Invertebrates constitute the majority of animal species and are critical for ecosystem functioning and services. Nonetheless, global invertebrate biodiversity patterns and their congruences with ...vertebrates remain largely unknown. We resolve the first high-resolution (~20-km) global diversity map for a major invertebrate clade, ants, using biodiversity informatics, range modeling, and machine learning to synthesize existing knowledge and predict the distribution of undiscovered diversity. We find that ants and different vertebrate groups have distinct features in their patterns of richness and rarity, underscoring the need to consider a diversity of taxa in conservation. However, despite their phylogenetic and physiological divergence, ant distributions are not highly anomalous relative to variation among vertebrate clades. Furthermore, our models predict that rarity centers largely overlap (78%), suggesting that general forces shape endemism patterns across taxa. This raises confidence that conservation of areas important for small-ranged vertebrates will benefit invertebrates while providing a “treasure map” to guide future discovery.
A high-resolution map of ant diversity allows an assessment of how well biodiversity centers overlap across taxa.
Judgments about others are often based on information that varies in terms of its diagnosticity or usefulness in predicting a certain outcome. Previous studies have demonstrated a "dilution effect" ...in which the addition of nondiagnostic or irrelevant information yields less extreme judgments than those based solely on diagnostic information. Two studies investigated the dilution effect in a juror decision making context in which no midpoint of a scale was provided by researchers. Study 1 examined the inclusion of positive, negative, or neutral character information in a criminal case and found that this nondiagnostic information affected attitude toward the defendant but did not "dilute" guilt judgments. The cases in Study 1 contained a larger amount of diagnostic information than studies that demonstrated the dilution effect. Thus, the amount of diagnostic evidence provided was varied in Study 2, and the results showed "diluted" judgments only when a small amount of diagnostic information was presented. Limitations to the dilution effect were discussed.PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
BRIEF REPORTS Penrod, Joan D; Litke, Ann; Hawkes, William G ...
Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS),
03/2007, Letnik:
55, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
To examine unidentified heterogeneity in hip fracture patients that may predict variation in functional outcomes. Observational, longitudinal, multisite cohort study. Three separate cohorts from five ...hospitals in the metropolitan New York area and eight hospitals in Baltimore. Two thousand six hundred ninety-two hip fracture patients treated at one of 13 hospitals and followed for 6 months postfracture. A mobility measure with three categories (independent (walks independently or with a device), limited independence (needs human assistance or supervision to walk 150 feet or one block or able only to walk indoors), and unable to walk) was developed for use with all three cohorts. A similar measure was developed for the other activities of daily living (ADLs): bathing, dressing, feeding, and using the toilet. Cluster analysis was used to form homogenous groups of patients based on baseline demographic characteristics, comorbid conditions, and baseline mobility and ADL independence. Seven homogeneous subgroups were identified based on prefracture age, health, and functional status, with measurably different 6-month functional outcomes. At least 90% of patients could be correctly classified into the seven groups using simple decision rules about age, ADLs, and dementia status at baseline. Dementia was the only comorbid condition that segmented the groups. The heterogeneous hip fracture population can be grouped into homogenous patient clusters based on prefracture characteristics. Differentially targeting services and interventions to these subgroups may improve functional status outcomes. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
•pre-injury antiplatelet therapy is a strong indicator for high risk patients with higher expected mortality after hip fracture surgery.•no evidence to support delayed surgery in patients taking ...DOACs.•Patients on anticoagulants donot have a higher wound complication rate.
Hip fractures are a large burden on the health care systems of developed nations. Patients usually have multiple co-morbidities and the pre-injury use of anticoagulants and anti-platelet medication is common.
This study used a single hospital hip fracture database to facilitate a retrospective analysis of the impact of anti-coagulation and anti-platelet therapy on mortality and complications after surgical management of hip fractures. There were 92 patients on warfarin, 69 on DOAC, 260 antiplatelet patients and 617 control patients.
Mortality rates at 30 days were 4.8% for the control group, 12.6% for the antiplatelet group, warfarin 7.0%, 9.5% for Direct Oral Anticoagulant (DOAC) group, p = 0.004. Mortality rates at 1 year were 22.4% for the control group, 32.3% for the antiplatelet group, 29.3% for the warfarin group and 29.0% for DOAC group (p=0.007).
Amongst complications, significant differences were found in transfusion (DOAC) and wound ooze (warfarin) rates, but the study did not detect significant clinical consequences arising from these differences.
A matched analysis for age, sex, and ASA was undertaken to look in more detail at mortality data. Some mortality differences remained between groups with anti-platelet medication associated with increased mortality, but the differences no longer appeared to be significant.
Our data suggests that this is a non-causal association, which could be incorporated into predictive mortality risk scores such as the Nottingham hip fracture score.
We believe that pre-injury antiplatelet therapy is a strong indicator for high risk patients with higher expected mortality after hip fracture surgery. We saw no evidence to support delayed surgery in patients taking DOACs
Recovery from hip fracture in eight areas of function Magaziner, J; Hawkes, W; Hebel, J R ...
The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences,
09/2000, Letnik:
55, Številka:
9
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
This report describes changes in eight areas of functioning after a hip fracture, identifies the point at which maximal levels of recovery are reached in each area, and evaluates the sequence of ...recuperation across multiple functional domains. METHODS. Community-residing hip fracture patients (n = 674) admitted to eight hospitals in Baltimore, Maryland, 1990-1991 were followed prospectively for 2 years from the time of hospitalization. Eight areas of function (i.e., upper and lower extremity physical and instrumental activities of daily living; gait and balance; social, cognitive, and affective function) were measured by personal interview and direct observation during hospitalization at 2, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months. Levels of recovery are described in each area, and time to reach maximal recovery was estimated using Generalized Estimating Equations and longitudinal data.
Most areas of functioning showed progressive lessening of dependence over the first postfracture year, with different levels of recovery and time to maximum levels observed for each area. New dependency in physical and instrumental tasks for those not requiring equipment or human assistance prefracture ranged from as low as 20.3% for putting on pants to as high as 89.9% for climbing five stairs. Recuperation times were specific to area of function, ranging from approximately 4 months for depressive symptoms (3.9 months), upper extremity function (4.3 months), and cognition (4.4 months) to almost a year for lower extremity function (11.2 months).
Functional disability following hip fracture is significant, patterns of recovery differ by area of function, and there appears to be an orderly sequence by which areas of function reach their maximal levels.
The decades-long progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) renders identifying different trajectories of disease progression challenging.
To identify subtypes of patients with COPD ...with distinct longitudinal progression patterns using a novel machine-learning tool called "Subtype and Stage Inference" (SuStaIn) and to evaluate the utility of SuStaIn for patient stratification in COPD.
We applied SuStaIn to cross-sectional computed tomography imaging markers in 3,698 Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) 1-4 patients and 3,479 controls from the COPDGene (COPD Genetic Epidemiology) study to identify subtypes of patients with COPD. We confirmed the identified subtypes and progression patterns using ECLIPSE (Evaluation of COPD Longitudinally to Identify Predictive Surrogate Endpoints) data. We assessed the utility of SuStaIn for patient stratification by comparing SuStaIn subtypes and stages at baseline with longitudinal follow-up data.
We identified two trajectories of disease progression in COPD: a "Tissue→Airway" subtype (
= 2,354, 70.4%), in which small airway dysfunction and emphysema precede large airway wall abnormalities, and an "Airway→Tissue" subtype (
= 988, 29.6%), in which large airway wall abnormalities precede emphysema and small airway dysfunction. Subtypes were reproducible in ECLIPSE. Baseline stage in both subtypes correlated with future FEV
/FVC decline (
= -0.16
< 0.001 in the Tissue→Airway group;
= -0.14
= 0.011 in the Airway→Tissue group). SuStaIn placed 30% of smokers with normal lung function at elevated stages, suggesting imaging changes consistent with early COPD. Individuals with early changes were 2.5 times more likely to meet COPD diagnostic criteria at follow-up.
We demonstrate two distinct patterns of disease progression in COPD using SuStaIn, likely representing different endotypes. One third of healthy smokers have detectable imaging changes, suggesting a new biomarker of "early COPD."
High‐resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) has become a vital tool for dissolved organic matter (DOM) characterization. The upward trend in HRMS analysis of DOM presents challenges in data comparison ...and interpretation among laboratories operating instruments with differing performance and user operating conditions. It is therefore essential that the community establishes metric ranges and compositional trends for data comparison with reference samples so that data can be robustly compared among research groups. To this end, four identically prepared DOM samples were each measured by 16 laboratories, using 17 commercially purchased instruments, using positive‐ion and negative‐ion mode electrospray ionization (ESI) HRMS analyses. The instruments identified ~1000 common ions in both negative‐ and positive‐ion modes over a wide range of m/z values and chemical space, as determined by van Krevelen diagrams. Calculated metrics of abundance‐weighted average indices (H/C, O/C, aromaticity, and m/z) of the commonly detected ions showed that hydrogen saturation and aromaticity were consistent for each reference sample across the instruments, while average mass and oxygenation were more affected by differences in instrument type and settings. In this paper we present 32 metric values for future benchmarking. The metric values were obtained for the four different parameters from four samples in two ionization modes and can be used in future work to evaluate the performance of HRMS instruments.
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