Rescoring the NIH chronic prostatitis symptom index: nothing new.

The National Institutes of Health-chronic prostatitis symptom index (NIH-CPSI) is a commonly used 13-item questionnaire for the assessment of symptom severity in men with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS). For each item, score ranges are 0-1 (6 items), 0-3 (2 items), 0-5 (3 items), 0-6 (1 item) and 0-10 (1 item). This scoring system is straightforward, but items with wider score ranges are de facto weighted more, which could adversely affect the performance characteristics of the questionnaire. We rescored the NIH-CPSI so that equal weights were assigned to each item, and compared the performance of the standard and rescored questionnaires using the original validation dataset. Both the original and revised versions of the scoring algorithm discriminated similarly among groups of men with CP (n=151), benign prostatic hyperplasia (n=149) and controls (n=134). The internal consistency of the questionnaire was slightly better with the revised scoring, but values with the standard scoring were sufficiently high (Cronbach's >or=0.80). We conclude that although the rescored NIH-CPSI provides better face validity than the standard scoring algorithm, it requires additional calculation efforts and yields only marginal improvements in performance

EveTAR: Building a Large-Scale Multi-Task Test Collection over Arabic Tweets

This article introduces a new language-independent approach for creating a large-scale high-quality test collection of tweets that supports multiple information retrieval (IR) tasks without running a shared-task campaign. The adopted approach (demonstrated over Arabic tweets) designs the collection around significant (i.e., popular) events, which enables the development of topics that represent frequent information needs of Twitter users for which rich content exists. That inherently facilitates the support of multiple tasks that generally revolve around events, namely event detection, ad-hoc search, timeline generation, and real-time summarization. The key highlights of the approach include diversifying the judgment pool via interactive search and multiple manually-crafted queries per topic, collecting high-quality annotations via crowd-workers for relevancy and in-house annotators for novelty, filtering out low-agreement topics and inaccessible tweets, and providing multiple subsets of the collection for better availability. Applying our methodology on Arabic tweets resulted in EveTAR , the first freely-available tweet test collection for multiple IR tasks. EveTAR includes a crawl of 355M Arabic tweets and covers 50 significant events for which about 62K tweets were judged with substantial average inter-annotator agreement (Kappa value of 0.71). We demonstrate the usability of EveTAR by evaluating existing algorithms in the respective tasks. Results indicate that the new collection can support reliable ranking of IR systems that is comparable to similar TREC collections, while providing strong baseline results for future studies over Arabic tweets

Whole animal experiments should be more like human randomized controlled trials

Beverly S. Muhlhausler, Frank H. Bloomfield, Matthew W. Gillma

Accuracy and repeatability of wrist joint angles in boxing using an electromagnetic tracking system

© 2019, The Author(s). The hand-wrist region is reported as the most common injury site in boxing. Boxers are at risk due to the amount of wrist motions when impacting training equipment or their opponents, yet we know relatively little about these motions. This paper describes a new method for quantifying wrist motion in boxing using an electromagnetic tracking system. Surrogate testing procedure utilising a polyamide hand and forearm shape, and in vivo testing procedure utilising 29 elite boxers, were used to assess the accuracy and repeatability of the system. 2D kinematic analysis was used to calculate wrist angles using photogrammetry, whilst the data from the electromagnetic tracking system was processed with visual 3D software. The electromagnetic tracking system agreed with the video-based system (paired t tests) in both the surrogate ( 0.9). In the punch testing, for both repeated jab and hook shots, the electromagnetic tracking system showed good reliability (ICCs > 0.8) and substantial reliability (ICCs > 0.6) for flexion–extension and radial-ulnar deviation angles, respectively. The results indicate that wrist kinematics during punching activities can be measured using an electromagnetic tracking system

Drivers of Cape Verde archipelagic endemism in keyhole limpets

Oceanic archipelagos are the ideal setting for investigating processes that shape species assemblages. Focusing on keyhole limpets, genera Fissurella and Diodora from Cape Verde Islands, we used an integrative approach combining molecular phylogenetics with ocean transport simulations to infer species distribution patterns and analyse connectivity. Dispersal simulations, using pelagic larval duration and ocean currents as proxies, showed a reduced level of connectivity despite short distances between some of the islands. It is suggested that dispersal and persistence driven by patterns of oceanic circulation favouring self-recruitment played a primary role in explaining contemporary species distributions. Mitochondrial and nuclear data revealed the existence of eight Cape Verde endemic lineages, seven within Fissurella, distributed across the archipelago, and one within Diodora restricted to Boavista. The estimated origins for endemic Fissurella and Diodora were 10.2 and 6.7 MY, respectively. Between 9.5 and 4.5 MY, an intense period of volcanism in Boavista might have affected Diodora, preventing its diversification. Having originated earlier, Fissurella might have had more opportunities to disperse to other islands and speciate before those events. Bayesian analyses showed increased diversification rates in Fissurella possibly promoted by low sea levels during Plio-Pleistocene, which further explain differences in species richness between both genera.FCT - Portuguese Science Foundation [SFRH/BPD/109685/2015, SFRH/BPD/111003/2015]; Norte Portugal Regional Operational Program (NORTE), under the PORTUGAL Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) [MARINFO - NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000031]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Development and validation of a severity scale for leprosy Type 1 Reactions

Objectives: To develop a valid and reliable quantitative measure of leprosy Type 1 reactions.Methods: A scale was developed from previous scales which had not been validated. The face and content validity were assessed following consultation with recognised experts in the field. The construct validity was determined by applying the scale to patients in Bangladesh and Brazil who had been diagnosed with leprosy Type 1 reaction. An expert categorized each patient's reaction as mild or moderate or severe. Another worker applied the scale. This was done independently. In a subsequent stage of the study the agreement between two observers was assessed.Results: The scale had good internal consistency demonstrated by a Cronbach's alpha &gt;0.8. Removal of three items from the original scale resulted in better discrimination between disease severity categories. Cut off points for Type 1 reaction severities were determined using Receiver Operating Characteristic curves. A mild Type 1 reaction is characterized using the final scale by a score of 4 or less. A moderate reaction is a score of between 4.5 and 8.5. A severe reaction is a score of 9 or more.Conclusions: We have developed a valid and reliable tool for quantifying leprosy Type 1 reaction severity and believe this will be a useful tool in research of this condition, in observational and intervention studies, and in the comparison of clinical and laboratory parameters.<br/

What helps or hinders the transformation from a major tertiary center to a major trauma center? Identifying barriers and enablers using the Theoretical Domains Framework

BACKGROUND: Major Trauma Centers (MTCs), as part of a trauma system, improve survival and functional outcomes from injury. Developing such centers from current teaching hospitals is likely to generate diverse beliefs amongst staff. These may act as barriers or enablers. Prior identification of these may make the service development process more efficient. The importance of applying theory to systematically identify barriers and enablers to changing clinical practice in emergency medicine has been emphasized. This study systematically explored theory-based barriers and enablers towards implementing the transformation of a tertiary hospital into a MTC. Our goal was to demonstrate the use of a replicable method to identify targets that could be addressed to achieve a successful transformation from an organization evolved to provide a particular type of clinical care into a clinical system with different demands, requirements and expectations. METHODS: The Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) is a tool designed to elicit and analyze beliefs affecting behavior. Semi-structured interviews based around the TDF were conducted in a major tertiary hospital in Scotland due to become a MTC with a purposive sample of major stakeholders including clinicians and nurses from specialties involved in trauma care, clinical managers and administration. Belief statements were identified through qualitative analysis, and assessed for importance according to prevalence, discordance and evidence base. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: 1728 utterances were recorded and coded into 91 belief statements. 58 were classified as important barriers/enablers. There were major concerns about resource demands, with optimism conditional on these being met. Distracting priorities abound within the Emergency Department. Better communication is needed. Staff motivation is high and they should be engaged in skills development and developing performance improvement processes. CONCLUSIONS: This study presents a systematic and replicable method of identifying theory-based barriers and enablers towards complex service development. It identifies multiple barriers/enablers that may serve as a basis for developing an implementation intervention to enhance the development of MTCs. This method can be used to address similar challenges in developing specialist centers or implementing clinical practice change in emergency care across both developing and developed countries

Obstetrical outcome valuations by patients, professionals, and laypersons: Differences within and between groups using three valuation methods

Background: Decision-making can be based on treatment preferences of the patient, the doctor, or by guidelines based on lay people's preferences. We compared valuations assigned by three groups: patients, obstetrical care professionals, and laypersons, for health states involving both mother and (unborn) child. Our aim was to compare the valuations of different groups using different valuation methods and complex obstetric health outcome vignettes that involve both maternal and neonatal ou

Moving out of the shadows: accomplishing bisexual motherhood

Our qualitative study explored the ways in which bisexual mothers came to identify as such and how they structured their relationships and parenting within hetero-patriarchal society. The experiences of seven self-identified White bisexual women (aged from 28 to 56-years-old) from across England and the Republic of Ireland were investigated through semi-structured interviews. Participants’ children were aged 8 months to 28 years old at the time of their interviews. A thematic narrative analysis highlighted the following issues that participants had encountered in constructing their self-identity: prioritizing children; connecting and disconnecting with others and finessing self-definition; questioning societal relationship expectations. Nevertheless, participants varied considerably in how each of the themes identified were reflected in their lives, in particular depending upon each participant’s interpretation of her local social context. Both motherhood and self-identifying as bisexual gave a sense of meaning and purpose to participants’ life stories, although participants sometimes foregrounded their commitment to their children even at a personal cost to their bisexual identity. Using three different theoretical perspectives from feminist theory, queer theory and life course theory, the narratives analysed revealed ways in which bisexual motherhood not only had been influenced both intentionally and unintentionally by heteronormative expectations but also had directly and indirectly challenged these expectations

A call for transparent reporting to optimize the predictive value of preclinical research

The US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke convened major stakeholders in June 2012 to discuss how to improve the methodological reporting of animal studies in grant applications and publications. The main workshop recommendation is that at a minimum studies should report on sample-size estimation, whether and how animals were randomized, whether investigators were blind to the treatment, and the handling of data. We recognize that achieving a meaningful improvement in the quality of reporting will require a concerted effort by investigators, reviewers, funding agencies and journal editors. Requiring better reporting of animal studies will raise awareness of the importance of rigorous study design to accelerate scientific progress