SB 127 - Criminal Procedure

The Act introduces procedure by which victims who were not provided notice criminal proceedings, after requesting notice, may file a motion to be acknowledged by the court. This Act is meant to create a means by which a victim’s rights, as introduced by the constitutional amendment in SR 146, may be raised or enforced

Accountancy and academic/professional inter-dependency (or mutual exclusivity?)

This paper is a report on an Accounting Education Symposium held during the 2009 Annual Congress of the EAA in Tampere, Finland. This was the fourth occasion on which there has been an Accounting Education Symposium (or similar) within an EAA Annual Congress. Previous events were as follows: 2005 (Gotenburg, Sweden) EAA Accounting Educators\u27 Forum 2006 (Dublin, Ireland) \u27Universities and Professional Bodies: Complementary or Colliding Roles in Educating and Training Future Accounting Practitioners?\u27 (sponsored by the Irish Accountancy Educational Trust) 2008 (Rotterdam, the Netherlands) \u27Accounting Education: The Common Content Project\u27 (sponsored by Royal NIVRA). <br /

Hydrodynamic attraction of swimming microorganisms by surfaces

Cells swimming in confined environments are attracted by surfaces. We measure the steady-state distribution of smooth-swimming bacteria (Escherichia coli) between two glass plates. In agreement with earlier studies, we find a strong increase of the cell concentration at the boundaries. We demonstrate theoretically that hydrodynamic interactions of the swimming cells with solid surfaces lead to their re-orientation in the direction parallel to the surfaces, as well as their attraction by the closest wall. A model is derived for the steady-state distribution of swimming cells, which compares favorably with our measurements. We exploit our data to estimate the flagellar propulsive force in swimming E. coli

Cost-effectiveness of Physical Therapy vs Intra-articular Glucocorticoid Injection for Knee Osteoarthritis: A Secondary Analysis From a Randomized Clinical Trial

Importance: Physical therapy and glucocorticoid injections are initial treatment options for knee osteoarthritis, but available data indicate that most patients receive one or the other, suggesting they may be competing interventions. The initial cost difference for treatment can be substantial, with physical therapy often being more expensive at the outset, and cost-effectiveness analysis can aid patients and clinicians in making decisions. Objective: To investigate the incremental cost-effectiveness between physical therapy and intra-articular glucocorticoid injection as initial treatment strategies for knee osteoarthritis. Design, setting, and participants: This economic evaluation is a secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial performed from October 1, 2012, to May 4, 2017. Health economists were blinded to study outcomes and treatment allocation. A randomized sample of patients seen in primary care and physical therapy clinics with a radiographically confirmed diagnosis of knee osteoarthritis were evaluated from the clinical trial with 96.2% follow-up at 1 year. Interventions: Physical therapy or glucocorticoid injection. Main outcomes and measures: The main outcome was incremental cost-effectiveness between 2 alternative treatments. Acceptability curves of bootstrapped incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were used to identify the proportion of ICERs under the specific willingness-to-pay level ($50 000-$100 000). Health care system costs (total and knee related) and health-related quality-of-life based on quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) were obtained. Results: A total of 156 participants (mean [SD] age, 56.1 [8.7] years; 81 [51.9%] male) were randomized 1:1 and followed up for 1 year. Mean (SD) 1-year knee-related medical costs were $2113 ($4224) in the glucocorticoid injection group and $2131 ($1015) in the physical therapy group. The mean difference in QALY significantly favored physical therapy at 1 year (0.076; 95% CI, 0.02-0.126; P = .003). Physical therapy was the more cost-effective intervention, with an ICER of $8103 for knee-related medical costs, with a 99.2$100 000. Conclusions and relevance: A course of physical therapy was cost-effective compared with a course of glucocorticoid injections for patients with knee osteoarthritis. These results suggest that, although the initial cost of delivering physical therapy may be higher than an initial course of glucocorticoid injections, 1-year total knee-related costs are equivalent, and greater improvement in QALYs may justify the initial higher costs. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0142715

Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior of Cancer Survivors and Non-Cancer Individuals: Results from a National Survey

Increasing physical activity and decreasing sedentary behavior are associated with a higher quality of life and lower mortality rates for cancer survivors, a growing population group. Studies detailing the behavior of cancer survivors are limited. Therefore, we investigated physical activity and sedentary behavior of cancer survivors using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2007–2010. Participants were those who provided physical activity and sedentary behavior data. Those who were pregnant,old, or10,472 non-cancer participants. After adjustment for age, race, gender, education status, body mass index, and smoking status, cancer survivors (n = 10,472) reported significantly longer duration of sedentary behavior (OR = 1.42, 95% CI (1.12, 1.80) for 8 or more hours, p-value for trend = 0.09), compared to non-cancer participants (n = 741). They also reported non-significant increases in maximum intensity, duration, frequency, and energy expenditure, whereas they reported significant increases in moderate intensity (OR = 1.26, 95% CI (1.01, 1.57)), moderate frequency (1–4 times/week) (OR = 1.32, 95% CI (1.00, 1.74)), and moderate energy expenditure (4018.5–7623.5 kcal) (OR = 1.30, 95% CI (1.00, 1.71)) of physical activity, compared to non-cancer participants. These patterns are similar for breast and prostate cancer survivors, with prostate cancer survivors more likely to engage in physical activity for more than one hour per day (OR = 1.98, 95% CI (1.05, 3.71)). Our findings suggest that cancer survivors tend to have more physical activity, but they are also more likely to engage in sedentary behavior

Elemental energy spectra of cosmic rays measured by CREAM-II

We present new measurements of the energy spectra of cosmic-ray (CR) nuclei from the second flight of the balloon-borne experiment CREAM (Cosmic Ray Energetics And Mass). The instrument (CREAM-II) was comprised of detectors based on different techniques (Cherenkov light, specific ionization in scintillators and silicon sensors) to provide a redundant charge identification and a thin ionization calorimeter capable of measuring the energy of cosmic rays up to several hundreds of TeV. The data analysis is described and the individual energy spectra of C, O, Ne, Mg, Si and Fe are reported up to ~ 10^14 eV. The spectral shape looks nearly the same for all the primary elements and can be expressed as a power law in energy E^{-2.66+/-0.04}. The nitrogen absolute intensity in the energy range 100-800 GeV/n is also measured.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, presented at ICRC 2009, Lodz, Polan

Protein-Polymer Conjugates Synthesized Using Water-Soluble Azlactone-Functionalized Polymers Enable Receptor-Specific Cellular Uptake Toward Targeted Drug Delivery

Conjugation of proteins to drug-loaded polymeric structures is an attractive strategy for facilitating target-specific drug delivery for a variety of clinical needs. Polymers currently available for conjugation to proteins generally have limited chemical versatility for subsequent drug loading. Many polymers that do have chemical functionality useful for drug loading are often insoluble in water, making it difficult to synthesize functional protein–polymer conjugates for targeted drug delivery. In this work, we demonstrate that reactive, azlactone-functionalized polymers can be grafted to proteins, conjugated to a small-molecule fluorophore, and subsequently internalized into cells in a receptor-specific manner. Poly(2-vinyl-4,4-dimethylazlactone), synthesized using reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer polymerization, was modified post-polymerization with substoichiometric equivalents of triethylene glycol monomethyl ether to yield reactive water-soluble, azlactone-functionalized copolymers. These reactive polymers were then conjugated to proteins holo-transferrin and ovotransferrin. Protein gel analysis verified successful conjugation of proteins to polymer, and protein–polymer conjugates were subsequently purified from unreacted proteins and polymers using size exclusion chromatography. Internalization experiments using a breast cancer cell line that overexpresses the transferrin receptor on its surface showed that the holo-transferrin–polymer conjugate was successfully internalized by cells in a mechanism consistent with receptor-mediated endocytosis. Internalization of protein–polymer conjugate demonstrated that the protein ligand maintained its overall structure and function following conjugation to polymer. Our approach to protein–polymer conjugate synthesis offers a simple, tailorable strategy for preparing bioconjugates of interest for a broad range of biomedical applications

Measurements of cosmic-ray energy spectra with the 2nd CREAM flight

During its second Antarctic flight, the CREAM (Cosmic Ray Energetics And Mass) balloon experiment collected data for 28 days, measuring the charge and the energy of cosmic rays (CR) with a redundant system of particle identification and an imaging thin ionization calorimeter. Preliminary direct measurements of the absolute intensities of individual CR nuclei are reported in the elemental range from carbon to iron at very high energy.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, presented at XV International Symposium on Very High Energy Cosmic Ray Interactions (ISVHECRI 2008

Are autistic traits measured equivalently in individuals with and without an Autism Spectrum Disorder?:An invariance analysis of the Autism Spectrum Quotient Short Form

It is common to administer measures of autistic traits to those without autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) with, for example, the aim of understanding autistic personality characteristics in non-autistic individuals. Little research has examined the extent to which measures of autistic traits actually measure the same traits in the same way across those with and without an ASD. We addressed this question using a multi-group confirmatory factor invariance analysis of the Autism Quotient Short Form (AQ-S: Hoekstra et al. in J Autism Dev Disord 41(5):589-596, 2011) across those with (n = 148) and without (n = 168) ASD. Metric variance (equality of factor loadings), but not scalar invariance (equality of thresholds), held suggesting that the AQ-S measures the same latent traits in both groups, but with a bias in the manner in which trait levels are estimated. We, therefore, argue that the AQ-S can be used to investigate possible causes and consequences of autistic traits in both groups separately, but caution is due when combining or comparing levels of autistic traits across the two group