Evaluation of a Prelicensure Nursing Capstone Preceptorship

https://digitalcommons.psjhealth.org/summit_all/1053/thumbnail.jp

switching from intravenous to subcutaneous formulation of abatacept different results in a series of 21 patients

To the Editor: We read with interest the article by Reggia, et al 1, a monocentric study analyzing the efficacy and safety of switching from intravenous (IV) to subcutaneous (SC) formulation of abatacept (ABA) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The authors report a relatively high risk of disease relapse (27%) occurring in a mean of 11 weeks after switching to SC administration. The study did not find any significant predictive factor for a switch failure. The concern that patients with a higher body mass index could receive lower cumulative doses compared to weight-tiered monthly infusions, leading to a significant influence on treatment efficacy, was not confirmed by this study, or by previous dose-finding trials and … Address correspondence to Dr. S. Monti; E-mail: sara.saramonti{at}gmail.co

Numerical and experimental analysis of the leaning Tower of Pisa under earthquake

Twenty years have passed from the most recent studies about the dynamic behavior of the leaning Tower of Pisa. Significant changes have occurred in the meantime, the most important ones concerning the soil-structure interaction. From 1999 to 2001, the foundation of the monument was consolidated through under-excavation, and the "Catino" at the basement was rigidly connected to the foundation. Moreover, in light of the recent advances in the field of earthquake engineering, past studies about the Tower must be revised. Therefore, the present research aims at providing new data and results about the structural response of the Tower under earthquake. As regards the experimental assessment of the Tower, the dynamic response of the structure recorded during some earthquakes has been analyzed in the time- and frequency-domain. An Array 2D test has been performed in the Square of Miracles to identify a soil profile suitable for site response analyses, thus allowing the definition of the free-field seismic inputs at the base of the Tower. On the other hand, a synthetic evaluation of the seismic input in terms of response spectra has been done by means of a hybrid approach that combines Probabilistic and Deterministic Seismic Hazard Assessment methods. Furthermore, natural accelerograms have been selected and scaled properly. A finite element model that takes into account the inclination of the structure has been elaborated, and it has been updated taking into account the available experimental results. Finally, current numerical and experimental efforts for enhancing the seismic characterization of the Tower have been illustrated

prospective study of clinical neurophysiological and urodynamic findings in multiple sclerosis patients undergoing percutaneous transluminal venous angioplasty

Abstract Objective Verify whether Percutaneous Transluminal Angioplasty (PTA) may affect neural conduction properties in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients, thereby modifying patients' disability, with prospective neurophysiological, urodynamic, clinical and subjective well-being evaluations. Methods In 55 out of 72 consecutively screened MS patients, the following procedures were carried out before (T0), at 2–6 months (T1) and at 6–15 months (T2) after a diagnostic phlebography, eventually followed by the PTA intervention if chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) was diagnosed: clinical/objective evaluation (Expanded Disability Status Scale, EDSS), ratings of subjective well-being, evaluation of urodynamic functions and multimodal EPs (visual, acoustic, upper and lower limbs somatosensory and motor evoked potentials). Results The number of dropouts was relatively high, and a complete set of neurophysiological and clinical data remained available for 37 patients (19 for urological investigations). The subjective well-being score significantly increased at T1 and returned close to basal values at T2, but their degree of objective disability did not change. Nevertheless, global EP-scores (indexing the impairment in conductivity of central pathways in multiple functional domains) significantly increased from T0 (7.9 ± 6.0) to T1 (9.2 ± 6.3) and from T0 to T2 (9.8 ± 6.3), but not from T1 and T2 (p > 0.05). Neurogenic urological lower tract dysfunctions slightly increased throughout the study. Conclusions The PTA intervention did not induce significant changes in disability in the present cohort of MS patients, in line with recent evidence of clinical inefficacy of this procedure. Significance Absence of multimodal neurophysiological and functional testing changes in the first 15 months following PTA suggests that conduction properties of neural pathways are unaffected by PTA. Current findings suggest that the short-lived (2–6 months), post-PTA, beneficial effect on subjective well-being measures experienced by MS patients is likely related to a placebo effect

Motion Estimation and Compensation in Automotive MIMO SAR

With the advent of self-driving vehicles, autonomous driving systems will have to rely on a vast number of heterogeneous sensors to perform dynamic perception of the surrounding environment. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) systems increase the resolution of conventional mass-market radars by exploiting the vehicle's ego-motion, requiring a very accurate knowledge of the trajectory, usually not compatible with automotive-grade navigation systems. In this regard, this paper deals with the analysis, estimation and compensation of trajectory estimation errors in automotive SAR systems, proposing a complete residual motion estimation and compensation workflow. We start by defining the geometry of the acquisition and the basic processing steps of Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) SAR systems. Then, we analytically derive the effects of typical motion errors in automotive SAR imaging. Based on the derived models, the procedure is detailed, outlining the guidelines for its practical implementation. We show the effectiveness of the proposed technique by means of experimental data gathered by a 77 GHz radar mounted in a forward looking configuration.Comment: 14 page