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Nederlands Tijdschrift Voor Geneeskunde Oct 2023Older patients who experience a fall may be admitted to hospital without a strict medical necessity. An unexplained fall incident requires thorough history taking and,...
Older patients who experience a fall may be admitted to hospital without a strict medical necessity. An unexplained fall incident requires thorough history taking and, if necessary, further investigation into the cause of the fall. Possible underlying multimorbidity must also be examined to prevent recurrence and complications. Admission to hospital without medical necessity is undesirable, but often unavoidable due to a lack of alternatives for patients who can no longer care for themselves in an acute situation. Reducing this unnecessary health care consumption is only possible if the options for care outside the hospital are expanded. In addition to regional cooperation to gain insight into available home care and places to stay, the use of unlabeled beds in care homes for further assessment of care needs and triage could help resolve this issue. In this way we can work together to provide the right care in the right place.
Topics: Humans; Hospitalization; Triage; Home Care Services
PubMed: 37850619
DOI: No ID Found -
Analytical Methods : Advancing Methods... Feb 2023The ability to perform sensitive, real-time, , multiplex chemical analysis is indispensable for diverse applications such as human health monitoring, food safety...
The ability to perform sensitive, real-time, , multiplex chemical analysis is indispensable for diverse applications such as human health monitoring, food safety testing, forensic analysis, environmental sensing, and homeland security. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is an effective tool to offer the ability by virtue of its high sensitivity and rapid label-free signal detection as well as the availability of portable Raman spectrometers. Unfortunately, the practical utility of SERS is limited because it generally requires sample collection and preparation, namely, collecting a sample from an object of interest and placing the sample on top of a SERS substrate to perform a SERS measurement. In fact, not all analytes can satisfy this requirement because the sample collection and preparation process may be undesirable, laborious, difficult, dangerous, costly, or time-consuming. Here we introduce "Place & Play SERS" based on an ultrathin, flexible, stretchable, adhesive, biointegratable gold-deposited polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) nanomesh substrate that enables placing the substrate on top of an object of interest and performing a SERS measurement of the object by epi-excitation without the need for touching, destroying, and sampling it. Specifically, we characterized the sensitivity of the gold/PVA nanomesh substrate in the Place & Play SERS measurement scheme and then used the scheme to conduct SERS measurements of both wet and dry objects under nearly real-world conditions. To show the practical utility of Place & Play SERS, we demonstrated two examples of its application: food safety testing and forensic analysis. Our results firmly verified the new measurement scheme of SERS and are expected to extend the potential of SERS by opening up untapped applications of sensitive, real-time, multiplex chemical analysis.
PubMed: 36762487
DOI: 10.1039/d2ay02090d -
Journal of Interpersonal Violence Aug 2021The concept of place can be used to address intimate partner violence (IPV). Place, to geographers, is a concept that helps explain how human experiences shape a sense...
The concept of place can be used to address intimate partner violence (IPV). Place, to geographers, is a concept that helps explain how human experiences shape a sense of meaning surrounding locations. Using a grounded theory approach and qualitative interviews with service providers, we present a case study exploring how Brantford social service agencies apply placemaking strategies and take advantage of the elements of place to reduce the harm associated with IPV. Six themes arose in the interviews. Home, the women's shelter, courts, and schools were found to represent unique areas where placemaking strategies help to reduce harm. Hair salons emerged as a unique place to reach victims, whereas prison was a place that encouraged offenders to make changes. These themes show the concept of place has the potential to add insights into how IPV can be reduced and the traumas facing victims addressed.
Topics: Criminals; Female; Humans; Intimate Partner Violence; Social Work
PubMed: 30894047
DOI: 10.1177/0886260519836782 -
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters Mar 2021We consider robotic pick-and-place of partially visible, novel objects, where goal placements are non-trivial, e.g., tightly packed into a bin. One approach is (a) use...
We consider robotic pick-and-place of partially visible, novel objects, where goal placements are non-trivial, e.g., tightly packed into a bin. One approach is (a) use object instance segmentation and shape completion to model the objects and (b) use a regrasp planner to decide grasps and places displacing the models to their goals. However, it is critical for the planner to account for uncertainty in the perceived models, as object geometries in unobserved areas are just guesses. We account for perceptual uncertainty by incorporating it into the regrasp planner's cost function. We compare seven different costs. One of these, which uses neural networks to estimate probability of grasp and place stability, consistently outperforms uncertainty-unaware costs and evaluates faster than Monte Carlo sampling. On a real robot, the proposed cost results in successfully packing objects tightly into a bin 7.8% more often versus the commonly used minimum-number-of-grasps cost.
PubMed: 33834114
DOI: 10.1109/lra.2021.3060669 -
Social Science & Medicine (1982) Aug 2020Rural men's mental health has been described by some scholars as a "silent crisis." Rural men report lower levels of stress and depression and, paradoxically, much...
Rural men's mental health has been described by some scholars as a "silent crisis." Rural men report lower levels of stress and depression and, paradoxically, much higher rates of suicide and substance use. Research has linked rural men's silence to dominant forms of masculinity with limited consideration of how masculinities are changing within and across rural places. In this article, we draw together literature on changing masculinities, rural places, and rural men's mental health to explore how, where, and with whom rural men talk about mental health; as well as their perspectives of what it means to be a healthy man. To collect in-depth information about men's perceptions and experiences of mental health and masculinity, the study employed semi-structured interviews with 23 adult male participants (aged 20-79 years) in Manitoba, Canada. Men in the study described the complex dynamics of talking about mental health with spouses, other family members, friends, and in the community. Many men wanted to talk about their mental health and some men actively developed relationships to support "talking about it;" however, they also identified competition, gossip, and stigma in relation to talking about mental health in the community. Most men in the study resisted hegemonic masculinities and some men aspired to more balanced, relational, and caring ideals. Men in the study identified community and environmental challenges to talking about mental health and changing masculinities in rural places. We argue that addressing the so-called silent crisis of rural men's mental health requires greater attention to community change and rural development to support relationships and places to talk about mental health.
Topics: Adult; Aged; Canada; Humans; Male; Manitoba; Masculinity; Men's Health; Mental Health; Middle Aged; Suicide; Young Adult
PubMed: 32534303
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113099 -
International Journal of Biometeorology Nov 2023The purpose of this study was to determine climatologically suitable places to raise feedlot cattle in Türkiye. The Comprehensive Climate Index (CCI), a model that...
The purpose of this study was to determine climatologically suitable places to raise feedlot cattle in Türkiye. The Comprehensive Climate Index (CCI), a model that enables one to quantify beef cattle performance based on environmental conditions (temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, solar radiation) at any time in the year, was used to predict dry matter intake (DMI), average daily gain (ADG), and feed efficiency (FE) of feedlot cattle. Thirty years of daily average temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed values were obtained for 15 cities, namely, Antalya, Balikesir, Çorum, Diyarbakir, Edirne, Elazig, Erzincan, Erzurum, Eskisehir, Isparta, Izmir, Kayseri, Konya, Sivas, and Van. Measured daily solar radiation values were not available and values were calculated based on a formula that takes hemisphere, latitude, and day of the year into account. Since mostly dairy breed calves are placed into a feedlot in Türkiye, the Holstein option in the CCI model was chosen to calculate the maintenance energy requirement. Based on previous feedlot feeding studies conducted in Türkiye, it was assumed that calves would be placed on feed at 250 kg and be marketed at 520 kg, that the diet would have 2600 kcal/kg metabolic energy, and that DMI would be 2.31% of the body weight. Results indicate that cattle raised in Antalya (the hottest place) and Erzurum (the coldest place) had the lowest and highest DMI, respectively (P<0.05). Summer months depressed the DMI of cattle in hotter cities and winter months increased the DMI of cattle in colder cities (P<0.05). Feedlot cattle raised in hotter and colder regions of Türkiye had lower ADG than other places having a more temperate climate (P<0.05). In general, cattle raised in a hotter climate had better FE than those raised in a cold climate (P<0.05).
PubMed: 37646866
DOI: 10.1007/s00484-023-02541-0 -
Lancet (London, England) Jul 2021In Palestine, the ongoing Israeli occupation shapes and endangers all spaces that are used by children in their everyday lives. In this study, Palestinian children were...
Spatial agency among children living in the Dheisheh refugee camp in the West Bank: a qualitative investigation of space and place as risk and protection factors from political and military violence.
BACKGROUND
In Palestine, the ongoing Israeli occupation shapes and endangers all spaces that are used by children in their everyday lives. In this study, Palestinian children were considered active agents in their lives, both affecting and being affected by the world around them. Our research aimed to explore the role of resources, competencies, and attitudes of spatial agency in the lives of children in the occupied Palestinian territory. Specifically, we investigated how children use domestic and social spaces to actively maintain positive function and wellbeing despite an environmental backdrop of military violence.
METHODS
A convenience sample of 29 children aged 7-13 years (mean 9·66, SD 1·63) attending the primary school in Dheisheh refugee camp, West Bank, was selected. 17% (5 of 29) were boys and 83% (24) were girls. All children were asked to draw and describe a map of safe and unsafe places in the camp. Ten children were asked to continue the conversation outdoors using a "walk-along" technique, showing familiar places and narrating their experiences. Data were collected in April, 2018. All of the children's narratives were audiotaped, transcribed, and translated by a local bilingual researcher. Thematic content analysis was applied. Children who have been diagnosed with a physical or psychological disease were excluded from the sample. The study was approved by the ethical board of the University of Milano-Bicocca. Written informed consent was obtained from children and their families, who were informed of the scope of the research.
FINDINGS
Five themes emerged: using the mosque and the school to access spiritual and educational resources for subjective wellbeing; internal spaces as a safe place for growth and development (including domestic spaces to experience a sense of protection and security); community spaces to have fun and play an active part in the social and political life of the camp; enjoying the outdoor spaces of the camp despite environmental dangers and the violence of the occupation. Some children perceived risks and lack of safety in their lives. Children's narratives made plain the ways in which their ability to mobilise functioning resources (such as playing and socialising) were constrained by military and community violence, and environmental degradation. Overall, social and external places as spaces to restore a sense of normality and happiness were valorised more by boys than by girls, and girls were more active in internal spaces than in external spaces.
INTERPRETATION
Spatial agency is a key factor that potentiates wellbeing in children. Psychosocial interventions should aim to promote children's participation in transforming and reshaping spaces and places for their own protection and to improve the psychological wellbeing of the community.
FUNDING
None.
PubMed: 34227953
DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)01507-5 -
The Canadian Geographer. Geographe... 2022Eldercare and places of eldercare have been radicalized with the advent of COVID-19. Growing concerns about the safety of long-term care homes, coupled with the...
Eldercare and places of eldercare have been radicalized with the advent of COVID-19. Growing concerns about the safety of long-term care homes, coupled with the continuation of stay-at-home orders, mean that carers are reconstructing new meanings and places of care provision. Increasingly for many Canadians, the home is rapidly becoming the nexus of one's domestic, work, and caregiving world. By interviewing working carers (n = 5) living throughout Canada, this study investigates the changing meanings of home as a place for care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing upon lived experiences of informal carers engaged in the workforce, we observe a blurring of spatial and temporal boundaries between places of work and places of care. Specifically, we note that the integration of carescapes and workscapes into a single domain presents both benefits and tensions to carers, such as increased schedule flexibility and disruptions at work, respectively. Parallel to this, we also explore how previous places of safety and respite, such as independent senior residences and long-term care homes, are perceived as sites of danger and anxiety due to the vulnerability of seniors to COVID-19. This dynamic is likely to continue well into the future, as long-term care homes fall out of favour and carers adopt a more integrated approach to caregiving within their daily lives.
PubMed: 35909794
DOI: 10.1111/cag.12740 -
Botanical Studies Jan 2020Hydraulically efficient xylem was evolved in the vascular plants as an apomorphy of the group. Main xylem components involved in water conduction are tracheid and...
BACKGROUND
Hydraulically efficient xylem was evolved in the vascular plants as an apomorphy of the group. Main xylem components involved in water conduction are tracheid and vessel. Vessels, in which two ends are perforated, constituted major evolutionary innovation within vascular plants, presumably providing more efficient solute conduction. Not all vascular plants have vessels. In pteridophytes vessels are present only in seven genera. The contention lies regarding the presence and distribution of vessel in pteridophytes are the impulsive force of this investigation.
METHODS
Tracheary elements are isolated following the standard maceration technique, then hand-razor cut longisections are passed through the aqueous alcohol grades and air-dried samples are placed on stub, sputter coated with gold and examined with SEM.
RESULTS
Two thelypteroid ferns viz. Ampelopteris prolifera (Retz.) Copel. and Thelypteris interrupta (Willd.) K. Iwats. are having vessel elements in root, rhizome, stipe, rachis, primary vein/costa, root-rhizome and rhizome-petiole junction i.e. through entire vascular connection of the plant body though the vessel network is interrupted and joined with parenchyma at the end in some places. Presence of vessel elements in the costa of pteridophytic taxa is first time reported by this study. Vessel end-walls are obliquely placed (root, rhizome, and stipe) but oblique to horizontal orientation is noticed in the primary vein/costa. End-walls are with simple, intermediate and compound perforation plates observed through SEM imaging as well as with tissue specific stain. Studied taxa are grown either in terrestrial microclimate of two contrasting environments i.e. sun and shade (A. prolifera) or in open swampy land (T. interrupta) with moderate to highly disturbed places as rapid proliferating populations showing interpopulation variations of tracheary elements length-width(s) and vessel end-wall length-width(s).
CONCLUSION
Vessel elements are present throughout the entire vascular connections of the plant body of A. prolifera (Retz.) Copel. and T. interrupta (Willd.) K. Iwats. Interpopulation variation of tracheary elements length-width(s) and vessel end-wall length width(s) are noticed. Till date only seven genera of pteridophytes are reported for the presence of vessel and these two genera are the new addition with the previous.
PubMed: 31989333
DOI: 10.1186/s40529-020-0281-y -
BMC Medical Imaging Sep 2022Calcaneal fractures, especially those involving the articular surface, should be anatomically reduced as much as possible. Fixing the fracture by placing a screw into...
INTRODUCTION
Calcaneal fractures, especially those involving the articular surface, should be anatomically reduced as much as possible. Fixing the fracture by placing a screw into the sustentaculum tali from the lateral side of the calcaneus is generally considered to be the key to successful surgery. However, due to the limited visibility during surgery, it is not easy to place screws into the sustentaculum tali accurately. The purpose of this study was to explore a new fluoroscopy method for the sustentaculum tali and verify the value of this method in improving screw placement accuracy.
METHODS
In this study, a total of 42 human foot and ankle specimens were dissected and measured. The shape and position of the sustentaculum tali were observed, and the influence of adjacent bones on imaging findings was analysed. The axial and frontal X-ray fluoroscopy method to view the sustentaculum tali was formulated, and the appropriate projection angle through anatomical and image measurements was explored. Thirty specimens were randomly selected for screw placement, and the direction of the screw was dynamically adjusted under the new imaging method. The success rate of sustentacular screw placement was evaluated.
RESULTS
The anteversion angles of the sustentaculum tali were 30.81 ± 2.21° and 30.68 ± 2.86° by anatomical and imaging measurements, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in the anteversion angle between the two measurement methods. Harris heel views should be obtained at 30° to identify the sustentaculum tali on axial X-ray images. Frontal X-ray imaging was performed perpendicular to this projection angle. Through frontal and axial X-ray imaging, the position and shape of the sustentaculum tali can be clearly observed, and these factors are seldom affected by adjacent bones. Under the new fluoroscopy method, the screws were placed from the anterior region of the lateral wall of the calcaneus to the sustentaculum tali. A total of 60 screws were placed in the 30 specimens; of these, 54 screws were in good position, 2 screws penetrated the cortical bone, and 4 screws did not enter the sustentaculum tali. The success rate of sustentacular screw placement was 90% (54/60).
CONCLUSIONS
Axial and frontal X-ray images of the sustentaculum tali can clearly show the shape of the structure, which improves sustentacular screw placement accuracy.
Topics: Bone Screws; Calcaneus; Fluoroscopy; Fracture Fixation, Internal; Fractures, Bone; Humans; X-Rays
PubMed: 36175879
DOI: 10.1186/s12880-022-00898-z