Background
Among prominent unmet needs of the Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia (ADRD) research community is the ability to leverage opportunities to improve the assessments of persons with ...and at risk for ADRD. This vision can be realized by providing the tools and infrastructure to transform dementia assessment using remote sensing and digital technologies, pervasive computing, and wireless communications, all in concert with high dimensional data analytics. The Collaborative Aging Research using Technology (CART) initiative (carthome.org), a non‐proprietary, sharable end‐to‐end system for capturing and handling diverse kinds of digital data has been developed. The CART technology platform offers the opportunity to bring new assessment methodology and data types to NIA Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers (ADRC) and related centers and transform the clinical research enterprise. Herein we report on progress in capturing digital data across multiple ADRC’s.
Method
Participants were recruited from affiliated studies at five NIA ADRC’s (Digital Technology Core at Oregon Health & Science University, Minority Aging Research Study at Rush University, Cognitive Empowerment Program at Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology, ALLFTD study at University of California San Francisco, and a pilot study of Mexican Americans at University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio). Field technicians at each center installed the CART technology platform in the home of each participant.
Result
A total of 195 research participants have been enrolled across the 5 centers and followed for a median of 19 months (range 1‐46). A summary of the center cohorts is provided in the table. The flexibility of the platform and its components has allowed it to successfully be adapted for research in each of these studies with diverse cohorts, use cases, and research aims. Attrition due to technology concerns has been very low (0.5%).
Conclusion
Digital biomarker and related data can be readily captured across diverse cohorts, research teams, and settings using a common platform. The largely passive, continuous, and objective data generated with this approach promises to improve the opportunity to create more quantitative and ecologically valid measurements for ADRD phenotypes within the ADRD research community and related research settings.
Psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) is a burgeoning treatment with growing interest across a variety of settings and disciplines. Empirical evidence supports PAT as a novel therapeutic approach that ...provides safe and effective treatment for people suffering from a variety of diagnoses, including treatment-resistant depression, substance use disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Within the palliative care (PC) field, one-time PAT dosing may lead to sustained reductions in anxiety, depression, and demoralization-symptoms that diminish the quality of life in both seriously ill patients and those at end of life. Despite a well-noted psychedelic renaissance in scholarship and a renewed public interest in the utilization of these medicines, serious illness-specific content to guide PAT applications in hospice and PC clinical settings has been limited. This article offers 10 evidence-informed tips for PC clinicians synthesized through consultation with interdisciplinary and international leading experts in the field with aims to: (1) familiarize PC clinicians and teams with PAT; (2) identify the unique challenges pertaining to this intervention given the current legalities and logistical barriers; (3) discuss therapeutic competencies and considerations for current and future PAT use in PC; and (4) highlight critical approaches to optimize the safety and potential benefits of PAT among patients with serious illness and their caregivers.
Background
Among prominent unmet needs of the Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia (ADRD) research community is the ability to leverage opportunities to improve the assessments of persons with ...and at risk for ADRD. This vision can be realized by providing the tools and infrastructure to transform dementia assessment using remote sensing and digital technologies, pervasive computing, and wireless communications, all in concert with high dimensional data analytics. The Collaborative Aging Research using Technology (CART) initiative (carthome.org), a non‐proprietary, sharable end‐to‐end system for capturing and handling diverse kinds of digital data has been developed. The CART technology platform offers the opportunity to bring new assessment methodology and data types to NIA Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers (ADRC) and related centers and transform the clinical research enterprise. Herein we report on progress in capturing digital data across multiple ADRC’s.
Method
Participants were recruited from affiliated studies at five NIA ADRC’s (Digital Technology Core at Oregon Health & Science University, Minority Aging Research Study at Rush University, Cognitive Empowerment Program at Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology, ALLFTD study at University of California San Francisco, and a pilot study of Mexican Americans at University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio). Field technicians at each center installed the CART technology platform in the home of each participant.
Result
A total of 195 research participants have been enrolled across the 5 centers and followed for a median of 19 months (range 1‐46). A summary of the center cohorts is provided in the table. The flexibility of the platform and its components has allowed it to successfully be adapted for research in each of these studies with diverse cohorts, use cases, and research aims. Attrition due to technology concerns has been very low (0.5%).
Conclusion
Digital biomarker and related data can be readily captured across diverse cohorts, research teams, and settings using a common platform. The largely passive, continuous, and objective data generated with this approach promises to improve the opportunity to create more quantitative and ecologically valid measurements for ADRD phenotypes within the ADRD research community and related research settings.
Robust filtering techniques capable of efficiently removing particulates and biological agents from water or air suffer from plugging, poor rejuvenation, low permeance, and high backpressure. ...Operational characteristics of pressure-driven separations are in part controlled by the membrane pore size, charge of particulates, transmembrane pressure and the requirement for sufficient water flux to overcome fouling. With long term use filters decline in permeance due to filter-cake plugging of pores, fouling, or filter deterioration. Though metallic filter tube development at ORNL has focused almost exclusively on gas separations, a small study examined the applicability of these membranes for tangential filtering of aqueous suspensions of bacterial-sized particles. A mixture of fluorescent polystyrene microspheres ranging in size from 0.5 to 6 μm in diameter simulated microorganisms in filtration studies. Compared to a commercial filter, the ORNL 0.6 μm filter averaged approximately 10-fold greater filtration efficiency of the small particles, several-fold greater permeance after considerable use and it returned to approximately 85% of the initial flow upon backflushing versus 30% for the commercial filter. After filtering several liters of the particle-containing suspension, the ORNL composite filter still exhibited greater than 50% of its initial permeance while the commercial filter had decreased to less than 20%. When considering a greater filtration efficiency, greater permeance per unit mass, greater percentage of rejuvenation upon backflushing (up to 3-fold), and likely greater performance with extended use, the ORNL 0.6 μm filters can potentially outperform the commercial filter by factors of 100–1000 fold.
The CLAS12 high threshold Cherenkov counter Sharabian, Y.G.; Burkert, V.D.; Biselli, A. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
07/2020, Letnik:
968, Številka:
C
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The High Threshold Cherenkov Counter (HTCC) is one of the detector systems of the CLAS12 spectrometer, and is used to generate a fast trigger signal in electron scattering experiments in the polar ...angle range from 5°to 35°. The HTCC is installed in front of the drift chambers and introduces a minimal amount of additional material within the acceptance. The HTCC is one unit whose core component is a multifocal mirror that consists of 60 lightweight ellipsoidal mirrors. It is important that the HTCC provides efficient coverage of the CLAS12 forward acceptance with no gaps. In order to achieve this, each sector of the CLAS12 Forward Detector is covered by 2 identical half-sector mirrors that focus Cherenkov light on 8 phototubes. The HTCC has a total of 48 channels with Electron Tubes 9823QKB photomultipliers that have a 5-in quartz face plate to detect Cherenkov light. The system provides rejection of charged π-mesons with momenta below 4.8 GeV for the reliable identification of scattered electrons. In this paper the details of the design, construction, calibration, and performance results of the HTCC are presented.
To identify a cause for clinical deterioration, examine resuscitation efforts, and identify and correct system issues (thus improving outcomes) via a multidisciplinary code-review process soon after ...cardiopulmonary arrest.
Retrospective analysis of code events in a tertiary pediatric heart center from September 2010 to December 2013 and review of surgical-cardiac data from January 2010 to December 2013.
A multidisciplinary team reviewed 47 code events, 16 of which (34%) were deemed potentially preventable. At least 2 issues were identified during 66% (31/47) of cardiopulmonary arrests reviewed. Key issues identified were related to communication (62%), environment/culture/policy (47%), patient care (including resuscitation, 41%), and equipment (38%). About 60% of reviewed arrests resulted in educational initiatives (eg, mock code, in-service education) and 47% resulted in a new policy or modification of existing policy. Less common were changes in equipment (32%) or modification of staffing needs (11%). Changes most frequently occurred in the unit specific to the event (68%) but some changes occurred throughout the Heart Center (32%) or across the hospital system (13%). Survival to discharge after cardiopulmonary arrest has improved over time (P = .03) to 81% for cardiac surgical patients in our center.
A multidisciplinary code-review committee can identify deficiencies and lead to educational initiatives and improvements in care. When coupled with a hospital-wide "code blue" review process, these changes may benefit the institution as a whole.
Introduction Basketball players are at increased risk of thumb collateral ligament injury (ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) and radial collateral ligament (RCL)). Methods The National Basketball ...Association (NBA) players with thumb collateral ligament surgery were identified using publicly available data. Performance statistics, ligament injuries (UCL or RCL), return to sport (RTS) time, laterality, and injury dates were recorded. Cases were matched 1:1 with controls based on age (±1 year), body mass index (BMI), NBA experience (±1 year), and performance statistics prior to the index date. RTS was defined as playing in one NBA game postoperatively. Career longevity was evaluated. Summary statistics were calculated, and Student's t-tests (ɑ = 0.001) were performed. Results All 47 players identified with thumb collateral ligament surgeries returned to sport. Thirty-three players (age: 26.9 ± 3.0) had one year of postoperative NBA experience for performance analysis. Career length (case: 9.6 ± 4.1, control: 9.4 ± 4.3, p > 0.001) was not significantly different from controls (p > 0.001). The same season time to RTS (n = 20) was 7.1 ± 2.4 weeks. Off-season or season-ending surgery (n = 13) RTS time was 28.4 ± 18.7 weeks. Neither thumb collateral ligament (UCL, n = 7; RCL, n = 10; unknown, n = 16) had an identifiable difference between the groups when evaluating career length. Career length, games/season, and performance were not different for players who underwent surgery on their dominant thumb (63.6%, 21/33) compared to controls (p > 0.001). Conclusion RTS rate is high in NBA athletes undergoing thumb collateral ligament surgery. Players do not experience decreased performance or career length due to thumb collateral ligament surgery, regardless of a dominant or non-dominant thumb injury.
Plasma samples from pediatric cardiac patients undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) procedures were used to identify and characterize patterns of changes in potential biomarkers related to tissue ...damage and inflammation. These included proteins associated with systemic inflammatory response syndrome. Potential biomarkers were identified using a dual-platform proteomics approach requiring approximately 150 microL of plasma, which included two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) and a multiplexed immunoassay. Methods used in the dual approach measured levels of 129 proteins in plasma from pediatric CPB patients. Of these, 70 proteins changed significantly (p<0.05) between time points, and 36 of these retained significance after the highly stringent Bonferroni correction p<0.001 for 2D-DIGE and p<0.00056 for multianalyte profile (MAP) assays. Many of the changing proteins were associated with tissue damage, inflammation, and oxidative stress. This study uses a novel approach that combines two discovery proteomics techniques to identify a pattern of potential biomarkers changing after CPB. This approach required only 150 microL of plasma per time point and provided quantitative information on 129 proteins. The changes in levels of expression of these proteins may provide insight into the understanding, treatment, and prevention of systemic inflammation, thereby helping to improve the outcomes of pediatric CPB patients.
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