792 research outputs found
Mediterranean diet and mental distress: “10,001 Dalmatians” study
No full textPurpose - The impact of eating habits on mental health is gaining more attention recently. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the association between mental distress and the Mediterranean diet (MD) in a community-dwelling adult population of Dalmatia, Croatia.Design/methodology/approach - Participants from the "10,001 Dalmatians" study from the Island of Korcula and the City of Split were included (n = 3,392). Lifestyle habits were investigated using a self-administered questionnaire, while mental distress was evaluated using the General Health Questionnaire-30 (GHQ-30) in a cross-sectional design. MD compliance was assessed using the Mediterranean Diet Serving Score. Multivariate linear regression analysis was used in the analysis.Findings - MD compliance was associated with lesser mental distress (beta = -1.96, 95% CI -2.75, -1.17; po0.001). Inverse association was found between mental distress and higher intake of fruits (beta = -0.64; 95% CI -0.89, -0.39; p < 0.001), vegetables (beta = -0.39; 95% CI -0.65, -0.13; p = 0.003), olive oil (beta = -0.30; 95% CI -0.56, -0.04; p = 0.022) and legumes (beta = -0.83; 95% CI -1.66, 0.00; p = 0.049). Mental distress was more intense in women, older participants, those with worse material status, subjects with previously diagnosed chronic diseases and in current smokers.Originality/value - This study suggests beneficial association of MD and overall mental health, offering important implications for public health provisions. Since the literature search did not reveal any previous study on the association between the MD and GHQ-based mental distress in the general population, this study delivers interesting results and fills this knowledge gap
arcControlTower, the System for Atlas Production and Analysis on ARC
No full textAbstract content Panda, the Atlas management and distribution system for production and analysis jobs on EGEE and OSG clusters, is based on pilot jobs to increase the throughput and stability of the job execution on grid. The ARC middleware uses specific approach which tightly connects the job requirements with cluster capabilities like resource usage, software availability and caching of input files. The pilot concept renders the ARC features useless. The arcControlTower is the job submission system which merges the pilot benefits and ARC advantages. It takes the pilot payload from the panda server and submits the jobs to the Nordugrid ARC clusters as regular jobs, with all the resources known in advance. All the pilot communication with the panda server is done by the arcControlTower, so it plays the role of a pilot factory and the pilot itself. There are several advantages to this approach: no grid middleware is needed on the worker nodes, the fair-share between the production and user jobs is tuned with the arcControlTower load parameters, the jobs can be controlled by ARC client tools. The system could be extended to other submission systems using central distribution
The Functional Movement Screen’s Relation to Young Tennis Players’ Injury Severity
No full textThis study aimed to explore the relationship between functional movement screen (FMS) scores and injury severity in young tennis players. Additionally, we investigated the effect of the characteristics of the training programme on injury severity. During the annual testing and screening, we assessed 181 tennis players aged between 12 and 18. The Functional Movement Screen was used to measure multiple movement factors, to detect deficits in gross movement quality, to identify movement asymmetries, and to predict general musculoskeletal injury risk. The cohorts’ mean composite FMS score was 16.02 ± 1.98. Players scored higher in shoulder mobility and active straight leg raise, while the lower scores were obtained in the deep squat and rotary stability. We found that the FMS composite scores were higher for players who had not been injured and lower for players who had not trained or competed for >4 weeks due to injury. There was a significant association between the FMS composite score and injury severity. Namely, the group of players who had been injured for >4 weeks, reached the lower average FMS score (14.95). It was found that more hours of tennis practice per week increased, significantly, the injury severity, while more hours of fitness and conditioning practise decreased significantly the injury risk for the 6-months following the FMS testing.El objetivo de este estudio fue explorar la relación entre las puntuaciones de las Pruebas de Movimiento Funcional (FMS) y la severidad de las lesiones en jóvenes jugadores de tenis. Además, se investigó el efecto de las características del programa de entrenamiento sobre la severidad de la lesión. Durante las pruebas y exámenes anuales evaluamos a 181 jugadores de tenis de entre 12 y 18 años de edad. La FMS se utilizó para medir múltiples factores de movimiento, para detectar deficiencias en la calidad del movimiento amplio, para identificar asimetrías de movimiento y para predecir el riesgo general de sufrir lesiones músculo esqueléticas. La puntuación promedio del FMS compuesto del grupo fue de 16,02 ± 1,98. Los jugadores obtuvieron una puntuación más alta en la movilidad de los hombros y en el levantamiento activo de la pierna estirada, mientras que las puntuaciones más bajas se dieron en la sentadilla profunda y la estabilidad rotatoria. Se ha constatado que los jugadores que no se habían lesionado obtuvieron puntuaciones compuestas de la FMS mayores, mientras que las más bajas las obtuvieron los jugadores que no habían entrenado o competido durante más de 4 semanas debido a una lesión. Se encontró una asociación significativa entre la puntuación compuesta de la FMS y la duración de la lesión. Concretamente el grupo de jugadores que había estado lesionados durante más de 4 semanas alcanzaron la puntuación media de FMS menor (14,95). Los jugadores que participaron en más entrenamientos y sesiones de preparación física se ausentaron con menos frecuencia de los entrenamientos y torneos
Correlation Between Chronic Somatic Co-morbidities and Prognosis of Major Depressive Disorder
No full textIntroductionDepression and somatic disorders are closely interrelated. Depressed mood is recognized to contribute to the development and progression of wide range of somatic diseases, while at the same time somatic diseases may increase the risk of depression. Co-morbidity research still represents huge research and clinical challenge to contemporary psychiatry and medicine.ObjectivesTo check whether the correlation of NSC and poor prognosis of MDD treatment is merely the consequence of age and duration of illness.MethodsWe investigated a cross-sectional sample consisting of 290 psychiatric diagnosed with MDD. Outcome was the number of psychiatric rehospitalizations (NPR) since the first diagnosis of MDD treatment success. Predictor was NSC. Covariates controlled were sex, age, BMI, marital status, number of household members, education, work status, duration of MDD, CGI-severity of MDD at diagnosis, treatment with antidepressants and anti-psychotics.ResultsAfter adjustment for all confounders, mediation analysis revealed insignificant indirect effects of NSC on NPR through patient's age (P = 0.296) and duration of MDD (P = 0.180). Direct effect of NSC was significant and clinically relevant (P < 0.001). Effect of NSC was significantly moderated by duration of MDD (P = 0.019). NSC and NPR were not significantly associated if MDD lasted for less than a year. The more MDD lasted the stronger was correlation of NSC and NPR.ConclusionCorrelation of NSC and poor prognosis of MDD is not a mere consequence of patient's age and duration of illness. To treat MDD effectively we have to treat simultaneously somatic comorbidities.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.</jats:sec
Comparison of ten-years risk of fatal cardiovascular events calculated by heartscore in diabetic patients with and without post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) comorbidity
No full textIntroductionCardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of death and disability-adjusted life years lost globally. Recent studies have shown that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) predicts higher risk of cardiometabolic diseases, specifically cardiovascular disease and diabetes type 2.AimsTo assess cardiovascular event risk differences between diabetic patients with and without PTSD comorbidity.ObjectivesTo explore a ten-year risk of fatal CVD events in diabetic patients with and without PTSD; to gain better insight in potential different functioning patterns in these patient subgroups.MethodsWe investigated a cross-sectional sample consisting of 390 psychiatric inpatients and outpatients. Ten-years risk of fatal CVD events calculated by HeartScore, European society of cardiology. Europe high-risk version was used. The risk estimation is made based on: gender, age, smoking, systolic blood pressure and total cholesterol.ResultsBy analysis of covariance, we controlled possible confounding effects of gender, age, education, marital status, number of household members, work status, average monthly income per household member, body mass index (kg/m2), number of somatic comorbidities, number of psychiatric comorbidities, duration of PTSD, clinical global impression scale–severity of PTSD at diagnosis. After the adjustment for all these variables, interaction of PTSD and T2DM was significantly associated with CVD risk (P < 0.001; Eta2 = 0.04).ConclusionA significant fatal CVD event risk differences between diabetic patients with and without PTSD comorbidity were found. Better awareness of possible underlying determinants provides better optimal individual approach planning, likewise effective prevention and control of cardiovascular diseases.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.</jats:sec
The Lidar System of the Pierre Auger Observatory
No full textThe Pierre Auger Observatory in Malargue, Argentina, is designed to study the origin of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays with energies above 10^18 eV. The energy calibration of the detector is based on a system of four air fluorescence detectors. To obtain reliable calorimetric information from the fluorescence stations, the atmospheric conditions at the experiment's site need to be monitored continuously during operation. One of the components of the observatory's atmospheric monitoring system is a set of four elastic backscatter lidar stations, one station at each of the fluorescence detector sites. This paper describes the design, current status, standard operation procedure, and performance of the lidar system of the Pierre Auger Observatory
A comprehensive special educational diagnostic assessment of five-year-old children with developmental coordination disorder (case studies)
No full textDevelopmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder which affects different areas of an individual's everyday living and learning. Children with DCD are often diagnosed late, at school age, when difficulties with writing, organization and executive functions arise, even though one could have seen signs of probable DCD very early in childhood. The aim of this study was to further assess five-year-old, preschool children recognized as children with DCD, and develop a model for a comprehensive special educational diagnostic assessment of abilities and skills in five-year-old children with DCD. The comprehensive diagnostic assessment comprised observations and assessments of children’s everyday skills in their kindergartens. It also included semi-structured interviews with children, their parents and their preschool teachers. Further, children’s skills and abilities in all developmental domains (sensory and motor skills, cognitive abilities, social and emotional development, speech and language development, including emerging literacy skills, and early maths skills) were assessed. A qualitative analysis was undertaken to compare individual children’s comprehensive assessments. The developed model included both the strengths and weaknesses of the assessed children
Integration of the Chinese HPC Grid in ATLAS Distributed Computing
No full textFifteen Chinese High Performance Computing sites, many of them on the TOP500 list of most powerful supercomputers, are integrated into a common infrastructure providing coherent access to a user through an interface based on a RESTful interface called SCEAPI. These resources have been integrated into the ATLAS Grid production system using a bridge between ATLAS and SCEAPI which translates the authorization and job submission protocols between the two environments. The ARC Computing Element (ARC CE) forms the bridge using an extended batch system interface to allow job submission to SCEAPI. The ARC CE was setup at the Institute for High Energy Physics, Beijing, in order to be as close as possible to the SCEAPI front-end interface at the Computing Network Information Center, also in Beijing. This paper describes the technical details of the integration between ARC CE and SCEAPI and presents results so far with two supercomputer centers, Tianhe-IA and ERA. These two centers have been the pilots for ATLAS Monte Carlo Simulation in SCEAPI and have been providing CPU power since fall 2015
ATLAS Distributed Computing experience and performance during the LHC Run-2
No full textATLAS Distributed Computing during LHC Run-1 was challenged by steadily increasing computing, storage and network requirements. In addition, the complexity of processing task workflows and their associated data management requirements led to a new paradigm in the ATLAS computing model for Run-2, accompanied by extensive evolution and redesign of the workflow and data management systems. The new systems were put into production at the end of 2014, and gained robustness and maturity during 2015 data taking. ProdSys2, the new request and task interface; JEDI, the dynamic job execution engine developed as an extension to PanDA; and Rucio, the new data management system, form the core of the Run-2 ATLAS distributed computing engine. One of the big changes for Run-2 was the adoption of the Derivation Framework, which moves the chaotic CPU and data intensive part of the user analysis into the centrally organized train production, delivering derived AOD datasets to user groups for final analysis. The effectiveness of the new model was demonstrated through the delivery of analysis datasets to users just one week after data taking, by completing the calibration loop, Tier-0 processing and train production steps promptly. The great flexibility of the new system also makes it possible to execute part of the Tier-0 processing on the grid when Tier-0 resources experience a backlog during high data-taking periods. The introduction of the data lifetime model, where each dataset is assigned a finite lifetime (with extensions possible for frequently accessed data), was made possible by Rucio. Thanks to this the storage crises experienced in Run-1 have not reappeared during Run-2. In addition, the distinction between Tier-1 and Tier-2 disk storage, now largely artificial given the quality of Tier-2 resources and their networking, has been removed through the introduction of dynamic ATLAS clouds that group the storage endpoint nucleus and its close-by execution satellite sites. All stable ATLAS sites are now able to store unique or primary copies of the datasets. ATLAS Distributed Computing is further evolving to speed up request processing by introducing network awareness, using machine learning and optimization of the latencies during the execution of the full chain of tasks. The Event Service, a new workflow and job execution engine, is designed around check-pointing at the level of event processing to use opportunistic resources more efficiently
The Lidar system of the Pierre Auger Observatory
No full textThe Pierre Auger Observatory in Malargue, Argentina, is designed to study the origin of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays with energies above 10(18) eV. The energy calibration of the detector is based on a system of four air fluorescence detectors. To obtain reliable calorimetric information from the fluorescence stations, the atmospheric conditions at the experiment's site need to be monitored continuously during operation. One of the components of the observatory's atmospheric monitoring system is a set of four elastic backscatter lidar stations, one station at each of the fluorescence detector sites. This paper describes the design, current status, standard operation procedure, and performance of the lidar system of the Pierre Auger Observatory. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
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