Group-based Relaxation Response Skills Training for pharmacologically-resistant depressed and anxious patients

Background: Drug-resistance for depression and anxiety is a major limitation in the treatment of these common disorders, and adjunct support interventions may be beneficial in the treatment of these patients. Aims: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a short-term (8 session) Relaxation Response Skills Training (RRST) programme for a population of psychiatric outpatients with anxiety and mood disorders who were unresponsive to drug treatment, and to test the feasibility of this intervention as complementary treatment for a psychiatric setting. Method: Forty patients were measured for overall psychopathological symptoms, depression, and anxiety, and were then given an 8-week course of RRST, while continuing their pharmacological treatment. Following the RRST intervention, participants were again assessed. Results: The results demonstrated reductions in overall symptoms (large effect size and reasonable clinically significant change), and also in depression and anxiety (medium effect sizes and clinically significant change). Conclusions: These results suggest that this short-term RRT offers a simple and cost-effective way to augment drug management for participants with common psychiatric disorders who are less responsive to the drug treatment

Dynamic Collection Scheduling Using Remote Asset Monitoring: Case Study in the UK Charity Sector

Remote sensing technology is now coming onto the market in the waste collection sector. This technology allows waste and recycling receptacles to report their fill levels at regular intervals. This reporting enables collection schedules to be optimized dynamically to meet true servicing needs in a better way and so reduce transport costs and ensure that visits to clients are made in a timely fashion. This paper describes a real-life logistics problem faced by a leading UK charity that services its textile and book donation banks and its high street stores by using a common fleet of vehicles with various carrying capacities. Use of a common fleet gives rise to a vehicle routing problem in which visits to stores are on fixed days of the week with time window constraints and visits to banks (fitted with remote fill-monitoring technology) are made in a timely fashion so that the banks do not become full before collection. A tabu search algorithm was developed to provide vehicle routes for the next day of operation on the basis of the maximization of profit. A longer look-ahead period was not considered because donation rates to banks are highly variable. The algorithm included parameters that specified the minimum fill level (e.g., 50%) required to allow a visit to a bank and a penalty function used to encourage visits to banks that are becoming full. The results showed that the algorithm significantly reduced visits to banks and increased profit by up to 2.4%, with the best performance obtained when the donation rates were more variable

A preliminary spectroscopic approach to evaluate the effectiveness of water-and silicone-based cleaning methods on historical varnished brass

Soiling deposition and wrong conservation practices are among the causes of the decay process that can affect the morphological, mechanical, and compositional features of the varnish, the most exposed layer of an artefact. In this perspective, the identification of the best cleaning practices is a priority. During the 18th century, scientific instruments of the highest quality were built, and peculiar varnishes were produced to confer protection and elegance to their metal elements. For this study, based on a historical recipe, we have reproduced a peculiar spirit varnish, enriched with natural resins and colorants, and we have applied on it a synthetic soiling mixture to simulate the aging conditions. We have then performed a non-invasive multi-analytical study to monitor the effectiveness of two water-based and a silicone-based, cleaning methods, namely, water in agarose, Tween 20 (3%) in agarose, and Velvesil Plus. The study includes colorimetry, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) mapping, coupled with chemometrics. Principal component analysis applied to FTIR spectral data has been demonstrated to be a powerful tool to enhance weak variations in the IR spectra, empowering the interpretation of cleaning effect versus the application time of each cleaning test

Nonbacterial Thrombotic Endocarditis in Pancreatic Cancer

Nonbacterial thrombotic endocarditis (NBTE), known as marantic endocarditis, is a phenomenon due to hypercoagulability with a complex pathogenesis. Originally described by Ziegler, the lesions of NBTE were considered to be fibrin thrombi deposited on normal or superficially degenerated cardiac valves [1]. Numerous reports have identified the relationship between NBTE and a variety of different inflammatory states, including chronic diseases like malignancy and autoimmune disease [2, 3]. NBTE is a serious manifestation of prothtombotic state that is characterized by the deposition of thrombi on previously undamaged heart valves in the absence of a bloodstream bacterial infection and by the increased frequency of arterial embolic events in patients with chronic debilitating diseases. Although hypercoagulability is often seen in patients with pancreatic cancer, NBTE has rarely been reported antemortem. We report a case of marantic endocarditis in patient with pancreatic cancer, in which neurological symptoms preceded the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer

Consumo e absorcao aparente total de macroelementos minerais (Ca, P, Mg, Na e K), de dietas com diferentes niveis de volumoso.

Avaliaram-se os efeitos dos niveis de volumoso nas dietas sobre os consumos e as absorcoes aparentes (AP) do calcio (Ca), fosforo (P), magnesio (Mg), sodio (Na) e potassio (K). Utilizaram-se 40 bezerros, com peso vivo medio inicial de 60 kg, distribuidos em delineamento inteiramente casualizado e alimentados a vontade com racoes constituidas de niveis crescentes de volumoso na base de MS: T1= 10%; T2 = 25%; T3= 40%, T4= 55% e T5= 90%. Como volumoso utilizou-se o feno de capim Coast-cross (Cynodon dactylon) picado. Os consumos quando expressos em g/dia, estimaram-se os respectivos consumos maximos de Ca, P, Mg, Na e K para o nivel de 47,0; 30,0; 45,3; 41,0 e 51,8% de volumoso na dieta. As absorcoes aparentes do Ca, P, e K, foram afetadas pelos niveis de volumoso nas dietas, estimando-se maximas absorcoes de 58,7; 56,1 e 78,3% para os niveis de 20,3; 23,1 e 45,2% de volumoso nas dietas, respectivamente

Measurement of the Bottom-Strange Meson Mixing Phase in the Full CDF Data Set

We report a measurement of the bottom-strange meson mixing phase \beta_s using the time evolution of B0_s -> J/\psi (->\mu+\mu-) \phi (-> K+ K-) decays in which the quark-flavor content of the bottom-strange meson is identified at production. This measurement uses the full data set of proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt(s)= 1.96 TeV collected by the Collider Detector experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron, corresponding to 9.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity. We report confidence regions in the two-dimensional space of \beta_s and the B0_s decay-width difference \Delta\Gamma_s, and measure \beta_s in [-\pi/2, -1.51] U [-0.06, 0.30] U [1.26, \pi/2] at the 68% confidence level, in agreement with the standard model expectation. Assuming the standard model value of \beta_s, we also determine \Delta\Gamma_s = 0.068 +- 0.026 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps-1 and the mean B0_s lifetime, \tau_s = 1.528 +- 0.019 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps, which are consistent and competitive with determinations by other experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett 109, 171802 (2012

Sex- and age-related differences in the management and outcomes of chronic heart failure: an analysis of patients from the ESC HFA EORP Heart Failure Long-Term Registry

Aims: This study aimed to assess age- and sex-related differences in management and 1-year risk for all-cause mortality and hospitalization in chronic heart failure (HF) patients. Methods and results: Of 16 354 patients included in the European Society of Cardiology Heart Failure Long-Term Registry, 9428 chronic HF patients were analysed [median age: 66 years; 28.5% women; mean left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) 37%]. Rates of use of guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) were high (angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers, beta-blockers and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists: 85.7%, 88.7% and 58.8%, respectively). Crude GDMT utilization rates were lower in women than in men (all differences: P\ua0 64 0.001), and GDMT use became lower with ageing in both sexes, at baseline and at 1-year follow-up. Sex was not an independent predictor of GDMT prescription; however, age >75 years was a significant predictor of GDMT underutilization. Rates of all-cause mortality were lower in women than in men (7.1% vs. 8.7%; P\ua0=\ua00.015), as were rates of all-cause hospitalization (21.9% vs. 27.3%; P\ua075 years. Conclusions: There was a decline in GDMT use with advanced age in both sexes. Sex was not an independent predictor of GDMT or adverse outcomes. However, age >75 years independently predicted lower GDMT use and higher all-cause mortality in patients with LVEF 6445%