Government-backed expert panel set up to improve race equality

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 8-10
Author(s):  
Stephanie Jones-Berry
Keyword(s):  
2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 94-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Joeris ◽  
Anahí Hurtado-Chong ◽  
Michael Blauth ◽  
Joerg Goldhahn ◽  
Nicolas S. Bodmer ◽  
...  

Background: Early identification of people at risk for a contralateral hip fracture would be desirable to favorably influence patients’ prognosis. A recent systematic review failed to depict stringent patterns of risk parameters to be used for decision-making in clinical practice. Objective: To perform a consensus study using the Delphi method to reach an expert consensus on predictive parameters for the occurrence of a fall and a contralateral hip fracture 1 and 3 years after hip fracture. Methods: A list of potential members of the expert panel was identified based on the authors’ list of a recently conducted systematic review. Participating experts were asked to name parameters determining the probability for a fall and a contralateral hip fracture 1 and 3 years after an occurred hip fracture, separately. Additionally, we asked how those stated parameters should be measured. All mentioned parameters were compiled and sent back to the experts asking them to weight each single parameter by assigning a number between 1 (not important) and 10 (very important). The survey was conducted online using the REDCap software package. We defined expert agreement if the interquartile range of attributed weights for a parameter was ≤2. A relevant parameter had at least a median weight of 8. Results: Twelve experts from 7 countries completed the survey. Presence of fall history and mental and general health status were considered relevant irrespective of the outcome. For falling within 1 and 3 years, the number of medications and residential status were considered relevant, while for fractures within 1 and 3 years, osteoporosis management was considered important. Conclusion: Using the insights gained in this consensus study, empiric studies need to be set up assessing the prognostic value of the selected parameters.


Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1684
Author(s):  
Evert Heyrman ◽  
Steven Janssens ◽  
Nadine Buys ◽  
Lynn Vanhaecke ◽  
Sam Millet ◽  
...  

Trained expert panels are used routinely in boar taint research, with varying protocols for training of panelists and scoring methods. We describe a standardized process for training and scoring, to contribute to standardize the olfactory detection of boar taint. Three experiments are described in which we (1) evaluate the importance of training and the effect of the previous sample, (2) determine detection thresholds on strips and in fat for our panel, and (3) test priming panelists before boar taint evaluation. For the final evaluation of boar taint, we propose a consistent three-person evaluation scoring on a 0–4 scale using a final mean score of 0.5 as the cut-off for boar taint. This gave an optimal sensitivity of 0.81 and a specificity of 0.56 compared to chemical cut-offs. Even limited training proved useful, but priming assessors with strips did not improve the evaluation of fat samples. Detection thresholds were higher in fat compared to strips, except for indole. We recommend panelists to always smell a non-tainted control sample after a tainted one as a ‘reset’ mechanism, before continuing. For longitudinal studies, we additionally advise to set up an expert panel with a fixed number of assessors performing each evaluation in duplicate.


Author(s):  
Louise A. Noble ◽  
Nick Firth ◽  
Jaime Delgadillo ◽  
Stephen Kellett

Abstract Background: Whilst the delivery of low-intensity group psychoeducation is a key feature of the early steps of the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme, there is little consensus regarding the skills and competencies demanded. Aims: To identify the competencies involved in facilitating CBT-based group psychoeducation in order to inform future measure development. Method: A Delphi study in which participants (n = 36) were relevant IAPT stakeholders and then an expert panel (n = 8) review of the competencies identified within the Delphi study to create a shortened, more practical list of competencies. Results: After three consultation rounds, consensus was reached on 36 competencies. These competencies were assigned to four main categories: group set-up, content, process and closure. A further expert review produced a shortened 16-item set of psychoeducation group facilitation competencies. Conclusions: The current study has produced a promising framework for assessing facilitator competency in delivering CBT-based group psychoeducational interventions. Weaknesses in the Delphi approach are noted and directions for future measure development research are identified.


Author(s):  
T. G. Naymik

Three techniques were incorporated for drying clay-rich specimens: air-drying, freeze-drying and critical point drying. In air-drying, the specimens were set out for several days to dry or were placed in an oven (80°F) for several hours. The freeze-dried specimens were frozen by immersion in liquid nitrogen or in isopentane at near liquid nitrogen temperature and then were immediately placed in the freeze-dry vacuum chamber. The critical point specimens were molded in agar immediately after sampling. When the agar had set up the dehydration series, water-alcohol-amyl acetate-CO2 was carried out. The objectives were to compare the fabric plasmas (clays and precipitates), fabricskeletons (quartz grains) and the relationship between them for each drying technique. The three drying methods are not only applicable to the study of treated soils, but can be incorporated into all SEM clay soil studies.


Author(s):  
T. Gulik-Krzywicki ◽  
M.J. Costello

Freeze-etching electron microscopy is currently one of the best methods for studying molecular organization of biological materials. Its application, however, is still limited by our imprecise knowledge about the perturbations of the original organization which may occur during quenching and fracturing of the samples and during the replication of fractured surfaces. Although it is well known that the preservation of the molecular organization of biological materials is critically dependent on the rate of freezing of the samples, little information is presently available concerning the nature and the extent of freezing-rate dependent perturbations of the original organizations. In order to obtain this information, we have developed a method based on the comparison of x-ray diffraction patterns of samples before and after freezing, prior to fracturing and replication.Our experimental set-up is shown in Fig. 1. The sample to be quenched is placed on its holder which is then mounted on a small metal holder (O) fixed on a glass capillary (p), whose position is controlled by a micromanipulator.


Author(s):  
O.L. Krivanek ◽  
J. TaftØ

It is well known that a standing electron wavefield can be set up in a crystal such that its intensity peaks at the atomic sites or between the sites or in the case of more complex crystal, at one or another type of a site. The effect is usually referred to as channelling but this term is not entirely appropriate; by analogy with the more established particle channelling, electrons would have to be described as channelling either through the channels or through the channel walls, depending on the diffraction conditions.


Author(s):  
David C. Joy ◽  
Dennis M. Maher

High-resolution images of the surface topography of solid specimens can be obtained using the low-loss technique of Wells. If the specimen is placed inside a lens of the condenser/objective type, then it has been shown that the lens itself can be used to collect and filter the low-loss electrons. Since the probeforming lenses in TEM instruments fitted with scanning attachments are of this type, low-loss imaging should be possible.High-resolution, low-loss images have been obtained in a JEOL JEM 100B fitted with a scanning attachment and a thermal, fieldemission gun. No modifications were made to the instrument, but a wedge-shaped, specimen holder was made to fit the side-entry, goniometer stage. Thus the specimen is oriented initially at a glancing angle of about 30° to the beam direction. The instrument is set up in the conventional manner for STEM operation with all the lenses, including the projector, excited.


Author(s):  
T.S. Savage ◽  
R. Ai ◽  
D. Dunn ◽  
L.D. Marks

The use of lasers for surface annealing, heating and/or damage has become a routine practice in the study of materials. Lasers have been closely looked at as an annealing technique for silicon and other semiconductors. They allow for local heating from a beam which can be focused and tuned to different wavelengths for specific tasks. Pulsed dye lasers allow for short, quick bursts which can allow the sample to be rapidly heated and quenched. This short, rapid heating period may be important for cases where diffusion of impurities or dopants may not be desirable.At Northwestern University, a Candela SLL - 250 pulsed dye laser, with a maximum power of 1 Joule/pulse over 350 - 400 nanoseconds, has been set up in conjunction with a Hitachi UHV-H9000 transmission electron microscope. The laser beam is introduced into the surface science chamber through a series of mirrors, a focusing lens and a six inch quartz window.


Author(s):  
K.-H. Herrmann ◽  
E. Reuber ◽  
P. Schiske

Aposteriori deblurring of high resolution electron micrographs of weak phase objects can be performed by holographic filters [1,2] which are arranged in the Fourier domain of a light-optical reconstruction set-up. According to the diffraction efficiency and the lateral position of the grating structure, the filters permit adjustment of the amplitudes and phases of the spatial frequencies in the image which is obtained in the first diffraction order.In the case of bright field imaging with axial illumination, the Contrast Transfer Functions (CTF) are oscillating, but real. For different imageforming conditions and several signal-to-noise ratios an extensive set of Wiener-filters should be available. A simple method of producing such filters by only photographic and mechanical means will be described here.A transparent master grating with 6.25 lines/mm and 160 mm diameter was produced by a high precision computer plotter. It is photographed through a rotating mask, plotted by a standard plotter.


Author(s):  
Vijay Krishnamurthi ◽  
Brent Bailey ◽  
Frederick Lanni

Excitation field synthesis (EFS) refers to the use of an interference optical system in a direct-imaging microscope to improve 3D resolution by axially-selective excitation of fluorescence within a specimen. The excitation field can be thought of as a weighting factor for the point-spread function (PSF) of the microscope, so that the optical transfer function (OTF) gets expanded by convolution with the Fourier transform of the field intensity. The simplest EFS system is the standing-wave fluorescence microscope, in which an axially-periodic excitation field is set up through the specimen by interference of a pair of collimated, coherent, s-polarized beams that enter the specimen from opposite sides at matching angles. In this case, spatial information about the object is recovered in the central OTF passband, plus two symmetric, axially-shifted sidebands. Gaps between these bands represent "lost" information about the 3D structure of the object. Because the sideband shift is equal to the spatial frequency of the standing-wave (SW) field, more complete recovery of information is possible by superposition of fields having different periods. When all of the fields have an antinode at a common plane (set to be coincident with the in-focus plane), the "synthesized" field is peaked in a narrow infocus zone.


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