(Re)packing Equal Disks into Rectangle.

The problem of packing of equal disks (or circles) into a rectangle is a fundamental geometric problem. (By a packing here we mean an arrangement of disks in a rectangle without overlapping.) We consider the following algorithmic generalization of the equal disk packing problem.

The influenza landscape and vaccination coverage in older adults during the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic: data from Several European Countries and Israel.

Introduction: The Raise Awareness of Influenza Strategies in Europe (RAISE) group gathered information about the healthcare burden of influenza (hospitalizations, intensive care unit [ICU] admissions, and excess deaths), surveillance systems, and the vaccine coverage rate (VCR) in older adults in 18 European countries and Israel.

Areas Covered: Published medical literature and official medical documentation on the influenza disease burden in the participating countries were reviewed from 2010/11 until the 2022/23 influenza seasons. Information on the framework for monitoring the disease burden and the provision for ensuring older adults had access to vaccination in their respective countries was provided.

Health Information Technology Supporting Adherence Memory Disorder Patients: A Systematic Literature Review.

Background: People with memory disorders have difficulty adhering to treatments. With technological advances, it remains important to investigate the potential of health information technology (HIT) in supporting medication adherence among them.

Objectives: This review investigates the role of HIT in supporting adherence to medication and therapies among patients with memory issues.

Parental spirituality in life-threatening pediatric cancer.

This study addressed parental spirituality in the context of pediatric cancer with a poor prognosis. Drawing upon previous research implementing a longitudinal grounded theory design examining parental hope, 35 parents were interviewed regarding their experiences with an emergent description of the role of spirituality in parents' daily lives. Spirituality included religious beliefs and practices, notions of a higher force or cosmos, relationship with a divine being, as well as elements emerging from meaning-making and relationships.

The will to live and death-related decline in life satisfaction.

This study examined the relationship between the will to live (WTL) and death-related decline in life satisfaction in 382 decedents who participated in a national 3-wave study (mean age at study entry 79 years). Growth-curve models revealed that distance to death was more predictive of declines in life satisfaction than chronological age. WTL moderated, but did not mediate, death-related decline in life satisfaction.

Contamination of contact lens storage cases of asymptomatic refractive surgery candidates.

Purpose: To examine the rates of contamination of contact lens storage cases of refractive surgery candidates and compare the growth yields of the traditional method of culturing and a broth-based method.

Methods: Thirty contact lens storage cases of 16 asymptomatic refractive surgery candidates were studied. Samples from the lens storage case fluid were inoculated into Bactec Peds Plus F broth (Becton Dickinson) and also directly onto blood agar, chocolate agar, and Sabouraud dextrose agar ("traditional method").

Covered stent: a novel percutaneous treatment of iatrogenic aortic dissection during coronary angioplasty.

We present a case of bidirectional dissection, with antegrade extension to the right coronary artery and retrograde extension to the sinus of Valsalva and the ascending aorta. The aortocoronary dissection appeared during percutaneous angioplasty to the right coronary artery. The entry site was successfully sealed by a covered stent.