ABSTRACT
PytuTester is an open-source ventilator tester developed to help bio-engineers in the design and verification of new ventilator prototypes. A ventilator tester allows measuring the flow, pressure, volume, and oxygen concentration provided to the patient. During the global pandemic COVID-19, several open-source ventilators prototypes were developed; however, due to high cost and demand testers, they were not available. In this context, a low-cost tester was developed using a Raspberry Pi and medical-grade sensors for the test ventilators prototypes. This paper presents the design files, software interface, and validations tests. Our results indicate that the tester has good accuracy to evaluate the efficacy and performance of new prototypes. When tested on two ventilator designs developed in Paraguay, PytuTester reported flow profiles that were concordant with the industry-standard VT650 Gas Flow Analyzer. PytuTester was then field deployed to test several DIY ventilator designs in low-resource areas.
ABSTRACT
The healthcare sector is characterized at present by increasingly ambitious therapeutic objectives and rising healthcare costs. The aim of the Swiss study was to explore ways of achieving these therapeutic objectives in the present healthcare environment via the use of cost-effective antidiabetic agents. With a therapeutic regimen based on gliclazide, it was possible to reduce fasting blood glucose levels to below 7.0 mol/l in 70% of the 94 type 2 diabetics included in the study. Fasting blood glucose levels returned to normal in 80% of the women taking part of the study; the normalization rate was significantly higher in this group than in the study population as a whole. The target HbA1c -value was attained in 7% of both the patient group receiving gliclazide monotherapy and the group receiving gliclazide in combination with metformin. Weight reduction was observed in all the treatment groups. Some 86% of the patients experienced an improvement in life quality as a result of the more effective management of their diabetes. The tolerability of the treatment was very high. A total of two episodes of mild symptomatic hypoglycemia were recorded. The per diem costs of gliclazide-based treatment are in the range of 1-2 Swiss francs.
Subject(s)
Blood Glucose/analysis , Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2/blood , Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2/drug therapy , Gliclazide/therapeutic use , Hypoglycemic Agents/therapeutic use , Metformin/therapeutic use , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Cost-Benefit Analysis , Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2/economics , Drug Therapy, Combination , Fasting , Female , Gliclazide/administration & dosage , Gliclazide/economics , Glycated Hemoglobin/analysis , Humans , Hypoglycemic Agents/administration & dosage , Hypoglycemic Agents/economics , Male , Metformin/administration & dosage , Metformin/economics , Middle Aged , Patient Compliance , Quality of Life , Weight LossABSTRACT
The fundamental attribution error was investigated from an individual difference perspective. Mathematicians were compared with nonmathematicians (Exp. 1; n: 84), and undergraduates who scored high on a test of logical reasoning ability were compared with those who scored low (Exp. 2; n: 62). The mathematicians and those participants scoring higher on logic appeared less prone to the fundamental attribution error, primarily using a measure of confidence in attributions.
