To develop sets of core and optional recommended domains for describing and evaluating Osteoarthritis Management Programs (OAMPs), with a focus on hip and knee Osteoarthritis (OA).
We conducted a ...3-round modified Delphi survey involving an international group of researchers, health professionals, health administrators and people with OA. In Round 1, participants ranked the importance of 75 outcome and descriptive domains in five categories: patient impacts, implementation outcomes, and characteristics of the OAMP and its participants and clinicians. Domains ranked as “important” or “essential” by ≥80% of participants were retained, and participants could suggest additional domains. In Round 2, participants rated their level of agreement that each domain was essential for evaluating OAMPs: 0 = strongly disagree to 10 = strongly agree. A domain was retained if ≥80% rated it ≥6. In Round 3, participants rated remaining domains using same scale as in Round 2; a domain was recommended as “core” if ≥80% of participants rated it ≥9 and as “optional” if ≥80% rated it ≥7.
A total of 178 individuals from 26 countries participated; 85 completed all survey rounds. Only one domain, “ability to participate in daily activities”, met criteria for a core domain; 25 domains met criteria for an optional recommendation: 8 Patient Impacts, 5 Implementation Outcomes, 5 Participant Characteristics, 3 OAMP Characteristics and 4 Clinician Characteristics.
The ability of patients with OA to participate in daily activities should be evaluated in all OAMPs. Teams evaluating OAMPs should consider including domains from the optional recommended set, with representation from all five categories and based on stakeholder priorities in their local context.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
We review the main results obtained by the BRAHMS Collaboration on the properties of hot and dense hadronic and partonic matter produced in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions at RHIC. A ...particular focus of this paper is to discuss to what extent the results collected so far by BRAHMS, and by the other three experiments at RHIC, can be taken as evidence for the formation of a state of deconfined partonic matter, the so-called quark–gluon plasma (QGP). We also discuss evidence for a possible precursor state to the QGP, i.e., the proposed color glass condensate.
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A challenge when applying an artificial intelligence (AI) deep learning (DL) approach to novel electroencephalography (EEG) data, is the DL architecture's lack of adaptability to changing numbers of ...EEG channels. That is, the number of channels cannot vary neither in the training data, nor upon deployment. Such highly specific hardware constraints put major limitations on the clinical usability and scalability of the DL models.
In this work, we propose a technique for handling such varied numbers of EEG channels by splitting the EEG montages into distinct regions and merge the channels within the same region to a region representation. The solution is termed
(RBP). The procedure of splitting the montage into regions is performed repeatedly with different region configurations, to minimize potential loss of information. As RBP maps a varied number of EEG channels to a fixed number of region representations, both current and future DL architectures may apply RBP with ease. To demonstrate and evaluate the adequacy of RBP to handle a varied number of EEG channels, sex classification based solely on EEG was used as a test example. The DL models were trained on 129 channels, and tested on 32, 65, and 129-channels versions of the data using the same channel positions scheme. The baselines for comparison were zero-filling the missing channels and applying spherical spline interpolation. The performances were estimated using 5-fold cross validation.
For the 32-channel system version, the mean AUC values across the folds were: RBP (93.34%), spherical spline interpolation (93.36%), and zero-filling (76.82%). Similarly, on the 65-channel system version, the performances were: RBP (93.66%), spherical spline interpolation (93.50%), and zero-filling (85.58%). Finally, the 129-channel system version produced the following results: RBP (94.68%), spherical spline interpolation (93.86%), and zero-filling (91.92%).
In conclusion, RBP obtained similar results to spherical spline interpolation, and superior results to zero-filling. We encourage further research and development of DL models in the cross-dataset setting, including the use of methods such as RBP and spherical spline interpolation to handle a varied number of EEG channels.
Purpose
The primary aim was to examine if there were differences in physical function and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) between young adults (18 to 35 years) with unilateral congenital ...lower-limb deficiency (CLLD) who had been surgically lengthened (Surg) and those using lengthening prostheses (Pros). Second, we wanted to compare their health status with an age- and gender-matched reference group (Ref) without CLLD.
Methods
Cross-sectional study including a study-specific questionnaire, clinical examination, two field tests evaluating physical function (the six-minute walk test and the Stair test) and HRQoL questionnaires (Short Form (SF)-36 and EuroQol (EQ)-5D-3L).
Results
Physical function and HRQoL did not differ between the two treatment groups. The odds for having painful or disfiguring scars were 18 times higher in the Surg group (n = 16) compared with the Pros group (n = 14). The CLLD group showed significantly reduced physical function compared with the Ref group. HRQoL, measured by the EQ-5D-3L visual rating scale, was significantly reduced in the CLLD group compared with the Ref group, as was the SF-36 physical function domain in both genders. Men with CLLD also showed increased bodily pain and reduced general health (SF-36), while we found a reduction in the emotional role domain in women compared with Ref.
Conclusion
There were no significant differences in physical function and quality of life in young adults with CLLD treated with surgical lengthening compared with those using lengthening prostheses. Compared with the general Norwegian population, young adults with CLLD had significantly lower physical function and reduced HRQoL in some domains.
This paper presents the results of an attempt to measure the elliptic flow in the smallest collision system (pp) at the highest designed collision energy at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) using the ...genuine collective correlation among a large number of particles. A huge non-flow effect introduced by a strong jet correlation in pp collisions makes the application of the standard event plane flow analysis non-feasible. Therefore, in order to measure a possible elliptic flow in pp collisions, the Lee-Yang zero method is used in HIJING-simulated events for the LHC top energy of TeV on which an additional subevent with elliptic flow is superimposed. The Lee-Yang zero method has been tested in two cases with different ratios between the numbers of particles generated in the two subevents. The applied method has successfully reproduced the shape of the differential and elliptic flow dependencies, and on average its magnitude taking into account all involved particles, albeit with huge fluctuations.
This paper presents the results of an attempt to measure the elliptic flow in the smallest collision system (pp) at the highest designed collision energy at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) using the ...genuine collective correlation among a large number of panicles. A huge non-flow effect introduced by a strong jet correlation in pp collisions makes the application of the standard event plane flow analysis non-feasible. Therefore, in order to measure a possible elliptic flow in pp collisions, the Lee-Yang zero method is used in HIJING-simulated events for the LHC top energy of radicals = 14 TeV on which an additional subevent with elliptic flow is superimposed. The Lee-Yang zero method has been tested in two cases with different ratios between the numbers of particles generated in the two subevents. The applied method has successfully reproduced the shape of the differential eta and p sub()Telliptic flow dependencies, and on average its magnitude taking into account all involved particles, albeit with huge fluctuations.
This paper presents multiplicity measurements of charged hadrons produced in 120 GeV/$c$ proton-carbon interactions. The measurements were made using data collected at the NA61/SHINE experiment ...during two different data-taking periods, with increased phase space coverage in the second configuration due to the addition of new subdetectors. Particle identification via $dE/dx$ was employed to obtain double-differential production multiplicities of $\pi^+$, $\pi^-$, $p$, $\bar{p}$, $K^+$ and $K^-$. These measurements are presented as a function of laboratory momentum in intervals of laboratory polar angle covering the range from 0 to 450 mrad. They provide crucial inputs for current and future long-baseline neutrino experiments, where they are used to estimate the initial neutrino flux.
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