2,603 research outputs found
The associations of palliative care experts regarding food refusal : a cross-sectional study with an open question evaluated by triangulation analysis
Introduction:
Health professionals in oncologic and palliative care settings are often faced with the problem that patients stop eating and drinking. While the causes of food refusal are very different, the result is often malnutrition, which is linked to health comorbidities and a high mortality rate. However, the professionals lack the time and knowledge to clarify the cause for each patient. What associations do health professionals have when faced with food refusal?
Objective:
To investigate the associations that health professionals in oncological and palliative settings have about denied eating behavior.
Methods:
A cross-sectional study, starting with an open question focusing professionals’ associations regarding food refusal. The results were inductively analyzed, whereby generic categories were developed. Subsequently, the categories were transformed into quantitative data to calculate the relationships between the categories.
Results:
A total of 350 out of 2000 participants completed the survey, resulting in a response rate of 17.5%. Food refusal is primarily associated
with physical and ethical aspects and with endof-life. Half of the participants frequently find that patients refuse to eat. The attitudes show that the autonomy of the patient is the highest good and is to be respected. Even in the case of patients with limited decision-making capacity, the refusal to eat is acceptable.
Conclusion:
Clarifying the cause of food refusal requires a great deal of knowledge and is strongly influenced by the associations of health professionals. While the associations have very negative connotations, information and training is needed to make professionals aware of this and to change their associations. With this knowledge and in an interprofessional cooperation, mis-labelling of patient settings can be avoided and fears can be reduce
Mapping the landscape of metabolic goals of a cell
Genome-scale flux balance models of metabolism provide testable predictions of all metabolic rates in an organism, by assuming that the cell is optimizing a metabolic goal known as the objective function. We introduce an efficient inverse flux balance analysis (invFBA) approach, based on linear programming duality, to characterize the space of possible objective functions compatible with measured fluxes. After testing our algorithm on simulated E. coli data and time-dependent S. oneidensis fluxes inferred from gene expression, we apply our inverse approach to flux measurements in long-term evolved E. coli strains, revealing objective functions that provide insight into metabolic adaptation trajectories.MURI W911NF-12-1-0390 - Army Research Office (US); MURI W911NF-12-1-0390 - Army Research Office (US); 5R01GM089978-02 - National Institutes of Health (US); IIS-1237022 - National Science Foundation (US); DE-SC0012627 - U.S. Department of Energy; HR0011-15-C-0091 - Defense Sciences Office, DARPA; National Institutes of Health; R01GM103502; 5R01DE024468; 1457695 - National Science Foundatio
Fractal scale-invariant and nonlinear properties of cardiac dynamics remain stable with advanced age: A new mechanistic picture of cardiac control in healthy elderly
We analyze heartbeat interval recordings from two independent databases: (a)
19 healthy young (avg. age 25.7 years) and 16 healthy elderly subjects (avg.
age 73.8 years) during 2h under resting conditions from the Fantasia database;
and (b) 29 healthy elderly subjects (avg. age 75.9 years) during h
of sleep from the SHHS database, and the same subjects recorded 5 years later.
We quantify: (1) The average heart rate ; (2) the SD and
of the heartbeat intervals RR and their increments
; (3) the long-range correlations in RR as measured by the scaling
exponent using the Detrended Fluctuation Analysis; (4) fractal
linear and nonlinear properties as represented by the scaling exponents
and for the time series of the sign and
magnitude of ; (5) the nonlinear fractal dimension of
using the Fractal Dimension Analysis. We find: (1) No significant difference in
\left (P>0.05); (2) a significant difference in and
for the Fantasia groups (P<10^{-4}) but no significant
change with age between the elderly SHHS groups (P>0.5); (3) no significant
change in the fractal measures (P>0.15), (P>0.2),
(P>0.3), and D(k) with age. Our findings do not support the
hypothesis that fractal linear and nonlinear characteristics of heartbeat
dynamics break down with advanced age in healthy subjects. While our results
indeed show a reduced SD of heartbeat fluctuations with advanced age, the
inherent temporal fractal and nonlinear organization of these fluctuations
remains stable.Comment: 19 pages, 14 figure
Over-diagnosis of malaria is not a lost cause.
BACKGROUND: Recent studies have highlighted the over-diagnosis of malaria in clinical settings in Africa. This study assessed the impact of a training programme implemented as part of an intervention trial on diagnostic behaviour of clinicians in a rural district hospital in a low-moderate malaria transmission setting. METHODS: From the beginning of 2005, a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of intermittent preventive treatment for malaria in infants (IPTi) has been conducted at the study hospital. As part of the RCT, the study team offered laboratory quality assurance, and supervision and training of paediatric ward staff using information on malaria epidemiology in the community. Data on clinical and blood slide confirmed cases of malaria from 2001 to 2005 were extracted from the hospital records. RESULTS: The proportion of blood slides positive for malaria parasites had decreased from 21% in 2001 to 7% in 2005 (p < .01). The proportion of outpatient and inpatient cases diagnosed as malaria ranged between 34% and 28% from 2001 to 2004 and this decreased substantially to 17% after the introduction of the package of training and support in 2005 (p < .01). There was no clear trend in the ratio of blood slide examined versus total diagnosis of malaria. CONCLUSION: It may be possible to change the diagnostic behaviour of clinicians by rigorous training using local malaria epidemiology data and supportive supervision
MorfologÃa comparada de la escápula de primates humanos y no humanos mediante morfometrÃa geométrica. Estudio preliminar.
Este trabajo estudia la morfologÃa comparada de la escápula de primates humanos y no humanos mediante morfometrÃa geométrica. Se han utilizado 62 omóplatos de individuos adultos de sexo desconocido (22 humanos actuales, 1 Neandertal y 39 primates no humanos), procedentes de las colecciones de las Universidades UAB, UB y del Museo de Ciencias Naturales de Barcelona. Cada escápula se fotografió ortogonalmente y se cuantificó su morfologÃa mediante el uso de puntos anatómicos de referencia (12 para la cara posterior y 13 para la anterior). Después de evaluar la fiabilidad de las mediciones mediante un test de distancias euclÃdeas, se analizó la diversidad de este hueso en las diferentes especies de primates mediante un Análisis de Componentes Principales (ACP). Los resultados mostraron clara separación morfológica entre primates cuadrúpedos y no cuadrúpedos (suspensores, saltadores y bÃpedos). En este último conjunto los humanos se separan netamente del resto. En los primates cuadrúpedos predomina la dimensión horizontal (mayor anchura y menor altura), mientras que en los no cuadrúpedos se da la tendencia contraria (menor anchura y mayor altura). La espina escapular queda situada en posición más horizontal enprimates cuadrúpedos respecto a los no cuadrúpedos, aunque en el género Homo, esta inclinación está atenuada. La escápula analizada de Neandertal, si bien es más robusta y con menor inclinación de la espina escapular que la de los humanos actuales, se agrupa bien con éstos. Nuestros resultados muestran el potencial de la metodologÃa utilizada para el estudio de la morfologÃa escapular de Homo y demás géneros de primates
Karakteristik Area Tempat Bertelur Penyu Sisik (Eretmochelys imbricata) Pantai Faong Taman Nasional Manusela
This study aims to determine the Hawksbill Turtle nesting area (Eretmochelys imbricata) Faong Beach, Manusela National Park. The method used in this research is the survey method, namely the direct field data collection and the 2x2 meter square plot method to see the understorey vegetation. The results showed that the characteristics of the hawksbill nesting area (Eretmochelys imbricata) at Faong beach were chosen as one of the most suitable places for turtle nesting
Creation of Entanglement by Interaction with a Common Heat Bath
I show that entanglement between two qubits can be generated if the two
qubits interact with a common heat bath in thermal equilibrium, but do not
interact directly with each other. In most situations the entanglement is
created for a very short time after the interaction with the heat bath is
switched on, but depending on system, coupling, and heat bath, the entanglement
may persist for arbitrarily long times. This mechanism sheds new light on the
creation of entanglement. A particular example of two quantum dots in a closed
cavity is discussed, where the heat bath is given by the blackbody radiation.Comment: 4 revtex pages, 1 eps figure; replaced with published version; short
discussion on entanglement distillation adde
Abstract cluster expansion with applications to statistical mechanical systems
We formulate a general setting for the cluster expansion method and we discuss sufficient criteria for its convergence. We apply the results to systems of classical and quantum particles with stable interactions
Approximating Tverberg Points in Linear Time for Any Fixed Dimension
Let P be a d-dimensional n-point set. A Tverberg-partition of P is a
partition of P into r sets P_1, ..., P_r such that the convex hulls conv(P_1),
..., conv(P_r) have non-empty intersection. A point in the intersection of the
conv(P_i)'s is called a Tverberg point of depth r for P. A classic result by
Tverberg implies that there always exists a Tverberg partition of size n/(d+1),
but it is not known how to find such a partition in polynomial time. Therefore,
approximate solutions are of interest.
We describe a deterministic algorithm that finds a Tverberg partition of size
n/4(d+1)^3 in time d^{O(log d)} n. This means that for every fixed dimension we
can compute an approximate Tverberg point (and hence also an approximate
centerpoint) in linear time. Our algorithm is obtained by combining a novel
lifting approach with a recent result by Miller and Sheehy (2010).Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures. A preliminary version appeared in SoCG 2012.
This version removes an incorrect example at the end of Section 3.
Biomass and biological fuels
The analysis of results obtained at national and
international level on the utilization of renewable energy sources pointed
out the opportunity of over-passing the energy crisis by the orientation of
world economy to produce energy by the help of biomass. The high plant
mass volume present in the world could compensate the relatively low
output of light energy conversion through photosynthesis. The climatic
conditions from Romania favourable to plant growing with high capacity of
biomass multiplication, as well as farming by-product, animal dejections,
domestic garbage, can ensure the biogas necessary to cover a great
percentage of the energy necessary for animal breeding farms or heating
dwellings
- …