Search

Six studies show that majority members misperceive diversity policies as unbeneficial to their ingroup, even when policies benefit them. Majority members perceived nonzero-sum university admission policies-policies that increase acceptance of both URM (i.e., underrepresented minority) and non-URM applicants-as harmful to their ingroup when merely framed as "diversity" policies. Even for policies lacking a diversity framing (i.e., "leadership" policies), majority members misperceived that their ingroup would not benefit when policies provided relatively greater benefit to URMs, but not when they provided relatively greater benefit to non-URMs. No consistent evidence emerged that these effects were driven by ideological factors: Majority members' misperceptions occurred even when accounting for self-reported beliefs around diversity, hierarchy, race, and politics. Instead, we find that majority group membership itself predicts misperceptions, such that both Black and White participants accurately perceive nonzero-sum diversity policies as also benefiting the majority when participants are represented as members of the minority group. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Relationship between rs1126579 and lung cancer survival.

Representative images of CXCR2 staining in lung cancer specimens from the NCI-MD case control study.

Effect modification between IL-8 and rs1126579.

List of SNPs successfully genotypes in the NCI/MD Case Control study.

Risk associations stratified by smoking status.

CXCR2 isoform expression in human lung adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma tissue.

CXCR2 isoform expression predicted by Emsembl.

List of non-polymorphic SNPs.

Predicted modulation of miR-138-1* binding to CXCR2 mRNA by rs1126579.

List of SNPs that failed primer design.

List of genes included in the study.

Utilizing the novel groups paradigm, we examine how advantaged group members' perceptions of equality policies are influenced by joint vs. separate evaluations.

We examine how advantaged group members perceived equality-enhancing policies in novel groups settings.

We examine how majority group members perceive equality-enhancing policies.

purpose This practice parameter aims to detail the processes, qualifications of personnel, patient selection, equipment, patient and personnel safety, documentation, and quality control and improvement necessary for an HDR brachytherapy program. Methods and Materials This practice parameter was revised collaboratively by the American College of Radiology (ACR), the American Brachytherapy Society (ABS), and the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO). Results Brachytherapy is a radiotherapeutic modality in which radionuclide or electronic sources are used to deliver a radiation dose at a distance of up to a few centimeters by surface, intracavitary, intraluminal, or interstitial application. Brachytherapy alone or combined with external beam radiotherapy plays an important role in the management and treatment of patients with cancer. High-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy uses radionuclides, such as iridium-192, at dose rates of ≥12 Gy/hr to a designated target point or volume, and it is an important treatment for a variety of malignant and benign conditions. Its use allows for application of high doses of radiation to defined target volumes with relative sparing of adjacent critical structures. Conclusions HDR brachytherapy requires detailed attention to personnel, equipment, patient and personnel safety, and continuing staff education. Coordination between the radiation oncologist and treatment planning staff and effective quality assurance procedures are important components of successful HDR brachytherapy programs.

Colour variation is the fact that what colour physical objects look to have depends on viewing conditions and a perceiver’s visual system. Both Colour Relationalists and Colour Eliminativists regard their analyses of colour variation as central to the justification for their respective views. Yet the analyses are decidedly different. Colour Relationalists assert that most instances of colour variation are veridical and infer from this that colours are relational properties of objects that are partly determined by perceivers. By contrast, Colour Eliminativists assert that colour variation is too unsystematic to ground the claim that many or most instances of colour variation are veridical. From this they infer that objects don’t have colours. I argue that the Eliminativist analysis is superior. On my view, the Relationalist account of veridical colour experience reduces to the assertion that objects have colour simply because they cause perceivers to have colour experiences of them. In this context, I argue, the resulting conception of veridicality is vacuous. More directly, the foundational idea of Eliminativism is the opposite claim: the fact that objects cause perceivers to have colour experiences of them is on its own not sufficient to justify or ground the claim that objects have colour. The Relationalist, I argue, has failed to justify anything stronger than this. In this debate we should thus side with the Eliminativist: objects do not possess colour; they merely cause us to undergo colour experiences.

A Merriam's Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo merriami) with periocular swelling and periocular skin crusting in Pueblo County, Colorado, USA, was diagnosed with severe catarrhal and fibrinous sinusitis and conjunctivitis. A novel clade of Avibacterium was detected in the exudate from this bird. Although eight additional turkeys culled from the affected flock did not have clinical signs or gross lesions, histologically all had mild-to-moderate chronic sinusitis, and infraorbital cultures yielded the same novel clade of Avibacterium that was found in the symptomatic turkey. The presence of this Avibacterium species in the absence of significant disease in some birds suggested that other factors might have been involved in the development of severe sinusitis and conjunctivitis in the symptomatic Wild Turkey. Negative culture results from a distant flock of Wild Turkeys, acquired with similar methods to the affected flock, suggested that this novel species of Avibacterium was not widespread throughout Wild Turkeys in Colorado.

n/a

BackgroundPhysician explanation of gynecologic brachytherapy can be overwhelming or induce patient anxiety, and may be time-constrained given clinical limitations. We report the first randomized trial of an educational video intervention in gynecologic brachytherapy on patient-reported outcomes.MethodsBetween February 2020 and January 2022, 80 gynecologic cancer patients prescribed brachytherapy were randomly assigned to either standard informed consent (Arm A) or a supplemental 16 min brachytherapy educational video (https://vimeo.com/403385455/d0716e3cc8) via the internet (Arm B). Primary outcome was treatment-related distress (National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) distress scale scored 0 (no distress) to 10 (maximum distress)). Secondary outcome was patient satisfaction (summated Likert-scale scored 11–55). Surveys were administered at baseline, after first treatment, and prior to brachytherapy completion.ResultsAll patients completed the prescribed brachytherapy. In Arm B, 19/40 (48%) patients and 10/40 (25%) patients’ family/friends viewed the video. For patients that completed all surveys (Arm A n=29, Arm B n=28), there was no difference between arms in the sociodemographic, clinical, or treatment variables. Distress scores were low at baseline (Arm A median 4, Arm B median 4, p=0.65) and there was no detectable change in distress between arms on surveys 1 and 2 (β 0.36, p=0.67) or surveys 1 and 3 (β −1.02, p=0.29) in multivariable analysis. Satisfaction scores were high at baseline (Arm A median 54, Arm B median 54.5, p=0.64) and there was no detectable change in satisfaction between arms on surveys 1 and 2 (β 0.22, p=0.93) or surveys 1 and 3 (β 0.63, p=0.85) in multivariable analysis.ConclusionsAmong patients randomized to an educational video tool for gynecologic brachytherapy, approximately 50% of the cohort and 25% of the cohort's family/friends used the video. Overall, patients had low distress scores and high satisfaction scores with no significant differences between the standard and video intervention arms. Further work is needed to understand factors contributing to gynecologic brachytherapy anxiety.Trial registration numberNCT04363957.

Objective. To lay the foundation for automated knowledge-based brachytherapy treatment planning using 3D dose estimations, we describe an optimization framework to convert brachytherapy dose distributions directly into dwell times (DTs). Approach. A dose rate kernel d ̇ ( r , θ , φ ) was produced by exporting 3D dose for one dwell position from the treatment planning system and normalizing by DT. By translating and rotating this kernel to each dwell position, scaling by DT and summing over all dwell positions, dose was computed (D calc). We used a Python-coded COBYLA optimizer to iteratively determine the DTs that minimize the mean squared error between D calc and reference dose D ref, computed using voxels with D ref 80%–120% of prescription. As validation of the optimization, we showed that the optimizer replicates clinical plans when D ref = clinical dose in 40 patients treated with tandem-and-ovoid (T&O) or tandem-and-ring (T&R) and 0–3 needles. Then we demonstrated automated planning in 10 T&O using D ref = dose predicted from a convolutional neural network developed in past work. Validation and automated plans were compared to clinical plans using mean absolute differences ( MAD = 1 N ∑ n = 1 N abs x n − x n ′ ) over all voxels (xn = Dose, N = #voxels) and DTs (xn = DT, N = #dwell positions), mean differences (MD) in organ D 2cc and high-risk CTV D90 over all patients (where positive indicates higher clinical dose), and mean Dice similarity coefficients (DSC) for 100% isodose contours. Main results. Validation plans agreed well with clinical plans (MADdose = 1.1%, MADDT = 4 s or 0.8% of total plan time, D 2cc MD = −0.2% to 0.2% and D90 MD = −0.6%, DSC = 0.99). For automated plans, MADdose = 6.5% and MADDT = 10.3 s (2.1%). The slightly higher clinical metrics in automated plans (D 2cc MD = −3.8% to 1.3% and D90 MD = −5.1%) were due to higher neural network dose predictions. The overall shape of the automated dose distributions were similar to clinical doses (DSC = 0.91). Significance. Automated planning with 3D dose predictions could provide significant time savings and standardize treatment planning across practitioners, regardless of experience.

Age is the dominant risk factor for infectious diseases, but the mechanisms linking the two are incompletely understood1,2. Age-related mosaic chromosomal alterations (mCAs) detected from blood-derived DNA genotyping, are structural somatic variants associated with aberrant leukocyte cell counts, hematological malignancy, and mortality3-11. Whether mCAs represent independent risk factors for infection is unknown. Here we use genome-wide genotyping of blood DNA to show that mCAs predispose to diverse infectious diseases. We analyzed mCAs from 767,891 individuals without hematological cancer at DNA acquisition across four countries. Expanded mCA (cell fraction10%) prevalence approached 4% by 60 years of age and was associated with diverse incident infections, including sepsis, pneumonia, and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) hospitalization. A genome-wide association study of expanded mCAs identified 63 significant loci. Germline genetic alleles associated with expanded mCAs were enriched at transcriptional regulatory sites for immune cells. Our results link mCAs with impaired immunity and predisposition to infections. Furthermore, these findings may also have important implications for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in prioritizing individual preventive strategies and evaluating immunization responses.

Background Intimate partner violence (IPV) is the most pervasive form of gender-based violence, often first experienced in adolescence. While the prevalence of IPV is known to be exacerbated in humanitarian settings, little is known in regard to the economic burden of IPV between conflict-affected and non–conflicted-affected groups of women and girls. This top-down costing study examines the total health burden of physical IPV in Colombia, and whether these costs differ by conflict exposure. Methods We utilized a nationally representative sample of 13–24-year-old females from the Violence Against Children Surveys (VACS) in Colombia conducted in 2018. Using physical IPV prevalence, the analysis was conducted in four steps: 1) estimate the relative risk of seven IPV-associated health outcomes among the sample and subgroups, 2) estimate the population attributable fraction of IPV for each health outcome, 3) quantify the burden of IPV in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), and 4) assign health costs in US dollars to the estimated DALYs. Results We found that the single year health burden associated with physical IPV was $90.6 million USD. Moreover, nearly 40% of the economic burden of physical IPV among females aged 13–24 in Colombia was from those who were conflict-affected (24%). Conclusion Our findings demonstrate that at least 16% of the overall health costs among females 13–24 in Colombia is from the preventable epidemic of physical IPV. In order to prevent and mitigate the costs of gender-based violence, multi-lateral and government investment is critically needed to prevent IPV and support women and girls.

Nine preregistered studies (n= 4197) demonstrate that advantaged group members misperceive equality as necessarily harming their access to resources and inequality as necessarily benefitting them. Only when equality is increased within their ingroup, instead of between groups, do advantaged group members accurately perceive it as unharmful. Misperceptions persist when equality-enhancing policies offer broad benefits to society or when resources, and resource access, are unlimited. A longitudinal survey of the 2020 U.S. voters reveals that harm perceptions predict voting against actual equality-enhancing policies, more so than voters’ political and egalitarian beliefs. Finally two novel-groups experiments experiments reveal that advantaged participants’ harm misperceptions predict voting for inequality-enhancing policies that financially hurt them and against equality-enhancing policies that financially benefit them. Misperceptions persist even after an intervention to improve decision-making. This misperception that equality is necessarily zero-sum may explain why inequality prevails even as it incurs societal costs that harm everyone.

An extensive multi-country outbreak of multidrug-resistant monophasic

Continuous treatments propensity scoring remains understudied as the majority of methods are focused on the binary treatment setting. Current propensity score methods for continuous treatments typically rely on weighting in order to produce causal estimates. It has been shown that in some continuous treatment settings, weighting methods can result in worse covariate balance than had no adjustments been made to the data. Furthermore, weighting is not always stable, and resultant estimates may be unreliable due to extreme weights. These issues motivate the current development of novel propensity score stratification techniques to be used with continuous treatments. Specifically, the generalized propensity score cumulative distribution function (GPS-CDF) and the nonparametric GPS-CDF (npGPS-CDF) approaches are introduced. Empirical CDFs are used to stratify subjects based on pretreatment confounders in order to produce causal estimates. A detailed simulation study shows superiority of these new stratification methods based on the empirical CDF, when compared to standard weighting techniques. The proposed methods are applied to the “Mexican American Tobacco use in Children” (MATCh) study to determine the causal relationship between continuous exposure to smoking imagery in movies, and smoking behavior among Mexican-American adolescents. These promising results provide investigators with new options for implementing continuous treatment propensity scoring.

Purpose While peer review is critical for quality and safety in radiotherapy, there are neither formal guidelines nor format examples for brachytherapy (BT) peer review. We report on a gynecologic BT peer-review method implemented at a high-volume academic center. Methods and Materials We analyzed discussions at bimonthly gynecologic BT peer-review rounds between July and December 2018. Rounds consisted of 2–5 attending physicians with gynecologic BT expertise, 1–2 BT physicists, and trainees. Peer-review targets included clinical case review, contours, implant technique, dose/fractionation, and target/organ-at-risk (OAR) dosimetry. The projected/final target and OAR dosimetry were analyzed. Results 55 separate implants from 44 patients were reviewed. Implants were mostly reviewed after the first BT fraction (n = 16, 29%) or at another time point during BT (n = 20, 36%). One (2%) implant was presented prospectively. The applicator type and BT technique were reviewed for all implants. Dose/fractionation was evaluated for 46 implants (84%); contours were discussed for 21 (38%). Target and OAR dosimetry were reviewed for 54 (98%) and 28 implants (51%), respectively. Six cases (11%) underwent minor changes to the applicator type to improve target and/or OAR dosimetry. One case (2%) had a major change recommended to the dose/fractionation. Conclusions Gynecologic BT peer review may enhance BT quality by allowing for implant optimization and formal review of challenging cases, ultimately improving medical decision-making and team communication. Peer review should be implemented in centers offering gynecologic BT.

Hypothesis We envisage the use of hydroxylated detonation nanodiamonds (ND-OH), a relatively novel carbonaceous filler with high adsorption activity, small size, and large surface area to create Pickering emulsions. The emulsion behavior under shear and the extent to which the microstructure can rebuild after breakdown is dependent on its yield stress. Experiments Using a model system consisting of isopropyl palmitate and water stabilized by ND-OH particles, we investigate the stability of these emulsions, their microstructure and rheological behavior as a function of ND-OH concentration. Findings Confocal microscopy reveals that increasing ND-OH concentration results in smaller droplet sizes in the emulsions. This behavior is consistent with our rheological results of higher elastic modulus G′ and yield stress of the emulsion with increased ND-OH, as the presence of smaller droplets facilitates the formation of a densely packed network. We find the rheological behavior of these emulsions to be a hybrid of colloidal gels and surfactant-stabilized emulsions, with interparticle interactions and droplets deformability dictating their elasticity and yield stress behavior. Structure recovery following large shear reveals the degree of microstructure recovery to depend on the applied stress, with the recovered modulus collapsing into a single master-curve when the applied stress is scaled by the yield stress.

Introduction We compared the stage at diagnosis for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients in the military healthcare system (MHS) and the general public to assess differences between these two groups as well as to assess the trends in stage at diagnosis in the recent past. Method This study was based on the non-identifiable data from the U.S. Department of Defense Automated Central Tumor Registry (ACTUR) and the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program of the National Cancer Institute. Patients diagnosed with NSCLC between 1989 and 2012 were included. The distributions of tumor stage at diagnosis and trends in tumor stage were compared between the two populations. Results The cohorts were predominately male in both ACTUR (65.3%) and SEER (55.1%) and white patients accounted for greater than 80% of patients in both ACTUR and SEER. Among 21,031 patients in ACTUR and 773,356 patients in SEER, stage IV lung cancers predominated (ACTUR 33.6%, SEER 40.5%) followed by stage III (ACTUR 26.1%, SEER 26.4%) and stage I (ACTUR 24.7%, SEER 20.6%). Notable differences between the two populations were the higher percentage of stage I and lower percentage of stage IV, along with a lower rate of unknown stage patients after 2004, in ACTUR than SEER. Between 1989 and 2012, the percentage of stage IV disease increased in ACTUR and SEER coincident with a decrease in unknown stage disease. Conclusions The majority of NSCLC patients in the MHS and general population are diagnosed with stage IV NSCLC and the percentage is increasing. Compared to the general population, NSCLC patients in the MHS have a higher percentage of stage I, a lower percentage of stage IV, and of unknown stage cancer. Universal care along with more rigorous staging across the MHS may play a role in these findings.

PURPOSE Linked cancer registry and medical claims data have increased the capacity for cancer research. However, few efforts have described methods to select information between data sources, which may affect data use. We developed a systematic process to evaluate and consolidate cancer diagnosis and treatment information between the linked Department of Defense Central Cancer Registry (CCR) and Military Health System Data Repository (MDR) administrative claims database, called Military Cancer Epidemiology Data System (MilCanEpi). METHODS MilCanEpi contains information on cancer diagnosis and treatment of patients receiving care from 1998 to 2014. We used an iterative process guided by knowledge of data features, current literature, and logical comparisons between the CCR and MDR data to evaluate and consolidate cancer diagnosis and treatment received (yes or no) and their dates. We applied the processes to breast cancer data as an example. Agreement between diagnosis and treatment dates in the two data sources was evaluated using Cohen’s κ with 95% CIs. RESULTS In MilCanEpi, we identified 15,965 patients with a breast cancer diagnosis and 15,145 patients who underwent breast cancer surgery; 97.9% and 84.1% of patients had records in both CCR and MDR for diagnosis and surgery, respectively. Exact agreement was 13.7% for diagnosis dates (Cohen’s κ = 0.14; 95% CI, 0.13 to 0.14) and 68.9% for surgery dates (Cohen’s κ = 0.69; 95% CI, 0.68 to 0.70) between the two data sources. After applying systematic processes, 98.1% of patients with a breast cancer diagnosis and 99.7% of patients with surgery had information selected for analytic data sets. CONCLUSION The developed processes resulted in high consolidation rates of breast cancer data in MilCanEpi and may serve as a data selection template for other tumor sites and linked data sources.