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Proposes a simplified deterministic model to predict the efficiency of aeration tank settling during high hydraulic loads on large wastewater treatment plants. Theory for modelling; Physical model features; Plant capacity; Practical test.

On-line measurements of pollutants in the wastewater combined with grey-box modelling are used estimate the amount of deposits in the sewer system. The pollutant mass flow at the wastewater treatment plant is found to consist of a diurnal profile minus the amount of pollutants. The diurnal profile is found to be a second order harmonic function and the pollutants deposited in the sewer are identified using first order ordinary differential equations. (c) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Over the last decade, there has been an increase in the evidence base supporting the efficacy of video consultations (VCs) in mental health services. Furthermore, the potential of VC treatment was also demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite these promising results and conducive conditions for VCs, several studies have highlighted that the uptake and implementation of VCs continues to be slow, even after the pandemic. To facilitate and strengthen the implementation of VCs and exploit their potential as a useful tool for mental health disorder treatment, there is a need for a deeper understanding of the issues and experiences of implementing and using VCs as a treatment modality in clinical practice., Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate patients' and clinicians' experiences and attitudes toward using VCs in clinical practice., Methods: Treatment was conducted through the VC modality. Semistructured interviews were conducted individually with patients (n=10) and focus group interview were conducted with clinicians (n=4). Patients had participated in weekly VC treatment over 2 months as part of mental health outpatient services in Denmark. Data from these interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis., Results: Thematic analysis of the patient interviews yielded two main themes: (1) adjusting to the practicalities of the VC format and (2) the practice of therapy using VCs. Patients experienced that using VCs was easy and convenient, and it was possible to establish and maintain a therapeutic alliance. They also described the contact as different to in-person therapy. The thematic analysis conducted on clinicians' experiences of using VCs yielded three themes: (1) a shift in mindset from resistance to acceptance, (2) the contact is different when using the VC modality, and (3) adapting to a new way of working. Clinicians experienced that their initial concerns and resistance toward VC implementation gradually diminished over time as they gained clinical experience of using the modality. They expressed that contact with patients can be different when using the VC modality and that it took time to adjust to a new way of working therapeutically., Conclusions: Both patients and clinicians experienced that VCs could enhance access to treatment and be meaningfully integrated into clinical practice. In addition, both groups described the contact when using the VC modality as being different to in-person therapy. Future research could examine patients' and clinicians' perceived differences regarding contact when using the VC modality and the implications for therapeutic interventions., (©Ali Abbas Shaker, Erik Simonsen, Kristine Tarp, Radoslav Aleksandrov Borisov, John Aasted Sørensen, Henrik Bechmann, Stephen F Austin. Originally published in JMIR Formative Research (https://formative.jmir.org), 21.08.2024.)

Background: Mobile app development within mental health is often time- and resource-consuming, challenging the development of mobile apps for psychiatry. There is a continuum of software development methods ranging from linear (waterfall model) to continuous adaption (Scrum). Rapid application development (RAD) is a model that so far has not been applied to psychiatric settings and may have some advantages over other models., Objective: This study aims to explore the utility of the RAD model in developing a mobile app for patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) in a psychiatric outpatient setting., Methods: The 4 phases of the RAD model: (1) requirements planning, (2) user design, (3) construction, and (4) cutover, were applied to develop a mobile app within psychiatric outpatient services for patients diagnosed with BPD., Results: For the requirements planning phase, a short time frame was selected to minimize the time between product conceptualization and access within a clinical setting. Evidenced-based interactive content already developed was provided by current staff to enhance usability and trustworthiness. For the user design phase, activity with video themes and a discrete number of functions were used to improve the app functionality and graphical user interface. For the construction phase, close collaboration between clinicians, researchers, and software developers yielded a fully functional, in-house-developed app ready to be tested in clinical practice. For the cutover phase, the mobile app was tested successfully with a small number (n=5) of patients with a BPD., Conclusions: The RAD model could be meaningfully applied in a psychiatric setting to develop an app for BPD within a relatively short time period from conceptualization to implementation in the clinic. Short time frames and identifying a limited number of stakeholders with relevant skills in-house facilitated the use of this model. Despite some limitations, RAD could be a useful model in the development of apps for clinical populations to enable development and access to evidence-based technology., (©Ali Abbas Shaker, Stephen F Austin, Mie Sedoc Jørgensen, John Aasted Sørensen, Henrik Bechmann, Henriette E Kinnerup, Charlotte Juul Petersen, Ragnar Klein Olsen, Erik Simonsen. Originally published in JMIR Human Factors (https://humanfactors.jmir.org), 30.11.2023.)

Background: Telemedicine has played a vital role in providing psychiatric treatment to patients during the rapid transition of services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the use of telemedicine is expected to expand within the psychiatric field. The efficacy of telemedicine is well described in scientific literature. However, there is a need for a comprehensive quantitative review that analyzes and considers the different clinical outcomes and psychiatric diagnoses., Objective: This paper aimed to assess whether individual psychiatric outpatient treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder, mood disorders, and anxiety disorders in adults using telemedicine is equivalent to in-person treatment., Methods: A systematic search of randomized controlled trials was conducted using recognized databases for this review. Overall, 4 outcomes were assessed: treatment efficacy, levels of patient satisfaction, working alliance, and attrition rate. The inverse-variance method was used to summarize the effect size for each outcome., Results: A total of 7414 records were identified, and 20 trials were included in the systematic review and meta-analysis. The trials included posttraumatic stress disorder (9 trials), depressive disorder (6 trials), a mix of different disorders (4 trials), and general anxiety disorder (1 trial). Overall, the analyses yielded evidence that telemedicine is comparable with in-person treatment regarding treatment efficacy (standardized mean difference -0.01, 95% CI -0.12 to 0.09; P=.84; I 2 =19%, 17 trials, n=1814), patient satisfaction mean difference (-0.66, 95% CI -1.60 to 0.28; P=.17; I 2 =44%, 6 trials, n=591), and attrition rates (risk ratio 1.07, 95% CI 0.94-1.21; P=.32; I 2 =0%, 20 trials, n=2804). The results also indicated that the working alliance between telemedicine and in-person modalities was comparable, but the heterogeneity was substantial to considerable (mean difference 0.95, 95% CI -0.47 to 2.38; P=.19; I 2 =75%, 6 trials, n=539)., Conclusions: This meta-analysis provided new knowledge on individual telemedicine interventions that were considered equivalent to in-person treatment regarding efficacy, patient satisfaction, working alliance, and attrition rates across diagnoses. The certainty of the evidence regarding efficacy was rated as moderate. Furthermore, high-quality randomized controlled trials are needed to strengthen the evidence base for treatment provided via telemedicine in psychiatry, particularly for personality disorders and a range of anxiety disorders where there is a lack of studies. Individual patient data meta-analysis is suggested for future studies to personalize telemedicine., Trial Registration: PROSPERO International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews CRD42021256357; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=256357., (©Ali Abbas Shaker, Stephen F Austin, Ole Jakob Storebø, Julie Perrine Schaug, Alaa Ayad, John Aasted Sørensen, Kristine Tarp, Henrik Bechmann, Erik Simonsen. Originally published in JMIR Mental Health (https://mental.jmir.org), 05.07.2023.)

This study deals with the effects that mutations in the COB region of yeast mtDNA have on the expression of mitochondrially made polypeptides. Based on the detection of two series of polypeptide chain-terminating mutations, we conclude that two proteins are specified by this region, apocytochrome b (Mr = 30,000) and a polypeptide of Mr = 42,000. One series of mutations generates new polypeptides ranging in size from 8,000 to 29,000 daltons; all of them are precipitated by serum direct against apocytochrome b. These mutations are located in five distinct segments of the COB region, the sequences alpha to epsilon coding for apocytochrome b. The second series of mutations, generating new polypeptides ranging in size from 17,000 to 41,000 daltons, is located within the first intervening sequence (alpha/beta) of the split gene for apocytochrome b. These mutations cause premature chain termination in the COOH-terminal part of a 42,000-dalton polypeptide. Its NH2-terminal part is likely to be specified by sequence alpha and thus to be homologous to that of apocytochrome b. We conclude that the 42,000-dalton polypeptide is translated on a processing intermediate of th COB transcript by reading through sequence alpha into sequence alpha/beta. We discuss the hypothesis that this polypeptide has a function in the expression of the COB region, possibly at the level of transcript processing.

The yeast mitochondrial translation product of Mr 30 000 is identical with apocytochrome b. After labelling in vivo with [35S]sulphate in the presence of cycloheximide, the radioactivity in this product present in solubilized submitochondrial particles, was completely recovered in pure cytochrome bc1 complex as a single polypeptide. We show that this translation product is identical with apocytochrome b using peptide mapping by limited proteolysis according to Cleveland et al. [J. Biol. Chem. 250 (1977) 8236-8242] and by immunoprecipitation with a specific antiserum against apocytochrome b. New mitochondrial translation products in 36 strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae having mutations in the COB region of the mitochondrial DNA, are precipitated by this antiserum. This is consistent with the assumption that many of the cob mutations are localized in the structural gene for apolcytochrome b on mitochondrial DNA. Mutations in two intervening sequences can give rise to products related to apocytochrome b that are considerably longer than normal apocytochrome b. We discuss the hypothesis that in these mutants splicing of the messenger RNA does not occur correctly and that, as a consequence of this, ribosomes read through in an intervening sequence.

Mitochondrial mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae defective in cytochrome b were analyzed genetically and biochemically in order to elucidate the role of the mitochondrial genetic system in the biosynthesis of this cytochrome. The mutants mapped between OLI1 and OLI2 on mitochondrial DNA in a region called COB. A fine structure map of the COB region was constructed by rho- deletion mapping and recombination analysis. The combined genetic and biochemical data indicate that the COB region is mosaic and contains at least five distinct clusters of mutants, A-E, with A being closest to OLI2 and E being closest to OLI1. Clusters A, C and E are probably coding regions for apocytochrome b, whereas clusters B and D seem to be involved in as yet unknown functions. These conclusions rest on the following evidence. 1. Most mutants in clusters A, C and E have specifically lost cytochrome b. Many of them accumulate smaller mitochondrial translation products; some of these were identified as fragments of apocytochrome b by proteolytic fingerprinting. The molecular weight of these fragments depends on the map position of the mutant, increasing in the direction OLI2 leads to OLI1. The mutant closest to OLI1 accumulates an apocytochrome b which is slightly larger than that of wild type. 2. A mutant in cluster C exhibits a spectral absorption band of cytochrome b that is shifted 1.5 nm to the red. 3. Mutants in clusters B and D are pleiotropic. A majority of them are conditional and lack the absorption bands of both cytochrome b and cytochrome aa3; these mutants also fail to accumulate apocytochrome b and subunit I of cytochrome c oxidase and instead form a large number of abnormal translation products whose nature is unknown. 4. Zygotic complementation tests reveal at least two complementation groups: The first group includes all mutants in cluster B and the second group includes mutants in clusters (A + C + D + E).

Mitochondrial DNA, protein and ATP syntheses persist at non-permissive temperature (35 degrees C) in the mitochondrial, conditionally rho- petites forming yeast mutant, tsm8. Protein and ATP syntheses, however, are diminished during prolonged incubation at 35 degrees C in non-fermentable substrate. Mitochondrial RNA synthesis decreases rapidly to a residual constant level of about 10% of the initial value after the shift to 35 degrees C. The decrease is reversed by returning to permissive conditions. Evidence is presented that this temperature-induced decrease in mitochondrial transcription rate is effected by a mutationally altered regulatory process rather than by temperature sensitivity of mitochondrial RNA polymerase. It is concluded that rho- petite formation in mutant tsm8 is not effected by complete inhibition of macromolecular and ATP syntheses but is correlated with a reduction in mitochondrial transcription.