2,545 research outputs found
Educating Enough Competent Health Professionals: Advancing Educational Innovation at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Tanzania.
Sarah MacFarlane and colleagues share their lessons engaging in educational reform and faculty development with the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in Tanzania and the University of California San Francisco
Graph-based Features for Automatic Online Abuse Detection
While online communities have become increasingly important over the years,
the moderation of user-generated content is still performed mostly manually.
Automating this task is an important step in reducing the financial cost
associated with moderation, but the majority of automated approaches strictly
based on message content are highly vulnerable to intentional obfuscation. In
this paper, we discuss methods for extracting conversational networks based on
raw multi-participant chat logs, and we study the contribution of graph
features to a classification system that aims to determine if a given message
is abusive. The conversational graph-based system yields unexpectedly high
performance , with results comparable to those previously obtained with a
content-based approach
Assessing sedation need and managing referred dentally anxious patients:is there a role for the Index of Sedation Need?
Aim: To conduct an exploratory investigation of public dental service (PDS) practitioners' planned sedation modality using a structural equation modelling approach, in order to identify the explanatory value of using the Index of Sedation Need (IOSN), or its component parts, to predict sedation modality in patients referred with dental anxiety.
Methods: A convenience sample of patients referred to the PDS for dental anxiety management was invited to take part. The IOSN was completed for each patient (patient dental anxiety, medical and behavioural indicators and dental treatment complexity) as well as the American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status Classification System and the Case Mix Tool. The practitioners completed details of their planned sedation modality and identified normative dental treatment need. The data were entered onto an SPSS v21 database and subjected to frequency distributions, t-tests, correlation analysis and exploratory partial structural equation modelling (SEM).
Results: Ninety-five percent of patients were ranked as MDAS 3 or 4, indicating high dental anxiety; 69% had a medical condition, which might impact on dental treatment and 82% had a dental treatment need, which was classified as intermediate/complex according to the IOSN. Eighty-eight percent of the patients in accordance with the IOSN required sedation: 62% of patients were assessed as requiring intravenous sedation. The IOSN discriminated between patients who were assessed as requiring more complex sedation modalities and had a greater normative treatment need. The SEM showed that the patient dental anxiety (P <0.02) and dental treatment complexity (P <0.02) predicted planned sedation modality. Functional morbidity was less strong, as a predictor, and was significant at the ten percent level.
Conclusions: The IOSN is a useful and valid assessment of sedation need and predicted sedation modality for patients referred with high dental anxiety states and secondly, that component parts of the IOSN add explanatory value in practitioners' choice of planned sedation modality
A measure of individual role in collective dynamics
Identifying key players in collective dynamics remains a challenge in several
research fields, from the efficient dissemination of ideas to drug target
discovery in biomedical problems. The difficulty lies at several levels: how to
single out the role of individual elements in such intermingled systems, or
which is the best way to quantify their importance. Centrality measures
describe a node's importance by its position in a network. The key issue
obviated is that the contribution of a node to the collective behavior is not
uniquely determined by the structure of the system but it is a result of the
interplay between dynamics and network structure. We show that dynamical
influence measures explicitly how strongly a node's dynamical state affects
collective behavior. For critical spreading, dynamical influence targets nodes
according to their spreading capabilities. For diffusive processes it
quantifies how efficiently real systems may be controlled by manipulating a
single node.Comment: accepted for publication in Scientific Report
A systematic review of the evidence for single stage and two stage revision of infected knee replacement
BACKGROUND:
Periprosthetic infection about the knee is a devastating complication that may affect between 1% and 5% of knee replacement. With over 79 000 knee replacements being implanted each year in the UK, periprosthetic infection (PJI) is set to become an important burden of disease and cost to the healthcare economy. One of the important controversies in treatment of PJI is whether a single stage revision operation is superior to a two-stage procedure. This study sought to systematically evaluate the published evidence to determine which technique had lowest reinfection rates.
METHODS:
A systematic review of the literature was undertaken using the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases with the aim to identify existing studies that present the outcomes of each surgical technique. Reinfection rate was the primary outcome measure. Studies of specific subsets of patients such as resistant organisms were excluded.
RESULTS:
63 studies were identified that met the inclusion criteria. The majority of which (58) were reports of two-stage revision. Reinfection rated varied between 0% and 41% in two-stage studies, and 0% and 11% in single stage studies. No clinical trials were identified and the majority of studies were observational studies.
CONCLUSIONS:
Evidence for both one-stage and two-stage revision is largely of low quality. The evidence basis for two-stage revision is significantly larger, and further work into direct comparison between the two techniques should be undertaken as a priority
Theories for influencer identification in complex networks
In social and biological systems, the structural heterogeneity of interaction
networks gives rise to the emergence of a small set of influential nodes, or
influencers, in a series of dynamical processes. Although much smaller than the
entire network, these influencers were observed to be able to shape the
collective dynamics of large populations in different contexts. As such, the
successful identification of influencers should have profound implications in
various real-world spreading dynamics such as viral marketing, epidemic
outbreaks and cascading failure. In this chapter, we first summarize the
centrality-based approach in finding single influencers in complex networks,
and then discuss the more complicated problem of locating multiple influencers
from a collective point of view. Progress rooted in collective influence
theory, belief-propagation and computer science will be presented. Finally, we
present some applications of influencer identification in diverse real-world
systems, including online social platforms, scientific publication, brain
networks and socioeconomic systems.Comment: 24 pages, 6 figure
Expression of Mcm2, geminin and Ki67 in normal oral mucosa, oral epithelial dysplasias and their corresponding squamous-cell carcinomas
Proteins necessary for the normal regulation of the cell cycle include minichromosome maintenance protein 2 (Mcm2) and geminin.
These are overexpressed in several premalignant and malignant tumours. The Mcm2/Ki67 ratio can be used to estimate the
population of cells that are in early G1 (licensed to proliferate), and the geminin/Ki67 ratio can determine the relative length of G1.
A high ratio indicates a short G1 and a high rate of cell proliferation. Mcm2 and geminin have been scarcely explored in oral epithelial
dysplasia (OED) and oral squamous-cell carcinoma (OSCC). The purpose of this study was to identify the expression pattern of
Mcm2, Ki67 and geminin in normal oral mucosa (NOM), OED and their subsequent OSCC, to determine if expression could help
predict the prognosis of OED. Paraffin sections of 41 OED cases that progressed to carcinoma, 40 OED without malignant
progression, 38 OSCC and 15 NOM were immunostained with antibodies against Mcm2, geminin and Ki67. Labelling indices (LIs)
increased progressively from NOM, OED and OSCC (Mcm2, Po0.001; geminin, Po0.001 and Ki67, Po0.001). In all the OED cases
(n ¼ 81) the levels of expression of Mcm2 (LI, 73.6), geminin (LI, 24.4) and Ki67 (LI, 44.5) were elevated indicating a constant cellcycle
re-entry. When the OED groups were compared, Mcm2 protein expression was higher in the OED with malignant progression
(P ¼ 0.04), likewise there was a significant increase in the Mcm2/Ki67 and geminin/Ki67 ratios (P ¼ 0.04 and 0.02 respectively). Mcm2
and geminin proteins seem to be novel biomarkers of growth and may be useful prognostic tools for OED
Double aortic arch with double aneuploidy—rare anomaly in combined Down and Klinefelter syndrome
A 14-month-old boy with double aneuploidy and a double aortic arch suffered from frequently recurrent severe feeding and respiratory problems. Chromosomal analysis showed a 48,XXY + 21 karyotype: a double aneuploidy of Down syndrome (DS) and Klinefelter syndrome (KS). Only four cases of double aneuploidy (DS + KS) associated with congenital heart defects have been published of which none had a double aortic arch. Our case report should draw attention to the possibility of a double aortic arch in patients with severe feeding and respiratory problems and a double aneuploidy
Sociological and Communication-Theoretical Perspectives on the Commercialization of the Sciences
Both self-organization and organization are important for the further
development of the sciences: the two dynamics condition and enable each other.
Commercial and public considerations can interact and "interpenetrate" in
historical organization; different codes of communication are then
"recombined." However, self-organization in the symbolically generalized codes
of communication can be expected to operate at the global level. The Triple
Helix model allows for both a neo-institutional appreciation in terms of
historical networks of university-industry-government relations and a
neo-evolutionary interpretation in terms of three functions: (i) novelty
production, (i) wealth generation, and (iii) political control. Using this
model, one can appreciate both subdynamics. The mutual information in three
dimensions enables us to measure the trade-off between organization and
self-organization as a possible synergy. The question of optimization between
commercial and public interests in the different sciences can thus be made
empirical.Comment: Science & Education (forthcoming
Quality of life assessment in companion animals: what, why, who, when and how
Quality of life is a commonly used phrase in veterinary medicine. It describes a complex evaluation that may be difficult for animals to perform, and the phrase “happiness” may be a more crude but useful approximation. Quality of life assessments should ideally be an integral part of our decision making, and should encompass evaluation of aspects of a pet’s life beyond just its health. Assessments should aim both to evaluate an animal’s quality of life, and to look for ways in which it might be improved. This article will discuss the challenges of assessing quality of life in companion animals, and will review the range of different methods available for assessment of quality of life in cats and dogs
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