7,641 research outputs found
Update on the Surgical Trial in Lobar Intracerebral Haemorrhage (STICH II):Statistical analysis plan
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Previous studies had suggested that the outcome for patients with spontaneous lobar intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) and no intraventricular haemorrhage (IVH) might be improved with early evacuation of the haematoma. The Surgical Trial in Lobar Intracerebral Haemorrhage (STICH II) set out to establish whether a policy of earlier surgical evacuation of the haematoma in selected patients with spontaneous lobar ICH would improve outcome compared to a policy of initial conservative treatment. It is an international, multi-centre, prospective randomised parallel group trial of early surgery in patients with spontaneous lobar ICH. Outcome is measured at six months via a postal questionnaire.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Recruitment to the study began on 27 November 2006 and closed on 15 August 2012 by which time 601 patients had been recruited. The protocol was published in <it>Trials</it> (<url>http://www.trialsjournal.com/content/12/1/124/</url>). This update presents the analysis plan for the study without reference to the unblinded data. The trial data will not be unblinded until after follow-up is completed in early 2013. The main trial results will be presented in spring 2013 with the aim to publish in a peer-reviewed journal at the same time.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The data from the trial will provide evidence on the benefits and risks of early surgery in patients with lobar ICH.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>ISRCTN: ISRCTN22153967</p
Prediction of 7-year psychopathology from mother-infant joint attention behaviours: a nested case–control study
<br>Background: To investigate whether later diagnosis of psychiatric disorder can be predicted from analysis of mother-infant joint attention (JA) behaviours in social-communicative interaction at 12 months.</br>
<br>Method:
Using data from a large contemporary birth cohort, we examined 159 videos of a mother-infant interaction for joint attention behaviour when children were aged one year, sampled from within the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) cohort. Fifty-three of the videos involved infants who were later considered to have a psychiatric disorder at seven years and 106 were same aged controls. Psychopathologies included in the case group were disruptive behaviour disorders, oppositional-conduct disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, pervasive development disorder, anxiety and depressive disorders. Psychiatric diagnoses were obtained using the Development and Wellbeing Assessment when the children were seven years old.</br> <br>Results: None of the three JA behaviours (shared look rate, shared attention rate and shared attention intensity) showed a significant association with the primary outcome of case–control status. Only shared look rate predicted any of the exploratory sub-diagnosis outcomes and was found to be positively associated with later oppositional-conduct disorders (OR [95% CI]: 1.5 [1.0, 2.3]; p = 0.041).</br><br>Conclusions: JA behaviours did not, in general, predict later psychopathology. However, shared look was positively associated with later oppositional-conduct disorders. This suggests that some features of JA may be early markers of later psychopathology. Further investigation will be required to determine whether any JA behaviours can be used to screen for families in need of intervention.</br>
Transport of Magnetic Fields in Convective, Accreting Supernova Cores
We consider the amplification and transport of a magnetic field in the
collapsed core of a massive star, including both the region between the
neutrinosphere and the shock, and the central, opaque core. An analytical
argument explains why rapid convective overturns persist within a newly formed
neutron star for roughly 10 seconds ( overturns), consistent with
recent numerical models. A dynamical balance between turbulent and magnetic
stresses within this convective layer corresponds to flux densities in excess
of G. Material accreting onto the core is heated by neutrinos and also
becomes strongly convective. We compare the expected magnetic stresses in this
convective `gain layer' with those deep inside the neutron core.
Buoyant motions of magnetized fluid are greatly aided by the intense neutrino
flux. We calculate the transport rate through a medium containing free neutrons
protons, and electrons, in the limiting cases of degenerate or non-degenerate
nucleons. Fields stronger than G are able to rise through the
outer degenerate layers of the neutron core during the last stages of
Kelvin-Helmholtz cooling (up to 10 seconds post-collapse), even though these
layers have become stable to convection. We also find the equilibrium shape of
a thin magnetic flux rope in the dense hydrostatic atmosphere of the neutron
star, along with the critical separation of the footpoints above which the rope
undergoes unlimited expansion against gravity. The implications of these
results for pulsar magnetism are summarized, and applied to the case of late
fallback over the first 1,000-10,000 s of the life of a neutron starComment: 45 pages, 3 figures, Astrophysical Journal, in pres
The Iowa Homemaker vol.3, no.3-4
Table of Contents
The Architectural Design of a Home by Allen Holmes Kimball, page 1
“For a Man’s House Is His Castle” by Alda Wilson, page 2
The Economics of Consumption compiled by John E. Brindley, page 3
Sunfast and Tubfast Materials by Pearl Apland, page 5
On Our Street by Juanita J. Beard, page 6
Who Is Responsible for the Child? by Orange H. Cessna, page 7
Summer Suppers by N. Beth Bailey, page 8
Vacation First Aid by Dr. Mary Sheldon, page 9
Episodes Concerning Evolution of Home Economics by Ruth Elaine Wilson, page 10
Extravagant Economics by Blanche Ingersoll, page 11
Breakfast Bridge by Eleanor Murray, page 12
Veishea Celebrates First Birthday by Helen G. Lamb, page 1
Development and initial validation of the bronchiectasis exacerbation and symptom tool (BEST)
BACKGROUND:
Recurrent bronchiectasis exacerbations are related to deterioration of lung function, progression of the disease, impairment of quality of life, and to an increased mortality. Improved detection of exacerbations has been accomplished in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease through the use of patient completed diaries. These tools may enhance exacerbation reporting and identification. The aim of this study was to develop a novel symptom diary for bronchiectasis symptom burden and detection of exacerbations, named the BEST diary.
METHODS:
Prospective observational study of patients with bronchiectasis conducted at Ninewells Hospital, Dundee. We included patients with confirmed bronchiectasis by computed tomography, who were symptomatic and had at least 1 documented exacerbation of bronchiectasis in the previous 12\u2009months to participate. Symptoms were recorded daily in a diary incorporating cough, sputum volume, sputum colour, dyspnoea, fatigue and systemic disturbance scored from 0 to 26.
RESULTS:
Twenty-one patients were included in the study. We identified 29 reported (treated exacerbations) and 23 unreported (untreated) exacerbations over 6-month follow-up. The BEST diary score showed a good correlation with the established and validated questionnaires and measures of health status (COPD Assessment Test, r =\u20090.61, p =\u20090.0037, Leicester Cough Questionnaire, r =\u2009-\u20090.52,p =\u20090.0015, St Georges Respiratory Questionnaire, r =\u20090.61,p <\u20090.0001 and 6\u2009min walk test, r =\u2009-\u20090.46,p =\u20090.037). The mean BEST score at baseline was 7.1 points (SD 2.2). The peak symptom score during exacerbation was a mean of 16.4 (3.1), and the change from baseline to exacerbation was a mean of 9.1 points (SD 2.5). Mean duration of exacerbations based on time for a return to baseline symptoms was 15.3\u2009days (SD 5.7). A minimum clinically important difference of 4 points is proposed.
CONCLUSIONS:
The BEST symptom diary has shown concurrent validity with current health questionnaires and is responsive at onset and recovery from exacerbation. The BEST diary may be useful to detect and characterise exacerbations in bronchiectasis clinical trials
Probing the magnetic polaron state in the ferromagnetic semiconductor HgCr2Se4 with muon-spin spectroscopy and resistance-fluctuation measurements
Combined resistance noise and muon-spin relaxation (μSR) measurements of the ferromagnetic semiconductor HgCr2Se4 suggest a degree of magnetoelectric coupling and provide evidence for the existence of isolated magnetic polarons. These form at elevated temperatures and undergo a percolation transition with a drastic enhancement of the low-frequency 1/ f -type charge fluctuations at the insulator-to-metal transition at ∼95–98 K in the vicinity of the magnetic ordering temperature TC ∼ 105–107 K. Upon approaching the percolation threshold from above, the strikingly unusual dynamics of a distinct two-level fluctuator superimposed on the 1/ f noise can be described by a slowing down of the dynamics of a nanoscale magnetic cluster, a magnetic polaron, when taking into account an effective radius of the polaron depending on the spin correlation length. Coinciding temperature scales found in μSR and noise measurements suggest changes in the magnetic dynamics over a wide range of frequencies and are consistent with the existence of large polarized and domain-wall-like regions at low temperatures, that result from the freezing of spin dynamics at the magnetic polaron percolation transition
Observations of SNR G328.4+0.2 at 19 GHz
We report on the first polarimetric observations at 19 GHz made with the
upgraded Australia Telescope Compact Array. Observations were made of the
Galactic supernova remnant (SNR) G328.8+0.2. We find the SNR has circular
morphology with a strong central bar, similar to that seen at lower
frequencies. The SNR has high linear polarization throughout, with fractional
polarization in the bar up to 50 per cent. The orientation of the magnetic
field lines follow the filamentary structure of the SNR. The magnetic field at
the edge of the SNR is generally toroidal, interspersed with radial fingers,
likely caused by Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities. Although the SNR has been
identified as Crab-like, we prefer an interpretation in which the bar is a
pulsar powered wind nebula with the rest of the SNR consisting of the shell.
The proposed pulsar parameters make the SNR / pulsar system more like SNR
G11.2--0.3 than the Crab Nebula.Comment: Accepted by MNRAS Letters. 4 pages, 3 figure
Multiscale Computations on Neural Networks: From the Individual Neuron Interactions to the Macroscopic-Level Analysis
We show how the Equation-Free approach for multi-scale computations can be
exploited to systematically study the dynamics of neural interactions on a
random regular connected graph under a pairwise representation perspective.
Using an individual-based microscopic simulator as a black box coarse-grained
timestepper and with the aid of simulated annealing we compute the
coarse-grained equilibrium bifurcation diagram and analyze the stability of the
stationary states sidestepping the necessity of obtaining explicit closures at
the macroscopic level. We also exploit the scheme to perform a rare-events
analysis by estimating an effective Fokker-Planck describing the evolving
probability density function of the corresponding coarse-grained observables
Disentangling superconducting and magnetic orders in NaFe_1-xNi_xAs using muon spin rotation
Muon spin rotation and relaxation studies have been performed on a "111"
family of iron-based superconductors NaFe_1-xNi_xAs. Static magnetic order was
characterized by obtaining the temperature and doping dependences of the local
ordered magnetic moment size and the volume fraction of the magnetically
ordered regions. For x = 0 and 0.4 %, a transition to a nearly-homogeneous long
range magnetically ordered state is observed, while for higher x than 0.4 %
magnetic order becomes more disordered and is completely suppressed for x = 1.5
%. The magnetic volume fraction continuously decreases with increasing x. The
combination of magnetic and superconducting volumes implies that a
spatially-overlapping coexistence of magnetism and superconductivity spans a
large region of the T-x phase diagram for NaFe_1-xNi_xAs . A strong reduction
of both the ordered moment size and the volume fraction is observed below the
superconducting T_C for x = 0.6, 1.0, and 1.3 %, in contrast to other iron
pnictides in which one of these two parameters exhibits a reduction below TC,
but not both. The suppression of magnetic order is further enhanced with
increased Ni doping, leading to a reentrant non-magnetic state below T_C for x
= 1.3 %. The reentrant behavior indicates an interplay between
antiferromagnetism and superconductivity involving competition for the same
electrons. These observations are consistent with the sign-changing s-wave
superconducting state, which is expected to appear on the verge of microscopic
coexistence and phase separation with magnetism. We also present a universal
linear relationship between the local ordered moment size and the
antiferromagnetic ordering temperature TN across a variety of iron-based
superconductors. We argue that this linear relationship is consistent with an
itinerant-electron approach, in which Fermi surface nesting drives
antiferromagnetic ordering.Comment: 20 pages, 14 figures, Correspondence should be addressed to Prof.
Yasutomo Uemura: [email protected]
Experiences of transient ischaemic attack diagnosis and secondary prevention: a qualitative review
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