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Five-year trends and baseline predictors of patient-reported adverse events following breast radiotherapy with a boost in the IMPORT HIGH phase III randomised controlled trial.
Get PDFBACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: IMPORT HIGH demonstrated non-inferiority of simultaneous integrated boost against sequential boost for ipsilateral breast tumour relapse. Patient-reported adverse events (AEs) were similar across treatment groups. In this longitudinal analysis of patient-reported AE data from IMPORT HIGH we describe prevalence and baseline predictors of patient-reported AEs over 5-years. MATERIALS AND METHODS: IMPORT HIGH (ISRCTN47437448) recruited women with early breast cancer and higher-than-average local recurrence risk. All participants received breast radiotherapy and a boost. Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) were recorded using EORTC QLQ-C30, QLQ-BR23, Body Image Scale administered at baseline, 6 months, 1, 3, 5-years. AEs were recorded on a 4-point-scale and dichotomised (none/mild versus moderate/marked) for analysis. Generalised Estimating Equations assessed patterns of moderate/marked AEs and their baseline predictors. RESULTS: 52/76 IMPORT HIGH centres participated in the PRO sub-study. 1078/1338 patients consented. 270/762 (35.4 %) patients reported no moderate/marked AEs at 5-years. Most common moderate/marked AEs at 5-years were overall change in breast appearance (257/762, 33.7 %) and having a smaller breast (222/762, 29.1 %). Arm and breast symptoms peaked at 6-month assessment, with breast symptoms improving but arm symptoms persisting over 5-years. Body image-related AEs improved from baseline. Younger age and anxiety were the commonest baseline predictors of AEs. CONCLUSION: This longitudinal analysis of PROs in a large trial of breast and boost radiotherapy demonstrates an overall decrease in the number of patient-reported moderate/marked AEs up to 5-years following radiotherapy. Baseline factors predicting AE development include younger age and anxiety, informing support strategies for patients receiving whole breast and boost radiotherapy
Three frameworks for AI mentality.
Get PDFRapid advances in large language models (LLMs) have been accompanied by a striking increase in public and user attribution of mentality to AI systems. This paper offers a structured analysis of these attributions by distinguishing three frameworks for thinking about AI mentality and their implications for interpretation. First, I examine "mindless machines" views, focusing on architectural debunking arguments that claim mechanistic or algorithmic descriptions render folk-psychological explanation redundant. Drawing on Marr's levels of analysis, I argue that such arguments are often too quick, though they highlight an important distinction between "deep" folk-psychological concepts that are sensitive to implementation and "shallow" concepts such as belief and desire that are more architecture-indifferent. Second, I assess "mere roleplay" views that treat mental-state ascriptions to LLMs as useful heuristics akin to engagement with fiction. I argue that this stance is psychologically unstable in anthropomimetic systems designed to elicit unironic anthropomorphism, and theoretically incomplete insofar as roleplay analogies typically presuppose an underlying agent. Third, I develop a "minimal cognitive agents" framework under which LLMs may warrant limited, graded attributions of belief- and desire-like states. I suggest that moving from binary to multidimensional, continuous conceptions of belief can preserve distinctions between humans, LLMs, and simpler systems while better capturing emerging interpretive practice and its normative stakes
Advancing global dementia research through equity and inclusion
Get PDFDespite the global burden of dementia, research remains dominated by high‐income, Western populations, limiting the generalizability and equity of findings. In this Perspective, we highlight the importance of diversity and inclusion in dementia research, not only in study participants but also in the researchers, study design, and funding priorities. We describe how the lack of representation creates knowledge gaps and delays progress in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. We also present examples of initiatives that are working to change this, including the Alzheimer's Disease Data Initiative and the William H. Gates Sr. Fellowship program, which supports open science, international collaboration, and early‐career researchers from underrepresented regions. These efforts demonstrate that diversity is not only an ethical goal, but a scientific need. More inclusive and global research could lead to discoveries that are more generalizable, more globally applicable, and better able to inform strategies to address dementia across all communities. Highlights: Prioritize representation in datasets across ethnicity, geography, sex/gender, and socio‐economic status. Support early‐career researchers from underrepresented regions with long‐term funding and mentorship. Standardize and adapt tools (cognitive, clinical, genomic) across cultural and linguistic contexts. Promote open science through equitable, federated data sharing platforms, and embed community engagement from research design to dissemination. Value diversity as a driver of discovery, not as a confounder
Hydrophilic or Hydrophobic? How Byproducts Change the Water Affinity of Fischer-Tropsch Catalysts.
Get PDFThe impact of reaction byproducts on the water wettability of Fischer-Tropsch catalysts has been investigated by using supported cobalt and ruthenium catalysts. Water contact angle measurements showed an evolution from 75° to 140° for a supported cobalt on titania catalyst due to catalytic operation, indicating that the catalyst changed from hydrophilic to almost superhydrophobic. MALDI-FT-ICR-MS studies revealed that the dewaxed spent catalyst contained long-chain carboxylates, in line with the presence of carboxylic acids with carbon numbers up to C100 in the heavy wax. Using dedicated experiments with alumina, silica, and titania support materials, it was found that alcohols, carboxylic acids, and amines adhered so strongly to the surface that they could not be removed by Soxhlet extraction with xylene. The resulting surface loadings varied from 0.3 to 3 molecules per square nanometer. For amines and carboxylic acids on alumina and titania, it resulted in a similar increase in water contact angle as observed for the spent catalyst. The molecular fingerprint of the organic-support interaction was obtained with ATR-IR, and using TGA data, it was shown that the presence of only 1-2 wt % of carboxylates on titania was sufficient to halve the water uptake capacity. Finally, operando NMR data using a Ru/TiO2 catalyst provided evidence that during the first weeks of catalytic operation, oxygenates build up with a concomitant decrease in liquid water on the catalyst surface. The profound influence of minor amounts of adsorbed products is of strong relevance for both catalyst design and catalytic evaluation
Vibro-acoustic dynamics in the presence of uncertainty and nonlinearity
Get PDFThe statistics of the vibro-acoustic response for an ensemble of systems with uncertain properties, such as those arising from manufacturing and material imperfections, is critical in the design of built-up structures. This is particularly important in the mid-frequency range, where sensitivity to uncertainty can lead to significant variation in the robustness of the response within components of a built-up assembly. Consequently, it is appropriate to model the mix of dynamic behaviour using a combination of deterministic and statistical approaches that are well suited to each regime. The Hybrid FE-SEA method combines the most prevalent of these respective techniques, namely the Finite Element (FE) method and Statistical Energy Analysis (SEA). This partitions the system into an assembly of statistically behaving subsystems and a deterministic master system, which are modelled using the FE method and SEA respectively, and yields significant computational benefit in predicting the response statistics.
This has been developed as a linear approach and therefore is only applicable to linear systems. However, it is typical for nonlinearity to arise in real engineering systems. This may be localised, for instance, in a joint of a structure due to mechanisms like friction, or more distributed in a component, such as in cases of geometric nonlinearity or material hysteresis. The objective of this work is to extend the Hybrid FE-SEA method to nonlinear systems, particularly those with localised nonlinearities, which can be described deterministically as part of the master system.
A linearisation scheme for an ensemble of nonlinear systems under random loading has therefore been developed to establish a linearised Hybrid FE-SEA method. Although this motivated its development, the linearisation itself is completely general in its derivation. Additionally, this highlighted two further shortcomings in the Hybrid FE-SEA method. These are also addressed and are consequently useful for both linear and nonlinear systems. The first establishes a framework for introducing general stochastic loading, that allows the correlation between random loads to be specified. This requires the underlying statistics describing the subsystem to be reconsidered employing results from random point process theory. The second extends the Hybrid FE-SEA method to determine the ensemble statistics of the broadband-averaged response. Following validation of the developed theory, each of these contributions is employed within the linearised Hybrid FE-SEA method, which is numerically validated against benchmark nonlinear Monte Carlo simulations
De-Labelling Penicillin Allergies in the Paediatric Emergency Department.
Get PDFWhile many paediatric patients have a penicillin allergy label, most do not have a true allergy. The penicillin allergy label is associated with a lifetime risk of avoidable use of broad-spectrum antibiotics, higher healthcare costs, and poorer clinical outcomes. In this review, we present different types of penicillin allergies, de-labelling approaches, and significance on paediatric patients. We also discuss parental perspectives regarding penicillin de-labelling in the emergency setting. We highlight that despite the challenges posed by barriers such as overcrowding and the need for quick patient turnover in the PED, the availability of resources and expertise in managing potential allergic reactions makes the PED an ideal environment where PCN de-labelling can be both feasible and effective. We show that further education of both parents and healthcare professionals is essential to overcoming misconceptions, alleviating safety concerns, fostering trust in the de-labelling process, and normalising de-labelling in the PED
Inventing Artificial Intelligence in Ethiopia
Get PDFArtificial Intelligence (AI) research has always been embedded in complex networks of cultural imagination, corporate business, and sociopolitical power relations. The great majority of AI research around the world, and almost all commentary on that research, assumes that the imagination, business, and political systems of Western culture and the Global North are sufficient to understand how this technology should develop in future. This article investigates the context within which AI research is imagined and conducted in the Amhara region of Ethiopia, with implications for public policy, technology strategy, future research in development contexts, and the principles that might be applied as practical engineering priorities
Towards a Poetics of the Digital Protest Text: Insights from the #BlackLivesMatter Movement (2013-) and Anti-CAA and Anti-NRC Protests (2019-2020)
No full textWith the rise of digital activism in the global protest cycle, it is imperative to formulate theoretical frameworks, or a poetics, of the role digital texts play in creating, sustaining, and outliving protest. For all its ubiquitous use, the form has been slippery to conceptualize; its literary value overshadowed by its function as an appendage to sociological and historical readings of protest.
I construct a poetics for the digital protest text by examining the (largely online) protest texts of the Black Lives Matter movement in the US and the anti-CAA and anti-NRC movement in Shaheen Bagh, India: both of which had significant in-situ participation, as well as a vibrant virtual life. I offer comparative, and at times, complementary readings of these two movements to provide a theoretical framework for understanding the digital protest text beyond localisation or specialised archives.
In this PhD, I examine a variety of texts, ranging from seminal protest texts such as ‘Sab Yaad Rakha Jaayega’ (‘All Will Be Remembered’) by Aamir Aziz, Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine, A Fortune For Your Disaster by Hanif Abdurraqib to community-produced volumes and images with directed circulation. In doing so, I posit embodiment, archiving, and doubling as key poetics of the digital protest text. I argue that their triangulation is key for the sustenance of contemporary protest movements. Finally, I reinstate the central—rather than incidental—role that the digital protest text plays in modern protest
Measurement of the top-quark pole mass in dileptonic tt¯ + 1-jet events at s=13 TeV with the ATLAS experiment
Get PDFA measurement of the top-quark pole mass mtpole is presented in tt¯ events with an additional jet, tt¯ + 1-jet, produced in pp collisions at s=13 TeV. The data sample, recorded with the ATLAS experiment during Run 2 of the LHC, corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb−1. Events with one electron and one muon of opposite electric charge in the final state are selected to measure the tt¯ + 1-jet differential cross-section as a function of the inverse of the invariant mass of the tt¯ + 1-jet system. Iterative Bayesian Unfolding is used to correct the data to enable comparison with fixed-order calculations at next-to-leading-order accuracy in the strong coupling. The process pp→tt¯j2→3, where top quarks are taken as stable particles, and the process pp→bb¯l+νl−ν¯j2→7, which includes top-quark decays to the dilepton final state and off-shell effects, are considered. The top-quark mass is extracted using a χ2 fit of the unfolded normalized differential cross-section distribution. The results obtained with the 2 → 3 and 2 → 7 calculations are compatible within theoretical uncertainties, providing an important consistency check. The more precise determination is obtained for the 2 → 3 measurement: mtpole=170.7±0.3stat.±1.4syst.±0.3scale±0.2PDF⊕αS GeV, which is in good agreement with other top-quark mass results
The First Indoor Pathloss Radio Map Prediction Challenge
Get PDFTo encourage further research and to facilitate fair comparisons in the development of deep learning-based radio propagation models, in the less explored case of directional radio signal emissions in indoor propagation environments, we have launched the ICASSP 2025 First Indoor Pathloss Radio Map Prediction Challenge. This overview paper describes the indoor path loss prediction problem, the datasets used, the Challenge tasks, and the evaluation methodology. Finally, the results of the Challenge and a summary of the submitted methods are presented