Relationships Between Clinical Scales and Binge Eating Days in Adults with Moderate to Severe Binge Eating Disorder in Two Phase III Studies

OBJECTIVES: In two Phase III studies, lisdexamfetamine dimesylate (LDX) reduced binge eating (BE) days/week in adults with moderate to severe binge eating disorder (BED) and was associated with improvement based on the Clinical Global Impressions-Improvement (CGI-I) scale. In this study, post hoc analyses examined the relationships between clinical observations and clinical rating scales in individuals with BED. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT01718483 (ClinicalTrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01718483); NCT01718509(ClinicalTrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01718509). METHODS: Two 12-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies randomized (1:1) adults meeting Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision, BED criteria and with protocol-defined moderate to severe BED (study 1, N=383; study 2, N=390) to placebo or dose-optimized LDX (50 or 70 mg). Assessments included the number of BE days/week, CGI-Severity (CGI-S) and CGI-I scores, and Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale modified for Binge Eating (Y-BOCS-BE) total scores. For these post hoc analyses, data were pooled across studies and treatment arms. Statistical assessments included Spearman correlations and equipercentile linking analyses (ELA). Reported P-values are nominal (descriptive and not adjusted for multiplicity). RESULTS: At baseline, nominally significant correlations with CGI-S scores were reported for BE days/week (r=0.374; Pr=0.319; Pr=0.647; Pr=0.741; P CONCLUSION: These post hoc analyses suggest that indices of global disease severity and improvement positively correlate with BE behavior and with obsessive and compulsive features of BED, measured by the Y-BOCS-BE, supporting the clinical relevance of BED treatment outcomes

Large area silicon sheet by EFG

Progress in a program to produce high speed, thin, wide silicon sheets for fabricating 10% efficient solar cells is reported. An EFG ribbon growth system was used to perform growth rate and ribbon thickness experiments. A new, wide ribbon growth system was developed. A theoretical study of stresses in ribbons was also conducted. The EFG ribbons were observed to exhibit a characteristic defect structure which is orientation dependent in the early stages of growth

High intensity X/ γ photon beams for nuclear physics and photonics

In this manuscript we review the challenges of Compton back-scattering sources in advancing photon beam performances in the1−20MeVenergy range, underlining the design criteria bringing tomaximum spectral luminosity and briefly describing the main achieve-ments in conceiving and developing new devices (multi-bunch RF cav-ities and Laser recirculators) for the case of ELI-NP Gamma BeamSystem (ELI-NP-GBS)

Creative and Stylistic Devices Employed by Children During a Storybook Narrative Task: A Cross-Cultural Study

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of culture on the creative and stylistic features children employ when producing narratives based on wordless picture books. Method: Participants included 60 first- and second-grade African American, Latino American, and Caucasian children. A subset of narratives based on wordless picture books collected as part of a larger study was coded and analyzed for the following creative and stylistic conventions: organizational style (topic centered, linear, cyclical), dialogue (direct, indirect), reference to character relationships (nature, naming, conduct), embellishment (fantasy, suspense, conflict), and paralinguistic devices (expressive sounds, exclamatory utterances). Results: Many similarities and differences between ethnic groups were found. No significant differences were found between ethnic groups in organizational style or use of paralinguistic devices. African American children included more fantasy in their stories, Latino children named their characters more often, and Caucasian children made more references to the nature of character relationships. Conclusion: Even within the context of a highly structured narrative task based on wordless picture books, culture influences children’s production of narratives. Enhanced understanding of narrative structure, creativity, and style is necessary to provide ecologically valid narrative assessment and intervention for children from diverse cultural backgrounds

SU(3) lattice gauge theory with a mixed fundamental and adjoint plaquette action: Lattice artefacts

We study the four-dimensional SU(3) gauge model with a fundamental and an adjoint plaquette term in the action. We investigate whether corrections to scaling can be reduced by using a negative value of the adjoint coupling. To this end, we have studied the finite temperature phase transition, the static potential and the mass of the 0^{++} glueball. In order to compute these quantities we have implemented variance reduced estimators that have been proposed recently. Corrections to scaling are analysed in dimensionless combinations such as T_c/\sqrt{\sigma} and m_{0^{++}}/T_c. We find that indeed the lattice artefacts in e.g. m_{0^{++}}/T_c can be reduced considerably compared with the pure Wilson (fundamental) gauge action at the same lattice spacing.Comment: 36 pages, 12 figure

TPOAb and thyroid function are not associated with breast cancer outcome: evidence from a large-scale study using data from the Taxotere as Adjuvant Chemotherapy Trial (TACT, CRUK01/001)

Background: Small-scale studies correlated the presence of thyroid autoimmunity with both improved or worsened breast cancer outcome. Objectives: We aimed to clarify this association in a large cohort using the phase III, randomized, controlled Taxotere as Adjuvant Chemotherapy Trial (TACT, CRUK01/001). Methods: TACT women >18 years old with node-positive or high-risk node-negative early breast cancer (pT1–3a, pN0–1, M0), with stored plasma (n = 1,974), taken 15.5 (median; IQR 7.0–24.0) months after breast surgery were studied. Patients had also received chemotherapy (100%), radiotherapy (1,745/1,974; 88.4%), hormonal therapy (1,378/ 1,974; 69.8%), or trastuzumab (48/1,974; 2.4%). History of thyroid diseases and/or related treatments was not available. The prognostic significance of autoantibodies to thyroid peroxidase (TPOAb; positive ≥6 kIU/L), free-thyroxine and thyrotropin (combined: euthyroid, hypothyroid, hyperthyroid) was evaluated for disease-free survival (DFS), overall-survival (OS), and time-to-recurrence (TTR), with Cox regression models in univariate and multivariable analyses. The extended median follow-up was 97.5 months. Results: No difference in DFS was found by TPOAb status (unadjusted hazard ratio [HR]: 0.97, 95%CI: 0.78–1.19; p = 0.75) and/or thyroid function (unadjusted HR [hypothyroid vs. euthyroid]: 1.15, 95% CI: 0.79–1.68; p = 0.46; unadjusted HR [hyperthyroid vs. euthyroid]: 1.14, 95% CI: 0.82–1.61; p = 0.44). Similar results were obtained for OS, TTR, multivariable analyses, when TPOAb titre by tertiles was considered, and in a subgroup of 123 patients with plasma collected before adjuvant treatments. Conclusions: No evidence for a prognostic role of TPOAb and/or thyroid function in moderate-to-high-risk early breast cancer was found in the largest and longest observational study to date