Purpose: The Catquest-9SF questionnaire is a unidimensional, reliable, valid and short patient-reported outcome measure for quantifying benefits in visual functioning from cataract surgery. Our aim was to develop a formal Dutch translation, calculate norm scores, assess its validity and test-retest reliability and provide an easy way for use in clinical practice. Methods: Translation of the questi

Eastern Northeast Brazil (ENEB) generally experiences a high variability in precipitation in the dry season, with amplitudes that can overcome 500mm. The understanding of this variability can help in mitigating the socio-economic issues related to the planning and management of water resources this region, which is highly vulnerable to drought. This work aims to assess spatio-temporal variability

Single-incision laparoscopic appendectomy (SILA) has gained popularity in children, and several different techniques have been described, including intracorporeal and extracorporeal techniques and single-channel and multi-channel single-port techniques. However, there has been a concern that exteriorizing an infected appendix through the umbilical channel would increase the risk of postoperative w

Acoustophoresis is a technique that applies ultrasonic standing wave forces in a microchannel to sort cells depending on their physical properties in relation to the surrounding media. Cell handling and separation for research and clinical applications aims to efficiently separate specific cell populations. Here, we investigated the sorting of CD8 lymphocytes from peripheral blood progenitor cell

Biomass burning impacts vegetation dynamics, biogeochemical cycling, atmospheric chemistry, and climate, with sometimes deleterious socio-economic impacts. Under future climate projections it is often expected that the risk of wildfires will increase. Our ability to predict the magnitude and geographic pattern of future fire impacts rests on our ability to model fire regimes, using either well-fou

Melanocortin therapy by using adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) or non-steroidogenic melanocortin peptides attenuates proteinuria and glomerular injury in experimental glomerular diseases and induces remission of nephrotic syndrome in patients with diverse glomerulopathies, even those resistant to steroids. The underlying mechanism remains elusive, but the role of melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) h

This thesis covers four different topics related to the physics analysis in the ATLAS experiment that uses proton-proton collisions data provided by the Large Hadron Collider. The first topic is focused on the numerical simulation of the Transition Radiation Tracker which is one of the ATLAS tracking detectors. The implementation of the alternative Argon based gas mixtures used in the drift tubes

Objective: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) decrease life expectancy for affected patients. The aim was to describe the perceptions of received information regarding diagnosis, treatment and management, as well as social support and coping perceived by patients with PAH or CTEPH. Methods: A descriptive, national cohort survey that incl

Objectives: This study sought to test the hypothesis that a vectorcardiographic parameter, the QRS vector magnitude (QRSVm), can risk stratify those patients at risk for sustained spontaneous ventricular arrhythmias (VAs) or ventricular arrhythmia inducibility (VAI) in a large cohort of patients with tetralogy of Fallot (TOF). Background: Patients with TOF have an increased risk of VAs, but predic

We present measurements of atmospheric insect fauna intercepted by a static lidar transect over arable and pastoral land over one day. We observe nearly a quarter million of events which are calibrated to optical cross section. Biomass spectra are derived from the size distribution and presented against space and time. We discuss detection limits and instrument biasing, and we relate the insect ob

Many countries have established disaster risk management (DRM) systems to reduce disaster risks and improve societal safety. Risk assessment in the DRM system is not only an important tool to identify potential risks, but also promotes DRM through conversations among stakeholders from different functional sectors and administrative levels. The municipal risk assessment, produced at the lowest admi

Background: Coronary heart disease (CHD) risk inversely associates with levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). The protective effect of HDL is thought to depend on its functionality, such as its ability to induce cholesterol efflux. Materials and methods: We compared plasma cholesterol efflux capacity between male familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) patients with and without CHD r