342 research outputs found
The least informative distribution and correlation coefficient of measurement results
Correlations play a significant role in data analysis and the evaluation and expression of the
uncertainty, yet estimating them is often difficult. This paper provides examples of how to
infer the measurand value, given only the uncertainties and correlation ranges of the
measurement results. The least informative data-distribution is not Gaussian, but the marginal
distributions are. Explicit results are given in the case of a data pair, where the inferred
correlation coefficient is the midpoint of the given range
Rotational sensitivity of the "G-Pisa" gyrolaser
G-Pisa is an experiment investigating the possibility to operate a high
sensitivity laser gyroscope with area less than for improving the
performances of the mirrors suspensions of the gravitational wave antenna
Virgo. The experimental set-up consists in a He-Ne ring laser with a 4 mirrors
square cavity. The laser is pumped by an RF discharge where the RF oscillator
includes the laser plasma in order to reach a better stability. The contrast of
the Sagnac fringes is typically above 50% and a stable regime has been reached
with the laser operating both single mode or multimode. The effect of hydrogen
contamination on the laser was also checked. A low-frequency sensitivity, below
, in the range of has been
measured.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, presented at the EFTF-IFCS joint conference 200
Detailed X-ray spectroscopy of the magnetar 1E 2259+586
Magnetic field geometry is expected to play a fundamental role in magnetar
activity. The discovery of a phase-variable absorption feature in the X-ray
spectrum of SGR 0418+5729, interpreted as cyclotron resonant scattering,
suggests the presence of very strong non-dipolar components in the magnetic
fields of magnetars. We performed a deep XMM-Newton observation of pulsar 1E
2259+586, to search for spectral features due to intense local magnetic fields.
In the phase-averaged X-ray spectrum, we found evidence for a broad absorption
feature at very low energy (0.7 keV). If the feature is intrinsic to the
source, it might be due to resonant scattering/absorption by protons close to
star surface. The line energy implies a magnetic field of ~ 10^14 G, roughly
similar to the spin-down measure, ~ 6x10^13 G. Examination of the X-ray
phase-energy diagram shows evidence for a further absorption feature, the
energy of which strongly depends on the rotational phase (E >~ 1 keV ). Unlike
similar features detected in other magnetar sources, notably SGR 0418+5729, it
is too shallow and limited to a small phase interval to be modeled with a
narrow phase-variable cyclotron absorption line. A detailed phase-resolved
spectral analysis reveals significant phase-dependent variability in the
continuum, especially above 2 keV. We conclude that all the variability with
phase in 1E 2259+586 can be attributed to changes in the continuum properties
which appear consistent with the predictions of the Resonant Compton Scattering
model
Co-design, co-learning, and co-production of an app for pancreatic cancer patientsâthe âPancreas Plusâ study protocol
Background: Pancreatic cancer is a malignant and complex tumor that often leads to an adverse prognosis.
Patients need to face a challenging treatment path, which involves highly-specialized multidisciplinary
professionals. The complexity of the disease requires the development of dedicated tools to support patients
in their care journey. Co-production stands as a valuable strategy in oncological care to engage patients in
understanding their care journey and behaving accordingly to get the best possible clinical outcome.
Methods: The non-profit association Unipancreas, active in promoting the latest advances in pancreatic
cancer care and in supporting pancreatic cancer patients, has partnered with a multidisciplinary group
of professionals to conceive the brand new program âPancreas Plusâ to employ a co-design, co-learning,
and co-production path to design an app devoted to pancreatic cancer patients to assist them during their
treatment and follow-up journey. The app, which is the outcome of a multi-stakeholder engagement project,
offers health information and medical advice specifically tailored on the pancreatic cancer disease. The
article reports the research protocol, which may be replicated for the design of other e-health tools focusing
on different conditions.
Discussion: The studyâs output will be an app that sees the pancreatic cancer patient as the main
beneficiary but which can gather and address the interests and needs of all meaningful stakeholders, including
clinicians, researchers, healthcare and educational institutions, and
A Large Area Fiber Optic Gyroscope on multiplexed fiber network
We describe a fiber optical gyroscope based on the Sagnac effect realized on a multiplexed telecom fiber network. Our loop encloses an area of 20 km2 and coexists with Internet data traffic. This Sagnac interferometer achieves a sensitivity of about (10-8 rad/s)/sqrt(Hz), thus approaching ring laser gyroscopes without using narrow linewidth laser nor sophisticated optics. The proposed gyroscope is sensitive enough for seismic applications, opening new possibilities for this kind of optical fiber sensors
Penis auto-amputation and chasm of the lower abdominal wall due to advanced penile carcinoma: a case report
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Penile cancer is uncommon. When penile cancer is left untreated, at an advanced stage it can have tragic consequences for the patient.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>Our case report does not concern a new manifestation of penile cancer, but an interesting presentation with clinical significance that emphasizes the need to diagnose and treat penile cancer early. It is an unusual case of a neglected penile cancer in a 57-year-old Greek man that led to auto-amputation of the penis and a large chasm in the lower abdominal wall. The clinical staging was T4N3M0 and our patient was treated with a bilateral cutaneous ureterostomy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Our patient died 18 months after his first admission in our clinic.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Emphasis must be placed on early diagnosis and treatment of penile cancer, so further development of the disease can be prevented.</p
A pilot study of nurse-led, home monitoring for patients with chronic respiratory failure and with mechanical ventilation assistance.
We assessed the feasibility of telemedicine for home monitoring of 45 patients with chronic respiratory failure (CRF) discharged from hospital. The patients transmitted pulsed arterial saturation (pSat) data via a telephone modem to a receiving station where a nurse was available for a teleconsultation. A respiratory physician was also available. Scheduled and ad hoc appointments were conducted. Thirty-five patients were on home mechanical ventilation, 13 with invasive and 22 with non-invasive devices. The main diagnosis was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The follow-up period was 176 days (SD 69). In all, 376 calls for scheduled consultations were received and 83 ad hoc consultations were requested by the patients. The actions taken were: 55 therapy modifications, 19 hospitalizations in a respiratory department for decompensated CRF, three hospitalizations in an intensive care unit (ICU), 22 requests for further investigations, 25 contacts with the general practitioner (GP), 66 demands for respiratory consultations and 10 calls for the emergency department. The mean time recorded for the 459 calls was 16 min/patient/week. In 82% of calls, a pSat recording was received successfully. The nurse time required to train the users in the operation of the pSat instrument was high (mean time 30 min). However, the results showed that home monitoring was feasible, and useful for titration of oxygen, mechanical ventilation setting and stabilization of relapse
Adjuvant therapy for locally advanced renal cell cancer: A systematic review with meta-analysis
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Many adjuvant trials have been undertaken in an attempt to reduce the risk of recurrence among patients who undergo surgical resection for locally advanced renal cancer. However, no clear benefit has been identified to date. This systematic review was conducted to examine the exact role of adjuvant therapy in renal cancer setting.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Randomized controlled trials were searched comparing adjuvant therapy (chemotherapy, vaccine, immunotherapy, biochemotherapy) versus no active treatment after surgery among renal cell cancer patients. Outcomes were overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), and severe toxicities. Risk ratios (RR), hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals were calculated using a fixed-effects meta-analysis. Heterogeneity was measured by I<sup>2</sup>. Different strategies of adjuvant treatment were evaluated separately.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Ten studies (2,609 patients) were included. Adjuvant therapy provided no benefits in terms of OS (HR 1.07; 95%CI 0.89 to 1.28; P = 0.48 I<sup>2 </sup>= 0%) or DFS (HR 1.03; 95%CI 0.87 to 1.21; P = 0.77 I<sup>2 </sup>= 15%) when compared to no treatment. No subgroup analysis (immunotherapy, vaccines, biochemotherapy and hormone therapy) had relevant results. Toxicity evaluation depicted a significantly higher frequency of serious adverse events in the adjuvant group.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This analysis provided no support for the hypothesis that the agents studied provide any clinical benefit for renal cancer patients although they increase the risk of toxic effects. Randomized trials are underway to test targeted therapies, which might open a new therapeutic frontier. Until these trials yield results, no adjuvant therapy can be recommended for patients who undergo surgical resection for renal cell cancer.</p
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