Patient views of adverse events: comparisons of self-reported healthcare staff attitudes with disclosure of accident information

In the present paper, we report results of surveys in 2003 in Japan and Denmark about patients' views about adverse events, focusing on the actions of healthcare staff involved in a medical accident. Results show that patients were more likely to indicate negative expectations to a doctor's reactions after a medical accident when asked in general terms than when asked in relation to concrete case stories. When asked in general terms, 66% (47%) of Japanese (Danish) respondents expected that doctors sometimes hold back on providing information to patients about a medical accident, while 37% (7%) did so when asked about a concrete, mild-outcome case. We examine some possible reasons for the relatively high level of distrust of Japanese patients, and we discuss whether the seemingly lower level of disclosure in Japan than in Denmark and the negative stories in the Japanese press may have an impact. We also suggest some implications for introducing a patient-centred or customer-centred approach to risk management in healthcare and other domains.     

Detecting and discriminating the direction of motion of luminance and colour gratings

Human observers were required to discriminate the direction of motion of vertically moving, 1 c/deg luminance and colour gratings. The gratings had different contrasts and moved at temporal frequencies between 0.5 and 32 Hz. Sensitivity [the reciprocal of the contrast at which performance reached 75% correct in a temporal two-alternative forced-choice (2 AFC) discrimination task] was a band-pass function of temporal frequency for luminance gratings, and a low-pass function of temporal frequency for colour gratings. Further, when colour contrast was expressed in terms of the modulation in cone excitation produced by the stimulus, sensitivity to colour gratings was greater than sensitivity to luminance gratings at frequencies below 2 Hz. On the other hand, at temporal frequencies above 4 Hz, sensitivity to colour gratings was comparable with sensitivity to luminance gratings of double the temporal frequency. Detection sensitivity was measured for luminance and colour gratings of 1, 4 and 16 Hz. With either colour or luminance gratings, detection thresholds were very similar to those for direction-of-motion discrimination. This result confirms findings of Mullen and Boulton [(1992) Vision Research, 32, 483-488] and Cavanagh and Anstis [(1991) Vision Research, 31, 2109-2148], but is different from that reported by Lindsey and Teller [(1990) Vision Research, 30, 1751-1761] who used a smaller stimulus seen in a parafoveal region and found that motion discrimination thresholds were higher than detection threshold for colour gratings. We repeated our threshold measurements using parafoveal viewing conditions similar to those used by Lindsey and Teller (1990). We found that, although for luminance gratings detection thresholds were very close to direction-discrimination thresholds, for colour gratings, they were lower. The result is in qualitative agreement with Lindsey and Teller (1990). Our results suggest that low-level, or "first-order" motion mechanisms are not as sensitive to chromatic gratings as are colour-detection mechanisms.     

Energy sensitive detection of heavy ions with transition edge calorimeters

Status and results of a research project are reported, which aims at developing calorimetric low temperature detectors for heavy ions. The special conditions for the detection of energetic heavy ions are discussed. The response of an aluminium transition edge calorimeter, operated at about1.5K, to the impact of heavy ions was investigated. The observed energy resolutions E/E=3.9×10^–3for5.9MeV/u ²⁰⁸ Pb-ions, E/E=1.6×10^–3for4.8MeV/u ⁵⁸ Ni-ions and E/E=4.3×10^–3for100MeV/u ²⁰ Ne-ions are most probably not yet limited by the intrinsic detector resolution. The present results already represent an improvement over conventional solid state detectors and ionization chambers.     

Flavonolglykoside der Pflaumen der Species Prunus domestica L. und Prunus salicina Lindley

Zusammenfassung Blätter wie Früchte von 6 SortenPrunus domestica-Pflaumen enthalten hauptsächlich 3-Rutinoside, in geringerer Konzentration 3-Glucoside und 3-Galaktoside von Kämpferol und Quercetin Bowie Quercetin-3-rhamnosid. Dagegen weisen Pflaumen vonPrunus salicina (2 untersuchte Sorten) Kämpferol-3,7-bisrhamnosid und Kämpferol-3-arabinosyl-7-rhamnosid als Hauptflavonole auf. Hierdurch ist eine Unterscheidung beider Arten leicht and sicher mög-lich. Weiterhin konnten inSalicina-Pflaumen Kämpfe-rol-3-rutinosid sowie Quercetin-3-rhamnosid, -xylosid,-glucosid, -galaktosid, --l-arabinofuranosid and -rutinosid, auch Quercetin-7-rhamnosid and Kämpferol-7-glucosid nachgewiesen werden.Die Gesamtgehalte an Flavonolglykosiden lagen bei den untersuchten Pflaumensorten vonPrunus domestica (P. salicina) bei 2500–3340 (7170, 10350) ppm in Blättern and 20–52 (8, 24) in Früchten, jeweils bezogen auf Frischgewicht.

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Flavonol glycosides of plums of the species Prunus domestica L. and Prunus salicina lindley12. Phenolics of fruits

Summary Leaves and fruits from 6 cultivars ofPrunus domestica plums contain mainly 3-rutinosides; in smaller concentrations the 3-glycosides and 3-galactosides of kaempferol and quercetin as well as quercetin-3-rhamnoside are present. On the other hand, in plums ofPrunus salicina (2 examined cultivars) main flavonols are kaempferol-3,7-bisrhamnoside and kaempferol-3arabinosyl-7-rhamnoside. Due to the difference in composition, differentiation of these species will be easy and reliable. Additionally kaempferol-3-rutinoside and quercetin-3-rhamnoside, -xyloside,-glucoside, -galactoside, --l-arabinofuranoside and-rutinoside, and also quercetin-7-rhamnoside and kaempferol-7-glucoside could be detected inP. salicina plums. The total content of flavonol glycosides in the investigated plums ofPrunus domestica (P. salicina) were based on fresh weight about 2500–3340 (7170, 10350) ppm in the leaves and 20–52 (8, 24) ppm in the fruits.

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11. Mitt.: Henning W, Herrmann K (1980) Z Lebensm Unters Forsch 170:433–444

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Auszug aus der Promotionsarbeit von W. Henning: Bestimmung der in Pflaumen, Kirschen, Pfirsichen and Aprikosen vorkommenden Flavonolglykoside unter Anwendung der Hochdruckflüssigkeitschromatographie. Diss. Univ. Hannover 1980     

New directions in fusion magnet development

As part of the ERDA Division of Magnetic Fusion Energy effort to achieve fusion power by the end of the century, superconducting magnet programs were established at several of the national laboratories with the support of numerous industries. Recently, these program goals have been reviewed and modified to reflect new directions in fusion research. The development of superconducting toroidal field coils has been assigned first priority for the Experimental Power Reactor. This effort, centered at ORNL, will have the extensive support of industry, so that large construction capability can be encouraged. Ohmic heating coils for tokamaks promise to be an even more difficult task, and an expanded effort will be initiated as funds become available. Magnets for mirror confinement systems should have the highest fields practical. Accordingly, LLL has been funded to develop multifilamentary niobium-tin for future might experiments. If successful, the material might complement the recent trend toward higher field tokamaks as well. Energy Storage development at LASL is concentrating on inductive storage for 1 msec discharge and a superconducting homopolar generator for 30 msec to 1 sec discharge times. The stainless steel structure is a major cost element of any magnet system. However, recent calculations have shown that a magnetic coil form affects the toroidal field ripple in the EPR by only a few parts in a thousand. Thus, an opportunity exists to characterize and develop less expensive alloys for low temperature magnet structures.     

Isolierung und funktionelle Eigenschaften von Molkenproteinfraktionen

Zusammenfassung Die Fraktionierung von Molkenproteinkonzentrat mit Aceton wurde untersucht. Der pH-Wert und die Lösungsmittelkonzentration, bei der die Fällungen durchgeführt wurden, hatten den größ-ten Einfluß auf die Zusammensetzung von Präcipitaten und Überständen. Im Bereich von 25–33% Aceton (v/v) war eine begrenzte Fraktionierung der Molkenproteine möglich:-Lactalbumin und-Lactoglobulin wurden ausgefällt, während Blutserumalbumin in Lösung blieb. Der pH-Wert (Bereich 4,5–7,0) beeinflulßte neben den Proteinfraktionen auch andere Bestandteile des Molkenkonzentrats. Mit steigendem pH-Wert verringerte sich die Gesamt-N-Ausbeute im Präcipitat und der Gehalt an Calcium nahm zu, gleichzeitig verminderte sich die Resolubilisationsfähigkeit der ausgefällten Niederschläge.

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Isolation and functional properties of whey protein fractions

Summary The fractionation of whey protein concentrate by acetone was investigated. The composition of precipitates and supernates was strongly influenced by pH and acetone concentration during precipitation. A limited fractionation of the whey proteins occurred in the range of 25–33% acetone (v/v):-lactalbumins and-lactoglobulins were precipitated while blood serum albumins remained in solution. The pH value (range 4,5-7,0) influenced also other components of the whey concentrate beside the protein fractions. With increasing pH value the yield of total N in the precipitate decreased whereas the calcium content rose, this was accompanied by a decreased capability to redissolve the precipitates.

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Auszug aus der Dissertation H. A. Mehrens, TU München, 1980Sonderdruckanfragen an: Prof. Dr. H. Klostermeyer (Adresse siehe oben)     

Beyond Good Partition Shapes: An Analysis of Diffusive Graph Partitioning

In this paper we study the prevalent problem of graph partitioning by analyzing the diffusion-based partitioning heuristic Bubble-FOS/C, a key component of a practical successful graph partitioner?(Meyerhenke et al. in J. Parallel Distrib. Comput. 69(9):750?C761, 2009). We begin by studying the disturbed diffusion scheme FOS/C, which computes the similarity measure used in Bubble-FOS/C and is therefore the most crucial component. By relating FOS/C to random walks, we obtain precise characterizations of the behavior of FOS/C on tori and hypercubes. Besides leading to new knowledge on FOS/C (and therefore also on Bubble-FOS/C), these characterizations have been recently used for the analysis of load balancing algorithms?(Berenbrink et al. in Proceedings of the 22nd Annual Symposium on Discrete Algorithms, pp. 429?C439, 2011). We then regard Bubble-FOS/C, which has been shown in previous experiments to produce solutions with good partition shapes and other favorable properties. In this paper we prove that it computes a relaxed solution to an edge cut minimizing binary quadratic program (BQP). This result provides the first substantial theoretical insight why Bubble-FOS/C yields good experimental results in terms of graph partitioning metrics. Moreover, we show that in bisections computed by Bubble-FOS/C, at least one of the two parts is connected. Using the aforementioned relation between FOS/C and random walks, we prove that in vertex-transitive graphs both parts must be connected components.     

Traumatic Stress, Perceived Global Stress, and Life Events: Prospectively Predicting Quality of Life in Breast Cancer Patients.

The authors investigated the relationship between stress at initial cancer diagnosis and treatment and subsequent quality of life (QoL). Women (n = 112) randomized to the assessment-only arm of a clinical trial were initially assessed after breast cancer diagnosis and surgery and then reassessed at 4 months (during adjuvant treatment) and 12 months (postadjuvant treatment). There were 3 types of stress measured: number of stressful life events (K. A. Matthews et al., 1997), cancer-related traumatic stress symptoms (M. J. Horowitz, N. Wilner, & W. Alvarez, 1979), and perceived global stress (S. Cohen, T. Kamarck, & R. Mermelstein, 1983). Using hierarchical multiple regressions, the authors found that stress predicted both psychological and physical QoL (J. E. Ware, K. K. Snow, & M. Kosinski, 2000) at the follow-ups (all ps