The graded possibilistic clustering paradigm includes as the two extreme cases the “probabilistic” assumption and the “possibilistic” assumption adopted by many clustering algorithms. We propose an implementation of a graded possibilistic clustering algorithm based on an interval equality constraint enforcing both the normality condition and the required graded possibilistic condition. Experime...

Prostate cancer, the most common male cancer, affects one in eight American men. Risk factors for the disease include increased age, race, and family history of prostate cancer. To date, surgery, radiation, and hormonal therapy have been the mainstays of treatment. In the past, chemotherapy served only a palliative role for men with prostate cancer and failed to produce a survival advantage or ...

Medicare managed care enrollment growth points to the need to develop an approach for monitoring access to care for the increasing number of beneficiaries who use these arrangements. This article describes the issues to be addressed in designing a system for monitoring managed care plan enrollees' ability to obtain needed medical care on a timely basis. We review components of the monitoring ap...

We study the nonlinearity (NL) in the conversion from charge to voltage in infrared detectors (HXRG) for use in precision astronomy. We present laboratory measurements of the NL function of a H2RG detector and discuss the accuracy to which it would need to be calibrated in future spacemissions to perform cosmologicalmeasurements through theweak gravitational lensing technique. In addition, we p...

The goal of this review is to summarise the clinical features, management, and prognosis of acute exacerbations of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (AE-IPF). AE-IPF has previously been defined based on clinical and radiological features that include the subacute onset of dyspnoea, bilateral ground glass changes on chest high-resolution computed tomography, and the absence of an identifiable aetiol...

This article discusses outcomes research in physical therapy and places its conceptual roots within the work on quality-of-care assessment. An argument is advanced that the outcomes research movement in medicine has stimulated clinical researchers in physical therapy to address disability outcomes in addition to traditional impairment outcomes. If physical therapy clinical research moves beyond...

INTRODUCTION Physician Assistants are medical care providers working under supervision and/or in collaboration with a medical doctor. The Physician Assistant profession has its origin in the United States, but in the last decade has also reached other nations to overcome medical staffing issues. With little summarized literature available, the aim of this study is to portray the Physician Assis...

Chemical reduction has long dominated thinking about the mechanism of aqueous contaminant removal in the presence of metallic iron (e.g. Fe/H2O systems). However, a large body of experimental evidence indicates that chemical reduction is not adequate to satisfactorily explain the efficiency of Fe/H2O systems for several substances or classes of substances. By contrast, the alternative approach,...

I grew up in a household afraid of germs. When my sister was born, my father had all guests put on surgical masks to protect her. We all had our tonsils taken out “just because,” and antibiotics were considered a miracle discovered by science. My generation was the one first introduced to fast food—we really believed it was food! Our mothers were sold the idea that formula could be better than ...

Over 60% of people aged over 65 are affected by multiple morbidities, which are more difficult to treat, generate increased healthcare costs and lead to poor quality of life compared to individual diseases. With the number of older people steadily increasing this presents a societal challenge. Age is the major risk factor for age-related diseases and recent research developments have led to the...