Design concepts and detectors for parity violation experiments

Throughout the last fifteen years, a number of experiments on parity violation in elastic electron nucleon scattering have been carried out, especially at Jefferson Lab and at the Mainzer Mikrotron facility MAMI. While the main challenge —the precise measurement of tiny cross-section asymmetries of order 10−6— was the same for all those experiments, quite different approaches were employed by the experimentalists. The diversity in the used techniques will be pointed out to give an overview of the achieved experience with such high-precision measurements

Identification of structural protein–protein interactions of herpes simplex virus type 1

AbstractIn this study we have defined protein–protein interactions between the structural proteins of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) using a LexA yeast two-hybrid system. The majority of the capsid, tegument and envelope proteins of HSV-1 were screened in a matrix approach. A total of 40 binary interactions were detected including 9 out of 10 previously identified tegument–tegument interactions (Vittone, V., Diefenbach, E., Triffett, D., Douglas, M.W., Cunningham, A.L., and Diefenbach, R.J., 2005. Determination of interactions between tegument proteins of herpes simplex virus type 1. J. Virol. 79, 9566–9571). A total of 12 interactions involving the capsid protein pUL35 (VP26) and 11 interactions involving the tegument protein pUL46 (VP11/12) were identified. The most significant novel interactions detected in this study, which are likely to play a role in viral assembly, include pUL35–pUL37 (capsid–tegument), pUL46–pUL37 (tegument–tegument) and pUL49 (VP22)–pUS9 (tegument–envelope). This information will provide further insights into the pathways of HSV-1 assembly and the identified interactions are potential targets for new antiviral drugs

What is the most effective nicotine replacement therapy?

No single nicotine replacement therapy is most effective for all smokers. All forms of nicotine replacement therapy (gum, transdermal patch, spray, inhaler, and lozenge) are equally effective, increasing smoking cessation rates by about 150% to 200%. A Cochrane Review found that 17% of smokers who had used nicotine replacement therapy successfully quit at follow-up vs 10% of smokers in the control group. Except in special circumstances (medical contraindications, smoking 21 mg) may benefit heavy smokers or those relapsing due to nicotine withdrawal (SOR: B). For relapsed smokers, combination therapy improves long-term abstinence rates (estimated abstinence 28.6% vs 17.4% for monotherapy) (SOR: B)

Recruitment via social media: advantages and potential biases

© The Author(s) 2019. Background: Adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors are under-represented in research. Social media is increasingly used for recruitment given its ability to reach large audiences. Differences in participant characteristics and potential biases due to recruitment source are not well understood. Purpose: This study aimed to: (a) compare recruitment strategies (hospital-based v. social media) in enrollment metrics, and (b) among enrolled participants, evaluate group differences in patient characteristics and patient reported outcomes (PROs). Methods: Preliminary data from a cancer and fertility study with female AYAs were evaluated. Hospital-based recruitment used electronic medical records (EMR) to identify eligible patients. Social media recruitment involved posting on partner organizations’ social media outlets. PROs included validated measures related to the parent study. Descriptive statistics evaluated recruitment metrics. Independent samples t-tests and chi-square identified differences in participant characteristics and PROs based on recruitment. Results: Social media yielded a higher enrollment rate (37%; n = 54/146) compared with hospital-based recruitment (7%; n = 21/289) and required fewer study resources. Compared with hospital-based recruitment, participants from social media were more likely to be White (p = 0.01), with a longer time since treatment (p = 0.03); and reported higher levels of reproductive concern (p = 0.004) and negative mood (p = 0.02), and more negative illness perceptions (ps \u3c 0.05). Conclusion: Recruitment via social media may be a more effective and efficient strategy compared with hospital-based methods. However, group differences were identified that could bias findings and limit generalizability. Advantages of social media should be considered with an understanding of how methodology may impact enrollment and results

Psychometric Properties of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) and Its Short Forms in Adults With Emotional Disorders

Objective: The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) is a widely used self- report measure of subjective emotion ability, as defined by a prominent clinically derived model of emotion regulation (Gratz and Roemer, 2004). Although the DERS is often used in treatment and research settings for adults with emotional (i.e., anxiety, mood, obsessive-compulsive, or trauma-related) disorders, its psychometric properties are not well-characterized in this population. Method: We examined the psychometric properties of the DERS and three popular short forms (DERS-16; DERS-18; and DERS-SF) in a large (N = 427) sample of treatment-seeking adults with one or more DSM-5 emotional disorders. Results: For the original DERS, internal consistency was strong for all subscales except Awareness. A bifactor structure consisting of one general emotion dysregulation factor and five uncorrelated specific factors corresponding to the original DERS subscales (excluding Awareness) provided the best fit. A series of structural equation models (SEMs) demonstrated unique incremental contributions of the general factor and several specific factors to explaining concurrent clinical severity. The general factor and one specific factor (Goals) also prospectively predicted treatment outcome following a naturalistic course of outpatient cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) in a subset of participants (n = 202) for whom discharge data were available. Specifically, more severe emotion dysregulation at intake predicted better CBT response, while more severe impairment in goal-directed activity when distressed predicted worse CBT response. All three short forms showed a robust bifactor structure and good internal consistency and convergent validity vis-à-vis the original measure, albeit with a slight decrement in incremental utility (1–3% less variance explained in clinical severity). Conclusion: With the Awareness items excluded, the DERS showed good internal consistency and a robust bifactor latent structure. The general factor and several specific factors incrementally and prospectively predicted clinical severity and treatment outcome, which suggests that the DERS may have clinical and predictive utility in treatment-seeking adults with emotional disorders. Additional research is needed to establish convergent and discriminant validity in this population. The use of a short form in lieu of the full DERS may be sufficient for many general clinical and research purposes, particularly when participant burden is a concern

Application of Building Typologies for Modelling the Energy Balance of the Residential Building Stock

Building typologies can serve as a basis for analysing the national housing sector. During the TABULA project which was introducing or further developing building typologies in thirteen EU countries, six of the European partners have carried out model calculations which aim at imaging the energy consumption and estimating the energy saving potentials of their national residential building stocks (IWU / Germany, NOA / Greece, POLITO / Italy, VITO / Belgium, STU-K / Czech Republic, SBi / Denmark). The results show that the model calculations can provide plausible projections of the energy consumption of the national residential buildings stock. The fit of model calculations and national energy statistics is satisfactory, deviations can often be explained and corrected by adapting standard boundary conditions of the applied calculation models to more realistic values. In general, the analysis shows that building typologies can be a helpful tool for modelling the energy consumption of national building stocks and for carrying out scenario analysis beyond the TABULA project. The consideration of a set of representative buildings makes it possible to have a detailed view on various packages of measures for the complete buildings stock or for its sub-categories. The effects of different insulation measures at the respective construction elements as well as different heat supply measures including renewable energies can be considered in detail. The quality of future model calculations will depend very much on the availability of statistical data. For reliable scenario analysis information is necessary about the current state of the building stock (How many buildings and heating systems have been refurbished until now?) and about the current trends (How many buildings and heating systems are being refurbished every year?). The availability and regular update of the relevant statistical data will be an important basis for the development and evaluation of national climate protection strategies in the building secto

Characteristics of Hoarding in Older Adults

Objective: This study determined the clinical characteristics of late-life hoarding disorder (HD). Methods: Older adults (age 60 and older) with HD (n = 55) and without psychiatric diagnoses (n = 39) were compared on psychiatric, functional, cognitive, and health-related measures. Associations between age and clinical characteristics in a large sample of mixed age (n = 210; age range: 20-78) participants with HD were also determined. Results: Individuals with late-life HD were characterized by substantial impairments in psychiatric, functional, cognitive, and medical status. Health risks (e.g., risks of falls and fire) were also common. However, older age was generally not associated with increased severity of hoarding or other clinical correlates (with the exception of one global clinician-rated measure of severity). Conclusions: Late-life HD is characterized by considerable morbidity and health risks, and these characteristics may be consistent across the lifespan in cross-sectional mixed-age samples of individuals with HD

Estimación de la supervivencia anual de aves canoras migratorias bajo el efecto de una fidelidad incompleta al área de reproducción: diseños de estudios que pueden resultar de utilidad

Many species of bird exhibit varying degrees of site–fidelity to the previous year’s territory or breeding area, a phenomenon we refer to as incomplete breeding site–fidelity. If the territory they occupy is located beyond the bounds of the study area or search area (i.e., they have emigrated from the study area), the bird will go undetected and is therefore indistinguishable from dead individuals in capture–mark–recapture studies. Differential emigration rates confound inferences regarding differences in survival between sexes and among species if apparent survival rates are used as estimates of true survival. Moreover, the bias introduced by using apparent survival rates for true survival rates can have profound effects on the predictions of population persistence through time, source/sink dynamics, and other aspects of life–history theory. We investigated four study design and analysis approaches that result in apparent survival estimates that are closer to true survival estimates. Our motivation for this research stemmed from a multi–year capture–recapture study of Prothonotary Warblers (Protonotaria citrea) on multiple study plots within a larger landscape of suitable breeding habitat where substantial inter–annual movements of marked individuals among neighboring study plots was documented. We wished to quantify the effects of this type of movement on annual survival estimation. The first two study designs we investigated involved marking birds in a core area and resighting them in the core as well as an area surrounding the core. For the first of these two designs, we demonstrated that as the resighting area surrounding the core gets progressively larger, and more "emigrants" are resighted, apparent survival estimates begin to approximate true survival rates (bias < 0.01). However, given observed inter–annual movements of birds, it is likely to be logistically impractical to resight birds on sufficiently large surrounding areas to minimize bias. Therefore, as an alternative protocol, we analyzed the data with subsets of three progressively larger areas surrounding the core. The data subsets provided four estimates of apparent survival that asymptotically approached true survival. This study design and analytical approach is likely to be logistically feasible in field settings and yields estimates of true survival unbiased (bias < 0.03) by incomplete breeding site–fidelity over a range of inter–annual territory movement patterns. The third approach we investigated used a robust design data collection and analysis approach. This approach resulted in estimates of survival that were unbiased (bias < 0.02), but were very imprecise and likely would not yield reliable estimates in field situations. The fourth approach utilized a fixed study area size, but modeled detection probability as a function of bird proximity to the study plot boundary (e.g., those birds closest to the edge are more likely to emigrate). This approach also resulted in estimates of survival that were unbiased (bias < 0.02), but because the individual covariates were normalized, the average capture probability was 0.50, and thus did not provide an accurate estimate of the true capture probability. Our results show that the core–area with surrounding resight–only can provide estimates of survival that are not biased by the effects of incomplete breeding site–fidelity.Numerosas especies de aves presentan distintos grados de fidelidad al territorio o área de reproducción del año anterior, fenómeno que denominamos fidelidad incompleta al lugar de reproducción. Si el territorio que ocupan las aves está situado más allá del área de estudio o investigación (es decir, si las aves han emigrado del área de estudio), el ave no podrá ser detectada y, por consiguiente, en los estudios de captura–marcaje–recaptura, no podrá distinguirse de los individuos muertos. Si se emplean las tasas de supervivencia aparente como estimaciones de la supervivencia real, las tasas de emigración diferencial sesgan las distintas inferencias sobre variaciones en supervivencia entre sexos y entre especies. Además, el sesgo introducido por el empleo de tasas de supervivencia aparente en lugar de tasas de supervivencia real puede repercutir significativamente en las predicciones de la persistencia poblacional a través del tiempo, la dinámica de fuente/sumidero, y otros aspectos de la teoría sobre historias vitales. Investigamos cuatro enfoques de diseños de estudios y análisis que proporcionan estimaciones de supervivencia aparente más próximas a las estimaciones de supervivencia real. Esta investigación es fruto de un estudio multianual de captura–recaptura de reinitas cabecidoradas (Protonotaria citrea) en múltiples parcelas de estudio incluidas en un paisaje más amplio de hábitats de reproducción adecuados, en los que se documentaron los movimientos interanuales más importantes entre distintas parcelas de estudio adyacentes por parte de individuos marcados. Nuestro objetivo era cuantificar los efectos de este tipo de movimiento en la estimación de la supervivencia anual. Los dos primeros diseños de estudio que investigamos consistían en el marcaje de aves en un área central, para posteriormente volverlas a avistar, tanto en dicha área como en un área adyacente a la misma. Por lo que respecta al primero de estos dos diseños, demostramos que cuando el área de reavistaje que rodea al área central se va ampliando y el número de "emigrantes" reavistados aumenta, las estimaciones de supervivencia aparente empiezan a aproximarse a las tasas de supervivencia real (sesgo < 0,01). Sin embargo, teniendo en cuenta los movimientos interanuales de las aves observados, lo más probable es que, desde un punto de vista logístico, no resulte práctico reavistar aves en áreas adyacentes que sean lo suficientemente amplias como para minimizar el sesgo. Por consiguiente, como protocolo alternativo, analizamos los datos con subconjuntos de tres áreas adyacentes al área principal, que se iban ampliando de forma progresiva. Los subconjuntos de datos proporcionaron cuatro estimaciones de supervivencia aparente que abordaban asintóticamente la supervivencia real. Lo más probable es que, desde un punto de vista logístico, este diseño de estudio y enfoque analítico resulte viable en estudios de campo, además de producir estimaciones de supervivencia real no sesgadas (sesgo < 0,03) por fidelidad incompleta al área de reproducción en un rango de patrones de movimiento territorial interanual. El tercer enfoque que investigamos empleaba una serie de datos de un diseño robusto de toma de datos y un enfoque analítico. Este enfoque proporcionó estimaciones de supervivencia que, si bien no eran sesgadas (sesgo < 0,02), resultaban muy imprecisas, por lo que probablemente no proporcionarían estimaciones fiables en situaciones de campo. El cuarto enfoque utilizaba un tamaño de área de estudio fijo, pero modelaba la probabilidad de detección como una función de la proximidad de las aves al límite de la parcela de estudio (es decir, las aves situadas más cerca del borde presentan más probabilidades de emigrar). Este enfoque también produjo estimaciones de supervivencia no sesgadas (sesgo < 0,02), pero debido a que las covarianzas individuales se normalizaron, la probabilidad de captura media era de 0,50, por lo que no proporcionaba una estimación precisa de la probabilidad de captura real. Nuestros resultados demuestran que el hecho de combinar el área principal con áreas adyacentes dedicadas exclusivamente al reavistaje puede proporcionar estimaciones de supervivencia que no resulten sesgadas por los efectos de una fidelidad incompleta al área de reproducción