Risk factors for acute exacerbations of COPD in a primary care population: A retrospective observational cohort study

Objectives: To evaluate risk factors associated with exacerbation frequency in primary care. Information on exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has mainly been generated by secondary care-based clinical cohorts. Design: Retrospective observational cohort study. Setting: Electronic medical records database (England and Wales). Participants: 58 589 patients with COPD aged ≥40 years with COPD diagnosis recorded between 1 April 2009 and 30 September 2012, and with at least 365 days of follow-up before and after the COPD diagnosis, were identified in the Clinical Practice Research Datalink. Mean age: 69 years; 47% female; mean forced expiratory volume in 1s 60% predicted. Outcome measures: Data on moderate or severe exacerbation episodes defined by diagnosis and/or medication codes 12 months following cohort entry were retrieved, together with demographic and clinical characteristics. Associations between patient characteristics and odds of having none versus one, none versus frequent (≥2) and one versus frequent exacerbations over 12 months follow-up were evaluated using multivariate logistic regression models. Results: During follow-up, 23% of patients had evidence of frequent moderate-to-severe COPD exacerbations (24% one; 53% none). Independent predictors of increased odds of having exacerbations during the follow-up, either frequent episodes or one episode, included prior exacerbations, increasing dyspnoea score, increasing grade of airflow limitation, females and prior or current history of several comorbidities (eg, asthma, depression, anxiety, heart failure and cancer). Conclusions: Primary care-managed patients with COPD at the highest risk of exacerbations can be identified by exploring medical history for the presence of prior exacerbations, greater COPD disease severity and co-occurrence of other medical conditions

Project of the registration incoming mail

Bakalářská práce se zabývá návrhem evidence doručené firemní pošty. Na základě podrobného prostudování situace ve firmě je navrženo jako nejlepší řešení zpracování aplikace pro firemní intranet. Aplikace umožňuje zaznamenávání veškeré doručené pošty, sleduje její vyřízení, umožňuje vyhledávání a tisk sestav podle různých kritérií.This thesis deals with the design of the evidence of company inbox. Based on the detailed study of the situation in the company, the processing of the application for the company intranet is proposed as the best solution. This application enables recording all inbox, watching mail processing, searching, and printing of schemes according to various criteria.

Critical Analyze of EU Energy Policy and its Impact on Market Subjects

Diplomová práce se zaměřuje na kritické zhodnocení současné energetické politiky Evropské Unie a její dopady na účastníky trhu s energetickými komoditami, především s důrazem na energetické společnosti a koncové spotřebitele.The aim of this Master’s Thesis is critical evaluation of current energy policy of the European Union and its impacts on participants in the energy commodities market, with special emphasis on energy companies and consumers.

New multi-channel electron energy analyzer with cylindrically symmetrical electrostatic field

This paper discusses an electron energy analyzer with a cylindrically symmetrical electrostatic field, designed for rapid Auger analysis. The device was designed and built. The best parameters of the analyzer were estimated and then experimentally verified.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Influence of surface roughness on optical characteristics of multilayer solar cells

Increasing efficiency of solar cells is still a discussed problem. Even if it is well-known that specially formed substrates as Asahi U-type for solar cells are produced, there is still a continuing attention given to the applications of surface roughness to achieve better light trapping and absorptance in solar cells. It was found out the even an exact interface morphology can play an important role in light trapping. In this paper we focused on the issue how final absorptance of a solar cell structure could be affected and possibly increased. The goal of this article is to show which of interfaces has the greatest influence on specular absorptance of the whole structure

Microstructure related characterization of a-Si:H thin films PECVD deposited under varied hydrogen dilution

We report on the structure and optical properties of hydrogenated silicon thin films deposited by plasma - enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) from silane diluted with hydrogen in a wide dilution range. The samples deposited with dilutions below 30 were detected as amorphous hydrogenated silicon (a-Si:H) with crystalline grains of several nanometers in size which represent the medium-range order of a-Si:H. The optical characterization confirmed increasing ordering with the increasing dilution. The optical band gap was observed to be increasing function of the dilution

Interfacial roughness and temperature dependence of narrow band thin film filters for the DWDM passive optical networks

In the design of new components for passive optical networks (PONs), the non-ideal properties are worth considering. In this paper the influence of interface roughness and temperature changes on final transmittance of downstream channels blocking filters for next generation dense wavelength division multiplexing passive optical networks(DWDM-PONs) is shown. The transmittance as the filter transfer characteristicswas calculated with the transfer matrix method. The roughness was expressed by root mean square deviations from an ideally smooth surface and was taken into account in the modified Fresnel coefficients. It is demonstrated how the interfacial roughness may increase the insertion loss and decrease the channel bandwidth which results in reduction of transmitted light energy through the filter

Scanning Electron Microscope with a Single-Polepiece Lens

The design of an ultra-high vacuum scanning electron microscope (UHV SEM) with a single-pole-piece lens underneath the specimen is described with the possibility to guide backscattered (BSE) and secondary electrons (SE) which originate in the magnetic field of the single-polepiece lens to the detectors. Our new design of the single-pole-piece lens and in-lens deflection coils closely satisfy the condition of a variable axis immersion lens (VAIL), which results in very low deflection aberrations