New and emerging technologies for the treatment of inherited retinal diseases: a horizon scanning review.

The horizon scanning review aimed to identify new and emerging technologies in development that have the potential to slow or stop disease progression and/or reverse sight loss in people with inherited retinal diseases (IRDs). Potential treatments were identified using recognized horizon scanning methods. These included a combination of online searches using predetermined search terms, suggestions from clinical experts and patient and carer focus groups, and contact with commercial developers. Twenty-nine relevant technologies were identified. These included 9 gene therapeutic approaches, 10 medical devices, 5 pharmacological agents, and 5 regenerative and cell therapies. A further 11 technologies were identified in very early phases of development (typically phase I or pre-clinical) and were included in the final report to give a complete picture of developments 'on the horizon'. Clinical experts and patient and carer focus groups provided helpful information and insights, such as the availability of specialised services for patients, the potential impacts of individual technologies on people with IRDs and their families, and helped to identify additional relevant technologies. This engagement ensured that important areas of innovation were not missed. Most of the health technologies identified are still at an early stage of development and it is difficult to estimate when treatments might be available. Further, well designed trials that generate data on efficacy, applicability, acceptability, and costs of the technologies, as well as the long-term impacts for various conditions are required before these can be considered for adoption into routine clinical practice

Microbial ligand costimulation drives neutrophilic steroid-refractory asthma

Funding: The authors thank the Wellcome Trust (102705) and the Universities of Aberdeen and Cape Town for funding. This research was also supported, in part, by National Institutes of Health GM53522 and GM083016 to DLW. KF and BNL are funded by the Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, BNL is the recipient of an European Research Commission consolidator grant and participates in the European Union FP7 programs EUBIOPRED and MedALL. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Use of a Variable Compensation Item Response Model to Assess the Effect of Working-Memory Load On Noncompensatory Processing in an Inductive Reasoning Task

"A study of the relationship between noncompensatory processing and the working memory load of matrix completion items was conducted. Data were taken from the British Cohort Study of 1970, First Follow-up (N=14,875). To assess compensation, the GMIRT Rasch model (Spray & Ackerman, 1986), variable compensation model, was used with MCMC estimation via WINBUGS. In support of these analyses, a simulation study assessing parameter recovery for the GMIRT model was conducted. Sample size, item pool size, and interability correlation were manipulated. Adequate parameter recovery was observed when difficulty parameters were constrained equal across dimensions. In the application study, there was some evidence to support the relationship between working memory load and compensation "--Abstract from author supplied metadata

Bookeater and other love stories

The characters who inhabit Bookeater and Other Love Stories have little in common with each other. Their stories are not interconnected. However, they do share an almost overwhelming desire to connect, to unite with someone--or something--in order to stave off loneliness. These stories explore the ways in which desire inevitably inspires selfish and destructive behavior. These characters are willing to lie, cheat, steal, and (almost) kill in their desperate attempts to win and keep the people--and objects--they love."--Abstract from author supplied metadata

A descriptive analysis of the effects of a model of flexible scheduling on achievement in reading

It was the purpose of this study to investigate the effects of a model of flexible scheduling on achievement in reading for primary school children. It was hypothesized that the model of flexible scheduling would reduce the fragmentation of the primary school day and increase the time allocation to the language arts and reading instruction. It was also hypothesized that any increase in the time allocations to the subject area of reading would result in an increase in "academic learning time" (ALT) and more achievement in reading. The subjects were 70 students in the primary school using the model of flexible scheduling and 187 students in four comparison schools (primary level). Two of the comparison schools used some form of scheduling and two did not. The subjects were not randomly selected but were considered to be representative of all students in the school populations. The data were collected using a pretest/posttest pre-experimental design over a six-month period of time for the 70 subjects and by calculating gain scores (scale scores) in reading for the 187 students at the comparison school and 46 of the 70 subjects at the intervention school over a three-year period of time. Teachers at Brown Summit Primary School who worked with the implementation of the scheduling model responded to a questionnaire on the effects of the scheduling model on fragmentation and reading achievement. These data were analyzed using a t test and by summarizing the responses to the questionnaire

Star forming dwarf galaxies

Star forming dwarf galaxies (SFDGs) have a high gas content and low metallicities, reminiscent of the basic entities in hierarchical galaxy formation scenarios. In the young universe they probably also played a major role in the cosmic reionization. Their abundant presence in the local volume and their youthful character make them ideal objects for detailed studies of the initial stellar mass function (IMF), fundamental star formation processes and its feedback to the interstellar medium. Occasionally we witness SFDGs involved in extreme starbursts, giving rise to strongly elevated production of super star clusters and global superwinds, mechanisms yet to be explored in more detail. SFDGs is the initial state of all dwarf galaxies and the relation to the environment provides us with a key to how different types of dwarf galaxies are emerging. In this review we will put the emphasis on the exotic starburst phase, as it seems less important for present day galaxy evolution but perhaps fundamental in the initial phase of galaxy formation.Comment: To appear in JENAM Symposium "Dwarf Galaxies: Keys to Galaxy Formation and Evolution", P. Papaderos, G. Hensler, S. Recchi (eds.). Lisbon, September 2010, Springer Verlag, in pres

Search for astronomical neutrinos from blazar TXS 0506+056 in super-kamiokande

We report a search for astronomical neutrinos in the energy region from several GeV to TeV in the direction of the blazar TXS 0506+056 using the Super-Kamiokande detector following the detection of a 100 TeV neutrinos from the same location by the IceCube collaboration. Using Super-Kamiokande neutrino data across several data samples observed from 1996 April to 2018 February we have searched for both a total excess above known backgrounds across the entire period as well as localized excesses on smaller timescales in that interval. No significant excess nor significant variation in the observed event rate are found in the blazar direction. Upper limits are placed on the electron- and muon-neutrino fluxes at the 90% confidence level as 6.0 × 10−7 and 4.5 × 10−7–9.3 × 10−10 [erg cm−2 s−1], respectively

Effects of habitat and land use on breeding season density of male Asian Houbara Chlamydotis macqueenii

Landscape-scale habitat and land-use influences on Asian Houbara Chlamydotis macqueenii (IUCN Vulnerable) remain unstudied, while estimating numbers of this cryptic, low-density, over-hunted species is challenging. In spring 2013, male houbara were recorded at 231 point counts, conducted twice, across a gradient of sheep density and shrub assemblages within 14,300 km² of the Kyzylkum Desert, Uzbekistan. Four sets of models related male abundance to: (1) vegetation structure (shrub height and substrate); (2) shrub assemblage; (3) shrub species composition (multidimensional scaling); (4) remote-sensed derived land-cover (GLOBCOVER, 4 variables). Each set also incorporated measures of landscape rugosity and sheep density. For each set, multi-model inference was applied to generalised linear mixed models of visit-specific counts that included important detectability covariates and point ID as a random effect. Vegetation structure received strongest support, followed by shrub species composition and shrub assemblage, with weakest support for the GLOBCOVER model set. Male houbara numbers were greater with lower mean shrub height, more gravel and flatter surfaces, but were unaffected by sheep density. Male density (mean 0.14 km-2, 95% CI, 0.12‒0.15) estimated by distance analysis differed substantially among shrub assemblages, being highest in vegetation dominated by Salsola rigida (0.22 [CI, 0.20‒0.25]), high in areas of S. arbuscula and Astragalus (0.14 [CI, 0.13‒0.16] and 0.15 [CI, 0.14‒0.17] respectively), lower (0.09 [CI, 0.08‒0.10]) in Artemisia and lowest (0.04 [CI, 0.04‒0.05]) in Calligonum. The study area was estimated to hold 1,824 males (CI: 1,645‒2,030). The spatial distribution of relative male houbara abundance, predicted from vegetation structure models, had the strongest correspondence with observed numbers in both model-calibration and the subsequent year’s data. We found no effect of pastoralism on male distribution but potential effects on nesting females are unknown. Density differences among shrub communities suggest extrapolation to estimate country- or range-wide population size must take account of vegetation composition

Outlook Economic Conference, November 7, 2018: Aligning Wilmington to better serve and capitalize on the growing boomer community

A PowerPoint presentation from the UNC Wilmington annual OUTLOOK conference, delivered November 7, 2018. This conference is the region's premier forum for economic activity and forecasts. The focus for 2018 was Smart Cities: Aligning Wilmington to better serve and capitalize on the growing boomer community

Brunswick County: The national outlook

A PowerPoint presentation given on January 9, 2018, by Dr. Thomas Simpson on the national outlook for Brunswick County