Barriers to integration of health and equity into urban design policies in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Although there is extensive literature on the impact of urban design on health, little is known about the barriers to integrating health into urban design policies. As cities increasingly lead efforts to improve health equity and population health, understanding the perspectives and experiences of municipal actors on health and equity is essential. To address this gap, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 30 stakeholders engaged with urban design policy- and decision-making at the City of Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada.

Ensemble machine learning methods in screening electronic health records: A scoping review.

Background: Electronic health records provide the opportunity to identify undiagnosed individuals likely to have a given disease using machine learning techniques, and who could then benefit from more medical screening and case finding, reducing the number needed to screen with convenience and healthcare cost savings. Ensemble machine learning models combining multiple prediction estimates into one are often said to provide better predictive performances than non-ensemble models. Yet, to our knowledge, no literature review summarises the use and performances of different types of ensemble machine learning models in the context of medical pre-screening.

Differential Transcriptional Reprogramming by Wild Type and Lymphoma-Associated Mutant MYC Proteins as B-Cells Convert to a Lymphoma Phenotype.

The MYC transcription factor regulates a vast number of genes and is implicated in many human malignancies. In some hematological malignancies, MYC is frequently subject to missense mutations that enhance its transformation activity. Here, we use a novel murine cell system to (i) characterize the transcriptional effects of progressively increasing MYC levels as normal primary B-cells transform to lymphoma cells and (ii) determine how this gene regulation program is modified by lymphoma-associated MYC mutations (T58A and T58I) that enhance its transformation activity.

Primary repair versus surgical and transcatheter palliation in infants with tetralogy of Fallot.

Objectives: Treatment of infants with tetralogy of Fallot (ToF) has evolved in the last two decades with increasing use of primary surgical repair (PrR) and transcatheter right ventricular outflow tract palliation (RVOTd), and fewer systemic-to-pulmonary shunts (SPS). We aim to report contemporary results using these treatment options in a comparative study.

Methods: This a retrospective study using data from the UK National Congenital Heart Disease Audit.

Electromagnetic and microwave absorption characteristics of PMMA composites filled with a nanoporous resorcinol formaldehyde based carbon aerogel.

Nanostructured carbons have opened up new perspectives in fields of electromagnetic (EM) applications. The present study aims at the processing of microwave absorbing (MA) materials based on carbon aerogels (CAs) in polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) matrix to be used in X-band frequency. CAs were synthesized by carbonization of a sol-gel derived organic gel from resorcinol and formaldehyde as starting materials.

Aortic Valve Replacement and the Ross Operation in Children and Young Adults.

Background: There are several options available for aortic valve replacement (AVR), with few comparative reports in the literature. The optimal choice for AVR in each age group is not clear.

Objectives: The study sought to report and compare outcomes after AVR in the young using data from a national database.

Indications and results of systemic to pulmonary shunts: results from a national database.

Objectives: The systemic-to-pulmonary shunt (SPS) remains an important palliative therapy in many congenital heart defects. Unlike other surgical treatments, the mortality after shunt operations has risen. We used an audit dataset to investigate potential reasons for this change and to report national results.

Origins of Myc proteins--using intrinsic protein disorder to trace distant relatives.

Mammalian Myc proteins are important determinants of cell proliferation as well as the undifferentiated state of stem cells and their activity is frequently deregulated in cancer. Based mainly on conservation in the C-terminal DNA-binding and dimerization domain, Myc-like proteins have been reported in many simpler organisms within and outside the Metazoa but they have not been found in fungi or plants. Several important signature motifs defining mammalian Myc proteins are found in the N-terminal domain but the extent to which these are found in the Myc-like proteins from simpler organisms is not well established.

Knowledge translation for research utilization: design of a knowledge translation model at Tehran University of Medical Sciences.

Introduction: The present study aimed to generate a model that would provide a conceptual framework for linking disparate components of knowledge translation. A theoretical model of such would enable the organization and evaluation of attempts to analyze current conditions and to design interventions on the transfer and utilization of research knowledge.

Methods: This research, performed in 2006-2007 at the Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), utilized two distinct methodologies: a narrative review to identify existing knowledge transfer models and frameworks and focus group discussions to determine the views and opinions of researchers and decision makers regarding barriers to knowledge translation within the health system.

Contextual interaction of GABAergic circuitry with dynamic synapses.

Visual context shapes human perception, yet our understanding of this phenomenon in terms of synaptic circuitry is still rudimentary. Our in vitro experiments with avian tectum reveal two distinct GABAergic pathways that mediate the spatiotemporal tectal interaction of retinal inputs. One pathway mediates postsynaptic lateral inhibition.

Iterative cooperation between parallel pathways for object and background motion.

In a typical visual scene, one or more objects move relative to a larger background, which can itself be in motion as a result of the observer's eyes moving with respect to the outside world. Here we show that accurate estimation of the background motion from an image velocity field can be accomplished through an iterative cooperation between two modules: one that specializes in calculating a weighted average velocity and another one calculating a velocity contrast map. We build on our analysis to provide a model for the tectum-pretectum loop in the nonmammalian midbrain.

Sparse spatial sampling for the computation of motion in multiple stages.

The avian retino-tecto-rotundal pathway plays a central role in motion analysis and features complex connectivity. Yet, the relation between the pathway's structural arrangement and motion computation has remained elusive. For an important type of tectal wide-field neuron, the stratum griseum centrale type I (SGC-I) neuron, we quantified its structure and found a spatially sparse but extensive sampling of the retinal projection.

Motion contrast classification is a linearly nonseparable problem.

Sensitivity to image motion contrast, that is, the relative motion between different parts of the visual field, is a common and computationally important property of many neurons in the visual pathways of vertebrates. Here we illustrate that, as a classification problem, motion contrast detection is linearly nonseparable. In order to do so, we prove a theorem stating a sufficient condition for linear nonseparability.

Motion repulsion arises from stimulus statistics when analyzed with a clustering algorithm.

Motion repulsion is the perceived enlargement of the angle between the directions of motion of two transparently moving patterns. An explanation of this illusion has long been sought for in the neural circuitry of the brain. We show that motion repulsion already arises from the statistical properties of the motion transparency problem when analyzed with a clustering algorithm.