191 research outputs found
Inferring school district learning modalities during the COVID-19 pandemic with a hidden Markov model
In this study, learning modalities offered by public schools across the
United States were investigated to track changes in the proportion of schools
offering fully in-person, hybrid and fully remote learning over time. Learning
modalities from 14,688 unique school districts from September 2020 to June 2021
were reported by Burbio, MCH Strategic Data, the American Enterprise
Institute's Return to Learn Tracker and individual state dashboards. A model
was needed to combine and deconflict these data to provide a more complete
description of modalities nationwide.
A hidden Markov model (HMM) was used to infer the most likely learning
modality for each district on a weekly basis. This method yielded higher
spatiotemporal coverage than any individual data source and higher agreement
with three of the four data sources than any other single source. The model
output revealed that the percentage of districts offering fully in-person
learning rose from 40.3% in September 2020 to 54.7% in June of 2021 with
increases across 45 states and in both urban and rural districts. This type of
probabilistic model can serve as a tool for fusion of incomplete and
contradictory data sources in support of public health surveillance and
research efforts.Comment: 25 pages, 4 figure
The Third Gravitational Lensing Accuracy Testing (GREAT3) Challenge Handbook
The GRavitational lEnsing Accuracy Testing 3 (GREAT3) challenge is the third
in a series of image analysis challenges, with a goal of testing and
facilitating the development of methods for analyzing astronomical images that
will be used to measure weak gravitational lensing. This measurement requires
extremely precise estimation of very small galaxy shape distortions, in the
presence of far larger intrinsic galaxy shapes and distortions due to the
blurring kernel caused by the atmosphere, telescope optics, and instrumental
effects. The GREAT3 challenge is posed to the astronomy, machine learning, and
statistics communities, and includes tests of three specific effects that are
of immediate relevance to upcoming weak lensing surveys, two of which have
never been tested in a community challenge before. These effects include
realistically complex galaxy models based on high-resolution imaging from
space; spatially varying, physically-motivated blurring kernel; and combination
of multiple different exposures. To facilitate entry by people new to the
field, and for use as a diagnostic tool, the simulation software for the
challenge is publicly available, though the exact parameters used for the
challenge are blinded. Sample scripts to analyze the challenge data using
existing methods will also be provided. See http://great3challenge.info and
http://great3.projects.phys.ucl.ac.uk/leaderboard/ for more information.Comment: 30 pages, 13 figures, submitted for publication, with minor edits
(v2) to address comments from the anonymous referee. Simulated data are
available for download and participants can find more information at
http://great3.projects.phys.ucl.ac.uk/leaderboard
UK clinical guideline for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis
The National Osteoporosis Guideline Group (NOGG) has revised the UK guideline for the assessment and management of osteoporosis and the prevention of fragility fractures in postmenopausal women, and men age 50 years and older. Accredited by NICE, this guideline is relevant for all healthcare professionals involved in osteoporosis management.
INTRODUCTION
The UK National Osteoporosis Guideline Group (NOGG) first produced a guideline on the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis in 2008, with updates in 2013 and 2017. This paper presents a major update of the guideline, the scope of which is to review the assessment and management of osteoporosis and the prevention of fragility fractures in postmenopausal women, and men age 50 years and older.
METHODS
Where available, systematic reviews, meta-analyses and randomised controlled trials were used to provide the evidence base. Conclusions and recommendations were systematically graded according to the strength of the available evidence.
RESULTS
Review of the evidence and recommendations are provided for the diagnosis of osteoporosis, fracture-risk assessment and intervention thresholds, management of vertebral fractures, non-pharmacological and pharmacological treatments, including duration and monitoring of anti-resorptive therapy, glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis, and models of care for fracture prevention. Recommendations are made for training; service leads and commissioners of healthcare; and for review criteria for audit and quality improvement.
CONCLUSION
The guideline, which has received accreditation from the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE), provides a comprehensive overview of the assessment and management of osteoporosis for all healthcare professionals involved in its management. This position paper has been endorsed by the International Osteoporosis Foundation and by the European Society for the Clinical and Economic Aspects of Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases
Report of the Regional Co-ordination Meeting for the North Sea and Eastern Arctic (RCM NS&EA) 2014
Report of the Regional Co-ordination Meeting for the North Sea and Eastern Arctic (RCM NS&EA) 2014
Swedish University of Agriculture Sciences (SLU Aqua)
Lysekil, Sweden
08-12 September 2014The RCM NS&EA met in Lysekil (Sweden) between 8-12 September 2014. The main purpose of the RCM is coordinate the National Programmes (NP) of the Member States (MS) in the North Sea region for 2015
Rescue of synaptosomal glutamate release defects in tau transgenic mice by the tau aggregation inhibitor hydromethylthionine
Glutamatergic neurotransmission, important for learning and memory, is disrupted in different ways in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) tauopathies. We have previously reported that two tau transgenic mouse models, L1 and L66, produce different phenotypes resembling AD and FTD, respectively. The AD-like L1 model expresses the truncated core aggregation domain of the AD paired helical filament (PHF) form of tau (tau296–390) whereas the FTD-like L66 model expresses full-length tau carrying two mutations at P301S/G335D. We have used synaptosomes isolated from these mice to investigate K+-evoked glutamate release and, if abnormal, to determine responsiveness to hydromethylthionine, a tau aggregation inhibitor previously shown to reduce tau pathology in these models. We report that the transgenes in these two mouse lines cause opposite abnormalities in glutamate release. Over-expression of the core tau unit in L1 produces a significant reduction in glutamate release and a loss of Ca²⁺-dependency compared with wild-type control mice. Full-length mutant tau produces an increase in glutamate release that retains normal Ca²⁺-dependency. Chronic pre-treatment with hydromethylthionine normalises both reduced (L1) and excessive glutamate (L66) and restores normal Ca²⁺dependency in L1 mice. This implies that both patterns of impairment are the result of tau aggregation, but that the direction and Ca²⁺-dependency of the abnormality is determined by expression of the disease-specific transgene. Our results lead to the conclusion that the tauopathies need not be considered a single entity in terms of the downstream effects of pathological aggregation of tau protein. In this case, directionally opposite abnormalities in glutamate release resulting from different types of tau aggregation in the two mouse models can be corrected by hydromethylthionine. This may help to explain the activity of hydromethylthionine on cognitive decline and brain atrophy in both AD and behavioural-variant FTD
Arc requires PSD95 for assembly into postsynaptic complexes involved with neural dysfunction and intelligence
Arc is an activity-regulated neuronal protein, but little is known about its interactions, assembly into multiprotein complexes, and role in human disease and cognition. We applied an integrated proteomic and genetic strategy by targeting a tandem affinity purification (TAP) tag and Venus fluorescent protein into the endogenous Arc gene in mice. This allowed biochemical and proteomic characterization of native complexes in wild-type and knockout mice. We identified many Arc-interacting proteins, of which PSD95 was the most abundant. PSD95 was essential for Arc assembly into 1.5-MDa complexes and activity-dependent recruitment to excitatory synapses. Integrating human genetic data with proteomic data showed that Arc-PSD95 complexes are enriched in schizophrenia, intellectual disability, autism, and epilepsy mutations and normal variants in intelligence. We propose that Arc-PSD95 postsynaptic complexes potentially affect human cognitive function
Report of the Regional Co-ordination Meeting for the North Sea and Eastern Arctic (RCM NS&EA) 2013
Report of the Regional Co-ordination Meeting for the North Sea and Eastern Arctic (RCM NS&EA) 2013 final report
European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA)
Vigo, Spain
09/09/2013-13/09/2013The Regional Coordination Meeting for the North Sea & Eastern Arctic (RCM NS&EA) was held in September 2013 in Vigo (Spain). The main task of the RCM’s is to coordinate the National Programmes (NP), which propose the national data collection to be carried out by the Member States (MS) under the EU Data Collection Framework (DCF). It was envisaged that, from 2104 onwards, data collection by the MS would be carried out under a new framework (DC-MAP). However, the legislation for this framework is not ready yet. Therefore the Commission has decided to extend the present DCF for the time being and the most recent NPs have been adopted for 2014. Since these NP have been adopted without any changes, there is no need for major coordinatio
A Multifaceted Intervention to Implement Guidelines and Improve Admission Paediatric Care in Kenyan District Hospitals: A Cluster Randomised Trial
Philip Ayieko and colleagues report the outcomes of a cluster-randomized trial carried out in eight Kenyan district hospitals evaluating the effects of a complex intervention involving improved training and supervision for clinicians. They found a higher performance of hospitals assigned to the complex intervention on a variety of process of care measures, as compared to those receiving the control intervention
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