90 research outputs found
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Body camera footage leads to lower judgments of intent than dash camera footage.
Police departments use body-worn cameras (body cams) and dashboard cameras (dash cams) to monitor the activity of police officers in the field. Video from these cameras informs review of police conduct in disputed circumstances, often with the goal of determining an officer's intent. Eight experiments (N = 2,119) reveal that body cam video of an incident results in lower observer judgments of intentionality than dash cam video of the same incident, an effect documented with both scripted videos and real police videos. This effect was due, in part, to variation in the visual salience of the focal actor: the body cam wearer is typically less visually salient when depicted in body versus dash cam video, which corresponds with lower observer intentionality judgments. In showing how visual salience of the focal actor may introduce unique effects on observer judgment, this research establishes an empirical platform that may inform public policy regarding surveillance of police conduct
Supporting families in the context of adult traumatic brain injury
Families are fundamental to the wellbeing, quality of life and functional and social outcomes of individuals who sustain traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, the family is often vulnerable and at risk from the challenge of supporting an individual who has been left with long-term neurological disability. Considering the young population often affected, the resulting conditions can have significant emotional and financial burden for families and service providing for their long-term needs. The National Service Framework for Long-term Conditions acknowledges that the whole family is affected by neurological disability and it suggests that a 'whole-family' approach to managing TBI may be useful. This paper will argue that both family systems theory and family-centred care are frameworks that may be helpful in achieving the 'whole-family' approach in practice. However, future research is needed that will assess the efficacy of these and other approaches so that health-care services know the true value of any such intervention.N/
Foundations of Black Hole Accretion Disk Theory
This review covers the main aspects of black hole accretion disk theory. We
begin with the view that one of the main goals of the theory is to better
understand the nature of black holes themselves. In this light we discuss how
accretion disks might reveal some of the unique signatures of strong gravity:
the event horizon, the innermost stable circular orbit, and the ergosphere. We
then review, from a first-principles perspective, the physical processes at
play in accretion disks. This leads us to the four primary accretion disk
models that we review: Polish doughnuts (thick disks), Shakura-Sunyaev (thin)
disks, slim disks, and advection-dominated accretion flows (ADAFs). After
presenting the models we discuss issues of stability, oscillations, and jets.
Following our review of the analytic work, we take a parallel approach in
reviewing numerical studies of black hole accretion disks. We finish with a few
select applications that highlight particular astrophysical applications:
measurements of black hole mass and spin, black hole vs. neutron star accretion
disks, black hole accretion disk spectral states, and quasi-periodic
oscillations (QPOs).Comment: 91 pages, 23 figures, final published version available at
http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-2013-
Interactive voice response technology for symptom monitoring and as an adjunct to the treatment of chronic pain
Chronic pain is a medical condition that severely decreases the quality of life for those who struggle to cope with it. Interactive voice response (IVR) technology has the ability to track symptoms and disease progression, to investigate the relationships between symptom patterns and clinical outcomes, to assess the efficacy of ongoing treatments, and to directly serve as an adjunct to therapeutic treatment for chronic pain. While many approaches exist toward the management of chronic pain, all have their pitfalls and none work universally. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is one approach that has been shown to be fairly effective, and therapeutic interactive voice response technology provides a convenient and easy-to-use means of extending the therapeutic gains of CBT long after patients have discontinued clinical visitations. This review summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of IVR technology, provides evidence for the efficacy of the method in monitoring and managing chronic pain, and addresses potential future directions that the technology may take as a therapeutic intervention in its own right
Magnetic Field Amplification in Galaxy Clusters and its Simulation
We review the present theoretical and numerical understanding of magnetic
field amplification in cosmic large-scale structure, on length scales of galaxy
clusters and beyond. Structure formation drives compression and turbulence,
which amplify tiny magnetic seed fields to the microGauss values that are
observed in the intracluster medium. This process is intimately connected to
the properties of turbulence and the microphysics of the intra-cluster medium.
Additional roles are played by merger induced shocks that sweep through the
intra-cluster medium and motions induced by sloshing cool cores. The accurate
simulation of magnetic field amplification in clusters still poses a serious
challenge for simulations of cosmological structure formation. We review the
current literature on cosmological simulations that include magnetic fields and
outline theoretical as well as numerical challenges.Comment: 60 pages, 19 Figure
Autoimmune and autoinflammatory mechanisms in uveitis
The eye, as currently viewed, is neither immunologically ignorant nor sequestered from the systemic environment. The eye utilises distinct immunoregulatory mechanisms to preserve tissue and cellular function in the face of immune-mediated insult; clinically, inflammation following such an insult is termed uveitis. The intra-ocular inflammation in uveitis may be clinically obvious as a result of infection (e.g. toxoplasma, herpes), but in the main infection, if any, remains covert. We now recognise that healthy tissues including the retina have regulatory mechanisms imparted by control of myeloid cells through receptors (e.g. CD200R) and soluble inhibitory factors (e.g. alpha-MSH), regulation of the blood retinal barrier, and active immune surveillance. Once homoeostasis has been disrupted and inflammation ensues, the mechanisms to regulate inflammation, including T cell apoptosis, generation of Treg cells, and myeloid cell suppression in situ, are less successful. Why inflammation becomes persistent remains unknown, but extrapolating from animal models, possibilities include differential trafficking of T cells from the retina, residency of CD8(+) T cells, and alterations of myeloid cell phenotype and function. Translating lessons learned from animal models to humans has been helped by system biology approaches and informatics, which suggest that diseased animals and people share similar changes in T cell phenotypes and monocyte function to date. Together the data infer a possible cryptic infectious drive in uveitis that unlocks and drives persistent autoimmune responses, or promotes further innate immune responses. Thus there may be many mechanisms in common with those observed in autoinflammatory disorders
Constraining the radio properties of the z = 6.44 QSO VIK J2318-3113
The recent detection of the quasi-stellar object (QSO) VIKING J231818.3−311346 (hereafter VIK J2318−3113) at redshift z = 6.44 in the Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey (RACS) uncovered its radio-loud nature, making it one of the most distant known to date in this class. By using data from several radio surveys of the Galaxy And Mass Assembly 23h field and from a dedicated follow-up, we were able to constrain the radio spectrum of VIK J2318−3113 in the observed range ∼0.110 GHz. At high frequencies (0.8885.5 GHz in the observed frame) the QSO presents a steep spectrum (αr = 1.24, with Sν ∝ ν−αr), while at lower frequencies (0.40.888 GHz in the observed frame) it is nearly flat. The overall spectrum can be modelled by either a curved function with a rest-frame turnover around 5 GHz, or with a smoothly varying double power law that is flat below a rest-frame break frequency of about 20 GHz and above which it significantly steepens. Based on the model adopted, we estimated that the radio jets of VIK J2318−3113 must be a few hundred years old in the case of a turnover, or less than a few × 104 years in the case of a break in the spectrum. Having multiple observations at two frequencies (888 MHz and 5.5 GHz), we further investigated the radio variability previously reported for this source. We found that the marginally significant flux density variations are consistent with the expectations from refractive interstellar scintillation, even though relativistic effects related to the orientation of the source may still play a non-negligible role. Further radio and X-ray observations are required to conclusively discern the nature of this variation
Application of ecological momentary assessment in stress-related diseases
Many physical diseases have been reported to be associated with psychosocial factors. In these diseases, assessment relies mainly on subjective symptoms in natural settings. Therefore, it is important to assess symptoms and/or relationships between psychosocial factors and symptoms in natural settings. Symptoms are usually assessed by self-report when patients visit their doctors. However, self-report by recall has an intrinsic problem; "recall bias". Recently, ecological momentary assessment (EMA) has been proposed as a reliable method to assess and record events and subjective symptoms as well as physiological and behavioral variables in natural settings. Although EMA is a useful method to assess stress-related diseases, it has not been fully acknowledged, especially by clinicians. Therefore, the present brief review introduces the application and future direction of EMA for the assessment and intervention for stress-related diseases
Consensus-based care recommendations for adults with myotonic dystrophy type 1
Purpose of review
Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is a severe, progressive genetic disease that affects between 1 in 3,000 and 8,000 individuals globally. No evidence-based guideline exists to inform the care of these patients, and most do not have access to multidisciplinary care centers staffed by experienced professionals, creating a clinical care deficit.
Recent findings
The Myotonic Dystrophy Foundation (MDF) recruited 66 international clinicians experienced in DM1 patient care to develop consensus-based care recommendations. MDF created a 2-step methodology for the project using elements of the Single Text Procedure and the Nominal Group Technique. The process generated a 4-page Quick Reference Guide and a comprehensive, 55-page document that provides clinical
care recommendations for 19 discrete body systems and/or care considerations.
Summary
The resulting recommendations are intended to help standardize and elevate care for this patient population and reduce variability in clinical trial and study environments. Described as “one of the more variable diseases found in medicine,” myotonic dystrophy type
1 (DM1) is an autosomal dominant, triplet-repeat expansion disorder that affects somewhere between 1:3,000 and 1:8,000 individuals worldwide.1 There is a modest association between increased repeat expansion and disease severity, as evidenced by the average age of onset and overall morbidity of the condition. An expansion of over 35 repeats typically indicates an unstable and expanding mutation. An expansion of 50 repeats or higher is consistent with a diagnosis of DM1. DM1 is a multisystem and heterogeneous disease characterized by distal weakness, atrophy, and myotonia, as well as symptoms in the heart, brain, gastrointestinal tract, endocrine, and respiratory systems. Symptoms may occur at any age. The severity of the condition varies widely among affected individuals, even among members of the same family.
Comprehensive evidence-based guidelines do not currently
exist to guide the treatment of DM1 patients. As a result, the international patient community reports varied levels of care and care quality, and difficulty accessing care adequate to manage their symptoms, unless they have access to multidisciplinary neuromuscular clinics.
Consensus-based care recommendations can help standardize
and improve the quality of care received by DM1 patients
and assist clinicians who may not be familiar with the significant variability, range of symptoms, and severity of the disease. Care recommendations can also improve the landscape for clinical trial success by eliminating some of the inconsistencies in patient care to allow more accurate understanding of the benefit of potential therapies
Could lymphatic mapping and sentinel node biopsy provide oncological providence for local resectional techniques for colon cancer? A review of the literature
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Endoscopic resectional techniques for colon cancer are undermined by their inability to determine lymph node status. This limits their application to only those lesions at the most minimal risk of lymphatic dissemination whereas their technical capacity could allow intraluminal or even transluminal address of larger lesions. Sentinel node biopsy may theoretically address this breach although the variability of its reported results for this disease is worrisome.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Medline, EMBASE and Cochrane databases were interrogated back to 1999 to identify all publications concerning lymphatic mapping for colon cancer with reference cross-checking for completeness. All reports were examined from the perspective of in vivo technique accuracy selectively in early stage disease (i.e. lesions potentially within the technical capacity of endoscopic resection).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Fifty-two studies detailing the experiences of 3390 patients were identified. Considerable variation in patient characteristics as well as in surgical and histological quality assurances were however evident among the studies identified. In addition, considerable contamination of the studies by inclusion of rectal cancer without subgroup separation was frequent. Indeed such is the heterogeneity of the publications to date, formal meta-analysis to pool patient cohorts in order to definitively ascertain technique accuracy in those with T1 and/or T2 cancer is not possible. Although lymphatic mapping in early stage neoplasia alone has rarely been specifically studied, those studies that included examination of false negative rates identified high T3/4 patient proportions and larger tumor size as being important confounders. Under selected circumstances however the technique seems to perform sufficiently reliably to allow it prompt consideration of its use to tailor operative extent.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The specific question of whether sentinel node biopsy can augment the oncological propriety for endoscopic resective techniques (including Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Surgery [NOTES]) cannot be definitively answered at present. Study heterogeneity may account for the variability evident in the results from different centers. Enhanced capacity (perhaps to the level necessary to consider selective avoidance of en bloc mesenteric resection) by its confinement to only early stage disease is plausible although not proven. Specific study of the technique in early stage tumors is clearly essential before proffering this approach.</p
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