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Selected AbstractsProphylactic versus on-demand treatment strategies for severe haemophilia: a comparison of costs and long-term outcomeHAEMOPHILIA, Issue 6 2002K. Fischer Summary., A multicentre study was performed to compare clotting factor use and outcome between on-demand and prophylactic treatment strategies for patients with severe haemophilia. Data on treatment and outcome of 49 Dutch patients with severe haemophilia, born 1970,80, primarily treated with prophylaxis, were compared with those of 106 French patients, who were primarily treated on demand. Dutch patients received intermediate dose prophylaxis, for a median duration of 12.7 years. Patients primarily treated with prophylaxis had fewer joint bleeds per year (median 2.8 vs. 11.5), a higher proportion of patients without joint bleeds (29% vs. 9%), lower clinical scores (median 2.0 vs. 8.0), and less arthropathy as measured by the Pettersson score (median 7 points vs. 16 points). Mean annual clotting factor use was equal at 1488 ± 783 IU kg,1 year,1 (mean ± standard deviation) for patients primarily treated with prophylaxis and 1612 ± 1442 IU kg,1 year,1 for patients primarily treated on demand. These findings suggest that, compared with a primarily on-demand treatment strategy, a primarily prophylactic treatment strategy leads to better outcome at equal treatment costs in young adults with severe haemophilia. [source] Fast Filtering and Smoothing for Multivariate State Space ModelsJOURNAL OF TIME SERIES ANALYSIS, Issue 3 2000S. J. Koopman This paper investigates a new approach to diffuse filtering and smoothing for multivariate state space models. The standard approach treats the observations as vectors, while our approach treats each element of the observational vector individually. This strategy leads to computationally efficient methods for multivariate filtering and smoothing. Also, the treatment of the diffuse initial state vector in multivariate models is much simpler than in existing methods. The paper presents details of relevant algorithms for filtering, prediction and smoothing. Proofs are provided. Three examples of multivariate models in statistics and economics are presented for which the new approach is particularly relevant. [source] Novel pH- and Temperature-Responsive Methacrylamide Microgels,MACROMOLECULAR CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS, Issue 13-14 2009Leyre Pérez-Álvarez Abstract A novel transition temperature in MeAM copolymer microgels is reported. Despite the fact that MeAM homopolymers do not show thermosensitive properties, a specific synthetic strategy leads to a thermo-responsive swelling behavior that could be potentially useful in medical and/or industrial applications. The pH and temperature-dependent swelling response of microgels of MeAM copolymerized with 2-aminomethylpyridine and ethylenediamine is reported. The changes in particle sizes, which depend on the nature of the surrounding environment, are recorded by QELS. The relation between copolymer structure and its novel behavior is analyzed by several techniques (1H NMR, TGA). [source] 31P CP/MAS NMR of polycrystalline and immobilized phosphines and catalysts with fast sample spinningMAGNETIC RESONANCE IN CHEMISTRY, Issue 6 2003S. Reinhard Abstract Cross-polarization (CP) at fast magic angle spinning (MAS) frequencies leads to a splitting of the Hartmann,Hahn (HH) matching profile into a centerband and additional bands of higher orders. The matching profiles differ with the substance categories. Therefore, signal intensity is usually lost, when e.g. the routine standard NH4H2PO4 is used for optimizing the 1H,31P HH match prior to measuring phosphines and their metal complexes in polycrystalline or immobilized form. Here, a variety of model compounds, such as Ph2PCH2CH2PPh2 and (CO)2Ni(PPh3)2, which can be used as 31P CP standards for analogous substances or materials are presented. Investigating the influences of MAS frequency, contact time, 1H pulse power and sample volume on the matching profiles of the model compounds leads to general trends. Thereby, a new strategy for measuring difficult samples with CP at high MAS rates has been developed: their optimum CP parameters are derived from the most intense maxima in the HH matching profiles of the corresponding model compounds. This new strategy is compared with variations of a conventional ramp sequence. Although the latter generally provide smaller signal half-widths, the new strategy leads to higher signal intensities. The new method was successfully applied to polycrystalline and immobilized phosphines and catalysts. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Toward anisotropic mesh construction and error estimation in the finite element methodNUMERICAL METHODS FOR PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS, Issue 5 2002Gerd Kunert Abstract Directional, anisotropic features like layers in the solution of partial differential equations can be resolved favorably by using anisotropic finite element meshes. An adaptive algorithm for such meshes includes the ingredients Error estimation and Information extraction/Mesh refinement. Related articles on a posteriori error estimation on anisotropic meshes revealed that reliable error estimation requires an anisotropic mesh that is aligned with the anisotropic solution. To obtain anisotropic meshes the so-called Hessian strategy is used, which provides information such as the stretching direction and stretching ratio of the anisotropic elements. This article combines the analysis of anisotropic information extraction/mesh refinement and error estimation (for several estimators). It shows that the Hessian strategy leads to well-aligned anisotropic meshes and, consequently, reliable error estimation. The underlying heuristic assumptions are given in a stringent yet general form. Numerical examples strengthen the exposition. Hence the analysis provides further insight into a particular aspect of anisotropic error estimation. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 18: 625,648, 2002; DOI 10.1002/num.10023 [source] hp -Adaptive Finite Element Methods for Variational InequalitiesPROCEEDINGS IN APPLIED MATHEMATICS & MECHANICS, Issue 1 2008Andreas SchröderArticle first published online: 25 FEB 200 In this work, we combine an hp,adaptive strategy with a posteriori error estimates for variational inequalities, which are given by contact problems. The a posteriori error estimates are obtained using a general approach based on the saddle point formulation of contact problems and making use of a yposteriori error estimates for variational equations. Error estimates are presented for obstacle problems and Signorini problems with friction. Numerical experiments confirm the reliability of the error estimates for finite elements of higher order. The use of the hp,adaptive strategy leads to meshes with the same characteristics as geometric meshes and to exponential convergence. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source] |