Rule Formats for Nominal Process Calculi

Publisher's version (útgefin grein)The nominal transition systems (NTSs) of Parrow et al. describe the operational semantics of nominal process calculi. We study NTSs in terms of the nominal residual transition systems (NRTSs) that we introduce. We provide rule formats for the specifications of NRTSs that ensure that the associated NRTS is an NTS and apply them to the operational specifications of the early and late pi-calculus. We also explore alternative specifications of the NTSs in which we allow residuals of abstraction sort, and introduce translations between the systems with and without residuals of abstraction sort. Our study stems from the Nominal SOS of Cimini et al. and from earlier works in nominal sets and nominal logic by Gabbay, Pitts and their collaborators.Research partially supported by the project Nominal SOS (nr. 141558-051) of the Icelandic Research Fund, the project 001-ABEL-CM-2013 within the NILS Science and Sustainability Programme, the Spanish Projects TRACES (TIN2015-67522-C3-3-R) and Bosco (PGC2018-102210-B-I00), and by Comunidad de Madrid as part of the program S2018/TCS-4339 (BLOQUES-CM) co-funded by EIE Funds of the European Union, and the projects RACCOON (H2020-EU 714729) and MATHADOR (COGS 724.464) of the European Research Council, and the Spanish addition to MATHADOR (TIN2016-81699-ERC)."Peer Reviewed

Mortality and pulmonary complications in patients undergoing surgery with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection: an international cohort study

Background: The impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on postoperative recovery needs to be understood to inform clinical decision making during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This study reports 30-day mortality and pulmonary complication rates in patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: This international, multicentre, cohort study at 235 hospitals in 24 countries included all patients undergoing surgery who had SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed within 7 days before or 30 days after surgery. The primary outcome measure was 30-day postoperative mortality and was assessed in all enrolled patients. The main secondary outcome measure was pulmonary complications, defined as pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, or unexpected postoperative ventilation. Findings: This analysis includes 1128 patients who had surgery between Jan 1 and March 31, 2020, of whom 835 (74·0%) had emergency surgery and 280 (24·8%) had elective surgery. SARS-CoV-2 infection was confirmed preoperatively in 294 (26·1%) patients. 30-day mortality was 23·8% (268 of 1128). Pulmonary complications occurred in 577 (51·2%) of 1128 patients; 30-day mortality in these patients was 38·0% (219 of 577), accounting for 81·7% (219 of 268) of all deaths. In adjusted analyses, 30-day mortality was associated with male sex (odds ratio 1·75 [95% CI 1·28–2·40], p\textless0·0001), age 70 years or older versus younger than 70 years (2·30 [1·65–3·22], p\textless0·0001), American Society of Anesthesiologists grades 3–5 versus grades 1–2 (2·35 [1·57–3·53], p\textless0·0001), malignant versus benign or obstetric diagnosis (1·55 [1·01–2·39], p=0·046), emergency versus elective surgery (1·67 [1·06–2·63], p=0·026), and major versus minor surgery (1·52 [1·01–2·31], p=0·047). Interpretation: Postoperative pulmonary complications occur in half of patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection and are associated with high mortality. Thresholds for surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic should be higher than during normal practice, particularly in men aged 70 years and older. Consideration should be given for postponing non-urgent procedures and promoting non-operative treatment to delay or avoid the need for surgery. Funding: National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland, Bowel and Cancer Research, Bowel Disease Research Foundation, Association of Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeons, British Association of Surgical Oncology, British Gynaecological Cancer Society, European Society of Coloproctology, NIHR Academy, Sarcoma UK, Vascular Society for Great Britain and Ireland, and Yorkshire Cancer Research

Multivariate statistical and GIS-based approach to identify heavy metal sources in soils

The knowledge of the regional variability, the background values and the anthropic vs. natural origin for potentially harmful elements in soils is of critical importance to assess human impact and to fix guide values and quality standards. The present study was undertaken as a preliminary survey on soil contamination on a regional scale in Piemonte (NW Italy). The aims of the study were: (1) to determine average regional concentrations of some heavy metals (Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Pb); (2) to find out their large-scale variability; (3) to define their natural or artificial origin; and (4) to identify possible non-point sources of contamination. Multivariate statistic approaches (Principal Component Analysis and Cluster Analysis) were adopted for data treatment, allowing the identification of three main factors controlling the heavy metal variability in cultivated soils. Geostatistics were used to construct regional distribution maps, to be compared with the geographical, geologic and land use regional database using GIS software. This approach, evidencing spatial relationships, proved very useful to the confirmation and refinement of geochemical interpretations of the statistical output. Cr, Cc and Ni were associated with and controlled by parent rocks, whereas Cu together with Zn, and Pb alone were controlled by anthropic activities. The study indicates that background values and realistic mandatory guidelines are impossible to fix without an extensive data collection and without a correct geochemical interpretation of the data

Global Retailers and Competitive Customer Value

Global competition involves large retailers in a continuous development of their activity in relation to market stimula. In this regard efficient management of commercial functions, innovation of offer attributes and dynamic management of retailing mix allow large retailers to reformulate their offer creating competitive customer value

Proceedings of the First International Conference on Stepped Wedge Trial Design: York, UK, 10 March 2016

I1 Introduction Mona Kanaan, Noreen Dadirai Mdege, Ada Keding O1 The HiSTORIC trial: a hybrid before-and-after and stepped wedge design RA Parker, N Mills, A Shah, F Strachan, C Keerie, CJ Weir O2 Stepped wedge trials with non-uniform correlation structure Andrew Forbes, Karla Hemming O3 Challenges and solutions for the operationalisation of the ENHANCE study: a pilot stepped wedge trial within a general practice setting Sarah A Lawton, Emma Healey, Martyn Lewis, Elaine Nicholls, Clare Jinks, Valerie Tan, Andrew Finney, Christian D Mallen, on behalf of the ENHANCE Study Team O4 Early lessons from the implementation of a stepped wedge trial design investigating the effectiveness of a training intervention in busy health care settings: the Thistle study Erik Lenguerrand, Graeme MacLennan, John Norrie, Siladitya Bhattacharya, Tim Draycott, on behalf of the Thistle group O5 Sample size calculation for longitudinal cluster randomised trials: a unified framework for closed cohort and repeated cross-section designs Richard Hooper, Steven Teerenstra, Esther de Hoop, Sandra Eldridge O6 Restricted randomisation schemes for stepped-wedge studies with a cluster-level covariate Alan Girling, Monica Taljaard O7 A flexible modelling of the time trend for the analysis of stepped wedge trials: results of a simulation study Gian Luca Di Tanna, Antonio Gasparrini P1 Tackling acute kidney injury – a UK stepped wedge clinical trial of hospital-level quality improvement interventions Anna Casula, Fergus Caskey, Erik Lenguerrand, Shona Methven, Stephanie MacNeill, Margaret May, Nicholas Selby P2 Sample size considerations for quantifying secondary bacterial transmission in a stepped wedge trial of influenza vaccine Leon Danon, Hannah Christensen, Adam Finn, Margaret May P3 Sample size calculation for time-to-event data in stepped wedge cluster randomised trials Fumihito Takanashi, Ada Keding, Simon Crouch, Mona Kanaan P4 Sample size calculations for stepped-wedge cluster randomised trials with unequal cluster sizes Caroline A. Kristunas, Karen L. Smith, Laura J. Gray P5 The design of stepped wedge trials with unequal cluster sizes John N.S. Matthews P6 Promoting Recruitment using Information Management Efficiently (PRIME): a stepped wedge SWAT (study-within-a-trial) R Al-Shahi Salman, RA Parker, A Maxwell, M Dennis, A Rudd, CJ Weir P7 Implications of misspecified mixed effect models in stepped wedge trial analysis: how wrong can it be? Jennifer A Thompson, Katherine L Fielding, Calum Davey, Alexander M Aiken, James R Hargreaves, Richard J Hayes S1 Stepped Wedge Designs with Multiple Interventions Vivian H Lyons, Lingyu Li, James Hughes, Ali Rowhani-Rahbar S2 Analysis of the cross-sectional stepped wedge cluster randomised trial Karla Hemming, Monica Taljaard, Andrew Forbe

Common and Unique Biological Pathways Associated with Smoking Initiation/Progression, Nicotine Dependence, and Smoking Cessation

Twin and family studies reveal a significant genetic contribution to the risk of smoking initiation and progression (SI/P), nicotine dependence (ND), and smoking cessation (SC). Further, numerous genes have been implicated in these smoking-related behaviors, especially for ND. However, no study has presented a comprehensive and systematic view of the genetic factors associated with these important smoking-related phenotypes. By reviewing the literature on these behaviors, we identified 16, 99, and 75 genes that have been associated with SI/P, ND, and SC, respectively. We then determined whether these genes were enriched in pathways important in the neuronal and brain functions underlying addiction. We identified 9, 21, and 13 pathways enriched in the genes associated with SI/P, ND, and SC, respectively. Among these pathways, four were common to all of the three phenotypes, that is, calcium signaling, cAMP-mediated signaling, dopamine receptor signaling, and G-protein-coupled receptor signaling. Further, we found that serotonin receptor signaling and tryptophan metabolism pathways were shared by SI/P and ND, tight junction signaling pathway was shared by SI/P and SC, and gap junction, neurotrophin/TRK signaling, synaptic long-term potentiation, and tyrosine metabolism were shared between ND and SC. Together, these findings show significant genetic overlap among these three related phenotypes. Although identification of susceptibility genes for smoking-related behaviors is still in an early stage, the approach used in this study has the potential to overcome the hurdles caused by factors such as genetic heterogeneity and small sample size, and thus should yield greater insights into the genetic mechanisms underlying these complex phenotypes

Evaluation of a quality improvement intervention to reduce anastomotic leak following right colectomy (EAGLE): pragmatic, batched stepped-wedge, cluster-randomized trial in 64 countries

Background Anastomotic leak affects 8 per cent of patients after right colectomy with a 10-fold increased risk of postoperative death. The EAGLE study aimed to develop and test whether an international, standardized quality improvement intervention could reduce anastomotic leaks. Methods The internationally intended protocol, iteratively co-developed by a multistage Delphi process, comprised an online educational module introducing risk stratification, an intraoperative checklist, and harmonized surgical techniques. Clusters (hospital teams) were randomized to one of three arms with varied sequences of intervention/data collection by a derived stepped-wedge batch design (at least 18 hospital teams per batch). Patients were blinded to the study allocation. Low- and middle-income country enrolment was encouraged. The primary outcome (assessed by intention to treat) was anastomotic leak rate, and subgroup analyses by module completion (at least 80 per cent of surgeons, high engagement; less than 50 per cent, low engagement) were preplanned. Results A total 355 hospital teams registered, with 332 from 64 countries (39.2 per cent low and middle income) included in the final analysis. The online modules were completed by half of the surgeons (2143 of 4411). The primary analysis included 3039 of the 3268 patients recruited (206 patients had no anastomosis and 23 were lost to follow-up), with anastomotic leaks arising before and after the intervention in 10.1 and 9.6 per cent respectively (adjusted OR 0.87, 95 per cent c.i. 0.59 to 1.30; P = 0.498). The proportion of surgeons completing the educational modules was an influence: the leak rate decreased from 12.2 per cent (61 of 500) before intervention to 5.1 per cent (24 of 473) after intervention in high-engagement centres (adjusted OR 0.36, 0.20 to 0.64; P < 0.001), but this was not observed in low-engagement hospitals (8.3 per cent (59 of 714) and 13.8 per cent (61 of 443) respectively; adjusted OR 2.09, 1.31 to 3.31). Conclusion Completion of globally available digital training by engaged teams can alter anastomotic leak rates. Registration number: NCT04270721 (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov)