726 research outputs found
Could stool collection devices help increase uptake to bowel cancer screening programmes?
Objective: We aimed to understand the usage and acceptability of a faecal collection device (FCD) amongst participants of the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme in order to influence future uptake.
Setting: Men and women completing faecal occult blood test (FOBt) retests as part of the routine Bowel Cancer Screening Programme in Eastern England.
Methods: A FCD and questionnaire was sent to all potential retest participants during a 1 month period collecting information on prior stool collection methods and ease of use and usefulness of the enclosed FCD.
Results: Of 1087 invitations to participate, 679 (62.5%) participants returned their questionnaire. Of these 429 (63.2%) trialled the FCD at least once. 163 (38.4%) found the device made collecting their sample easier than previously, with 189 (44.6%) finding it made collection more difficult and 72 (17.0%) feeling it made no difference. Similar numbers reported finding that the FCD made collecting the sample more pleasant (130, 31.5%), less pleasant (103, 25.0%) and no different (179, 43.4%) compared to previous collection without a FCD.
Conclusion: Although a small proportion of participants found the FCD helpful a considerable majority did not or did not use it at all. Offering FCDs is unlikely to produce a substantial increase in bowel cancer screening uptake
Finite Temperature Wave-Function Renormalization, A Comparative Analysis
We compare two competing theories regarding finite temperature wave-function
corrections for the process and for and
related processes of interest for primordial nucleosynthesis. Although the two
methods are distinct (as shown in ) they yield the same finite
temperature correction for all and processes. Both methods
yield an increase in the He/H ratio of .01% due to finite temperature
renormalization rather than a decrease of .16% as previously predicted.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures. LaTe
A service evaluation of FIT and anaemia for risk stratification in the two week wait pathway for colorectal cancer
Introduction: New national guidance on urgent referral for investigation for Colorectal Cancer (CRC) included faecal occult blood testing in 2015. We evaluated faecal immunochemical testing (FIT) and anaemia as risk stratification tools in symptomatic patients suspected of having CRC.Methods: Postal FIT was incorporated into the CRC two week wait (2WW) pathway for all patients without rectal bleeding in 2016. Patients were investigated in the 2WW pathway as normal and outcomes of investigations were prospectively recorded. Anaemia was defined as haemoglobin less than 120g/L in women and less than 130g/L in men.Results: FIT kits were sent to 1106 patients with an 80.9% return rate; 810 patients completed investigation with 40 CRCs diagnosed (4.9%). Median FIT results were significantly higher in patients who were anaemic (median 4.8 iqr 0.8-34.1 versus 1.2 iqr 0-6.4, Mann-Whitney p less than 0.001).Some 538 (60.4%) had a result of less than 4 ”gHb/gFaeces (limit of detectability) and 621 (69.7%) a result less than 10 ”gHb/gFaeces. Sixty per cent of CRCs had a FIT reading of >150 ”gHb/gFaeces. Five CRCs diagnosed in patients with a FIT4 ”gHb/gFaeces had 97.5% sensitivity and 64.5% specificity for CRC diagnosis. A FIT result of >4 ”gHb/gFaeces and/or anaemia had a 100% sensitivity and 45.3% specificity for CRC diagnosis.Conclusion: FIT is most useful at the extremes of detectability; strongly positive readings predict high rates of CRC and other significant pathology, whilst very low readings in the absence of anaemia or palpable rectal mass identify a group with very low risk. High return rates for FIT within this 2WW pathway indicate its acceptability
Copula "inter mares" in Pirascca sagaris satnius (Dalman) (Lepidoptera, Riodinidae, Riodininae)
The Uncertainty in Newton's Constant and Precision Predictions of the Primordial Helium Abundance
The current uncertainty in Newton's constant, G_N, is of the order of 0.15%.
For values of the baryon to photon ratio consistent with both cosmic microwave
background observations and the primordial deuterium abundance, this
uncertainty in G_N corresponds to an uncertainty in the primordial 4He mass
fraction, Y_P, of +-1.3 x 10^{-4}. This uncertainty in Y_P is comparable to the
effect from the current uncertainty in the neutron lifetime, which is often
treated as the dominant uncertainty in calculations of Y_P. Recent measurements
of G_N seem to be converging within a smaller range; a reduction in the
estimated error on G_N by a factor of 10 would essentially eliminate it as a
source of uncertainty in the calculation of the primordial 4He abundance.Comment: 3 pages, no figures, fixed typos, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Environmental trade-offs of pig production systems under varied operational efficiencies
Production of pork, the most consumed meat globally, is estimated to emit 668 m tonnes CO2-eq of greenhouse gases each year. Amongst various production systems that comprise the pig industry, grainbased intensive production is widely regarded as the largest polluter of the environment, and thus it is imperative to develop alternative systems that can provide the right balance between sustainability and food security. Using an original dataset from the Republic of Ireland, this paper examines the life-cycle environmental impacts of representative pig farms operating under varying production efficiencies. For the baseline farm with an average production efficiency, global warming potential (GWP), acidifi- cation potential (AP) and eutrophication potential (EP) per kg carcass weight departing the slaughterhouse were estimated to be 3.5 kg CO2-eq, 43.8 g SO2-eq and 32.1 g PO4-eq, respectively. For herds with a higher production efficiency, a 9% improvement in feed conversion ratio was met by 6%, 15% and 12% decreases in GWP, EP, AP, respectively. Scenario and sensitivity analyses also revealed that (a) a switch to high-protein diets results in lower GWP and higher AP and EP, and (b) reducing transportation distances by sourcing domestically produced wheat and barley does not lower environmental impacts in any notable manner. To improve cross-study comparability of these findings, results based on an auxiliary functional unit, kg liveweight departing the farm gate, are also reported
Wave Function Renormalization at Finite Temperature
We present a derivation of the medium dependent wave function renormalization
for a spinor field in presence of a thermal bath. We show that, as already
pointed out in literature, projector operators are not multiplicatively
renormalized and the effect involves a non trivial spinor dependence, which
disappears in the zero temperature covariant limit. The results, which differ
from what already found in literature, are then applied to the decay of a
massive scalar boson into two fermions and to the --decay and crossed
related processes relevant for primordial nucleosynthesis.Comment: 11 pages, RevTe
Dragon-kings: mechanisms, statistical methods and empirical evidence
This introductory article presents the special Discussion and Debate volume
"From black swans to dragon-kings, is there life beyond power laws?" published
in Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics in May 2012. We summarize and put in
perspective the contributions into three main themes: (i) mechanisms for
dragon-kings, (ii) detection of dragon-kings and statistical tests and (iii)
empirical evidence in a large variety of natural and social systems. Overall,
we are pleased to witness significant advances both in the introduction and
clarification of underlying mechanisms and in the development of novel
efficient tests that demonstrate clear evidence for the presence of
dragon-kings in many systems. However, this positive view should be balanced by
the fact that this remains a very delicate and difficult field, if only due to
the scarcity of data as well as the extraordinary important implications with
respect to hazard assessment, risk control and predictability.Comment: 20 page
Predictions of total and total reaction cross sections for nucleon-nucleus scattering up to 300 MeV
Total reaction cross sections are predicted for nucleons scattering from various nuclei. Projectile energies to 300 MeV are considered. So also are mass variations of those cross sections at selected energies. All predictions have been obtained from coordinate space optical potentials formed by full folding effective two-nucleon (NN) interactions with one body density matrix elements (OBDME) of the nuclear ground states. Good comparisons with data result when effective NN interactions defined by medium modification of free NN t matrices are used. Coupled with analyses of differential cross sections, these results are sensitive to details of the model ground states used to describe nuclei
Estudo comparativo da årea ocupada pelos corpos pedunculados no cérebro de duas espécies de abelhas (Hymenoptera, Apoidea)
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