131,423 research outputs found
Improving outcomes for the lung cancer patient with impaired lung function
No full textLung function impairment is common amongst patients with lung cancers. Identifying the patients that are most likely to benefit from anti-cancers therapies, without suffering significant toxicities, is central to improving their outcomes. Radiotherapy Method: A retrospective review with survival and regression analyses to establish associated factors related to pneumonitis, relapse and survival from 208 SBRT treatments. Results: Median overall survival 2.6 years (2.3-3.3). Mediastinal staging associated with risk of pneumonitis (OR: 11.79 (2.66-52.26) p=0.001). No association between lung function parameters and risk of pneumonitis. Low TLCO associated with worse overall survival (HR:0.98 (0.97-0.99) p=0.010). Increased tumour size associated with shorter time to relapse (HR:1.05 (1.02-1.08) p=0.001). Conclusion: Low TLCO is a poor prognostic marker for patients undergoing SBRT for early stage NSCLC. Radiotherapy/Immunotherapy combination Part A Method: A phase 1b/II study to assess the safety of adjuvant nivolumab (240mg every 2 weeks) commencing within 24 hours of the final fraction of SBRT. Results: After a minimum of 3 months follow up of the first 5 recruited patients, no episodes of grade 3 pneumonitis were observed. Based on this, the trial has been expanded to include recruitment of patients of ECOG performance status 2. Conclusion: Early data suggests unacceptable lung toxicity is not seen with adjuvant nivolumab following SBRT Part B Method: NanoString analysis of RNA from macrodissected NSCLC biopsies including the tumour microenvironment. Results: Successful immunogenomic profiling from 12 degraded NSCLC biopsies. Tendency for lower expression of MCIB and IFN in biopsies from patients who went on to respond to combination radiotherapy/immunotherapy treatment. Conclusion: The immune makeup of the tumour microenvironment may help to predict responses to combination immunotherapy and radiotherapy treatment regimens. Chemotherapy Method: A retrospective analysis of 52 patients to establish the patient factors associated with tolerability and outcome from second-line docetaxel for NSCLC. Results: FEV1 was the factor most associated with overall survival (HR:0.96 (0.93-0.99=0.009). Patients with an FEV1 less than 50% predicted had significantly worse survival (HR:0.15 (0.04-0.57) p=0.005) and were also more likely to discontinue treatment due to toxicity (p=0.023). Conclusion: An FEV1 less than 50% predicted is a poor marker in patients being considered for docetaxel chemotherapy for advanced NSCLC. Symptom control Method: An open label, randomised, controlled trial comparing the effect of adding optimal inhaled therapies to best supportive care alone in 64 patients with co-existing untreated COPD and lung cancer. Results: Inhaled therapies led to an increase in the proportion of patients achieving a minimum 2-point improvement in VAS breathlessness after 4 weeks. Response rate in those receiving inhaled therapies was 53% (35-71) compared to 26% (12-45) in the group that received BSC alone (p=0.027). Conclusion: Spirometry performed in the lung cancer clinic can identify undiagnosed COPD and treating this with inhaled therapies improves breathlessness
3D simulations of RS Ophiuchi: from accretion to nova blast
No full textContext. The binary star system RS Ophiuchi is a recurrent nova,
with outbursts occurring about every 22 years. It consists of a red
giant star (RG) and a wind accreting white dwarf close to the
Chandrasekhar limit. This system is considered a prime candidate for
evolving into an SNIa. For its most recent outbursts in 1985 and
2006, exquisite multiwavelength observational data are available.
Aims. Deeper physical insight is needed regarding the inter-outburst
accretion phase and the dynamical effects of the subsequent nova
explosion in order to improve the interpretation of the observed
data and to shed light on whether the system is an SNIa progenitor.
Methods. We present a 3D hydrodynamic simulation of the quiescent accretion
with the subsequent explosive phase.
Results. The computed circumstellar mass distribution in the quiescent phase
is highly structured with a mass enhancement in the orbital plane of
about a factor of 2 as compared to the poleward directions. The
simulated nova remnant evolves aspherically, propagating faster
toward the poles. The shock velocities derived from the simulations
agree with those derived from observations. For km s-1 and for nearly isothermal flows, we find that 10% of the
mass lost by the RG is transfered to the WD. For an RG mass loss of
yr-1, the orbit of the system decays
by 3% per million years. With the derived mass transfer rate,
multi-cycle nova models provide a qualitatively correct recurrence
time, amplitude, and fastness of the nova.
Conclusions. Our 3D hydrodynamic simulations provide, along with the observations
and nova models, the third ingredient for a deeper understanding of
the recurrent novae of the RS Oph type. In combination with recent
multi-cycle nova models, our results suggest that the WD in RS Oph
will increase in mass. Several speculative outcomes then seem
plausible. The WD may reach the Chandrasekhar limit and explode as
an SN Ia. Alternatively, the mass loss of the RG could result in a
smaller Roch volume, a common envelope phase, and a narrow WD + WD system. Angular momentum loss due to gravitational wave emission could trigger the merger of the two WDs and – perhaps – an SN Ia via the double degenerate scenario
MeSH term explosion and author rank improve expert recommendations
No full textInformation overload is an often-cited phenomenon that reduces the productivity, efficiency and efficacy of scientists. One challenge for scientists is to find appropriate collaborators in their research. The literature describes various solutions to the problem of expertise location, but most current approaches do not appear to be very suitable for expert recommendations in biomedical research. In this study, we present the development and initial evaluation of a vector space model-based algorithm to calculate researcher similarity using four inputs: 1) MeSH terms of publications; 2) MeSH terms and author rank; 3) exploded MeSH terms; and 4) exploded MeSH terms and author rank. We developed and evaluated the algorithm using a data set of 17,525 authors and their 22,542 papers. On average, our algorithms correctly predicted 2.5 of the top 5/10 coauthors of individual scientists. Exploded MeSH and author rank outperformed all other algorithms in accuracy, followed closely by MeSH and author rank. Our results show that the accuracy of MeSH term-based matching can be enhanced with other metadata such as author rank
Aquatic biophysical inventory of major tributaries in the AOSERP study area. Volume II: Atlas
No full textThis report contains maps showing fish collection locations, photos and details of the physical characteristics of nine streams within five watersheds (Firebag, Muskeg, Steepbank, MacKay, and Ells) in the AOSERP study area. The Atlas accompanies the Volume 1 report (Sekerak, A.D. and G.L. Walder, 1980)
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
"Closing the R&D Gap, Evaluating the Sources of R&D Spending"
No full textBoth spending and tax policies have been implemented in the United States with the goal of stimulating private sector research and development (R&D). Karier questions whether current R&D policy, especially the research and experimentation tax credit, can contribute to closing the gap between nondefense expenditures on R&D in the United States and such expenditures in other countries, such as Japan and Germany. He also explores possible changes to our current R&D policy to make it more effective.
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
No full textWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Scholarly Communication and Publishing Lunch and Learn Talk #11: The ULS Open Access Author Fee Fund
No full textAt the May 2014 talk, you will learn about the ULS Open Access Author Fee Fund--what it is, why we do it, how it works, and how the program is going so far
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