826 research outputs found
Respiratory failure presenting in H1N1 influenza with Legionnaires disease: two case reports
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Media sensationalism on the H1N1 outbreak may have influenced decisional processes and clinical diagnosis.</p> <p>Case Presentation</p> <p>We report two cases of patients who presented in 2009 with coexisting H1N1 virus and Legionella infections: a 69-year-old Caucasian man and a 71-year-old Caucasian woman. In our cases all the signs and symptoms, including vomiting, progressive respiratory disease leading to respiratory failure, refractory hypoxemia, leukopenia, lymphopenia, thrombocytopenia, and elevated levels of creatine kinase and hepatic aminotransferases, were consistent with critical illness due to 2009 H1N1 virus infection. Other infectious disorders may mimic H1N1 viral infection especially Legionnaires' disease. Because the swine flu H1N1 pandemic occurred in Autumn in Italy, Legionnaires disease was to be highly suspected since the peak incidence usually occurs in early fall. We do think that our immediate suspicion of Legionella infection based on clinical history and X-ray abnormalities was fundamental for a successful resolution.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our two case reports suggest that patients with H1N1 should be screened for Legionella, which is not currently common practice. This is particularly important since the signs and symptoms of both infections are similar.</p
Linear, Deterministic, and Order-Invariant Initialization Methods for the K-Means Clustering Algorithm
Over the past five decades, k-means has become the clustering algorithm of
choice in many application domains primarily due to its simplicity, time/space
efficiency, and invariance to the ordering of the data points. Unfortunately,
the algorithm's sensitivity to the initial selection of the cluster centers
remains to be its most serious drawback. Numerous initialization methods have
been proposed to address this drawback. Many of these methods, however, have
time complexity superlinear in the number of data points, which makes them
impractical for large data sets. On the other hand, linear methods are often
random and/or sensitive to the ordering of the data points. These methods are
generally unreliable in that the quality of their results is unpredictable.
Therefore, it is common practice to perform multiple runs of such methods and
take the output of the run that produces the best results. Such a practice,
however, greatly increases the computational requirements of the otherwise
highly efficient k-means algorithm. In this chapter, we investigate the
empirical performance of six linear, deterministic (non-random), and
order-invariant k-means initialization methods on a large and diverse
collection of data sets from the UCI Machine Learning Repository. The results
demonstrate that two relatively unknown hierarchical initialization methods due
to Su and Dy outperform the remaining four methods with respect to two
objective effectiveness criteria. In addition, a recent method due to Erisoglu
et al. performs surprisingly poorly.Comment: 21 pages, 2 figures, 5 tables, Partitional Clustering Algorithms
(Springer, 2014). arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with
arXiv:1304.7465, arXiv:1209.196
Conducting a large, multi-site survey about patients' views on broad consent: challenges and solutions
BACKGROUND: As biobanks play an increasing role in the genomic research that will lead to precision medicine, input from diverse and large populations of patients in a variety of health care settings will be important in order to successfully carry out such studies. One important topic is participantsâ views towards consent and data sharing, especially since the 2011 Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM), and subsequently the 2015 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) were issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). These notices required that participants consent to research uses of their de-identified tissue samples and most clinical data, and allowing such consent be obtained in a one-time, open-ended or âbroadâ fashion. Conducting a survey across multiple sites provides clear advantages to either a single site survey or using a large online database, and is a potentially powerful way of understanding the views of diverse populations on this topic.
METHODS: A workgroup of the Electronic Medical Records and Genomics (eMERGE) Network, a national consortium of 9 sites (13 separate institutions, 11 clinical centers) supported by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) that combines DNA biorepositories with electronic medical record (EMR) systems for large-scale genetic research, conducted a survey to understand patientsâ views on consent, sample and data sharing for future research, biobank governance, data protection, and return of research results.
RESULTS: Working across 9 sites to design and conduct a national survey presented challenges in organization, meeting human subjects guidelines at each institution, and survey development and implementation. The challenges were met through a committee structure to address each aspect of the project with representatives from all sites. Each committeeâs output was integrated into the overall survey plan. A number of site-specific issues were successfully managed allowing the survey to be developed and implemented uniformly across 11 clinical centers.
CONCLUSIONS: Conducting a survey across a number of institutions with different cultures and practices is a methodological and logistical challenge. With a clear infrastructure, collaborative attitudes, excellent lines of communication, and the right expertise, this can be accomplished successfully
Programa de intervenciĂłn en representaciones de creatividad y motivaciĂłn acadĂŠmica de adolescentes
Creativity and its promotion are widespread concerns in education. However, few efforts have been made to implement
intervention programs designed to promote creativity and other related aspects (e.g., academic motivation). The Future Problem Solving
Program International (FPSPI), aimed for training creativity representations and creative problem solving skills in young people, has
been one of the most implemented programs. This interventionâs materials and activities were adapted for Portuguese students, and
a longitudinal study was conducted. The program was implemented during four months, in weekly sessions, by thirteen teachers.
Teachers received previous training for the program and during the programâs implementation. Intervention participants included
77 Basic and Secondary Education students, and control participants included 78 equivalent students. Pretest-posttest measures of
academic motivation and creativity representations were collected. Results suggest a significant increase, in the intervention group,
in motivation and the appropriate representations of creativity. Practical implications and future research perspectives are presented.A criatividade e sua promoção geram grande preocupação em educação. Contudo, poucos esforços têm existido para
implementar programas destinados a sua promoção e de outros aspetos relacionados (e.g., motivação acadêmica). O Future Problem
Solving Program International (FPSPI), criado para melhorar as representaçþes de criatividade e a resolução criativa de problemas
em jovens, tem sido um dos mais implementados. Os seus materiais e atividades foram adaptados para estudantes portugueses,
efetuando-se um estudo longitudinal. O programa foi implementado durante quatro meses, semanalmente, por treze professores, que
receberam formação antes e durante a implementação. O grupo experimental incluiu 77 estudantes do Ensino Båsico e Secundårio,
apresentando o grupo de controlo 78 estudantes com caracterĂsticas equivalentes. Os dados sobre a motivação e criatividade foram
recolhidos num prÊ e pós-teste. Os resultados sugerem um aumento significativo na motivação e crenças apropriadas de criatividade
no grupo experimental. Implicaçþes pråticas e perspectivas para investigaçþes futuras são apresentadas.La creatividad y su promoción generan gran preocupación en educación. Sin embargo, han sido llevados a cabo pocos
esfuerzos para implementar programas de promociĂłn de la creatividad y otros aspectos (e.g., motivaciĂłn acadĂŠmica). El Future
Problem Solving Program International (FPSPI), creado para mejorar las representaciones de creatividad y la soluciĂłn creativa de
problemas en jĂłvenes, ha sido bastante implementado. Se adaptaron sus materiales y actividades para estudiantes portugueses, y
se desarrollĂł un estudio longitudinal. El programa se implementĂł semanalmente durante cuatro meses por trece profesores, que
recibieron formaciĂłn antes y durante la implementaciĂłn. El grupo experimental incluyĂł 77 estudiantes de EducaciĂłn Primaria y
Secundaria y el grupo de control incluyĂł 78 estudiantes con caracterĂsticas semejantes. Los datos de motivaciĂłn y creatividad fueron
recogidos en un pre y post-test, sugiriendo un aumento significativo de motivaciĂłn y creencias apropiadas sobre la creatividad en el
grupo experimental. Se presentan implicaciones pråcticas y perspectivas para futuras investigaciones.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - SFRH/BPD/80825/201
Measurement properties of the Dizziness Handicap Inventory by cross-sectional and longitudinal designs
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens
Measurement of the Forward-Backward Asymmetry in the B -> K(*) mu+ mu- Decay and First Observation of the Bs -> phi mu+ mu- Decay
We reconstruct the rare decays , , and in a data sample
corresponding to collected in collisions at
by the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron
Collider. Using and decays we report the branching ratios. In addition, we report
the measurement of the differential branching ratio and the muon
forward-backward asymmetry in the and decay modes, and the
longitudinal polarization in the decay mode with respect to the squared
dimuon mass. These are consistent with the theoretical prediction from the
standard model, and most recent determinations from other experiments and of
comparable accuracy. We also report the first observation of the {\mathcal{B}}(B^0_s \to
\phi\mu^+\mu^-) = [1.44 \pm 0.33 \pm 0.46] \times 10^{-6}27 \pm 6B^0_s$ decay observed.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, 3 tables. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Measurements of the properties of Lambda_c(2595), Lambda_c(2625), Sigma_c(2455), and Sigma_c(2520) baryons
We report measurements of the resonance properties of Lambda_c(2595)+ and
Lambda_c(2625)+ baryons in their decays to Lambda_c+ pi+ pi- as well as
Sigma_c(2455)++,0 and Sigma_c(2520)++,0 baryons in their decays to Lambda_c+
pi+/- final states. These measurements are performed using data corresponding
to 5.2/fb of integrated luminosity from ppbar collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV,
collected with the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron. Exploiting the
largest available charmed baryon sample, we measure masses and decay widths
with uncertainties comparable to the world averages for Sigma_c states, and
significantly smaller uncertainties than the world averages for excited
Lambda_c+ states.Comment: added one reference and one table, changed order of figures, 17
pages, 15 figure
Search for a New Heavy Gauge Boson Wprime with Electron + missing ET Event Signature in ppbar collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV
We present a search for a new heavy charged vector boson decaying
to an electron-neutrino pair in collisions at a center-of-mass
energy of 1.96\unit{TeV}. The data were collected with the CDF II detector
and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 5.3\unit{fb}^{-1}. No
significant excess above the standard model expectation is observed and we set
upper limits on . Assuming standard
model couplings to fermions and the neutrino from the boson decay to
be light, we exclude a boson with mass less than
1.12\unit{TeV/}c^2 at the 95\unit{%} confidence level.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures Submitted to PR
Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS
has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions
at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection
criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined.
For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a
muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the
whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4,
while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The
efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than
90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall
momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The
transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity
for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be
better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions
of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO
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