E-Sakto: Lowering the Cardiovascular Risk of Patients with Hypertension and Diabetes Through Public–Private Partnership

Background: Technologically-enabled “whole-of-society” upgrading of a Rural Health Unit (RHU-Samboan) in data collection & records management, and determining the Cardiovascular risk score (CVD-RS) of patients with hypertension (± diabetes) was the aim of the e-Sakto program. Methodology: A descriptive study with fourcomponents: e-Sakto Sukod (right measurements), e-Sakto Suwat (right recording), e-Sakto Sibya (right information), and e-Sakto Serbisyo (right service). Samboan, a fifth-class municipality in Cebu, Philippines, is the pilot site. For data collection, this study used SHINE OS+ Electronic Medical Records (EMR) provided by SMARTCommunications, Inc. through public-private partnership (PPP). Furthermore, WHO WPR-B CVD-Risk Score was used to monitor the effect of using EMRs in relation to patients’ 10-year cardiovascular risks. Results: A competency check revealed that all health staff were adept at taking vital signs while only 59% (38/65) of healthvolunteers were competent. An inventory of the equipment revealed that 4 out of 15 barangays (villages) had appropriate tools for vital signs measurement. A municipal resolution institutionalized the use of EMR and linked Samboan with higher health institutions for referrals. Out of the total 414 hypertensive patients, 106 subjects underwent 3 monitoring visits. This resulted to a statistically-significant lowering of their 10-year cardiovascular risk score using the 3- and 5- point scoring CVD risk scale (p = 0.041; p = 0.001). Conclusion: e-Sakto made sure that the health workers were competent; equipment needed were available; EMR was institutionalized; and linkages were formed. The use of EMRs in monitoring hypertensive patients result insignificant reduction of their 10-year CVD risk. Keywords: WHO Cardiovascular Risk Score, Data Privacy Protocol, Diabetes Mellitus, Electronic Medical Records (EMR), Hypertension, Package of Essential Non-communicable (PEN) Disease Intervention

Order parameter for the dynamical phase transition in Bose-Einstein condensates with topological modes

In a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate, subject to the action of an alternating external field, coherent topological modes can be resonantly excited. Depending on the amplitude of the external field and detuning parameter, there are two principally different regimes of motion, with mode locking and without it. The change of the dynamic regime corresponds to a dynamic phase transition. This transition can be characterized by an effective order parameter defined as the difference between fractional mode populations averaged over the temporal period of oscillations. The behavior of this order parameter, as a function of detuning, pumping amplitude, and atomic interactions is carefully analyzed. A special attention is payed to numerical calculations for the realistic case of a quadrupole exciting field and the system parameters accessible in current experiments

Medium-modified evolution of multiparticle production in jets in heavy-ion collisions

The energy evolution of medium-modified average multiplicities and multiplicity fluctuations in quark and gluon jets produced in heavy-ion collisions is investigated from a toy QCD-inspired model. In this model, we use modified splitting functions accounting for medium-enhanced radiation of gluons by a fast parton which propagates through the quark gluon plasma. The leading contribution of the standard production of soft hadrons is found to be enhanced by the factor $\sqrt{N_s}$ while next-to-leading order (NLO) corrections are suppressed by $1/\sqrt{N_s}$, where the nuclear parameter $N_s>1$ accounts for the induced-soft gluons in the hot medium. The role of next-to-next-to-leading order corrections (NNLO) is studied and the large amount of medium-induced soft gluons is found to drastically affect the convergence of the perturbative series. Our results for such global observables are cross-checked and compared with their limits in the vacuum and a new method for solving the second multiplicity correlator evolution equations is proposed.Comment: 21 pages and 8 figures, typo corrections, references adde

Influence of processing temperature on quality and drying kinetics of a mixed fruit leather

A mixed fruit leather was developed with no chemical additives using five basic ingredients: pears, bananas, strawberries, honey, and lemon. The fruit puree was subjected to convective air drying at 60 ºC, 70 ºC, and 80 ºC and then packaged with a reversible metallized polypropylene foil and stored at 25 ºC for seven weeks. Different drying models were adjusted to the experimental data, with the Page model presenting the best fit. The obtained product was evaluated for nutritional and physical parameters. The values of phenolic compounds, water activity and water content were stable within the storage period, and the tested drying temperatures showed no impact. However, colour darkening occurred after the first month of storage. Regarding texture, adhesiveness did not seem to have a clear pattern over storage. The higher values of hardness and chewiness obtained at 60 ºC in comparison to 80 ºC are probably associated with the slightly lower water activity of the batches produced at 60 ºC. This natural fruit leather that combines the benefits of different fruits can be an option for the increasing consumers’ demand for healthier and more natural snacks.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A New Empirical Model for the Structural Analysis of Early-type Galaxies and a Critical Review of the Nuker Model

The Nuker law was designed to match the inner few (~3-10) arcseconds of predominantly nearby (< 30 Mpc) early-type galaxy light-profiles; it was never intended to describe an entire profile. The Sersic model, on the other hand, was developed to fit the entire profile; however, due to the presence of partially depleted galaxy cores, the Sersic model cannot always describe the very inner region. We have therefore developed a new empirical model consisting of an inner power-law, a transition region, and an outer Sersic model to connect the inner and outer structure of elliptical galaxies. Moreover, the stability of the Nuker model parameters are investigated. Surprisingly, none are found to be stable quantities; all are shown to vary systematically with a profile's fitted radial extent, and often by more than 100%. Considering elliptical galaxies spanning a range of 7.5 magnitudes, the central stellar density of the underlying host galaxy is observed to increase with galaxy luminosity until the onset of core formation, detected only in the brightest elliptical galaxies. We suggest that the so-called ``power-law'' galaxies may actually be described by the Sersic model over their entire radial range

Analytic Bethe Ansatz for 1-D Hubbard model and twisted coupled XY model

We found the eigenvalues of the transfer matrices for the 1-D Hubbard model and for the coupled XY model with twisted boundary condition by using the analytic Bethe Ansatz method. Under a particular condition the two models have the same Bethe Ansatz equations. We have also proved that the periodic 1-D Hubbard model is exactly equal to the coupled XY model with nontrivial twisted boundary condition at the level of hamiltonians and transfer matrices.Comment: 22 pages, latex, no figure

The type N Karlhede bound is sharp

We present a family of four-dimensional Lorentzian manifolds whose invariant classification requires the seventh covariant derivative of the curvature tensor. The spacetimes in questions are null radiation, type N solutions on an anti-de Sitter background. The large order of the bound is due to the fact that these spacetimes are properly $CH_2$, i.e., curvature homogeneous of order 2 but non-homogeneous. This means that tetrad components of $R, \nabla R, \nabla^{(2)}R$ are constant, and that essential coordinates first appear as components of $\nabla^{(3)}R$. Covariant derivatives of orders 4,5,6 yield one additional invariant each, and $\nabla^{(7)}R$ is needed for invariant classification. Thus, our class proves that the bound of 7 on the order of the covariant derivative, first established by Karlhede, is sharp. Our finding corrects an outstanding assertion that invariant classification of four-dimensional Lorentzian manifolds requires at most $\nabla^{(6)}R$.Comment: 7 pages, typos corrected, added citation and acknowledgemen

Structural changes during air drying of fruits and vegetables: a review

This work aims at reviewing structural changes occurring in convective air drying of fruits and vegetables. These include changes in physical properties, such as volume, porosity and bulk and particle density, which directlyaffect textural attributes of the products. Models relating with water content physical properties are also summarised. At microscopic level, the phenomena observed byprevious authors is described, focusing on shrinkage. In particular, a new approach on modelling kinetics of microstructural modifications is presented. Although the air drying process is relatively well studied, there is a lack of research concerning changes in structural properties. Modelling mass transfer during drying frequently does not include those effects and, there has not been established a standard methodologyfor predictive purposes. Correlating microstructure, texture measurements and sensoryanalysis would be an attractive area to be exploited for drying processes of fruits and vegetables. Although this is a wide working field, much is still to be done

Generation of nonground-state Bose-Einstein condensates by modulating atomic interactions

A technique is proposed for creating nonground-state Bose-Einstein condensates in a trapping potential by means of the temporal modulation of atomic interactions. Applying a time-dependent spatially homogeneous magnetic field modifies the atomic scattering length. An alternating modulation of the scattering length excites the condensate, which, under special conditions, can be transferred to an excited nonlinear coherent mode. It is shown that there occurs a phase-transition-like behavior in the time-averaged population imbalance between the ground and excited states. The application of the suggested technique to realistic experimental conditions is analyzed and it is shown that the considered effect can be realized for experimentally available condensates.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, 1 tabl