust in the narrow line region heated by a central engine. We find no extended emission associated with the proposed torus and place an upper limit on its mid-IR size of less than or equal to ~ 35 pc.Comment: accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal, 19 pages including 5 figure

Predicting Gains With Visuospatial Training After Stroke Using an EEG Measure of Frontoparietal Circuit Function

The heterogeneity of stroke prompts the need for predictors of individual treatment response to rehabilitation therapies. We previously studied healthy subjects with EEG and identified a frontoparietal circuit in which activity predicted training-related gains in visuomotor tracking. Here we asked whether activity in this same frontoparietal circuit also predicts training-related gains in visuomotor tracking in patients with chronic hemiparetic stroke. Subjects (n = 12) underwent dense-array EEG recording at rest, then received 8 sessions of visuomotor tracking training delivered via home-based telehealth methods. Subjects showed significant training-related gains in the primary behavioral endpoint, Success Rate score on a standardized test of visuomotor tracking, increasing an average of 24.2 ± 21.9% (p = 0.003). Activity in the circuit of interest, measured as coherence (20–30Hz) between leads overlying ipsilesional frontal (motor cortex) and parietal lobe, significantly predicted training-related gains in visuomotor tracking change, measured as change in Success Rate score (r = 0.61, p = 0.037), supporting the main study hypothesis. Results were specific to the hypothesized ipsilesional motor-parietal circuit, as coherence within other circuits did not predict training-related gains. Analyses were repeated after removing the four subjects with injury to motor or parietal areas; this increased the strength of the association between activity in the circuit of interest and training-related gains. The current study found that (1) Eight sessions of training can significantly improve performance on a visuomotor task in patients with chronic stroke, (2) this improvement can be realized using home-based telehealth methods, (3) an EEG-based measure of frontoparietal circuit function predicts training-related behavioral gains arising from that circuit, as hypothesized and with specificity, and (4) incorporating measures of both neural function and neural injury improves prediction of stroke rehabilitation therapy effects