440 research outputs found

    Too Cool at School - Understanding Cool Teenagers

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    Cool can be thought about on three levels; the having of cool things, the doing of cool stuff and the being of cool. Whilst there is some understanding of cool products, the concept, of being cool is much more elusive to designers and developers of systems. This study examines this space by using a set of pre-prepared teenage personas as probes with a set of teenagers with the aim of better understanding what is, and isn’t cool about teenage behaviours. The study confirmed that teenagers are able to rank personas in order of cool and that the process of using personas can provide valuable insights around the phenomenon of cool. The findings confirm that cool is indeed about having cool things but in terms of behaviours cool can be a little bit, but not too, naughty

    Constructing the Cool Wall: A tool to explore teen meanings of cool

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    This paper describes the development and exploration of a tool designed to assist in investigating ‘cool’ as it applies to the design of interactive products for teenagers. The method involved the derivation of theoretical understandings of cool from literature that resulted in identification of seven core categories for cool, which were mapped to a hierarchy. The hierarchy includes having of cool things, the doing of cool activities and the being of cool. This paper focuses on a tool, the Cool Wall, developed to explore one specific facet of the hierarchy; exploring shared understanding of having cool things. The paper describes the development and construction of the tool, using a heavily participatory approach, and the results and analysis of three studies. The first study was carried out over 2 days in a school in the UK. The results of the study both provide clear insights into cool things and enable a refined understanding of cool in this context. Two additional studies are then used to identify potential shortcomings in the Cool Wall methodology. In the second study participants were able to populate a paper cool wall with anything they chose, this revealed two potential new categories of images and that the current set of images covered the majority of key themes. In the third study teenagers interpretations of the meaning of the images included in the Cool Wall were explored, this showed that the majority of meanings were as expected and a small number of unexpected interpretations provided some valuable insights

    Understanding teen UX: Building a Bridge to the future

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    UX is a widely explored topic within HCI and has a large practitioners' community. However, the users considered in research and practice, are most often adults - since adults represent the largest technology market share. However teenagers represent a growing market of unique users, and more needs to be understood about this population, from a UX perspective. The theme of this workshop is Building a Bridge to the Future and the aim is to gather together academics and UX practitioners, interested in teen users specifically, in order to discuss experiences, understandings, insights and methods that we can use to comprehend teen UX now and explore how this may lead to the creation of better interactive products in the future. The workshop will also foster new collaborations, and define new research agendas to grow the research and literature in this area

    3-Year Comparison of Drug-Eluting Versus Bare-Metal Stents

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    ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to compare 3-year cumulative outcomes to landmark second- and third-year outcomes with the routine use of drug-eluting stents (DES) (>75% “off-label”) with a comparable group treated with bare-metal stents (BMS).BackgroundLong-term safety concerns after “off-label” DES use persist, despite recent 2-year data showing comparable safety to BMS use.MethodsClinical outcomes (nonfatal myocardial infarction, all-cause mortality) were assessed in 1,147 consecutive patients who received a BMS in the year before the introduction of DES at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and 1,246 consecutive patients that received a DES after it became our routine choice with equivalent complete 3-year follow-up.ResultsStents were used for “off-label” indications in 80% of DES patients. At 3 years, the hazard ratio for DES compared with BMS for cumulative target vessel revascularization was 0.65 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.51 to 0.82), nonfatal myocardial infarction or death was 0.85 (95% CI: 0.71 to 1.03), and all-cause mortality 0.80 (95% CI: 0.64 to 1.01). The DES clinical benefits occurred entirely within the first year, with similar rates of these clinical end points in the second and third year. The cumulative hazard ratio of stent thrombosis DES compared with BMS was 1.07 (95% CI: 0.57 to 2.01), with similar rates of stent thrombosis in the third year (p = 0.70).ConclusionsThe routine clinical use of DES for “off-label” indications was associated with lower clinical end points at 3 years than treatment with BMS in a comparable group of patients, with similar cumulative rates of stent thrombosis. There was no evidence of late “catch-up” of adverse DES events

    Nutritional characterisation of European aquaculture processing by-products to facilitate strategic utilisation

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    Sustainability analyses of aquaculture typically ignore the fate and value of processing by-products. The aim of this study was to characterise the nutritional content of the common processing by-products (heads, frames, trimmings, skin and viscera) of five important finfish species farmed in Europe; Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax), gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata), common carp (Cyprinus carpio) and turbot (Psetta maxima) to inform on best utilisation strategies. Our results indicate a substantially higher total flesh yield (64–77 %) can be achieved if fully processed, compared to fillet only (30–56 %). We found that heads, frames, trimmings and skin from Atlantic salmon, European seabass, gilthead seabream and turbot frames showed medium to high edible yields, medium to high lipid, and medium to high eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) content, indicating significant potential for direct use in human food. By-products which are unattractive for use in food directly but have low ash content and medium to high crude protein, lipid and EPA and DHA content, such as viscera, could be directed to animal feed. Skin showed interesting nutritional values, but has more potential in non-food applications, such as the fashion, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. The results indicate potential to increase the direct food, animal feed and non-food value of European aquaculture, without an increase in production volumes or the use of additional resources. The importance of changing consumer perceptions and addressing infrastructure and legislative barriers to maximize utilisation is emphasised

    Identification of BPIFA1/SPLUNC1 as an epithelium-derived smooth muscle relaxing factor

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    Asthma is a chronic airway disease characterized by inflammation, mucus hypersecretion and abnormal airway smooth muscle (ASM) contraction. Bacterial permeability family member A1, BPIFA1, is a secreted innate defence protein. Here we show that BPIFA1 levels are reduced in sputum samples from asthmatic patients and that BPIFA1 is secreted basolaterally from healthy, but not asthmatic human bronchial epithelial cultures (HBECs), where it suppresses ASM contractility by binding to and inhibiting the Ca2+ influx channel Orai1. We have localized this effect to a specific, C-terminal α-helical region of BPIFA1. Furthermore, tracheas from Bpifa1−/− mice are hypercontractile, and this phenotype is reversed by the addition of recombinant BPIFA1. Our data suggest that BPIFA1 deficiency in asthmatic airways promotes Orai1 hyperactivity, increased ASM contraction and airway hyperresponsiveness. Strategies that target Orai1 or the BPIFA1 deficiency in asthma may lead to novel therapies to treat this disease

    Effect of Treatment, during Primary Infection, on Establishment and Clearance of Cellular Reservoirs of HIV-1

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    Patients in whom virologic suppression is achieved with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) retain long-lived cellular reservoirs of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1); this retention is an obstacle to sustained control of infection. To assess the impact that initiating treatment during primary HIV-1 infection has on this cell population, we analyzed the decay kinetics of HIV-1 DNA and of infectivity associated with cells activated ex vivo in 27 patients who initiated therapy before or <6 months after seroconversion and in whom viremia was suppressed to <50 copies/mL. The clearance rates of cellular reservoirs could not be distinguished by these techniques (median half-life, 20 weeks) during the first year of HAART. The clearance of HIV-1 DNA slowed significantly during the subsequent 3 years of treatment (median half-life, 70 weeks), consistent with heterogeneous cellular reservoirs being present. Total cell-associated infectivity (CAI) after 1 year of treatment was undetectable (<0.07 infectious units/million cells [IUPM]) in most patients initiating treatment during primary infection either before (9/9) or <6 months after (6/8) seroconversion. In contrast, all 17 control patients who initiated HAART during chronic infection retained detectable CAI after 3-6 years of treatment (median reservoir size, 1.1 IUPM; P<.0005). These results suggest that treatment <6 months after seroconversion may facilitate long-term control of cellular reservoirs that maintain HIV-1 infection during treatmen

    Prospectus, August 26, 1991

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    https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1991/1011/thumbnail.jp

    Collecting Symptoms and Sensor Data With Consumer Smartwatches (the Knee OsteoArthritis, Linking Activity and Pain Study):Protocol for a Longitudinal, Observational Feasibility Study

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    BACKGROUND: The Knee OsteoArthritis, Linking Activity and Pain (KOALAP) study is the first to test the feasibility of using consumer-grade cellular smartwatches for health care research. OBJECTIVE: The overall aim was to investigate the feasibility of using consumer-grade cellular smartwatches as a novel tool to capture data on pain (multiple times a day) and physical activity (continuously) in patients with knee osteoarthritis. Additionally, KOALAP aimed to investigate smartwatch sensor data quality and assess whether engagement, acceptability, and user experience are sufficient for future large-scale observational and interventional studies. METHODS: A total of 26 participants with self-diagnosed knee osteoarthritis were recruited in September 2017. All participants were aged 50 years or over and either lived in or were willing to travel to the Greater Manchester area. Participants received a smartwatch (Huawei Watch 2) with a bespoke app that collected patient-reported outcomes via questionnaires and continuous watch sensor data. All data were collected daily for 90 days. Additional data were collected through interviews (at baseline and follow-up) and baseline and end-of-study questionnaires. This study underwent full review by the University of Manchester Research Ethics Committee (#0165) and University Information Governance (#IGRR000060). For qualitative data analysis, a system-level security policy was developed in collaboration with the University Information Governance Office. Additionally, the project underwent an internal review process at Google, including separate reviews of accessibility, product engineering, privacy, security, legal, and protection regulation compliance. RESULTS: Participants were recruited in September 2017. Data collection via the watches was completed in January 2018. Collection of qualitative data through patient interviews is still ongoing. Data analysis will commence when all data are collected; results are expected in 2019. CONCLUSIONS: KOALAP is the first health study to use consumer cellular smartwatches to collect self-reported symptoms alongside sensor data for musculoskeletal disorders. The results of this study will be used to inform the design of future mobile health studies. Results for feasibility and participant motivations will inform future researchers whether or under which conditions cellular smartwatches are a useful tool to collect patient-reported outcomes alongside passively measured patient behavior. The exploration of associations between self-reported symptoms at different moments will contribute to our understanding of whether it may be valuable to collect symptom data more frequently. Sensor data-quality measurements will indicate whether cellular smartwatch usage is feasible for obtaining sensor data. Methods for data-quality assessment and data-processing methods may be reusable, although generalizability to other clinical areas should be further investigated. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/10238

    Antibiotic prescribing in UK out-of-hours primary care services: a realist-informed scoping review of training and guidelines for healthcare professionals

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    Background: Antibiotic overuse has contributed to antimicrobial resistance, which is a global public health problem. In the UK, despite the fall in rates of antibiotic prescription since 2013, prescribing levels remain high in comparison with other European countries. Prescribing in out-of-hours (OOH) care provides unique challenges for prudent prescribing, for which professionals may not be prepared. Aim: To explore the guidance available to professionals on prescribing antibiotics for common infections in OOH primary care within the UK, with a focus on training resources, guidelines, and clinical recommendations. Design &amp; setting: A realist-informed scoping review of peer-reviewed articles and grey literature. Method: The review focused on antibiotic prescribing OOH (for example, clinical guidelines and training videos). General prescribing guidance was searched whenever OOH-focused resources were unavailable. Electronic databases and websites of national agencies and professional societies were searched following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) standards. Findings were organised according to realist review components, that is, mechanisms, contexts, and outcomes. Results: In total, 46 clinical guidelines and eight training resources were identified. Clinical guidelines targeted adults and children, and included recommendations on prescription strategy, spectrum of the antibiotic prescribed, communication with patients, treatment duration, and decision-making processes. No clinical guidelines or training resources focusing specifically on OOH were found. Conclusion: The results highlight a lack of knowledge about whether existing resources address the challenges faced by OOH antibiotic prescribers. Further research is needed to explore the training needs of OOH health professionals, and whether further OOH-focused resources need to be developed given the rates of antibiotic prescribing in this setting
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