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1. A population-based study of the trend in SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic modalities from the beginning of the pandemic to the Omicron surge in Kyoto City, Kyoto, Japan

   https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-17498-3  

   Kyo, Hiroki; Patel, Shivani A; Yamamoto, Masaki; Matsumura, Yasufumi; Ikeda, Takeshi; Nagao, Miki (December 2023, BMC Public Health)

   Abstract BackgroundThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) presents critical diagnostic challenges for managing the pandemic. We investigated the 30-month changes in COVID-19 testing modalities and functional testing sites from the early period of the pandemic to the most recent Omicron surge in 2022 in Kyoto City, Japan. MethodsThis is a retrospective-observational study using a local anonymized population database that included patients' demographic and clinical information, testing methods and facilities from January 2020 to June 2022, a total of 30 months. We computed the distribution of symptomatic presentation, testing methods, and testing facilities among cases. Differences over time were tested using chi-square tests of independence. ResultsDuring the study period, 133,115 confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported, of which 90.9% were symptomatic. Although nucleic acid amplification testing occupied 68.9% of all testing, the ratio of lateral flow devices (LFDs) rapidly increased in 2022. As the pandemic continued, the testing capability was shifted from COVID-19 designated facilities to general practitioners, who became the leading testing providers (57.3% of 99,945 tests in 2022). ConclusionsThere was a dynamic shift in testing modality during the first 30 months of the pandemic in Kyoto City. General practitioners increased their role substantially as the use of LFDs spread dramatically in 2022. By comprehending and documenting the evolution of testing methods and testing locations, it is anticipated that this will contribute to the establishment of an even more efficient testing infrastructure for the next pandemic. 

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2. Screening multi‐dimensional heterogeneous populations for infectious diseases under scarce testing resources, with application to COVID ‐19

   https://doi.org/10.1002/nav.21985  

   El Hajj, Hussein; Bish, Douglas R.; Bish, Ebru K.; Aprahamian, Hrayer (March 2021, Naval Research Logistics (NRL))

   Abstract Testing provides essential information for managing infectious disease outbreaks, such as the COVID‐19 pandemic. When testing resources are scarce, an important managerial decision is who to test. This decision is compounded by the fact that potential testing subjects are heterogeneous in multiple dimensions that are important to consider, including their likelihood of being disease‐positive, and how much potential harm would be averted through testing and the subsequent interventions. To increase testing coverage, pooled testing can be utilized, but this comes at a cost of increased false‐negatives when the test is imperfect. Then, the decision problem is to partition the heterogeneous testing population into three mutually exclusive sets: those to be individually tested, those to be pool tested, and those not to be tested. Additionally, the subjects to be pool tested must be further partitioned into testing pools, potentially containing different numbers of subjects. The objectives include the minimization of harm (through detection and mitigation) or maximization of testing coverage. We develop data‐driven optimization models and algorithms to design pooled testing strategies, and show, via a COVID‐19 contact tracing case study, that the proposed testing strategies can substantially outperform the current practice used for COVID‐19 contact tracing (individually testing those contacts with symptoms). Our results demonstrate the substantial benefits of optimizing the testing design, while considering the multiple dimensions of population heterogeneity and the limited testing capacity. 

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3. Comparing the Reliability of Virtual and In-Person Post-Stroke Neuropsychological Assessment with Language Tasks

   https://doi.org/10.1093/arclin/acac100  

   Duricy, Erin; Durisko, Corrine; Dickey, Michael Walsh; Fiez, Julie A. (December 2022, Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology)

   Abstract ObjectiveNeuropsychological testing is essential for both clinical and basic stroke research; however, the in-person nature of this testing is a limitation. Virtual testing overcomes the hurdles of geographic location, mobility issues and permits social distancing, yet its validity has received relatively little investigation, particularly in comparison with in-person testing. MethodWe expand on our prior findings of virtual testing feasibility by assessing virtual versus in-person administration of language and communication tasks with 48 left-hemisphere stroke patients (21 F, 27 M; mean age = 63.4 ± 12; mean years of education = 15.3 ± 3.5) in a quasi-test–retest paradigm. Each participant completed two testing sessions: one in their home and one in the research lab. Participants were assigned to one of the eight groups, with the testing condition (fully in-person, partially virtual), order of home session (first, second) and technology (iPad, Windows tablet) varied across groups. ResultsAcross six speech-language tasks that utilized varying response modalities and interfaces, we found no significant difference in performance between virtual and in-person testing. However, our results reveal key considerations for successful virtual administration of neuropsychological tests, including technology complications and disparities in internet access. ConclusionsVirtual administration of neuropsychological assessments demonstrates comparable reliability with in-person data collection involving stroke survivors, though technology issues must be taken into account. 

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4. Towards Testing Monotonicity of Distributions Over General Posets

   Alaikbarpour, A.; Gouleakis, T.; Peebles, J.; Rubinfeld, R.; Yodpinyanee, A (January 2019, Proceedings of the Thirty-Second Conference on Learning Theory (COLT 2019))

   In this work, we consider the sample complexity required for testing the monotonicity of distributions over partial orders. A distribution p over a poset is monotone if, for any pair of domain elements x and y such that x ⪯ y, p(x) ≤ p(y). To understand the sample complexity of this problem, we introduce a new property called bigness over a finite domain, where the distribution is T-big if the minimum probability for any domain element is at least T. We establish a lower bound of Ω(n/ log n) for testing bigness of distributions on domains of size n. We then build on these lower bounds to give Ω(n/ log n) lower bounds for testing monotonicity over a matching poset of size n and significantly improved lower bounds over the hypercube poset. We give sublinear sample complexity bounds for testing bigness and for testing monotonicity over the matching poset. We then give a number of tools for analyzing upper bounds on the sample complexity of the monotonicity testing problem. The previous lower bound for testing Monotonicity of 

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5. Acceptance Tests of more than 10 000 Photomultiplier Tubes for the multi-PMT Digital Optical Modules of the IceCube Upgrade

   https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/19/07/P07038  

   Abbasi, R; Ackermann, M; Adams, J; Agarwalla, SK; Aguilar, JA; Ahlers, M; Alameddine, JM; Amin, NM; Andeen, K; Anton, G; et al (July 2024, Journal of Instrumentation)

   IceCube_Collaboration (Ed.)

   Abstract More than 10000 photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) with a diameter of 80 mm will be installed in multi-PMT Digital Optical Modules (mDOMs) of the IceCube Upgrade. These have been tested and pre-calibrated at two sites. A throughput of more than 1000 PMTs per week with both sites was achieved with a modular design of the testing facilities and highly automated testing procedures. The testing facilities can easily be adapted to other PMTs, such that they can, e.g., be re-used for testing the PMTs for IceCube-Gen2. Single photoelectron response, high voltage dependence, time resolution, prepulse, late pulse, afterpulse probabilities, and dark rates were measured for each PMT. We describe the design of the testing facilities, the testing procedures, and the results of the acceptance tests. 

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