LIGHTSITE III: 13-Month Efficacy and Safety Evaluation of Multiwavelength Photobiomodulation in Nonexudative (Dry) Age-Related Macular Degeneration Using the LumiThera Valeda Light Delivery System.

PURPOSE The LIGHTSITE III study evaluated multiwavelength photobiomodulation (PBM) therapy in nonexudative (dry) AMD using the LumiThera Valeda® Light Delivery System. METHODS LIGHTSITE III is a randomized, controlled trial to assess the safety and effectiveness of PBM in dry AMD. Subjects were treated with multiwavelength PBM (590, 660 and 850 nm) or Sham treatment delivered 9 treatments over 3-5 weeks every four months over 24 months. Subjects were assessed for efficacy and safety outcomes. Data from the 13-month analysis are presented in this report. RESULTS A total of 100 subjects (148 eyes) with dry AMD were randomized. LIGHTSITE III met the primary efficacy BCVA endpoint with a significant difference between PBM (n = 91 eyes) and Sham (n = 54 eyes) groups (Between group difference: 2.4 letters (SE 1.15), CI: -4.7 - -0.1, p = 0.02)(PBM alone: 5.4 letters (SE 0.96), CI: 3.5 - 7.3, p < 0.0001; Sham alone: 3.0 letters (SE 1.13), CI: 0.7 - 5.2, p < 0.0001). The PBM group showed a significant decrease in new onset GA (p = 0.024, Fisher exact test, odds ratio 9.4). A favorable safety profile was observed. CONCLUSIONS LIGHTSITE III provides a prospective, randomized controlled trial showing improved clinical and anatomical outcomes in intermediate dry AMD following PBM

Testing bibliometric indicators by their prediction of scientists promotions

We have developed a method to obtain robust quantitative bibliometric indicators for several thousand scientists. This allows us to study the dependence of bibliometric indicators (such as number of publications, number of citations, Hirsch index...) on the age, position, etc. of CNRS scientists. Our data suggests that the normalized h index (h divided by the career length) is not constant for scientists with the same productivity but differents ages. We also compare the predictions of several bibliometric indicators on the promotions of about 600 CNRS researchers. Contrary to previous publications, our study encompasses most disciplines, and shows that no single indicator is the best predictor for all disciplines. Overall, however, the Hirsch index h provides the least bad correlations, followed by the number of papers published. It is important to realize however that even h is able to recover only half of the actual promotions. The number of citations or the mean number of citations per paper are definitely not good predictors of promotion

Drivers of Health Care Expenditure: Does Baumol's Cost Disease Loom Large?

According to Baumol (1993) health care epitomises Baumol's cost disease. Sectors that suffer from Baumol's cost disease are characterised by slow productivity growth due to a high labour coefficient. As a result, unit costs of these sectors rise inexorably if the respective wages increase with productivity growth of the progressive industries such as manufacturing. Thus, according to Baumol (1993) the secular rise in health-care expenditure has been unavoidable. This present paper demonstrates that health care is contracted by Baumol's cost disease, but only to a minor extent. Consequently, policy-makers have more leeway to curbever-increasing health-care expenditure than is suggested by Baumol (1993) and other authors. In addition, we test the implications of Baumol's cost disease for health care by avoiding the well-known flaws in constructing medical price indices. Therefore, the adjusted Baumol variable derived in this paper is also extremely appropriate to test the validity of Baumol's cost diseases of other service industries such as education or the live performing arts. Additionally, our analysis suggests that health care is rather a necessity than a luxury at the national level, which conflicts with macroeconomic evidence provided in the relevant literature

Researching underwater: a submerged study

This chapter explores the unknown territory of a lost project: an ethnography of a public swimming pool. The discussion is contextualised within my broader sociological theory of ‘nothing’, as a category of unmarked, negative social phenomena, including no-things, no-bodies, no-wheres, non-events and non-identities. These meaningful symbolic objects are constituted through social interaction, which can take two forms: acts of commission and acts of omission. I tell the story of how this project did not happen, through the things I did not do or that did not materialise, and how I consequently did not become a certain type of researcher. I identify three types of negative phenomena that I did not observe and document – invisible figures, silent voices and empty vessels – and, consequently, the knowledge I did not acquire. However, nothing is also productive, generating new symbolic objects as substitutes, alternatives and replacements: the somethings, somebodies and somewheres that are done or made instead. Thus finally, I reflect on how not doing this project led me to pursue others, cultivating a different research identity that would not otherwise have existed

Effects of Alcohol on the Acquisition and Expression of Fear Potentiated Startle in Mouse Lines Selectively Bred for High and Low Alcohol Preference

Rationale: Anxiety disorders and alcohol-use disorders frequently co-occur in humans perhaps because alcohol relieves anxiety. Studies in humans and rats indicate that alcohol may have greater anxiolytic effects in organisms with increased genetic propensity for high alcohol consumption. Objectives and Methods: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of moderate doses of alcohol (0.5, 1.0, 1.5 g/kg) on the acquisition and expression of anxiety-related behavior using a fear-potentiated startle (FPS) procedure. Experiments were conducted in two replicate pairs of mouse lines selectively bred for high- (HAP1 and HAP2) and low- (LAP1 and LAP2) alcohol preference; these lines have previously shown a genetic correlation between alcohol preference and FPS (HAP\u3eLAP; Barrenha and Chester 2007). In a control experiment, the effect of diazepam (4.0 mg/kg) on the expression of FPS was tested in HAP2 and LAP2 mice. Results: The 1.5 g/kg alcohol dose moderately decreased the expression of FPS in both HAP lines but not LAP lines. Alcohol had no effect on the acquisition of FPS in any line. Diazepam reduced FPS to a similar extent in both HAP2 and LAP2 mice. Conclusions: HAP mice may be more sensitive to the anxiolytic effects of alcohol than LAP mice when alcohol is given prior to the expression of FPS. These data collected in two pairs of HAP/LAP mouse lines suggest that the anxiolytic response to alcohol in HAP mice may be genetically correlated with their propensity toward high alcohol preference and robust FPS

The Climate Challenge for Agriculture and the Value of Climate Services: Application to Coffee-Farming in Peru

The use of climate information in economic activities, typically provided by climate services, may serve as a possible adaptation strategy to changing climate conditions. The present paper analyzes the value of climate services aimed at improving agricultural productivity through a reduction in weather-associated risks. In the first part, we provide a theoretical foundation for estimating the value of climate services by proposing a stochastic life-cycle model of a rural household which faces uncertainty with respect to the timing and the size of an adverse weather shock. We subsequently calibrate the model to match the environment of coffee producers in the Cusco region of Peru and provide a range of estimates for the value of climate services for a single average household, the region, and the country as a whole. In the second part of the paper we use empirical data to verify the numerical estimates. We assess the value of climate services in the agricultural sector in Cusco based on a choice experiment approach. Data are analyzed using a standard as well as a random parameter logit model allowing for preference heterogeneity. Farmers show a significant willingness-to-pay for enhanced climate services which is particularly related to the service accuracy and geographic resolution. On average, the yearly value of a climate service in the coffee sector is found to be in the range $20.64 -$21.10 per hectare and $8.1 -$8.2 million for Peru as a whole

Fixed and random effects models: making an informed choice

This paper assesses the options available to researchers analysing multilevel (including longitudinal) data, with the aim of supporting good methodological decision-making. Given the confusion in the literature about the key properties of fixed and random effects (FE and RE) models, we present these models’ capabilities and limitations. We also discuss the within-between RE model, sometimes misleadingly labelled a ‘hybrid’ model, showing that it is the most general of the three, with all the strengths of the other two. As such, and because it allows for important extensions—notably random slopes—we argue it should be used (as a starting point at least) in all multilevel analyses. We develop the argument through simulations, evaluating how these models cope with some likely mis-specifications. These simulations reveal that (1) failing to include random slopes can generate anti-conservative standard errors, and (2) assuming random intercepts are Normally distributed, when they are not, introduces only modest biases. These results strengthen the case for the use of, and need for, these models