With the increasing number of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients, it is difficult to manage them within specialised IBD teams in academic medical centres: many are therefore treated in ...nonacademic IBD centres. It is unclear whether the time to introducing biologics is the same in both settings.
We aimed to compare treatment approach with biologics in academic vs. nonacademic centres.
We analysed Slovenian national IBD registry data (UR-CARE Registry, supported by the European Crohn's and Colitis Organisation), which included 2 academic (2319 patients) and 4 nonacademic IBD (429 patients) centres.
The disease phenotype was similar in both settings. In total, 1687 patients received 2782 treatment episodes with biologics. We observed no differences in treatment episodes with TNF-alpha inhibitors (60% vs. 61%), vedolizumab (24% vs. 23%), or ustekinumab (17% vs. 16%) in academic compared to nonacademic centres ( P = 0.949). However, TNF inhibitors were less often the first biologic in academic centres (TNF inhibitors: 67.5% vs. 74.0%, vedolizumab: 20.3% vs. 17.9%, ustekinumab: 12.1% vs. 8.1%; P = 0.0096). Consequently, more patients received ustekinumab (29.8% vs. 18.3%) and vedolizumab (17.4% vs. 13.5%) and fewer TNF inhibitors (52.7% vs. 68.2%) for Crohn's disease in academic compared to nonacademic centres, with no such differences for ulcerative colitis. The time to initiation of the first biologic from diagnosis was short and similar in both settings (11.3 vs. 10.4 months, P = 0.2).
In this nationwide registry analysis, we observed that biological treatment choice was similar in academic and nonacademic settings. These findings support the decentralisation of IBD care.
•We determine morphological, optical and electrical characteristics of DSSCs.•The TiO2 nanotubes’ length is important parameter that influences cell performance.•The reduction of incident light ...reaching the working electrode is significant.•Post treatment of titania nanotubes can have a various effect on cell performance.
Self-ordered, vertically aligned, titanium oxide (TiO2) nanotubes were grown on an electropolished titanium foil by anodic oxidation in a viscous organic electrolyte. We chose two different anodization times to obtain nanotubes of approximately 9 and 17μm in length. Some of the TiO2 nanotubes were post-treated with TiCl4 or hydrothermally with TiO2 P25. Their structure and morphology were investigated with field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FSEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). To improve the sensitizing of the high-aspect-ratio nanotubes with dye we used a new approach in which the TiO2 arrays were immersed into the dye solution at elevated temperature in an autoclave. The current–voltage characteristics of the assembled DSSCs gave an average energy-conversion efficiency of 5.7% for the untreated nanotubes.
Cu(I) kataliziranim reakcijama sulfonil- odnosno fosforil-azida i terminalnih alkina nastaje intermedijar ketenimin koji reagira s nukleofilima kao što su voda, alkoholi, amini, piroli ili indoli, ...pri čemu nastaju odgovarajući amidi, imidati, amidini i supstituirani heterocikli, u jednom reakcijskom koraku. Te selektivne reakcije zbivaju se pri blagim reakcijskim uvjetima (sobna temperatura, prisustvo zraka i vode), bez steričkog i elektronskog utjecaja supstituenata na ishod reakcije.
The recent increase of the local population of gilthead seabream,
Sparus aurata
, in three areas along the southeastern Adriatic Sea: Malostonski Bay (Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina), Neretva ...Estuary (Croatia) and Boka Kotorska Bay (Montenegro) and its adverse effects on shellfish culture by preying on Mediterranean mussels,
Mytilus galloprovincialis
, and the European flat oyster,
Ostrea edulis
, are studied. The results from the analysis of the existing information show that the main reason for the recent increase is the escapes from local fish farm which enrich the local population constantly with new gilthead sea bream. The existence of practically endless food in the area of the shellfish farms allows the concentration of the population in the region instead of its dispersion along the Adriatic coast. Moreover, ecological analysis indicates that the gilthead seabream is facing a very low competition from other local species which enhances its capacity to further populate the region. While the impact on the ecosystem is not yet known, the socio-economic impact of the increase of the gilthead seabream population is evident today. Many shellfish farms are closing today in the region since the damages may reach over 90 % of the production.
In today's modern world, efficient programming is a necessity. To speed up code generation nowadays, programming code is generated using different graphical tools. Although efficient, this technology ...is scarcely used in embedded system development. In this paper, we present a procedure for block-based visual programming with applications in embedded systems development. We present several examples of blocks using the Blockly open-source visual programming tool and test the implementation on selected Infineon XMC-based boards. The presented programming solution shows successful implementation of block-based visual programming in embedded systems development.
The paper deals with sea wave modelling based on available data acquired from a satellite-calibrated numerical model. The idea is to use an artificial neural network, as a flexible tool capable of ...modelling nonlinear processes, for significant wave height (SWH) modelling at a single point in the Adriatic Sea. The focus of the paper was not to develop a new type of ANN, but rather to use it as a modelling tool and identify the most significant input variables for SWH modelling in the Adriatic Sea, among the available data. Linear and nonlinear regression models were also developed for purposes of comparison of neural network performances with those of traditional data modelling methods. A total of 22 years of data were used - 20 years of data with a 6 h sampling step time, i.e. 30684 data samples were used to calibrate the models, while 2 years of data, i.e. 2920 data samples were used to test the models’ performances. Simulation results proved the ability of an artificial neural network to model SWH with high ccuracy based on available data. Furthermore, the artificial neural network model proved to be more accurate than traditional statistical models, especially when multiple input variables were used.
Stečeno oštećenje sluha jedno je od najčešćih kroničnih stanja odrasle i starije dobi. Njegov snažan socioekonomski utjecaj razvijene zemlje nastoje umanjiti preventivnim aktivnostima, a jedna od ...najbitnijih je bolje informiranje javnosti o svim implikacijama, te senzoričke promjene na kvalitetu života. Pritom je najbitnije sustavno informiranje mladih osoba koje su, zbog nedostatka formalnih mehanizama zaštite, pod dodatnim rizikom stjecanja oštećenja sluha zbog čestog izlaganja rekreacijskoj buci. Promjena znanja ove subpopulacije o stečenom oštećenju sluha i njegovim posljedicama ima potencijal promjene njihovih stavova o prevenciji, te u konačnici i mijenjanje rizičnih ponašanja koja pridonose razvoju oštećenja sluha u odrasloj ili starijoj dobi. Zato je važno poznavati početna znanja i stavove mladih osoba o stečenom oštećenju sluha, radi uvida u potrebu aktivnog i sustavnog stručnog rada na njihovoj promjeni, s ciljem podrške prevenciji teškoća slušanja uzrokovanih bukom u ovoj rizičnoj subpopulaciji. U ovom su istraživanju, pomoću ad hoc online upitnika, ispitani stavovi 112
mladih osoba iz čitave Hrvatske o stečenom oštećenju sluha. U skladu s početnom pretpostavkom istraživanja, pokazalo se da su stavovi sudionika o oštećenju sluha uglavnom negativni ili nedovoljno
diferencirani, što govori o potrebi sustavnijeg obrazovanja mladih osoba o fenomenu oštećenja sluha, s ciljem prevencije oštećenja sluha stečenog u odrasloj i starijoj dobi.
Hearing loss is one of the most common chronic conditions in adult and elderly population. One of the most important preventive activities, which developed countries are trying to implement in the attempt
to reduce the socio-economic impact of acquired hearing loss, is to inform the public better about the broad implications of this sensory change on the quality of life. It is of particular interest to inform
systematically adolescents and young adults who, due to the lack of formal protection mechanisms, are at the increased risk of acquiring hearing loss later in life because of their frequent exposure to
recreational noise. Altering the knowledge of this particular subpopulation about acquired hearing loss and its consequences can potentially change their attitudes towards prevention and ultimately behaviours that contribute to the development of hearing loss in the future. For this reason, it is important to be acquainted with the initial knowledge and attitudes of adolescents and young adults on acquired hearing loss in order to gain insight into the need for active and systematic professional efforts towards changing them, with the ultimate aim of supporting the prevention of noise-induced hearing loss in this
subpopulation. In this study, an ad hoc online questionnaire was used to examine the attitudes of 112 young people from Croatia about acquired hearing loss. According to the initial assumption of the research, mostly negative or insufficiently differentiated attitudes about acquired hearing loss were observed, suggesting the need for a more systematic education of adolescents and young adults about hearing loss, in order to ensure the efficient support for the prevention of noise induced hearing loss later in life.
In this paper, influence of human body motion on performance of Differential Chaos Shift Keying (DCSK) modulation over Human Body Communication (HBC) channel is analysed. In particular, DCSK ...modulation is robust non-coherent modulation, which can be implemented by using low-cost electronic circuitry. Therefore, it is suitable for implementation in low-cost, energy efficient HBC based Wireless Body Area Networks (WBAN). Furthermore, the analytical expression for Bit Error Rate (BER) is derived, in which the body motion fading, modeled with Nakagami distribution is considered. The influence of two body motions, walking and lateral arm movement up and down while a person is standing, on DCSK performance is simulated and discussed. The obtained results show the robustness of DCSK for corresponding body motions.
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