254 research outputs found
Predicting adherence to antiretroviral therapy and retention to HIV care : effects of baseline biopsychosocial status and neuropsychological functioning
No full textThese drugs have demonstrated efficacy in improving immune function and reducing HIV-related morbidity and mortality, and while a cure is not available, patients on treatment may live longer, healthier lives. However, early optimism has been tempered by the growing recognition that meticulous adherence is a prerequisite for optimal clinical response and prevention of drug resistance
Micronutrient and amino acid losses in acute renal replacement therapy
No full textA wide range of renal replacement therapies is now available to support patients with acute kidney injury. These treatments utilize diffusion, convection or a combination of these mechanisms to remove metabolic waste products from the bloodstream. It is inevitable that physiologically important substances including micronutrients will also be removed. Here we review current knowledge of the extent of micronutrient loss, how it varies between treatment modalities and its clinical significance.
Recent findings
Very few studies have specifically investigated micronutrient loss in renal replacement therapy for acute kidney injury. Recent data suggest that trace elements and amino acids are lost during intermittent dialysis, hybrid therapies such as sustained low efficiency diafiltration and continuous therapies. Extent of micronutrient loss appears to vary with treatment type, with continuous convection based treatments probably causing greatest losses.
Summary
Patients with acute kidney injury are at high risk of disease related malnutrition. The use of renal replacement therapy, while often essential for life support, results in loss of micronutrients into the filtrate or dialysate. Losses are probably greater with continuous convective treatments, but it is not yet known whether these losses are
clinically significant or whether their replacement would improve patient outcomes
Invariant Characterisation of the Hough Transform for Pose Estimation of Arbitrary Shapes
No full textIn this paper we develop a new formulation and methodology for including invariance in a general form of the Hough transform. Essentially, the transformations that control a shape's appearance are extracted using invariance, for arbitrary shapes with a continuous description. We first develop a formal definition of the Hough transform mapping for arbitrary shapes and general transformations. We then include an invariant characterisation of shapes and develop and apply our new technique to extract shapes under similarity and affine transformations. Our formulation and implementation is based directly on parametric curves and so avoids the use of indexed look-up tables. This confers the attributes of a continuous shape description avoiding discretisation problems inherent in earlier formulations. To obtain an invariant characterisation, each point in the model is related to a collection of other points defining a geometric arrangement. This characterisation does not require the computation of properties for lines or other primitives that compose the model, but is based solely on the local geometry of the points on shapes. The transformation is obtained by solving for the parameters of the curve according to an arrangement of points defined for a point in the image and a corresponding arrangement of points for a point in the model with the same invariant properties. The location parameters can be gathered in a 2D accumulator space independent of the transformation and of a shape's complexity. Experimental results show that the new technique is capable of extracting arbitrary shapes under occlusion and when the image contains noise. As such this new formulation retains the known performance advantages of the Hough transform, whilst combining a continuous shape description with invariant mappings
Definition of hourly urine output influences reported incidence and staging of acute kidney injury
No full text© 2020 The Author(s). Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is commonly defined using the KDIGO system, which includes criteria based on reduced urine output (UO). There is no consensus on whether UO should be measured using consecutive hourly readings or mean output. This makes KDIGO UO definition and staging of AKI vulnerable to inconsistency which has implications both for research and clinical practice. The objective of this study was to investigate whether the way in which UO is defined affects incidence and staging of AKI. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of two single centre observational studies investigating (i) patients undergoing cardiac surgery and (ii) patients admitted to general intensive care units (ICU). AKI was identified using KDIGO serum creatinine (SCr) criteria and two methods of UO (UOcons: UO meeting KDIGO criteria in each consecutive hour; UOmean: Mean hourly UO meeting KDIGO criteria). Results: Data from 151 CICU and 150 ICU admissions were analysed. Incidence of AKI using SCr alone was 23.8% in CICU and 32% in ICU. Incidence increased in both groups when UO was considered, with inclusion of UOmean more than doubling reported incidence of AKI (CICU: UOcons 39.7%, UOmean 72.8%; ICU: UOcons 51.3%, UOmean 69.3%). In both groups UOcons led to a larger increase in KDIGO stage 1 but UOmean increased the incidence of KDIGO stage 2. Conclusions: We demonstrate a serious lack of clarity in the internationally accepted AKI definition leading to significant variability in reporting of AKI incidence
The Adjustable Electric Bus: A Study to the Concept and its Social-Economical Performance
No full textThis research proposes a new concept of electric bus with adjustable interior modules. By installing different modules, it can adjust both its internal layout and battery capacity spontaneously to make itself resemble an electric city bus or an electric regional bus when it is needed. It makes use of difference between peak times of regional lines and city lines so that it provides the same service as one city bus and one regional bus can do. This research firstly verified the timetable feasibility of this adjustable electric bus. It turns out that one vehicle is able to operate both city and regional bus network with observable resilience, reduction of minimum vehicle number and saving of electricity consumption. However adjustable BEB is limited by its high purchasing and operation cost, making it not highly profitable in a whole concession period. Accordingly, this research suggests low-entry utility electric bus is the more reliable and cost-efficient choice to carry out combined network operation.Transport, Infrastructure and Logistic
Part II - Ch 1 Challenges to port development
No full textRivers, Ports, Waterways and Dredging Engineerin
Carrara marble
No full textThis report article brings together information from diverse published sources with observations and illustrations by the author to give an account of the occurrence, geology, history and economic geology of Carrara marble, together with a section about its most famous artistic usage by the greatest Italian Renaissance sculptor Michelangelo Buonarroti
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