The development of a new measure of quality of life in the management of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease: the Reflux Questionnaire.

INTRODUCTION This paper reports on the development of a new measure of health-related quality of life for use among patients with gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD), funded as part of the REFLUX trial. This is a large UK multi centre trial that aims to compare the clinical and cost effectiveness of minimal access surgery with best medical treatment for patients with GORD within the NHS. Method Potential items were identified via a series of interviews and focus groups carried out with patients who were receiving/had received medical or surgical treatment for GORD. The final measure consisted of 31 items covering 7 categories (Heartburn; Acid reflux; Wind; Eating and swallowing; Bowel movements; Sleep; Work, physical and social activities). The measure produced two outputs: a quality of life score (RQLS) and five Reflux symptom scores. Reliability (internal consistency), criterion validity with the SF-36 and, sensitivity to change in terms of relationship with reported change in prescribed medication were assessed amongst a sample of 794 patients recruited into the trial. RESULTS The measure was shown to be internally consistent, to show criterion validity with the SF-36 and sensitive to changes in patients use of prescribed medication at baseline and 3 month follow-up. DISCUSSION The Reflux questionnaire is a new self-administered questionnaire for use amongst patients with GORD. Initial findings suggest that the new measure is valid, reliable, acceptable to respondents and simple to administer in both a clinical and research context

On Automorphisms and Focal Subgroups of Blocks

Given a p-block B of a finite group with defect group P and fusion system on P, we show that the rank of the group is invariant under stable equivalences of Morita type. The main ingredients are the construction, due to Broué and Puig, a theorem of Weiss on linear source modules, arguments of Hertweck and Kimmerle applying Weiss’ theorem to blocks, and connections with integrable derivations in the Hochschild cohomology of block algebras

Extraction of visual motion information for the control of eye and head movement during head-free pursuit

We investigated how effectively briefly presented visual motion could be assimilated and used to track future target motion with head and eyes during target disappearance. Without vision, continuation of eye and head movement is controlled by internal (extra-retinal) mechanisms, but head movement stimulates compensatory vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) responses that must be countermanded for gaze to remain in the direction of target motion. We used target exposures of 50–200 ms at the start of randomised step-ramp stimuli, followed by >400 ms of target disappearance, to investigate the ability to sample target velocity and subsequently generate internally controlled responses. Subjects could appropriately grade gaze velocity to different target velocities without visual feedback, but responses were fully developed only when exposure was >100 ms. Gaze velocities were sustained or even increased during target disappearance, especially when there was expectation of target reappearance, but they were always less than for controls, where the target was continuously visible. Gaze velocity remained in the direction of target motion throughout target extinction, implying that compensatory (VOR) responses were suppressed by internal drive mechanisms. Regression analysis revealed that the underlying compensatory response remained active, but with gain slightly less than unity (0.85), resulting in head-free gaze responses that were very similar to, but slightly greater than, head-fixed. The sampled velocity information was also used to grade head velocity, but in contrast to gaze, head velocity was similar whether the target was briefly or continuously presented, suggesting that head motion was controlled by internal mechanisms alone, without direct influence of visual feedback

Higgs for Graviton: Simple and Elegant Solution

A Higgs mechanism for gravity is presented, where four scalars with global Lorentz symmetry are employed. We show that in the broken symmetry phase a graviton absorbs all scalars and become massive spin 2 particle with five degrees of freedom. The resulting theory is unitary and free of ghosts.Comment: 8 pages, References added. The decoupling of ghost state is analyzed in detail

Cosmology of the selfaccelerating third order Galileon

In this paper we start from the original formulation of the galileon model with the original choice for couplings to gravity. Within this framework we find that there is still a subset of possible Lagrangians that give selfaccelerating solutions with stable spherically symmetric solutions. This is a certain constrained subset of the third order galileon which has not been explored before. We develop and explore the background cosmological evolution of this model drawing intuition from other even more restricted galileon models. The numerical results confirm the presence of selfacceleration, but also reveals a possible instability with respect to galileon perturbations.Comment: 30 pages, 24 figure

Genetic variation at CHRNA5-CHRNA3-CHRNB4 interacts with smoking status to influence body mass index

Cigarette smoking is associated with lower body mass index (BMI), and a commonly cited reason for unwillingness to quit smoking is a concern about weight gain. Common variation in the CHRNA5-CHRNA3-CHRNB4 gene region (chromosome 15q25) is robustly associated with smoking quantity in smokers, but its association with BMI is unknown. We hypothesized that genotype would accurately reflect smoking exposure and that, if smoking were causally related to weight, it would be associated with BMI in smokers, but not in never smokers

Measuring Invisible Particle Masses Using a Single Short Decay Chain

We consider the mass measurement at hadron colliders for a decay chain of two steps, which ends with a missing particle. Such a topology appears as a subprocess of signal events of many new physics models which contain a dark matter candidate. From the two visible particles coming from the decay chain, only one invariant mass combination can be formed and hence it is na\"ively expected that the masses of the three invisible particles in the decay chain cannot be determined from a single end point of the invariant mass distribution. We show that the event distribution in the $\log(E_{1T}/E_{2T})$ vs. invariant mass-squared plane, where $E_{1T}$, $E_{2T}$ are the transverse energies of the two visible particles, contains the information of all three invisible particle masses and allows them to be extracted individually. The experimental smearing and combinatorial issues pose challenges to the mass measurements. However, in many cases the three invisible particle masses in the decay chain can be determined with reasonable accuracies.Comment: 45 pages, 32 figure

Genome wide association for substance dependence: convergent results from epidemiologic and research volunteer samples

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Dependences on addictive substances are substantially-heritable complex disorders whose molecular genetic bases have been partially elucidated by studies that have largely focused on research volunteers, including those recruited in Baltimore. Maryland. Subjects recruited from the Baltimore site of the Epidemiological Catchment Area (ECA) study provide a potentially-useful comparison group for possible confounding features that might arise from selecting research volunteer samples of substance dependent and control individuals. We now report novel SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) genome wide association (GWA) results for vulnerability to substance dependence in ECA participants, who were initially ascertained as members of a probability sample from Baltimore, and compare the results to those from ethnically-matched Baltimore research volunteers.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We identify substantial overlap between the home address zip codes reported by members of these two samples. We find overlapping clusters of SNPs whose allele frequencies differ with nominal significance between substance dependent <it>vs </it>control individuals in both samples. These overlapping clusters of nominally-positive SNPs identify 172 genes in ways that are never found by chance in Monte Carlo simulation studies. Comparison with data from human expressed sequence tags suggests that these genes are expressed in brain, especially in hippocampus and amygdala, to extents that are greater than chance.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The convergent results from these probability sample and research volunteer sample datasets support prior genome wide association results. They fail to support the idea that large portions of the molecular genetic results for vulnerability to substance dependence derive from factors that are limited to research volunteers.</p

Process evaluation of appreciative inquiry to translate pain management evidence into pediatric nursing practice

Background Appreciative inquiry (AI) is an innovative knowledge translation (KT) intervention that is compatible with the Promoting Action on Research in Health Services (PARiHS) framework. This study explored the innovative use of AI as a theoretically based KT intervention applied to a clinical issue in an inpatient pediatric care setting. The implementation of AI was explored in terms of its acceptability, fidelity, and feasibility as a KT intervention in pain management. Methods A mixed-methods case study design was used. The case was a surgical unit in a pediatric academic-affiliated hospital. The sample consisted of nurses in leadership positions and staff nurses interested in the study. Data on the AI intervention implementation were collected by digitally recording the AI sessions, maintaining logs, and conducting individual semistructured interviews. Data were analysed using qualitative and quantitative content analyses and descriptive statistics. Findings were triangulated in the discussion. Results Three nurse leaders and nine staff members participated in the study. Participants were generally satisfied with the intervention, which consisted of four 3-hour, interactive AI sessions delivered over two weeks to promote change based on positive examples of pain management in the unit and staff implementation of an action plan. The AI sessions were delivered with high fidelity and 11 of 12 participants attended all four sessions, where they developed an action plan to enhance evidence-based pain assessment documentation. Participants labeled AI a 'refreshing approach to change' because it was positive, democratic, and built on existing practices. Several barriers affected their implementation of the action plan, including a context of change overload, logistics, busyness, and a lack of organised follow-up. Conclusions Results of this case study supported the acceptability, fidelity, and feasibility of AI as a KT intervention in pain management. The AI intervention requires minor refinements (e.g., incorporating continued follow-up meetings) to enhance its clinical utility and sustainability. The implementation process and effectiveness of the modified AI intervention require evaluation in a larger multisite study