Joint analysis of resident complaints, meteorological, acoustic, and ground motion data to establish a robust annoyance evaluation of wind turbine emissions

In order to advance the expansion of onshore wind energy, wind turbines (WTs) must be erected in often complex terrain. The orography and the associated meteorological conditions, as well as the complex propagation of sound and ground motion waves can lead to increased annoyance of residents. Here a joint investigation of residential noise reports, meteorological, acoustic and ground motion data together with operational parameters of a wind farm in southern Germany is presented, with the objective to assess the annoyance of residents affected by WT emissions. Once strongly annoyed residents had been identified, simultaneous measurements were conducted over a 2-month period while residents used a noise reporting app to document their annoyance. A combination of the data shows that WT-related signals can be detected by acoustic and ground motion measurements in the vicinity of the WTs and, to a lesser extent, at the residential sites. In addition, background noise can be identified well. The app data indicates higher complaint rates in the early morning, evening and night hours. Changes in rotation rate seem to be the cause of annoyance as well as high rotation rates. These findings can be used to adjust WT operation in order to decrease immissions

心房ナトリウム利尿ペプチドは、ミネラルコルチコイド受容体活性を抑制して心筋リモデリングを予防する

BACKGROUND:The endocrine balance between atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system is critical for the maintenance of arterial blood pressure and volume homeostasis. This study investigated whether a cardiac imbalance between ANP and aldosterone, toward increased mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) signaling, contributes to adverse left ventricular remodeling in response to pressure overload.METHODS AND RESULTS:We used the MR-selective antagonist eplerenone to test the role of MRs in mediating pressure overload-induced dilatative cardiomyopathy of mice with abolished local, cardiac ANP activity. In response to 21 days of transverse aortic constriction, mice with cardiomyocyte-restricted inactivation (knockout) of the ANP receptor (guanylyl cyclase [GC]-A) or the downstream cGMP-dependent protein kinase I developed enhanced left ventricular hypertrophy and fibrosis together with contractile dysfunction. Treatment with eplerenone (100 mg/kg/d) attenuated left ventricular hypertrophy and fully prevented fibrosis, dilatation, and failure. Transverse aortic constriction induced the cardiac expression of profibrotic connective tissue growth factor and attenuated the expression of SERCA2a (sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+)-ATPase) in knockout mice, but not in controls. These genotype-dependent molecular changes were similarly prevented by eplerenone. ANP attenuated the aldosterone-induced nuclear translocation of MRs via GC-A/cGMP-dependent protein kinase I in transfected HEK 293 (human embryonic kidney) cells. Coimmunoprecipitation and fluorescence resonance energy transfer experiments demonstrated that a population of MRs were membrane associated in close interaction with GC-A and cGMP-dependent protein kinase I and, moreover, that aldosterone caused a conformational change of this membrane MR/GC-A protein complex which was prevented by ANP.CONCLUSIONS:ANP counter-regulates cardiac MR activation in hypertensive heart disease. An imbalance in cardiac ANP/GC-A (inhibition) and aldosterone/MR signaling (augmentation) favors adverse cardiac remodeling in chronic pressure overload.博士（医学）・甲第630号・平成27年3月16日© 2014 American Heart Association, Inc

Approaching the Gamow Window with Stored Ions : Direct Measurement of Xe 124 (p,γ) in the ESR Storage Ring

© 2019 American Physical Society. All rights reserved.We report the first measurement of low-energy proton-capture cross sections of Xe124 in a heavy-ion storage ring. Xe12454+ ions of five different beam energies between 5.5 and 8 AMeV were stored to collide with a windowless hydrogen target. The Cs125 reaction products were directly detected. The interaction energies are located on the high energy tail of the Gamow window for hot, explosive scenarios such as supernovae and x-ray binaries. The results serve as an important test of predicted astrophysical reaction rates in this mass range. Good agreement in the prediction of the astrophysically important proton width at low energy is found, with only a 30% difference between measurement and theory. Larger deviations are found above the neutron emission threshold, where also neutron and γ widths significantly impact the cross sections. The newly established experimental method is a very powerful tool to investigate nuclear reactions on rare ion beams at low center-of-mass energies.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Primordial He4 Abundance Constrains the Possible Time Variation of the Higgs Vacuum Expectation Value

We constrain the possible time variation of the Higgs vacuum expectation value ($v$) by recent results on the primordial $^4He$ abundance ($Y_P$). For that, we use an analytic approach which enables us to take important issues into consideration, that have been ignored by previous works, like the $v$-dependence of the relevant cross sections of deuterium production and photodisintegration, including the full Klein- Nishina cross section. Furthermore, we take a non-equilibrium Ansatz for the freeze-out concentration of neutrons and protons and incorporate the latest results on the neutron decay. Finally, we approximate the key-parameters of the primordial $^4He$ production (the mean lifetime of the free neutron and the binding energy of the deuteron) by terms of $v\over v_0$ (where $v_0$ denotes the present theoretical estimate). Eventually, we derive the relation $Y_P \simeq 0.2479 - 5.54 (\frac{v-v_0}{v_0})^2 - 0.808~ (\frac{v-v_0}{v_0})$ and the most stringent limit on a possible time variation of $v$ is given by: $-5.4 \cdot 10^{-4} \leq \frac{v-v_0}{v_0} \leq 4.4 \cdot 10^{-4}$.Comment: Accepted for publication in IJT

Consensus based framework for digital mobility monitoring

Digital mobility assessment using wearable sensor systems has the potential to capture walking performance in a patient’s natural environment. It enables monitoring of health status and disease progression and evaluation of interventions in real-world situations. In contrast to laboratory settings, real-world walking occurs in non-conventional environments and under unconstrained and uncontrolled conditions. Despite the general understanding, there is a lack of agreed definitions about what constitutes real-world walking, impeding the comparison and interpretation of the acquired data across systems and studies. The goal of this study was to obtain expert-based consensus on specific aspects of real-world walking and to provide respective definitions in a common terminological framework. An adapted Delphi method was used to obtain agreed definitions related to real-world walking. In an online survey, 162 participants from a panel of academic, clinical and industrial experts with experience in the field of gait analysis were asked for agreement on previously specified definitions. Descriptive statistics was used to evaluate whether consent (> 75% agreement as defined a priori) was reached. Of 162 experts invited to participate, 51 completed all rounds (31.5% response rate). We obtained consensus on all definitions (“Walking” > 90%, “Purposeful” > 75%, “Real-world” > 90%, “Walking bout” > 80%, “Walking speed” > 75%, “Turning” > 90% agreement) after two rounds. The identification of a consented set of real-world walking definitions has important implications for the development of assessment and analysis protocols, as well as for the reporting and comparison of digital mobility outcomes across studies and systems. The definitions will serve as a common framework for implementing digital and mobile technologies for gait assessment and are an important link for the transition from supervised to unsupervised gait assessment

Cardiac rehabilitation in Austria: long term health-related quality of life outcomes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The goal of cardiac rehabilitation programs is not only to prolong life but also to improve physical functioning, symptoms, well-being, and health-related quality of life (HRQL). The aim of this study was to document the long-term effect of a 1-month inpatient cardiac rehabilitation intervention on HRQL in Austria.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Patients (N = 487, 64.7% male, age 60.9 ± 12.5 SD years) after myocardial infarction, with or without percutaneous interventions, coronary artery bypass grafting or valve surgery underwent inpatient cardiac rehabilitation and were included in this long-term observational study (two years follow-up). HRQL was measured with both the MacNew Heart Disease Quality of Life Instrument [MacNew] and EuroQoL-5D [EQ-5D].</p> <p>Results</p> <p>All MacNew scale scores improved significantly (p < 0.001) and exceeded the minimal important difference (0.5 MacNew points) by the end of rehabilitation. Although all MacNew scale scores deteriorated significantly over the two year follow-up period (p < .001), all MacNew scale scores still remained significantly higher than the pre-rehabilitation values. The mean improvement after two years in the MacNew social scale exceeded the minimal important difference while MacNew scale scores greater than the minimal important difference were reported by 40-49% of the patients.</p> <p>Two years after rehabilitation the mean improvement in the EQ-5D Visual Analogue Scale score was not significant with no significant change in the proportion of patients reporting problems at this time.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These findings provide a first indication that two years following inpatient cardiac rehabilitation in Austria, the long-term improvements in HRQL are statistically significant and clinically relevant for almost 50% of the patients. Future controlled randomized trials comparing different cardiac rehabilitation programs are needed.</p

Walking on common ground: a cross-disciplinary scoping review on the clinical utility of digital mobility outcomes

Physical mobility is essential to health, and patients often rate it as a high-priority clinical outcome. Digital mobility outcomes (DMOs), such as real-world gait speed or step count, show promise as clinical measures in many medical conditions. However, current research is nascent and fragmented by discipline. This scoping review maps existing evidence on the clinical utility of DMOs, identifying commonalities across traditional disciplinary divides. In November 2019, 11 databases were searched for records investigating the validity and responsiveness of 34 DMOs in four diverse medical conditions (Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hip fracture). Searches yielded 19,672 unique records. After screening, 855 records representing 775 studies were included and charted in systematic maps. Studies frequently investigated gait speed (70.4% of studies), step length (30.7%), cadence (21.4%), and daily step count (20.7%). They studied differences between healthy and pathological gait (36.4%), associations between DMOs and clinical measures (48.8%) or outcomes (4.3%), and responsiveness to interventions (26.8%). Gait speed, step length, cadence, step time and step count exhibited consistent evidence of validity and responsiveness in multiple conditions, although the evidence was inconsistent or lacking for other DMOs. If DMOs are to be adopted as mainstream tools, further work is needed to establish their predictive validity, responsiveness, and ecological validity. Cross-disciplinary efforts to align methodology and validate DMOs may facilitate their adoption into clinical practice