7th Annual Seminar on Securities Law

Materials from the UK/CLE 7th Annual Seminar on Securities Law held February 12-13, 1988

9th Annual Seminar on Legal Issues for Financial Institutions

Outline of speakers\u27 presentations from the 9th Annual Seminar on Legal Issues for Financial Institutions held by UK/CLE on March 10-11, 1989

A cryogenic rotation stage with a large clear aperture for the half-wave plates in the Spider instrument

We describe the cryogenic half-wave plate rotation mechanisms built for and used in Spider, a polarization-sensitive balloon-borne telescope array that observed the Cosmic Microwave Background at 95 GHz and 150 GHz during a stratospheric balloon flight from Antarctica in January 2015. The mechanisms operate at liquid helium temperature in flight. A three-point contact design keeps the mechanical bearings relatively small but allows for a large (305 mm) diameter clear aperture. A worm gear driven by a cryogenic stepper motor allows for precise positioning and prevents undesired rotation when the motors are depowered. A custom-built optical encoder system monitors the bearing angle to an absolute accuracy of +/- 0.1 degrees. The system performed well in Spider during its successful 16 day flight.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, Published in Review of Scientific Instruments. v2 includes reviewer changes and longer literature revie

Demographic profile of families and children in the Study to Explore Early Development (SEED): Case-control study of autism spectrum disorder

The Study to Explore Early Development (SEED) is designed to enhance knowledge of autism spectrum disorder characteristics and etiologies

Evaluating the Dimensionality of First-Grade Written Composition

Purpose—We examined dimensions of written composition using multiple evaluative approaches such as an adapted 6+1 trait scoring, syntactic complexity measures, and productivity measures. We further examined unique relations of oral language and literacy skills to the identified dimensions of written composition. Method—A large sample of first grade students (N = 527) was assessed on their language, reading, spelling, letter writing automaticity, and writing in the spring. Data were analyzed using a latent variable approach including confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Results—The seven traits in the 6+1 trait system were best described as two constructs: substantive quality, and spelling and writing conventions. When the other evaluation procedures such as productivity and syntactic complexity indicators were included, four dimensions emerged: substantive quality, productivity, syntactic complexity, and spelling and writing conventions. Language and literacy predictors were differentially related to each dimension in written composition. Conclusions—These four dimensions may be a useful guideline for evaluating developing beginning writer’s compositions

Functional disruption of α4 integrin mobilizes bone marrow–derived endothelial progenitors and augments ischemic neovascularization

The cell surface receptor α4 integrin plays a critical role in the homing, engraftment, and maintenance of hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) in the bone marrow (BM). Down-regulation or functional blockade of α4 integrin or its ligand vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 mobilizes long-term HPCs. We investigated the role of α4 integrin in the mobilization and homing of BM endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs). EPCs with endothelial colony-forming activity in the BM are exclusively α4 integrin–expressing cells. In vivo, a single dose of anti–α4 integrin antibody resulted in increased circulating EPC counts for 3 d. In hindlimb ischemia and myocardial infarction, systemically administered anti–α4 integrin antibody increased recruitment and incorporation of BM EPCs in newly formed vasculature and improved functional blood flow recovery and tissue preservation. Interestingly, BM EPCs that had been preblocked with anti–α4 integrin ex vivo or collected from α4 integrin–deficient mice incorporated as well as control cells into the neovasculature in ischemic sites, suggesting that α4 integrin may be dispensable or play a redundant role in EPC homing to ischemic tissue. These data indicate that functional disruption of α4 integrin may represent a potential angiogenic therapy for ischemic disease by increasing the available circulating supply of EPCs

A leaky umbrella has little value: evidence clearly indicates the serotonin system is implicated in depression.

A recent “umbrella” review examined various biomarkers relating to the serotonin system, and concluded there was no consistent evidence implicating serotonin in the pathophysiology of depression. We present reasons for why this conclusion is overstated, including methodological weaknesses in the review process, selective reporting of data, over-simplification, and errors in the interpretation of neuropsychopharmacological findings. We use the examples of tryptophan depletion and serotonergic molecular imaging, the two research areas most relevant to the investigation of serotonin, to illustrate this

A leaky umbrella has little value:evidence clearly indicates the serotonin system is implicated in depression

A recent “umbrella” review examined various biomarkers relating to the serotonin system, and concluded there was no consistent evidence implicating serotonin in the pathophysiology of depression. We present reasons for why this conclusion is overstated, including methodological weaknesses in the review process, selective reporting of data, over-simplification, and errors in the interpretation of neuropsychopharmacological findings. We use the examples of tryptophan depletion and serotonergic molecular imaging, the two research areas most relevant to the investigation of serotonin, to illustrate this

Implementation of the COVID-19 vulnerability index across an international network of health care data sets:Collaborative external validation study

Background: SARS-CoV-2 is straining health care systems globally. The burden on hospitals during the pandemic could be reduced by implementing prediction models that can discriminate patients who require hospitalization from those who do not. The COVID-19 vulnerability (C-19) index, a model that predicts which patients will be admitted to hospital for treatment of pneumonia or pneumonia proxies, has been developed and proposed as a valuable tool for decision-making during the pandemic. However, the model is at high risk of bias according to the "prediction model risk of bias assessment" criteria, and it has not been externally validated.Objective: The aim of this study was to externally validate the C-19 index across a range of health care settings to determine how well it broadly predicts hospitalization due to pneumonia in COVID-19 cases.Methods: We followed the Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics (OHDSI) framework for external validation to assess the reliability of the C-19 index. We evaluated the model on two different target populations, 41,381 patients who presented with SARS-CoV-2 at an outpatient or emergency department visit and 9,429,285 patients who presented with influenza or related symptoms during an outpatient or emergency department visit, to predict their risk of hospitalization with pneumonia during the following 0-30 days. In total, we validated the model across a network of 14 databases spanning the United States, Europe, Australia, and Asia.Results: The internal validation performance of the C-19 index had a C statistic of 0.73, and the calibration was not reported by the authors. When we externally validated it by transporting it to SARS-CoV-2 data, the model obtained C statistics of 0.36, 0.53 (0.473-0.584) and 0.56 (0.488-0.636) on Spanish, US, and South Korean data sets, respectively. The calibration was poor, with the model underestimating risk. When validated on 12 data sets containing influenza patients across the OHDSI network, the C statistics ranged between 0.40 and 0.68.Conclusions: Our results show that the discriminative performance of the C-19 index model is low for influenza cohorts and even worse among patients with COVID-19 in the United States, Spain, and South Korea. These results suggest that C-19 should not be used to aid decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings highlight the importance of performing external validation across a range of settings, especially when a prediction model is being extrapolated to a different population. In the field of prediction, extensive validation is required to create appropriate trust in a model.</p