On the center of mass of Ising vectors

We show that the center of mass of Ising vectors that obey some simple constraints, is again an Ising vector.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, LaTeX; Claims in connection with disordered systems have been withdrawn; More detailed description of the simulations; Inset added to figure

Prioritizing otological surgery during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The initial cases of pulmonary infection with the novel corona virus SARS-CoV-2, causing COVID-19, occurred in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China in December 2019 and January 2020 (1). The spread through human-to-human transmission has led to a pandemic with disastrous consequences all over the world. The exponential rate of transmission and no existing vaccine has been a great challenge for all health care systems. A strategy to flatten the curve of transmission was put forward to adjust to the capacities of hospitals and particularly the intensive care units. Governments implemented isolation and social distancing upon societies either with laws or with strong recommendations

Comparing Regional Patterns of Individual Movement Using Corrected Mobility Entropy

In this paper, we propose a correction of the Mobility Entropy indicator (ME) used to describe the diversity of individual movement patterns as can be captured by data from mobile phones. We argue that a correction is necessary because standard calculations of ME show a structural dependency on the geographical density of observation points, rendering results biased and comparisons between regions incorrect. As a solution, we propose the Corrected Mobility Entropy (CME). We apply our solution to a French mobile phone dataset with ∼18.5 million users. Results show CME to be less correlated to cell-tower density (r = –0.17 instead of –0.59 for ME). As a spatial pattern of mobility diversity, we find CME values to be higher in suburban regions compared to their related urban centers, while both decrease considerably with lowering urban center sizes. Based on regression models, we find mobility diversity to relate to factors like income and employment. Additionally, using CME reveals the role of car use in relation to land use, which was not recognized when using ME values. Our solution enables a better description of individual mobility at a large scale, which has applications in official statistics, urban planning and policy, and mobility research

Mutation Testing as a Safety Net for Test Code Refactoring

Refactoring is an activity that improves the internal structure of the code without altering its external behavior. When performed on the production code, the tests can be used to verify that the external behavior of the production code is preserved. However, when the refactoring is performed on test code, there is no safety net that assures that the external behavior of the test code is preserved. In this paper, we propose to adopt mutation testing as a means to verify if the behavior of the test code is preserved after refactoring. Moreover, we also show how this approach can be used to identify the part of the test code which is improperly refactored

The Functional Head Impulse Test to Assess Oscillopsia in Bilateral Vestibulopathy

Introduction: Bilateral vestibulopathy (BV) is a chronic condition in which vestibular function is severely impaired or absent on both ears. Oscillopsia is one of the main symptoms of BV. Oscillopsia can be quantified objectively by functional vestibular tests, and subjectively by questionnaires. Recently, a new technique for testing functionally effective gaze stabilization was developed: the functional Head Impulse Test (fHIT). This study compared the fHIT with the Dynamic Visual Acuity assessed on a treadmill (DVAtreadmill) and Oscillopsia Severity Questionnaire (OSQ) in the context of objectifying the experience of oscillopsia in patients with BV.Methods: Inclusion criteria comprised: (1) summated slow phase velocity of nystagmus of <20°/s during bithermal caloric tests, (2) torsion swing tests gain of <30% and/or phase <168°, and (3) complaints of oscillopsia and/or imbalance. During the fHIT (Beon Solutions srl, Italy) patients were seated in front of a computer screen. During a passive horizontal head impulse a Landolt C optotype was shortly displayed. Patients reported the seen optotype by pressing the corresponding button on a keyboard. The percentage correct answers was registered for leftwards and rightwards head impulses separately. During DVAtreadmill patients were positioned on a treadmill in front of a computer screen that showed Sloan optotypes. Patients were tested in static condition and in dynamic conditions (while walking on the treadmill at 2, 4, and 6 km/h). The decline in LogMAR between static and dynamic conditions was registered for each speed. Every patient completed the Oscillopsia Severity Questionnaire (OSQ).Results: In total 23 patients were included. This study showed a moderate correlation between OSQ outcomes and the fHIT [rightwards head rotations (rs = −0.559; p = 0.006) leftwards head rotations (rs = −0.396; p = 0.061)]. No correlation was found between OSQ outcomes and DVAtreadmill, or between DVAtreadmill and fHIT. All patients completed the fHIT, 52% of the patients completed the DVAtreadmill on all speeds.Conclusion: The fHIT seems to be a feasible test to quantify oscillopsia in BV since, unlike DVAtreadmill, it correlates with the experienced oscillopsia measured by the OSQ, and more BV patients are able to complete the fHIT than DVAtreadmill

Diagnostic accuracy and usability of the EMBalance decision support system for vestibular disorders in primary care: proof of concept randomised controlled study results

BACKGROUND: Dizziness and imbalance are common symptoms that are often inadequately diagnosed or managed, due to a lack of dedicated specialists. Decision Support Systems (DSS) may support first-line physicians to diagnose and manage these patients based on personalised data. AIM: To examine the diagnostic accuracy and application of the EMBalance DSS for diagnosis and management of common vestibular disorders in primary care. METHODS: Patients with persistent dizziness were recruited from primary care in Germany, Greece, Belgium and the UK and randomised to primary care clinicians assessing the patients with (+ DSS) versus assessment without (- DSS) the EMBalance DSS. Subsequently, specialists in neuro-otology/audiovestibular medicine performed clinical evaluation of each patient in a blinded way to provide the "gold standard" against which the + DSS, - DSS and the DSS as a standalone tool (i.e. without the final decision made by the clinician) were validated. RESULTS: One hundred ninety-four participants (age range 25-85, mean = 57.7, SD = 16.7 years) were assigned to the + DSS (N = 100) and to the - DSS group (N = 94). The diagnosis suggested by the + DSS primary care physician agreed with the expert diagnosis in 54%, compared to 41.5% of cases in the - DSS group (odds ratio 1.35). Similar positive trends were observed for management and further referral in the + DSS vs. the - DSS group. The standalone DSS had better diagnostic and management accuracy than the + DSS group. CONCLUSION: There were trends for improved vestibular diagnosis and management when using the EMBalance DSS. The tool requires further development to improve its diagnostic accuracy, but holds promise for timely and effective diagnosis and management of dizzy patients in primary care. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT02704819 (clinicaltrials.gov)