249 research outputs found
Impact of Primary CareâBased Disease Management on the Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes and Comorbidity
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80343.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)OBJECTIVE: This study examined the effectiveness of the German diabetes disease management program (DMP) for patients with varying numbers of other medical conditions with respect to their health-related quality of life (HRQoL). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: A questionnaire, including the HRQoL-measured EQ-5D, was mailed to a random sample of 3,546 patients with type 2 diabetes (59.3% female). The EQ-5D score was analyzed by grouping patients according to those on a DMP and those receiving routine care. RESULTS: The analysis showed that participation in the DMP (P < 0.001), the number of other medical conditions (P < 0.001), and the interaction between the DMP and the number of other conditions (P < 0.05) had a significant impact on the EQ-5D score. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that the number of other medical conditions may have a negative impact on the HRQoL of patients with type 2 diabetes. The results demonstrate that the German DMP for type 2 diabetes may help counterbalance this effect
Weak ferromagnetism and glassy state in kappa-(BEDT-TTF)2Hg(SCN)2Br
Since the first observation of weak ferromagnetism in the charge-transfer
salt kappa-(BEDT-TTF)2-Cu[N(CN)2]Cl [U. Welp et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 69, 840
(1992)], no further evidence of ferromagnetism in this class of organic
materials has been reported. Here we present static and dynamic spin
susceptibility measurements on kappa-(BEDT-TTF)2Hg(SCN)2Br revealing weak
ferromagnetism below about TWF = 20 K. We suggest that frustrated spins in the
molecular dimers suppress long-range order, forming a spin-glass ground state
in the insulating phase
Nanocoating with plant-derived pectins activates osteoblast response in vitro
Abstract: A new strategy to improve osseointegration of implants is to
stimulate adhesion of bone cells, bone matrix formation, and mineralization at
the implant surface by modifying surface coating on the nanoscale level.
Plant-derived pectins have been proposed as potential candidates for surface
nanocoating of orthopedic and dental titanium implants due to 1) their
osteogenic stimulation of osteoblasts to mineralize and 2) their ability to
control pectin structural changes. The aim of this study was to evaluate in
vitro the impact of the nanoscale plant-derived pectin Rhamnogalacturonan-I
(RG-I) from potato on the osteogenic response of murine osteoblasts. RG-I from
potato pulps was isolated, structurally modified, or left unmodified. Tissue
culture plates were either coated with modified RG-I or unmodified RG-I or â
as a control â left uncoated. The effect of nanocoating on mice osteoblast-
like cells MC3T3-E1 and primary murine osteoblast with regard to
proliferation, osteogenic response in terms of mineralization, and gene
expression of Runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2), alkaline phosphate
(Alpl), osteocalcin (Bglap), Îą-1 type I collagen (Col1a1), and receptor
activator of NF-ÎşB ligand (Rankl) were analyzed after 3, 7, 14, and 21 days,
respectively. Nanocoating with pectin RG-Is increased proliferation and
mineralization of MC3T3-E1 and primary osteoblast as compared to osteoblasts
cultured without nanocoating. Moreover, osteogenic transcriptional response of
osteoblasts was induced by nanocoating in terms of gene induction of Runx2,
Alpl, Bglap, and Col1a1 in a time-dependent manner â of note â to the highest
extent under the PA-coating condition. In contrast, Rankl expression was
initially reduced by nanocoating in MC3T3-E1 or remained unaltered in primary
osteoblast as compared to the uncoated controls. Our results showed that
nanocoating of implants with modified RG-I beneficially 1) supports
osteogenesis, 2) has the capacity to improve osseointegration of implants, and
is therefore 3) a potential candidate for nanocoating of bone implants
Sabrina: Modeling and Visualization of Economy Data with Incremental Domain Knowledge
Investment planning requires knowledge of the financial landscape on a large
scale, both in terms of geo-spatial and industry sector distribution. There is
plenty of data available, but it is scattered across heterogeneous sources
(newspapers, open data, etc.), which makes it difficult for financial analysts
to understand the big picture. In this paper, we present Sabrina, a financial
data analysis and visualization approach that incorporates a pipeline for the
generation of firm-to-firm financial transaction networks. The pipeline is
capable of fusing the ground truth on individual firms in a region with
(incremental) domain knowledge on general macroscopic aspects of the economy.
Sabrina unites these heterogeneous data sources within a uniform visual
interface that enables the visual analysis process. In a user study with three
domain experts, we illustrate the usefulness of Sabrina, which eases their
analysis process
Effectiveness and efficiency of primary care based case management for chronic diseases: rationale and design of a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized and non-randomized trials [CRD32009100316]
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88751.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)BACKGROUND: Case management is an important component of structured and evidence-based primary care for chronically ill patients. Its effectiveness and efficiency has been evaluated in numerous clinical trials. This protocol describes aims and methods of a systematic review of research on the effectiveness and efficiency of case management in primary care. METHODS/DESIGN: According to this protocol Medline, Embase, CINAHL, PsychInfo, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled trials, DARE, NHS EED, Science Citation Index, The Royal College of Nursing Database, Dissertation Abstracts, registers of clinical trials and the reference lists of retrieved articles will be searched to identify reports on randomized and non-randomized controlled trials of case management interventions in a primary care setting without limitations on language or publication date. We will further ask experts in the field to avoid missing relevant evidence. Study inclusion and data extraction will be performed independently by two reviewers. After assessing risk of bias according to predefined standards, included studies will be described qualitatively. Subgroup analyses are planned for different chronic diseases and intervention strategies. If appropriate, a quantitative synthesis of data will be performed to provide conclusive evidence about the effectiveness and efficiency of primary care based case management in chronic care. REVIEW REGISTRATION: Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (University of York): CRD32009100316
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Toward flexible visual analytics augmented through smooth display transitions
Visualizing big and complex multivariate data is challenging. To address this challenge, we propose flexible visual analytics (FVA) with the aim to mitigate visual complexity and interaction complexity challenges in visual analytics, while maintaining the strengths of multiple perspectives on the studied data. At the heart of our proposed approach are transitions that fluidly transform data between user-relevant views to offer various perspectives and insights into the data. While smooth display transitions have been already proposed, there has not yet been an interdisciplinary discussion to systematically conceptualize and formalize these ideas. As a call to further action, we argue that future research is necessary to develop a conceptual framework for flexible visual analytics. We discuss preliminary ideas for prioritizing multi-aspect visual representations and multi-aspect transitions between them, and consider the display user for whom such depictions are produced and made available for visual analytics. With this contribution we aim to further facilitate visual analytics on complex data sets for varying data exploration tasks and purposes based on different user characteristics and data use contexts
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