Selected Topics in CVD Diamond Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koizumi, Satoshi; Nebel, Christoph E.; Nesladek, Milos

2006-10-01

Since the discovery of Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) diamond growth in 1976, the steady scientific progress often resulted in surprising new discoveries and breakthroughs. This brought us to the idea to publish the special issue Selected Topics in CVD Diamond Research in physica status solidi (a), reflecting such advancements and interesting results at the leading edge of diamond research.The present issue summarizes this progress in the CVD diamond field by selecting contributions from several areas such as superconductivity, super-excitonic radiation, quantum computing, bio-functionalization, surface electronic properties, the nature of phosphorus doping, transport properties in high energy detectors, CVD growth and properties of nanocrystalline diamond. In all these directions CVD diamond appears to be very competitive in comparison with other semiconducting materials.As Editors of this special issue, we must admit that the selection is biased by our opinion. Nonetheless, we are sure that each contribution introduces new ideas and results which will improve the understanding of the current level of physics and chemistry of this attractive wide-bandgap semiconductor and which will help to bring it closer to applications.All submissions were invited based on the contributions of the authors to their specific research field. The Feature Articles have the format of topical reviews to give the reader a comprehensive summary. Partially, however, they are written in research paper style to report new results of ongoing research.We hope that this issue will attract the attention of a broad community of scientists and engineers, and that it will facilitate the utilization of diamond in electronic applications and technologies of the future.

Solid-State Lighting 2017 Suggested Research Topics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None, None

2017-09-29

A 2017 update to the Solid-State Lighting R&D Plan that is divided into two documents. The first document describes a list of suggested SSL priority research topics and the second document provides context and background, including information drawn from technical, market, and economic studies. Widely referenced by industry and government both here and abroad, these documents reflect SSL stakeholder inputs on key R&D topics that will improve efficacy, reduce cost, remove barriers to adoption, and add value for LED and OLED lighting solutions over the next three to five years, and discuss those applications that drive and prioritize the specificmore » R&D.« less

Solid-State Lighting 2017 Suggested Research Topics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None, None

A 2017 update to the Solid-State Lighting R&D Plan that is divided into two documents. The first document describes a list of suggested SSL priority research topics and the second document provides context and background, including information drawn from technical, market, and economic studies. Widely referenced by industry and government both here and abroad, these documents reflect SSL stakeholder inputs on key R&D topics that will improve efficacy, reduce cost, remove barriers to adoption, and add value for LED and OLED lighting solutions over the next three to five years, and discuss those applications that drive and prioritize the specificmore » R&D.« less

THE TOPIC OF RESEARCH INTEGRITY IN LATINAMERICA1

PubMed Central

Rodríguez, Eduardo; Lolas, Fernando

2012-01-01

Present article narrates the experience of trainees of the ethics of biomedical and psychosocial research program of the Interdisciplinary Center for studies on bioethics (CIEB) of the University of Chile on the topic of research integrity in Latin America. The following problems are covered: integrity of publications, reporting of scientific research misconduct, definitions of research integrity, scientific ethical review committees functioning, international multi-centric clinical trials monitoring and norms for scientific integrity and ethical oversight. PMID:22679532

Reflexive journaling on emotional research topics: ethical issues for team researchers.

PubMed

Malacrida, Claudia

2007-12-01

Traditional epistemological concerns in qualitative research focus on the effects of researchers' values and emotions on choices of research topics, power relations with research participants, and the influence of researcher standpoints on data collection and analysis. However, the research process also affects the researchers' values, emotions, and standpoints. Drawing on reflexive journal entries of assistant researchers involved in emotionally demanding team research, this article explores issues of emotional fallout for research team members, the implications of hierarchical power imbalances on research teams, and the importance of providing ethical opportunities for reflexive writing about the challenges of doing emotional research. Such reflexive approaches ensure the emotional safety of research team members and foster opportunities for emancipatory consciousness among research team members.

Current Topics and Trends in Military Dental Research: A Tri-Service Panel Discussion

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-05-09

59 MDW/SGVU SUBJECT: Professional Presentation Approval 9MAY2016 1. Your paper, entitled Current Topics and Trends in Military Dental Research: A...submitted for review and approval.) NIA 6. TITLE OF MATERIAL TO BE PUBLISHED OR PRESENTED: CURRENT TOPICS AND TRENDS IN MJLITA RY DENTAL RESEARCH: A...Excellence 2 \\.J •:• Overview U.S. AIR FORCE • Current topics and trends in military dental research: A tri-service panel discussion • US Army/DTRD

The Topic Analysis of Hospice Care Research Using Co-word Analysis and GHSOM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Yu-Hsiang; Bhikshu, Huimin; Tsaih, Rua-Huan

The purpose of this study was to propose a multi-layer topic map analysis of palliative care research using co-word analysis of informetrics with Growing Hierarchical Self-Organizing Map (GHSOM). The topic map illustrated the delicate intertwining of subject areas and provided a more explicit illustration of the concepts within each subject area. We applied GHSOM, a text-mining Neural Networks tool, to obtain a hierarchical topic map. The result of the topic map may indicate that the subject area of health care science and service played an importance role in multidiscipline within the research related to palliative care.

T-cell receptor genes in tassel-eared squirrels (Sciurus aberti). I. Genetic polymorphism and divergence in the Abert and Kaibab subspecies.

PubMed

Wettstein, P J; Chakraborty, R; States, J; Ferrari, G

1990-01-01

The role of environmental factors in the evolution and maintenance of diversity of antigen receptor gene families which participate in the immune response in mammals is inadequately understood. In order to elucidate the impact of these factors, we have undertaken the analysis of these gene families in the tassel-eared squirrel (Sciurus aberti) which has been separated into discrete subspecies by geographic barriers and whose food resources can be quantitated for estimating environmental quality. In this communication we describe the initial analysis of the complexity and polymorphism of sequences related to T-cell receptor (Tcr) alpha and beta chain genes in two subspecies, Sciurus aberti aberti (Abert) and Sciurus aberti kaibabensis (Kaibab) which have identical habitats and are separated by the Grand Canyon in Arizona, USA. Genomic blot analysis of 60 Abert and 62 Kaibab individuals collected over a 3-year period was performed with mouse Tcrb and Tcra cDNA probes. Sequences homologous to Tcrb-C, Tcrb-J1, and Tcrb-J2 genes were observed in all individuals from both subspecies; although Tcrb-J1 fragments were monomorphic. Tcrb-C and Tcrb-J2 fragments were polymorphic with both species- and subspecies-specific sequences. A single, monomorphic Tcra-C fragment was observed in addition to multiple Tcra-V fragments homologous to the mouse Tcra-V1 subfamily. Abert samples exhibited greater numbers of Tcra-V1 fragments as well as greater polymorphism than Kaibab samples. Heterozygosity estimates of Tcrb-C and Tcra-V1 sequences were determined for annually collected samples and compared with the yearly estimates of availability of hypogeous fungi, one of the major diet items of tassel-eared squirrels. In the Kaibab annual collections, Tcra-V1 heterozygosity declined with the decline in food resource, whereas heterozygosity of Tcrb-C sequences was inversely related to food resource. Similarly, a reduction in food resource for Abert squirrels in 1985 coincided with an

An Overview of Tracheal Stenosis Research Trends and Hot Topics.

PubMed

Farzanegan, Roya; Feizabadi, Mansoureh; Ghorbani, Fariba; Movassaghi, Masoud; Vaziri, Esmaeil; Zangi, Mahdi; Lajevardi, Seyedamirmohammad; Shadmehr, Mohammad Behgam

2017-09-01

Tracheal stenosis remains a challenge in the thoracic surgery field. Recognizing the hot topics and major concepts in this area would help the health policy makers to determine their own priorities and design the effective research plans. The present study analyzed and mapped the topics and trends of tracheal stenosis studies over time as well as authors' and countries' contributions. Search results were obtained employing Bibexcel. To determine cold and hot topics, co-occurrence analysis was applied using three international databases 'Web of Science', 'PubMed' and 'Scopus'. Appropriately, different categories in the articles such as keywords, authors, and countries were explored via VOSviewer and NetDraw. Afterward, the trends of research topics were depicted in four time-intervals from 1945 to 2015 by ten co-occurrence terms. The majority of articles were limited to case series and retrospective studies. The studies had been conducted less frequently on prevention, risk factors and incidence determination but extensively on treatment and procedures. Based on the articles indexed in WOS, 45 countries and 8,260 authors have contributed to scientific progress in this field. The highest degree of cooperation occurred between the USA and England with 15 common papers. Most of the published literature in tracheal stenosis research field was about surgical and non-surgical treatments. Conducting the screening and prevention studies would diminish the burden of this disease on the health system as well as the patients and their families' well-being.

Emergency planning and management in health care: priority research topics.

PubMed

Boyd, Alan; Chambers, Naomi; French, Simon; Shaw, Duncan; King, Russell; Whitehead, Alison

2014-06-01

Many major incidents have significant impacts on people's health, placing additional demands on health-care organisations. The main aim of this paper is to suggest a prioritised agenda for organisational and management research on emergency planning and management relevant to U.K. health care, based on a scoping study. A secondary aim is to enhance knowledge and understanding of health-care emergency planning among the wider research community, by highlighting key issues and perspectives on the subject and presenting a conceptual model. The study findings have much in common with those of previous U.S.-focused scoping reviews, and with a recent U.K.-based review, confirming the relative paucity of U.K.-based research. No individual research topic scored highly on all of the key measures identified, with communities and organisations appearing to differ about which topics are the most important. Four broad research priorities are suggested: the affected public; inter- and intra-organisational collaboration; preparing responders and their organisations; and prioritisation and decision making.

Visualization of e-Health Research Topics and Current Trends Using Social Network Analysis.

PubMed

Son, Youn-Jung; Jeong, Senator; Kang, Byeong-Gwon; Kim, Sun-Hyung; Lee, Soo-Kyoung

2015-05-01

E-health has been grown rapidly with significant impact on quality and safety of healthcare. However, there is a large gap between the postulated and empirically demonstrated benefits of e-health technologies and a need for a clearer mapping of its conceptual domains. Therefore, this study aimed to critically review the main research topics and trends of international e-health through social network analysis. Medical subject heading terms were used to retrieve 3,023 research articles published from 1979 through 2014 in the PubMed database. We extracted n-grams from the corpus using a text analysis program, generated co-occurrence networks, and then analyzed and visualized the networks using Pajek software. The hub and authority measures identified the most important research topics in e-health. Newly emerging topics by 4-year period units were identified as research trends. The most important research topics in e-health are personal health records (PHR), health information technology, primary care, mobile health, clinical decision support systems (CDSS), and so on. The eight groups obtained through ego network analysis can be divided into four semantically different areas, as follows: information technology, infrastructure, services, and subjects. Also, four historical trends in e-health research are identified: the first focusing on e-health and telemedicine; the second, PHR and monitoring; the third, CDSS and alert; and the fourth, mobile health and health literacy. This study promotes a systematic understanding of e-health by identifying topic networks, thereby contributing to the future direction of e-health research and education.

Risk to researchers in qualitative research on sensitive topics: issues and strategies.

PubMed

Dickson-Swift, Virginia; James, Erica L; Kippen, Sandra; Liamputtong, Pranee

2008-01-01

Traditionally, risk assessments in research have been limited to examining the risks to the research participants. Although doing so is appropriate and important, there is growing recognition that undertaking research can pose risks to researchers as well. A grounded theory study involving a range of researchers who had undertaken qualitative health research on a sensitive topic was completed. Analysis of the in-depth, face-to-face unstructured individual interviews with 30 Australian public health researchers provided evidence that researchers do confront a number of physical and emotional risks when undertaking research. Training, preparation, and supervision must be taken into account so that the risk to researchers can be minimized. Researchers need to consider occupational health and safety issues in designing research projects that deal with physical and emotional risks. Recommendations for professional supervision, policy development, and minimum training standards for researchers are provided.

Trends and Topics in Autism Spectrum Disorders Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Matson, Johnny L.; LoVullo, Santino V.

2009-01-01

The field of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) is expanding at an exponential rate. New topics for study are forming and journals are emerging rapidly to handle the ever-increasing volume of publications. This study was undertaken to provide an overview of past and current research trends. Representative studies were evaluated for type of content…

Academic Users' Information Searching on Research Topics: Characteristics of Research Tasks and Search Strategies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Du, Jia Tina; Evans, Nina

2011-01-01

This project investigated how academic users search for information on their real-life research tasks. This article presents the findings of the first of two studies. The study data were collected in the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia. Eleven PhD students' searching behaviors on personal research topics were…

Dissertation Research in Counseling Psychology: Topics, Methods, and Qualitative Training.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kopala, Mary; And Others

Findings from a survey that examined the vast scope of research training in counseling psychology programs and topical areas that are addressed in dissertation research are presented in this paper. The questionnaire included both open- and closed-ended questions and were completed by 166 recent graduates of doctoral programs in counseling…

Black Adolescence: Topical Summaries and Annotated Bibliographies of Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Consortium for Research on Black Adolescence, Storrs, CT.

A review of studies on black youth indicates a need for more attention to research concerns such as theory development, carefully constructed methodologies, and sensitivity to the interrelatedness among and between demographic variables. Some topics, like the well-adjusted black adolescent, are rarely handled in empirical studies. In this document…

Machine Learning-Based Classification of 38 Years of Spine-Related Literature Into 100 Research Topics.

PubMed

Sing, David C; Metz, Lionel N; Dudli, Stefan

2017-06-01

Retrospective review. To identify the top 100 spine research topics. Recent advances in "machine learning," or computers learning without explicit instructions, have yielded broad technological advances. Topic modeling algorithms can be applied to large volumes of text to discover quantifiable themes and trends. Abstracts were extracted from the National Library of Medicine PubMed database from five prominent peer-reviewed spine journals (European Spine Journal [ESJ], The Spine Journal [SpineJ], Spine, Journal of Spinal Disorders and Techniques [JSDT], Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine [JNS]). Each abstract was entered into a latent Dirichlet allocation model specified to discover 100 topics, resulting in each abstract being assigned a probability of belonging in a topic. Topics were named using the five most frequently appearing terms within that topic. Significance of increasing ("hot") or decreasing ("cold") topic popularity over time was evaluated with simple linear regression. From 1978 to 2015, 25,805 spine-related research articles were extracted and classified into 100 topics. Top two most published topics included "clinical, surgeons, guidelines, information, care" (n = 496 articles) and "pain, back, low, treatment, chronic" (424). Top two hot trends included "disc, cervical, replacement, level, arthroplasty" (+0.05%/yr, P < 0.001), and "minimally, invasive, approach, technique" (+0.05%/yr, P < 0.001). By journal, the most published topics were ESJ-"operative, surgery, postoperative, underwent, preoperative"; SpineJ-"clinical, surgeons, guidelines, information, care"; Spine-"pain, back, low, treatment, chronic"; JNS- "tumor, lesions, rare, present, diagnosis"; JSDT-"cervical, anterior, plate, fusion, ACDF." Topics discovered through latent Dirichlet allocation modeling represent unbiased meaningful themes relevant to spine care. Topic dynamics can provide historical context and direction for future research for aspiring investigators and trainees

Epidemiologic research topics in Germany: a keyword network analysis of 2014 DGEpi conference presentations.

PubMed

Peter, Raphael Simon; Brehme, Torben; Völzke, Henry; Muche, Rainer; Rothenbacher, Dietrich; Büchele, Gisela

2016-06-01

Knowledge of epidemiologic research topics as well as trends is useful for scientific societies, researchers and funding agencies. In recent years researchers recognized the usefulness of keyword network analysis for visualizing and analyzing scientific research topics. Therefore, we applied keyword network analysis to present an overview of current epidemiologic research topics in Germany. Accepted submissions to the 9th annual congress of the German Society for Epidemiology (DGEpi) in 2014 were used as data source. Submitters had to choose one of 19 subject areas, and were ask to provide a title, structured abstract, names of authors along with their affiliations, and a list of freely selectable keywords. Keywords had been provided for 262 (82 %) submissions, 1030 keywords in total. Overall the most common keywords were: "migration" (18 times), "prevention" (15 times), followed by "children", "cohort study", "physical activity", and "secondary data analysis" (11 times each). Some keywords showed a certain concentration under one specific subject area, e.g. "migration" with 8 of 18 in social epidemiology or "breast cancer" with 4 of 7 in cancer epidemiology. While others like "physical activity" were equally distributed over multiple subject areas (cardiovascular & metabolic diseases, ageing, methods, paediatrics, prevention & health service research). This keyword network analysis demonstrated the high diversity of epidemiologic research topics with a large number of distinct keywords as presented at the annual conference of the DGEpi.

Fair Resource Allocation to Health Research: Priority Topics for Bioethics Scholarship.

PubMed

Pratt, Bridget; Hyder, Adnan A

2017-07-01

This article draws attention to the limited amount of scholarship on what constitutes fairness and equity in resource allocation to health research by individual funders. It identifies three key decisions of ethical significance about resource allocation that research funders make regularly and calls for prioritizing scholarship on those topics - namely, how health resources should be fairly apportioned amongst public health and health care delivery versus health research, how health research resources should be fairly allocated between health problems experienced domestically versus other health problems typically experienced by disadvantaged populations outside the funder's country, and how domestic and non-domestic health research funding should be further apportioned to different areas, e.g. types of research and recipients. These three topics should be priorities for bioethics research because their outcomes have a substantial bearing on the achievement of health justice. The proposed agenda aims to move discussion on the ethics of health research funding beyond its current focus on the mismatch between worldwide basic and clinical research investment and the global burden of disease. Individual funders' decision-making on whether and to what extent to allocate resources to non-domestic health research, health systems research, research on the social determinants of health, capacity development, and recipients in certain countries should also be the focus of ethical scrutiny. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Learning Spaces in Higher Education: An Under-Researched Topic

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Temple, Paul

2008-01-01

The connections between the design and use of space in higher education, and the production of teaching and learning, and of research, are not well understood. This paper reports on a literature review on these topics, and shows that higher education spaces can be considered in various ways: in terms of campus design, in terms of how space can…

Energy Drinks: Topical Domain in the Emerging Literature and Neglected Areas of Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Piotrowski, Chris

2014-01-01

Prevalence statistics indicate that consumption of Energy drinks (EDs), often in combination with alcohol, is quite popular in the younger generation and particularly with college students. As literature on this topic is advancing at a rapid pace, it seemed instructive to examine which topics are emphasized in emerging EDs research. To that end, a…

Identifying Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) Research in Selected Journals Published from 2003 to 2012: A Content Analysis of Research Topics and Issues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zheng, Lanqin; Huang, Ronghuai; Yu, Junhui

2014-01-01

This study aims to identity the emerging research trends in the field of computed-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) so as to provide insights for researchers and educators into research topics and issues for further exploration. This paper analyzed the research topics, methods and technology adoption of CSCL from 2003 to 2012. A total of 706…

Visualized analysis of developing trends and hot topics in natural disaster research.

PubMed

Shen, Shi; Cheng, Changxiu; Yang, Jing; Yang, Shanli

2018-01-01

This study visualized and analyzed the developing trends and hot topics in natural disaster research. 19694 natural disaster-related articles (January 1900 to June 2015) are indexed in the Web of Science database. The first step in this study is using complex networks to visualize and analyze these articles. CiteSpace and Gephi were employed to generate a countries collaboration network and a disciplines collaboration network, and then attached hot topics to countries and disciplines, respectively. The results show that USA, China, and Italy are the three major contributors to natural disaster research. "Prediction model", "social vulnerability", and "landslide inventory map" are three hot topics in recent years. They have attracted attention not only from large countries like China but also from small countries like Panama and Turkey. Comparing two hybrid networks provides details of natural disaster research. Scientists from USA and China use image data to research earthquakes. Indonesia and Germany collaboratively study tsunamis in the Indian Ocean. However, Indonesian studies focus on modeling and simulations, while German research focuses on early warning technology. This study also introduces an activity index (AI) and an attractive index (AAI) to generate time evolution trajectories of some major countries from 2000 to 2013 and evaluate their trends and performance. Four patterns of evolution are visible during this 14-year period. China and India show steadily rising contributions and impacts, USA and England show relatively decreasing research efforts and impacts, Japan and Australia show fluctuating activities and stable attraction, and Spain and Germany show fluctuating activities and increasing impacts.

Visualized analysis of developing trends and hot topics in natural disaster research

PubMed Central

Shen, Shi; Cheng, Changxiu; Yang, Jing; Yang, Shanli

2018-01-01

This study visualized and analyzed the developing trends and hot topics in natural disaster research. 19694 natural disaster-related articles (January 1900 to June 2015) are indexed in the Web of Science database. The first step in this study is using complex networks to visualize and analyze these articles. CiteSpace and Gephi were employed to generate a countries collaboration network and a disciplines collaboration network, and then attached hot topics to countries and disciplines, respectively. The results show that USA, China, and Italy are the three major contributors to natural disaster research. “Prediction model”, “social vulnerability”, and “landslide inventory map” are three hot topics in recent years. They have attracted attention not only from large countries like China but also from small countries like Panama and Turkey. Comparing two hybrid networks provides details of natural disaster research. Scientists from USA and China use image data to research earthquakes. Indonesia and Germany collaboratively study tsunamis in the Indian Ocean. However, Indonesian studies focus on modeling and simulations, while German research focuses on early warning technology. This study also introduces an activity index (AI) and an attractive index (AAI) to generate time evolution trajectories of some major countries from 2000 to 2013 and evaluate their trends and performance. Four patterns of evolution are visible during this 14-year period. China and India show steadily rising contributions and impacts, USA and England show relatively decreasing research efforts and impacts, Japan and Australia show fluctuating activities and stable attraction, and Spain and Germany show fluctuating activities and increasing impacts. PMID:29351350

Identifying Research Topic Development in Business and Management Education Research Using Legitimation Code Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arbaugh, J. B.; Fornaciari, Charles J.; Hwang, Alvin

2016-01-01

Although the volume of business and management education (BME) research has expanded substantially, concerns remain about the field's legitimacy and its ability to attract new and dedicated scholars. An obstacle that may impede field development is lack of knowledge about influential works and authors to frame topical areas of inquiry and future…

Teachers as Therapeutic Agents: Perceptions of a School-Based Mental Health Initiative

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lindo, Natalya A.; Taylor, Dalena Dillman; Meany-Walen, Kristin K.; Purswell, Katherine; Jayne, Kimberly; Gonzales, Terri; Jones, Leslie

2014-01-01

Teacher-child relationship building (TCRB) is a play-based professional development programme adapted from kinder training and filial therapy. Intended for early education teachers and students, TCRB is designed to strengthen the teacher-child relationship, improve student behaviour, enhance academic involvement and develop teachers' classroom…

Selected Research and Development Topics on Aerospace Communications at NASA Glenn Research Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miranda, Felix A.; Romanofsky, Robert R.; Nessel, James A.

2014-01-01

This presentation discusses some of the efforts on communications RD that have been performed or are currently underway at NASA Glenn Research Center. The primary purpose of this presentation is to outline some RD topics to serve as talking points for a Technical Interchange Meeting with the Ohio State University. The meeting is scheduled to take place at The ElectroScience Laboratory of the Ohio State University on February 24, 2014.

GATA3 Abundance Is a Critical Determinant of T Cell Receptor β Allelic Exclusion

PubMed Central

Ku, Chia-Jui; Sekiguchi, JoAnn M.; Panwar, Bharat; Guan, Yuanfang; Takahashi, Satoru; Yoh, Keigyou; Maillard, Ivan; Hosoya, Tomonori

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT Allelic exclusion describes the essential immunological process by which feedback repression of sequential DNA rearrangements ensures that only one autosome expresses a functional T or B cell receptor. In wild-type mammals, approximately 60% of cells have recombined the DNA of one T cell receptor β (TCRβ) V-to-DJ-joined allele in a functional configuration, while the second allele has recombined only the DJ sequences; the other 40% of cells have recombined the V to the DJ segments on both alleles, with only one of the two alleles predicting a functional TCRβ protein. Here we report that the transgenic overexpression of GATA3 leads predominantly to biallelic TCRβ gene (Tcrb) recombination. We also found that wild-type immature thymocytes can be separated into distinct populations based on intracellular GATA3 expression and that GATA3LO cells had almost exclusively recombined only one Tcrb locus (that predicted a functional receptor sequence), while GATA3HI cells had uniformly recombined both Tcrb alleles (one predicting a functional and the other predicting a nonfunctional rearrangement). These data show that GATA3 abundance regulates the recombination propensity at the Tcrb locus and provide new mechanistic insight into the historic immunological conundrum for how Tcrb allelic exclusion is mediated. PMID:28320875

Environmental Justice Research: Contemporary Issues and Emerging Topics

PubMed Central

Chakraborty, Jayajit; Collins, Timothy W.; Grineski, Sara E.

2016-01-01

Environmental justice (EJ) research seeks to document and redress the disproportionate environmental burdens and benefits associated with social inequalities. Although its initial focus was on disparities in exposure to anthropogenic pollution, the scope of EJ research has expanded. In the context of intensifying social inequalities and environmental problems, there is a need to further strengthen the EJ research framework and diversify its application. This Special Issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH) incorporates 19 articles that broaden EJ research by considering emerging topics such as energy, food, drinking water, flooding, sustainability, and gender dynamics, including issues in Canada, the UK, and Eastern Europe. Additionally, the articles contribute to three research themes: (1) documenting connections between unjust environmental exposures and health impacts by examining unsafe infrastructure, substance use, and children’s obesity and academic performance; (2) promoting and achieving EJ by implementing interventions to improve environmental knowledge and health, identifying avenues for sustainable community change, and incorporating EJ metrics in government programs; and (3) clarifying stakeholder perceptions of EJ issues to extend research beyond the documentation of unjust conditions and processes. Collectively, the articles highlight potentially compounding injustices and an array of approaches being employed to achieve EJ. PMID:27809294

Environmental Justice Research: Contemporary Issues and Emerging Topics.

PubMed

Chakraborty, Jayajit; Collins, Timothy W; Grineski, Sara E

2016-11-01

Environmental justice (EJ) research seeks to document and redress the disproportionate environmental burdens and benefits associated with social inequalities. Although its initial focus was on disparities in exposure to anthropogenic pollution, the scope of EJ research has expanded. In the context of intensifying social inequalities and environmental problems, there is a need to further strengthen the EJ research framework and diversify its application. This Special Issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH) incorporates 19 articles that broaden EJ research by considering emerging topics such as energy, food, drinking water, flooding, sustainability, and gender dynamics, including issues in Canada, the UK, and Eastern Europe. Additionally, the articles contribute to three research themes: (1) documenting connections between unjust environmental exposures and health impacts by examining unsafe infrastructure, substance use, and children's obesity and academic performance; (2) promoting and achieving EJ by implementing interventions to improve environmental knowledge and health, identifying avenues for sustainable community change, and incorporating EJ metrics in government programs; and (3) clarifying stakeholder perceptions of EJ issues to extend research beyond the documentation of unjust conditions and processes. Collectively, the articles highlight potentially compounding injustices and an array of approaches being employed to achieve EJ.

Ultracompact, High-Speed Field-Effect Optical Modulators (Research Topic 4.2 Optoelectronics)

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-11-29

Ultracompact, High-Speed Field-Effect Optical Modulators( Research Topic 4.2 Optoelectronics) The views, opinions and/or findings contained in this...report are those of the author(s) and should not contrued as an official Department of the Army position, policy or decision, unless so designated by...other documentation. 9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS (ES) U.S. Army Research Office P.O. Box 12211 Research Triangle Park

a Survey on Topics, Researchers and Cultures in the Field of Digital Heritage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Münster, S.

2017-08-01

Digital heritage comprises a broad variety of approaches and topics and involves researchers from multiple disciplines. While the use of digital methods in the text-oriented disciplines dealing with cultural heritage is widely discussed and canonized, an up-to-date investigation on cultural heritage as a scholarly field is currently missing. The extended abstract is about a three-stage investigation on standards, publications, disciplinary cultures as well as scholars in the field of digital heritage, carried out in 2016 and 2017. It includes results of a workshop-based survey involving 44 researchers, 15 qualitative interviews as well as an online survey with nearly 1000 participants. As an overall finding, a community is driven by researchers from European countries and especially Italy with a background in humanities, dealing with topics of data acquisition, data management and visualization. Moreover, conference series are most relevant for a scientific discourse, and especially EU projects set pace as most important research endeavours.

[Dealing with sensitive interview topics--insights into the research project "Everyday life of people with urinary incontinence"].

PubMed

Hayder, Daniela; Cintron, Alexa; Schnell, Martin W; Schnepp, Wilfried

2009-10-01

This article has been written as part of a research project investigating the experiences of people with urinary incontinence. In this article a systematic literature analysis combined with excerpts from the study was used to describe and reflect on the best way to conduct interviews on sensitive topics. Ethical aspects are emphasised. These include informed and process consent, different types, places, and phases of such an interview, and reasons for people to participate in such interviews. It is shown that grappling with sensitive and shameful topics can promote recruitment of potential candidates and add depth to qualitative research. As such, sensitive interview topics constitute important quality indicators for qualitative research.

[Research priorities and research topics for cardiovascular nursing: the Swiss Research Agenda for Nursing].

PubMed

Mahrer-Imhof, Romy; Imhof, Lorenz

2008-12-01

Cardiovascular diseases are worldwide a major challenge for the health care system and the number one reason for premature mortality and lost life years. Many accomplishments to reduce risk factors and improve treatment in acute and chronic disease and rehabilitation have been initiated by medical research but were also embraced by nursing research, which provided valuable knowledge about supporting risk factor modification and patients' self-management. Nursing research in the cardiovascular field has a long tradition in the US. In Europe cardiovascular nursing research also developed over the past decade, with increasing participation of Swiss nurse researchers. Efforts in this field of cardiovascular nursing have been made to convey projects in nursing research that help to enhance the health of the population sustainably and improve well-being in patients with acute and chronic courses of cardiovascular disease. Scientific knowledge is pivotal in developing evidence-based nursing interventions. Since both the German and the French speaking part of Switzerland have been lacking a literature-based and expert-supported agenda for nursing research, the aim of the Swiss Research Agenda for Nursing (SRAN) project was to develop an agenda providing researchers, funding agencies, and politics with orientation. This article takes the seven priorities of the SRAN project and links them to the topics of risk factor modification, rehabilitation programs, self-care, and patient education. The article presents the first agenda for cardiovascular nursing for the years 2007 to 2017. The agenda will serve to develop an action plan and to promote nursing research projects in the field of cardiovascular nursing in Switzerland.

Economic Education within the BME Research Community: Rejoinder to "Identifying Research Topic Development in Business and Management Education Research Using Legitimation Code Theory"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Asarta, Carlos J.

2016-01-01

Carlos Asarta comments here that Arbaugh, Fornaciari, and Hwang (2016) are to be commended for their work ("Identifying Research Topic Development in Business and Management Education Research Using Legitimation Code Theory" "Journal of Management Education," Dec 2016, see EJ1118407). Asarta says that they make several…

How to conduct a high-quality original study on a diagnostic research topic.

PubMed

Yao, Xiaomei; Vella, Emily

2017-09-01

As health research methodologists and journal reviewers, we noticed that the methodological rigor of many publications on diagnostic or prognostic topics in the medical literature could be improved. We present a concise and clear series of reviews to help clinicians and health researchers to master the basic key components of how to conduct a high-quality original study or systematic review on a diagnostic or prognostic research topic from a methodological perspective. This is the first review of the series, which focuses on how to conduct a high-quality diagnostic study. We are introducing four aspects: clarifying the objectives; generating an appropriate research question; planning the study design; and reporting and analyzing data. This review highlights that diagnostic test accuracy outcomes are surrogates for patient outcomes, a diagnostic test has three roles, the "PIRO" components should be included in a diagnostic research question, a new study should be registered, multiple index tests can be compared in one study, and prevalence affects test accuracy outcomes. This review also emphasizes reporting any thresholds, calculating sample size, and performing a two-by-three table to calculate diagnostic outcomes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Solid-State Lighting 2017 Suggested Research Topics Supplement: Technology and Market Context

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None, None

A 2017 update to the Solid-State Lighting R&D Plan that is divided into two documents. The first document describes a list of suggested SSL priority research topics and the second document provides context and background, including information drawn from technical, market, and economic studies. Widely referenced by industry and government both here and abroad, these documents reflect SSL stakeholder inputs on key R&D topics that will improve efficacy, reduce cost, remove barriers to adoption, and add value for LED and OLED lighting solutions over the next three to five years, and discuss those applications that drive and prioritize the specificmore » R&D.« less

Study of Methods for Assessing Research Topic Elicitation and pRioritization (SMARTER): Study Protocol to Compare Qualitative Research Methods and Advance Patient Engagement in Research

PubMed Central

Comstock, Bryan

2017-01-01

Background Involving patients as partners in research is a defining characteristic of patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR). While patients’ experiential knowledge of a health condition or treatment may yield research priorities not reflected by researchers and policy makers, the methods for identifying and effectively collaborating with patients are still evolving. Patient registries and crowdsourcing may offer ease of access and convenience to both researchers and patients. Surveys and focus groups, including online modalities, have been described for prioritizing research topics. However, little is known about how these different methods compare in producing consistent priorities and similar perceptions of engagement quality among participants. Objective The aims of this study are (1) to compare how different engagement methods used to elicit patient priorities for research perform as measured by rankings for priorities generated and participant satisfaction; and (2) to determine characteristics of individuals choosing to participate in research prioritization activities. Methods Participants in the Back pain Outcomes using Longitudinal Data (BOLD) patient registry, established to evaluate the natural history of back pain among individuals 65 years and older, and participants on the Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) crowdsourcing platform, to provide input on priorities for research via a questionnaire, are invited. For BOLD participants, we subsequently randomize interested respondents to 1 of 3 interactive prioritization activities to further develop priorities: a Delphi panel, an online crowd voting activity, or an in-person facilitated prioritization activity using nominal group technique (NGT). Participants involved in each activity complete a survey to evaluate the quality of the experience and a subset of these participants discuss their experience further in an interview. Descriptive statistics are used to characterize the rankings produced by each

Aging in place: evolution of a research topic whose time has come.

PubMed

Vasunilashorn, Sarinnapha; Steinman, Bernard A; Liebig, Phoebe S; Pynoos, Jon

2012-01-01

Over the past 30 years, policy makers and professionals who provide services to older adults with chronic conditions and impairments have placed greater emphasis on conceptualizing aging in place as an attainable and worthwhile goal. Little is known, however, of the changes in how this concept has evolved in aging research. To track trends in aging in place, we examined scholarly articles published from 1980 to 2010 that included the concept in eleven academic gerontology journals. We report an increase in the absolute number and proportion of aging-in-place manuscripts published during this period, with marked growth in the 2000s. Topics related to the environment and services were the most commonly examined during 2000-2010 (35% and 31%, resp.), with a substantial increase in manuscripts pertaining to technology and health/functioning. This underscores the increase in diversity of topics that surround the concept of aging-in-place literature in gerontological research.

Analysis of the EPSRC Principles of Robotics in regard to key research topics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gning, A.; Davis, D. N.; Cheng, Y.; Robinson, P.

2017-07-01

In this paper, we review the five rules published in EPSRC Principles of Robotics with a specific focus on future robotics research topics. It is demonstrated through a pictorial representation of the five rules that these rules are questionably not sufficient, overlapping and not explicitly reflecting the true challenges of robotics ethics in relation to the future of robotics research.

African primary care research: choosing a topic and developing a proposal.

PubMed

Mash, Bob

2014-02-06

This is the first in a series of articles on primary care research in the African context. The aim of the series is to help build capacity for primary care research amongst the emerging departments of family medicine and primary care on the continent. Many of the departments are developing Masters of Medicine programmes in Family Medicine and their students will all be required to complete research studies as part of their degree. This series is being written with this audience in particular in mind--both the students who must conceptualise and implement a research project as well as their supervisors who must assist them.This article gives an overview of the African primary care context, followed by a typology of primary care research. The article then goes on to assist the reader with choosing a topic and defining their research question. Finally the article addresses the structure and contents of a research proposal and the ethical issues that should be considered.

African Primary Care Research: Choosing a topic and developing a proposal

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Abstract This is the first in a series of articles on primary care research in the African context. The aim of the series is to help build capacity for primary care research amongst the emerging departments of family medicine and primary care on the continent. Many of the departments are developing Masters of Medicine programmes in Family Medicine and their students will all be required to complete research studies as part of their degree. This series is being written with this audience in particular in mind – both the students who must conceptualise and implement a research project as well as their supervisors who must assist them. This article gives an overview of the African primary care context, followed by a typology of primary care research. The article then goes on to assist the reader with choosing a topic and defining their research question. Finally the article addresses the structure and contents of a research proposal and the ethical issues that should be considered. PMID:26245432

Visualizing Collaboration Characteristics and Topic Burst on International Mobile Health Research: Bibliometric Analysis.

PubMed

Shen, Lining; Xiong, Bing; Li, Wei; Lan, Fuqiang; Evans, Richard; Zhang, Wei

2018-06-05

In the last few decades, mobile technologies have been widely adopted in the field of health care services to improve the accessibility to and the quality of health services received. Mobile health (mHealth) has emerged as a field of research with increasing attention being paid to it by scientific researchers and a rapid increase in related literature being reported. The purpose of this study was to analyze the current state of research, including publication outputs, in the field of mHealth to uncover in-depth collaboration characteristics and topic burst of international mHealth research. The authors collected literature that has been published in the last 20 years and indexed by Thomson Reuters Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). Various statistical techniques and bibliometric measures were employed, including publication growth analysis; journal distribution; and collaboration network analysis at the author, institution, and country collaboration level. The temporal visualization map of burst terms was drawn, and the co-occurrence matrix of these burst terms was analyzed by hierarchical cluster analysis and social network analysis. A total of 2704 bibliographic records on mHealth were collected. The earliest paper centered on mHealth was published in 1997, with the number of papers rising continuously since then. A total of 21.28% (2318/10,895) of authors publishing mHealth research were first author, whereas only 1.29% (141/10,895) of authors had published one paper. The total degree of author collaboration was 4.42 (11,958/2704) and there are 266 core authors who have collectively published 53.07% (1435/2704) of the total number of publications, which means that the core group of authors has fundamentally been formed based on the Law of Price. The University of Michigan published the highest number of mHealth-related publications, but less collaboration among institutions exits. The United States is the most productive country in the field and plays a

Exploring Research Topics and Trends in Nursing-related Communication in Intensive Care Units Using Social Network Analysis.

PubMed

Son, Youn-Jung; Lee, Soo-Kyoung; Nam, SeJin; Shim, Jae Lan

2018-05-04

This study used social network analysis to identify the main research topics and trends in nursing-related communication in intensive care units. Keywords from January 1967 to June 2016 were extracted from PubMed using Medical Subject Headings terms. Social network analysis was performed using Gephi software. Research publications and newly emerging topics in nursing-related communication in intensive care units were classified into five chronological phases. After the weighting was adjusted, the top five keyword searches were "conflict," "length of stay," "nursing continuing education," "family," and "nurses." During the most recent phase, research topics included "critical care nursing," "patient handoff," and "quality improvement." The keywords of the top three groups among the 10 groups identified were related to "neonatal nursing and practice guideline," "infant or pediatric and terminal care," and "family, aged, and nurse-patient relations," respectively. This study can promote a systematic understanding of communication in intensive care units by identifying topic networks. Future studies are needed to conduct large prospective cohort studies and randomized controlled trials to verify the effects of patient-centered communication in intensive care units on patient outcomes, such as length of hospital stay and mortality.

Study of Methods for Assessing Research Topic Elicitation and pRioritization (SMARTER): Study Protocol to Compare Qualitative Research Methods and Advance Patient Engagement in Research.

PubMed

Lavallee, Danielle C; Comstock, Bryan; Scott, Mary R; Avins, Andrew L; Nerenz, David R; Edwards, Todd C; Patrick, Donald L; Lawrence, Sarah O; Bauer, Zoya; Truitt, Anjali R; Jarvik, Jeffrey G

2017-09-07

Involving patients as partners in research is a defining characteristic of patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR). While patients' experiential knowledge of a health condition or treatment may yield research priorities not reflected by researchers and policy makers, the methods for identifying and effectively collaborating with patients are still evolving. Patient registries and crowdsourcing may offer ease of access and convenience to both researchers and patients. Surveys and focus groups, including online modalities, have been described for prioritizing research topics. However, little is known about how these different methods compare in producing consistent priorities and similar perceptions of engagement quality among participants. The aims of this study are (1) to compare how different engagement methods used to elicit patient priorities for research perform as measured by rankings for priorities generated and participant satisfaction; and (2) to determine characteristics of individuals choosing to participate in research prioritization activities. Participants in the Back pain Outcomes using Longitudinal Data (BOLD) patient registry, established to evaluate the natural history of back pain among individuals 65 years and older, and participants on the Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) crowdsourcing platform, to provide input on priorities for research via a questionnaire, are invited. For BOLD participants, we subsequently randomize interested respondents to 1 of 3 interactive prioritization activities to further develop priorities: a Delphi panel, an online crowd voting activity, or an in-person facilitated prioritization activity using nominal group technique (NGT). Participants involved in each activity complete a survey to evaluate the quality of the experience and a subset of these participants discuss their experience further in an interview. Descriptive statistics are used to characterize the rankings produced by each method and compare the top 5

Do Some Students Need Special Protection From Research on Sex and Trauma? New Evidence for Young Adult Resilience in "Sensitive Topics" Research.

PubMed

Rinehart, Jenny K; Nason, Erica E; Yeater, Elizabeth A; Miller, Geoffrey F

2017-01-01

Institutional review boards (IRBs) have expressed concerns that certain individuals or groups, such as participants who are younger, ethnic minorities, or who have certain psychological or personality traits, may be particularly distressed when participating in "sensitive topics" research. This study examined the effects of several demographic and individual difference factors (i.e., age, sex, ethnicity, religiosity, Big Five personality traits, and baseline psychological distress levels) on reactions to participation in sensitive topics research. Participants were 504 undergraduates who completed an extensive battery of either trauma/sex questionnaires or cognitive tests and rated their positive and negative emotional reactions and the perceived benefits and mental costs of participating. They also compared research participation to normal life stressors. Our findings indicated that individual difference and demographic risk factors do not increase participant distress after participating in sex/trauma research over and above that experienced after participating in traditionally minimal-risk cognitive tasks. Participants generally found research participation less distressing than normal life stressors and even enjoyable.

Colloquium on Selected Topics in Behavioral Science Basic Research. (Alexandria, Virginia, April 23-25, 1980).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nogami, Glenda Y., Ed.; And Others

The 21 summaries of research programs, funded by the United States Army Research Institute (ARI) for the Behavioral and Social Sciences which are presented are grouped in five broad topic areas: computer-based systems; information processing; learning, memory and transfer; human relations; and related issues and trends. Papers presented include:…

Progress in the Legitimacy of Business and Management Education Research: Rejoinder to "Identifying Research Topic Development in Business and Management Education Research Using Legitimation Code Theory"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bacon, Donald R.

2016-01-01

In this rejoinder to "Identifying Research Topic Development in Business and Management Education Research Using Legitimation Code Theory," published in the "Journal of Management Education," Dec 2016 (see EJ1118407), Donald R. Bacon discusses the similarities between Arbaugh et al.'s (2016) findings and the scholarship…

A Sustainable Model for Integrating Current Topics in Machine Learning Research into the Undergraduate Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Georgiopoulos, M.; DeMara, R. F.; Gonzalez, A. J.; Wu, A. S.; Mollaghasemi, M.; Gelenbe, E.; Kysilka, M.; Secretan, J.; Sharma, C. A.; Alnsour, A. J.

2009-01-01

This paper presents an integrated research and teaching model that has resulted from an NSF-funded effort to introduce results of current Machine Learning research into the engineering and computer science curriculum at the University of Central Florida (UCF). While in-depth exposure to current topics in Machine Learning has traditionally occurred…

Topic Modeling of NASA Space System Problem Reports: Research in Practice

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Layman, Lucas; Nikora, Allen P.; Meek, Joshua; Menzies, Tim

2016-01-01

Problem reports at NASA are similar to bug reports: they capture defects found during test, post-launch operational anomalies, and document the investigation and corrective action of the issue. These artifacts are a rich source of lessons learned for NASA, but are expensive to analyze since problem reports are comprised primarily of natural language text. We apply topic modeling to a corpus of NASA problem reports to extract trends in testing and operational failures. We collected 16,669 problem reports from six NASA space flight missions and applied Latent Dirichlet Allocation topic modeling to the document corpus. We analyze the most popular topics within and across missions, and how popular topics changed over the lifetime of a mission. We find that hardware material and flight software issues are common during the integration and testing phase, while ground station software and equipment issues are more common during the operations phase. We identify a number of challenges in topic modeling for trend analysis: 1) that the process of selecting the topic modeling parameters lacks definitive guidance, 2) defining semantically-meaningful topic labels requires nontrivial effort and domain expertise, 3) topic models derived from the combined corpus of the six missions were biased toward the larger missions, and 4) topics must be semantically distinct as well as cohesive to be useful. Nonetheless,topic modeling can identify problem themes within missions and across mission lifetimes, providing useful feedback to engineers and project managers.

Resources for Topics in Architecture.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Noate, Judith, Comp.

This guide for conducting library research on topics in architecture or on the work of a particular architect presents suggestions for utilizing four categories of resources: books, dictionaries and encyclopedias, indexes, and a periodicals and series list (PASL). Two topics are researched as examples: the contemporary architect Richard Meier, and…

GeneTopics - interpretation of gene sets via literature-driven topic models

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Annotation of a set of genes is often accomplished through comparison to a library of labelled gene sets such as biological processes or canonical pathways. However, this approach might fail if the employed libraries are not up to date with the latest research, don't capture relevant biological themes or are curated at a different level of granularity than is required to appropriately analyze the input gene set. At the same time, the vast biomedical literature offers an unstructured repository of the latest research findings that can be tapped to provide thematic sub-groupings for any input gene set. Methods Our proposed method relies on a gene-specific text corpus and extracts commonalities between documents in an unsupervised manner using a topic model approach. We automatically determine the number of topics summarizing the corpus and calculate a gene relevancy score for each topic allowing us to eliminate non-specific topics. As a result we obtain a set of literature topics in which each topic is associated with a subset of the input genes providing directly interpretable keywords and corresponding documents for literature research. Results We validate our method based on labelled gene sets from the KEGG metabolic pathway collection and the genetic association database (GAD) and show that the approach is able to detect topics consistent with the labelled annotation. Furthermore, we discuss the results on three different types of experimentally derived gene sets, (1) differentially expressed genes from a cardiac hypertrophy experiment in mice, (2) altered transcript abundance in human pancreatic beta cells, and (3) genes implicated by GWA studies to be associated with metabolite levels in a healthy population. In all three cases, we are able to replicate findings from the original papers in a quick and semi-automated manner. Conclusions Our approach provides a novel way of automatically generating meaningful annotations for gene sets that are directly

78 FR 19496 - Submission for OMB Review; 30-day Comment Request; The National Cancer Institute (NCI...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-04-01

... smoking cessation intervention designed for young adult smokers ages 18 to 29. The SmokefreeTXT program is... Research Branch (TCRB) at the request of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH) at the...- messaging service and a series of web-based surveys. All web-based survey data will be collected and stored...

COMET strongly supported the development and implementation of medium-term topical research roadmaps consistent with the ALLIANCE Strategic Research Agenda.

PubMed

Garnier-Laplace, J; Vandenhove, H; Beresford, N; Muikku, M; Real, A

2018-03-01

The ALLIANCE 6 Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) initiated by the STAR 7 Network of Excellence and integrated in the research strategy implemented by the COMET consortium, defines a long-term vision of the needs for, and implementation of, research in radioecology. This reference document, reflecting views from many stakeholders groups and researchers, serves as an input to those responsible for defining EU research call topics through the ALLIANCE SRA statement delivered each year to the EJP-CONCERT 8 (2015-2020). This statement highlights a focused number of priorities for funding. Research in radioecology and related sciences is justified by various drivers, such as policy changes, scientific advances and knowledge gaps, radiological risk perception by the public, and a growing awareness of interconnections between human and ecosystem health. The SRA is being complemented by topical roadmaps that have been initiated by the COMET 9 EC-funded project, with the help and endorsement of the ALLIANCE. The strategy underlying roadmap development is driven by the need for improved mechanistic understanding across radioecology. By meeting this need, we can provide fit-for-purpose human and environmental impact/risk assessments in support of the protection of man and the environment in interaction with society and for the three exposure situations defined by the ICRP (i.e., planned, existing and emergency). Within the framework of the EJP-CONCERT the development of a joint roadmap is under discussion among all the European research platforms and will highlight the major research needs for the whole radiation protection field and how these are likely to be addressed by 2030.

Topic Model for Graph Mining.

PubMed

Xuan, Junyu; Lu, Jie; Zhang, Guangquan; Luo, Xiangfeng

2015-12-01

Graph mining has been a popular research area because of its numerous application scenarios. Many unstructured and structured data can be represented as graphs, such as, documents, chemical molecular structures, and images. However, an issue in relation to current research on graphs is that they cannot adequately discover the topics hidden in graph-structured data which can be beneficial for both the unsupervised learning and supervised learning of the graphs. Although topic models have proved to be very successful in discovering latent topics, the standard topic models cannot be directly applied to graph-structured data due to the "bag-of-word" assumption. In this paper, an innovative graph topic model (GTM) is proposed to address this issue, which uses Bernoulli distributions to model the edges between nodes in a graph. It can, therefore, make the edges in a graph contribute to latent topic discovery and further improve the accuracy of the supervised and unsupervised learning of graphs. The experimental results on two different types of graph datasets show that the proposed GTM outperforms the latent Dirichlet allocation on classification by using the unveiled topics of these two models to represent graphs.

Selected Topics in Overset Technology Development and Applications At NASA Ames Research Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chan, William M.; Kwak, Dochan (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

This paper presents a general overview of overset technology development and applications at NASA Ames Research Center. The topics include: 1) Overview of overset activities at NASA Ames; 2) Recent developments in Chimera Grid Tools; 3) A general framework for multiple component dynamics; 4) A general script module for automating liquid rocket sub-systems simulations; and 5) Critical future work.

Evaluation of research topic evolution in psychiatry using co-word analysis

PubMed Central

Wu, Ying; Jin, Xing; Xue, Yunzhen

2017-01-01

Abstract With the rapid increase in the incidence of mental disorders and mental issues, psychiatry has become one of the fastest growing clinical medical disciplines. Development priorities and research foci in this field have evolved over different periods. All the articles in 10 psychiatric journals with the highest impact factors were selected from the Science Citation Index (SCI) in Web of Science from 2001 to 2015. The information visualization software Sci2 was used to conduct co-word and clustering analyses on these articles. The articles were divided into 3 periods: 2001 to 2005, 2006 to 2010, and 2011 to 2015. Each bibliographic record contained a title, author names, abstract, keywords, references, and other information. During the 3 periods between 2001 and 2015, child and adolescent psychiatry, major depression, schizophrenia, and prefrontal cortex were constant research foci. The brain and meta-analysis gradually became new research foci, although research on symptoms slowly decreased. Molecular genetics was also an area of interest. Using scientometrics technology to visualize research foci can provide us with new ideas and research methods. Co-word analysis for the preliminary exploration of research foci and developmental trends in psychiatry is helpful in finding developmental rules, choices of topics, and innovative research. Our study had some limitations. In the future, we should expand our research scope and use a variety of research methods to enrich our results. PMID:28640150

Evaluation of research topic evolution in psychiatry using co-word analysis.

PubMed

Wu, Ying; Jin, Xing; Xue, Yunzhen

2017-06-01

With the rapid increase in the incidence of mental disorders and mental issues, psychiatry has become one of the fastest growing clinical medical disciplines. Development priorities and research foci in this field have evolved over different periods.All the articles in 10 psychiatric journals with the highest impact factors were selected from the Science Citation Index (SCI) in Web of Science from 2001 to 2015. The information visualization software Sci was used to conduct co-word and clustering analyses on these articles. The articles were divided into 3 periods: 2001 to 2005, 2006 to 2010, and 2011 to 2015. Each bibliographic record contained a title, author names, abstract, keywords, references, and other information.During the 3 periods between 2001 and 2015, child and adolescent psychiatry, major depression, schizophrenia, and prefrontal cortex were constant research foci. The brain and meta-analysis gradually became new research foci, although research on symptoms slowly decreased. Molecular genetics was also an area of interest.Using scientometrics technology to visualize research foci can provide us with new ideas and research methods. Co-word analysis for the preliminary exploration of research foci and developmental trends in psychiatry is helpful in finding developmental rules, choices of topics, and innovative research. Our study had some limitations. In the future, we should expand our research scope and use a variety of research methods to enrich our results.

T-cell receptor variable genes and genetic susceptibility to celiac disease: an association and linkage study.

PubMed

Roschmann, E; Wienker, T F; Gerok, W; Volk, B A

1993-12-01

Genetic susceptibility of celiac disease is primarily associated with a particular combination of and HLA-DQA1/DQB1 gene; however, this does not fully account for the genetic predisposition. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine whether T-cell receptor (TCR) genes may be susceptibility genes in celiac disease. HLA class II typing was performed by polymerase chain reaction amplification in combination with sequence-specific oligonucleotide hybridization. TCR alpha (TCRA), TCR gamma (TCRG), and TCR beta (TCRB) loci were investigated by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. Allelic frequencies of TCRA, TCRG, and TCRB variable genes were compared between patients with celiac disease (n = 53) and control patients (n = 67), and relative risk (RR) estimates were calculated. The RR was 1.67 for allele C1 at TCRA1, 3.35 for allele D2 at TCRA2, 1.66 for allele B2 at TCRG, and 1.35 for allele B at TCRB, showing no significant association. Additionally, linkage analysis was performed in 23 families. The logarithm of odd scores for celiac disease vs. the TCR variable genes at TCRA, TCRG, and TCRB showed no significant linkage. These data suggest that the analyzed TCR variable gene segments V alpha 1.2, V gamma 11, and V beta 8 do not play a major role in susceptibility to celiac disease.

Genes, molecules and patients—Emerging topics to guide clinical pain research

PubMed Central

Sikandar, Shafaq; Patel, Ryan; Patel, Sital; Sikander, Sanam; Bennett, David L.H.; Dickenson, Anthony H.

2013-01-01

This review selectively explores some areas of pain research that, until recently, have been poorly understood. We have chosen four topics that relate to clinical pain and we discuss the underlying mechanisms and related pathophysiologies contributing to these pain states. A key issue in pain medicine involves crucial events and mediators that contribute to normal and abnormal pain signaling, but remain unseen without genetic, biomarker or imaging analysis. Here we consider how the altered genetic make-up of familial pains reveals the human importance of channels discovered by preclinical research, followed by the contribution of receptors as stimulus transducers in cold sensing and cold pain. Finally we review recent data on the neuro-immune interactions in chronic pain and the potential targets for treatment in cancer-induced bone pain. PMID:23500200

Topical Treatment of Degenerative Knee Osteoarthritis.

PubMed

Meng, Zengdong; Huang, Rongzhong

2018-01-01

This article reviews topical management strategies for degenerative osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. A search of Pubmed, Embase and the Cochrane library using MeSH terms including "topical," "treatment," "knee" and "osteoarthritis" was carried out. Original research and review articles on the effectiveness and safety, recommendations from international published guidelines and acceptability studies of topical preparations were included. Current topical treatments included for the management of knee OA include topical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, capsaicin, salicylates and physical treatments such as hot or cold therapy. Current treatment guidelines recommend topical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs as an alternative and even first-line therapy for OA management, especially among elderly patients. Guidelines on other topical treatments vary, from recommendations against their use, to in favor as alternative or simultaneous therapy, especially for patients with contraindications to other analgesics. Although often well-tolerated and preferred by many patients, clinical care still lags in the adoption of topical treatments. Aspects of efficacy, safety and patient quality of life data require further research. Copyright © 2018 Southern Society for Clinical Investigation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review of Research on Educational Leadership and Management in Asia: A Comparative Analysis of Research Topics and Methods, 1995-2012

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hallinger, Philip; Chen, Junjun

2015-01-01

Over the past two decades scholars have called for a more concerted effort to develop an empirically grounded literature on educational leadership outside of mainstream "Western" contexts. This paper reports the results of a review of research topics and methods that comprise the literature on educational leadership and management in…

A 21st Century Research Agenda: Issues, Topics & Questions Guiding Inquiry into Middle Level Theory & Practice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Middle School Association, Columbus, OH.

The purpose of this document is to widen the conversation and include all the stakeholders in the further development and use of enlightened and relevant research on middle level schooling. The research agenda it presents is meant to be a guide to topics, themes, and questions central to a number of middle level issues. The agenda consists of sets…

A heuristic approach to determine an appropriate number of topics in topic modeling

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Background Topic modelling is an active research field in machine learning. While mainly used to build models from unstructured textual data, it offers an effective means of data mining where samples represent documents, and different biological endpoints or omics data represent words. Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) is the most commonly used topic modelling method across a wide number of technical fields. However, model development can be arduous and tedious, and requires burdensome and systematic sensitivity studies in order to find the best set of model parameters. Often, time-consuming subjective evaluations are needed to compare models. Currently, research has yielded no easy way to choose the proper number of topics in a model beyond a major iterative approach. Methods and results Based on analysis of variation of statistical perplexity during topic modelling, a heuristic approach is proposed in this study to estimate the most appropriate number of topics. Specifically, the rate of perplexity change (RPC) as a function of numbers of topics is proposed as a suitable selector. We test the stability and effectiveness of the proposed method for three markedly different types of grounded-truth datasets: Salmonella next generation sequencing, pharmacological side effects, and textual abstracts on computational biology and bioinformatics (TCBB) from PubMed. Conclusion The proposed RPC-based method is demonstrated to choose the best number of topics in three numerical experiments of widely different data types, and for databases of very different sizes. The work required was markedly less arduous than if full systematic sensitivity studies had been carried out with number of topics as a parameter. We understand that additional investigation is needed to substantiate the method's theoretical basis, and to establish its generalizability in terms of dataset characteristics. PMID:26424364

Research on Estrogen and Behavior Is a "Hot Topic" at the 2011 Society for Neuroscience Meeting

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Biegon, Anat

The Society for Neuroscience has selected recent research on estrogen and its effect on behavior conducted at BNL for its "hot topics" book distributed to reporters attending the society's 2011 meeting in Washington, D.C., November 12-16.

Research on Estrogen and Behavior Is a "Hot Topic" at the 2011 Society for Neuroscience Meeting

ScienceCinema

Biegon, Anat

2018-05-30

The Society for Neuroscience has selected recent research on estrogen and its effect on behavior conducted at BNL for its "hot topics" book distributed to reporters attending the society's 2011 meeting in Washington, D.C., November 12-16.

Selected topics in experimental aeroelasticity at the NASA Langley Research Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ricketts, R. H.

1985-01-01

The results of selected studies that have been conducted by the NASA Langley Research Center in the last three years are presented. The topics presented focus primarily on the ever-important transonic flight regime and include the following: body-freedom flutter of a forward-swept-wing configuration with and without relaxed static stability; instabilities associated with a new tilt-rotor vehicle; effects of winglets, supercritical airfoils, and spanwise curvature on wing flutter; wind-tunnel investigation of a flutter-like oscillation on a high-aspect-ratio flight research wing; results of wing-tunnel demonstration of the NASA decoupler pylon concept for passive suppression of wing/store flutter; and, new flutter testing methods which include testing at cryogenic temperatures for full scale Reynolds number simulation, subcritical response techniques for predicting onset of flutter, and a two-degree-of-freedom mount system for testing side-wall-mounted models.

Selected topics in experimental aeroelasticity at the NASA Langley Research Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ricketts, R. H.

1985-01-01

The results of selected studies that have been conducted by the NASA Langley Research Center in the last three years are presented. The topics presented focus primarily on the ever-important transonic flight regime and include the following: body-freedom flutter of a forward-swept-wing configuration with and without relaxed static stability; instabilities associated with a new tilt-rotor vehicle; effects of winglets, supercritical airfoils, and spanwise curvature on wing flutter; wind-tunnel investigation of a flutter-like oscillation on a high-aspect-ratio flight research wing; results of wind-tunnel demonstration of the NASA decoupler pylon concept for passive suppression of wing/store flutter; and, new flutter testing methods which include testing at cryogenic temperatures for full scale Reynolds number simulation, subcritical response techniques for predicting onset of flutter, and a two-degree-of-freedom mount system for testing side-wall-mounted models.

Methods for studying sensitive family topics.

PubMed

Gelles, Richard J

1978-07-01

Researchers on sensitive topics in family relations face a number of obstacles, due to the private nature of the family and to ethical constraints on the study of humans. Difficulties in locating subjects, engaging their cooperation, and obtaining valid and reliable data are discussed, and methods are proposed for pursuing research on these important but frequently taboo topics.

Main topics in transcultural psychiatric research in the Netherlands during the past decade.

PubMed

Laban, Cornelis J; van Dijk, Rob

2013-12-01

The population of the Netherlands has become increasingly diverse in terms of ethnicity and religion, and anti-immigrant attitudes have become more apparent. At the same time, interest in issues linked to transcultural psychiatry has grown steadily. The purpose of this article is to describe the most important results in Dutch transcultural psychiatric research in the last decade and to discuss their relationship with relevant social and political developments in the Netherlands. All relevant PhD theses (N = 27) between 2000 and 2011 were selected. Screening of Dutch journals in the field of transcultural psychiatry and medical anthropology and a PubMed query yielded additional publications. Forensic and addiction psychiatry were excluded from this review. The results of the review indicate three main topics: (a) the prevalence of psychiatric disorders and their relation to migration issues as social defeat and ethnic density, showing considerable intra- and interethnic differences in predictors and prevalence rates, (b) the social position of refugees and asylum seekers, and its effect on mental health, showing especially high risk among asylum seekers, and (c) the patterns of health-seeking behaviour and use of mental health services, showing a differentiated picture among various migrant groups. Anthropological research brought additional knowledge on all the above topics. The overall conclusion is that transcultural psychiatric research in the Netherlands has made a giant leap since the turn of the century. The results are of international importance and invite redefinition of the relationship between migration and mental health, and reconsideration of its underlying mechanisms in multiethnic societies.

Research topics on EO systems for maritime platforms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dijk, Judith; Bijl, Piet; van den Broek, Sebastiaan P.; van Eijk, Alenxander M. J.

2014-10-01

Our world is constantly changing, and this has its effect on worldwide military operations. For example, there is a change from conventional warfare into a domain that contains asymmetric threats as well. The availability of high-quality imaging information from Electro-Optical (EO) sensors is of high importance, for instance for timely detection and identification of small threatening vessels in an environment with a large amount of neutral vessels. Furthermore, Rules of Engagement often require a visual identification before action is allowed. The challenge in these operations is to detect, classify and identify a target at a reasonable range, while avoiding too many false alarms or missed detections. Current sensor technology is not able to cope with the performance requirements under all circumstances. For example, environmental conditions can reduce the sensor range in such a way that the operational task becomes challenging or even impossible. Further, limitations in automatic detection algorithms occur, e.g. due to the effects of sun glints and spray which are not yet well-modelled in the detection filters. For these reasons, Tactical Decision Aids will become an important factor in future operations to select the best moment to act. In this paper, we describe current research within The Netherlands on this topic. The Defence Research and Development Programme "Multifunctional Electro-Optical Sensor Suite (MEOSS)" aims at the development of knowledge necessary for optimal employment of Electro-Optical systems on board of current and future ships of the Royal Netherlands Navy, in order to carry out present and future maritime operations in various environments and weather conditions.

Rediscovering Paideia and the Meaning of a Scholarly Career: Rejoinder to "Identifying Research Topic Development in Business and Management Education Research Using Legitimation Code Theory"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Antonacopoulou, Elena P.

2016-01-01

In "Identifying Research Topic Development in Business and Management Education Research Using Legitimation Code Theory," authors J.B. Arbaugh, Charles J. Fornaciari, and Alvin Hwang ("Journal of Management Education," December 2016 vol. 40 no. 6 p654-691, see EJ1118407) used citation analysis to track the development of…

Automated Text Data Mining Analysis of Five Decades of Educational Leadership Research Literature: Probabilistic Topic Modeling of "EAQ" Articles From 1965 to 2014

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Yinying; Bowers, Alex J.; Fikis, David J.

2017-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe the underlying topics and the topic evolution in the 50-year history of educational leadership research literature. Method: We used automated text data mining with probabilistic latent topic models to examine the full text of the entire publication history of all 1,539 articles published in…

A needs assessment of education research topics among surgical educators in the United States.

PubMed

Phitayakorn, R; Salles, A; Falcone, J L; Jensen, A R; Steinemann, S; Torbeck, L

2017-02-01

There are currently no courses that focus specifically on surgical education research. A needs assessment of surgical educators is required to best design these courses. A cross-sectional survey-based study on all faculty members of the Association for Surgical Education was done to determine their education research needs. The overall response rate was 15% and the majority of the 78 respondents were physicians (63%) in their mid- to late career stage (65%). Participants thought research topics should be taught at an advanced level in a workshop format. Senior educators were less interested than junior educators in learning to create conceptual frameworks (p = 0.038) and presenting their research at national meetings (p = 0.014). Surgical educators desire more training in education research techniques that are taught in a workshop format at a national surgical education meeting. These workshops may lay the groundwork for a nationally recognized certificate in surgical education research. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Prioritizing multiple health behavior change research topics: expert opinions in behavior change science.

PubMed

Amato, Katie; Park, Eunhee; Nigg, Claudio R

2016-06-01

Multiple health behavior change (MHBC) approaches are understudied. The purpose of this study is to provide strategic MHBC research direction. This cross-sectional study contacted participants through the Society of Behavioral Medicine email listservs and rated the importance of 24 MHBC research topics (1 = not at all important, 5 = extremely important) separately for general and underserved populations. Participants (n = 76) were 79 % female; 76 % White, 10 % Asian, 8 % African American, 5 % Hispanic, and 1 % Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander. Top MHBC research priorities were predictors of behavior change and the sustainability, long-term effects, and dissemination/translation of interventions for both populations. Recruitment and retention of participants (t(68) = 2.17, p = 0.000), multi-behavioral indices (t(68) = 3.54, p = 0.001), and measurement burden (t(67) = 5.04, p = 0.001) were important for the underserved. Results identified the same top research priorities across populations. For the underserved, research should emphasize recruitment, retention, and measurement burden.

Trends in gel dosimetry: Preliminary bibliometric overview of active growth areas, research trends and hot topics from Gore’s 1984 paper onwards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baldock, C.

2017-05-01

John Gore’s seminal 1984 paper on gel dosimetry spawned a vibrant research field ranging from fundamental science through to clinical applications. A preliminary bibliometric study was undertaken of the gel dosimetry family of publications inspired by, and resulting from, Gore’s original 1984 paper to determine active growth areas, research trends and hot topics from Gore’s paper up to and including 2016. Themes and trends of the gel dosimetry research field were bibliometrically explored by way of co-occurrence term maps using the titles and abstracts text corpora from the Web of Science database for all relevant papers from 1984 to 2016. Visualisation of similarities was used by way of the VOSviewer visualisation tool to generate cluster maps of gel dosimetry knowledge domains and the associated citation impact of topics within the domains. Heat maps were then generated to assist in the understanding of active growth areas, research trends, and emerging and hot topics in gel dosimetry.

Do scientists trace hot topics?

PubMed

Wei, Tian; Li, Menghui; Wu, Chensheng; Yan, Xiao-Yong; Fan, Ying; Di, Zengru; Wu, Jinshan

2013-01-01

Do scientists follow hot topics in their scientific investigations? In this paper, by performing analysis to papers published in the American Physical Society (APS) Physical Review journals, it is found that papers are more likely to be attracted by hot fields, where the hotness of a field is measured by the number of papers belonging to the field. This indicates that scientists generally do follow hot topics. However, there are qualitative differences among scientists from various countries, among research works regarding different number of authors, different number of affiliations and different number of references. These observations could be valuable for policy makers when deciding research funding and also for individual researchers when searching for scientific projects.

Do scientists trace hot topics?

PubMed Central

Wei, Tian; Li, Menghui; Wu, Chensheng; Yan, Xiao-Yong; Fan, Ying; Di, Zengru; Wu, Jinshan

2013-01-01

Do scientists follow hot topics in their scientific investigations? In this paper, by performing analysis to papers published in the American Physical Society (APS) Physical Review journals, it is found that papers are more likely to be attracted by hot fields, where the hotness of a field is measured by the number of papers belonging to the field. This indicates that scientists generally do follow hot topics. However, there are qualitative differences among scientists from various countries, among research works regarding different number of authors, different number of affiliations and different number of references. These observations could be valuable for policy makers when deciding research funding and also for individual researchers when searching for scientific projects. PMID:23856680

Do scientists trace hot topics?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Tian; Li, Menghui; Wu, Chensheng; Yan, Xiao-Yong; Fan, Ying; di, Zengru; Wu, Jinshan

2013-07-01

Do scientists follow hot topics in their scientific investigations? In this paper, by performing analysis to papers published in the American Physical Society (APS) Physical Review journals, it is found that papers are more likely to be attracted by hot fields, where the hotness of a field is measured by the number of papers belonging to the field. This indicates that scientists generally do follow hot topics. However, there are qualitative differences among scientists from various countries, among research works regarding different number of authors, different number of affiliations and different number of references. These observations could be valuable for policy makers when deciding research funding and also for individual researchers when searching for scientific projects.

Cystic fibrosis research topics featured at the 14th ECFS Basic Science Conference: Chairman's summary.

PubMed

Mall, Marcus A; Hwang, Tzyh-Chang; Braakman, Ineke

2018-03-01

In recent years, tremendous progress has been made in the development of novel drugs targeting the basic defect in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). This breakthrough is based on a solid foundation of knowledge on CFTR's function in health and how mutations in CFTR cause CF multi-organ disease. This knowledge has been collected and continuously expanded by an active and persistent CF research community and has paved the way for precision medicine for CF. Since 2004, the European Cystic Fibrosis Society (ECFS) has held an annual Basic Science Conference that has evolved as an international forum for interdisciplinary discussion of hot topics and unsolved questions related to CF research. This Special Issue reviews CF research topics featured at the 14th ECFS Basic Science Conference and provides an up-to-date overview of recent progress in our understanding of CFTR structure and function, disease mechanisms implicated in airway mucus plugging, inflammation and abnormal host-pathogen interactions, and advancements with enhanced cell and animal model systems and breakthrough therapies directed at mutant CFTR or alternative targets. In addition, this Special Issue also identifies a number of fundamental questions and hurdles that still have to be overcome to realize the full potential of precision medicine and develop transformative therapies for all patients with CF. Copyright © 2017 European Cystic Fibrosis Society. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Topics in the Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1963-2015.

PubMed

Oh, JungSu; Stewart, Alan E; Phelps, Rosemary E

2017-11-01

Historical trends in a scientific field should be apparent in the changing content of journal articles over time. Using a topic modeling approach, a statistical method for quantifying the thematic content of text, 70 topics were extracted from the abstracts of 3,603 articles published in the Journal of Counseling Psychology from 1963 to 2015. After examining interpretability of 70 topics derived from the model, 64 meaningful topics and their trends were named. In addition, the authors also classified some of the related topics into 4 categories-counseling process and outcome, multiculturalism, research methodology, and vocational psychology. Counseling process and outcome related topics have decreased recently, while topics relating to multiculturalism and diversity have shown increasing trends. The authors also discussed trends that were observed and tried to account for the changing frequencies of some important research topics within these categories. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

A Bibliometric Analysis on Cancer Population Science with Topic Modeling.

PubMed

Li, Ding-Cheng; Rastegar-Mojarad, Majid; Okamoto, Janet; Liu, Hongfang; Leichow, Scott

2015-01-01

Bibliometric analysis is a research method used in library and information science to evaluate research performance. It applies quantitative and statistical analyses to describe patterns observed in a set of publications and can help identify previous, current, and future research trends or focus. To better guide our institutional strategic plan in cancer population science, we conducted bibliometric analysis on publications of investigators currently funded by either Division of Cancer Preventions (DCP) or Division of Cancer Control and Population Science (DCCPS) at National Cancer Institute. We applied two topic modeling techniques: author topic modeling (AT) and dynamic topic modeling (DTM). Our initial results show that AT can address reasonably the issues related to investigators' research interests, research topic distributions and popularities. In compensation, DTM can address the evolving trend of each topic by displaying the proportion changes of key words, which is consistent with the changes of MeSH headings.

Emerging topical onychomycosis therapies - quo vadis?

PubMed

Elkeeb, Rania; Hui, Xiaoying; Murthy, Narasimha; Maibach, Howard I

2014-12-01

Onychomycosis, a common chronic fungal infection affecting fingernails and toenails, globally may affect 10 - 30% of the population. This chronic disease is difficult to eradicate. The goal of developing a highly effective and safe topical treatment has not yet been reached as it depends on the type of onychomycosis and the variety of invaders. Topical drug delivery to the nail is highly desirable in treating nail disorders. However, efficacy of topical therapies is low due to their limited permeability across the nail plate. Advances have especially been made by the development of new therapeutic options including new drug entities, new formulations and reformulations. This overview updates emerging topical treatments for onychomycosis, research progress and future perspectives. Development of novel effective noninvasive topical therapy for treating onychomycosis and other nail diseases such as psoriasis is long overdue. Previously there was a lack of basic knowledge about nail and its barrier properties, but with the recent increased interest in this field both from industry and academia, we hope extensive research will continue in this field to bring about successful and safe treatments for such chronic diseases.

Advanced Large Scale Cross Domain Temporal Topic Modeling Algorithms to Infer the Influence of Recent Research on IPCC Assessment Reports

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sleeman, J.; Halem, M.; Finin, T.; Cane, M. A.

2016-12-01

Approximately every five years dating back to 1989, thousands of climate scientists, research centers and government labs volunteer to prepare comprehensive Assessment Reports for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. These are highly curated reports distributed to 200 nation policy makers. There have been five IPCC Assessment Reports to date, the latest leading to a Paris Agreement in Dec. 2016 signed thus far by 172 nations to limit the amount of global Greenhouse gases emitted to producing no more than a 20 C warming of the atmosphere. These reports are a living evolving big data collection tracing 30 years of climate science research, observations, and model scenario intercomparisons. They contain more than 200,000 citations over a 30 year period that trace the evolution of the physical basis of climate science, the observed and predicted impact, risk and adaptation to increased greenhouse gases and mitigation approaches, pathways, policies for climate change. Document-topic and topic-term probability distributions are built from the vocabularies of the respective assessment report chapters and citations. Using Microsoft Bing, we retrieve 150,000 citations referenced across chapters and convert those citations to text. Using a word n-gram model based on a heterogeneous set of climate change terminology, lemmatization, noise filtering and stopword elimination, we calculate word frequencies for chapters and citations. Temporal document sets are built based on the assessment period. In addition to topic modeling, we employ cross domain correlation measures. Using the Jensen-Shannon divergence and Pearson correlation we build correlation matrices for chapter and citations topics. The shared vocabulary acts as the bridge between domains resulting in chapter-citation point pairs in space. Pairs are established based on a document-topic probability distribution. Each chapter and citation is associated with a vector of topics and based on the n most probable

Final Technical Report summarizing Purdue research activities as part of the DOE JET Topical Collaboration

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Molnar, Denes

2015-09-01

This report summarizes research activities at Purdue University done as part of the DOE JET Topical Collaboration. These mainly involve calculation of covariant radiative energy loss in the (Djordjevic-)Gyulassy-Levai-Vitev ((D)GLV) framework for relativistic A+A reactions at RHIC and LHC energies using realistic bulk medium evolution with both transverse and longitudinal expansion. The single PDF file provided also includes a report from the entire JET Collaboration.

The Global Evidence Mapping Initiative: scoping research in broad topic areas.

PubMed

Bragge, Peter; Clavisi, Ornella; Turner, Tari; Tavender, Emma; Collie, Alex; Gruen, Russell L

2011-06-17

Evidence mapping describes the quantity, design and characteristics of research in broad topic areas, in contrast to systematic reviews, which usually address narrowly-focused research questions. The breadth of evidence mapping helps to identify evidence gaps, and may guide future research efforts. The Global Evidence Mapping (GEM) Initiative was established in 2007 to create evidence maps providing an overview of existing research in Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Spinal Cord Injury (SCI). The GEM evidence mapping method involved three core tasks:1. Setting the boundaries and context of the map: Definitions for the fields of TBI and SCI were clarified, the prehospital, acute inhospital and rehabilitation phases of care were delineated and relevant stakeholders (patients, carers, clinicians, researchers and policymakers) who could contribute to the mapping were identified. Researchable clinical questions were developed through consultation with key stakeholders and a broad literature search. 2. Searching for and selection of relevant studies: Evidence search and selection involved development of specific search strategies, development of inclusion and exclusion criteria, searching of relevant databases and independent screening and selection by two researchers. 3. Reporting on yield and study characteristics: Data extraction was performed at two levels - 'interventions and study design' and 'detailed study characteristics'. The evidence map and commentary reflected the depth of data extraction. One hundred and twenty-nine researchable clinical questions in TBI and SCI were identified. These questions were then prioritised into high (n = 60) and low (n = 69) importance by the stakeholders involved in question development. Since 2007, 58 263 abstracts have been screened, 3 731 full text articles have been reviewed and 1 644 relevant neurotrauma publications have been mapped, covering fifty-three high priority questions. GEM Initiative evidence maps have a broad

The Global Evidence Mapping Initiative: Scoping research in broad topic areas

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Evidence mapping describes the quantity, design and characteristics of research in broad topic areas, in contrast to systematic reviews, which usually address narrowly-focused research questions. The breadth of evidence mapping helps to identify evidence gaps, and may guide future research efforts. The Global Evidence Mapping (GEM) Initiative was established in 2007 to create evidence maps providing an overview of existing research in Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Spinal Cord Injury (SCI). Methods The GEM evidence mapping method involved three core tasks: 1. Setting the boundaries and context of the map: Definitions for the fields of TBI and SCI were clarified, the prehospital, acute inhospital and rehabilitation phases of care were delineated and relevant stakeholders (patients, carers, clinicians, researchers and policymakers) who could contribute to the mapping were identified. Researchable clinical questions were developed through consultation with key stakeholders and a broad literature search. 2. Searching for and selection of relevant studies: Evidence search and selection involved development of specific search strategies, development of inclusion and exclusion criteria, searching of relevant databases and independent screening and selection by two researchers. 3. Reporting on yield and study characteristics: Data extraction was performed at two levels - 'interventions and study design' and 'detailed study characteristics'. The evidence map and commentary reflected the depth of data extraction. Results One hundred and twenty-nine researchable clinical questions in TBI and SCI were identified. These questions were then prioritised into high (n = 60) and low (n = 69) importance by the stakeholders involved in question development. Since 2007, 58 263 abstracts have been screened, 3 731 full text articles have been reviewed and 1 644 relevant neurotrauma publications have been mapped, covering fifty-three high priority questions. Conclusions GEM

Parent Refusal of Topical Fluoride for Their Children: Clinical Strategies and Future Research Priorities to Improve Evidence-Based Pediatric Dental Practice.

PubMed

Chi, Donald L

2017-07-01

A growing number of parents are refusing topical fluoride for their children during preventive dental and medical visits. This nascent clinical and public health problem warrants attention from dental professionals and the scientific community. Clinical and community-based strategies are available to improve fluoride-related communications with parents and the public. In terms of future research priorities, there is a need to develop screening tools to identify parents who are likely to refuse topical fluoride and diagnostic instruments to uncover the reasons for topical fluoride refusal. This knowledge will lead to evidence-based strategies that can be widely disseminated into clinical practice. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Elimination of Topical Antibiotics for Intravitreous Injections and the Importance of Using Povidone-Iodine: Update From the Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network.

PubMed

Bhavsar, Abdhish R; Glassman, Adam R; Stockdale, Cynthia R; Jampol, Lee M

2016-10-01

This report provides updated endophthalmitis rates for eyes receiving intravitreous injections with and without povidone-iodine and rates with and without topical antibiotics from Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network clinical trials. Among 8 Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network clinical trials conducted from 2006 to 2015, 28 786 intravitreous injections were administered (3123 eyes), and 20 617 of those (2264 eyes) were administered between 2012 and 2015. Eleven cases of endophthalmitis occurred; 4 occurred between 2012 and 2015. Thirteen injections in 3 eyes from 2 participants were administered without povidone-iodine; both participants developed endophthalmitis in 1 eye. Of the remaining 28 773 injections (3120 eyes) performed with povidone-iodine, 9 cases of endophthalmitis occurred: 6 cases (0.05% of 11 565 injections) in eyes receiving topical antibiotics and 3 cases (0.02% of 17 208 injections) in eyes not receiving topical antibiotics (P = .17). While only a small number of eyes did not receive povidone-iodine just prior to an intravitreous injection, this report provides further evidence regarding the risk of endophthalmitis when povidone-iodine is not used before intravitreous injections. Exclusion of topical antibiotics was not associated with a higher risk of endophthalmitis. Continued use of povidone-iodine and consideration to eliminate topical antibiotics from injection procedures seems warranted.

40 years of topical tretinoin use in review.

PubMed

Baldwin, Hilary E; Nighland, Marge; Kendall, Clare; Mays, David A; Grossman, Rachel; Newburger, Joan

2013-06-01

Topical tretinoin has been approved for use in dermatology for 40 years and is currently approved for the treatment of acne vulgaris and photodamage. During this time, topical tretinoin has accumulated significant efficacy and safety data in the treatment of acne and photodamaged skin and demonstrated clinical potential for treating a range of other dermatologic conditions. The diverse effects may be due to complex underlying mechanisms of action associated with tretinoin, including keratolytic activity, collagenesis, and other mechanisms associated with the activation of nuclear retinoic acid receptors (RARα, RARβ, and RARγ). In this article, we review the history of topical tretinoin use to date and outline emerging research suggesting that topical tretinoin may have potential clinical use for treating a multitude of other dermatological conditions when used either as monotherapy or in combination with other agents. We also describe newer formulations of topical tretinoin that have been designed to reduce irritation potential. In light of the substantial history of safety and efficacy of topical tretinoin in acne and photodamage, we speculate that it holds promise in treating many additional dermatological conditions, which may be explored in future research.

Fostering Topic Knowledge: Essential for Academic Writing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Proske, Antje; Kapp, Felix

2013-01-01

Several researchers emphasize the role of the writer's topic knowledge for writing. In academic writing topic knowledge is often constructed by studying source texts. One possibility to support that essential phase of the writing process is to provide interactive learning questions which facilitate the construction of an adequate situation…

REVIEWS OF TOPICAL PROBLEMS: Astrophysical aspects of cosmic-ray research (first 75 years and outlook for the future)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ginzburg, Vitalii L.

1988-06-01

(Invited talk at the 20th International Cosmic Ray Conference, Moscow, 2-15 August 1987) The basic topics discussed here are the primary cosmic rays near the earth, cosmic rays in the universe, the origin of cosmic rays, a galactic model with a halo, and some prospects for future research.

HierarchicalTopics: visually exploring large text collections using topic hierarchies.

PubMed

Dou, Wenwen; Yu, Li; Wang, Xiaoyu; Ma, Zhiqiang; Ribarsky, William

2013-12-01

Analyzing large textual collections has become increasingly challenging given the size of the data available and the rate that more data is being generated. Topic-based text summarization methods coupled with interactive visualizations have presented promising approaches to address the challenge of analyzing large text corpora. As the text corpora and vocabulary grow larger, more topics need to be generated in order to capture the meaningful latent themes and nuances in the corpora. However, it is difficult for most of current topic-based visualizations to represent large number of topics without being cluttered or illegible. To facilitate the representation and navigation of a large number of topics, we propose a visual analytics system--HierarchicalTopic (HT). HT integrates a computational algorithm, Topic Rose Tree, with an interactive visual interface. The Topic Rose Tree constructs a topic hierarchy based on a list of topics. The interactive visual interface is designed to present the topic content as well as temporal evolution of topics in a hierarchical fashion. User interactions are provided for users to make changes to the topic hierarchy based on their mental model of the topic space. To qualitatively evaluate HT, we present a case study that showcases how HierarchicalTopics aid expert users in making sense of a large number of topics and discovering interesting patterns of topic groups. We have also conducted a user study to quantitatively evaluate the effect of hierarchical topic structure. The study results reveal that the HT leads to faster identification of large number of relevant topics. We have also solicited user feedback during the experiments and incorporated some suggestions into the current version of HierarchicalTopics.

Lecture Notes on Topics in Accelerator Physics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chao, Alex W.

These are lecture notes that cover a selection of topics, some of them under current research, in accelerator physics. I try to derive the results from first principles, although the students are assumed to have an introductory knowledge of the basics. The topics covered are: (1) Panofsky-Wenzel and Planar Wake Theorems; (2) Echo Effect; (3) Crystalline Beam; (4) Fast Ion Instability; (5) Lawson-Woodward Theorem and Laser Acceleration in Free Space; (6) Spin Dynamics and Siberian Snakes; (7) Symplectic Approximation of Maps; (8) Truncated Power Series Algebra; and (9) Lie Algebra Technique for nonlinear Dynamics. The purpose of these lectures ismore » not to elaborate, but to prepare the students so that they can do their own research. Each topic can be read independently of the others.« less

No-anesthesia clear corneal phacoemulsification versus topical and topical plus intracameral anesthesia. Randomized clinical trial.

PubMed

Pandey, S K; Werner, L; Apple, D J; Agarwal, A; Agarwal, A; Agarwal, S

2001-10-01

To compare the intraoperative pain scores during clear corneal phacoemulsification under no anesthesia, topical anesthesia, and topical plus intracameral anesthesia. Dr. Agarwal's Eye Hospital and Eye Research Center, Chennai, India. Seventy-five patients were randomized to have phacoemulsification under no anesthesia, topical anesthesia, or topical plus intracameral anesthesia. Uncooperative or illiterate patients and those with hard cataract, a shallow anterior chamber, or small pupils were excluded. A protocol was established for supplemental anesthesia in case of breakthrough pain during the surgery. Each patient was asked to grade the overall severity of intraoperative pain immediately after surgery on a 10-point visual analog scale. Also evaluated were the general discomfort during surgery, discomfort from the microscope lights, surgeon stress during surgery, and total surgical time. Comparison among the 3 groups was performed using an analysis of variance. No supplemental anesthesia was required in any group. No significant difference was noted in the mean scores of the subjective sensation of pain with or without topical anesthesia (P =.610). The mean scores of patient discomfort from the microscope lights and surgical time were also statistically insignificant. Patient discomfort and surgeon stress during surgery were significantly greater in the no-anesthesia group than in the topical and topical plus intracameral groups (P =.0235 and P = 0.0206, respectively). No-anesthesia clear corneal phacoemulsification was performed by a highly experienced, skilled surgeon without causing an unacceptable level of pain. However, this technique is not suitable for every cataract surgeon or patient.

Intrahepatic T cell receptor β immune repertoire is essential for liver regeneration.

PubMed

Liang, Qing; Liu, Zeyuan; Zhu, Chao; Wang, Bin; Liu, Xiaoke; Yang, Yanan; Lv, Xue; Mu, Haiyu; Wang, Kejia

2018-04-27

T lymphocytes synergize with the cellular immune system to promote hepatocyte regeneration. The T cell receptor (TCR) immune repertoire is closely associated with the host immune response and regenerative proliferation. High-throughput sequencing of TCR provides deep insight into monitoring the immune microenvironment. Here, we aimed to determine the role of the TCRβ immune repertoire in liver regeneration. We investigated the hepatic regeneration in TCRβ chain-deficient (Tcrb -/- ) mice by two-thirds partial hepatectomy (PHx) method. Our results demonstrated that Tcrb -/- mice revealed a reduced capacity for liver regeneration, which was characterized by impaired hepatocyte proliferation and enhanced hepatocyte apoptosis. Dysregulation of inflammatory signalling activation and inflammatory factors was observed in regenerated Tcrb -/- livers. Simultaneously, significantly altered immunocyte levels and aberrant cytokine levels were observed during hepatic regeneration. In addition, we first determined the profile of the TCRβ immune repertoire during liver regeneration, indicating that PHx resulted in remarkably lower TCRβ diversity in intrahepatic T lymphocytes. Taken together, our data suggest that TCRβ deficiency gives a rise to aberrant intrahepatic immune microenvironment that impairs liver regeneration, and the TCRβ reconstitution is required for hepatic immunocyte recruitment and activation during liver regeneration. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. © 2018 by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

Topical drug delivery systems: a patent review.

PubMed

Singh Malik, Deepinder; Mital, Neeraj; Kaur, Gurpreet

2016-01-01

Topical administration is the favored route for local delivery of therapeutic agents due to its convenience and affordability. The specific challenge of designing a therapeutic system is to achieve an optimal concentration of a certain drug at its site of action for an appropriate duration. This review summarizes innovations from the past 3 years (2012-2015) in the field of topical drug delivery for the treatment of local infections of the vagina, nose, eye and skin. The review also throws some light on the anatomy and physiology of these organs and their various defensive barriers which affect the delivery of drugs administered topically. Topical administration has been gaining attention over the last few years. However, conventional topical drug delivery systems suffer from drawbacks such as poor retention and low bioavailability. The successful formulation of topical delivery products requires the careful manipulation of defensive barriers and selection of a soluble drug carrier. Extensive research is required to develop newer topical drug delivery systems aiming either to improve the efficacy or to reduce side effects compared to current patented systems.

Identifying and prioritising systematic review topics with public health stakeholders: A protocol for a modified Delphi study in Switzerland to inform future research agendas

PubMed Central

Mütsch, Margot; Kien, Christina; Gerhardus, Ansgar; Lhachimi, Stefan K

2017-01-01

Introduction The Cochrane Collaboration aims to produce relevant and top priority evidence that responds to existing evidence gaps. Hence, research priority setting (RPS) is important to identify which potential research gaps are deemed most important. Moreover, RPS supports future health research to conform both health and health evidence needs. However, studies that are prioritising systematic review topics in public health are surprisingly rare. Therefore, to inform the research agenda of Cochrane Public Health Europe (CPHE), we introduce the protocol of a priority setting study on systematic review topics in several European countries, which is conceptualised as pilot. Methods and analysis We will conduct a two-round modified Delphi study in Switzerland, incorporating an anonymous web-based questionnaire, to assess which topics should be prioritised for systematic reviews in public health. In the first Delphi round public health stakeholders will suggest relevant assessment criteria and potential priority topics. In the second Delphi round the participants indicate their (dis)agreement to the aggregated results of the first round and rate the potential review topics with the predetermined criteria on a four-point Likert scale. As we invite a wide variety of stakeholders we will compare the results between the different stakeholder groups. Ethics and dissemination We have received ethical approval from the ethical board of the University of Bremen, Germany (principal investigation is conducted at the University of Bremen) and a certificate of non-objection from the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland (fieldwork will be conducted in Switzerland). The results of this study will be further disseminated through peer reviewed publication and will support systematic review author groups (i.a. CPHE) to improve the relevance of the groups´ future review work. Finally, the proposed priority setting study can be used as a framework by other systematic review groups when

Adoption Research: Trends, Topics, Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Palacios, Jesus; Brodzinsky, David

2010-01-01

The current article provides a review of adoption research since its inception as a field of study. Three historical trends in adoption research are identified: the first focusing on risk in adoption and identifying adoptee-nonadoptee differences in adjustment; the second examining the capacity of adopted children to recover from early adversity;…

An overview of topic modeling and its current applications in bioinformatics.

PubMed

Liu, Lin; Tang, Lin; Dong, Wen; Yao, Shaowen; Zhou, Wei

2016-01-01

With the rapid accumulation of biological datasets, machine learning methods designed to automate data analysis are urgently needed. In recent years, so-called topic models that originated from the field of natural language processing have been receiving much attention in bioinformatics because of their interpretability. Our aim was to review the application and development of topic models for bioinformatics. This paper starts with the description of a topic model, with a focus on the understanding of topic modeling. A general outline is provided on how to build an application in a topic model and how to develop a topic model. Meanwhile, the literature on application of topic models to biological data was searched and analyzed in depth. According to the types of models and the analogy between the concept of document-topic-word and a biological object (as well as the tasks of a topic model), we categorized the related studies and provided an outlook on the use of topic models for the development of bioinformatics applications. Topic modeling is a useful method (in contrast to the traditional means of data reduction in bioinformatics) and enhances researchers' ability to interpret biological information. Nevertheless, due to the lack of topic models optimized for specific biological data, the studies on topic modeling in biological data still have a long and challenging road ahead. We believe that topic models are a promising method for various applications in bioinformatics research.

What can we learn from corporate sustainability reporting? Deriving propositions for research and practice from over 9,500 corporate sustainability reports published between 1999 and 2015 using topic modelling technique

PubMed Central

vom Brocke, Jan

2017-01-01

Organizations are increasingly using sustainability reports to inform their stakeholders and the public about their sustainability practices. We apply topic modelling to 9,514 sustainability reports published between 1999 and 2015 in order to identify common topics and, thus, the most common practices described in these reports. In particular, we identify forty-two topics that reflect sustainability and focus on the coverage and trends of economic, environmental, and social sustainability topics. Among the first to analyse such a large amount of data on organizations’ sustainability reporting, the paper serves as an example of how to apply natural language processing as a strategy of inquiry in sustainability research. The paper also derives from the data analysis ten propositions for future research and practice that are of immediate value for organizations and researchers. PMID:28403158

What can we learn from corporate sustainability reporting? Deriving propositions for research and practice from over 9,500 corporate sustainability reports published between 1999 and 2015 using topic modelling technique.

PubMed

Székely, Nadine; Vom Brocke, Jan

2017-01-01

Organizations are increasingly using sustainability reports to inform their stakeholders and the public about their sustainability practices. We apply topic modelling to 9,514 sustainability reports published between 1999 and 2015 in order to identify common topics and, thus, the most common practices described in these reports. In particular, we identify forty-two topics that reflect sustainability and focus on the coverage and trends of economic, environmental, and social sustainability topics. Among the first to analyse such a large amount of data on organizations' sustainability reporting, the paper serves as an example of how to apply natural language processing as a strategy of inquiry in sustainability research. The paper also derives from the data analysis ten propositions for future research and practice that are of immediate value for organizations and researchers.

The Effectiveness of Guided Inquiry Learning for Comparison Topics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asnidar; Khabibah, S.; Sulaiman, R.

2018-01-01

This research aims at producing a good quality learning device using guided inquiry for comparison topics and describing the effectiveness of guided inquiry learning for comparison topics. This research is a developmental research using 4-D model. The result is learning device consisting of lesson plan, student’s worksheet, and achievement test. The subjects of the study were class VII students, each of which has 46 students. Based on the result in the experimental class, the learning device using guided inquiry for comparison topics has good quality. The learning device has met the valid, practical, and effective aspects. The result, especially in the implementation class, showed that the learning process with guided inquiry has fulfilled the effectiveness indicators. The ability of the teacher to manage the learning process has fulfilled the criteria good. In addition, the students’ activity has fulfilled the criteria of, at least, good. Moreover, the students’ responses to the learning device and the learning activities were positive, and the students were able to complete the classical learning. Based on the result of this research, it is expected that the learning device resulted can be used as an alternative learning device for teachers in implementing mathematic learning for comparison topics.

Identifying and prioritising systematic review topics with public health stakeholders: A protocol for a modified Delphi study in Switzerland to inform future research agendas.

PubMed

Hoekstra, Dyon; Mütsch, Margot; Kien, Christina; Gerhardus, Ansgar; Lhachimi, Stefan K

2017-08-04

The Cochrane Collaboration aims to produce relevant and top priority evidence that responds to existing evidence gaps. Hence, research priority setting (RPS) is important to identify which potential research gaps are deemed most important. Moreover, RPS supports future health research to conform both health and health evidence needs. However, studies that are prioritising systematic review topics in public health are surprisingly rare. Therefore, to inform the research agenda of Cochrane Public Health Europe (CPHE), we introduce the protocol of a priority setting study on systematic review topics in several European countries, which is conceptualised as pilot. We will conduct a two-round modified Delphi study in Switzerland, incorporating an anonymous web-based questionnaire, to assess which topics should be prioritised for systematic reviews in public health. In the first Delphi round public health stakeholders will suggest relevant assessment criteria and potential priority topics. In the second Delphi round the participants indicate their (dis)agreement to the aggregated results of the first round and rate the potential review topics with the predetermined criteria on a four-point Likert scale. As we invite a wide variety of stakeholders we will compare the results between the different stakeholder groups. We have received ethical approval from the ethical board of the University of Bremen, Germany (principal investigation is conducted at the University of Bremen) and a certificate of non-objection from the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland (fieldwork will be conducted in Switzerland). The results of this study will be further disseminated through peer reviewed publication and will support systematic review author groups (i.a. CPHE) to improve the relevance of the groups´ future review work. Finally, the proposed priority setting study can be used as a framework by other systematic review groups when conducting a priority setting study in a different context. �

USSOCOM Research Topics 2012

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-01-01

challenges in their respective littorals, both within and across areas of operation, with specific emphasis on how irregular threat impacts the...theater, the five countries most likely to be the source of destabilization, and the impact of littorals on each. Make recommendations regarding the...awareness impact SOF operations? What is the linkage between the U.S. and Host Nation End State and cultural understanding? 30 USSOCOM Research

Web mining for topics defined by complex and precise predicates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Ching-Cheng; Sampathkumar, Sushma

2004-04-01

The enormous growth of the World Wide Web has made it important to perform resource discovery efficiently for any given topic. Several new techniques have been proposed in the recent years for this kind of topic specific web-mining, and among them a key new technique called focused crawling which is able to crawl topic-specific portions of the web without having to explore all pages. Most existing research on focused crawling considers a simple topic definition that typically consists of one or more keywords connected by an OR operator. However this kind of simple topic definition may result in too many irrelevant pages in which the same keyword appears in a wrong context. In this research we explore new strategies for crawling topic specific portions of the web using complex and precise predicates. A complex predicate will allow the user to precisely specify a topic using Boolean operators such as "AND", "OR" and "NOT". Our work will concentrate on defining a format to specify this kind of a complex topic definition and secondly on devising a crawl strategy to crawl the topic specific portions of the web defined by the complex predicate, efficiently and with minimal overhead. Our new crawl strategy will improve the performance of topic-specific web crawling by reducing the number of irrelevant pages crawled. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the above approach, we have built a complete focused crawler called "Eureka" with complex predicate support, and a search engine that indexes and supports end-user searches on the crawled pages.

A Prerecognition Model for Hot Topic Discovery Based on Microblogging Data

PubMed Central

Zhu, Tongyu

2014-01-01

The microblogging is prevailing since its easy and anonymous information sharing at Internet, which also brings the issue of dispersing negative topics, or even rumors. Many researchers have focused on how to find and trace emerging topics for analysis. When adopting topic detection and tracking techniques to find hot topics with streamed microblogging data, it will meet obstacles like streamed microblogging data clustering, topic hotness definition, and emerging hot topic discovery. This paper schemes a novel prerecognition model for hot topic discovery. In this model, the concepts of the topic life cycle, the hot velocity, and the hot acceleration are promoted to calculate the change of topic hotness, which aims to discover those emerging hot topics before they boost and break out. Our experiments show that this new model would help to discover potential hot topics efficiently and achieve considerable performance. PMID:25254235

A prerecognition model for hot topic discovery based on microblogging data.

PubMed

Zhu, Tongyu; Yu, Jianjun

2014-01-01

The microblogging is prevailing since its easy and anonymous information sharing at Internet, which also brings the issue of dispersing negative topics, or even rumors. Many researchers have focused on how to find and trace emerging topics for analysis. When adopting topic detection and tracking techniques to find hot topics with streamed microblogging data, it will meet obstacles like streamed microblogging data clustering, topic hotness definition, and emerging hot topic discovery. This paper schemes a novel prerecognition model for hot topic discovery. In this model, the concepts of the topic life cycle, the hot velocity, and the hot acceleration are promoted to calculate the change of topic hotness, which aims to discover those emerging hot topics before they boost and break out. Our experiments show that this new model would help to discover potential hot topics efficiently and achieve considerable performance.

UHMS position statement: topical oxygen for chronic wounds.

PubMed

Feldmeier, J J; Hopf, H W; Warriner, R A; Fife, C E; Gesell, L B; Bennett, M

2005-01-01

. Paradoxically, claims of decreased collagen production and fibroblast inhibition in wounds subjected to topical oxygen have been reported in studies of topical oxygen as a benefit of topical oxygen therapy. The literature on topical oxygen is mostly small case series or small controlled but not randomized trials. Moreover, the studies generally are not aimed at specific ulcer types, but rather at "chronic wounds." This non-specific approach is recognized as a major design flaw in any study of therapies designed to improve impaired wound healing. The only randomized trial for topical oxygen in diabetic foot ulcers actually showed a tendency toward impaired wound healing in the topical oxygen group. Contentions that topical oxygen is superior to hyperbaric oxygen are not proven. There are potentially plausible mechanisms that support both possibly beneficial and detrimental effects of topical oxygen therapy, and thus well designed and executed basic science research and clinical trials are clearly needed. There is some ongoing research in regard to the role of topical oxygen at established wound laboratories. Neither CMS nor other third party payors recognize or reimburse for topical oxygen. Therefore, the policy of the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society in regard to topical oxygen is stated as follows: 1. Topical oxygen should not be termed hyperbaric oxygen since doing so either intentionally or unintentionally suggests that topical oxygen treatment is equivalent or even identical to hyperbaric oxygen. Published documents reporting experience with topical oxygen should clearly state that topical oxygen not hyperbaric oxygen is being employed. 2. Mechanisms of action or clinical study results for hyperbaric oxygen cannot and should not be co-opted to support topical oxygen since hyperbaric oxygen therapy and topical oxygen have different routes and probably efficiencies of entry into the wound and their physiology and biochemistry are necessarily different. 3. The

Introduction to four reviews addressing critical topics identified by the 2015 Nurse Practitioner Research Agenda Roundtable: Priorities for policy, workforce, education, and practice.

PubMed

Buchholz, Susan W; Klein, Tracy; Cooke, Cindy; Cook, Michelle L; Knestrick, Joyce; Dickins, Kirsten

2018-05-04

In 2015, an invitational think tank was convened by the Fellows of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners to update the 2010 Nurse Practitioner (NP) Research Agenda Roundtable. This effort was undertaken to provide guidance for future health care research. The purpose of this article is to introduce the process used for conducting four reviews that address critical topics related to specific research priorities emanating from the 2015 NP Research Agenda Roundtable. The four reviews are published in this issue of Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (JAANP) to address the state of current research relevant to NP policy, workforce, education, and practice. This introductory article provides an overview of the systematic process used to evaluate the four topical area. The type of review selected, the search strategy, critical appraisal, data extraction, and data synthesis will be further described in the four review articles. Four reviews that examine literature regarding specific aims important to NPs will address strengths as well as gaps in the literature. The knowledge offered by the four reviews has the potential to inform future research, which will benefit NPs and other health care stakeholders.

Making Presentations. ERIC Topical Bibliography and Commentary.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Carl B., Ed.

This topical bibliography and commentary consists of research summaries which address the challenges of creating an effective public presentation. The research articles discussed in the bibliography/commentary are geared toward teaching students to better present information with an emphasis on the primary importance of content above empty…

Nanoparticles and nanofibers for topical drug delivery

PubMed Central

Goyal, Ritu; Macri, Lauren K.; Kaplan, Hilton M.; Kohn, Joachim

2016-01-01

This review provides the first comprehensive overview of the use of both nanoparticles and nanofibers for topical drug delivery. Researchers have explored the use of nanotechnology, specifically nanoparticles and nanofibers, as drug delivery systems for topical and transdermal applications. This approach employs increased drug concentration in the carrier, in order to increase drug flux into and through the skin. Both nanoparticles and nanofibers can be used to deliver hydrophobic and hydrophilic drugs and are capable of controlled release for a prolonged period of time. The examples presented provide significant evidence that this area of research has—and will continue to have — a profound impact on both clinical outcomes and the development of new products. PMID:26518723

Fuels and Space Propellants for Reusable Launch Vehicles: A Small Business Innovation Research Topic and Its Commercial Vision

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Palaszewski, Bryan A.

1997-01-01

Under its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program (and with NASA Headquarters support), the NASA Lewis Research Center has initiated a topic entitled "Fuels and Space Propellants for Reusable Launch Vehicles." The aim of this project would be to assist in demonstrating and then commercializing new rocket propellants that are safer and more environmentally sound and that make space operations easier. Soon it will be possible to commercialize many new propellants and their related component technologies because of the large investments being made throughout the Government in rocket propellants and the technologies for using them. This article discusses the commercial vision for these fuels and propellants, the potential for these propellants to reduce space access costs, the options for commercial development, and the benefits to nonaerospace industries. This SBIR topic is designed to foster the development of propellants that provide improved safety, less environmental impact, higher density, higher I(sub sp), and simpler vehicle operations. In the development of aeronautics and space technology, there have been limits to vehicle performance imposed by traditionally used propellants and fuels. Increases in performance are possible with either increased propellant specific impulse, increased density, or both. Flight system safety will also be increased by the use of denser, more viscous propellants and fuels.

What, Who, or Where? Rejoinder to "Identifying Research Topic Development in Business and Management Education Research Using Legitimation Code Theory"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harzing, Anne-Wil

2016-01-01

This brief commentary investigates whether article topic, author profile, or journal rank significantly influence an article's citation levels. Anne-Wil Harzing's regression analysis shows that, when all factors are taken into account at the same time, it is "what" is published (topic) and "who" has published it (author) that…

Rheumatic Fever and Rheumatic Heart Disease: Collaboration Patterns and Research Core Topics.

PubMed

Salinas, Alejandro; González, Gregorio; Manuel Ramos, Jose

2016-09-01

Rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease (RHD) are important health problems in developing countries. The study aim was to provide a review and content analysis of the scientific literature on rheumatic fever and RHD over a 70-year period. Medline was employed via the online PubMed service of the US National Library of Medicine, to search for all documents containing the MeSH terms 'rheumatic fever' or 'rheumatic heart disease' between January 1945 and December 2013. A total of 18,552 references was retrieved. Between 1945 and 1970 the number of annual publications containing the search terms increased, but decreased between 1971 and 2013. Between 1990 and 2013, national collaboration (co-authorship) was greatly increased, from 8.7% to 41.7% of the total reports. International collaboration also increased, from 2.5% to 14.8% (p = 0.001). The United States was the main collaborating country, sharing ties mainly with India, South Africa and Brazil. A content analysis led to the identification of three prominent core research topics, chief among which were heart diseases (rheumatic fever diseases, mitral valve diseases and endocarditis). Other areas of note included streptococcal infections and rheumatic diseases (which, in addition to rheumatic fever, also highlighted arthritis and juvenile arthritis). Publications on rheumatic fever and RHD had a major impact during the 1960s, but research groups interest has since declined overall, in line with a decreasing interest in these diseases in developed countries. In contrast, national and international collaboration has increased, a phenomenon that should be encouraged for research into these and other diseases that affect developing countries.

Pharmaceutical lobbying in Brazil: a missing topic in the public health research agenda.

PubMed

Paumgartten, Francisco José Roma

2016-12-22

In the US, where registration of lobbyists is mandatory, the pharmaceutical industry and private health-care providers spend huge amounts of money seeking to influence health policies and government decisions. In Brazil, where lobbying lacks transparency, there is virtually no data on drug industry expenditure to persuade legislators and government officials of their viewpoints and to influence decision-making according to commercial interests. Since 1990, however, the Associação da Indústria Farmacêutica de Pesquisa (Interfarma - Pharmaceutical Research Industry Association), Brazilian counterpart of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), main lobbying organization of the US pharmaceutical industry, has played a major role in the advocacy of interests of major drug companies. The main goals of Interfarma lobbying activities are: shortening the average time taken by the Brazilian regulatory agency (ANVISA) to approve marketing authorization for a new drug; making the criteria for incorporation of new drugs into SUS (Brazilian Unified Health System) more flexible and speeding up technology incorporation; changing the Country's ethical clearance system and the ethical requirements for clinical trials to meet the need of the innovative drug industry, and establishing a National Policy for Rare Diseases that allows a prompt incorporation of orphan drugs into SUS. Although lobbying affects community health and well-being, this topic is not in the public health research agenda. The impacts of pharmaceutical lobbying on health policies and health-care costs are of great importance for SUS and deserve to be investigated.

Topical anti-infective sinonasal irrigations: update and literature review.

PubMed

Lee, Jivianne T; Chiu, Alexander G

2014-01-01

Sinonasal anti-infective irrigations have emerged as a promising therapeutic modality in the comprehensive management of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), particularly in the context of recalcitrant disease. The purpose of this article was to delineate the current spectrum of topical anti-infective therapies available and evaluate their role in the treatment of CRS. A systematic literature review was performed on all studies investigating the use of topical antimicrobial solutions in the medical therapy of CRS. Anti-infective irrigations were stratified into topical antibacterial, antifungal, and additive preparations according to their composition and respective microbicidal properties. The use of topical antibiotic irrigations has been supported by low-level studies in the treatment of refractory CRS, with optimal results achieved in patients who have undergone prior functional endoscopic sinus surgery and received culture-directed therapy. Multiple evidence-based reviews have not established any clinical benefit with the administration of topical antifungals, and their use is not currently recommended in the management of routine CRS. Topical additives including surfactants may be beneficial as adjunctive treatment for recalcitrant CRS, but additional research is needed to investigate their efficacy in comparison with other agents and establish safety profiles. Topical anti-infective solutions are not recommended as first-line therapy for routine CRS but may be considered as a potential option for patients with refractory CRS who have failed traditional medical and surgical intervention. Additional research is necessary to determine which patient populations would derive the most benefit from each respective irrigation regimen and identify potential toxicities associated with prolonged use.

Horizon 2020 SME-Instrument topic: clinical research for the validation of biomarkers and/or diagnostic medical devices.

PubMed

Sanne, Jean-Luc

2018-06-21

The European Commission released €130 million over 2014, 2015 and 2017 under the EU Framework Program for Research and Innovation, Horizon 2020, to support innovative small and medium-sized enterprises in the diagnostic area. The call topic focused on 'Clinical research for the validation of biomarkers and/or diagnostic medical devices'. It attracted 1194 applicants from all over Europe. The quality of the proposals was high and a large proportion of them were eligible for funding. In the majority, proposals were about in vitro diagnostics and tackled both clinical validation of new biomarkers and device optimization. The proposals dealt with various advanced technologies. One third of the proposers gave priority to the new and promising field of personalized medicine.

Topics in Biomedical Optics: Introduction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hebden, Jeremy C.; Boas, David A.; George, John S.; Durkin, Anthony J.

2003-06-01

The field of biomedical optics is experiencing tremendous growth. Biomedical technologies contribute in the creation of devices used in healthcare of various specialties (ophthalmology, cardiology, anesthesiology, and immunology, etc.). Recent research in biomedical optics is discussed. Overviews of meetings held at the 2002 Optical Society of America Biomedical Topical Meetings are presented.

Teaching Science to Students with Learning and Other Disabilities: A Review of Topics and Subtopics Appearing in Experimental Research 1991-2015

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vavougios, Dionisios; Verevi, Alkistis; Papalexopoulos, Panagiotis F.; Verevi, Crystallia-Ioanna; Panagopoulou, Athanasia

2016-01-01

This article reviews 24 years of research focused on science education for students with learning and other disabilities. Our results are based on 53 articles from 2 relevant databases. We hereby present and discuss the results of the most popular topics investigated, which include: constructivism, exploratory learning, hands-on activities,…

A Call to Action: Setting the Research Agenda for Addressing Obesity and Weight-Related Topics in Children with Physical Disabilities

PubMed Central

Ball, Geoff D.C.; Maltais, Désirée B.; Swift, Judy A.; Cairney, John; Knibbe, Tara Joy; Krog, Kim

2016-01-01

Abstract Background: Pediatric obesity is a world-wide challenge. Children with physical disabilities are particularly at risk of obesity, which is worrisome because obesity can result in serious secondary conditions that decrease health status, reduce independence, and increase impact on healthcare systems. However, the determinants of obesity and the health promotion needs of children with physical disabilities are relatively unexplored compared with their typically developing peers. Methods: This white paper describes a Canadian multistakeholder workshop on the topic of obesity and health in children with physical disabilities and provides recommendations for future research in this understudied area. Results: Seventy-one knowledge gaps identified by attendees using a modified nominal group technique clustered into six themes: (1) early, sustained engagement of families; (2) rethinking determinants of obesity and health; (3) maximizing impact of research; (4) inclusive integrated interventions; (5) evidence-informed measurement and outcomes; and (6) reducing weight biases. Attendees worked together to develop research plans in more detail for three areas identified through consensus as high priority: “early, sustained engagement of families;” “rethinking determinants of obesity and health;” and “evidence informed measurement and outcomes.” Conclusions: Using the workshop described here as a call to action, Canadian researchers are now well positioned to work toward a greater understanding of weight-related topics in children with physical disabilities, with the aim of developing evidence-based and salient obesity prevention and treatment approaches. PMID:26716496

Resources for Topics in Nursing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Riordan, Dale B.

This guide is intended to help the user become familiar with a selected group of reference tools and resources which are useful in nursing education and practice. It is important for students to use the correct medical or scientific terminology, understand the scope of a topic, and then utilize the tools necessary to research subjects of interest.…

Labour Market Effects of Employment Protection. IAB Labour Market Research Topics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walwei, Ulrich

The labor market effects of employment protection were examined in a study of Germany's employment protection regulations and their impact on employment practices and patterns. The following topics were considered: (1) the question of whether Germany's labor market problems are a result of regulations; (2) employment security as a subject of labor…

Weight Loss Surgery: MedlinePlus Health Topic

MedlinePlus

... ask your doctor Your diet after gastric bypass surgery Related Health Topics Obesity Weight Control National Institutes of Health The primary NIH organization for research on Weight Loss Surgery is the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive ...

Nanocrystal: a novel approach to overcome skin barriers for improved topical drug delivery.

PubMed

Patel, Viral; Sharma, Om Prakash; Mehta, Tejal

2018-04-01

Skin is an important route of drug delivery for the treatment of various dermatological conditions. The advent of nanotechnology is paving the roadmaps for topical drug delivery by providing sustained release as well as maintaining a localized effect, outweighing the toxicity concern. Area covered: This review highlighted the morphology of skin, its barrier nature as well as drug penetration pathways after topical application of formulations. The existing methods to improve topical drug delivery, by infringing or permeating the skin barriers, are discussed. This context concretes the foundation to accentuate the need for the development of nanocrystal-based topical formulation. The mechanism of drug release, immediate as well as sustained release, after topical administration of drug nanocrystals is also elaborated. The special emphasis is given on the breakthrough achieved, in topical drug delivery using drug nanocrystals, so far in the plethora of literature, patents, and products, under clinical trial as well as in the market. Expert opinion: The current research on nanocrystals for topical drug delivery is highlighting the breakthroughs achieved so far. The output of these research envisages that topical nanocrystals based formulations can be a novel strategy for the drugs which are facing solubility, bioavailability and toxicity concerns.

Freshman Health Topics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hovde, Karen

2011-01-01

This article examines a cluster of health topics that are frequently selected by students in lower division classes. Topics address issues relating to addictive substances, including alcohol and tobacco, eating disorders, obesity, and dieting. Analysis of the topics examines their interrelationships and organization in the reference literature.…

Revealing topics and their evolution in biomedical literature using Bio-DTM: a case study of ginseng.

PubMed

Chen, Qian; Ai, Ni; Liao, Jie; Shao, Xin; Liu, Yufeng; Fan, Xiaohui

2017-01-01

Valuable scientific results on biomedicine are very rich, but they are widely scattered in the literature. Topic modeling enables researchers to discover themes from an unstructured collection of documents without any prior annotations or labels. In this paper, taking ginseng as an example, biological dynamic topic model (Bio-DTM) was proposed to conduct a retrospective study and interpret the temporal evolution of the research of ginseng. The system of Bio-DTM mainly includes four components, documents pre-processing, bio-dictionary construction, dynamic topic models, topics analysis and visualization. Scientific articles pertaining to ginseng were retrieved through text mining from PubMed. The bio-dictionary integrates MedTerms medical dictionary, the second edition of side effect resource, a dictionary of biology and HGNC database of human gene names (HGNC). A dynamic topic model, a text mining technique, was used to emphasize on capturing the development trends of topics in a sequentially collected documents. Besides the contents of topics taken on, the evolution of topics was visualized over time using ThemeRiver. From the topic 9, ginseng was used in dietary supplements and complementary and integrative health practices, and became very popular since the early twentieth century. Topic 6 reminded that the planting of ginseng is a major area of research and symbiosis and allelopathy of ginseng became a research hotspot in 2007. In addition, the Bio-DTM model gave an insight into the main pharmacologic effects of ginseng, such as anti-metabolic disorder effect, cardioprotective effect, anti-cancer effect, hepatoprotective effect, anti-thrombotic effect and neuroprotective effect. The Bio-DTM model not only discovers what ginseng's research involving in but also displays how these topics evolving over time. This approach can be applied to the biomedical field to conduct a retrospective study and guide future studies.

Topic modeling for cluster analysis of large biological and medical datasets

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background The big data moniker is nowhere better deserved than to describe the ever-increasing prodigiousness and complexity of biological and medical datasets. New methods are needed to generate and test hypotheses, foster biological interpretation, and build validated predictors. Although multivariate techniques such as cluster analysis may allow researchers to identify groups, or clusters, of related variables, the accuracies and effectiveness of traditional clustering methods diminish for large and hyper dimensional datasets. Topic modeling is an active research field in machine learning and has been mainly used as an analytical tool to structure large textual corpora for data mining. Its ability to reduce high dimensionality to a small number of latent variables makes it suitable as a means for clustering or overcoming clustering difficulties in large biological and medical datasets. Results In this study, three topic model-derived clustering methods, highest probable topic assignment, feature selection and feature extraction, are proposed and tested on the cluster analysis of three large datasets: Salmonella pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) dataset, lung cancer dataset, and breast cancer dataset, which represent various types of large biological or medical datasets. All three various methods are shown to improve the efficacy/effectiveness of clustering results on the three datasets in comparison to traditional methods. A preferable cluster analysis method emerged for each of the three datasets on the basis of replicating known biological truths. Conclusion Topic modeling could be advantageously applied to the large datasets of biological or medical research. The three proposed topic model-derived clustering methods, highest probable topic assignment, feature selection and feature extraction, yield clustering improvements for the three different data types. Clusters more efficaciously represent truthful groupings and subgroupings in the data than

Topic modeling for cluster analysis of large biological and medical datasets.

PubMed

Zhao, Weizhong; Zou, Wen; Chen, James J

2014-01-01

The big data moniker is nowhere better deserved than to describe the ever-increasing prodigiousness and complexity of biological and medical datasets. New methods are needed to generate and test hypotheses, foster biological interpretation, and build validated predictors. Although multivariate techniques such as cluster analysis may allow researchers to identify groups, or clusters, of related variables, the accuracies and effectiveness of traditional clustering methods diminish for large and hyper dimensional datasets. Topic modeling is an active research field in machine learning and has been mainly used as an analytical tool to structure large textual corpora for data mining. Its ability to reduce high dimensionality to a small number of latent variables makes it suitable as a means for clustering or overcoming clustering difficulties in large biological and medical datasets. In this study, three topic model-derived clustering methods, highest probable topic assignment, feature selection and feature extraction, are proposed and tested on the cluster analysis of three large datasets: Salmonella pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) dataset, lung cancer dataset, and breast cancer dataset, which represent various types of large biological or medical datasets. All three various methods are shown to improve the efficacy/effectiveness of clustering results on the three datasets in comparison to traditional methods. A preferable cluster analysis method emerged for each of the three datasets on the basis of replicating known biological truths. Topic modeling could be advantageously applied to the large datasets of biological or medical research. The three proposed topic model-derived clustering methods, highest probable topic assignment, feature selection and feature extraction, yield clustering improvements for the three different data types. Clusters more efficaciously represent truthful groupings and subgroupings in the data than traditional methods, suggesting

Summary of SMIRT20 Preconference Topical Workshop – Identifying Structural Issues in Advanced Reactors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

William Richins; Stephen Novascone; Cheryl O'Brien

Summary of SMIRT20 Preconference Topical Workshop – Identifying Structural Issues in Advanced Reactors William Richins1, Stephen Novascone1, and Cheryl O’Brien1 1Idaho National Laboratory, US Dept. of Energy, Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA, e-mail: William.Richins@inl.gov The Idaho National Laboratory (INL, USA) and IASMiRT sponsored an international forum Nov 5-6, 2008 in Porvoo, Finland for nuclear industry, academic, and regulatory representatives to identify structural issues in current and future advanced reactor design, especially for extreme conditions and external threats. The purpose of this Topical Workshop was to articulate research, engineering, and regulatory Code development needs. The topics addressed by the Workshop were selectedmore » to address critical industry needs specific to advanced reactor structures that have long lead times and can be the subject of future SMiRT technical sessions. The topics were; 1) structural/materials needs for extreme conditions and external threats in contemporary (Gen. III) and future (Gen. IV and NGNP) advanced reactors and 2) calibrating simulation software and methods that address topic 1 The workshop discussions and research needs identified are presented. The Workshop successfully produced interactive discussion on the two topics resulting in a list of research and technology needs. It is recommended that IASMiRT communicate the results of the discussion to industry and researchers to encourage new ideas and projects. In addition, opportunities exist to retrieve research reports and information that currently exists, and encourage more international cooperation and collaboration. It is recommended that IASMiRT continue with an off-year workshop series on select topics.« less

Evaluating topic model interpretability from a primary care physician perspective.

PubMed

Arnold, Corey W; Oh, Andrea; Chen, Shawn; Speier, William

2016-02-01

Probabilistic topic models provide an unsupervised method for analyzing unstructured text. These models discover semantically coherent combinations of words (topics) that could be integrated in a clinical automatic summarization system for primary care physicians performing chart review. However, the human interpretability of topics discovered from clinical reports is unknown. Our objective is to assess the coherence of topics and their ability to represent the contents of clinical reports from a primary care physician's point of view. Three latent Dirichlet allocation models (50 topics, 100 topics, and 150 topics) were fit to a large collection of clinical reports. Topics were manually evaluated by primary care physicians and graduate students. Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Tests for Paired Samples were used to evaluate differences between different topic models, while differences in performance between students and primary care physicians (PCPs) were tested using Mann-Whitney U tests for each of the tasks. While the 150-topic model produced the best log likelihood, participants were most accurate at identifying words that did not belong in topics learned by the 100-topic model, suggesting that 100 topics provides better relative granularity of discovered semantic themes for the data set used in this study. Models were comparable in their ability to represent the contents of documents. Primary care physicians significantly outperformed students in both tasks. This work establishes a baseline of interpretability for topic models trained with clinical reports, and provides insights on the appropriateness of using topic models for informatics applications. Our results indicate that PCPs find discovered topics more coherent and representative of clinical reports relative to students, warranting further research into their use for automatic summarization. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluating Topic Model Interpretability from a Primary Care Physician Perspective

PubMed Central

Arnold, Corey W.; Oh, Andrea; Chen, Shawn; Speier, William

2015-01-01

Background and Objective Probabilistic topic models provide an unsupervised method for analyzing unstructured text. These models discover semantically coherent combinations of words (topics) that could be integrated in a clinical automatic summarization system for primary care physicians performing chart review. However, the human interpretability of topics discovered from clinical reports is unknown. Our objective is to assess the coherence of topics and their ability to represent the contents of clinical reports from a primary care physician’s point of view. Methods Three latent Dirichlet allocation models (50 topics, 100 topics, and 150 topics) were fit to a large collection of clinical reports. Topics were manually evaluated by primary care physicians and graduate students. Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Tests for Paired Samples were used to evaluate differences between different topic models, while differences in performance between students and primary care physicians (PCPs) were tested using Mann-Whitney U tests for each of the tasks. Results While the 150-topic model produced the best log likelihood, participants were most accurate at identifying words that did not belong in topics learned by the 100-topic model, suggesting that 100 topics provides better relative granularity of discovered semantic themes for the data set used in this study. Models were comparable in their ability to represent the contents of documents. Primary care physicians significantly outperformed students in both tasks. Conclusion This work establishes a baseline of interpretability for topic models trained with clinical reports, and provides insights on the appropriateness of using topic models for informatics applications. Our results indicate that PCPs find discovered topics more coherent and representative of clinical reports relative to students, warranting further research into their use for automatic summarization. PMID:26614020

Bibliographic analysis of scientific research on selected topics in public health nutrition in West Africa: Review of articles published from 1998 to 2008.

PubMed

Aaron, Grant J; Wilson, Shelby E; Brown, Kenneth H

2010-01-01

Few countries in West Africa have the capacity for carrying out advanced training in nutrition and public health. To provide additional information on current regional applied nutrition research capacity and productivity, we analysed peer-reviewed articles on key public health nutrition topics that were published from 1998 to 2008. Using MEDLINE/PubMed, the following terms were searched: 'breast feeding', 'infant nutrition physiology' (comprising complementary feeding and weaning), 'protein energy malnutrition', 'nutrition and infection', 'vitamin A', 'iodine', 'zinc' and 'overweight', each linked with the term 'Western Africa'. In total, 412 unique articles (37±6 articles per year) were identified. Most research focused on infant and young child feeding practices, selected micronutrient deficiencies, and the emerging problem of overweight and obesity. The primary author of nearly half (46%) the publications was located in an institution outside of West Africa. Most articles were published in English (90%), and nearly half of all articles (41%) were cross-sectional studies. Our findings indicate that few peer-reviewed research studies are being published on key public health topics in the West African region, considering the magnitude of nutrition problems in this region. New approaches are needed to encourage and support research capacity and output in West Africa.

TopicLens: Efficient Multi-Level Visual Topic Exploration of Large-Scale Document Collections.

PubMed

Kim, Minjeong; Kang, Kyeongpil; Park, Deokgun; Choo, Jaegul; Elmqvist, Niklas

2017-01-01

Topic modeling, which reveals underlying topics of a document corpus, has been actively adopted in visual analytics for large-scale document collections. However, due to its significant processing time and non-interactive nature, topic modeling has so far not been tightly integrated into a visual analytics workflow. Instead, most such systems are limited to utilizing a fixed, initial set of topics. Motivated by this gap in the literature, we propose a novel interaction technique called TopicLens that allows a user to dynamically explore data through a lens interface where topic modeling and the corresponding 2D embedding are efficiently computed on the fly. To support this interaction in real time while maintaining view consistency, we propose a novel efficient topic modeling method and a semi-supervised 2D embedding algorithm. Our work is based on improving state-of-the-art methods such as nonnegative matrix factorization and t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding. Furthermore, we have built a web-based visual analytics system integrated with TopicLens. We use this system to measure the performance and the visualization quality of our proposed methods. We provide several scenarios showcasing the capability of TopicLens using real-world datasets.

Topical fluoride for caries prevention

PubMed Central

Weyant, Robert J.; Tracy, Sharon L.; Anselmo, Theresa (Tracy); Beltrán-Aguilar, Eugenio D.; Donly, Kevin J.; Frese, William A.; Hujoel, Philippe P.; Iafolla, Timothy; Kohn, William; Kumar, Jayanth; Levy, Steven M.; Tinanoff, Norman; Wright, J. Timothy; Zero, Domenick; Aravamudhan, Krishna; Frantsve-Hawley, Julie; Meyer, Daniel M.

2015-01-01

Background A panel of experts convened by the American Dental Association (ADA) Council on Scientific Affairs presents evidence-based clinical recommendations regarding professionally applied and prescription-strength, home-use topical fluoride agents for caries prevention. These recommendations are an update of the 2006 ADA recommendations regarding professionally applied topical fluoride and were developed by using a new process that includes conducting a systematic review of primary studies. Types of Studies Reviewed The authors conducted a search of MEDLINE and the Cochrane Library for clinical trials of professionally applied and prescription-strength topical fluoride agents—including mouthrinses, varnishes, gels, foams and pastes—with caries increment outcomes published in English through October 2012. Results The panel included 71 trials from 82 articles in its review and assessed the efficacy of various topical fluoride caries-preventive agents. The panel makes recommendations for further research. Practical Implications The panel recommends the following for people at risk of developing dental caries: 2.26 percent fluoride varnish or 1.23 percent fluoride (acidulated phosphate fluoride) gel, or a prescription-strength, home-use 0.5 percent fluoride gel or paste or 0.09 percent fluoride mouthrinse for patients 6 years or older. Only 2.26 percent fluoride varnish is recommended for children younger than 6 years. The strengths of the recommendations for the recommended products varied from “in favor” to “expert opinion for.” As part of the evidence-based approach to care, these clinical recommendations should be integrated with the practitioner's professional judgment and the patient's needs and preferences. PMID:24177407

Topical Antimicrobials for Burn Wound Infections

PubMed Central

Dai, Tianhong; Huang, Ying-Ying; Sharma, Sulbha K.; Hashmi, Javad T.; Kurup, Divya B.; Hamblin, Michael R.

2010-01-01

Throughout most of history, serious burns occupying a large percentage of body surface area were an almost certain death sentence because of subsequent infection. A number of factors such as disruption of the skin barrier, ready availability of bacterial nutrients in the burn milieu, destruction of the vascular supply to the burned skin, and systemic disturbances lead to immunosuppression combined together to make burns particularly susceptible to infection. In the 20th century the introduction of antibiotic and antifungal drugs, the use of topical antimicrobials that could be applied to burns, and widespread adoption of early excision and grafting all helped to dramatically increase survival. However the relentless increase in microbial resistance to antibiotics and other antimicrobials has led to a renewed search for alternative approaches to prevent and combat burn infections. This review will cover patented strategies that have been issued or filed with regard to new topical agents, preparations, and methods of combating burn infections. Animal models that are used in preclinical studies are discussed. Various silver preparations (nanocrystalline and slow release) are the mainstay of many approaches but antimicrobial peptides, topical photodynamic therapy, chitosan preparations, new iodine delivery formulations, phage therapy and natural products such as honey and essential oils have all been tested. This active area of research will continue to provide new topical antimicrobials for burns that will battle against growing multi-drug resistance. PMID:20429870

Special Operations Research Topics 2014

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-01-01

problems . I encourage SOF personnel to contribute their experiences and ideas to the SOF community by submitting your completed research on these...and rapid problem solving. While this can be very beneficial in high-stress, time-sensitive situations, it may not be conducive to the development...a perception that everything is important and all problems must be quickly solved. Not only does this imply that slowing down to think is a waste

The reinstatement model of drug relapse: recent neurobiological findings, emerging research topics, and translational research

PubMed Central

Bossert, Jennifer M.; Marchant, Nathan J.; Calu, Donna J.; Shaham, Yavin

2013-01-01

Background and Rationale Results from many clinical studies suggest that drug relapse and craving are often provoked by acute exposure to the self-administered drug or related drugs, drug-associated cues or contexts, or certain stressors. During the last two decades, this clinical scenario has been studied in laboratory animals by using the reinstatement model. In this model, reinstatement of drug seeking by drug priming, drug cues or contexts, or certain stressors is assessed following drug self-administration training and subsequent extinction of the drug-reinforced responding. Objective In this review, we first summarize recent (2009-present) neurobiological findings from studies using the reinstatement model. We then discuss emerging research topics, including the impact of interfering with putative reconsolidation processes on cue- and context-induced reinstatement of drug seeking, and similarities and differences in mechanisms of reinstatement across drug classes. We conclude by discussing results from recent human studies that were inspired by results from rat studies using the reinstatement model. Conclusions Main conclusions from the studies reviewed highlight: (1) the ventral subiculum and lateral hypothalamus as emerging brain areas important for reinstatement of drug seeking, (2) the existence of differences in brain mechanisms controlling reinstatement of drug seeking across drug classes, (3) the utility of the reinstatement model for assessing the effect of reconsolidation-related manipulations on cue-induced drug seeking, and (4) the encouraging pharmacological concordance between results from rat studies using the reinstatement model and human laboratory studies on cue- and stress-induced drug craving. PMID:23685858

Topical treatments for chronic plaque psoriasis.

PubMed

Mason, Anne R; Mason, James; Cork, Michael; Dooley, Gordon; Edwards, Gladys

2009-04-15

Chronic plaque psoriasis is the most common type of psoriasis and is characterised by redness, thickness and scaling. First line management of chronic plaque psoriasis is with topical treatments, including vitamin D analogues, topical corticosteroids, tar-based preparations, dithranol, salicylic acid and topical retinoids. To compare the effectiveness, tolerability and safety of topical treatments for chronic plaque psoriasis with placebo; to compare vitamin D analogues with other topical treatments. The Cochrane Skin Group's Trials Register was searched (2004/12). To update an unpublished 2002 review we also searched CENTRAL in The Cochrane Library (Issue 1,2005); MEDLINE (to 2005/02); EMBASE (to 2005/08); Science Citation Index (to 2005); Biosis (to 2005); Dissertation Abstracts (all publication years); Inside Conferences (all publication years); SIGLE (to 2005); National Research Register (all projects with a start date of 2001 to 2005); metaRegister of Current Controlled Trials. Randomised trials comparing treatments against placebo or against vitamin D analogues in people with chronic plaque psoriasis. One author extracted study data and assessed study quality. A second author checked these data. We routinely contacted triallists and companies for missing data. We extracted data on withdrawals and adverse events. The review included 131 RCTs with 21,448 participants. Vitamin D was significantly more effective than placebo, although there was a wide variation in effect size with the standardised mean difference (SMD) ranging from -0.82 (95% CI -1.34 to -0.29) to -1.90 (95% CI -2.09 to -1.71). With one exception, all corticosteroids performed better than placebo, with potent corticosteroids (SMD: -0.95 (95% CI: -1.11 to -0.80; I(2): 61.1%; 17 studies; 2386 participants)) having smaller benefits than very potent corticosteroids (SMD: -1.29 (95% CI: -1.45 to -1.13; I(2): 53.2%; 11 studies; 1571 participants)). Dithranol and tazarotene performed better than placebo

Topical Vasodilators in Microsurgery: What Is the Evidence?

PubMed

Rinkinen, Jacob; Halvorson, Eric G

2017-01-01

Background  Topical vasodilators are frequently used during free tissue transfer to prevent and treat vasospasm and microvascular thrombosis. A variety of agents have been studied and are available, yet most microsurgeons select an agent based on anecdotal evidence or personal training. Our aim was to review the literature on topical vasodilators so microsurgeons can make more informed decisions about which agent to use. Methods  A systemic review of the literature was performed on PubMed, EMBASE, and Google Scholar using keywords "topical vasodilator," "antispasmodic," "vasospasm," "free flaps," and "microsurgery." Studies were included if they provided a comparative quantitative assessment of topical vasodilators and were written in English. In vitro, in vivo , and clinical studies were included. Results  A total of 15 studies were identified and included in our analysis. The three most common classes of topical vasodilator include local anesthetics, phosphodiesterase inhibitors, and calcium channel blockers (CCBs). Of the most commonly used topical vasodilators, CCBs (nifedipine and verapamil) were most effective followed by papaverine and lidocaine. Conclusion  The most effective topical vasodilators appear to be CCBs including nifedipine, nicardipine, and verapamil. Evidence suggests that these agents are more effective than papaverine and lidocaine solutions that are commonly used. Future research should directly compare individual CCBs to assess the most effective agent. Studies to date have focused on vessels other than those used by microsurgeons, and therefore further studies specific to these vessels are warranted. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Evaluation of advanced R and D topics in photovoltaics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Surek, T.

1982-01-01

An evaluation of advanced research and development topics in photovoltaic that is summarized. The intent was to develop priorities in a list of advanced research and development activities. Thirty-five activities in 10 major categories were evaluated by their contributions to basic scientific advances, potential impact on further technology development by private industry, and priorities for federal advanced research and development funding.

Diabetes topics associated with engagement on Twitter.

PubMed

Harris, Jenine K; Mart, Adelina; Moreland-Russell, Sarah; Caburnay, Charlene A

2015-05-07

Social media are widely used by the general public and by public health and health care professionals. Emerging evidence suggests engagement with public health information on social media may influence health behavior. However, the volume of data accumulating daily on Twitter and other social media is a challenge for researchers with limited resources to further examine how social media influence health. To address this challenge, we used crowdsourcing to facilitate the examination of topics associated with engagement with diabetes information on Twitter. We took a random sample of 100 tweets that included the hashtag "#diabetes" from each day during a constructed week in May and June 2014. Crowdsourcing through Amazon's Mechanical Turk platform was used to classify tweets into 9 topic categories and their senders into 3 Twitter user categories. Descriptive statistics and Tweedie regression were used to identify tweet and Twitter user characteristics associated with 2 measures of engagement, "favoriting" and "retweeting." Classification was reliable for tweet topics and Twitter user type. The most common tweet topics were medical and nonmedical resources for diabetes. Tweets that included information about diabetes-related health problems were positively and significantly associated with engagement. Tweets about diabetes prevalence, nonmedical resources for diabetes, and jokes or sarcasm about diabetes were significantly negatively associated with engagement. Crowdsourcing is a reliable, quick, and economical option for classifying tweets. Public health practitioners aiming to engage constituents around diabetes may want to focus on topics positively associated with engagement.

Topical Microbicides and HIV Prevention in the Female Genital Tract

PubMed Central

Cottrell, Mackenzie L; Kashuba, Angela D. M.

2014-01-01

Worldwide, HIV disproportionately affects women who are often unable to negotiate traditional HIV preventive strategies such as condoms. In the absence of an effective vaccine or cure, chemoprophylaxis may be a valuable self-initiated alternative. Topical microbicides have been investigated as one such option. The first generation topical microbicides were non-specific, broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents, including surfactants, polyanions, and acid buffering gels, that generally exhibited contraceptive properties. After extensive clinical study, none prevented HIV infection, and their development was abandoned. Second generation topical microbicides include agents with selective mechanisms of antiviral activity. Most are currently being used for, or have previously been explored as, drugs for treatment of HIV. The most advanced of these is tenofovir 1% gel: the first topical agent shown to significantly reduce HIV infection by 39% compared to placebo. This review summarizes the evolution of topical microbicides for HIV chemoprophylaxis, highlights important concepts learned, and offers current and future considerations for this area of research. PMID:24664786

IP Internal Movement and Topicalization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuo, Pei-Jung

2009-01-01

In this dissertation, I investigate the phenomenon of internal topicalization cross-linguistically, using Chinese as a starting point. Internal topicalization refers to constructions in which a topic phrase is placed between the subject and the verb (in contrast to external topicalization, which involves a topic in the CP domain). I argue that…

Science teacher orientations and PCK across science topics in grade 9 earth science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Campbell, Todd; Melville, Wayne; Goodwin, Dawne

2017-07-01

While the literature is replete with studies examining teacher knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), few studies have investigated how science teacher orientations (STOs) shape classroom instruction. Therefore, this research explores the interplay between a STOs and the topic specificity of PCK across two science topics within a grade 9 earth science course. Through interviews and observations of one teacher's classroom across two sequentially taught, this research contests the notion that teachers hold a single way of conceptualising science teaching and learning. In this, we consider if multiple ontologies can provide potential explanatory power for characterising instructional enactments. In earlier work with the teacher in this study, using generic interview prompts and general discussions about science teaching and learning, we accepted the existence of a unitary STO and its promise of consistent reformed instruction in the classroom. However, upon close examination of instruction focused on different science topics, evidence was found to demonstrate the explanatory power of multiple ontologies for shaping characteristically different epistemological constructions across science topics. This research points to the need for care in generalising about teacher practice, as it reveals that a teacher's practice, and orientation, can vary, dependent on the context and science topics taught.

Parent and Preschooler Newsletter: A Monthly Exploration of Early Childhood Topics, 2003.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wolkoff, Sandra, Ed.; Schwartzberg, Neala S., Ed.

2003-01-01

This document consists of 10 monthly newsletter issues, in English- and Spanish-language versions, exploring topics related to early childhood behavior and parenting. Regularly appearing features include book recommendations, "Library Resources,""Preschoolers in the Kitchen,""Kids Crafts,""Research News," and "The Health Corner." Major topics of…

Topical Collaboration "Neutrinos and Nucleosynthesis in Hot and Dense Matter"

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Allahverdi, Rouzbeh

2015-09-18

This is the final technical report describing contributions from the University of New Mexico to Topical Collaboration on "Neutrinos and Nucleosynthesis in Hot and Dense Matter" in the period June 2010 through May 2015. During the funding period, the University of New Mexico successfully hired Huaiyu Duan as a new faculty member with the support from DOE, who has contributed to the Topical Collaboration through his research and collaborations.

Text Content Pushing Technology Research Based on Location and Topic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Dongqi; Wei, Jianxin; Wumuti, Naheman; Jiang, Baode

2016-11-01

In the field, geological workers usually want to obtain related geological background information in the working area quickly and accurately. This information exists in the massive geological data, text data is described in natural language accounted for a large proportion. This paper studied location information extracting method in the mass text data; proposed a geographic location—geological content—geological content related algorithm based on Spark and Mapreduce2, finally classified content by using KNN, and built the content pushing system based on location and topic. It is running in the geological survey cloud, and we have gained a good effect in testing by using real geological data.

A Content Analysis of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Topics in Multicultural Education Textbooks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jennings, Todd; Macgillivray, Ian K.

2011-01-01

This research examines the treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) topics in 12 popular multicultural education textbooks. Following a line-by-line analysis of each textbook, the findings report the extent to which LGBT topics were included in each text and the themes that became apparent in how LGBT topics were treated. The…

Group Discussion Topics. Revised Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Area Education Agency 7, Cedar Falls, IA.

A collection of group disussion topics, developed and field-tested by a group of Iowa teachers, is presented in this guide. Twenty-eight topics for K-6 students, 24 topics for K-12 students, and 7 topics for students in grades 7-12 are included. Warm-up activities are given for introducing some of the topics, and lists of questions to provoke…

New guidelines for topical NSAIDs in the osteoarthritis treatment paradigm.

PubMed

Altman, Roy D

2010-12-01

Osteoarthritis (OA), the most common form of arthritis, often affects hands, hips, and knees and involves an estimated 26.9 million US adults. Women have a higher prevalence of OA, and the risk of developing OA increases with age, obesity, and joint malalignment. OA typically presents with pain and reduced function. Therapeutic programs are often multimodal and must take into account pharmaceutical toxicities and patient comorbidities. For example, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are associated with cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and renal adverse events. Topical NSAIDs offer efficacy with reduced systemic drug exposure. This is a review of current guideline recommendations regarding the use of topical NSAIDs in OA of the hand and knee. Articles were identified by PubMed search (January 1, 2000 to May 21, 2010). Several current guidelines for management of OA recommend topical NSAIDs, indicating them as a safe and effective treatment. One guideline recommends that topical NSAIDs be considered as first-line pharmacologic therapy. A US guideline for knee OA recommends topical NSAIDs in older patients and in patients with increased gastrointestinal risk. The consensus across US and European OA guidelines is that topical NSAIDs are a safe and effective treatment for OA. Because the research base on topical NSAIDs for OA is small, guidelines will continue to evolve.

Trends in biomedical informatics: automated topic analysis of JAMIA articles

PubMed Central

Wang, Shuang; Jiang, Chao; Jiang, Xiaoqian; Kim, Hyeon-Eui; Sun, Jimeng; Ohno-Machado, Lucila

2015-01-01

Biomedical Informatics is a growing interdisciplinary field in which research topics and citation trends have been evolving rapidly in recent years. To analyze these data in a fast, reproducible manner, automation of certain processes is needed. JAMIA is a “generalist” journal for biomedical informatics. Its articles reflect the wide range of topics in informatics. In this study, we retrieved Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms and citations of JAMIA articles published between 2009 and 2014. We use tensors (i.e., multidimensional arrays) to represent the interaction among topics, time and citations, and applied tensor decomposition to automate the analysis. The trends represented by tensors were then carefully interpreted and the results were compared with previous findings based on manual topic analysis. A list of most cited JAMIA articles, their topics, and publication trends over recent years is presented. The analyses confirmed previous studies and showed that, from 2012 to 2014, the number of articles related to MeSH terms Methods, Organization & Administration, and Algorithms increased significantly both in number of publications and citations. Citation trends varied widely by topic, with Natural Language Processing having a large number of citations in particular years, and Medical Record Systems, Computerized remaining a very popular topic in all years. PMID:26555018

Public understanding of geoscientific topics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Münch, Ute; Lauterjung, Jörn

2014-05-01

Geoscientific topics and their consequences for the society are becoming more and more important for our daily life. Natural hazards such as flood and storm or the consequences of the climate change are urgent tasks and great challenges we have to tackle. Cascading natural hazards or environmental risks, can't be evaluated as single events by one scientific discipline, they rather need the expertise of different experts. The same applies for slowly progressive processes such as the climate change and its different aftereffects. More than ever politicians, decision makers, but also the public are asking for comprehensive background information and data to discuss activity options and to develop sustainable solutions. The improvement of public knowledge about science, their assets and drawbacks, chances and risks is getting crucial. To paint a comprehensive picture of different factors, correlations and dependencies the pooling of expertise is required. Thus eight research centres of the research field "Earth and Environment" of the Helmholtz-Association, Germany's largest scientific research organisation are currently building up a knowledge platform. Scientists of different disciplines will provide background information and explain their latest findings in an understandable way. Infographics, maps and animations will be applied to simplify and interpret complicated facts and findings. In addition to the web presence target group-specific products and activities will be organized. To meet the expectations of the different stakeholders an intensive dialog is aspired: round table discussions, exhibitions in museums and public places, tweeds are envisaged. In the beginning the partners will concentrate on the topics "consequences of the climate change", "pollutant dispersion" and "natural hazards/meteorological extreme events". The project is called Earth System Knowledge Platform (ESKP) coordinated by the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) and the Helmholtz

Active and inactive enhancers co-operate to exert localized and long-range control of gene regulation

PubMed Central

Proudhon, Charlotte; Snetkova, Valentina; Raviram, Ramya; Lobry, Camille; Badri, Sana; Jiang, Tingting; Hao, Bingtao; Trimarchi, Thomas; Kluger, Yuval; Aifantis, Iannis; Bonneau, Richard; Skok, Jane A

2016-01-01

V(D)J recombination relies on the presence of proximal enhancers that activate the antigen receptor (AgR) loci in a lineage and stage specific manner. Unexpectedly we find that both active and inactive AgR enhancers co-operate to disseminate their effects in a localized and long-range manner. Here we demonstrate the importance of short-range contacts between active enhancers that constitute an Igk super-enhancer in B cells. Deletion of one element reduces the interaction frequency between other enhancers in the hub, which compromises the transcriptional output of each component. We further establish that in T cells long-range contact and co-operation between the inactive Igk enhancer, MiEκ and the active Tcrb enhancer, Eβ, alters enrichment of CBFβ binding in a manner that impacts Tcrb recombination. These findings underline the complexities of enhancer regulation and point to a role for localized and long-range enhancer-sharing between active and inactive elements in lineage and stage specific control. PMID:27239026

Topical treatment of psoriasis.

PubMed

Laws, Philip M; Young, Helen S

2010-08-01

The majority of patients with psoriasis can be safely and effectively treated with topical therapy alone, either under the supervision of a family physician or dermatologist. For those requiring systemic agents, topical therapies can provide additional benefit. Optimal use of topical therapy requires an awareness of the range and efficacy of all products. The review covers the efficacy and role of topical therapies including emollients, corticosteroids, vitamin D analogs, calcineurin inhibitors, dithranol, coal tar, retinoids, keratolyics and combination therapy. The report was prepared following a PubMed and Embase literature search up to April 2010. The paper provides a broad review of the relevant topical therapeutic options available in routine clinical practice for the management of psoriasis and a recommendation for selection of treatment. Topical therapies used appropriately provide a safe and effective option for the management of psoriasis. An awareness of the available products and their efficacy is key to treatment selection and patient satisfaction.

A Data-Based Approach to Discovering Multi-Topic Influential Leaders.

PubMed

Tang, Xing; Miao, Qiguang; Yu, Shangshang; Quan, Yining

2016-01-01

Recently, increasing numbers of users have adopted microblogging services as their main information source. However, most of them find themselves drowning in the millions of posts produced by other users every day. To cope with this, identifying a set of the most influential people is paramount. Moreover, finding a set of related influential users to expand the coverage of one particular topic is required in real world scenarios. Most of the existing algorithms in this area focus on topology-related methods such as PageRank. These methods mine link structures to find the expected influential rank of users. However, because they ignore the interaction data, these methods turn out to be less effective in social networks. In reality, a variety of topics exist within the information diffusing through the network. Because they have different interests, users play different roles in the diffusion of information related to different topics. As a result, distinguishing influential leaders according to different topics is also worthy of research. In this paper, we propose a multi-topic influence diffusion model (MTID) based on traces acquired from historic information. We decompose the influential scores of users into two parts: the direct influence determined by information propagation along the link structure and indirect influence that extends beyond the restrictions of direct follower relationships. To model the network from a multi-topical viewpoint, we introduce topic pools, each of which represents a particular topic information source. Then, we extract the topic distributions from the traces of tweets, determining the influence propagation probability and content generation probability. In the network, we adopt multiple ground nodes representing topic pools to connect every user through bidirectional links. Based on this multi-topical view of the network, we further introduce the topic-dependent rank (TD-Rank) algorithm to identify the multi-topic influential users

A Data-Based Approach to Discovering Multi-Topic Influential Leaders

PubMed Central

Tang, Xing; Miao, Qiguang; Yu, Shangshang; Quan, Yining

2016-01-01

Recently, increasing numbers of users have adopted microblogging services as their main information source. However, most of them find themselves drowning in the millions of posts produced by other users every day. To cope with this, identifying a set of the most influential people is paramount. Moreover, finding a set of related influential users to expand the coverage of one particular topic is required in real world scenarios. Most of the existing algorithms in this area focus on topology-related methods such as PageRank. These methods mine link structures to find the expected influential rank of users. However, because they ignore the interaction data, these methods turn out to be less effective in social networks. In reality, a variety of topics exist within the information diffusing through the network. Because they have different interests, users play different roles in the diffusion of information related to different topics. As a result, distinguishing influential leaders according to different topics is also worthy of research. In this paper, we propose a multi-topic influence diffusion model (MTID) based on traces acquired from historic information. We decompose the influential scores of users into two parts: the direct influence determined by information propagation along the link structure and indirect influence that extends beyond the restrictions of direct follower relationships. To model the network from a multi-topical viewpoint, we introduce topic pools, each of which represents a particular topic information source. Then, we extract the topic distributions from the traces of tweets, determining the influence propagation probability and content generation probability. In the network, we adopt multiple ground nodes representing topic pools to connect every user through bidirectional links. Based on this multi-topical view of the network, we further introduce the topic-dependent rank (TD-Rank) algorithm to identify the multi-topic influential users

Topical cyclosporine for atopic keratoconjunctivitis.

PubMed

González-López, Julio J; López-Alcalde, Jesús; Morcillo Laiz, Rafael; Fernández Buenaga, Roberto; Rebolleda Fernández, Gema

2012-09-12

Atopic keratoconjunctivitis (AKC) is a chronic ocular surface non-infectious inflammatory condition that atopic dermatitis patients may suffer at any time point in the course of their dermatologic disease and is independent of its degree of severity. AKC is usually not self resolving and it poses a higher risk of corneal injuries and severe sequelae. Management of AKC should prevent or treat corneal damage. Although topical corticosteroids remain the standard treatment for patients with AKC, prolonged use may lead to complications. Topical cyclosporine A (CsA) may improve AKC signs and symptoms, and be used as a corticosteroid sparing agent. To determine the efficacy and gather evidence on safety from randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of topical CsA in patients with AKC. We searched CENTRAL (which contains the Cochrane Eyes and Vision Group Trials Register) (The Cochrane Library 2012, Issue 6), MEDLINE (January 1946 to July 2012), EMBASE (January 1980 to July 2012), Latin American and Caribbean Literature on Health Sciences (LILACS) (January 1982 to July 2012), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) (January 1937 to July 2012), OpenGrey (System for Information on Grey Literature in Europe) (www.opengrey.eu/), the metaRegister of Controlled Trials (mRCT) (www.controlled-trials.com), ClinicalTrials.gov (www.clinicaltrials.gov), the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) (www.who.int/ictrp/search/en), the IFPMA Clinical Trials Portal (http://clinicaltrials.ifpma.org/no_cache/en/myportal/index.htm) and Web of Science Conference Proceedings Citation Index- Science (CPCI-S). We did not use any date or language restrictions in the electronic searches for trials. The electronic databases were last searched on 9 July 2012. We also handsearched the following conference proceedings: American Academy of Ophthalmology, Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, International Council of Opthalmology and Societas

Diabetes Topics Associated With Engagement on Twitter

PubMed Central

Mart, Adelina; Moreland-Russell, Sarah; Caburnay, Charlene A.

2015-01-01

Introduction Social media are widely used by the general public and by public health and health care professionals. Emerging evidence suggests engagement with public health information on social media may influence health behavior. However, the volume of data accumulating daily on Twitter and other social media is a challenge for researchers with limited resources to further examine how social media influence health. To address this challenge, we used crowdsourcing to facilitate the examination of topics associated with engagement with diabetes information on Twitter. Methods We took a random sample of 100 tweets that included the hashtag “#diabetes” from each day during a constructed week in May and June 2014. Crowdsourcing through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk platform was used to classify tweets into 9 topic categories and their senders into 3 Twitter user categories. Descriptive statistics and Tweedie regression were used to identify tweet and Twitter user characteristics associated with 2 measures of engagement, “favoriting” and “retweeting.” Results Classification was reliable for tweet topics and Twitter user type. The most common tweet topics were medical and nonmedical resources for diabetes. Tweets that included information about diabetes-related health problems were positively and significantly associated with engagement. Tweets about diabetes prevalence, nonmedical resources for diabetes, and jokes or sarcasm about diabetes were significantly negatively associated with engagement. Conclusion Crowdsourcing is a reliable, quick, and economical option for classifying tweets. Public health practitioners aiming to engage constituents around diabetes may want to focus on topics positively associated with engagement. PMID:25950569

Regulatory cross-cutting topics for fuel cycle facilities.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Denman, Matthew R.; Brown, Jason; Goldmann, Andrew Scott

This report overviews crosscutting regulatory topics for nuclear fuel cycle facilities for use in the Fuel Cycle Research & Development Nuclear Fuel Cycle Evaluation and Screening study. In particular, the regulatory infrastructure and analysis capability is assessed for the following topical areas: Fire Regulations (i.e., how applicable are current Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and/or International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) fire regulations to advance fuel cycle facilities) Consequence Assessment (i.e., how applicable are current radionuclide transportation tools to support risk-informed regulations and Level 2 and/or 3 PRA) While not addressed in detail, the following regulatory topic is also discussed: Integrated Security,more » Safeguard and Safety Requirement (i.e., how applicable are current Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulations to future fuel cycle facilities which will likely be required to balance the sometimes conflicting Material Accountability, Security, and Safety requirements.)« less

Redundancy-Aware Topic Modeling for Patient Record Notes

PubMed Central

Cohen, Raphael; Aviram, Iddo; Elhadad, Michael; Elhadad, Noémie

2014-01-01

The clinical notes in a given patient record contain much redundancy, in large part due to clinicians’ documentation habit of copying from previous notes in the record and pasting into a new note. Previous work has shown that this redundancy has a negative impact on the quality of text mining and topic modeling in particular. In this paper we describe a novel variant of Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling, Red-LDA, which takes into account the inherent redundancy of patient records when modeling content of clinical notes. To assess the value of Red-LDA, we experiment with three baselines and our novel redundancy-aware topic modeling method: given a large collection of patient records, (i) apply vanilla LDA to all documents in all input records; (ii) identify and remove all redundancy by chosing a single representative document for each record as input to LDA; (iii) identify and remove all redundant paragraphs in each record, leaving partial, non-redundant documents as input to LDA; and (iv) apply Red-LDA to all documents in all input records. Both quantitative evaluation carried out through log-likelihood on held-out data and topic coherence of produced topics and qualitative assessement of topics carried out by physicians show that Red-LDA produces superior models to all three baseline strategies. This research contributes to the emerging field of understanding the characteristics of the electronic health record and how to account for them in the framework of data mining. The code for the two redundancy-elimination baselines and Red-LDA is made publicly available to the community. PMID:24551060

Redundancy-aware topic modeling for patient record notes.

PubMed

Cohen, Raphael; Aviram, Iddo; Elhadad, Michael; Elhadad, Noémie

2014-01-01

The clinical notes in a given patient record contain much redundancy, in large part due to clinicians' documentation habit of copying from previous notes in the record and pasting into a new note. Previous work has shown that this redundancy has a negative impact on the quality of text mining and topic modeling in particular. In this paper we describe a novel variant of Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling, Red-LDA, which takes into account the inherent redundancy of patient records when modeling content of clinical notes. To assess the value of Red-LDA, we experiment with three baselines and our novel redundancy-aware topic modeling method: given a large collection of patient records, (i) apply vanilla LDA to all documents in all input records; (ii) identify and remove all redundancy by chosing a single representative document for each record as input to LDA; (iii) identify and remove all redundant paragraphs in each record, leaving partial, non-redundant documents as input to LDA; and (iv) apply Red-LDA to all documents in all input records. Both quantitative evaluation carried out through log-likelihood on held-out data and topic coherence of produced topics and qualitative assessment of topics carried out by physicians show that Red-LDA produces superior models to all three baseline strategies. This research contributes to the emerging field of understanding the characteristics of the electronic health record and how to account for them in the framework of data mining. The code for the two redundancy-elimination baselines and Red-LDA is made publicly available to the community.

Topical Review: Translating Translational Research in Behavioral Science.

PubMed

Hommel, Kevin A; Modi, Avani C; Piazza-Waggoner, Carrie; Myers, James D

2015-01-01

To present a model of translational research for behavioral science that communicates the role of behavioral research at each phase of translation. A task force identified gaps in knowledge regarding behavioral translational research processes and made recommendations regarding advancement of knowledge. A comprehensive model of translational behavioral research was developed. This model represents T1, T2, and T3 research activities, as well as Phase 1, 2, 3, and 4 clinical trials. Clinical illustrations of translational processes are also offered as support for the model. Behavioral science has struggled with defining a translational research model that effectively articulates each stage of translation and complements biomedical research. Our model defines key activities at each phase of translation from basic discovery to dissemination/implementation. This should be a starting point for communicating the role of behavioral science in translational research and a catalyst for better integration of biomedical and behavioral research. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Pediatric Psychology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The decade 1989-1998 in Spanish psychology: an analysis of research in basic psychological processes, history of psychology, and other related topics.

PubMed

Igoa, J M

2001-11-01

This article presents a review of research published by Spanish Faculty from the area of basic psychology in the decade 1989-1998. It provides information about research on basic psychological processes commonly studied under the labels of experimental and cognitive psychology, plus a number of topics from other research areas, including some applied psychology issues. The review analyzes the work of 241 faculty members from 27 different Spanish universities, as reflected in 1,882 published papers, book chapters, and books. The analyses carried out in this report include a description of the main research trends found in each area, with some representative references of the published materials, and statistics showing the distribution of this research work in various relevant publications (both Spanish and foreign), with figures that reveal the impact of this work both at a national and international scale.

Topic shift impairs pronoun resolution during sentence comprehension: Evidence from event-related potentials.

PubMed

Xu, Xiaodong; Zhou, Xiaolin

2016-02-01

This study investigated how topic shift and topic continuation influence pronoun interpretation in Chinese. ERPs recorded on pronouns in topic structure showed stronger and earlier late positive responses (P600) for the topic-shift than for the topic-continuation conditions. However, in nontopic structure where the subject (denoting only subjecthood), rather than the topic (denoting both topichood and subjecthood), acted as the antecedent of the pronoun, almost indistinguishable P600 responses were obtained on the pronoun regardless of whether it was referring to the subject (i.e., subject continuation) or the object (i.e., subject shift). Moreover, stronger and earlier P600 responses were elicited by pronouns in the topic-shift than in the subject-shift conditions, although there was no difference between the topic-continuation and the subject-continuation conditions. These findings suggest that topic shift results in greater difficulty in the resolution stage of referential processing, although the bonding process is not sensitive to the manipulation of topic status, and that topic has a privileged cognitive status relative to other nontopic entities (e.g., subject) in real-time language processing. © 2015 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

#Healthy Selfies: Exploration of Health Topics on Instagram.

PubMed

Muralidhara, Sachin; Paul, Michael J

2018-06-29

Social media provides a complementary source of information for public health surveillance. The dominate data source for this type of monitoring is the microblogging platform Twitter, which is convenient due to the free availability of public data. Less is known about the utility of other social media platforms, despite their popularity. This work aims to characterize the health topics that are prominently discussed in the image-sharing platform Instagram, as a step toward understanding how this data might be used for public health research. The study uses a topic modeling approach to discover topics in a dataset of 96,426 Instagram posts containing hashtags related to health. We use a polylingual topic model, initially developed for datasets in different natural languages, to model different modalities of data: hashtags, caption words, and image tags automatically extracted using a computer vision tool. We identified 47 health-related topics in the data (kappa=.77), covering ten broad categories: acute illness, alternative medicine, chronic illness and pain, diet, exercise, health care & medicine, mental health, musculoskeletal health and dermatology, sleep, and substance use. The most prevalent topics were related to diet (8,293/96,426; 8.6% of posts) and exercise (7,328/96,426; 7.6% of posts). A large and diverse set of health topics are discussed in Instagram. The extracted image tags were generally too coarse and noisy to be used for identifying posts but were in some cases accurate for identifying images relevant to studying diet and substance use. Instagram shows potential as a source of public health information, though limitations in data collection and metadata availability may limit its use in comparison to platforms like Twitter. ©Sachin Muralidhara, Michael J. Paul. Originally published in JMIR Public Health and Surveillance (http://publichealth.jmir.org), 29.06.2018.

Topical NSAIDs for chronic musculoskeletal pain in adults

PubMed Central

Derry, Sheena; Moore, R Andrew; Rabbie, Roy

2014-01-01

Background Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are commonly taken orally, but they are also available in topical preparations to be applied to or rubbed onto the skin of a painful joint, typically one affected by arthritis, with the aim of relieving pain locally. Topical NSAIDs are widely used in some parts of the world for acute and chronic painful conditions, but have not been universally accepted until recently. One of the problems has been that older clinical studies were generally short, lasting four weeks or less, and short duration studies are not regarded as adequate in ongoing painful conditions. Objectives To examine the use of topical NSAIDs in chronic musculoskeletal pain, focusing on studies of high methodological quality, and examining the measured effect of the preparations according to study duration. The principal aim was to estimate treatment efficacy in longer duration studies of at least 8 weeks. Search methods A series of electronic searches, together with bibliographic searches, and searches of in-house databases were combined with electronic searches of clinical trial registers and manufacturers of topical NSAIDs, or companies known to be actively researching topical NSAIDs. There had to be at least 10 participants in each treatment arm, with application of treatment at least once daily. Selection criteria Randomised, double blind studies with placebo or active comparators, where at least one treatment was a topical NSAID product, in any topical formulation (cream, gel, patch, solution), in studies lasting at least two weeks. Data collection and analysis Two review authors independently assessed study quality and validity, and extracted data. Numbers of participants achieving each outcome were used to calculate relative risk (RR) and numbers needed to treat (NNT) or harm (NNH) compared to placebo or other active treatment. Main results Information was available from 7688 participants in 34 studies from 32 publications; 23 studies

Salicylic Acid Topical

MedlinePlus

... stinging in the area where you applied topical salicylic acid Some side effects can be serious. If you experience any of ... of the eyes, face, lips, or tongue Topical salicylic acid may cause other side effects. Call your doctor if you have any unusual ...

Topic Continuity in Informal Conversations between Native and Non-Native Speakers of English

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morris-Adams, Muna

2013-01-01

Topic management by non-native speakers (NNSs) during informal conversations has received comparatively little attention from researchers, and receives surprisingly little attention in second language learning and teaching. This article reports on one of the topic management strategies employed by international students during informal, social…

A Content Analysis Exploring Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Topics in Foundations of Education Textbooks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Macgillivray, Ian K.; Jennings, Todd

2008-01-01

This research analyzed the most widely used foundations of education textbooks for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) content. Because foundations of education coursework routinely introduces other diversity topics in education, the authors hold it is a good place to introduce LGBT topics. The ways in which LGBT topics are included in…

The 4th Schizophrenia International Research Society Conference, 5-9 April 2014, Florence, Italy: a summary of topics and trends.

PubMed

Abayomi, Olukayode; Amato, Davide; Bailey, Candace; Bitanihirwe, Byron; Bowen, Lynneice; Burshtein, Shimon; Cullen, Alexis; Fusté, Montserrat; Herrmann, Ana P; Khodaie, Babak; Kilian, Sanja; Lang, Qortni A; Manning, Elizabeth E; Massuda, Raffael; Nurjono, Milawaty; Sadiq, Sarosh; Sanchez-Gutierrez, Teresa; Sheinbaum, Tamara; Shivakumar, Venkataram; Simon, Nicholas; Spiteri-Staines, Anneliese; Sirijit, Suttajit; Toftdahl, Nanna Gilliam; Wadehra, Sunali; Wang, Yi; Wigton, Rebekah; Wright, Susan; Yagoda, Sergey; Zaytseva, Yuliya; O'Shea, Anne; DeLisi, Lynn E

2014-11-01

The 4th Schizophrenia International Research Society Conference was held in Florence, Italy, April 5-9, 2014 and this year had as its emphasis, "Fostering Collaboration in Schizophrenia Research". Student travel awardees served as rapporteurs for each oral session, summarized the important contributions of each session and then each report was integrated into a final summary of data discussed at the entire conference by topic. It is hoped that by combining data from different presentations, patterns of interest will emerge and thus lead to new progress for the future. In addition, the following report provides an overview of the conference for those who were present, but could not participate in all sessions, and those who did not have the opportunity to attend, but who would be interested in an update on current investigations ongoing in the field of schizophrenia research. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Phase IIB Randomized Study of Topical Difluoromethylornithine and Topical Diclofenac on Sun-Damaged Skin of the Forearm.

PubMed

Jeter, Joanne M; Curiel-Lewandrowski, Clara; Stratton, Steven P; Myrdal, Paul B; Warneke, James A; Einspahr, Janine G; Bartels, Hubert G; Yozwiak, Michael; Bermudez, Yira; Hu, Chengcheng; Bartels, Peter; Alberts, David S

2016-02-01

Prevention of nonmelanoma skin cancers remains a health priority due to high costs associated with this disease. Diclofenac and difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) have demonstrated chemopreventive efficacy for cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas. We designed a randomized study of the combination of DFMO and diclofenac in the treatment of sun-damaged skin. Individuals with visible cutaneous sun damage were eligible. Subjects were randomized to one of the three groups: topical DFMO applied twice daily, topical diclofenac applied daily, or DFMO plus diclofenac. The treatment was limited to an area on the left forearm, and the duration of use was 90 days. We hypothesized that combination therapy would have increased efficacy compared with single-agent therapy. The primary outcome was change in karyometric average nuclear abnormality (ANA) in the treated skin. Individuals assessing the biomarkers were blinded regarding the treatment for each subject. A total of 156 subjects were randomized; 144 had baseline and end-of-study biopsies, and 136 subjects completed the study. The ANA unexpectedly increased for all groups, with higher values correlating with clinical cutaneous inflammation. Nearly all of the adverse events were local cutaneous effects. One subject had cutaneous toxicity that required treatment discontinuation. Significantly more adverse events were seen in the groups taking diclofenac. Overall, the study indicated that the addition of topical DFMO to topical diclofenac did not enhance its activity. Both agents caused inflammation on a cellular and clinical level, which may have confounded the measurement of chemopreventive effects. More significant effects may be observed in subjects with greater baseline cutaneous damage. ©2015 American Association for Cancer Research.

A Leader's Guide to Mathematics Curriculum Topic Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keeley, Page; Mundry, Susan; Tobey, Cheryl Rose; Carroll, Catherine E.

2012-01-01

The Curriculum Topic Study (CTS) process, funded by the National Science Foundation, supports teachers in improving practice by connecting standards and research to curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Designed for facilitators, this guide provides a robust set of professional development tools, templates, and designs to strengthen mathematics…

Topical treatment of melasma.

PubMed

Bandyopadhyay, Debabrata

2009-01-01

Melasma is a common hypermelanotic disorder affecting the face that is associated with considerable psychological impacts. The management of melasma is challenging and requires a long-term treatment plan. In addition to avoidance of aggravating factors like oral pills and ultraviolet exposure, topical therapy has remained the mainstay of treatment. Multiple options for topical treatment are available, of which hydroquinone (HQ) is the most commonly prescribed agent. Besides HQ, other topical agents for which varying degrees of evidence for clinical efficacy exist include azelaic acid, kojic acid, retinoids, topical steroids, glycolic acid, mequinol, and arbutin. Topical medications modify various stages of melanogenesis, the most common mode of action being inhibition of the enzyme, tyrosinase. Combination therapy is the preferred mode of treatment for the synergism and reduction of untoward effects. The most popular combination consists of HQ, a topical steroid, and retinoic acid. Prolonged HQ usage may lead to untoward effects like depigmentation and exogenous ochronosis. The search for safer alternatives has given rise to the development of many newer agents, several of them from natural sources. Well-designed controlled clinical trials are needed to clarify their role in the routine management of melasma.

TOPICAL TREATMENT OF MELASMA

PubMed Central

Bandyopadhyay, Debabrata

2009-01-01

Melasma is a common hypermelanotic disorder affecting the face that is associated with considerable psychological impacts. The management of melasma is challenging and requires a long-term treatment plan. In addition to avoidance of aggravating factors like oral pills and ultraviolet exposure, topical therapy has remained the mainstay of treatment. Multiple options for topical treatment are available, of which hydroquinone (HQ) is the most commonly prescribed agent. Besides HQ, other topical agents for which varying degrees of evidence for clinical efficacy exist include azelaic acid, kojic acid, retinoids, topical steroids, glycolic acid, mequinol, and arbutin. Topical medications modify various stages of melanogenesis, the most common mode of action being inhibition of the enzyme, tyrosinase. Combination therapy is the preferred mode of treatment for the synergism and reduction of untoward effects. The most popular combination consists of HQ, a topical steroid, and retinoic acid. Prolonged HQ usage may lead to untoward effects like depigmentation and exogenous ochronosis. The search for safer alternatives has given rise to the development of many newer agents, several of them from natural sources. Well-designed controlled clinical trials are needed to clarify their role in the routine management of melasma. PMID:20101327

Topical vs. systemic treatments for acute otitis media.

PubMed

Thornton, Kathy; Parrish, Francie; Swords, Christine

2011-01-01

Acute otitis media (AOM) is a common condition in children that is often treated with systemic antibiotic therapy; however, research suggests that non-complicated AOM will resolve spontaneously using only eardrops. To determine best practice for the use of systematic antibiotics compared to topical treatment of AOM, a systematic review of evidence was conducted. Cochrane, Medline, CINAHL, and other databases were searched. Inclusion criteria were studies published from 1995-2010 that included children with AOM and were randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Five systematic reviews and five RCTs were included in the review. Current evidence recommends using topical and other alternative approaches for treating non-complicated AOM in children 2 years of age or older; however, many practitioners are not currently following these recommendations for various reasons. Additional research to address these reasons may help determine how to improve practitioner adherence to best practice evidence and guidelines to help reduce the unnecessary use of systemic antibiotics.

Science Teacher Orientations and PCK across Science Topics in Grade 9 Earth Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Campbell, Todd; Melville, Wayne; Goodwin, Dawne

2017-01-01

While the literature is replete with studies examining teacher knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), few studies have investigated how science teacher orientations (STOs) shape classroom instruction. Therefore, this research explores the interplay between a STOs and the topic specificity of PCK across two science topics within a grade…

Cross-Domain Multi-View Object Retrieval via Multi-Scale Topic Models.

PubMed

Hong, Richang; Hu, Zhenzhen; Wang, Ruxin; Wang, Meng; Tao, Dacheng

2016-09-27

The increasing number of 3D objects in various applications has increased the requirement for effective and efficient 3D object retrieval methods, which attracted extensive research efforts in recent years. Existing works mainly focus on how to extract features and conduct object matching. With the increasing applications, 3D objects come from different areas. In such circumstances, how to conduct object retrieval becomes more important. To address this issue, we propose a multi-view object retrieval method using multi-scale topic models in this paper. In our method, multiple views are first extracted from each object, and then the dense visual features are extracted to represent each view. To represent the 3D object, multi-scale topic models are employed to extract the hidden relationship among these features with respected to varied topic numbers in the topic model. In this way, each object can be represented by a set of bag of topics. To compare the objects, we first conduct topic clustering for the basic topics from two datasets, and then generate the common topic dictionary for new representation. Then, the two objects can be aligned to the same common feature space for comparison. To evaluate the performance of the proposed method, experiments are conducted on two datasets. The 3D object retrieval experimental results and comparison with existing methods demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Incorporating Topic Assignment Constraint and Topic Correlation Limitation into Clinical Goal Discovering for Clinical Pathway Mining.

PubMed

Xu, Xiao; Jin, Tao; Wei, Zhijie; Wang, Jianmin

2017-01-01

Clinical pathways are widely used around the world for providing quality medical treatment and controlling healthcare cost. However, the expert-designed clinical pathways can hardly deal with the variances among hospitals and patients. It calls for more dynamic and adaptive process, which is derived from various clinical data. Topic-based clinical pathway mining is an effective approach to discover a concise process model. Through this approach, the latent topics found by latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) represent the clinical goals. And process mining methods are used to extract the temporal relations between these topics. However, the topic quality is usually not desirable due to the low performance of the LDA in clinical data. In this paper, we incorporate topic assignment constraint and topic correlation limitation into the LDA to enhance the ability of discovering high-quality topics. Two real-world datasets are used to evaluate the proposed method. The results show that the topics discovered by our method are with higher coherence, informativeness, and coverage than the original LDA. These quality topics are suitable to represent the clinical goals. Also, we illustrate that our method is effective in generating a comprehensive topic-based clinical pathway model.

Incorporating Topic Assignment Constraint and Topic Correlation Limitation into Clinical Goal Discovering for Clinical Pathway Mining

PubMed Central

Xu, Xiao; Wei, Zhijie

2017-01-01

Clinical pathways are widely used around the world for providing quality medical treatment and controlling healthcare cost. However, the expert-designed clinical pathways can hardly deal with the variances among hospitals and patients. It calls for more dynamic and adaptive process, which is derived from various clinical data. Topic-based clinical pathway mining is an effective approach to discover a concise process model. Through this approach, the latent topics found by latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) represent the clinical goals. And process mining methods are used to extract the temporal relations between these topics. However, the topic quality is usually not desirable due to the low performance of the LDA in clinical data. In this paper, we incorporate topic assignment constraint and topic correlation limitation into the LDA to enhance the ability of discovering high-quality topics. Two real-world datasets are used to evaluate the proposed method. The results show that the topics discovered by our method are with higher coherence, informativeness, and coverage than the original LDA. These quality topics are suitable to represent the clinical goals. Also, we illustrate that our method is effective in generating a comprehensive topic-based clinical pathway model. PMID:29065617

Complex temporal topic evolution modelling using the Kullback-Leibler divergence and the Bhattacharyya distance.

PubMed

Andrei, Victor; Arandjelović, Ognjen

2016-12-01

The rapidly expanding corpus of medical research literature presents major challenges in the understanding of previous work, the extraction of maximum information from collected data, and the identification of promising research directions. We present a case for the use of advanced machine learning techniques as an aide in this task and introduce a novel methodology that is shown to be capable of extracting meaningful information from large longitudinal corpora and of tracking complex temporal changes within it. Our framework is based on (i) the discretization of time into epochs, (ii) epoch-wise topic discovery using a hierarchical Dirichlet process-based model, and (iii) a temporal similarity graph which allows for the modelling of complex topic changes. More specifically, this is the first work that discusses and distinguishes between two groups of particularly challenging topic evolution phenomena: topic splitting and speciation and topic convergence and merging, in addition to the more widely recognized emergence and disappearance and gradual evolution. The proposed framework is evaluated on a public medical literature corpus.

Brian Barry: innovative contributions to transdermal and topical drug delivery.

PubMed

Williams, A C

2013-01-01

Brian Barry published over 300 research articles across topics ranging from colloid science, vasoconstriction and the importance of thermodynamics in dermal drug delivery to exploring the structure and organisation of the stratum corneum barrier lipids and numerous strategies for improving topical and transdermal drug delivery, including penetration enhancers, supersaturation, coacervation, eutectic formation and the use of varied liposomes. As research in the area blossomed in the early 1980s, Brian wrote the book that became essential reading for both new and established dermal delivery scientists, explaining the background mathematics and principles through to formulation design. Brian also worked with numerous scientists, as collaborators and students, who have themselves taken his rigorous approach to scientific investigation into their own research groups. This paper can only describe a small fraction of the many significant contributions that Brian made to the field during his 40-year academic career.

Illuminating the Background: Topics in Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, Nathan J.

The cosmic microwave background provides a wealth of information about the origin and history of the universe. The statistics of the anisotropy and the polarization of the cosmic microwave background, among other things, can tell us about the distribution of matter, the redshift of reionization, and the nature of the primordial uctuations. From the lensing of cosmic microwave background due to intervening matter, we can extract information about neutrinos and the equation of state of dark energy. A measurement of the large angular scale B-mode polarization has been called the "smoking gun" of in ation, a theory that describes a possible early rapid expansion of the universe. The focus of current experiments is to measure this B-mode polarization, while several experiments, such as POLARBEAR, are also looking to measure the lensing of the cosmic microwave background. This dissertation will discuss several different topics in cosmic microwave background polarization research. I will make predictions for future experiments and I will also show analysis for two current experiments, POLARBEAR and BICEP. I will show how beam systematics affect the measurement of cosmological parameters and how well we must limit these systematics in order to get unbiased constraints on cosmological parameters for future experiments. I will discuss a novel way of using the temperature-polarization cross correlation to constrain the amount of inflationary gravitational waves. Through Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods, I will determine how well future experiments will be able to constrain the neutrino masses and their degeneracy parameters. I will show results from current data analysis and calibration being done on the Cedar Flat deployment for the POLARBEAR experiment which is currently being constructed in the Atacama desert in Chile. Finally, I will analyze the claim of detection of cosmological birefringence in the BICEP data and show that there is reason to believe it is due to

Software reliability models for fault-tolerant avionics computers and related topics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miller, Douglas R.

1987-01-01

Software reliability research is briefly described. General research topics are reliability growth models, quality of software reliability prediction, the complete monotonicity property of reliability growth, conceptual modelling of software failure behavior, assurance of ultrahigh reliability, and analysis techniques for fault-tolerant systems.

Astrophysical Magnetic Fields and Topics in Galaxy Formation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Field, George B.

1997-01-01

The grant was used to support theoretical research on a variety of astro-physical topics falling broadly into those described by the proposal: galaxy formation, astrophysical magnetic fields, magnetized accretion disks in AGN, new physics, and other astrophysical problems. Work accomplished; references are to work authored by project personel.

Selected topics in robotics for space exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Montgomery, Raymond C. (Editor); Kaufman, Howard (Editor)

1993-01-01

Papers and abstracts included represent both formal presentations and experimental demonstrations at the Workshop on Selected Topics in Robotics for Space Exploration which took place at NASA Langley Research Center, 17-18 March 1993. The workshop was cosponsored by the Guidance, Navigation, and Control Technical Committee of the NASA Langley Research Center and the Center for Intelligent Robotic Systems for Space Exploration (CIRSSE) at RPI, Troy, NY. Participation was from industry, government, and other universities with close ties to either Langley Research Center or to CIRSSE. The presentations were very broad in scope with attention given to space assembly, space exploration, flexible structure control, and telerobotics.

War and Peace: Deconstructing the Topic of Genocide and Other Crimes against Humanity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hovde, Karen

2011-01-01

This article examines the topic of genocide and other world conflicts as they are addressed by reference works. Topics of human aggression are treated by multidisciplinary research, and an awareness of the multiple angles of approach aids the process of directing students to sources. The article discusses definitions and standard organizational…

Strategies of persuasion in offers to participate in cancer clinical trials I: Topic placement and topic framing.

PubMed

Barton, Ellen; Eggly, Susan; Winckles, Andrew; Albrecht, Terrance L

2014-01-01

Clinical trials are the gold standard in medical research evaluating new treatments in cancer care; however, in the United States, too few patients enroll in trials, especially patients from minority groups. Offering patients the option of a clinical trial is an ethically-charged communicative event for oncologists. One particularly vexed ethical issue is the use of persuasion in trial offers. Based on a corpus of 22 oncology encounters with Caucasian-American (n = 11) and African-American (n = 11) patients, this discourse analysis describes oncologists' use of two persuasive strategies related to the linguistic structure of trial offers: topic placement and topic framing. Findings are presented in total and by patient race, and discussed in terms of whether these strategies may constitute ethical or unethical persuasion, particularly with respect to the ethical issue of undue influence and the social issue of underrepresentation of minorities in cancer clinical trials.

Topics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mathematics Teaching, 1972

1972-01-01

Topics discussed in this column include patterns of inverse multipliers in modular arithmetic; diagrams for product sets, set intersection, and set union; function notation; patterns in the number of partitions of positive integers; and tessellations. (DT)

Combining formal and functional approaches to topic structure.

PubMed

Zellers, Margaret; Post, Brechtje

2012-03-01

Fragmentation between formal and functional approaches to prosodic variation is an ongoing problem in linguistic research. In particular, the frameworks of the Phonetics of Talk-in-Interaction (PTI) and Empirical Phonology (EP) take very different theoretical and methodological approaches to this kind of variation. We argue that it is fruitful to adopt the insights of both PTI's qualitative analysis and EP's quantitative analysis and combine them into a multiple-methods approach. One realm in which it is possible to combine these frameworks is in the analysis of discourse topic structure and the prosodic cues relevant to it. By combining a quantitative and a qualitative approach to discourse topic structure, it is possible to give a better account of the observed variation in prosody, for example in the case of fundamental frequency (F0) peak timing, which can be explained in terms of pitch accent distribution over different topic structure categories. Similarly, local and global patterns in speech rate variation can be better explained and motivated by adopting insights from both PTI and EP in the study of topic structure. Combining PTI and EP can provide better accounts of speech data as well as opening up new avenues of investigation which would not have been possible in either approach alone.

Learning From Short Text Streams With Topic Drifts.

PubMed

Li, Peipei; He, Lu; Wang, Haiyan; Hu, Xuegang; Zhang, Yuhong; Li, Lei; Wu, Xindong

2017-09-18

Short text streams such as search snippets and micro blogs have been popular on the Web with the emergence of social media. Unlike traditional normal text streams, these data present the characteristics of short length, weak signal, high volume, high velocity, topic drift, etc. Short text stream classification is hence a very challenging and significant task. However, this challenge has received little attention from the research community. Therefore, a new feature extension approach is proposed for short text stream classification with the help of a large-scale semantic network obtained from a Web corpus. It is built on an incremental ensemble classification model for efficiency. First, more semantic contexts based on the senses of terms in short texts are introduced to make up of the data sparsity using the open semantic network, in which all terms are disambiguated by their semantics to reduce the noise impact. Second, a concept cluster-based topic drifting detection method is proposed to effectively track hidden topic drifts. Finally, extensive studies demonstrate that as compared to several well-known concept drifting detection methods in data stream, our approach can detect topic drifts effectively, and it enables handling short text streams effectively while maintaining the efficiency as compared to several state-of-the-art short text classification approaches.

Trends in biomedical informatics: automated topic analysis of JAMIA articles.

PubMed

Han, Dong; Wang, Shuang; Jiang, Chao; Jiang, Xiaoqian; Kim, Hyeon-Eui; Sun, Jimeng; Ohno-Machado, Lucila

2015-11-01

Biomedical Informatics is a growing interdisciplinary field in which research topics and citation trends have been evolving rapidly in recent years. To analyze these data in a fast, reproducible manner, automation of certain processes is needed. JAMIA is a "generalist" journal for biomedical informatics. Its articles reflect the wide range of topics in informatics. In this study, we retrieved Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms and citations of JAMIA articles published between 2009 and 2014. We use tensors (i.e., multidimensional arrays) to represent the interaction among topics, time and citations, and applied tensor decomposition to automate the analysis. The trends represented by tensors were then carefully interpreted and the results were compared with previous findings based on manual topic analysis. A list of most cited JAMIA articles, their topics, and publication trends over recent years is presented. The analyses confirmed previous studies and showed that, from 2012 to 2014, the number of articles related to MeSH terms Methods, Organization & Administration, and Algorithms increased significantly both in number of publications and citations. Citation trends varied widely by topic, with Natural Language Processing having a large number of citations in particular years, and Medical Record Systems, Computerized remaining a very popular topic in all years. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Use of Topical Tacrolimus and Topical Pimecrolimus in Four European Countries: A Multicentre Database Cohort Study.

PubMed

Kuiper, Josephina G; van Herk-Sukel, Myrthe P P; Castellsague, Jordi; Pottegård, Anton; Berglind, Ingegärd Anveden; Dedman, Daniel; Gutierrez, Lia; Calingaert, Brian; Hallas, Jesper; Sundström, Anders; Gallagher, Arlene M; Kaye, James A; Pardo, Carolina; Rothman, Kenneth J; Perez-Gutthann, Susana

2018-05-07

Despite the concerns about a potential increased risk of skin cancer and lymphoma with the use of topical tacrolimus and pimecrolimus, no population-based studies have given an overview of the use of these drugs in Europe. To assess the use of topical tacrolimus and pimecrolimus in children and adults in Europe. Multicentre database cohort study comprising data from the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and the UK. We analysed users of topical tacrolimus and pimecrolimus starting from the date of first availability (between 2002 and 2003) or start establishment of the prescription database in Sweden (2006) through 2011. Use was assessed separately for children (≤ 18 years) and adults. 32,052 children and 104,902 adults were treated with topical tacrolimus, and 32,125 children and 58,280 adults were treated with topical pimecrolimus. The number of users increased rapidly after first availability, especially for topical tacrolimus. Topical tacrolimus was more frequently used in all countries except Denmark. For both drugs, there was a decrease in users after 2004 in the Netherlands and Denmark and after 2005 in the UK, especially among children. This decrease was largest in Denmark. The decrease in the number of users was temporary for topical tacrolimus, while use remained relatively low for topical pimecrolimus. The number of topical tacrolimus and pimecrolimus users increased rapidly after regulatory approval. A transient reduction in topical tacrolimus use and a persistent reduction in topical pimecrolimus use was seen after 2004 in the Netherlands and Denmark and after 2005 in the UK.

Sentiment topic mining based on comment tags

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Daohai; Liu, Xue; Li, Juan; Fan, Mingyue

2018-03-01

With the development of e-commerce, various comments based on tags are generated, how to extract valuable information from these comment tags has become an important content of business management decisions. This study takes HUAWEI mobile phone tags as an example using the sentiment analysis and topic LDA mining method. The first step is data preprocessing and classification of comment tag topic mining. And then make the sentiment classification for comment tags. Finally, mine the comments again and analyze the emotional theme distribution under different sentiment classification. The results show that HUAWEI mobile phone has a good user experience in terms of fluency, cost performance, appearance, etc. Meanwhile, it should pay more attention to independent research and development, product design and development. In addition, battery and speed performance should be enhanced.

First-Generation College Student Dissertation Abstracts: Research Strategies, Topical Analysis, and Lessons Learned

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Banning, James H.

2014-01-01

First-generation college students are students whose parents or guardians did not obtain a four year college degree (Davis, 2012). As a group these students make up a large part of the college student population and are often reported to encounter difficulties in their campus experience. While the topic of first-generation student has received…

Beyond the Core: The Hot Topic(al) Alternative to the Survey-Based Introduction to Sociology Course.

PubMed

Schwartz, Michael; Smith, R Tyson

2010-10-01

In the following paper we argue that the conventional "Introduction to Sociology" survey course should be restructured because such courses try to survey an unsurveyable body of knowledge and they do not teach the application of sociological research. The conventional intro course should be replaced with an intro course that surveys the types of social dynamics that sociologists typically research and the methods they use to do so. We propose a semester-long intro course with four case study learning-units that are chosen for their coverage of the underlying sociological dynamics, methods, and core concepts. We contend that case study learning-units which concentrate on topical issues and core sociological concepts are better suited for an introduction course.

SYMBIOmatics: synergies in Medical Informatics and Bioinformatics--exploring current scientific literature for emerging topics.

PubMed

Rebholz-Schuhman, Dietrich; Cameron, Graham; Clark, Dominic; van Mulligen, Erik; Coatrieux, Jean-Louis; Del Hoyo Barbolla, Eva; Martin-Sanchez, Fernando; Milanesi, Luciano; Porro, Ivan; Beltrame, Francesco; Tollis, Ioannis; Van der Lei, Johan

2007-03-08

The SYMBIOmatics Specific Support Action (SSA) is "an information gathering and dissemination activity" that seeks "to identify synergies between the bioinformatics and the medical informatics" domain to improve collaborative progress between both domains (ref. to http://www.symbiomatics.org). As part of the project experts in both research fields will be identified and approached through a survey. To provide input to the survey, the scientific literature was analysed to extract topics relevant to both medical informatics and bioinformatics. This paper presents results of a systematic analysis of the scientific literature from medical informatics research and bioinformatics research. In the analysis pairs of words (bigrams) from the leading bioinformatics and medical informatics journals have been used as indication of existing and emerging technologies and topics over the period 2000-2005 ("recent") and 1990-1990 ("past"). We identified emerging topics that were equally important to bioinformatics and medical informatics in recent years such as microarray experiments, ontologies, open source, text mining and support vector machines. Emerging topics that evolved only in bioinformatics were system biology, protein interaction networks and statistical methods for microarray analyses, whereas emerging topics in medical informatics were grid technology and tissue microarrays. We conclude that although both fields have their own specific domains of interest, they share common technological developments that tend to be initiated by new developments in biotechnology and computer science.

Preliminary stop of the TOPical Imiquimod treatment of high-grade Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (TOPIC) trial.

PubMed

Koeneman, M M; Kruse, A J; Kooreman, L F S; Zur Hausen, A; Hopman, A H N; Sep, S J S; Van Gorp, T; Slangen, B F M; van Beekhuizen, H J; van de Sande, A J M; Gerestein, C G; Nijman, H W; Kruitwagen, R F P M

2017-02-07

The "TOPical Imiquimod treatment of high-grade Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia" (TOPIC) trial was stopped preliminary, due to lagging inclusions. This study aimed to evaluate the treatment efficacy and clinical applicability of imiquimod 5% cream in high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). The lagging inclusions were mainly due to a strong patient preference for either of the two treatment modalities. This prompted us to initiate a new study on the same subject, with a non-randomized, open-label design: the 'TOPical Imiquimod treatment of high-grade Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (TOPIC)-3' study. Original TOPIC-trial: Medical Ethics Committee approval number METC13231; ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02329171, 22 December 2014. TOPIC-3 study: Medical Ethics Committee approval number METC162025; ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02917746, 16 September 2016.

Research on injury prevention: topics for systematic review.

PubMed

Rivara, F P; Johansen, J M; Thompson, D C

2002-06-01

Duplication should be avoided in research and only effective intervention programs should be implemented. To arrive at a consensus among injury control investigators and practitioners on the most important research questions for systematic review in the area of injury prevention. Delphi survey. A total of 34 injury prevention experts were asked to submit questions for systematic review. These were then collated; experts then ranked these on importance and availability of research. Twenty one experts generated 79 questions. The prevention areas with the most number of questions generated were fires and burns, motor vehicle, and violence (other than intimate partner), and the least were other interventions (which included Safe Communities), and risk compensation. These were ranked by mean score. There was good agreement between the mean score and the proportion of experts rating questions as important or very important. Nine of the top 24 questions were rated as having some to a substantial amount of research available, and 15 as having little research available. The Delphi technique provided a useful means to develop consensus on injury prevention research needs and questions for systematic review.

Identifying Topics in Microblogs Using Wikipedia.

PubMed

Yıldırım, Ahmet; Üsküdarlı, Suzan; Özgür, Arzucan

2016-01-01

Twitter is an extremely high volume platform for user generated contributions regarding any topic. The wealth of content created at real-time in massive quantities calls for automated approaches to identify the topics of the contributions. Such topics can be utilized in numerous ways, such as public opinion mining, marketing, entertainment, and disaster management. Towards this end, approaches to relate single or partial posts to knowledge base items have been proposed. However, in microblogging systems like Twitter, topics emerge from the culmination of a large number of contributions. Therefore, identifying topics based on collections of posts, where individual posts contribute to some aspect of the greater topic is necessary. Models, such as Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), propose algorithms for relating collections of posts to sets of keywords that represent underlying topics. In these approaches, figuring out what the specific topic(s) the keyword sets represent remains as a separate task. Another issue in topic detection is the scope, which is often limited to specific domain, such as health. This work proposes an approach for identifying domain-independent specific topics related to sets of posts. In this approach, individual posts are processed and then aggregated to identify key tokens, which are then mapped to specific topics. Wikipedia article titles are selected to represent topics, since they are up to date, user-generated, sophisticated articles that span topics of human interest. This paper describes the proposed approach, a prototype implementation, and a case study based on data gathered during the heavily contributed periods corresponding to the four US election debates in 2012. The manually evaluated results (0.96 precision) and other observations from the study are discussed in detail.

Identifying Topics in Microblogs Using Wikipedia

PubMed Central

Yıldırım, Ahmet; Üsküdarlı, Suzan; Özgür, Arzucan

2016-01-01

Twitter is an extremely high volume platform for user generated contributions regarding any topic. The wealth of content created at real-time in massive quantities calls for automated approaches to identify the topics of the contributions. Such topics can be utilized in numerous ways, such as public opinion mining, marketing, entertainment, and disaster management. Towards this end, approaches to relate single or partial posts to knowledge base items have been proposed. However, in microblogging systems like Twitter, topics emerge from the culmination of a large number of contributions. Therefore, identifying topics based on collections of posts, where individual posts contribute to some aspect of the greater topic is necessary. Models, such as Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), propose algorithms for relating collections of posts to sets of keywords that represent underlying topics. In these approaches, figuring out what the specific topic(s) the keyword sets represent remains as a separate task. Another issue in topic detection is the scope, which is often limited to specific domain, such as health. This work proposes an approach for identifying domain-independent specific topics related to sets of posts. In this approach, individual posts are processed and then aggregated to identify key tokens, which are then mapped to specific topics. Wikipedia article titles are selected to represent topics, since they are up to date, user-generated, sophisticated articles that span topics of human interest. This paper describes the proposed approach, a prototype implementation, and a case study based on data gathered during the heavily contributed periods corresponding to the four US election debates in 2012. The manually evaluated results (0.96 precision) and other observations from the study are discussed in detail. PMID:26991442

Topical treatment and combination approaches for vitiligo: new insights, new developments.

PubMed

Hossani-Madani, A R; Halder, R M

2010-02-01

Despite much research done involving elucidation of the pathogenesis of vitiligo, a precise cause is still not known. Prevalent hypotheses include the autoimmune, genetic, neural, self-destruction, growth factor deficiency, viral, and convergence theories, which have served as the basis for treatment formulation. Topical therapies have been a mainstay of vitiligo treatment, with or without phototherapy. Topical treatments used in the treatment of vitiligo include steroids, calcineurin inhibitors, vitamin D analogues, pseudocatalase, and depigmenting agents. Combination therapies are used to improve the success rate of repigmentation. In this article, we have examined randomized controlled trials utilizing topical treatments used as monotherapy or combination therapy. Although psoralen and khellin can be used as topical agents, used in conjunction with UV radiation, we have not included them in the review due to their inability to be used as monotherapy. We have also excluded less used or ineffective topical agents, such as melagenina, topical phenylalanine, topical L-DOPA, coal tar, anacarcin forte oil and topical minoxidil. According to current guidelines, a less than two month trial of potent or very potent topical corticosteroids or topical calcineurin inhibitors may be used for therapy of localized vitiligo (<20% skin surface area). Combinations of topical corticosteroids with excimer laser and UVA seem to be more effective than steroids alone. Pseudocatalase plus NB-UVB does not seem to be more effective than placebo with NB-UVB. Combinations of vitamin D analogues have varied efficacy based on which type is used and the type of UV light. Efficacy of calcineurin inhibitor combinations also vary based on the type used and UV light combined, with tacrolimus being more effective with excimer laser. Pimecrolimus has been effective with NB-UVB and excimer laser on facial lesions, and microdermabrasion on localized areas.

"How Did We Get Here?": Topic Drift in Online Health Discussions.

PubMed

Park, Albert; Hartzler, Andrea L; Huh, Jina; Hsieh, Gary; McDonald, David W; Pratt, Wanda

2016-11-02

. Cosine similarity scores show promise for automatically detecting topical changes in online health discussions. In our manual evaluation, we achieved an F1 score of .71 and .73 for detecting topic drift and counteracting efforts to stay on topic, respectively. Our analyses expand our understanding of topic drift in a health context and highlight practical implications, such as promoting off-topic discussions as a function of building rapport in online health communities. Furthermore, the quantitative findings suggest that an automated tool could help detect topic drift, support counteraction efforts to bring the conversation back on topic, and improve communication in these important communities. Findings from this study have the potential to reduce topic drift and improve online health community members' experience of computer-mediated communication. Improved communication could enhance the personal health management of members who seek essential information and support during times of difficulty. ©Albert Park, Andrea L Hartzler, Jina Huh, Gary Hsieh, David W McDonald, Wanda Pratt. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 02.11.2016.

Regulatory Information By Topic

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA develops and enforces regulations that span many environmental topics, from acid rain reduction to wetlands restoration. Each topic listed below may include related laws and regulations, compliance enforcement information, policies guidance

Anticipatory guidance topics: are more better?

PubMed

Barkin, Shari L; Scheindlin, Benjamin; Brown, Caroline; Ip, Edward; Finch, Stacia; Wasserman, Richard C

2005-01-01

Anticipatory guidance is a cornerstone of primary care pediatrics. Despite the fact that retention of information is essential for later action, data are lacking on what parents recall immediately after the visit and 1 month later and how the total number of topics discussed affects this outcome. Parents and practitioners completed postvisit surveys of anticipatory guidance topics discussed during health-maintenance visits for children ages 2-11. Postvisit and 1 month later, parental recall was compared with provider report of topics discussed. We examined the relationship between parental recall and the total number of topics discussed. Families with children ages 2-11 years from across the United States participated in this study (N = 861). Providers reported discussing the topics of nutrition, car restraints, dental care, and reading aloud most often (72%- 93%). Concordance between parent and provider was high for all topics (72%-90%). Immediately postvisit, parents reported 6.33 (SD 2.9) as the mean number of topics discussed while providers reported 6.9 (SD 2.7) as the mean number of topics discussed. However, parental recall decreased significantly with more topics (> or =9) discussed. The same trend existed 1 month later. Providers and parents have good agreement about topics discussed or not discussed during a well-child visit; however, parental recall dwindles with increasing numbers of topics discussed. Rethinking well-child care to limit the total number of topics discussed is warranted.

Preface: Special Topic on Reaction Pathways

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clementi, Cecilia; Henkelman, Graeme

2017-10-01

This Special Topic Issue on Reaction Pathways collects original research articles illustrating the state of the art in the development and application of methods to describe complex chemical systems in terms of relatively simple mechanisms and collective coordinates. A broad range of applications is presented, spanning the sub-fields of biophysics and material science, in an attempt to showcase the similarities in the formulation of the approaches and highlight the different needs of the different application domains.

Optimizing topical therapies for treating psoriasis: a consensus conference.

PubMed

Zeichner, Joshua A; Lebwohl, Mark G; Menter, Alan; Bagel, Jerry; Del Rosso, James Q; Elewski, Boni E; Feldman, Steven R; Kircik, Leon H; Koo, John; Gold, Linda Stein; Tanghetti, Emil

2010-09-01

In 2010, an expert committee of physicians and researchers in the field of dermatology working together as the Psoriasis Process of Care Consensus Panel developed consensus guidelines for the treatment of psoriasis. As much as possible, the guidelines were evidence based but also included the extensive clinical experience of the dermatologists. Psoriasis is a lifelong disease that requires long-term treatment and 80% of psoriasis patients have mild to moderate disease. Topical therapies play an important role in the treatment of psoriasis, especially in patients with mild to moderate disease. Patients usually start with monotherapy; however, in more severe cases (> 10% body surface area [BSA], severely impaired quality of life [QOL], or recalcitrant psoriatic lesions), multiple treatment modalities may be used as part of combination, sequential, or rotational therapeutic regimens. Main treatment options include topical steroids, systemic therapies, topical vitamin D treatments such as vitamin D3 ointment, retinoids, phototherapy, and biologic therapies. Other topical therapies include the following steroid-sparing agents: coal tar, anthralin, calcineurin inhibitors, keratolytics, and emollients. Therapeutic considerations also should focus on adherence, improving QOL, and promoting a good patient-physician relationship.

Differential Topic Models.

PubMed

Chen, Changyou; Buntine, Wray; Ding, Nan; Xie, Lexing; Du, Lan

2015-02-01

In applications we may want to compare different document collections: they could have shared content but also different and unique aspects in particular collections. This task has been called comparative text mining or cross-collection modeling. We present a differential topic model for this application that models both topic differences and similarities. For this we use hierarchical Bayesian nonparametric models. Moreover, we found it was important to properly model power-law phenomena in topic-word distributions and thus we used the full Pitman-Yor process rather than just a Dirichlet process. Furthermore, we propose the transformed Pitman-Yor process (TPYP) to incorporate prior knowledge such as vocabulary variations in different collections into the model. To deal with the non-conjugate issue between model prior and likelihood in the TPYP, we thus propose an efficient sampling algorithm using a data augmentation technique based on the multinomial theorem. Experimental results show the model discovers interesting aspects of different collections. We also show the proposed MCMC based algorithm achieves a dramatically reduced test perplexity compared to some existing topic models. Finally, we show our model outperforms the state-of-the-art for document classification/ideology prediction on a number of text collections.

Teaching prevention on sensitive topics: key elements and pedagogical techniques.

PubMed

Russell, Beth S; Soysa, Champika K; Wagoner, Marc J; Dawson, Lori

2008-09-01

This paper presents a set of topical and pedagogical considerations for instructors teaching material on sensitive topics with either the primary or secondary aim of addressing prevention. Prevention can be approached as an effort to create changes in an individual's attitudes/beliefs, knowledge, and behavior. Following this framework, classroom content that challenges students' perceptions, preconceived notions, and attitudes can be seen as preventive in nature. Preparing students to work through the same layers of complexity that thoroughly trained and experienced researchers and practitioners struggle with requires particular attention to the classroom environment.

Microblog sentiment analysis using social and topic context.

PubMed

Zou, Xiaomei; Yang, Jing; Zhang, Jianpei

2018-01-01

Analyzing massive user-generated microblogs is very crucial in many fields, attracting many researchers to study. However, it is very challenging to process such noisy and short microblogs. Most prior works only use texts to identify sentiment polarity and assume that microblogs are independent and identically distributed, which ignore microblogs are networked data. Therefore, their performance is not usually satisfactory. Inspired by two sociological theories (sentimental consistency and emotional contagion), in this paper, we propose a new method combining social context and topic context to analyze microblog sentiment. In particular, different from previous work using direct user relations, we introduce structure similarity context into social contexts and propose a method to measure structure similarity. In addition, we also introduce topic context to model the semantic relations between microblogs. Social context and topic context are combined by the Laplacian matrix of the graph built by these contexts and Laplacian regularization are added into the microblog sentiment analysis model. Experimental results on two real Twitter datasets demonstrate that our proposed model can outperform baseline methods consistently and significantly.

AHRQ series paper 3: identifying, selecting, and refining topics for comparative effectiveness systematic reviews: AHRQ and the effective health-care program.

PubMed

Whitlock, Evelyn P; Lopez, Sarah A; Chang, Stephanie; Helfand, Mark; Eder, Michelle; Floyd, Nicole

2010-05-01

This article discusses the identification, selection, and refinement of topics for comparative effectiveness systematic reviews within the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Effective Health Care (EHC) program. The EHC program seeks to align its research topic selection with the overall goals of the program, impartially and consistently apply predefined criteria to potential topics, involve stakeholders to identify high-priority topics, be transparent and accountable, and continually evaluate and improve processes. A topic prioritization group representing stakeholder and scientific perspectives evaluates topic nominations that fit within the EHC program (are "appropriate") to determine how "important" topics are as considered against seven criteria. The group then judges whether a new comparative effectiveness systematic review would be a duplication of existing research syntheses, and if not duplicative, if there is adequate type and volume of research to conduct a new systematic review. Finally, the group considers the "potential value and impact" of a comparative effectiveness systematic review. As the EHC program develops, ongoing challenges include ensuring the program addresses truly unmet needs for synthesized research because national and international efforts in this arena are uncoordinated, as well as engaging a range of stakeholders in program decisions while also achieving efficiency and timeliness.

Pre-Service Science Teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge in the Physics, Chemistry, and Biology Topics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bektas, Oktay

2015-01-01

This study investigated pre-service science teachers' pedagogical content knowledge in the physics, chemistry, and biology topics. These topics were the light and sound, the physical and chemical changes, and reproduction, growth, and evolution. Qualitative research design was utilized. Data were collected from 33 pre-service science teachers…

2015 Pediatric Research Priorities in Prehospital Care.

PubMed

Browne, Lorin R; Shah, Manish I; Studnek, Jonathan R; Farrell, Brittany M; Mattrisch, Linda M; Reynolds, Stacy; Ostermayer, Daniel G; Brousseau, David C; Lerner, E Brooke

2016-01-01

Pediatric prehospital research has been limited, but work in this area is starting to increase particularly with the growth of pediatric-specific research endeavors. Given the increased interest in pediatric prehospital research, there is a need to identify specific research priorities that incorporate the perspective of prehospital providers and other emergency medical services (EMS) stakeholders. To develop a list of specific research priorities that is relevant, specific, and important to the practice of pediatric prehospital care. Three independent committees of EMS providers and researchers were recruited. Each committee developed a list of research topics. These topics were collated and used to initiate a modified Delphi process for developing consensus on a list of research priorities. Participants were the committee members. Topics approved by 80% were retained as research priorities. Topics that were rejected by more than 50% were eliminated. The remaining topics were modified and included on subsequent surveys. Each survey allowed respondents to add additional topics. The surveys were continued until all topics were either successfully retained or rejected and no new topics were suggested. Fifty topics were identified by the three independent committees. These topics were included on the initial electronic survey. There were 5 subsequent surveys. At the completion of the final survey a total of 29 research priorities were identified. These research priorities covered the following study areas: airway management, asthma, cardiac arrest, pain, patient-family interaction, resource utilization, seizure, sepsis, spinal immobilization, toxicology, trauma, training and competency, and vascular access. The research priorities were very specific. For example, under airway the priorities were: "identify the optimal device for effectively managing the airway in the prehospital setting" and "identify the optimal airway management device for specific disease processes

Selection of Fecal Enterococci Exhibiting tcrB-Mediated Copper Resistance in Pigs Fed Diets Supplemented with Copper † ▿

PubMed Central

Amachawadi, R. G.; Shelton, N. W.; Shi, X.; Vinasco, J.; Dritz, S. S.; Tokach, M. D.; Nelssen, J. L.; Scott, H. M.; Nagaraja, T. G.

2011-01-01

Copper, as copper sulfate, is increasingly used as an alternative to in-feed antibiotics for growth promotion in weaned piglets. Acquired copper resistance, conferred by a plasmid-borne, transferable copper resistance (tcrB) gene, has been reported in Enterococcus faecium and E. faecalis. A longitudinal field study was undertaken to determine the relationship between copper supplementation and the prevalence of tcrB-positive enterococci in piglets. The study was done with weaned piglets, housed in 10 pens with 6 piglets per pen, fed diets supplemented with a normal (16.5 ppm; control) or an elevated (125 ppm) level of copper. Fecal samples were randomly collected from three piglets per pen on days 0, 14, 28, and 42 and plated on M-Enterococcus agar, and three enterococcal isolates were obtained from each sample. The overall prevalence of tcrB-positive enterococci was 21.1% (38/180) in piglets fed elevated copper and 2.8% (5/180) in the control. Among the 43 tcrB-positive isolates, 35 were E. faecium and 8 were E. faecalis. The mean MICs of copper for tcrB-negative and tcrB-positive enterococci were 6.2 and 22.2 mM, respectively. The restriction digestion of the genomic DNA of E. faecium or E. faecalis with S1 nuclease yielded a band of ∼194-kbp size to which both tcrB and the erm(B) gene probes hybridized. A conjugation assay demonstrated cotransfer of tcrB and erm(B) genes between E. faecium and E. faecalis strains. The higher prevalence of tcrB-positive enterococci in piglets fed elevated copper compared to that in piglets fed normal copper suggests that supplementation of copper in swine diets selected for resistance. PMID:21705534

Topical Therapies in Psoriasis

PubMed Central

Torsekar, R.; Gautam, Manjyot M.

2017-01-01

Topical therapy as monotherapy is useful in psoriasis patients with mild disease. Topical agents are also used as adjuvant for moderate-to-severe disease who are being concurrently treated with either ultraviolet light or systemic medications. Emollients are useful adjuncts to the treatment of psoriasis. Use of older topical agents such as anthralin and coal tar has declined over the years. However, they are cheaper and can still be used for the treatment of difficult psoriasis refractory to conventional treatment. Salicylic acid can be used in combination with other topical therapies such as topical corticosteroids (TCS) and calcineurin inhibitors for the treatment of thick limited plaques to increase the absorption of the latter into the psoriatic plaques. Low- to mid-potent TCS are used in facial/flexural psoriasis and high potent over palmoplantar/thick psoriasis lesions. The addition of noncorticosteroid treatment can also facilitate the avoidance of long-term daily TCS. Tacrolimus and pimecrolimus can be used for the treatment of facial and intertriginous psoriasis. Tazarotene is indicated for stable plaque psoriasis usually in combination with other therapies such as TCS. Vitamin D analogs alone in combination with TCS are useful in stable plaques over limbs and palmoplantar psoriasis. Topical therapies for scalp psoriasis include TCS, Vitamin D analogs, salicylic acid, coal tar, and anthralin in various formulations such as solutions, foams, and shampoos. TCS, vitamin D analogs, and tazarotene can be used in the treatment of nail psoriasis. PMID:28761838

Textual Analysis of General Surgery Residency Personal Statements: Topics and Gender Differences.

PubMed

Ostapenko, Laura; Schonhardt-Bailey, Cheryl; Sublette, Jessica Walling; Smink, Douglas S; Osman, Nora Y

Applicants to US general surgery residency training programs submit standardized applications. Applicants use the personal statement to express their individual rationale for a career in surgery. Our research explores common topics and gender differences within the personal statements of general surgery applicants. We analyzed the electronic residency application service personal statements of 578 applicants (containing 3,82,405 words) from Liaison Committee on Medical Education-accredited medical schools to a single ACGME-accredited general surgery program using an automated textual analysis program to identify common topics and gender differences. Using a recursive algorithm, the program identified common words and clusters, grouping them into topic classes, which are internally validated. We identified and labeled 8 statistically significant topic classes through independent review: "my story," "the art of surgery," "clinical vignettes," "why I love surgery," "residency program characteristics," "working as a team," "academics and research," and "global health and policy." Although some classes were common to all applications, we also identified gender-specific differences. Notably, women were significantly more likely than men to be represented within the class of "working as a team." (p < 0.01) Furthermore, men were significantly more likely than women to be represented within the class of "clinical vignettes" (p < 0.01). Applying textual analysis to a national cohort, we identified common narrative topics in the personal statements of aspiring general surgeons, noting differences between the statements of men and women. Women were more likely to discuss surgery as a team endeavor while men were more likely to focus on the details of their surgical experiences. Our work mirrors what has been found in social psychology research on gender-based differences in how men and women communicate their career goals and aspirations in other competitive professional

Beyond the Core: The Hot Topic(al) Alternative to the Survey-Based Introduction to Sociology Course

PubMed Central

Smith, R. Tyson

2011-01-01

In the following paper we argue that the conventional “Introduction to Sociology” survey course should be restructured because such courses try to survey an unsurveyable body of knowledge and they do not teach the application of sociological research. The conventional intro course should be replaced with an intro course that surveys the types of social dynamics that sociologists typically research and the methods they use to do so. We propose a semester-long intro course with four case study learning-units that are chosen for their coverage of the underlying sociological dynamics, methods, and core concepts. We contend that case study learning-units which concentrate on topical issues and core sociological concepts are better suited for an introduction course. PMID:21709825

Education Research Handbook.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hitchings, Donna, Ed.; Wilson, Thomas C., Ed.

This handbook is designed as an introduction to the process of library research in the field of education. To illustrate the process, a sample topic is developed from a broad concept through a well-developed topic for a research paper. Following an overview of a successful research strategy, the chapters are organized in the order of a typical…

'Hot Topics' in Astrophysics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Maran, Stephen P.

2000-01-01

Three current topics in astrophysics are described here on the occasion of the joint meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers and the American Astronomical Society (Jan. 7-11, 2001, San Diego, Calif.). Many equally exciting topics--ranging from the dozens of newly discovered planets of sunlike stars to evidence suggesting that the expansion of the universe is accelerating--could have been chosen. The topics discussed are: (1) the habitability of Mars, (2) black holes, galaxy bulges, and the X-ray background, and (3) the greatest explosions since the Big Bang.

Mental Mechanisms for Topics Identification

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Topics identification (TI) is the process that consists in determining the main themes present in natural language documents. The current TI modeling paradigm aims at acquiring semantic information from statistic properties of large text datasets. We investigate the mental mechanisms responsible for the identification of topics in a single document given existing knowledge. Our main hypothesis is that topics are the result of accumulated neural activation of loosely organized information stored in long-term memory (LTM). We experimentally tested our hypothesis with a computational model that simulates LTM activation. The model assumes activation decay as an unavoidable phenomenon originating from the bioelectric nature of neural systems. Since decay should negatively affect the quality of topics, the model predicts the presence of short-term memory (STM) to keep the focus of attention on a few words, with the expected outcome of restoring quality to a baseline level. Our experiments measured topics quality of over 300 documents with various decay rates and STM capacity. Our results showed that accumulated activation of loosely organized information was an effective mental computational commodity to identify topics. It was furthermore confirmed that rapid decay is detrimental to topics quality but that limited capacity STM restores quality to a baseline level, even exceeding it slightly. PMID:24744775

Active and Inactive Enhancers Cooperate to Exert Localized and Long-Range Control of Gene Regulation.

PubMed

Proudhon, Charlotte; Snetkova, Valentina; Raviram, Ramya; Lobry, Camille; Badri, Sana; Jiang, Tingting; Hao, Bingtao; Trimarchi, Thomas; Kluger, Yuval; Aifantis, Iannis; Bonneau, Richard; Skok, Jane A

2016-06-07

V(D)J recombination relies on the presence of proximal enhancers that activate the antigen receptor (AgR) loci in a lineage- and stage-specific manner. Unexpectedly, we find that both active and inactive AgR enhancers cooperate to disseminate their effects in a localized and long-range manner. Here, we demonstrate the importance of short-range contacts between active enhancers that constitute an Igk super-enhancer in B cells. Deletion of one element reduces the interaction frequency between other enhancers in the hub, which compromises the transcriptional output of each component. Furthermore, we establish that, in T cells, long-range contact and cooperation between the inactive Igk enhancer MiEκ and the active Tcrb enhancer Eβ alters enrichment of CBFβ binding in a manner that impacts Tcrb recombination. These findings underline the complexities of enhancer regulation and point to a role for localized and long-range enhancer-sharing between active and inactive elements in lineage- and stage-specific control. Copyright © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Prioritizing guideline topics: development and evaluation of a practical tool.

PubMed

Ketola, Eeva; Toropainen, Erja; Kaila, Minna; Luoto, Riitta; Mäkelä, Marjukka

2007-08-01

A clear process for selecting and adopting clinical practice guidelines in the new topic areas is needed. The aim of this study is to design and develop a practical tool to assess guideline topics that have been suggested to the organization responsible for producing guidelines. We carried out an iterative development, feasibility and validation study of a guideline topic prioritization tool. The setting included the guideline producer organization and the tax-funded health care system. In the first stage of the tool development, participants were researchers, members of the Current Care Board and experts from health care organizations. In the second stage, the evaluation was done internally within the project by three independent reviewers. The main outcome measures were responses to an evaluation questionnaire, qualitative process feedback and analysis of the performance of the instrument on a random set of guidelines. Evaluations by three independent reviewers revealed good agreement and face validity with respect to its feasibility as a planning tool at the guideline board level. Feedback from board members suggested that the instrument is useful in prioritizing guideline topics. This instrument was accepted for use by the Board. Further developments are needed to ensure feedback and acceptability of the instrument by those proposing topics.

Undergraduates' Experience of Preparedness for Engaging with Sensitive Research Topics Using Qualitative Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simpson, Kerri L.; Wilson-Smith, Kevin

2017-01-01

This research explored the experience of five undergraduates who engaged with qualitative research as part of their final dissertation project. There have been concerns raised over the emotional safety of researchers carrying out qualitative research, which increases when researchers are inexperienced making this a poignant issues for lectures…

Some Topics in Applied Electrochemical Kinetics,

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-07-01

AD-A097 405- DEFENE RESEARCH ESTABLiSHMENT OTTAWA (6NTARID3 F/G 7/ 4 SOME TOPICS IN APP LIED ELECTROCHEMICAL K INETICS.(U) JUL go E J CASEY, J R...electroplating, for a trans- port masurement, for electropolishing ; or it may be a battery of cells for storage of electrical energy; ar it may be a cell for the...product, or some other. Sometimes, although not always, the UNCLASSIFIED 4 UNCLASSIFIED slopes of these different steps are unique and permit

Topical anaesthetics for pain control during repair of dermal laceration.

PubMed

Tayeb, Baraa O; Eidelman, Anthony; Eidelman, Cristy L; McNicol, Ewan D; Carr, Daniel B

2017-02-22

Topical local anaesthetics provide effective analgesia for patients undergoing numerous superficial procedures, including repair of dermal lacerations. The need for cocaine in topical anaesthetic formulations has been questioned because of concern about adverse effects, thus novel preparations of cocaine-free anaesthetics have been developed. This review was originally published in 2011 and has been updated in 2017. To assess whether benefits of non-invasive topical anaesthetic application occur at the expense of decreased analgesic efficacy. To compare the efficacy of various single-component or multi-component topical anaesthetic agents for repair of dermal lacerations. To determine the clinical necessity for topical application of the ester anaesthetic, cocaine. For this updated review, we searched the following databases: Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL; 2016, Issue 11), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL; 2010 to December 2016), Embase (2010 to December 2016) and MEDLINE (2010 to December 2016). We did not limit this search by language or format of publication. We contacted manufacturers, international scientific societies and researchers in the field. Weemailed selected journalsand reviewed meta-registers of ongoing trials. For the previous version of this review, we searched these databases to November 2010. We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that evaluated the efficacy and safety of topical anaesthetics for repair of dermal laceration in adult and paediatric participants. Two review authors independently assessed trial quality and extracted data. We contacted study authors for additional information when needed. We collected adverse event information from trial reports. We assessed methodological risk of bias for each included study and employed the GRADE approach to assess the overall quality of the evidence. The present updated review included 25 RCTs involving 3278 participants. The small

Life sciences and space research XXI(1); Proceedings of the Topical Meeting, Graz, Austria, June 25-July 7, 1984

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Klein, H. P. (Editor); Horneck, G. (Editor)

1984-01-01

Space research in biology is presented with emphasis on flight experiment results and radiation risks. Topics discussed include microorganisms and biomolecules in the space-environment experiment ES 029 on Spacelab-1, the preliminary characterization of persisting circadian rhythms during space flight; plant growth, development, and embryogenesis during the Salyut-7 flight, and the influence of space-flight factors on viability and mutability of plants. Consideration is also given to radiation-risk estimation and its application to human beings in space, the radiation situation in space and its modification by the geomagnetic field and shielding, the quantitative interpretation of cellular heavy-ion action, and the effects of heavy-ion radiation on the brain vascular system and embryonic development.

The Optical Society's 2016 topical meeting on optical interference coatings: introduction.

PubMed

Ristau, Detlev; Li, Li; Sargent, Robert; Sytchkova, Anna

2017-02-01

This feature issue of Applied Optics is dedicated to the 13th Topical Meeting on Optical Interference Coatings, which was held June 19-24, 2016, in Tucson, Arizona, USA. The conference, taking place every three years, is a focal point for global technical interchange in the field of optical interference coatings and provides premier opportunities for people working in the field to present their new advances in research and development. Papers presented at the meeting covered a broad range of topics, including fundamental research on coating design theory, new materials, and deposition and characterization technologies, as well as the vast and growing number of applications in electronic displays, communication, optical instruments, high power and ultra-fast lasers, solar cells, space missions, gravitational wave detection, and many others.

SYMBIOmatics: Synergies in Medical Informatics and Bioinformatics – exploring current scientific literature for emerging topics

PubMed Central

Rebholz-Schuhman, Dietrich; Cameron, Graham; Clark, Dominic; van Mulligen, Erik; Coatrieux, Jean-Louis; Del Hoyo Barbolla, Eva; Martin-Sanchez, Fernando; Milanesi, Luciano; Porro, Ivan; Beltrame, Francesco; Tollis, Ioannis; Van der Lei, Johan

2007-01-01

Background The SYMBIOmatics Specific Support Action (SSA) is "an information gathering and dissemination activity" that seeks "to identify synergies between the bioinformatics and the medical informatics" domain to improve collaborative progress between both domains (ref. to ). As part of the project experts in both research fields will be identified and approached through a survey. To provide input to the survey, the scientific literature was analysed to extract topics relevant to both medical informatics and bioinformatics. Results This paper presents results of a systematic analysis of the scientific literature from medical informatics research and bioinformatics research. In the analysis pairs of words (bigrams) from the leading bioinformatics and medical informatics journals have been used as indication of existing and emerging technologies and topics over the period 2000–2005 ("recent") and 1990–1990 ("past"). We identified emerging topics that were equally important to bioinformatics and medical informatics in recent years such as microarray experiments, ontologies, open source, text mining and support vector machines. Emerging topics that evolved only in bioinformatics were system biology, protein interaction networks and statistical methods for microarray analyses, whereas emerging topics in medical informatics were grid technology and tissue microarrays. Conclusion We conclude that although both fields have their own specific domains of interest, they share common technological developments that tend to be initiated by new developments in biotechnology and computer science. PMID:17430562

Topical therapies in the management of chronic rhinosinusitis: an evidence-based review with recommendations.

PubMed

Rudmik, Luke; Hoy, Monica; Schlosser, Rodney J; Harvey, Richard J; Welch, Kevin C; Lund, Valerie; Smith, Timothy L

2013-04-01

Topical therapies have become an integral component in the management plan for chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). Several topical therapy strategies have been evaluated, but a formal comprehensive evaluation of the evidence has never been performed. The purpose of this article is to provide an evidence-based approach for the utilization of topical therapies in the management of CRS. A systematic review of the literature was performed and the guidelines for development of an evidence-based review with recommendations were followed. Study inclusion criteria were: adult population >18 years old; chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) based on published diagnostic criteria; and clearly defined primary clinical end-point. We focused on reporting higher-quality studies (level 2b or higher), but reported on lower-level studies if the topic contained insufficient evidence. We excluded drug-eluting spacer and stent therapy from this review. This review identified and evaluated the literature on 5 topical therapy strategies for CRS: saline irrigation, topical steroid, topical antibiotic, topical antifungal, and topical alternatives (surfactant, manuka honey, and xylitol irrigations). Based on the available evidence, sinonasal saline irrigation and standard topical nasal steroid therapy are recommended in the topical treatment of CRS. Nonstandard (off-label) topical sinonasal steroid therapies can be an option for managing CRS. The evidence recommends against the use of topical antifungal therapy and topical antibiotic therapy delivered using nebulized and spray techniques in routine cases of CRS. There is insufficient clinical research to provide recommendations for alternative therapies or topical antibiotic therapy delivered using other delivery methods (eg, irrigations). © 2013 ARS-AAOA, LLC.

Correlated Topic Vector for Scene Classification.

PubMed

Wei, Pengxu; Qin, Fei; Wan, Fang; Zhu, Yi; Jiao, Jianbin; Ye, Qixiang

2017-07-01

Scene images usually involve semantic correlations, particularly when considering large-scale image data sets. This paper proposes a novel generative image representation, correlated topic vector, to model such semantic correlations. Oriented from the correlated topic model, correlated topic vector intends to naturally utilize the correlations among topics, which are seldom considered in the conventional feature encoding, e.g., Fisher vector, but do exist in scene images. It is expected that the involvement of correlations can increase the discriminative capability of the learned generative model and consequently improve the recognition accuracy. Incorporated with the Fisher kernel method, correlated topic vector inherits the advantages of Fisher vector. The contributions to the topics of visual words have been further employed by incorporating the Fisher kernel framework to indicate the differences among scenes. Combined with the deep convolutional neural network (CNN) features and Gibbs sampling solution, correlated topic vector shows great potential when processing large-scale and complex scene image data sets. Experiments on two scene image data sets demonstrate that correlated topic vector improves significantly the deep CNN features, and outperforms existing Fisher kernel-based features.

Building bridges across electronic health record systems through inferred phenotypic topics.

PubMed

Chen, You; Ghosh, Joydeep; Bejan, Cosmin Adrian; Gunter, Carl A; Gupta, Siddharth; Kho, Abel; Liebovitz, David; Sun, Jimeng; Denny, Joshua; Malin, Bradley

2015-06-01

patient population of two sites than standard clinical terminologies (e.g., ICD9), suggesting they may be more reliably transferred across hospital systems. Phenotypic topics learned from EHR data can be more stable and transferable than billing codes for characterizing the general status of a patient population. This suggests that EHR-based research may be able to leverage such phenotypic topics as variables when pooling patient populations in predictive models. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Investigation of some topical formulations containing dexpanthenol.

PubMed

Stozkowska, Wiesława; Piekoś, Ryszard

2004-01-01

Owing to its ability to regenerate epidermal cells Dexpanthenol (D-panthenol; chemically known as (+)-2,4-dihydroxy-N-(3-hydroxypropyl)-3,3-dimethylbutyramide) has found use for the treatment of patholytic ileus and postoperative distention. The purpose of research was to develop a gel containing dexpanthenol by monitoring the effect of various concentrations of a gelating agent on the activity of the ciliary apparatus. A system containing 2.5% of hydroxyethylcellulose was optimal for the preparation of the gel. Together with a formulation containing 5% of dexpanthenol, drops with equal concentration of the active compound were tested for comparison. Physical characteristics, such as osmotic pressure, acidity, density and viscosity of the preparation were determined as well as its microbiological sterility. The anti-inflammatory activity of the gel was determined following its topical application. Epidermal tests showed its good tolerance after topical application to the shaved skin of guinea pigs.

Media Reporting of Neuroscience Depends on Timing, Topic and Newspaper Type

PubMed Central

van Atteveldt, Nienke M.; van Aalderen-Smeets, Sandra I.; Jacobi, Carina; Ruigrok, Nel

2014-01-01

The rapid developments in neuroscientific techniques raise high expectations among the general public and therefore warrant close monitoring of the translation to the media and daily-life applications. The need of empirical research into neuroscience communication is emphasized by its susceptibility to evoke misconceptions and polarized beliefs. As the mass media are the main sources of information about (neuro-)science for a majority of the general public, the objective of the current research is to quantify how critically and accurately newspapers report on neuroscience as a function of the timing of publication (within or outside of periods of heightened media attention to neuroscience, termed “news waves”), the topic of the research (e.g. development, health, law) and the newspaper type (quality, popular, free newspapers). The results show that articles published during neuroscience news waves were less neutral and more optimistic, but not different in accuracy. Furthermore, the overall tone and accuracy of articles depended on the topic; for example, articles on development often had an optimistic tone whereas articles on law were often skeptical or balanced, and articles on health care had highest accuracy. Average accuracy was rather low, but articles in quality newspapers were relatively more accurate than in popular and free newspapers. Our results provide specific recommendations for researchers and science communicators, to improve the translation of neuroscience findings through the media: 1) Caution is warranted during periods of heightened attention (news waves), as reporting tends to be more optimistic; 2) Caution is also warranted not to follow topic-related biases in optimism (e.g., development) or skepticism (e.g., law); 3) Researchers should keep in mind that overall accuracy of reporting is low, and especially articles in popular and free newspapers provide a minimal amount of details. This indicates that researchers themselves may need to

Media reporting of neuroscience depends on timing, topic and newspaper type.

PubMed

van Atteveldt, Nienke M; van Aalderen-Smeets, Sandra I; Jacobi, Carina; Ruigrok, Nel

2014-01-01

The rapid developments in neuroscientific techniques raise high expectations among the general public and therefore warrant close monitoring of the translation to the media and daily-life applications. The need of empirical research into neuroscience communication is emphasized by its susceptibility to evoke misconceptions and polarized beliefs. As the mass media are the main sources of information about (neuro-)science for a majority of the general public, the objective of the current research is to quantify how critically and accurately newspapers report on neuroscience as a function of the timing of publication (within or outside of periods of heightened media attention to neuroscience, termed "news waves"), the topic of the research (e.g. development, health, law) and the newspaper type (quality, popular, free newspapers). The results show that articles published during neuroscience news waves were less neutral and more optimistic, but not different in accuracy. Furthermore, the overall tone and accuracy of articles depended on the topic; for example, articles on development often had an optimistic tone whereas articles on law were often skeptical or balanced, and articles on health care had highest accuracy. Average accuracy was rather low, but articles in quality newspapers were relatively more accurate than in popular and free newspapers. Our results provide specific recommendations for researchers and science communicators, to improve the translation of neuroscience findings through the media: 1) Caution is warranted during periods of heightened attention (news waves), as reporting tends to be more optimistic; 2) Caution is also warranted not to follow topic-related biases in optimism (e.g., development) or skepticism (e.g., law); 3) Researchers should keep in mind that overall accuracy of reporting is low, and especially articles in popular and free newspapers provide a minimal amount of details. This indicates that researchers themselves may need to be

Analyzing the field of bioinformatics with the multi-faceted topic modeling technique.

PubMed

Heo, Go Eun; Kang, Keun Young; Song, Min; Lee, Jeong-Hoon

2017-05-31

Bioinformatics is an interdisciplinary field at the intersection of molecular biology and computing technology. To characterize the field as convergent domain, researchers have used bibliometrics, augmented with text-mining techniques for content analysis. In previous studies, Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) was the most representative topic modeling technique for identifying topic structure of subject areas. However, as opposed to revealing the topic structure in relation to metadata such as authors, publication date, and journals, LDA only displays the simple topic structure. In this paper, we adopt the Tang et al.'s Author-Conference-Topic (ACT) model to study the field of bioinformatics from the perspective of keyphrases, authors, and journals. The ACT model is capable of incorporating the paper, author, and conference into the topic distribution simultaneously. To obtain more meaningful results, we use journals and keyphrases instead of conferences and bag-of-words.. For analysis, we use PubMed to collected forty-six bioinformatics journals from the MEDLINE database. We conducted time series topic analysis over four periods from 1996 to 2015 to further examine the interdisciplinary nature of bioinformatics. We analyze the ACT Model results in each period. Additionally, for further integrated analysis, we conduct a time series analysis among the top-ranked keyphrases, journals, and authors according to their frequency. We also examine the patterns in the top journals by simultaneously identifying the topical probability in each period, as well as the top authors and keyphrases. The results indicate that in recent years diversified topics have become more prevalent and convergent topics have become more clearly represented. The results of our analysis implies that overtime the field of bioinformatics becomes more interdisciplinary where there is a steady increase in peripheral fields such as conceptual, mathematical, and system biology. These results are

Topical botulinum toxin.

PubMed

Collins, Ashley; Nasir, Adnan

2010-03-01

Nanotechnology is a rapidly growing discipline that capitalizes on the unique properties of matter engineered on the nanoscale. Vehicles incorporating nanotechnology have led to great strides in drug delivery, allowing for increased active ingredient stability, bioavailability, and site-specific targeting. Botulinum toxin has historically been used for the correction of neurological and neuromuscular disorders, such as torticollis, blepharospasm, and strabismus. Recent dermatological indications have been for the management of axillary hyperhydrosis and facial rhytides. Traditional methods of botulinum toxin delivery have been needle-based. These have been associated with increased pain and cost. Newer methods of botulinum toxin formulation have yielded topical preparations that are bioactive in small pilot clinical studies. While there are some risks associated with topical delivery, the refinement and standardization of delivery systems and techniques for the topical administration of botulinum toxin using nanotechnology is anticipated in the near future.

Topical methotrexate pretreatment enhances the therapeutic effect of topical 5-aminolevulinic acid-mediated photodynamic therapy on hamster buccal pouch precancers.

PubMed

Yang, Deng-Fu; Lee, Jeng-Woei; Chen, Hsin-Ming; Hsu, Yih-Chih

2014-09-01

Topical 5-aminolevulinic acid-mediated photodynamic therapy (ALA-PDT) is effective for treatment of human oral precancerous lesions. This animal study aimed to assess whether topical methotrexate (MTX) pretreatment could enhance the therapeutic effect of topical ALA-PDT on hamster buccal pouch precancerous lesions. Twenty hamster buccal pouch precancerous lesions were treated with either topical ALA-PDT with topical MTX pretreatment (topical MTX-ALA-PDT group, n = 10) or topical ALA-PDT alone (topical ALA-PDT group, n = 10). The intracellular protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) level in another 12 precancerous lesions (n = 6 for either the topical MTX-ALA or topical ALA group) was monitored by fluorescence spectroscopy. The intracellular PpIX reached its peak level in precancerous lesions 6.5 hours and 2.5 hours after topical ALA application for the topical MTX-ALA group (5.63-fold higher in the lesion than in the normal mucosa) and topical ALA group (2.42-fold higher in the lesion than in the normal mucosa), respectively. The complete response rate of precancerous lesions was 80% for the topical MTX-ALA-PDT group and 70% for the topical ALA-PDT group. In addition, the topical MTX-ALA-PDT group required a significantly lower mean treatment number (2.1 ± 0.6) to achieve complete response than the topical ALA-PDT group (4.4 ± 1.3, p < 0.001)). Moreover, the topical MTX-ALA-PDT group had a lower recurrence rate (12.5%) than the topical ALA-PDT group (28.6%). We conclude that topical MTX-pretreatment can increase intracellular PpIX production in hamster buccal pouch precancerous lesions and significantly improves the outcomes of the precancerous lesions treated with topical ALA-PDT. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Topical treatment of psoriasis: questionnaire results on topical therapy accessibility and influence of body surface area on usage.

PubMed

Iversen, L; Lange, M M; Bissonette, R; Carvalho, A V E; van de Kerkhof, P C; Kirby, B; Kleyn, C E; Lynde, C W; van der Walt, J M; Wu, J J

2017-07-01

Topical treatment of mild to moderate psoriasis is first-line treatment and exhibits varying degrees of success across patient groups. Key factors influencing treatment success are physician topical treatment choice (high efficacy, low adverse events) and strict patient adherence. Currently, no formalized, international consensus guidelines exist to direct optimal topical treatment, although many countries have national guidelines. To describe and analyse cross-regional variations in the use and access of psoriasis topical therapies. The study was conducted as an observational cross-sectional study. A survey was distributed to dermatologists from the International Psoriasis Council (IPC) to assess topical therapy accessibility in 26 countries and to understand how body surface area (BSA) categories guide clinical decisions on topical use. Variation in the availability of tars, topical retinoids, dithranol and balneotherapy was reported. The vast majority of respondents (100% and 88.4%) used topical therapy as first-line monotherapy in situations with BSA < 3% and BSA between 3% and 10%, respectively. However, with disease severity increasing to BSA > 10%, the number of respondents who prescribe topical therapy decreased considerably. In addition, combination therapy of a topical drug and a systemic drug was frequently reported when BSA measured >10%. This physician survey provides new evidence on topical access and the influence of disease severity on topical usage in an effort to improve treatment strategies on a global level. © 2017 European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.

Comparison of the stability of topical isotretinoin and topical tretinoin and their efficacy in acne.

PubMed

Elbaum, D J

1988-09-01

After 4 hours of exposure to incandescent light, 80% of 0.05% topical isotretinoin and 60% of 0.05% topical tretinoin preparations remained in their original form. In contrast, after 2 hours of exposure to fluorescent light only 25% of topical tretinoin and possibly 60% of topical isotretinoin remained in their original forms. Longer exposure to fluorescent light did not result in further breakdown, and the final breakdown of both preparations was similar. A 12-week, double-blind clinical trial comparing isotretinoin (0.05%) with tretinoin (0.05%) applied topically to patients with moderate acne was carried out. Both preparations caused significant reductions in papules and pustules. However, neither treatment was significantly superior to the other in the reduction of acne lesions. This may be because both preparations are rapidly broken down to similar products when exposed to fluorescent light.

Identifying biological concepts from a protein-related corpus with a probabilistic topic model

PubMed Central

Zheng, Bin; McLean, David C; Lu, Xinghua

2006-01-01

Background Biomedical literature, e.g., MEDLINE, contains a wealth of knowledge regarding functions of proteins. Major recurring biological concepts within such text corpora represent the domains of this body of knowledge. The goal of this research is to identify the major biological topics/concepts from a corpus of protein-related MEDLINE© titles and abstracts by applying a probabilistic topic model. Results The latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) model was applied to the corpus. Based on the Bayesian model selection, 300 major topics were extracted from the corpus. The majority of identified topics/concepts was found to be semantically coherent and most represented biological objects or concepts. The identified topics/concepts were further mapped to the controlled vocabulary of the Gene Ontology (GO) terms based on mutual information. Conclusion The major and recurring biological concepts within a collection of MEDLINE documents can be extracted by the LDA model. The identified topics/concepts provide parsimonious and semantically-enriched representation of the texts in a semantic space with reduced dimensionality and can be used to index text. PMID:16466569

On the Topical Structure of Medical Charts

PubMed Central

Archbold, Armar A.; Evans, David A.

1989-01-01

In a study of 55 H&P sections of hospital charts, we tested the hypothesis that topic-sub-topic sequencing is sufficiently regular to provide ‘missing’ information in the construction of explicit propositions from elliptical text. ‘Propositions’ were taken to be frames with the slots topic, sub-topic, method, site, attribute, value, and qualifier. Topic was identifiable in 96% of all cases; attribute-value pairs were uniquely recoverable from topics in 69% of all cases; site was co-determined by topic, method, and attribute. Our results suggest that uncertainties in the automated processing of H&P statements can be overcome by appealing to knowledge about the topical structure of medical charts.

[Non adherence and topical steroids].

PubMed

Aubert, H; Barbarot, S

2012-01-01

Compliance raises very specific questions in dermatology related to the frequent use of local treatments: creams or ointments, including topical corticosteroids. The adherence in dermatology is a complex issue. It is difficult to quantify objectively because of the patient subjectivity, the constant adaptation to changes in the course of the disease, and due to the lack of adapted device. Moreover poor compliance may be related to topical corticosteroid phobia, defined as a fear vis-à-vis the topical corticosteroids, rational or not. The topical corticosteroid phobia is very common in the management of chronic inflammatory skin diseases especially in atopic dermatitis. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

A Pilot Trial of the Combination of Vemurafenib with Adoptive Cell Therapy in Patients with Metastatic Melanoma.

PubMed

Deniger, Drew C; Kwong, Mei Li M; Pasetto, Anna; Dudley, Mark E; Wunderlich, John R; Langhan, Michelle M; Lee, Chyi-Chia Richard; Rosenberg, Steven A

2017-01-15

This pilot feasibility clinical trial evaluated the coadministration of vemurafenib, a small-molecule antagonist of BRAF V600 mutations, and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) for the treatment of metastatic melanoma. A metastatic tumor was resected for growth of TILs, and patients were treated with vemurafenib for 2 weeks, followed by resection of a second lesion. Patients then received a nonmyeloablative preconditioning regimen, infusion of autologous TILs, and high-dose interleukin-2 administration. Vemurafenib was restarted at the time of TIL infusion and was continued for 2 years or until disease progression. Clinical responses were evaluated by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) 1.0. Metastases resected prior to and after 2 weeks of vemurafenib were compared using TCRB deep sequencing, immunohistochemistry, proliferation, and recognition of autologous tumor. The treatment was well tolerated and had a safety profile similar to that of TIL or vemurafenib alone. Seven of 11 patients (64%) experienced an objective clinical response, and 2 patients (18%) had a complete response for 3 years (one response is ongoing at 46 months). Proliferation and viability of infusion bag TILs and peripheral blood T cells were inhibited in vitro by research-grade vemurafenib (PLX4032) when approaching the maximum serum concentration of vemurafenib. TCRB repertoire (clonotypes numbers, clonality, and frequency) did not significantly change between pre- and post-vemurafenib lesions. Recognition of autologous tumor by T cells was similar between TILs grown from pre- and post-vemurafenib metastases. Coadministration of vemurafenib and TILs was safe and feasible and generated objective clinical responses in this small pilot clinical trial. Clin Cancer Res; 23(2); 351-62. ©2016 AACRSee related commentary by Cogdill et al., p. 327. ©2016 American Association for Cancer Research.

Research Visibility: Manpower Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brandon, George L., Ed.

1969-01-01

Thirteen research reviews in this issue pertain to manpower research organized under these topics: (1) Manpower and Youth, treating youth unemployment and the youth labor market, (2) Manpower Needs, including an analysis of manpower research since World War II, health manpower planning, the shortage of skilled and technical workers, a projection…

APPLICATION OF DRY HAWTHORN (CRATAEGUS OXYACANTHA L.) EXTRACT IN NATURAL TOPICAL FORMULATIONS.

PubMed

Stelmakiene, Ada; Ramanauskiene, Kristina; Petrikaite, Vilma; Jakstas, Valdas; Briedis, Vitalis

2016-07-01

There is a great potential for a semi-solid preparation for topical application to the skin that would use materials of natural origin not only as an active substance but also as its base. The aim of this research was to model semisolid preparations containing hawthorn extract and to determine the effect of their bases (carriers) on the release of active components from experimental dosage forms, based on the results of the in vitro studies of the bioactivity of hawthorn active components and ex vivo skin penetration studies. The active compounds of hawthorn were indentified and quantified by validated HPLC method. The antimicrobial and anti-radical activity of dry hawthorn extract were evaluated by methods in vitro. The penetration of active substances into the full undamaged human skin was evaluated by method ex vivo. Natural topical composition was chosen according to the results of release of active compounds. Release experiments were performed with modified Franz type diffusion cells. B.ceieus was the most sensitive bacteria for the hawthorn extract. Extract showed antiradical activity, however the penetration was limited. Only traces of hyperoside and isoquercitrin were founded in epidermis. Protective topical preparation with shea butter released 41.4-42.4% of active substances. Four major compounds of dry hawthorn extract were identified. The research showed that extract had antimicrobial and antiradical activity, however compounds of hawthorn stay on the surface of the undamaged human skin. Topical preparation containing beeswax did not release active compounds. Beeswax was identified as suspending agent. Topical preparations released active compounds when shea butter was used instead of beeswax.

Research on the stability of a rabbit dry eye model induced by topical application of the preservative benzalkonium chloride.

PubMed

Li, Chaoyang; Song, Yiyue; Luan, Shaohong; Wan, Pengxia; Li, Naiyang; Tang, Jing; Han, Yu; Xiong, Cuiju; Wang, Zhichong

2012-01-01

Dry eye is a common disease worldwide, and animal models are critical for the study of it. At present, there is no research about the stability of the extant animal models, which may have negative implications for previous dry eye studies. In this study, we observed the stability of a rabbit dry eye model induced by the topical benzalkonium chloride (BAC) and determined the valid time of this model. Eighty white rabbits were randomly divided into four groups. One eye from each rabbit was randomly chosen to receive topical 0.1% BAC twice daily for 2 weeks (Group BAC-W2), 3 weeks (Group BAC-W3), 4 weeks (Group BAC-W4), or 5 weeks (Group BAC-W5). Fluorescein staining, Schirmer's tests, and conjunctival impression cytology were performed before BAC treatment (normal) and on days 0, 7, 14 and 21 after BAC removal. The eyeballs were collected at these time points for immunofluorescence staining, hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining, and electron microscopy. After removing BAC, the signs of dry eye in Group BAC-W2 lasted one week. Compared with normal, there were still significant differences in the results of Schirmer's tests and fluorescein staining in Groups BAC-W3 and BAC-W4 on day 7 (P<0.05) and in Group BAC-W5 on day 14 (P<0.05). Decreases in goblet cell density remained stable in the three experimental groups at all time points (P<0.001). Decreased levels of mucin-5 subtype AC (MUC5AC), along with histopathological and ultrastructural disorders of the cornea and conjunctiva could be observed in Group BAC-W4 and particularly in Group BAC-W5 until day 21. A stable rabbit dry eye model was induced by topical 0.1% BAC for 5 weeks, and after BAC removal, the signs of dry eye were sustained for 2 weeks (for the mixed type of dry eye) or for at least 3 weeks (for mucin-deficient dry eye).

Research on the Stability of a Rabbit Dry Eye Model Induced by Topical Application of the Preservative Benzalkonium Chloride

PubMed Central

Luan, Shaohong; Wan, Pengxia; Li, Naiyang; Tang, Jing; Han, Yu; Xiong, Cuiju; Wang, Zhichong

2012-01-01

Background Dry eye is a common disease worldwide, and animal models are critical for the study of it. At present, there is no research about the stability of the extant animal models, which may have negative implications for previous dry eye studies. In this study, we observed the stability of a rabbit dry eye model induced by the topical benzalkonium chloride (BAC) and determined the valid time of this model. Methods and Findings Eighty white rabbits were randomly divided into four groups. One eye from each rabbit was randomly chosen to receive topical 0.1% BAC twice daily for 2 weeks (Group BAC-W2), 3 weeks (Group BAC-W3), 4 weeks (Group BAC-W4), or 5 weeks (Group BAC-W5). Fluorescein staining, Schirmer's tests, and conjunctival impression cytology were performed before BAC treatment (normal) and on days 0, 7, 14 and 21 after BAC removal. The eyeballs were collected at these time points for immunofluorescence staining, hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining, and electron microscopy. After removing BAC, the signs of dry eye in Group BAC-W2 lasted one week. Compared with normal, there were still significant differences in the results of Schirmer's tests and fluorescein staining in Groups BAC-W3 and BAC-W4 on day 7 (P<0.05) and in Group BAC-W5 on day 14 (P<0.05). Decreases in goblet cell density remained stable in the three experimental groups at all time points (P<0.001). Decreased levels of mucin-5 subtype AC (MUC5AC), along with histopathological and ultrastructural disorders of the cornea and conjunctiva could be observed in Group BAC-W4 and particularly in Group BAC-W5 until day 21. Conclusions A stable rabbit dry eye model was induced by topical 0.1% BAC for 5 weeks, and after BAC removal, the signs of dry eye were sustained for 2 weeks (for the mixed type of dry eye) or for at least 3 weeks (for mucin-deficient dry eye). PMID:22438984

Recent advances in topical anesthesia

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Topical anesthetics act on the peripheral nerves and reduce the sensation of pain at the site of application. In dentistry, they are used to control local pain caused by needling, placement of orthodontic bands, the vomiting reflex, oral mucositis, and rubber-dam clamp placement. Traditional topical anesthetics contain lidocaine or benzocaine as active ingredients and are used in the form of solutions, creams, gels, and sprays. Eutectic mixtures of local anesthesia cream, a mixture of various topical anesthetics, has been reported to be more potent than other anesthetics. Recently, new products with modified ingredients and application methods have been introduced into the market. These products may be used for mild pain during periodontal treatment, such as scaling. Dentists should be aware that topical anesthetics, although rare, might induce allergic reactions or side effects as a result of an overdose. Topical anesthetics are useful aids during dental treatment, as they reduce dental phobia, especially in children, by mitigating discomfort and pain. PMID:28879311

Research Ethics with Undergraduates in Summer Research Training Programs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheung, I.; Yalcin, K.

2016-02-01

Many undergraduate research training programs incorporate research ethics into their programs and some are required. Engaging students in conversations around challenging topics such as conflict of interest, cultural and gender biases, what is science and what is normative science can difficult in newly formed student cohorts. In addition, discussing topics with more distant impacts such as science and policy, intellectual property and authorship, can be difficult for students in their first research experience that have more immediate concerns about plagiarism, data manipulation, and the student/faculty relationship. Oregon State University's Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) in Ocean Sciences: From Estuaries to the Deep Sea as one model for incorporating a research ethics component into summer undergraduate research training programs. Weaved into the 10-week REU program, undergraduate interns participate in a series of conversations and a faculty mentor panel focused on research ethics. Topics discussed are in a framework for sharing myths, knowledge and personal experiences on issues in research with ethical implications. The series follows guidelines and case studies outlined from the text, On Being A Scientist: Responsible Conduct In Research Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy, National Academy of Sciences.

Discriminative Relational Topic Models.

PubMed

Chen, Ning; Zhu, Jun; Xia, Fei; Zhang, Bo

2015-05-01

Relational topic models (RTMs) provide a probabilistic generative process to describe both the link structure and document contents for document networks, and they have shown promise on predicting network structures and discovering latent topic representations. However, existing RTMs have limitations in both the restricted model expressiveness and incapability of dealing with imbalanced network data. To expand the scope and improve the inference accuracy of RTMs, this paper presents three extensions: 1) unlike the common link likelihood with a diagonal weight matrix that allows the-same-topic interactions only, we generalize it to use a full weight matrix that captures all pairwise topic interactions and is applicable to asymmetric networks; 2) instead of doing standard Bayesian inference, we perform regularized Bayesian inference (RegBayes) with a regularization parameter to deal with the imbalanced link structure issue in real networks and improve the discriminative ability of learned latent representations; and 3) instead of doing variational approximation with strict mean-field assumptions, we present collapsed Gibbs sampling algorithms for the generalized relational topic models by exploring data augmentation without making restricting assumptions. Under the generic RegBayes framework, we carefully investigate two popular discriminative loss functions, namely, the logistic log-loss and the max-margin hinge loss. Experimental results on several real network datasets demonstrate the significance of these extensions on improving prediction performance.

Problem-Based Learning Method: Secondary Education 10th Grade Chemistry Course Mixtures Topic

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Üce, Musa; Ates, Ismail

2016-01-01

In this research; aim was determining student achievement by comparing problem-based learning method with teacher-centered traditional method of teaching 10th grade chemistry lesson mixtures topic. Pretest-posttest control group research design is implemented. Research sample includes; two classes of (total of 48 students) an Anatolian High School…

Expression and Organization of Geographic Spatial Relations Based on Topic Maps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liang, H. J.; Wang, H.; Cui, T. J.; Guo, J. F.

2017-09-01

Spatial Relation is one of the important components of Geographical Information Science and Spatial Database. There have been lots of researches on Spatial Relation and many different spatial relations have been proposed. The relationships among these spatial relations such as hierarchy and so on are complex and this brings some difficulties to the applications and teaching of these spatial relations. This paper summaries some common spatial relations, extracts the topic types, association types, resource types of these spatial relations using the technology of Topic Maps, and builds many different relationships among these spatial relations. Finally, this paper utilizes Java and Ontopia to build a topic map among these common spatial relations, forms a complex knowledge network of spatial relations, and realizes the effective management and retrieval of spatial relations.

Problematic topic transitions in dysarthric conversation.

PubMed

Bloch, Steven; Saldert, Charlotta; Ferm, Ulrika

2015-01-01

This study examined the nature of topic transition problems associated with acquired progressive dysarthric speech in the everyday conversation of people with motor neurone disease. Using conversation analytic methods, a video collection of five naturally occurring problematic topic transitions was identified, transcribed and analysed. These were extracted from a main collection of over 200 other-initiated repair sequences and a sub-set of 15 problematic topic transition sequences. The sequences were analysed with reference to how the participants both identified and resolved the problems. Analysis revealed that topic transition by people with dysarthria can prove problematic. Conversation partners may find transitions problematic not only because of speech intelligibility but also because of a sequential disjuncture between the dysarthric speech turn and whatever topic has come prior. In addition the treatment of problematic topic transition as a complaint reveals the potential vulnerability of people with dysarthria to judgements of competence. These findings have implications for how dysarthria is conceptualized and how specific actions in conversation, such as topic transition, might be suitable targets for clinical intervention.

Supporting inter-topic entity search for biomedical Linked Data based on heterogeneous relationships.

PubMed

Zong, Nansu; Lee, Sungin; Ahn, Jinhyun; Kim, Hong-Gee

2017-08-01

The keyword-based entity search restricts search space based on the preference of search. When given keywords and preferences are not related to the same biomedical topic, existing biomedical Linked Data search engines fail to deliver satisfactory results. This research aims to tackle this issue by supporting an inter-topic search-improving search with inputs, keywords and preferences, under different topics. This study developed an effective algorithm in which the relations between biomedical entities were used in tandem with a keyword-based entity search, Siren. The algorithm, PERank, which is an adaptation of Personalized PageRank (PPR), uses a pair of input: (1) search preferences, and (2) entities from a keyword-based entity search with a keyword query, to formalize the search results on-the-fly based on the index of the precomputed Individual Personalized PageRank Vectors (IPPVs). Our experiments were performed over ten linked life datasets for two query sets, one with keyword-preference topic correspondence (intra-topic search), and the other without (inter-topic search). The experiments showed that the proposed method achieved better search results, for example a 14% increase in precision for the inter-topic search than the baseline keyword-based search engine. The proposed method improved the keyword-based biomedical entity search by supporting the inter-topic search without affecting the intra-topic search based on the relations between different entities. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Complex Action Recognition via the Correlated Topic Model

PubMed Central

Tu, Hong-bin; Xia, Li-min; Wang, Zheng-wu

2014-01-01

Human complex action recognition is an important research area of the action recognition. Among various obstacles to human complex action recognition, one of the most challenging is to deal with self-occlusion, where one body part occludes another one. This paper presents a new method of human complex action recognition, which is based on optical flow and correlated topic model (CTM). Firstly, the Markov random field was used to represent the occlusion relationship between human body parts in terms of an occlusion state variable. Secondly, the structure from motion (SFM) is used for reconstructing the missing data of point trajectories. Then, we can extract the key frame based on motion feature from optical flow and the ratios of the width and height are extracted by the human silhouette. Finally, we use the topic model of correlated topic model (CTM) to classify action. Experiments were performed on the KTH, Weizmann, and UIUC action dataset to test and evaluate the proposed method. The compared experiment results showed that the proposed method was more effective than compared methods. PMID:24574920

Intelligent topical sentiment analysis for the classification of e-learners and their topics of interest.

PubMed

Ravichandran, M; Kulanthaivel, G; Chellatamilan, T

2015-01-01

Every day, huge numbers of instant tweets (messages) are published on Twitter as it is one of the massive social media for e-learners interactions. The options regarding various interesting topics to be studied are discussed among the learners and teachers through the capture of ideal sources in Twitter. The common sentiment behavior towards these topics is received through the massive number of instant messages about them. In this paper, rather than using the opinion polarity of each message relevant to the topic, authors focus on sentence level opinion classification upon using the unsupervised algorithm named bigram item response theory (BIRT). It differs from the traditional classification and document level classification algorithm. The investigation illustrated in this paper is of threefold which are listed as follows: (1) lexicon based sentiment polarity of tweet messages; (2) the bigram cooccurrence relationship using naïve Bayesian; (3) the bigram item response theory (BIRT) on various topics. It has been proposed that a model using item response theory is constructed for topical classification inference. The performance has been improved remarkably using this bigram item response theory when compared with other supervised algorithms. The experiment has been conducted on a real life dataset containing different set of tweets and topics.

Human Factors Topics in Flight Simulation: An Annotated Bibliography

DTIC Science & Technology

1976-01-01

and technical information; - Continuously stimulating advances in the aerospace sciences relevant to strengthening the common defence posture...Topics treated under cost effectiveness are effectiveness as a function of training procedures, physical stimulation versus psychological stimulation ...fidelity of physical stimulation . HUDDLESTON. H.F. and ROLFE, J.M. Behaviouralfactors influencing aircrew response in training and research simulators

Topical Botanical Agents for the Treatment of Psoriasis: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

Farahnik, Benjamin; Sharma, Divya; Alban, Joseph; Sivamani, Raja K

2017-08-01

Patients with psoriasis often enquire about the use of numerous botanical therapeutics. It is important for dermatologists to be aware of the current evidence regarding these agents. We conducted a systematic literature search using the PubMed, MEDLINE, and EMBASE databases for controlled and uncontrolled clinical trials that assessed the use of topical botanical therapeutics for psoriasis. The search included the following keywords: 'psoriasis' and 'plant' or 'herbal' or 'botanical'. We also reviewed citations within articles to identify additional relevant sources. We then further refined the results by route of administration and the topical botanical agents are reviewed herein. A total of 27 controlled and uncontrolled clinical trials addressing the use of topical botanical agents for psoriasis were assessed in this review. We found that the most highly studied and most efficacious topical botanical therapeutics were Mahonia aquifolium, indigo naturalis, aloe vera, and, to a lesser degree, capsaicin. The most commonly reported adverse effects were local skin irritation, erythema, pruritus, burning, and pain. However, the overall evidence for these therapeutics remains limited in quantity and quality. The literature addresses a large number of studies in regard to botanicals for the treatment of psoriasis. While most agents appear to be safe, further research is necessary before topical botanical agents can be consistently recommended to patients.

Ciclopirox Topical

MedlinePlus

... Use the applicator brush attached to the bottle cap to apply ciclopirox topical solution evenly to all ... can reach these areas. Wipe off the bottle cap and neck and replace the cap tightly on ...

Fluorouracil Topical

MedlinePlus

... caused by years of too much exposure to sunlight). Fluorouracil cream and topical solution are also used ... plan to avoid unnecessary or prolonged exposure to sunlight and UV light (such as tanning booths) and ...

Topic Congruence and Topic Interest: How Do They Affect Second Language Reading Comprehension?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Sang-Ki

2009-01-01

Because human memory is largely reconstructive, people tend to reorganize and reevaluate an event in a way that is coherent to the truth values held in their belief system. This study investigated the role of topic congruence (defined as whether the reading content corresponds with readers' prior beliefs towards a contentious topic) in second…

A Bibliometric Analysis of Research on Supported Ionic Liquid Membranes during the 1995–2015 Period: Study of the Main Applications and Trending Topics

PubMed Central

Abejón, Ricardo; Pérez-Acebo, Heriberto; Garea, Aurora

2017-01-01

A bibliometric analysis based on Scopus database was performed to identify the global research trends related to Supported Ionic Liquid Membranes (SILMs) during the time period from 1995 to 2015. This work tries to improve the understanding of the most relevant research topics and applications. The results from the analysis reveal that only after 2005 the research efforts focused on SILMs became significant, since the references found before that year are scarce. The most important research works on the four main application groups for SILMs defined in this work (carbon dioxide separation, other gas phase separations, pervaporation and liquid phase separations) were summarized in this paper. Carbon dioxide separation appeared as the application that has received by far the most attention according to the research trends during the analysed period. Comments about other significant applications that are gaining attention, such as the employment of SILMs in analytical tasks or their consideration for the production of fuel cells, have been included. PMID:29112172

Social Media: Major Topics in Dissertation Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Piotrowski, Chris

2015-01-01

Although social media (SM) is a ubiquitous feature of modern discourse, few studies have addressed the research domain regarding scope of SM in the scholarly literature. Moreover, the adaptation of SM technology for formal educational purposes has not been without controversy (Bennett et al., 2012). The current study attempts to obtain a…

The topical treatment of psoriasis.

PubMed

van de Kerkhof, P C M; Vissers, W H P M

2003-01-01

According to the patients, improvement of efficacy, long-term safety and improvement of compliance are needed. The topical treatment has been innovated during the last decade. Most important are the introduction of two new classes of treatments: topical vitamin D(3) analogues and the retinoid tazarotene. To what extent, however, have we achieved developments which are in line with the needs as expressed by the patients? Improved efficacy has been realized by successful combinations of topical treatments. In particular, the combinations of dithranol, vitamin D(3) and tazarotene with a topical corticosteroid proved to be very effective with a reduced profile of side-effects. The efficacy of vitamin D(3) analogues and tazarotene is such that the efficacy of a potent corticosteroid (betamethasone-17-valerate) is approached; calcipotriol even showed an efficacy which is at least as good as this corticosteroid. The long-term safety of new compounds has been evaluated for at least 12 months in large studies. Remarkably for corticosteroids such information is available for only 12 weeks. However, intermittent applications of a topical corticosteroid in combination with another topical treatment provide an effective and safe long-term control of psoriasis. Compliance is a conditio sine qua non for an effective topical treatment. Important progress has been made to increase compliance. Short-contact dithranol has been popularized as an ambulatory treatment which is a highly effective approach as a care instruction programme. Formulations which are better from a cosmetical point of view have been developed for various topical treatments. Reduction of the frequency of applications proved to be possible for most treatments. Once daily applications for corticosteroids, vitamin D(3) analogues and retinoids have been developed, and intermittent applications, a few times per week, are possible for corticosteroids, which proved to be very effective with a reduced profile of side

Plant Phenotyping using Probabilistic Topic Models: Uncovering the Hyperspectral Language of Plants

PubMed Central

Wahabzada, Mirwaes; Mahlein, Anne-Katrin; Bauckhage, Christian; Steiner, Ulrike; Oerke, Erich-Christian; Kersting, Kristian

2016-01-01

Modern phenotyping and plant disease detection methods, based on optical sensors and information technology, provide promising approaches to plant research and precision farming. In particular, hyperspectral imaging have been found to reveal physiological and structural characteristics in plants and to allow for tracking physiological dynamics due to environmental effects. In this work, we present an approach to plant phenotyping that integrates non-invasive sensors, computer vision, as well as data mining techniques and allows for monitoring how plants respond to stress. To uncover latent hyperspectral characteristics of diseased plants reliably and in an easy-to-understand way, we “wordify” the hyperspectral images, i.e., we turn the images into a corpus of text documents. Then, we apply probabilistic topic models, a well-established natural language processing technique that identifies content and topics of documents. Based on recent regularized topic models, we demonstrate that one can track automatically the development of three foliar diseases of barley. We also present a visualization of the topics that provides plant scientists an intuitive tool for hyperspectral imaging. In short, our analysis and visualization of characteristic topics found during symptom development and disease progress reveal the hyperspectral language of plant diseases. PMID:26957018

THE 4th SCHIZOPHRENIA INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH SOCIETY CONFERENCE, 5–9 APRIL 2014, FLORENCE, ITALY: A summary of topics and trends

PubMed Central

Abayomi, Olukayode; Amato, Davide; Bailey, Candace; Bitanihirwe, Byron; Bowen, Lynneice; Burshtein, Shimon; Cullen, Alexis; Fusté, Montserrat; Herrmann, Ana P; Khodaie, Babak; Kilian, Sanja; Lang, Qortni A; Manning, Elizabeth E; Massuda, Raffael; Nurjono, Milawaty; Sadiq, Sarosh; Sanchez-Gutierrez, Teresa; Sheinbaum, Tamara; Shivakumar, Venkataram; Simon, Nicholas; Spiteri-Staines, Anneliese; Sirijit, Suttajit; Toftdahl, Nanna Gilliam; Wadehra, Sunali; Wang, Yi; Wigton, Rebekah; Wright, Susan; Yagoda, Sergey; Zaytseva, Yuliya; O’Shea, Anne; DeLisi, Lynn E.

2015-01-01

The 4th Schizophrenia International Research Society Conference was held in Florence, Italy, April 5–9, 2014.and this year had as its emphasis, “Fostering Collaboration in Schizophrenia Research”. Student travel awardees served as rapporteurs for each oral session, summarized the important contributions of each session and then each report was integrated into a final summary of data discussed at the entire conference by topic. It is hoped that by combining data from different presentations, patterns of interest will emerge and thus lead to new progress for the future. In addition, the following report provides an overview of the conference for those who were present, but could not participate in all sessions, and those who did not have the opportunity to attend, but who would be interested in an update on current investigations ongoing in the field of schizophrenia research. PMID:25306204

Topical Acne Treatments and Pregnancy

MedlinePlus

... are benzoyl peroxide, azelaic acid, glycolic acid, and salicylic acid. Prescription acne medications include tretinoin, adapalene, dapsone, and ... ACOG) recommends topical benzoyl peroxide, azelaic acid, topical salicylic acid and glycolic acid for treatment of acne in ...

Symbiosis: Rich, Exciting, Neglected Topic

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rowland, Jane Thomas

1974-01-01

Argues that the topic of symbiosis has been greatly neglected and underemphasized in general-biology textbooks. Discusses many types and examples of symbiosis, and provides an extensive bibliography of the literature related to this topic. (JR)

Second Language Vocabulary Learning and Teaching: Still a Hot Topic

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Larrotta, Clarena

2011-01-01

For many reasons second language vocabulary learning and teaching continues to be a topic of interest for learners, instructors, and researchers. This article describes the implementation of personal glossaries in a community program offering English as second language classes to Latina/o Spanish speaking adults. Field notes, interviews, and…

Tomorrow's Journalists: In-Groups, Out-Groups, and News Topic Preference

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Netzley, Sara Baker; Banning, Stephen A.

2011-01-01

This study explored whether student journalists believed they shared news topic preferences with the public. Previous research suggests journalists are very different from the audiences they serve, which may influence their perceptions of audience story preferences because of the social identity theory and the social distance corollary. A national…

The role of topic, interviewee and question in predicting rich interview data in the field of health research.

PubMed

Ogden, Jane; Cornwell, Danielle

2010-11-01

Although texts recommend the generation of rich data from interviews, no empirical evidence base exists for achieving this. This study aimed to operationalise richness and to assess which components of the interview (for example, topic, interviewee, question) were predictive. A total of 400 interview questions and their corresponding responses were selected from 10 qualitative studies in the area of health identified from university colleagues and the UK Data Archive database. The analysis used the text analysis program, Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count, and additional rating scales. Richness was operationalised along five dimensions. 'Length of response' was predicted by a personal, less specific or positive topic, not being a layperson, later questions, open or double questions; 'personal richness' was predicted by being a healthy participant and questions about the past and future; 'analytical responses' were predicted by a personal or less specific topic, not being a layperson, later questions, questions relating to insight and causation; 'action responses' were predicted by a less specific topic, not being a layperson, being healthy, later and open questions. The model for 'descriptive richness' was not significant. Overall, open questions, located later on and framed in the present or past tense, tended to be most predictive of richness. This could inform improvements in interview technique. © 2010 The Authors. Sociology of Health & Illness © 2010 Foundation for the Sociology of Health & Illness/Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

A Comparison of Evaluation Metrics for Biomedical Journals, Articles, and Websites in Terms of Sensitivity to Topic

PubMed Central

Fu, Lawrence D.; Aphinyanaphongs, Yindalon; Wang, Lily; Aliferis, Constantin F.

2011-01-01

Evaluating the biomedical literature and health-related websites for quality are challenging information retrieval tasks. Current commonly used methods include impact factor for journals, PubMed’s clinical query filters and machine learning-based filter models for articles, and PageRank for websites. Previous work has focused on the average performance of these methods without considering the topic, and it is unknown how performance varies for specific topics or focused searches. Clinicians, researchers, and users should be aware when expected performance is not achieved for specific topics. The present work analyzes the behavior of these methods for a variety of topics. Impact factor, clinical query filters, and PageRank vary widely across different topics while a topic-specific impact factor and machine learning-based filter models are more stable. The results demonstrate that a method may perform excellently on average but struggle when used on a number of narrower topics. Topic adjusted metrics and other topic robust methods have an advantage in such situations. Users of traditional topic-sensitive metrics should be aware of their limitations. PMID:21419864

A comparison of evaluation metrics for biomedical journals, articles, and websites in terms of sensitivity to topic.

PubMed

Fu, Lawrence D; Aphinyanaphongs, Yindalon; Wang, Lily; Aliferis, Constantin F

2011-08-01

Evaluating the biomedical literature and health-related websites for quality are challenging information retrieval tasks. Current commonly used methods include impact factor for journals, PubMed's clinical query filters and machine learning-based filter models for articles, and PageRank for websites. Previous work has focused on the average performance of these methods without considering the topic, and it is unknown how performance varies for specific topics or focused searches. Clinicians, researchers, and users should be aware when expected performance is not achieved for specific topics. The present work analyzes the behavior of these methods for a variety of topics. Impact factor, clinical query filters, and PageRank vary widely across different topics while a topic-specific impact factor and machine learning-based filter models are more stable. The results demonstrate that a method may perform excellently on average but struggle when used on a number of narrower topics. Topic-adjusted metrics and other topic robust methods have an advantage in such situations. Users of traditional topic-sensitive metrics should be aware of their limitations. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Continuous topical oxygen for the treatment of chronic wounds: a pilot study.

PubMed

Woo, Kevin Y; Coutts, Patricia M; Sibbald, R Gary

2012-12-01

Oxygen is essential for all stages of wound healing. Previous research has shown topical administration of oxygen to have positive effects on wound healing. In this study, the application of transdermal continuous topical oxygen therapy (TCOT) was evaluated for its effect on chronic wound healing in 9 patients. After 4 weeks of treatment, mean wound surface area and wound infection checklist scores were significantly reduced. Signs of bacterial damage were also reduced. Findings from this study suggest TCOT may be beneficial in promoting chronic wound healing.

Report of a Meeting on Contemporary Topics in Zebrafish Husbandry and Care.

PubMed

Osborne, Nikki; Paull, Gregory; Grierson, Adam; Dunford, Karen; Busch-Nentwich, Elisabeth M; Sneddon, Lynne U; Wren, Natalie; Higgins, Joe; Hawkins, Penny

2016-12-01

A meeting on Contemporary Topics in Zebrafish Husbandry and Care was held in the United Kingdom in 2014, with the aim of providing a discussion forum for researchers, animal technologists, and veterinarians from academia and industry to share good practice and exchange ideas. Presentation topics included protocols for optimal larval rearing, implementing the 3Rs (replacement, reduction, and refinement) in large-scale colony management, and environmental enrichment. The audience also participated in a survey of current practice relating to practical husbandry, cryopreservation, and the provision of enrichment.

SETAC Focused Topic Meeting on endocrine-disrupting chemicals: Overview and outcomes

EPA Science Inventory

A SETAC North America Focused Topic Meeting (FTM), “Endocrine Disruption: Chemical testing, Risk Assessment Approaches and Implications”, was held 4-6 February, 2014 at the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) conference facility in Research Triangle Park, NC. The meeting,...

Information retrieval for systematic reviews in food and feed topics: A narrative review.

PubMed

Wood, Hannah; O'Connor, Annette; Sargeant, Jan; Glanville, Julie

2018-01-09

Systematic review methods are now being used for reviews of food production, food safety and security, plant health, and animal health and welfare. Information retrieval methods in this context have been informed by human health-care approaches and ideally should be based on relevant research and experience. This narrative review seeks to identify and summarize current research-based evidence and experience on information retrieval for systematic reviews in food and feed topics. MEDLINE (Ovid), Science Citation Index (Web of Science), and ScienceDirect (http://www.sciencedirect.com/) were searched in 2012 and 2016. We also contacted topic experts and undertook citation searches. We selected and summarized studies reporting research on information retrieval, as well as published guidance and experience. There is little published evidence on the most efficient way to conduct searches for food and feed topics. There are few available study design search filters, and their use may be problematic given poor or inconsistent reporting of study methods. Food and feed research makes use of a wide range of study designs so it might be best to focus strategy development on capturing study populations, although this also has challenges. There is limited guidance on which resources should be searched and whether publication bias in disciplines relevant to food and feed necessitates extensive searching of the gray literature. There is some limited evidence on information retrieval approaches, but more research is required to inform effective and efficient approaches to searching to populate food and feed reviews. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

[Prioritisation of topics for systematic reviews in hand surgery. Results of an expert survey].

PubMed

Schädel-Höpfner, M; Diener, M K; Eisenschenk, A; Lögters, T; Windolf, J

2011-02-01

Systematic reviews are fundamental decision-making tools for the assessment of the effectiveness of healthcare interventions and for determining future research fields. In the field of hand surgery, so far, there exists only a limited number of systematic reviews. According to the diversity and multitude of hand surgical topics, relevant fields for systematic reviews were identified by means of an expert ranking. A catalogue of 24 topics was extracted from publications of representative hand surgical journals. These topics were categorized and integrated into a questionnaire which was presented to 30 experts in the field of hand surgery. Every single topic had to be rated by marks from 1 (very relevant) to 5 (not relevant). Further topics could have been indicated. Averaging of the marks allowed to define a ranking and a prioritisation of the topics. 29 of 30 questionnaires were returned. The ranking showed scapholunate ligament injury, Kienboeck's disease and scaphoid nonunion to have the highest relevance, followed by 5 other topics dealing with wrist problems. The lowest relevance was attributed to neck fractures of the fifth metacarpal, ulnar collateral ligament injury of the thumb metacarpophalangeal joint and postoperative management following replantation. The results of the presented survey allow for a prioritisation of topics for systematic reviews in hand surgery. The ranking of the topics emphasises the particular relevance of injuries and diseases of the wrist. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

"There is Space, and There are Limits": The Challenge of Teaching Controversial Topics in an Illiberal Democracy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ho, Li-Ching; Alviar-Martin, Theresa; Leviste, Enrique Niño P.

2014-01-01

Background/Context: Research indicates that across democratic societies, teachers face numerous intellectual and emotional challenges when handling controversial topics in the classroom. Less attention, however, has been paid to how teachers' willingness to teach controversial topics intersects with political and other societal factors in…

A systematic review of the evidence for topical use of ginger.

PubMed

Ding, Mingshuang; Leach, Matthew J; Bradley, Helen

2013-01-01

The use of ginger as a topical intervention is widely advocated in the popular media. However, there has been no attempt to date to synthesize the evidence for topically administered ginger. To systematically review and synthesize the best available evidence of effectiveness for topical ginger in any condition. CAM on PubMed, CINAHL, Google Scholar, MEDLINE, National Library of Australia, The Cochrane Library, TRIP, pertinent texts, and bibliographies of relevant papers. Data sources were systematically searched for studies investigating the clinical effectiveness of topical ginger, in any form and for any condition, regardless of study design. Studies were limited to those published between 1980 and 2010, and published in English, Mandarin, Cantonese, or Taiwanese. Data were extracted by two authors, independently, using standardized templates. Four studies met the inclusion criteria, including three randomized controlled trials and one non-randomized controlled trial. All studies differed in terms of study population, outcome measures, comparative interventions, and dose and form of ginger used, and thus, were not amenable to meta-analysis. Findings from all trials favored usage of ginger for most outcomes. However, the small sample sizes and inadequate methodological reporting indicate a high risk of bias and the need for caution when interpreting these results. Few studies have investigated the effectiveness of topically administered ginger for any condition. Until the findings of these studies are corroborated by more robust research, and the safety of ginger is adequately established, clinicians should remain cautious about using topical ginger in clinical practice. © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Report of a Meeting on Contemporary Topics in Zebrafish Husbandry and Care

PubMed Central

Osborne, Nikki; Paull, Gregory; Grierson, Adam; Dunford, Karen; Busch-Nentwich, Elisabeth M.; Sneddon, Lynne U.; Wren, Natalie; Higgins, Joe

2016-01-01

Abstract A meeting on Contemporary Topics in Zebrafish Husbandry and Care was held in the United Kingdom in 2014, with the aim of providing a discussion forum for researchers, animal technologists, and veterinarians from academia and industry to share good practice and exchange ideas. Presentation topics included protocols for optimal larval rearing, implementing the 3Rs (replacement, reduction, and refinement) in large-scale colony management, and environmental enrichment. The audience also participated in a survey of current practice relating to practical husbandry, cryopreservation, and the provision of enrichment. PMID:27537782

Multi-Topic Tracking Model for dynamic social network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Yuhua; Liu, Changzheng; Zhao, Ming; Li, Ruixuan; Xiao, Hailing; Wang, Kai; Zhang, Jun

2016-07-01

The topic tracking problem has attracted much attention in the last decades. However, existing approaches rarely consider network structures and textual topics together. In this paper, we propose a novel statistical model based on dynamic bayesian network, namely Multi-Topic Tracking Model for Dynamic Social Network (MTTD). It takes influence phenomenon, selection phenomenon, document generative process and the evolution of textual topics into account. Specifically, in our MTTD model, Gibbs Random Field is defined to model the influence of historical status of users in the network and the interdependency between them in order to consider the influence phenomenon. To address the selection phenomenon, a stochastic block model is used to model the link generation process based on the users' interests to topics. Probabilistic Latent Semantic Analysis (PLSA) is used to describe the document generative process according to the users' interests. Finally, the dependence on the historical topic status is also considered to ensure the continuity of the topic itself in topic evolution model. Expectation Maximization (EM) algorithm is utilized to estimate parameters in the proposed MTTD model. Empirical experiments on real datasets show that the MTTD model performs better than Popular Event Tracking (PET) and Dynamic Topic Model (DTM) in generalization performance, topic interpretability performance, topic content evolution and topic popularity evolution performance.

Something to talk about: Topics of conversation between romantic partners during military deployments.

PubMed

Carter, Sarah P; Osborne, Laura J; Renshaw, Keith D; Allen, Elizabeth S; Loew, Benjamin A; Markman, Howard J; Stanley, Scott M

2018-02-01

Long-distance communication has been frequently identified as essential to military couples trying to maintain their relationship during a deployment. Little quantitative research, however, has assessed the types of topics discussed during such communication and how those topics relate to overall relationship satisfaction. The current study draws on a sample of 56 Army couples who provided data through online surveys while the service member was actively deployed. These couples provided information on current marital satisfaction, topics discussed during deployment (problem talk, friendship talk, love talk), and how they communicated via synchronous media (e.g., phone calls, video calls) and letters during deployment. Nonparametric Friedman tests followed by paired t tests revealed that synchronous communication was primarily utilized for friendship talk, whereas letters included friendship talk and love talk in similar amounts. Both synchronous communication and letters included less problem talk than other topics. In mixed-level modeling, only topics of communication for synchronous media (not for letters) were related to relationship satisfaction. Love talk via synchronous media was related to higher relationship satisfaction, whereas problem talk via synchronous media was related to less relationship satisfaction. The current study offers the first quantitative assessment of topics within deployment communication media and associations with relationship satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bracey, Gerald W.

1984-01-01

This potpourri surveys research on various topics: neurologically based curricula, midafternoon slumps in student attention, accounting for contexts in research, feelings of powerlessness among students and teachers, further equity implications of computers in schools, misreporting of research findings, and accounting for media transfer in…

The Prevention Researcher, 2000.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ungerleider, Steven, Ed.

2000-01-01

This document consists of volume 7 of "The Prevention Researcher," a service of Integrated Research Services. Each issue provides information on a specific topic. The topic of Issue Number One is adolescent dating violence. This issue includes articles on adolescents' beliefs about rape and sexual victimization, and contains a report on an…

What Patients Can Tell Us: Topic Analysis for Social Media on Breast Cancer

PubMed Central

Bringay, Sandra; Lavergne, Christian; Mollevi, Caroline; Opitz, Thomas

2017-01-01

Background Social media dedicated to health are increasingly used by patients and health professionals. They are rich textual resources with content generated through free exchange between patients. We are proposing a method to tackle the problem of retrieving clinically relevant information from such social media in order to analyze the quality of life of patients with breast cancer. Objective Our aim was to detect the different topics discussed by patients on social media and to relate them to functional and symptomatic dimensions assessed in the internationally standardized self-administered questionnaires used in cancer clinical trials (European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer [EORTC] Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 [QLQ-C30] and breast cancer module [QLQ-BR23]). Methods First, we applied a classic text mining technique, latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA), to detect the different topics discussed on social media dealing with breast cancer. We applied the LDA model to 2 datasets composed of messages extracted from public Facebook groups and from a public health forum (cancerdusein.org, a French breast cancer forum) with relevant preprocessing. Second, we applied a customized Jaccard coefficient to automatically compute similarity distance between the topics detected with LDA and the questions in the self-administered questionnaires used to study quality of life. Results Among the 23 topics present in the self-administered questionnaires, 22 matched with the topics discussed by patients on social media. Interestingly, these topics corresponded to 95% (22/23) of the forum and 86% (20/23) of the Facebook group topics. These figures underline that topics related to quality of life are an important concern for patients. However, 5 social media topics had no corresponding topic in the questionnaires, which do not cover all of the patients’ concerns. Of these 5 topics, 2 could potentially be used in the questionnaires, and these 2 topics

Youth Apprenticeship: A School-to-Work Transition Program. Hot Topic.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

North Carolina Univ., Greensboro. School of Education.

SERVE offers a series of publications entitled "Hot Topics," research-based documents which focus on relevant issues of the day that are important in the region. This document, the first in a series of publications, is a practical guidebook to designing and developing youth apprenticeship programs to prepare noncollege-bound high school…

Deep Unfolding for Topic Models.

PubMed

Chien, Jen-Tzung; Lee, Chao-Hsi

2018-02-01

Deep unfolding provides an approach to integrate the probabilistic generative models and the deterministic neural networks. Such an approach is benefited by deep representation, easy interpretation, flexible learning and stochastic modeling. This study develops the unsupervised and supervised learning of deep unfolded topic models for document representation and classification. Conventionally, the unsupervised and supervised topic models are inferred via the variational inference algorithm where the model parameters are estimated by maximizing the lower bound of logarithm of marginal likelihood using input documents without and with class labels, respectively. The representation capability or classification accuracy is constrained by the variational lower bound and the tied model parameters across inference procedure. This paper aims to relax these constraints by directly maximizing the end performance criterion and continuously untying the parameters in learning process via deep unfolding inference (DUI). The inference procedure is treated as the layer-wise learning in a deep neural network. The end performance is iteratively improved by using the estimated topic parameters according to the exponentiated updates. Deep learning of topic models is therefore implemented through a back-propagation procedure. Experimental results show the merits of DUI with increasing number of layers compared with variational inference in unsupervised as well as supervised topic models.

The intellectual contribution of laboratory medicine professionals to research papers on laboratory medicine topics published in high-impact general medicine journals.

PubMed

Escobar, Pedro Medina; Nydegger, Urs; Risch, Martin; Risch, Lorenz

2012-03-01

An author is generally regarded as an individual "who has made substantial intellectual academic contributions to a published study". However, the extent of the contribution that laboratory medicine professionals have made as authors of research papers in high-impact medical journals remains unclear. From 1 January 2004 to 31 March 2009, 4837 original research articles appeared in the: New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Annals of Internal Medicine, JAMA and BMJ. Using authorship as an indicator of intellectual contribution, we analyzed articles that included laboratory medicine parameters in their titles in an observational cross-sectional study. We also extracted data regarding radiological topics that were published during the same time within the same journals. Out of 481 articles concerning laboratory medicine topics, 380 provided information on the affiliations of the authors. At least one author from an institution within the field of laboratory medicine was listed in 212 articles (55.8%). Out of 3943 co-authors, only 756 (19.2%) were affiliated with laboratory medicine institutions. Authors from laboratory medicine institutions were listed as the first, last or corresponding authors in 99 articles (26.1%). The comparative proportions for author affiliation from 55 radiology articles were significantly higher, as 72.7% (p=0.026) of articles and 24.8% (p=0.001) of authors indicated an affiliation with a radiology institution. Radiology professionals from 72.7% of the articles were listed as either the first, last or corresponding authors (p<0.0001). The subgroup analysis revealed that laboratory medicine professionals from North America were significantly less frequently involved as co-authors than were their colleagues from Europe (p=0.04). Laboratory medicine professionals are underrepresented as co-authors in laboratory medicine studies appearing in high-impact general medicine journals.

Ocean Prospects: A High School Teacher's Guide to Ocean-Related Topics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Plummer, C. M.

Provided in this guide are resources for these 11 topics: the physical/geological ocean; the chemical/biological ocean; the ocean's coasts; fishing and aquaculture; tourism, recreation, and development; mining and drilling; research and exploration; maritime and military; ocean technology; pollution; and resource management. These resources…

Management of Psoriasis with a XemaTop Topical Compounded Formula: A Case Report.

PubMed

Jones, Nat; Carvalho, Maria; Branvold-Herr, Andrea

2017-01-01

Skin conditions such as psoriasis and eczema negatively impact the patient's quality of life; the primary goal of topical treatments is to minimize the disease-specific symptoms. This case report discusses the management of two refractory psoriasis skin lesions in an adult male using a topical compounded formula. The psoriasis symptoms were assessed quantitatively using two validated research instruments, the Psoriasis Symptom Inventory, and an adapted Numeric Rating Scale. A qualitative assessment was also performed by evaluating the digital photographs taken by the patient during the course of treatment. The compounded formula containing zinc pyrithione, clobetasol propionate, and cyanocobalamin in the Professional Compounding Centers of America's proprietary base PCCA XemaTop, applied topically for three weeks, significantly reduced the patient's self-reported psoriasis symptoms and improved his overall condition by 81.2%. This successful case report is important evidence for healthcare professionals when considering new, innovative topical compounded formulas for managing skin conditions such as psoriasis and eczema. Copyright© by International Journal of Pharmaceutical Compounding, Inc.

Formulation design for topical drug and nanoparticle treatment of skin disease.

PubMed

Raphael, Anthony P; Garrastazu, Gabriela; Sonvico, Fabio; Prow, Tarl W

2015-02-01

The skin has evolved to resist the penetration of foreign substances and particles. Topical therapeutic and cosmeceutical delivery is a growing field founded on selectively overcoming this barrier. Both the biology of the skin and the nature of the formulation/active ingredient must be aligned for efficient transcutaneous delivery. This review discusses the biological changes in the skin barrier that occur with common dermatological conditions. This context is the foundation for the discussion of formulation strategies to improve penetration profiles of common active ingredients in dermatology. Finally, we compare and contrast those approaches to recent advances described in the research literature with an eye toward the future of topical formulation design.

School Improvement Research Series: Series VIII, 1993-94.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Northwest Regional Educational Lab., Portland, OR.

Three types of research summaries comprise this loose-leaf compendium: "topical synthesis,""closeups," and "snapshots." The single topical synthesis is entitled "Fostering Intercultural Harmony in Schools" (Kathleen Cotton). Closeups consist of brief definitions and essential research findings on the following topics: "Developing Employability…

Learning topic models by belief propagation.

PubMed

Zeng, Jia; Cheung, William K; Liu, Jiming

2013-05-01

Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) is an important hierarchical Bayesian model for probabilistic topic modeling, which attracts worldwide interest and touches on many important applications in text mining, computer vision and computational biology. This paper represents the collapsed LDA as a factor graph, which enables the classic loopy belief propagation (BP) algorithm for approximate inference and parameter estimation. Although two commonly used approximate inference methods, such as variational Bayes (VB) and collapsed Gibbs sampling (GS), have gained great success in learning LDA, the proposed BP is competitive in both speed and accuracy, as validated by encouraging experimental results on four large-scale document datasets. Furthermore, the BP algorithm has the potential to become a generic scheme for learning variants of LDA-based topic models in the collapsed space. To this end, we show how to learn two typical variants of LDA-based topic models, such as author-topic models (ATM) and relational topic models (RTM), using BP based on the factor graph representations.

Selected Topics from LVCSR Research for Asian Languages at Tokyo Tech

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Furui, Sadaoki

This paper presents our recent work in regard to building Large Vocabulary Continuous Speech Recognition (LVCSR) systems for the Thai, Indonesian, and Chinese languages. For Thai, since there is no word boundary in the written form, we have proposed a new method for automatically creating word-like units from a text corpus, and applied topic and speaking style adaptation to the language model to recognize spoken-style utterances. For Indonesian, we have applied proper noun-specific adaptation to acoustic modeling, and rule-based English-to-Indonesian phoneme mapping to solve the problem of large variation in proper noun and English word pronunciation in a spoken-query information retrieval system. In spoken Chinese, long organization names are frequently abbreviated, and abbreviated utterances cannot be recognized if the abbreviations are not included in the dictionary. We have proposed a new method for automatically generating Chinese abbreviations, and by expanding the vocabulary using the generated abbreviations, we have significantly improved the performance of spoken query-based search.

Sharing health information online in South Korea: motives, topics, and antecedents.

PubMed

Kye, S Y; Shim, M; Kim, Y C; Park, K

2017-10-11

This study aimed to examine the motives, topics and antecedents for sharing health information online among Korean Internet users. Eight hundred adults completed a web-based survey exploring the motives; topics; physical, cognitive, affective and environmental factors; and experiences relating to sharing health information online. The motives for not sharing information included information absence and inappropriateness. The most preferred topic was disease. Good subjective health was significantly associated with frequent information sharing while individuals with a history of disease involving themselves or family members were more likely to share health information than were those without such a history. Further, a higher level of depressed mood was related to a higher level of sharing. Internet-related self-efficacy and trust in information delivery channels were positively related to sharing. Future research could extend the factors related to information sharing to include the evaluation of shared information. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Research and technology of the Langley Research Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1980-01-01

Descriptions of the research and technology activities at the Langley Research Center are given. Topics include laser development, aircraft design, aircraft engines, aerodynamics, remote sensing, space transportation systems, and composite materials.

Miscellaneous Topics in Computer-Aided Drug Design: Synthetic Accessibility and GPU Computing, and Other Topics.

PubMed

Fukunishi, Yoshifumi; Mashimo, Tadaaki; Misoo, Kiyotaka; Wakabayashi, Yoshinori; Miyaki, Toshiaki; Ohta, Seiji; Nakamura, Mayu; Ikeda, Kazuyoshi

2016-01-01

Computer-aided drug design is still a state-of-the-art process in medicinal chemistry, and the main topics in this field have been extensively studied and well reviewed. These topics include compound databases, ligand-binding pocket prediction, protein-compound docking, virtual screening, target/off-target prediction, physical property prediction, molecular simulation and pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics (PK/PD) prediction. Message and Conclusion: However, there are also a number of secondary or miscellaneous topics that have been less well covered. For example, methods for synthesizing and predicting the synthetic accessibility (SA) of designed compounds are important in practical drug development, and hardware/software resources for performing the computations in computer-aided drug design are crucial. Cloud computing and general purpose graphics processing unit (GPGPU) computing have been used in virtual screening and molecular dynamics simulations. Not surprisingly, there is a growing demand for computer systems which combine these resources. In the present review, we summarize and discuss these various topics of drug design.

Miscellaneous Topics in Computer-Aided Drug Design: Synthetic Accessibility and GPU Computing, and Other Topics

PubMed Central

Fukunishi, Yoshifumi; Mashimo, Tadaaki; Misoo, Kiyotaka; Wakabayashi, Yoshinori; Miyaki, Toshiaki; Ohta, Seiji; Nakamura, Mayu; Ikeda, Kazuyoshi

2016-01-01

Abstract: Background Computer-aided drug design is still a state-of-the-art process in medicinal chemistry, and the main topics in this field have been extensively studied and well reviewed. These topics include compound databases, ligand-binding pocket prediction, protein-compound docking, virtual screening, target/off-target prediction, physical property prediction, molecular simulation and pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics (PK/PD) prediction. Message and Conclusion: However, there are also a number of secondary or miscellaneous topics that have been less well covered. For example, methods for synthesizing and predicting the synthetic accessibility (SA) of designed compounds are important in practical drug development, and hardware/software resources for performing the computations in computer-aided drug design are crucial. Cloud computing and general purpose graphics processing unit (GPGPU) computing have been used in virtual screening and molecular dynamics simulations. Not surprisingly, there is a growing demand for computer systems which combine these resources. In the present review, we summarize and discuss these various topics of drug design. PMID:27075578

Linguistic Extensions of Topic Models

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boyd-Graber, Jordan

2010-01-01

Topic models like latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) provide a framework for analyzing large datasets where observations are collected into groups. Although topic modeling has been fruitfully applied to problems social science, biology, and computer vision, it has been most widely used to model datasets where documents are modeled as exchangeable…

Preface to Special Topic: Acoustic Metamaterials and Metasurfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Assouar, Badreddine

2018-03-01

The advent of acoustic metamaterials in the beginning of 2000s and very recently of acoustic metasurfaces has created tremendous excitement and efforts in the field of materials science and physics by introducing and building real transformative research and dealing with unprecedented physics and applications. The acoustic/elastic metamaterials and metasurfaces, which can simply be described as designed artificial materials with unusual physical properties, form the core of the present Special Topic published by the Journal of Applied Physics.

Topical anesthesia in phacoemulsification.

PubMed

Waheeb, Saad

2010-09-01

To evaluate the efficacy of topical anesthesia; topical Benoxinate 0.4% (Oxybuprocaine) and Xylocaine (Lidocaine) gel, in selected cataract patients as an alternative to peribulbar or retrobulbar block anesthesia during cataract surgery. Prospective non-comparative evaluation of patients' and surgeon's satisfaction at the end of the procedure. Three hundred patients (300 eyes) were included in the study. The procedure was explained to patients with details regarding what will happen and what to expect during surgery. All patients received topical anesthesia with Benoxinate 0.4% eye drops and Xylocaine gel 2%. All surgeries were done by the same surgeon using the same machine (updated LEGACY phacoemulsifier, Alcon) and approach (clear corneal incision) and followed by a foldable intraocular lens (IOL) implantation. None of the patients had severe pain during the procedure; only 2% (six of 300) required use of intravenous sedation (Propofol), both the surgeon's and the patients' satisfaction were high. Eye movements and blepharospasm were not significant problems, and no serious complications occurred. Rate of vitreous loss due to posterior capsule tear/rupture was within literature reported range and not different from our previous experience. Topical anesthesia is a satisfactory and safe alternative to retrobulbar and peribulbar anesthesia for clear corneal phacoemulsification and intraocular lens implantation in selected cataract patients in the hands of experienced cataract surgeon.

Topical anesthesia in phacoemulsification

PubMed Central

Waheeb, Saad

2010-01-01

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of topical anesthesia; topical Benoxinate 0.4% (Oxybuprocaine) and Xylocaine (Lidocaine) gel, in selected cataract patients as an alternative to peribulbar or retrobulbar block anesthesia during cataract surgery. Materials and Methods: Prospective non-comparative evaluation of patients’ and surgeon’s satisfaction at the end of the procedure. Three hundred patients (300 eyes) were included in the study. The procedure was explained to patients with details regarding what will happen and what to expect during surgery. All patients received topical anesthesia with Benoxinate 0.4% eye drops and Xylocaine gel 2%. All surgeries were done by the same surgeon using the same machine (updated LEGACY phacoemulsifier, Alcon) and approach (clear corneal incision) and followed by a foldable intraocular lens (IOL) implantation. Results: None of the patients had severe pain during the procedure; only 2% (six of 300) required use of intravenous sedation (Propofol), both the surgeon’s and the patients’ satisfaction were high. Eye movements and blepharospasm were not significant problems, and no serious complications occurred. Rate of vitreous loss due to posterior capsule tear/rupture was within literature reported range and not different from our previous experience. Conclusion: Topical anesthesia is a satisfactory and safe alternative to retrobulbar and peribulbar anesthesia for clear corneal phacoemulsification and intraocular lens implantation in selected cataract patients in the hands of experienced cataract surgeon. PMID:21120050

Topical delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol and aqueous dynamics in glaucoma.

PubMed

Merritt, J C; Perry, D D; Russell, D N; Jones, B F

1981-01-01

Systemic delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), administered either by smoking marihuana or as synthetic THC in soft gelatin capsules, lowers ocular tension in various glaucomas, but at the expense of significant decreases in systolic blood pressure. Topical THC in light mineral oil vehicles, though effective in laboratory animals, was not shown effective in 0.05 and 0.1% topical solutions when administered to six subjects with primary open-angle glaucoma in a randomized, balanced, double-masked protocol. Light mineral oil, which has an affinity for corneal epithelium, is an optimum vehicle for administering drugs whose mechanisms of action are systemic rather than local within the eye. Further glaucoma research should therefore proceed with marihuanas containing insignificant levels of THC (less than 0.4%) and with various local delivery systems of the ocular-active cannabinoid found in Cannabis sativa.

Using Conversation Topics for Predicting Therapy Outcomes in Schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Howes, Christine; Purver, Matthew; McCabe, Rose

2013-01-01

Previous research shows that aspects of doctor-patient communication in therapy can predict patient symptoms, satisfaction and future adherence to treatment (a significant problem with conditions such as schizophrenia). However, automatic prediction has so far shown success only when based on low-level lexical features, and it is unclear how well these can generalize to new data, or whether their effectiveness is due to their capturing aspects of style, structure or content. Here, we examine the use of topic as a higher-level measure of content, more likely to generalize and to have more explanatory power. Investigations show that while topics predict some important factors such as patient satisfaction and ratings of therapy quality, they lack the full predictive power of lower-level features. For some factors, unsupervised methods produce models comparable to manual annotation. PMID:23943658

Conference report: hot topics in antibody-drug conjugate development.

PubMed

Thudium, Karen; Bilic, Sanela

2013-12-01

American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists National Biotechnology Conference Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina, San Diego, CA, USA, 19-23 May 2013 The National Biotechnology Conference, is a premier meeting for biotechnology professionals covering a broad range of hot topics in the biotechnology industry. Attracting participants from academia, industry and regulatory, this meeting features sessions that aim to address emerging subjects of interest and allows for open exchange between scientists. The 2013 conference featured leading researchers in the fields of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and immunogenicity. Herein, we present a summary of the ADC hot topics, including bioanalytical and PK considerations, quantitative evaluation of the impact of immunogenicity and ADME to understand ADC drug-drug interactions, and clinical considerations for ADC development. This article aims to summarize the recommendations that were made by the speakers during various sessions throughout the conference.

[Current topics on cancer biology and research strategies for anti-cancer traditional Chinese medicine].

PubMed

Chen, Xiu-ping; Tang, Zheng-hai; Shi, Zhe; Lu, Jin-jian; Su, Huan-xing; Chen, Xin; Wang, Yi-tao

2015-09-01

Cancer, an abnormal cell proliferation resulted from multi-factors,has the highest morbidity and mortality among all the serious diseases. Considerable progress has been made in cancer biology in recent years. Tumor immunology, cancer stem cells (CSCs), autophagy, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) have become hot topics of interests in this area. Detailed dissection of these biological processes will provide novel directions, targets, and strategies for the pharmacological evaluation, mechanism elucidation, and new drug development of traditional Chinese medicine.

Link-topic model for biomedical abbreviation disambiguation.

PubMed

Kim, Seonho; Yoon, Juntae

2015-02-01

The ambiguity of biomedical abbreviations is one of the challenges in biomedical text mining systems. In particular, the handling of term variants and abbreviations without nearby definitions is a critical issue. In this study, we adopt the concepts of topic of document and word link to disambiguate biomedical abbreviations. We newly suggest the link topic model inspired by the latent Dirichlet allocation model, in which each document is perceived as a random mixture of topics, where each topic is characterized by a distribution over words. Thus, the most probable expansions with respect to abbreviations of a given abstract are determined by word-topic, document-topic, and word-link distributions estimated from a document collection through the link topic model. The model allows two distinct modes of word generation to incorporate semantic dependencies among words, particularly long form words of abbreviations and their sentential co-occurring words; a word can be generated either dependently on the long form of the abbreviation or independently. The semantic dependency between two words is defined as a link and a new random parameter for the link is assigned to each word as well as a topic parameter. Because the link status indicates whether the word constitutes a link with a given specific long form, it has the effect of determining whether a word forms a unigram or a skipping/consecutive bigram with respect to the long form. Furthermore, we place a constraint on the model so that a word has the same topic as a specific long form if it is generated in reference to the long form. Consequently, documents are generated from the two hidden parameters, i.e. topic and link, and the most probable expansion of a specific abbreviation is estimated from the parameters. Our model relaxes the bag-of-words assumption of the standard topic model in which the word order is neglected, and it captures a richer structure of text than does the standard topic model by considering

21 CFR 868.5170 - Laryngotracheal topical anesthesia applicator.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Laryngotracheal topical anesthesia applicator. 868... topical anesthesia applicator. (a) Identification. A laryngotracheal topical anesthesia applicator is a device used to apply topical anesthetics to a patient's laryngotracheal area. (b) Classification. Class...

21 CFR 868.5170 - Laryngotracheal topical anesthesia applicator.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Laryngotracheal topical anesthesia applicator. 868... topical anesthesia applicator. (a) Identification. A laryngotracheal topical anesthesia applicator is a device used to apply topical anesthetics to a patient's laryngotracheal area. (b) Classification. Class...

21 CFR 868.5170 - Laryngotracheal topical anesthesia applicator.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Laryngotracheal topical anesthesia applicator. 868... topical anesthesia applicator. (a) Identification. A laryngotracheal topical anesthesia applicator is a device used to apply topical anesthetics to a patient's laryngotracheal area. (b) Classification. Class...

Mining Social Entrepreneurship Strategies Using Topic Modeling

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Despite the burgeoning research on social entrepreneurship (SE), SE strategies remain poorly understood. Drawing on extant research on the social activism and social change, empowerment and SE models, we explore, classify and validate the strategies used by 2,334 social entrepreneurs affiliated with the world’s largest SE support organization, Ashoka. The results of the topic modeling of the social entrepreneurs’ strategy profiles reveal that they employed a total of 39 change-making strategies that vary across resources (material versus symbolic strategies), specificity (general versus specific strategies), and mode of participation (mass versus elite participation strategies); they also vary across fields of practice and time. Finally, we identify six meta-SE strategies―a reduction from the 39 strategies―and identify four new meta-SE strategies (i.e., system reform, physical capital development, evidence-based practices, and prototyping) that have been overlooked in prior SE research. Our findings extend and deepen the research into SE strategies and offer a comprehensive model of SE strategies that advances theory, practice and policy making. PMID:26998970

Mining Social Entrepreneurship Strategies Using Topic Modeling.

PubMed

Chandra, Yanto; Jiang, Li Crystal; Wang, Cheng-Jun

2016-01-01

Despite the burgeoning research on social entrepreneurship (SE), SE strategies remain poorly understood. Drawing on extant research on the social activism and social change, empowerment and SE models, we explore, classify and validate the strategies used by 2,334 social entrepreneurs affiliated with the world's largest SE support organization, Ashoka. The results of the topic modeling of the social entrepreneurs' strategy profiles reveal that they employed a total of 39 change-making strategies that vary across resources (material versus symbolic strategies), specificity (general versus specific strategies), and mode of participation (mass versus elite participation strategies); they also vary across fields of practice and time. Finally, we identify six meta-SE strategies-a reduction from the 39 strategies-and identify four new meta-SE strategies (i.e., system reform, physical capital development, evidence-based practices, and prototyping) that have been overlooked in prior SE research. Our findings extend and deepen the research into SE strategies and offer a comprehensive model of SE strategies that advances theory, practice and policy making.

Animacy matters: ERP evidence for the multi-dimensionality of topic-worthiness in Chinese.

PubMed

Hung, Yu-Chen; Schumacher, Petra B

2014-03-25

An event-related potential (ERP) study was conducted to investigate how animacy interacts with givenness during topic processing. Both animacy and givenness have been considered as within-discourse factors that contribute to an element׳s potential to form an optimal topic (i.e., topic-worthiness). ERPs were recorded while participants read question-answer pairs, of which the target sentence induced either a continuation or an alternation of a previously introduced topic (i.e., given vs. new). Depending on the context, a potential topic further differed in its animacy from the preceding one (i.e., animate vs. inanimate). The data revealed a robust givenness effect with an N400 reduction for given over new information across all conditions, substantiating the assumption that the N400 amplitude varies with the degree of context-based expectation. The resulting N400 effect was found independently of animacy. More strikingly, we also observed that givenness interacts with animacy in modulating the subsequent Late Positivity effect, which has been suggested to reflect internal discourse structuring effort and updating. A more pronounced Late Positivity was consistently elicited when a less prominent entity competed for topichood. Most crucially, the present research provides first electrophysiological evidence indicating that animacy outweighs givenness as a heuristic cue in determining the degree of topic-worthiness. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

What Patients Can Tell Us: Topic Analysis for Social Media on Breast Cancer.

PubMed

Tapi Nzali, Mike Donald; Bringay, Sandra; Lavergne, Christian; Mollevi, Caroline; Opitz, Thomas

2017-07-31

Social media dedicated to health are increasingly used by patients and health professionals. They are rich textual resources with content generated through free exchange between patients. We are proposing a method to tackle the problem of retrieving clinically relevant information from such social media in order to analyze the quality of life of patients with breast cancer. Our aim was to detect the different topics discussed by patients on social media and to relate them to functional and symptomatic dimensions assessed in the internationally standardized self-administered questionnaires used in cancer clinical trials (European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer [EORTC] Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 [QLQ-C30] and breast cancer module [QLQ-BR23]). First, we applied a classic text mining technique, latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA), to detect the different topics discussed on social media dealing with breast cancer. We applied the LDA model to 2 datasets composed of messages extracted from public Facebook groups and from a public health forum (cancerdusein.org, a French breast cancer forum) with relevant preprocessing. Second, we applied a customized Jaccard coefficient to automatically compute similarity distance between the topics detected with LDA and the questions in the self-administered questionnaires used to study quality of life. Among the 23 topics present in the self-administered questionnaires, 22 matched with the topics discussed by patients on social media. Interestingly, these topics corresponded to 95% (22/23) of the forum and 86% (20/23) of the Facebook group topics. These figures underline that topics related to quality of life are an important concern for patients. However, 5 social media topics had no corresponding topic in the questionnaires, which do not cover all of the patients' concerns. Of these 5 topics, 2 could potentially be used in the questionnaires, and these 2 topics corresponded to a total of 3.10% (523

School Improvement Research Series: Series VII, 1992-93.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cotton, Kathleen; And Others

This loose-leaf compendium includes three types of brief research summaries: "topical synthesis,""close-ups," and "snapshots." The single topical synthesis is entitled "School-Based Management" (Kathleen Cotton). Close-ups consist of brief definitions and essential research findings on the following topics: "Developing Empathy in Children and…

[Violence Prevention: A Topical Newsletter.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bourland, Eric

1995-01-01

This newsletter theme issue addresses the issue of violence prevention in American schools and is based on presentations and discussions at the Workgroup To Improve the Quality of Technical Assistance around the Topic of Violence Prevention held in Washington, D.C. on June 12-14, 1995. The newsletter reports on the following presentation topics:…

Research Needs: Career and Technical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kosloski, Michael F., Jr.; Ritz, John M.

2016-01-01

Research is an important component of each professional field. This study sought to determine topics that needed further research in the school subjects known as career and technical education. It determined topics that needed to be researched related to high school career and technical education (CTE) and the preparation for teaching CTE in…

Library Research Guide to Sociology. Illustrated Search Strategy and Sources. ("Library Research Guides" Series, No. 5).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McMillan, Patricia; Kennedy, James R., Jr.

One in a series, this guide takes the college student through the steps involved in a thorough, systematic research of any topic in sociology. Beginning with the basics, the guide covers selecting a topic, locating an authoritative summary of the topic, taking clear notes, and narrowing the topic. Subsequent chapters cover the use of general…

Task-Driven Comparison of Topic Models.

PubMed

Alexander, Eric; Gleicher, Michael

2016-01-01

Topic modeling, a method of statistically extracting thematic content from a large collection of texts, is used for a wide variety of tasks within text analysis. Though there are a growing number of tools and techniques for exploring single models, comparisons between models are generally reduced to a small set of numerical metrics. These metrics may or may not reflect a model's performance on the analyst's intended task, and can therefore be insufficient to diagnose what causes differences between models. In this paper, we explore task-centric topic model comparison, considering how we can both provide detail for a more nuanced understanding of differences and address the wealth of tasks for which topic models are used. We derive comparison tasks from single-model uses of topic models, which predominantly fall into the categories of understanding topics, understanding similarity, and understanding change. Finally, we provide several visualization techniques that facilitate these tasks, including buddy plots, which combine color and position encodings to allow analysts to readily view changes in document similarity.

The Impact of Positive, Negative and Topical Relevance Feedback

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-11-01

the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO, grant # 612.066.513). REFERENCES [1] Y. K. Chang, C. Cirillo, and J . Razon. Evaluation of...feedback retrieval using modified freezing, residual collection and test and control groups. In G. Salton , editor, The SMART retrieval system...information retrieval. In Proceedings SI- GIR 2004, pages 178–185. ACM Press, New York NY, 2004. [3] R. Kaptein and J . Kamps. Web directories as topical context

Topical anesthesia for penetrating trabeculectomy.

PubMed

Sauder, Gangolf; Jonas, Jost B

2002-09-01

To evaluate the efficacy and clinical practicability of topical anesthesia in comparison with retrobulbar anesthesia for penetrating trabeculectomy. The prospective single-surgeon clinical interventional trial included 20 consecutive patients, who were randomly distributed into a topical anesthesia group ( n=10) and a retrobulbar anesthesia group ( n=10). In the topical anesthesia group, patients received preoperatively oxybuprocaine 0.4% eye drops and cocaine hydrochloride eye drops 10%. The patients of the retrobulbar group received 5 ml mepivacaine 2% injected into the retrobulbar space. To assess intraoperative pain, each patient was asked immediately after surgery to quantitate his/her pain using a 10-point pain rating scale. The topical anesthesia group and the retrobulbar anesthesia study group did not vary significantly in duration of surgery (21.5+/-3.37 min vs 20.2+/-4.46 min, P=0.31), preoperative intraocular pressure (32.2+/-14.62 mmHg vs 30.6+/-12.33 mmHg, P=0.22), postoperative intraocular pressure (8.0+/-4.47 mmHg vs 9.12+/-3.13 mmHg, P=0.64), subjective pain score by the patient (2.25+/-1.23 relative units vs 2.33+/-1.08 relative units ( P= 0.71), and practicability score by the surgeon (2.24+/-1.76 vs 2.56+/-1.58, P=0.82). In view of its clinical feasibility and its minimally invasive character, topical anesthesia may be an option for penetrating trabeculectomy.

Science Education Research vs. Physics Education Research: A Structural Comparison

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akarsu, Bayram

2010-01-01

The main goal of this article is to introduce physics education research (PER) to researchers in other fields. Topics include discussion of differences between science education research (SER) and physics education research (PER), physics educators, research design and methodology in physics education research and current research traditions and…

Editors' preface for the topical issue on Seven papers on Noncommutative Geometry and Operator Algebras

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guido, Daniele; Landi, Giovanni; Vassout, Stéphane

2016-07-01

This topical issue grew out of the International Conference ;Noncommutative Geometry and Applications; held 16-21 June 2014 at Villa Mondragone, Frascati (Roma). The main purpose of the conference was to have a unified view of different incarnations of noncommutative geometry and its applications. The seven papers collected in the present topical issue represent a good sample of the topics covered at the workshop. The conference itself was one of the climaxes of the Franco-Italian project GREFI-GENCO, which was initiated in 2007 by CNRS and INDAM to promote and enhance collaboration and exchanges between French and Italian researchers in the area of noncommutative geometry.

School Improvement Research. Series II, 1987-88.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Northwest Regional Educational Lab., Portland, OR.

This loose-leaf compendium includes three types of brief research summaries: "topical synthesis,""close-ups," and "snapshots." The single topical synthesis, by Kathleen Cotton, is entitled "Teaching Composition: Research on Effective Practices." Closeups consist of brief definitions, essential research findings, and guidelines for effective…

Library Research Guide to History. Illustrated Search Strategy and Sources. ("Library Research Guides" Series, No. 4).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frick, Elizabeth

One in a series, this guide takes the college student through the steps involved in a thorough, systematic research of any topic in history. Beginning with the basics, the guide covers selecting a topic, locating an authoritative summary of the topic, taking clear notes, and narrowing the topic. Subsequent chapters cover the use of general guides…

Internet research in psychology.

PubMed

Gosling, Samuel D; Mason, Winter

2015-01-03

Today the Internet plays a role in the lives of nearly 40% of the world's population, and it is becoming increasingly entwined in daily life. This growing presence is transforming psychological science in terms of the topics studied and the methods used. We provide an overview of the literature, considering three broad domains of research: translational (implementing traditional methods online; e.g., surveys), phenomenological (topics spawned or mediated by the Internet; e.g., cyberbullying), and novel (new ways to study existing topics; e.g., rumors). We discuss issues (e.g., sampling, ethics) that arise when doing research online and point to emerging opportunities (e.g., smartphone sensing). Psychological research on the Internet comes with new challenges, but the opportunities far outweigh the costs. By integrating the Internet, psychological research has the ability to reach large, diverse samples and collect data on actual behaviors, which will ultimately increase the impact of psychological research on society.

Topic models: A novel method for modeling couple and family text data

PubMed Central

Atkins, David C.; Rubin, Tim N.; Steyvers, Mark; Doeden, Michelle A.; Baucom, Brian R.; Christensen, Andrew

2012-01-01

Couple and family researchers often collect open-ended linguistic data – either through free response questionnaire items or transcripts of interviews or therapy sessions. Because participant's responses are not forced into a set number of categories, text-based data can be very rich and revealing of psychological processes. At the same time it is highly unstructured and challenging to analyze. Within family psychology analyzing text data typically means applying a coding system, which can quantify text data but also has several limitations, including the time needed for coding, difficulties with inter-rater reliability, and defining a priori what should be coded. The current article presents an alternative method for analyzing text data called topic models (Steyvers & Griffiths, 2006), which has not yet been applied within couple and family psychology. Topic models have similarities with factor analysis and cluster analysis in that topic models identify underlying clusters of words with semantic similarities (i.e., the “topics”). In the present article, a non-technical introduction to topic models is provided, highlighting how these models can be used for text exploration and indexing (e.g., quickly locating text passages that share semantic meaning) and how output from topic models can be used to predict behavioral codes or other types of outcomes. Throughout the article a collection of transcripts from a large couple therapy trial (Christensen et al., 2004) is used as example data to highlight potential applications. Practical resources for learning more about topic models and how to apply them are discussed. PMID:22888778

Topic models: a novel method for modeling couple and family text data.

PubMed

Atkins, David C; Rubin, Timothy N; Steyvers, Mark; Doeden, Michelle A; Baucom, Brian R; Christensen, Andrew

2012-10-01

Couple and family researchers often collect open-ended linguistic data-either through free-response questionnaire items, or transcripts of interviews or therapy sessions. Because participants' responses are not forced into a set number of categories, text-based data can be very rich and revealing of psychological processes. At the same time, it is highly unstructured and challenging to analyze. Within family psychology, analyzing text data typically means applying a coding system, which can quantify text data but also has several limitations, including the time needed for coding, difficulties with interrater reliability, and defining a priori what should be coded. The current article presents an alternative method for analyzing text data called topic models (Steyvers & Griffiths, 2006), which has not yet been applied within couple and family psychology. Topic models have similarities to factor analysis and cluster analysis in that they identify underlying clusters of words with semantic similarities (i.e., the "topics"). In the present article, a nontechnical introduction to topic models is provided, highlighting how these models can be used for text exploration and indexing (e.g., quickly locating text passages that share semantic meaning) and how output from topic models can be used to predict behavioral codes or other types of outcomes. Throughout the article, a collection of transcripts from a large couple-therapy trial (Christensen et al., 2004) is used as example data to highlight potential applications. Practical resources for learning more about topic models and how to apply them are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).

Eosinophilic Esophagitis: MedlinePlus Health Topic

MedlinePlus

... Esophagitis (EoE) (American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology) Also in Spanish Latest News Eosinophilic Esophagitis May ... Pediatric and Adolescent Patients (American College of Gastroenterology) Topic Image Related Health Topics Eosinophilic Disorders Esophagus Disorders ...

Good and Bad Topics for Moral Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davidman, Patricia; And Others

This paper reports the opinions about moral topics expressed by 140 elementary and secondary student teachers, 49 in Indiana and 91 in California. Teachers' judgments of the suitability of topics were collected via a questionnaire containing 20 topics in two versions. The presentation consists of: (1) a description of the opinionnaire teachers…

Field Evaluations of Topical Arthropod Repellents in North, Central, and South America

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-09-01

of Research , Entomology Branch, Silver Spring, MD. 2 Present address: U.S. Army Medical Materiel Development Ac- tivity, Pharmaceutical Systems...fever andmalaria (De La Rocque et al. 2011). As a result, concern over arthropod-borne diseaseswaned, andmanywere clas- siÞed as “ tropical diseases...scientiÞc evaluations of other topical repellents (WHO 2009, EPA 2010). It is Thismaterial has been reviewedby theWalterReedArmy Institute of Research

How to Improve the Mastery of Students’ Concept on Photosynthesis Topic?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ulfa, K.; Anggraeni, S.; Supriatno, B.

2017-09-01

The PPDP learning strategy in this research is the acronym of Practicum method, Presentation-discussion method, Demonstration method, and Presentation-discussion method. This study aims to describe the effect of applying PPDP learning strategies to mastery of high school students’ concepts on photosynthesis topic. The research method is a weak experiment, with the research design “The One-Group Pretest-Postetst Design”. The implementation of the study involved 35 students in one of the high schools in the city of Palembang. The research instrument used is in the form of test equipment, assessment rubric and questionnaire. Data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel and SPSS 24 Program. The statistical result showed that PPDP learning strategy had an effect on improving conceptual and Effective on the achievement of the value on the minimum criteria set by the school. This is due to the transformation of knowledge from hands-on to minds-on through the discovery of facts about the concept of photosynthesis. This fact leads to the construction of further understanding through cognitive sharing when the activities of the discussions formed similarity and consolidation of the concept of photosynthesis intact. In addition, demonstration activities also cause students’ logic of thinking to develop through observation of factors that may affect the rate of photosynthesis. This PPDP learning strategy can be utilized by teachers in explaining photosynthetic topic.

K-Means Subject Matter Expert Refined Topic Model Methodology

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-01-01

Refined Topic Model Methodology Topic Model Estimation via K-Means U.S. Army TRADOC Analysis Center-Monterey 700 Dyer Road...January 2017 K-means Subject Matter Expert Refined Topic Model Methodology Topic Model Estimation via K-Means Theodore T. Allen, Ph.D. Zhenhuan...Matter Expert Refined Topic Model Methodology Topic Model Estimation via K-means 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER W9124N-15-P-0022 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c

Topical Drug Delivery for Chronic Rhinosinusitis

PubMed Central

Liang, Jonathan; Lane, Andrew P.

2013-01-01

Chronic rhinosinusitis is a multifactorial disorder that may be heterogeneous in presentation and clinical course. While the introduction of endoscopic sinus surgery revolutionized surgical management and has led to significantly improved patient outcomes, medical therapy remains the foundation of long-term care of chronic rhinosinusitis, particularly in surgically recalcitrant cases. A variety of devices and pharmaceutical agents have been developed to apply topical medical therapy to the sinuses, taking advantage of the access provided by endoscopic surgery. The goal of topical therapy is to address the inflammation, infection, and mucociliary dysfunction that underlies the disease. Major factors that impact success include the patient’s sinus anatomy and the dynamics of the delivery device. Despite a growing number of topical treatment options, the evidence-based literature to support their use is limited. In this article, we comprehensively review current delivery methods and the available topical agents. We also discuss biotechnological advances that promise enhanced delivery in the future, and evolving pharmacotherapeutical compounds that may be added to rhinologist’s armamentarium. A complete understand of topical drug delivery is increasingly essential to the management of chronic rhinosinusitis when traditional forms of medical therapy and surgery have failed. PMID:23525506

A Qualitative Study Examining the Exclusive Use of Primary Literature in a Special Topics Biology Course: Improving Conceptions about the Nature of Science and Boosting Confidence in Approaching Original Scientific Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carter, B. Elijah; Wiles, Jason R.

2017-01-01

This qualitative study explores the experiences of six students enrolled in a special topics biology class that exclusively used primary literature as course material. Nature of science (NOS) conceptions have been linked to students' attitudes toward scientific subjects, but there has been little research specifically exploring the effects of…

[TOPICS-MDS: a versatile resource for generating scientific and social knowledge for elderly care].

PubMed

van den Brink, Danielle; Lutomski, Jennifer E; Qin, Li; den Elzen, Wendy P J; Kempen, Gertrudis I J M; Krabbe, Paul F M; Steyerberg, Ewout W; Muntinga, Maaike; Moll van Charante, Eric P; Bleijenberg, Nienke; Olde Rikkert, Marcel G M; Melis, René J F

2015-04-01

Developed as part of the National Care for the Elderly Programme (NPO), TOPICS-MDS is a uniform, national database on the health and wellbeing of the older persons and caregivers who participated in NPO-funded projects. TOPICS-MDS Consortium has gained extensive experience in constructing a standardized questionnaire to collect relevant health care data on quality of life, health services utilization, and informal care use. A proactive approach has been undertaken not only to ensure the standardization and validation of instruments but also the infrastructure for external data requests. Efforts have been made to promote scientifically and socially responsible use of TOPICS-MDS; data has been available for secondary use since early 2014. Through this data sharing initiative, researchers can explore health issues in a broader framework which may have not been possible within individual NPO projects; this broader framework is highly relevant for influencing health policy. In this article, we provide an overview of the development and on-going progress of TOPICS-MDS. We further describe how information derived from TOPICS-MDS can be applied to facilitate future scientific innovations and public health initiatives to improve care for frail older persons and their caregivers.

Jet Topics: Disentangling Quarks and Gluons at Colliders

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Metodiev, Eric M.; Thaler, Jesse

2018-06-01

We introduce jet topics: a framework to identify underlying classes of jets from collider data. Because of a close mathematical relationship between distributions of observables in jets and emergent themes in sets of documents, we can apply recent techniques in "topic modeling" to extract jet topics from the data with minimal or no input from simulation or theory. As a proof of concept with parton shower samples, we apply jet topics to determine separate quark and gluon jet distributions for constituent multiplicity. We also determine separate quark and gluon rapidity spectra from a mixed Z -plus-jet sample. While jet topics are defined directly from hadron-level multidifferential cross sections, one can also predict jet topics from first-principles theoretical calculations, with potential implications for how to define quark and gluon jets beyond leading-logarithmic accuracy. These investigations suggest that jet topics will be useful for extracting underlying jet distributions and fractions in a wide range of contexts at the Large Hadron Collider.

Selected topics from forty years of natural products research: betalains to flavonoids, antiviral proteins, and neurotoxic nonprotein amino acids.

PubMed

Mabry, T J

2001-12-01

The elucidation by NMR and chemical methods of the unique structure of betanidin, the aglycon of the red-violet beet pigment betanin, forty years ago at the University of Zürich, Switzerland, was the beginning of my plant chemistry research program. Many of the same chemical and spectral techniques developed in Zürich have been used at The University of Texas at Austin for the structure analysis of members of many other classes of natural products including especially flavonoids, terpenoids, and alkaloids. Investigations at UT-Austin have concerned many topics such as biochemical and molecular systematics, biosynthetic pathways, structure-activity relationships, and the medicinal importance of natural products and included studies of antiviral proteins in the genus Phytolacca and neurotoxic nonprotein amino acids from cycads and other sources. Following the betalain story and an account of the early development of my UT-Austin biochemical systematic program, the Phytolacca and neurotoxin investigations are discussed herein.

Latent topic discovery of clinical concepts from hospital discharge summaries of a heterogeneous patient cohort.

PubMed

Lehman, Li-Wei; Long, William; Saeed, Mohammed; Mark, Roger

2014-01-01

Patients in critical care often exhibit complex disease patterns. A fundamental challenge in clinical research is to identify clinical features that may be characteristic of adverse patient outcomes. In this work, we propose a data-driven approach for phenotype discovery of patients in critical care. We used Hierarchical Dirichlet Process (HDP) as a non-parametric topic modeling technique to automatically discover the latent "topic" structure of diseases, symptoms, and findings documented in hospital discharge summaries. We show that the latent topic structure can be used to reveal phenotypic patterns of diseases and symptoms shared across subgroups of a patient cohort, and may contain prognostic value in stratifying patients' post hospital discharge mortality risks. Using discharge summaries of a large patient cohort from the MIMIC II database, we evaluate the clinical utility of the discovered topic structure in identifying patients who are at high risk of mortality within one year post hospital discharge. We demonstrate that the learned topic structure has statistically significant associations with mortality post hospital discharge, and may provide valuable insights in defining new feature sets for predicting patient outcomes.

A consensus approach to improving patient adherence and persistence with topical treatment for actinic keratosis

PubMed Central

Stockfleth, Eggert; Peris, Ketty; Guillen, Carlos; Cerio, Rino; Basset-Seguin, Nicole; Foley, Peter; Sanches, José; Culshaw, Alex; Erntoft, Sandra; Lebwohl, Mark

2015-01-01

Background Topical therapy is important in the treatment of actinic keratosis, but guidance for improving adherence/persistence during topical therapy is still lacking. Objectives To utilize expert consensus to generate a list of recommendations to improve real-world efficacy when prescribing topical therapy for actinic keratosis. Methods An expert panel of eight dermatologists was convened to generate recommendations based on facilitated discussion and consensus generation using a modified Delphi session. The recommendations were ratified with the expert panel. Results Facilitated discussion generated 31 issues within five themes, which were prioritized using expert voting. Consensus was achieved on the importance of short and simple treatment regimens for maximizing patient compliance, physician awareness of the progression of actinic keratosis to squamous cell carcinoma, provision of appropriate patient information, and the use of effective communication strategies to educate physicians about actinic keratosis. Based on these key findings, eight recommendations were generated. Conclusions The recommendations will assist physicians when prescribing topical actinic keratosis therapy. Further research should focus on the types of patient outcomes that are influenced by the characteristics of topical field therapy. PMID:25865875

Pre-Service Physics Teachers' Difficulties in Understanding Special Relativity Topics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ünlü Yavas, Pervin; Kizilcik, Hasan Sahin

2016-01-01

The aim of this study is to identify the reasons why pre-service physics teachers have difficulties related to special relativity topics. In this study conducted with 25 pre-service physics teachers, the case study method, which is a qualitative research method, was used. Interviews were held with the participants about their reasons for…

The Development of the Older Persons and Informal Caregivers Survey Minimum DataSet (TOPICS-MDS): A Large-Scale Data Sharing Initiative

PubMed Central

Lutomski, Jennifer E.; Baars, Maria A. E.; Schalk, Bianca W. M.; Boter, Han; Buurman, Bianca M.; den Elzen, Wendy P. J.; Jansen, Aaltje P. D.; Kempen, Gertrudis I. J. M.; Steunenberg, Bas; Steyerberg, Ewout W.; Olde Rikkert, Marcel G. M.; Melis, René J. F.

2013-01-01

Introduction In 2008, the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport commissioned the National Care for the Elderly Programme. While numerous research projects in older persons’ health care were to be conducted under this national agenda, the Programme further advocated the development of The Older Persons and Informal Caregivers Survey Minimum DataSet (TOPICS-MDS) which would be integrated into all funded research protocols. In this context, we describe TOPICS data sharing initiative (www.topics-mds.eu). Materials and Methods A working group drafted TOPICS-MDS prototype, which was subsequently approved by a multidisciplinary panel. Using instruments validated for older populations, information was collected on demographics, morbidity, quality of life, functional limitations, mental health, social functioning and health service utilisation. For informal caregivers, information was collected on demographics, hours of informal care and quality of life (including subjective care-related burden). Results Between 2010 and 2013, a total of 41 research projects contributed data to TOPICS-MDS, resulting in preliminary data available for 32,310 older persons and 3,940 informal caregivers. The majority of studies sampled were from primary care settings and inclusion criteria differed across studies. Discussion TOPICS-MDS is a public data repository which contains essential data to better understand health challenges experienced by older persons and informal caregivers. Such findings are relevant for countries where increasing health-related expenditure has necessitated the evaluation of contemporary health care delivery. Although open sharing of data can be difficult to achieve in practice, proactively addressing issues of data protection, conflicting data analysis requests and funding limitations during TOPICS-MDS developmental phase has fostered a data sharing culture. To date, TOPICS-MDS has been successfully incorporated into 41 research projects, thus supporting the

SETI: A good introductory physics topic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hobson, Art

1997-04-01

If America is to achieve the science literacy that is essential to industrialized democracy, all students must study such topics as scientific methodology, pseudoscience, ozone depletion, and global warming. My large-enrollment liberal-arts physics course covers the great principles of physics along with several such philosophical and societal topics. It is easy to include the interdisciplinary context of physics in courses for non-scientists, because these courses are flexible, conceptual, and taught to students whose interests span a broad range. Students find these topics relevant and fascinating, leading to large enrollments by non-scientists even in courses labeled ''physics.'' I will discuss my approach to teaching the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence (SETI), a topic with lots of good physics and with connections to scientific methodology and pseudoscience. A textbook for this kind of course has been published, Physics: Concepts and Connections (Prentice-Hall, 1995).

Analyzing the history of Cognition using Topic Models.

PubMed

Cohen Priva, Uriel; Austerweil, Joseph L

2015-02-01

Very few articles have analyzed how cognitive science as a field has changed over the last six decades. We explore how Cognition changed over the last four decades using Topic Models. Topic Models assume that every word in every document is generated by one of a limited number of topics. Words that are likely to co-occur are likely to be generated by a single topic. We find a number of significant historical trends: the rise of moral cognition, eyetracking methods, and action, the fall of sentence processing, and the stability of development. We introduce the notion of framing topics, which frame content, rather than present the content itself. These framing topics suggest that over time Cognition turned from abstract theorizing to more experimental approaches. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Medicare Part D Payments for Topical Steroids

PubMed Central

Song, Hannah; Adamson, Adewole

2017-01-01

Importance Rising pharmaceutical costs in the United States are an increasing source of financial burden for payers and patients. Although topical steroids are among the most commonly prescribed medications in dermatology, there are limited data on steroid-related spending and utilization. Objective To characterize Medicare and patient out-of-pocket costs for topical steroids, and to model potential savings that could result from substitution of the cheapest topical steroid from the corresponding potency class. Design, Setting, and Participants This study was a retrospective cost analysis of the Medicare Part D Prescriber Public Use File, which details annual drug utilization and spending on both generic and branded drugs from 2011 to 2015 by Medicare Part D participants who filled prescriptions for topical steroids. Main Outcomes and Measures Total and potential Medicare and out-of-pocket patient spending. Costs were adjusted for inflation and reported in 2015 dollars. Results Medicare Part D expenditures on topical steroids between 2011 and 2015 were $2.3 billion. Patients’ out-of-pocket spending for topical steroids over the same period was $333.7 million. The total annual spending increased from $237.6 million to $775.9 million, an increase of 226.5%. Patients’ annual out-of-pocket spending increased from $41.4 million to $101.8 million, an increase of 145.9%. The total number of prescriptions were 7.7 million in 2011 and 10.6 million in 2015, an increase of 37.0%. Generic medication costs accounted for 97.8% of the total spending during this time period. The potential health care savings and out-of-pocket patient savings from substitution of the cheapest topical steroid within the corresponding potency class were $944.8 million and $66.6 million, respectively. Conclusions and Relevance Most topical steroids prescribed were generic drugs. There has been a sharp increase in Medicare and out-of-pocket spending on topical steroids that is driven by higher

Structural mechanics research at the Langley Research Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stephens, W. B.

1976-01-01

The contributions of NASA's Langley Research Center in areas of structural mechanics were traced from its NACA origins in 1917 to the present. The developments in structural mechanics technology since 1940 were emphasized. A brief review of some current research topics were discussed as well as anticipated near-term research projects.

Research Exchange, 2002.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Research Exchange, 2002

2002-01-01

These three issues of the "Research Exchange" focus on how better to conduct disability research and disseminate research results. The first issue examines the topic of human subject/human research participant protection, with a focus on research funded through the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). It…

With Passion and Hope: The Delicate Bond between Research and Researcher. ASHE Annual Meeting Paper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McClafferty, Karen A.

This paper describes a study of the factors that motivate researchers toward particular topics as well as the obstacles that may keep them from pursuing these topics with passion and empathy. Interviews were conducted with 47 faulty members at 2 California research universities, 1 public and 1 private. In keeping with the grounded theory approach,…

Topical NSAIDs effect on corneal sensitivity.

PubMed

Singer, Daniel D; Kennedy, John; Wittpenn, John R

2015-05-01

Topical nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are administered topically for a variety of ophthalmologic conditions. Brand diclofenac and brand ketorolac were previously shown to have topical anesthetic effects in addition to analgesic effects. Using the same method, we measured similar anesthetic effects of the 4 currently available topical NSAIDs--generic diclofenac, generic ketorolac, brand bromfenac, and brand nepafenac. Baseline corneal sensitivity was measured on 10 healthy adult volunteers with a Cochet-Bonnet esthesiometer. One drop of the agent being studied was applied to the right eye every 5 minutes for a total of 4 drops. Corneal sensitivity was measured immediately after the last topical application and every 15 minutes for 60 minutes. After a 1-week washout period, a different agent was studied until all 4 NSAIDs were evaluated. Corneal sensitivity profiles over time were similar for all NSAIDs. Corneal sensitivity decreased significantly from baseline immediately after topical application remaining flat from 0 to 30 minutes and then rising from 45 to 60 minutes back toward baseline in all treatment groups (P < 0.001). The maximal absolute drop in corneal sensitivity as measured by pressure thresholds was greatest for diclofenac [28.6 mm (95% confidence intervals {CI}, 19.8-37.4)], followed by ketorolac [21.1 mm (95% CI, 15.1-27.1)], bromfenac [16.9 mm (10.7-23.1)], and nepafenac [16.4 mm (95% CI, 12.7-20.1)]. Only diclofenac and nepafenac were statistically different in maximal decrease in sensitivity. All 4 currently available NSAIDs demonstrated anesthetic effects similar to brand diclofenac and brand ketorolac.

Surgery for esotropia under topical anesthesia.

PubMed

Tejedor, Jaime; Ogallar, Consuelo; Rodríguez, José M

2010-10-01

To compare a surgically adjusted dose of strabismus surgery using topical anesthesia in cooperative patients with dosage guidelines adapted to the surgeon's personal technique using sub-Tenon's anesthesia. Randomized, controlled, single-site clinical trial. Sixty patients with nonparalytic, nonrestrictive esotropia who were cooperative for surgery under topical anesthesia. Twenty-eight patients were assigned to topical anesthesia, and 32 patients were assigned to sub-Tenon's anesthesia. Visual acuity, refraction, and deviation angle were determined in all patients preoperatively and postoperatively, and stereoacuity was measured postoperatively. Deviation angle was measured by simultaneous and alternate prism and cover test, and stereoacuity was measured using Randot circles (Stereo Optical Co., Chicago, IL). The amount of surgery under topical anesthesia was adjusted intraoperatively. The amount of surgery used in the 2 treatment groups (measured in millimeters and millimeter/degree of deviation angle) and 6-month motor and stereoacuity outcomes. Patients in the topical group required 3.2 mm less surgery on average than those in the sub-Tenon's group (5.9 and 9.1 mm, respectively; 0.4 and 0.6 mm of recession/degree, respectively) (P<0.01). Motor success (84% and 75%, respectively, P=0.38) and stereoacuity (339.6 and 323.9 arc seconds, respectively, P=0.87) at 6 months were similar in the 2 groups. Topical anesthesia requires a smaller amount of surgery and number of operated muscles to correct esotropia compared with classic surgery guidelines adapted to the surgeon's personal technique. Copyright © 2010 American Academy of Ophthalmology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Updates of Topical and Local Anesthesia Agents.

PubMed

Boyce, Ricardo A; Kirpalani, Tarun; Mohan, Naveen

2016-04-01

As described in this article, there are many advances in topical and local anesthesia. Topical and local anesthetics have played a great role in dentistry in alleviating the fears of patients, eliminating pain, and providing pain control. Many invasive procedures would not be performed without the use and advances of topical/local anesthetics. The modern-day dentist has the responsibility of knowing the variety of products on the market and should have at least references to access before, during, and after treatment. This practice ensures proper care with topical and local anesthetics for the masses of patients entering dental offices worldwide. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Design of minocycline-containing starch nanocapsules for topical delivery.

PubMed

Marto, J; Gouveia, L F; Gonçalves, L M; Ribeiro, H M; Almeida, A J

2018-06-11

Pharmaceutical research has been focused on developing improved delivery systems while exploring new ways of using approved excipients. The present work investigated the potential of starch nanocapsules (StNC) as a topical delivery platform for hydrophilic antimicrobial drugs using minocycline hydrochloride (MH) as a model drug. Thus, a quality by design approach was used to assess the role of different factors that affect the main pharmaceutical properties of StNC prepared using an emulsification-solvent evaporation method. Full characterization was performed in terms of particle size, encapsulation efficiency, morphology and physical stability at 5 ± 3°C. Results show the surfactant and lipid contents play a major role in StNC particle size distribution. The MH loading only promoted minor changes upon StNC properties. Formulations were stable without variations on physicochemical properties. All tested formulations presented a zeta potential of +33.6±6.7 mV, indicating a good physical stability and evidencing that StNC are suitable nanocarriers for topical use.

Emerging Topics and Innovative Methodologies in Cannabis Research

PubMed Central

Albright, Victoria A; Johnson, Eric Otto

2018-01-01

Aims And Scope: Cannabis use is ascendant in our society, affecting the health of our citizens, our social norms and social structures, and our economies. This special issue brings together a diverse set of research manuscripts that push the borders of our understanding of burgeoning cannabis use and displays innovative methods developed to study these phenomena. PMID:29795983

Anesthesia: A Topic for Interdisciplinary Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Labianca, Dominick A.; Reeves, William J.

1977-01-01

Describes an interdisciplinary approach for teaching the topic of anesthesia as one aspect of a chemistry-oriented course for nonscience majors which focuses on timely topics such as the energy crisis and drugs. Historical treatment with the examination of literature is emphasized in teaching. (HM)

A Topic Analysis of ISECON Conference Proceedings from 1982 through 2014

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clark, Jon; Athey, Susan; Plotnicki, Jon; Barnes, Jay

2016-01-01

The authors note a distinct shift in topics covered in curricula as well as in conference presentations. This research was undertaken to get a better understanding of what these shifts have been, and determine their magnitude over time. Since ISECON has published its conference proceedings in digital format since 1982, this was a logical source of…

Efficacy, tolerability and consumer acceptability of terbinafine topical spray versus terbinafine topical solution: a phase IIa, randomised, observer-blind, comparative study.

PubMed

Brown, Marc; Evans, Charles; Muddle, Andrew; Turner, Rob; Lim, Sian; Reed, Jessica; Traynor, Matt

2013-10-01

Tinea pedis is one of the world's most prevalent dermatophyte infections. MedSpray™ tinea pedis 1 % w/w (topical spray) is a novel, easy-to-use propellant-based spray formulation containing 1 % w/w terbinafine, requiring no manipulation at the site of infection. This is in contrast to the only formulation currently approved in Europe for single application (none are approved in the USA for single use), which is Lamisil(®) Once 1 % w/w (topical solution), containing 1 % w/w terbinafine hydrochloride, which requires manipulation on the affected area. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy, tolerability and consumer acceptability of a topical spray versus a topical solution in the treatment of tinea pedis. This study is a phase IIa, randomised, observer-blind, non-inferiority comparative study of the topical spray compared with the topical solution over a 12-week study period. The study was conducted at Bioskin GmbH, Hamburg and Berlin. Patients (n = 120) who presented with the presence of interdigital tinea pedis caused by dermatophytes on one or both feet were enrolled in the study. Patients were randomly assigned between the two treatment groups. Either the topical spray or the topical solution was administered by the study nurse and consisted of a single application (equivalent to 20 mg of terbinafine per foot) on day 1 of the study. No further applications were made for the duration of the study. The hypothesis formulated before commencement of the study was that the topical spray would prove to be non-inferior to the topical solution. Efficacy assessments, including clinical signs and symptoms, mycology and microscopy were performed at baseline and 1, 6 and 12 weeks after treatment. The rate of mycological cure at week 1 was statistically equivalent for both treatments. There was a significant reduction in the overall clinical score as assessed by the Physician's Global Assessment of signs and symptoms for both treatment groups. The topical

How Hierarchical Topics Evolve in Large Text Corpora.

PubMed

Cui, Weiwei; Liu, Shixia; Wu, Zhuofeng; Wei, Hao

2014-12-01

Using a sequence of topic trees to organize documents is a popular way to represent hierarchical and evolving topics in text corpora. However, following evolving topics in the context of topic trees remains difficult for users. To address this issue, we present an interactive visual text analysis approach to allow users to progressively explore and analyze the complex evolutionary patterns of hierarchical topics. The key idea behind our approach is to exploit a tree cut to approximate each tree and allow users to interactively modify the tree cuts based on their interests. In particular, we propose an incremental evolutionary tree cut algorithm with the goal of balancing 1) the fitness of each tree cut and the smoothness between adjacent tree cuts; 2) the historical and new information related to user interests. A time-based visualization is designed to illustrate the evolving topics over time. To preserve the mental map, we develop a stable layout algorithm. As a result, our approach can quickly guide users to progressively gain profound insights into evolving hierarchical topics. We evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method on Amazon's Mechanical Turk and real-world news data. The results show that users are able to successfully analyze evolving topics in text data.

Topical dissolved oxygen penetrates skin: model and method.

PubMed

Roe, David F; Gibbins, Bruce L; Ladizinsky, Daniel A

2010-03-01

It has been commonly perceived that skin receives its oxygen supply from the internal circulation. However, recent investigations have shown that a significant amount of oxygen may enter skin from the external overlying surface. A method has been developed for measuring the transcutaneous penetration of human skin by oxygen as described herein. This method was used to determine both the depth and magnitude of penetration of skin by topically applied oxygen. An apparatus consisting of human skin samples interposed between a topical oxygen source and a fluid filled chamber that registered changes in dissolved oxygen. Viable human skin samples of variable thicknesses with and without epidermis were used to evaluate the depth and magnitude of oxygen penetration from either topical dissolved oxygen (TDO) or topical gaseous oxygen (TGO) devices. This model effectively demonstrates transcutaneous penetration of topically applied oxygen. Topically applied dissolved oxygen penetrates through >700 microm of human skin. Topically applied oxygen penetrates better though dermis than epidermis, and TDO devices deliver oxygen more effectively than TGO devices. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Topical therapy of ulcerative colitis].

PubMed

Rogler, G; Beglinger, C; Mottet, C; Seibold, F; Gross, V

2011-11-16

The availability of new topical preparations for the treatment of left sided ulcerative colitis ulcerosa offers a therapy optimization for many patients. Rectal application of steroids and 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) is associated with fewer side effects and has a higher therapeutic efficacy in mild to moderate-active left-sided colitis as compared to a systemic therapy. Often it is argued that the patients' compliance is insufficient with a rectal therapy. However, with sufficient information on the proven advantages this is usually not the case. The rectal application of drugs in distal ulcerative colitis is suitable also for the maintenance of remission. Therefore the new therapy guidelines recommend topical therapy more than in former times. Subsequently, these manuscripts focussed specifically on the topical therapy of distal colitis, to elucidate that clear treatment advantages are present in daily practice.

EDITORIAL: International Workshop on Current Topics in Monte Carlo Treatment Planning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Verhaegen, Frank; Seuntjens, Jan

2005-03-01

The use of Monte Carlo particle transport simulations in radiotherapy was pioneered in the early nineteen-seventies, but it was not until the eighties that they gained recognition as an essential research tool for radiation dosimetry, health physics and later on for radiation therapy treatment planning. Since the mid-nineties, there has been a boom in the number of workers using MC techniques in radiotherapy, and the quantity of papers published on the subject. Research and applications of MC techniques in radiotherapy span a very wide range from fundamental studies of cross sections and development of particle transport algorithms, to clinical evaluation of treatment plans for a variety of radiotherapy modalities. The International Workshop on Current Topics in Monte Carlo Treatment Planning took place at Montreal General Hospital, which is part of McGill University, halfway up Mount Royal on Montreal Island. It was held from 3-5 May, 2004, right after the freezing winter has lost its grip on Canada. About 120 workers attended the Workshop, representing 18 countries. Most of the pioneers in the field were present but also a large group of young scientists. In a very full programme, 41 long papers were presented (of which 12 were invited) and 20 posters were on display during the whole meeting. The topics covered included the latest developments in MC algorithms, statistical issues, source modelling and MC treatment planning for photon, electron and proton treatments. The final day was entirely devoted to clinical implementation issues. Monte Carlo radiotherapy treatment planning has only now made a slow entrée in the clinical environment, taking considerably longer than envisaged ten years ago. Of the twenty-five papers in this dedicated special issue, about a quarter deal with this topic, with probably many more studies to follow in the near future. If anything, we hope the Workshop served as an accelerator for more clinical evaluation of MC applications. The

Topical Treatments for Localized Neuropathic Pain.

PubMed

Casale, Roberto; Symeonidou, Z; Bartolo, M

2017-03-01

Topical therapeutic approaches in localized neuropathic pain (LNP) syndromes are increasingly used by both specialists and general practitioners, with a potentially promising effect on pain reduction. In this narrative review, we describe the available compounds for topical use in LNP syndromes and address their potential efficacy according to the literature. Local anaesthetics (e.g., lidocaine, bupivacaine and mepivacaine), as well as general anaesthetic agents (e.g., ketamine), muscle relaxants (e.g., baclofen), capsaicin, anti-inflammatory drugs (e.g., diclofenac), salicylates, antidepressants (e.g., amitriptyline and doxepin), α2 adrenergic agents (e.g., clonidine), or even a combination of them have been tested in various applications for the treatment of LNP. Few of them have reached a sufficient level of evidence to support systematic use as treatment options. Relatively few systemic side effects or drug-drug interactions and satisfactory efficacy seem to be the benefits of topical treatments. More well-organized and tailored studies are necessary for the further conceptualization of topical treatments for LNP.

Current challenges in bioequivalence, quality, and novel assessment technologies for topical products.

PubMed

Yacobi, Avraham; Shah, Vinod P; Bashaw, Edward D; Benfeldt, Eva; Davit, Barbara; Ganes, Derek; Ghosh, Tapash; Kanfer, Isadore; Kasting, Gerald B; Katz, Lindsey; Lionberger, Robert; Lu, Guang Wei; Maibach, Howard I; Pershing, Lynn K; Rackley, Russell J; Raw, Andre; Shukla, Chinmay G; Thakker, Kailas; Wagner, Nathalie; Zovko, Elizabeta; Lane, Majella E

2014-04-01

This paper summarises the proceedings of a recent workshop which brought together pharmaceutical scientists and dermatologists from academia, industry and regulatory agencies to discuss current regulatory issues and industry practices for establishing therapeutic bioequivalence (BE) of dermatologic topical products. The methods currently available for assessment of BE were reviewed as well as alternatives and the advantages and disadvantages of each method were considered. Guidance on quality and performance of topical products was reviewed and a framework to categorise existing and alternative methods for evaluation of BE was discussed. The outcome of the workshop emphasized both a need for greater attention to quality, possibly, via a Quality-By-Design (QBD) approach and a need to develop a "whole toolkit" approach towards the problem of determination of rate and extent in the assessment of topical bioavailability. The discussion on the BE and clinical equivalence of topical products revealed considerable concerns about the variability present in the current methodologies utilized by the industry and regulatory agencies. It was proposed that academicians, researchers, the pharmaceutical industry and regulators work together to evaluate and validate alternative methods that are based on both the underlying science and are adapted to the drug product itself instead of single "universal" method.

Current State of Nanomedicines in the Treatment of Topical Infectious Disorders.

PubMed

Thakur, Kanika; Sharma, Gajanand; Singh, Bhupinder; Chhibber, Sanjay; Katare, Om Prakash

2018-05-28

Topical infections, involving a number of diseases such as impetigo, eczema, pustular acne, psoriasis and infected seborrheic dermatitis are one among the many challenges to health which stand out for their profound impact on human species. The treatment of topical infections has always been a difficult proposition because of the lack of efficacy of existing anti-infectives, longer period of treatment and yet incomplete recovery. The increasing emergence of antibiotic resistant bacterial strains like Staphylococcus aureus, Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa undermine the need of development of new delivery systems to enhance the therapeutic efficacy of existing topical anti-infectives. The application of nanotechnology to medicine, or nanomedicine, is rapidly becoming a major driving force behind ongoing changes in the anti-infective field because of its interaction at the sub-atomic level with the skin tissue. The latter, in the current scenario, points towards vesicular carriers like liposomes, lipidic nanoparticles and silver nanoparticles etc. as the most promising drug delivery solutions for topical infection disorders. These have exhibited immense significance owing to their uniqueness to facilitate the interactions at interfaces with the barrier membranes. The present review summarizes the emerging efforts in combating topical infections particularly using nanomedicine based delivery systems as new tools to tackle the current challenges in treating infectious diseases. Besides, compiling various research reports, this article also includes formulation considerations, mechanisms of penetration and patents reported. Despite the new emerging technologies and delivery systems, efforts are still needed in the right direction to combat this global challenge. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

Topical vitamin C: a useful agent for treating photoaging and other dermatologic conditions.

PubMed

Farris, Patricia K

2005-07-01

Cosmeceuticals containing antioxidants are among the most popular antiaging remedies. Topically applied antioxidants exert their benefits by offering protection from damaging free radicals produced when skin is exposed to ultraviolet light or allowed to age naturally. Vitamin C is a naturally occurring potent water-soluble antioxidant. Accordingly, it has been incorporated into a variety of cosmeceuticals designed to protect and rejuvenate photoaged skin. This article reviews the scientific data and clinical studies supporting the use of topically applied vitamin C for treating photoaged skin. Other innovative uses for vitamin C cosmeceuticals are also discussed. A significant body of scientific research supports the use of cosmeceuticals containing vitamin C. Cutaneous benefits include promoting collagen synthesis, photoprotection from ultraviolet A and B, lightening hyperpigmentation, and improvement of a variety of inflammatory dermatoses. Because of the diverse biologic effects of this compound, topical vitamin C has become a useful part of the dermatologist's armamentarium.

Physicians' Religious Topic Avoidance during Clinical Interactions.

PubMed

Villagran, Melinda M; MacArthur, Brenda L; Lee, Lauren E; Ledford, Christy J W; Canzona, Mollie R

2017-05-08

Religious and spiritual (R/S) conversations at the end-of-life function to help patients and their families find comfort in difficult circumstances. Physicians who feel uncertain about how to discuss topics related to religious beliefs may seek to avoid R/S conversations with their patients. This study utilized a two-group objective structured clinical examination with a standardized patient to explore differences in physicians' use of R/S topic avoidance tactics during a clinical interaction. Results indicated that physicians used more topic avoidance tactics in response to patients' R/S inquiries than patients' R/S disclosures; however, the use of topic avoidance tactics did not eliminate the need to engage in patient-initiated R/S interactions.

Physicians’ Religious Topic Avoidance during Clinical Interactions

PubMed Central

Villagran, Melinda M.; MacArthur, Brenda L.; Lee, Lauren E.; Ledford, Christy J. W.; Canzona, Mollie R.

2017-01-01

Religious and spiritual (R/S) conversations at the end-of-life function to help patients and their families find comfort in difficult circumstances. Physicians who feel uncertain about how to discuss topics related to religious beliefs may seek to avoid R/S conversations with their patients. This study utilized a two-group objective structured clinical examination with a standardized patient to explore differences in physicians’ use of R/S topic avoidance tactics during a clinical interaction. Results indicated that physicians used more topic avoidance tactics in response to patients’ R/S inquiries than patients’ R/S disclosures; however, the use of topic avoidance tactics did not eliminate the need to engage in patient-initiated R/S interactions. PMID:28481290

Topic Maps e-Learning Portal Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olsevicova, Kamila

2006-01-01

Topic Maps, ISO/IEC 13250 standard, are designed to facilitate the organization and navigation of large collections of information objects by creating meta-level perspectives of their underlying concepts and relationships. The underlying structure of concepts and relations is expressed by domain ontologies. The Topics Maps technology can become…

Extracting Hot spots of Topics from Time Stamped Documents

PubMed Central

Chen, Wei; Chundi, Parvathi

2011-01-01

Identifying time periods with a burst of activities related to a topic has been an important problem in analyzing time-stamped documents. In this paper, we propose an approach to extract a hot spot of a given topic in a time-stamped document set. Topics can be basic, containing a simple list of keywords, or complex. Logical relationships such as and, or, and not are used to build complex topics from basic topics. A concept of presence measure of a topic based on fuzzy set theory is introduced to compute the amount of information related to the topic in the document set. Each interval in the time period of the document set is associated with a numeric value which we call the discrepancy score. A high discrepancy score indicates that the documents in the time interval are more focused on the topic than those outside of the time interval. A hot spot of a given topic is defined as a time interval with the highest discrepancy score. We first describe a naive implementation for extracting hot spots. We then construct an algorithm called EHE (Efficient Hot Spot Extraction) using several efficient strategies to improve performance. We also introduce the notion of a topic DAG to facilitate an efficient computation of presence measures of complex topics. The proposed approach is illustrated by several experiments on a subset of the TDT-Pilot Corpus and DBLP conference data set. The experiments show that the proposed EHE algorithm significantly outperforms the naive one, and the extracted hot spots of given topics are meaningful. PMID:21765568

Enhancing the Undergraduate Industrial Engineering Curriculum: Defining Desired Characteristics and Emerging Topics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eskandari, Hamidreza; Sala-Diakanda, Serge; Furterer, Sandra; Rabelo, Luis; Crumpton-Young, Lesia; Williams, Kent

2007-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to present the results of an initial research study conducted to identify the desired professional characteristics of an industrial engineer with an undergraduate degree and the emerging topic areas that should be incorporated into the curriculum to prepare industrial engineering (IE) graduates for the future workforce.…

A Thousand Topics for Composition: Revised.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Illinois English Bulletin, 1971

1971-01-01

For use by junior and senior high school English teachers and students in search of appropriate subjects for written compositions, this publication contains 1,237 topics compiled from a questionnaire sent to about 250 teachers. The topics are divided into categories: personal reminiscences, personal reactions, the familiar essay, description,…

Research Implementation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trochim, William M. K.

Investigated is the topic of research implementation and how it can affect evaluation results. Even when evaluations are well planned, the obtained results can be misleading if the conscientiously-constructed research plan is not correctly implemented in practice. In virtually every research arena, one finds major difficulties in implementing the…

How to write a critically appraised topic (CAT).

PubMed

Sadigh, Gelareh; Parker, Robert; Kelly, Aine Marie; Cronin, Paul

2012-07-01

Medical knowledge and the volume of scientific articles published have expanded rapidly over the past 50 years. Evidence-based practice (EBP) has developed to help health practitioners get more benefit from the increasing volume of information to solve complex health problems. A format for sharing information in EBP is the critically appraised topic (CAT). A CAT is a standardized summary of research evidence organized around a clinical question, aimed at providing both a critique of the research and a statement of the clinical relevance of results. In this review, we explain the five steps involved in writing a CAT for a clinical purpose ("Ask," "Search," "Appraise," "Apply," and "Evaluate") and introduce some of the useful electronic resources available to help in creating CATs. Copyright © 2012 AUR. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Factors Affecting Definition of Research Problems in Educational Technology Researches

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bahçekapili, Ekrem; Bahçekapili, Tugba; Fis Erümit, Semra; Göktas, Yüksel; Sözbilir, Mustafa

2013-01-01

Research problems in a scientific research are formed after a certain process. This process starts with defining a research topic and transforms into a specific research problem or hypothesis. The aim of this study was to examine the way educational technology researchers identify their research problems. To this end, sources that educational…

Some Teaching Topics from Space Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Balding, G. M.

1972-01-01

Short notes on a variety of science topics provide information derived from space sciences that can be used to add interest and up-to-date data to science lessons. Topics are arranged alphabetically from Alpha particles to X-rays, and include some from each of the physical, earth, and biological sciences. (AL)

Survey of selected topics relevant to bioprocess engineering. Technical note (Final)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hubbard, J.B.; Clark, E.J.; Levelt Sengers, J.M.H.

1990-05-01

The following is a collection of reports on topics considered important and generic in biotechnology and bioprocess engineering: (1) Isoelectric points of proteins; (2) Solubility and mass transfer of oxygen in bioreactors; (3) Solubility and mass transfer of carbon dioxide in bioreactors. The reports arose from a survey of the past and current biotechnology literature with special effort given to a critique of data measurement quality. The format is as follows. The technological importance of a topic is briefly discussed, followed by a critical review of relevant physical properties, data presentation, and measurement techniques. A conclusions and recommendations section summarizesmore » the findings and contains specific recommendations for future research projects. The last section consists of an annotated bibliography and references pertaining to the survey.« less

A consensus approach to improving patient adherence and persistence with topical treatment for actinic keratosis.

PubMed

Stockfleth, Eggert; Peris, Ketty; Guillen, Carlos; Cerio, Rino; Basset-Seguin, Nicole; Foley, Peter; Sanches, José; Culshaw, Alex; Erntoft, Sandra; Lebwohl, Mark

2015-01-01

Topical therapy is important in the treatment of actinic keratosis, but guidance for improving adherence/persistence during topical therapy is still lacking. To utilize expert consensus to generate a list of recommendations to improve real-world efficacy when prescribing topical therapy for actinic keratosis. An expert panel of eight dermatologists was convened to generate recommendations based on facilitated discussion and consensus generation using a modified Delphi session. The recommendations were ratified with the expert panel. Facilitated discussion generated 31 issues within five themes, which were prioritized using expert voting. Consensus was achieved on the importance of short and simple treatment regimens for maximizing patient compliance, physician awareness of the progression of actinic keratosis to squamous cell carcinoma, provision of appropriate patient information, and the use of effective communication strategies to educate physicians about actinic keratosis. Based on these key findings, eight recommendations were generated. The recommendations will assist physicians when prescribing topical actinic keratosis therapy. Further research should focus on the types of patient outcomes that are influenced by the characteristics of topical field therapy. © 2015 The Authors. International Journal of Dermatology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Society of Dermatology.

Towards efficient use of research resources: a nationwide database of ongoing primary care research projects in the Netherlands.

PubMed

Kortekaas, Marlous F; van de Pol, Alma C; van der Horst, Henriëtte E; Burgers, Jako S; Slort, Willemjan; de Wit, Niek J

2014-04-01

PURPOSE. Although in the last decades primary care research has evolved with great success, there is a growing need to prioritize the topics given the limited resources available. Therefore, we constructed a nationwide database of ongoing primary care research projects in the Netherlands, and we assessed if the distribution of research topics matched with primary care practice. We conducted a survey among the main primary care research centres in the Netherlands and gathered details of all ongoing primary care research projects. We classified the projects according to research topic, relation to professional guidelines and knowledge deficits, collaborative partners and funding source. Subsequently, we compared the frequency distribution of clinical topics of research projects to the prevalence of problems in primary care practice. We identified 296 ongoing primary care research projects from 11 research centres. Most projects were designed as randomized controlled trial (35%) or observational cohort (34%), and government funded mostly (60%). Thematically, most research projects addressed chronic diseases, mainly cardiovascular risk management (8%), depressive disorders (8%) and diabetes mellitus (7%). One-fifth of the projects was related to defined knowledge deficits in primary care guidelines. From a clinical primary care perspective, research projects on dermatological problems were significantly underrepresented (P = 0.01). This survey of ongoing projects demonstrates that primary care research has a firm basis in the Netherlands, with a strong focus on chronic disease. The fit with primary care practice can improve, and future research should address knowledge deficits in professional guidelines more.

Topical therapy for psoriasis: a promising future. Focus on JAK and phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitors.

PubMed

Rafael, Adilia; Torres, Tiago

2016-01-01

Psoriasis is a common, chronic and disabling skin disorder affecting approximately 2% of the population, associated with significant negative impact on the patient's quality of life. Approximately 80% of those affected with psoriasis have mild-to-moderate forms and are usually treated with topical therapy, whereas phototherapy and systemic therapies are used for those with severe disease. In the past three decades, the major advances in psoriasis therapy have been in systemic agents for the treatment of moderate-to-severe psoriasis, particularly new immunomodulatory and biological molecules, while topical therapies have remained relatively unchanged over the past decades. Indeed, topical corticosteroids and vitamin D3 analogs are still the gold standard of therapy for mild-to-moderate psoriasis. Thus, there is a need to develop new and more effective topical agents in the short and long term, with a better efficacy and safety profile than corticosteroids and vitamin D3 analogs. Over the past five years, investigation into topical therapy has expanded, with exciting new drugs being developed. Preliminary results of these emerging agents that selectively target disease-defining pathogenic pathways seem to be promising, although long-term and large-scale studies assessing safety and efficacy are still lacking. The aim of this article was to review the clinical and research data of some emerging topical agents, focusing on Janus kinase-signal transducer and activator of transcription and phosphodiesterase type 4 inhibitors, which are currently being investigated.

Innovation in Flight: Research of the NASA Langley Research Center on Revolutionary Advanced Concepts for Aeronautics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chambers, Joseph R.

2005-01-01

The goal of this publication is to provide an overview of the topic of revolutionary research in aeronautics at Langley, including many examples of research efforts that offer significant potential benefits, but have not yet been applied. The discussion also includes an overview of how innovation and creativity is stimulated within the Center, and a perspective on the future of innovation. The documentation of this topic, especially the scope and experiences of the example research activities covered, is intended to provide background information for future researchers.

Topical treatments for chronic plaque psoriasis.

PubMed

Mason, Anne R; Mason, James; Cork, Michael; Dooley, Gordon; Hancock, Helen

2013-03-28

Chronic plaque psoriasis is the most common type of psoriasis, and it is characterised by redness, thickness, and scaling. First-line management of chronic plaque psoriasis is with topical treatments, including vitamin D analogues, topical corticosteroids, tar-based preparations, dithranol, salicylic acid, and topical retinoids. To compare the effectiveness, tolerability, and safety of topical treatments for chronic plaque psoriasis, relative to placebo, and to similarly compare vitamin D analogues (used alone or in combination) with other topical treatments. We updated our searches of the following databases to February 2011: the Cochrane Skin Group Specialised Register, CENTRAL in The Cochrane Library (2011, Issue 2), MEDLINE (from 1948), EMBASE (from 1980), Science Citation Index (from 2008), Conference Proceedings Citation Index - Science (from 2008), BIOSIS (from 1993), Dissertation Abstracts via DialogClassic (all publication years), and Inside Conferences (all publication years).We identified ongoing and unpublished studies from the UK Clinical Research Network Study Portfolio and the metaRegister of Controlled Trials. We checked the bibliographies of published studies and reviews for further references to relevant trials, and we contacted trialists and companies for information about newly published studies.A separate search for adverse effects was undertaken in February 2011 using MEDLINE and EMBASE (from 2005).Final update searches for both RCTs and adverse effects were undertaken in August 2012. Although it has not been possible to incorporate RCTs and adverse effects studies identified through these final searches within this review, we will incorporate these into the next update. Randomised trials comparing active topical treatments against placebo or against vitamin D analogues (used alone or in combination) in people with chronic plaque psoriasis. One author extracted study data and assessed study quality. A second author checked these data. We

Hot topics: Signal processing in acoustics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaumond, Charles F.

2005-09-01

Signal processing in acoustics is a multidisciplinary group of people that work in many areas of acoustics. We have chosen two areas that have shown exciting new applications of signal processing to acoustics or have shown exciting and important results from the use of signal processing. In this session, two hot topics are shown: the use of noiselike acoustic fields to determine sound propagation structure and the use of localization to determine animal behaviors. The first topic shows the application of correlation on geo-acoustic fields to determine the Greens function for propagation through the Earth. These results can then be further used to solve geo-acoustic inverse problems. The first topic also shows the application of correlation using oceanic noise fields to determine the Greens function through the ocean. These results also have utility for oceanic inverse problems. The second topic shows exciting results from the detection, localization, and tracking of marine mammals by two different groups. Results from detection and localization of bullfrogs are shown, too. Each of these studies contributed to the knowledge of animal behavior. [Work supported by ONR.

Consumer Health. Bibliographies on Educational Topics No. 5.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

ERIC Clearinghouse on Teacher Education, Washington, DC.

This document is the fifth in the series, BIBLIOGRAPHIES ON EDUCATIONAL TOPICS (BETS), providing topical searches of ERIC literature in the scope areas of teacher education and health education, physical education, and recreation education. Here, the subject of consumer health is treated bibliographically. Included are topics dealing with the wise…

Hot topics in noise

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stinson, Michael R.

2003-10-01

Our world continues to be a noisy place and the challenge to ``increase and diffuse knowledge of noise propagation, passive and active noise control, and the effects of noise'' remains. In the last several years, noise in the classroom has emerged as one of the hotter topics: Considerable progress has been made in the underpinning research, the formulation of recommendations, and the process of educating society on the social and personal impact of inadequate acoustical conditions in classrooms. The establishment of the ANSI S12.60-2002 standard for classroom acoustics was a milestone event. Noise in cities and the understanding of our soundscapes are subjects of ongoing significance. The development of standards and regulations is a continuing process, with urban community noise regulations, aviation noise, and the preservation of natural quiet in national parks being of current concern. New methods to reduce noise are under development and include passive and active methods of noise control, techniques for modeling the performance of noise barriers, and approaches for designing product sound quality.

Recruiting post-doctoral fellows into global health research: selecting NIH Fogarty International Clinical Research Fellows.

PubMed

Heimburger, Douglas C; Warner, Tokesha L; Carothers, Catherine Lem; Blevins, Meridith; Thomas, Yolanda; Gardner, Pierce; Primack, Aron; Vermund, Sten H

2014-08-01

From 2008 to 2012, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Fogarty International Clinical Research Fellows Program (FICRF) provided 1-year mentored research training at low- and middle-income country sites for American and international post-doctoral health professionals. We examined the FICRF applicant pool, proposed research topics, selection process, and characteristics of enrollees to assess trends in global health research interest and factors associated with applicant competitiveness. The majority (58%) of 67 US and 57 international Fellows were women, and 83% of Fellows had medical degrees. Most applicants were in clinical fellowships (41%) or residencies (24%). More applicants proposing infectious disease projects were supported (59%) than applicants proposing non-communicable disease (NCD) projects (41%), although projects that combined both topic areas were most successful (69%). The numbers of applicants proposing research on NCDs and the numbers of these applicants awarded fellowships rose dramatically over time. Funding provided to the FICRF varied significantly among NIH Institutes and Centers and was strongly associated with the research topics awarded. © The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Finasteride topical delivery systems for androgenetic alopecia.

PubMed

Khan, Muhammad Zia Ullah; Khan, Shujaat Ali; Ubaid, Muhammad; Shah, Aamna; Kousar, Rozina; Murtaza, Ghulam

2018-01-23

Androgenetic alopecia, generally recognized as male pattern baldness, is a gradually developing medical and physiological change, which is manifested by continuous hair-loss from scalp. Finasteride (4-aza-3-oxosteroid) is a potent anti-baldness compound that selectively and competitively inhibits the 5α-reductase isoenzymes. Prolonged oral use of finasteride leads to the emergence of sexual disorders including decrease in libido, gynecomastia, erectile dysfunction, ejaculation disorder, orgasm disorders and mood disturbances. Since, hair follicles widely home in 5α-reductase, topical formulations of finasteride in comparison to its oral formulations are expected to potentially reduce its systemic adverse effects. The analysis of literature has revealed some delivery systems developed for the enhanced and localized penetration of finasteride into the skin. These finasteride delivery systems include polymersomes, vesicular nanocarriers, vesicular ethosomal carriers, liposomes and niosomes, liquid crystalline nanoparticles, topical solutions and gels. The aim of this review article is to briefly amass all literature on topical delivery of finasteride to elaborate best dosage form, i.e. formulation having maximum permeation rate. This study will serve as a future perspective regarding topical delivery of finasteride. The literature analysis has exhibited that most of the previous investigators have used propylene glycol in their finasteride-loaded topical formulations, while poloxamer P407, monoolein, transcutol P and choline was used in few formulations. Moreover among all drug delivery systems, finasteride liposomal gel system consisting of 2% methyl cellulose and gel system containing poloxamer P407 exhibited the highest flux with a value of 28.4 ± 1.3 µg/cm2h and 23.1 ± 1.4 µg/cm2h, respectively. Several topical drug delivery techniques such as topical microneedles, aerosol foams, nanoemulsions, microsponges, and emulsifier free formulations, fullerenes

Topical anaesthetic and tear film stability.

PubMed

Mengher, L S; Pandher, K S; Bron, A J

1986-02-01

The effect of unpreserved topical anaesthetic on tear film stability (0.4% oxybuprocaine hydrochloride) was investigated in a double masked randomised study in 12 healthy volunteers, using a noninvasive tear film break up technique (NIBUT). It was found that the topical anaesthetic did not reduce the pre-corneal tear film stability, contrary to the electron microscopic evidence.

Atopic dermatitis: a review of topical nonsteroid therapy.

PubMed

Papier, Ariana; Strowd, Lindsay C

2018-01-01

Atopic dermatitis is a chronic inflammatory skin condition that affects up to 20% of children and 3% of adults globally. Although topical corticosteroids are considered to be the first-line agents, they can be associated with cutaneous and systemic adverse effects. Since the early 2000s, two new classes of nonsteroid topical therapies, topical calcineurin inhibitors and phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) inhibitors, have been introduced and provide a safe treatment alternative. We performed a search and review of clinical trials that examined the safety and efficacy of topical calcineurin inhibitors and PDE4 inhibitors. The search was conducted using the PubMed database as well as preselected keywords and filters. This review focuses on the safety and efficacy of each therapy. Sixty-nine clinical trials identified in this study have demonstrated the efficacy and safety of topical calcineurin and a single novel PDE4 inhibitor in the treatment of atopic dermatitis. Topical calcineurin inhibitors have been shown to be effective in both achieving lesion clearance as well as reducing relapse when used long-term and proactively. Similarly, in clinical trials the PDE4 inhibitor showed success in lesion clearance and symptom management. All three therapies (pimecrolimus, tacrolimus, crisaborole) are associated with low systemic absorption. No clinical trials to date have shown an increased risk of systemic adverse events or malignancy such as lymphoma. The most commonly reported treatment-related adverse event across all three therapies was application-site discomfort, pain or pruritus. It is important to note that long-term studies are not yet available for the novel PDE4 inhibitor. Topical calcineurin inhibitors provide a safe and effective alternative to topical corticosteroid use in the treatment of atopic dermatitis. Although the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) black box warning for topical calcineurin inhibitors remains, studies have not shown an increased risk of

Human Research Program Science Management: Overview of Research and Development Activities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Charles, John B.

2007-01-01

An overview of research and development activities of NASA's Human Research Science Management Program is presented. The topics include: 1) Human Research Program Goals; 2) Elements and Projects within HRP; 3) Development and Maintenance of Priorities; 4) Acquisition and Evaluation of Research and Technology Proposals; and 5) Annual Reviews

Topical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for the treatment of pain due to soft tissue injury: diclofenac epolamine topical patch

PubMed Central

Lionberger, David R; Brennan, Michael J

2010-01-01

The objective of this article is to review published clinical data on diclofenac epolamine topical patch 1.3% (DETP) in the treatment of acute soft tissue injuries, such as strains, sprains, and contusions. Review of published literature on topical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), diclofenac, and DETP in patients with acute soft tissue injuries was included. Relevant literature was identified on MEDLINE using the search terms topical NSAIDs, diclofenac, diclofenac epolamine, acute pain, sports injury, soft tissue injury, strain, sprain, and contusion, and from citations in retrieved articles covering the years 1978–2008. Review of published, randomized clinical trials and meta-analyses shows that topical NSAIDs are significantly more effective than placebo in relieving acute pain; the pooled average relative benefit was 1.7 (95% confidence interval, 1.5–1.9). In a limited number of comparisons, topical and oral NSAIDs provided comparable pain relief, but the use of topical agents produced lower plasma drug concentrations and fewer systemic adverse events (AEs). The physical–chemical properties of diclofenac epolamine make it well suited for topical use. In patients with acute soft tissue injuries treated with DETP, clinical data report an analgesic benefit within hours of the first application, and significant pain relief relative to placebo within 3 days. Moreover, DETP displayed tolerability comparable with placebo; the most common AEs were pruritus and other application site reactions. Review of published literature suggests that DETP is generally safe and well tolerated, clinically efficacious, and a rational treatment option for patients experiencing acute pain associated with strains, sprains, and contusions, and other localized painful conditions. PMID:21197326

Caregivers who refuse preventive care for their children: the relationship between immunization and topical fluoride refusal.

PubMed

Chi, Donald L

2014-07-01

The aim of this study was to examine caregivers' refusal of preventive medical and dental care for children. Prevalence rates of topical fluoride refusal based on dental records and caregiver self-reports were estimated for children treated in 3 dental clinics in Washington State. A 60-item survey was administered to 1024 caregivers to evaluate the association between immunization and topical fluoride refusal. Modified Poisson regression models were used to estimate prevalence rate ratios (PRRs). The prevalence of topical fluoride refusal was 4.9% according to dental records and 12.7% according to caregiver self-reports. The rate of immunization refusal was 27.4%. In the regression models, immunization refusal was significantly associated with topical fluoride refusal (dental record PRR = 1.61; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.32, 1.96; P < .001; caregiver self-report PRR = 6.20; 95% CI = 3.21, 11.98; P < .001). Caregivers younger than 35 years were significantly more likely than older caregivers to refuse both immunizations and topical fluoride (P < .05). Caregiver refusal of immunizations is associated with topical fluoride refusal. Future research should identify the behavioral and social factors related to caregiver refusal of preventive care with the goal of developing multidisciplinary strategies to help caregivers make optimal preventive care decisions for children.

The Structure of Scientific Arguments by Secondary Science Teachers: Comparison of experimental and historical science topics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gray, Ron; Kang, Nam-Hwa

2014-01-01

Just as scientific knowledge is constructed using distinct modes of inquiry (e.g. experimental or historical), arguments constructed during science instruction may vary depending on the mode of inquiry underlying the topic. The purpose of this study was to examine whether and how secondary science teachers construct scientific arguments during instruction differently for topics that rely on experimental or historical modes of inquiry. Four experienced high-school science teachers were observed daily during instructional units for both experimental and historical science topics. The main data sources include classroom observations and teacher interviews. The arguments were analyzed using Toulmin's argumentation pattern revealing specific patterns of arguments in teaching topics relying on these 2 modes of scientific inquiry. The teachers presented arguments to their students that were rather simple in structure but relatively authentic to the 2 different modes. The teachers used far more evidence in teaching topics based on historical inquiry than topics based on experimental inquiry. However, the differences were implicit in their teaching. Furthermore, their arguments did not portray the dynamic nature of science. Very few rebuttals or qualifiers were provided as the teachers were presenting their claims as if the data led straightforward to the claim. Implications for classroom practice and research are discussed.

Mathematical Representation Ability by Using Project Based Learning on the Topic of Statistics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Widakdo, W. A.

2017-09-01

Seeing the importance of the role of mathematics in everyday life, mastery of the subject areas of mathematics is a must. Representation ability is one of the fundamental ability that used in mathematics to make connection between abstract idea with logical thinking to understanding mathematics. Researcher see the lack of mathematical representation and try to find alternative solution to dolve it by using project based learning. This research use literature study from some books and articles in journals to see the importance of mathematical representation abiliy in mathemtics learning and how project based learning able to increase this mathematical representation ability on the topic of Statistics. The indicators for mathematical representation ability in this research classifies namely visual representation (picture, diagram, graph, or table); symbolize representation (mathematical statement. Mathematical notation, numerical/algebra symbol) and verbal representation (written text). This article explain about why project based learning able to influence student’s mathematical representation by using some theories in cognitive psychology, also showing the example of project based learning that able to use in teaching statistics, one of mathematics topic that very useful to analyze data.

Methods Used and Topics Addressed in Quantitative Health Research on Gay, Bisexual and Other Men Who Have Sex With Men: A Systematic Review of the Literature.

PubMed

Brennan, David J; Bauer, Greta R; Bradley, Kaitlin; Tran, Oth Vilaythong

2017-01-01

Research on sexual minority men (gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men) was examined with regard to the measures of sexual orientation used, the methods of research, and the main health outcomes under study. A systematic review of English-language quantitative studies was conducted focused on the health of sexual minority men published in 2010 (n = 250). The results provide a snapshot of the literature and revealed that research on sexual minority men overwhelmingly focused on HIV, STIs, and sexual health for which sexual orientation was most commonly defined behaviorally. For topics of mental health or body/fitness outcomes, sexual orientation was most commonly defined by identity. Most study samples were venue-based, and only 8.8% of published papers drew data from population-based samples. The findings suggest that there exists a need for research on sexual minority men's health beyond STIs and HIV that will examine mental and physical health outcomes beyond sexual risk, uses probability-based samples, and addresses intersectional concerns related to race/ethnicity and age.

Leading Contributors to the Research Consortium's Annual Program, 1992-2011: High-Visibility Institutions, Researchers, and Topics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cardinal, Bradley J.; Lee, Hyo

2013-01-01

Between 1992-2011, peer-reviewed research on the Research Consortium's annual program has been published in abstract form in the "Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport". On the basis of frequency, high-visibility institutions, researchers, and sub-disciplinary categories were identified. Data were extracted from each abstract (N =…

Topical Antimicrobials for Burn Infections – An Update

PubMed Central

Sevgi, Mert; Toklu, Ani; Vecchio, Daniela; Hamblin, Michael R

2014-01-01

The relentless rise in antibiotic resistance among pathogenic bacteria and fungi, coupled with the high susceptibility of burn wounds to infection, and the difficulty of systemically administered antibiotics to reach damaged tissue, taken together have made the development of novel topical antimicrobials for burn infections a fertile area of innovation for researchers and companies. We previously covered the existing patent literature in this area in 2010, but the notable progress made since then, has highlighted the need for an update to bring the reader up to date on recent developments. New patents in the areas of topically applied antibiotics and agents that can potentiate the action of existing antibiotics may extend their useful lifetime. Developments have also been made in biofilm-disrupting agents. Antimicrobial peptides are nature’s way for many life forms to defend themselves against attack by pathogens. Silver has long been known to be a highly active antimicrobial but new inorganic metal derivatives based on bismuth, copper and gallium have emerged. Halogens such as chlorine and iodine can be delivered by novel technologies. A variety of topically applied antimicrobials include chitosan preparations, usnic acid, ceragenins and XF porphyrins. Natural product derived antimicrobials such as tannins and essential oils have also been studied. Novel techniques to deliver reactive oxygen species and nitric oxide in situ have been developed. Light-mediated techniques include photodynamic therapy, ultraviolet irradiation, blue light, low-level laser therapy and titania photocatalysis. Passive immunotherapy employs antibodies against pathogens and their virulence factors. Finally an interesting new area uses therapeutic microorganisms such as phages, probiotic bacteria and protozoa to combat infections. PMID:24215506

Development and Evaluation of Topical Gabapentin Formulations

PubMed Central

Alcock, Natalie; Hiom, Sarah; Birchall, James C.

2017-01-01

Topical delivery of gabapentin is desirable to treat peripheral neuropathic pain conditions whilst avoiding systemic side effects. To date, reports of topical gabapentin delivery in vitro have been variable and dependent on the skin model employed, primarily involving rodent and porcine models. In this study a variety of topical gabapentin formulations were investigated, including Carbopol® hydrogels containing various permeation enhancers, and a range of proprietary bases including a compounded Lipoderm® formulation; furthermore microneedle facilitated delivery was used as a positive control. Critically, permeation of gabapentin across a human epidermal membrane in vitro was assessed using Franz-type diffusion cells. Subsequently this data was contextualised within the wider scope of the literature. Although reports of topical gabapentin delivery have been shown to vary, largely dependent upon the skin model used, this study demonstrated that 6% (w/w) gabapentin 0.75% (w/w) Carbopol® hydrogels containing 5% (w/w) DMSO or 70% (w/w) ethanol and a compounded 10% (w/w) gabapentin Lipoderm® formulation were able to facilitate permeation of the molecule across human skin. Further pre-clinical and clinical studies are required to investigate the topical delivery performance and pharmacodynamic actions of prospective formulations. PMID:28867811

Topical versus peribulbar anaesthesia for cataract surgery.

PubMed

Sauder, Gangolf; Jonas, Jost B

2003-12-01

To assess and compare the efficacy and safety of topical versus peribulbar anaesthesia in patients undergoing routine cataract surgery. The unicentre, prospective, randomized, clinical interventional trial included 140 consecutive patients undergoing routine cataract surgery performed by one of two surgeons. The patients were randomly distributed to either peribulbar anaesthesia or topical anaesthesia. To assess intraoperative pain, each patient was asked immediately after surgery to quantitate his/her pain using a 10-point pain rating scale. The study groups did not differ significantly in pain score (p=0.54), duration of surgery (p=0.52), anaesthesia-related intraoperative difficulties (p=0.17), postoperative visual acuity (p=0.94), overall intraoperative surgical complication rate, blood pressure rise (p=0.16) or blood oxygen saturation (p=0.74) Patient comfort and surgery-related complications did not differ between topical anaesthesia and peribulbar anaesthesia. As there are no significant differences between the two techniques in terms of subjective pain experienced by patients, intraoperative complications and postoperative visual outcome, and in view of the minimally invasive character of topical anaesthesia compared to peribulbar anaesthesia, the present study suggests the use of topical anaesthesia for routine cataract surgery.

Research on Mathematics Education Reported in 1982.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Suydam, Marilyn N.

1983-01-01

This is the 13th annual listing of research on mathematics education. Annotated references are organized alphabetically by author within three categories: (1) research summaries; (2) journal-published reports; and (3) dissertation abstracts. An index is also provided to help locate references to designated mathematical topics. Topic areas include:…

The Effects of Animation Technique on Teaching of Acids and Bases Topics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dasdemir, Ikramettin; Doymus, Kemal; Simsek, Ümit; Karaçöp, Ataman

2008-01-01

This study has been carried out in order to determine the effect of computer animations in teaching acid and base topics in science and technology courses on the academic success of the primary school students and the opinions of students related to teaching with the animations. This research was conducted by the participation of 55 students from…

Health policy and systems research agendas in developing countries.

PubMed

Gonzalez-Block, Miguel A

2004-08-05

BACKGROUND: Health policy and systems research (HPSR) is an international public good with potential to orient investments and performance at national level. Identifying research trends and priorities at international level is therefore important. This paper offers a conceptual framework and defines the HPSR portfolio as a set of research projects under implementation. The research portfolio is influenced by factors external to the research system as well as internal to it. These last include the capacity of research institutions, the momentum of research programs, funding opportunities and the influence of stakeholder priorities and public opinion. These dimensions can vary in their degree of coordination, leading to a complementary or a fragmented research portfolio. OBJECTIVE: The main objective is to identify the themes currently being pursued in the research portfolio and agendas within developing countries and to quantify their frequency in an effort to identify current research topics and their underlying influences. METHODS: HPSR topics being pursued by developing country producer institutions and their perceived priorities were identified through a survey between 2000 and 2002. The response to a call for letters of intent issued by the Alliance in 2000 for a broad range of topics was also analyzed. The institutions that were the universe of this study consisted of the 176 institutional partners of the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research producing research in low and middle income countries outside Europe. HPSR topics as well as the beneficiaries or issues and the health problems addressed were content analyzed. Topics were classified into 19 categories and their frequency analyzed across groups of countries with similar per capita income. Agendas were identified by analyzing the source of funding and of project initiation for projects under implementation. RESULTS: The highest ranking topic at the aggregate level is "Sector analysis", followed

Topical antibiotics: therapeutic value or ecologic mischief?

PubMed

Del Rosso, James Q; Kim, Grace K

2009-01-01

Based on antibiotic prescribing data from 2003, dermatologists account annually for 8-9 million prescriptions for oral antibiotics, and 3-4 million prescriptions for topical antibiotics. Overall, much of the emphasis on concerns related to emergence of clinically significant antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains focuses on use of systemic antibiotics, however, topical antibiotic use may also have potential implications. The following article discusses the perspectives of the authors related to the potential therapeutic benefits and ecologic implications ("ecologic mischief") of topical antibiotic therapy for specific indications encountered in ambulatory dermatology practice.

Research and technology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

Significant research and technology activities at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) during Fiscal Year 1990 are reviewed. Research in human factors engineering, the Space Shuttle, the Space Station Freedom, space exploration and related topics are covered.

Topical phenytoin for treating pressure ulcers.

PubMed

Hao, Xiang Yong; Li, Hong Ling; Su, He; Cai, Hui; Guo, Tian Kang; Liu, Ruifeng; Jiang, Lei; Shen, Yan Fei

2017-02-22

Pressure ulcers are common in clinical practice and pose a significant health problem worldwide. Apart from causing suffering to patients, they also result in longer hospital stays and increase the cost of health care. A variety of methods are used for treating pressure ulcers, including pressure relief, patient repositioning, biophysical strategies, nutritional supplementation, debridement, topical negative pressure, and local treatments including dressings, ointments and creams such as bacitracin, silver sulphadiazine, neomycin, and phenytoin. Phenytoin is a drug more commonly used in the treatment of epilepsy, but may play an important role in accelerating ulcer healing. To assess the effects of topical phenytoin on the rate of healing of pressure ulcers of any grade, in any care setting. In September 2016, we searched the following electronic databases to identify relevant randomized clinical trials: the Cochrane Wounds Specialised Register; the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL; the Cochrane Library); Ovid MEDLINE; Ovid Embase; and EBSCO CINAHL Plus. We handsearched conference proceedings from the European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel, European Wound Management Association and the Tissue Viability Society for all available years. We searched the references of the retrieved trials to identify further relevant trials. We also searched clinical trials registries to identify ongoing and unpublished studies. There were no restrictions with respect to language, date of publication or study setting. We included all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) addressing the effects (both benefits and harms) of topical phenytoin on the healing of pressure ulcers of any grade compared with placebo or alternative treatments or no therapy, irrespective of blinding, language, and publication status. Two review authors independently selected studies, extracted information on participants, interventions, methods and results and assessed risk of bias using

A framework for extracting and representing project knowledge contexts using topic models and dynamic knowledge maps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Jin; Li, Zheng; Li, Shuliang; Zhang, Yanyan

2015-07-01

There is still a lack of effective paradigms and tools for analysing and discovering the contents and relationships of project knowledge contexts in the field of project management. In this paper, a new framework for extracting and representing project knowledge contexts using topic models and dynamic knowledge maps under big data environments is proposed and developed. The conceptual paradigm, theoretical underpinning, extended topic model, and illustration examples of the ontology model for project knowledge maps are presented, with further research work envisaged.

Pursuing Personal Passion: Learner-Centered Research Mentoring.

PubMed

Phillips, William R

2018-01-01

New researchers often face difficulty finding and focusing research questions. I describe a new tool for research mentoring, the Pursuing Personal Passion (P3) interview, and a systematic approach to help learners organize their curiosity and develop researchable questions aligned with their personal and professional priorities. The learner-centered P3 research interview parallels the patient-centered clinical interview. This paper reviews experience with 27 research mentees over the years 2009 to 2016, using the P3 approach to identify their initial research topics, classify their underlying passions and track the evolution into their final research questions. These researchers usually identified one of three personal passions that provided lenses to focus their research: problem, person, or process. Initial research topics focused on: problem (24%, 6), person (48%, 12) and process (28%, 7). Final research questions evolved into: problem (20%, 5), person (32%, 8) and process (48%, 12). Identification of the underlying passion can lead researchers who start with one general topic to develop it into very different research questions. Using this P3 approach, mentors can help new researchers focus their interests into researchable questions, successful studies, and organized programs of scholarship.

Hot Topics: Solar Interconnection Policy | State, Local, and Tribal

Science.gov Websites

Governments | NREL Blog » Hot Topics: Solar Interconnection Policy Hot Topics: Solar Renewable Energy Laboratory, discussing the PV interconnection process as part of our Hot Topics series

Safety of topical corticosteroids in pregnancy.

PubMed

Chi, Ching-Chi; Wang, Shu-Hui; Wojnarowska, Fenella; Kirtschig, Gudula; Davies, Emily; Bennett, Cathy

2015-10-26

Topical corticosteroids are the most frequently prescribed dermatological treatment and are often used by pregnant women with skin conditions. However, little is known about their safety in pregnancy. To assess the effects of topical corticosteroids on pregnancy outcomes in pregnant women. This is an update of a review previously published in 2009. We updated our searches of the following databases to July 2015: the Cochrane Skin Group Specialised Register, the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group Specialised Register, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (2015, Issue 6), MEDLINE, EMBASE, and LILACS. We also searched five trials registers and checked the reference lists of included studies, published reviews, articles that had cited the included studies, and one author's literature collection, for further references to relevant RCTs. Randomised controlled trials and cohort studies of topical corticosteroids in pregnant women, as well as case-control studies comparing maternal exposure to topical corticosteroids between cases and controls when studies reported pre-specified outcomes. The primary outcomes included mode of delivery, major congenital abnormality, birth weight, and preterm delivery (delivery before 37 completed weeks gestation); the secondary outcomes included foetal death, minor congenital abnormality, and low Apgar score (less than seven at 5 min). We used standard methodological procedures expected by Cochrane. Two authors independently applied selection criteria, extracted data, and assessed the quality of the included studies. A third author was available for resolving differences of opinion. A further author independently extracted data from included studies that were conducted by authors of this systematic review. We included 7 new observational studies in this update, bringing the total number to 14, including 5 cohort and 9 case-control studies, with 1,601,515 study subjects.Most studies found no causal associations

Topics in Finance Part VII--Dividend Policy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laux, Judy

2011-01-01

This series inspects the major topics in finance, reviewing the roles of stockholder wealth maximization, the risk-return tradeoff, and agency conflicts. The current article, devoted to dividend policy, also reviews the topic as presented in textbooks and the literature.

Erythema-directed digital photography for the enhanced evaluation of topical treatments for acne vulgaris.

PubMed

Micali, G; Dall'Oglio, F; Tedeschi, A; Lacarrubba, F

2018-01-31

Erythema-directed digital photography is a novel method for evaluating the efficacy and tolerability of topical acne treatments. Here, we describe three case reports in which erythema-directed digital photography was used to evaluate acne before and after up to 12 weeks of treatment with clindamycin 1%/tretinoin 0.025% (Clin-RA). Erythema-directed digital photography was used to evaluate acne in three patients with mild-to-moderate facial acne, two of whom had refused to continue previous topical acne treatment (benzoyl peroxide 5% and clindamycin 1%/benzoyl peroxide 5%) due to persistent irritation. Acne lesions and erythema were evaluated using standard clinical photography and erythema-directed digital photography (VISIA-CR ™ system) before and after 8-12 weeks of treatment with Clin-RA. Erythema-directed digital photography revealed background erythema from previous topical acne treatments that was not evident from standard clinical photographs and allowed a better visualization of both inflammatory and non-inflammatory lesions. In all patients, there was a clear improvement in background erythema and a reduction in acne lesions following treatment with Clin-RA. This study has demonstrated for the first time that erythema-directed digital photography can enhance the evaluation of the efficacy and tolerability of topical acne treatments. These cases show that Clin-RA was associated with improved efficacy and tolerability vs previous treatments with topical monotherapy (benzoyl peroxide 5%) or a topical fixed-dose combination (clindamycin 1%/benzoyl peroxide 5%). © 2018 The Authors. Skin Research and Technology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A Practitioner-Driven Research Agenda for Syndromic Surveillance.

PubMed

Hopkins, Richard S; Tong, Catherine C; Burkom, Howard S; Akkina, Judy E; Berezowski, John; Shigematsu, Mika; Finley, Patrick D; Painter, Ian; Gamache, Roland; Vilas, Victor J Del Rio; Streichert, Laura C

Syndromic surveillance has expanded since 2001 in both scope and geographic reach and has benefited from research studies adapted from numerous disciplines. The practice of syndromic surveillance continues to evolve rapidly. The International Society for Disease Surveillance solicited input from its global surveillance network on key research questions, with the goal of improving syndromic surveillance practice. A workgroup of syndromic surveillance subject matter experts was convened from February to June 2016 to review and categorize the proposed topics. The workgroup identified 12 topic areas in 4 syndromic surveillance categories: informatics, analytics, systems research, and communications. This article details the context of each topic and its implications for public health. This research agenda can help catalyze the research that public health practitioners identified as most important.

Atopic dermatitis: a review of topical nonsteroid therapy

PubMed Central

Papier, Ariana

2018-01-01

Background Atopic dermatitis is a chronic inflammatory skin condition that affects up to 20% of children and 3% of adults globally. Although topical corticosteroids are considered to be the first-line agents, they can be associated with cutaneous and systemic adverse effects. Since the early 2000s, two new classes of nonsteroid topical therapies, topical calcineurin inhibitors and phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) inhibitors, have been introduced and provide a safe treatment alternative. Method We performed a search and review of clinical trials that examined the safety and efficacy of topical calcineurin inhibitors and PDE4 inhibitors. The search was conducted using the PubMed database as well as preselected keywords and filters. This review focuses on the safety and efficacy of each therapy. Results Sixty-nine clinical trials identified in this study have demonstrated the efficacy and safety of topical calcineurin and a single novel PDE4 inhibitor in the treatment of atopic dermatitis. Topical calcineurin inhibitors have been shown to be effective in both achieving lesion clearance as well as reducing relapse when used long-term and proactively. Similarly, in clinical trials the PDE4 inhibitor showed success in lesion clearance and symptom management. All three therapies (pimecrolimus, tacrolimus, crisaborole) are associated with low systemic absorption. No clinical trials to date have shown an increased risk of systemic adverse events or malignancy such as lymphoma. The most commonly reported treatment-related adverse event across all three therapies was application-site discomfort, pain or pruritus. It is important to note that long-term studies are not yet available for the novel PDE4 inhibitor. Discussion Topical calcineurin inhibitors provide a safe and effective alternative to topical corticosteroid use in the treatment of atopic dermatitis. Although the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) black box warning for topical calcineurin inhibitors remains, studies

Probability workshop to be better in probability topic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asmat, Aszila; Ujang, Suriyati; Wahid, Sharifah Norhuda Syed

2015-02-01

The purpose of the present study was to examine whether statistics anxiety and attitudes towards probability topic among students in higher education level have an effect on their performance. 62 fourth semester science students were given statistics anxiety questionnaires about their perception towards probability topic. Result indicated that students' performance in probability topic is not related to anxiety level, which means that the higher level in statistics anxiety will not cause lower score in probability topic performance. The study also revealed that motivated students gained from probability workshop ensure that their performance in probability topic shows a positive improvement compared before the workshop. In addition there exists a significance difference in students' performance between genders with better achievement among female students compared to male students. Thus, more initiatives in learning programs with different teaching approaches is needed to provide useful information in improving student learning outcome in higher learning institution.

Interpretable Topic Features for Post-ICU Mortality Prediction.

PubMed

Luo, Yen-Fu; Rumshisky, Anna

2016-01-01

Electronic health records provide valuable resources for understanding the correlation between various diseases and mortality. The analysis of post-discharge mortality is critical for healthcare professionals to follow up potential causes of death after a patient is discharged from the hospital and give prompt treatment. Moreover, it may reduce the cost derived from readmissions and improve the quality of healthcare. Our work focused on post-discharge ICU mortality prediction. In addition to features derived from physiological measurements, we incorporated ICD-9-CM hierarchy into Bayesian topic model learning and extracted topic features from medical notes. We achieved highest AUCs of 0.835 and 0.829 for 30-day and 6-month post-discharge mortality prediction using baseline and topic proportions derived from Labeled-LDA. Moreover, our work emphasized the interpretability of topic features derived from topic model which may facilitates the understanding and investigation of the complexity between mortality and diseases.

Case Of Iatrogenic Cushing's Syndrome By Topical Triamcinolone.

PubMed

Zil-E-Ali, Ahsan; Janjua, Omer Hanif; Latif, Aiza; Aadil, Muhammad

2018-01-01

Cushing's syndrome is a collection of signs and symptoms due to hypercortisolism. Prolong use of topical steroid may cause this syndrome and suppression of hypothalamic and pituitary function, however such events are more common with oral and parenteral route. There are very few cases of Cushing's syndrome with a topical application amongst which triamcinolone is the rarest drug. We report a case of 11-year-old boy is presented who developed Cushing's disease by topical application. The child had body rashes for which the caregiver consulted a local quack, a topical cream of triamcinolone was prescribed. After application for three months, the patient became obese and developed a moon-like face. A thorough biochemical workup and diagnostic test for Cushing's disease was done to confirm. The following case report a dramatic example of development of the syndrome from chronic topical application of the least potent corticosteroid.

Research in the Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McLean, James E., Ed.; Kaufman, Alan S., Ed.

2001-01-01

"Research in the Schools" publishes empirical studies focusing on the results of applied educational research, scholarly reviews of research, descriptions of technology applications and innovative teaching strategies, and other topics of interest to educational researchers. Issue number 1 contains these articles: (1) "Factors Associated with…

Topic Structure Affects Semantic Integration: Evidence from Event-Related Potentials

PubMed Central

Yang, Xiaohong; Chen, Xuhai; Chen, Shuang; Xu, Xiaoying; Yang, Yufang

2013-01-01

This study investigated whether semantic integration in discourse context could be influenced by topic structure using event-related brain potentials. Participants read discourses in which the last sentence contained a critical word that was either congruent or incongruent with the topic established in the first sentence. The intervening sentences between the first and the last sentence of the discourse either maintained or shifted the original topic. Results showed that incongruent words in topic-maintained discourses elicited an N400 effect that was broadly distributed over the scalp while those in topic-shifted discourses elicited an N400 effect that was lateralized to the right hemisphere and localized over central and posterior areas. Moreover, a late positivity effect was only elicited by incongruent words in topic-shifted discourses, but not in topic-maintained discourses. This suggests an important role for discourse structure in semantic integration, such that compared with topic-maintained discourses, the complexity of discourse structure in topic-shifted condition reduces the initial stage of semantic integration and enhances the later stage in which a mental representation is updated. PMID:24348994

Topic structure affects semantic integration: evidence from event-related potentials.

PubMed