Recruiting patients to medical research: double blind randomised trial of "opt-in" versus "opt-out" strategies

Objective To evaluate the effect of opt-in compared with opt-out recruitment strategies on response rate and selection bias. Design Double blind randomised controlled trial. Setting Two general practices in England. Participants 510 patients with angina. Intervention Patients were randomly allocated to an opt-in (asked to actively signal willingness to participate in research) or opt-out (contacted repeatedly unless they signalled unwillingness to participate) approach for recruitment to an observational prognostic study of patients with angina. Main outcome measures Recruitment rate and clinical characteristics of patients. Results The recruitment rate, defined by clinic attendance, was 38% (96/252) in the opt-in arm and 50% (128/258) in the opt-out arm (P = 0.014). Once an appointment had been made, non-attendance at the clinic was similar (20% opt-in arm v 17% opt-out arm; P = 0.86). Patients in the opt-in arm had fewer risk factors (44% v 60%; P = 0.053), less treatment for angina (69% v 82%; P = 0.010), and less functional impairment (9% v 20%; P = 0.023) than patients in the opt-out arm. Conclusions The opt-in approach to participant recruitment, increasingly required by ethics committees, resulted in lower response rates and a biased sample. We propose that the opt-out approach should be the default recruitment strategy for studies with low risk to participants

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-binding protein is carried on lipoproteins and acts as a cofactor in the neutralization of LPS.

Lipoproteins isolated from normal human plasma can bind and neutralize bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and may represent an important mechanism in host defense against gram-negative septic shock. Recent studies have shown that experimentally elevating the levels of circulating high-density lipoproteins (HDL) provides protection against death in animal models of endotoxic shock. We sought to define the components of HDL that are required for neutralization of LPS. To accomplish this we have studied the functional neutralization of LPS by native and reconstituted HDL using a rapid assay that measures the CD14-dependent activation of leukocyte integrins on human neutrophils. We report here that reconstituted HDL particles (R-HDL), prepared from purified apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) combined with phospholipid and free cholesterol, are not sufficient to neutralize the biologic activity of LPS. However, addition of recombinant LPS binding protein (LBP), a protein known to transfer LPS to CD14 and enhance responses of cells to LPS, enabled prompt binding and neutralization of LPS by R-HDL. Thus, LBP appears capable of transferring LPS not only to CD14 but also to lipoprotein particles. In contrast with R-HDL, apoA-I containing lipoproteins (LpA-I) isolated from plasma by selected affinity immunosorption (SAIS) on an anti-apoA-I column, neutralized LPS without addition of exogenous LBP. Several lines of evidence demonstrated that LBP is a constituent of LpA-I in plasma. Passage of plasma over an anti-apoA-I column removed more than 99% of the LBP detectable by ELISA, whereas 31% of the LBP was recovered by elution of the column. Similarly, the ability of plasma to enable activation of neutrophils by LPS (LBP/Septin activity) was depleted and recovered by the same process. Furthermore, an immobilized anti-LBP monoclonal antibody coprecipitated apoA-I. The results described here suggest that in addition to its ability to transfer LPS to CD14, LBP may also transfer LPS to lipoproteins. Since LBP appears to be physically associated with lipoproteins in plasma, it is positioned to play an important role in the neutralization of LPS

Design Of Metal Detection Equipment Using Magnetic Waves Generation

In this paper discussed about a tool that can be used as a tracer sharp weapon. Thisdetector can detect the presence of a sharp weapon that was hidden by the visitorcenter shopping. This detector uses magnetic waves as a means of detection and thesearch coil as a sensor.Because the use of magnetic waves, hence this detector has a lot of deficienciesranging from its unknowable metals which can not be detected until detected. Electricfield strength also has a huge influence on the detector. Electric field strength candisrupt the signal emitted by the search coil so that search can not catch the signalsreflected back by the metal

A Fast and Scalable Graph Coloring Algorithm for Multi-core and Many-core Architectures

Irregular computations on unstructured data are an important class of problems for parallel programming. Graph coloring is often an important preprocessing step, e.g. as a way to perform dependency analysis for safe parallel execution. The total run time of a coloring algorithm adds to the overall parallel overhead of the application whereas the number of colors used determines the amount of exposed parallelism. A fast and scalable coloring algorithm using as few colors as possible is vital for the overall parallel performance and scalability of many irregular applications that depend upon runtime dependency analysis. Catalyurek et al. have proposed a graph coloring algorithm which relies on speculative, local assignment of colors. In this paper we present an improved version which runs even more optimistically with less thread synchronization and reduced number of conflicts compared to Catalyurek et al.'s algorithm. We show that the new technique scales better on multi-core and many-core systems and performs up to 1.5x faster than its predecessor on graphs with high-degree vertices, while keeping the number of colors at the same near-optimal levels.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of Euro Par 201

Applications Software For Pc Clonning Betwin

Writing about one way of describing the importance of addressing the current needs of the computer on which it takes lots of computer equipment needed along with the large number of computers required. And seeks to maximize the computer device so that the costs required to purchase computer equipment that is not a lot of ability is good enough. In addition to cost savings role in the author also emphasizes ease of installation process. All the above can be overcome with the use of software for PC Clonning Betwin.Betwin itself is easy to use software because it can be understood and used easily and can run on Windows operating systems

Use of Technology Global Positioning System (GPS) Receiver Garmin Etrex Vista as a Tool Navigation

Global Positioning System (GPS) is a radio system navigation and positioningusing satellites. By using a GPS receiver, we can determine the position of ourexistence. The purpose of this paper is to use a GPS receiver as a navigational tool,which in this study used a GPS receiver is the Garmin eTrex Vista

Submission System Designing Financing / Credit in Al-jibaal Bmt

Use of computer equipment in the field of administration in finance / credit helpssmooth running of the system that existed at the AL-JIBAAL BMT and can supportefficiency and productivity. In the old system in data processing still using manualsystems, which can lead to much accumulation of documents and files can be a timeof data loss or destruction of data. Circumstances of such data will impede thepresentation of data and require a long time in search of information.Use of Microsoft Access applications for finance administration / credit is helping toovercome the obstacles that occur in the preparation of reports, expedite informationfor AL-JIBAAL BMT or the parties who need and can avoid kerangkapan data

Effect of pulsed power on particle matter in diesel engine exhaust using a DBD plasma reactor

Nonthermal plasma (NTP) treatment of exhaust gas is a promising technology for both nitrogen oxides (NOX) and particulate matter (PM) reduction by introducing plasma into the exhaust gases. This paper considers the effect of NTP on PM mass reduction, PM size distribution, and PM removal efficiency. The experiments are performed on real exhaust gases from a diesel engine. The NTP is generated by applying high-voltage pulses using a pulsed power supply across a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor. The effects of the applied high-voltage pulses up to 19.44 kVpp with repetition rate of 10 kHz are investigated. In this paper, it is shown that the PM removal and PM size distribution need to be considered both together, as it is possible to achieve high PM removal efficiency with undesirable increase in the number of small particles. Regarding these two important factors, in this paper, 17 kVpp voltage level is determined to be an optimum point for the given configuration. Moreover, particles deposition on the surface of the DBD reactor is found to be a significant phenomenon, which should be considered in all plasma PM removal tests

Programmable the Interface 8251a

Communication is the process of sending information from one place to another, howthe delivery of information have their own modes and methods. With the computerthe way of sending information is also adjusted to the principles and workings of thecomputer.But computers can not perform data transmission without a tool that can make it ableto carry out the process of data transfer. One of these tools is the IC is an IC 8251AUSART (Universal Synchronous / Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter) is IC that isused to implement the information delivery process using serial synchronous /asynchronous.The advantage of using this chip is its ability to be programmed (programmable) inaccordance with the procedures contained in IC programming this 8251A