scholarly journals Indwelling Peritoneal Catheter for Ascites Management in a UK District General Hospital: A Cohort Study

Healthcare ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 1254
Author(s):  
Karl Jackson ◽  
Katie Frew ◽  
Robert Johnston ◽  
Joanna Coleman ◽  
Leonie Armstrong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
District General Hospital ◽  
Categorical Variables ◽  
Complication Rates ◽  
Peritoneal Catheter ◽  
Widespread Application ◽  
Palliative Care Outcome Scale ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Predominantly Female ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Large Volume Paracentesis

Background: There is no national or local guidance for management of malignancy-related ascites (MRA). Modalities can include large volume paracentesis (LVP) and indwelling peritoneal catheter (IPeC) insertion. Objectives: We set up a local IPeC service and performed a retrospective review with local ethical (Caldicott) approval. We hypothesized that an IPeC service would reduce inpatient stay related to MRA management, would be acceptable to patients, and have minimal complications. Methods: Notes of all patients requiring IPeC insertion were reviewed. Descriptive statistical methodology was applied with continuous data presented as mean (standard deviation (SD); range) and categorical variables as frequencies or percentages. Integrated Palliative Care Outcome Scale (IPOS) scores were collected for IPeC patients. Results: Thirty-four patients were identified. They were predominantly female, with a mean age of 66.6 years and a wide range of cancer diagnoses. Twenty-nine were inserted as day case procedures, and 31 had preceding paracenteses (mean 2). Main complications were leakage (6(17%)), peritonitis (2(5.8%)), and skin infection (1(3%)). IPOS scores showed consistent improvement in symptoms. Conclusions: An IPeC service for malignant-related ascites is acceptable to patients and is associated with manageable complication rates. We present the development of our service and hope for widespread application.

Settlers or Movers? The Temporality of Past Migrations, Political Inaction and its Consequences, 1945–1985

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jozefien De Bock
Keyword(s):  
Temporary Workers ◽  
Guest Workers ◽  
Temporary Migration ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Settler Societies ◽  
Future Policy ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Legal Frameworks ◽  
Temporary Migrants ◽  
Multicultural Policies

Historically, those societies that have the longest tradition in multicultural policies are settler societies. The question of how to deal with temporary migrants has only recently aroused their interest. In Europe, temporary migration programmes have a much longer history. In the period after WWII, a wide range of legal frameworks were set up to import temporary workers, who came to be known as guest workers. In the end, many of these ‘guests’ settled in Europe permanently. Their presence lay at the basis of European multicultural policies. However, when these policies were drafted, the former mobility of guest workers had been forgotten. This chapter will focus on this mobility of initially temporary workers, comparing the period of economic growth 1945-1974 with the years after the 1974 economic crisis. Further, it will look at the kind of policies that were developed towards guest workers in the era before multiculturalism. This way, it shows how their consideration as temporary residents had far-reaching consequences for the immigrants, their descendants and the receiving societies involved. The chapter will finish by suggesting a number of lessons from the past. If the mobility-gap between guest workers and present-day migrants is not as big as generally assumed, then the consequences of previous neglect should serve as a warning for future policy making.

ORAL HISTORY SOURCES AS LEARNING MATERIALS: A CASE STUDY OF THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 82-93
Author(s):  
Gugulethu Shamaine Nkala ◽  
Rodreck David
Keyword(s):  
Oral History ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Learning Material ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
National Archives ◽  
National University ◽  
Set Up

Knowledge presented by Oral History (OH) is unique in that it shares the tacit perspective, thoughts, opinions and understanding of the interviewee in its primary form. While teachers, lecturers and other education specialists have at their disposal a wide range of primary, secondary and tertiary sources upon which to relate and share or impart knowledge, OH presents a rich source of information that can improve the learning and knowledge impartation experience. The uniqueness of OH is presented in the following advantages of its use: it allows one to learn about the perspectives of individuals who might not otherwise appear in the historical record; it allows one to compensate for the digital age; one can learn different kinds of information; it provides historical actors with an opportunity to tell their own stories in their own words; and it offers a rich opportunity for human interaction. This article discusses the placement of oral history in the classroom set-up by investigating its use as a source of learning material presented by the National Archives of Zimbabwe to students in the Department of Records and Archives Management at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST). Interviews and a group discussion were used to gather data from an archivist at the National Archives of Zimbabwe, lecturers and students in the Department of Records and Archives Management at NUST, respectively. These groups were approached on the usability, uniqueness and other characteristics that support this type of knowledge about OH in a tertiary learning experience. The findings indicate several qualities that reflect the richness of OH as a teaching source material in a classroom set-up. It further points to weak areas that may be addressed where the source is considered a viable strategy for knowledge sharing and learning. The researchers present a possible model that can be used to champion the use of this rich knowledge source in classroom education at this university and in similar set-ups. 

Nanofiltration of endocrine disrupting compounds

2003 ◽  
Vol 3 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 321-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Gallenkemper ◽  
T. Wintgens ◽  
T. Melin
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Municipal Wastewater ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting Compounds ◽  
Municipal Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Water And Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting ◽  
Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Set Up

Endocrine disrupting compounds can affect the hormone system in organisms. A wide range of endocrine disrupters were found in sewage and effluents of municipal wastewater treatment plants. Toxicological evaluations indicate that conventional wastewater treatment plants are not able to remove these substances sufficiently before disposing effluent into the environment. Membrane technology, which is proving to be an effective barrier to these substances, is the subject of this research. Nanofiltration provides high quality permeates in water and wastewater treatment. Eleven different nanofiltration membranes were tested in the laboratory set-up. The observed retention for nonylphenol (NP) and bisphenol A (BPA) ranged between 70% and 100%. The contact angle is an indicator for the hydrophobicity of a membrane, whose influence on the permeability and retention of NP was evident. The retention of BPA was found to be inversely proportional to the membrane permeability.

scholarly journals Patients’ Perceived Satisfaction Through Telephone-Assisted Tele-Consultation During the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic Period: Observational Single-Centre Study at a Tertiary-Referral Colorectal Surgery Department

2021 ◽  
pp. 155335062110080
Author(s):  
Lara Blanco Terés ◽  
Carlos Cerdán Santacruz ◽  
Javier García Septiem ◽  
Rocío Maqueda González ◽  
José María Lopesino González ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Categorical Variables ◽  
Average Score ◽  
Job Status ◽  
Perceived Satisfaction ◽  
The Future ◽  
Chi Squared ◽  
Single Centre Study ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Surgery Department

Introduction: The pandemic produced by SARS-CoV-2 has obliged us to set up the tele-assistance to offer a continuity of care. This implies an innovation, being the degree of satisfaction of patients unknown. Methods: A telephonic survey was conducted with the validated in the Spanish tool Telehealth Usability Questionnaire (Telehealth Usability Questionnaire; rating from 1-7) of all candidate patients assisted consecutively in the Coloproctology Unit. We included demographic variables, education level, job status, diagnosis and consultation type. A descriptive study was done. The relationship between the willingness of consultation model in the future (telemedicine vs traditional) and the categorical variables was analysed through the chi-squared test. Results: A total of 115 patients were included. The average age was 59.9 years, being 60% women. The average score in each of the survey items was higher than 6 in all the questions but 1. 26.1% of the surveyed patients confessed being advocated to tele-assistance in the future. The only factors related to greater willingness to tele-assistance were male gender (37% vs 18.8%; P = .03) and a higher academic preparation level in favour of higher technical studies (35.9%) and university studies (32.4%) opposite to the rest ( P = .043). The rest of variables studied, job status, labour regimen, diagnostic group and consultation type did not show any relationship. Conclusions: A vast majority of patients answered favourably to almost all the items of the survey. However, only 26.1% of them would choose a model of tele-assistance without restrictions.

scholarly journals A System-Agnostic, Adaptable and Extensible Animal Support Cradle System for Cardio-Respiratory-Synchronised, and Other, Multi-Modal Imaging of Small Animals

Tomography ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-54
Author(s):  
Veerle Kersemans ◽  
Stuart Gilchrist ◽  
Philip Danny Allen ◽  
Sheena Wallington ◽  
Paul Kinchesh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Data ◽  
Cardiac Monitoring ◽  
Small Animals ◽  
Maintenance System ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Animal Handling ◽  
Imaging Performance ◽  
Significant Effort

Standardisation of animal handling procedures for a wide range of preclinical imaging scanners will improve imaging performance and reproducibility of scientific data. Whilst there has been significant effort in defining how well scanners should operate and how in vivo experimentation should be practised, there is little detail on how to achieve optimal scanner performance with best practices in animal welfare. Here, we describe a system-agnostic, adaptable and extensible animal support cradle system for cardio-respiratory-synchronised, and other, multi-modal imaging of small animals. The animal support cradle can be adapted on a per application basis and features integrated tubing for anaesthetic and tracer delivery, an electrically driven rectal temperature maintenance system and respiratory and cardiac monitoring. Through a combination of careful material and device selection, we have described an approach that allows animals to be transferred whilst under general anaesthesia between any of the tomographic scanners we currently or have previously operated. The set-up is minimally invasive, cheap and easy to implement and for multi-modal, multi-vendor imaging of small animals.

scholarly journals LED Rail Signals: Full Hardware Realization of Apparatus with Independent Intensity by Temperature Changes

Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1291
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Schirripa Schirripa Spagnolo ◽  
Fabio Leccese
Keyword(s):  
Temperature Sensor ◽  
Energy Efficient ◽  
Light Emitting Diode ◽  
Junction Temperature ◽  
Light Emitting ◽  
Temperature Changes ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
International Regulations ◽  
Long Lifetime ◽  
Set Up

Nowadays, signal lights are made using light-emitting diode arrays (LEDs). These devices are extremely energy efficient and have a very long lifetime. Unfortunately, especially for yellow/amber LEDs, the intensity of the light is closely related to the junction temperature. This makes it difficult to design signal lights to be used in naval, road, railway, and aeronautical sectors, capable of fully respecting national and international regulations. Furthermore, the limitations prescribed by the standards must be respected in a wide range of temperature variations. In other words, in the signaling apparatuses, a system that varies the light intensity emitted according to the operating temperature is useful/necessary. In this paper, we propose a simple and effective solution. In order to adjust the intensity of the light emitted by the LEDs, we use an LED identical to those used to emit light as a temperature sensor. The proposed system was created and tested in the laboratory. As the same device as the ones to be controlled is used as the temperature sensor, the system is very stable and easy to set up.

scholarly journals Entropic measure unveils country competitiveness and product specialization in the World trade web

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianluca Teza ◽  
Michele Caraglio ◽  
Attilio L. Stella
Keyword(s):  
Iterative Scheme ◽  
Entropy Function ◽  
Bipartite Networks ◽  
Complexity Measures ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Self Consistent ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Technical Features ◽  
Country Competitiveness ◽  
Entropic Measure

AbstractWe show how the Shannon entropy function can be used as a basis to set up complexity measures weighting the economic efficiency of countries and the specialization of products beyond bare diversification. This entropy function guarantees the existence of a fixed point which is rapidly reached by an iterative scheme converging to our self-consistent measures. Our approach naturally allows to decompose into inter-sectorial and intra-sectorial contributions the country competitivity measure if products are partitioned into larger categories. Besides outlining the technical features and advantages of the method, we describe a wide range of results arising from the analysis of the obtained rankings and we benchmark these observations against those established with other economical parameters. These comparisons allow to partition countries and products into various main typologies, with well-revealed characterizing features. Our methods have wide applicability to general problems of ranking in bipartite networks.

scholarly journals A surrogate virus neutralization test to quantify antibody-mediated inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 in finger stick dried blood spot samples

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amelia E. Sancilio ◽  
Richard T. D’Aquila ◽  
Elizabeth M. McNally ◽  
Matthew P. Velez ◽  
Michael G. Ison ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neutralizing Antibodies ◽  
Venous Blood ◽  
Host Cells ◽  
Dried Blood Spot ◽  
Blood Collection ◽  
Widespread Application ◽  
Live Virus ◽  
Dilution Series ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Blood Spot

AbstractThe spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 engages the human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor to enter host cells, and neutralizing antibodies are effective at blocking this interaction to prevent infection. Widespread application of this important marker of protective immunity is limited by logistical and technical challenges associated with live virus methods and venous blood collection. To address this gap, we validated an immunoassay-based method for quantifying neutralization of the spike-ACE2 interaction in a single drop of capillary whole blood, collected on filter paper as a dried blood spot (DBS) sample. Samples are eluted overnight and incubated in the presence of spike antigen and ACE2 in a 96-well solid phase plate. Competitive immunoassay with electrochemiluminescent label is used to quantify neutralizing activity. The following measures of assay performance were evaluated: dilution series of confirmed positive and negative samples, agreement with results from matched DBS-serum samples, analysis of results from DBS samples with known COVID-19 status, and precision (intra-assay percent coefficient of variation; %CV) and reliability (inter-assay; %CV). Dilution series produced the expected pattern of dose–response. Agreement between results from serum and DBS samples was high, with concordance correlation = 0.991. Analysis of three control samples across the measurement range indicated acceptable levels of precision and reliability. Median % surrogate neutralization was 46.9 for PCR confirmed convalescent COVID-19 samples and 0.1 for negative samples. Large-scale testing is important for quantifying neutralizing antibodies that can provide protection against COVID-19 in order to estimate the level of immunity in the general population. DBS provides a minimally-invasive, low cost alternative to venous blood collection, and this scalable immunoassay-based method for quantifying inhibition of the spike-ACE2 interaction can be used as a surrogate for virus-based assays to expand testing across a wide range of settings and populations.

scholarly journals Open Appendicectomy under Spinal Anesthesia—A Valuable Alternative during COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 07 (02) ◽  
pp. e69-e72
Author(s):  
Dinh Van Chi Mai ◽  
Alex Sagar ◽  
Oliver Claydon ◽  
Ji Young Park ◽  
Niteen Tapuria ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Patient Satisfaction ◽  
Spinal Anesthesia ◽  
Stated Preference ◽  
Case Series ◽  
District General Hospital ◽  
Complication Rates ◽  
Open Appendicectomy ◽  
Surgical Department ◽  
The United Kingdom

Abstract Introduction Concerns relating to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and general anesthesia (GA) prompted our department to consider that open appendicectomy under spinal anesthesia (SA) avoids aerosolization from intubation and laparoscopy. While common in developing nations, it is unusual in the United Kingdom. We present the first United Kingdom case series and discuss its potential role during and after this pandemic. Methods We prospectively studied patients with appendicitis at a British district general hospital who were unsuitable for conservative management and consequently underwent open appendicectomy under SA. We also reviewed patient satisfaction after 30 days. This ran for 5 weeks from March 25th, 2020 until the surgical department reverted to the laparoscopic appendicectomy as the standard of care. Main outcomes were 30-day complication rates and patient satisfaction. Results None of the included seven patients were COVID positive. The majority (four-sevenths) had complicated appendicitis. There were no major adverse (Clavien-Dindo grade III to V) postoperative events. Two patients suffered minor postoperative complications. Two experienced intraoperative pain. Mean operative time was 44 minutes. Median length of stay and return to activity was 1 and 14 days, respectively. Although four stated preference in hindsight for GA, the majority (five-sevenths) were satisfied with the operative experience under SA. Discussion Although contraindications, risk of pain, and specific complications may be limiting, our series demonstrates open appendicectomy under SA to be safe and feasible in the United Kingdom. The technique could be a valuable contingency for COVID-suspected cases and patients with high-risk respiratory disease.

Structural interpretation using refraction velocities from marine seismic surveys

Geophysics ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
James F. Mitchell ◽  
Richard J. Bolander
Keyword(s):  
Sedimentary Rock ◽  
Seismic Energy ◽  
Seismic Survey ◽  
Subsurface Structure ◽  
Seismic Reflection Data ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Reflection Data ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Streamer Length ◽  
Set Up

Subsurface structure can be mapped using refraction information from marine multichannel seismic data. The method uses velocities and thicknesses of shallow sedimentary rock layers computed from refraction first arrivals recorded along the streamer. A two‐step exploration scheme is described which can be set up on a personal computer and used routinely in any office. It is straightforward and requires only a basic understanding of refraction principles. Two case histories from offshore Peru exploration demonstrate the scheme. The basic scheme is: step (1) shallow sedimentary rock velocities are computed and mapped over an area. Step (2) structure is interpreted from the contoured velocity patterns. Structural highs, for instance, exhibit relatively high velocities, “retained” by buried, compacted, sedimentary rocks that are uplifted to the near‐surface. This method requires that subsurface structure be relatively shallow because the refracted waves probe to depths of one hundred to over one thousand meters, depending upon the seismic energy source, streamer length, and the subsurface velocity distribution. With this one requirement met, we used the refraction method over a wide range of sedimentary rock velocities, water depths, and seismic survey types. The method is particularly valuable because it works well in areas with poor seismic reflection data.

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