A Type 1 diabetes technology pathway: consensus statement for the use of technology in Type 1 diabetes

In both adults and children with diabetes, technologies such as continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion using insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitoring can help improve diabetes control, reduce hypoglycaemia and improve quality of life. Access to these technologies in the UK is very variable. Some technologies are recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, while others have not been appraised, and new technologies are emerging all the time. Additionally, different guidelines for adults and children further complicate access to diabetes technology in the transition from paediatric to adult care. Against this background, Diabetes UK and NHS England have brought together a multidisciplinary group of experts, including clinicians and people with diabetes, to develop this consensus guideline, combining the different technologies into a common pathway to aid clinical and policy decision‐making. We created a pathway that supports the incremental addition of technology as monotherapy and then dual therapy in the same way that we incrementally add in therapeutic agents to support people with Type 2 diabetes to achieve their personalized glycaemic targets. The pathway emphasizes the importance of structured education, specialist support and appropriate access to psychological therapies, as essential pillars for optimized use of diabetes‐related technology, and recommends the re‐evaluation of its use when the individual is unable either to use the technology appropriately or to achieve the intended outcomes. This pathway is endorsed by UK‐wide clinical and patient associations and we recommend that providers and commissioners use it to ensure the right individual with diabetes has access to the right technology in a timely way to help achieve better outcomes.     

基于自动勾画和快速蒙特卡罗计算的放射治疗全身器官剂量数据库平台的可行性研究

目的:探讨建立一种放射治疗全身器官剂量数据库平台的可行性。方法:使用基于深度学习的自动勾画软件DeepViewer?1例食管癌患者的全身CT上勾画全身器官，然后利用基于GPU加速的蒙特卡罗软件ARCHER计算相应的器官剂量分布，最后利用Lyman-Kutcher-Burman（LKB）模型评估放疗患者正常组织并发症概率（NTCP）。结果:针对该病例，成功建立基于DeepViewer?ARCHER和LKB模型的全身器官剂量数据库，发现距离靶区越近的器官剂量越大，其中心脏与靶区间距离最小，剂量为14.11 Gy，但因其模型参数特殊，通过LKB模型计算的NTCP为0.00%；左、右肺的剂量分别为3.19和1.16 Gy，但是NTCP值却很大，分别为2.13%和1.60%。对于距离靶区较远的头颈部器官（视交叉、视神经和眼）和腹部器官（直肠、膀胱和股骨头）剂量分别约为9和2 mGy，并且NTCP均近似为0.00%。结论:研究结果证明通过自动勾画软件DeepViewer?蒙特卡罗软件ARCHER和LKB模型建立全身器官剂量数据库的可行性。     

Increased alpha suppression with age during involuntary memory retrieval

Recent work suggests that while voluntary episodic memory declines with age, involuntary episodic memory, which comes to mind spontaneously without intention, remains relatively intact. However, the neurophysiology underlying these differences has yet to be established. The current study used electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate voluntary and involuntary retrieval in older and younger adults. Participants first encoded sounds, half of which were paired with pictures, the other half unpaired. EEG was then recorded as they listened to the sounds, with participants in the involuntary group performing a sound localization cover task, and those in the voluntary group additionally attempting to recall the associated pictures. Participants later reported which sounds brought the paired picture to mind during the localization task. Reaction times on the localization task were slower for voluntary than involuntary retrieval and for paired than unpaired sounds, possibly reflecting increased attentional demands of voluntary retrieval and interference from reactivation of the associated pictures respectively. For the EEG analyses, young adults showed greater alpha event-related desynchronization (ERD) during voluntary than involuntary retrieval at frontal and occipital sites, while older adults showed pronounced alpha ERD regardless of intention. Additionally, older adults showed greater ERD for paired than unpaired sounds at occipital sites, likely reflecting visual reactivation of the associated pictures. Young adults did not show this alpha ERD memory effect. Taken together, these data suggest that involuntary memory is largely preserved with age, but this may be due to older adults' greater recruitment of top-down control even when demand for such control is limited.     

A Call for a National Transplant Surgical Quality Improvement Program

The severity of illness in transplant patients and the complexity of transplant operations results in significant postoperative morbidity and mortality. Remarkable efforts have been made by transplant physicians to study and improve organ allocation, graft and patient survival, immunosuppression and the long-term management of post-transplant complications. Less effort has been spent studying the actual transplant operation and systems of acute transplant care. The National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) has provided a standardized approach to quality improvement and has demonstrated significant potential for a reduction in postoperative morbidity and mortality in other surgical disciplines. Medical centers are under increasing pressure to measure surgical quality and the nexus of transplant surgical quality improvement should not lie in the hands of CMS or JACHO, but rather it should be created and developed within the transplant community. The time has come for a national transplant surgical quality improvement program based on the NSQIP infrastructure. Such a proactive approach toward quality improvement from the transplant community is an excellent investment for patients, providers and health care payers.