The optimal management strategy for men who have localized prostate cancer remains controversial. This study examines the extent to which suggested treatment based on the perspective of a group or ...society agrees with that derived from individual patients' preferences. A previously published decision analysis for localized prostate cancer was used to suggest the treatment that maximized quality-adjusted life expectancy. Two treatment recommendations were obtained for each patient: the first (group-level) was derived using the mean utilities of the cohort; the second (individual-level) used his own set of utilities. Group-level utilities misrepresented 25-48% of individuals' preferences depending on the grade of tumor modeled. The best kappa measure achieved between group and individual preferences was 0.11. The average quality-adjusted life years lost due to misrepresentation of preference was as high as 1.7 quality-adjusted life years. Use of aggregated utilities in a group-level decision analysis can ignore the substantial variability at the individual level. Caution is needed when applying a group-level recommendation to the treatment of localized prostate cancer in an individual patient.
Primary immunodeficiency update Pichard, Dominique C., MD; Freeman, Alexandra F., MD; Cowen, Edward W., MD, MHSc
Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology,
September 2015, Volume:
73, Issue:
3
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Several primary immunodeficiencies (PIDs) have recently been described that confer an elevated risk of fungal infections and noninfectious cutaneous manifestations. In addition, immunologic advances ...have provided new insights into our understanding of the pathophysiology of fungal infections in established PIDs. We reviewed PIDs that present with an eczematous dermatitis in part I. In part II of this continuing medical education article we discuss updates on PIDs associated with fungal infections, their biologic basis in PIDs, and noninfectious cutaneous manifestations.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Primary immunodeficiency update Pichard, Dominique C., MD; Freeman, Alexandra F., MD; Cowen, Edward W., MD, MHSc
Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology,
September 2015, Volume:
73, Issue:
3
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
In the past decade, the availability of powerful molecular techniques has accelerated the pace of discovery of several new primary immunodeficiencies (PIDs) and revealed the biologic basis of other ...established PIDs. These genetic advances, in turn, have facilitated more precise phenotyping of associated skin and systemic manifestations and provide a unique opportunity to better understand the complex human immunologic response. These continuing medical education articles will provide an update of recent advances in PIDs that may be encountered by dermatologists through their association with eczematous dermatitis, infectious, and non-infectious cutaneous manifestations. Part I will discuss new primary immunodeficiencies that have an eczematous dermatitis. Part II will focus on primary immunodeficiencies that greatly increase susceptibility to fungal infection and the noninfectious presentations of PIDs.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
We discuss here new, enabling technologies for future photon-based neutrino detectors. These technologies touch nearly every aspect of such detectors: new scintillating materials, new methods of ...loading isotopes, new photon sensors and collectors, new approaches to simulation and analysis, and new front-end electronics and DAQ ideas. Of particular interest are technologies that enable broad physics programs in hybrid Cherenkov/scintillation detectors, such as slow fluors, water-based liquid scintillator, and spectral sorting of photons. Several new large-scale detector ideas are also discussed, including hybrid detectors like Theia, ArTEMIS, and generic slow-fluor detectors, as well as the very different SLIPs and LiquidO approaches to instrumenting photon-based detectors. A program of demonstrators for future detectors, including ANNIE, Eos, and NuDOT are also discussed.
EOS is a technology demonstrator, designed to explore the capabilities of hybrid event detection technology, leveraging both Cherenkov and scintillation light simultaneously. With a fiducial mass of ...four tons, EOS is designed to operate in a high-precision regime, with sufficient size to utilize time-of-flight information for full event reconstruction, flexibility to demonstrate a range of cutting edge technologies, and simplicity of design to facilitate potential future deployment at alternative sites. Results from EOS can inform the design of future neutrino detectors for both fundamental physics and nonproliferation applications.
Neutrinos are elementary particles that carry no electric charge and have little mass. As they interact only weakly with other particles, they can penetrate enormous amounts of matter, and therefore ...have the potential to directly convey astrophysical information from the edge of the Universe and from deep inside the most cataclysmic high-energy regions. The neutrino's great penetrating power, however, also makes this particle difficult to detect. Underground detectors have observed low-energy neutrinos from the Sun and a nearby supernova, as well as neutrinos generated in the Earth's atmosphere. But the very low fluxes of high-energy neutrinos from cosmic sources can be observed only by much larger, expandable detectors in, for example, deep water or ice. Here we report the detection of upwardly propagating atmospheric neutrinos by the ice-based Antarctic muon and neutrino detector array (AMANDA). These results establish a technology with which to build a kilometre-scale neutrino observatory necessary for astrophysical observations.
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DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
We present the results of a search for point sources of high-energy neutrinos in the northern hemisphere using AMANDA-II data collected in the year 2000. Included are flux limits on several ...active-galactic-nuclei blazars, microquasars, magnetars, and other candidate neutrino sources. A search for excesses above a random background of cosmic-ray-induced atmospheric neutrinos and misreconstructed downgoing cosmic-ray muons reveals no statistically significant neutrino point sources. We show that AMANDA-II has achieved the sensitivity required to probe known TeV gamma-ray sources such as the blazar Markarian 501 in its 1997 flaring state at a level where neutrino and gamma-ray fluxes are equal.
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CMK, CTK, FMFMET, IJS, NUK, PNG, UM