Bayesian inference for optimal dynamic treatment regimes in practice

In this work, we examine recently developed methods for Bayesian inference of optimal dynamic treatment regimes (DTRs). DTRs are a set of treatment decision rules aimed at tailoring patient care to patient-specific characteristics, thereby falling within the realm of precision medicine. In this field, researchers seek to tailor therapy with the intention of improving health outcomes; therefore, they are most interested in identifying optimal DTRs. Recent work has developed Bayesian methods for identifying optimal DTRs in a family indexed by $\psi$ via Bayesian dynamic marginal structural models (MSMs) (Rodriguez Duque et al., 2022a); we review the proposed estimation procedure and illustrate its use via the new BayesDTR R package. Although methods in (Rodriguez Duque et al., 2022a) can estimate optimal DTRs well, they may lead to biased estimators when the model for the expected outcome if everyone in a population were to follow a given treatment strategy, known as a value function, is misspecified or when a grid search for the optimum is employed. We describe recent work that uses a Gaussian process ($GP$) prior on the value function as a means to robustly identify optimal DTRs (Rodriguez Duque et al., 2022b). We demonstrate how a $GP$ approach may be implemented with the BayesDTR package and contrast it with other value-search approaches to identifying optimal DTRs. We use data from an HIV therapeutic trial in order to illustrate a standard analysis with these methods, using both the original observed trial data and an additional simulated component to showcase a longitudinal (two-stage DTR) analysis

Horse ooplasm supports in vitro preimplantation development of zebra ICSI and SCNT embryos without compromising YAP1 and SOX2 expression pattern

Several equids have gone extinct and many extant equids are currently considered vulnerable to critically endangered. This work aimed to evaluate whether domestic horse oocytes support preimplantation development of zebra embryos obtained by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI, zebroid) and cloning, and to study the Hippo signaling pathway during the lineage specification of trophectoderm cells and inner cell mass cells. We first showed that zebra and horse sperm cells induce porcine oocyte activation and recruit maternal SMARCA4 during pronuclear formation. SMARCA4 recruitment showed to be independent of the genetic background of the injected sperm. No differences were found in blastocyst rate of ICSI hybrid (zebra spermatozoon into horse egg) embryos relative to the homospecific horse control group. Interestingly, zebra cloned blastocyst rate was significantly higher at day 8. Moreover, most ICSI and cloned horse and zebra blastocysts showed a similar expression pattern of SOX2 and nuclear YAP1 with the majority of the nuclei positive for YAP1, and most SOX2+ nuclei negative for YAP1. Here we demonstrated that horse oocytes support zebra preimplantation development of both, ICSI and cloned embryos, without compromising development to blastocyst, blastocyst cell number neither the expression of SOX2 and YAP1. Our results support the use of domestic horse oocytes as a model to study in vitro zebra embryos on behalf of preservation of valuable genetic.Fil: Gambini, Andres. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía; ArgentinaFil: Duque Rodriguez, Matteo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomia. Departamento de Producción Animal. Cátedra de Fisiología Animal; ArgentinaFil: Rodriguez, Maria Belén. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomia. Departamento de Producción Animal. Cátedra de Fisiología Animal; ArgentinaFil: Briski, Olinda. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomia. Departamento de Producción Animal. Cátedra de Fisiología Animal; ArgentinaFil: Flores Bragulat, Ana Paula. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Agronomía y Veterinaria; ArgentinaFil: Demergassi, Natalia. Fundación Temaikén; ArgentinaFil: Losinno, Luis. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Agronomía y Veterinaria; ArgentinaFil: Salamone, Daniel Felipe. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomia. Departamento de Producción Animal. Cátedra de Fisiología Animal; Argentin

2010-2011 General Meeting and Performance

https://spiral.lynn.edu/foc-events/1008/thumbnail.jp

Adaptación de las asignaturas básicas de primer curso de la ETSI Navales de la UPM: Actividades 2008-2009

En el marco de la reforma de las titulaciones con motivo del Espacio Europeo de Educación un grupo de profesores hemos coordinado, durante el curso 2008-2009, todas las asignaturas básicas de primer curso y una más de segundo curso en la Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Navales. Las actividades realizadas son: a) Coordinación de todas las asignaturas básicas de primer curso, con reuniones periódicas de coordinación horizontal y el establecimiento de una página web de moodle para profesores como espacio para el trabajo cooperativo. Particularmente importante es el establecimiento de un calendario conjunto de pruebas de evaluación continua. b) Redacción de guías de aprendizaje, con un formato común para todas las asignaturas, incluyendo los objetivos formativos, los contenidos, las actividades formativas, los enlaces y la bibliografía. c) Establecimiento de una plataforma de teleeducación común para todas las asignaturas, uno de los objetivos fundamentales del proyecto, ya que coexistían dos plataformas distintas. Igualmente importante ha sido reforzar los contenidos y las actividades que se podían realizar en la plataforma. d) Seguimiento del tiempo dedicado por los alumnos, hemos ido siguiendo el tiempo dedicado por los alumnos a las distintas asignaturas, para detectar si el tiempo que se dedica está en los márgenes establecidos en los créditos ECTS. Igualmente, hemos hecho dos encuestas a la mitad de cada semestre, para recoger las opiniones de los alumnos sobre las asignaturas y sobre los aspectos relevantes del proyecto. e) Organización de actividades de nivelación, para los alumnos de nuevo ingreso, con la organización de cursos cero y la participación y coordinación en la Plataforma de Punto de inicio de la UPM. f) Organización de actividades formativas, para poder llevar a cabo estas tareas, hemos organizado, en colaboración con el Centro y el Gabinete de Tele-Educación (GATE) actividades formativas relacionadas con la plataforma moodle, métodos de evaluación y de formación en competencias.En la presentación haremos una descripción de las actividades realizadas, así como una primera evaluación de las mismas. Por último, describiremos las tareas a desarrollar en los próximos cursos

Social Cohesion as the Missing Link between Natural Resource Management and Peacebuilding: Lessons from Cocoa Production in Côte d’Ivoire and Colombia

Social cohesion plays a key role in processes of peacebuilding and sustainable development. Fostering social cohesion might present a potential to enhance the connection of natural resource management and peacebuilding and better functioning of sustainable land use systems. This contribution explores the nexus between social cohesion, natural resource management, and peacebuilding. We do so by (1) reviewing literature on the three concepts and (2) studying four different key action areas in the context of sustainable cocoa production for their potential to enhance social cohesion, namely (a) agroforestry; (b) cooperatives; (c) certification schemes; and (d) trade policies. Research is based on experience from cocoa production in two post-conflict countries, Côte d’Ivoire and Colombia. Our findings show that by fostering environmentally sustainable agricultural practices, these key action areas have a clear potential to foster social cohesion among cocoa producers and thus provide a valuable contribution to post-conflict peacebuilding in both countries. However, the actual effects strongly depend on a multitude of local factors which need to be carefully taken into consideration. Further, the focus in implementation of some of these approaches tends to be on increasing agricultural productivity and not directly on fostering cocoa farmers’ wellbeing and societal relations, and hence a shift toward social objectives is needed in order to strengthen these approaches as a part of overall peacebuilding strategies.Peer Reviewe

Monitorización y seguimiento del esfuerzo realizado por los estudiantes y de su asistencia a actividades presenciales

Este artículo documenta el planteamiento, la metodología y los primeros resultados de un plan de monitorización detallada del esfuerzo y de asistencia a actividades presenciales por parte de los estudiantes de las titulaciones ofertadas por la Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Navales de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid durante el segundo cuatrimestre del curso 2011-2012. Se ha establecido un sistema mecánico de recogida de datos de esfuerzo por parte de los estudiantes utilizando una hoja tipo test especialmente configurada al efecto. Se pasa una hoja en todas y cada una de las actividades presenciales realizadas y en la hoja se solicita información sobre el trabajo "fuera de clase". Se documenta en este artículo cómo se ha estructurado esa hoja, qué tipo de datos se recogen, cómo se tratan mediante una base de datos creada al efecto, qué tipo de análisis se puede realizar y qué resultados preliminares obtenemos de dichos análisis

Systematic Collaborative Reanalysis of Genomic Data Improves Diagnostic Yield in Neurologic Rare Diseases

Altres ajuts: Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament de Salut; Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament d'Empresa i Coneixement i CERCA Program; Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación; Instituto Nacional de Bioinformática; ELIXIR Implementation Studies (CNAG-CRG); Centro de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Red de Enfermedades Raras; Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa; European Regional Development Fund (FEDER).Many patients experiencing a rare disease remain undiagnosed even after genomic testing. Reanalysis of existing genomic data has shown to increase diagnostic yield, although there are few systematic and comprehensive reanalysis efforts that enable collaborative interpretation and future reinterpretation. The Undiagnosed Rare Disease Program of Catalonia project collated previously inconclusive good quality genomic data (panels, exomes, and genomes) and standardized phenotypic profiles from 323 families (543 individuals) with a neurologic rare disease. The data were reanalyzed systematically to identify relatedness, runs of homozygosity, consanguinity, single-nucleotide variants, insertions and deletions, and copy number variants. Data were shared and collaboratively interpreted within the consortium through a customized Genome-Phenome Analysis Platform, which also enables future data reinterpretation. Reanalysis of existing genomic data provided a diagnosis for 20.7% of the patients, including 1.8% diagnosed after the generation of additional genomic data to identify a second pathogenic heterozygous variant. Diagnostic rate was significantly higher for family-based exome/genome reanalysis compared with singleton panels. Most new diagnoses were attributable to recent gene-disease associations (50.8%), additional or improved bioinformatic analysis (19.7%), and standardized phenotyping data integrated within the Undiagnosed Rare Disease Program of Catalonia Genome-Phenome Analysis Platform functionalities (18%)

As Far as the Eye Can See: Relationship between Psychopathic Traits and Pupil Response to Affective Stimuli

Psychopathic individuals show a range of affective processing deficits, typically associated with the interpersonal/affective component of psychopathy. However, previous research has been inconsistent as to whether psychopathy, within both offender and community populations, is associated with deficient autonomic responses to the simple presentation of affective stimuli. Changes in pupil diameter occur in response to emotionally arousing stimuli and can be used as an objective indicator of physiological reactivity to emotion. This study used pupillometry to explore whether psychopathic traits within a community sample were associated with hypo-responsivity to the affective content of stimuli. Pupil activity was recorded for 102 adult (52 female) community participants in response to affective (both negative and positive affect) and affectively neutral stimuli, that included images of scenes, static facial expressions, dynamic facial expressions and sound-clips. Psychopathic traits were measured using the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure. Pupil diameter was larger in response to negative stimuli, but comparable pupil size was demonstrated across pleasant and neutral stimuli. A linear relationship between subjective arousal and pupil diameter was found in response to sound-clips, but was not evident in response to scenes. Contrary to predictions, psychopathy was unrelated to emotional modulation of pupil diameter across all stimuli. The findings were the same when participant gender was considered. This suggests that psychopathy within a community sample is not associated with autonomic hypo-responsivity to affective stimuli, and this effect is discussed in relation to later defensive/appetitive mobilisation deficits

Clonal chromosomal mosaicism and loss of chromosome Y in elderly men increase vulnerability for SARS-CoV-2

The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19) had an estimated overall case fatality ratio of 1.38% (pre-vaccination), being 53% higher in males and increasing exponentially with age. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, we found 133 cases (1.42%) with detectable clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations (mCA) and 226 males (5.08%) with acquired loss of chromosome Y (LOY). Individuals with clonal mosaic events (mCA and/or LOY) showed a 54% increase in the risk of COVID-19 lethality. LOY is associated with transcriptomic biomarkers of immune dysfunction, pro-coagulation activity and cardiovascular risk. Interferon-induced genes involved in the initial immune response to SARS-CoV-2 are also down-regulated in LOY. Thus, mCA and LOY underlie at least part of the sex-biased severity and mortality of COVID-19 in aging patients. Given its potential therapeutic and prognostic relevance, evaluation of clonal mosaicism should be implemented as biomarker of COVID-19 severity in elderly people. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, individuals with clonal mosaic events (clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations and/or loss of chromosome Y) showed an increased risk of COVID-19 lethality

Evolving trends in the management of acute appendicitis during COVID-19 waves. The ACIE appy II study

Background: In 2020, ACIE Appy study showed that COVID-19 pandemic heavily affected the management of patients with acute appendicitis (AA) worldwide, with an increased rate of non-operative management (NOM) strategies and a trend toward open surgery due to concern of virus transmission by laparoscopy and controversial recommendations on this issue. The aim of this study was to survey again the same group of surgeons to assess if any difference in management attitudes of AA had occurred in the later stages of the outbreak. Methods: From August 15 to September 30, 2021, an online questionnaire was sent to all 709 participants of the ACIE Appy study. The questionnaire included questions on personal protective equipment (PPE), local policies and screening for SARS-CoV-2 infection, NOM, surgical approach and disease presentations in 2021. The results were compared with the results from the previous study. Results: A total of 476 answers were collected (response rate 67.1%). Screening policies were significatively improved with most patients screened regardless of symptoms (89.5% vs. 37.4%) with PCR and antigenic test as the preferred test (74.1% vs. 26.3%). More patients tested positive before surgery and commercial systems were the preferred ones to filter smoke plumes during laparoscopy. Laparoscopic appendicectomy was the first option in the treatment of AA, with a declined use of NOM. Conclusion: Management of AA has improved in the last waves of pandemic. Increased evidence regarding SARS-COV-2 infection along with a timely healthcare systems response has been translated into tailored attitudes and a better care for patients with AA worldwide