1,648 research outputs found
Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis, Volume II Final Report
Numerical methods and computer program for analyzing lateral plane vibration characteristics of simple structure possessing hysteresis dampin
Different Disease Profiles for Women and Men with Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms
ObjectiveThe overall aim with this study was to investigate causes of death and mortality rates for women and men treated for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) in Sweden.Materials and methodAll patients treated for ruptured and non-ruptured AAA 1987–2002 in Sweden were identified in national registries (n=12917). Age, sex, diagnosis, surgical procedure and mortality were analysed on a patient specific level. Logistic regression and analysis of standardised mortality rates (SMR) were performed.ResultsPost operative mortality was similar between the sexes. Age (p<0.0001), and surgery for rupture (p=0.0005), but not gender (p=0.65) were significant risk factor for poor long term survival. SMR revealed increased risk for both sexes compared to the population with significantly higher values for women than men (2.26, CI 2.10–2.43 vs. 1.63, CI 1.57–1.68, p<0.0001). The higher risk for women could be explained by the higher risk for aneurysm related death (ie.thoracic or abdominal aorta) compared to men (Hazard ratio 1.57 vs. 1.0, p<0.0001).ConclusionWomen do not have an increased surgical risk compared to men, but treated women have an increased risk of premature death compared to men and women in the population. They also have a higher risk for aneurysm related death compared to men with AAA
Gender Differences in Vascular Interventions for Lower Limb Ischaemia
AbstractObjectives to investigate changes in intervention for lower limb ischaemia with regard to gender. Material and method type of procedure, the age and gender of all patients (8687) undergoing interventions (12 295) for lower limb ischaemia in Stockholm 1970–1994, were obtained from the National Board of Health and Welfare.Results interventions rose from 18 per million inhabitants in 1970 to 786 in 1994. The proportion of women treated grew from 34% to 48%. The number of embolectomies decreased from 80 to 69 per million. Infrainguinal reconstructions increased most from 38 in 1980–1984 to 186 per million inhabitants in 1990–1994, with the proportion of women increasing from 33 to 43%. Mean age increased from 63 to 71 years. Conclusions there was a marked increase in the number of procedures, the proportion of female patients and mean age
Value of risk scores in the decision to palliate patients withruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm
Background: The aim of this study was to develop a 48‐h mortality risk score, which included morphology data, for patients with ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm presenting to an emergency department, and to assess its predictive accuracy and clinical effectiveness in triaging patients to immediate aneurysm repair, transfer or palliative care. Methods: Data from patients in the IMPROVE (Immediate Management of the Patient With Ruptured Aneurysm: Open Versus Endovascular Repair) randomized trial were used to develop the risk score. Variables considered included age, sex, haemodynamic markers and aortic morphology. Backwards selection was used to identify relevant predictors. Predictive performance was assessed using calibration plots and the C‐statistic. Validation of the newly developed and other previously published scores was conducted in four external populations. The net benefit of treating patients based on a risk threshold compared with treating none was quantified. Results: Data from 536 patients in the IMPROVE trial were included. The final variables retained were age, sex, haemoglobin level, serum creatinine level, systolic BP, aortic neck length and angle, and acute myocardial ischaemia. The discrimination of the score for 48‐h mortality in the IMPROVE data was reasonable (C‐statistic 0·710, 95 per cent c.i. 0·659 to 0·760), but varied in external populations (from 0·652 to 0·761). The new score outperformed other published risk scores in some, but not all, populations. An 8 (95 per cent c.i. 5 to 11) per cent improvement in the C‐statistic was estimated compared with using age alone. Conclusion: The assessed risk scores did not have sufficient accuracy to enable potentially life‐saving decisions to be made regarding intervention. Focus should therefore shift to offering repair to more patients and reducing non‐intervention rates, while respecting the wishes of the patient and family
Sexual Function in Women Suffering from Aortoiliac Occlusive Disease
AbstractObjective:to describe the sexual function in women suffering aortoiliac occlusive disease (AIOD) and in an age-matched reference group.Patients and methods:thirty-six women suffering from AIOD were included. Twenty were investigated before vascular intervention (untreated) and 16 different women after treatment (treated). Eighteen age-matched women served as areferencegroup. The patients answered a questionnaire including sexual, social and medical questions and a gynaecological examination was performed.Results:untreated patients with AIOD have a significantly impaired physical well-being compared to the other groups (p<0.001). A negative effect of the vascular disease and its treatment on sexual life was experienced by 69% oftreatedcompared to 40% affected amonguntreated(p=0.05). Vulval sensibility was impaired in 44% oftreated, 11% ofuntreatedand 22% ofreferencepatients. Defective anal sphincter function was found in 33% oftreated, 17% ofuntreatedand 6% in thereferencegroup. Those differences were not statistically significant.Conclusions:symptomatic AIOD in women is associated with a significantly impaired physical and sexual well-being. Though limited by size and methodology, the results indicate the possibility of iatrogenic nerve damage
Magnetism: the Driving Force of Order in CoPt. A First-Principles Study
CoPt or FePt equiatomic alloys order according to the tetragonal L10
structure which favors their strong magnetic anisotropy. Conversely magnetism
can influence chemical ordering. We present here {\it ab initio} calculations
of the stability of the L10 and L12 structures of Co-Pt alloys in their
paramagnetic and ferromagnetic states. They show that magnetism strongly
reinforces the ordering tendencies in this system. A simple tight-binding
analysis allows us to account for this behavior in terms of some pertinent
parameters
Thermodynamic properties of binary HCP solution phases from special quasirandom structures
Three different special quasirandom structures (SQS) of the substitutional
hcp binary random solutions (, 0.5, and 0.75) are
presented. These structures are able to mimic the most important pair and
multi-site correlation functions corresponding to perfectly random hcp
solutions at those compositions. Due to the relatively small size of the
generated structures, they can be used to calculate the properties of random
hcp alloys via first-principles methods. The structures are relaxed in order to
find their lowest energy configurations at each composition. In some cases, it
was found that full relaxation resulted in complete loss of their parental
symmetry as hcp so geometry optimizations in which no local relaxations are
allowed were also performed. In general, the first-principles results for the
seven binary systems (Cd-Mg, Mg-Zr, Al-Mg, Mo-Ru, Hf-Ti, Hf-Zr, and Ti-Zr) show
good agreement with both formation enthalpy and lattice parameters measurements
from experiments. It is concluded that the SQS's presented in this work can be
widely used to study the behavior of random hcp solutions.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure
Atomic-scale surface demixing in a eutectic liquid BiSn alloy
Resonant x-ray reflectivity of the surface of the liquid phase of the
BiSn eutectic alloy reveals atomic-scale demixing extending over
three near-surface atomic layers. Due to the absence of underlying atomic
lattice which typically defines adsorption in crystalline alloys, studies of
adsorption in liquid alloys provide unique insight on interatomic interactions
at the surface. The observed composition modulation could be accounted for
quantitatively by the Defay-Prigogine and Strohl-King multilayer extensions of
the single-layer Gibbs model, revealing a near-surface domination of the
attractive Bi-Sn interaction over the entropy.Comment: 4 pages (two-column), 3 figures, 1 table; Added a figure, updated
references, discussion; accepted at Phys. Rev. Let
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