Seizure outcome after switching antiepileptic drugs: A matched, prospective study.

OBJECTIVE: Outcomes after changing antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) have largely been studied in single cohort series. We recently reported the first study to examine this question in a controlled manner. Here we expand on these results by using a matched, prospective methodology applied to both uncontrolled and well-controlled patients taking any AED. METHODS: We reviewed all outpatient notes over a 9-month period and identified patients with focal epilepsy who were on monotherapy. We classified those who switched AEDs as case patients, with those remaining on the same drug serving as controls. We matched cases with controls for seizure status (seizure-free in the preceding 6 months or not), current AED, and number of failed AEDs. We subsequently assessed outcome 6 months later. RESULTS: Seizure-free patients who switched drug (n = 12) had a 16.7% rate of seizure recurrence at 6 months, compared to 2.8% among controls remaining on the same drug (n = 36, p = 0.11). There was a 37% remission rate among uncontrolled patients who switched drug compared to 55.6% among controls (n = 27 per group, p = 0.18). Uncontrolled patients who had previously tried more than one AED were somewhat less likely to enter remission (p = 0.057). Neither AED mechanism of action nor change in dosage impacted outcome. SIGNIFICANCE: Herein we provide further estimation of the modest risk (~14%) associated with switching AEDs in patients in remission compared to being maintained on the same regimen. Uncontrolled patients were no more likely to enter remission after a drug switch than they were after remaining on the same drug, suggesting that spontaneous changes in disease state, and not drug response, underlie remission in this population

Dynamics of Transport Infrastructure, Exports and Economic Growth in the United States

This paper focuses on the dynamic relationships among transport infrastructure, exports and economic growth in the United States using a multivariate time-series analysis. Results suggest that the formation of highways and streets affects economic growth indirectly through enhancing the capital stock of non-transport infrastructure and crowding in private capital. The reverse causality from economic output to highway and street infrastructure is observed. Aggregate capital stock of non-transport infrastructure, excluding national defense, has sustainable positive effects on economic output and exports over a number of years. Empirical evidence also shows that highway and street infrastructure and non-transport infrastructure Granger cause exports

Factors Influencing Farmers’ Adoption of Best Management Practices: A Review and Synthesis

Best management practices (BMPs) for reducing agricultural non-point source pollution are widely available. However, agriculture remains a major global contributor to degradation of waters because farmers often do not adopt BMPs. To improve water quality, it is necessary to understand the factors that influence BMP adoption by farmers. We review the findings of BMP adoption studies from both developed and developing countries, published after (or otherwise not included in) two major literature reviews from 2007 and 2008. We summarize the study locations, scales, and BMPs studied; the analytical methods used; the factors evaluated; and the directionality of each factor’s influence on BMP adoption. We then present a conceptual framework for BMP adoption decisions that emphasizes the importance of scale, the tailoring or targeting of information and incentives, and the importance of expected farm profits. We suggest that future research directions should focus on study scale, on measuring and modeling of adoption as a continuous process, and on incorporation of social norms and uncertainty into decision-making. More research is needed on uses of social media and market recognition approaches (such as certificate schemes and consumer labeling) to influence BMP adoption

Assessing Exchange Rate Predictability with Statistical and Economic Methods Criterions

This article provides a comprehensive review of the economic models and benchmarks Random work model for out of sample exchange rate forecast. Meanwhile, the assessments of the predictability build upon both economic and statistical methods. By statistical criterion, fundamental economic models provide no more information than the random walk model. However, the fundamental economic models do provide useful information than random walk by the economic standard

The BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey -- XVIII. Searching for Supermassive Black Hole Binaries in the X-rays

Theory predicts that a supermassive black hole binary (SMBHB) could be observed as a luminous active galactic nucleus (AGN) that periodically varies on the order of its orbital timescale. In X-rays, periodic variations could be caused by mechanisms including relativistic Doppler boosting and shocks. Here we present the first systematic search for periodic AGNs using $941$ hard X-ray light curves (14-195 keV) from the first 105 months of the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) survey (2004-2013). We do not find evidence for periodic AGNs in Swift-BAT, including the previously reported SMBHB candidate MCG+11$-$11$-$032. We find that the null detection is consistent with the combination of the upper-limit binary population in AGNs in our adopted model, their expected periodic variability amplitudes, and the BAT survey characteristics. We have also investigated the detectability of SMBHBs against normal AGN X-ray variability in the context of the eROSITA survey. Under our assumptions of a binary population and the periodic signals they produce which have long periods of hundreds of days, up to $13$% true periodic binaries can be robustly distinguished from normal variable AGNs with the ideal uniform sampling. However, we demonstrate that realistic eROSITA sampling is likely to be insensitive to long-period binaries because longer observing gaps reduce their detectability. In contrast, large observing gaps do not diminish the prospect of detecting binaries of short, few-day periods, as 19% can be successfully recovered, the vast majority of which can be identified by the first half of the survey.Comment: 17 pages, including 8 figures and 4 tables. Accepted for publication in Ap

Only time will tell: unraveling the temporal effect of negative affective encounters in diaspora tourism

Recently, researchers have begun to investigate the role of negative encounters, emotions and feelings in tourism and leisure activities. However, the temporal effects of negative encounters are still underexplored. This research consists of two studies that were conducted longitudinally. Study one investigated the overall visiting experience of 50 multi-generational Chinese diaspora tourists; study two interviewed 22 former participants who touched on negative experiences in their ancestral hometown eight years ago. Three scenarios of how these tourists re-interpreted negative affective encounters were identified. The findings suggest diaspora tourists’ perceptions of negative encounters transform over time, depending on their life trajectory, earlier experiences, attitudes, further exposures to Chinese culture and values, and the meanings they obtained from their negative encounters. This research is among the first to examine the temporal effects of negative experiences longitudinally, opening up for future considerations of the temporal contingencies of negative encounters in the tourism experience

Arf4 is required for Mammalian development but dispensable for ciliary assembly

The primary cilium is a sensory organelle, defects in which cause a wide range of human diseases including retinal degeneration, polycystic kidney disease and birth defects. The sensory functions of cilia require specific receptors to be targeted to the ciliary subdomain of the plasma membrane. Arf4 has been proposed to sort cargo destined for the cilium at the Golgi complex and deemed a key regulator of ciliary protein trafficking. In this work, we show that Arf4 binds to the ciliary targeting sequence (CTS) of fibrocystin. Knockdown of Arf4 indicates that it is not absolutely required for trafficking of the fibrocystin CTS to cilia as steady-state CTS levels are unaffected. However, we did observe a delay in delivery of newly synthesized CTS from the Golgi complex to the cilium when Arf4 was reduced. Arf4 mutant mice are embryonic lethal and die at mid-gestation shortly after node formation. Nodal cilia appeared normal and functioned properly to break left-right symmetry in Arf4 mutant embryos. At this stage of development Arf4 expression is highest in the visceral endoderm but we did not detect cilia on these cells. In the visceral endoderm, the lack of Arf4 caused defects in cell structure and apical protein localization. This work suggests that while Arf4 is not required for ciliary assembly, it is important for the efficient transport of fibrocystin to cilia, and also plays critical roles in non-ciliary processes

Homogeneous doping of substitutional nitrogen/carbon in TiO2 plates for visible light photocatalytic water oxidation

The authors thank National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51825204, 51572266, 21633009, and 51629201), the Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences CAS (QYZDB‐SSW‐JSC039) for the financial support. G.L. is grateful for the award of the Newton Advanced Fellowship.Extending the light absorption range of wide‐bandgap photocatalysts into the visible light region is significant in terms of fully harvesting and converting solar light. The desirable band‐to‐band redshift of the absorption edge of semiconducting binary metal oxides such as prototypical photocatalyst TiO2 by doping is long targeted but remains a challenge, up to date. Here, by taking the advantage of abundant 1D diffusion channels with rhombus‐like cross‐sections along the c‐axis in the crystal structure of titanium oxalate hydrate to promote the entrance of nitrogen dopant species into the bulk and subsequent thermal topotactic transition in an atmosphere of gaseous ammonia, homogeneous doping of substitutional carbon/nitrogen for oxygen in the TiO2 decahedral plates with a dominant anatase phase is obtained for the first time. The resultant TiO2−x(CN)y with an unusual band‐to‐band visible light absorption spectrum can induce photocatalytic water oxidation to release oxygen under visible light irradiation. This study provides not only a promising visible light–responsive TiO2 photocatalyst, but also an important strategy for developing other solar‐driven photocatalysts.PostprintPeer reviewe

Моделирование электроемкостного измерительного преобразователя для контроля погонной емкости электрического кабеля в процессе производства

В статье приведено описание метода контроля погонной емкости и предложена конструкция электроемкостного измерительного преобразователя для технологического контроля погонной емкости электрического кабеля в процессе производства. Для исследования преобразователь был смоделирован в среде COMSOL Multiphysics, позволяющей решать задачи путем численного решения уравнений в частных производных методом конечных элементов. Распределение электрических потенциалов представлено эквипотенциальными линиями и цветовым спектром, а также в виде графиков распределения радиальной и продольной составляющих напряженности электрического поля. Предложен критерий оптимальности конструкции электроемкостного измерительного преобразователя. На основе результатов компьютерного моделирования взаимодействия электрического поля преобразователя с электрическим кабелем в среде COMSOL Multiphysics осуществлен выбор оптимальных конструктивных параметров основных элементов преобразователя. Оценено влияние на характеристики электроемкостного измерительного преобразователя электропроводности используемой воды