Predictive validity of the Oxford digital multiple errands test (OxMET) for functional outcomes after stroke

The Oxford Digital Multiple Errands Test (OxMET) is a brief computer-tablet based cognitive screen, intended as an ecologically valid assessment of executive dysfunction. We examined aspects of predictive validity in relation to functional outcomes. Participants (≤ 2 months post-stroke) were recruited from an English-speaking stroke rehabilitation in-patient setting. Participants completed OxMET. The Barthel Index, Therapy Outcome Measure (TOMS), and modified Rankin Scale (mRS) were collected from medical notes. Participants were followed up after 6-months and completed the Nottingham Extended Activities of Daily Living (NEADL) scale. 117 participants were recruited (M = 26.18 days post-stroke (SD = 25.16), mean 74.44yrs (SD  = 12.88), median NIHSS 8.32 (IQR = 5-11)). Sixty-six completed a follow-up (M = 73.94yrs (SD  = 12.68), median NIHSS 8 (IQR = 4-11)). Significant associations were found between TOMS and mRS. At 6-month follow up, we found a moderate predictive relationship between the OxMET accuracy and NEADL (R2 = .29, p

MexLog Saddle

MexLog, a company specializing in the initial delivery of semi-trucks from production to sales, requires a simpler, smaller, and lighter weight system for the transportation of modern semi trucks. MexLog currently uses two saddles: The FES saddle (Rhino) and combo saddle. The combo cannot be used in the US for highway trucks due to height.The Rhino weighs 2200 lbs and is roughly 24 ft long. Therefore, MexLog cannot ship back more than 18 saddles due to a 39,500 lb limit, which means MexLog has to spend more money to return saddles than anything else. The new proposed design is constructed with I-beams and the same material the Rhino is made from(carbon steel) but shortened by about 10 ft from the back beam of the Rhino to make it roughly 14.2 ft long. In addition, the design of the connection point has been changed to include the head of a combo saddle to the end of the beam. Furthermore, to reduce the high moment that the kingpin might experience, a support beam has been added to the rear end of the semi truck frame. The estimated total weight of the proposed design is 650 lbs, which allows MexLog to ship 60 saddles

Nutritional limitations to the early growth of rainforest timber trees in north Queensland

Most of the soils in the humid tropics of north Queensland available for growing rainforest trees are low in available nutrients. The major nutritional deficiencies have been classified according to soil parent material in order to develop a deficiency ‘risk’ table. From glasshouse trials using soils from across the region, most macronutrients (nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), and sulphur (S)), apart from magnesium (Mg), has been found to be deficient in at least one soil, and every soil studied was deficient in at least one nutrient. Rainforest tree species responded to nutritional deficiencies in different ways and there may be an unrecognised loss in growth potential. Tree growth can be depressed under limiting nutrient supply but remain undiagnosed, as visual deficiency symptoms may not develop. We present a number of techniques to manage nutrients in timely and cost effective ways. These include techniques to ensure a continuous supply of nutrients to the roots during transplanting, rapid tests for deficiencies of N and P, and recognition of visual diagnostic symptoms of deficiency

Validating the OCS‐Plus against a clinical standard: A brief report

This research aimed to determine the sensitivity and clinical validity of the OCS‐Plus, a stroke‐specific tablet‐based cognitive screening tool, in comparison with the MoCA, a routinely used screening tool, after stroke. Eighty‐six patients were recruited from Oxfordshire stroke wards over a 22‐month period and completed both screens. Overall, we found that the OCS‐Plus has good convergent validity and excellent sensitivity when compared with the MoCA. The OCS‐Plus is therefore of potential benefit to those seeking a sensitive screening tool

Providing holistic end-of-life care for people with a history of problem substance use: a mixed methods cohort study of interdisciplinary service provision and integrated care

Harmful use of illicit drugs and/or alcohol is linked to life-limiting illness and complex health and social care needs, but people who use substances and have complex needs do not receive timely palliative care and fail to achieve quality standards for a good death. They and their families often require support from multiple health and social care services which are shown to be poorly integrated and fail to deliver interdisciplinary care. This study aimed to identify the existing barriers and facilitators within and between services in providing this population with a good death. Using a mixed methods approach of survey, focus groups and semi-structured interviews, we explored the perspectives of practitioner and management staff across a range of health and social disciplines and organisations in one combined authority in a large city in the north west of England. Our findings indicate that practitioners want to provide better care for this client group, but face structural, organisational and professional boundary barriers to delivering integrated and shared care. Differences in philosophy of care, piecemeal commissioning and funding of services, and regulatory frameworks for different services, lead to poor and inequitable access to health and social care services. Ways forward for improving care are suggested as bespoke hostel-based accommodation for palliative care for this client group, and specialist link workers who can transcend professional and organisational boundaries to support co-ordination of services and support. We conclude that it is no longer adequate to call for more training, better communication and improved joint working. Complex care at the end of life requires creative and cohesive systemic responses that enable multi-disciplinary practitioners to provide the care they wish to give and enables individuals using substances to get the respect and quality service they deserve

End of life care for people with alcohol and other drug problems: scoping review of existing database evidence.

The purpose of this study was to establish the prevalence and incidence of people with problematic substance use receiving or in need of end of life and palliative care. A strategic search for available databases, datasets and reports based on datasets was carried out, supported by consultation with key informants for further sources of data. The sources of evidence found, however, do not directly identify this population group. The findings indicate that data is not routinely recorded that specifies whether a person receiving hospital, hospice or community end of life care has, or has had, problems with substance use. Neither does data from substance use treatment populations include any record of end of life care

Anticipating education: governing habits, memories and policy-futures

The use of data to govern education is increasingly supported by the use of knowledge-based technologies, including algorithms, artificial intelligence (AI), and tracking technologies (Fenwick, et al., 2014). New forms of datafication and automation enable governments and other powerful stakeholders to draw from the past to construct images of educational futures in order to steer the present (Hartong, 2019). This paper examines the competing conceptions of time and temporality that AI posits for policy and practice when used to anticipate educational futures. We argue that most educational futures are already delineated, and machinic expressions of time are the chronologies, habits, and memories that the educated subject inhabits rather than produces. If resetting educational habits and memories can be an alternative to algorithmic anticipations of education then we believe, paradoxically, that machines may help to reset them by accelerating them