45 research outputs found
A randomized trial of mail vs. telephone invitation to a community-based cardiovascular health awareness program for older family practice patients [ISRCTN61739603]
BACKGROUND: Family physicians can play an important role in encouraging patients to participate in community-based health promotion initiatives designed to supplement and enhance their in-office care. Our objectives were to determine effective approaches to invite older family practice patients to attend cardiovascular health awareness sessions in community pharmacies, and to assess the feasibility and acceptability of a program incorporating invitation by physicians and feedback to physicians. METHODS: We conducted a prospective randomized trial with 1 family physician practice and 5 community pharmacies in Dundas, Ontario. Regular patients 65 years or older (n = 235) were randomly allocated to invitation by mail or telephone to attend pharmacy cardiovascular health awareness sessions led by volunteer peer health educators. A health record review captured blood pressure status, monitoring and control. At the sessions, volunteers helped patients to measure blood pressure using in-store machines and a validated portable device (BPM-100), and recorded blood pressure readings and self-reported cardiovascular risk factors. We compared attendance rates in the mail and telephone invitation groups and explored factors potentially associated with attendance. RESULTS: The 119 patients invited by mail and 116 patients contacted by telephone had a mean age of 75.7 (SD, 6.4) years and 46.8% were male. Overall, 58.3% (137/235) of invitees attended a pharmacy cardiovascular health awareness session. Patients invited by telephone were more likely to attend than those invited by mail (72.3% vs. 44.0%, OR 3.3; 95%CI 1.9–5.7; p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: While the attendance in response to a telephone invitation was higher, response to a single letter was substantial. Attendance rates indicated considerable interest in community-based cardiovascular health promotion activities. A large-scale trial of a pharmacy cardiovascular health awareness program for older primary care patients is feasible
The Aguablanca Ni–(Cu) sulfide deposit, SW Spain: geologic and geochemical controls and the relationship with a midcrustal layered mafic complex
The Aguablanca Ni–(Cu) sulfide deposit is
hosted by a breccia pipe within a gabbro–diorite pluton.
The deposit probably formed due to the disruption of a
partially crystallized layered mafic complex at about 12–
19 km depth and the subsequent emplacement of melts and
breccias at shallow levels (<2 km). The ore-hosting breccias
are interpreted as fragments of an ultramafic cumulate,
which were transported to the near surface along with a
molten sulfide melt. Phlogopite Ar–Ar ages are 341–
332 Ma in the breccia pipe, and 338–334 Ma in the layered
mafic complex, and are similar to recently reported U–Pb
ages of the host Aguablanca Stock and other nearby calcalkaline
metaluminous intrusions (ca. 350–330 Ma). Ore
deposition resulted from the combination of two critical
factors, the emplacement of a layered mafic complex deep
in the continental crust and the development of small
dilational structures along transcrustal strike-slip faults that
triggered the forceful intrusion of magmas to shallow
levels. The emplacement of basaltic magmas in the lower
middle crust was accompanied by major interaction with
the host rocks, immiscibility of a sulfide melt, and the
formation of a magma chamber with ultramafic cumulates
and sulfide melt at the bottom and a vertically zoned mafic
to intermediate magmas above. Dismembered bodies of
mafic/ultramafic rocks thought to be parts of the complex
crop out about 50 km southwest of the deposit in a
tectonically uplifted block (Cortegana Igneous Complex,
Aracena Massif). Reactivation of Variscan structures that
merged at the depth of the mafic complex led to sequential
extraction of melts, cumulates, and sulfide magma. Lithogeochemistry
and Sr and Nd isotope data of the Aguablanca
Stock reflect the mixing from two distinct reservoirs, i.e.,
an evolved siliciclastic middle-upper continental crust and a
primitive tholeiitic melt. Crustal contamination in the deep
magma chamber was so intense that orthopyroxene
replaced olivine as the main mineral phase controlling the early fractional crystallization of the melt. Geochemical
evidence includes enrichment in SiO2 and incompatible
elements, and Sr and Nd isotope compositions (87Sr/86Sri
0.708–0.710; 143Nd/144Ndi 0.512–0.513). However, rocks
of the Cortegana Igneous Complex have low initial
87Sr/86Sr and high initial 143Nd/144Nd values suggesting
contamination by lower crustal rocks. Comparison of the
geochemical and geological features of igneous rocks in the
Aguablanca deposit and the Cortegana Igneous Complex
indicates that, although probably part of the same magmatic
system, they are rather different and the rocks of the
Cortegana Igneous Complex were not the direct source of
the Aguablanca deposit. Crust–magma interaction was a
complex process, and the generation of orebodies was
controlled by local but highly variable factors. The model
for the formation of the Aguablanca deposit presented in
this study implies that dense sulfide melts can effectively
travel long distances through the continental crust and that
dilational zones within compressional belts can effectively
focus such melt transport into shallow environments
Unique PFK regulatory property from some mosquito vectors of disease, and from Drosophila melanogaster
Role of Probabilistic Methods in Sustainable Geotechnical Slope Stability Analysis
AbstractSustainable stable slope for flood protection systems are of continuing interest, especially among developers of recommended practices and design standards for geotechnical engineers. The Factor-of-Safety, used in conventional deterministic slope stability analyses, is the ratio of the capacity (force, stress, deformation, displacement) of a structure to the demand imposed on or induced in the structure. Such index is clearly evaluated without regard to the degree of uncertainty involved in its calculation that is for instance particularly large for levee slope stability design. This paper advances reliability based slope stability approaches and strategies that address such uncertainties. Probabilistic methods have been successfully applied taking into account two primary categories of uncertainties: natural variabilities and modeling uncertainties
GIS-Based Assessment of Submarine Mudflow Hazard Offshore of the Mississippi Delta, Gulf of Mexico
Risk assessment and management for interconnected critical infrastructure systems at the site and regional levels in California's Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
This article summarises research-in-progress for improved risk assessment and management (RAM) of critical infrastructures that interconnect across California's Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The need for improved RAM is patent in the Delta as elsewhere: a 'patch and pray' stalemate has developed which focuses on short-term reactive marginal maintenance and emergency response and recovery systems, all pushing infrastructures - and their engineers, designers and operators - increasingly to their performance edges and beyond. The research focuses on water supply, transportation, energy and flood protection systems, all of which are embedded in a dynamic ecosystem and showing clear signs of deterioration. Provisional findings of research activities are discussed. This article addresses critical infrastructure modelling uncertainties and ways to better understand, reduce or otherwise accommodate human/organisational and informational uncertainties in any RAM focused at the interconnected critical infrastructure system level