How do COPD patients respond to exacerbations?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Although timely treatment of COPD exacerbations seems clinically important, nearly half of these exacerbations remain unreported and subsequently untreated. Recent studies have investigated incidence and impact of failure to seek medical treatment during exacerbations. Yet, little is known about type and timing of other self-management actions in periods of symptom deterioration. The current prospective study aims at determining the relative incidence, timing and determinants of three types of patient responses.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In a multicentre observational study, 121 patients (age 67 ± 11 years, FEV₁pred. 48 ± 19) were followed for 6 weeks by daily diary symptom recording. Three types of action were assessed daily: planning periods of rest, breathing techniques and/or sputum clearing (type-A), increased bronchodilator use (type-B) and contacting a healthcare provider (type-C).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Type-A action was taken in 70.7%, type-B in 62.7% and type C in 17.3% of exacerbations (n = 75). Smokers were less likely to take type-A and B actions. Type-C actions were associated with more severe airflow limitation and increased number of hospital admissions in the last year.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our study shows that most patients are willing to take timely self-management actions during exacerbations. Future research is needed to determine whether the low incidence of contacting a healthcare provider is due to a lack of self-management or healthcare accessibility.</p

Interstitial oxide ion conductivity in the layered tetrahedral network melilite structure

High-conductivity oxide ion electrolytes are needed to reduce the operating temperature of solid-oxide fuel cells. Oxide mobility in solids is associated with defects. Although anion vacancies are the charge carriers in most cases, excess (interstitial) oxide anions give high conductivities in isolated polyhedral anion structures such as the apatites. The development of new families of interstitial oxide conductors with less restrictive structural constraints requires an understanding of the mechanisms enabling both incorporation and mobility of the excess oxide. Here, we show how the two-dimensionally connected tetrahedral gallium oxide network in the melilite structure La1.54 Sr0.46 Ga3 O7.27 stabilizes oxygen interstitials by local relaxation around them, affording an oxide ion conductivity of 0.02-0.1Scm1 over the 600-900°C temperature range. Polyhedral frameworks with central elements exhibiting variable coordination number can have the flexibility needed to accommodate mobile interstitial oxide ions if non-bridging oxides are present to favour cooperative network distortions. © 2008 Nature Publishing Group

Does Culture Shape Our Understanding of Others’ Thoughts and Emotions? An Investigation Across 12 Countries

Measures of social cognition have now become central in neuropsychology, being essential for early and differential diagnoses, follow-up, and rehabilitation in a wide range of conditions. With the scientific world becoming increasingly interconnected, international neuropsychological and medical collaborations are burgeoning to tackle the global challenges that are mental health conditions. These initiatives commonly merge data across a diversity of populations and countries, while ignoring their specificity. Objective: In this context, we aimed to estimate the influence of participants’ nationality on social cognition evaluation. This issue is of particular importance as most cognitive tasks are developed in highly specific contexts, not representative of that encountered by the world’s population. Method: Through a large international study across 18 sites, neuropsychologists assessed core aspects of social cognition in 587 participants from 12 countries using traditional and widely used tasks. Results: Age, gender, and education were found to impact measures of mentalizing and emotion recognition. After controlling for these factors, differences between countries accounted for more than 20% of the variance on both measures. Importantly, it was possible to isolate participants’ nationality from potential translation issues, which classically constitute a major limitation. Conclusions: Overall, these findings highlight the need for important methodological shifts to better represent social cognition in both fundamental research and clinical practice, especially within emerging international networks and consortia