Project description:Polarimetric weather radars offer a wealth of new information compared to conventional technology, not only to enhance quantitative precipitation estimation, warnings, and short-term forecasts, but also to improve our understanding of precipitation generating processes and their representation in numerical weather prediction models. To support such research opportunities, this paper describes an open-access dataset between 2014-2019 collected by the polarimetric Doppler X-band weather radar in Bonn (BoXPol), western Germany. To complement this dataset, the technical radar characteristics, scanning strategy and the best-practice for radar data processing are detailed. In addition, an investigation of radar calibration is presented. Reflectivity measurements from the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar operating on the core satellite of the Global Precipitation Mission are compared to those of BoXPol to provide absolute calibration offsets with the dataset. The Relative Calibration Adjustment technique is applied to identify stable calibration periods. The absolute calibration of differential reflectivity is determined using the vertical scan and provided with the BoxPol dataset.
Project description:PurposeThe lacrimal caruncle is composed of numerous structures including different glands as well as hair follicles. Accordingly, the spectrum of benign and malignant lesions is broad, and the clinical diagnosis is often challenging. Here we systematically analyzed excised caruncular tumors over the past 22 years with special emphasis on the clinico-pathological correlation to provide a guidance for clinicians.MethodsRetrospective evaluation with clinico-pathologic correlation of surgically removed caruncular tumors between 1998 and 2020 at a tertiary referral center.ResultsEighty-two caruncular tumors were identified in the respective period. The patients were between 11 and 85 years of age (mean, 46.8 years; median, 49 years). Nevi (n = 35), cystic lesions (n = 14), oncocytoma (n = 9), papilloma (n = 8), sebaceous gland hyperplasia (n = 8), and reactive lymphoid hyperplasia (n = 4) were observed most frequently. Besides, we are the first reporting herniated orbital fat accompanied by a pyogenic granuloma. 2.4% (n = 2) were malignant tumors (sebaceous gland carcinoma, conjunctival intraepithelial neoplasia with pyogenic granuloma).ConclusionCaruncular tumors show a broad spectrum of mostly benign tumors. They can occur in patients of any age. However, 8/9 oncocytomas and both malignant lesions were detected in patients older than 60 years. Although the clinical diagnosis was confirmed in only 68.3% by the histopathological analysis, the two malignant lesions were identified as such already clinically. Caruncular lesions with a history of growth or other signs of malignancy should be excised followed by detailed histopathological examination to allow a final diagnosis and exclude rare malignant tumors with lethal potential.
Project description:BackgroundTo date, there are no valid statistics regarding the number of full time staff necessary for nursing care in emergency departments in Europe.Material and methodsStaff requirement calculations were performed using state-of-the art procedures which take both fluctuating patient volume and individual staff shortfall rates into consideration. In a longitudinal observational study, the average nursing staff engagement time per patient was assessed for 503 patients. For this purpose, a full-time staffing calculation was estimated based on the five priority levels of the Manchester Triage System (MTS), taking into account specific workload fluctuations (50th-95th percentiles).ResultsPatients classified to the MTS category red (n = 35) required the most engagement time with an average of 97.93 min per patient. On weighted average, for orange MTS category patients (n = 118), nursing staff were required for 85.07 min, for patients in the yellow MTS category (n = 181), 40.95 min, while the two MTS categories with the least acute patients, green (n = 129) and blue (n = 40) required 23.18 min and 14.99 min engagement time per patient, respectively. Individual staff shortfall due to sick days and vacation time was 20.87% of the total working hours. When extrapolating this to 21,899 (2010) emergency patients, 67-123 emergency patients (50-95% percentile) per month can be seen by one nurse. The calculated full time staffing requirement depending on the percentiles was 14.8 to 27.1.ConclusionPerformance-oriented staff planning offers an objective instrument for calculation of the full-time nursing staff required in emergency departments.