1,931 research outputs found
Visual search for apparent-length targets is modulated by the Müller-Lyer illusion
Is apparent object size represented in pre-attentive vision and can it influence visual search for size-defined targets in a spatially parallel manner? This question was investigated, using the Müller-Lyer illusion. Observers searched for a target line that was longer than the distractor lines. Test lines could be presented without context arrows (control); be adjoined by obtuse-angle context arrows (arrow heads pointing inward), making the lines appear longer; or by acute-angle arrows (heads pointing outward), making the lines appear shorter. These apparent-length modulations were larger for the target than for the distractor lines, thereby increasing and, respectively, decreasing the target–distractor length contrast. In line with these changes in contrast, target detection was found to be expedited by obtuse-angle arrows and impeded by acute-angle arrows, independently of the number of elements in the display. This finding provides further evidence for the pre-attentive processing of apparent object size
Acupuncture for Relief of Gag Reflex in Patients Undergoing Transoesophageal Echocardiography—A Protocol for a Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial
Background: Gagging during transesophageal echocardiography examination (TEE) can be distressing and even dangerous for patients. The needling of acupuncture point CV24 was described to be effective in reducing the gag reflex during TEE in patients with ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack. Methods: We describe a proposal for a prospective, randomized, patient, practitioner and assessor-blinded, single-center trial with two arms/groups; real acupuncture will be compared to placebo acupuncture. A total of 60 (30 per group) patients scheduled for elective TEE in order to exclude a cardiac embolic source, endocarditis or for valve failure evaluation will be recruited according to patients’ selection criteria and receive either indwelling fixed intradermal needles at acupoints CV24 and bilateral PC6 or placebo needles at the same areas. Patients, the practitioners who will perform the TEE procedure, and the assessor of the outcome measures will be unaware of the group’s (real or placebo) allocation. Results: The primary outcome is the intensity of gagging, measured using verbal rating scale (VRS-11) from 0 = no gagging to 10 = intolerable gagging. Secondary outcomes include the incidence of gagging, the use of rescue medication, patients’ satisfaction with relief of unwanted side effects during TEE procedure, success of patients’ blinding (patients’ opinion to group allocation), heart rate and oxygen saturation measured by pulse oxymetry. Conclusions: To study the effects of acupuncture against gagging during TEE, we test the needling of acupoints CV24 and PC6 bilaterally. A placebo acupuncture is used for the control group. Trial registration number: NCT NCT0382142
The Alzheimer variant of Lewy body disease: A pathologically confirmed case-control study
The objective of the study was to identify clinical features that distinguish patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), who were classified as Alzheimer's disease ( AD) patients, from patients with AD. We examined a group of 27 patients from our memory clinic, originally diagnosed with AD, of whom 6 were postmortem found to have DLB. For the present study, we compared cognitive, noncognitive and neurological symptoms between the two groups. We found that there were no differences on ratings of dementia and scales for activities of daily living. Patients with DLB performed better on the MMSE and the memory subtest of the CAMCOG, but there was no difference in any other cognitive domain. Furthermore, genetic risk factors, including family history of dementia or allele frequency of the apolipoprotein epsilon 4, did not discriminate between the two groups, and there were no differences on CCT scans. Taken together, our findings suggest that Lewy body pathology may be present in patients who do not show the typical clinical features which distinguish DLB from AD. Copyright (C) 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel
The semisolid bolus swallow test for clinical diagnosis of oropharyngeal dysphagia: a prospective randomised study
Contrary to clinical experience, clinical swallow tests are predominantly performed using water (water swallow tests, WST). In this study, we examine whether swallow tests performed using a bolus of semisolid food (bolus swallow test, BST) offer benefits. In a prospective, randomised, blind study, the results of a standardised saliva swallow test (SST), WST, BST, combinations of these tests and an endoscopic swallow test (FEES) in patients with oropharyngeal swallowing disorders of neurological (NEU) and non-neurological (NNEU) origin were compared. Sensitivity, specificity, test accuracy and inter-rater reliability were analysed. 62 patients (mean age = 64.68; range = 22–84) were included in the study (NEU = 40; NNEU = 22). A sensitivity of 70.7% (NEU = 70.3%, NNEU = 71.4%) and specificity of 82.5% (NEU = 92.3%; NNEU = 100%) were determined for the WST. The BST + SST was found to have a sensitivity of 89.6% (NEU = 66.7%; NNEU = 90.9%) and a specificity of 72.7% (NEU = 87.5%; NNEU = 90.9%). Analysis of test accuracy showed a statistically significant correlation between FEES and BST + SST. Only BST + SST exhibited statistically significant inter-rater reliability. BST in combination with SST was the sensitive clinical instrument for detecting aspiration both over the patient population as a whole and over the two sub-populations. Inter-rater reliability was found to be statistically significant. The results presented here demonstrate the benefit of semisolid food in investigating clinical dysphagia
Electron spin polarization in field emission from nickel: effects of surface adsorbates
Müller N. Electron spin polarization in field emission from nickel: effects of surface adsorbates. Physics Letters, A. 1975;54(5):415-416.Spin polarization of electrons field emitted from certain faces of more or less clean nickel is observed. The preferential spin direction is proved to depend on the crystal direction and on the adsorbate contamination of the face
Determining and modelling a complete time-temperature-transformation diagram for a Pt-based metallic glass former through combination of conventional and fast scanning calorimetry
State of the art fast differential scanning calorimetry (FDSC) is used to complement conventional differential
scanning calorimetry (DSC) studies about the isothermal time-temperature-transformation (TTT) diagram of the
bulk metallic glass forming liquid Pt42.5Cu27Ni9.5P21 to allow a comprehensive study of the crystallization kinetics of this system over a broad temperature range. FDSC and DSC data align well in the low-temperature
region of the crystallization nose but show distinct discrepancies in the high-temperature region as the FDSC
studies reveal faster crystallization times. The results are mathematically described and discussed based on the
Johnson-Mehl-Avrami-Kolmogorov (JMAK) equation. Thereby, either homogeneous or heterogeneous nucleation
is assumed, depending on the respective experimental conditions in FDSC and DSC studies. With this approach,
the complete TTT diagram can be modelled as superposition of two sequential JMAK fits
Aspects of outpatient palliative care in Germany - a survey among office-based physicians
Background: Currently, palliative care is widely discussed. The aim of this study is to explore different aspects of the ambulatory treatment environment of palliative care patients and its structure in Germany from the viewpoint of caring physicians. Methods: A structured questionnaire was developed and sent to 1,003 office-based physicians in Germany. Topics were the delivery and effort of care, cooperation among health care providers, the subjective assessment of existing health care structures, the reimbursement system, as well as an assessment of future developments. Sub-group analyses were conducted. Results: Three hundred fourteen questionnaires were included in the statistical analyses. Fifty percent of physicians estimate the additional time and effort for palliative care patients compared to non-palliative care patients to be 50% and more. The best cooperation is seen with caregivers; however, cooperation with psycho-social care providers should be improved. Fifty percent describe the outpatient health care situation as (very) insufficient, but improvements are expected in the future. Ninety percent assess German reimbursement structures as (very) insufficient. Conclusions: This study gives an insight into the German outpatient health care setting for palliative care patients. Palliative care patients have higher and more complex needs with respect to health care than other patients. Further studies should focus on the collection of longitudinal patient data for more comprehensive insight
Resolving desorption of complex organic molecules in a hot core: Transition from non-thermal to thermal desorption or two-step thermal desorption?
Using the high angular resolution provided by the ALMA interferometre we want
to resolve the COM emission in the hot molecular core Sagittarius B2(N1) and
thereby shed light on the desorption process of Complex Organic Molecules
(COMs) in hot cores. We use data taken as part of the 3 mm spectral line survey
Re-exploring Molecular Complexity with ALMA (ReMoCA) to investigate the
morphology of COM emission in Sagittarius B2(N1). Spectra of ten COMs are
modelled under the assumption of LTE and population diagrams are derived for
positions at various distances to the south and west from the continuum peak.
Based on this analysis, resolved COM rotation temperature and COM abundance
profiles are derived. Based on the morphology, a rough separation into O- and
N-bearing COMs can be done. Temperature profiles are in agreement with
expectations of protostellar heating of an envelope with optically thick dust.
Abundance profiles reflect a similar trend as seen in the morphology and, to a
great extent, agree with results of astrochemical models that, besides the
co-desorption with water, predict that O-bearing COMs are mainly formed on dust
grain surfaces at low temperatures while at least some N-bearing COMs and
CHCHO are substantially formed in the gas phase at higher temperatures. Our
observational results, in comparison with model predictions, suggest that COMs
that are exclusively or to a great extent formed on dust grains desorb
thermally at ~100 K from the grain surface likely alongside water. Non-zero
abundance values below ~100 K suggest that another desorption process is at
work at these low temperatures: either non-thermal desorption or partial
thermal desorption related to lower binding energies experienced by COMs in the
outer, water-poor ice layers. In either case, this is the first time that the
transition between two regimes of COM desorption has been resolved in a hot
core.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&
Automatic measurement of departing times in smartphone alerting systems: A pilot study
Aim
Smartphone alerting systems (SAS) alert volunteers in close vicinity of suspected out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Some systems use sophisticated algorithms to select those who will probably arrive first. Precise estimation of departing times and travel times may help to further improve algorithms. We developed a global positioning system (GPS) based method for automatic measurements of departing times. The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate feasibility and precision of the method.
Methods
Region of Lifesavers alerting app (iOS/ Android, version 3.0, FirstAED ApS, Denmark) was used in this study. 27 experiments were performed with 9 students, who were instructed to stay in their flats during the study days. A geofence was set for each alarm in the alerting system with a radius of 10 m (8 cases), 15 m (10 cases), and 20 m (9 cases) around the GPS position at which the alarm was accepted in the app. The system logged responders as being departed when the smartphone position was registered outside the geofence. The students were instructed to manually start a stopwatch at the time of the alert and to stop the stopwatch once they had entered the street in front of their flat.
Results
The median difference between automatically and manually retrieved times were −16 seconds [interquartile range IQR 50 seconds] (geofence 10 m), 30 seconds [IQR 25 seconds] (15 m), and 20 seconds [IQR 13 seconds] (20 m), respectively. The 20 m geofence was associated with the smallest interquartile range.
Conclusion
Departing times of volunteer responders in SAS can be retrieved automatically using GPS and a geofence
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