310 research outputs found
Rate and predictors for non-attendance of patients undergoing hospital outpatient treatment for chronic diseases: a register-based cohort study.
Failure to keep medical appointments results in inefficiencies and, potentially, in poor outcomes for patients. The aim of this study is to describe non-attendance rate and to investigate predictors of non-attendance among patients receiving hospital outpatient treatment for chronic diseases.
We conducted a historic, register-based cohort study using data from a regional hospital and included patients aged 18 years or over who were registered in ongoing outpatient treatment courses for seven selected chronic diseases on July 1, 2013. A total of 5895 patients were included and information about their appointments was extracted from the period between July 1, 2013 and June 30, 2015. The outcome measure was occurrence of non-attendance. The associations between non-attendance and covariates (age, gender, marital status, education level, occupational status, specific chronic disease and number of outpatient treatment courses) were investigated using multivariate logistic regression models, including mixed effect.
During the two-year period, 35% of all patients (2057 of 5895 patients) had one or more occurrences of non-attendance and 5% of all appointments (4393 of 82,989 appointments) resulted in non-attendance. Significant predictors for non-attendance were younger age (OR 4.17 for 18 ≤ 29 years as opposed to 80+ years), male gender (OR 1.35), unmarried status (OR 1.39), low educational level (OR 1.18) and receipt of long-term welfare payments (OR 1.48). Neither specific diseases nor number of treatment courses were associated with a higher non-attendance rate.
Patients undergoing hospital outpatient treatments for chronic diseases had a non-attendance rate of 5%. We found several predictors for non-attendance but undergoing treatment for several chronic diseases simultaneously was not a predictor. To reduce non-attendance, initiatives could target the groups at risk.
This study was approved by the Danish Data Protection Agency (Project ID 18/35695 )
Ontologies for Intelligent e-Theraoy: Application to Obesity
[EN] In this paper we propose a new approach for mental e-health
treatments named intelligent e-therapy (e-it) with capabilities for ambient intelligence
and ubiquitous computing. The proposed e-it system supposes an evolution
of cybertherapy and telepsychology tools used up to now. The e-it system
is based in a knowledge base that includes all the knowledge related to the disorder
and its treatment. We introduce the use of ontologies as the best option for
the design of this knowledge base. We also present a fist e-it system for obesity
treatment called etiobeZaragozá Álvarez, I.; Guixeres Provinciale, J.; Alcañiz Raya, ML. (2009). Ontologies for Intelligent e-Theraoy: Application to Obesity. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. 5518:894-901. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-02481-8_136S8949015518Baños, R.M., Botella, C., Perpiñá, C., Alcañiz, M., Lozano, J.A., Osma, J., Gallardo, M.: Virtual reality treatment of flying phobia. IEEE Transactions on Information Technology in Biomedicine 6(3), 206–212 (2002)Botella, C., Baños, R.M., Perpiña, C., et al.: Virtual reality treatment of claustrophobia: a case report. Behaviour Research & Therapy 36, 239–246 (1998)Hu, B., Dasmahapatra, S., Dupplaw, D., Lewis, P., Shadbolt, N.: Reflections on a medical ontology. International Journal of Human- Computer Studies 65(2007), 569–582 (2007)Rubin, D.L., Shah, N.H., Noy, N.F.: Biomedical ontologies: a functional perspective. Briefings in bioinformatics 9(1), 75–90 (2007)Stevens, R., Egaña Aranguren, M., Wolstencroft, K., Sattler, U., Drummond, N., Horridge, M., Rector, A.: Using OWL to model biological knowledge. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 65(2007), 583–594 (2007)Park, S., Lee, J.K.: Rule identification using ontology while acquiring rules from Web pages. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 65(2007), 644–658 (2007)Clark, K.L., McCabe, F.G.: Ontology schema for an agent belief store. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 65(2007), 625–643 (2007)Gruber, T.R.: A Translation Approach to Portable Ontology Specifications. Knowledge Acquisition 5(2), 199–220 (1993)Franco, C., Bengtsson, B., Johannsson, G.: The GH/IGF-1 Axis in Obesity: Physiological and Pathological aspects. Metabolic syndrome and Related Disorders 4, 51–56 (2006
Quasinormal modes for tensor and vector type perturbation of Gauss Bonnet black holes using third order WKB approach
We obtain the quasinormal modes for tensor perturbations of Gauss-Bonnet (GB)
black holes in dimensions and vector perturbations in
and 8 dimensions using third order WKB formalism. The tensor perturbation for
black holes in is not considered because of the fact that it is unstable
to tensor mode perturbations. In the case of uncharged GB black hole, for both
tensor and vector perturbations, the real part of the QN frequency increases as
the Gauss-Bonnet coupling () increases. The imaginary part first
decreases upto a certain value of and then increases with
for both tensor and vector perturbations. For larger values of , the
QN frequencies for vector perturbation differs slightly from the QN frequencies
for tensorial one. It has also been shown that as , the
quasinormal mode frequency for tensor and vector perturbation of the
Schwarzschild black hole can be obtained. We have also calculated the
quasinormal spectrum of the charged GB black hole for tensor perturbations.
Here we have found that the real oscillation frequency increases, while the
imaginary part of the frequency falls with the increase of the charge. We also
show that the quasinormal frequencies for scalar field perturbations and the
tensor gravitational perturbations do not match as was claimed in the
literature. The difference in the result increases if we increase the GB
coupling.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, change in title and abstract, new equations and
results added for QN frequencies for vector perturbations, new referencees
adde
Observers and Locality in Everett Quantum Field Theory
A model for measurement in collapse-free nonrelativistic fermionic quantum
field theory is presented. In addition to local propagation and
effectively-local interactions, the model incorporates explicit representations
of localized observers, thus extending an earlier model of entanglement
generation in Everett quantum field theory [M. A. Rubin, Found. Phys. 32,
1495-1523 (2002)]. Transformations of the field operators from the Heisenberg
picture to the Deutsch-Hayden picture, involving fictitious auxiliary fields,
establish the locality of the model. The model is applied to manifestly-local
calculations of the results of measurements, using a type of sudden
approximation and in the limit of massive systems in narrow-wavepacket states.
Detection of the presence of a spin-1/2 system in a given spin state by a
freely-moving two-state observer illustrates the features of the model and the
nonperturbative computational methodology. With the help of perturbation theory
the model is applied to a calculation of the quintessential "nonlocal" quantum
phenomenon, spin correlations in the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-Bohm experiment.Comment: Some changes to introduction and discussion sections, typos
corrected, conclusions unchanged. To appear in Foundations of Physic
Terminal osteoblast differentiation, mediated by runx2 and p27KIP1, is disrupted in osteosarcoma
The molecular basis for the inverse relationship between differentiation and tumorigenesis is unknown. The function of runx2, a master regulator of osteoblast differentiation belonging to the runt family of tumor suppressor genes, is consistently disrupted in osteosarcoma cell lines. Ectopic expression of runx2 induces p27KIP1, thereby inhibiting the activity of S-phase cyclin complexes and leading to the dephosphorylation of the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor protein (pRb) and a G1 cell cycle arrest. Runx2 physically interacts with the hypophosphorylated form of pRb, a known coactivator of runx2, thereby completing a feed-forward loop in which progressive cell cycle exit promotes increased expression of the osteoblast phenotype. Loss of p27KIP1 perturbs transient and terminal cell cycle exit in osteoblasts. Consistent with the incompatibility of malignant transformation and permanent cell cycle exit, loss of p27KIP1 expression correlates with dedifferentiation in high-grade human osteosarcomas. Physiologic coupling of osteoblast differentiation to cell cycle withdrawal is mediated through runx2 and p27KIP1, and these processes are disrupted in osteosarcoma
Anomalous Heat Conduction and Anomalous Diffusion in Low Dimensional Nanoscale Systems
Thermal transport is an important energy transfer process in nature. Phonon
is the major energy carrier for heat in semiconductor and dielectric materials.
In analogy to Ohm's law for electrical conductivity, Fourier's law is a
fundamental rule of heat transfer in solids. It states that the thermal
conductivity is independent of sample scale and geometry. Although Fourier's
law has received great success in describing macroscopic thermal transport in
the past two hundreds years, its validity in low dimensional systems is still
an open question. Here we give a brief review of the recent developments in
experimental, theoretical and numerical studies of heat transport in low
dimensional systems, include lattice models, nanowires, nanotubes and
graphenes. We will demonstrate that the phonon transports in low dimensional
systems super-diffusively, which leads to a size dependent thermal
conductivity. In other words, Fourier's law is breakdown in low dimensional
structures
Heavy quarkonium: progress, puzzles, and opportunities
A golden age for heavy quarkonium physics dawned a decade ago, initiated by
the confluence of exciting advances in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and an
explosion of related experimental activity. The early years of this period were
chronicled in the Quarkonium Working Group (QWG) CERN Yellow Report (YR) in
2004, which presented a comprehensive review of the status of the field at that
time and provided specific recommendations for further progress. However, the
broad spectrum of subsequent breakthroughs, surprises, and continuing puzzles
could only be partially anticipated. Since the release of the YR, the BESII
program concluded only to give birth to BESIII; the -factories and CLEO-c
flourished; quarkonium production and polarization measurements at HERA and the
Tevatron matured; and heavy-ion collisions at RHIC have opened a window on the
deconfinement regime. All these experiments leave legacies of quality,
precision, and unsolved mysteries for quarkonium physics, and therefore beg for
continuing investigations. The plethora of newly-found quarkonium-like states
unleashed a flood of theoretical investigations into new forms of matter such
as quark-gluon hybrids, mesonic molecules, and tetraquarks. Measurements of the
spectroscopy, decays, production, and in-medium behavior of c\bar{c}, b\bar{b},
and b\bar{c} bound states have been shown to validate some theoretical
approaches to QCD and highlight lack of quantitative success for others. The
intriguing details of quarkonium suppression in heavy-ion collisions that have
emerged from RHIC have elevated the importance of separating hot- and
cold-nuclear-matter effects in quark-gluon plasma studies. This review
systematically addresses all these matters and concludes by prioritizing
directions for ongoing and future efforts.Comment: 182 pages, 112 figures. Editors: N. Brambilla, S. Eidelman, B. K.
Heltsley, R. Vogt. Section Coordinators: G. T. Bodwin, E. Eichten, A. D.
Frawley, A. B. Meyer, R. E. Mitchell, V. Papadimitriou, P. Petreczky, A. A.
Petrov, P. Robbe, A. Vair
Microwave determination of the quasiparticle scattering time in YBa2Cu3O6.95
We report microwave surface resistance (Rs) measurements on two very-high-quality YBa2Cu3O6.95 crystals which exhibit extremely low residual loss at 1.2 K (2-6 μΩ at 2 GHz), a broad, reproducible peak at around 38 K, and a rapid increase in loss, by 4 orders of magnitude, between 80 and 93 K. These data provide one ingredient in the determination of the temperature dependence of the real part of the microwave conductivity, σ1(T), and of the quasiparticle scattering time. The other necessary ingredient is an accurate knowledge of the magnitude and temperature dependence of the London penetration depth, λ(T). This is derived from published data, from microwave data of Anlage, Langley, and co-workers and from, high-quality μSR data. We infer, from a careful analysis of all available data, that λ2(0)/λ2(T) is well approximated by the simple function 1-t2, where t=T/Tc, and that the low-temperature data are incompatible with the existence of an s-wave, BCS-like gap. Combining the Rs and λ(T) data, we find that σ1(T), has a broad peak around 32 K with a value about 20 times that at Tc. Using a generalized two-fluid model, we extract the temperature dependence of the quasiparticle scattering rate which follows an exponential law, exp(T/T0), where T0≊12 K, for T between 15 and 84 K. Such a temperature dependence has previously been observed in measurements of the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate. Both the uncertainties in our analysis and the implications for the mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity are discussed
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