Barriers to the development of palliative care in Western Europe

The Eurobarometer Survey of the <i>EAPC Task Force on the Development of Palliative Care in Europe</i> is part of a programme of work to produce comprehensive information on the provision of palliative care across Europe. Aim: To identify barriers to the development of palliative care in Western Europe. Method: A qualitative survey was undertaken amongst boards of national associations, eliciting opinions on opportunities for, and barriers to, palliative care development. By July 2006, 44/52 (85%) European countries had responded to the survey; we report here on the results from 22/25 (88%) countries in Western Europe. Analysis: Data from the Eurobarometer survey were analysed thematically by geographical region and by the degree of development of palliative care in each country. Results: From the data contained within the Eurobarometer, we identified six significant barriers to the development of palliative care in Western Europe: (i) Lack of palliative care education and training programmes (ii) Lack of awareness and recognition of palliative care (iii) Limited availability of/knowledge about opioid analgesics (iv) Limited funding (v) Lack of coordination amongst services (vi) Uneven palliative care coverage. Conclusion: Findings from the EAPC Eurobarometer survey suggest that barriers to the development of palliative care in Western Europe may differ substantially from each other in both their scope and context and that some may be considered to be of greater significance than others. A number of common barriers to the development of the discipline do exist and much work still remains to be done in the identified areas. This paper provides a road map of which barriers need to be addressed

Poles and zeros of the scattering matrix associated to defect modes

We analyze electromagnetic waves propagation in one-dimensional periodic media with single or periodic defects. The study is made both from the point of view of the modes and of the diffraction problem. We provide an explicit dispersion equation for the numerical calculation of the modes, and we establish a connection between modes and poles and zeros of the scattering matrix.Comment: 6 pages (Revtex), no figure

Sistema para la indicación computarizada de esquemas terapéuticos antineoplásicos (SICETAN)

Los tratamientos oncológicos suelen ser complejos, multidisciplinarios y confeccionados a medida de cada paciente, el objetivo de éste trabajo es describir el sistema informatizado para la gestión y registro de dichos ciclos. Hemos creado SICETAN con el objeto de disminuir los errores y la heterogeneidad de las indicaciones quimioterápicas en el Servicio de Oncología del Hospital Alemán. Desde el 1ro de enero de 2013, el 100% de las indicaciones de tratamientos quimioterápicos realizados por el Servicio de Oncología se realiza por este medio habiendo logrado la integración con el Sistema de Turnos de Hospital de Día. La cantidad de plantillas activas actualmente es de 7643 indicaciones diferentes en 327 esquemas terapéuticos.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

Sistema para la indicación computarizada de esquemas terapéuticos antineoplásicos (SICETAN)

Los tratamientos oncológicos suelen ser complejos, multidisciplinarios y confeccionados a medida de cada paciente, el objetivo de éste trabajo es describir el sistema informatizado para la gestión y registro de dichos ciclos. Hemos creado SICETAN con el objeto de disminuir los errores y la heterogeneidad de las indicaciones quimioterápicas en el Servicio de Oncología del Hospital Alemán. Desde el 1ro de enero de 2013, el 100% de las indicaciones de tratamientos quimioterápicos realizados por el Servicio de Oncología se realiza por este medio habiendo logrado la integración con el Sistema de Turnos de Hospital de Día. La cantidad de plantillas activas actualmente es de 7643 indicaciones diferentes en 327 esquemas terapéuticos.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

Sistema para la indicación computarizada de esquemas terapéuticos antineoplásicos (SICETAN)

Los tratamientos oncológicos suelen ser complejos, multidisciplinarios y confeccionados a medida de cada paciente, el objetivo de éste trabajo es describir el sistema informatizado para la gestión y registro de dichos ciclos. Hemos creado SICETAN con el objeto de disminuir los errores y la heterogeneidad de las indicaciones quimioterápicas en el Servicio de Oncología del Hospital Alemán. Desde el 1ro de enero de 2013, el 100% de las indicaciones de tratamientos quimioterápicos realizados por el Servicio de Oncología se realiza por este medio habiendo logrado la integración con el Sistema de Turnos de Hospital de Día. La cantidad de plantillas activas actualmente es de 7643 indicaciones diferentes en 327 esquemas terapéuticos.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

Numerical Simulations of Magnetoacoustic-Gravity Waves in the Solar Atmosphere

We investigate the excitation of magnetoacoustic-gravity waves generated from localized pulses in the gas pressure as well as in vertical component of velocity. These pulses are initially launched at the top of the solar photosphere that is permeated by a weak magnetic field. We investigate three different configurations of the background magnetic field lines: horizontal, vertical and oblique to the gravitational force. We numerically model magnetoacoustic-gravity waves by implementing a realistic (VAL-C) model of solar temperature. We solve two-dimensional ideal magnetohydrodynamic equations numerically with the use of the FLASH code to simulate the dynamics of the lower solar atmosphere. The initial pulses result in shocks at higher altitudes. Our numerical simulations reveal that a small-amplitude initial pulse can produce magnetoacoustic-gravity waves, which are later reflected from the transition region due to the large temperature gradient. The atmospheric cavities in the lower solar atmosphere are found to be the ideal places that may act as a resonator for various oscillations, including their trapping and leakage into the higher atmosphere. Our numerical simulations successfully model the excitation of such wave modes, their reflection and trapping, as well as the associated plasma dynamics

Correction to: The Role of Adsorbed and Subsurface Carbon Species for the Selective Alkyne Hydrogenation Over a Pd-Black Catalyst: An Operando Study of Bulk and Surface

The selective hydrogenation of propyne over a Pd-black model catalyst was investigated under operando conditions at 1 bar making use of advanced X-ray diffraction (bulk sensitive) and photo-electron spectroscopy (surface sensitive) techniques. It was found that the population of subsurface species controls the selective catalytic semi-hydrogenation of propyne to pro-pylene due to the formation of surface and near-surface PdCx that inhibits the participation of more reactive bulk hydrogen in the hydrogenation reaction. However, increasing the partial pressure of hydrogen reduces the population of PdCx with the concomitant formation of a β-PdHx phase up to the surface, which is accompanied by a lattice expansion, allowing the participation of more active bulk hydrogen which is responsible for the unselective total alkyne hydrogenation. Therefore, controlling the surface and subsurface catalyst chemistry is crucial to control the selective alkyne semi-hydrogenation

Convexity in partial cubes: the hull number

We prove that the combinatorial optimization problem of determining the hull number of a partial cube is NP-complete. This makes partial cubes the minimal graph class for which NP-completeness of this problem is known and improves some earlier results in the literature. On the other hand we provide a polynomial-time algorithm to determine the hull number of planar partial cube quadrangulations. Instances of the hull number problem for partial cubes described include poset dimension and hitting sets for interiors of curves in the plane. To obtain the above results, we investigate convexity in partial cubes and characterize these graphs in terms of their lattice of convex subgraphs, improving a theorem of Handa. Furthermore we provide a topological representation theorem for planar partial cubes, generalizing a result of Fukuda and Handa about rank three oriented matroids.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figure