Morphological and biochemical T2 evaluation of cartilage repair tissue based on a hybrid double echo at steady state (DESS-T2d) approach

To use a new approach which provides, based on the widely used three-dimensional double-echo steady-state (DESS) sequence, in addition to the morphological information, the generation of biochemical T2 maps in one hybrid sequence.

The Pararectus approach for anterior intrapelvic management of acetabular fractures: an anatomical study and clinical evaluation

A new anterior intrapelvic approach for the surgical management of displaced acetabular fractures involving predominantly the anterior column and the quadrilateral plate is described. In order to establish five 'windows' for instrumentation, the extraperitoneal space is entered along the lateral border of the rectus abdominis muscle. This is the so-called 'Pararectus' approach. The feasibility of safe dissection and optimal instrumentation of the pelvis was assessed in five cadavers (ten hemipelves) before implementation in a series of 20 patients with a mean age of 59 years (17 to 90), of whom 17 were male. The clinical evaluation was undertaken between December 2009 and December 2010. The quality of reduction was assessed with post-operative CT scans and the occurrence of intra-operative complications was noted. In cadavers, sufficient extraperitoneal access and safe instrumentation of the pelvis were accomplished. In the patients, there was a statistically significant improvement in the reduction of the fracture (pre- versus post-operative: mean step-off 3.3 mm (sd 2.6) vs 0.1 mm (sd 0.3), p < 0.001; and mean gap 11.5 mm (sd 6.5) vs 0.8 mm (sd 1.3), p < 0.001). Lesions to the peritoneum were noted in two patients and minor vascular damage was noted in a further two patients. Multi-directional screw placement and various plate configurations were feasible in cadavers without significant retraction of soft tissues. In the treatment of acetabular fractures predominantly involving the anterior column and the quadrilateral plate, the Pararectus approach allowed anatomical restoration with minimal morbidity related to the surgical access.

Registry for the Evaluation of the Prognostik value of a novel integrated imaging approach combining Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography with coronary calcification imaging (REPROSPECT)

AIMS: Although an added diagnostic and prognostic value of the global coronary artery calcification (CAC) score as an adjunct to single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)-myocardial perfusion image (MPI) has been repeatedly documented, none of the previous studies took advantage of the anatomic information provided by the unenhanced cardiac CT. Therefore, no co-registration has so far been used to match a myocardial perfusion defect with calcifications in the subtending coronary artery. To evaluate the prognostic value of integrating SPECT-MPI with CAC images were obtained from non-enhanced cardiac computed tomography (CT) for attenuation correction to predict major adverse cardiac events (MACE). METHODS AND RESULTS: Follow-up was obtained in 462 patients undergoing a 1-day stress/rest (99m)Tc-teterofosmin SPECT and non-enhanced cardiac CT for attenuation correction. Survival free of MACE was determined using the Kaplan-Meier method. After integrating MPI and CT findings, patients were divided into three groups (i) MPI defect matched by calcification (CAC ≥ 1) in the subtending coronary artery (ii) unmatched MPI and CT finding (iii) normal finding by MPI and CT. At a mean follow-up of 34.5 ± 13 months, a MACE was observed in 80 patients (33 death, 6 non-fatal myocardial infarction, 9 hospitalizations due to unstable angina, and 32 revascularizations). Survival analysis revealed the most unfavourable outcome (P < 0.001 log-rank test) for patients with a matched finding. CONCLUSION: In the present study, a novel approach using a combined integration of cardiac SPECT-CAC imaging allows for refined risk stratification, as a matched defect emerged as an independent predictor of MACE.

Evaluation of 41calcium as a new approach to assess changes in bone metabolism: effect of a bisphosphonate intervention in postmenopausal women with low bone mass

A new technique was evaluated to identify changes in bone metabolism directly at high sensitivity through isotopic labeling of bone Ca. Six women with low BMD were labeled with 41Ca up to 700 days and treated for 6 mo with risedronate. Effect of treatment on bone could be identified using 41Ca after 4-8 wk in each individual. INTRODUCTION: Isotopic labeling of bone using 41Ca, a long-living radiotracer, has been proposed as an alternative approach for measuring changes in bone metabolism to overcome current limitations of available techniques. After isotopic labeling of bone, changes in urinary 41Ca excretion reflect changes in bone Ca balance. The aim of this study was to validate this new technique against established measures. Changes in bone Ca balance were induced by giving a bisphosphonate. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Six postmenopausal women with diagnosed osteopenia/osteoporosis received a single oral dose of 100 nCi 41Ca for skeleton labeling. Urinary 41Ca/40Ca isotope ratios were monitored by accelerator mass spectrometry up to 700 days after the labeling process. Subjects received 35 mg risedronate per week for 6 mo. Effect of treatment was monitored using the 41Ca signal in urine and parallel measurements of BMD by DXA and biochemical markers of bone metabolism in urine and blood. RESULTS: Positive response to treatment was confirmed by BMD measurements, which increased for spine by +3.0% (p = 0.01) but not for hip. Bone formation markers decreased by -36% for bone alkaline phosphatase (BALP; p = 0.002) and -59% for procollagen type I propeptides (PINP; p = 0.001). Urinary deoxypyridinoline (DPD) and pyridinoline (PYD) were reduced by -21% (p = 0.019) and -23% (p = 0.009), respectively, whereas serum and urinary carboxy-terminal teleopeptides (CTXs) were reduced by -60% (p = 0.001) and -57.0% (p = 0.001), respectively. Changes in urinary 41Ca excretion paralleled findings for conventional techniques. The urinary 41Ca/40Ca isotope ratio was shifted by -47 +/- 10% by the intervention. Population pharmacokinetic analysis (NONMEM) of the 41Ca data using a linear three-compartment model showed that bisphosphonate treatment reduced Ca transfer rates between the slowly exchanging compartment (bone) and the intermediate fast exchanging compartment by 56% (95% CI: 45-58%). CONCLUSIONS: Isotopic labeling of bone using 41Ca can facilitate human trials in bone research by shortening of intervention periods, lowering subject numbers, and having easier conduct of cross-over studies compared with conventional techniques.

Evaluation of promising technologies for soil salinity amelioration in Timpaki (Crete): A participatory approach

Soil salinity management can be complex, expensive, and time demanding, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. Besides taking no action, possible management strategies include amelioration and adaptation measures. Here we apply the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT) framework for the systematic analysis and evaluation and selection of soil salinisation amelioration technologies in close collaboration with stakeholders. The participatory approach is applied in the RECARE (Preventing and Remediating degradation of soils in Europe through Land Care) project case study of Timpaki, a semiarid region in south-central Crete (Greece) where the main land use is horticulture in greenhouses irrigated by groundwater. Excessive groundwater abstractions have resulted in a drop of the groundwater level in the coastal part of the aquifer, thus leading to seawater intrusion and in turn to soil salinisation. The documented technologies are evaluated for their impacts on ecosystem services, cost, and input requirements using a participatory approach and field evaluations. Results show that technologies which promote maintaining existing crop types while enhancing productivity and decreasing soil salinity are preferred by the stakeholders. The evaluation concludes that rainwater harvesting is the optimal solution for direct soil salinity mitigation, as it addresses a wider range of ecosystem and human well-being benefits. Nevertheless, this merit is offset by poor financial motivation making agronomic measures more attractive to users.

The coordinated approach to child health in underserved population (CATCH UP) curriculum: A quantitative evaluation of an innovative preschool obesity prevention program

Obesity has been on the rise in the United States over the last 30 years for all populations, including preschoolers. The purpose of the project was to develop an observation tool to measure physical activity levels in preschool children and use the tool in a pilot test of the CATCH UP curriculum at two Head Start Centers in Houston. Pretest and posttest interobserver agreements were all above 0.60 for physical activity level and physical activity type. Preschoolers spent the majority of their time in light physical activity (75.33% pretest, 87.77% posttest), and spent little time in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) (24.67% pretest, 12.23% posttest). Percent time spent in MVPA decreased significantly pretest to posttest from (F=5.738, p=0.043). While the pilot testing of the CATCH UP curriculum did not show an increase in MVPA, the SOFIT-P tool did show promising results as being a new method for collecting physical activity level data for preschoolers. Once the new tool has undergone more reliability and validity testing, it could allow for a more convenient method of collecting physical activity levels for preschoolers. ^

Clean Coal Technologies Scenario and Evaluation of Present CO2 Dwindling Initiatives to Approach Zero Emission Power Stations By Coal Combustion. Deployment Situation and Evaluation Study

In the present uncertain global context of reaching an equal social stability and steady thriving economy, power demand expected to grow and global electricity generation could nearly double from 2005 to 2030. Fossil fuels will remain a significant contribution on this energy mix up to 2050, with an expected part of around 70% of global and ca. 60% of European electricity generation. Coal will remain a key player. Hence, a direct effect on the considered CO2 emissions business-as-usual scenario is expected, forecasting three times the present CO2 concentration values up to 1,200ppm by the end of this century. Kyoto protocol was the first approach to take global responsibility onto CO2 emissions monitoring and cap targets by 2012 with reference to 1990. Some of principal CO2emitters did not ratify the reduction targets. Although USA and China spur are taking its own actions and parallel reduction measures. More efficient combustion processes comprising less fuel consuming, a significant contribution from the electricity generation sector to a CO2 dwindling concentration levels, might not be sufficient. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technologies have started to gain more importance from the beginning of the decade, with research and funds coming out to drive its come in useful. After first researching projects and initial scale testing, three principal capture processes came out available today with first figures showing up to 90% CO2 removal by its standard applications in coal fired power stations. Regarding last part of CO2 reduction chain, two options could be considered worthy, reusing (EOR & EGR) and storage. The study evaluates the state of the CO2 capture technology development, availability and investment cost of the different technologies, with few operation cost analysis possible at the time. Main findings and the abatement potential for coal applications are presented. DOE, NETL, MIT, European universities and research institutions, key technology enterprises and utilities, and key technology suppliers are the main sources of this study. A vision of the technology deployment is presented.

A syntactic approach to combining functional notation, lazy evaluation, and higher-order in LP systems

Nondeterminism and partially instantiated data structures give logic programming expressive power beyond that of functional programming. However, functional programming often provides convenient syntactic features, such as having a designated implicit output argument, which allow function cali nesting and sometimes results in more compact code. Functional programming also sometimes allows a more direct encoding of lazy evaluation, with its ability to deal with infinite data structures. We present a syntactic functional extensión, used in the Ciao system, which can be implemented in ISO-standard Prolog systems and covers function application, predefined evaluable functors, functional definitions, quoting, and lazy evaluation. The extensión is also composable with higher-order features and can be combined with other extensions to ISO-Prolog such as constraints. We also highlight the features of the Ciao system which help implementation and present some data on the overhead of using lazy evaluation with respect to eager evaluation.

Self Learning and self evaluation exercises database in basic mechanics: a theoretical-practical approach

In the School of Mines of the Technical University of Madrid (UPM) the first course of different degrees has been implemented and adapted to the European Higher Educational Area (EHEA). In all of the degrees there is a first semester course which gathers all the contents of basic mechanics: from the first kinematics concepts to the rigid solid plane motion Before the Bologna process took place, the authors had established the final assessment of the theoretical contents through open questions of theoretical-practical character In the present work, the elaboration of a wide database containing theoretical-practical questions that students can access on line is presented. The questions are divided in thirteen different questionnaires composed of a number of questions randomly chosen from a certain group in the database. Each group corresponds to a certain learning objective that the student knows. After answering the questionnaire and checking the grade assigned according to the performance of the student, the pupils can see the correct response displayed on the screen and widely explained by the professors. This represents a 10% of the final grade. As the student can access the questionnaires as many times as they want, the main goal is the self-assessment of each learning objective and therefore, getting the students involved in their own learning process so they can decide how much time they need to acquire the required level.

Evaluation of Development Projects: a Process-Centered Approach in the Outskirts of Lima, Peru.

Development cooperation projects work with people involved in processes of change and social transformation. While the main objective of the intervention is the development process itself, the project?s quality will be determined by the way of implementing it. Its success lies in the sustainability of the generated processes and the connection with them by the involved actors. The evaluation analyses both aspects. This article examines the evaluation, under a process approach, of a project on urban agriculture in Lima (Peru). The results show that the use of this approach, which combines different evaluation tools, allows the identification and analysis of the processes with the involved members, providing a better understanding of the real sustainability of the results.

Ontology Evaluation: a pitfall-based approach to ontology diagnosis

La evaluación de ontologías, incluyendo diagnóstico y reparación de las mismas, es una compleja actividad que debe llevarse a cabo en cualquier proyecto de desarrollo ontológico para comprobar la calidad técnica de las ontologías. Sin embargo, existe una gran brecha entre los enfoques metodológicos sobre la evaluación de ontologías y las herramientas que le dan soporte. En particular, no existen enfoques que proporcionen guías concretas sobre cómo diagnosticar y, en consecuencia, reparar ontologías. Esta tesis pretende avanzar en el área de la evaluación de ontologías, concretamente en la actividad de diagnóstico. Los principales objetivos de esta tesis son (a) ayudar a los desarrolladores en el diagnóstico de ontologías para encontrar errores comunes y (b) facilitar dicho diagnóstico reduciendo el esfuerzo empleado proporcionando el soporte tecnológico adecuado. Esta tesis presenta las siguientes contribuciones: • Catálogo de 41 errores comunes que los ingenieros ontológicos pueden cometer durante el desarrollo de ontologías. • Modelo de calidad para el diagnóstico de ontologías alineando el catálogo de errores comunes con modelos de calidad existentes. • Diseño e implementación de 48 métodos para detectar 33 de los 41 errores comunes en el catálogo. • Soporte tecnológico OOPS!, que permite el diagnstico de ontologías de forma (semi)automática. De acuerdo con los comentarios recibidos y los resultados de los test de satisfacción realizados, se puede afirmar que el enfoque desarrollado y presentado en esta tesis ayuda de forma efectiva a los usuarios a mejorar la calidad de sus ontologías. OOPS! ha sido ampliamente aceptado por un gran número de usuarios de formal global y ha sido utilizado alrededor de 3000 veces desde 60 países diferentes. OOPS! se ha integrado en software desarrollado por terceros y ha sido instalado en empresas para ser utilizado tanto durante el desarrollo de ontologías como en actividades de formación. Abstract Ontology evaluation, which includes ontology diagnosis and repair, is a complex activity that should be carried out in every ontology development project, because it checks for the technical quality of the ontology. However, there is an important gap between the methodological work about ontology evaluation and the tools that support such an activity. More precisely, not many approaches provide clear guidance about how to diagnose ontologies and how to repair them accordingly. This thesis aims to advance the current state of the art of ontology evaluation, specifically in the ontology diagnosis activity. The main goals of this thesis are (a) to help ontology engineers to diagnose their ontologies in order to find common pitfalls and (b) to lessen the effort required from them by providing the suitable technological support. This thesis presents the following main contributions: • A catalogue that describes 41 pitfalls that ontology developers might include in their ontologies. • A quality model for ontology diagnose that aligns the pitfall catalogue to existing quality models for semantic technologies. • The design and implementation of 48 methods for detecting 33 out of the 41 pitfalls defined in the catalogue. • A system called OOPS! (OntOlogy Pitfall Scanner!) that allows ontology engineers to (semi)automatically diagnose their ontologies. According to the feedback gathered and satisfaction tests carried out, the approach developed and presented in this thesis effectively helps users to increase the quality of their ontologies. At the time of writing this thesis, OOPS! has been broadly accepted by a high number of users worldwide and has been used around 3000 times from 60 different countries. OOPS! is integrated with third-party software and is locally installed in private enterprises being used both for ontology development activities and training courses.

Why do health economists promote technology adoption rather than the search for efficiency? A proposal for a change in our approach to economic evaluation in health care

Acknowledgments Financial Support: HERU and HSRU receive a core grant from the Chief Scientist’s Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates, and the Centre for Clinical epidemiology & Evaluation is funded by Vancouver Coastal Health Authority. The model used for the illustrative case study in this paper was developed as part of a NHS Technology Assessment Review, funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment Program (project number 09/146/01). The views and opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Scottish Government, NHS, Vancouver Coastal Health, NIHR HTA Program or the Department of Health. The authors wish to thank Kathleen Boyd and members of the audience at the UK Health Economists Study Group, for comments received on an earlier version of this paper. We also wish to thank Cynthia Fraser (University of Aberdeen) for literature searches undertaken to inform the manuscript, and Mohsen Sadatsafavi (University of British Columbia) for comments on an earlier draft