cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Gemeinsam mehr und Neues schaffen. Versorgungsketten als Chance und Herausforderung im Gesundheitswesen
Creators: name: Minnig, Christoph
Publisher: name: AvenirSocial
Year: 2015
Subjects: Versorgungskette Versorgungssysteme Gesundheitswesens

description: Die Idee der Versorgungskette wird in der Theorie oft und intensiv diskutiert. Trotzdem muss festgestellt werden, dass integrierte und aufeinander abgestimmte Versorgungssysteme oder Versorgungsketten in der Praxis des Gesundheitswesens immer noch die Ausnahme darstellen. In diesem Beitrag steht einerseits zur Diskussion, welche Hindernisse einer vermehrten Verwendung entgegenstehen und andererseits, welche Herausforderungen sich daraus für Organisationen und Management ergeben können.
Climate change enhances the positive contribution of human activities to vegetation restoration in China
Creators: name: Liu, Min
name: Bai, Xiaoyong
name: Tan, Qiu
name: Luo, Guangjie
name: Zhao, Cuiwei
name: Wu, Luhua
name: Luo, Xuling
name: Ran, Chen
name: Zhang, Sirui
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2022
Subjects: Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified
Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified
Developmental Biology
Science Policy

description: Ecological projects have huge impacts on vegetation restoration (VR) in China. However, are all of the effects due to human activities (HA) without the contribution of climate change (CC)? It is unclear what role CC plays in VR. Here, we quantitatively evaluate the contributions of climate change and human activities (CC_con and HA_con) to the net primary productivity (NPP) by the method of partial derivative and six different scenarios. HA contributed 61.19% to the NPP trend and controlled 32.84% of the NPP growth in China. Among the climate factors, temperature made the largest contribution to the NPP (45.89%) and had the largest control area (36.36%). CC promoted the positive HA_con in 54% of China, and in 68.35% of the area, the enhancement effect reached more than 50%. Our results answer a longstanding question and emphasize the important role of CC in enhancing the positive HA_con to VR.
Messung von kindlichen Interessen
Creators: name: Schneider, Nadine
Publisher: name: Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz FHNW
Year: 2016
Subjects: RIASEC
Messung von kindlichen Interessen
Geschlechtsunterschiede

description: Diese Studie thematisiert die Messung kindlicher Interessen in Anlehnung an das RIASEC-Modell mit den sechs Interessendimensionen Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enter-prising und Conventional. Der empirischen Messung von kindlichen Interessen wurde bislang vergleichsweise wenig Beachtung geschenkt. Vor diesem Hintergrund wurden die zwei erstmals eingesetzten Kinder-Interessen-Tests ICA-3-D und K-BIT anhand einer Reliabilitäts- und Strukturanalyse überprüft. Darüber hinaus wurden mit t-Tests Geschlechtsunterschiede in den Interessenausprägungen untersucht. Die Stichprobe umfasste 486 Kinder im Primarschulalter. Die Ergebnisse zeigen für beide Testverfahren eine akzeptable interne Konsistenz. Aufgrund einer explorativen Faktorenanalyse können die sechs RIASEC-Faktoren bestätigt werden, allerdings bestehen geschlechtsspezifische Unterschiede in der Interessenstruktur. Die Interkorrelationsannahmen und die räumliche Abbildung des RIASEC-Modells entsprechen nicht den theoretischen Annahmen. Hinsichtlich der Interessenausprägungen verfügen Mäd-chen über ein stärkeres Interesse für Investigative, Artistic, Social sowie Conventional und Jungen für Realistic und Enterprising.
Improving access to contraception : long-acting reversible contraception in primary care
Creators: name: Arrowsmith, Myat
Publisher: name: Imperial College London
Year: 2013

description: Background The majority of unintended pregnancies are attributed to contraceptive failures from incorrect and inconsistent use. Long-Acting Reversible Contraception (LARCs) are highly effective in reducing unintended pregnancies, however, use of LARC is low in the United Kingdom (UK), and the intrauterine device (IUD) is the least used method in the UK. This thesis examines the impact of the pay for performance incentive on prescribing of long-acting reversible contraception in UK primary care, and also investigates the effectiveness of interventions to improve uptake of copper-IUD devices. Methods (1) Mixed-level logistic regression analysis of data from the UK Office of National Statistics ONS (2) Longitudinal data analysis of long-acting reversible contraception before and after the introduction of pay for performance in a sample of general practices across the UK (3) Cochrane systematic review on the effectiveness of interventions to improve the use of copper-IUD internationally. Results (1) Women who accessed their contraception from family planning clinics were more likely to use LARCs than those who accessed it from general practices. (2) Since pay for performance indicators on offering contraceptive information were implemented in 2009, the prescribing of LARCs has increased by 4% annually. This has resulted in 8700 more women being prescribed LARC at the practices included in this study. (3) Provision of contraceptive counselling and appointment and recall systems for IUD insertions was found to be effective in increasing uptake of copper-IUD, and the timing of counselling on pre- or post-natal patients was found to be important. Conclusions Uptake of more effective contraceptive methods such as LARCs was associated with financial incentives for contraceptive information provision in general practices. Provision of consistent and structured contraceptive counselling in primary care for women of reproductive age may improve the use of LARCs and should in turn reduce unintended pregnancies in the long-run.
Albidosides H and I, two new triterpene saponins from the barks of Acacia albida Del. (Mimosaceae)
Creators: name: Tchoukoua, Abdou
name: Turibio Kuiate Tabopda
name: Simo, Ingrid Konga
name: Uesugi, Shota
name: Ohno, Misa
name: Ken-Ichi Kimura
name: Eunsang Kwon
name: Momma, Hiroyuki
name: Shiono, Yoshihito
name: Ngadjui, Bonaventure Tchaleu
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2017
Subjects: subject: Biophysics
subject: Biochemistry
subject: Space Science
subject: 59999 Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Earth and related environmental sciences
subject: 39999 Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Chemical sciences
subject: Ecology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: 69999 Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Cancer

description: Two new triterpene saponins, albidosides H (1) and I (2), along with the three known saponins were isolated from the barks of Acacia albida. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of extensive 1D- and 2D-NMR studies and mass spectrometry. Albidosides H (1) and I (2) were assayed for their cytotoxicity against HeLa and HL60 cells using MTT method.
A study of the characteristics and dynamics of women at heightened risk of HIV in rural Zimbabwe
Creators: name: Elmes, Jocelyn
Publisher: name: Imperial College London
Year: 2012

description: Among many behaviour changes associated with recent declines in HIV prevalence in Zimbabwe, the number of men reporting buying sex halved between 1999 and 2005 possibly due to economic deterioration reducing disposable income. As the economy recovers, a key question is how this is reflected in sexual behaviour trends. A recent modelling analysis of the modes of transmission of HIV in Zimbabwe suggested diminished role for sex work in driving new infections. A central conclusion was that the analysis was hampered by a lack of contemporary data on sex work in Zimbabwe. As Zimbabwe enters a new strategic phase of policy towards interventions, the data of the women at risk study are timely. Sex workers – defined broadly as women >17 years old who received money, goods or any form of material benefit in exchange for sexual intercourse – were enrolled into a 12 month cohort across four socio-economic areas in rural Zimbabwe. Biological and behavioural data were collected. Two methods were used to recruit women: a venue-based strategy; and a modified snowball. Women were asked questions for 20-30 minutes in a face-to-face interview delivered either onsite in venues or at an arranged meeting time. The population size from the census was triangulated with a capture-recapture survey and with the prevalence of reporting on a general population survey. Depending on the defintions SW make up between 5.9% and 7.2% of the general female population according to WR study data. This is slightly higher than, but comparable to a general population estimate of 4.7%. The venue-based population was estimated as 1.36%. Research into the payments for sex revealed a 27% price reduction for sex when a client requests a condom. Client preferences determine whether a condom will be used or not. This has implications for interventions targeted at sex work.
Modelling Whole-brain Structural Connectivity in Preterm Infants
Creators: name: Pandit, Anand
Publisher: name: Imperial College London
Year: 2013

description: Premature birth is a major issue for neurological health. Advances in medical care have led to a decrease in neonatal mortality; however, morbidity in preterm survivors remains substantial and neurocognitive issues, particularly involving cognition, language and behaviour are prevalent. Cerebral white matter injury is common in preterm-born infants and is associated with neurocognitive impairments. By identifying the pattern of connectivity changes in the brain following premature birth a more comprehensive understanding of the neurobiology underlying these deficits could be obtained. Whole-brain macrostructural connectivity was characterised in a group of preterm-born children, and the influence of age and prematurity was explored using a data-driven analysis of diffusion magnetic resonance imaging data. An age-adapted framework, combining anatomical and tissue segmentations with probabilistic diffusion tractography, was used to derive connectivity matrices, weighted by mean tract anisotropy: a measure of connective certainty and strength. In a sparsified, group-consistent connectivity matrix, a novel feature selection method comprising Lasso regression and stability selection was used to identify connections whose mean anisotropy was related to age at imaging or delivery. As hypothesised, older children were found to have greater connectivity in tracts involving frontal or temporal lobe structures. Increasing prematurity at birth was related to widespread, bilateral reductions in connectivity in all cortical lobes and several sub-cortical structures, consistent with previous histological and neuroimaging data. Results were robust to both increasing sparsity and the removal of subjects with serial imaging in the cohort. The pattern of white matter damage elicited in these results may be responsible for the neurocognitive impairments observed. This thesis presents a scalable, data-driven method, which could detect contrasting effects of development and prematurity in a sparse model of infant whole-brain structural connectivity. The approach can be used to evaluate connectivity in ever-increasing detail and undertake iterative discovery of the macroconnectome with increasing precision.
Förderung von Lebenskompetenzen in der Schule
Creators: name: Högger, Dominique
Publisher: name: Infodrog
Year: 2018
Subjects: subject: Suchtprävention
subject: Lebenskompetenzen
subject: überfachliche Kompetenzen
subject: Lehrplan 21
subject: 370 - Erziehung, Schul- und Bildungswesen

description: Sowohl im Deutschschweizer Lehrplan 21 als auch in der Schulpraxis finden sich zahlreiche Ansätze, die explizit oder implizit der Förderung von Lebenskompetenzen dienen. Die Praxis ist jedoch ausgesprochen heterogen und im Vergleich mit den grundlegenden Konzepten des Lehrplans bzw. der WHO unscharf. Gerade dies ist eine Chance, um eine Brücke zwischen den Anliegen der (Sucht-)Prävention und dem Schulalltag herzustellen.
Dispute Deepens at Jane & Finch Hotel: Hotel Workers Continue Their Fight for Good Jobs in the Jane & Finch Community
Creators: name: Hollin, Marc
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: hotel
job
worker
toronto

description: For the second time in two weeks, hotel workers at the Holiday Inn Express North York walked off the job today, as they continue to stand up for good jobs in the Jane & Finch community. While employers at dozens of other GTA-area hotels have settled fair contacts with their workers, the owner/operator of the Holiday Inn Express North York, the Hamilton-based Vrancor Group, has dug in its heels.
Supplementary document for Silicon nitride stress-optic microresonator modulator for optical control applications - 5979818.pdf
Creators: name: Wang, Jiawei
name: LIU, KAIKAI
name: Harrington, Mark
name: Rudy, Ryan
name: Blumenthal, Daniel
Publisher: name: Optica Publishing Group
Year: 2022
Subjects: Uncategorized

description: Supplemental Material
Statistical association networks as complex phenotypes : new methods and applications
Creators: name: Valcarcel Salamanca, Beatriz
Publisher: name: Imperial College London
Year: 2013

description: Recent advances in ’omics technologies and the development of new computational techniques have greatly contributed to the identification of factors influencing the onset and progression of many common diseases. Yet, despite this great success, it is unlikely that the independent analysis of these data will elucidate the complex web of mechanisms involved in disease development. To enhance our knowledge of disease aetiology, new approaches for linking the large amount of available data need to be developed. As a step towards this goal, the aim of this thesis is to investigate and develop novel statistical methods for the integrative analysis of ’omic data. In particular, in this project we analyse genomic and metabolomic data in relation to the health outcomes in three study populations. To investigate how genetic and metabolic variables act as risk factors in the development of complex disorders, we have developed three novel analytical methodologies, namely ’Differential Network’, ’GEMINi: GEnome Metabolome Integrated Network analysis’ and ’Variance and Covariance regression’ and illustrate their use on real data sets. The results demonstrate the applicability of the new methodologies to identify key molecular changes undetectable with standard approaches. The approaches introduce here have the potential of providing insight into the biological basis of phenotypic variation and aid the generation of new hypotheses about molecular control and regulation in the context of systems biology.
Exploring and explaining the “Santa Claus effect”: cross-sectional study of jollity in 21 European countries
Creators: name: Kelly, Brendan D.
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2017
Subjects: subject: Medicine
subject: 59999 Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Earth and related environmental sciences
subject: Sociology
subject: FOS: Sociology
subject: 111714 Mental Health
subject: FOS: Health sciences

description: Background: Christmas “is the season to be jolly” but, despite many recent studies of happiness and wellbeing, the population distribution of jollity is unknown. Aims: To assess levels of jollity across Europe, hypothesising the existence of a “Santa Claus effect” whereby Mr. Claus, a long-established resident of Scandinavia, increases jollity through his social network. Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of data from 37 966 participants in the European Society Survey (Round 7, 2014/2015) across 21 European countries. Results: Jollity has independent associations with satisfaction with health and income, male gender, younger age, and country of residence. Each one-point increase in satisfaction with health (on a 5-point scale) corresponds to a 0.79-point increase in jollity (23-point scale); each one-point increase in satisfaction with income (4-point scale) corresponds to a 0.76-point increase in jollity. Switzerland is the jolliest country in Europe. Conclusions: The jolliest European is likely to be a young Swiss male who is satisfied with his income and health. If there is a Santa Claus effect acting to increase jollity, it probably acts not just in Scandinavia but across Mr. Claus’s broad network of contacts and admirers in many countries.
Use of intensity - and spatial-based image descriptors to characterise and quantify neoplastic lesions in positron emission tomography
Creators: name: Willaime, Julien Michel Yvon
Publisher: name: Imperial College London
Year: 2013

description: Intra-tumour biological heterogeneity is a characteristic shared by all cancers and is thought to contribute to treatment failure. Within-lesion spatial heterogeneity can be qualitatively visualised in Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging. Quantifying the variability of the biological processes and the complexity of the signal being measured in PET oncology is essential. The aim of this thesis was to develop and validate intensity- and spatial-based metrics to quantitatively account for the complexity of radiotracer uptake and to annotate intra-tumour PET heterogeneity. Texture analysis was employed to characterise the in vivo tumour heterogeneity of cell proliferation in breast tumours using 18F-fluorothymidine (18F-FLT) PET. The repeatability of the feature measurements was assessed in patients who had two PET scans prior to therapy. Associations between features at baseline and clinical response measured after three cycles of chemotherapy were explored. Associations between feature changes at one week after the start of chemotherapy and clinical response were also explored. Furthermore, the influence of analysis parameters and imaging protocols were studied. A subset of textural features produced reliable measurements and were associated with treatment response. A technique based on multifractal analysis was also developed for characterising the space-filling properties of an object of interest in PET imaging. The derived spatial index was further combined with intensity metrics and the technique was shown to correct for partial volume effects. The method was illustrated on mathematical objects, validated on test-retest 18F-FLT PET clinical data and applied to realistic PET simulations. This work contributes to the demonstration that intensity- and spatial-based image analysis methods can supplement existing methods in PET quantification studies. These techniques provide some improvements on existing methods to derive classical quantitative PET indices and permit extraction of additional information to further characterise patient populations in the clinical setting and in relation to therapy.
The influence of HIV on STI epidemics : the re-emergence of lymphogranuloma venereum
Creators: name: Ronn, Minttu Minna-Maarit
Publisher: name: Imperial College London
Year: 2013

description: Lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV) is a re-emerging sexually transmitted infection (STI) in men who have sex with men (MSM). The emergence of LGV has occurred in parallel to an increase in STIs in MSM. It represents a public health problem and an added burden in the control of STIs. This thesis aims to identify factors that have contributed to the persistent high levels of HIV prevalence among LGV cases. I use surveillance data to explore the re-emergence of LGV through statistical analyses. I then perform a literature review to better understand the social epidemiological context in which seroadaptive behaviours in HIV-positive MSM occur, a hypothesised cause for the re-emerging STIs. I finally look at the dynamics of HIV and LGV through a deterministic mathematical model where the effect of serosorting is investigated in more detail. Through statistical analyses I demonstrate that there is a strong behavioural component in explaining the association between the two infections. In the LGV Enhanced Surveillance HIV-positive LGV patients were more likely to report unprotected receptive anal intercourse compared to HIV-negative/unknown LGV patients. In a subsequent analysis I show that individuals with reported LGV re-infection were more likely to be HIV-positive, visit a clinic in London and have concurrent hepatitis C and gonorrhoea on their first recorded LGV episode. However, the data also suggests there is a diagnostic bias in favour of HIV-positive men who present with shorter duration of symptoms. I propose a conceptual framework of seroadaptive behaviours in HIV-positive MSM based on a literature review. The mathematical model demonstrates that infections with the same mode of transmission will be associated, but it provides further support to the hypothesis that serosorting can explain the particularly high HIV prevalence in those who acquire LGV. This work cannot exclude the possibility of a biological interaction but the current evidence points to behavioural, and likely network-level, differences between HIV-positive and -negative MSM as the main driver in LGV re-emergence. This has implications for surveillance and control of LGV. Rare STIs, such as LGV, may benefit from a more detailed and qualitative investigation of cases using a periodic sentinel model as well as from health promotion targeted specifically to the small subpopulation affected.
Intuitive Darstellung in der Vektorgeometrie
Creators: name: Vetter, Helmut
Publisher: name: Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz FHNW
Year: 2017
Subjects: Vektor
Ortsvektor
Vektorgeometrie

description: An vielen Schulen ist der Umgang mit Vektoren in der Geometrie zu wenig intuitiv. Obwohl den meisten Lehrern der Inhalt des vorliegenden kleinen Textes klar ist, scheuen sich viele davor, den Schritt auch im Unterricht zu machen und Klammern sich an die Ortsvektoren, um ja nichts (vielleicht) Unerlaubtes zu tun. Hier soll das natürliche Zusammenspiel von Vektoren und Punkten auf ein mathematisches Fundament gestellt werden.
The role of SUMO in regulating TATA-binding protein in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Creators: name: Liu, I-Chun
Publisher: name: Imperial College London
Year: 2014

description: A proteomic screen to identify novel SUMO (small ubiquitin-related modifier) substrates in budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae revealed the TATA-binding protein (TBP) as a candidate. TBP is a ubiquitous transcription factor required for transcription by the three eukaryotic RNA polymerases. TBP was confirmed to be SUMOylated in vivo using affinity purification techniques. Lysine (K) residues in the N terminus were confirmed to be the SUMO-accepting sites, suggesting the existence of a “SUMO region” in the N-terminal domain of TBP. Among the six lysine residues identified, K47 was a strong SUMOylation site. I generated TBP SUMO-deficient mutants to interrogate the functional role of TBP SUMOylation. The mutants showed much higher protein stability. Additionally, chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) analysis revealed that the occupancy of TBP SUMO mutants at promoters of both constitutive and inducible genes were much lower than TBP wildtype, with a lower recruitment efficiency. Cross-linking kinetic (CLK) analysis further proved that the lower promoter occupancy of the SUMO mutants was caused by lower promoter dynamics. This was supported by fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) assays, which showed a larger immobile population for the TBP SUMO-deficient mutants. The lower promoter dynamics is expected to lead to lower transcription plasticity and/or aberrant transcriptional output. Consistent with this, cells expressing either type of TBP mutant exhibit significant defects during sporulation, which is a cellular process involving genome-wide transcription reprogramming.
The Measurement of Absolute Myocardial Perfusion in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease using 3T CMR and 1.5T CMR: Validation against PET
Creators: name: Bhamra-Ariza, Paul
Publisher: name: Imperial College London
Year: 2011

description: Objectives: To validate absolute measurement of myocardial blood flow (MBF) with 1.5 Tesla (T) and 3T cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) using positron emission tomography (PET) as the gold standard. Methods: 21 healthy subjects and 44 patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) were randomised to undergo PET scanning using oxygen 15-labeled water and CMR scanning at either 1.5T or 3T, using a saturation recovery fast-gradient echo sequence and 0.04 mmol/kg gadolinium bolus. MBF was assessed at rest and during adenosine stress. CMR MBF was determined by model independent deconvolution Results: There was no significant difference in rest and stress rate pressure product during PET and CMR scanning at either field strength. Agreement between the two methods was tested by Bland Altman plots The mean difference between PET MBF and 3T CMR MBF was 0.30 ml/g/min, limits of agreement of -1.23 and 1.89 ml/g/min. For the 3T cohort the sensitivity and specificity for the detection of coronary stenoses ≥50 % was 87% and 81 % for PET (threshold 1.93 ml/g/min) and 61% and 78% (threshold 1.73 ml/g/min) for 3T CMR. The mean difference between PET and 1.5T CMR was 0.05 ml/g/min, limits of agreement of -1.75 and 1.84 ml/g/min. For the 1.5T cohort the sensitivity and specificity for the detection of coronary stenoses ≥50 % was 84% and 94% for PET (threshold 1.98 ml/g/min) and 81% and 78% (threshold 2.29ml/g/min) for CMR. Conclusion: This study demonstrates there is no significant difference in mean MBF as measured by PET and CMR at either 1.5T or 3T CMR. However there is marked variation in values of MBF between different segments as demonstrated by the wide limits of agreements.
Characterization of a cotton-wool like composite bone graft material
Creators: name: Rohr, Nadja
name: Brunner, Claudia
name: Bellon, Benjamin
name: Fischer, Jens
name: De Wild, Michael
Publisher: name: Springer
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Bonewool
subject: bone augmentation
subject: Bio-Oss
subject: hydroxyapatite
subject: tricalcium phosphate
subject: PLGA
subject: 500 - Naturwissenschaften

description: Bone graft materials are applied in patients to augment bone defects and enable the insertion of an implant in its ideal position. However, the currently available augmentation materials do not meet the requirements of being completely resorbed and replaced by new bone within 3 to 6 months. A novel electrospun cotton-wool like material (Bonewool, Zurich Biomaterials LLC, Zurich, Switzerland) consisting of biodegradable poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA) fibers with incorporated amorphous ß-tricalcium phosphate (ß-TCP) nanoparticles has been compared to a frequently used bovine derived hydroxyapatite (Bio-Oss, Geistlich Pharma, Wolhusen, Switzerland) in vitro. The material composition was determined and the degradation behavior (calcium release and pH in different solutions) as well as bioactivity has been measured. Degradation behavior of PLGA/ß-TCP was generally more progressive than for Bio-Oss, indicating that this material is potentially completely resorbable.
title: Blasenekstrophieverschluss mit Blasenhalsaufbauplastik, Genitalrekonstruktion, Mons pubis. Aufbau und Nabelrekonstruktion in Erlanger Technik
Creators: name: Hirsch, K.
name: Schwaiger, B.
name: Kraske, S.
Publisher: name: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: 610 Medical sciences; Medicine

description: In unserem Filmvortrag zeigen wir einen Blasenekstrophieverschluss mit Blasenhalsaufbauplastik, Genitalrekonstruktion, Mons pubis Aufbau und Nabelrekonstruktion in Erlanger Technik. Zunächst werden die Hautinzisionslinien markiert, wobei die Muskelränder des Rectus entlang der Rectusdiastase[zum vollständigen Text gelangen Sie über die oben angegebene URL]
description: 46. Gemeinsame Tagung der Bayerischen Urologenvereinigung und der Österreichischen Gesellschaft für Urologie und Andrologie
Improving resuscitation : the role of design and teamwork
Creators: name: Walker, Susanna
Publisher: name: Imperial College London
Year: 2012

description: Resuscitation is the process medical teams use in an attempt to save a patient’s life when they have suffered a cardiopulmonary arrest. It is a stressful, time-pressured procedure, and unfortunately is often futile. Care of a patient in the emergency setting is particularly prone to errors and adverse events for a variety of reasons. These include the time-pressured decision making, increased rate of patient interventions, and the fact that teams are “assembled” by the emergency call that may have never worked together, or even met each other, before. Recent analysis of incident reports specifically from resuscitation attempts suggests that the majority of incidents relate to issues with the resuscitation team, problems related to human performance, and incidents relating to malfunctioning or absent equipment. One of the aims of this thesis is to look at ways to address these issues, and reduce rates of adverse events and critical incidents at resuscitation attempts. I will specifically look at the areas of non-technical teamworking skills, team training with environmental risk assessment, and the design of ergonomic equipment. In Chapter 4 I will describe the process of development and evaluation of a tool to assess non-technical teamworking skills in resuscitation teams. When this tool was initially developed, no other tools had been published. However, another tool has subsequently been made available, therefore in Chapter 5 I will compare our tool, OSCAR, with this other tool, called TEAM. In Chapter 6 I describe the process of in situ simulation for resuscitation training. I organised resuscitation team simulations as part of a training programme, and gathered participant feedback on the training. I also describe some of the unanticipated benefits of this training, such as risk assessment of the ward environment. In Chapters 7 and 8 I describe two studies that were undertaken to evaluate the newly designed Resus:Station. Specifically I assessed its use during simulated cardiac arrest scenarios, and when nursing staff performed a stock check of the trolley.
Factors affecting blood pressure control in primary care
Creators: name: Barrera Vergara, Lena
Publisher: name: Imperial College London
Year: 2013

description: Background: Hypertension is the main cardiovascular risk factor. Worldwide, 40% of adults aged 25 years and over have hypertension. Only around 25% of hypertensive patients had controlled hypertension (CH). I assessed the association between individual factors, physician factors and health system factors with having CH. Methods: Population included 17252 hypertensive adults (HA) registered with 28 general practices in Wandsworth, London between 1998 and 2007. Comparison of two blood pressure targets was performed by cross-sectional analysis. Changes in antihypertensive prescribing were evaluated using logistic models. A Bayesian frailty survival model was developed to assess the relationship between potential risk factors and CH with blood pressure <=140/90 mm Hg. Results: In 2007, 26 (93%) practices had more than 70% HA with CH using the QOF target. Using the NICE target of 140/90 mm Hg 4 (14.2%) of practices had more than 70% HAs with CH. In 1998 49.0% HA were not prescribed antihypertensive medication but only 14.8% in 2007. The introduction of the 2006 NICE guidelines was associated with an increase in recommended monotherapy prescribing. 37% of 11373 HA used for survival analysis had CH in 1998 and 62.4% had CH in 2007. Being older, increases in body mass index and higher levels of cholesterol were negatively associated with having CH, hazard ratio (HR) 0.99 (95% credible interval 0.99 – 0.99), HR 0.93 (95% credible interval 0.88 – 099) and HR 0.89 (95% credible interval 0.79 – 0.99) respectively. HA registered after the introduction of Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) were more likely to have CH, HR 2.05 (95% credible interval 1.94 – 2.16). Conclusion: In this cohort of HA being treated in primary care, individual factors were mainly associated with not having CH. Blood pressure control rates increased over the period. The use of national hypertension guidelines and the QOF could contribute to this improvement.
EnhancerMitochondriaEM2D
Creators: name: Pape, Constantin
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: bioimage.io
bioimage.io:model
unet
mitochondria
electron-microscopy
instance-segmentation
2d

description: Download RDF Package
#Prediction Enhancer for Mitochondrion Segmentation in EM This model was trained with the Shallow2Deep method to improve ilastik predictions for mitochondria segmentation in EM. It predicts foreground and boundary probabilities. Training The network was trained on data from the VNC dataset and trained using torch_em. Training Data Imaging modality: Electron Microscopy Dimensionality: 2D Source: http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.856713 Recommended Validation It is recommended to validate the instance segmentation obtained from this model using intersection-over-union. Note that this model expects foreground probabilities from a shallow classifer, such as a Random Forest, as input. It can thus be applied to new data of mitochondria, where only a new Random Forest for foreground and boundary segmentation needs to be trained, e.g. using ilastik. This model can be used in ilastik, deepimageJ or other software that supports the bioimage.io model format. Training Schedule n_epochs: 155 batches_per_epoch: 500 batch_size: 1 loss_function: DiceLoss optimizer: Adam learning_rate: 0.0001 n_train_images: None n_validation_images: None Contact For questions or issues with this models, please reach out by: opening a topic with tags bioimageio and enhancermitochondriaem2d on image.sc or creating an issue in https://github.com/constantinpape/torch-em
description: Prediction Enhancer for segmenting mitochondria in EM images. (Uploaded via https://bioimage.io)
Comparative genomics and epidemiology of the amphibian-killing fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis
Creators: name: Farrer, Rhys
Publisher: name: Imperial College London
Year: 2013

description: The primary aim of this thesis was to study the population structure and epidemiology of the fungal pathogen of amphibians, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). I have addressed these questions by collecting and isolating Bd from multiple infected host species. I have then extracted and sequenced whole nuclear and mitochondrial genomes for 50 isolates of Bd using the ABI SOLiD 3 and Illumina HiSeq 2000 platforms. The first aspect of the analysis was to tailor a new method for identifying variant sites amongst the isolates, as well as verifying the accuracy of the alignment and SNP-calling methods. Next, using a number of phylogenetic methods, I identified a population split into at least three deeply divergent lineages. Two of these lineages were found in multiple continents and are associated with known introductions by anthropogenic means. Isolates belonging to one clade, which we named the Global Panzootic Lineage (BdGPL), have emerged across at least five continents and are associated with the onset of epizootics in all five continents we tested. Dating the divergence between BdGPL isolates suggested a recent common ancestor in the 20th Century, and that the widespread trade of amphibians is an important mechanism of transmission. In contrast, BdGPL diverged from the other two lineages approximately 1000 years ago, clearly refuting a single emergence hypothesis. The two newly identified divergent lineages were the Cape lineage (BdCAPE) that appeared to have originated from the Cape Province in South Africa and a Swiss lineage (BdCH) comprised of a single isolate from a pond in Gamlikon, Switzerland. The secondary aim of this thesis was to identify and compare virulence determinants and other genomic features responsible for known differences in phenotypes. Using a variety of statistical and computational methods, I identified compelling evidence for genetic recombination targeting virulence factors, selection of those and other virulence factors, and rapid changes in ploidy and aneuploidy amongst the isolates of all three lineages. These genomic features shed light on the emergence, patterns of global spread, and modes of evolution in the pathogen(s) responsible for contemporary disease-driven losses in amphibian biodiversity. Finally, I discuss how these findings update our understanding of Bd and the importance for tracking and understanding the dynamics of other current emerging pathogens in an increasingly globalised habitat.
Wirkungen eines Verbots von Körperstrafen aus der Perspektive der Sozialen Arbeit
Creators: name: Schnurr, Stefan
Publisher: name: Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz FHNW
Year: 2018

description: Die in der Schweiz herrschende Rechtslage zur Körperstrafe als Mittel der Erziehung ist im besten Fall als opak und indifferent zu beurteilen. Gegenwärtig gehen vom geschriebenen Recht keine eindeutigen, gut verständlichen und gut vermittelbaren Botschaften aus, die kurz und bündig aufzeigen, dass Gewalt in der Erziehung unzulässig ist und gegen geltendes Recht verstösst. Vor diesem Hintergrund diskutiert dieser Beitrag folgende Fragen: (1) Würde sich mit der Einführung eines expliziten gesetzlichen Verbots von Körperstrafen in der Schweiz für die Soziale Arbeit etwas ändern? Entstehen dadurch für die Praxis der Sozialen Arbeit neue Optionen, das Wohlergehen von Kindern und Familien besser zu schützen? (2) Ist ein Verbot von Körperstrafen aus der Sicht der Sozialen Arbeit zu befürworten? (3) Welche gesetzliche Neuregelung zum Thema Körperstrafen und Gewalt in der Erziehung wäre aus Sicht der Sozialen Arbeit notwendig und sinnvoll? Der Beitrag plädiert für ein Gesetz, welches positiv bestimmt, dass Kinder einen Anspruch auf gewaltfreie Erziehung haben und alle Formen von Erziehung, die Kinder erniedrigen, ihnen ihre Würde nehmen und ihre körperliche, seelische und soziale Integrität verletzen, unzulässig sind. Weiter wird gezeigt, dass der oft gehörte Einwand, eine gesetzliche Ächtung von Gewalt in der Erziehung sei verzichtbar, da es sich dabei bloss um ‘symbolische Politik’ handele, durch die Empirie nicht gestützt wird.
Local structure and oxide-ion conduction mechanism in apatite-type lanthanum silicates
Creators: name: Masson, Olivier
name: Berghout, Abid
name: Béchade, Emilie
name: Jouin, Jenny
name: Thomas, Philippe
name: Asaka, Toru
name: Fukuda, Koichiro
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2017
Subjects: subject: Biophysics
subject: 29999 Physical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: Medicine
subject: Physiology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: 39999 Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Chemical sciences
subject: 69999 Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Hematology
subject: 110309 Infectious Diseases
subject: FOS: Health sciences

description: The local structure of apatite-type lanthanum silicates of general formula La9.33+x(SiO4)6O2+3x/2 has been investigated by combining the atomic pair distribution function (PDF) method, conventional X-ray and neutron powder diffraction (NPD) data and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. DFT was used to build structure models with stable positions of excess oxide ions within the conduction channel. Two stable interstitial positions were obtained in accordance with literature, the first one located at the very periphery of the conduction channel, neighbouring the SiO4 tetrahedral units, and the second one closer to the channel axis. The corresponding PDFs and average structures were then calculated and tested against experimental PDFs obtained by X-ray total scattering and NPD Rietveld refinements results gathered from literature. It was shown that of the two stable interstitial positions obtained with DFT only the second one located within the channel is consistent with experimental data. This result consolidates one of the two main conduction mechanisms along the c-axis reported in the literature, namely the one involving cooperative movement of O4 and Oi ions.
Comparative analysis of inosine-substituted duplex DNA by circular dichroism and X-ray crystallography
Creators: name: Peters, Justin P.
name: Kowal, Ewa A.
name: Pallan, Pradeep S.
name: Egli, Martin
name: L. James Maher III
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2019
Subjects: subject: Biophysics
subject: Biochemistry
subject: 29999 Physical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: Molecular Biology
subject: Biotechnology
subject: 59999 Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Earth and related environmental sciences
subject: 39999 Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Chemical sciences
subject: Sociology
subject: FOS: Sociology
subject: 69999 Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Biological sciences

description: Leveraging structural biology tools, we report the results of experiments seeking to determine if the different mechanical properties of DNA polymers with base analog substitutions can be attributed, at least in part, to induced changes from classical B-form DNA. The underlying hypothesis is that different inherent bending and twisting flexibilities may characterize non-canonical B-DNA, so that it is inappropriate to interpret mechanical changes caused by base analog substitution as resulting simply from ‘electrostatic’ or ‘base stacking’ influences without considering the larger context of altered helical geometry. Circular dichroism spectra of inosine-substituted oligonucleotides and longer base-substituted DNAs in solution indicated non-canonical helical conformations, with the degree of deviation from a standard B-form geometry depending on the number of I⋅C pairs. X-ray diffraction of a highly inosine-substituted DNA decamer crystal (eight I⋅C and two A⋅T pairs) revealed an A-tract-like conformation with a uniformly narrow minor groove, reduced helical rise, and the majority of sugars adopting a C1′-exo (southeastern) conformation. This contrasts with the standard B-DNA geometry with C2′-endo sugar puckers (south conformation). In contrast, the crystal structure of a decamer with only four I⋅C pairs has a geometry similar to that of the reference duplex with eight G⋅C and two A⋅T pairs. The unique crystal geometry of the inosine-rich duplex is noteworthy given its unusual CD signature in solution and the altered mechanical properties of some inosine-containing DNAs.
Using feedback systems thinking to explore theories of digital business for medtech companies
Creators: name: Von Kutzschenbach, Michael
name: Schmid, Alexander
name: Schoenenberger, Lukas
Publisher: name: Springer
Year: 2018
Subjects: subject: digital technology
subject: health care sector
subject: manufactur
subject: 330 - Wirtschaft

description: The rapid innovation of digital technologies poses a significant challenge to the healthcare sector. Digital technologies are transforming stakeholder relationships among established industry actors, including those of manufacturers, hospitals, and patients. To be ahead of competitors and to maintain profitability, medical device technology manufacturers (medtech companies) are urged to shift their business focus from product to customer excellence and thus invest in service offerings, focusing on the costs of alternative value delivery and patient outcomes. Such investments require a systemic and holistic understanding of how these changes in strategy affect the external and internal competitive environment. In this chapter, we propose the use of feedback systems thinking to explore the intended and unintended consequences of shifts in strategy, from sequential value chains to platform-oriented thinking. Taking the perspective of a medtech company in the value chain, we highlight challenges arising from hidden limits to growth that prevent the realization of intended achievements. Based on this, we develop hypotheses for the intended and unintended consequences of investing in digital service offerings. We conclude with a discussion of how systems thinking and modeling can support digital strategy development.
Exploring correlation structures of metabolomics data for quality control and biomarker discovery
Creators: name: Benton, Paul
Publisher: name: Imperial College London
Year: 2013

description: Metabolomics is a technology which allows us to probe a wide array of interactions between metabolites. These interactions can be revealed by statistical correlations between metabolite levels that may arise via a range of mechanisms. To measure metabolite levels, two main techniques are used: Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS) and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR). For the measurement of correlation structure high analytical reproducibility of the assays is required. While NMR has previously been shown to be reproducible, LC-MS, has not been similarly assessed. To assess the reproducibility of LC-MS for urinary metabolomics, a multi-laboratory study was devised. We find that the technology is highly reproducible, both within and between laboratories with CVs of < 17%, < 5s drift and under 10% ppm between labs. In LC-MS, ionisation of a single compound can lead to multiple charged species such as isotopologues, adducts etc. These multiple signals have a high mutual correlation and we show that this allows them to be identified with high sensitivity and specificity. The inferred statistical interactions between different metabolites can also be affected by analytical errors. An algorithm was designed to remove statistical metabolite links that could have been caused by the analytical technique. Using this method, a higher confidence can be placed on the remaining interactions, suggesting that they are potential biological interactions. Finally, most biological interactions are dynamic in nature, leading to correlations through time between metabolite levels. To explore these dynamic links, two temporal approaches were developed. These methods are designed to discover temporal correlations between metabolites and to test whether they vary between bio- logical conditions. We successfully demonstrate the methods in both LC-MS and NMR datasets. Overall, this thesis shows that correlation structure in metabolic profiling data is reliable, can be successfully filtered to improve quality and can be interrogated to reveal a new kind of dynamic metabolic biomarker.