Permanent atrial fibrillation ablation surgery in patients with advanced age

Background: Even if permanent atrial fibrillation (pAF) is a frequent concomitant problem in patients undergoing open heart surgery and particularly in those with advanced age, data of pAF ablation surgery in older aged patients are scarce. This study was performed to assess early and late results of combined open heart surgery and pAF ablation procedures in patients with advanced aged, compared to young patients. Material and Methods: A selective group of 126 patients (Group A: age ≥70 [76.4±4.8] years, n=70; Group B: age <70 [62.0±6.2] years: n=56) with pAF (≥6 months) underwent either monopolar (Group A, B: n=51 vs. n=44) or bipolar (Group A, B: n=19 vs. n=12) radiofrequency (RF) ablation procedures concomitant to open heart surgery. Regular follow-up was performed 3 to 36 months after surgery to assess survival, New York Heart Association (NYHA) class and conversion rate to stable sinus rhythm (SR). Results: Early mortality (<30 days) was 2.9% in Group A (Group B: 0%), cumulative survival at long-term follow up was 0.78 vs. 0.98 (p=0.03) and NYHA-class improved significantly in both groups, particularly in cases with stable SR. At 12-months follow-up 73% of Group A patients were in stable SR (Group B 78%). Conclusions: Concomitant mono- and bipolar RF ablation surgery represents a safe option to cure pAF during open heart surgery with a very low risk, even in patients with advanced age

Quasi-generalized variables

The numerical solution of a system of differential and algebraic equations is difficult, due to the appearance of numerical instabilities. A method is presented here which permits numerical solutions of such a system to be obtained which satisfy the algebraic constraint equations exactly without reducing the order of the differential equations. The method is demonstrated using examples from mechanics

Socioscientific decision making in the science classroom: the effect of embedded metacognitive instructions on students' learning outcomes

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of cooperative training strategies to enhance students' socioscientific decision making as well as their metacognitive skills in the science classroom. Socioscientific decision making refers to both “describing socioscientific issues” as well as “developing and evaluating solutions” to socioscientific issues. We investigated two cooperative training strategies which differed with respect to embedded metacognitive instructions that were developed on the basis of the IMPROVE method. Participants were 360 senior high school students who studied either in a cooperative learning setting (COOP), a cooperative learning setting with embedded metacognitive questions (COOP+META), or a nontreatment control group. Results indicate that students in the two training conditions outperformed students in the control group on both processes of socioscientific decision making. However, students in the COOP+META condition did not outperform students in the COOP condition. With respect to students' learning outcomes on the regulation facet of metacognition, results indicate that all conditions improved over time. Students in the COOP+META condition exhibited highest mean scores at posttest measures, but again, results were not significant. Implications for integrating metacognitive instructions into science classrooms are discussed

Light transport in inhomogeneous scattering media : perturbation theory and biomedical application

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New narratives for the digital age (Polis Summer School guest blog) #PolisSS

The New York Times’ interactive feature article Snow fall has won all the accolades but it’s just one of the many new ways that this very traditional newspaper is reinventing story-telling. Polis Summer School student Billy Ostermeyer reports on a talk by Digital Strategy Editor Aron Pilhofer (@pilhofer)

Why Firms Grow : The Roles of Institutions, Trade, and Technology during Swedish Industrialization

Industrialization and the emergence of a manufacturing sector are generally perceived as key drivers for countries to see economic growth and increases in living standards. Only 200 years ago, most countries were relatively poor and had similarly low living standards. With industrialization and the growth of manufacturing, primarily Western countries pulled ahead and noticed sustained increases in living standards. Eventually, this process led to a divergence in economic performance. While today high-income economies are characterized by relatively larger firms that use novel production techniques based on the latest scientific advances, firms in low-income countries generally remain small and are less efficient.How did today’s high-income countries initially manage to start growing and industrializing? While existing explanations focus on the roles of, for example, institutions, trade, and technology, such aspects have generally not been analyzed at the level where economic growth occurred: the industrial firm. Consequently, understanding how (Western) firms managed to increase in size and productivity may also inform current debates.This thesis analyzes the causes of industrialization at the firm level. It studies how (some) manufacturing establishments managed to start growing, adopted new technologies, and learned to organize themselves more efficiently in late nineteenth-century Sweden. As such, the thesis focuses on the formative years of the Swedish economy when the country developed from being one of the poorest on Europe’s periphery into one of the fastest-growing economies worldwide. To do so, the study leverages newly digitized data that cover in unique detail the yearly performance of Swedish manufacturing firms.In four papers, the thesis shows how policies that generally have been perceived as key drivers of the industrialization process—e.g., general incorporation laws or tariff protection—enabled marginal establishments to grow, organize as factories, and adopt new technologies, such as steam power. Yet, state policy was no panacea as it (sometimes) negatively affected leading establishments. Using individual census data on the employment of individuals in Sweden, the USA, and Great Britain, the study also documents how industrialization led to further growth dynamics, primarily in the service sector. More broadly, this thesis shows how firm-level growth in manufacturing created an economic dynamism that would ultimately better the lives of people

30. Jahrestagung der "WestEuropean Fish Technologists' Association" in Torshavn, Faroer

In der West European Fish Technologists’ Association (WEFTA) arbeiten zahlreiche europäische Institute zusammen, die sich mit Fisch als Lebensmittel oder mit Fischtechnologie befassen. Ziel der WEFTA ist es, einen Austausch von Informationen über Forschung und ihre Ergebnisse europaweit möglich zu machen. Die Jahrestagungen sind eine gute Gelegenheit, Einblick in die Arbeiten anderer Institutionen zu erhalten und europäische Kontakte zu knüpfen. Die Tagungen sind besonders interessant für junge Wissenschaftler, die hier ihre Ergebnisse einem grösseren Publikum vorstellen konnen

Efficacy of two distinct ethanol-based hand rubs for surgical hand disinfection – a controlled trial according to prEN 12791

BACKGROUND: Aim of the study was to determine the efficacy of two distinct ethanol-based hand rubs for surgical hand disinfection in a controlled cross-over trial according to prEN 12791. METHODS: 20 subjects were included. Hands were washed for 1 min with soap. The bacterial prevalue was obtained by rubbing finger tips in TSB for 1 min. Then, each subject treated the hands with the reference procedure (n-propanol, 60% v/v) or the product (Sterillium(®) Rub, based on 80% ethanol; Avagard, based on 61% ethanol and 1% chlorhexidine gluconate) which were all applied in 3 to 4 portions each of 3 ml for a total of 3 min. Bacterial postvalues (immediate effect) were taken from one hand, the other hand was gloved for 3 h. After gloves were taken off the second postvalue was taken for the assessment of a sustained effect. RESULTS: Bacterial pre-values were between 4.38 ± 0.66 and 4.46 ± 0.71. Sterillium(® )Rub achieved the required immediate (mean log(10)-reduction of 2.59 ± 1.19) and sustained effect (1.73 ± 1.08) compared with the reference treatment (immediate effect: 2.58 ± 1.16; sustained effect: 1.67 ± 0.96). Avagard, however, did not achieve the required immediate (1.82 ± 1.40) and sustained effect (1.41 ± 1.08) in comparison to the reference disinfection (immediate effect: 2.98 ± 0.90; sustained effect: 2.56 ± 1.17; p < 0.01; Wilcoxon test). CONCLUSION: Based on our data, Sterillium(® )Rub can be regarded to be effective for surgical hand disinfection, but Avagard can not. The addition of 1% chlorhexidine gluconate to 61% ethanol (w/w) did not outweigh an ethanol concentration of 80% (w/w)

Discretization schemes for constraint stabilization in nonlinear differential-algebraic systems

In this paper the problem of simulation of differential-algebraic systems is addressed. In modelling me- chanical systems the use of redundant coordinates and con- straints results in differential-algebraic equations, the integra- tion of which can lead to numerical instabilities, such as the so-called drift phenomenon. In [1] the authors have proposed a globally convergent conceptual continuous-time algorithm for the integration of constrained mechanical systems which ensures the existence of solutions and global attractivity of the solution manifold. The objective of this paper is to study the numerical implementation of the algorithm presented in [1]. In addition, the stability properties of the constrained system in the manifold are studied in both the continuous and discrete time cases. The proposed technique is illustrated by means of a simple example