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No full textABSTRACT. Objective. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease that is often painful and debilitating. Patients with RA are increasingly receiving complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). We aimed to identify the patient characteristics and disease-specific factors associated with Korean patients with RA who decide to start treatment with CAM. Methods. Among the total 5371 patients with RA in the KORean Observational study Network for Arthritis (KORONA), 2175 patients who had no experience with CAM were included in our study. In our study, we assessed the frequency of new incident CAM use, its patterns, and the predictive factors of new CAM use. Results. Of the 2175 patients, 229 patients (10.5%) newly started receiving CAM within a year of enrolling in the cohort. Of those who started treatment with CAM, 17.0% received only herbal medicine, 54.6% only acupuncture treatments (7.0% used a combination of both), and 21.4% "Other" (e.g., physical therapy and placental extract injections). Women (OR 1.89, 95% CI 1.13-3.14) and patients with depression (OR 3.52, 95% CI 1.65-7.50) were significantly more likely to be treated with CAM. Regarding household types, patients who lived in an extended family (OR 1.78, 95% CI 1.08-2.95) or as part of a couple (OR 1.55, 95% CI 1.07-2.24) were more likely to be treated with CAM than patients living in a nuclear family. Conclusion. Our study found, within a year, an incidence rate of 10.5% for new CAM use among patients with no previous experience with CAM. Sex, depression, and household type were significantly associated with new CAM use
RF PERFORMANCE RESULTS OF THE 2 ELBE SRF GUN
No full textAbstract An improved SRF gun (ELBE SRF Gun II) has been installed and commissioned at HZDR. This new gun replaced the first SRF gun of the ELBE accelerator which had been in operation since 2007. The new gun has an improved 3.5-cell niobium cavity those SRF performances have been studied first with a copper cathode. After the replacement by our standard Cs 2 Tecathode we observed a tremendous degradation of the cavity gradient paired with an increase of field emission. In this contribution we will report on our in-situ investigations to find the origin and the reason for the particle contamination that happened during the first cathode transfer
Apply new algorithm for chaotic Encryption using CBC&CFB
No full textThis research introduce a speech encryption algorithm, which is based on permutation of speech segments using chaotic to generate the initial key of block cipher to determine the benefit during combine it with CBC and CFB using SDES block cipher. We demonstrate that the produced key streams have good statistical properties, such as uniform distribution, δ-like auto-correlation function, near-zero cross-correlation and very height sensitivity to initial conditions, under precision restricted condition. The performance of the proposed algorithm is also estimated by used subjective and objective testes(SNR, PSNR, NRMSE). Experimental result of the algorithm shows that the low residual intelligibility and good recovered voice quality
D: Critical concerns in Iraq/Afghanistan war veteran-forensic interface: combat-related postdeployment criminal violence
No full textIdentifying whether there is a nexus between Iraq and Afghanistan combat injuries and civilian violence on return from deployment is complicated by differences in reactions of individuals to combat exposure, the overlapping effects of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the low base rate of civilian violence after combat exposure. Moreover, the overall prevalence of violence among returning Iraq and Afghanistan combat war veterans has not been well documented. Malingered symptoms and either exaggeration or outright fabrication of war zone exposure are challenges to rendering forensic opinions, with the risk reduced by accessing military documents that corroborate war zone duties and exposure. This article serves as a first step toward understanding what may potentiate violence among returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. We offer a systematic approach toward the purpose of forensic case formulation that addresses whether combat duty/war zone exposure and associated clinical conditions are linked to criminal violence on return to civilian life
Neural Correlates of Dual-Task Walking: Effects of Cognitive versus Motor Interference in Young Adults
No full textWalking while concurrently performing cognitive and/or motor interference tasks is the norm rather than the exception during everyday life and there is evidence from behavioral studies that it negatively affects human locomotion. However, there is hardly any information available regarding the underlying neural correlates of single-and dual-task walking. We had 12 young adults (23.8 ± 2.8 years) walk while concurrently performing a cognitive interference (CI) or a motor interference (MI) task. Simultaneously, neural activation in frontal, central, and parietal brain areas was registered using a mobile EEG system. Results showed that the MI task but not the CI task affected walking performance in terms of significantly decreased gait velocity and stride length and significantly increased stride time and tempo-spatial variability. Average activity in alpha and beta frequencies was significantly modulated during both CI and MI walking conditions in frontal and central brain regions, indicating an increased cognitive load during dual-task walking. Our results suggest that impaired motor performance during dual-task walking is mirrored in neural activation patterns of the brain. This finding is in line with established cognitive theories arguing that dual-task situations overstrain cognitive capabilities resulting in motor performance decrements
H&TECH
No full textABSTRACT This article investigates the influence of variable heat flux on the problem of steady two dimensional MHD flow and heat transfer of an electrically conducting fluid along a semi-infinite vertical plate taking into account the effect of viscous dissipation. The governing equations are converted into a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations via a similarity variable. The resulting system of equations is then solved numerically by using Natchsheim Swigert shooting iteration technique together with sixth order RungeKutta integration scheme. Boundary layer velocity and temperature profiles are determined numerically for various values of the ratio of free stream velocity and stretching velocity, the magnetic field parameter, suction/blowing parameter, Brinkman number. Regardless of the flow conditions, the flow velocity and temperature is found significantly affected by the flow parameters
No full textBackground. The present study is the fourth cohort study conducted in the Middle East on the evaluation of prediabetes and type 2 diabetes, implemented in Ahvaz, Iran. Methodology. The individuals aged over twenty years who had participated in a study on the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in 2009 (Phase 1) in Ahvaz were invited again in 2014. The questionnaires were completed via interview, and anthropometric parameters were measured by standard method. The logistic regression and chi-square test were used for data analysis. Results. In the median of five-year follow-up, a number of 593 people participated in reexamination from which 396 individuals were nondiabetic in Phase 1. The incidence of diabetes and prediabetes was 21.9 and 40.6 per 1000 personyears, respectively. Among Phase 1 prediabetics, 16.8% were diagnosed with diabetes in a five-year period. The factors affecting the incidence of prediabetes among the people younger than 65 years include age, family history of diabetes, and gender. The age factor plays an important role in the transformation of prediabetes to diabetes. Conclusion. The city of Ahvaz with type 2 diabetes incidence of 13.64 per 1000 person-years is one of the areas with high incidence of diabetes in Iran
ETHICAL ASPECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
No full textAbstract: The purpose of this article is to outline the main economical and social benefits that can be obtained by adopting an ethical attitude of the organisations which use a performant environmental management. From the idea that the human being is the master of nature, it was passed to the view according to which the human being must ensure a balance between consumption and the use of resources. In order to achieve our goal we identified the factors that lead to long term or even permanent destructive effects over the environment and we briefly present the reasons for which the organizations adopt and implement environmental management systems. Also, the difficulties encountered in implementing environmental strategies have been briefly enumerated and the competitive and economic advantages that can be achieved by adopting an efficient environmental management and the main reasons that grant to the environmental management a special significance were exposed. This theoretical paper emphasizes the importance of the adoption by organizations of a "green behavior" and reveals correlations between sustainability, economic growth and environmental performance in organizations. The analysis of the ethical aspects of environmental management shows the links that can be created between the development of an ethical culture of organizations and the achievement of the environmental excellence. The research provides an overview of the concept of environmental ethics and encloses it within the scope of environmental management. Someone needs to explain why an increasing number of organizations, both large and small, are setting up environmental management systems, making environmental investments and reducing risks over and beyond legal requirements, even when the benefits are not at all obvious, even in the long run. Also, this paper provides some practical examples of organizations environmental problems and points out how these organizations adapted their environmental strategies. The main conclusion of this conceptual paper is that organizations' competitiveness in any industry and environmental protection are two interconnected concepts and we believe that there can be no excellence in business without excellence in environmental protection or vice versa