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Introduction: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common chronic skin disease with an inflammatory pathophysiology that includes the activation of the innate and adaptive immune systems. We aimed to investigate the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), eosinophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (ELR), and eosinophil-to-neutrophil ratio (ENR) in AD patients, according to age and disease severity. Methods: This is a retrospective, population-based cohort study conducted between the years 2005 and 2020, comparing hematological markers of AD patients and sex-age-ethnicity-matched controls. AD patients were further divided by age and disease severity (mild, moderate-to-severe AD). We created a decision tree to predict moderate-severe AD. Results: A total of 13,928 patients with AD were included in this study: 6,828 adults and 7,100 children, with 13,548 controls. NLR, PLR, and ELR were lower in children compared to adults (p values <0.001). NLR, PLR, ELR, and ENR were increased in moderate-severe AD patients compared to mild AD patients (p values <0.001). PLR, ELR, and ENR were increased in AD patients versus controls (p values <0.001), with an additional increase in the NLR of moderate-to-severe AD patients. Patients with an ELR <0.21, a PLR >161, and ENR ≤0.016 should be considered high risk for developing severe AD, as well as patients with an ELR >0.21 and age at diagnosis <30 or age >30 years and mean platelet volume ≤9. Conclusion: Hematological ratios were significantly higher in moderate-to-severe AD patients, compared to mild AD patients. Hematological markers were lower in children with AD compared to adults, except for ENR, likely reflecting age-related changes in blood count parameters. These markers can assist in the management and follow-up of AD patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims Amiodarone-related interstitial lung disease (ILD) is the most severe adverse effect of amiodarone treatment. Most data on amiodarone-related ILD are derived from periods when amiodarone was given at higher doses than currently used. Methods A nationwide population-based study was conducted among patients with incident atrial fibrillation (AF) between 1 December 1999 and 31 December 31 2021. Amiodarone-exposed patients were matched 1:1 with controls unexposed to amiodarone based on age, sex, ethnicity, and AF diagnosis duration. The final patient cohort included only matched pairs where amiodarone therapy was consistent throughout follow-up. Directed acyclic graphs and inverse probability treatment weighting (IPTW) modelling were used. Patients with either prior ILD or primary lung cancer (PLC) were excluded. The primary outcome was the incidence of any ILD. Secondary endpoints were death and PLC. Results The final cohort included 6039 amiodarone-exposed patients who were matched with unexposed controls. The median age was 73.3 years, and 51.6% were women. After a mean follow-up of 4.2 years, ILD occurred in 242 (2.0%) patients. After IPTW, amiodarone exposure was not significantly associated with ILD [hazard ratio (HR): 1.45, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.97, 2.44, P = 0.09]. There was a trivial higher relative risk of ILD among amiodarone-exposed patients between Years 2 and 8 of follow-up [maximal risk ratio (RR): 1.019]. Primary lung cancer occurred in 97 (0.8%) patients. After IPTW, amiodarone was not associated with PLC (HR: 1.18, 95% CI: 0.76, 2.08, P = 0.53). All-cause death occurred in 2185 (18.1%) patients. After IPTW, amiodarone was associated with reduced mortality risk (HR: 0.65, 95% CI: 0.60, 0.72, P < 0.001). The results were consistent across a variety of sensitivity analyses. Conclusion In a contemporary AF population, low-dose amiodarone was associated with a trend towards increased risk of ILD (15%-45%) but a clinically negligible change in absolute risk (maximum of 1.8%), no increased risk of PLC, and a lower risk of all-cause mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hip fractures are costly and common in older adults, but there is limited understanding of how treatment patterns and outcomes might differ between countries. Methods: We performed a retrospective serial cross‐sectional cohort study of adults aged ≥66 years hospitalized with hip fracture between 2011 and 2018 in the US, Canada, England, the Netherlands, Taiwan, and Israel using population‐representative administrative data. We examined mortality, hip fracture treatment approaches (total hip arthroplasty [THA], hemiarthroplasty [HA], internal fixation [IF], and nonoperative), and health system performance measures, including hospital length of stay (LOS), 30‐day readmission rates, and time‐to‐surgery. Results: The total number of hip fracture admissions between 2011 and 2018 ranged from 23,941 in Israel to 1,219,696 in the US. In 2018, 30‐day mortality varied from 3% (16% at 1 year) in Taiwan to 10% (27%) in the Netherlands. With regards to processes of care, the proportion of hip fractures treated with HA (range 23%–45%) and THA (0.2%–10%) differed widely across countries. For example, in 2018, THA was used to treat approximately 9% of patients in England and Israel but less than 1% in Taiwan. Overall, IF was the most common surgery performed in all countries (40%–60% of patients). IF was used in approximately 60% of patients in the US and Israel, but only 40% in England. In 2018, rates of nonoperative management ranged from 5% of patients in Taiwan to nearly 10% in England. Mean hospital LOS in 2018 ranged from 6.4 days (US) to 18.7 days (England). The 30‐day readmission rate in 2018 ranged from 8% (in Canada and the Netherlands) to nearly 18% in England. The mean days to surgery in 2018 ranged from 0.5 days (Israel) to 1.6 days (Canada). Conclusions: We observed substantial between‐country variation in mortality, surgical approaches, and health system performance measures. These findings underscore the need for further research to inform evidence‐based surgical approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we discuss the possible connection between the programming language and the paradigm behind it, and programmers' tendency to adopt an external or internal perspective of the system they develop. Based on a qualitative analysis, we found that when working with the visual, interobject language of live sequence charts (LSC), programmers tend to adopt an external and usability-oriented view of the system, whereas when working with an intraobject language, they tend to adopt an internal and implementation-oriented viewpoint. This is explained by first discussing the possible effect of the programming paradigm on programmers' perception and then offering a more comprehensive explanation. The latter is based on a cognitive model of programming with LSC, which is an interpretation and a projection of the model suggested by Adelson and Soloway [1985] onto LSC and scenario-based programming, the new paradigm on which LSC is based. Our model suggests that LSC fosters a kind of programming that enables iterative refinement of the artifact with fewer entries into the solution domain. Thus, the programmer can make less context switching between the solution domain and the problem domain, and consequently spend more time in the latter. We believe that these findings are interesting mainly in two ways. First, they characterize an aspect of problem-solving behavior that to the best of our knowledge has not been studied before--the programmer's perspective. The perspective can potentially affect the outcome of the problem-solving process, such as by leading the programmer to focus on different parts of the problem. Second, relating the structure of the language to the change in perspective sheds light on one of the ways in which the programming language can affect the programmer's behavior.

The quantum computer game "Schrodinger cat and hounds" is the quantum extension of the well-known classical game fox and hounds. Its main objective is to teach the unique concepts of quantum mechanics in a fun way. "Schrodinger cat and hounds" demonstrates the effects of superposition, destructive and constructive interference, measurements and entanglement. More advanced concepts, like particle-wave duality and decoherence, can also be taught using the game as a model. The game that has an optimal solution in the classical version, can have many different solutions and a new balance of powers in the quantum world. Game-aided lectures were given to high-school students which showed that it is a valid and entertaining teaching platform. (Contains 4 figures.)

The computer game of quantum minesweeper is introduced as a quantum extension of the well-known classical minesweeper. Its main objective is to teach the unique concepts of quantum mechanics in a fun way. Quantum minesweeper demonstrates the effects of superposition, entanglement and their non-local characteristics. While in the classical minesweeper the goal of the game is to discover all the mines laid out on a board without triggering them, in the quantum version there are several classical boards in superposition. The goal is to know the exact quantum state, i.e. the precise layout of all the mines in all the superposed classical boards. The player can perform three types of measurement: a classical measurement that probabilistically collapses the superposition; a quantum interaction-free measurement that can detect a mine without triggering it; and an entanglement measurement that provides non-local information. The application of the concepts taught by quantum minesweeper to one-way quantum computing are also presented. (Contains 3 figures.)