Corridors of Clarity: Four Principles to Overcome Uncertainty Paralysis in the Anthropocene.

Global environmental change challenges humanity because of its broad scale, long-lasting, and potentially irreversible consequences. Key to an effective response is to use an appropriate scientific lens to peer through the mist of uncertainty that threatens timely and appropriate decisions surrounding these complex issues. Identifying such corridors of clarity could help understanding critical phenomena or causal pathways sufficiently well to justify taking policy action.

Placebo Surgery Controlled Trials: Do They Achieve What They Set Out To Do? A Systematic Review.

Objective: To explore whether placebo surgery controlled trials achieve what they set out to do by investigating discrepancy between projected and actual design aspects of trials identified through systematic review methods.

Summary Background: Interest in placebo surgery controlled trials is growing in response to concerns regarding unnecessary surgery and the societal cost of low-value healthcare. As questions about the justifiability of using placebo controls in surgery have been addressed, attention is now being paid to more practical concerns.

Who's declining the "free lunch"? New evidence from the uptake of public child dental benefits.

This study provides the first evidence on the determinants of uptake of two recent public dental benefit programs for Australian children and adolescents from disadvantaged families. Using longitudinal data from a nationally representative survey linked to administrative data with accurate information on eligibility and uptake, we find that only a third of all eligible families actually claim their benefits. We provide new and robust evidence consistent with the idea advanced by recent economic literature that cognitive biases and behavioral factors are barriers to uptake.

Sustainability of Publicly Funded Health Care Systems: What Does Behavioural Economics Offer?

There has been a rapid increase in the use of behavioural economics (BE) as a tool for policy makers to deploy, including in health-related applications. While this development has occurred over the past decade, health care systems have continued to struggle with escalating costs. We consider the potential role of BE for making improvements to health care system performance and the sustainability of publicly funded health care systems, in particular.

Game Theory in Mobile CrowdSensing:A Comprehensive Survey.

Mobile CrowdSensing (MCS) is an emerging paradigm in the distributed acquisition of smart city and Internet of Things (IoT) data. MCS requires large number of users to enable access to the built-in sensors in their mobile devices and share sensed data to ensure high value and high veracity of big sensed data. Improving user participation in MCS campaigns requires to boost users effectively, which is a key concern for the success of MCS platforms.

Economic evaluation of deep-brain stimulation for Tourette's syndrome: an initial exploration.

Background: Deep-brain stimulation (DBS) can be effective in controlling medically intractable symptoms of Tourette's syndrome (TS). There is no evidence to date, though, of the potential cost-effectiveness of DBS for this indication.

Objective: To provide the first estimates of the likely cost-effectiveness of DBS in the treatment of severe TS.

Utilization and Costs of Health Care in a Kidney Supportive Care Program.

Kidney supportive care (KSC) is a patient-centered model of multidisciplinary care designed for patients with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). Our goal was to characterize the types, frequencies, and costs of services accessed by patients enrolled in a KSC program. We analyzed health care utilization data prospectively collected from 102 patients who enrolled in the KSC program during the first 52 weeks of its existence.

Cost of screening for lung cancer in Australia.

Background: Lung cancer screening can reduce lung cancer mortality. Australian cost estimates are important to inform policy but remain uncertain.

Aim: To describe the first direct medical costs associated with lung cancer screening in Australia.

Cost-Effectiveness of Deep Brain Stimulation With Movement Disorders: A Systematic Review.

Background: Movement disorders (MDs) are increasingly being managed with deep brain stimulation (DBS). High-quality economic evaluations (EEs) are necessary to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of DBS. We conducted a systematic review of published EEs of the treatment of MDs with DBS.

Recommendations For Core Outcome Domain Set For Whiplash-Associated Disorders (CATWAD).

Objective: Inconsistent reporting of outcomes in clinical trials of treatments for Whiplash-associated Disorders (WAD) hinders effective data pooling and conclusions that can be drawn about the effectiveness of tested treatments. The aim of this study was to provide recommendations for core outcome domains that should be included in clinical trials of WAD.

Materials And Methods: A 3-step process was used: (1) A list of potential core outcome domains were identified from the published literature.

Outcome of kidney function in adults on long-term home parenteral nutrition for chronic intestinal failure.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate kidney function outcome in adults on home parenteral nutrition (HPN) for chronic intestinal failure using the newly recommended equations for estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) assessment in clinical practice.

Methods: This was an observational study with 72 patients. Clinical and biochemical parameters were collected at initiation of HPN (retrospective baseline [BL]), at inclusion in the study (cross-sectional [CS]), and at the end of a 30-mo prospective follow-up (Fup).

Microglial overexpression of fALS-linked mutant SOD1 induces SOD1 processing impairment, activation and neurotoxicity and is counteracted by the autophagy inducer trehalose.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal motor neuron disease. Mutations in the gene encoding copper/zinc superoxide dismutase-1 (SOD1) are responsible for most familiar cases, but the role of mutant SOD1 protein dysfunction in non-cell autonomous neurodegeneration, especially in relation to microglial activation, is still unclear. Here, we focused our study on microglial cells, which release SOD1 also through exosomes.

A colorimetric assay of DNA methyltransferase activity based on peroxidase mimicking of DNA template Ag/Pt bimetallic nanoclusters.

DNA methylation catalyzed by DNA methyl transferase (MTase) is a significant epigenetic process for modulating gene expression. Abnormal levels of DNA MTase enzyme have been regarded as a cancer biomarker or a sign of bacterial diseases. We developed a novel colorimetric method to assay M.

Trastuzumab resumption after extremely severe cardiotoxicity in metastatic breast cancer patient: a case report.

Background: Trastuzumab-related cardiotoxicity has been reported in patients receiving trastuzumab concurrently with other agents, especially with anthracyclines. Cardiac function damage is generally rare, precox and mild with trastuzumab alone.

Case Presentation: We report the case of a 49 year-old woman affected by metastatic breast cancer who developed trastuzumab-related cardiogenic shock due to pump failure (with LVEF of about 15%) after three months of treatment.

Determinants of diet and physical activity (DEDIPAC): a summary of findings.

The establishment of the Determinants of Diet and Physical Activity (DEDIPAC) Knowledge Hub, 2013-2016, was the first action taken by the 'Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life' European Joint Programming Initiative. DEDIPAC aimed to provide better insight into the determinants of diet, physical activity and sedentary behaviour across the life course, i.e.

Opioid Abuse And Poisoning: Trends In Inpatient And Emergency Department Discharges.

Addressing the opioid epidemic is a national priority. We analyzed national trends in inpatient and emergency department (ED) discharges for opioid abuse, dependence, and poisoning using Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project data. Inpatient and ED discharge rates increased overall across the study period, but a decline was observed for prescription opioid-related discharges beginning in 2010, while a sharp increase in heroin-related discharges began in 2008.

Immunohistochemical and western blot analysis suggest that the soluble forms of FGF1-2 and FGFR1-2 sustain tail regeneration in the lizard.

Fibroblast Growth Factors 1-2 (FGF1-2) stimulate tail regeneration in lizards and therefore the distribution of their receptors, FGFR1-2, in the regenerating tail of the lizard. Podarcis muralis has been studied using immunofluorescence and western blotting. Immunoreactive protein bands at 15-16kDa for FGF1-2 in addition to those at 50-65kDa are detected in the regenerating epidermis, but weak bands at 35, 45 and 50kDa appear from the regenerating connective tissues.

Protective effects of Polypodium leucotomos extract against UVB-induced damage in a model of reconstructed human epidermis.

Background: Polypodium leucotomos (PL) exerts potent antioxidant, photo-protective, and immune-modulatory activities. A reconstructed human epidermis (RHE) (Episkin) is a suitable model for the evaluation of acute UV-induced cell damage. No data regarding the photo-protective action of PL in this model are available.

Endobronchial Pagetoid Spread of a Breast Carcinoma Metastatic to the Lung.

A case of endobronchial pagetoid spread of a breast carcinoma metastatic to the lung is described. A 73-year-old woman underwent wedge lung resection after the cytological diagnosis of lung metastasis from ductal invasive breast carcinoma. The breast carcinoma had been surgically removed 6 years previously; at the time of diagnosis it was a T1N0, grade 3 invasive ductal carcinoma, with HER-2 amplification.

VitiCanopy: A Free Computer App to Estimate Canopy Vigor and Porosity for Grapevine.

Leaf area index (LAI) and plant area index (PAI) are common and important biophysical parameters used to estimate agronomical variables such as canopy growth, light interception and water requirements of plants and trees. LAI can be either measured directly using destructive methods or indirectly using dedicated and expensive instrumentation, both of which require a high level of know-how to operate equipment, handle data and interpret results. Recently, a novel smartphone and tablet PC application, VitiCanopy, has been developed by a group of researchers from the University of Adelaide and the University of Melbourne, to estimate grapevine canopy size (LAI and PAI), canopy porosity, canopy cover and clumping index.