Abstract Background The lower extremity is increasingly used as an access site in end-stage renal disease patients. However, reports present conflicting results, creating confusion regarding the ...feasibility and outcomes. Our objective is to review the available literature and analyse the patency rates and complications of various types of lower-extremity arteriovenous access. Methods An Internet-based literature search was performed using MEDLINE to identify all published reports on lower-extremity vascular access. The analysis involved studies comprising at least 10 arteriovenous accesses with both inflow and outflow vessels in the lower extremity, and reporting on patency rates and access-related complications. The weighted mean patency rates were calculated, and the chi-square ( χ2 ) test was used to evaluate the differences in the complication rates in the subgroups of patients identified. Results Three main types of lower-extremity vascular access were identified: the upper thigh prosthetic, the mid-thigh prosthetic and the femoral vein transposition arteriovenous access. There are limited data on saphenous vein loop grafts, which report poor results. The weighted mean primary patency rates at 12 months were 48%, 43% and 83%, respectively. The weighted mean secondary patency rates at 12 months were 69%, 67% and 93%, respectively. Access loss as a result of infection was more common in upper thigh and mid-thigh grafts than femoral vein transposition arteriovenous access (18.40%, 18.33% vs. 1.61%; P < 0.05). Ischaemic complications rates were higher in autologous than prosthetic arteriovenous access (20.97% vs. 7.18%, P < 0.05). Conclusions Lower-extremity vascular access has acceptable results in terms of patency, with femoral vein transposition having better patency rates than femoral grafts. Autologous access is associated with less infective complications, however, at the expense of increased ischaemic complications rates. Further research with randomised trials is required to assess the outcomes of lower-extremity vascular access.
Efforts to adapt and extend graphic arts printing techniques for demanding device applications in electronics, biotechnology and microelectromechanical systems have grown rapidly in recent years. ...Here, we describe the use of electrohydrodynamically induced fluid flows through fine microcapillary nozzles for jet printing of patterns and functional devices with submicrometre resolution. Key aspects of the physics of this approach, which has some features in common with related but comparatively low-resolution techniques for graphic arts, are revealed through direct high-speed imaging of the droplet formation processes. Printing of complex patterns of inks, ranging from insulating and conducting polymers, to solution suspensions of silicon nanoparticles and rods, to single-walled carbon nanotubes, using integrated computer-controlled printer systems illustrates some of the capabilities. High-resolution printed metal interconnects, electrodes and probing pads for representative circuit patterns and functional transistors with critical dimensions as small as 1 mum demonstrate potential applications in printed electronics.
Phase synchrony has extensively been studied for understanding neural coordination in health and disease. There are a few studies concerning the implications in the context of BCIs, but its potential ...for establishing a communication channel in patients suffering from neuromuscular disorders remains totally unexplored. We investigate, here, this possibility by estimating the time-resolved phase connectivity patterns induced during a motor imagery (MI) task and adopting a supervised learning scheme to recover the subject's intention from the streaming data.
Electroencephalographic activity from six patients suffering from neuromuscular disease (NMD) and six healthy individuals was recorded during two randomly alternating, externally cued, MI tasks (clenching either left or right fist) and a rest condition. The metric of Phase locking value (PLV) was used to describe the functional coupling between all recording sites. The functional connectivity patterns and the associate network organization was first compared between the two cohorts. Next, working at the level of individual patients, we trained support vector machines (SVMs) to discriminate between "left" and "right" based on different instantiations of connectivity patterns (depending on the encountered brain rhythm and the temporal interval). Finally, we designed and realized a novel brain decoding scheme that could interpret the intention from streaming connectivity patterns, based on an ensemble of SVMs.
The group-level analysis revealed increased phase synchrony and richer network organization in patients. This trend was also seen in the performance of the employed classifiers. Time-resolved connectivity led to superior performance, with distinct SVMs acting as local experts, specialized in the patterning emerged within specific temporal windows (defined with respect to the external trigger). This empirical finding was further exploited in implementing a decoding scheme that can be activated without the need of the precise timing of a trigger.
The increased phase synchrony in NMD patients can turn to a valuable tool for MI decoding. Considering the fast implementation for the PLV pattern computation in multichannel signals, we can envision the development of efficient personalized BCI systems in assistance of these patients.
The COVID-19 pandemic has already changed our globalised world and its long-term impact is not yet known. It is apparent that businesses and institutions are increasingly affected. COVID-19 ...discussions often focus on intensive care units in hospitals. However, COVID-19 also effects life-saving and -prolonging radiotherapy for patients suffering from cancer.
We have conducted a structured online survey among medical physicists in Germany, Austria and Switzerland from March 23rd to 26th 2020. In total 154 responses (82 completed, 72 partially completed) were analysed in the context of the COVID-19 dissemination.
72.4% of the respondent's state that their processes are affected due to COVID-19, while the top three answers are longer processing times (54.2%), patient no-shows (42.5%) and staff reduction (36.7%). 75.8% expect further unavailability of their personnel in the upcoming weeks. All participants have already taken several measures, especially providing information for patients at the entrance (89.6%) or over the phone (73.6%), restricting access for accompanying persons (77.4%) and providing disinfectant at the entrance (72.6%).
The results presented in this article aim to support business continuity and risk management for radiotherapy centres to prepare for future challenges. The results show that most radiotherapy centres has implemented initial contingency measures, applying them pragmatically. The main problem however remains, that is the high risk of infection both for patients and medical personnel along with the associated risk of temporarily loss of personnel and ordered closure of business.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
A highly diastereoselective P-Michael addition of chiral aminophosphinic acids to achiral acrylates has been developed, leading to phosphinic dipeptide isosteres in high yields and dr of up to >50:1. ...The method allows for the diastereoselective preparation of target compounds without the need for chiral auxiliaries or P-chiral substrates. A possible mechanistic explanation involves a domino chirality transfer from the aminophosphinic acid to the P center, amplified by a crucial benzhydryl ester group, and then to the α-carbon.
Context
Big Data Analytics is a rapidly emerging IT practice whose applications offer benefits for a wide variety of business areas across an organisation. Given the wide scope of applications, the ...many types of processing involved, including those for purposes not yet foreseen, and the inherent privacy concerns resulting from collecting and storing personal data, the newly introduced General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) poses specific challenges for safeguarding the security and protection of big data. These challenges are not limited to the IT function but extend across the entire organisation. This raises the question whether Enterprise Architecture Management (EAM), as an approach for ensuring the coherence, strategic alignment and focus on value creation of all organisational resources, offers guidance for addressing those challenges in a holistic manner, and thus provides a fruitful ground for developing an approach for complying to GDPR requirements in a Big Data context.
Objective
This study surveys the state-of-the-art in research on security, privacy, and protection of big data. The focus is on investigating which specific issues and challenges have been identified and whether these have been linked to GDPR requirements. Further, it examines whether previous research has investigated the potential of EAM in addressing those challenges and what the main findings of those studies are.
Method
We used Systematic Mapping Review (SMR), which is a methodology for literature review aimed at surveying the state-of-the-art in a research field as it is documented in the scientific literature. Further, we used Template Analysis, which is a thematic analysis technique, for coding the texts of the selected papers, classifying the research studies, and interpreting the different themes addressed in the literature.
Results
Our study indicates that only few researchers have explored the use of EAM practices in relation to data security and protection in a Big Data context. We further identified seven trends within the areas under consideration that could be subjects for further research.
Conclusions
Our study does not invalidate the potential of EAM to help addressing GDPR requirements in a Big Data context. However, how EAM practices may contribute to risk management and data governance in environments where big data are being processed, is still a huge research gap, which we intend to address in our future research.
Multicopper oxidases (MCOs) represent a diverse family of enzymes that catalyze the oxidation of either an organic or a metal substrate with concomitant reduction of dioxygen to water. These enzymes ...contain variable numbers of cupredoxin domains, two, three or six per subunit, and rely on four copper ions, a single type I copper and three additional copper ions organized in a trinuclear cluster (TNC), with one type II and two type III copper ions, to catalyze the reaction. Here, two crystal structures and the enzymatic characterization of Marinithermus hydrothermalis MCO, a two‐domain enzyme, are reported. This enzyme decolorizes Congo Red dye at 70°C in the presence of high halide concentrations and may therefore be useful in the detoxification of industrial waste that contains dyes. In two distinct crystal structures, MhMCO forms the trimers seen in other two‐domain MCOs, but differs from these enzymes in that four trimers interact to create a dodecamer. This dodecamer of MhMCO forms a closed ball‐like structure and has implications for the sequestration of bound divalent metal ions as well as substrate accessibility. In each subunit of the dodecameric structures, a Trp residue, Trp351, located between the type I and TNC sites exists in two distinct conformations, consistent with a potential role in facilitating electron transfer in the enzyme.
A two‐domain multicopper oxidase (MCO) from Marinithermus hydrothermalis functions as a laccase and was crystallized in two distinct lattices as a dodecameric ball‐like structure. Crystal structures are reported in cubic and orthorhombic lattices at 1.92 and 2.36 Å resolution, respectively. This MCO forms trimers similar to those found in other two‐domain MCOs, but is unique in forming a higher order dodecameric structure.
Nested and overlapping events are particularly frequent and informative structures in biomedical event extraction. However, state-of-the-art neural models either neglect those structures during ...learning or use syntactic features and external tools to detect them. To overcome these limitations, this paper presents and compares two neural models: a novel EXhaustive Neural Network (EXNN) and a Search-Based Neural Network (SBNN) for detection of nested and overlapping events.
We evaluate the proposed models as an event detection component in isolation and within a pipeline setting. Evaluation in several annotated biomedical event extraction datasets shows that both EXNN and SBNN achieve higher performance in detecting nested and overlapping events, compared to the state-of-the-art model Turku Event Extraction System (TEES).
The experimental results reveal that both EXNN and SBNN are effective for biomedical event extraction. Furthermore, results on a pipeline setting indicate that our models improve detection of events compared to models that use either gold or predicted named entities.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Introduction
Several studies have shown that the relationship between migraine and psychological factors is significant, but few have evaluated the relationship between these psychological factors ...and patients’ social life.
Objectives
Exploring the role of personality and psychopathology in people with migraines.
Methods
The sample consisted of 180 people, more specifically 140 people from the general population and 40 people who have been diagnosed with migraine and receiving treatment for migraine, who completed the following questionnaires voluntarily and anonymously: a) Migraine Experience Questionnaire and Headache Impact Test-6 (HIT-6), b) Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, c) Symtom Checklist 90-R (SCL-90) and socio-demographic and self-reported questionnaire.
Results
Patients scored higher somatization rates (10.21 ± 8.08), phobic anxiety (3.00 ± 4.45), neuroticism (4.09 ± 1.37), than people from the general population who scored lower somatization rates (14.63 ± 3.12), Phobic anxiety (5.28 ± 1.89), Neuroticism (6.53 ± 2.12), with a statistically significant difference between them (p = 0.001), (p = 0.002), (p = 0.000), respectively.
Conclusions
Patients with symptoms of migraine show statistically higher rates of somatization, phobic anxiety, neuroticism and further study is considered necessary.
Disclosure of Interest
None Declared
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