2,577 research outputs found
Assessing the impact of risk-taking behavior on road crash involvement among University students residing in two Mediterranean countries
No full textSurveillance systems are indispensable for injury prevention; yet, detailed electronic records are rarely available. The "Student's Health Card" is a self-reporting electronic tool addressing health issues of University students, while aiming to actively involve them in preventive practices and health promotion. Utilizing data from the injury prevention related section, this study sought to investigate the impact of risk-taking behavior on road crash involvement among University students residing in two Mediterranean countries. A total of 978 University students, 451 Greek and 527 Italian, provided information on prior road crash involvement, as well as on eight behavioral variables, comprising a risky behavior score. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed. The already known tendency for clustering of risky behaviors was evident. One degree increment in the risky behavior score was found to increase the risk of road crash involvement by 35%. Driving after drinking (OR = 2.55, CI = 1.53-4.26), riding with a drunk driver (OR = 2.19, CI = 1.08-4.45) and tobacco smoking (OR = 1.95, CI = 1.18-3.22) significantly multiplied the risk. Despite their better compliance with safety measures, Italian students, compared with Greek, reported worse alcohol-related driving habits and engaged more frequently in mobile phone use while driving. Clustering of risky behaviors was found to be an important predictor of road crash involvement. Screening and awareness of risk-taking propensity of University students could guide early intervention. The "Student's Health Card" could provide, at minimal cost, reliable risk-taking and road crash involvement information, which is needed for both personal risk assessment and surveillance purposes. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
Evaluation of a multisensor armband in estimating energy expenditure in obese individuals.
No full text
Fire, smoke and gas leakage detection Dataset
No full textThis is an open free dataset associated with fire, smoke and gas leakage detection captured from the Smart Building sensor system, namely SB112, with edge computing and Next Generation (NG) 112 emergency call capabilities. In case you use or process this dataset please refer to your work/study the following paper in which the SB112 is described in detail.
Maltezos, E.; Petousakis, K.; Dadoukis, A.; Karagiannidis, L.; Ouzounoglou, E.; Krommyda, M.; Hadjipavlis, G.; Amditis, A. A Smart Building Fire and Gas Leakage Alert System with Edge Computing and NG112 Emergency Call Capabilities. Information 2022, 13, 164. https://doi.org/10.3390/info13040164
The excel files contain data from 08/03/2022 to 11/03/2022. From 08/03 to 10/03/2022 the data is gathered from continuous operation without physical triggering. On 11/03/2022 a physical trigger of the sensors was performed by:
Burning a piece of paper in a distance of 15 cm - 20cm to the Smoke and CO sensors.
By exposing the LPG/CNG sensors to lighter gas in a distance of 5 cm - 10cm.
By exposing the Flame/IR sensor to a moving flame from a lighter in a distance of 15 cm - 100cm.
In each sheet of the excel files there are four columns: i) the datetime that a measurement was captured, ii) the type of the sensor, iii) the unit of the measurement, and iv) the data value.
Acknowledgments: This work is a part of the S4AllCities project. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 883522. Content reflects only the authors’ views; the Research Executive Agency (REA)/European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains
High-sensitivity CRP is correlated with neurologic symptoms and plaque instability in patients with severe stenosis of the carotid bifurcation
No full textThe aim of this study is to investigate the correlation of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and E-selectin with clinical manifestations and plaque characteristics in 88 patients (69 with and 19 without neurological symptoms) with high-grade stenosis of the carotid bifurcation who underwent endarterectomy. The grade of stenosis was quantified by duplex ultrasonography and digital subtraction angiography. Preoperatively, serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and E-selectin were measured. Postoperatively, carotid plaque morphology was established according to the American Heart Association classification. High-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels were significantly (P <.001) higher in symptomatic than in asymptomatic patients, as well as in patients with unstable compared with those with stable plaques (P <.001). Serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels correlated significantly ( P <.05) with macrophage count on the plaque. In conclusion, serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels are associated with presence of neurological symptoms and plaque instability in patients with high-grade stenosis of the carotid bifurcation. © 2008 Sage Publications
Growth Factors in the Treatment of Diabetic Foot Ulcers: New Technologies, Any Promises?
No full textMetformin: A Review of Its Use in the Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes
No full text Metformin is now the most widely prescribed oral hypoglycemic agent. This review outlines its use in the treatment of type 2 diabetes. The main mechanisms of action include reduction of appetite and of intestinal carbohydrate absorption, inhibition of hepatic gluconeogenesis, and increased glucose uptake by peripheral tissues. Metformin has been established as the drug of choice for the first-line treatment of type 2 diabetes. According to broadly accepted guidelines, it should be administered early at diagnosis of this metabolic disorder, alongside diet and exercise. This agent may also be safely and efficaciously combined with all other oral hypoglycemic agents, enabling a useful additive effect. Additionally, it may be prescribed in conjunction with insulin. This combination aims to offset insulin resistance, reduce insulin requirements and minimize weight gain. Of greater importance, metformin has been consistently shown to have a favorable effect on cardiovascular risk factors and to improve cardiovascular outcomes. Interestingly, the efficacy of metformin is accompanied by excellent safety: caution is only needed to avoid the drug in patients with obvious contraindications (mainly chronic renal failure, congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, liver disease). Moreover, the cost-effectiveness of metformin has been established. Generally, metformin is an excellent choice both in the specialized setting and in primary health care. </jats:p
AUTOMATIC EXTRACTION OF BUILDING ROOF PLANES FROM AIRBORNE LIDAR DATA APPLYING AN EXTENDED 3D RANDOMIZED HOUGH TRANSFORM
No full textThis study aims to extract automatically building roof planes from airborne LIDAR data applying an extended 3D Randomized Hough Transform (RHT). The proposed methodology consists of three main steps, namely detection of building points, plane detection and refinement. For the detection of the building points, the vegetative areas are first segmented from the scene content and the bare earth is extracted afterwards. The automatic plane detection of each building is performed applying extensions of the RHT associated with additional constraint criteria during the random selection of the 3 points aiming at the optimum adaptation to the building rooftops as well as using a simple design of the accumulator that efficiently detects the prominent planes. The refinement of the plane detection is conducted based on the relationship between neighbouring planes, the locality of the point and the use of additional information. An indicative experimental comparison to verify the advantages of the extended RHT compared to the 3D Standard Hough Transform (SHT) is implemented as well as the sensitivity of the proposed extensions and accumulator design is examined in the view of quality and computational time compared to the default RHT. Further, a comparison between the extended RHT and the RANSAC is carried out. The plane detection results illustrate the potential of the proposed extended RHT in terms of robustness and efficiency for several applications
Cilostazol in Diabetic Neuropathy
No full text Peripheral neuropathy remains a major chronic complication of diabetes mellitus. Its pathogenesis mainly involves chronic glucose toxicity and nerve ischemia. Preclinical studies have shown that cilostazol, a reversible selective inhibitor of phosphodiesterase-3A with antiplatelet, antithrombotic, and vasodilatory properties, exerts beneficial effects on nerve function in experimental diabetes. Clinical data, however, is sparse. Two recent randomized placebo-controlled clinical trials showed that cilostazol did not improve diabetic neuropathy in humans. Hence, more data is needed to confirm or refute the poor clinical efficacy of cilostazol. Importantly, future studies should include larger patient series, provide longer follow-up data, and employ more accurate diagnostic tools. </jats:p
An Experimental Method to Investigate the Optimal UV Filter for the Auger Fluorescence Detectors
No full text- …
