2,882 research outputs found
Hyperuricaemia and gout in cardiovascular, metabolic and kidney disease
No full textDuring the last century, there has been an increasing prevalence of hyperuricaemia noted in many populations. While uric acid is usually discussed in the context of gout, hyperuricaemia is also associated with hypertension, chronic kidney disease, hypertriglyceridaemia, obesity, atherosclerotic heart disease, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes. Here we review the connection between hyperuricaemia and cardiovascular, kidney and metabolic diseases. Contrary to the popular view that uric acid is an inert metabolite of purine metabolism, recent studies suggest serum uric acid may have a variety of pro-inflammatory, pro-oxidative and vasoconstrictive actions that may contribute to cardiometabolic diseases. Hyperuricaemia is a predictive factor for the development of hypertension, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, coronary artery disease, left ventricular hypertrophy, atrial fibrillation, myocardial infarction, stroke, heart failure and chronic kidney disease. Treatment with uric acid-lowering therapies has also been found to improve outcomes in patients with hypertension and kidney disease, in some but not all studies. In conclusion, uric acid is emerging as a potentially treatable risk factor for cardiometabolic diseases, and more clinical trials investigating the potential benefit of lowering serum uric acid are recommended in individuals with hyperuricaemia with and without deposition and concomitant hypertension, metabolic syndrome or chronic kidney disease
Reformulating the rj-McMC Algorithm for 3D Inversion of Passive Seismic Data for Near-Surface Characterization
No full textGeophysical subsurface characterization techniques could, due to their non-invasive nature, play a crucial role in the design and subsequent construction of infrastructure in urban & industrial environ- ments. Geo-data specialist company Fugro sees potential in upgrading their current ambient-seismic- noise-tomography workflow, to make use of state-of-the-art inversion schemes with the main goal of increasing the quality and accuracy of the initial-site characterization delivered to clients. In this thesis I explore the feasibility of utilizing the reverse-jump Markov chain Monte Carlo (rj-McMC) algorithm for the inversion of ambient seismic noise for characterization in urban & industrial environments. Specif- ically, testing the potential of scaling down this inversion algorithm to fit in a small scale, near-surface framework. To achieve this, I first carried out analyses to evaluate the appropriate Rayleigh wave frequency range, after which realistic noise hyperparameters, suited for this reduced scale problem, were obtained. Because of the potential exploitation of in-situ borehole measurements, I reformulated the Bayesian prior within the rj-McMC algorithm to implement these constraining shear wave velocity values appropriately. I conducted extensive synthetic experiments to gain insight into the behavior of this adapted algorithm, from which it was concluded that the inherent dynamic discretization partially prevents these constraints from being implemented to their full extent. Nevertheless, promising results lead me to conclude that the use of the rj-McMC algorithm for application in near-surface urban & industrial environments is feasible.Applied Geophysics | IDEA Leagu
Avaliação por simulação computacional de ventilação de cozinhas residenciais em clima quente e úmido na Colômbia por meio de chaminés solares
No full textDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Arquitetura e UrbanismoO aumento considerável das cargas de resfriamento devido às fontes internas e externas e o acumulo de ar poluído devido aos processos de cocção, fazem com que o melhoramento do comportamento térmico e da ventilação de uma cozinha residencial localizada em clima quente e úmido seja prioritário. A ventilação pode constituir uma estratégia eficiente para resolver esses problemas. Porém, localidades geográficas que possuem momentos consideráveis de calmaria em relação ao vento como, por exemplo, a cidade de Quibdó na Colômbia, requerem o uso de outras estratégias de condicionamento. Pesquisas anteriores demonstraram as possibilidades de utilização das chaminés solares para melhorar o desempenho ambiental de um espaço localizado sob essas condições climáticas. Com o intuito de avaliar o potencial das chaminés solares sobre uma cozinha residencial, neste trabalho foi utilizado um método de simulação computacional através do programa Energyplus. Na modelagem das aberturas da chaminé, encontrou-se que o objeto "Horizontal Opening", incluído na versão 7.0 desse programa, não representa adequadamente a ventilação gerada pela diferença de temperatura. Entre os resultados, verificou-se (1) que a presença de vento potencializava o "efeito chaminé" sem importar a direção que tivesse a corrente, (2) a inclinação da chaminé em 50° é o valor que permite atingir o melhor comportamento da cozinha para a latitude de Quibdó, (3) a localização da cozinha na planta arquitetônica que permitiu obter o melhor comportamento devido ao uso de uma chaminé é aquela na qual se tem o maior afastamento no plano vertical entre as aberturas de entrada e saída da chaminé e (4) encontrou-se que a melhoria obtida através do aumento da área de absorção na chaminé tem um limite quando considerado o dia inteiro. A partir das simulações realizadas para o dia inteiro, conclui-se que o uso de chaminés solares não produziu melhorias significativas na temperatura e na ventilação de cozinhas residenciais localizadas no clima quente e úmido de Quibdó.The significant increase in cooling loads due to internal and external sources and the accumulation of polluted air due to cooking, make the improvement of thermal and ventilation performance of a residential kitchen located in hot and humid climate a priority. The ventilation is an effective strategy to solve these problems. However, geographical places which have considerable moments without wind, like the case of Quibdó - Colombia, require the use of other conditioning strategies. Previous researches have shown the possibility of using solar chimney´s to improve the performance of a space located under such climatic conditions. This work used the Energyplus simulation software for evaluating the potential of a solar chimney on a residential kitchen. Modeling the chimney openings, it was found that the "Horizontal Opening" object included in version 7.0 of this program doesn´t represent adequately the ventilation created by the stack effect. Among the results, it was found (1) that the presence of wind enhanced the stack effect regardless of the flow direction, (2) a slope of 50° for the chimney absorber surface is the ideal inclination value to achieve the best performance in a kitchen located in the Quibdó latitude, (3) the kitchen location within the house which allowed to obtain the best performance due to the use of a solar chimney, was that which let to have a larger distance between the inlet and outlet on the vertical plane and (4) it was found that the performance improvement obtained due to the increase in the chimney absorption area has a limit when considered the whole day. Based on daily simulations, it was concluded that the solar chimney use didn´t produce significant improvements in the temperature and ventilation of a residential kitchen located in the hot and humid climate of Quibdó
The Attitudes about Complex Therapy Scale (ACTS) in Type 2 Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease: Development, Validity and Reliability
No full textBackground: Type 2 diabetes is associated with cardiovascular disease, and patients with both conditions are prescribed complex medication regimens.
Aim: The aim was to develop a reliable and valid measure of attitudes associated with the prescription and management of multiple medicines in patients with Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Methods: Principal component analysis (PCA) and Cronbach alpha assessed the reliability of the Attitudes about Complex Therapy Scale (ACTS). Examinations of relationships with related measures inform concurrent validity. Questionnaires were sent to a cross-sectional sample of 480 people prescribed multiple medicines for co-morbid Type 2 diabetes.
Results: Cronbach alpha was 0.76, indicating the scale had good internal reliability. PCA rotated a four factor model accounting for 37% of the variance. Four subscales identified; 1. Concerns about multiple medicines and increasing numbers of medicines; 2.Anxiety over missed medicines; 3. Desires to substitute medicines and reduce the number of medicines prescribed and; 4. Perceptions related to organising and managing complex therapy. The ACTS showed significant relationships with measures of anxiety, depression, general beliefs about medicines and self-efficacy. Also, the ACTS significantly correlated with adherence to medicines, showing good predictive validity.
Conclusion: The ACTS was designed to assess negative attitudes towards complex therapy and multiple medication management. This tool could aid prescribing decisions and may identify people who are intentionally non-adherent to all or some of their medicines
General practitioners’ perspectives on campaigns to promote rapid help-seeking behaviour at the onset of rheumatoid arthritis
No full textObjective. To explore general practitioners’ (GPs’ ) perspectives on public health campaigns to encourage people with the early symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) to seek medical help rapidly. Design. Nineteen GPs participated in four semistructured focus groups. Focus groups were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using thematic analysis. Results. GPs recognised the need for the early treatment of RA and identified that facilitating appropriate access to care was important. However, not all held the view that a delay in help seeking was a clinically significant issue. Furthermore, many were concerned that the early symptoms of RA were often non-specific, and that current knowledge about the nature of symptoms at disease onset was inadequate to inform the content of a help-seeking campaign. They argued that a campaign might not be able to specifically target those who need to present urgently. Poorly designed campaigns were suggested to have a negative impact on GPs’ workloads, and would “clog up” the referral pathway for genuine cases of RA. Conclusions. GPs were supportive of strategies to improve access to Rheumatological care and increase public awareness of RA symptoms. However, they have identified important issues that need to be considered in developing a public health campaign that forms part of an overall strategy to reduce time to treatment for patients with new onset RA. This study highlights the value of gaining GPs’ perspectives before launching health promotion campaigns
Stack memory requirements of AUTOSAR/OSEK-compliant scheduling policies
No full text\u3cp\u3eStack sharing between tasks may significantly reduce the amount of memory required in resource-constrained real-time embedded systems. Existing work on stack sharing mainly focused on stack sharing between tasks that neither leave any data on the stack from one instance to another nor suspend themselves, i.e. tasks with a so-called single-shot execution. In this paper, we consider stack memory requirements of AUTOSAR/OSEK-compliant scheduling policies for a mixed task set, consisting of so-called basic and extended tasks. Unlike basic tasks, that have a single-shot execution, extended tasks are allowed to leave data on the stack from one instance to another and to suspend themselves. We prove that minimizing the shared stack requirement for such a mixed task set is an NP-hard problem. We subsequently provide an heuristic-based algorithm to minimize stack usage of a mixed task set, and evaluate the algorithm through a case study of an implementation of an unmanned aerial vehicle. An extended version of the paper is available as technical report [5].\u3c/p\u3
A dual shared stack for FSLM in Erika Enterprise
No full textRecently, the flexible spin-lock model (FSLM) has been introduced, unifying spin-based and suspension-based resource sharing protocols for real-time multi-core platforms. Unlike the multiprocessor stack resource policy (MSRP), FSLM doesn’t allow tasks on a core to share a single stack, however. In this paper, we present a hypothesis claiming that for a restricted range of spin-lock priorities, FSLM requires only two stacks. We briefly describe our implementation of a dual stack for FSLM in the Erika Enterprise RTOS as instantiated on an Altera Nios II platform using 4 soft-core processors
Clowns, Fools, and Killers: An Exploration of Horror, Comedy, and Madness Through the Roles of Murderer 2 and Sir Richard Ratcliffe in William Shakespeare\u27s Richard III
No full textThis document is a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the Master of Fine Arts degree in Theatre Arts with a Concentration in Musical Theatre. It is a detailed account of author RJ Magee’s artistic and scholarly process in creating the roles of Murderer 2 and Sir Richard Ratcliffe in William Shakespeare’s Richard III. The production was performed as part of Minnesota State University, Mankato’s mainstage season in October of 2022. In five chapters, this thesis chronicles the actor’s process: a preproduction analysis, a historical and critical perspective, a rehearsal and performance journal, a post-production analysis, and a process development analysis. Appendices and works cited are included
Symptom complexes in patients with seropositive arthralgia and in patients newly diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis: a qualitative exploration of symptom development
No full textObjective: The aim of this study was to explore symptoms and symptom development during the earliest phases of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in patients with seropositive arthralgia and patients newly diagnosed with RA
- …
