bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A profile of morbidity and mortality rounds within resident training programs of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons
Authors: Kieffer Philip J. , Mueller P. O. Eric
Published: December 2017

Objective

To describe the structure and role of morbidity and mortality rounds (MMR) in resident training programs of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons (ACVS).

Study Design

Cross‐sectional analysis: survey.

Sample Population: ACVS surgical resident program directors.

Methods

Electronic surveys consisting of 27 questions were sent to the directors of 142 ACVS resident programs.

Results

Forty‐five (31.6%) programs completed the survey, including 24 (53.3%) from small animal programs and 21 (46.7%) from large animal programs. Thirty‐two (71.1%) programs incorporated regular MMR in their training. The primary goal of these rounds was improvement of patient care (63%) and education (31%). Selection of cases was based on unexpected mortality (80%), unexpected morbidity (77.4%), teaching value (65.7%), and review of medical errors (63%). Twenty‐six percent of programs reported conducting formal follow‐up for topics discussed during MMR. Ninety‐five percent of programs believed that MMR were valuable.

Conclusion

MMR are commonly incorporated in surgical resident training programs. The primary objectives of these rounds are to educate residents, refine hospital medical and operational policies, and to improve patient care. The majority of residency programs view MMR as worthwhile. However, the majority of veterinary residency programs fail to follow up MMR with formal initiatives for improvement and objective outcome assessments for issues identified during MMR.
Mitonuclear discordance as a confounding factor in the DNA taxonomy of monogonont rotifers
Authors: Obertegger Ulrike , Cieplinski Adam , Fontaneto Diego , Papakostas Spiros
Published: December 2017

Discordance between mitochondrial and nuclear phylogenies is being increasingly recognized in animals and may confound DNA‐based taxonomy. This is especially relevant for taxa whose microscopic size often challenges any effort to distinguish between cryptic species without the assistance of molecular data. Regarding mitonuclear discordance, two strikingly contrasting scenarios have been recently demonstrated in the monogonont rotifers of the genus Brachionus. While strict mitonuclear concordance was observed in the marine B. plicatilis species complex, widespread hybridization‐driven mitonuclear discordance was revealed in the freshwater B. calyciflorus species complex. Here, we investigated the frequency of occurrence and the potential drivers of mitonuclear discordance in three additional freshwater monogonont rotifer taxa, and assessed its potential impact on the reliability of DNA taxonomy results based on commonly used single markers. We studied the cryptic species complexes of Keratella cochlearis, Polyarthra dolichoptera and Synchaeta pectinata. Phylogenetic reconstructions were based on the mitochondrial barcoding marker cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene and the nuclear internal transcribed spacer 1 locus, which currently represent the two most typical genetic markers used in rotifer DNA taxonomy. Species were delimited according to each marker separately using a combination of tree‐based coalescent, distance‐based and allele‐sharing‐based approaches. Mitonuclear discordance was observed in all species complexes with incomplete lineage sorting and unresolved phylogenetic reconstructions recognized as the likely drivers. Evidence from additional sources, such as morphology and ecology, is thus advisable for deciding between often contrasting mitochondrial and nuclear species scenarios in these organisms.
The Monetary Transmission Mechanism: An SVAR Analysis of the Four Municipalities in China
Authors: Wu Lili , Li Mingxu
Published: December 2017

This paper explores the role of housing markets in the transmission of monetary policy shocks across four Chinese municipalities, namely Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Chongqing. The analysis is based on identification of housing demand shocks, monetary policy shocks and credit supply shocks through a Structural Vector Autoregressive (SVAR) model estimated using monthly data for four cities from July 2005 to December 2015. The empirical results show great differences in the four cities as far as the housing market is concerned. They also indicate that housing plays a stronger role in the transmission of monetary policy shocks in Beijing and Shanghai than in Tianjin and Chongqing. These results are reasonably robust across several model specifications.
Medial gastrocnemius muscle stiffness cannot explain the increased ankle joint range of motion following passive stretching in children with cerebral palsy
Authors: Kalkman Barbara M. , Bar‐On Lynn , Cenni Francesco , Maganaris Constantinos N. , Bass Alfie , Holmes Gill , Desloovere Kaat , Barton Gabor J. , O'Brien Thomas D.
Published: December 2017

New Findings

What is the central question of this study?

Can the increased range of motion seen acutely after stretching in children with cerebral palsy be explained by changes in the stiffness of the medial gastrocnemius fascicles?

What is the main finding and its importance?

We show, for the first time, that passive muscle and tendon properties are not changed acutely after a single bout of stretching in children with cerebral palsy and, therefore, do not contribute to the increase in range of motion. This contradicts common belief and what happens in healthy adults.

Stretching is often used to increase or maintain the joint range of motion (ROM) in children with cerebral palsy (CP), but the effectiveness of these interventions is limited. Therefore, our aim was to determine the acute changes in muscle–tendon lengthening properties that contribute to increased ROM after a bout of stretching in children with CP. Eleven children with spastic CP [age 12.1 (3 SD) years, 5/6 hemiplegia/diplegia, 7/4 gross motor function classification system level I/II] participated. Each child received three sets of five × 20 s passive, manual static dorsiflexion stretches separated by 30 s rest, with 60 s rest between sets. Before and immediately after stretching, ultrasound was used to measure medial gastrocnemius fascicle lengthening continuously over the full ROM and an individual common ROM pre‐ to post‐stretching. Simultaneously, three‐dimensional motion of two marker clusters on the shank and the foot was captured to calculate ankle angle, and ankle joint torque was calculated from manually applied torques and forces on a six degrees‐of‐freedom load cell. After stretching, the ROM was increased [by 9.9 (12.0) deg, P = 0.005]. Over a ROM common to both pre‐ and post‐measurements, there were no changes in fascicle lengthening or torque. The maximal ankle joint torque tolerated by the participants increased [by 2.9 (2.4) N m, P = 0.003], and at this highest passive torque the maximal fascicle length was 2.8 (2.4) mm greater (P = 0.009) when compared with before stretching. These results indicate that the stiffness of the muscle fascicles in children with CP remains unaltered by an acute bout of stretching.
Collapsing chaos
Authors: Shahrear Pabel , Glass Leon , Edwards Roderick
Published: December 2017

Genetic networks play a fundamental role in the regulation and control of the development and function of organisms. A simple model of gene networks assumes that a gene can be switched on or off as regulatory inputs to the gene cross critical thresholds. In studies of dynamics of such networks, we found unusual dynamical behavior in which phase plane trajectories display irregular dynamics that shrink over long times. This observation leads us to identify a type of dynamics, that can be described as collapsing chaos, in which the Lyapunov exponent is positive, but points on the trajectory approach the origin in the long time limit.
Stability analysis of a compartmental SEIHRD model for the Ebola virus disease
Authors: Ngom Diène , Ivorra Benjamin , Ramos Ángel M.
Published: December 2017

In this work, we perform a stability analysis of a compartmental SEIHRD model. This model is a simplified version of a previous approach. In this previous work, we proposed an original deterministic spatial-temporal model, called Be-CoDiS (Between-Countries Disease Spread), to study the evolution of human diseases within and between countries. This model was validated by considering data from the 2014-16 West African Ebola Virus Disease epidemic. Here, considering some simplification assumptions in Be-CODIS, our goal is to study the equilibria of the model and their stability using the basic reproduction ratio as a threshold parameter. Finally, we validate the obtained results by considering some numerical experiments based on data from the 2014-16 West African Ebola Virus Disease epidemic.
Quasi atomic layer etching of SiO2 using plasma fluorination for surface cleaning
Authors: Koh Kyongbeom , Kim Yongjae , Kim Chang-Koo , Chae Heeyeop
Published: December 2017

In this work, quasi atomic layer etching process using surface fluorination was investigated for native oxide (SiO2) cleaning with CHF3, O2, and Ar in inductively coupled plasmas. SiO2 surface was fluorinated by fluorocarbon radicals generated from CHF3 plasma in the first step. In the following step, the fluorinated SiO2 was removed by O2 or Ar plasma. O2 plasma was used to minimize carbon contamination caused by fluorocarbon layer, and Ar plasma was used to prevent the risk of surface reoxidation by O2 plasma. The effects of various process variables were investigated such as radio frequency source power, bias power, and processing time of each step. As the exposure time of fluorination step increased, the etch rate increased gradually and saturated. As the exposure time of O2 plasma processing time increases, SiO2 removal rate was also saturated and self-limited characteristic was confirmed. For surface cleaning, the authors achieved the atomic layer removal rates of 6.8 Å/cycle with the controlled small source power of 25 W and with the bias power of 5 W. When Ar plasma was applied instead of O2 plasma for the SiO2 removal, the similar self-limited etch rate was achieved and the etch rate was 4.0 Å/cycle. The self-limited atomic layer etching process makes discrete removal rate control possible.
The Slap Shot in Ice Hockey
Authors: Cross Rod , Lindsey Crawford
Published: December 2017

An ice hockey player can strike a puck at speeds up to about 45 m/s (100 mph) using a technique known as the slap shot. There is nothing unusual about the speed, since golf balls, tennis balls, and baseballs can also be projected at that speed or even higher. The unusual part is that the player strikes the ice before striking the puck, causing the stick to slow down and to bend. If a tennis player or a golfer did something like that, by hitting the ground before hitting the ball, it would be classed as a miss-hit and the ball would probably dribble away at low speed. Nevertheless, there appears to be a significant advantage in hitting the ice before hitting the puck, otherwise hockey players would have learned from experience not to do that.
Fluorescence Spectra of Highlighter Inks
Authors: Birriel Jennifer J. , King Damon
Published: December 2017

Fluorescence spectra excited by laser pointers have been the subject of several papers in TPT. These papers all describe a fluorescence phenomenon in which the reflected laser light undergoes a change in color: this color change results from the combination of some partially reflected laser light and additional colors generated by fluorescent emission. Here we examine the fluorescence spectra of highlighter inks using green and violet laser pointers. We use an RSpec Explorer spectrometer to obtain spectra and compare the emission spectra of blue, green, yellow, orange, pink, and purple highlighters. The website Compound Interest details the chemical composition of highlighter inks; in addition, the site discusses how some base dye colors can be combined to produce the variety commercially available colors. Spectra obtained in this study were qualitatively consistent with the Compound Interest site. We discuss similarities and differences between various highlighter colors and conclude with the relevance of such studies to physics students.
Math Machines: Using Actuators in Physics Classes
Authors: Thomas Frederick J. , Chaney Robert A. , Gruesbeck Marta
Published: December 2017

Probeware (sensors combined with data-analysis software) is a well-established part of physics education. In engineering and technology, sensors are frequently paired with actuators—motors, heaters, buzzers, valves, color displays, medical dosing systems, and other devices that are activated by electrical signals to produce intentional physical change. This article describes how a 20-year project aimed at better integration of the STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) uses brief actuator activities in physics instruction. Math Machines “actionware” includes software and hardware that convert virtually any free-form, time-dependent algebraic function into the dynamic actions of a stepper motor, servo motor, or RGB (red, green, blue) color mixer. With wheels and a platform, the stepper motor becomes LACI, a programmable vehicle. Adding a low-power laser module turns the servo motor into a programmable Pointer. Adding a gear and platform can transform the Pointer into an earthquake simulator.
Using RSpec in an introductory bright star spectroscopy lab activity
Authors: Howe James , Sitar David J.
Published: December 2017

After presenting at the North Carolina Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers during the fall 2016 meeting, we were encouraged to turn our poster into a paper. This article describes the strengthening of a bright star spectroscopy lab activity for introductory astronomy lab students (AST1002) at Appalachian State University. Explanations of the tools and methods used in the activity are included, particularly the preparation of additional materials using RSpec and calibrated instrument response curves.
Plasma globe revisited
Authors: Lincoln James
Published: December 2017

The plasma globe or plasma ball is an underutilized resource for teaching the physics of electricity. It also offers a convenient source of electric field that can be used for demonstrations and experiments. Unlike the Van de Graaff generator, the plasma globe does not shock you and is essentially silent. Other authors have written up some of these activities, but the full potential of the plasma globe is generally not taken advantage of by most teachers. I hope that this article can bring more awareness to how this ubiquitous piece of novelty lighting can be an essential physics teaching apparatus.
Barriers and facilitators of physical activity in knee and hip osteoarthritis: a systematic review of qualitative evidence
Authors: Kanavaki Archontissa M , Rushton Alison , Efstathiou Nikolaos , Alrushud Asma , Klocke Rainer , Abhishek Abhishek , Duda Joan L
Published: December 2017

Physical activity (PA), including engagement in structured exercise, has a key role in the management of hip and knee osteoarthritis (OA). However, maintaining a physically active lifestyle is a challenge for people with OA. PA determinants in this population need to be understood better so that they can be optimised by public health or healthcare interventions and social policy changes.

Objectives

The primary aim of this study is to conduct a systematic review of the existing qualitative evidence on barriers and facilitators of PA for patients with hip or knee OA. Secondary objective is to explore differences in barriers and facilitators between (1) lifestyle PA and exercise and (2) PA uptake and maintenance.

Methods

Medline, Embase, Web of Science, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, SPORTDiscus, Scopus, Grey literature and qualitative journals were searched. Critical Appraisal Skills Programme—Qualitative checklist and Lincoln and Guba’s criteria were used for quality appraisal. Thematic synthesis was applied.

Findings

Ten studies were included, seven focusing on exercise regimes, three on overall PA. The findings showed a good fit with the biopsychosocial model of health. Aiming at symptom relief and mobility, positive exercise experiences and beliefs, knowledge, a ‘keep going’ attitude, adjusting and prioritising PA, having healthcare professionals’ and social support emerged as PA facilitators. Pain and physical limitations; non-positive PA experiences, beliefs and information; OA-related distress; a resigned attitude; lack of motivation, behavioural regulation, professional support and negative social comparison with coexercisers were PA barriers. All themes were supported by high and medium quality studies. Paucity of data did not allow for the secondary objectives to be explored.

Conclusion

Our findings reveal a complex interplay among physical, personal including psychological and social-environmental factors corresponding to the facilitation and hindrance of PA, particularly exercise, engagement. Further research on the efficacy of individualised patient education, psychological interventions or social policy change to promote exercise engagement and lifestyle PA in individuals with lower limb OA is required.

Trial registration number

CRD42016030024.
Is sexual minority status associated with poor sleep quality among adolescents? Analysis of a national cross-sectional survey in Chinese adolescents
Authors: Li Pengsheng , Huang Yeen , Guo Lan , Wang Wanxin , Xi Chuhao , Lei Yiling , Luo Min , Pan Siyuan , Deng Xueqing , Zhang Wei-hong , Lu Ciyong
Published: December 2017

Objectives

Recent studies have suggested that sexual minorities are more likely to have poor sleep quality. This study aims to explore sleep quality among sexual minority adolescents and examines the association between sexual minority status and sleep quality.

Design

Cross-sectional survey.

Setting

A total of 506 high schools in seven Chinese provinces.

Participants

A total of 150 822 students in grades 7–12 completed the questionnaires, and 123 459 students who reported being aware of their sexual orientation were included in analyses.

Main outcome measures

The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, sexual attraction and school bullying victimisation.

Results

Of the 123 459 students who were analysed, 5.00% self-reported as sexual minorities. Only 26.67% of sexual minority students slept 8 or more hours/day, which is less than their heterosexual peers (35.70%; χ2=130.04, P<0.001). Of the total sample, 22.41% of the students reported poor sleep quality, and this prevalence was significantly higher in sexual minority students than in heterosexual students (32.56% vs 21.87%; χ2=281.70, P<0.001). After controlling for social demographics, lifestyle and depressive symptoms, sexual minority students had higher odds of poor sleep quality (adjusted OR=1.41, 95% CI 1.31 to 1.51) than their heterosexual peers. The indirect effect of school bullying victimisation (standardised β estimate=0.007, 95% CI 0.006 to 0.009) was significant, indicating that school bullying victimisation partially mediated the association between sexual minority status and sleep quality.

Conclusions

Our study suggested that poor sleep quality was common in sexual minority adolescents, and more attention should be paid to sleep problems in this population. Conducting interventions to reduce school bullying behaviours is an important step to improving sleep quality in sexual minority adolescents. Further, studies are warranted that focus on the risk factors and mechanisms of and interventions for sleep problems in sexual minority adolescents.
Chronic non-bacterial osteitis from the patient perspective: a health services research through data collected from patient conferences
Authors: Silier Colen Cooper Gore , Greschik Justina , Gesell Susanne , Grote Veit , Jansson Annette F
Published: December 2017

Objective

Although chronic non-bacterial osteitis (CNO) is an ever-increasingly recognised illness in the paediatric community and the adult healthcare community, a study to assess diagnosing, treatment and the psychosocial aspect of CNO from a large population pool was not available. We aimed to investigate CNO from the patient perspective.

Design

Health services research, patient survey.

Setting

Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) Pediatric Rheumatology Department CNO Conferences held in June 2013 and June 2015.

Participants

Using a patient survey developed by the LMU Pediatric Rheumatology Department, 105 patients from ages 5 to 63 years were assessed regarding CNO to include epidemiological data, medical history and treatment, initial symptoms, diagnostic procedures, current symptoms, associated diseases, current treating physicians, absences in school and work due to illness and the impact of illness on patient, family and friends.

Results

Active CNO was reported in 90% of patients present, with 73% being women and 27% being men. An overwhelming majority (70%) reported being diagnosed within 18 months of onset of symptoms; however, the initial diagnoses were wide-ranged to include malignancies in 36% to bacterial osteomyelitis in 30%, where the majority were treated with an antibiotic and/or were biopsied. When asked about the psychosocial aspect of this illness, 83% reported that non-bacterial osteitis (NBO) negatively impacted the family, 79% reported that NBO has negatively affected either school or work and 56% reported a negative impact on friendships.

Conclusion

Delay of diagnosis, living with differential diagnoses like malignancies and finding specialists for medical care are a few examples of what leads patients into searching for more information. The negative impact on daily life including family relationships, friendships and work/school highlights a need for better psychosocial support such as guidance counselling or psychological support due to three-quarters of patients receiving no such said support.
ABC Index: quantifying experienced burden of COPD in a discrete choice experiment and predicting costs
Authors: Goossens Lucas MA , Rutten-van Mölken Maureen PMH , Boland Melinde RS , Donkers Bas , Jonker Marcel F , Slok Annerika HM , Salomé Philippe L , van Schayck Onno CP , in ’t Veen Johannes CCM , Stolk Elly A
Published: December 2017

Objective

The Assessment of Burden of COPD (ABC) tool supports shared decision making between patient and caregiver. It includes a coloured balloon diagram to visualise patients’ scores on burden indicators. We aim to determine the importance of each indicator from a patient perspective, in order to calculate a weighted index score and investigate whether that score is predictive of costs.

Design

Discrete choice experiment.

Setting and participants

Primary care and secondary care in the Netherlands. 282 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and 252 members of the general public participated.

Methods

Respondents received 14 choice questions and indicated which of two health states was more severe. Health states were described in terms of specific symptoms, limitations in physical, daily and social activities, mental problems, fatigue and exacerbations, most of which had three levels of severity. Weights for each item-level combination were derived from a Bayesian mixed logit model. Weights were rescaled to construct an index score from 0 (best) to 100 (worst). Regression models were used to find a classification of this index score in mild, moderate and severe that was discriminative in terms of healthcare costs.

Results

Fatigue, limitations in moderate physical activities, number of exacerbations, dyspnoea at rest and fear of breathing getting worse contributed most to the burden of disease. Patients assigned less weight to dyspnoea during exercise, listlessness and limitations with regard to strenuous activities. Respondents from the general public mostly agreed. Mild, moderate and severe burden of disease were defined as scores <20, 20–39 and ≥40. This categorisation was most predictive of healthcare utilisation and annual costs: €1368, €2510 and €9885, respectively.

Conclusions

The ABCIndex is a new index score for the burden of COPD, which is based on patients’ preferences. The classification of the index score into mild, moderate and severe is predictive of future healthcare costs.

Trial registration number

NTR3788; Post-results.
BRain health and healthy AgeINg in retired rugby union players, the BRAIN Study: study protocol for an observational study in the UK
Authors: Gallo Valentina , McElvenny Damien , Hobbs Catherine , Davoren Donna , Morris Huw , Crutch Sebastian , Zetterberg Henrik , Fox Nick C , Kemp Simon , Cross Matthew , Arden Nigel K , Davies Madeleine A M , Malaspina Andrea , Pearce Neil
Published: December 2017

Introduction

Relatively little is known about the long-term health of former elite rugby players, or former sportspeople more generally. As well as the potential benefits of being former elite sportspersons, there may be potential health risks from exposures occurring during an individual’s playing career, as well as following retirement. Each contact sport has vastly different playing dynamics, therefore exposing its players to different types of potential traumas. Current evidence suggests that these are not necessarily comparable in terms of pathophysiology, and their potential long-term adverse effects might also differ. There is currently limited but increasing evidence that poorer age-related and neurological health exists among former professional sportsmen exposed to repetitive concussions; however the evidence is limited on rugby union players, specifically.

Methods and analysis

We present the protocol for a cross-sectional study to assess the association between self-reported history of concussion during a playing career, and subsequent measures of healthy ageing and neurological and cognitive impairment. We are recruiting a sample of approximately 200 retired rugby players (former Oxford and Cambridge University rugby players and members of the England Rugby International Club) aged 50 years or more, and collecting a number of general and neurological health-related outcome measures though validated assessments. Biomarkers of neurodegeneration (neurofilaments and tau) will be also be measured. Although the study is focusing on rugby union players specifically, the general study design and the methods for assessing neurological health are likely to be relevant to other studies of former elite sportspersons.

Ethics and dissemination

The study has been approved by the Ethical Committee of London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (reference: 11634-2). It is intended that results of this study will be published in peer-reviewed medical journals, communicated to participants, the general public and all relevant stakeholders.
Feasibility of 2-D ultrasound shear wave elastography of fetal lungs in case of threatened preterm labour: a study protocol
Authors: Mottet Nicolas , Aubry Sébastien , Vidal Chrystelle , Boiteux Guillaume , Metz Jean-Patrick , Riethmuller Didier , Pazart Lionel , Ramanah Rajeev
Published: December 2017

Introduction

2-D ultrasound shear wave elastography (SWE) could be considered as a new noninvasive tool for monitoring fetal lung development based on evaluation of mechanical properties during pregnancy. Interesting results are available concerning the use of SWE on developing organs, especially on premature infants and animal models. The main objective in this study is to evaluate the feasibility of 2-D SWE in human fetal lungs between 24 and 34 weeks of gestation (WG). The secondary objective is to modellise fetal lung-to-liver elastography ratio (LLE ratio) and to assess variations between normal lung and lung surfactant-enriched after a corticosteroids course indicated for a threatened preterm labour (TPL).

Methods/design

A prospective case-control study will be performed between 24 and 34 WG. Fetal lungs and liver will be explored by SWE into two groups: fetuses of women with an uncomplicated pregnancy (control group) and fetuses of women with a TPL requiring administration of corticosteroids (cases group). LLE ratio will be defined as the value of the lung elasticity divided by the value of the liver elasticity.

Primary judgement criterion is the value of elasticity modulus expressed in kilopascal. Lungs and liver will be explored through three measurements to define the most reproducible regions with the lowest intra- and inter-observer variability. Feasibility will be evaluated by assessing the number of examinations performed and the number of examinations with interpretable results. Intra- and inter-observer reproducibility will be evaluated by means of the intra-class correlation coefficient.

Ethics and dissemination

Approval of the study protocol was obtained from the human ethical research committee (Comité de Protection des Personnes EST II, process number 15/494) and the French National Agency for Medicines and Health Products Safety (process number 2015-A01575-44). All participants will sign a statement of informed consent.

Trial registration number

NCT02870608; Recruiting.
Comparing the diagnostic accuracy of five common tumour biomarkers and CA19-9 for pancreatic cancer: a protocol for a network meta-analysis of diagnostic test accuracy
Authors: Ge Long , Pan Bei , Song Fujian , Ma Jichun , Zeraatkar Dena , Zhou Jianguo , Tian Jinhui
Published: December 2017

Introduction

Surgical resection is the only curative treatment for patients with resectable pancreatic cancer. Unfortunately, 80%–85% of patients present with locally advanced or metastatic unresectable pancreatic cancer at the time of diagnosis. Detection of pancreatic cancer at early stages remains a great challenge due to lack of accurate detection tests. Recommendations in existing clinical practice guidelines on early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer are inconsistent and based on limited evidence. Most of them endorse measuring serum CA19-9 as a complementary test, but also state that it is not recommended for diagnosing early pancreatic cancer. There are currently no other tumour-specific markers recommended for diagnosing early pancreatic cancer. This study aims to evaluate and compare the accuracy of five common tumour biomarkers (CA242,carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA)), CA125, microRNAs and K-ras gene mutation) and CA19-9 and their combinations for diagnosing pancreatic cancer using network meta-analysis method, and to rank these tests using a superiority index.

Methods and analysis

PubMed, EMBASE and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials will be searched from inception to April 2017. The search will include the above-mentioned tumour biomarkers for diagnosing pancreatic cancer, including CA19-9. The risk of bias for each study will be independently assessed as low, moderate or high using criteria adapted from the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies 2. Network meta-analysis will be performed using STATA V.12.0 and R software V.3.4.1. The competing diagnostic tests will be ranked by a superiority index.

Ethics and dissemination

Ethical approval and patient consent are not required since this study is a network meta-analysis based on published studies. The results of this network meta-analysis will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal for publication.

PROSPERO registration number

CRD42017064627.
Senior high-cost healthcare users’ resource utilization and outcomes: a protocol of a retrospective matched cohort study in Canada
Authors: Muratov Sergei , Lee Justin , Holbrook Anne , Paterson J Michael , Guertin Jason Robert , Mbuagbaw Lawrence , Gomes Tara , Khuu Wayne , Pequeno Priscila , Costa Andrew P , Tarride Jean-Eric
Published: December 2017

Introduction

Senior high-cost users (HCUs) are estimated to represent 60% of all HCUs in Ontario, Canada’s most populous province. To improve our understanding of individual and health system characteristics related to senior HCUs, we will examine incident senior HCUs to determine their incremental healthcare utilisation and costs, characteristics of index hospitalisation episodes, mortality and their regional variation across Ontario.

Methods and analysis

A retrospective, population-based cohort study using administrative healthcare records will be used. Incident senior HCUs will be defined as Ontarians aged ≥66 years who were in the top 5% of healthcare cost users during fiscal year 2013 but not during fiscal year 2012. Each HCU will be matched to three non-HCUs by age, sex and health planning region. Incremental healthcare use and costs will be determined using the method of recycled predictions. We will apply multivariable logistic regression to determine patient and health service factors associated with index hospitalisation and inhospital mortality during the incident year. The most common causes of admission will be identified and contrasted with the most expensive hospitalised conditions. We will also calculate the ratio of inpatient costs incurred through admissions of ambulatory care sensitive conditions to the total inpatient expenditures. The magnitude of variation in costs and health service utilisation will be established by calculating the extremal quotient, the coefficient of variation and the Gini mean difference for estimates obtained through multilevel regression analyses.

Ethics and dissemination

This study has been approved by Hamilton Integrated Research Ethics Board (ID#1715-C). The results of the study will be distributed through peer-reviewed journals. They also will be disseminated at research events in academic settings, national and international conferences as well as with presentations to provincial health authorities.
Is computer-assisted instruction more effective than other educational methods in achieving ECG competence among medical students and residents? Protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Viljoen Charle André , Scott Millar Rob , Engel Mark E , Shelton Mary , Burch Vanessa
Published: December 2017

Introduction

Although ECG interpretation is an essential skill in clinical medicine, medical students and residents often lack ECG competence. Novel teaching methods are increasingly being implemented and investigated to improve ECG training. Computer-assisted instruction is one such method under investigation; however, its efficacy in achieving better ECG competence among medical students and residents remains uncertain.

Methods and analysis

This article describes the protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis that will compare the effectiveness of computer-assisted instruction with other teaching methods used for the ECG training of medical students and residents. Only studies with a comparative research design will be considered. Articles will be searched for in electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Academic Search Premier, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Education Resources Information Center, Africa-Wide Information and Teacher Reference Center). In addition, we will review citation indexes and conduct a grey literature search. Data extraction will be done on articles that met the predefined eligibility criteria. A descriptive analysis of the different teaching modalities will be provided and their educational impact will be assessed in terms of effect size and the modified version of Kirkpatrick framework for the evaluation of educational interventions. This systematic review aims to provide evidence as to whether computer-assisted instruction is an effective teaching modality for ECG training. It is hoped that the information garnered from this systematic review will assist in future curricular development and improve ECG training.

Ethics and dissemination

As this research is a systematic review of published literature, ethical approval is not required. The results will be reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis statement and will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal. The protocol and systematic review will be included in a PhD dissertation.

PROSPERO registration number

CRD42017067054; Pre-results.
Assessment of bullet effectiveness based on a human vulnerability model
Authors: Liu Susu , Xu C , Wen Y , Li G , Zhou J
Published: December 2017

Introduction

Penetrating wounds from explosively propelled fragments and bullets are the most common causes of combat injury. There is a requirement to assess the potential effectiveness of bullets penetrating human tissues in order to optimise preventive measures and wound trauma management.

Methods

An advanced voxel model based on the Chinese Visible Human data was built. A digital human vulnerability model was established in combination with wound reconstruction and vulnerability assessment rules, in which wound penetration profiles were obtained by recreating the penetration of projectiles into ballistic gelatin. An effectiveness evaluation method of bullet penetration using the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) was developed and solved using the Monte Carlo sampling method.

Results

The effectiveness of rifle bullets was demonstrated to increase with increasing velocity in the range of 300–700 m/s. When imparting the same energy, the effectiveness of the 5.56 mm bullet was higher than the 7.62 mm bullet in this model.

Conclusions

The superimposition of simulant penetration profiles produced from ballistic gelatin simulant has been used to predict wound tracts in damaged tissues. The authors recognise that determining clinical effectiveness based on the AIS scores alone without verification of outcome by review of clinical hospital records means that this technique should be seen more as a manner of comparing the effectiveness of bullets than an injury prediction model.
Equilibrium Conditions of a Logistics Service Supply Chain with a New Smoothing Algorithm
Authors: Liu Wei , He Chan
Published: December 2017

In this paper, we develop a logistics service supply chain network equilibrium model in which four tiers of decision makers (logistics service subcontractors (LSS), logistics service providers (LSP), logistics services integrators (LSI) and logistics service demand sides (LSD)) seek to determine their respective optimal conditions, with the LSI holding a leading position. We model the optimizing behavior of decision-makers, with the LSI being multicriteria decision-makers which are concerned with both profit maximization and risk minimization. We derive the equilibrium conditions and establish the finite-dimensional variational inequality (VI) formulation. A new smoothing self-adaptive L-M algorithm is established to solve this problems. Finally, we illustrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the model by an example.
Maximally supersymmetric Yang–Mills on the lattice
Authors: Schaich David , Catterall Simon
Published: December 2017

We summarize recent progress in lattice studies of four-dimensional [Formula: see text] supersymmetric Yang–Mills theory and present preliminary results from ongoing investigations. Our work is based on a construction that exactly preserves a single supersymmetry at non-zero lattice spacing, and we review a new procedure to regulate flat directions by modifying the moduli equations in a manner compatible with this supersymmetry. This procedure defines an improved lattice action that we have begun to use in numerical calculations. We discuss some highlights of these investigations, including the static potential and an update on the question of a possible sign problem in the lattice theory.
Large-scale magnetic fields, non-Gaussianity, and gravitational waves from inflation
Authors: Bamba Kazuharu
Published: December 2017

We explore the generation of large-scale magnetic fields in the so-called moduli inflation. The hypercharge electromagnetic fields couple to not only a scalar field but also a pseudoscalar one, so that the conformal invariance of the hypercharge electromagnetic fields can be broken. We explicitly analyze the strength of the magnetic fields on the Hubble horizon scale at the present time, the local non-Gaussianity of the curvature perturbations originating from the massive gauge fields, and the tensor-to-scalar ratio of the density perturbations. As a consequence, we find that the local non-Gaussianity and the tensor-to-scalar ratio are compatible with the recent Planck results.
Old wine in a new bottle: Technidilaton as the 125 GeV Higgs
Authors: Yamawaki Koichi
Published: December 2017

The first Nagoya SCGT workshop back in 1988 (SCGT 88) was motivated by the walking technicolor and technidilaton. Now at SCGT15 I returned to the “old wine” in “a new bottle”, the recently discovered 125 Higgs boson as the technidilaton. We show that the Standard Model (SM) Higgs Lagrangian is identical to the nonlinear realization of both the scale and chiral symmetries (“scale-invariant nonlinear sigma model”), and is further gauge equivalent to the “scale-invariant Hidden Local Symmetry (HLS) model” having possible new vector bosons as the HLS gauge bosons with scale-invariant mass: SM Higgs is nothing but a (pseudo) dilaton. The effective theory of the walking technicolor has precisely the same type of the scale-invariant nonlinear sigma model, thus further having the scale-invariant HLS gauge bosons (technirho’s, etc.). The technidilaton mass [Formula: see text] comes from the trace anomaly, which yields [Formula: see text] via PCDC, in the underlying walking [Formula: see text] gauge theory with [Formula: see text] massless flavors, where [Formula: see text] is the the decay constant and [Formula: see text]. This implies [Formula: see text] for [Formula: see text] in the one-family walking technicolor model [Formula: see text], in good agreement with the current LHC Higgs data. In the anti-Veneziano limit, [Formula: see text], with [Formula: see text]fixed and [Formula: see text]fixed [Formula: see text], we have a result: [Formula: see text]. Then the technidilaton is a naturally light composite Higgs out of the strongly coupled conformal dynamics, with its couplings even weaker than the SM Higgs. Related holographic and lattice results are also discussed. In particular, such a light flavor-singlet scalar does exists in the lattice simulations in the walking regime.
Summary talk — SCGT15
Authors: Georgi Howard
Published: December 2017

In this brief talk, I will try to focus on the things that happened at the conference that seemed very important, but that I didn’t understand.
Electrical conduction hysteresis in carbon black–filled butyl rubber compounds
Authors: Alzamil M. A. , Alfaramawi K. , Abboudy S. , Abulnasr L.
Published: December 2017

Temperature and concentration dependence of electrical resistance of butyl rubber filled with GPF carbon black was carried out. Current–voltage (I–V) characteristics at room-temperature were also investigated. The I–V characteristics show that the behavior is linear at small voltages up to approximately 0.15 V and currents up to 0.05 mA indicating that the conduction mechanism was probably due to electron tunneling from the end of conductive path to the other one under the action of the applied electric field. At higher voltages, a nonlinear behavior was noticed. The nonlinearity was attributed to the joule heating effects.

Electrical resistance of the butyl/GPF composites was measured as a function of temperature during heating and cooling cycles from 300 K and upward to a specific temperature. When the specimens were heated up, the resistance was observed to increase continuously with the rise of temperature. However, when the samples were cooled down, the resistance was observed to decrease following a different path. The presence of conduction hysteresis behavior in the resistance–temperature curves during the heating and cooling cycles was then verified. The electrical conduction of the composite system is supposed to follow an activation conduction mechanism. Activation energy was calculated at different filler concentrations for both the heating and cooling processes.
Optimal recovery of multivariate functions restricted by second-order differential operator
Authors: Gu Yi , Liu Yongping
Published: December 2017

We consider the class of functions on a convex body in [Formula: see text], which are uniformly bounded by some second-order differential operator in any direction, and the class of periodic functions with respect to a full-rank lattice [Formula: see text], which have the same restriction in any direction. We study the optimal recovery problems of these classes and obtain the estimate of the optimal algorithm that recovers functions with their values and gradient values at [Formula: see text] nodes, respectively.
Dynamic Programming Approach to Load Estimation Using Optimal Sensor Placement and Model Reduction
Authors: Gupta Deepak K. , Dhingra Anoop K.
Published: December 2017

A time-domain technique for estimating dynamic loads acting on a structure from structural response measured experimentally at a finite number of optimally placed sensors on the structure is presented. The technique relies on an existing solution method based on dynamic programming, which consists of a backward (inverse) time sweeping phase followed by a forward time sweeping phase. The dynamic programming method of load identification, similar to all other inverse methods, suffers from ill-conditioning. Small variations (noise) in response measurements can cause large errors in load estimates. The condition of the inverse problem, and hence the quality of load estimates, depends on the locations of sensors on the structure. There can be a large number of locations on a structure where sensors can potentially be mounted. A D-optimal design algorithm is used to arrive at optimal sensor locations such that the condition of the inverse problem is improved and precise load estimates are obtained. Another major limitation of the dynamic programming technique is that the computation time increases dramatically as the model size increases. To deal with this shortcoming, a technique based on Craig–Bampton model reduction is also proposed in this paper. Numerical results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique in accurately recovering the loads imposed on discrete as well as continuous systems.
Pipelined Parallel Join and Its FPGA-Based Acceleration
Authors: Yoshimi Masato , Oge Yasin , Yoshinaga Tsutomu
Published: December 2017

A huge amount of data is being generated and accumulated in data centers, which leads to an important increase in the required energy consumption to analyze these data. Thus, we must consider the redesign of current computer systems architectures to be more friendly to applications based on distributed algorithms that require a high data transfer rate.

Novel computer architectures that introduce dedicated accelerators to enable near-data processing have been discussed and developed for high-speed big-data analysis. In this work, we propose a computer system with an FPGA-based accelerator, namely, interconnected-FPGAs, which offers two advantages: (1) direct data transmission and (2) offloading computation into data-flow in the FPGA. In this article, we demonstrate the capability of the proposed interconnected-FPGAs system to accelerate join operations in a relational database. We developed a new parallel join algorithm, PPJoin, targeted to big-data analysis in a shared-nothing architecture. PPJoin is an extended version of the NUMA-based parallel join algorithm, created by overlapping computation by multicore processors and data communication. The data communication between computational nodes can be accelerated by direct data transmission without passing through the main memory of the hosts. To confirm the performance of the PPJoin algorithm and its acceleration process using an interconnected-FPGA platform, we evaluated a simple query for large tables. Additionally, to support availability, we also evaluated the actual benchmark query. Our evaluation results confirm that the PPJoin algorithm is faster than a software-based query engine by 1.5--5 times. Moreover, we experimentally confirmed that the direct data transmission by interconnected FPGAs reduces computational time around 20% for PPJoin.