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Advanced laryngeal cancers are clinically complex; there is a paucity of modern decision-making models to guide tumour-specific management. This pilot study aims to identify computed tomography-based radiomic features that may predict survival and enhance prognostication.
Methods
Pre-biopsy, contrast-enhanced computed tomography scans were assembled from a retrospective cohort (n = 72) with advanced laryngeal cancers (T3 and T4). The LIFEx software was used for radiomic feature extraction. Two features: shape compacity (irregularity of tumour volume) and grey-level zone length matrix – grey-level non-uniformity (tumour heterogeneity) were selected via least absolute shrinkage and selection operator-based Cox regression and explored for prognostic potential.
Results
A greater shape compacity (hazard ratio 2.89) and grey-level zone length matrix – grey-level non-uniformity (hazard ratio 1.64) were significantly associated with worse 5-year disease-specific survival (p < 0.05). Cox regression models yielded a superior C-index when incorporating radiomic features (0.759) versus clinicopathological variables alone (0.655).
Conclusions
Two radiomic features were identified as independent prognostic biomarkers. A multi-centre prospective study is necessary for further exploration. Integrated radiomic models may refine the treatment of advanced laryngeal cancers.
Given the wide spectrum in practice standards and patterns, array of covered versus out-of-pocket conditions, and role of adjunct streams of revenue, the business landscape of men’s health is diverse. Fundamental to the fiscal success of many providers is the efficacy of direct to consumer marketing in the setting of inelastic demand for solutions to aging, erectile dysfunction (ED), and Peyronie’s disease; this has created enormous markets surrounding supplemental testosterone, online platforms for ED treatment, and out-of-pocket products such as platelet-rich plasma, stem-cell therapy, and shock wave treatments. The contemporary story of men’s health has been defined by the gender health gap; uncovering the link between coronary artery disease (CAD) and ED unveiled a touchpoint for establishing holistic men’s health. University and large hospital systems have the infrastructure to support comprehensive Men’s Health Centers and have therefore maximized the downstream revenue associated with prescriptions, long-term screening, and future hospitalizations.
The internet constantly evolves and facilitates the development of new avenues for users to interact and communicate internationally. Social media and search engines represent the forefront of internet technologies that enable users to produce content, develop digital participatory networks, and share information across various topics. These internet tools are reshaping the continuum of care by enabling patients to acquire medical information, consult peers and healthcare practitioners, and even make treatment decisions without leaving their connected device. The consequences of circumventing traditional pathways to care are amplified in men’s health due to the fact that men frequently do not engage with the healthcare system and that erectile dysfunction and male infertility are stigmatized. The focus of this chapter is to evaluate the emerging online landscape for common men’s health conditions including male infertility, erectile dysfunction, hypogonadism, and Peyronie’s disease.
There is some initial evidence that attachment security priming may be useful for promoting engagement in therapy and improving clinical outcomes.
Aims:
This study sought to assess whether outcomes for behavioural activation delivered in routine care could be enhanced via the addition of attachment security priming.
Method:
This was a pragmatic two-arm feasibility and pilot additive randomised control trial. Participants were recruited with depression deemed suitable for a behavioural activation intervention at Step 2 of a Talking Therapies for Anxiety and Depression service. Ten psychological wellbeing practitioners were trained in implementing attachment security priming. Study participants were randomised to either behavioural activation (BA) or BA plus an attachment prime. The diagrammatic prime was integrated into the depression workbook. Feasibility outcomes were training satisfaction, recruitment, willingness to participate and study attrition rates. Pilot outcomes were comparisons of clinical outcomes, attendance, drop-out and stepping-up rates.
Results:
All practitioners recruited to the study, and training satisfaction was high. Of the 39 patients that were assessed for eligibility, 24 were randomised (61.53%) and there were no study drop-outs. No significant differences were found between the arms with regards to drop-out, attendance, stepping-up or clinical outcomes.
Conclusions:
Further controlled research regarding the utility of attachment security priming is warranted in larger studies that utilise manipulation checks and monitor intervention adherence.
In the mid-1980s a number of scientists and research bodies conceived the idea of determining the DNA sequence of the entire human genome. Initiated in 1990 and known as the Human Genome Project (HGP), this ambitious, publicly funded project relied on contributions from numerous international laboratories and remains the world’s largest collaborative biological-based project to date. The completion of the HGP thirteen years later in 2003 allowed scientists to view the human genome in its entirety for the first time [1]. It was thought that this would usher in a new age for biological research, allowing for a more comprehensive understanding of complex human diseases and phenotypes. While this was true to an extent, completion of this project led to a series of new, more complicated questions, as is often the case in research.
The aim of the project was to get a baseline of the number of patients who have had blood tests, ECG and physical health observations completed in the past 12 months.
Method
There are 30 patients under Early Intervention in Psychosis team at Bassetlaw Hospital , Nottinghamshire. The elctronic notes and blood reporting system were checked for each of the patients, to get the data on blood test results , ECG reports and Physical health (Blood pressure, heart rate and weight) .
Result
It was noted that 19/30 patients had Blood tests completed, 14/30 had ECG completed and 19/30 had physical health checks completed. All these patients except one were on antipsychotic medications.
Conclusion
Further work is still required in getting 100% results for all these different variables. This may include the need to review the process of how we engage the patients for physical healthcare checks. With the inclusion of a physical healthcare worker now, we might be able to improve results. Hence this evaluation would be redone in a years' time.
Co-occurrence of common mental disorders (CMD) with psychotic experiences is well-known. There is little research on the public mental health relevance of concurrent psychotic experiences for service use, suicidality, and poor physical health. We aim to: (1) describe the distribution of psychotic experiences co-occurring with a range of non-psychotic psychiatric disorders [CMD, depressive episode, anxiety disorder, probable post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and personality dysfunction], and (2) examine associations of concurrent psychotic experiences with secondary mental healthcare use, psychological treatment use for CMD, lifetime suicide attempts, and poor self-rated health.
Methods
We linked a prospective cross-sectional community health survey with a mental healthcare provider database. For each non-psychotic psychiatric disorder, patients with concurrent psychotic experiences were compared to those without psychotic experiences on use of secondary mental healthcare, psychological treatment for CMD, suicide attempt, physical functioning, and a composite multimorbidity score, using logistic regression and Cox regressions.
Results
In all disorders except for anxiety disorder, concurrent psychotic experiences were accompanied by a greater odds of all outcomes (odds ratios) for a unit change in composite multimorbidity score ranged between 2.21 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.49–3.27] and 3.46 (95% CI 1.52–7.85). Hazard ratios for secondary mental health service use for non-psychotic disorders with concurrent psychotic experiences, ranged from 0.53 (95% CI 0.15–1.86) for anxiety disorders with psychotic experiences to 4.99 (95% CI 1.22–20.44) among those with PTSD with psychotic experiences.
Conclusions
Co-occurring psychotic experiences indicate greater public mental health burden, suggesting psychotic experiences could be a marker for future preventive strategies improving public mental health.
Group-based trajectory modeling holds promise for the study of prognostic indicators in the mood disorders because the courses that the individuals with these disorders follow are so highly variable. However, trajectory analyses of major depressive disorder have so far not included some of the more robust predictors of mood disorder outcome, nor have they described interactions between these predictors.
Methods
A group of 186 individuals aged 15–20 years with past or current depressive symptoms, who had recently begun taking a serotonin reuptake inhibitors antidepressant, underwent extensive baseline evaluations and were then followed for up to 2 years. Trajectory analyses used weekly ratings of depressive symptoms and the resulting groups were compared by the risk factors of sex, psychiatric comorbidity, negative emotionality, and childhood adversity.
Results
A three-group solution provided the best statistical fit to the 2-year symptom trajectory. Negative emotionality and childhood adversity, though correlated, independently predicted membership in higher-morbidity groups. Female sex and comorbidity with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) were also significantly more likely in the trajectory groups with higher symptom levels. However, the presence of GAD, rather than female sex, was the most important determinant of group membership. Negative emotionality was predictive of group membership only among women.
Conclusions
Trajectory analyses indicated that week-to-week variations in depressive symptoms across individuals could best be condensed into low, remitting and persistent symptom patterns. Female sex, anxiety symptoms, negative emotionality and childhood adversity were each independently associated with trajectories of higher morbidity but negative emotionality may be prognostically important only among women.
Following stage 1 palliation, delayed sternal closure may be used as a technique to enhance thoracic compliance but may also prolong the length of stay and increase the risk of infection.
Methods
We reviewed all neonates undergoing stage 1 palliation at our institution between 2010 and 2017 to describe the effects of delayed sternal closure.
Results
During the study period, 193 patients underwent stage 1 palliation, of whom 12 died before an attempt at sternal closure. Among the 25 patients who underwent primary sternal closure, 4 (16%) had sternal reopening within 24 hours. Among the 156 infants who underwent delayed sternal closure at 4 [3,6] days post-operatively, 11 (7.1%) had one or more failed attempts at sternal closure. Patients undergoing primary sternal closure had a shorter duration of mechanical ventilation and intensive care unit length of stay. Patients who failed delayed sternal closure had a longer aortic cross-clamp time (123±42 versus 99±35 minutes, p=0.029) and circulatory arrest time (39±28 versus 19±17 minutes, p=0.0009) than those who did not fail. Failure of delayed sternal closure was also closely associated with Technical Performance Score: 1.3% of patients with a score of 1 failed sternal closure compared with 18.9% of patients with a score of 3 (p=0.0028). Among the haemodynamic and ventilatory parameters studied, only superior caval vein saturation following sternal closure was different between patients who did and did not fail sternal closure (30±7 versus 42±10%, p=0.002). All patients who failed sternal closure did so within 24 hours owing to hypoxaemia, hypercarbia, or haemodynamic impairment.
Conclusion
When performed according to our current clinical practice, sternal closure causes transient and mild changes in haemodynamic and ventilatory parameters. Monitoring of SvO2 following sternal closure may permit early identification of patients at risk for failure.
Photogrammetric processing of archival stereo imagery offers the opportunity to reconstruct glacier volume changes for regions where no such data exist, and to better constrain the contribution to sea-level rise from small glaciers and ice caps. The ability to derive digital elevation model (DEM) measurements of glacier volume from photogrammetry relies on good-quality, well-distributed ground reference data, which may be difficult to acquire. This study shows that ground-control points (GCPs) can be identified and extracted from point-cloud airborne lidar data and used to control photogrammetric glacier models. The technique is applied to midtre Lovénbreen, a small valley glacier in northwest Svalbard. We show that the amount of ground control measured and the elevation accuracy of GCP coordinates (based on known and theoretical error considerations) has a significant effect on photogrammetric model statistics, DEM accuracy and the subsequent geodetic measurement of glacier volume change. Models controlled with fewer than 20 lidar control points or GCPs from sub-optimal areas within the swath footprint overestimated volume change by 14–53% over a 2 year period. DEMs derived from models utilizing 20–25 or more GCPs, however, gave volume change estimates within ∼4% of those from repeat lidar data (−0.51 m a−1 between 2003 and 2005). Our results have important implications for the measurement of glacier volume change from archival stereo-imagery sources.
A field study was conducted from 1987 to 1992 to determine the effectiveness of several treatments consisting of combinations of glyphosate and/or quizalofop with tillage to control quackgrass in legume plowdown and continuous annual crop rotations. The treatments were imposed on the quackgrass in 1987 and/or 1988, evaluated in 1989 (cycle 1), reimposed on the same plots in 1990 and/or 1991 and re-evaluated in 1992 (cycle 2). Where continuous barley was grown, glyphosate applied at 0.45 kg/ha before seeding in 1987 (cycle 1) and 1990 (cycle 2), and combined with fall tillage in the first two years of each cycle, reduced quackgrass shoot density and rhizome dry weight by more than 96%. In a legume plowdown rotation, consisting of barley underseeded to red clover followed by plowdown and barley in subsequent years, quackgrass was reduced by a similar amount by glyphosate at 0.45 kg/ha applied in 1987 and 1990 before seeding or in 1988 and 1991 at 5 d before or 6 wk after red clover plowdown. Quackgrass reduction from all of these treatments was as effective as the labelled rate of glyphosate (0.90 kg/ha) applied at the same times, and also as effective as glyphosate applied at 0.45 kg/ha in combination with tillage in a year of fallow. Without fall tillage the efficacy of glyphosate applied before seeding was reduced. Quizalofop at 0.20 kg/ha applied to canola in a rotation of canola followed by two years of barley, reduced quackgrass, but was less effective than glyphosate treatments with fall tillage. Reducing quackgrass populations resulted in significant increases in crop yields.
Studies were conducted in 1997 and 1998 to evaluate the efficacy and economics of glyphosate-resistant and nontransgenic soybean systems. The three highest yielding glyphosate-resistant and nontransgenic soybean cultivars were chosen each year for three Mississippi locations based on Mississippi Soybean Variety Trials. Treatments within each cultivar/herbicide system included nontreated, low input (one-half of the labeled rate), medium input (labeled rate), and high input level (labeled rate plus an additional postemergence application). In 1997, all systems controlled hemp sesbania by more than 80% but nontransgenic systems controlled hemp sesbania more than the glyphosate-resistant systems in most instances in 1998. High input levels usually controlled pitted morningglory more than low or medium inputs in 1997. In 1998, both systems controlled pitted morningglory by 90% or more at Shelby; however, at other locations control was less than 85%. Soybean yield in 1997 at Shelby was more with the glyphosate-resistant system than with the nontransgenic systems at medium and high input levels, primarily because of early-season injury to a metribuzin-sensitive cultivar in the nontransgenic system. In 1998, soybean yield at Shelby was more with the nontransgenic system than the glyphosate-resistant system, regardless of input level, due to poor late-season hemp sesbania control with glyphosate. Net returns were often more with the glyphosate-resistant system at Shelby in 1997. Within the glyphosate-resistant system, there were no differences in net return between input levels. Within the nontransgenic system, low input level net returns were higher compared to medium and high input levels due to higher soybean yield and less herbicide cost. At Brooksville, using high input levels, the glyphosate-resistant systems net returns were $55.00/ha more than the nontransgenic system. Net returns were higher with the nontransgenic system compared to the glyphosate-resistant system at Shelby in 1998, regardless of input level.
Cytokines and vitamin D both have a role in modulating the immune system, and are also potentially useful biomarkers in mental illnesses such as major depressive disorder (MDD) and schizophrenia. Studying the variability of cytokines and vitamin D in a healthy population sample may add to understanding the association between these biomarkers and mental illness. To assess genetic and environmental contributions to variation in circulating levels of cytokines and vitamin D (25-hydroxy vitamin D: 25(OH)D3), we analyzed data from a healthy adolescent twin cohort (mean age 16.2 years; standard deviation 0.25). Plasma cytokine measures were available for 400 individuals (85 MZ, 115 DZ pairs), dried blood spot sample vitamin D measures were available for 378 individuals (70 MZ, 118 DZ pairs). Heritability estimates were moderate but significant for the cytokines transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1), 0.57 (95% CI 0.26–0.80) and tumor necrosis factor-receptor type 1 (TNFR1), 0.50 (95% CI 0.11–0.63) respectively. Measures of 25(OH)D3 were within normal range and heritability was estimated to be high (0.86, 95% CI 0.61–0.94). Assays of other cytokines did not generate meaningful results. These potential biomarkers may be useful in mental illness, with further research warranted in larger sample sizes. They may be particularly important in adolescents with mental illness where diagnostic uncertainty poses a significant clinical challenge.
In this paper, a rigid–flexible planar parallel manipulator (PPM) actuated by three linear ultrasonic motors for high-accuracy positioning is proposed. Based on the extended Hamilton's principle, a rigid–flexible dynamic model of the proposed PPM is developed utilizing exact boundary conditions. To derive an appropriate low-order dynamic model for the design of the controller, the assumed modes method is employed to discretize elastic motion. Then to investigate the interaction between the rigid and elastic motions, a proportional derivative feedback controller combined with a feed-forward-computed torque controller is developed to achieve motion tracking while attenuating the residual vibration. Then the controller is extended to incorporate an input shaper for the further suppression of residual vibration of flexible linkages. Computer simulations are presented as well as experimental results to verify the proposed dynamic model and controller. The input shaping method is verified to be effective in attenuating residual vibration in a highly coupled rigid–flexible PPM. The procedure employed for dynamic modeling and control analysis provides a valuable contribution into the vibration suppression of such a PPM.
James Mill's three volume History of British India was published from 1817 to 1818 and became an immediate success. A friend of Jeremy Bentham and a follower of utilitarianism, Mill focuses more on historical processes than human interest. He uses extensive sources rather than first-hand experience to create, as his preface claims, an 'objective' yet 'critical' history, often making harsh judgements of the country and its people within the context of a wider theoretical framework. He also criticises the British involvement in India and the process of conquest, colonization, and administration, the intention being to encourage the reader to a greater understanding of historical processes, ideas, and institutions with a view to encouraging thorough reform. Volume 1 examines the history from first encounters of the British in India to the formation of the Honourable East India Company in 1708, with studies of the Hindu and Muslim people and religions.
A novel rigid-body control design methodology for 6-degree-of-freedom (dof) parallel kinematic mechanisms (PKMs) is proposed. The synchronous control of PKM joints is addressed through a novel formulation of contour and lag errors. Robust performance as a control specification is addressed. A convex combination controller design approach is applied to address the problem of simultaneously satisfying multiple closed-loop specifications. The applied dynamic modeling approach allows the design methodology to be extended to 6-dof spatial PKMs. The methodology is applied to the design of a 6-dof PKM-based meso-milling machine tool and simulations are conducted.