2,513 research outputs found
Home-based Circuit Training and Community Walking for Intermittent Claudication
Get PDFBackground: Supervised exercise training is recommended for people with peripheral artery disease (PAD), yet it remains underutilized. Home-based exercise programs (HBEPs) are a potential alternative. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of conducting a full scale trial of a 12-week HBEP for people living with symptomatic PAD. Methods: In a randomized feasibility trial, patients with intermittent claudication were allocated to either an HBEP or a nonexercise control. The HBEP group was given a Fitbit to use during a 12-week exercise program comprising of personalized step goals and a resistance-based circuit to be undertaken at home twice weekly. The primary outcome was feasibility, assessed via eligibility, recruitment, attrition, tolerability, and adherence. Acceptability was assessed via semistructured interviews. Secondary analysis was undertaken to determine the feasibility of collecting clinical outcome data. Results: 188 people were screened, 133 were eligible (70.7%), 30 were recruited (22.6%) and one withdrew (3.33%). Mean adherence to the daily step goal was 53.5% (range = 29.8–90.5%), and 58.6% of prescribed circuits were completed of which 56.4% were at the desired intensity. Six adverse events were recorded, 3 of which were related to study involvement. No significant differences were observed in exploratory outcomes. Small clinically important differences were seen in walking speed and pain-free treadmill walking distance which should be confirmed or refuted in a larger trial. Conclusions: The HBEP was feasible and well tolerated, with successful recruitment and minimal attrition. The intervention was acceptable, with walking seen as more enjoyable than circuit exercise. The WALKSTRONG program may be suitable for those who will not, or cannot, take part in supervised exercise outside of the home.</p
Natural Analogue Constraints on Europa's Non-ice surface Material
Get PDFNon-icy material on the surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa is hypothesised to have originated from its subsurface ocean, and thus provide a record of ocean composition and habitability. The nature of this material is debated, but observations suggest that it comprises hydrated sulfate and chloride salts. Analogue spectroscopic studies have previously focused on single phase salts under controlled laboratory conditions. We investigated natural salts from perennially cold (<0 °C) hypersaline springs, and characterised their reflectance properties at 100 K, 253 K and 293 K. Despite similar major ion chemistry, these springs form mineralogically diverse deposits, which when measured at 100 K closely match reflectance spectra from Europa. In the most sulfate-rich samples, we find spectral features predicted from laboratory salts are obscured. Our data are consistent with sulfate-dominated europan non-icy material, and further, show that the emplacement of endogenic sulfates on Europa’s surface would not preclude a chloride-dominated ocean
The Born Oppenheimer wave function near level crossing
Get PDFThe standard Born Oppenheimer theory does not give an accurate description of
the wave function near points of level crossing. We give such a description
near an isotropic conic crossing, for energies close to the crossing energy.
This leads to the study of two coupled second order ordinary differential
equations whose solution is described in terms of the generalized
hypergeometric functions of the kind 0F3(;a,b,c;z). We find that, at low
angular momenta, the mixing due to crossing is surprisingly large, scaling like
\mu^(1/6), where \mu is the electron to nuclear mass ratio.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figure
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