Number Of Conditions Research Articles

Dying with Dignity: The Legal and Ethical Dimensions of Passive Euthanasia in India

In the timeless debate surrounding the complexities of life and death, euthanasia has emerged as a focal point of ethical and legal discourse. The term, originating from the Greek words “eu” (good) and “thanatos” (death), signifies a "good death" — a concept as ancient as the civilizations that first contemplated the dignity of human existence. The Roman historian Suetonius, in his seminal work De Vita Caesarum, recorded the peaceful death of Emperor Augustus in the arms of his wife, Livia, describing it as the emperor’s wish for a swift and painless end — a true “euthanasia” by his own words. From this account, the term began its journey, weaving through European thought and later permeating global discussions. Euthanasia, or mercy killing, addresses the poignant reality of terminal illness and incurable conditions. It is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as the "painless killing of a person suffering from an incurable illness or in an irreversible coma." Similarly, the Cambridge Dictionary describes it as the act of ending the life of someone who is gravely ill or elderly to alleviate their suffering. The legal status of euthanasia varies widely across nations. Many European countries, acknowledging the right to die with dignity as an extension of human rights, have enacted laws to preserve the dignity of those at the end of life. For example, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg have legalized euthanasia under strict conditions, placing Europe at the forefront of this global debate. In contrast, India navigates the issue through the lens of its judiciary. The Indian Constitution upholds the right to life as one of its most fundamental human rights. This right encompasses not only living with dignity but also dying with dignity. However, the country lacks specific legislation governing euthanasia, relying instead on landmark Supreme Court judgments. The evolution of this jurisprudence began with the P. Rathiram case in 1994 and culminated in the Common Cause case of 2018, where the court recognized passive euthanasia and advance directives under stringent safeguards. As the discourse on euthanasia continues to unfold, it reflects society's evolving relationship with the concepts of suffering, autonomy, and compassion. For Europe, with its rich legal traditions and philosophical heritage, the debate remains as much about upholding human dignity as it is about navigating the intricate balance between life, law, and morality. Euthanasia simply refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain. This practice has been on since ancient times. Biblical records even show traces of the practice of euthanasia.

Application of artificial intelligence and machine learning in poultry disease detection and diagnosis: A review

The poultry population has increased exponentially from 13.9 billion in the early 21st century to 26.56 billion by 2022 worldwide, emphasizing the vital nutritional and economic part of this section. Simultaneously, the poultry sector faces a considerable amount of tests from diseases such as avian influenza, coccidiosis, mycoplasmosis, etc. that cost the industry multibillion-dollar losses each year. The groundbreaking and revolutionary possibilities of artificial intelligence and machine learning in poultry disease detection and diagnosis are discussed in this review. By capitalizing on data from physiological and behavioral traits like movement, vocalization, body temperature, and excreta, AI algorithms can detect indications of illness and pathological conditions, which means strengthening disease management and bringing down economic losses. High-precision image and video processing, non-invasive monitoring, the use of thermal imaging, and accurate tracking of poultry to spot health issues are some of the crucial developments that have also aided in analyzing stress and other abnormalities. Incorporating new-age technologies into feasible, applicable, and economical diagnostic tools that have the potential to transform poultry well-being, enhance the welfare of poultry, and upgrade production as well as handling processes is discussed here. The upcoming prospects include global partnerships, better data analytics, and extended research or studies for the management of diseases and behavioral anomalies in all poultry species. The collaboration of AI, machine learning, and biotechnology holds colossal promise for the poultry sector, guaranteeing food safety and ensuring public health.

Arthroscopic meniscal posterior root repair combined with centralization reduces medial menicus extrusion associated with posterior root tears: One-year clinical outcomes.

This study aimed to assess the short-term clinical efficacy of combining posterior meniscal root repair with meniscal centralization technology in the treatment of medial meniscus posterior root tears (MMPRTs) and notable meniscus extrusion. In this retrospective analysis, patients aged 43-76 years with only chronic posterior root tears of the medial meniscus and notable extrusion were followed up for 12-14 months. (1) persistent medial knee joint pain affecting daily life, presenting with joint space tenderness; (2) showing the ineffectiveness of conservative treatment for a minimum of 3 months; conservative treatment includes non-invasive methods such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, physical therapy and massage, but does not include intra-articular injections. (3) Kellgren-Lawrence Grades 0-II osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee joint; and (4) diagnosis of a posterior root tear of the medial meniscus with notable meniscus extrusion confirmed through knee-joint plain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, where coronal image revealed a meniscus body extrusion of ≥3 mm. (1) Kellgren-Lawrence Grades III-IV OA in the knee joint; (2) presence of knee joint infection or other structural damage to the knee joint; (3) history of previous knee joint surgery; (4) demonstrating joint instability or abnormal lower-limb alignment (varus deformity >5°); and (5) presence of severe mental illness, coagulation disorders, or other serious medical conditions. The Lysholms score, the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) knee score, the visual analogue scale (VAS) score and meniscal extrusion values were evaluated before and after surgery in 23 patients through a comparative analysis. The results of the follow-up conducted 12-14 months post-operatively indicated a significant improvement in the patients' conditions. In particular, the Lysholms scores (preoperative: 50.9 ± 10.2; 1-year post-surgery: 72.0 ± 8.4), HSS knee scores (preoperative: 45.9 ± 10.6; 1-year post-surgery: 79.1 ± 11.1) and VAS scores (preoperative: 4.0 ± 1.1; 1-year post-surgery: 0.9 ± 0.7) exhibited notable enhancements. Furthermore, compared to the preoperative values, the degree of meniscus extrusion measured by coronal MRI of the knee joint significantly improved post-operatively (preoperative: 3.7 ± 0.8 mm; 1-year post-surgery: 2.2 ± 0.6 mm). These findings all yielded a p < 0.05, signifying statistical significance. In patients with chronic MMPRTs and notable extrusion, a combination of posterior meniscal root repair and centralization technology can effectively restore meniscus function and rectify the medial meniscus displacement, resulting in favourable short-term clinical outcomes. Level IV.

Discharge against medical advice in pediatrics: a 10-year retrospective analysis in a tertiary care center.

There is still limited data on Discharge Against Medical Advice (DAMA) in the pediatric population. Most research comes from low-and middle-income countries, where the financial burden associated with medical care is often an important reason to leave a healthcare facility prematurely. Discharge against medical advice in the children's population is considered a significant issue that may lead to an increased risk of morbidity and mortality. Describe the characteristics and predictors of DAMA in children over ten years in in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Retrospective. Tertiary care center. This study included all patients aged <14 years who had DAMA during all admissions between 1 January 2012, and 31 December 2022. Data was retrieved from medical records and included 1) sociodemographic data, 2) medical history and clinical characteristics, 3) utilization of services during the admission leading to DAMA, and 4) interventions provided to prevent departure. 355 DAMA episodes. Males accounted for 45.4%, and the average age was 4.4 years. The overall DAMA prevalence of was 0.4%. At baseline, 277 children (78%) had at least a chronic illness or severe baseline condition; 59% had a potential life-limiting or life-threatening condition. Reasons for DAMA included disagreement about the treatment plan (14.9%), social reasons (12.6%), and perception that the child's condition improved (5.6%). An increased risk of DAMA recurrence was associated with pre-existing severe or chronic medical conditions (OR: 8.2, P=.004) and a discharge during the treatment phase (OR: 1.9, P=.040). Despite inconsistent documentation, preventive measures included the involvement of healthcare providers, social services, and patient relations. The study highlights the need for standardized protocols and improved documentation practices to effectively address discharge against medical advice. Needs to moderate documentation quality of DAMA episodes. The study was limited to a single center, which may affect the generalizability. Children might also have presented to receive care in another facility post-DAMA.

Synthetic aperture image enhancement with near-coinciding Nonuniform sampling case

Multireceiver synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) uses multiple receivers to collect echoed signals, leading to nonuniform sampling in the azimuth dimension if the moving distance between adjacent pings is not half the receiver array length. The filter bank reconstruction (FBR) method, based on matrix inversion, is commonly used to address this by reconstructing uniform data from nonuniform signals. However, in practice, near-coinciding sampling can occur due to inaccuracies in the towed velocity of the SAS system, influenced by ocean conditions. The signal correlation of these near-coinciding receivers is very strong, and thus the steering vectors corresponding to these receivers are not completely independent. This further leads to an ill-conditioned system transfer function matrix made up of the receiver steering vectors, and results in inaccurate calculations of inverse matrix. Consequently, the FBR method suffers from significant signal-to-noise ratio loss or fails to reconstruct uniform signals accurately. This degradation in signal quality directly impacts the accuracy of target reconstruction, leading to errors in identifying and locating targets. This paper quantitatively defines nonuniform sampling with near-coinciding samples and discusses performance loss in various cases. To enhance imaging performance, we propose a method for reconstructing uniform signals. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms the conventional FBR method, providing better target reconstruction and higher efficiency.

Improved eight-node non-conforming hexahedral element for structures of various shapes

A previous 8-node 24-degree-of-freedom hexahedral element H8i9 is modified to improve its performance in structures of various shapes, especially in plates and shells. First, the complicated correction coefficients for non-conforming modes required by the patch test are reduced to constant values independent of the element. Second, the element strain field is enhanced with bilinear modes by the introduction of a trilinear non-conforming mode. Third, the iterative regularization used to address the ill-conditioned stiffness matrix is replaced by a special 9-point integration rule. Benchmark tests demonstrate that the new element H8ij10 outperforms the previous version, particularly with a notable improvement in coarse-mesh accuracy in plate and shell issues.

Illness-related communication between siblings and parents of children with chronic illness and life-limiting conditions: A qualitative analysis.

Having a brother or sister who has a chronic illness (lasting >6 months and requiring long-term care) or life-limiting condition (LLC; where cure is highly unlikely and the child is expected to die) has major impacts on siblings. Parent-sibling illness-related communication may contribute to siblings' capacity to cope. In this study, we aimed to explore parent-sibling illness-related communication, from the perspectives of parents and siblings. We also aimed to qualitatively compare participants' responses according to illness group (chronic illness vs. LLCs). We collected qualitative data from siblings (32 with a brother/sister with a chronic illness, 37 with a brother/sister with an LLC) and parents of a child with a chronic illness (n = 86) or LLC (n = 38) using purpose-designed, open-ended survey questions regarding illness-related communication. We used an inductive qualitative content analysis and matrix coding to explore themes and compare across illness groups. Two-thirds of siblings expressed satisfaction with their family's illness-related communication. Siblings typically reported satisfaction with communication when it was open and age-appropriate, and reported dissatisfaction when information was withheld or they felt overwhelmed with more information than they could manage. Parents generally favored an open communication style with the siblings, though this was more common among parents of children with an LLC than chronic illness. Our findings show that while many siblings shared that they felt satisfied with familial illness-related communication, parents should enquire with the siblings about their communication preferences in order to tailor illness-related information to the child's maturity level, distress, and age.

Clinical study on the intervention effect of digital therapy on children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of digital therapy for children aged 6 to 12 years with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). From January to March 2023, 52 children aged 6 to 12 years with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) from Wuhan Children’s Hospital, Hubei Province, China were selected for intervention using the “MindPro1” attention training software developed by Jiangsu Ruinao Qizhi Medical Technology Co., Ltd. Before the intervention, the children were in a stable treatment state, and no modifications were made to the original treatment plan during the MindPro1 intervention. Subjects with severe mental illness or other conditions that may affect the implementation and evaluation of disease treatment were excluded. Subjects completed the planned 4-week intervention, and changes in attention-related variables were assessed using the Test of Attention Variables (TOVA) and the parent version of the 18-item SNAP-IV scale (Swanson, Nolan, and Pelham, version IV scale) before and after the intervention. After 4 weeks of intervention, the lower limit of the 95% confidence interval of the response rate of the 18-item SNAP-IV-Parent scale, which was ≥ 30% improvement from baseline, was higher than 27.5% (better than similar products on the market); the SNAP-IV parent score improved (P < 0.001), with statistical significance; the TOVA-ACS score improved (P < 0.05), with statistical significance. The acceptance rate of parents of children was 100%, and the average compliance rate was 95%. There were 4 cases (7.69%) of adverse reactions that may be related to the device in this trial, which recovered spontaneously within 2 days of discontinuation, and no serious adverse events occurred. After 4 weeks of treatment with ADHD auxiliary treatment software, the objective attention assessment data and attention function assessment scale were significantly improved. Parents had a high acceptance of the software, the average compliance rate of participants was high, and the incidence of related adverse events was low and mild.

Autism diagnostic aid (ADA) tool for use in adults with intellectual disability: development, face and content validation

PurposeIndividuals with intellectual disability have an increased predisposition to other co-morbid physical health conditions, mental illness and neurodevelopmental conditions including autism spectrum condition. There are challenges in diagnosing autism in adults with intellectual disability, and these are often attributes to the complexities in symptoms. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of the autism diagnostic aid (ADA) tool and face and content validation of its properties.Design/methodology/approachThe ADA tool was developed following a detailed scoping exercise which included literature reviews, observations and discussion with wider multi-disciplinary team members. A face and content validation after consultation with eight experts who are trained and routinely perform assessments for autism spectrum disorders. The experts also have expertise in working with individuals with intellectual disability.FindingsThe experts agreed that the ADA tool is appropriate to the targeted construct and assessment objectives as a diagnostic aid in the assessment of autism in adults with intellectual disability. They also determined that the content of ADA tool was valid for its use as a diagnostic aid in the diagnosis of adults with intellectual disability.Research limitations/implicationsThe ADA tool was considered a valid tool from the expert’s perspective. It was identified to have a good face and content validity. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the ADA is first of its kind tool, developed specifically to aid clinicians with autism assessments in adults with intellectual disability.Practical implicationsThis tool could potentially help with timely assessment and help with providing appropriate intervention but would require further exploration.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first of its kind tool for the assessment of autism in adults with intellectual disability.

PROMOVENDO O BEM-ESTAR PSICOLÓGICO: ESTRATÉGIAS DE PREVENÇÃO DE DEPRESSÃO EM IDOSOS DE 60 A 80 ANOS

Aging is a normal and natural phase of society's development, deeply linked to health and illness conditions, and influenced by neurobiological, genetic, functional, and sociocultural factors. Quality of life plays a central role in characterizing aging as healthy or pathological, making it clear that an individual's psychological health is a result of the context in which he or she lives. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the nursing strategies adopted to prevent depression in elderly individuals aged 60 to 80 years. This is a narrative review study, carried out through research in the Virtual Health Library (VHL) and Google Scholar, using the following descriptors: depression AND elderly AND nursing AND prevention. The eligibility criteria adopted were: complete works that addressed the topic between the years 2019 and 2024. Dissertations, theses, theoretical essays, and experience reports were excluded. In the end, eight studies were selected. Among the strategies used by nurses, the following are mentioned: encouraging the maintenance of Activities of Daily Living (ADLs); encouraging the active participation of the social support network; keeping the home environment well ventilated; cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched surfaces, such as bed headboards, remote controls, doorknobs, cell phones and canes, with 70% alcohol; and promoting a healthy diet, accompanied by good fluid intake, as priority measures to reduce the chances of contamination by COVID-19. Thus, it is concluded that health professionals need to redefine the provision of care and attention to the elderly in health services, in addition to promoting the training of the nursing team to meet gerontological needs more adequately.

A New Hybrid Descent Algorithm for Large-Scale Nonconvex Optimization and Application to Some Image Restoration Problems

Conjugate gradient methods are widely used and attractive for large-scale unconstrained smooth optimization problems, with simple computation, low memory requirements, and interesting theoretical information on the features of curvature. Based on the strongly convergent property of the Dai–Yuan method and attractive numerical performance of the Hestenes–Stiefel method, a new hybrid descent conjugate gradient method is proposed in this paper. The proposed method satisfies the sufficient descent property independent of the accuracy of the line search strategies. Under the standard conditions, the trust region property and the global convergence are established, respectively. Numerical results of 61 problems with 9 large-scale dimensions and 46 ill-conditioned matrix problems reveal that the proposed method is more effective, robust, and reliable than the other methods. Additionally, the hybrid method also demonstrates reliable results for some image restoration problems.

Evolving Concepts of Pain Management in Elderly Patients.

The elderly population typically suffer from a variety of diseases that mostly reflect the degenerative changes linked with the aging process. These diseases may be exacerbated by acute pain or by an abrupt aggravation of previously stable chronic pain. Physical and psychological changes associated with aging may influence one's experience of pain and, as a result, the severity of pain. Pain treatment in the elderly can be complex and is often a budgetary burden on the nation's health care system. These difficulties arise, in part, because of unanticipated pharmacodynamics, changed pharmacokinetics, and polypharmacy interactions. Therefore, it is critical to integrate a multidisciplinary team to develop a management strategy that incorporates medical, psychological, and surgical methods to control persistent pain conditions. It is in this critical process that pain prediction models can be of great use. The purpose of pain prediction models for the elderly is the use of mathematical models to predict the occurrence and intensity of pain and pain-related conditions. These mathematical models employ a vast quantity of data to ascertain the many risk factors for the development of pain problems in the elderly, whether said risks are adjustable or not. These models will pave the way for more informed medical decision making that are based on the findings of thousands of patients who have previously experienced the same illness and related pain conditions. However, future additional research needs to be undertaken to build prediction models that are not constrained by substantial legal or methodological limitations.

Ratio of accelerations to decelerations in Women’s division I lacrosse

This study analyzed the differences by position in acceleration, deceleration, and the ratio of accelerations to decelerations in drills and quarters of games (Q1-Q4). Data were collected in 23 female collegiate lacrosse athletes (20.8 ± 1.5 years, 168.3 ± 6.1 cm), consisting of ten midfielders, five defenders, and eight attackers. Drills were categorized as: stickwork (SW), small-sided games (SSG), warm-up (WU), active recovery (AR), individual skills (IS), scrimmage, and conditioning. AR (0.31 ± 0.09 accelerations/min) and WU (0.47 ± 0.07 accelerations/min) showed the lowest number of accelerations, and conditioning and SW were the highest (&gt;1.0 accelerations/min). Conditioning showed the highest demand for decelerations (0.37 ± 0.14 decelerations/min) and AR and WU had the fewest (0.10 ± 0.04 decelerations/min). AR, IS, SW, and WU all had higher acceleration/deceleration ratios (4:1 to 5.7:1) than the remaining drill types (p = .000 - .050, 3:1-4:1). Q1 had a higher acceleration demand (0.72 ± 0.52 accelerations/minute) than the remaining three quarters (0.57 - 0.67 accelerations/min). The game demand in decelerations was approximately 0.20 decelerations/minute across all quarters and the acceleration/deceleration ratio was approximately 4:1, with the exception of defenders in Q1 who had 6:1 ratio. There is a large demand for accelerations in field lacrosse with no positional differences, and training should be devoted towards this skill.

Movements of the bearded seal in the White Sea monitored by satellite telemetry

Movements and distribution data of the bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus) in the White Sea during summer and autumn were obtained as a result of tagging with satellite telemetry transmitters (STT). Russian-made Pulsar STTs operated in the Argos system. Catching and tagging of bearded seals was carried out in the Onega and Mezen bays in 2014, 2015 and 2017. Altogether, 7 STTs were installed on seals of different ages and sexes. Analysis of satellite telemetry data showed that during the non-ice period bearded seals were tied to local habitat areas, and the dynamics of their movements differed in the inner and open parts of the sea. The STT data suggest that these differences in distribution are due to lability in feeding and show good adaptation of the bearded seal in the conditions of poorly accessible feed base of the White Sea. The diverse feeding strategy of the bearded seal in the White Sea, and its adaptation to the difficult feeding conditions of the sea, may help the species to survive in the region and ensure stable population numbers in changing environmental conditions.

Three-dimensional compact multi-resolution weighted essentially non-oscillatory reconstruction under the Arbitrary Lagrange–Euler framework

A third-order compact multi-resolution weighted essentially non-oscillatory (CMR-WENO) reconstruction method for three-dimensional (3D) hybrid unstructured grids is developed using the Arbitrary Lagrange–Euler framework. The finite volume method is used to discretize the governing equations, and some turbulent and moving boundary problems are simulated. Only one compact center stencil comprising the neighboring cells of each control cell is required to construct the polynomials in the algorithm. As a result, the number of stencils and stencil cells is significantly reduced when compared with the traditional WENO scheme. This simplifies the code and improves the robustness of the algorithm. By ensuring the cell average and first-order derivatives are consistent with that in stencil cells an over-determined system of equations can be used to reconstruct the polynomials. This system can then be solved using the compact least squares method to avoid an ill-conditioned coefficient matrix. Furthermore, a coupled implicit iteration strategy is used to solve for the unknown coefficients, so no extra determination is required for the derivatives of each control cell. The final interpolation function for discontinuities in the flow field is obtained using CMR-WENO to nonlinearly combine polynomials of different orders, which further improves the stability of the algorithm. The CMR-WENO can be implemented on 3D hybrid unstructured grids and can be used to simulate complex problems such as those involving turbulence and moving boundaries. Finally, the algorithm presented here is verified to be third-order accurate and to exhibit good robustness when used on several representative numerical examples.

Utility of the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Global Mental Health T-Score to Identify Patients at Risk for Poor Postsurgical Outcomes Following Total Hip Arthroplasty

BackgroundMental illness is a known risk factor for poor postoperative outcomes following total hip arthroplasty (THA); however, the relationship between a patients overall mental health and recovery from THA is not as well established. Using the preoperative Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS-10) Mental Health Subdomain T-Score (MHT), the purpose of this study was to understand the association between mental health and postoperative outcomes up to one year following THA. MethodsThis was a retrospective chart review of patients undergoing elective primary THA. Patients who did not have a formal diagnosis of a mental illness condition were divided based on their MHT (above average [AA] > 50, average 40 to 50, below average [BA] < 40). Postsurgical parameters included inpatient opioid consumption and patient satisfaction, and 1-year postsurgery self-reported pain and patient-reported outcomes scores. A total of 972 patients were included in this study (AA 61.2%, average 33.1%, BA 5.7%). ResultsAfter controlling for confounders, multivariate models demonstrated that the MHT was an independent predictor of pain, opioid consumption, patient-reported outcomes, and satisfaction. Patients in the AA group overall demonstrated better outcomes and required fewer opioids than those in the BA group. ConclusionsThe MHT can be used as a preoperative screening tool that can identify an at-risk group that has not been previously described. An MHT < 40 was associated with poor postoperative outcomes, increased pain and opioid consumption, and lower overall satisfaction scores.

Methods for solving ill-conditioned systems of linear algebraic equations that improve the conditionality

The problem of solving systems of linear algebraic equations (SLAE) with an ill-conditioned or degenerate exact matrix and an approximate right-hand side is considered. A scheme for solving such a problem is proposed and justified, which makes it possible to improve the conditionality of the SLAE matrix. As a result, an approximate solution that is stable to perturbations of the right-hand side is obtained with a higher accuracy than when using some other methods. The scheme is implemented by an algorithm that uses minimal pseudoinverse matrices. The results of numerical experiments are presented, confirming the theoretical provisions of the article.

The role of mental illness and neurodevelopmental conditions in human papillomavirus vaccination uptake within the Swedish school-based vaccination programme: a population-based cohort study

Despite documented mental illness-related disparities in cervical cancer screening and incidence, insufficient data exist on differences in cervical cancer prevention strategies, such as human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination. We aimed to investigate the association of mental illness and neurodevelopmental conditions among girls and their parents with uptake of HPV vaccination in Sweden. This population-based cohort study was based on the Swedish school-based HPV vaccination programme, which offers the first vaccine dose to girls aged 10-13 years, with a second dose offered within 12 months. We identified all girls born between Jan 1, 2002, and March 1, 2004, using the Swedish Total Population Register-ie, those eligible for two vaccine doses in the vaccination programme from its initiation in autumn 2012, to March, 2019. Nationwide Swedish register data (National Patient Register, Prescribed Drug Register, HPV Vaccination Register, National Vaccination Register, Total Population Register, Multi-Generation Register, Longitudinal Integrated Database for Health Insurance and Labour Market Studies, Education Register, National Cervical Screening Registry, and Cancer Register) were used to define individual and parental mental health conditions, including mental illness and neurodevelopmental conditions (defined by a clinical diagnosis and prescribed psychotropic medication use), HPV vaccine uptake (first and second dose), and sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. The two outcomes were uptake of the first HPV vaccine dose by the girl's 14th birthday and uptake of the second dose by the 15th birthday in relation to individual and parental mental health conditions, calculated using multivariable Poisson regression models. 115 104 girls were included in the study population. 2211 girls (1·9%) had a specialist diagnosis of any mental health condition. Uptake of the first HPV vaccine dose was 80·7% (92 912 of 115 104) and was lower among girls with versus without any mental health condition (adjusted relative risk 0·89 [95% CI 0·87-0·91]). The diagnosis of autism (0·79 [0·75-0·85]) or intellectual disability (0·78 [0·73-0·83]) were most strongly associated with lower HPV vaccine uptake. Vaccine uptake was also lower among girls with versus those without prescribed use of psychotropic medication (0·93 [0·92-0·95]), with the strongest association observed for antipsychotics (0·68 [0·56-0·82]). Uptake of the second dose was 95·0% (88 308 of 92 912), with no strong associations between uptake and mental health conditions in girls or their parents. Our findings suggest disparities in cervical cancer prevention among girls with mental health conditions, and call for further research to ensure equitable protection. Swedish Cancer Society.

Per‐unit transformation for the combined analysis of multi‐energy integration

AbstractTo handle numerical issues caused by dimensional differences among heterogeneous states in integrated energy systems (IES), this paper proposes a novel per‐unit transformation method and explores its applications to the partial differential equation‐governed models. Initially, a unified IES model is developed, which encompasses both fast and slow dynamics in a generalized form. Subsequently, the per‐unit transformation is consistently applied to the fast and slow dynamics of the IES within the unified model framework. The proposed method's theoretical proofs demonstrate its ability to preserve structure and reduce complexity. Simulation results in various cases validate the accuracy of the per‐unit model and verify the effectiveness of the transformation in reducing conditional numbers. This reduction is particularly significant for improving efficiency in the combined analysis of the IES.

Electrical resistance transition of CaCu3Ti4O12 ceramics induced by cyclic voltammetry conditioning

Compared with traditional ferroelectric materials sintered by two steps, CaCu3Ti4O12 is regarded as a promising dielectric material attributed to its huge dielectric constant, temperature stability, and more easily sintered by only one step through solid-state reaction. However, the origin of the giant dielectric constant remains controversial due to the complexity of the interface and the lack of effective tools to reveal defects and boundary effects. In this work, CaCu3Ti4O12 ceramics with different oxygen concentrations were prepared and the influence of defects on their electrical properties was studied by cyclic voltammetry method. It was found that the resistance of CaCu3Ti4O12 decreases with increasing the number of cyclic voltammetry conditioning and after certain cycles, the voltampere (CV) characteristics change dramatically from nonlinear to linear. In addition, the resistance transition is strongly dependent on the oxygen concentration, and samples sintered in a vacuum with more oxygen vacancies are more easily induced. A filamentary mechanism of oxidation-reduction reaction was proposed to explain the resistive transition of CaCu3Ti4O12.