Tailoring eHealth design to support the self-care needs of patients with cardiovascular diseases:a vignette survey experiment

Self-care support is a key cornerstone of treatment for patients with a cardiovascular disease. The success of any supportive intervention requires adaptation to the distinct needs of individuals. This requirement also applies to eHealth interventions. This study investigates how experts from multiple fields of science assess the potential success of different eHealth design strategies when matched to key self-care needs. An online vignette survey experiment was conducted. Nine vignettes representing different combinations of self-care needs (maintenance, monitoring, management) and eHealth persuasive design strategies (primary task support, dialogue support, social support) were evaluated. In total, 118 experts from 18 different countries participated in the survey. Their evaluations show primary task support as a promising design strategy across all self-care needs. In contrast, dialogue support and social support showed more promise for specific self-care needs. Above all, according to experts, the success of design strategies could be enhanced by (i) personalising the pacing of the intervention and (ii) tailoring the information to the literacy and culture of the person. Adding to that, self-care support should distinctly (iii) support the three self-care needs, be (iv) patient-centered, (v) support the collaboration with caregivers, and (vi) be aligned to the life goals and values of individuals

Desarrollo de un integrador de radiación solar global

El objetivo del presente trabajo es presentar el desarrollo, la prueba en campo y la calibración de un equipo registrador que mida la radiación solar instantánea e integre dicho valor cada 10 minutos en forma autónoma durante un período mayor a 30 días. Por otra parte, el equipo permite acceder a los registros a través de una interfaz a una PC mediante un software desarrollado para tal fin. El equipo fue calibrado por el Grupo de Estudios de la Radiación Solar (GERSolar) de la Universidad Nacional de Luján (UNLu). Además, se presenta la comparación entre los datos obtenidos mediante el integrador desarrollado y los datos registrados por la estación meteorológica ubicada en la terraza del TANDAR del CentroAtómico Constituyentes de la Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica.Fil: Raggio, D.. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Centro Atómico Constituyentes; ArgentinaFil: Bolzi, Claudio Gustavo. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Centro Atómico Constituyentes; ArgentinaFil: Martinez Bogado, Mónica Gladys. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Centro Atómico Constituyentes; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Socolovsky, Hernan Pablo. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Centro Atómico Constituyentes; ArgentinaFil: Tamasi, Mariana Julia Luisa. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Centro Atómico Constituyentes; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Bruno, C.. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Centro Atómico Constituyentes; Argentin

Cálculo del vapor de agua precipitable y evaluación de su incertidumbre

El vapor de agua precipitable es una de las variables meteorológicas a tener en cuenta en la medición de curvas tensión-corriente de paneles solares fotovoltaicos bajo condiciones normalizadas. Por este motivo se presenta el cálculo del vapor de agua precipitable a partir de la medición de humedad relativa y temperatura. Se analiza la incertidumbre del cálculo tomando incertidumbres típicas en la medición de las variables meteorológicas. Se completa el trabajo con el cálculo de vapor de agua precipitable para la región de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires en las horas del día donde se puede realizar la medición bajo norma.Precipitable water vapor is one of the important meteorological parameters necessary as input to photovoltaic solar panels measurement under standard conditions. For this reason the calculation of precipitable water vapor from the measurement of relative humidity and temperature is presented. It also discusses the uncertainty of the calculation taking the measurement errors of the meteorological variables. The calculation of precipitable water vapor in the region of the City of Buenos Aires in the daytime where measurement can be performed under standard is also shown.Fil: Tamasi, Mariana Julia Luisa. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Centro Atómico Constituyentes; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Martinez Bogado, Mónica Gladys. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Centro Atómico Constituyentes; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Bruno, C. J.. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Centro Atómico Constituyentes; Argentin

Cálculo del vapor de agua precipitable y evaluación de su incertidumbre

El vapor de agua precipitable es una de las variables meteorológicas a tener en cuenta en la medición de curvas tensión-corriente de paneles solares fotovoltaicos bajo condiciones normalizadas. Por este motivo se presenta el cálculo del vapor de agua precipitable a partir de la medición de humedad relativa y temperatura. Se analiza la incertidumbre del cálculo tomando incertidumbres típicas en la medición de las variables meteorológicas. Se completa el trabajo con el cálculo de vapor de agua precipitable para la región de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires en las horas del día donde se puede realizar la medición bajo norma.Precipitable water vapor is one of the important meteorological parameters necessary as input to photovoltaic solar panels measurement under standard conditions. For this reason the calculation of precipitable water vapor from the measurement of relative humidity and temperature is presented. It also discusses the uncertainty of the calculation taking the measurement errors of the meteorological variables. The calculation of precipitable water vapor in the region of the City of Buenos Aires in the daytime where measurement can be performed under standard is also shown.Fil: Tamasi, Mariana Julia Luisa. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Centro Atómico Constituyentes; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Martinez Bogado, Mónica Gladys. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Centro Atómico Constituyentes; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Bruno, C. J.. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Centro Atómico Constituyentes; Argentin

Life Project for Adolescents: A Concept Analysis

It is essential to identify protective factors during adolescence due to its high incidence on risk behaviors. One of these factors is to have a life project that influences adolescent decision-making. The concept of life project has mainly been linked to teen pregnancy, depression and suicide; however, some authors agree that the concept is not clearly defined. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to define the concept of adolescent life project, using the methodology developed by Walker and Avant for concept analysis. The following steps were followed are: select a concept, determining the purpose of analysis, identifying all uses of the concept, determining the defining attributes, identifying a model, a borderline and a contrary cases, identifying history and consequences of the concept, and finally defining empirical referents. After the analysis, the final definition of the concept of adolescent life project includes the set of desires, future plans and actions necessary to accomplish it that influence the adolescent decisions. Knowing the importance of this concept when working with adolescents may guide development more effective interventions

Low tortoise abundances in pine forest plantations in forest-shrubland transition areas

The Spanish Ministry of Science and European Regional Development Fund funded this work through Projects CGL2012-33536 and CGL2015- 64144; MINECIO/FEDER. Regional Government of the Community of Valencia supported R.R-C. by a postgraduate grant (ACIF/2010/133) and E.G. by a postdoctoral grant (APOSTD/2015/048).In the transition between Mediterranean forest and the arid subtropical shrublands of the southeastern Iberian Peninsula, humans have transformed habitat since ancient times. Understanding the role of the original mosaic landscapes in wildlife species and the effects of the current changes as pine forest plantations, performed even outside the forest ecological boundaries, are important conservation issues. We studied variation in the density of the endangered spur-thighed tortoise (Testudo graeca) in three areas that include the four most common land types within the species’ range (pine forests, natural shrubs, dryland crop fields, and abandoned crop fields). Tortoise densities were estimated using a two-stage modeling approach with line transect distance sampling. Densities in dryland crop fields, abandoned crop fields and natural shrubs were higher (>6 individuals/ha) than in pine forests (1.25 individuals/ha). We also found large variation in density in the pine forests. Recent pine plantations showed higher densities than mature pine forests where shrub and herbaceous cover was taller and thicker. We hypothesize that mature pine forest might constrain tortoise activity by acting as partial barriers to movements. This issue is relevant for management purposes given that large areas in the tortoise’s range have recently been converted to pine plantations.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Discovery and Timing of Millisecond Pulsars with the Arecibo 327 MHz Drift-Scan Survey

We present the discovery and timing solutions of four millisecond pulsars (MSPs) discovered in the Arecibo 327 MHz Drift-Scan Pulsar Survey. Three of these pulsars are in binary systems, consisting of a redback (PSR J2055+1545), a black widow (PSR J1630+3550), and a neutron star-white dwarf binary (PSR J2116+1345). The fourth MSP, PSR J2212+2450, is isolated. We present the multi-year timing solutions as well as polarization properties across a range of radio frequencies for each pulsar. We perform a multi-wavelength search for emission from these systems and find an optical counterpart for PSR J2055+1545 in Gaia DR3, as well as a gamma-ray counterpart for PSR J2116+1345 with the Fermi-LAT telescope. Despite the close co-location of PSR J2055+1545 with a Fermi source, we are unable to detect gamma-ray pulsations, likely due to the large orbital variability of the system. This work presents the first two binaries found by this survey with orbital periods shorter than a day; we expect to find more in the 40% of the survey data which have yet to be searched.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, 4 tables. Submitted to Ap

The inflammation in cutaneous lichen planus is dominated by IFN‐ϒ and IL‐21—A basis for therapeutic JAK1 inhibition

Cutaneous lichen planus (CLP) and psoriasis (PSO) are both common chronic inflammatory skin diseases for which development of new treatments requires the identification of key targets. While PSO is a typical Th17/IL-17-disorder, there is some evidence that Th1/IFN-ɣ dominate the inflammatory process in CLP. Nonetheless, the immunopathogenesis of CLP is not fully explained and key immunological factors still have to be recognized. In this study, we compared the immune signature of CLP lesions with the well-characterized inflammation present in PSO skin. First, we analysed the histological and immunohistological characteristics of CLP and PSO. Second, we assessed the cytokine expression (IL1A, IL1B, IL4, IL6, IL8, IL10, IL17A, IL19, IL21, IL22, IL23A, IL13, IFNG, TNF, IL12A, IL12B and IL36G) of lesional skin of CLP with PSO by qPCR. Histology revealed a similar epidermal thickness in CLP and PSO. Immunohistochemically, both diseases presented with an inflammatory infiltrate mainly composed by CD3+CD4+ T cells rather than CD3+CD8+. Importantly, mRNA analysis showed a distinct cytokine signature: while levels of IL12B, IL1A, IL6 and IL23 were similar between the two groups, the characteristic PSO-associated cytokines IL8, IL17A, IL22, IL19 and IL36G were expressed at very low levels in CLP. In contrast, CLP lesional skin was dominated by the expression of IFNG, IL21, IL4, IL12A and TNF. Immunohistochemistry confirmed the dominance of IL-21, IFN-ɣ and also pSTAT1 in the dermal infiltrate of CLP, while IL-17A was more present in PSO. Collectively, this study improves our understanding of the immunological factors dominating CLP. The dominating cytokines and signalling proteins identified suggest that anti-cytokine therapeutics like JAK inhibitors may be beneficial in CLP

Supporting Self-Management of Cardiovascular Diseases Through Remote Monitoring Technologies:Metaethnography Review of Frameworks, Models, and Theories Used in Research and Development

Background: Electronic health (eHealth) is a rapidly evolving field informed by multiple scientific disciplines. Because of this, the use of different terms and concepts to explain the same phenomena and lack of standardization in reporting interventions often leaves a gap that hinders knowledge accumulation. Interventions focused on self-management support of cardiovascular diseases through the use of remote monitoring technologies are a cross-disciplinary area potentially affected by this gap. A review of the underlying frameworks, models, and theories that have informed projects at this crossroad could advance future research and development efforts. Objective: This research aimed to identify and compare underlying approaches that have informed interventions focused on self-management support of cardiovascular diseases through the use of remote monitoring technologies. The objective was to achieve an understanding of the distinct approaches by highlighting common or conflicting principles, guidelines, and methods. Methods: The metaethnography approach was used to review and synthesize researchers' reports on how they applied frameworks, models, and theories in their projects. Literature was systematically searched in 7 databases: Scopus, Web of Science, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Association for Computing Machinery Digital Library, and Cochrane Library. Included studies were thoroughly read and coded to extract data for the synthesis. Studies were mainly related by the key ingredients of the underlying approaches they applied. The key ingredients were finally translated across studies and synthesized into thematic clusters. Results: Of 1224 initial results, 17 articles were included. The articles described research and development of 10 different projects. Frameworks, models, and theories (n=43) applied by the projects were identified. Key ingredients (n=293) of the included articles were mapped to the following themes of eHealth development: (1) it is a participatory process; (2) it creates new infrastructures for improving health care, health, and well-being; (3) it is intertwined with implementation; (4) it integrates theory, evidence, and participatory approaches for persuasive design; (5) it requires continuous evaluation cycles; (6) it targets behavior change; (7) it targets technology adoption; and (8) it targets health-related outcomes. Conclusions: The findings of this review support and exemplify the numerous possibilities in the use of frameworks, models, and theories to guide research and development of eHealth. Participatory, user-centered design, and integration with empirical evidence and theoretical modeling were widely identified principles in the literature. On the contrary, less attention has been given to the integration of implementation in the development process and supporting novel eHealth-based health care infrastructures. To better integrate theory and evidence, holistic approaches can combine patient-centered studies with consolidated knowledge from expert-based approaches

Differential protein expression of hippocampal cells associated with heavy metals (Pb, As, and MeHg) neurotoxicity::Deepening into the molecular mechanism of neurodegenerative diseases

Chronic exposure to heavy metals such as Pb, As, and MeHg can be associated with an increased risk of developing neurodegenerative diseases. Our in vitro bioassays results showed the potency of heavy metals in the order of Pb &lt;As &lt;MeHg on hippocampal cells. The main objective of this study was combining in vitro label free proteomics and systems biology approach for elucidating patterns of biological response, discovering underlying mechanisms of Pb, As, and MeHg toxicity in hippocampal cells. The omics data was refined by using different filters and normalization and multilevel analysis tools were employed to explore the data visualization. The functional and pathway visualization was performed by using Gene ontology and PathVisio tools. Using these all integrated approaches, we identified significant proteins across treatments within the mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, ubiquitin proteome dysfunction, and mRNA splicing related to neurodegenerative diseases. The systems biology analysis revealed significant alterations in proteins implicated in Parkinson's disease (PD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). The current proteomics analysis of three metals support the insight into the proteins involved in neurodegeneration and the altered proteins can be useful for metal-specific biomarkers of exposure and its adverse effects.Significance: The proteomics techniques have been claimed to be more sensitive than the conventional toxicological assays, facilitating the measurement of responses to heavy metals (Pb, As, and MeHg) exposure before obvious harm has occurred demonstrating their predictive value. Also, proteomics allows for the comparison of responses between Pb, As, and MeHg metals, permitting the evaluation of potency differences hippocampal cells of the brain. Hereby, the molecular information provided by pathway and gene functional analysis can be used to develop a more thorough understanding of each metal mechanism at the protein level for different neurological adverse outcomes (e.g. Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's diseases). Efforts are put into developing proteomics based toxicity testing methods using in vitro models for improving human risk assessment. Some of the key proteins identified can also potentially be used as biomarkers in epidemiologic studies. These heavy metal response patterns shed new light on the mechanisms of mRNA splicing, ubiquitin pathway role in neurodegeneration, and can be useful for the development of molecular biomarkers of heavy metals exposure.</p