26 research outputs found
An experiment to improve cost estimation and project tracking for software and systems integration projects
No full textInduced Endometrial Trauma (endometrial scratch) in the mid-luteal menstrual cycle phase preceding first cycle IVF/ICSI versus usual IVF/ICSI therapy: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial
No full textEndometrial trauma commonly known as endometrial scratch (ES) has been shown to improve pregnancy rates in women with a history of repeated implantation failure undergoing in vitro fertilisation (IVF), with or without intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). However, the procedure has not yet been fully explored in women having IVF/ICSI for the first time. This study aims to examine the effect of performing an ES in the mid-luteal phase prior to a first-time IVF/ICSI cycle on the chances of achieving a clinical pregnancy and live birth. If ES can influence this success rate, there would be a significant cost saving to the National Health Service through decreasing the number of IVF/ICSI cycles necessary to achieve a pregnancy, increase the practice of single embryo transfer and consequently have a large impact on risks and costs associated with multiple pregnancies. This 30-month, UK, multicentre, parallel group, randomised controlled trial includes a 9-month internal pilot and health economic analysis recruiting 1044 women from 16 fertility units. It will follow up participants to identify if IVF/ICSI has been successful and live birth has occurred up to 6 weeks post partum. Primary analysis will be on an intention-to-treat basis. A substudy of endometrial samples obtained during the ES will assess the role of immune factors in embryo implantation. Main trial recruitment commenced on January 2017 and is ongoing.Participants randomised to the intervention group will receive the ES procedure in the mid-luteal phase of the preceding cycle prior to first-time IVF/ICSI treatment versus usual IVF/ICSI treatment in the control group, with 1:1 randomisation. The primary outcome is live birth rate after completed 24 weeks gestation. South Central-Berkshire Research Ethics Committee approved the protocol. Findings will be submitted to peer-reviewed journals and abstracts to relevant national and international conferences. ISRCTN23800982; Pre-results
Code choice and code-switching in Swiss-German internet relay chat rooms
No full textIn the German-speaking regions of Switzerland, dialect is spoken by all social groups in most communicative situations, Standard German being used only when prescribed. Swiss dialects rarely appeared in written form before the 1980s, apart from the genre of dialect literature. Due to the growing acceptance of informal writing styles in many European languages, dialect is increasingly employed for written personal communication, in particular in computer-mediated communication (CMC). In Swiss Internet Relay Chat (IRC) rooms, varieties of German are used side by side as all chatters have a command of both standard and dialectal varieties. Depending on the channel, the proportion of dialectal contributions can be as high as 90 percent. The choice of a particular variety depends on both individual preference and on the predominant variety used within a specific thread. In this paper I take a quantitative approach to language variation in IRC and demonstrate how such an approach can help embed qualitative research on code-switching in CMC
SIMMER: Software and Systems Integration Modelling Metrics and Risks (Getting to Level 4)
No full textThis article documents the mid-term progress and provisional conclusions of SIMMER; an ESSI funded Process Improvement Experiment. The overall objective of the experiment is to produce a more effective means of planning and controlling complex software and systems integration projects. In order to remain competitive, ICL (as well as many other companies) needs to continually improve its predictability of costs and schedules for integration projects, to reduce time to market and to reduce costs without detriment to the quality of the products. The developments of our complex software and systems rely more and more on using commodity components and collaborations as a way to meet these business objectives. The ability to accurately predict effort and time scales and the ability to keep within budget is becoming increasingly difficult in such projects. The specific purposes of the experiment are to demonstrate the applicability of the "Cellular Manufacturing Process Model" (CMPM) technology to a business critical, live software and systems development Chapter <Nr> <Title> 2 / 23/11/98/simgot.doc Version <Nr> / <Author-Acronyme>
Endometrial scratch to increase live birth rates in women undergoing first-time in vitro fertilisation : RCT and systematic review
No full textBackground
In vitro fertilisation is a widely used reproductive technique that can be undertaken with or without intracytoplasmic sperm injection. The endometrial scratch procedure is an in vitro fertilisation ‘add-on’ that is sometimes provided prior to the first in vitro fertilisation cycle, but there is a lack of evidence to support its use.
Objectives
(1) To assess the clinical effectiveness, safety and cost-effectiveness of endometrial scratch compared with treatment as usual in women undergoing their first in vitro fertilisation cycle (the ‘Endometrial Scratch Trial’) and (2) to undertake a systematic review to combine the results of the Endometrial Scratch Trial with those of previous trials in which endometrial scratch was provided prior to the first in vitro fertilisation cycle.
Design
A pragmatic, multicentre, superiority, open-label, parallel-group, individually randomised controlled trial. Participants were randomised (1 : 1) via a web-based system to receive endometrial scratch or treatment as usual using stratified block randomisation. The systematic review involved searching electronic databases (undertaken in January 2020) and clinicaltrials.gov (undertaken in September 2020) for relevant trials.
Setting
Sixteen UK fertility units.
Participants
Women aged 18–37 years, inclusive, undergoing their first in vitro fertilisation cycle. The exclusion criteria included severe endometriosis, body mass index ≥ 35 kg/m2 and previous trauma to the endometrium.
Interventions
Endometrial scratch was undertaken in the mid-luteal phase of the menstrual cycle prior to in vitro fertilisation, and involved inserting a pipelle into the cavity of the uterus and rotating and withdrawing it three or four times. The endometrial scratch group then received usual in vitro fertilisation treatment. The treatment-as-usual group received usual in vitro fertilisation only.
Main outcome measures
The primary outcome was live birth after completion of 24 weeks’ gestation within 10.5 months of egg collection. Secondary outcomes included implantation, pregnancy, ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage, pain and tolerability of the procedure, adverse events and treatment costs.
Results
One thousand and forty-eight (30.3%) women were randomised to treatment as usual (n = 525) or endometrial scratch (n = 523) and were followed up between July 2016 and October 2019 and included in the intention-to-treat analysis. In the endometrial scratch group, 453 (86.6%) women received the endometrial scratch procedure. A total of 494 (94.1%) women in the treatment-as-usual group and 497 (95.0%) women in the endometrial scratch group underwent in vitro fertilisation. The live birth rate was 37.1% (195/525) in the treatment-as-usual group and 38.6% (202/523) in the endometrial scratch group: an unadjusted absolute difference of 1.5% (95% confidence interval –4.4% to 7.4%; p = 0.621). There were no statistically significant differences in secondary outcomes. Safety events were comparable across groups. No neonatal deaths were recorded. The cost per successful live birth was £11.90 per woman (95% confidence interval –£134 to £127). The pooled results of this trial and of eight similar trials found no evidence of a significant effect of endometrial scratch in increasing live birth rate (odds ratio 1.03, 95% confidence interval 0.87 to 1.22).
Limitations
A sham endometrial scratch procedure was not undertaken, but it is unlikely that doing so would have influenced the results, as objective fertility outcomes were used. A total of 9.2% of women randomised to receive endometrial scratch did not undergo the procedure, which may have slightly diluted the treatment effect.
Conclusions
We found no evidence to support the theory that performing endometrial scratch in the mid-luteal phase in women undergoing their first in vitro fertilisation cycle significantly improves live birth rate, although the procedure was well tolerated and safe. We recommend that endometrial scratch is not undertaken in this population.
Trial registration
This trial is registered as ISRCTN23800982
Economic inequality and social differentials in mortality
No full textThis paper was presented at the conference "Unequal incomes, unequal outcomes? Economic inequality and measures of well-being" as part of session 1, "Health status of children and households in poverty." The conference was held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on May 7, 1999. This paper discusses health as a direct measure of economic well-being and draws attention to those suffering the worst outcomes. The author identifies a set of young people at particular risk of high mortality rates. She observes that in some U.S. communities - especially urban areas in the North - young people cannot expect to survive through middle-adulthood. Whites generally fare substantially better than African-Americans, yet whites in poor neighborhoods in northern cities experience mortality rates roughly comparable to those of African-Americans nationwide. Furthermore, among the urban African-American poor, mortality rates worsened relative to those of whites from 1980 to 1990. The author also indicates that circulatory disease - not homicide - has been the most important contributor to the higher mortality rates across all poor populations.Income distribution ; Medical care
An algorithm for monitoring the traffic on a less-travelled road using multi-modal sensor suite
No full textSocial networks IM forensics: Encryption analysis
No full textIn most regards, the twenty-first century may not bring revolutionary changes in electronic messaging technology in terms of applications or protocols. Security issues that have long been a concern in messaging application are finally being solved using a variety of products. Web-based messaging systems are rapidly evolving the text-based conversation. The users have the right to protect their privacy from the eavesdropper, or other parties which interferes the privacy of the users for such purpose. The chatters most probably use the instant messages to chat with others for personal issue; in which no one has the right eavesdrop the conversation channel and interfere this privacy. This is considered as a non-ethical manner and the privacy of the users should be protected. The author seeks to identify the security features for most public instant messaging services used over the internet and suggest some solutions in order to encrypt the instant messaging over the conversation channel. The aim of this research is to investigate through forensics and sniffing techniques, the possibilities of hiding communication using encryption to protect the integrity of messages exchanged. Authors used different tools and methods to run the investigations. Such tools include Wireshark packet sniffer, Forensics Tool Kit (FTK) and viaForensic mobile forensic toolkit. Finally, authors will report their findings on the level of security that encryption could provide to instant messaging services. © 2013 Engineering and Technology Publishing
