Compare reported data on age specific rates of SARS-CoV-2 infections in countries from several continents to identify differences in age specific incidence of reported cases in different countries.
...Data on age-specific case incidence of SARS-CoV-2 derived from publicly available databases from selected countries in Europe, North America, Australasia, and Asia were collected and analysed to identify and evaluate trends in reported age specific distribution of morbidity from SARS-CoV-2 in countries for which data was available.
Data for laboratory confirmed COVID-19 cases from South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the Netherlands exhibited essentially identical profiles, with a bimodal distribution that shows highest rate of confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections among individuals in the 20-29 years age cohort (21%-27% of total), and a second lower peak for the 50-59 or 60-69 age cohorts (16-18% of total), while preliminary data from China, United States and Sweden exhibited a unimodal distribution with highest rate of positive individuals for the 50-59 age cohort.
There is increasing evidence that individuals < 30 years of age may be playing a highly significant role in the facilitation and amplification of COVID-19 transmission in countries worldwide. Data reported from the first wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic in at least 5 countries (South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Netherlands) demonstrated that greater attention should be paid to the frequency and epidemiological importance of COVID-19 infections among young adults in the 20-29 year age cohort, because individuals in this age range comprise a large proportion (21%-27%) of the known laboratory confirmed COVID-19 cases in these countries, and perhaps other countries for which reliable data are not yet available. The epidemiological importance of COVID-19 infections among young adults and adolescents in amplifying and facilitating the proliferation of the COVID-19 Pandemic has been systematically underestimated in many countries, because of low rates of testing among asymptomatic individuals and low rates of severe disease or mortality among individuals <30 years of age. Clarifying and understanding the epidemiological dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 transmission among individuals in younger age cohorts will help in determining control strategies at the individual and population levels.
Dissipative solitons are remarkably localized states of a physical system that arise from the dynamical balance between nonlinearity, dispersion and environmental energy exchange. They are the most ...universal form of soliton that can exist, and are seen in far-from-equilibrium systems in many fields, including chemistry, biology and physics. There has been particular interest in studying their properties in mode-locked lasers, but experiments have been limited by the inability to track the dynamical soliton evolution in real time. Here, we use simultaneous dispersive Fourier transform and time-lens measurements to completely characterize the spectral and temporal evolution of ultrashort dissipative solitons as their dynamics pass through a transient unstable regime with complex break-up and collisions before stabilization. Further insight is obtained from reconstruction of the soliton amplitude and phase and calculation of the corresponding complex-valued eigenvalue spectrum. These findings show how real-time measurements provide new insights into ultrafast transient dynamics in optics.
The Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR) last published its comprehensive expert panel report of clinical indications for CMR in 2004. This new Consensus Panel report brings those ...indications up to date for 2020 and includes the very substantial increase in scanning techniques, clinical applicability and adoption of CMR worldwide. We have used a nearly identical grading system for indications as in 2004 to ensure comparability with the previous report but have added the presence of randomized controlled trials as evidence for level 1 indications. In addition to the text, tables of the consensus indication levels are included for rapid assimilation and illustrative figures of some key techniques are provided.
The Peregrine soliton is a localized nonlinear structure predicted to exist over 25 years ago, but not so far experimentally observed in any physical system. It is of fundamental significance because ...it is localized in both time and space, and because it defines the limit of a wide class of solutions to the nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE). Here, we use an analytic description of NLSE breather propagation to implement experiments in optical fibre generating femtosecond pulses with strong temporal and spatial localization, and near-ideal temporal Peregrine soliton characteristics. In showing that Peregrine soliton characteristics appear with initial conditions that do not correspond to the mathematical ideal, our results may impact widely on studies of hydrodynamic wave instabilities where the Peregrine soliton is considered a freak-wave prototype.
The measurement of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) is a ubiquitous component of imaging studies used to evaluate patients with cardiac conditions and acts as an arbiter for many management ...decisions. This follows early trials investigating heart failure therapies which used a binary LVEF cut-off to select patients with the worst prognosis, who may gain the most benefit. Forty years on, the cardiac disease landscape has changed. Left ventricular ejection fraction is now a poor indicator of prognosis for many heart failure patients; specifically, for the half of patients with heart failure and truly preserved ejection fraction (HF-PEF). It is also recognized that LVEF may remain normal amongst patients with valvular heart disease who have significant myocardial dysfunction. This emphasizes the importance of the interaction between LVEF and left ventricular geometry. Guidelines based on LVEF may therefore miss a proportion of patients who would benefit from early intervention to prevent further myocardial decompensation and future adverse outcomes. The assessment of myocardial strain, or intrinsic deformation, holds promise to improve these issues. The measurement of global longitudinal strain (GLS) has consistently been shown to improve the risk stratification of patients with heart failure and identify patients with valvular heart disease who have myocardial decompensation despite preserved LVEF and an increased risk of adverse outcomes. To complete the integration of GLS into routine clinical practice, further studies are required to confirm that such approaches improve therapy selection and accordingly, the outcome for patients.
Implants for the ageing population Dudley, J
Australian dental journal,
March 2015, 2015-Mar, 2015-03-00, 20150301, Letnik:
60, Številka:
S1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Dental implant treatment has established benefits over traditional alternatives. Age‐related changes in systemic and oral health in conjunction with social, economic and resource considerations often ...introduce complexities into dental implant treatment of ageing patients. When time, opportunity, discomfort and maintenance costs are coupled with cost‐benefit and quality of life predictions, otherwise simple treatment decisions can become more difficult. Implants for different types of prostheses in both arches and the different types of prostheses themselves present a variety of treatment challenges, risks, benefits and maintenance requirements. This narrative review discusses selective literature pertinent to the provision of dental implant treatment in the ageing population.
Abstract Background Cardiomyocytes are organized in microstructures termed sheetlets that reorientate during left ventricular thickening. Diffusion tensor cardiac magnetic resonance (DT-CMR) may ...enable noninvasive interrogation of in vivo cardiac microstructural dynamics. Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a condition of abnormal myocardium with unknown sheetlet function. Objectives This study sought to validate in vivo DT-CMR measures of cardiac microstructure against histology, characterize microstructural dynamics during left ventricular wall thickening, and apply the technique in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and DCM. Methods In vivo DT-CMR was acquired throughout the cardiac cycle in healthy swine, followed by in situ and ex vivo DT-CMR, then validated against histology. In vivo DT-CMR was performed in 19 control subjects, 19 DCM, and 13 HCM patients. Results In swine, a DT-CMR index of sheetlet reorientation (E2A) changed substantially (E2A mobility ∼46°). E2A changes correlated with wall thickness changes (in vivo r2 = 0.75; in situ r2 = 0.89), were consistently observed under all experimental conditions, and accorded closely with histological analyses in both relaxed and contracted states. The potential contribution of cyclical strain effects to in vivo E2A was ∼17%. In healthy human control subjects, E2A increased from diastole (18°) to systole (65°; p < 0.001; E2A mobility = 45°). HCM patients showed significantly greater E2A in diastole than control subjects did (48°; p < 0.001) with impaired E2A mobility (23°; p < 0.001). In DCM, E2A was similar to control subjects in diastole, but systolic values were markedly lower (40°; p < 0.001) with impaired E2A mobility (20°; p < 0.001). Conclusions Myocardial microstructure dynamics can be characterized by in vivo DT-CMR. Sheetlet function was abnormal in DCM with altered systolic conformation and reduced mobility, contrasting with HCM, which showed reduced mobility with altered diastolic conformation. These novel insights significantly improve understanding of contractile dysfunction at a level of noninvasive interrogation not previously available in humans.
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