9 research outputs found
The role of the Internet and its effect on patient-physician relationship
No full textThe purpose of this study was to determine the impact of the Internet on the patient-physician relationship. This exploratory study gathered descriptive data about the use of the Internet by physicians and patients. Convenience sampling was used to obtain twenty physicians and one hundred patients to participate in this study. Each participant completed a short, self-administered questionnaire soliciting information about Internet use, attitudes regarding Internet use and other descriptive information. A high response rate of (100%) was achieved for both the physician and patient surveys. A relatively large percent, 34%, of patients were age 59 and over. Fo1iy-one percent of the patient respondents were female and 59% percent were male. The education level of the patients ranged from 37% percent having college education to 8% percent having less than a high school education. HMO was the most frequent (57%) type of health care coverage that the respondents had followed by PPO (23%), Medi-Cal at 11 %, and Medicare, 15%. The majority (98%) of the patients in this study had computers with Internet capabilities. None of the patients reported using email to communicate with their doctor. Of the 65 respondents who used the Internet to obtain medical information, 12% used it weekly, while 88% used it on a monthly basis. The majority of the sixty-five respondents spent less than one hour per week searching on the Internet for medical information. Fifteen percent of the physicians were Cardiology specialists, while 85% percent were Internists. Sixty-five percent of the Internists were board certified, while 100% or the Cardiologists were board certified. The responses from the patients and the physicians indicated that physicians were receptive to patients Internet use, and even though 65% of the patients used Internet, there was no significant difference between those patients who used the Internet and those who did not with regards to involvement and health care decision making as assessed by the items on the patient questionnaire. The results indicated that the patients felt that the Internet is a powerful tool to gain important knowledge about their health and their medical concerns. Most felt that by visiting various Internet sites that contained medical information about their illness enabled them to ask more questions from their doctors during their visit. The physicians believed that that Internet has positive impacts on their medical practice and on other interactions with their patients. Though many voiced concerns and were still undecided about the use of the Internet by patients for obtaining medical information, most were supportive and felt that the Internet is a useful tool. Though 20 physicians are a small fraction of all of those who practice in Los Angeles, their opinion is valuable and critical in understanding the more long-tern1 impact of the Internet on medical care.California State University, Northridge. Department of Health Sciences.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 29-31
Next-generation prognosis framework for pediatric spinal deformities using bio-informed deep learning networks
No full textPredicting pediatric spinal deformity (PSD) from X-ray images collected on the patient’s initial visit is a challenging task. This work builds on our previous method and provides a novel bio-informed framework based on a mechanistic machine learning technique with dynamic patient-specific parameters to predict PSD. We provide a geometry-based bone growth model that can be utilized in a range of applications to enhance the bio-informed mechanistic machine learning framework. The proposed technique is utilized to examine and predict spine curvature in PSD cases such as adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. The best fit of a segmented 3D volumetric geometry of the human spine acquired from 2D X-ray images is employed. Using an active contour model based on gradient vector flow snakes, the anteroposterior and lateral views of the X-ray images are segmented to derive the 2D contours surrounding each vertebra. Using minimal user input, the snake parameters are calibrated and automatically computed over the dataset, resulting in fast image segmentation and data collection. The 2D segmented outlines of each vertebra are transformed into a 3D image segmentation result. The Iterative Closest Point mesh registration technique is then used to establish a mesh morphing approach and creates a 3D atlas spine model. Using the comprehensive 3D volumetric model, one can automatically extract spinal geometry data as inputs to the mechanistic machine learning network. Moreover, the proposed bio-informed deep learning network with the modified bone growth model achieves competitive or even superior performance against other state-of-the-art learning-based methods.Please check and confirm if the author names and initials are correct for “Yongjie Jessica Zhang” and “Wing Kam Liu”.We confirm they are correct.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Emerging MaterialsApplied Ergonomics and Desig
The use of the special theory of relativity for the Meissner Effect in superconductor
No full textThe electromagnetic waves are considered in this article as the mediators of interaction in the Meissner Effect or the diamagnetic property of the superconductors. During the cooling of a superconductor electromagnetic waves may be released when the electrons occupy lower states of the energy. These electromagnetic waves may combine in circularly, elliptically and spherically rotating ways, being called in this article the rounded electromagnetic fields. The application of the Lorentz transformation of the Special Theory of Relativity to the magnetic vectors of the mediating electromagnetic fields implies the magnetic orthogoniopedic effect inside the bulk of a superconductor in the Meissner Effect.PhysicsApplied Science
The Function of Zinc in Animal, Plant, and Human Nutrition
No full textZinc is a crucial micronutrient found in food that is essential for the development of all living organisms, it plays a vital role in gene expression and various physical processes, its deficiency can lead to disease onset and reduce crop yield, restrict plant development, and lower the quality of produced goods, zinc is also used in fertilizers and the handling of metals to protect them from oxidation. Additionally, Zinc is important in enhancing the human immune system, and its deficiency can result in hair loss, memory loss, skin disorders, and muscular weakness
Inter- and intra-varietal variation in aerobic methane emissions from environmentally-stressed pea plants
No full textEnvironmental stress factors can influence methane (CH4) emissions from plants. There are few studies on the interactive effects of stress factors on plant aerobic CH4, but none on the comparative evaluation of CH4 emissions between/among plant varieties. We examined the effects of temperature, UVB radiation and watering regime on CH4 from 10 pea varieties first, and then selected two varieties with highest (237J Sundance; var. 1) and lowest (422 Ho Lan Dow; var. 2) emissions for further studies. Plants were grown in controlled-environment growth chambers under two temperatures (22/18oC and 28/24oC, 16 h light/8 h dark), two UVB levels (0 and 5 kJ mâ 2 dâ 1) and two watering regimes (well-watered and water-stressed) for 14 days, after one week of growth under 22/18oC. Higher temperatures and water stress increased CH4 emissions, and increased emission was associated with stress. Pea varieties varied in growth and CH4 emissions; var. 1 was more stressed and had higher emission than var. 2. In the stressed variety, the water-stressed plants grown under higher temperatures at UVB5 had highest CH4 emission, whereas the well-watered plants grown under lower temperatures at UVB5 had lowest emission. We conclude that climatic stress conditions increase CH4 emissions, which vary with plant varieties.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author
THE EFFECT OF FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT AND FOREIGN PORTFOLIO INVESTMENT ON STOCK MARKET RETURN IN SAARC COUNTRIES
No full textThe purpose of this study is to examine the influence of foreign direct investment (FDI) and foreign portfolio investment (FPI) on stock market returns (SMR) in SAARC member nations between 2014 and 2019. The World Development Indicators (WDI) and the global economy provided secondary data for this study. Numerous punitive procedures, like the Shapiro-Wilk wtest for determining data normality and the Breusch-pagan test for determining heteroscedasticity, were utilised for robust data analysis. The findings reveal that all FDI and FPI had a low correlation with stock market returns; additionally, the low correlation indicates that the variables included in the current analysis did not exhibit multicollinearity. Diagnostic tests, including the Hausman test, revealed that the author should use the random effect model to analyse the data. The coefficient of FDI was shown to be negatively significant, meaning that increasing FDI reduces stock market returns. Growth in FPI, on the other hand, increased stock market returns. Additionally, the results suggested that the model as a whole is well-fitting
Development of an eco-friendly lime-based mortar suitable for integrated retrofitting: thermophysical and mechanical characterization
No full textIn the last decades, the European building stock has been affected by several seismic events, causing human losses and considerable economic damage. Indeed, many existing constructions exhibit deficient seismic behaviour due to the outdated or total absence of design methods used in the past and/or due to the lack of maintenance over the years. This has promoted an increasing focus on the development of retrofitting strategies aiming to improve seismic safety. Although earthquake action is often the primary parameter considered in the design of retrofitting interventions, other factors should also be considered to achieve integrated solutions that would drastically improve the overall building performance. Among these, energy efficiency is one of the most crucial as it poses a significant impact on the inhabitants’ comfort level and the buildings’ operational costs. Another critical factor is the sustainability of the materials employed in the intervention since there is an urgent need for reducing the environmental impact in the construction sector. This paper examines the development of a thermally efficient eco-friendly mortar that can be used as a matrix in Textile Reinforced Mortar (TRM) overlays. The solution considered involves the use of rice husk in the mortar composition as a partial substitute for conventional aggregate. Rice husk is a vegetal material that is not only renewable and widely abundant around the world, but it is also a by-product that can be hardly disposed of in different ways than landfill. Its use as aggregate in mortar mixtures may open interesting perspectives in terms of thermal performance and sustainability of cementitious materials decreasing their embodied carbon as well as the overuse of virgin sand. The development of the rice husk-based mortar matrix is part of an ongoing research effort for the design of a TRM system for the concurrent seismic and energy upgrading of masonry buildings. Starting from a reference mortar previously developed, several dosages of substitution witThis work was partly financed by FCT/MCTES through the project 2022.01429.PTDC
(https://doi.org/10.54499/2022.01429.PTDC), through national funds (PIDDAC) via the R&D Unit
Institute for Sustainability and Innovation in Structural Engineering (ISISE), under reference
UIDB/04029/2020, and the Associate Laboratory Advanced Production and Intelligent Systems ARISE,
under reference LA/P/0112/2020. The support to the first author through grant agreement 2022.11827.BD, provided by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), is kindly acknowledged.
Lusomapei S.A. and Novarroz – Produtos Alimentares S.A. are also kindly acknowledged for providing
the silica fume and the rice husk used during the experimental campaig
THE INFLUENCE OF HEMODIALYSIS ON ORAL HEALTH STATUS
No full textA pilot study was conducted on 42 patients,which included 21 patients with CRF undergoing hemodialysis and 21 healthy individuals without CRF. The study was conducted in Canadian Hospital in Dubai, Nephrology Department. The visits were made every day for a total period of three weeks at a rate of approximately 5 hours per day. Medical history was taken to ensure that the patients were within the inclusion criteria to exclude any other systemic complications other than CRF that could influence the periodontal and oral health status of the patients. The study protocol was explained and an informed written consent was given to each individual before participating in the study. Clinical parameters related to dental and gingival status were assessed under the supervision of an experienced dentist. Randomly selected half mouths were examined excluding the third molars. Recession, clinical attachment loss (CAL), bleeding on probing (BOP), plaque index (PI) and dental caries were also recorded. Plaque index was visually recorded based on Sillness and Loe index and any other mucosal changes. Periodontitis was diagnosed if there was at least one site with PD≥4mm, CAL >1mm and BOP. The severity of periodontitis was classified as either severe (≥2 interproximal sites with CAL ≥6 mm and ≥1 interproximal site with PD ≥5 mm), moderate (≥2 interproximal sites with CAL ≥4 mm or ≥2 interproximal site with PD ≥5 mm) and no or mild (neither moderatenor severeperiodontitis). The aim of this pilot study was to determine the impact of hemodialysis on the dental, periodontal condition and overall oral health status in patients with CRF. No significant difference could be found between the two groups with regard to DMFS, plaque index, periodontitis and BOP. The observed variations among the groups studied appear to suggest that there is a significant difference in the halitosis and number of teeth present in CKD
Complementing the Lagrangian Density of the E. M. Field and the Surface Integral of the p-v Vector Product
No full textConsidering the Lagrangian density of the electromagnetic field, a 4 × 4 transformation matrix is found which can be used to include two of the symmetrized Maxwell’s equations as one of the Euler-Lagrange equations of the complete Lagrangian density. The 4 × 4 transformation matrix introduces newly defined vector products. In a Theorem the surface integral of one of the newly defined vector products is shown to be reduced to a line integral.Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Scienc
