101 research outputs found
The Trail, Published Annually by the Senior Class of Daniel Baker College, Brownwood, Texas, Volume 7, 1921
No full textYearbook for Daniel Baker College in Brownwood, Texas includes photos of and information about the college, student body, professors, and organizations
Improving people's access to community-based treatment, supports and services statewide evaluation: baseline report
No full textprepared for: Oregon Criminal Justice Commission ; authors: Stephanie Renfro, MS, Erika Simeon, MPH.This archived document is maintained by the State Library of Oregon as part of the Oregon Documents Depository Program. It is for informational purposes and may not be suitable for legal purposes.Includes bibliographical references (pages 34-36).Mode of access: Internet from the Oregon Government Publications Collection.Text in English
Comparative assessment of trial-level surrogacy measures for candidate time-to-event surrogate endpoints in clinical trials
No full textVarious meta-analytical approaches have been applied to evaluate putative surrogate endpoints (S) of primary clinical endpoints (T), however a systematic assessment of their performance is lacking. Existing methods in the meta-analytic framework can be grouped into two types conventional and model-based trial-level surrogacy (TLS) measures. Both conventional and model-based TLS measures assess the ability to predict the treatment effect on T based on an observed treatment effect on putative S. Conventional TLS measures include correlation coefficients and R-square measures from weighted linear regression. Model-based TLS includes Copula R(2) proposed by Burzykowski et al. (2001). We examined and compared the estimation performance of these frequently used surrogacy measures in a large-scale simulation study. The impact of several key factors on the estimation performance was assessed, including the strength of the true surrogacy, the amount of effective information provided by available data, and the range of within-trial treatment effect on S and T. The TLS can be estimated accurately and precisely by both types of surrogacy measures when the true surrogacy is strong, number of trials is large, and the range of within-trial treatment effects is wide. When one or more factors deviate from the "best" scenarios, both types of TLS measures tend to underestimate the true surrogacy with increased variability. The estimation performance of conventional measures is similar to model-based measures, but with higher computational efficiency. The findings are applied to a large individual patient data pooled analysis in colon cancer. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
The intersection of criminal justice involvement and Medicaid in Oregon
No full text"Adults with criminal justice involvement (CJI) have higher behavioral health treatment needs (e.g., for mental illness or substance use disorder) and higher rates of communicable diseases (e.g., Hepatitis C, tuberculosis) than the general population. In Medicaid expansion states like Oregon, many adults with CJI are eligible for enrollment in Medicaid when they are no longer incarcerated. This collaboration between the Center for Health Systems Effectiveness (CHSE) at Oregon Health & Science University and the Statistical Analysis Center (SAC) at the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission seeks to improve the state's understanding of health care needs among Oregonians with CJI, as well as to lay the groundwork for future investigation of questions at the intersection of health and the criminal justice system"--Introduction.Stephanie Renfro, MS, Anna Levy, MPH, Christina Charlesworth, MPH, Siobhan McAlister, MS, Kelly Officer, MS, Carrie Glaser, MS ; prepared for Oregon Criminal Justice CommissionTitle from PDF caption (viewed on February 11, 2022)"Issue brief"This archived document is maintained by the State Library of Oregon as part of the Oregon Documents Depository Program. It is for informational purposes and may not be suitable for legal purposesIncludes bibliographical references (page 16)Mode of access: Internet from the Oregon Government Publications CollectionText in Englis
“They Took Everything and Divided Us”: Considering Prospects for Reform to the Lebanese Confessional System and Implications for United States Policy
No full textSectarian conflict in Lebanon dates back well before its inception as an
independent nation. The creation of the modern state coincided with the
institutionalization of these divisions, particularly through the Constitution of
1926 and the National Pact of 1943, which established the confessional system
(nidham al-ta’ifiya) in its modern form. Though they attempted to increase
stability by allotting representation and privilege in a way that would satisfy all
sects, these agreements perpetuated an untenable hierarchy of power and
dissatisfied a wide variety of actors. Though Lebanon was rendered relatively
stable for several decades, these tensions provided a fertile breeding ground for
conflict. While many point to the establishment by the Palestinian resistance of
its base in Lebanon as the direct cause of 1975-1990 civil war, evidence
suggests a more critical role played by the domestic sectarian power struggle in
inviting such destabilizing external influence.
The causal role played by confessionalism in the Lebanese civil war
was only partially addressed by the Ta’if Agreement. Rather, the agreement
only minimally reshaped the confessional system while promising more
substantive reforms at an unspecified date. Additionally, it allowed for the
expansion of external influence in Lebanon through sanctioning the Syrian
occupation of the country and accepting Hizballah’s refusal to demilitarize.
Accordingly, foreign interference and accompanying instability have persisted
into the postwar era. Moreover, though the occupations of Lebanon by Syria
and Israel have ended, conflict nurtured and institutionalized by the
confessional system persists, with spillover from the Syrian conflict
threatening to engulf Lebanon in sectarian strife once again.
Little incentive exists for the current political elite to initiate potentially
costly and controversial political reform in the form of deconfessionalization.
Recent surveys of public opinion, however, demonstrate both dissatisfaction
with the main institutions of political power and a perceived sense of national
identity, suggesting that change may be more likely to emerge at the popular
level. To this end, a movement for deconfessionalization comprised of
numerous nongovernmental organizations has recently begun campaigning for
political reform. Yet this movement has failed to capture the attention of those
beyond Lebanon’s socioeconomic elite and, consequently, has yet to see its
collective goals realized.
United States foreign policy in Lebanon, meanwhile, has historically
been reactive and inconsistent in nature. The U.S. has often demonstrated a
lack of respect for Lebanon’s political autonomy and treated the nation as a
proxy site through which other strategic concerns are managed, with
devastating consequences for the Lebanese state itself. These actions have also
rarely had positive outcomes in terms of U.S. interests. Several adjustments to
U.S. strategy in Lebanon will prove crucial to breaking this pattern.
Specifically, it should provide modest encouragement to political reform
efforts at the popular level while promoting immediate stability in the face of
external pressures
You Ought to Write a Book!
No full textAbstract
This article outlines the experience of a first time book editor (the author) of a collaborative collection with multiple contributors. The author shares insights on the professional book creation and publication process from initial concept, through publisher proposal, author collaboration, and final publication
Aberdeen City Garden: Beyond Landscape or Architecture
No full textA team around the New York based Architects Diller, Scofidio & Renfro DS+R won a competition for the Aberdeen City Garden in January 2012 together with OLIN and Keppie Design. The proposal supported by a private deed to the city passed a public referendum in the Scottish costal town in March 2012 after a long controversy.UrbanismArchitectur
ECONOMIC FAILURE PLAGUES DEVELOPING COUNTRIES' IRRIGATION: AN ASSURANCE PROBLEM
No full textResource /Energy Economics and Policy,
Radiographic and safety details of vertebral body stenting : results from a multicenter chart review
No full textBackground: Up to one third of BKP treated cases shows no appreciable height restoration due to loss of both restored height and kyphotic realignment after balloon deflation. This shortcoming has called for an improved method that maintains the height and realignment reached by the fully inflated balloon until stabilization of the vertebral body by PMMA-based cementation. Restoration of the physiological vertebral body height for pain relief and for preventing further fractures of adjacent and distant vertebral bodies must be the main aim for such a method. A new vertebral body stenting system (VBS) stabilizes the vertebral body after balloon deflation until cementation. The radiographic and safety results of the first 100 cases where VBS was applied are presented.
Methods: During the planning phase of an ongoing international multicenter RCT, radiographic, procedural and followup details were retrospectively transcribed from charts and xrays for developing and testing the case report forms. Radiographs were centrally assessed at the institution of the first/senior author.
Results: 100 patients (62 with osteoporosis) with a total of 103 fractured vertebral bodies were treated with the VBS system. 49 were females with a mean age of 73.2 years; males were 66.7 years old. The mean preoperative anterior-middle-posterior heights were 20.3-17.6-28.0 mm, respectively. The mean local kyphotic angle was 13.1°. The mean preoperative Beck Index (anterior edge height/posterior edge height) was 0.73, the mean alternative Beck Index (middle height/posterior edge height) was 0.63. The mean postoperative heights were restored to 24.5-24.6-30.4 mm, respectively. The mean local kyphotic angle was reduced to 8.9°. The mean postoperative Beck Index was 0.81, the mean alternative one was 0.82. The overall extrusion rate was 29.1%, the symptomatic one was 1%. In the osteoporosis subgroup there were 23.8% extrusions. Within the three months followup interval there were 9% of adjacent and 4% of remote new fractures, all in the osteoporotic group.
Conclusions: VBS showed its strengths especially in realignment of crush and biconcave fractures. Given that fracture mobility is present, the realignment potential is sound and increases with the severity of preoperative vertebral body deformation
Crowdsourcing biocuration: The Community Assessment of Community Annotation with Ontologies (CACAO)
No full textAuthors: Jolene Ramsey, Brenley McIntosh, Daniel Renfro, Suzanne A. Aleksander¤a,Sandra LaBonte, Curtis Ross,, Adrienne E. Zweifel, Nathan Liles¤b,Shabnam Farrar, Jason J. Gill,, Ivan Erill,, Sarah Ades, Tanya Z. Berardini,Jennifer A. Bennett, Siobhan Brady, Robert Britton¤c, Seth Carbon, StevenM. Caruso, Dave Clements, Ritu Dalia¤d, Meredith Defelice, Erin L. Doyle,do Friedberg¤e, Susan M. R. Gurney¤f, Lee Hughes, Allison Johnson, JasonM. Kowalski¤g, Donghui Li, Ruth C. Lovering, Tamara L. Mans¤h,Fiona McCarthy¤i, Sean D. Moore, Rebecca Murphy, Timothy D. Paustian,Sarah Perdue¤j, Celeste N. Peterson, Birgit M. Pru¨ß, Margaret S. Saha, RobertR. Sheehy, John T. Tansey, Louise Temple, Alexander William Thorman,Saul Trevino, Amy Cheng Vollmer, Virginia Walbo, Joanne Willey,Deborah A. Siegele*, James C. Hu,Experimental data about gene functions curated from the primary literature have enormous value for research scientists in understanding biology. Using the Gene Ontology (GO), manual curation by experts has provided an important resource for studying gene function, especially within model organisms. Unprecedented expansion of the scientific literature and validation of the predicted proteins have increased both data value and the challenges of keeping pace. Capturing literature-based functional annotations is limited by the ability of biocurators to handle the massive and rapidly growing scientific literature. Within the community-oriented wiki framework for GO annotation called the Gene Ontology Normal Usage Tracking System (GONUTS), we describe an approach to expand biocuration through crowdsourcing with undergraduates. This multiplies the number of high-quality annotations in international databases, enriches our coverage of the literature on normal gene function, and pushes the field in new directions. From an intercollegiate competition judged by experienced biocurators, Community Assessment of Community Annotation with Ontologies (CACAO), we have contributed nearly 5,000 literature-based annotations. Many of those annotations are to organisms not currently well-represented within GO. Over a 10-year history, our community contributors have spurred changes to the ontology not traditionally covered by professional biocurators. The CACAO principle of relying on community members to participate in and shape the future of biocuration in GO is a powerful and scalable model used to promote the scientific enterprise. It also provides undergraduate students with a unique and enriching introduction to critical reading of primary literature and acquisition of marketable skills.Support for teaching space was provided by the Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics at Texas A&M University. Annotators from across the globe have participated in CACAO competitions, including teams from University College London, University of North Texas, Miami University (Ohio), Penn State University, Michigan State University, North Dakota State University, Hofstra University, Swarthmore College, Houston Baptist University, Mississippi State University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Wisconsin-Parkside, University of Central Florida, Otterbein University, Centenary College of Louisiana, Harvard University, John Brown University, Minnesota State-Morehead, Suffolk University, University of California-Davis, Stanford University, Doane University, Drexel University, James Madison University, Oakland University, Radford University, University of Cincinnati, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and Virginia Commonwealth University. The contributions of hundreds of student users are proudly acknowledged. We are thankful to colleagues in the Gene Ontology Consortium for their active support and collaboration on this community annotation project. The authors extend an apology to any contributors not named here; however, their participation was foundational to the work and is deeply appreciated as well. This manuscript is dedicated to our beloved coauthor, the late Dr. James “Jim” C. Hu, a committed educator, microbial advocate, and invaluable scientific community member.https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.100946
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