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The cause of complications: understanding the relation between post-operative complications and the systems and processes of a hospital by means of an influence diagram

Care for the patient is the core process of hospital care. Hospitals are becoming ever more complex and it is increasingly difficult to have a good overview of the hospital to ensure the quality of care. Among others, additional quality assurance and validation is required to remain in control of the situation. To acquire insight into the most important parameters in patient care, an influence diagram is made of the patient treatment process in the operating room. The outcome of this approach is an extensive diagram, giving an overview of the influences on post-operative complications in a hospital. Based on this, a concise abstraction is made, in which the occurrence of post-operative complications is summarized using a simple system diagram. The main challenges within the current system are identified, and will be used for further research. Preliminary solutions follow from the influence diagram: the essential parameters and the complex interrelations between these parameters are described

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Background For parents at high risk for cardiovascular events, presence of cardiovascular disease or risk factors in their offspring may be an indicator of their genetic load or exposure to (unknown) risk factors and might be related to the development of new or recurrent vascular events. Methods In 4,267 patients with vascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, or hypercholesterolemia enrolled in the SMART cohort, the presence of cardiovascular risk factors (hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, smoking, or overweight) and cardiovascular disease (coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular disease, peripheral artery disease, or abdominal aortic aneurysm) was assessed in their 10,564 children. The relation between presence of cardiovascular disease or cardiovascular risk factors in their offspring and new or recurrent vascular events was determined by Cox proportional hazard analyses. Results Of the patients, 506 (12%) had offspring with cardiovascular disease, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, or diabetes. Smoking in offspring was present in 1,972 patients (46%), and overweight in 845 patients (20%). During a median follow-up of 7.0 years (interquartile range 3.7-10.4), the composite outcome of myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, or vascular mortality occurred in 251 patients. Patients with offspring with cardiovascular disease, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, or diabetes had an increased risk of vascular mortality (hazard ratio [HR] 2.9, 95% CI 1.2-7.1), MI (HR 1.6, 95% CI 1.1-2.5), and the composite outcome (HR 1.5, 95% CI 1.1-2.2). Diabetes in offspring was related to an increased risk of the composite outcome (HR 2.7, 95% CI 1.5-5.0), MI (HR 3.3, 95% CI 1.7-6.6), and vascular mortality (HR 3.4, 95% CI 0.8-14.8). Smoking and overweight in offspring were not related to increased vascular risk in parents. Conclusions Presence of cardiovascular disease, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and diabetes in offspring, with diabetes mellitus being the most contributing cardiovascular risk factor, is related to an increased risk of developing new or subsequent vascular events in patients already at high vascular risk

MaNGA: Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory

MaNGA (Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO) is a galaxy integral-field spectroscopic survey within the fourth generation Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV). It will be mapping the composition and kinematics of gas and stars in 10,000 nearby galaxies, using 17 differently sized fiber bundles. MaNGA's goal is to provide new insights in galaxy formation and evolution, and to deliver a local benchmark for current and future high-redshift studies

Galactic shape and age go hand in hand

Recently, large integral-field spectroscopic studies of galaxies have greatly increased our knowledge of their structure and evolution. A new analysis of such data reveals a relationship between the age and the intrinsic — three-dimensional — shape of galaxies

Galactic shape and age go hand in hand

Recently, large integral-field spectroscopic studies of galaxies have greatly increased our knowledge of their structure and evolution. A new analysis of such data reveals a relationship between the age and the intrinsic — three-dimensional — shape of galaxies

Demonstrating cosmological and Doppler redshift in the classroom

Cosmology is often a difficult subject to teach as it can involve many confusing and sometimes abstract concepts. One particular topic with many existing misconceptions and difficulties surrounding it is redshift, specifically the difference between Doppler shift (due to the peculiar velocities of galaxies) and cosmological redshift (due to the expansion of the side). Redshift of galaxies, despite being an extremely useful and interesting scientific tool, can often become a tedious subject to teach as it is largely theoretical and usually does not include demonstrations or interaction in the classroom. It can be challenging to understand, and therefore also challenging to explain, the differences between Doppler and cosmological redshift, often leading to this distinction being overlooked entirely. The set of demonstrations developed during this astrophysics masters project, along with the accompanying presentation, worksheet, and teacher notes, aim to explain both Doppler and cosmological redshift clearly and in an engaging and memorable way. The demonstrations use remote control vehicles to represent peaks of a travelling wave of light. When demonstrating Doppler shift, the vehicles are released from a plastic board that is being pulled away, representing a receding source of light. When demonstrating cosmological redshift, the vehicles are driven along a wide stretchy exercise band, representing a section of the expanding Universe through which this wave of light is travelling. This teaching resource will introduce interactive learning, proven to be very effective when teaching astronomy, and provides a useful and fun physical analogy to demonstrate an often-misunderstood subject.Publisher PD

Demonstrating cosmological and Doppler redshift in the classroom

Cosmology is often a difficult subject to teach as it can involve many confusing and sometimes abstract concepts. One particular topic with many existing misconceptions and difficulties surrounding it is redshift, specifically the difference between Doppler shift (due to the peculiar velocities of galaxies) and cosmological redshift (due to the expansion of the side). Redshift of galaxies, despite being an extremely useful and interesting scientific tool, can often become a tedious subject to teach as it is largely theoretical and usually does not include demonstrations or interaction in the classroom. It can be challenging to understand, and therefore also challenging to explain, the differences between Doppler and cosmological redshift, often leading to this distinction being overlooked entirely. The set of demonstrations developed during this astrophysics masters project, along with the accompanying presentation, worksheet, and teacher notes, aim to explain both Doppler and cosmological redshift clearly and in an engaging and memorable way. The demonstrations use remote control vehicles to represent peaks of a travelling wave of light. When demonstrating Doppler shift, the vehicles are released from a plastic board that is being pulled away, representing a receding source of light. When demonstrating cosmological redshift, the vehicles are driven along a wide stretchy exercise band, representing a section of the expanding Universe through which this wave of light is travelling. This teaching resource will introduce interactive learning, proven to be very effective when teaching astronomy, and provides a useful and fun physical analogy to demonstrate an often-misunderstood subject