30 research outputs found
Myeloid related proteins 8 and 14 (mrp 8/14) - potential biomarkers of disease activity of arthritis in children with trisomy 21
EvoFIT facial composite images: a detailed assessment of impact on forensic practitioners, police investigators, victims, witnesses, offenders and the media
This paper assesses use of the EvoFIT facial composite system by police practitioners in the UK and overseas. Results reveal that this forensic system is used extensively: a total of 2,440 times since September 2013. With a suspect identification rate of 60% and a conviction rate of 17%, the impact of this forensic technique is appreciable for helping the police to identify offenders. It was also found that empirically-driven enhancement techniques were used frequently by police practitioners-including use of detailed context reinstatement and holistic techniques during interview, and asking the witness to focus on the eye-region during construction. Research evaluating EvoFIT images published in the media also revealed that composites were produced mostly for serious offences, in particular for sexual crimes. In addition, the vast majority were of male offenders, in their early 30's; victims were female (aged mid 20's to mid 30's); these demographics were similar to composites emerging from another recognition system, EFIT-V / 6. Although this exercise revealed that EvoFIT composites were sometimes published using a more optimal stretched mode, some were presented in a way that did not faithfully represent the constructed image, with the external features cropped. In conclusion, the EvoFIT system is clearly being deployed frequently, with appreciable impact, in the fight against crime
The impact of surgical delay on resectability of colorectal cancer: An international prospective cohort study
AIM: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has provided a unique opportunity to explore the impact of surgical delays on cancer resectability. This study aimed to compare resectability for colorectal cancer patients undergoing delayed versus non-delayed surgery. METHODS: This was an international prospective cohort study of consecutive colorectal cancer patients with a decision for curative surgery (January-April 2020). Surgical delay was defined as an operation taking place more than 4âweeks after treatment decision, in a patient who did not receive neoadjuvant therapy. A subgroup analysis explored the effects of delay in elective patients only. The impact of longer delays was explored in a sensitivity analysis. The primary outcome was complete resection, defined as curative resection with an R0 margin. RESULTS: Overall, 5453 patients from 304 hospitals in 47 countries were included, of whom 6.6% (358/5453) did not receive their planned operation. Of the 4304 operated patients without neoadjuvant therapy, 40.5% (1744/4304) were delayed beyond 4âweeks. Delayed patients were more likely to be older, men, more comorbid, have higher body mass index and have rectal cancer and early stage disease. Delayed patients had higher unadjusted rates of complete resection (93.7% vs. 91.9%, PÂ =Â 0.032) and lower rates of emergency surgery (4.5% vs. 22.5%, Pâ<â0.001). After adjustment, delay was not associated with a lower rate of complete resection (OR 1.18, 95% CI 0.90-1.55, PÂ =Â 0.224), which was consistent in elective patients only (OR 0.94, 95% CI 0.69-1.27, PÂ =Â 0.672). Longer delays were not associated with poorer outcomes. CONCLUSION: One in 15 colorectal cancer patients did not receive their planned operation during the first wave of COVID-19. Surgical delay did not appear to compromise resectability, raising the hypothesis that any reduction in long-term survival attributable to delays is likely to be due to micro-metastatic disease
Anopheles mortality is both age- and Plasmodium-density dependent: implications for malaria transmission
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Averting biodiversity collapse in tropical forest protected areas
The rapid disruption of tropical forests probably imperils global biodiversity more than any other contemporary phenomenonÂčâ»Âł. With deforestation advancing quickly, protected areas are increasingly becoming final refuges for threatened species and natural ecosystem processes. However, many protected areas in the tropics are themselves vulnerable to human encroachment and other environmental stressesâŽâ»âč. As pressures mount, it is vital to know whether existing reserves can sustain their biodiversity. A critical constraint in addressing this question has been that data describing a broad array of biodiversity groups have been unavailable for a sufficiently large and representative sample of reserves. Here we present a uniquely comprehensive data set on changes over the past 20 to 30 years in 31 functional groups of species and 21 potential drivers of environmental change, for 60 protected areas stratified across the worldâs major tropical regions. Our analysis reveals great variation in reserve âhealthâ: about half of all reserves have been effective or performed passably, but the rest are experiencing an erosion of biodiversity that is often alarmingly widespread taxonomically and functionally. Habitat disruption, hunting and forest-product exploitation were the strongest predictors of declining reserve health. Crucially, environmental changes immediately outside reserves seemed nearly as important as those inside in determining their ecological fate, with changes inside reserves strongly mirroring those occurring around them. These findings suggest that tropical protected areas are often intimately linked ecologically to their surrounding habitats, and that a failure to stem broad-scale loss and degradation of such habitats could sharply increase the likelihood of serious biodiversity declines.Keywords: Ecology, Environmental scienc
Vendetta
University of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/156261/1/EmmaKilleen_IPThesis.pd
Internet access and utilisation of adolescents attending a national centre for paediatric rheumatology
EvoFIT Facial Composite Images: a Detailed Assessment of Impact on Forensic Practitioners, Police Investigators, Victims, Witnesses, Offenders and the Media
This paper assesses use of the EvoFIT facial composite system by police practitioners in the UK and overseas. Results reveal that this forensic system is used extensively: a total of 2,440 times since September 2013. With a suspect identification rate of 60% and a conviction rate of 17%, the impact of this forensic technique is appreciable for helping the police to identify offenders. It was also found that empirically-driven enhancement techniques were used frequently by police practitioners-including use of detailed context reinstatement and holistic techniques during interview, and asking the witness to focus on the eye-region during construction. Research evaluating EvoFIT images published in the media also revealed that composites were produced mostly for serious offences, in particular for sexual crimes. In addition, the vast majority were of male offenders, in their early 30's; victims were female (aged mid 20's to mid 30's); these demographics were similar to composites emerging from another recognition system, EFIT-V / 6. Although this exercise revealed that EvoFIT composites were sometimes published using a more optimal stretched mode, some were presented in a way that did not faithfully represent the constructed image, with the external features cropped. In conclusion, the EvoFIT system is clearly being deployed frequently, with appreciable impact, in the fight against crime
The Next Generation Research Grid: A Path Forward: Final Report
The TeraGrid Planning Process was funded by the National Science Foundation's (NSF)
Office of Cyberinfrastructure through a grant to the University of Michigan's School of
Information (UM-SI). Ann Zimmerman and Thomas A. Finholt served as Principal
Investigator (PI) and Co-PI, respectively. The role of the UM-SI was to support and
facilitate a planning process to be led by a steering committee representative of key
stakeholder communities and with diverse expertise.This is the final report of the TeraGrid Planning Process Steering Committee. TeraGrid
currently uses high-speed network connections to integrate high-performance computers,
data resources and tools, and experimental facilities at eleven resource provider sites
around the country. To address changes that are already occurring and are anticipated to
take place in high-performance computing (HPC) and computational science over the
next 5-7 years, the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a grant to the University
of Michigan's School of Information (UM-SI) to facilitate a planning process to help
guide the future evolution of TeraGrid. The TeraGrid Planning Process Steering
Committee, representative of key stakeholder communities, was convened to lead the
planning process. Our committee was charged to provide a report to NSF and to
stakeholders that identifies options for the definition, design, and implementation of the
next generation of the NSF TeraGrid program. In conducting our charge, we considered
the results of a series of planning workshops, hosted âtown hallâ meetings, solicited
position papers from current TeraGrid users and other national and international
stakeholders, examined relevant reports and other documents, incorporated information
from the TeraGrid Evaluation Research Study, interacted individually with stakeholders,
and deliberated extensively. We strongly endorse a next phase for the TeraGrid program, which we refer to hereafter as the Next Generation Research Grid (NGRG). The NGRG should have an unwavering focus on science: advancing and accelerating science and engineering progress across a broad front.National Science FoundationOCI-0724300https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138144/1/Next Generation Research Grid_A Path Forward_Final Report_August2008.pdfDescription of Next Generation Research Grid_A Path Forward_Final Report_August2008.pdf : Final report from the TeraGrid Planning Proces