A pragmatics' view of patient identification

Patient identification is a central safety critical aspect of healthcare work. Most healthcare activities require identification of patients by healthcare staff, often in connection with the use of patient records. Indeed, the increasing reliance on electronic systems makes the correct matching of patients with their records a keystone for patient safety. Most research on patient identification has been carried out in hospital settings. The aim was to investigate the process of identification of patients and their records in the context of a primary healthcare clinic

Feedback-controlled transport in an interacting colloidal system

Based on dynamical density functional theory (DDFT) we consider a non-equilibrium system of interacting colloidal particles driven by a constant tilting force through a periodic, symmetric "washboard" potential. We demonstrate that, despite of pronounced spatio-temporal correlations, the particle current can be reversed by adding suitable feedback control terms to the DDFT equation of motion. We explore two distinct control protocols with time delay, focussing on either the particle positions or the density profile. Our study shows that the DDFT is an appropriate framework to implement time-delayed feedback control strategies widely used in other fields of nonlinear physicsComment: 6 pages, 5 figure

On the stability of periodic orbits in delay equations with large delay

We prove a necessary and sufficient criterion for the exponential stability of periodic solutions of delay differential equations with large delay. We show that for sufficiently large delay the Floquet spectrum near criticality is characterized by a set of curves, which we call asymptotic continuous spectrum, that is independent on the delay.Comment: postprint versio

Defective production of interferon-γ and tumour necrosis factor-α by AIDS mononuclear cells after in vitro exposure to Rhodococcus equi

The production of interferon-γ and tumour necrosis factor-α was evaluated in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from healthy donors and AIDS patients after Rhodococcus equi infection in vitro. PBMCs from healthy donors secreted elevated levels of IFN-γ and TNF-α when challenged in vitro with killed R. equi, whereas the release of both cytokines was impaired in supernatant cultures from AIDS patients. We conclude that the failure of IFN-γ generation in AIDS patients in response to R. equi is not antigen-specific but it may reflect the global impairment of T-cell function. In such patients, however, the infection with R. equi, a facultative intracellular pathogen which survives and replicates within macrophages, may be responsible for the impairment in the TNF-α release, possibly enhancing the HIV-induced macrophage dysftmction

Modelling the Recoherence of Mesoscopic Superpositions in Dissipative Environments

A model is presented to describe the recently proposed experiment (J. Raimond, M. Brune and S. Haroche Phys. Rev. Lett {\bf 79}, 1964 (1997)) where a mesoscopic superposition of radiation states is prepared in a high-Q cavity which is coupled to a similar resonator. The dynamical coherence loss of such state in the absence of dissipation is reversible and can in principle be observed. We show how this picture is modified due to the presence of the environmental couplings. Analytical expressions for the experimental conditional probabilities and the linear entropy are given. We conclude that the phenomenon can still be observed provided the ratio between the damping constant and the inter-cavities coupling does not exceed about a few percent. This observation is favored for superpositions of states with large overlap.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure

Phase separation dynamics in a two-dimensional magnetic mixture

Based on classical density functional theory (DFT), we investigate the demixing phase transition of a two-dimensional, binary Heisenberg fluid mixture. The particles in the mixture are modeled as Gaussian soft spheres, where one component is characterized by an additional classical spin-spin interaction of Heisenberg type. Within the DFT we treat the particle interactions using a mean-field approximation. For certain magnetic coupling strengths we calculate phase diagrams in the density-concentration plane. For sufficiently large coupling strengths and densities, we find a demixing phase transition driven by the ferromagnetic interactions of the magnetic species. We also provide a microscopic description (i.e., density profiles) of the resulting non-magnetic/magnetic fluid-fluid interface. Finally, we investigate the phase separation using dynamical density functional theory (DDFT), considering both nucleation processes and spinodal demixing.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figure

Utilização de Concentrado de Complexo Protrombínico na reversão de hipocoagulação oral

Introdução: Os doentes sob hipocoagulação oral podem necessitar de reversão em caso de hemorragia ativa ou procedimentos emergentes. Perante hemorragias graves, os doentes sob anticoagulantes orais diretos (DOAC’s) parecem cursar mais favoravelmente do que doentes sob antivitamínicos K. Existe maior incidência de hemorragia digestiva no primeiro grupo, no entanto esta não parece alterar a mortalidade. Na ausência de antídotos específicos, é recomendada a utilização de concentrado de complexo protrombínico (CCP). Objetivos: Avaliar a utilização de CCP para reversão de hipocoagulação oral durante o ano de 2017, no nosso hospital. Métodos: Consulta dos registos do nosso serviço relativamente à utilização de CCP em 2017. Pesquisa dos processos clínicos dos doentes e recolha dos dados clínico-laboratoriais relevantes. Resultados: Foram avaliados 59 doentes, 62,71% sob varfarina e 37,29% sob DOAC’s. Em ambos os grupos, a maioria era do género masculino e com idade superior a 70 anos (65% vs. 55% e 62% vs. 77%, respetivamente). O principal motivo para anticoagulação era fibrilhação auricular não valvular (68% vs. 88%). Todos os doentes apresentavam hemorragia ativa grave. Mais de metade apresentava função renal alterada (57% vs. 59%). Cerca de 1/3 necessitaram de outros componentes sanguíneos /hemoderivados (32,4% vs. 36%). A mortalidade foi semelhante nos dois grupos (27% vs. 23%). Conclusão: Na nossa experiência a reversão de anticoagulação com complexo protrombínico (CCP) demonstrou resultados equivalentes, tanto em doentes sob varfarina como DOAC’s. A mortalidade e o consumo de componentes sanguíneos/hemoderivados foram semelhantes em ambos os grupos. Contudo, a elevada prevalência de disfunção renal nesta amostra poderá enviesar os resultados. A prescrição adequada e acompanhamento dos doentes hipocoagulados é fundamental.N/

Frequency locking of modulated waves

We consider the behavior of a modulated wave solution to an $\mathbb{S}^1$-equivariant autonomous system of differential equations under an external forcing of modulated wave type. The modulation frequency of the forcing is assumed to be close to the modulation frequency of the modulated wave solution, while the wave frequency of the forcing is supposed to be far from that of the modulated wave solution. We describe the domain in the three-dimensional control parameter space (of frequencies and amplitude of the forcing) where stable locking of the modulation frequencies of the forcing and the modulated wave solution occurs. Our system is a simplest case scenario for the behavior of self-pulsating lasers under the influence of external periodically modulated optical signals

Pore scale modeling of reactive transport involved in geologic CO2 sequestration

We apply a multi-component reactive transport lattice Boltzmann model developed in previolls studies to modeling the injection of a C02 saturated brine into various porous media structures at temperature T=25 and 80 C. The porous media are originally consisted of calcite. A chemical system consisting of Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+, H+, CO2(aq), and CI-is considered. The fluid flow, advection and diHusion of aqueous species, homogeneous reactions occurring in the bulk fluid, as weB as the dissolution of calcite and precipitation of dolomite are simulated at the pore scale. The effects of porous media structure on reactive transport are investigated. The results are compared with continuum scale modeling and the agreement and discrepancy are discussed. This work may shed some light on the fundamental physics occurring at the pore scale for reactive transport involved in geologic C02 sequestration