The energy landscape of social balance

We model a close-knit community of friends and enemies as a fully connected network with positive and negative signs on its edges. Theories from social psychology suggest that certain sign patterns are more stable than others. This notion of social "balance" allows us to define an energy landscape for such networks. Its structure is complex: numerical experiments reveal a landscape dimpled with local minima of widely varying energy levels. We derive rigorous bounds on the energies of these local minima and prove that they have a modular structure that can be used to classify them.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Neutrophils in cancer: neutral no more

Neutrophils are indispensable antagonists of microbial infection and facilitators of wound healing. In the cancer setting, a newfound appreciation for neutrophils has come into view. The traditionally held belief that neutrophils are inert bystanders is being challenged by the recent literature. Emerging evidence indicates that tumours manipulate neutrophils, sometimes early in their differentiation process, to create diverse phenotypic and functional polarization states able to alter tumour behaviour. In this Review, we discuss the involvement of neutrophils in cancer initiation and progression, and their potential as clinical biomarkers and therapeutic targets

AN ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORD BASED ALGORITHM TO TAILOR CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE PREVENTION USING LIPOPROTEIN(A), APOLIPOPROTEIN B, CHOLESTEROL AND MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION DIAGNOSIS: ABCDS PREVENTION PROGRAM

Therapeutic Area: CVD Prevention – Primary and Secondary; ASCVD/CVD Risk Assessment; Preventive Cardiology Best Practices Background: According to the 2022 American Heart Association Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics, coronary heart disease remains the leading cause of death attributable to cardiovascular disease (CVD). Opportunity exists to utilize electronic medical records (EMRs) and biomarkers to facilitate early identification of patients at high risk for CVD. Additionally, automatic or opt-out orders are EMR-based tools that have the potential to improve referral rates to prevention programs. The role of cardiovascular biomarkers and electronic medical records (EMRs) in optimizing identification and referral of patients at risk for CVD are explored in the ABCDs PREVENTION program. Methods: A multidisciplinary team of cardiologists, internists, engineers, and clinical informaticists defined the logic for the guideline based ABCDs PREVENTION tool. The EMR algorithm used the cardiovascular risk biomarker thresholds of lipoprotein(a) > 70 nmol/L, apolipoprotein B > 90 mg/dL, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol  > 150 mg/dL, and triglycerides > 200 mg/dL, and/or a diagnosis of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) or non-ST-elevation MI (NSTEMI) based on ICD-10 codes to generate automatic referrals to (1) cardiac rehabilitation (CR), (2) the advanced lipid disorders clinic, and/or (3) Corrie Cardiovascular Health Program (Figure 1). Results: In a test environment, the algorithm was applied to 27 patients identified by the clinical team with STEMI or NSTEMI. The algorithm was 90% successful in triggering automatic referrals to CR and Corrie. Fail rates can be attributed to our current algorithm not detecting some ICD codes related to NSTEMI. The automatic referral to lipid disorders clinic based on abnormal lipid biomarkers is now live and undergoing automation optimization to validate accuracy. Conclusion: Building an EMR-based algorithm to individualize CVD prevention using cardiovascular risk biomarkers and diagnoses may enable early identification and intervention on high-risk patients. Future directions include applying the algorithm to clinical decision support tools as well as an automated order set to increase referral rates to evidenced-based programs focused on primary and secondary CVD prevention. Ultimately, use analysis will determine if the algorithm improves referral rates to CR, lipid clinic, and the Corrie Cardiovascular Health Program to improve access to these evidence-based services