A 3D Smith Chart based on the Riemann Sphere for Active and Passive Microwave Circuits

“© © 20xx IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.”This letter proposes a spherical 3-D Smith Chart suitable for representing both active and passive microwave circuits. Using the mathematical concept of the Riemann sphere, the extended reflection coefficient plane is transformed into the surface of the unit sphere. Since the proposed Smith Chart compiles the whole complex plane, all possible loads are included. A simple graphic tool is thus obtained that successfully unifies active and passive circuits. In addition, lossy lines with complex characteristic impedances can also be represented. The letter presents the 3-D Smith Chart, provides its main governing equations, and also enumerates its more important properties. © 2011 IEEE.This work was supported in part by the POSDRU ID 7713 European Project and by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion, Spanish Government under Research Project TEC2010-21520-C04-01.Muller, AA.; Soto Pacheco, P.; Dascalu, D.; Neculoiu, D.; Boria Esbert, VE. (2011). A 3D Smith Chart based on the Riemann Sphere for Active and Passive Microwave Circuits. IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters. 21(6):286-288. https://doi.org/10.1109/LMWC.2011.2132697S28628821

Point-of-care visual medicine in the management of emergency intensive care patients: case study

Moinesti Emergency Country Hospital Moinesti, Romania, The 5th International Congress of the Society of Anesthesiology and Reanimatology of the Republic of Moldova, 16th Edition of the International Course of Guidelines and Protocols in Anesthesia, Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, 28th Meeting of the European Society for Computing and Technology in Anesthesia and Intensive Care, September 27-29, 2018, Chisinau, the Republic of MoldovaIntroduction: Real-time, bedside (point-of-care) medical image is actually a valuable tool in the diagnosis and management of intensive care patients. In order to illustrate, we present a case with acute chronic respiratory acidosis and hypercapnic coma, when the use of visual medicine shortened the intervention time frame and minimized the complication risks. Case presentation: A male, 64 years old patient, admitted to Internal Medicine with the diagnosis of chronic obstructive bronchopneumopathy exacerbation (respiratory infection) and multiple co-morbidities presents on the 7th day rapid aggravation and has emergency ICU admittance with coma (GCS=8), polypnea (36 breath/min), hypoxemia (SpO2=55%), abundant tracheobronchial secretion retention, arterial hypotension (65/45 mm Hg), tachyarrhythmia (150b/min), acute on chronic respiratory acidosis (pH=7.21, PaCO2=105 mmHg). The emergency management included: video-assisted oro-tracheal intubation (after tube insertion, plugging with abundant secretions) and ventilatory support; vascular access (ultrasound guided central venous and arterial catheterization); fiberoptic-bronchoscopic removal of purulent and bloody abundant secretions; transthoracic echocardiography (severe LV hypokinezia, EF-30%, diffuse subepicardial ischemia). Under complex intensive care treatment (antibiotics, water and electrolyte correction, inotropic support, antiarrhythmic drugs, anticoagulants, mucolytics, antipyretics, enteral nutrition) the condition improves and results in weanning from ventilatory support (the 5th day), from inotropic support (the 7th day) and ICU discharge (the 8th day). Discussion: In critical emergencies, the use of bedside, real-time medical images during diagnostic, monitoring or therapeutic procedures results in several advantages: it shortens the implementation time (tracheal intubation, vascular access), allows rapid evaluation and proper management institution (echocardiography), allows a significant decrease of complication risk (video-assisted laryngoscopy, fiberoptic-bronchoscopy, vascular access). Conclusions: Point-of-care visual medicine – the use of real-time, bedside medical images is an imperative necessity in modern intensive care

The role of inflammation in age-related macular degeneration

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a complex, chronic, and progressive disease which affects the macular area, being one of the leading causes of irreversible vision loss worldwide. Specific alterations of retinal structure occur at the macular level, which regarding its severity can range from the presence of drusen to the development of geographic atrophy or choroidal neovascularization. AMD has long been considered a degenerative disease, but new studies highlight the role of inflammation present both in the atrophic form and in the exudative form. The present review is based on comprehensive research on PubMed and Web of Science databases, and it aims to describe the inflammatory pathways involved in AMD onset and progression. Understanding the molecules involved in AMD pathogenesis, and their mechanism of action, is crucial because they can be both biomarkers with a predictive role in disease management, as well as potential therapeutic targets

The 3D Smith Chart and its practical applications

Mueller, A.; Dascalu, DC.; Soto Pacheco, P.; Boria Esbert, VE. (2012). The 3D Smith Chart and its practical applications. Microwave journal. 55(7):64-72. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/52766S647255

D2.4 - Final Bundle of Client-side Components

This document describes the final bundle of client-side components, including descriptions of their functionality, and links to their full designs and downloadable versions. This bundle aggregates only the WP2 assets. Other client-side assets not covered here will be addressed in the final WP3 deliverables. Those assets created and licenced as open software will be continuously improved and maintained by their creators until the end of the project (the task has been extended to month 48) and beyond. For a full description of the related server-side components, please refer to D2.2 - Final Bundle of Server-side Components.This study is part of the RAGE project. The RAGE project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 644187. This publication reflects only the author's view. The European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains

Global, regional, and national burden of disorders affecting the nervous system, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BackgroundDisorders affecting the nervous system are diverse and include neurodevelopmental disorders, late-life neurodegeneration, and newly emergent conditions, such as cognitive impairment following COVID-19. Previous publications from the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factor Study estimated the burden of 15 neurological conditions in 2015 and 2016, but these analyses did not include neurodevelopmental disorders, as defined by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-11, or a subset of cases of congenital, neonatal, and infectious conditions that cause neurological damage. Here, we estimate nervous system health loss caused by 37 unique conditions and their associated risk factors globally, regionally, and nationally from 1990 to 2021.MethodsWe estimated mortality, prevalence, years lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), with corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs), by age and sex in 204 countries and territories, from 1990 to 2021. We included morbidity and deaths due to neurological conditions, for which health loss is directly due to damage to the CNS or peripheral nervous system. We also isolated neurological health loss from conditions for which nervous system morbidity is a consequence, but not the primary feature, including a subset of congenital conditions (ie, chromosomal anomalies and congenital birth defects), neonatal conditions (ie, jaundice, preterm birth, and sepsis), infectious diseases (ie, COVID-19, cystic echinococcosis, malaria, syphilis, and Zika virus disease), and diabetic neuropathy. By conducting a sequela-level analysis of the health outcomes for these conditions, only cases where nervous system damage occurred were included, and YLDs were recalculated to isolate the non-fatal burden directly attributable to nervous system health loss. A comorbidity correction was used to calculate total prevalence of all conditions that affect the nervous system combined.FindingsGlobally, the 37 conditions affecting the nervous system were collectively ranked as the leading group cause of DALYs in 2021 (443 million, 95% UI 378–521), affecting 3·40 billion (3·20–3·62) individuals (43·1%, 40·5–45·9 of the global population); global DALY counts attributed to these conditions increased by 18·2% (8·7–26·7) between 1990 and 2021. Age-standardised rates of deaths per 100 000 people attributed to these conditions decreased from 1990 to 2021 by 33·6% (27·6–38·8), and age-standardised rates of DALYs attributed to these conditions decreased by 27·0% (21·5–32·4). Age-standardised prevalence was almost stable, with a change of 1·5% (0·7–2·4). The ten conditions with the highest age-standardised DALYs in 2021 were stroke, neonatal encephalopathy, migraine, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, diabetic neuropathy, meningitis, epilepsy, neurological complications due to preterm birth, autism spectrum disorder, and nervous system cancer.InterpretationAs the leading cause of overall disease burden in the world, with increasing global DALY counts, effective prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation strategies for disorders affecting the nervous system are needed

Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BACKGROUND Regular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations. METHODS The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model-a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates-with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality-which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds. FINDINGS The leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2-100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1-290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1-211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4-48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3-37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7-9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles. INTERPRETATION Long-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere. FUNDING Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation