Sintered alumina with low dielectric loss

Published versio

Plasma-binding globulins and acute stress response

Within studies of acute stress physiology an increase in glucocorticoid secretion is thought to be the primary mediator of tissue response to stress. Corticosteroid-binding globulin may regulate tissue availability of steroids, but has not been considered a dynamic component of the acute stress response. Here, we examined CBG level over the common 60-minute time frame in an acute capture and handling protocol to investigate whether CBG capacity is dynamic or static over short stressors. Using a comparative approach, we measured CBG response to capture and handling stress in nine species of birds, representing five orders and nine families. CBG capacity significantly declined within 30-60 minutes of capture in five of the nine species examined. This decline may serve to significantly increase the level of corticosterone reaching tissues during acute stress. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart

An Effective Satellite Remote Sensing Tool Combining Hardware and Software Solutions

In this paper we propose a new effective remote sensing tool combining hardware and software solutions as an extension of our previous work. In greater detail the tool consists of a low cost receiver subsystem for public weather satellites and a signal and image processing module for several tasks such as signal and image enhancement, image reconstruction and cloud detection. Our solution allows to manage data from satellites effectively with low cost components and portable software solutions. We aim at sampling and processing of the modulated signal entirely in software enabled by Software Defined Radios (SDR) and CPU computational speed overcoming hardware limitation such as high receiver noise and low ADC resolution. Since we want to extend our previous method to demodulate signals coming from various meteorological satellites, we propose a new high frequency receiving system designed to receive and demodulate signals transmitted at 1.7 GHz. The signals coming from satellites are demodulated, synchronized and enhanced by using low level image processing techniques, then cloud detection is performed by using the well known K-means clustering algorithm. The hardware and software architecture extensions make our solution able to receive and demodulate high frequency and bandwidth meteorological satellite signals, such as those transmitted by NOAA POES, NOAA GOES, EUMETSAT Metop, Meteor-M and FengYun

Evaluation of an electronic warfarin nomogram for anticoagulation of hemodialysis patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Warfarin nomograms to guide dosing have been shown to improve control of the international normalized ratio (INR) in the general outpatient setting. However, the effectiveness of these nomograms in hemodialysis patients is unknown. We evaluated the effectiveness of anticoagulation using an electronic warfarin nomogram administered by nurses in outpatient hemodialysis patients, compared to physician directed therapy.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Hemodialysis patients at any of the six outpatient clinics in Calgary, Alberta, treated with warfarin anticoagulation were included. Two five-month time periods were compared: prior to and post implementation of the nomogram. The primary endpoint was adequacy of anticoagulation (proportion of INR measurements within range ± 0.5 units).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Overall, 67 patients were included in the pre- and 55 in the post-period (with 40 patients in both periods). Using generalized linear mixed models, the adequacy of INR control was similar in both periods for all range INR levels: in detail, range INR 1.5 to 2.5 (pre 93.6% (95% CI: 88.6% - 96.5%); post 95.6% (95% CI: 89.4% - 98.3%); p = 0.95); INR 2.0 to 3.0 (pre 82.2% (95% CI: 77.9% - 85.8%); post 77.4% (95% CI: 72.0% - 82.0%); p = 0.20); and, INR 2.5 to 3.5 (pre 84.3% (95% CI: 59.4% - 95.1%); post 66.8% (95% CI: 39.9% - 86.0%); p = 0.29). The mean number of INR measurements per patient decreased significantly between the pre- (30.5, 95% CI: 27.0 - 34.0) and post- (22.3, 95% CI: 18.4 - 26.1) (p = 0.003) period. There were 3 bleeding events in each of the periods.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>An electronic warfarin anticoagulation nomogram administered by nurses achieved INR control similar to that of physician directed therapy among hemodialysis patients in an outpatient setting, with a significant reduction in frequency of testing. Future controlled trials are required to confirm the efficacy of this nomogram.</p