Continuous vital sign monitoring in patients after elective abdominal surgery:a retrospective study on clinical outcomes and costs

Aim: To assess changes in outcomes and costs upon implementation of continuous vital sign monitoring in postsurgical patients. Materials &amp; methods: Retrospective analysis of clinical outcomes and in-hospital costs compared with a control period. Results: During the intervention period patients were less frequently admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) (p = 0.004), had shorter length of stay (p &lt; 0.001) and lower costs (p &lt; 0.001). The intervention was associated with a lower odds of ICU admission (odds ratio: 0.422; p = 0.007) and ICU related costs (odds ratio: -662.4; p = 0.083). Conclusion: Continuous vital sign monitoring may have contributed to fewer ICU admissions and lower ICU costs in postsurgical patients.</p

Narcissism and entrepreneurship: Evidence from six datasets

Widespread attention is being paid to the alleged rise of narcissism in people in general and business leaders in particular. Surprisingly, hardly any studies have focused on the link between narcissism and entrepreneurship. Using self-reported data from 4798 respondents from three countries, we explore the associations between trait narcissism and six different entrepreneurial aspects that represent the entire entrepreneurial process. Overall, our findings suggest that a positive link exists between narcissism and entrepreneurship that is particularly salient in the early stage of the entrepreneurial process (e.g., entrepreneurial intention) and in the individual aspects of entrepreneurship (e.g., entrepreneurial orientation, well-being of the entrepreneur). Our additional analyses reveal that the adaptive aspect of narcissism (i.e., leadership/authority) is most consistently linked to entrepreneurship and that the links between narcissism and entrepreneurship are predominately linear. Finally, our findings are largely robust when different sets of controls are added

Evaluation of the performance of algorithms mapping EORTC QLQ-C30 onto the EQ-5D index in a metastatic colorectal cancer cost-effectiveness model

BACKGROUND: Cost-effectiveness models require quality of life utilities calculated from generic preference-based questionnaires, such as EQ-5D. We evaluated the performance of available algorithms for QLQ-C30 conversion into EQ-5D-3L based ut

Haptic feedback designs in teleoperation systems for minimal invasive surgery ∗

Abstract – One of the major shortcomings of stateof-the-art robotic systems for minimal invasive surgery, is the lack of haptic feedback for the surgeon. In order to provide haptic information, sensors and actuators have to be added to the master and slave device. A control system should process the data and make a coupling between slave and master. Despite the significant amount of research on haptic devices, this control design problem is, largely, an open problem. This paper reports the results on three model-based control designs. Using the formalism of passivity, a robust controller has been designed, and is compared to a gain scheduled controller (LPV) which is adaptable for changes in the tissue characteristics

A precision system for computed tomography-guided needle placement in the thorax and abdomen-technical design and performance analysis

A system was developed for computed tomography (CT)-guided needle placement in the thorax and abdomen, providing precise aiming of a needle guide (NG) to reach a userspecified target in a single manual insertion. The objective of this work is to present its technical design and analyze its performance in terms of placement error in air. The individual contributions to the placement error of a fiducial marker based system-to-CT registration system, a two degrees-of-freedom (2DOFs) drive system to aim the NG, and a structural link between NG and CT table were experimentally determined, in addition to the placement error of the overall system. An error contribution of 0.81 ± 0.34mm was determined for the registration system, < 1.2mm and < 3.3mm for the drive system, and 0.35mm and 0.43mm for two load cases of the structural link. The overall unloaded system achieved 1.0 ± 0.25mm and 2.6±0.7mm at 100mm and 250mm depth, respectively. The overall placement errors in air do not exceed the ≤5mm error specified as a clinical user requirement for needle placement in tissue

Narcissism and entrepreneurship: Evidence from six datasets

Widespread attention is being paid to the alleged rise of narcissism in people in general and business leaders in particular. Surprisingly, hardly any studies have focused on the link between narcissism and entrepreneurship. Using self-reported data from 4798 respondents from three countries, we explore the associations between trait narcissism and six different entrepreneurial aspects that represent the entire entrepreneurial process. Overall, our findings suggest that a positive link exists between narcissism and entrepreneurship that is particularly salient in the early stage of the entrepreneurial process (e.g., entrepreneurial intention) and in the individual aspects of entrepreneurship (e.g., entrepreneurial orientation, well-being of the entrepreneur). Our additional analyses reveal that the adaptive aspect of narcissism (i.e., leadership/authority) is most consistently linked to entrepreneurship and that the links between narcissism and entrepreneurship are predominately linear. Finally, our findings are largely robust when different sets of controls are added

Narcissism and entrepreneurship: Evidence from six datasets

Widespread attention is being paid to the alleged rise of narcissism in people in general and business leaders in particular. Surprisingly, hardly any studies have focused on the link between narcissism and entrepreneurship. Using self-reported data from 4798 respondents from three countries, we explore the associations between trait narcissism and six different entrepreneurial aspects that represent the entire entrepreneurial process. Overall, our findings suggest that a positive link exists between narcissism and entrepreneurship that is particularly salient in the early stage of the entrepreneurial process (e.g., entrepreneurial intention) and in the individual aspects of entrepreneurship (e.g., entrepreneurial orientation, well-being of the entrepreneur). Our additional analyses reveal that the adaptive aspect of narcissism (i.e., leadership/authority) is most consistently linked to entrepreneurship and that the links between narcissism and entrepreneurship are predominately linear. Finally, our findings are largely robust when different sets of controls are added

Device for creating a local cold plasma at the location of an object

The invention relates to a device for creating a local cold plasma at the location of an object, said device at least comprising a high-frequency power source, a plasma chamber, a plasma discharge electrode disposed in said plasma chamber, which is electrically connected to said high-frequency power source, as well as a supply line for a plasma gas, which opens into the plasma chamber at a location near the plasma discharge electrode. The object of the invention is to provide an improved device as referred to in the introduction, which enables an improved control of the created plasma in relation to the object. To that end, the device according to the invention is characterized in that the device comprises adjusting means arranged for automatically orienting the plasma discharge electrode relative to the object