120,250 research outputs found
Mehta Aban B. — The Domestic Servant Class
No full textH. J. Mehta Aban B. — The Domestic Servant Class. In: Population, 17ᵉ année, n°2, 1962. p. 358
Mehta Aban B. — The Domestic Servant Class
No full textH. J. Mehta Aban B. — The Domestic Servant Class. In: Population, 17ᵉ année, n°2, 1962. p. 358
Mehta Rama — The Western Educated Hindu Woman
No full textB H. Mehta Rama — The Western Educated Hindu Woman. In: Population, 27ᵉ année, n°3, 1972. pp. 552-553
Big data for a rare disease: complexity and usefulness
No full textIntroduction: Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a genetic rare disease, but the concerted actions of medical personnel, researchers and patients allowed the institution of the European Cystic Fibrosis Society Patient Registry (ECFSPR) to collect information on a large number of patients from different European countries in a common format [1].
Objectives: The aim is to show the complexity of the ECFSPR that deals with the management and analysis of a large amount of data and the usefulness of such information for the care of CF patients.
Methods: The ECFSPR collects information on CF European patients (diagnosis, genetics, lung function, growth, complications, microbiology, therapy and transplantation) collated annually by national CF registries and individual CF centres since 2003 (cross-sectional data till 2007, longitudinal data from 2008): it includes data of about 30,000 patients from 22 countries [2]. In order to identify and solve problems, a team that daily works on the ECFSPR was set up ‘service desk’ together with an executive committee and a steering group composed by national representatives that define the major activities of the ECFSPR (data protection legislation, use of data). The research activity is supervised by a scientific committee that identifies major research areas and approves the external data requests.
Results: The critical aspects encountered in the institution of the ECFSPR (definition of the population under study, of inclusion criteria, of what to measure and how) were dealt with a definition group whose members have different expertise and a long experience in CF in creation of healthcare databases.
Assessment of whether patients registered meet the inclusion criteria, data quality controls and data management, handling of missing data, maintaining patient confidentiality and dissemination of data are activities that need to be carried out daily. The assessment of the compliance of the inclusion criteria is responsibility of the national CF registries and individual CF centres since the information sent to ECFSPR are not enough to decide if patients can be included or not. The experience and the expertise of each member of the data quality control group allowed creation of a complete and shared list of data quality controls that are performed by all national registry data managers before sending the data to the ECFSPR. The data management and the handling of missing data are the main activities of the working group: from the uploading of the data to the freezing of the database through the process of correction of the inconsistencies found in the data, the registry coordinator, the service desk and the statistician work in close contact with the national and centres representatives. Maintaining patients confidentiality is one of the crucial aspects in order to reassure patients that decide to give the consent of the use of their data. With a clear language, the ECFSPR gives the necessary information to the patient in order to ensure that security measures meet data protection legislation and are updated if necessary.
The availability of the information on a large number of patients affected by a rare disease allows the study of the epidemiology of the CF [3, 4], also focusing on CF atypical patients. The availability of this information allows also the identification of group of patients eligible for clinical trials that, otherwise, could not be carried out if only a small number of patients were involved. Pharmacovigilance is a potential aspect that can be investigated in order to record adverse events following the use of treatments.
Monitoring care services in the European countries and, for future, planning adequate CF centres are other activities that the availability of a large amount of information makes possible [5]. Giving an answer to a clinical request needs to take into account that these are registry data and they are not collected with ad hoc studies. However, studies on registry data can have an explorative nature and ad hoc studies can be carried out starting from the first results obtained by the ECFSPR.
Conclusions: The complexity of the ECFSPR is magnified by the international setting: agreement on all the aspects of the involvement into the ECFSPR is not easily reached in a short time. However the usefulness of information for the care of CF patients that can be obtained from a European registry for a rare disease is inestimable, therefore all the difficulties are faced and overcome.
References
[1] Viviani L, Zolin A, Mehta A, Olesen HV. The European Cystic Fibrosis Society Patient Registry: valuable lessons learned on how to sustain a disease registry. Orphanet J Rare Dis. 2014 Jun 7;9(1):81. doi:10.1186/1750-1172-9-81.
[2] Zolin A, McKone EF, van Rens J et al. ECFSPR Annual Report 2010, 2014, accessed on 15th May 2015.
[3] Kerem E, Viviani L, Zolin A, MacNeill S, Hatziagorou E, Ellemunter H, Drevinek P, Gulmans V, Krivec U, Olesen H on behalf of the ECFS Patient Registry Steering Group. Modifiers of pulmonary function in cystic fibrosis: analysis of the data of the ECFS Patient Registry. Eur Respir J. 2014 Jan;43(1):125-33. doi: 10.1183/09031936.00166412.
[4] De Boeck K, Zolin A, Cuppens H, Olesen HV, Viviani L. The relative frequency of CFTR mutation classes in European patients with cystic fibrosis. J Cyst Fibros. 2014 Jul;13(4):403-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jcf.2013.12.003.
[5] Burgel PR, Bellis G, Olesen HV, Viviani L, Zolin A, Blasi F, Elborn JS; ERS/ECFS Task Force on The Provision of Care for Adults with Cystic Fibrosis in Europe. Future trends in cystic fibrosis demography in 34 European countries. Eur Respir J. 2015 Mar 18. pii: ERJ-01963-2014
Nonlinear properties of silicon core optical fibres
No full textSilica optical fibres are renowned for the framework they have set in modern communications systems, sensors, and biotechnology. One particular trend in current research aims to investigate materials with enhanced optical functionality, high optical efficiency, robustness, and a small device footprint. Amongst the many material choices, semiconductors are emerging as a promising route. In this work, optical fibres and semiconductors are elegantly unified to create a hybrid structure with the potential of seamless integration into current fibre infrastructures. Silica capillaries form the fibre templates in which amorphous semiconductor materials such as silicon and/or germanium are impregnated. This thesis will present the first comprehensive description of the fabrication, characterisation, and the implementation of silicon optical fibres for all-optical signal processing. The fibres are fabricated via a novel high pressure chemical deposition procedure. Each fibre is analysed to determine the exact material composition, uniformity, and more importantly the optical quality. Linear and nonlinear optical characterisations are performed experimentally and supported by intensive numerical studies to validate the results.The high nonlinearity of silicon is exploited for all-optical signal processing. Several investigations have been performed to determine key nonlinear coefficients that were previously unknown in these fibres. Nonlinear absorption experiments allowed for the determination of the degenerate and non-degenerate two-photon absorption coefficients, free carrier cross sections, and free carrier lifetimes of a number of silicon fibres. Nonlinear refraction investigations were then used to establish the Kerr nonlinearity. The strength of this parameter allowed for demonstration of strong self-phase and cross-phase modulation effects. With the insight gained in nonlinear absorption and refraction in silicon optical fibres, all-optical amplitude modulation and wavelength switching was demonstrated at ultrafast sub-picosecond speeds
A comparative study of the Finnish 4-H organization and the Wisconsin 4-H organization
No full textPlan BThe education of today’s youth, tomorrow’s future, is the focus of the 4-H organization. The aim of the 4-H program is to develop life skills in youth using hands-on learning. 4-H began in the heartland of America in the early 1900’s and soon stretched around the globe. 4-H or a partner organization of 4-H can be found in over 63 countries in the world (V. Gobeli, personal communication, February 25, 2002). The programming, structure, and principles of 4-H programs around the world are all based on the program that began in the United States, but the methods used are different in every country. It is even different among states in the United States. Each program has unique ideas used in the education of youth, but little communication exists to share these ideas among countries. The purpose of this study is to compare another country’s 4-H program to the program that has been long established in Wisconsin. The goal of the study is to show the similarities and difference of two programs that have been created using the same theme, “learning by doing.” Due to the scope of this research, the researcher chose to look only at one country. The country of Finland was chosen for comparison because of its location, similar structure, and its well-established example of European youth programming. The researcher looked at the history of the two programs to help establish the similarities and difference that might exist. The Finnish 4-H Federation began after two men visited the United States and observed the success of club work administered by the United States Department of Agriculture. The program ideas were changed to fit the needs of the Finnish people, with the key concept of life skill development remaining the same. The researcher also found that many articles have been written to show an importance in international programming and international travel. The research was done using ethnographic research along with a qualitative written survey and various interviews. The written survey was used to gain basic information before ethnographic research began. The research revealed that although the programs have the same basic goal, the two programs are very different. The largest differences were seen in projects offered, staff roles, leaders participation, and competition. It was found that both 4-H programs contained ideas of superior quality. If these ideas were shared, it could help to improve the program in the other country. The research not only compared the two programs, but also recommended further programs or studies that could be established based on the research performed
Auditory Enhancement EEG data
No full textNIH grant R01 DC012262Mehta, Anahita; Feng, Lei; Oxenham, Andrew J.. (2021). Auditory Enhancement EEG data. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://doi.org/10.13020/dygy-qx38
December 6th, 2023: Heart Failure Guideline Directed Medical Therapy in the Contemporary Era
No full textPresented by: Tapan H. Mehta, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine and Advanced Hear Failure and Transplant Cardiology at Maine Medical Center, MaineHealth Cardiology, Portland, Maine
Zoom Passcode: e8Tmx6T=https://knowledgeconnection.mainehealth.org/medicine_gr/1010/thumbnail.jp
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Farnesyltransferase inhibitor treatment restores chromosome territory positions and active chromosome dynamics in Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome cells
No full textCopyright @ 2011 Mehta et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.BACKGROUND: Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) is a premature ageing syndrome that affects children leading to premature death, usually from heart infarction or strokes, making this syndrome similar to normative ageing. HGPS is commonly caused by a mutation in the A-type lamin gene, LMNA (G608G). This leads to the expression of an aberrant truncated lamin A protein, progerin. Progerin cannot be processed as wild-type pre-lamin A and remains farnesylated, leading to its aberrant behavior during interphase and mitosis. Farnesyltransferase inhibitors prevent the accumulation of farnesylated progerin, producing a less toxic protein. RESULTS: We have found that in proliferating fibroblasts derived from HGPS patients the nuclear location of interphase chromosomes differs from control proliferating cells and mimics that of control quiescent fibroblasts, with smaller chromosomes toward the nuclear interior and larger chromosomes toward the nuclear periphery. For this study we have treated HGPS fibroblasts with farnesyltransferase inhibitors and analyzed the nuclear location of individual chromosome territories. We have found that after exposure to farnesyltransferase inhibitors mis-localized chromosome territories were restored to a nuclear position akin to chromosomes in proliferating control cells. Furthermore, not only has this treatment afforded chromosomes to be repositioned but has also restored the machinery that controls their rapid movement upon serum removal. This machinery contains nuclear myosin 1β, whose distribution is also restored after farnesyltransferase inhibitor treatment of HGPS cells. CONCLUSIONS: This study not only progresses the understanding of genome behavior in HGPS cells but demonstrates that interphase chromosome movement requires processed lamin A.This work was funded by an ORSAS award and the Brunel Progeria Research Fund
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