B-Raf-Mutated Melanoma

Until fairly recently, treatment options for advanced melanoma have been relatively limited. Fortunately, the last decade has seen dramatic improvements in response rates and duration of overall survival after the introduction of checkpoint inhibitors and targeted therapies against mutations in the B-isoform of Raf (B-Raf) in metastatic or inoperable melanoma. This book chapter will discuss the role of wild type B-Raf in the cell, the changes induced by mutations in this protein, and current FDA approvals for targeted therapies against B-Raf, both as a monotherapy and in combination with MEK inhibitors. We will also summarize mechanisms of resistance against these targeted therapies as well as novel therapeutic regimens proposed to bypass resistance

Habitat Utilization of Blackfin Tuna, Thunnus atlanticus, in the North-Central Gulf of Mexico

Short-duration (9.5–, 18-, and 28.5-day) deployments of pop-up satellite archival tags (PSATs) on blackfin tuna, Thunnus atlanticus Lesson 1831, were used to evaluate the applicability of external electronic tags on small tunas. Ten tunas (71.1-86.4 cm FL) were tagged in the northern Gulf of Mexico in April 2012 after being caught on typical recreational fishing gear. PSATs recorded point measurements of temperature, pressure (depth), and light level every 90 s (n = 2 tags, deployment duration 9.5 days), 180 s (n = 4, duration 19 days), or 270 s (n = 4, duration 28.5 days). Nine fish survived for their respective full deployment periods; one fish died after only 5 h following release. Depths ranged from 0–217 m with a mean of 28 m (SD = 8.38 m) and temperatures ranged from 13.9–32.9 °C with a mean of 23.8 °C (SD = 1.3 °C) for all nine archived records. The nine blackfin spent 90 % of their time in depths from 0–57 m and 89 % of their time in temperatures from 21.9–26.6 °C. Over 87 % of the movements in the water column, either ascending or descending, were less than 12 m differences in depth between sequential short-duration data sampling. With appropriate concern regarding the matching of fish and PSAT sizes, these results suggest that external tags with fishery-independent reporting capabilities are an available option for smaller tuna species

A game based approach to improve traders' decision-making

Purpose: The development of a game based approach to improving the decision-making capabilities of financial traders through attention to improving the regulation of emotions during trading. Design/methodology/approach: The project used a design-based research approach to integrate the contributions of a highly inter-disciplinary team. The approach was underpinned by considerable stakeholder engagement to understand the ‘ecology of practices’ in which this learning approach should be embedded. Findings: Taken together, our 35 laboratory, field and evaluation studies provide much support for the validity of our game based learning approach, the learning elements which make it up, and the value of designing game-based learning to fit within an ecology of existing practices. Originality/value: The novelty of the work described in the paper comes from the focus in this research project of combining knowledge and skills from multiple disciplines informed by a deep understanding of the context of application to achieve the successful development of a Learning Pathway, which addresses the transfer of learning to the practice environment Key words: Design-based research, emotion-regulation, disposition–effect, financial traders, serious games, sensor-based game

Emotion regulation and trader expertise: heart rate variability on the trading floor

We describe a psychophysiological study of the emotion regulation of investment bank traders. Building on work on the role of emotions in financial decision-making, we examine the relationship between market conditions, trader experience and emotion regulation whilst trading, as indexed by high frequency heart rate variability (HF HRV). We find a significant inverse relationship between HF HRV and market volatility and a positive relationship between HF HRV and trader experience. We argue that this suggests that emotion regulation may be an important facet of trader expertise and that learning effects demonstrated in financial markets may include improved emotion regulation as an important component of that learning. Our results also suggest the value of investigating the role of effective emotion regulation in a broader range of financial decision-making contexts. Keywords: Emotion Regulation, Financial Decision-Making, Market Volatility, Trading, Heart Rate Variabilit

Can Non-Randomised Studies of Interventions Provide Unbiased Effect Estimates? A Systematic Review of Internal Replication Studies.

Non-randomized studies of intervention effects (NRS), also called quasi-experiments, provide useful decision support about development impacts. However, the assumptions underpinning them are usually untestable, their verification resting on empirical replication. The internal replication study aims to do this by comparing results from a causal benchmark study, usually a randomized controlled trial (RCT), with those from an NRS conducted at the same time in the sampled population. We aimed to determine the credibility and generalizability of findings in internal replication studies in development economics, through a systematic review and meta-analysis. We systematically searched for internal replication studies of RCTs conducted on socioeconomic interventions in low- and middle-income countries. We critically appraised the benchmark randomized studies, using an adapted tool. We extracted and statistically synthesized empirical measures of bias. We included 600 estimates of correspondence between NRS and benchmark RCTs. All internal replication studies were found to have at least "some concerns" about bias and some had high risk of bias. We found that study designs with selection on unobservables, in particular regression discontinuity, on average produced absolute standardized bias estimates that were approximately zero, that is, equivalent to the estimates produced by RCTs. But study conduct also mattered. For example, matching using pre-tests and nearest neighbor algorithms corresponded more closely to the benchmarks. The findings from this systematic review confirm that NRS can produce unbiased estimates. Authors of internal replication studies should publish pre-analysis protocols to enhance their credibility

A learning design to support the emotion regulation of investors

We describe an approach to reducing systematic bias in financial decision-making. We explicitly reject an approach based on the transmission of propositional knowledge. Rather we develop a learning design which is founded in recent research on the role of emotions and their regulation in financial decision-making. We describe a pedagogic approach which supports the development of emotion-regulation skills in a serious game environment and supports their translation into ‘real-world’ tradin

xDelia final report: emotion-centred financial decision making and learning

xDelia is a 3-year pan-European project building on the knowledge, skills, and competences of seven partner organisations from a variety of research disciplines and from business. The principal objective of xDelia is to develop technology-enhanced learning approaches that help improve the financial decision making of investors who trade frequently using an electronic trading platform. We focus on emotions, and how they affect maladaptive decision biases and trading performance. Our earlier field work with traders has shown that the development of emotion regulation skills is a key facet of trader expertise. For that reason we consider expert traders our benchmark for adaptive behaviour rather than normative rationality. Our goal is to provide investors with the tools and techniques to develop greater self-awareness of internal states, increase their ability to reflect critically on emotion-informed choices, develop emotion management skills, and support the transfer of these skills to the real-world practice setting of financial trading. This report provides a comprehensive overview of what xDelia is about and what we have achieved over the life of the project. In the sections that follow, we explain the decision problems investors are faced with in a fast paced environment and the limitations of traditional approaches to reduce cognitive errors; introduce an alternative, technology-enhanced learning approach of diagnosis and feedback, skill development, and transfer; describe the learning intervention comprising twelve autonomous learning elements that we have developed; and present evidence from thirty-five studies we have conducted on learning effects and stakeholder acceptance

Application of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Emergency Medical Situations

Introduction One of the significant impacts on patient outcome in emergency medical situations is the response time taken for trained personnel and equipment arrival on scene. The National EMS Information System states the average response time to reach adult patients in the United States is 9.4 minutes (1). We are exploring the whether the application of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology in emergency situations would shorten response time and subsequently could improve patients’ outcome In this reported on first phase (Phase 1) of an envisioned multi-stage project, we tested the ability of a UAV to properly, efficiently transport a a portable ECG device to a mock emergency site and successfully take an ECG reading when used by an untrained personnel on hand. MethodsOur UAV was a DJI Phantom 2 Vision model, a quadcopter equipped with a 14 Megapixel camera and HD video recording capabilities. The onboard camera allows for real time transmission of patient status and appearance, while the quadcopter model allows for maximum weight to lift ratio. In order to record a portable ECG, we equipped an iPhone 5 with an AliveCor Kardia mobile ECG monitor. We included an easy to use protocol for the AliveCor so that a layperson would be able to operate the machine. DataThe total flight time for 100 yards across an open field was two and a half minutes , or approximately 2 feet/second. This data shows a chi-squared distribution of 5.065, with a p-value of .01 (df=1, p\u3c.05). DiscussionDue to the statistically significant p-value, Phase 1 data demonstrates that our UAV was capable of traversing an appropriate distance in an amount of time that drastically improves upon the emergency response call time taken by traditional methods. In addition to our flight data, we were also able to properly operate the ECG and apply it to a mock patient in under 90 seconds, showing that our protocol, with instructions for usage, was clear and precise. Conclusion: This study is considered Phase 1 of a multi-stage investigation. Moving forward, we hope to improve the efficacy of our UAV, while expanding its the technological and medical capabilities, allowing it to not only carry ECG but also possibly AEDs and pharmaceuticals. Ultimately, We hope to apply such technology to emergencies in both rural and urban environments, as well as adapt it for use within the military

Climate and Weather Impact Timing of Emergence of Bats

We thank two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on the manuscript and Barry Nickel for advice on statistical analysis. We thank the National Severe Storms Laboratory for radar data processing and access, in particular Brian Kaney and Katherine Willingham. We thank Danny Scipión and Sarah Stough for help with data preparation.Conceived and designed the experiments: WFF THK JFK KWH PBC. Performed the experiments: WFF PMS PBC. Analyzed the data: WFF. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: KWH CMK. Wrote the paper: WFF PMS JFK PBC.Interest in forecasting impacts of climate change have heightened attention in recent decades to how animals respond to variation in climate and weather patterns. One difficulty in determining animal response to climate variation is lack of long-term datasets that record animal behaviors over decadal scales. We used radar observations from the national NEXRAD network of Doppler weather radars to measure how group behavior in a colonially-roosting bat species responded to annual variation in climate and daily variation in weather over the past 11 years. Brazilian free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) form dense aggregations in cave roosts in Texas. These bats emerge from caves daily to forage at high altitudes, which makes them detectable with Doppler weather radars. Timing of emergence in bats is often viewed as an adaptive trade-off between emerging early and risking predation or increased competition and emerging late which restricts foraging opportunities. We used timing of emergence from five maternity colonies of Brazilian free-tailed bats in south-central Texas during the peak lactation period (15 June–15 July) to determine whether emergence behavior was associated with summer drought conditions and daily temperatures. Bats emerged significantly earlier during years with extreme drought conditions than during moist years. Bats emerged later on days with high surface temperatures in both dry and moist years, but there was no relationship between surface temperatures and timing of emergence in summers with normal moisture levels. We conclude that emergence behavior is a flexible animal response to climate and weather conditions and may be a useful indicator for monitoring animal response to long-term shifts in climate.Yeshttp://www.plosone.org/static/editorial#pee