The process of Retirement Planning Scale (PRePS): Development and validation.

Although a substantial proportion of the western population is approaching retirement age, little is known about how they are preparing for the future. Much attention has been paid to the consumption of educational material and retirement wealth in the present literature, but the process of retirement planning has been ignored. S. L. Friedman and E. K. Scholnick's (1997) theoretical model provided the basis for a comprehensive measure of retirement planning. According to their process theory, individuals develop an understanding of the problem, set goals, make a decision to start preparing, and finally undertake the behaviors needed to fulfill their goals. Fifty-two items were developed to assess each stage of the planning process for financial, health, lifestyle, and psychosocial retirement planning. These were tested on a population sample of 1,449 New Zealanders aged 49–60. Confirmatory factor analysis, bivariate correlations, and hierarchical regression provided support for the valid use of the measure. Necessary antecedents, such as the tendency to look to the future, and locus of control were significantly related to the Process of Retirement Planning Scale (PRePS). The PRePS also outperformed retirement planning measures used in the Health and Retirement Study (F. T. Juster & R. Suzman, 1995) after controlling for socioeconomic and psychological variables. This measure will enable social policy makers to determine which stages of retirement planning require support and intervention. The PRePS will also help to determine which domains of retirement planning predict well-being in later life and the factors which differentiate those who are planning from those who are not. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multiple pulmonary aneurysms secondary to Hughes-Stovin syndrome: demonstration by MR angiography

We report a case of a 41-year-old patient with multiple pulmonary aneurysms secondary to Hughes-Stovin syndrome. Conventional pulmonary angiography could not be performed, because thrombus in both the inferior and superior vena cavae prevented catheter passage. Contrast-enhanced three-dimensional (3D) MR angiography (MRA) showed two segmental pulmonary aneurysms in the right lung. The affected segments of the lung were resected successfully, predicated on the MRA findings.     

Heliostat field optimization: A new computationally efficient model and biomimetic layout

In this article, a new model and a biomimetic pattern for heliostat field layout optimization are introduced. The model, described and validated herein, includes a detailed calculation of the annual average optical efficiency accounting for cosine losses, shading and blocking, aberration and atmospheric attenuation. The model is based on a discretization of the heliostats and can be viewed as ray tracing with a carefully selected distribution of rays. The prototype implementation is sufficiently fast to allow for field optimization. Parameters are introduced for the radially staggered layout and are optimized with the objective of maximizing the annual insolation weighted heliostat field efficiency. In addition, inspired by the spirals of the phyllotaxis disc pattern, a new biomimetic placement heuristic is described and evaluated, which generates layouts of both higher insolation-weighted efficiency and higher ground coverage than radially staggered designs. Specifically, this new heuristic is shown to improve the existing PS10 field by 0.36% points in efficiency while simultaneously reducing the land area by 15.8%. Moreover, the new pattern achieves a better trade-off between land area usage and efficiency, i.e., it can reduce the area requirement significantly for any desired efficiency. Finally, the improvement in area becomes more pronounced with an increased number of heliostats, when maximal efficiency is the objective. While minimizing the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) is typically a more practical objective, results of the case study presented show that it is possible to both reduce the land area (i.e. footprint) of the plant and number of heliostats for fixed energy collected. By reducing the capital cost of the plant at no additional costs, the effect is a reduction in LCOE.     

Telephone call contact for post-discharge surveillance of surgical site infections. A pilot, methodological study

Accurate determination of superficial surgical-site infection (SSI) requires post-discharge surveillance (PDS) for up to 30 days. To be useful for regional or national audit the method must be effective, inexpensive, and acceptable to patients. We assessed the role of telephone calls to patients in PDS of SSI in 3150 patients in 32 Scottish hospitals undergoing groin hernia repair during one year. Overall, 104 (3.3%) patients opted out of the audit by declining to give a contact telephone number, 96 (3.0%) could not provide a personal telephone contact number, and 12 could not be contacted, a compliance rate of 93.3%. Two thousand, nine hundred and thirty-eight patients were contacted at one or all of the call points, i.e. 10, 20, or 30 days postoperatively, from a single call centre by medical records clerks, working to a piloted protocol. Contact data, including contact at all three time points are available on 2665 (84.6%) patients. All patients who believed their wound to be infected were seen by a healthcare worker (HCW) to confirm or refute the diagnosis. Of the 2665 patients in whom complete data are available, 140 (5.3%) patients developed confirmed wound infection and a further 57 (2.1%) thought their wound was infected, but this was not confirmed by the HCW. Patients appeared to welcome the concept of telephone contact. Methods for identifying all patients eligible for surveillance need to be improved. However, we believe this method of patient contact could be appropriate for PDS in regional or national audit.     

Pneumonia caused by coliforms and Pseudomonas aeruginosa

The diagnosis and treatment of 20 hospital patients seen in the past year with proven pneumonia caused by coliforms and Pseudomonas aeruginosa are discussed. Predisposing factors and methods for improving laboratory and clinical diagnosis are analysed, the main problem being to discriminate between genuine pneumonia caused by these organisms and mere contamination of sputum samples resulting from colonization of the upper respiratory tract following broad-spectrum chemotherapy. Overall initial chemotherapy with gentamicin cured 75% (15 out of 20) of the patients in spite of unfavourable underlying pathology. Where gentamicin was given in adequate dosage, which in practice meant that dose which produced peak serum concentrations of 8 mug/ml or more, the cure rate was 91% (11 out of 12). In those patients achieving (measured) peak serum concentrations of less than 8 mug/ml the cure rate was only 33% (4 out of 12). These figures include four patients who failed to respond to doses of gentamicin producing peak concentrations of 5-0-6-0 mug/ml in each case. These patients responded promptly to higher doses (or accumulation), producing peak serum concentrations of 8 mug/ml or more and were then cured within three to five days. Toxicity from gentamicin was not observed in any patient. These results indicate that it is necessary to monitor gentamicin therapy by laboratory assay to ensure adequate dosage and that peak serum concentrations of 8 mug/ml or more are significantly correlated with successful treatment of pneumonia caused by coliforms and Ps. aeruginosa.     

A double-blind, placebo controlled, dose ranging study to evaluate the safety and biological efficacy of the lipid-DNA complex GR213487B in the nasal epithelium of adult patients with cystic fibrosis

Dramatic physiologic changes are part of normal human pregnancy. The physiologic alterations of pregnancy have the potential to affect chronic diseases, to unmask subclinical conditions, or to alter the presentation and course of newly acquired illnesses. An update in selected topics of obstetric medicine follows, focusing on clinical entities in which there have been significant advances in diagnosis or management. Additionally, reviews of selected medical disorders, such as HIV infection and asthma, that are rising in incidence in women of reproductive age are included.