A rare case of orbital osteogenic sarcoma

Osteogenic sarcoma is a malignant bony tumor of mesenchymal cell ori gin. The association of osteogenic sarcoma with Paget's disease of the bone (osteitis deformans) is well-known. However, orbital involvement is rare; only two other cases have been reported in all of the literature. Untreated, the tumor is lethal, with death usually occurring from extension into the cranial fossa

Using the wax moth larva Galleria mellonella infection model to detect emerging bacterial pathogens

This is the final version. Available from PeerJ via the DOI in this recordData Availability: The following information was supplied regarding data availability: Using the wax moth larva Galleria mellonella infection model to detect emerging bacterial pathogens. Dryad Digital Repository DOI 10.5061/dryad.130q4qb.Climate change, changing farming practices, social and demographic changes and rising levels of antibiotic resistance are likely to lead to future increases in opportunistic bacterial infections that are more difficult to treat. Uncovering the prevalence and identity of pathogenic bacteria in the environment is key to assessing transmission risks. We describe the first use of the Wax moth larva Galleria mellonella, a well-established model for the mammalian innate immune system, to selectively enrich and characterize pathogens from coastal environments in the South West of the UK. Whole-genome sequencing of highly virulent isolates revealed amongst others a Proteus mirabilis strain carrying the Salmonella SGI1 genomic island not reported from the UK before and the recently described species Vibrio injenensis hitherto only reported from human patients in Korea. Our novel method has the power to detect bacterial pathogens in the environment that potentially pose a serious risk to public health.Natural Environment Research Council (NERC

Evaluating Matrix Circuits

The circuit evaluation problem (also known as the compressed word problem) for finitely generated linear groups is studied. The best upper bound for this problem is $\mathsf{coRP}$, which is shown by a reduction to polynomial identity testing. Conversely, the compressed word problem for the linear group $\mathsf{SL}_3(\mathbb{Z})$ is equivalent to polynomial identity testing. In the paper, it is shown that the compressed word problem for every finitely generated nilpotent group is in $\mathsf{DET} \subseteq \mathsf{NC}^2$. Within the larger class of polycyclic groups we find examples where the compressed word problem is at least as hard as polynomial identity testing for skew arithmetic circuits

Substance abusers' personality disorders and staff members' emotional reactions

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Previous research has indicated that aggressive behaviour and DSM-IV cluster B personality disorders (PD) may be associated with professionals' emotional reactions to clients, and that cluster C PD may be associated with positive emotional reactions.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Staff members recruited from workshops completed a self-report inventory of emotional reactions to patients, the Feeling Word Checklist-58, and substance abusers completed a self-report of DSM-IV personality disorder, the DSM-IV and ICD-10 Personality Disorder Questionnaire. Correlational analysis and multiple regression analysis was used to assess the associations between personality disorders and emotional reations.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Cluster B disorder features were associated with feeling distance to patients, and cluster C disorder features were associated with feeling helpful towards patients. Cluster A disorders had no significant impact on emotional reactions.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The findings confirm clinical experiences that personality disorder features in patients with substance abuse have an impact on staff members reactions to them. These reactions should be considered in supervision of staff, and in treatment models for patients with co-morbid personality disorders and substance abuse.</p

Behavior change interventions: the potential of ontologies for advancing science and practice

A central goal of behavioral medicine is the creation of evidence-based interventions for promoting behavior change. Scientific knowledge about behavior change could be more effectively accumulated using "ontologies." In information science, an ontology is a systematic method for articulating a "controlled vocabulary" of agreed-upon terms and their inter-relationships. It involves three core elements: (1) a controlled vocabulary specifying and defining existing classes; (2) specification of the inter-relationships between classes; and (3) codification in a computer-readable format to enable knowledge generation, organization, reuse, integration, and analysis. This paper introduces ontologies, provides a review of current efforts to create ontologies related to behavior change interventions and suggests future work. This paper was written by behavioral medicine and information science experts and was developed in partnership between the Society of Behavioral Medicine's Technology Special Interest Group (SIG) and the Theories and Techniques of Behavior Change Interventions SIG. In recent years significant progress has been made in the foundational work needed to develop ontologies of behavior change. Ontologies of behavior change could facilitate a transformation of behavioral science from a field in which data from different experiments are siloed into one in which data across experiments could be compared and/or integrated. This could facilitate new approaches to hypothesis generation and knowledge discovery in behavioral science

Standardised assessment of personality – a study of validity and reliability in substance abusers

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Brief screening instruments for co-morbid personality disorders could potentially have great value in substance abuse treatment settings.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We assessed the psychometric properties of the 8-item Standardised Assessment of Personality – Abbreviated Scale (SAPAS) in a sample of 58 methadone maintenance patients.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Internal consistency was modest, but similar to the original value (alpha = 0.62), and test-retest correlation at four months follow-up was moderately encouraging for a short instrument such as this (n = 31, test retest intraclass correlation = 0.58), and change at the mean level was minimal, but marginally significant (from an average of 3.3 to 3.8, p = 0.06). Analyses of nurse ratings of patients' behaviour at the clinic showed that SAPAS was significantly correlated with nurse ratings of externalizing behaviour (r = 0.42, p = 0.001), and Global Assessment of Functioning (r = -0.36, p = 0.006), but unrelated to intoxication (r = 0.02, NS), or withdrawal (r = 0.20, NS).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>There is evidence that the SAPAS is a modestly valid and relatively reliable brief screening measure of personality disorders in patients with ongoing substance abuse undergoing methadone maintenance. It can be used in situations where limited resources are available, and researchers or others wish to get an impression of the degree of personality pathology in a clinical population, as well as for screening purposes.</p

Rating of personality disorder features in popular movie characters

BACKGROUND: Tools for training professionals in rating personality disorders are few. We present one such tool: rating of fictional persons. However, before ratings of fictional persons can be useful, we need to know whether raters get the same results, when rating fictional characters. METHOD: Psychology students at the University of Copenhagen (N = 8) rated four different movie characters from four movies based on three systems: Global rating scales representing each of the 10 personality disorders in the DSM-IV, a criterion list of all criteria for all DSM-IV personality disorders in random order, and the Ten Item Personality Inventory for rating the five-factor model. Agreement was estimated based on intraclass-correlation. RESULTS: Agreement for rating scales for personality disorders ranged from 0.04 to 0.54. For personality disorder features based on DSM-IV criteria, agreement ranged from 0.24 to 0.89, and agreement for the five-factor model ranged from 0.05 to 0.88. The largest multivariate effect was observed for criteria count followed by the TIPI, followed by rating scales. Raters experienced personality disorder criteria as the easiest, and global personality disorder scales as the most difficult, but with significant variation between movies. CONCLUSION: Psychology students with limited or no clinical experience can agree well on the personality traits of movie characters based on watching the movie. Rating movie characters may be a way to practice assessment of personality

Inter-rater agreement of comorbid DSM-IV personality disorders in substance abusers

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Little is known about the inter-rater agreement of personality disorders in clinical settings.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Clinicians rated 75 patients with substance use disorders on the DSM-IV criteria of personality disorders in random order, and on rating scales representing the severity of each.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Convergent validity agreement was moderate (range for r = 0.55, 0.67) for cluster B disorders rated with DSM-IV criteria, and discriminant validity was moderate for eight of the ten personality disorders. Convergent validity of the rating scales was only moderate for antisocial and narcissistic personality disorder.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>Dimensional ratings may be used in research studies and clinical practice with some caution, and may be collected as one of several sources of information to describe the personality of a patient.</p