Evacuation planning is an important activity in disaster management to reduce the effects of disasters on urban communities. It is regarded as a multi-objective optimization problem that involves conflicting spatial objectives and constraints in a decision-making process. Such problems are difficult to solve by traditional methods. However, metaheuristics methods have been shown to be proper solut

The aim of this research was to develop a method to produce a Dust Source Susceptibility Map (DSSM). For this purpose, we applied remote sensing and statistical-based machine learning algorithms for experimental dust storm studies in the Khorasan Razavi Province, in north-eastern Iran. We identified dust sources in the study area using MODIS satellite images during the 2005–2016 period. For dust s

Background: Rare and ultra-rare diseases (URDs) are often chronic and life-threatening conditions that have a profound impact on sufferers and their families, but many are notoriously difficult to detect. Niemann-Pick disease type C (NP-C) serves to illustrate the challenges, benefits and pitfalls associated with screening for ultra-rare inborn errors of metabolism (IEMs). A comprehensive, non-sys

Inborn errors of metabolism in adults are still largely unexplored. Despite the fact that adult-onset phenotypes have been known for many years, little attention is given to these disorders in neurological practice. The adult-onset presentation differs from childhood-onset phenotypes, often leading to considerable diagnostic delay. The identification of these patients at the earliest stage of dise

Background: The clinical demarcation of the syndrome progressive myoclonus ataxia is unclear, leading to a lack of recognition and difficult differentiation from other neurological syndromes. Objectives: The objective of this study was to apply a refined definition of progressive myoclonus ataxia and describe the clinical characteristics in patients with progressive myoclonus ataxia and with isola

Background: DYT6 dystonia can have an unpredictable clinical course and the result of deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the internal part of the globus pallidus (GPi) is known to be less robust than in other forms of autosomal dominant dystonia. Patients who had previous stereotactic surgery with insufficient clinical benefit form a particular challenge with very limited other treatment options avai

Patients with an ADCY5 gene mutation reveal a heterogenous clinical presentation including axial hypotonia, motor milestone delay, fluctuating dyskinesias, dystonia, and/or myoclonus with episodic exacerbations during drowsiness and sleep.1,2 Phenotype-genotype correlations and somatic mosaicism are suggested to explain the wide phenotypic spectrum.1 The ADCY5 gene encodes 1 of 9 membrane-bound ad

Background: The purpose of this project was to develop a telemedicine platform that supports home site monitoring and integrates biochemical, physiological, and dietary parameters for individual patients with hepatic glycogen storage disease (GSD). Methods and results: The GSD communication platform (GCP) was designed with input from software developers, GSD patients, researchers, and healthcare p

There are many rare movement disorders, and new ones are described every year. Because they are not well recognized, they often go undiagnosed for long periods of time. However, early diagnosis is becoming increasingly important. Rapid advances in our understanding of the biological mechanisms responsible for many rare disorders have enabled the development of specific treatments for some of them.

The article ‘Whither Plastics?—Petrochemicals, plastics and sustainability in a garbage-riddled world’ discusses a number of recent issues around plastics, including plastics’ dependence on fossil fuels, its contribution to ocean waste, and its possible impact on human health [M. Jefferson, “Whither plastics?—Petrochemicals, plastics and sustainability in a garbage-riddled world,” Energy Res. Soc.

Background: Ketogenic diet in children with epilepsy has a considerable impact on daily life and is usually adopted for at least 3 months. Our aim was to evaluate whether the introduction of an all-liquid ketogenic diet in an outpatient setting is feasible, and if an earlier assessment of its efficacy can be achieved.Methods: The authors conducted a prospective, observational study in a consecutiv

Background: Diagnosis of less common young-onset movement disorders is often challenging, requiring a broad spectrum of skills of clinicians regarding phenotyping, normal and abnormal development and the wide range of possible acquired and genetic etiologies. This complexity often leads to considerable diagnostic delays, paralleled by uncertainty for patients and their families. Therefore, we hypo

We study a simple model of similarity-based global cumulative imitation in symmetric games with large and ordered strategy sets and a salient winning player. We show that the learning model explains behavior well in both field and laboratory data from one such “winner-takes-all” game: the lowest unique positive integer game in which the player that chose the lowest number not chosen by anyone else

Expert advice is often biased in ways that benefit the advisor. We demonstrate how self-deception helps advisors be biased while preserving their self-image as ethical and identify limits to advisors' ability to self-deceive. In experiments where advisors recommend one of two investments to a client and receive a commission that depends on their recommendation, we vary the timing at which advisors

Background: The additional value of including segment 4 (S4) portal branches in right portal vein embolization (rPVE) is debated. The aim of the study was to explore this in a large multicenter cohort. Material and methods: A retrospective cohort study consisting of all patients subjected to rPVE from August 2012 to May 2017 at six Scandinavian university hospitals. PVE technique was essentially t

The Mixed Lineage Leukemia (MLL1, KMT2A) gene is critical for development and maintenance of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), however, whether this protein is limiting for HSC development is unknown due to lack of physiologic model systems. Here, we develop an MLL1-inducible embryonic stem cell (ESC) system and show that induction of wild-type MLL1 during ESC differentiation selectively increases

This edited volume, Excellent MSc Dissertations 2019, is the forth in the series that brings a selection of five postgraduate dissertations, written by the students who undertook the MSc degree in Media and Com- munication at Lund University, in Sweden and graduated in June 2019. All five texts published in this edited volume were originally presented and evaluated as part of the final thesis exam

Background: It remains unclear whether heritable factors can contribute to risk stratification for ischemic stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). We examined whether having a sibling with ischemic stroke was associated with increased risk of ischemic stroke and mortality in patients with AF. Methods and Results: In this nationwide study of the Swedish population, patients with AF and t