260 research outputs found

    A telemedicina előnyei és hátrányai

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    Telemedicine is used more and more frequently worldwide. It is increasingly popular in North America, Australia, South Africa, as well as the Scandinavian countries. However, it is not commonly used in Hungary despite various attempts, which is presumably due to earlier dismissive governmental attitude. In this paper the authors analyze ethical, legal and financial aspects of telemedicine from the viewpoints of physicians and patients, too. The results indicate that it cannot be clearly decided whether telemedicine is worth to apply at present. Further, introduction of telemedicine should be based on experience gained in local application

    Temporal patterns in the activity density and sex ratio of isopods (Oniscidea, Isopoda) along an urbanization gradient in Denmark

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    Urbanization effects on terrestrial isopod (Isopoda, Oniscidea) populations were studied in forested areas along a rural-to-urban gradient including a native beech forest, suburban and urban forest fragments in Sorø, Denmark. The seasonal activity patterns of the dominating species (Oniscus asellus, Philoscia muscorum and Porcellio scaber) indicated differences among the areas, but these patterns were idiosyncratic. There were more females than males in most areas. The seasonal patterns of males and non-gravid females were similar and often bimodal; gravid females showed markedly different, usually unimodal activity patterns. Temporal changes of sex ratios were – in each species – characterized by an early summer activity peak of males, followed by the activity peak of gravid females. We suggest that these trends might indicate a reproduction-driven surface activity of males. The small response of the three isopod species to urbanization may reflect their wide ecological tolerance as well as the “soft management” of the urban park

    Sex-specific interaction of body condition and asymmetry in carabids in distinct urbanisation stages

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    Physiological condition of an animal is flexible and can quickly change in relation to the quality of its environment. This makes it potentially suitable as an estimator of environmental stress. We studied the condition in three predatory ground beetles, Carabus nemoralis, Nebria brevicollis and Pterostichus melanarius along an urbanisation gradient (forest-suburban area - forest fragments in urban park) in Sorø, Denmark to test whether urbanisation-related stress is reflected in body condition. We also considered the interaction between condition and the true asymmetry using a local polynomial regression model. Females showed consistently better condition than males in all studied species. The condition indices in C. nemoralis and N. brevicollis were higher in the urban habitats than the other sites, while P. melanarius showed better condition in the suburban forest fragments than the forest or urban habitats. A significant negative correlation was found between condition and asymmetry for C. nemoralis and N. brevicollis in the suburban as well as urban forest fragments. This indicates a complex interaction between tolerance limits, feeding conditions and stress levels during advancing urbanisation, emphasising the importance of using multiple criteria for assessing its impact on biodiversity

    The use of percentile-percentile plots to compare differences in seasonal dynamics, illustrated by the case of ground beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae) reacting to urbanisation

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    We suggest the use of a graphical method, involving a standardisation of the seasonal activity curves and their subsequent comparison by a percentile-percentile graph as an easy way to compare seasonal activities in arthropods. To test the suitability of the suggested method, the seasonal dynamics of three common carabid beetles, Pterostichus melanarius, Nebria brevicollis and Carabus nemoralis were compared in three habitats (rural forest, suburban and urban forest fragments) along an urbanisation gradient near Sorø, Denmark, in 2004 and 2005. Activity in urban habitats often started earlier, possibly caused by the warmer microclimate in the city centre. The comparative graphs indicated the unsuitability of the suburban habitat for N. brevicollis, and the differential suitability as overwintering habitat of the three urbanisation stages for C. nemoralis. The method seems suitable to analyse differences in seasonal activity while being more sensitive than traditional seasonal-activity graphs. | Supporting Information Supporting Information </supplementary-material

    Recording fine‐scale movement of ground beetles by two methods: Potentials and methodological pitfalls

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    Movement trajectories are usually recorded as a sequence of discrete movement events described by two parameters: step length (distance) and turning angle (bearing). One of the most widespread methods to record the geocoordinates of each step is by a GPS device. Such devices have limited suitability for recording fine movements of species with low dispersal ability including flightless carabid beetles at small spatio‐temporal scales. As an alternative, the distance‐bearing approach can avoid the measurement error of GPS units since it uses directly measured distances and compass azimuths. As no quantification of measurement error between distance‐bearing and GPS approaches exists so far, we generated artificial fine‐scale trajectories and in addition radio‐tracked living carabids in a temperate forest and recorded each movement step by both methods. Trajectories obtained from distance‐bearing were compared to those obtained by a GPS device in terms of movement parameters. Consequently, both types of trajectories were segmented by state‐switching modeling into two distinct movement stages typical for carabids: random walk and directed movement. We found that the measurement error of GPS compared to distance‐bearing was 1.878 m (SEM = 0.181 m) for distances and 31.330° (SEM = 2.066°) for bearings. Moreover, these errors increased under dense forest canopy and rainy weather. Distance error did not change with increasing distance recorded by distance‐bearing but bearings were significantly more sensitive to error at short distances. State‐switching models showed only slight, not significant, differences in movement states between the two methods in favor of the random walk in the distance‐bearing approach. However, the shape of the GPS‐measured trajectories considerably differed from those recorded by distance‐bearing caused especially by bearing error at short distances. Our study showed that distance‐bearing could be more appropriate for recording movement steps not only of ground‐dwelling beetles but also other small animals at fine spatio‐temporal scales

    Lower leg fractures treated with an external fixator at the Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology of the Clinical Hospital Center of Kosovska Mitrovica

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    IIntroduction: Fractures of the lower leg are frequent fractures of long bones that are of great importance in traumatology. The role of external fixation (SF) as a type of surgical treatment is significant and widely applied. There are 3 methods of using SF to treat tibial fractures: SF as primary and definitive treatment, SF combined with internal fixation, and conversion of SF to internal fixation. Objective: To show the possibilities of SF as a definitive way of treating lower leg fractures. Methods: In our paper, we analyzed 254 lower leg fractures treated with SF according to Mitković M20, which were treated at the Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology of CHC Kosovska Mitrovica. This series included 172 men or 68% of the total number of patients, and 83 or 32% women. Results: The average age of patients treated with this method is between the third and fourth decades of life. Falling on the leg with twisting of the table or the entire lower part of the leg is the most common type and cause of injuries in 69%. A closed lower leg fracture was diagnosed in 220 patients (A AO 59.%, B AO 26% and C AO 15%). Adequate position of the bone fragments was achieved by the closed reposition method in 190 (%), the average healing time was 18.4 weeks. In 93% of patients, we achieved bone union. Conclusion: The simple placement technique, the simplicity of the instrumentation, the wide range of indications where SF can be used, have led to the fact that it is a type of surgical treatment of great importance for lower leg fractures in small areas

    Exploring the circumstellar environment of the young eruptive star V2492 Cyg

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    Context. V2492 Cyg is a young eruptive star that went into outburst in 2010. The near-infrared color changes observed since the outburst peak suggest that the source belongs to a newly defined sub-class of young eruptive stars, where time-dependent accretion and variable line-of-sight extinction play a combined role in the flux changes. Aims. In order to learn about the origin of the light variations and to explore the circumstellar and interstellar environment of V2492 Cyg, we monitored the source at ten different wavelengths, between 0.55 \mu m and 2.2 \mu m from the ground and between 3.6 \mu m and 160 \mu m from space. Methods. We analyze the light curves and study the color-color diagrams via comparison with the standard reddening path. We examine the structure of the molecular cloud hosting V2492 Cyg by computing temperature and optical depth maps from the far-infrared data. Results. We find that the shapes of the light curves at different wavelengths are strictly self-similar and that the observed variability is related to a single physical process, most likely variable extinction. We suggest that the central source is episodically occulted by a dense dust cloud in the inner disk, and, based on the invariability of the far-infrared fluxes, we propose that it is a long-lived rather than a transient structure. In some respects, V2492 Cyg can be regarded as a young, embedded analog of UX Orionis-type stars. Conclusions. The example of V2492 Cyg demonstrates that the light variations of young eruptive stars are not exclusively related to changing accretion. The variability provided information on an azimuthally asymmetric structural element in the inner disk. Such an asymmetric density distribution in the terrestrial zone may also have consequences for the initial conditions of planet formation.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, 2 online tables, accepted for publication in A&

    The effect of indomethacin, myeloperoxidase, and certain steroid hormones on bactericidal activity: an ex vivo and in vivo experimental study.

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    BACKGROUND: The role of myeloperoxidase (MPO) is essential in the killing of phagocytosed bacteria. Certain steroid hormones increase MPO plasma concentration. Our aim was to test the effect of MPO, its inhibitor indomethacin, and certain steroid hormones on bactericidal activity. METHODS: Human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) were incubated with opsonised Escherichia coli and either MPO, indomethacin, estradiol, or hydrocortisone. Intracellular killing capacity was evaluated with UV microscopy after treatment with fluorescent dye. Next, an in vivo experiment was performed with nine groups of rats: in the first phase of the study indomethacin treatment and Pasteurella multocida infection (Ii), indomethacin treatment without infection (I0), untreated control with infection (Mi) and untreated control without infection (M0); in the second phase of the study rats with infection and testosterone treatment (NT), castration, infection and testosterone treatment (CT), castration, infection and estradiol treatment (CE), non-castrated infected control (N0), and castrated infected control (C0). After treatment bacteria were reisolated from the liver and heart blood on agar plates, and laboratory parameters were analyzed. For the comparison of laboratory results ANOVA or Kruskal-Wallis test and LSD post hoc test was used. RESULTS: Indomethacin did not have a remarkable effect on the bacterial killing of PMNs, while the other compounds increased bacterial killing to various degrees. In the animal model indomethacin and infection caused a poor clinical state, a great number of reisolated bacteria, elevated white blood cell (WBC) count, decreased C-reactive protein (CRP) and serum albumin levels. Testosterone treatment resulted in less bacterial colony numbers in group NT, but not in group CT compared to respective controls (N0, C0). Estradiol treatment (CE) decreased colony numbers compared to control (C0). Hormone administration resulted in lower WBC counts, and in group CE, a decreased CRP. CONCLUSIONS: MPO, estradiol, and hydrocortisone improve bacterial killing activity of PMNs. Indomethacin treatment and castration weaken immune responses and clinical state of infected rats, while testosterone and estradiol have a beneficial effect

    Inner disc rearrangement revealed by dramatic brightness variations in the young star PV Cep

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    Young Sun-like stars at the beginning of the pre-main sequence (PMS) evolution are surrounded by accretion discs and remnant protostellar envelopes. Photometric and spectroscopic variations of these stars are driven by interactions of the star with the disc. Time scales and wavelength dependence of the variability carry information on the physical mechanisms behind these interactions. We conducted multi-epoch, multi-wavelength study of PV Cep, a strongly variable, accreting PMS star. By combining our own observations from 2004-2010 with archival and literature data, we show that PV Cep started a spectacular fading in 2005, reaching an I_C-band amplitude of 4 mag. Analysis of variation of the optical and infrared fluxes, colour indices, and emission line fluxes suggests that the photometric decline in 2005-2009 resulted from an interplay between variable accretion and circumstellar extinction: since the central luminosity of the system is dominated by accretion, a modest drop in the accretion rate could induce the drastic restructuring of the inner disc. Dust condensation in the inner disc region might have resulted in the enhancement of the circumstellar extinction.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication by MNRAS. 3 online tables adde
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