399 research outputs found
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Provider Awareness Alone Does Not Improve Transition Readiness Skills in Adolescent Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease
ABSTRACT Objective: Adolescent patients with chronic health conditions must gradually assume responsibility for their health. Self-management skills are needed for a successful transfer from adolescent to adult health care, but the development of these skills could be resource intensive. Pediatric providers are already instrumental in teaching patients about their health and may improve these skills. The aim of the study was to evaluate whether informal education of pediatric providers regarding transition improves inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patient self-management skills. Methods: Consecutive patients with IBD older than 10 years who presented to the outpatient setting were administered a survey regarding self-management behaviors in 2008 and 2011. During this time, several conferences on transition were presented to the providers. Results: In 2008, 294 patients completed the survey (82%) compared with 121 patients (89%) in 2011. The patient groups were comparable with respect to sex (boys 50% vs 42%), mean age (16.7 vs 16.2 years), and type of IBD (Crohn 68% vs 66%). The 13- to 15-year-olds reported calling in refills (11%, 8%, respectively), scheduling clinic appointment (0, 1%), preparing questions (13%, 5%), and taking the main role in talking during clinic visits (15%, 24%). The 16- to 18-year-olds reported calling in refills (13%, 27%), scheduling clinic appointments (9%, 6%), preparing questions (9%, 16%), and taking the main role in talking in clinic visits (36%, 45%). Responsibility for behaviors gradually increases with age, but did not differ significantly between 2008 and 2011. Conclusions: Increasing awareness around transition readiness for pediatric providers had an insignificant effect on the self-management skills of patients with IBD. A more formal or structured approach is likely required to improve transition skills in adolescent patients
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Targeting SLMAP-ALK—a novel gene fusion in lung adenocarcinoma
Assessment of ALK gene rearrangements is strongly recommended by the Molecular Testing Guideline for Selection of Lung Cancer Patients proposed by IASLC, AMP, and CAP at the time of diagnosis for patients with advanced stage disease. Non- small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with ALK gene rearrangements or the resulting fusion pro- teins have been, for the most part, successfully targeted with ALK tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). The most frequent rearrangement, the EML4-ALK oncogenic fusion, has more than 10 distinct variants, each with a discrete breakpoint in EML4. Recent studies have suggested that EML4-ALK variants may have differential responses to TKIs. Additionally, non-EML4- ALK fusions that result from ALK rearrangements with diverse 5′ partners could possibly have varied biologic and clinical implications in their therapeutic responses and outcomes of patients with NSCLC. Existing literature documents at least 20 non-EML4 fusion partners for ALK, and the clinical responsiveness to crizotinib ranges from increased sensitivity to re- sistance. This underscores the importance of identifying the precise 5′ fusion partner to ALK before initiation of therapy. Herein we report the identification of a novel SLMAP-ALK fusion in a patient with NSCLC
Development of forest structure and leaf area in secondary forests regenerating on abandoned pastures in Central Amazonia
The area of secondary forest (SF) regenerating from pastures is increasing in the Amazon basin; however, the return of forest and canopy structure following abandonment is not well understood. This study examined the development of leaf area index (LAI), canopy cover, aboveground biomass, stem density, diameter at breast height (DBH), and basal area ( BA) by growth form and diameter class for 10 SFs regenerating from abandoned pastures. Biomass accrual was tree dominated, constituting >= 94% of the total measured biomass in all forests abandoned >= 4 to 6 yr. Vine biomass increased with forest age, but its relative contribution to total biomass decreased with time. The forests were dominated by the tree Vismia spp. (> 50%). Tree stem density peaked after 6 to 8 yr ( 10 320 stems per hectare) before declining by 42% in the 12- to 14-yr-old SFs. Small-diameter tree stems in the 1-5-cm size class composed > 58% of the total stems for all forests. After 12 to 14 yr, there was no significant leaf area below 150-cm height. Leaf area return (LAI = 3.2 after 12 to 14 yr) relative to biomass was slower than literature-reported recovery following slash-and-burn, where LAI can reach primary forest levels ( LAI = 4 - 6) in 5 yr. After 12 to 14 yr, the colonizing vegetation returned some components of forest structure to values reported for primary forest. Basal area and LAI were 50% - 60%, canopy cover and stem density were nearly 100%, and the rapid tree-dominated biomass accrual was 25% - 50% of values reported for primary forest. Biomass accumulation may reach an asymptote earlier than expected because of even-aged, monospecific, untiered stand structure. The very slow leaf area accumulation relative to biomass and to reported values for recovery following slash-and-burn indicates a different canopy development pathway that warrants further investigation of causes ( e. g., nutrient limitations, competition) and effects on processes such as evapotranspiration and soil water uptake, which would influence long-term recovery rates and have regional implications
Sub millimetre flexible fibre probe for background and fluorescence free Raman spectroscopy
Using the shifted-excitation Raman difference spectroscopy technique and an
optical fibre featuring a negative curvature excitation core and a coaxial ring
of high numerical aperture collection cores, we have developed a portable,
background and fluorescence free, endoscopic Raman probe. The probe consists of
a single fibre with a diameter of less than 0.25 mm packaged in a
sub-millimetre tubing, making it compatible with standard bronchoscopes. The
Raman excitation light in the fibre is guided in air and therefore interacts
little with silica, enabling an almost background free transmission of the
excitation light. In addition, we used the shifted-excitation Raman difference
spectroscopy technique and a tunable 785 nm laser to separate the fluorescence
and the Raman spectrum from highly fluorescent samples, demonstrating the
suitability of the probe for biomedical applications. Using this probe we also
acquired fluorescence free human lung tissue data
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Detection of STRN-ALK fusion in thyroid nodules with indeterminate cytopathology facilitates papillary thyroid cancer diagnosis
Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine malignancy. Approximately 70% of cases of papillary thyroid carcinoma and 50% of poorly differentiated and anaplastic thyroid carcinoma harbor well-characterized driver mutations and chromosomal rearrangements that drive tumorigenesis. Molecular profiling has been helpful in identifying and informing follow-up strategies in tumors with more aggressive trajectories. Here, we report a case of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) discovered in a patient with thyroid nodules with relatively benign ultrasound and fine needle aspiration (FNA) findings. Molecular testing in this patient identified a rare STRN-ALK fusion in two thyroid nodules with indeterminate and/or benign cytology. This led to the patient undergoing a thyroid lobectomy and a subsequent confirmation of papillary thyroid carcinoma upon resection. The report highlights the role of comprehensive molecular testing in thyroid lesions of indeterminate cytology
Comparison of nuisance parameters in pediatric versus adult randomized trials: a meta-epidemiologic empirical evaluation
BACKGROUND We wished to compare the nuisance parameters of pediatric vs. adult randomized-trials (RCTs) and determine if the latter can be used in sample size computations of the former. METHODS In this meta-epidemiologic empirical evaluation we examined meta-analyses from the Cochrane Database of Systematic-Reviews, with at least one pediatric-RCT and at least one adult-RCT. Within each meta-analysis of binary efficacy-outcomes, we calculated the pooled-control-group event-rate (CER) across separately all pediatric and adult-trials, using random-effect models and subsequently calculated the control-group event-rate risk-ratio (CER-RR) of the pooled-pediatric-CERs vs. adult-CERs. Within each meta-analysis with continuous outcomes we calculated the pooled-control-group effect standard deviation (CE-SD) across separately all pediatric and adult-trials and subsequently calculated the CE-SD-ratio of the pooled-pediatric-CE-SDs vs. adult-CE-SDs. We then calculated across all meta-analyses the pooled-CER-RRs and pooled-CE-SD-ratios (primary endpoints) and the pooled-magnitude of effect-sizes of CER-RRs and CE-SD-ratios using REMs. A ratio < 1 indicates that pediatric trials have smaller nuisance parameters than adult trials. RESULTS We analyzed 208 meta-analyses (135 for binary-outcomes, 73 for continuous-outcomes). For binary outcomes, pediatric-RCTs had on average 10% smaller CERs than adult-RCTs (summary-CE-RR: 0.90; 95% CI: 0.83, 0.98). For mortality outcomes the summary-CE-RR was 0.48 (95% CIs: 0.31, 0.74). For continuous outcomes, pediatric-RCTs had on average 26% smaller CE-SDs than adult-RCTs (summary-CE-SD-ratio: 0.74). CONCLUSIONS Clinically relevant differences in nuisance parameters between pediatric and adult trials were detected. These differences have implications for design of future studies. Extrapolation of nuisance parameters for sample-sizes calculations from adult-trials to pediatric-trials should be cautiously done
Computational Fluorescence Suppression in Shifted Excitation Raman Spectroscopy
Fiber-based Raman spectroscopy in the context of <italic>in vivo</italic> biomedical application suffers from the presence of background fluorescence from the surrounding tissue that might mask the crucial but inherently weak Raman signatures. One method that has shown potential for suppressing the background to reveal the Raman spectra is shifted excitation Raman spectroscopy (SER). SER collects multiple emission spectra by shifting the excitation by small amounts and uses these spectra to computationally suppress the fluorescence background based on the principle that Raman spectrum shifts with excitation while fluorescence spectrum does not. We introduce a method that utilizes the spectral characteristics of the Raman and fluorescence spectra to estimate them more effectively, and compare this approach against existing methods on real world datasets.</p
Megafire:An ambiguous and emotive term best avoided by science
Background: As fire regimes are changing and wildfire disasters are becoming more frequent, the term megafire is increasingly used to describe impactful wildfires, under multiple meanings, both in academia and popular media. This has resulted in a highly ambiguous concept.Approach: We analysed the use of the term ‘megafire’ in popular media to determine its origin, its developments over time, and its meaning in the public sphere. We subsequently discuss how relative the term ‘mega’ is, and put this in the context of an analysis of Portuguese and global data on fire size distribution.Results: We found that ‘megafire’ originated in the popular news media over 20 years before it appeared in science. Megafire is used in a diversity of languages, considers landscape fires as well as urban fires, and has a variety of meanings in addition to size. What constitutes ‘mega’ is relative and highly context-dependent in space and time, given variation in landscape, climate, and anthropogenic controls, and as revealed in examples from the Netherlands, Portugal and the Global Fire Atlas. Moreover, fire size does not equate to fire impact.Conclusion: Given the diverse meanings of megafire in the popular media, we argue that redefining megafire in science potentially leads to greater disparity between science and practice. Megafire is widely used as an emotive term that is best left for popular media. For those wanting to use it in science, what constitutes a megafire should be defined by the context in which it is used, not by a metric of one-size-fits-all.</p
Modelling realistic horizontal branch morphologies and their impact on spectroscopic ages of unresolved stellar systems
The presence of an extended blue horizontal branch (HB) in a stellar
population is known to affect the age inferred from spectral fitting to stellar
population synthesis models. However, most population synthesis models still
rely on theoretical isochrones which do not include realistic modelling of
extended HBs. In this work, we create detailed models for a range of old simple
stellar populations (SSPs), to create a variety of realistic HB morphologies,
from extended red clumps, to extreme blue HBs. We achieve this by utilising
stellar tracks from the BaSTI database and implementing a different mass loss
prescription for each SSP created, resulting in different HB morphologies. We
find that, for each metallicity, there is some HB morphology which maximises
Hbeta, making an underlying 14Gyr population look ~5-6Gyr old for the low and
intermediate metallicity cases, and as young as 2Gyr for a solar metallicity
SSP. We explore whether there are any spectral indices capable of breaking the
degeneracy between an old SSP with extended blue HB and a truly young or
intermediate age SSP, and find that the CaII index of Rose(1984) and the
strength of the MgII doublet at 2800A are promising candidates, in combination
with Hbeta and other metallicity indicators such as Mgb and Fe5406. We also run
Monte Carlo simulations to investigate the level of statistical fluctuations in
the spectra of typical stellar clusters. We find that fluctuations in spectral
indices are significant even for average to large globular clusters, and that
various spectral indices are affected in different ways, which has implications
for full-spectrum fitting methods. Hence we urge caution if these types of
stellar clusters are to be used as empirical calibrating objects for various
aspects of SPS models. (Abridged)Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 10 pages, including 7 figure
Long-term Psychological and Occupational Effects of Providing Hospital Healthcare during SARS Outbreak
TOC Summary Line: Healthcare workers in hospitals affected by SARS experience increased psychological stress 1–2 years after the outbreak
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