4,747 research outputs found
Is the Scottish population living dangerously? Prevalence of multiple risk factors: the Scottish Health Survey 2003
<b>Background:</b>
Risk factors are often considered individually, we aimed to investigate the prevalence of combinations of multiple behavioural risk factors and their association with socioeconomic determinants.<p></p>
<b>Methods:</b>
Multinomial logistic regression was used to model the associations between socioeconomic factors and multiple risk factors from data in the Scottish Health Survey 2003. Prevalence of five main behavioural risk factors - smoking alcohol, diet, overweight/obesity, and physical inactivity, and the odds in relation to demographic, individual and area socioeconomic factors.<p></p>
<b>Results:</b>
Full data were available on 6,574 subjects (80.7% of the survey sample). Nearly the whole adult population (97.5%) reported to have at least one behavioural risk factor; while 55% have three or more risk factors; and nearly 20% have four or all five risk factors. The most important determinants for having four or five multiple risk factors were low educational attainment which conferred around a 3-fold increased odds compared to high education; and residence in the most deprived communities (relative to least deprived) which had greater than 3-fold increased odds.<p></p>
<b>Conclusions:</b>
The prevalence of multiple behavioural risk factors was high and the prevalence of absence of all risk factors very low. These behavioural patterns were socioeconomically determined. Policy to address factors needs to be joined up and better consider underlying socioeconomic circumstances.<p></p>
Dynamical density functional theory for the evaporation of droplets of nanoparticle suspension
We develop a lattice gas model for the drying of droplets of a nanoparticle
suspension on a planar surface, using dynamical density functional theory
(DDFT) to describe the time evolution of the solvent and nanoparticle density
profiles. The DDFT assumes a diffusive dynamics but does not include the
advective hydrodynamics of the solvent, so the model is relevant to highly
viscous or near to equilibrium systems. Nonetheless, we see an equivalent of
the coffee-ring stain effect, but in the present model it occurs for
thermodynamic rather the fluid-mechanical reasons. The model incorporates the
effect of phase separation and vertical density variations within the droplet
and the consequence of these on the nanoparticle deposition pattern on the
surface. We show how to include the effect of slip or no-slip at the surface
and how this is related to the receding contact angle. We also determine how
the equilibrium contact angle depends on the microscopic interaction
parameters.Comment: 35 pages, 10 figure
Modelling the evaporation of nanoparticle suspensions from heterogeneous surfaces
We present a Monte Carlo (MC) grid-based model for the drying of drops of a
nanoparticle suspension upon a heterogeneous surface. The model consists of a
generalised lattice-gas in which the interaction parameters in the Hamiltonian
can be varied to model different properties of the materials involved. We show
how to choose correctly the interactions, to minimise the effects of the
underlying grid so that hemispherical droplets form. We also include the
effects of surface roughness to examine the effects of contact-line pinning on
the dynamics. When there is a `lid' above the system, which prevents
evaporation, equilibrium drops form on the surface, which we use to determine
the contact angle and how it varies as the parameters of the model are changed.
This enables us to relate the interaction parameters to the materials used in
applications. The model has also been applied to drying on heterogeneous
surfaces, in particular to the case where the suspension is deposited on a
surface consisting of a pair of hydrophilic conducting metal surfaces that are
either side of a band of hydrophobic insulating polymer. This situation occurs
when using inkjet printing to manufacture electrical connections between the
metallic parts of the surface. The process is not always without problems,
since the liquid can dewet from the hydrophobic part of the surface, breaking
the bridge before the drying process is complete. The MC model reproduces the
observed dewetting, allowing the parameters to be varied so that the conditions
for the best connection can be established. We show that if the hydrophobic
portion of the surface is located at a step below the height of the
neighbouring metal, the chance of dewetting of the liquid during the drying
process is significantly reduced.Comment: 14 pages, 14 figure
Simplifying Algebra in Feynman Graphs, Part III: Massive Vectors
A T-dualized selfdual inspired formulation of massive vector fields coupled
to arbitrary matter is generated; subsequently its perturbative series modeling
a spontaneously broken gauge theory is analyzed. The new Feynman rules and
external line factors are chirally minimized in the sense that only one type of
spin index occurs in the rules. Several processes are examined in detail and
the cross-sections formulated in this approach. A double line formulation of
the Lorentz algebra for Feynman diagrams is produced in this formalism, similar
to color ordering, which follows from a spin ordering of the Feynman rules. The
new double line formalism leads to further minimization of gauge invariant
scattering in perturbation theory. The dualized electroweak model is also
generated.Comment: 39 pages, LaTeX, 8 figure
SYSTEMS-2: a randomised phase II study of radiotherapy dose escalation for pain control in malignant pleural mesothelioma
SYSTEMS-2 is a randomised study of radiotherapy dose escalation for pain control in 112 patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM). Standard palliative (20Gy/5#) or dose escalated treatment (36Gy/6#) will be delivered using advanced radiotherapy techniques and pain responses will be compared at week 5. Data will guide optimal palliative radiotherapy in MPM
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