1,297 research outputs found
Estimating poisoning substance amounts: Comparative study of the accuracy of health care professionals and non-practitioners
Objective. Intentional or unintentional
substance intoxications are common in
patients presenting to the Emergency
Department (ED). When we treat intoxicated
patients, it is important to know the
amount of drug ingestion. We invested the
actual amount of semi-quantitative term
expressed by patients, and investigated the
accuracy of amount estimates by the public
and healthcare professionals.
Participants and interventions. 200 volunteers
(86 health care providers and 114
non-practitioners) participated. Participants
grabbed the 3 types of tablets (5mm,
10mm, and 15mm) in handfuls and fistfuls
and estimated the tablet amounts. Actual
amounts were measured. 100 volunteers
(58 health care providers and 41 non-practitioners)
participated in the investigation
of accuracy of liquid amount estimation.
Participant ingested water in 2.6 cm diameter
bottle in response to request to take 1
sip, 1 mouthful, and 3 sips.
Results. The estimated tablet counts became
more accurate in terms of both fistfuls
and handfuls as the size increased
within the same shape classification. Participants
tended to underestimate the
counts of oval-shaped tablets to a greater
extent than round tablets of the same
size. The estimated liquids both groups of
participants tended to underestimate the
amounts but both groups overestimated
the volumes when drinking 3 continuous
sips. In tablets and liquids, there were no
statistically significant differences in accuracy
between the groups.
Conclusions. When approaching intoxicated
patients who have visited emergency
department (ED), treatment should be implemented
based on the assumption that
the actual ingested amounts are higher
than the amounts estimated by patients
Relation between Obesity and Bone Mineral Density and Vertebral Fractures in Korean Postmenopausal Women
PURPOSE: The traditional belief that obesity is protective against osteoporosis has been questioned. Recent epidemiologic studies show that body fat itself may be a risk factor for osteoporosis and bone fractures. Accumulating evidence suggests that metabolic syndrome and the individual components of metabolic syndrome such as hypertension, increased triglycerides, and reduced high-density lipoprotein cholesterol are also risk factors for low bone mineral density. Using a cross sectional study design, we evaluated the associations between obesity or metabolic syndrome and bone mineral density (BMD) or vertebral fracture.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 907 postmenopausal healthy female subjects, aged 60-79 years, were recruited from woman hospitals in Seoul, South Korea. BMD, vetebral fracture, bone markers, and body composition including body weight, body mass index (BMI), percentage body fat, and waist circumference were measured.
RESULTS: After adjusting for age, smoking status, alcohol consumption, total calcium intake, and total energy intake, waist circumference was negatively related to BMD of all sites (lumbar BMD p = 0.037, all sites of femur BMD p < 0.001) whereas body weight was still positively related to BMD of all sites (p < 0.001). Percentage body fat and waist circumference were much higher in the fracture group than the non-fracture group (p = 0.0383, 0.082 respectively). Serum glucose levels were positively correlated to lumbar BMD (p = 0.016), femoral neck BMD (p = 0.0335), and femoral trochanter BMD (p = 0.0082). Serum high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC) was positively related to femoral trochanter BMD (p = 0.0366) and was lower in the control group than the fracture group (p = 0.011).
CONCLUSION: In contrast to the effect favorable body weight on bone mineral density, high percentage body fat and waist circumference are related to low BMD and a vertebral fracture. Some components of metabolic syndrome were related to BMD and a vertebral fractureope
Squeezing Limit of the Josephson Ring Modulator as a Non-Degenerate Parametric Amplifier
Two-mode squeezed vacuum states are a crucial component of quantum
technologies. In the microwave domain, they can be produced by Josephson ring
modulator which acts as a three-wave mixing non-degenerate parametric
amplifier. Here, we solve the master equation of three bosonic modes describing
the Josephson ring modulator with a novel numerical method to compute squeezing
of output fields and gain at low signal power. We show that the third-order
interaction from the three-wave mixing process intrinsically limits squeezing
and reduces gain. Since our results are related to other general cavity-based
three-wave mixing processes, these imply that any non-degenerate parametric
amplifier will have an intrinsic squeezing limit in the output fields.Comment: 6+6 pages, 4 figure
Bound for Gaussian-state Quantum illumination using direct photon measurement
We present bound for quantum illumination with Gaussian state when using
on-off detector or photon number resolving detector, where its performance is
evaluated with signal-to-noise ratio. First, in the case of coincidence
counting, the best performance is given by two-mode squeezed vacuum (TMSV)
state which outperforms coherent state and classically correlated thermal (CCT)
state. However coherent state can beat the TMSV state with increasing signal
mean photon number when using the on-off detector. Second, the performance is
enhanced by taking Fisher information approach of all counting probabilities
including non-detection events. In the Fisher information approach, the TMSV
state still presents the best performance but the CCT state can beat the TMSV
state with increasing signal mean photon number when using the on-off detector.
We also show that displaced squeezed state exhibits the best performance in the
single-mode Gaussian state.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, comments welcom
Effects of Textural Properties on the Response of a SnO2-Based Gas Sensor for the Detection of Chemical Warfare Agents
The sensing behavior of SnO2-based thick film gas sensors in a flow system in the presence of a very low concentration (ppb level) of chemical agent simulants such as acetonitrile, dipropylene glycol methyl ether (DPGME), dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP), and dichloromethane (DCM) was investigated. Commercial SnO2 [SnO2(C)] and nano-SnO2 prepared by the precipitation method [SnO2(P)] were used to prepare the SnO2 sensor in this study. In the case of DCM and acetonitrile, the SnO2(P) sensor showed higher sensor response as compared with the SnO2(C) sensors. In the case of DMMP and DPGME, however, the SnO2(C) sensor showed higher responses than those of the SnO2(P) sensors. In particular, the response of the SnO2(P) sensor increased as the calcination temperature increased from 400 °C to 800 °C. These results can be explained by the fact that the response of the SnO2-based gas sensor depends on the textural properties of tin oxide and the molecular size of the chemical agent simulant in the detection of the simulant gases (0.1–0.5 ppm)
Potential benefit of a screening tool in selecting head-injured children aged 36 months or younger who can cooperate in computed tomography
Purpose We aimed to investigate the benefit of a screening tool in selecting head-injured children who can potentially cooperate with computed tomography (CT). Methods The study population consisted of head-injured children aged 36 months or younger who visited the emergency department (ED) and underwent CT from January 2013 through December 2020. Procedural sedation and analgesia (PSA) using per os chloral hydrate or per rectal thiopental was implemented to children presumed less cooperative for CT as per a clinical screening tool for cooperative candidates for CT (e.g., ability to lie still on bed for 10 seconds without a guardian). According to the PSA and the first attempt success of CT, we compared baseline characteristics, CT findings, clinically important traumatic brain injury, ED length of stay (EDLOS), and ED disposition. Results Among the 247 children, PSA was used in 102 (41.3%). The PSA group showed a higher proportion of 3-36 months of age (PSA, 96.1% vs. non-PSA, 82.8%; P = 0.001) and longer median EDLOS (PSA, 127.0 [interquartile range, 101.0-172.0] vs. non-PSA, 85.0 minutes [63.0-130.0]; P < 0.001). The number of children undergoing the first attempt success was 213 (86.2%) without a difference in both groups (PSA, 84.3% vs. non-PSA, 87.6%; P = 0.645). In the 213 children, the implementation of PSA was associated with longer median EDLOS (PSA, 121.0 [99.0-156.0] vs. non-PSA, 77.0 minutes [60.0-122.0]; P < 0.001). In the non-PSA group (n = 145), the first attempt failure was associated with the presence of skull fracture (success, 7.1% vs. failure, 27.8%; P = 0.009). Conclusion This study suggests a potential benefit of the screening tool in selecting cooperative candidates for CT, i.e., those who could forgo PSA using oral chloral hydrate or per rectal thiopental, in young children with head injury
Gaussian Quantum Illumination via Monotone Metrics
Quantum illumination is to discern the presence or absence of a low
reflectivity target, where the error probability decays exponentially in the
number of copies used. When the target reflectivity is small so that it is hard
to distinguish target presence or absence, the exponential decay constant falls
into a class of objects called monotone metrics. We evaluate monotone metrics
restricted to Gaussian states in terms of first-order moments and covariance
matrix. Under the assumption of a low reflectivity target, we explicitly derive
analytic formulae for decay constant of an arbitrary Gaussian input state.
Especially, in the limit of large background noise and low reflectivity, there
is no need of symplectic diagonalization which usually complicates the
computation of decay constants. First, we show that two-mode squeezed vacuum
(TMSV) states are the optimal probe among pure Gaussian states with fixed
signal mean photon number. Second, as an alternative to preparing TMSV states
with high mean photon number, we show that preparing a TMSV state with low mean
photon number and displacing the signal mode is a more experimentally feasible
setup without degrading the performance that much. Third, we show that it is of
utmost importance to prepare an efficient idler memory to beat coherent states
and provide analytic bounds on the idler memory transmittivity in terms of
signal power, background noise, and idler memory noise. Finally, we identify
the region of physically possible correlations between the signal and idler
modes that can beat coherent states.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figure
A New Hardware Correlator in Korea: Performance Evaluation using KVN observations
We report results of the performance evaluation of a new hardware correlator
in Korea, the Daejeon correlator, developed by the Korea Astronomy and Space
Science Institute (KASI) and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
(NAOJ). We conducted Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) observations at
22~GHz with the Korean VLBI Network (KVN) in Korea and the VLBI Exploration of
Radio Astrometry (VERA) in Japan, and correlated the aquired data with the
Daejeon correlator. For evaluating the performance of the new hardware
correlator, we compared the correlation outputs from the Daejeon correlator for
KVN observations with those from a software correlator, the Distributed FX
(DiFX). We investigated the correlated flux densities and brightness
distributions of extragalactic compact radio sources. The comparison of the two
correlator outputs show that they are consistent with each other within ,
which is comparable with the amplitude calibration uncertainties of KVN
observations at 22~GHz. We also found that the 8\% difference in flux density
is caused mainly by (a) the difference in the way of fringe phase tracking
between the DiFX software correlator and the Daejeon hardware correlator, and
(b) an unusual pattern (a double-layer pattern) of the amplitude correlation
output from the Daejeon correlator. The visibility amplitude loss by the
double-layer pattern is as small as 3\%. We conclude that the new hardware
correlator produces reasonable correlation outputs for continuum observations,
which are consistent with the outputs from the DiFX software correlator.Comment: 13 pagee, 9 figures, 3 tables, to appear in JKAS (received February
9, 2015; accepted March 16, 2015
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