Research collaboration

AbstractThe complexity and cost of cardiovascular medical care dictate research to deliver high quality and cost-conscious cardiovascular care. This goal is aided by modeling medical decision making. To be useful, the modeling must be based on real data so that the results can serve as a guide to actual practice. It is suggested that a registry of randomized clinical trials and larger data bases in cardiovascular disease and health care delivery be established. The registry would be a resource for those desiring to model decision making. The registry would contain key words allowing retrieval by modelers accessing the registry and would contain contact information for consideration of possible collaborative work. The initiation of such a registry should contain plans for its evaluation to determine whether the registry itself is a cost-effective tool to encourage the needed research

The behaviour of dark matter associated with 4 bright cluster galaxies in the 10kpc core of Abell 3827

Galaxy cluster Abell 3827 hosts the stellar remnants of four almost equally bright elliptical galaxies within a core of radius 10kpc. Such corrugation of the stellar distribution is very rare, and suggests recent formation by several simultaneous mergers. We map the distribution of associated dark matter, using new Hubble Space Telescope imaging and VLT/MUSE integral field spectroscopy of a gravitationally lensed system threaded through the cluster core. We find that each of the central galaxies retains a dark matter halo, but that (at least) one of these is spatially offset from its stars. The best-constrained offset is 1.62+/-0.48kpc, where the 68% confidence limit includes both statistical error and systematic biases in mass modelling. Such offsets are not seen in field galaxies, but are predicted during the long infall to a cluster, if dark matter self-interactions generate an extra drag force. With such a small physical separation, it is difficult to definitively rule out astrophysical effects operating exclusively in dense cluster core environments - but if interpreted solely as evidence for self-interacting dark matter, this offset implies a cross-section sigma/m=(1.7+/-0.7)x10^{-4}cm^2/g x (t/10^9yrs)^{-2}, where t is the infall duration.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figure

SCOPE New Photographic Practices

The photographic practices brought together for this exhibition and publication provide a broad scope of how photographic and lens based media may be used in order to have a visceral and conceptual impact. The methods on show demonstrate the way that artists might pick and choose from the approaches, processes and debates that have arisen through the medium’s history. This collection of work features film, video and photography that demand a renegotiation of the relationship between camera, subject and viewer. Visual Art Centre Gallery, Tsinghua University, Beijing, Chin

Phenotypic variability within the desminopathies: A case series of three patients

The DES gene encodes desmin, a key intermediate filament of skeletal, cardiac and smooth muscle. Pathogenic DES variants produce a range of skeletal and cardiac muscle disorders collectively known as the desminopathies. We report three desminopathy cases which highlight the phenotypic heterogeneity of this disorder and discuss various factors that may contribute to the clinical differences seen between patients with different desmin variants and also between family members with the same variant

Sex differences in procedural and clinical outcomes following rotational atherectomy

Aim: Evaluate sex differences in procedural net adverse clinical events and long‐term outcomes following rotational atherectomy (RA). Methods and Results: From August 2010 to 2016, 765 consecutive patients undergoing RA PCI were followed up for a median of 4.7 years. 285 (37%) of subjects were female. Women were older (mean 76 years vs. 72 years; p < .001) and had more urgent procedures (64.6 vs. 47.3%; p < .001). Females received fewer radial procedures (75.1 vs. 85.1%; p < .001) and less intravascular imaging guidance (16.8 vs. 25.0%; p = .008). After propensity score adjustment, the primary endpoint of net adverse cardiac events (net adverse clinical events: all‐cause death, myocardial infarction, stroke, target vessel revascularization plus any procedural complication) occurred more often in female patients (15.1 vs. 9.0%; adjusted OR 1.81 95% CI 1.04–3.13; p = .037). This was driven by an increased risk of procedural complications rather than procedural major adverse cardiac events (MACE). Specifically, women were more likely to experience coronary dissection (4.6 vs. 1.3%; p = .008), cardiac tamponade (2.1 vs. 0.4%; p = .046) and significant bleeding (BARC ≥2: 5.3 vs. 2.3). Despite this, overall MACE‐free survival was similar between males and females (adjusted HR 1.03; 95% CI 0.80–1.34; p = .81). Procedural complications during RA were associated with almost double the incidence of MACE at long‐term follow‐up (HR 1.92; 95% CI 1.34–2.77; p < .001). Conclusion: Women may be at greater risk of procedural complications following rotational atherectomy. These include periprocedural bleeding episodes and coronary perforation leading to cardiac tamponade. Despite this, the adjusted overall long‐term survival free of major adverse cardiac events was similar between males and females

Humility, Self-Awareness, and Religious Ambivalence: Another Look at Beckett's ‘Humanistic Quietism’

This is the accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Edinburgh University Press at http://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/jobs.2014.0104. This article provides a commentary on the opaque and often contradictory arguments of ‘Humanistic Quietism’, Samuel Beckett's 1934 review of Thomas MacGreevy's Poems. Using Beckett's complicated relationship to both his own Protestant upbringing and the Catholicism of MacGreevy as a starting point, the article proposes new ways of understanding Beckett's ambivalent comments about MacGreevy's interiority, prayer-like poetry, humility, and quietism. It draws on Beckett's comments on Rilke, André Gide, and Arnold Geulincx, as well as his familiarity with Dante, to unpack the review's dense allusions and make sense of Beckett's aesthetic allegiances. </jats:p

Assessment of a carbon dioxide laser for the measurement of thermal nociceptive thresholds following intramuscular administration of analgesic drugs in pain-free female cats

Objective: To assess the potential for using a thermal carbon dioxide (CO2) laser to 8 assess anti-nociception in pain-free cats. Animals: Sixty healthy adult female cats with a mean weight (± SD) of 3.3 k g (± 0. 6 11 kg). Methods: This is a prospective, blinded and randomised study. Cats were systematically allocated to one of six treatments 1) saline 0.2 ml/cat; 2) morphine 0.5 mg/kg; 3) buprenorphine 20 μg/kg; 4) medetomidine 2 μg/kg; 5) tramadol 2mg/kg; 6) ketoprofen 2 mg/kg. Latency to respond to thermal stimulation was assessed prior to intramuscular injection and at 6 time periods following injection (15-30; 30-45; 45- 18 60; 60-75; 90-105; 120-135 min). Thermal thresholds were assessed using time to respond behaviourally to stimulation with a 500 mW CO2 laser with maximum latency to respond set at 60 seconds. Differences in response latency for each treatment across the duration of the experiment were assessed using a Friedman's test. Differences between treatments at any given time were assessed using an independent Kruskal-Wallis test. Where significant effects were identified, pair-wise comparisons were conducted at 30-45, 60-75 and 120-135 min to further explain the direction of the effect. Results: Cats treated with morphine (χ2 = 12.90; df = 6; P = 0.045) and tramadol (χ2 = 20.28; df = 6; P = 0.002) showed significant increases in latency to respond over the duration of the test period. However, subsequent pairwise comparisons indicated that latencies at specific time points were only significantly different (P < 0.05) for tramadol at 60-75 and 90-105 min after administration. No significant pairwise comparisons were found within the morphine treatment group. Injection of saline, ketoprofen, medetomidine or buprenorphine showed no significant effect on latency to respond. Conclusions: This project further validates the CO 2 laser technique for use in cats. It can be used for assessment of thermal nociceptive thresholds in pain-free cats after analgesic administration and shows some promise in differentiating amongst analgesic treatments. It may provide a simpler alternative to existing systems although further exploration is required both in terms of its sensitivity and comparative utility (i.e. relative to other thermal threshold systems). Future experiments should seek to quantify the effects of skin temperature and sedation on latency to respond. Given that this technique was found to cause minor skin blistering in individuals that reached the 60 s exposure limit, a cut off time of <45 s is recommended

Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s “Consultation on proposals for legislative changes for clinical trials”: a response from the Trials Methodology Research Partnership Adaptive Designs Working Group, with a focus on data sharing

In the UK, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency consulted on proposals “to improve and strengthen the UK clinical trials legislation to help us make the UK the best place to research and develop safe and innovative medicines”. The purpose of the consultation was to help finalise the proposals and contribute to the drafting of secondary legislation. We discussed these proposals as members of the Trials Methodology Research Partnership Adaptive Designs Working Group, which is jointly funded by the Medical Research Council and the National Institute for Health and Care Research. Two topics arose frequently in the discussion: the emphasis on legislation, and the absence of questions on data sharing. It is our opinion that the proposals rely heavily on legislation to change practice. However, clinical trials are heterogeneous, and as a result some trials will struggle to comply with all of the proposed legislation. Furthermore, adaptive design clinical trials are even more heterogeneous than their non-adaptive counterparts, and face more challenges. Consequently, it is possible that increased legislation could have a greater negative impact on adaptive designs than non-adaptive designs. Overall, we are sceptical that the introduction of legislation will achieve the desired outcomes, with some exceptions. Meanwhile the topic of data sharing — making anonymised individual-level clinical trial data available to other investigators for further use — is entirely absent from the proposals and the consultation in general. However, as an aspect of the wider concept of open science and reproducible research, data sharing is an increasingly important aspect of clinical trials. The benefits of data sharing include faster innovation, improved surveillance of drug safety and effectiveness and decreasing participant exposure to unnecessary risk. There are already a number of UK-focused documents that discuss and encourage data sharing, for example, the Concordat on Open Research Data and the Medical Research Council’s Data Sharing Policy. We strongly suggest that data sharing should be the norm rather than the exception, and hope that the forthcoming proposals on clinical trials invite discussion on this important topic

The behaviour of dark matter associated with four bright cluster galaxies in the 10kpc core of Abell 3827

Galaxy cluster Abell 3827 hosts the stellar remnants of four almost equally bright elliptical galaxies within a core of radius 10kpc. Such corrugation of the stellar distribution is very rare, and suggests recent formation by several simultaneous mergers. We map the distribution of associated dark matter, using new Hubble Space Telescope imaging andVery Large Telescope/Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer integral field spectroscopy of a gravitationally lensed system threaded through the cluster core. We find that each of the central galaxies retains a dark matter halo, but that (at least) one of these is spatially offset from its stars. The best-constrained offset is $1.62^{+0.47}_{-0.49}$kpc, where the 68 per cent confidence limit includes both statistical error and systematic biases in mass modelling. Such offsets are not seen in field galaxies, but are predicted during the long infall to a cluster, if dark matter self-interactions generate an extra drag force. With such a small physical separation, it is difficult to definitively rule out astrophysical effects operating exclusively in dense cluster core environments - but if interpreted solely as evidence for self-interacting dark matter, this offset implies a cross-section σDM/m∼(1.7±0.7)×10−4cm2g−1×(tinfall/109 yr)−2, where tinfall is the infall duratio