Simuloitujen erittäin maatalataajuisten magneettikenttien dosimetrian vertailu in vivo ja in vitro

Previous experiments studying magnetic field dosimetry have exploited a plethora of magnetic field parameters in order to study the effects of external magnetic fields onto biological tissue. The uncoordinated use and insufficient reporting of the parameters has made it difficult to address the fundamental phenomena behind the interaction of external magnetic fields and biological tissue. This thesis assesses the comparability of effects of different parameters and common test setups by FEM simulations with Comsol Multiphysics. For the simulations, two models of common cell culture dishes, namely Petri and 48-well dish, and a simplified cylindrical model of a leg were built. In order to enhance the accuracy of the modeled cell culture medium, the conductivity of five different cell culture media was measured. Simulations were run using continuous sinusoidal, triangular, square waves and a pulsed bone growth signal with different field amplitudes and orientations. Also the effect of square wave rise time, the amount of liquid on cell culture dishes and the heating caused by sinusoidal fields was studied. The results of this thesis describe the differences in the effects of the tested signal parameters have on the induced electric current densities. Based on the simulation results, improvements for the ELF EMF experiments are suggested. Also analytic equations to solve induced current densities on sinusoidal, triangular and square waved magnetic field input on circular cell culture dish are presented. The results of this thesis are significant as the parameter choice can affect whether the induced current densities reach the endogenous range.Aiemmat magneettikenttien kudosvaikutusten tutkimukset ovat hyödyntäneet hyvin suurta määrää erilaisia magneettikentän parametreja erilaisille koeasetelmille. Erilaisten parametrien käyttö sekä koeasetelmien puutteellinen raportointi ovat tehneet tutkimustulosten vertailun vaikeaksi ja hankaloittaneet magneettikenttien ja kudoksen vuorovaikutusmekanismien ymmärtämistä. Tämä diplomityö arvioi eri parametrien vaikutusta ja tyypillisten koeasetelmien vertailukelpoisuutta Comsol Multiphysics -ohjelmistolla suoritetuilla elementtimenetelmä-simulaatioilla. Näitä simulaatioita varten mallinnettiin Petri-malja ja 48-kuoppalevy sekä yksinkertainen sylinterimäinen malli säärestä. Soluviljelyastia-mallien tarkkuuden parantamiseksi tässä diplomityössä mitattiin myös viiden soluviljelymedian sähkönjohtavuudet. Simulaatiot ajettiin käyttäen jatkuvaa sinusoidaalista, kolmiomaista ja kanttimaista aaltoa eri taajuuksilla ja amplitudeilla sekä pulssitettua Bone Growth -signaalia. Näiden parametrien lisäksi tutkittiin myös kantti aallon nousuajan sekä soluviljelymaljoilla olevan nesteen määrän vaikutusta indusoituneisiin virtoihin. Tämän diplomityön tulokset kuvaavat eroavaisuuksia, joita testatut parametrit aiheuttavat indusoituneissa sähkövirroissa. Tulosten perusteella esitetään myös parannuksia in vitro-kokeisiin sekä kirjallisuutta hyödyntäen analyyttiset yhtälöt sinusoidaaliselle, kolmiomaiselle ja kanttimaiselle magneettikentälle käytettäväksi apuna in vitro kokeiden suunnittelussa. Diplomityön tulokset ovat merkittäviä, sillä parametrien valinta voi vaikuttaa siihen yltävätkö indusoidut virrat biologisten virtojen suuruusluokkaan

Asiakastyytyväisyyskysely Varsinais-Suomen pelastuslaitoksen ensihoitopalvelusta

Ensihoito on sairaalan ulkopuolella äkillisesti sairastuneen tai loukkaantuneen potilaan hoitoa ja kuljettamista hoitoyksikköön. Ensihoidon vaihtuvan ympäristön ja tilanteiden vuoksi ensihoitajien hyvät vuorovaikutustaidot ovat tärkeät. Potilas ja omaiset tarvitsevat ensihoitohenkilökunnalta ennen kaikkea inhimillistä suhtautumista ja ammattimaista asennetta. Hoitotyön periaatteet ja eettiset ohjeet ohjaavat myös ensihoidossa asiakkaiden hoitoa, kohtelua, ohjausta ja vuorovaikutusta. (Castrén ym. 2012, 144, 149; Rautava-Nurmi ym. 2012, 22.) Opinnäytetyön tavoitteena oli selvittää Varsinais-Suomen pelastuslaitoksen ensihoitopalvelun asiakkaiden tyytyväisyyttä ensihoitajien vuorovaikutustaitoihin sekä tyytyväisyyttä heiltä saatua kohtelua ja ohjausta kohtaan. Tarkoituksena oli verrata saatuja tuloksia soveltuvin osin kahden aiemmin tehdyn tutkimuksen tuloksiin ja antaa ensihoitohenkilöstölle kehittämisehdotuksia tulosten pohjalta. Aiemmin käytettyä kyselylomaketta kehitettiin paremmin tutkimusta palvelevaan muotoon. Kyselylomake lähetettiin asiakkaille postitse ja heillä oli mahdollisuus vastata kyselyyn palauttamalla täytetty kyselylomake postitse tai vastaamalla kyselyyn internetissä. Asiakkaiden otantaa lähes kaksinkertaistettiin edellisestä asiakastyytyväisyyskyselystä ja annettiin mahdollisuus vastata sähköisesti. Tavoitteena oli saada suurempi vastausmäärä. Saatuja vastauksia oli kuitenkin vain 23, mikä oli erittäin pieni määrä. Vastausprosentiksi muodostui 8%. Tutkimustulosten mukaan ensihoitopalveluun kokonaisuudessaan erittäin tyytyväisiä oli 73%, tyytyväisiä 23% ja siltä väliltä 5%. Erittäin tyytyväisten määrä verrattuna vuoden 2013 tutkimukseen oli noussut 12%. Muiden vertailtavien kysymysten suhteen erittäin tyytyväisten osuus oli pysynyt melko samalla tasolla. Tutkimuksen asiakkaat olivat olleet ensihoidon asiakkaina noin puoli vuotta aikaisemmin, mikä on mahdollisesti myös vaikuttanut matalaan vastausprosenttiin. Tutkimuksen kehittämisehdotukseksi nousi kyselyn saaminen asiakkaalle nopeammin hänen kohtaamisensa jälkeen. Osaltaan matalaan vastausprosenttiin vaikutti Postin lakko, joka viivästytti kirjeiden toimitusta eivätkä kaikki vastaukset ehtineet palautua vastausaikana.Emergency care outside of the hospital is urgent care for patients who have gotten suddenly ill or injured. Because of the changing environment and situations in emergency care it is essential that paramedics have good interaction skills. The patient and their family need mostly humane and professional attitude from the paramedics. The principles of nursing and the ethical directions instruct paramedics in care, interaction, guidance and treatment with the patient. The purpose of this thesis was to study customer satisfaction in interaction skills, received guidance and behavior of Southwest Finland Emergency Medical Services personnel. The goal of this thesis was to give development ideas for the unit. To support better this thesis’ goals, the questionnaire was modified by development proposals of an earlier thesis. The form was sent to the customers by mail, and they were given options to answer by mail or fill the form in Internet. In this thesis the amount of respondents was almost doubled compared to the previous study and was given opportunity to answer in internet. Though the aim was to receive greater number of responses, there were only 23 returned and therefore the response rate was 8%. However, 73% of the respondents were very satisfied of the overall service, 23% satisfied and 5% in between of satisfied and dissatisfied. The amount of very satisfied were 12% higher than in the previous study done 2013. The customers chosen to the questionnaire were treated by the paramedics about six months earlier, which could have caused the low response rate. The development proposal of this thesis is that the survey should be sent to customers sooner after they have been treated by the paramedics. Another reason to low response rate was Posti’s strike causing delays in mail deliveries and therefore all the responses were not returned in time and excluded from the analysis

State of the Practice in Application Programming Interfaces (APIs): A Case Study

Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) have become prevalent in today’s software systems and services. APIs are basically a technical means to realize the co-operation between software systems or services. While there are several guidelines for API development, the actually applied practices and challenges are less clear. To better understand the state of the practice of API development and management in the industry, we conducted a descriptive case study in four Finnish software companies: two consultancy companies developing software for their customers, and two companies developing their software products. As a result, we identified five different usage scenarios for APIs and emphasize that diversity of usage should be taken into account more explicitly especially in research. API development and technical management are well supported by the existing tools and technologies especially available from the cloud technology. This leaves as the main challenge the selection of the right technology from the existing technology stack. Documentation and usability are practical issues to be considered and often less rigorously addressed. However, understanding what kind of API management model to apply for the business context appears as the major challenge. We also suggest considering APIs more clearly a separate concern in the product management with specific practices, such as API roadmapping.Peer reviewe

Metabolic profiles reflect weight loss maintenance and the composition of diet after very-low-energy diet

Background & aims: Diet and weight loss affect circulating metabolome. However, metabolite profiles induced by different weight loss maintenance diets and underlying longer term weight loss maintenance remain unknown. Herein, we investigated after-weight-loss metabolic signatures of two isocaloric 24-wk weight maintenance diets differing in satiety value due to dietary fibre, protein and fat contents and identified metabolite features that associated with successful weight loss maintenance. Methods: Non-targeted LC-MS metabolomics approach was used to analyse plasma metabolites of 79 women and men (mean age \ub1 SD 49.7 \ub1 9.0 years; BMI 34.2 \ub1 2.5 kg/m2) participating in a weight management study. Participants underwent a 7-week very-low-energy diet (VLED) and were thereafter randomised into two groups for a 24-week weight maintenance phase. Higher satiety food (HSF) group consumed high-fibre, high-protein, and low-fat products, while lower satiety food (LSF) group consumed isocaloric low-fibre products with average protein and fat content as a part of their weight maintenance diets. Plasma metabolites were analysed before the VLED and before and after the weight maintenance phase. Metabolite features discriminating HSF and LSF groups were annotated. We also analysed metabolite features that discriminated participants who maintained ≥10% weight loss (HWM) and participants who maintained <10% weight loss (LWM) at the end of the study, irrespective of the diet. Finally, we assessed robust linear regression between metabolite features and anthropometric and food group variables. Results: We annotated 126 metabolites that discriminated the HSF and LSF groups and HWM and LWM groups (p < 0.05). Compared to LSF, the HSF group had lower levels of several amino acids, e.g. glutamine, arginine, and glycine, short-, medium- and long-chain acylcarnitines (CARs), odd- and even-chain lysoglycerophospholipids, and higher levels of fatty amides. Compared to LWM, the HWM group in general showed higher levels of glycerophospholipids with a saturated long-chain and a C20:4 fatty acid tail, and unsaturated free fatty acids (FFAs). Changes in several saturated odd- and even-chain LPCs and LPEs and fatty amides were associated with the intake of many food groups, particularly grain and dairy products. Increase in several (lyso)glycerophospholipids was associated with decrease in body weight and adiposity. Increased short- and medium-chain CARs were related to decreased body fat-free mass. Conclusions: Our results show that isocaloric weight maintenance diets differing in dietary fibre, protein, and fat content affected amino acid and lipid metabolism. Increased abundances of several phospholipid species and FFAs were related with greater weight loss maintenance. Our findings indicate common and distinct metabolites for weight and dietary related variables in the context of weight reduction and weight management. The study was registered in isrctn.org with identifier 67529475

Low-Dose Doxycycline Treatment Normalizes Levels of Some Salivary Metabolites Associated with Oral Microbiota in Patients with Primary Sjögren’s Syndrome

Saliva is a complex oral fluid, and plays a major role in oral health. Primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS), as an autoimmune disease that typically causes hyposalivation. In the present study, salivary metabolites were studied from stimulated saliva samples (n = 15) of female patients with pSS in a group treated with low-dose doxycycline (LDD), saliva samples (n = 10) of non-treated female patients with pSS, and saliva samples (n = 14) of healthy age-matched females as controls. Saliva samples were analyzed with liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) based on the non-targeted metabolomics method. The saliva metabolite profile differed between pSS patients and the healthy control (HC). In the pSS patients, the LDD treatment normalized saliva levels of several metabolites, including tyrosine glutamine dipeptide, phenylalanine isoleucine dipeptide, valine leucine dipeptide, phenylalanine, pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), urocanic acid, and salivary lipid cholesteryl palmitic acid (CE 16:0), to levels seen in the saliva samples of the HC. In conclusion, the data showed that pSS is associated with an altered saliva metabolite profile compared to the HC and that the LLD treatment normalized levels of several metabolites associated with dysbiosis of oral microbiota in pSS patients. The role of the saliva metabolome in pSS pathology needs to be further studied to clarify if saliva metabolite levels can be used to predict or monitor the progress and treatment of pSS

6G White Paper on Edge Intelligence

In this white paper we provide a vision for 6G Edge Intelligence. Moving towards 5G and beyond the future 6G networks, intelligent solutions utilizing data-driven machine learning and artificial intelligence become crucial for several real-world applications including but not limited to, more efficient manufacturing, novel personal smart device environments and experiences, urban computing and autonomous traffic settings. We present edge computing along with other 6G enablers as a key component to establish the future 2030 intelligent Internet technologies as shown in this series of 6G White Papers. In this white paper, we focus in the domains of edge computing infrastructure and platforms, data and edge network management, software development for edge, and real-time and distributed training of ML/AI algorithms, along with security, privacy, pricing, and end-user aspects. We discuss the key enablers and challenges and identify the key research questions for the development of the Intelligent Edge services. As a main outcome of this white paper, we envision a transition from Internet of Things to Intelligent Internet of Intelligent Things and provide a roadmap for development of 6G Intelligent Edge

The Many Faces of Edge Intelligence

Edge Intelligence (EI) is an emerging computing and communication paradigm that enables Artificial Intelligence (AI) functionality at the network edge. In this article, we highlight EI as an emerging and important field of research, discuss the state of research, analyze research gaps and highlight important research challenges with the objective of serving as a catalyst for research and innovation in this emerging area. We take a multidisciplinary view to reflect on the current research in AI, edge computing, and communication technologies, and we analyze how EI reflects on existing research in these fields. We also introduce representative examples of application areas that benefit from, or even demand the use of EI.Peer reviewe

The Many Faces of Edge Intelligence

Peer reviewe

Low-Dose Doxycycline Treatment Normalizes Levels of Some Salivary Metabolites Associated with Oral Microbiota in Patients with Primary Sjögren’s Syndrome

Saliva is a complex oral fluid, and plays a major role in oral health. Primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS), as an autoimmune disease that typically causes hyposalivation. In the present study, salivary metabolites were studied from stimulated saliva samples (n = 15) of female patients with pSS in a group treated with low-dose doxycycline (LDD), saliva samples (n = 10) of non-treated female patients with pSS, and saliva samples (n = 14) of healthy age-matched females as controls. Saliva samples were analyzed with liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) based on the non-targeted metabolomics method. The saliva metabolite profile differed between pSS patients and the healthy control (HC). In the pSS patients, the LDD treatment normalized saliva levels of several metabolites, including tyrosine glutamine dipeptide, phenylalanine isoleucine dipeptide, valine leucine dipeptide, phenylalanine, pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), urocanic acid, and salivary lipid cholesteryl palmitic acid (CE 16:0), to levels seen in the saliva samples of the HC. In conclusion, the data showed that pSS is associated with an altered saliva metabolite profile compared to the HC and that the LLD treatment normalized levels of several metabolites associated with dysbiosis of oral microbiota in pSS patients. The role of the saliva metabolome in pSS pathology needs to be further studied to clarify if saliva metabolite levels can be used to predict or monitor the progress and treatment of pSS. </p