Permutations Containing Many Patterns

It is shown that the maximum number of patterns that can occur in a permutation of length $n$ is asymptotically $2^n$. This significantly improves a previous result of Coleman

The Association of Exercise Training Modalities with Circulating Branched Chain Amino Acid and Ketone Body levels in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

Background: Elevated levels of circulating branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) and ketone bodies are recognized as biomarkers for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and other pathological conditions in type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Aerobic exercise interventions have been shown to decrease the levels of these markers, suggesting improved metabolic status and reduced risk of CVD. However, the efficacy of resistance training and concurrent programs in reducing BCAA and ketone body levels has not been well researched. Methods: The current study was performed as a secondary analysis of the HART-D trial, a 9-month randomized, controlled exercise-training trial of 262 participants with T2DM. Participants were randomized to one of four groups: non-exercise control, aerobic training (AT), resistance training (RT), or a combined aerobic and resistance training (ATRT). The effects of the 9-month intervention on BCAAs (leucine, valine, and isoleucine) and ketone bodies (β-hydroxy-butyrate, BHB; acetoacetate, AcAc; and acetone) were quantified by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) at LabCorp (Morrisville, NC). Generalized linear models were used to examine effects of exercise training between groups with adjustments for age, sex, race, change in fat mass, glucose, and medication status and baseline trait value. Pearson correlation analysis was used to examine associations of the changes in BCAA and ketone levels with changes in concomitant cardiometabolic biomarkers. Results:The ATRT group increased total BCAA and leucine levels compared to the AT group, and increased isoleucine compared to all other groups (all p\u3c0.05). RT decreased BHB levels (p\u3c0.05) compared to the AT group only. Across all exercise groups combined, changes in total ketone bodies (r=0.2), BHB (r=0.21), and Acetone (r=0.17) were weakly correlated with changes in HbA1c levels. Changes in total BCAAs (r=0.30) and valine (r=0.36) were moderately correlated with changes in fasting glucose levels, while isoleucine was weakly correlated with glucose (r=0.2) (all p\u3c0.05). Conclusions: Our results show that the ATRT group increased isoleucine levels compared to the control group in diabetics, the mechanism of which is unclear. Exercise induced changes in BCAA and ketone body levels are weakly to moderately related to some concomitant cardiometabolic biomarkers such as fasting glucose and HbA1c levels. Further research is needed to examine the association of exercise training on circulating BCAA and ketone body levels in diabetics

Explicit and implicit narratives in the co-design of videogames

This paper discusses key narrative design challenges posed by an on-going multi-disciplinary research project, Maritime City. The paper focuses on how narrative has, in different ways, been at the centre of the design process and on how principles of co-design might be used and adapted to address the challenges posed by the project

Leveraging Social Media to Promote EvidenceBased Continuing Medical Education

Importance New dissemination methods are needed to engage physicians in evidence-based continuing medical education (CME). Objective To examine the effectiveness of social media in engaging physicians in non-industry-sponsored CME. Design We tested the effect of different media platforms (e-mail, Facebook, paid Facebook and Twitter), CME topics, and different “hooks” (e.g., Q&A, clinical pearl and best evidence) on driving clicks to a landing site featuring non-industry sponsored CME. We modelled the effects of social media platform, CME topic, and hook using negative binomial regression on clicks to a single landing site. We used clicks to landing site adjusted for exposure and message number to calculate rate ratios. To understand how physicians interact with CME content on social media, we also conducted interviews with 10 physicians. Setting The National Physicians Alliance (NPA) membership. Participants NPA e-mail recipients, Facebook followers and friends, and Twitter followers. Main Outcomes and Measures Clicks to the NPA’s CME landing site. Results On average, 4,544 recipients received each message. Messages generated a total of 592 clicks to the landing site, for a rate of 5.4 clicks per 1000 recipients exposed. There were 5.4 clicks from e-mail, 11.9 clicks from Facebook, 5.5 clicks from paid Facebook, and 6.9 clicks from Twitter to the landing site for 1000 physicians exposed to each of 4 selected CME modules. A Facebook post generated 2.3x as many clicks to the landing site as did an e-mail after controlling for participant exposure, hook type and CME topic (p Conclusions Social media has a modest impact on driving traffic to evidence-based CME options. Facebook had a superior effect on driving physician web traffic to evidence-based CME compared to other social media platforms and email