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Objective. To evaluate technology-assisted programs to help a man with pervasive motor disabilities and an adolescent with multiple disabilities manage the use of a radio and a special messaging system, respectively. Method. The technology for the man (Study I) involved a modified radio device, an electronic control unit, an amplified MP3 player with verbal questions about radio operations (changes), and an optic microswitch. This allowed the man to respond to the questions and carry out operations through minimal chin movement. The technology for the adolescent (Study II) involved a net-book computer fitted with specifically designed software, a global system for mobile communication (GSM) modem, and an optic microswitch. This allowed the adolescent to select the persons to whom he wanted to send messages and the messages to send them, and to listen to messages sent to him. Results. The data showed that both programs were effective, with the two participants learning to use the radio and the messaging system, respectively. Conclusion. Technology-assisted programs may represent useful tools for providing persons with pervasive and multiple disabilities leisure and communication opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among possible determinants of vascular events, the role of high lipoprotein(a) (Lp[a]) serum levels represents a still uncertain independent risk factor in elderly populations. Moreover, the cumulative incidence of nonfatal vascular events due to high Lp(a) serum levels is conditioned by the competing risk of death from any causes that are a function of age. After a 6.3-year median follow up, we tested the competing risks of all-cause mortality, cumulative fatal-nonfatal stroke events, cumulative fatal-nonfatal coronary artery disease (CAD) events, and nonfatal stroke or CAD events due to high Lp(a) serum levels in a population-based, prospective study conducted in one of the eight centers of the Italian Longitudinal Study on Aging (ILSA), Casamassima, Bari, Italy. Of 704 elderly individuals (65-84 years), 372 (169 women and 203 men) agreed to participate in the study. As compared with those in the lowest Lp(a) tertile serum levels, subjects in the highest tertile (>20 mg/dL) had a higher partially adjusted risk of nonfatal CAD (hazard ratio, 4.19; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.36-12.94) and nonfatal stroke (hazard ratio, 3.38; 95% CI, 1.00-11.56). Compared with those in the lowest tertile, subjects in the highest tertile had a higher fully adjusted risk of nonfatal CAD (hazard ratio, 3.41; 95% CI, 1.08-10.78). Finally, overall no statistically significant association was found between Lp(a) and the risk of all-cause mortality, cumulative fatal-nonfatal stroke, and cumulative fatal-nonfatal CAD events. In our population, Lp(a) was not a significant independent predictor of stroke and death from all causes, but it was an independent predictor of nonfatal CAD. Finally competing risk, conditioning the timing and occurrence of vascular events in our study population, could be a correct approach for evaluating the role of Lp(a) lipoprotein in vascular disease among elderly people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of automatic layout synthesis is addressed. Given a description of the cell circuit to be synthesized and a set of constraints the layout must satisfy, the problem is to generate automatically the corresponding layout through the placement and interconnections of all the circuit elements. The resulting layout is a symbolic one, in the sense that only the relative positions of objects are defined to make the layout independent of design rules. This layout synthesis problem can be efficiently solved by implementing a set of suitable heuristic strategies, and the user can influence the functioning of the cell generator by defining some layout compilation options. The solutions obtained represent good trade-offs between area minimization and circuit performance optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]