(Dis)entangling medicine and media : a qualitative analysis of the relationship between the fields of healthcare and journalism

Previous research has illustrated that journalists play an active role in the production of health news. The current study explores the relationship between the fields of healthcare and journalism from a healthcare perspective. Drawing on Bourdieu’s theory of fields and Gieryn’s concept of boundary-work, this study employed elite interviewing to analyse how the relations between these two fields were reflected and negotiated in the discourses of Belgian health-policy stakeholders. Our analysis illustrated that health-policy stakeholders perceived medicine and the news media as two different cultures and, therefore, discursively positioned news media actors as outsiders. Additionally, we showed that the nature of the relationship between health-policy stakeholders and the news media was linked to health-policy stakeholders’ position within the healthcare field. Through this analysis, we illustrate the value of using the concept of boundary-work as an analytical instrument to study the relationships between fields

Towards a scalable parallel MLFMA in three dimensions

The development of a scalable parallel multilevel fast multipole algorithm (MLFMA) for three dimensional electromagnetic scattering problems is reported. In the context of this work, the term 'scalable' denotes the ability to handle larger simulations with a proportional increase in the number of parallel processes (CPU cores), without loss of parallel efficiency. The workload is divided among the different processes according to the hierarchical partitioning scheme. Crucial to ensure the parallel scalability of the algorithm, is that the radiation patterns - sampled on the sphere - are partitioned in two dimensions, i.e., both in azimuth and elevation directions

In the land of pharma : a qualitative analysis of the reputational discourse of the pharmaceutical industry

The pharmaceutical industry has been battling a negative reputation and has been confronted with accusations such as putting profits before patients and manipulating clinical trial results. In this study, we focus on how pharmaceutical companies address what we define as the Bad Pharma discourse. Drawing on interviews, press releases, corporate documentation and ethnographic fieldwork, we analyse the main themes that are used by the Belgian pharmaceutical industry to construct its reputational discourse, and we focus on how this discourse is shaped by the Bad Pharma discourse. Our results illustrate that on the one hand, the industry contests the Bad Pharma discourse by generating an alternative discourse. On the other hand, they also partly embrace and reframe this Bad Pharma discourse. This way, current societal debates are entextualised in the reputational discourses of the pharmaceutical industry

Early biomarkers related to secondary primary cancer risk in radiotherapy treated prostate cancer patients: IMRT versus IMAT

AbstractPurposeTo investigate whether rotational techniques (Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy – VMAT) are associated with a higher risk for secondary primary malignancies compared to step-and-shoot Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (ss-IMRT). To this end, radiation therapy (RT) induced DNA double-strand-breaks and the resulting chromosomal damage were assessed in peripheral blood T-lymphocytes of prostate cancer (PCa) patients applying γH2AX foci and G0 micronucleus (MN) assays.Methods and materialsThe study comprised 33PCa patients. A blood sample was taken before start of therapy and after the 1st and 3rd RT fraction to determine respectively the RT-induced γH2AX foci and MN. The equivalent total body dose (DETB) was calculated based on treatment planning data.ResultsA linear dose response was obtained for γH2AX foci yields versus DETB while MN showed a linear-quadratic dose response. Patients treated with large volume (LV) VMAT show a significantly higher level of induced γH2AX foci and MN compared to IMRT and small volume (SV) VMAT (p<0.01). Assuming a linear-quadratic relationship, a satisfactory correlation was found between both endpoints (R2 0.86).ConclusionsBiomarker responses were governed by dose and irradiated volume of normal tissues. No significant differences between IMRT and rotational therapy inherent to the technique itself were observed

Real-time 4x3.5 Gbps sigma delta radio-over-fiber for a low-cost 5G C-RAN downlink

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Low power all-digital radio-over-fiber transmission for 28-GHz band using parallel electro-absorption modulators

We present a low-power all-digital radio-over-fiber transmitter for beyond 28-GHz using sigma-delta modulation, a 140mW NRZ driver and parallel electro-absorption modulators. 5.25Gb/s (2.625Gb/s) 64-QAM is transported over 10-km SSMF at 1560nm with 7.6% (5.2%) EVM

Passive opto-antenna using air-filled substrate-integrated-waveguide technology

In this contribution, we propose a novel extensive full-wave/circuit cosimulation model to analyze the performance of an opto-electronic fully passive downlink remote antenna unit. The vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser, the optical back-to-back connection, the photodetector, the lumped/distributed matching network, and the air-filled substrate-integrated-waveguide antenna are described in a single, complete model, which also incorporates the spurious radiation by the distributed matching network and any remaining impedance mismatch of the antenna