10 research outputs found
Screening of COPD patients for abdominal aortic aneurysm
Purpose: Screening for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) in “men aged over 65
years who have ever smoked” is a recommended policy. To reduce the number of
screenings, it may be of value to define subgroups with a higher prevalence of
AAA. Since chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and AAA are associated
with several common risk factors, this study investigates the prevalence of
AAA in COPD patients. Patients and methods: Patients with COPD were identified
via the hospital information system. Inclusion criteria were: COPD stage I–IV,
ability to give full consent, and age >18 years; exclusion criteria were:
patient too obese for an ultrasound check, previously diagnosed AAA, prior
surgery for AAA, or ethical grounds such as concomitant advanced malignant or
end-stage disease. The primary endpoint of the study was an aortic diameter
measured by ultrasound of ≥30 mm. Defined secondary endpoints were evaluated
on the basis of medical records and interviews. Results: Of the 1,180
identified COPD patients, 589 were included in this prospective study. In 22
patients (3.70%), the aortic diameter was ≥30 mm, representing an AAA
prevalence of 6.72% among males aged >65 years. The risk of AAA increased with
the following comorbidities/risk factors: male sex (odds ratio [OR] 2.98),
coronary heart disease (OR 2.81), peripheral arterial occlusive disease (OR
2.47), hyperlipoproteinemia (OR 2.77), AAA in the family history (OR 3.95),
and COPD stage I/II versus IV (OR 1.81). Conclusion: The overall AAA
prevalence of 3.7% in our group of COPD patients is similar to that of the
general population aged >65 years. However, the frequency of AAA in male COPD
patients aged >65 years is considerably higher (6.72%) and increased further
still in those individuals with additional comorbidities/risk factors.
Defining subgroups with a higher risk of AAA may increase the efficiency of
screening
Overview of the PALM model system 6.0
In this paper, we describe the PALM model system 6.0. PALM (formerly an abbreviation for Parallelized Largeeddy Simulation Model and now an independent name) is a Fortran-based code and has been applied for studying a variety of atmospheric and oceanic boundary layers for about 20 years. The model is optimized for use on massively parallel computer architectures. This is a follow-up paper to the PALM 4.0 model description in Maronga et al. (2015). During the last years, PALM has been significantly improved and now offers a variety of new components. In particular, much effort was made to enhance the model with components needed for applications in urban environments, like fully interactive land surface and radiation schemes, chemistry, and an indoor model. This paper serves as an overview paper of the PALM 6.0 model system and we describe its current model core. The individual components for urban applications, case studies, validation runs, and issues with suitable input data are presented and discussed in a series of companion papers in this special issue
Laser induced fluorescence measurements of microwave stimulated OH molecules from H2O photodissociation
Contains fulltext :
28892.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access
Hyperfine population measurement of excited OH from
In this paper the first measurement of the hyperfine population of a photofragment is presented.
The population of the hyperfine levels of the state of OH out of
photodissociation of cold turns out to be statistical.
After photodissociation of water at 157 nm within a Fabry-Perot microwave cavity the nascent OH
formed in the , state (probed by LIF) is stimulated by microwave radiation. From saturation data
the population in each hyperfine level in both Λ-doublets is determined
Screening of COPD patients for abdominal aortic aneurysm
Ingo H Flessenkaemper,1 Robert Loddenkemper,2 Stephanie Roll,3 Kathrin Enke-Melzer,1 Henrik Wurps,2 Torsten T Bauer21Department for Vascular Medicine, 2Department of Pneumology, Helios Klinikum Emil von Behring, Berlin, Germany; 3Institute for Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, GermanyPurpose: Screening for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) in “men aged over 65 years who have ever smoked” is a recommended policy. To reduce the number of screenings, it may be of value to define subgroups with a higher prevalence of AAA. Since chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and AAA are associated with several common risk factors, this study investigates the prevalence of AAA in COPD patients.Patients and methods: Patients with COPD were identified via the hospital information system. Inclusion criteria were: COPD stage I–IV, ability to give full consent, and age >18 years; exclusion criteria were: patient too obese for an ultrasound check, previously diagnosed AAA, prior surgery for AAA, or ethical grounds such as concomitant advanced malignant or end-stage disease. The primary endpoint of the study was an aortic diameter measured by ultrasound of ≥30 mm. Defined secondary endpoints were evaluated on the basis of medical records and interviews.Results: Of the 1,180 identified COPD patients, 589 were included in this prospective study. In 22 patients (3.70%), the aortic diameter was ≥30 mm, representing an AAA prevalence of 6.72% among males aged >65 years. The risk of AAA increased with the following comorbidities/risk factors: male sex (odds ratio [OR] 2.98), coronary heart disease (OR 2.81), peripheral arterial occlusive disease (OR 2.47), hyperlipoproteinemia (OR 2.77), AAA in the family history (OR 3.95), and COPD stage I/II versus IV (OR 1.81).Conclusion: The overall AAA prevalence of 3.7% in our group of COPD patients is similar to that of the general population aged >65 years. However, the frequency of AAA in male COPD patients aged >65 years is considerably higher (6.72%) and increased further still in those individuals with additional comorbidities/risk factors. Defining subgroups with a higher risk of AAA may increase the efficiency of screening.Keywords: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, AAA, screening, risk factors, epidemiology, inflammatory disease, tobacco abus