Joint planning in conversations with a person with aphasia

This study explores practices employed by a person with aphasia (PWA) and his wife to organize joint planning sequences and negotiate deontic rights (a participants' entitlement to initiate planning sequences and the entitlement to accept or reject a plan). We analyze two different conversations between a man with aphasia and his wife and their adult daughter. Using Conversation Analysis (CA), we identify practices that further the PWA's participation in the interaction while planning afternoon activities together with his wife. The PWA contributes to the planning talk by initiating and modifying planning sequences. The spouse supports his participation by aligning with his initiated actions and inviting him to collaborate in planning talk she initiates. Deontic authority is shared between the conversation partners and the PWA's agency is facilitated even during disagreement. The analysis offers insight into practices that allow a PWA to use his limited communicative resources to contribute competently to planning talk

Collaborative storytelling with a person with aphasia

INTRODUCTION: This study explores practices employed by a person with aphasia (PWA) and his wife to organize collaborative storytelling in a multiparty interaction. We identify practices that further the PWA’s agency – his impact on action – while he is telling a story together with his wife. METHOD: Using conversation analysis (CA), we carried out a case study of a successful storytelling sequence involving a 39-year-old man with anomic aphasia during a conversation with friends. ANALYSIS: The PWA contributed to the storytelling by initiating the story sequence and by producing short but significant utterances in which he provided essential information and displayed epistemic authority. The spouse aligned with the PWA’s initiated actions and supported his agency by giving him room to speak, for example, by gaze retraction. DISCUSSION: The analysis offers insight into practices that allowed this PWA to achieve agency. Our findings show that communication partner training could benefit from implementing activities such as collaborative storytelling

Potential mechanisms underlying the decision to use a seat belt: a literature review

The purpose of this literature review was to serve as the background knowledgebase for a 5-year cooperative agreement between NHTSA and the University of Michigan. This discretionary cooperative agreement is intended to study promising lines of research that elucidate the mechanisms that underlie risk perception and can be applied to converting part-time belt users to full-time users. The overall goal of this cooperative agreement is to develop testable strategies, based on basic and applied research, for influencing risk perception to move motor vehicle occupants from part-time to full-time use of seat belts. Specific topics covered in this literature review are: individual belt user characteristics; social influences on belt use; applications from research on other risky behaviors; policy/enforcement/incentive; communication and education; and technology. Conclusions are drawn within each section and for the review overall.National Highway Traffic Safety Administrationhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110521/1/103147.pdfDescription of 103147.pdf : final repor

Panel discussion on The impact of mergers of accounting firms on the auditing profession

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/dl_proceedings/1078/thumbnail.jp

Safety and preliminary efficacy of pembrolizumab following trans-arterial chemoembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma: the PETAL phase Ib study

Background. TACE may prime adaptive immunity and enhance immunotherapy efficacy. PETAL evaluated safety, preliminary activity of TACE plus pembrolizumab and explored mechanisms of efficacy. Methods. Patients with liver-confined HCC were planned to receive up to 2 rounds of TACE followed by pembrolizumab 200 mg every 21 days commencing 30-days post-TACE until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity for up to 1 year. Primary endpoint was safety, 21-days dose-limiting toxicities (DLT) from pembrolizumab initiation. Secondary endpoints included progression-free survival (PFS) and evaluation of tumour and host determinants of response. Results. Fifteen patients were included in the safety and efficacy population: 73% had non-viral cirrhosis, median age was 72 years. Child-Pugh (CP) class was A in 14 patients. Median tumour size was 4 cm. Ten patients (67%) received pembrolizumab after 1 TACE, 5 patients after 2 (33%). Pembrolizumab yielded no synergistic toxicity nor DLTs post-TACE. Treatment-related adverse events occurred in 93% of patients most commonly skin rash (40%), fatigue and diarrhoea (27%). After a median follow-up of 38.5 months, objective response rate (ORR) 12 weeks post-TACE was 53%. PFS rate at 12 weeks was 93% and median PFS was 8.95 months (95%CI 7.30-NA). Median duration of response was 7.3 months (95%CI: 6.3-8.3). Median OS was 33.5 months (95%CI: 11.6-NA). Dynamic changes in peripheral T-cell subsets, circulating tumour DNA, serum metabolites and in stool bacterial profiles highlight potential mechanisms of action of multi-modal therapy. Conclusions. TACE plus pembrolizumab was tolerable with no evidence of synergistic toxicity, encouraging further clinical development of immunotherapy alongside TACE