Fanningbuus2327
With site-specific modifications, an artificial ice reservoir was created by the villagers in 2020-21 which provided additional water for irrigation and was timely available (14 days in advance). Using this additional water, a barren area was brought under the plantation to meet futuristic wood and fodder requirements. Confidence building (knowledge gathered, interventions to solve the major problem of water scarcity) through locally adaptable solutions (portable polyhouse, ice reservoir, increased plant productivity) motivated high altitude villagers in Trans-Himalayan to combat threats of climate change.
Aresearch funding field has been established throughout Europe for the development and use of (digital) technologies for older people to strengthen their autonomy and participation. In the research practice, however, it is hypothesized that there are problems that partly result from the funding programs.
The analysis of calls for proposals from acritical gerontological perspective should reveal possible causes. In doing so, the implicit ideas of age, technologies and their interrelationships of the calls for proposals are reconstructed.
The sample consisted of calls for proposals of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (2006-2021), which were examined by adiscourse analysis. In addition, the identified discourse is interpreted in the sense of Foucault as apowerful discourse that influences the research field.
Old age is considered to be deficient and older people as being incompetent with respect to technology. Technologies are seen as having great potential for solving the problems associated with old age on individual, institutional and societal levels. The fact that the discourse unfolds its effect in research practice is clarified through its contextualisation.
The strong focus on technologies means that problems of older people that cannot be solved with technologies are neglected. This leads to power inequalities in projects as well as to the fact that the development process is guided less by needs than by innovations. The construction of age as deficient also flows into research practice and determines the product design.
With this critical cultural gerontological view of research funding, implicit problems that need to be addressed can be made visible.
With this critical cultural gerontological view of research funding, implicit problems that need to be addressed can be made visible.
Many patients treated with Natalizumab experience wearing-off symptoms (WoS) towards the end of the administration cycle. During the pandemic we advised and asked patients undergoing treatment with Natalizumab if they wanted to be shifted from a standard interval dosing (StID of 4weeks) to an extended interval dosing (ExID of 5-6weeks), regardless of their JCV index. Our main objective was to study prevalence and incidence of WoS when ExID was adopted.
We enrolled 86 patients, from May 2020 to January 2021, evaluated at baseline and during a 6months follow-up with a survey focused on WoS, Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) and MRI.
Among the 86 patients, 32 (37.2%) reported WoS. Most common one was fatigue (93.7%). Mean EDSS was higher in the group reporting WoS (3.8 WoS vs 3.1 non-WoS, p < 0.05). Sphincterial function was the EDSS item that significantly differed between the WoS group and the non-WoS group (1.4 WoS vs 0.6 non-WoS, p < 0.001). WoS correlate with the FSS scale (p < 0.001).
Adopting an extended interval dosing does not result in significantly different occurrence of WoS between the ExID and the StID populations, in our cohort of patients. Interestingly, there is a strong correlation between WoS and a higher EDSS and FSS. Safety and efficacy of Natalizumab with ExID are relatively preserved in our study.
Adopting an extended interval dosing does not result in significantly different occurrence of WoS between the ExID and the StID populations, in our cohort of patients. Interestingly, there is a strong correlation between WoS and a higher EDSS and FSS. Safety and efficacy of Natalizumab with ExID are relatively preserved in our study.
To study the predictors of sepsis and progression to septic shock after RIRS; to establish and validate predictive models accordingly.
In total, 1220 patients were included in the study during. Eight hundred forty-eight patients were assigned to the development cohort and 372 to the validation cohort according to medical record. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to screen independent risk factors for post-RIRS (Retrograde intrarenal surgery) sepsis and progression to septic shock. Nomogram prediction models were established according to the related independent risk factors. Areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves, calibration plots, and DCA (Decision curve analysis) were used to estimate the discrimination, calibration and clinical usefulness of the prediction model, respectively.
In the development cohort, sepsis occurred in 59 patients, 16 of whom developed septic shock. Multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that the independent risk factorsndividualized nomogram prediction models can improve the early identification of patients at risk for developing sepsis after RIRS or progressing from sepsis to septic shock.
These individualized nomogram prediction models can improve the early identification of patients at risk for developing sepsis after RIRS or progressing from sepsis to septic shock.The S2e guidelines on myositis were completely updated and revised under the leadership of the German Society for Neurology and the participation of many other specialist societies. Immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy and antisynthetase syndrome are now regarded as independent entities in the classification of myositis. With respect to the diagnostics, the guidelines provide concrete recommendations on dysphagia screening, especially for inclusion body myositis and for cancer diagnostics in certain forms of myositis. Following the positive ProDERM study, the use of intravenous immunoglobulins (Octagam®) is available for treatment as an approved substance. Based on the INBUILD study, antifibrotic treatment with nintedanib is available for progressive fibrosing pulmonary involvement. For rheumatologists, the updated guidelines represent a document relevant for daily practice with many recommendations for the treatment of patients with myositis.Neuromusculoskeletal models are a powerful tool to investigate the internal biomechanics of an individual. However, commonly used neuromusculoskeletal models are generated via linear scaling of generic templates derived from elderly adult anatomies and poorly represent a child, let alone children with a neuromuscular disorder whose musculoskeletal structures and muscle activation patterns are profoundly altered. Model personalization can capture abnormalities and appropriately describe the underlying (altered) biomechanics of an individual. see more In this work, we explored the effect of six different levels of neuromusculoskeletal model personalization on estimates of muscle forces and knee joint contact forces to tease out the importance of model personalization for normal and abnormal musculoskeletal structures and muscle activation patterns. For six children, with and without cerebral palsy, generic scaled models were developed and progressively personalized by (1) tuning and calibrating musculotendon units' parameters, (2) implementing an electromyogram-assisted approach to synthesize muscle activations, and (3) replacing generic anatomies with image-based bony geometries, and physiologically and physically plausible muscle kinematics. Biomechanical simulations of gait were performed in the OpenSim and CEINMS software on ten overground walking trials per participant. A mixed-ANOVA test, with Bonferroni corrections, was conducted to compare all models' estimates. The model with the highest level of personalization produced the most physiologically plausible estimates. Model personalization is crucial to produce physiologically plausible estimates of internal biomechanical quantities. In particular, personalization of musculoskeletal anatomy and muscle activation patterns had the largest effect overall. Increased research efforts are needed to ease the creation of personalized neuromusculoskeletal models.We consider a two-dimensional biomorphoelastic model describing post-burn scar contraction. This model describes skin displacement and the development of the effective Eulerian strain in the tissue. Besides these mechanical components, signaling molecules, fibroblasts, myofibroblasts, and collagen also play a significant role in the model. We perform a sensitivity analysis for the independent parameters of the model and focus on the effects on features of the relative surface area and the total strain energy density. We conclude that the most sensitive parameters are the Poisson's ratio, the equilibrium collagen concentration, the contraction inhibitor constant, and the myofibroblast apoptosis rate. Next to these insights, we perform a sensitivity analysis where the proliferation rates of fibroblasts and myofibroblasts are not the same. The impact of this model adaptation is significant.Identifying the constitutive parameters of soft materials often requires heterogeneous mechanical test modes, such as simple shear. In turn, interpreting the resulting complex deformations necessitates the use of inverse strategies that iteratively call forward finite element solutions. In the past, we have found that the cost of repeatedly solving non-trivial boundary value problems can be prohibitively expensive. In this current work, we leverage our prior experimentally derived mechanical test data to explore an alternative approach. Specifically, we investigate whether a machine learning-based approach can accelerate the process of identifying material parameters based on our mechanical test data. Toward this end, we pursue two different strategies. In the first strategy, we replace the forward finite element simulations within an iterative optimization framework with a machine learning-based metamodel. Here, we explore both Gaussian process regression and neural network metamodels. In the second strategyarameter identification for soft materials from complex mechanical data, and from providing an open access experimental and simulation dataset that may serve as a benchmark dataset for others interested in applying machine learning techniques to soft tissue biomechanics.
This study aimed to describe a new localization technique developed using an anchor with a scaled suture (AWSS) system and to characterize the localization results and post-operative outcomes to evaluate its safety and effectiveness.
This retrospective study was conducted at our centre from October 2020 to December 2021. In total, 328 small pulmonary nodules (sPNs) who underwent pre-operative computed tomography (CT)-guided AWSS system localization followed by wedge resection by video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) were enrolled in this study.
CT-guided AWSS system implantations targeting 328 sPNs were successfully performed. The time spent performing localization was 12.4 ± 4.9min. After puncture localization, the incidences of pneumothorax, pulmonary haemorrhage, and chest pain were 19.2% (63/328), 25.9% (85/328), and 0.9% (3/328), respectively. The incidence of overall complications was 42.7%. According to the CIRSE classification, there were no major complications. The median localization-VATS interval time was 7h (range, 1-75h).
