Rave Culture- A Tale of Two Scenes

This article compares two iterations of rave culture through the perspective on scenes as outlined by Geoff Stahl in his essay \u27It\u27s Like Canada Reduced\u27: Setting the Scene in Montreal. By applying both communication and sociopolitical theory to the comparison of the original rave scene to that of today\u27s, a vivid understanding of how scenes and subcultures construct themselves- both within and around the cultural environments from which they are born- will become apparent

Fandom and Cult Cinema: Audience Responses to Rocky Horror Picture Show

This paper examines audience responses to cult cinema using a case study of the cult classic, Rocky Horror Picture Show. Using Lawrence Grossberg\u27s essay, Is There a Fan in the House?: The Affective Sensibility of Fandom, as a guide, this article will examine the lavish behaviors of spectators during this film through the application of psychosocial elements of audience behavior such as sensibilities, affects, and authoritative investments. In this application, this essay provides further insight into how fandom and fan receptions characterize and determine the relationship of the reader to the cult film

The effect of an early dismissal on player work-rate in a professional soccer match

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of an early dismissal (after 5-minutes play) on work-rate in a professional soccer match. A computerised player tracking system was used to assess the work-rates of seven players who completed the match on the team with 10 players. A minute-by-minute analysis of the remaining 91mins following the dismissal was performed for the total distance covered, the distance covered in five categories of movement intensity and the recovery time between high-intensity efforts for each player. The data were calculated for each half and for three equal intervals within each half and profiled against normative data for the same players obtained from analyses of 15 games in the same season. Following the dismissal, the players covered a greater total distance than normal (p<0.025), particularly in moderate-intensity activities (p<0.01) and had shorter recovery times between high-intensity efforts (p<0.025). In contrast, there was a significant reduction between game halves for total distance covered at both the highest (p<0.025) and lowest running intensities (p<0.01). However, there were no differences in high-intensity activities across the three intervals in the second-half. These findings suggest that in 11 v 11, players may not always utilise their full physical potential as this match illustrated an increase in overall work-rate when reduced to 10 players. However, as a team with 10 players is likely to incur higher levels of fatigue, tactical alterations may be necessary and/or players may adopt a pacing strategy to endure the remainder of the match

Computational Methods towards Personalized Cancer Vaccines and their Application through a Web-based Platform

Cancer immunotherapy is a treatment option that involves or uses components of a patient’s immune system. Today, it is heading towards becoming an integral part of treatment plans together with chemotherapy, surgery, and radiotherapy. Personalized epitope-based vaccines (EVs) serve as one strategy that is truly personalized. Each patient possesses a distinct immune system, and each tumor is unique, rendering the design of a potent vaccine challenging and dependent on the patient and the tumor. The potency of a vaccine is reliant on the ability of its constituent epitopes – short, immunogenic antigen fragments – to trigger an immune response. To assess this ability, one has to take into account the individuality of the immune system, among others conditioned by the variability of the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) gene cluster. Determining the HLA genotype with traditional experimental techniques can be time- and cost-intensive. We proposed a novel HLA genotyping algorithm based on integer linear programming that is independent of dedicated data generation for the sole purpose of HLA typing. On publicly available next-generation sequencing (NGS) data, our method outperformed previously published approaches. HLA binding is a prerequisite for T-cell recognition, and precise prediction algorithms exist. However, this information is not sufficient to assess the immunogenic potential of a peptide. To induce an immune response, reactive T-cell clones with receptors specific for a peptide-HLA complex have to be present. We suggested a method for the prediction of immunogenicity that includes peripheral tolerance models, based on gut microbiome data, in addition to central tolerance, previously shown to increase performance. The comparison to a previously published method suggests that the incorporation of gut microbiome data and HLA-binding stability estimates do not enhance prediction performance. High-throughput sequencing provides the basis for the design of personalized EVs. Through genome and transcriptome sequencing of tumor and matched non-malignant tissue samples, cancer-specific mutations can be identified, which can be further validated using other technologies such as mass spectrometry (MS). Multi-omics approaches can result in the acquisition of several hundreds of gigabytes of data. Handling and analysis of such data usually require data management solutions and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructures. We developed the web-based platform qPortal for data-driven biomedical research that allows users to manage and analyze quantitative biological data intuitively. To emphasize the advantages of our data-driven approach with an integrated workflow system, we conducted a comparison to Galaxy. Building on qPortal, we implemented the web-based platform iVacPortal for the design of personalized EVs to facilitate data management and data analysis in such projects. Further, we applied the implemented methods through iVacPortal in two studies of two distinct cancer entities, indicating the added value of our platform for the assessment of personalized EV candidates and alternative targets for cancer immunotherapy

The Effects of Eating Periodicity on Weight Loss

There is some evidence that eating periodicity is inversely associated with the onset of obesity. Eating periodicity in obese individuals engaging in weight loss efforts has not been well studied. The purpose of this study was to examine the pattern of eating periodicity in obese adults engaging in weight loss efforts, and to examine the relationship between eating periodicity and subsequent changes in body weight. Seventy five sedentary overweight adults were recruited to participate in this study. Individuals were considered eligible if they were 18 to 55 years of age with a body mass index of 25.0 to 39.9 kg/m2. The subjects for this study were part of a 20-week sub-investigation of an ongoing 18-month clinical weight loss trial. Subjects were weighed at 0, 12, and 20-weeks, and were instructed to complete daily food logs that included the frequency of eating episodes. Analysis revealed significant weight loss of -6.3 ± 4.3 kg (-6.6 ± 4.2 %) from baseline to week 12 (n=63; p < 0.01), with weight loss of -8.6 ± 5.8 kg (-9.2 ± 5.8 %) observed from baseline to week 20 (N = 55; p < 0.01). Analyses indicated significant inverse correlations between total meals and snacks consumed and absolute body weight change at 12- and 20-weeks (-0.39 and -0.40, respectively, p<0.05), indicating that an increase in meal periodicity was associated with a lower body weight. However, eating periodicity was not significantly associated with absolute or relative magnitude of weight loss. This study demonstrated a significant, inverse correlation between meal periodicity and absolute body weight. These findings may be important because they may suggest eating periodicity can influence body weight by allowing for the maintenance of a lower body weight

Information search under uncertainty across transdiagnostic psychopathology and healthy ageing

When making decisions in everyday life, we often rely on an internally generated sense of confidence to help us revise and direct future behaviours. For instance, confidence directly informs whether further information should be sought prior to commitment to a final decision. Many studies have shown that aging and both clinical and sub-clinical symptoms of psychopathology are associated with systematic alterations in confidence. However, it remains unknown whether these confidence distortions influence information-seeking behaviour. We investigated this question in a large general population sample (N = 908). Participants completed a battery of psychiatric symptom questionnaires and performed a perceptual decision-making task with confidence ratings in which they were offered the option to seek helpful information (at a cost) before committing to a final decision. Replicating previous findings, an 'anxious-depression' (AD) symptom dimension was associated with systematically low confidence, despite no detriment in objective task accuracy. Conversely, a 'compulsive behaviour and intrusive thoughts' (CIT) dimension was associated with impaired task accuracy but paradoxical over-confidence. However, neither symptom dimension was significantly associated with an increased or decreased tendency to seek information. Hence, participants scoring highly for AD or CIT did not use the option to information seek any more than average to either increase their confidence (AD) or improve the accuracy of their decisions (CIT). In contrast, older age was associated with impaired accuracy and decreased confidence initially, but increased information seeking behaviour mediated increases in both accuracy and confidence for final decisions. Hence, older adults used the information seeking option to overcome initial deficits in objective performance and to increase their confidence accordingly. The results show an appropriate use of information seeking to overcome perceptual deficits and low confidence in healthy aging which was not present in transdiagnostic psychopathology.</p

Excessive anticoagulation identified by emergency medical service through point-of-care coagulometry

Bleeding because of excessive anticoagulation is a well-recognized complication of coumadin therapy. In cases of potentially life-threatening bleeding such as intracranial haemorrhage, reversal of anticoagulation should be carried out as soon as possible. Here we report the case of an emergency patient in whom excessive anticoagulation was diagnosed at the scene by emergency medical service personnel through the use of a point-of-care coagulometer. Following hospital admission, findings were confirmed by central laboratory assessment of prothrombin time. The time gained through the use of portable coagulometers may contribute to improved pre-hospital emergency management of anticoagulated patients

Lower tidal volume at initiation of mechanical ventilation may reduce progression to acute respiratory distress syndrome: A systematic review

INTRODUCTION: The most appropriate tidal volume in patients without acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is controversial and has not been rigorously examined. Our objective was to determine whether a mechanical ventilation strategy using lower tidal volume is associated with a decreased incidence of progression to ARDS when compared with a higher tidal volume strategy. METHODS: A systematic search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, the Cochrane Library, conference proceedings, and clinical trial registration was performed with a comprehensive strategy. Studies providing information on mechanically ventilated patients without ARDS at the time of initiation of mechanical ventilation, and in which tidal volume was independently studied as a predictor variable for outcome, were included. The primary outcome was progression to ARDS. RESULTS: The search yielded 1,704 studies, of which 13 were included in the final analysis. One randomized controlled trial was found; the remaining 12 studies were observational. The patient cohorts were significantly heterogeneous in composition and baseline risk for developing ARDS; therefore, a meta-analysis of the data was not performed. The majority of the studies (n = 8) showed a decrease in progression to ARDS with a lower tidal volume strategy. ARDS developed early in the course of illness (5 hours to 3.7 days). The development of ARDS was associated with increased mortality, lengths of stay, mechanical ventilation duration, and nonpulmonary organ failure. CONCLUSIONS: In mechanically ventilated patients without ARDS at the time of endotracheal intubation, the majority of data favors lower tidal volume to reduce progression to ARDS. However, due to significant heterogeneity in the data, no definitive recommendations can be made. Further randomized controlled trials examining the role of lower tidal volumes in patients without ARDS, controlling for ARDS risk, are needed. 2013 Fuller et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited