Astigmatic hybrid SU(2) vector vortex beams: towards versatile structures in longitudinally variant polarized optics.

Structured light with more controllable degrees-of-freedom (DoFs) is an exciting topic with versatile applications. In contrast to conventional vector vortex beams (VVBs) with two DoFs of orbital angular momentum (OAM) and polarization, a hybrid ray-wave structure was recently proposed [Optica 7(7), 820-831 (2020)], which simultaneously manifests multiple DoFs such as ray trajectory, coherent state phase, trajectory combination, besides OAM and polarization. Here we further generalize this exotic structure as the astigmatic hybrid VVB by hatching a new DoF of astigmatic degree.

Quinazoline alpha-adrenoreceptor blockers as an adjunct cancer treatment: From bench to bedside.

Drug repurposing has been increasingly used by both researchers and clinicians to identify new cancer treatments. The alpha-1 adrenoreceptor blockers are a class of drugs that have been used for many years in the treatment of hypertension and benign prostatic hyperplasia. Some of the drugs in this class, notably the quinazoline derivatives, have been found to display cytotoxic properties, identifying them as potential options in the treatment of cancer.

Methods used to meta-analyse results from interrupted time series studies: A methodological systematic review protocol.

Systematic reviews are used to inform healthcare decision making. In reviews that aim to examine the effects of organisational, policy change or public health interventions, or exposures, evidence from interrupted time series (ITS) studies may be included. A core component of many systematic reviews is meta-analysis, which is the statistical synthesis of results across studies.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people with diabetes and diabetes services: A pan-European survey of diabetes specialist nurses undertaken by the Foundation of European Nurses in Diabetes survey consortium.

Aim: To describe diabetes nurses' perspectives on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people with diabetes and diabetes services across Europe.

Methods: An online survey developed using a rapid Delphi method. The survey was translated into 17 different languages and disseminated electronically in 27 countries via national diabetes nurse networks.

Evaluation of the Pain Impact Index for Community-Dwelling Older Adults Through the Application of Rasch Modelling.

Objective: Evaluate the Pain Impact Index, a simple, brief, easy-to-use, and novel tool to assess the impact of chronic pain in community-dwelling older adults.

Methods: A Rasch modelling analysis was undertaken in Stata using a partial credit model suited to the Likert-type items that comprised the Index. The Index was evaluated for ordering of category thresholds, unidimensionality, overall fit to the Rasch model, measurement bias (Differential Item Functioning, DIF), targeting, and construct validity.

Low FODMAP Diet for Functional Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Quiescent Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials.

A low FODMAP diet (LFD) has been hypothesized to relieve symptoms of functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGD) in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The aim of the study was to systematically review the literature for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing the effectiveness of the LFD in patients with IBD and FGD. Four databases were searched, but a meta-analysis was not performed due to methodological and outcomes heterogeneity.

COVID-19 risk in elective surgery during a second wave: a prospective cohort study.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected access to elective surgery, largely because of concerns for patients and healthcare workers. A return to normal surgery workflow depends on the prevalence and transmission of coronavirus in elective surgical patients. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of active SARS-coronavirus-2 infection during a second wave among patients admitted to hospital for elective surgery in Victoria.

Description of the new species (Hymenoptera, Diapriidae), a pupal parasitoid of Marcovitch (Diptera, Tephritidae), and revised partial keys to Nearctic Say.

A new species of the parasitic wasp Say was previously distinguished from other species via correspondence between ecological (host) differences and DNA barcodes. A description and figures for , along with revisions to existing keys that allow it to be distinguished from other Nearctic species without the aid of molecular characters, is provided in this work.

The hunt for efficient, incomplete designs for stepped wedge trials with continuous recruitment and continuous outcome measures.

Background: We consider the design of stepped wedge trials with continuous recruitment and continuous outcome measures. Suppose we recruit from a fixed number of clusters where eligible participants present continuously, and suppose we have fine control over when each cluster crosses to the intervention. Suppose also that we want to minimise the number of participants, leading us to consider "incomplete" designs (i.

Host shifting and host sharing in a genus of specialist flies diversifying alongside their sunflower hosts.

Congeneric parasites are unlikely to specialize on the same tissues of the same host species, likely because of strong multifarious selection against niche overlap. Exceptions where >1 congeneric species use the same tissues reveal important insights into ecological factors underlying the origins and maintenance of diversity. Larvae of sunflower maggot flies in the genus Strauzia feed on plants in the family Asteraceae.

General design principle for structured light lasers.

Using custom laser cavities to produce as the output some desired structured light field has seen tremendous advances lately, but there is no universal approach to designing such cavities for arbitrarily defined field structures within the cavity, e.g., at both the output and gain ends.

Optics in Africa: introduction.

Africa has a long history in optics, but decades of turmoil have seen optical science in Africa advance only slowly, punching far below its weight. But a younger generation of scientists hold promise for the brighter future, addressing continental issues with photonics. In this Feature Issue on Optics in Africa we capture some of the exciting optical research from across the continent in 51 research reports, covering both fundamental and applied topics.

Modal analysis of structured light with spatial light modulators: a practical tutorial.

A quantitative analysis of optical fields is essential, particularly when the light is structured in some desired manner, or when there is perhaps an undesired structure that must be corrected for. A ubiquitous procedure in the optical community is that of optical mode projections-a modal analysis of light-for the unveiling of amplitude and phase information of a light field. When correctly performed, all the salient features of the field can be deduced with high fidelity, including its orbital angular momentum, vectorial properties, wavefront, and Poynting vector.

Lossless reshaping of structured light.

Structured light concerns the control of light in its spatial degrees of freedom (amplitude, phase, and polarization), and has proven instrumental in many applications. The creation of structured light usually involves the conversion of a Gaussian mode to a desired structure in a single step, while the detection is often the reverse process, both fundamentally lossy or imperfect. Here we show how to ideally reshape structured light in a lossless manner in a simple two-step process using conformal mapping.

Digital Stokes polarimetry and its application to structured light: tutorial.

Stokes polarimetry is a mature topic in optics, most commonly performed to extract the polarization structure of optical fields for a range of diverse applications. For historical reasons, most Stokes polarimetry approaches are based on static optical polarization components that must be manually adjusted, prohibiting automated, real-time analysis of fast changing fields. Here we provide a tutorial on performing Stokes polarimetry in an all-digital approach, exploiting a modern optical toolkit based on liquid-crystal-on-silicon spatial light modulators and digital micromirror devices.

The non-diffracting nature of truncated Hermite-Gaussian beams.

Using the asymptotic formula of the Hermite polynomials for higher-orders ≫1, an elegant mathematical expression that makes Hermite-Gaussian beams and cosine beams equivalent is obtained. Two factors of merit, the similarity and the power content ratio, are used to quantify the degree of equivalence between the two beams. These results yield a new nondiffracting Hermite-Gaussian beam in one dimension (1D) and that is easily extended to 2D.

Polyphorm: Structural Analysis of Cosmological Datasets via Interactive Physarum Polycephalum Visualization.

This paper introduces Polyphorm, an interactive visualization and model fitting tool that provides a novel approach for investigating cosmological datasets. Through a fast computational simulation method inspired by the behavior of Physarum polycephalum, an unicellular slime mold organism that efficiently forages for nutrients, astrophysicists are able to extrapolate from sparse datasets, such as galaxy maps archived in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and then use these extrapolations to inform analyses of a wide range of other data, such as spectroscopic observations captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. Researchers can interactively update the simulation by adjusting model parameters, and then investigate the resulting visual output to form hypotheses about the data.

Comparison of small-sample standard-error corrections for generalised estimating equations in stepped wedge cluster randomised trials with a binary outcome: A simulation study.

Generalised estimating equations with the sandwich standard-error estimator provide a promising method of analysis for stepped wedge cluster randomised trials. However, they have inflated type-one error when used with a small number of clusters, which is common for stepped wedge cluster randomised trials. We present a large simulation study of binary outcomes comparing bias-corrected standard errors from Fay and Graubard; Mancl and DeRouen; Kauermann and Carroll; Morel, Bokossa, and Neerchal; and Mackinnon and White with an independent and exchangeable working correlation matrix.

Extending the I-squared statistic to describe treatment effect heterogeneity in cluster, multi-centre randomized trials and individual patient data meta-analysis.

Treatment effect heterogeneity is commonly investigated in meta-analyses to identify if treatment effects vary across studies. When conducting an aggregate level data meta-analysis it is common to describe the magnitude of any treatment effect heterogeneity using the I-squared statistic, which is an intuitive and easily understood concept. The effect of a treatment might also vary across clusters in a cluster randomized trial, or across centres in multi-centre randomized trial, and it can be of interest to explore this at the analysis stage.

Use and performance of machine learning models for type 2 diabetes prediction in community settings: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective: We aimed to identify machine learning (ML) models for type 2 diabetes (T2DM) prediction in community settings and determine their predictive performance.

Method: Systematic review of ML predictive modelling studies in 13 databases since 2009 was conducted. Primary outcomes included metrics of discrimination, calibration, and classification.

Diabetes in ageing: pathways for developing the evidence base for clinical guidance.

Older adults with diabetes are heterogeneous in their medical, functional, and cognitive status, and require careful individualisation of their treatment regimens. However, in the absence of detailed information from clinical trials involving older people with varying characteristics, there is little evidence-based guidance, which is a notable limitation of current approaches to care. It is important to recognise that older people with diabetes might vary in their profiles according to age category, functional health, presence of frailty, and comorbidity profiles.

Effect of Hydrocortisone on Mortality and Organ Support in Patients With Severe COVID-19: The REMAP-CAP COVID-19 Corticosteroid Domain Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Evidence regarding corticosteroid use for severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is limited.

Objective: To determine whether hydrocortisone improves outcome for patients with severe COVID-19.

Design, Setting, And Participants: An ongoing adaptive platform trial testing multiple interventions within multiple therapeutic domains, for example, antiviral agents, corticosteroids, or immunoglobulin.

Restricted . unrestricted oral intake in high output end-jejunostomy patients referred to reconstructive surgery.

The major complication of end jejunostomy is excessive fluid and electrolyte loss through the stoma, leading to hypovolaemia and dyselectrolytaemia within days and malnutrition within weeks. The aim was to compare the results of two nutritional approaches: unrestricted and restricted oral intake in patients with end jejunostomy commencing home parenteral nutrition (HPN) in terms of liver and renal biochemical markers and time to reconstructive bowel surgery with correlation to stoma output. Twenty patients with stabilised high output end-jejunostomy were divided into two groups.

Creating effective interrupted time series graphs: Review and recommendations.

Introduction: Interrupted Time Series (ITS) studies may be used to assess the impact of an interruption, such as an intervention or exposure. The data from such studies are particularly amenable to visual display and, when clearly depicted, can readily show the short- and long-term impact of an interruption. Further, well-constructed graphs allow data to be extracted using digitizing software, which can facilitate their inclusion in systematic reviews and meta-analyses.