Information Ventures (United States)

Motor vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of adolescent mortality and injury in the United States. For young drivers, crash risk peaks immediately after licensure and declines during the next two years, making the point of licensure an important safety intervention opportunity. Legislation in Ohio established a unique health-transportation partnership among the State of Ohio, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and Diagnostic Driving, Inc., to identify underprepared driver license applicants through a virtual driving assessment system. The system, a computer-based virtual driving test, exposes drivers to common serious crash scenarios to identify critical skill deficits and is delivered in testing centers immediately before the on-road examination. A pilot study of license applicants who completed it showed that the virtual driving assessment system accurately predicted which drivers would fail the on-road examination and provided automated feedback that informed drivers on their skill deficits. At this time, the partnership's work is informing policy changes around integrating the virtual driving assessment system into licensing and driver training with the aim of reducing crashes in the first months of independent driving. The system can be developed to identify deficits in safety-critical skills that lead to crashes in new drivers and to address challenges that the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has introduced to driver testing and training.

BackgroundNucleic acid amplification testing is a critical tool for addressing the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. Specimen pooling can increase throughput and conserve testing resources but requires validation to ensure that reduced sensitivity does not increase the false-negative rate. We evaluated the performance of a real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test authorized by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use for pooled testing of upper respiratory specimens.MethodsPositive specimens were selected from 3 prevalence groups, 1%–3%, >3%–6%, and >6%–10%. Positive percent agreement (PPA) was assessed by pooling single-positive specimens with 3 negative specimens; performance was assessed using Passing-Bablok regression. Additionally, we assessed the distributions of RT-PCR cycle threshold (Ct) values for 3091 positive specimens.ResultsPPA was 100% for the 101 pooled specimens. There was a linear relationship between Ct values for pooled and single-tested specimens (r = 0.96–0.99; slope ≈ 1). The mean pooled Ct shifts at 40 cycles were 2.38 and 1.90, respectively, for the N1 and N3 targets. The median Cts for 3091 positive specimens were 25.9 (N1) and 24.7 (N3). The percentage of positive specimens with Cts between 40 and the shifted Ct was 1.42% (N1) and 0.0% (N3).ConclusionsPooled and individual testing of specimens positive for SARS-CoV-2 demonstrated 100% agreement, which demonstrates the viability of pooled specimens for SARS-COV-2 testing using a dual-target RT-PCR system. Pooled specimen testing can help increase testing capacity for SARS-CoV-2 with a low risk of false-negative results.

This research develops a series of research frameworks for addressing the problem of ransomware from the perspective of multiple disciplines, begins to develop theories about ransomware, and identifies needs for future research. Approaches include criminal justice, hardware and software technologies, file structures, critical infrastructure impact, an abstract theoretic approach, and money tracking. To date, poster presentations are available and formal articles from each researcher are forthcoming..

Neurologic disorders may impair the normal clearance of secretions. Effective palliation requires the management of excessive oral, pharyngeal and/or tracheobronchial secretions. This requires an understanding of underlying mechanisms and familiarity with the many available medical and surgical treatment options. The authors intend to review the relevant anatomy and physiology along with the available medical, surgical and physical therapies available to treat this commonly encountered problem. A review of current management and the supporting literature. Clinicians have many effective therapeutic options to choose from when managing the excessive oral, pharyngeal and/or tracheobronchial secretions caused by neurologic disorders. Treatment choices that are predicated upon pathophysiologic causes and patient status are the most likely to succeed.

This study tested whether trainers using Coping With Speech Anxiety as a resource would be able to construct workshops as effective in reducing public speaking anxiety as people trained to conduct systematic desensitization workshops. These data indicate that both workshops were more effective in reducing public speaking apprehension than control conditions where people received no intervention. The two workshop conditions did not differ significantly from one another. It appears this particular self‐help material effectively does what it claims to do.

Subsidiaries of French companies operating in the US discover, as do other European firms, that success in America's fiercely competitive market fosters competitive clones. Competitors learn to clone products with proven profitability and to flood confirmed markets with aggressive promotion and price cutting. A competitive response to such cloning requires mutual trust between French companies and their American executives.