It is the impression of neurologists who deal with cancer patients that the incidence of neurologic complications of cancer is increasing (Posner 1995). ...

Layers of complexity arise when a person arrives in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) due to self-harm intended to end their life and when there is known past personal trauma. We highlight three importa...

Mental health surveys are used extensively in epidemiological research worldwide. The ethical questions that arise regarding their risk of causing psychological distress or other potential harm have not been studied in the general population. We have investigated how study participants serving as controls in a population-based study perceived an anonymous postal questionnaire focusing on mental health and wellbeing. Parents were contacted from the Swedish Census Bureau as part of a larger follow-up study on palliative care conducted in 2001. Eligible parents (...) had a child of the same gender, year of birth and were from the same counties in Sweden as parents who had lost a child to cancer. Five percent reported being negatively affected. The principle negative effect on participants was that self-reflection reminded them of their difficulties. Of the 418 respondents, 52% reported that they were positively affected by study participation and 95% perceived the inquiry as valuable. These findings support the use of population-based controls in future research. (shrink)

Objective: To develop an approach for seeking informed consent to examine tissues retained from a previous study of sudden infant death syndrome as part of a study on asthma, and to document responses and participation rate.Design: Pilot open-ended approach to 10 volunteer SIDS parents, followed by staged approach to seek consent from the target SIDS families for the asthma study.Participants: Parents of SIDS infants known to SIDS and Kids Victoria and parents of SIDS infants from the 1991–2 SIDS in Victoria (...) case–control study.Main outcomes: Qualitative responses of the piloted parents and study parents, and participation rates.Results: The pilot group responses were used to refine the written material to be provided. Of the 72 families for which contact details were available, 45 gave verbal consent for contact by the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine regarding the asthma study, three refused and 24 did not respond to two letters. Thirty-three completed consent forms, all positive for participation in the asthma study, giving a positive response rate of 73% .Conclusions: The use of postmortem tissue for research is acceptable to the next of kin when an approach is sensitive to their concerns and needs and is made by experienced counsellors from a familiar organisation. Despite the painful memories evoked by the approach of the research group, the acceptance rate among those who could be contacted was high. (shrink)

We apply an online optimization process based on machine learning to the production of Bose-Einstein condensates. BEC is typically created with an exponential evaporation ramp that is optimal for ergodic dynamics with two-body s-wave interactions and no other loss rates, but likely sub-optimal for real experiments. Through repeated machine-controlled scientific experimentation and observations our ’learner’ discovers an optimal evaporation ramp for BEC production. In contrast to previous work, our learner uses a Gaussian process to develop a statistical model of the (...) relationship between the parameters it controls and the quality of the BEC produced. We demonstrate that the Gaussian process machine learner is able to discover a ramp that produces high quality BECs in 10 times fewer iterations than a previously used online optimization technique. Furthermore, we show the internal model developed can be used to determine which parameters are essential in BEC creation and which are unimportant, providing insight into the optimization process of the system. (shrink)

Enseignement de la morale et philosophie, qui inaugure la serie, s'inscrit dans le cadre d'un effort de valorisation de l'enseignement de la morale et de reflexion sur la place fondamentale de la philosophie dans la formation morale.

The Greek polis has been arousing interest as a subject for study for a long time, but recent approaches have shown that it is a subject on which there are still important questions to be asked and worthwhile issues to be explored. This book contains a selection of essays which embody the results of the latest research. Beyond the historical development of the Greek polis , the contributors ask questions about the civic institutions of ancient Greece as a whole and (...) their relationships to each other. Questions of power or the significance of a written code of law are discussed as well as the nature of Greek overseas settlements. Development of the Greek Polis presents up-to-date research and asks up-to-date questions on various aspects of an important topic. (shrink)