Aspects and challenges of mashup creator design

With the advent of Web 2.0, an increasing number of web sites has started offering their data over the web in standard formats and exposed their functionality as APIs. A new type of applications has taken advantage of the new data and services available by mixing them, in order to generate new applications fast and efficiently, getting its name from its own architectural style: mashups. A set of applications that aims to help a user create, deploy and manage his mashups has also emerged, using various approaches. In this paper we discuss the key factors that should be taken into consideration when designing a mashup creator, along with the most important challenges that offer a field for research.Comment: 5 pages, 14th Panhellenic Conference on Informatics (PCI2010), September 10-12 2010, Tripoli, Greec

Mechanisms, Risk Factors, and Management of Acquired Long QT Syndrome: A Comprehensive Review

Long QT syndrome is characterized by prolongation of the corrected QT (QTc) interval on the surface electrocardiogram and is associated with precipitation of torsade de pointes (TdP), a polymorphic ventricular tachycardia that may cause sudden death. Acquired long QT syndrome describes pathologic excessive prolongation of the QT interval, upon exposure to an environmental stressor, with reversion back to normal following removal of the stressor. The most common environmental stressor in acquired long QT syndrome is drug therapy. Acquired long QT syndrome is an important issue for clinicians and a significant public health problem concerning the large number of drugs with this adverse effect with a potentially fatal outcome, the large number of patients exposed to these drugs, and our inability to predict the risk for a given individual. In this paper, we focus on mechanisms underlying QT prolongation, risk factors for torsades de pointes and describe the short- and long-term treatment of acquired long QT syndrome

Cardiovascular changes after administration of aerosolized salbutamol in horses: five cases

Prevention and treatment of intraoperative hypoxemia in horses is difficult and both efficacy and safety of therapeutic maneuvers have to be taken into account. Inhaled salbutamol has been suggested as treatment of hypoxia in horses during general anesthesia, due to safety and ease of the technique. The present report describes the occurrence of clinically relevant unwanted cardiovascular effects (i.e. tachycardia and blood pressure modifications) in 5 horses undergoing general anesthesia in dorsal recumbency after salbutamol inhalation. Balanced anesthesia based on inhalation of isoflurane in oxygen or oxygen and air and continuous rate infusion (CRI) of lidocaine, romifidine, or combination of lidocaine and guaifenesine and ketamine was provided. Supportive measures were necessary to restore normal cardiovascular function in all horses but no long-term adverse effects were noticed in any of the cases

Changes in utilization of community mental health services in three boroughs of Athens (1979/1983-2000/2004)

Background and Objectives: Several investigators reported that there is a gap between prevalence of mental disorders and utilization of mental health services. The trends in help -seeking from two Community Mental Health Centers (CMHC) serving three boroughs in Athens and having identical organizational profile were examined. Method: Utilization rates were compared for the first four years of operation (1979-1983) of the first CMHC in Greece and the corresponding first years 2000-2004 of the most recent CMHC in the country. The sociodemographic characteristics of both catchment areas were almost identical. Results: In the years 2000-2003 the time of untreated mental disorders was found to be lower than that of 1979-1983. Moreover only 4.6% of clients of the first CMHC were self referred contrasting the 51.7% of their counterparts of the second Center. More than 50% of persons, who have visited the second Center reported that this Center was the first psychiatric service in their life. Additionally between the years 2000-2004, the treated prevalence of depression was found to be much higher than that in the years 1979-1983. Conclusions: Apparently these findings are probably linked with opinion changes towards psychiatry and mental illness, ability of early recognition of psychopathological symptoms, as well as, the attitudinal change in the need for help-seeking

Measuring public attitudes to severe mental illness in Greece: Development of a new scale

Background and Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to develop an attitudinal schedule, the Attitudes to Severe Mental Illness (ASMI) scale, which synthesizes elements from different conceptual frameworks of the field, while addressing gaps on the existing literature on stigma measurement. Methods: A national representative sample of 2039 adults from the general population was interviewed by telephone. Results: Factor analysis revealed 4 factors to underlie the data, namely "stereotyping" "optimism", "coping" and "understanding", which explained 67% of total variance. The instrument's face and predictive validity were also supported, while its internal consistency and test -retest reliability were found to be high for the overall scale and its factors. Conclusions: Consistent with these, the ASMI scale emerges as a valid and reliable tool for the assessment of attitudes towards severe mental illness, while it opens new directions for advancing scientific understanding of the topic