Bad Days Research Articles

An Accurate Estimation of Interstate Traffic of Metro City Using Linear Regression Model of Machine Learning

Nowadays Traffic is a big issue for everyone and it’s a concern for everyone who goes through it in their day to day life. An increase in population slows down the traffic and makes it even worse day by day. The Settlement of modern civilization does have a look at this but is unable to act as to cover people. By many methods and patterns, we can observe the traffic and get the data and predict the next and consecutive observations. Then observation is made by the observation agency and then required out and predictions are through that. Being in cosmopolitan city traffic is the most basic thing which occurs in one’s life. Google Maps & Bing Maps collect the data through GPS and calculate and mark the areas having high congestion. The linear regression plays a vital role in this data analysis for this and makes a prediction and makes graphs through data analysis using TPOT Regressor, Random Forest Regressor, and make_pipeline to this.

Africa calls: A phone-based training program aids a continent's rising stars: A 20-year-old distance learning project has helped to train a generation of African cytopathologists.

Africa calls: A phone-based training program aids a continent's rising stars: A 20-year-old distance learning project has helped to train a generation of African cytopathologists.

Celebrating Transport Nurses during the WHO's Year of the Nurse

The World Health Organization has globally designated 2020 as the Year of the Nurse (YOTN) and Midwife, and the Air & Surface Transport Nurses Association (ASTNA) would like to recognize the tremendous impact that transport nursing has on the nursing industry as a whole. Commonly, as the first nurses on a scene or a pivotal moment in an interfacility transfer, critical care transport nurses have an enormous and lasting impact on patient outcomes. As the industry saying goes, transport nurses strive to be the best part of their patient's worst day.

Using a Socioecological Approach to Identify Factors Associated with Adolescent Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Intake

BackgroundAdolescents are among the highest consumers of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) in the United States. More research is needed to understand the relationship of multiple levels of influence on adolescent SSB intake across the socioecological model in a nationally representative sample. ObjectiveThis secondary analysis of cross-sectional data aims to explain variance in adolescent SSB intake by exploring the associations of adolescent demographic (ie, age, race/ethnicity, and parent socioeconomic status), intrapersonal (ie, behavioral intention, self-efficacy, and media perception), interpersonal (ie, social norms and perceived parenting practices), and home availability variables. DesignThis study included 1,560 adolescents who participated in the 2014 National Cancer Institute-sponsored cross-sectional Family, Life, Activity, Sun, Health, and Eating study. Descriptive statistics, analyses of variance, and stepwise multiple linear regression models were used to explore factors associated with SSB intake. In the stepwise regression, a 4-step model was analyzed with each subsequent step adding variables from different socioecological model levels. ResultsThe final step that included 14 variables individually associated with SSB intake significantly predicted 16.5% of the variance in SSB intake. Four variables were associated with higher SSB intake in the final step when controlling for all other variables: male sex (β=.066), non-Hispanic black vs non-Hispanic white (β=.123), adolescent’s report of having parents allow them to have SSBs on a bad day (β=.150), and home SSB availability (β=.263). Race/ethnicity other than Hispanic and/or non-Hispanic black vs non-Hispanic white was associated with lower intake (β= –.092). ConclusionsWhen considering potential targets for multilevel behavioral interventions aimed at reducing adolescent SSB intake, emphasis on reducing SSB availability at home may be especially important. Furthermore, although adolescence is a period of increasing independence, parent influence on adolescent’s health behaviors may also be a key intervention target. Home and parental SSB factors may be more important than targeting intrapersonal factors and social norms among adolescents.

COVID-19: The Worst Days of Our Careers.

Adapting to this new paradigm during this pandemic has been ever-changing and extraordinarily challenging, both personally and professionally.

Under what conditions is brood reduction effective?

Hatching asynchrony in birds occurs when incubation commences prior to clutch completion and results in broods containing different aged and sized nestlings. The brood reduction hypothesis predicts that hatching asynchrony is a strategy that facilitates the partial success of brood, as feeding to old and large nestlings which results in adaptive brood reduction under periods of food shortage. Using stochastic simulation, we tested and specified the outcome of the brood reduction hypothesis with various provisioning variables of birds to investigate under what conditions the brood reduction effectively explains the evolution of hatching asynchrony. Asynchronous hatching can be productive as provisioning by parents is preferentially feeding to old nestlings when food is not sufficiently available, while it did not create substantial differences in the number of nestlings fledged when food was equally allocated to all nestlings. Secondly, in the case where food items are large and fewer deliveries are needed, asynchronous hatching becomes more favoured compared to smaller, more frequently delivered, food items. Also, when parents provision less food than was needed on bad days, hatching asynchrony became favoured even when the bad days occur infrequently. Different life traits of each bird can change the expectation of the brood reduction hypothesis.

Health professionals' experiences of grief associated with the death of pediatric patients: a systematic review.

The objective of this review was to synthesize the experiences of health professionals who have experienced grief as a result of a pediatric patient dying. There has been some research into health professionals' grief experiences associated with the death of pediatric patients, but there has not been a review that synthesizes the findings of these experiences. Other related reviews have focused on prenatal, perinatal or adult deaths or the coping strategies employed by health professionals. This review highlights the complexities of experiences faced by pediatric health professionals. Qualitative studies involving pediatric health professionals working in any healthcare setting who had experienced grief from the death of a patient were considered for inclusion. Studies were conducted in any country, at any time and published in English. The search was conducted in PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO, Scopus and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. The search was completed in January 2019. The review followed principles of meta-aggregation in line with the JBI approach. Methodological quality assessment was based on representation of participants' voices and congruence between research methodology and both research question and analysis of data. Meta-aggregation led to three synthesized findings from 12 qualitative studies that met the inclusion and methodological quality criteria. Studies predominantly included nurses working in a hospital, with sample sizes ranging from six to 25 participants. The synthesized findings were physical, behavioral, psychological or spiritual symptoms; compounding grief; and alleviating grief. Physical, behavioral, psychological, or spiritual symptoms highlighted the various characteristics of grief experiences by health professionals. Compounding grief was the largest synthesized finding and incorporated the various factors that contributed to a poorer experience of grief. Alleviating grief showed the limited identified factors that improved the experience of grief. Methodological quality led to synthesized findings receiving a ConQual rating of low or moderate. The synthesized findings from this review highlight the varied reported experiences of grief in health professionals. The methodological quality and reporting of studies, however, led to decreased confidence in the synthesized findings and recommendations arising from this review. Healthcare professionals should be aware of the potential for experiencing grief when a patient dies and the compounding and alleviating factors associated with this. Further research could expand participant and language limitations, and improve methodological quality and reporting.

The Missing “Confessions of a Plagiarist”: Intermedial Borrowings in Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s Der Besuch der alten Dame (1956)

Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s works have long been recognized as including borrowings and intermedial references. While Dürrenmatt revealed various sources himself throughout his lifetime, not least in the provokingly entitled “Bekenntnisse eines Plagiators” (1952), the cinema of his time remained one notable omission. A contemporaneous American western, the Oscar-nominated Bad Day at Black Rock (directed by John Sturges; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, USA, 1955), in particular, provides a fruitful line of inquiry within the context of Der Besuch der alten Dame (1956). Parallels between the play and the film include striking structural, compositional, and formal similarities, as well as shared socio-political concerns, which help uncover another source of Dürrenmatt’s masterpiece. This article reveals much about Dürrenmatt’s method of work, namely a playful use and creative reappropriation of sources, including blockbusters from American cinema.

Prolonged Wireless pH Monitoring in Patients With Persistent Reflux Symptoms Despite Proton Pump Inhibitor Therapy

Wireless pH monitoring measures esophageal acid exposure time (AET) for up to 96 hours. We evaluated competing methods of analysis of wireless pH data. Adult patients with persisting reflux symptoms despite acid suppression (n= 322, 48.5 ± 0.9 years, 61.7% women) from 2 tertiary centers were evaluated using symptom questionnaires and wireless pH monitoring off therapy, from November 2013 through September 2017; 30 healthy adults (control subjects; 26.9 ± 1.5 years; 60.0% women) were similarly evaluated. Concordance of daily AET (physiologic <4%, borderline 4%-6%, pathologic>6%) for 2 or more days constituted the predominant AET pattern. Each predominant pattern (physiologic, borderline, or pathologic) in relation to data from the first day, and total averaged AET, were compared with other interpretation paradigms (first 2 days, best day, or worst day) and with symptoms. At least 2 days of AET data were available from 96.9% of patients, 3 days from 90.7%, and 4 days from 72.7%. A higher proportion of patients had a predominant pathologic pattern (31.4%) than control subjects (11.1%; P = .03). When 3 or more days of data were available, 90.4% of patients had a predominant AET pattern; when 2 days of data were available, 64.1% had a predominant AET pattern (P < .001). Day 1 AET was discordant with the predominant pattern in 22.4% of patients and was less strongly associated with the predominant pattern compared with 48 hour AET (P = .059) or total averaged AET (P = .02). Baseline symptom burden was higher in patients with a predominant pathologic pattern compared with a predominant physiologic pattern (P = .02). The predominant AET pattern on prolonged wireless pH monitoring can identify patients at risk for reflux symptoms and provides gains over 24 hours and 48 hours recording, especially when results from the first 2 days are discordant or borderline.

Mindfulness for Tinnitus Relief

Individuals with tinnitus may develop feelings of frustration, depression, anxiety, fear, despair, sadness, and grief. Thoughts like “Why is this happening to me?” “Will I get through this night?” “Will it get worse and become unbearable?” are not uncommon. While tinnitus is not dangerous, your brain may perceive that it is under threat. Negative thoughts and feelings add additional stress, causing headaches, muscle tension, fatigue, insomnia, irritability, an upset stomach, or inability to concentrate.Shutterstock/fizkes, hearing loss, meditation, mindfulness.Mindfulness—a training of the mind to be present in the here and now with openness, curiosity, and kindness—can help reduce tinnitus symptoms and improve one's quality of life. You can learn to address your tinnitus with patience and acceptance by following these mindfulness tips: Get curious about your experience. Observe the sound of your tinnitus for a period of time or at various times throughout the day. Does the sound change? Does it become louder, softer, higher- or lower-pitched, intermittent, or continuous? Does it sometimes sound like cicadas and later a buzzer? Noticing change can help. Each experience changes moment by moment even though we sometimes think it stays the same. Thinking that something unpleasant is unchanging makes it harder to deal with. Don't resist this human experience. The things that we resist tend to persist and enlarge. If you focus on the pain and making it disappear, it may adversely become louder and more irritating. Remind yourself that this is just an experience. Befriend the experience as best you can. You can even bring some humor by giving it a nickname, like you would a longtime friend. Notice what your mind is telling you. Mindfulness asks us to question our thoughts. What our mind tells us may not always be true or helpful. For example, a man noticed his mind telling him that his tinnitus was unbearable. After exploring this experience, he observed that his tinnitus sometimes reminded him of holding a seashell to his ear—it was not always pleasant, but it was not unbearable. Tinnitus sufferers often look for their tinnitus the moment they wake up, anticipating that it will give them a bad day, but this doesn't always have to be the case. Name it to tame it. Acknowledging your feelings, including sadness or anger, can help calm the brain. By doing so, you won't displace your feelings and become frustrated with someone or something else. Find reasons to be grateful in the moment. When frustrated, your focus narrows. Broaden it by taking a walk and enjoying the sight of the sky, trees, children playing, birds, colors of cars, or interesting architecture. See the beauty of the moment to refresh your spirit. Reaching out to someone who is also struggling can switch the focus off yourself. Bringing someone else joy can make you feel helpful and happy. Remember that you are not alone. Millions of people across the planet share your experience of pain—it may not be from tinnitus but a pain of another sort. Be kind to yourself. Self-criticism in any situation is not helpful. Berating yourself for causing your tinnitus brings feelings of guilt and shame. Instead, bring kindness and compassion to yourself. Speak to yourself as you would to a good friend, and say, for example, “Wow, this is hard. May I find ease in the day,” “May I accept myself as doing the best I can,” or “May I be gentle with myself and listen to my needs.” Practice meditation. Focused awareness can help relax the body and stabilize the mind. Sit with a relaxed posture, feet flat on the floor, and hands relaxed on your lap. Breathe deeply for a minute or two, then focus on a single anchor—it can be your abdomen rising and falling with each breath, the sensation in your hands, the sound of a fan in the room, or anything you choose. When you find your attention wandering, gently redirect your attention back to the anchor. Over time, your ability to divert your attention away from your tinnitus will improve and last for a longer time. Go online to find other helpful resources such as mindfultinnitusrelief.com. When upset, notice what you might need. Would it help to talk or get a hug? Can you get a massage or take a warm bath? Would a walk or playing with your dog help release tension? How about laughing with your grandchild? Communication, love, connection, and physical tenderness can make your world a kinder, gentler place, even with tinnitus.

The Impact of Proliferating Polyclonal Plasma Cells on Outcome after Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation in Multiple Myeloma

<h3>Introduction</h3> Autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) is the standard-of-care for fit/younger patients with multiple myeloma. Outcomes are heterogeneous for those achieving less than a complete response (CR) after transplant; novel predictors of early relapse are needed to guide consolidation, maintenance and disease monitoring strategies. The post-ASCT proliferative index of clonal plasma cells (cPC) predicts for survival.¹ In the present study, we evaluated nonmalignant proliferating polyclonal plasma cells (pPC) for an independent effect on outcome. <h3>Methods</h3> From January 1 2013 to January 1 2014, 176 consecutive patients with multiple myeloma underwent their first ASCT at our institution and had a bone marrow (BM) specimen collected approximately 100 days post-ASCT. All BM was subject to multi-parametric flow cytometry using a BD FACS Canto II^TM as previously described. Briefly, proliferating (S-phase) pPC were classified using DAPI staining and reported as a percentage of total pPC, which was calculated if there were at least 150 pPC/500000 events (Figure 1). Those with less than 150 pPC were deemed "non-evaluable." Time to next therapy (TNT) was calculated from ASCT Day 0 to the initiation of a new therapy (not including maintenance or consolidation), with patients censored at time of last follow-up or death without further therapy. Overall survival (OS) was calculated from Day 0 to death, with living patients censored at time of last follow-up. Statistics were performed using R 3.5.2. <h3>Results</h3> Responses at Day 100 were as follows: 71 (40%) CR, 48 (27%) very good partial response, 57 (33%) partial response or less. Among the 77 of 105 (73%) patients with <CR and at least 150 pPC, the median proliferating pPC percentage was 1.18% (interquartile range, 0.6-3.5%); 15 of 77 (20%) had ≥3% proliferating pPC. Proliferating pPC poorly correlated with proliferating cPC percentage (<i>R²</i> = .006). When separating patients with ≥3% and <3% proliferating pPC, characteristics, e.g. high-risk cytogenetics, were balanced (Table 1). Patients with ≥3% proliferating pPC had significantly worse Day 100 responses and a trend toward worse best-responses post-ASCT (Table 1). TNT was significantly shorter in patients with ≥3% proliferating pPC (16.8 vs. 23.9 months, <i>p</i>= .0287); OS was comparable (Figure 2). In a multivariate Cox proportional hazard model adjusting for proliferating cPC (≥2% vs. <2%), proliferating pPC ≥3% remained a significant predictor for TNT (hazard ratio 2.80, 95% confidence interval 1.25-6.27, <i>p</i>= .0126). <h3>Conclusion</h3> Patients with multiple myeloma who failed to achieve CR by Day 100 post-ASCT with ≥3% proliferating pPC had significantly shorter TNT, independent of proliferating cPC. This is the first study to evaluate proliferating pPC as a prognostic marker, which could be a surrogate for a pro-proliferative BM microenvironment.

Air Pollution from Cement Plants: Case Study on Particulate Matter in Bihar, India

Environmental pollution and its impact is a major challenge for this age of industrialization and urbanization. It is becoming difficult to breathe fresh air in the cities and industrial areas. Both indoor and outdoor air quality is becoming worse day by day. A study has been conducted to find out the level of particulate matter concentration inside a village near to a cement plant located in Bihar, India to know the impact of the cement plant on the ambient environment. The present study clearly indicates that during night time particulate matter concentrations of the village environment were high compared to the day times. It is also observed that there is a high concentration of particulate matter in the ambient air compared to WHO air quality guideline values in both the cases(day times and night times) due to emission from the nearby cement plant. Hence this study suggests that the cement plants and other similar industries should take proper actions to maintain the air quality standard in the ambient areas.In the last part of the article some of the pollution control techniqueshas been discussed in brief which would be helpful to the industries to improve their environmental sustainability targets.

Å skrive om livsmot

Concerning "livsmot"&#x0D; The phenomenon of ‘Livsmot’ can be expressed in a myriad of ways. This essay is the introductory text to a special issue in Nordisk Tidsskrift for Helseforskning that in its entirety concerns ‘livsmot’. The collection of essays should be of interest to students, researchers, health professionals and others. The issue highlights and discusses different philosophical approaches that can promote our understanding of what can give us courage and hope on good and bad days, in sickness and in health. The authors in the article collection write in essay form and use examples from life and research to bring forth their understanding of the phenomenon. This text contextualizes the various articles by presenting thoughts on and interpretations of ‘Livsmot’

A Pilot Randomized Treatment-Controlled Trial Comparing Vitamin B6 with Broad-Spectrum Micronutrients for Premenstrual Syndrome.

Objective: Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) affects 20%-30% of women but current medical treatments are limited in their efficacy. The objective of this study was to compare efficacy of a broad-spectrum micronutrient formula (consisting mainly of minerals and vitamins) to a single vitamin (B6) for treatment of PMS, for which B6 has already been shown to be efficacious. Methods: This double-blind, randomized, treatment-controlled trial allocated 78 (72 completed) regularly menstruating women with PMS to consume micronutrients or vitamin B6 (80 mg/day) daily following a two-cycle baseline period, for three menstrual cycles. The primary outcome measure, Daily Record of Severity of Problems (DRSP), established PMS as well as tracked change in five PMS symptoms: psychological, somatic, total symptoms, impact ratings, and worst day ratings. Results: Linear-mixed model analyses indicated both treatments produced comparable reduction in PMS symptoms with medium effect sizes (ES) across all PMS variables as measured by the DRSP (micronutrient ES = 0.50-0.56; B6 ES = 0.43-0.56), with 72% of the micronutrient and 60% of the vitamin B6 group identified as in full remission in PMS symptoms after three cycles. The micronutrient-treated participants showed greater improvement than the B6 group (between group d = 0.51, p < 0.05) in health-related quality of life. For those women (n = 28) who met criteria for premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), the DRSP ES were larger for those who had been in the micronutrient condition (ES = 1.28-1.67) as compared with those on B6 (ES = 0.50-0.75), although the group differences were not statistically reliable. There were no group differences in side effects, nor any serious adverse effects reported. Conclusions: Both treatments provided similar benefit for reducing PMS symptoms, with greater effect of micronutrients on quality of life as well as potential clinical benefit of micronutrients for PMDD. This study provides further efficacy data on B6 and also identifies the nutritionally broader spectrum intervention as possibly having specific advantages for those whose symptoms are more severe. As this is the first study to investigate these treatments for PMDD, systematic replication is required.

"I Hope Our Daughters Will Not Be Punished"

In a solitary cell in a central Texas prison, as a global pandemic and protests raged, Kwaneta Yatrice Harris was eating cold bologna sandwiches on the better days. On the worst days, she was given nutraloaf, also known as discipline cake: a rectangle of meat, potatoes, margarine, syrup, liquified egg, and anonymous vegetable.

The Last Peacock by Gerald Dawe

Reviewed by: The Last Peacock by Gerald Dawe Jordan Smith The Last Peacock, by Gerald Dawe (Loughcrew, Oldcastle, County Meath: The Gallery Press, 2019, 55 p., paperback, $17) What to make of a diminished thing? Weldon Kees's Robinson poems, Donald Justice's "Tremayne" and "Men at Forty," pages of Philip Larkin, Walt Whitman shamefaced and begging—there is pleasure in the poetry of reduced expectations that maps the doldrums with precision, recounts their passage with the wry shrug of shared experience, commiseration, even affection. Or perhaps not the doldrums in Gerald Dawe's The Last Peacock, but a littoral zone, the indeterminate boundary where a country shelves off into the sea, an insular culture into a cosmopolitan one, memory into elegy. What is the risk of walking along this eroding strand? That the wind will carry your words away. [End Page 141] Unless you place them properly, squarely, a drystone mason's craft of exactitude, as in the opening poem, "East Pier": Not a bad day todayby all accounts. Little bitsof mist hang aboveour encampments— Like the view on a commonplace shoreline drive, much of this might pass without comment, except for the carefully canceled flatness of the first line's double negatives and the way the speaker deflects judgment to others "by all accounts," then reduces the romantic tourist standby of mist to shards, just before the encampments are revealed as villas wedged into cliff facethe grand terracesoverlooking the bay:an older order of things. Encampments, villas (of the noble sort), grand terraces invoke an older order of wealth-as-power; the same words in their modern Airbnb usage (just google "villas Ireland") suggest transience, the cliff-hanging of middle-class comfort and pretension and convention. The self-effacing (or is it self-mocking?) demotic tips the scales toward the latter, and yet the half remembrance of lost elevations underscores this complaint about complaints: Along with the sprightlythere's one or two giving out,on the latest iPhones,unassuageable complaint. The new order is designed in Cupertino and manufactured in China, but the lament of its subjects is an old one: nothing suffices, unless this does: I keep to the east pierunder this cold blanketof sky, patches of mistlike smoke from a fire. This is a slow trawl through a short poem, but you wouldn't want to walk this stretch of pier quickly; there is too much you might trip on (that slightly archaic "sprightly," say) and too much time involved, centuries of grievance going back from the dominance of the cell phone to the rise of the bourgeoisie to the smoky fires of encampments, each a stage in what never would turn out to be a liberation. There are similarly themed, equally deft poems in this collection that have less in mind—"Rock Bottom," "Neighborhood Watch"—but even at their briefest, [End Page 142] Dawe's sketches provide the clear satisfactions of concision and of a free verse line that is as deliberate in its composition as in its effects. This is the versification of the post–World War II generation, not the exuberant experiments of the early Modernists or the prosy nonchalance of our own time, but a line, carefully balanced between an ear for implicit meter and an eye for natural but emphatic phrasing, that served so well the directness of poets such as Donald Justice and James Wright and Elizabeth Bishop: At the Coal Harboura handful of trawlersnudge each otherin the swell, swooping gulls fallupon a crab shelland play. This is it.This be all. And that's it, "Rock Bottom," the whole poem, a plain postcard of a landscape except for the care with which the sounds are knit into the details. Two- to three-stress lines predominate, but no two scan alike, and some stretch, some contract. Syllables echo, consonant and vowel, and the full rhymes are so casual and so appropriate to the scene as to seem both accidental and inevitable. Imitation is at work here, not of the susurration of waters, but of the dialectic of nature's composition as Ralph Waldo Emerson described it...

My Best Friend, Self-Doubt

Dr. Tristan Clemons completed his PhD in materials chemistry while simultaneously representing Australia as a goalkeeper on the men's field hockey team. Despite these achievements, he often suffered from crippling self-doubt. Tristan talks about the importance of mentors in overcoming his imposter syndrome.

Memory category fluency, memory specificity, and the fading affect bias for positive and negative autobiographical events: Performance on a good day-bad day task in healthy and depressed individuals.

In mentally healthy individuals, autobiographical memory is typically biased toward positive events, which may help to maintain psychological well-being. Our aim was to assess a range of important positive memory biases in the mentally healthy and explore the possibility that these biases are mitigated in those with mental health problems. We administered a novel recall paradigm that required recollection of multiple good and bad past events (the Good Day–Bad Day task) to healthy and depressed individuals. This allowed us to explore differences in memory category fluency (i.e., the ability to generate integrated sets of associated events) for positive and negative memories, along with memory specificity, and fading affect bias—a greater reduction in the intensity of memory-related affect over time for negative versus positive events. We found that healthy participants demonstrated superior category fluency for positive relative to negative events but that this effect was absent in depressed participants. Healthy participants exhibited a strong fading affect bias that was significantly mitigated, although still present, in depression. Finally, memory specificity was reduced in depression for both positive and negative memories. Findings demonstrate that the positive bias associated with mental health is maintained by multiple autobiographical memory processes and that depression is as much a function of the absence of these positive biases as it is the presence of negative biases. Results provide important guidance for developing new treatments for improving mental health.

This Is Gus; by Chris Chatterton

Reviewed by: This Is Gus; by Chris Chatterton Kiri Palm Chatterton, Chris This Is Gus; written and illus. by Chris Chatterton. Penguin Workshop, 2020 [32p] Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-593-09736-6 $17.99 Reviewed from galleys R 3-6 yrs Gus is a dour basset hound who doesn’t like much of anything: not petting or walks or making new friends. He definitely doesn’t like birthdays, but his owners attempt to change that with a present of a new puppy, who narrates. The puppy insists that they’re the reason Gus now enjoys bathtime and hugs (despite all evidence to the contrary), but the little dog’s influence still isn’t enough for Gus to like sharing his sausages. This sweet, quick readaloud is full of lively retro backgrounds and giggleworthy expressions. Gus’ consistent grump is cleverly designed to be almost identical on every page, with only the angle of his eyes changing as they swivel toward the latest offense. His tiny Mini-Me pup, on the other hand, exudes good-natured energy, gazing at Gus as if he is the most delightful creature in the world. The last few pages are sure to elicit a few “aww”s as the pup eventually cracks Gus’ salty façade and the two share some delectable sausages. This is a solid choice for soon-to-be older siblings and anyone needing a reminder that we all have bad days. Copyright © 2020 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Iris

Abdullah was the first to forget her.Standing at the counter with a soda and a pack of wintergreen gum, she assumed that the shop owner—with whom she prided herself on having established a rapport; it made her feel like a local—was just having a bad day."How's everything going?" she asked as he rang her up.His eyes lifted to her face for a silver of a moment. "Can't complain," he said.She waited for the nicety to be volleyed back to her, but it never came. She paid; he dropped the change into her palm.[….]