Test-Retest Reliabilität verschiedener Fragebögen aus der pädiatrischen Schlafmedizin

Einleitung: Schlafstörungen im Kindesalter treten häufig auf. Diverse Fragebögen wurden angewandt um Kinder mit schlafbezogenen Atemstörungen und anderen Schlafstörungen zu erfassen. Es gibt bisher nur begrenzte Daten zu den deutschsprachigen Versionen dieser Fragebögen. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, verschiedene Fragebögen auf ihre Reliabilität zu prüfen. Methode: Deutschsprachige Versionen der folgenden Fragebögen wurden an Schüler der 4. Klassen aus zwei verschiedenen Grundschulen und ihre Eltern verteilt: die Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children, der Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire und die Epworth Sleepiness Scale. Die Epworth Sleepiness Scale wurde in zwei verschiedenen Versionen verwendet, wovon eine für die Eltern und eine für die Kinder vorgesehen war. Drei Wochen nach dem ersten Durchgang, wurden die gleichen Fragebögen an dieselben Schüler verteilt. Die Test-Retest Reliabilität wurde für die verschiedenen Fragebögen und ihre Skalen bestimmt. Ergebnisse: 51 von 105 Schülern und ihre Eltern nahmen an dieser Studie teil (49%). Alle berechneten Fragebogen-Skalen zeigten eine gute Test-Retest Reliabilität. Der Intraclass- Correlation- Koeffizient reichte von 0,60 für die Elternversion der Epworth Sleepiness Scale bis zu 0.80 für die Skala Ein- und Durchschlafstörungen des Fragebogens „Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children“. Schlussfolgerung: Die in dieser Studie verwendeten Fragebögen könnten reliable Untersuchungsmaterialien in der pädiatrischen Schlafmedizin darstellen

Development and evaluation of a titanium-based planar ultrasonic scalpel for precision surgery.

This paper introduces a titanium-based planar ultrasonic microscalpel. The concept of silicon-based planar ultrasonic transducers has already been proven, but they are not yet suitable for clinical use due to material failure. The main objective of this work was to develop a smaller, lighter, and more cost-effective ultrasonic scalpel that could be used as an alternative or supplementary device to current surgical instruments. Various prototypes were fabricated and characterized, differing in bonding by three epoxy adhesives and two solder pastes as well as three variations in tip design. The instruments were designed to operate in the frequency range of commercial instruments and to generate a longitudinal displacement amplitude. The electro-mechanical characterization through impedance analysis and vibration measurements was complemented by an in vitro cutting trial and an acute in vivo animal experiment in comparison to commercial ultrasonic and electrosurgical devices. The operating frequency was around 40 kHz and 48 kHz depending on whether matched or unmatched operation was used. Unmatched operation turned out to be more suitable, achieving displacement amplitudes of 25.3 μm and associated velocity amplitudes of up to 7.9 m/s at an electrical power of 10.2 W. The cutting ability was demonstrated in vivo by successful dissection even under anticoagulation. The geometry of the instrument tip was found to have a major influence on cutting performance by affecting the resonance behaviour and tissue penetration

Física téorica online: um desafio para o ensino superior

O objetivo deste trabalho é apresentar as etapas de construção da disciplina Fisica Teórica I na modalidade online. Esta disciplina apresenta um índice de reprovação de cerca de 40% na modalidade presencial, sendo um dos principais motivos de abandono nos cursos de Engenharia ainda no ciclo básico. Percebe-se que boa parte das reprovações ocorre devido às deficiências trazidas pelos alunos em matemática e física. No curso regular não há carga horária suficiente para sanar estas deficiências e cumprir o conteúdo integralmente. Este aspecto motivou a construção da disciplina na modalidade online para cursos presenciais. A disciplina foi construída permitindo-se flexibilidade de caminhos, incluindo revisão de conteúdos do ensino médio. Desta forma, pretende-se suprir as deficiências da formação com as quais os estudantes ingressam na universidade, reduzindo, assim a taxa de reprovação e consequente evasão. A disciplina foi implantada no primeiro periodo letivo de 2013 e a resposta por parte dos alunos foi positiva e encorajadora. Trabalhos adicionais estão sendo produzidos para análise do impacto da disciplina nas taxas de reprovação e evasão.The aim of this paper is to present the stages of development of the module Theoretical Physics I for online presentation. In previous face-to-face presentations, the module has had a failure rate of about 40%, constituting one of the main reasons for attrition in engineering courses during the first two study years. Our experience has been that failure occurs due to gaps in students’ previous knowledge of Mathematics and Physics. In face-to-face mode there is no sufficient time to both remedy these deficiencies and deliver the main module content. This has motivated development of the module in a Virtual Learning Environment including access for students enrolled in the traditional mode. The online module has been designed to allow for flexible pathways that include the option to learn or revise pre-requisite topics. Thus, it is intended to allow students to fill in knowledge gaps that exist as a consequence of deficient schooling. It is hoped that the module will give students the opportunity of restructuring their knowledge, reducing the failure rate and consequent attrition. The new scheme was implemented in the first academic semester of 2013, and, so far, student response has been positively and very encouraging. Further work is underway to examine the impact of the module on repetition and dropout rates.Universidade Aberta; Pavilhão do Conhecimento; LEA

Spontaneous creation of Kibble-Zurek solitons in a Bose-Einstein condensate

When a system crosses a second-order phase transition on a finite timescale, spontaneous symmetry breaking can cause the development of domains with independent order parameters, which then grow and approach each other creating boundary defects. This is known as Kibble-Zurek mechanism. Originally introduced in cosmology, it applies both to classical and quantum phase transitions, in a wide variety of physical systems. Here we report on the spontaneous creation of solitons in Bose-Einstein condensates via the Kibble-Zurek mechanism. We measure the power-law dependence of defects number with the quench time, and provide a check of the Kibble-Zurek scaling with the sonic horizon. These results provide a promising test bed for the determination of critical exponents in Bose-Einstein condensates.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Podocyte Regeneration Driven by Renal Progenitors Determines Glomerular Disease Remission and Can Be Pharmacologically Enhanced

Podocyte loss is a general mechanism of glomerular dysfunction that initiates and drives the progression of chronic kidney disease, which affects 10% of the world population. Here, we evaluate whether the regenerative response to podocyte injury influences chronic kidney disease outcome. In models of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis performed in inducible transgenic mice where podocytes are tagged, remission or progression of disease was determined by the amount of regenerated podocytes. When the same model was established in inducible transgenic mice where renal progenitors are tagged, the disease remitted if renal progenitors successfully differentiated into podocytes, while it persisted if differentiation was ineffective, resulting in glomerulosclerosis. Treatment with BIO, a GSK3s inhibitor, significantly increased disease remission by enhancing renal progenitor sensitivity to the differentiation effect of endogenous retinoic acid. These results establish renal progenitors as critical determinants of glomerular disease outcome and a pharmacological enhancement of their differentiation as a possible therapeutic strategy

Mismatch Repair Proteins hMLH1 and hMSH2 Are Differently Expressed in the Three Main Subtypes of Sporadic Renal Cell Carcinoma

Objectives: We studied the role of minor mismatch repair proteins (MMR) human MutL homologue 1 (hMLH1) and human MutS homologue 2 (hMSH2) in the main subtypes of renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Methods: Expression of MMR proteins hMLH1 and hMSH2 were investigated in 166 RCC tumors, containing the main subtypes by immunohistochemistry. Furthermore, each tumor was screened for microsatellite instability (MSI) using the National Cancer Institute consensus panel for hereditary non-polyposis colon carcinoma as well as for elevated microsatellite alterations at selected tetranucleotide repeats (EMAST) by 10 additional markers. Results: MSI was found only in 2.0% of analyzable cases and EMAST was detected only in 1 patient. hMLH1 and hMSH2 expression was reduced in 83.7 (118/141) and 51.2% (65/127) of cases, respectively, in a subtype-specific manner. None of the clear cell RCC tumors retained a high hMLH1 expression and 92.0% lost hMLH1 completely, while papillary and chromophobe RCC preserved the expression in 25.0 and 33.3% of cases (p < 0.001). Subtype specificity was also present in hMSH2 staining, where chromophobe RCC retained a high expression in 41.7% of cases, while clear cell and papillary tumors did not (29.9 and 23.1%; p = 0.01). Conclusion: MSI and EMAST are rare events in sporadic RCC, whereas diminished MMR protein expression is linked to tumor entity and might contribute to the different biological behavior of the RCC subtypes

A multi-decade record of high quality fCO2 data in version 3 of the Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT)

The Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT) is a synthesis of quality-controlled fCO2 (fugacity of carbon dioxide) values for the global surface oceans and coastal seas with regular updates. Version 3 of SOCAT has 14.7 million fCO2 values from 3646 data sets covering the years 1957 to 2014. This latest version has an additional 4.6 million fCO2 values relative to version 2 and extends the record from 2011 to 2014. Version 3 also significantly increases the data availability for 2005 to 2013. SOCAT has an average of approximately 1.2 million surface water fCO2 values per year for the years 2006 to 2012. Quality and documentation of the data has improved. A new feature is the data set quality control (QC) flag of E for data from alternative sensors and platforms. The accuracy of surface water fCO2 has been defined for all data set QC flags. Automated range checking has been carried out for all data sets during their upload into SOCAT. The upgrade of the interactive Data Set Viewer (previously known as the Cruise Data Viewer) allows better interrogation of the SOCAT data collection and rapid creation of high-quality figures for scientific presentations. Automated data upload has been launched for version 4 and will enable more frequent SOCAT releases in the future. High-profile scientific applications of SOCAT include quantification of the ocean sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide and its long-term variation, detection of ocean acidification, as well as evaluation of coupled-climate and ocean-only biogeochemical models. Users of SOCAT data products are urged to acknowledge the contribution of data providers, as stated in the SOCAT Fair Data Use Statement. This ESSD (Earth System Science Data) “living data” publication documents the methods and data sets used for the assembly of this new version of the SOCAT data collection and compares these with those used for earlier versions of the data collection (Pfeil et al., 2013; Sabine et al., 2013; Bakker et al., 2014). Individual data set files, included in the synthesis product, can be downloaded here: doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.849770. The gridded products are available here: doi:10.3334/CDIAC/OTG.SOCAT_V3_GRID