Intelligent Robot-assisted Humanitarian Search and Rescue System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Henry Y. K. Lau

2009-11-01

Full Text Available The unprecedented scale and number of natural and man-made disasters in the past decade has urged international emergency search and rescue communities to seek for novel technology to enhance operation efficiency. Tele-operated search and rescue robots that can navigate deep into rubble to search for victims and to transfer critical field data back to the control console has gained much interest among emergency response institutions. In response to this need, a low-cost autonomous mini robot equipped with thermal sensor, accelerometer, sonar, pin-hole camera, microphone, ultra-bright LED and wireless communication module is developed to study the control of a group of decentralized mini search and rescue robots. The robot can navigate autonomously between voids to look for living body heat and can send back audio and video information to allow the operator to determine if the found object is a living human. This paper introduces the design and control of a low-cost robotic search and rescue system based on an immuno control framework developed for controlling decentralized systems. Design and development of the physical prototype and the immunity-based control system are described in this paper.

Intelligent Robot-Assisted Humanitarian Search and Rescue System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Albert W. Y. Ko

2009-06-01

Full Text Available The unprecedented scale and number of natural and man-made disasters in the past decade has urged international emergency search and rescue communities to seek for novel technology to enhance operation efficiency. Tele-operated search and rescue robots that can navigate deep into rubble to search for victims and to transfer critical field data back to the control console has gained much interest among emergency response institutions. In response to this need, a low-cost autonomous mini robot equipped with thermal sensor, accelerometer, sonar, pin-hole camera, microphone, ultra-bright LED and wireless communication module is developed to study the control of a group of decentralized mini search and rescue robots. The robot can navigate autonomously between voids to look for living body heat and can send back audio and video information to allow the operator to determine if the found object is a living human. This paper introduces the design and control of a low-cost robotic search and rescue system based on an immuno control framework developed for controlling decentralized systems. Design and development of the physical prototype and the immunity-based control system are described in this paper.

Combat Search and Rescue in Desert Storm

Science.gov (United States)

2006-09-01

in the United States also sup- ported civil SAR. Almost daily, the veterans of Southeast Asia were called upon to rescue lost hikers and foundering ...Ridge in the Persian Gulf. Under the NRCC, Combined Task Force (CTF) 151 served as the regional SAR controller for Battle Force Zulu in the Persian...was ZULU + 3 [i.e., Greenwich Mean Time plus three hours]. Saudi Arabia local time was ZULU + 3:30. All times in the log extracts that follow are

Work engagement among rescue workers: psychometric properties of the portuguese UWES

OpenAIRE

Jorge Sinval; Alexandra Marques-Pinto; Cristina Queirós; João Marôco

2018-01-01

Rescue workers have a stressful and risky occupation where being engaged is crucial to face physical and emotional risks in order to help other persons. This study aims to estimate work engagement levels of rescue workers (namely comparing nurses, firefighters, and police officers) and to assess the validity evidence related to the internal structure of the Portuguese versions of the UWES-17 and UWES-9, namely, dimensionality, measurement invariance between occupational groups, and reliabilit...

Mine rescue robots requirements: Outcomes from an industry workshop

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Green, J

2013-10-01

Full Text Available and internationally. The paper identifies three definite robot deployments in South Africa as a) box hole deployment (vertical tunnels), b) flying drone reconnaissance and c) proto (rescue) team assistance. These represent applications where there is a market need...

77 FR 61740 - Call for Applications for the International Buyer Program-Calendar Years 2014 and 2015

Science.gov (United States)

2012-10-11

... should describe in detail the international marketing program to be conducted for the event, and explain... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE International Trade Administration [Docket No. 120913451-2451-01] Call for Applications for the International Buyer Program-- Calendar Years 2014 and 2015 AGENCY: International Trade...

Uncertainty, Alert and Distress: The Precarious Position of NGO Search and Rescue Operations in the Central Mediterranean

OpenAIRE

Smith, Adam

2017-01-01

The international framework for maritime search and rescue relies on state actors establishing regions of responsibility supported by private shipmasters acting in compliance with traditional duties to rescue persons in distress at sea. Despite revisions to the framework’s foundational treaty, questions persist about the extent of state responsibilities and the interaction between those responsibilities and international human rights law. Over the past three years, non-governmenta...

77 FR 74828 - Call for Applications for the International Buyer Program Calendar Years 2014 and 2015

Science.gov (United States)

2012-12-18

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE International Trade Administration [Docket No. 120913451-2681-02] Call for Applications for the International Buyer Program Calendar Years 2014 and 2015 AGENCY: International Trade... the DOC and trade show organizers to benefit U.S. firms exhibiting at selected events and provides...

Rescuing--a universal phenomenon.

Science.gov (United States)

Little, John

2014-12-01

Rescuing, where the person is delivered from the immediacy of their conundrum by another, complicates management. The object of this paper is to understand the difficulty in relinquishing the rescuing role. Rescuing is a universal phenomenon in parenting, teaching and therapy that has developed over time through a variety of interwoven social, economic, psychological and clinical variables. © The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists 2014.

Calling Orientations of Junior Doctors and Medical Interns in India: Cultural, Occupational and Relational Perspectives

Science.gov (United States)

Nath, Vandana

2017-01-01

This study examines the factors that shape calling orientations within the Indian context. Based on the narratives of 72 junior doctors and medical interns, it is found that participants identify with harbouring a calling both prior and subsequent to occupational entry. Although factors such as self-recognition of talent and sensemaking of work as…

[Medical rescue of China National Earthquake Disaster Emergency Search and Rescue Team in Lushan earthquake].

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Ya-hua; Yang, Hui-ning; Liu, Hui-liang; Wang, Fan; Hu, Li-bin; Zheng, Jing-chen

2013-05-01

To summarize and analyze the medical mission of China National Earthquake Disaster Emergency Search and Rescue Team (CNESAR) in Lushan earthquake, to promote the medical rescue effectiveness incorporated with search and rescue. Retrospective analysis of medical work data by CNESAR from April 21th, 2013 to April 27th during Lushan earthquake rescue, including the medical staff dispatch and the wounded case been treated. The reasonable medical corps was composed by 22 members, including 2 administrators, 11 doctors [covering emergency medicine, orthopedics (joints and limbs, spinal), obstetrics and gynecology, gastroenterology, cardiology, ophthalmology, anesthesiology, medical rescue, health epidemic prevention, clinical laboratory of 11 specialties], 1 ultrasound technician, 5 nurses, 1 pharmacist, 1 medical instrument engineer and 1 office worker for propaganda. There were two members having psychological consultants qualifications. The medical work were carried out in seven aspects, including medical care assurance for the CNESAR members, first aid cooperation with search and rescue on site, clinical work in refugees' camp, medical round service for scattered village people, evacuation for the wounded, mental intervention, and the sanitary and anti-epidemic work. The medical work covered 24 small towns, and medical staff established 3 medical clinics at Taiping Town, Shuangshi Town of Lushan County and Baoxing County. Medical rescue, mental intervention for the old and kids, and sanitary and anti-epidemic were performed at the above sites. The medical corps had successful evacuated 2 severe wounded patients and treated the wounded over thousands. Most of the wounded were soft tissue injuries, external injury, respiratory tract infections, diarrhea, and heat stroke. Compared with the rescue action in 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, the aggregation and departure of rescue team in Lushan earthquake, the traffic control order in disaster area, the self-aid and buddy aid

Failure to Rescue, Rescue Surgery and Centralization of Postoperative Complications: A Challenge for General and Acute Care Surgeons.

Science.gov (United States)

Zago, Mauro; Bozzo, Samantha; Carrara, Giulia; Mariani, Diego

2017-01-01

To explore the current literature on the failure to rescue and rescue surgery concepts, to identify the key items for decreasing the failure to rescue rate and improve outcome, to verify if there is a rationale for centralization of patients suffering postoperative complications. There is a growing awareness about the need to assess and measure the failure to rescue rate, on institutional, regional and national basis. Many factors affect failure to rescue, and all should be individually analyzed and considered. Rescue surgery is one of these factors. Rescue surgery assumes an acute care surgery background. Measurement of failure to rescue rate should become a standard for quality improvement programs. Implementation of all clinical and organizational items involved is the key for better outcomes. Preparedness for rescue surgery is a main pillar in this process. Centralization of management, audit, and communication are important as much as patient centralization. Celsius.

46 CFR 133.135 - Rescue boats.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Rescue boats. 133.135 Section 133.135 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) OFFSHORE SUPPLY VESSELS LIFESAVING SYSTEMS Requirements for All OSVs § 133.135 Rescue boats. (a) Each OSV must carry at least one rescue boat. Each rescue...

46 CFR 199.262 - Rescue boats.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... SYSTEMS FOR CERTAIN INSPECTED VESSELS Additional Requirements for Cargo Vessels § 199.262 Rescue boats. (a) Each cargo vessel must carry at least one rescue boat. Each rescue boat must be approved under approval... 46 Shipping 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Rescue boats. 199.262 Section 199.262 Shipping COAST...

77 FR 24766 - Call for Proposals for a Micro Support Program on International Conflict Resolution and...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-04-25

... UNITED STATES INSTITUTE OF PEACE Call for Proposals for a Micro Support Program on International Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding For Immediate Release AGENCY: United States Institute of Peace. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: Micro Support Program on International Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding...

The problem with rescue medicine.

Science.gov (United States)

Jecker, Nancy S

2013-02-01

Is there a rational and ethical basis for efforts to rescue individuals in dire straits? When does rescue have ethical support, and when does it reflect an irrational impulse? This paper defines a Rule of Rescue and shows its intuitive appeal. It then proceeds to argue that this rule lacks support from standard principles of justice and from ethical principles more broadly, and should be rejected in many situations. I distinguish between agent-relative and agent-neutral reasons, and argue that the Rule of Rescue qualifies only in a narrow range of cases where agent-relative considerations apply. I conclude that it would be wise to set aside the Rule of Rescue in many cases, especially those involving public policies, where it has only weak normative justification. The broader implications of this analysis are noted.

To be called upon

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kublitz, Anja

2015-01-01

When Danish Muslims explain what made them decide to travel to the Middle East and take up arms in the wake of the Arab Spring, they say that they were called upon. Displayed on videos on social media, women and sometimes children begged them to come to their rescue. In light of some...... to the mass if it is no longer a causal phenomenon that expands from small to big, but rather a simultaneous multitude of one to one relations that are neither local nor global? How are the one and the many related in this specific setting? Furthermore, many of the videos display dead bodies. How can we...

A Hybrid Three Layer Architecture for Fire Agent Management in Rescue Simulation Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alborz Geramifard

2005-06-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a new architecture called FAIS for implementing intelligent agents cooperating in a special Multi Agent environment, namely the RoboCup Rescue Simulation System. This is a layered architecture which is customized for solving fire extinguishing problem. Structural decision making algorithms are combined with heuristic ones in this model, so it's a hybrid architecture.

Data Rescue in Collaboration with Federal Open Access Efforts

Science.gov (United States)

Avila, R.

2017-12-01

The recent calls to rescue scientific data is a real opportunity to collaborate with federal agencies which have been spending years managing research data and making it secure. The 2013 memos from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and Office of Management and Budget have spurred innovation across federal agencies to make publicly funded data accessible. Now is the time for stakeholders to take advantage of the groundwork laid by federal government, support the work to expand data sharing, thereby encouraging open science.

The Call to Duty: An Historic Overview of How Education Responds to Changes in the Economy

Science.gov (United States)

Sky Lark, Taj'ullah

2011-01-01

An educated populace is vital to economic growth. Throughout the history of education in America, society has found it necessary to call upon education to address its economic challenges. During the twentieth century, the call for education to address technological advances, economic inequities, and to rescue free enterprise was dire. The U.S.…

First Report of Using Portable Unmanned Aircraft Systems (Drones) for Search and Rescue.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Tilburg, Christopher

2017-06-01

Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), colloquially called drones, are used commonly for military, government, and civilian purposes, including both commercial and consumer applications. During a search and rescue mission in Oregon, a UAS was used to confirm a fatality in a slot canyon; this eliminated the need for a dangerous rappel at night by rescue personnel. A second search mission in Oregon used several UAS to clear terrain. This allowed search of areas that were not accessible or were difficult to clear by ground personnel. UAS with cameras may be useful for searching, observing, and documenting missions. It is possible that UAS might be useful for delivering equipment in difficult areas and in communication. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

49 CFR 238.114 - Rescue access windows.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 49 Transportation 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Rescue access windows. 238.114 Section 238.114... § 238.114 Rescue access windows. (a) Number and location. Except as provided in paragraph (a)(1)(ii) of... rescue access windows. At least one rescue access window shall be located in each side of the car...

A Hybrid Three Layer Architecture for Fire Agent Management in Rescue Simulation Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alborz Geramifard

2008-11-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a new architecture called FAIS for imple- menting intelligent agents cooperating in a special Multi Agent environ- ment, namely the RoboCup Rescue Simulation System. This is a layered architecture which is customized for solving fire extinguishing problem. Structural decision making algorithms are combined with heuristic ones in this model, so it's a hybrid architecture.

46 CFR 199.202 - Rescue boats.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... SYSTEMS FOR CERTAIN INSPECTED VESSELS Additional Requirements for Passenger Vessels § 199.202 Rescue boats... 46 Shipping 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Rescue boats. 199.202 Section 199.202 Shipping COAST... least one rescue boat approved under approval series 160.156 that is equipped as specified in table 199...

46 CFR 133.140 - Stowage of rescue boats.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... SYSTEMS Requirements for All OSVs § 133.140 Stowage of rescue boats. (a) Rescue boats must be stowed as follows: (1) Each rescue boat must be ready for launching in not more than 5 minutes. (2) Each rescue boat... 46 Shipping 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Stowage of rescue boats. 133.140 Section 133.140...

[Design and application of portable rescue vehicle].

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Ying; Qi, Huaying; Wang, Shen

2017-12-01

The disease of critically ill patients was with rapid changes, and at any time faced the risk of emergency. The current commonly used rescue vehicles were larger and bulky implementation, which were not conducive to the operation, therefore the design of a portable rescue vehicle was needed. This new type of rescue vehicle is multi-layer folding structure, with small footprint, large storage space, so a variety of first aid things can be classified and put, easy to be cleaned and disinfected. In the rescue process, the portable rescue vehicles can be placed in the required position; box of various emergency items can be found at a glance with easy access; the height of the infusion stand can adjust freely according to the user height; the rescue vehicle handle can be easy to pull and adjust accord with human body mechanics principle. The portable rescue vehicle facilitates the operation of medical staff, and is worthy of clinical application.

Self-Rescue Mask Training

CERN Multimedia

2013-01-01

Nine new self-rescue mask instructors have been trained since early 2013, which provides CERN with a total of 26 self-rescue mask instructors to date. This will allow us to meet the increasing training needs caused by the Long Shut Down LS1.   The self-rescue mask instructors have trained 1650 persons in 2012 and about 500 persons since the beginning of the year on how to wear the masks properly. We thank all the instructors and all the persons that made this training possible. Please remember that the self-rescue masks training sessions are scheduled as follows: Basic course: Tuesday and Thursday mornings (2 sessions – 8.30 AM and 10.30 AM), duration:  1.30 hour, in French and English – registration via CERN online training catalogue – Course code 077Y00. Refresher training : Monday mornings (2 sessions – 8.30 AM and 10.30 AM), duration: 1.30 hour , in French and English – registration via CERN online training catalogue &...

A critical review of the Mediterranean sea turtle rescue network: a web looking for a weaver

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Judith Ullmann

2015-06-01

Full Text Available A key issue in conservation biology is recognizing and bridging the gap between scientific results and specific action. We examine sea turtles—charismatic yet endangered flagship species—in the Mediterranean, a sea with historically high levels of exploitation and 22 coastal nations. We take sea turtle rescue facilities as a visible measure for implemented conservation action. Our study yielded 34 confirmed sea turtle rescue centers, 8 first-aid stations, and 7 informal rescue institutions currently in operation. Juxtaposing these facilities to known sea turtle distribution and threat hotspots reveals a clear disconnect. Only 14 of the 22 coastal countries had centers, with clear gaps in the Middle East and Africa. Moreover, the information flow between centers is apparently limited. The populations of the two species nesting in the Mediterranean, the loggerhead Caretta caretta and the green turtle Chelonia mydas, are far below historical levels and face a range of anthropogenic threats at sea and on land. Sea turtle rescue centers are acknowledged to reduce mortality in bycatch hotspots, provide a wealth of scientific data, and raise public awareness. The proposal for a Mediterranean-wide rescue network as published by the Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas a decade ago has not materialized in its envisioned scope. We discuss the efficiency, gaps, and needs for a rescue network and call for establishing additional rescue centers and an accompanying common online database to connect existing centers. This would provide better information on the number and types of rescue facilities on a Mediterranean scale, improve communication between these facilities, enhance standardization of procedures, yield large-scale data on the number of treated turtles and their injuries, and thus provide valuable input for targeted conservation measures.

Factors influencing mine rescue team behaviors.

Science.gov (United States)

Jansky, Jacqueline H; Kowalski-Trakofler, K M; Brnich, M J; Vaught, C

2016-01-01

A focus group study of the first moments in an underground mine emergency response was conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Office for Mine Safety and Health Research. Participants in the study included mine rescue team members, team trainers, mine officials, state mining personnel, and individual mine managers. A subset of the data consists of responses from participants with mine rescue backgrounds. These responses were noticeably different from those given by on-site emergency personnel who were at the mine and involved with decisions made during the first moments of an event. As a result, mine rescue team behavior data were separated in the analysis and are reported in this article. By considering the responses from mine rescue team members and trainers, it was possible to sort the data and identify seven key areas of importance to them. On the basis of the responses from the focus group participants with a mine rescue background, the authors concluded that accurate and complete information and a unity of purpose among all command center personnel are two of the key conditions needed for an effective mine rescue operation.

CLIL and CALL for a teacher’s expertise: an international training experience

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Letizia Cinganotto

2016-07-01

Full Text Available The paper deals with the link between Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL and Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL, that is the use of ICT to enhance language teaching-learning and the teaching of subject content in a foreign language. Starting from this background, the paper describes an online training initiative promoted by the authors within an international community of peers, made up of teachers, trainers and educators from all over the world, named “Techno-CLIL for EVO 2016”. The initiative was aimed at supporting and guiding participants to discover and experiment digital tools for CLIL lessons, offering the opportunity to share ideas, materials, good practices in an international perspective. Particular attention is devoted to the personal and professional enrichment and growth this training pathway may have helped the 5.000 participants to achieve.CLIL e CALL nell’expertise del docente: un’esperienza di formazione internazionaleIl contributo focalizza l’attenzione sulla correlazione tra Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL e Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL, cioè l’uso delle tecnologie per una maggiore efficacia dell’insegnamento-apprendimento delle lingue o di contenuti disciplinari veicolati in lingua straniera. Partendo da questo background, il contributo descrive una iniziativa di formazione online in lingua inglese promossa dalle autrici all’interno di un contesto internazionale, costituito da una comunità di pratica di docenti, formatori, educatori di tutto il mondo, denominata “Techno-CLIL for EVO 2016”. L’iniziativa mirava a sensibilizzare e guidare i partecipanti nella scoperta e sperimentazione della didattica CLIL in modalità digitale, offrendo l’opportunità di un confronto ed uno scambio di idee, materiali, buone pratiche in una prospettiva internazionale. Particolarmente significative le ricadute che questo percorso ha comportato per i circa 5.000 partecipanti

Characteristics of service requests and service processes of fire and rescue service dispatch centers: analysis of real world data and the underlying probability distributions.

Science.gov (United States)

Krueger, Ute; Schimmelpfeng, Katja

2013-03-01

A sufficient staffing level in fire and rescue dispatch centers is crucial for saving lives. Therefore, it is important to estimate the expected workload properly. For this purpose, we analyzed whether a dispatch center can be considered as a call center. Current call center publications very often model call arrivals as a non-homogeneous Poisson process. This bases on the underlying assumption of the caller's independent decision to call or not to call. In case of an emergency, however, there are often calls from more than one person reporting the same incident and thus, these calls are not independent. Therefore, this paper focuses on the dependency of calls in a fire and rescue dispatch center. We analyzed and evaluated several distributions in this setting. Results are illustrated using real-world data collected from a typical German dispatch center in Cottbus ("Leitstelle Lausitz"). We identified the Pólya distribution as being superior to the Poisson distribution in describing the call arrival rate and the Weibull distribution to be more suitable than the exponential distribution for interarrival times and service times. However, the commonly used distributions offer acceptable approximations. This is important for estimating a sufficient staffing level in practice using, e.g., the Erlang-C model.

Combat Rescue Helicopter (CRH)

Science.gov (United States)

2015-12-01

Selected Acquisition Report (SAR) RCS: DD-A&T(Q&A)823-479 Combat Rescue Helicopter (CRH) As of FY 2017 President’s Budget Defense Acquisition...Name Combat Rescue Helicopter (CRH) DoD Component Air Force Responsible Office References SAR Baseline (Development Estimate) Defense Acquisition... Helicopter (CRH) system will provide Personnel Recovery (PR) forces with a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft that is quickly deployable and

Motivations for volunteers in food rescue nutrition.

Science.gov (United States)

Mousa, T Y; Freeland-Graves, J H

2017-08-01

A variety of organizations redistribute surplus food to low-income populations through food rescue nutrition. Why volunteers participate in these charitable organizations is unclear. The aim of this study is to document the participation and motivations of volunteers who are involved specifically in food rescue nutrition. A cross-sectional study was conducted in two phases. In phase 1, a new instrument, Motivations to Volunteer Scale, was developed and validated in 40 participants (aged ≥18 years). In phase 2, the new scale and a demographics questionnaire were administered to 300 participants who were volunteering in food pantries and churches. The pilot study showed that Motivations to Volunteer Scale exhibited an internal consistency of Cronbach's α of 0.73 (P  0.05). The scale was validated also by comparison to the Volunteer Function Inventory (r = 0.86, P social life, and altruism. The mean motivation score of the 300 volunteers was 9.15 ± 0.17. Greater motivations were observed among participants who were aged >45 years, women, Hispanics, college/university graduates, physically inactive, non-smokers, and had an income ≥ $48,000. The Motivations to Volunteer Scale is a valid tool to assess why individuals volunteer in food rescue nutrition. The extent of motivations of participants was relatively high, and the primary reason for volunteering was altruism. Health professionals should be encouraged to participate in food redistribution. Copyright © 2017 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Rope rescue in National fire-fighting and rescue system

OpenAIRE

SOCHACKI MARIAN

2008-01-01

Автор описывает организацию, функционирование и место системы спасения с высоты в Государственной спасательно-гасящей системе.The author describes organization, working and place of rope rescue in National Firefighting and Rescue System (KSRG).

Financing Corporate Rescues, Where Does the UK Stand?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Akpareva Aruoriwo

2014-05-01

Full Text Available In this paper Akpareva Aruoriwo aims to evaluate the adequacy of the framework available for the financing of corporate rescues in the UK. She examines the legal provision made for prioritising creditors who get involved after an insolvency has been declared, with reference to examples from America and Canada. Without post-insolvency funding, companies may find it very difficult to survive, and without protection for post-insolvency creditors, those creditors may not wish to provide this sort of funding. The author examines the arguments for and against this kind of creditor protection, looking at past calls for reforms to the law and the preparedness of the UK to adopt any reforms.

Joseph Conrad's tormented Rescue (fantasy).

Science.gov (United States)

Freedman, William

2014-02-01

Joseph Conrad was a notoriously tormented writer for whom the creative act was often a punishment severe enough to drive him into paralyzing depressions that delayed the completion of his novels, sometimes for years. By far the most agonizing of these projects was The Rescue, a novel he began in 1898, abandoned a year later, tried unsuccessfully to continue several times over the next two decades, but was only able to resume in 1918 and to complete, after another tortured two-year struggle, in 1920. An explanation for this incapacity, that is powerfully suggested by the novel's evocative title and perhaps unintentionally ironic subtitle (A Romance of the Shallows) has not yet been explored. Using Freud's 1910 essay on the rescue fantasy, "Contributions to the Psychology of Love: A Special Type of Choice of Object Made by Men," and Emanuel Berman's instructive revision and expansion of the concept in his 2003 American Imago essay, "Ferenczi, Rescue, and Utopia," I argue that a substantial explanation for Conrad's tormented history with The Rescue is ascribable to its quite remarkably faithful treatment of a rescue fantasy with deep and disabling resonance for its author. More specifically, the difficulty was compounded by the novel's dramatization of the soul-crushing conflict between two such fantasies: one in the service of the masculine ideal of unflinching dedication to a heroic purpose, the other promising satisfaction to the equally potent demands of emotional and sexual desire. Features of Conrad's narrative fit so tightly and consistently with the theory as Freud (and Abraham) proposed and as Berman elaborated it that The Rescue offers itself as one of those rare and reinforcing instances wherein the literary text seems to validate the psychoanalytic theory at least as persuasively as the theory "understands" the text.

30 CFR 49.17 - Physical requirements for mine rescue team.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Physical requirements for mine rescue team. 49... EDUCATION AND TRAINING MINE RESCUE TEAMS Mine Rescue Teams for Underground Coal Mines § 49.17 Physical requirements for mine rescue team. (a) Each member of a mine rescue team shall be examined annually by a...

Emergency rescue in accidents with HDR afterloading units

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaulich, T.W.; Nuesslin, F.; Becker, G.; Lamprecht, U.; Bamberg, M.

1999-01-01

Problem: HDR brachyradiotherapy has minimized the exposure to radiation of the personnel working in this field. Nonetheless there are periodically reported troubles with afterloading units concerning the retraction of sources that require immediate action for the limitation of possible damage. Legal Principles according to the German Regulation Concerning Protection against Radiation (Strahlenschutzverordnung=StrlSchV): If in afterloading brachyradiotherapy the radiation source remains extended through malfunction we deal with an emergency according to the StrlSchV. The rescue personnel should be chosen in accordance with Paragraph 50 StrlSchV. Organization of the Rescue of the Patient: The quickest possible rescue of a patient in an emergency demands an unequivocal definition of responsibilities. Our recommendations in this instance: The physicist is responsible for the organization of the emergency rescue. The radiation oncologist in charge informs himself about the necessary emergency measures before starting the treatment and carries out the emergency rescue. If the physicist diagnoses a failure in the retraction of the source he tries to remove the failure. If he doesn't succeed in retracting the source the radiation oncologist carries out the rescue of the patient. The organizational structure of the clinic allowing, the emergency physician should invariably be the physician who placed the applicator. In the emergency rescue the radiation oncologist should be protected by a lead barrier and use manipulators. Dose Assessment in Personnel and Patient: The radiation exposure of the rescue personnel is calculated from the photon-equivalence dose H x with the help of the dose-rate constant of 192 Ir. According to the same procedure there can be evaluated the local radiation exposure of the patient concerned. Conclusions: Generally speaking, all considerations regarding the topic of emergency rescue should always start out from a worst-case scenario. Of all the

Work Engagement among Rescue Workers: Psychometric Properties of the Portuguese UWES.

Science.gov (United States)

Sinval, Jorge; Marques-Pinto, Alexandra; Queirós, Cristina; Marôco, João

2017-01-01

Rescue workers have a stressful and risky occupation where being engaged is crucial to face physical and emotional risks in order to help other persons. This study aims to estimate work engagement levels of rescue workers (namely comparing nurses, firefighters, and police officers) and to assess the validity evidence related to the internal structure of the Portuguese versions of the UWES-17 and UWES-9, namely, dimensionality, measurement invariance between occupational groups, and reliability of the scores. To evaluate the dimensionality, we compared the fit of the three-factor model with the fit of a second-order model. A Portuguese version of the instrument was applied to a convenience sample of 3,887 rescue workers (50% nurses, 39% firefighters, and 11% police officers). Work engagement levels were moderate to high, with firefighters being the highest and nurses being the lowest engaged. Psychometric properties were evaluated in the three-factor original structure revealing acceptable fit to the data in the UWES-17, although the UWES-9 had better psychometric properties. Given the observed statistically significant correlations between the three original factors, we proposed a 2 nd hierarchal structure that we named work engagement. The UWES-9 first-order model obtained full uniqueness measurement invariance, and the second-order model obtained partial (metric) second-order invariance.

Teaching Holocaust Rescue: A Problematic Pedagogy

Science.gov (United States)

Lindquist, David H.

2008-01-01

Determining how to teach about rescue during the Holocaust presents many dilemmas to teachers as they plan Holocaust curricula. Rescue is often overemphasized, and faulty perspectives about rescuers and their actions may cause students to develop distorted views about this aspect of Holocaust history. This article explores several factors that…

Advances in search and rescue at sea

Science.gov (United States)

Breivik, Øyvind; Allen, Arthur Addoms; Maisondieu, Christophe; Olagnon, Michel

2013-01-01

A topical collection on "Advances in Search and Rescue at Sea" has appeared in recent issues of Ocean Dynamics following the latest in a series of workshops on "Technologies for Search and Rescue and other Emergency Marine Operations" (2004, 2006, 2008, and 2011), hosted by IFREMER in Brest, France. Here, we give a brief overview of the history of search and rescue at sea before we summarize the main results of the papers that have appeared in the topical collection.

Computer Security: DNS to the rescue!

CERN Multimedia

Stefan Lueders, Computer Security Team

2016-01-01

Why you should be grateful to the Domain Name System at CERN.   Incidents involving so-called “drive-by” infections and “ransomware” are on the rise. Whilst an up-to-date and fully patched operating system is essential; whilst running anti-virus software with current virus signature files is a must; whilst “stop --- think --- don’t click” surely helps, we can still go one step further in better protecting your computers: DNS to the rescue. The DNS, short for Domain Name System, translates the web address you want to visit (like “http://cern.ch”) to a machine-readable format (the IP address, here: “188.184.9.234”). For years, we have automatically monitored the DNS translation requests made by your favourite web browser (actually by your operating system, but that doesn’t matter here), and we have automatically informed you if your computer tried to access a website known to hos...

46 CFR 199.175 - Survival craft and rescue boat equipment.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Survival craft and rescue boat equipment. 199.175....175 Survival craft and rescue boat equipment. (a) All lifeboat and rescue boat equipment— (1) Must be... craft or rescue boat; or (iii) Overload the launching appliance. (b) Each lifeboat, rigid liferaft, and...

Smoking addiction among young women working at night at International call centres in India

OpenAIRE

Amrita Gupta

2018-01-01

Background Indian women are actively involved in occupations which were regarded as a taboo such as night work. Working at night for international call centres is a significant step in moving ahead of patriarchal control over women´s mobility in India. The job brings about lifestyle changes among employees such as late night partying, smoking, and boozing. The women employees are mainly fresh graduates. The study brings about the prevalence and smoking behaviour among th...

Physical capacity of rescue personnel in the mining industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hunt Andrew P

2008-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The mining industry has one of the highest occupational rates of serious injury and fatality. Mine staff involved with rescue operations are often required to respond to physically challenging situations. This paper describes the physical attributes of mining rescue personnel. Methods 91 rescue personnel (34 ± 8.6 yrs, 1.79 ± 0.07 m, 90 ± 15.0 kg participating in the Queensland Mines Rescue Challenge completed a series of health-related and rescue-related fitness tasks. Health-related tasks comprised measurements of aerobic capacity (VO2max, abdominal endurance, abdominal strength, flexibility, lower back strength, leg strength, elbow flexion strength, shoulder strength, lower back endurance, and leg endurance. Rescue-related tasks comprised an incremental carry (IC, coal shovel (CS, and a hose drag (HD, completed in this order. Results Cardiovascular (VO2max and muscular endurance was average or below average compared with the general population. Isometric strength did not decline with age. The rescue-related tasks were all extremely demanding with heart rate responses averaging greater than 88% of age predicted maximal heart rates. Heart rate recovery responses were more discriminating than heart rates recorded during the tasks, indicating the hose drag as the most physically demanding of the tasks. Conclusion Relying on actual rescues or mining related work to provide adequate training is generally insufficient to maintain, let alone increase, physical fitness. It is therefore recommended that standards of required physical fitness be developed and mines rescue personnel undergo regularly training (and assessment in order to maintain these standards.

30 CFR 49.7 - Physical requirements for mine rescue team.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Physical requirements for mine rescue team. 49... EDUCATION AND TRAINING MINE RESCUE TEAMS § 49.7 Physical requirements for mine rescue team. (a) Each member of a mine rescue team shall be examined annually by a physician who shall certify that each person is...

Tactical mobile robots for urban search and rescue

Science.gov (United States)

Blitch, John; Sidki, Nahid; Durkin, Tim

2000-07-01

Few disasters can inspire more compassion for victims and families than those involving structural collapse. Video clips of children's bodies pulled from earthquake stricken cities and bombing sties tend to invoke tremendous grief and sorrow because of the totally unpredictable nature of the crisis and lack of even the slightest degree of negligence (such as with those who choose to ignore storm warnings). Heartbreaking stories of people buried alive for days provide a visceral and horrific perspective of some of greatest fears ever to be imagined by human beings. Current trends toward urban sprawl and increasing human discord dictates that structural collapse disasters will continue to present themselves at an alarming rate. The proliferation of domestic terrorism, HAZMAT and biological contaminants further complicates the matter further and presents a daunting problem set for Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) organizations around the world. This paper amplifies the case for robot assisted search and rescue that was first presented during the KNOBSAR project initiated at the Colorado School of Mines in 1995. It anticipates increasing technical development in mobile robot technologies and promotes their use for a wide variety of humanitarian assistance missions. Focus is placed on development of advanced robotic systems that are employed in a complementary tool-like fashion as opposed to traditional robotic approaches that portend to replace humans in hazardous tasks. Operational challenges for USAR are presented first, followed by a brief history of mobiles robot development. The paper then presents conformal robotics as a new design paradigm with emphasis on variable geometry and volumes. A section on robot perception follows with an initial attempt to characterize sensing in a volumetric manner. Collaborative rescue is then briefly discussed with an emphasis on marsupial operations and linked mobility. The paper concludes with an emphasis on Human Robot Interface

Organizations of food redistribution and rescue.

Science.gov (United States)

Mousa, T Y; Freeland-Graves, J H

2017-11-01

Food insecurity affects 13.4% of the USA population, despite the fact that 30-40% of all food is deposited in a landfill. Food rescue nutrition is the process of redistribution of surplus food to the impoverished. The aim of this study is to document the extent of involvement of organizations in food rescue nutrition. In this cross-sectional study, a survey about organizations involved in food rescue nutrition was developed, validated, and then tested. Directors of 100 organizations involved in food rescue nutrition from eight Southwestern States in the USA participated in this research. These organizations provided an average of 2 million kg of food to more than 40,000 clients each month. Food assistance programs had an average of eight workers and 3081 volunteers. In addition to food, these organizations provided other services such as clothing, clinical, and childcare. The agencies encountered several challenges, including lack of resources that resulted in reducing food portions and turning away clients. The extent of involvement of community-based programs in food rescue nutrition was strong in eight Southwestern states in the USA. Organizations involved in food redistribution helped alleviate food insecurity in their clients. Sustainability of these charitable networks was dependent on availability of resources and sufficient volunteers. Health professionals should encourage these organizations by providing support through donations of time, money, and/or food. Copyright © 2017 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Rescue of a pathogenic mutant human glucagon receptor by pharmacological chaperones.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Run; Chen, Chun-Rong; Liu, Xiaohong; Kodra, János T

2012-10-01

We have previously demonstrated that a homozygous inactivating P86S mutation of the glucagon receptor (GCGR) causes a novel human disease of hyperglucagonemia, pancreatic α-cell hyperplasia, and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (Mahvash disease). The mechanisms for the decreased activity of the P86S mutant (P86S) are abnormal receptor localization to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and defective interaction with glucagon. To search for targeted therapies for Mahvash disease, we examined whether P86S can be trafficked to the plasma membrane by pharmacological chaperones and whether novel glucagon analogs restore effective receptor interaction. We used enhanced green fluorescent protein-tagged P86S stably expressed in HEK 293 cells to allow fluorescence imaging and western blotting and molecular modeling to design novel glucagon analogs in which alanine 19 was replaced with serine or asparagine. Incubation at 27 °C largely restored normal plasma membrane localization and normal processing of P86S but osmotic chaperones had no effects. The ER stressors thapsigargin and curcumin partially rescued P86S. The lipophilic GCGR antagonist L-168,049 also partially rescued P86S, so did Cpd 13 and 15 to a smaller degree. The rescued P86S led to more glucagon-stimulated cAMP production and was internalized by glucagon. Compared with the native glucagon, the novel glucagon analogs failed to stimulate more cAMP production by P86S. We conclude that the mutant GCGR is partially rescued by several pharmacological chaperones and our data provide proof-of-principle evidence that Mahvash disease can be potentially treated with pharmacological chaperones. The novel glucagon analogs, however, failed to interact with P86S more effectively.

Data Rescue Case Studies from the Cryosphere

Science.gov (United States)

Fetterer, F. M.

2017-12-01

A simple definition of the cryosphere is "where the world is frozen", or where water takes the form of snow and ice. The cryosphere is shrinking as the Earth warms. Data, particularly old data, document this in often eye-opening fashion. A photograph of Alaska's Muir Glacier taken in 1902 next to one taken in 2005 has impact that a line graph of air temperature anomalies from a weather station can't match, even though temperature data are fundamental to climate research and to understanding the glacier retreat captured in the photographs. Whaling logbooks from the late 1800s, maps of sea ice shared internationally in the 1930s, and satellite images of the polar oceans from the 1960s are not as immediately thought-provoking as are glacier photographs, but when preserved and documented they provide a record of sea ice coverage that is more than 100 years long. We developed a data product from these and other sources that is used in meteorological reanalysis and to answer questions about ice in the Arctic prior to 1978, when commonly used satellite-data-derived sea ice records begin. Preserving glacier photographs and making them available online, and publishing a gridded sea ice data product that builds on the preservation work of others are examples of data rescue projects that benefit scientific research and mobilize knowledge. These and other case studies suggest that even absent secure funding and an organizational setting that supports data rescue, important data make the transition from someone's office to archived and online with metadata because scientists are impassioned about the data they collect and want others to be able to use these data. In these cases from the cryosphere, student interns, collaborations with librarians, and cooperation with colleagues in other data centers have made it possible to preserve data at low cost.

Modulation of NF-KB in rescued irradiated cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lam, R.K.K.; Fung, Y.K.; Han, W.; Li, L.; Chiu, S.K.; Cheng, S.H.; Yu, K.N.

2015-01-01

Studies by different groups on the rescue effect, where unirradiated bystander cells mitigated the damages in the irradiated cells, since its discovery by the authors' group in 2011 were first reviewed. The properties of the rescue effect were then examined using a novel experimental set-up to physically separate the rescue signals from the bystander signals. The authors' results showed that the rescue effect was mediated through activation of the nuclear factor-KB (NF-KB) response pathway in the irradiated cells, and that the NF-KB activation inhibitor BAy -1 1-7082 did not affect the activation of this response pathway in the irradiated cells induced by direct irradiation. (authors)

Clinical and economic analysis of rescue intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycles.

Science.gov (United States)

Shalom-paz, Einat; Alshalati, Jana; Shehata, Fady; Jimenez, Luis; Son, Weon-Young; Holzer, Hananel; Tan, Seang Lin; Almog, Benny

2011-12-01

To identify clinical and embryological factors that may predict success in rescue intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles (after total fertilization failure has occurred) and to evaluate the cost effectiveness of rescue ICSI strategy. Additionally, follow-up of 20 rescue ICSI pregnancies is reported. Retrospective analysis of total fertilization failure cycles. University-based tertiary medical center. In total, 92 patients who had undergone conventional in-vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles with total fertilization failure were included. The patients were divided into two subgroups: those who conceived through rescue ICSI and those who did not. The pregnant members of the rescue ICSI subgroup were found to be significantly younger (32.9 ± 4.2 vs. 36.3 ± 4.5, respectively, p = 0.0035,) and to have better-quality embryos than those who did not conceive (cumulative embryo score: 38.3 ± 20.4 vs. 29.3 ± 14.7, p = 0.025). Cost effectiveness analysis showed 25% reduction in the cost per live birth when rescue ICSI is compared to cycle cancellation approach. The pregnancies follow-up did not show adverse perinatal outcome. Rescue ICSI is an option for salvaging IVF cycles complicated by total fertilization failure. Success in rescue ICSI was found to be associated with younger age and higher quality of embryos. Furthermore, the cost effectiveness of rescue ICSI in terms of total fertilization failure was found to be worthwhile.

Work Engagement among Rescue Workers: Psychometric Properties of the Portuguese UWES

Science.gov (United States)

Sinval, Jorge; Marques-Pinto, Alexandra; Queirós, Cristina; Marôco, João

2018-01-01

Rescue workers have a stressful and risky occupation where being engaged is crucial to face physical and emotional risks in order to help other persons. This study aims to estimate work engagement levels of rescue workers (namely comparing nurses, firefighters, and police officers) and to assess the validity evidence related to the internal structure of the Portuguese versions of the UWES-17 and UWES-9, namely, dimensionality, measurement invariance between occupational groups, and reliability of the scores. To evaluate the dimensionality, we compared the fit of the three-factor model with the fit of a second-order model. A Portuguese version of the instrument was applied to a convenience sample of 3,887 rescue workers (50% nurses, 39% firefighters, and 11% police officers). Work engagement levels were moderate to high, with firefighters being the highest and nurses being the lowest engaged. Psychometric properties were evaluated in the three-factor original structure revealing acceptable fit to the data in the UWES-17, although the UWES-9 had better psychometric properties. Given the observed statistically significant correlations between the three original factors, we proposed a 2nd hierarchal structure that we named work engagement. The UWES-9 first-order model obtained full uniqueness measurement invariance, and the second-order model obtained partial (metric) second-order invariance. PMID:29403403

Work Engagement among Rescue Workers: Psychometric Properties of the Portuguese UWES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jorge Sinval

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Rescue workers have a stressful and risky occupation where being engaged is crucial to face physical and emotional risks in order to help other persons. This study aims to estimate work engagement levels of rescue workers (namely comparing nurses, firefighters, and police officers and to assess the validity evidence related to the internal structure of the Portuguese versions of the UWES-17 and UWES-9, namely, dimensionality, measurement invariance between occupational groups, and reliability of the scores. To evaluate the dimensionality, we compared the fit of the three-factor model with the fit of a second-order model. A Portuguese version of the instrument was applied to a convenience sample of 3,887 rescue workers (50% nurses, 39% firefighters, and 11% police officers. Work engagement levels were moderate to high, with firefighters being the highest and nurses being the lowest engaged. Psychometric properties were evaluated in the three-factor original structure revealing acceptable fit to the data in the UWES-17, although the UWES-9 had better psychometric properties. Given the observed statistically significant correlations between the three original factors, we proposed a 2nd hierarchal structure that we named work engagement. The UWES-9 first-order model obtained full uniqueness measurement invariance, and the second-order model obtained partial (metric second-order invariance.

Neurotrauma and the rule of rescue.

Science.gov (United States)

Honeybul, S; Gillett, G R; Ho, K M; Lind, C R P

2011-12-01

The rule of rescue describes the powerful human proclivity to rescue identified endangered lives, regardless of cost or risk. Deciding whether or not to perform a decompressive craniectomy as a life-saving or 'rescue' procedure for a young person with a severe traumatic brain injury provides a good example of the ethical tensions that occur in these situations. Unfortunately, there comes a point when the primary brain injury is so severe that if the patient survives they are likely to remain severely disabled and fully dependent. The health resource implications of this outcome are significant. By using a web-based outcome prediction model this study compares the long-term outcome and designation of two groups of patients. One group had a very severe injury as adjudged by the model and the other group a less severe injury. At 18 month follow-up there were significant differences in outcome and healthcare requirements. This raises important ethical issues when considering life-saving but non-restorative surgical intervention. The discussion about realistic outcome cannot be dichotomised into simply life or death so that the outcome for the patient must enter the equation. As in other 'rescue situations', the utility of the procedure cannot be rationalised on a mere cost-benefit analysis. A compromise has to be reached to determine at what point either the likely outcome would be unacceptable to the person on whom the procedure is being performed or the social utility gained from the rule of rescue intervention fails to justify the utilitarian value and justice of equitable resource allocation.

Development of a Mine Rescue Drilling System (MRDS)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Raymond, David W. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Gaither, Katherine N. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Polsky, Yarom [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Knudsen, Steven D. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Broome, Scott Thomas [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Su, Jiann-Cherng [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Blankenship, Douglas A. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Costin, Laurence S. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2014-06-01

Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) has a long history in developing compact, mobile, very high-speed drilling systems and this technology could be applied to increasing the rate at which boreholes are drilled during a mine accident response. The present study reviews current technical approaches, primarily based on technology developed under other programs, analyzes mine rescue specific requirements to develop a conceptual mine rescue drilling approach, and finally, proposes development of a phased mine rescue drilling system (MRDS) that accomplishes (1) development of rapid drilling MRDS equipment; (2) structuring improved web communication through the Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA) web site; (3) development of an improved protocol for employment of existing drilling technology in emergencies; (4) deployment of advanced technologies to complement mine rescue drilling operations during emergency events; and (5) preliminary discussion of potential future technology development of specialized MRDS equipment. This phased approach allows for rapid fielding of a basic system for improved rescue drilling, with the ability to improve the system over time at a reasonable cost.

Rip current related drowning deaths and rescues in Australia 2004-2011

Science.gov (United States)

Brighton, B.; Sherker, S.; Brander, R.; Thompson, M.; Bradstreet, A.

2013-04-01

Rip currents are a common hazard to beachgoers found on many beaches around the world, but it has proven difficult to accurately quantify the actual number of rip current related drowning deaths in many regions and countries. Consequently, reported estimates of rip current drowning can fluctuate considerably and are often based on anecdotal evidence. This study aims to quantify the incidence of rip current related drowning deaths and rescues in Australia from 2004 to 2011. A retrospective search was undertaken for fatal and non-fatal rip-related drowning incidents from Australia's National Coronial Information System (NCIS), Surf Life Saving Australia's (SLSA, 2005-2011) SurfGuard Incident Report Database (IRD), and Media Monitors for the period 1 July 2004 to 30 June 2011. In this time, rip currents were recorded as a factor in 142 fatalities of a total of 613 coastal drowning deaths (23.2%), an average of 21 per year. Rip currents were related to 44% of all beach-related drowning deaths and were involved in 57.4% of reported major rescues in Australian locations where rips occur. A comparison with international operational statistics over the same time period describes rip-related rescues as 53.7% of the total rescues in the US, 57.9% in the UK and 49.4% in New Zealand. The range 49-58% is much lower than 80-89% traditionally cited. The results reported are likely to underestimate the size of the rip current hazard, because we are limited by the completeness of data on rip-related events; however this is the most comprehensive estimate to date. Beach safety practitioners need improved data collection and standardized definitions across organisations. The collection of drowning data using consistent categories and the routine collection of rip current information will allow for more accurate global comparisons.

A Comparison of the Views of Internal Controllers/Auditors and Branch/Call Center Personnel of the Banks for Operational Risk: A Case for Turkish Banking Sector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sinemis Zengin

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to compare the views of internal controllers/auditors and branch/call center personnel of the banks with respect to the operational risk. Within this scope, we made two different surveys to the personnel in Turkish banks in order to achieve this objective. The first survey was conducted by 310 branch and call center personnel whereas 151 personnel in internal control and audit departments of the banks carried out the second survey. The major finding in this study is that there is a difference in the views of these two groups regarding the evaluation of operational risk. In general, internal controllers/auditors look at the operational risk more negatively than branch/call center personnel. The personnel who control and audit operations in the bank think that operational risk knowledge level of branch/call center personnel is less sufficient, operational risk levels are higher, the controls to avoid this risk are less efficient than branch/call center personnel consider.

UvA Rescue - Team Description Paper - Infrastructure competition - Rescue Simulation League RoboCup 2014 - João Pessoa - Brazil

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Visser, A.

2014-01-01

The UvA Rescue Team has several innovative ideas to further improve the infrastructure of the RoboCup Rescue Simulation League. Those ideas range from providing USARSim an interface compatible with the RoboCup@Home Simulation, to provide the possibility to specify robots in the URDF format, to

Percutaneous transhepatic recanalization of malignant hilarobstruction: A possible rescue for early failure of endoscopic y-stenting

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kwon, Hoon; Kim, Chang Won; Lee, Tae Hong; Kim, Dong Uk [Pusan National University School of Medicine, Pusan National University Hospital, Busan (Korea, Republic of); Jeon, Ung Bae; Kang, Dae Hwan [Pusan National University School of Medicine, Yangsan Pusan National University Hospital, Yangsan (Korea, Republic of)

2013-11-15

Endoscopic biliary stenting is well known as an optimal method of management of malignant hilar obstruction, but sometimes the result is not satisfactory, with early stent failure. Percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PTBD) has a distinct advantage over endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatoscopy in that with ultrasound guidance one or more appropriate segments for drainage can be chosen. We evaluated the effectiveness of percutaneous transhepatic stenting as a rescue of early failure of endoscopic stenting. Ten patients (4 men, 6 women; age range, 52-78 years; mean age, 69 years) with inoperable biliary obstruction (2 patients with gall bladder cancer and hilar invasion, and 8 patients with Klatskin tumor) and with early endoscopic stent failure were included in our study. All of the patients underwent PTBD and percutaneous transhepatic biliary stenting. Metallic stents were placed in all patients for internal drainage. Percutaneous rescue stenting was successful in all the patients technically and clinically. Mean time for the development of biliary obstruction was 13.5 days after endoscopic stenting. The mean patency of the rescue stenting was 122 days. The mean survival time for percutaneous transhepatic rescue stenting was 226.3 days. In early failure of endoscopic biliary stenting, percutaneous transhepatic recanalization can be a possible solution.

Validation of the Athens Insomnia Scale for screening insomnia in South Korean firefighters and rescue workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Jeong, Hyeonseok S; Jeon, Yujin; Ma, Jiyoung; Choi, Yera; Ban, Soonhyun; Lee, Sooyeon; Lee, Bora; Im, Jooyeon Jamie; Yoon, Sujung; Kim, Jieun E; Lim, Jae-Ho; Lyoo, In Kyoon

2015-10-01

Sleep problems are a major cause of occupational stress in firefighters and rescue workers. We evaluated the psychometric properties of the Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS) among South Korean firefighters and rescue workers. Structured clinical interviews and self-report questionnaires were administered to 221 firefighters and rescue workers. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), Short-Form 36-item Health Survey (SF36), and Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test-Consumption (AUDIT-C) were used to examine convergent and divergent validity. Test-retest reliability was calculated from a subsample (n = 24). Analysis of internal consistency, factor analysis, and receiver operator characteristic curve analysis were conducted. Cronbach's alpha was 0.88. The mean item-total correlation coefficient was 0.73. The test-retest reliability was excellent (ICC = 0.94). Significant correlations of the AIS with the PSQI, ISI, ESS, and SF36 confirmed convergent validity. Nonsignificant associations of the AIS with the AUDIT-C and socioeconomic status showed divergent validity. Factor analysis revealed a one-factor structure. For groups with different symptom severity, group-specific cutoff scores which may improve positive predictive values were suggested. The AIS may be a useful tool with good reliability and validity for screening insomnia symptoms in firefighters and rescue workers.

Percutaneous transhepatic recanalization of malignant hilarobstruction: A possible rescue for early failure of endoscopic y-stenting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kwon, Hoon; Kim, Chang Won; Lee, Tae Hong; Kim, Dong Uk; Jeon, Ung Bae; Kang, Dae Hwan

2013-01-01

Endoscopic biliary stenting is well known as an optimal method of management of malignant hilar obstruction, but sometimes the result is not satisfactory, with early stent failure. Percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PTBD) has a distinct advantage over endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatoscopy in that with ultrasound guidance one or more appropriate segments for drainage can be chosen. We evaluated the effectiveness of percutaneous transhepatic stenting as a rescue of early failure of endoscopic stenting. Ten patients (4 men, 6 women; age range, 52-78 years; mean age, 69 years) with inoperable biliary obstruction (2 patients with gall bladder cancer and hilar invasion, and 8 patients with Klatskin tumor) and with early endoscopic stent failure were included in our study. All of the patients underwent PTBD and percutaneous transhepatic biliary stenting. Metallic stents were placed in all patients for internal drainage. Percutaneous rescue stenting was successful in all the patients technically and clinically. Mean time for the development of biliary obstruction was 13.5 days after endoscopic stenting. The mean patency of the rescue stenting was 122 days. The mean survival time for percutaneous transhepatic rescue stenting was 226.3 days. In early failure of endoscopic biliary stenting, percutaneous transhepatic recanalization can be a possible solution.

The Effect of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) on Performance in the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) Listening Module

Science.gov (United States)

van Han, Nguyen; van Rensburg, Henriette

2014-01-01

Many companies and organizations have been using the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) for business and commercial communication purpose in Vietnam and around the world. The present study investigated the effect of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) on performance in the Test of English for International Communication…

Constraints on decision making regarding post-commencement finance in Business rescue

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marius Pretorius

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Since its introduction, business rescue has become a critical consideration in business strategy decision making. One of the critical components of business rescue, which appears largely unsuccessful to date, involves securing post-commencement finance (PCF to restore the company’s financial health. Despite extensive theory in the literature on failure, there is a void regarding post-commencement finance. Specialist practitioners and financiers with extensive experience in rescue and turnaround were interviewed in this study. Findings showed that many critical factors and reasons for lack of interest are due to the newness of the South African Companies Act 71 of 2008 (introduced May 2011. These include business rescue filing being left too late; the poor financial state of the business that files for rescue; and the significant impact on the outcome by some of the key players (especially the financiers and business rescue practitioners. Better understanding of this aspect would be beneficial for creditors, rescue practitioners, shareholders, government regulators, court officials and educators alike. Key words: business rescue, post-commencement finance, turnaround, decision making

Burnout syndrome in nurses of prehospital rescue team

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Rosemeire Pereira Bezerra

2009-09-01

Full Text Available Objective: To verify the presence and evaluate the levels of burnout syndrome in nurses of the prehospital rescue team. Methods: A cross-sectional study with a sample of 17 nurses from the prehospital rescue team, by application of the Maslach burnout Inventory and a questionnaire prepared by the authors. Rresults: In the group studied, 76% of the nurses of the prehospital rescue team were female. Ages varied from 30 to 49 years old. As to time already in the profession, 59% reported having worked from five to ten years in prehospital rescue. As to Maslach burnout Inventory subscale means, in the group analyzed of 17 prehospital rescue team nurses, low/moderate level (31.53 of reduced professional accomplishment, low/moderate level (18.41 of emotional exhaustion, and low/moderate level (8.88 of depersonalization were observed. As to dimensions of burnout levels, it was noted that 76.47% of the nurses displayed a low/moderate level of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced professional accomplishment. Cconclusions: It was demonstrated that this sample showed no evidence of burnout syndrome, since its presence is proven only when there are high scores of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced professional accomplishment.

Posture manipulation for rescue activity via small traction robots

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iwano, Yuki; Osuka, Koichi; Amano, Hisanori

2006-01-01

We discuss a conceptual design of rescue robots against nuclear-power plant accidents. We claim that the rescue robots in nuclear-power plants should have the following properties. (1) The size is small. (2) The structure is simple. (3) The number of the robots is large. This paper studies the rescue robots to rescue people in an area polluted with radioactive leakage in nuclear power institutions. In particular, we propose a rescue system which consists of a group of small mobile robots. First, small traction robots set the posture of the fainted victims to carry easily, and carry them to the safety space with the mobile robots for the stretcher composition. In this paper, we describe the produced small traction robots. And, we confirm that the robots can manipulate a 40 kg dummy doll's posture. We also examine the optimal number of robots from a perspective of working efficiency in the assumption spot. (author)

Rescue Effects: Irradiated Cells Helped by Unirradiated Bystander Cells

Science.gov (United States)

Lam, R. K. K.; Fung, Y. K.; Han, W.; Yu, K. N.

2015-01-01

The rescue effect describes the phenomenon where irradiated cells or organisms derive benefits from the feedback signals sent from the bystander unirradiated cells or organisms. An example of the benefit is the mitigation of radiation-induced DNA damages in the irradiated cells. The rescue effect can compromise the efficacy of radioimmunotherapy (RIT) (and actually all radiotherapy). In this paper, the discovery and subsequent confirmation studies on the rescue effect were reviewed. The mechanisms and the chemical messengers responsible for the rescue effect studied to date were summarized. The rescue effect between irradiated and bystander unirradiated zebrafish embryos in vivo sharing the same medium was also described. In the discussion section, the mechanism proposed for the rescue effect involving activation of the nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) pathway was scrutinized. This mechanism could explain the promotion of cellular survival and correct repair of DNA damage, dependence on cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) and modulation of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) level in irradiated cells. Exploitation of the NF-κB pathway to improve the effectiveness of RIT was proposed. Finally, the possibility of using zebrafish embryos as the model to study the efficacy of RIT in treating solid tumors was also discussed. PMID:25625514

REM sleep rescues learning from interference

Science.gov (United States)

McDevitt, Elizabeth A.; Duggan, Katherine A.; Mednick, Sara C.

2015-01-01

Classical human memory studies investigating the acquisition of temporally-linked events have found that the memories for two events will interfere with each other and cause forgetting (i.e., interference; Wixted, 2004). Importantly, sleep helps consolidate memories and protect them from subsequent interference (Ellenbogen, Hulbert, Stickgold, Dinges, & Thompson-Schill, 2006). We asked whether sleep can also repair memories that have already been damaged by interference. Using a perceptual learning paradigm, we induced interference either before or after a consolidation period. We varied brain states during consolidation by comparing active wake, quiet wake, and naps with either non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM), or both NREM and REM sleep. When interference occurred after consolidation, sleep and wake both produced learning. However, interference prior to consolidation impaired memory, with retroactive interference showing more disruption than proactive interference. Sleep rescued learning damaged by interference. Critically, only naps that contained REM sleep were able to rescue learning that was highly disrupted by retroactive interference. Furthermore, the magnitude of rescued learning was correlated with the amount of REM sleep. We demonstrate the first evidence of a process by which the brain can rescue and consolidate memories damaged by interference, and that this process requires REM sleep. We explain these results within a theoretical model that considers how interference during encoding interacts with consolidation processes to predict which memories are retained or lost. PMID:25498222

Publications | Page 373 | IDRC - International Development ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Results 3721 - 3730 of 6384 ... Is anyone listening to the Haitians? Within hours of Haiti's devastating earthquake in January, Reconstruction International Inc. was flying to the rescue. Reconstruction International Inc. is an alphabet soup of United Nations (UN) agencies, North American and Western.

Emergency Air Rescue System in Romania

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tranca Sebastian

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The helicopter, as a means of transport, has facilitated a significant decrease in intervention time at the site of request, increasing the chances of survival of the critical patient. Since 2003, SMURD has managed to form a fleet composed of nine helicopters and two airplanes. From an operational and strategic point of view, the SMURD intervention unit, set up seven Aeromedical Operational Bases (A.O.B. equipped with helicopters and materials necessary for their operation. There is a dynamic increase in the number of air rescue missions in Romania, with most missions being carried out by the air rescue bases in Târgu Mureş and Bucharest. Specialty literature has clearly demonstrated the positive impact on the survival of critical patients assisted by airborne crews, so it is necessary for the Romanian air rescue system to grow up. It is necessary to increase the number of air bases, purchase new helicopters and to continue the training programs of both pilots and medical personnel.

In vitro embryo rescue and plant regeneration following self ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

In vitro embryo rescue and plant regeneration following self-pollination with irradiated ... AFRICAN JOURNALS ONLINE (AJOL) · Journals · Advanced Search ... shows that pollen irradiation coupled with self-pollination and embryo rescue ...

RESCUE: An artificial neural network tool for the NMR spectral assignment of proteins

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pons, J.L.; Delsuc, M.A.

1999-01-01

The assignment of the 1 H spectrum of a protein or a polypeptide is the prerequisite for advanced NMR studies. We present here an assignment tool based on the artificial neural network technology, which determines the type of the amino acid from the chemical shift values observed in the 1 H spectrum. Two artificial neural networks have been trained and extensively tested against a non-redundant subset of the BMRB chemical shift data bank [Seavey, B.R. et al. (1991) J. Biomol. NMR, 1, 217-236]. The most promising of the two accomplishes the analysis in two steps, grouping related amino acids together. It presents a mean rate of success above 80% on the test set. The second network tested separates down to the single amino acid; it presents a mean rate of success of 63%. This tool has been used to assist the manual assignment of peptides and proteins and can also be used as a block in an automated approach to assignment. The program has been called RESCUE and is made publicly available at the following URL: http://www.infobiosud.univ-montp1.fr/rescue

Medical rescue of naval combat: challenges and future.

Science.gov (United States)

Jin, Hai; Hou, Li-Jun; Fu, Xiao-Bing

2015-01-01

There has been no large-scale naval combat in the last 30 years. With the rapid development of battleships, weapons manufacturing and electronic technology, naval combat will present some new characteristics. Additionally, naval combat is facing unprecedented challenges. In this paper, we discuss the topic of medical rescue at sea: what challenges we face and what we could do. The contents discussed in this paper contain battlefield self-aid buddy care, clinical skills, organized health services, medical training and future medical research programs. We also discuss the characteristics of modern naval combat, medical rescue challenges, medical treatment highlights and future developments of medical rescue at sea.

46 CFR 199.160 - Rescue boat embarkation, launching and recovery arrangements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Rescue boat embarkation, launching and recovery...) LIFESAVING APPLIANCES AND ARRANGEMENTS LIFESAVING SYSTEMS FOR CERTAIN INSPECTED VESSELS Requirements for All Vessels § 199.160 Rescue boat embarkation, launching and recovery arrangements. (a) Each rescue boat must...

Emotional Reactions of Rescue Workers Following a Tornado.

Science.gov (United States)

McCammon, Susan L.; And Others

Rescue and medical workers may be at risk for negative emotional experience following intervention efforts in disaster situations. To examine this possibility, 120 rescue and hospital personnel responded to a survey of their emotional reactions and coping behaviors 3 months after a devastating tornado. Twenty-eight subjects had been involved in…

A versatile sensor network for urban search and rescue operations

Science.gov (United States)

Känsälä, Klaus; Korkalainen, Marko; Mäyrä, Aki

2011-11-01

The presentation is based in the research work carried out in EU funded project SGL for USaR (Second Generation Locator for Urban Search and Rescue Operations). The aim of this project is to develop wireless standalone communication system with embedded sensor network which can be globally used in rescue operations after accidents or terrorist attacks. The system should be able to operate without external support for several days: it should have autonomy with power supply and communication. The devices must be lightweight so that rescue team can easily carry them and finally they must be easy to install and use. The range of the wireless communication must cover an area of several square kilometers. The embedded sensor system must be able to detect sings of life but also detect hazards threatening the rescue operators thus preventing more accidents. It should also support positioning and digital mapping as well as the management of the search and rescue operation. This sensor network for urban search and rescue operations has been tested on a field conditions and it has proven to be robust and reliable and provides an energy efficient way of communication and positioning on harsh conditions.

Rescue workers and trauma

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Romano, Eugenia; Elklit, Ask

2017-01-01

Introduction: This study investigates which factors had the biggest impact on developing distress in rescue workers who were involved in a firework factory explosion. Method: Four hundred sixty-five rescuers were assessed using items investigating demographic factors, organizational variables, so...

46 CFR 133.160 - Rescue boat embarkation, launching and recovery arrangements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

...) OFFSHORE SUPPLY VESSELS LIFESAVING SYSTEMS Requirements for All OSVs § 133.160 Rescue boat embarkation, launching and recovery arrangements. (a) Each davit for a rescue boat must be approved under approval series... 46 Shipping 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Rescue boat embarkation, launching and recovery...

CO{sub 2} in underground openings and mine rescue training

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Weyer, J. [Freiburg Univ. of Mining and Technology (Germany). Inst. of Mining Engineering and Special Civil Engineering

2010-07-01

Mine rescue training procedures related to dangerous gases in mines were discussed. Methods of detecting carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) in abandoned opening and old adits were presented. High concentrations of CO{sub 2} combine with hemoglobin and lead to a lack of oxygen supply to the inner organs. Nitric acid forms in the alveoli and can lead to injuries or death after a period of 4 to 12 hours. Exposure to very high concentrations of CO{sub 2} can cause people to immediately lose consciousness. CO{sub 2} concentrations in the blood can change pH blood values. Members of mine rescue teams should be equipped with breathing equipment and be between 18 and 40 years old. Training rescue operations should be conducted 4 times per year. While larger mines have their own rescue teams, smaller mines must ensure that guest rescue teams are familiar with their mines. Various mine training activities were reviewed. 5 refs.

Science in search and rescue in the aftermath of the massive February 2006 Philippine landslide

Science.gov (United States)

Lagmay, A. A.; Ong, J. T.; Rodolfo, R. S.; Tengonciang, A. P.; Soria, J. T.; Fernandez, D. D.; Lapus, M. R.; Baliatan, E. G.; Quimba, Z. P.; Uichanco, C. L.; Paguican, E. R.

2006-12-01

Technical advice by a team of geologists, geophysicists and meteorologists was provided during the search and rescue operations at ground zero of the February 2006 landslide in Southern Leyte, Philippines. An ad hoc geographic information system constructed from a cadastral plan, 1:50,000 topographic map, aerial imagery taken 7 days after the landslide, and a plot of the inventory of survivors, recovered bodies, personal articles and remnants of buildings, was used to narrow down the search in the large debris field. In particular, search parties were directed to transfer operations to an area where a community was believed to have been transported about 550 meters down slope of its original position. By the time rescuers concentrated their efforts to the new search site, the water table had risen, diminishing chances of finding survivors trapped under the water-drenched rubble. Improvised rain gauges placed around the debris field served as basis to call off search operations to prevent casualties among the ranks of rescue teams. The lessons learned from the Southern Leyte landslide may be applied in the construction of policies for disaster management. Because speed, accuracy and the maximum utilization of resources are required in handling search and rescue operations, a systematic and informed approach is imperative. Time is essential in such a critical situation; thus, following a standard rote of procedures can improve how civil authorities deal with large scale landslide calamities.

Reliable Rescue Routing Optimization for Urban Emergency Logistics under Travel Time Uncertainty

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qiuping Li

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The reliability of rescue routes is critical for urban emergency logistics during disasters. However, studies on reliable rescue routing under stochastic networks are still rare. This paper proposes a multiobjective rescue routing model for urban emergency logistics under travel time reliability. A hybrid metaheuristic integrating ant colony optimization (ACO and tabu search (TS was designed to solve the model. An experiment optimizing rescue routing plans under a real urban storm event, was carried out to validate the proposed model. The experimental results showed how our approach can improve rescue efficiency with high travel time reliability.

The rule of rescue.

Science.gov (United States)

McKie, John; Richardson, Jeff

2003-06-01

Jonsen coined the term "Rule of Rescue"(RR) to describe the imperative people feel to rescue identifiable individuals facing avoidable death. In this paper we attempt to draw a more detailed picture of the RR, identifying its conflict with cost-effectiveness analysis, the preference it entails for identifiable over statistical lives, the shock-horror response it elicits, the preference it entails for lifesaving over non-lifesaving measures, its extension to non-life-threatening conditions, and whether it is motivated by duty or sympathy. We also consider the measurement problems it raises, and argue that quantifying the RR would probably require a two-stage procedure. In the first stage the size of the individual utility gain from a health intervention would be assessed using a technique such as the Standard Gamble or the Time Trade-Off, and in the second the social benefits arising from the RR would be quantified employing the Person Trade-Off. We also consider the normative status of the RR. We argue that it can be defended from a utilitarian point of view, on the ground that rescues increase well-being by reinforcing people's belief that they live in a community that places great value upon life. However, utilitarianism has long been criticised for failing to take sufficient account of fairness, and the case is no different here: fairness requires that we do not discriminate between individuals on morally irrelevant grounds, whereas being "identifiable" does not seem to be a morally relevant ground for discrimination.

Simulation Optimization of Search and Rescue in Disaster Relief Based on Distributed Auction Mechanism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jian Tang

2017-11-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we optimize the search and rescue (SAR in disaster relief through agent-based simulation. We simulate rescue teams’ search behaviors with the improved Truncated Lévy walks. Then we propose a cooperative rescue plan based on a distributed auction mechanism, and illustrate it with the case of landslide disaster relief. The simulation is conducted in three scenarios, including “fatal”, “serious” and “normal”. Compared with the non-cooperative rescue plan, the proposed rescue plan in this paper would increase victims’ relative survival probability by 7–15%, increase the ratio of survivors getting rescued by 5.3–12.9%, and decrease the average elapsed time for one site getting rescued by 16.6–21.6%. The robustness analysis shows that search radius can affect the rescue efficiency significantly, while the scope of cooperation cannot. The sensitivity analysis shows that the two parameters, the time limit for completing rescue operations in one buried site and the maximum turning angle for next step, both have a great influence on rescue efficiency, and there exists optimal value for both of them in view of rescue efficiency.

No Call for Action? Why There Is No Union (Yet in Philippine Call Centers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Niklas Reese

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This contribution presents findings from a qualitative study which focused on young urban professionals in the Philippines who work(ed in international call centers – workplaces usually characterized by job insecurity and other forms of precarity, factory-like working conditions, and disembeddedness. Nevertheless, trade unions in these centers have not come into existence. Why collective action is not chosen by call center agents as an option to tackle the above mentioned problems – this is what the research project this article is based on tried to understand. After outlining some workrelated problems identified by Filipino call center agents, the article will focus on the strategies the agents employ to counter these problems (mainly accommodation and everyday resistance. By highlighting five objective and five subjective reasons (or reasons by circumstances and reasons by framing, we conclude that it is not repressive regulation policies, but rather the formative power and the internalization of discourses of rule within individual life strategies that are preventing the establishment of unions and other collective action structures.

The future for the Global Sea Level Observing System (GLOSS) Sea Level Data Rescue

Science.gov (United States)

Bradshaw, Elizabeth; Matthews, Andrew; Rickards, Lesley; Aarup, Thorkild

2016-04-01

Historical sea level data are rare and unrepeatable measurements with a number of applications in climate studies (sea level rise), oceanography (ocean currents, tides, surges), geodesy (national datum), geophysics and geology (coastal land movements) and other disciplines. However, long-term time series are concentrated in the northern hemisphere and there are no records at the Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level (PSMSL) global data bank longer than 100 years in the Arctic, Africa, South America or Antarctica. Data archaeology activities will help fill in the gaps in the global dataset and improve global sea level reconstruction. The Global Sea Level Observing System (GLOSS) is an international programme conducted under the auspices of the WMO-IOC Joint Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology. It was set up in 1985 to collect long-term tide gauge observations and to develop systems and standards "for ocean monitoring and flood warning purposes". At the GLOSS-GE-XIV Meeting in 2015, GLOSS agreed on a number of action items to be developed in the next two years. These were: 1. To explore mareogram digitisation applications, including NUNIEAU (more information available at: http://www.mediterranee.cerema.fr/logiciel-de-numerisation-des-enregistrements-r57.html) and other recent developments in scanning/digitisation software, such as IEDRO's Weather Wizards program, to see if they could be used via a browser. 2. To publicise sea level data archaeology and rescue by: • maintaining and regularly updating the Sea Level Data Archaeology page on the GLOSS website • strengthening links to the GLOSS data centres and data rescue organisations e.g. linking to IEDRO, ACRE, RDA • restarting the sea level data rescue blog with monthly posts. 3. Investigate sources of funding for data archaeology and rescue projects. 4. Propose "Guidelines" for rescuing sea level data. These action items will aid the discovery, scanning, digitising and quality control

Embryo rescue of crosses between diploid and tetraploid grape ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

ajl yemi

2011-12-19

Dec 19, 2011 ... embryo rescue from interspecific hybridization between diploid and tetraploid grape species. Wakana et al. (2003) and Motosugi et al. (2003) studied the formation and developments of hybrid seeds from cross between diploid and tetraploid, and then obtained triploid progenies through embryo rescue.

Sleep Quality of Call Handlers Employed in International Call Centers in National Capital Region of Delhi, India

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

JD Raja

2016-10-01

suspicion of insomnia or suspected insomnia; the rest had no sleep problem. Smoking, poor social support, heavy workload, lack of relaxation facility at office, and prolonged travel time to office were independent predictors of sleep quality (p<0.05. Conclusion: Call handlers have to compromise upon their sleep owing to the contemporary work settings in call centers. Safeguarding their health becomes an occupational health challenge to public health specialists.

Outsourcing an Effective Postdischarge Call Program

Science.gov (United States)

Meek, Kevin L.; Williams, Paula; Unterschuetz, Caryn J.

2018-01-01

To improve patient satisfaction ratings and decrease readmissions, many organizations utilize internal staff to complete postdischarge calls to recently released patients. Developing, implementing, monitoring, and sustaining an effective call program can be challenging and have eluded some of the renowned medical centers in the country. Using collaboration with an outsourced vendor to bring state-of-the-art call technology and staffed with specially trained callers, health systems can achieve elevated levels of engagement and satisfaction for their patients postdischarge. PMID:29494453

Endovascular rescue method for undesirably stretched coil.

Science.gov (United States)

Cho, Jae Hoon

2014-10-01

Undesirable detachment or stretching of coils within the parent artery during aneurysm embolization can be related with thrombus formation, which can be caused occlusion of parent artery or embolic event(s). To escape from this situation, several rescue methods have been reported. A case with undesirably stretched coil in which another rescue method was used, is presented. When the stretched coil is still located in the coil delivery microcatheter, the stretched coil can be removed safely using a snare and a handmade monorail microcatheter. After a snare is lodged in the handmade monorail microcatheter, the snare is introduced over the coil delivery micorcatheter and located in the distal part of the stretched coil. After then, the handmade monorail microcatheter captures the stretched coil and the snare as one unit. This technique using a handmade monorail microcatheter and a snare can be a good rescue modality for the undesirably stretched coil, still remained within the coil delivery microcatheter.

The International Society of Hypertension and World Hypertension League call on governments, nongovernmental organizations and the food industry to work to reduce dietary sodium.

Science.gov (United States)

Campbell, Norman R C; Lackland, Daniel T; Chockalingam, Arun; Lisheng, Liu; Harrap, Stephen B; Touyz, Rhian M; Burrell, Louise M; Ramírez, Agustín J; Schmieder, Roland E; Schutte, Aletta E; Prabhakaran, Dorairaj; Schiffrin, Ernesto L

2014-02-01

The International Society of Hypertension and the World Hypertension League have developed a policy statement calling for reducing dietary salt. The policy supports the WHO and the United Nations recommendations, which are based on a comprehensive and up-to-date review of relevant research. The policy statement calls for broad societal action to reduce dietary salt, thus reducing blood pressure and preventing hypertension and its related burden of cardiovascular disease. The hypertension organizations and experts need to become more engaged in the efforts to prevent hypertension and to advocate strongly to have dietary salt reduction policies implemented. The statement is being circulated to national hypertension organizations and to international nongovernmental health organizations for consideration of endorsement. Member organizations of the International Society of Hypertension and the World Hypertension League are urged to support this effort.

Flash flood swift water rescues, Texas, 2005–2014

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vaidehi Shah

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Although rainfall patterns are complex and difficult to predict, climate models suggest precipitation in Texas will occur less frequently and with greater intensity in the future. In combination with rapid population growth and development, extreme rainfall events are likely to lead to flash floods and necessitate swift water rescues. Swift water rescues are used to retrieve person(s from swift water flowing at a rate of 1 knot or greater. Data were obtained from the Texas Fire Marshal’s Office and analyzed to describe spatial and temporal characteristics of rescues. Between 2005 and 2014, 3256 swift water rescues were reported from 136 of 254 (54% counties. Over half (54.6%, n = 1777 occurred in counties known as Flash Flood Alley, which includes Texas’ largest and fastest growing cities. Less than 1.0% (n = 18 were reported from 49 counties designated as completely rural, or with an urban population less than 2500. Increases in swift water rescues were seen between March and September and during major weather events such as tropical storms. Because county-level data was utilized and demographic data was missing in all but 2% (n = 47 of the incidents, our ability to identify populations at risk or target interventions in the future using this data is limited. Despite the frequency of flash flood events and swift water rescues in Texas, knowledge gaps persist that should be addressed through the conduct of interdisciplinary research by epidemiologists and climatologists and by disseminating evidence-based health education and safety programs, particularly in rapidly growing counties that make up Texas’ Flash Flood Alley.

Rescue US energy innovation

Science.gov (United States)

Anadon, Laura Diaz; Gallagher, Kelly Sims; Holdren, John P.

2017-10-01

President Trump has proposed severe cuts to US government spending on energy research, development and demonstration, but Congress has the `power of the purse' and can rescue US energy innovation. If serious cuts are enacted, the pace of innovation will slow, harming the economy, energy security and global environmental quality.

The RESCueH Programme

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Søgaard Nielsen, Anette; Nielsen, Bent; Andersen, Kjeld

2016-01-01

Excessive alcohol consumption is one of the most important lifestyle factors affecting the disease burden in the Western world. The results of treatment in daily practice are modest at best. The aim of the RESCueH programme is to develop and evaluate methods, which are as practice-near as possible...

EPS insulated façade fires from a fire and rescue perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kumm M.

2013-11-01

Full Text Available This paper highlights the challenges the fire and rescue services can meet at façade fires involving EPS insulation during construction and use of a building. The EPS characteristics are discussed in respect to the fire and rescue operation and results from orientating fire tests performed at a fire and rescue services training and test field are presented. Types of evacuation solutions, involving the fire and rescue services, where façade fires can delay or completely rule out the possibilities for safe evacuation, are presented. The restrictions in the Swedish building codes regarding use of combustible insulation are analysed and reflections over the practical problems with following the instructions to keep an EPS insulated façade safe through the building's whole lifespan are made. A number of occurred fires involving EPS are discussed and analysed from a fire and rescue perspective. Finally, recommendations are given for the fire and rescue services and future research fields are proposed.

46 CFR 111.75-16 - Lighting of survival craft and rescue boats.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Lighting of survival craft and rescue boats. 111.75-16... craft and rescue boats. (a) During preparation, launching, and recovery, each survival craft and rescue... of circuits must be such that the lighting for adjacent launching stations for survival craft or...

Lactate rescues neuronal sodium homeostasis during impaired energy metabolism.

Science.gov (United States)

Karus, Claudia; Ziemens, Daniel; Rose, Christine R

2015-01-01

Recently, we established that recurrent activity evokes network sodium oscillations in neurons and astrocytes in hippocampal tissue slices. Interestingly, metabolic integrity of astrocytes was essential for the neurons' capacity to maintain low sodium and to recover from sodium loads, indicating an intimate metabolic coupling between the 2 cell types. Here, we studied if lactate can support neuronal sodium homeostasis during impaired energy metabolism by analyzing whether glucose removal, pharmacological inhibition of glycolysis and/or addition of lactate affect cellular sodium regulation. Furthermore, we studied the effect of lactate on sodium regulation during recurrent network activity and upon inhibition of the glial Krebs cycle by sodium-fluoroacetate. Our results indicate that lactate is preferentially used by neurons. They demonstrate that lactate supports neuronal sodium homeostasis and rescues the effects of glial poisoning by sodium-fluoroacetate. Altogether, they are in line with the proposed transfer of lactate from astrocytes to neurons, the so-called astrocyte-neuron-lactate shuttle.

Lactate rescues neuronal sodium homeostasis during impaired energy metabolism

Science.gov (United States)

Karus, Claudia; Ziemens, Daniel; Rose, Christine R

2015-01-01

Recently, we established that recurrent activity evokes network sodium oscillations in neurons and astrocytes in hippocampal tissue slices. Interestingly, metabolic integrity of astrocytes was essential for the neurons' capacity to maintain low sodium and to recover from sodium loads, indicating an intimate metabolic coupling between the 2 cell types. Here, we studied if lactate can support neuronal sodium homeostasis during impaired energy metabolism by analyzing whether glucose removal, pharmacological inhibition of glycolysis and/or addition of lactate affect cellular sodium regulation. Furthermore, we studied the effect of lactate on sodium regulation during recurrent network activity and upon inhibition of the glial Krebs cycle by sodium-fluoroacetate. Our results indicate that lactate is preferentially used by neurons. They demonstrate that lactate supports neuronal sodium homeostasis and rescues the effects of glial poisoning by sodium-fluoroacetate. Altogether, they are in line with the proposed transfer of lactate from astrocytes to neurons, the so-called astrocyte-neuron-lactate shuttle. PMID:26039160

Development of stretcher component robots for rescue against nuclear disaster

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iwano, Yuki; Osuka, Koichi; Amano, Hisanori

2006-01-01

This paper studies the rescue robots to rescue people in an area polluted with radioactive leakage in nuclear power institutions. In particular, we propose the rescue system which consists of a group of small mobile robots. First, small traction robots set the posture of the fainted victims to carry easily, and carry them to the safety space with the mobile robots for the stretcher composition. In this paper, we confirm that the stretcher component robots could transport and convey a 40 [kg] dummy doll. And, we also show an application usage of stretcher robot. (author)

GIS Support for Flood Rescue

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Liang, Gengsheng; Mioc, Darka; Anton, François

2007-01-01

Under flood events, the ground traffic is blocked in and around the flooded area due to damages to roads and bridges. The traditional transportation network may not always help people to make a right decision for evacuation. In order to provide dynamic road information needed for flood rescue, we...... to retrieve the shortest and safest route in Fredericton road network during flood event. It enables users to make a timely decision for flood rescue. We are using Oracle Spatial to deal with emergency situations that can be applied to other constrained network applications as well....... developed an adaptive web-based transportation network application using Oracle technology. Moreover, the geographic relationships between the road network and flood areas are taken into account. The overlay between the road network and flood polygons is computed on the fly. This application allows users...

29 CFR 553.215 - Ambulance and rescue service employees.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... activities, the applicable standard is the one which applies to the activity in which the employee spends the majority of work time during the work period. (b) Ambulance and rescue service employees of public agencies... 29 Labor 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Ambulance and rescue service employees. 553.215 Section 553...

Analysis of factors related to military training injury and the effect of self-rescue and buddy rescue on the final result of the injury in tank crew of the armored forces

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rong-bin ZHOU

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Objective To analyze the factors related to military training injury and the effect of self-rescue and buddy rescue on the result of the injury in the soldiers.Methods All data were statistically classified with cluster sampling according to the diagnosis standard of Chinese PLA for analysis.Investigation was conducted in 1028 soldiers of the armored forces with questionnaire,and non-condition logistic regression analysis was applied.Results The total incidence of military training injury was 40.2%.Of all the injured soldiers,36.80% of them served for one year only,and the incidence of injury was obviously higher than those who had served in armed forces for 2 or 3 years.Unconditioned regression analysis revealed that the main causes related to military training injury in the soldiers were as follows: the items of training,the terrain feature,motion sickness,self-rescue and buddy rescue training,and whether the action consistent with the standards.The rehabilitation rate within one month was significantly higher in those who underwent self-rescue or buddy rescue(93.8% and 94.2%,respectively than those who did not undergo self-rescue or buddy rescue(76.3%,76.7%,respectively,P < 0.001.Conclusions The incidence of military training injury in the armored forces is high.It should be emphysized that soldiers with one year of military service should be partioularly taken care to prevent from injuries.Many factors may influence the military training injury,and protective measures should be taken.Those who have the knowledge of self-rescue or undergo buddy rescue will have higher rehabilitation rate within one month.

[Analysis on on-site rescue and traumatic features of victims involved in gas explosion accident in Hangzhou].

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, X G; Jin, R H; Liu, F P; Han, C M

2017-10-20

Objective: To investigate the situations of on-site rescue and traumatic features of victims involved in gas explosion accident in Hangzhou, so as to provide more data support for emergency medical rescues of the similar incidents of massive casualty. Methods: Two medical workers with a certain clinical experience were sent to Hangzhou 120 emergency medical centers to collect data of the on-site rescue on 21st July, 2017, including ambulance call-outs, on-site command and traffic conditions, and on-site triage and evacuation of the victims. They were then sent to the hospitals receiving the victims to investigate the situations of these victims including the general information (such as gender, age, admitted hospitals, and number of admission, discharge, and transferring in the first two weeks after the accident) and injury assessment [such as injury position and type, injury severity evaluation by New Injury Severity Scoring (NISS), and burn severity evaluation for victims with burns]. Results: (1) A total of 15 ambulances reached the accident site for rescue. The traffic and transportation were jammed and interrupted after this accident. On-site triage and distribution were disorderly conducted. (2) Clinical data of 53 victims were collected, including 24 males and 29 females, with the age of 8 to 70 (34±14) years old. They were sent into 6 hospitals in Hangzhou. Two victims died on the day of accident. Up to two weeks after this accident, 28 (52.8%) victims were discharged from the hospitals and received follow-up in outpatient department. Five victims with severe injuries were transferred to the other hospitals. (3) Based on the results of NISS, the injury severities were mild in 29 (54.7%) cases, moderate in 9 (17.0%) cases, serious in 3 (5.7%) cases, and severe in 12 (22.6%) cases. Those 2 dead victims were classified into the severe category due to the highest NISS score of 75. For all of the victims, skin and soft tissue defects were most common. Six (11

Business rescue decision making through verifier determinants – ask the specialists

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marius Pretorius

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Orientation: Business rescue has become a critical part of business strategy decision making, especially during economic downturns and recessions. Past legislation has generally supported creditor-friendly regimes, and its mind-set still applies which increases the difficulty of such turnarounds. There are many questions and critical issues faced by those involved in rescue. Despite extensive theory in the literature on failure, there is a void regarding practical verifiers of the signs and causes of venture decline, as specialists are not forthcoming about what they regard as their “competitive advantage”. Research purpose: This article introduces the concept and role of “verifier determinants” of early warning signs, as a tool to confirm the causes of decline in order to direct rescue strategies and, most importantly, reduce time between the first observation and the implementation of the rescue. Motivation for the study: Knowing how specialist practitioners confirm causes of business decline could assist in deciding on strategies for the rescue earlier than can be done using traditional due diligence which is time consuming. Reducing time is a crucial element of a successful rescue. Research design and approach: The researchers interviewed specialist practitioners with extensive experience in rescue and turnaround. An experimental design was used to ensure the specialists evaluated the same real cases to extract their experiences and base their decisions on. Main findings: The specialists confirmed the use of verifier determinants and identified such determinants as they personally used them to confirm causes of decline. These verifier determinants were classified into five categories; namely, management, finance, strategic, banking and operations and marketing of the ventures under investigation. The verifier determinants and their use often depend heavily on subconscious (non-factual information based on previous experiences

Field studies of safety security rescue technologies through training and response activities

Science.gov (United States)

Murphy, Robin R.; Stover, Sam

2006-05-01

This paper describes the field-oriented philosophy of the Institute for Safety Security Rescue Technology (iSSRT) and summarizes the activities and lessons learned during calendar year 2005 of its two centers: the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue and the NSF Safety Security Rescue industry/university cooperative research center. In 2005, iSSRT participated in four responses (La Conchita, CA, Mudslides, Hurricane Dennis, Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Wilma) and conducted three field experiments (NJTF-1, Camp Hurricane, Richmond, MO). The lessons learned covered mobility, operator control units, wireless communications, and general reliability. The work has collectively identified six emerging issues for future work. Based on these studies, a 10-hour, 1 continuing education unit credit course on rescue robotics has been created and is available. Rescue robots and sensors are available for loan upon request.

A Review of Mine Rescue Ensembles for Underground Coal Mining in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Kilinc, F Selcen; Monaghan, William D; Powell, Jeffrey B

The mining industry is among the top ten industries nationwide with high occupational injury and fatality rates, and mine rescue response may be considered one of the most hazardous activities in mining operations. In the aftermath of an underground mine fire, explosion or water inundation, specially equipped and trained teams have been sent underground to fight fires, rescue entrapped miners, test atmospheric conditions, investigate the causes of the disaster, or recover the dead. Special personal protective ensembles are used by the team members to improve the protection of rescuers against the hazards of mine rescue and recovery. Personal protective ensembles used by mine rescue teams consist of helmet, cap lamp, hood, gloves, protective clothing, boots, kneepads, facemask, breathing apparatus, belt, and suspenders. While improved technology such as wireless warning and communication systems, lifeline pulleys, and lighted vests have been developed for mine rescuers over the last 100 years, recent research in this area of personal protective ensembles has been minimal due to the trending of reduced exposure of rescue workers. In recent years, the exposure of mine rescue teams to hazardous situations has been changing. However, it is vital that members of the teams have the capability and proper protection to immediately respond to a wide range of hazardous situations. Currently, there are no minimum requirements, best practice documents, or nationally recognized consensus standards for protective clothing used by mine rescue teams in the United States (U.S.). The following review provides a summary of potential issues that can be addressed by rescue teams and industry to improve potential exposures to rescue team members should a disaster situation occur. However, the continued trending in the mining industry toward non-exposure to potential hazards for rescue workers should continue to be the primary goal. To assist in continuing this trend, the mining industry

The Data Rescue @ Home Project

Science.gov (United States)

Stickler, A.; Allan, R.; Valente, M. A.; Tinz, B.; Brönnimann, S.

2012-04-01

Climate science as a whole as well as reanalyses as a special case can significantly profit from the recovery, imaging and digitisation of historical observations. The importance of this fact is reflected in large, global data rescue projects and initiatives such as the Atmospheric Circulation Reconstructions over the Earth (ACRE, www.met-acre.org) or the EU FP7 ERA-CLIM project (www.era-clim.eu). From the time before 1957, there are still large amounts of surface data e.g. from former colonies and from overseas territories of European countries )e.g. Portugal, France and Germany) that need to be rescued. Also in case of the very early upper-air observations before the 1930s, even Europe and North America still hold an important quantity of data to be recovered in digital form. Here, we present the web platform "Data Rescue @ Home" (www.data-rescue-at-home.org), which has been developed at ETH Zurich and Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, and which has been designed to take advantage of the voluntary assistance of the thousands of people on the web who are interested in climate or old weather data. On the website, these volunteers can enter meteorological data shown on digital images into entry masks that resemble the original. By registering, the users get access to their personal digitisation statistics and help optimising the project. At the moment, 4 digitisation projects are online: One project is dealing with German upper-air data from the Second World War period. In a second project, station data from Tulagi (Solomon Islands) is being digitised. Finally, two collaborative projects have been included: One in cooperation with the Instituto Dom Luiz (Univ. Lisbon, Portugal), where Portuguese station data from Angra (Azores) is digitised, and a further one in cooperation with the German Meteorological Service (DWD), in which precipitation data from former German colonies is being digitised. On our poster, we will report on the status of the projects

The role of non-genetic inheritance in evolutionary rescue: epigenetic buffering, heritable bet hedging and epigenetic traps.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Dea, Rose E; Noble, Daniel W A; Johnson, Sheri L; Hesselson, Daniel; Nakagawa, Shinichi

2016-01-01

Rapid environmental change is predicted to compromise population survival, and the resulting strong selective pressure can erode genetic variation, making evolutionary rescue unlikely. Non-genetic inheritance may provide a solution to this problem and help explain the current lack of fit between purely genetic evolutionary models and empirical data. We hypothesize that epigenetic modifications can facilitate evolutionary rescue through 'epigenetic buffering'. By facilitating the inheritance of novel phenotypic variants that are generated by environmental change-a strategy we call 'heritable bet hedging'-epigenetic modifications could maintain and increase the evolutionary potential of a population. This process may facilitate genetic adaptation by preserving existing genetic variation, releasing cryptic genetic variation and/or facilitating mutations in functional loci. Although we show that examples of non-genetic inheritance are often maladaptive in the short term, accounting for phenotypic variance and non-adaptive plasticity may reveal important evolutionary implications over longer time scales. We also discuss the possibility that maladaptive epigenetic responses may be due to 'epigenetic traps', whereby evolutionarily novel factors (e.g. endocrine disruptors) hack into the existing epigenetic machinery. We stress that more ecologically relevant work on transgenerational epigenetic inheritance is required. Researchers conducting studies on transgenerational environmental effects should report measures of phenotypic variance, so that the possibility of both bet hedging and heritable bet hedging can be assessed. Future empirical and theoretical work is required to assess the relative importance of genetic and epigenetic variation, and their interaction, for evolutionary rescue.

78 FR 79010 - Criteria to Certify Coal Mine Rescue Teams

Science.gov (United States)

2013-12-27

... coal requires more heat to combust; (3) anthracite dust does not propagate an explosion; and (4) there... to Certify Coal Mine Rescue Teams AGENCY: Mine Safety and Health Administration, Labor. ACTION... updated the coal mine rescue team certification criteria. The Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response...

46 CFR 108.575 - Survival craft and rescue boat equipment.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... Fishing kit 1 1 12 Flashlight 1 1 1 1 1 1 13 Hatchet 2 2 14 Heaving line 2 1 2 2 1 2 15 Instruction card 1... rigid/inflated rescue boats. 4 A hatchet counts toward this requirement in rigid rescue boats. 5 Oars...

New refresher training in the use of self-rescue masks

CERN Multimedia

HSE Unit

2012-01-01

Photos of the training session for self-rescue mask instructors held on 21 March 2012 – 10 new instructors followed the coursePhotos of the training session for self-rescue mask instructors held on 21 March 2012 – 10 new instructors followed the course   A refresher course in the use of self-rescue masks has been added to the CERN training catalogue. Sign up! More than 3500 people have followed the course since it was introduced in 2009. Taking account of the forthcoming long shutdown, requests for follow-up training from course participants and recent changes in the course content, the HSE Unit has decided to place a three-year limit on the validity of the initial training and to introduce a refresher course. The new refresher course is open to all personnel having completed the initial course at least 2 years ago. The course, "Recyclage Formation masque auto-sauveteur » / "Refresher course Self-Rescue Mask Training", (code No. 077...

Optimal scheduling in call centers with a callback option

OpenAIRE

Legros , Benjamin; Jouini , Oualid; Koole , Ger

2016-01-01

International audience; We consider a call center model with a callback option, which allows to transform an inbound call into an outbound one. A delayed call, with a long anticipated waiting time, receives the option to be called back. We assume a probabilistic customer reaction to the callback offer (option). The objective of the system manager is to characterize the optimal call scheduling that minimizes the expected waiting and abandonment costs. For the single-server case, we prove that ...

14 CFR 139.315 - Aircraft rescue and firefighting: Index determination.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Aircraft rescue and firefighting: Index... CERTIFICATION OF AIRPORTS Operations § 139.315 Aircraft rescue and firefighting: Index determination. (a) An index is required by paragraph (c) of this section for each certificate holder. The Index is determined...

Strategies to improve sleep during extended search and rescue operations.

Science.gov (United States)

Jenkins, Jennifer Lee; Fredericksen, Kim; Stone, Roger; Tang, Nelson

2007-01-01

This study investigated strategies to improve sleeping conditions during search and rescue operations during disaster response. Forty members of the Montgomery County (Maryland) Urban Search and Rescue Team were surveyed for individual sleep habits and sleeping aids used during extended deployments. Team members were also asked to suggest methods to improve sleep on future deployments. The average amount of sleep during field operations was 5.4 hours with a range of 4-8 hours. Eight percent surveyed would prefer another schedule besides the 12-hour work day, all of whom proposed three 8-hour shifts. Fifteen percent of participants were interested in a pharmacological sleeping aid. Fifty percent of search and rescue members interviewed would consider using nonpharmacological sleeping aids. Furthermore, 40% of participants stated they had successfully devised self-employed methods of sleep aids for previous deployments, such as ear plugs, massage, mental imagery, personal routines, music and headphones, reading, and blindfolds. This study suggests that availability of both pharmacological and nonpharmacological sleeping aids to search and rescue workers via the team cache could impact the quantity of sleep. Further investigation into methods of optimizing sleep during field missions could theoretically show enhanced performance through various aspects of missions including mitigation of errors, improved productivity, and improved overall physiological and emotional well-being of search and rescue personnel.

Does modern helicopter construction reduce noise exposure in helicopter rescue operations?

Science.gov (United States)

Küpper, Thomas; Jansing, Paul; Schöffl, Volker; van Der Giet, Simone

2013-01-01

During helicopter rescue operations the medical personnel are at high risk for hearing damage by noise exposure. There are two important factors to be taken into account: first, the extreme variability, with some days involving no exposure but other days with extreme exposure; second, the extreme noise levels during work outside the helicopter, e.g. during winch operations. The benefit of modern, less noisier constructions and the consequences for noise protection are still unknown. We estimated the noise exposure of the personnel for different helicopter types used during rescue operations in the Alps and in other regions of the world with special regard to the advanced types like Eurocopter EC 135 to compare the benefit of modern constructions for noise protection with earlier ones. The rescue operations over 1 year of four rescue bases in the Alps (Raron and Zermatt in Switzerland; Landeck and Innsbruck in Austria, n = 2731) were analyzed for duration of rescue operations (noise exposure). Noise levels were measured during rescue operations at defined points inside and outside the different aircraft. The setting is according to the European standard (Richtlinie 2003/10/EG Amtsblatt) and to Class 1 DIN/IEC 651. With both data sets the equivalent noise level L(eq8h) was calculated. For comparison it was assumed that all rescue operations were performed with a specific type of helicopter. Then model calculations for noise exposure by different helicopter types, such as Alouette IIIb, Alouette II 'Lama', Ecureuil AS350, Bell UH1D, Eurocopter EC135, and others were performed. Depending on modern technologies the situation for the personnel has been improved significantly. Nevertheless noise prevention, which includes noise intermissions in spare time, is essential. Medical checks of the crews by occupational medicine (e.g. 'G20' in Germany) are still mandatory.

Sirolimus for rescue and primary immunosuppression in transplanted children receiving tacrolimus.

Science.gov (United States)

Sindhi, R; Webber, S; Venkataramanan, R; McGhee, W; Phillips, S; Smith, A; Baird, C; Iurlano, K; Mazariegos, G; Cooperstone, B; Holt, D W; Zeevi, A; Fung, J J; Reyes, J

2001-09-15

The role of sirolimus (SRL) as a rescue agent (n=42) and as a component of primary immunosuppression (n=8) was evaluated in a mixed population of 50 transplanted children receiving tacrolimus (liver: 26, heart: 5, intestinal: 5, liver-intestine: 9, lung: 1, bone marrow: 1, liver-kidney: 1, multivisceral: 1). Rescue indications for tacrolimus (TAC) failure were recurrent acute rejection and acute rejection complicating withdrawal of immunosuppression in posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD). Rescue indications for TAC toxicity were nephrotoxicity, pancreatitis, seizures, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and graft-versus-host disease. Mean age at rescue was 11.5 years and mean follow-up was 204 (range 18-800) days. As primary immunosuppression, SRL+TAC prevented early acute rejection in 7/8 children. The indication for rescue resolved in 33/42 children. In children with TAC toxicity, this was associated with decrease in TAC doses by 50%, significant improvements in renal function, and continuing decline in Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) viral load in PTLD patients. Serious adverse events led to discontinuation of SRL in 9/42 rescue patients, 3 of them also experienced acute rejection. Three additional children also experienced acute rejection on SRL therapy (overall incidence 6/50, 12%). Pharmacokinetic analysis in the first week of SRL administration suggested a short half-life (11.8+/-5.5 hr, n=21). SRL and reduced-dose TAC may achieve adequate immunosuppression without compromising renal function or enhancing EBV viremia significantly.

Use of a Parabolic Microphone to Detect Hidden Subjects in Search and Rescue.

Science.gov (United States)

Bowditch, Nathaniel L; Searing, Stanley K; Thomas, Jeffrey A; Thompson, Peggy K; Tubis, Jacqueline N; Bowditch, Sylvia P

2018-03-01

This study compares a parabolic microphone to unaided hearing in detecting and comprehending hidden callers at ranges of 322 to 2510 m. Eight subjects were placed 322 to 2510 m away from a central listening point. The subjects were concealed, and their calling volume was calibrated. In random order, subjects were asked to call the name of a state for 5 minutes. Listeners with parabolic microphones and others with unaided hearing recorded the direction of the call (detection) and name of the state (comprehension). The parabolic microphone was superior to unaided hearing in both detecting subjects and comprehending their calls, with an effect size (Cohen's d) of 1.58 for detection and 1.55 for comprehension. For each of the 8 hidden subjects, there were 24 detection attempts with the parabolic microphone and 54 to 60 attempts by unaided listeners. At the longer distances (1529-2510 m), the parabolic microphone was better at detecting callers (83% vs 51%; P<0.00001 by χ 2 ) and comprehension (57% vs 12%; P<0.00001). At the shorter distances (322-1190 m), the parabolic microphone offered advantages in detection (100% vs 83%; P=0.000023) and comprehension (86% vs 51%; P<0.00001), although not as pronounced as at the longer distances. Use of a 66-cm (26-inch) parabolic microphone significantly improved detection and comprehension of hidden calling subjects at distances between 322 and 2510 m when compared with unaided hearing. This study supports the use of a parabolic microphone in search and rescue to locate responsive subjects in favorable weather and terrain. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Care and Calls

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Paasch, Bettina Sletten

on the enactment of care but also on patient safety. Nurses working in various hospital departments have developed different strategies for handling mobile phone calls when with a patient. Additional research into the ways nurses successfully or unsuccessfully enact care and ensure patient safety when they answer......In Danish hospitals, nurses have been equipped with a mobile work phone to improve their availability and efficiency. On the phones nurses receive internal and external phone conversations, patient calls, and alarms from electronic surveillance equipment. For safety reasons the phones cannot...... be switched off or silenced; they consequently ring during all activities and also during interactions with patients. A possible tension thus arises when nurses have to be both caring and sensitive towards the patient and simultaneously be efficient and available and answer their phone. The present paper...

Genetic Information, the Principle of Rescue, and Special Obligations.

Science.gov (United States)

Liao, S Matthew; Mackenzie, Jordan

2018-05-01

In "Genetic Privacy, Disease Prevention, and the Principle of Rescue," Madison Kilbride argues that patients have a duty to warn biological family members about clinically actionable adverse genetic findings. The duty does not stem from the special obligations that we may have to family members, she argues, but rather follows from the principle of rescue, which she understands as the idea that one ought to prevent, reduce, or mitigate the risk of harm to another person when the expected harm is serious and the cost or risk to oneself is sufficiently moderate. We doubt, however, whether the principle of rescue can ground a duty to warn in the cases Kilbride envisages, and we suggest that Kilbride may have underappreciated the role that special obligations could play in generating a duty to warn family members. © 2018 The Hastings Center.

Rescue of failed filtering blebs with ab interno trephination.

Science.gov (United States)

Shihadeh, Wisam A; Ritch, Robert; Liebmann, Jeffrey M

2006-06-01

We evaluated the effectiveness of ab interno automated trephination as a technique for rescuing failed mature filtering blebs. A retrospective chart review of 40 failed blebs of 38 patients who had a posttrephination follow-up period of at least 3 months was done. With success defined as intraocular pressure (IOP) control with other modalities of management. Complications were few. We believe that ab interno trephination is an excellent option for rescuing selected failed filtering blebs.

The League of Nations' rescue of Armenian genocide survivors and the making of modern humanitarianism, 1920-1927.

Science.gov (United States)

Watenpaugh, Keith David

2010-01-01

The essay centers of the efforts by the League of Nations to rescue women and children survivors of the 1915 Armenian Genocide. This rescue -- a seemingly unambiguous good -- was at once a constitutive act in drawing the boundaries of the international community, a key moment in the definition of humanitarianism, and a site of resistance to the colonial presence in the post-Ottoman Eastern Mediterranean. Drawing from a wide range of source materials in a number of languages, including Turkish, Armenian, and Arabic, the essay brings the intellectual and social context of humanitarianism in initiating societies together with the lived experience of humanitarianism in the places where the act took form. In so doing, it draws our attention to the proper place of the Eastern mediterranean, and its women and children, in the global history of humanitarianism. The prevailing narrative of the history of human rights places much of its emphasis on the post-World War II era, the international reaction to the Holocaust, and the founding of the United Nations. yet contemporary human rights thinking also took place within practices of humanitarianism in the interwar period, and is necessarily inseparable from the histories of refugees, colonialism, and the non-West.

46 CFR 199.220 - Survival craft and rescue boat embarkation arrangements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Survival craft and rescue boat embarkation arrangements... APPLIANCES AND ARRANGEMENTS LIFESAVING SYSTEMS FOR CERTAIN INSPECTED VESSELS Additional Requirements for Passenger Vessels § 199.220 Survival craft and rescue boat embarkation arrangements. (a) Survival craft...

The Link between Internal Marketing and Customer Relationship Management : A Case Study of one Nordea Call Center in Sweden

OpenAIRE

Stenbeck, Joakim; Cabander, Robin

2008-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to increase the understanding of the link between internal marketing and customer relationship management by conducting a case study of one Nordea call center. Background: Keeping existing customers is less expensive than acquiring new ones. Nowadays, up to sixty percent of marketing budgets are being dedicated towards retaining customers. So forth customer relationship manage-ment is slowly beginning to penetrate the banking industry as sustaina-ble rel...

Rescue US: Birth, Django, and the Violence of Racial Redemption

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joseph Winters

2018-01-01

Full Text Available In this article, I show how the relationship between race, violence, and redemption is articulated and visualized through film. By juxtaposing DW Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation and Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, I contend that the latter inverts the logic of the former. While Birth sacrifices black bodies and explains away anti-black violence for the sake of restoring white sovereignty (or rescuing the nation from threatening forms of blackness, Django adopts a rescue narrative in order to show the excessive violence that structured slavery and the emergence of the nation-state. As an immanent break within the rescue narrative, Tarantino’s film works to “rescue” images and sounds of anguish from forgetful versions of history.

Design and implementation of fishery rescue data mart system

Science.gov (United States)

Pan, Jun; Huang, Haiguang; Liu, Yousong

A novel data mart based system for fishery rescue field was designed and implemented. The system runs ETL process to deal with original data from various databases and data warehouses, and then reorganized the data into the fishery rescue data mart. Next, online analytical processing (OLAP) are carried out and statistical reports are generated automatically. Particularly, quick configuration schemes are designed to configure query dimensions and OLAP data sets. The configuration file will be transformed into statistic interfaces automatically through a wizard-style process. The system provides various forms of reporting files, including crystal reports, flash graphical reports, and two-dimensional data grids. In addition, a wizard style interface was designed to guide users customizing inquiry processes, making it possible for nontechnical staffs to access customized reports. Characterized by quick configuration, safeness and flexibility, the system has been successfully applied in city fishery rescue department.

CERN Fire Brigade rescue simulation

CERN Multimedia

Maximilien Brice

2004-01-01

The CERN Fire Brigade is made up of experienced firemen from all of the 20 Member States. In these images they are seen at a 'Discovery Monday' held at the Microcosm exhibition. Here visitors learn how the Fire Brigade deal with various situations, including a simulated cave rescue performed by the Hazardous Environments Response Team.

Importance of teamwork, communication and culture on failure-to-rescue in the elderly.

Science.gov (United States)

Ghaferi, A A; Dimick, J B

2016-01-01

Surgical mortality increases significantly with age. Wide variations in mortality rates across hospitals suggest potential levers for improvement. Failure-to-rescue has been posited as a potential mechanism underlying these differences. A review was undertaken of the literature evaluating surgery, mortality, failure-to-rescue and the elderly. This was followed by a review of ongoing studies and unpublished work aiming to understand better the mechanisms underlying variations in surgical mortality in elderly patients. Multiple hospital macro-system factors, such as nurse staffing, available hospital technology and teaching status, are associated with differences in failure-to-rescue rates. There is emerging literature regarding important micro-system factors associated with failure-to-rescue. These are grouped into three broad categories: hospital resources, attitudes and behaviours. Ongoing work to produce interventions to reduce variations in failure-to-rescue rates include a focus on teamwork, communication and safety culture. Researchers are using novel mixed-methods approaches and theories adapted from organizational studies in high-reliability organizations in an effort to improve the care of elderly surgical patients. Although elderly surgical patients experience failure-to-rescue events at much higher rates than their younger counterparts, patient-level effects do not sufficiently explain these differences. Increased attention to the role of organizational dynamics in hospitals' ability to rescue these high-risk patients will establish high-yield interventions aimed at improving patient safety. © 2015 BJS Society Ltd Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Hydrometry data rescue, a stake for the future

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pons Frédéric

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The knowledge of past events and long-term series is a base to understand phenomena, analyze climate change and forecast future events. To increase long term series and their accuracy, NUNIEAU software, sort of “Digitizing Table”, was developed and distributed freely since 2006 by Cerema. It is an international reference in tide gauge record, but has been improved to widespread its used for river and rainfall record. The SCHAPI (the French national service for hydrometeorology and support to flood forecasting launched a tender to rescue the old data on rainfall and rivers available. Many improvements have been done to manage different types of rainfall charts. NUNIEAU was developed in French and is also available in English and Spanish version with collaboration of foreign institutes. Main challenge is not only to digitize old data but also assess the quality of digitized data. Protocol has been done to control the digitizing process and after to allows assessing the final quality of data.

Nonintravenous rescue medications for pediatric status epilepticus: A cost-effectiveness analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Sánchez Fernández, Iván; Gaínza-Lein, Marina; Loddenkemper, Tobias

2017-08-01

To quantify the cost-effectiveness of rescue medications for pediatric status epilepticus: rectal diazepam, nasal midazolam, buccal midazolam, intramuscular midazolam, and nasal lorazepam. Decision analysis model populated with effectiveness data from the literature and cost data from publicly available market prices. The primary outcome was cost per seizure stopped ($/SS). One-way sensitivity analyses and second-order Monte Carlo simulations evaluated the robustness of the results across wide variations of the input parameters. The most cost-effective rescue medication was buccal midazolam (incremental cost-effectiveness ratio ([ICER]: $13.16/SS) followed by nasal midazolam (ICER: $38.19/SS). Nasal lorazepam (ICER: -$3.8/SS), intramuscular midazolam (ICER: -$64/SS), and rectal diazepam (ICER: -$2,246.21/SS) are never more cost-effective than the other options at any willingness to pay. One-way sensitivity analysis showed the following: (1) at its current effectiveness, rectal diazepam would become the most cost-effective option only if its cost was $6 or less, and (2) at its current cost, rectal diazepam would become the most cost-effective option only if effectiveness was higher than 0.89 (and only with very high willingness to pay of $2,859/SS to $31,447/SS). Second-order Monte Carlo simulations showed the following: (1) nasal midazolam and intramuscular midazolam were the more effective options; (2) the more cost-effective option was buccal midazolam for a willingness to pay from $14/SS to $41/SS and nasal midazolam for a willingness to pay above $41/SS; (3) cost-effectiveness overlapped for buccal midazolam, nasal lorazepam, intramuscular midazolam, and nasal midazolam; and (4) rectal diazepam was not cost-effective at any willingness to pay, and this conclusion remained extremely robust to wide variations of the input parameters. For pediatric status epilepticus, buccal midazolam and nasal midazolam are the most cost-effective nonintravenous rescue

Ontological Reasoning for Human-Robot Teaming in Search and Rescue Missions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bagosi, T.; Hindriks, k.V.; Neerincx, M.A.

2016-01-01

In search and rescue missions robots are used to help rescue workers in exploring the disaster site. Our research focuses on how multiple robots and rescuers act as a team, and build up situation awareness. We propose a multi-agent system where each agent supports one member, either human or robot.

Final report 'Establishing bonds for the advancement of the Rescue League'

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Riaño, I.; Visser, A.

2014-01-01

The RoboCup Rescue Simulation League aims to benchmark the intelligence of software agents and robots on their capabilities to make autonomously the right decisions in a disaster response scenario. The UvA Rescue and Distribot team have come together to work co-operatively to support this aim in two

Variation in Medicare Expenditures for Treating Perioperative Complications: The Cost of Rescue.

Science.gov (United States)

Pradarelli, Jason C; Healy, Mark A; Osborne, Nicholas H; Ghaferi, Amir A; Dimick, Justin B; Nathan, Hari

2016-12-21

Treating surgical complications presents a major challenge for hospitals striving to deliver high-quality care while reducing costs. Costs associated with rescuing patients from perioperative complications are poorly characterized. To evaluate differences across hospitals in the costs of care for patients surviving perioperative complications after major inpatient surgery. Retrospective cohort study using claims data from the Medicare Provider Analysis and Review files. We compared payments for patients who died vs patients who survived after perioperative complications occurred. Hospitals were stratified using average payments for patients who survived following complications, and payment components were analyzed across hospitals. Administrative claims database of surgical patients was analyzed at hospitals treating Medicare patients nationwide. This study included Medicare patients aged 65 to 100 years who underwent abdominal aortic aneurysm repair (n = 69 207), colectomy for cancer (n = 107 647), pulmonary resection (n = 91 758), and total hip replacement (n = 307 399) between 2009 and 2012. Data analysis took place between November 2015 and March 2016. Clinical outcome of surgery (eg, no complication, complication and death, or complication and survival) and the individual hospital where a patient received an operation. Risk-adjusted, price-standardized Medicare payments for an episode of surgery. Risk-adjusted perioperative outcomes were also assessed. The mean age for Medicare beneficiaries in this study ranged from 74.1 years (pulmonary resection) to 78.2 years (colectomy). The proportion of male patients ranged from 37% (total hip replacement) to 77% (abdominal aortic aneurysm repair), and most patients were white. Among patients who experienced complications, those who were rescued had higher price-standardized Medicare payments than did those who died for all 4 operations. Assessing variation across hospitals, payments for patients

Call Forecasting for Inbound Call Center

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Vinje

2009-01-01

Full Text Available In a scenario of inbound call center customer service, the ability to forecast calls is a key element and advantage. By forecasting the correct number of calls a company can predict staffing needs, meet service level requirements, improve customer satisfaction, and benefit from many other optimizations. This project will show how elementary statistics can be used to predict calls for a specific company, forecast the rate at which calls are increasing/decreasing, and determine if the calls may stop at some point.

Dispatching Plan Based on Route Optimization Model Considering Random Wind for Aviation Emergency Rescue

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ming Zhang

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Aviation emergency rescue is an effective means of nature disaster relief that is widely used in many countries. The dispatching plan of aviation emergency rescue guarantees the efficient implementation of this relief measure. The conventional dispatching plan that does not consider random wind factors leads to a nonprecise quick-responsive scheme and serious safety issues. In this study, an aviation emergency rescue framework that considers the influence of random wind at flight trajectory is proposed. In this framework, the predicted wind information for a disaster area is updated by using unscented Kalman filtering technology. Then, considering the practical scheduling problem of aircraft emergency rescue at present, a multiobjective model is established in this study. An optimization model aimed at maximizing the relief supply satisfaction, rescue priority satisfaction, and minimizing total rescue flight distance is formulated. Finally, the transport times of aircraft with and without the influence of random wind are analyzed on the basis of the data of an earthquake disaster area. Results show that the proposed dispatching plan that considers the constraints of updated wind speed and direction is highly applicable in real operations.

The goal(s of corporate rescue in company law: A comparative analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anthony O. Nwafor

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The concept of corporate rescue lays emphasis on corporate sustainability than liquidation. This trend in corporate legislation which featured in the United Kingdom Insolvency Act of 1986, Australian Corporations Act 2001, Indian Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions Act of 1985 (as replaced by Companies Act, 2013 and supplanted by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 has been adopted in the South African Companies Act of 2008. The goal(s of corporate rescue in some of these jurisdictions are not clearly defined. The paper examines, through a comparative analysis, the relevant statutory provisions in the United Kingdom, India, Australia and South Africa and the attendant judicial interpretations of those provisions with a view to discovering the goal(s of corporate rescue in those jurisdictions. It is argued that while under the United Kingdom and Australian statutory provisions, the administrator could pursue alternative goals of either rescuing the company or achieving better results for the creditors; the South African and Indian statutory provisions do not provide such alternatives. The seeming ancillary purpose of crafting a fair deal for the stakeholders under the South African Companies Act’s provision is not sustainable if the company as an entity cannot be rescued

'Don't save her'- Sigmund Freud meets Project Pat: the rescue motif in hip-hop.

Science.gov (United States)

Fulmer, Richard H

2008-08-01

Freud originally explicated the dynamics of rescue wishes by describing men who fell in love with prostitutes. He saw this attempt at attachment as driven by the man's wish to repay his parents for giving him life. Many subsequent writers shift this emphasis, seeing rescue wishes as motivated by aggressive oedipal competition with the father. This article highlights the attachment aspects of Freud's original conception and traces how writers in the last three decades use the family romance rather than Oedipus as a model to view rescue wishes as having a more tender aspect. Rescue wishes are especially characteristic of the developmental stage of young adulthood. They at once attempt to repay the parental debt the young adult feels and serve as practice for the vicissitudes of the couple bond and the benign sacrifices of parenthood. Popular culture contains many vivid examples of Freud 's original description of the rescue-motif. A detailed examination of the rap song, Don't save her, demonstrates all the elements of Freud's original conception and the interpersonal risks of the rescue relationship. Three additional rap songs by other artists are briefly analyzed to show the extensive occurrence of the wish to rescue and its psychic and interpersonal dangers.

Amphibious Search and Rescue: Shaping the Future

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Dowling, Michael

2002-01-01

The current Amphibious Search and Rescue (ASAR) mission is outdated, lacks integration with the mission/doctrine of the amphibious force and fails to exploit the multi-mission and tactical capabilities of the MH-60S helicopter...

Boulder Food Rescue: An Innovative Approach to Reducing Food Waste and Increasing Food Security.

Science.gov (United States)

Sewald, Craig A; Kuo, Elena S; Dansky, Hana

2018-05-01

Food waste and food insecurity are both significant issues in communities throughout the U.S., including Boulder, Colorado. As much as 40% of the food produced in the U.S. goes uneaten and ends up in landfills. Nearly 13% of people in the Boulder region experience some level of food insecurity. Founded in 2011, Boulder Food Rescue supports community members to create their own food security through a participatory approach to an emergency food system. The organization uses a web-application "robot" to manage a schedule of volunteers. They coordinate with individuals at low-income senior housing sites, individual housing sites, family housing sites, after-school programs, and pre-schools to set up no-cost grocery programs stocked with food from local markets and grocers that would otherwise go to waste. Each site coordinator makes decisions about how, when, and where food delivery and distribution will occur. The program also conducts robust, real-time data collection and analysis. Boulder Food Rescue is a member and manager of the Food Rescue Alliance, and its model has been replicated and adapted by other cities, including Denver, Colorado Springs, Seattle, Jackson Hole, Minneapolis, Binghamton, and in the Philippines. Information for this special article was collected through key informant interviews with current and former Boulder Food Rescue staff and document review of Boulder Food Rescue materials. Boulder Food Rescue's open source software is available to other communities; to date, 40 cities have used the tool to start their own food rescue organizations. Boulder Food Rescue hopes to continue spreading this model to other cities that are considering ways to reduce food waste and increase food security. This article is part of a supplement entitled Building Thriving Communities Through Comprehensive Community Health Initiatives, which is sponsored by Kaiser Permanente, Community Health. Copyright © 2018 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by

Rescue Medicine for Epilepsy: New Options for Education Settings.

Science.gov (United States)

Galemore, Cynthia A

2016-11-01

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently published a clinical report recommending expanded options for seizure rescue medications in the school setting. School nurses rely on prescribing professionals for medical orders to manage children with epilepsy in the school setting. The report suggests additional medications beyond rectal diazepam gel along with discussing the purpose of the medications, the variations in prescribing practices for seizure rescue medications, inconsistencies in legislation based on jurisdictions, and the need for school medical orders for students with epilepsy. There are many issues faced by school personnel when caring for students with a diagnosis of epilepsy, chief among them the presence of licensed health professions for the school to be able to respond quickly and appropriately in the event of a seizure. School nurses can assist health care providers in determining the rescue medication most easily delivered and monitored in the variety of activities that are part of the school experience, including transportation to and from school, field trips, and before- and after-school activities, all beyond the regular classroom setting.

Gas Concentration Prediction Based on the Measured Data of a Coal Mine Rescue Robot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiliang Ma

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The coal mine environment is complex and dangerous after gas accident; then a timely and effective rescue and relief work is necessary. Hence prediction of gas concentration in front of coal mine rescue robot is an important significance to ensure that the coal mine rescue robot carries out the exploration and search and rescue mission. In this paper, a gray neural network is proposed to predict the gas concentration 10 meters in front of the coal mine rescue robot based on the gas concentration, temperature, and wind speed of the current position and 1 meter in front. Subsequently the quantum genetic algorithm optimization gray neural network parameters of the gas concentration prediction method are proposed to get more accurate prediction of the gas concentration in the roadway. Experimental results show that a gray neural network optimized by the quantum genetic algorithm is more accurate for predicting the gas concentration. The overall prediction error is 9.12%, and the largest forecasting error is 11.36%; compared with gray neural network, the gas concentration prediction error increases by 55.23%. This means that the proposed method can better allow the coal mine rescue robot to accurately predict the gas concentration in the coal mine roadway.

Multi-agent cooperation rescue algorithm based on influence degree and state prediction

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Yanbin; Ma, Guangfu; Wang, Linlin; Xi, Pengxue

2018-04-01

Aiming at the multi-agent cooperative rescue in disaster, a multi-agent cooperative rescue algorithm based on impact degree and state prediction is proposed. Firstly, based on the influence of the information in the scene on the collaborative task, the influence degree function is used to filter the information. Secondly, using the selected information to predict the state of the system and Agent behavior. Finally, according to the result of the forecast, the cooperative behavior of Agent is guided and improved the efficiency of individual collaboration. The simulation results show that this algorithm can effectively solve the cooperative rescue problem of multi-agent and ensure the efficient completion of the task.

A competency framework for the business rescue practitioner profession

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marius Pretorius

2014-08-01

Research purpose: Competencies required by business rescue practitioners (BRPs to navigate a distressed venture were investigated. What BRPs actually ‘do’ during a rescue guided the development of a competency framework to inform future qualification guidelines for BRP education and accreditation. Motivation for the study: To investigate the research question: ‘What are the competencies that underlie the activities of a business rescue practitioner?’. Research design, approach and method: A modified ‘interview to the double’ (ITTD process was used to elicit instructions that a BRP would give to an imaginary ‘double’. These instructions were analysed and rated for importance, transferability, knowledge requirement and skills requirement; in conclusion, these instructions were ranked and subjected to a content analysis. Main findings: Based on the main activities that were derived from the practices and praxis, one assignment and four supra (higher-level competencies were consequent to the analysis. A BRP able to successfully navigate a distressed venture towards normal operations should demonstrate a high level of competency in sense-making, decision making and integration, achieved through collaboration as the central competency. Practical implications: Firstly, the study addresses educators’ need for a framework of competencies to guide education. Secondly, it paves the way for the Regulator to develop a qualifications framework for accreditation. Contribution: The findings gave structure to the competencies underlying the activities of a BRP to navigate a rescue. Pre-business and financial acumen appears limited without these competencies containing insight, experience, intuition, heuristics, tacit knowledge, perceptive induction and more.

Mid-Term report 'Establishing bonds for the advancement of the Rescue League'

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Riaño, I.; Visser, A.

2014-01-01

The RoboCup Rescue Simulation League aims to benchmark the intelligence of software agents and robots on their capabilities to make autonomously the right decisions in a disaster response scenario. The UvA Rescue and Distribot team have come together to work co-operatively to support this aim in two

The role of "rescue saccades" in tracking objects through occlusions.

Science.gov (United States)

Zelinsky, Gregory J; Todor, Andrei

2010-12-29

We hypothesize that our ability to track objects through occlusions is mediated by timely assistance from gaze in the form of "rescue saccades"-eye movements to tracked objects that are in danger of being lost due to impending occlusion. Observers tracked 2-4 target sharks (out of 9) for 20 s as they swam through a rendered 3D underwater scene. Targets were either allowed to enter into occlusions (occlusion trials) or not (no occlusion trials). Tracking accuracy with 2-3 targets was ≥ 92% regardless of target occlusion but dropped to 74% on occlusion trials with four targets (no occlusion trials remained accurate; 83%). This pattern was mirrored in the frequency of rescue saccades. Rescue saccades accompanied approximatlely 50% of the Track 2-3 target occlusions, but only 34% of the Track 4 occlusions. Their frequency also decreased with increasing distance between a target and the nearest other object, suggesting that it is the potential for target confusion that summons a rescue saccade, not occlusion itself. These findings provide evidence for a tracking system that monitors for events that might cause track loss (e.g., occlusions) and requests help from the oculomotor system to resolve these momentary crises. As the number of crises increase with the number of targets, some requests for help go unsatisfied, resulting in degraded tracking.

Melatonin rescues cardiovascular dysfunction during hypoxic development in the chick embryo.

Science.gov (United States)

Itani, Nozomi; Skeffington, Katie L; Beck, Christian; Niu, Youguo; Giussani, Dino A

2016-01-01

There is a search for rescue therapy against fetal origins of cardiovascular disease in pregnancy complicated by chronic fetal hypoxia, particularly following clinical diagnosis of fetal growth restriction (FGR). Melatonin protects the placenta in adverse pregnancy; however, whether melatonin protects the fetal heart and vasculature in hypoxic pregnancy independent of effects on the placenta is unknown. Whether melatonin can rescue fetal cardiovascular dysfunction when treatment commences following FGR diagnosis is also unknown. We isolated the effects of melatonin on the developing cardiovascular system of the chick embryo during hypoxic incubation. We tested the hypothesis that melatonin directly protects the fetal cardiovascular system in adverse development and that it can rescue dysfunction following FGR diagnosis. Chick embryos were incubated under normoxia or hypoxia (14% O2) from day 1 ± melatonin treatment (1 mg/kg/day) from day 13 of incubation (term ~21 days). Melatonin in hypoxic chick embryos rescued cardiac systolic dysfunction, impaired cardiac contractility and relaxability, increased cardiac sympathetic dominance, and endothelial dysfunction in peripheral circulations. The mechanisms involved included reduced oxidative stress, enhanced antioxidant capacity and restored vascular endothelial growth factor expression, and NO bioavailability. Melatonin treatment of the chick embryo starting at day 13 of incubation, equivalent to ca. 25 wk of gestation in human pregnancy, rescues early origins of cardiovascular dysfunction during hypoxic development. Melatonin may be a suitable antioxidant candidate for translation to human therapy to protect the fetal cardiovascular system in adverse pregnancy. © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Pineal Research. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Melatonin rescues cardiovascular dysfunction during hypoxic development in the chick embryo

OpenAIRE

Itani, Nozomi; Skeffington, Katie L.; Beck, Christian; Niu, Youguo; Giussani, Dino A.

2015-01-01

Abstract There is a search for rescue therapy against fetal origins of cardiovascular disease in pregnancy complicated by chronic fetal hypoxia, particularly following clinical diagnosis of fetal growth restriction (FGR). Melatonin protects the placenta in adverse pregnancy; however, whether melatonin protects the fetal heart and vasculature in hypoxic pregnancy independent of effects on the placenta is unknown. Whether melatonin can rescue fetal cardiovascular dysfunction when treatment comm...

Computational design of a PDZ domain peptide inhibitor that rescues CFTR activity.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kyle E Roberts

Full Text Available The cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR is an epithelial chloride channel mutated in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF. The most prevalent CFTR mutation, ΔF508, blocks folding in the endoplasmic reticulum. Recent work has shown that some ΔF508-CFTR channel activity can be recovered by pharmaceutical modulators ("potentiators" and "correctors", but ΔF508-CFTR can still be rapidly degraded via a lysosomal pathway involving the CFTR-associated ligand (CAL, which binds CFTR via a PDZ interaction domain. We present a study that goes from theory, to new structure-based computational design algorithms, to computational predictions, to biochemical testing and ultimately to epithelial-cell validation of novel, effective CAL PDZ inhibitors (called "stabilizers" that rescue ΔF508-CFTR activity. To design the "stabilizers", we extended our structural ensemble-based computational protein redesign algorithm K* to encompass protein-protein and protein-peptide interactions. The computational predictions achieved high accuracy: all of the top-predicted peptide inhibitors bound well to CAL. Furthermore, when compared to state-of-the-art CAL inhibitors, our design methodology achieved higher affinity and increased binding efficiency. The designed inhibitor with the highest affinity for CAL (kCAL01 binds six-fold more tightly than the previous best hexamer (iCAL35, and 170-fold more tightly than the CFTR C-terminus. We show that kCAL01 has physiological activity and can rescue chloride efflux in CF patient-derived airway epithelial cells. Since stabilizers address a different cellular CF defect from potentiators and correctors, our inhibitors provide an additional therapeutic pathway that can be used in conjunction with current methods.

The emergence of the rescue effect from explicit within and between-patch dynamics in a metapopulation

KAUST Repository

Eriksson, Anders

2014-02-12

Immigration can rescue local populations from extinction, helping to stabilize a metapopulation. Local population dynamics is important for determining the strength of this rescue effect, but the mechanistic link between local demographic parameters and the rescue effect at the metapopulation level has received very little attention by modellers. We develop an analytical framework that allows us to describe the emergence of the rescue effect from interacting local stochastic dynamics. We show this framework to be applicable to a wide range of spatial scales, providing a powerful and convenient alternative to individual-based models for making predictions concerning the fate of metapopulations. We show that the rescue effect plays an important role in minimizing the increase in local extinction probability associated with high demographic stochasticity, but its role is more limited in the case of high local environmental stochasticity of recruitment or survival. While most models postulate the rescue effect, our framework provides an explicit mechanistic link between local dynamics and the emergence of the rescue effect, and more generally the stability of the whole metapopulation. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

The emergence of the rescue effect from explicit within and between-patch dynamics in a metapopulation

KAUST Repository

Eriksson, Anders; Elí as-Wolff, Federico; Mehlig, Bernhard; Manica, Andrea

2014-01-01

Immigration can rescue local populations from extinction, helping to stabilize a metapopulation. Local population dynamics is important for determining the strength of this rescue effect, but the mechanistic link between local demographic parameters and the rescue effect at the metapopulation level has received very little attention by modellers. We develop an analytical framework that allows us to describe the emergence of the rescue effect from interacting local stochastic dynamics. We show this framework to be applicable to a wide range of spatial scales, providing a powerful and convenient alternative to individual-based models for making predictions concerning the fate of metapopulations. We show that the rescue effect plays an important role in minimizing the increase in local extinction probability associated with high demographic stochasticity, but its role is more limited in the case of high local environmental stochasticity of recruitment or survival. While most models postulate the rescue effect, our framework provides an explicit mechanistic link between local dynamics and the emergence of the rescue effect, and more generally the stability of the whole metapopulation. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

Human Detection and Classification of Landing Sites for Search and Rescue Drones

NARCIS (Netherlands)

N. Martins, Felipe; de Groot, Marc; Stokkel, Xeryus; Wiering, Marco

2016-01-01

Search and rescue is often time and labour intensive. We present a system to be used in drones to make search and rescue operations more effective. The system uses a drone downward facing camera to detect people and to evaluate potential sites as being safe or not for the drone to land. Histogram of

Associations Between the Department of Veterans Affairs' Suicide Prevention Campaign and Calls to Related Crisis Lines

Science.gov (United States)

Bossarte, Robert M.; Lu, Naiji; Tu, Xin; Stephens, Brady; Draper, John; Kemp, Janet E.

2014-01-01

Objective The Transit Authority Suicide Prevention (TASP) campaign was launched by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in a limited number of U.S. cities to promote the use of crisis lines among veterans of military service. Methods We obtained the daily number of calls to the VCL and National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (NSPL) for six implementation cities (where the campaign was active) and four control cities (where there was no TASP campaign messaging) for a 14-month period. To identify changes in call volume associated with campaign implementation, VCL and NSPL daily call counts for three time periods of equal length (pre-campaign, during campaign, and post-campaign) were modeled using a Poisson log-linear regression with inference based on the generalized estimating equations. Results Statistically significant increases in calls to both the VCL and the NSPL were reported during the TASP campaign in implementation cities, but were not reported in control cities during or following the campaign. Secondary outcome measures were also reported for the VCL and included the percentage of callers who are veterans, and calls resulting in a rescue during the study period. Conclusions Results from this study reveal some promise for suicide prevention messaging to promote the use of telephone crisis services and contribute to an emerging area of research examining the effects of campaigns on help seeking. PMID:25364053

RoboCup Rescue Robot and Simulation Leagues

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Akin, H.L.; Ito, N.; Jacoff, A.; Kleiner, A.; Pellenz, J.; Visser, A.

2013-01-01

The RoboCup Rescue Robot and Simulation competitions have been held since 2000. The experience gained during these competitions has increased the maturity level of the field, which allowed deploying robots after real disasters (for example, Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster). This article provides

Gazing toward humans: a study on water rescue dogs using the impossible task paradigm.

Science.gov (United States)

D'Aniello, Biagio; Scandurra, Anna; Prato-Previde, Emanuela; Valsecchi, Paola

2015-01-01

Various studies have assessed the role of life experiences, including learning opportunities, living conditions and the quality of dog-human relationships, in the use of human cues and problem-solving ability. The current study investigates how and to what extent training affects the behaviour of dogs and the communication of dogs with humans by comparing dogs trained for a water rescue service and untrained pet dogs in the impossible task paradigm. Twenty-three certified water rescue dogs (the water rescue group) and 17 dogs with no training experience (the untrained group) were tested using a modified version of the impossible task described by Marshall-Pescini et al. in 2009. The results demonstrated that the water rescue dogs directed their first gaze significantly more often towards the owner and spent more time gazing toward two people compared to the untrained pet dogs. There was no difference between the dogs of the two groups as far as in the amount of time spent gazing at the owner or the stranger; neither in the interaction with the apparatus attempting to obtain food. The specific training regime, aimed at promoting cooperation during the performance of water rescue, could account for the longer gazing behaviour shown toward people by the water rescue dogs and the priority of gazing toward the owner. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Technical and Policy Case Study of Large-Scale Rescue and Redistribution of Perishable Foods by the "Leket Israel" Food Bank.

Science.gov (United States)

Philip, Dana; Hod-Ovadia, Smadar; Troen, Aron M

2017-06-01

Food banks seeking to rescue and redistribute highly nutritious perishable foods to simultaneously alleviate food insecurity and reduce food waste often encounter practical, ethical, and political dilemmas. We present a case study of "Leket Israel," an Israeli food bank that uses an effective large-scale logistical model for the rescue and redistribution of perishable food and discuss the challenges and solutions it offers. The organization operates in a rich country plagued with poverty and inequality, where the government passively encourages nongovernmental organizations to respond to the serious and growing problem of food insecurity. Operating under a business-to-business model, Leket Israel distributes food via intermediary nonprofit organizations (NPOs), enriching the food they provide with fresh produce. Food is obtained through an Agricultural Gleaning project, Self-Growing Farm project, and Meal Rescue project. The partnering NPOs then distribute the food to people in need. Although the rescue and redistribution of highly perishable food is more costly and complex than acquiring, storing, and distributing dried and staple foods and it requires specialized knowledge and infrastructure in order to maintain rigorous safety standards, it improves the nutritional quality of the aid. In 2015, Leket Israel distributed 15 217 389 kg of food, 90% of which was fruit and vegetables, to 180 partnering NPOs nationwide, reaching an estimated 175 000 recipients. "Leket Israel" offers a valuable model that can be studied and emulated by international nutrition scientists, practitioners, and policy makers who are seeking to reduce food insecurity and food waste in other countries.

tmRNA-mediated trans-translation as the major ribosome rescue system in a bacterial cell

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hyouta eHimeno

2014-04-01

Full Text Available tmRNA (transfer messenger RNA; also known as 10Sa RNA or SsrA RNA is a small RNA molecule that is conserved among bacteria. It has structural and functional similarities to tRNA: it has an upper half of the tRNA-like structure, its 5’ end is processed by RNase P, it has typical tRNA-specific base modifications, it is aminoacylated with alanine, it binds to EF-Tu after aminoacylation and it enters the ribosome with EF-Tu and GTP. However, tmRNA lacks an anticodon, and instead it has a coding sequence for a short peptide called tag-peptide. An elaborate interplay of actions of tmRNA as both tRNA and mRNA with the help of a tmRNA-binding protein, SmpB, facilitates trans-translation, which produces a single polypeptide from two mRNA molecules. Initially alanyl-tmRNA in complex with EF-Tu and SmpB enters the vacant A-site of the stalled ribosome like aminoacyl-tRNA but without a codon-anticodon interaction, and subsequently truncated mRNA is replaced with the tag-encoding region of tmRNA. During these processes, not only tmRNA but also SmpB structurally and functionally mimics both tRNA and mRNA. Thus trans-translation rescues the stalled ribosome, thereby allowing recycling of the ribosome. Since the tag-peptide serves as a target of AAA+ proteases, the trans-translation products are preferentially degraded so that they do not accumulate in the cell. Although alternative rescue systems have recently been revealed, trans-translation is the only system that universally exists in bacteria. Furthermore, it is unique in that it employs a small RNA and that it prevents accumulation of nonfunctional proteins from truncated mRNA in the cell. It might play the major role in rescuing the stalled translation in the bacterial cell.

The Rescue and Rehabilitation of Koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus in Southeast Queensland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emily Burton

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Koala populations in southeast Queensland are under threat from many factors, particularly habitat loss, dog attack, vehicle trauma and disease. Animals not killed from these impacts are often rescued and taken into care for rehabilitation, and eventual release back to the wild if deemed to be healthy. This study investigated current rescue, rehabilitation and release data for koalas admitted to the four major wildlife hospitals in southeast Queensland (Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital (AZWH, Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary Hospital (CWH, Moggill Koala Hospital (MKH and the Royal Society for the Prevention Against Cruelty to Animals Wildlife Hospital at Wacol (RSPCA, and suggests aspects of the practice that may be changed to improve its contribution to the preservation of the species. It concluded that: (a the main threats to koalas across southeast Queensland were related to urbanization (vehicle collisions, domestic animal attacks and the disease chlamydiosis; (b case outcomes varied amongst hospitals, including time spent in care, euthanasia and release rates; and (c the majority (66.5% of rescued koalas were either euthanized or died in care with only 27% released back to the wild. The results from this study have important implications for further research into koala rescue and rehabilitation to gain a better understanding of its effectiveness as a conservation strategy.

The Rescue and Rehabilitation of Koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) in Southeast Queensland.

Science.gov (United States)

Burton, Emily; Tribe, Andrew

2016-09-15

Koala populations in southeast Queensland are under threat from many factors, particularly habitat loss, dog attack, vehicle trauma and disease. Animals not killed from these impacts are often rescued and taken into care for rehabilitation, and eventual release back to the wild if deemed to be healthy. This study investigated current rescue, rehabilitation and release data for koalas admitted to the four major wildlife hospitals in southeast Queensland (Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital (AZWH), Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary Hospital (CWH), Moggill Koala Hospital (MKH) and the Royal Society for the Prevention Against Cruelty to Animals Wildlife Hospital at Wacol (RSPCA)), and suggests aspects of the practice that may be changed to improve its contribution to the preservation of the species. It concluded that: (a) the main threats to koalas across southeast Queensland were related to urbanization (vehicle collisions, domestic animal attacks and the disease chlamydiosis); (b) case outcomes varied amongst hospitals, including time spent in care, euthanasia and release rates; and (c) the majority (66.5%) of rescued koalas were either euthanized or died in care with only 27% released back to the wild. The results from this study have important implications for further research into koala rescue and rehabilitation to gain a better understanding of its effectiveness as a conservation strategy.

A novel method of generating and remembering international morse codes

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Charyulu, R.J.K.

untethered communications have been advanced, despite as S.O.S International Morse Code will be at rescue as an emergency tool, when all other modes fail The details of hte method and actual codes have been enumerated....

Saving the injured: Rescue behavior in the termite-hunting ant Megaponera analis.

Science.gov (United States)

Frank, Erik Thomas; Schmitt, Thomas; Hovestadt, Thomas; Mitesser, Oliver; Stiegler, Jonas; Linsenmair, Karl Eduard

2017-04-01

Predators of highly defensive prey likely develop cost-reducing adaptations. The ant Megaponera analis is a specialized termite predator, solely raiding termites of the subfamily Macrotermitinae (in this study, mostly colonies of Pseudocanthotermes sp.) at their foraging sites. The evolutionary arms race between termites and ants led to various defensive mechanisms in termites (for example, a caste specialized in fighting predators). Because M. analis incurs high injury/mortality risks when preying on termites, some risk-mitigating adaptations seem likely to have evolved. We show that a unique rescue behavior in M. analis , consisting of injured nestmates being carried back to the nest, reduces combat mortality. After a fight, injured ants are carried back by their nestmates; these ants have usually lost an extremity or have termites clinging to them and are able to recover within the nest. Injured ants that are forced experimentally to return without help, die in 32% of the cases. Behavioral experiments show that two compounds, dimethyl disulfide and dimethyl trisulfide, present in the mandibular gland reservoirs, trigger the rescue behavior. A model accounting for this rescue behavior identifies the drivers favoring its evolution and estimates that rescuing enables maintenance of a 28.7% larger colony size. Our results are the first to explore experimentally the adaptive value of this form of rescue behavior focused on injured nestmates in social insects and help us to identify evolutionary drivers responsible for this type of behavior to evolve in animals.

Emergency Medical Rescue in a Radiation Environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Briesmeister, L.; Ellington, Y.; Hollis, R.; Kunzman, J.; McNaughton, M.; Ramsey, G.; Somers, B.; Turner, A.; Finn, J.

1999-01-01

Previous experience with emergency medical rescues in the presence of radiation or contamination indicates that the training provided to emergency responders is not always appropriate. A new course developed at Los Alamos includes specific procedures for emergency response in a variety of radiological conditions

A Call-Put Duality for Perpetual American Options

OpenAIRE

Alfonsi, Aurélien; Jourdain, Benjamin

2006-01-01

International audience; It is well known that in models with time-homogeneous local volatility functions and constant interest and dividend rates, the European Put prices are transformed into European Call prices by the simultaneous exchanges of the interest and dividend rates and of the strike and spot price of the underlying. This paper investigates such a Call Put duality for perpetual American options. It turns out that the perpetual American Put price is equal to the perpetual American C...

Chemical Rescue of Enzymes: Proton Transfer in Mutants of Human Carbonic Anhydrase II

Science.gov (United States)

Maupin, C. Mark; Castillo, Norberto; Taraphder, Srabani; Tu, Chingkuang; McKenna, Robert; Silverman, David N.; Voth, Gregory A.

2011-01-01

In human carbonic anhydrase II (HCA II) the mutation of position 64 from histidine to alanine (H64A) disrupts the rate limiting proton transfer (PT) event, resulting in a reduction of the catalytic activity of the enzyme as compared to the wild-type. Potential of mean force (PMF) calculations utilizing the multistate empirical valence bond (MS-EVB) methodology for H64A HCA II give a PT free energy barrier significantly higher than that found in the wild-type enzyme. This high barrier, determined in the absence of exogenous buffer and assuming no additional ionizable residues in the PT pathway, indicates the likelihood of alternate enzyme pathways that utilize either ionizable enzyme residues (self-rescue) and/or exogenous buffers (chemical rescue). It has been shown experimentally that the catalytic activity of H64A HCA II can be chemically rescued to near wild type levels by the addition of the exogenous buffer 4-methylimidazole (4MI). Crystallographic studies have identified two 4MI binding sites, yet site specific mutations intended to disrupt 4MI binding have demonstrated these sites to be non-productive. In the present work MS-EVB simulations show that binding of 4MI near Thr199 in the H64A HCA II mutant, a binding site determined by NMR spectroscopy, results in a viable chemical rescue pathway. Additional viable rescue pathways are also identified where 4MI acts as a proton transport intermediary from the active site to ionizable residues on the rim of the active site, revealing a probable mode of action for the chemical rescue pathway PMID:21452838

Rescuing Dogs in the Frederick Community | Poster

Science.gov (United States)

Many Frederick National Lab employees have a favorite cause to which they volunteer a significant amount of time. For Dianna Kelly, IT program manager/scientific program analyst, Office of Scientific Operations, and Courtney Kennedy, associate technical project manager, Business Enterprise Systems, that cause is dog rescue.

Glycoprotein cytoplasmic domain sequences required for rescue of a vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein mutant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Whitt, M.A.; Chong, L.; Rose, J.K.

1989-01-01

The authors have used transient expression of the wild-type vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) glycoprotein (G protein) from cloned cDNA to rescue a temperature-sensitive G protein mutant of VSV in cells at the nonpermissive temperature. Using cDNAs encoding G proteins with deletions in the normal 29-amino-acid cytoplasmic domain, they determined that the presence of either the membrane-proximal 9 amino acids or the membrane-distal 12 amino acids was sufficient for rescue of the temperature-sensitive mutant. G proteins with cytoplasmic domains derived from other cellular or viral G proteins did not rescue the mutant, nor did G proteins with one or three amino acids of the normal cytoplasmic domain. Rescue correlated directly with the ability of the G proteins to be incorporated into virus particles. This was shown by analysis of radiolabeled particles separated on sucrose gradients as well as by electron microscopy of rescued virus after immunogold labeling. Quantitation of surface expression showed that all of the mutated G proteins were expressed less efficiently on the cell surface than was wild-type G protein. However, they were able to correct for differences in rescue efficiency resulting from differences in the level of surface expression by reducing wild-type G protein expression to levels equivalent to those observed for the mutated G proteins. The results provide evidence that at least a portion of the cytoplasmic domain is required for efficient assembly of the VSV G protein into virions during virus budding

Make a 21st century phone call

CERN Multimedia

Katarina Anthony

2014-01-01

Want to avoid roaming charges? Click to call anyone at CERN? How about merging your CERN landline with your existing smartphone? That's all easily done with Lync, CERN's new opt-in service that can take your calls to the next level.   The Lync application on Windows (left) and iPhone (right). Lync unites CERN's traditional telephone service with the digital sphere. "Lync gives you the gift of mobility, by letting you access your CERN landline on the go," explains Pawel Grzywaczewski, service manager of the Lync system. "Once you've registered your CERN telephone with the service, you can run the Lync application and make calls from a range of supported devices. No matter where you are in the world - be it simply out to lunch or off at an international conference - you can make a CERN call as though you were in the office. All you need is an Internet connection!" Following a recent upgrade, CERN's Lync service now has...

PSO-Based Robot Path Planning for Multisurvivor Rescue in Limited Survival Time

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. Geng

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Since the strength of a trapped person often declines with time in urgent and dangerous circumstances, adopting a robot to rescue as many survivors as possible in limited time is of considerable significance. However, as one key issue in robot navigation, how to plan an optimal rescue path of a robot has not yet been fully solved. This paper studies robot path planning for multisurvivor rescue in limited survival time using a representative heuristic, particle swarm optimization (PSO. First, the robot path planning problem including multiple survivors is formulated as a discrete optimization one with high constraint, where the number of rescued persons is taken as the unique objective function, and the strength of a trapped person is used to constrain the feasibility of a path. Then, a new integer PSO algorithm is presented to solve the mathematical model, and several new operations, such as the update of a particle, the insertion and inversion operators, and the rapidly local search method, are incorporated into the proposed algorithm to improve its effectiveness. Finally, the simulation results demonstrate the capacity of our method in generating optimal paths with high quality.

Citizen Science for Data Rescue: Recovering Historical Climate Records with a Network of 20,000 Volunteers.

Science.gov (United States)

Brohan, P.

2014-12-01

Recent years have seen many extreme and damaging weather events - for example the low Arctic sea-ice of 2012, and the severe winter of 2013/4 in North America and the UK. To understand these events, and to judge whether they represent environmental change, we need to compare today's weather to the long-term historical record. Our long-term historical record of the weather is based on the billions of observations, from scientists, explorers, mariners, and others, that have been made, across the world, over the last few centuries. Many of these records are still dark: They exist only as hand-written paper documents in various archives and libraries, and are inaccessible to science. As a result our historical weather reconstructions have major gaps, where we do not know how the climate has varied. oldWeather.org is a citizen science project rescuing these observations. By providing an web interface to scans of paper records, we enable volunteers around the world to contribute to the task of rescuing the observations. So far a community of around 20,000 volunteers have read well over 1 million pages of paper records and contributed millions of recovered weather observations to international climate datasets. As well as learning about past weather, we are also learning what it takes to build a successful volunteer science project in this area: building a community, breaking down the task into manageable steps, feeding back success to the volunteers, and enabling comitted volunteers to take on more responsibilities were all vital to our success. We are currently using those lessons to build a new version of oldWeather that can rescue even more data.

Design and rescue scenario of common repair equipment for in-vessel components in ITER hot cell

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kakudate, Satoshi; Takeda, Nobukazu; Nakahira, Masataka; Shibanuma, Kiyoshi

2006-06-01

Transportation of the in-vessel components to be repaired in the ITER hot cell is carried by two kinds of transporters, i.e., overhead cranes and floor vehicles. The access area for repair operations in the hot cell is duplicated by these transporters. Clear sharing of the respective roles of these transporters with the minimum duplication is therefore useful for rationalization. The overhead cranes, which are independently installed in the respective cells in the hot sell, cannot pass through the components to be repaired between cells, i.e., receiving cell and refurbishment cell as an example. If the floor vehicle with simple mechanisms can cover the inaccessible area for the overhead cranes, a global transporter system in the hot cell will be simplified and the reliability will be increased. Based on this strategy, the overhead crane and floor vehicle concepts are newly proposed. The overhead crane has an adapter for change of the end-effectors, which can be easily changed, to grasp many kinds of components to be repaired. The floor vehicle, which is equipped with wheel mechanisms for transportation, is just to pass through the components between cells with only straight (linear) motion on the floor. The simple wheel mechanism can solve the spread of the dust, which is the critical issue of the original air bearing mechanism for traveling in the 2001 FDR design. Rescue scenarios and procedures in the hot cell are also studied in this report. The proposed rescue crane has major two functions for rescue operations of the hot cell facility, i.e., one for the overhead crane and the other for refurbishment equipment such as workstation for divertor repair. The rescue of the faulty overhead crane is carried out using the rescue tool installed on the rescue crane or directly traveled by pushing/pulling by the rescue crane after docking on the faulty overhead crane. For the rescue of the workstation, the rescue crane consists of a telescopic manipulator (maximum length

New simulated gas detector offers realistic training for mine rescue teams

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bealko, S.B.; Alexander, D.; Chasko, L.L. [National Inst. for Occupational Safety and Health, Pittsburgh, PA (United States). Office of Mine Safety and Health Research; Holtan, J. [LightsOn Safety Solutions, Spring, TX (United States)

2010-07-01

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, together with LightsOn Safety Solutions, evaluated 2 versions of a multi-gas simulated gas monitor system (GMS) in separate field trials with mine rescue teams. This paper described the GMS wireless simulation tool along with its development and testing. It also described the GMS functions for the initial phase of testing as well as plans for the next phase of research which may introduce tracking and automation features. The GMS requires a personal computer and uses a wireless local area network. The GMS teaches mine rescue members about gas detection and helps them understand the importance of gas concentrations. In addition, it promotes decision-making actions by team members and offers a more realistic method of receiving gas concentration readings using a simulated hand-held gas detector. The purpose of the evaluation was to determine if the electronic placard in the GMS could be used by mine rescue teams instead of the currently used cardboard placards, and if the functionality of the device was suitable, reliable and practical. Results from the second field trial demonstrated improvements with the GMS over the original prototype technology, particularly with regards to wireless and connectivity issues. The GMS was successfully incorporated into the mine rescue exercises as planned, with very few problems encountered. 4 refs., 2 figs.

New simulated gas detector offers realistic training for mine rescue teams

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bealko, S.B.; Alexander, D.; Chasko, L.L.

2010-01-01

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, together with LightsOn Safety Solutions, evaluated 2 versions of a multi-gas simulated gas monitor system (GMS) in separate field trials with mine rescue teams. This paper described the GMS wireless simulation tool along with its development and testing. It also described the GMS functions for the initial phase of testing as well as plans for the next phase of research which may introduce tracking and automation features. The GMS requires a personal computer and uses a wireless local area network. The GMS teaches mine rescue members about gas detection and helps them understand the importance of gas concentrations. In addition, it promotes decision-making actions by team members and offers a more realistic method of receiving gas concentration readings using a simulated hand-held gas detector. The purpose of the evaluation was to determine if the electronic placard in the GMS could be used by mine rescue teams instead of the currently used cardboard placards, and if the functionality of the device was suitable, reliable and practical. Results from the second field trial demonstrated improvements with the GMS over the original prototype technology, particularly with regards to wireless and connectivity issues. The GMS was successfully incorporated into the mine rescue exercises as planned, with very few problems encountered. 4 refs., 2 figs.

International network competition

OpenAIRE

Tangerås, Thomas P.; Tåg, Joacim

2014-01-01

We analyse network competition in a market with international calls. National regulatory agencies (NRAs) have incentives to set regulated termination rates above marginal cost to extract rent from international call termination. International network ownership and deregulation are alternatives to combat the incentives of NRAs to distort termination rates. We provide conditions under which each of these policies increase efficiency and aggregate welfare. Our findings provide theoretical suppor...

Achievements in emergency medical rescue service, North-West ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2006-08-28

Aug 28, 2006 ... In North-West province this process of provincialisation took place in ... Emergency Medical Rescue Service, Department of Health, North-West. Victor R .... recovery after CPR treatment should be started as soon as possible ...

Effects of international football matches on ambulance call profiles and volumes during the 2006 World Cup.

Science.gov (United States)

Deakin, Charles D; Thompson, Fizz; Gibson, Caroline; Green, Mark

2007-06-01

Prompt ambulance attendance is aimed at improving patient care. With finite resources struggling to meet performance targets, unforeseen demand precludes the ability to tailor resources to cope with increased call volumes, and can have a marked detrimental effect on performance and hence patient care. The effects of the 2006 World Cup football matches on call volumes and profiles were analysed to understand how public events can influence demands on the ambulance service. All emergency calls to the Hampshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust (currently the Hampshire Division of South Central Ambulance Service, Winchester, UK) during the first weekend of the 2006 World Cup football matches were analysed by call volume and classification of call (call type). On the day of the first football match, call volume was over 50% higher than that on a typical Saturday, with distinct peaks before and after the inaugural match. Call profile analysis showed increases in alcohol-related emergencies, including collapse, unconsciousness, assault and road traffic accidents. The increase in assaults was particularly marked at the end of each match and increased again into the late evening. A detailed mapping of call volumes and profiles during the World Cup football shows a significant increase in overall emergency calls, mostly alcohol related. Mapping of limited resources to these patterns will allow improved responses to emergency calls.

Data rescue of NASA First ISLSCP (International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project) Field Experiment (FIFE) aerial observations

Science.gov (United States)

Santhana Vannan, S. K.; Boyer, A.; Deb, D.; Beaty, T.; Wei, Y.; Wei, Z.

2017-12-01

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center (ORNL DAAC) for biogeochemical dynamics is one of the NASA Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) data centers. ORNL DAAC (https://daac.ornl.gov) is responsible for data archival, product development and distribution, and user support for biogeochemical and ecological data and models. In particular, ORNL DAAC has been providing data management support for NASA's terrestrial ecology field campaign programs for the last several decades. Field campaigns combine ground, aircraft, and satellite-based measurements in specific ecosystems over multi-year time periods. The data collected during NASA field campaigns are archived at the ORNL DAAC (https://daac.ornl.gov/get_data/). This paper describes the effort of the ORNL DAAC team for data rescue of a First ISLSCP Field Experiment (FIFE) dataset containing airborne and satellite data observations from the 1980s. The data collected during the FIFE campaign contain high resolution aerial imageries collected over Kansas. The data rescue workflow was prepared to test for successful recovery of the data from a CD-ROM and to ensure that the data are usable and preserved for the future. The imageries contain spectral reflectance data that can be used as a historical benchmark to examine climatological and ecological changes in the Kansas region since the 1980s. Below are the key steps taken to convert the files to modern standards. Decompress the imageries using custom compression software provided with the data. The compression algorithm created for MS-DOS in 1980s had to be set up to run on modern computer systems. Decompressed files were geo-referenced by using metadata information stored in separate compressed header files. Standardized file names were applied (File names and details were described in separate readme documents). Image files were converted to GeoTIFF format with embedded georeferencing information. Leverage Open Geospatial

Post-traumatic stress disorder status in a rescue group after the Wenchuan earthquake relief.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Junhua; Liu, Qunying; Li, Jinliang; Li, Xuejiang; You, Jin; Zhang, Liang; Tian, Changfu; Luan, Rongsheng

2013-07-15

Previous studies have suggested that the incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder in earthquake rescue workers is relatively high. Risk factors for this disorder include demographic characteristics, earthquake-related high-risk factors, risk factors in the rescue process, personality, social support and coping style. This study examined the current status of a unit of 1 040 rescue workers who participated in earthquake relief for the Wenchuan earthquake that occurred on May 12(th), 2008. Post-traumatic stress disorder was diagnosed primarily using the Clinician-Administered Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Scale during structured interviews. Univariate and multivariate statistical analyses were used to examine major risk factors that contributed to the incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder. Results revealed that the incidence of this disorder in the rescue group was 5.96%. The impact factors in univariate analysis included death of family members, contact with corpses or witnessing of the deceased or seriously injured, near-death experience, severe injury or mental trauma in the rescue process and working at the epicenter of the earthquake. Correlation analysis suggested that post-traumatic stress disorder was positively correlated with psychotic and neurotic personalities, negative coping and low social support. Impact factors in multivariate logistic regression analysis included near-death experience, severe injury or mental trauma, working in the epicenter of the rescue, neurotic personality, negative coping and low social support, among which low social support had the largest odds ratio of 20.42. Findings showed that the occurrence of post-traumatic stress disorder was the result of the interaction of multiple factors.

Post-traumatic stress disorder status in a rescue group after the Wenchuan earthquake relief

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Junhua; Liu, Qunying; Li, Jinliang; Li, Xuejiang; You, Jin; Zhang, Liang; Tian, Changfu; Luan, Rongsheng

2013-01-01

Previous studies have suggested that the incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder in earthquake rescue workers is relatively high. Risk factors for this disorder include demographic characteristics, earthquake-related high-risk factors, risk factors in the rescue process, personality, social support and coping style. This study examined the current status of a unit of 1 040 rescue workers who participated in earthquake relief for the Wenchuan earthquake that occurred on May 12th, 2008. Post-traumatic stress disorder was diagnosed primarily using the Clinician-Administered Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Scale during structured interviews. Univariate and multivariate statistical analyses were used to examine major risk factors that contributed to the incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder. Results revealed that the incidence of this disorder in the rescue group was 5.96%. The impact factors in univariate analysis included death of family members, contact with corpses or witnessing of the deceased or seriously injured, near-death experience, severe injury or mental trauma in the rescue process and working at the epicenter of the earthquake. Correlation analysis suggested that post-traumatic stress disorder was positively correlated with psychotic and neurotic personalities, negative coping and low social support. Impact factors in multivariate logistic regression analysis included near-death experience, severe injury or mental trauma, working in the epicenter of the rescue, neurotic personality, negative coping and low social support, among which low social support had the largest odds ratio of 20.42. Findings showed that the occurrence of post-traumatic stress disorder was the result of the interaction of multiple factors. PMID:25206499

Evolutionary rescue: linking theory for conservation and medicine.

Science.gov (United States)

Alexander, Helen K; Martin, Guillaume; Martin, Oliver Y; Bonhoeffer, Sebastian

2014-12-01

Evolutionary responses that rescue populations from extinction when drastic environmental changes occur can be friend or foe. The field of conservation biology is concerned with the survival of species in deteriorating global habitats. In medicine, in contrast, infected patients are treated with chemotherapeutic interventions, but drug resistance can compromise eradication of pathogens. These contrasting biological systems and goals have created two quite separate research communities, despite addressing the same central question of whether populations will decline to extinction or be rescued through evolution. We argue that closer integration of the two fields, especially of theoretical understanding, would yield new insights and accelerate progress on these applied problems. Here, we overview and link mathematical modelling approaches in these fields, suggest specific areas with potential for fruitful exchange, and discuss common ideas and issues for empirical testing and prediction.

UvA Rescue - Team Description Paper - Agent competition - Rescue Simulation League RoboCup 2014 - João Pessoa - Brazil

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Traichioiu, M.; Visser, A.

2014-01-01

This year's contribution of the UvA Rescue Team is twofold. On one hand a theoretical contribution is made by describing the planning and coordination problem formally as an POMDP problem, which will allow to apply POMDP-solution methods in this application area. On the other hand the impact of the

Rescuing Rover: A First Aid and Disaster Guide for Dog Owners

OpenAIRE

Heath, Sebastian E.

1998-01-01

Whether you're hiking with your canine friend in a remote area or work with a dog on a search-and-rescue team or police force, you need to be prepared for emergencies when veterinary service is not available. Rescuing Rover: A First Aid and Disaster Guide for Dog Owners provides dog owners, handlers, and emergency physicians with an understandable guide for safe treatment until the dog can be transported to a veterinarian. Although a number of books describe some techniques for the emergency ...

Autonomous underwater vehicle for research and rescue operations

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Holtzhausen S

2008-11-01

Full Text Available Autonomous under water vehicles are ideal platforms for search and rescue operations. They can also be used for inspection of underwater terrains. These vehicles need to be autonomous and robust to cope with unpredictable current and high pressures...

Conservation and the 4 Rs, which are rescue, rehabilitation, release, and research.

Science.gov (United States)

Pyke, Graham H; Szabo, Judit K

2018-02-01

Vertebrate animals can be injured or threatened with injury through human activities, thus warranting their "rescue." Details of wildlife rescue, rehabilitation, release, and associated research (our 4 Rs) are often recorded in large databases, resulting in a wealth of available information. This information has huge research potential and can contribute to understanding of animal biology, anthropogenic impacts on wildlife, and species conservation. However, such databases have been little used, few studies have evaluated factors influencing success of rehabilitation and/or release, recommended actions to conserve threatened species have rarely arisen, and direct benefits for species conservation are yet to be demonstrated. We therefore recommend that additional research be based on data from rescue, rehabilitation, and release of animals that is broader in scope than previous research and would have community support. © 2017 Society for Conservation Biology.

Transmission of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) among cohabiting cats in two cat rescue shelters.

Science.gov (United States)

Litster, Annette L

2014-08-01

Conflicting accounts have been published in the veterinary literature regarding transmission of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) between cohabiting cats in mixed households, and the mechanics of possible casual transmission, if it occurs, are poorly understood. Similarly, there are conflicting reports of vertical transmission of FIV. The aim of the present study was to document the FIV serological status of cats taken into two rescue shelters. At rescue shelter 1 (Rescue 1), cats cohabited in a multi-cat household of FIV-negative and naturally-infected, FIV-positive cats. A study was performed that combined a retrospective review of records of FIV serological status at intake (Test 1) and prospective FIV serological testing (Tests 2 and 3). Retrospective records were analyzed at rescue shelter 2 (Rescue 2), where FIV-positive queens with litters of nursing kittens were taken into the shelter, before being rehomed. FIV serology was performed on all kittens after weaning. Initial test results (Test 1) for 138 cohabiting cats from Rescue 1 showed that there were 130 FIV-negative cats and eight FIV-positive cats (six male neutered and two female spayed). A second test (Test 2), performed in 45 of the FIV-negative and five of the FIV-positive cats at median 28 months after Test 1 (range, 1 month to 8.8 years) showed that results were unchanged. Similarly, a third test (Test 3), performed in four of the original FeLV-negative cats and one remaining FIV-positive cat at median 38 months after Test 1 (range, 4 months to 4 years), also showed that results were unchanged. These results show a lack of evidence of FIV transmission, despite years of exposure to naturally-infected, FIV-positive cats in a mixed household. At Rescue 2, records were available from five FIV-positive queens with 19 kittens. All 19 kittens tested FIV-negative, suggesting that vertical transmission had not occurred. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Cognitive Dissonance between Child Rescue and Child Protection

NARCIS (Netherlands)

K.E. Cheney (Kristen)

2015-01-01

textabstract‘Saving orphans’ has become an industry that irrevocably harms children and undermines the development of child welfare systems. We must replace the drive to rescue with the desire to protect.

A space-based public service platform for terrestrial rescue operations

Science.gov (United States)

Fleisig, R.; Bernstein, J.; Cramblit, D. C.

1977-01-01

The space-based Public Service Platform (PSP) is a multibeam, high-gain communications relay satellite that can provide a variety of functions for a large number of people on earth equipped with extremely small, very low cost transceivers. This paper describes the PSP concept, the rationale used to derive the concept, the criteria for selecting specific communication functions to be performed, and the advantages of performing such functions via satellite. The discussion focuses on the benefits of using a PSP for natural disaster warning; control of attendant rescue/assistance operations; and rescue of people in downed aircraft, aboard sinking ships, lost or injured on land.

The yeast complex I equivalent NADH dehydrogenase rescues pink1 mutants.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sven Vilain

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Pink1 is a mitochondrial kinase involved in Parkinson's disease, and loss of Pink1 function affects mitochondrial morphology via a pathway involving Parkin and components of the mitochondrial remodeling machinery. Pink1 loss also affects the enzymatic activity of isolated Complex I of the electron transport chain (ETC; however, the primary defect in pink1 mutants is unclear. We tested the hypothesis that ETC deficiency is upstream of other pink1-associated phenotypes. We expressed Saccaromyces cerevisiae Ndi1p, an enzyme that bypasses ETC Complex I, or sea squirt Ciona intestinalis AOX, an enzyme that bypasses ETC Complex III and IV, in pink1 mutant Drosophila and find that expression of Ndi1p, but not of AOX, rescues pink1-associated defects. Likewise, loss of function of subunits that encode for Complex I-associated proteins displays many of the pink1-associated phenotypes, and these defects are rescued by Ndi1p expression. Conversely, expression of Ndi1p fails to rescue any of the parkin mutant phenotypes. Additionally, unlike pink1 mutants, fly parkin mutants do not show reduced enzymatic activity of Complex I, indicating that Ndi1p acts downstream or parallel to Pink1, but upstream or independent of Parkin. Furthermore, while increasing mitochondrial fission or decreasing mitochondrial fusion rescues mitochondrial morphological defects in pink1 mutants, these manipulations fail to significantly rescue the reduced enzymatic activity of Complex I, indicating that functional defects observed at the level of Complex I enzymatic activity in pink1 mutant mitochondria do not arise from morphological defects. Our data indicate a central role for Complex I dysfunction in pink1-associated defects, and our genetic analyses with heterologous ETC enzymes suggest that Ndi1p-dependent NADH dehydrogenase activity largely acts downstream of, or in parallel to, Pink1 but upstream of Parkin and mitochondrial remodeling.

Unirradiated cells rescue cells exposed to ionizing radiation: Activation of NF-κB pathway in irradiated cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lam, R.K.K. [Department of Physics and Materials Science, City University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong); Han, Wei [Center of Medical Physics and Technology, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031 (China); Yu, K.N., E-mail: peter.yu@cityu.edu.hk [Department of Physics and Materials Science, City University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong); State Key Laboratory in Marine Pollution, City University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong)

2015-12-15

Highlights: • Rescue effect was observed in both irradiated and HeLa and NIH/3T3 cells. • Novel setup and procedures to separate the rescue signals and the bystander signals. • Confirmed activation of NF-κB pathway in rescue effect using activation inhibitor. • Confirmed activation of NF-κB pathway in rescue effect using anti-NF-κB p65 antibody. - Abstract: We studied the involvement of NF-κB pathway activation in the rescue effect in HeLa and NIH/3T3 cells irradiated by α particles. Firstly, upon irradiation by 5 cGy of α particles, for both cell lines, the numbers of 53BP1 foci/cell at 12 h post-irradiation were significantly smaller when only 2.5% of the cell population was irradiated as compared to 100% irradiation, which demonstrated the rescue effect. Secondly, we studied the effect of NF-κB on the rescue effect through the use of the NF-κB activation inhibitor BAY-11-7082. Novel experimental setup and procedures were designed to prepare the medium (CM) which had conditioned the bystander cells previously partnered with irradiated cells, to ensure physical separation between rescue and bystander signals. BAY-11-7082 itself did not inflict DNA damages in the cells or have effects on activation of the NF-κB response pathway in the irradiated cells through direct irradiation. The rescue effect was induced in both cell lines by the CM, which was abrogated if BAY-11-7082 was added to the CM. Thirdly, we studied the effect of NF-κB on the rescue effect through staining for phosphorylated NF-κB (p-NF-κB) expression using the anti-NF-κB p65 (phospho S536) antibody. When the fraction of irradiated cells dropped from 100% to 2.5%, the p-NF-κB expression in the cell nuclei of irradiated NIH/3T3 cells increased significantly, while that in the cell nuclei of irradiated HeLa cells also increased although not significantly. Moreover, the p-NF-κB expression in the cell nuclei of irradiated HeLa cells and NIH/3T3 cells treated with CM also increased

Leveraging management information in improving call centre productivity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Manthisana Mosese

2016-04-01

Objectives: This research explored the use of management information and its impact on two fundamental functions namely, improving productivity without compromising the quality of service, in the call centre of a well-known South African fashion retailer, Edcon. Following the implementation of the call centre technology project the research set out to determine how Edcon can transform their call centre to improve productivity and customer service through effective utilisation of their management information. Method: Internal documents and reports were analysed to provide the basis of evaluation between the measures of productivity prior to and post the implementation of a technology project at Edcon’s call centre. Semi-structured in-depth and group interviews were conducted to establish the importance and use of management information in improving productivity and customer service. Results: The results indicated that the availability of management information has indeed contributed to improved efficiency at the Edcon call centre. Although literature claims that there is a correlation between a call centre technology upgrade and improvement in performance, evident in the return on investment being realised within a year or two of implementation, it fell beyond the scope of this study to investigate the return on investment for Edcon’s call centre. Conclusion: Although Edcon has begun realising benefits in improved productivity in their call centre from their available management information, information will continue to play a crucial role in supporting management with informed decisions that will improve the call centre operations. [pdf to follow

Rescuing Downed Aircrews: The Value of Time

Science.gov (United States)

2015-01-01

Make a tax -deductible charitable contribution at www.rand.org/giving/contribute www.rand.org Library of Congress Control Number: 2015955037 ISBN...Predictors of Survival and Evasion ............................................................ 40   Table 5.2. Regression Predictors...a damaged aircraft, and the ability to avoid immediate capture. Combat rescue records and anecdotal evidence show that if the pilot were able to

The goal(s) of corporate rescue in company law: A comparative analysis

OpenAIRE

Anthony O. Nwafor

2017-01-01

The concept of corporate rescue lays emphasis on corporate sustainability than liquidation. This trend in corporate legislation which featured in the United Kingdom Insolvency Act of 1986, Australian Corporations Act 2001, Indian Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act of 1985 (as replaced by Companies Act, 2013 and supplanted by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016) has been adopted in the South African Companies Act of 2008. The goal(s) of corporate rescue in some of these ju...

Rescue of Long-Tail Data from the Ocean Bottom to the Moon

Science.gov (United States)

Hsu, L.; Lehnert, K. A.; Carbotte, S. M.; Ferrini, V.; Delano, J. W.; Gill, J. B.; Tivey, M.

2013-12-01

IEDA (Integrated Earth Data Applications, www.iedadata.org), the NSF facility that operates EarthChem, the Marine Geoscience Data System, and the System for Earth Sample Registration, launched a Data Rescue Initiative in 2013 to advance preservation and re-use of valuable legacy datasets that are in danger of being lost. As part of this initiative, IEDA established a competition for Data Rescue Mini-Awards that provide modest funds to investigators to properly compile, document, and transfer legacy data sets to IEDA. Applications from late-career and near-retirement investigators were specifically encouraged. Awardees were given approximately six months to complete their data rescue activities. Three projects were awarded in 2013: (1) Geochemistry of Lunar Glasses: assembly of major element, trace element, volatile element, and isotope ratio data for lunar volcanic glasses and lunar impact glasses, (2) Geochemical and Geochronological data from Fiji, Izu-Bonin-Marianas, and Endeavor segment: assembly of published and unpublished data and metadata from large rock sample collections, and (3) Near-bottom Magnetic Data: curation and archival of 35 years of high-resolution, near-bottom magnetic field data from deeptowed platforms, submersibles, and ROVs. IEDA is working closely with the awardees to guide and support the data rescue effort and to assist with specific challenges related to outdated storage media or technology, diversity of platforms over decades of research, and the lack of established standards for data documentation. In this contribution we describe procedures and tools used for each project, summarize lessons learned and best practices, and present the final output of each data rescue project. Depending on the experiences of this first year and the availability of funds, we plan to continue the competition in future years.

50 CFR 23.79 - How may I participate in the Plant Rescue Center Program?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 6 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false How may I participate in the Plant Rescue Center Program? 23.79 Section 23.79 Wildlife and Fisheries UNITED STATES FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE... may I participate in the Plant Rescue Center Program? (a) Purpose. We have established the Plant...

Rescuing Quadratic Inflation

CERN Document Server

Ellis, John; Sueiro, Maria

2014-01-01

Inflationary models based on a single scalar field $\\phi$ with a quadratic potential $V = \\frac{1}{2} m^2 \\phi^2$ are disfavoured by the recent Planck constraints on the scalar index, $n_s$, and the tensor-to-scalar ratio for cosmological density perturbations, $r_T$. In this paper we study how such a quadratic inflationary model can be rescued by postulating additional fields with quadratic potentials, such as might occur in sneutrino models, which might serve as either curvatons or supplementary inflatons. Introducing a second scalar field reduces but does not remove the pressure on quadratic inflation, but we find a sample of three-field models that are highly compatible with the Planck data on $n_s$ and $r_T$. We exhibit a specific three-sneutrino example that is also compatible with the data on neutrino mass difference and mixing angles.

That Others May Live: USAF Air Rescue in Korea

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Marion, Forrest L

2004-01-01

When the Korean War began in June 1950, the United States Air Force's Air Rescue Service was a fledgling organization possessing a variety of aircraft types, most having seen service during World War II...

Water Supply Systems For Aircraft Fire And Rescue Protection

Science.gov (United States)

1995-01-01

This Advisory Circular (AC) provides guidance for the selection : of a water source and standards for the design of a distribution system to : support aircraft rescue and fire fighting (ARFF) service operations on : airports.

A portable continuous blood purification machine for emergency rescue in disasters.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Ping; Zhou, Chunhua; Li, Hongyan; Yu, Yongwu; Dong, Zhen; Wen, Yuanyuan; Li, Ping; Tang, Wenhong; Wang, Xue

2012-01-01

Continuous renal replacement therapy plays an important role in emergency rescue. Currently, no continuous renal replacement therapy machine can be used under unstable conditions as the fluid flow of these machines is controlled electronically. A novel machine that can provide emergency continuous renal replacement therapy in disaster rescue is therefore needed. Based on a volumetric metering method, a prototype portable continuous blood purifier based on a volumetric metering method was developed. Basic performance tests, special environmental tests, animal experiments and clinical use of the novel machine were completed to test and verify its performance under unstable conditions. All tests completed showed that the machine met the requirements of the national industry standards with a size reduced to approximately one half of the Baxter Aquarius machine. The clearance of harmful substances by the machine described here was equal to that of the Baxter Aquarius machine and was adequate for clinical purposes. The novel prototype performed well in all situations tested and can aid rescue work on disaster sites. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Emergency Preparedness and Role Clarity among Rescue Workers during the Terror Attacks in Norway July 22, 2011.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

May Janne Botha Pedersen

Full Text Available Few studies address preparedness and role clarity in rescue workers after a disaster. On July 22, 2011, Norway was struck by two terror attacks; 77 people were killed and many injured. Healthcare providers, police officers and firefighters worked under demanding conditions. The aims of this study were to examine the level of preparedness, exposure and role clarity. In addition, the relationship between demographic variables, preparedness and exposure and a role clarity during the rescue operations and; b achieved mastering for future disaster operations.In this cross-sectional study, healthcare providers (n = 859, police officers (n = 252 and firefighters (n = 102 returned a questionnaire approximately 10 months after the terror attacks.The rescue personnel were trained and experienced, and the majority knew their professional role (healthcare providers M = 4.1 vs. police officers: M = 3.9 vs. firefighters: M = 4.2, p 5 fatalities (OR 1.6, p < .05 were all associated with role clarity, together with a feeling of control, not being obstructed in work and perceiving the rescue work as a success. Moreover, independent predictors of being more prepared for future operations were arousal during the operation (OR 2.0, p < .001 and perceiving the rescue work as a success (OR 1.5, p < .001.Most of the rescue workers were experienced and knew their professional role. Training and everyday-work-experience must be a focal point when preparing rescue workers for disaster.

UvA Rescue Technical Report: a description of the methods and algorithms implemented in the UvA Rescue code release

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Visser, A.

2012-01-01

This technical report gives the background documentation behind the competition code of the UvA Rescue Team, who participates in the RoboCup Simulation League. The described code is used in the Virtual Robot competition, where a team of robots, guided by a single operator, has to find as many

Intelligent systems for urban search and rescue: challenges and lessons learned

Science.gov (United States)

Jacoff, Adam; Messina, Elena; Weiss, Brian A.

2003-09-01

Urban search and rescue (USAR) is one of the most dangerous and time-critical non-wartime activities. Researchers have been developing hardware and software to enable robots to perform some search and rescue functions so as to minimize the exposure of human rescue personnel to danger and maximize the survival of victims. Significant progress has been achieved, but much work remains. USAR demands a blending of numerous specialized technologies. An effective USAR robot must be endowed with key competencies, such as being able to negotiate collapsed structures, find victims and assess their condition, identify potential hazards, generate maps of the structure and victim locations, and communicate with rescue personnel. These competencies bring to bear work in numerous sub-disciplines of intelligent systems (or artificial intelligence) such as sensory processing, world modeling, behavior generation, path planning, and human-robot interaction, in addition to work in communications, mechanism design and advanced sensors. In an attempt to stimulate progress in the field, reference USAR challenges are being developed and propagated worldwide. In order to make efficient use of finite research resources, the robotic USAR community must share a common understanding of what is required, technologically, to attain each competency, and have a rigorous measure of the current level of effectiveness of various technologies. NIST is working with partner organizations to measure the performance of robotic USAR competencies and technologies. In this paper, we describe the reference test arenas for USAR robots, assess the current challenges within the field, and discuss experiences thus far in the testing effort.

Influencing factors of embryo rescue in seedless grape

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guo, X.; Chen, W.; Liu, Z.; Li, K.

2015-01-01

In this study, we investigated the impact of inoculating stage, medium type and concentration of plant growth regulators on embryo rescue effectiveness by L25(5)6 orthogonal design using selfed ovules of Venus Seedless as the testing material. The main results were as follows. The most important factor influencing ovule germination was inoculating stage. Ovule germinating rate gradually increased as inoculating being postponed. The highest germinating rate appeared when inoculation was done 55d after flowering. Other influencing factors were IBA concentration, exogenous amino acid, 6-BA concentration, GA3 concentration and medium type in descending order. The best embryo rescue result was based on Nitsch medium including 1.0 mg/L IBA, 0.1 mg/L GA3, 0.7 mg /L 6-BA and 2.0 mmol/L glutamine using ovules inoculated 55d after flowering. The highest germinating rate reached 41.25%, and a batch of seedlings was also obtained. (author)

Evolutionary rescue of a parasite population by mutation rate evolution.

Science.gov (United States)

Greenspoon, Philip B; Mideo, Nicole

2017-10-01

The risk of antibiotic resistance evolution in parasites is a major problem for public health. Identifying factors which promote antibiotic resistance evolution is thus a priority in evolutionary medicine. The rate at which new mutations enter the parasite population is one important predictor; however, mutation rate is not necessarily a fixed quantity, as is often assumed, but can itself evolve. Here we explore the possible impacts of mutation rate evolution on the fate of a disease circulating in a host population, which is being treated with drugs, the use of which varies over time. Using an evolutionary rescue framework, we find that mutation rate evolution provides a dramatic increase in the probability that a parasite population survives treatment in only a limited region, while providing little or no advantage in other regions. Both epidemiological features, such as the virulence of infection, and population genetic parameters, such as recombination rate, play important roles in determining the probability of evolutionary rescue and whether mutation rate evolution enhances the probability of evolutionary rescue or not. While efforts to curtail mutation rate evolution in parasites may be worthwhile under some circumstances, our results suggest that this need not always be the case. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ensemble-based computational approach discriminates functional activity of p53 cancer and rescue mutants.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Özlem Demir

2011-10-01

Full Text Available The tumor suppressor protein p53 can lose its function upon single-point missense mutations in the core DNA-binding domain ("cancer mutants". Activity can be restored by second-site suppressor mutations ("rescue mutants". This paper relates the functional activity of p53 cancer and rescue mutants to their overall molecular dynamics (MD, without focusing on local structural details. A novel global measure of protein flexibility for the p53 core DNA-binding domain, the number of clusters at a certain RMSD cutoff, was computed by clustering over 0.7 µs of explicitly solvated all-atom MD simulations. For wild-type p53 and a sample of p53 cancer or rescue mutants, the number of clusters was a good predictor of in vivo p53 functional activity in cell-based assays. This number-of-clusters (NOC metric was strongly correlated (r(2 = 0.77 with reported values of experimentally measured ΔΔG protein thermodynamic stability. Interpreting the number of clusters as a measure of protein flexibility: (i p53 cancer mutants were more flexible than wild-type protein, (ii second-site rescue mutations decreased the flexibility of cancer mutants, and (iii negative controls of non-rescue second-site mutants did not. This new method reflects the overall stability of the p53 core domain and can discriminate which second-site mutations restore activity to p53 cancer mutants.

A concept for optimizing avalanche rescue strategies using a Monte Carlo simulation approach.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ingrid Reiweger

Full Text Available Recent technical and strategical developments have increased the survival chances for avalanche victims. Still hundreds of people, primarily recreationists, get caught and buried by snow avalanches every year. About 100 die each year in the European Alps-and many more worldwide. Refining concepts for avalanche rescue means to optimize the procedures such that the survival chances are maximized in order to save the greatest possible number of lives. Avalanche rescue includes several parameters related to terrain, natural hazards, the people affected by the event, the rescuers, and the applied search and rescue equipment. The numerous parameters and their complex interaction make it unrealistic for a rescuer to take, in the urgency of the situation, the best possible decisions without clearly structured, easily applicable decision support systems. In order to analyse which measures lead to the best possible survival outcome in the complex environment of an avalanche accident, we present a numerical approach, namely a Monte Carlo simulation. We demonstrate the application of Monte Carlo simulations for two typical, yet tricky questions in avalanche rescue: (1 calculating how deep one should probe in the first passage of a probe line depending on search area, and (2 determining for how long resuscitation should be performed on a specific patient while others are still buried. In both cases, we demonstrate that optimized strategies can be calculated with the Monte Carlo method, provided that the necessary input data are available. Our Monte Carlo simulations also suggest that with a strict focus on the "greatest good for the greatest number", today's rescue strategies can be further optimized in the best interest of patients involved in an avalanche accident.

The Rubble Rescue Radar (RRR): A low power hand-held microwave device for the detection of trapped human personnel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haddad, W.S.

1997-01-01

Each year, innocent human lives are lost in collapsed structures as a result of both natural and man-made disasters. We have developed a prototype device, called the Rubble Rescue Radar (RRR) as a aid to workers trying to locate trapped victims in urban search and rescue operations. The RRR is a motion sensor incorporating Micropower Impulse Radar and is capable of detecting human breathing motions through reinforced concrete. It is lightweight, and designed to be handled by a single operator for local searches in areas where trapped victims are expected. Tests of the first prototype device were conducted on site at LLNL using a mock rubble pile consisting of a reinforced concrete pipe with two concrete floor slabs placed against one side, and random concrete and asphalt debris piled against the other. This arrangement provides safe and easy access for instruments and/or human subjects. Breathing signals of a human subject were recorded with the RRR through one floor slab plus the wall of the pipe, two slabs plus the wall of the pipe, and the random rubble plus the wall of the pipe. Breathing and heart beat signals were also recorded of a seated human subject at a distance of 1 meter with no obstructions. Results and photographs of the experimental work are presented, and a design concept for the next generation device is described

International Fund of Aral Sea rescue: the way to regional cooperation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2003-01-01

In this book scientists consider Aral Sea ecology problems, international cooperation on using of water resources in Aral sea basin, national plans of actions in decision of regional problems of Aral Sea basin, the Aral Sea crisis-the problems and objectives to future

Now calling at the International Space Station

CERN Document Server

Katarina Anthony

2012-01-01

On 31 July, an unmanned Russian Progress spacecraft was launched from the desert steppe of Kazakhstan. Its destination: the International Space Station (ISS). On board: five Timepix detectors developed by the Medipix2 Collaboration.   With the Timepix on board, Progress 48 was launched 31 July from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Source: RSC Energia. Timepix detectors are small, USB powered particle trackers based on Medipix2 technology. The Timepix chip, which was developed at CERN, is coupled to a silicon sensor and incorporated into a minature readout system - developed at IEAP, Prague - which is about the size of a USB pen drive. These systems have been used across a variety of disciplines: from the study of cosmic rays to biomedical imaging. Now on board the ISS, they are providing highly accurate measurements of space radiation for dosimetry purposes. “There’s nothing else in the world that has quite the capability of Timepix detectors to ...

SALVEREMO, an automatic system for the search and rescue in the wilderness and mountain areas

Science.gov (United States)

Penna, Roberto; Allasia, Walter; Bianchi, Luca; Licata, Enrico; Duranti, Pierluigi; Molino, Andrea; Bagalini, Enea; Sagliocco, Sergio; Scarafia, Simone; Prinetto, Paolo; Airofarulla, Giuseppe; Carelli, Alberto

2016-04-01

SALVEREMO project aims at designing and prototyping an innovative system for searching and rescuing individuals (especially hikers and mountaineers) who got lost or in peril in wilderness or mountain areas. It makes use of Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) equipped with a sensor suite specifically selected according to the requirements identified involving alpine rescuers and government officials. The peculiarity of the proposed solution is the exploitation and integration of the special skill and expertise coming from different competence fields. It will dramatically decrease the searching time in the wilderness and remote areas off the beaten tracks, providing rescuers and operators with a decision support system increasing successful results and reducing rescue missions costs. The system benefits from the adoption of a scaled-down Base Transceiver Station (BTS) embarked in the payload sensor suite of a small RPAS that can be carried in a back pack of rescuers. A Software Defined Radio (SDR) board implementing the BTS protocol stack has been integrated in a complex sensor suite made up of open processing boards and camera devices. Moreover computer vision (CV) algorithms for real time pattern detection and image enhancements have been investigated for assisting the rescuers during the searching operations. An easy-to-use ground station application has been developed for speeding up the overall mission accomplishment. Aknowledgement SALVEREMO project is a research project co-funded by Regione Piemonte according to the call for proposal POR F.E.S.R. 2007/2013, "Linea di attività I.1.3-Innovazione e PMI - Polo della Meccatronica e dei Sistemi Avanzati di Produzione". The authors want to thank "Il Soccorso Alpino Italiano" for the invaluable support for establishing operative requirements.

Exploring the Interplay between Rescue Drugs, Data Imputation, and Study Outcomes: Conceptual Review and Qualitative Analysis of an Acute Pain Data Set.

Science.gov (United States)

Singla, Neil K; Meske, Diana S; Desjardins, Paul J

2017-12-01

In placebo-controlled acute surgical pain studies, provisions must be made for study subjects to receive adequate analgesic therapy. As such, most protocols allow study subjects to receive a pre-specified regimen of open-label analgesic drugs (rescue drugs) as needed. The selection of an appropriate rescue regimen is a critical experimental design choice. We hypothesized that a rescue regimen that is too liberal could lead to all study arms receiving similar levels of pain relief (thereby confounding experimental results), while a regimen that is too stringent could lead to a high subject dropout rate (giving rise to a preponderance of missing data). Despite the importance of rescue regimen as a study design feature, there exist no published review articles or meta-analysis focusing on the impact of rescue therapy on experimental outcomes. Therefore, when selecting a rescue regimen, researchers must rely on clinical factors (what analgesics do patients usually receive in similar surgical scenarios) and/or anecdotal evidence. In the following article, we attempt to bridge this gap by reviewing and discussing the experimental impacts of rescue therapy on a common acute surgical pain population: first metatarsal bunionectomy. The function of this analysis is to (1) create a framework for discussion and future exploration of rescue as a methodological study design feature, (2) discuss the interplay between data imputation techniques and rescue drugs, and (3) inform the readership regarding the impact of data imputation techniques on the validity of study conclusions. Our findings indicate that liberal rescue may degrade assay sensitivity, while stringent rescue may lead to unacceptably high dropout rates.

EMERGENCY VICTIM CARE AND RESCUE, TEXTBOOK FOR SQUADMEN.

Science.gov (United States)

Ohio State Dept. of Education, Columbus. Trade and Industrial Education Service.

DESIGNED FOR TRAINING EMERGENCY SQUAD PERSONNEL IN RESCUE PROCEDURES AND VICTIM CARE BEYOND BASIC FIRST AID, THIS TEXTBOOK WAS DEVELOPED BY A COMMITTEE OF SQUADMEN, DOCTORS, NURSES, FIREMEN, AND STATE TRADE AND INDUSTRIAL PERSONNEL TO BE USED IN ADULT TRAINING CLASSES OF FULL-TIME OR VOLUNTEER SQUADMEN. THE INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIAL INCLUDES 26…

Launch-Off-Need Shuttle Hubble Rescue Mission: Medical Issues

Science.gov (United States)

Hamilton, Douglas; Gillis, David; Ilcus, Linda; Perchonok, Michele; Polk, James; Brandt, Keith; Powers, Edward; Stepaniak, Phillip

2008-01-01

The Space Shuttle Hubble repair mission (STS-125) is unique in that a rescue mission (STS-400) has to be ready to launch before STS-125 life support runs out should the vehicle become stranded. The shuttle uses electrical power derived from fuel cells that use cryogenic oxygen and hydrogen (CRYO) to run all subsystems including the Environmental Control System. If the STS-125 crew cannot return to Earth due to failure of a critical subsystem, they must power down all nonessential systems and wait to be rescued by STS-400. This power down will cause the cabin temperature to be 60 F or less and freeze the rest of the vehicle, preventing it from attempting a reentry. After an emergency has been declared, STS-125 must wait at least 7 days to power down since that is the earliest that STS-400 can be launched. Problem The delayed power down of STS-125 causes CYRO to be consumed at high rates and limits the survival time after STS-400 launches to 10 days or less. CRYO will run out sooner every day that the STS-400 launch is delayed (weather at launch, technical issues etc.). To preserve CRYO and lithium hydroxide (LiOH - carbon dioxide removal) the crew will perform no exercise to reduce their metabolic rates, yet each deconditioned STS-125 crewmember must perform an EVA to rescue himself. The cabin may be cold for 10 days, which may cause shivering, increasing the metabolic rate of the STS-125 crew. Solution To preserve LiOH, the STS-125 manifest includes nutrition bars with low carbohydrate content to maintain crew respiratory quotient (RQ) below 0.85 as opposed to the usual shuttle galley food which is rich in carbohydrates and keeps the RQ at approximately 0.95. To keep the crew more comfortable in the cold vehicle warm clothing also has been included. However, with no exercise and limited diet, the deconditioned STS-125 crew returning on STS-400 may not be able to egress the vehicle autonomously requiring a supplemented crash-and-rescue capability.

In vitro embryo rescue and plant regeneration following self ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

EJIRO

2015-07-08

Jul 8, 2015 ... 2Department of Biological Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Makerere ... Key words: Cassava, doubled haploids, embryo rescue, plant regeneration, pollen germination, pollen ... breeding as inbred lines are readily tested and used within a ... dominance, allowing the separation of homozygotes from.

Protecting front-line survey and rescue teams during emergencies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tresise, H.

1980-01-01

Means of protecting front-line survey and rescue teams during emergencies are described. The team composition, their apparatus, the selection of the incident control point, the use of guidelines and breathing apparatus and control point trolley and equipment are discussed. (H.K.)

Rescue behaviour in a social bird : removal of sticky 'bird-catcher tree' seeds by group members

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hammers, Martijn; Brouwer, Lyanne

2017-01-01

Rescue behaviour is a special form of cooperation in which a rescuer exhibits behaviours directed towards averting a threat to an endangered individual, thereby potentially putting itself at risk. Although rescue behaviour has been well-documented in experimental studies on rats and ants, published

Retrospective on the construction and practice of a state-level emergency medical rescue team.

Science.gov (United States)

Lei, Zhang; Haitao, Guo; Xin, Wang; Yundou, Wang

2014-10-01

For the past few years, disasters like earthquakes, landslides, mudslides, tsunamis, and traffic accidents have occurred with an ever-growing frequency, coverage, and intensity greatly beyond the expectation of the public. In order to respond effectively to disasters and to reduce casualties and property damage, countries around the world have invested more efforts in the theoretical study of emergency medicine and the construction of emergency medical rescue forces. Consequently, emergency medical rescue teams of all scales and types have come into being and have played significant roles in disaster response work. As the only state-level emergency medical rescue force from the Chinese People's Armed Police Forces, the force described here has developed, through continuous learning and practice, a characteristic mode in terms of grouping methods, equipment system construction, and training.

Job task characteristics of Australian emergency services volunteers during search and rescue operations.

Science.gov (United States)

Silk, Aaron; Lenton, Gavin; Savage, Robbie; Aisbett, Brad

2018-02-01

Search and rescue operations are necessary in locating, assisting and recovering individuals lost or in distress. In Australia, land-based search and rescue roles require a range of physically demanding tasks undertaken in dynamic and challenging environments. The aim of the current research was to identify and characterise the physically demanding tasks inherent to search and rescue operation personnel within Australia. These aims were met through a subjective job task analysis approach. In total, 11 criterion tasks were identified by personnel. These tasks were the most physically demanding, frequently occurring and operationally important tasks to these specialist roles. Muscular strength was the dominant fitness component for 7 of the 11 tasks. In addition to the discrete criterion tasks, an operational scenario was established. With the tasks and operational scenario identified, objective task analysis procedures can be undertaken so that practitioners can implement evidence-based strategies, such as physical selection procedures and task-based physical training programs, commensurate with the physical demands of search and rescue job roles. Practitioner Summary: The identification of physically demanding tasks amongst specialist emergency service roles predicates health and safety strategies which can be incorporated into organisations. Knowledge of physical task parameters allows employers to mitigate injury risk through the implementation of strategies modelled on the precise physical demands of the role.

Drone configuration for seaside rescue missions

OpenAIRE

Garro Fernandez, Jose Miguel

2017-01-01

The project is based on creating a first aid tool to perform a coastline rescue with an unmanned. The System is formed by a ground segment, where the ground station will be placed and an air segment, where the unmanned vehicle, equipped with all the necessary extra devices to perform the mission will be found. For notices of possible drownings, the ground station will receive notifications that users will publish using a Mobile application. This app will allow users to capture images of the v...

A ground moving target emergency tracking method for catastrophe rescue

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, X.; Li, D.; Li, G.

2014-11-01

In recent years, great disasters happen now and then. Disaster management test the emergency operation ability of the government and society all over the world. Immediately after the occurrence of a great disaster (e.g., earthquake), a massive nationwide rescue and relief operation need to be kicked off instantly. In order to improve the organizations efficiency of the emergency rescue, the organizers need to take charge of the information of the rescuer teams, including the real time location, the equipment with the team, the technical skills of the rescuers, and so on. One of the key factors for the success of emergency operations is the real time location of the rescuers dynamically. Real time tracking methods are used to track the professional rescuer teams now. But volunteers' participation play more and more important roles in great disasters. However, real time tracking of the volunteers will cause many problems, e.g., privacy leakage, expensive data consumption, etc. These problems may reduce the enthusiasm of volunteers' participation for catastrophe rescue. In fact, the great disaster is just small probability event, it is not necessary to track the volunteers (even rescuer teams) every time every day. In order to solve this problem, a ground moving target emergency tracking method for catastrophe rescue is presented in this paper. In this method, the handheld devices using GPS technology to provide the location of the users, e.g., smart phone, is used as the positioning equipment; an emergency tracking information database including the ID of the ground moving target (including the rescuer teams and volunteers), the communication number of the handheld devices with the moving target, and the usually living region, etc., is built in advance by registration; when catastrophe happens, the ground moving targets that living close to the disaster area will be filtered by the usually living region; then the activation short message will be sent to the selected

OccuPeak: ChIP-Seq peak calling based on internal background modelling

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Boer, Bouke A.; van Duijvenboden, Karel; van den Boogaard, Malou; Christoffels, Vincent M.; Barnett, Phil; Ruijter, Jan M.

2014-01-01

ChIP-seq has become a major tool for the genome-wide identification of transcription factor binding or histone modification sites. Most peak-calling algorithms require input control datasets to model the occurrence of background reads to account for local sequencing and GC bias. However, the

Rescue of Outer Hair Cells with Antisense Oligonucleotides in Usher Mice Is Dependent on Age of Treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Ponnath, Abhilash; Depreux, Frederic F; Jodelka, Francine M; Rigo, Frank; Farris, Hamilton E; Hastings, Michelle L; Lentz, Jennifer J

2018-02-01

The absence of functional outer hair cells is a component of several forms of hereditary hearing impairment, including Usher syndrome, the most common cause of concurrent hearing and vision loss. Antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) treatment of mice with the human Usher mutation, Ush1c c.216G>A, corrects gene expression and significantly improves hearing, as measured by auditory-evoked brainstem responses (ABRs), as well as inner and outer hair cell (IHC and OHC) bundle morphology. However, it is not clear whether the improvement in hearing achieved by ASO treatment involves the functional rescue of outer hair cells. Here, we show that Ush1c c.216AA mice lack OHC function as evidenced by the absence of distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) in response to low-, mid-, and high-frequency tone pairs. This OHC deficit is rescued by treatment with an ASO that corrects expression of Ush1c c.216G>A. Interestingly, although rescue of inner hairs cells, as measured by ABR, is achieved by ASO treatment as late as 7 days after birth, rescue of outer hair cells, measured by DPOAE, requires treatment before post-natal day 5. These results suggest that ASO-mediated rescue of both IHC and OHC function is age dependent and that the treatment window is different for the different cell types. The timing of treatment for congenital hearing disorders is of critical importance for the development of drugs such ASO-29 for hearing rescue.

Sex, Deportation and Rescue

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Plambech, Sine

2017-01-01

recirculating the claim that human trafficking is the “third largest” criminal economy after drugs and weapons. Based on ethnographic fieldwork among Nigerian sex worker migrants conducted in Benin City, Nigeria, in 2011 and 2012, this study brings together four otherwise isolated migration economies......This contribution explores the economies interlinked by the migration of Nigerian women sex workers. The literature and politics of sex work migration and human trafficking economies are commonly relegated to the realm that focuses on profits for criminal networks and pimps, in particular...... – facilitation, remittances, deportation, and rescue – and suggests that we have to examine multiple sites and relink these in order to more fully understand the complexity of sex work migration. Drawing upon literature within transnational feminist analysis, critical human trafficking studies, and migration...

US calls for CO2 cut

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roberts, M.

1996-01-01

The US Government has outraged energy-intensive industries by calling for an international agreement to reduce global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and other greenhouse gases. In a clear policy shift, the US--the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases and not previously an advocate of curbing them--says it now intends to lead moves to prevent global warming. At last week's Second Conference of the Parties (COP-2) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC), US Undersecretary for Global Affairs Timothy Wirth called for open-quotes an agreement that sets a realistic, verifiable, and binding medium-term emissions target.close quotes Individual countries should be free to choose how to meet targets, and the US favors market-based mechanisms, he says. open-quotes Climate change is a serious problem and will require sustained long-term investment to be addressed successfully,close quotes Wirth says

Got a call from "Microsoft"? The social way infecting your PC

CERN Multimedia

Computer Security Team

2012-01-01

Have you recently been called by “Microsoft Security”? At home!? Then beware: these are fake calls trying to make you install malicious software on your (home) PC!   This scam is currently prevalent throughout the Geneva area, targeting many different international organizations and companies. If you receive such a call, just ignore it and hang up. If you have fallen for this scam and followed their pleas, please contact us at Computer.Security@cern.ch. This kind of scam is called “Social Engineering”. Some “Microsoft” call-centre agent informs you that your PC is infected and will try to convince you to download some software from the web. If you do – BANG – your PC is compromized and your local data is at stake. In other Social Engineering scams, the attackers try to convince you to give them your password or sensitive documents. Thus, recall that the real Microsoft will never call you – and definite...

Stress of Rescue Team Members Working in Confined Spaces During a Disaster : Effectiveness of Individual Wireless Communication Devices

OpenAIRE

Kitabayashi, Tsukasa; Kudo, Seiko; Kitajima, Maiko; Takamaki, Shizuka; Chiba, Tomohiro; Tachioka, Nobuaki; Kudo, Shungetsu; Kudo, Hiromi

2016-01-01

This study evaluated stress experienced by rescue team members during a simulated search and rescue operation in a confined space and determine if wireless communication reduces stress. A total of 57 rescue team members of X prefecture participated. The stress visualization indices were ptyalin （i.e., salivary amylase）, salivary cortisol, autonomic nervous system response, visual analog scale, and a short version of the profile of mood states. The subjects were randomized to perform a simulat...

77 FR 24669 - Atlantic Highly Migratory Species; Public Conference Call Regarding Recreational Yellowfin Tuna...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-04-25

... collection in the U.S. recreational yellowfin tuna fishery and the relationship to international yellowfin...-XB162 Atlantic Highly Migratory Species; Public Conference Call Regarding Recreational Yellowfin Tuna... Administration (NOAA), Commerce. ACTION: Notice of public conference call. SUMMARY: In order to better inform the...

Mountain Search and Rescue with Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Silvagni, Mario; Tonoli, Andrea; Zenerino, Enrico; Chiaberge, Marcello

2016-04-01

Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) also known as Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) are nowadays becoming more and more popular in several applications. Even though a complete regulation is not yet available all over the world, researches, tests and some real case applications are wide spreading. These technologies can bring many benefits also to the mountain operations especially in emergencies and harsh environmental conditions, such as Search and Rescue (SAR) and avalanche rescue missions. In fact, during last decade, the number of people practicing winter sports in backcountry environment is increased and one of the greatest hazards for recreationists and professionals are avalanches. Often these accidents have severe consequences leading, mostly, to asphyxia-related death, which is confirmed by the hard drop of survival probability after ten minutes from the burying. Therefore, it is essential to minimize the time of burial. Modern avalanche beacon (ARTVA) interface guides the rescuer during the search phase reducing its time. Even if modern avalanche beacons are valid and reliable, the seeking range influences the rescue time. Furthermore, the environment and morphologic conditions of avalanches usually complicates the rescues. The recursive methodology of this kind of searching offers the opportunity to use automatic device like drones (RPAS). These systems allow performing all the required tasks autonomously, with high accuracy and without exposing the rescuers to additional risks due to secondary avalanches. The availability of highly integrated electronics and subsystems specifically meant for the applications, better batteries, miniaturized payload and, in general, affordable prices, has led to the availability of small RPAS with very good performances that can give interesting application opportunities in unconventional environments. The present work is one of the outcome from the experience made by the authors in RPAS fields and in Mechatronics

International group calls for new nuclear 'bargain of confidence'

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1980-01-01

A report published by the International Consultative Group on Nuclear Energy on 17 January 1980 concluded that the option of expanding nuclear power supply will not be available for the long term unless its development is carefully sustained during the intervening period. Quotations from the report are given on world energy supplies, establishing nuclear options, nuclear safety and the public interest, and nuclear trade and nuclear proliferation. (UK)

Soluble factor(s) from bone marrow cells can rescue lethally irradiated mice by protecting endogenous hematopoietic stem cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Yi; Zhan, Yuxia; Burke, Kathleen A; Anderson, W French

2005-04-01

Ionizing radiation-induced myeloablation can be rescued via bone marrow transplantation (BMT) or administration of cytokines if given within 2 hours after radiation exposure. There is no evidence for the existence of soluble factors that can rescue an animal after a lethal dose of radiation when administered several hours postradiation. We established a system that could test the possibility for the existence of soluble factors that could be used more than 2 hours postirradiation to rescue animals. Animals with an implanted TheraCyte immunoisolation device (TID) received lethal-dose radiation and then normal bone marrow Lin- cells were loaded into the device (thereby preventing direct interaction between donor and recipient cells). Animal survival was evaluated and stem cell activity was tested with secondary bone marrow transplantation and flow cytometry analysis. Donor cell gene expression of five antiapoptotic cytokines was examined. Bone marrow Lin- cells rescued lethally irradiated animals via soluble factor(s). Bone marrow cells from the rescued animals can rescue and repopulate secondary lethally irradiated animals. Within the first 6 hours post-lethal-dose radiation, there is no significant change of gene expression of the known radioprotective factors TPO, SCF, IL-3, Flt-3 ligand, and SDF-1. Hematopoietic stem cells can be protected in lethally irradiated animals by soluble factors produced by bone marrow Lin- cells.

Blended call center with idling times during the call service

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Legros, Benjamin; Jouini, Oualid; Koole, Ger

We consider a blended call center with calls arriving over time and an infinitely backlogged amount of outbound jobs. Inbound calls have a non-preemptive priority over outbound jobs. The inbound call service is characterized by three successive stages where the second one is a break; i.e., there is

Vulture rescue and rehabilitation in South Africa: An urban perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. Naidoo

2011-04-01

Full Text Available SouthAfrica is home to 9 vulture species, of which 7 are endangered. While the cause of the population declines remains largely speculative, a vast amount of effort has been dedicated towards the protection of populations by ensuring sustainable and safe food sources for the various colonies. Limited focus was placed in the past on efforts related to the rescue and/or rehabilitation (R&R of injured birds and the release of these birds back into the wild. This paper provides an overview of the causes, the impact and success of 3 organisations involved in R&R efforts of vultures in the Magaliesberg mountain range and surrounding areas over a period of 10 years. Study material included 162 Cape griffon (CGV and 38 African white-backed (AWBV vultures. Datasets include the number, sex and age of birds received, the reason the vultures were brought in for R&R, surgical interventions performed and outcomes of rescue efforts. The CGV dominated the rehabilitation attempts. Results further show that a large number of apparently healthy birds were presented for veterinary treatment. The R&R data clearly indicate that the major cause of injuries was birds colliding with overhead pylons, as a high number of soft tissue and skeletal injuries were observed. The study also shows that successful releases of rescued birds are possible. It is concluded that urbanisation has had a major negative impact on vultures around the Magaliesberg mountain range.

Molecular mechanism of action of pharmacoperone rescue of misrouted GPCR mutants: the GnRH receptor.

Science.gov (United States)

Janovick, Jo Ann; Patny, Akshay; Mosley, Ralph; Goulet, Mark T; Altman, Michael D; Rush, Thomas S; Cornea, Anda; Conn, P Michael

2009-02-01

The human GnRH receptor (hGnRHR), a G protein-coupled receptor, is a useful model for studying pharmacological chaperones (pharmacoperones), drugs that rescue misfolded and misrouted protein mutants and restore them to function. This technique forms the basis of a therapeutic approach of rescuing mutants associated with human disease and restoring them to function. The present study relies on computational modeling, followed by site-directed mutagenesis, assessment of ligand binding, effector activation, and confocal microscopy. Our results show that two different chemical classes of pharmacoperones act to stabilize hGnRHR mutants by bridging residues D(98) and K(121). This ligand-mediated bridge serves as a surrogate for a naturally occurring and highly conserved salt bridge (E(90)-K(121)) that stabilizes the relation between transmembranes 2 and 3, which is required for passage of the receptor through the cellular quality control system and to the plasma membrane. Our model was used to reveal important pharmacophoric features, and then identify a novel chemical ligand, which was able to rescue a D(98) mutant of the hGnRHR that could not be rescued as effectively by previously known pharmacoperones.

Probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) on the effectiveness of a core rescue system (SSN) for PWRs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Petrangeli, G.; Valeri, A.

1983-01-01

Safety systems for the prevention of LWR core severe damage have recently been studied, which are based on automatic primary system depressurization and on borated water injection by low pressure accumulators. These systems have been named Core Rescue System (SSN). The present study evaluates the reduction in core melt probability brought about by the installation of a SSN system on the RSS (WASH 1400) PWR plant (Surry 1). The calculated result is a core melt probability reduction factor of about 250. Taking into account the possible effect of external or internal unknown events of negligible, yet undefined, probability it is concluded that a SSN system can make a plant ten times safer. The first part of a review report by Prof. N.C.Rasmussen, MIT, dealing with general comment, is attached

Rescue behaviour in a social bird: removal of sticky ‘bird-catcher tree’ seeds by group members

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hammers, Martijn; Brouwer, Lyanne

2017-01-01

Rescue behaviour is a special form of cooperation in which a rescuer exhibits behaviours directed towards averting a threat to an endangered individual, thereby potentially putting itself at risk. Although rescue behaviour has been well-documented in experimental studies on rats and ants, published

33 CFR 150.504 - When must the operator service and examine lifeboat and rescue boat launching appliances?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... and examine lifeboat and rescue boat launching appliances? 150.504 Section 150.504 Navigation and...: OPERATIONS Emergency and Specialty Equipment Launching Appliances § 150.504 When must the operator service and examine lifeboat and rescue boat launching appliances? (a) The operator must service launching...

Native flora rescue program: GASENE project case study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Serricchio, Claudio; Caldas, Flaviana V [PETROBRAS, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Akahori, Lisa [Telsan, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Jacomelli, Junior, Jose Almir [AGF Engenharia, Araucaria, PR (Brazil)

2009-07-01

Concerning the surrounding flora, the implementation of pipelines may cause fragmentation and isolation of the remaining natural vegetation, possibly changing the forest structure; thus raising the border effect; modifying the ratio of species and life forms, decreasing the vegetal diversity and/or causing a lack of connectivity among the remaining indigenous forest resources. In the case of pipelines, the most important environmental measure intended to mitigate the damage caused to the flora is the adoption of Indigenous Flora Rescue Programs. This paper is aimed at analyzing the programs currently applied during the implementation of the GASENE project, by conducting a case study. The main targets of such program are obtaining seeds and fruits with a view to subsidize the potential production of sapling to be further employed in the recovery of areas impacted by the pipeline works; and then relocate the most significant samples of species rescued from the suppressed areas in order to comprise forest areas adjacent to the pipeline's right-of-way. The programs had little differences in their methodology while being implemented, however, we consider that up to the present moment the results obtained in the preservation of species of native flora have been satisfactory. (author)

The lived experience of rescuing people who have driven into floodwater: Understanding challenges and identifying areas for providing support.

Science.gov (United States)

Keech, Jacob J; Smith, Stephanie R; Peden, Amy E; Hagger, Martin S; Hamilton, Kyra

2018-06-11

Drowning is a major public health issue, with risk increasing during times of flood. Driving though floodwater is a major risk factor for flood-related drowning and injury, and despite widespread public health campaigns, many people continue to undertake this risky behaviour and require rescue. We aimed to identify key challenges faced by emergency services personnel when rescuing those who have driven into floodwater, and to identify strategies for supporting rescuers in this important role. Australian flood rescue operators (N=8) who had previously rescued a driver who had driven through floodwater, participated in semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Four challenges emerged from their experiences: Involvement of untrained personnel, varying information provided by emergency telephone operators, behaviour of drivers complicating the rescue, people sightseeing floods or flood rescues, or ignoring closed roads providing sources of distraction and frustration. We propose five strategies for translating these results into practice, including: training and protocol development for (1) emergency personnel and (2) telephone operators, (3) training for rescuers regarding non-compliant rescuees, (4) educating the public, and (5) increasing compliance with closed roads. Current findings provide valuable insights into how rescuers can be supported in performing their roles, and implementation of these strategies has the potential to reduce fatalities occurring due to driving through floodwater. SO WHAT?: The strategies presented have the potential to reduce the frequency and improve the outcomes of floodwater rescues, aiding in the prevention of injury and death. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

A change of attitude: From rescue to prevention

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Covalschi, Valentina

2002-01-01

The qualitative and quantitative leap recorded by economical companies after the Romanian Revolution occurred in 1989, has positively influenced the functioning of the workplaces and working environment by increasing the employees' occupational safety, well being, health and results of their activities. In fact it has determined a new approach of safety culture. This has resulted in a change of attitude: from rescue to prevention. (author)

Embryo rescue of crosses between diploid and tetraploid grape ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

ajl yemi

2011-12-19

Dec 19, 2011 ... Five cross combinations Jumeigui×Xinghua No.1, 87-1×Kyoho, Kyoho×Muscat Hamburg, Jumeigui×. Hongqitezao and Red globle×Kyoho were used as the testing materials. Factors that affect embryo rescue from crossed seeds between diploid and tetraploid grape were studied applying L25(55).

Embryo rescue of crosses between diploid and tetraploid grape ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Five cross combinations Jumeigui×Xinghua No.1, 87-1×Kyoho, Kyoho×Muscat Hamburg, Jumeigui× Hongqitezao and Red globle×Kyoho were used as the testing materials. Factors that affect embryo rescue from crossed seeds between diploid and tetraploid grape were studied applying L25(55) orthogonal experiment ...

Tethered Balloon Technology in Design Solutions for Rescue and Relief Team Emergency Communication Services.

Science.gov (United States)

Alsamhi, Saeed Hamood; Ansari, Mohd Samar; Ma, Ou; Almalki, Faris; Gupta, Sachin Kumar

2018-05-23

The actions taken at the initial times of a disaster are critical. Catastrophe occurs because of terrorist acts or natural hazards which have the potential to disrupt the infrastructure of wireless communication networks. Therefore, essential emergency functions such as search, rescue, and recovery operations during a catastrophic event will be disabled. We propose tethered balloon technology to provide efficient emergency communication services and reduce casualty mortality and morbidity for disaster recovery. The tethered balloon is an actively developed research area and a simple solution to support the performance, facilities, and services of emergency medical communication. The most critical requirement for rescue and relief teams is having a higher quality of communication services which enables them to save people's lives. Using our proposed technology, it has been reported that the performance of rescue and relief teams significantly improved. OPNET Modeler 14.5 is used for a network simulated with the help of ad hoc tools (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;page 1 of 8).

Prospects of using medium-wave band for radio communication with rescue mobile teams of EMERCOM of Russia

Science.gov (United States)

Bazhukov, I. F.; Dulkejt, I. V.; Zavyalov, S. A.; Lvova, Yu V.; Lyashuk, A. N.; Puzyrev, P. I.; Rekunov, S. G.; Chaschin, E. A.; Sharapov, S. V.

2018-01-01

The results of tests in-situ of the prototype of medium-wave mobile radio station «Noema-SV» in Western Siberia, Omsk region and Vorkuta Arctic Integrated Emergency and Rescue Center of EMERCOM of Russia are presented. Radio paths tests in-situ in the Far North show the possibility of radio communication with rescue mobile teams of EMERCOM of Russia in the medium-wave band within distances of several tens of kilometers of rugged topography. The radio range on a flat terrain increases to several hundreds of kilometers. Shortened medium-wave band antennas developed at OmSTU and employed by rescue mobile teams of EMERCOM of Russia were used in.

Space rescue system definition (system performance analysis and trades)

Science.gov (United States)

Housten, Sam; Elsner, Tim; Redler, Ken; Svendsen, Hal; Wenzel, Sheri

This paper addresses key technical issues involved in the system definition of the Assured Crew Return Vehicle (ACRV). The perspective on these issues is that of a prospective ACRV contractor, performing system analysis and trade studies. The objective of these analyses and trade studies is to develop the recovery vehicle system concept and top level requirements. The starting point for this work is the definition of the set of design missions for the ACRV. This set of missions encompasses three classes of contingency/emergency (crew illness/injury, space station catastrophe/failure, transportation element catastrophe/failure). The need is to provide a system to return Space Station crew to Earth quickly (less than 24 hours) in response to randomly occurring contingency events over an extended period of time (30 years of planned Space Station life). The main topics addressed and characterized in this paper include the following: Key Recovery (Rescue) Site Access Considerations; Rescue Site Locations and Distribution; Vehicle Cross Range vs Site Access; On-orbit Loiter Capability and Vehicle Design; and Water vs. Land Recovery.

Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL): Using Internet for Effective Language Learning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kremenska, Anelly

2006-01-01

Please, cite this publication as: Kremenska, A. (2006). Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL): Using Internet for Effective Language Learning. Proceedings of International Workshop in Learning Networks for Lifelong Competence Development, TENCompetence Conference. March 30th-31st, Sofia,

Call for new OWSD Fellowships for Early Career Women Scientists ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

2018-05-03

May 3, 2018 ... Call for new OWSD Fellowships for Early Career Women Scientists now open ... or mathematics; and employed at an academic or scientific research ... research groups that will attract international visitors; and to develop links with ... opportunity to support Canadian-African research teams studying Ebola.

46 CFR 133.175 - Survival craft and rescue boat equipment.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... line 1 2 1 2 15 Instruction card 1 1 17 Knife 1,3 1 1 1 1 18 Ladder 1 1 19 Mirror, signalling 1 1 20... Not required for inflated or rigid-inflated rescue boats. 3 A hatchet counts towards this requirement...

Volunteers Oriented Interface Design for the Remote Navigation of Rescue Robots at Large-Scale Disaster Sites

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Zhixiao; Ito, Kazuyuki; Saijo, Kazuhiko; Hirotsune, Kazuyuki; Gofuku, Akio; Matsuno, Fumitoshi

This paper aims at constructing an efficient interface being similar to those widely used in human daily life, to fulfill the need of many volunteer rescuers operating rescue robots at large-scale disaster sites. The developed system includes a force feedback steering wheel interface and an artificial neural network (ANN) based mouse-screen interface. The former consists of a force feedback steering control and a six monitors’ wall. It provides a manual operation like driving cars to navigate a rescue robot. The latter consists of a mouse and a camera’s view displayed in a monitor. It provides a semi-autonomous operation by mouse clicking to navigate a rescue robot. Results of experiments show that a novice volunteer can skillfully navigate a tank rescue robot through both interfaces after 20 to 30 minutes of learning their operation respectively. The steering wheel interface has high navigating speed in open areas, without restriction of terrains and surface conditions of a disaster site. The mouse-screen interface is good at exact navigation in complex structures, while bringing little tension to operators. The two interfaces are designed to switch into each other at any time to provide a combined efficient navigation method.

The potential use of unmanned aircraft systems (drones) in mountain search and rescue operations.

Science.gov (United States)

Karaca, Yunus; Cicek, Mustafa; Tatli, Ozgur; Sahin, Aynur; Pasli, Sinan; Beser, Muhammed Fatih; Turedi, Suleyman

2018-04-01

This study explores the potential use of drones in searching for and locating victims and of motorized transportation of search and rescue providers in a mountain environment using a simulation model. This prospective randomized simulation study was performed in order to compare two different search and rescue techniques in searching for an unconscious victim on snow-covered ground. In the control arm, the Classical Line Search Technique (CLT) was used, in which the search is performed on foot and the victim is reached on foot. In the intervention arm, the Drone-snowmobile Technique (DST) was used, the search being performed by drone and the victim reached by snowmobile. The primary outcome of the study was the comparison of the two search and rescue techniques in terms of first human contact time. Twenty search and rescue operations were conducted in this study. Median time to arrival at the mannequin was 57.3min for CLT, compared to 8.9min for DST. The median value of the total searched area was 88,322.0m 2 for CLT and 228,613.0m 2 for DST. The median area searched per minute was 1489.6m 2 for CLT and 32,979.9m 2 for DST (pdrone using DST compared to the classical technique, and the victim can be located faster and reached earlier with rescuers transported by snowmobile. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Timelines, borderlines and conflicts: the historical evolution of the legal divide between international and non-international armed conflicts

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bartels, R.

2009-01-01

Calls have been made in recent years for the legal distinction between international and non-international armed conflicts to be removed. Also as of late, confusion regarding the applicable legal regime has been created by so-called transnational conflicts involving non-state entities. These

Dynamic call center routing policies using call waiting and agent idle times

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Chan, W.; Koole, G.M.; L'Ecuyer, P.

2014-01-01

We study call routing policies for call centers with multiple call types and multiple agent groups. We introduce new weight-based routing policies where each pair (call type, agent group) is given a matching priority defined as an affine combination of the longest waiting time for that call type and

Native flora rescue program: GASENE project case study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Serricchio, Claudio; Caldas, Flaviana V. [PETROBRAS, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Akahori, Lisa [Telsan, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Jacomelli Junior, Jose Almir [AGF Engenharia, Araucaria, PR (Brazil)

2009-07-01

Concerning the surrounding flora, the implementation of pipelines may cause fragmentation and isolation of the remaining natural vegetation, possibly changing the forest structure; thus raising the border effect; modifying the ratio of species and life forms, decreasing the vegetal diversity and/or causing a lack of connectivity among the remaining indigenous forest resources. In the case of pipelines, the most important environmental measure intended to mitigate the damage caused to the flora is the adoption of Indigenous Flora Rescue Programs. This paper is aimed at analyzing the programs currently applied during the implementation of the GASENE project, by conducting a case study. The main targets of such program are obtaining seeds and fruits with a view to subsidize the potential production of sapling to be further employed in the recovery of areas impacted by the pipeline works; and then relocate the most significant samples of species rescued from the suppressed areas in order to comprise forest areas adjacent to the pipeline's right-of-way. The programs had little differences in their methodology while being implemented, however, we consider that up to the present moment the results obtained in the preservation of species of native flora have been satisfactory. (author)

Single-step generation of gene knockout-rescue system in pluripotent stem cells by promoter insertion with CRISPR/Cas9.

Science.gov (United States)

Matsunaga, Taichi; Yamashita, Jun K

2014-02-07

Specific gene knockout and rescue experiments are powerful tools in developmental and stem cell biology. Nevertheless, the experiments require multiple steps of molecular manipulation for gene knockout and subsequent rescue procedures. Here we report an efficient and single step strategy to generate gene knockout-rescue system in pluripotent stem cells by promoter insertion with CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology. We inserted a tetracycline-regulated inducible gene promoter (tet-OFF/TRE-CMV) upstream of the endogenous promoter region of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2/Flk1) gene, an essential gene for endothelial cell (EC) differentiation, in mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) with homologous recombination. Both homo- and hetero-inserted clones were efficiently obtained through a simple selection with a drug-resistant gene. The insertion of TRE-CMV promoter disrupted endogenous Flk1 expression, resulting in null mutation in homo-inserted clones. When the inserted TRE-CMV promoter was activated with doxycycline (Dox) depletion, Flk1 expression was sufficiently recovered from the downstream genomic Flk1 gene. Whereas EC differentiation was almost completely perturbed in homo-inserted clones, Flk1 rescue with TRE-CMV promoter activation restored EC appearance, indicating that phenotypic changes in EC differentiation can be successfully reproduced with this knockout-rescue system. Thus, this promoter insertion strategy with CRISPR/Cas9 would be a novel attractive method for knockout-rescue experiments. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Exploring the ethical landscape of robot-assisted Search and Rescue

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Harbers, M.; Greeff, J. de; Kruijff-Korbayová, I.; Neerincx, M.A.; Hindriks, K.V.

2017-01-01

As robots are increasingly used in Search and Rescue (SAR) missions, it becomes highly relevant to study how SAR robots can be developed and deployed in a responsible way. In contrast to some other robot application domains, e.g. military and healthcare, the ethics of robot-assisted SAR are

Infectious diseases in dogs rescued during dogfighting investigations.

Science.gov (United States)

Cannon, S H; Levy, J K; Kirk, S K; Crawford, P C; Leutenegger, C M; Shuster, J J; Liu, J; Chandrashekar, R

2016-05-01

Dogs used for dogfighting often receive minimal preventive health care, and the potential for spread of infectious diseases is high. The purpose of this study was to describe the prevalence of infectious diseases in dogs rescued from fighting operations to guide medical protocols for their immediate and long-term care. A total of 269 pit bull-type dogs were seized in a multi-state investigation. Fleas were present on most dogs, but few ticks were observed. Testing performed at intake included packed cell volume (PCV), serology and PCR for vector-borne pathogens, and fecal analysis. The most common infections were Babesia gibsoni (39%), 'Candidatus Mycoplasma haematoparvum' (32%), Mycoplasma haemocanis (30%), Dirofilaria immitis (12%), and Ancylostoma (23%). Anemia was associated with B. gibsoni infection (63% of infected dogs, odds ratio = 2.5, P dogs from dogfighting cases should include broad-spectrum internal and external parasiticides and monitoring for anemia. Dogfighting case responders should be prepared for mass screening and treatment of B. gibsoni and heartworm infections and should implement protocols to prevent transmission of infectious and zoonotic diseases in the shelter and following adoption. Former fighting dogs and dogs with possible dog bite scars should not be used as blood donors due to the risk of vector-borne pathogens that can escape detection and for which curative treatment is difficult to document. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Rescue apparatus for a high working oil derrick

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Prokopov, O.P.; Yagudin, S.Z.

1980-05-18

In order to improve reliability of the rescue apparatus a device for lowering a basket is made in the form of a collapsible forked support installed in the vertical plane inclined away from the tower. Its lower ends are attached by hinges to the base of the derrick. The upper end is connected to the derrick by means of a fastener. The apparatus has brakes with shock straps for receiving forked support.

Mental, physical and social health problems of call centre workers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P Bhuyar

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Call centre workers in BPO face unique occupational hazards - mental, physical and psychosocial. Material & Method: A sample 100 call centre workers of both sexes and from two cities Pune and Mumbai were surveyed by both qualitative and quantitative methods for the above health problems. Results: A high proportion of workers faced sleep disturbances and associated mental stress and anxiety. Sleep disturbance and anxiety was significantly more in international call centres compared to domestic. There was also disturbance in circadian rhythms due to night shift. Physical problems such as musculoskeletal disorders, obesity, eye, and hearing problems were also present. Psychosocial problems included disruption in family life, use of tobacco and alcohol, and faulty eating habits. Conclusion: Better personal management, health education and more research is indicated to study the health problems in this emerging occupation.

FEASIBILITY STUDY OF INEXPENSIVE THERMAL SENSORS AND SMALL UAS DEPLOYMENT FOR LIVING HUMAN DETECTION IN RESCUE MISSIONS APPLICATION SCENARIOS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. Levin

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Significant efforts are invested by rescue agencies worldwide to save human lives during natural and man-made emergency situations including those that happen in wilderness locations. These emergency situations include but not limited to: accidents with alpinists, mountainous skiers, people hiking and lost in remote areas. Sometimes in a rescue operation hundreds of first responders are involved to save a single human life. There are two critical issues where geospatial imaging can be a very useful asset in rescue operations support: 1 human detection and 2 confirming a fact that detected a human being is alive. International group of researchers from the Unites States and Poland collaborated on a pilot research project devoted to identify a feasibility of use for the human detection and alive-human state confirmation small unmanned aerial vehicles (SUAVs and inexpensive forward looking infrared (FLIR sensors. Equipment price for both research teams was below $8,000 including 3DR quadrotor UAV and Lepton longwave infrared (LWIR imager which costs around $250 (for the US team; DJI Inspire 1 UAS with commercial Tamarisc-320 thermal camera (for the Polish team. Specifically both collaborating groups performed independent experiments in the USA and Poland and shared imaging data of on the ground and airborne electro-optical and FLIR sensor imaging collected. In these experiments dead bodies were emulated by use of medical training dummies. Real humans were placed nearby as live human subjects. Electro-optical imagery was used for the research in optimal human detection algorithms. Furthermore, given the fact that a dead human body after several hours has a temperature of the surrounding environment our experiments were challenged by the SUAS data optimization, i.e., distance from SUAV to object so that the FLIR sensor is still capable to distinguish temperature differences between a dummy and a real human. Our experiments indicated feasibility of

Review of the rescue, rehabilitation and restoration of oiled seabirds ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Review of the rescue, rehabilitation and restoration of oiled seabirds in South Africa, especially African penguins Spheniscus demersus and Cape gannets Morus capensis , 1983–2005. ... In addition, oiling has a long-term negative impact on the breeding productivity and cost of reproduction in de-oiled birds. The primary ...

Transfection of embryonated Muscovy duck eggs with a recombinant plasmid is suitable for rescue of infectious Muscovy duck parvovirus.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Jianye; Huang, Yu; Ling, Jueyi; Wang, Zhixiang; Zhu, Guoqiang

2017-12-01

For members of the family Parvoviridae, rescue of infectious virus from recombinant plasmid is usually done in cultured cells. In this study, the whole genome of the pathogenic Muscovy duck parvovirus (MDPV) strain YY was cloned into the pBluescript II (SK) vector, generating recombinant plasmid pYY. With the aid of a transfection reagent, pYY plasmid was inoculated into 11-day-old embryonated Muscovy duck eggs via the chorioallantoic membrane route, resulting in the successful rescue of infectious virus and death of the embryos. The rescued virus exhibited pathogenicity in Muscovy ducklings similar to that of its parental strain, as evaluated based on the mortality rate. The results demonstrate that plasmid transfection in embryonated Muscovy duck eggs is a convenient and efficacious method for rescue of infectious MDPV in comparison to transfection of primary cells, which is somewhat time-consuming and laborious.

Cracking the humanitarian logistic coordination challenge: lessons from the urban search and rescue community.

Science.gov (United States)

Tatham, Peter; Spens, Karen

2016-04-01

The challenges of achieving successful inter-agency logistic coordination in preparing for and responding to natural disasters and complex emergencies are both well understood and well documented. However, although many of these challenges remain unresolved, the literature reveals that the organisations that form the urban search and rescue (USAR) community have attained a high level of coherence and interoperability that results in a highly efficient and effective response. Therefore, this paper uses the idea of 'borrowing' from other fields as it explores how the processes and procedures used by the USAR community might be applied to improve humanitarian logistic operations. The paper analyses the USAR model and explores how the resultant challenges might be addressed in a humanitarian logistic context. The paper recommends that further research be undertaken in order to develop a modified USAR model that could be operationalised by the international community of humanitarian logisticians. © 2016 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2016.

A change of attitude: from rescue to prevention

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Covalschi, Valentina I.

2003-01-01

The qualitative and quantitative leap recorded by economical companies after the Romanian Revolution occurred in 1989, has positively influenced the functioning of the workplaces and working environment by increasing the employees' occupational safety, well being, health and results of their activities. In fact it has determined a new approach of safety culture. This has resulted in a change of attitude: from rescue to prevention. The paper is addressing the steps in which this change has been occurred. (author)

Medical rescue of naval combat: challenges and future

OpenAIRE

Jin, Hai; Hou, Li-Jun; Fu, Xiao-Bing

2015-01-01

There has been no large-scale naval combat in the last 30?years. With the rapid development of battleships, weapons manufacturing and electronic technology, naval combat will present some new characteristics. Additionally, naval combat is facing unprecedented challenges. In this paper, we discuss the topic of medical rescue at sea: what challenges we face and what we could do. The contents discussed in this paper contain battlefield self-aid buddy care, clinical skills, organized health servi...

Analisis Fungsi Dan Kedudukan Internal Auditor Pada Call Center PT. Telkomsel Medan

OpenAIRE

Yanti, Devi

2011-01-01

A plan in a company is very essential , because in the fact a plan have more function than the other manager functions. Technic method of collecting data use in research is interview, and reference. From the result of research that internal auditor function in the company examination of activities in order suitable with the rule. In this case the internal auditor need independency for opinion in order the best report can be the result and the monitoring will be success. ...

Propranolol Effects on Decompression Sickness in a Simulated DISSUB Rescue in Swine.

Science.gov (United States)

Forbes, Angela S; Regis, David P; Hall, Aaron A; Mahon, Richard T; Cronin, William A

2017-04-01

Disabled submarine (DISSUB) survivors may face elevated CO2 levels and inert gas saturation, putting them at risk for CO2 toxicity and decompression sickness (DCS). Propranolol was shown to reduce CO2 production in an experimental DISSUB model in humans but its effects on DCS in a DISSUB rescue scenario are unknown. A 100% oxygen prebreathe (OPB) reduces DCS incidence and severity and is incorporated into some DISSUB rescue protocols. We used a swine model of DISSUB rescue to study the effect of propranolol on DCS incidence and mortality with and without an OPB. In Experiment 1, male Yorkshire Swine (70 kg) were pressurized to 2.8 ATA for 22 h. Propranolol 1.0 mg · kg-1 (IV) was administered at 21.25 h. At 22 h, the animal was rapidly decompressed and observed for DCS type, onset time, and mortality. Experimental animals (N = 21; 69 ± 4.1 kg), PROP1.0, were compared to PROP1.0-OPB45 (N = 8; 69 ± 2.8 kg) with the same dive profile, except for a 45 min OPB prior to decompression. In Experiment 2, the same methodology was used with the following changes: swine pressurized to 2.8 ATA for 28 h; experimental group (N = 25; 67 ± 3.3 kg), PROP0.5 bis, propranolol 0.5 mg · kg-1 bis (twice) (IV) was administered at 22 h and 26 h. Control animals (N = 25; 67 ± 3.9 kg) received normal saline. OPB reduced mortality in PROP1.0-OBP45 compared to PROP1.0 (0% vs. 71%). PROP0.5 bis had increased mortality compared to CONTROL (60-% vs. 4%). Administration of beta blockers prior to saturation decompression appears to increase DCS and worsen mortality in a swine model; however, their effects in bounce diving remain unknown.Forbes AS, Regis DP, HallAA, Mahon RT, Cronin WA. Propranolol effects on decompression sickness in a simulated DISSUB rescue in swine. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2017; 88(4):385-391.

TTP specifically regulates the internalization of the transferrin receptor

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tosoni, Daniela; Puri, Claudia; Confalonieri, Stefano

2005-01-01

Different plasma membrane receptors are internalized through saturable/noncompetitive pathways, suggesting cargo-specific regulation. Here, we report that TTP (SH3BP4), a SH3-containing protein, specifically regulates the internalization of the transferrin receptor (TfR). TTP interacts...... with endocytic proteins, including clathrin, dynamin, and the TfR, and localizes selectively to TfR-containing coated-pits (CCP) and -vesicles (CCV). Overexpression of TTP specifically inhibits TfR internalization, and causes the formation of morphologically aberrant CCP, which are probably fission impaired....... This effect is mediated by the SH3 of TTP, which can bind to dynamin, and it is rescued by overexpression of dynamin. Functional ablation of TTP causes a reduction in TfR internalization, and reduced cargo loading and size of TfR-CCV. Tyrosine phosphorylation of either TTP or dynamin prevents...

Evaluation of FTA(®) card for the rescue of infectious foot-and-mouth disease virus by chemical transfection of extracted RNA in cultured cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Biswal, Jitendra K; Subramaniam, Saravanan; Ranjan, Rajeev; Pattnaik, Bramhadev

2016-08-01

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious epidemic disease of transboundary importance. Inadequate storage and shipment of suspected clinical samples can compromise the ability to detect and characterise FMD virus (FMDV) in endemic countries, thereby, leading to the loss of valuable virological and epidemiological data. This study, investigates the potential of using FTA(®) cards for dry transportation of clinical samples and subsequent recovery of infectious FMDV by chemical transfection of FTA(®) card fixed RNA as an alternative to the conventional cell culture based virus isolation method. A higher proportion of infectious FMDV was rescued from clinical samples (cell culture isolates, tongue epithelial suspension and impression smears) by the FTA(®) card fixed RNA transfection method (76%) compared to the conventional cell culture based virus isolation (56%), suggesting a better performance of the current RNA transfection procedure. Furthermore, it was possible to rescue live virus by the transfection of RNA extracted from FTA(®) card impregnated with clinical samples that had been stored at varying temperature (4-37 °C) up to a period of six weeks. The VP1 sequence data and antigenic relationships with the vaccine strains, between viruses rescued by FTA(®) card fixed RNA transfection and conventional cell culture, were comparable. Therefore, these results support the use of the FTA(®) card for the economic, dry, non-hazardous transport of FMD suspected clinical samples from the site of collection to national/international reference laboratories. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

47 CFR 22.921 - 911 call processing procedures; 911-only calling mode.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... programming in the mobile unit that determines the handling of a non-911 call and permit the call to be... CARRIER SERVICES PUBLIC MOBILE SERVICES Cellular Radiotelephone Service § 22.921 911 call processing procedures; 911-only calling mode. Mobile telephones manufactured after February 13, 2000 that are capable of...

33 CFR 149.303 - What survival craft and rescue boats may be used on a manned deepwater port?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false What survival craft and rescue boats may be used on a manned deepwater port? 149.303 Section 149.303 Navigation and Navigable Waters... craft and rescue boats may be used on a manned deepwater port? (a) Each survival craft on a manned...

Problematizing opportunity pursuit: Multidimensional embeddedness of international entrepreneurship

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ferguson, J.E.; Tea, San; Dahles, H.; Wakkee, I.A.M.; Moser, C.; Spierenburg, M.J.

International business scholars are increasingly calling for more awareness of the local context in which international entrepreneurs pursue business opportunities. In this paper, we respond to this call, arguing that an entrepreneur’s business network engenders self-sustaining dynamics that bear

A Standardized "Rescue" Exercise Program for Symptomatic Flare-up of Knee Osteoarthritis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bartholdy, Cecilie; Klokker, Louise; Bandak, Elisabeth

2016-01-01

the implementation of standardized rescue exercises for patients with pain exacerbations and to assess whether performing these benefit or further worsen symptoms in patients with exacerbated symptoms of knee OA. Methods The data from 2 randomized controlled studies of exercise in patients with knee OA were used......Study Design Secondary analysis of clinical trial data. Background Knee osteoarthritis (OA) management has changed significantly over recent decades toward nonpharmacological treatments, particularly exercise. However, the optimal exercise program remains to be established. Objective To describe....... A supervised, standard exercise program that included standardized "rescue" exercises to be performed in the event of symptomatic exacerbation, defined as knee pain of greater than 5 on a 0-to-10 numeric pain-rating scale, was conducted for 12 weeks at 3 sessions per week. Pain ratings were obtained before...

ADMINISTRATIVE CIRCULAR No. 25 (REV. 3) - Special provisions for the fire and rescue service governing working and rest time

CERN Multimedia

2012-01-01

Administrative Circular No. 25 (Rev. 3) entitled “Special provisions for the Fire and Rescue Service governing working and rest time”, approved by the Director-General following discussion at the Standing Concertation Committee meeting of 28 September 2012 and entering into force in October 2012, is available on the intranet site of the Human Resources Department: http://cern.ch/hr-docs/admincirc/admincirc.asp This Circular is applicable to staff members of the Fire and Rescue Service It cancels and replaces Administrative Circular No. 25 (Rev. 2) entitled “Shift work – Special provisions for the Fire and Rescue Service” of April 2003. This new version takes into account the new organisation of the Fire and Rescue Service, members of which will henceforth not exclusively perform their functions in the context of shift work, but also during reference working hours and during stand-by duty. Additionally, applicable limits regarding working and rest times an...

Rescuing mutant CFTR: a multi-task approach to a better outcome in treating cystic fibrosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Amaral, Margarida D; Farinha, Carlos M

2013-01-01

Correcting multiple defects of mutant CFTR with small molecule compounds has been the goal of an increasing number of recent Cystic Fibrosis (CF) drug discovery programmes. However, the mechanism of action (MoA) by which these molecules restore mutant CFTR is still poorly understood, in particular of CFTR correctors, i.e., compounds rescuing to the cells surface the most prevalent mutant in CF patients--F508del-CFTR. However, there is increasing evidence that to fully restore the multiple defects associated with F508del-CFTR, different small molecules with distinct corrective properties may be required. Towards this goal, a better insight into MoA of correctors is needed and several constraints should be addressed. The methodological approaches to achieve this include: 1) testing the combined effect of compounds with that of other (non-pharmacological) rescuing strategies (e.g., revertants or low temperature); 2) assessing effects in multiple cellular models (non-epithelial vs epithelial, non-human vs human, immortalized vs primary cultures, polarized vs non polarized, cells vs tissues); 3) assessing compound effects on isolated CFTR domains (e.g., compound binding by surface plasmon resonance, assessing effects on domain folding and aggregation); and finally 4) assessing compounds specificity in rescuing different CFTR mutants and other mutant proteins. These topics are reviewed and discussed here so as to provide a state-of-the art review on how to combine multiple ways of rescuing mutant CFTR to the ultimate benefit of CF patients.

Distributed geo-services based on Wireless GIS- a case study for post-quake rescue information system

OpenAIRE

Liu, Yimei

2014-01-01

A useful application of Wireless GIS is the handling of natural disasters such as earthquakes. This thesis is dedicated to the construction and implementation of a post-quake rescue information system based on open source data and software programs. The emphasis is laid on the assessment of losses in the disaster area, estimation of collapsing buildings and trapped population, and efficient transmission of all the rescue-relevant information. The realized workflow of using open source data an...

Paranormal experience in a medico-swimming rescue: a case study.

Science.gov (United States)

Avramidis, Stathis

2013-06-01

This study looks at the case of a 20-year-old fisherman, who was speared in the head, the spear entering at his jaw and protruding from the top of his scull, while he was swimming unaccompanied; he was rescued, admitted to the intensive care unit for an operation, remained in a coma for a few days and then had a full recovery. About 10 days before the rescue, he had visited a monk who, intuited and functioning as channel of the divine spirit, had told him that he 'should not be afraid of anything', rubbing the top of his scull and his jaw exactly at the points through which the 40-inch spear passed. After the incident, the monk prescience again the exact day on which he would recover from the coma. It is concluded that the survival of the fisherman can be attributed to a paranormal event. The monk's prescience permit the assumption that a divine spirit was pervasive throughout the universe and present in this life-threatening situation, endeavouring to assist the lifeguard, the neurosurgeons and the young fisherman.

Computer aid in rescue organisation on site in case of catastrophic situation on nuclear plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Teissier, M.

1992-01-01

The rescue organisation in case of catastrophic situation is based on known principles: creation of medical buffer structures between hazard spot where injured people are being collected and rear hospitals, triage of victims as urgent casualties. We will propose computer aid in order to value the time used to prepare and evacuate all the victims from the site, knowing inventory of available means, waiting periods and lengths of intervention, types and number of victims. Thus, it is possible to optimize the former organisation, qualitatively and quantitatively to improve efficiency in rescuing operations. (author)

Mechanism of As2O3-Induced Action Potential Prolongation and Using hiPS-CMs to Evaluate the Rescue Efficacy of Drugs With Different Rescue Mechanism.

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Meng; Feng, Lifang; Shi, Yanhui; Wang, Junnan; Liu, Yan; Li, Fengmei; Li, Baoxin

2017-08-01

Arsenic trioxide (As2O3) has been verified as a breakthrough in the management of acute promyelocytic leukemia in recent decades. However, cardiotoxicity, especially long QT syndrome (LQTS) has become the most important issue during As2O3 treatment. The characterized mechanisms behind this adverse effect are inhibition of cardiac hERG channel trafficking and increase of cardiac calcium currents. In our study, we found a new pathway underlying As2O3-induced cardiotoxicity that As2O3 accelerates lysosomal degradation of hERG on plasma membrane after using brefeldin A (BFA) to block protein trafficking. Then we explored pharmacological rescue strategies on As2O3-induced LQTS, and found that 4 therapeutic agents exert rescue efficacy via 3 different pathways: fexofenadine and astemizole facilitate hERG trafficking via promotion of channel-chaperone formation after As2O3 incubation; ranolazine slows hERG degradation in the presence of As2O3; and resveratrol shows significant attenuation on calcium current increase triggered by As2O3. Moreover, we used human-induced pluripotent stem cell derived cardiomyocytes (hiPS-CMs) to evaluate the rescue effects of the above agents on As2O3-induced prolongation of action potential duration (APD) and demonstrated that fexofenadine and resveratrol significantly ameliorate the prolonged APD. These observations suggested that pharmacological chaperone like fexofenadine and resveratrol might have the potential to protect against the cardiotoxicity of As2O3. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Toxicology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

First Announcement and Call for Papers SECOND INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON FLOOD DEFENCE

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

无

2001-01-01

as follows:-History of flood defence -Hydrology and precipitation -Flood modeling -Pollution and disease pathogens -Flood plain and flood plain management -Disasters induced by sedimentation and erosion -Landslide and debris flow -Reservoir and reservoir management -Environmental impact of floods -Urban drainage system -Global climate modeling -Coastal floods and storm surges -New development in flood prevention -Drainage management -Real time control of flooding -Strategies/concepts on flood defence -Laws and policies on flood control -Experience and practices in flood control -Flood insurance -Hydro-informatics -Engineering measures mitigating flooding disasters CALL FOR PAPERS Papers are invited on the topics indicated and others falling within the scope of the conference. The official language of the conference is English, so papers and all correspondence are required in English. Two copies of abstract of about 400 words, clearly stating the purpose, results and conclusions of the work to be presented in the full paper should be submitted to the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) before 31 Dec. 2001 for review. Each abstract should clearly state the most relevant conference topics. The full-length paper is limited within 6-8 pages. LOC will forward simple typing instructions for preparing papers to the authors together with the notification of acceptance of their abstracts. No camera-ready manuscripts but a word-file of the paper (including all tables and figures) are required.The LOC will edit and print all papers in an identical format before sending for press. The proceedings will be published by an international press house.ADVISORY COMMITTEE Chairpersons QIAN Zheng-ying (Vice president of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference) YANG Zhen-Huai (Ex-Minister of Water Resources of China)Alam, S. France Petry, Bela Netherlands Cao, Zhengqi China Plate, E.J. Germany Chen, C.J. USA Rodi, W. Germany Dai, Dingzhong China Saad, M.B.A. Egytp Di Silvio, G

Human-Based Human Milk Fortifier as Rescue Therapy in Very Low Birth Weight Infants Demonstrating Intolerance to Bovine-Based Human Milk Fortifier.

Science.gov (United States)

Sandhu, Amanjot; Fast, Sharla; Bonnar, Kari; Baier, Ronald John; Narvey, Michael

2017-11-01

To describe the results of utilizing a human milk-based human milk fortifier (HMHMF) as rescue therapy to meet nutritional requirements in very low birth weight and preterm infants demonstrating feeding intolerance to bovine-based human milk fortifier (BHMF) in the Canadian Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) setting. At two Level III NICUs in Winnipeg, MB, Canada, a rescue protocol was implemented to provide HMHMF for infants demonstrating intolerance to BHMF. To qualify for rescue, infants were required to experience two episodes of significant gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms associated with fortification with BHMF. A case series report was conducted retrospectively examining the success of rescue therapy, growth rates, protein, and calorie intakes before and after initiation of HMHMF in seven infants. Seven infants (birth weight 723 ± 247 g, gestation 25.3 ± 3.4 weeks) were treated with rescue fortification with HMHMF. All infants were transitioned off parenteral nutrition (PN) without relapse of GI symptoms. Growth rate, protein, and calorie intakes improved with the use of HMHMF. Very low birth weight and preterm infants with GI intolerance to BHMF were successfully rescued with use of HMHMF. Improvements in growth were achieved without need for supplementation with PN through achievement of sufficient enteral calorie and protein intakes.

[Reliability and validity of assessment of educational outcomes obtained by students of Medical Rescue at Medical University of Warsaw].

Science.gov (United States)

Panczyk, Mariusz; Stachacz, Grzegorz; Gałązkowski, Robert; Gotlib, Joanna

2016-01-01

In the interest of preservation of high degree of objectivity of information about students' educational outcomes, a system of assessment needs to meet criteria of appropriate reliability and validity. Analysis of reliability and validity of the system of assessment of students' educational outcomes for courses followed by an examination and covered by a curriculum in Medical Rescue at Medical University of Warsaw (MU W). A retrospective study enrolling a group of 421 students of eight subsequent full education cycles. Detailed data concerning grades for fourteen courses followed by an examination in the entire course of studies were collected. Reliability (Cronbach's alpha coefficient) and criteria validity (Spearman's rank correlation) were assessed. Internal consistency was estimated using a multiple regression model. The levels of assessment reliability for the general university, pre-clinical, and clinical scopes amounted to alpha: 0.42, 0.53, and 0.70, respectively. The strongest positive correlations between the results of pre-clinical and clinical trainings were found for the Anatomy course (r ≈ 0.30). Only in the case of the Pharmacology course it was found that students' achievements in this field were significantly correlated with all other courses of clinical training. The influence of educational outcomes in particular areas of clinical training on the final grade for the entire course of studies was diverse (β regression between 0.04 and 0.11). While the Pharmacology course had the strongest impact on final results, the Surgery course had the least influence on students' final grades (β = 0.04). 1. Sufficient reliability of the system of assessment of educational outcomes in Medical Rescue showed good precision and repeatability of assessment. 2. A low level of validity was caused by a failure to keep the appropriateness of the assessment of educational outcomes in several clinical courses. 3. Prognostic and diagnostic validity of methods used for

Rescue dose orders as an alternative to range orders: an evidence-based practice project.

Science.gov (United States)

Yi, Cassia

2015-06-01

Relief of pain is a fundamental aspect of optimal patient care. However, pain management in the inpatient setting is often constrained by concerns related to regulatory oversight, particularly with regard to the use of opioid dose range orders. These concerns can inadvertently result in the development of policies and practices that can negatively impact the health care team's ability to deliver optimal and individualized pain management. An evidence-based practice project was undertaken to address concerns about regulatory oversight of pain management processes by changing the way pain was managed in a large academic hospital setting. A novel pain management approach using rescue dose medications was established as an alternative to opioid dose range orders. The use of the rescue dose protocol was successfully implemented. Outcomes included an overall reduction in the administration of inappropriate intravenous opioids and opioid-acetaminophen combination medications, with a subsequent increase in single-entity first-line opioid analgesics. Rescue dose protocols may offer an alternative to opioid dose range orders as a means of effectively managing pain. Copyright © 2015 American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Blueprint for Implementing New Processes in Acute Care: Rescuing Adult Patients With Intraosseous Access.

Science.gov (United States)

Chreiman, Kristen M; Kim, Patrick K; Garbovsky, Lyudmila A; Schweickert, William D

2015-01-01

The intraosseous (IO) access initiative at an urban university adult level 1 trauma center began from the need for a more expeditious vascular access route to rescue patients in extremis. The goal of this project was a multidisciplinary approach to problem solving to increase access of IO catheters to rescue patients in all care areas. The initiative became a collaborative effort between nursing, physicians, and pharmacy to embark on an acute care endeavor to standardize IO access. This is a descriptive analysis of processes to effectively develop collaborative strategies to navigate hospital systems and successfully implement multilayered initiatives. Administration should empower nurse to advance their practice to include IO for patient rescue. Intraosseous access may expedite resuscitative efforts in patients in extremis who lack venous access or where additional venous access is required for life-saving therapies. Limiting IO dwell time may facilitate timely definitive venous access. Continued education and training by offering IO skill laboratory refreshers and annual e-learning didactic is optimal for maintaining proficiency and knowledge. More research opportunities exist to determine medication safety and efficacy in adult patients in the acute care setting.

Desipramine rescues age-related phenotypes in depression-like rats induced by chronic mild stress.

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Xiaoxian; Chen, Yangyang; Wang, Qi; Shen, Qichen; Ma, Lingyan; Huang, Liangfeng; Wu, Tao; Fu, Zhengwei

2017-11-01

Our previous finding demonstrates that major depressive disorder can mediate accelerated aging in rats. Desipramine is a typical tricyclic antidepressant, and can provide neuroprotection and counteract depression-like behaviors. However, whether desipramine can rescue age-related phenotypes in depressed individuals is not understood. In the present study, we investigated the physiological function of desipramine on rescuing the age-related phenotypes in these animals. The rats were induced by chronic mild stress paradigm, and the depression-like behaviors of rats were detected by sucrose intake test, open field test (OFT) and forced swimming test (FST). Then the depressed rats were treated by desipramine. Desipramine administration was effective in counteracting depression-like behaviors by increasing the sucrose solution intake, reducing the immobility time in the FST, and increasing total distance travelled and numbers of grid line crossed in the OFT. Moreover, desipramine treatment was able to reduce the oxidative damage to rat liver, and to increase the expression of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT), leading to correspondingly restored telomerase activity. Our findings identify that one function of desipramine may partly be to rescue age-related phenotypes in depressed individuals induced by chronic stress. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Rescue of foot-and-mouth disease viruses that are pathogenic for cattle from preserved viral RNA samples.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Graham J Belsham

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Foot and mouth disease is an economically important disease of cloven-hoofed animals including cattle, sheep and pigs. It is caused by a picornavirus, foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV, which has a positive sense RNA genome which, when introduced into cells, can initiate virus replication. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A system has been developed to rescue infectious FMDV from RNA preparations generated from clinical samples obtained under experimental conditions and then applied to samples collected in the "field". Clinical samples from suspect cases of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD were obtained from within Pakistan and Afghanistan. The samples were treated to preserve the RNA and then transported to National Veterinary Institute, Lindholm, Denmark. Following RNA extraction, FMDV RNA was quantified by real-time RT-PCR and samples containing significant levels of FMDV RNA were introduced into susceptible cells using electroporation. Progeny viruses were amplified in primary bovine thyroid cells and characterized using antigen ELISA and also by RT-PCR plus sequencing. FMD viruses of three different serotypes and multiple lineages have been successfully rescued from the RNA samples. Two of the rescued viruses (of serotype O and Asia 1 were inoculated into bull calves under high containment conditions. Acute clinical disease was observed in each case which spread rapidly from the inoculated calves to in-contact animals. Thus the rescued viruses were highly pathogenic. The availability of the rescued viruses enabled serotyping by antigen ELISA and facilitated genome sequencing. CONCLUSIONS: The procedure described here should improve the characterization of FMDVs circulating in countries where the disease is endemic and thus enhance disease control globally.

Clinical emergency treatment of 68 critical patients with severe organophosphorus poisoning and prognosis analysis after rescue.

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, Hui; Weng, Yi-Bing; Zhen, Gen-Shen; Li, Feng-Jie; Jin, Ai-Chun; Liu, Jie

2017-06-01

This study reports the clinical emergency treatment of 68 critical patients with severe organophosphorus poisoning, and analyzes the prognosis after rescue.The general data of 68 patients with severe organophosphorus poisoning treated in our hospital were retrospectively analyzed. These patients were divided into 2 groups: treatment group, and control group. Patients in the control group received routine emergency treatment, while patients in the treatment group additionally received hemoperfusion plus hemodialysis on the basis of routine emergency treatment. The curative effects in these 2 groups and the prognosis after rescue were compared.Compared with the control group, atropinization time, recovery time of cholinesterase activity, recovery time of consciousness, extubation time, and length of hospital stay were shorter (P poisoning rebound rate was significantly lower (P treatment group.Hemoperfusion and hemodialysis on the basis of routine emergency treatment for critical patients with organophosphorus poisoning can improve rescue outcomes and improve the prognosis of patients, which should be popularized.

Biparental chloroplast inheritance leads to rescue from cytonuclear incompatibility.

Science.gov (United States)

Barnard-Kubow, Karen B; McCoy, Morgan A; Galloway, Laura F

2017-02-01

Although organelle inheritance is predominantly maternal across animals and plants, biparental chloroplast inheritance has arisen multiple times in the angiosperms. Biparental inheritance has the potential to impact the evolutionary dynamics of cytonuclear incompatibility, interactions between nuclear and organelle genomes that are proposed to be among the earliest types of genetic incompatibility to arise in speciation. We examine the interplay between biparental inheritance and cytonuclear incompatibility in Campanulastrum americanum, a plant species exhibiting both traits. We first determine patterns of chloroplast inheritance in genetically similar and divergent crosses, and then associate inheritance with hybrid survival across multiple generations. There is substantial biparental inheritance in C. americanum. The frequency of biparental inheritance is greater in divergent crosses and in the presence of cytonuclear incompatibility. Biparental inheritance helps to mitigate cytonuclear incompatibility, leading to increased fitness of F 1 hybrids and recovery in the F 2 generation. This study demonstrates the potential for biparental chloroplast inheritance to rescue cytonuclear compatibility, reducing cytonuclear incompatibility's contribution to reproductive isolation and potentially slowing speciation. The efficacy of rescue depended upon the strength of incompatibility, with a greater persistence of weak incompatibilities in later generations. These findings suggest that incompatible plastids may lead to selection for biparental inheritance. © 2016 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2016 New Phytologist Trust.

A screen for F1 hybrid male rescue reveals no major-effect hybrid lethality loci in the Drosophila melanogaster autosomal genome.

Science.gov (United States)

Cuykendall, Tawny N; Satyaki, P; Ji, Shuqing; Clay, Derek M; Edelman, Nathaniel B; Kimchy, Alexandra; Li, Ling-Hei; Nuzzo, Erin A; Parekh, Neil; Park, Suna; Barbash, Daniel A

2014-10-27

Hybrid sons between Drosophila melanogaster females and D. simulans males die as 3rd instar larvae. Two genes, D. melanogaster Hybrid male rescue (Hmr) on the X chromosome, and D. simulans Lethal hybrid rescue (Lhr) on chromosome II, interact to cause this lethality. Loss-of-function mutations in either gene suppress lethality, but several pieces of evidence suggest that additional factors are required for hybrid lethality. Here we screen the D. melanogaster autosomal genome by using the Bloomington Stock Center Deficiency kit to search for additional regions that can rescue hybrid male lethality. Our screen is designed to identify putative hybrid incompatibility (HI) genes similar to Hmr and Lhr which, when removed, are dominant suppressors of lethality. After screening 89% of the autosomal genome, we found no regions that rescue males to the adult stage. We did, however, identify several regions that rescue up to 13% of males to the pharate adult stage. This weak rescue suggests the presence of multiple minor-effect HI loci, but we were unable to map these loci to high resolution, presumably because weak rescue can be masked by genetic background effects. We attempted to test one candidate, the dosage compensation gene male specific lethal-3 (msl-3), by using RNA interference with short hairpin microRNA constructs targeted specifically against D. simulans msl-3 but failed to achieve knockdown, in part due to off-target effects. We conclude that the D. melanogaster autosomal genome likely does not contain additional major-effect HI loci. We also show that Hmr is insufficient to fully account for the lethality associated with the D. melanogaster X chromosome, suggesting that additional X-linked genes contribute to hybrid lethality. Copyright © 2014 Cuykendall et al.

Intraoperative use of a reflective blanket (Sirius rescue sheet) for temperature management in dogs less than 10 kg.

Science.gov (United States)

Tünsmeyer, J; Bojarski, I; Nolte, I; Kramer, S

2009-07-01

To compare the effects of the Sirius rescue sheet with gel pads versus gel pads alone on intraoperative body temperature in dogs less than 10 kg. Forty small breed dogs undergoing elective surgical procedures were randomly assigned to two groups. One group was intraoperatively laid on warmed gel pads, and the other group was additionally wrapped in a Sirius rescue sheet. Oesophageal body temperature was determined every 10 minutes and compared between groups. Temperature of gel pads was measured preoperatively and postoperatively to compare heat loss of the gel pads between groups. The body temperature of dogs wrapped with the Sirius rescue sheet increased intraoperatively. In dogs just lying on warmed gel pads, a decrease in mean body temperature was revealed and mean body temperatures differed between groups after 40 minutes. Extent of heat loss from the gel pads did not differ between the groups. The Sirius rescue sheet, used in addition to warmed gel pads, led to higher intraoperative body temperatures in small breed dogs undergoing surgical procedures to the extremities and the head. The cost-effectiveness and ease of handling make this a useful addition to clinical practice.

Effect of rescue breathing by lay rescuers for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest caused by respiratory disease: a nationwide, population-based, propensity score-matched study.

Science.gov (United States)

Fukuda, Tatsuma; Ohashi-Fukuda, Naoko; Kondo, Yutaka; Sera, Toshiki; Yahagi, Naoki

2017-06-01

The importance of respiratory care in cardiopulmonary resuscitation may vary depending on the cause of cardiac arrest. No previous study has investigated the effects of rescue breathing performed by a lay rescuer on the outcomes of patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) caused by intrinsic respiratory diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate whether rescue breathing performed by a lay rescuer is associated with outcomes after respiratory disease-related OHCA. In a nationwide, population-based, propensity score-matched study in Japan, among adult patients with OHCA caused by respiratory disease who received bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2010, we compared patients with rescue breathing to those without rescue breathing. The primary outcome was neurologically favorable survival 1 month after OHCA. Of the eligible 14,781 patients, 4970 received rescue breathing from a lay rescuer and 9811 did not receive rescue breathing. In a propensity score-matched cohort (4897 vs. 4897 patients), the neurologically favorable survival rate was similar between patients with and without rescue breathing from a lay rescuer [0.9 vs. 0.7 %; OR 1.23 (95 % CI 0.79-1.93)]. Additionally, in subgroup analyses, rescue breathing was not associated with neurological outcome regardless of the type of rescuer [family member: adjusted OR 0.83 (95 % CI 0.39-1.70); or non-family member: adjusted OR 1.91 (95 % CI 0.79-5.35)]. Even among patients with OHCA caused by respiratory disease, rescue breathing performed by a lay rescuer was not associated with neurological outcomes, regardless of the type of lay rescuer.

[Impact of sperm DNA and acrosome integrity and acrosome reaction rate on outcomes of rescue intracytoplasmic sperm injection].

Science.gov (United States)

He, Yongzhi; Li, Dawen; Cheng, Junping; Huo, Zhongchao; Huang, Hongyi; Xiao, Xin

2016-01-01

Objective To explore the effects of sperm DNA integrity rate, acrosome integrity rate and acrosome reaction rate on the outcomes of rescue intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). This retrospective analysis was conducted among 97 infertile couples receiving rescue ICSI due to failure of in vitro fertilization procedures in our Reproductive Medicine Center. Of these 97 women, 41 had clinical pregnancy and 56 did not, and the effects of sperm DNA integrity rate (estimated by DNA fragmentation index, DFI), acrosome integrity rate and acrosome reaction rate on rescue ICSI outcomes were analyzed. No significant difference was found in paternal age, testosterone value, testicular volume, FSH, female patient' age or the number of eggs retrieved between the two groups (P>0.05), but the infertility years was significantly shorter in the pregnancy group than in the non-pregnancy group (Prate and cleavage rate were similar between the two groups (P>0.05), but the good embryo rate was significantly higher in the pregnancy group (Preaction rate did not differ significantly between the two groups (P>0.05), but the acrosome integrity rate was significantly higher in the pregnancy group (Prate, acrosome integrity or acrosome reaction rate were not correlated with the fertilization rate, cleavage rate or good embryo rate (P>0.05). The pregnancy rate, twin and single fetus rates were 42.3%, 10.3% and 32.0% in this cohort after recue ICSI, respectively. Rescue ICSI is an effective treatment after failed in vitro fertilization procedure, and sperm acrosome integrity rate is associated with the outcome of rescue ICSI.

A new type of gene-disruption cassette with a rescue gene for Pichia pastoris.

Science.gov (United States)

Shibui, Tatsuro; Hara, Hiroyoshi

2017-09-01

Pichia pastoris has been used for the production of many recombinant proteins, and many useful mutant strains have been created. However, the efficiency of mutant isolation by gene-targeting is usually low and the procedure is difficult for those inexperienced in yeast genetics. In order to overcome these issues, we developed a new gene-disruption system with a rescue gene using an inducible Cre/mutant-loxP system. With only short homology regions, the gene-disruption cassette of the system replaces its target-gene locus containing a mutation with a compensatory rescue gene. As the cassette contains the AOX1 promoter-driven Cre gene, when targeted strains are grown on media containing methanol, the DNA fragment, i.e., the marker, rescue and Cre genes, between the mutant-loxP sequences in the cassette is excised, leaving only the remaining mutant-loxP sequence in the genome, and consequently a target gene-disrupted mutant can be isolated. The system was initially validated on ADE2 gene disruption, where the disruption can easily be detected by color-change of the colonies. Then, the system was applied for knocking-out URA3 and OCH1 genes, reported to be difficult to accomplish by conventional gene-targeting methods. All three gene-disruption cassettes with their rescue genes replaced their target genes, and the Cre/mutant-loxP system worked well to successfully isolate their knock-out mutants. This study identified a new gene-disruption system that could be used to effectively and strategically knock out genes of interest, especially whose deletion is detrimental to growth, without using special strains, e.g., deficient in nonhomologous end-joining, in P. pastoris. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 33:1201-1208, 2017. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Rescue of placental phenotype in a mechanistic model of Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Higgins Michael J

2010-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Several imprinted genes have been implicated in the process of placentation. The distal region of mouse chromosome 7 (Chr 7 contains at least ten imprinted genes, several of which are expressed from the maternal homologue in the placenta. The corresponding paternal alleles of these genes are silenced in cis by an incompletely understood mechanism involving the formation of a repressive nuclear compartment mediated by the long non-coding RNA Kcnq1ot1 initiated from imprinting centre 2 (IC2. However, it is unknown whether some maternally expressed genes are silenced on the paternal homologue via a Kcnq1ot1-independent mechanism. We have previously reported that maternal inheritance of a large truncation of Chr7 encompassing the entire IC2-regulated domain (DelTel7 allele leads to embryonic lethality at mid-gestation accompanied by severe placental abnormalities. Kcnq1ot1 expression can be abolished on the paternal chromosome by deleting IC2 (IC2KO allele. When the IC2KO mutation is paternally inherited, epigenetic silencing is lost in the region and the DelTel7 lethality is rescued in compound heterozygotes, leading to viable DelTel7/IC2KO mice. Results Considering the important functions of several IC2-regulated genes in placentation, we set out to determine whether these DelTel7/IC2KO rescued conceptuses develop normal placentae. We report no abnormalities with respect to the architecture and vasculature of the DelTel7/IC2KO rescued placentae. Imprinted expression of several of the IC2-regulated genes critical to placentation is also faithfully recapitulated in DelTel7/IC2KO placentae. Conclusion Taken together, our results demonstrate that all the distal chromosome 7 imprinted genes implicated in placental function are silenced by IC2 and Kcnq1ot1 on the paternal allele. Furthermore, our results demonstrate that the methylated maternal IC2 is not required for the regulation of nearby genes. The results show the potential for

The international surface temperature initiative

Science.gov (United States)

Thorne, P. W.; Lawrimore, J. H.; Willett, K. M.; Allan, R.; Chandler, R. E.; Mhanda, A.; de Podesta, M.; Possolo, A.; Revadekar, J.; Rusticucci, M.; Stott, P. A.; Strouse, G. F.; Trewin, B.; Wang, X. L.; Yatagai, A.; Merchant, C.; Merlone, A.; Peterson, T. C.; Scott, E. M.

2013-09-01

The aim of International Surface Temperature Initiative is to create an end-to-end process for analysis of air temperature data taken over the land surface of the Earth. The foundation of any analysis is the source data. Land surface air temperature records have traditionally been stored in local, organizational, national and international holdings, some of which have been available digitally but many of which are available solely on paper or as imaged files. Further, economic and geopolitical realities have often precluded open sharing of these data. The necessary first step therefore is to collate readily available holdings and augment these over time either through gaining access to previously unavailable digital data or through data rescue and digitization activities. Next, it must be recognized that these historical measurements were made primarily in support of real-time weather applications where timeliness and coverage are key. At almost every long-term station it is virtually certain that changes in instrumentation, siting or observing practices have occurred. Because none of the historical measures were made in a metrologically traceable manner there is no unambiguous way to retrieve the true climate evolution from the heterogeneous raw data holdings. Therefore it is desirable for multiple independent groups to produce adjusted data sets (so-called homogenized data) to adequately understand the data characteristics and estimate uncertainties. Then it is necessary to benchmark the performance of the contributed algorithms (equivalent to metrological software validation) through development of realistic benchmark datasets. In support of this, a series of successive benchmarking and assessment cycles are envisaged, allowing continual improvement while avoiding over-tuning of algorithms. Finally, a portal is proposed giving access to related data-products, utilizing the assessment results to provide guidance to end-users on which product is the most suited to

GIS plays key role in NYC Rescue and Relief Operation

Science.gov (United States)

Showstack, Randy

New York City, Sept. 17—The posters of missing loved ones are pasted onto New York City walls and street signs six days after 2 hijacked commercial airlines destroyed the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan on September 11. Several miles uptown from “ground zero,” heightened security hovers around the city's Office of Emergency Management rescue and relief command center, an around-the-clock operation. Police, firefighters, military, officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, communications technicians, and a beehive of others work in controlled chaos in this cavernous, convention center-sized hall, lined with computers and adorned with several American flags.After the original command center at 7 World Trade Center collapsed to rubble as an after-effect of the plane strikes, city officials scrambled to recreate it. Alan Leidner, director of New York's citywide geographic information systems (GIS), and who is with the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, knew that maps would be an integral component of the rescue and relief efforts. Maps provide emergency workers and others with accurate and detailed scientific data in the form of visual aids upon which they can make informed decisions.

Ten years of helicopter emergency medical services in Germany: do we still need the helicopter rescue in multiple traumatised patients?

Science.gov (United States)

Andruszkow, Hagen; Hildebrand, Frank; Lefering, Rolf; Pape, Hans-Christoph; Hoffmann, Reinhard; Schweigkofler, Uwe

2014-10-01

Helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) has been established in the preclinical treatment of multiple traumatised patients despite an ongoing controversy towards the potential benefit. Celebrating the 20th anniversary of TraumaRegister DGU(®) of the German Trauma Society (DGU) the presented study intended to provide an overview of HEMS rescue in Germany over the last 10 years analysing the potential beneficial impact of a nationwide helicopter rescue in multiple traumatised patients. We analysed TraumaRegister DGU(®) including multiple traumatised patients (ISS ≥ 16) between 2002 and 2012. In-hospital mortality was defined as main outcome. An adjusted, multivariate regression with 13 confounders was performed to evaluate the potential survival benefit. 42,788 patients were included in the present study. 14,275 (33.4%) patients were rescued by HEMS and 28,513 (66.6%) by GEMS. Overall, 66.8% (n=28,569) patients were transported to a level I trauma centre and 28.2% (n=12,052) to a level II trauma centre. Patients rescued by HEMS sustained a higher injury severity compared to GEMS (ISS HEMS: 29.5 ± 12.6 vs. 27.5 ± 11.8). Helicopter rescue teams performed more on-scene interventions, and mission times were increased in HEMS rescue (HEMS: 77.2 ± 28.7 min. vs. GEMS: 60.9 ± 26.9 min.). Linear regression analysis revealed that the frequency of HEMS rescue has decreased significantly between 2002 and 2012. In case of transportation to level I trauma centres a decrease of 1.7% per year was noted (p<0.001) while a decline of 1.6% per year (p<0.001) was measured for level II trauma centre admissions. According to multivariate logistic regression HEMS was proven a positive independent survival predictor between 2002 and 2012 (OR 0.863; 95%-CI 0.800-0.930; Nagelkerkes-R(2) 0.539) with only little differences between each year. This study was able to prove an independent survival benefit of HEMS in multiple traumatised patients during the last 10 years. Despite this

A ketogenic diet rescues hippocampal memory defects in a mouse model of Kabuki syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Benjamin, Joel S; Pilarowski, Genay O; Carosso, Giovanni A; Zhang, Li; Huso, David L; Goff, Loyal A; Vernon, Hilary J; Hansen, Kasper D; Bjornsson, Hans T

2017-01-03

Kabuki syndrome is a Mendelian intellectual disability syndrome caused by mutations in either of two genes (KMT2D and KDM6A) involved in chromatin accessibility. We previously showed that an agent that promotes chromatin opening, the histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi) AR-42, ameliorates the deficiency of adult neurogenesis in the granule cell layer of the dentate gyrus and rescues hippocampal memory defects in a mouse model of Kabuki syndrome (Kmt2d +/βGeo ). Unlike a drug, a dietary intervention could be quickly transitioned to the clinic. Therefore, we have explored whether treatment with a ketogenic diet could lead to a similar rescue through increased amounts of beta-hydroxybutyrate, an endogenous HDACi. Here, we report that a ketogenic diet in Kmt2d +/βGeo mice modulates H3ac and H3K4me3 in the granule cell layer, with concomitant rescue of both the neurogenesis defect and hippocampal memory abnormalities seen in Kmt2d +/βGeo mice; similar effects on neurogenesis were observed on exogenous administration of beta-hydroxybutyrate. These data suggest that dietary modulation of epigenetic modifications through elevation of beta-hydroxybutyrate may provide a feasible strategy to treat the intellectual disability seen in Kabuki syndrome and related disorders.

Creating a vision for your medical call center.

Science.gov (United States)

Barr, J L; Laufenberg, S; Sieckman, B L

1998-01-01

MCC technologies and applications that can have a positive impact on managed care delivery are almost limitless. As you determine your vision, be sure to have in mind the following questions: (1) Do you simply want an efficient front end for receiving calls? (2) Do you want to offer triage services? (3) Is your organization ready for a fully functional "electronic physician's office?" Understand your organization's strategy. Where are you going, not only today but five years from now? That information is essential to determine your vision. Once established, your vision will help determine what you need and whether you should build or outsource. Vendors will assist in cost/benefit analysis of their equipment, but do not lose sight of internal factors such as "prior inclination" costs in the case of a nurse triage program. The technology is available to take your vision to its outer reaches. With the projected increase in utilization of call center services, don't let your organization be left behind!

Austrian Daily Climate Data Rescue and Quality Control

Science.gov (United States)

Jurkovic, A.; Lipa, W.; Adler, S.; Albenberger, J.; Lechner, W.; Swietli, R.; Vossberg, I.; Zehetner, S.

2010-09-01

Checked climate datasets are a "conditio sine qua non" for all projects that are relevant for environment and climate. In the framework of climate change studies and analysis it is essential to work with quality controlled and trustful data. Furthermore these datasets are used as input for various simulation models. In regard to investigations of extreme events, like strong precipitation periods, drought periods and similar ones we need climate data in high temporal resolution (at least in daily resolution). Because of the historical background - during Second World War the majority of our climate sheets were sent to Berlin, where the historical sheets were destroyed by a bomb attack and so important information got lost - only several climate sheets, mostly duplicates, before 1939 are available and stored in our climate data archive. In 1970 the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics in Vienna started a first attempt to digitize climate data by means of punch cards. With the introduction of a routinely climate data quality control in 1984 we can speak of high-class-checked daily data (finally checked data, quality flag 6). Our group is working on the processing of digitization and quality control of the historical data for the period 1872 to 1983 for 18 years. Since 2007 it was possible to intensify the work (processes) in the framework of an internal project, namely Austrian Climate Data Rescue and Quality Control. The aim of this initiative was - and still is - to supply daily data in an outstanding good and uniform quality. So this project is a kind of pre-project for all scientific projects which are working with daily data. In addition to routine quality checks (that are running since 1984) using the commercial Bull Software we are testing our data with additional open source software, namely ProClim.db. By the use of this spatial and statistical test procedure, the elements air temperature and precipitation - for several sites in Carinthia - could

49 CFR Figure 1a to Subpart B of... - Example of Location of Rescue Access Windows-§ 238.114

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 49 Transportation 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Example of Location of Rescue Access Windows-§ 238.114 1A Figure 1A to Subpart B of Part 238 Transportation Other Regulations Relating to... B of Part 238—Example of Location of Rescue Access Windows—§ 238.114 ER01FE08.002 [73 FR 6403, Feb...

Renal rescue of dopamine D2 receptor function reverses renal injury and high blood pressure

Science.gov (United States)

Konkalmatt, Prasad R.; Asico, Laureano D.; Zhang, Yanrong; Yang, Yu; Drachenberg, Cinthia; Zheng, Xiaoxu; Han, Fei; Jose, Pedro A.; Armando, Ines

2016-01-01

Dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) deficiency increases renal inflammation and blood pressure in mice. We show here that long-term renal-selective silencing of Drd2 using siRNA increases renal expression of proinflammatory and profibrotic factors and blood pressure in mice. To determine the effects of renal-selective rescue of Drd2 expression in mice, the renal expression of DRD2 was first silenced using siRNA and 14 days later rescued by retrograde renal infusion of adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector with DRD2. Renal Drd2 siRNA treatment decreased the renal expression of DRD2 protein by 55%, and DRD2 AAV treatment increased the renal expression of DRD2 protein by 7.5- to 10-fold. Renal-selective DRD2 rescue reduced the expression of proinflammatory factors and kidney injury, preserved renal function, and normalized systolic and diastolic blood pressure. These results demonstrate that the deleterious effects of renal-selective Drd2 silencing on renal function and blood pressure were rescued by renal-selective overexpression of DRD2. Moreover, the deleterious effects of 45-minute bilateral ischemia/reperfusion on renal function and blood pressure in mice were ameliorated by a renal-selective increase in DRD2 expression by the retrograde ureteral infusion of DRD2 AAV immediately after the induction of ischemia/reperfusion injury. Thus, 14 days after ischemia/reperfusion injury, the renal expression of profibrotic factors, serum creatinine, and blood pressure were lower in mice infused with DRD2 AAV than in those infused with control AAV. These results indicate an important role of renal DRD2 in limiting renal injury and preserving normal renal function and blood pressure. PMID:27358912

Perceiving a calling, living a calling, and job satisfaction: testing a moderated, multiple mediator model.

Science.gov (United States)

Duffy, Ryan D; Bott, Elizabeth M; Allan, Blake A; Torrey, Carrie L; Dik, Bryan J

2012-01-01

The current study examined the relation between perceiving a calling, living a calling, and job satisfaction among a diverse group of employed adults who completed an online survey (N = 201). Perceiving a calling and living a calling were positively correlated with career commitment, work meaning, and job satisfaction. Living a calling moderated the relations of perceiving a calling with career commitment and work meaning, such that these relations were more robust for those with a stronger sense they were living their calling. Additionally, a moderated, multiple mediator model was run to examine the mediating role of career commitment and work meaning in the relation of perceiving a calling and job satisfaction, while accounting for the moderating role of living a calling. Results indicated that work meaning and career commitment fully mediated the relation between perceiving a calling and job satisfaction. However, the indirect effects of work meaning and career commitment were only significant for individuals with high levels of living a calling, indicating the importance of living a calling in the link between perceiving a calling and job satisfaction. Implications for research and practice are discussed. (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved.

Call Center Capacity Planning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Thomas Bang

in order to relate the results to the service levels used in call centers. Furthermore, the generic nature of the approximation is demonstrated by applying it to a system incorporating a dynamic priority scheme. In the last paper Optimization of overflow policies in call centers, overflows between agent......The main topics of the thesis are theoretical and applied queueing theory within a call center setting. Call centers have in recent years become the main means of communication between customers and companies, and between citizens and public institutions. The extensively computerized infrastructure...... in modern call centers allows for a high level of customization, but also induces complicated operational processes. The size of the industry together with the complex and labor intensive nature of large call centers motivates the research carried out to understand the underlying processes. The customizable...

Search and rescue in collapsed structures: engineering and social science aspects.

Science.gov (United States)

El-Tawil, Sherif; Aguirre, Benigno

2010-10-01

This paper discusses the social science and engineering dimensions of search and rescue (SAR) in collapsed buildings. First, existing information is presented on factors that influence the behaviour of trapped victims, particularly human, physical, socioeconomic and circumstantial factors. Trapped victims are most often discussed in the context of structural collapse and injuries sustained. Most studies in this area focus on earthquakes as the type of disaster that produces the most extensive structural damage. Second, information is set out on the engineering aspects of urban search and rescue (USAR) in the United States, including the role of structural engineers in USAR operations, training and certification of structural specialists, and safety and general procedures. The use of computational simulation to link the engineering and social science aspects of USAR is discussed. This could supplement training of local SAR groups and USAR teams, allowing them to understand better the collapse process and how voids form in a rubble pile. A preliminary simulation tool developed for this purpose is described. © 2010 The Author(s). Journal compilation © Overseas Development Institute, 2010.

A Novel Design of Rescue Capsule considering the Pressure Characteristics and Thermal Dynamic Response with Thermomechanical Coupling Action Subjected to Gas Explosion Load

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaowei Zhai

2017-01-01

Full Text Available To ensure the structural safety and reliability of coal mine rescue capsule in disastrous surroundings after gas explosion, in this paper, the thermomechanical coupling effect on a certain structure subjected to gas explosion was analyzed, and then a novel rescue capsule with a combination of radius and square features was designed according to the underground surroundings and relevant regulations on mine rescue devices. Foremost, the coupling mechanism of thermal-fluid-solid interaction between gas explosion shock wave and rescue capsule and the thermal dynamic response of the capsule subjected to explosion load of gas/air mixture was investigated and revealed by employing LS-DYNA. The variation laws and characteristics of stress field, displacement field, and temperature field of the capsule were analyzed based on the simulation results. Results show that the structural safety, tightness, and reliability of the capsule meet the requirements of the national safety regulations. The design method presented in this work provides a new thought for design of coal mine rescue capsule.

Role of rescue IVF-ET treatment in the management of high response in stimulated IUI cycles.

Science.gov (United States)

Olufowobi, O; Sharif, K; Papaioannou, S; Mohamed, H; Neelakantan, D; Afnan, M

2005-02-01

Rescue in-vitro fertilisation and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) has been used in high response gonadotrophin intrauterine insemination (IUI) cycles to minimise the risks of ovarian hyperstimulation and multiple gestation. Such unplanned IVF treatment increases the cost of treatment. But can this added cost and the risks associated with IVF be justified? We present our experience with this treatment using clinical pregnancy and live birth rates as the primary outcomes. Between 1998 to 2001, 40 women undergoing IUI cycles who over responded (>3 follicles measuring >15 mm in diameter on the planned day of hCG administration) to gonadotrophin were offered the choice of conversion to IVF-ET or cancel the cycle. 17/40 declined rescue IVF/ET and had their cycles cancelled. 23/40 converted to IVF/ET and underwent transvaginal oocyte retrieval. 21/23 had embryo transferred. The clinical pregnancy and live birth rates were 52% and 48%, respectively. Rescue IVF-ET offers excellent clinical pregnancy and live birth rates in high responders. However, affordability can be an obstacle in the utilization of this treatment option.

Monitoring and Information Fusion for Search and Rescue Operations in Large-Scale Disasters

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Nardi, Daniele

2002-01-01

... for information fusion with application to search-and-rescue and large scale disaster relief. The objective is to develop and to deploy tools to support the monitoring activities in an intervention caused by a large-scale disaster...

Construction of International Cooperation strategies: An inquiry into the learning experience

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cabeza-Pulles, D.

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The present research is the product of a collection of primary information in the context of the formulation of the International Cooperation strategy of the Municipality of Pasto, for the purpose of determining the path of construction of this process, its impact and challenges and, above all, the learning achieved through the participatory formulation of the International Cooperation strategy. The methodology of the research is of a qualitative interpretative study, which allowed to rebuild from the sight of actors the participatory formulation of the strategy of International Cooperation, rescuing the importance of participation in all levels, recognizing the team working and the generation of partnerships, trust and commitment in the pursuit of strengthening and sustainability of the process of internationalization of the Municipality. Finally, the research concluded with a series of reflections concerning the formulation of strategies for International Cooperation.

Calle Blanco

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gonzalo Cerda Brintrup

1988-06-01

Full Text Available Importante arteria, que comunica el sector del puerto con la plaza. Las más imponentes construcciones se sucedían de un modo continuo, encaramándose a ambos lados de la empinada calle. Antes del gran incendio de 1936 grandes casonas de madera destacaban en calle Irarrázabal y en la esquina de ésta con calle Blanco, la más hermosa construcción pertenecía a don Alberto Oyarzún y la casa vecina hacia Blanco era de don Mateo Miserda, limitada por arriba con la casa de don Augusto Van Der Steldt y ésta era seguida de la casa de don David Barrientos provista de cuatro cúpulas en las esquinas y de un amplio corredor en el frontis. Todas estas construcciones de madera fueron destruidas en el gran incendio de 1936.

33 CFR 149.304 - What type and how many survival craft and rescue boats must a manned deepwater port have?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false What type and how many survival craft and rescue boats must a manned deepwater port have? 149.304 Section 149.304 Navigation and... What type and how many survival craft and rescue boats must a manned deepwater port have? (a) Except as...

The work of the South Manchester Accident Rescue Team (SMART).

Science.gov (United States)

Redmond, A D

1990-01-01

Skills acquired in the hospital do not necessarily translate to the scene of an accident. However, training in certain hospital specialties, particularly accident and emergency medicine, will expose doctors to dealing with very ill patients in a less rigidly structured environment. The operating theatre is a disciplined and controlled environment. Skill in anaesthesia, monitoring and operating, if tested only in these circumstances may be found to be gravely inadequate when exposed to the fluctuant and hostile environment at the site. Doctors who wish to do this sort of work or are designated to do it, must undergo regular and frequent training, especially if they are not trained in accident and emergency departments. This has long been recognised by the British Association for Immediate Care. In combination with the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh they have now established a diploma in Immediate Medical Care. In urban areas the need for a doctor to attend at the scene of an accident is usually limited to entrapment. These occasions are likely to be infrequent and this can result in a lack of preparedness for such events. Interhospital transfer, primarily from peripheral hospitals to the specialist services of a teaching hospital, often involves critically ill and injured patients. The management of these cases by the mobile team provides regular, frequent exposure to working in a 'hostile' environment. Relationships with the rescue services are developed and staff become familiar with equipment and call-out procedures. The care of transported patients is improved. None of our patients have died in transit or within 6 h of arrival at base.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Infectious diseases in dogs rescued during dogfighting investigations

Science.gov (United States)

Cannon, S.H.; Levy, J.K.; Kirk, S.K.; Crawford, P.C.; Leutenegger, C.M.; Shuster, J.J.; Liu, J.; Chandrashekar, R.

2017-01-01

Dogs used for dogfighting often receive minimal preventive health care, and the potential for spread of infectious diseases is high. The purpose of this study was to describe the prevalence of infectious diseases in dogs rescued from fighting operations to guide medical protocols for their immediate and long-term care. A total of 269 pit bull-type dogs were seized in a multi-state investigation. Fleas were present on most dogs, but few ticks were observed. Testing performed at intake included packed cell volume (PCV), serology and PCR for vector-borne pathogens, and fecal analysis. The most common infections were Babesia gibsoni (39%), ‘Candidatus Mycoplasma haematoparvum’ (32%), Mycoplasma haemocanis (30%), Dirofilaria immitis (12%), and Ancylostoma (23%). Anemia was associated with B. gibsoni infection (63% of infected dogs, Odds ratio=2.5, P<0.001), but not with hemotropic mycoplasmas or Ancylostoma. Pit bull heritage and dogfighting are known risk factors for B. gibsoni infection, possibly via blood transmission from bites and vertical transmission. Hemotropic mycoplasmas have a similar risk pattern. Empirical care for dogs from dogfighting cases should include broad-spectrum internal and external parasiticides and monitoring for anemia. Dogfighting case responders should be prepared for mass screening and treatment of B. gibsoni and heartworm infections and should implement protocols to prevent transmission of infectious and zoonotic diseases in the shelter and following adoption. Former fighting dogs and dogs with possible dog bite scars should not be used as blood donors due to the risk of vector-borne pathogens that can escape detection and for which curative treatment is difficult to document. PMID:27056107

Civilian Helicopter Search and Rescue Accidents in the United States: 1980 Through 2013.

Science.gov (United States)

Worley, Gordon H

2015-12-01

Helicopters are commonly used in search and rescue operations, and accidents have occurred during helicopter search and rescue (HSAR) missions. The purposes of this study were to investigate whether the HSAR accident rate in the United States could be determined and whether any common contributing factors or trends could be identified. Searches were conducted of the National Transportation Safety Board aviation accident database, the records of the major search and rescue and air medical organizations, and the medical and professional literature for reports of HSAR accidents. A total of 47 civilian HSAR accidents were identified during the study. Of these, 43% involved fatal injuries, compared with a 19% fatality rate for US helicopter general aviation accidents during the same time period and a 40% rate for helicopter emergency medical services. The HSAR accidents carried a significantly higher risk of fatal outcomes when compared with helicopter general aviation accidents (2-tailed Fisher's exact test, P .05). The number of HSAR missions conducted annually could not be established, so an overall accident rate could not be calculated. Although the overall number of HSAR accidents is small, the percentage of fatal outcomes from HSAR accidents is significantly higher than that from general helicopter aviation accidents and is comparable to that seen for helicopter emergency medical services operations. Further study could help to improve the safety of HSAR flights. Copyright © 2015 Wilderness Medical Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Helicobacter pylori first-line and rescue treatments in the presence of penicillin allergy.

Science.gov (United States)

Gisbert, Javier P; Barrio, Jesús; Modolell, Inés; Molina-Infante, Javier; Aisa, Angeles Perez; Castro-Fernández, Manuel; Rodrigo, Luis; Cosme, Angel; Gisbert, Jose Luis; Fernández-Bermejo, Miguel; Marcos, Santiago; Marín, Alicia C; McNicholl, Adrián G

2015-02-01

Helicobacter pylori eradication is a challenge in penicillin allergy. To assess the efficacy and safety of first-line and rescue treatments in patients allergic to penicillin. Prospective multicenter study. Patients allergic to penicillin were given a first-line treatment comprising (a) 7-day omeprazole-clarithromycin-metronidazole and (b) 10-day omeprazole-bismuth-tetracycline-metronidazole. Rescue treatments were as follows: (a) bismuth quadruple therapy; (b) 10-day PPI-clarithromycin-levofloxacin; and (c) 10-day PPI-clarithromycin-rifabutin. Eradication was confirmed by (13)C-urea breath test. Compliance was determined through questioning and recovery of empty medication envelopes. Adverse effects were evaluated by questionnaires. In total, 267 consecutive treatments were included. (1) First-line treatment: Per-protocol and intention-to-treat eradication rates with omeprazole-clarithromycin-metronidazole were 59 % (62/105; 95 % CI 49-62 %) and 57 % (64/112; 95 % CI 47-67 %). Respective figures for PPI-bismuth-tetracycline-metronidazole were 75 % (37/49; 95 % CI 62-89 %) and 74 % (37/50; 95 % CI (61-87 %) (p failure; compliance was 88-100 %, with 23-29 % adverse effects (all mild). (3) Third-/fourth-line treatment: Intention-to-treat eradication rate with PPI-clarithromycin-rifabutin was 22 %. In allergic to penicillin patients, a first-line treatment with a bismuth-containing quadruple therapy (PPI-bismuth-tetracycline-metronidazole) seems to be a better option than the triple PPI-clarithromycin-metronidazole regimen. A levofloxacin-based regimen (together with a PPI and clarithromycin) represents a second-line rescue option in the presence of penicillin allergy.

Intermittent fasting uncovers and rescues cognitive phenotypes in PTEN neuronal haploinsufficient mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Cabral-Costa, J V; Andreotti, D Z; Mello, N P; Scavone, C; Camandola, S; Kawamoto, E M

2018-06-05

Phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) is an important protein with key modulatory functions in cell growth and survival. PTEN is crucial during embryogenesis and plays a key role in the central nervous system (CNS), where it directly modulates neuronal development and synaptic plasticity. Loss of PTEN signaling function is associated with cognitive deficits and synaptic plasticity impairment. Accordingly, Pten mutations have a strong link with autism spectrum disorder. In this study, neuronal Pten haploinsufficient male mice were subjected to a long-term environmental intervention - intermittent fasting (IF) - and then evaluated for alterations in exploratory, anxiety and learning and memory behaviors. Although no significant effects on spatial memory were observed, mutant mice showed impaired contextual fear memory in the passive avoidance test - an outcome that was effectively rescued by IF. In this study, we demonstrated that IF modulation, in addition to its rescue of the memory deficit, was also required to uncover behavioral phenotypes otherwise hidden in this neuronal Pten haploinsufficiency model.

46 CFR 160.056-4 - Approval tests of prototype rescue boat.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... placed nine inches from the side in way of and about the level of the middle thwart. (c) Rescue boarding... third man balanced on the transom, the minimum freeboard of the transom shall be five inches. The men... boat crew. (d) Rowing test. Three men, averaging 165 pounds each, shall be seated on the centerline of...

Medical rescue for nuclear or radiologic emergencies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Xiaohua; Nie Suifeng

2011-01-01

Nuclear or radiologic emergencies are defined as incidents that are caused by radioactive substance or by other sources of radiation and can pose a serious hazard to public health. In case of nuclear or radiologic emergencies, radioactive rays will damage the human body and bring about psychological and mental stress, resulting in a series of social psychological effects. The key to medical rescue for nuclear or radiologic emergencies is to take effective measures which can minimize the body harm resulting from nuclear or radiologic emergencies and maintain social stability. This article reviews the personnel protection, on-the-spot salvage, treatments of various harm, and prevention of public psychological effect following nuclear or radiologic emergencies. (authors)

Mechanisms by which heme oxygenase rescue renal dysfunction in obesity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joseph Fomusi Ndisang

2014-01-01

Collectively, these data suggest that hemin ameliorates nephropathy by potentiating the expression of proteins of repair/regeneration, abating oxidative/inflammatory mediators, reducing renal histo-pathological lesions, while enhancing nephrin, podocin, podocalyxin, CD2AP and creatinine clearance, with corresponding reduction of albuminuria/proteinuria suggesting improved renal function in hemin-treated ZFs. Importantly, the concomitant potentiation regeneration proteins and podocyte cytoskeletal proteins are novel mechanisms by which hemin rescue nephropathy in obesity.

77 FR 2017 - Safety Zone; Ice Rescue Exercise; Green Bay, Dyckesville, WI

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-13

... Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks. This rule is not an economically significant rule and does not concern an environmental risk to health or risk to safety that may disproportionately affect children... the Port Sector Lake has determined that this ice rescue exercise will pose hazards to the public...

Perceiving a Calling, Living a Calling, and Job Satisfaction: Testing a Moderated, Multiple Mediator Model

Science.gov (United States)

Duffy, Ryan D.; Bott, Elizabeth M.; Allan, Blake A.; Torrey, Carrie L.; Dik, Bryan J.

2012-01-01

The current study examined the relation between perceiving a calling, living a calling, and job satisfaction among a diverse group of employed adults who completed an online survey (N = 201). Perceiving a calling and living a calling were positively correlated with career commitment, work meaning, and job satisfaction. Living a calling moderated…

[New possibilities in emergency medical transportation and emergency services of Polish Medical Air Rescue].

Science.gov (United States)

Gałazkowski, Robert

2010-01-01

In Poland, two types of medical services are accomplished by the Medical Air Rescue (MAR) operating all over the country: emergency transport from the incident scene to hospital and inter-hospital transport. Helicopters or planes are used for this purpose. In 2009, helicopters performed 4359 flights to incidents and 1537 inter-hospital transports whereas planes performed 589 inter-hospital ambulance and 196 rescue flights. MAR operates from 17 bases of the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) and one airbase. Helicopters are mainly used when medical transport is emergent, within the operational region of a given base whereas planes when the distance between the present and target airports exceeds 250 km. In 2008, new modern aircraft were introduced to HEMS-helicopters EC 135. They fulfil all requirements of air transport regulations and are adjusted to visual (VFR) and instrumental (IFR) flights rules, at day and night. The medical cabin of EC 135 is ergonomic and functional considering the majority of rescue activities under life-saving circumstances. It is equipped with ventilator, defibrillator, infusion pumps etc. Defibrillators have 12-lead ECG, E(T)CO2, SpO2, NIBP, and IBP modules. Transport ventilators can work in a variety of ventilation modes including CMV, SIMV, SVV, BILEVEL, PCV, ASB, PPV and CPAP. The purchase of helicopters with modern avionic and medical configuration ensures high quality services of MAR for many years to come.

Behavioral Preferences for Individual Securities : The Case for Call Warrants and Call Options

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ter Horst, J.R.; Veld, C.H.

2002-01-01

Since 1998, large investment banks have flooded the European capital markets with issues of call warrants.This has led to a unique situation in the Netherlands, where now call warrants, traded on the stock exchange, and long-term call options, traded on the options exchange, exist.Both entitle their

Exploring entrepreneurial learning during formal business rescue processes: Insights from the South African experience

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anéa Burke-le Roux

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Orientation: Currently, little is known about entrepreneurial learning under turnaround and rescue conditions. A better understanding of the content dimensions as well as the factors that drive or restrain entrepreneurial learning during business rescue (BR is relevant for theory and industry development. Research purpose: BR is a fairly new regime in South Africa that extends beyond turnaround practices. It is acknowledged that business failure can fuel cognitive processes and subsequently entrepreneurial learning but to what extent in the context of formal BR proceedings requires exploration. Practice suggests that the role of the business rescue practitioner (BRP as ‘disproportionate influencer’ can affect the learning of filing entrepreneurs. Motivation for the study: In the absence of guidelines, this study set out to explore and make sense of the specific content dimensions that entrepreneurs learn during such proceedings to assist role players. Research design, approach and method: The research question for this exploratory investigation obtained first-hand accounts from subjects that have been directly involved in BR proceedings. Semi-structured interviews were conducted. ‘Investigator triangulation’ was also used to extract as much richness and data as possible applying interpretative phenomenological analysis. Findings: We extracted three key content dimensions which entrepreneurs learned during BR: rescue process, business related and personal learnings. Entrepreneurs with ‘positive’ experiences of BR learned more than those with negative experiences. The key driving and restraining factors to entrepreneurial learning were both associated with the behaviour of the BRP. Practical/managerial implications: BR has introduced another dimension to learning from business failure. Understanding the content dimensions learned by entrepreneurs during BR broadens insights of the Regulator, BRPs and educators about the potential long

Division of labor regulates precision rescue behavior in sand-dwelling Cataglyphis cursor ants: to give is to receive.

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Elise Nowbahari

Full Text Available Division of labor, an adaptation in which individuals specialize in performing tasks necessary to the colony, such as nest defense and foraging, is believed key to eusocial insects' remarkable ecological success. Here we report, for the first time, a completely novel specialization in a eusocial insect, namely the ability of Cataglyphis cursor ants to rescue a trapped nestmate using precisely targeted behavior. Labeled "precision rescue", this behavior involves the ability of rescuers not only to detect what, exactly, holds the victim in place, but also to direct specific actions to this obstacle. Individual ants, sampled from each of C. cursor's three castes, namely foragers, nurses and inactives, were experimentally ensnared (the "victim" and exposed to a caste-specific group of potential "rescuers." The data reveal that foragers were able to administer, and obtain, the most help while members of the youngest, inactive caste not only failed to respond to victims, but also received virtually no help from potential rescuers, regardless of caste. Nurses performed intermediate levels of aid, mirroring their intermediate caste status. Our results demonstrate that division of labor, which controls foraging, defense and brood care in C. cursor, also regulates a newly discovered behavior in this species, namely a sophisticated form of rescue, a highly adaptive specialization that is finely tuned to a caste member's probability of becoming, or encountering, a victim in need of rescue.

Reflections on glycogen and β-amyloid: why does glycogenolytic β2-adrenoceptor stimulation not rescue memory after β-amyloid?

Science.gov (United States)

Gibbs, Marie

2015-02-01

Normally noradrenaline release ~30 min after training in the day-old chick is essential for memory consolidation by simultaneously increasing both glycogenolysis, by its stimulation of β2-adrenergic (AR) receptors, and glycogen synthesis, by its stimulation of α2-AR receptors in astrocytes. At the same time noradrenaline stimulation of β3-AR receptors increases glucose uptake solely in astrocytes. Intracerebral injection of small oligomeric β-amyloid protein (Aβ1-42) (Aβ) 45 min before one-trial bead discrimination learning in day-old chicks abolishes consolidation of memory 30 min post-learning. The ensuing memory loss can be rescued by injection of selective β3- and β(2-AR agonists (CL316243 and zinterol), which also have the ability to consolidate weakly-reinforced learning into long-term memory. However, although CL316243 rescues Aβ-induced memory loss over a similar time period to when it consolidates weak learning (up to 25 min post training), zinterol is effective over a more limited time period and unexpectedly it does not rescue at the time it promotes glycogenolysis. Injection of Aβ into the hippocampus and the locus coeruleus (LoC) also produces similar memory deficits and injection of both AR agonists into a cortical area can rescue memory from LoC Aβ. We have previously shown that β3-AR stimulation increases astrocytic glucose uptake and have suggested there may be sensitization or upregulation of the receptor. Since β2-AR stimulation does not rescue memory at the time it promotes glycogenolysis, but the receptor does not appear to be impaired, it is suggested that Aβ may be causing an impairment in the synthesis of readily available glycogen.

Trajectories of Scores on a Screening Instrument for PTSD Among World Trade Center Rescue, Recovery, and Clean-Up Workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Maslow, Carey B; Caramanica, Kimberly; Welch, Alice E; Stellman, Steven D; Brackbill, Robert M; Farfel, Mark R

2015-06-01

The longitudinal course of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) over 8-9 years was examined among 16,488 rescue and recovery workers who responded to the events of September 11, 2001 (9/11) at the World Trade Center (WTC; New York, NY), and were enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Registry. Latent class growth analysis identified 5 groups of rescue and recovery workers with similar score trajectories at 3 administrations of the PTSD Checklist (PCL): low-stable (53.3%), moderate- stable (28.7%), moderate-increasing (6.4%), high-decreasing (7.7%), and high-stable (4.0%). Relative to the low-stable group, membership in higher risk groups was associated with 9/11-related exposures including duration of WTC work, with adjusted odds ratios ranging from 1.3 to 2.0, witnessing of horrific events (range = 1.3 to 2.1), being injured (range = 1.4 to 2.3), perceiving threat to life or safety (range = 2.2 to 5.2), bereavement (range = 1.6 to 4.8), and job loss due to 9/11 (range = 2.4 to 15.8). Within groups, higher PCL scores were associated with adverse social circumstances including lower social support, with B coefficients ranging from 0.2 to 0.6, divorce, separation, or widowhood (range = 0.4-0.7), and unemployment (range = 0.4-0.5). Given baseline, exposure-related, and contextual influences that affect divergent PTSD trajectories, screening for both PTSD and adverse circumstances should occur immediately, and at regular intervals postdisaster. © 2015 International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.

A qualitative study of sign-out processes between primary and on-call residents: relationships in information exchange, responsibility and accountability.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Soo-Hoon; Fisher, Dale A; Mah, Heidi; Goh, Wei-Ping; Phan, Phillip H

2017-10-01

To review a quality improvement event on the process of sign-outs between the primary and on-call residents. A retrospective qualitative study using semi-structured interviews. A tertiary academic medical center in Singapore with 283 inpatient Medicine beds served by 28 consultants, 29 registrars, 45 residents and 30 interns during the day but 5 residents and 3 interns at night. Residents, registrars and consultants. Quality improvement event on sign-out. Effectiveness of sign-out comprises exchange of patient information, professional responsibility and task accountability. The following process of sign-outs was noted. Primary teams were accountable to the on-call resident by selecting at-risk patients and preparing contingency plans for sign-out. Structured information exchanged included patient history, active problems and plans of care. On-call residents took ownership of at-risk patients by actively asking questions during sign-out and reporting back the agreed care plan. On-call residents were accountable to the primary team by reporting back at-risk patients the next day. A structured information exchange at sign-out increased the on-call resident's ability to care for at-risk patients when it was supported by two-way transfers of responsibility and accountability. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press in association with the International Society for Quality in Health Care. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

A critical comparison between how the rights of employees are affected by winding-up and business rescue proceedings

OpenAIRE

2015-01-01

LL.M. (Commercial law) This dissertation seeks to explore the fundamental differences between the rights of employees in terms of windiqg-up procedures and that of business rescue proceedings. I will be specifically looking at each procedure, winding-up and business rescue proceedings, and the effect that each of these procedures have on the rights of employees. In terms of the analysis of the procedures, I will be looking at the history of both insolvency law and labour law, as well as a ...

Model-based quality assessment and base-calling for second-generation sequencing data.

Science.gov (United States)

Bravo, Héctor Corrada; Irizarry, Rafael A

2010-09-01

Second-generation sequencing (sec-gen) technology can sequence millions of short fragments of DNA in parallel, making it capable of assembling complex genomes for a small fraction of the price and time of previous technologies. In fact, a recently formed international consortium, the 1000 Genomes Project, plans to fully sequence the genomes of approximately 1200 people. The prospect of comparative analysis at the sequence level of a large number of samples across multiple populations may be achieved within the next five years. These data present unprecedented challenges in statistical analysis. For instance, analysis operates on millions of short nucleotide sequences, or reads-strings of A,C,G, or T's, between 30 and 100 characters long-which are the result of complex processing of noisy continuous fluorescence intensity measurements known as base-calling. The complexity of the base-calling discretization process results in reads of widely varying quality within and across sequence samples. This variation in processing quality results in infrequent but systematic errors that we have found to mislead downstream analysis of the discretized sequence read data. For instance, a central goal of the 1000 Genomes Project is to quantify across-sample variation at the single nucleotide level. At this resolution, small error rates in sequencing prove significant, especially for rare variants. Sec-gen sequencing is a relatively new technology for which potential biases and sources of obscuring variation are not yet fully understood. Therefore, modeling and quantifying the uncertainty inherent in the generation of sequence reads is of utmost importance. In this article, we present a simple model to capture uncertainty arising in the base-calling procedure of the Illumina/Solexa GA platform. Model parameters have a straightforward interpretation in terms of the chemistry of base-calling allowing for informative and easily interpretable metrics that capture the variability in

Near-infrared 808 nm light boosts complex IV-dependent respiration and rescues a Parkinson-related pink1 model.

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Melissa Vos

Full Text Available Mitochondrial electron transport chain (ETC defects are observed in Parkinson's disease (PD patients and in PD fly- and mouse-models; however it remains to be tested if acute improvement of ETC function alleviates PD-relevant defects. We tested the hypothesis that 808 nm infrared light that effectively penetrates tissues rescues pink1 mutants. We show that irradiating isolated fly or mouse mitochondria with 808 nm light that is absorbed by ETC-Complex IV acutely improves Complex IV-dependent oxygen consumption and ATP production, a feature that is wavelength-specific. Irradiating Drosophila pink1 mutants using a single dose of 808 nm light results in a rescue of major systemic and mitochondrial defects. Time-course experiments indicate mitochondrial membrane potential defects are rescued prior to mitochondrial morphological defects, also in dopaminergic neurons, suggesting mitochondrial functional defects precede mitochondrial swelling. Thus, our data indicate that improvement of mitochondrial function using infrared light stimulation is a viable strategy to alleviate pink1-related defects.

Study on cognitive behavioural coping of intervention and rescue personnel in toxic / flammable / explosive environments

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Kovacs Izabella

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In any given field, the psychological examination represents a prerequisite for ensuring that the work process is properly and appropriately directed towards increasing its efficiency. An important aspect of the psychological examination is to identify risk and protective factors associated with developing and maintaining emotional and behavioural problems. Special conditions resulting from emergency situations are likely to lead to physical and emotional tensions. In some intervention and rescue personnel these are accompanied by mobilization of internal resource, while in others they can generate inadequacy phenomena and symptoms of mental distress. From this perspective, stress is regarded as a result of the marked disparity between environmental requirements and the individual’s response possibilities. To highlight both cognitive and behavioural coping strategies most often used by rescuers trained in NRDI INSEMEX we used two instruments, namely Strategic Approach to Coping Scale SACS and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire CERQ. This paper displays the results of the project no. PN 16 43 01 12, study conducted through Nucleu program, implemented with the support of NASR.

Rescue Emergency Drone for Fast Response to Medical Emergencies Due to Traffic Accidents

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kristensen, Anders Schmidt; Ahsan, Dewan; Mehmood, Saqib

2017-01-01

of inflicted persons can be reduced significantly. Smart and innovative technologies can play a pivotal role to respond faster to traffic crash emergencies comparing conventional means of transportation. For instance, Rescue Emergency Drone (RED) can provide faster and real-time crash site risk assessment...

Globalisation of water resources: International virtual water flows in relation to international crop trade

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hoekstra, Arjen Ysbert; Hung, P.Q.

2005-01-01

The water that is used in the production process of a commodity is called the ‘virtual water’ contained in the commodity. International trade of commodities brings along international flows of virtual water. The objective of this paper is to quantify the volumes of virtual water flows between

ECMO for Cardiac Rescue after Accidental Intravenous Mepivacaine Application

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Michael Froehle

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Mepivacaine is a potent local anaesthetic and used for infiltration and regional anaesthesia in adults and pediatric patients. Intoxications with mepivacaine affect mainly the CNS and the cardiovascular system. We present a case of accidental intravenous mepivacaine application and intoxication of an infant resulting in seizure, broad complex bradyarrhythmia, arterial hypotension and finally cardiac arrest. The patient could be rescued by prolonged resuscitations and a rapid initiation of ECMO and survived without neurological damage. The management strategies of this rare complication including promising other treatment options with lipid emulsions are discussed.

State of the art: Rescue intubation through supraglottic airways

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R. Hofmeyr*

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The use of supraglottic airways as rescue devices in failed intubation and resuscitation has become well accepted in emergency practice. Many offer or advertise the possibility of intubation through the device, but techniques and success rates vary greatly. Intubation can be achieved blindly, with the use a bougie or introducer, or with fiberoptic guidance. In this review, I examine the evidence behind different devices with various techniques, present the data from our on-going research, suggest further research directions and propose practical guidelines for clinical use in emergencies.

The efficiency and quality dilemma: What drives South African call centre management performance indicators?

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Diane Banks

2011-03-01

Research purpose: This study explored the key performance indicators that drive management practices in the South African call centre industry in the context of the dilemma between efficiency and quality. Motivation for the study: The South African government has identified call centres as a method of creating jobs and foreign investment. Management practices affect centres’ performance. Understanding these practices will help to achieve these aims. Research design: The researchers used a web-based questionnaire in a survey with South African call centre managers in more than 44 different organisations that represented nine industry sectors. Main findings: This study indicated that the dilemma between efficiency and quality is prevalent in South African call centres and that efficiency key performance indicators drive management practices. Practical/managerial implications: The inconsistencies the study reported mean that South African organisations should assess the alignment between their organisational visions, the strategic intentions of their call centres and the performance measures they use to assess their call centre managers. Contribution/value-add: This study adds to the relatively small amount of empirical research available on the call centre industry in South Africa. It contributes to the industry’s attempt to position itself favourably for local and international outsourcing opportunities.

Rescue from replication stress during mitosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Fragkos, Michalis; Naim, Valeria

2017-04-03

Genomic instability is a hallmark of cancer and a common feature of human disorders, characterized by growth defects, neurodegeneration, cancer predisposition, and aging. Recent evidence has shown that DNA replication stress is a major driver of genomic instability and tumorigenesis. Cells can undergo mitosis with under-replicated DNA or unresolved DNA structures, and specific pathways are dedicated to resolving these structures during mitosis, suggesting that mitotic rescue from replication stress (MRRS) is a key process influencing genome stability and cellular homeostasis. Deregulation of MRRS following oncogene activation or loss-of-function of caretaker genes may be the cause of chromosomal aberrations that promote cancer initiation and progression. In this review, we discuss the causes and consequences of replication stress, focusing on its persistence in mitosis as well as the mechanisms and factors involved in its resolution, and the potential impact of incomplete replication or aberrant MRRS on tumorigenesis, aging and disease.

Probing the catalytic mechanism of bovine pancreatic deoxyribonuclease I by chemical rescue

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, W.-J.; Lai, P.-J.; Lai, Y.-S.; Huang, P.-T.; Lin, C.-C.; Liao, T.-H.

2007-01-01

Previous structural and mutational studies of bovine pancreatic deoxyribonuclease I (bpDNase I) have demonstrated that the active site His134 and His252 played critical roles in catalysis. In our present study, mutations of these two His residues to Gln, Ala or Gly reduced the DNase activity by a factor of four to five orders of magnitude. When imidazole or primary amines were added exogenously to the Ala or Gly mutants, the residual DNase activities were substantially increased by 60-120-fold. The rescue with imidazole was pH- and concentration-dependent. The pH-activity profiles showed nearly bell-shaped curves, with the maximum activity enhancement for H134A at pH 6.0 and that for H252A at pH 7.5. These findings indicated that the protonated form of imidazole was responsible for the rescue in H134A, and the unprotonated form was for that in H252A, prompting us to assign unambiguously the roles for His134 as a general acid, and His252 as a general base, in bpDNase I catalysis

Reforming The Governance Of Corporate Rescue: The Enterprise Act 2002

OpenAIRE

John Armour; Rizwaan Jameel Mokal

2004-01-01

English corporate insolvency law has been reshaped by the Enterprise Act 2002. The Act was intended to ‘to facilitate company rescue and to produce better returns for creditors as a whole’. Administrative receivership, which placed control of insolvency proceedings in the hands of banks, is for most purposes being abolished. It is being replaced by a ‘streamlined’ administration procedure. Whilst it will still be possible for banks to control the appointment process, the administrator once in...

Research of Tourism Rescue System based on Social-Local-Mobile

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

SHI Beiqi

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Tourism Rescue System(TRSis a key issue to ensure the success of tourism service.The development of our country′s TRS showed that tourists are usually in a moving state with the geographical position information during travel accident process.So it is necessary to construct TRS using Social-Local-Mobile technology.The paper has presented the detail of Social-Local-Mobile technology,and has analyzed the motivation and practical strategy of building TRS.

Study of Engraftment of human cord blood cells to rescue the sublethal radiation damage mice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cao Xiangshan; Zou Zhenghui; Yu Fei; Zhang Zhilin; Lin Baojue

1997-01-01

To investigate alternative source of hematopoiesis stem cells to rescue the sublethal radiation damage (SRD) casualties. Human-umbilical cord blood hematopoietic cells were transplanted into SRD mice, the survival rate and the hematopoiesis reconstitution of bone marrow were assessed. The survival rate, in the mice transplanted and the untransplanted, were 90% and 10% respectively. Bone marrow and spleen of survival mice showed human leukocytic antigen CD45 + cells. Presence of multilineage engraftment, including myeloid and erythroid lineages, were found indicating that immature human cells home to the mouse bone marrow. conclusion: engraftment of umbilical cord blood cells is very useful to reconstitute hematopoiesis of SRD casualties. As cord blood has many advantages over bone marrow and peripheral blood, it is important in rescuing radiation accidental casualties

Modulating Wnt Signaling Rescues Palate Morphogenesis in Pax9 Mutant Mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, C; Lan, Y; Krumlauf, R; Jiang, R

2017-10-01

Cleft palate is a common birth defect caused by disruption of palatogenesis during embryonic development. Although mutations disrupting components of the Wnt signaling pathway have been associated with cleft lip and palate in humans and mice, the mechanisms involving canonical Wnt signaling and its regulation in secondary palate development are not well understood. Here, we report that canonical Wnt signaling plays an important role in Pax9-mediated regulation of secondary palate development. We found that cleft palate pathogenesis in Pax9-deficient embryos is accompanied by significantly reduced expression of Axin2, an endogenous target of canonical Wnt signaling, in the developing palatal mesenchyme, particularly in the posterior regions of the palatal shelves. We found that expression of Dkk2, encoding a secreted Wnt antagonist, is significantly increased whereas the levels of active β-catenin protein, the essential transcriptional coactivator of canonical Wnt signaling, is significantly decreased in the posterior regions of the palatal shelves in embryonic day 13.5 Pax9-deficent embryos in comparison with control littermates. We show that small molecule-mediated inhibition of Dickkopf (DKK) activity in utero during palatal shelf morphogenesis partly rescued secondary palate development in Pax9-deficient embryos. Moreover, we found that genetic inactivation of Wise, which is expressed in the developing palatal shelves and encodes another secreted antagonist of canonical Wnt signaling, also rescued palate morphogenesis in Pax9-deficient mice. Furthermore, whereas Pax9 del/del embryos exhibit defects in palatal shelf elevation/reorientation and significant reduction in accumulation of hyaluronic acid-a high molecular extracellular matrix glycosaminoglycan implicated in playing an important role in palatal shelf elevation-80% of Pax9 del/del ;Wise -/- double-mutant mouse embryos exhibit rescued palatal shelf elevation/reorientation, accompanied by restored

Responses to Environmental & Societal Challenges for our Unstable Earth (RESCUE) foresight initiative - towards a European response to grand challenges in sustainability research and learning

Science.gov (United States)

Avril, B.; et al.

2012-04-01

The "Responses to Environmental and Societal Challenges for our Unstable Earth" (RESCUE; www.esf.org/rescue) foresight initiative - a joint COST-ESF "Frontiers of Science" initiative - aimed to help Europe address the societal and scientific challenges related to global environmental change and the related resilience issues. In RESCUE, the focus of attention was on people and the goal was to stimulate an integrated, innovative response from natural, social and human sciences. The RESCUE foresight initiative began in September 2009 and has recently been completed. RESCUE had the following key objectives: 1. To propose a strategic process for natural, social and human sciences to improve their ability and capacity to work together to address global environmental change through interdisciplinary synergy and to respond effectively to societal and policy-relevant needs; 2. To articulate new scientific issues related to global environmental change and the related resilience issues, especially those of transdisciplinary nature and of major relevance to society; 3. To explore new approaches towards truly integrated, interdisciplinary science, and to facilitate the 'revolution' in education and capacity building it requires. The work of RESCUE focused on the following themes: · Contributions from social sciences and humanities in developing responses to challenges of the Anthropocene; · Collaboration between the natural, social and human sciences in global environmental change and resilience studies; · Requirements for research methodologies and data; · Education and capacity building - towards a 'revolution'; · The interface between science and policy, communication and outreach. The RESCUE recommendations include the following issues to be addressed by science-funders, science policy-makers, researchers, practitioners, educators and a range of other societal actors: · develop an institutional framework for an open knowledge society, · re-organise research so

Maximizing the use of Special Olympics International's Healthy Athletes database: A call to action.

Science.gov (United States)

Lloyd, Meghann; Foley, John T; Temple, Viviene A

2018-02-01

There is a critical need for high-quality population-level data related to the health of individuals with intellectual disabilities. For more than 15 years Special Olympics International has been conducting free Healthy Athletes screenings at local, national and international events. The Healthy Athletes database is the largest known international database specifically on the health of people with intellectual disabilities; however, it is relatively under-utilized by the research community. A consensus meeting with two dozen North American researchers, stakeholders, clinicians and policymakers took place in Toronto, Canada. The purpose of the meeting was to: 1) establish the perceived utility of the database, and 2) to identify and prioritize 3-5 specific priorities related to using the Healthy Athletes database to promote the health of individuals with intellectual disabilities. There was unanimous agreement from the meeting participants that this database represents an immense opportunity both from the data already collected, and data that will be collected in the future. The 3 top priorities for the database were deemed to be: 1) establish the representativeness of data collected on Special Olympics athletes compared to the general population with intellectual disabilities, 2) create a scientific advisory group for Special Olympics International, and 3) use the data to improve Special Olympics programs around the world. The Special Olympics Healthy Athletes database includes data not found in any other source and should be used, in partnership with Special Olympics International, by researchers to significantly increase our knowledge and understanding of the health of individuals with intellectual disabilities. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

The epidemiology of operations performed by the National Sea Rescue Institute of South Africa over a 5-year period.

Science.gov (United States)

Erasmus, Elaine; Robertson, Cleeve; van Hoving, Daniel Jacobus

2018-01-01

Injuries remain a major contributor of morbidity and mortality worldwide, with drowning accounting for 7% of all injury-related deaths with rates of between 4 and 8 per 100,000. The African region has death rates comparable to most low-income countries. Non-fatal drowning in Africa remains unquantified but it is estimated to be ten times higher than the fatal drowning rate. Timely search and rescue, initial resuscitation and rapid transportation to definitive care play a crucial role in preventing injury- related morbidity and mortality. The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) of South Africa is a non-profit organisation responsible for ~97% of maritime search and rescue operations in South Africa (including inland navigable waters). The aim of the study was to describe the epidemiology of operations performed by the NSRI of South Africa over a 5-year period. The NSRI operational database was analysed from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2014. Summary statistics are presented. The NSRI launched 3281 operations over the study period. Marked seasonal variation were noticeable with peak periods in December and January, corresponding to the South African summer holiday season. Water-based operations (67.6%) were the most frequent operation performed. The NSRI assisted 3399 individuals of which 77% were male. The mean age of rescued persons was 42 years. Eight hundred and thirty-six (25%) individuals had non-fatal injuries or illnesses requiring medical assistance. Medical emergencies (35%), traumatic injuries (32.8%), and non-fatal drownings (23%) were the most common types of injury and illness. The majority of the 184 (18%) deaths recorded were due to drowning (75%). Injury and illness, specifically drowning utilise a large proportion of search and rescue services. The results suggest further preventative measures and public health strategies be implemented to minimise traumatic and medical incident severity and subsequent casualties at sea.

The debtor-friendly fallacy in business rescue: Agency theory moderation and quasi relationships

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marius Pretorius

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Tension often arises when Chapter 6 business rescue practitioners (BRPs are appointed by directors to rescue their distressed businesses. Regulating by means of standard agency contracting becomes irrelevant in the resulting multiple relationships. Looking through the agency lens, using analytic autoethnography and compiling narratives, this paper explains the perceptions of what appear to be quasiagency relationships and obtains a better understanding of these. The findings suggest that the apparent principal-agent relationships suffer from asymmetries of goals, information access, informal power and diverging perceptions of moral hazard, transaction costs and adverse selection. As a solution, contracting has been shown to have limited value owing to outcome uncertainty and measurability. This is because the tasks of the BRP are non-programmable and term-dependent. The findings provide filing directors, shareholders, creditors, regulatory authorities and BRPs in this newly instituted regime, with enhanced understanding of how the relationships manifest in practice and overcome the non-contractibility of the newly formed relationships.

Failed common bile duct cannulation during pregnancy: Rescue with endoscopic ultrasound guided rendezvous procedure.

Science.gov (United States)

Singla, Vikas; Arora, Anil; Tyagi, Pankaj; Sharma, Praveen; Bansal, Naresh; Kumar, Ashish

2016-01-01

Common bile duct (CBD) stones can lead to serious complications and require intervention with either endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) or laparoscopic techniques for urgent relief. On an average 10%-20% of the patients with gall bladder stones can have associated CBD stones. CBD stones during pregnancy can be associated with hazardous complications for both the mother and the fetus. Failed cannulation while performing ERCP during pregnancy is a technically demanding situation, which requires immediate rescue with special techniques. Conventional rescue techniques may not be feasible and can be associated with hazardous consequences. Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) guided rendezvous technique has now emerged as a safe alternative, and in one of our patients, this technique was successfully attempted. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report in the literature on EUS-guided rendezvous procedure during pregnancy.

To the Rescue?

Science.gov (United States)

Mayer, Caroline E.

2010-01-01

Faced with large and continued cuts in state funding, U.S. public postsecondary institutions are looking for new ways to both communicate their needs and garner support. They are calling on longtime supporters, enlisting new allies, developing strategic alliances, and crafting new messages and campaigns--all to underscore the importance of higher…

UL36 Rescues Apoptosis Inhibition and In vivo Replication of a Chimeric MCMV Lacking the M36 Gene

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Zeeshan Chaudhry

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Apoptosis is an important defense mechanism mounted by the immune system to control virus replication. Hence, cytomegaloviruses (CMV evolved and acquired numerous anti-apoptotic genes. The product of the human CMV (HCMV UL36 gene, pUL36 (also known as vICA, binds to pro-caspase-8, thus inhibiting death-receptor apoptosis and enabling viral replication in differentiated THP-1 cells. In vivo studies of the function of HCMV genes are severely limited due to the strict host specificity of cytomegaloviruses, but CMV orthologues that co-evolved with other species allow the experimental study of CMV biology in vivo. The mouse CMV (MCMV homolog of the UL36 gene is called M36, and its protein product (pM36 is a functional homolog of vICA that binds to murine caspase-8 and inhibits its activation. M36-deficient MCMV is severely growth impaired in macrophages and in vivo. Here we show that pUL36 binds to the murine pro-caspase-8, and that UL36 expression inhibits death-receptor apoptosis in murine cells and can replace M36 to allow MCMV growth in vitro and in vivo. We generated a chimeric MCMV expressing the UL36 ORF sequence instead of the M36 one. The newly generated MCMVUL36 inhibited apoptosis in macrophage lines RAW 264.7, J774A.1, and IC-21 and its growth was rescued to wild type levels. Similarly, growth was rescued in vivo in the liver and spleen, but only partially in the salivary glands of BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice. In conclusion, we determined that an immune-evasive HCMV gene is conserved enough to functionally replace its MCMV counterpart and thus allow its study in an in vivo setting. As UL36 and M36 proteins engage the same molecular host target, our newly developed model can facilitate studies of anti-viral compounds targeting pUL36 in vivo.

Call Centre- Computer Telephone Integration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dražen Kovačević

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Call centre largely came into being as a result of consumerneeds converging with enabling technology- and by the companiesrecognising the revenue opportunities generated by meetingthose needs thereby increasing customer satisfaction. Regardlessof the specific application or activity of a Call centre, customersatisfaction with the interaction is critical to the revenuegenerated or protected by the Call centre. Physical(v, Call centreset up is a place that includes computer, telephone and supervisorstation. Call centre can be available 24 hours a day - whenthe customer wants to make a purchase, needs information, orsimply wishes to register a complaint.

MicroRNA-Mediated Rescue of Fear Extinction Memory by miR-144-3p in Extinction-Impaired Mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Murphy, Conor P; Li, Xiang; Maurer, Verena; Oberhauser, Michael; Gstir, Ronald; Wearick-Silva, Luis Eduardo; Viola, Thiago Wendt; Schafferer, Simon; Grassi-Oliveira, Rodrigo; Whittle, Nigel; Hüttenhofer, Alexander; Bredy, Timothy W; Singewald, Nicolas

2017-06-15

MicroRNA (miRNA)-mediated control of gene expression suggests that miRNAs are interesting targets and/or biomarkers in the treatment of anxiety- and trauma-related disorders, where often memory-associated gene expression is adversely affected. The role of miRNAs in the rescue of impaired fear extinction was assessed using the 129S1/SvlmJ (S1) mouse model of impaired fear extinction. miRNA microarray analysis, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, fluorescent in situ hybridization, lentiviral overexpression, and Luciferase reporter assays were used to gain insight into the mechanisms underlying miRNA-mediated normalization of deficient fear extinction. Rescuing impaired fear extinction via dietary zinc restriction was associated with differential expression of miRNAs in the amygdala. One candidate, miR-144-3p, robustly expressed in the basolateral amygdala, showed specific extinction-induced, but not fear-induced, increased expression in both extinction-rescued S1 mice and extinction-intact C57BL/6 (BL6) mice. miR-144-3p upregulation and effects on subsequent behavioral adaption was assessed in S1 and BL6 mice. miR-144-3p overexpression in the basolateral amygdala rescued impaired fear extinction in S1 mice, led to enhanced fear extinction acquisition in BL6 mice, and furthermore protected against fear renewal in BL6 mice. miR-144-3p targets a number of genes implicated in the control of plasticity-associated signaling cascades, including Pten, Spred1, and Notch1. In functional interaction studies, we revealed that the miR-144-3p target, PTEN, colocalized with miR-144-3p in the basolateral amygdala and showed functional downregulation following successful fear extinction in S1 mice. These findings identify a fundamental role of miR-144-3p in the rescue of impaired fear extinction and suggest this miRNA as a viable target in developing novel treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder and related disorders. Copyright © 2017 Society of Biological

Facilitating the 3D Indoor Search and Rescue Problem: An Overview of the Problem and an Ant Colony Solution Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Tashakkori, H.; Rajabifard, A.; Kalantari, M.

2016-10-01

Search and rescue procedures for indoor environments are quite complicated due to the fact that much of the indoor information is unavailable to rescuers before physical entrance to the incident scene. Thus, decision making regarding the number of crew required and the way they should be dispatched in the building considering the various access points and complexities in the buildings in order to cover the search area in minimum time is dependent on prior knowledge and experience of the emergency commanders. Hence, this paper introduces the Search and Rescue Problem (SRP) which aims at finding best search and rescue routes that minimize the overall search time in the buildings. 3D BIM-oriented indoor GIS is integrated in the indoor route graph to find accurate routes based on the building geometric and semantic information. An Ant Colony Based Algorithm is presented that finds the number of first responders required and their individual routes to search all rooms and points of interest inside the building to minimize the overall time spent by all rescuers inside the disaster area. The evaluation of the proposed model for a case study building shows a significant improve in search and rescue time which will lead to a higher chance of saving lives and less exposure of emergency crew to danger.

Social networking use and RescueTime: The issue of engagement

OpenAIRE

Collins, E.I.M.; Cox, A.L.; Bird, J.; Harrison, D.

2014-01-01

The dramatic rise in the use of social network sites (SNS) has resulted in a number of users feeling stressed about the extent of their personal use. Previous work has established that daily retrospective estimations of SNS use and access to RescueTime not only improve accuracy of estimations but also reduce perceived stress. The present study aimed to extend this by also exploring the influence of prospective estimations on stress and perceived time management. However, the study was thwarte...

The Developmental Stage of Adult Human Stem Cell-Derived Retinal Pigment Epithelium Cells Influences Transplant Efficacy for Vision Rescue

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Richard J. Davis

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Age-related macular degeneration (AMD is a common cause of central visual loss in the elderly. Retinal pigment epithelial (RPE cell loss occurs early in the course of AMD and RPE cell transplantation holds promise to slow disease progression. We report that subretinal transplantation of RPE stem cell (RPESC-derived RPE cells (RPESC-RPE preserved vision in a rat model of RPE cell dysfunction. Importantly, the stage of differentiation that RPESC-RPE acquired prior to transplantation influenced the efficacy of vision rescue. Whereas cells at all stages of differentiation tested rescued photoreceptor layer morphology, an intermediate stage of RPESC-RPE differentiation obtained after 4 weeks of culture was more consistent at vision rescue than progeny that were differentiated for 2 weeks or 8 weeks of culture. Our results indicate that the developmental stage of RPESC-RPE significantly influences the efficacy of RPE cell replacement, which affects the therapeutic application of these cells for AMD.

Teleautonomous Control on Rescue Robot Prototype

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Son Kuswadi

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Robot application in disaster area can help responder team to save victims. In order to finish task, robot must have flexible movement mechanism so it can pass through uncluttered area. Passive linkage can be used on robot chassis so it can give robot flexibility. On physical experiments, robot is succeeded to move through gravels and 5 cm obstacle. Rescue robot also has specialized control needs. Robot must able to be controlled remotely. It also must have ability to move autonomously. Teleautonomous control method is combination between those methods. It can be concluded from experiments that on teleoperation mode, operator must get used to see environment through robot’s camera. While on autonomous mode, robot is succeeded to avoid obstacle and search target based on sensor reading and controller program. On teleautonomous mode, robot can change control mode by using bluetooth communication for data transfer, so robot control will be more flexible.

Turmeric Extract Rescues Ethanol-Induced Developmental Defect in the Zebrafish Model for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).

Science.gov (United States)

Muralidharan, Pooja; Connors, Craig T; Mohammed, Arooj S; Sarmah, Swapnalee; Marrs, Kathleen; Marrs, James A; Chism, Grady W

2017-09-01

Prenatal ethanol exposure causes the most frequent preventable birth disorder, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). The effect of turmeric extracts in rescuing an ethanol-induced developmental defect using zebrafish as a model was determined. Ethanol-induced oxidative stress is one of the major mechanisms underlying FASD. We hypothesize that antioxidant inducing properties of turmeric may alleviate ethanol-induced defects. Curcuminoid content of the turmeric powder extract (5 mg/mL turmeric in ethanol) was determined by UPLC and found to contain Curcumin (124.1 ± 0.2 μg/mL), Desmethoxycurcumin (43.4 ± 0.1 μg/mL), and Bisdemethoxycurcumin (36.6 ± 0.1 μg/mL). Zebrafish embryos were treated with 100 mM (0.6% v/v) ethanol during gastrulation through organogenesis (2 to 48 h postfertilization (hpf)) and supplemented with turmeric extract to obtain total curcuminoid concentrations of 0, 1.16, 1.72, or 2.32 μM. Turmeric supplementation showed significant rescue of the body length at 72 hpf compared to ethanol-treated embryos. The mechanism underlying the rescue remains to be determined. © 2017 Institute of Food Technologists®.

Resolving Ethical Dilemmas in Suicide Prevention: The Case of Telephone Helpline Rescue Policies

Science.gov (United States)

Mishara, Brian L.; Weisstub, David N.

2010-01-01

The ethical basis of suicide prevention is illustrated by contrasting helpline emergency rescue policies of the Samaritans and the AAS and the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline network. We contrast moralist, relativist, and libertarian ethical premises and question whether suicide can be rational. Samaritans respect a caller's right to…

Production Data - Captive Broodstock Gene Rescue Program for Odd Year Class Elwha River Pink Salmon

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Conduct captive brood stock gene rescue program for Elwha River odd-year class pink salmon. Information on the number of smolts received into the program is...

The Influence of Peers During Adolescence: Does Homophobic Name Calling by Peers Change Gender Identity?

Science.gov (United States)

DeLay, Dawn; Lynn Martin, Carol; Cook, Rachel E; Hanish, Laura D

2018-03-01

Adolescents actively evaluate their identities during adolescence, and one of the most salient and central identities for youth concerns their gender identity. Experiences with peers may inform gender identity. Unfortunately, many youth experience homophobic name calling, a form of peer victimization, and it is unknown whether youth internalize these peer messages and how these messages might influence gender identity. The goal of the present study was to assess the role of homophobic name calling on changes over the course of an academic year in adolescents' gender identity. Specifically, this study extends the literature using a new conceptualization and measure of gender identity that involves assessing how similar adolescents feel to both their own- and other-gender peers and, by employing longitudinal social network analyses, provides a rigorous analytic assessment of the impact of homophobic name calling on changes in these two dimensions of gender identity. Symbolic interaction perspectives-the "looking glass self"-suggest that peer feedback is incorporated into the self-concept. The current study tests this hypothesis by determining if adolescents respond to homophobic name calling by revising their self-view, specifically, how the self is viewed in relation to both gender groups. Participants were 299 6th grade students (53% female). Participants reported peer relationships, experiences of homophobic name calling, and gender identity (i.e., similarity to own- and other-gender peers). Longitudinal social network analyses revealed that homophobic name calling early in the school year predicted changes in gender identity over time. The results support the "looking glass self" hypothesis: experiencing homophobic name calling predicted identifying significantly less with own-gender peers and marginally more with other-gender peers over the course of an academic year. The effects held after controlling for participant characteristics (e.g., gender), social

CDKL5 protein substitution therapy rescues neurological phenotypes of a mouse model of CDKL5 disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Trazzi, Stefania; De Franceschi, Marianna; Fuchs, Claudia; Bastianini, Stefano; Viggiano, Rocchina; Lupori, Leonardo; Mazziotti, Raffaele; Medici, Giorgio; Lo Martire, Viviana; Ren, Elisa; Rimondini, Roberto; Zoccoli, Giovanna; Bartesaghi, Renata; Pizzorusso, Tommaso; Ciani, Elisabetta

2018-05-01

Cyclin-dependent kinase like-5 (CDKL5) disorder is a rare neurodevelopmental disease caused by mutations in the CDKL5 gene. The consequent misexpression of the CDKL5 protein in the nervous system leads to a severe phenotype characterized by intellectual disability, motor impairment, visual deficits and early-onset epilepsy. No therapy is available for CDKL5 disorder. It has been reported that a protein transduction domain (TAT) is able to deliver macromolecules into cells and even into the brain when fused to a given protein. We demonstrate that TAT-CDKL5 fusion protein is efficiently internalized by target cells and retains CDKL5 activity. Intracerebroventricular infusion of TAT-CDKL5 restored hippocampal development, hippocampus-dependent memory and breathing pattern in Cdkl5-null mice. Notably, systemically administered TAT-CDKL5 protein passed the blood-brain-barrier, reached the CNS, and rescued various neuroanatomical and behavioral defects, including breathing pattern and visual responses. Our results suggest that CDKL5 protein therapy may be an effective clinical tool for the treatment of CDKL5 disorder.

Call cultures in orang-utans?

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Serge A Wich

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Several studies suggested great ape cultures, arguing that human cumulative culture presumably evolved from such a foundation. These focused on conspicuous behaviours, and showed rich geographic variation, which could not be attributed to known ecological or genetic differences. Although geographic variation within call types (accents has previously been reported for orang-utans and other primate species, we examine geographic variation in the presence/absence of discrete call types (dialects. Because orang-utans have been shown to have geographic variation that is not completely explicable by genetic or ecological factors we hypothesized that this will be similar in the call domain and predict that discrete call type variation between populations will be found. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We examined long-term behavioural data from five orang-utan populations and collected fecal samples for genetic analyses. We show that there is geographic variation in the presence of discrete types of calls. In exactly the same behavioural context (nest building and infant retrieval, individuals in different wild populations customarily emit either qualitatively different calls or calls in some but not in others. By comparing patterns in call-type and genetic similarity, we suggest that the observed variation is not likely to be explained by genetic or ecological differences. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: These results are consistent with the potential presence of 'call cultures' and suggest that wild orang-utans possess the ability to invent arbitrary calls, which spread through social learning. These findings differ substantially from those that have been reported for primates before. First, the results reported here are on dialect and not on accent. Second, this study presents cases of production learning whereas most primate studies on vocal learning were cases of contextual learning. We conclude with speculating on how these findings might

Low dose tubulin-binding drugs rescue peroxisome trafficking deficit in patient-derived stem cells in Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yongjun Fan

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP is a genetically heterogeneous group of disorders, diagnosed by progressive gait disturbances with muscle weakness and spasticity, for which there are no treatments targeted at the underlying pathophysiology. Mutations in spastin are a common cause of HSP. Spastin is a microtubule-severing protein whose mutation in mouse causes defective axonal transport. In human patient-derived olfactory neurosphere-derived (ONS cells, spastin mutations lead to lower levels of acetylated α-tubulin, a marker of stabilised microtubules, and to slower speed of peroxisome trafficking. Here we screened multiple concentrations of four tubulin-binding drugs for their ability to rescue levels of acetylated α-tubulin in patient-derived ONS cells. Drug doses that restored acetylated α-tubulin to levels in control-derived ONS cells were then selected for their ability to rescue peroxisome trafficking deficits. Automated microscopic screening identified very low doses of the four drugs (0.5 nM taxol, 0.5 nM vinblastine, 2 nM epothilone D, 10 µM noscapine that rescued acetylated α-tubulin in patient-derived ONS cells. These same doses rescued peroxisome trafficking deficits, restoring peroxisome speeds to untreated control cell levels. These results demonstrate a novel approach for drug screening based on high throughput automated microscopy for acetylated α-tubulin followed by functional validation of microtubule-based peroxisome transport. From a clinical perspective, all the drugs tested are used clinically, but at much higher doses. Importantly, epothilone D and noscapine can enter the central nervous system, making them potential candidates for future clinical trials.

Low dose tubulin-binding drugs rescue peroxisome trafficking deficit in patient-derived stem cells in Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia

Science.gov (United States)

Fan, Yongjun; Wali, Gautam; Sutharsan, Ratneswary; Bellette, Bernadette; Crane, Denis I.; Sue, Carolyn M.; Mackay-Sim, Alan

2014-01-01

ABSTRACT Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP) is a genetically heterogeneous group of disorders, diagnosed by progressive gait disturbances with muscle weakness and spasticity, for which there are no treatments targeted at the underlying pathophysiology. Mutations in spastin are a common cause of HSP. Spastin is a microtubule-severing protein whose mutation in mouse causes defective axonal transport. In human patient-derived olfactory neurosphere-derived (ONS) cells, spastin mutations lead to lower levels of acetylated α-tubulin, a marker of stabilised microtubules, and to slower speed of peroxisome trafficking. Here we screened multiple concentrations of four tubulin-binding drugs for their ability to rescue levels of acetylated α-tubulin in patient-derived ONS cells. Drug doses that restored acetylated α-tubulin to levels in control-derived ONS cells were then selected for their ability to rescue peroxisome trafficking deficits. Automated microscopic screening identified very low doses of the four drugs (0.5 nM taxol, 0.5 nM vinblastine, 2 nM epothilone D, 10 µM noscapine) that rescued acetylated α-tubulin in patient-derived ONS cells. These same doses rescued peroxisome trafficking deficits, restoring peroxisome speeds to untreated control cell levels. These results demonstrate a novel approach for drug screening based on high throughput automated microscopy for acetylated α-tubulin followed by functional validation of microtubule-based peroxisome transport. From a clinical perspective, all the drugs tested are used clinically, but at much higher doses. Importantly, epothilone D and noscapine can enter the central nervous system, making them potential candidates for future clinical trials. PMID:24857849

Broodyear Data - Captive Broodstock Gene Rescue Program for Odd Year Class Elwha River Pink Salmon

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Conduct captive brood stock gene rescue program for Elwha River odd-year class pink salmon. Data is collected by broodyear on % survival to adult, % maturity as two...

Offshoring de serviços de call center: um estudo comparativo entre Brasil, Índia e África do Sul Offshoring de servicios de call center: un estudio comparativo entre Brasil, India y África del Sur Offshoring of call center services: a comparison of brazilian, indian and south african options

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paulo Roberto Gião

2009-06-01

centers en tres países emergentes: India, África del Sur y Brasil. El segundo es entender los motivos que llevaron India a ocupar un rol de destaque mundial en offshoring de servicios de call center. El tercer objetivo es entender lo que distingue los call centers brasileños de los indianos, cuanto a las variables relevantes para el offshoring. Para eso fueron analizados datos primarios de 235 empresas de call center colectados a partir de la aplicación de un survey en los tres países analizados. Esos datos son oriundos de una investigación internacional intitulada The Global Call Center Industry Project (GCCIP, que está siendo realizada de manera simultánea en veinte países de todos los continentes.The call center sector has made great progress worldwide, driven by advances in telecommunications and information technology as well as the need to provide customer service, often as required by regulating agencies. A strong international trend has been observed to offshore these services from developed to emergent countries. This trend was discussed with three objectives. The call center industry was first compared in developing countries, Brazil, India and South Africa based on critical variables. Then the prominent world role of India for offshoring of these services was investigated. Finally a search was made for reasons that distinguish Brazilian and Indian call centers based on relevant variables for offshoring. Primary data were collected by a survey and analyzed regarding 235 call center organizations in the three countries in question. These data are from the international survey, The Global Call Center Industry Project, conducted simultaneously in twenty countries on all continents.

Rescue Emergency Drone (RED) for Fast Response to Medical Emergencies Due to Traffic Accidents

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mehmood, Saqib; Kristensen, Anders Schmidt; Ahmed, Shakeel

2017-01-01

of inflicted persons can be reduced significantly. Smart and innovative technologies can play a pivotal role to respond faster to traffic crash emergencies comparing conventional means of transportation. For instance, Rescue Emergency Drone (RED) can provide faster and real-time crash site risk assessment...

Challenges imposed by International Environmental Law to Classical International Law

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fabian Augusto Cárdenas Castañeda

2010-05-01

Full Text Available The emergence of international environmental law has produced important challenges to the very foundations of public international law. Traditional concepts such as state sovereignty, subjects of international law, and the early perspectives of national security are being transformed. The needs of the contemporary international society differ from the ones of the Wesphalian conception, situations which clearly explains the raise of alternative views for the understanding of the current dynamics of international law, where concepts like res communis, common concerns and simply “commons” take a privileged place in the study of international law. The foregoing has been strengthened by the international development of the so called erga ommnes obligations, label which is being used by international environmental law as the perfect explanation of its own existence. This academic article presents and studies the abovementioned concepts trying to compare what international law used to be before the emergence of international environmental law and what it is and what it should be in order to attend the developments and challenges imposed by the contemporary international society, particularly by international environmental law, a new fi eld of the corpus juris of public international law.

A fault-tolerant small world topology control model in ad hoc networks for search and rescue

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Mian; Fang, Ling; Wu, Yue; Zhang, Bo; Chang, Bowen; Holme, Petter; Zhao, Jing

2018-02-01

Due to their self-organized, multi-hop and distributed characteristics, ad hoc networks are useful in search and rescue. Topology control models need to be designed for energy-efficient, robust and fast communication in ad hoc networks. This paper proposes a topology control model which specializes for search and rescue-Compensation Small World-Repeated Game (CSWRG)-which integrates mobility models, constructing small world networks and a game-theoretic approach to the allocation of resources. Simulation results show that our mobility models can enhance the communication performance of the constructed small-world networks. Our strategy, based on repeated game, can suppress selfish behavior and compensate agents that encounter selfish or faulty neighbors. This model could be useful for the design of ad hoc communication networks.

Research on one Bio-inspired Jumping Locomotion Robot for Search and Rescue

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dunwen Wei

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Jumping locomotion is much more effective than other locomotion means in order to tackle the unstructured and complex environment in research and rescue. Here, a bio-inspired jumping robot with a closed-chain mechanism is proposed to achieve the power amplification during taking-off. Through actuating one variable transmission mechanism to change the transmission ratio, the jumping robot reveals biological characteristics in the phase of posture adjustment when adjusting the height and distance of one jump. The kinematics and dynamics of the simplified jumping mechanism model in one jumping cycle sequence are analysed. A compliant contact model considering nonlinear damping is investigated for jumping performance under different terrain characteristics. The numerical simulation algorithm with regard to solving the dynamical equation is described and simulation results are discussed. Finally, one primary prototype and experiment are described. The experimental results show the distance of jumping in the horizontal direction increases with the increasing gear ratio, while the height of jumping decreases in reverse. The jumping robot can enhance the capability to adapt to unknown cluttered environments, such as those encountered in research and rescue, using this strategy.

Stereotypical Behaviors in Chimpanzees Rescued from the African Bushmeat and Pet Trade

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ashlynn Dube

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Many orphaned chimpanzees whose mothers are illegally killed for their meat (bushmeat in Africa are sold as pets or kept caged at hotels and businesses to attract tourists. As a result of being separated from their mothers and other chimpanzees at an early age, and spending years in impoverished captive conditions, some of these individuals engage in abnormal behaviors, including stereotypically scratching at their flesh and repetitively rocking back and forth. This paper presents case studies of Poco and Safari, two chimpanzees who were rescued by sanctuaries after living alone on display for humans at businesses for the first 7 to 8 years of their lives. Decades after their rescue, they still engage in stereotypical behaviors as a result of the psychological and physical trauma they endured early on. This paper combines data from in depth interviews with caregivers and direct observations of abnormal behaviors to assess psychological distress in captive-living chimpanzees. Our results highlight some lesser known harms of the bushmeat trade and the detrimental life-long consequences that keeping chimpanzees as “pets” can have on their mental health.

International Drug Control Policy

Science.gov (United States)

2009-08-24

Common illegal drugs include cannabis, cocaine, opiates, and synthetic drugs. International trade in these drugs represents a lucrative and what...into effect, decriminalizing “personal use” amounts of marijuana , heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and other internationally sanctioned drugs.15 While...President Calls for Legalizing Marijuana ,”CNN.com, May 13, 2009. 15 “Mexico Legalizes Drug Possession,” Associated Press, August 21, 2009. 16 In support

The difficult medical emergency call

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Møller, Thea Palsgaard; Kjærulff, Thora Majlund; Viereck, Søren

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND: Pre-hospital emergency care requires proper categorization of emergency calls and assessment of emergency priority levels by the medical dispatchers. We investigated predictors for emergency call categorization as "unclear problem" in contrast to "symptom-specific" categories and the ......BACKGROUND: Pre-hospital emergency care requires proper categorization of emergency calls and assessment of emergency priority levels by the medical dispatchers. We investigated predictors for emergency call categorization as "unclear problem" in contrast to "symptom-specific" categories...... and the effect of categorization on mortality. METHODS: Register-based study in a 2-year period based on emergency call data from the emergency medical dispatch center in Copenhagen combined with nationwide register data. Logistic regression analysis (N = 78,040 individuals) was used for identification...

BUSINESS MODELS FOR EXTENDING OF 112 EMERGENCY CALL CENTER CAPABILITIES WITH E-CALL FUNCTION INSERTION

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Pop Dragos Paul

2010-12-01

Full Text Available The present article concerns present status of implementation in Romania and Europe of eCall service and the proposed business models regarding eCall function implementation in Romania. eCall system is used for reliable transmission in case of crush between In Vehicle System and Public Service Answering Point, via the voice channel of cellular and Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN. eCall service could be initiated automatically or manual the driver. All data presented in this article are part of researches made by authors in the Sectorial Contract Implementation study regarding eCall system, having as partners ITS Romania and Electronic Solution, with the Romanian Ministry of Communication and Information Technology as beneficiary.

A Light in the Darkness?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brudholm, Thomas

2007-01-01

The article considers the implications of how we remember and commemorate so-called "lights in the darkness," such as the rescue of the Jews in Denmark in 1943.......The article considers the implications of how we remember and commemorate so-called "lights in the darkness," such as the rescue of the Jews in Denmark in 1943....

International Criminal Law & Its Paradoxes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Carlson, Kerstin Bree

2017-01-01

criminal law are unrealizable under current ICT practice. This is due to international criminal law's foundational, legitimizing basis in natural law, rather than political liberalism. The article calls for a revision of ICT institutional accountability structures.......This article challenges international criminal tribunals' (ICTs) capacity to perform the socially constitutive work of transitional justice. Highlighting paradigmatic ICT jurisprudence, it shows both the "progress" and "justice" constructs central to the work and legitimacy of international...

FACILITATING THE 3D INDOOR SEARCH AND RESCUE PROBLEM: AN OVERVIEW OF THE PROBLEM AND AN ANT COLONY SOLUTION APPROACH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. Tashakkori

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Search and rescue procedures for indoor environments are quite complicated due to the fact that much of the indoor information is unavailable to rescuers before physical entrance to the incident scene. Thus, decision making regarding the number of crew required and the way they should be dispatched in the building considering the various access points and complexities in the buildings in order to cover the search area in minimum time is dependent on prior knowledge and experience of the emergency commanders. Hence, this paper introduces the Search and Rescue Problem (SRP which aims at finding best search and rescue routes that minimize the overall search time in the buildings. 3D BIM-oriented indoor GIS is integrated in the indoor route graph to find accurate routes based on the building geometric and semantic information. An Ant Colony Based Algorithm is presented that finds the number of first responders required and their individual routes to search all rooms and points of interest inside the building to minimize the overall time spent by all rescuers inside the disaster area. The evaluation of the proposed model for a case study building shows a significant improve in search and rescue time which will lead to a higher chance of saving lives and less exposure of emergency crew to danger.

Death Notification: Someone Needs To Call the Family.

Science.gov (United States)

Ombres, Rachel; Montemorano, Lauren; Becker, Daniel

2017-06-01

The death notification process can affect family grief and bereavement. It can also affect the well-being of involved physicians. There is no standardized process for making death notification phone calls. We assumed that residents are likely to be unprepared before and troubled after. We investigated current death notification practices to develop an evidence-based template for standardizing this process. We used results of a literature review and open-ended interviews with faculty, residents, and widows to develop a survey regarding resident training and experience in death notification by phone. We invited all internal medicine (IM) residents at our institution to complete the survey. Sixty-seven of 93 IM residents (72%) responded to the survey. Eighty-seven percent of responders reported involvement in a death that required notification by phone. Eighty percent of residents felt inadequately trained for this task. Over 25% reported that calls went poorly. Attendings were involved in 17% of cases. Primary care physicians were not involved. Nurses and chaplains were not involved. Respondents never delayed notification of death until family arrived at the hospital. There was no consistent approach to rehearsing or making the call, advising families about safe travel to the hospital, greeting families upon arrival, or following up with expressions of condolence. Poor communication skills during death notification may contribute to complicated grief for surviving relatives and stress among physicians. This study is the first to describe current practices of death notification by IM residents. More training is needed and could be combined with training in disclosure of medical error.

Near infrared radiation rescues mitochondrial dysfunction in cortical neurons after oxygen-glucose deprivation.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Zhanyang; Liu, Ning; Zhao, Jianhua; Li, Yadan; McCarthy, Thomas J; Tedford, Clark E; Lo, Eng H; Wang, Xiaoying

2015-04-01

Near infrared radiation (NIR) is known to penetrate and affect biological systems in multiple ways. Recently, a series of experimental studies suggested that low intensity NIR may protect neuronal cells against a wide range of insults that mimic diseases such as stroke, brain trauma and neurodegeneration. However, the potential molecular mechanisms of neuroprotection with NIR remain poorly defined. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that low intensity NIR may attenuate hypoxia/ischemia-induced mitochondrial dysfunction in neurons. Primary cortical mouse neuronal cultures were subjected to 4 h oxygen-glucose deprivation followed by reoxygenation for 2 h, neurons were then treated with a 2 min exposure to 810-nm NIR. Mitochondrial function markers including MTT reduction and mitochondria membrane potential were measured at 2 h after treatment. Neurotoxicity was quantified 20 h later. Our results showed that 4 h oxygen-glucose deprivation plus 20 h reoxygenation caused 33.8 ± 3.4 % of neuron death, while NIR exposure significantly reduced neuronal death to 23.6 ± 2.9 %. MTT reduction rate was reduced to 75.9 ± 2.7 % by oxygen-glucose deprivation compared to normoxic controls, but NIR exposure significantly rescued MTT reduction to 87.6 ± 4.5 %. Furthermore, after oxygen-glucose deprivation, mitochondria membrane potential was reduced to 48.9 ± 4.39 % of normoxic control, while NIR exposure significantly ameliorated this reduction to 89.6 ± 13.9 % of normoxic control. Finally, NIR significantly rescued OGD-induced ATP production decline at 20 min after NIR. These findings suggest that low intensity NIR can protect neurons against oxygen-glucose deprivation by rescuing mitochondrial function and restoring neuronal energetics.

Biobotic insect swarm based sensor networks for search and rescue

Science.gov (United States)

Bozkurt, Alper; Lobaton, Edgar; Sichitiu, Mihail; Hedrick, Tyson; Latif, Tahmid; Dirafzoon, Alireza; Whitmire, Eric; Verderber, Alexander; Marin, Juan; Xiong, Hong

2014-06-01

The potential benefits of distributed robotics systems in applications requiring situational awareness, such as search-and-rescue in emergency situations, are indisputable. The efficiency of such systems requires robotic agents capable of coping with uncertain and dynamic environmental conditions. For example, after an earthquake, a tremendous effort is spent for days to reach to surviving victims where robotic swarms or other distributed robotic systems might play a great role in achieving this faster. However, current technology falls short of offering centimeter scale mobile agents that can function effectively under such conditions. Insects, the inspiration of many robotic swarms, exhibit an unmatched ability to navigate through such environments while successfully maintaining control and stability. We have benefitted from recent developments in neural engineering and neuromuscular stimulation research to fuse the locomotory advantages of insects with the latest developments in wireless networking technologies to enable biobotic insect agents to function as search-and-rescue agents. Our research efforts towards this goal include development of biobot electronic backpack technologies, establishment of biobot tracking testbeds to evaluate locomotion control efficiency, investigation of biobotic control strategies with Gromphadorhina portentosa cockroaches and Manduca sexta moths, establishment of a localization and communication infrastructure, modeling and controlling collective motion by learning deterministic and stochastic motion models, topological motion modeling based on these models, and the development of a swarm robotic platform to be used as a testbed for our algorithms.

Multivariate Prediction Equations for HbA1c Lowering, Weight Change, and Hypoglycemic Events Associated with Insulin Rescue Medication in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: Informing Economic Modeling.

Science.gov (United States)

Willis, Michael; Asseburg, Christian; Nilsson, Andreas; Johnsson, Kristina; Kartman, Bernt

2017-03-01

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is chronic and progressive and the cost-effectiveness of new treatment interventions must be established over long time horizons. Given the limited durability of drugs, assumptions regarding downstream rescue medication can drive results. Especially for insulin, for which treatment effects and adverse events are known to depend on patient characteristics, this can be problematic for health economic evaluation involving modeling. To estimate parsimonious multivariate equations of treatment effects and hypoglycemic event risks for use in parameterizing insulin rescue therapy in model-based cost-effectiveness analysis. Clinical evidence for insulin use in T2DM was identified in PubMed and from published reviews and meta-analyses. Study and patient characteristics and treatment effects and adverse event rates were extracted and the data used to estimate parsimonious treatment effect and hypoglycemic event risk equations using multivariate regression analysis. Data from 91 studies featuring 171 usable study arms were identified, mostly for premix and basal insulin types. Multivariate prediction equations for glycated hemoglobin A 1c lowering and weight change were estimated separately for insulin-naive and insulin-experienced patients. Goodness of fit (R 2 ) for both outcomes were generally good, ranging from 0.44 to 0.84. Multivariate prediction equations for symptomatic, nocturnal, and severe hypoglycemic events were also estimated, though considerable heterogeneity in definitions limits their usefulness. Parsimonious and robust multivariate prediction equations were estimated for glycated hemoglobin A 1c and weight change, separately for insulin-naive and insulin-experienced patients. Using these in economic simulation modeling in T2DM can improve realism and flexibility in modeling insulin rescue medication. Copyright © 2017 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All

Disruption of microtubule network rescues aberrant actin comets in dynamin2-depleted cells.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuji Henmi

Full Text Available A large GTPase dynamin, which is required for endocytic vesicle formation, regulates the actin cytoskeleton through its interaction with cortactin. Dynamin2 mutants impair the formation of actin comets, which are induced by Listeria monocytogenes or phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate 5-kinase. However, the role of dynamin2 in the regulation of the actin comet is still unclear. Here we show that aberrant actin comets in dynamin2-depleted cells were rescued by disrupting of microtubule networks. Depletion of dynamin2, but not cortactin, significantly reduced the length and the speed of actin comets induced by Listeria. This implies that dynamin2 may regulate the actin comet in a cortactin-independent manner. As dynamin regulates microtubules, we investigated whether perturbation of microtubules would rescue actin comet formation in dynamin2-depleted cells. Treatment with taxol or colchicine created a microtubule-free space in the cytoplasm, and made no difference between control and dynamin2 siRNA cells. This suggests that the alteration of microtubules by dynamin2 depletion reduced the length and the speed of the actin comet.

Evaluating maps produced by urban search and rescue robots: Lessons learned from RoboCup

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Balaguer, B.; Balakirsky, S.; Carpin, S.; Visser, A.

2009-01-01

This paper presents the map evaluation methodology developed for the Virtual Robots Rescue competition held as part of RoboCup. The procedure aims to evaluate the quality of maps produced by multi-robot systems with respect to a number of factors, including usability, exploration, annotation and

L-leucine partially rescues translational and developmental defects associated with zebrafish models of Cornelia de Lange syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Baoshan; Sowa, Nenja; Cardenas, Maria E; Gerton, Jennifer L

2015-03-15

Cohesinopathies are human genetic disorders that include Cornelia de Lange syndrome (CdLS) and Roberts syndrome (RBS) and are characterized by defects in limb and craniofacial development as well as mental retardation. The developmental phenotypes of CdLS and other cohesinopathies suggest that mutations in the structure and regulation of the cohesin complex during embryogenesis interfere with gene regulation. In a previous project, we showed that RBS was associated with highly fragmented nucleoli and defects in both ribosome biogenesis and protein translation. l-leucine stimulation of the mTOR pathway partially rescued translation in human RBS cells and development in zebrafish models of RBS. In this study, we investigate protein translation in zebrafish models of CdLS. Our results show that phosphorylation of RPS6 as well as 4E-binding protein 1 (4EBP1) was reduced in nipbla/b, rad21 and smc3-morphant embryos, a pattern indicating reduced translation. Moreover, protein biosynthesis and rRNA production were decreased in the cohesin morphant embryo cells. l-leucine partly rescued protein synthesis and rRNA production in the cohesin morphants and partially restored phosphorylation of RPS6 and 4EBP1. Concomitantly, l-leucine treatment partially improved cohesinopathy embryo development including the formation of craniofacial cartilage. Interestingly, we observed that alpha-ketoisocaproate (α-KIC), which is a keto derivative of leucine, also partially rescued the development of rad21 and nipbla/b morphants by boosting mTOR-dependent translation. In summary, our results suggest that cohesinopathies are caused in part by defective protein synthesis, and stimulation of the mTOR pathway through l-leucine or its metabolite α-KIC can partially rescue development in zebrafish models for CdLS. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press.

A Novel Expression Cassette of Lyssavirus Shows that the Distantly Related Mokola Virus Can Rescue a Defective Rabies Virus Genome

Science.gov (United States)

Le Mercier, Philippe; Jacob, Yves; Tanner, Kyle; Tordo, Noël

2002-01-01

By comparing three expression vectors for the rabies virus (Rv) minigenome, we show that the characteristic of the Rv RNA is important for efficient rescue despite its not being crucial for replication. Moreover, we show that the coexpression of the viral proteins from helper Rv and Mokola virus could rescue the Rv minigenome while Rv-related European bat lyssavirus 1 could not, suggesting that the signals controlling transcription and replication are conserved in the distantly related Rv and Mokola virus. PMID:11799201

Rescue endoscopic bleeding control for nonvariceal upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage using clipping and detachable snaring.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, J H; Kim, B K; Seol, D C; Byun, S J; Park, K H; Sung, I K; Park, H S; Shim, C S

2013-06-01

Nonvariceal upper gastrointestinal (UGI) bleeding recurs after appropriate endoscopic therapy in 10 % - 15 % of cases. The mortality rate can be as high as 25 % when bleeding recurs, but there is no consensus about the best modality for endoscopic re-treatment. The aim of this study was to evaluate clipping and detachable snaring (CDS) for rescue endoscopic control of nonvariceal UGI hemorrhage. We report a case series of seven patients from a Korean tertiary center who underwent endoscopic hemostasis using the combined method of detachable snares with hemoclips. The success rate of endoscopic hemostasis with CDS was 86 %: six of the seven patients who had experienced primary endoscopic treatment failure or recurrent bleeding after endoscopic hemostasis were treated successfully. In conclusion, rescue endoscopic bleeding control by means of CDS is an option for controlling nonvariceal UGI bleeding when no other method of endoscopic treatment for recurrent bleeding and primary hemostatic failure is possible. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

N. Sarkosy calls for a global development of civil nuclear

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

2010-01-01

The President Sarkosy called to develop the nuclear power and ask to international financing institutions to resolutely engage in financing nuclear energy power. Mister Yukiya Amano, chief of IAEA declared that:' nuclear power can make a major contribution to economic development and help mitigate climate change'. Mister Manuel Barroso, president of European Commission, said: 'We are confident that the new economy of the European Union will involve the decarbonization of our electricity supply and has announced an initiative to raise European safety standards and international safety and make them legally binding throughout the world '. Mister Daniel Poneman, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Energy said that the United States is working domestically to reinvigorate the nuclear industry and ensure that alongside all countries can have access to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, in a manner that minimizes proliferation. (N.C.)

Assessing call centers’ success:

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hesham A. Baraka

2013-07-01

This paper introduces a model to evaluate the performance of call centers based on the Delone and McLean Information Systems success model. A number of indicators are identified to track the call center’s performance. Mapping of the proposed indicators to the six dimensions of the D&M model is presented. A Weighted Call Center Performance Index is proposed to assess the call center performance; the index is used to analyze the effect of the identified indicators. Policy-Weighted approach was used to assume the weights with an analysis of different weights for each dimension. The analysis of the different weights cases gave priority to the User satisfaction and net Benefits dimension as the two outcomes from the system. For the input dimensions, higher priority was given to the system quality and the service quality dimension. Call centers decision makers can use the tool to tune the different weights in order to reach the objectives set by the organization. Multiple linear regression analysis was used in order to provide a linear formula for the User Satisfaction dimension and the Net Benefits dimension in order to be able to forecast the values for these two dimensions as function of the other dimensions

Growth Data - Captive Broodstock Gene Rescue Program for Odd Year Class Elwha River Pink Salmon

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Conduct captive brood stock gene rescue program for Elwha River odd-year class pink salmon. The fork length to the nearest mm and weight to the nearest gram of a...

International theme for seaside event.

Science.gov (United States)

Adie, Kate; Whitehorn, Will

2014-05-01

The organisers of this month's HefmA 2014 annual conference and exhibition promise delegates "the opportunity to hear international perspectives on the current issues facing the worldwide 'family' of health estates and facilities professionals". Conference speakers will include a US-based consultant architect discussing 'a transformational change programme which has achieved up to threefold greater throughput using the existing footprint in a US Emergency Department'; the assistant director, Facilities Services, at Health Facilities Scotland, focusing on HFS's work to ensure high training standards and succession planning, former BBC war correspondent, Kate Adie, describing some of the 'extraordinary experiences' of an eventful career, and Will Whitehorn, a former search-and-rescue helicopter crewman, who later became president of 'the world's first commercial spaceline', Virgin Galactic, giving his view on technology's impact in business.

78 FR 76218 - Rural Call Completion

Science.gov (United States)

2013-12-17

... calls to rural areas, and enforce restrictions against blocking, choking, reducing, or restricting calls... to alert the Commission of systemic problems receiving calls from a particular originating long... associated with completing calls to rural areas. These rules will also enhance our ability to enforce...

Locating Direction Finders in a Generalized Search and Rescue Network

Science.gov (United States)

1991-03-01

David A . Drake and Alfred B. Marsb. Conv-ersation at NationalI Security Agenc, 29 September 1990. 7. Daskin , Mark S. " A M-admum Fpeced Co-:efing...91 7 19 134 .flT/GORjEnSj9I-M LOCATING DIRECTION FIND’RS IN A GENERALIZED SEARCH AND RESCUE NETWORK THESIS Jean M. Steppe Captain, USAF AFIT/GOR/EN S...91-Mk-7 APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELI ASE: DISTRIBUTION UNLIMITED. 1191-05734 .. 91.. .7 19 134 i i . nMIGOR4M.S/91-MI LOCATING DIRECTION FINDERS IW A

A Pilot Model for the NASA Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER) (Single-Axis Pitch Task)

Science.gov (United States)

Handley, Patrick Mark

This thesis defines, tests, and validates a descriptive pilot model for a single-axis pitch control task of the Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER). SAFER is a small propulsive jetpack used by astronauts for self-rescue. Pilot model research supports development of improved self-rescue strategies and technologies through insights into pilot behavior.This thesis defines a multi-loop pilot model. The innermost loop controls the hand controller, the middle loop controls pitch rate, and the outer loop controls pitch angle. A human-in-the-loop simulation was conducted to gather data from a human pilot. Quantitative and qualitative metrics both indicate that the model is an acceptable fit to the human data. Fuel consumption was nearly identical; time to task completion matched very well. There is some evidence that the model responds faster to initial pitch rates than the human, artificially decreasing the model's time to task completion. This pilot model is descriptive, not predictive, of the human pilot. Insights are made into pilot behavior from this research. Symmetry implies that the human responds to positive and negative initial conditions with the same strategy. The human pilot appears indifferent to pitch angles within 0.5 deg, coasts at a constant pitch rate 1.09 deg/s, and has a reaction delay of 0.1 s.

Long-distance calls in Neotropical primates

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oliveira Dilmar A.G.

2004-01-01

Full Text Available Long-distance calls are widespread among primates. Several studies concentrate on such calls in just one or in few species, while few studies have treated more general trends within the order. The common features that usually characterize these vocalizations are related to long-distance propagation of sounds. The proposed functions of primate long-distance calls can be divided into extragroup and intragroup ones. Extragroup functions relate to mate defense, mate attraction or resource defense, while intragroup functions involve group coordination or alarm. Among Neotropical primates, several species perform long-distance calls that seem more related to intragroup coordination, markedly in atelines. Callitrichids present long-distance calls that are employed both in intragroup coordination and intergroup contests or spacing. Examples of extragroup directed long-distance calls are the duets of titi monkeys and the roars and barks of howler monkeys. Considerable complexity and gradation exist in the long-distance call repertoires of some Neotropical primates, and female long-distance calls are probably more important in non-duetting species than usually thought. Future research must focus on larger trends in the evolution of primate long-distance calls, including the phylogeny of calling repertoires and the relationships between form and function in these signals.

Thermodynamic Data Rescue and Informatics for Deep Carbon Science

Science.gov (United States)

Zhong, H.; Ma, X.; Prabhu, A.; Eleish, A.; Pan, F.; Parsons, M. A.; Ghiorso, M. S.; West, P.; Zednik, S.; Erickson, J. S.; Chen, Y.; Wang, H.; Fox, P. A.

2017-12-01

A large number of legacy datasets are contained in geoscience literature published between 1930 and 1980 and not expressed external to the publication text in digitized formats. Extracting, organizing, and reusing these "dark" datasets is highly valuable for many within the Earth and planetary science community. As a part of the Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO) data legacy missions, the DCO Data Science Team and Extreme Physics and Chemistry community identified thermodynamic datasets related to carbon, or more specifically datasets about the enthalpy and entropy of chemicals, as a proof of principle analysis. The data science team endeavored to develop a semi-automatic workflow, which includes identifying relevant publications, extracting contained datasets using OCR methods, collaborative reviewing, and registering the datasets via the DCO Data Portal where the 'Linked Data' feature of the data portal provides a mechanism for connecting rescued datasets beyond their individual data sources, to research domains, DCO Communities, and more, making data discovery and retrieval more effective.To date, the team has successfully rescued, deposited and registered additional datasets from publications with thermodynamic sources. These datasets contain 3 main types of data: (1) heat content or enthalpy data determined for a given compound as a function of temperature using high-temperature calorimetry, (2) heat content or enthalpy data determined for a given compound as a function of temperature using adiabatic calorimetry, and (3) direct determination of heat capacity of a compound as a function of temperature using differential scanning calorimetry. The data science team integrated these datasets and delivered a spectrum of data analytics including visualizations, which will lead to a comprehensive characterization of the thermodynamics of carbon and carbon-related materials.

Search and Rescue in the High North: An Air Force Mission?

Science.gov (United States)

2013-12-01

at the strange new things in the land of the midnight sun. What wouldn’t surprise him are the things that never change: six months of darkness ...8-98) Prescribed by ANSI Std Z39-18 November–December 2013 Air & Space Power Journal | 5 Conway Search and Rescue in the High North Feature tourism ...official sanction of the Department of Defense, Air Force, Air Education and Training Command, Air University, or other agencies or departments of

The International Curriculum: Current Trends and Emerging Needs

Science.gov (United States)

Richter, Jesse Jones

2015-01-01

This paper examines the current state of tertiary level international curricula and provides groundwork for future research aimed at ongoing needs. Recognized is the premise that existing international curricular programs require maintenance. Burn (1995) called for curriculum reform in international departments two decades ago with the rationale…

Rescue of sarcoglycan mutations by inhibition of endoplasmic reticulum quality control is associated with minimal structural modifications.

Science.gov (United States)

Soheili, Tayebeh; Gicquel, Evelyne; Poupiot, Jérôme; N'Guyen, Luu; Le Roy, Florence; Bartoli, Marc; Richard, Isabelle

2012-02-01

Sarcoglycanopathies (SGP) are a group of autosomal recessive muscle disorders caused by primary mutations in one of the four sarcoglycan genes. The sarcoglycans (α-, β-, γ-, and δ-sarcoglycan) form a tetrameric complex at the muscle membrane that is part of the dystrophin-glycoprotein complex and plays an essential role for membrane integrity during muscle contractions. We previously showed that the most frequent missense mutation in α-sarcoglycan (p.R77C) leads to the absence of the protein at the cell membrane due to its blockade by the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) quality control. Moreover, we demonstrated that inhibition of the ER α-mannosidase I activity using kifunensine could rescue the mutant protein localization at the cell membrane. Here, we investigate 25 additional disease-causing missense mutations in the sarcoglycan genes with respect to intracellular fate and localization rescue of the mutated proteins by kifunensine. Our studies demonstrate that, similarly to p.R77C, 22 of 25 of the selected mutations lead to defective intracellular trafficking of the SGs proteins. Six of these were saved from ER retention upon kifunensine treatment. The trafficking of SGs mutants rescued by kifunensine was associated with mutations that have moderate structural impact on the protein. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Collaboration and Interconnectivity: Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Services and Higher Education Institutions in Nottingham

Science.gov (United States)

Murphy, Peter; Greenhalgh, Kirsten; Parkin, Craig

2013-01-01

This article will describe the developing relationship between Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Services and the two higher education institutions in Nottingham. It will chronicle how a very traditional relationship has been transformed, initially by a simple consultancy project, into a much closer working relationship characterised by a much…

Low-Cost Rescue Robot for Disaster Management in a Developing Country: Development of a Prototype Using Locally Available Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Mahmud, Faisal; Hossain, S. G. M.; Bin, Jobair

2010-01-01

The use of robots in different fields is common and effective in developed countries. In case of incident management or emergency rescue after a disaster, robots are often used to lessen the human effort where it is either impossible or life-threatening for rescuers. Though developed countries can afford robotic-effort for pro-disaster management, the scenario is totally opposite for developing and under-developed countries to engage such a machine-help due to high cost of the machines and high maintenance cost as well. In this research paper, the authors proposed a low-cost "Rescue-Robot" for pro-disaster management which can overcome the budget-constraints as well as fully capable of rescue purposes for incident management. Here, all the research works were performed in Bangladesh - a developing country in South Asia. A disaster struck structure was chosen and a thorough survey was performed to understand the real-life environment for the prototype. The prototype was developed considering the results of this survey and it was manufactured using all locally available components and facilities.

Enhancing dopaminergic signaling and histone acetylation promotes long-term rescue of deficient fear extinction

Science.gov (United States)

Whittle, N; Maurer, V; Murphy, C; Rainer, J; Bindreither, D; Hauschild, M; Scharinger, A; Oberhauser, M; Keil, T; Brehm, C; Valovka, T; Striessnig, J; Singewald, N

2016-01-01

Extinction-based exposure therapy is used to treat anxiety- and trauma-related disorders; however, there is the need to improve its limited efficacy in individuals with impaired fear extinction learning and to promote greater protection against return-of-fear phenomena. Here, using 129S1/SvImJ mice, which display impaired fear extinction acquisition and extinction consolidation, we revealed that persistent and context-independent rescue of deficient fear extinction in these mice was associated with enhanced expression of dopamine-related genes, such as dopamine D1 (Drd1a) and -D2 (Drd2) receptor genes in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and amygdala, but not hippocampus. Moreover, enhanced histone acetylation was observed in the promoter of the extinction-regulated Drd2 gene in the mPFC, revealing a potential gene-regulatory mechanism. Although enhancing histone acetylation, via administering the histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor MS-275, does not induce fear reduction during extinction training, it promoted enduring and context-independent rescue of deficient fear extinction consolidation/retrieval once extinction learning was initiated as shown following a mild conditioning protocol. This was associated with enhanced histone acetylation in neurons of the mPFC and amygdala. Finally, as a proof-of-principle, mimicking enhanced dopaminergic signaling by L-dopa treatment rescued deficient fear extinction and co-administration of MS-275 rendered this effect enduring and context-independent. In summary, current data reveal that combining dopaminergic and epigenetic mechanisms is a promising strategy to improve exposure-based behavior therapy in extinction-impaired individuals by initiating the formation of an enduring and context-independent fear-inhibitory memory. PMID:27922638

Fish Culture Data - Captive Broodstock Gene Rescue Program for Odd Year Class Elwha River Pink Salmon

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Conduct captive brood stock gene rescue program for Elwha River odd-year class pink salmon. Raw data on rearing density, loading density, water temperature, ration,...

A high-fat diet and NAD+ activate sirt1 to rescue premature aging in cockayne syndrome

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Scheibye-Knudsen, Morten; Mitchell, Sarah J.; Fang, Evandro F.

2014-01-01

-fat, caloric-restricted, or resveratrol-supplemented diet. High-fat feeding rescued the metabolic, transcriptomic, and behavioral phenotypes of Csbm/m mice. Furthermore, premature aging in CS mice, nematodes, and human cells results from aberrant PARP activation due to deficient DNA repair leading to decreased......Cockayne syndrome (CS) is an accelerated aging disorder characterized by progressive neurodegeneration caused by mutations in genes encoding the DNA repair proteins CS group A or B (CSA or CSB). Since dietary interventions can alter neurodegenerative processes, Csbm/m mice were given a high...... SIRT1 activity and mitochondrial dysfunction. Notably, β-hydroxybutyrate levels are increased by the high-fat diet, and β-hydroxybutyrate, PARP inhibition, or NAD+ supplementation can activate SIRT1 and rescue CS-associated phenotypes. Mechanistically, CSB can displace activated PARP1 from damaged DNA...

Absence of Wip1 partially rescues Atm deficiency phenotypes in mice

Science.gov (United States)

Darlington, Yolanda; Nguyen, Thuy-Ai; Moon, Sung-Hwan; Herron, Alan; Rao, Pulivarthi; Zhu, Chengming; Lu, Xiongbin; Donehower, Lawrence A.

2011-01-01

Wildtype p53-Induced Phosphatase 1 (WIP1) is a serine/threonine phosphatase that dephosphorylates proteins in the ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM)-initiated DNA damage response pathway. WIP1 may play a homeostatic role in ATM signaling by returning the cell to a normal pre-stress state following completion of DNA repair. To better understand the effects of WIP1 on ATM signaling, we crossed Atm-deficient mice to Wip1-deficient mice and characterized phenotypes of the double knockout progeny. We hypothesized that the absence of Wip1 might rescue Atm deficiency phenotypes. Atm null mice, like ATM-deficient humans with the inherited syndrome ataxia telangiectasia, exhibit radiation sensitivity, fertility defects, and are T-cell lymphoma prone. Most double knockout mice were largely protected from lymphoma development and had a greatly extended lifespan compared to Atm null mice. Double knockout mice had increased p53 and H2AX phosphorylation and p21 expression compared to their Atm null counterparts, indicating enhanced p53 and DNA damage responses. Additionally, double knockout splenocytes displayed reduced chromosomal instability compared to Atm null mice. Finally, doubly null mice were partially rescued from infertility defects observed in Atm null mice. These results indicate that inhibition of WIP1 may represent a useful strategy for cancer treatment in general and A-T patients in particular. PMID:21765465

Cueing training in the home improves gait-related mobility in Parkinson's disease : The RESCUE trial

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nieuwboer, A.; Kwakkel, G.; Rochester, L.; Jones, D.; Van Wegen, E.; Willems, A. M.; Chavret, F.; Hetherington, V.; Baker, K.; Lim, I.

2007-01-01

Objectives: Gait and mobility problems are difficult to treat in people with Parkinson's disease. The Rehabilitation in Parkinson's Disease: Strategies for Cueing (RESCUE) trial investigated the effects of a home physiotherapy programme based on rhythmical cueing on gait and gait-related activity.

Cueing training in the home improves gait-related mobility in Parkinson's disease: the RESCUE trial.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nieuwboer, A.; Kwakkel, G.; Rochester, L.; Jones, D.; Wegen, E. van; Willems, A.M.; Chavret, F.; Hetherington, V.; Baker, K.; Lim, I.

2007-01-01

OBJECTIVES: Gait and mobility problems are difficult to treat in people with Parkinson's disease. The Rehabilitation in Parkinson's Disease: Strategies for Cueing (RESCUE) trial investigated the effects of a home physiotherapy programme based on rhythmical cueing on gait and gait-related activity.

Callings and Organizational Behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Elangovan, A. R.; Pinder, Craig C.; McLean, Murdith

2010-01-01

Current literature on careers, social identity and meaning in work tends to understate the multiplicity, historical significance, and nuances of the concept of calling(s). In this article, we trace the evolution of the concept from its religious roots into secular realms and develop a typology of interpretations using occupation and religious…

Uncertain call likelihood negatively affects sleep and next-day cognitive performance while on-call in a laboratory environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Sprajcer, Madeline; Jay, Sarah M; Vincent, Grace E; Vakulin, Andrew; Lack, Leon; Ferguson, Sally A

2018-05-11

On-call working arrangements are employed in a number of industries to manage unpredictable events, and often involve tasks that are safety- or time-critical. This study investigated the effects of call likelihood during an overnight on-call shift on self-reported pre-bed anxiety, sleep and next-day cognitive performance. A four-night laboratory-based protocol was employed, with an adaptation, a control and two counterbalanced on-call nights. On one on-call night, participants were instructed that they would definitely be called during the night, while on the other on-call night they were told they may be called. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory form x-1 was used to investigate pre-bed anxiety, and sleep was assessed using polysomnography and power spectral analysis of the sleep electroencephalographic analysis. Cognitive performance was assessed four times daily using a 10-min psychomotor vigilance task. Participants felt more anxious before bed when they were definitely going to be called, compared with the control and maybe conditions. Conversely, participants experienced significantly less non-rapid eye movement and stage two sleep and poorer cognitive performance when told they may be called. Further, participants had significantly more rapid eye movement sleep in the maybe condition, which may be an adaptive response to the stress associated with this on-call condition. It appears that self-reported anxiety may not be linked with sleep outcomes while on-call. However, this research indicates that it is important to take call likelihood into consideration when constructing rosters and risk-management systems for on-call workers.

International cooperation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Prieto, F.E.

1984-01-01

It looks doubtless that the need for an international cooperation to solve the worldwide energy problems is already a concern of individuals, institutions, and governments. This is an improvement. But there is something lacking. The author refers to the Atoms for Peace speech, the origin of the IAEA and of the subsequent spreading of the nuclear option. He also refers back to the call made by the Mexican government for a worldwide energy cooperation. He stresses the need for governments to cooperate, so that this international cooperation on energy can be put into operation for the benefit of mankind

[Laser treatment for retinopathy of prematurity in neonatal intensive care units. Premature Eye Rescue Program].

Science.gov (United States)

Maka, Erika; Imre, László; Somogyvári, Zsolt; Németh, János

2015-02-01

Retinopathy of prematurity is a leading cause of childhood blindness around the world. The Department of Ophthalmology at the Semmelweis University and the Peter Cerny Neonatal Emergency and Ambulance Service started an innovative Premature Eye Rescue Program to reduce the non-essential transport of premature babies suffering from retinopathy of prematurity. During the first 5 years 186 eyes of 93 premature babies were treated at the bedside with stage 3 retinopathy of prematurity in the primary hospitals. In this first 5-years period the authors reduced the number of transports of premature babies for laser treatment; 93 children avoided the unnecessary transport, saving altogether a distance of 21,930 kilometers for children, as well as the ambulance service. The Premature Eye Rescue Program offers a good and effective alternative for treatment of retinopathy in the primary hospitals. The authors propose the national extension of this program.

Infralimbic Neurotrophin-3 Infusion Rescues Fear Extinction Impairment in a Mouse Model of Pathological Fear.

Science.gov (United States)

D'Amico, Davide; Gener, Thomas; de Lagrán, Maria Martínez; Sanchez-Vives, Maria V; Santos, Mónica; Dierssen, Mara

2017-01-01

The inability to properly extinguish fear memories constitutes the foundation of several anxiety disorders, including panic disorder. Recent findings show that boosting prefrontal cortex synaptic plasticity potentiates fear extinction, suggesting that therapies that augment synaptic plasticity could prove useful in rescue of fear extinction impairments in this group of disorders. Previously, we reported that mice with selective deregulation of neurotrophic tyrosine kinase receptor, type 3 expression (TgNTRK3) exhibit increased fear memories accompanied by impaired extinction, congruent with an altered activation pattern of the amygdala-hippocampus-medial prefrontal cortex fear circuit. Here we explore the specific role of neurotrophin 3 and its cognate receptor in the medial prefrontal cortex, and its involvement in fear extinction in a pathological context. In this study we combined molecular, behavioral, in vivo pharmacology and ex vivo electrophysiological recordings in TgNTRK3 animals during contextual fear extinction processes. We show that neurotrophin 3 protein levels are increased upon contextual fear extinction in wild-type animals but not in TgNTRK3 mice, which present deficits in infralimbic long-term potentiation. Importantly, infusion of neurotrophin 3 to the medial prefrontal cortex of TgNTRK3 mice rescues contextual fear extinction and ex vivo local application improves medial prefrontal cortex synaptic plasticity. This effect is blocked by inhibition of extracellular signal-regulated kinase phosphorylation through peripheral administration of SL327, suggesting that rescue occurs via this pathway. Our results suggest that stimulating neurotrophin 3-dependent medial prefrontal cortex plasticity could restore contextual fear extinction deficit in pathological fear and could constitute an effective treatment for fear-related disorders.

The Political Economy of International Treaties

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Merkouris, Panagiotis; Fabbricotti, Alberta

2016-01-01

The book, which the present Chapter is a part of, is a ‘call to arms’ for a more systematic and systemic PE- (political economy) and IPE-oriented (international political economy) study of PIL (public international law). The present Chapter tackles the task of demonstrating the need for a PE and IPE

Inhibition of microtubules and dynein rescues human immunodeficiency virus type 1 from owl monkey TRIMCyp-mediated restriction in a cellular context-specific fashion.

Science.gov (United States)

Pawlica, Paulina; Dufour, Caroline; Berthoux, Lionel

2015-04-01

IFN-induced restriction factors can significantly affect the replicative capacity of retroviruses in mammals. TRIM5α (tripartite motif protein 5, isoform α) is a restriction factor that acts at early stages of the virus life cycle by intercepting and destabilizing incoming retroviral cores. Sensitivity to TRIM5α maps to the N-terminal domain of the retroviral capsid proteins. In several New World and Old World monkey species, independent events of retrotransposon-mediated insertion of the cyclophilin A (CypA)-coding sequence in the trim5 gene have given rise to TRIMCyp (also called TRIM5-CypA), a hybrid protein that is active against some lentiviruses in a species-specific fashion. In particular, TRIMCyp from the owl monkey (omkTRIMCyp) very efficiently inhibits human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). Previously, we showed that disrupting the integrity of microtubules (MTs) and of cytoplasmic dynein complexes partially rescued replication of retroviruses, including HIV-1, from restriction mediated by TRIM5α. Here, we showed that efficient restriction of HIV-1 by omkTRIMCyp was similarly dependent on the MT network and on dynein complexes, but in a context-dependent fashion. When omkTRIMCyp was expressed in human HeLa cells, restriction was partially counteracted by pharmacological agents targeting MTs or by small interfering RNA-mediated inhibition of dynein. The same drugs (nocodazole and paclitaxel) also rescued HIV-1 from restriction in cat CRFK cells, although to a lesser extent. Strikingly, neither nocodazole, paclitaxel nor depletion of the dynein heavy chain had a significant effect on the restriction of HIV-1 in an owl monkey cell line. These results suggested the existence of cell-specific functional interactions between MTs/dynein and TRIMCyp. © 2015 The Authors.

Pregnenolone rescues schizophrenia-like behavior in dopamine transporter knockout mice.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peiyan Wong

Full Text Available Pregnenolone belongs to a class of endogenous neurosteroids in the central nervous system (CNS, which has been suggested to enhance cognitive functions through GABA(A receptor signaling by its metabolites. It has been shown that the level of pregnenolone is altered in certain brain areas of schizophrenic patients, and clozapine enhances pregnenolone in the CNS in rats, suggesting that pregnenolone could be used to treat certain symptoms of schizophrenia. In addition, early phase proof-of-concept clinical trials have indicated that pregnenolone is effective in reducing the negative symptoms and cognitive deficits of schizophrenia patients. Here, we evaluate the actions of pregnenolone on a mouse model for schizophrenia, the dopamine transporter knockout mouse (DAT KO. DAT KO mice mirror certain symptoms evident in patients with schizophrenia, such as the psychomotor agitation, stereotypy, deficits of prepulse inhibition and cognitive impairments. Following acute treatment, pregnenolone was found to reduce the hyperlocomotion, stereotypic bouts and pre-pulse inhibition (PPI deficits in DAT KO mice in a dose-dependent manner. At 60 mg/kg of pregnenolone, there were no significant differences in locomotor activities and stereotypy between wild-type and DAT KO mice. Similarly, acute treatment of 60 mg/kg of pregnenolone fully rescued PPI deficits of DAT KO mice. Following chronic treatment with pregnenolone at 60 mg/kg, the cognitive deficits of DAT KO mice were rescued in the paradigms of novel object recognition test and social transmission of food preference test. Pregnenolone thus holds promise as a therapeutic candidate in schizophrenia.

Fish Health Data - Captive Broodstock Gene Rescue Program for Odd Year Class Elwha River Pink Salmon

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Conduct captive brood stock gene rescue program for Elwha River odd-year class pink salmon. All fresh mortalities larger than 100 mm are sent to Fish Health for...

Searching for hidden radioactive sources in the Barents Rescue 2001 nuclear emergency exercise

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smethurst, Mark A.; Mogaard, John O.; Mauring, Eirik; Koziel, Janusz; Kihle, Ola

2001-11-01

The international nuclear emergency exercise Barents Rescue took place in the vicinity of Boden in northern Sweden between the 12th and 20th of September 2001. The Gamma Search Cell part of the exercise was designed to test the abilities of car-borne and airborne measuring systems to quickly locate and characterise radioactive sources hidden in the countryside. The Geological Survey of Norway participated in the Gamma Search Cell with a car-borne gamma-ray spectrometer system, a field team of three persons and a remote support group of two persons situated in Trondheim. The Geological Survey of Norway team identified 16 sources and 2 small areas of Chernobyl fallout in real time. Two additional sources were identified during post processing of the data. Otherwise the team drove past 2 ''strong'' and 4 weak sources without detecting them. The remaining 9 sources were in locations not visited by the car-borne measuring system. All but two source identifications were reported to the base of operations within a few minutes of discovery. The Geological Survey of Norway's source search strategy worked well and comparatively few strong sources were overlooked in the short time allocated for searching. The measuring system proved to be extremely reliable, making approximately 140,000 measurements during 8 days of measuring in and around Boden. (author)

Care and calls

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Paasch, Bettina Sletten

-centred care through the use of tactile resources and embodied orientations while they attend to the phone call. Experienced nurses Thus perform multiactivity by distributing attention towards both the patient and the phone, and the analysis shows that their concrete ways of doing so depend on the complex...... they are telephoned during interactions with patients are not universal. Indeed different strategies have evolved in other hospital departments. Not only does this thesis contribute insights into the way nurses manage phone calls during interactions with patients, but by subscribing to a growing body of embodied...... of human interaction....

Robotic Platform for Automated Search and Rescue Missions of Humans

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eli Kolberg

2013-02-01

Full Text Available We present a novel type of model incorporating a special remote life signals sensing optical system on top of a controllable robotic platform. The remote sensing system consists of a laser and a camera. By properly adapting our optics and by applying a proper image processing algorithm we can sense within the field of view, illuminated by the laser and imaged by the camera, the heartbeats and the blood pulse pressure of subjects (even several simultaneously. The task is to use the developed robotic system for search and rescue mission such as saving survivals from a fire.

Rescue and Fire Fighting on RWY 06R/24L

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kristýna Vaňková

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Rescue and firefighting service is an important and essential part at the Václav Havel Airport Prague and it has to follow the requirements stated in Commission regulations (EU, regulations and laws of Czech Republic. Construction of parallel runway 06R/24L influences runway and taxiway system significantly. Consequences of these construction changes are changes of access routes and new places of potential interventions originates. Safety risks of inaccessible areas at the airport and inability to follow response time come with operations of the new runway. These risks are assessed and mitigated if necessary.

Radiation safety: New international standards

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gonzalez, A.J.

1994-01-01

This article highlights an important result of this work for the international harmonization of radiation safety: specifically, it present an overview of the forthcoming International Basic Safety Standards for Protection Against Ionizing Radiation and for the Safety of Radiation Sources - the so-called BSS. They have been jointly developed by six organizations - the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (NEA/OECD), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and the World Health Organization (WHO)

A case of death due to rescue action by a power shovel after being buried alive.

Science.gov (United States)

Watanabe-Suzuki, K; Nozawa, H; Ishii, A; Seno, H; Suzuki, O

2001-12-01

We report a rare case of death due to rescue using a power shovel. A 41-year-old female was accidentally buried alive by a landslide of the earth and sand upon working at a construction site. One of her colleagues started to save her using a power shovel. However, she was dug out dead at the spot about 10 min after the accident with marked head and face injuries. The autopsy disclosed that there was extensive laceration across the face and head with marked skull bone fractures. Around these injuries, extensive hemorrhage could be observed as a vital reaction. Asphyxial death had to be taken into consideration, because she was buried under the earth and sand for about 10 min; but we finally judged that the cause of her death was head injury by the power shovel inflicted during the attempted rescue.

Award Letter: Tundra nesting bird data rescue for the Canning River Delta long-term ecological monitoring site

Data.gov (United States)

Department of the Interior — Award letter in response to Alaska Region Inventory and Monitoring 2017 request for proposals. Issued to Arctic NWR for project “Tundra nesting bird data rescue for...

Intraocular gene transfer of ciliary neurotrophic factor rescues photoreceptor degeneration in RCS rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Shun-Ping; Lin, Po-Kang; Liu, Jorn-Hon; Khor, Chin-Ni; Lee, Yih-Jing

2004-01-01

Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) is known as an important factor in the regulation of retinal cell growth. We used both recombinant CNTF and an adenovirus carrying the CNTF gene to regulate retinal photoreceptor expression in a retinal degenerative animal, Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) rats. Cells in the outer nuclear layer of the retinae from recombinant-CNTF-treated, adenoviral-CNTF-treated, saline-operated, and contralateral untreated preparations were examined for those exhibiting CNTF photoreceptor protective effects. Cell apoptosis in the outer nuclear layer of the retinae was also detected. It was found that CNTF had a potent effect on delaying the photoreceptor degeneration process in RCS rats. Furthermore, adenovirus CNTF gene transfer was proven to be better at rescuing photoreceptors than that when using recombinant CNTF, since adenoviral CNTF prolonged the photoreceptor protection effect. The function of the photoreceptors was also examined by taking electroretinograms of different animals. Adenoviral-CNTF-treated eyes showed better retinal function than did the contralateral control eyes. This study indicates that adenoviral CNTF effectively rescues degenerating photoreceptors in RCS rats. Copyright 2004 National Science Council, ROC and S. Karger AG, Basel

A Novel Reconfigurable Robot for Urban Search and Rescue

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Houxiang Zhang

2006-12-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a novel mobile robot for urban search and rescue based on reconfiguration. The system consists of three identical modules; actually each module is an entire robotic system that can perform distributed activities. To achieve highly adaptive locomotion capabilities, the robot's serial and parallel mechanisms form an active joint, enabling it to change its shape in three dimensions. A docking mechanism enables adjacent modules to connect or disconnect flexibly and automatically. This mechanical structure and the control system are introduced in detail, followed by a description of the locomotion capabilities. In the end, the successful on-site tests confirm the principles described above and the robot's ability.

A Novel Reconfigurable Robot for Urban Search and Rescue

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhicheng Deng

2008-11-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a novel mobile robot for urban search and rescue based on reconfiguration. The system consists of three identical modules; actually each module is an entire robotic system that can perform distributed activities. To achieve highly adaptive locomotion capabilities, the robot's serial and parallel mechanisms form an active joint, enabling it to change its shape in three dimensions. A docking mechanism enables adjacent modules to connect or disconnect flexibly and automatically. This mechanical structure and the control system are introduced in detail, followed by a description of the locomotion capabilities. In the end, the successful on-site tests confirm the principles described above and the robot's ability.

Design and Analysis of Landing Gear Mechanic Structure for the Mine Rescue Carrier Robot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wei Juan

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The landing gear is used as a channel for the secondary detecting robot to leave and return the first carrier robot in the coal mine rescue robot system. The planar linkage mechanism, which is composed of offset rocker-slider mechanism and double-rocker mechanism, is designed according to the function and working principle of the landing gear. It could realize the 120° rotation of the flap with a motor driving the slider. The size calculation of the planar linkage mechanism is completed according to its workspace. The geometric modeling of the landing gear is made in the SolidWorks, and the basic Kinematic analysis is carried out by the simulation module of Motion. And the movement rule about angular displacement and angular velocity of the linkage mechanism could be obtained under given input condition, which could verify the system’s feasibility. It provides a theoretical basis for the structure design and engineering application of linkage mechanism and an applying basis for the coal mine rescue robot.

Rescue of the apoptotic-inducing function of mutant p53 by small molecule RITA.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Carolyn Y; Grinkevich, Vera V; Nikulenkov, Fedor; Bao, Wenjie; Selivanova, Galina

2010-05-01

Expression of mutant p53 correlates with poor prognosis in many tumors, therefore strategies aimed at reactivation of mutant p53 are likely to provide important benefits for treatment of tumors that are resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. We have previously identified and characterized a small molecule RITA which binds p53 and induces a conformational change which prevents the binding of p53 to several inhibitors, including its own destructor MDM2. In this way, RITA rescues the tumor suppression function of wild type p53. Here, we demonstrate that RITA suppressed the growth and induced apoptosis in human tumor cell lines of a diverse origin carrying mutant p53 proteins. RITA restored transcriptional transactivation and transrepression function of several hot spot p53 mutants. The ability of RITA to rescue the activity of different p53 mutants suggests its generic mechanism of action. Thus, RITA is a promising lead for the development of anti-cancer drugs that reactivate the tumor suppressor function of p53 in cancer cells irrespective whether they express mutant or wild type p53.

A longitudinal study of posttraumatic stress symptoms and their predictors in rescue workers after a firework factory disaster.

Science.gov (United States)

Ask, Elklit; Gudmundsdottir, Drifa

2014-01-01

This is a follow up study on rescue workers participating in the primary rescue during and immediately after the explosion of a firework factory. We aimed to estimate the possible PTSD prevalence at five and 18 months post disaster, determining if the level of PTSD symptoms at 18 months could be predicted from factors measured at five months. We included measures of posttraumatic symptoms, social support, locus of control and demographic questions. The possible PTSD prevalence rose from 1.6% (n = 465) at five months post disaster to 3.1% (n = 130) at 18 months. A hierarchical linear regression predicted 59% of PTSD symptoms variance at 18 months post disaster. In the final regression, somatization explained the greatest part of the symptom variance (42%), followed by locus of control (29%) and major life events prior to and right after the disaster (23%). Rescue workers seemed to be relatively robust to traumatic exposure: The prevalence of possible PTSD in our study was even lower than previous studies, probably because of the less severe consequences of the disaster studied. Furthermore, we found that PTSD symptom level at 18 months post disaster was highly predicted by psychological factors, particularly by somatization. However, further investigations of traumatic responding are required in this population.

International Citizenship and the International Federation of University Women before 1939

Science.gov (United States)

Goodman, Joyce

2011-01-01

This article explores discursive languages through which leading women in the International Federation of University Women (IFUW) articulated their understandings of world citizenship and looks at what Caroline Spurgeon, the first President of the IFUW, called the "organised training of women to be citizens of the world." The central section…

Celebrating partnerships for International Development Week 2018 ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

2018-01-31

Jan 31, 2018 ... International Development Week, observed February 4-10 this year, is an opportunity to focus on Canada's contributions ... This event is part of the 2018 International Development Week conference at the University of Ottawa. ... Call for new OWSD Fellowships for Early Career Women Scientists now open.

How to call the Fire Brigade

CERN Multimedia

2003-01-01

The telephone numbers for the CERN Fire Brigade are: 74444 for emergency calls 74848 for other calls Note The number 112 will stay in use for emergency calls from "wired" telephones, however, from mobile phones it leads to non-CERN emergency services.

Evaluating the Feasibility of RESCUE: An Adjunctive HAI-Based Intervention for Veterans with PTSD

Science.gov (United States)

2017-05-01

Began recruitment through PTSD clinical team; consented first participant 9/20/16. Completed case series, conducted qualitative interviews , and refined...Continued animal shelter collaboration. 5. Completed case series, conducted qualitative interviews , and finalized study protocol. 6. Initiated...33 15% Conduct qualitative thematic interviews regarding RESCUE components for all participants. 13-33 15% 7 Major Task 5: Ongoing

Male Music Frogs Compete Vocally on the Basis of Temporal Sequence Rather Than Spatial Cues of Rival Calls

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Fan JIANG; Guangzhan FANG; Fei XUE; Jianguo CUI; Steven E BRAUTH; Yezhong TANG

2015-01-01

Male-male vocal competition in anuran species may be influenced by cues related to the temporal sequence of male calls as well by internal temporal, spectral and spatial ones. Nevertheless, the conditions under which each type of cue is important remain unclear. Since the salience of different cues could be reflected by dynamic properties of male-male competition under certain experimental manipulation, we investigated the effects of repeating playbacks of conspecific calls on male call production in the Emei music frog (Babina daunchina). In Babina, most males produce calls from nest burrows which modify the spectral features of the cues. Females prefer calls produced from inside burrows which are defined as highly sexually attractive (HSA) while those produced outside burrows as low sexual attractiveness (LSA). In this study HSA and LSA calls were broadcasted either antiphonally or stereophonically through spatially separated speakers in which the temporal sequence and/or spatial position of the playbacks was either predictable or random. Results showed that most males consistently avoided producing advertisement calls overlapping the playback stimuli and generally produced calls competitively in advance of the playbacks. Furthermore males preferentially competed with the HSA calls when the sequence was predictable but competed equally with HSA and LSA calls if the sequence was random regardless of the availability of spatial cues, implying that males relied more on available sequence cues than spatial ones to remain competitive.

The international politics of climate engineering : A review and prospectus for international relations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Horton, Joshua B.; Reynolds, Jesse

2016-01-01

Proposed large-scale intentional interventions in natural systems in order to counter climate change, typically called “climate engineering” or “geoengineering,” stand to dramatically alter the international politics of climate change and potentially much more. There is currently a significant and

No Place to Call Home: Child & Youth Homelessness in the United States. Poverty Fact Sheet

Science.gov (United States)

Damron, Neil

2015-01-01

"No Place to Call Home: Child and Youth Homelessness in the United States," prepared by intern Neil Damron and released in May 2015, presents the statistics on child and youth homelessness and recent trends in Wisconsin and the United States. It explores the major challenges faced by homeless minors, and, drawing from recent research by…

Dense 3D Map Construction for Indoor Search and Rescue

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ellekilde, Lars-Peter; Huang, Shoudong; Miró, Jaime Valls

2007-01-01

The main contribution of this paper is a new simultaneous localization and mapping  SLAM algorithm for building dense three-dimensional maps using information ac- quired from a range imager and a conventional camera, for robotic search and rescue in unstructured indoor environments. A key challen...... invariant feature transformation SIFT feature detection and matching, random sampling consensus RANSAC , and least square 3D point sets ?tting. Experimental results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the techniques developed....

The IASLC Lung Cancer Staging Project: A Renewed Call to Participation.

Science.gov (United States)

Giroux, Dorothy J; Van Schil, Paul; Asamura, Hisao; Rami-Porta, Ramón; Chansky, Kari; Crowley, John J; Rusch, Valerie W; Kernstine, Kemp

2018-06-01

Over the past two decades, the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) Staging Project has been a steady source of evidence-based recommendations for the TNM classification for lung cancer published by the Union for International Cancer Control and the American Joint Committee on Cancer. The Staging and Prognostic Factors Committee of the IASLC is now issuing a call for participation in the next phase of the project, which is designed to inform the ninth edition of the TNM classification for lung cancer. Following the case recruitment model for the eighth edition database, volunteer site participants are asked to submit data on patients whose lung cancer was diagnosed between January 1, 2011, and December 31, 2019, to the project by means of a secure, electronic data capture system provided by Cancer Research And Biostatistics in Seattle, Washington. Alternatively, participants may transfer existing data sets. The continued success of the IASLC Staging Project in achieving its objectives will depend on the extent of international participation, the degree to which cases are entered directly into the electronic data capture system, and how closely externally submitted cases conform to the data elements for the project. Copyright © 2018 International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An application of the MEMbrain training module: Pre-hospital rescue operation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, V.

1998-01-01

A system for training in pre-hospital emergency management is being developed and the first version of a prototype has been completed. The training system fulfils the demands from the domain of hospital emergency planning centres and medical attendants concerning increased efficiency of rescue...... efforts. This includes enhanced first aid on site and improved overall co-ordination amongst the organisations involved in coping with emergency situations. The training system is based on the Multi-User System for Training Emergency Response (MUSTER) concept which is used for the training module...

Using Semantic Similarity In Automated Call Quality Evaluator For Call Centers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ria A. Sagum

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Conversation between the agent and client are being evaluated manually by a quality assurance officer QA. This job is only one of the responsibilities being done by a QA and particularly eat ups a lot of time for them which lead to late evaluation results that may cause untimely response of the company to concerns raised by their clients. This research developed an application software that automates and evaluates the quality assurance in business process outsourcing companies or customer service management implementing sentence similarity. The developed system includes two modules speaker diarization which includes transcription and question and answer extraction and similarity checker which checks the similarity between the extracted answer and the answer of the call center agent to a question. The system was evaluated for Correctness of the extracted answers and accurateness of the evaluation for a particular call. Audio conversations were tested for the accuracy of the transcription module which has an accuracy of 27.96. The Precision Recall and F-measure of the extracted answer was tested as 78.03 96.26 and 86.19 respectively. The Accuracy of the system in evaluating a call is 70.

Integrated system of occupational safety and health and fire protection of the fire rescue brigades members.

Science.gov (United States)

Božović, Marijola; Živković, Snežana; Mihajlović, Emina

2018-06-01

The objective of the conducted research is the identification and determination of requirements of members of fire rescue brigades during operations in the conditions of high risk in order to minimize the possibilities for injury incidence during the intervention. The research is focused on examination, determination and identification of factors affecting the increasing number of occupational injuries of members of fire rescue brigades during interventions. Hypothetical framework of the research problem consists of general hypothesis and six special hypotheses. Results suggest that almost all respondents believe that their skills and abilities are applicable in the intervention phase, but less than a half believe that their skills are applicable in prevention phase. Two-thirds of respondents stated that in their organization they have support for further education and upgrading while a half of respondents stated that they need education concerning identification, assessment and management of risks that can lead to emergency situations.

Mouse oocytes nucleoli rescue embryonic development of porcine enucleolated oocytes.

Science.gov (United States)

Morovic, Martin; Strejcek, Frantisek; Nakagawa, Shoma; Deshmukh, Rahul S; Murin, Matej; Benc, Michal; Fulka, Helena; Kyogoku, Hirohisa; Pendovski, Lazo; Fulka, Josef; Laurincik, Jozef

2017-12-01

It is well known that nucleoli of fully grown mammalian oocytes are indispensable for embryonic development. Therefore, the embryos originated from previously enucleolated (ENL) oocytes undergo only one or two cleavages and then their development ceases. In our study the interspecies (mouse/pig) nucleolus transferred embryos (NuTE) were produced and their embryonic development was analyzed by autoradiography, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and immunofluorescence (C23 and upstream binding factor (UBF)). Our results show that the re-injection of isolated oocyte nucleoli, either from the pig (P + P) or mouse (P + M), into previously enucleolated and subsequently matured porcine oocytes rescues their development after parthenogenetic activation and some of these develop up to the blastocyst stage (P + P, 11.8%; P + M, 13.5%). In nucleolus re-injected 8-cell and blastocyst stage embryos the number of nucleoli labeled with C23 in P + P and P + M groups was lower than in control (non-manipulated) group. UBF was localized in small foci within the nucleoli of blastocysts in control and P + P embryos, however, in P + M embryos the labeling was evenly distributed in the nucleoplasm. The TEM and autoradiographic evaluations showed the formation of functional nucleoli and de novo rRNA synthesis at the 8-cell stage in both, control and P + P group. In the P + M group the formation of comparable nucleoli was delayed. In conclusion, our results indicate that the mouse nucleolus can rescue embryonic development of enucleolated porcine oocytes, but the localization of selected nucleolar proteins, the timing of transcription activation and the formation of the functional nucleoli in NuTE compared with control group show evident aberrations.

Calling in Work: Secular or Sacred?

Science.gov (United States)

Steger, Michael F.; Pickering, N. K.; Shin, J. Y.; Dik, B. J.

2010-01-01

Recent scholarship indicates that people who view their work as a calling are more satisfied with their work and their lives. Historically, calling has been regarded as a religious experience, although modern researchers frequently have adopted a more expansive and secular conceptualization of calling, emphasizing meaning and personal fulfillment…

Test Report : GS Battery, EPC power HES RESCU

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rose, David Martin [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Schenkman, Benjamin L. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Borneo, Daniel R. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2013-10-01

The Department of Energy Office of Electricity (DOE/OE), Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and the Base Camp Integration Lab (BCIL) partnered together to incorporate an energy storage system into a microgrid configured Forward Operating Base to reduce the fossil fuel consumption and to ultimately save lives. Energy storage vendors will be sending their systems to SNL Energy Storage Test Pad (ESTP) for functional testing and then to the BCIL for performance evaluation. The technologies that will be tested are electro-chemical energy storage systems comprising of lead acid, lithium-ion or zinc-bromide. GS Battery and EPC Power have developed an energy storage system that utilizes zinc-bromide flow batteries to save fuel on a military microgrid. This report contains the testing results and some limited analysis of performance of the GS Battery, EPC Power HES RESCU.

Rescue for sexually abused girls in Costa Rica.

Science.gov (United States)

Treguear, T; Peters, L

1995-01-01

In San Jose, Costa Rica, the nongovernmental organization PROCAL has established two rescue homes for sexually abused girls 10-15 years of age. One of these homes is devoted to the care of pregnant girls. In almost all cases, the perpetrator was a male relative. Since girls are taught they must obey older male relatives, they are powerless to stop the abuse. When girls become pregnant as a result of sexual abuse, they face social ostracism and are blamed for their participation in sexual activity. PROCAL counsels the girls that they are victims of their own lack of power and provides them with skills and education they need to return to society and start a new life. The stories of two young girls who became pregnant as a result of sexual abuse and were helped by PROCAL are presented.

Hornbills can distinguish between primate alarm calls.

Science.gov (United States)

Rainey, Hugo J.; Zuberbühler, Klaus; Slater, Peter J. B.

2004-01-01

Some mammals distinguish between and respond appropriately to the alarm calls of other mammal and bird species. However, the ability of birds to distinguish between mammal alarm calls has not been investigated. Diana monkeys (Cercopithecus diana) produce different alarm calls to two predators: crowned eagles (Stephanoaetus coronatus) and leopards (Panthera pardus). Yellow-casqued hornbills (Ceratogymna elata) are vulnerable to predation by crowned eagles but are not preyed on by leopards and might therefore be expected to respond to the Diana monkey eagle alarm call but not to the leopard alarm call. We compared responses of hornbills to playback of eagle shrieks, leopard growls, Diana monkey eagle alarm calls and Diana monkey leopard alarm calls and found that they distinguished appropriately between the two predator vocalizations as well as between the two Diana monkey alarm calls. We discuss possible mechanisms leading to these responses. PMID:15209110

THE UNITED RESCUE SYSTEM IN BULGARIA. CURRENT RESOURCE RELATED ISSUES AND PROSPECTIVE SOLUTIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniela Baleva

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The article presents some problems related to securing the Bulgarian system for disaster management with the necessary resources for its proper functioning. The main challenges for the united rescue system in the country are analyzed, including those related to ensuring the system with the necessary material, financial and human resources. Some possibilities for solving these problems with the use of funds from the European Union are presented.

Matrix vaccination guidelines : 2015 ABCD recommendations for indoor/outdoor cats, rescue shelter cats and breeding catteries

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hosie, Margaret J; Addie, Diane D; Boucraut-Baralon, Corine; Egberink, Herman; Frymus, Tadeusz; Gruffydd-Jones, Tim; Hartmann, Katrin; Horzinek, Marian C; Lloret, Albert; Lutz, Hans; Marsilio, Fulvio; Pennisi, Maria Grazia; Radford, Alan D; Thiry, Etienne; Truyen, Uwe; Möstl, Karin

OVERVIEW: In 2013, the ABCD published 'Matrix vaccination guidelines: ABCD recommendations for indoor/outdoor cats, rescue shelter cats and breeding catteries' in a Special Issue of the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery (Volume 15, Issue 7, pages 540-544). The ABCD's vaccination recommendations

Developing a new perspective to study the health of survivors of Sichuan earthquakes in China: a study on the effect of post-earthquake rescue policies on survivors' health-related quality of life.

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Ying; Wang, Xiukun

2013-10-29

Sichuan is a province in China with an extensive history of earthquakes. Recent earthquakes, including the Lushan earthquake in 2013, have resulted in thousands of people losing their homes and their families. However, there is a research gap on the efficiency of government support policies. Therefore, this study develops a new perspective to study the health of earthquake survivors, based on the effect of post-earthquake rescue policies on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of survivors of the Sichuan earthquake. This study uses data from a survey conducted in five hard-hit counties (Wenchuan, Qingchuan, Mianzhu, Lushan, and Dujiangyan) in Sichuan in 2013. A total of 2,000 questionnaires were distributed, and 1,672 were returned; the response rate was 83.6%. Results of the rescue policies scale and Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36 (SF-36) scale passed the reliability test. The confirmatory factor analysis model showed that the physical component summary (PCS) directly affected the mental component summary (MCS). The results of structural equation model regarding the effects of rescue policies on HRQOL showed that the path coefficients of six policies (education, orphans, employment, poverty, legal, and social rescue policies) to the PCS of survivors were all positive and passed the test of significance. Finally, although only the path coefficient of the educational rescue policy to the MCS of survivors was positive and passed the test of significance, the other five policies affected the MCS indirectly through the PCS. The general HRQOL of survivors is not ideal; the survivors showed a low satisfaction with the post-earthquake rescue policies. Further, the six post-earthquake rescue policies significantly improved the HRQOL of survivors and directly affected the promotion of the PCS of survivors. Aside from the educational rescue policy, all other policies affected the MCS indirectly through the PCS. This finding indicates relatively large differences in

Strategic Reality and Tactical Mirages: Special Operations and the Iranian Hostage Rescue, 1979-1980

Science.gov (United States)

2017-06-01

STRATEGIC REALITY & TACTICAL MIRAGES: SPECIAL OPERATIONS & THE IRANIAN HOSTAGE RESCUE, 1979-1980 BY MARK L. HAMILTON...remaining significant observations, such as technological capabilities,3 are not applicable to this thesis which focuses on decision making by government...not surviving the post–Vietnam drawdown.”9 While the Air Force reduced special operations personnel and equipment, the Army’s response was mixed

The Search for a Permanent Home: Explaining the Organizational Instability of Air Force Rescue

Science.gov (United States)

2015-06-01

over the last three decades, reflected by multiple relocations within various major commands. The ongoing flux has negatively impacted Rescue’s...of three specialties, the PJ (Pararescueman), Combat Rescue Officer, and Survival, Escape, Resistance and Evasion (SERE) specialists. In this context...Doppler navigation equipment, map display, terrain following/terrain avoidance radar (TF/ TA ) and a Forward Looking Infrared Sensor (FLIR).12 The

From nestling calls to fledgling silence: adaptive timing of change in response to aerial alarm calls.

Science.gov (United States)

Magrath, Robert D; Platzen, Dirk; Kondo, Junko

2006-09-22

Young birds and mammals are extremely vulnerable to predators and so should benefit from responding to parental alarm calls warning of danger. However, young often respond differently from adults. This difference may reflect: (i) an imperfect stage in the gradual development of adult behaviour or (ii) an adaptation to different vulnerability. Altricial birds provide an excellent model to test for adaptive changes with age in response to alarm calls, because fledglings are vulnerable to a different range of predators than nestlings. For example, a flying hawk is irrelevant to a nestling in a enclosed nest, but is dangerous to that individual once it has left the nest, so we predict that young develop a response to aerial alarm calls to coincide with fledging. Supporting our prediction, recently fledged white-browed scrubwrens, Sericornis frontalis, fell silent immediately after playback of their parents' aerial alarm call, whereas nestlings continued to calling despite hearing the playback. Young scrubwrens are therefore exquisitely adapted to the changing risks faced during development.

Rescuing the Soiled Dove: Pop Culture's Influence on a Historical Narrative of Prostitution

Science.gov (United States)

Voelkel, Micki; Henehan, Shelli

2018-01-01

American popular culture romanticises relationships between sex workers and their customers; novels, films and television depict prostitutes as innocents in need of rescue by a wealthy or powerful man. Miss Laura's Social Club, a restored Victorian brothel in Fort Smith, Arkansas, USA, functions both as an informal house museum and the visitor…

Staffing to Maximize Profit for Call Centers with Impatient and Repeat-Calling Customers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jun Gong

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Motivated by call center practice, we study the optimal staffing of many-server queues with impatient and repeat-calling customers. A call center is modeled as an M/M/s+M queue, which is developed to a behavioral queuing model in which customers come and go based on their satisfaction with waiting time. We explicitly take into account customer repeat behavior, which implies that satisfied customers might return and have an impact on the arrival rate. Optimality is defined as the number of agents that maximize revenues net of staffing costs, and we account for the characteristic that revenues are a direct function of staffing. Finally, we use numerical experiments to make certain comparisons with traditional models that do not consider customer repeat behavior. Furthermore, we indicate how managers might allocate staffing optimally with various customer behavior mechanisms.

Environmental modeling to support Elizio Leao ship rescue operation; Modelagem atmosferica e hidrodinamica em apoio a operacao de resgate da embarcacao Elizio Leao

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Torres Junior, Audalio R. [Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), RJ (Brazil). Lab. de Modelagem de Processos Marinhos e Atmosfericos (LAMMA); Silva, Mariana P.R.; Silva, Ricardo M. da; Assad, Luiz Paulo de F.; Decco, Hatsue T. de; Landau, Luiz [Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), RJ (Brazil). Lab. de Metodos Computacinais em Engenharia (LAMCE); Silva Junior, Ronaldo da [PETROBRAS, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

2008-07-01

On October 7th, 2007, the Elizio Leao ship broke carrying 19,812.9 gallons of oil near the Marajo Island has mobilized the PIATAM Mar (Potenciais Impactos do Transporte de Petroleo e Derivados na Zona Costeira Amazonica) modeling team for an execution of hydrodynamic and atmospheric prognostics that could support the ship rescue operation. In this work some results are presented as the operational methodology which has been applied to support the rescue team's needs. (author)

Simultaneous Iliac Vein Bovine Pericardial Patch Venoplasty and Creation of PTFE Lower Limb Arteriovenous Fistula Graft for Rescue Vascular Access.

Science.gov (United States)

Meecham, Lewis; Fisher, Owain; Kirby, George; Evans, Richard; Buxton, Pauline; Legge, Jocelyn; Rajagopalan, Sriram; Asquith, John; Pherwani, Arun

2016-10-01

We present a case of external iliac vein patch venoplasty to accommodate rescue vascular access via a polytetrafluoroethylene loop arteriovenous fistula graft (AVG) for a patient with multiple central venous stenoses. A 35-year-old female with anti-glomerular basement membrane antibody disease required rescue vascular access for hemodialysis. Repeated occlusion and/or thrombosis of long-term central venous access cannulae, to facilitate dialysis, had caused stenosis of brachiocephalic veins: right external iliac vein and occlusion of the left common iliac vein. A previous right brachiobasilic fistula had occluded within 1 year. No other upper limb options for arteriovenous fistula (AVF) were available. A right external iliac vein bovine patch angioplasty concurrently with a polytetrafluoroethylene AV graft between common femoral artery and common femoral vein was performed to restore venous patency and allow rescue dialysis access. At 3-year follow-up, the fistula remains widely patent with 2 L/min flow rates and no recurrent stenosis to the treated iliac vein. She has not required any further surgical or interventional radiological procedures to maintain fistula or central venous patency. Central venous stenosis or occlusion is common for patients requiring dialysis, especially those with multiple previous long-term central venous cannulations. If restriction of outflow is present, AVF may fail. Venous patch angioplasty in these cases is a successful technique, allowing AVF formation and long-term patency. Central venous stenosis can be treated successfully with patch venoplasty to accommodate AVF/AVG formation for rescue vascular access; this is a potentially lifesaving intervention for patients requiring dialysis. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sequence adaptations during growth of rescued classical swine fever viruses in cell culture and within infected pigs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hadsbjerg, Johanne; Friis, Martin Barfred; Fahnøe, Ulrik

2016-01-01

RNA could be detected. However, the animals inoculated with these mutant viruses seroconverted against CSFV. Thus, these mutant viruses were highly attenuated in vivo. All 4 rescued viruses were also passaged up to 20 times in cell culture. Using full genome sequencing, the same two adaptations within......Classical swine fever virus (CSFV) causes an economically important disease of swine. Four different viruses were rescued from full-length cloned cDNAs derived from the Paderborn strain of CSFV. Three of these viruses had been modified by mutagenesis (with 7 or 8 nt changes) within stem 2...... each of four independent virus populations were observed that restored the coding sequence to that of the parental field strain. These adaptations occurred with different kinetics. The combination of reverse genetics and in depth, full genome sequencing provides a powerful approach to analyse virus...

Long-term outcomes of two rescue therapies in lamivudine-refractory patients with chronic hepatitis B: combined lamivudine and adefovir, and 1-mg entecavir

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

EunYoung Ze

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Background/AimsAdefovir (ADV and lamivudine (LAM combination therapy (ADV+LAM has been a useful option for patients with LAM-resistant (LAM-r chronic hepatitis B (CHB. However, the long-term outcomes of LAM+ADV and 1-mg entecavir (ETV rescue therapies have still been limited. The aim of this study was to determine the long-term outcomes of these two rescue therapies.MethodsSixty patients with LAM-r CHB underwent rescue therapy with LAM+ADV (n=36 or 1-mg ETV (n=24. We determined the duration of rescue therapy, timing and type of mutation, undetectable serum hepatitis B virus (HBV DNA by PCR (lower limitation of detection, < 140 copies/mL, biochemical response (alanine aminotransferase < 40 IU/mL, and the incidence of hepatitis B virus e antigen (HBeAg seroconversion and virologic breakthrough.ResultsBaseline characteristics did not differ between the two therapy groups. The duration of rescue therapy was 56 months (range, 14-100 months in the ADV+LAM group and 42 months (range, 12-73 months in the ETV group (P=0.036. The cumulative rates of HBV DNA undetectability and HBeAg seroconversion up to 6 years were 88.6% and 43.0%, respectively, in the ADV+LAM group, and 45.8% and 31.8% in the ETV group. The rate of virologic breakthrough and resistance was 14.4% in the ADV+LAM group and 71.9% in the ETV group (P=0.001.ConclusionsCombination of LAM and ADV therapy for up to 6 years achieved modest rates of virological suppression and resistance. ETV is not an optimal therapy because the risk of viral breakthrough to ETV increases over time.

Disruption of Mediator rescues the stunted growth of a lignin-deficient Arabidopsis mutant.

Science.gov (United States)

Bonawitz, Nicholas D; Kim, Jeong Im; Tobimatsu, Yuki; Ciesielski, Peter N; Anderson, Nickolas A; Ximenes, Eduardo; Maeda, Junko; Ralph, John; Donohoe, Bryon S; Ladisch, Michael; Chapple, Clint

2014-05-15

Lignin is a phenylpropanoid-derived heteropolymer important for the strength and rigidity of the plant secondary cell wall. Genetic disruption of lignin biosynthesis has been proposed as a means to improve forage and bioenergy crops, but frequently results in stunted growth and developmental abnormalities, the mechanisms of which are poorly understood. Here we show that the phenotype of a lignin-deficient Arabidopsis mutant is dependent on the transcriptional co-regulatory complex, Mediator. Disruption of the Mediator complex subunits MED5a (also known as REF4) and MED5b (also known as RFR1) rescues the stunted growth, lignin deficiency and widespread changes in gene expression seen in the phenylpropanoid pathway mutant ref8, without restoring the synthesis of guaiacyl and syringyl lignin subunits. Cell walls of rescued med5a/5b ref8 plants instead contain a novel lignin consisting almost exclusively of p-hydroxyphenyl lignin subunits, and moreover exhibit substantially facilitated polysaccharide saccharification. These results demonstrate that guaiacyl and syringyl lignin subunits are largely dispensable for normal growth and development, implicate Mediator in an active transcriptional process responsible for dwarfing and inhibition of lignin biosynthesis, and suggest that the transcription machinery and signalling pathways responding to cell wall defects may be important targets to include in efforts to reduce biomass recalcitrance.

Overspecialized and undertrained? Patient diversity encountered by medical students during their internal medicine clerkship at a university hospital.

Science.gov (United States)

Melderis, Simon; Gutowski, Jan-Philipp; Harendza, Sigrid

2015-03-31

During the four-month internal medicine clerkship in their final year, undergraduate medical students are closely involved in patient care. Little is known about what constitutes their typical learning experiences with respect to patient diversity within the different subspecialties of internal medicine and during on call hours. 25 final year medical students (16 female, 9 male) on their internal medicine clerkship participated in this observational single-center study. To detail the patient diversity encountered by medical students at a university hospital during their 16-week internal medicine clerkship, all participants self-reported their patient contacts in the different subspecialties and during on call hours on patient encounter cards. Patients' chief complaint, suspected main diagnosis, planned diagnostic investigations, and therapy in seven different internal medicine subspecialties and the on call medicine service were documented. 496 PECs were analysed in total. The greatest diversity of chief complaints (CC) and suspected main diagnoses (SMD) was observed in patients encountered on call, with the combined frequencies of the three most common CCs or SMDs accounting for only 23% and 25%, respectively. Combined, the three most commonly encountered CC/SMD accounted for high percentages (82%/63%), i.e. less diversity, in oncology and low percentages (37%/32%), i.e. high diversity, in nephrology. The percentage of all diagnostic investigations and therapies that were classified as "basic" differed between the subspecialties from 82%/94% (on call) to 37%/50% (pulmonology/oncology). The only subspecialty with no significant difference compared with on call was nephrology for diagnostic investigations. With respect to therapy, nephrology and infectious diseases showed no significant differences compared with on call. Internal medicine clerkships at a university hospital provide students with a very limited patient diversity in most internal medicine

A Multi-purpose Rescue Vehicle and a human–robot interface architecture for remote assistance in ITER

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soares, João; Vale, Alberto; Ventura, Rodrigo

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Design of an omnidirectional vehicle equipped with cameras and laser range finders. • Two robotic manipulators that slide over the vehicle's body to perform independent tasks. • Architecture to connect the control system, communication, power, navigation and HMI. • An immersive interface HMI with augmented reality features with head mounted display. - Abstract: The remote handling (RH) plays an important role in nuclear test facilities, such as in ITER, for in-vessel and ex-vessel maintenance operations. Unexpected situations may occur when RH devices fail. Since no human being is allowed during the RH operations, a Multi-purpose Rescue Vehicle (MPRV) must be required for providing support in site. This paper proposes a design of a MPRV, i.e., a mobile platform equipped with different sensors and two manipulators with different sets of end-effectors. A human–machine interface is also proposed to remotely operate the MPRV and to carry out rescue and recovery operations.

A Multi-purpose Rescue Vehicle and a human–robot interface architecture for remote assistance in ITER

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Soares, João [Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisboa (Portugal); Vale, Alberto, E-mail: avale@ipfn.tecnico.ulisboa.pt [Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear, Instituto SuperiorTécnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisboa (Portugal); Ventura, Rodrigo, E-mail: rodrigo.ventura@isr.tecnico.ulisboa.pt [Laboratório de Robótica e Sistemas em Engenharia eCiência, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisboa (Portugal)

2015-10-15

Highlights: • Design of an omnidirectional vehicle equipped with cameras and laser range finders. • Two robotic manipulators that slide over the vehicle's body to perform independent tasks. • Architecture to connect the control system, communication, power, navigation and HMI. • An immersive interface HMI with augmented reality features with head mounted display. - Abstract: The remote handling (RH) plays an important role in nuclear test facilities, such as in ITER, for in-vessel and ex-vessel maintenance operations. Unexpected situations may occur when RH devices fail. Since no human being is allowed during the RH operations, a Multi-purpose Rescue Vehicle (MPRV) must be required for providing support in site. This paper proposes a design of a MPRV, i.e., a mobile platform equipped with different sensors and two manipulators with different sets of end-effectors. A human–machine interface is also proposed to remotely operate the MPRV and to carry out rescue and recovery operations.

International Criminal Law: Over-studied and Underachieving?

OpenAIRE

Van Sliedregt, E

2016-01-01

In his recent review of Neil Boister's book, An Introduction to Transnational Criminal Law, Robert Currie praises the author for shedding light on a field of law that has suffered from inattention. Transnational criminal law (TCL), the 'other' branch of what was traditionally called international criminal law, has been overshadowed by international criminal law 'proper' (ICL). The establishment of international criminal tribunals after the end of the Cold War, culminating in the establishment...

Green tea polyphenols rescue of brain defects induced by overexpression of DYRK1A.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fayçal Guedj

Full Text Available Individuals with partial HSA21 trisomies and mice with partial MMU16 trisomies containing an extra copy of the DYRK1A gene present various alterations in brain morphogenesis. They present also learning impairments modeling those encountered in Down syndrome. Previous MRI and histological analyses of a transgenic mice generated using a human YAC construct that contains five genes including DYRK1A reveal that DYRK1A is involved, during development, in the control of brain volume and cell density of specific brain regions. Gene dosage correction induces a rescue of the brain volume alterations. DYRK1A is also involved in the control of synaptic plasticity and memory consolidation. Increased gene dosage results in brain morphogenesis defects, low BDNF levels and mnemonic deficits in these mice. Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG - a member of a natural polyphenols family, found in great amount in green tea leaves - is a specific and safe DYRK1A inhibitor. We maintained control and transgenic mice overexpressing DYRK1A on two different polyphenol-based diets, from gestation to adulthood. The major features of the transgenic phenotype were rescued in these mice.

F508del-CFTR rescue: a matter of cell stress response.

Science.gov (United States)

Nieddu, Erika; Pollarolo, Benedetta; Merello, Luisa; Schenone, Silvia; Mazzei, Mauro

2013-01-01

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a common inherited fatal disease affecting 70,000 people worldwide, with a median predicted age of survival of approximately 38 years. The deletion of Phenylalanine in position 508 of the Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane conductance Regulator (F508del-CFTR) is the most common mutation in CF patients: the deleted protein, not properly folded, is degraded. To date no commercial drugs are available. Low temperature, some osmolytes and conditions able to induce heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) expression and heat shock cognate 70 (Hsc70) inhibition result in F508del-CFTR rescue, hence restoring its physiological function: this review sheds light on the correlation between these several evidences. Interestingly, all these approaches have a role in the cell stress response (CSR), a set of cell reactions to stress. In addition, unpredictably, F508del-CFTR rescue has to be considered in the frame of CSR: entities that induce - or are induced during - the CSR are, in general, also able to correct trafficking defect of CFTR. Specifically, the low temperature induces, by definition, a CSR; osmolytes, such as glycerol and trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), are products of the CSR; pharmacological correctors, such as Matrine and 4-phenylbutirric acid (4PBA), down-regulate the constitutive Hsc70 in favor of an up-regulation of the inducible chaperone Hsp70, another component of the CSR. The identification of a common mechanism of action for different types of correctors could drive the discovery of new active molecules in CF, overcoming methods clinically inapplicable, such as the low temperature.

Peafowl antipredator calls encode information about signalers.

Science.gov (United States)

Yorzinski, Jessica L

2014-02-01

Animals emit vocalizations that convey information about external events. Many of these vocalizations, including those emitted in response to predators, also encode information about the individual that produced the call. The relationship between acoustic features of antipredator calls and information relating to signalers (including sex, identity, body size, and social rank) were examined in peafowl (Pavo cristatus). The "bu-girk" antipredator calls of male and female peafowl were recorded and 20 acoustic parameters were automatically extracted from each call. Both the bu and girk elements of the antipredator call were individually distinctive and calls were classified to the correct signaler with over 90% and 70% accuracy in females and males, respectively. Females produced calls with a higher fundamental frequency (F0) than males. In both females and males, body size was negatively correlated with F0. In addition, peahen rank was related to the duration, end mean frequency, and start harmonicity of the bu element. Peafowl antipredator calls contain detailed information about the signaler and can potentially be used by receivers to respond to dangerous situations.

BUFO PARDALIS (ANURA: BUFONIDAE): MATING CALL AND ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

the calls of one of these species, Bufo pardalis. Hewitt, were not analysed by Tandy & Keith. (1972). Furthennore there is some confusion in the literature regarding the mating call of this species. For these reasons this mating call is here clarified. The mating call of B. pardaiis was first described by Ranger (in Hewitt 1935) as ...

Impact of mobility on call block, call drops and optimal cell size in small cell networks

OpenAIRE

Ramanath , Sreenath; Voleti , Veeraruna Kavitha; Altman , Eitan

2011-01-01

We consider small cell networks and study the impact of user mobility. Assuming Poisson call arrivals at random positions with random velocities, we discuss the characterization of handovers at the boundaries. We derive explicit expressions for call block and call drop probabilities using tools from spatial queuing theory. We also derive expressions for the average virtual server held up time. These expressions are used to derive optimal cell sizes for various profile of velocities in small c...

Considering the unthinkable—A review and discussion of current international law and suggestions regarding how we deal with a catastrophic incident in space

Science.gov (United States)

Beamer-Downie, Darcy

2013-12-01

It is now clear that private enterprise and not nationally funded space agencies will be the driving force behind development of space for the "benefit" of private enterprise and the general public. It is also not unreasonable to say that in the next 20-30 years we will see the public accessing space via sub-orbital flights, orbital excursions, orbiting hotels and possibly even hotels located on a celestial body. The existing principles regarding the rescue and return of "astronauts" was never fit for purpose and is certainly not appropriate for this new era of private space activity. Activities in space are dangerous and the travelling public is generally risk adverse. So how do we balance the obvious risks associated with space travel, against the societal desire to seek adventures in space and with the prevailing risk adverse culture? It is now time to seriously consider the development of international safety standards for space vehicles and habitations in order to ensure that rescue and return from a space excursion is a reality for passengers and crew. If we fail to do so then the scenario set out below may become a tragic reality. Catastrophic ScenarioConsider a scenario in which a space hotel loses a significant amount of its in-orbit life support capability. Rescue is underway but it will take time. The Captain realises that there is not enough oxygen on board for all to survive until rescue. What if anything can be done?

A novel field search and rescue system based on SIM card location

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Huihui; Guo, Shutao; Cui, Dejing

2017-06-01

Nowadays, the rapid development of outdoor sports and adventure leads to the increase of the frequency of missing accidents. On the other hand, it becomes much more convenient and efficient for the criminals to escape with the help of new technologies. So we have developed a long-distance raids targeted field search and rescue system which utilizes RSSI ranging and Kalman filtering algorithm to realize remote positioning and dynamic supervision management only by a mobile phone with a SIM card, without any additional terminal equipment.

Evaluating the Feasibility of RESCUE: An Adjunctive HAI-Based Intervention for Veterans with PTSD

Science.gov (United States)

2016-05-01

HAI) i) Study presented at symposium: “Human-Animal Interactions in Treating Veterans with PTSD” American Psychological Association ( APA ) 123rd Annual...Interactions in Treating Veterans with PTSD” American Psychological Association ( APA ) 123rd Annual Convention on 09-AUG-2015, Toronto, Canada.  Journal...of the project? Major Goal 1: Development of Recovery through Engagement with Shelter Canines, Understanding, and Exposure (RESCUE) provider manuals

Rapamycin Rescues the Poor Developmental Capacity of Aged Porcine Oocytes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seung Eun Lee

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Unfertilized oocytes age inevitably after ovulation, which limits their fertilizable life span and embryonic development. Rapamycin affects mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR expression and cytoskeleton reorganization during oocyte meiotic maturation. The goal of this study was to examine the effects of rapamycin treatment on aged porcine oocytes and their in vitro development. Rapamycin treatment of aged oocytes for 24 h (68 h in vitro maturation [IVM]; 44 h+10 μM rapamycin/24 h, 47.52±5.68 or control oocytes (44 h IVM; 42.14±4.40 significantly increased the development rate and total cell number compared with untreated aged oocytes (68 h IVM, 22.04±5.68 (p<0.05. Rapamycin treatment of aged IVM oocytes for 24 h also rescued aberrant spindle organization and chromosomal misalignment, blocked the decrease in the level of phosphorylated-p44/42 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK, and increased the mRNA expression of cytoplasmic maturation factor genes (MOS, BMP15, GDF9, and CCNB1 compared with untreated, 24 h-aged IVM oocytes (p<0.05. Furthermore, rapamycin treatment of aged oocytes decreased reactive oxygen species (ROS activity and DNA fragmentation (p<0.05, and downregulated the mRNA expression of mTOR compared with control or untreated aged oocytes. By contrast, rapamycin treatment of aged oocytes increased mitochondrial localization (p<0.05 and upregulated the mRNA expression of autophagy (BECN1, ATG7, MAP1LC3B, ATG12, GABARAP, and GABARAPL1, anti-apoptosis (BCL2L1 and BIRC5; p<0.05, and development (NANOG and SOX2; p<0.05 genes, but it did not affect the mRNA expression of pro-apoptosis genes (FAS and CASP3 compared with the control. This study demonstrates that rapamycin treatment can rescue the poor developmental capacity of aged porcine oocytes.

Utilizing risk index for overdose or serious opioid-induced respiratory depression (RIOSORD) scores to prioritize offer of rescue naloxone in an outpatient veteran population: A telephone-based project.

Science.gov (United States)

Yates, Derek; Frey, Theresa; Montgomery, Jean Charles

2018-03-26

Since 2014, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has been working to address the ongoing opioid epidemic through opioid-education initiatives, the development of risk calculators, and other risk stratification tools. One primary focus of VA efforts has been the distribution of rescue naloxone kits to veterans at greatest risk of opioid-related adverse events. The purpose of this project was to identify primary care veterans at highest risk for serious opioid-related adverse events using the Risk Index for Overdose and Serious Opioid-Induced Respiratory Depression (RIOSORD) and offer rescue naloxone kits by telephone-based outreach. RIOSORD is a risk-stratification tool developed and validated within the veteran population. Veterans identified at highest risk of overdose or opioid-related adverse effects were contacted by telephone or letter to offer to provide a rescue naloxone kit between November 1 st , 2016 and February 1 st , 2017. The primary outcome of the project was the percentage of patients contacted that agreed to a naloxone prescription. Secondary outcomes included comparative efficacy of phone versus letter contact and reasons for refusal of naloxone if the offer was declined. Of 41 veterans targeted by this project, most were successfully reached by telephone within three attempts (92.7%, n = 38). Approximately two-thirds of those reached by telephone agreed to a prescription for rescue naloxone (n = 26, 63.4%). The veterans that requested rescue naloxone selected the nasal formulation (n = 17) over the intramuscular auto-injector (n = 9). This project demonstrated that telephone-based outreach can be one method of distributing rescue naloxone to a high-risk patient population without requiring an in-person visit to a provider.

External GSM phone calls now made simpler

CERN Multimedia

2007-01-01

On 2 July, the IT/CS Telecom Service introduced a new service making external calls from CERN GSM phones easier. A specific prefix is no longer needed for calls outside CERN. External calls from CERN GSM phones are to be simplified. It is no longer necessary to use a special prefix to call an external number from the CERN GSM network.The Telecom Section of the IT/CS Group is introducing a new system that will make life easier for GSM users. It is no longer necessary to use a special prefix (333) to call an external number from the CERN GSM network. Simply dial the number directly like any other Swiss GSM customer. CERN currently has its own private GSM network with the Swiss mobile operator, Sunrise, covering the whole of Switzerland. This network was initially intended exclusively for calls between CERN numbers (replacing the old beeper system). A special system was later introduced for external calls, allowing them to pass thr...

Sharing programming resources between Bio* projects through remote procedure call and native call stack strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Prins, Pjotr; Goto, Naohisa; Yates, Andrew; Gautier, Laurent; Willis, Scooter; Fields, Christopher; Katayama, Toshiaki

2012-01-01

Open-source software (OSS) encourages computer programmers to reuse software components written by others. In evolutionary bioinformatics, OSS comes in a broad range of programming languages, including C/C++, Perl, Python, Ruby, Java, and R. To avoid writing the same functionality multiple times for different languages, it is possible to share components by bridging computer languages and Bio* projects, such as BioPerl, Biopython, BioRuby, BioJava, and R/Bioconductor. In this chapter, we compare the two principal approaches for sharing software between different programming languages: either by remote procedure call (RPC) or by sharing a local call stack. RPC provides a language-independent protocol over a network interface; examples are RSOAP and Rserve. The local call stack provides a between-language mapping not over the network interface, but directly in computer memory; examples are R bindings, RPy, and languages sharing the Java Virtual Machine stack. This functionality provides strategies for sharing of software between Bio* projects, which can be exploited more often. Here, we present cross-language examples for sequence translation, and measure throughput of the different options. We compare calling into R through native R, RSOAP, Rserve, and RPy interfaces, with the performance of native BioPerl, Biopython, BioJava, and BioRuby implementations, and with call stack bindings to BioJava and the European Molecular Biology Open Software Suite. In general, call stack approaches outperform native Bio* implementations and these, in turn, outperform RPC-based approaches. To test and compare strategies, we provide a downloadable BioNode image with all examples, tools, and libraries included. The BioNode image can be run on VirtualBox-supported operating systems, including Windows, OSX, and Linux.

Virtueel trainen met RescueSim : Onderzoek naar ervaringen en leereffecten in het project Samen Voorbereid Veilig (SVV)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Houtkamp, J.M.

2014-01-01

Van 2007 tot 2012 hebben onderzoekers van het GATE (GAme research for Training and Entertainment)-project van de Universiteit Utrecht verscheidene onderzoeksprojecten uitgevoerd met de trainingssoftware RescueSim, ontwikkeld door VSTEP BV en Risk Management Control. Centraal stond de vraag hoe een

Call Duration Characteristics based on Customers Location

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Žvinys Karolis

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Nowadays a lot of different researches are performed based on call duration distributions (CDD analysis. However, the majority of studies are linked with social relationships between the people. Therefore the scarcity of information, how the call duration is associated with a user's location, is appreciable. The goal of this paper is to reveal the ties between user's voice call duration and the location of call. For this reason we analyzed more than 5 million calls from real mobile network, which were made over the base stations located in rural areas, roads, small towns, business and entertainment centers, residential districts. According to these site types CDD’s and characteristic features for call durations are given and discussed. Submitted analysis presents the users habits and behavior as a group (not an individual. The research showed that CDD’s of customers being them in different locations are not equal. It has been found that users at entertainment, business centers are tend to talk much shortly, than people being at home. Even more CDD can be distorted strongly, when machinery calls are evaluated. Hence to apply a common CDD for a whole network it is not recommended. The study also deals with specific parameters of call duration for distinguished user groups, the influence of network technology for call duration is considered.

Cancer’s Achilles’ Heel: Apoptosis and Necroptosis to the Rescue

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Atreyi Dasgupta

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Apoptosis, and the more recently discovered necroptosis, are two avenues of programmed cell death. Cancer cells survive by evading these two programs, driven by oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. While traditional therapy using small molecular inhibitors and chemotherapy are continuously being utilized, a new and exciting approach is actively underway by identifying and using synergistic relationship between driver and rescue genes in a cancer cell. Through these synthetic lethal relationships, we are gaining tremendous insights into tumor vulnerabilities and specific molecular avenues for induction of programmed cell death. In this review, we briefly discuss the two cell death processes and cite examples of such synergistic manipulations for therapeutic purposes.

A jolly good call for Marie Curie Fellows

CERN Multimedia

2009-01-01

A new funding opportunity to train young researchers has just been announced by the European Commission. One of the calls within FP7 Marie Curie Actions requests proposals for Initial Training Network (ITN) projects, with a deadline of 22 December 2009. Project proposals are strongly encouraged at CERN and authors can receive support and guidance from the Marie Curie Steering Group. Winnie Wong: "I wouldn’t have considered a PhD if I hadn’t been a Marie Curie fellow" Dan Savu: "It’s the best of both worlds: training plus working in an international organisation" ITN projects have one key aim: training. Academic and industrial partners work together to form a network to recruit and train Marie Curie Fellows. Fellows are young researchers (typically PhD-level) from any country who combine project-based research with tailor-made training programmes, ...

The empirical turn in international legal scholarship

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Gregory Shaffer

2015-07-01

Full Text Available This article presents and assesses a new wave of em- pirical research on international law. Recent scholar- ship has moved away from theoretical debates over whether international law “matters,” and focuses in- stead on exploring the conditions under which inter- national law is created and produces effects. As this empirical research program has matured, it has al- lowed for new, midlevel theorizing that we call “conditional international law theory”. 

Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms and Burnout Among Medical Rescue Workers 4 Years After the Great East Japan Earthquake: A Longitudinal Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Kawashima, Yuzuru; Nishi, Daisuke; Noguchi, Hiroko; Usuki, Masato; Yamashita, Akihiro; Koido, Yuichi; Okubo, Yoshiro; Matsuoka, Yutaka J

2016-12-01

This study aimed to evaluate factors associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and burnout 4 years after the Great East Japan Earthquake among medical rescue workers in Disaster Medical Assistance Teams (DMATs). We examined participants' background characteristics, prior health condition, rescue work experiences, and the Peritraumatic Distress Inventory (PDI) score at 1 month after the earthquake. Current psychological condition was assessed by the Impact of Event Scale-Revised and Maslach Burnout Inventory administered 4 years after the earthquake. By applying univariate and multivariate linear regression analyses, we assessed the relative value of the PDI and other baseline variables for PTSD symptoms and burnout at 4 years after the earthquake. We obtained baseline data from 254 participants during April 2 to 22, 2011. Of the 254 participants, 188 (74.0%) completed the follow-up assessment. PDI score 1 month after the earthquake was associated with symptoms of PTSD (β=0.35, Pburnout (β=0.21, PStress before deployment was a related factor for burnout 4 years after the earthquake in these medical rescue workers (β=2.61, Pstress prior to deployment (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;10:848-853).

Optimized Mitochondrial Targeting of Proteins Encoded by Modified mRNAs Rescues Cells Harboring Mutations in mtATP6

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Randall Marcelo Chin

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Summary: Mitochondrial disease may be caused by mutations in the protein-coding genes of the mitochondrial genome. A promising strategy for treating such diseases is allotopic expression—the translation of wild-type copies of these proteins in the cytosol, with subsequent translocation into the mitochondria, resulting in rescue of mitochondrial function. In this paper, we develop an automated, quantitative, and unbiased screening platform to evaluate protein localization and mitochondrial morphology. This platform was used to compare 31 mitochondrial targeting sequences and 15 3′ UTRs in their ability to localize up to 9 allotopically expressed proteins to the mitochondria and their subsequent impact on mitochondrial morphology. Taking these two factors together, we synthesized chemically modified mRNAs that encode for an optimized allotopic expression construct for mtATP6. These mRNAs were able to functionally rescue a cell line harboring the 8993T > G point mutation in the mtATP6 gene. : Allotopic expression of proteins normally encoded by mtDNA is a promising therapy for mitochondrial disease. Chin et al. use an unbiased and high-content imaging-based screening platform to optimize allotopic expression. Modified mRNAs encoding for the optimized allotopic expression constructs rescued the respiration and growth of mtATP6-deficient cells. Keywords: mitochondria, mitochondrial disease, mRNA, modified mRNA, ATP6, allotopic expression, rare disease, gene therapy, screening, high content imaging

Calling under pressure: short-finned pilot whales make social calls during deep foraging dives.

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Jensen, Frants H; Perez, Jacobo Marrero; Johnson, Mark; Soto, Natacha Aguilar; Madsen, Peter T

2011-10-22

Toothed whales rely on sound to echolocate prey and communicate with conspecifics, but little is known about how extreme pressure affects pneumatic sound production in deep-diving species with a limited air supply. The short-finned pilot whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus) is a highly social species among the deep-diving toothed whales, in which individuals socialize at the surface but leave their social group in pursuit of prey at depths of up to 1000 m. To investigate if these animals communicate acoustically at depth and test whether hydrostatic pressure affects communication signals, acoustic DTAGs logging sound, depth and orientation were attached to 12 pilot whales. Tagged whales produced tonal calls during deep foraging dives at depths of up to 800 m. Mean call output and duration decreased with depth despite the increased distance to conspecifics at the surface. This shows that the energy content of calls is lower at depths where lungs are collapsed and where the air volume available for sound generation is limited by ambient pressure. Frequency content was unaffected, providing a possible cue for group or species identification of diving whales. Social calls may be important to maintain social ties for foraging animals, but may be impacted adversely by vessel noise.

Road Impacts on Abundance, Call Traits, and Body Size of Rainforest Frogs in Northeast Australia

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Conrad J. Hoskin

2010-09-01

Full Text Available Frogs are potentially sensitive indicators of road impacts, with studies indicating particular susceptibility to road mortality. Calling, i.e., breeding, behavior could also be affected by traffic noise. We investigated effects on frog abundance and calling behavior where a busy highway crosses rainforest stream breeding habitat in northeast Australia. Frog abundance was repeatedly surveyed along five stream transects during a summer breeding season. Abundance of two species, Litoria rheocola and Austrochaperina pluvialis, increased significantly with perpendicular distance from the road along two transects. No trends in abundance were detected for A. pluvialis on two other transects where it was common, or for Litoria serrata on one transect where abundance was sufficient for analysis. Both species with lowered abundance near the road, L. rheocola and A. pluvialis, are rare in road kill statistics along this highway, suggesting road mortality is not the cause of reduced frog abundance near the road. We postulate that lowered abundance may reflect traffic noise effects. We analyzed calls of the International Union for Conservation of Nature endangered species L. rheocola along the one stream transect on which it was common. We found significant trends in two call traits over a very fine scale: both call rate and dominant frequency were significantly higher closer to the road. Furthermore, males were significantly smaller closer to the road. These call and body size trends most likely reflect road impacts, but resolving these is complicated by correlations between traits. Potential mechanisms, effects on fitness, and management recommendations to mitigate the impacts of roads on frogs are outlined.

Do market participants learn from conference calls?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Roelofsen, E.; Verbeeten, F.; Mertens, G.

2014-01-01

We examine whether market participants learn from the information that is disseminated during the Q-and-A section of conference calls. Specifically, we investigate whether stock prices react to information on intangible assets provided during conference calls, and whether conference calls

Remote damage control during the attacks on Paris: Lessons learned by the Paris Fire Brigade and evolutions in the rescue system.

Science.gov (United States)

Lesaffre, Xavier; Tourtier, Jean-Pierre; Violin, Yann; Frattini, Benoit; Rivet, Catherine; Stibbe, Olivier; Faure, Florian; Godefroy, Anne; Gallet, Jean-Claude; Ausset, Sylvain

2017-06-01

On November 13, 2015, in 40 minutes, Paris suffered four suicide bombers attacks; shootings at three different restaurant terraces; and an attack on the Bataclan concert hall, resulting in 130 dead and 495 wounded. How did the Parisian rescue system respond and how did it evolve since?We proved we could deploy quickly wide prehospital and hospital resources and teams' equipment and preparedness is being further developed. To secure a swifter initial response, we need a better integration of the operators of the rescue chain with a simpler and more robust organization as well as improved communications channels. We must continue to anticipate and prepare for possible future attacks.

HOW TO CALL THE CERN FIRE BRIGADE

CERN Multimedia

2002-01-01

The telephone numbers of the CERN Fire Brigade are: 74444 for emergency calls 74848 for other calls Note The number 112 will stay in use for emergency calls from 'wired' telephones, however, from mobile phones it leads to non-CERN emergency services.  

HOW TO CALL THE CERN FIRE BRIGADE

CERN Multimedia

2002-01-01

The telephone numbers of the CERN Fire Brigade are: 74444 for emergency calls 74848 for other calls Note The number 112 will stay in use for emergency calls from 'wired' telephones, however, from mobile phones it leads to non-CERN emergency services.