8,458 research outputs found
The clinical relevance and newsworthiness of NIHR HTA-funded research: a cohort study
ObjectiveTo assess the clinical relevance and newsworthiness of the UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme funded reports.Study designRetrospective cohort study.SettingThe cohort included 311 NIHR HTA Programme funded reports publishing in HTA in the period 1 January 2007–31 December 2012. The McMaster Online Rating of Evidence (MORE) system independently identified the clinical relevance and newsworthiness of NIHR HTA publications and non-NIHR HTA publications. The MORE system involves over 4000 physicians rating publications on a scale of relevance (the extent to which articles are relevant to practice) and a scale of newsworthiness (the extent to which articles contain news or something clinicians are unlikely to know).Main outcome measuresThe proportion of reports published in HTA meeting MORE inclusion criteria and mean average relevance and newsworthiness ratings were calculated and compared with publications from the same studies publishing outside HTA and non-NIHR HTA funded publications.Results286/311 (92.0%) of NIHR HTA reports were assessed by MORE, of which 192 (67.1%) passed MORE criteria. The average clinical relevance rating for NIHR HTA reports was 5.48, statistically higher than the 5.32 rating for non-NIHR HTA publications (mean difference=0.16, 95% CI 0.04 to 0.29, p=0.01). Average newsworthiness ratings were similar between NIHR HTA reports and non-NIHR HTA publications (4.75 and 4.70, respectively; mean difference=0.05, 95% CI ?0.18 to 0.07, p=0.402). NIHR HTA-funded original research reports were statistically higher for newsworthiness than reviews (5.05 compared with 4.64) (mean difference=0.41, 95% CI 0.18 to 0.64, p=0.001).ConclusionsFunding research of clinical relevance is important in maximising the value of research investment. The NIHR HTA Programme is successful in funding projects that generate outputs of clinical relevance
The Onset of Chaos in Pulsating Variable Stars
Random changes in pulsation period occur in cool pulsating Mira variables,
Type A, B, and C semiregular variables, RV Tauri variables, and in most
classical Cepheids. The physical processes responsible for such fluctuations
are uncertain, but presumably originate in temporal modifications of the
envelope convection in such stars. Such fluctuations are seemingly random over
a few pulsation cycles of the stars, but are dominated by the regularity of the
primary pulsation over the long term. The magnitude of stochasticity in
pulsating stars appears to be linked directly to their dimensions, although not
in simple fashion. It is relatively larger in M supergiants, for example, than
in short-period Cepheids, but is common enough that it can be detected in
visual observations for many types of pulsating stars. Although chaos was
discovered in such stars 80 years ago, detection of its general presence in the
group has only been possible in recent studies.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the Odessa Variable Stars 2010
Conference (see http://uavso.org.ua/?page=vs2010&lang=en), edited by I.
Andronov and V. Kovtyuk
Teleoperator Maneuvering System (TMS) Mission Applications and Benefits
The Teleoperator Maneuvering System (TMS) is a Shuttlelaunched, free-flying, remotely controlled, reusable orbital support vehicle capable of providing a wide range of placement, maneuvering, retrieval, and maintenance/repair user services for future satellites and for large space systems being planned for the late 80\u27s and beyond. The TMS will greatly extend the operating range and altitudes provided by the basic Space Transportation System (STS) in low Earth orbit; similar capabilities are also provided at geosynchronous altitudes when the TMS is delivered to that location with the Centaur or alternative upper stages.
Basic TMS capabilities for both long duration and short term orbital missions, including Space Station support operations, will be described. The combined utilitarian, performance, and economic benefits offered to the user community by the TMS program will also be presented
The PL calibration for Milky Way Cepheids and its implications for the distance scale
The rationale behind recent calibrations of the Cepheid PL relation using the
Wesenheit formulation is reviewed and reanalyzed, and it is shown that recent
conclusions regarding a possible change in slope of the PL relation for
short-period and long-period Cepheids are tied to a pathological distribution
of HST calibrators within the instability strip. A recalibration of the
period-luminosity relation is obtained using Galactic Cepheids in open clusters
and groups, the resulting relationship, described by log L/L_sun =
2.415(+-0.035) + 1.148(+-0.044)log P, exhibiting only the moderate scatter
expected from color spread within the instability strip. The relationship is
confirmed by Cepheids with HST parallaxes, although without the need for
Lutz-Kelker corrections, and in general by Cepheids with revised Hipparcos
parallaxes, albeit with concerns about the cited precisions of the latter. A
Wesenheit formulation of Wv = -2.259(+-0.083) - 4.185(+-0.103)log P for
Galactic Cepheids is tested successfully using Cepheids in the inner regions of
the galaxy NGC 4258, confirming the independent geometrical distance
established for the galaxy from OH masers. Differences between the extinction
properties of interstellar and extragalactic dust may yet play an important
role in the further calibration of the Cepheid PL relation and its application
to the extragalactic distance scale.Comment: Accepted for Publication (Astrophysics & Space Science
Occasional essay: upper motor neuron syndrome in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
The diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) requires recognition of both lower (LMN) and upper motor neuron (UMN) dysfunction.1 However, classical UMN signs are frequently difficult to identify in ALS.2 LMN involvement is sensitively detected by electromyography (EMG)3 but, as yet, there are no generally accepted markers for monitoring UMN abnormalities,4 the neurobiology of ALS itself, and disease spread through the brain and spinal cord,.5 Full clinical assessment is therefore necessary to exclude other diagnoses and to monitor disease progression. In part, this difficulty regarding detection of UMN involvement in ALS derives from the definition of ‘the UMN syndrome’. Abnormalities of motor control in ALS require reformulation within an expanded concept of the UMN, together with the neuropathological, neuro-imaging and neurophysiological abnormalities in ALS. We review these issues here
Blur effects on clock-dial cylinder determination
Blur effects on clock-dial cylinder determinatio
Anomalous coupling between topological defects and curvature
We investigate a counterintuitive geometric interaction between defects and
curvature in thin layers of superfluids, superconductors and liquid crystals
deposited on curved surfaces. Each defect feels a geometric potential whose
functional form is determined only by the shape of the surface, but whose sign
and strength depend on the transformation properties of the order parameter.
For superfluids and superconductors, the strength of this interaction is
proportional to the square of the charge and causes all defects to be repelled
(attracted) by regions of positive (negative) Gaussian curvature. For liquid
crystals in the one elastic constant approximation, charges between 0 and
are attracted by regions of positive curvature while all other charges
are repelled.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, minor changes, accepted for publication in Phys.
Rev. Let
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