381 research outputs found
Gender HCI Issues in End-User Software Engineering Environments
Although gender differences in a technological world are receiving significant research attention, much of the research and practice has aimed at how society and education can impact the successes and retention of female computer science professionals. The possibility of gender issues within software, however, has received almost no attention. We hypothesize that factors within software have a strong impact on how well female problem solvers can make use of the software. Evidence from other fields and investigations of our own have revealed evidence supporting this hypothesis
Temporal patterns of gene expression after acute hindlimb ischemia in mice insights into the genomic program for collateral vessel development
AbstractObjectivesWe sought to understand the genomic program leading to collateral vessel formation.BackgroundRecently, technology has advanced to the point that it is now possible to elucidate the large array of genes that must be expressed, as well as the temporal expression pattern, for the development of functionally important collateral vessels. In this investigation, we used deoxyribonucleic acid array expression profiling to determine the time course of differential expression of 12,000 genes after femoral artery ligation in C57BL/6 mice.MethodsRibonucleic acid was extracted from the adductor muscle, which showed no signs of ischemia. Sampling was at baseline, 6 h, and 1, 3, 7, and 14 days after femoral artery ligation or sham operation.ResultsFemoral artery ligation caused the differential expression (>2-fold) of 783 genes at one or multiple time points: 518 were induced and 265 were repressed. Cluster analysis generated four temporal patterns: 1) early upregulated (6 to 24 h)—immediate early transcriptional factors, angiogenesis, inflammation, and stress-related genes; 2) mid-phase upregulated (day 3)—cell cycle and cytoskeletal and inflammatory genes; 3) late upregulated (days 7 to 14)—angiostatic, anti-inflammatory, and extracellular matrix-associated genes; and 4) downregulated—genes involved in energy metabolism, water channel, and muscle contraction. Microarray data were validated using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction.ConclusionsThis study documents the large number of genes whose differential expression and temporal functional clustering appear to contribute to collateral formation. These results can serve as a genomic model for arteriogenesis and as a database for developing new therapeutic strategies
Fine Particulate Air Pollution and Mortality: Response to Enstrom's Reanalysis of the American Cancer Society Cancer Prevention Study II Cohort
The first analysis of long-term exposures to air pollution and
risk of mortality using the American Cancer Society Cancer
Prevention Study II (ACS CPS-II) cohort was published in
1995.1 Subsequently, extensive independent reanalysis2 and
multiple extended analyses3-7 were conducted. These studies
have consistently demonstrated that exposure to fine particulate
matter air pollution (PM2.5) is associated with increased
risk of mortality, especially cardiopulmonary or cardiovascular
disease mortality. A recent analysis by Enstrom, based on early
data from the ACS CPS-II cohort, reports no significant relationship
between PM2.5 and total mortality.8 The author asserts
that the original analyses, reanalyses, and the extended analyses
found positive PM2.5–mortality relationships because of
selective use of CPS-II and PM2.5 data
Lung Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease Mortality Associated with Ambient Air Pollution and Cigarette Smoke: Shape of the Exposure–Response Relationships
Background: Lung cancer and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality risks increase with smoking, secondhand smoke (SHS), and exposure to fine particulate matter < 2.5 μm in diameter (PM2.5) from ambient air pollution. Recent research indicates that the exposure–response relationship for CVD is nonlinear, with a steep increase in risk at low exposures and flattening out at higher exposures. Comparable estimates of the exposure–response relationship for lung cancer are required for disease burden estimates and related public health policy assessments
Ambient Air Pollution and Cancer Mortality in the Cancer Prevention Study II
BACKGROUND: The International Agency for Research on Cancer
classified both outdoor air pollution and airborne particulate
matter as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1) for lung cancer.
There may be associations with cancer at other sites; however,
the epidemiological evidence is limited. OBJECTIVE: The aim of
this study was to clarify whether ambient air pollution is
associated with specific types of cancer other than lung cancer
by examining associations of ambient air pollution with nonlung
cancer death in the Cancer Prevention Study II (CPS-II).
METHODS: Analysis included 623,048 CPS-II participants who were
followed for 22 y (1982-2004). Modeled estimates of particulate
matter with aerodynamic diameter <2.5microm (PM2.5)
(1999-2004), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) (2006), and ozone (O3)
(2002-2004) concentrations were linked to the participant
residence at enrollment. Cox proportional hazards models were
used to estimate associations per each fifth percentile-mean
increment with cancer mortality at 29 anatomic sites, adjusted
for individual and ecological covariates. RESULTS: We observed
43,320 nonlung cancer deaths. PM2.5 was significantly positively
associated with death from cancers of the kidney {adjusted
hazard ratio (HR) per 4.4 mug/m3=1.14 [95% confidence interval
(CI): 1.03, 1.27]} and bladder [HR=1.13 (95% CI: 1.03, 1.23)].
NO2 was positively associated with colorectal cancer mortality
[HR per 6.5 ppb=1.06 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.10). The results were
similar in two-pollutant models including PM2.5 and NO2 and in
three-pollutant models with O3. We observed no statistically
significant positive associations with death from other types of
cancer based on results from adjusted models. CONCLUSIONS: The
results from this large prospective study suggest that ambient
air pollution was not associated with death from most nonlung
cancers, but associations with kidney, bladder, and colorectal
cancer death warrant further investigation.
https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP1249
Chaos, containment and change: responding to persistent offending by young people
This article reviews policy developments in Scotland concerning 'persistent young offenders' and then describes the design of a study intended to assist a local planning group in developing its response. The key findings of a review of casefiles of young people involved in persistent offending are reported. It emerges that youth crime and young people involved in offending are more complex and heterogeneous than is sometimes assumed. This, along with a review of some literature about desistance from offending, reaffirms the need for properly individualised interventions. Studies of 'desisters' suggest the centrality of effective and engaging working relationships in this process. However, these studies also re-assert the significance of the social contexts of workers’ efforts to bring 'change' out of 'chaos'. We conclude therefore that the 'new correctionalism' must be tempered with appreciation of the social exclusion of young people who offend
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Gender Pluralism in Problem-Solving Software
Although there has been significant research into gender regarding educational and workplace
practices, there has been little awareness of gender differences as they pertain to software tools,
such as spreadsheet applications, that try to support end users in problem-solving tasks. Although
such software tools are intended to be gender agnostic, we believe that closer examination of this
premise is warranted. Therefore, in this paper, we report an end-to-end investigation into gender
differences with spreadsheet software. Our results showed gender differences in feature usage,
feature-related confidence, and tinkering (playful exploration) with features. Then, drawing
implications from these results, we designed and implemented features for our spreadsheet
prototype that took the gender differences into account. The results of an evaluation on this
prototype showed improvements for both males and females, and also decreased gender
differences in some outcome measures, such as confidence. These results are encouraging, but
also open new questions for investigation. We also discuss how our results compare to
generalization studies performed with a variety of other software platforms and populations.Keywords: gender, spreadsheet debugging, problem-solving softwareKeywords: gender, spreadsheet debugging, problem-solving softwar
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An analysis of monthly home range size in the critically endangered California Condor Gymnogyps californianus
Condors and vultures comprise the only group of terrestrial vertebrates in the world that are
obligate scavengers, and these species move widely to locate ephemeral, unpredictable, and patchily-distributed
food resources. In this study, we used high-resolution GPS location data to quantify
monthly home range size of the critically endangered California Condor Gymnogyps californianus
throughout the annual cycle in California. We assessed whether individual-level characteristics
(age, sex and breeding status) and factors related to endangered species recovery program
efforts (rearing method, release site) were linked to variation in monthly home range size.
We found that monthly home range size varied across the annual cycle, with the largest monthly
home ranges observed during late summer and early fall (July-October), a pattern that may be
linked to seasonal changes in thermals that facilitate movement. Monthly home ranges of adults
were significantly larger than those of immatures, but males and females used monthly home
ranges of similar size throughout the year and breeding adults did not differ from non-breeding
adults in their average monthly home range size. Individuals from each of three release sites
differed significantly in the size of their monthly home ranges, and no differences in monthly
home range size were detected between condors reared under captive conditions relative to those
reared in the wild. Our study provides an important foundation for understanding the movement
ecology of the California Condor and it highlights the importance of seasonal variation in space
use for effective conservation planning for this critically endangered species
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Adding a treatment arm to an ongoing clinical trial: a review of methodology and practice
Incorporating an emerging therapy as a new randomisation arm in a clinical trial that is open to recruitment would be desirable to researchers, regulators and patients to ensure that the trial remains current, new treatments are evaluated as quickly as possible, and the time and cost for determining optimal therapies is minimised. It may take many years to run a clinical trial from concept to reporting within a rapidly changing drug development environment; hence, in order for trials to be most useful to inform policy and practice, it is advantageous for them to be able to adapt to emerging therapeutic developments. This paper reports a comprehensive literature review on methodologies for, and practical examples of, amending an ongoing clinical trial by adding a new treatment arm. Relevant methodological literature describing statistical considerations required when making this specific type of amendment is identified, and the key statistical concepts when planning the addition of a new treatment arm are extracted, assessed and summarised. For completeness, this includes an assessment of statistical recommendations within general adaptive design guidance documents. Examples of confirmatory ongoing trials designed within the frequentist framework that have added an arm in practice are reported; and the details of the amendment are reviewed. An assessment is made as to how well the relevant statistical considerations were addressed in practice, and the related implications. The literature review confirmed that there is currently no clear methodological guidance on this topic, but that guidance would be advantageous to help this efficient design amendment to be used more frequently and appropriately in practice. Eight confirmatory trials were identified to have added a treatment arm, suggesting that trials can benefit from this amendment and that it can be practically feasible; however, the trials were not always able to address the key statistical considerations, often leading to uninterpretable or invalid outcomes. If the statistical concepts identified within this review are considered and addressed during the design of a trial amendment, it is possible to effectively assess a new treatment arm within an ongoing trial without compromising the original trial outcomes
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Resource Selection by the California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus) Relative to Terrestrial-Based Habitats and Meteorological Conditions
Condors and vultures are distinct from most other terrestrial birds because they use extensive soaring flight for their daily movements. Therefore, assessing resource selection by these avian scavengers requires quantifying the availability of terrestrial-based habitats, as well as meteorological variables that influence atmospheric conditions necessary for soaring. In this study, we undertook the first quantitative assessment of habitat- and meteorological-based resource selection in the endangered California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) within its California range and across the annual cycle. We found that condor use of terrestrial areas did not change markedly within the annual cycle, and that condor use was greatest for habitats where food resources and potential predators could be detected and where terrain was amenable for taking off from the ground in flight (e.g., sparse habitats, coastal areas). Condors originating from different release sites differed in their use of habitat, but this was likely due in part to variation in habitats surrounding release sites. Meteorological conditions were linked to condor use of ecological subregions, with thermal height, thermal velocity, and wind speed having both positive (selection) and negative (avoidance) effects on condor use in different areas. We found little evidence of systematic effects between individual characteristics (i.e., sex, age, breeding status) or components of the species management program (i.e., release site, rearing method) relative to meteorological conditions. Our findings indicate that habitat type and meteorological conditions can interact in complex ways to influence condor resource selection across landscapes, which is noteworthy given the extent of anthropogenic stressors that may impact condor populations (e.g., lead poisoning, wind energy development). Additional studies will be valuable to assess small-scale condor movements in light of these stressors to help minimize their risk to this critically endangered species
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