25,207 research outputs found
Validation of the English and Chinese versions of the Quick-FLIC quality of life questionnaire.
A useful measure of quality of life should be easy and quick to complete. Recently, we reported the development and validation of a shortened Chinese version of the Functional Living Index-Cancer (FLIC), which we called the Quick-FLIC. In the present study of 327 English-speaking and 221 Chinese-speaking cancer patients, we validated the English version of the Quick-FLIC and further assessed the Chinese version. The 11 Quick-FLIC items were administered alongside the 11 remaining items of the full FLIC, but there appeared to be little context effect. Validity of the English version of the Quick-FLIC was attested by its strong correlation with two other measures of quality of life, and its ability to detect differences between patients with different performance status and treatment status (each P<0.001). Its internal consistency (alpha=0.86) and test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation=0.76) were also satisfactory. The measure was responsive to changes in performance status (P<0.001). The Chinese version showed similar characteristics. The Quick-FLIC behaved in ways that are highly comparable with the FLIC, even though the Quick-FLIC comprised only 11 items whereas the FLIC comprised 22. Further research is required to see whether the use of shorter instruments can improve data quality and response rates, but the fact that shorter instruments place less burden on the patients is itself inherently important
Geometric model generation for CFD simulation of blood and air flows
A new adaptive algorithm is developed for the reconstruction of geometric models of carotid arteries and human airways from CT images. Based on the patient-specific geometric models, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) models of patient's blood and air flows are constructed to calculate hemodynamic parameters and particle deposition patterns for patient-specific clinical applications
X-ray Emitting GHz-Peaked Spectrum Galaxies: Testing a Dynamical-Radiative Model with Broad-Band Spectra
In a dynamical-radiative model we recently developed to describe the physics
of compact, GHz-Peaked-Spectrum (GPS) sources, the relativistic jets propagate
across the inner, kpc-sized region of the host galaxy, while the electron
population of the expanding lobes evolves and emits synchrotron and
inverse-Compton (IC) radiation. Interstellar-medium gas clouds engulfed by the
expanding lobes, and photoionized by the active nucleus, are responsible for
the radio spectral turnover through free-free absorption (FFA) of the
synchrotron photons. The model provides a description of the evolution of the
spectral energy distribution (SED) of GPS sources with their expansion,
predicting significant and complex high-energy emission, from the X-ray to the
gamma-ray frequency domain. Here, we test this model with the broad-band SEDs
of a sample of eleven X-ray emitting GPS galaxies with Compact-Symmetric-Object
(CSO) morphology, and show that: (i) the shape of the radio continuum at
frequencies lower than the spectral turnover is indeed well accounted for by
the FFA mechanism; (ii) the observed X-ray spectra can be interpreted as
non-thermal radiation produced via IC scattering of the local radiation fields
off the lobe particles, providing a viable alternative to the thermal,
accretion-disk dominated scenario. We also show that the relation between the
hydrogen column densities derived from the X-ray (N_H) and radio (N_HI) data of
the sources is suggestive of a positive correlation, which, if confirmed by
future observations, would provide further support to our scenario of
high-energy emitting lobes.Comment: 29 pages, 3 figures, 6 tables; to appear in ApJ. A few clarifications
included, according to referee's suggestion
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