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PubMed2005

Prediction of heat of formation and related parameters of high energy materials.

Heat of formation is one of the most important parameters in the performance prediction of explosive and propellant formulations and their individual ingredients. This paper reports the development of user-friendly computer code for the prediction of heat of formation based on two approaches. In first methodology, the logic of Benson's Group additivity method and in the second method, the logic of Pedley method was used for predicting the heats of formation of high energy materials (HEMs). The predicted heats of formation by Benson method for various classes of high energy materials gave deviation in the range of 2-10%, whereas nearly 10-15% deviation was observed using Pedley methodology in comparison to experimental values. The linear regression coefficient values (R(2)) of 0.9947 and 0.9637 are obtained for heat of formation values predicted by this code using methodologies I and II, respectively. The newly developed code LOTUSES (version 1.3) has been validated by calculating the heats of formation of standard explosives such as TNT, pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), RDX, HMX, etc., To the best of our knowledge, no such code is reported in literature which can predict heats of formation values integrated with performance parameters of HEMs belonging to all categories of organic compounds viz. aliphatic, aromatic and heterocyclic materials. The code can also be used to obtain parameters such as velocity of detonation, C-J pressure, volume of explosion products, power index, temperature of explosion and oxygen balance of HEMs. The code has been developed in Visual Basic having enhanced Windows environment. This software namely LOTUSES 1.3 is an updated version of the earlier ones namely LOTUSES 1.1 and 1.2 which do not cater for the calculation of heat of formation and temperature of explosion of HEMs. LOTUSES 1.3 is, therefore, a totally integrated software for computing most of the vital parameters of HEMs requiring mainly the molecular structural information of an explosive under consideration.

Energy-Generating Resources↗
PubMed2004

Experimental evidence for apparent competition in a tropical forest food web.

The herbivorous insects of tropical forests constitute some of the most diverse communities of living organisms. For this reason it has been difficult to discover the degree to which these communities are structured, and by what processes. Interspecific competition for resources does occur, but its contemporary importance is limited because most pairs of potentially competing insects feed on different host plants. An alternative way in which species can interact is through shared natural enemies, a process called apparent competition. Despite extensive theoretical discussion there are few field demonstrations of apparent competition, and none in hyper-diverse tropical communities. Here, we experimentally removed two species of herbivore from a community of leaf-mining insects in a tropical forest. We predicted that other species that share natural enemies with the two removed species would experience lower parasitism and have higher population densities in treatment compared with control sites. In both cases (on removal of a dipteran and a coleopteran leaf-miner species) we found significantly lower parasitism, and in one case (removal of the dipteran) we found significantly higher abundance a year after the manipulation. Our results suggest that apparent competition may be important in structuring tropical insect communities.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

Class matters: U.S. versus U.K. measures of occupational disparities in access to health services and health status in the 2000 U.S. National Health Interview Survey.

To inform current debates over whether occupational class is causally linked to health inequities, the authors used data from the 2000 U.S. National Health Interview Survey to compare occupational disparities in access to health services, socioeconomic resources, and health status, using (1) the United Kingdom's new National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification (NS-SEC), premised on type of labor contract (salaried vs. hourly wage) and class position (employer, self-employed, supervisory and non-supervisory employee), and (2) the conventional U.S. occupational categories, premised on status and skill. Analyses included all working-age adults (age 25 to 64) for whom data on occupation and race/ethnicity were available (N = 22,500). Risk of inadequate access to health services, poverty, and low education were two times greater for persons in NS-SEC class 5 versus class 1, compared with blue-collar versus white-collar, and for both measures persons with the worst health status were in jobs that afforded the least access to health care. Controlling for earned income and workplace health insurance markedly reduced health service disparities, especially for the NS-SEC measure, thereby implying structural characteristics of jobs are causally relevant for resources and benefits necessary to address health inequities in the United States.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Energy recovery from New York City municipal solid wastes.

This work was part of a major study that examined the policy and technology implications of alternatives for managing the municipal solid wastes (MSW) of New York City. At this time, of the 4.1 million metric tons of MSW collected by the City annually, 16.6% are recycled, 12.4% are combusted in Waste-to-Energy (WTE) plants, and the remaining 71% are landfilled. Despite the heterogeneity of organic materials in MSW, the composite molecular structure can be approximated by the organic compound C6H10O4. A formula was derived that allows the prediction of the heating value of MSW as a function of moisture and glass/metal content and compares well with experimentally derived values. The performance of a leading Waste-to-Energy plant that utilises suspension firing of shredded MSW, processes one million tons of MSW per year, and generates a net of 610 kWh/metric ton was examined. The results of this study showed that WTE processing of the MSW reduces fossil fuel consumption and is environmentally superior to landfilling.

Conservation of Natural Resources↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Teaching development and professional identity in nursing: the system of concepts as a mediator in learning].

The focus of this study is characterisation of the representations socially constituted about the concepts "Nursing" and "Nursing and context". The interpretative mental schemes were sequentially configured during the Graduation course starting from the written answers supplied by students to the following questions: "How do you judge Nursing?" and "What is the relation between the profession and social context? "We have used interpretation schemes based on the contain analysis. As a result, we have identified a peculiar development of schemes formed by means of structures that were involved with forming system and used system of human resources as reference which promote distinct perspectives of professional performance. The components nucleuses of each stage of conception expressed the logical structure which were incorporated to subsequent construction, that configures a evolution determined by selective adhesion of students to the graduation or to the practice field. There has been a movement alongside to those systems resulting from discrepancy between the experience and personal schemes.

Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate↗
PubMed2026

Genomic population structure, antimicrobial susceptibility, and clinical features of Mycobacterium xenopi isolates, Frankfurt, Germany, 1995-2020.

Mycobacterium xenopi causes non-tuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease (NTM-PD) that is difficult to treat. However, data on the genomic population structure, antimicrobial susceptibility, and the clinical significance of this pathogen remain scarce. We analyzed 76 clinical M. xenopi isolates from 70 patients collected between 1995 and 2020 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. All isolates underwent phenotypic drug susceptibility testing and whole-genome sequencing. Cluster analysis, including isolates from this study and all hitherto available high-quality M. xenopi genome data sets in the Sequence Read Archive (n = 11), was performed by core genome multilocus sequence typing. In our cohort, only 26.5% of patients met criteria for clinically relevant NTM-PD. Phylogenetic analysis identified three large hospital-associated clusters (≤10 allelic difference), each involving between 7 and 20 patients and persisting for over 18 years, suggesting prolonged transmission chains or a common environmental source. We also defined three major clades (≤50 allelic difference), two of which contained isolates from the United Kingdom. Clofazimine and guideline-recommended antimycobacterial agents showed good in vitro efficacy, except rifampicin, with 23.6% resistance. This study represents a major expansion of M. xenopi genomic resources and provides insights into the genomic population structure, phenotypic susceptibility, and clinical characteristics of M. xenopi. Guideline-recommended antimycobacterials show good in vitro activity, while clofazimine may be a valuable addition to M. xenopi therapy. The identified clusters underscore the need for further investigation into transmission dynamics and globally successful clones.IMPORTANCEMycobacterium xenopi is an increasingly recognized opportunistic lung pathogen that is difficult to treat. Infections often occur in patients with pre-existing health conditions and can present substantial diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. A deeper understanding of its genetic diversity and resistance mechanisms is essential for optimal patient management and for clarifying potential transmission routes. By analyzing 76 whole-genome sequences together with detailed clinical information and phenotypic drug-susceptibility data, this study substantially expands the available genomic repertoire for M. xenopi. While clinical relevance was limited in our cohort, most guideline-recommended antimicrobial agents showed good efficacy in vitro. The detection of closely related strains might point toward a common environmental source of infection. These findings highlight the need for continued surveillance and provide a comprehensive foundation that supports more accurate monitoring, improved understanding of disease behavior, and future investigations into M. xenopi pathogenicity.

Humans↗
PubMed2005

Shared care with task delegation to nurses for type 2 diabetes: prospective observational study.

BACKGROUND: To study the effects of two different structured shared care interventions, tailored to local needs and resources, in an unselected patient population with type 2 diabetes mellitus. METHODS: A three-year prospective observational study of two interventions and standard care. The interventions involved extensive (A) or limited (B) task delegation from general practitioners to hospital-liaised nurses specialised in diabetes and included a diabetes register, structured recall, facilitated generalist-specialist communication, audit and feedback, patient-specific reminders, and emphasised patient education. The target population consisted of 2660 patients with type 2 diabetes treated in the primary care setting. Patients who were terminally ill or who had been diagnosed with dementia were excluded from the study. RESULTS: The participation rates were high (90%) for patients, and none of the 64 GPs discontinued their participation in the study. Longitudinal analyses showed significant improvements in quality indicators for both intervention groups (process parameters and achieved target values on the individual patient level); in standard care, performance remained stable or deteriorated. Both patients and caregivers appeared satisfied with the project. CONCLUSION: This study shows that structured shared care with task delegation to nurses, targeted at a large unselected general practice population, is feasible and can positively affect the quality of care for patients with type 2 diabetes.

Aged↗
PubMed2004

A stage structured predator-prey model and its dependence on maturation delay and death rate.

Many of the existing models on stage structured populations are single species models or models which assume a constant resource supply. In reality, growth is a combined result of birth and death processes, both of which are closely linked to the resource supply which is dynamic in nature. From this basic standpoint, we formulate a general and robust predator-prey model with stage structure with constant maturation time delay (through-stage time delay) and perform a systematic mathematical and computational study. Our work indicates that if the juvenile death rate (through-stage death rate) is nonzero, then for small and large values of maturation time delays, the population dynamics takes the simple form of a globally attractive steady state. Our linear stability work shows that if the resource is dynamic, as in nature, there is a window in maturation time delay parameter that generates sustainable oscillatory dynamics.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

[Cost-of-illness study in patients suffering from atopic eczema in Germany].

BACKGROUND: Atopic eczema is one of the most common skin diseases. In Germany, the economic burden is estimated to be EUR 1.2-3.5 billion yearly. The aim of this study was to show the resource utilization and costs for outpatient care and the out-of-pocket expenses for the patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This study was a multi-center, retrospective and prospective cost-of-illness study. Patient characteristics and data on resource utilization were collected with a semi-structured patient questionnaire and by chart abstraction. 193 patients filled in the patient questionnaire; data from 169 patients were obtained by chart abstraction. RESULTS: Average direct medical costs of a disease flare were EUR 123 per patient. Average annual total costs were EUR 1,425 per patient, increasing with severity from EUR 956 (mild) to EUR 2,068 (severe). CONCLUSION: Prolongation of flare-free time and reduction in severity are not only desirable for the patients but also of economic interest.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

IMGT databases, web resources and tools for immunoglobulin and T cell receptor sequence analysis, http://imgt.cines.fr.

IMGT, the international ImMunoGeneTics database((R)) (http://imgt.cines.fr), is a high-quality integrated information system specializing in immunoglobulins (IG), T cell receptors (TR) and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) of human and other vertebrates, created in 1989, by LIGM, at the Université Montpellier II, CNRS, Montpellier, France. IMGT provides a common access to standardized data which include nucleotide and protein sequences, oligonucleotide primers, gene maps, genetic polymorphisms, specificities, 2D and 3D structures. IMGT includes several databases (IMGT/LIGM-DB, IMGT/3Dstructure-DB, IMGT/HLA-DB), Web resources ('IMGT Marie-Paule page') and interactive tools (IMGT/V-QUEST, IMGT/JunctionAnalysis). IMGT expertly annotated data and tools described in this paper are particularly useful for the analysis of the IG and TR rearrangements in leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma, and in translocations involving the antigen receptor loci. IMGT is freely available at http://imgt.cines.fr.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2006

[Evaluation of the organizational structure of HIV/AIDS outpatient care in Brazil].

OBJECTIVE: In the context of universal access to antiretroviral treatment, the results of the Brazilian AIDS Program will depend on the quality of the care provided. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the healthcare provided by outpatient services for the treatment of AIDS patients. METHODS: The present study was carried out in seven Brazilian States between 2001 and 2002. We evaluated the quality of the care provided to AIDS patients from the standpoint of resource availability and care process organization. A questionnaire comprising 112 structured questions addressing these aspects was sent to 336 services. RESULTS: Response rate was 95.8% (322). Greater adequacy is seen for indicators of resource availability than for those of work organization. The supply of antiretroviral medication is sufficient in 95.5% of services. CD4 and viral load tests are available at adequate amounts in 59 and 41% of services, respectively. In 90.4% of services there is at least one non-medical professional (psychologist, nurse, or social worker). As to work organization, 80% scheduled the date but not the time of medical appointments; 40.4% scheduled more than 10 appointments per period; 17% did not have exclusive managers; and 68.6% did not hold systematic staff meetings. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that, in addition to ensuring the more homogeneous distribution of resources, the program must invest in the training and dissemination of care management skills, as confirmed by the results of care process organization.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Drug information management through the intranet of a hospital center].

OBJECTIVE: This paper describes the methodology used for the implementation and validation of a network resource incorporated to the intranet of the Hospital, in order to retain and disseminate information from the Drug Information Center (DIC) of a pharmacy service in a hospital center. METHOD: A working group designed the structure, contents, memory needs, priority of access for users and a quality assessment questionnaire. RESULTS: The resource developed by the working group had a capacity of 70 Gb and its structure was based on HTML documents, including files with different format and 12 theme areas. Two levels of priority of access were established depending on the user and two persons were in charge of the resource. The questionnaire was delivered after three months of use. Sixty nine per cent of the users regarded the resource as very useful and 31%, as useful. The final structure, according to the results of the survey, had 11 theme areas. CONCLUSIONS: The use of the hospital Intranet in order to include and organize DIC information can be very simple and economic. Furthermore, the involvement of all the users in its design and structure can facilitate the practical use of this tool and improve its quality.

Computer Communication Networks↗
PubMed2003

EMERGY-based environmental systems assessment of a multi-purpose temperate mixed-forest watershed of the southern Appalachian Mountains, USA.

Emergy (with an 'm') synthesis was used to assess the balance between nature and humanity and the equity among forest outcomes of a US Forest Service ecosystem management demonstration project on the Wine Spring Creek watershed, a high-elevation (1600 m), temperate forest located in the southern Appalachian mountains of North Carolina, USA. EM embraces a holistic perspective, accounting for the multiple temporal and spatial scales of forest processes and public interactions, to balance the ecological, economic, and social demands placed on land resources. Emergy synthesis is a modeling tool that allows the structure and function of forest ecosystems to be quantified in common units (solar emergy-joules, sej) for easy and meaningful comparison, determining 'system-value' for forcing factors, components, and processes based on the amount of resources required to develop and sustain them, whether they are money, material, energy, or information. The Environmental Loading Ratio (ELR), the units of solar emergy imported into the watershed via human control per unit of indigenous, natural solar emergy, was determined to be 0.42, indicating that the load on the natural environment was not ecologically damaging and that excess ecological capacity existed for increasing non-ecological activities (e.g. timbering, recreation) to achieve an ELR of 1.0 (perfect ecological-economic balance). Three forest outcomes selected to represent the three categories of desired sustainability (ecological, economic, and social) were evaluated in terms of their solar emergy flow to measure outcome equity. Direct economic contribution was an order of magnitude less (224 x 10(12)solar emergy-joules (sej) ha(-1)) than the ecological and social contributions, which were provided at annual rates of 3083 and 2102 x 10(12)sejha(-1), respectively. Emergy synthesis was demonstrated to holistically integrate and quantify the interconnections of a coupled nature-human system allowing the goals of ecological balance and outcome equity to be measured quantitatively.

Appalachian Region↗
PubMed1999

Resource partition history and evolutionary specialization of subunits in complex systems.

Specialization for part of the resources available is a common adaptation leading to diversification in biological systems. In complex ecological communities, the history of diversification of parts of a system correlates with the structure of the system in present times. Abundances and sequences of resource partition of species expected by a sequential broken stick model are compared with observed abundances of species and their sequences of evolutionary divergence. Where resources are abundant, first resource partitions correspond to most ancient speciations, and last to recent speciations. The inverse is true when resources are scarce, agreeing with the occupation of extreme habitats by recent species. Diverging species seem to specialize by dividing the niche of common ancestors. Similar trends exist inside genera as well as between families, suggesting similar patterns in diversification and specialization at other levels of biological organization, such as evolution of functional complexes of macromolecules and organs embryogenesis.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Regional variation in physician practice pattern: an examination of technical and cost efficiency for treating sinusitis.

OBJECTIVE: An examination of the physician efficiency and resulting cost patterns by region. DATA SOURCES: Virginia Medicaid sinusitis related claims for 1993 were aggregated to physician level (n = 178), and Area Resources File for 1993 was used to identify regions for evaluation. STUDY DESIGN: The best practice performance in the usage of five resources (i.e., primary care physician visits, referral services, emergency room visits, prescriptions, laboratory tests) was identified using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Five regions in Virginia were identified according to regional planning to evaluate the variation in efficiency across these regions. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Inefficient physicians consumed significantly more resources and were 48% more costly than efficient physicians. Substantial regional variation was found and mainly attributed to the differences in use of prescriptions and laboratory procedures. Urban-rural discrepancy may explain part of the variation. CONCLUSIONS: As this study reveals the existence of substantial variation in physician efficiency, actions should be taken to minimize the variation that is more affected by personal and structural factors. For example, information on efficient use of resources and corresponding patient outcomes can be disseminated to the attending physicians. Educational workshops can be conducted to allow sharing of experience between efficient and inefficient physicians. Efforts should also be directed to help inefficient physicians to adhere to practice guidelines.

Benchmarking↗
PubMed1981

The United States Veterans Administration health care system as a model of regionalization.

The regionalization of health services is fundamentally based on a system of allocation of resources. The VA appears to have adopted the philosophies of regionalization by forming a network of 28 medical care districts that share the system budgeting responsibility. This approach tends to ignore population aspects, specifically: the needs of the veterans, the interplay of medical school affiliation, the internal effects of incentives for high inpatient censuses, the effect of district leadership. A fourfold research plan is suggested, including an intense investigation of (1) the veteran population, (2) the decision-making process in resource allocation, (3) the relationship of the Va to its environment, especially the health care structure of the communities where facilities operate, and (4) the problems associated with health delivery planning and resource allocation in general.

Cost Allocation↗
PubMed2000

PHEXdb, a locus-specific database for mutations causing X-linked hypophosphatemia.

X-linked hypophosphatemia (XLH) is a dominant disorder of phosphate (Pi) homeostasis characterized by growth retardation, rachitic and osteomalacic bone disease, hypophosphatemia, and renal defects in Pi reabsorption and vitamin D metabolism. The gene responsible for XLH was identified by positional cloning and designated PHEX (formerly PEX) to depict a Phosphate regulating gene with homology to Endopeptidases on the X chromosome. To date, 131 mutations in the PHEX gene have been reported. We undertook to centralize information on mutations in the PHEX gene by establishing a database search tool, PHEXdb (http://data.mch.mcgill.ca/phexdb). This site is dedicated to the collection and distribution of information on PHEX mutations, and is accessible to the scientific community. PHEXdb provides a submission form to allow the addition of newly identified mutations in the PHEX gene. Users can search the database by mutation, phenotype, and authors who have published or submitted mutations. The PHEXdb home page includes links to information pages, which refer to recent publications on PHEX, XLH, and murine Hyp and Gy homologues, and to other web pages relevant to XLH. This resource will facilitate the identification of PHEX structure-function relationships and phenotype-genotype correlations.

DNA Mutational Analysis↗
PubMed2006

Ligand-template directed assembly: an efficient approach for the supramolecular encapsulation of transition-metal catalysts.

Supramolecular encapsulation of small guest molecules inside well-defined cavities of molecular capsules has witnessed broad attention because of the unusual behaviour of these systems. The molecular capsules generally consist of rigid complementary building blocks that are held together by multiple, complementary non-covalent interactions. Interestingly, it has been shown that chemical transformations can take place inside these capsules and in some examples the reaction is accelerated, while in other cases otherwise instable intermediates could be isolated in the capsulated form. Many reactions of interest require a transition-metal (TM) catalyst, and the creation of new capsules in which such catalysts are implemented within the structure is thus required for the development of resourceful type of catalyst systems for these processes. In this concept article we will discuss new strategies to arrive at such systems, with a focus on a ligand-templated approach. In this approach, multifunctional ligands are used as templates for the encapsulation process by supramolecular building blocks and concomitantly for the formation of TM complexes that are active in catalytic processes. The obtained encapsulated transition-metal catalysts show unusual reactivity and selectivity behaviour that will be discussed in detail.

Journal Article↗