Effect of home-based walking on performance and quality of life in patients with heart failure

Introduction: Chronic heart failure defined as the inability of the heart to meet the demands of the tissues, which results in symptoms of fatigue or dyspnoea on energy progressing to dyspnoea at rest. The inability to perform the exercise without discomfort and poor quality of life may be one of the first symptoms experienced by patients with heart failure and is often the principal reason for seeking medical care. Objectives: The aim of the study was to find the effect of a home walking programme on the performance and quality of life in the patients with heart failure. Methods and results: Sixty patients with New York Heart Association class II and III heart failure were divided into two matched and equal groups. The quality of life scores and 6-minute walking scores were measured for each patient at entry and after 8weeks. Both groups were followed for 8weeks. The results showed between mean walking distance on the 6minutes at entry and after 8weeks in the training group (p<0.001), but no significance was seen between the control groups (p=0.351). Furthermore, results showed a significant difference between mean of quality of life scores at entry and after 8weeks in the training group, but such significance was not reported between before and after control group scores. Conclusion: The home-based walking showed improvement in the performance, exercise tolerance time and quality of life in heart failure patients. Therefore, Nurses should employ alternatives such as home exercises in the caring of heart failure patients. © 2012 Nordic College of Caring Science

Satisfaction with Appearance and the Desired Treatment to Improve Aesthetics

Objective. To identify participants’ satisfaction with appearance and the desired treatment to improve aesthetics. Materials and Methods. 220 participants (127 males and 93 females, mean age = 21.4 ± 1.5 years) were recruited into the study. A structured questionnaire was used to assess patients’ satisfaction with appearance and what treatment they desire to improve aesthetics. Participants scored the level of satisfaction with appearance using visual analogue scale. Results. The VAS mean score of satisfaction with general appearance was 6.8 ± 2.3. Half participants were dissatisfied with tooth appearance and 65.9% were dissatisfied with tooth colour. Higher VAS scores were associated with higher desire for all treatments that improve tooth appearance (). Dissatisfaction with tooth appearance increased with increased dissatisfaction with teeth colour, feeling of poor tooth alignment, presence of fractured anterior teeth, and increased desire for orthodontic, crowns, and dentures treatments (). Dissatisfaction with tooth colour was associated with increased desire for tooth whitening and tooth coloured fillings (). Conclusions. Participants had high levels of dissatisfaction with tooth appearance and tooth colour. Dissatisfaction with tooth colour contributed to the increased dissatisfaction with tooth appearance. Dissatisfaction with tooth appearance, colour, alignment, and condition was significantly related to high desire for aesthetic treatments

Satisfaction with Appearance and the Desired Treatment to Improve Aesthetics

Objective. To identify participants&apos; satisfaction with appearance and the desired treatment to improve aesthetics. Materials and Methods. 220 participants (127 males and 93 females, mean age = 21.4 ± 1.5 years) were recruited into the study. A structured questionnaire was used to assess patients&apos; satisfaction with appearance and what treatment they desire to improve aesthetics. Participants scored the level of satisfaction with appearance using visual analogue scale. Results. The VAS mean score of satisfaction with general appearance was 6.8 ± 2.3. Half participants were dissatisfied with tooth appearance and 65.9% were dissatisfied with tooth colour. Higher VAS scores were associated with higher desire for all treatments that improve tooth appearance ( &lt; .05). Dissatisfaction with tooth appearance increased with increased dissatisfaction with teeth colour, feeling of poor tooth alignment, presence of fractured anterior teeth, and increased desire for orthodontic, crowns, and dentures treatments ( &lt; .05). Dissatisfaction with tooth colour was associated with increased desire for tooth whitening and tooth coloured fillings ( &lt; .05). Conclusions. Participants had high levels of dissatisfaction with tooth appearance and tooth colour. Dissatisfaction with tooth colour contributed to the increased dissatisfaction with tooth appearance. Dissatisfaction with tooth appearance, colour, alignment, and condition was significantly related to high desire for aesthetic treatments

Edge States of Monolayer and Bilayer Graphene Nanoribbons

On the basis of tight-binding lattice model, the edge states of monolayer and bilayer graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) with different edge terminations are studied. The effects of edge-hopping modulation, spin-orbital coupling (SOC), and bias voltage on bilayer GNRs are discussed. We observe the following: (i) Some new extra edge states can be created by edge-hopping modulation for monolayer GNRs. (ii) Intralayer Rashba SOC plays a role in depressing the band energy gap $E_g$ opened by intrinsic SOC for both monolayer and bilayer GNRs. An almost linear dependent relation, i.e., $E_g\sim \lambda_R$, is found. (iii) Although the bias voltage favors a bulk energy gap for bilayer graphene without intrinsic SOC, it tends to reduce the gap induced by intrinsic SOC. (iv) The topological phase of the quantum spin Hall effect can be destroyed completely by interlayer Rashba SOC for bilayer GNRs.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

Enhancement of the superconducting transition temperature from the competition between electron-electron correlations and electron-phonon interactions

We uncover that the competition between electron-electron correlations and electron-phonon interactions gives rise to unexpectedly huge enhancement of the superconducting transition temperature, several hundreds percent larger ($\geq$ 200 K) than that of the case when only one of the two is taken into account ($\sim$ 30 K). Our renormalization group analysis claims that this mechanism for the enhancement of the critical temperature is not limited on superconductivity but applied to various Fermi surface instabilities, proposing an underlying universal structure, which turns out to be essentially identical to that of a recent study [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 108}, 046601 (2012)] on the enhancement of the Kondo temperature in the presence of Rashba spin-orbit interactions. We also discuss the stability of superconductivity against nonmagnetic randomness

Zoonotic Bartonella species in Eurasian wolves and other free-ranging wild mammals from Italy

Bartonellae are emerging vector-borne pathogens infecting humans, domestic mammals and wildlife. Ninety-seven red foxes (Vulpes vulpes), 8 European badgers (Meles meles), 6 Eurasian wolves (Canis lupus), 6 European hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus), 3 beech martens (Martes foina) and 2 roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) from Italian Nature Conservatory Parks were investigated for Bartonella infection. Several Bartonella species (9.84%; 95% CI: 4.55–15.12), including zoonotic ones, were molecularly detected among wolves (83.3%; 95% CI: 51–100.00), foxes (4.12%; 95% CI: 0.17–8.08), hedgehogs (33.33%; 95% CI: 0.00–71.05) and a roe deer. Bartonella rochalimae was the most common Bartonella species (i.e. in 4 foxes and 2 wolves) detected. Candidatus B. merieuxii and B. vinsonii subsp. berkhoffii were identified for the first time in wolves. Furthermore, Bartonella schoenbuchensis was identified in a roe deer and a new clone with phylogenetic proximity to B. clarridgeiae was detected in European hedgehogs. Zoonotic and other Bartonella species were significantly more frequent in Eurasian wolves (p <.0001), than in other free-ranging wild mammals, representing a potential reservoir for infection in humans and domestic animals

Exome sequencing identifies novel AD-associated genes

The genetic component of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has been mainly assessed using Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS), which do not capture the risk contributed by rare variants. Here, we compared the gene-based burden of rare damaging variants in exome sequencing data from 32,558 individuals —16,036 AD cases and 16,522 controls— in a two-stage analysis. Next to known genes TREM2, SORL1 and ABCA7, we observed a significant association of rare, predicted damaging variants in ATP8B4 and ABCA1 with AD risk, and a suggestive signal in ADAM10. Next to these genes, the rare variant burden in RIN3, CLU, ZCWPW1 and ACE highlighted these genes as potential driver genes in AD-GWAS loci. Rare damaging variants in these genes, and in particular loss-of-function variants, have a large effect on AD-risk, and they are enriched in early onset AD cases. The newly identified AD-associated genes provide additional evidence for a major role for APP-processing, Aβ-aggregation, lipid metabolism and microglial function in AD