Response rates for mailout survey-driven studies in patients with head and neck cancer

Background: Mailout survey studies are becoming more prevalent in the head and neck literature. The objective of this paper is to summarize response rates in patients with head and neck cancer, and to provide recommendations surrounding methodology used to design and implement mailout survey questionnaires. Methods: The results of this paper are from a study assessing the measurement properties of the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand Questionnaire (DASH) in head and neck cancer patients. A modified Dillman tailored design approach was used. Results: The methods used yielded a response rate of 80% with this patient population. Conclusion: This is a considerably higher response rate than other reports in the oncology literature. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck, 2010Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78489/1/21363_ftp.pd

Fiber-Fed Laser-Heated Process for Printing Transparent Glass

This paper presents the Additive Manufacturing (AM) of glass using a fiber-fed process. Glass fiber with a diameter of 100 μm is fed into a laser generated melt pool. A CO2 laser beam is focused on the intersection between the fiber and the work piece which is positioned on a four-axis computer controlled stage. The laser energy at λ=10.6 μm is directly absorbed by the silica and locally heats the glass above the working point. By carefully controlling the laser power, scan speed, and feed rate, bubble free shapes can be deposited including trusses and basic lenses. Issues unique to the process are discussed, including the thermal breakdown of the glass, buckling of the fiber against an inadequately heated stiff molten region, and dimensional control when depositing viscous material

Bubble Formation in Additive Manufacturing of Borosilicate Glass

Entrapped bubbles are an important problem in conventional glass manufacturing. It is also a significant factor determining the quality of glass products produced using additive manufacturing (AM). This paper reports on the bubble formation and entrapment in filament-fed AM printing of borosilicate glass. This process involves maintaining a local molten region using a CO2 laser. A 2 mm filament is fed continuously into the molten region while CNC stages position the workpiece relative to the laser and filament feed. Two different bubble regimes are identified in experiments with borosilicate glass. These regimes can be related to different physical phenomena, specifically, bubble entrapment at defects in the filaments and bubble formation due to reboil. These can be overcome by selecting defect free filaments and by minimizing the temperature inside the molten region to prevent breaking down the glass. Understanding these mechanisms allows bubble-free glass to be printed. Finally, residual stress in the deposited glass pieces is removed using post-deposition annealing and validated using a polariscope

Additive Manufacturing of Transparent Fused Quartz

This paper investigates a filament-fed process for additive manufacturing (AM) of fused quartz. Glasses such as fused quartz have significant scientific and engineering applications, which include optics, communications, electronics, and hermetic seals. AM has several attractive benefits such as increased design freedom, faster prototyping, and lower processing costs for small production volumes. However, current research into glass AM has focused primarily on nonoptical applications. Fused quartz is studied here because of its desirability for use in high-quality optics due to its high transmissivity and thermal stability. Fused quartz filaments are fed into a CO2 laser-generated molten region, smoothly depositing material onto the workpiece. Spectroscopy and pyrometry are used to measure the thermal radiation incandescently emitted from the molten region. The effects of the laser power and scan speed are determined by measuring the morphology of single tracks. Thin walls are printed to study the effects of layer-to-layer height. This information is used to deposit solid pieces including a cylindrical-convex shape capable of focusing visible light. The transmittance and index homogeneity of the printed fused quartz are measured. These results show that the filament-fed process has the potential to print transmissive optics

Assessment of the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) questionnaire for use in patients after neck dissection for head and neck cancer

BackgroundIn this cross‐sectional study, the sensibility, test‐retest reliability, and validity of the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) questionnaire were assessed in patients who underwent neck dissection.MethodsSensibility was assessed with a questionnaire. Test‐retest reliability was performed with completion of the DASH questionnaire 2 weeks after initial completion; validity, by evaluating differences in scores between patients undergoing different types of neck dissections and correlating DASH scores with Neck Dissection Impairment Index (NDII) scores.ResultsThe DASH questionnaire met sensibility criteria. For test‐retest reliability analysis, the intraclass coefficient was 0.91. The DASH questionnaire showed differences between patients who underwent accessory nerve‐sacrifice and nerve‐sparing neck dissection. DASH questionnaire scores strongly correlated with NDII scores (r = ‐0.86).ConclusionAlthough this study provides preliminary data on some psychometric properties of the DASH questionnaire in patients who have undergone a neck dissection, further assessment of responsiveness and other properties are required. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 37: 234‐242, 2015Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110617/1/hed23593.pd

Precalibrating an intermediate complexity climate model

Credible climate predictions require a rational quantification of uncertainty, but full Bayesian calibration requires detailed estimates of prior probability distributions and covariances, which are difficult to obtain in practice. We describe a simplified procedure, termed precalibration, which provides an approximate quantification of uncertainty in climate prediction, and requires only that uncontroversially implausible values of certain inputs and outputs are identified. The method is applied to intermediate-complexity model simulations of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) and confirms the existence of a cliff-edge catastrophe in freshwaterforcing input space. When uncertainty in 14 further parameters is taken into account, an implausible, AMOC-off, region remains as a robust feature of the model dynamics, but its location is found to depend strongly on values of the other parameters

Burst and persistent emission properties during the recent active episode of the anomalous x-ray pulsar 1E 1841-045

Copyright American Astronomical SocietyThe Swift/Burst Alert Telescope detected the first burst from 1E 1841-045 in 2010 May with intermittent burst activity recorded through at least 2011 July. Here we present Swift and Fermi/Gamma-ray Burst Monitor observations of this burst activity and search for correlated changes to the persistent X-ray emission of the source. The T-90 durations of the bursts range between 18 and 140 ms, comparable to other magnetar burst durations, while the energy released in each burst ranges between (0.8-25) x 10(38) erg, which is on the low side of soft gamma repeater bursts. We find that the bursting activity did not have a significant effect on the persistent flux level of the source. We argue that the mechanism leading to this sporadic burst activity in 1E 1841-045 might not involve large-scale restructuring (either crustal or magnetospheric) as seen in other magnetar sources.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Reimagining Restitution: New Approaches to Support Youth and Communities

Courts began ordering youth restitution in the 1960s as a less restrictive sanction than probation or incarceration for mostly white youth. Since then, restitution has been linked to higher recidivism rates and heightened racial and economic disparities in the juvenile justice system. This report provides an overview of the historical and current landscape of restitution imposed on youth, the impact of restitution on youth, victims and communities, and provides recommendations for how jurisdictions can reimagine restitution

Leukocyte Count and Intracerebral Hemorrhage Expansion

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Acute leukocytosis is a well-established response to intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). Leukocytes, because of their interaction with platelets and coagulation factors, may in turn play a role in hemostasis. We investigated whether admission leukocytosis was associated with reduced bleeding following acute ICH. METHODS: Consecutive patients with primary ICH were prospectively collected from 1994 to 2015 and retrospectively analyzed. We included subjects with a follow-up CT scan available and automated complete white blood cell (WBC) count performed within 48 h from onset. Baseline and follow-up hematoma volumes were calculated with semi-automated software and hematoma expansion was defined as volume increase > 30% or 6 mL. The association between WBC count and ICH expansion was investigated with multivariate logistic regression. RESULTS: 1302 subjects met eligibility criteria (median age 75 years, 55.8 % males), of whom 207 (15.9 %) experienced hematoma expansion. Higher leukocyte count on admission was associated with reduced risk of hematoma expansion (Odds Ratio for 1000 cells increase [OR] 0.91, 95 % Confidence Interval [CI] 0.86–0.96, p=0.001). The risk of hematoma expansion was inversely associated with neutrophil count (OR 0.90, 95 % CI 0.85–0.96, p=0.001) and directly associated with monocyte count (OR 2.71, 95 % CI 1.08–6.83, p=0.034). There was no association between lymphocyte count and ICH expansion (OR 0.96, 95 % CI 0.79–1.17, p=0.718). CONCLUSIONS: Higher admission WBC count is associated with lower risk of hematoma expansion. This highlights a potential role of the inflammatory response in modulating the coagulation cascade following acute ICH

Autoantibodies Produced at the Site of Tissue Damage Provide Evidence of Humoral Autoimmunity in Inclusion Body Myositis

Inclusion body myositis (IBM) belongs to a group of muscle diseases known as the inflammatory myopathies. The presence of antibody-secreting plasma cells in IBM muscle implicates the humoral immune response in this disease. However, whether the humoral immune response actively contributes to IBM pathology has not been established. We sought to investigate whether the humoral immune response in IBM both in the periphery and at the site of tissue damage was directed towards self-antigens. Peripheral autoantibodies present in IBM serum but not control serum recognized self-antigens in both muscle tissue and human-derived cell lines. To study the humoral immune response at the site of tissue damage in IBM patients, we isolated single plasma cells directly from IBM-derived muscle tissue sections and from these cells, reconstructed a series of recombinant immunoglobulins (rIgG). These rIgG, each representing a single muscle-associated plasma cell, were examined for reactivity to self-antigens. Both, flow cytometry and immunoblotting revealed that these rIgG recognized antigens expressed by cell lines and in muscle tissue homogenates. Using a mass spectrometry-based approach, Desmin, a major intermediate filament protein, expressed abundantly in muscle tissue, was identified as the target of one IBM muscle-derived rIgG. Collectively, these data support the view that IBM includes a humoral immune response in both the periphery and at the site of tissue damage that is directed towards self-antigens