TheScientificWorldJournal
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TheScientificWorldJournal · Jan 2014
The societal impact of herpes zoster and postherpetic neuralgia on patients, life partners, and children of patients in Germany.
The aim of this study was to assess the impact of herpes zoster (HZ) and postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) on the daily activities of patients and family members who care for them. Some former patients and family members participated in face-to-face interviews or in a T-group meeting (qualitative phase) and some participated in telephone interviews (quantitative phase). They all expressed feelings of helplessness and frustration mixed with depression, sadness, or rage. ⋯ Although former patients appreciated the psychological and emotional support given by their family members, they underestimated the impact that their disease had on them. Former patients and their family never forgot this illness and its considerable impact on their lives, particularly when PHN occurred. We need to raise the awareness of the general public about the real life impact of HZ and PHN and their often severe, debilitating consequences and the potential benefits from vaccination.
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TheScientificWorldJournal · Jan 2014
Anticoagulation strategies in venovenous hemodialysis in critically ill patients: a five-year evaluation in a surgical intensive care unit.
Renal failure is a common complication among critically ill patients. Timing, dosage, and mode of renal replacement (RRT) are under debate, but also anticoagulation strategies and vascular access interfere with dialysis success. We present a retrospective, five-year evaluation of patients requiring RRT on a multidisciplinary 50-bed surgical intensive care unit of a university hospital with special regard to anticoagulation strategies and vascular access. ⋯ However, patients with bleeding risk and severe organ dysfunction were more likely placed on RAC. Citrate provided longer filter life spans regardless of vascular access site. Attention has to be paid to metabolic disturbances.
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TheScientificWorldJournal · Jan 2014
Evaluating the role of content in subjective video quality assessment.
Video quality as perceived by human observers is the ground truth when Video Quality Assessment (VQA) is in question. It is dependent on many variables, one of them being the content of the video that is being evaluated. ⋯ In this paper, we aim to identify and analyze differences between human cognitive, affective, and conative responses to a set of videos commonly used for VQA and a set of videos specifically chosen to include video content which might affect the judgment of evaluators when perceived video quality is in question. Our findings indicate that considerable differences exist between the two sets on selected factors, which leads us to conclude that videos starring a different type of content than the currently employed ones might be more appropriate for VQA.
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TheScientificWorldJournal · Jan 2014
Exploratory study on the methodology of fast imaging of unilateral stroke lesions by electrical impedance asymmetry in human heads.
Stroke has a high mortality and disability rate and should be rapidly diagnosed to improve prognosis. Diagnosing stroke is not a problem for hospitals with CT, MRI, and other imaging devices but is difficult for community hospitals without these devices. ⋯ In this technique, electrical impedance tomography (EIT) data measured from the undamaged craniocerebral hemisphere (CCH) is regarded as reference data for the remaining EIT data measured from the other CCH for difference imaging to identify the differences in resistivity distribution between the two CCHs. The results of SEIT imaging based on simulation data from the 2D human head finite element model and that from the physical phantom of human head verified this method in detection of unilateral stroke.
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Big Data has gained much attention from the academia and the IT industry. In the digital and computing world, information is generated and collected at a rate that rapidly exceeds the boundary range. Currently, over 2 billion people worldwide are connected to the Internet, and over 5 billion individuals own mobile phones. ⋯ This study also proposes a data life cycle that uses the technologies and terminologies of Big Data. Future research directions in this field are determined based on opportunities and several open issues in Big Data domination. These research directions facilitate the exploration of the domain and the development of optimal techniques to address Big Data.