A systematic assessment of the association between frequently-prescribed medicines and the risk of common cancers : a series of nested case-control studies

Funding: This work was supported by Cancer Research UK (reference C37316/A25535). Acknowledgements: We wish to thank PCCIUR, University of Aberdeen, especially Artur Wozniak, for extracting the data and performing case-control matching.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Complexity-based learning and teaching: a case study in higher education

This paper presents a learning and teaching strategy based on complexity science and explores its impacts on a higher education game design course. The strategy aimed at generating conditions fostering individual and collective learning in educational complex adaptive systems, and led the design of the course through an iterative and adaptive process informed by evidence emerging from course dynamics. The data collected indicate that collaboration was initially challenging for students, but collective learning emerged as the course developed, positively affecting individual and team performance. Even though challenged, students felt highly motivated and enjoyed working on course activities. Their perception of progress and expertise were always high, and the academic performance was on average very good. The strategy fostered collaboration and allowed students and tutors to deal with complex situations requiring adaptation

The effect of medications associated with drug-induced pancreatitis on pancreatic cancer risk : a nested case-control study of routine Scottish data

Funding: This work was supported by Cancer Research UK (reference C37316/A25535). Acknowledgements: We wish to thank PCCIUR, University of Aberdeen, especially Artur Wozniak, for extracting the data and performing case-control matching.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

How Reasoning Aims at Truth

Many hold that theoretical reasoning aims at truth. In this paper, I ask what it is for reasoning to be thus aim-directed. Standard answers to this question explain reasoning’s aim-directedness in terms of intentions, dispositions, or rule-following. I argue that, while these views contain important insights, they are not satisfactory. As an alternative, I introduce and defend a novel account: reasoning aims at truth in virtue of being the exercise of a distinctive kind of cognitive power, one that, unlike ordinary dispositions, is capable of fully explaining its own exercises. I argue that this account is able to avoid the difficulties plaguing standard accounts of the relevant sort of mental teleology

Algebraic totality, towards completeness

Finiteness spaces constitute a categorical model of Linear Logic (LL) whose objects can be seen as linearly topologised spaces, (a class of topological vector spaces introduced by Lefschetz in 1942) and morphisms as continuous linear maps. First, we recall definitions of finiteness spaces and describe their basic properties deduced from the general theory of linearly topologised spaces. Then we give an interpretation of LL based on linear algebra. Second, thanks to separation properties, we can introduce an algebraic notion of totality candidate in the framework of linearly topologised spaces: a totality candidate is a closed affine subspace which does not contain 0. We show that finiteness spaces with totality candidates constitute a model of classical LL. Finally, we give a barycentric simply typed lambda-calculus, with booleans ${\mathcal{B}}$ and a conditional operator, which can be interpreted in this model. We prove completeness at type ${\mathcal{B}}^n\to{\mathcal{B}}$ for every n by an algebraic method

Chandra Observations of Extended X-ray Emission in Arp 220

We resolve the extended X-ray emission from the prototypical ultraluminous infrared galaxy Arp 220. Extended, faint edge-brightened, soft X-ray lobes outside the optical galaxy are observed to a distance of 10 to 15 kpc on each side of the nuclear region. Bright plumes inside the optical isophotes coincide with the optical line emission and extend 11 kpc from end to end across the nucleus. The data for the plumes cannot be fit by a single temperature plasma, and display a range of temperatures from 0.2 to 1 keV. The plumes emerge from bright, diffuse circumnuclear emission in the inner 3 kpc centered on the Halpha peak, which is displaced from the radio nuclei. There is a close morphological correspondence between the Halpha and soft X-ray emission on all spatial scales. We interpret the plumes as a starburst-driven superwind, and discuss two interpretations of the emission from the lobes in the context of simulations of the merger dynamics of Arp 220.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ; see also astro-ph/0208477 (Paper 1

Preliminary investigation of the prevalence and implantation potential of abnormal embryonic phenotypes assessed using time-lapse imaging.

This retrospective, single site observational study aimed to delineate five abnormal embryonic developmental phenotypes, assessing their prevalence, development potential and suitability for inclusion in embryo selection models for IVF. In total, 15,819 embryos from 4559 treatment cycles cultured in EmbryoScope® incubators between January 2014 and January 2016 were included. Time-lapse images were assessed retrospectively for five abnormal embryo phenotypes: direct cleavage, reverse cleavage, absent cleavage, chaotic cleavage and cell lysis. The prevalence of each abnormal phenotype was assessed. Final embryo disposition, embryo quality and implantation rate were determined and compared with a control embryo cohort. The collective prevalence for the five abnormal phenotypes was 11.4%; chaotic cleavage and direct cleavage together constituted 9.7%. Implantation rates were 17.4%, 0%, 25%, 2.1% and 0% for direct, reverse, absent, chaotic cleavage and cell lysis, respectively. The overall implantation rate for all abnormal embryos with known implantation status was significantly lower compared with the control population (6.9% versus 38.7%, P < 0.0001). The proportion of good quality embryos in each category of abnormal cleavage remained below 25%. Embryos exhibiting an abnormal phenotype may have reduced developmental capability, manifested in both embryo quality and implantation potential, when compared with embryos of normal phenotype

Examining the efficacy of six published time-lapse imaging embryo selection algorithms to predict implantation to demonstrate the need for the development of specific, in-house morphokinetic selection algorithms.

OBJECTIVE: To study the efficacy of six embryo-selection algorithms (ESAs) when applied to a large, exclusive set of known implantation embryos. DESIGN: Retrospective, observational analysis. SETTING: Fertility treatment center. PATIENT(S): Women undergoing a total of 884 in vitro fertilization (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) treatment cycles (977 embryos) between September 2014 and September 2015 with embryos cultured using G-TL (Vitrolife) at 5% O2, 89% N2, 6% CO2, at 37°C in EmbryoScope instruments. INTERVENTION(S): None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Efficacy of each ESA to predict implantation defined using specificity, sensitivity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), and likelihood ratio (LR), with differences in implantation rates (IR) in the categories outlined by each ESA statistically analyzed (Fisher's exact and Kruskal-Wallis tests). RESULT(S): When applied to an exclusive cohort of known implantation embryos, the PPVs of each ESA were 42.57%, 41.52%, 44.28%, 38.91%, 38.29%, and 40.45%. The NPVs were 62.12%, 68.26%, 71.35%, 76.19%, 61.10%, and 64.14%. The sensitivity was 16.70%, 75.33%, 72.94%, 98.67%, 51.19%, and 62.33% and the specificity was 85.83%, 33.33%, 42.33%, 2.67%, 48.17%, and 42.33%, The AUC were 0.584, 0.558, 0.573, 0.612, 0.543, and 0.629. Two of the ESAs resulted in statistically significant differences in the embryo classifications in terms of IR. CONCLUSION(S): These results highlight the need for the development of in-house ESAs that are specific to the patient, treatment, and environment. These data suggest that currently available ESAs may not be clinically applicable and lose their diagnostic value when externally applied