Ursinus College Bulletin Vol. 10, No. 1, October 1893

A digitized copy of the October 1893 Ursinus College Bulletin.https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/ucbulletin/1088/thumbnail.jp

Is a combination of varenicline and nicotine patch more effective in helping smokers quit than varenicline alone? A randomised controlled trial

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

The Ursinus Weekly, June 8, 1906

A dream of Heaven • The Baccalaureate sermon • Song recital • Class Day • The junior oratorical contest • Commencement • The Charmidean banquet • Society notes • Baseball • Alumni Day • Commencement game • Literary Supplement: A twentieth century renaissance; The college man in public life; Formation of the Schuylkill Valley; Does prevalence of natural science tend to check poetic spirit?; Janice Meredith and the modern girlhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/weekly/2983/thumbnail.jp

Common DNA Variants Accurately Rank an Individual of Extreme Height

Polygenic scores (or genetic risk scores) quantify the aggregate of small effects from many common genetic loci that have been associated with a trait through genome-wide association. Polygenic scores were first used successfully in schizophrenia and have since been applied to multiple phenotypes including multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and height. Because human height is an easily-measured and complex polygenic trait, polygenic height scores provide exciting insights into the predictability of aggregate common variant effect on the phenotype. Shawn Bradley is an extremely tall former professional basketball player from Brigham Young University and the National Basketball Association (NBA), measuring 2.29 meters (7′6″, 99.99999th percentile for height) tall, with no known medical conditions. Here, we present a case where a rare combination of common SNPs in one individual results in an extremely high polygenic height score that is correlated with an extreme phenotype. While polygenic scores are not clinically significant in the average case, our findings suggest that for extreme phenotypes, polygenic scores may be more successful for the prediction of individuals

Pairwise Correlation Analysis of the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) Dataset Reveals Significant Feature Correlation

The Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) contains extensive patient measurements (e.g., magnetic resonance imaging [MRI], biometrics, RNA expression, etc.) from Alzheimer’s disease (AD) cases and controls that have recently been used by machine learning algorithms to evaluate AD onset and progression. While using a variety of biomarkers is essential to AD research, highly correlated input features can significantly decrease machine learning model generalizability and performance. Additionally, redundant features unnecessarily increase computational time and resources necessary to train predictive models. Therefore, we used 49,288 biomarkers and 793,600 extracted MRI features to assess feature correlation within the ADNI dataset to determine the extent to which this issue might impact large scale analyses using these data. We found that 93.457% of biomarkers, 92.549% of the gene expression values, and 100% of MRI features were strongly correlated with at least one other feature in ADNI based on our Bonferroni corrected α (p-value ≤ 1.40754 × 10−13). We provide a comprehensive mapping of all ADNI biomarkers to highly correlated features within the dataset. Additionally, we show that significant correlation within the ADNI dataset should be resolved before performing bulk data analyses, and we provide recommendations to address these issues. We anticipate that these recommendations and resources will help guide researchers utilizing the ADNI dataset to increase model performance and reduce the cost and complexity of their analyses

Feasibility of offering nicotine replacement therapy as a relapse prevention treatment in routine smoking cessation services

Background: National Health Service stop smoking services (NHS SSS) in the UK offer cost- effective smoking cessation services. Despite high abstinence rates after acute cessation treatment, the majority of clients have relapsed by one year. Several interventions have been identified, from trial data, as effective in preventing relapse to smoking. This study investigated uptake, feasibility and acceptability of offering nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) as a relapse prevention intervention (RPI) in NHS SSS. Methods: Eligible smokers who had successfully completed acute cessation treatment using NRT at Nottingham City NHS SSS between April 2010 and January 2011 were offered the RPI and the rate of uptake was monitored. Consenting individuals completed a baseline questionnaire, providing demographic and smoking behaviour data. The RPI consisted of using NRT for a further 12 weeks after initial cessation-orientated treatment had ended. At a six-month review, self-reported smoking status was assessed via telephone. Anonymised demographic data on NHS SSS users who did not agree to participate in the study were retrieved from NHS SSS records and used to determine the presence of any socio-demographic differences between individuals who agreed to participate in the study and those who did not. Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with a selection of participants; these were audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed to identify participants’ views on the RPI. Results: Of 493 stop smoking service clients who were assessed, 260 were eligible for and offered the RPI and 115 (44%, CI 38%- 50%) accepted. Individuals who accepted NRT were significantly more likely to be older (p < 0.001) and to pay for their prescriptions (p < 0.001). Quitters who had never worked or were unemployed were significantly less likely to accept the offer of relapse prevention compared to those in routine and manual occupations (55% reduction in odds, p = 0.026). Interview findings revealed that clients who accepted extended NRT felt the longer duration of pharmacological and psychological support were both valuable in helping them to remain abstinent. Conclusion: In routine smoking cessation service care, it is feasible to offer clients extended courses of NRT as a RPI. The RPI was acceptable to them as almost half of the eligible clients offered this treatment accepted it. Keywords: Smoking relapse prevention, Nicotine replacement therapy, Feasibility study, Smoking cessation servic

Clouds as Turbulent Density Fluctuations. Implications for pressure confinement and spectral line data interpretation

We examine the idea that diffuse and giant molecular clouds and their substructure form as density fluctuations induced by large scale interstellar turbulence. We do this by investigating the topology of various fields in realistic simulations of the ISM. We find that a) the velocity field is continuous across threshold-defined cloud boundaries; b) such cloud boundaries are rather arbitrary, with no correspondence to any actual physical boundary, such as a density discontinuity; c) abrupt velocity jumps are coincident with the density maxima; d) the volume and surface kinetic terms in the Eulerian Virial Theorem for a cloud ensemble are comparable in general; e) the magnetic field exhibits bends and reversals highly correlated with similar density features. These results suggest that clouds are formed by colliding gas streams. Within this framework, we argue that thermal pressure equilibrium is irrelevant for cloud confinement in a turbulent medium, since inertial motions can still distort or disrupt a cloud. Turbulent pressure confinement appears self-defeating, because turbulence contains large-scale motions which necessarily distort cloud boundaries. Density-weighted velocity histograms show similar FWHMs and similar multi-component structure to those of observational line profiles, though the histogram features do not correspond to isolated "clumps", but rather to extended regions throughout a cloud. We argue that the results presented here may be also applicable to small scales with larger densities (molecular clouds and cores) and suggest that quasi- hydrostatic configurations cannot be produced from turbulent fluctuations unless the thermodynamic behavior of the flow becomes nearly adiabatic at late stages of collapse. We expect this to occur only at protostellar densities.Comment: 20 pages, 11 PostScript figures, LaTex, ApJ submitted. Added reference to Chandrasekhar & Munch (1952) and corresponding discussio

The effectiveness of interventions to change six health behaviours: a review of reviews

Background: Several World Health Organisation reports over recent years have highlighted the high incidence of chronic diseases such as diabetes, coronary heart disease and cancer. Contributory factors include unhealthy diets, alcohol and tobacco use and sedentary lifestyles. This paper reports the findings of a review of reviews of behavioural change interventions to reduce unhealthy behaviours or promote healthy behaviours. We included six different health-related behaviours in the review: healthy eating, physical exercise, smoking, alcohol misuse, sexual risk taking (in young people) and illicit drug use. We excluded reviews which focussed on pharmacological treatments or those which required intensive treatments (e. g. for drug or alcohol dependency). Methods: The Cochrane Library, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness (DARE) and several Ovid databases were searched for systematic reviews of interventions for the six behaviours (updated search 2008). Two reviewers applied the inclusion criteria, extracted data and assessed the quality of the reviews. The results were discussed in a narrative synthesis. Results: We included 103 reviews published between 1995 and 2008. The focus of interventions varied, but those targeting specific individuals were generally designed to change an existing behaviour (e. g. cigarette smoking, alcohol misuse), whilst those aimed at the general population or groups such as school children were designed to promote positive behaviours (e. g. healthy eating). Almost 50% (n = 48) of the reviews focussed on smoking (either prevention or cessation). Interventions that were most effective across a range of health behaviours included physician advice or individual counselling, and workplace- and school-based activities. Mass media campaigns and legislative interventions also showed small to moderate effects in changing health behaviours. Generally, the evidence related to short-term effects rather than sustained/longer-term impact and there was a relative lack of evidence on how best to address inequalities. Conclusions: Despite limitations of the review of reviews approach, it is encouraging that there are interventions that are effective in achieving behavioural change. Further emphasis in both primary studies and secondary analysis (e.g. systematic reviews) should be placed on assessing the differential effectiveness of interventions across different population subgroups to ensure that health inequalities are addressed.</p