Modified prolonged exposure therapy as Early Intervention after Rape (The EIR-study): study protocol for a multicenter randomized add-on superiority trial

Background Sexual assault and rape are the traumatic life events with the highest probability for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can have devastating consequences for those aficted by the condition. Studies indicate that modifed prolonged exposure (mPE) therapy may be efective in preventing the development of PTSD in recently traumatized individuals, and especially for people who have experienced sexual assault. If a brief, manualized early intervention can prevent or reduce post-traumatic symptoms in women who have recently experienced rape, healthcare services targeted for these populations (i.e., sexual assault centers, SACs) should consider implementing such interventions as part of routine care. Methods/design This is a multicenter randomized controlled add-on superiority trial that enrolls patients attending sexual assault centers within 72 h after rape or attempted rape. The objective is to assess whether mPE shortly after rape can prevent the development of post-traumatic stress symptoms. Patients will be randomized to either mPE plus treatment as usual (TAU) or TAU alone. The primary outcome is the development of post-traumatic stress symptoms 3 months after trauma. Secondary outcomes will be symptoms of depression, sleep difculties, pelvic foor hyperactivity, and sexual dysfunction. The frst 22 subjects will constitute an internal pilot trial to test acceptance of the intervention and feasibility of the assessment battery. Discussion This study will guide further research and clinical initiatives for implementing strategies for preventing post-traumatic stress symptoms after rape and provide new knowledge about which women may beneft the most from such initiatives and for revising existing treatment guidelines within this area

The past, present, and future of the Brain Imaging Data Structure (BIDS)

The Brain Imaging Data Structure (BIDS) is a community-driven standard for the organization of data and metadata from a growing range of neuroscience modalities. This paper is meant as a history of how the standard has developed and grown over time. We outline the principles behind the project, the mechanisms by which it has been extended, and some of the challenges being addressed as it evolves. We also discuss the lessons learned through the project, with the aim of enabling researchers in other domains to learn from the success of BIDS

Mätning av LCD-bildskärmars responstid och latens : Measurement of LCD displays response time and input lag

Examensarbetet har utförts i samarbete med företaget LVI (Low Vision International) som tillverkar elektroniska hjälpmedel för synskadade. LVI utvärderar vid jämna mellanrum nya LCD-bildskärmar för deras produkter. LVI behöver metoder samt utrustning för att mäta bildskärmars responstid och latens. Både responstiden och latensen ger fördröjningar vilket t.ex. leder till att bilden blir oskarp, rörliga föremål får en svans efter sig eller att lju- det kommer före bilden. I detta arbete utförs en grundlig förstudie som behandlar bild- skärmars responstid och latens samt ger ett underlag för att konstruera eller köpa mätut- rustning för responstidsmätningar. I förstudien framkommer den standardiserade mätmeto- den ”grey-to-grey” som LVI kan använda för att mäta responstiden. En mätkrets konstrue- ras för att mäta responstiden samt beställs en dedikerad enhet för latensmätning. För att ut- värdera mätmetoderna utförs ett antal tester med mätkretsen för responstid och den dedike- rade enheten för mätning av latens. Mätningarna visar senare att mätmetoden ”grey-to- grey” är den som LVI ska använda men metoden behöver vidareutvecklas. Den dedikerade enheten för latensmätningar visar sig mäta en del av responstiden och bör därför endast an- vändas som komplement till responstidsmätningen vid jämförelser mellan olika bildskär- mar. Arbetet levererar en förstudie i LCD-bildskärmars responstid och latens, en vidareut- vecklad version av ”grey-to-grey”-metoden, mätutrustning för responstidsmätning samt den dedikerade mätenheten för latens till företaget LVI. The thesis was performed in collaboration with the company LVI (Low Vision Interna- tional) that manufactures electronic devices for the visually impaired. LVI evaluates new LCD displays for their products at regular intervals. LVI need methods and equipment for measuring response time and input lag. Both response time and input lag cause delays, which results in such things as image blur, ghosting after moving objects or a delay between sound and image. The preliminary study reveals the standardized method “grey- to-grey” that LVI can use to measure response time. A measurement circuit was constructed to measure response time and a dedicated unit for input lag measurement was ordered. To evaluate the measurement methods a number of tests were conducted with the response time circuit and the dedicated input lag unit. The measurements showed that the method LVI shall use is the "grey-to-grey” method but it needs further development. It turned out that the dedicated unit for input lag measured a portion of the response time and should therefore only be used as a complement to the response time measurement when comparing displays. The thesis delivers a preliminary study in LCD displays response times and input lag, a further developed version of the “grey-to-grey” method, measurement equipment for response time and a dedicated unit for input lag measurements to the company LVI

The Metasearch Road to Purchase : An investigation of the Touchpoints on Metasearch Engines in the Travel Distribution Industry

The travel distribution industry is growing. While traditional distribution channels such as online travel agencies and physical stores are decreasing in revenues, metasearch companies are receiving greater attention from consumers. However, metasearch companies face challenges even with an increasing market. Offering a proposition with a business model that revolves around pay per click and advertisements, you are in need of large amount of traffic. To understand the consumer behaviour has never been more critical. It is about increasing the ability to create a rich customer experience. In order to do so, companies are in need of understanding how to interact with consumers. The interaction is mainly occurring through touchpoints. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to investigate how the current identified most relevant digital touchpoints are having impact on the consumers opinion of metasearch websites in the travel distribution industry. By doing so, we contribute to marketing theory, method and practices. The importance of certain touchpoints and to find out if they have the same relevance when the purchase itself is excluded. Focus is being towards factors that metasearch companies see as undiscovered. A quantitative study was conducted with a sample of 148 respondents. The result not only gave new insight in terms of touchpoints relevance in metasearch industries but also a theoretical ground for future research

The Metasearch Road to Purchase : An investigation of the Touchpoints on Metasearch Engines in the Travel Distribution Industry

The travel distribution industry is growing. While traditional distribution channels such as online travel agencies and physical stores are decreasing in revenues, metasearch companies are receiving greater attention from consumers. However, metasearch companies face challenges even with an increasing market. Offering a proposition with a business model that revolves around pay per click and advertisements, you are in need of large amount of traffic. To understand the consumer behaviour has never been more critical. It is about increasing the ability to create a rich customer experience. In order to do so, companies are in need of understanding how to interact with consumers. The interaction is mainly occurring through touchpoints. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to investigate how the current identified most relevant digital touchpoints are having impact on the consumers opinion of metasearch websites in the travel distribution industry. By doing so, we contribute to marketing theory, method and practices. The importance of certain touchpoints and to find out if they have the same relevance when the purchase itself is excluded. Focus is being towards factors that metasearch companies see as undiscovered. A quantitative study was conducted with a sample of 148 respondents. The result not only gave new insight in terms of touchpoints relevance in metasearch industries but also a theoretical ground for future research

The Metasearch Road to Purchase : An investigation of the Touchpoints on Metasearch Engines in the Travel Distribution Industry

The travel distribution industry is growing. While traditional distribution channels such as online travel agencies and physical stores are decreasing in revenues, metasearch companies are receiving greater attention from consumers. However, metasearch companies face challenges even with an increasing market. Offering a proposition with a business model that revolves around pay per click and advertisements, you are in need of large amount of traffic. To understand the consumer behaviour has never been more critical. It is about increasing the ability to create a rich customer experience. In order to do so, companies are in need of understanding how to interact with consumers. The interaction is mainly occurring through touchpoints. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to investigate how the current identified most relevant digital touchpoints are having impact on the consumers opinion of metasearch websites in the travel distribution industry. By doing so, we contribute to marketing theory, method and practices. The importance of certain touchpoints and to find out if they have the same relevance when the purchase itself is excluded. Focus is being towards factors that metasearch companies see as undiscovered. A quantitative study was conducted with a sample of 148 respondents. The result not only gave new insight in terms of touchpoints relevance in metasearch industries but also a theoretical ground for future research

Disease-associated reference intervals for twenty laboratory tests in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis

Background Population based reference intervals are fundamental for interpreting results for quantitative laboratory tests. In patients with a specific chronic disorder, however, results of various tests may regularly be different than in healthy individuals. Health-associated reference intervals may therefore have limited value in such patients. Instead, disease-associated reference intervals may be useful, as they describe the results distribution in populations resembling the specific patients. Few disease-associated reference ntervals are available in the literature. The aim of this study was to estimate reference intervals for common laboratory tests for patient populations with rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis without significant comorbidity, using a novel algorithm. Material and methods Laboratory test results and hospital discharge diagnoses were collected for relevant patients. An algorithm was developed to identify discharge diagnoses significantly associated with high or low results for specific tests. After excluding patients with such diagnoses, reference intervals were estimated, representing results distributions in patients with each of the specific chronic disorders, but without significant comorbidity. Results Disease-associated reference intervals were estimated for 20 common laboratory tests. Most of the estimated reference limits were significantly different from corresponding health-associated reference limits. Thirty percent of the estimated reference intervals were different from estimates based on crude patient populations, indicating that the algorithm applied managed to exclude patients with relevant comorbidity. Conclusion Disease-associated reference intervals could be estimated for a number of tests in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease using a highly automated algorithm based on routinely recorded patient data

Presentation of clinical laboratory results : an experimental comparison of four visualization techniques.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate how clinical chemistry test results were assessed by volunteers when presented with four different visualization techniques. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 20 medical students reviewed quantitative test results from 4 patients using 4 different visualization techniques in a balanced, crossover experiment. The laboratory data represented relevant patient categories, including simple, emergency, chronic and complex patients. Participants answered questions about trend, overall levels and covariation of test results. Answers and assessment times were recorded and participants were interviewed on their preference of visualization technique. RESULTS: Assessment of results and the time used varied between visualization techniques. With sparklines and relative multigraphs participants made faster assessments. With relative multigraphs participants identified more covarying test results. With absolute multigraphs participants found more trends. With sparklines participants more often assessed laboratory results to be within reference ranges. Different visualization techniques were preferred for the four different patient categories. No participant preferred absolute multigraphs for any patient. DISCUSSION: Assessments of clinical chemistry test results were influenced by how they were presented. Importantly though, this association depended on the complexity of the result sets, and none of the visualization techniques appeared to be ideal in all settings. CONCLUSIONS: Sparklines and relative multigraphs seem to be favorable techniques for presenting complex long-term clinical chemistry test results, while tables seem to suffice for simpler result sets.<p>This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License, which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non commercial and is otherwise in compliance with the license. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ and http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/legalcode</p

Measured versus estimated energy requirement in hospitalized patients

Background &amp; aim: Failure to identify a patient's energy requirement has a variety of consequences both physiological and economical. Previous studies have shown that predictive formulas, including the Harris Benedict equation (HB), both over- and underestimates energy requirement in severely ill patients and healthy younger adults, compared to the golden standard, indirect calorimetry (IC). The comparison between measured and estimated energy requirements in hospitalized patients in regular wards is underreported. The aim of this study was to assess the agreement between measured energy requirements and requirements estimated by HB in the individual hospitalized patients, and to investigate whether those findings were associated with other specific patient characteristics.Methods: IC (n = 86) was used to measure resting energy expenditure (REE) and bioimpedance analysis (BIA) (n = 67) was used for body composition in patients admitted to Aalborg University Hospital. Furthermore, height, weight, body mass index, calf circumference, while information regarding hospital ward, vital values, dieticians estimated energy requirements and blood samples were collected in the patients' electronic medical records. Bland-Altman plots, multiple linear regression analysis, and Chi2 tests were performed.Results: On average a difference between IC compared with the HB (6.2%), dietitians' estimation (7.8%) and BIA (4.50%) was observed (p &lt; 0.05). Association between REE and skeletal muscle mass (SMM) (R2 = 0.58, β = 149.0 kJ), body fat mass (BFM) (R2 = 0.51, β = 59.1 kJ), and weight (R2 = 0.62, β = 45.6 kJ) were found (p &lt; 0.05). A positive association between measured REE and HB were found in the following variables (p &lt; 0.05): CRP, age, surgical patients, and respiratory rate.Conclusion: This study found a general underestimation of estimated energy expenditure compared to measured REE. A positive correlation between measured REE and SMM, BRM and weight was found. Lastly, the study found a greater association between CRP, age, surgical patients, and respiratory rate and a general greater than ±10% difference between measured and estimation of energy requirements