Impacts of Heavy Rain and Typhoon on Allergic Disease

AbstractObjectivesAllergic disease may be increased by climate change. Recent reports have shown that typhoon and heavy rain increase allergic disease locally by concentration of airborne allergens of pollen, ozone, and fungus, which are causes of allergic disease. The objective of this study was to determine whether typhoon and heavy rain increase allergic disease in Korea.MethodsThis study included allergic disease patients of the area declared as a special disaster zone due to storms and heavy rains from 2003 to 2009. The study used information from the Korea Meteorological Administration, and from the National Health Insurance Service for allergic diseases (asthma, allergic rhinitis, and atopic dermatitis).ResultsDuring a storm period, the numbers of allergy rhinitis and atopic dermatitis outpatients increased [rate ratio (RR) = 1.191; range, 1.150–1.232] on the sixth lag day. However, the number of asthma outpatients decreased (RR = 0.900; range, 0.862–0.937) on the sixth lag day after a disaster period. During a storm period, the numbers of allergic rhinitis outpatients (RR = 1.075; range, 1.018–1.132) and atopy outpatients increased (RR = 1.134; range, 1.113–1.155) on the seventh lag day. However, the number of asthma outpatients decreased to RR value of 0.968 (range, 0.902–1.035) on the fifth lag day.ConclusionThis study suggests that typhoon and heavy rain increase allergic disease apart from asthma. More study is needed to explain the decrease in asthma

Spacer grid effects on the heat transfer enhancement during a reflood

Paper presented at the 9th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Malta, 16-18 July, 2012.An experimental study using 6x6 and 2x2 square lattice rod bundles has been performed to investigate the effects of spacer grids on the heat transfer enhancement during a bottom-reflood phase. The spacer grids improve a turbulent mixing of flow and induces breakup of large droplets into smaller ones. These result in the heat transfer enhancement between the fuel rods and the surrounding fluid. Since the geometry of the spacer grid affects the turbulent mixing and droplet breakup behaviors, three types of spacer grids with different geometry were tested in the present study. In order to investigate the heat transfer enhancement by spacer grids, single-phase steam cooling and droplet breakup by spacer grid were separately investigated. For the convective heat transfer enhancement in singlephase steam flow, the heater rod surface temperatures were measured in the vicinity of the space grid. In single-phase steam cooling experiment, the heat transfer was enhanced at upstream and downstream of spacer grids. Downstream of the spacer, the heat transfer enhancement decays with the distance from the top end of the spacer grid exponentially. The heat transfer enhancement depends on the Reynolds number as well as the flow blockage ratio. A new empirical correlation was developed in order to account for the effect of the Reynolds number. For the droplet breakup experiment, the sizes and velocities of droplets were measured across the spacer grid. The droplet breakup ratio decreases with increasing the Weber number of the droplet impacting on the spacer grid. The droplet breakup ratio by spacer grids was relatively higher than conventional correlations.dc201

Limitations of Conventional Contrast-enhanced MRI in Selecting Sentinel Node Biopsy Candidates among DCIS Patients

Purpose: A better predictive model for occult invasive disease in ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) patients is essential to guide the tailored use of sentinel node biopsies. We hypothesized that recent improvement of contrast-enhanced breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) could provide more accurate information on the presence of occult invasion in DCIS patients. Methods: From a prospectively maintained database, we identified 143 DCIS patients diagnosed with needle biopsies in whom MRI images were available. Results: Sixty-five patients (45.5%) were upstaged to invasive carcinoma after curative surgery. Ultrasonographic lesion size, mass-appearance on mammography, type of needle used, and the presence of suspicious microinvasive foci were associated with increased likelihood of upstaging. Among the features of MRI, only mass-appearance was significantly associated with the presence of invasive disease (p=0.002). However, up to 50% of masses in MRI cases had mass-appearance on mammography as well. Other morphologic and pharmacokinetic features of MRI, such as shape, margin, and patterns of enhancement and washout, did not have a significant association. Conclusion: Among various morphologic and pharmacokinetic parameters of contrast-enhanced MRI, only mass-appearance was associated with occult invasive disease. Our results show the limitations of current contrast-enhanced MRI in predicting invasive disease in patients with preoperative diagnoses of DCIS.Moon HG, 2009, ANN ONCOL, V20, P636, DOI 10.1093/annonc/mdn683Kuerer HM, 2009, J CLIN ONCOL, V27, P279, DOI 10.1200/JCO.2008.18.3103HU M, 2009, P NATL ACAD SCI USA, V106, P3372Gadre SA, 2008, HISTOPATHOLOGY, V53, P545, DOI 10.1111/j.1365-2559.2008.03152.xOkumura Y, 2008, BMC CANCER, V8, DOI 10.1186/1471-2407-8-287Sakorafas GH, 2008, CANCER TREAT REV, V34, P483, DOI 10.1016/j.ctrv.2008.03.001Morrow M, 2008, ANN SURG ONCOL, V15, P2641, DOI 10.1245/s10434-008-0083-zPorembka MR, 2008, ANN SURG ONCOL, V15, P2709, DOI 10.1245/s10434-008-9947-5Lee JW, 2008, J SURG ONCOL, V98, P15, DOI 10.1002/jso.21077Hu M, 2008, CANCER CELL, V13, P394, DOI 10.1016/j.ccr.2008.03.007Ansari B, 2008, BRIT J SURG, V95, P547, DOI 10.1002/bjs.6162Orel S, 2008, J CLIN ONCOL, V26, P703, DOI 10.1200/JCO.2007.14.3594Facius M, 2007, CLIN IMAG, V31, P394, DOI 10.1016/j.clinimag.2007.04.030Kuhl CK, 2007, LANCET, V370, P485Jung EJ, 2007, INT J CANCER, V120, P2331, DOI 10.1002/ijc.22434Nielsen BS, 2007, INT J CANCER, V120, P2086, DOI 10.1002/ijc.22340van der Velden APS, 2006, AM J SURG, V192, P172, DOI 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2006.02.026Goyal A, 2006, BREAST CANCER RES TR, V98, P311, DOI 10.1007/s10549-006-9167-2Mansel RE, 2006, J NATL CANCER I, V98, P599, DOI 10.1093/jnci/djj158Lyman GH, 2005, J CLIN ONCOL, V23, P7703, DOI 10.1200/JCO.2005.08.001Wilkie C, 2005, AM J SURG, V190, P563, DOI 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2005.06.011Groves AM, 2005, MAGN RESON IMAGING, V23, P733, DOI 10.1016/j.mri.2005.06.003Hylton N, 2005, J CLIN ONCOL, V23, P1678, DOI 10.1200/JCO.2005.12.002Leonard GD, 2004, J NATL CANCER I, V96, P906, DOI 10.1093/jnci/djh164Hata T, 2004, J AM COLL SURGEONS, V198, P190, DOI 10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2003.10.008Hwang EW, 2003, ANN SURG ONCOL, V10, P381, DOI 10.1245/ASO.2003.03.085*AM COLL RAD, 2003, ACR BI RADS BREAST IMorrow M, 2002, CA-CANCER J CLIN, V52, P277Jackman RJ, 2001, RADIOLOGY, V218, P497Brown LF, 1999, CLIN CANCER RES, V5, P1041

Spontaneous Lead Breakage in Implanted Spinal Cord Stimulation Systems

Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) has become an established clinical option for treatment of refractory chronic pain. Current hardware and implantation techniques for SCS are already highly developed and continuously improving; however, equipment failures over the course of long-term treatment are still encountered in a relatively high proportion of the cases treated with it. Percutaneous SCS leads seem to be particularly prone to dislocation and insulation failures. We describe our experience of lead breakage in the inserted spinal cord stimulator to a complex regional pain syndrome patient who obtained satisfactory pain relief after the revision of SCS

Fault Log Recovery Using an Incomplete-data-trained FDA Classifier for Failure Diagnosis of Engineered Systems

In the 2015 PHM Data Challenge Competition, the goal of the competition problem was to diagnose failure of industrial plant systems using incomplete data. The available data consisted of sensor measurements, control reference signals, and fault logs. A detailed description of the plant system of interest was not revealed, and partial fault logs were eliminated from the dataset. This paper presents a fault log recovery method using a machine-learning-based fault classification approach for failure diagnosis. For optimal performance, it was critical to be able to utilize a set of incomplete data and to select relevant features. First, physical interpretation of the given data was performed to select proper features for a fault classifier. Second, Fisher discriminant analysis (FDA) was employed to minimize the effect of outliers in the incomplete data sets. Finally, the type of the missing fault logs and the duration of the corresponding faults were recovered. The proposed approach, based on the use of an incomplete-data-trained FDA classifier, led to the second-highest score in the 2015 PHM Data Challenge Competition

Increasing trends in hospital care burden of atrial fibrillation in Korea, 2006 through 2015

ObjectiveTemporal changes in the healthcare burden of atrial fibrillation (AF) are less well known in rapidly ageing Asian countries. We examined trends in hospitalisations, costs, treatment patterns and outcomes related to AF in Korea.MethodsUsing the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) database involving the entire adult Korean population (n=41 701 269 in 2015), we analysed a nationwide AF cohort representing 931 138 patients with AF. We studied all hospitalisations due to AF from 2006 to 2015.ResultsOverall, hospitalisations for AF increased by 420% from 767 to 3986 per 1 million Korean population from 2006 to 2015. Most admissions occurred in patients aged ≥70 years, and the most frequent coexisting conditions were hypertension, heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Hospitalisations mainly due to major bleeding and AF control increased, whereas hospitalisations mainly due to ischaemic stroke and myocardial infarction decreased. The total cost of care increased even after adjustment for inflation from €68.4 million in 2006 to €388.4 million in 2015, equivalent to 0.78% of the Korean NHIS total expenditure. Overall in-hospital mortality decreased from 7.5% in 2006 to 4.3% in 2015. The in-hospital mortality was highest in patients ≥80 years of age (7.7%) and in patients with chronic kidney disease (7.4%).ConclusionsAF hospitalisations have increased exponentially over the past 10 years in Korea, in association with an increase in comorbid chronic diseases. Mortality associated with AF hospitalisations decreased during the last decade, but hospitalisation costs have markedly increased.</jats:sec