43,708 research outputs found
Exploring what lies behind public preferences for avoiding health losses caused by lapses in healthcare safety and patient lifestyle choices
No full textBackground
Although many studies have identified public preferences for prioritising health care interventions based on characteristics of recipient or care, very few of them have examined the reasons for the stated preferences. We conducted an on-line person trade-off (PTO) study (N=1030) to investigate whether the public attach a premium to the avoidance of ill health associated with alternative types of responsibilities: lapses in healthcare safety, those caused by individual action or lifestyle choice; or genetic conditions. We found that the public gave higher priority to prevention of harm in a hospital setting such as preventing hospital associated infections than genetic disorder but drug administration errors were valued similar to genetic disorders. Prevention of staff injuries, lifestyle diseases and sports injuries, were given lower priority. In this paper we aim to understand the reasoning behind the responses by analysing comments provided by respondents to the PTO questions.
Method
A majority of the respondents who participated in the survey provided brief comments explaining preferences in free text responses following PTO questions. This qualitative data was transformed into explicit codes conveying similar meanings. An overall coding framework was developed and a reliability test was carried out. Recurrent patterns were identified in each preference group. Comments which challenged the assumptions of hypothetical scenarios were also investigated.
Results
NHS causation of illness and a duty of care were the most cited reasons to prioritise lapses in healthcare safety. Personal responsibility dominated responses for lifestyle related contexts, and many respondents mentioned that health loss was the result of the individual’s choice to engage in risky behaviour. A small proportion of responses questioned the assumptions underlying the PTO questions. However excluding these from the main analysis did not affect the conclusions.
Conclusion
Although some responses indicated misunderstanding or rejection of assumptions we put forward, the results were still robust. The reasons put forward for responses differed between comparisons but responsibility was the most frequently cited. Most preference elicitation studies only focus on eliciting numerical valuations but allowing for qualitative data can augment understanding of preferences as well as verifying results
Measurement of the ratio of prompt χ c to J / ψ production in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV
No full textThe prompt production of charmonium χ c and J / ψ states is studied in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider. The χ c and J / ψ mesons are identified through their decays χ c → J / ψ γ and J / ψ → μ + μ - using 36 pb - 1 of data collected by the LHCb detector in 2010. The ratio of the prompt production cross-sections for χ c and J / ψ, σ (χ c → J / ψ γ) / σ (J / ψ), is determined as a function of the J / ψ transverse momentum in the range 2 < p T J / ψ < 15 GeV / c. The results are in excellent agreement with next-to-leading order non-relativistic expectations and show a significant discrepancy compared with the colour singlet model prediction at leading order, especially in the low p T J / ψ region
Notes recueillies en visitant les prisons de la Suisse, et remarques sur les moyens de les améliorer, avec quelques détails sur les prisons de Chambéry et de Turin , par Francis Cunningham, suivies De la description des prisons améliorées de Gand, Philadelphie, Bury, Ilchester et Millbank, et d'un rapport sur le Comité des dames à New Gate, par T. F. Buxton,...
No full textComprend : De la description des prisons améliorées de Gand, Philadelphie, Bury, Ilchester et Millbank, et d'un rapport sur le Comité des dames à New-Gate / par T. F. Buxton,...Études comparative
Evidence for the decay B0→J/ψω and measurement of the relative branching fractions of meson decays to J/ψη and J/ψη′
No full textFirst evidence of the B 0 → J / ψ ω decay is found and the B s 0 → J / ψ η and B s 0 → J / ψ η ′ decays are studied using a dataset corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb -1 collected by the LHCb experiment in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV. The branching fractions of these decays are measured relative to that of the B 0 → J / ψ ρ 0 decay:frac(B (B 0 → J / ψ ω), B (B 0 → J / ψ ρ 0)) = 0.89 ± 0.19 (stat) - 0.13 + 0.07 (syst),frac(B (B s 0 → J / ψ η), B (B 0 → J / ψ ρ 0)) = 14.0 ± 1.2 (stat) - 1.5 + 1.1 (syst) - 1.0 + 1.1 (frac(f d, f s)),frac(B (B s 0 → J / ψ η ′), B (B 0 → J / ψ ρ 0)) = 12.7 ± 1.1 (stat) - 1.3 + 0.5 (syst) - 0.9 + 1.0 (frac(f d, f s)), where the last uncertainty is due to the knowledge of f d / f s, the ratio of b-quark hadronization factors that accounts for the different production rate of B 0 and B s 0 mesons. The ratio of the branching fractions of B s 0 → J / ψ η ′ and B s 0 → J / ψ η decays is measured to befrac(B (B s 0 → J / ψ η ′), B (B s 0 → J / ψ η)) = 0.90 ± 0.09 (stat) - 0.02 + 0.06 (syst)
Bayesian meta-analysis on medical devices: Application to implantable cardioverter defibrillators
No full textThe online version of this article is published within an Open Access environment subject to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike licence . The written permission of
Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use.Objectives: The aim of this study is to describe and illustrate a method to obtain early estimates of the effectiveness of a new version of a medical device.
Methods: In the absence of empirical data, expert opinion may be elicited on the expected difference between the conventional and modified devices. Bayesian Mixed Treatment Comparison (MTC)
meta-analysis can then be used to combine this expert opinion with existing trial data on earlier versions of the device. We illustrate this approach for a new four-pole implantable cardioverter
defibrillator (ICD) compared with conventional ICDs, Class III anti-arrhythmic drugs, and conventional drug therapy for the prevention of sudden cardiac death in high risk patients. Existing RCTs were
identified from a published systematic review, and we elicited opinion on the difference between four-pole and conventional ICDs from experts recruited at a cardiology conference.
Results: Twelve randomized controlled trials were identified. Seven experts provided valid probability distributions for the new ICDs compared with current devices. The MTC model resulted in
estimated relative risks of mortality of 0.74 (0.60–0.89) (predictive relative risk [RR] = 0.77 [0.41–1.26]) and 0.83 (0.70–0.97) (predictive RR = 0.84 [0.55–1.22])with the new ICD therapy compared to Class III anti-arrhythmic drug therapy and conventional drug therapy, respectively. These results showed negligible differences from the preliminary results for the existing ICDs.
Conclusions: The proposed method incorporating expert opinion to adjust for a modification made to an existing device may play a useful role in assisting decision makers to make early informed
judgments on the effectiveness of frequently modified healthcare technologies.This study was produced under the MATCH Programme (EPSRC Grant GR/S29874/01
DNA fusion gene vaccination mobilizes effective anti-leukemic cytotoxic T lymphocytes from a tolerized repertoire
No full textThe majority of known human tumor-associated antigens derive from non-mutated self proteins. T cell tolerance, essential to prevent autoimmunity, must therefore be cautiously circumvented to generate cytotoxic T cell responses against these targets. Our strategy uses DNA fusion vaccines to activate high levels of peptide-specific CTL. Key foreign sequences from tetanus toxin activate tolerance-breaking CD4+ T cell help. Candidate MHC class Ibinding tumor peptide sequences are fused to the C terminus for optimal processing and presentation. To model performance against a leukemia-associated antigen in a tolerized setting, we constructed a fusion vaccine encoding an immunodominant CTL epitopederived from Friend murine leukemia virus gag protein (FMuLVgag) and vaccinated tolerant FMuLVgag-transgenic (gag-Tg) mice. Vaccination with the construct induced epitopespecificIFN-c-producing CD8+ T cells in normal and gag-Tg mice. The frequency and avidity of activated cells were reduced in gag-Tg mice, and no autoimmune injury resulted. However, these CD8+ T cells did exhibit gag-specific cytotoxicity in vitro and in vivo. Also, epitope-specific CTL killed FBL-3 leukemia cells expressing endogenous FMuLVgag antigen and protected against leukemia challenge in vivo. These results demonstrate a simple strategy to engage anti-microbial T cell help to activate epitope-specific polyclonal CD8+ T cell responses from a residual tolerized repertoire
J. T. Wiswall papers, W.0011
No full textAbstract: Two notebooks, containing mathematical equations and scientific essays, as well as the handwritten manuscripts of J. T. Wiswall's works "The African" and "Iliad of the Family," neither of which were ever published.Scope and Content Note: The collection contains two small, leather notebooks. One contains the handwritten manuscript "The African" and includes a bookplate identifying Caldwell Delaney as the owner. The other contains the handwritten manuscript "Iliad of the Family," as well as mathematical equations and scientific essays.Biographical/Historical Note: A Mobile, Alabama, author, J. T. Wiswall published two books,
The Last Crusader in 1861 and
Mr. Christopher Katydid (of Casconia) in 1864 (under the pseudonym Mark Heywood). The two handwritten manuscripts in this collection, "The African" and "Iliad of the Family," were never published, although they were listed in Robert E. Bell's
Bibliography of Mobile, which noted that Mobile historian Caldwell Delaney held the manuscripts in his private collection
Excessive stroke incidence in Aboriginal people in Central Australia: a retrospective population-based study
No full textStroke 2017 The Path to RecoveryBalabanski A., Goldsmith K., Giarola B., Buxton D., Castle S., McBride K., Brady S, Burrow J., Thrift A., Koblar S., Brown A., and Kleinig T
Letter from J. R. Eakin to Carl Hayden
No full textLetter from J. R. Eakin to Carl T. Hayden concerning access to Rowe Well and the canyon
Letter from J. R. Eakin to Stephen Mather
No full textLetter from J. R. Eakin to Stephen T. Mather about expenses and reconstruction of the Kaibab Trail
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