Abstract
Background
The just-in-time adaptive intervention (JITAI) is an intervention design aiming to provide the right type/amount of support, at the right time, by adapting to an individual’s ...changing internal and contextual state. The availability of increasingly powerful mobile and sensing technologies underpins the use of JITAIs to support health behavior, as in such a setting an individual’s state can change rapidly, unexpectedly, and in his/her natural environment.
Purpose
Despite the increasing use and appeal of JITAIs, a major gap exists between the growing technological capabilities for delivering JITAIs and research on the development and evaluation of these interventions. Many JITAIs have been developed with minimal use of empirical evidence, theory, or accepted treatment guidelines. Here, we take an essential first step towards bridging this gap.
Methods
Building on health behavior theories and the extant literature on JITAIs, we clarify the scientific motivation for JITAIs, define their fundamental components, and highlight design principles related to these components. Examples of JITAIs from various domains of health behavior research are used for illustration.
Conclusions
As we enter a new era of technological capacity for delivering JITAIs, it is critical that researchers develop sophisticated and nuanced health behavior theories capable of guiding the construction of such interventions. Particular attention has to be given to better understanding the implications of providing timely and ecologically sound support for intervention adherence and retention
We clarify the scientific motivation for the Just-In-Time Adaptive Interventions, define its fundamental components, and discuss key design principles for each component.
A
bstract
In this work we study the collider phenomenology of color-octet scalars (
sgluons
) in supersymmetric models with Dirac gaugino masses that feature an explicitly broken
R
symmetry (
R
-
...broken models
). We construct such models by augmenting minimal
R
-symmetric models with a fairly general set of supersymmetric and softly supersymmetry-breaking operators that explicitly break
R
symmetry. We then compute the rates of all significant two-body decays and highlight new features that appear as a result of
R
symmetry breaking, including enhancements to extant decay rates, novel tree- and loop-level decays, and improved cross sections of single sgluon production. We demonstrate in some detail how the familiar results from minimal
R
-symmetric models can be obtained by restoring
R
symmetry. In parallel to this discussion, we explore constraints on these models from the Large Hadron Collider. We find that, in general,
R
symmetry breaking quantitatively affects existing limits on color-octet scalars, perhaps closing loopholes for light CP-odd (pseudoscalar) sgluons while opening one for a light CP-even (scalar) particle. Qualitatively, however, we find that — much as for minimal
R
-symmetric models, despite stark differences in phenomenology — scenarios with broken
R
symmetry and two sgluons below the TeV scale can be accommodated by existing searches.
In this article two new methods for building and evaluating eHealth interventions are described. The first is the Multiphase Optimization Strategy (MOST). It consists of a screening phase, in which ...intervention components are efficiently identified for inclusion in an intervention or for rejection, based on their performance; a refining phase, in which the selected components are fine tuned and issues such as optimal levels of each component are investigated; and a confirming phase, in which the optimized intervention, consisting of the selected components delivered at optimal levels, is evaluated in a standard randomized controlled trial. The second is the Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomized Trial (SMART), which is an innovative research design especially suited for building time-varying adaptive interventions. A SMART trial can be used to identify the best tailoring variables and decision rules for an adaptive intervention empirically. Both the MOST and SMART approaches use randomized experimentation to enable valid inferences. When properly implemented, these approaches will lead to the development of more potent eHealth interventions.
A
bstract
We propose the creation of a Light Exotics Effective Field Theory (LEX-EFT) catalog. LEX-EFT is a generic framework to capture all interactions between the Standard Model (SM) and all (or ...at least a large class of) theoretically allowed exotic states beyond the Standard Model (bSM), indexed by their SM and bSM charges. These states are light enough to be on or nearly on shell in some collider processes. This framework, which subsumes beyond the Standard Model paradigms as generally as possible, is meant to extend recent successful implementations of bSM EFTs and complement e.g. the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT), which can capture the off-shell effects of exotic fields. In this work, we review a general method for the construction of a complete list of gauge-invariant operators involving SM interactions with light exotics via iterative tensor product decomposition, up to the desired order in mass dimension. Each operator is characterized by specific Clebsch-Gordan coefficients determined by the charge flow; we show how this charge flow affects the range of EFT validity and cross sections associated with an effective operator. We create an example catalog of exotic scalars coupling to SM gauge boson pairs, and we highlight some operators with exotic weak SU(2)
L
charges that can produce spectacular LHC phenomenology. We further demonstrate the utility of the LEX-EFT approach with several examples of effects on kinematic distributions and cross sections that would not be captured by EFTs agnostic to the exotic degrees of freedom and may evade the main inclusive collider searches tailored to the existing preferred set of standard bSM theories.
A
bstract
In this work we study the collider phenomenology of color-octet scalars (
sgluons
) in minimal supersymmetric models endowed with a global continuous
R
symmetry. We systematically catalog ...the significant decay channels of scalar and pseudoscalar sgluons and identify novel features that are natural in these models. These include decays in nonstandard diboson channels, such as to a gluon and a photon; three-body decays with considerable branching fractions; and long-lived particles with displaced vertex signatures. We also discuss the single and pair production of these particles and show that they can evade existing constraints from the Large Hadron Collider, to varying extents, in large regions of reasonable parameter space. We find, for instance, that a 725 GeV scalar and a 350 GeV or lighter pseudoscalar can still be accommodated in realistic scenarios.
The Rehabilitation Strategies in Esophagogastric cancer (RESTORE) randomized controlled trial evaluated the efficacy of a 12-week multidisciplinary program to increase the cardiorespiratory fitness ...and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of esophagogastric cancer survivors.
Patients following treatment for esophagogastric cancer are at risk of physical deconditioning, nutritional compromise, and sarcopenia. Accordingly, compelling rationale exists to target these impairments in recovery.
Disease-free patients treated for esophagogastric cancer were randomized to either usual care or the 12-week RESTORE program (exercise training, dietary counseling, and multidisciplinary education). The primary outcome was cardiopulmonary exercise testing (VO2peak). Secondary outcomes included body composition (bioimpedance analysis), and HRQOL (EORTC-QLQ-C30). Outcomes were assessed at baseline (T0), postintervention (T1), and at 3-month follow-up (T2).
Twenty-two participants were randomized to the control group mean (standard deviation) age 64.14 (10.46) yr, body mass index 25.67 (4.83) kg/m, time postsurgery 33.68 (19.56) mo, and 21 to the intervention group age 67.19(7.49) yr, body mass index 25.69(4.02) kg/m, time postsurgery 23.52(15.23) mo. Mean adherence to prescribed exercise sessions were 94(12)% (supervised) and 78(27)% (unsupervised). Correcting for baseline VO2peak, the intervention arm had significantly higher VO2peak at both T1, 22.20 (4.35) versus 21.41 (4.49) mL · min · kg, P < 0.001, and T2, 21.75 (4.27) versus 20.74 (4.65) mL · min · kg, P = 0.001, compared with the control group. Correcting for baseline values, no changes in body composition or HRQOL were observed.
The RESTORE program significantly improved cardiorespiratory fitness of disease-free patients after esophagogastric cancer surgery, without compromise to body composition. This randomized controlled trial provides proof of principle for rehabilitation programs in esophagogastric cancer.
NCT03314311.
Acute Cardiac Effects of Severe Pre-Eclampsia Vaught, Arthur Jason; Kovell, Lara C.; Szymanski, Linda M. ...
Journal of the American College of Cardiology,
07/2018, Letnik:
72, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Pre-eclampsia with severe features (PEC) is a pregnancy-specific syndrome characterized by severe hypertension and end-organ dysfunction, and is associated with short-term adverse cardiovascular ...events, including heart failure, pulmonary edema, and stroke.
The authors aimed to characterize the short-term echocardiographic, clinical, and laboratory changes in women with PEC, focusing on right ventricular (RV) systolic pressure (RVSP) and echocardiographic-derived diastolic, systolic, and speckle tracking parameters.
In this prospective observational study, the authors recruited 63 women with PEC and 36 pregnant control patients.
The PEC cohort had higher RVSP (31.0 ± 7.9 mm Hg vs. 22.5 ± 6.1 mm Hg; p < 0.001) and decreased global RV longitudinal systolic strain (RVLSS) (−19.6 ± 3.2% vs. −23.8 ± 2.9% p < 0.0001) when compared with the control cohort. For left-sided cardiac parameters, there were differences (p < 0.001) in mitral septal e′ velocity (9.6 ± 2.4 cm/s vs. 11.6 ± 1.9 cm/s), septal E/e′ ratio (10.8 ± 2.8 vs. 7.4 ± 1.6), left atrial area size (20.1 ± 3.8 cm2 vs. 17.3 ± 2.9 cm2), and posterior and septal wall thickness (median interquartile range: 1.0 cm 0.9 to 1.1 cm vs. 0.8 cm 0.7 to 0.9 cm, and 1.0 cm 0.8 to 1.2 cm vs. 0.8 cm 0.7 to 0.9 cm). Eight women (12.7%) with PEC had grade II diastolic dysfunction, and 6 women (9.5%) had peripartum pulmonary edema.
Women with PEC have higher RVSP, higher rates of abnormal diastolic function, decreased global RVLSS, increased left-sided chamber remodeling, and higher rates of peripartum pulmonary edema, when compared with healthy pregnant women.
Display omitted
Distinctive signals of frustrated dark matter Carpenter, Linda M.; Murphy, Taylor; Tait, Tim M. P.
The journal of high energy physics,
09/2022, Letnik:
2022, Številka:
9
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
A
bstract
We study a renormalizable model of Dirac fermion dark matter (DM) that communicates with the Standard Model (SM) through a pair of mediators — one scalar, one fermion — in the ...representation (
6
,
1
,
4
3
) of the SM gauge group SU(3)
c
× SU(2)
L
× U(1)
Y
. While such assignments preclude direct coupling of the dark matter to the Standard Model at tree level, we examine the many effective operators generated at one-loop order when the mediators are heavy, and find that they are often phenomenologically relevant. We reinterpret dijet and pair-produced resonance and jets +
E
T
miss
searches at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in order to constrain the mediator sector, and we examine an array of DM constraints ranging from the observed relic density Ω
χ
h
Planck
2
to indirect and direct searches for dark matter. Tree-level annihilation, available for DM masses starting at the TeV scale, is required in order to produce Ω
χ
h
Planck
2
through freeze-out, but loops — led by the dimension-five DM magnetic dipole moment — are nonetheless able to produce signals large enough to be constrained, particularly by the XENON1T experiment. In some benchmarks, we find a fair amount of parameter space left open by experiment and compatible with freeze-out. In other scenarios, however, the open space is quite small, suggesting a need for further model-building and/or non-standard cosmologies.
Membrane sweeping for induction of labour Finucane, Elaine M; Murphy, Deirdre J; Biesty, Linda M ...
Cochrane database of systematic reviews,
02/2020, Letnik:
2020, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Background
Induction of labour involves stimulating uterine contractions artificially to promote the onset of labour. There are several pharmacological, surgical and mechanical methods used to induce ...labour. Membrane sweeping is a mechanical technique whereby a clinician inserts one or two fingers into the cervix and using a continuous circular sweeping motion detaches the inferior pole of the membranes from the lower uterine segment. This produces hormones that encourage effacement and dilatation potentially promoting labour. This review is an update to a review first published in 2005.
Objectives
To assess the effects and safety of membrane sweeping for induction of labour in women at or near term (≥ 36 weeks' gestation).
Search methods
We searched Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth’s Trials Register (25 February 2019), ClinicalTrials.gov, the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) (25 February 2019), and reference lists of retrieved studies.
Selection criteria
Randomised and quasi‐randomised controlled trials comparing membrane sweeping used for third trimester cervical ripening or labour induction with placebo/no treatment or other methods listed on a predefined list of labour induction methods. Cluster‐randomised trials were eligible, but none were identified.
Data collection and analysis
Two review authors independently assessed studies for inclusion, risk of bias and extracted data. Data were checked for accuracy. Disagreements were resolved by discussion, or by including a third review author. The certainty of the evidence was assessed using the GRADE approach.
Main results
We included 44 studies (20 new to this update), reporting data for 6940 women and their infants. We used random‐effects throughout.
Overall, the risk of bias was assessed as low or unclear risk in most domains across studies. Evidence certainty, assessed using GRADE, was found to be generally low, mainly due to study design, inconsistency and imprecision. Six studies (n = 1284) compared membrane sweeping with more than one intervention and were thus included in more than one comparison.
No trials reported on the outcomes uterine hyperstimulation with/without fetal heart rate (FHR) change, uterine rupture or neonatal encephalopathy.
Forty studies (6548 participants) compared membrane sweeping with no treatment/sham
Women randomised to membrane sweeping may be more likely to experience:
· spontaneous onset of labour (average risk ratio (aRR) 1.21, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.08 to 1.34, 17 studies, 3170 participants, low‐certainty evidence).
but less likely to experience:
· induction (aRR 0.73, 95% CI 0.56 to 0.94, 16 studies, 3224 participants, low‐certainty evidence);
There may be little to no difference between groups for:
· caesareans (aRR 0.94, 95% CI 0.85 to 1.04, 32 studies, 5499 participants, moderate‐certainty evidence);
· spontaneous vaginal birth (aRR 1.03, 95% CI 0.99 to 1.07, 26 studies, 4538 participants, moderate‐certainty evidence);
· maternal death or serious morbidity (aRR 0.83, 95% CI 0.57 to 1.20, 17 studies, 2749 participants, low‐certainty evidence);
· neonatal perinatal death or serious morbidity (aRR 0.83, 95% CI 0.59 to 1.17, 18 studies, 3696 participants, low‐certainty evidence).
Four studies reported data for 480 women comparing membrane sweeping with vaginal/intracervical prostaglandins
There may be little to no difference between groups for the outcomes:
· spontaneous onset of labour (aRR, 1.24, 95% CI 0.98 to 1.57, 3 studies, 339 participants, low‐certainty evidence);
· induction (aRR 0.90, 95% CI 0.56 to 1.45, 2 studies, 157 participants, low‐certainty evidence);
· caesarean (aRR 0.69, 95% CI 0.44 to 1.09, 3 studies, 339 participants, low‐certainty evidence);
· spontaneous vaginal birth (aRR 1.12, 95% CI 0.95 to 1.32, 2 studies, 252 participants, low‐certainty evidence);
· maternal death or serious morbidity (aRR 0.93, 95% CI 0.27 to 3.21, 1 study, 87 participants, low‐certainty evidence);
· neonatal perinatal death or serious morbidity (aRR 0.40, 95% CI 0.12 to 1.33, 2 studies, 269 participants, low‐certainty evidence).
One study, reported data for 104 women, comparing membrane sweeping with intravenous oxytocin +/‐ amniotomy
There may be little to no difference between groups for:
· spontaneous onset of labour (aRR 1.32, 95% CI 88 to 1.96, 1 study, 69 participants, low‐certainty evidence);
· induction (aRR 0.51, 95% CI 0.05 to 5.42, 1 study, 69 participants, low‐certainty evidence);
· caesarean (aRR 0.69, 95% CI 0.12 to 3.85, 1 study, 69 participants, low‐certainty evidence);
· maternal death or serious morbidity was reported on, but there were no events.
Two studies providing data for 160 women compared membrane sweeping with vaginal/oral misoprostol
There may be little to no difference between groups for:
· caesareans (RR 0.82, 95% CI 0.31 to 2.17, 1 study, 96 participants, low‐certainty evidence).
One study providing data for 355 women which compared once weekly membrane sweep with twice‐weekly membrane sweep and a sham procedure
There may be little to no difference between groups for:
· induction (RR 1.19, 95% CI 0.76 to 1.85, 1 study, 234 participants, low‐certainty);
· caesareans (RR 0.93, 95% CI 0.60 to 1.46, 1 study, 234 participants, low‐certainty evidence);
· spontaneous vaginal birth (RR 1.00, 95% CI 0.86 to 1.17, 1 study, 234 participants, moderate‐certainty evidence);
· maternal death or serious maternal morbidity (RR 0.78, 95% CI 0.30 to 2.02, 1 study, 234 participants, low‐certainty evidence);
· neonatal death or serious neonatal perinatal morbidity (RR 2.00, 95% CI 0.18 to 21.76, 1 study, 234 participants, low‐certainty evidence);
We found no studies that compared membrane sweeping with amniotomy only or mechanical methods.
Three studies, providing data for 675 women, reported that women indicated favourably on their experience of membrane sweeping with one study reporting that 88% (n = 312) of women questioned in the postnatal period would choose membrane sweeping in the next pregnancy.
Two studies reporting data for 290 women reported that membrane sweeping is more cost‐effective than using prostaglandins, although more research should be undertaken in this area.
Authors' conclusions
Membrane sweeping may be effective in achieving a spontaneous onset of labour, but the evidence for this was of low certainty. When compared to expectant management, it potentially reduces the incidence of formal induction of labour. Questions remain as to whether there is an optimal number of membrane sweeps and timings and gestation of these to facilitate induction of labour.
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