A valuation of patients` willingness-to-pay for insulin delivery in diabetes

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the insulin-delivery system and the attributes of insulin therapy that best meet patients` preferences, and to estimate patients` willingness-to-pay (WTP) for them. Methods: This was a cross-sectional discrete choice experiment (DCE) study involving 378 Canadian patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Patients were asked to choose between two hypothetical insulin treatment options made up of different combinations of the attribute levels. Regression coefficients derived using conditional logit models were used to calculate patients` WTP. Stratification of the sample was performed to evaluate WTP by predefined subgroups. Results: A total of 274 patients successfully completed the survey. Overall, patients were willing to pay the most for better blood glucose control followed by weight gain. Surprisingly, route of insulin administration was the least important attribute overall. Segmented models indicated that insulin naive diabetics were willing to pay significantly more for both oral and inhaled short-acting insulin compared with insulin users. Surprisingly, type 1 diabetics were willing to pay $C11.53 for subcutaneous short-acting insulin, while type 2 diabetics were willing to pay $C47.23 to avoid subcutaneous short-acting insulin (p < .05). These findings support the hypothesis of a psychological barrier to initiating insulin therapy, but once that this barrier has been overcome, they accommodate and accept injectable therapy as a treatment option. Conclusions: By understanding and addressing patients` preferences for insulin therapy, diabetes educators can use this information to find an optimal treatment approach for each individual patient, which may ultimately lead to improved control, through improved compliance, and better diabetes outcomes.

Reductionism and the human duplication thought-experiment

The human duplication thought-experiment is examined, and basic positions concerning the possible outcomes of the experiment are spelled out. A first position sustains supervenience, either from a reductionist or an emergentist perspective, and such views are contrasted. Certain moral aspects of the thought-experiment are then considered, especially in relation to the idea of death. Taking reductionism as a working hypothesis, two possibilities are suggested for investigating the hard problem of qualia: the postulation of some novel sort of physical interaction, and the postulation of a counter-intuitive law of scaling. One possibility for the latter would lead to a violation of supervenience.

Quantitative three-dimensional power Doppler angiography: a flow-free phantom experiment to evaluate the relationship between color gain, depth and signal artifact

Objectives To evaluate the presence of false flow three-dimensional (3D) power Doppler signals in `flow-free` models. Methods 3D power Doppler datasets were acquired from three different flow-free phantoms (muscle, air and water) with two different transducers and Virtual Organ Computer-aided AnaLysis was used to generate a sphere that was serially applied through the 3D dataset. The vascularization flow index was used to compare artifactual signals at different depths (from 0 to 6 cm) within the different phantoms and at different gain and pulse repetition frequency (PR F) settings. Results Artifactual Doppler signals were seen in all phantoms despite these being flow-free. The pattern was very similar and the degree of artifact appeared to be dependent on the gain and distance from the transducer. False signals were more evident in the far field and increased as the gain was increased, with false signals first appearing with a gain of 1 dB in the air and muscle phantoms. False signals were seen at a lower gain with the water phantom (-15 dB) and these were associated with vertical lines of Doppler artifact that were related to PRF, and disappeared when reflections were attenuated. Conclusions Artifactual Doppler signals are seen in flow-free phantoms and are related to the gain settings and the distance from the transducer. In the in-vivo situation, the lowest gain settings that allow the detection of blood flow and adequate definition of vessel architecture should be used, which invariably means using a setting near or below the middle of the range available. Additionally, observers should be aware of vertical lines when evaluating cystic or liquid-containing structures. Copyright (C) 2010 ISUOC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A comparison of the dental health of Brazilian and Canadian independently living elderly

Objective: To compare the dental status of Brazilian and Canadian elderly populations with respect to socioeconomic and quality of life factors. Materials and methods: A total of 496 adults aged 60-75 years, having four or more teeth, and physically and cognitively suitable for a clinical oral examination were included. Subjects answered questions concerning their lifestyle and completed the Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI) questionnaire. Results: In all populations, the majority were females, aged between 60 and 65 years and married. Although the Canadian New Immigrant population had lower mean income, they had more remaining teeth (23.04 +/- 6.1), more functional teeth (sound and restored teeth) (14.92 +/- 5.7), more sound teeth (15.40 +/- 7.6), but more carious teeth (2.97 +/- 3.0). The Brazilian population had higher numbers of restored teeth (12.26 +/- 6.8) and fewer remaining teeth (17.80 +/- 7.6). In all populations, females, married and younger (60-65 years old) adults were more likely to retain 20 or more teeth. The mean GOHAI scores were similar for Canadians (40.55 +/- 5.7) and Canadian New Immigrants (39.28 +/- 6.5), but were higher than that among Brazilians (31.97 +/- 8.9). Conclusions: The numbers of remaining teeth were related to greater education and higher income status for Brazilian and Canadian populations. However, Canadian New Immigrants with lower income and education retained more teeth than the other populations.

Sedative and cardiopulmonary effects of buprenorphine and xylazine in horses

This study investigated the sedative, cardiopulmonary, and gastrointestinal effects produced by buprenorphine and xylazine given in combination to horses. Six healthy adult horses underwent 4 randomized treatments, with an interval of 1 wk between treatments. A control group was given a saline solution intravenously (IV) and the experimental groups received buprenorphine [10 mu g/kg bodyweight (BW)] in combination with 1 of 3 different doses of xylazine: 0.25 mg/kg BW (BX25), 0.50 mg/kg BW (BX50), or 0.75 mg/kg BW (BX75), all of them by IV. Cardiopulmonary parameters were evaluated for 120 min after the drugs were administered and intestinal motility was observed for 12 h after treatment. Sedation was found to be dose-dependent in all groups receiving buprenorphine and xylazine and it was observed that the heart rate decreased in the first 5 min and increased at the end of the sedation period. Arterial blood gas tension analyses showed minimal alterations during the experiment. Gastrointestinal hypomotility was observed for up to 8 h. The combination of buprenorphine and 0.50 mg/kg BW of xylazine (BX50) provided a 30-minute period of sedation without intense ataxia and maintained cardiopulmonary parameters within acceptable limits for the species.

A computational study of some rheological influences on the ""splashing experiment""

In various attempts to relate the behaviour of highly-elastic liquids in complex flows to their rheometrical behaviour, obvious candidates for study have been the variation of shear viscosity with shear rate, the two normal stress differences N(1) and N(2), especially N(1), the extensional viscosity, and the dynamic moduli G` and G ``. In this paper, we shall confine attention to `constant-viscosity` Boger fluids, and, accordingly, we shall limit attention to N(1), eta(E), G` and G ``. We shall concentrate on the ""splashing"" problem (particularly that which arises when a liquid drop falls onto the free surface of the same liquid). Modern numerical techniques are employed to provide the theoretical predictions. We show that high eta(E) can certainly reduce the height of the so-called Worthington jet, thus confirming earlier suggestions, but other rheometrical influences (steady and transient) can also have a role to play and the overall picture may not be as clear as it was once envisaged. We argue that this is due in the main to the fact that splashing is a manifestly unsteady flow. To confirm this proposition, we obtain numerical simulations for the linear Jeffreys model. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The magnetized steel and scintillator calorimeters of the MINOS experiment

The Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search (MINOS) experiment uses an accelerator-produced neutrino beam to perform precision measurements of the neutrino oscillation parameters in the ""atmospheric neutrino"" sector associated with muon neutrino disappearance. This long-baseline experiment measures neutrino interactions in Fermilab`s NuMI neutrino beam with a near detector at Fermilab and again 735 km downstream with a far detector in the Soudan Underground Laboratory in northern Minnesota. The two detectors are magnetized steel-scintillator tracking calorimeters. They are designed to be as similar as possible in order to ensure that differences in detector response have minimal impact on the comparisons of event rates, energy spectra and topologies that are essential to MINOS measurements of oscillation parameters. The design, construction, calibration and performance of the far and near detectors are described in this paper. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Resonant neutrino scattering: An impossible experiment?

The experimental feasibility was investigated for the resonant scattering of monoenergetic neutrinos emitted in the two-body beta decay. A simple general formula shows that the resonance cross section can be as large as of the order of 10(-17) cm(2). The Mossbauer setup using a solid crystal was examined with a focus on the electronic structure of the emitter and the absorber. Based on realistic calculations, we show that interactions of valence electrons in the solid lead to a level broadening of the atomic ground state, which considerably suppresses the resonant scattering of neutrinos. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Study of bulk matter properties through strange quark hadrons with the STAR experiment

Relativistic heavy ion collisions are the ideal experimental tool to explore the QCD phase diagram. Several results show that a very hot medium with a high energy density and partonic degrees of freedom is formed in these collisions, creating a new state of matter. Measurements of strange hadrons can bring important information about the bulk properties of such matter. The elliptic flow of strange hadrons such as phi, K(S)(0), Lambda, Xi and Omega shows that collectivity is developed at partonic level and at intermediate p(T) the quark coalescence is the dominant mechanism of hadronization. The nuclear modification factor is an another indicator of the presence of a very dense medium. The comparison between measurements of Au+Au and d+Au collisions, where only cold nuclear matter effects are expected, can shed more light on the bulk properties. In these proceedings, recent results from the STAR experiment on bulk matter properties are presented.

J/psi production in pp collisions at root s=200GeV in the STAR experiment

In this work we present the J/psi measurement in p+p collisions within the STAR collaboration Quarkonium program. This measurements aim to be the baseline measurement of a more comprehensive systematic study of quarkonium states production in order to understand their in medium modification. Here we report the total cross section and rho(T) distribution, and find them to be consistent with pQCD CEM predictions as well as to previous measurements at the same center-of-mass energy.

Heavy-flavor measurements by the PHENIX experiment at RHIC

In recent years, PHENIX has studied many important observables related to heavy-flavor physics through their leptonic decay measurements including the invariant yield of electrons from nonphotonic sources, and prompt single muons, both of which are dominated by D and B mesons. Charm and beauty cross-sections were measured and compared through single lepton, and lepton-hadron correlations in p+p collisions at root s = 200 GeV. Observables for quarkonia production such as invariant yield and polarization were also measured in p+p collisions. In Au+Au collisions, preliminary results for the R(AA) for single electrons and a 90% CL upper limit for the suppression of s were produced. And in d+Au collisions, a preliminary R(CP) study for J/psi production in different centrality ranges was extracted.

Measurement of an Excited Charmonium State and the Study of J/psi Polarization in p plus p Collisions at root s=200 GeV in PHENIX Experiment at RHIC

We report the J/psi -> e(+)e(-) and the psi` -> e(+)e(-) production cross sections in the PHENIX experiment at RHIC. The first measurements of the production cross sections of the psi` and the psi` over the J/psi, will contribute to the clarification of the theoretical understanding of the J/psi meson production. The inclusive J/psi polarization through the same decay channel is also presented, showing a trend of slightly longitudinal polarization for p(T) <5 GeV/c.

Finite temperature correction to the Thomas-Fermi approximation for a Bose-Einstein condensate: comparison between theory and experiment

We observe experimentally a deviation of the radius of a Bose-Einstein condensate from the standard Thomas-Fermi prediction, after free expansion, as a function of temperature. A modified Hartree-Fock model is used to explain the observations, mainly based on the influence of the thermal cloud on the condensate cloud.

Restoring the azimuthal symmetry of lateral distributions of charged particles in the range of the KASCADE-Grande experiment

The reconstruction of Extensive Air Showers (EAS) observed by particle detectors at the ground is based on the characteristics of observables like the lateral particle density and the arrival times. The lateral densities, inferred for different EAS components from detector data, are usually parameterised by applying various lateral distribution functions (LDFs). The LDFs are used in turn for evaluating quantities like the total number of particles or the density at particular radial distances. Typical expressions for LDFs anticipate azimuthal symmetry of the density around the shower axis. The deviations of the lateral particle density from this assumption arising from various reasons are smoothed out in the case of compact arrays like KASCADE, but not in the case of arrays like Grande, which only sample a smaller part of the azimuthal variation. KASCADE-Grande, an extension of the former KASCADE experiment, is a multi-component Extensive Air Shower (EAS) experiment located at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Campus North), Germany. The lateral distributions of charged particles are deduced from the basic information provided by the Grande scintillators - the energy deposits - first in the observation plane, then in the intrinsic shower plane. In all steps azimuthal dependences should be taken into account. As the energy deposit in the scintillators is dependent on the angles of incidence of the particles, azimuthal dependences are already involved in the first step: the conversion from the energy deposits to the charged particle density. This is done by using the Lateral Energy Correction Function (LECF) that evaluates the mean energy deposited by a charged particle taking into account the contribution of other particles (e.g. photons) to the energy deposit. By using a very fast procedure for the evaluation of the energy deposited by various particles we prepared realistic LECFs depending on the angle of incidence of the shower and on the radial and azimuthal coordinates of the location of the detector. Mapping the lateral density from the observation plane onto the intrinsic shower plane does not remove the azimuthal dependences arising from geometric and attenuation effects, in particular for inclined showers. Realistic procedures for applying correction factors are developed. Specific examples of the bias due to neglecting the azimuthal asymmetries in the conversion from the energy deposit in the Grande detectors to the lateral density of charged particles in the intrinsic shower plane are given. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Investigation of the properties of galactic cosmic rays with the KASCADE-Grande experiment

The properties of galactic cosmic rays are investigated with the KASCADE-Grande experiment in the energy range between 10(14) and 10(18) eV. Recent results are discussed. They concern mainly the all-particle energy spectrum and the elemental composition of cosmic rays. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.