Assessment of Pain in adults with cognitive impairment : a review of the tools

The aim of this paper is to discuss the results of a review into the literature related to chronic pain and the older adult. Several themes within the review have been identified and reported elsewhere and the final report has been published by the University of Sheffield in the form of an annotated bibliography. This report focuses upon the findings of the in relation to the assessment of pain in the adult with cognitive impairment. Issues surrounding assessment in the non-cognitively impaired older adult have also been reported elsewhere. For this paper nine studies will be discussed which report the development and testing of pain assessment scales the focus of which is upon behavioural indicators of pain. Some scales have been omitted from the review and the rationale for this decision will be discussed. Each of the selected scales will be discussed and the authors will make recommendations for both clinical practice and for future research based upon the validity, reliability and user friendliness of the scales. From the paper it can be concluded that the Abbey, DOLOPLUS-2 and PACSLAC appear to be the most reliable and valid and in terms of the “user friendliness” would be appropriate to explore further. Recommendations are made for further multi-centre evaluation of these scales.University of Sheffiel

Assessment of pain in older people : where are we now and what needs to be done?

The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of a review of the literature into pain and older people. The funded study was part of the development of an annotated bibliography published in August 2005. The review included all major databases and involved the collection of 214 papers between the dates of 1995 and 2005. The papers were divided into several major themes, which include experiences, management (pharmacological and non-pharmacological), assessment, and attitudes. Within this paper, the results of the review into pain assessment will be discussed, which includes 42 of the collected papers. The other sections will be published later. The paper will discuss issues pertaining to the development of specific tools for older people, a discussion of tools already available, comparisons of staff versus older people’s perceptions of pain scales, and articles with cognitive impairment as a focus. Recommendations for further study are made.University of Sheffiel

Toward sulfur-free RAFT polymerization induced self-assembly

Polymerization induced self-assembly (PISA) using methacrylate-based macromonomers as RAFT agents is an unexplored, attractive route to make self-assembled colloidal objects. The use of this class of RAFT-agents in heterogeneous polymerizations is however not trivial, because of their inherent low reactivity. In this work we demonstrate that two obstacles need to be overcome, one being control of chain-growth (propagation), the other monomer partitioning. Batch dispersion polymerizations of hydroxypropyl methacrylate in the presence of poly(glycerol methacrylate) macromonomers in water showed limited control of chain-growth. Semicontinuous experiments whereby monomer was fed improved results only to some extent. Control of propagation is essential for PISA to allow for dynamic rearrangement of colloidal structures. We tackled the problem of monomer partitioning (caused by uncontrolled particle nucleation) by starting the polymerization with an amphiphilic thermoresponsive diblock copolymer, already “phase-separated” from solution. TEM analysis showed that PISA was successful and that different particle morphologies were obtained throughout the polymerization

Co-design of a Jupyter Notebook for wood stove emissions analysis

Designs for improved cookstoves aim to decrease the detrimental environmental and health impacts that are associated with traditional biomass cooking practiced by nearly 40% of the global population. Programs to provide improved cookstoves are found worldwide, and regional testing centers support development of these through emissions testing services. Aprovecho Research Center is a non-profit organization that provides Laboratory Emissions Monitoring Systems (LEMS) to testing centers around the world to enable accurate and efficient emissions testing capabilities. Currently, emissions data are analyzed with a set of macro-enabled Excel sheets, but they are being converted to a Python-based system to enable greater functionality and data sharing. This project sought to create an appropriate user interface for this Python code that could be used by researchers globally. A Jupyter Notebook was chosen because of its flexible, user-friendly interface with live updating and ability to hide or display code as needed. The Jupyter Notebook that was developed reads data from Excel input sheets and outputs graphs and tables that are easy to analyze. While there is still work to test and improve the Jupyter Notebook with global users, initial testing and feedback indicates the Jupyter Notebook interface provides the automated, user-friendly analysis needed to support the LEMS system

Hierarchical capture-recapture models

A defining feature of capture-recapture is missing data due to imperfect detection of individuals. The standard approach used to deal with the missing data is to integrate (or sum) over all the possible unknown values. The missing data is completely removed and the resulting likelihood is in terms of the observed data. The problem with this approach is that often biologically unnatural parameters are chosen to make the integration (summation) tractable. A related consequence is that latent variables of interest, such as the population size and the number of births are only available as derived quantities. As they are not explicitly in the model they are not available to be used in the model as covariates to describe population dynamics. Therefore, models including density dependence are unable to be examined using standard methods. Instead of explicitly integrating out missing data, we choose to include it using data augmentation. Instead of being removed, the missing data is now present in the likelihood as if it were actually observed. This means that we are able to specify models in terms of the data we would like to have observed, instead of the data we actually did observe. Having the complete data allows us to separate the processes of demographic interest from the sampling process. The separation means that we can focus on specifying the model for the demographic processes without worrying about the sampling model. Therefore, we no longer need to choose parameters in order to simplify the removal of missing data, but we are free to naturally write the model in terms of parameters that are of demographic interest. A consequence of this is that we are able write complex models in terms of a series of simpler conditional likelihood components. We show an example of this where we fit a CJS model that has an individual-specific time-varying covariate as well as live re-sightings and dead recoveries. Data augmentation is naturally hierarchical, with parameters that are specified as random effects treated as any other latent variable and included into the likelihood. These hierarchical random effects models make it possible to explore stochastic relationships both (i) between parameters in the model, and (ii) between parameters and any covariates that are available. Including all of the missing data means that latent variables of interest, including the population size and the number of births, can now be included and used in the model. We present an example where we use the population size (i) to allow us to parameterize birth in terms of the per-capita birth rates, and (ii) as a covariate for both the per-capita birth rate and the survival probabilities in a density dependent relationship

Convective Vortices on Mars: A Reanalysis of Viking Lander 2 Meteorological Data, Sols 1-50

On 7th August 1976 the Viking 2 lander touched down at Utopia Planitia, Mars. We have reanalysed Viking lander 2 meteorological data, and it is the object of this research to give not only annual but diurnal statistics of convective vortex formation for the Viking 2 landing site

Persistent ocean monitoring with underwater gliders: Adapting sampling resolution

Ocean processes are dynamic and complex and occur on multiple spatial and temporal scales. To obtain a synoptic view of such processes, ocean scientists collect data over long time periods. Historically, measurements were continually provided by fixed sensors, e.g., moorings, or gathered from ships. Recently, an increase in the utilization of autonomous underwater vehicles has enabled a more dynamic data acquisition approach. However, we still do not utilize the full capabilities of these vehicles. Here we present algorithms that produce persistent monitoring missions for underwater vehicles by balancing path following accuracy and sampling resolution for a given region of interest, which addresses a pressing need among ocean scientists to efficiently and effectively collect high-value data. More specifically, this paper proposes a path planning algorithm and a speed control algorithm for underwater gliders, which together give informative trajectories for the glider to persistently monitor a patch of ocean. We optimize a cost function that blends two competing factors: maximize the information value along the path while minimizing deviation from the planned path due to ocean currents. Speed is controlled along the planned path by adjusting the pitch angle of the underwater glider, so that higher resolution samples are collected in areas of higher information value. The resulting paths are closed circuits that can be repeatedly traversed to collect long-term ocean data in dynamic environments. The algorithms were tested during sea trials on an underwater glider operating off the coast of southern California, as well as in Monterey Bay, California. The experimental results show improvements in both data resolution and path reliability compared to previously executed sampling paths used in the respective regions.United States. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Monitoring and Event Response for Harmful Algal Blooms (NA05NOS4781228)National Science Foundation (U.S.). Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CCR-0120778)National Science Foundation (U.S.). (Grant number CNS-0520305)National Science Foundation (U.S.). (Grant number CNS-0540420)United States. Office of Naval Research. Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (N00014-09-1-1031)United States. Office of Naval Research. Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (N00014-08-1-0693)United States. Office of Naval Research. Service-Oriented Architectur

Inequalities in SARS-CoV-2 case rates by ethnicity, religion, measures of socioeconomic position, English proficiency, and self-reported disability: cohort study of 39 million people in England during the alpha and delta waves

Objective: To examine sociodemographic inequalities in people with SARS-CoV-2 during the second (alpha) and third (delta) waves of the covid-19 pandemic. / Design: Retrospective, population based cohort study. / Setting: Resident population of England. / Participants: 39 006 194 people aged 10 years and older who were enumerated in the 2011 census, registered with the NHS, and alive on 1 September 2020. / Main outcome measures: Age standardised SARS-CoV-2 case rates (ie, the number of people who received a positive test result per 100 000 person weeks at risk) during the second wave (1 September 2020 to 22 May 2021) or third wave (23 May to 10 December 2021) of the pandemic. Age standardised rates were calculated by sociodemographic characteristics and adjusted rate ratios were estimated using generalised linear regression models with a Poisson distribution (models were adjusted for covariates including sex, age, geographical variables, and sociodemographic characteristics). / Results: During the study period, 5 767 584 people (14.8% of the study population) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. In the second wave, the fully adjusted relative risks of having a positive test were highest for the Bangladeshi and Pakistani ethnic groups compared with the white British group, with rate ratios of 1.75 (95% confidence interval 1.73 to 1.77) and 1.69 (1.68 to 1.70), respectively. Muslim and Sikh religious groups had fully adjusted rate ratios of 1.51 (1.50 to 1.51) and 1.64 (1.63 to 1.66), respectively, compared with the Christian group. Greater area deprivation, disadvantaged socioeconomic position, living in a care home, and low English language proficiency were also associated with higher relative risk of having a positive test. However, the inequalities among groups varied over time. Being Christian, white British, without a disability, and from a more advantaged socioeconomic position were associated with increased relative risk of testing positive during the third wave. / Conclusion: Research is urgently needed to understand the large sociodemographic inequalities in SARS-CoV-2 case rates in order to inform policy interventions in future waves or pandemics