Toward the Development of a Pursuit Decision Calculus: Pursuit Benefits Versus Pursuit Cost

To make unbiased decisions about whether to pursue a fleeing vehicle, officers must understand both the costs and the potential benefits of a pursuit. This manuscript describes an approach that identifies and assesses the impact of pursuit characteristics on pursuit costs. Data from official pursuit forms generated by officers in the Miami-Dade police department were used as a basis of the study. Log-linear models were used to identify direct and interactive effects of the pursuit characteristics. Upon finding significant effects, odds ratios were calculated. The findings indicate that there are certain pursuit characteristics, including number of units and speed, that significantly increase the likelihood of pursuits resulting in a cost to society including personal injury or property damage

New Records for the Arctic Shrew, Sorex arcticus and the Newly Recognized Maritime Shrew, Sorex maritimensis

We report the first record for the Arctic Shrew (Sorex arcticus) in the state of Montana, USA. We also report range extensions for the closely related Maritime Shrew (Sorex maritimensis) in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Canada. These collections augment our limited knowledge of the ranges and habitat associations of these rarely collected shrews, and highlight the need for a careful assessment of the status of S. maritimensis in Canada

Bidirectional KCNQ1:β-catenin interaction drives colorectal cancer cell differentiation.

The K+ channel KCNQ1 has been proposed as a tumor suppressor in colorectal cancer (CRC). We investigated the molecular mechanisms regulating KCNQ1:β-catenin bidirectional interactions and their effects on CRC differentiation, proliferation, and invasion. Molecular and pharmacologic approaches were used to determine the influence of KCNQ1 expression on the Wnt/β-catenin signaling and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in human CRC cell lines of varying stages of differentiation. The expression of KCNQ1 was lost with increasing mesenchymal phenotype in poorly differentiated CRC cell lines as a consequence of repression of the KCNQ1 promoter by β-catenin:T-cell factor (TCF)-4. In welldifferentiated epithelial CRC cell lines, KCNQ1 was localized to the plasma membrane in a complex with β-catenin and E-cadherin. The colocalization of KCNQ1 with adherens junction proteins was lost with increasing EMT phenotype. ShRNA knock-down of KCNQ1 caused a relocalization of β-catenin from the plasma membrane and a loss of epithelial phenotype in CRC spheroids. Overexpression of KCNQ1 trapped β-catenin at the plasma membrane, induced a patent lumen in CRC spheroids, and slowed CRC cell invasion. The KCNQ1 ion channel inhibitor chromanol 293B caused membrane depolarization, redistribution of β-catenin into the cytosol, and a reduced transepithelial electrical resistance, and stimulated CRC cell proliferation. Analysis of human primary CRC tumor patient databases showed a positive correlation between KCNQ1:KCNE3 channel complex expression and disease-free survival. We conclude that the KCNQ1 ion channel is a target gene and regulator of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, and its repression leads to CRC cell proliferation, EMT, and tumorigenesis

The Building Blocks of Interoperability. A Multisite Analysis of Patient Demographic Attributes Available for Matching.

BackgroundPatient matching is a key barrier to achieving interoperability. Patient demographic elements must be consistently collected over time and region to be valuable elements for patient matching.ObjectivesWe sought to determine what patient demographic attributes are collected at multiple institutions in the United States and see how their availability changes over time and across clinical sites.MethodsWe compiled a list of 36 demographic elements that stakeholders previously identified as essential patient demographic attributes that should be collected for the purpose of linking patient records. We studied a convenience sample of 9 health care systems from geographically distinct sites around the country. We identified changes in the availability of individual patient demographic attributes over time and across clinical sites.ResultsSeveral attributes were consistently available over the study period (2005-2014) including last name (99.96%), first name (99.95%), date of birth (98.82%), gender/sex (99.73%), postal code (94.71%), and full street address (94.65%). Other attributes changed significantly from 2005-2014: Social security number (SSN) availability declined from 83.3% to 50.44% (p<0.0001). Email address availability increased from 8.94% up to 54% availability (p<0.0001). Work phone number increased from 20.61% to 52.33% (p<0.0001).ConclusionsOverall, first name, last name, date of birth, gender/sex and address were widely collected across institutional sites and over time. Availability of emerging attributes such as email and phone numbers are increasing while SSN use is declining. Understanding the relative availability of patient attributes can inform strategies for optimal matching in healthcare

Effects of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on Impulsive Decision Making

This study examined the transdiagnostic effect of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on impulsive decision making in a community sample. Forty adults were randomized to eight individual sessions of ACT or an inactive control. Participants completed pre-, mid-, and post-assessments for psychological symptoms, overall behavior change, valued living, delay discounting, psychological flexibility, and distress tolerance. Data were analyzed with multilevel modeling of growth curves. Significant interaction effects of time and condition were observed for psychological flexibility, distress tolerance, psychological symptoms, and the obstruction subscale of valued living. No significant interaction effect was found for two delay discounting tasks nor the progress subscale of valued living. The ACT condition had a significantly larger reduction of problem behavior at post-assessment. The results support use of ACT as a transdiagnostic treatment for impulsive behaviors. The lack of change in delay discounting contrasts previous research

Flaxseed-Derived Enterolactone Is Inversely Associated with Tumor Cell Proliferation in Men with Localized Prostate Cancer

Enterolactone and enterodiol, mammalian lignans derived from dietary sources such as flaxseed, sesame seeds, kale, broccoli, and apricots, may impede tumor proliferation by inhibiting activation of nuclear factor kappa B (NF?B) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). We examined the associations between urinary enterolactone and enterodiol with prostatic tumor expression of NF?B, VEGF, and Ki67 among 147 patients with prostate cancer who participated in a presurgical trial of flaxseed supplementation (30?g/day) for ?30 days. Urinary enterolignans and tissue biomarkers were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography and immunohistochemistry, respectively. After supplementation, we observed significant correlations between intakes of plant lignan and urinary concentrations of total enterolignans (?=0.677, P<.0001), enterolactone (?=0.676, P<.0001), and enterodiol (?=0.628, P<.0001). Importantly, we observed that total urinary enterolignans and enterolactone were significantly and inversely correlated with Ki67 in the tumor tissue (?=?0.217, P=.011, and ?=?0.230, P=.007, respectively), and a near-significant inverse association was observed for enterodiol (?=?0.159, P=.064). An inverse association was observed between enterolactone and VEGF (?=?0.143, P=.141), although this did not reach statistical significance. We did not observe an association between enterolignans and NF?B. In conclusion, flaxseed-derived enterolignans may hinder cancer cell proliferation via VEGF-associated pathways.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140111/1/jmf.2012.0159.pd