Background: Asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB) is often treated with antibiotics despite recommendations against screening for and treating ASB in most populations. Some providers cite concern for progression of ASB to a symptomatic urinary tract infection (UTI) as the jultification for antibiotic use. While the 2019 Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) ASB guidelines refute this concern, most evidence is derived from studies done in females, potentially limiting external validity. The purpose of this study is to compare the outcomes of patients with ASB who received antibiotic treatment versus those who did not in a primarily male population. Methods: This is a multi-center, retrospective, cohort study conducted by the 5 sites within the Veterans Affairs MidSouth Healthcare Network. Patients with a positive urine culture (defined as cultures with a colony forming unit count >100,000) collected from January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021 were identified. ASB was determined via chart review using pre-determined criteria (positive culture in the absence of reported or documented signs or symptoms attributable to UTI as defined by the 2019 IDSA ASB guidelines). Additional data collected included antibiotic use, clinic visits and hospital admissions related to UTI or sepsis from a UTI. The primary outcome was the comparison of UTI incidence at 30 days, 6 months, and 1 year in those untreated versus treated with antibiotics. Secondary outcomes included a comparison of admissions with sepsis from UTI and adverse drug reactions (ADRs) between the cohorts. Continuous data were analyzed using a Student’s t-test. Discrete data were analyzed using either a Chi-squared or Fisher’s exact test. Results: The study population was primarily elderly (73 years, range 27-99 years) and male (79.7%). Of the 281 patients with ASB, 127 (45.2%) and 154 (54.8%) were untreated and treated, respectively. The incidence of UTI was 3% versus 1% (p = 0.41) at 30 days, 10% versus 12% (p = 0.61) at 6 months and 11% versus 12% (p = 0.94) at 12 months in the untreated and treated cohorts, respectively. There was no difference in admissions for UTI, sepsis from UTI or ADRs at 30 days. Conclusion: This study found no difference in the development of symptomatic UTI in veterans with untreated ASB compared to those treated with antibiotics. These findings align with current ASB guideline recommendations and support avoidance of unnecessary antibiotic use in the veteran population.

We establish a generalized Rieffel correspondence for ideals in equivalent Fell bundles.

State Medical Boards (SMBs) can take severe disciplinary actions (e.g., license revocation or suspension) against physicians who commit egregious wrongdoing in order to protect the public. However, there is noteworthy variability in the extent to which SMBs impose severe disciplinary action. In this manuscript, we present and synthesize a subset of 11 recommendations based on findings from our team’s larger consensus-building project that identified a list of 56 policies and legal provisions SMBs can use to better protect patients from egregious wrongdoing by physicians.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture–Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) has been a leader in weed science research covering topics ranging from the development and use of integrated weed management (IWM) tactics to basic mechanistic studies, including biotic resistance of desirable plant communities and herbicide resistance. ARS weed scientists have worked in agricultural and natural ecosystems, including agronomic and horticultural crops, pastures, forests, wild lands, aquatic habitats, wetlands, and riparian areas. Through strong partnerships with academia, state agencies, private industry, and numerous federal programs, ARS weed scientists have made contributions to discoveries in the newest fields of robotics and genetics, as well as the traditional and fundamental subjects of weed–crop competition and physiology and integration of weed control tactics and practices. Weed science at ARS is often overshadowed by other research topics; thus, few are aware of the long history of ARS weed science and its important contributions. This review is the result of a symposium held at the Weed Science Society of America’s 62nd Annual Meeting in 2022 that included 10 separate presentations in a virtual Weed Science Webinar Series. The overarching themes of management tactics (IWM, biological control, and automation), basic mechanisms (competition, invasive plant genetics, and herbicide resistance), and ecosystem impacts (invasive plant spread, climate change, conservation, and restoration) represent core ARS weed science research that is dynamic and efficacious and has been a significant component of the agency’s national and international efforts. This review highlights current studies and future directions that exemplify the science and collaborative relationships both within and outside ARS. Given the constraints of weeds and invasive plants on all aspects of food, feed, and fiber systems, there is an acknowledged need to face new challenges, including agriculture and natural resources sustainability, economic resilience and reliability, and societal health and well-being.

A clinical decision tree was developed using point-of-care characteristics to identify patients with culture-proven sepsis due to extended-spectrum β-lactamase–producing Enterobacterales (ESBL-PE). We compared its performance with the clinical gestalt of emergency department (ED) clinicians and hospital-based clinicians. The developed tree outperformed ED-based clinicians but was comparable to inpatient-based clinicians.

This is an observational cohort study comparing 156 patients evaluated for acute stroke between March 30 and May 31, 2020 at a comprehensive stroke center with 138 patients evaluated during the corresponding time period in 2019. During the pandemic, the proportion of COVID-19 positive patients was low (3%), the time from symptom onset to hospital presentation was significantly longer, and a smaller proportion of patients underwent reperfusion therapy. Among patients directly evaluated at our institution, door-to-needle and door-to-recanalization metrics were significantly longer. Our findings support concerns that the current pandemic may have a negative impact on the management of acute stroke.

The characterization of modern pollen rain assemblages along environmental gradients is an essential prerequisite for reliable interpretations of fossil pollen records. In this study, we identify pollen-vegetation relationships using modern pollen rain assemblages in moss polsters (n = 13) and lake sediment surface samples (n = 11) along a steep temperature gradient of 7°C (3100–4200 m above sea level) on the western Andean Cordillera, Ecuador. The pollen rain is correlated to vascular plant abundance data recorded in vegetation relevées (n = 13). Results show that pollen spectra from both moss polsters and sediment surface samples reflect changes in species composition along the temperature gradient, despite overrepresentation of upper montane forest taxa in the latter. Estimated pollen transport distance for a lake (Laguna Llaviucu) situated in a steep upper montane forest valley is 1–2 km, while a lake (Laguna Pallcacocha) in the páramo captures pollen input from a distance of up to 10–40 km. Weinmannia spp., Podocarpus spp., and Hedyosmum sp. are indicators of local upper montane forest vegetation, while Phlegmariurus spp. and Plantago spp. are indicators for local páramo vegetation.

We numerically model the dynamics of the Enceladus plume ice grains and define our nominal plume model as having a particle size distribution n(R) ~ R−q with q = 4 and a total particulate mass rate of 16 kg s−1. This mass rate is based on average plume brightness observed by Cassini across a range of orbital positions. The model predicts sample volumes of ~1600 µg for a 1 m2 collector on a spacecraft making flybys at 20–60 km altitudes above the Enceladus surface. We develop two scenarios to predict the concentration of amino acids in the plume based on these assumed sample volumes. We specifically consider Glycine, Serine, α-Alanine, α-Aminoisobutyric acid and Isovaline. The first ‘abiotic’ model assumes that Enceladus has the composition of a comet and finds abundances between 2 × 10−6 to 0.003 µg for dissolved free amino acids and 2 × 10−5 to 0.3 µg for particulate amino acids. The second ‘biotic’ model assumes that the water of Enceladus's ocean has the same amino acid composition as the deep ocean water on Earth. We compute the expected captured mass of amino acids such as Glycine, Serine, and α-Alanine in the ‘biotic’ model to be between 1 × 10−5 to 2 × 10−5 µg for dissolved free amino acids and dissolved combined amino acids and about 0.0002 µg for particulate amino acids. Both models consider enhancements due to bubble bursting. Expected captured mass of amino acids is calculated for a 1 m2 collector on a spacecraft making flybys with a closest approach of 20 km during mean plume activity for the given nominal particle size distribution.

We study the C *-algebras associated with upper semi-continuous Fell bundles over second-countable Hausdorff groupoids. Based on ideas going back to the Packer–Raeburn ‘stabilization trick’, we construct from each such bundle a groupoid dynamical system whose associated Fell bundle is equivalent to the original bundle. The upshot is that the full and reduced C *-algebras of any saturated upper semi-continuous Fell bundle are stably isomorphic to the full and reduced crossed products of an associated dynamical system. We apply our results to describe the lattice of ideals of the C *-algebra of a continuous Fell bundle by applying Renault's results about the ideals of the C *-algebras of groupoid crossed products. In particular, we discuss simplicity of the Fell-bundle C *-algebra of a bundle over G in terms of an action, described by Ionescu and Williams, of G on the primitive-ideal space of the C *-algebra of the part of the bundle sitting over the unit space. We finish with some applications to twisted k-graph algebras, where the components of our results become more concrete.

Control of common lambsquarters with glyphosate in Michigan soybean fields has been inconsistent. Stem-boring insects and evidence of insect tunneling were found inside the stems of common lambsquarters plants not controlled with glyphosate. In 2004 and 2005, field surveys and studies were conducted to identify and evaluate the prevalence of stem-boring insects in common lambsquarters in Michigan and Indiana soybean fields to determine whether tunneling by insects occurred before or following POST glyphosate applications and to evaluate the effect of glyphosate rate, application timing, and insect tunneling on the control of common lambsquarters with glyphosate. Two insect species, the beet petiole borer (Cosmobaris americana) from the Curculionidae family and an unidentified leafminer fly larvae from the Agromyzidae family were found inside common lambsquarters stems. Leafminer larvae were present in Michigan soybean fields in mid- to late-June, when most POST glyphosate applications are made in Michigan and Indiana; however, beet petiole borer larvae were not found in common lambsquarters stems until mid-July and would only be present in common lambsquarters plants if glyphosate applications occurred at that time. Results from three field experiments in East Lansing, MI, demonstrated the variability in common lambsquarters control. Control ranged from 79 to 98%, 75 to 99%, and 49 to 97% from glyphosate applied at 0.84 kgae/ha to 10-, 25-, and 46-cm common lambsquarters, respectively. In general, applying glyphosate to common lambsquarters plants 10 cm or less, or increasing the glyphosate rate beyond 0.84 kgae/ha, improved common lambsquarters control. Insect tunneling by leafminer and beet petiole borer larvae did not contribute to reduced common lambsquarters control with glyphosate applied to 10- and 25-cm common lambsquarters.

Evaluation of Puccinia crupinae, the causal agent of a rust disease on common crupina (Crupina vulgaris), for biological control is described. Susceptibility of accessions of common crupina that represent both varieties of the target from the five populations in the United States indicate that the disease has potential to control common crupina, but differences were noted between accessions on the basis of pustule count, yield (i.e., number and weight of achenes per plant), and shoot dry weight data after multiple inoculations. One accession from Modoc, CA, was not affected in greenhouse tests and would likely not be affected in the field if a permit to release P. crupinae were granted. None of the nontarget species of 26 taxa from the tribes Cardueae and Cichoriae were symptomatic, so the pathogen is likely safe to use in North America.