29,360 research outputs found
Spatial and observational homogeneities of the galaxy distribution in standard cosmologies
This work discusses the possible empirical verification of the geometrical
concept of homogeneity of the standard relativistic cosmology considering its
various definitions of distance. We study the physical consequences of the
distinction between the usual concept of spatial homogeneity (SH), as defined
by the Cosmological Principle, and the concept of observational homogeneity
(OH), arguing that OH is in principle falsifiable by means of astronomical
observations, whereas verifying SH is only possible indirectly. Simulated
counts of cosmological sources are produced by means of a generalized
number-distance expression that can be specialized to produce either the counts
of the Einstein-de Sitter (EdS) cosmology, which has SH by construction, or
other types of counts, which do, or do not, have OH by construction.
Expressions for observational volumes and differential densities are derived
with the various cosmological distance definitions in the EdS model. Simulated
counts that have OH by construction do not always exhibit SH features. The
reverse situation is also true. Besides, simulated counts with no OH features
at low redshift start showing OH characteristics at high redshift. The comoving
distance seems to be the only distance definition where both SH and OH appear
simultaneously. The results show that observations indicating possible lack of
OH do not necessarily falsify the standard Friedmannian cosmology, meaning that
this cosmology will not necessarily always produce observable homogeneous
densities. The general conclusion is that the use of different cosmological
distances in the characterization of the galaxy distribution lead to
significant ambiguities in reaching conclusions about the behavior of the
large-scale galaxy distribution in the Universe.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, LaTeX. Matches the final version sent to the
journal. Accepted for publication in "Astronomy and Astrophysics
Spatial accessibility and social inclusion: The impact of Portugal's last health reform
Health policies seek to promote access to health care and should provide appropriate geographical accessibility to each demographical functional group. The dispersal demand of healthâcareservices and the provision for such services atfixed locations contribute to the growth of inequality intheir access. Therefore, the optimal distribution of health facilities over the space/area can lead toaccessibility improvements and to the mitigation of the social exclusion of the groups considered mostvulnerable. Requiring for such, the use of planning practices joined with accessibility measures. However,the capacities of Geographic Information Systems in determining and evaluating spatial accessibility inhealth system planning have not yet been fully exploited. This paper focuses on healthâcare services planningbased on accessibility measures grounded on the network analysis. The case study hinges on mainlandPortugal. Different scenarios were developed to measure and compare impact on the population'saccessibility. It distinguishes itself from other studies of accessibility measures by integrating network data ina spatial accessibility measure: the enhanced twoâstepfloating catchment area. The convenient location forhealthâcare facilities can increase the accessibility standards of the population and consequently reducethe economic and social costs incurred. Recently, the Portuguese government implemented a reform thataimed to improve, namely, the access and equity in meeting with the most urgent patients. It envisaged,in terms of equity, the allocation of 89 emergency network points that ensured more than 90% of thepopulation be within 30 min from any one point in the network. Consequently, several emergency serviceswere closed, namely, in rural areas. This reform highlighted the need to improve the quality of the emergencycare, accessibility to each care facility, and equity in their access. Hence, accessibility measures becomean efficient decisionâmaking tool, despite its absence in effective practice planning. According to anapplication of this type of measure, it was possible to verify which levels of accessibility were decreased,including the most disadvantaged people, with a larger time of dislocation of 12 min between 2001 and 2011
Estado Confusional Agudo apĂłs Corticoterapia Inalada
Background: The connection between corticotherapy and neuropsychiatric symptoms is
widely known, being one of the first questions
we need to assess when presenting with first
episode psychiatric symptoms or confusional
state.
Aims: To date, data on cases related to inhaled
corticotherapy and neuropsychiatric effects is
scarce. In this paper we describe a rare case in
a young woman.
Methods: The clinical case presented led us
to try to understand the data published on the
subject in order to discuss it in greater length.
Results and Conclusions: We present and
discuss a 27-year-old patientâs case, with no
previous psychiatric disease, who was admitted to our Psychiatric ward after the onset of
severe acute behavioural disturbance characterized by aggressiveness, visual and auditory
hallucinatory activity, misidentification and
altered conscience status. It was later found
that seven days earlier she had been prescribed
inhaled corticotherapy for a minor respiratory
infection. A few days after corticotherapy withdrawal, the clinical symptoms improved significantly.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
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