Occasional errors can benefit coordination

The chances solving a problem that involves coordination between people are increased by introducing robotic players that sometimes make mistakes. This finding has implications for real-world coordination problems

Comparison of contact patterns relevant for transmission of respiratory pathogens in Thailand and the Netherlands using respondent-driven sampling

Understanding infection dynamics of respiratory diseases requires the identification and quantification of behavioural, social and environmental factors that permit the transmission of these infections between humans. Little empirical information is available about contact patterns within real-world social networks, let alone on differences in these contact networks between populations that differ considerably on a socio-cultural level. Here we compared contact network data that were collected in the Netherlands and Thailand using a similar online respondent-driven method. By asking participants to recruit contact persons we studied network links relevant for the transmission of respiratory infections. We studied correlations between recruiter and recruited contacts to investigate mixing patterns in the observed social network components. In both countries, mixing patterns were assortative by demographic variables and random by total numbers of contacts. However, in Thailand participants reported overall more contacts which resulted in higher effective contact rates. Our findings provide new insights on numbers of contacts and mixing patterns in two different populations. These data could be used to improve parameterisation of mathematical models used to design control strategies. Although the spread of infections through populations depends on more factors, found similarities suggest that spread may be similar in the Netherlands and Thailand

Relative contribution of various chronic diseases and multi-morbidity to potential disability among Dutch elderly

BACKGROUND: The amount of time spent living with disease greatly influences elderly people’s wellbeing, disability and healthcare costs, but differs by disease, age and sex. METHODS: We assessed how various single and combined diseases differentially affect life years spent living with disease in Dutch elderly men and women (65+) over their remaining life course. Multistate life table calculations were applied to age and sex-specific disease prevalence, incidence and death rates for the Netherlands in 2007. We distinguished congestive heart failure, coronary heart disease (CHD), breast and prostate cancer, colon cancer, lung cancer, diabetes, COPD, stroke, dementia and osteoarthritis. RESULTS: Across ages 65, 70, 75, 80 and 85, CHD caused the most time spent living with disease for Dutch men (from 7.6 years at age 65 to 3.7 years at age 85) and osteoarthritis for Dutch women (from 11.7 years at age 65 to 4. 8 years at age 85). Of the various co-occurrences of disease, the combination of diabetes and osteoarthritis led to the most time spent living with disease, for both men (from 11.2 years at age 65 to 4.9 -years at age 85) and women (from 14.2 years at age 65 to 6.0 years at age 85). CONCLUSIONS: Specific single and multi-morbid diseases affect men and women differently at different phases in the life course in terms of the time spent living with disease, and consequently, their potential disability. Timely sex and age-specific interventions targeting prevention of the single and combined diseases identified could reduce healthcare costs and increase wellbeing in elderly people

Cooperation, Norms, and Revolutions: A Unified Game-Theoretical Approach

Cooperation is of utmost importance to society as a whole, but is often challenged by individual self-interests. While game theory has studied this problem extensively, there is little work on interactions within and across groups with different preferences or beliefs. Yet, people from different social or cultural backgrounds often meet and interact. This can yield conflict, since behavior that is considered cooperative by one population might be perceived as non-cooperative from the viewpoint of another. To understand the dynamics and outcome of the competitive interactions within and between groups, we study game-dynamical replicator equations for multiple populations with incompatible interests and different power (be this due to different population sizes, material resources, social capital, or other factors). These equations allow us to address various important questions: For example, can cooperation in the prisoner's dilemma be promoted, when two interacting groups have different preferences? Under what conditions can costly punishment, or other mechanisms, foster the evolution of norms? When does cooperation fail, leading to antagonistic behavior, conflict, or even revolutions? And what incentives are needed to reach peaceful agreements between groups with conflicting interests? Our detailed quantitative analysis reveals a large variety of interesting results, which are relevant for society, law and economics, and have implications for the evolution of language and culture as well

Prevention of glucocorticoid induced osteoporosis with alendronate or alfacalcidol:Relations of change in bone mineral density, bone markers, and calcium homeostasis

Objective. To explore the relation of changes in measures of bone turnover and changes in bone mineral density (BMD) of the lumbar spine and total hip over 18 months in a double-blinded, randomized trial, comparing the effect of alfacalcidol (101 patients) versus alendronate (100 patients) on BMD in patients who recently started treatment with glucocorticoids for various rheumatic diseases. Methods. Associations between changes in serum procollagen type I C-propeptide (P1CP), fasting urine N-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen (NTx), serum calcium, parathyroid hormone (PTH), osteocalcin, and change from baseline in BMD over 18 months were explored with regression and correlation analyses. Results. In both treatment groups, there was a statistically significant decrease in NTx. In the alfacalcidol group there was also a significant increase in P1CP and osteocalcin, in contrast to the alendronate group, but BMD in the alfacalcidol decreased versus an increase in the alendronate group (p <0.001). In neither treatment group were changes in biochemical measures correlated with the change in BMD, with the exception of a negative correlation in the alendronate group between changes in total hip BMD and NTx. Use of alendronate resulted in an increased PTH in 27 patients, but the increase in BMD of these patients was not statistically significantly different compared to patients taking alendronate with normal PTH levels. Conclusion. Changes in BMD were not associated with changes in bone measures, with the exception of NTx in the alendronate group. For the patient taking glucocorticoids in clinical practice, the value of serial assessment of bone markers is low; changes in markers are no substitute for changes in BMD

Immunopathogenesis and Immune Modulation of Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis Virus-Induced Disease in the Mouse

AbstractThe course of Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) disease in immunodeficient and immunologically normal mice was compared to define the role of the immune system in this disease process. Immunocompetent mice infected with VEE exhibited a biphasic illness characterized by an early self-limiting lymphoid phase and a fatal CNS phase. The lymphoid phase of the illness was characterized by extensive viral replication within spleen, thymus, Peyer's patches, and lymph nodes, was accompanied by a high-titered serum viremia, and resolved with the production of VEE-specific IgM class antibody at 72 h postinfection (p.i.). Immunocompetent animals survived an average of 6.8 ± 1.2 days before succumbing to fulminant encephalitis. In contrast, SCID mice infected with VEE showed a persistent replication of virus throughout all organs tested beginning at 24 h p.i. VEE-infected SCID mice exhibited a severe spongiform encephalopathy with 100% mortality and an average survival time of 8.9 ± 0.9 days. These studies indicated that the characteristic organ tropism of VEE in the mouse is due in large part to an early anti-viral state, the establishment of which is dependent upon the presence of an intact immune system. Finally, the CNS pathology in a VEE-infected mouse had a significant immunologic component. However, in contrast to other neurovirulent alphaviruses, VEE was directly cytopathic for the cells of the CNS, even in the absence of an immune response

Dutch outcome in implantable cardioverter-defibrillator therapy (DO-IT)

Background Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) are widely used for the prevention of sudden cardiac death. At present, both clinical benefit and cost-effectiveness of ICD therapy in primary prevention patients are topics of discussion, as only a minority of these patients will eventually receive appropriate ICD therapy. Methods/design The DO-IT Registry is a nationwide prospective cohort with a target enrolment of 1,500 primary prevention ICD patients with reduced left ventricular function in a setting of structural heart disease. The primary outcome measures are death and appropriate ICD therapy for ventricular tachyarrhythmias. Secondary outcome measures are inappropriate ICD therapy, death of any cause, hospitalisation for ICD related complications and for cardiovascular reasons. As of December 2016, data on demographic, clinical, and ICD characteristics of 1,468 patients have been collected. Follow-up will continue up to 24 months after inclusion of the last patient. During follow-up, clinical and ICD data are collected based on the normal follow-up of these patients, assuming ICD interrogations take place every six months and clinical follow-up i

Luminosity Measurement in the L3 Detector at LEP

One of the limiting factors in the determination of the electroweak parameters from cross section measurements of e+e- annihilation close to the Z pole is the precision of the luminosity measurement. The luminosity monitor of the L3 detector at LEP and the analysis of its data are described. Using a combination of a BGO calorimeter and a 3-layer silicon tracker, the absolute luminosity has been measured with an experimental precision of 0.08% in 1993 and 0.05% in 1994. The measurement relies on a detailed understanding of small-angle elastic e+e-(Bhabha) scattering from the experimental and theoretical point of view, as well as an excellent knowledge of the detector geometry