The Provenance of Social Work Case Records: Implications for Archival Appraisal and Access

Privacy became a public issue during the 1970s to an extent that was unprecedented in American history. In retrospect it now seems inevitable that an information society, with its new-found ability to store, manipulate, link, and retrieve vast quantities of information, would have to contend with abuse of information. Threats to and concerns about privacy predate the computer, of course, but it was the emergence of massive machine readable data systems that gave rise to the recent wave of legislation, at both the federal and state levels, designed to regulate the collection and use of personal information

MicroRNA Expression Profile in the Vitreous of Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy Patients and Differences from Patients Treated with Anti-VEGF

Purpose: microRNAs (miRNAs) mediate the pathological mechanisms of diabetic retinopathy. In this study, we compared miRNA expression profiles in the vitreous between patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) and patients with a macular hole as non-diabetic controls, and between PDR patients treated with antivascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy and untreated PDR patients. Methods: Vitreous samples of non-diabetic and PDR patients were screened for miRNAs with quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) panels. miRNA candidates were validated in vitreous samples of a second, independent cohort. In addition, the effect of anti-VEGF therapy was investigated in the vitreous of a third study population consisting of PDR patients who had not received anti-VEGF therapy and PDR patients who had received preoperative anti-VEGF therapy. Results: During screening, seven miRNAs were found to be significantly higher in the vitreous of PDR patients, whereas two miRNAs were found to be significantly lower compared with non-diabetic controls. Validating the expression of these miRNAs in a second cohort resulted in the identification of six miRNAs that were expressed at significantly higher rates in the vitreous of PDR patients: hsa-miR-20a-5p, hsa-miR-23b3p, hsa-miR-142-3p, hsa-miR-185-5p, hsa-miR-326, and hsa-miR-362-5p. Among these six miRNAs, hsa-miR-23b-3p levels were lower in the anti-VEGF-treated group of PDR patients compared with untreated PDR patients. Conclusions: In this study, we identified six miRNAs that are expressed more highly in PDR patients and one miRNA that is expressed at a lower levels in anti-VEGF-treated PDR patients. Translational Relevance: miRNAs identified in the vitreous of PDR patients may improve our understanding of the mechanisms leading to PDR

A Synthetic 21-cm Galactic Plane Survey of an SPH Galaxy Simulation

We have created synthetic neutral hydrogen (HI) Galactic Plane Survey data cubes covering 90 degrees < l < 180 degrees, using a model spiral galaxy from SPH simulations and the radiative transfer code TORUS. The density, temperature and other physical parameters are fed from the SPH simulation into TORUS, where the HI emissivity and opacity are calculated before the 21-cm line emission profile is determined. Our main focus is the observation of Outer Galaxy `Perseus Arm' HI, with a view to tracing atomic gas as it encounters shock motions as it enters a spiral arm interface, an early step in the formation of molecular clouds. The observation of HI self-absorption features at these shock sites (in both real observations and our synthetic data) allows us to investigate further the connection between cold atomic gas and the onset of molecular cloud formation.Comment: MNRAS accepted; 11 pages, 12 figure

Psychometric validation of the Pyruvate Kinase Deficiency Diary and Pyruvate Kinase Deficiency Impact Assessment in adults in the phase 3 ACTIVATE trial

© 2023 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Background: Pyruvate kinase (PK) deficiency is a rare hereditary disorder characterized by chronic hemolytic anemia and serious sequalae which negatively affect patient quality of life. This study aimed to psychometrically validate the first disease-specific patient-reported outcome (PRO) instruments: the 7-item PK Deficiency Diary (PKDD) and 12-item PK Deficiency Impact Assessment (PKDIA), designed to assess signs, symptoms, and impacts of PK deficiency in patients enrolled in the ACTIVATE global phase 3 study of mitapivat versus placebo (NCT03548220). Methods: All validation analyses for the PKDD and PKDIA were performed on blinded data, with analyses on item integrity, scoring, reliability, and validity conducted on data from screening and baseline. Completion rates and baseline response distributions were characterized using descriptive statistics. Item response modelling was used to inform a weighted scoring system. Reliability was assessed by internal consistency and test–retest reliability; and validity by convergent and known-groups analyses. Results: Of the 80 adults enrolled, baseline data were available for 77 (96.3%) and 78 (97.5%) patients for the PKDD and PKDIA, respectively. Item responses skewed right, indicating that mean values exceeded median values, especially for items utilizing a 0–10 numeric scale, which were subsequently recoded to a 0–4 scale; 4 items were removed from the PKDIA due to redundancy or low relevance to the trial population. Both the PKDD and PKDIA demonstrated high internal consistency (McDonald’s coefficient ω = 0.86 and 0.90, respectively), test–retest reliability (intra-class coefficients of 0.94 and 0.87, respectively), and convergent validity with other PROs (linear correlation coefficients [|r|] between 0.30–0.73 and 0.50–0.82, respectively). Conclusions: The findings provide evidence of validity and reliability for the PKDD and PKDIA, the first disease-specific PRO measures for PK deficiency, and can therefore increase understanding of, and more accurately capture, the wider impact of PK deficiency on health-related quality of life. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03548220. Registered June 07, 2018; https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03548220.Peer reviewe

The structure of HI in galactic disks: Simulations vs observations

We generate synthetic HI Galactic plane surveys from spiral galaxy simulations which include stellar feedback processes. Compared to a model without feedback we find an increased scale height of HI emission (in better agreement with observations) and more realistic spatial structure (including supernova blown bubbles). The synthetic data show HI self-absorption with a morphology similar to that seen in observations. The density and temperature of the material responsible for HI self-absorption is consistent with observationally determined values, and is found to be only weakly dependent on absorption strength and star formation efficiency.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Science and Ideology in Economic, Political, and Social Thought

This paper has two sources: One is my own research in three broad areas: business cycles, economic measurement and social choice. In all of these fields I attempted to apply the basic precepts of the scientific method as it is understood in the natural sciences. I found that my effort at using natural science methods in economics was met with little understanding and often considerable hostility. I found economics to be driven less by common sense and empirical evidence, then by various ideologies that exhibited either a political or a methodological bias, or both. This brings me to the second source: Several books have appeared recently that describe in historical terms the ideological forces that have shaped either the direct areas in which I worked, or a broader background. These books taught me that the ideological forces in the social sciences are even stronger than I imagined on the basis of my own experiences. The scientific method is the antipode to ideology. I feel that the scientific work that I have done on specific, long standing and fundamental problems in economics and political science have given me additional insights into the destructive role of ideology beyond the history of thought orientation of the works I will be discussing