Optical coherence tomography:age estimation of <i>Calliphora vicina</i> pupae <i>in vivo</i>?

Necrophagous blowfly pupae are valuable contributors to the estimation of post-mortem interval, should an accurate age estimate be obtained. At present, this is reliant on a combination of rearing and destructive methods conducted on preserved samples, including morphological observation and gene expression analyses. This study demonstrates the use of optical coherence tomography (OCT) as a tool for in vivo morphological observation and pupal age estimation. Using a Michelson OCT microscope, alive and preserved four and ten-day old Calliphora vicina pupae were scanned in different orientations. Two and three-dimensional images were created. Morphological characteristics such as the brain, mouthparts and legs were identifiable in both living and preserved samples, with distinct differences noted between the two ages. Absorption of light by the puparium results in a vertical resolution of 1-2 mm, preventing observation of deeper tissues. The use of contrast agents or a longer wavelength laser would improve the images obtainable. At present, the data suggests OCT provides a primary view of external and internal morphology, which can be used to distinguish younger and older pupae for further analysis of age and PMI estimation

Are gauge symmetry transformations observable?

In a recent paper in the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Kosso discussed the observational status of continuous symmetries of physics. While we are in broad agreement with his approach, we disagree with his analysis. In the discussion of the status of gauge symmetry, a set of examples offered by ’t Hooft has influenced several philosophers, including Kosso; in all cases the interpretation of the examples is mistaken. In this paper we present our preferred approach to the empirical significance of symmetries, re-analysing the cases of gauge symmetry and general covariance

LONG-CHAIN POLYUNSATURATED FATTY ACID INTAKE AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO RED BLOOD CELL AND SERUM LONG-CHAIN POLYUNSATURATED FATTY ACIDS IN WOMEN AT HIGH RISK FOR BREAST CANCER

A higher ratio of omega-6 (n-6) to omega-3 (n-3) long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA) in breast tissue triglyceride (TG) has been correlated with increased risk of developing breast cancer. Before dietary recommendations can be made regarding n-3 PUFAs in relation to breast cancer risk reduction, a noninvasive biomarker must be identified so that further research can be done in larger populations. This pilot study compared LCPUFA intake to red blood cell (RBC) and plasma LCPUFAs in women at high risk for breast cancer. Women were screened (n=260) at the University of Kansas Medical Center Breast Cancer Prevention Center high-risk breast clinic. Eighty-six were eligible and of these 48 (58%) completed and returned the diet history questionnaire (DHQ). The mean age of the subjects was 47 ± 9.9 years, and the mean body mass index (BMI) was 25 ± 4.4. The mean 5-year Gail risk was 2.7 ± 2.2%. Twenty-two (48%) of the subjects were premenopausal and 24 (52%) were postmenopausal. Fifteen (33%) were taking an n-3 PUFA supplement (fish oil or flaxseed). Mean dietary intakes were 9.94 ± 4.9 g n-6/d and 1.26 ± 0.6 g n-3/d, with an n-6:n-3 ratio of approximately 9:1. Total phospholipid (PL) n-6 in RBC and plasma was 27.74 ± 3.44% and 33.92 ± 3.72%, respectively. Total PL n-3 in RBC and plasma was 5.59 ± 1.7% and 4.06 ± 1.19%, respectively. Plasma TG docasahexaenoic acid (DHA) was highly correlated with n-3 intake (r=0.53, p=<0.05). Women at the University of Kansas Medical Center Breast Cancer Prevention Center consume an n-6:n-3 LCPUFA ratio typical of the US population. RBC PL n-3s were significantly correlated to n-3, adding to the validity of both intake and biomarker assessment. Additional analyses will address whether breast tissue TG n-3 or n-6:n-3 ratio reflects a blood biomarker of n-3 or n-3:n-6 ratio

The Nuclear Threat: A Homeland Security Perspective

On December 8, 1987, the United States and Russia signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Since then, it has been a common misconception that this solidified the end of the Cold War and the Nuclear Arms Race. To this day, nuclear installations are plaguing bordering countries within the European Union. As a result, severe transnational issues become evident as transnational crime groups grow and technological advancements of terrorist groups continue to gain ground within the nuclear power threshold. Furthermore, countries within the Asian Peninsula and the Middle East continue to demonstrate nuclear prowess via mass media attention as a sense of glorification and societal threat. Since the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, four reviews of internal and external nuclear policies including the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Nuclear Posture Review have been completed by the United States. The purpose of each review is to assess nuclear threats and deploy policy initiatives to prevent adversary actions. The primary focus of this study was to establish a comprehensive qualitative analysis of the movement and illegal proliferation of nuclear material. The study highlights the dangers of the proliferation of both nuclear material and nuclear weapons by organized crime syndicates and terrorist groups and correlates their effect to important United States assets. This was completed through a comprehensive document analysis of missing nuclear material in conjunction with confiscated material found to be distributed by these groups. The results of this study provide the Department of Homeland Security resources in preventing nuclear proliferation by internal and external groups in an effort to assure the protection of United States critical infrastructure and key resources

Interventions for Sleep Disturbance in Bipolar Disorder.

Bipolar disorder is a severe and chronic disorder, ranked in the top 10 leading causes of disability worldwide. Sleep disturbances are strongly coupled with interepisode dysfunction and symptom worsening in bipolar disorder. Experimental studies suggest that sleep deprivation can trigger manic relapse. There is evidence that sleep deprivation can have an adverse impact on emotion regulation the following day. The clinical management of the sleep disturbances experienced by bipolar patients, including insomnia, hypersomnia delayed sleep phase, and irregular sleep-wake schedule, may include medication approaches, psychological interventions, light therapies and sleep deprivation

Development and validation of the Hypersomnia Severity Index (HSI): A measure to assess hypersomnia severity and impairment in psychiatric disorders.

Hypersomnia is common in psychiatric disorders, yet there are few self-report measures that adequately characterize this sleep disturbance. The objective of this study was to validate the Hypersomnia Severity Index (HSI), a tool designed to measure severity, distress and impairment of hypersomnia in psychiatric populations. Psychometric properties were evaluated in an undergraduate Scale Development sample (N = 381) and two psychiatric Scale Validation samples: euthymic bipolar participants with a range of sleep complaints (N = 89), and unmedicated unipolar depressed participants (N = 21) meeting operational criteria for hypersomnolence disorder. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis in the Scale Development and Validation samples, respectively, suggested a two-factor structure representing Hypersomnia Symptoms and Distress/Impairment best fit the data. Convergent validity was established by significant associations with the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and the Sheehan Disability Scale in both samples. Construct validity was further supported by significant correlations between the Scale Validation sample and two weeks of diary- and actigraphy-determined total sleep time and time in bed. A cutoff score of 10 maximally discriminated between those with hypersomnia and those without. The HSI shows promise as a measure of hypersomnia that is commonly seen in psychiatric disorders, and may be of use to both researchers and clinicians. SUPPORT: This work is supported by grants from the American Sleep Medicine Foundation (76-JF-12), the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation (19193), and NIMHK23MH099234 (DTP); National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program and Stanford Child Health Research Institute (KAK); and R34MH080958 and R01MH105513 (AGH)

Assessment of multiple choice question exams quality using graphical methods

Exams should be valid, reliable, and discriminative. Multiple informative methods are used for exam analysis. Displaying analysis results numerically, however, may not be easily comprehended. Using graphical analysis tools could be better for the perception of analysis results. Two such methods were employed: standardized x-bar control charts with standard error of measurement as control limits and receiver operator characteristic curves. Exams of two medical classes were analyzed. For each exam, the mean, standard deviation, reliability, and standard error of measurement were calculated. The means were standardized and plotted against the reference lines of the control chart. The means were chosen as cut-off points to calculate sensitivity and specificity. The receiver operator characteristic curve was plotted and area under the curve determined. Standardized control charts allowed clear, simultaneous comparison of multiple exams. Calculating the control limits from the standard error of measurement created acceptable limits of variability in which the standard deviation and reliability were incorporated. The receiver operator characteristic curve graphically showed the discriminative power of the exam. Observations made with the graphical and classical methods were consistent. Using graphical methods to analyse exams could make their interpretation more accessible and the identification of exams that required further investigation easier

Finding Neurons in a Haystack: Case Studies with Sparse Probing

Despite rapid adoption and deployment of large language models (LLMs), the internal computations of these models remain opaque and poorly understood. In this work, we seek to understand how high-level human-interpretable features are represented within the internal neuron activations of LLMs. We train $k$-sparse linear classifiers (probes) on these internal activations to predict the presence of features in the input; by varying the value of $k$ we study the sparsity of learned representations and how this varies with model scale. With $k=1$, we localize individual neurons which are highly relevant for a particular feature, and perform a number of case studies to illustrate general properties of LLMs. In particular, we show that early layers make use of sparse combinations of neurons to represent many features in superposition, that middle layers have seemingly dedicated neurons to represent higher-level contextual features, and that increasing scale causes representational sparsity to increase on average, but there are multiple types of scaling dynamics. In all, we probe for over 100 unique features comprising 10 different categories in 7 different models spanning 70 million to 6.9 billion parameters

Quality Assurance for KidsMatter Primary: a scoping paper

This Scoping Paper reviews and details options for the ongoing quality assurance of KidsMatter PrimaryThis scoping paper was commissioned and funded by beyondblue, the national depression initiative. The Flinders team wishes to thank and acknowledge beyondblue for their ongoing support throughout the development of this report