Background: The American Council for Pharmacy Education outlines that pharmacists should be able to "recognize social determinants of health to diminish disparities and inequities in access to quality care." This randomized, cross-sectional study assessed students' knowledge and confidence in caring for patients with diverse religious backgrounds. Students were assigned to either a series of religious cases created in MyDispense or a control group to read a pamphlet on religious considerations in patient care.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhysical activity or structured exercise is beneficial in a wide range of circumstances. Nevertheless, individual-level data on differential responses to various types of activity are not yet sufficient in scale, duration or level of annotation to understand the mechanisms of discrete outcomes nor to support personalized recommendations. The Apple Heart & Movement Study was designed to passively collect the dense physiologic data accessible on Apple Watch and iPhone from a large real-world cohort distributed across the US in order to address these knowledge gaps.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecently, there has been substantial effort to understand the fundamental characteristics of warm ocean temperature extremes-known as marine heatwaves (MHWs). However, MHW research has primarily focused on the surface signature of these events. While surface MHWs (SMHW) can have dramatic impacts on marine ecosystems, extreme warming along the seafloor can also have significant biological outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBandgap gradient is a proven approach for improving the open-circuit voltages (Vs) in Cu(In,Ga)Se and Cu(Zn,Sn)Se thin-film solar cells, but has not been realized in Cd(Se,Te) thin-film solar cells, a leading thin-film solar cell technology in the photovoltaic market. Here, we demonstrate the realization of a bandgap gradient in Cd(Se,Te) thin-film solar cells by introducing a Cd(O,S,Se,Te) region with the same crystal structure of the absorber near the front junction. The formation of such a region is enabled by incorporating oxygenated CdS and CdSe layers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTherap Adv Gastroenterol
November 2022
Background: Pancreatic cystic fluid (PCF) analysis is frequently used for cyst diagnosis with carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) being the most accepted biomarker. Low glucose levels in PCF were previously suggested as a marker for mucinous cysts. A bed-side glucometer is a point-of care, immediate, simple, and cheap method which requires a small volume of PCF.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Endoscopic ultrasound-guided radiofrequency ablation (EUS-RFA) is a developing therapeutic approach for premalignant pancreatic-cystic neoplasms (PCNs) and small pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNETs). The safety and efficacy of pancreatic EUS-RFA were previously reported in small series. Herein we report our initial experience with RFA of PCNs and small PNETs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Most patients admitted to hospital recover with treatments that can be administered on the general ward. A small but important group deteriorate however and require augmented organ support in areas with increased nursing to patient ratios. In observational studies evaluating this cohort, proxy outcomes such as unplanned intensive care unit admission, cardiac arrest and death are used.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The association between intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMNs) and colorectal cancer (CRC) and polyps is controversial.
Objectives: To compare the prevalence of CRC and colorectal polyps among patients with IPMN and matched average risk individuals.
Methods: A match cross-sectional historical study comparing colonoscopy findings of 310 patients with IPMN cysts who underwent at least one colonoscopy examination from 2004 through 2019, with 310 age- and gender-matched average risk participants who underwent a screening colonoscopy.
The performance of CdTe solar cells has advanced impressively in recent years with the incorporation of Se. Instabilities associated with light soaking and copper reorganization have been extensively examined for the previous generation of CdS/CdTe solar cells, but instabilities in Cu-doped Se-alloyed CdTe devices remain relatively unexplored. In this work, we fabricated a range of CdSe/CdTe solar cells by sputtering CdSe layers with thicknesses of 100, 120, 150, 180, and 200 nm on transparent oxide-coated glass and then depositing CdTe by close-spaced sublimation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is the first line treatment for choledocholithiasis. In many occasions, several attempts of ERCP are performed until failure is declared and surgical treatment is applied, in many times following procedure-related complications. We present the results of surgical management of patients with choledocholithiasis following repeated failures of ERCP due to impaction of multiple large stones.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMotivated by their utility in CdTe-based thin film photovoltaics (PV) devices, an investigation of thin films of the magnesium-zinc oxide (MgZnO or MZO) alloy system was undertaken applying spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE). Dominant wurtzite phase MZO thin films with Mg contents in the range 0 ≤ ≤ 0.42 were deposited on room temperature soda lime glass (SLG) substrates by magnetron co-sputtering of MgO and ZnO targets followed by annealing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Appl Mater Interfaces
August 2021
Copper (Cu) incorporation is a key process for fabricating efficient CdTe-based thin-film solar cells and has been used in CdTe-based solar cell module manufacturing. Here, we investigate the effects of different Cu precursors on the performance of CdTe-based thin-film solar cells by incorporating Cu using a metallic Cu source (evaporated Cu) and ionic Cu sources (solution-processed cuprous chloride (CuCl) and copper chloride (CuCl)). We find that ionic Cu precursors offer much better control in Cu diffusion than the metallic Cu precursor, producing better front junction quality, lower back-barrier heights, and better bulk defect property.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSurg Laparosc Endosc Percutan Tech
February 2021
Negative endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) for suspected common bile duct stones (CBDS) may be associated with significant morbidity and should be avoided. Between 2010 and 2018, 85 patients who have undergone negative ERCP for suspected CBDS were retrospectively evaluated and compared with 318 patients with positive findings. Predictors for negative ERCP were assessed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Clinically significant post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) bacteremia (PEB) occurs in up to 5% of cases, while antibiotic prophylaxis is recommended only when an ERCP is unlikely to achieve complete biliary drainage. However, the current recommendations may not cover all potential risk factors for PEB.
Aim: To identify novel risk factors for PEB and evaluate appropriateness of antibiotic prophylaxis.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces
November 2020
Although back-surface passivation plays an important role in high-efficiency photovoltaics, it has not yet been definitively demonstrated for CdTe. Here, we present a solution-based process, which achieves passivation and improved electrical performance when very small amounts of oxidized Al species are deposited at the back surface of CdTe devices. The open circuit voltage () is increased and the fill factor (FF) and photoconversion efficiency (PCE) are optimized when the total amount added corresponds to ∼1 monolayer, suggesting that the passivation is surface specific.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAcute myocardial infarction (MI) patients remain at high risk for recurrent events. Cholesterol efflux, mediated by apolipoprotein A-I, removes excess cholesterol from atherosclerotic plaque and transports it to the liver for excretion. Impaired cholesterol efflux is associated with higher cardiovascular (CV) event rates among both patients with stable coronary artery disease and recent MI.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe replacement of traditional CdS with zinc magnesium oxide (ZMO) has been demonstrated as being helpful to boost power conversion efficiency of cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cells to over 18%, due to the reduced interface recombination and parasitic light absorption by the buffer layer. However, due to the atmosphere sensitivity of ZMO film, the post treatments of ZMO/CdTe stacks, including CdCl treatment, back contact deposition, etc., which are critical for high-performance CdTe solar cells became crucial challenges.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The progress of electronic health technologies and biobanks holds enormous promise for efficient research. Evidence shows that studies based on sharing and secondary use of data/samples have the potential to significantly advance medical knowledge. However, sharing of such resources for international collaboration is hampered by the lack of clarity about ethical and legal requirements for transfer of data and samples across international borders.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Mandatory trial registration, and later results reporting, were proposed to mitigate selective clinical trial publication and outcome reporting. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Amendments Act (FDAAA) was enacted by Congress on September 27, 2007, requiring the registration of all non-phase I clinical trials involving FDA-regulated medical interventions and results reporting for approved drugs. The association between FDAAA enactment and the registration, results reporting, and publication bias of neuropsychiatric trials has not been studied.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOrganic-inorganic metal halide perovskites are notoriously unstable in humid environments. While many studies have revealed the morphology and crystal structure changes that accompany exposure to humidity, little is known about changes to the photophysics that accompany the degradation process. By combining in situ steady-state and time-resolved photoluminescence with Hall effect measurements, we examined the changes in the photoexcited carrier dynamics for methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI) and bromide (MAPbBr) films exposed to nitrogen gas containing water vapor at 80% relative humidity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSocial norms regulate behavior, and changes in norms have a great impact on society. In most modern societies, norms change through interpersonal communication and persuasive messages found in media. Here, we examined the neural basis of persuasion-induced changes in attitude toward and away from norms using fMRI.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Selective clinical trial publication and outcome reporting has the potential to bias the medical literature. The 2007 Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Amendment Act (FDAAA) mandated clinical trial registration and outcome reporting on ClinicalTrials.gov, a publicly accessible trial registry.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAn ex-ante life cycle inventory was developed for single walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) PV cells, including a laboratory-made 1% efficient device and an aspirational 28% efficient four-cell tandem device. The environmental impact of unit energy generation from the mono-Si PV technology was used as a reference point. Compared to monocrystalline Si (mono-Si), the environmental impacts from 1% SWCNT was ∼18 times higher due mainly to the short lifetime of three years.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClimate change will affect the population dynamics of many species, yet the consequences for the long-term persistence of populations are poorly understood. A major reason for this is that density-dependent feedback effects caused by fluctuations in population size are considered independent of stochastic variation in the environment. We show that an interplay between winter temperature and population density can influence the persistence of a small passerine population under global warming.
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