Cognitive Distraction Impairs Drivers\u27 Anticipatory Glances: An On-Road Study

This study assessed the impact of cognitive distraction on drivers’ anticipatory glances. Participants drove an instrumented vehicle and executed a number of secondary tasks associated with increasing levels of mental workload including: listening to the radio or audiobook, talking on a handheld or hands-free cellphone, interacting with a voice-based e-mail/text system, and executing a highly demanding task (Operational Span task; OSPAN). Drivers’ visual scanning behavior was recorded by four different high definition cameras and coded offline frame-by-frame. Visual scanning behavior at road intersections with crosswalks was targeted because distraction is one of the major causes of accidents at these locations (NHTSA, 2010a). Despite the familiarity of the locations, results showed that as the secondary-task became more cognitively demanding drivers reduced the amount of anticipatory glances to potential hazards locations. For example, while interacting with a high fidelity voice-based email/text system, the probability of executing a complete scan of the intersection was reduced by 11% compared to the no-distraction control condition. These results document the effects of cognitive distraction on drivers’ visual scanning for potential hazards and highlight the detrimental role of voice based systems on driving behavior

Disagreement Between Randomized and Observational Evidence on the Use of Bilateral Internal Thoracic Artery Grafting:A Meta-Analytic Approach

Background The ART (Arterial Revascularization Trial) showed no difference in survival at 10 years between patients assigned to the single versus bilateral internal thoracic artery grafting strategies. This finding is in contrast with the results of most observational studies, where the use of 2 internal thoracic arteries has been associated with improved survival. Methods and Results We selected propensity-matched studies from the most comprehensive observational meta-analysis on the long-term outcomes of patients receiving 1 versus 2 internal thoracic arteries. Individual participant survival data from each study and the ART were reconstructed using an iterative algorithm that was applied to solve the Kaplan-Meier equations. The reconstructed individual participant survival data were aggregated to obtain combined survival curves and Cox regression hazard ratios with 95% CIs. Individual participant survival data were obtained from 14 matched observational studies (24 123 patients) and the ART. The 10-year survival of the control group of ART was significantly higher than that of the matched observational studies (hazard ratio, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.80-0.93). The 10-year survival of the experimental group of ART was significantly lower than that of the bilateral internal thoracic artery group of the observational studies (hazard ratio, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.03-1.20). Conclusions Both the improved outcome of the control arm and the lower beneficial effect of the intervention had played a role in the difference between observational evidence and ART

Electronic Medical Records as a Research Tool: Evaluating Topiramate Use at a Headache Center.

Background.—Electronic medical records (EMRs) are used in large healthcare centers to increase efficiency and accuracy of documentation. These databases may be utilized for clinical research or to describe clinical practices such as medication usage. Methods.—We conducted a retrospective analysis of EMR data from a headache clinic to evaluate clinician prescription use and dosing patterns of topiramate. The study cohort comprised 4833 unique de-identified records, which were used to determine topiramate dose and persistence of treatment. Results.—Within the cohort, migraine was the most common headache diagnosis (n = 3753, 77.7%), followed by tension-type headache (n = 338, 7.0%) and cluster or trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias (n = 287, 5.9%). Physicians prescribed topiramate more often for subjects with migraine and idiopathic intracranial hypertension (P \u3c .0001) than for those with other conditions, and more often for subjects with coexisting conditions including obesity, bipolar disorder, and depression. The most common maintenance dose of topiramate was 100 mg/day; however, approximately 15% of subjects received either less than 100 mg/day or more than 200 mg/day. More than a third of subjects were prescribed topiramate for more than 1 year, and subjects with a diagnosis of migraine were prescribed topiramate for a longer period of time than those without migraine. Conclusions.—Findings from our study using EMR demonstrate that physicians use topiramate at many different doses and for many off-label indications. This analysis provided important insight into our patient populations and treatment patterns

Eptinezumab for the prevention of chronic migraine: efficacy and safety through 24 weeks of treatment in the phase 3 PROMISE-2 (Prevention of migraine via intravenous ALD403 safety and efficacy-2) study.

BACKGROUND: PROMISE-2 was a phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study that evaluated the efficacy and safety of repeat intravenous (IV) doses of the calcitonin gene-related peptide-targeted monoclonal antibody eptinezumab (ALD403) for migraine prevention in adults with chronic migraine. This report describes the results of PROMISE-2 through 24 weeks of treatment. METHODS: Patients received up to two 30-min IV administrations of eptinezumab 100 mg, 300 mg, or placebo separated by 12 weeks. Patients recorded migraine and headache endpoints in a daily eDiary. Additional assessments, including patient-reported outcomes, were performed at regularly scheduled clinic visits throughout the 32-week study period (screening, day 0, and weeks 2, 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, and 32). RESULTS: A total of 1072 adults received treatment: eptinezumab 100 mg, n = 356; eptinezumab 300 mg, n = 350; placebo, n = 366. The reduction in mean monthly migraine days observed during the first dosing interval (100 mg, - 7.7 days; 300 mg, - 8.2 days; placebo, - 5.6 days) was further decreased after an additional dose (100 mg, - 8.2 days; 300 mg, - 8.8 days; placebo, - 6.2 days), with both doses of eptinezumab demonstrating consistently greater reductions from baseline compared to placebo. The ≥50% and ≥ 75% migraine responder rates (MRRs) increased after a second dose, with more eptinezumab-treated patients experiencing migraine response than placebo patients (≥50% MRRs weeks 13-24: 100 mg, 61.0%; 300 mg, 64.0%; placebo, 44.0%; and ≥ 75% MRRs weeks 13-24: 100 mg, 39.3%; 300 mg, 43.1%; placebo, 23.8%). The percentages of patients who improved on patient-reported outcomes, including the Headache Impact Test and Patient Global Impression of Change, increased following the second dose administration at week 12, and were greater with eptinezumab than with placebo at all time points. No new safety concerns were identified with the second dose regarding the incidence, nature, and severity of treatment-emergent adverse events. CONCLUSION: Eptinezumab 100 mg or 300 mg administered IV at day 0 and repeated at week 12 provided sustained migraine preventive benefit over a full 24 weeks and demonstrated an acceptable safety profile in patients with chronic migraine. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT02974153 ). Registered November 23, 2016

Biotic and abiotic factors impacting development, behavior, phenology, and reproductive biology of Drosophila suzukii

Spotted wing drosophila, Drosophila suzukii, is a devastating invasive pest of small and stone fruits in the Americas and Europe. To better understand the population dynamics of D. suzukii, we reviewed recent work on juvenile development, adult reproduction, and seasonal variation in life history parameters including the abiotic/biotic factors that influence these processes. Juvenile development is optimal at moderately warm temperatures, and larvae exhibit some immunity to parasitism. Adults use visual cues and substrate-borne vibrations for courtship and exhibit a bimodal locomotor activity pattern (except mated females). Under 20–27 °C and various conditions, development from egg to adult can take 10–17 days, females first lay eggs within 1–8 days and their lifetime fecundity varies from 400. Oviposition is consistently high in raspberry hosts and fruits with lower penetration force, and the presence of Wolbachia endosymbionts can lower fertility. Drosophila suzukii exhibit seasonal variation with a darker winter morph that is more cold tolerant. Also, D. suzukii likely undergo reproductive diapause in the fall, with colder temperatures and shorter day lengths influencing reproduction. To develop viable IPM programs for D. suzukii, knowledge of abiotic and biotic conditions that impact D. suzukii life history parameters and population dynamics is critical, and gaps in the current knowledge are discussed.Keywords: Development, Overwintering, Spotted wing drosophila, Chronobiology, Reproduction, Invasive specie

Biotic and abiotic factors impacting development, behavior, phenology, and reproductive biology of Drosophila suzukii

Spotted wing drosophila, Drosophila suzukii, is a devastating invasive pest of small and stone fruits in the Americas and Europe. To better understand the population dynamics of D. suzukii, we reviewed recent work on juvenile development, adult reproduction, and seasonal variation in life history parameters including the abiotic/biotic factors that influence these processes. Juvenile development is optimal at moderately warm temperatures, and larvae exhibit some immunity to parasitism. Adults use visual cues and substrate-borne vibrations for courtship and exhibit a bimodal locomotor activity pattern (except mated females). Under 20–27 °C and various conditions, development from egg to adult can take 10–17 days, females first lay eggs within 1–8 days and their lifetime fecundity varies from 400. Oviposition is consistently high in raspberry hosts and fruits with lower penetration force, and the presence of Wolbachia endosymbionts can lower fertility. Drosophila suzukii exhibit seasonal variation with a darker winter morph that is more cold tolerant. Also, D. suzukii likely undergo reproductive diapause in the fall, with colder temperatures and shorter day lengths influencing reproduction. To develop viable IPM programs for D. suzukii, knowledge of abiotic and biotic conditions that impact D. suzukii life history parameters and population dynamics is critical, and gaps in the current knowledge are discussed.To the best of our knowledge, one or more authors of this paper were federal employees when contributing to this work. This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by Springer and can be found at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10340-016-0756-

Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of WW bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at s=8\sqrt{s}=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents measurements of the $W^+ \rightarrow \mu^+\nu$ and $W^- \rightarrow \mu^-\nu$ cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the 1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13

Search for chargino-neutralino production with mass splittings near the electroweak scale in three-lepton final states in √s=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for supersymmetry through the pair production of electroweakinos with mass splittings near the electroweak scale and decaying via on-shell W and Z bosons is presented for a three-lepton final state. The analyzed proton-proton collision data taken at a center-of-mass energy of √s=13  TeV were collected between 2015 and 2018 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139  fb−1. A search, emulating the recursive jigsaw reconstruction technique with easily reproducible laboratory-frame variables, is performed. The two excesses observed in the 2015–2016 data recursive jigsaw analysis in the low-mass three-lepton phase space are reproduced. Results with the full data set are in agreement with the Standard Model expectations. They are interpreted to set exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level on simplified models of chargino-neutralino pair production for masses up to 345 GeV