3,067 research outputs found
Relationship between optimism, disease variables, and health perception and quality of life in individuals with epilepsy.
Epilepsy Behav. 2007 Aug;11(1):33-8. Epub 2007 May 29.
Relationship between optimism, disease variables, and health perception and quality of life in individuals with epilepsy.
Pais-Ribeiro J, da Silva AM, Meneses RF, Falco C.
Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação, Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Manuel Pereira da Silva, 4200-392 Porto, Portugal. [email protected]
Abstract
Epilepsy is a relatively frequent chronic condition with an important impact on the health perception and quality of life (QOL) of patients. The aim of the present study was to identify variables related to health status perception and QOL in persons with epilepsy. Participants were 200 persons with epilepsy, 53.5% of whom were males. The mean age was 39.6; 95% had seizures, and 99% were taking antiepileptic medication. The self-report questionnaire administered assessed four types of variables: demographic, disease, epilepsy-specific optimistic attitude, and outcome variables. Results demonstrated that an optimistic orientation is related to better perception of physical and mental health status and better perception of QOL. The variables that best predict positive outcomes are optimistic orientation, perception of cognitive functioning, and perception of seizure control. These results question the importance attributed to seizure characteristics for everyday functioning and everyday life of individuals with epilepsy, and stress the importance of facilitating an epilepsy-specific optimistic orientation.
PMID: 17537679 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLIN
Marketing em uma microempresa : a necessidade da estratégia e seu papel na captação de clientes B2B
Orientador : Camila CamargoTrabalho de Conclusão de Curso (especialização) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciências Sociais Aplicadas, Curso de Especialização em Marketing EmpresarialInclui referênciasResumo : Este estudo pretende abordar a importância do marketing estratégico para embasar as escolhas de ações eficientes em uma microempresa de instalação de pisos de madeira de São José dos Pinhais e sua relevância na captação de clientes B2B. Foi descrita a atual situação do mercado e da empresa, apresentado o problema e indicações sobre a importância da marca e a oportunidade representada pelos clientes profissionais. A proposta de melhoria iniciou com a apresentação de meios de proporcionar o autoconhecimento da empresa utilizando conceitos de planejamento empresarial e modelos como o Business Model Canvas. Seguido pela apresentação de métodos adequados a microempresas para o estabelecimento da estratégia de marketing. A partir da verificação de planos de marketing apresentados por Kotler e Keller, por Ferrell e Hartline e pelo SEBRAE, foi formulado um plano de marketing com a sugestão de um calendário de ações. Demonstrando que o autoconhecimento do negócio e a prévia utilização de uma visão estratégica de marketing, podem gerar propostas de ações absolutamente acessíveis a uma microempresa na captação e relacionamento com clientes B2B
Galaxy groups in the 2dF redshift survey: The catalogue
We construct a galaxy groups catalogue from the public 100K data release of
the 2dF galaxy redshift survey. The group identification is carried out using a
slightly modified version of the group finding algorithm developed by Huchra &
Geller. Several tests using mock catalogues allow us to find the optimal
conditions to increase the reliability of the final group sample. A minimum
number of 4 members, an outer number density enhancement of 80 and a linking
radial cutoff of , are the best obtained values from the
analysis. Using these parameters, approximately 90% of groups identified in
real space have a redshift space counterpart. On the other hand the level of
contamination in redshift space reaches to 30 % including a of
artificial groups and of groups associated with binaries or triplets
in real space. The final sample comprise 2209 galaxy groups covering the sky
region described by Colless et al. spanning over the redshift range of with a mean redshift of 0.1.Comment: Accepted for publication in the MNRAS. 8 figures 8 page
High-Definition Optical Coherence Tomography for the in vivo Detection of Demodex Mites
Background: Demodex mites are involved in different skin diseases and are commonly detected by skin scrape tests or superficial biopsies. A new high-definition optical coherence tomography (HD-OCT) with high lateral and axial resolution in a horizontal (en-face) and vertical (slice) imaging mode might offer the possibility of noninvasive and fast in vivo examination of demodex mites. Methods: Twenty patients with demodex-related skin diseases and 20 age- and gender-matched healthy controls were examined by HD-OCT. Mites per follicle and follicles per field of view were counted and compared to skin scrape tests. Results: HD-OCT images depicted mites in the en-face mode as bright round dots in groups of 3-5 mites per hair follicle. In the patients with demodex-related disease, a mean number of 3.4 mites per follicle were detected with a mean number of 2.9 infested follicles per area of view compared to a mean of 0.6 mites in 0.4 infested follicles in the controls. The skin scrape tests were negative in 21% of the patients. Conclusion: The innovative HD-OCT enables fast and noninvasive in vivo recognition of demodex mites and might become a useful tool in the diagnosis and treatment monitoring of demodex-related skin diseases. Copyright (C) 2012 S. Karger AG, Base
Intragroup diffuse light in compact groups of galaxies II. HCG 15, 35 and 51
This continuing study of intragroup light in compact groups of galaxies aims
to establish new constraints to models of formation and evolution of galaxy
groups, specially of compact groups, which are a key part in the evolution of
larger structures, such as clusters. In this paper we present three additional
groups (HCG 15, 35 and 51) using deep wide field and band images
observed with the LAICA camera at the 3.5m telescope at the Calar Alto
observatory (CAHA). This instrument provides us with very stable flatfielding,
a mandatory condition for reliably measuring intragroup diffuse light. The
images were analyzed with the OV\_WAV package, a wavelet technique that allows
us to uncover the intragroup component in an unprecedented way. We have
detected that 19, 15 and 26% of the total light of HCG 15, 35 and 51,
respectively, is in the diffuse component, with colours that are compatible
with old stellar populations and with mean surface brightness that can be as
low as . Dynamical masses, crossing times and
mass to light ratios were recalculated using the new group parameters. Also
tidal features were analyzed using the wavelet technique.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS. See
http://www.eso.org/~cdarocha/publications/DaRochaetal2008_IGL_HCG.pdf for
full resolution version. Complementary reference adde
Observational biases in Lagrangian reconstructions of cosmic velocity fields
Lagrangian reconstruction of large-scale peculiar velocity fields can be
strongly affected by observational biases. We develop a thorough analysis of
these systematic effects by relying on specially selected mock catalogues. For
the purpose of this paper, we use the MAK reconstruction method, although any
other Lagrangian reconstruction method should be sensitive to the same
problems. We extensively study the uncertainty in the mass-to-light assignment
due to luminosity incompleteness, and the poorly-determined relation between
mass and luminosity. The impact of redshift distortion corrections is analyzed
in the context of MAK and we check the importance of edge and finite-volume
effects on the reconstructed velocities. Using three mock catalogues with
different average densities, we also study the effect of cosmic variance. In
particular, one of them presents the same global features as found in
observational catalogues that extend to 80 Mpc/h scales. We give recipes,
checked using the aforementioned mock catalogues, to handle these particular
observational effects, after having introduced them into the mock catalogues so
as to quantitatively mimic the most densely sampled currently available galaxy
catalogue of the nearby universe. Once biases have been taken care of, the
typical resulting error in reconstructed velocities is typically about a
quarter of the overall velocity dispersion, and without significant bias. We
finally model our reconstruction errors to propose an improved Bayesian
approach to measure Omega_m in an unbiased way by comparing the reconstructed
velocities to the measured ones in distance space, even though they may be
plagued by large errors. We show that, in the context of observational data, a
nearly unbiased estimator of Omega_m may be built using MAK reconstruction.Comment: 29 pages, 21 figures, 6 tables, Accepted by MNRAS on 2007 October 2.
Received 2007 September 30; in original form 2007 July 2
Survey of H-alpha emission from thirty nearby dwarf galaxies
Measurements of the H-alpha flux from 30 neighboring dwarf galaxies are
presented. After correction for absorption, these fluxes are used to estimate
the star formation rate (SFR). The SFR for 18 of the galaxies according to the
H-alpha emission are compared with estimates of the SFR from FUV magnitudes
obtained with the GALEX telescope. These are in good agreement over the range
log[SFR] = [-3,0]M sun/yr.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, 3 table
Jornalismo Literário em revista - uma análise de conteúdo da revista Piauí
Journalism and Literature have in common the word as their raw material, and their languages have come close in many times in History. Modern journalism, seeking for objectivity and working according to industrial levels, has brought to journalistic language prescriptions and patt erns that have been, for many times, “bureaucratizing” the print journalism. But there are cases of success, like the magazine Piauí, which search for alternatives for a more att ractive and deep journalism, using techniques of inquiry and writing originated in Literature, practicing what is called Literary Journalism.Keywords: Literary Journalism, magazines, Piauí.Jornalismo e Literatura têm em comum a palavra como matéria-prima, e suas linguagens tornaram- se próximas em muitos momentos da História. O Jornalismo moderno, buscando objetividade e funcionando em níveis industriais, trouxe à linguagem jornalística, fórmulas e padrões que muitas vezes têm “burocratizado” o Jornalismo impresso. Mas há casos de sucesso, como a revista Piauí, que buscam alternativas para um Jornalismo mais atraente e de profundidade, fazendo uso de técnicas de apuração e redação originárias da Literatura, praticando o que se denomina Jornalismo Literário.Palavras-chaves: Jornalismo Literário, revistas, Piauí
The scaling relation of early-type galaxies in clusters. II: Spectroscopic data for galaxies in eight nearby clusters
AIMS: We present in this work low and intermediate resolution spectroscopic
data collected for 152 early type galaxies in 8 nearby clusters with z
0.10.
METHODS: We use low resolution data to produce the redshift and the
K-correction for every individual galaxy, as well as to give their overall
spectral energy distribution, and some spectral indicators, including the
4000\AA break, the Mg strength, and the NaD equivalent width.We have also
obtained higher resolution data for early type galaxies in three of the
clusters, to determine their central velocity dispersion.
RESULTS: The effect of the resolution on the measured parameters is
discussed.
CONCLUSIONS: New accurate systemic redshift and velocity dispersion is
presented for four of the surveyed clusters, A98, A3125, A3330, and DC2103-39.
We have found that the K-correction values for E/S0 bright galaxies in a given
nearby clusters are very similar. We also find that the distribution of the
line indicators significantly differ from cluster to cluster.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, Accepted in A&
Cusp-core problem and strong gravitational lensing
Cosmological numerical simulations of galaxy formation have led to the cuspy
density profile of a pure cold dark matter halo toward the center, which is in
sharp contradiction with the observations of the rotation curves of cold dark
matter-dominated dwarf and low surface brightness disk galaxies, with the
latter tending to favor mass profiles with a flat central core. Many efforts
have been devoted to resolve this cusp-core problem in recent years, among
them, baryon-cold dark matter interactions are considered to be the main
physical mechanisms erasing the cold dark matter (CDM) cusp into a flat core in
the centers of all CDM halos. Clearly, baryon-cold dark matter interactions are
not customized only for CDM-dominated disk galaxies, but for all types,
including giant ellipticals. We first fit the most recent high resolution
observations of rotation curves with the Burkert profile, then use the
constrained core size-halo mass relation to calculate the lensing frequency,
and compare the predicted results with strong lensing observations.
Unfortunately, it turns out that the core size constrained from rotation curves
of disk galaxies cannot be extrapolated to giant ellipticals. We conclude that,
in the standard cosmological paradigm, baryon-cold dark matter interactions are
not universal mechanisms for galaxy formation, and therefore, they cannot be
true solutions to the cusp-core problem.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, references updated, typos correcte
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