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Összefoglaló. Bevezetés: A metabolikus szindróma előfordulása és jelentősége az elhízás prevalenciájával arányosan megnövekedett. Diagnosztizálása különböző kritériumrendszerek segítségével történhet. Célkitűzés: A kutatás célkitűzése volt egy hátrányos helyzetű település lakosságánál a metabolikus szindróma prevalenciájának megállapítása a diabetes mellitus szempontjából fokozott, illetve magas kockázatú egyéneknél, emellett a glikált hemoglobin alkalmazhatóságának vizsgálata a metabolikus szindróma szűrésében. Módszer: A metabolikus szindróma megállapítása az International Diabetes Federation kritériumrendszere alapján történt a vérnyomás- és haskörfogatértékek, illetve vénás vérminta alapján. Az utóbbi folyamán szérumból a lipidparaméterek és a glikált hemoglobin vizsgálata, plazmából pedig éhomi és terheléses vércukorvizsgálat történt. A labordiagnosztikai módszerek alkalmazhatóságát „receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve” (vevőegység-működési karakterisztikus görbe) segítségével elemeztük. Eredmények: A 74 vizsgált egyén 71,62%-ánál igazolódott metabolikus szindróma (n = 53). A legideálisabb „cut-off point” az 5,65%-os (38,3 mmol/mol) glikálthemoglobin-érték volt, amelynél a szenzitivitás 69,8%-nak, míg a specificitás 77,3%-nak (pKövetkeztetés: A metabolikus szindróma előfordulása a fokozott, illetve magas diabetesrizikóval rendelkezők körében jelentősen magasabb volt, mint hasonló kutatások esetében az összpopulációra vonatkoztatva. Elemzéseink alapján a glikált hemoglobin a metabolikus szindróma megállapítása során alkalmazható az éhomi vércukorszint kiegészítéseként. Orv Hetil. 2021; 162(31): 1244–1251. Summary. Introduction: The incidence and thus the relevance of metabolic syndrome have been increasing in parallel with the prevalence of obesity. Metabolic syndrome can be diagnosed using various criteria systems. Objective: This research was designed to establish the prevalence of metabolic syndrome among patients at moderate or high risk for diabetes mellitus in the population of a disadvantaged Hungarian municipality. The secondary objective of the study was the examination of the suitability of glycated hemoglobin as a screening tool for metabolic syndrome. Method: Diagnosis of metabolic syndrome was established using the International Diabetes Federation criteria system based on the measurement of blood pressure and abdominal circumference as well as values using venous blood samples. Lipid parameters and glycated hemoglobin levels were measured from serum as well. The fasting and two-hours post-load blood glucose were measured from plasma. The validity of the laboratory diagnostic methods were determined with receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Results: 71.62% of the 74 tested patients were confirmed to have metabolic syndrome (n = 53). The optimal cut-off point was 5.65% (38.3 mmol/mol) glycated hemoglobin value with 69.8% sensitivity and 77.3% specificity (pConclusion: The prevalence of metabolic syndrome among individuals at elevated or high risk for diabetes was significantly higher compared to the total population, based on published data from similar earlier studies. Based on our analyses, glycated hemoglobin – used as a complementary parameter to fasting glucose level – is suitable for the diagnosis of metabolic syndrome. Orv Hetil. 2021; 162(31): 1244–1251.

A stroke miatt kialakuló dysphagia súlyos következményekkel járhat, amik között az egyik legjelentősebb az aspirációs pneumonia. A hazai szakmai irányelv a stroke-betegek táplálásterápiájához nyelészavar-felmé­réseket ajánl, mivel a korai szűréssel a betegség kime­netele és a kórházi ellátás is optimalizálható. A hitelesnek tekintett (műszeresen validált) ágy melletti nyelés­vizsgálatokról még nincs magyar nyelvű összefoglaló. Célkitűzés – Célunk az volt, hogy a szakirodalom áttekintése alapján összegezzük azokat az ágy melletti nyelés­zavar-felméréseket, amelyeket az elmúlt húsz évben publikáltak, és akut stroke-betegeken, műszeresen validáltak. Kérdésfelvetés – Arra kerestük a választ, hogy az elem­zésbe bevont validációs kutatások milyen jellegzetességet mutatnak a vizsgálati elrendezést, a minta összeállítását, a felmérések összetételét, a felmérőlapok diagnosztikus érzékenységét tekintve. A vizsgálat módszere – Szisztematikus irodalmi áttekintést végeztünk nyolc tudományos adatbázison 2001–2021 között, a célkitűzéseinknek megfelelő keresőkifejezésekkel. A vizsgálat alanyai – Az irodalomkutatás során talált 652 kapcsolódó cikket nyolcra redukáltuk, ezek összehasonlító elemzését hajtottuk végre. A vizsgált tanulmányokban nagy eltérés mutatkozott a minta nagyságára, valamint a beválogatási és kizárási kritériumokra vonatkozóan. A diagnosztikus érzékenység tekintetében kiemelendő a GUSS-teszt. A teljes mintában az akut stroke-betegek között a műszeresen igazolt dysphagia prevalenciája 56,1% volt. Miután az elemzett kutatások fókusza és összetétele eltért, összehasonlításuk a dysphagia fogalmának tisztázatlansága, a kimeneti mutatók különbö­zősége vagy a szűrés időzítése miatt nehézséget jelentett. A hazai irányelvben javasolt GUSS-felmérés mind­emellett alkalmas eszköz klinikai használatra.

Absztrakt: Bevezetés: A mentális betegek stigmatizációja mind a hazai, mind a nemzetközi kutatásokban kiemelt jelentőséggel bír. Az érintetteknek a társadalmi előítéleteken túl az egészségügyi szakemberek stigmatizáló attitűdjével is meg kell küzdeniük. Célkitűzés: A vizsgálat során a pszichiátriai betegségekkel kapcsolatos sztereotípiák, a stigmatizáló egészségügyi szakdolgozói attitűdök jelenlétét kerestük. Célunk volt továbbá az ápolási munkát végző dolgozók körében a mentális betegségekkel kapcsolatos ismeretek felmérése. Az eredmények tükrében az ápolóképzések reformjával kapcsolatos javaslatok tételét tűztük ki célul. Módszer: A Magyar Egészségügyi Szakdolgozói Kamara (mentésügyi, sürgősségi betegellátási, pszichiátriai ápolási és felnőttápolási tagozat) tagjainak körében végzett online, kvantitatív, kérdőíves felmérés eredményeinek deskriptív és többváltozós elemzése. Eredmények: A kitöltött kérdőívek közül 495 volt értékelhető (n = 495). A pszichiátrián dolgozó ápolókat kevésbé stigmatizáló attitűd jellemzi a mentés és a sürgősségi ellátás, illetve az egyéb területeken dolgozókénál. Erőteljesebben megjelenik a stigmatizáló attitűd a hosszabb ideje a szakmában tevékenykedőknél. Kevésbé stigmatizáló attitűd jellemzi a főiskolai vagy egyetemi végzettségűeket, mint a középfokú végzettségűeket. A vizsgálatban részt vevő összes ápoló közel fele (47%) tartja hiányosnak felkészültségét a mentális betegségekkel kapcsolatosan. Tagozati bontásban a mentés és a sürgősségi ellátás dolgozóinál 49%, a felnőttápolási tagozat tagjainál 55% ez az arány. A pszichiátriai ápolók körében is viszonylag nagy (28%) azok aránya, akik hiányosnak ítélik meg felkészültségüket, ugyanakkor természetesen a megfelelő felkészültséget is ez a csoport választotta a legnagyobb arányban (37%). Következtetés: A pszichiátria oktatását az ápolóképzések minden szintjén szükséges hatékonyabbá tenni. Fontos lenne továbbá az érzékenyítő, stigma elleni módszerek beépítése és az empátia fejlesztése. Orv Hetil. 2020; 161(2): 56–66.

IEEE Annual International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC) (32nd. 2021. Helsinki, Finland), This work was supported by the CHIST-ERA grant CHIST-ERA-17-BDSI-006, by Swiss National Fund (SNF), project number 20CH21_180431, by Slovak Research and Development Agency under the contract No. 2/0125/20, by the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research and Innovation, CCCDI-UEFISCDI, 101/2019, COFUND- CHISTERA-SOON, within PNCDI III, and by AGENCIA ESTATAL DE INVESTIGACION (Spain), grant number MCIU-19-PCI2019-103443

Endocannabinoids (eCBs) anandamide (AEA) and 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) were shown to be involved in the basis of trauma-induced behavioral changes, particularly contextual conditioned fear, however, their ligand-specific effects and possible interactions are poorly understood. Here we assessed specific eCB effects and interactions on acquisition of contextual conditioned fear employing electric footshocks in a rat model. We selectively increased eCB levels by pharmacological blockade of the degrading enzymes of AEA by URB597 and 2-AG by JZL184 before traumatization either systemically or locally in relevant brain areas, the prelimbic cortex (PrL), ventral hippocampus (vHC) and basolateral amygdala (BLA). Following traumatization, a series of contextual reminders were conducted during which conditioned fear was assessed. While systemic URB597-treatment during traumatization only slightly enhanced the acquisition of contextual conditioned fear, administration of the compound in the PrL and vHC led to the acquisition of stable, lasting conditioned fear, resistant to extinction. These effects of URB597 were blocked by simultaneous administration of JZL184. Similar treatment effects did not occur in the BLA. Treatment effects were not secondary to alterations in locomotor activity or nociception. Our findings suggest that AEA and 2-AG functionally interact in the regulation of acquisition of contextual conditioned fear. AEA signaling in the PrL and vHC is a crucial promoter of fear acquisition while 2-AG potentially modulates this effect. The lack of eCB effects in the BLA suggests functional specificity of eCBs at distinct brain sites.

Aim:Aim of cross-sectional study was to survey the risk of diabetes mellitus in a severely disadvantaged Hungarian community and then to use laboratory tests to screen for potential carbohydrate metabolism disorders among those in the moderate- and high-risk groups.Background:The prevalence of diabetes mellitus shows a worrisome trend worldwide. Low socio-economic status significantly affects the development of diabetes, healthy life years and life expectancy.Method:Diabetes risk of the population was surveyed with the FINDRISC (Finnish Diabetes Risk Score) questionnaire, followed by oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and glycated haemoglobin test of moderate- and high-risk patients.Findings:In sample of 551 subjects, moderate or high risk for diabetes was confirmed in 147 patients (26.68%). There was significant correlation between increased risk and age (P< 0.001) and between increased risk and body mass index (P< 0.001). Significant difference was confirmed between incidences for disease based on the results of OGTT and glycated haemoglobin test when two different criteria systems were used. Age was the strongest predictor of pre-diabetes/diabetes (P= 0.016). The presence of metabolic syndrome increased the level of glycated haemoglobin by an average of 0.2% in normal glycemic status.

In this research we focus on minimizing the makespan, number of reconfiguration and wastage of materials due to reconfigurations for a set of non identical parallel machines. A mathematical model of the scheduling problem is explained, subjected to various production related constraints and is optimized using a heuristic approach. Optimality of the schedule generated is tested on a simulation platform created as close to real production system, modelling all the important uncertainty in the process. Simulation model also estimates the real order completion time and total wastage in the production process. A real manufacturing process of plastic foil bags is used in the case study to find and test the proposed solution. This approach acts effective in planning and scheduling of orders in small and medium scale industries as the approach is data driven.

This paper proposes a concept of low-cost industrial wireless sensor network integrating the power consumption efficient ESP32 chip. The main focus is given on best practices of various sensors integration into Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) of ESP32 devices. The work proposes an architecture for data collection, security and possibility of data analysis. Energy effectiveness is estimated for battery usage in different modes of the chip. The last part of this work presents the conclusions and guidelines for future work. Road map of a distributed modeling framework for plant-wide process monitoring is also introduced.

The aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that vesicular glutamate transporter 3 (VGluT3) deficiency is associated with cognitive impairments. Male VGluT3 knockout (KO) and wild type (WT) mice were exposed to a behavioral test battery covering paradigms based on spontaneous exploratory behavior and reinforcement-based learning tests. Reversal learning was examined to test the cognitive flexibility. The VGluT3 KO mice clearly exhibited the ability to learn. The social recognition memory of KO mice was intact. The y-maze test revealed weaker working memory of VGluT3 KO mice. No significant learning impairments were noticed in operant conditioning or holeboard discrimination paradigm. In avoidance-based learning tests (Morris water maze and active avoidance), KO mice exhibited slightly slower learning process compared to WT mice, but not a complete learning impairment. In tests based on simple associations (operant conditioning, avoidance learning) an attenuation of cognitive flexibility was observed in KO mice. In conclusion, knocking out VGluT3 results in mild disturbances in working memory and learning flexibility. Apparently, this glutamate transporter is not a major player in learning and memory formation in general. Based on previous characteristics of VGluT3 KO mice we would have expected a stronger deficit. The observed hypolocomotion did not contribute to the mild cognitive disturbances herein reported, either.

Using an epitaxial thin-film model system deposited by pulsed laser deposition (PLD), we study the Li-ion conductivity in Li

We construct quasiconformal mappings on the Heisenberg group which change the Hausdorff dimension of Cantor-type sets in an arbitrary fashion. On the other hand, we give examples of subsets of the Heisenberg group whose Hausdorff dimension cannot be lowered by any quasiconformal mapping. For a general set of a certain Hausdorff dimension we obtain estimates of the Hausdorff dimension of the image set in terms of the magnitude of the quasiconformal distortion

Maintenance is a key factor to ensure the production efficiency, since the occurrence of unexpected failures leads to a degradation of the system performance, causing the loss of productivity and business opportunities, which are crucial roles to achieve competitiveness. The article aims to propose a reference architecture which will improve the way maintenance is considered in the current manufacturing world, by enabling an overall increase of production rates, while increasing the operational equipment effectiveness and decreasing the impact of maintenance needs. This objective would be accomplished by establishing an IoT infrastructure for the collection of the huge amount of available shop floor data, which can be analyzed, considering data analytics algorithms, predictive maintenance models and forecasting techniques, to perform the machine/system health assessment and prediction of maintenance needs, e.g. by detecting earlier the occurrence of possible failures and consequently the need to implement maintenance interventions. The scheduling of predictive maintenance needs will be integrated with the existing maintenance planning tools, and especially synchronized with the production planning tools to achieve a non disruptive maintenance impact in the production system. A cloud-based collaborative maintenance services platform allows the secure collection, aggregation and analysis of a large amount of shared data from numerous manufacturers that use the same or similar machinery, and acts as an open market where companies can contract specialized maintenance services. This reference architecture aims to provide replicable architecture to be broadly applicable in a variety of industries, capable to improve the production efficiency through a real-time health monitoring and early detection of failures and outages, to speed up the maintenance delivery, and consequently mitigate their impact. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The paper presents the techniques for supervised information extraction and change notification of the Web resources. The method uses the combination of supervised wrapping or Web scraping techniques integrated to a browser as an extension. A prototype was developed to provide the proof of concept validation and moreover to identify the pros and cons of proposed solution. The paper focuses on the core methods being used for structured data extraction from Web resources and on notification of the users in the most appropriate manner. The approach has a potential to share marked Web elements among users taking advantages of the collaborative annotation. The paper concludes with the research challenges stumbled on during the process on method design.

Absztrakt A kozponti idegrendszert erintő betegsegek kialakulasanak es lefolyasanak molekularis szintű longitudinalis nyomon kovetese evtizedekig nem volt megoldott, a koros allapotu szerv vagy szovet direkt vizsgalatara altalaban a betegseg kesői stadiumaban volt lehetőseg. A kozponti idegrendszeri betegsegek modellezese jelentős szerepet jatszik az egyes korkepek patomechanizmusanak megismereseben, azonban az allatmodellek alkalmazasa a fajok idegrendszerei kozott fennallo kulonbsegek miatt a levont kovetkeztetesek ervenyesseget, a transzlaciot nagymertekben gyengitik. Az ily modon felmerulő problemak reszbeni athidalasara lehet alkalmas az indukalt pluripotens őssejtek nyujtotta modell, amely az utobbi evekben jelentősen hozzajarult a neurodegenerativ es neurodevelopmentalis betegsegek patogenezisenek megertesehez. Az indukalt pluripotens őssejtek a klinikai vizsgalatok előkeszitese soran meg hatterbe szorulnak, azonban a sejtelettani es molekularis biologiai mechanizmusok tanulmanyozasaban mar ma kiem...

Endocannabinoids are strong modulators of emotionality and present a novel target for psychotropic drug development. Increasing evidence suggests that endocannabinoids anandamide and 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) affect behavior differentially. While the roles of anandamide have been investigated extensively, studies regarding the specific roles of 2-AG became possible only recently, and its involvement in social behaviors has not yet been studied. We studied the impact of 2-AG signaling on aggression as a first attempt to characterize the role of this endocannabinoid in social behaviors. 2-AG signaling was enhanced by the monoacylglycerol lipase inhibitor JZL184 (8, and 16 mg/kg) in mice later submitted to the resident/intruder paradigm. JZL184 near completely abolished aggressiveness in residents and increased victimization (i.e., attacks by the opponent). Interestingly, the level of defensiveness remained unaltered, despite the large increase in bites received. The CB1 receptor blocker AM251 (0.5 mg/kg) did not influence the effects of JZL184. In intruders, JZL184 near completely suppressed bites and offensive behavior in a fashion similar to residents, but it also increased agitation and defensiveness during, and the corticosterone response to, aggressive encounters. Experiments involving the corticosterone synthesis inhibitor metyrapone (30 mg/kg) suggest that the suppression of biting and offensive behavior is directly influenced by JZL184, whereas increased agitation and defensiveness (seen in intruders only) are a secondary development of the stress-endocrine effects of JZL184. 2-AG signaling emerges as a surprisingly strong negative modulator of aggressiveness, which warrants further studies into its general role in social behavior and the target receptors involved.

The role of vasopressin in aggression received much attention in recent years. However, vasopressin has complex roles on social behavior, which are affected by social experience, motivation and hormonal background, suggesting that its effects depend on the condition of subjects. This hypothesis was tested here by studying the impact of vasopressin deficiency on aggressiveness in reproductively naive and reproductively experienced males, as well as in lactating females, with special reference to the patterns and contexts of attack behavior. We also studied effects on impulsiveness, a behavioral feature strongly related to aggression. Vasopressin deficiency did not affect aggressiveness in reproductively experienced males, decreased the share of violent attacks in reproductively inexperienced males without affecting total attack counts, and suppressed maternal aggression in both early and late phases of lactation; violent forms of attack were decreased in the latter but not the former phase. Changes in aggression appeared unrelated to general changes in maternal behaviors. Impulsivity in the delay discounting task was markedly decreased by vasopressin deficiency in lactating females but not males. Taken together, our findings confirm that vasopressin has an impact on aggressiveness, but show that this impact depends on the condition of subjects, and suggest that the effects of vasopressin on maternal aggression develop in conjunction with impulsivity. Interestingly, overall effects on aggression and specific effects on violent attacks dissociated in both males and females, which hints to the possibility that vasopressin has distinct roles in the development of escalated forms of aggression.

Vasopressin (AVP)-deficient Brattleboro rats develop a specific behavioral profile, which-among other things-include altered cognitive performance. This profile is markedly affected by alterations in neuroendocrine state of the animal such as during lactation. Given the links between AVP and cognition we hypothesized that AVP deficiency may lead to changes in impulsivity that is under cognitive control and the changes might be altered by lactation. Comparing virgin and lactating AVP-deficient female Brattleboro rats to their respective controls, we assessed the putative lactation-dependent effects of AVP deficiency on impulsivity in the delay discounting paradigm. Furthermore, to investigate the basis of such effects, we assessed possible interactions of AVP deficiency with GABAergic and serotonergic signaling and stress axis activity, systems playing important roles in impulse control. Our results showed that impulsivity was unaltered by AVP deficiency in virgin rats. In contrast a lactation-induced increase in impulsivity was abolished by AVP deficiency in lactating females. We also found that chlordiazepoxide-induced facilitation of GABAergic and imipramine-induced enhancement of serotonergic activity in virgins led to increased and decreased impulsivity, respectively. In contrast, during lactation these effects were visible only in AVP-deficient rats. These rats also exhibited increased stress axis activity compared to virgin animals, an effect that was abolished by AVP deficiency. Taken together, AVP appears to play a role in the regulation of impulsivity exclusively during lactation: it has an impulsivity increasing effect which is potentially mediated via stress axis-dependent mechanisms and fine-tuning of GABAergic and serotonergic function.

As more and more people are using the the social networks, they leave enormous amount of digital footprints of their personality available to them with every click. In this exploratory research, the publicly available data is collected from the biggest social network (Facebook) and sent to IBM Watson to reveal hidden personality traits that the posts and the profile pictures might contain. Watson is the name of the the cognitive computing system developed by IBM. It has several subsystems including the Personality Insights, that extracts personality traits from text and the Visual Recognition, that can be taught to analyze pictures. Firstly, the posts of Facebook users would be sent to Watson Personality Insights to get their Big5 personality traits, then their profile images and their personality traits will be linked to train the Visual Recognition. With a high number of input, the API probably could output the personality traits with high significance.

Recent evidence suggests that in addition to controlling emotional behavior in general, endocannabinoid signaling is engaged in shaping behavioral responses to challenges. This important function of endocannabinoids is still poorly understood. Here we investigated the impact of blockade of fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH), the degrading enzyme of anandamide on behavioral responses induced by challenges of different intensity. Mice treated with FAAH inhibitor URB597 were either manually restrained on their backs (back test) or received foot-shocks. The behavior of mice showed bimodal distribution in the back test: they either predominantly showed escape attempts or equally distributed time between passivity and escape. URB597 increased escapes in animals with low escape scores. No effects were noticed in mice showing high escape scores, which is likely due to a ceiling effect. We hypothesized that stronger stressors would wash out individual differences in coping; therefore, we exposed mice to foot-shocks that decreased locomotion and increased freezing in all mice. URB597 ameliorated both responses. The re-exposure of mice to the shock cage 14 days later without delivering shocks or treatment was followed by reduced and fragmented sleep as shown by electrophysiological recordings. Surprisingly, sleep was more disturbed after the reminder than after shocks in rats receiving vehicle before foot-shocks. These reminder-induced disturbances were abolished by URB597 administered before shocks. These findings suggest that FAAH blockade has an important role in the selection of behavioral responses under challenging conditions and—judging from its long-term effects—that it influences the cognitive appraisal of the challenge.

Aims and objectives To identify the quality of life of patients with diabetic foot ulcers in the Visegrad countries. Background The diabetics with foot ulcers are principally evaluated on the basis of physical parameters, but this does not always reveal much about the patient's experience of life with ulceration. Design The cross-sectional study. Methods The standardised generic questionnaire World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF was used. The sample was made up of 525 participants and the calculations were performed using the IBM spss statistical program. Results The significant negative correlations between demographic data such as age, duration of diabetes mellitus, duration of diabetic ulceration treatment and a lower level of quality of life were found across the sample. The statistically significant differences according to clinical characteristics such as Wagner classification, frequency of foot ulcers, present peripheral vascular disease and pain in terms of quality of life were also revealed. Significant differences of quality of life among Visegrad countries were revealed: Hungary's participants had a worse quality of life than others, while Slovak participants expressed lower satisfaction with their health than Czech. Conclusions Socio-demographic factors and clinical characteristics influence the quality of life of patients with diabetic foot ulcer. Significant differences between patients of Visegrad countries were found in all domains of quality of life: physical, psychological, social and environmental. Relevance to clinical practice The quality of life of patients with diabetic foot ulcer reflects the conditions and healthcare system in each of the Visegrad countries. We have to respect socio-demographic factors and clinical characteristics in nursing care. This could have an impact on managing patient care not only with regard to their diabetic foot ulcer but also with regard to the patient as a personality with their own problems in relation to physical, psychosocial and environmental conditions.

European states regularly experience a wide range of major crisis events, including not only environmental disasters such as major flooding, avalanches and earthquakes, but also man-made incidents involving large-scale transport-related accidents and terrorist-sponsored events. When responding to such incidents, Emergency service agencies and rescue organisations are working together more frequently to enhance their overall operational effectiveness, often requiring collaboration across state borders. The REDIRNET project benefits multi-agency joint-working by facilitating information exchange through the concept of broad-scale data interoperability.

The Ministry of Health of Cyprus (approval no: Y.Y. 5.14.02.4(2)) and the Cyprus National Bioethics Committee (approval no: EEBK/EΠ/2008/1) reviewed and approved the research protocol as Cyprus was the coordinating country for the research study. Abstract BACKGROUND: Patients' decisional control over care is the ability or power for patients to decide what their involvement will be in healthcare decisions. There is evidence of limited agreement between the perceptions of patients and the perceptions of nurses and/or caregivers with regard to the degree of patient involvement in the planning and performance of their care. AIM: To analyse and compare patients' and nurses' perceptions of patients' decisional control over their own care. METHOD: A multisite cross-sectional comparative survey design was employed. Data were collected from hospitalised surgical inpatients (n = 1315) and their caregivers (n = 960 nurses) in five European countries. The Individualised Care Scale part B was used for collecting data from both the patients and nurses. Ethical standards were followed throughout the study. RESULTS: Significant between-country differences were found between patients and nurses. In all countries, both patients and nurses regarded that decisional control over care had been actualised (ICS-B: M = 3.75-4.47 and 3.48-4.33, respectively), but there were significant differences in their perceptions regarding four of the six items of the decisional control factor of the ICS-B. CONCLUSIONS: The results show that there are disparities between patients' and nurses' perceptions of patient involvement in care, probably due to cultural issues that need further exploration. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The disparities between patients' and nurses' perceptions on patients' decisional control over their care should be taken into consideration as a potential cause of patient dissatisfaction with nursing care. The study was funded by the Cyprus University of Technology (EX 11/2008).

In the online world today, web pages have the opportunity to save the attributes of their visitors' software and hardware environment and also some of their behavioural aspects. This data might contain valuable information about them. This paper presents research, where all the available data from the visitors of an online e-learning environment was saved and various data-mining techniques were performed on it to reveal hidden rules. As a result, intelligence and life satisfaction traits of the visitors can be predicted based on their behaviour in the online environment. This information can be used to profile the visitor and targeted advertisements can be sent to them.

Scand J Caring Sci; 2012; 26; 372–380 Patient satisfaction as an outcome of individualised nursing care Background: The association between individualised nursing care and patient satisfaction has been previously found. However, there is a lack of studies examining this association between individualised care and patient satisfaction in a cross-cultural study. Aims: This study examines the association between individualised care and patient satisfaction in a sample of general surgical patients from five European countries. Methods: A cross-sectional design and survey method were used to collect data from general surgical patients (N = 1315, response rate 78%) in 72 inpatient wards in 26 general acute hospitals’ in 2009 using self-completed questionnaires the Individualised Care Scale and the Patient Satisfaction Scale. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficients and multiple stepwise regression analyses. Results: Surgical patients reported that the care they received was only moderately individualised overall, but individuality was taken into account well in patients’ clinical situation and decisional control over care. Patients were satisfied with their care, mostly with the technical aspects of care and least with the information given. There were between-country differences in patients’ perceptions of individuality in care and patient satisfaction. A positive correlation between the level of individualised care received and patient satisfaction was found, confirming that individualised nursing care delivery influences patients’ satisfaction with care and demonstrating that this quality of care indicator might be able to be used as a predictor of patient satisfaction, one outcome of care. Conclusion: The findings of this study strengthen previous results and further reporting the existence of a relationship and the positive correlation between individualised care and patient satisfaction. The results can inform administrative decisions and policy on introducing nursing approaches to care that would increase patient satisfaction.

Aim. The aim of this study was to compare patients’ and nurses’ perceptions of individualised care in five European countries, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Finland, Greece and Hungary. Background. Individualised nursing care has been studied from both patients’ and nurses’ perspectives, but to date, there are no studies comparing these perspectives internationally. Methods. A cross-sectional comparative survey design was used. Data were collected from nurses (n = 960; response rate, 79%) and patients (n = 1315; response rate, 78%) in 71 surgical units from 26 acute hospitals in 2009. Data were collected using two Individualised Care Scales (ICS-Nurse and ICS-Patient) and analysed statistically using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results. Differences in patients’ and nurses’ assessments of individualised nursing care were found between each country. Nurses, compared with patients, assessed that they supported patient individuality more often. The Meannurses ranged from 3·61 (SD 0·90, Greece)–4·31 (SD 0·53, Hungary), and the Meanpatients ranged from 3·05 (SD 1·09, Greece)–3·79 (SD 1·00, Cyprus). To a large extent, the care provided was individualised as defined by the Meannurses 3·75 (SD 0·92, Greece)–4·36 (SD 0·49, Hungary) and the Meanpatients 3·41 (SD 0·95, Greece)–4·18 (SD 0·79, Cyprus). In Cyprus and Finland, patients’ assessments of the individuality in their care corresponded well with nurses’ assessments. Clear between-country differences in both patients’ and nurses’ assessments were found in both subscales of the ICS. Conclusions. An in-depth analysis of the European between-country differences is required to define the causes of differences that may be due to the differing content of education, the organisation of nursing work, ideology and values assigned to individualised care and health care systems and processes in each country. Relevance to clinical practice. Obtaining both patients’ and nurses’ assessments of individualised care may facilitate the further development of individualised nursing care and be used to help to harmonise European health care processes and nursing care.

papastavrou e., efstathiou g., tsangari h., suhonen r., leino-kilpi h., patiraki e., karlou c., balogh z., palese a., tomietto m., jarosova d. & merkouris a. (2011) A cross-cultural study of the concept of caring through behaviours: patients’ and nurses’ perspectives in six different EU countries. Journal of Advanced Nursing 68(5), 1026–1037. Abstract Aim. This paper is a report of an international study of patients’ and nurses’ perceptions of nurse caring behaviours. Background. Current economic constraints on healthcare systems, demand to increase the quality of care and the incorporation of the consumers’ perspective into care, have created a need to develop a clear understanding of nursing behaviours which convey caring. Patients in different areas of the world report different expectations of nurses’ caring actions when compared to nurses’ views. Method. A descriptive comparative survey design was used to analyse a sample of surgical patients (n = 1659) and their nurses (n = 1195) in 88 wards of 34 hospitals in Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Hungary and Italy. Data were collected in autumn 2009 using the Caring Behaviours Inventory-24. Nurses’ and patients’ responses were compared using both inferential and descriptive statistics. Results. Independent samples t-tests showed important differences between nurses’ and patients’ views. Although both groups perceived knowledge and skill as being the most important sub-scale, the nurses’ responses were higher compared to patients (P

In this article we aim at achieving trusted data collection from heterogeneous distributed sources including legacy systems and human end users. We adopt an agent-like approach where we are able to send agents to host platforms connected to legacy systems. Functionality of agents may vary while we are solving the trust between host platforms, legacy systems and agents. We had not used any existing multi-agent system but we extended an existing production grade service platform called Jini and implemented agents above Jini services. The core of this work is about how we adopted the Jini platform to host agents. We also provide examples about the implementation and integration of the platform in a real world example — a crisis management domain. We present our current achievements and plans concerning the implementation of the proposed platform.

Endocannabinoid (eCB) signaling is a major contributor in the regulation of behavioral responses to traumas [1] and acquisition of traumatic memories [2]. ECBs anandamide (AEA) and 2-arachidonoilglycerol (2-AG) were reported to differentially affect particular aspects of behaviour [3] but their specific role in the regulation of responses to traumatic events is yet to be clarified. Furthermore, AEA and 2-AG signaling were recently shown to interact [4] which can possibly have functional relevance in their behavioral effects as well. Here we aimed to describe the specific contribution of eCBs and their interactions in the regulation of acute responses to a traumatic event and the acquisition of traumatic memories. We employed electric footshocks to traumatize Wistar rats in which eCB signaling was enhanced by the specific pharmacological blockade of the degrading enzyme of AEA by URB597 and 2-AG by JZL184. Treatments were delivered either systemically (URB597: 0.3 mg/kg; JZL184: 16 mg/kg) or locally to brain areas relevant in the regulation of traumatic memory, the ventral hippocampus (vHC), prelimbic cortex (PrL) and basolateral amygdala (BLA) (URB597: 1 ng/0.5 ul; JZL184: 1 ug/0.5 ul). To elucidate whether the effects of enhanced eCB signaling are modulated via cannabinoid receptor type-1 (CB1R), CB1R antagonist AM251 (1 mg/kg) was simultaneously administered with URB597 and JZL184. Systemic administration of JZL148 dampened acute fear responses to footshocks measured by freezing behavior, which was blocked by parallel treatment with URB597 (one-way ANOVA: F(4,46)=13.59; p

Mono-(Co) and bimetallic (Fe-Co) catalysts supported by either 13X zeolite or CaCO 3 were doped with potassium and tested in carbon nanotube (CNT) production using the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. In order to increase comparability, the evaluation of the performance of the catalysts a combinatorial arrangement was also used. Catalyst samples were characterized by carbon deposit and carbon yield values. For qualitative characterization, products were investigated by transmission electron microscopy.

Example There exists a space X with a sharp base and a perfect mapping f : X → Y onto a space Y which does not have a sharp base. It is known that a spaces with a sharp base have a point-countable sharp base. This can be sharpened to “point-finite” on the set of isolated points. Theorem If X has a sharp base then X has a point-countable sharp base which is point-finite on the set Z of isolated points. (Hence Z is an F σ set.) A topological proof of the previous theorem is given but the theorem follows from a more general combinatorial statement about certain subsets of κ × κ . This last statement is proved using a set-theoretic argument.

Different types of people react in different ways to the highly accelerated speed of information sharing, based on their personality. Some of them take the option of the new technology with which they can access many people, while others are only using the private messageging systems and try to avoid publicity and the "never forgetting" web. As the technology develops and surrounds us, it is getting more and more difficult to hide or falsify our traces and to blend in with the crowd and remain unnoticed even for people who decided not to share anything online. There are many papers on how people behave in the online environment. This paper follows this thread and analyzes the online communication channels used by different types of internet users. It draws attention to its potentials and dangers through recent researches.

During large-scale crisis situations there is an acute demand for relevant and accurate information. The availability of such information to incident commanders assists the ever continuing need to improve the effectiveness of emergency response through the enhancement of agency preparedness and awareness; this also includes the potential offered by volunteers and the general public as well. To address the above mentioned challenges a distributed platform capable of seamlessly collect and aggregate information from engaged users providing information using the web or mobile devices is proposed. At the same time integration of information from sources such as sensors deployed on incident sites, publicly available open data, corporate legacy systems or documents stored on remote locations is enabled. As a result the platform end users can act based on the results of information aggregation and analysis. The work presented in this paper is motivated mainly by requirements identified by first responders during numerous crisis responses.

This paper discusses a process of data collection from remote sensors and presentation on mobile devices. The presented research and work in this paper is done in the scope of REDIRNET project. The main motivation in the project is to support the rescuers facing operational problems in accessing and analyzing information from multiple sources, and providing advanced features for command and control of the emergencies. Timely exchange of information between competent authorities, a common understanding of data and a swift transmission of knowledge can save the lives and protect properties. Useful information are often heterogeneous and distributed between many organizations in the diverse information sources with the different access rights and with the different qualities. This work focuses on delivering the data from remote sensor nodes with intermittent connected networks and dispatching the results to the end users connected by mobile devices. A specific of this work is the means of sensor data collection, where the mobile devices are used as the data producers. The specified information and the data provided by mobile device sensors are collected and aggregated into a centralized system. In addition the sensor data are collected using remote sensors passing through an ad-hoc gateway that may be presented in a convenient way on the mobile devices.

We show that there is a perfectly normal non-metrizable manifold if there is a Luzin subset of the real line, and that there is a countably compact perfectly normal non-metrizable manifold in any model of set-theory obtained by adding Cohen reals to a model of ZFC + ⋄ .

Let S denote a stationary subset of limit ordinals of ω1. A ladder system on S is a sequence {Lα : α ∈ S} such that each Lα is an unbounded subset of α of order type ω. A ladder system is uniformizable if for each sequence 〈fα : α ∈ S〉 of functions fα : Lα → ω there is an F : ω1 → ω such that F 1 Lα =∗ fα for each α ∈ S. I.e., for each α ∈ S, {β ∈ Lα : F (β) 6= fα(β)} is finite. We now formulate natural weakenings of uniformizable denoted, for each n ∈ ω, by Pn: A ladder system is said to satisfy Pn if for each f : S → ω there is an F : ω1 → [ω] such that for each α ∈ S (a) F 1 Lα is eventually constant with value sα, and (b) f(α) ∈ sα. Note that P0 is equivalent to the version of uniformizable obtained by considering only sequences of constant functions fα. We will say that a ladder system satisfies P

We investigate when countable multiplicity of jigsawed bases and similar collections on sets of various sizes implies metrizability in compact and countably compact spaces.

We prove various reflection theorems in locally nice spaces using Axiom R.