The Importance of Street Lighting: A Study in San Luis Obispo

The purpose of this report is to shed light on the importance of resident and student safety in the City of San Luis Obispo. The report goes over exact locations of frequently used areas in the City of SLO that lack street lighting. By spreading awareness, studying different lighting types, and getting citizen input, it helps to plan out a method of bettering San Luis Obispo’s streets. The report presents information on efficient and cost-effective lighting in order to integrate them into a location specific proposal that the city could utilize. By the end of the report, readers will be educated on the positive and negative impacts of lighting, different types of lighting, how to reduce the costs of lighting, and where they should be installed

A Multisite Preregistered Paradigmatic Test of the Ego-Depletion Effect

We conducted a preregistered multilaboratory project (k = 36; N = 3,531) to assess the size and robustness of ego-depletion effects using a novel replication method, termed the paradigmatic replication approach. Each laboratory implemented one of two procedures that was intended to manipulate self-control and tested performance on a subsequent measure of self-control. Confirmatory tests found a nonsignificant result (d = 0.06). Confirmatory Bayesian meta-analyses using an informed-prior hypothesis (δ = 0.30, SD = 0.15) found that the data were 4 times more likely under the null than the alternative hypothesis. Hence, preregistered analyses did not find evidence for a depletion effect. Exploratory analyses on the full sample (i.e., ignoring exclusion criteria) found a statistically significant effect (d = 0.08); Bayesian analyses showed that the data were about equally likely under the null and informed-prior hypotheses. Exploratory moderator tests suggested that the depletion effect was larger for participants who reported more fatigue but was not moderated by trait self-control, willpower beliefs, or action orientation.</p

Multimodal Deep Learning-Based Prognostication in Glioma Patients: A Systematic Review

Malignant brain tumors pose a substantial burden on morbidity and mortality. As clinical data collection improves, along with the capacity to analyze it, novel predictive clinical tools may improve prognosis prediction. Deep learning (DL) holds promise for integrating clinical data of various modalities. A systematic review of the DL-based prognostication of gliomas was performed using the Embase (Elsevier), PubMed MEDLINE (National library of Medicine), and Scopus (Elsevier) databases, in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. All included studies focused on the prognostication of gliomas, and predicted overall survival (13 studies, 81%), overall survival as well as genotype (2 studies, 12.5%), and response to immunotherapy (1 study, 6.2%). Multimodal analyses were varied, with 6 studies (37.5%) combining MRI with clinical data; 6 studies (37.5%) integrating MRI with histologic, clinical, and biomarker data; 3 studies (18.8%) combining MRI with genomic data; and 1 study (6.2%) combining histologic imaging with clinical data. Studies that compared multimodal models to unimodal-only models demonstrated improved predictive performance. The risk of bias was mixed, most commonly due to inconsistent methodological reporting. Overall, the use of multimodal data in DL assessments of gliomas leads to a more accurate overall survival prediction. However, due to data limitations and a lack of transparency in model and code reporting, the full extent of multimodal DL as a resource for brain tumor patients has not yet been realized

Observations from non-invasive measures of right heart hemodynamics in left ventricular assist device patients

Background: Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) reduce pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) in patients with severe heart failure. The aim of this study was to noninvasively assess the effect of LVAD implantation on PVR and right-heart function. Methods: In 21 patients with HeartMate II LVADs, serial echocardiograms were reviewed prior to implantation and 1 and 6 months after implantation. Echocardiographic and Doppler indices of right-heart structure and function were measured along with LVAD settings, hemodynamics, and biochemistry, and the Minnesota Living With Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ) and 6-minute walk test were administered. Results: Comparing values before and 1 month after implantation, there were reductions in PVR (3.51 ± 0.9 vs 2.0 ± 0.5 Wood units, P \u3c .0001), right ventricular (RV) systolic pressure (49 ± 11 vs 34 ± 7 mm Hg, P \u3c .0001), and tricuspid regurgitation severity, with no change in RV size, RV fractional area change, or tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion. Patients with larger PVR reductions had better clinical status (MLHFQ score, 28 ± 12 vs 60 ± 29, P = .04; 6-minute walking distance, 1706 ± 71 vs 1141 ± 387 ft, P = .04). Patients with significant deteriorations in RV function had poorer clinical status (MLHFQ score, 79 ± 13 vs 51 ± 27, P = .04; 6-minute walking distance, 480 ± 275 vs 1030 ± 437 ft, P = .04). Conclusions: Echocardiographically detected changes in right-heart hemodynamics were associated with symptomatic status after LVAD implantation

The impact of exercise training on conduit artery wall thickness and remodeling in chronic heart failure patients

Exercise training is an important adjunct to medical therapy in chronic heart failure, but the extent to which exercise impacts on conduit artery remodeling is unknown. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of aerobic and resistance exercise training modalities on arterial remodeling in patients with chronic heart failure. We randomized 36 untrained subjects with chronic heart failure to resistance training (58.8±3.5 years), aerobic training (61.3±2.8 years), or an untrained control group (64.4±2.4 years). Peak oxygen consumption during cycle ergometry increased after 12 weeks in both the resistance and aerobic training (P\u3c0.001) groups, but not in controls, whereas leg strength only increased after resistance training (P\u3c0.05). Brachial artery wall thickness decreased in the resistance training group (475±10 versus 443±13 μm; P\u3c0.01), whereas no changes were apparent in the aerobic or control groups. Brachial diameter increased by ≈6% and ≈5% in the aerobic training and resistance training groups (P\u3c0.01), with no change evident in the control group. The wall:lumen ratio consequently declined in the resistance training group at 12 weeks (0.121±0.004 versus 0.107±0.004; P\u3c0.01) and increased in the control group (0.111±0.006 versus 0.121±0.009; P\u3c0.05). No wall:lumen change was evident in the aerobic training group. Our findings suggest that exercise has a systemic impact on remodeling of conduit arteries in humans and that resistance exercise training may be advantageous in subjects with chronic heart failure in this regard

Significant increase of synchronous disease in first-line metastatic colorectal cancer trials : Results of a systematic review

BACKGROUND: Although synchronous and metachronous metastases are considered as separate entities of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) with different outcomes, its proportion is reported infrequently. We compared inclusion rates and survival of synchronous versus metachronous mCRC in different types of studies investigating initial systemic therapy or surgical treatment of mCRC. METHODS: We searched PubMed and EMBASE (January 2004 - February 2016) for mCRC studies investigating first-line systemic therapy or surgical treatment of mCRC including information on synchronous versus metachronous metastases. Outcomes were the proportion of synchronous mCRC, and estimated median overall survival (OS) of the total study population. Spearman analysis (rs) was used to study correlations between outcomes and median year of study enrolment. RESULTS: We included 46 articles, reporting data from 23 phase 3 randomised controlled trials (RCTs), twenty cohort and three population-based studies (total: 25,941 patients). Seventeen different definitions for synchronous mCRC were identified. In systemic therapy RCTs, we observed an increased proportion of synchronous mCRC during recent years (rs .77, p < .001). In these trials, estimated median OS slightly improved over time (rs .48, p = .03). No significant inclusion or survival trends were observed in included cohort and population-based studies. CONCLUSIONS: In recent years, the proportion of patients with synchronous compared with metachronous mCRC enrolled in first-line systemic therapy RCTs increased. Estimated median OS of the total study population in these RCTs slightly increased over time. Many different definitions of synchronous disease were used. Uniform definitions and consistent reporting of the proportion of synchronous versus metachronous metastases could improve cross-study comparisons and interpretation of reported data in all mCRC studies