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Evaluation of statistical approaches for association testing in noisy drug screening data
No full textBackground
Identifying associations among biological variables is a major challenge in modern quantitative biological research, particularly given the systemic and statistical noise endemic to biological systems. Drug sensitivity data has proven to be a particularly challenging field for identifying associations to inform patient treatment.
Results
To address this, we introduce two semi-parametric variations on the commonly used concordance index: the robust concordance index and the kernelized concordance index (rCI, kCI), which incorporate measurements about the noise distribution from the data. We demonstrate that common statistical tests applied to the concordance index and its variations fail to control for false positives, and introduce efficient implementations to compute p-values using adaptive permutation testing. We then evaluate the statistical power of these coefficients under simulation and compare with Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients. Finally, we evaluate the various statistics in matching drugs across pharmacogenomic datasets.
Conclusions
We observe that the rCI and kCI are better powered than the concordance index in simulation and show some improvement on real data. Surprisingly, we observe that the Pearson correlation was the most robust to measurement noise among the different metrics
Estimating the volume of the 1978 Rissa quick clay landslide in Central Norway using historical aerial imagery
No full textQuick clay is found across Scandinavia and is especially prominent in south-eastern and central Norway. Quick clay is prone to failure and can cause landslides with high velocities and large run-outs. The 1978 Rissa landslide is one of the best-known quick clay landslides to have occurred in the last century, both due to its size and the fact that it was captured on film. In this article, we utilise Structure from Motion Multi-View Stereo (SfM-MVS) photogrammetry to process historical aerial photography from 1964 to 1978 and derive the first geodetic volume of the Rissa landslide. We found that the landslide covered a total onshore area of 0.36 km2 and had a geodetic volume of 2.53 ± 0.52 × 106 m3 with up to 20 m of surface elevation changes. Our estimate differs profusely from previous estimates by 43–56% which can partly be accounted for our analysis not being able to measure the portion of the landslide that occurred underwater, nor account for the material deposited within the landslide area. Given the accuracy and precision of our analyses, we believe that the total volume of the Rissa landslide may have been less than originally reported. The use of modern image processing techniques such as SfM-MVS for processing historical aerial photography is recommended for understanding landscape changes related to landslides, volcanoes, glaciers, or river erosion over large spatial and temporal scales
Environmental Change at Deep-Sea Sponge Habitats Over the Last Half Century: A Model Hindcast Study for the Age of Anthropogenic Climate Change
No full textDeep-sea sponges inhabit multiple areas of the deep North Atlantic at depths below 250 m. Living in the deep ocean, where environmental properties below the permanent thermocline generally change slowly, they may not easily acclimatize to abrupt changes in the environment. Until now consistent monitoring timeseries of the environment at deep sea sponge habitats are missing. Therefore, long-term simulation with coupled bio-physical models can shed light on the changes in environmental conditions sponges are exposed to. To investigate the variability of North Atlantic sponge habitats for the past half century, the deep-sea conditions have been simulated with a 67-year model hindcast from 1948 to 2014. The hindcast was generated using the ocean general circulation model HYCOM, coupled to the biogeochemical model ECOSMO. The model was validated at known sponge habitats with available observations of hydrography and nutrients from the deep ocean to evaluate the biases, errors, and drift in the model. Knowing the biases and uncertainties we proceed to study the longer-term (monthly to multi-decadal) environmental variability at selected sponge habitats in the North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean. On these timescales, these deep sponge habitats generally exhibit small variability in the water-mass properties. Three of the sponge habitats, the Flemish Cap, East Greenland Shelf and North Norwegian Shelf, had fluctuations of temperature and salinity in 4–6 year periods that indicate the dominance of different water masses during these periods. The fourth sponge habitat, the Reykjanes Ridge, showed a gradual warming of about 0.4°C over the simulation period. The flux of organic matter to the sea floor had a large interannual variability, that, compared to the 67-year mean, was larger than the variability of primary production in the surface waters. Lateral circulation is therefore likely an important control mechanism for the influx of organic material to the sponge habitats. Simulated oxygen varies interannually by less than 1.5 ml/l and none of the sponge habitats studied had oxygen concentrations below hypoxic levels. The present study establishes a baseline for the recent past deep conditions that future changes in deep sea conditions from observations and climate models can be evaluated against
Hvordan kan vi som sykepleiere forbedre munnhelsen til geriatriske pasienter på sykehjem?
No full text
Early versus delayed lengthening exercises for acute hamstring injury in male athletes: A randomised controlled clinical trial
No full textBackground: To evaluate the efficacy of early versus delayed introduction of lengthening (ie, eccentric strengthening) exercises in addition to an established rehabilitation programme on return to sport duration for acute hamstring injuries in a randomised controlled superiority trial.
Methods: 90 male participants (age: 18–36 years, median 26 years) with an MRI-confirmed acute hamstring injury were randomised into an early lengthening (at day 1 of rehabilitation) group or a delayed lengthening (after being able to run at 70% of maximal speed) group. Both groups received an established rehabilitation programme. The primary outcome was time to return to sport (ie, time from injury to full unrestricted training and/or match play). The secondary outcome was reinjury rate within 12 months after return to sport. Other outcomes at return to sport included the Askling H-test, hamstring strength, clinical examination and readiness questions.
Results: The return to sport in the early lengthening group was 23 (IQR 16–35) days and 33 (IQR 23–40) days in the delayed lengthening group. For return to sport (in days), the adjusted HR for the early lengthening group compared with the delayed lengthening group was 0.95 (95% CI 0.56 to 1.60, p=0.84). There was no significant difference between groups for reinjury rates within 2 months (OR=0.94, 95% CI 0.18 to 5.0, p=0.94), from 2 to 6 months (OR=2.00, 95% CI 0.17 to 23.3, p=0.58), and 6 to 12 months (OR=0.57, 95% CI 0.05 to 6.6, p=0.66).
Conclusion: Accelerating the introduction of lengthening exercises in the rehabilitation of hamstring injury in male athletes did not improve the time to return to sport nor the risk of reinjury
Older patients’ perspectives on illness and healthcare during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic
No full textBackground: Equal access to healthcare is a core principle in Norway’s public healthcare system. The COVID-19 pandemic challenged healthcare systems in the early phase – in particular, related to testing and hospital capacity. There is little knowledge on how older people experienced being infected with an unfamiliar and severe disease, and how they experienced the need for healthcare early in the pandemic.
Aim: To explore the experiences of older people infected by COVID-19 and their need for testing and hospitalisation.
Research design: An explorative and descriptive approach, with qualitative interviews conducted in October 2020.
Participants and research context: Seventeen participants above 60 years of age hospitalised due to COVID-19 during spring 2020 were recruited 6 months after discharge.
Ethical considerations: Ethical approval was granted by the Regional Committee for Medical and Health Research Ethics in South-Eastern Norway (155425).
Findings: The main finding was that the informants experienced vulnerability and arbitrariness. This finding was supported by three sub-themes: experiences with a severe and unfamiliar disease, the strict criteria and the importance of someone advocating needs.
Discussion: Participants described varying access to healthcare. Those who did not meet the national criteria to be tested or hospitalised struggled against the system. Findings reveal arbitrary access to healthcare, in contrast to Norway’s ethical principle of fair and just access to health services. Moreover, to access and receive necessary healthcare, informants were dependent on their next-of-kin’s advocacy.
Conclusion: Even when dealing with an unfamiliar disease, health professionals’ assessments of symptoms must be performed with an ethical obligation to applicate competent appraisal and the exercise of discernment; this is in line with care ethics and ethical standards for nurses. These perspectives are a significant part of caring and the intension of doing good
Eiendomsskatten på oppdrettsanlegg : Kan grunnrenten i havbruket beskattes gjennom eiendomsskatten?
No full textEn undersøkelse av om dagens eiendomsskatteregler kan brukes til å trekke inn grunnrenten som finnes i oppdrettsnæringen
Endangered Dracaena ombet Population in the Red Sea Hills, Sudan, Recovers After Abrupt Change
No full textThe endangered and endemic Nubian dragon blood tree, Dracaena ombet, has been feared extirpated from core distribution areas in the Red Sea Hills, Sudan, after reported mass death events in the 20th century. Populations of dragon tree species are generally reported to be in decline, with a noticeable lack of recruitment and possible poor resilience. Rare recruitment events are, however, normal for species with remnant population dynamics, and when eventually occurring, such events can restore seemingly degraded populations. In response to recently reported observations of dracaena saplings in a historically core distribution area of the Red Sea Hills, we assess the status of this long-lived arboreal species. We describe a current realized niche, investigate a potential range shift by comparing the spatial distribution of saplings and older individuals, and assess population recovery based on pre-disturbance system identity derived from qualitative, historical observations. We document a beginning recovery of the dracaena population in the study area. Around half of the mapped population are individuals in the sapling stage, and they are in good health. Its current realized niche is described by higher altitudes, steeper slopes, more concave landscape forms and east-facing aspects compared to areas where dracaena individuals are absent. However, for the new generation of dracaena saplings we find signs of a leaning range shift where saplings are shifted towards higher altitudes near the mist-influenced escarpment. A full collapse and eventual extirpation of the endangered Dracaena ombet population may at best be averted, or at least delayed in the study area. Our resilience analysis indicates that a full recovery will be a slow process due to the inherent natural climate variability of arid lands, only allowing sporadic regeneration. Considering this species’ information legacy, saplings seem to be well equipped to survive such variability, but perhaps within a restricted safe operating space. Conservation measures should therefore be taken to secure the survival of the new generation along with broader spatial scale studies to confirm whether our findings reflect a regional phenomenon
Confluences of Street Culture and Jihadism: The spatial, bodily and narrative dimensions of radicalization
No full textResearch on the new crime-terror nexus has focused on examining the confluences of criminal and jihadist milieus. This article contributes to this research, using insights from criminological theory and analyzing data from interviews with Muslim men who have been exposed to jihadism and have a background in street life and crime. We propose that the connection between street crime and jihadism can be seen in three decisive points of confluence: places, bodies, and narratives. We show how specific places (e.g. prisons) enable the encounter between particular bodies (e.g. violently competent bodies) and the engagement or disengagement with certain extremist narratives (e.g. stories of redemption through violence). The crime-terror literature emphasizes that these points of confluence are sources of radicalization. We expand upon this by arguing that they may also serve as venues for resisting or rejecting politico-religious extremism. The study demonstrates that radicalization is only one possible outcome of the confluences between street culture and jihadism