Measurement of Procalcitonin as an Indicator of Severity in Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Admitted With Respiratory Illness.

Introduction Exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are a frequent reason for hospital admission and a major cause of morbidity and mortality. A useful biomarker or indicator of disease severity at the time of presentation could help guide treatment and identify those with poor prognosis who need early aggressive intervention. We hypothesized that patients who present to the hospital with COPD exacerbations who are found to have elevated procalcitonin (PCT) levels will have worse outcomes such as longer admissions, increased intensive care unit (ICU) utilization, and more frequent readmissions than those with normal levels, regardless of presence or absence of infiltrate on initial chest X-ray (CXR).

Direct limits on the interaction of antiprotons with axion-like dark matter.

Astrophysical observations indicate that there is roughly five times more dark matter in the Universe than ordinary baryonic matter, and an even larger amount of the Universe's energy content is attributed to dark energy. However, the microscopic properties of these dark components remain unknown. Moreover, even ordinary matter-which accounts for five per cent of the energy density of the Universe-has yet to be understood, given that the standard model of particle physics lacks any consistent explanation for the predominance of matter over antimatter.

Measurement of Ultralow Heating Rates of a Single Antiproton in a Cryogenic Penning Trap.

We report on the first detailed study of motional heating in a cryogenic Penning trap using a single antiproton. Employing the continuous Stern-Gerlach effect we observe cyclotron quantum transition rates of 6(1)  quanta/h and an electric-field noise spectral density below 7.5(3.

A smartphone-based consultation system for acute burns - methodological challenges related to follow-up of the system.

Background: A smartphone-based consultation system for acute burns is currently being implemented in the Western Cape, South Africa. Even though studies indicate that similar systems for burns tend to support valid diagnosis and influence patient management, the evidence is still sparse. There is a need for more in-depth evaluations, not least in resource-constrained settings where mHealth projects are increasing.

Integrating mHealth at point of care in low- and middle-income settings: the system perspective.

While the field represents a wide spectrum of products and services, many aspects of mHealth have great promise within resource-poor settings: there is an extensive range of cheap, widely available tools which can be used at the point of care delivery. However, there are a number of conditions which need to be met if such solutions are to be adequately integrated into existing health systems; we consider these from regulatory, technological and user perspectives. We explore the need for an appropriate legislative and regulatory framework, to avoid 'work around' solutions, which threaten patient confidentiality (such as the extensive use of instant messaging services to deliver sensitive clinical information and seek diagnostic and management advice).