Delivering evidence-based interventions for type 1 diabetes in the virtual world - A review of UK practice during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

Funder: Abbott Diabetes CareFunder: SanofiFunder: Novo NordiskFunder: MedtronicAIMS: This review considers the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on access to interventions for those living with type 1 diabetes and discusses the solutions which have been considered and actioned to ensure ongoing access care. METHODS: We performed a focussed review of the published literature, and the guidelines for changes that have been effected during the pandemic. We also drew from expert recommendations and information about local practice changes for areas where formal data have not been published. RESULTS: Evidence based interventions which support the achievement of improved glucose levels and/or reduction in hypoglycaemia include group structured education to support self-management, insulin pump therapy and continuous glucose monitoring. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic had impacted the ability of diabetes services to deliver these intervention. Multiple adaptations have been put in place - transition to online delivery of education and care, and usage of diabetes technology. CONCLUSIONS: Although various adaptations have been made during the pandemic that have positively influenced uptake of services, there are many areas of delivery that need immediate improvement in the UK. We recommend a proactive approach in recognising the digital divide and inequity in distribution of these changes and we recommend introducing measures to reduce them

Delivering evidence-based interventions for type 1 diabetes in the virtual world - A review of UK practice during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

Funder: Abbott Diabetes CareFunder: SanofiFunder: Novo NordiskFunder: MedtronicAIMS: This review considers the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on access to interventions for those living with type 1 diabetes and discusses the solutions which have been considered and actioned to ensure ongoing access care. METHODS: We performed a focussed review of the published literature, and the guidelines for changes that have been effected during the pandemic. We also drew from expert recommendations and information about local practice changes for areas where formal data have not been published. RESULTS: Evidence based interventions which support the achievement of improved glucose levels and/or reduction in hypoglycaemia include group structured education to support self-management, insulin pump therapy and continuous glucose monitoring. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic had impacted the ability of diabetes services to deliver these intervention. Multiple adaptations have been put in place - transition to online delivery of education and care, and usage of diabetes technology. CONCLUSIONS: Although various adaptations have been made during the pandemic that have positively influenced uptake of services, there are many areas of delivery that need immediate improvement in the UK. We recommend a proactive approach in recognising the digital divide and inequity in distribution of these changes and we recommend introducing measures to reduce them

Perturbations of nuclear C*-algebras

Kadison and Kastler introduced a natural metric on the collection of all C*-subalgebras of the bounded operators on a separable Hilbert space. They conjectured that sufficiently close algebras are unitarily conjugate. We establish this conjecture when one algebra is separable and nuclear. We also consider one-sided versions of these notions, and we obtain embeddings from certain near inclusions involving separable nuclear C*-algebras. At the end of the paper we demonstrate how our methods lead to improved characterisations of some of the types of algebras that are of current interest in the classification programme.Comment: 45 page

Some considerations for the communication of results of air pollution health effects tracking

Communicating effectively and efficiently on air quality and its health impacts is an important but difficult and complex task. It requires careful consideration of the audience one wants to reach, the messages one is trying to present, the venue through which the message will be delivered. The audience, context, technique, and content factors may affect how well it is heard and how appropriately it is interpreted. In this short paper, I describe many of these concerns and provide some suggestions for how best to address them. However, since every audience differs in goals, characteristics, and nature, what is most important is implementing an effective communications program. This program should include frequent two-way communication, repeated and on-going evaluation of how well the audience understands the messages, and consideration of how to improve the delivery

Lifting defects for nonstable K_0-theory of exchange rings and C*-algebras

The assignment (nonstable K_0-theory), that to a ring R associates the monoid V(R) of Murray-von Neumann equivalence classes of idempotent infinite matrices with only finitely nonzero entries over R, extends naturally to a functor. We prove the following lifting properties of that functor: (1) There is no functor F, from simplicial monoids with order-unit with normalized positive homomorphisms to exchange rings, such that VF is equivalent to the identity. (2) There is no functor F, from simplicial monoids with order-unit with normalized positive embeddings to C*-algebras of real rank 0 (resp., von Neumann regular rings), such that VF is equivalent to the identity. (3) There is a {0,1}^3-indexed commutative diagram D of simplicial monoids that can be lifted, with respect to the functor V, by exchange rings and by C*-algebras of real rank 1, but not by semiprimitive exchange rings, thus neither by regular rings nor by C*-algebras of real rank 0. By using categorical tools from an earlier paper (larders, lifters, CLL), we deduce that there exists a unital exchange ring of cardinality aleph three (resp., an aleph three-separable unital C*-algebra of real rank 1) R, with stable rank 1 and index of nilpotence 2, such that V(R) is the positive cone of a dimension group and V(R) is not isomorphic to V(B) for any ring B which is either a C*-algebra of real rank 0 or a regular ring.Comment: 34 pages. Algebras and Representation Theory, to appea

Adaptive pairs trading strategy performance in Turkish derivatives exchange with the companies listed on Istanbul stock exchange

Due to copyright restrictions, the access to the full text of this article is only available via subscription.We implemented model-driven statistical arbitrage strategies in Turkish equities market. Trading signals are generated by optimized parameters of distance method. When the trade in signal is triggered by the model, market-neutral portfolio is created by long in the synthetic ETF, which is based on constrained least squares regression of selected Istanbul Stock Exchange stocks and short in Turkish Derivatives Exchange (Turkdex) index futures contract. We performed pairs trading strategy based on a comparative mean reversion of asset prices with daily data over the period February 2005 through July 2011 in Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) and Turkdex. We constructed a hypothetical ISE30 ETF Index on a daily basis in order to originate pairs trading strategy with Turkdex. Because of the leverage rule of (1–10) index futures contracts, we had to evaluate spot stock pairs formation with futures contracts pairs strategy. The results indicate that applied pairs strategy produced overall returns of 901 per cent during the investment period, whereas naive strategy (buy and hold ISE-30 index) return for the same period was 111 per cent. Similar outperformance was observed in the Sharpe and Sortino ratios

“I Think I Became a Swimmer Rather than Just Someone with a Disability Swimming Up and Down”: Paralympic Athletes Perceptions of Self and Identity Development

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in Disability and Rehabilitation on 27 September 2016, available online at:DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2016.1217074.Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the role of swimming on Paralympic athletes’ perceptions of self and identity development. Method: A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was taken. During semi-structured interviews five Paralympic swimmers (aged 20-24 years) were asked questions about their swimming career, perceptions of self, integration, and impairment. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Results: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis1 yielded three superordinate themes: a) ‘One of the crowd’; none of the participants viewed themselves as disabled, nor as supercrips; these perceptions stemmed from family-, school-, and swimming- related experiences, b) ‘Becoming me’; participation in swimming facilitated self- and social-acceptance, and identity development, and c) ‘A badge of honour’; swimming presented opportunity to present and reinforce a positive identity. Conclusions: Swimming experiences enabled the participants to enhance personal and social identities, integrate through pro-social mechanisms, and to develop a career path following retirement from competition.through pro-social mechanisms, and to develop a career path following retirement from competition.Peer reviewe

Exploring Difference or Just Watching the Experts at Work? Interrogating Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) in a Cancer Research Setting Using the Work of Jurgen Habermas

Patient and public involvement (PPI) has emerged as a key consideration for organisations delivering health research and has spawned a burgeoning literature in the health and social sciences. The literature makes clear that PPI in health research encompasses a heterogeneous set of practices with levels of participation and involvement ranging from relatively minimal contributions to research processes to actively driving the research agenda. In this paper, we draw on the work of Jurgen Habermas to explore the ways in which PPI was accomplished in a cancer research setting in England. Drawing on ethnographic data with PPI participants and professional researchers, we describe the ways in which the life-world experiences of PPI participants were shaped by the health research system. We argue that PPI in this setting is less about exploring differences with regard to a plurality of expertise and more about simply watching or supporting the professional researchers at work

Does familial risk for alcohol use disorder predict alcohol hangover?

Positive family history of alcohol use disorder (FHP), a variable associated with propensity for alcohol use disorder (AUD), has been linked with elevated hangover frequency and severity, after controlling for alcohol use. This implies that hangover experiences may be related to AUD. However, inadequate control of alcohol consumption levels, low alcohol dose and testing for hangover during the intoxication phase detract from these findings. Here, we present further data pertinent to understanding the relationship between family history and alcohol hangover. Study 1 compared past year hangover frequency in a survey of 24 FHP and 118 family history negative (FHN) individuals. Study 2 applied a quasi-experimental naturalistic approach assessing concurrent hangover severity in 17 FHP and 32 FHN individuals the morning after drinking alcohol. Both studies applied statistical control for alcohol consumption levels. In Study 1, both FHP status and estimated blood alcohol concentration on the heaviest drinking evening of the past month predicted the frequency of hangover symptoms experienced over the previous 12 months. In Study 2, estimated blood alcohol concentration the previous evening predicted hangover severity but FHP status did not. FHP, indicating familial risk for AUD, was not associated with concurrent hangover severity but was associated with increased estimates of hangover frequency the previous year

The quest for the solar g modes

Solar gravity modes (or g modes) -- oscillations of the solar interior for which buoyancy acts as the restoring force -- have the potential to provide unprecedented inference on the structure and dynamics of the solar core, inference that is not possible with the well observed acoustic modes (or p modes). The high amplitude of the g-mode eigenfunctions in the core and the evanesence of the modes in the convection zone make the modes particularly sensitive to the physical and dynamical conditions in the core. Owing to the existence of the convection zone, the g modes have very low amplitudes at photospheric levels, which makes the modes extremely hard to detect. In this paper, we review the current state of play regarding attempts to detect g modes. We review the theory of g modes, including theoretical estimation of the g-mode frequencies, amplitudes and damping rates. Then we go on to discuss the techniques that have been used to try to detect g modes. We review results in the literature, and finish by looking to the future, and the potential advances that can be made -- from both data and data-analysis perspectives -- to give unambiguous detections of individual g modes. The review ends by concluding that, at the time of writing, there is indeed a consensus amongst the authors that there is currently no undisputed detection of solar g modes.Comment: 71 pages, 18 figures, accepted by Astronomy and Astrophysics Revie