Assessment of bias in police lineups.

Materials from five extant field studies were analyzed to determine the level of structural bias in police lineups. Depending on the jurisdiction, between 33% and 68% of lineups sampled from 1,548 real police lineups scored as suspect-biased using mock-witness proportion score. The suspect did not draw a fair portion of mock-witness picks in 20% of field lineups (reverse-biased lineups). Lineup fairness measures revealed that a point estimate (mean) for a set of lineups can mask significant problems in lineup construction and that any single lineup should not be assumed to be fair based on an aggregate score. A sample of 190 lineups from the field data of Wells, Steblay, and Dysart (2015) was used to conduct four new studies that examined the relationship between lineup structure and real eyewitness decisions. Our primary hypothesis—that real eyewitness decisions could be predicted by lineup bias measures—was partially supported. Suspect identifications from simultaneous (but not sequential) lineups were disproportionately linked to suspect-biased lineups. Suspect identifications from suspect-biased lineups were almost twice as frequent for simultaneous than for sequential lineups. Additional experimental tests of these field lineups using mock-witness measures demonstrated that detailed descriptions produced higher lineup bias scores than did brief descriptions, indicating that brief descriptions can hide substantial lineup bias. Mock-witnesses were able to find the suspect in some lineups via cues not readily apparent in the description alone. The data support the idea of using a framework of descriptors to improve the fairness of lineups. Study outcomes demonstrate the realities and nuances of field lineup structure that necessitate updated consideration of the use of mock-witness measures and a blended approach to lineup construction. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved

Exploring Preferences for Urban Greening

Sustainable responses to urban development point to the need for higher density neighborhoods coupled with extensive urban tree canopy and greening. However, little research has been conducted with urban residents to ascertain if these urban forms match their preferred setting. This study sought to understand whether higher levels of greening could moderate preference for lower density residential settings when 212 participants rated images for preference. Each of the independent variables, greening and density, made a difference in preference: greener settings were more preferred than less green settings overall, and perceived density was marginally significant in relation to preference. A factor analysis resulted in the grouping of five neighborhood types distinguished by certain characteristics (e.g., greening, buffer, building form) which, together with the qualitative responses suggested insights for making higher density residential environments more preferred. We did not find a significant interaction between greening and perceived density in relation to preference, suggesting that greening does not moderate the density-preference relation

Optimal search strategies for identifying sound clinical prediction studies in EMBASE

BACKGROUND: Clinical prediction guides assist clinicians by pointing to specific elements of the patient's clinical presentation that should be considered when forming a diagnosis, prognosis or judgment regarding treatment outcome. The numbers of validated clinical prediction guides are growing in the medical literature, but their retrieval from large biomedical databases remains problematic and this presents a barrier to their uptake in medical practice. We undertook the systematic development of search strategies ("hedges") for retrieval of empirically tested clinical prediction guides from EMBASE. METHODS: An analytic survey was conducted, testing the retrieval performance of search strategies run in EMBASE against the gold standard of hand searching, using a sample of all 27,769 articles identified in 55 journals for the 2000 publishing year. All articles were categorized as original studies, review articles, general papers, or case reports. The original and review articles were then tagged as 'pass' or 'fail' for methodologic rigor in the areas of clinical prediction guides and other clinical topics. Search terms that depicted clinical prediction guides were selected from a pool of index terms and text words gathered in house and through request to clinicians, librarians and professional searchers. A total of 36,232 search strategies composed of single and multiple term phrases were trialed for retrieval of clinical prediction studies. The sensitivity, specificity, precision, and accuracy of search strategies were calculated to identify which were the best. RESULTS: 163 clinical prediction studies were identified, of which 69 (42.3%) passed criteria for scientific merit. A 3-term strategy optimized sensitivity at 91.3% and specificity at 90.2%. Higher sensitivity (97.1%) was reached with a different 3-term strategy, but with a 16% drop in specificity. The best measure of specificity (98.8%) was found in a 2-term strategy, but with a considerable fall in sensitivity to 60.9%. All single term strategies performed less well than 2- and 3-term strategies. CONCLUSION: The retrieval of sound clinical prediction studies from EMBASE is supported by several search strategies

ROBINS-I: a tool for assessing risk of bias in non-randomized studies of interventions

Non-randomised studies of the effects of interventions are critical to many areas of healthcare evaluation, but their results may be biased. It is therefore important to understand and appraise their strengths and weaknesses. We developed ROBINS-I ("Risk Of Bias In Non-randomised Studies-of Interventions"), a new tool for evaluating risk of bias in estimates of the comparative effectiveness (harm or benefit) of interventions from studies that did not use randomisation to allocate units (individuals or clusters of individuals) to comparison groups. The tool will be particularly useful to those undertaking systematic reviews that include non-randomised studies

Revised American Thyroid Association guidelines for the management of medullary thyroid carcinoma

The American Thyroid Association appointed a Task Force of experts to revise the original Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma: Management Guidelines of the American Thyroid Association

Influence of Substrates on the Surface Characteristics and Membrane Proteome of Fibrobacter succinogenes S85

Although Fibrobacter succinogenes S85 is one of the most proficient cellulose degrading bacteria among all mesophilic organisms in the rumen of herbivores, the molecular mechanism behind cellulose degradation by this bacterium is not fully elucidated. Previous studies have indicated that cell surface proteins might play a role in adhesion to and subsequent degradation of cellulose in this bacterium. It has also been suggested that cellulose degradation machinery on the surface may be selectively expressed in response to the presence of cellulose. Based on the genome sequence, several models of cellulose degradation have been suggested. The aim of this study is to evaluate the role of the cell envelope proteins in adhesion to cellulose and to gain a better understanding of the subsequent cellulose degradation mechanism in this bacterium. Comparative analysis of the surface (exposed outer membrane) chemistry of the cells grown in glucose, acid-swollen cellulose and microcrystalline cellulose using physico-chemical characterisation techniques such as electrophoretic mobility analysis, microbial adhesion to hydrocarbons assay and Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy, suggest that adhesion to cellulose is a consequence of an increase in protein display and a concomitant reduction in the cell surface polysaccharides in the presence of cellulose. In order to gain further understanding of the molecular mechanism of cellulose degradation in this bacterium, the cell envelope-associated proteins were enriched using affinity purification and identified by tandem mass spectrometry. In total, 185 cell envelope-associated proteins were confidently identified. Of these, 25 proteins are predicted to be involved in cellulose adhesion and degradation, and 43 proteins are involved in solute transport and energy generation. Our results supports the model that cellulose degradation in F. succinogenes occurs at the outer membrane with active transport of cellodextrins across for further metabolism of cellodextrins to glucose in the periplasmic space and inner cytoplasmic membrane

Shift Work in Nurses: Contribution of Phenotypes and Genotypes to Adaptation

Daily cycles of sleep/wake, hormones, and physiological processes are often misaligned with behavioral patterns during shift work, leading to an increased risk of developing cardiovascular/metabolic/gastrointestinal disorders, some types of cancer, and mental disorders including depression and anxiety. It is unclear how sleep timing, chronotype, and circadian clock gene variation contribute to adaptation to shift work.Newly defined sleep strategies, chronotype, and genotype for polymorphisms in circadian clock genes were assessed in 388 hospital day- and night-shift nurses.Night-shift nurses who used sleep deprivation as a means to switch to and from diurnal sleep on work days (∼25%) were the most poorly adapted to their work schedule. Chronotype also influenced efficacy of adaptation. In addition, polymorphisms in CLOCK, NPAS2, PER2, and PER3 were significantly associated with outcomes such as alcohol/caffeine consumption and sleepiness, as well as sleep phase, inertia and duration in both single- and multi-locus models. Many of these results were specific to shift type suggesting an interaction between genotype and environment (in this case, shift work).Sleep strategy, chronotype, and genotype contribute to the adaptation of the circadian system to an environment that switches frequently and/or irregularly between different schedules of the light-dark cycle and social/workplace time. This study of shift work nurses illustrates how an environmental "stress" to the temporal organization of physiology and metabolism can have behavioral and health-related consequences. Because nurses are a key component of health care, these findings could have important implications for health-care policy

Cross-national epidemiology of DSM-IV major depressive episode

Background: Major depression is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide, yet epidemiologic data are not available for many countries, particularly low- to middle-income countries. In this paper, we present data on the prevalence, impairment and demographic correlates of depression from 18 high and low-to middle-income countries in the World Mental Health Survey Initiative. Methods: Major depressive episodes (MDE) as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DMS-IV) were evaluated in face-to-face interviews using the World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI). Data from 18 countries were analyzed in this report (n = 89,037). All countries surveyed representative, population-based samples of adults. Results: The average lifetime and 12-month prevalence estimates of DSM-IV MDE were 14.6% and 5.5% in the ten high-income and 11.1% and 5.9% in the eight low- to middle-income countries. The average age of onset ascertained retrospectively was 25.7 in the high-income and 24.0 in low- to middle-income countries. Functional impairment was associated with recency of MDE. The female: male ratio was about 2: 1. In high-income countries, younger age was associated with higher 12-month prevalence; by contrast, in several low-to middle-income countries, older age was associated with greater likelihood of MDE. The strongest demographic correlate in high-income countries was being separated from a partner, and in low- to middle-income countries, was being divorced or widowed. Conclusions: MDE is a significant public-health concern across all regions of the world and is strongly linked to social conditions. Future research is needed to investigate the combination of demographic risk factors that are most strongly associated with MDE in the specific countries included in the WMH.(NIH/NIMH) United States National Institute of Mental Health[R01MH070884]John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur FoundationPfizer FoundationUSA Public Health Service[R13-MH066849]USA Public Health Service[R01-MH069864]USA Public Health Service[R01 DA016558](NIH) Fogarty International Center[FIRCA R03-TW006481]PAHO Pan American Health OrganizationEli Lilly & Company FoundationOrtho-McNeil Pharmaceutical, Inc.GlaxoSmithKlineSanofi-AventisBristol-Myers SquibbState of Brazil Research Foundation (FAPESP)[03/00204-3]Ministry of Social ProtectionEuropean Commission[QLG5-1999-01042]European Commission[SANCO 2004123]Piedmont Region (Italy)Fondo de Investigacion Sanitaria, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spain[FIS 00/0028]Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnologia[SAF 2000-158-CE]Departament de Salut, Generalitat de Catalunya, SpainInstituto de Salud Carlos III[CIBER CB06/02/0046]Instituto de Salud Carlos III[RETICS RD06/0011 REM-TAP]Government of IndiaWHOMinistry of HealthIsrael National Institute for Health Policy and Health Services ResearchNational Insurance Institute of IsraelJapan Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare[H13-Shogai-023]Japan Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare[H14-Tokubetsu-026]Japan Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare[H16-Kokoro-013]Lebanese Ministry of Public HealthWHO (Lebanon)(NIH) Fogarty International, anonymous private donations to IDRAAC, LebanonJanssen CilagEli LillyRocheNovartisNational Institute of Psychiatry Ramon de la Fuente[INPRFMDIES 4280]CNPq National Council on Science and Technology[CONACyT-G30544-H]PanAmerican Health Organization (PAHO)New Zealand Ministry of Health, Alcohol Advisory CouncilHealth Research Council(NIH/NIMH) USA National Institute of Mental Health[R01-MH059575](NIH/NIMH) USA National Institute of Mental Health[RO1-MH61905]National Institute of Drug AbuseSouth African Department of HealthUniversity of MichiganNational Institute of Mental Health (NIH/NIMH)[U01-MH60220]National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA)Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)[044708]John W. Alden TrustsAnalysis Group Inc.Eli Lilly CompanyEPI-QJohnson & Johnson PharmaceuticalsOrtho-McNeil Janssen Scientific AffairsPfizer Inc.Shire USA, Inc

An integrated ultrasound curriculum (iUSC) for medical students: 4-year experience

A review of the development and implementation of a 4-year medical student integrated ultrasound curriculum is presented. Multiple teaching and assessment modalities are discussed as well as results from testing and student surveys. Lessons learned while establishing the curriculum are summarized. It is concluded that ultrasound is a well received, valuable teaching tool across all 4 years of medical school, and students learn ultrasound well, and they feel their ultrasound experience enhances their medical education