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Clinical relevance: Home-based videogame treatments are increasingly popular for amblyopia treatment. However, at-home treatments tend to be done in short sessions and with frequent disruptions, which may reduce the effectiveness of binocular visual stimulation. These treatment adherence patterns need to be accounted for when considering dose-response relationships and treatment effectiveness. Background: Home-based videogame treatments are increasingly being used for various sensory conditions, including amblyopia ('lazy eye'), but treatment adherence continues to limit success. To examine detailed behavioural patterns associated with home-based videogame treatment, we analysed in detail the videogame adherence data from the Binocular tReatment of Amblyopia with VideOgames (BRAVO) clinical trial (ACTRN12613001004752). Methods: Children (7-12 years), teenagers (13-17 years) and adults (≥ 18 years) with unilateral amblyopia were loaned iPod Touch devices with either an active treatment or placebo videogame and instructed to play for a total of 1-2 hours/day for six weeks at home. Objectively-recorded adherence data from device software were used to analyse adherence patterns such as session length, daily distribution of gameplay, use of the pause function, and differences between age groups. Objectively-recorded adherence was also compared to subjectively-reported adherence from paper-based diaries. Results: One hundred and five of the 115 randomised participants completed six weeks of videogame training. Average adherence was 65% (SD 37%) of the minimum hours prescribed. Game training was generally performed in short sessions (mean 21.5, SD 11.2 minutes), mostly in the evening, with frequent pauses (median every 4.1 minutes, IQR 6.1). Children played in significantly shorter sessions and paused more frequently than older age groups (p < 0.0001). Participants tended to over-report adherence in subjective diaries compared to objectively-recorded gameplay time. Conclusion: Adherence to home-based videogame treatment was characterised by short sessions interspersed with frequent pauses, suggesting regular disengagement. This complicates dose-response calculations and may interfere with the effectiveness of treatments like binocular treatments for amblyopia, which require sustained visual stimulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) staging system has been the standardized staging system for malignancies since the first edition in 1987. The 8th edition of gastric cancer was released in 2016, and is expected to be used in clinical practice in 2018. The aim of this study was to improve this new gastric cancer staging system. Methods: We conducted median overall survival analyses in a cohort of 8359 gastric cancer patients from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database (2004–2014) via Kaplan–Meier curves and log-rank tests, and proposed a modified staging system based on median OS. The concordance index (C-index) was conducted to evaluate the predictive accuracy. Results: Using the 8th AJCC staging system, the median OS of patients at the same stage varied widely between the different substages, especially in stage III. Despite the definitions of T, N, and M, substages in the modified staging system were regrouped based on median OS. The C-index of stage III patients with the modified staging system [0.579, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.564–0.593] was higher than the 8th AJCC staging system (0.567, 95% CI 0.552–0.581). Moreover, we divided these patients into two groups according to their examined lymph node counts (≥15 or 1–14), and studied the effectiveness of the modified staging system in the two groups. Conclusions: The modified 8th AJCC staging system for gastric cancer proposed in this study generates better prognostic stratifications and may be evaluated for further update. AJCC American Joint Committee on Cancer OS Overall Survival SEER Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sidelobe-suppression technique for the reflector antenna is proposed. Compared to the conventional reflector antenna analysis technique, the proposed technique adopts the novel quasi-actual feed instead of the traditional imaginary feed to calculate and optimize the radiation pattern of the reflector antenna. The calculated and the optimized radiation results obtained by the proposed technique are more accurate since the quasi-actual feed data is closer to that of the practical feed. In the proposed technique, the sidelobes are suppressed by optimizing the shape of the reflector illuminated by the quasi-actual feed. The reflector shape is smoothly transformed by the non-uniform rational B-spline technique and the scatter of the reflector is efficiently calculated by the physical optics and the Gauss-Legendre quadrature algorithms. The pattern result of this proposed technique is compared with the result simulated by FEKO software, a good agreement is achieved and has a higher efficiency. As an example of applying the proposed technique, an unshaped and a shaped reflector antennas with the same feed and the same size are designed, fabricated and tested, and the measured results agree well with the expectations on the low sidelobe characteristic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bridging/foundation programmes are often provided by tertiary institutions to increase equity in access and academic performance of students from under-served communities. Little empirical evidence exists to measure the effectiveness of these bridging/foundation programmes on undergraduate academic outcomes. This research identifies the predictive effect of academic outcomes achieved within a bridging/foundation programme, targeted towards indigenous and ethnic minority students, on first-year degree-level outcomes. Overall performance within the bridging/foundation programme was positively associated with increasing Grade Point Average (GPA), ‘Core 4’ GPA and passing all courses in first year. However, mixed associations were identified between feeder bridging/foundation courses and their intended first year course counterparts. These findings support the continued provision of bridging/foundation education; however, curricular reform within the bridging/foundation programme was required. Key developments included: restructuring course delivery; increasing constructive alignment across the curriculum; increasing cultural content within western science-orientated courses; introduction of cross-curricular assessment and use of additional innovative teaching and learning activities. Additional challenges remain for degree programmes to explore how they can change in order to better support indigenous and ethnic minority student success within first-year tertiary study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is increasing evidence that the sex of the foetus may alter the maternal metabolic milieu during pregnancy. Following a randomized controlled trial of exercise in overweight and obese pregnant women, we assessed whether the sex of the foetus was associated with changes in maternal metabolism. Data were analysed on 74 randomized participants who completed the trial, including 38 mothers carrying males and 36 mothers carrying females. At 19 weeks of gestation, mothers carrying boys had higher blood glucose concentrations than those carrying girls (5.4 vs 4.9 mmol/l;p = .046). At 36 weeks of gestation, differences were more marked, with blood glucose concentrations 15% higher in mothers carrying females (5.7 vs 5.0 mmol/l;p = .004). In addition, mothers carrying girls had higher concentrations of hs-CRP across pregnancy (5.0 vs 3.6 mg/l;p = .029). Our findings provide further evidence that the sex of the foetus appears to influence maternal metabolism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of the study was to validate the self-report Multimedia Activity Recall for Children and Adolescents (MARCA) against accelerometry for the assessment of physical activity in New Zealand children. Participants (n = 716, 10–18 years) recalled 3–4 days of activity using the MARCA and underwent a partially overlapping 7-day accelerometry protocol during a national survey. Spearman correlation coefficients (ρ) assessed the association between accelerometer-derived counts per minute and MARCA-derived physical activity level and time in locomotion. Both data sources estimated time spent in light and moderate–vigorous physical activity. Association and agreement between methods for light physical activity and moderate–vigorous physical activity was assessed using correlations and Bland–Altman plots respectively, and pairedt-tests conducted. Accelerometer-derived activity counts were moderately correlated with both MARCA-derived physical activity level and locomotion (ρ = 0.38,P < 0.0001). The correlation between methods was –0.14 for light physical activity and 0.28 for moderate–vigorous physical activity (P < 0.0001). The MARCA overestimated moderate–vigorous physical activity compared with accelerometry (120 min,P < 0.0001), which increased as moderate–vigorous physical activity time increased. Some sex and ethnicity (Māori [indigenous] versus non-Māori) differences were observed. Overall, the MARCA indicated moderate validity for assessment of physical activity level, locomotion and moderate–vigorous physical activity and poor validity for assessment of light physical activity. This was comparable to other self-report tools. The MARCA has utility for future large-scale research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]