To test the hypothesis that an image noise reduction algorithm designed for digital subtraction angiography (DSA) in interventional neuroradiology enables a reduction in the patient entrance dose by ...a factor of 4 while maintaining image quality.
This clinical prospective study was approved by the local ethics committee, and all 20 adult patients provided informed consent. DSA was performed with the default reference DSA program, a quarter-dose DSA program with modified acquisition parameters (to reduce patient radiation dose exposure), and a real-time noise-reduction algorithm. Two consecutive biplane DSA data sets were acquired in each patient. The dose-area product (DAP) was calculated for each image and compared. A randomized, blinded, offline reading study was conducted to show noninferiority of the quarter-dose image sets. Overall, 40 samples per treatment group were necessary to acquire 80% power, which was calculated by using a one-sided α level of 2.5%.
The mean DAP with the quarter-dose program was 25.3% ± 0.8 of that with the reference program. The median overall image quality scores with the reference program were 9, 13, and 12 for readers 1, 2, and 3, respectively. These scores increased slightly to 12, 15, and 12, respectively, with the quarter-dose program imaging chain.
In DSA, a change in technique factors combined with a real-time noise-reduction algorithm will reduce the patient entrance dose by 75%, without a loss of image quality.
The use of solvents is overall recognized as an efficient method to improve the water permeability of polyamide thin film composite membranes (PA-TFC). The objective of this work was to test the ...performance of the membranes after exposing them to n-propanol (n-PrOH) to improve the permeability of the membranes while maintaining the rejection factor for small uncharged organic molecules, namely N-nitrosamines (NTRs). After the membranes were exposed to n-PrOH, the water permeability of the UTC73AC membrane increased by 98%, with minimal change in rejection. N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA) rejection decreased (3.4%), while N-nitrosodi-n-propylamine (NDPA) and N-nitrosodi-n-butylamine (NDBA) rejection increased by 0.9% and 2.8%, respectively. In contrast, for the BW30LE membrane, water permeability decreased (by 38.7%), while rejection factors increased by 14.5% for NDEA, 6.2% for NDPA, and 15.0% for NDBA. In addition, the morphology of the membrane surface before and after exposure to n-PrOH was analyzed. This result and the pore size distribution (PSD) curves obtained indicate that the rearrangement of polymer chains affects the network or aggregate pores in the PA layer, implying that a change in pore size or a change in pore size distribution could improve the permeability of water molecules, while the rejection factor for NTRs is not significantly affected.
Based on the empirical research (interviews) conducted in Bjelovar in 2017, the paper analyzes the standpoints of the Albanians in the Bjelovar-Bilogora County on their settlement and integration in ...both local community and Croatian society, as well as on the forms and success thereof. In the last three censuses conducted in the Bjelovar-Bilogora County (in 1991, 2001, and 2011), the share of the Albanians ranged between 0.4% and 0.6% in the total county population, their number having amounted to 608 (in 1991), 755 (in 2001), and 743 (in 2011). In the new and different socio-political and cultural environment, migrants mainly form minority populations, whereby their national identity is tested in various ways. As the Albanians are concerned, there exist certain specificities, which, despite making the integration in local communities complicated, have contributed to the cohesion within the group and the preservation of national identity. The strongest hinderances to assimilation are – in their case – primarily linguistic diversity, and secondly a set of traditional values and patriarchal patterns; together, they have led to a larger-scale closeness of this national community in relation to the majority of other communities of this kind. The objective of the conducted empirical research (semi-structured interviews) was to determine the standpoints of the members of Albanian national minority in the county, awareness of their national identity, problems of integration in the local community (and Croatian society), and their high level of organization with the aim of preventing assimilation and preserving their national specificities. Eight respondents – members of male population between 34 and 68 years of age – have been interviewed. The respondents were born in the following towns/settlements: Prizren, Đakovica, and Bobovac (Kosovo), and Pakrac (Croatia); whereas their places of residence are as follows: Drljanovac, Bjelovar, Velika Pisanica, and Predavac (in the Bjelovar-Bilogora County). The responds have shown that the Albanians have to the most part been successfully integrated in their places of residence and the economic segment of the Bjelovar-Bilogora County. Their settlement in Croatia has mostly been due to socio-economic reasons, with the aim of finding employment and advancing their own existence in comparison with the life they had had in their previous places of residence. The Albanians usually arrive in Croatia individually or as close families; this eventually results in chain migration – i.e. gradual arrival of members of wider families. The integration of the Albanians in the society has been made easier thanks to several specific professions they have mastered, such as bakers, pastry cooks and goldsmiths. The Albanians are in the Bjelovar-Bilogora County involved in both the cultural and the political spheres; a further major factor in preserving their national identity is education, manifested in this county by using the C model in the education of students – members of their national minority.
We characterised accidental ingestion of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and non-opioid analgesics in children aged 0–5 years between 2009 and 2019 by analysing records of telephone ...consultations with the Croatian Poison Control Centre (CPCC) and cases treated at the Children’s Hospital Zagreb (CHZ). Among the total of 466 identified cases (411 from CPPCC records and 55 from CHS hospital records), the most frequently ingested drugs were ibuprofen (47 %), paracetamol (20 %), ketoprofen (15 %), and diclofenac (11 %). In 94 % of the cases unsupervised children ingested the drug left within their reach. The remaining 6 % were dosing errors by parents or caregivers and involved liquid formulations as a rule. Our findings can serve as real-life examples informing preventive measures.
•The interactions between accident severity levels and traffic signs are identified in state roads.•A seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) model in unbalanced panel data approach is proposed.•The ...seemingly. unrelated regression model addresses the correlation of residuals between different accident severity levels, and the panel data model accommodates the heterogeneity attributed to unobserved factors.•By comparing the pooled, fixed-effects and random-effects SUR models, the random-effects SUR model shows priority to the other two.•The results reveal that different traffic signs cause different accident severity levels, which benefits the policy makers and roadway management departments.
This study intended to investigate the interactions between accident severity levels and traffic signs in state roads located in Croatia, and explore the correlation within accident severity levels and heterogeneity attributed to unobserved factors. The data from 410 state roads between 2012 and 2016 were collected from Traffic Accident Database System maintained by the Republic of Croatia Ministry of the Interior. To address the correlation and heterogeneity, a seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) model in unbalanced panel data approach was proposed, in which the seemingly unrelated model addressed the correlation of residuals, while the panel data model accommodated the heterogeneity due to unobserved factors. By comparing the pooled, fixed-effects and random-effects SUR models, the random-effects SUR model showed priority to the other two. Results revealed that (1) low visibility and the number of invalid traffic signs per km increased the accident rate of material damage, death or injured; (2) average speed limit exhibited a high accident rate of death or injured; (3) the number of mandatory signs was more likely to reduce the accident rate of material damage, while the number of warning signs was significant for accident rate of death or injured.
Na mjestu srednjovjekovne crkve u 17. stoljeća podignuta je nova crkva koju su vjerojatno gradili članovi radionice Bokanić. Međutim, početkom druge polovine 18. stoljeća crkvu je, pretpostavlja se, ...radikalno preinačio Ignacije Macanović sa suradnicima.
This article reconsiders multiple perspectives about continuity and discontinuity of early childhood education. Theoretical starting points, childhood policies and research of continuity and ...discontinuity exemplified through transition to school, are promising in rethinking and creating productive practices of childhood in different sociocultural contexts of childhood from the perspective of children and adults. The focus is on the compromise-approach in interpreting children's agency, their experiences, continuity and discontinuity in the context of transition and in researching transition from the children's perspective. The presupposed reliability and value of children's views have been empirically examined through research on children's perspectives about preschool and school. The theoretical frame of the research is sociocultural theory of development, viewing childhood as a sociocultural construction and children as capable and active beings and becomings. Research results confirmed children's agency, evident in their awareness of social alignment with adult (parents, preschool teachers and teachers) expectations and practices. Insight into children's views of preschool and school is one way of understanding the reality of childhood and life transitions as a precondition of creating an environment in which children and adults, through reciprocal interactions, achieve mutual accommodations in a continuous process of being and becoming.
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