Screening for coronary heart disease

Malta and the United Kingdom share the dubious distinction of being among the three countries with the highest mortality rate from Cardiovascular disease in Europe; other countries in the Mediterranean basin have much lower rates. This presentation deals with a screening clinic for men carried out in the English West Country market town of Cirencester (population 16,000). The aim is a mass assault on risk factors for coronary heart disease, and results at the end of the first year suggest that, given sufficient opportunity and information, people are willing to be screened and to alter their lifestyle to reduce their level of risk of developing coronary disease.peer-reviewe

Finding Influential Users in Social Media Using Association Rule Learning

Influential users play an important role in online social networks since users tend to have an impact on one other. Therefore, the proposed work analyzes users and their behavior in order to identify influential users and predict user participation. Normally, the success of a social media site is dependent on the activity level of the participating users. For both online social networking sites and individual users, it is of interest to find out if a topic will be interesting or not. In this article, we propose association learning to detect relationships between users. In order to verify the findings, several experiments were executed based on social network analysis, in which the most influential users identified from association rule learning were compared to the results from Degree Centrality and Page Rank Centrality. The results clearly indicate that it is possible to identify the most influential users using association rule learning. In addition, the results also indicate a lower execution time compared to state-of-the-art methods

The Scenic Beauty of Geosites and Its Relation to Their Scientific Value and Geoscience Knowledge of Tourists: A Case Study from Southeastern Spain

Scenic beauty is one of the most-commonly used indicators in the inventory and assessment of geosites for geoconservation, geoheritage management and geotourism development. It is an important driver of tourists to visit natural areas and it also provides support for the protection of natural heritage. Previous studies on scenic beauty mainly focused on landscape preference and physical characteristics of geosites that affect scenic beauty appreciation. The relationships between the scenic beauty of geosites, their scientific value and the geoscience knowledge of tourists has not been empirically investigated in detail. Hence, this study investigates this relationship using 34 geosites from southeastern Spain. For this purpose, 29 respondents with a geoscience background and who all visited the 34 geosites, 43 respondents with a geoscience background but who did not visit the geosites, and 104 respondents with no geoscience background and who did not visit the geosites, participated in a survey. The first group rated the scenic beauty and the scientific value of the geosites based on a direct field visit during which the scientific background of these geosites was given. On the other hand, the latter two groups rated scenic beauty using representative photos of the geosites. A five-point Likert scale was used to rate the scenic beauty and the scientific value of the geosites. We found a significant relationship between the scenic beauty of geosites and their scientific value, and this relationship becomes more significant if the geoscientific knowledge of the respondents increases. One-way ANOVA results indicated that a geoscience background contributed to higher perceived scenic beauty, especially for those geosites that in general were considered as more scenic by all the respondent groups. It was also found that geosites with viewpoints received in general higher scenic beauty and scientific value ratings

Safety implications of low-dose amitriptyline in neuropathic pain

Background: Treatment guidelines in neuropathic pain list amitriptyline as a first-line option. Modest evidence on efficacy and safety concerns possibly shape the rationale behind dosing recommendations. An observational study was carried out to understand the usefulness of safety monitoring for this established medicine. Methods: Twenty-six (26) subjects were categorized into 2 groups: 13 patients under pain management receiving 10 mg amitriptyline daily for less than 12 months, and 13 patients under psychiatric care receiving a daily dose of 25–75 mg for over 12 months. Dose-related reference ranges were calculated and blood levels were assessed for the case examples presented. Adverse events and ECGs were collated. QT intervals were corrected using Bazett’s and Fridericia’s formulae. Side-effect frequencies were evaluated both within the research groups, and in the broader perspective of spontaneous ADR reporting through EudraVigilance. Results: The applicability of dose-related reference ranges, considering confounding factors such as drug interactions and metabolizer status, is discussed. Patients in both groups reported on average three side-effects, with drowsiness being reported more significantly in the 10 mg group and possibly attenuating with time; an observation not replicated for dry mouth. ADR reports with non-granulated information limit the usefulness of the data retrieved. Comparison of QT corrected with Bazett’s and Fridericia’s formulae suggests that Bazett’s may overestimate the number of patients on amitriptyline with QTc prolongation. Conclusions: This research supports the adoption of evolving research observations to understand the implications of dosing recommendations and safety assessments in attempt of delivering individualized treatment with minimal risk.peer-reviewe

Versi

Ġabra ta’ poeżiji u proża li tinkludi: Wara l-kalvarju: warda bajda ta’ Anton Buttigieg – Milied man-nannu ta’ Paul P. Borg – Priżma ta’ Victor Apap – It-VIII għaġeb tad-dinja ta’ Wallace Ph. Gulia – Versi ta’ Doreen Micallef.peer-reviewe

Ocean Space Centre. Klimagassutslipp fra teknisk utstyr og tekniske installasjoner

Målsetningen med denne ZEN-casen er å kartlegge omfanget av klimagassutslipp fra teknisk utstyr og tekniske installasjoner samt vurdere tilgang og kvalitet på miljødata for disse. Rapporten vil være et grunnlag for å prioritere hvilke deler av de tekniske installasjonene det bør utvikles bedre miljøi-nformasjon om. Rapporten bidrar med erfaringstall i en tidlig designfase for Ocean Space Centre (OSC). Ved datamangel har vi benyttet klimagassresultater fra et annet prosjekt, Høgskulen på Vestlandet (HVL). Resultatene viser at de totale klimagassutslippene for livsløpsmodulene A1-A3 (Utbygging) og B4 (Utskifting) for OSC Fløy A er på 2,9 kgCO2e/(m2·år) for kun tekniske installasjoner og på 9,1 kgCO2e/(m2·år) hvis man inkluderer utslipp knyttet til bygningskroppen. Rapporten viser at det fortsatt er en stor grad av usikker-het og antakelser når det gjelder klimagassberegninger for tekniske installasjoner i en tidlig designfase. Videre arbeid vil inkludere nye klimagassberegninger når omfanget av mengdeberegninger for tekniske installasjoner blir bedre spesifisert og flere spesifikke utslippsfaktorer er tilgjengelig i form av miljødeklarasjoner (EPD) for ulike typer tekniske installasjoner. Videre bør det gjennomføres klima-gassberegninger for flere bygninger når detaljerte materialinventarer og bedre utslippsdata for tekniske installasjoner er tilgjengelig. Videre arbeid kan også involvere utvidelse av systemgrensen til flere livsløpsmoduler, inkludert modul D (Konsekvenser utover systemgrensen) og B6 (Energibruk i drift), for å se avveininger mellom klimagassutslipp fra tekniske installasjoner og gevinst fra redusert energi-bruk og egen energiproduksjon.publishedVersio

Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Causing Hypopituitarism Can Imaging Help Diagnosis and Management?

Non-Hodgkin lymphomas of the hypothalamus and pituitary are rare. They usually remain clinically silent until onset of compressive features affecting surrounding structures. When symptomatic, patients most commonly present with diabetes insipidus, headaches, ophthalmoplegia and/or bilateral hemianopia. We report a case of a 67-year-old Caucasian female with a history of B-cell lymphoma in complete remission. She presented with left oculomotor nerve palsy and was subsequently found to have a sellar/suprasellar mass lesion on MRI. Alongside hypocortisolism and hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, she developed transient diabetes insipidus during her illness. Her clinical course was characterized by rapid intracranial progression of the sellar mass. MR spectroscopy suggested a diagnosis of lymphoma. Diagnostic biopsy confirmed high-grade diffuse large B-cell CNS lymphoma; this changed the definitive management from surgical excision to chemotherapy. Despite treatment, she succumbed to her illness within 7 months of initial presentation. This case highlights the aggressive nature of CNS lymphomas and the need for a high index of suspicion in an unusual presentation of sellar/suprasellar mass lesions

The craving expectancy questionnaire: a brief, theory-based measure of consummatory desire and craving

Background and Aim

Xewqat

Ġabra ta’ poeżiji u proża li tinkludi: Isbaħ minnha ta’ Ġużi Abela – Meta nqum... ta’ Anton Buttigieg – Ħruġ Marzu ta’ V. J. G. – Rebħa mistura ta’ A. Mallia Zarb – Id-dielja ta’ Dun Frans Camilleri – Meta l-mara tibqa’ tmieri ta’ A. Cremona – Xewqat ta’ Ġ. Borg Pantalleresco.peer-reviewe