Never Again: Lessons from Louisiana's Gustav Evacuation

A report by STAND, a grassroots project of NOWCRJ, that exposes the impact of Lousiana's unjust and inequitable evacuation policy during the Hurricane Gustav on the state's poorest evacuees, based on hundreds of interviews with evacuees.This report exposes Louisiana's differential treatment sheltering policy which directs that in disasters, the state shall segregate evacuees relying on city/ state transportation in state-run warehouse shelters separate from evacuees using their own cars. Pursuant to this policy, the state advisory system directs self-transporting evacuees to separate parish, Red Cross, and church shelters with better conditions. Those who evacuate by bus are primarily the residents who do not have the economic means (or the cars) to self-evacuate, including homeless residents, public housing residents, low-wage workers, low-income renters, and their families -- almost all African American.This report's findings are based on assessments of the state-run warehouse shelters and extensive interviews of hundreds of affected residents. The findings expose startling inequity. In the Gustav evacuation, the state's differential treatment policy subjected the most vulnerable state residents to extremely inhumane shelter conditions. In each of the four state-run warehouse shelters, over a thousand evacuees were housed in a single large one-room space. Women, infants, children, the elderly, the sick, and the disabled were all using the same space, without privacy, and sharing the same bathrooms -- outdoor portable toilets. They had no access to running water inside the facilities. The only showers -- until close to the end of the evacuations -- were the portable toilets outside, in which mothers were washing themselves and their babies with bottled water. Residents had limited access to medical care, and no access to counselors or to news from the state about the hurricane and its aftermath

A SURVIVAL ANALYSIS ON THE IMMUNE LANDSCAPE OF PAEDIATRIC SOLID TUMOURS.

Introduction: The functional orientation of the tumor microenvironment has been shown in large immunogenomic investigations to play a predictive role in adult solid tumors; however, the paediatric equivalent of this variable has received little attention. Method: For four paediatric tumor types (408 patients), Wilms tumor (WLM), neuroblastoma (NBL), os- teosarcoma (OS), clear cell sarcoma of the kidney (CCSK), and rhabdoid tumor of the kidney (RT), we carried out a thorough study of public RNAseq data (TARGET). We evaluated the Immunologic Constant of Rejection’s (ICR) capability to detect an active Th1/cytotoxic response. Additionally, we carried out gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA), grouped more than 100 immunological features with good characterization into distinct immune subtypes, and compared the results. Result: Higher ICR scores were linked to better OS and high-risk NBL without MYCN amplification survival, but worse WLM survival. The same four major modules previously discovered in adult tumors (TCGA) were revealed by clustering immunological characteristics. These modules classified paediatric patients into six immunological subtypes (S1–S6), each of which had a different prognosis for survival. The S2 cluster, which has low enrichment of the wound healing signature, high Th1, and low Th2 infiltrates, and the S4 cluster, which has the opposite characteristics, demonstrated the best overall survival. Increased T-cell infiltration and worse outcomes were linked to the WNT/Beta-catenin pathway in OS. Conclusion: We showed that extracranial paediatric tumors might be categorized by their immunological makeup, revealing parallels with tumors seen in adults. To find diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers and to find potential immune-responsive tumors, immunological factors may be investigated. Recommendations: Close disease surveillance and genetic evaluation are recommended for patients with certain solid tumors or particular predisposing conditions

Event-triggered control for LPV modeling of DC-DC boost converter

This study presents the event-triggered control (ETC) for linear parameter varying (LPV) model of boost converters. We examine the nonlinear dynamics of boost converters in the LPV framework. The proposed controller is duty-ratio-dependent and provides better performance while requiring less computation. Using the parameter-dependent Lyapunov function (PDLF), we demonstrate the stablity analysis of the proposed approach. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the inter-event time is lower bound by a positive constant, which indicates Zeno behavior free performance. In comparison to earlier time-invariant synthesis techniques, the LPV formulation offers for increased robustness and performance properties. Simulation and experimental results validate the effectiveness of the proposed method

Age-and-sex stratified prevalence of atrial fibrillation in rural Western India: Results of SMART-India, a population-based screening study

BACKGROUND: Early detection of Atrial Fibrillation (AF) is a public health priority across the globe because AF-related strokes are preventable. Despite an ongoing stroke epidemic in India, a public health strategy for AF screening and treatment is missing because the epidemiology of AF in India remains poorly defined. METHODS: This population-based study used mobile technology to derive age and sex-stratified AF prevalence by screening 7 participants in each of six age and sex strata (age 40-55, 56-65, 65+, and male and female) from 50 villages (2100 participants). A health worker from each village used a handheld digital electrocardiogram (iECG) device (Kardia) to screen for AF on 3 separate days, and administered a questionnaire. All abnormal (AF or unclassified) iECGs were reviewed by the Indian cardiologist and AF determination confirmed by a US-based cardiac electrophysiologist. RESULTS: Of the 2100 individuals enrolled, iECGs were collected from 2074 participants (98.8%) and 1947 (92.7%) participants responded to the questionnaire. AF was identified in 33 participants (1.6%), two-thirds on the first iECG. AF prevalence was higher among males (2.3% vs 1.0%, p=0.03) and in older people (0.6%, 0.9%, 2.1%, 5.6%; p \u3c 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of AF observed in our population-based sample is comparable to rates found in studies from North America and Western Europe and increases similarly with age. AF screening using village health workers in rural India is feasible and presents an opportunity for a strategy to address the stroke epidemic in India through primary prevention