3D conformal bandpass millimeter-wave frequency selective surface with improved fields of view.

Conventional planar frequency selective surfaces (FSSs) are characterized in the far-field region and they are sensitive to the incidence angle of impinging waves. In this paper, a spherical dome FSS is presented, aiming to provide improved angular stable bandpass filtering performance as compared to its planar counterpart when the FSS is placed in the near-field region of an antenna source. A comparison between the conformal FSS and a finite planar FSS is presented through simulations at the frequency range between 26 to 40 GHz in order to demonstrate the advantages of utilizing the conformal FSS in the near-field.

Dark Mode Excitation in Three-Dimensional Interlaced Metallic Meshes.

Interlaced metallic meshes form a class of three-dimensional metamaterials that exhibit nondispersive, broadband modes at low frequencies, without the low frequency cutoff typical of generic wire grid geometries. However, the experimental observation of these modes has remained an open challenge, both due to the difficulties in fabricating such complex structures and also because the broadband mode is longitudinal and does not couple to free-space radiation (dark mode). Here we report the first experimental observation of the low frequency modes in a block of interlaced meshes fabricated through 3D printing.

Temperature Stable Cold Sintered (BiLi)(VMo)O-NaMoO Microwave Dielectric Composites.

Dense (BiLi)(VMo)O-NaMoO (100-x) wt.% (BiLi)(VMo)O (BLVMO)-x wt.% NaMoO (NMO) composite ceramics were successfully fabricated through cold sintering at 150 °C under at 200 MPa for 30 min.

Comparative study of three prostaglandin analogues in the treatment of newly diagnosed cases of ocular hypertension, open-angle and normal tension glaucoma.

Background: To compare the efficacy and tolerance of three prostaglandin analogues, bimatoprost, latanoprost and travoprost in patients with previously untreated open-angle glaucoma and ocular hypertension.

Methods: Prospective randomized single (investigator) masked comparative clinical trial at the Taunton and Somerset NHS Hospital, Taunton, UK. Newly diagnosed, treatment naïve glaucoma/ocular hypertension patients were recruited.

A 10 year retrospective survey of cataract surgery and endophthalmitis in a single eye unit: injectable lenses lower the incidence of endophthalmitis.

Aim: To study the incidence of endophthalmitis following cataract surgery over a 10 year period, and to examine ways in which this may be related to changes in surgical technique.

Methods: All cases of endophthalmitis occurring over a 10 year period within a single ophthalmic unit in the United Kingdom were reviewed, and possible risk factors identified.

Results: During the study period, as the technique of extracapsular cataract surgery was replaced by phacoemulsification, there was a commensurate reduction in the incidence of endophthalmitis.

Outcome, prognosis, and risk in a longitudinal follow-up study.

This study reports the results of a 4-year follow-up of a community sample of children who were ages 4 to 12 in 1983 at the first wave of data collection. Results on outcomes revealed that conduct disorder showed the greatest stability especially from late childhood to early adolescence. In multivariate analyses, both family dysfunction and problems getting along with others significantly predicted the persistence of one or more psychiatric disorders 4 years later, and low income predicted one or more psychiatric disorders among children free of disorder 4 years earlier.

Measuring processes of caregiving to physically disabled children and their families. I: Identifying relevant components of care.

This study was undertaken to determine the relative importance of components of caregiving for children with developmental disabilities. Health-care professionals and parents rated the importance and relative priority of 22 aspects of caregiving. Among the seven highest-ranked aspects of care, both parents and professionals identified Parent involvement, Education/information, Treatment, Accessible/available care and Co-ordination.

Children with chronic illness: family and parent demographic characteristics and psychosocial adjustment.

This paper presents the results of an epidemiologic study that compares and contrasts psychosocial characteristics of parents and family units of children with chronic illness or physical disability (chronic health problems) with those of healthy children. Data were derived from the Ontario Child Health Study of 1869 randomly selected families, with 3294 children aged 4 to 16 years. In the absence of significant differences between parents and families of children with chronic illness alone and those with physical disability, these groups were combined for analysis, for which odds ratios (OR) or t tests were used.

Neurodevelopmental therapy and upper-extremity inhibitive casting for children with cerebral palsy.

The purpose of this research was to study the effect of intensive neurodevelopmental therapy (NDT) and upper-extremity inhibitive casting, separately or in combination, on hand function, quality of upper-extremity movement and range of motion of 73 children with spastic cerebral palsy aged 18 months to eight years. There was no significant difference between intensive or regular therapy and casting or no casting for hand function, between intensive and regular NDT, or between intensive NDT plus casting and the other groups for quality of movement and range of motion. Casting led to increased quality of movement and wrist extension after six months.

Issues in measuring change in motor function in children with cerebral palsy: a special communication.

Assessing clinical change in motor function in children with cerebral palsy is a complex measurement task. Whereas a variety of methods have been developed to quantify specific aspects of gross motor behavior (eg, gait analysis, electrophysiological tests, energy-consumption techniques), systematic measurement of overall gross motor function is a more difficult problem. This special communication reviews the structural and performance characteristics required of a well-developed, valid, and responsive clinically based evaluative measure.

The gross motor function measure: a means to evaluate the effects of physical therapy.

This paper reports the results of a study to validate a measure of gross motor function in detecting change in the motor function of disabled children. Physiotherapists used this instrument to assess 111 patients with cerebral palsy, 25 with head injury and 34 non-disabled preschool children on two occasions, the second after an interval of four to six months. Parents and therapists independently rated the children's function within two weeks of each assessment, and a sample of paired assessments was videotaped for 'blind' evaluation by therapists.

Ontario Child Health Study: patterns of ambulatory medical care utilization and their correlates.

Data from a large epidemiologic survey of Ontario children 4 to 16 years of age are presented concerning the frequency and correlates the use of ambulatory medical care services during a 6-month period in which a universal, first-dollar health insurance plan was used. Patterns of use of ambulatory medical care are described for three settings: doctor's offices, emergency rooms, and hospital outpatient departments. A group of children who are frequent users of ambulatory medical care (defined as using three or more services in 6 months) consumed nearly two thirds of all services.

Predicting problems in school performance from preschool health, developmental and behavioural assessments.

To determine the accuracy of various predictors of school problems, we conducted a 3-year prospective study of 1999 children who began school in the Niagara region of Ontario in 1980. During the year before school entry the parents gave a health, developmental and behavioural history during an interview with a community health nurse, and the children underwent vision and hearing screening tests and the Denver Developmental Screening Test (DDST). At the end of the 1980-81 school year the kindergarten teachers rated the children's learning problems.

The Ontario Child Health Study: social adjustment and mental health of siblings of children with chronic health problems.

There has been controversy concerning the type and amount of psychosocial maladjustment among the siblings of children with chronic physical health problems and disabilities. Most previous studies have been conducted in clinical populations, often from tertiary care centers. This paper reports the risks of psychiatric disorders and social adjustment problems of the siblings of chronically ill children found in the Ontario Child Health Study (OCHS).

Strengths and limitations of the Apgar score: a critical appraisal.

The Apgar score is widely used for several purposes: to discriminate between infants who require resuscitation at birth and those who do not; to predict outcome; and to evaluate change in the condition of the newly born over the first minutes of life. Using published evidence of its clinical reliability and validity, this article explores whether the Apgar score serves all three measurement purposes equally well. Methodologic guidelines for assessing health indices are applied to examine the structure of the Apgar score as well as its function where performance data are lacking or inadequate.

Ontario Child Health Study. I. Methodology.

We developed the methodology for a community survey to determine the prevalence of emotional and behavioral disorders among children 4 to 16 years of age in Ontario, Canada. Our discussion includes the objectives of the survey, the measurement of disorder, sampling methods and survey design, and a description of the data collected and instrumentation. Among 2052 households with eligible children, 1869 (91%) participated in the survey.

Ontario Child Health Study. II. Six-month prevalence of disorder and rates of service utilization.

We studied the six-month prevalence of four child psychiatric disorders (conduct disorder, hyperactivity, emotional disorder, and somatization) and patterns of service utilization for mental health and social services, ambulatory medical care and special education by different regions of Ontario, urban-rural residence, and age and sex groupings. Among children 4 to 16 years of age, the overall six-month prevalence rate of one or more of these disorders was 18.1%.

Chronic illness, disability, and mental and social well-being: findings of the Ontario Child Health Study.

Chronic childhood illness, disability, and psychosocial problems are receiving major attention in current pediatric care. Much of the evidence associating chronic physical problems and mental health and adjustment problems has come from clinic-based studies and is often inconsistent in its conclusions. This paper reports the findings of the Ontario Child Health Study, an epidemiologic survey of 3,294 children 4 to 16 years of age in the general community, concerning the relationship of psychiatric disorders and social adjustment problems among children with chronic illness, medical conditions, and long-term disability in contrast to children free of chronic physical health problems.

Evaluation of public health preschool child developmental screening: the process and outcomes of a community program.

We conducted a randomized controlled trial of a public health and education screening program aimed at all 4,797 four to five year old children registering for kindergarten in three school districts of southern Ontario, Canada. Children received either the Denver Developmental Screening Test (DDST) with a community health intervention program for positive screeness; the DDST with no intervention for positive screenees; or no screening test. The intervention program consisted of referral to the child's physician for assessment; a review conference between the child's teacher and the school health nurse; parent counseling; and monitoring of the child in school by the school health nurse.

Chronic illness and functional limitation in Ontario children: findings of the Ontario Child Health Study.

The Ontario Child Health Study (OCHS) was based on interviews of 1869 Ontario families who were selected by means of a stratified, multistaged sampling method from the 1981 census of Canada. Its primary purpose was to determine the prevalence and distribution of mental health problems in Ontario children aged 4 to 16 years and their families, but it also allowed an estimate of other significant medical conditions and provided an overview of these children's use of health care, education and social services. Our results are based on questionnaire responses concerning 3294 children.

Value of the lateral radiologic view of the chest in children with acute pulmonary illness.

Although expert committees have questioned the usefulness of lateral radiologic views of the chest without specific indications, many physicians commonly order both posteroanterior and lateral views in assessing pediatric patients who have signs and symptoms of acute chest disease. To investigate the usefulness of lateral view in children, three experienced physicians independently reviewed and interpreted the posteroanterior view alone and the posteroanterior and lateral views for 179 children 1 to 10 years of age. The films were made between 1980 and 1982 at McMaster University Medical Centre, Hamilton, Ont.

Community professionals' compliance with consultants' recommendations for developmentally disabled children.

Much of the responsibility for managing children with developmental disabilities lies with professionals working in community services. In many instances advice and consultation for these frontline professionals is available from a regional consultation facility. The purpose of this study was to prospectively examine the relationship between community professional clients' perceptions of the quality of the consultations received and their subsequent compliance with the recommendations made to them for the management of children in their care.

Construction of social value or utility-based health indices: the usefulness of factorial experimental design plans.

Global indices, which aggregate multiple health or function attributes into a single summary indicator, are useful measures in health research. Two key issues must be addressed in the initial stages of index construction from the universe of possible health and function attributes, which ones should be included in a new index? and how simple can the statistical model be to combine attributes into a single numeric index value? Factorial experimental designs were used in the initial stages of developing a function index for evaluating a program for the care of young handicapped children. Beginning with eight attributes judged important to the goals of the program by clinicians, social preference values for different function states were obtained from 32 parents of handicapped children and 32 members of the community.

Newborn circumcision: an economic perspective.

The purpose of this study was to analyse the hypothesis that prophylactic circumcision of male newborns is economically beneficial to the health care system in Canada. The minimal dollar benefits that would justify this conclusion were determined. The cost of the procedure was calculated in three Hamilton, Ont.

The usefulness of the Denver Developmental Screening Test to predict kindergarten problems in a general community population.

The Denver Developmental Screening Test (DDST) was administered to 2,569 children five to seven months prior to starting kindergarten in September 1980 in a geographically well-defined community. The test was administered by trained public health nurses. At the end of the 1980-1981 school year, all 163 kindergarten teachers in the area completed a rating form for each child in their class.