15 research outputs found
Astro-WISE: Chaining to the Universe
The recent explosion of recorded digital data and its processed derivatives
threatens to overwhelm researchers when analysing their experimental data or
when looking up data items in archives and file systems. While current hardware
developments allow to acquire, process and store 100s of terabytes of data at
the cost of a modern sports car, the software systems to handle these data are
lagging behind. This general problem is recognized and addressed by various
scientific communities, e.g., DATAGRID/EGEE federates compute and storage power
over the high-energy physical community, while the astronomical community is
building an Internet geared Virtual Observatory, connecting archival data.
These large projects either focus on a specific distribution aspect or aim to
connect many sub-communities and have a relatively long trajectory for setting
standards and a common layer. Here, we report "first light" of a very different
solution to the problem initiated by a smaller astronomical IT community. It
provides the abstract "scientific information layer" which integrates
distributed scientific analysis with distributed processing and federated
archiving and publishing. By designing new abstractions and mixing in old ones,
a Science Information System with fully scalable cornerstones has been
achieved, transforming data systems into knowledge systems. This break-through
is facilitated by the full end-to-end linking of all dependent data items,
which allows full backward chaining from the observer/researcher to the
experiment. Key is the notion that information is intrinsic in nature and thus
is the data acquired by a scientific experiment. The new abstraction is that
software systems guide the user to that intrinsic information by forcing full
backward and forward chaining in the data modelling.Comment: To be published in ADASS XVI ASP Conference Series, 2006, R. Shaw, F.
Hill and D. Bell, ed
Towards a Provenance Framework for Sub-image Processing for Astronomical Data
J. Mwebaze, J. McFarland, D. Boxhoorn, E. Valentij
Long term antidepressant use in a cohort of older people
Objectives: Depression is the most common mental health problem in older adults and untreated is
associated with significant burden of illness for patients. This study aimed to examine longitudinal
patterns of antidepressant use in older adults and determine which factors were associated with
changes in use.
Methods: Adults aged 50 and over, from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, who participated at
any one of the four TILDA waves (n = 8,175) were included in the analysis. Repeated measures latent
class analysis (RMLCA) is the model-based approach we used to identify underlying subgroups in a
population.
Results: We found antidepressant use ranged from 6% to 10%, over a 6-year period. RMLCA
identified three distinct classes of anti-depressant use. Notably, 6% of older adults were categorised
in a ‘long-term antidepressant use’ class, with consistent use across all four waves, and 6% were
categorised in an ‘Intermittent/ Developing Use’ class. We found long-term antidepressant use to be
a characteristic of older adults with chronic conditions at baseline of study and striking low uptake of
psychological and psychiatric services.
Conclusions: These findings provide evidence of the complex presentations of depression with
comorbidities in long-term antidepressant users. While prolonged use of antidepressants in an older
cohort is often rationalised due to recurrent depression and comorbidities, this study suggests little
deprescribing of antidepressants and a need for greater access and provision of psychological
services tailored to later life seem necessary improve management of this condition
Mentoring & support practices for fnal year medical students during a pandemic – ‘The covid doctors’
Background Transition from fnal-year medical student to newly graduated doctor is challenging with evidence of associated increased patient mortality and medical errors. Previous work suggests tackling preparedness alone does not‘solve’ this transition. The current focus on mentoring and support provision during this period and is an under-researched area. The COVID-19 pandemic represents a unique disruptive critical incident in which to examine mentoring and support practices, exposing strengths and weaknesses. The perspectives of this cohort and their implications remains an under-researched area. Methods Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine graduate-entry final-year medical students. An inductive latent phenomenological approach explored individual experiences of mentoring and support practices during final-year and transition to professional practice. Results Three major themes emerged: 1) Mentoring & Support; 2) Clinical Exposure; 3) Graduation & Transition. A journey metaphor was used to aid the description of participants’ lived experience of mentoring and support practices during their fnal year. Final year medical students (FYMs) felt under-supported and found practices inadequate. Reduced clinical exposure yielded unpreparedness and regression, potentially impacting future careers. Positive experiences were variable and unstructured. ‘The COVID Doctors’, subtheme provided rich insights into shared narratives and identities amongst participants. Conclusions This study provides qualitative evidence for perceived inadequate mentoring and support provision for fnal year medical students at transition during a critical incident (the COVID-19 pandemic). Several themes using the metaphor of a journey explore the lived experience of this unique cohort determining their perceptions on the delivery of their medical education and their identity as‘covid doctors’. There are several implications for this study in a post-pandemic era and for pandemic-preparedness, both rapidly growing areas of research in medical education. Recommendations include updating contingency plans, balancing clinical exposure with patient safety issues, and providing support to‘bottom-up’ mentoring practices.</p