The conceptual and practical ethical dilemmas of using health discussion board posts as research data.

Increasing numbers of people living with a long-term health condition are putting personal health information online, including on discussion boards. Many discussion boards contain material of potential use to researchers; however, it is unclear how this information can and should be used by researchers. To date there has been no evaluation of the views of those individuals sharing health information online regarding the use of their shared information for research purposes

Trends in qualitative research in language teaching since 2000

This paper reviews developments in qualitative research in language teaching since the year 2000, focusing on its contributions to the field and identifying issues that emerge. Its aims are to identify those areas in language teaching where qualitative research has the greatest potential and indicate what needs to be done to further improve the quality of its contribution. The paper begins by highlighting current trends and debates in the general area of qualitative research and offering a working definition of the term. At its core is an overview of developments in the new millennium based on the analysis of papers published in 15 journals related to the field of language teaching and a more detailed description, drawn from a range of sources, of exemplary contributions during that period. Issues of quality are also considered, using illustrative cases to point to aspects of published research that deserve closer attention in future work, and key publications on qualitative research practice are reviewed

Music-aided affective interaction between human and service robot

This study proposes a music-aided framework for affective interaction of service robots with humans. The framework consists of three systems, respectively, for perception, memory, and expression on the basis of the human brain mechanism. We propose a novel approach to identify human emotions in the perception system. The conventional approaches use speech and facial expressions as representative bimodal indicators for emotion recognition. But, our approach uses the mood of music as a supplementary indicator to more correctly determine emotions along with speech and facial expressions. For multimodal emotion recognition, we propose an effective decision criterion using records of bimodal recognition results relevant to the musical mood. The memory and expression systems also utilize musical data to provide natural and affective reactions to human emotions. For evaluation of our approach, we simulated the proposed human-robot interaction with a service robot, iRobiQ. Our perception system exhibited superior performance over the conventional approach, and most human participants noted favorable reactions toward the music-aided affective interaction.open0

A speciation gene for left–right reversal in snails results in anti-predator adaptation

How speciation genes can spread in a population is poorly understood. In land snails, a single gene for left–right reversal could be responsible for instant speciation, because dextral and sinistral snails have difficulty in mating. However, the traditional two-locus speciation model predicts that a mating disadvantage for the reversal should counteract this speciation. In this study, we show that specialized snake predation of the dextral majority drives prey speciation by reversal. Our experiments demonstrate that sinistral Satsuma snails (Stylommatophora: Camaenidae) survive predation by Pareas iwasakii (Colubroidea: Pareatidae). Worldwide biogeography reveals that stylommatophoran snail speciation by reversal has been accelerated in the range of pareatid snakes, especially in snails that gain stronger anti-snake defense and reproductive isolation from dextrals by sinistrality. Molecular phylogeny of Satsuma snails further provides intriguing evidence of repetitive speciation under snake predation. Our study demonstrates that a speciation gene can be fixed in populations by positive pleiotropic effects on survival

Sleep-disordered breathing-do we have to change gears in heart failure?

The majority of patients with heart failure have sleep-disordered breathing (SDB)-with central (rather than obstructive) sleep apnoea becoming the predominant form in those with more severe disease. Cyclical apnoeas and hypopnoeas are associated with sleep disturbance, hypoxaemia, haemodynamic changes, and sympathetic activation. Such patients have a worse prognosis than those without SDB. Mask-based therapies of positive airway pressure targeted at SDB can improve measures of sleep quality and partially normalise the sleep and respiratory physiology, but recent randomised trials of cardiovascular outcomes in central sleep apnoea have been neutral or suggested the possibility of harm, likely from increased sudden death. Further randomised outcome studies (with cardiovascular mortality and hospitalisation endpoints) are required to determine whether mask-based treatment for SDB is appropriate for patients with chronic systolic heart failure and obstructive sleep apnoea, for those with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, and for those with decompensated heart failure. New therapies for sleep apnoea-such as implantable phrenic nerve stimulators-also require robust assessment. No longer can the surrogate endpoints of improvement in respiratory and sleep metrics be taken as adequate therapeutic outcome measures in patients with heart failure and sleep apnoea

Morphological Mutations of Dwarf Galaxies

Dwarf galaxies (DGs) are extremely challenging objects in extragalactic astrophysics. They are expected to originate as the first units in Cold Dark-Matter cosmology. They are the galaxy type most sensitive to environmental influences and their division into multiple types with various properties have invoked the picture of their variant morphological transformations. Detailed observations reveal characteristics which allow to deduce the evolutionary paths and to witness how the environment has affected the evolution. Here we review peculiarities of general morphological DG types and refer to processes which can deplete gas-rich irregular DGs leading to dwarf ellipticals, while gas replenishment implies an evolutionary cycling. Finally, as the less understood DG types the Milky Way satellite dwarf spheroidal galaxies are discussed in the context of transformation.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, Proceedings of Symposium 3 of JENAM 2010 "Dwarf Galaxies: Key to Galaxy Formation and Evolution", Polychronis Papaderos, Simone Recchi, Gerhard Hensler (Eds.), Springer Publisher, Heidelberg, ISBN 978-3-642-22017-

The MPI Facial Expression Database — A Validated Database of Emotional and Conversational Facial Expressions

The ability to communicate is one of the core aspects of human life. For this, we use not only verbal but also nonverbal signals of remarkable complexity. Among the latter, facial expressions belong to the most important information channels. Despite the large variety of facial expressions we use in daily life, research on facial expressions has so far mostly focused on the emotional aspect. Consequently, most databases of facial expressions available to the research community also include only emotional expressions, neglecting the largely unexplored aspect of conversational expressions. To fill this gap, we present the MPI facial expression database, which contains a large variety of natural emotional and conversational expressions. The database contains 55 different facial expressions performed by 19 German participants. Expressions were elicited with the help of a method-acting protocol, which guarantees both well-defined and natural facial expressions. The method-acting protocol was based on every-day scenarios, which are used to define the necessary context information for each expression. All facial expressions are available in three repetitions, in two intensities, as well as from three different camera angles. A detailed frame annotation is provided, from which a dynamic and a static version of the database have been created. In addition to describing the database in detail, we also present the results of an experiment with two conditions that serve to validate the context scenarios as well as the naturalness and recognizability of the video sequences. Our results provide clear evidence that conversational expressions can be recognized surprisingly well from visual information alone. The MPI facial expression database will enable researchers from different research fields (including the perceptual and cognitive sciences, but also affective computing, as well as computer vision) to investigate the processing of a wider range of natural facial expressions

The Burden of Primary Liver Cancer and Underlying Etiologies From 1990 to 2015 at the Global, Regional, and National Level Results From the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015

Akinyemiju T, Abera S, Ahmed M, et al. The Burden of Primary Liver Cancer and Underlying Etiologies From 1990 to 2015 at the Global, Regional, and National Level Results From the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015. JAMA ONCOLOGY. 2017;3(12):1683-1691.IMPORTANCE Liver cancer is among the leading causes of cancer deaths globally. The most common causes for liver cancer include hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and alcohol use. OBJECTIVE To report results of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2015 study on primary liver cancer incidence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) for 195 countries or territories from 1990 to 2015, and present global, regional, and national estimates on the burden of liver cancer attributable to HBV, HCV, alcohol, and an " other" group that encompasses residual causes. DESIGN, SETTINGS, AND PARTICIPANTS Mortalitywas estimated using vital registration and cancer registry data in an ensemble modeling approach. Single-cause mortality estimates were adjusted for all-cause mortality. Incidence was derived from mortality estimates and the mortality-to-incidence ratio. Through a systematic literature review, data on the proportions of liver cancer due to HBV, HCV, alcohol, and other causes were identified. Years of life lost were calculated by multiplying each death by a standard life expectancy. Prevalence was estimated using mortality-to-incidence ratio as surrogate for survival. Total prevalence was divided into 4 sequelae that were multiplied by disability weights to derive years lived with disability (YLDs). DALYs were the sum of years of life lost and YLDs. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Liver cancer mortality, incidence, YLDs, years of life lost, DALYs by etiology, age, sex, country, and year. RESULTS There were 854 000 incident cases of liver cancer and 810 000 deaths globally in 2015, contributing to 20 578 000 DALYs. Cases of incident liver cancer increased by 75% between 1990 and 2015, of which 47% can be explained by changing population age structures, 35% by population growth, and -8% to changing age-specific incidence rates. The male-to-female ratio for age-standardized liver cancer mortality was 2.8. Globally, HBV accounted for 265 000 liver cancer deaths (33%), alcohol for 245 000 (30%), HCV for 167 000 (21%), and other causes for 133 000 (16%) deaths, with substantial variation between countries in the underlying etiologies. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Liver cancer is among the leading causes of cancer deaths in many countries. Causes of liver cancer differ widely among populations. Our results show that most cases of liver cancer can be prevented through vaccination, antiviral treatment, safe blood transfusion and injection practices, as well as interventions to reduce excessive alcohol use. In line with the Sustainable Development Goals, the identification and elimination of risk factors for liver cancer will be required to achieve a sustained reduction in liver cancer burden. The GBD study can be used to guide these prevention efforts