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Smartphone applications (SPA) now offer the ability to provide accessible in-home monitoring of relevant individual health biomarkers. Previous cross-sectional validations of similar technologies have reported acceptable accuracy with high-grade body composition assessments; this research assessed longitudinal agreement of a novel SPA across a self-managed weight loss intervention of thirty-eight participants (twenty-one males, seventeen females). Estimations of body mass (BM), body fat percentage (BF%), fat-free mass (FFM) and waist circumference (WC) from the SPA were compared with ground truth (GT) measures from a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scanner and expert technician measurement. Small mean differences (MD) and standard error of estimate (SEE) were observed between method deltas (ΔBM: MD = 0·12 kg, SEE = 2·82 kg; ΔBF%: MD = 0·06 %, SEE = 1·65 %; ΔFFM: MD = 0·17 kg, SEE = 1·65 kg; ΔWC: MD = 1·16 cm, SEE = 2·52 cm). Concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) assessed longitudinal agreement between the SPA and GT methods, with moderate concordance (CCC: 0·55–0·73) observed for all measures. The novel SPA may not be interchangeable with high-accuracy medical scanning methods yet offers significant benefits in cost, accessibility and user comfort, in conjunction with the ability to monitor body shape and composition estimates over time.
Recently, the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales 65+ (HoNOS65+) were revised. Twenty-five experts from Australia and New Zealand completed an anonymous web-based survey about the content validity of the revised measure, the HoNOS Older Adults (HoNOS OA).
Results
All 12 HoNOS OA scales were rated by most (≥75%) experts as ‘important’ or ‘very important’ for determining overall clinical severity among older adults. Ratings of sensitivity to change, comprehensibility and comprehensiveness were more variable, but mostly positive. Experts’ comments provided possible explanations. For example, some experts suggested modifying or expanding the glossary examples for some scales (e.g. those measuring problems with relationships and problems with activities of daily living) to be more older adult-specific.
Clinical implications
Experts agreed that the HoNOS OA measures important constructs. Training may need to orient experienced raters to the rationale for some revisions. Further psychometric testing of the HoNOS OA is recommended.
The dissociative subtype of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD-DS) was introduced in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), and is characterised by symptoms of either depersonalisation or derealisation, in addition to a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This systematic review and meta-analysis sought to estimate the point prevalence of current PTSD-DS, and the extent to which method of assessment, demographic and trauma variables moderate this estimate, across different methods of prevalence estimation. Studies included were identified by searching MEDLINE (EBSCO), PsycInfo, CINAHL, Academic Search Complete and PTSDpubs, yielding 49 studies that met the inclusion criteria (N = 8214 participants). A random-effects meta-analysis estimated the prevalence of PTSD-DS as 38.1% (95% CI 31.5–45.0%) across all samples, 45.5% (95% CI 37.7–53.4%) across all diagnosis-based and clinical cut-off samples, 22.8% (95% CI 14.8–32.0%) across all latent class analysis (LCA) and latent profile analysis (LPA) samples and 48.1% (95% CI 35.0–61.3%) across samples which strictly used the DSM-5 PTSD criteria; all as a proportion of those already with a diagnosis of PTSD. All results were characterised by high levels of heterogeneity, limiting generalisability. Moderator analyses mostly failed to identify sources of heterogeneity. PTSD-DS was more prevalent in children compared to adults, and in diagnosis-based and clinical cut-off samples compared to LCA and LPA samples. Risk of bias was not significantly related to prevalence estimates. The implications of these results are discussed further.
This chapter describes four case studies – three from Australia and one from rural Indonesia – that build the argument that to enhance the potential for multiple benefits, climate adaptation needs to be integrated into development and planning processes. The case studies demonstrate (1) the early benefits from adaptation to coastal inundation, (2) the importance of considering the distribution of costs and benefits across communities, (3) the low-regrets nature of some early adaptation actions and (4) the synergies between adaptation measures and sustainable development. By demonstrating the multiple benefits of climate adaptation, case studies like these have stimulated thinking about climate adaptation in terms of adaptation pathways and climate-compatible development. Early adaptation creates resilience by maintaining diversity, flexibility and adaptability – factors that enable people to benefit from future opportunities. Adaptation pathways approaches help stakeholders better understand how adaptation can address the systemic drivers of vulnerability and how to integrate adaptation into broader planning approaches.
Studying phenotypic and genetic characteristics of age at onset (AAO) and polarity at onset (PAO) in bipolar disorder can provide new insights into disease pathology and facilitate the development of screening tools.
Aims
To examine the genetic architecture of AAO and PAO and their association with bipolar disorder disease characteristics.
Method
Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) and polygenic score (PGS) analyses of AAO (n = 12 977) and PAO (n = 6773) were conducted in patients with bipolar disorder from 34 cohorts and a replication sample (n = 2237). The association of onset with disease characteristics was investigated in two of these cohorts.
Results
Earlier AAO was associated with a higher probability of psychotic symptoms, suicidality, lower educational attainment, not living together and fewer episodes. Depressive onset correlated with suicidality and manic onset correlated with delusions and manic episodes. Systematic differences in AAO between cohorts and continents of origin were observed. This was also reflected in single-nucleotide variant-based heritability estimates, with higher heritabilities for stricter onset definitions. Increased PGS for autism spectrum disorder (β = −0.34 years, s.e. = 0.08), major depression (β = −0.34 years, s.e. = 0.08), schizophrenia (β = −0.39 years, s.e. = 0.08), and educational attainment (β = −0.31 years, s.e. = 0.08) were associated with an earlier AAO. The AAO GWAS identified one significant locus, but this finding did not replicate. Neither GWAS nor PGS analyses yielded significant associations with PAO.
Conclusions
AAO and PAO are associated with indicators of bipolar disorder severity. Individuals with an earlier onset show an increased polygenic liability for a broad spectrum of psychiatric traits. Systematic differences in AAO across cohorts, continents and phenotype definitions introduce significant heterogeneity, affecting analyses.
The Bronze Age in Britain is now a term often used to include both the first use of copper c. 2400 bc and also tin-bronze from c. 2100 bc, all of which required the extensive use of copper. Prehistoric mining for this metal has been identified in surface and underground workings in Parys Mine, Mynydd Parys, Anglesey, although almost all of the surface workings are now obscured by the extensive deep spoil from more recent mining in the industrial period. These copper-bearing ores are in bedded lodes, together with some intruded vein deposits. The Bronze Age workings have been exposed underground where they have been intersected by the early 19th century industrial workings on and above the 16 fathom and 20 fathom levels in the Parys Mine. Spoil exposures contain stone hammers (‘mauls’), wood fragments, and charcoal; samples of the latter have been radiocarbon dated with chronological modelling suggesting activity took place in the first half of the 2nd millennium cal bc. Although relatively limited in extent, these important prehistoric mining sites are among the earliest found in the UK. They have survived due to their protection from surface erosion and limited accessibility.
Engaging students with the far-distant past can be a challenge. We established Hands Up Education, a non-profit community interest company, in 2017 in recognition of the need for materials that reflect the priorities of today’s students and teachers. Writing a new textbook series provided an opportunity to reevaluate the traditional perspective and prioritise what is important for students learning Latin in the 21st century.
In recent years, a variety of efforts have been made in political science to enable, encourage, or require scholars to be more open and explicit about the bases of their empirical claims and, in turn, make those claims more readily evaluable by others. While qualitative scholars have long taken an interest in making their research open, reflexive, and systematic, the recent push for overarching transparency norms and requirements has provoked serious concern within qualitative research communities and raised fundamental questions about the meaning, value, costs, and intellectual relevance of transparency for qualitative inquiry. In this Perspectives Reflection, we crystallize the central findings of a three-year deliberative process—the Qualitative Transparency Deliberations (QTD)—involving hundreds of political scientists in a broad discussion of these issues. Following an overview of the process and the key insights that emerged, we present summaries of the QTD Working Groups’ final reports. Drawing on a series of public, online conversations that unfolded at www.qualtd.net, the reports unpack transparency’s promise, practicalities, risks, and limitations in relation to different qualitative methodologies, forms of evidence, and research contexts. Taken as a whole, these reports—the full versions of which can be found in the Supplementary Materials—offer practical guidance to scholars designing and implementing qualitative research, and to editors, reviewers, and funders seeking to develop criteria of evaluation that are appropriate—as understood by relevant research communities—to the forms of inquiry being assessed. We dedicate this Reflection to the memory of our coauthor and QTD working group leader Kendra Koivu.1
Our recent exploration into the use of biodegradable metals and surface treatments resulting in sufficient strength for skeletal reconstruction applications has led to the need to test these devices’ cytotoxicity. More specifically, our group has developed a resorbable magnesium alloy, Mg–1.2Zn–0.5Ca–0.5Mn, that can be strengthened by heat treatment and coated with a ceramic layer offering time-certain resorption of a medical device. This in vitro study shows that these treatments do not result in cytotoxicity. Both heat-treated (HT) and HT + ceramic-coated (sol–gel) coupons demonstrated more than 70% viability. Thus, these processing steps are likely to be useful in producing biocompatible, resorbable implants that incorporate our Mg–1.2Zn–0.5Ca–0.5Mn alloy.
OBJECTIVES/GOALS: The North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute (NC TraCS) supports faculty and staff in carrying out clinical and translational research at UNC-Chapel Hill. To better understand customer satisfaction and impact, a survey was administered among NC TraCS users. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: NC TraCS has 13 program areas that range from Biostatistics to Community and Stakeholder Engagement. These programs provide services to faculty, staff, students, and outside researchers in the area of clinical and translational science. A customer feedback survey was administered in Spring 2019 to anyone who had used at least one NC TraCS service between March 1st, 2017 and February 28th, 2019. A total of 856 survey invitations were sent. The survey included questions around users’ perception of the ease of access, helpfulness, outcome, and promptness of the services received using 6-point Likert scale. The survey also addressed career impact, communications, and suggestions for improvement. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: We received 268 responses, (31% response). Majority of respondents were satisfied with Overall Helpfulness (95%), Outcome of Service (96%), Ease of Access (93%), and Promptness of Service (90%). They also noted that their careers had at least slightly improved in the following areas: Mentorship (76%), Research Methods (75%), Skill Development (77%), Research Direction (71%) and Collaboration (80%). Furthermore, 96% responded positively to returning to TraCS. The feedback received was shared with service administrators and NC TraCS leadership to identify areas of improvement and further strengthen their services. Concerns, when present, were addressed by service directors or the overall PI’s. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: Need to communicate expectations to customers the expected turn-around time for help emerged as a clear take-away. In response, TraCS leadership is working to improve staffing and workflows for efficient service delivery including expectation management, especially among the most popular services.
OBJECTIVES/GOALS: The goals of this evaluation were 1) to describe the pilot grant application cycle and processes at NC TraCS, 2) to illustrate the impact of pilot grants on extramural grant funding, and 3) to provide a framework for other institutions to utilize for the evaluation of pilot grant programs. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: From 2009-2019 the NC TraCS pilot program funded 925 projects, varying from $2,000 to $100,000. Pilot grants are available to any researcher affiliated with the university as well as partner institutions and community stakeholders. For this evaluation we analyzed data on pilot applicants (demographics, type of pilot, funding status, resubmissions, etc.) and outcomes (extramural funding, publications, etc.) yielded from funded pilots. In addition to summary statistics, we also calculated return on investment (ROI) for the program as a whole and by specific grant type. We will use bibliometric network analysis to assess productivity, citation impact, and scope of collaboration. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: There have been 2,777 submitted proposals with an acceptance rate of 33.3%. Unfunded proposals can resubmit, 61.8% of resubmitted applications are successfully funded, and 29.6% of funded applications are resubmissions. The $2,000 awards accounted for 43.4% of all grants awarded but only accounted for 6.4% of all pilot funds awarded. Success of proposals was proportional to the number of applications from each academic unit. 60.8% of funded applicants were affiliated with the School of Medicine and account for 65.3% of all funding awarded from 2009-2019. Additionally, we plan on analyzing return on investment rates to illustrate the impact of pilot awards on future research funding. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: Pilot grants can lead to subsequent extramural grants, publications, and successful translation of research into practice. This evaluation will assist our institution in understanding the impact of pilot grants and will provide a road map for other institutions evaluating their own programs.
We describe an ultra-wide-bandwidth, low-frequency receiver recently installed on the Parkes radio telescope. The receiver system provides continuous frequency coverage from 704 to 4032 MHz. For much of the band (
${\sim}60\%$
), the system temperature is approximately 22 K and the receiver system remains in a linear regime even in the presence of strong mobile phone transmissions. We discuss the scientific and technical aspects of the new receiver, including its astronomical objectives, as well as the feed, receiver, digitiser, and signal processor design. We describe the pipeline routines that form the archive-ready data products and how those data files can be accessed from the archives. The system performance is quantified, including the system noise and linearity, beam shape, antenna efficiency, polarisation calibration, and timing stability.
Serotonin and sympathomimetic toxicity (SST) after ingestion of amphetamine-based drugs can lead to severe morbidity and death. There have been evaluations of the safety and efficacy of on-site treatment protocols for SST at music festivals.
Problem:
The study aimed to examine the safety and efficacy of treating patients with SST on-site at a music festival using a protocol adapted from hospital-based treatment of SST.
Methods:
The study is an audit of presentations with SST over a one-year period. The primary outcome was need for ambulance transport to hospital. The threshold for safety was prospectively defined as less than 10% of patients requiring ambulance transport to hospital.
The protocol suggested patients be treated with a combination of benzodiazepines; cold intravenous (IV) fluid; specific therapies (cyproheptadine, chlorpromazine, and clonidine); rapid sequence intubation; and cooling with ice, misted water, and convection techniques.
Results:
One patient of 13 (7.7%) patients with mild or moderate SST required ambulance transport to hospital. Two of seven further patients with severe SST required transport to hospital.
Conclusions:
On-site treatment may be a safe, efficacious, and efficient alternative to urgent transport to hospital for patients with mild and moderate SST. The keys to success of the protocol tested included inclusive and clear education of staff at all levels of the organization, robust referral pathways to senior clinical staff, and the rapid delivery of therapies aimed at rapidly lowering body temperature. Further collaborative research is required to define the optimal approach to patients with SST at music festivals.
The Melanesian islands of the Southwest Pacific (Island Melanesia) experienced the effects of European contact somewhat later than islands in Micronesia and Polynesia. There were sporadic contacts in the early nineteenth century, but most places had little sustained impact until whaling ships, traders, missionaries, and labor recruiters arrived in larger numbers after 1850. In consequence the islands of the Bismarck Archipelago (Papua New Guinea), Solomons, and New Hebrides (Vanuatu) experienced growing instability in local politics, increasingly violent interisland relations, epidemics, and a decline in population that became increasingly apparent to outside observers in the last three decades of the nineteenth century. A few islands were altogether depopulated, and most others (not all) saw a fall in numbers, but neither the magnitude of decline nor the reasons for decline were documented, and medical information is almost nonexistent. Apart from the colony of Fiji, even a basic head count of the populations did not take place in these islands until well into the twentieth century.
An exception is Simbo and Vella Lavella, two islands in the western Solomons that were visited by William H. R. Rivers and Arthur Hocart in 1908. The extensive genealogies collected by these pioneer anthropologists enabled Rivers to demonstrate the high proportion of married women living on these islands who had borne no children. Rivers himself came to favor a “psychological” explanation for childlessness, seeing colonialism as a form of trauma or shell shock that affected people's willingness to conceive, carry out abortions, or permit children to survive. The evidence he provided for these assertions was weak, and growing evidence now suggests an alternative explanation. I argue that the introduction and spread of STIs, especially gonorrhea, resulted in miscarriages, stillbirths, and sterility, and it was these effects that caused the severe decline in fertility rates. The resulting fall in population probably started before 1850 and accelerated in the 1880s and 1890s.
I also consider how far we can generalize this model across Island Melanesia, which is a region with very great cultural diversity between and even within islands. Were Simbo and Vella Lavella especially vulnerable to high levels of infection by STIs because they were “Aphrodisian cultures,” sensu Marshall Sahlins?
Nutrition plays a key role in later life health and wellbeing. Older people face a high risk of nutrient deficiencies and malnutrition that can lead to sarcopenia, loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength. A recent review identified that sarcopenia was associated with functional decline, higher rate of falls, higher incidence of hospitalisations and increased mortality (Beaudart et al, 2017). Understandably severe sarcopenia is extremely disabling as it prevents independent living and places an increasing burden on care providers.
Avoiding late life malnutrition is dependent on a number of factors including physical, mental and cognitive health. However, the relative impact of each of these factors and the relationships between them are not well understood. Physical factors, such as problems with chewing, swallowing and impaired mobility, all contribute towards nutritional decline (Hickson, 2006). Mental health status also plays a part, particularly depression, which has been identified as a predictor of poor appetite in older adults (see Engel et al, 2011). Treating depression can be an effective way of increasing appetite and improving nutritional status, but it is commonly under-diagnosed and under-treated among older people (Allan et al, 2014).
There is also growing evidence of associations between diet and cognitive function. Older people with dementia or cognitive decline have a poorer nutritional status than those without (Atti et al, 2008), with increasing dementia severity related to poorer nutritional status (Riccio et al, 2007). The potential for diet to protect against cognitive decline in older people is not currently well understood as much of the epidemiological research has not been supported in trials, and more research is needed to confirm the impact of changing whole diets on cognitive measures (Smith and Blumenthal, 2016).
To explore the associations and interactions between mental and physical health and diet, new intervention and prospective cohort studies are needed (Psaltopoulou et al, 2008). Such research is challenging to complete with older adults, as both ageing itself and the accompanying cognitive and physical decline are progressive and dynamic. Existing tools for measuring diet, cognition and physical activity typically provide snapshots of the situation and cannot identify rate of decline nor readily distinguish cause and effect.