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Objectives/Goals: Mathematical models of airborne virus transmission lack supporting field and clinical data such as viral aerosol emission rates and airborne infectious doses. Here, we aim to measure inhalation exposure to influenza aerosols in a room shared with persons with community-acquired influenza and estimate the infectious dose via inhalation. Methods/Study Population: We recruited healthy volunteer recipients and influenza donors with polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-confirmed community-acquired infection. On admission to a hotel quarantine, recipients provided sera to determine baseline immunity to influenza virus, and donor infections were confirmed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Donors and recipients were housed in separate rooms and interacted in an “event room” with controlled ventilation (0.2 – 0.5 air changes/hour) and relative humidity (20–40%). We collected ambient bioaerosol exposure samples using NIOSH BC-251 samplers. Donors provided exhaled breath samples collected by a Gesundheit-II (G-II). We analyzed aerosol samples using dPCR and fluorescent focus assays for influenza A and sera by hemagglutinin inhibition assay (HAI) against donor viruses and vaccine strains. Results/Anticipated Results: Among two cohorts (24b and 24c), we exposed 11 recipients (mean age: 36; 55% female) to 5 donors (mean age: 21; 80% female) infected with influenza A H1N1 or H3N2. Eight G-II and two NIOSH bioaerosol samples (1–4 µm and ≥4 µm) were PCR positive. We cultured virus from one G-II sample. Based on previous literature, we hypothesized that ~50% of immunologically naïve people (HAI Discussion/Significance of Impact: We demonstrated that it is feasible to recruit donors with community-acquired influenza and expose recipients to measurable virus quantities under controlled conditions. However, baseline immunity was high among volunteers. Our work sets the stage for designing studies with increased sample sizes comprising immunologically naïve volunteers.
A limited number of herbicides and sites of action are registered for use on sugarcane in Louisiana. Repeated use of the same sites of action can lead to the evolution of herbicide resistance by weeds. Therefore, it is critically necessary to evaluate additional sites of action to provide growers with options for rotating herbicides to reduce the risk of resistance. Topramezone, indaziflam, and a formulation that includes mesotrione, bicyclopyrone, atrazine, and S-metolachlor, along with more common herbicides (pendimethalin, and metribuzin, clomazone, and diuron), were evaluated in the spring for injury to sugarcane, weed control, sugarcane yield, and sugar yield. Of these treatments, clomazone applied with diuron was the only herbicide combination to consistently injure the crop, with injury estimates ranging from 11% to 36%, which frequently resulted in reduced sugar yield with losses between 2.3% to 24.1% of the nontreated control. In most treatments, an increase in itchgrass counts was observed between harvests, indicating that additional control strategies will be needed in fields infested with this weed. However, topramezone alone and with triclopyr was well tolerated by sugarcane, with injuries ranging from 0% to 11% 2 wk after treatment. Indaziflam and combined application of mesotrione, bicyclopyrone, atrazine, and S-metolachlor injury was at or under 10% 2 wk after treatment. The tolerance of sugarcane for these herbicides suggests that they can be incorporated into weed management strategies in sugarcane production. These herbicides would increase the sites of action available to be applied to sugarcane and help mitigate the risk of herbicide-resistant weeds.
Special education enrollment increased in Flint following the 2014–2015 Flint Water Crisis, but lead exposure is not plausibly responsible. Labeling Flint children as lead poisoned and/or brain damaged may have contributed to rising special education needs (ie, nocebo effect). To better document this possibility, we surveyed schoolteachers and reviewed neuropsychological assessments of children for indications of negative labeling.
Methods
A survey of Flint and Detroit (control) public schoolteachers using a modified Illness Perception Questionnaire was conducted 5 years post-crisis. We also examined neuropsychological assessments from a recently settled class lawsuit.
Results
Relative to Detroit (n = 24), Flint teachers (n = 11) believed that a higher proportion of their students had harmful lead exposure (91.8% Flint vs 46% Detroit; P = 0.00034), were lead poisoned (51.3% vs 24.3%; P = 0.018), or brain damaged (28.8% vs 12.9%; P = 0.1), even though blood lead of Flint children was always less than half of that of Detroit children. Neuropsychological assessments diagnosed lead poisoning and/or brain damage from water lead exposure in all tested children (n = 8), even though none had evidence of elevated blood lead and a majority had prior learning disability diagnoses.
Conclusion
Teachers’ responses and neuropsychological assessments suggest Flint children were harmed by a nocebo effect.
The canonical undestanding of stellar convection has recently been put under doubt due to helioseismic results and global 3D convection simulations. This “convective conundrum” is manifested by much higher velocity amplitudes in simulations at large scales in comparison to helioseismic results, and the difficulty in reproducing the solar differential rotation and dynamo with global 3D simulations. Here some aspects of this conundrum are discussed from the viewpoint of hydrodynamic Cartesian 3D simulations targeted at testing the rotational influence and surface forcing on deep convection. More specifically, the dominant scale of convection and the depths of the convection zone and the weakly subadiabatic – yet convecting – Deardorff zone are discussed in detail.
European researchers are collaborating in the EU Horizon 2020-funded project “RESPOND” to address the psychological and psychosocial effects of the Covid 19 pandemic in order to prepare health systems for future crises. In the Co-RESPOND subproject, several longitudinal cohorts are contributing to an individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis.
Objectives
Co-RESPOND aims to assess trajectories of mental health and resilience, and to identify relevant moderators using a meta-analysis of individual participant data (“IPD”) approach. Moreover, a research network of European cohorts is being established alongside a sustainable shared IT infrastructure. Co-RESPOND aims to publish the results of the collaboration in a findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable way according to the “FAIR publication” principles.
Methods
To achieve these aims, a federated network for remote data analysis is being built. In this talk we describe the steps necessary to join existing cohorts into one network, and which challenges need to be met: First, existing data sets need to be harmonized retrospectively, second, data sharing and processing needs to be done in accordance with the GDPR requirements, and third, a technical solution needs to be found to facilitate joint analyses and publication of the network and its products.
Results
We identified the Maelstroem guidelines for retrospective data harmonisation of epidemiologic studies as appropriate guidance to carry out and document the transformation of individual data sets. The OBiBa software suite is used to build the IT infrastructure of the project by connecting local data servers of the study sites and making them available for remote analyses by other partners. As of autumn 2022, data transformation is finalized and data sets uploaded on the local servers. A platform on the internet is created where the main characteristics of all participating cohorts (“meta-data”) are catalogued to help them gain visibility and make them findable for future joint projects. The Co-RESPOND network will be open for more partner cohorts to join.
Conclusions
The Covid pandemic has stimulated lots of international remote collaborations, and federated networks for data analyses are increasingly used as a means of enhancing the value of existing data sets. User-friendly and cost-free software solutions are already available (e.g., OBiBa) to facilitate such endeavours. However, researchers intiating cohort studies should be aware of such technology and methods and consider the use of their data in overarching collaborations from the start. We conclude with concrete recommendations how to optimize the design of epidemiologic data collections to enhance their interoperability with other cohorts, e.g., by using international coding standards.
Turbulent motions enhance the diffusion of large-scale flows and temperature gradients. Such diffusion is often parameterized by coefficients of turbulent viscosity ($\nu _{t}$) and turbulent thermal diffusivity ($\chi _{t}$) that are analogous to their microscopic counterparts. We compute the turbulent diffusion coefficients by imposing sinusoidal large-scale velocity and temperature gradients on a turbulent flow and measuring the response of the system. We also confirm our results using experiments where the imposed gradients are allowed to decay. To achieve this, we use weakly compressible three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of isotropically forced homogeneous turbulence. We find that the turbulent viscosity and thermal diffusion, as well as their ratio the turbulent Prandtl number, $\textit {Pr}_{t} = \nu _{t}/\chi _{t}$, approach asymptotic values at sufficiently high Reynolds and Péclet numbers. We also do not find a significant dependence of $\textit {Pr}_{t}$ on the microscopic Prandtl number $\textit {Pr} = \nu /\chi$. These findings are in stark contrast to results from the $k{-}\epsilon$ model, which suggests that $\textit {Pr}_{t}$ increases monotonically with decreasing $\textit {Pr}$. The current results are relevant for the ongoing debate on, for example, the nature of the turbulent flows in the very-low-$\textit {Pr}$ regimes of stellar convection zones.
Growth patterns of breastfed infants show substantial inter-individual differences, partly influenced by breast milk (BM) nutritional composition. However, BM nutritional composition does not accurately indicate BM nutrient intakes. This study aimed to examine the associations between both BM intake volumes and macronutrient intakes with infant growth. Mother–infant dyads (n 94) were recruited into the Cambridge Baby Growth and Breastfeeding Study (CBGS-BF) from a single maternity hospital at birth; all infants received exclusive breast-feeding (EBF) for at least 6 weeks. Infant weight, length and skinfolds thicknesses (adiposity) were repeatedly measured from birth to 12 months. Post-feed BM samples were collected at 6 weeks to measure TAG (fat), lactose (carbohydrate) (both by 1H-NMR) and protein concentrations (Dumas method). BM intake volume was estimated from seventy infants between 4 and 6 weeks using dose-to-the-mother deuterium oxide (2H2O) turnover. In the full cohort and among sixty infants who received EBF for 3+ months, higher BM intake at 6 weeks was associated with initial faster growth between 0 and 6 weeks (β + se 3·58 + 0·47 for weight and 4·53 + 0·6 for adiposity gains, both P < 0·0001) but subsequent slower growth between 3 and 12 months (β + se − 2·27 + 0·7 for weight and −2·65 + 0·69 for adiposity gains, both P < 0·005). BM carbohydrate and protein intakes at 4–6 weeks were positively associated with early (0–6 weeks) but tended to be negatively related with later (3–12 months) adiposity gains, while BM fat intake showed no association, suggesting that carbohydrate and protein intakes may have more functional relevance to later infant growth and adiposity.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) has started operations at the summit of Haleakalā (Hawai’i). DKIST joins the nominal science phases of the NASA and ESA Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter encounter missions. By combining in-situ measurements of the near-Sun plasma environment and detailed remote observations of multiple layers of the Sun, the three observatories form an unprecedented multi-messenger constellation to study the magnetic connectivity in the solar system. This work outlines the synergistic science that this multi-messenger suite enables.
Kinetic plasma simulations are nowadays commonly used to study a wealth of nonlinear behaviours and properties in laboratory and space plasmas. In particular, in high-energy physics and astrophysics, the plasma usually evolves in ultra-strong electromagnetic fields produced by intense laser beams for the former or by rotating compact objects such as neutron stars and black holes for the latter. In these ultra-strong electromagnetic fields, the gyro-period is several orders of magnitude smaller than the time scale on which we desire to investigate the plasma evolution. Some approximations are required such as, for instance, artificially decreasing the electromagnetic field strength, which is certainly not satisfactory. The main flaw of this downscaling is that it cannot reproduce particle acceleration to ultra-relativistic speeds with a Lorentz factor above $\gamma \approx 10^3$–$10^4$. In this paper, we design a new algorithm able to catch particle motion and acceleration to a Lorentz factor of up to $10^{15}$ or even higher by using Lorentz boosts to special frames where the electric and magnetic field are parallel. Assuming that these fields are locally uniform in space and constant in time, we solve analytically the equation of motion in a tiny region smaller than the length scale of the spatial and temporal gradient of the field. This analytical integration of the orbit severely reduces the constraint on the time step, allowing us to use large time steps, avoiding resolving the ultra-high gyro-frequency. We performed simulations in ultra-strong spatially and time-dependent electromagnetic fields, showing that our particle pusher is able to follow accurately the exact analytical solution for very long times. This property is crucial to properly capture for instance lepton electrodynamics in electromagnetic waves produced by fast rotating neutron stars. We conclude with a simple implementation of our new pusher into a one-dimensional relativistic electromagnetic particle-in-cell code, testing it against plasma oscillations, two-stream instabilities and strongly magnetized relativistic shocks.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections are associated with increased mortality and healthcare costs. In 2007, a Veterans’ Affairs (VA) hospital implemented a MRSA nasal screening program, following a nationwide VA mandate, in an effort to reduce healthcare-associated MRSA infections.
Objective:
To evaluate the correlation between the nasal screening results for MRSA and culture results of wound and tissue sites.
Methods:
This retrospective study was conducted on inpatients at our VA hospital. Patients were included if they had undergone nasal screening for MRSA plus culture of a wound or tissue site within 30 days of hospital admission.
Results:
In total, 337 patients underwent nasal screening and wound culture and 211 underwent nasal screening and wound and tissue cultures. The prevalence of MRSA nasal colonization was 14.2% for wound samples and 15.2% for tissue samples. The sensitivities of MRSA nasal screening for detecting MRSA were 64.6% for wound cultures and 65.5% for tissue cultures. Specificities were 86.2% and 88.8% for wound and tissue cultures, respectively. The positive predictive values (PPVs) were 43.7% and 51.2% for wound and tissue cultures, respectively, and the negative predictive values (NPVs) were high at 93.6% and 93.5%, respectively.
Conclusions:
In cases of wound or tissue samples for which culture results are pending, a negative MRSA nasal swab may be a component of the decision to withhold or discontinue MRSA-active agents.
This third edition of the much acclaimed Cambridge Handbook of Psychology, Health and Medicine offers a fully up-to-date, comprehensive, accessible, one-stop resource for doctors, health care professionals, mental health care professionals (such as psychologists, counsellors, specialist nurses), academics, researchers, and students specializing in health across all these fields. The new streamlined structure of the book features brief section overviews summarising the state of the art of knowledge on the topic to make the information easier to find. The encyclopaedic aspects of the Handbook have been retained; all the entries, as well as the extensive references, have been updated. Retaining all the virtues of the original, this edition is expanded with a range of new topics, such as the effects of conflict and war on health and wellbeing, advancements in assisted reproduction technology, e-health interventions, patient-reported outcome measures, health behaviour change interventions, and implementing changes into health care practice.