Study on Go Programming Language

When developing software today, we still use old tools and ideas. Maybe it is time to start from scratch and try tools and languages that are more in line with how we actually want to develop software. The Go Programming Language was created at Google by a rather famous trio: Rob Pike, Ken Thompson and Robert Griesemer. Before introducing Go, the company suffered from their development process not scaling well due to slow builds, uncontrolled dependencies, hard to read code, poor documentation and so on. Go is set out to provide a solution for these issues. The purpose of this master’s thesis was to review the current state of the language. This is not only a study of the language itself but an investigation of the whole software development process using Go. The study was carried out from an embedded development perspective which includes an investigation of compilers and cross-compilation. We found that Go is exciting, fun to use and fulfills what is promised in many cases. However, we think the tools need some more time to mature.

Programming Crash Course for Composers

This chapter serves as a concise, understandable introduction to programming concepts, with a focus on principles useful specifically to someone planning to integrate music or sound into a game. When learning game audio as a field, it is far too easy to skip over basic programming principles that should be part of any game music composer’s foundation. Intricate details of programing basics are not the focus of this chapter, but rather general concepts that are essential for understanding how a programmer thinks and being able to read code in a scripting language such as C#. These general concepts are then applied through audio-specific demonstrations using C#.

P0671THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN HYPERKALAEMIA RISK AND CARDIOVASCULAR AND RENAL COMORBIDITIES IN A LARGE REAL-WORLD COHORT OF CKD PATIENTS

Background and Aims Approximately 275.9 million people globally and 5.6 million people in the UK are living with chronic kidney disease (CKD). The risk of hyperkalaemia (HK) is elevated in CKD due to renal impairment and may increase further upon treatment with renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitors, which are commonly used in many cardiovascular and renal conditions. This study aimed to assess the relationship between comorbidity burden and HK risk in a large cohort of UK CKD patients. Method Primary and secondary care data from the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) and linked Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) were used to identify patients aged ≥18 years who had a diagnosis of stage 3+ CKD (identified as either a READ code for non-dialysis CKD stage 3+ or an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) <60 mL/min/1.73m2 without a prior READ code for dialysis) during the study period (2008–June 2018) or the five-year look-back period (2003–2007). Patient’s index date was 1st January 2008 or the first date of CKD diagnosis, whichever occurred later. Diagnoses based on the presence of READ codes were used to define the accumulation of further cardiovascular or renal comorbidities of interest (resistant hypertension, heart failure, diabetes or dialysis-dependent CKD). The incidence of HK was defined as serum potassium (K+) thresholds of ≥5.0, ≥5.5 and ≥6.0 mmol/L. Results In total, 297,702 eligible patients had a CKD diagnosis during the study or look back periods and their mean follow-up was 5.6 (SD 3.2) years from index date. At baseline, mean age was 74.7 (11.3) years, mean body mass index was 28.3 (5.9) kg/m2, and 58.6% of patients were female. CKD was the first diagnosis in 169,532 patients (56.9% of all CKD diagnoses), second diagnosis in 92,651 patients (31.1%), third in 32,606 patients (11.0%) and fourth or fifth in 2,913 patients (1.0%); however, only 11,129 CKD patients (3.74%) developed four or more comorbidities of interest. In total, 1.5% of the cohort (4,544 patients) progressed to dialysis and 29.6% (88,245 patients) died during the study period. In general, the incidence of HK increased with the number of comorbidities of interest (Figure 1). At a K+ threshold of ≥5.0 mmol/L, crude incidence rate of HK was 286.5 (95% CI: 285.2–287.8) per 1,000 patient-years in patients with CKD only; this increased 2.8-fold to 806.8 (741.5–876.4) in patients with five comorbidities of interest. A similar trend was observed at K+ thresholds of ≥5.5 mmol/L and ≥6.0 mmol/L. A 5.9 fold increase was observed in crude incidence rate of HK (from 59.7 [59.1–60.3] with CKD only, to 350.3 [307.7–397.1] with all five comorbidities) at a threshold of ≥5.5 mmol/L and a 10.6-fold increase (from 9.1 [8.9–9.4] to 96.2 [74.6–122.2]) at the ≥6.0 mmol/L threshold. Conclusion This assessment of a large real-world patient cohort showed that the risk of HK in patients with CKD increases with the number of cardiovascular or renal comorbidities. Emphasis should be put on effective prevention and treatment of HK in CKD, especially in patients with high comorbidity burden.

P0469VALIDATING THE DIAGNOSTIC ACCURACY OF MEMBRANOUS NEPHROPATHY IN THE HEALTH IMPROVEMENT NETWORK (THIN) DATABASE

Background and Aims Membranous nephropathy (MN) is among the most common causes of nephrotic syndrome in adults worldwide. Despite this, there is currently no robust data on the epidemiology of MN in the UK population. The Health Improvement Network (THIN) is an electronic medical record database that holds longitudinal anonymised patient records for over 17 million patients and has shown to be generalisable to the UK regarding demographics and crude prevalence’s of major conditions. To our knowledge, accuracy of the read codes for glomerular disease is yet to be validated. This will be the first study into MN validating the diagnostic accuracy using the THIN database. Method THIN database was interrogated for patients with MN using read codes. Two cohorts were considered: Definite cohort, defined as read codes expected to correspond to a diagnosis of MN, and Probable cohort, defined as read codes that could correspond to a diagnosis of MN. In order to confirm the diagnosis of MN, a short questionnaire was sent to the GP practice of a randomly selected cohort of patients asking if the diagnosis of MN was correct, and that the diagnosis had been confirmed by a specialist renal centre, with or without a renal biopsy. Results 267 patients with a record of MN were identified from the THIN database. 235 of the patients had Definite cohort read codes, with a mean age at diagnosis of 57 years. There were 155 (66.2%) male and 79 (33.8%) female patients. 32 patients were identified in the Probable cohort. GP questionnaires were sent to 71 randomly selected patients with 61 responses (85.9% response rate). This represented 23% (n=53) of the total Definite cohort and 25% (n=8) of the total Probable cohort. Of the 61 returned questionnaires, an MN diagnosis was confirmed in 96% (n=51) of patients with a definite read code and 25% (n=2) with a probable read code. Amongst the confirmed MN diagnoses in the Definite cohort, 88% (n=45) of the patients had primary MN. Conclusion The THIN database is a valid data resource for studying MN in patients with a read code from the Definite cohort list. Read codes from the Probable cohort list cannot be used unless confirmed on a case by case basis such as through the GP. The results of this study will feed into a larger project with an aim to describe accurately the epidemiology of MN in the UK population, and report the incidence and prevalence of specific secondary associations of MN. Once these factors are fully understood, diagnostic and care pathways for MN can be developed.

Concomitant diagnosis of asthma and COPD: a quantitative study in UK primary care

BackgroundAsthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) share many characteristics and symptoms, and the differential diagnosis between the two diseases can be difficult in primary care. This study explored potential overlap between both diseases in a primary care environment.AimTo quantify how commonly patients with COPD have a concomitant diagnosis of asthma, and how commonly patients with asthma have a concomitant diagnosis of COPD in UK primary care. Additionally, the study aimed to determine the extent of possible misdiagnosis and missed opportunities for diagnosis.Design and settingPatients with validated asthma and patients with validated COPD in primary care were identified from the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) in separate validation studies, and the diseases were confirmed by review of GP questionnaires.MethodThe prevalence of concurrent asthma and COPD in validated cases of either disease was examined based on CPRD coding, GP questionnaires, and requested additional information.ResultsIn total, 400 patients with COPD and 351 patients with asthma in primary care were identified. Of the patients with validated asthma, 15% (n = 52) had previously received a diagnostic COPD Read code, although COPD was only likely in 14.8% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 11.3 to 19.0) of patients with validated asthma. More than half (52.5%, n = 210) of patients with validated COPD had previously received a diagnostic asthma Read code. However, when considering additional evidence to support a diagnosis of asthma, concurrent asthma was only likely in 14.5% (95% CI = 11.2 to 18.3) of patients with validated COPD.ConclusionA concurrent asthma and COPD diagnosis appears to affect a relative minority of patients with COPD (14.5%) or asthma (14.8%). Asthma diagnosis may be over-recorded in people with COPD.

Identifying people with a learning disability: an advanced search for general practice

BackgroundPeople with learning disabilities (LD) have poor physical and mental health when compared with the general population. They are also likely to find it more difficult than others to describe their symptoms adequately. It is therefore harder for healthcare workers to identify the health needs of those with learning disabilities, with the danger of some problems being left unrecognised. Practice registers record only a proportion of those who are eligible, making it difficult to target improvements in their health care.AimTo test a Read Code search supporting the identification of people with a mild-to-moderate learning disability who are not currently on the learning disability register.Design and settingAn observational study in primary care in West Yorkshire.MethodRead Code searches were created to identify individuals with a learning disability not on the LD register; they were field tested and further refined before testing in general practice.ResultsDiagnostic codes identified small numbers of individuals who should have been on the LD register. Functional and service use codes often created large numbers of false-positive results. The specific descriptive codes ‘Learning difficulties’ and ‘Referral to learning disability team’ needed follow-up review, and then identified some individuals with LD who were not on the register.ConclusionThe Read Code search supported practices to populate their registers and was quick to run and review, making it a viable choice to support register revalidation. However, it did not find large numbers of people eligible for the LD register who were previously unidentified by their practice, suggesting that additional complementary methods are required to support practices to validate their registers.

Validation of asthma recording in the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD)

ObjectivesThe optimal method of identifying people with asthma from electronic health records in primary care is not known. The aim of this study is to determine the positive predictive value (PPV) of different algorithms using clinical codes and prescription data to identify people with asthma in the United Kingdom Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD).Methods684 participants registered with a general practitioner (GP) practice contributing to CPRD between 1 December 2013 and 30 November 2015 were selected according to one of eight predefined potential asthma identification algorithms. A questionnaire was sent to the GPs to confirm asthma status and provide additional information to support an asthma diagnosis. Two study physicians independently reviewed and adjudicated the questionnaires and additional information to form a gold standard for asthma diagnosis. The PPV was calculated for each algorithm.Results684 questionnaires were sent, of which 494 (72%) were returned and 475 (69%) were complete and analysed. All five algorithms including a specific Read code indicating asthma or non-specific Read code accompanied by additional conditions performed well. The PPV for asthma diagnosis using only a specific asthma code was 86.4% (95% CI 77.4% to 95.4%). Extra information on asthma medication prescription (PPV 83.3%), evidence of reversibility testing (PPV 86.0%) or a combination of all three selection criteria (PPV 86.4%) did not result in a higher PPV. The algorithm using non-specific asthma codes, information on reversibility testing and respiratory medication use scored highest (PPV 90.7%, 95% CI (82.8% to 98.7%), but had a much lower identifiable population. Algorithms based on asthma symptom codes had low PPVs (43.1% to 57.8%)%).ConclusionsPeople with asthma can be accurately identified from UK primary care records using specific Read codes. The inclusion of spirometry or asthma medications in the algorithm did not clearly improve accuracy.Ethics and disseminationThe protocol for this research was approved by the Independent Scientific Advisory Committee (ISAC) for MHRA Database Research (protocol number15_257) and the approved protocol was made available to the journal and reviewers during peer review. Generic ethical approval for observational research using the CPRD with approval from ISAC has been granted by a Health Research Authority Research Ethics Committee (East Midlands—Derby, REC reference number 05/MRE04/87).The results will be submitted for publication and will be disseminated through research conferences and peer-reviewed journals.

Constructivist Apprenticeship through Antagonistic Programming Activities

Computer programming involves more than thinking of a design and typing the code to implement it. While coding, professional programmers are actively on the lookout for syntactical glitches, logic flaws, and potential interactions of their code with the rest of the project. Debugging and programming are therefore not to be seen (and taught) as two distinct skills, but rather as two intimately entwined cognitive processes. From this perspective, teaching programming requires instructors to also teach students how to read code rigorously and critically, how to reflect on its correctness appropriately, and how to identify errors and fix them. Recent studies indicate that those students who have difficulties in programming courses often end up coding without intention (Gaspar & Langevin, 2007). They search for solved exercises whose descriptions are similar to that of the new problem at hand, cut and paste their solutions, and randomly modify the code until it compiles and passes the instructor’s test harness. This behavior is further exacerbated by textbooks, which only require students to modify existing code, thus ignoring the creative side of programming. Breaking this cognitive pattern means engaging students in activities that develop their critical thinking along with their understanding of code and its meaning. This article discusses constructivist programming activities that can be used in undergraduate programming courses at both the introductory and intermediate levels in order to help students acquire the necessary skills to read, write, debug, and evaluate code for correctness. Our constructivist apprenticeship approach builds on earlier field-tested apprenticeship models of programming instruction that successfully address the learning barriers of the new generations of novice programmers. We go one step further by realigning such approaches to the genuine difficulty encountered by students in a given course, while also addressing some pedagogical shortcomings of the traditional apprenticeship instructional practice. This is achieved by introducing a strong pedagogical constructivist component at the instructional level through so called antagonistic programming activities (APA). We conclude with a manifesto for a new multidisciplinary research agenda that merges the perspectives on learning found in both the computing education and evolutionary computation research communities.