Learning Support and Auxiliary Services Committee report, 2016-2017

Annual report for a committee of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Faculty Senate

Satisfaction with a Family-focused Intervention for Mild Cognitive Impairment Dyads

Purpose This article describes satisfaction that persons with mild cognitive impairment (PwMCI) and their caregivers had with the Daily Enhancement of Meaningful Activity (DEMA) intervention. Methods This randomized controlled pilot study compared satisfaction (usefulness, ease of use, and acceptability) with DEMA (n = 17 dyads) to an information support (IS) control group (n = 19 dyads). Six biweekly sessions (two in person and four by telephone) were delivered by trained nurses. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, independent-sample t tests, and content analysis. Findings PwMCI receiving DEMA rated their satisfaction significantly higher (p = .033) than did the control group; there was no difference in satisfaction between caregivers across groups. Qualitative interview data supported the usefulness, ease of use, and acceptability of DEMA for both PwMCI and caregivers. Conclusions Results documented PwMCI's satisfaction with DEMA as implemented by nurses to support PwMCI–caregiver dyads’ engagement in meaningful activity. DEMA may need revision to increase satisfaction for caregivers. Clinical Relevance The DEMA intervention was evaluated as useful, easy to use, and acceptable to PwMCI and their caregivers based on positive mean ratings. The study findings provide preliminary support of DEMA as a means to improve quality of life by helping to support patient and caregiver engagement in meaningful activities and problem solving

py4DSTEM: a software package for multimodal analysis of four-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscopy datasets

Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) allows for imaging, diffraction, and spectroscopy of materials on length scales ranging from microns to atoms. By using a high-speed, direct electron detector, it is now possible to record a full 2D image of the diffracted electron beam at each probe position, typically a 2D grid of probe positions. These 4D-STEM datasets are rich in information, including signatures of the local structure, orientation, deformation, electromagnetic fields and other sample-dependent properties. However, extracting this information requires complex analysis pipelines, from data wrangling to calibration to analysis to visualization, all while maintaining robustness against imaging distortions and artifacts. In this paper, we present py4DSTEM, an analysis toolkit for measuring material properties from 4D-STEM datasets, written in the Python language and released with an open source license. We describe the algorithmic steps for dataset calibration and various 4D-STEM property measurements in detail, and present results from several experimental datasets. We have also implemented a simple and universal file format appropriate for electron microscopy data in py4DSTEM, which uses the open source HDF5 standard. We hope this tool will benefit the research community, helps to move the developing standards for data and computational methods in electron microscopy, and invite the community to contribute to this ongoing, fully open-source project

W Plus Multiple Jets at the LHC with High Energy Jets

We study the production of a W boson in association with n hard QCD jets (for n>=2), with a particular emphasis on results relevant for the Large Hadron Collider (7 TeV and 8 TeV). We present predictions for this process from High Energy Jets, a framework for all-order resummation of the dominant contributions from wide-angle QCD emissions. We first compare predictions against recent ATLAS data and then shift focus to observables and regions of phase space where effects beyond NLO are expected to be large.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figure

Barriers to exercise in people with Parkinson disease

BACKGROUND: Exercise is known to reduce disability and improve quality of life in people with Parkinson disease (PD). Although barriers to exercise have been studied in older adults, barriers in people with chronic progressive neurological diseases, such as PD, are not well defined. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to identify perceived barriers to exercise in people with PD. DESIGN: The study had a cross-sectional design. METHODS: People who had PD, dwelled in the community, and were at stage 2.4 on the Hoehn and Yahr scale participated in this cross-sectional study (N=260; mean age=67.7 years). Participants were divided into an exercise group (n=164) and a nonexercise group (n=96). Participants self-administered the barriers subscale of the Physical Fitness and Exercise Activity Levels of Older Adults Scale, endorsing or denying specific barriers to exercise participation. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to examine the contribution of each barrier to exercise behavior, and odds ratios were reported. RESULTS: Three barriers were retained in the multivariate regression model. The nonexercise group had significantly greater odds of endorsing low outcome expectation (ie, the participants did not expect to derive benefit from exercise) (odds ratio [OR]=3.93, 95% confidence interval [CI]=2.08–7.42), lack of time (OR=3.36, 95% CI=1.55–7.29), and fear of falling (OR=2.35, 95% CI=1.17–4.71) than the exercise group. LIMITATIONS: The cross-sectional nature of this study limited the ability to make causal inferences. CONCLUSIONS: Low outcome expectation from exercise, lack of time to exercise, and fear of falling appear to be important perceived barriers to engaging in exercise in people who have PD, are ambulatory, and dwell in the community. These may be important issues for physical therapists to target in people who have PD and do not exercise regularly. The efficacy of intervention strategies to facilitate exercise adherence in people with PD requires further investigation

Lepton flavour violation in the MSSM

We derive new constraints on the quantities delta_{XY}^{ij}, X,Y=L,R, which parametrise the flavour-off-diagonal terms of the charged slepton mass matrix in the MSSM. Considering mass and anomalous magnetic moment of the electron we obtain the bound |delta^{13}_{LL} delta^{13}_{RR}|<0.1 for tan beta=50, which involves the poorly constrained element delta^{13}_{RR}. We improve the predictions for the decays tau -> mu gamma, tau -> e gamma and mu -> e gamma by including two-loop corrections which are enhanced if tan beta is large. The finite renormalisation of the PMNS matrix from soft SUSY-breaking terms is derived and applied to the charged-Higgs-lepton vertex. We find that the experimental bound on BR(tau -> e gamma) severely limits the size of the MSSM loop correction to the PMNS element U_{e3}, which is important for the proper interpretation of a future U_{e3} measurement. Subsequently we confront our new values for delta^{ij}_{LL} with a GUT analysis. Further, we include the effects of dimension-5 Yukawa terms, which are needed to fix the Yukawa unification of the first two generations. If universal supersymmetry breaking occurs above the GUT scale, we find the flavour structure of the dimension-5 Yukawa couplings tightly constrained by mu -> e gamma.Comment: 37 pages, 15 figures; typo in Equation (35) and (49) correcte

Flavor Physics in an SO(10) Grand Unified Model

In supersymmetric grand-unified models, the lepton mixing matrix can possibly affect flavor-changing transitions in the quark sector. We present a detailed analysis of a model proposed by Chang, Masiero and Murayama, in which the near-maximal atmospheric neutrino mixing angle governs large new b -> s transitions. Relating the supersymmetric low-energy parameters to seven new parameters of this SO(10) GUT model, we perform a correlated study of several flavor-changing neutral current (FCNC) processes. We find the current bound on B(tau -> mu gamma) more constraining than B(B -> X_s gamma). The LEP limit on the lightest Higgs boson mass implies an important lower bound on tan beta, which in turn limits the size of the new FCNC transitions. Remarkably, the combined analysis does not rule out large effects in B_s-B_s-bar mixing and we can easily accomodate the large CP phase in the B_s-B_s-bar system which has recently been inferred from a global analysis of CDF and DO data. The model predicts a particle spectrum which is different from the popular Constrained Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (CMSSM). B(tau -> mu gamma) enforces heavy masses, typically above 1 TeV, for the sfermions of the degenerate first two generations. However, the ratio of the third-generation and first-generation sfermion masses is smaller than in the CMSSM and a (dominantly right-handed) stop with mass below 500 GeV is possible.Comment: 44 pages, 5 figures. Footnote and references added, minor changes, Fig. 2 corrected; journal versio

Aromatase inhibitors as adjuvant therapy for postmenopausal women: a therapeutic advance but many unresolved questions

Adjuvant hormonal therapy for postmenopausal women with early stage breast cancer has become far more complex over the past several years. This commentary reviews the current status of the five major trials evaluating the use of the aromatase inhibitors in the adjuvant setting. The data currently available suggest that the aromatase inhibitors are efficacious either as upfront therapy or after a course of tamoxifen. Ongoing trials will compare these approaches and guide the use of these agents in the years to come

Local-regional recurrence in women with small node-negative, HER2-positive breast cancer: results from a prospective multi-institutional study (the APT trial).

PurposeWomen with HER2-positive breast cancer treated prior to effective anti-HER2 therapy have higher rates of local-regional recurrence (LRR) than those with HER2-negative disease. Effective systemic therapy, however, has been shown to decrease LRR. This study examines LRR in women with HER2-positive breast cancer treated on a single-arm prospective multicenter trial of adjuvant trastuzumab (H) and paclitaxel (T).MethodsPatients with HER2-positive tumors ≤ 3.0 cm with negative axillary nodes or micrometastatic disease were eligible. Systemic therapy included weekly T and H for 12 weeks followed by continuation of H to complete 1 year. Radiation therapy (RT) was required following breast-conserving surgery (BCS), but dose and fields were not specified. Disease-free survival (DFS) and LRR-free survival were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method.ResultsOf the 410 patients enrolled from September 2007 to September 2010, 406 initiated protocol therapy and formed the basis of this analysis. A total of 272 (67%) had hormone receptor-positive tumors. Of 162 patients undergoing mastectomy, local therapy records were unavailable for two. None of the 160 for whom records were available received RT. Among 244 BCS patients, detailed RT records were available for 217 (89%). With a median follow-up of 6.5 years, 7-year DFS was 93.3% (95% CI 90.4-96.2), and LRR-free survival was 98.6% (95% CI 97.4-99.8).ConclusionLRR in this select group of early-stage patients with HER2-positive disease receiving effective anti-HER2 therapy is extremely low. If confirmed in additional studies, future investigational efforts should focus on de-escalating local therapy