Long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) ≥ 15 h/day improves survival in hypoxemic chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). LTOT 24 h/day is often recommended but may pose an unnecessary burden with no clear survival benefit compared with LTOT 15 h/day. The aim was to test the hypothesis that LTOT 24 h/day decreases all-cause, respiratory, and cardiovascular mortality compared to LTOT 15 h/day in hypo

Objectives: To examine whether the mix of community and institutional long-term care (ILTC) for people with dementia (PwD) in Europe could be improved; assess the economic consequences of providing alternative services for particular groups of ILTC entrants and explore the transnational application of the ‘Balance of Care’ (BoC) approach. Method: A BoC study was undertaken in Estonia, Finland, Fra

The rapidly growing interest in photocatalytic systems for direct solar fuel production such as hydrogen generation from water splitting is grounded in the unique opportunity to achieve charge separation in molecular systems provided by electron transfer processes. In general, both photoinduced and catalytic processes involve complicated dynamics that depend on both structural and electronic effec

To make a smooth touchdown when landing, an insect must be able to reliably control its approach speed as well as its body and leg position—behaviors that are thought to be regulated primarily by visual information. Bumblebees forage and land under a broad range of light intensities and while their behavior during the final moments of landing has been described in detail in bright light, little is

A two-step Design of Experiments (DoE) strategy followed by a two-liquid-phase system (2LPS) was applied to enhance the ɛ-caprolactone yield in the cyclohexanone monooxygenase (CHMO)-alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) convergent cascade system. The key reaction parameters were identified and optimized for the determination of an optimal operational window for the aqueous media. In the 2LPS system, high p

Nanowires (NWs) have unique electrical and optical properties of value for many applications including lighting, sensing, and energy harnessing. Consumer products containing NWs increase the risk of NWs being released in the environment, especially into aquatic ecosystems through sewage systems. Daphnia magna is a common, cosmopolitan freshwater organism sensitive to toxicity tests and represents

This paper presents ongoing research on using non-uniform rational b-splines(NURBS) based isogeometric analysis for form finding of efficient shapes for shells. The form finding is made using dynamic relaxation together with NURBS based membrane elements. The method is employed directly to design geometry, without the need for any further discretization. The method is implemented in two plug-ins f

Liposomes are biodegradable nanoparticle vesicles consisting of a lipid bilayer encapsulating an aqueous core. Entrapped cargo material is shielded from the extra-vesicular medium and sustained release of encapsulated material can be achieved. However, application of liposomes as nano-carriers demands their characterization concerning size and size distribution, particle-number concentration, occu

Retinopathy of prematurity is a potentially blinding disease, which is associated with low neonatal IGF-I serum concentrations and poor growth. In severe cases impaired retinal vessel growth is followed by pathologic neovascularization, which may lead to retinal detachment. IGF-I may promote growth even in catabolic states. Treating preterm infants with recombinant human (rh) IGF-I to concentratio

Magnetic and magneto-transport properties of thin layers of the (Ga,Mn)(Bi,As) quaternary dilute magnetic semiconductor grown by the low-temperature molecular-beam epitaxy technique on GaAs substrates have been investigated. Ferromagnetic Curie temperature and magneto-crystalline anisotropy of the layers have been examined by using magneto-optical Kerr effect magnetometry and low-temperature magne

Background: Bone loss at peripheral sites in the elderly is mainly cortical and involves increased cortical porosity. However, an association between bone loss at these sites and 25-hydroxyvitamin D has not been reported. Objective: To investigate the association between serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, bone microstructure and areal bone mineral density (BMD) in elderly men. Methods: A populat

Objectives The aim of this study was to determine the prognostic impact of chronic total occlusion (CTO) on long-term mortality in a large prospective cohort. Background CTO is present in many patients with coronary artery disease and is difficult to treat with percutaneous coronary intervention. Methods The study population consisted of all consecutive patients who underwent coronary angiography

In recent years, efforts have been made in catalysis related surface science studies to explore the possibilities to perform experiments at conditions closer to those of a technical catalyst, in particular at increased pressures. Techniques such as high pressure scanning tunneling/atomic force microscopy (HPSTM/AFM), near ambient pressure x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (NAPXPS), surface x-ray di

Background Head-up tilt test (HUT) has been used for nearly 30 years for diagnosing vasovagal syncope (VVS) and was enhanced by sublingual nitroglycerin (glyceryl trinitrate [GTN]) challenge in the 1990s. Objective The purpose of this study was to explore neuroendocrine differences between spontaneous and drug-induced HUT positivity. Methods Two hundred eighty-eight patients (41.3% male, age 49 ±

Water evaporation concerns all land-living organisms, as ambient air is dryer than their corresponding equilibrium humidity. Contrarily to plants, mammals are covered with a skin that not only hinders evaporation but also maintains its rate at a nearly constant value, independently of air humidity. Here, we show that simple amphiphiles/water systems reproduce this behavior, which suggests a common

Objective Invasive treatment of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) does not always lead to improvement, as concomitant diseases might affect walking ability and health related quality of life (HRQoL). Patients with chronic widespread pain (CWP) report worse outcome when treated for cancer and rheumatic diseases. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence of CWP and its potential as

Background: The rationale behind this study is the increasing research on relationships between patient safety, evidence based practice and person centered care, and the growing interest in outcomes of surgical patients. The aim of this study was to explore the safety climate and readiness to implement evidence-based and person centered care as perceived by registered nurses in Swedish surgical ca

Background The contribution of modifiable risk factors to the increasing global and regional burden of stroke is unclear, but knowledge about this contribution is crucial for informing stroke prevention strategies. We used data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 (GBD 2013) to estimate the population-attributable fraction (PAF) of stroke-related disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) asso

This work presents an analysis of the physical properties of sub-micrometer aerosol particles measured at the high Arctic site Villum Research Station, Station Nord (VRS), northeast Greenland, between July 2010 and February 2013. The study focuses on particle number concentrations, particle number size distributions and the occurrence of new particle formation (NPF) events and their seasonality in