643 research outputs found
Ethics of Clear Health Communication: Applying the CLEAN Look Approach to Communicate Biobanking Information for Cancer Research
Cancer innovations, such as biobanking technologies, are continuously evolving to improve our understanding and knowledge about cancer prevention and treatment modalities. However, the public receives little communication about biobanking and is often unaware about this innovation until asked to donate biospecimens. It is the researchers’ ethical duty to provide clear communications about biobanking and biospecimen research. Such information allows the public to understand biobanking processes and facilitates informed decision making about biospecimen donation. The aims of this paper are 1) to examine the importance of clear communication as an ethical imperative when conveying information about cancer innovations and 2) to illustrate the use of an organizing framework, the CLEAN (Culture, Literacy, Education, Assessment, and Networking) Look approach for creating educational priming materials about the topic of biobanking
Creating a Patient Navigation Model to Address Cervical Cancer Disparities in a Rural Hispanic Farmworker Community
This report describes the implementation of a pilot patient navigation (PN) program created to address cervical cancer disparities in a predominantly Hispanic agricultural community. Since November 2009, a patient navigator has provided services to patients of Catholic Mobile Medical Services (CMMS). The PN program has resulted in the need for additional clinic sessions to accommodate the demand for preventive care at CMMS
Evaluating a novel cervical orthosis, the Sheffield Support Snood, in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/motor neuron disease with neck weakness
Current practice and guidelines recommend the use of neck orthoses for people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) to compensate for neck weakness and to provide surrogate neck control. However, available options are frequently described by patients as restrictive and unsuitable and there was a need for a new device that addressed the needs of people with ALS. This project utilized a co-design process to develop a new neck orthosis that was more flexible yet supportive. Following
development of a prototype device, a mixed methods cohort study was undertaken with patients and carers, in order to
evaluate the new orthosis. Twenty-six patients were recruited to the study, with 20 of these completing all phases of data collection. Participants described the impact of neck weakness on their life and limitations of existing supports. Evaluation of the new orthosis identified key beneficial features: notably, increased support while providing a greater range of movement, flexibility of use, and improved appearance and comfort. In conclusion, the results of this evaluation highlight
the value of this alternative option for people with ALS, and potentially other patient groups who require a neck orthosis
Dirac and Weyl Equations on a Lattice as Quantum Cellular Automata
A discretized time evolution of the wave function for a Dirac particle on a
cubic lattice is represented by a very simple quantum cellular automaton. In
each evolution step the updated value of the wave function at a given site
depends only on the values at the nearest sites, the evolution is unitary and
preserves chiral symmetry. Moreover, it is shown that the relationship between
Dirac particles and cellular automata operating on two component objects on a
lattice is indeed very close. Every local and unitary automaton on a cubic
lattice, under some natural assumptions, leads in the continuum limit to the
Weyl equation. The sum over histories is evaluated and its connection with path
integrals and theories of fermions on a lattice is outlined.Comment: 6, RevTe
Formative Research on Perceptions of Biobanking: What Community Members Think
Preparing healthy community members with timely communications prior to engaging them in a request to donate biospecimens promises to improve the experience of biobanking participation. To this end, a qualitative study was conducted to assess community member knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and informational needs about cancer-related biospecimen collection in a large metropolitan area in southwest Florida. The study utilized purposive sampling techniques to recruit a total of 95 participants to participate in 12 focus groups, segmented by race/ethnicity and language preference (mixed race, African American only, and Spanish speaking) and age (18–29, 30–54, and 55 and older). Focus group interviews were analyzed using content analysis to identify emergent themes. Overall, participants in the 30 years and older groups were favorable toward participating in biobanking if their concerns were addressed, such as confidentiality and consent issues, in contrast to participants aged 18–29 who were more skeptical. For all participants, the desire to participate in research that seeks new cancer treatments outweighed mistrust. Moreover, many cited the potential scientific benefit for future generations as a primary motivator. Finally, in some groups a therapeutic misconception was expressed, where participants expressed a willingness to forego confidentiality of their health status in exchange for therapeutic benefit. This study contributes to the literature on community perceptions of the benefits and barriers of biobanking and adds to the development of meaningful education communication priming tools to advance understandings about biobanking
Strange Quark Contributions to Parity-Violating Asymmetries in the Backward Angle G0 Electron Scattering Experiment
We have measured parity-violating asymmetries in elastic electron-proton and
quasi-elastic electron-deuteron scattering at Q^2 = 0.22 and 0.63 GeV^2. They
are sensitive to strange quark contributions to currents in the nucleon, and to
the nucleon axial current. The results indicate strange quark contributions of
< 10% of the charge and magnetic nucleon form factors at these four-momentum
transfers. We also present the first measurement of anapole moment effects in
the axial current at these four-momentum transfers.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, changed references, typo, and conten
Transverse Beam Spin Asymmetries at Backward Angles in Elastic Electron-Proton and Quasi-elastic Electron-Deuteron Scattering
We have measured the beam-normal single-spin asymmetries in elastic
scattering of transversely polarized electrons from the proton, and performed
the first measurement in quasi-elastic scattering on the deuteron, at backward
angles (lab scattering angle of 108 degrees) for Q2 = 0.22 GeV^2/c^2 and 0.63
GeV^2/c^2 at beam energies of 362 MeV and 687 MeV, respectively. The asymmetry
arises due to the imaginary part of the interference of the two-photon exchange
amplitude with that of single photon exchange. Results for the proton are
consistent with a model calculation which includes inelastic intermediate
hadronic (piN) states. An estimate of the beam-normal single-spin asymmetry for
the scattering from the neutron is made using a quasi-static deuterium
approximation, and is also in agreement with theory
Measurement of Cosmic-ray Electrons at TeV Energies by VERITAS
Cosmic-ray electrons and positrons (CREs) at GeV-TeV energies are a unique
probe of our local Galactic neighborhood. CREs lose energy rapidly via
synchrotron radiation and inverse-Compton scattering processes while
propagating within the Galaxy and these losses limit their propagation
distance. For electrons with TeV energies, the limit is on the order of a
kiloparsec. Within that distance there are only a few known astrophysical
objects capable of accelerating electrons to such high energies. It is also
possible that the CREs are the products of the annihilation or decay of heavy
dark matter (DM) particles. VERITAS, an array of imaging air Cherenkov
telescopes in southern Arizona, USA, is primarily utilized for gamma-ray
astronomy, but also simultaneously collects CREs during all observations. We
describe our methods of identifying CREs in VERITAS data and present an energy
spectrum, extending from 300 GeV to 5 TeV, obtained from approximately 300
hours of observations. A single power-law fit is ruled out in VERITAS data. We
find that the spectrum of CREs is consistent with a broken power law, with a
break energy at 710 40 140 GeV.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in PR
Direct measurement of stellar angular diameters by the VERITAS Cherenkov Telescopes
The angular size of a star is a critical factor in determining its basic
properties. Direct measurement of stellar angular diameters is difficult: at
interstellar distances stars are generally too small to resolve by any
individual imaging telescope. This fundamental limitation can be overcome by
studying the diffraction pattern in the shadow cast when an asteroid occults a
star, but only when the photometric uncertainty is smaller than the noise added
by atmospheric scintillation. Atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes used for
particle astrophysics observations have not generally been exploited for
optical astronomy due to the modest optical quality of the mirror surface.
However, their large mirror area makes them well suited for such
high-time-resolution precision photometry measurements. Here we report two
occultations of stars observed by the VERITAS Cherenkov telescopes with
millisecond sampling, from which we are able to provide a direct measurement of
the occulted stars' angular diameter at the milliarcsecond scale.
This is a resolution never achieved before with optical measurements and
represents an order of magnitude improvement over the equivalent lunar
occultation method. We compare the resulting stellar radius with empirically
derived estimates from temperature and brightness measurements, confirming the
latter can be biased for stars with ambiguous stellar classifications.Comment: Accepted for publication in Nature Astronom
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