55 research outputs found
A Rare Case of Metastases from a High-grade Astrocytoma to the Pleura, Bones, and Liver within Six Months of Diagnosis
High grade astrocytomas such as anaplastic astrocytoma and glioblastoma multiforme are aggressive central nervous system malignancies with a poor prognosis. Due to shortened survival times, their devastating effects are usually localized intracranially and rarely metastasize outside of the central nervous system. When metastases occur, they usually present in patients with longer survival times and they typically coincide with a primary site recurrence. We present a rare case of metastases from a high-grade astrocytoma/glioblastoma to the pleura, bones and liver within six months of diagnosis, without primary site recurrence
Race Differences in Initial Presentation, Early Treatment, and 1-year Outcomes of Pediatric Crohnʼs Disease: Results from the ImproveCareNow Network
BACKGROUND: Racially disparate care has been shown to contribute to suboptimal health care outcomes for minorities. Using the ImproveCareNow network, we investigated differences in management and outcomes of pediatric patients with Crohn's disease at diagnosis and 1-year postdiagnosis.
METHODS: ImproveCareNow is a learning health network for pediatric inflammatory bowel disease. It contains prospective, longitudinal data from outpatient encounters. This retrospective study included all patients with Crohn's disease ≤21 years, September 2006 to October 2014, with the first recorded encounter ≤90 days from date of diagnosis and an encounter 1 year ±60 days. We examined the effect of race on remission rate and treatment at diagnosis and 1 year from diagnosis using t-tests, Wilcoxon rank-sum tests, χ statistic, and Fisher's exact tests, where appropriate, followed by univariate regression models.
RESULTS: Nine hundred seventy-six patients (Black = 118 (12%), White = 858 (88%), mean age = 13 years, 63% male) from 39 sites were included. Black children had a higher percentage of Medicaid insurance (44% versus 11%, P < 0.001). At diagnosis, Black children had more active disease according to physician global assessment (P = 0.027), but not by short Pediatric Crohn's Disease Activity Index (P = 0.67). Race differences in treatment were not identified. Black children had lower hematocrit (34.8 versus 36.7, P < 0.001) and albumin levels (3.6 versus 3.9, P = 0.001). At 1 year, Black children had more active disease according to physician global assessment (P = 0.016), but not by short Pediatric Crohn's Disease Activity Index (P = 0.06).
CONCLUSIONS: Black children with Crohn's disease may have more severe disease than White children based on physician global assessment. Neither disease phenotype differences at diagnosis nor treatment differences at 1-year follow-up were identified
Racial Disparities in Readmission, Complications, and Procedures in Children with Crohnʼs Disease:
Racial disparities in care and outcomes contribute to mortality and morbidity in children however the role in pediatric Crohn’s disease (CD) is unclear. In this study, we compared cohorts of Black and White children with CD to determine the extent race is associated with differences in readmissions, complications, and procedures among hospitalizations in the United States
Assessment of Sex Differences for Treatment, Procedures, Complications, and Associated Conditions Among Adolescents Hospitalized with Crohnʼs Disease:
Sex differences among adults in healthcare treatment and outcomes have been reported, however, there is a paucity of literature regarding pediatric populations, particularly adolescents with Crohn’s disease (CD). The objective was to identify whether sex differences exist with respect to complications, procedures, and medication usage (corticosteroids, biologic agents, and total parenteral nutrition (TPN)) among hospitalized adolescents with CD
Feasibility and Validity of the Pediatric Ulcerative Colitis Activity Index in Routine Clinical Practice
The Pediatric Ulcerative Colitis Activity Index (PUCAI) is a non-invasive disease activity index developed as a clinical trial endpoint. More recently, practice guidelines have recommended the use of PUCAI in routine clinical care. We therefore sought to evaluate the feasibility, validity and responsiveness of PUCAI in a large, diverse collection of pediatric gastroenterology practices
Overview of the Kepler Science Processing Pipeline
The Kepler Mission Science Operations Center (SOC) performs several critical
functions including managing the ~156,000 target stars, associated target
tables, science data compression tables and parameters, as well as processing
the raw photometric data downlinked from the spacecraft each month. The raw
data are first calibrated at the pixel level to correct for bias, smear induced
by a shutterless readout, and other detector and electronic effects. A
background sky flux is estimated from ~4500 pixels on each of the 84 CCD
readout channels, and simple aperture photometry is performed on an optimal
aperture for each star. Ancillary engineering data and diagnostic information
extracted from the science data are used to remove systematic errors in the
flux time series that are correlated with these data prior to searching for
signatures of transiting planets with a wavelet-based, adaptive matched filter.
Stars with signatures exceeding 7.1 sigma are subjected to a suite of
statistical tests including an examination of each star's centroid motion to
reject false positives caused by background eclipsing binaries. Physical
parameters for each planetary candidate are fitted to the transit signature,
and signatures of additional transiting planets are sought in the residual
light curve. The pipeline is operational, finding planetary signatures and
providing robust eliminations of false positives.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure
Kepler Data Release 4 Notes
The Data Analysis Working Group have released long and short cadence materials, including FFIs and Dropped Targets for the Public. The Kepler Science Office considers Data Release 4 to provide "browse quality" data. These notes have been prepared to give Kepler users of the Multimission Archive at STScl (MAST) a summary of how the data were collected and prepared, and how well the data processing pipeline is functioning on flight data. They will be updated for each release of data to the public archive and placed on MAST along with other Kepler documentation, at http://archive.stsci.edu/kepler/documents.html. Data release 3 is meant to give users the opportunity to examine the data for possibly interesting science and to involve the users in improving the pipeline for future data releases. To perform the latter service, users are encouraged to notice and document artifacts, either in the raw or processed data, and report them to the Science Office
Planetary Candidates Observed by Kepler. VIII. A Fully Automated Catalog With Measured Completeness and Reliability Based on Data Release 25
We present the Kepler Object of Interest (KOI) catalog of transiting
exoplanets based on searching four years of Kepler time series photometry (Data
Release 25, Q1-Q17). The catalog contains 8054 KOIs of which 4034 are planet
candidates with periods between 0.25 and 632 days. Of these candidates, 219 are
new and include two in multi-planet systems (KOI-82.06 and KOI-2926.05), and
ten high-reliability, terrestrial-size, habitable zone candidates. This catalog
was created using a tool called the Robovetter which automatically vets the
DR25 Threshold Crossing Events (TCEs, Twicken et al. 2016). The Robovetter also
vetted simulated data sets and measured how well it was able to separate TCEs
caused by noise from those caused by low signal-to-noise transits. We discusses
the Robovetter and the metrics it uses to sort TCEs. For orbital periods less
than 100 days the Robovetter completeness (the fraction of simulated transits
that are determined to be planet candidates) across all observed stars is
greater than 85%. For the same period range, the catalog reliability (the
fraction of candidates that are not due to instrumental or stellar noise) is
greater than 98%. However, for low signal-to-noise candidates between 200 and
500 days around FGK dwarf stars, the Robovetter is 76.7% complete and the
catalog is 50.5% reliable. The KOI catalog, the transit fits and all of the
simulated data used to characterize this catalog are available at the NASA
Exoplanet Archive.Comment: 61 pages, 23 Figures, 9 Tables, Accepted to The Astrophysical Journal
Supplement Serie
Discovery and Rossiter-McLaughlin Effect of Exoplanet Kepler-8b
We report the discovery and the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect of Kepler-8b, a
transiting planet identified by the NASA Kepler Mission. Kepler photometry and
Keck-HIRES radial velocities yield the radius and mass of the planet around
this F8IV subgiant host star. The planet has a radius RP = 1.419 RJ and a mass,
MP = 0.60 MJ, yielding a density of 0.26 g cm^-3, among the lowest density
planets known. The orbital period is P = 3.523 days and orbital semima jor axis
is 0.0483+0.0006/-0.0012 AU. The star has a large rotational v sin i of 10.5
+/- 0.7 km s^-1 and is relatively faint (V = 13.89 mag), both properties
deleterious to precise Doppler measurements. The velocities are indeed noisy,
with scatter of 30 m s^-1, but exhibit a period and phase consistent with the
planet implied by the photometry. We securely detect the Rossiter-McLaughlin
effect, confirming the planet's existence and establishing its orbit as
prograde. We measure an inclination between the projected planetary orbital
axis and the projected stellar rotation axis of lambda = -26.9 +/- 4.6 deg,
indicating a moderate inclination of the planetary orbit. Rossiter-McLaughlin
measurements of a large sample of transiting planets from Kepler will provide a
statistically robust measure of the true distribution of spin-orbit
orientations for hot jupiters in general.Comment: 26 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables; In preparation for submission to the
Astrophysical Journa
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