Search results for " duration"
showing 10 items of 221 documents
Effectiveness of technology-based distance interventions promoting physical activity : Systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression
2017
Objective: To determine the effectiveness of technology-based distance interventions for promoting physical activity, using systematic review and metaanalysis. Methods: A literature search of studies published between 2000 and 2015 was conducted in the following databases: CENTRAL, EMBASE, Ovid MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, OTseeker, WOS and PEDro. Studies were selected according to the PICOS framework, as follows: P (population): adults; I (intervention): technology-based distance intervention for promoting physical activity; C (comparison) similar distance intervention without technology, O (outcomes) physical activity; S (study design) randomized controlled trial. Physical activity outcomes…
Complex regional pain syndrome: evidence for warm and cold subtypes in a large prospective clinical sample.
2016
Limited research suggests that there may be Warm complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) and Cold CRPS subtypes, with inflammatory mechanisms contributing most strongly to the former. This study for the first time used an unbiased statistical pattern recognition technique to evaluate whether distinct Warm vs Cold CRPS subtypes can be discerned in the clinical population. An international, multisite study was conducted using standardized procedures to evaluate signs and symptoms in 152 patients with clinical CRPS at baseline, with 3-month follow-up evaluations in 112 of these patients. Two-step cluster analysis using automated cluster selection identified a 2-cluster solution as optimal. Resul…
Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy: When and Why the Cervical Corpectomy?
2020
Background: Cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) is a degenerative disease that represents the most common spinal cord disorder in adults. The best treatment option has remained controversial. We performed a prospective study to evaluate the clinical, radiographic, and neurophysiologic outcomes for anterior cervical corpectomy in the treatment of CSM. Methods: From January 2011 to January 2017, 60 patients with CSM were prospectively enrolled in the present study. The patients were divided according to the modified Japanese Orthopaedic Association scale (mJOA) score into 2 groups: group A, patients with mild to moderate CSM (mJOA score ≥13); and group B, patients with severe myelopathy (mJ…
Measuring postural-related changes of spontaneous baroreflex sensitivity after repeated long-duration diving: Frequency domain approaches
2012
Sustained water immersion is thought to modulate orthostatic tolerance to an extent dependent on the duration and repetition over consecutive days of the diving sessions. We tested this hypothesis investigating in ten healthy subjects the potential changes in the cardiovascular response to head-up tilt induced by single and multiple resting air dives. Parametric cross-spectral analysis of spontaneous RR interval and systolic arterial pressure variability was performed in three experimental sessions: before diving (BD), after single 6-hour dive (ASD), and after multiple 6-hour dives (AMD, 5 consecutive days with 18-hour surface interval). From this analysis, baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) was …
Training with a computer-based simulator achieves basic manual skills required for upper endoscopy: A randomized controlled trial
2004
Changes in medical practice have constrained the time available for education and the availability of patients for training. Computer-based simulators have been devised that can be used to achieve manual skills without patient contact. This study prospectively compared, in a clinical setting, the efficacy of a computer-based simulator for training in upper endoscopy.Twenty-two fellows with no experience in endoscopy were randomly assigned to two groups: one group underwent 10 hours of preclinical training with a computer-based simulator, and the other did not. Each trainee performed upper endoscopy in 19 or 20 patients. Performance parameters evaluated included the following: esophageal int…
Experts’ Opinion for Improving Pertussis Vaccination Rates in Adolescents and Adults: A Call to Action
2022
This article highlights the importance of diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis (with reduced antigen content, dTap) vaccination in preventing pertussis, a respiratory infection that is still widespread and easily transmitted. In particular, it highlights the need to receive a booster vaccination throughout life to maintain high antibody levels, which decrease through time. This document collects the opinions that emerged from the comparison between major Italian experts in the field of vaccination. This working group was created to promote a “call to action”, aimed at raising awareness among all institutions, public health authorities, and health workers involved in the vaccination proces…
Learning Curve and Fatigue Effect of Flicker Defined Form Perimetry
2011
To evaluate the learning curve and fatigue effect of flicker defined form (FDF) perimetry.Prospective cross-sectional study.One hundred forty-one eyes of 75 healthy subjects were included in the study. Every subject was measured 3 times on 3 different days within 3 months. Differences among the tests were analyzed for mean sensitivity (MS), mean deviation (MD), pattern standard deviation (PSD), reliability indices, test duration, and test points5% and0.5% in 75 right eyes on the basis of linear mixed models for repeated measurements. To assess the effect of fatigue, differences of MS, MD, and PSD values between 66 left and right eyes were evaluated regarding alterations between these 3 exam…
Possible Association of Telomere Length with Sleep Duration. A Preliminary Pilot study in a Sicilian Cohort with Centenarians
2021
Telomere length (TL) is considered a biomarker of ageing although this topic is still debated. Also, sleep pattern changes are physiological part of the normal ageing process. In fact, it is widely recognized that sleep duration declines with age, leading to dysregulation of circadian rhythms. The aim of our study was to analyse the possible association of sleep duration with TL in a sample of 135 subjects with ages ranging from 20 to 111 years, recruited from Palermo and neighbouring municipalities in Sicily (Italy). Preliminary data suggest that relative TL (RTL) decreases with age in both men and women. However, at older ages, the difference between men and women tends to narrow. Nonagen…
Studies on the impact of winter climate on rubber and wheat cultivation in the mountains of southern China, applying a fuzzy cluster analysis
1992
Data from climatic stations in China, located south of 30° N and > 400 m above sea-level, were analysed in order to study the relationship with winter climate, on the one hand, and with rubber and winter wheat cultivation, on the other. Three relevant agroclimatic parameters were investigated for January, namely mean temperature, precipitation total and sunshine duration. By applying a fuzzy cluster analysis, three agroclimatic regions were found in winter; the boundaries coincide with the macro-scale topography of southern China. In one case the boundary even corresponds with the position of the Kunming quasi-stationary front. Winter climate in the three agroclimatic regions was found to s…
Level-crossing rate and average duration of fades of non-stationary multipath fading channels
2017
The level-crossing rate (LCR) and average duration of fades (ADF) are important statistical quantities describing the fading behaviour of mobile radio channels. To date, these quantities have only been analysed under the assumption that the mobile radio channel is wide-sense stationary, which is generally not the case in practice. In this paper, we propose a concept for the analysis of the LCR and ADF of non-stationary channels. Rice's standard formula for the derivation of the LCR of wide-sense stationary processes is extended to a more general formula enabling the computation of the instantaneous LCR of non-stationary processes. The application of the new concept results in closed-form ex…