THE RED DOT SYSTEM: Emergency Diagnosis Impact and Digital Radiology Implementation - A review

Radiographer abnormality detection schemes (RADS) were introduced in the early 1980s to assist emergency departments. The development of PACS systems are affecting health professionals forcing them to evolve along, reviewing images on a computer monitor rather than on radiographic film. This article reviewed published articles that evaluated the impact of the use of a Red Dot System in patient outcome of emergency trauma patients and assessed the implementation of a Red Dot System in a Radiology Department with digital radiography and PACS. Few articles addressed the implementation issues and use of a Red Dot system in Computed Radiology. Radiographer skeletal red dot studies, had sensitivity and specificity of, respectively, 0.71 and 0.96 pre-training, and 0.81 and 0.95 post-training, compared with a reference standard. The use of radiographer abnormality detection schemes such as Red Dot and reporting has the potential to improve the diagnosis and outcome of emergency patients. The arrival of Information Technologies (IT) to healthcare and the introduction of Digital Radiography have limited the functionality of RADS due to incompatibility of new technology with the standard practice. New image technology solutions in Radiology should enhance the development and utilization of radiographer skills in RADS environments

Seismic strengthening of beam-column joints with multidirectional CFRP laminates

An experimental program was carried out to analyse the potentialities of a technique based on the use of multidirectional CFRP laminates (MDL-CFRP) for the seismic repair and strengthening of reinforced concrete (RC) beam-column joints. This experimental program comprises cyclic tests on three full-scale RC joints, representative of interior beam-column connections in buildings. The joints were initially submitted to a cyclic test inducing a damage pattern representative of a seismic event. Subsequently, they were repaired and strengthened with MDL-CFRP. The strengthened joints were then tested for the same loading history of the original ones up to their failure. The adopted strengthening technique uses the MDL-CFRP that are simultaneously glued and anchored to the concrete surfaces. This technique is called Mechanically Fastened and Externally Bonded Reinforcement (MF-EBR). In the present study, the effectiveness of two different strengthening configurations was investigated. The tests are described and the main results are presented and analyzed

Searching for a new model of governance in the high seas: Game theory applied to international commons management

In the last decade, the United Nations took important steps for the creation of a new instrument for biodiversity protection in areas beyond national jurisdiction. This put under discussion the central issues of international commons management and of the governance model for the High Seas. The aim of this paper is to discuss and evaluate critically the political negotiations already made and yet to come, as well as their rationale. For this purpose, the paper applies game theory to fisheries management to get insights. This research aims to contribute toward more qualified and grounded decisions. The key role of cooperation in the sustainable use of common resources is stressed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Evidências de antagonismo entre idade ao primeiro parto e longevidade em vacas da raça Holandesa.

O objetivo do trabalho foi analisar as relações entre a idade ao primeiro parto e a longevidade de vacas leiteiras da raça Holandesa, em diferentes ordens de parto, tendo em vista a verificação de evidência do antagonismo entre menor idade ao primeiro parto e maior longevidade. Os dados de idade ao primeiro parto e longevidade das vacas, observados no período de 1984 a 2004, foram analisados pelo método da correlação de Pearson, dentro de ordem de parto (1 a 6), utilizando-se o procedimento Proc Corr disponível no Statistical Analysis System. As vacas com mais de seis partos foram agrupadas nesta ordem de parto. Os coeficientes de correlação foram positivos e significativos em todas as ordens de parto, indicando que as vacas com maior idade ao primeiro parto e que completaram até seis ou mais lactações no rebanho foram mais longevas do que aquelas com menor idade ao primeiro parto. A conclusão é que há antagonismo fenotípico entre menor idade ao primeiro parto e maior longevidade em vacas da raça Holandesa

<i>Schistosoma mansoni</i> cercariae experience influx of macromolecules during skin penetration

We have observed that when cercariae penetrate the skin of mice, there is influx into their tissues of Lucifer Yellow and certain labelled molecules of up to 20 kDa molecular weight. This observation was made using a variety of fluorescent membrane-impermeant compounds injected into the skin before the application of cercariae. This unexpected phenomenon was investigated further by transforming cercariae in vitro in the presence of the membrane-impermeant compounds and examining the distribution by microscopy. In schistosomula derived from this procedure, the nephridiopore and surface membrane were labelled while the pre- and post-acetabular glands were not labelled. The region associated with the oesophagus within the pharyngeal muscle clearly contained the fluorescent molecules, as did the region adjacent to the excretory tubules and the germinal mass. We used cercariae stained with carmine to aid identification of regions labelled with Lucifer Yellow. Although the mechanism of this influx is unclear, the observation is significant. From it, we can suggest an hypothesis that, during skin penetration, exposure of internal tissues of the parasite to external macromolecules represents a novel host-parasite interfac

Abundance patterns in early-type galaxies: is there a 'knee' in the [Fe/H] vs. [alpha/Fe] relation?

Early-type galaxies (ETGs) are known to be enhanced in alpha elements, in accordance with their old ages and short formation timescales. In this contribution we aim to resolve the enrichment histories of ETGs. This means we study the abundance of Fe ([Fe/H]) and the alpha-element groups ([alpha/Fe]) separately for stars older than 9.5 Gyr ([Fe/H]o, [alpha/Fe]o) and for stars between 1.5 and 9.5 Gyr ([Fe/H]i, [alpha/Fe]i). Through extensive simulation we show that we can indeed recover the enrichment history per galaxy. We then analyze a spectroscopic sample of 2286 early-type galaxies from the SDSS selected to be ETGs. We separate out those galaxies for which the abundance of iron in stars grows throughout the lifetime of the galaxy, i.e. in which [Fe/H]o < [Fe/H]i. We confirm earlier work where the [Fe/H] and [alpha/Fe] parameters are correlated with the mass and velocity dispersion of ETGs. We emphasize that the strongest relation is between [alpha/Fe] and age. This relation falls into two regimes, one with a steep slope for old galaxies and one with a shallow slope for younger ETGs. The vast majority of ETGs in our sample do not show the 'knee' in the plot of [Fe/H] vs. [alpha/Fe] commonly observed in local group galaxies. This implies that for the vast majority of ETGs, the stars younger than 9.5 Gyrs are likely to have been accreted or formed from accreted gas. The properties of the intermediate-age stars in accretion-dominated ETGs indicate that mass growth through late (minor) mergers in ETGs is dominated by galaxies with low [Fe/H] and low [alpha/Fe]. The method of reconstructing the stellar enrichment histories of ETGs introduced in this paper promises to constrain the star formation and mass assembly histories of large samples of galaxies in a unique way.Comment: 22 pages, 25 figures, accepted for publication by A&