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Contaminated surfaces have been implicated as a potential route for dissemination of the emerging multidrug-resistant fungal pathogen Candida auris . In laboratory testing, C. auris and other Candida species persisted for 7 days on moist or dry surfaces. Candida species were recovered frequently from the hospital environment, particularly from moist surfaces. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2017;38:1107–1109

Somatosensory feedback of the hand is essential for object identification. Without somatosensory feedback, individuals cannot reliably determine the size or compliance of an object. Electrical nerve stimulation can restore localized tactile and proprioceptive feedback with intensity discrimination capability similar to natural sensation. We hypothesized that adding artificial somatosensation improves object recognition accuracy when using a prosthesis. To test this hypothesis, we provided different forms of sensory feedback-tactile, proprioceptive, or both-to two subjects with upper limb loss. The subjects were asked to identify the size or mechanical compliance of different foam blocks placed in the prosthetic hand while visually and audibly blinded. During trials, we did not inform the subjects of their performance, but did ask them about their confidence in correctly identifying objects. Finally, we recorded applied pressures during object interaction. Subjects were free to use any strategy they chose to examine the objects. Object identification was most accurate with both tactile and proprioceptive feedback. The relative importance of each type of feedback, however, depended on object characteristics and task. Sensory feedback increased subject confidence and was directly correlated with accuracy. Subjects applied less pressure to the objects when they had tactile pressure feedback. Artificial somatosensory feedback improves object recognition and the relative importance of tactile versus proprioceptive feedback depends on the test set. We believe this test battery provides an effective means to assess the impact of sensory restoration and the relative contribution of different forms of feedback (tactile vs. kinesthetic) within the neurorehabilitation field.

Personal protective equipment (PPE) is crucially important to the safety of both patients and medical personnel, particularly in the event of an infectious pandemic. As the incidence of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) increases exponentially in the United States and many parts of the world, healthcare provider demand for these necessities is currently outpacing supply. In the midst of the current pandemic, there has been a concerted effort to identify viable ways to conserve PPE, including decontamination after use. In this study, we outline a procedure by which PPE may be decontaminated using ultraviolet (UV) radiation in biosafety cabinets (BSCs), a common element of many academic, public health, and hospital laboratories. According to the literature, effective decontamination of N95 respirator masks or surgical masks requires UV-C doses of greater than 1 Jcm −2 , which was achieved after 4.3 hours per side when placing the N95 at the bottom of the BSCs tested in this study. We then demonstrated complete inactivation of the human coronavirus NL63 on N95 mask material after 15 minutes of UV-C exposure at 61 cm (232 μW cm −2 ). Our results provide support to healthcare organizations looking for methods to extend their reserves of PPE.

There are many benefits for students who participate in undergraduate research experiences, including increased retention and persistence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). By doing research, minoritized students increase their likelihood of pursuing graduate school and STEM careers. The benefits of research experiences are partially mediated by students’ interactions with their faculty research mentor. Building trust in the relationship requires students to believe that their faculty mentors are both competent and caring. Here, we used a mixed-methods approach to evaluate the relationship between students and their research mentors. We surveyed both minoritized students’ and their faculty mentors’ perceptions of the mentor’s ability and benevolence. Students rated the faculty mentors’ abilities higher than how mentors rated themselves. In contrast, students rated the faculty mentors’ benevolence significantly lower than how mentors rated themselves. In follow-up interviews focused on benevolence, students emphasized that faculty mentors demonstrated caring through instrumental support (i.e., research skills or career guidance); faculty mentors described providing psychosocial (i.e., social or emotional) support to students. Our results show that there was a difference in how minoritized students and their faculty mentors communicate care in mentor-mentee relationships in research. Findings from this study indicate how faculty mentors may better support minoritized students in undergraduate research experiences.

Thirty years ago there were nine African Americans in the U.S. House of Representatives. Today there are four times that number. In Going Home, the dean of congressional studies, Richard F. Fenno, explores what representation has meant—and means today—to black voters and to the politicians they have elected to office. Fenno follows the careers of four black representatives—Louis Stokes, Barbara Jordan, Chaka Fattah, and Stephanie Tubbs Jones—from their home districts to the halls of the Capitol. He finds that while these politicians had different visions of how they should represent their districts (in part based on their individual preferences, and in part based on the history of black politics in America), they shared crucial organizational and symbolic connections to their constituents. These connections, which draw on a sense of \"linked fates,\" are ones that only black representatives can provide to black constituents. His detailed portraits and incisive analyses will be important for anyone interested in the workings of Congress or in black politics.

The experience of upper limb loss involves loss of both functional capabilities and the sensory connection of a hand. Research studies to restore sensation to persons with upper limb loss with neural interfaces typically measure outcomes through standardized functional tests or quantitative surveys. However, these types of metrics cannot fully capture the personal experience of living with limb loss or the impact of sensory restoration on this experience. Qualitative studies can demonstrate the viewpoints and priorities of specific persons or groups and reveal the underlying conceptual structure of various aspects of their experiences. Following a home use trial of a neural-connected, sensory-enabled prosthesis, two persons with upper limb loss were interviewed about their experiences using the sensory restoration system in unsupervised, unconstrained settings. We used grounded theory methodology to examine their experiences, perspectives, and opinions about the sensory restoration system. We then developed a model to describe the impact of sensation on the experience of a hand for persons with upper limb loss. The experience of sensation was complex and included concepts such as the naturalness of the experience, sensation modality, and the usefulness of the sensory information. Sensation was critical for outcome acceptance, and contributed to prosthesis embodiment, confidence, reduced focus and attention for using the prosthesis, and social interactions. Embodiment, confidence, and social interactions were also key determinants of outcome acceptance. This model provides a unified framework to study and understand the impact of sensation on the experience of limb loss and to understand outcome acceptance following upper limb loss more broadly.

Fixational saccades shift the foveal image to counteract visual fading related to neural adaptation. Drifts are slow eye movements between two adjacent fixational saccades. We quantified fixational saccades and asked whether their changes could be attributed to pathologic drifts seen in amblyopia, one of the most common causes of blindness in childhood. Thirty-six pediatric subjects with varying severity of amblyopia and eleven healthy age-matched controls held their gaze on a visual target. Eye movements were measured with high-resolution video-oculography during fellow eye-viewing and amblyopic eye-viewing conditions. Fixational saccades and drifts were analyzed in the amblyopic and fellow eye and compared with controls. We found an increase in the amplitude with decreased frequency of fixational saccades in children with amblyopia. These alterations in fixational eye movements correlated with the severity of their amblyopia. There was also an increase in eye position variance during drifts in amblyopes. There was no correlation between the eye position variance or the eye velocity during ocular drifts and the amplitude of subsequent fixational saccade. Our findings suggest that abnormalities in fixational saccades in amblyopia are independent of the ocular drift. This investigation of amblyopia in pediatric age group quantitatively characterizes the fixation instability. Impaired properties of fixational saccades could be the consequence of abnormal processing and reorganization of the visual system in amblyopia. Paucity in the visual feedback during amblyopic eye-viewing condition can attribute to the increased eye position variance and drift velocity.

Thirty years ago there were nine African Americans in the U.S. House of Representatives. Today there are four times that number. In Going Home, the dean of congressional studies, Richard F. Fenno, explores what representation has meant—and means today—to black voters and to the politicians they have elected to office. Fenno follows the careers of four black representatives—Louis Stokes, Barbara Jordan, Chaka Fattah, and Stephanie Tubbs Jones—from their home districts to the halls of the Capitol. He finds that while these politicians had different visions of how they should represent their districts (in part based on their individual preferences, and in part based on the history of black politics in America), they shared crucial organizational and symbolic connections to their constituents. These connections, which draw on a sense of \"linked fates,\" are ones that only black representatives can provide to black constituents. His detailed portraits and incisive analyses will be important for anyone interested in the workings of Congress or in black politics.

Many wearables allow physiological data acquisition in sleep and enable clinicians to assess sleep outside of sleep labs. Belun Sleep Platform (BSP) is a novel neural network-based home sleep apnea testing system utilizing a wearable ring device to detect obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The objective of the study is to assess the performance of BSP for the evaluation of OSA. Subjects who take heart rate-affecting medications and those with non-arrhythmic comorbidities were included in this cohort. Polysomnography (PSG) studies were performed simultaneously with the Belun Ring in individuals who were referred to the sleep lab for an overnight sleep study. The sleep studies were manually scored using the American Academy of Sleep Medicine Scoring Manual (version 2.4) with 4% desaturation hypopnea criteria. A total of 78 subjects were recruited. Of these, 45% had AHI < 5; 18% had AHI 5–15; 19% had AHI 15–30; 18% had AHI ≥ 30. The Belun apnea-hypopnea index (bAHI) correlated well with the PSG-AHI ( r = 0.888, P < 0.001). The Belun total sleep time (bTST) and PSG-TST had a high correlation coefficient ( r = 0.967, P < 0.001). The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity in categorizing AHI ≥ 15 were 0.808 [95% CI, 0.703–0.888], 0.931 [95% CI, 0.772–0.992], and 0.735 [95% CI, 0.589–0.850], respectively. The use of beta-blocker/calcium-receptor antagonist and the presence of comorbidities did not negatively affect the sensitivity and specificity of BSP in predicting OSA. A diagnostic algorithm combining STOP-Bang cutoff of 5 and bAHI cutoff of 15 events/h demonstrated an accuracy, sensitivity, specificity of 0.938 [95% CI, 0.828–0.987], 0.944 [95% CI, 0.727–0.999], and 0.933 [95% CI, 0.779–0.992], respectively, for the diagnosis of moderate to severe OSA. BSP is a promising testing tool for OSA assessment and can potentially be incorporated into clinical practices for the identification of OSA. Trial registration: ClinicalTrial.org NCT03997916 https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03997916?term=belun+ring&draw=2&rank=1