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Many clinical trials leverage real-world data. Typically, these data are manually abstracted from electronic health records (EHRs) and entered into electronic case report forms (CRFs), a time and labor-intensive process that is also error-prone and may miss information. Automated transfer of data from EHRs to eCRFs has the potential to reduce data abstraction and entry burden as well as improve data quality and safety.
Methods:
We conducted a test of automated EHR-to-CRF data transfer for 40 participants in a clinical trial of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. We determined which coordinator-entered data could be automated from the EHR (coverage), and the frequency with which the values from the automated EHR feed and values entered by study personnel for the actual study matched exactly (concordance).
Results:
The automated EHR feed populated 10,081/11,952 (84%) coordinator-completed values. For fields where both the automation and study personnel provided data, the values matched exactly 89% of the time. Highest concordance was for daily lab results (94%), which also required the most personnel resources (30 minutes per participant). In a detailed analysis of 196 instances where personnel and automation entered values differed, both a study coordinator and a data analyst agreed that 152 (78%) instances were a result of data entry error.
Conclusions:
An automated EHR feed has the potential to significantly decrease study personnel effort while improving the accuracy of CRF data.
We examine the Holocene loess record in the Heye Catchment on the margins of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and China Loess Plateau (CLP) to determine: the region to which the Heye Catchment climate is more similar; temporal change in wind strength; and modification of the loess record by mass wasting and human activity. Luminescence and radiocarbon dating demonstrate loess deposited in two periods: >11–8.6 ka and <5.1 ka. The 8.6–5.1 ka depositional hiatus, which coincides with the Mid-Holocene Climatic Optimum, is more similar to the loess deposition cessation in the TP than to the loess deposition deceleration in the CLP. Grain-size analysis suggests the Heye loess is a mixture of at least three different grain-size distributions and that it may derive from multiple sources. A greater proportion of coarse sediments in the older loess may indicate stronger winds compared with the more recent depositional period. Gravel incorporated into younger loess most likely comes from bedrock exposed in slump scarps. Human occupation of the catchment, for which the earliest evidence is 3.4 ka, postdates the onset of slumping; thus the slumps may have created a livable environment for humans.
OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: The goal of this study is to develop an effective and efficient STI preventive intervention among college students following the principles and phases of MOST. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION As part of the preparation phase, an explicit conceptual model, drawing heavily on theory and prior research, was used to translate the existing science into 5 candidate intervention components (ie, descriptive norms, injunctive norms, expectancies, perceived benefits of protective behavioral strategies, and self-efficacy). For the optimization phase, in Fall 2016 all first-year students (n=3547) from 4 universities were recruited to participate. Students were randomized to 1 of 32 different experimental conditions that included a combination of the candidate intervention components. Component effectiveness was evaluated using data from an immediate post-intervention survey on respective component mediators (eg, alcohol and sex-related descriptive norms). After a second factorial experiment (Fall 2017), only those intervention components that meet the pre-specified criteria of day ≥0.15 will be included in the optimized intervention. The evaluation phase will evaluate the effectiveness of the optimized STI preventive intervention via a randomized-control trial (Fall 2018). RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Preliminary results from the first factorial experiment suggest that descriptive norms and injunctive norms intervention components were significantly effective in reducing post-intervention perceived alcohol prevalence (β=−0.28, p<0.001) and approval of alcohol (β=−0.33, p<0.001), and sex-related norms (β=−0.23, p<.001). These results, in combination with process data, are being used to inform revisions of the intervention components to be included in a second factorial screening experiment. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: This study demonstrates how an iterative approach to engineering an STI preventive intervention using MOST can affect the behaviors of college students and serve as a foundation for other translational science.
The relationship between depression and sexual behaviour among men who have sex with men (MSM) is poorly understood.
Aims
To investigate prevalence and correlates of depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire-9 score ≥10) and the relationship between depressive symptoms and sexual behaviour among MSM reporting recent sex.
Method
The Attitudes to and Understanding of Risk of Acquisition of HIV (AURAH) is a cross-sectional study of UK genitourinary medicine clinic attendees without diagnosed HIV (2013–2014).
Results
Among 1340 MSM, depressive symptoms (12.4%) were strongly associated with socioeconomic disadvantage and lower supportive network. Adjusted for key sociodemographic factors, depressive symptoms were associated with measures of condomless sex partners in the past 3 months (≥2 (prevalence ratio (PR) 1.42, 95% CI 1.17–1.74; P=0.001), unknown or HIV-positive status (PR 1.43, 95% CI 1.20–1.71; P<0.001)), sexually transmitted infection (STI) diagnosis (PR 1.46, 95% CI 1.19–1.79; P<0.001) and post-exposure prophylaxis use in the past year (PR 1.83, 95% CI 1.33–2.50; P<0.001).
Conclusions
Management of mental health may play a role in HIV and STI prevention.
Additive experiments were performed to determine optimum densities for nematode-suppressive cover crops to extend the benefit from the cover crops by also using them for weed suppression. In a preliminary experiment in 2002, a range of cover-crop densities was evaluated in mixtures with smooth pigweed at 5 plants m−2. Smooth pigweed biomass accumulation was suppressed by cowpea, sunn hemp, and velvetbean at the lowest cover-crop populations (38, 44, and 15 plants m−2, respectively). Based on these results, experiments were conducted in 2003 at two locations to examine the effects of lower cover-crop densities on a higher smooth pigweed population density of 15 plants m−2. Cowpea and velvetbean densities ranged from 10 to 50 plants m−2 and sunn hemp from 20 to 100 plants m−2. In 2003, cowpea density had no effect on smooth pigweed biomass. However, smooth pigweed biomass declined linearly by 51% as sunn hemp density increased to 100 plants m−2. Similarly, as velvetbean densities increased, smooth pigweed biomass decreased showing a linear response at one location and quadratic response at the second location. Maximum suppression of smooth pigweed biomass by velvetbean occurred at the highest cover-crop density (50 plants m−2). Excellent suppression of smooth pigweed at 5 plants m−2 or fewer will result in densities of 38, 44, and 15 plants m−2 of cowpea, sunn hemp, and velvetbean. However, with smooth pigweed at 15 plants m−2, optimum cover-crop densities were not obtained because no suppression was obtained with cowpea, and the lowest weed biomass with sunn hemp and velvetbean occurred with the highest densities used. Therefore, when high smooth pigweed densities are expected, sunn hemp and velvetbean should be used at densities greater than 100 and 50 plants m−2, respectively, and further study with higher densities will be needed to define optima.
Greenhouse replacement-series experiments were conducted to evaluate the competitiveness of cowpea, sunn hemp, and velvetbean when grown in combination with yellow nutsedge and smooth pigweed. The effect of the cover crop species on yellow nutsedge tuber production was also evaluated. Cowpea and velvetbean were equally competitive with yellow nutsedge, but sunn hemp was less competitive. Although sunn hemp height was double that of cowpea or velvetbean, photosynthetically active radiation penetrating to the soil surface was twofold to eightfold greater than with the other two species. Leaf area per plant with sunn hemp monocultures were only 63 to 70% of cowpea and 37 to 41% of velvetbean. Increasing the proportion of cover crops in crop : weed mixtures did not significantly affect nutsedge tuber number per plant or tuber weight per plant. Cowpea was more competitive than smooth pigweed, whereas both sunn hemp and velvetbean were less competitive than smooth pigweed. The utility and efficacy of leguminous cover crop species for nutsedge and smooth pigweed suppression do not appear to be due to inherent competitiveness. Until cultivars that are more competitive become available, cultural measures should be employed that enhance cover crop modification of soil environmental conditions to minimize weed seed germination and vegetative propagule sprouting.
Edited by
Jean Andrews, Associate Professor in the Department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies, University of Nottingham,Isabel Torres, Professor of Spanish Golden Age Literature at Queen's University, Belfast
Edited by
Jean Andrews, Associate Professor in the Department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies, University of Nottingham,Isabel Torres, Professor of Spanish Golden Age Literature at Queen's University, Belfast
Edited by
Jean Andrews, Associate Professor in the Department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies, University of Nottingham,Isabel Torres, Professor of Spanish Golden Age Literature at Queen's University, Belfast
Edited by
Jean Andrews, Associate Professor in the Department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies, University of Nottingham,Isabel Torres, Professor of Spanish Golden Age Literature at Queen's University, Belfast
Edited by
Jean Andrews, Associate Professor in the Department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies, University of Nottingham,Isabel Torres, Professor of Spanish Golden Age Literature at Queen's University, Belfast
Edited by
Jean Andrews, Associate Professor in the Department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies, University of Nottingham,Isabel Torres, Professor of Spanish Golden Age Literature at Queen's University, Belfast
Edited by
Jean Andrews, Associate Professor in the Department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies, University of Nottingham,Isabel Torres, Professor of Spanish Golden Age Literature at Queen's University, Belfast
Edited by
Jean Andrews, Associate Professor in the Department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies, University of Nottingham,Isabel Torres, Professor of Spanish Golden Age Literature at Queen's University, Belfast
The fourteen essays of this volume engage in distinct ways with the matter of motion in early modern Spanish poetics, without limiting the dialectic of stasis and movement to any single sphere or manifestation. Interrogation of the interdependence of tradition and innovation, poetry, power and politics, shifting signifiers, the intersection of topography and deviant temporalities, the movement between the secular and the sacred, tensions between centres and peripheries, issues of manuscript circulation and reception, poetic calls and echoes across continents and centuries, and between creative writing and reading subjects, all demonstrate that Helgerson's central notion of conspicuous movement is relevant beyond early sixteenth-century secular poetics, By opening it up we approximate a better understanding of poetry's flexible spatio-temporal co-ordinates in a period of extraordinary historical circumstances and conterminous radical cultural transformation. Los catorce ensayos de este volumen conectan de una manera perceptible con el tema del movimiento en la poesía española del siglo de oro, sin limitar la dialéctica de la estasis y movimiento a una sola esfera o manifestación única. Entre los multiples enfoques cabe destacar: el cuestionamiento de la interdependencia de la tradición e inovación, de la poesía, del poder y la política, de los significantes que se transforman, de los espacios que conectan y cruzan con los tiempos 'desviados'; análisis de las tensiones entre lo sagrado y lo secular, del conflicto centro-periferia y del complejo sistema de producción, circulación y recepción de los manuscritos; el diálogo con el eco poético a través de los siglos y de los continentes y la construcción creativa del sujeto escritor y/o lector. Al abrir la noción central de Helgerson del "movimiento conspicuo" más allá de la poesía nueva secular, este libro propone un entendimiento más completo de las coordinadas espacio-temporales de la poesía en un periodo de circunstancias históricas extrao. Jean Andrews is Associate Professor in the Department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies, University of Nottingham. Isabel Torres is Professor of Spanish Golden Age Literature at Queen's University, Belfast. Contributors: Jean Andrews, Dana Bultman, Noelia Cirnigliaro, Marsha Collins, Trevor J. Dadson, Aurora Egido, Verónica Grossi, Anne Holloway, Mark J. Mascia, Terence O'Reilly, Carmen Peraita, Amanda Powell, Colin Thompson, Isabel Torres.
It is known that Fe deficiency has a negative impact on cognitive function in children by altering brain energy metabolism and neurotransmitter function. It is unclear whether Fe deficiency has detrimental effects on cognition, mental health and fatigue in women of childbearing age. Our aim was to systematically review the literature to determine whether Fe deficiency in women of childbearing age affects cognition, mental health and fatigue, and whether a change in Fe status results in improvements in cognition, mental health and fatigue. Studies using Fe supplement interventions were reviewed to examine the effect of Fe deficiency in women of childbearing age (13–45 years) on their cognition, mental health and fatigue. English-language articles ranging from the earliest record to the year 2011 were sourced. The quality of retrieved articles was assessed and the Fe pathology, cognitive, mental health and fatigue data were extracted. Means and standard deviations from cognitive test data were included in meta-analyses of combined effects. Of the 1348 studies identified, ten were included in the review. Three studies showed poorer cognition and mental health scores and increased fatigue with Fe deficiency at baseline. Seven studies reported an improvement in cognitive test scores after Fe treatment. Results of three of these studies were included in meta-analyses of the effect of Fe supplement intervention on cognition. The results of the meta-analyses showed a significant improvement in Arithmetic scores after treatment (P < 0·01), but no effect on Digit Symbol, Digit Span or Block Design. While an improvement in cognition after Fe treatment was seen in seven out of ten studies, the evidence base is limited by poor study quality and heterogeneity across studies. Additional high-quality studies using consistent measures are warranted.
Studies in adults with multiple sclerosis (MS) have associated regional brain abnormalities with memory impairment. While memory problems in children with MS are often reported, little is known about the neural correlates that may contribute to these difficulties. We measured verbal and nonverbal memory using the Test of Memory and Learning (TOMAL-2) in 32 children and adolescents with MS and 26 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Memory performance was correlated with volumetric measures of the whole brain, hippocampus, amygdala, and thalamus. Brain volumes were normalized for age and sex using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data from the National Institutes of Health MRI Study of Normal Brain development. With the exception of story recall, performance on memory tests was similar to that of the control group. Relative to controls, patient with MS showed reduced volume in the whole brain (p < .001), amygdala (p < .005), and thalamus (p < .001), but not the hippocampus. In the patient group, word-list learning correlated with whole brain volume (r = .53) and hippocampal volume (r = .43), whereas visual recognition memory correlated with thalamic volume (r = .48). Findings are consistent with the well-established role of the hippocampus in learning and consolidation and also highlight the importance of diffuse brain pathology on memory function. (JINS, 2012, 18, 471–480)
This paper describes the consonant inventory of the endangered southern African language Nǀuu. Our novel approach to segment classification accounts for all 73 Nǀuu consonants with just four phonetic dimensions (place, manner, phonation, airstream) and does away with the phonetically empty category click accompaniment. We provide ultrasound data showing that the posterior constrictions in clicks are not produced at the ‘velar’ place of articulation, and that posterior place differs with anterior place. We therefore argue for a terminological shift from velaric to lingual airstream mechanism. Our data also show that the posterior place of articulation is the same in Nǀuu's five lingual ([⊙ ǀ ǃ ǁ ǂ]) and linguo-pulmonic ([]) stops. We argue that the difference between these segment classes is best captured in terms of airstream, not place. Plain clicks use only the lingual airstream, while linguo-pulmonic segments are airstream contours, in which the transition to the pulmonic airstream occurs within the segment rather than at its boundary. Our evidence suggests that the contrast between ‘velar’ and ‘uvular’ clicks proposed for the related language ǃXóõ is likely also one of airstream and that a contrast solely in terms of posterior place would be articulatorily impossible.