Research Working Group Research Articles

Chemistry in Cancer Research: A Vital Partnership

The first Chemistry in Cancer Research Conference jointly presented by the American Chemical Society (ACS) and American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) was hosted by the Chemistry in Cancer Research Working Group (CICR) of the AACR, February 4 to 7, 2007, in San Diego, CA. The purpose of the

The Visual Scoring of Sleep in Adults

The 1968 Rechtschaffen and Kales (R & K) sleep scoring manual was published 15 years after REM sleep was discovered. Advances in the ensuing 28 years warranted a re-look at visual scoring of sleep stages. This paper describes the work of the AASM Visual Scoring Task Force, including methodology, a literature review and the rationale behind the new rules. Reliability studies of R & K scoring were reviewed; reliability was low for stage one and moderate for slow wave sleep. Evidence indicated that K complexes and slow waves are expressed maximal frontally, spindles centrally and alpha rhythm over the occipital region. Three derivations of EEG, two of electro-oculography, and one of chin EMG were recommended. Scoring by 30-second epochs was retained. New terminology for sleep stages was proposed. Attenuation of alpha rhythm was determined to be the most valid electrophysiological marker of sleep onset. Alternative measures were proposed for non-alpha generating subjects. K complexes associated with arousals were determined to be insufficient alone to define the new stage N2. No evidence was found to justify dividing slow wave sleep into two stages. No reasons were found to alter the current slow wave amplitude criteria at any age. The phenomena of REM sleep were defined. The rules for defining onset and termination of REM sleep periods were simplified. Movement time was eliminated and major body movements defined. Studies are needed to test the reliability of the new rules. Future advances in technology may require modification of these rules with time.

Diabetes Drug Reverses SGA-Related Weight Gain

Diabetes Drug Reverses SGA-Related Weight Gain

The relation between speech transmission index, clarity, and reverberation time and listening difficulty in the impulse response database of AIJ

The Speech Communication Research Working Group of AIJ (Architectural Institute of Japan) is collecting information on rooms including digitized impulse responses (IRs) to establish a database for evaluating and designing the speech transmission quality of rooms. This database consists of 966 measured IRs. This study presents the relationships between speech transmission index (STI), clarity (Cx) and reverberation time (T) as measures to consider for the design and evaluation of the speech transmission performance of rooms. The data show a wide range of STI and Cx values for a given T, and the minimum STI at each reverberation time can be obtained by diffused field theory. STI and Cx are seen to be better indicators than T for the design of rooms for speech and that T is not as good. Relationships between STI, Cx, and listening difficulty ratings from previous studies [Proc. of RADS (2004), Proc. of Forum Acusticum, pp. 1713–1718 (2005)] found both STI and Cx can be used as predictors of listening difficulty ratings. Finally, listening difficulty ratings of individual IR in the database are estimated and the distribution of listening difficulty ratings in a variety of rooms are presented as a solid bases to design speech transmission quality of rooms.

Daily Patient Flow Is Not Surge: “Management Is Prediction”

Academic Emergency MedicineVolume 13, Issue 11 p. 1095-1096 Free Access Daily Patient Flow Is Not Surge: “Management Is Prediction” Steven J. Davidson MD, MBA, Corresponding Author Steven J. Davidson MD, MBA Department of Emergency Medicine, Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY (Email: [email protected]).Search for more papers by this authorKristi L. Koenig MD, Kristi L. Koenig MD Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California–Irvine, Orange, CASearch for more papers by this authorDavid C. Cone MD, David C. Cone MD Section of Emergency Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CTSearch for more papers by this author Steven J. Davidson MD, MBA, Corresponding Author Steven J. Davidson MD, MBA Department of Emergency Medicine, Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY (Email: [email protected]).Search for more papers by this authorKristi L. Koenig MD, Kristi L. Koenig MD Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California–Irvine, Orange, CASearch for more papers by this authorDavid C. Cone MD, David C. Cone MD Section of Emergency Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CTSearch for more papers by this author First published: 28 June 2008 https://doi.org/10.1197/j.aem.2006.07.021Citations: 7AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. References Koenig KL, Cone DC, Burstein JL Camargo Jr. CA. Surging to the right standard of care Acad Emerg Med 2006; 13: 195– 198. Kelen GD, McCarthy ML. The science of surge Acad Emerg Med 2006; 13: 1089– 1094. Reid PP, Compton WD, Grossman JH Fanjiang G. Building a Better Delivery System. A New Engineering/Health Care Partnership Committee on Engineering and the Health Care System. Washington , DC : Institute of Medicine and National Academy of Engineering, 2005. Hoffenberg S, Hill MB, Houry D. Does sharing process differences reduce patient length of stay in the emergency department? Ann Emerg Med 2001; 38: 533– 540. Spaite DW, Bartholomeaux F, Guisto J, et al. Rapid process redesign in a university-based emergency department: decreasing waiting time intervals and improving patient satisfaction Ann Emerg Med 2002; 39: 168– 177. Fernandes CM, Walker R, Price A, Marsden J, Haley L. Root cause analysis of laboratory delays to an emergency department J Emerg Med 1997; 15: 735– 739. Fernandes CM, Price A, Christenson JM. Does reduced length of stay decrease the number of emergency department patients who leave without seeing a physician? J Emerg Med 1997; 15: 397– 399. Wuerz R, Fernandes CM, Alarcon J. Inconsistency of emergency department triage. Emergency Department Operations Research Working Group Ann Emerg Med 1998; 32: 431– 435. Gordon BD, Asplin BR. Using online analytical processing to manage emergency department operations Acad Emerg Med 2004; 11: 1206– 1212. Solberg LI, Asplin BR, Weinick RM Magid DJ. Emergency department crowding: consensus development of potential measures Ann Emerg Med 2003; 42: 824– 834. Asplin BR, Magid DJ, Rhodes KV, Solberg LI, Lurie N, Camargo Jr. CA. A conceptual model of emergency department crowding Ann Emerg Med 2003; 42: 173– 180. Davidson SJ, Zwemer Jr. FL, Nathanson LA, Sable KN, Khan AN. Where's the beef? The promise and the reality of clinical documentation Acad Emerg Med 2004; 11: 1127– 1134. Handler JA, Adams JG, Feied CF, et al. Developing consensus in emergency medicine information technology Acad Emerg Med 2004; 11: 1109– 1111. Welch S, Augustine J, Camargo Jr. CA, Reese C. Emergency department performance measures and benchmarking summit Acad Emerg Med 2006; 13: 1074– 1080. Story P. Change in a Changing ED: Rationales for the Ongoing Use of Analysis and Simulation. ProModel, Inc. Available at: http:www.shsweb.orgwebcastsfileschangingachanginged.pdf. Accessed Jul 17, 2006. Committee on the Future of Emergency Care in the United States Health System Hospital-based Emergency Care: At the Breaking Point. Washington , DC : National Academies Press, 2006. Deming WE. The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education2nd ed.. Cambridge : MA, 2000. Citing Literature Volume13, Issue11November 2006Pages 1095-1096 ReferencesRelatedInformation

Committees and Sponsors

This volume contains the Proceedings of SEGRAGRA'95, the Joint COMPUGRAPH/SEMAGRAPH Workshop on Graph Rewriting and Computation. The Workshop was held in the “Centro Studi Santa Maria Maddalena” of Volterra, near Pisa, Italy, from August 28 to September 1, 1995.SEGRAGRA'95 addressed the area of Graph Rewriting and Term Graph Rewriting. It was the final workshop of two Esprit Basic Research Working Groups, COMPUGRAPH II and SEMAGRAPH II. Both working groups have been active in the three year period 1992/95. Unicode entity – undefined95. They have decided to organize their final workshop as a common initiative, with the aim of presenting the achieved results and their view of the state of the art in the field.Out of 39 submitted papers, the Program Committee selected 23 for presentation at the Workshop. These were grouped into sessions on Graph Rewriting I and II, Term Graph Rewriting I and II, Computing on Graphs, Concurrency & Parallelism, Modules, Software Engineering, Types and Proofs. The program included also invited talks by Eike Best (Universität Hildesheim), Thomas Johnsson (Chalmers University), Detlef Seese (Universität Karlsruhe) and Chris Wadsworth (Rutherford Appleton Laboratory); and tutorials by Henk Barendregt (Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen), Andrea Corradini (Università di Pisa), Bruno Courcelle (Université Bordeaux I), Hartmut Ehrig (Technische Universität Berlin), Richard Kennaway (University of East Anglia, Norwich), Hans-Jörg Kreowski (Universität Bremen), Rinus Plasmeijer (Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen) and Ronan Sleep (University of East Anglia, Norwich).The Conference site was made available at no cost to SEGRAGRA'95 by the Cassa di Risparmio di Volterra. The Workshop was supported by Gruppo Nazionale Informatica Matematica (CNR) and Istituto di Elaborazione dell'Informazione (CNR).We thank the anonymous referees, the Program Committee members: the Organizing Committee members: Fabio Gadducci and Marco Pistore from the University of Pisa gave us a valuable help in the local organization during the Workshop. We also thank the Managing Editors of the Electronic Notes in Computer Science series, Michael Mislove, Maurice Nivat, and Christos Papadimitriou, for giving us the opportunity of publishing the proceedings in this new electronic series, and Mike Mislove and Joost W.M. Kok (from Elsevier) for the constant support and the valuable suggestions they provided us during the preparation of this electronic volume.Andrea Corradini and Ugo Montanari, Guest Editors

Sessions Offer Window Into DSM-V Development Process

Sessions Offer Window Into <i>DSM-V</i> Development Process

Guidelines for Trials of Behavioral Treatments for Recurrent Headache, First Edition: American Headache Society Behavioral Clinical Trials Workgroup

Guidelines for design of clinical trials evaluating behavioral headache treatments were developed to facilitate production of quality research evaluating behavioral therapies for management of primary headache disorders. These guidelines were produced by a Workgroup of headache researchers under auspices of the American Headache Society. The guidelines are complementary to and modeled after guidelines for pharmacological trials published by the International Headache Society, but they address methodologic considerations unique to behavioral and other nonpharmacological treatments. Explicit guidelines for evaluating behavioral headache therapies are needed as the optimal methodology for behavioral (and other nonpharmacologic) trials necessarily differs from the preferred methodology for drug trials. In addition, trials comparing and integrating drug and behavioral therapies present methodological challenges not addressed by guidelines for pharmacologic research. These guidelines address patient selection, trial design for behavioral treatments and for comparisons across multiple treatment modalities (eg, behavioral vs pharmacologic), evaluation of results, and research ethics. Although developed specifically for behavioral therapies, the guidelines may apply to the design of clinical trials evaluating many forms of nonpharmacologic therapies for headache.

National Institute of Nursing Research Working Group on “Optimizing Pregnancy Outcomes in Minority Populations”

The growing complexity of biomedical research requires new methods of discovery; scientists must use an interdisciplinary approach and explore new models of team science, as underscored in the Roadmap of the National Institutes of Health. In March 2003, the National Institute of Nursing Research convened a working group of scientists and clinicians with a wide range of backgrounds to address "Optimizing Pregnancy Outcomes in Minority Populations." The 2-day meeting included a variety of presentations on the current state of research on pregnancy in minority populations. Many participants provided specific insights regarding biobehavioral issues in human-environment interaction, stress and health status relationships to risk, maternal-fetal interactions, and the complications of pregnancy. This supplement presents articles from several participants at this interdisciplinary meeting. The National Institute of Nursing Research looks forward to further collaborations across the National Institutes of Health and other agencies to achieve the vital aims of this working group.

Launcher Attitude Control: Some Answers to the Robustness Issue

This paper presents the main results obtained in the frame of PIROLA, a 3 years research working group on robust control of launchers, under financial support of CNES induding ONERA, EADS Space Transportation, the control departments of Supelcc and SUPAERO, and CNRS/LAAS.The first part of the paper addresses the general problem of the attitude control of launchers specially the robustness concern.In the second part the different synthesis methods which have been proposed and tested during the project are described. Some of them address the stationary control problem and have therefore to be associated to an interpolation algorithm to be implemented. Two other methods aim at designing nonstationary controllers. The advantages and limits of each method for this particular problem are emphasized.

EU funding and the Workgroup of European Nurse Researchers: Some lessons learned

EU funding and the Workgroup of European Nurse Researchers: Some lessons learned

Networking for the advancement of nursing research in Europe for twenty-five years.

The Work Group of European Nurse Researchers (WENR) has been networking for advancement of nursing research in Europe for 25 years. The most well-known activity of WENR is its biennial conferences organized in all parts of Europe. They have provided a unique opportunity for nurses to come together to discuss nursing research and clinical practice. Recently, WENR has published a position paper in order to reinforce its own and International Council of Nurses, World Health Organization and The Standing Committee of Nurses of the European Union (PCN) aims. The Work Group of European Nurse Researchers recommends that the recommendations of The Council of Europe report be adopted formally by national nurses associations. Future activities of WENR include promotion of infrastructures and research capacities in member countries, and planning of new scientific activities.

A Census of marine life: unknowable or just unknown?

As an introduction to the entire volume, this article outlines the relationships among the five elements of the Census of Marine Life (CoML) that create new knowledge: (1) The Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS), a marine component of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, links marine databases around the world to provide an Internet accessible, dynamic interface for comparing species-level, geo-referenced biodiversity data in relation to ocean habitats. The entire CoML field project data will be managed in and accessible through OBIS. (2) The History of Marine Animal Populations (HMAP) is a unique new synthesis of historical and biological research that will document marine biodiversity, globally, up to 500 years ago, before significant human impact, and store it in formats compatible with modern data in OBIS. (3) The Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research Working Group 118 monitors and recommends advanced marine technologies, ready to be routinely used in CoML field projects. (4) CoML Initial Field Projects develop and calibrate these technologies in selected regions to facilitate and accelerate global biodiversity research. As calibrated technologies and protocols are adopted in many regions, qualitative and quantitative biodiversity discoveries accumulate. (5) The Future of Marine Animal Populations (FMAP) program will insure that the data in OBIS are suitable for modeling and predicting changes in global biodiversity in response to fishing, pollution, and climate change challenges. It will make datasets available for hindcasting and forecasting analyses linked to physical ocean observations and assist in documenting the impacts of conservation efforts on sustainability.

New technologies and therapeutic approaches for the management of pediatric diabetes.

Evolving trends in technology and therapeutic strategies create a very exciting time for the management of diabetes. Technology, like the internet, helps us to keep up with this fast-paced, changing world of diabetes. New therapies most often begin with adult clinical trials; once safety and efficacy are demonstrated, practice recommendations follow for the pediatric population. The Diabetes Research Working Group has defined potentially important new directions and technologies for diabetes research. The group has recommended the creation of regional centers of technologic excellence, if contemporary diabetes research is to succeed. An overview of recent advances in diabetes technology follows covering five main areas: monitoring, telemedicine, insulin analogues, insulin delivery devices, and islet cell transplantation.

Creative Abilities of Work-Groups

Organization of work-teams for solving complex scientific and technical problems demands to take into account both individual abilities of researchers and collective characteristics of workgroups. In this paper a correlation between psychological parameters of creative thinking of specialists which leads to successful work of the work-team on whole is considered. For testing of specialists computer tests were used which give quantitative information about creative abilities of each member of research group. Cluster analysis was applied to get a map of distribution of specialists in subgroups with identical thinking parameters. It is shown that in each case of solving of concrete scientific problem it is important to complete a research work-group with optimum correlation of subgroups with corresponding characteristics.

Essay: Rediscovering The Social Determinants Of Health

Essay: Rediscovering The Social Determinants Of Health

Diabetes: what Americans don't know can kill them.

3 D IABETES affects more than 16 million Americans, with approximately 800,000 new cases diagnosed each year. Diabetes spares no one, attacking men, women, children, and the elderly. It is one of our nation’s most costly diseases in both human and economic terms. Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, amputations, and blindness in adults. It is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke, and shortens average life expectancy by up to 15 years. Moreover, diabetes costs the nation more than $105 billion per year in health-related expenditures. More than 1 of every 10 health care dollars and about 1 of 4 Medicare dollars are spent on people with diabetes. On reviewing these statistics, I wondered what Congress could do to put us on the road to overcoming them. The answer was: plenty. I began by organizing the Senate Diabetes Caucus. As cochair, along with my colleague Senator John Breaux (D-LA), I have gathered a bipartisan group of 17 senators who are committed to working together to advocate for people with diabetes. The Senate Diabetes Caucus is working to increase funding for diabetes research. The Diabetes Research Working Group (DRWG), a panel of diabetes experts, has put forward a comprehensive plan for diabetes research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The DRWG has recommended an $827 million budget in fiscal year 2000 for diabetes research at the NIH. We believe this is a small investment when compared with the more than $40 billion federal taxpayers spend each year on diabetes care. In October, I introduced an amendment to the Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations bill that calls for increased support for diabetes research, education, early detection, and treatment. My amendment, which passed unanimously, does not earmark a particular funding level for diabetes research; rather, it is intended to heighten awareness of the devastating impact that diabetes and its resulting complications have in both human and economic terms. It is also intended to affirm that diabetes research is a high priority and to express the clear intent of the Senate that the federal government should substantially increase its investment in the fight against diabetes. Later that month, I chaired a hearing of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that examined whether sufficient funding is being provided to enable the NIH to implement the programs presented in the DRWG’s research. While we continue to search for a cure, there is treatment. In recent years, insulin pumps have proven to be more effective in controlling blood glucose levels than conventional injection therapy for some insulin-dependent diabetics. External insulin pumps are widely accepted by health professionals involved in treating patients with diabetes, and for many patients, the pump is the only way that optimal blood glucose control can be achieved safely.

A knock on the head is not a good thing: head injury and Alzheimer’s disease-like pathology

Although a number of studies have suggested that head trauma increases the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD), other studies have not found such a link 1 Launer L.J. et al. Rates and risk factors for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease: results from EURODEM pooled analyses. EURODEM incidence research group and work groups. European studies of dementia. Neurology. 1999; 52: 78-84 Crossref PubMed Google Scholar . Two lines of evidence suggest that a link is likely. First, dementia pugilistica, or punch-drunk syndrome, is seen in ageing boxers and involves both motor symptoms (similar to those seen in Parkinson’s disease) and dementia. Second, several groups have reported that Alzheimer’s-like plaques and tangles are found in the brains of about one-third of patients who die soon after serious head trauma. The significance of these acute changes is unclear, and research has been slow because similar changes are not seen in rodent models. Smith et al.2 Smith D.H. et al. Accumulation of amyloid beta and tau and the formation of neurofilament inclusions following diffuse brain injury in the pig. J. Neuropathol. Exp. Neurol. 1999; 58: 982-992 Crossref PubMed Scopus (215) Google Scholar used a pig model of brain injury to address this issue. The pig brain is gyrencephalic, possessing a structure with multiple folds, or sulci, more structurally similar to the human brain than are the rodent brains typically studied. The trauma used was mild, with all animals making a full recovery after 24 h. When their brains were examined one to ten days after trauma, about one-third of the animals had changes similar to the pathologic hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease: accumulation of amyloid β-peptide (found in plaques in AD) and accumulation of abnormally phosphorylated tau protein (the major component of tangles in AD). However, unlike Alzheimer’s disease, most of the pathology was observed in injured axons rather than as extracellular plaques and tangles in gray matter. Some accumulation of hyperphosphorylated tau was seen in neurons, perhaps representing a ‘pre-tangle’, a precursor to the neurofibrillary tangle pathology seen in AD. Neuronal inclusions containing neurofilament proteins similar to those seen in Parkinson’s disease were also observed.

The reactivity research work group: An overview

The reactivity research work group: An overview

The Acheson report: challenges for the College.

The Acheson report “Inequalities in health: report of an independent inquiry”,1 has been published 18 years after the Black report (“Inequalities in health: report of a research working group).2 This 18 year period has seen an increase in income inequality in the UK: 24% of the population had an income below half the average after housing costs in 1995–96 compared with 7% in 1977.3 Families with children have been hardest hit: 31% of children live in households with less than half the average income after housing costs3 and more than one million children live in families without a wage earner. This article aims to open a debate among paediatricians and within the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. The evidence for the adverse effects of poverty on child health is overwhelming4 and the Acheson report, with its explicit focus on maternal and child health, offers an opportunity to use the College’s considerable influence to advocate for government policies that reduce poverty among families with children. In common with Black, Acheson adopts the socioeconomic model of health and its inequalities, which traces the roots of ill health to such determinants as income, education and employment, as well as the material environment and lifestyle. Three crucial areas are identified: Priority is given to families with children because childhood is seen as a critical and vulnerable stage where poor socioeconomic circumstances have lasting effects. In addition, interventions related to parents, particularly present and future mothers, and children are …