Painful Body Surface Area Variance between Pre-op and Post-op Lung Cancer Patients

Honorable Mention Winner The focal point of my study is painful body surface area (BSA). BSA is the calculated surface area of the human body. Alot of studies focus on pain intensity (PI) variance rather than painful BSA variance. In this study, painful BSA will be measured before and after lung cancer patients under-go a thoracotomy (lung resection surgery). At the conclusion of this study, the following questions should be answered. Does painful BSA increase, decrease, or remain constant after a thoracotomy surgery? Is there a relationship between PI and BSA? If so, are they inversely related or directly related? Can an estimated value of painful BSA reduction or enhancement be predicted in future research? Can an estimated PI value be predicted when given the painful BSA percentage

Advances in understanding large-scale responses of the water cycle to climate change

Globally, thermodynamics explains an increase in atmospheric water vapor with warming of around 7%/°C near to the surface. In contrast, global precipitation and evaporation are constrained by the Earth's energy balance to increase at ∼2–3%/°C. However, this rate of increase is suppressed by rapid atmospheric adjustments in response to greenhouse gases and absorbing aerosols that directly alter the atmospheric energy budget. Rapid adjustments to forcings, cooling effects from scattering aerosol, and observational uncertainty can explain why observed global precipitation responses are currently difficult to detect but are expected to emerge and accelerate as warming increases and aerosol forcing diminishes. Precipitation increases with warming are expected to be smaller over land than ocean due to limitations on moisture convergence, exacerbated by feedbacks and affected by rapid adjustments. Thermodynamic increases in atmospheric moisture fluxes amplify wet and dry events, driving an intensification of precipitation extremes. The rate of intensification can deviate from a simple thermodynamic response due to in‐storm and larger‐scale feedback processes, while changes in large‐scale dynamics and catchment characteristics further modulate the frequency of flooding in response to precipitation increases. Changes in atmospheric circulation in response to radiative forcing and evolving surface temperature patterns are capable of dominating water cycle changes in some regions. Moreover, the direct impact of human activities on the water cycle through water abstraction, irrigation, and land use change is already a significant component of regional water cycle change and is expected to further increase in importance as water demand grows with global population

Impact of BPRS interview length on ratings reliability in a schizophrenia trial

AbstractSignal detection in clinical trials relies on ratings reliability. We conducted a reliability analysis of site-independent rater scores derived from audio-digital recordings of site-based rater interviews of the structured Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) in a schizophrenia study. “Dual” ratings assessments were conducted as part of a quality assurance program in a 12-week, double-blind, parallel-group study of PF-02545920 compared to placebo in patients with sub-optimally controlled symptoms of schizophrenia (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT01939548). Blinded, site-independent raters scored the recorded site-based BPRS interviews that were administered in relatively stable patients during two visits prior to the randomization visit. We analyzed the impact of BPRS interview length on “dual” scoring variance and discordance between trained and certified site-based raters and the paired scores of the independent raters.Mean total BPRS scores for 392 interviews conducted at the screen and stabilization visits were 50.4±7.2 (SD) for site-based raters and 49.2±7.2 for site-independent raters (t=2.34; p=0.025). “Dual” rated total BPRS scores were highly correlated (r=0.812). Mean BPRS interview length was 21:05±7:47min ranging from 7 to 59min. 89 interviews (23%) were conducted in less than 15min. These shorter interviews had significantly greater “dual” scoring variability (p=0.0016) and absolute discordance (p=0.0037) between site-based and site-independent raters than longer interviews.In-study ratings reliability cannot be guaranteed by pre-study rater certification. Our findings reveal marked variability of BPRS interview length and that shorter interviews are often incomplete yielding greater “dual” scoring discordance that may affect ratings precision

Apathy Is Associated With Ventral Striatum Volume in Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder

Apathy is prevalent in schizophrenia, but its etiology has received little investigation. The ventral striatum (VS), a key brain region involved in motivated behavior, has been implicated in studies of apathy. We therefore evaluated whether apathy is associated with volume of the VS on MRI in 23 patients with schizophrenia using voxel-based morphometry. Results indicated that greater self-reported apathy severity was associated with smaller volume of the right VS even when controlling for age, gender, depression, and total gray matter volume. The finding suggests that apathy is related to abnormality of brain circuitry subserving motivated behavior in patients with schizophrenia

Investigating the relationship between mitochondrial genetic variation and cardiovascular-related traits to develop a framework for mitochondrial phenome-wide association studies

BACKGROUND: Mitochondria play a critical role in the cell and have DNA independent of the nuclear genome. There is much evidence that mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation plays a role in human health and disease, however, this area of investigation has lagged behind research into the role of nuclear genetic variation on complex traits and phenotypic outcomes. Phenome-wide association studies (PheWAS) investigate the association between a wide range of traits and genetic variation. To date, this approach has not been used to investigate the relationship between mtDNA variants and phenotypic variation. Herein, we describe the development of a PheWAS framework for mtDNA variants (mt-PheWAS). Using the Metabochip custom genotyping array, nuclear and mitochondrial DNA variants were genotyped in 11,519 African Americans from the Vanderbilt University biorepository, BioVU. We employed both polygenic modeling and association testing with mitochondrial single nucleotide polymorphisms (mtSNPs) to explore the relationship between mtDNA variants and a group of eight cardiovascular-related traits obtained from de-identified electronic medical records within BioVU. RESULTS: Using polygenic modeling we found evidence for an effect of mtDNA variation on total cholesterol and type 2 diabetes (T2D). After performing comprehensive mitochondrial single SNP associations, we identified an increased number of single mtSNP associations with total cholesterol and T2D compared to the other phenotypes examined, which did not have more significantly associated SNPs than would be expected by chance. Among the mtSNPs significantly associated with T2D we identified variant mt16189, an association previously reported only in Asian and European-descent populations. CONCLUSIONS: Our replication of previous findings and identification of novel associations from this initial study suggest that our mt-PheWAS approach is robust for investigating the relationship between mitochondrial genetic variation and a range of phenotypes, providing a framework for future mt-PheWAS

Realistic assessment of direct radiolysis for synthetic fuels production using fusion radiation sources

These studies indicate that synthetic fuel production by direct radiolysis cannot compete economically with other production methods. Low G-values and radiation contamination of products are given as reasons. (MOW