Examining the generalizability of research findings from archival data

This initiative examined systematically the extent to which a large set of archival research findings generalizes across contexts. We repeated the key analyses for 29 original strategic management effects in the same context (direct reproduction) as well as in 52 novel time periods and geographies; 45% of the reproductions returned results matching the original reports together with 55% of tests in different spans of years and 40% of tests in novel geographies. Some original findings were associated with multiple new tests. Reproducibility was the best predictor of generalizability—for the findings that proved directly reproducible, 84% emerged in other available time periods and 57% emerged in other geographies. Overall, only limited empirical evidence emerged for context sensitivity. In a forecasting survey, independent scientists were able to anticipate which effects would find support in tests in new samples

Global, regional, and national burden of disorders affecting the nervous system, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BackgroundDisorders affecting the nervous system are diverse and include neurodevelopmental disorders, late-life neurodegeneration, and newly emergent conditions, such as cognitive impairment following COVID-19. Previous publications from the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factor Study estimated the burden of 15 neurological conditions in 2015 and 2016, but these analyses did not include neurodevelopmental disorders, as defined by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-11, or a subset of cases of congenital, neonatal, and infectious conditions that cause neurological damage. Here, we estimate nervous system health loss caused by 37 unique conditions and their associated risk factors globally, regionally, and nationally from 1990 to 2021.MethodsWe estimated mortality, prevalence, years lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), with corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs), by age and sex in 204 countries and territories, from 1990 to 2021. We included morbidity and deaths due to neurological conditions, for which health loss is directly due to damage to the CNS or peripheral nervous system. We also isolated neurological health loss from conditions for which nervous system morbidity is a consequence, but not the primary feature, including a subset of congenital conditions (ie, chromosomal anomalies and congenital birth defects), neonatal conditions (ie, jaundice, preterm birth, and sepsis), infectious diseases (ie, COVID-19, cystic echinococcosis, malaria, syphilis, and Zika virus disease), and diabetic neuropathy. By conducting a sequela-level analysis of the health outcomes for these conditions, only cases where nervous system damage occurred were included, and YLDs were recalculated to isolate the non-fatal burden directly attributable to nervous system health loss. A comorbidity correction was used to calculate total prevalence of all conditions that affect the nervous system combined.FindingsGlobally, the 37 conditions affecting the nervous system were collectively ranked as the leading group cause of DALYs in 2021 (443 million, 95% UI 378–521), affecting 3·40 billion (3·20–3·62) individuals (43·1%, 40·5–45·9 of the global population); global DALY counts attributed to these conditions increased by 18·2% (8·7–26·7) between 1990 and 2021. Age-standardised rates of deaths per 100 000 people attributed to these conditions decreased from 1990 to 2021 by 33·6% (27·6–38·8), and age-standardised rates of DALYs attributed to these conditions decreased by 27·0% (21·5–32·4). Age-standardised prevalence was almost stable, with a change of 1·5% (0·7–2·4). The ten conditions with the highest age-standardised DALYs in 2021 were stroke, neonatal encephalopathy, migraine, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, diabetic neuropathy, meningitis, epilepsy, neurological complications due to preterm birth, autism spectrum disorder, and nervous system cancer.InterpretationAs the leading cause of overall disease burden in the world, with increasing global DALY counts, effective prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation strategies for disorders affecting the nervous system are needed

Enhanced AlexNet with Super-Resolution for Low-Resolution Face Recognition

With the advancement in deep learning, high-resolution face recognition has achieved outstanding performance that makes it widely adopted in many real-world applications. Face recognition plays a vital role in visual surveillance systems. However, the images captured by the security cameras are at low resolution causing the performance of the low-resolution face recognition relatively inferior. In view of this, we propose an enhanced AlexNet with Super-Resolution and Data Augmentation (SRDA-AlexNet) for low-resolution face recognition. Firstly, image super-resolution improves the quality of the low-resolution images to high-resolution images. Subsequently, data augmentation is applied to generate variations of the images for larger data size. An enhanced AlexNet with batch normalization and dropout regularization is then used for feature extraction. The batch normalization aims to reduce the internal covariate shift by normalizing the input distributions of the mini-batches. Apart from that, the dropout regularization improves the generalization capability and alleviates the overfitting of the model. The extracted features are then classified using k-Nearest Neighbors method for low-resolution face recognition. Empirical results demonstrate that the proposed SRDA-AlexNet outshines the methods in comparison

Long wavelength mid-infrared multi-gases spectroscopy using tunable single-mode slot waveguide quantum cascade laser

Single-mode tunable quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) are promising for high-resolution and highly sensitive trace gases sensing across the mid-infrared (MIR) region. We report on the development of a tunable single-mode slot waveguide QCL array in the long wavelength part of the MIR regime (>12 µm). This laser array exhibits a tuning range of around 12 cm−1, from 735.3 to 747.3 cm−1. Using this developed single-mode tunable QCL, we demonstrate individual gas sensing, yielding the detection limit of 940 ppb and 470 ppb for acetylene and o-xylene, respectively. To verify the potential of the developed QCL array in multi-species gas detection, laser absorption measurements of two mixed gases of acetylene and o-xylene were conducted, showing the absorption features of the corresponding gases agree well with the theoretical predictions.Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)National Medical Research Council (NMRC)National Research Foundation (NRF)Published versionFunding: National Research Foundation Singapore (NRF-CRP19-2017-01, NRF-CRP22-2019-0007); Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A18A7b0058, A2090b0144); National Medical Research Council (MOH-000927)

Verkkokaupan toteutus yritykselle Petrotek Oy

Opinnäytetyön tarkoituksena oli suunnitella ja toteuttaa verkkokauppa yritykselle Petrotek Oy. Tavoitteena oli saada aikaan toimiva verkkokauppa, jota toimeksiantajan olisi helppo ylläpitää. Työ aloitettiin toteuttamaan tyhjästä, mutta lopulta siirryttiin rakentamaan verkkokauppaa avoimen lähdekoodin alustalla. Lopullinen verkkokauppa toteutettiin PrestaShop-verkkokauppa-alustalla. Verkkokauppa rakentaminen ja testaaminen tapahtui omalla koneelle käyttäen apuna WampServer kehitysympäristöä. Lopputuloksena saatiin tehtyä toimiva ja helposti ylläpidettävä verkkokauppa, jota jatkokehitetään yhteistyössä toimeksiantajan kanssa. Opinnäytetyössä tarkasteltiin läpi verkkokaupan asennus ja tietokannan kokoonpano. Työssä tutustuttiin myös verkkokaupan sisällönhallintajärjestelmään ja sen muihin ominaisuuksiin, kuten tuotehallinta, tilaukset ja maksutavat

Algorithm-based approach to hypervascular pancreatic lesions

Incidental pancreatic lesions are increasingly being detected due to the increasing use of cross-sectional imaging such as computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. These pancreatic lesions can be broadly categorised into hypervascular and hypovascular lesions by comparing the degree of lesion enhancement to the background pancreatic parenchymal enhancement. For practicality, we define pancreatic lesions as hypervascular when they show enhancement greater or equal to that of the pancreatic parenchyma on either CT or MR imaging vis-a-vis hypovascular lesions, which characteristically enhance less than the background pancreatic parenchyma. Hypovascular lesions have been widely described, including ductal adenocarcinoma and chronic focal pancreatitis.(1) A few prior published reviews related to hypervascular pancreatic masses have focused on the differential entities or their malignant potential.(2,3) To the best of our knowledge, there is a lack of an algorithm-based approach that enables general radiologists to prospectively differentiate the various hypervascular pancreatic lesions, as presented in this pictorial essay. We further discuss the pertinent radiologic pathologic features of each differential diagnosis and illustrate them using individual case examples.Published versio

Management of early node‐positive breast cancer in Australia: A multicentre study

To examine practice patterns for breast cancer patients with limited sentinel node (SN) disease in light of the ACOSOG Z0011 results. Retrospective analysis of patients with T1‐2 breast cancer and positive sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) admitted between January 2009 and December 2012. Patient demographics, tumor characteristics, and treatments were recorded. Eight hundred positive SLNBs were identified. A total of 452 (56.5%) proceeded to completion axillary lymph node dissection (cALND). cALND rate decreased from 65.1% to 49.7% from 2009–2010 to 2011–2012. cALND was performed for micrometastasis or isolated tumor cells in 39.3% in 2009–2010 and 22.2% in 2011–2012, whereas for macrometastases the rates were 83.1% and 68.6%, respectively. cALND rates diminished for both Z0011‐eligible and ‐ineligible patients. The ACOSOG Z0011 trial presentation and publication coincided with a reduction in cALND for breast cancer with limited nodal disease. There appears equipoise regarding management of macrometastatic SN disease

Final results of a phase II trial of first-line FOLFIRINOX for advanced gastroesophageal cancers

4532 Background: Standard first-line regimens for patients with metastatic gastroesophageal adenocarcinomas have moderate clinical benefit with objective response rates (ORR) of approximately 40-50%. FOLFIRINOX has been shown to be an effective and well-tolerated first line therapy in other GI cancers. In this open-label, single-arm phase II study of patients with advanced gastroesophageal adenocarcinomas, we sought to evaluate the safety and clinical activity of FOLFIRINOX. Methods: The primary endpoint was ORR, and secondary endpoints included safety profile, progression free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), time to progression (TTP), clinical benefit rate (CBR), and duration of response. Estimated sample size included 41 patients with HER2 negative disease with 90% power to detect an ORR≥60% with alpha of 0.10. No enrollment goal was planned for HER2 positive patients, but they were allowed participation to receive study treatment in combination with trastuzumab. Treatment consisted of 400mg/m2 5-FU bolus, 400 mg/m2 leucovorin, 2400 mg/m2 5-FU infusion over 46 hours, 180 mg/m2 irinotecan, and 85 mg/m2 oxaliplatin. Trastuzumab was administered intravenously as a 6 mg/kg loading dose then given 4 mg/kg every 14 days for HER2 positive patients. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01928290. Results: From November 2013 to May 2019, 67 patients were enrolled, of which 26 (39%) had HER2 positive disease. Median follow-up was 16.1 months. ORR was 61% (25/41) for HER2 negative and 85% (22/26) for HER2 positive groups. Overall, one patient (2%) had a complete response, 36 patients (69%) had partial responses, and 13 patients (19%) had stable disease for >6 months; therefore, CBR was 96%. Median PFS was 11.9 months, median OS was 17.4 months. 41 patients (83.7%) had dose modification or treatment delay with the most common toxicities being neutropenia, diarrhea, peripheral sensory neuropathy, and nausea with no unexpected toxicities. Conclusions: FOLFIRINOX is a highly effective three-drug regimen for first-line treatment of advanced gastroesophageal cancer with expected, tolerable toxicities. Clinical trial information: NCT01928290

The Singapore Liver Cancer Recurrence (SLICER) Score for relapse prediction in patients with surgically resected hepatocellular carcinoma.

Surgery is the primary curative option in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Current prognostic models for HCC are developed on datasets of primarily patients with advanced cancer, and may be less relevant to resectable HCC. We developed a postoperative nomogram, the Singapore Liver Cancer Recurrence (SLICER) Score, to predict outcomes of HCC patients who have undergone surgical resection.Records for 544 consecutive patients undergoing first-line curative surgery for HCC in one institution from 1992-2007 were reviewed, with 405 local patients selected for analysis. Freedom from relapse (FFR) was the primary outcome measure. An outcome-blinded modeling strategy including clustering, data reduction and transformation was used. We compared the performance of SLICER in estimating FFR with other HCC prognostic models using concordance-indices and likelihood analysis.A nomogram predicting FFR was developed, incorporating non-neoplastic liver cirrhosis, multifocality, preoperative alpha-fetoprotein level, Child-Pugh score, vascular invasion, tumor size, surgical margin and symptoms at presentation. Our nomogram outperformed other HCC prognostic models in predicting FFR by means of log-likelihood ratio statistics with good calibration demonstrated at 3 and 5 years post-resection and a concordance index of 0.69. Using decision curve analysis, SLICER also demonstrated superior net benefit at higher threshold probabilities.The SLICER score enables well-calibrated individualized predictions of relapse following curative HCC resection, and may represent a novel tool for biomarker research and individual counseling