Issue: While an increasingly diverse workforce of clinicians, researchers, and educators will be needed to address the nation's future healthcare challenges, underrepresented in medicine (UIM) ...perspectives remain relatively absent from academic medicine. Evidence: Prior studies have identified differential experiences within the learning environment, lack of social supports, and implicit bias in evaluations as barriers to the academic interests and successes of UIM learners. The UCSF Differences Matter initiative has shown that interventions focused on recruiting diverse academic faculty, building strong social communities, facilitating cross-cultural communication and understanding, and mitigating disparities in summative assessments can positively affect the educational experience for UIM learners and contribute to their academic success. Implications: Institution-level initiatives are needed to foster a culture of inclusion, teach cultural humility, and build a culture of trust within academic medicine. Such initiatives should aim to teach a common language to discuss diversity issues and place the responsibility of fostering inclusion on all members of the academic community. Our own institutional experience with systemic cultural reform challenges others to develop novel approaches toward fostering inclusion in academic medicine.
The luminosity determination for the ATLAS detector at the LHC during
pp
collisions at
s
=
8 TeV in 2012 is presented. The evaluation of the luminosity scale is performed using several luminometers, ...and comparisons between these luminosity detectors are made to assess the accuracy, consistency and long-term stability of the results. A luminosity uncertainty of
δ
L
/
L
=
±
1.9
%
is obtained for the
22.7
fb
-
1
of
pp
collision data delivered to ATLAS at
s
=
8 TeV in 2012.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
A
bstract
Haloscopes are resonant cavities that serve as detectors of dark matter axions when they are immersed in a strong static magnetic field. In order to increase the volume and improve space ...compatibility with dipole or solenoid magnets for axion searches, various haloscope design techniques for rectangular geometries are discussed in this study. The volume limits of two types of haloscopes are explored: those based on single cavities and those based on multicavities. In both cases, possibilities for increasing the volume of long and/or tall structures are presented. For multicavities, 1D geometries are explored to optimise the space in the magnets. Also, 2D and 3D geometries are introduced as a first step in laying the foundations for the development of these kinds of topologies. The results prove the usefulness of the developed methods, evidencing the ample room for improvement in rectangular haloscope designs nowadays. A factor of three orders of magnitude improvement in volume compared with a single cavity based on the WR-90 standard waveguide is obtained with the design of a long and tall single cavity. Similar procedures have been applied for long and tall multicavities. Experimental measurements are shown for prototypes based on tall multicavities and 2D structures, demonstrating the feasibility of using these types of geometries to increase the volume of real haloscopes.
This work reports the production of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) and fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs) by means of waste fried oil (WFO) transesterification using methanol and ethanol at ...supercritical conditions, in a continuous catalyst-free process. Transesterification experiments were performed from 573 to 623 K, at 10, 15, and 20 MPa, with oil/alcohol molar ratios of 1:20, 1:30, and 1:40 and water addition to alcohol of 0, 5, and 10 wt %. The extent of the reaction was explored using a novel parameter, convertibility, which corresponds to the maximum ester content attainable from the feedstock (92.1%). The highest FAME and FAEE contents achieved were 81.7 and 82.2%, respectively. Results show that transesterification of WFO in methanol was more efficient than that in ethanol, the temperature had the strongest influence, and the addition of water considerably improved the ester yield.
In recent years, improving water use efficiency has been one of the most important challenges for the agricultural sector. However, such improvements have led to the installation of pressurized ...irrigation systems which generally require more energy to operate, especially in plantations on sloping and mountainous lands. Thus, the reduction of energy use in these systems has also become a major issue.
Irrigation network sectoring has been proposed as one of the most effective energy saving measures. Typically, however, the potential benefits of this management strategy have been evaluated by means of theoretical approaches in networks that were originally designed to supply water on demand and not after water application in real irrigation districts designed following sectoring strategies.
In this work, this measure is applied to an irrigation district devoted to olive grove production in a mountainous area that was designed according to this management strategy. With this aim, the WEBSO (Water and Energy Based Sectoring Operation) algorithm, which was developed in a previous work, has been modified in order to take into account the specific characteristics of the irrigation district and its actual management, as well as to analyze sensitivity to several irrigation water depths in terms of both energy demand and yields. An economic analysis of the potential benefits of this management strategy is also carried out. The results show that this measure has lead to a nearly 30% reduction in energy consumption, while increasing farmers' profits by 13% compared to traditional on-demand operations.
► Network sectoringwasevaluated within an irrigation district as an energy saving measure. ► The hydraulic network for olive grove irrigation in a mountainous areawasdesigned to operate on a sector by sector basis. ► Sectoring results in nearly a 30% reduction in energy consumption. ► Farmers'profitswereincreased by 13% compared to the traditional ‘on-demand’ system of operation. ► Sectoringhascontributed to the sustainable intensification of irrigated agriculture in the study area.
Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is currently the only curative option for hematological manifestations in patients with Fanconi anemia (FA). We report the outcome of 34 patients with ...FA inside a collaborative multicenter national study based on recommendations of Spanish Working Group for Bone Marrow Transplantation in Children (GETMON) between 2009 and 2016. Fludarabine-based conditioning regimen was carried out in all patients, with low dose total body irradiation in unrelated transplants. Disease status before HSCT was bone marrow failure (BMF) in 30 patients and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) in four. Donors were matched siblings donors (MSD) in 18, matched unrelated donors (MUD) in 15, and one haploidentical donor. All except one patient engrafted. Cumulative incidence of grades II-IV acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) was 29% and 11% for chronic GVHD. Median follow-up after HSCT was 6.5 years. Seven patients (21%) died due to transplant-related causes, two (6%) because of MDS relapse, and one (3%) after a squamous cell carcinoma. Overall survival (OS) was 73% at 5 years post-transplant, with no differences between MSD and MUD transplants. OS for patients with BMF was 80% while for MDS was 25%. Our data suggest HSCT can cure hematologic manifestations of most FA patients with BMF.
To compare new bone formation in mandibular critical-sized bone defects (CSBDs) in healthy, diabetic, osteoporotic, and diabetic-osteoporotic rats filled with bioceramics (BCs) with or without bone ...marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs).
A total of 64 adult female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized into four groups (n = 16 per group): Group 1 healthy, Group 2 diabetic, Group 3 osteoporotic, and Group 4 diabetic-osteoporotic rats. Streptozotocin was used to induce type 1 diabetes in Group 2 and 4, while bilateral ovariectomy was used to induce osteoporosis in Group 3 and 4. The central portion of the rat mandibular symphysis was used as a physiological CSBD. In each group, eight defects were filled with BC (hydroxypatatite 60% and β-tricalcium phosphate 40%) alone and eight with BMSCs cultured on BC. The animals were sacrificed at 4 and 8 weeks, and the mandibles were processed for micro-computed tomography to analyze radiological union and bone mineral density (BMD); histological analysis of the bone union; and immunohistochemical analysis, which included immunoreactivity of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2).
In all groups (healthy, diabetics, osteoporotics, and diabetics-osteoporotics), the CSBDs filled with BC + BMSCs showed greater radiological bone union, BMD, histological bone union, and more VEGF and BMP-2 positivity, in comparison with CSBDs treated with BC alone (at 4 and 8 weeks).
Application of BMSCs cultured on BCs improves bone regeneration in CSBDs compared with application of BCs alone in healthy, diabetic, osteoporotic, and diabetic-osteoporotic rats.
A common symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder is the persistent avoidance of cues incorrectly associated with negative outcomes. This maladaptation becomes increasingly evident as subjects fail ...to respond to extinction-based treatments such as exposure-with-response prevention therapy. While previous studies have highlighted the role of the insular-orbital cortex in fine-tuning avoidance-based decisions, little is known about the projections from this area that might modulate compulsive-like avoidance.
Here, we used anatomical tract-tracing, single-unit recording, and optogenetics to characterize the projections from the insular-orbital cortex. To model exposure-with-response prevention and persistent avoidance in rats, we used the platform-mediated avoidance task followed by extinction-with-response prevention training.
Using tract-tracing and unit recording, we found that projections from the agranular insular/lateral orbital (AI/LO) cortex to the prefrontal cortex predominantly target the rostral portion of the prelimbic (rPL) cortex and excite rPL neurons. Photoinhibiting this projection induced persistent avoidance after extinction-with-response prevention training, an effect that was still present 1 week later. Consistent with this, photoexcitation of this projection prevented persistent avoidance in overtrained rats. This projection to rPL appears to be key for AI/LO’s effects, considering that there was no effect of photoinhibiting AI/LO projections to the ventral striatum or basolateral amygdala.
Our findings suggest that projections from the AI/LO to the rPL decreases the likelihood of avoidance behavior following extinction. In humans, this connectivity may share some homology of projections from lateral prefrontal cortices (i.e., ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, and insula) to other prefrontal areas and the anterior cingulate cortex, suggesting that reduced activity in these pathways may contribute to obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Recent studies suggest that thrombotic complications are a common phenomenon in the novel SARS-CoV-2 infection. The main objective of our study is to assess cumulative incidence of pulmonary embolism ...(PE) in non critically ill COVID-19 patients and to identify its predicting factors associated to the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism. We retrospectevely reviewed 452 electronic medical records of patients admitted to Internal Medicine Department of a secondary hospital in Madrid during Covid 19 pandemic outbreak. We included 91 patients who underwent a multidetector Computed Tomography pulmonary angiography(CTPA) during conventional hospitalization. The cumulative incidence of PE was assessed ant the clinical, analytical and radiological characteristics were compared between patients with and without PE. PE incidence was 6.4% (29/452 patients). Most patients with a confirmed diagnosed with PE recieved low molecular weight heparin (LMWH): 79.3% (23/29). D-dimer peak was significatly elevated in PE vs non PE patients (14,480 vs 7230 mcg/dL, p = 0.03). In multivariate analysis of patients who underwent a CTPA we found that plasma D-dimer peak was an independen predictor of PE with a best cut off point of > 5000 µg/dl (OR 3.77; IC95% (1.18–12.16), p = 0.03). We found ninefold increased risk of PE patients not suffering from dyslipidemia (OR 9.06; IC95% (1.88–43.60). Predictive value of AUC for ROC is 75.5%. We found a high incidence of PE in non critically ill hospitalized COVID 19 patients despite standard thromboprophylaxis. An increase in D-dimer levels is an independent predictor for PE, with a best cut-off point of > 5000 µg/ dl.
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