Are Bone and Muscle Changes from POWER PE, an 8-month In-school Jumping Intervention, Maintained at Three Years?

Our aim was to determine if the musculoskeletal benefits of a twice-weekly, school-based, jumping regime in healthy adolescent boys and girls were maintained three years later. Subjects of the original POWER PE trial (n = 99) were contacted and asked to undergo retesting three years after cessation of the intervention. All original measures were completed including: sitting height, standing height, weight, calcaneal broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA), whole body, hip and spine bone mineral content (BMC), lean tissue mass, and fat mass. Physical activity was recorded with the bone-specific physical activity questionnaire (BPAQ) and calcium intake was estimated with a calcium-focussed food questionnaire. Maturity was determined by Tanner staging and estimation of the age of peak height velocity (PHV). Twenty-nine adolescents aged 17.3±0.4 years agreed to participate. Three years after the intervention, there were no differences in subject characteristics between control and intervention groups (p>0.05). Three-year change in weight, lean mass, and fat mass were similar between groups (p>0.05). There were no significant group differences in three-year change in BUA or BMC at any site (p>0.05), although the between-group difference in femoral neck BMC at follow-up exceeded the least significant change. While significant group differences were not observed three years after cessation of the intervention, changes in bone parameters occurred in parallel for intervention and control groups such that the original benefits of the intervention observed within the treatment group were sustained

Measuring co-authorship and networking-adjusted scientific impact

Appraisal of the scientific impact of researchers, teams and institutions with productivity and citation metrics has major repercussions. Funding and promotion of individuals and survival of teams and institutions depend on publications and citations. In this competitive environment, the number of authors per paper is increasing and apparently some co-authors don't satisfy authorship criteria. Listing of individual contributions is still sporadic and also open to manipulation. Metrics are needed to measure the networking intensity for a single scientist or group of scientists accounting for patterns of co-authorship. Here, I define I1 for a single scientist as the number of authors who appear in at least I1 papers of the specific scientist. For a group of scientists or institution, In is defined as the number of authors who appear in at least In papers that bear the affiliation of the group or institution. I1 depends on the number of papers authored Np. The power exponent R of the relationship between I1 and Np categorizes scientists as solitary (R>2.5), nuclear (R=2.25-2.5), networked (R=2-2.25), extensively networked (R=1.75-2) or collaborators (R<1.75). R may be used to adjust for co-authorship networking the citation impact of a scientist. In similarly provides a simple measure of the effective networking size to adjust the citation impact of groups or institutions. Empirical data are provided for single scientists and institutions for the proposed metrics. Cautious adoption of adjustments for co-authorship and networking in scientific appraisals may offer incentives for more accountable co-authorship behaviour in published articles.Comment: 25 pages, 5 figure

Perivascular Epithelioid Cell Tumor (PEComa) of Abdominal Cavity from Falciform Ligament: A Case Report

We present a case of perivascular epithelioid cell tumors (PEComas) in the abdominal cavity at the falciform ligament. A 30-yr-old Korean man visited to hospital for the evaluation of a growing, palpable abdominal mass. He had felt the mass growing over 6 months. There was no family or personal history of tuberous sclerosis. The resected specimen showed a mass of 8.0×7.0×5.5 cm in size. Histological examination showed sheets of spindle-to-epithelioid cells with clear-to-eosinophilic cytoplasm. Immunohistochemically, tumor cells were positive for HMB-4 (gp100) and smooth muscle actin. They were also positive for the S-100, which is a marker of neurogenic and melanocytic tumors. Patient was treated with radical resection of tumor without any adjuvant therapy. He is well and on follow-up visits without tumor recurrence

Mesenteric panniculitis of the sigmoid colon: a case report and review of the literature

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Mesenteric panniculitis of the sigmoid colon is a rare occurrence in surgical practice. The aim of this article is to present a case of mesenteric panniculitis of the sigmoid colon and a short review of the literature.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We reviewed the hospital record of a 63-year-old man who presented with a palpable mass in the left abdomen and clinical signs of a partial bowel obstruction. The pre-operative impression was a possible cancer of the sigmoid colon. A laparotomy was performed through a midline incision. The mesentery was found to be markedly thickened, constricted and puckered. The normal architecture of the adipose tissue had been lost and replaced with an irregular nodular mass. The microscopic pathologic sections demonstrated a chronic reactive inflammatory process with an exuberant proliferation of fibroblasts and fibrocytes. The adipose tissue contained scattered areas of steatonecrosis with foci of lipid-laden macrophages, lymphocytes and plasma cells. The sigmoid colon and its mesocolon were resected. The postoperative course was uneventful and the patient was discharged in good condition, and followed up for the next two years.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Mesenteric panniculitis of sigmoid is an extremely rare entity of unknown origin in which the normal architecture of the mesentery is replaced by fibrosis, necrosis and calcification. On gross examination the alterations may be mistaken for a neoplastic process. A frozen section may be necessary for confirmation of the diagnosis. When the advanced inflammatory changes became irreversible and bowel obstruction occurs, resection may be indicated.</p

Preferred Reporting Items for a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Diagnostic Test Accuracy Studies: The PRISMA-DTA Statement.

This is the final version of the article. Available from American Medical Association via the DOI in this record.Importance: Systematic reviews of diagnostic test accuracy synthesize data from primary diagnostic studies that have evaluated the accuracy of 1 or more index tests against a reference standard, provide estimates of test performance, allow comparisons of the accuracy of different tests, and facilitate the identification of sources of variability in test accuracy. Objective: To develop the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) diagnostic test accuracy guideline as a stand-alone extension of the PRISMA statement. Modifications to the PRISMA statement reflect the specific requirements for reporting of systematic reviews and meta-analyses of diagnostic test accuracy studies and the abstracts for these reviews. Design: Established standards from the Enhancing the Quality and Transparency of Health Research (EQUATOR) Network were followed for the development of the guideline. The original PRISMA statement was used as a framework on which to modify and add items. A group of 24 multidisciplinary experts used a systematic review of articles on existing reporting guidelines and methods, a 3-round Delphi process, a consensus meeting, pilot testing, and iterative refinement to develop the PRISMA diagnostic test accuracy guideline. The final version of the PRISMA diagnostic test accuracy guideline checklist was approved by the group. Findings: The systematic review (produced 64 items) and the Delphi process (provided feedback on 7 proposed items; 1 item was later split into 2 items) identified 71 potentially relevant items for consideration. The Delphi process reduced these to 60 items that were discussed at the consensus meeting. Following the meeting, pilot testing and iterative feedback were used to generate the 27-item PRISMA diagnostic test accuracy checklist. To reflect specific or optimal contemporary systematic review methods for diagnostic test accuracy, 8 of the 27 original PRISMA items were left unchanged, 17 were modified, 2 were added, and 2 were omitted. Conclusions and Relevance: The 27-item PRISMA diagnostic test accuracy checklist provides specific guidance for reporting of systematic reviews. The PRISMA diagnostic test accuracy guideline can facilitate the transparent reporting of reviews, and may assist in the evaluation of validity and applicability, enhance replicability of reviews, and make the results from systematic reviews of diagnostic test accuracy studies more useful.The research was supported by grant 375751 from the Canadian Institute for Health Research; funding from the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health; funding from the Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies Group; funding from the University of Ottawa Department of Radiology Research Stipend Program; and funding from the National Institute for Health Research Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care South West Peninsula

Does Respondent Driven Sampling Alter the Social Network Composition and Health-Seeking Behaviors of Illicit Drug Users Followed Prospectively?

Respondent driven sampling (RDS) was originally developed to sample and provide peer education to injection drug users at risk for HIV. Based on the premise that drug users' social networks were maintained through sharing rituals, this peer-driven approach to disseminate educational information and reduce risk behaviors capitalizes and expands upon the norms that sustain these relationships. Compared with traditional outreach interventions, peer-driven interventions produce greater reductions in HIV risk behaviors and adoption of safer behaviors over time, however, control and intervention groups are not similarly recruited. As peer-recruitment may alter risk networks and individual risk behaviors over time, such comparison studies are unable to isolate the effect of a peer-delivered intervention. This analysis examines whether RDS recruitment (without an intervention) is associated with changes in health-seeking behaviors and network composition over 6 months. New York City drug users (N = 618) were recruited using targeted street outreach (TSO) and RDS (2006–2009). 329 non-injectors (RDS = 237; TSO = 92) completed baseline and 6-month surveys ascertaining demographic, drug use, and network characteristics. Chi-square and t-tests compared RDS- and TSO-recruited participants on changes in HIV testing and drug treatment utilization and in the proportion of drug using, sex, incarcerated and social support networks over the follow-up period. The sample was 66% male, 24% Hispanic, 69% black, 62% homeless, and the median age was 35. At baseline, the median network size was 3, 86% used crack, 70% used cocaine, 40% used heroin, and in the past 6 months 72% were tested for HIV and 46% were enrolled in drug treatment. There were no significant differences by recruitment strategy with respect to changes in health-seeking behaviors or network composition over 6 months. These findings suggest no association between RDS recruitment and changes in network composition or HIV risk, which supports prior findings from prospective HIV behavioral surveillance and intervention studies

Biased Saccadic Responses to Emotional Stimuli in Anxiety: An Antisaccade Study.

Research suggests that anxiety is maintained by an attentional bias to threat, and a growing base of evidence suggests that anxiety may additionally be associated with the deficient attentional processing of positive stimuli. The present study sought to examine whether such anxiety-linked attentional biases were associated with either stimulus driven or attentional control mechanisms of attentional selectivity. High and low trait anxious participants completed an emotional variant of an antisaccade task, in which they were required to prosaccade towards, or antisaccade away from a positive, neutral or threat stimulus, while eye movements were recorded. While low anxious participants were found to be slower to saccade in response to positive stimuli, irrespectively of whether a pro- or antisaccade was required, such a bias was absent in high anxious individuals. Analysis of erroneous antisaccades further revealed at trend level, that anxiety was associated with reduced peak velocity in response to threat. The findings suggest that anxiety is associated with the aberrant processing of positive stimuli, and greater compensatory efforts in the inhibition of threat. The findings further highlight the relevance of considering saccade peak velocity in the assessment of anxiety-linked attentional processing

Lattice Boltzmann simulations of soft matter systems

This article concerns numerical simulations of the dynamics of particles immersed in a continuum solvent. As prototypical systems, we consider colloidal dispersions of spherical particles and solutions of uncharged polymers. After a brief explanation of the concept of hydrodynamic interactions, we give a general overview over the various simulation methods that have been developed to cope with the resulting computational problems. We then focus on the approach we have developed, which couples a system of particles to a lattice Boltzmann model representing the solvent degrees of freedom. The standard D3Q19 lattice Boltzmann model is derived and explained in depth, followed by a detailed discussion of complementary methods for the coupling of solvent and solute. Colloidal dispersions are best described in terms of extended particles with appropriate boundary conditions at the surfaces, while particles with internal degrees of freedom are easier to simulate as an arrangement of mass points with frictional coupling to the solvent. In both cases, particular care has been taken to simulate thermal fluctuations in a consistent way. The usefulness of this methodology is illustrated by studies from our own research, where the dynamics of colloidal and polymeric systems has been investigated in both equilibrium and nonequilibrium situations.Comment: Review article, submitted to Advances in Polymer Science. 16 figures, 76 page

Globalisation, adjustment and the structural transformation of African economies?: the role of international financial institutions

Under the auspices of the World Bank and IMF, for almost two decades, sub-Saharan African countries have implemented structural adjustment, an orthodox package of economic reform measures. During this period there has been an unprecedented proliferation of technology investment and trade in the world economy. However sub-Saharan Africa has performed poorly under adjustment and has been largely marginalized from the international economy. The paper investigates the problems with the theoretical model underlying structural adjustment policies to explain why the model is not conducive to either African development or Africa’s increasing participation in the global economy. An example is used to illustrate the existence of an alternative set of policies that may be better suited for Africa

Absent otoacoustic emissions predict otitis media in young Aboriginal children: A birth cohort study in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children in an arid zone of Western Australia

AbstractBackground: Otitis media (OM) is the most common paediatric illness for which antibiotics areprescribed. In Australian Aboriginal children OM is frequently asymptomatic and starts at a youngerage, is more common and more likely to result in hearing loss than in non-Aboriginal children.Absent transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) may predict subsequent risk of OM.Methods: 100 Aboriginal and 180 non-Aboriginal children in a semi-arid zone of WesternAustralia were followed regularly from birth to age 2 years. Tympanometry was conducted atroutine field follow-up from age 3 months. Routine clinical examination by an ENT specialist wasto be done 3 times and hearing assessment by an audiologist twice. TEOAEs were measured at ages&lt;1 and 1–2 months. Cox proportional hazards model was used to investigate the associationbetween absent TEOAEs and subsequent risk of OM.Results: At routine ENT specialist clinics, OM was detected in 55% of 184 examinations inAboriginal children and 26% of 392 examinations in non-Aboriginal children; peak prevalence was72% at age 5–9 months in Aboriginal children and 40% at 10–14 months in non-Aboriginal children.Moderate-severe hearing loss was present in 32% of 47 Aboriginal children and 7% of 120 non-Aboriginal children aged 12 months or more.TEOAE responses were present in 90% (46/51) of Aboriginal children and 99% (120/121) of non-Aboriginal children aged &lt;1 month and in 62% (21/34) and 93% (108/116), respectively, inAboriginal and non-Aboriginal children at age 1–2 months. Aboriginal children who failed TEOAEat age 1–2 months were 2.6 times more likely to develop OM subsequently than those who passed.Overall prevalence of type B tympanograms at field follow-up was 50% (n = 78) in Aboriginalchildren and 20% (n = 95) in non-Aboriginal children