Acute encephalitis syndrome surveillance, Kushinagar district, Uttar Pradesh, India, 2011-2012

In India, quality surveillance for acute encephalitis syndrome (AES), including laboratory testing, is necessary for understanding the epidemiology and etiology of AES, planning interventions, and developing policy. We reviewed AES surveillance data for January 2011-June 2012 from Kushinagar District, Uttar Pradesh, India. Data were cleaned, incidence was determined, and demographic characteristics of cases and data quality were analyzed. A total of 812 AES case records were identified, of which 23\% had illogical entries. AES incidence was highest among boys<6 years of age, and cases peaked during monsoon season. Records for laboratory results (available for Japanese encephalitis but not AES) and vaccination history were largely incomplete, so inferences about the epidemiology and etiology of AES could not be made. The low-quality AES/Japanese encephalitis surveillance data in this area provide little evidence to support development of prevention and control measures, estimate the effect of interventions, and avoid the waste of public health resources

Tracking the genomic evolution of breast cancer metastasis

Therapeutic choices for metastatic tumors are, in most cases, based upon the histological and molecular analysis of the corresponding primary tumor. Understanding whether and to what extent the genomic landscape of metastasis differs from the tumors from which they originated is critical yet largely unknown. A recent report tackled this key issue by comparing the genomic and transcriptional profile of a metastatic lobular breast tumor with that of the primary tumor surgically removed 9 years earlier. The extent of the differences suggests a high degree of mutational heterogeneity between primary and metastatic lesions and indicates that significant evolution occurs during breast cancer progression

Neutron studies of Na-ion battery materials

The relative vast abundance and more equitable global distribution of terrestrial sodium makes sodium-ion batteries (NIBs) potentially cheaper and more sustainable alternatives to commercial lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, the practical capacities and cycle lives of NIBs at present do not match those of LIBs and have therefore hindered their progress to commercialisation. The present drawback of NIB technology stems largely from the electrode materials and their associated Na+ion storage mechanisms. Increased understanding of the electrochemical storage mechanisms and kinetics is therefore vital for the development of current and novel materials to realise the commercial NIB. In contrast to x-ray techniques, the non-dependency of neutron scattering on the atomic number of elements (Z) can substantially increase the scattering contrast of small elements such as sodium and carbon, making neutron techniques powerful for the investigation of NIB electrode materials. Moreover, neutrons are far more penetrating which enables more complex sample environments including in situ and operando studies. Here, we introduce the theory of, and review the use of, neutron diffraction and quasi-elastic neutron scattering, to investigate the structural and dynamic properties of electrode and electrolyte materials for NIBs. To improve our understanding of the actual sodium storage mechanisms and identify intermediate stages during charge/discharge, ex situ, in situ, and operando neutron experiments are required. However, to date there are few studies where operando experiments are conducted during electrochemical cycling. This highlights an opportunity for research to elucidate the operating mechanisms within NIB materials that are under much debate at present

Neutron studies of Na-ion battery materials

The relative vast abundance and more equitable global distribution of terrestrial sodium makes sodium-ion batteries (NIBs) potentially cheaper and more sustainable alternatives to commercial lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, the practical capacities and cycle lives of NIBs at present do not match those of LIBs and have therefore hindered their progress to commercialisation. The present drawback of NIB technology stems largely from the electrode materials and their associated Na+ion storage mechanisms. Increased understanding of the electrochemical storage mechanisms and kinetics is therefore vital for the development of current and novel materials to realise the commercial NIB. In contrast to x-ray techniques, the non-dependency of neutron scattering on the atomic number of elements (Z) can substantially increase the scattering contrast of small elements such as sodium and carbon, making neutron techniques powerful for the investigation of NIB electrode materials. Moreover, neutrons are far more penetrating which enables more complex sample environments including in situ and operando studies. Here, we introduce the theory of, and review the use of, neutron diffraction and quasi-elastic neutron scattering, to investigate the structural and dynamic properties of electrode and electrolyte materials for NIBs. To improve our understanding of the actual sodium storage mechanisms and identify intermediate stages during charge/discharge, ex situ, in situ, and operando neutron experiments are required. However, to date there are few studies where operando experiments are conducted during electrochemical cycling. This highlights an opportunity for research to elucidate the operating mechanisms within NIB materials that are under much debate at present

Ontology-driven indexing of public datasets for translational bioinformatics

The volume of publicly available genomic scale data is increasing. Genomic datasets in public repositories are annotated with free-text fields describing the pathological state of the studied sample. These annotations are not mapped to concepts in any ontology, making it difficult to integrate these datasets across repositories. We have previously developed methods to map text-annotations of tissue microarrays to concepts in the NCI thesaurus and SNOMED-CT

Generation of Functional CLL-Specific Cord Blood CTL Using CD40-Ligated CLL APC

PMCID: PMC3526610This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Self-reported colorectal cancer screening of Medicare beneficiaries in family medicine vs. internal medicine practices in the United States: a cross-sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The benefit of screening for decreasing the risk of death from colorectal cancer (CRC) has been shown, yet many patients in primary care are still not undergoing screening according to guidelines. There are known variations in delivery of preventive health care services among primary care physicians. This study compared self-reported CRC screening rates and patient awareness of the need for CRC screening of patients receiving care from family medicine (FPs) vs. internal medicine (internists) physicians.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Nationally representative sample of non-institutionalized beneficiaries who received medical care from FPs or internists in 2006 (using Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey). The main outcome was the percentage of patients screened in 2007. We also examined the percentage of patients offered screening.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Patients of FPs, compared to those of internists, were less likely to have received an FOBT kit or undergone home FOBT, even after accounting for patients' characteristics. Compared to internists, FPs' patients were more likely to have heard of colonoscopy, but were less likely to receive a screening colonoscopy recommendation (18% vs. 27%), or undergo a colonoscopy (43% vs. 46%, adjusted odds ratios [AOR], 95% confidence interval [CI]-- 0.65, 0.51-0.81) or any CRC screening (52% vs. 60%, AOR, CI--0.80, 0.68-0.94). Among subgroups examined, higher income beneficiaries receiving care from internists had the highest screening rate (68%), while disabled beneficiaries receiving care from FPs had the lowest screening rate (34%).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Patients cared for by FPs had a lower rate of screening compared to those cared for by internists, despite equal or higher levels of awareness; a difference that remained statistically significant after accounting for socioeconomic status and access to healthcare. Both groups of patients remained below the national goal of 70 percent.</p

“It’s hard to tell”. The challenges of scoring patients on standardised outcome measures by multidisciplinary teams: a case study of Neurorehabilitation

Background Interest is increasing in the application of standardised outcome measures in clinical practice. Measures designed for use in research may not be sufficiently precise to be used in monitoring individual patients. However, little is known about how clinicians and in particular, multidisciplinary teams, score patients using these measures. This paper explores the challenges faced by multidisciplinary teams in allocating scores on standardised outcome measures in clinical practice. Methods Qualitative case study of an inpatient neurorehabilitation team who routinely collected standardised outcome measures on their patients. Data were collected using non participant observation, fieldnotes and tape recordings of 16 multidisciplinary team meetings during which the measures were recited and scored. Eleven clinicians from a range of different professions were also interviewed. Data were analysed used grounded theory techniques. Results We identified a number of instances where scoring the patient was 'problematic'. In 'problematic' scoring, the scores were uncertain and subject to revision and adjustment. They sometimes required negotiation to agree on a shared understanding of concepts to be measured and the guidelines for scoring. Several factors gave rise to this problematic scoring. Team members' knowledge about patients' problems changed over time so that initial scores had to be revised or dismissed, creating an impression of deterioration when none had occurred. Patients had complex problems which could not easily be distinguished from each other and patients themselves varied in their ability to perform tasks over time and across different settings. Team members from different professions worked with patients in different ways and had different perspectives on patients' problems. This was particularly an issue in the scoring of concepts such as anxiety, depression, orientation, social integration and cognitive problems. Conclusion From a psychometric perspective these problems would raise questions about the validity, reliability and responsiveness of the scores. However, from a clinical perspective, such characteristics are an inherent part of clinical judgement and reasoning. It is important to highlight the challenges faced by multidisciplinary teams in scoring patients on standardised outcome measures but it would be unwarranted to conclude that such challenges imply that these measures should not be used in clinical practice for decision making about individual patients. However, our findings do raise some concerns about the use of such measures for performance management