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Characteristics of healthcare personnel with SARS-CoV-2 infection: 10 emerging infections program sites in the United States, April 2020–December 2021
- Nora Chea, Taniece Eure, Rebecca Alkis Ramirez, Maria Zlotorzynska, Gregory T. Blazek, Joelle Nadle, Jane Lee, Christopher A. Czaja, Helen Johnston, Devra Barter, Melissa Kellogg, Catherine Emanuel, James Meek, Monica Brackney, Stacy Carswell, Stepy Thomas, Scott K. Fridkin, Lucy E. Wilson, Rebecca Perlmutter, Kaytlynn Marceaux-Galli, Ashley Fell, Sara Lovett, Sarah Lim, Ruth Lynfield, Sarah Shrum Davis, Erin C. Phipps, Marla Sievers, Ghinwa Dumyati, Christopher Myers, Christine Hurley, Erin Licherdell, Rebecca Pierce, Valerie L. S. Ocampo, Eric W. Hall, Christopher Wilson, Cullen Adre, Erika Kirtz, Tiffanie M. Markus, Kathryn Billings, Ian D Plumb, Glen R. Abedi, Jade James-Gist, Shelley S. Magill, Cheri T. Grigg
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- Journal:
- Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , First View
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 21 May 2024, pp. 1-9
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Background:
Understanding characteristics of healthcare personnel (HCP) with SARS-CoV-2 infection supports the development and prioritization of interventions to protect this important workforce. We report detailed characteristics of HCP who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 from April 20, 2020 through December 31, 2021.
Methods:CDC collaborated with Emerging Infections Program sites in 10 states to interview HCP with SARS-CoV-2 infection (case-HCP) about their demographics, underlying medical conditions, healthcare roles, exposures, personal protective equipment (PPE) use, and COVID-19 vaccination status. We grouped case-HCP by healthcare role. To describe residential social vulnerability, we merged geocoded HCP residential addresses with CDC/ATSDR Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) values at the census tract level. We defined highest and lowest SVI quartiles as high and low social vulnerability, respectively.
Results:Our analysis included 7,531 case-HCP. Most case-HCP with roles as certified nursing assistant (CNA) (444, 61.3%), medical assistant (252, 65.3%), or home healthcare worker (HHW) (225, 59.5%) reported their race and ethnicity as either non-Hispanic Black or Hispanic. More than one third of HHWs (166, 45.2%), CNAs (283, 41.7%), and medical assistants (138, 37.9%) reported a residential address in the high social vulnerability category. The proportion of case-HCP who reported using recommended PPE at all times when caring for patients with COVID-19 was lowest among HHWs compared with other roles.
Conclusions:To mitigate SARS-CoV-2 infection risk in healthcare settings, infection prevention, and control interventions should be specific to HCP roles and educational backgrounds. Additional interventions are needed to address high social vulnerability among HHWs, CNAs, and medical assistants.
Perioperative cefazolin prescribing rates following suppression of alerts for non-IgE-mediated penicillin allergies
- Ashley Bogus, Kelley McGinnis, Joshua Vergin, Sara M. May, Richard J. Hankins, Erica Stohs, Trevor C. Van Schooneveld, Scott J. Bergman
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- Journal:
- Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , First View
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 09 May 2024, pp. 1-5
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Background:
Cefazolin is the preferred antimicrobial for the prevention of surgical site infections (SSIs) in many procedures. The presence of penicillin allergies can influence prescribing of alternative agents like vancomycin. In April 2022, Nebraska Medicine implemented a suppression of alerts for non-IgE-mediated and nonsevere penicillin allergies in the electronic medical record (EMR) upon cephalosporin prescribing. The objective of this study was to evaluate changes in perioperative cefazolin for SSI prophylaxis.
Methods:This was a quasi-experimental study of patients undergoing procedures for which cefazolin was the preferred agent per institutional guidance. Education on the change was distributed via e-mail to surgical staff and pharmacists. Pre- and post-intervention data were collected from April 2021 through March 2022 and April 11, 2022, through October 2022, respectively. Chart review was performed on patients with reported penicillin allergies for the top surgical procedures with <50% cefazolin utilization pre-intervention. The primary outcome was the administration of perioperative cefazolin in patients with penicillin allergies, including unknown reactions.
Results:A total of 6,676 patients underwent surgical procedures (pre-intervention n = 4,147, post-intervention n = 2,529). Documented penicillin allergies were similar between the pre- and post-intervention group (12.3% vs. 12.6%). In individuals with documented penicillin allergies, cefazolin prescribing increased from 49.6% to 74.3% (p < 0.01). Chart review for safety outcomes identified no difference in new severe reactions, rescue medication, SSIs, acute kidney injury, postoperative Clostridioides difficile infection, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections.
Conclusion:Following the suppression of EMR alerts for non-IgE-mediated and nonsevere penicillin allergies, cefazolin prescribing rates for SSI prophylaxis significantly improved.
65 The Impact of PTSD and Mild Cognitive Impairment on Resting State Brain Functional Connectivity in World Trade Center Responders
- Sara L. Weisenbach, Sean A. P. Clouston, Jack R. Kaufman, Vincent Koppelmans, Scott A. Langenecker, Alison C. Pellecchia, Abigail J. Smith, Melissa A. Carr, Chuan Huang, Evelyn J. Bromet, Nikhil Palekar, Robert C. Welsh, Benjamin J. Luft
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- Journal:
- Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society / Volume 29 / Issue s1 / November 2023
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 21 December 2023, pp. 849-850
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Objective:
Functional connectivity of the default mode network (DMN) during rest has been shown to be different among adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) relative to aged-matched individuals without MCI and is predictive of transition to dementia. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is also associated with aberrant connectivity of the DMN. Prior work from this group has demonstrated a higher rate of MCI and PTSD among World Trade Center (WTC) responders relative to the general population. The current study sought to investigate the main and interactive effects of MCI and PTSD on DMN functioning. Based on prior work, we hypothesized that MCI, but not PTSD, would predict aberrant connectivity in the DMN.
Participants and Methods:99 WTC responders aged 44–65 stratified by MCI status (yes/no) and PTSD status (yes/no) and matched for age in years, sex (male vs. female), race (white, black, and other), and educational attainment (high school or less, some college / technical school, and university degree), and occupation on September 11, 2001 (law enforcement vs. other) underwent fMRI using a 3T Siemens Biograph MR scanner. A single 10-minute continuous functional MR sequence was acquired while participants were at rest with their eyes open. Group-level analyses were conducted using SPM-12, with correction for multiple comparisons using AFNI's 3dClustSim. Based on this threshold, the number of comparisons in our imaging volume, and the smoothness of our imaging data as measured by 3dFWHMx-acf, a minimum cluster size of 1134 voxels was required to have a corrected p . .05 with 2-sided thresholding. Spherical 3 mm seeds were placed in the dorsal (4, -50, 26) and ventral (4, -60, 46) posterior cingulate cortex (PCC).
Results:Individuals with PTSD demonstrated significantly less connectivity of the dorsal posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) with medial insula (T = 5.21), subthalamic nucleus (T = 4.66), and postcentral gyrus (T = 3.81). There was no difference found in this study for connectivity between groups stratified by MCI status. There were no significant results for the ventral PCC seed.
Conclusions:Contrary to hypotheses that were driven by a study of cortical thickness in WTC responders, the impact of PTSD appears to outweigh the impact of MCI on dorsal DMN connectivity among WTC responders stratified by PTSD and MCI status. This study is limited by several issues, including low number of female and minority participants, relatively small group cell sizes (n = 23–27 per cell), a brief resting state sequence (10 minutes), and lack of a non-WTC control group. Importantly, responders are a unique population so generalizability to other populations may be limited. Individuals in the current study are now being followed longitudinally to relate baseline resting state functional connectivity with cognitive changes and changes in connectivity over a four-year period.
31 Sex Differences in Emotion Regulation and Emotional Awareness in Middle Aged and Older Adults
- Jack R. Kaufman, Megan Armstrong, Jeremy Maciarz, Nikhil Palekar, Joseph Kim, Vincent Koppelmans, Robert C. Welsh, Scott A. Langenecker, Sara L. Weisenbach
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- Journal:
- Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society / Volume 29 / Issue s1 / November 2023
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 21 December 2023, pp. 820-821
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Objective:
We measured sex differences in emotion regulation (ER) abilities – relying on exercise of cognitive reappraisal – during an image rating task in adults over 55 years of age with varying degrees of depression symptom severity. We also collected a self-report measure on participants' views of their own ER capacities. Previous research by this group has demonstrated the importance of emotion processing in the context of sex and aging in depression. We hypothesized that females would (1) score higher on the Cognitive Reappraisal Facet of the ERQ, (2) be more successful in utilizing cognitive reappraisal skills in response to negative stimuli; and (3) have self-report scores on the ERQ that more closely match their success at cognitive reappraisal than would males.
Participants and Methods:capacities. Previous research by this group has demonstrated the importance of emotion processing in the context of sex and aging in depression. We hypothesized that females would (1) score higher on the Cognitive Reappraisal Facet of the ERQ, (2) be more successful in utilizing cognitive reappraisal skills in response to negative stimuli; and (3) have self-report scores on the ERQ that more closely match their success at cognitive reappraisal than would males.
Results:Only the first of our three outcome measures was successfully predicted by the model including age, MADRS scores, and sex as predictors. Scores on the ERQ cognitive reappraisal facet with sex accounted for 11.3% of the variance (F=7.344, p=.009). Age and depression symptom severity did not reach significance. Performance on the ERT itself and the correlation between the two were not meaningfully modeled.
Conclusions:Women showed both better cognitive reappraisal abilities overall and more insight into the level of those abilities, findings that fall in line with most ER literature. However, we found that females were also more likely than males to be skewed in the positive or “overconfident” direction; to overestimate those same abilities. This information is useful for clinicians interpreting self-report information in the emotion regulation domain. These findings may not generalize to a more diverse (racially and socioeconomically) population and given the cognitive nature of the reappraisal strategy; these results may not extend to a less educated population. These data will be useful to inform the interpretation of fMRI images from this same experiment.
Burden of infectious disease studies in Europe and the United Kingdom: a review of methodological design choices
- Periklis Charalampous, Juanita A. Haagsma, Lea S. Jakobsen, Vanessa Gorasso, Isabel Noguer, Alicia Padron-Monedero, Rodrigo Sarmiento, João Vasco Santos, Scott A. McDonald, Dietrich Plass, Grant M. A. Wyper, Ricardo Assunção, Elena von der Lippe, Balázs Ádám, Ala'a AlKerwi, Jalal Arabloo, Ana Lúcia Baltazar, Boris Bikbov, Maria Borrell-Pages, Iris Brus, Genc Burazeri, Serafeim C. Chaintoutis, José Chen-Xu, Nino Chkhaberidze, Seila Cilovic-Lagarija, Barbara Corso, Sarah Cuschieri, Carlotta Di Bari, Keren Dopelt, Mary Economou, Theophilus I. Emeto, Peter Fantke, Florian Fischer, Alberto Freitas, Juan Manuel García-González, Federica Gazzelloni, Mika Gissler, Artemis Gkitakou, Hakan Gulmez, Sezgin Gunes, Sebastian Haller, Romana Haneef, Cesar A. Hincapié, Paul Hynds, Jane Idavain, Milena Ilic, Irena Ilic, Gaetano Isola, Zubair Kabir, Maria Kamusheva, Pavel Kolkhir, Naime Meriç Konar, Polychronis Kostoulas, Mukhtar Kulimbet, Carlo La Vecchia, Paolo Lauriola, Miriam Levi, Marjeta Majer, Enkeleint A. Mechili, Lorenzo Monasta, Stefania Mondello, Javier Muñoz Laguna, Evangelia Nena, Edmond S. W. Ng, Paul Nguewa, Vikram Niranjan, Iskra Alexandra Nola, Rónán O'Caoimh, Marija Obradović, Elena Pallari, Mariana Peyroteo, Vera Pinheiro, Nurka Pranjic, Miguel Reina Ortiz, Silvia Riva, Cornelia Melinda Adi Santoso, Milena Santric Milicevic, Tugce Schmitt, Niko Speybroeck, Maximilian Sprügel, Paschalis Steiropoulos, Aleksandar Stevanovic, Lau Caspar Thygesen, Fimka Tozija, Brigid Unim, Hilal Bektaş Uysal, Orsolya Varga, Milena Vasic, Rafael José Vieira, Vahit Yigit, Brecht Devleesschauwer, Sara M. Pires
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- Journal:
- Epidemiology & Infection / Volume 151 / 2023
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 09 January 2023, e19
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This systematic literature review aimed to provide an overview of the characteristics and methods used in studies applying the disability-adjusted life years (DALY) concept for infectious diseases within European Union (EU)/European Economic Area (EEA)/European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries and the United Kingdom. Electronic databases and grey literature were searched for articles reporting the assessment of DALY and its components. We considered studies in which researchers performed DALY calculations using primary epidemiological data input sources. We screened 3053 studies of which 2948 were excluded and 105 studies met our inclusion criteria. Of these studies, 22 were multi-country and 83 were single-country studies, of which 46 were from the Netherlands. Food- and water-borne diseases were the most frequently studied infectious diseases. Between 2015 and 2022, the number of burden of infectious disease studies was 1.6 times higher compared to that published between 2000 and 2014. Almost all studies (97%) estimated DALYs based on the incidence- and pathogen-based approach and without social weighting functions; however, there was less methodological consensus with regards to the disability weights and life tables that were applied. The number of burden of infectious disease studies undertaken across Europe has increased over time. Development and use of guidelines will promote performing burden of infectious disease studies and facilitate comparability of the results.
Characteristics of healthcare personnel who reported concerns related to PPE use during care of COVID-19 patients
- Nora Chea, Stephanie Tavitian, Cedric Brown, Taniece Eure, Rebecca Alkis, Gregory Blazek, Austin Penna, Joelle Nadle, Linda Frank, Christopher Czaja, Helen Johnston, Devra Barter, Kathleen Angell, Kristen Marshall, James Meek, Monica Brackney, Stacy Carswell, Stepy Thomas, Scott Fridkin, Lucy Wilson, Ashley Fell, Sara Lovett, Sarah Lim, Ruth Lynfield, Ruth SarahShrum, Erin C. Phipps, Marla Sievers, Ghinwa Dumyati, Cate Concannon, Kathryn McCullough, Woods, Sandhya Seshadri, Christopher Myers, Rebecca Pierce, Valerie Ocampo, Judith Guzman-Cottrill, Gabriela Escutia, Monika Samper, Sandra Pena, Cullen Adre, Tiffanie Markus, Kathryn Billings, Matthew Groenewold, Ronda Sinkowitz-Cochran, Shelley Magill, Cheri Grigg, Betsy Miller
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- Journal:
- Antimicrobial Stewardship & Healthcare Epidemiology / Volume 2 / Issue S1 / July 2022
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 16 May 2022, pp. s8-s9
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Background: Healthcare facilities have experienced many challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, including limited personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies. Healthcare personnel (HCP) rely on PPE, vaccines, and other infection control measures to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infections. We describe PPE concerns reported by HCP who had close contact with COVID-19 patients in the workplace and tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Method: The CDC collaborated with Emerging Infections Program (EIP) sites in 10 states to conduct surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 infections in HCP. EIP staff interviewed HCP with positive SARS-CoV-2 viral tests (ie, cases) to collect data on demographics, healthcare roles, exposures, PPE use, and concerns about their PPE use during COVID-19 patient care in the 14 days before the HCP’s SARS-CoV-2 positive test. PPE concerns were qualitatively coded as being related to supply (eg, low quality, shortages); use (eg, extended use, reuse, lack of fit test); or facility policy (eg, lack of guidance). We calculated and compared the percentages of cases reporting each concern type during the initial phase of the pandemic (April–May 2020), during the first US peak of daily COVID-19 cases (June–August 2020), and during the second US peak (September 2020–January 2021). We compared percentages using mid-P or Fisher exact tests (α = 0.05). Results: Among 1,998 HCP cases occurring during April 2020–January 2021 who had close contact with COVID-19 patients, 613 (30.7%) reported ≥1 PPE concern (Table 1). The percentage of cases reporting supply or use concerns was higher during the first peak period than the second peak period (supply concerns: 12.5% vs 7.5%; use concerns: 25.5% vs 18.2%; p Conclusions: Although lower percentages of HCP cases overall reported PPE concerns after the first US peak, our results highlight the importance of developing capacity to produce and distribute PPE during times of increased demand. The difference we observed among selected groups of cases may indicate that PPE access and use were more challenging for some, such as nonphysicians and nursing home HCP. These findings underscore the need to ensure that PPE is accessible and used correctly by HCP for whom use is recommended.
Funding: None
Disclosures: None
Decreased Fronto-Limbic Activation and Disrupted Semantic-Cued List Learning in Major Depressive Disorder
- Michelle T. Kassel, Julia A. Rao, Sara J. Walker, Emily M. Briceño, Laura B. Gabriel, Anne L. Weldon, Erich T. Avery, Brennan D. Haase, Marta Peciña, Ciaran M. Considine, Douglas C. Noll, Linas A. Bieliauskas, Monica N. Starkman, Jon-Kar Zubieta, Robert C. Welsh, Bruno Giordani, Sara L. Weisenbach, Scott A. Langenecker
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- Journal:
- Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society / Volume 22 / Issue 4 / April 2016
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 02 February 2016, pp. 412-425
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Objectives: Individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) demonstrate poorer learning and memory skills relative to never-depressed comparisons (NDC). Previous studies report decreased volume and disrupted function of frontal lobes and hippocampi in MDD during memory challenge. However, it has been difficult to dissociate contributions of short-term memory and executive functioning to memory difficulties from those that might be attributable to long-term memory deficits. Methods: Adult males (MDD, n=19; NDC, n=22) and females (MDD, n=23; NDC, n=19) performed the Semantic List Learning Task (SLLT) during functional magnetic resonance imaging. The SLLT Encoding condition consists of 15 lists, each containing 14 words. After each list, a Distractor condition occurs, followed by cued Silent Rehearsal instructions. Post-scan recall and recognition were collected. Groups were compared using block (Encoding-Silent Rehearsal) and event-related (Words Recalled) models. Results: MDD displayed lower recall relative to NDC. NDC displayed greater activation in several temporal, frontal, and parietal regions, for both Encoding-Silent Rehearsal and the Words Recalled analyses. Groups also differed in activation patterns in regions of the Papez circuit in planned analyses. The majority of activation differences were not related to performance, presence of medications, presence of comorbid anxiety disorder, or decreased gray matter volume in MDD. Conclusions: Adults with MDD exhibit memory difficulties during a task designed to reduce the contribution of individual variability from short-term memory and executive functioning processes, parallel with decreased activation in memory and executive functioning circuits. Ecologically valid long-term memory tasks are imperative for uncovering neural correlates of memory performance deficits in adults with MDD. (JINS, 2016, 22, 412–425)
Contributors
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- By Brittany L. Anderson-Montoya, Heather R. Bailey, Carryl L. Baldwin, Daphne Bavelier, Jameson D. Beach, Jeffrey S. Bedwell, Kevin B. Bennett, Richard A. Block, Deborah A. Boehm-Davis, Corey J. Bohil, David B. Boles, Avinoam Borowsky, Jessica Bramlett, Allison A. Brennan, J. Christopher Brill, Matthew S. Cain, Meredith Carroll, Roberto Champney, Kait Clark, Nancy J. Cooke, Lori M. Curtindale, Clare Davies, Patricia R. DeLucia, Andrew E. Deptula, Michael B. Dillard, Colin D. Drury, Christopher Edman, James T. Enns, Sara Irina Fabrikant, Victor S. Finomore, Arthur D. Fisk, John M. Flach, Matthew E. Funke, Andre Garcia, Adam Gazzaley, Douglas J. Gillan, Rebecca A. Grier, Simen Hagen, Kelly Hale, Diane F. Halpern, Peter A. Hancock, Deborah L. Harm, Mary Hegarty, Laurie M. Heller, Nicole D. Helton, William S. Helton, Robert R. Hoffman, Jerred Holt, Xiaogang Hu, Richard J. Jagacinski, Keith S. Jones, Astrid M. L. Kappers, Simon Kemp, Robert C. Kennedy, Robert S. Kennedy, Alan Kingstone, Ioana Koglbauer, Norman E. Lane, Robert D. Latzman, Cynthia Laurie-Rose, Patricia Lee, Richard Lowe, Valerie Lugo, Poornima Madhavan, Leonard S. Mark, Gerald Matthews, Jyoti Mishra, Stephen R. Mitroff, Tracy L. Mitzner, Alexander M. Morison, Taylor Murphy, Takamichi Nakamoto, John G. Neuhoff, Karl M. Newell, Tal Oron-Gilad, Raja Parasuraman, Tiffany A. Pempek, Robert W. Proctor, Katie A. Ragsdale, Anil K. Raj, Millard F. Reschke, Evan F. Risko, Matthew Rizzo, Wendy A. Rogers, Jesse Q. Sargent, Mark W. Scerbo, Natasha B. Schwartz, F. Jacob Seagull, Cory-Ann Smarr, L. James Smart, Kay Stanney, James Staszewski, Clayton L. Stephenson, Mary E. Stuart, Breanna E. Studenka, Joel Suss, Leedjia Svec, James L. Szalma, James Tanaka, James Thompson, Wouter M. Bergmann Tiest, Lauren A. Vassiliades, Michael A. Vidulich, Paul Ward, Joel S. Warm, David A. Washburn, Christopher D. Wickens, Scott J. Wood, David D. Woods, Motonori Yamaguchi, Lin Ye, Jeffrey M. Zacks
- Edited by Robert R. Hoffman, Peter A. Hancock, University of Central Florida, Mark W. Scerbo, Old Dominion University, Virginia, Raja Parasuraman, George Mason University, Virginia, James L. Szalma, University of Central Florida
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- Book:
- The Cambridge Handbook of Applied Perception Research
- Published online:
- 05 July 2015
- Print publication:
- 26 January 2015, pp xi-xiv
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Contributors
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- By Harriette Andreadis, Abdulhamit Arvas, GerShun Avilez, Brian James Baer, Thomas Bauer, David Bergman, Brinda Bose, Michael Bronski, Steven Bruhm, Christopher Castiglia, Merrill Cole, Peter Coviello, Sara Danius, Tim Dean, Philippe C. Dubois, Chris Dunton, Elisa Glick, Jonathan Goldberg, Helena Gurfinkel, Neville Hoad, Thomas K. Hubbard, AnaLouise Keating, Eric Keenaghan, David DeCosta Leitao, Karma Lochrie, E. L. McCallum, Lisa O’Connell, David L. Orvis, Gema Pérez-Sánchez, Jay Reed, Robert Reid-Pharr, Steven Ruszczycky, Darieck Scott, Patricia Sieber, Hugh Stevens, Lisa Tatonetti, Omise’eke Natasha Tinsley, Robert Tobin, Eric L. Tribunella, Mikko Tuhkanen, Sherry Velasco, Giovanni Vitiello, Sara Warner
- Edited by E. L. McCallum, Michigan State University, Mikko Tuhkanen, Texas A & M University
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- Book:
- The Cambridge History of Gay and Lesbian Literature
- Published online:
- 18 December 2014
- Print publication:
- 17 November 2014, pp xi-xii
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- By H. Elliott Albers, Reut Avinun, Karen L. Bales, Jorge A. Barraza, Michael T. Bowen, Sunny K. Boyd, Heather K. Caldwell, Elena Choleris, Amy E. Clipperton-Allen, Bruce S. Cushing, Monica B. Dhakar, Riccardo Dore, Richard P. Ebstein, Craig F. Ferris, Sara M. Freeman, James L. Goodson, Joshua J. Green, Haruhiro Higashida, Eric Hollander, Salomon Israel, Martin Kavaliers, Keith M. Kendrick, Ariel Knafo, Yoav Litvin, Olga Lopatina, David Mankuta, Iain S. McGregor, Richard H. Melloni, Inga D. Neumann, Jerome H. Pagani, Cort A. Pedersen, Donald W. Pfaff, Anna Phan, Benjamin J. Ragen, Amina Sarwat, Idan Shalev, Erica L. Stevenson, Bonnie Taylor, Richmond R. Thompson, Florina Uzefovsky, Erwin H. van den Burg, James C. Walton, Scott R. Wersinger, Nurit Yirmiya, Larry J. Young, W. Scott Young, Paul J. Zak
- Edited by Elena Choleris, University of Guelph, Ontario, Donald W. Pfaff, Rockefeller University, New York, Martin Kavaliers, University of Western Ontario
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- Book:
- Oxytocin, Vasopressin and Related Peptides in the Regulation of Behavior
- Published online:
- 05 April 2013
- Print publication:
- 11 April 2013, pp xi-xiv
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13 - Nuclear energy: current and future schemes
- from Part 2 - Nonrenewable energy sources
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- By Christopher R. Stanek, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA, Robin W. Grimes, Imperial College London, London, UK, Cetin Unal, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA, Stuart A. Maloy, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA, Sara C. Scott, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA
- Edited by David S. Ginley, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Colorado, David Cahen, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
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- Book:
- Fundamentals of Materials for Energy and Environmental Sustainability
- Published online:
- 05 June 2012
- Print publication:
- 30 November 2011, pp 147-161
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Summary
Focus
Nuclear power has been a reliable source of electricity in many countries for decades, and it will be an essential component of the mix of energy sources required to meet environmental goals by reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, reducing the dependence on fossil fuels, and enabling global access to energy. Materials science will play a key role in developing options in nuclear power, including new reactors with improved safety (especially in the light of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident), reliability, and efficiency; technology to help minimize proliferation (discussed in Chapter 14); and viable, safe, long-term options for waste management (discussed in Chapter 15). Such efforts will provide opportunities to address broader challenges associated with nuclear energy, including public opinion and the investment risks associated with building new nuclear power plants.
Synopsis
The energy density (i.e., the quantity of useful energy stored per unit volume) of uranium fuel used today in light-water reactors (the most prevalent type of nuclear reactor) is already orders of magnitude larger than that of other energy sources. For example, one reactor fuel pellet produces approximately as much heat energy as 150 gal of fuel oil or 1 ton of high-grade coal. Moreover, the utilization of the energy density is being increased further through improvements in fuel technology and by developments in reactor design. This chapter focuses on the materials science challenges that exist in a fission reactor, that is, those related to the nuclear fuel, the cladding, and the structural materials, which are exposed to extremely high temperatures, moderate pressures, and an intense radiation field. Technical issues that extend beyond the workings of reactors, namely nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear waste, are addressed in Chapters 14 and 15, respectively.
Contributors
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- By Pina Amin, Sir Sabaratnam Arulkumaran, Sarah L. Bell, M. J. Blott, Hajeera Butt, Edwin Chandraharan, Joanna Crofts, Mark Denbow, Mandish K. Dhanjal, Stergios K. Doumouchtsis, Timothy J. Draycott, Rohan D'Souza, David Fraser, Guy Jackson, Nina Johns, Tracey Johnston, Justin C. Konje, Audrey Long, Louay S. Louis, Paul A. Mannix, Mahishee Mehta, Nutan Mishra, Sambit Mukhopadhyay, Deirdre J. Murphy, Vivek Nama, Osric Navti, Catherine Nelson-Piercy, Jane E. Norman, Geraldine O'Sullivan, Sara Paterson-Brown, Leonie Penna, Neelam Potdar, Helen Scholefield, Jason Scott, Dimitrios M. Siassakos, Gordon C. S. Smith, Lisa Story, Bryony Strachan, Devi Subramanian, Abdul H. Sultan, Ranee Thakar, Austin Ugwumadu, Rajesh Varma, James J. Walker, Steve Walkinshaw, Richard Warren, Melissa Whitten, Melissa K. Whitworth, Julian Woolfson, Steve Yentis
- Edited by Richard Warren, Sabaratnam Arulkumaran
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- Book:
- Best Practice in Labour and Delivery
- Published online:
- 15 March 2010
- Print publication:
- 17 September 2009, pp vii-x
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