The importance of resistance training in the treatment of sarcopenia

Utilizing individualized exercise training programs that are inclusive of appropriate resistance training protocols can attenuate the deleterious effects of sarcopenia and enhance quality of life, functional capacity and also diminish its negative effect on independence. Nurses should be educated in how the utilization of proper resistance training (RT) in individuals can be used to ameliorate the effect of sarcopenia, especially considering its relationship to Quality of Life (QoL), functional capacity and independence. In part, this educational process should include how to refer patients to an appropriate healthcare provider trained in assessing sarcopenia and the use of resistance training. However, it is especially important that the provider be an expert on RT that enhances lean muscle, muscular strength, muscular endurance, power, balance and stamina. Therefore, it is vital that nurses have an opportunity to define and recognize how resistance training can be prescribed, ultimately for primary prevention but also as an effective treatment module in enhancing the health outcomes related to QoL, functional capacity and independence

Thermal Stability of Fluorocarbon Films Deposited from Pentafluoroethane/Argon Plasmas

Plasma deposited fluorocarbon films have received considerable attention recently as potential interlevel dielectrics for future generation integrated circuits (ICs). 1,2 Apart from their low dielectric constant (<2.6), they also possess other favorable characteristics such as low moisture absorption, high chemical inertness, and plasma-assisted conformal step coverage. In this study, the effect of applied power and substrate temperature on the chemical structure, chemical composition, and thermal stability of the plasma-deposited fluorocarbon films was investigated by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), IR spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The monomer studied, pentafluoroethane (CF 3 CHF 2 ), was selected because of its shorter atmospheric lifetime relative to that of pure fluorocarbon gases. Experimental A parallel-plate radio frequency (rf) plasma reactor was used for the deposition of fluorocarbon films from pentafluoroethane/argon mixtures. Details of the reactor setup and operation are given elsewhere, 7 so only a brief description is presented here. The distance between the 4 cm diam, parallel-plate, stainless steel disk electrodes was fixed at 2.9 cm for all experiments. RF power at 13.56 MHz from an ENI power systems HF-300 rf generator was coupled to the top electrode using a Heathkit SA-2060A antenna tuner. Substrates were placed on the grounded electrode whose temperature was regulated with a Syskon RKC temperature controller. Depositions were carried out at substrate temperatures of 120, 180, and 210ЊC, and a constant operating pressure of 1 Torr. The flow rates of pentafluoroethane and argon were set at 20 and 75 sccm, respectively, for all depositions. In some cases, films deposited at a specific substrate or deposition temperature were heated to 200ЊC in the reactor immediately after deposition and held there for 2 h in vacuum. In the following discussions, this heat-treatment of the deposited films in vacuum is referred to as postdeposition annealing. In this study, films deposited onto both the temperature-controlled, grounded electrode and the powered electrode without temperature control, were characterized by various analytical techniques including TGA, IR, XPS, and mass spectrometry. IR spectra of the deposited films were collected in reflection mode at a grazing angle of 70Њ using a Nicolet Magna-IR 560 Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer. All spectra were recorded at a resolution of 4 cm Ϫ1 and averaged over 512 scans. In order to improve the signal-to-noise ratio, fluorocarbon films were deposited onto silicon substrates that had been sputter coated with a 300 nm layer of aluminum. Films deposited on the powered electrode were analyzed directly on the stainless steel powered electrode. XPS was used to obtain the chemical composition and bonding structure of polymer films. Spectra were collected using a PHI model 1600 XPS system equipped with a monochromator. The sample was exposed to monochromatized Al K␣ X-rays, and the ejected photoelectrons were detected by a multichannel hemispherical detector that provided high-energy sensitivity and resolution. Chamber pressure was typically below 5 ϫ 10 Ϫ9 Torr during analysis. High-resolution spectra were collected for C 1s, O 1s, N 1s, and F 1s Fluorocarbon films were deposited from pentafluoroethane/argon mixtures in a parallel-plate reactor at a pressure of 1 Torr and substrate temperatures between 120 and 210ЊC. Films deposited on substrates placed on the heated, grounded electrode as well as films formed on the powered electrode were analyzed using infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Polymer deposition rates decreased with an increase in substrate temperature indicating that reactant adsorption is the rate-limiting step. Films deposited on the powered electrode had an O/C ratio of 0.14, which was significantly higher than that of films deposited on the grounded electrode at elevated temperatures. Likewise, IR spectra of films on the powered electrode also showed significant contributions from CϭO related groups. TGA data indicated that the powered electrode films had ϳ3% weight loss at 250ЊC, while films deposited on the grounded electrode had ϳ1% weight loss at 250ЊC. The thermal stability of films deposited on the grounded electrode was significantly enhanced when deposited at higher substrate temperatures. XPS analyses indicated a decrease in the F/C ratio of the deposited films with an increase in substrate temperature. TGA analyses indicated that weight loss below 250ЊC was due primarily to the outgassing of low-molecular weight species from the fluorocarbon films. The higher weight loss region between 320 and 425ЊC was ascribed to polymer degradation due to scission of main chain C-C bonds and to evolution of HF and CO 2

Women's Preferences for Treatment of Perinatal Depression and Anxiety : A Discrete Choice Experiment

Perinatal depression and anxiety (PNDA) are an international healthcare priority, associated with significant short- and long-term problems for women, their children and families. Effective treatment is available but uptake is suboptimal: some women go untreated whilst others choose treatments without strong evidence of efficacy. Better understanding of women's preferences for treatment is needed to facilitate uptake of effective treatment. To address this issue, a discrete choice experiment (DCE) was administered to 217 pregnant or postnatal women in Australia, who were recruited through an online research company and had similar sociodemographic characteristics to Australian data for perinatal women. The DCE investigated preferences regarding cost, treatment type, availability of childcare, modality and efficacy. Data were analysed using logit-based models accounting for preference and scale heterogeneity. Predicted probability analysis was used to explore relative attribute importance and policy change scenarios, including how these differed by women's sociodemographic characteristics. Cost and treatment type had the greatest impact on choice, such that a policy of subsidising effective treatments was predicted to double their uptake compared with the base case. There were differences in predicted uptake associated with certain sociodemographic characteristics: for example, women with higher educational attainment were more likely to choose effective treatment. The findings suggest policy directions for decision makers whose goal is to reduce the burden of PNDA on women, their children and families

Blood glucose testing and primary prevention of diabetes mellitus type 2 - evaluation of the effect of evidence based patient information

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Evidence-based patient information (EBPI) has been recognised as important tool for informed choice in particular in the matter of preventive options. An objective, on the best scientific evidence-based consumer information about subthreshold elevated blood glucose levels (impaired fasting glucose and impaired glucose tolerance) and primary prevention of diabetes, is not available yet. Thus we developed a web-based EBPI and aim to evaluate its effects on informed decision making in people 50 years or older.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>We conduct a web-based randomised-controlled trial to evaluate the effect of information about elevated blood glucose levels and diabetes primary prevention on five specific outcomes: (i) knowledge of elevated blood glucose level-related issues (primary outcome); (ii) attitudes to a metabolic testing; (iii) intention to undergo a metabolic testing; (iv) decision conflict; (v) satisfaction with the information. The intervention group receives a specially developed EBPI about subthreshold elevated blood glucose levels and diabetes primary prevention, the control group information about this topic, available in the internet.</p> <p>The study population consists of people between 50 and 69 years of age without known diabetes. Participants will be recruited via the internet page of the cooperating health insurance company, Techniker Krankenkasse (TK), and the internet page of the German Diabetes Centre. Outcomes will be measured through online questionnaires. We expect better informed participants in the intervention group.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>The design of this study may be a prototype for other web-based prevention information and their evaluation.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>Current Controlled Trial: ISRCTN22060616.</p

Measurements of Higgs boson production and couplings in diboson final states with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements are presented of production properties and couplings of the recently discovered Higgs boson using the decays into boson pairs, H →γ γ, H → Z Z∗ →4l and H →W W∗ →lνlν. The results are based on the complete pp collision data sample recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at centre-of-mass energies of √s = 7 TeV and √s = 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 25 fb−1. Evidence for Higgs boson production through vector-boson fusion is reported. Results of combined fits probing Higgs boson couplings to fermions and bosons, as well as anomalous contributions to loop-induced production and decay modes, are presented. All measurements are consistent with expectations for the Standard Model Higgs boson

Standalone vertex finding in the ATLAS muon spectrometer

A dedicated reconstruction algorithm to find decay vertices in the ATLAS muon spectrometer is presented. The algorithm searches the region just upstream of or inside the muon spectrometer volume for multi-particle vertices that originate from the decay of particles with long decay paths. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated using both a sample of simulated Higgs boson events, in which the Higgs boson decays to long-lived neutral particles that in turn decay to bbar b final states, and pp collision data at √s = 7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2011

Measurement of the top quark-pair production cross section with ATLAS in pp collisions at \sqrt{s}=7\TeV

A measurement of the production cross-section for top quark pairs(\ttbar) in $pp$ collisions at \sqrt{s}=7 \TeV is presented using data recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events are selected in two different topologies: single lepton (electron $e$ or muon $\mu$) with large missing transverse energy and at least four jets, and dilepton ($ee$, $\mu\mu$ or $e\mu$) with large missing transverse energy and at least two jets. In a data sample of 2.9 pb-1, 37 candidate events are observed in the single-lepton topology and 9 events in the dilepton topology. The corresponding expected backgrounds from non-\ttbar Standard Model processes are estimated using data-driven methods and determined to be $12.2 \pm 3.9$ events and $2.5 \pm 0.6$ events, respectively. The kinematic properties of the selected events are consistent with SM \ttbar production. The inclusive top quark pair production cross-section is measured to be \sigmattbar=145 \pm 31 ^{+42}_{-27} pb where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. The measurement agrees with perturbative QCD calculations.Comment: 30 pages plus author list (50 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, CERN-PH number and final journal adde