Comparison of Visual Analog Pain Score Reported to Physician vs Nurse in Nonoperatively Treated Foot and Ankle Patients

Background: Patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) are taking a more prominent role in Orthopedics as health care seeks to define treatment outcomes. The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) is considered a reliable measure of acute pain. A previous study found that operative candidates’ VAS pain score was significantly higher when reported to the surgeon compared to the nurse. This study’s aim is to examine whether this phenomenon occurs in nonoperative patients. We hypothesize that patients’ VAS scores reported to the surgeon and a nurse will be the same Methods: This study is a retrospective cohort of 201 consecutive nonoperative patients treated by a single surgeon. Patients were asked to rate pain intensity by a nurse followed by the surgeon using a horizontal VAS, 0 “no pain” to 10 worst pain”. Differences in reported pain levels were compared with data from the previous cohort of 201 consecutive operative patients. Results: The mean VAS score reported to the nurse was 3.2 whereas the mean VAS score reported to the surgeon was 4.2 (p\u3c.001). The mean difference in VAS scores reported for operative patients was 2.9, whereas the mean difference for nonoperative patients was 1.0 (p \u3c .001). Conclusion: This study found statistically significant differences between VAS scores reported to the surgeon versus the nurse in nonoperative patients which support the trend found in our previous study, where operative patients reported significantly higher scores to the surgeon. The mean difference between reported pain scores is significantly higher for operative patients compared to nonoperative patients

On the Information Rates of the Plenoptic Function

The {\it plenoptic function} (Adelson and Bergen, 91) describes the visual information available to an observer at any point in space and time. Samples of the plenoptic function (POF) are seen in video and in general visual content, and represent large amounts of information. In this paper we propose a stochastic model to study the compression limits of the plenoptic function. In the proposed framework, we isolate the two fundamental sources of information in the POF: the one representing the camera motion and the other representing the information complexity of the "reality" being acquired and transmitted. The sources of information are combined, generating a stochastic process that we study in detail. We first propose a model for ensembles of realities that do not change over time. The proposed model is simple in that it enables us to derive precise coding bounds in the information-theoretic sense that are sharp in a number of cases of practical interest. For this simple case of static realities and camera motion, our results indicate that coding practice is in accordance with optimal coding from an information-theoretic standpoint. The model is further extended to account for visual realities that change over time. We derive bounds on the lossless and lossy information rates for this dynamic reality model, stating conditions under which the bounds are tight. Examples with synthetic sources suggest that in the presence of scene dynamics, simple hybrid coding using motion/displacement estimation with DPCM performs considerably suboptimally relative to the true rate-distortion bound.Comment: submitted to IEEE Transactions in Information Theor

Interface-mediated interactions: Entropic forces of curved membranes

Particles embedded in a fluctuating interface experience forces and torques mediated by the deformations and by the thermal fluctuations of the medium. Considering a system of two cylinders bound to a fluid membrane we show that the entropic contribution enhances the curvature-mediated repulsion between the two cylinders. This is contrary to the usual attractive Casimir force in the absence of curvature-mediated interactions. For a large distance between the cylinders, we retrieve the renormalization of the surface tension of a flat membrane due to thermal fluctuations.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures; final version, as appeared in Phys. Rev.

Perturbation theory for plasmonic eigenvalues

We develop a perturbative approach for calculating, within the quasistatic approximation, the shift of surface resonances in response to a deformation of a dielectric volume. Our strategy is based on the conversion of the homogeneous system for the potential which determines the plasmonic eigenvalues into an inhomogeneous system for the potential's derivative with respect to the deformation strength, and on the exploitation of the corresponding compatibility condition. The resulting general expression for the first-order shift is verified for two explicitly solvable cases, and for a realistic example of a deformed nanosphere. It can be used for scanning the huge parameter space of possible shape fluctuations with only quite small computational effort

Contact lines for fluid surface adhesion

When a fluid surface adheres to a substrate, the location of the contact line adjusts in order to minimize the overall energy. This adhesion balance implies boundary conditions which depend on the characteristic surface deformation energies. We develop a general geometrical framework within which these conditions can be systematically derived. We treat both adhesion to a rigid substrate as well as adhesion between two fluid surfaces, and illustrate our general results for several important Hamiltonians involving both curvature and curvature gradients. Some of these have previously been studied using very different techniques, others are to our knowledge new. What becomes clear in our approach is that, except for capillary phenomena, these boundary conditions are not the manifestation of a local force balance, even if the concept of surface stress is properly generalized. Hamiltonians containing higher order surface derivatives are not just sensitive to boundary translations but also notice changes in slope or even curvature. Both the necessity and the functional form of the corresponding additional contributions follow readily from our treatment.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, LaTeX, RevTeX styl

Small-x QCD Effects in Particle Collisions at High Energies

Recent theoretical developments to calculate cross sections of hadronic objects in the high energy limit are summarised and experimental attempts to establish the need for new QCD effects connected with a resummation of small hadron momentum fractions x are reviewed. The relation between small-$x$ parton dynamics and the phenomenon of diffraction is briefly out-lined. In addition, a search for a novel, non-perturbative QCD effect, the production of QCD instanton induced events, is presented.Comment: Invited talk at the XX. Int. Sym. on Lepton and Photon Interactions at High Energies, Rome, Italy, July 200

Regulating the Energy Flow in a Cyanobacterial Light Harvesting Antenna Complex

Photosynthetic organisms harvest light energy, utilizing the absorption and energy transfer properties of protein-bound chromophores. Controlling the harvesting efficiency is critical for the optimal function of the photosynthetic apparatus. Here, we show that cyanobacterial light-harvesting antenna may be able to regulate the flow of energy in order to switch reversibly from efficient energy conversion to photo-protective quenching via a structural change. We isolated cyanobacterial light harvesting proteins, phycocyanin and allophycocyanin, and measured their optical properties in solution and in an aggregated-desiccated state. The results indicate that energy band structures are changed, generating a switch between two modes of operation: exciton transfer and quenching; achieved without dedicated carotenoid quenchers. This flexibility can contribute greatly to the large dynamic range of cyanobacterial light harvesting systems.Comment: Published at J. Phys. Chem.

À procura do peso perdido – estudo do que fazem os habitantes de quatro países ao virar do século

Purpose. Overweight is one of the most prevalent public health problems of developed countries, implying complex and multi-approach community and individual preventive actions. Although this is a well known and documented issue in Belgium, Italy, Portugal and Spain, little is known on individual slimming behavior, including pathogenic behavior. This study, promoted and conducted by the main consumer association of each of the four indicated countries at the turn of this century, had as main goal to collect 18-74 years old adult populationrepresentative data regarding weight-control (i.e., maintaining weight status or slimming) behavior. Methods. A population-based representative mail survey using a self-administered standardized questionnaire on life-styles and slimming behavior was conducted in three South-European countries (Italy, Portugal and Spain) and in one Central-European country (Belgium). The questionnaire addressed indicators of life-style, including questions about weight-control behavior. Results. A total of 8509 adult people (between 18 and 74 years old) persons answered the questionnaire. For each person, Quetelet’s index of body mass (BMI) was calculated from self-reported weight and height. In all countries, men had significantly higher BMI means and were more affected by overweight (including obesity) than women. For the overall sample, 39% of people felt in the overweight category (10% of these with obesity). On the other hand, self-reported worry and dissatisfaction with body weight, size, shape, weight and look, as well as prevalence of weight-control behavior were more prevalent in women than in men. Trying to reduce weight without any expert advice was reported by 52,2% of overweight people and by 31,5% of obese people. Those who looked for professional help opted mainly by medical doctors and nutrition experts (prevalence of psychological interventions were marginal). In every country, diet regimen, specific slimming method/program, and other life-style changes (e.g., stop drinking alcohol, increasing physical activity) were the most prevalent ways of controlling weight. More than 25% of respondents reported to have gained back the lost weight and in 12.2% of cases, people arrived to higher values of weight than before starting the slimming attempt. Conclusions. Collected data point out to high prevalence of weight- control behavior without specialized counseling/support. These results suggests the need to implement continuous prevention programs, enhancing the accessibility to overweight-related health care (in terms of information and reduction of costs and waiting-lists). Such community-level prevention programs should, ultimately, aim to promote individual autonomous motivation to look for specialized help for the individual adoption of healthy weight promoting life-styles

How much averaging is necessary to cancel out cross-terms in noise correlation studies?

We present an analytical approach to jointly estimate the correlation window length and number of correlograms to stack in ambient noise correlation studies to statistically ensure that noise cross-terms cancel out to within a chosen threshold. These estimates provide the minimum amount of data necessary to extract coherent signals in ambient noise studies using noise sequences filtered in a given frequency bandwidth. The inputs for the estimation process are (1) the variance of the cross-correlation energy density calculated over an elementary time length equal to the largest period present in the filtered data and (2) the threshold below which the noise cross-terms will be in the final stacked correlograms. The presented theory explains how to adjust the required correlation window length and number of stacks when changing from one frequency bandwidth to another. In addition, this theory provides a simple way to monitor stationarity in the noise. The validity of the deduced expressions have been confirmed with numerical cross-correlation tests using both synthetic and field data.Peer Reviewe

Conservação pós-colheita em condição ambiente de híbridos de tomate tipo salada.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar as modificações fisico-quimicas e a qualidade pós-colheita de dois hibridos de tomate tipo salada, colhidos no estádio de maturação verde e mantidos numa temperatura simulando condição ambiente de transporte e comercialização dos frutos.Suplemento. Trabalho apresentado no 52. Congresso Brasileiro de Olericultura, Salvador, 2012