673 research outputs found
Using Syntactic Markers and Semantic Frame Knowledge Representation in Automated Chinese Text Abstraction
Current State of Compassionate Phage Therapy.
There is a current unmet medical need for the treatment of antibiotic-resistant infections, and in the absence of approved alternatives, some clinicians are turning to empirical ones, such as phage therapy, for compassionate treatment. Phage therapy is ideal for compassionate use due to its long-standing historical use and publications, apparent lack of adverse effects, and solid support by fundamental research. Increased media coverage and peer-reviewed articles have given rise to a more widespread familiarity with its therapeutic potential. However, compassionate phage therapy (cPT) remains limited to a small number of experimental treatment centers or associated with individual physicians and researchers. It is possible, with the creation of guidelines and a greater central coordination, that cPT could reach more of those in need, starting by increasing the availability of phages. Subsequent steps, particularly production and purification, are difficult to scale, and treatment paradigms stand highly variable between cases, or are frequently not reported. This article serves both to synopsize cPT publications to date and to discuss currently available phage sources for cPT. As the antibiotic resistance crisis continues to grow and the future of phage therapy clinical trials remains undetermined, cPT represents a possibility for bridging the gap between current treatment failures and future approved alternatives. Streamlining the process of cPT will help to ensure high quality, therapeutically-beneficial, and safe treatment
Review of time in therapeutic range of warfarin in a tertiary centre in Malaysia
Anticoagulation management is a recognized challenge in medical care. Complications of supratherapeutic anticoagulation are hemorrhagic stroke, major bleeding, and death. There is an even greater risk of ischemic stroke in AF, worsening of VTE associated with subtherapeutic dosing
Epistemic and social scripts in computer-supported collaborative learning
Collaborative learning in computer-supported learning environments typically means that learners work on tasks together, discussing their individual perspectives via text-based media or videoconferencing, and consequently acquire knowledge. Collaborative learning, however, is often sub-optimal with respect to how learners work on the concepts that are supposed to be learned and how learners interact with each other. One possibility to improve collaborative learning environments is to conceptualize epistemic scripts, which specify how learners work on a given task, and social scripts, which structure how learners interact with each other. In this contribution, two studies will be reported that investigated the effects of epistemic and social scripts in a text-based computer-supported learning environment and in a videoconferencing learning environment in order to foster the individual acquisition of knowledge. In each study the factors ‘epistemic script’ and ‘social script’ have been independently varied in a 2×2-factorial design. 182 university students of Educational Science participated in these two studies. Results of both studies show that social scripts can be substantially beneficial with respect to the individual acquisition of knowledge, whereas epistemic scripts apparently do not to lead to the expected effects
Measuring superparticle masses at hadron collider using the transverse mass kink
We present a detailed study of the collider observable applied for
pair-produced superparticles decaying to visible particles and a pair of
invisible lightest supersymmetric particles (LSPs). Analytic expressions of the
maximum of over all events () are derived. It is
noticed that if the decay product of each superparticle involves more than one
visible particles, being a function of the {\it trial} LSP
mass has a kink structure at true LSP mass, which can be
used to determine the mother superparticle mass and the LSP mass
simultaneously. To see how well can be constructed from
collider data, a Monte-Carlo analysis of the gluino is performed for
some superparticle spectra.Comment: Typos corrected. A few references added. Figures update
Culture and Personal Epistemology: U.S. and Middle Eastern Students’ beliefs about Scientific Knowledge and Knowing
Middle Eastern (Omani) and Western (U.S.) students’ beliefs about knowledge and knowing in the sciences were compared on four dimensions of personal epistemology proposed by Hofer and Pintrich ( Review of Educational Research (1997), 67 , 88–140). As predicted, given their experiences with comparatively traditional political and religious institutions, Omani more so than U.S. college students were more likely to accept scientific authorities as the basis of scientific truth. Furthermore, Omani men were more accepting of authorities than were Omani women, but there was no gender difference among U.S. students. Omani more than U.S. students also believed that knowledge in the sciences was simpler and more certain, which is consistent with comparisons between U.S. and Asian students (e.g., Qian & Pan, 2002, A comparision of epistemological beliefs and learning from science text between American and Chinese high school students. In B. K. Hofer & P. R. Pintrich (Eds.), Personal epistomology: The psychology of beliefs about knowledge and knowing (pp. 365–385), Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum). Students in the two countries did not differ, however, in whether their beliefs were based on personal opinions versus systematic evidence. Suggestions for further research included directly assessing experiences with, and attitudes toward, authorities in academic and other areas of students’ lives.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43812/1/11218_2005_Article_1826.pd
Reversal of cardiac damage in patients with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis following transcatheter aortic valve implantation: An echocardiographic study
Background: Severe aortic stenosis (AS) results in cardiac damages, such as left ventricular hypertrophy, left atrial enlargement, pulmonary pressure elevation and in advanced stage, right ventricular damage. Généreux and colleagues proposed a staging classification based on these extra-valvular damages in 2017, with increasing stage representing more cardiac damage. While regression of these cardiac damages is expected following aortic valve replacement, the reversal of cardiac damage based on this staging system has not been described.
Purpose: This study aimed to describe and stage the changes in cardiac structure and function at 6 months and 1 year after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) in patients with symptomatic severe AS.
Methods: This was a retrospective, single center, longitudinal observational study. Echocardiographic data of patients who underwent TAVI were retrieved and analysed.
Results: From May 2018 to Feb 2021, 31 patients underwent TAVI. 5 patients were excluded due to death <6 months post-procedure (n=2) and incomplete echocardiographic data (n=3). The mean age of the remaining 26 patients was 70.9±9.4 years, 57.7% were male, and 34.6% bicuspid aortic valve. After TAVI, transvalvular aortic mean pressure gradient reduced from 45.2±14.5 mmHg to 8.0±5.4 mmHg (p<0.001), and aortic valve area increased from 0.57±0.21 cm2 to 1.75±0.68 cm2 (p<0.001). At baseline, 6-month and 1-year, the left ventricular mass index (LVMi) were 183.4±60.7g/m2, 150.8±55.3 g/m2 and 126.8±42.1 g/m2 (p<0.001) respectively; left-atrial volume index (LAVI) were 60.4±22.8 ml/m2 , 51.7±23.8ml/m2, and 48.1±23.6ml/m2 (p=0.009) respectively; left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) were 52.3±25.4%, 64.2±29.3%, and 62.4±12.1% (p=0.005) respectively. Based on the proposed cardiac damage staging for AS, at baseline 38% of patients were stage 1, 65.4% stage 2, 7.7% stage 3 and 23.1% stage 4. At 1 year, 8.3% were stage 0, 29.2% stage 1, 58.3% stage 2, and 4.2% stage 4. 12 patients (46%) showed improvement in cardiac damage staging, and the other 14 (54%) remained in the same stage.
Conclusion: In patients with symptomatic severe AS, there were overall significant regression in LVMi and LAVI, and improvement in LVEF at 1 year after TAVI. However, improvement in cardiac damage staging was observed in only 46% of patients
Defects and glassy dynamics in solid He-4: Perspectives and current status
We review the anomalous behavior of solid He-4 at low temperatures with
particular attention to the role of structural defects present in solid. The
discussion centers around the possible role of two level systems and structural
glassy components for inducing the observed anomalies. We propose that the
origin of glassy behavior is due to the dynamics of defects like dislocations
formed in He-4. Within the developed framework of glassy components in a solid,
we give a summary of the results and predictions for the effects that cover the
mechanical, thermodynamic, viscoelastic, and electro-elastic contributions of
the glassy response of solid He-4. Our proposed glass model for solid He-4 has
several implications: (1) The anomalous properties of He-4 can be accounted for
by allowing defects to freeze out at lowest temperatures. The dynamics of solid
He-4 is governed by glasslike (glassy) relaxation processes and the
distribution of relaxation times varies significantly between different
torsional oscillator, shear modulus, and dielectric function experiments. (2)
Any defect freeze-out will be accompanied by thermodynamic signatures
consistent with entropy contributions from defects. It follows that such
entropy contribution is much smaller than the required superfluid fraction, yet
it is sufficient to account for excess entropy at lowest temperatures. (3) We
predict a Cole-Cole type relation between the real and imaginary part of the
response functions for rotational and planar shear that is occurring due to the
dynamics of defects. Similar results apply for other response functions. (4)
Using the framework of glassy dynamics, we predict low-frequency yet to be
measured electro-elastic features in defect rich He-4 crystals. These
predictions allow one to directly test the ideas and very presence of glassy
contributions in He-4.Comment: 33 pages, 13 figure
Production and Decay of D_1(2420)^0 and D_2^*(2460)^0
We have investigated and final states and
observed the two established charmed mesons, the with mass
MeV/c and width MeV/c and
the with mass MeV/c and width
MeV/c. Properties of these final states, including
their decay angular distributions and spin-parity assignments, have been
studied. We identify these two mesons as the doublet predicted
by HQET. We also obtain constraints on {\footnotesize } as a function of the cosine of the relative phase of the two
amplitudes in the decay.Comment: 15 pages in REVTEX format. hardcopies with figures can be obtained by
sending mail to: [email protected]
Measurement of the branching fraction for
We have studied the leptonic decay of the resonance into tau
pairs using the CLEO II detector. A clean sample of tau pair events is
identified via events containing two charged particles where exactly one of the
particles is an identified electron. We find . The result is consistent with
expectations from lepton universality.Comment: 9 pages, RevTeX, two Postscript figures available upon request, CLNS
94/1297, CLEO 94-20 (submitted to Physics Letters B
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