1,206 research outputs found
Refractory chronic migraine: long-term follow-up using a refractory rating scale
Refractory chronic migraine (RCM) is often associated with disability and a low quality of life (QOL). RCM ranges in severity from mild to severe. There would be a benefit both clinically and in research use in categorizing RCM patients according to severity. This study utilized a unique RCM severity rating scale, tracking the clinical course over 10 years. A total of 129 patients, ages 19–72, were assigned a severity rating of 2–10 (10 = worst). Pain level and QOL were assessed. Over the 10 years, 73% of all pts. had a 30% or more decline in pain. Pain levels improved 45% in mild pts., 42% in mod. pts., and 36% in severe pts. Pain was the same, or worse, in 4% of mild, 15% of mod., and 18% of severe pts. QOL in the mild group improved 35% over 10 years. In moderate pts., QOL improved 32%, while for the severe group QOL improved 33%. While pain and QOL improved across all three groups at the end of 10 years, the severe group remained with significantly more pain and decreased QOL than in the milder groups. The medications that helped significantly included: opioids (63% of pts. utilized opioids), frequent triptans (31%), butalbital (17%), onabotulinumtoxinA (16%), stimulants (12%), and other “various preventives” (9%). RCM pts. were rated using a refractory rating scale with the clinical course assessed over 10 years. Pain and QOL improved in all groups. In the severe group, pain and QOL improved, but still lagged behind the mild and moderate groups. Opioids and (frequent) triptans were the most commonly utilized meds
Public Awareness of Medical Imaging as a Source of Ionizing Radiation Exposure
Background. Biological effects of exposure to ionizing radiation (IR) are well known. Literature suggests most patients and physicians lack proficient understanding of risks associated with ionizing radiation. Our study goals were to: assess the extent to which productive, informed conversations regarding ionizing radiation are occurring between patients and providers; characterize public awareness of medical imaging procedures as sources of IR exposure; and investigate best practices in patientprovider communications.
Methods. We developed and administered a 17-question survey to 303 adults at five locations across Chittenden County, Vermont, over a 6-week period in fall 2016. Descriptive and statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS.
Results. The three age groups of respondents had different knowledge levels about ionizing radiation (p
Conclusions/Recommendations. 1. A standard oral presentation for pre-imaging patient-provider communication, along with a written handout, be developed; 2. A section of the electronic medical record (also accessible through the patient portal) containing IR exposure be created for patients and physicians to track individuals\u27 information.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1249/thumbnail.jp
Working out abjection in the Panapompom bêche-de-mer fishery: Race, economic change and the future in Papua New Guinea
This is the accepted version of the following article: Rollason, W. (2010), Working out abjection in the
Panapompom bêche-de-mer fishery: Race, economic change and the future in Papua New Guinea. The Australian
Journal of Anthropology, 21: 149–170. doi: 10.1111/j.1757-6547.2010.00076.x, which has been published in final
form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1757-6547.2010.00076.x/abstract.This is a paper about how men from Panapompom, an island in Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea (PNG), understand how they relate to white people and imagine the future. Until recently, men from Panapompom understood themselves to be engaged in a project of ‘development’, in which they would become more and more similar to white people. This was a desirable future. However, changes in the way Panapompom men work for money have resulted in a very different imagination of the future—one in which Panapompom people are not getting whiter, but blacker, and hence more and more excluded from the lives to which they aspire. Men now dive for bêche-de-mer, work which they regard as being particularly hard and dangerous. Diving has profound effects on the skin, blackening and hardening it, leading Panapompom men to liken themselves to the machines that create the wealth that white people use. These ‘mechanising’ effects that diving has on the black body lead men to see white people as the sole beneficiaries of the bêche-de-mer industry, and black people as mere tools or extensions. For bêche-de-mer divers, value and desired forms of life are lodged in Australia, Europe or America, while they find themselves excluded from this future by their growing blackness.ESR
Toward the End of Time
The null-brane space-time provides a simple model of a big crunch/big bang
singularity. A non-perturbative definition of M-theory on this space-time was
recently provided using matrix theory. We derive the fermion couplings for this
matrix model and study the leading quantum effects. These effects include
particle production and a time-dependent potential. Our results suggest that as
the null-brane develops a big crunch singularity, the usual notion of
space-time is replaced by an interacting gluon phase. This gluon phase appears
to constitute the end of our conventional picture of space and time.Comment: 31 pages, reference adde
“Girls on the Move” intervention protocol for increasing physical activity among low-active underserved urban girls: a group randomized trial
Abstract
Background
Increasing moderate to vigorous physical activity among urban girls of low socioeconomic status is both a challenge and a public health priority. Physical activity interventions targeting exclusively girls remain limited, and maintenance of moderate to vigorous physical activity during the post-intervention period has been difficult to maintain. The main aim of the 5-year “Girls on the Move” group randomized trial is to evaluate the efficacy of a comprehensive school-based intervention in increasing girls’ minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity and improving cardiovascular fitness, body mass index, and percent body fat immediately post-intervention (after 17 weeks) and at 9-month post-intervention follow-up (9 months after end of intervention).
Methods/Design
A total of 24 urban middle schools in the Midwestern U.S. will be randomized to either receive the intervention or serve as a control (N = 1200 girls). The intervention, based on the Health Promotion Model and Self-Determination Theory, will include: (1) two face-to-face motivational, individually tailored counseling sessions with a registered nurse, one at the beginning and the other at the end of the intervention period; (2) an interactive Internet-based session during which each girl receives individually tailored motivational and feedback messages via iPad at 11 weeks (shortly after midpoint of intervention); and (3) a 90-minute after-school physical activity club. Racially diverse, low-active, 10- to 14-year-old 5th to 8th-grade girls will complete questionnaires and physical measures at baseline and post-intervention (n = 50 per school). Minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity will be assessed with accelerometers. Cardiovascular fitness will be assessed by estimating VO2 max with PACER (Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run) scores. Height and weight will be assessed to calculate body mass index. Percent body fat will be estimated with a foot-to-foot bioelectric impedance scale. Linear mixed effects regression analyses will be performed to assess intervention effects.
Discussion
This multi-component approach is expected to improve girls’ moderate to vigorous physical activity and related physical outcomes.
Trial Registration
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier
NCT01503333http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/112470/1/12889_2013_Article_5394.pd
Girls on the Move” intervention protocol for increasing physical activity among low-active underserved urban girls: a group randomized trial
Background: Increasing moderate to vigorous physical activity among urban girls of low socioeconomic status is both a challenge and a public health priority. Physical activity interventions targeting exclusively girls remain limited, and maintenance of moderate to vigorous physical activity during the post-intervention period has been difficult to maintain. The main aim of the 5-year “Girls on the Move” group randomized trial is to evaluate the efficacy of a comprehensive school-based intervention in increasing girls’ minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity and improving cardiovascular fitness, body mass index, and percent body fat immediately post-intervention (after 17 weeks) and at 9-month post-intervention follow-up (9 months after end of intervention).
Methods/Design: A total of 24 urban middle schools in the Midwestern U.S. will be randomized to either receive the intervention or serve as a control (N = 1200 girls). The intervention, based on the Health Promotion Model and Self-Determination Theory, will include: (1) two face-to-face motivational, individually tailored counseling sessions with a registered nurse, one at the beginning and the other at the end of the intervention period; (2) an interactive Internet-based session during which each girl receives individually tailored motivational and feedback messages via iPad at 11 weeks (shortly after midpoint of intervention); and (3) a 90-minute after-school physical activity club. Racially diverse, low-active, 10- to 14-year-old 5th to 8th-grade girls will complete questionnaires and physical measures at baseline and post-intervention (n = 50 per school). Minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity will be assessed with accelerometers. Cardiovascular fitness will be assessed by estimating VO2 max with PACER (Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run) scores. Height and weight will be assessed to calculate body mass index. Percent body fat will be estimated with a foot-to-foot bioelectric impedance scale. Linear mixed effects regression analyses will be performed to assess intervention effects.
Discussion: This multi-component approach is expected to improve girls’ moderate to vigorous physical activity and related physical outcomes
Quantum evolution across singularities: the case of geometrical resolutions
We continue the study of time-dependent Hamiltonians with an isolated
singularity in their time dependence, describing propagation on singular
space-times. In previous work, two of us have proposed a "minimal subtraction"
prescription for the simplest class of such systems, involving Hamiltonians
with only one singular term. On the other hand, Hamiltonians corresponding to
geometrical resolutions of space-time tend to involve multiple operator
structures (multiple types of dependence on the canonical variables) in an
essential way.
We consider some of the general properties of such (near-)singular
Hamiltonian systems, and further specialize to the case of a free scalar field
on a two-parameter generalization of the null-brane space-time. We find that
the singular limit of free scalar field evolution exists for a discrete subset
of the possible values of the two parameters. The coordinates we introduce
reveal a peculiar reflection property of scalar field propagation on the
generalized (as well as the original) null-brane. We further present a simple
family of pp-wave geometries whose singular limit is a light-like hyperplane
(discontinuously) reflecting the positions of particles as they pass through
it.Comment: 25 pages, 1 figur
Characterization and Robust Classification of EEG Signal from Image RSVP Events with Independent Time-Frequency Features
This paper considers the problem of automatic characterization and detection of target images in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) task based on EEG data. A novel method that aims to identify single-trial event-related potentials (ERPs) in time-frequency is proposed, and a robust classifier with feature clustering is developed to better utilize the correlated ERP features. The method is applied to EEG recordings of a RSVP experiment with multiple sessions and subjects.
The results show that the target image events are mainly characterized by 3 distinct patterns in the time-frequency domain, i.e., a theta band (4.3 Hz) power boosting 300–700 ms after the target image onset, an alpha band (12 Hz) power boosting 500–1000 ms after the stimulus onset, and a delta band (2 Hz) power boosting after 500 ms. The most discriminant time-frequency features are power boosting and are relatively consistent among multiple sessions and subjects.
Since the original discriminant time-frequency features are highly correlated, we constructed the uncorrelated features using hierarchical clustering for better classification of target and non-target images. With feature clustering, performance (area under ROC) improved from 0.85 to 0.89 on within-session tests, and from 0.76 to 0.84 on cross-subject tests. The constructed uncorrelated features were more robust than the original discriminant features and corresponded to a number of local regions on the time-frequency plane
Matrix Model in a Class of Time Dependent Supersymmetric Backgrounds
We discuss the matrix model in a class of 11D time dependent supersymmetric
backgrounds as obtained in hep-th/0508191 . We construct the matrix model
action through the matrix regularization of the membrane action in the
background. We show that the action is exact to all order of fermionic
coordinates. Furthermore We discuss the fuzzy sphere solutions in this
background.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures; references added, modifications of some comments
in introduction, version to appear in PL
D-terms and D-strings in open string models
We study the Fayet-Iliopoulos (FI) D-terms on D-branes in type II Calabi-Yau
backgrounds. We provide a simple worldsheet proof of the fact that, at tree
level, these terms only couple to scalars in closed string hypermultiplets. At
the one-loop level, the D-terms get corrections only if the gauge group has an
anomalous spectrum, with the anomaly cancelled by a Green-Schwarz mechanism. We
study the local type IIA model of D6-branes at SU(3) angles and show that, as
in field theory, the one-loop correction suffers from a quadratic divergence in
the open string channel. By studying the closed string channel, we show that
this divergence is related to a closed string tadpole, and is cancelled when
the tadpole is cancelled. Next, we study the cosmic strings that arise in the
supersymmetric phases of these systems in light of recent work of Dvali et. al.
In the type IIA intersecting D6-brane examples, we identify the D-term strings
as D4-branes ending on the D6-branes. Finally, we use N=1 dualities to relate
these results to previous work on the FI D-term of heterotic strings.Comment: 29 pages, 5 figures; v2: improved referencin
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