The zoonotic implications of pentastomiasis in the royal python (python regius).

Science.gov (United States)

Ayinmode, Ab; Adedokun, Ao; Aina, A; Taiwo, V

2010-09-01

Pentastomes are worm-like endoparasites of the phylum Pentastomida found principally in the respiratory tract of reptiles, birds, and mammals. They cause a zoonotic disease known as pentastomiasis in humans and other mammals. The autopsy of a Nigerian royal python (Python regius) revealed two yellowish-white parasites in the lungs, tissue necrosis and inflammatory lesions. The parasite was confirmed to be Armillifer spp (Pentastomid); this is the first recorded case of pentastomiasis in the royal python (Python regius) in Nigeria. This report may be an alert of the possibility of on-going zoonotic transmission of pentastomiasis from snake to man, especially in the sub-urban/rural areas of Nigeria and other West African countries where people consume snake meat.

Image quality of a Konica Regius 336 digital system in chest radiography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ostinelli, A.; Frigerio, M.; Monti, A.F.; Gelosa, S.; Tognoli, P.; Perniola, N.; Gozzi, G.

2000-01-01

Digital radiographic systems permit to optimize execution, depiction and storage of radiological images. Since a Regius 336 digital system (Konica Corp. Tokyo, Japan) devoted to chest radiography Department of S. Anna Hospital in Como, Italy, it was investigated its performance relative to image quality. Konica Regius 336 is a computed radiography system made of a phosphorescence detector plate which is scanned with an infrared semiconductor laser beam. The radiographic image obtained from the detector is subjected to image processing, which allows a stable output and the nonlinear curve typical of conventional radiographic systems. Image quality was assessed based on the following parameters: dose, contrast, noise and spatial resolution. As reference, it was assessed the same parameters on a Cronex 88 analogic chest-changer (DuPont Pharma, North Billerica, Mass, USA). The Regius 336 air kerma values were always higher than the analogic ones (about 10%), both with and without a chest phantom; noise was also greater than in analogic images, sometimes even doubled. The optical densities of a step wedge and the spatial resolution of the digital chest-changer are independent of the X-ray tube voltage consequent to broader optical latitude. Inversely, the analogic images of the wedges show great optical density variability as a function of the X-ray tube voltage (in a range of 2). The modulation transfer functions of the two systems have the same trend. The performance of the Konica Regius 336 is nearly equivalent to that of an analogic system. The main advantages of the digital system are a standard output, lower consumption of radiographic films, higher productiveness and better image quality standard level [it

Reproductive biology of spiny lobster Panulirus regius from the ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Reproductive biology of spiny lobster Panulirus regius from the northwestern Cape Verde Islands. R Freitas, A Medina, S Correira, M Castro. Abstract. No Abstract. African Journal of Marine Science Vol.29(2) 2007: pp. 201-208. Full Text: EMAIL FULL TEXT EMAIL FULL TEXT · DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL ...

Image quality of a Konica Regius 336 digital system in chest radiography; Qualita' dell'immagine di un sistema digitale Konica Regius 336 per radiologia toracica

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ostinelli, A.; Frigerio, M.; Monti, A.F.; Gelosa, S.; Tognoli, P.; Perniola, N. [Azienda Ospedaliera S. Anna, Como (Italy). Servizio di Fisica Sanitaria; Gozzi, G. [Azienda Ospedaliera S. Anna, Como (Italy). Servizio di Radiologia

2000-06-01

Digital radiographic systems permit to optimize execution, depiction and storage of radiological images. Since a Regius 336 digital system (Konica Corp. Tokyo, Japan) devoted to chest radiography Department of S. Anna Hospital in Como, Italy, it was investigated its performance relative to image quality. Konica Regius 336 is a computed radiography system made of a phosphorescence detector plate which is scanned with an infrared semiconductor laser beam. The radiographic image obtained from the detector is subjected to image processing, which allows a stable output and the nonlinear curve typical of conventional radiographic systems. Image quality was assessed based on the following parameters: dose, contrast, noise and spatial resolution. As reference, it was assessed the same parameters on a Cronex 88 analogic chest-changer (DuPont Pharma, North Billerica, Mass, USA). The Regius 336 air kerma values were always higher than the analogic ones (about 10%), both with and without a chest phantom; noise was also greater than in analogic images, sometimes even doubled. The optical densities of a step wedge and the spatial resolution of the digital chest-changer are independent of the X-ray tube voltage consequent to broader optical latitude. Inversely, the analogic images of the wedges show great optical density variability as a function of the X-ray tube voltage (in a range of 2). The modulation transfer functions of the two systems have the same trend. The performance of the Konica Regius 336 is nearly equivalent to that of an analogic system. The main advantages of the digital system are a standard output, lower consumption of radiographic films, higher productiveness and better image quality standard level. [Italian] I sistemi radiografici digitali offrono la possibilita' di ottimizzare l'esecuzione, la visualizzazione e l'archiviazione dell'immagine radiologica. Poiche' presso il Servizio di Radiologia dell'Azienda Ospedaliera S. Anna

The mechanical properties of the systemic and pulmonary arteries of Python regius correlate with blood pressures.

Science.gov (United States)

van Soldt, Benjamin J; Danielsen, Carl Christian; Wang, Tobias

2015-12-01

Pythons are unique amongst snakes in having different pressures in the aortas and pulmonary arteries because of intraventricular pressure separation. In this study, we investigate whether this correlates with different blood vessel strength in the ball python Python regius. We excised segments from the left, right, and dorsal aortas, and from the two pulmonary arteries. These were subjected to tensile testing. We show that the aortic vessel wall is significantly stronger than the pulmonary artery wall in P. regius. Gross morphological characteristics (vessel wall thickness and correlated absolute amount of collagen content) are likely the most influential factors. Collagen fiber thickness and orientation are likely to have an effect, though the effect of collagen fiber type and cross-links between fibers will need further study. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The Zoonotic Implications of Pentastomiasis in the Royal Python (Python Regius)

OpenAIRE

Ayinmode, AB; Adedokun, AO; Aina, A; Taiwo, V

2010-01-01

Pentastomes are worm-like endoparasites of the phylum Pentastomida found principally in the respiratory tract of reptiles, birds, and mammals. They cause a zoonotic disease known as pentastomiasis in humans and other mammals. The autopsy of a Nigerian royal python (Python regius) revealed two yellowish-white parasites in the lungs, tissue necrosis and inflammatory lesions. The parasite was confirmed to be Armillifer spp (Pentastomid); this is the first recorded case of pentastomiasis in the r...

Curing a meagre health care system by lean methods--translating 'chains of care' in the Swedish health care sector.

Science.gov (United States)

Trägårdh, Björn; Lindberg, Kajsa

2004-01-01

The purpose of this article is to discuss what happens when work embedded in a 'meagre' organizational context is changed by lean production-related methods. The article is based on studies of seven lean production-inspired projects in the Swedish health care sector, a sector already poor due to organizational slack. The projects were directed to develop 'health care chains', an organizational concept regarded as a way to rationalize health care organizations as well as to develop them, i.e. increase productivity, quality from a customer perspective and quality of working conditions. The article analyses the projects from an interpretative perspective and discusses how modem management models with ambitions to concurrently rationalize and develop organizations--e.g. lean production and health care chains--are used in a 'meagre' organizational field. As an outcome, a model is presented that explores what is beyond simple imitations and unique translations of ideas when a new concept is implemented in local organizations.

Oral flora of Python regius kept as pets.

Science.gov (United States)

Dipineto, L; Russo, T P; Calabria, M; De Rosa, L; Capasso, M; Menna, L F; Borrelli, L; Fioretti, A

2014-05-01

This study was aimed at evaluating the oral bacterial flora of 60 Python regius kept as pets by culture and biochemical methods. All isolates were also submitted to antimicrobial susceptibility testing using the disc diffusion method. The oral cavity of snakes sampled harboured a wide range of Gram-negative bacteria mainly constituted by Pseudomonas spp., Morganella morganii, Acinetobacter calcoaceticus, Aeromonas hydrophila, but also by Salmonella spp. Staphylococcus spp. was the commonest Gram-positive isolates, and various anaerobic Clostridium species were also found. The most effective antimicrobial agents were enrofloxacin and ciprofloxacin, followed by doxycycline and gentamicin. The oral cavity of snakes sampled harboured a wide range of bacteria. Our results suggest that people who come in contact with snakes could be at risk of infection and should follow proper hygiene practices when handling these reptiles. © 2014 The Society for Applied Microbiology.

Senior nurses as patients: narratives of special and meagre care.

Science.gov (United States)

Duke, Jan; Connor, Margaret

2008-12-01

Like the general population, nurses become patients within the health care services available to them. They write anecdotal accounts of their experience and research the experience of their colleagues. This paper reports a small descriptive study of how the positions of senior nurses who experienced a life threatening condition influenced their illness trajectories. Eleven nurses in both New Zealand and Australia told stories of their experiences which focussed on intercessions/intervention by themselves, their family and the health care team. Themes identified were: looking after our own, the gaze of family and friends in advocacy and intercession, stereotypes of nurses as patients, senior nurses as vulnerable patients - existential healing through the small things, and senior nurses as knowledgeable people. Within these themes were narratives of special and meagre care. The authors conclude that all senior nurses should receive care that is regardful of who they are as senior nurses and vulnerable patients.

Hemodynamic consequences of cardiac malformations in two juvenile ball pythons (Python regius).

Science.gov (United States)

Jensen, Bjarke; Wang, Tobias

2009-12-01

Two cases of bifid ventricles and cardiac malformations in juvenile ball python (Python regius) were investigated by blood pressure measurements and macro- and microscopic sectioning. A study of a normal ball python was included for reference. In both cases, all cardiac chambers were enlarged and abnormally shaped. Internal assessment of the ventricles revealed a pronounced defect of the muscular ridge, which normally is responsible for separating the systemic and pulmonary circuits. Consistent with the small muscular ridge, systolic pressures were identical in the pulmonary and systemic arteries, but, the snakes, nevertheless, lived to reach body weights severalfold of their hatchling weight.

Computed tomography of the lung of healthy snakes of the species Python regius, Boa constrictor, Python reticulatus, Morelia viridis, Epicrates cenchria, and Morelia spilota.

Science.gov (United States)

Pees, Michael; Kiefer, Ingmar; Thielebein, Jens; Oechtering, Gerhard; Krautwald-Junghanns, Maria-Elisabeth

2009-01-01

Thirty-nine healthy boid snakes representing six different species (Python regius, Boa constrictor, Python reticulatus, Morelia viridis, Epicrates cenchria, and Morelia spilota) were examined using computed tomography (CT) to characterize the normal appearance of the respiratory tissue. Assessment was done subjectively and densitometry was performed using a defined protocol. The length of the right lung was calculated to be 11.1% of the body length, without a significant difference between species. The length of the left lung in proportion to the right was dependent on the species examined. The most developed left lung was in P. regius (81.2%), whereas in B. constrictor, the left lung was vestigial or absent (24.7%). A median attenuation of -814.6 HU and a variability of 45.9 HU were calculated for all species with no significant difference between species. Within the species, a significantly higher attenuation was found for P. regius in the dorsal and cranial aspect of the lung compared with the ventral and caudal part. In B. constrictor, the reduced left lung was significantly hyperattenuating compared with the right lung. Results of this study emphasize the value of CT and provide basic reference data for assessment of the snake lung in these species. Veterinary Radiology &

Effect of graded levels of dietary seaweed (Ulva sp.) on growth, hematological and serum biochemical parameters in dusky kob, Argyrosomus japonicus, sciaenidae

OpenAIRE

Molatelo Junior Madibana; Victor Mlambo; Brett Lewis; Chris Fouché

2017-01-01

This study was designed to assess the effect of incorporating graded levels of green macroalgae seaweed (Ulva sp.) into diets of juvenile dusky kob (Argyrosomus japonicus) on growth performance, hematology and serum biochemistry. Five experimental diets were formulated to contain 0 (Ulva0), 50 (Ulva50), 100 (Ulva100), 150 (Ulva150) and 200 (Ulva200) g seaweed meal/kg commercial kob feed on a dry matter basis. Seventy-seven dusky kob fingerlings (mean body mass 9.14â¯Â±â¯0.30â¯g) were distribu...

Subspectacular nematodiasis caused by a novel Serpentirhabdias species in ball pythons (Python regius).

Science.gov (United States)

Hausmann, J C; Mans, C; Dreyfus, J; Reavill, D R; Lucio-Forster, A; Bowman, D D

2015-01-01

Subspectacular nematodiasis was diagnosed in three captive-bred juvenile ball pythons (Python regius) from two unrelated facilities within a 6-month period. The snakes were presented with similar lesions, including swelling of facial, periocular and oral tissues. Bilaterally, the subspectacular spaces were distended and filled with an opaque fluid, which contained nematodes and eggs. Histopathology showed nematodes throughout the periocular tissue, subspectacular space and subcutaneous tissue of the head. The nematodes from both facilities were morphologically indistinguishable and most closely resembled Serpentirhabdias species. Morphological characterization and genetic sequencing indicate this is a previously undescribed rhabdiasid nematode. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Morphological respiratory diffusion capacity of the lungs of ball pythons (Python regius).

Science.gov (United States)

Starck, J Matthias; Aupperle, Heike; Kiefer, Ingmar; Weimer, Isabel; Krautwald-Junghanns, Maria-Elisabeth; Pees, Michael

2012-08-01

This study aims at a functional and morphological characterization of the lung of a boid snake. In particular, we were interested to see if the python's lungs are designed with excess capacity as compared to resting and working oxygen demands. Therefore, the morphological respiratory diffusion capacity of ball pythons (Python regius) was examined following a stereological, hierarchically nested approach. The volume of the respiratory exchange tissue was determined using computed tomography. Tissue compartments were quantified using stereological methods on light microscopic images. The tissue diffusion barrier for oxygen transport was characterized and measured using transmission electron micrographs. We found a significant negative correlation between body mass and the volume of respiratory tissue; the lungs of larger snakes had relatively less respiratory tissue. Therefore, mass-specific respiratory tissue was calculated to exclude effects of body mass. The volume of the lung that contains parenchyma was 11.9±5.0mm(3)g(-1). The volume fraction, i.e., the actual pulmonary exchange tissue per lung parenchyma, was 63.22±7.3%; the total respiratory surface was, on average, 0.214±0.129m(2); it was significantly negatively correlated to body mass, with larger snakes having proportionally smaller respiratory surfaces. For the air-blood barrier, a harmonic mean of 0.78±0.05μm was found, with the epithelial layer representing the thickest part of the barrier. Based on these findings, a median diffusion capacity of the tissue barrier ( [Formula: see text] ) of 0.69±0.38ml O(2)min(-1)mmHg(-1) was calculated. Based on published values for blood oxygen concentration, a total oxygen uptake capacity of 61.16mlO(2)min(-1)kg(-1) can be assumed. This value exceeds the maximum demand for oxygen in ball pythons by a factor of 12. We conclude that healthy individuals of P. regius possess a considerable spare capacity for tissue oxygen exchange. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Gmb

Molecular cytogenetic of the Amoy croaker, Argyrosomus amoyensis (Teleostei, Sciaenidae)

Science.gov (United States)

Liao, Mengxiang; Zheng, Jiao; Wang, Zhiyong; Wang, Yilei; Zhang, Jing; Cai, Mingyi

2017-08-01

The family Sciaenidae is remarkable for its species richness and economic importance. However, the cytogenetic data available in this fish group are still limited, especially those obtained using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). In the present study, the chromosome characteristics of a sciaenid species, Argyrosomus amoyensis, were examined with several cytogenetic methods, including dual-FISH with 18S and 5S rDNA probes, and a self-genomic in situ hybridization procedure (Self-GISH). The karyotype of A. amoyensis comprised 2n=48 acrocentric chromosomes. A single pair of nucleolar organizer regions (NORs) was located at the proximal position of chromosome 1, which was positive for silver nitrate impregnation (AgNO3) staining and denaturation-propidium iodide (DPI) staining but negative for Giemsa staining and 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) staining, and was confirmed by FISH with 18S rDNA probes. The 5S rDNA sites were located at the centromeric region of chromosome 3. Telomeric FISH signals were detected at all chromosome ends with different intensities, but internal telomeric sequences (ITSs) were not found. Self-GISH resulted in strong signals distributed at the centromeric regions of all chromosomes. C-banding revealed not only centromeric heterochromatin, but also heterochromatin that located on NORs, in interstitial and distal telomeric regions of specific chromosomes. These results suggest that the karyotype of Amoy croaker was relatively conserved and primitive. By comparison with the reported cytogenetic data of other sciaenids, it can be deduced that although the karyotypic macrostructure and chromosomal localization of 18S rDNA are conserved, the distribution of 5S rDNA varies dynamically among sciaenid species. Thus, the 5S rDNA sites may have different evolutionary dynamics in relation to other chromosomal regions, and have the potential to be effective cytotaxonomic markers in Sciaenidae.

Respiratory disease in ball pythons (Python regius) experimentally infected with ball python nidovirus.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoon-Hanks, Laura L; Layton, Marylee L; Ossiboff, Robert J; Parker, John S L; Dubovi, Edward J; Stenglein, Mark D

2018-04-01

Circumstantial evidence has linked a new group of nidoviruses with respiratory disease in pythons, lizards, and cattle. We conducted experimental infections in ball pythons (Python regius) to test the hypothesis that ball python nidovirus (BPNV) infection results in respiratory disease. Three ball pythons were inoculated orally and intratracheally with cell culture isolated BPNV and two were sham inoculated. Antemortem choanal, oroesophageal, and cloacal swabs and postmortem tissues of infected snakes were positive for viral RNA, protein, and infectious virus by qRT-PCR, immunohistochemistry, western blot and virus isolation. Clinical signs included oral mucosal reddening, abundant mucus secretions, open-mouthed breathing, and anorexia. Histologic lesions included chronic-active mucinous rhinitis, stomatitis, tracheitis, esophagitis and proliferative interstitial pneumonia. Control snakes remained negative and free of clinical signs throughout the experiment. Our findings establish a causal relationship between nidovirus infection and respiratory disease in ball pythons and shed light on disease progression and transmission. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Saccular lung cannulation in a ball python (Python regius) to treat a tracheal obstruction.

Science.gov (United States)

Myers, Debbie A; Wellehan, James F X; Isaza, Ramiro

2009-03-01

An adult male ball python (Python regius) presented in a state of severe dyspnea characterized by open-mouth breathing and vertical positioning of the head and neck. The animal had copious discharge in the tracheal lumen acting as an obstruction. A tube was placed through the body wall into the caudal saccular aspect of the lung to allow the animal to breathe while treatment was initiated. The ball python's dyspnea immediately improved. Diagnostics confirmed a bacterial respiratory infection with predominantly Providencia rettgeri. The saccular lung (air sac) tube was removed after 13 days. Pulmonary endoscopy before closure showed minimal damage with a small amount of hemorrhage in the surrounding muscle tissue. Respiratory disease is a common occurrence in captive snakes and can be associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Saccular lung cannulation is a relatively simple procedure that can alleviate tracheal narrowing or obstruction, similar to air sac cannulation in birds.

The spectacle of the ball python (Python regius): a morphological description.

Science.gov (United States)

Da Silva, Mari-Ann O; Heegaard, Steffen; Wang, Tobias; Nyengaard, Jens R; Bertelsen, Mads F

2014-05-01

A detailed morphological description of the spectacle of the ball python (Python regius) is provided. The eyes of 21 snakes were examined by light microscopy and/or transmission electron microscopy. Additionally, eyes of nine live snakes were examined using optical coherence tomography (OCT) and Scheimpflug scanning (Pentacam). The spectacle consists of three layers: outer epithelium, stroma and inner epithelium. The outer epithelium is made up of flat basal cells overlaid by keratin, the stroma consists of organized layers of collagen fibrils with interweaving nerve fibers and blood vessels, and the inner epithelium holds squamous cells containing vesicles and microvilli. At the rim of the spectacle, there is a transition zone, where the spectacle merges with the epidermis and dermis of the periocular scales. This zone is characterized by a greater height of the basal cells of the outer epithelium and a less orderly organization of the stroma compared with the spectacle proper. The thickness of the spectacle was uniform throughout. It averaged 96 ± 10 µm in histological specimens and 108 ± 13 µm using OCT. The subspectacular space was extremely narrow in the live snakes; however, the space was visible at the periphery of the spectacle with OCT. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Characterization of powdered fish heads for bone graft biomaterial applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Oteyaka, Mustafa Ozgür; Unal, Hasan Hüseyin; Bilici, Namık; Taşçı, Eda

2013-01-01

The aim of this study was to define the chemical composition, morphology and crystallography of powdered fish heads of the species Argyrosomus regius for bone graft biomaterial applications. Two sizes of powder were prepared by different grinding methods; Powder A (coarse, d50=68.5 µm) and Powder B (fine, d50=19.1 µm). Samples were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetry (TG), and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The powder was mainly composed of aragonite (CaCO3) and calcite (CaCO3). The XRD pattern of Powder A and B matched standard aragonite and calcite patterns. In addition, the calcium oxide (CaO) phase was found after the calcination of Powder A. Thermogravimetry analysis confirmed total mass losses of 43.6% and 47.3% in Powders A and B, respectively. The microstructure of Powder A was mainly composed of different sizes and tubular shape, whereas Powder B showed agglomerated particles. The high quantity of CaO and other oxides resemble the chemical composition of bone. In general, the powder can be considered as bone graft after transformation to hydroxyapatite phase.

Development of hemipenes in the ball python snake Python regius.

Science.gov (United States)

Leal, Francisca; Cohn, Martin J

2015-01-01

Within amniotes, external copulatory organs have undergone extensive morphological diversification. One of the most extreme examples is squamate (lizards and snakes) hemipenes, which are paired copulatory organs that extend from the lateral margins of the cloaca. Here, we describe the development of hemipenes in a basal snake, the ball python (Python regius). Snake hemipenes arise as a pair of lateral swellings on either side of the caudal part of the cloaca, and these paired outgrowths persist to form the left and right hemipenes. In non-squamate amniotes, external genitalia form from paired swellings that arise on the anterior side of the cloaca, which then fuse medially to form a single genital tubercle, the anlagen of the penis or clitoris. Whereas in non-squamate amniotes, Sonic hedgehog (Shh)-expressing cells of the cloacal endoderm form the urethral or sulcus epithelium and are required for phallus outgrowth, the hemipenes of squamates lack an endodermal contribution, and the sulcus does not express Shh. Thus, snake hemipenes differ from the genital tubercles of non-squamate amniotes both in their embryonic origins and in at least part of patterning mechanisms, which raises the possibility that hemipenes may not be direct homologs of the unpaired amniote penis. Nonetheless, we find that some developmental genes show similar expression patterns in snake hemipenes buds and non-squamate genital tubercles, suggesting that homologous developmental mechanisms are involved in aspects of external genital development across amniotes, even when these structures may have different developmental origins and may have arisen independently during evolution.

Identification of a novel nidovirus in an outbreak of fatal respiratory disease in ball pythons (Python regius).

Science.gov (United States)

Uccellini, Lorenzo; Ossiboff, Robert J; de Matos, Ricardo E C; Morrisey, James K; Petrosov, Alexandra; Navarrete-Macias, Isamara; Jain, Komal; Hicks, Allison L; Buckles, Elizabeth L; Tokarz, Rafal; McAloose, Denise; Lipkin, Walter Ian

2014-08-08

Respiratory infections are important causes of morbidity and mortality in reptiles; however, the causative agents are only infrequently identified. Pneumonia, tracheitis and esophagitis were reported in a collection of ball pythons (Python regius). Eight of 12 snakes had evidence of bacterial pneumonia. High-throughput sequencing of total extracted nucleic acids from lung, esophagus and spleen revealed a novel nidovirus. PCR indicated the presence of viral RNA in lung, trachea, esophagus, liver, and spleen. In situ hybridization confirmed the presence of intracellular, intracytoplasmic viral nucleic acids in the lungs of infected snakes. Phylogenetic analysis based on a 1,136 amino acid segment of the polyprotein suggests that this virus may represent a new species in the subfamily Torovirinae. This report of a novel nidovirus in ball pythons may provide insight into the pathogenesis of respiratory disease in this species and enhances our knowledge of the diversity of nidoviruses.

Tachycardia in response to remote capsaicin injection as a model for nociception in the ball python (Python regius).

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Catherine J A; James, Lauren E; Bertelsen, Mads F; Wang, Tobias

2016-07-01

To quantify the effect of subcutaneous (SC) capsaicin injection on heart rate (HR) in ball pythons (Python regius) and to assess the efficacy of two opioids (morphine and butorphanol) in modifying this response. Prospective, randomized, unmatched study. Eleven mixed-sex, captive-bred ball pythons. Snakes were randomly assigned to three groups (n = 6) by intramuscular premedication: 1) control: saline (0.9 mL); 2) morphine (10 mg kg(-1) ); and 3) butorphanol (10 mg kg(-1) ). Three snakes were tested twice and another two were tested three times in different treatments administered 1 month apart. Under isoflurane anaesthesia, snakes were instrumented with SC electrocardiogram (ECG) electrodes and an SC catheter for remote stimulus delivery. After recovery from anaesthesia, all snakes, in visual and audial isolation from the experimenter, received a sham stimulus of saline (0.4 mL) via the SC catheter. A nociceptive stimulus of SC capsaicin (3 mg in 0.2 mL saline with 7% Tween 80) was then applied by catheter at 7 hours after premedication. In a subset (n = 3), two sham injections (saline 0.2 mL) preceded the capsaicin treatment. HR was recorded via ECG, and changes in HR (ΔHR) from baseline were calculated for all stimulations. Capsaicin injection was associated with a significant increase in HR [peak ΔHR: saline group: 8.8 ± 7.1 beats minute(-1) ; capsaicin group: 21.1 ± 5.8 beats minute(-1) (p = 0.0055)] and integrated ΔHR as a function of time. The administration of morphine or butorphanol 7 hours prior to nociception failed to significantly reduce the peak and integrated ΔHR. Butorphanol caused marked, long-lasting sedation as assessed by muscle tone. The HR response to an SC capsaicin injection can serve as a nociceptive model in P. regius. Morphine and butorphanol administration did not reduce HR response to capsaicin stimulation but produced significantly different effects on pre-stimulation HR and sedation. © 2015 Association

Hearing with an atympanic ear: good vibration and poor sound-pressure detection in the royal python, Python regius

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Christian Bech; Christensen-Dalsgaard, Jakob; Brandt, Christian

2012-01-01

are sensitive to sound pressure and (2) snakes are sensitive to vibrations, but cannot hear the sound pressure per se. Vibration and sound-pressure sensitivities were quantified by measuring brainstem evoked potentials in 11 royal pythons, Python regius. Vibrograms and audiograms showed greatest sensitivity...... at low frequencies of 80-160 Hz, with sensitivities of -54 dB re. 1 m s(-2) and 78 dB re. 20 μPa, respectively. To investigate whether pythons detect sound pressure or sound-induced head vibrations, we measured the sound-induced head vibrations in three dimensions when snakes were exposed to sound...... pressure at threshold levels. In general, head vibrations induced by threshold-level sound pressure were equal to or greater than those induced by threshold-level vibrations, and therefore sound-pressure sensitivity can be explained by sound-induced head vibration. From this we conclude that pythons...

Improved cardiac filling facilitates the postprandial elevation of stroke volume in Python regius.

Science.gov (United States)

Enok, Sanne; Leite, Gabriella S P C; Leite, Cléo A C; Gesser, Hans; Hedrick, Michael S; Wang, Tobias

2016-10-01

To accommodate the pronounced metabolic response to digestion, pythons increase heart rate and elevate stroke volume, where the latter has been ascribed to a massive and fast cardiac hypertrophy. However, numerous recent studies show that heart mass rarely increases, even upon ingestion of large meals, and we therefore explored the possibility that a rise in mean circulatory filling pressure (MCFP) serves to elevate venous pressure and cardiac filling during digestion. To this end, we measured blood flows and pressures in anaesthetized Python regius The anaesthetized snakes exhibited the archetypal tachycardia as well as a rise in both venous pressure and MCFP that fully account for the approximate doubling of stroke volume. There was no rise in blood volume and the elevated MCFP must therefore stem from increased vascular tone, possibly by means of increased sympathetic tone on the veins. Furthermore, although both venous pressure and MCFP increased during volume loading, there was no evidence that postprandial hearts were endowed with an additional capacity to elevate stroke volume. In vitro measurements of force development of paced ventricular strips also failed to reveal signs of increased contractility, but the postprandial hearts had higher activities of cytochrome oxidase and pyruvate kinase, which probably serves to sustain the rise in cardiac work during digestion. © 2016. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Food composition influences metabolism, heart rate and organ growth during digestion in Python regius.

Science.gov (United States)

Henriksen, Poul Secher; Enok, Sanne; Overgaard, Johannes; Wang, Tobias

2015-05-01

Digestion in pythons is associated with a large increase in oxygen consumption (SDA), increased cardiac output and growth in visceral organs assisting in digestion. The processes leading to the large postprandial rise in metabolism in snakes is subject to opposing views. Gastric work, protein synthesis and organ growth have each been speculated to be major contributors to the SDA. To investigate the role of food composition on SDA, heart rate (HR) and organ growth, 48 ball pythons (Python regius) were fed meals of either fat, glucose, protein or protein combined with carbonate. Our study shows that protein, in the absence or presence of carbonate causes a large SDA response, while glucose caused a significantly smaller SDA response and digestion of fat failed to affect metabolism. Addition of carbonate to the diet to stimulate gastric acid secretion did not increase the SDA response. These results support protein synthesis as a major contributor to the SDA response and show that increased gastric acid secretion occurs at a low metabolic cost. The increase in metabolism was supported by tachycardia caused by altered autonomic regulation as well as an increased non-adrenergic, non-cholinergic (NANC) tone in response to all diets, except for the lipid meal. Organ growth only occurred in the small intestine and liver in snakes fed on a high protein diet. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The influence of mechanical ventilation on physiological parameters in ball pythons (Python regius).

Science.gov (United States)

Jakobsen, Sashia L; Williams, Catherine J A; Wang, Tobias; Bertelsen, Mads F

2017-05-01

Mechanical ventilation is widely recommended for reptiles during anesthesia, and while it is well-known that their low ectothermic metabolism requires much lower ventilation than in mammals, very little is known about the influence of ventilation protocol on the recovery from anesthesia. Here, 15 ball pythons (Python regius) were induced and maintained with isoflurane for 60min at one of three ventilation protocols (30, 125, or 250mlmin -1 kg -1 body mass) while an arterial catheter was inserted, and ventilation was then continued on 100% oxygen at the specified rate until voluntary extubation. Mean arterial blood pressure and heart rate (HR) were measured, and arterial blood samples collected at 60, 80, 180min and 12 and 24h after intubation. In all three groups, there was evidence of a metabolic acidosis, and snakes maintained at 30mlmin -1 kg -1 experienced an additional respiratory acidosis, while the two other ventilation protocols resulted in normal or low arterial PCO 2 . In general, normal acid-base status was restored within 12h in all three protocols. HR increased by 143±64% during anesthesia with high mechanical ventilation (250mlmin -1 kg -1 ) in comparison with recovered values. Recovery times after mechanical ventilation at 30, 125, or 250mlmin -1 kg -1 were 289±70, 126±16, and 68±7min, respectively. Mild overventilation may result in a faster recovery, and the associated lowering of arterial PCO 2 normalised arterial pH in the face of metabolic acidosis. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Tribological analysis of the ventral scale structure in a Python regius in relation to laser textured surfaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abdel-Aal, H A; El Mansori, M

2013-01-01

Laser texturing is one of the leading technologies applied to modify surface topography. To date, however, a standardized procedure to generate deterministic textures is virtually non-existent. In nature, especially in squamata, there are many examples of deterministic structured textures that allow species to control friction and condition their tribological response for efficient function. In this work, we draw a comparison between industrial surfaces and reptilian surfaces. We chose the Python regius species as a bio-analogue with a deterministic surface. We first study the structural make up of the ventral scales of the snake (both construction and metrology). We further compare the metrological features of the ventral scales to experimentally recommended performance indicators of industrial surfaces extracted from open literature. The results indicate the feasibility of engineering a laser textured surface based on the reptilian ornamentation constructs. It is shown that the metrological features, key to efficient function of a rubbing deterministic surface, are already optimized in the reptile. We further show that optimization in reptilian surfaces is based on synchronizing surface form, textures and aspects to condition the frictional response. Mimicking reptilian surfaces, we argue, may form a design methodology potentially capable of generating advanced deterministic surface constructs capable of efficient tribological function. (paper)

Size, but not experience, affects the ontogeny of constriction performance in ball pythons (Python regius).

Science.gov (United States)

Penning, David A; Dartez, Schuyler F

2016-03-01

Constriction is a prey-immobilization technique used by many snakes and is hypothesized to have been important to the evolution and diversification of snakes. However, very few studies have examined the factors that affect constriction performance. We investigated constriction performance in ball pythons (Python regius) by evaluating how peak constriction pressure is affected by snake size, sex, and experience. In one experiment, we tested the ontogenetic scaling of constriction performance and found that snake diameter was the only significant factor determining peak constriction pressure. The number of loops applied in a coil and its interaction with snake diameter did not significantly affect constriction performance. Constriction performance in ball pythons scaled differently than in other snakes that have been studied, and medium to large ball pythons are capable of exerting significantly higher pressures than those shown to cause circulatory arrest in prey. In a second experiment, we tested the effects of experience on constriction performance in hatchling ball pythons over 10 feeding events. By allowing snakes in one test group to gain constriction experience, and manually feeding snakes under sedation in another test group, we showed that experience did not affect constriction performance. During their final (10th) feedings, all pythons constricted similarly and with sufficiently high pressures to kill prey rapidly. At the end of the 10 feeding trials, snakes that were allowed to constrict were significantly smaller than their non-constricting counterparts. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Effect of laser treatment on first-intention incisional wound healing in ball pythons (Python regius).

Science.gov (United States)

Cole, Grayson L; Lux, Cassie N; Schumacher, Juergen P; Seibert, Rachel L; Sadler, Ryan A; Henderson, Andrea L; Odoi, Agricola; Newkirk, Kim M

2015-10-01

To evaluate effects of laser treatment on incisional wound healing in ball pythons (Python regius). 6 healthy adult ball pythons. Snakes were sedated, a skin biopsy specimen was collected for histologic examination, and eight 2-cm skin incisions were made in each snake; each incision was closed with staples (day 0). Gross evaluation of all incision sites was performed daily for 30 days, and a wound score was assigned. Four incisions of each snake were treated (5 J/cm(2) and a wavelength of 980 nm on a continuous wave sequence) by use of a class 4 laser once daily for 7 consecutive days; the other 4 incisions were not treated. Two excisional skin biopsy specimens (1 control and 1 treatment) were collected from each snake on days 2, 7, 14, and 30 and evaluated microscopically. Scores were assigned for total inflammation, degree of fibrosis, and collagen maturity. Generalized linear models were used to investigate the effect of treatment on each variable. Wound scores for laser-treated incisions were significantly better than scores for control incisions on day 2 but not at other time points. There were no significant differences in necrosis, fibroplasia, inflammation, granuloma formation, or bacterial contamination between control and treatment groups. Collagen maturity was significantly better for the laser-treated incisions on day 14. Laser treatment resulted in a significant increase in collagen maturity at day 14 but did not otherwise significantly improve healing of skin incisions.

Functional morphology and patterns of blood flow in the heart of Python regius.

Science.gov (United States)

Starck, J Matthias

2009-06-01

circulation in Python regius.

The effects of UV light on calcium metabolism in ball pythons (Python regius).

Science.gov (United States)

Hedley, J; Eatwell, K

2013-10-12

Despite the popularity of keeping snakes in captivity, there has been limited investigation into the effects of UV radiation on vitamin D levels in snakes. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of UV-b radiation on plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 levels and ionised calcium concentrations in ball pythons (Python regius). Blood samples were taken from 14 ball pythons, which had never been exposed to UV-b light, to obtain baseline 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 levels and ionised calcium concentrations. Blood samples were then taken again from the same snakes 70 days later after one group (Group 1, n=6 females) were exposed to UV-b radiation daily, and the other group (Group 2, n=5 males and 3 females) were exposed to no UV-b radiation. Mean±sd 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 levels on day 0 in Group 1 were 197±35 nmol/l, and on day 70 were 203.5±13.8 nmol/l. Mean±sd 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 levels in Group 2 on day 0 were 77.7±41.5 nmol/l, and on day 70 were 83.0±41.9 nmol/l. Mean±sd ionised calcium levels at day 0 were 1.84±0.05 mmol/l for Group 1, and on day 70 were 1.78±0.07 mmol/l. Mean±sd ionised calcium levels at day 0 were 1.79±0.07 mmol/l for Group 2, and on day 70 were 1.81±0.05 mmol/l. No association was demonstrated between exposure to UV-b radiation and plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 and ionised calcium concentrations. These results may provide baseline parameters for future studies in this and other snake species to determine ability to utilise UV-b light for vitamin D production.

Pharmacokinetics of a long-acting ceftiofur formulation (ceftiofur crystalline free acid) in the ball python (Python regius).

Science.gov (United States)

Adkesson, Michael J; Fernandez-Varon, Emilio; Cox, Sherry; Martín-Jiménez, Tomás

2011-09-01

The objective of this study was to determine the pharmacokinetics of a long-acting formulation of ceftiofur crystalline-free acid (CCFA) following intramuscular injection in ball pythons (Python regius). Six adult ball pythons received an injection of CCFA (15 mg/kg) in the epaxial muscles. Blood samples were collected by cardiocentesis immediately prior to and at 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 18, 24, 48, 72, 96, 144, 192, 240, 288, 384, 480, 576, 720, and 864 hr after CCFA administration. Plasma ceftiofur concentrations were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. A noncompartmental pharmacokinetic analysis was applied to the data. Maximum plasma concentration (Cmax) was 7.096 +/- 1.95 microg/ml and occurred at (Tmax) 2.17 +/- 0.98 hr. The area under the curve (0 to infinity) for ceftiofur was 74.59 +/- 13.05 microg x h/ml and the elimination half-life associated with the terminal slope of the concentration-time curve was 64.31 +/- 14.2 hr. Mean residence time (0 to infinity) was 46.85 +/- 13.53 hr. CCFA at 15 mg/kg was well tolerated in all the pythons. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) data for bacterial isolates from snakes are not well established. For MIC values of python. For MICs > or =0.5 microg/ml, more frequent dosing or a higher dosage may be required.

Spectral domain optical coherence tomography imaging of spectacular ecdysis in the royal python (Python regius).

Science.gov (United States)

Tusler, Charlotte A; Maggs, David J; Kass, Philip H; Paul-Murphy, Joanne R; Schwab, Ivan R; Murphy, Christopher J

2015-01-01

To describe using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), digital slit-lamp biomicroscopy, and external photography, changes in the ophidian cuticle, spectacle, and cornea during ecdysis. Four normal royal pythons (Python regius). Snakes were assessed once daily throughout a complete shed cycle using nasal, axial, and temporal SD-OCT images, digital slit-lamp biomicroscopy, and external photography. Spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) images reliably showed the spectacular cuticle and stroma, subcuticular space (SCS), cornea, anterior chamber, iris, and Schlemm's canal. When visible, the subspectacular space (SSS) was more distended peripherally than axially. Ocular surface changes throughout ecdysis were relatively conserved among snakes at all three regions imaged. From baseline (7 days following completion of a full cycle), the spectacle gradually thickened before separating into superficial cuticular and deep, hyper-reflective stromal components, thereby creating the SCS. During spectacular separation, the stroma regained original reflectivity, and multiple hyper-reflective foci (likely fragments from the cuticular-stromal interface) were noted within the SCS. The cornea was relatively unchanged in character or thickness throughout all stages of ecdysis. Slit-lamp images did not permit observation of these changes. Spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) provided excellent high-resolution images of the snake anterior segment, and especially the cuticle, spectacle, and cornea of manually restrained normal snakes at all stages of ecdysis and warrants investigation in snakes with anterior segment disease. The peripheral spectacle may be the preferred entry point for diagnostic or therapeutic injections into the SSS and for initiating spectacular surgery. © 2014 American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists.

Effect of graded levels of dietary seaweed (Ulva sp. on growth, hematological and serum biochemical parameters in dusky kob, Argyrosomus japonicus, sciaenidae

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Molatelo Junior Madibana

2017-09-01

Full Text Available This study was designed to assess the effect of incorporating graded levels of green macroalgae seaweed (Ulva sp. into diets of juvenile dusky kob (Argyrosomus japonicus on growth performance, hematology and serum biochemistry. Five experimental diets were formulated to contain 0 (Ulva0, 50 (Ulva50, 100 (Ulva100, 150 (Ulva150 and 200 (Ulva200 g seaweed meal/kg commercial kob feed on a dry matter basis. Seventy-seven dusky kob fingerlings (mean body mass 9.14 ± 0.30 g were distributed into each of 20 experimental tanks and offered diets at 2.8% body mass. Weight and length of fish were measured weekly for 9 weeks. At the end of the feeding trial, fish fed Ulva50 had higher body mass (38.20 ± 1.38 g compared to those fed the other three Ulva-based diets. Fish offered Ulva200 had significantly (P  .05 by dietary treatments. However, the levels of both blood cholesterol and alkaline phosphatase tended to decrease as dietary Ulva inclusion levels increased. These results indicate that Ulva could be incorporated at the rate of 50 g kg−1 in future commercial dusky kob diets without any negative effects on feed utilizationa and growth performance. Hematology and serum biochemistry results indicate that dietary inclusion of Ulva had no adverse effects on physiological status of the fish. Keywords: Ulva sp., Haematology, Dusky kob, Feed conversion efficiency, Specific growth rate

Clinical and histologic effects of intracardiac administration of propofol for induction of anesthesia in ball pythons (Python regius).

Science.gov (United States)

McFadden, Michael S; Bennett, R Avery; Reavill, Drury R; Ragetly, Guillaume R; Clark-Price, Stuart C

2011-09-15

To assess the clinical differences between induction of anesthesia in ball pythons with intracardiac administration of propofol and induction with isoflurane in oxygen and to assess the histologic findings over time in hearts following intracardiac administration of propofol. Prospective randomized study. 30 hatchling ball pythons (Python regius). Anesthesia was induced with intracardiac administration of propofol (10 mg/kg [4.5 mg/lb]) in 18 ball pythons and with 5% isoflurane in oxygen in 12 ball pythons. Induction time, time of anesthesia, and recovery time were recorded. Hearts from snakes receiving intracardiac administration of propofol were evaluated histologically 3, 7, 14, 30, and 60 days following propofol administration. Induction time with intracardiac administration of propofol was significantly shorter than induction time with 5% isoflurane in oxygen. No significant differences were found in total anesthesia time. Recovery following intracardiac administration of propofol was significantly longer than recovery following induction of anesthesia with isoflurane in oxygen. Heart tissue evaluated histologically at 3, 7, and 14 days following intracardiac administration of propofol had mild inflammatory changes, and no histopathologic lesions were seen 30 and 60 days following propofol administration. Intracardiac injection of propofol in snakes is safe and provides a rapid induction of anesthesia but leads to prolonged recovery, compared with that following induction with isoflurane. Histopathologic lesions in heart tissues following intracardiac injection of propofol were mild and resolved after 14 days.

Development of a technique for contrast radiographic examination of the gastrointestinal tract in ball pythons (Python regius).

Science.gov (United States)

Banzato, Tommaso; Russo, Elisa; Finotti, Luca; Zotti, Alessandro

2012-07-01

To develop a technique for radiographic evaluation of the gastrointestinal tract in ball pythons (Python regius). 10 ball python cadavers (5 males and 5 females) and 18 healthy adult ball pythons (10 males and 8 females). Live snakes were allocated to 3 groups (A, B, and C). A dose (25 mL/kg) of barium sulfate suspension at 3 concentrations (25%, 35%, and 45% [wt/vol]) was administered through an esophageal probe to snakes in groups A, B, and C, respectively. Each evaluation ended when all the contrast medium had reached the large intestine. Transit times through the esophagus, stomach, and small intestine were recorded. Imaging quality was evaluated by 3 investigators who assigned a grading score on the basis of predetermined criteria. Statistical analysis was conducted to evaluate differences in quality among the study groups. The esophagus and stomach had a consistent distribution pattern of contrast medium, whereas 3 distribution patterns of contrast medium were identified in the small intestine, regardless of barium concentration. Significant differences in imaging quality were detected among the 3 groups. Radiographic procedures were tolerated well by all snakes. The 35% concentration of contrast medium yielded the best imaging quality. Use of contrast medium for evaluation of the cranial portion of the gastrointestinal tract could be a reliable technique for the diagnosis of gastrointestinal diseases in ball pythons. However, results of this study may not translate to other snake species because of variables identified in this group of snakes.

Photodermatitis and photokeratoconjunctivitis in a ball python (Python regius) and a blue-tongue skink (Tiliqua spp.).

Science.gov (United States)

Gardiner, David W; Baines, Frances M; Pandher, Karamjeet

2009-12-01

A male ball python (Python regius) and a female blue tongue skink (Tiliqua spp.) of unknown age were evaluated for anorexia, lethargy, excessive shedding, corneal opacity (python), and weight loss (skink) of approximately three weeks' duration. These animals represented the worst affected animals from a private herpetarium where many animals exhibited similar signs. At necropsy, the python had bilateral corneal opacity and scattered moderate dysecdysis. The skink had mild dysecdysis, poor body condition, moderate intestinal nematodiasis, and mild liver atrophy. Microscopic evaluation revealed epidermal erosion and ulceration, with severe epidermal basal cell degeneration and necrosis, and superficial dermatitis (python and skink). Severe bilateral ulcerative keratoconjunctivitis with bacterial colonization was noted in the ball python. Microscopic findings within the skin and eyes were suggestive of ultraviolet (UV) radiation damage or of photodermatitis and photokeratoconjunctivitis. Removal of the recently installed new lamps from the terrariums of the surviving reptiles resulted in resolution of clinical signs. Evaluation of a sample lamp of the type associated with these cases revealed an extremely high UV output, including very-short-wavelength UVB, neither found in natural sunlight nor emitted by several other UVB lamps unassociated with photokeratoconjunctivitis. Exposure to high-intensity and/or inappropriate wavelengths of UV radiation may be associated with significant morbidity, and even mortality, in reptiles. Veterinarians who are presented with reptiles with ocular and/or cutaneous disease of unapparent cause should fully evaluate the specifics of the vivarium light sources. Further research is needed to determine the characteristics of appropriate and of toxic UV light for reptiles kept in captivity.

Non-meagre subgroups of reals disjoint with meagre sets

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Kostana, Ziemowit

2018-01-01

Roč. 241, June (2018), s. 11-19 ISSN 0166-8641 Institutional support: RVO:67985840 Keywords : algebraic sum * Baire property * non-meaurable subgroup Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics OBOR OECD: Pure mathematics Impact factor: 0.377, year: 2016 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ article /pii/S0166864118300567

Non-meagre subgroups of reals disjoint with meagre sets

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Kostana, Ziemowit

2018-01-01

Roč. 241, June (2018), s. 11-19 ISSN 0166-8641 Institutional support: RVO:67985840 Keywords : algebraic sum * Baire property * non-meaurable subgroup Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics OBOR OECD: Pure mathematics Impact factor: 0.377, year: 2016 https://www. science direct.com/ science /article/pii/S0166864118300567

Anaesthetic induction with alfaxalone in the ball python (Python regius): dose response and effect of injection site.

Science.gov (United States)

James, Lauren E; Williams, Catherine Ja; Bertelsen, Mads F; Wang, Tobias

2018-05-01

To characterise the minimum dose of intramuscular alfaxalone required to facilitate intubation for mechanical ventilation, and to investigate the impact of cranial versus caudal injection on anaesthetic depth. Randomised crossover study. Six healthy juvenile ball pythons (Python regius). Three dosages (10, 20 and 30 mg kg -1 ) of alfaxalone were administered to each python in a caudal location with a minimum 2 weeks washout. Induction and recovery were monitored by assessing muscle tone, righting reflex, response to a noxious stimulus and the ability to intubate. A subsequent experiment assessed the influence of injection site by comparing administration of 20 mg kg -1 alfaxalone in a cranial location (1 cm cranial to the heart) with the caudal site. Respiration rate was monitored throughout, and when intubation was possible, snakes were mechanically ventilated. Regardless of dose and injection site, maximum effect was reached within 10.0 ± 2.7 minutes. When administered at the caudal injection site, intubation was only successful after a dosage of 30 mg kg- 1 , which is higher than in previous reports for other reptiles. However, intubation was possible in all cases after 7.2 ± 1.6 minutes upon cranial administration of 20 mg kg -1 , and anaesthetic duration was significantly lengthened (p pythons, and may serve as a useful induction agent prior to provision of volatile anaesthetics. The same dosage injected in the cranial site led to deeper anaesthesia than when injected caudally, suggesting that shunting to the liver and first-pass metabolism of alfaxalone occur when injected caudally, via the renal portal system. Copyright © 2018 Association of Veterinary Anaesthetists and American College of Veterinary Anesthesia and Analgesia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hearing with an atympanic ear: good vibration and poor sound-pressure detection in the royal python, Python regius.

Science.gov (United States)

Christensen, Christian Bech; Christensen-Dalsgaard, Jakob; Brandt, Christian; Madsen, Peter Teglberg

2012-01-15

Snakes lack both an outer ear and a tympanic middle ear, which in most tetrapods provide impedance matching between the air and inner ear fluids and hence improve pressure hearing in air. Snakes would therefore be expected to have very poor pressure hearing and generally be insensitive to airborne sound, whereas the connection of the middle ear bone to the jaw bones in snakes should confer acute sensitivity to substrate vibrations. Some studies have nevertheless claimed that snakes are quite sensitive to both vibration and sound pressure. Here we test the two hypotheses that: (1) snakes are sensitive to sound pressure and (2) snakes are sensitive to vibrations, but cannot hear the sound pressure per se. Vibration and sound-pressure sensitivities were quantified by measuring brainstem evoked potentials in 11 royal pythons, Python regius. Vibrograms and audiograms showed greatest sensitivity at low frequencies of 80-160 Hz, with sensitivities of -54 dB re. 1 m s(-2) and 78 dB re. 20 μPa, respectively. To investigate whether pythons detect sound pressure or sound-induced head vibrations, we measured the sound-induced head vibrations in three dimensions when snakes were exposed to sound pressure at threshold levels. In general, head vibrations induced by threshold-level sound pressure were equal to or greater than those induced by threshold-level vibrations, and therefore sound-pressure sensitivity can be explained by sound-induced head vibration. From this we conclude that pythons, and possibly all snakes, lost effective pressure hearing with the complete reduction of a functional outer and middle ear, but have an acute vibration sensitivity that may be used for communication and detection of predators and prey.

Ultrasonographic anatomy of the coelomic organs of boid snakes (Boa constrictor imperator, Python regius, Python molurus molurus, and Python curtus).

Science.gov (United States)

Banzato, Tommaso; Russo, Elisa; Finotti, Luca; Milan, Maria C; Gianesella, Matteo; Zotti, Alessandro

2012-05-01

To determine the ultrasonographic features of the coelomic organs of healthy snakes belonging to the Boidae and Pythonidae families. 16 ball pythons (Python regius; 7 males, 8 females, and 1 sexually immature), 10 Indian rock pythons (Python molurus molurus; 5 males, 4 females, and 1 sexually immature), 12 Python curtus (5 males and 7 females), and 8 boa constrictors (Boa constrictor imperator; 4 males and 4 females). All snakes underwent complete ultrasonographic evaluation of the coelomic cavity; chemical restraint was not necessary. A dorsolateral approach to probe placement was chosen to increase image quality and to avoid injury to the snakes and operators. Qualitative and quantitative observations were recorded. The liver, stomach, gallbladder, pancreas, small and large intestines, kidneys, cloaca, and scent glands were identified in all snakes. The hemipenes were identified in 10 of the 21 (48%) male snakes. The spleen was identified in 5 of the 46 (11%) snakes, and ureters were identified in 6 (13%). In 2 sexually immature snakes, the gonads were not visible. One (2%) snake was gravid, and 7 (15%) had small amounts of free fluid in the coelomic cavity. A significant positive correlation was identified between several measurements (diameter and thickness of scent glands, gastric and pyloric walls, and colonic wall) and body length (snout to vent) and body weight. The study findings can be used as an atlas of the ultrasonographic anatomy of the coelomic cavity in healthy boid snakes. Ultrasonography was reasonably fast to perform and was well tolerated in conscious snakes.

The effect of temperature and body weight on the routine metabolic rate and postprandial metabolic response in mulloway, Argyrosomus japonicus.

Science.gov (United States)

Pirozzi, Igor; Booth, Mark A

2009-09-01

Specific dynamic action (SDA) is the energy expended on the physiological processes associated with meal digestion and is strongly influenced by the characteristics of the meal and the body weight (BW) and temperature of the organism. This study assessed the effects of temperature and body weight on the routine metabolic rate (RMR) and postprandial metabolic response in mulloway, Argyrosomus japonicus. RMR and SDA were established at 3 temperatures (14, 20 and 26 degrees C). 5 size classes of mulloway ranging from 60 g to 1.14 kg were used to establish RMR with 3 of the 5 size classes (60, 120 and 240 g) used to establish SDA. The effect of body size on the mass-specific RMR (mg O(2) kg(-1) h(-1)) varied significantly depending on the temperature; there was a greater relative increase in the mass-specific RMR for smaller mulloway with increasing temperature. No statistical differences were found between the mass exponent (b) values at each temperature when tested against H(0): b=0.8. The gross RMR of mulloway (mg O(2) fish(-1) h(-1)) can be described as function of temperature (T; 14-26 degrees C) as: (0.0195T-0.0454)BW(g)(0.8) and the mass-specific RMR (mg O(2) kg(-1) h(-1)) can be described as: (21.042T-74.867)BW(g)(-0.2). Both SDA duration and time to peak SDA were influenced by temperature and body weight; SDA duration occurred within 41-89 h and peak time occurred within 17-38 h of feeding. The effect of body size on peak metabolic rate varied significantly depending on temperature, generally increasing with temperature and decreasing with increasing body size. Peak gross oxygen consumption (MO(2): mg O(2) fish(-1) h(-1)) scaled allometrically with BW. Temperature, but not body size, significantly affected SDA scope, although the difference was numerically small. There was a trend for MO(2) above RMR over the SDA period to increase with temperature; however, this was not statistically significant. The average proportion of energy expended over the SDA period

Ball python nidovirus: a candidate etiologic agent for severe respiratory disease in Python regius.

Science.gov (United States)

Stenglein, Mark D; Jacobson, Elliott R; Wozniak, Edward J; Wellehan, James F X; Kincaid, Anne; Gordon, Marcus; Porter, Brian F; Baumgartner, Wes; Stahl, Scott; Kelley, Karen; Towner, Jonathan S; DeRisi, Joseph L

2014-09-09

A severe, sometimes fatal respiratory disease has been observed in captive ball pythons (Python regius) since the late 1990s. In order to better understand this disease and its etiology, we collected case and control samples and performed pathological and diagnostic analyses. Electron micrographs revealed filamentous virus-like particles in lung epithelial cells of sick animals. Diagnostic testing for known pathogens did not identify an etiologic agent, so unbiased metagenomic sequencing was performed. Abundant nidovirus-like sequences were identified in cases and were used to assemble the genome of a previously unknown virus in the order Nidovirales. The nidoviruses, which were not previously known to infect nonavian reptiles, are a diverse order that includes important human and veterinary pathogens. The presence of the viral RNA was confirmed in all diseased animals (n = 8) but was not detected in healthy pythons or other snakes (n = 57). Viral RNA levels were generally highest in the lung and other respiratory tract tissues. The 33.5-kb viral genome is the largest RNA genome yet described and shares canonical characteristics with other nidovirus genomes, although several features distinguish this from related viruses. This virus, which we named ball python nidovirus (BPNV), will likely establish a new genus in Torovirinae subfamily. The identification of a novel nidovirus in reptiles contributes to our understanding of the biology and evolution of related viruses, and its association with lung disease in pythons is a promising step toward elucidating an etiology for this long-standing veterinary disease. Ball pythons are popular pets because of their diverse coloration, generally nonaggressive behavior, and relatively small size. Since the 1990s, veterinarians have been aware of an infectious respiratory disease of unknown cause in ball pythons that can be fatal. We used unbiased shotgun sequencing to discover a novel virus in the order Nidovirales that was

Comparison of first-intention healing of carbon dioxide laser, 4.0-MHz radiosurgery, and scalpel incisions in ball pythons (Python regius).

Science.gov (United States)

Hodshon, Rebecca T; Sura, Patricia A; Schumacher, Juergen P; Odoi, Agricola; Steeil, James C; Newkirk, Kim M

2013-03-01

To evaluate first-intention healing of CO(2) laser, 4.0-MHz radiowave radiosurgery (RWRS), and scalpel incisions in ball pythons (Python regius). 6 healthy adult ball pythons. A skin biopsy sample was collected, and 2-cm skin incisions (4/modality) were made in each snake under anesthesia and closed with surgical staples on day 0. Incision sites were grossly evaluated and scored daily. One skin biopsy sample per incision type per snake was obtained on days 2, 7, 14, and 30. Necrotic and fibroplastic tissue was measured in histologic sections; samples were assessed and scored for total inflammation, histologic response (based on the measurement of necrotic and fibroplastic tissues and total inflammation score), and other variables. Frequency distributions of gross and histologic variables associated with wound healing were calculated. Gross wound scores were significantly greater (indicating greater separation of wound edges) for laser incisions than for RWRS and scalpel incisions at all evaluated time points. Necrosis was significantly greater in laser and RWRS incisions than in scalpel incision sites on days 2 and 14 and days 2 and 7, respectively; fibroplasia was significantly greater in laser than in scalpel incision sites on day 30. Histologic response scores were significantly lower for scalpel than for other incision modalities on days 2, 14, and 30. In snakes, skin incisions made with a scalpel generally had less necrotic tissue than did CO(2) laser and RWRS incisions. Comparison of the 3 modalities on the basis of histologic response scores indicated that use of a scalpel was preferable, followed by RWRS and then laser.

Evaluation of the role of the cyclooxygenase signaling pathway during inflammation in skin and muscle tissues of ball pythons (Python regius).

Science.gov (United States)

Sadler, Ryan A; Schumacher, Juergen P; Rathore, Kusum; Newkirk, Kim M; Cole, Grayson; Seibert, Rachel; Cekanova, Maria

2016-05-01

OBJECTIVE To determine degrees of production of cyclooxygenase (COX)-1 and -2 and other mediators of inflammation in noninflamed and inflamed skin and muscle tissues in ball pythons (Python regius). ANIMALS 6 healthy adult male ball pythons. PROCEDURES Biopsy specimens of noninflamed skin and muscle tissue were collected from anesthetized snakes on day 0. A 2-cm skin and muscle incision was then made 5 cm distal to the biopsy sites with a CO2 laser to induce inflammation. On day 7, biopsy specimens of skin and muscle tissues were collected from the incision sites. Inflamed and noninflamed tissue specimens were evaluated for production of COX-1, COX-2, phosphorylated protein kinase B (AKT), total AKT, nuclear factor κ-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells, phosphorylated extracellular receptor kinases (ERKs) 1 and 2, and total ERK proteins by western blot analysis. Histologic evaluation was performed on H&E-stained tissue sections. RESULTS All biopsy specimens of inflamed skin and muscle tissues had higher histologic inflammation scores than did specimens of noninflamed tissue. Inflamed skin specimens had significantly greater production of COX-1 and phosphorylated ERK than did noninflamed skin specimens. Inflamed muscle specimens had significantly greater production of phosphorylated ERK and phosphorylated AKT, significantly lower production of COX-1, and no difference in production of COX-2, compared with production in noninflamed muscle specimens. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Production of COX-1, but not COX-2, was significantly greater in inflamed versus noninflamed skin specimens from ball pythons. Additional research into the reptilian COX signaling pathway is warranted.

The effects of barotrauma on five species of South African line ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

We investigated the effects of barotrauma on five commercially important species: roman Chrysoblephus laticeps, silver kob Argyrosomus inodorus, hottentot Pachymetopon blochii, santer Cheimerius nufar and carpenter Argyrozona argyrozona. A classification of the external signs of barotrauma was developed and ...

The effect of feeding regimen on growth, food conversion ratio and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Temperature, feeding frequency and feeding intensity are important determinants of fish growth in aquaculture. As part of a research and development programme to optimise husbandry techniques for a new mariculture species, the dusky kob, Argyrosomus japonicus, this study tested the effect of four feeding strategies on ...

Long-term catch and effort trends in Eastern Cape Angling Week ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The most commonly caught species were Argyrosomus japonicus (20.3%), Mustelus mustelus/Triakis megalopterus (13.0%) and Carcharias taurus (11.8%). Mean CPUE for all fish caught, teleosts and elasmobranchs, as well as the top four teleost and elasmobranch species, increased over the course of the study period, ...

An economic comparison of the commercial and recreational ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The most important Namibian linefish species, the silver kob Argyrosomus inodorus, is currently heavily exploited, and in order to ensure its survival catch restrictions are being introduced. However, kob are exploited both by recreational anglers and by commercial vessels, and it is important to examine the economics of ...

Stable isotope evidence of food web connectivity by a top predatory ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

In this study, food web connectivity within the Kowie Estuary on the south-east coast of South Africa was evidenced by the trophic behaviour of the predominantly piscivorous Argyrosomus japonicus. We examined stable isotopes of carbon (δ 13C) and nitrogen (δ 15N) in the dominant consumers (zooplankton, invertebrates ...

The biology, life history and management needs of a large sciaenid ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The West Coast dusky kob Argyrosomus coronus is an understudied yet important fishery species in Angola. During a five-year study (2005–2009), the species was recorded in all fishery sectors, but was most important in the inshore recreational fishery in southern Angola (Cunene Estuary to Namibe). Early juveniles (<300 ...

Effect of dietary protein to energy ratio on growth and nitrogenous ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The effect of dietary protein to energy ratio (P:E) on the growth of dusky kob Argyrosomus japonicus was investigated as a first step towards formulating a practical diet for this potential mariculture species in South Africa. The effects of dietary protein and lipid on growth, feed conversion ratio (FCR) and nitrogenous waste ...

Unilateral microphthalmia or anophthalmia in eight pythons (Pythonidae)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Da Silva, Mari-Ann Otkjær; Berthelsen, MF; Wang, T

2015-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To provide morphological descriptions of microphthalmia or anophthalmia in eight pythons using microcomputerized tomography (μCT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and histopathology. ANIMALS STUDIED: Seven Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) and one ball python (P. regius) with clini......OBJECTIVE: To provide morphological descriptions of microphthalmia or anophthalmia in eight pythons using microcomputerized tomography (μCT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and histopathology. ANIMALS STUDIED: Seven Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) and one ball python (P. regius...... macroscopic anomalies. CONCLUSIONS: Eight pythons with unilateral left-sided microphthalmia or anophthalmia had one normal eye and a left orbit with malformed or incompletely developed ocular structures along with remnants of fetal structures. These cases lend further information to a condition that is often...

Argyrosomus hololepidotus, Pomatomus saltatrix and Merluccius ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

saltatrix (elf) and Merluccius capensis (Shallow-water hake) between Algoa Bay ... deep-water species such as Merluccius capensis is well known. (Botha 1971; Botha ...... B. Davie in collecting and processing the material is acknowledged.

Investigation of sensory profiles and hedonic drivers of emerging aquaculture fish species.

Science.gov (United States)

Alexi, Niki; Byrne, Derek V; Nanou, Evangelia; Grigorakis, Kriton

2018-02-01

The aquaculture sector needs to increase the diversity fish species and their processed products to cover rising consumer demands. Candidates for this diversification have been identified to be meagre, greater amberjack, pikeperch and wreckfish. Yet scientific knowledge on their sensory profiles and consumer hedonic responses is scarce. The aim of the current study was to investigate these aspects, since they are essential for product development and market targeting. Species exhibited different sensory profiles with the exception of the odor/flavor profiles of meagre and greater amberjack, which were similar. Texture was more important than odor/flavor in explaining interspecies differences. Yet the hedonic responses were equally related to texture and odor/flavor. None of the species received negative hedonic scores. Both positive and negative hedonic drivers were identified within the odor/flavor and texture modalities. The distinct profiles of meagre, greater amberjack, pikeperch and wreckfish make these fish species valuable first materials for new product development and for covering markets with different sensory preferences. Differences in fish texture are more easily perceivable, yet small variations in fish odor/flavor can have a great impact on consumers' hedonic responses. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

Satiety and eating patterns in two species of constricting snakes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Torben P; Jacobsen, Magnus W.; Wang, Tobias

2011-01-01

Satiety has been studied extensively in mammals, birds and fish but very little information exists on reptiles. Here we investigate time-dependent satiation in two species of constricting snakes, ball pythons (Python regius) and yellow anacondas (Eunectes notaeus). Satiation was shown to depend...

Tanzania Veterinary Journal - Vol 30, No 2 (2015)

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Evaluating the effectiveness of varying concentrations of permethrin on ticks of genus Aponoma on Royal Pythons (Python Regius) · EMAIL FULL TEXT EMAIL FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT. H.O. Jegede, P.O. Odeniran, S.F. Ambali, 13-18 ...

Gastrointestinal helminths of resident wildlife at the Federal ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

In terms of feeding category, carnivorous species namely the (Aquila spilogaster) and Royal python (P. regius) have the highest species richness count of parasites. Non-nematode helminths detected include protozoons (Isospora and Eimeria) and Cestodes segments suspected to be Echinococcus proglotids. Knowledge ...

Browse Title Index

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Items 351 - 399 of 399 ... ... of pentastomiasis in the royal python (Python regius), Abstract PDF. AB Ayinmode, AO Adedokun, A Aina, V Taiwo. Vol 48, No 3 (2014), Therapeutic effect of continuous exercise training program on serum creatinine concentration in men with hypertension: A randomized controlled trial, Abstract PDF.

Estructura y variación estacional de poblaciones de moluscos asociadas a la pesca artesanal de langosta en el Pacífico Tropical

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Celia Olabarria

1999-12-01

Full Text Available En este trabajo se estudió la fauna malacológica asociada a la pesca de la langosta en aguas del Pacífico Tropical durante 1997-1998. Se recogieron un total de 1 081 individuos pertenecientes a 11 especies. Las mayores capturas se obtuvieron en otoño de 1997 (28.16% y en verano de 1998 (25.58%. Las especies dominantes fueron H. nigritus (83.10%, C. regius (8.04%, V. caestus (2.12%, C. brassica (1.85% y C. erythrostomus (1.75%, las cuales tienen importancia comercial. Se calculó la relación talla-peso, histogramas de frecuencia de tallas, y la relación de sexos para las especies dominantes. La relación de sexos fue de 1:1, salvo en C. erythrostomus y H. nigritus (2 machos: 1 hembra; en C. regius, C. erythrostomus y V. caestus el crecimiento fue alométrico mientras que en H. nigritus y C. brassica fue isométrico. Solamente, los machos de H. nigritus fueron más grandes que las hembras de la misma especie. Se encontraron diferencias significativas en la distribución de las especies respecto a la profundidad; C. erythrostomus apareció a mayores profundidades mientras que H. nigritus estuvo en zonas más someras. El tamaño de H. nigritus varió con la profundidad, temperatura y localidad.Mollusks associated to the spiny lobster fishery during 1997-1998 in the Tropical Pacific were surveyed. A total of 1 081 specimens of 11 species were collected. The greatest captures were in autumn 1997 (28.16% and summer 1998 (25.58%. Dominant species were Hexaplex nigritus (Philippi 1845 (83.10%, Chicoreus regius (Swainson 1821 (8.04%, Vasum caestus (Broderip 1833 (2.12%, C. brassica (Lamarck 1822 (1.85% and C. erythrostomus (Swainson 1831 (1.75%, which have commercial importance. Weight-height ratio, sex ratio and height frequency histograms were done for dominant species. Sex ratio was 1:1, except for C. erythrostomus and H. nigritus (2 males:1 female; C. regius, C. erythrostomus and V. caestus presented an allometric growth while H. nigritus and C

Hydrological science in South Africa: 1995-1998

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Ashton, PJ

1999-06-01

Full Text Available and quality, surface and groundwater, from both a scientific and a water management perspective. Water is South Africa’s most precious natural resource. Ground- water resources are relatively meagre; therefore South Africa’s major water supplies...

Author Details

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Odeniran, P.O.. Vol 30, No 2 (2015) - Articles Evaluating the effectiveness of varying concentrations of permethrin on ticks of genus Aponoma on Royal Pythons (Python Regius) Abstract. ISSN: 0856-1451. AJOL African Journals Online. HOW TO USE AJOL... for Researchers · for Librarians · for Authors · FAQ's · More about ...

Browse Title Index

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Vol 16, No 2 (2012), Identification par coprologie des helminthes de python regius dans le département du zou au Bénin, Afrique de l'Ouest, Abstract. MN Assogba, IYA Karim, IT Akoiret, F Fagbohoun, EN Zannou. Vol 9, No 2 (2007), IGNAME, PLANTE ALIMENTAIRE COMMERCIALE ET CULTURELLE AU NORD BENIN ...

Browse Title Index

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Items 1 - 50 of 127 ... Vol 30, No 2 (2015), Evaluating the effectiveness of varying concentrations of permethrin on ticks of genus Aponoma on Royal Pythons (Python Regius), Abstract. H.O. Jegede, P.O. Odeniran, S.F. Ambali. Vol 30, No 1 (2015), Evaluation of Bovine trypanosomosis intervention in Chunya District, Tanzania ...

Browse Title Index

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Items 101 - 150 of 199 ... Vol 35, No 2 (2017), Infectious bursal disease outbreak in 19-week old commercial pullets in Ibadan, Nigeria: a case report, Abstract. Oluwaseun O. Esan, John Ogunsola. Vol 21, No 1 (2003), Infestation of Royal Python (Python regius) with ticks Amblyomma hebraeum in Ibadan Zoo, Nigeria, Abstract.

Are South African print newspaper narratives reframed for Internet ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Kate H

narrative frames can be identified in the translation of these texts from South ..... From the meagre use of explicitation (addition) as a strategy, one can ..... regarding his resignation as spokesperson for the ANC, his redeployment to a new job in ...

Drug Prescription Pattern in a Nigerian Tertiary Hospital

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Erah

quality health care with the meagre resources allocated to the health care sector in these countries. The introduction of the manual “How to investigate drug use in ... in the North-Western region of Nigeria. This .... and life threatening infections.

bayelsa, in search of a sustainable health financing scheme

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2016-08-19

Aug 19, 2016 ... Before 2000 less than 0.14% of national budget was allocated to patient .... impact on patient care and these receive very meagre ... But they severed relationship when ..... the customer care unit of the scheme had no vehicle.

Conceptualisation of community-based rehabilitation in Southern Africa: A systematic review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vyvienne R. P. M'kumbuzi

2016-09-01

Conclusion:  In isolated cases, the literature is aligned to components of the CBR matrix. However, consistent with previous criticism of CBR, the literature is meagre, as is the evidence to inform policy makers and practitioners in southern Africa.

Author Details

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Adedokun, O.A.. Vol 21, No 1 (2003) - Articles Infestation of Royal Python (Python regius) with ticks Amblyomma hebraeum in Ibadan Zoo, Nigeria Abstract. ISSN: 0794-4845. AJOL African Journals Online. HOW TO USE AJOL... for Researchers · for Librarians · for Authors · FAQ's · More about AJOL · AJOL's Partners · Terms ...

Personalisatie in academische bibliotheeksystemen. - II: MyLibrary voorbij

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hunsucker, R.L.

2005-01-01

Personalisation in academic library systems - II: Beyond MyLibrary The academic libraries' attempt to 'personalise' tracking down and accessing relevant literature and information sources developed into an undeniably meagre performance. So wrote R.L. Hunsucker in the first part of his contribution

Age, growth and mortality of Sciaena umbra (Sciaenidae in the Gulf of Tunis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Inès Chater

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The growth and mortality of the brown meagre, Sciaena umbra from the Gulf of Tunis, were investigated using a sample of 276 specimens, ranging from 15.3 to 49.2 cm total length and from 43 to 1565 g total weight. Specimens were collected from artisanal fisheries between October 2008 and September 2011. Otoliths were extracted, thin cross-sections were realized and radii were measured. The log-linear morphometric relationships between total length-total weight and total length-otolith radius were significant (p < 0.05, showed positive allometry (b=3.15 and isometry (b=0.90, respectively. The marginal analysis suggested that only one growth increment was deposited per year. The maximum age of the brown meagre was 22 years for males and 31 years for females. The fit of the von Bertalanffy growth function was significantly different between sexes (p

AcEST: DK961770 [AcEST

Lifescience Database Archive (English)

Full Text Available Gamma-enolase OS=Gallus gallus GN=ENO2 PE=2... 55 2e-09 sp|Q9W7L0|ENOA_PYTRG Alpha-enolase OS=Python regius...FEFFMD 79 E+ID A Y + +I +DVAA EF+ D Sbjct: 229 EAIDKAGYTDKIVIGMDVAASEFYRD 254 >sp|Q9W7L0|ENOA_PYTRG Alpha-enolase OS=Python

Genetic modification and its impact on industry structure and performance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vlaar, P.W.L.; van Beek, P.; Visser, R.G.F.

2007-01-01

Genetic modification has led to fierce debates around the world. Nevertheless, scientific evidence for its potential effects on the structure and performance of industries has hitherto remained rather meagre. In this article, we take some preliminary steps towards closing this gap by exploring the

Genetic modification and its impact on industry structure and performance: post-harvest deterioration of cassava in Thailand

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vlaar, P.W.L.; Beek, van P.; Visser, R.G.F.

2007-01-01

Genetic modification has led to fierce debates around the world. Nevertheless, scientific evidence for its potential effects on the structure and performance of industries has hitherto remained rather meagre. In this article, we take some preliminary steps towards closing this gap by exploring the

Fulltext PDF

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

experiments involving free radical intermediates are described. They are very simple, economical and practical, and can be easily carried out in laboratories with meagre resources. They can, therefore, be adapted for MSc chemistry practicals as part of free radical chemistry course. Experiment 1. Free Radical Substitution.

Three is a crowd? Exploring the potential of crowdfunding for renewable energy in the Netherlands : New approaches for transitions to low fossil carbon societies: promoting opportunities for effective development, diffusion andimplementation of technologies, policies and strategies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vasileiadou, E.; Huijben, J.C.C.M.; Raven, R.P.J.M.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/41331927X

2016-01-01

Abstract There is a huge gap between demand and supply of finance for energy transitions, and the financial and economic crisis have had a negative impact in the already meagre funds for transforming the energy system towards renewable sources. In this paper we explore whether crowdfunding for

Three is a crowd? : exploring the potential of crowdfunding for renewable energy in the Netherlands.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vasileiadou, E.; Huijben, J.C.C.M.; Raven, R.P.J.M.

2016-01-01

There is a huge gap between demand and supply of finance for energy transitions, and the financial and economic crisis have had a negative impact in the already meagre funds for transforming the energy system towards renewable sources. In this paper we explore whether crowdfunding for renewable

In-school physical activity patterns of primary school learners from ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Guidelines for the maintenance of health and wellbeing in children recommend at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) daily. In South Africa, community sport and recreation facilities and opportunities are meagre in areas previously disadvantaged by apartheid, so schools should be primary ...

Properties of extended inorganic solids predicted/rationalized by ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Administrator

Due to the vastly complex nature of the problem, guidelines for the preparation of extended inorganic solids with specific electronic properties remain meagre. Here we present the use of First Principles LMTO band structure calculations for the rationalization of the properties of a number of interesting extended solids.

Bayelsa, in search of a sustainable health financing scheme ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Journal Home > Vol 23, No 1 (2017) > ... Background: A sustainable health care financing scheme has been difficult to ... These meagre allocations were because the same source that funds patient care services also funds health research, capital ... a sustainable health financing scheme will depend on a health system that ...

International Journal of Language, Literature and Gender Studies ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Nneka Umera-Okeke

prevailing societal issues and women's issues were given little attention. In the literary works where female characters are portrayed, they are assigned demeaning roles and .... family's income with the meagre earnings from her job. .... By this, they presented a balanced representation of women in order to address the.

Treatment adherence in South African primary health care

African Journals Online (AJOL)

system. In the context of meagre financial resources, inadequate public funds di- rected at ... issues that are highlighted as affecting adherence include health locus of control, self-efficacy, ... mined to have little or no effect, a medical .... health as controlled by internal factors .... about information technology in the treatment.

Untitled

African Journals Online (AJOL)

be resourceful, forward looking and plan strategically to ensure effective use of library ... of Research Libraries, (ARL, 2002:4) stresses that a key role of research ... meagre resources and to ensure proper targeting, integration and marketing ..... Hughes, C.A., Soderahl, and P.S. and Zimmerman K Creating academic Web.

Foraging task specialisation and foraging labour allocation in stingless bees

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hofstede, Frouke Elisabeth

2006-01-01

Social bees collect nectar and pollen from flowering plants for energy of the adult bees and for feeding the larvae in the colony. The flowering patterns of plants imply that periods of high food availability are often followed by periods of meagre foraging conditions. Being dependent on such a

The dusky kob Argyrosomus japonicus is a large sciaenid ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

spamer

and Pool 1991) and in one in Australia (Hall 1986), but all those studies were ... included calanoid copepods, mysids, insects, amphipods and swimming prawns. The impact of reduced ... gives a measure of the energy contribution of that. 138.

The dusky kob Argyrosomus japonicus is a large sciaenid ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

spamer

nursery areas is to provide immature fish with ade- quate food and ... The feeding ecology of dusky kob A. japonicus was determined from the stomach contents of line-caught ...... LASIAK, T. A. 1982 — Structural and functional aspects of the.

Molecular Identification of Cryptosporidium Species from Pet Snakes in Thailand.

Science.gov (United States)

Yimming, Benjarat; Pattanatanang, Khampee; Sanyathitiseree, Pornchai; Inpankaew, Tawin; Kamyingkird, Ketsarin; Pinyopanuwat, Nongnuch; Chimnoi, Wissanuwat; Phasuk, Jumnongjit

2016-08-01

Cryptosporidium is an important pathogen causing gastrointestinal disease in snakes and is distributed worldwide. The main objectives of this study were to detect and identify Cryptosporidium species in captive snakes from exotic pet shops and snake farms in Thailand. In total, 165 fecal samples were examined from 8 snake species, boa constrictor (Boa constrictor constrictor), corn snake (Elaphe guttata), ball python (Python regius), milk snake (Lampropeltis triangulum), king snake (Lampropeltis getula), rock python (Python sebae), rainbow boa (Epicrates cenchria), and carpet python (Morelia spilota). Cryptosporidium oocysts were examined using the dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)-modified acid-fast staining and a molecular method based on nested-PCR, PCR-RFLP analysis, and sequencing amplification of the SSU rRNA gene. DMSO-modified acid-fast staining revealed the presence of Cryptosporidium oocysts in 12 out of 165 (7.3%) samples, whereas PCR produced positive results in 40 (24.2%) samples. Molecular characterization indicated the presence of Cryptosporidium parvum (mouse genotype) as the most common species in 24 samples (60%) from 5 species of snake followed by Cryptosporidium serpentis in 9 samples (22.5%) from 2 species of snake and Cryptosporidium muris in 3 samples (7.5%) from P. regius.

A Potential Way of Enquiry into Human Curiosity

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Shesen; Zhang, Ganzhou; Zhai, Run

2010-01-01

A powerful search for "curiosity" or its related topics at the online American Psychological Association PsycNET database will produce comparatively disappointing meagreness of resource. This reflects our scanty knowledge in this field though curiosity is widely recognised as one of the most important factors that contribute to motivation and…

Revision of Boletus section Appendiculati (Boletaceae) in Bulgaria with a key to the Balkan species

OpenAIRE

ASSYOV, Boris

2012-01-01

The paper presents the results from the taxonomic revision of Boletus section Appendiculati in Bulgaria. Descriptions are provided based on Bulgarian specimens for the 5 species of the section: Boletus appendiculatus, B. fechtneri, B. fuscoroseus, B. regius, and B. subappendiculatus. The priority of the name B. fuscoroseus against B. pseudoregius is briefly discussed. A dichotomous key for the determination of members is also included.

Prediction of low birth weight from other anthropometric parameters ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: Low birth weight is a global problem but presents a major burden on the neonatal services in developing countries such as Nigeria, and brings to bear a greater strain on the meagre resources available for health care delivery and family financing. In a resourceconstrained setting as ours, proper weighing of all ...

Molecular Identification of Cryptosporidium Species from Pet Snakes in Thailand

OpenAIRE

Yimming, Benjarat; Pattanatanang, Khampee; Sanyathitiseree, Pornchai; Inpankaew, Tawin; Kamyingkird, Ketsarin; Pinyopanuwat, Nongnuch; Chimnoi, Wissanuwat; Phasuk, Jumnongjit

2016-01-01

Cryptosporidium is an important pathogen causing gastrointestinal disease in snakes and is distributed worldwide. The main objectives of this study were to detect and identify Cryptosporidium species in captive snakes from exotic pet shops and snake farms in Thailand. In total, 165 fecal samples were examined from 8 snake species, boa constrictor (Boa constrictor constrictor), corn snake (Elaphe guttata), ball python (Python regius), milk snake (Lampropeltis triangulum), king snake (Lampropel...

Phytoplankton reduction in near-bottom water caused by filter-feeding Nereis diversicolor - Implications for worm growth and population grazing impact

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Poul Scheel; Riisgård, H. U.; Poulsen, L.

1996-01-01

reduced specific growth rate of worms at the sea floor (0.2 ± 1.1% d-1), compared to worms elevated just 10 cm above the sediment surface (2.5 ± 0.8% d-1), indicates that extremely meagre food conditions may be prevailing at the bottom. Experimental laboratory data on the development of vertical algal...

Stochastic Estimation of Cost Frontier: Evidence from Bangladesh

Science.gov (United States)

Mamun, Shamsul Arifeen Khan

2012-01-01

In the literature of higher education cost function study, enough knowledge is created in the area of economy scale in the context of developed countries but the knowledge of input demand is lacking. On the other hand, empirical knowledge in the context of developing countries is very meagre. The paper fills up the knowledge gap, estimating a…

Do dart tags suppress growth of dusky kob Argyrosomus japonicus ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

recapture and otolith-reading methods were compared. Mark-recapture data showed that A. japonicus are resident in an area between the Breede River Estuary and Cape Agulhas on the southeast coast of South Africa. Maximum recapture length was ...

Effect of salinity on growth of juvenile silver kob, Argyrosomus ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

We conclude that silver kob perform at least as well at reduced salinities as in full strength seawater. This could lead to significant cost savings when rearing fish inland using artificial seawater. Keywords: fish physiology; mariculture; mulloway; osmolality; salinity tolerance. African Journal of Aquatic Science 2008, 33(2): ...

Social Protection and Its Effectiveness in Tackling Child Labour: the Case of Internal Child Migrants in Indonesia

OpenAIRE

Simrin Singh; Sarah McLeish

2013-01-01

There is growing recognition amongst policymakers that social protection policies and programmes are uniquely placed to reduce child labour2 because they directly address its root causes: tackling simultaneously the poverty, exclusion and vulnerability that compel families to depend on the meagre incomes they can earn by sending their children to work. Social protection can also address the underlying social and economic causes that prevent children from attending school. Nevertheless, partic...

Laudatores Temporis Acti, or Why Cosmology is Alive and Well -- A Reply to Disney

Science.gov (United States)

Cirkovic, Milan M.

2002-02-01

A recent criticism of cosmological methodology and achievements by Disney (2000) is assessed. Some historical and epistemological fallacies in the said article have been highlighted. It is shown that -- both empirically and epistemologically -- modern cosmology lies on sounder foundations than it is portrayed. A brief historical account demonstrates that this form of unsatisfaction with cosmology has had a long tradition, and rather meagre results in the course of the XX century.

Fillet proximate composition, lipid quality, yields, and organoleptic quality of Mediterranean-farmed marine fish: A review with emphasis on new species.

Science.gov (United States)

Grigorakis, Kriton

2017-09-22

Species diversification in Mediterranean mariculture involves various important fish that contribute to the diet of many human populations. These include meagres (Sciaenidae), flatfishes, mullets, and various sparids. Their quality aspects (yields, fillet proximate composition, and lipid quality) are discussed in this review. Their filleting yield is mostly 40-45%. The viscerosomatic index ranges from 1.5% to 14%, depending on species. Low muscle fat contents of flatfishes and meagres differentiate them from the rest of the farmed species. Farmed fish contain high n-3 polyunsaturates fatty acids (PUFA; 12.3-36.3% vs. 5.48-37.2% in the wild) and have higher muscle fat and n-6 PUFA contents (mainly 18:2 n-6) than their wild counterparts. The aquaculture management, diet, and season can affect fillet composition and fatty acids, while season (i.e. food availability and maturation) largely affects lipid quality in wild fish. Data on the sensory quality of Mediterranean-farmed species are mainly limited to whether specific management differentiates the sensory quality; thus, further development of tools for sensory analysis is required. Observations on the quality features in farmed Mediterranean fish indicate that species diversification can also provide product diversification based on different commercial weights and fillet quality specifications.

ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF BIFENTHRIN CATABOLIZING BACTERIAL STRAIN BACILLUS CIBI FROM SOIL FOR PYRETHROIDS BIODEGRADATION

OpenAIRE

Preeti Pandey; Geetika Pant; G. Sibi

2014-01-01

Pyrethroids are commonly used in most parts of the world and are reported to have potential health risks. Bifenthrin, a third generation pyrethroid used as insecticide has caused potential effect on aquatic life and human health. Bioremediation is a practical approach to reduce pesticide in the environment and reports of microbial degradation of bifenthrin are meagre. This study was aimed at isolating and characterizing bacterial isolates for the efficient removal of bifenthrin residues in th...

Quantitative Metrics and Risk Assessment: The Three Tenets Model of Cybersecurity

OpenAIRE

Jeff Hughes; George Cybenko

2013-01-01

Progress in operational cybersecurity has been difficult to demonstrate. In spite of the considerable research and development investments made for more than 30 years, many government, industrial, financial, and consumer information systems continue to be successfully attacked and exploited on a routine basis. One of the main reasons that progress has been so meagre is that most technical cybersecurity solutions that have been proposed to-date have been point solutions that fail to address op...

Blood parasites in reptiles imported to Germany.

Science.gov (United States)

Halla, Ursula; Ursula, Halla; Korbel, Rüdiger; Rüdiger, Korbel; Mutschmann, Frank; Frank, Mutschmann; Rinder, Monika; Monika, Rinder

2014-12-01

Though international trade is increasing, the significance of imported reptiles as carriers of pathogens with relevance to animal and human health is largely unknown. Reptiles imported to Germany were therefore investigated for blood parasites using light microscopy, and the detected parasites were morphologically characterized. Four hundred ten reptiles belonging to 17 species originating from 11 Asian, South American and African countries were included. Parasites were detected in 117 (29%) of individual reptiles and in 12 species. Haemococcidea (Haemogregarina, Hepatozoon, Schellackia) were found in 84% of snakes (Python regius, Corallus caninus), 20% of lizards (Acanthocercus atricollis, Agama agama, Kinyongia fischeri, Gekko gecko) and 50% of turtles (Pelusios castaneus). Infections with Hematozoea (Plasmodium, Sauroplasma) were detected in 14% of lizards (Acanthocercus atricollis, Agama agama, Agama mwanzae, K. fischeri, Furcifer pardalis, Xenagama batillifera, Acanthosaura capra, Physignathus cocincinus), while those with Kinetoplastea (Trypanosoma) were found in 9% of snakes (Python regius, Corallus caninus) and 25 % of lizards (K. fischeri, Acanthosaura capra, G. gecko). Nematoda including filarial larvae parasitized in 10% of lizards (Agama agama, Agama mwanzae, K. fischeri, Fu. pardalis, Physignathus cocincinus). Light microscopy mostly allowed diagnosis of the parasites' genus, while species identification was not possible because of limited morphological characteristics available for parasitic developmental stages. The investigation revealed a high percentage of imported reptiles being carriers of parasites while possible vectors and pathogenicity are largely unknown so far. The spreading of haemoparasites thus represents an incalculable risk for pet reptiles, native herpetofauna and even human beings.

Bibliographie

OpenAIRE

2017-01-01

I. LES DIEUX LITTERATURE PRIMAIRE : LES PRINCIPAUX TEXTES ET LEURS TRADUCTIONS FRANÇAISES A) Edda poétique Traduction française : Régis Boyer, L’Edda poétique, Fayard, Paris 1992. Traduction allemande : Edda. Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. Herausgegeben von Gustav Neckel. I. Text. Hans Kuhn, Heidelberg, 1962. Traduction anglaise: The Poetic Edda, éd. U. Dronke, Oxford, 1969. B) Edda de Snorri Traduction française (partielle) : François-Xavier Dillmann, L’Edda. Récits...

NHE-1 sequence and expression in toad, snake and fish red blood cells

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thomsen, Steffen Nyegaard; Wang, Tobias; Kristensen, Torsten

Red blood cells (RBC) from reptiles appear not to express regulatory volume increase (RVI) upon shrinkage (Kristensen et al., 2008). In other vertebrates, the RVI response is primarily mediated by activation of the Na+/H+ exchanger (NHE-1) and we, therefore decided to investigate whether red cells...... of reptiles express a different NHE-1 that responds less to volume activation compared to other vertebrates or simply lack the Na+/H+ exchanger. Using various tissues from the ball python (Python regius), Cane toad (Bufo marinus) and European perch (Perca fluviatilis), cDNA libraries were created...

Infestation of Royal Python (Python regius) with ticks Amblyomma ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The Python/Boa Family is found in most part of tropics. It is a highly domesticated pet and can easily be handled (Cansdale 1962). Snakes are commonly infected by ticks more importantly the hand bodied ticks (Fowler, 1986).However, under captive condition, ticks usually exert a lot of burden on their hosts being carriers of ...

Mentoring for junior medical faculty: Existing models and suggestions for low-resource settings.

Science.gov (United States)

Menon, Vikas; Muraleedharan, Aparna; Bhat, Ballambhattu Vishnu

2016-02-01

Globally, there is increasing recognition about the positive benefits and impact of mentoring on faculty retention rates, career satisfaction and scholarly output. However, emphasis on research and practice of mentoring is comparatively meagre in low and middle income countries. In this commentary, we critically examine two existing models of mentorship for medical faculty and offer few suggestions for an integrated hybrid model that can be adapted for use in low resource settings. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Prospects of integration of aquaculture with animal husbandry and land crop culture in Tripura State

OpenAIRE

Acharya, P.; Biswas, B.K.

1996-01-01

Tripura is a densely populated small state with meagre water resources. 47.51% of the population is constituted by socio-economically backward, illiterate, orthodox, tribal and scheduled castes. Some of them are nomad and a majority of the rest of the population is refugees from Bangladesh, but almost 100% is fish eater. Settlement of tribes in villages, provision of nutritious food and employment therefore calls for proper utilization of every resource they have. The State is poor in water r...

[The mark of envy: metaphysics and embryology according to Descartes].

Science.gov (United States)

Gaudemard, Lynda

2012-01-01

This paper explores the interaction between medicine and metaphysics in modern natural philosophy and especially in Descartes' philosophy. I argue that Descartes hypothetical account of birthmarks in connection with his embryology provides an argumentative proof of the metaphysical necessity of a substantial union between mind and body, which however does not threaten his doctrine of the real distinction between these two substances. It would appear that his argument relies on a temporal conception of alethic modalities and provides a new answer to Henricus Regius who in 1641 claimed that, for Descartes, the human being is an ensper accidens.

Tourism Chains and Pro-Poor Tourism Development: An Actor-Network Analysis of a Pilot Project in Costa Rica

OpenAIRE

Duim, van der, V.R.; Caalders, J.D.A.D.

2008-01-01

This paper analyses a pilot project in Costa Rica aimed to examine and improve the market linkages of 24 small-scale tourism initiatives to tour operators in Costa Rica and the Netherlands. It links pro-poor tourism and the concept of tourism chain to actor-network theory. The analysis shows that the tangible results in terms of pro-poor tourism of the project itself were meagre, as, initially, only three and later only one out of 24 projects was included in the tourism chain. However, the an...

Dilemma in the Diagnosis of Povidone-Iodine Hypersensitivity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patil N

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Povidone-iodine is a commonly used antiseptic solution in surgical practice. Almost every patient who needs a minor or a major surgical procedure (sometimes, a medical procedure too gets exposed to this antiseptic. Even though the use of this antiseptic is widespread, the number of cases reporting hypersensitivity to it is meagre. This case report highlights a case of povidone-iodine – induced hypersensitivity, which presented a great difficulty in diagnosis, due to the usage of other drugs that could have been more likely causes for this hypersensitivity.

Descartes and the “metaphysical dualism”: Excesses in interpreting a classic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ştefan Afloroaei

2010-06-01

Full Text Available The article focuses on one of the most serious accusations brought against Descartes and modern philosophy, namely “the dualism of substance”. The accusers claim that the human body and soul were viewed as completely separate; consequently, their relationship as such and the united being of man become incomprehensible. As has been shown above, the idea of the separation of the soul from the body did not originate with Descartes; it was formulated much earlier, and repeated by a disciple of Descartes’, Henry Leroy, known as Regius. When Descartes became aware of this bizarre interpretation he was dismayed and sought to clarify the matter. He sought to distinguish between two terms, “distinction” and “separation” and to illuminate the relationship between body and soul at three different levels, i.e. ordinary experience, analytical mind and metaphysical meditation.Eventually, he embraced the paradox of the two natures – the double substantial make-up of the human being, a paradox of patristic inspiration. However, the later history of ideas was not sympathetic to Descartes: nowadays, when one looks up the term “metaphysical dualism” in dictionaries or glossaries, even in the studies of prestigious researchers, one will find views similar to those of the unfaithful disciple Regius. The resilience of this locus obscurus is explained both by the power of a new mode of interpreting discourse (as technical or logical analysis and by the ever more privilegedposition of the reader (intentio lectoris. Both attitudes are related to modern ideologies and to changes which have occurred in the intersubjective lifeworld, especially in the communication of the scholarly and academic world.

Python erythrocytes are resistant to α-hemolysin from Escherichia coli.

Science.gov (United States)

Larsen, Casper K; Skals, Marianne; Wang, Tobias; Cheema, Muhammad U; Leipziger, Jens; Praetorius, Helle A

2011-12-01

α-Hemolysin (HlyA) from Escherichia coli lyses mammalian erythrocytes by creating nonselective cation pores in the membrane. Pore insertion triggers ATP release and subsequent P2X receptor and pannexin channel activation. Blockage of either P2X receptors or pannexin channels reduces HlyA-induced hemolysis. We found that erythrocytes from Python regius and Python molurus are remarkably resistant to HlyA-induced hemolysis compared to human and Trachemys scripta erythrocytes. HlyA concentrations that induced maximal hemolysis of human erythrocytes did not affect python erythrocytes, but increasing the HlyA concentration 40-fold did induce hemolysis. Python erythrocytes were more resistant to osmotic stress than human erythrocytes, but osmotic stress tolerance per se did not confer HlyA resistance. Erythrocytes from T. scripta, which showed higher osmotic resistance than python erythrocytes, were as susceptible to HlyA as human erythrocytes. Therefore, we tested whether python erythrocytes lack the purinergic signalling known to amplify HlyA-induced hemolysis in human erythrocytes. P. regius erythrocytes increased intracellular Ca²⁺ concentration and reduced cell volume when exposed to 3 mM ATP, indicating the presence of a P2X₇-like receptor. In addition, scavenging extracellular ATP or blocking P2 receptors or pannexin channels reduced the HlyA-induced hemolysis. We tested whether the low HlyA sensitivity resulted from low affinity of HlyA to the python erythrocyte membrane. We found comparable incorporation of HlyA into human and python erythrocyte membranes. Taken together, the remarkable HlyA resistance of python erythrocytes was not explained by increased osmotic resistance, lack of purinergic hemolysis amplification, or differences in HlyA affinity.

Computed tomography of ball pythons (Python regius) in curled recumbency.

Science.gov (United States)

Hedley, Joanna; Eatwell, Kevin; Schwarz, Tobias

2014-01-01

Anesthesia and tube restraint methods are often required for computed tomography (CT) of snakes due to their natural tendency to curl up. However, these restraint methods may cause animal stress. The aim of this study was to determine whether the CT appearance of the lungs differs for ball pythons in a curled position vs. tube restraint. Whole body CT was performed on ten clinically healthy ball pythons, first in curled and then in straight positions restrained in a tube. Curved multiplanar reformatted (MPR) lung images from curled position scans were compared with standard MPR lung images from straight position scans. Lung attenuation and thickness were measured at three locations for each scan. Time for positioning and scanning was 12 ± 5 min shorter for curled snakes compared to tube restraint. Lung parenchyma thickness and attenuation declined from cranial to caudal on both straight and curled position images. Mean lung parenchyma thickness was greater in curled images at locations 1 (P = 0.048) and 3 (P = 0.044). Mean lung parenchyma thickness decreased between location 1 and 2 by 86-87% (straight: curled) and between location 1 and 3 by 51-50% (straight: curled). Mean lung attenuation at location 1 was significantly greater on curled position images than tube restraint images (P = 0.043). Findings indicated that CT evaluation of the lungs is feasible for ball pythons positioned in curled recumbency if curved MPR is available. However, lung parenchyma thickness and attenuation in some locations may vary from those acquired using tube restraint. © 2014 American College of Veterinary Radiology.

Combined modality treatment with radiotherapy and chemotherapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tannock, I.F.; Toronto Univ., ON

1989-01-01

The present paper discusses some of the methodological issues which can confound the interpretation of clinical trials of combined modality treatment. It reviews some of the larger randomized trials which have evaluated combined modality treatment in cancers of the head and neck, lung, gastrointestinal tract and bladder. It concludes that adequate trials have yet to be performed in many of thses sites, but that at present, evidence for long-term benefit from adjunctivechemotherapy is meagre. Finally, it suggests some possible mechanisms which might heve limited the benefit of chemotherapy when added to radiation treatment. (Author). 87 refs.; 4 figs.; 4 tabs

Preliminary assessment of contaminants in the sediment and organisms of the Swartkops Estuary, South Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Nel, L; Strydom, N A; Bouwman, H

2015-12-30

Urban estuaries are susceptible to metal and organic pollution, yet most remain understudied in South Africa with respect to the presence, concentrations and distribution of contaminants. Metal and organic chemical concentrations were assessed in sediment and organisms from different trophic levels in the lower reaches of the Swartkops Estuary. Species sampled included Upogebia africana (Malacostraca: Upogebiidae), Gilchristella aestuaria (Clupeidae), Psammogobius knysnaensis (Gobiidae), Mugil cephalus (Mugilidae), Lichia amia (Carangidae), Argyrosomus japonicus (Sciaenidae), Pomadasys commersonnii (Haemulidae) and Larus dominicanus (Avis: Laridae). This study is one of the most comprehensive studies to date assessing pollution levels in a food web in estuaries in South Africa. Due to biomagnification, higher concentrations of Arsenic, Lead, Mercury and Cadmium were found in the juveniles stages of popular angling fishes. High concentrations of Cadmium and Arsenic were recorded in the liver of L. amia, A. japonicus and P. commersonnii which exceed international quality food guidelines. Eggs from the gull, L. dominicanus, showed detectable concentrations of PCBs. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Memories of Ken Mason.

Science.gov (United States)

Brazier, Margaret; McCall Smith, Alexander; Laurie, Graeme; McLean, Shelia; Jackson, Emily; Neal, Mary; Biggs, Hazel; Ost, Suzanne

2017-08-01

John Kenyon Mason (19 December 1919-26 January 2017), CBE, MD, LLD, FRCPath, DMJ, FRCPE, FRSE, and known as Ken Mason to us all, was Regius Professor of Forensic Medicine at the University of Edinburgh from 1973-1985 and thereafter Emeritus Professor of Forensic Medicine and Honorary Fellow in the School of Law at the University of Edinburgh. A formal obituary to Professor Mason is published in the Scotsman (http://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-professor-ken-mason-medical-jurisprudence-pioneer-1-4357181). We offer some personal tributes to our friend and colleague. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Micromachining process – current situation and challenges

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lalakiya Meet Rajeshkumar

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The rapid progress in the scientific innovations and the hunt for the renewable energy increases the urge for producing the bio electronic products, solar cells, bio batteries, nano robots, MEMS, blood less surgical tools which can be possible with the aid of the micromachining. This article helps us to understand the evolution and the challenges faced by the micromachining process. Micro machining is an enabling technology that facilitates component miniaturization and improved performance characteristics. Growing demand for less weight, high accuracy, high precision, meagre lead time, reduced batch size, less human interference are the key drivers for the micromachining than the conventional machining process.

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Farhana Tahseen Taj

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS is a generalized disorder of one element of connective tissue manifesting clinically by fragility and hyperelasticity of the skin and joint laxity. It is a hereditary disorder, the inheritance being usually autosomal dominant with low penetrance. Autosomal recessive and X-linked recessive varieties are also known. First described by Hippocrates in 4 th century B.C., the various clinical types with variable penetrance have been described lately. The number of cases EDS reported in the literature is very meagre. With the available information only about six publications of classic EDS in siblings had been reported in Indian literature.

Logging potentials and energy wood resources in southern Finland; Potentiaaliset hakkuumahdollisuudet ja energiapuuvarat Etelae- Suomessa

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pesonen, M; Malinen, J [Finnish Forest Research Inst. METLA, Vantaa (Finland)

1997-12-01

Development of energy wood resources in Southern Finland over the next 40 years was studied on the basis of four cutting scenarios. Development of energy wood accrual was considered on the production cost levels of FIM 45/MWh and FIM 55/MWh in scenarios describing sustainable cutting potential, long-term cutting plans of forest owners and cutting of industrial mechandable wood over the years of depression. Effects of limitations concerning energy wood harvesting from meagre forest land and bogs on the energy wood accruals of sustainable cutting potential were also studied. The energy wood potential in Southern Finland was estimated at 3.6 million m{sup 3}/a on the production cost level of FIM 45/MWh. The energy wood accrual equal to sustainable cutting potential was 70 % of the energy wood potential. The energy wood potential increased to 8.8 m{sup 3}/a when the production cost level increased to FIM 55/MWh, the energy wood accrual of sustainable cutting potential being 51 %. The energy wood accruals according to felling plans of forest owners and cuttings over the years of depression were smaller than that of sustainable cutting potential, due to smaller loggings. Limitation of energy wood harvesting from meagre forest land and bogs would reduce the energy wood accrual of sustainable cutting potential by 22 %. This would involve a reduction of one million m{sup 3} in the harvesting potential. The energy wood accrual of sustainable cutting potential in Finland was 5.8 million m{sup 3}/a on the production cost level of FIM 55/MWh. This is equal to the aim set by the BIOENERGY Research Programme for the use potential of 1 Mtoe (equivalent oil tonne) on the production cost level of FIM 45/MWh

The Great Hedge of India

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moxham, Roy

2015-01-01

The 'Great Hedge of India', a 3 700 kilometre-long hedge installed by the British customs to safeguard the colonial salt tax system and avoid salt smuggling totally faded from both memory and records (e.g. maps) in less than a century. Roy Moxham found traces of the hedge in a book footnote and searched it for several years until he found its meagre remains. The speaker wrote a book about this quest. He said that this story reveals how things disappear when they are no longer useful and, especially, when they are linked to parts of history that are not deemed particularly positive (the hedge was a means of colonial power)

Energy - Finland`s new trump card

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Huopalahti, K. [Imatran Voima Oy, Vantaa (Finland)

1994-12-31

The energy sector in Finland is heavily constrained by the tough northern climate, meagre fuel reserves, an expensive infrastructure, the small domestic market and limited capital resources. However, Finland`s forest and metal industries have demanded low-cost energy, considering it vital for their existence and therefore for the prosperity of the whole country. Finland`s extensive foreign trade and open policies have also furthered this process; they have forced the industry on the one hand to face competition at home, and on the other to go abroad to compete there. The energy sector has risen to this ambitious challenge, at the same time developing into an independent industrial sector that can compete in the international market

Legal-sounding bureaucratic re-centralisation of community forestry in Nepal

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Basnyat, Bijendra; Treue, Thorsten; Pokharel, Ridish Kumar

2018-01-01

, forest officials, and donor project employees in Nepal, we document the mechanisms of legal-sounding re-centralisation. The central tenet is that bureaucratically established procedures, which are not required by law but treated as if they were, are used to impose regular revisions of community forest...... management plans. Meagre government or more generous donor budgets financed the revisions. Forest bureaucrats and/or consultants did the work and benefitted financially. None of the approaches, however, lived up to technical, scientific standards or followed stipulated participatory processes. The revised...... of plan revisions appears to be strengthening or re-establishing the forest bureaucracy's control over community forest resources which allows forest bureaucrats to tap into donor project and forest product value chains....

William Osler's "The Nervousness of American Women".

Science.gov (United States)

Golden, Richard L

2008-02-01

Almost a century ago, William Osler, the foremost physician of his time, was approached by a leading periodical to write a series of articles on the health of the American woman. Osler, then the Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford, wrote an essay dealing with the psychological stresses affecting the "new woman" of the early 20th century at varying stages of her development and the "nervousness" that ensued. The article was never published as a result of his belated reservations on the propriety of a professional writing for a lay journal. Osler's thinking frequently reflected the spirit of his Victorian-Edwardian era, although at times he demonstrated advanced and prescient ideas about sexuality, not often the subject of discussion, even in circumspect form, in contemporary nonprofessional literature.

Terrestrial radiation - an overview

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hamilton, E.I.

1989-01-01

Some of the fundamental principles developed in geology and geochemistry are applied in an assessment of risk from the natural radiation environment. At present, in radiological protection, the contribution made by the Earthy Sciences is meagre and there is a need to improve this situation. Through a more precise understanding of the natural processes which control the distribution of radionuclides (of the naturally occurring uranium, thorium radioactive series and potassium-40) it is possible to provide a firmer scientific basis in order to account for the role that the natural radiation background plays in a consideration of radiological matters. Various examples are provided in order to illustrate this approach and a glossary of geological and other terms is provided. (author)

Crystallization and preliminary X-ray studies of a galactose-specific lectin from the seeds of bitter gourd (Momordica charantia)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chandran, Thyageshwar; Sharma, Alok; Vijayan, M.

2010-01-01

A galactose-specific lectin purified from the seeds of bitter gourd (M. charantia) has been crystallized and preliminary X-ray study of the crystals has been carried out. A galactose-specific lectin from the seeds of bitter gourd (Momordica charantia) is a four-chain type II ribosome-inactivating protein (RIP) resulting from covalent association through a disulfide bridge between two identical copies of a two-chain unit. The available structural information on such four-chain RIPs is meagre. The bitter gourd lectin was therefore crystallized for structural investigation and the crystals have been characterized. It is anticipated that the structure of the orthorhombic crystals will be analysed using molecular replacement by taking advantage of its sequence, and presumably structural, homology to normal two-chain type II RIPs

Political priority in the global fight against non–communicable diseases

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anthony Maher

2012-12-01

Full Text Available The prevalence of non–communicable diseases (NCDs – such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and chronic respiratory diseases – is surging globally. Yet despite the availability of cost–effective interventions, NCDs receive less than 3% of annual development assistance for health to low and middle income countries. The top donors in global health – including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the US Government, and the World Bank – together commit less than 2% of their budgets to the prevention and control of NCDs. Why is there such meagre funding on the table for the prevention and control of NCDs? Why has a global plan of action aimed at halting the spread of NCDs been so difficult to achieve?

Minimal volume regulation after shrinkage of red blood cells from five species of reptiles

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kristensen, Karina; Berenbrink, Michael; Koldkjær, Pia

2008-01-01

Red blood cells (RBCs) from most vertebrates restore volume upon hypertonic shrinkage and the mechanisms underlying this regulatory volume increase (RVI) have been studied extensively in these cells. Despite the phylogenetically interesting position of reptiles, very little is known about their red...... cell function. The present study demonstrates that oxygenated RBCs in all major groups of reptiles exhibit no or a very reduced RVI upon ~ 25% calculated hyperosmotic shrinkage. Thus, RBCs from the snakes Crotalus durissus and Python regius, the turtle Trachemys scripta and the alligator Alligator...... was not characterized. It seems, therefore, that the RVI response based on NHE activation was lost among the early sauropsids that gave rise to modern reptiles and birds, while it was retained in mammals. An RVI response has then reappeared in birds, but based on activation of the NKCC. Alternatively, the absence...

Tongue worm (Pentastomida) infection in ball pythons (Python regius) – a case report

Science.gov (United States)

Gałęcki, Remigiusz; Sokół, Rajmund; Dudek, Agnieszka

Tongue worms (Pentastomida) are endoparasites causing pentastomiasis, an invasive disease representing a threat to exotic animals and humans. Animals acquire infection via the alimentary tract. In reptiles, the parasite is present in the lungs, resulting in symptoms from the respiratory system. Pentastomiasis may be asymptomatic, but nonspecific symptoms may occur at high parasite concentrations. Due to the harmful effects of many antiparasitic substances, tongue worm invasion in reptiles remains not fully treatable. Although pentasomiasis is rarely diagnosed in Poland, pentastomids were diagnosed in two ball pythons, who were patients of the “Poliklinika Weterynaryjna” veterinary clinic. They demonstrated problems with the respiratory system and a significant deterioration of health. Fenbendazole at a dose of 100 mg/kg b.w., repeated after 7 days was shown to be effective.

Examination of lifestyle factors and diseases in teaching periodontology in dental education in the Nordic countries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fiehn, Nils-Erik; Christensen, Lisa Bøge

2016-01-01

INTRODUCTION: Lifestyle and general diseases are important for the development of periodontitis and other diseases in the oral cavity. Therefore, knowledge on lifestyle factors must be part of the dental curriculum. However, a search for information in the literature databases gave meagre results......, was sent to the chairs of the departments of periodontology in the Nordic countries. The questions concerned extent, curriculum structure, educational method, content, assessment and evaluation of the education. RESULTS: Education on lifestyle factors took place at all dental schools, but the extent......, content and placement in the curriculum varied. In some schools, more than 10 lessons were scheduled; two schools had only 3-5 lessons. The education of lifestyle factors was prioritised highest in the departments of periodontology followed by cariology and general health. Despite differences...

Laboratory contamination in the early period of radiation research

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rona, E.

1979-01-01

Meagre records exist of the levels of contamination and human exposure encountered by those who took part in the early research on radioactive materials. In order to throw some light on the nature and extent of the problem the author presents some recollections of the conditions of the laboratories in which she worked from 1924-1940. These include the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, the Radium Institute of Vienna and the Curie Institute. The health, radiation injuries and causes of death of some early workers are discussed. Although the effects of acute exposure were recognised early on, there was less awareness of the possible effects of chronic exposure, and lack of prompt clinical signs of injury encouraged complacency. Laboratory contamination was often seen more as a problem affecting experimental results than as a health hazard. (author)

Histamine induces postprandian tachycardia through a direct effect on cardiac H2-receptors in pythons

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Nini Skovgaard; Møller, Kate; Gesser, Hans

2009-01-01

The intrinsic heart rate of most vertebrates studied, including humans, is elevated during digestion, suggesting that a non-adrenergic-non-cholinergic factor contributes to the postprandial tachycardia. The regulating factor, however, remains elusive and difficult to identify. Pythons can ingest...... very large meals and digestion is associated with a marked rise in metabolism that is sustained for several days. The metabolic rise causes more than a doubling of heart rate and a four-fold rise in cardiac output. This makes the python an interesting model to investigate the postprandial tachycardia....... We measured blood pressure and heart rate in fasting Python regius, and at 24 and 48h after ingestion of a meal amounting to 25% of body weight. Digestion caused heart rate to increase from 25 to 56 min-1 while blood pressure was unchanged. The postprandial rise in heart rate was partially due...

Humoral regulation of heart rate during digestion in pythons (Python molurus and Python regius).

Science.gov (United States)

Enok, Sanne; Simonsen, Lasse Stærdal; Pedersen, Signe Vesterskov; Wang, Tobias; Skovgaard, Nini

2012-05-15

Pythons exhibit a doubling of heart rate when metabolism increases several times during digestion. Pythons, therefore, represent a promising model organism to study autonomic cardiovascular regulation during the postprandial state, and previous studies show that the postprandial tachycardia is governed by a release of vagal tone as well as a pronounced stimulation from nonadrenergic, noncholinergic (NANC) factors. Here we show that infusion of plasma from digesting donor pythons elicit a marked tachycardia in fasting snakes, demonstrating that the NANC factor resides in the blood. Injections of the gastrin and cholecystokinin receptor antagonist proglumide had no effect on double-blocked heart rate or blood pressure. Histamine has been recognized as a NANC factor in the early postprandial period in pythons, but the mechanism of its release has not been identified. Mast cells represent the largest repository of histamine in vertebrates, and it has been speculated that mast cells release histamine during digestion. Treatment with the mast cell stabilizer cromolyn significantly reduced postprandial heart rate in pythons compared with an untreated group but did not affect double-blocked heart rate. While this study indicates that histamine induces postprandial tachycardia in pythons, its release during digestion is not stimulated by gastrin or cholecystokinin nor is its release from mast cells a stimulant of postprandial tachycardia.

James Gregory, the University observatory and the early acquisition of scientific instruments at the University of St Andrews

Science.gov (United States)

Rawson, Helen C.

2015-01-01

James Gregory, inventor of the reflecting telescope and Fellow of the Royal Society, was the first Regius Professor of Mathematics of the University of St Andrews, 1668–74. He attempted to establish in St Andrews what would, if completed, have been the first purpose-built observatory in the British Isles. He travelled to London in 1673 to purchase instruments for equipping the observatory and improving the teaching and study of natural philosophy and mathematics in the university, seeking the advice of John Flamsteed, later the first Astronomer Royal. This paper considers the observatory initiative and the early acquisition of instruments at the University of St Andrews, with reference to Gregory's correspondence, inventories made ca. 1699–ca. 1718 and extant instruments themselves, some of which predate Gregory's time. It examines the structure and fate of the university observatory, the legacy of Gregory's teaching and endeavours, and the meridian line laid down in 1748 in the University Library.

A question of merit: John Hutton Balfour, Joseph Hooker and the 'concussion' over the Edinburgh chair of botany.

Science.gov (United States)

Bellon, Richard

2005-03-01

In 1845, Robert Graham's death created a vacancy for the traditionally dual appointment to the University of Edinburgh's chair of botany and the Regius Keepership of the Edinburgh Royal Botanic Garden. John Hutton Balfour and Joseph Hooker emerged as the leading candidates. The contest quickly became embroiled in long running controversies over the nature and control of Scottish university education at a time of particular social and political tension after a recent schism in Church of Scotland. The politics of the appointment were complicated by the fact that the Edinburgh Town Council (which preferred Balfour) chose the chair while the keepership was under the patronage of the Westminster government (which preferred Hooker). Balfour eventually emerged triumphant after a bitter campaign marked on all sides by intense politicking. The struggle to replace Graham provides a case study in how Victorian men of science adapted their aspirations to the practical realities of life in industrial, reforming, imperial, multinational Britain.

Petro-mineralogical Studies of the Paleoproterozoic Phosphorites in the Sonrai basin, Lalitpur District, Uttar Pradesh, India

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dar, Shamim A., E-mail: sjshamim@gmail.com; Khan, K. F.; Khan, Saif A.; Khan, Samsuddin [Aligarh Muslim University, Department of Geology (India); Masroor Alam, M. [Aligarh Muslim University, Geology Section Department of Civil Engineering (India)

2015-09-15

The Paleoproterozoic phosphorites constitute an economically significant component of the Sonrai basin of Lalitpur district. These are associated with ferruginous shale, ironstone, limestone and quartz breccia. Petro-mineralogical studies of samples of the phosphorites, using X-ray diffractometry and scanning electron microscopy, reveal that the collophane (carbonate-fluorapatite) is the dominant phosphate mineral. Calcite, dolomite, quartz, mica and haematite are the dominant gangue constituents. The phosphate minerals occur as oolites mutually replaced by carbonate and silica. The presence of iron oxides has been found in most of the thin sections. There is meagre evidence of organic matter in the form of filaments of microbial phosphate laminae in the samples of phosphorite. The mineral assemblages, their texture and various forms in these phosphorites may be due to some environmental vicissitudes followed by replacement processes and biogenic activities.

Petro-mineralogical Studies of the Paleoproterozoic Phosphorites in the Sonrai basin, Lalitpur District, Uttar Pradesh, India

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dar, Shamim A.; Khan, K. F.; Khan, Saif A.; Khan, Samsuddin; Masroor Alam, M.

2015-01-01

The Paleoproterozoic phosphorites constitute an economically significant component of the Sonrai basin of Lalitpur district. These are associated with ferruginous shale, ironstone, limestone and quartz breccia. Petro-mineralogical studies of samples of the phosphorites, using X-ray diffractometry and scanning electron microscopy, reveal that the collophane (carbonate-fluorapatite) is the dominant phosphate mineral. Calcite, dolomite, quartz, mica and haematite are the dominant gangue constituents. The phosphate minerals occur as oolites mutually replaced by carbonate and silica. The presence of iron oxides has been found in most of the thin sections. There is meagre evidence of organic matter in the form of filaments of microbial phosphate laminae in the samples of phosphorite. The mineral assemblages, their texture and various forms in these phosphorites may be due to some environmental vicissitudes followed by replacement processes and biogenic activities

Population parameters and dynamic pool models of commercial fishes in the Beibu Gulf, northern South China Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xuehui; Qiu, Yongsong; Du, Feiyan; Lin, Zhaojin; Sun, Dianrong; Huang, Shuolin

2012-01-01

Length-frequency data of eight commercial fish species in the Beibu Gulf (Golf of Tonkin), northern South China Sea, were collected during 2006-2007. Length-weight relationships and growth and mortality parameters were analyzed using FiSAT II software. Five species had isometric growth, two species had negative allometric growth, and one species had positive allometric growth. Overall, the exploitation rates of the eight species were lower in 2006-2007 than in 1997-1999: for four species ( Saurida tumbil, Saurida undosquamis, Argyrosomus macrocephalus, and Nemipterus virgatus) it was lower in 2006-2007 than in 1997-1999, for two species ( Parargyrops edita and Trichiurus haumela) it remained the same, and for the other two species ( Trachurus japonicus and Decapterus maruadsi) it was higher in 2006-2007 than in 1997-1999. The exploitation rates might have declined because of the decline in fishing intensity caused by high crude oil prices. The optimum exploitation rate, estimated using Beverton-Holt dynamic pool models, indicated that although fishes in the Beibu Gulf could sustain high exploitation rates, the under-size fishes at first capture resulted in low yields. To increase the yield per recruitment, it is more effective to increase the size at first capture than to control fishing effort.

High altitude flights in equatorial regions

Science.gov (United States)

Redkar, R. T.

A thorough analysis of balloon flights made from Hyderabad, India (Latitude 17°28'N, Longitude 78°35'E), and other equatorial sites has been made. It has been shown that limited success is expected for flights made from equatorial latitudes with balloons made out of natural colour polyethylene film, since the best known balloon film in the world today viz. Winzen Stratofilm is tested for low temperature brittleness only at -80°C., whereas the tropopause temperatures over equatorial latitudes vary between -80°C and -90°C. The success becomes even more critical when flights are made with heavy payloads and larger balloons particularly at night when in the absence of solar radiation the balloon film becomes more susceptible to low temperature brittle failure. It is recommended that in case of capped balloons longer caps should be used to fully cover the inflated protion of the balloon at the higher level equatorial tropopause. It is also advised that the conditions such as wind shears in the tropopause should be critically studied before launching and a day with the tropopause temperature nearer to -80°C should be chosen. Special care also should be taken while handling the balloon on ground and during launching phase. Properties of Winzen Stratofilm have been critically studied and fresh mandates have been recommended on the basis of limiting values of film stresses which caused balloon failures in the equatorial tropopause. It is also emphasized that the data on such flights is still meagre especially for flights with heavy payloads and larger balloons. It has been also shown that it is safest to use balloons made out of grey coloured film which retains its flexibility with the absorption of solar radiation, the success obtained with such balloons so far being 100%. The drawback, however, is that these balloons cannot be used for night flights. Stratospheric wind regimes over Hyderabad are also discussed with a view to determine the period over which long

Nuclear power in India

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bose, D.K.

1980-01-01

India has now nine years of experience with her in nuclear power generation. The system has been acclaimed on various grounds by the authority concerned with its organization in the country. The present paper intends to examine critically the claim for economic superiority of the nuclear power over the thermal power which is asserted often by the spokesmen for the former. Information about the cost of nuclear power that is available to researchers in India is very meagre. Whatever appears in official publications is hardly adequate for working out reasonable estimates for scrutiny. One is therefore left to depend on the public statements made by dignitaries from time to time to form an idea about the economics of nuclear power. Due to gaps in information we are constrained to rely on the foreign literature and make careful guesses about possible costs applicable to India

State at War, State in War: The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict and State-Making in Armenia, 1991-1995

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Taline Papazian

2008-07-01

Full Text Available The Republic of Armenia’s accession to independence came along with open war with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian populated enclave dispatched within the Azerbaijani SSR in 1923. These specific conditions determined state-building in Armenia, launching two complementary processes: building of a national army from a meagre Soviet heritage and accumulating scarce resources into a restricted number of state institutions, the Defence Ministry in particular. Open conflict ended in 1994, freezing Armenian advances in Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan, thus marking victory in the eyes of the Armenian military. This sense of victory coupled with the return of soldiers to civilian life transcribed into a “Karabakh syndrome”, a tentative notion for the mindset of victorious militiamen eager to be rewarded for their sacrifices in war by economic or political benefits. Starting from 1995, this syndrome weighed on the Republic’s political life, eventually resulting in the resignation of then President Levon Ter Petrossian.

Early archosauromorph remains from the Permo-Triassic Buena Vista Formation of north-eastern Uruguay.

Science.gov (United States)

Ezcurra, Martín D; Velozo, Pablo; Meneghel, Melitta; Piñeiro, Graciela

2015-01-01

The Permo-Triassic archosauromorph record is crucial to understand the impact of the Permo-Triassic mass extinction on the early evolution of the group and its subsequent dominance in Mesozoic terrestrial ecosystems. However, the Permo-Triassic archosauromorph record is still very poor in most continents and hampers the identification of global macroevolutionary patterns. Here we describe cranial and postcranial bones from the Permo-Triassic Buena Vista Formation of northeastern Uruguay that contribute to increase the meagre early archosauromorph record from South America. A basioccipital fused to both partial exoccipitals and three cervical vertebrae are assigned to Archosauromorpha based on apomorphies or a unique combination of characters. The archosauromorph remains of the Buena Vista Formation probably represent a multi-taxonomic assemblage composed of non-archosauriform archosauromorphs and a 'proterosuchid-grade' animal. This assemblage does not contribute in the discussion of a Late Permian or Early Triassic age for the Buena Vista Formation, but reinforces the broad palaeobiogeographic distribution of 'proterosuchid grade' diapsids in Permo-Triassic beds worldwide.

NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Photocatalysis

CERN Document Server

Serpone, Nick

1986-01-01

Ever since the oil crisis of 1973, researchers in various fields of chemistry have proposed various schemes to conserve energy, as well to convert the sun's abundant and limitless supply of energy to produce chemical fuels (e. g. , hydrogen from water, . •. ). The enthusiasm had no previous parallel in the mid-1970's. Unfortunately, despite the several good proposals, the results have proven - in retrospect - somewhat disappointing from an economic viable point of view. The reasons for the meagre results are manyfold not the least of which are the experimental difficulties encountered in storage systems. Moreover, the lack of a concerted, well orchestrated interdisciplinary approach has been significant. By contrast, the chemical advances made in the understanding of the processes involved in such schemes have been phenomenal. A recent book on this issue ( M. Gratzel, Energy Resources through Photochemistry and Catalysis, 1983) is witness to the various efforts and approaches taken by researchers. In the re...

Changes in the species inventory of the vegetation in a Central European city (Osnabrueck). Veraenderungen des Arteninventars der Vegetation in einer mitteleuropaeischen Grossstadt (Osnabrueck)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Overdieck, D.; Scheitenberger, A. (Osnabrueck Univ. (Germany, F.R.). Fachbereich Biologie/Chemie)

1989-01-01

From the Osnabrueck town area (within the borders of 1987) floristic and phytosociological lists and herbarical material of 23 authors and collectors were compared by means of the computer program dBASE III PLUS for the time span 1805-1987. Thus in total 10,789 findings were evaluated. In spite of increasing numbers of findings (+ 116%) only 42% of the number of these vascular plant species occurring until 1900 were still registered from 1959 to 1987. In gardens, agricultural areas, heaths, meagre grasslands, flat bogs and swampy areas the number of findings decreased. The indicator values of vascular plants in Central Europe showed the tendency for downtown soils to become drier, more acid and richer in nitrogen. One third of the species that vanished from the total species inventory of Osnabrueck until 1958 is not registered in the current 'red books'. 657 vascular plant species were documented for the Osnabrueck town area of 120 km{sup 2} from 1959 to 1987. (orig.).

Spatiotemporal Evolution of Ebola Virus Disease at Sub-National Level during the 2014 West Africa Epidemic: Model Scrutiny and Data Meagreness.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eva Santermans

Full Text Available The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has infected at least 27,443 individuals and killed 11,207, based on data until 24 June, 2015, released by the World Health Organization (WHO. This outbreak has been characterised by extensive geographic spread across the affected countries Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, and by localized hotspots within these countries. The rapid recognition and quantitative assessment of localised areas of higher transmission can inform the optimal deployment of public health resources.A variety of mathematical models have been used to estimate the evolution of this epidemic, and some have pointed out the importance of the spatial heterogeneity apparent from incidence maps. However, little is known about the district-level transmission. Given that many response decisions are taken at sub-national level, the current study aimed to investigate the spatial heterogeneity by using a different modelling framework, built on publicly available data at district level. Furthermore, we assessed whether this model could quantify the effect of intervention measures and provide predictions at a local level to guide public health action. We used a two-stage modelling approach: a a flexible spatiotemporal growth model across all affected districts and b a deterministic SEIR compartmental model per district whenever deemed appropriate.Our estimates show substantial differences in the evolution of the outbreak in the various regions of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, illustrating the importance of monitoring the outbreak at district level. We also provide an estimate of the time-dependent district-specific effective reproduction number, as a quantitative measure to compare transmission between different districts and give input for informed decisions on control measures and resource allocation. Prediction and assessing the impact of control measures proved to be difficult without more accurate data. In conclusion, this study provides us a useful tool at district level for public health, and illustrates the importance of collecting and sharing data.

The contribution of gastric digestion and ingestion of amino acids on the postprandial rise in oxygen consumption, heart rate and growth of visceral organs in pythons.

Science.gov (United States)

Enok, Sanne; Simonsen, Lasse Stærdal; Wang, Tobias

2013-05-01

To investigate the contribution of gastric and intestinal processes to the postprandial rise in metabolism in pythons (Python regius), we measured oxygen consumption after ligation of the pyloric sphincter to prevent the chyme from entering the intestine. Pyloric blockade reduced the postprandial rise in metabolism during the first 18h after ingestion of mice amounting to 18% of the snake's body mass by 60%. In another series of the experiments, we showed that infusion of amino acids directly into the stomach or the intestine elicited similar metabolic responses. This indicates a lower gastric contribution to the SDA response than previously reported. To include an assessment of the gastric contribution to the postprandial cardiovascular response, we also measured blood and heart rate. While heart rate increased during digestion in snakes with pyloric blockade, there was no rise in the double-blocked heart rates compared to fasting controls. Thus, the non-adrenergic-non-cholinergic factor that stimulates heart rate during digestion does not stem from the stomach. Finally, there was no growth of the visceral organs in response to digestion when chyme was prevented from reaching the intestine. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Satiety and eating patterns in two species of constricting snakes.

Science.gov (United States)

Nielsen, Torben P; Jacobsen, Magnus W; Wang, Tobias

2011-01-10

Satiety has been studied extensively in mammals, birds and fish but very little information exists on reptiles. Here we investigate time-dependent satiation in two species of constricting snakes, ball pythons (Python regius) and yellow anacondas (Eunectes notaeus). Satiation was shown to depend on both fasting time and prey size. In the ball pythons fed with mice of a relative prey mass RPM (mass of the prey/mass of the snake×100) of 15%, we observed a satiety response that developed between 6 and 12h after feeding, but after 24h pythons regained their appetite. With an RPM of 10% the pythons kept eating throughout the experiment. The anacondas showed a non-significant tendency for satiety to develop between 6 and 12h after ingesting a prey of 20% RPM. Unlike pythons, anacondas remained satiated after 24h. Handling time (from strike until prey swallowed) increased with RPM. We also found a significant decrease in handling time between the first and the second prey and a positive correlation between handling time and the mass of the snake. 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Redescription of Haemogregarina garnhami (Apicomplexa: Adeleorina) from the blood of Psammophis schokari (Serpentes: Colubridae) as Hepatozoon garnhami n. comb. based on molecular, morphometric and morphologic characters.

Science.gov (United States)

Abdel-Baki, Abdel-Azeem S; Al-Quraishy, Saleh; Zhang, J Y

2014-06-01

Hepatozoon garnhami n. comb. was redescribed from Schokari sand snakes (Psammophis schokari) collected from Riyadh city in Saudi Arabia. Gametocytes were found in the peripheral blood of 2 of 15 snakes examined. Based on the similar morphological and morphometric characteristics, the same host and a similar host habitat environment, it can be concluded for the first time that the present species is conspecific with Haemogregarina garnhami previously reported from Psammophis shokari aegyptius. To further characterize this parasite, the partial 18S rRNA gene was amplified and sequenced. The sequence analysis also showed that Haemogregarina garnhami should be reassigned into the genus Hepatozoon as Hepatozoon garnhami which has 99.5% (859/863 bp) sequence similarity to Hepatozoon ayorgbor, infecting the erythrocytes of Python regius in Ghana. Phylogenetic analysis showed that H. garnhami formed a mixed clade with Hepatozoon spp. from geckos, snakes and rodents and ophidian Hepatozoon spp. did not form a separated phylogenetic unit. Also, Psammophis schokari-infecting Hepatozoon contained several different genetic lineages. To our knowledge, the present work extends the geographic distribution of H. garnhami and is the first report of Hepatozoon infection in snakes from Saudi Arabia.

Early archosauromorph remains from the Permo-Triassic Buena Vista Formation of north-eastern Uruguay

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martín D. Ezcurra

2015-02-01

Full Text Available The Permo-Triassic archosauromorph record is crucial to understand the impact of the Permo-Triassic mass extinction on the early evolution of the group and its subsequent dominance in Mesozoic terrestrial ecosystems. However, the Permo-Triassic archosauromorph record is still very poor in most continents and hampers the identification of global macroevolutionary patterns. Here we describe cranial and postcranial bones from the Permo-Triassic Buena Vista Formation of northeastern Uruguay that contribute to increase the meagre early archosauromorph record from South America. A basioccipital fused to both partial exoccipitals and three cervical vertebrae are assigned to Archosauromorpha based on apomorphies or a unique combination of characters. The archosauromorph remains of the Buena Vista Formation probably represent a multi-taxonomic assemblage composed of non-archosauriform archosauromorphs and a ‘proterosuchid-grade’ animal. This assemblage does not contribute in the discussion of a Late Permian or Early Triassic age for the Buena Vista Formation, but reinforces the broad palaeobiogeographic distribution of ‘proterosuchid grade’ diapsids in Permo-Triassic beds worldwide.

Contamination assessment of a coastal lagoon (Ria de Aveiro, Portugal) using defence and damage biochemical indicators in gill of Liza aurata - An integrated biomarker approach

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oliveira, M. [CESAM and Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro (Portugal)], E-mail: migueloliveira@ua.pt; Maria, V.L. [CIMA and Faculty of Marine and Environmental Sciences, University of Algarve, Campus Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro (Portugal); Ahmad, I. [CESAM and Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro (Portugal); Serafim, A.; Bebianno, M.J. [CIMA and Faculty of Marine and Environmental Sciences, University of Algarve, Campus Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro (Portugal); Pacheco, M.; Santos, M.A. [CESAM and Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro (Portugal)

2009-03-15

Fish gill importance in toxicants uptake, bioconcentration and excretion allied to meagre knowledge on branchial damage/protection responses substantiate this study. Five critical sites in Ria de Aveiro (Portugal) were assessed in comparison with a reference site (Torreira), focusing on Liza aurata gill antioxidant defences versus damage (oxidative and genetic). Only in Barra fish displayed damage (lipid peroxidation) though no differences were found in antioxidants. In all other sites, except Rio, antioxidant alterations were found. Thus, fish from Gafanha, Laranjo and Vagos showed higher total glutathione, glutathione peroxidase and catalase. Higher glutathione reductase and glutathione S-transferase activity was also found in the first and the last sites, respectively. In Laranjo, metallothionein levels were higher though lower in Gafanha and Vagos. In general, damage was not accompanied by defences weakening confirming that predicting damage based on antioxidants depletion is not straightforward. The integrated biomarker response index ranked sites as: Gafanha > Barra > Laranjo > Vagos > Rio > Torreira. - The integration of antioxidant defence and damage responses in fish, using gill as a key organ, can improve the aquatic contamination assessment.

Investing in Early Human Development: Timing and Economic Efficiency

Science.gov (United States)

Doyle, Orla; Harmon, Colm P.; Heckman, James J.; Tremblay, Richard E.

2010-01-01

Policy discussions to ameliorate socioeconomic (SES) inequalities are increasingly focused on investments in early childhood. Yet such interventions are costly to implement, and clear evidence on the optimal time to intervene to yield a high economic and social return in the future is meagre. The majority of successful early childhood interventions start in the preschool years. However socioeconomic gradients in cognitive skills, socio-emotional functioning and health can be observed by age three, suggesting that preventative programmes starting earlier in childhood may be even more effective. We discuss the optimal timing of early childhood intervention with reference to recent research in developmental neuroscience. We motivate the need for early intervention by providing an overview of the impact of adverse risk factors during the antenatal and early childhood periods on outcomes later in life. We provide a brief review of the economic rationale for investing early in life and propose the “antenatal investment hypothesis”. We conclude by discussing a suite of new European interventions that will inform this optimal timing debate. PMID:19213617

Dietary fibre as functional ingredient in meat products: a novel approach for healthy living - a review.

Science.gov (United States)

Verma, Arun Kumar; Banerjee, Rituparna

2010-06-01

There is a rapid change in our overall lifestyle due to impact of globalization. Every day hasty life has forced consumers to be dependent upon fast foods, which contain meagre amount of dietary fibre. Non-starch polysaccharides and resistant oligosaccharides, lignin, substances associated with NSP and lignin complex in plants, other analogous carbohydrates, such as resistant starch and dextrins, and synthesized carbohydrate compounds, like polydextrose are categorized as dietary fibre. They are mostly concentrated in cereals, pulses, fruits and vegetables. It has been proclaimed that daily dietary fibre intake helps in prevention of many nutritional disorders like gut related problems, cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, certain types of cancer and obesity. Meat is generally lacking this potential ingredient, which could be incorporated while products processing to make them more healthful. Various fibre rich sources have been attempted in different products attributed to their technological and health benefits and many are in the queue to be used in a variety of meat products. Selection of appropriate fibre rich ingredients and their proper incorporation can improve health image of meat products.

Social and Economic Burden of Human Leishmaniasis.

Science.gov (United States)

Okwor, Ifeoma; Uzonna, Jude

2016-03-01

Leishmaniasis continues to pose a major public health problem worldwide. With new epidemics occurring in endemic areas and the spread of the disease to previously free areas because of migration, tourism, and military activities, there is a great need for the development of an effective vaccine. Leishmaniasis is a disease of the poor, occurring mostly in remote rural villages with poor housing and little or no access to modern health-care facilities. In endemic areas, diagnosis of any form of leishmaniasis puts a huge financial strain on an already meagre financial resource at both the individual and community levels. Most often families need to sell their assets (land and livestock) or take loans from informal financial outfits with heavy interest rates to pay for the diagnosis and treatment of leishmaniasis. Here, we discuss the disease with special emphasis on its socioeconomic impact on the affected individual and community. In addition, we highlight the reasons why continued research aimed at developing an effective Leishmania vaccine is necessary. © The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Parity dependence of the nuclear level density at high excitation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rao, B.V.; Agrawal, H.M.

1995-01-01

The basic underlying assumption ρ(l+1, J)=ρ(l, J) in the level density function ρ(U, J, π) has been checked on the basis of high quality data available on individual resonance parameters (E 0 , Γ n , J π ) for s- and p-wave neutrons in contrast to the earlier analysis where information about p-wave resonance parameters was meagre. The missing level estimator based on the partial integration over a Porter-Thomas distribution of neutron reduced widths and the Dyson-Mehta Δ 3 statistic for the level spacing have been used to ascertain that the s- and p-wave resonance level spacings D(0) and D(1) are not in error because of spurious and missing levels. The present work does not validate the tacit assumption ρ(l+1, J)=ρ(l, J) and confirms that the level density depends upon parity at high excitation. The possible implications of the parity dependence of the level density on the results of statistical model calculations of nuclear reaction cross sections as well as on pre-compound emission have been emphasized. (orig.)

Occurrence of porcine cysticercosis in free-ranging pigs delivered to slaughter points in Arapai, Soroti district, Uganda

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gerald Zirintunda

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Poverty, hunger and the need for production of pigs with meagre or zero inputs have made most farmers release their pigs to range freely, thus creating a pig-human cycle that maintains Taenia solium, the pig tapeworm and cause of porcine cysticercosis, in the ecosystem. A preliminary study was designed to establish the prevalence of porcine cysticercosis by postmortem examination of the tongue and carcass of free-range pigs from February to April 2014 in Arapai subcounty, Soroti district, eastern Uganda. The tongue of each pig was extended and examined before deep incisions were made and the cut surfaces were examined. The rest of the carcasses were examined for cysts. Out of 178 pigs examined, 32 were qualitatively positive for porcine cysticercosis, representing a prevalence of 18.0%. This high prevalence represents a marked risk to the communities in the study area of neurocysticercosis, a debilitating parasitic zoonosis. Proper human waste disposal by use of pit latrines, confinement of free-range pigs and treatment with albendazole and oxfendazole are recommended.

Rodents as intermediate hosts of Hepatozoon ayorgbor (Apicomplexa: Adeleina: Hepatozoidae) from the African ball python, Python regius?

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Sloboda, M.; Kamler, M.; Bulantová, J.; Votýpka, Jan; Modrý, David

2008-01-01

Roč. 55, č. 1 (2008), s. 13-16 ISSN 0015-5683 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) LC06009; GA ČR GP524/03/D104; GA ČR GD524/03/H133 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60220518 Keywords : haemogregarines * Adeleina * Hepatozoon * transmission * ICR mice * life cycle Subject RIV: GJ - Animal Vermins ; Diseases, Veterinary Medicine Impact factor: 1.307, year: 2008

Estimation of total catch of silver kob Argyrosomus inodorus by recreational shore-anglers in Namibia using a roving-roving creel survey

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kirchner, C.H.; Beyer, Jan

1999-01-01

, using data taken during a survey from 1 October 1995 to 30 September 1996. Two different methods of estimating daily catch were tested by sampling the same population of anglers using a complete and an incomplete survey. The mean rate estimator, calculated by the ratio of the means with progressive......A statistical sampling method is described to estimate the annual catch of silver kob Agryrosomus indorus by recreational shore-anglers in Namibia. The method is based on the theory of progressive counts and on-site roving interviews of anglers, with catch counts and measurements at interception...

Data-Limited Population-Status Evaluation of Two Coastal Fishes in Southern Angola Using Recreational Catch Length-Frequency Data.

Science.gov (United States)

Beckensteiner, Jennifer; Kaplan, David M; Potts, Warren M; Santos, Carmen V; O'Farrell, Michael R

2016-01-01

Excessive truncation of a population's size structure is often identified as an important deleterious effect of exploitation, yet the effect on population persistence of size-structure truncation caused by exploitation is often not quantified due to data limitations. In this study, we estimate changes in eggs per recruit (EPR) using annual length-frequency samples over a 9 year period to assess persistence of the two most important recreational fishes in southern Angola: west coast dusky kob (Argyrosomus coronus) and leerfish (Lichia amia). Using a length- and age-structured model, we improve on an existing method to fit this type of model to length-frequency data and estimate EPR. The objectives of the methodological changes are to add flexibility and robustness to the approach for assessing population status in data-limited situations. Results indicate that dusky kob presents very low levels of EPR (5%-10% of the per recruit reproductive capacity in the absence of fishing) in 2013, whereas large inter-annual variability in leerfish estimates suggest caution must be applied when drawing conclusions about its exploitation status. Using simulated length frequency data with known parameter values, we demonstrate that recruitment decline due to overexploitation leads to overestimation of EPR values. Considering the low levels of EPR estimated for the study species, recruitment limitation is not impossible and true EPR values may be even lower than our estimates. It is, therefore, likely that management action, such as the creation of Marine Protected Areas, is needed to reconstitute the west coast dusky kob population.

Flerspråkighet inom lärarutbildningen - ett perspektiv som saknas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marie Carlson

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Multilingualism in teacher education – a missing perspective.This article is based on fieldwork within teacher education. Questions were asked about how student teachers are prepared for work/employment in an educational system characterized by pluralism in terms of multilingualism and a second-language perspective. Is a multilingual perspective presented in teacher education as a competence for some or for all? The answers can be seen as fairly meagre, but this also tells something more general about how issues about language and pluralism are regarded. Perspectives on multilingualism and second language acquisition (if and when they arementioned are often related in various ways to “the Others” and to a“deficiency perspective”. These topics are dealt with in the first part of the article. In next section discussing multilingualism, also seen as an asset, we encounter actors mostly within the field of linguistics. Didactic aspects as well as questions of identity are highlighted. The article ends with a morecomprehensive discussion on multilingualism, second-language perspective and governance/policy documents. Teacher education appears to be fairly national(ist, in spite of recurring talk about increasing globalization, and internationalization.

Effect of harvest, drying and storage on the bitterness, moisture, sugars, free amino acids and phenolic compounds of jujube fruit (Zizyphus jujuba cv. Junzao).

Science.gov (United States)

Pu, Yunfeng; Ding, Tian; Wang, Wenjun; Xiang, Yanju; Ye, Xingqian; Li, Mei; Liu, Donghong

2018-01-01

The taste of dried jujube fruit when compared with fresh ones is less palatable, as it develops bitterness during drying and storage. Therefore, identifying the methods by which bitterness occurs is essential for developing strategies for processing and storage. Bitterness in fresh jujube fruit was negligible; however, it increased by 0.9-, 1.5- and 1.8-fold during drying and storage over 6 and 12 months. The moisture significantly decreased during harvesting and drying. Free amino acids, except proline and tyrosine, significantly decreased during drying and storage. Fructose, glucose and sucrose hardly changed during harvest, drying and storage. Titratable acidity, total phenolic and total flavonoids contents were stable during harvest and drying, but increased upon storage. Additionally, protocatechuic and ellagic acids were not detected in fresh jujube fruit, however, were found to increase during drying and storage. Bitterness in fresh jujube fruit tasted negligible because of meagre amount of phytochemicals, while the condensation effect of moisture reduction, the loss of free amino acids, and the formation of protocatechuic and ellagic acids could aggravate the bitterness of jujube fruit during drying and storage. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

Why is Southern African canine babesiosis so virulent? An evolutionary perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Penzhorn Barend L

2011-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Canine babesiosis is a common, highly virulent disease in Southern Africa with even pups and juveniles being severely affected. This contrasts with bovine babesiosis, for example, where host, parasite and vector co-evolved and young animals develop immunity after infection without showing clinical signs. Babesia rossi, the main causative organism of canine babesiosis in sub-Saharan Africa, was first described from a side-striped jackal (Canis adustus in Kenya. Although data are meagre, there is evidence that indigenous African canids, such as jackals and wild dogs (Lycaon pictus, can harbour the parasite without showing untoward effects. Dogs are not indigenous to Africa. The vast majority of dogs presented at veterinary facilities in South Africa represent recently introduced European, Asian or American breeds. The contention is that B. rossi is a new challenge to which these dogs have not adapted. With intensive treatment of clinical cases, natural selection is effectively negated and the status quo will probably be maintained indefinitely. It is postulated that Babesia vogeli, which frequently results in unapparent infections or mild manifestations in dogs, represents or is closely related to the ancestral form of the canine parasite, possibly originating from wolves (Canis lupus.

WCB - the little oil patch that could

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Knoll, R. G.

1999-01-01

The globally dominant position of the Western Canadian Basin (WCB) in innovative exploitation technology (horizontal wells) and the major role it plays in related technical pursuits (underbalanced drilling, extended reach drilling, coiled tubing and multi-branch technology) are discussed. This enviable position has been gained despite the fact that in comparison to the world's major producing areas, the WCB is a region of relatively thin, varied, depleted reservoirs of limited reserves and meagre profit margins. Yet in this marginal setting, oil production increased over 90 per cent in the last decade, in large part due to the exponential growth of horizontal well applications. It is argued that Canada's leadership in exploitation technology is not simply a result of the thin, depleted reservoirs, but is promoted by a combination of many factors, foremost among them being a collective spirit of co-operation and innovation among the oil companies. The variance in reservoir setting, the corporate culture, the entrepreneurial spirit, a competitive service market, extremes of environment, a stable political and economic framework close to the largest diversified markets (i.e. the USA) also have played important contributory roles. 3 refs., 1 tab

Growth and antioxidant system under drought stress in Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L. as sustained by salicylic acid

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B.K. Sarma

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Drought is one of the major factors limiting chickpea production in arid and semi arid regions. There is meagre information available regarding genotypic variation for drought tolerance in chickpea genotypes. Present investigation was carried out to find out the influence of salicylic acid (SA on drought tolerance in four chickpea genotypes. Reduction in relative injury was observed in plants treated with SA @1.5 mM as compared to control seedlings. Relationship between relative water content (RWC, membrane permeability (MP, ascorbic acid (AsA, proline, lipid peroxidation (LPO, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2, catalase (CAT, peroxidase (POX, superoxide dismutase (SOD, ascorbate peroxidase (APX was determined in order to find out whether these parameters can be used as selection criteria for drought tolerance in this crop. Results indicate wide variation in tolerance to drought stress amongst chickpea cultivars at both the critical stages i.e. pre- and post-anthesis. On the basis of growth and antioxidant activity better genotypes Tyson and ICC-4958 appear to be adapted to drought stress tolerance. Early drought stress (pre-anthesis drought was found to be more damaging than the late drought stress (post- anthesis drought.

Bottom-up linking of carbon markets under far-sighted cap coordination and reversibility

Science.gov (United States)

Heitzig, Jobst; Kornek, Ulrike

2018-03-01

The Paris Agreement relies on nationally determined contributions to reach its targets and asks countries to increase ambitions over time, leaving open the details of this process. Although overcoming countries' myopic `free-riding' incentives requires cooperation, the global public good character of mitigation makes forming coalitions difficult. To cooperate, countries may link their carbon markets1, but is this option beneficial2? Some countries might not participate, not agree to lower caps, or not comply to agreements. While non-compliance might be deterred3, countries can hope that if they don't participate, others might still form a coalition. When considering only one coalition whose members can leave freely, the literature following the publication of refs 4,5 finds meagre prospects for effective collaboration6. Countries also face incentives to increase emissions when linking their markets without a cap agreement7,8. Here, we analyse the dynamics of market linkage using a game-theoretic model of far-sighted coalition formation. In contrast to non-dynamic models and dynamic models without far-sightedness9,10, in our model an efficient global coalition always forms eventually if players are sufficiently far-sighted or caps are coordinated immediately when markets are linked.

Role of minor export crops in the integrated rural development project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tennakoon, A S

1985-01-01

The average farm homestead in the Wet Zone of Sri Lanka is about 0.25-0.5 ha in size and is comprised of a mixture of fruit, spice, beverage and valuable timber trees that give a meagre economic return to supplement the family income. Over the last 10 years, these minor export crops have proved a significant foreign exchange earner. However, they are rarely managed at an optimum level. Since these crops have the ability to adapt to different agroclimatic conditions and maximize income flow and labour utilization, minor export crop programmes have been given high priority in Integrated Rural Development Projects. Since 1979 five such projects, each with specific objectives and targets, have been set up in five districts. All aim to increase the production of minor export crops for export; maximize land utilization; generate more income for smallholders by diversifying the cropping system; increase employment opportunities for the rural labour force; educate the farmers on the adoption of good cultural practices, processing techniques and marketing systems; and bring about all round improvement in the quality of life of the rural population.

Rapid disappearance of a warm, dusty circumstellar disk.

Science.gov (United States)

Melis, Carl; Zuckerman, B; Rhee, Joseph H; Song, Inseok; Murphy, Simon J; Bessell, Michael S

2012-07-04

Stars form with gaseous and dusty circumstellar envelopes, which rapidly settle into disks that eventually give rise to planetary systems. Understanding the process by which these disks evolve is paramount in developing an accurate theory of planet formation that can account for the variety of planetary systems discovered so far. The formation of Earth-like planets through collisional accumulation of rocky objects within a disk has mainly been explored in theoretical and computational work in which post-collision ejecta evolution typically is ignored, although recent work has considered the fate of such material. Here we report observations of a young, Sun-like star (TYC 8241 2652 1) where infrared flux from post-collisional ejecta has decreased drastically, by a factor of about 30, over a period of less than two years. The star seems to have gone from hosting substantial quantities of dusty ejecta, in a region analogous to where the rocky planets orbit in the Solar System, to retaining at most a meagre amount of cooler dust. Such a phase of rapid ejecta evolution has not been previously predicted or observed, and no currently available physical model satisfactorily explains the observations.

Attitudes and Motivation toward Learning the English Language among Students from Islamic Education System Background: Exploring the Views of Teachers

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Ismail Sheikh Ahmad

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Research in the field of attitudes and motivation has increasingly investigated the nature and role of motivation in L2 learning process, and many are inspired by Canadian psychologists, Robert Gardner and Wallace Lambert [1]. However, in Malaysia, there has been only a meagre number of research that investigates teachers' perceptions on attitudes and motivation of students from religious school background. It is of great significance to explore the attitudes and motivation of these groups of students because the students appeared to be weak in the English language and they also held negative perceptions toward the language [2, 3]. The present study is needed to attain authentic information about possible connections between teachers' personal experiences, their perspectives and their practices regarding teaching and learning of students from the aforementioned background. This qualitative research study contains in-depth teacher interviews that document their personal perceptions, ways of dealing with students in the specified setting, and their suggestions on improving the attitudes and motivation of learning English for students from religious school background. Findings are presented according to the research questions intended for the study and several conclusions were drawn from the data. 

Intelligent Shuttle Management and Routing Algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, Toshen M.; Subashanthini, S.

2017-11-01

Nowadays, most of the big Universities and campuses have Shuttle cabs running in them to cater the transportational needs of the students and faculties. While some shuttle services ask for a meagre sum to be paid for the usage, no digital payment system is onboard these vehicles to go truly cashless. Even more troublesome is the fact that sometimes during the day, some of these cabs run with bare number of passengers, which can result in unwanted budget loss to the shuttle operator. The main purpose of this paper is to create a system with two types of applications: A web portal and an Android app, to digitize the Shuttle cab industry. This system can be used for digital cashless payment feature, tracking passengers, tracking cabs and more importantly, manage the number of shuttle cabs in every route to maximize profit. This project is built upon an ASP.NET website connected to a cloud service along with an Android app that tracks and reads the passengers ID using an attached barcode reader along with the current GPS coordinates, and sends these data to the cloud for processing using the phone’s internet connectivity.

Quality factor: conceptual problems and practical solutions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dennis, J.A.

1988-01-01

In the past ten years a growing divide has become apparent between the dosimetric concepts designed to provide measures of stochastic risks and those designed for the measurement and control of exposures to radiation. Those designed to provide estimates of risk, e.g. effective dose equivalent, might need to be further refined to incorporate the latest scientific beliefs and evidence about the dependence on radiation quality and dose rate as well as on age and sex. Both animal and human evidence strongly supports a belief that different tissues and different types of neoplasm will have different dependencies on radiation quality and dose rate. For practical purposes of risk estimation it is necessary to select the same values for all human neoplasms. There are reasons for using life shortening in animals as a basis for this purpose, but the data for the dependence on the whole range of radiation qualities is meagre. To provide some stability for the new concepts of measurement and calibration it may be better to accommodate changing perceptions on radiation risks by specifying different levels of exposure for different types of radiation without changing the current quality factors for the measurement quantities. (author)

Terapia floral em gatos domésticos (Felis catus, Linnaeus, 1758 portadores do complexo da doença respiratória felina: estudo clínico e hematológico Flower therapy in domestic cats (Felis catus, Linnaeus, 1758 with feline respiratory disease complex: clinical and hematological study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R.F. Araújo

2010-12-01

Full Text Available A terapia floral é considerada, atualmente, prática médica alternativa utilizada em diversas situações clínicas, constituindo possibilidade a mais de prevenção e cura de muitas doenças de natureza física e emocional. Este estudo objetivou pesquisar o efeito das essências do Sistema Brasileiro de Florais Compostos de Joel Aleixo num mesmo grupo de gatos domésticos com sinais clínicos sugestivos de Doença Respiratória Felina (DRF, tratados em diferentes momentos (M0, M1, M2, M3. Foram utilizados 20 gatos domésticos, de ambos os sexos, sem raça definida, com idade média de 5,63 ± 3,02 anos criados em gatil na UFRPE. Os animais foram submetidos ao tratamento com os florais por via oral em duas etapas. Na primeira etapa com os florais Desintus Total e Helminthus Total por 14 dias, e na segunda etapa com os florais Antibius e Regius por 28 dias. Os resultados observados, quanto aos aspectos clínicos, foram redução de secreção nasal, secreção ocular e estertores pulmonares; desaparecimento de sinais clínicos como fezes alteradas, úlceras na cavidade oral, pêlos eriçados e permanência da hipertrofia dos linfonodos. Quanto aos aspectos hematológicos houve interferência nas variáveis relacionadas ao hemograma (hemoglobina, VCM, CHCM, leucócitos, linfócitos e monócitos. Conclui-se que a terapia floral mostrou-se eficaz em gatos domésticos com sinais sugestivos de DRF criados nas mesmas condições de manejo.Flower therapy is currently considered an alternative medical practice used in several clinical situations, providing another way to prevent and cure many diseases of physical and emotional nature. This study aimed to investigate the effect of essences of the Brazilian Compound Flower System of Joel Aleixo in one same group of domestic cats showing suggestive clinical signs of Feline Respiratory Disease (FRD, treated in different moments (M0, M1, M2, M3. Twenty domestic cats, males and females, of mixed breed, with

Applying acoustic telemetry to understand contaminant exposure and bioaccumulation patterns in mobile fishes.

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Matthew D; van der Meulen, Dylan E; Brodie, Stephanie; Cadiou, Gwenaël; Knott, Nathan A

2018-06-01

Contamination in urbanised estuaries presents a risk to human health, and to the viability of populations of exploited species. Assessing animal movements in relation to contaminated areas may help to explain patterns in bioaccumulation, and assist in the effective management of health risks associated with consumption of exploited species. Using polychlorinated dibenzodioxin and polychlorinated dibenzofuran (PCDD/Fs) contamination in Sydney Harbour estuary as a case study, we present a study that links movement patterns resolved using acoustic telemetry to the accumulation of contaminants in mobile fish on a multi-species basis. Fifty-four individuals across six exploited species (Sea Mullet Mugil cephalus; Luderick Girella tricuspidata; Yellowfin Bream Acanthopagrus australis; Silver Trevally Pseudocaranx georgianus; Mulloway Argyrosomus japonicus; Yellowtail Kingfish Seriola lalandi) were tagged with acoustic transmitters, and their movements tracked for up to 3years. There was substantial inter-specific variation in fish distribution along the estuary. The proportion of distribution that overlapped with contaminated areas explained 84-98% of the inter-specific variation in lipid-standardised biota PCDD/F concentration. There was some seasonal variation in distribution along the estuary, but movement patterns indicated that Sea Mullet, Yellowfin Bream, Silver Trevally, and Mulloway were likely to be exposed to contaminated areas during the period of gonadal maturation. Acoustic telemetry allows examination of spatial and temporal patterns in exposure to contamination. When used alongside biota sampling and testing, this offers a powerful approach to assess exposure, bioaccumulation, and potential risks faced by different species, as well as human health risks associated with their consumption. Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

First reports of ectoparasites collected from wild-caught exotic reptiles in Florida.

Science.gov (United States)

Corn, Joseph L; Mertins, James W; Hanson, Britta; Snow, Skip

2011-01-01

We collected ectoparasites from 27 of 51 wild-caught, free-ranging exotic reptiles examined in Florida from 2003 to 2008. Sampled animals represented eight species, five of which yielded ectoparasites. Reported new parasite distribution records for the United States include the following: the first collection of the African tick Amblyomma latum (Koch) from a wild-caught animal [ball python, Python regius (Shaw)] in the United States; the first collection of the lizard scale mite Hirstiella stamii (Jack) from any wild-caught animal [green iguana, Iguana iguana (L.)]; and the first collection of the lizard scale mite Geckobia hemidactyli (Lawrence) in the continental United States from a wild-caught tropical house gecko, Hemidactylus mabouia (Moreau de Jonnès). We also report the first collections of the Neotropical ticks Amblyomma rotundatum (Koch) and Amblyomma dissimile (Koch) from wild-caught Burmese pythons, Python molurus bivittatus (Kuhl); the first collections of A. dissimile from a wild-caught African savannah monitor, Varanus exanthematicus (Bosc); and from wild-caught green iguanas in the United States; and the first collections of the native chiggers Eutrombicula splendens (Ewing) and Eutrombicula cinnabaris (Ewing) from wild-caught Burmese pythons. These reports may only suggest the diversity of reptile ectoparasites introduced and established in Florida and the new host-parasite relationships that have developed among exotic and native ectoparasites and established exotic reptiles.

Shedding light on serpent sight: the visual pigments of henophidian snakes.

Science.gov (United States)

Davies, Wayne L; Cowing, Jill A; Bowmaker, James K; Carvalho, Livia S; Gower, David J; Hunt, David M

2009-06-10

The biologist Gordon Walls proposed his "transmutation" theory through the 1930s and the 1940s to explain cone-like morphology of rods (and vice versa) in the duplex retinas of modern-day reptiles, with snakes regarded as the epitome of his hypothesis. Despite Walls' interest, the visual system of reptiles, and in particular snakes, has been widely neglected in favor of studies of fishes and mammals. By analyzing the visual pigments of two henophidian snakes, Xenopeltis unicolor and Python regius, we show that both species express two cone opsins, an ultraviolet-sensitive short-wavelength-sensitive 1 (SWS1) (lambda(max) = 361 nm) pigment and a long-wavelength-sensitive (LWS) (lambda(max) = 550 nm) pigment, providing the potential for dichromatic color vision. They also possess rod photoreceptors which express the usual rod opsin (Rh1) pigment with a lambda(max) at 497 nm. This is the first molecular study of the visual pigments expressed in the photoreceptors of any snake species. The presence of a duplex retina and the characterization of LWS, SWS1, and Rh1 visual pigments in henophidian snakes implies that "lower" snakes do not provide support for Walls' transmutation theory, unlike some "higher" (caenophidian) snakes and other reptiles, such as geckos. More data from other snake lineages will be required to test this hypothesis further.

Immunohistochemical Detection of a Unique Protein within Cells of Snakes Having Inclusion Body Disease, a World-Wide Disease Seen in Members of the Families Boidae and Pythonidae

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Li-Wen; Fu, Ann; Wozniak, Edward; Chow, Marjorie; Duke, Diane G.; Green, Linda; Kelley, Karen; Hernandez, Jorge A.; Jacobson, Elliott R.

2013-01-01

Inclusion body disease (IBD) is a worldwide disease in captive boa constrictors (boa constrictor) and occasionally in other snakes of the families Boidae and Pythonidae. The exact causative agent(s) and pathogenesis are not yet fully understood. Currently, diagnosis of IBD is based on the light microscopic identification of eosinophilic intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies in hematoxylin and eosin stained tissues or blood smears. An antigenically unique 68 KDa protein was identified within the IBD inclusion bodies, called IBD protein. A validated immuno-based ante-mortem diagnostic test is needed for screening snakes that are at risk of having IBD. In this study, despite difficulties in solubilizing semi-purified inclusion bodies, utilizing hybridoma technology a mouse anti-IBD protein monoclonal antibody (MAB) was produced. The antigenic specificity of the antibody was confirmed and validated by western blots, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, immuno-transmission electron microscopy, and immunohistochemical staining. Paraffin embedded tissues of IBD positive and negative boa constrictors (n=94) collected from 1990 to 2011 were tested with immunohistochemical staining. In boa constrictors, the anti-IBDP MAB had a sensitivity of 83% and specificity of 100% in detecting IBD. The antibody also cross-reacted with IBD inclusion bodies in carpet pythons (Morelia spilota) and a ball python (python regius). This validated antibody can serve as a tool for the development of ante-mortem immunodiagnostic tests for IBD. PMID:24340066

The international trade in reptiles (Reptilia)--the cause of the transfer of exotic ticks (Acari: Ixodida) to Poland.

Science.gov (United States)

Nowak, Magdalena

2010-05-11

The problem of the unnatural transfer of exotic ticks (Acari: Ixodida) on reptiles (Reptilia) imported to Poland is presented. In the period from 2003 to 2007, 382 specimens of reptiles belonging to the following genera were investigated: Testudo, Iguana, Varanus, Gongylophis, Python, Spalerosophis, Psammophis. The reptiles most infested with ticks are imported to Poland from Ghana in Africa, and are the commonly bred terrarium reptiles: Varanus exanthematicus and Python regius. As a result of the investigations, the transfer of exotic ticks on reptiles to Poland was confirmed. There were 2104 specimens of the genera Amblyomma and Hyalomma. The following species were found: Amblyomma exornatum Koch, 1844, Amblyomma flavomaculatum (Lucas, 1846), Amblyomma latum Koch, 1844, Amblyomma nuttalli Donitz, 1909, Amblyomma quadricavum (Schulze, 1941), Amblyomma transversale (Lucas, 1844), Amblyomma varanense (Supino, 1897), Amblyomma sp. Koch, 1844, Hyalomma aegyptium (Linnaeus, 1758). All the species of ticks of genus Amblyomma revealed have been discovered in Poland for the first time. During the research, 13 cases of anomalies of morphological structure were confirmed in the ticks A. flavomaculatum, A. latum and H. aegyptium. The expanding phenomenon of the import of exotic reptiles in Poland and Central Europe is important for parasitological and epidemiological considerations, and therefore requires monitoring and wide-ranging prophylactic activities to prevent the inflow of exotic parasites to Poland. (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Immunohistochemical detection of a unique protein within cells of snakes having inclusion body disease, a world-wide disease seen in members of the families Boidae and Pythonidae.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Li-Wen Chang

Full Text Available Inclusion body disease (IBD is a worldwide disease in captive boa constrictors (boa constrictor and occasionally in other snakes of the families Boidae and Pythonidae. The exact causative agent(s and pathogenesis are not yet fully understood. Currently, diagnosis of IBD is based on the light microscopic identification of eosinophilic intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies in hematoxylin and eosin stained tissues or blood smears. An antigenically unique 68 KDa protein was identified within the IBD inclusion bodies, called IBD protein. A validated immuno-based ante-mortem diagnostic test is needed for screening snakes that are at risk of having IBD. In this study, despite difficulties in solubilizing semi-purified inclusion bodies, utilizing hybridoma technology a mouse anti-IBD protein monoclonal antibody (MAB was produced. The antigenic specificity of the antibody was confirmed and validated by western blots, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, immuno-transmission electron microscopy, and immunohistochemical staining. Paraffin embedded tissues of IBD positive and negative boa constrictors (n=94 collected from 1990 to 2011 were tested with immunohistochemical staining. In boa constrictors, the anti-IBDP MAB had a sensitivity of 83% and specificity of 100% in detecting IBD. The antibody also cross-reacted with IBD inclusion bodies in carpet pythons (Morelia spilota and a ball python (python regius. This validated antibody can serve as a tool for the development of ante-mortem immunodiagnostic tests for IBD.

Rapid microsatellite marker development using next generation pyrosequencing to inform invasive Burmese python -- Python molurus bivittatus -- management

Science.gov (United States)

Hunter, Margaret E.; Hart, Kristen M.

2013-01-01

Invasive species represent an increasing threat to native ecosystems, harming indigenous taxa through predation, habitat modification, cross-species hybridization and alteration of ecosystem processes. Additionally, high economic costs are associated with environmental damage, restoration and control measures. The Burmese python, Python molurus bivittatus, is one of the most notable invasive species in the US, due to the threat it poses to imperiled species and the Greater Everglades ecosystem. To address population structure and relatedness, next generation sequencing was used to rapidly produce species-specific microsatellite loci. The Roche 454 GS-FLX Titanium platform provided 6616 di-, tri- and tetra-nucleotide repeats in 117,516 sequences. Using stringent criteria, 24 of 26 selected tri- and tetra-nucleotide loci were polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplified and 18 were polymorphic. An additional six cross-species loci were amplified, and the resulting 24 loci were incorporated into eight PCR multiplexes. Multi-locus genotypes yielded an average of 61% (39%–77%) heterozygosity and 3.7 (2–6) alleles per locus. Population-level studies using the developed microsatellites will track the invasion front and monitor population-suppression dynamics. Additionally, cross-species amplification was detected in the invasive Ball, P. regius, and Northern African python, P. sebae. These markers can be used to address the hybridization potential of Burmese pythons and the larger, more aggressive P. sebae.

Physicist or computer specialist?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Clifton, J S [University College Hospital, London (United Kingdom)

1966-06-15

Since to most clinicians physical and computer science are two of the great mysteries of the world, the physicist in a hospital is expected by clinicians to be fully conversant with, and competent to make profound pronouncements on, all methods of computing. specific computing problems, and the suitability of computing machinery ranging from desk calculators to Atlas. This is not surprising since the proportion of the syllabus devoted to physics and mathematics in an M. B. degree is indeed meagre, and the word 'computer' has been surrounded with an aura of mysticism which suggests that it is some fantastic piece of electronic gadgetry comprehensible only to a veritable genius. The clinician consequently turns to the only scientific colleague with whom he has direct contact - the medical physicist - and expects him to be an authority. The physicist is thus thrust, however unwillingly, into the forefront of the advance of computer assistance to scientific medicine. It is therefore essential for him to acquire sufficient knowledge of computing science to enable him to provide satisfactory answers for the clinicianst queries, to proffer more detailed advice as to programming convince clinicians that the computer is really a 'simpleton' which can only add and subtract and even that only under instruction.

Molecular details of secretory phospholipase A2 from flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) provide insight into its structure and function.

Science.gov (United States)

Gupta, Payal; Dash, Prasanta K

2017-09-11

Secretory phospholipase A 2 (sPLA 2 ) are low molecular weight proteins (12-18 kDa) involved in a suite of plant cellular processes imparting growth and development. With myriad roles in physiological and biochemical processes in plants, detailed analysis of sPLA 2 in flax/linseed is meagre. The present work, first in flax, embodies cloning, expression, purification and molecular characterisation of two distinct sPLA 2 s (I and II) from flax. PLA 2 activity of the cloned sPLA 2 s were biochemically assayed authenticating them as bona fide phospholipase A 2 . Physiochemical properties of both the sPLA 2 s revealed they are thermostable proteins requiring di-valent cations for optimum activity.While, structural analysis of both the proteins revealed deviations in the amino acid sequence at C- & N-terminal regions; hydropathic study revealed LusPLA 2 I as a hydrophobic protein and LusPLA 2 II as a hydrophilic protein. Structural analysis of flax sPLA 2 s revealed that secondary structure of both the proteins are dominated by α-helix followed by random coils. Modular superimposition of LusPLA 2 isoforms with rice sPLA 2 confirmed monomeric structural preservation among plant phospholipase A 2 and provided insight into structure of folded flax sPLA 2 s.

An ergonomic study on the onset of mental fatigue among the load handling workers of a central market area in Kolkata.

Science.gov (United States)

Gangopadhyay, Somnath; Das, Tamal

2012-01-01

It is a well recognized fact that manual material handling (MMH) entails enormous physical labor and associated discomfort feeling, which invariably culminate into musculoskeletal disorders. However mental fatigue, in such instances, becomes an unexplored parameter that needs definite attention during assessment of work status of MMH workers. The present study is being performed among 75 porters of a central market in Kolkata to ascertain the extent of physical and mental exhaustion among them. SF-12 health status questionnaire followed by another questionnaire involving psychosocial questions were performed among them. The analysis of both the questionnaires clearly revealed that most of the porters are under severe physical exertion as they alone carry about 120 kg load at a time and such activity is repeated at least 40 times throughout the day. They always suffer from pain and discomfort feeling at different body parts and this interferes with their normal work activity to a great extent. Moreover absenteeism means no financial return and even a day's rigourous work fetches meagre income. The inability to support family convincingly even after performing such hazardous tasks makes them feel low. Monotony, boredom, fatigue and mental trauma form an integral part of their daily work schedule.

Evolutionary ecology during the rise of dioxygen in the Earth's atmosphere.

Science.gov (United States)

Sleep, Norman H; Bird, Dennis K

2008-08-27

Pre-photosynthetic niches were meagre with a productivity of much less than 10(-4) of modern photosynthesis. Serpentinization, arc volcanism and ridge-axis volcanism reliably provided H(2). Methanogens and acetogens reacted CO(2) with H(2) to obtain energy and make organic matter. These skills pre-adapted a bacterium for anoxygenic photosynthesis, probably starting with H(2) in lieu of an oxygen 'acceptor'. Use of ferrous iron and sulphide followed as abundant oxygen acceptors, allowing productivity to approach modern levels. The 'photobacterium' proliferated rooting much of the bacterial tree. Land photosynthetic microbes faced a dearth of oxygen acceptors and nutrients. A consortium of photosynthetic and soil bacteria aided weathering and access to ferrous iron. Biologically enhanced weathering led to the formation of shales and, ultimately, to granitic rocks. Already oxidized iron-poor sedimentary rocks and low-iron granites provided scant oxygen acceptors, as did freshwater in their drainages. Cyanobacteria evolved dioxygen production that relieved them of these vicissitudes. They did not immediately dominate the planet. Eventually, anoxygenic and oxygenic photosynthesis oxidized much of the Earth's crust and supplied sulphate to the ocean. Anoxygenic photosynthesis remained important until there was enough O(2) in downwelling seawater to quantitatively oxidize massive sulphides at mid-ocean ridge axes.

The role of art education in adult prisons: The Western Australian experience

Science.gov (United States)

Giles, Margaret; Paris, Lisa; Whale, Jacqui

2016-12-01

Incarceration costs are high; in Australia, for example, each prisoner costs an average of AUD 115,000 per year. Other countries are also feeling the fiscal pinch of high incarceration costs, and a number of jurisdictions are now closing some of their prisons. Most prison costs are non-discretionary (accommodation, meals, etc.). But some of the costs relate to discretionary activities, services and facilities (including schooling). In terms of correctional education, many prison managers try to invest any meagre correctional education resources available to them in those classes and courses which have proven to have the best results, such as improved labour market outcomes and reduced recidivism, minimising subsequent re-imprisonment. Course offers for prisoner-students include vocational training, adult basic education (ABE) and art studies. The two-tiered question this paper asks is: do art classes and courses produce these measurable outcomes and, if not, are there other reasons why they should continue to be funded? Addressing these issues, the authors argue that (1) these measurable outcomes are too narrow and do not reflect the complex but less quantifiable benefits to the individual and the community of studying art in prison, and (2) better measures of all impacts of art studies in prisons are needed, including qualitative and humanitarian aspects.

Should a reorganization of France's nuclear industry be envisaged?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Finon, D.

2011-01-01

Recent proposals to reorganize the French reactor industry to increase its export capability are reviewed here. Based on its criticism of the technology on offer to export markets, the Rousselly report recommended making the national electricity company a lead company free to negotiate the sale of reactors of its choosing (including Gen2 reactors) and to make the French manufacturer the sub-contractor of the former. The Government did not adopt these recommendations and rightly so. Based on an analysis of the changing world market for reactors, perspective can be gained on the criticism made of Areva about its marketing thrust, as well as the advantage to be gained by broadening its reactor catalogue. This analysis brings out and underlines the significance of the technological and industrial resources of Areva relative to competitors and the relatively meagre advantage of architect/assembler and operator provided by the national electricity company in the conquest of export markets. In the final analysis, the mercantile approach proposed by the champions of this reform to improve competitiveness with low cost nuclear newcomers was ruled out the Government, even before the Fukushima accident. What is really required is a little more export coordination between the two entities. (author)

Efficacy of dry extract of ivy leaves in children with bronchial asthma--a review of randomized controlled trials.

Science.gov (United States)

Hofmann, D; Hecker, M; Völp, A

2003-03-01

To investigate if extracts from dried ivy leaves (Hedera helix L.) are effective in the treatment of chronic airway obstruction in children suffering from bronchial asthma. Systematic review of trials documented in the literature with re-analysis of original data. 5 randomized controlled trials investigating the efficacy of ivy leaf extract preparations in chronic bronchitis, 3 of which were conducted in children and met our selection criteria. One compared ivy leaf extract cough drops to placebo, one compared suppositories to drops and one tested syrup against drops. Body-plethysmographic and spirometric measures. Drops were significantly superior to placebo in reducing airway resistance (primary outcome measure; p = 0.04 two-sided) and descriptively superior in all other 'objective' measures. For syrup and suppositories, at least 54%, resp. 35% of the effect against placebo were preserved. The trials included in this review indicate that ivy leaf extract preparations have effects with respect to an improvement of respiratory functions of children with chronic bronchial asthma, but more far-reaching conclusions can hardly be drawn because of a meagre database, including the fact that only one primary trial included a placebo control. Further research, particularly into the long-term efficacy of the herbal extract, is needed.

Survey of Australian schools of nursing use of human patient (mannequin) simulation.

Science.gov (United States)

McGarry, Denise Elizabeth; Cashin, Andrew; Fowler, Cathrine

2014-11-01

Rapid adoption of high-fidelity human patient (mannequin) simulation has occurred in Australian Schools of Nursing in recent years, as it has internationally. This paper reports findings from a 2012 online survey of Australian Schools of Nursing and builds on findings of earlier studies. The survey design allowed direct comparison with a previous study from the USA but limited its scope to the pre-registration (pre-service Bachelor of Nursing) curriculum. It also included extra mental health specific questions. Australian patterns of adoption and application of high-fidelity human patient (mannequin) simulation in the pre-registration nursing curriculum share features with experiences reported in previous US and Australian surveys. A finding of interest in this survey was a small number of Schools of Nursing that reported no current use of high-fidelity human patient (mannequin) simulation and no plans to adopt it, in spite of a governmental capital funding support programme. In-line with prior surveys, mental health applications were meagre. There is an absence of clearly articulated learning theory underpinnings in the use of high-fidelity human patient (mannequin) simulation generally. It appears the first stage of implementation of high-fidelity human patient (mannequin) simulation into the pre-registration nursing curriculum has occurred and the adoption of this pedagogy is entering a new phase.

Study on clinical symptoms in canine cardiac diseases

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F. Karlette Anne

Full Text Available Cardiac diseases in canines are an extensively studied phenomenon all over the world but meagre information has been reported in India. Certain problems, including historical, physical, and laboratory abnormalities, are associated with cardiovascular or pulmonary disease. In India however, the recognition of canine cardiac diseases has been delayed, and ignored on account of lack of awareness and knowledge by the owner and inadequate diagnostic facility to a field veterinarian. Considering the above facts, the present study was undertaken in Gujarat to survey the prevalence of common cardiac diseases in hospital population of dogs along with the clinical symptoms which often goes undetected due to lack of proper diagnostic techniques to be implied and the most forms of heart disease may be present for many years before any evidence of failure develops. In the present study most of the clinical cases of cardiac diseases were presented with a history of nocturnal coughing (seven cases; 2.55%, exercise intolerance (five cases; 1.82%, partial or complete anorexia (five cases; 1.82%, swelling in abdominal area (four cases; 1.45%, dullness and depression (two cases; 0.72%, cachexia and hepatojugular pulsation (one case each; 0.36% each at times. [Vet World 2009; 2(8.000: 307-309

Heat and smoke - a historical perspective

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hester, C. [SIMTARS, Redbank, Qld. (Australia)

2002-01-01

From 1891 until 1947 coal was used to fire the boiler at the water supply pumping station at Mount Crosby, near Ipswich in south-east Queensland. Ash and waste coal was tipped over the nearest bank which lay between the boiler house and the Brisbane River. By 1947 thousands of tonnes of hot waste had been ejected, covered with a meagre amount of soil, and forgotten. In 1953 the river began to rise in an extensive flow that its 4000 square mile catchment periodically caused, and water sped over the earth fill. A portion of the bank collapsed into the water and when it did, there was a huge and continuing efflux of steam from the ash and coal waste, which had remained heated for as long as 60 years. The possibility of a water gas reaction having caused this 'explosion' cannot be ruled out. This incident gives an indication of the lasting problems associated with discarded coal waste; and the fact that these problem rarely go away of their own accord. Readers interested in details of heat stress or requiring information on compliance monitoring related to the EPA Environmental Protection (Air) Policy are referred to the Queensland Government's Environment and Chemistry Centre. 3 photos.

The conservation value of South East Asia's highly degraded forests: evidence from leaf-litter ants

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Woodcock, Paul; Edwards, David P.; Fayle, Tom M.; Newton, Rob J.; Khen, Chey Vun; Bottrell, Simon H.; Hamer, Keith C.

2011-01-01

South East Asia is widely regarded as a centre of threatened biodiversity owing to extensive logging and forest conversion to agriculture. In particular, forests degraded by repeated rounds of intensive logging are viewed as having little conservation value and are afforded meagre protection from conversion to oil palm. Here, we determine the biological value of such heavily degraded forests by comparing leaf-litter ant communities in unlogged (natural) and twice-logged forests in Sabah, Borneo. We accounted for impacts of logging on habitat heterogeneity by comparing species richness and composition at four nested spatial scales, and examining how species richness was partitioned across the landscape in each habitat. We found that twice-logged forest had fewer species occurrences, lower species richness at small spatial scales and altered species composition compared with natural forests. However, over 80 per cent of species found in unlogged forest were detected within twice-logged forest. Moreover, greater species turnover among sites in twice-logged forest resulted in identical species richness between habitats at the largest spatial scale. While two intensive logging cycles have negative impacts on ant communities, these degraded forests clearly provide important habitat for numerous species and preventing their conversion to oil palm and other crops should be a conservation priority. PMID:22006966

Interhemispheric inhibition during mental actions of different complexity.

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Nicolas Gueugneau

Full Text Available Several investigations suggest that actual and mental actions trigger similar neural substrates. Yet, neurophysiological evidences on the nature of interhemispheric interactions during mental movements are still meagre. Here, we asked whether the content of mental images, investigated by task complexity, is finely represented in the inhibitory interactions between the two primary motor cortices (M1s. Subjects' left M1 was stimulated by means of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS while they were performing actual or mental movements of increasing complexity with their right hand and exerting a maximum isometric force with their left thumb and index. Thus, we simultaneously assessed the corticospinal excitability in the right opponent pollicis muscle (OP and the ipsilateral silent period (iSP in the left OP during actual and mental movements. Corticospinal excitability in right OP increased during actual and mental movements, but task complexity-dependent changes were only observed during actual movements. Interhemispheric motor inhibition in the left OP was similarly modulated by task complexity in both mental and actual movements. Precisely, the duration and the area of the iSP increased with task complexity in both movement conditions. Our findings suggest that mental and actual movements share similar inhibitory neural circuits between the two homologous primary motor cortex areas.

A new species of Hepatozoon (Apicomplexa: Adeleorina) from Python regius (Serpentes: Pythonidae) and its experimental transmission by a mosquito vector

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Sloboda, M.; Kamler, M.; Bulantová, J.; Votýpka, Jan; Modrý, David

2007-01-01

Roč. 93, č. 5 (2007), s. 1189-1198 ISSN 0022-3395 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) LC06009; GA ČR GD524/03/H133 Grant - others:GA ČR(CZ) GP524/03/D104 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60220518 Keywords : Hepatozoon * Python * Culex * transmission * SSU Subject RIV: EG - Zoology Impact factor: 1.129, year: 2007

Shock, stress or signal? Implications of freshwater flows for a top-level estuarine predator.

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Matthew D Taylor

Full Text Available Physicochemical variability in estuarine systems plays an important role in estuarine processes and in the lifecycles of estuarine organisms. In particular, seasonality of freshwater inflow to estuaries may be important in various aspects of fish lifecycles. This study aimed to further understand these relationships by studying the movements of a top-level estuarine predator in response to physicochemical variability in a large, temperate south-east Australian estuary (Shoalhaven River. Mulloway (Argyrosomus japonicus, 47-89 cm total length were surgically implanted with acoustic transmitters, and their movements and migrations monitored over two years via fixed-position VR2W acoustic receivers configured in a linear array along the length of the estuary. The study period included a high degree of abiotic variability, with multiple pulses (exponentially high flows over a short period of time in fresh water to the estuary, as well as broader seasonal variation in flow, temperature and conductivity. The relative deviation of fish from their modal location in the estuary was affected primarily by changes in conductivity, and smaller fish (n = 4 tended to deviate much further downstream from their modal position in the estuary than larger fish (n = 8. High-flow events which coincided with warmer temperatures tended to drive mature fish down the estuary and potentially provided a spawning signal to stimulate aggregation of adults near the estuary mouth; however, this relationship requires further investigation. These findings indicate that pulse and press effects of freshwater inflow and associated physicochemical variability play a role in the movements of mulloway, and that seasonality of large freshwater flows may be important in spawning. The possible implications of river regulation and the extraction of freshwater for consumptive uses on estuarine fishes are discussed.

[Niche and interspecific association of the dominant fish in the south coastal waters of Wenzhou, China].

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Dong, Jing Rui; Shui, Bo Nian; Hu, Cheng Ye; Shui, Yu Yue; DU, Xiao; Tian, Kuo

2017-05-18

The studies about the niche and interspecific association in China were mainly focused on the plants, birds and marine animals, and seldom on fish. Based on the fishery resources survey in spring (May) and autumn (September) in 2015, the associations among major fish species in south coastal waters of Wenzhou were investigated. The methods including niche breadth, niche overlap, variance ratio (VR), Χ 2 -test, association coefficient (AC), percentage of co-occurrence (PC) and point correlation coefficients (Ф) were used. The results showed that 47 fish species were identified, including 9 orders, 27 families and 41 genera. Four species were dominant species and 9 were important species, which together accounted for 17%. The niche breadth cluster analysis demonstrated two clearly identifiable ecological niches. The first one referred to wide niche that included Harpodon nehereus, Collichthys lucidus, Engraulis japonicas, Pampus echinogaster, Argyrosomus argentatus, Polynemus sextarius, Decapterus maruadsi and Trichiurus haumela, and the second one was narrow niche that included Muraenesox cinereus, Amblychaeturichthys hexanema, Cunoglossus robustus, Pseudosciaena polyactis and Ilisha elongate. The niche overlap value of the main fish was 0-0.90, indicating that there was difference in the resource utilization among the species. The ecological niche widths of C. robustus and M. cinereus were narrow, and the overlap values were high. This indicated that there was competition between these two species. The VR analysis revealed significant positive correlation among the main fish species. In view of the advantages of Ф value, which could reduce the impact of the analysis results of Χ 2 -test, AC and PC to the interspecific association, the Ф value method was selected in this study, and the association of 63 couples were positive. Both the interspecific association and ecological niche had different degrees of correlation with the stability of community structure

Low cost of gastric acid secretion during digestion in ball pythons.

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Nørgaard, Simon; Andreassen, Kim; Malte, Christian Lind; Enok, Sanne; Wang, Tobias

2016-04-01

Due to their large metabolic responses to digestion (specific dynamic action, SDA), snakes represent an interesting animal group to identify the underlying mechanisms for the postprandial rise in metabolism. The SDA response results from the energetic costs of many different processes ranging over prey handling, secretions by the digestive system, synthesis of enzymes, plasticity of most visceral organs, as well as protein synthesis and nitrogen excretion. The contribution of the individual mechanisms, however, remains elusive. Gastric acid secretion has been proposed to account for more than half of the SDA response, while other studies report much lower contributions of the gastric processes. To investigate the energetic cost of gastric acid secretion, ball pythons (Python regius) were fed meals with added amounts of bone meal (up to 25 g bone meal kg(-1) snake) to achieve a five-fold rise in the buffer capacity of the meals. Direct measurements within the stomach lumen showed similar reduction in gastric pH when buffer capacity was increased, but we found no effects on the rise in oxygen consumption over the first three days of digestion. There was, however, a slower return of oxygen consumption to resting baseline. We conclude that gastric acid secretion only contributes modestly to the SDA response and propose that post-absorptive processes, such as increased protein synthesis, are likely to underlie the SDA response. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Unilateral microphthalmia or anophthalmia in eight pythons (Pythonidae).

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Da Silva, Mari-Ann O; Bertelsen, Mads F; Wang, Tobias; Pedersen, Michael; Lauridsen, Henrik; Heegaard, Steffen

2015-01-01

To provide morphological descriptions of microphthalmia or anophthalmia in eight pythons using microcomputerized tomography (μCT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and histopathology. Seven Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) and one ball python (P. regius) with clinically normal right eyes and an abnormal or missing left eye. At the time of euthanasia, four of the eight snakes underwent necropsy. Hereafter, the heads of two Burmese pythons and one ball python were examined using μCT, and another Burmese python was subjected to MRI. Following these procedures, the heads of these four pythons along with the heads of an additional three Burmese pythons were prepared for histology. All eight snakes had left ocular openings seen as dermal invaginations between 0.2 and 2.0 mm in diameter. They also had varying degrees of malformations of the orbital bones and a limited presence of nervous, glandular, and muscle tissue in the posterior orbit. Two individuals had small but identifiable eyes. Furthermore, remnants of the pigmented embryonic framework of the hyaloid vessels were found in the anophthalmic snakes. Necropsies revealed no other macroscopic anomalies. Eight pythons with unilateral left-sided microphthalmia or anophthalmia had one normal eye and a left orbit with malformed or incompletely developed ocular structures along with remnants of fetal structures. These cases lend further information to a condition that is often seen in snakes, but infrequently described. © 2014 American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists.

Account of Haly Abbas regarding the management of hydrocephalus in children: a text from medieval times.

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Aciduman, Ahmet; Arda, Berna; Aşkit, Cağatay; Belen, Deniz; Tuzcu, Kemal

2014-12-01

To present the text on hydrocephalus from Haly Abbas's book Kitāb al-Malikī / Liber Regius (The Royal Book), which was accepted as a classical textbook in the Eastern and Western worlds for a long time. The Arabic (Süleymaniye Manuscript Library, Murad Molla Collection, Nr: 1482 and Būlāḳ, 1294 /1877) and the Latin (Venice, 1492) versions of the related chapter was translated and compared to create an English text. Additionally, relevant literature was reviewed in detail. The text on hydrocephalus in Haly Abbas's The Royal Book virtually resembles Paul of Aegina's work. For hydrocephalic cases where the fluid collects between skin and pericranium, and pericranium and bone, Haly Abbas had made little change in surgical intervention; for the third type, skin incision, he preferred a T-type incision instead of an H-type. Like Paul of Aegina, Haly Abbas also did not advise any surgical intervention for the cases of hydrocephalus, where fluid accumulation is between bone and the dura mater. Haly Abbas's approach to hydrocephalus was as brave as that of his predecessors Antyllus, Oribasius, and Paulus, although the cases they dealt with were almost all cephalic hematomas. Although his chapter on the treatment of water accumulation in the head contains surgical interventions in extracranial hydrocephalic conditions, his account on hydrocephalus is extremely precise and gives adequate detail as in other chapters in his book. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Drugs in sport.

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McGrath, J C; Cowan, D A

2008-06-01

This themed issue of the British Journal of Pharmacology has been compiled and edited by Ian McGrath, Regius Professor of Physiology at University of Glasgow and David Cowan, Director of the Drug Control Centre at King's College London. It contains 11 articles covering the mechanisms of action of the major groups of drugs used illicitly in sport. The articles, written by experts in how drugs work, set out where drugs can or cannot affect sporting performance, how this relates to their legitimate medicinal use, their other detrimental effects and how they can be detected. Publication coincides with Olympic year, when sport is highlighted in the public mind and much speculation is made concerning the use of drugs. The articles provide a framework of expert, accurate knowledge to inform and facilitate these debates and to help to overcome the ill-informed and dangerous anecdotal information by which sports men and women are persuaded to misuse drugs in the mistaken belief that this will improve their performance without present or future ill effects. A unique article is included by the Spedding brothers, Mike with a long career in drug discovery and Charlie, the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Marathon Bronze Medallist and still the English National Marathon record holder. From their unique experience, they describe the insidious and unfair way that drug-assisted performance undermines the ethos of sport and endangers the vital place of sport in maintaining the health of the population.

Allbutt of Leeds and Duchenne de Boulogne: Newly discovered insights on Duchenne by a British neuropsychiatrist.

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Reynolds, E H; Broussolle, E

2018-02-01

It is well-established that Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand Duchenne de Boulogne (1806-1875), and Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893) were the founding fathers of Parisian and French neurology during the second half of the 19th century, although much more is known about Charcot than about his "master" Duchenne. In Britain, Thomas Clifford Allbutt (1836-1925) was Leeds' most distinguished physician of the 19th century, eventually becoming Regius Professor of Physic at Cambridge. Allbutt's 1860-1861 year of postgraduate study in Paris and his friendship with Duchenne profoundly influenced his own contributions to nervous system and mental diseases, partly in collaboration with his colleague James Crichton-Browne (1840-1938) at the nearby West Riding Lunatic Asylum in Wakefield, Yorkshire. The present report briefly recalls the careers of Duchenne and Allbutt, and also presents a unique account by Allbutt of Duchenne in action at the height of his powers, investigating and defining the previously uncharted field of neuromuscular diseases with the aid of his localized electrization techniques. This account is discussed in relation to: Duchenne's personality and pioneering neurological achievements; the origins of French neurology; and the development of Anglo-French neurological relationships during the 19th century. Interestingly, both Duchenne and Crichton-Browne separately made important and much-appreciated contributions to the third major book by Charles Darwin (1809-1882), The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, published in 1872. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

A Cross-sectional study to assess knowledge, practice and self- reported morbidity symptoms of pesticide use among farm women

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Srujana Medithi

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Background: Inevitable pesticide use in Indian agriculture has posed an increased risk of exposure to the farmers, which may lead to adverse health manifestations. Therefore, it is essential that the farmers must be aware of the harmful effects of pesticides. Aims and Objectives: To assess knowledge, practice and identify self-reported morbidity symptoms associated with pesticide use among farm women in the identified villages of Telangana, India. Materials and Methods: Community based cross-sectional study was conducted using a pre-tested questionnaire to carry out the survey among farmwomen. Results: 129 women working in agricultural farms were included in the study. Meagre knowledge regarding route of pesticide exposure was observed. Majority of them were not aware of toxicity symbols and never read the precautions on the pesticide containers. Inaccessibility was the main reason for insubstantial use of personal protective equipments (PPEs. Unsafe storage and disposal practices of containers were observed. Weakness (57.3%, headache (52% and itching of skin (51.1% were the common morbidity symptoms. Significant association was found between morbidity symptoms and use of PPE and hygienic practices, indicating importance of such practices. Conclusion: Improving knowledge which influences their practices and encouraging PPE use might be useful to remediate these issues. Monitoring studies may further aid to obtain the outcome of the awareness programmes and subsequently improved intervention methods can also be implemented.

Morphometric analysis of sub-watershed in parts of Western Ghats, South India using ASTER DEM

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Evangelin Ramani Sujatha

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Morphometric analysis is a key to understand the hydrological process and hence is a prerequisite for the assessment of hydrological characteristics of surface water basin. Morphometric analysis to determine the drainage characteristics of Palar sub-watershed, a part of Shanmukha watershed in the Amaravati sub-catchment is done using Advanced Space-borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Global Digital Elevation Model (ASTER GDEM data, and is supplemented with topographical maps in geographical information systems platform. This study uses ASTER GDEM data to extract morphometric features of a mountain stream at micro-watershed level. The sub-watershed is divided into six micro-watersheds. The sub-watershed includes a sixth-order stream. Lower stream orders, in particular first-order streams, dominate the sub-watershed. Development of stream segments is controlled by slope and local relief. Drainage pattern of the sub-watershed and micro-watersheds is dendritic in general. The mean bifurcation ratio of the sub-watershed is 3.69 but its variation between the various stream orders suggests structural control in the development of stream network. The shape factors reveal the elongation of the sub-watershed and micro-watersheds.The relief ratio reveals the high discharge capability of the sub-watershed and meagre groundwater potential. This study is a useful tool for planning strategies in control of soil erosion and soil conservation.

Growth and cellular ion content of a salt-sensitive symbiotic system Azolla pinnata-Anabaena azollae under NaCl stress.

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Rai, Vandna; Sharma, Naveen Kumar; Rai, Ashwani K

2006-09-01

Salinity, at a concentration of 10 mM NaCl affected the growth of Azolla pinnata-Anabaena azollae association and became lethal at 40 mM. Plants exposed up to 30 mM NaCl exhibited longer roots than the control, especially during the beginning of incubation. Average root number in plants exposed to 10 and 20 mM NaCl remained almost the same as in control. A further rise in NaCl concentration to 30 mM reduced the root number, and roots shed off at 40 mM NaCl. Presence of NaCl in the nutrient solution increased the cellular Na+ of the intact association exhibiting differential accumulation by individual partners, while it reduced the cellular Ca2+ level. However, cellular K+ content did not show significant change. Cellular Na+ based on fresh weight of respective individual partners (host tissues and cyanobiont) remained higher in the host tissues than the cyanobiont, while reverse was true for K+ and Ca2+ contents. The contribution of A. azollae in the total cellular ion content of the association was a little because of meagre contribution of the cyanobiont mass (19-21%). High salt sensitivity of Azolla-Anabaena complex is due to an inability of the association to maintain low Na+ and high Ca2+ cellular level.

Social modulation of contagious yawning in wolves.

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Teresa Romero

Full Text Available On the basis of observational and experimental evidence, several authors have proposed that contagious yawn is linked to our capacity for empathy, thus presenting a powerful tool to explore the root of empathy in animal evolution. The evidence for the occurrence of contagious yawning and its link to empathy, however, is meagre outside primates and only recently domestic dogs have demonstrated this ability when exposed to human yawns. Since dogs are unusually skillful at reading human communicative behaviors, it is unclear whether this phenomenon is deeply rooted in the evolutionary history of mammals or evolved de novo in dogs as a result of domestication. Here we show that wolves are capable of yawn contagion, suggesting that such ability is a common ancestral trait shared by other mammalian taxa. Furthermore, the strength of the social bond between the model and the subject positively affected the frequency of contagious yawning, suggesting that in wolves the susceptibility of yawn contagion correlates with the level of emotional proximity. Moreover, female wolves showed a shorter reaction time than males when observing yawns of close associates, suggesting that females are more responsive to their social stimuli. These results are consistent with the claim that the mechanism underlying contagious yawning relates to the capacity for empathy and suggests that basic building blocks of empathy might be present in a wide range of species.

The History of Physical Education in Spanish Schools. A transversal bibliographical review to foster a social and critical history of physical education

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Xavier Torrebadella-Flix

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This article presents a review of 226 studies that shed light on the history of physical education in Spanish schools from 1881 to the present day. Following documentary analysis of these studies, we call for proposals concerning new theoretical and methodological approaches to add to a social and critical history of physical education. The methodology applied introduces a literature review of localised studies (doctoral theses, book with IBSN, articles in academic journals and conference papers in Spanish sources of academic documentation (Dialnet, Google Académico, Recoleta, Teseo, etc., followed by an analysis of their content, with the corresponding document indexing. The work is divided into two parts: in the first we approach the fields of study related to physical education in schools, and in the second we undertake a critical evaluation of the studies presented, from 1881 to 2015, in order of the main nature of their content. The results reveal the state of the history of physical education in Spanish schools. The meagre interest raised by studies into physical education in Spain inveighs against this area of research, which, nevertheless, still harbours an aspiration to re-contextualise knowledge in its own field. To this end we propose new lines of research, point out the advantages and disadvantages of steering history towards a different social and critical paradigm, and discuss the issues that this raises.

Sustainable development and low carbon growth strategy for India

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Parikh, Kirit

2012-01-01

For India, sustainable strategy means one that is economically, environmentally and socially sustainable. This calls for rapid economic growth to deal with poverty and human development. However, the relatively meagre energy resources of the country pose a huge challenge. At the same time concern for climate change has raised the bar on the use of the one energy resource that India has in some abundance, namely coal. India's strategy for sustainable development has to explore all options of reducing energy needs, enhancing efficiency of use of conventional energy resources and develop new and renewable sources. The paper identifies various technical options, their potential roles and alternative policy measures to realize them in a cost effective manner. Even for the same objectives different policy instruments are available and how one chooses a particular instrument is often critical for the success. Self-implementing incentive compatible policy that does not create vested interests that would get entrenched should be preferred. -- Highlights: ► Energy efficiency is critical for sustainable development. ► India can reduce its emission intensity by 25 % by 2020 as proposed by India at Copenhagen. ► With a more aggressive effort even 35% reduction is attainable even with 8% or 9% growth. ► Energy efficient appliances, vehicles, buildings and industrial processes are needed. ► Policies that incentivize adoption of these pose critical challenges.

The New Zealand Liver Transplant Unit: Auckland District Health Board.

Science.gov (United States)

Munn, Stephen R; Evans, Helen M; Gane, Edward J

2014-01-01

New Zealand is a geographically isolated country with 4.55 million inhabitants. It has endemic hepatitis B (HBV) infection that is especially evident in Maori and Pacific Island communities and impacts indications for liver transplantation. The country has a socialised medical system that allows for full coverage of the assessment for, and completion of liver transplants in suitable recipients. Between February 1998 and December 2014, the New Zealand Liver Transplant Unit (NZLTU) had performed 595 liver transplants in 568 patients, indicating a crude re-transplant rate of 4.8%. Overall 1, 5, and 10 year patient survival rates for all adult (96%, 89%, and 81%, respectively) and pediatric (93%, 92%, and 92%, respectively) recipients compare very favourably with international outcomes from Europe and the United States. Eligibility criteria could be modestly expanded if deceased donor rates improved from the current level of around 10 per million of population per year. This somewhat meagre supply of deceased donor organs, along with significant waiting list attrition, has necessitated the use of living donors, which have been used in more than 50 recipients to date. Despite these limitations, the NZLTU has contributed to improvements in the outcome of transplantation for HBV and hepatitis C through the development of effective antiviral prophylaxis regimes. Furthermore, innovative changes have been made to the manner in which pediatric patients are transitioned to the adult service.

Schooling, the underclass and intergenerational mobility: a dual education system dilemma

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Tracey Morton McKay

2015-07-01

Full Text Available School education in South Africa has seen much progressive change in the last 20 years. Yet educational outcomes are poor and many argue that a dual education system exists. Those with financial and socio-cultural capital access resourced schools, while poor South Africans are relegated to schools still suffering from apartheid resource neglect. This empirical study of high schools in Alexandra township, a poor black African residential area, demonstrates both the extent of the resource backlog and the consequences thereof. Secondary schools in Alexandra have an inadequate number, and standard, of toilets, libraries, computer facilities and science laboratories. They also have relatively high learner to teacher ratios and poor matriculation success rates. Enrolment in such schools means learners achieve a poor quality matriculation certificate or none at all, thus, trapping these learners into significant disadvantage. Meagre financial resources preclude Alexandra parents from selecting better resourced schools. Thus, for these learners, neither their legal rights with respect to school choice nor their geographical proximity to resourced schools has ensured redress from the apartheid past. The result is that intergenerational class mobility is limited. Thus, the dual nature of South Africa’s education system is creating a vicious cycle of intergenerational poverty where young people cannot improve their living standards despite enrolment in secondary schooling.

An analysis of the Research Team-Service User relationship from the Service User perspective: a consideration of 'The Three Rs' (Roles, Relations, and Responsibilities) for healthcare research organisations.

Science.gov (United States)

Jordan, Melanie; Rowley, Emma; Morriss, Richard; Manning, Nick

2015-12-01

This article debates interview data from service users who engaged with the work of a Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC). The evidence base, to date, concerning the nature of CLAHRC work at the frontline (i.e. What is it actually like to do CLAHRC work?) is meagre; thus, this article represents an original contribution to that literature. Further, this article analyses service users' participation in research - as members of the research team - and so contributes to the body of developing literature regarding involvement too. This article explores the nature of the Research Team-Service User relationship, plus associated roles, relations and responsibilities of collaborative health research. Qualitative social science research was undertaken in a health-care research organization utilizing interview method and a medical sociology and organizational sociology theoretical framework for analysis. Data utilized originate from a larger evaluation study that focuses on the CLAHRC as an iterative organization and explores members' experiences. There can be a disparity between initial expectations and actual experiences of involvement for service users. Therefore, as structured via 'The Three Rs' (Roles, Relations and Responsibilities), aspects of the relationship are evaluated (e.g. motivation, altruism, satisfaction, transparency, scope, feedback, communication, time). Regarding the inclusion of service users in health research teams, a careful consideration of 'The Three Rs' is required to ensure expectations match experiences. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Effects of preoperative administration of butorphanol or meloxicam on physiologic responses to surgery in ball pythons.

Science.gov (United States)

Olesen, Mette G; Bertelsen, Mads F; Perry, Steve F; Wang, Tobias

2008-12-15

To characterize physiologic responses of ball pythons (Python regius) following a minor surgical procedure and investigate the effects of 2 commonly used analgesics on this response. 15 healthy ball pythons. Snakes were randomly assigned to receive 1 of 3 treatments: meloxicam (0.3 mg/kg [0.14 mg/lb]; n = 5), butorphanol (5 mg/kg [2.3 mg/lb]; 5), or saline (0.9% NaCl) solution (5) before catheterization of the vertebral artery. Plasma concentrations of catecholamines and cortisol, blood pressure, heart rate, and blood gas values were measured at various times for 72.5 hours after catheterization. The 72.5-hour point was defined as baseline. Heart rate of ball pythons increased significantly during the first hour following surgery. Mean plasma epinephrine concentration increased slightly at 2.5 hours after surgery, whereas mean plasma cortisol concentration increased beginning at 1.5 hours, reaching a maximum at 6.5 hours. Mean blood pressure increased within the first hour but returned to the baseline value at 2.5 hours after surgery. After 24.5 hours, blood pressure, heart rate, and plasma hormone concentrations remained stable at baseline values. There were no significant differences in values for physiologic variables between snakes that received saline solution and those that received meloxicam or butorphanol. Measurement of physiologic variables provides a means of assessing postoperative pain in snakes. Meloxicam and butorphanol at the dosages used did not decrease the physiologic stress response and did not appear to provide analgesic effects in ball pythons.

A study on the frictional response of reptilian shed skin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abdel-Aal, H A; Vargiolu, R; Zahouani, H; Mansori, M El

2011-01-01

Deterministic surfaces are constructs of which profile, topography and textures are integral to the function of the system they enclose. They are designed to yield a predetermined tribological response. Developing such entities relies on controlling the structure of the rubbing interface so that, not only the surface is of optimized topography, but also is able to self-adjust its tribological behaviour according to the evolution of sliding conditions. In seeking inspirations for such designs, many engineers are turning toward the biological world to study the construction and behaviour of bio-analogues, and to probe the role surface topography assumes in conditioning of frictional response. That is how a bio-analogue can self-adjust its tribological response to adapt to habitat constraints. From a tribological point of view, Squamate Reptiles, offer diverse examples where surface texturing, submicron and nano-scale features, achieves frictional regulation. In this paper, we study the frictional response of shed skin obtained from a snake (Python regius). The study employed a specially designed tribo-acoustic probe capable of measuring the coefficient of friction and detecting the acoustical behavior of the skin in vivo. The results confirm the anisotropy of the frictional response of snakes. The coefficient of friction depends on the direction of sliding: the value in forward motion is lower than that in the backward direction. Diagonal and side winding motion induces a different value of the friction coefficient. We discuss the origin of such a phenomenon in relation to surface texturing and study the energy constraints, implied by anisotropic friction, on the motion of the reptile.

A study on the frictional response of reptilian shed skin

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Abdel-Aal, H A [Arts et Metier ParisTech, Rue Saint Dominique BP 508, 51006 Chalons-en-Champagne (France); Vargiolu, R; Zahouani, H [Laboratoire de Tribology et Dynamique des Systemes, UMR CNRS 5513, ENI Saint Etienne - Ecole Centrale de Lyon -36 Avenue Guy de Collongue, 69131 Ecully cedex. France (France); Mansori, M El, E-mail: Hisham.abdel-aal@ensam.eu [Ecole Nationale Superieure d' Arts et Metiers, 2, cours des Arts et Metiers - 13617 Aix en Provence cedex 1 (France)

2011-08-19

Deterministic surfaces are constructs of which profile, topography and textures are integral to the function of the system they enclose. They are designed to yield a predetermined tribological response. Developing such entities relies on controlling the structure of the rubbing interface so that, not only the surface is of optimized topography, but also is able to self-adjust its tribological behaviour according to the evolution of sliding conditions. In seeking inspirations for such designs, many engineers are turning toward the biological world to study the construction and behaviour of bio-analogues, and to probe the role surface topography assumes in conditioning of frictional response. That is how a bio-analogue can self-adjust its tribological response to adapt to habitat constraints. From a tribological point of view, Squamate Reptiles, offer diverse examples where surface texturing, submicron and nano-scale features, achieves frictional regulation. In this paper, we study the frictional response of shed skin obtained from a snake (Python regius). The study employed a specially designed tribo-acoustic probe capable of measuring the coefficient of friction and detecting the acoustical behavior of the skin in vivo. The results confirm the anisotropy of the frictional response of snakes. The coefficient of friction depends on the direction of sliding: the value in forward motion is lower than that in the backward direction. Diagonal and side winding motion induces a different value of the friction coefficient. We discuss the origin of such a phenomenon in relation to surface texturing and study the energy constraints, implied by anisotropic friction, on the motion of the reptile.

Detection of nidoviruses in live pythons and boas.

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Marschang, Rachel E; Kolesnik, Ekaterina

2017-02-09

Nidoviruses have recently been described as a putative cause of severe respiratory disease in pythons in the USA and Europe. The objective of this study was to establish the use of a conventional PCR for the detection of nidoviruses in samples from live animals and to extend the list of susceptible species. A PCR targeting a portion of ORF1a of python nidoviruses was used to detect nidoviruses in diagnostic samples from live boas and pythons. A total of 95 pythons, 84 boas and 22 snakes of unknown species were included in the study. Samples tested included oral swabs and whole blood. Nidoviruses were detected in 27.4% of the pythons and 2.4% of the boas tested. They were most commonly detected in ball pythons (Python [P.] regius) and Indian rock pythons (P. molurus), but were also detected for the first time in other python species, including Morelia spp. and Boa constrictor. Oral swabs were most commonly tested positive. The PCR described here can be used for the detection of nidoviruses in oral swabs from live snakes. These viruses appear to be relatively common among snakes in captivity in Europe and screening for these viruses should be considered in the clinical work-up. Nidoviruses are believed to be an important cause of respiratory disease in pythons, but can also infect boas. Detection of these viruses in live animals is now possible and can be of interest both in diseased animals as well as in quarantine situations.

Anatomy of the python heart.

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Jensen, Bjarke; Nyengaard, Jens R; Pedersen, Michael; Wang, Tobias

2010-12-01

The hearts of all snakes and lizards consist of two atria and a single incompletely divided ventricle. In general, the squamate ventricle is subdivided into three chambers: cavum arteriosum (left), cavum venosum (medial) and cavum pulmonale (right). Although a similar division also applies to the heart of pythons, this family of snakes is unique amongst snakes in having intracardiac pressure separation. Here we provide a detailed anatomical description of the cardiac structures that confer this functional division. We measured the masses and volumes of the ventricular chambers, and we describe the gross morphology based on dissections of the heart from 13 ball pythons (Python regius) and one Burmese python (P. molurus). The cavum venosum is much reduced in pythons and constitutes approximately 10% of the cavum arteriosum. We suggest that shunts will always be less than 20%, while other studies conclude up to 50%. The high-pressure cavum arteriosum accounted for approximately 75% of the total ventricular mass, and was twice as dense as the low-pressure cavum pulmonale. The reptile ventricle has a core of spongious myocardium, but the three ventricular septa that separate the pulmonary and systemic chambers--the muscular ridge, the bulbuslamelle and the vertical septum--all had layers of compact myocardium. Pythons, however, have unique pads of connective tissue on the site of pressure separation. Because the hearts of varanid lizards, which also are endowed with pressure separation, share many of these morphological specializations, we propose that intraventricular compact myocardium is an indicator of high-pressure systems and possibly pressure separation.

Solar Energy Gain and Space-Heating Energy Supply Analyses for Solid-Wall Dwelling Retrofitted with the Experimentally Achievable U-value of Novel Triple Vacuum Glazing

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Saim Memon

2017-06-01

Full Text Available A considerable effort is devoted to devising retrofit solutions for reducing space-heating energy in the domestic sector. Existing UK solid-wall dwellings, which have both heritage values and historic fabric, are being improved but they tend to have meagre thermal performance, partly, due to the heat-loss through glazings. This paper takes comparative analyses approach to envisage space-heating supply required in order to maintain thermal comfort temperatures and attainable solar energy gains to households with the retrofit of an experimentally achievable thermal performance of the fabricated sample of triple vacuum glazing to a UK solid-wall dwelling. 3D dynamic thermal models (timely regimes of heating, occupancy, ventilation and internal heat gains of an externally-insulated solid-wall detached dwelling with a range of existing glazing types along with triple vacuum glazings are modelled. A dramatic decrease of space-heating load and moderate increase of solar gains are resulted with the dwelling of newly achievable triple vacuum glazings (having centre-of-pane U-value of 0.33 Wm-2K-1 compared to conventional glazing types. The space-heating annual cost of single glazed dwellings was minimised to 15.31% (≈USD 90.7 with the retrofit of triple-vacuum glazings. An influence of total heat-loss through the fabric of solid-wall dwelling was analysed with steady-state calculations which indicates a fall of 10.23 % with triple vacuum glazings compared to single glazings.

English Orthographic Learning in Chinese-L1 Young EFL Beginners.

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Cheng, Yu-Lin

2017-12-01

English orthographic learning, among Chinese-L1 children who were beginning to learn English as a foreign language, was documented when: (1) only visual memory was at their disposal, (2) visual memory and either some letter-sound knowledge or some semantic information was available, and (3) visual memory, some letter-sound knowledge and some semantic information were all available. When only visual memory was available, orthographic learning (measured via an orthographic choice test) was meagre. Orthographic learning was significant when either semantic information or letter-sound knowledge supplemented visual memory, with letter-sound knowledge generating greater significance. Although the results suggest that letter-sound knowledge plays a more important role than semantic information, letter-sound knowledge alone does not suffice to achieve perfect orthographic learning, as orthographic learning was greatest when letter-sound knowledge and semantic information were both available. The present findings are congruent with a view that the orthography of a foreign language drives its orthographic learning more than L1 orthographic learning experience, thus extending Share's (Cognition 55:151-218, 1995) self-teaching hypothesis to include non-alphabetic L1 children's orthographic learning of an alphabetic foreign language. The little letter-sound knowledge development observed in the experiment-I control group indicates that very little letter-sound knowledge develops in the absence of dedicated letter-sound training. Given the important role of letter-sound knowledge in English orthographic learning, dedicated letter-sound instruction is highly recommended.

Anemia among hospitalized children at a multispecialty hospital, Bangalore (Karnataka, India

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Firdos Saba

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Due to the limited availability of data related to anemia in hospitalized children, this research was conducted to study the occurrence, morphological patterns, distribution in different age groups, sex, and severity of anemia among children aged 6 months-12 years. Setting: Inpatients in department of pediatrics at a multispecialty hospital, Bangalore. Study Design: Descriptive cross sectional study from Oct, 2011 to Sep, 2012. Materials and Methods: Ethical clearance was obtained from the ethical committee of the hospital as per 1964 Declaration of Helsinki. Unrestricted random sampling method was used to select the study group consisting of 882 children between the age of 6 months and 12 years. After obtaining the consent, data were obtained and statistically analyzed using statistical tools like mean, median, standard deviation, and Chi-square test. Results: Out of 882 children selected, 642 (72.79% were anemic, out of which a majority of 629 (98% children suffered from nonhemoglobinopathies and a meagre 13 (2% suffered from hemoglobinopathies. Children in the age group of 6 months-1 year were most affected with nonhemoglobinopathies (33%. Moderate degree of anemia (hemoglobin = 7-9.9 g/dL was the commonest grade of anemia (80%, while microcytic hypochromic anemia was commonest morphological type of anemia (48%. Among hemoglobinopathies, thalassemia major was the most common (69%, that is 9 out of 13 patients. Conclusion: The occurrence of anemia among children aged between 6 months and 12 years is high and nonhemoglobinopathies predominate over the hemoglobinopathies.

Phytochemical and biological assessment of medicinally important plant ochradenus arabicus

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hussain, J.

2014-01-01

Jabal Al-Akhdar (Oman) is one of diverse floral region of Arabian Peninsula. Ochradenus arabicus, is an important medicinal plant to local people of the area. However, little is known about its potential role in biological activities against various emerging ailments. The collected plant samples were extracted with methanol and fractionated into n-hexane (JOAH), ethyl acetate (JOAE), chloroform (JOAC), n-butanol (JOAB) and water (JOAAQ). Various concentrations of these fractions were tested for their antimicrobial, anticancer, antioxidant, antidiabetic, phenolics, flavonoids, allopathic and nutrition quality properties. The results showed that fruits and leaves of O. arabicus have higher levels of carbohydrate, crude fats, fibres, proteins, moisture, ash and energy values. In phytotoxic activities, JOAAQ inhibited the lettuce seed germination and growth. The anticancer activities of fractions showed that JOAE, JOAB and JOAAQ are potent to reduce the cancer cell viability of HT29, HCT116, HepG2 and MCF-7 lines with a concentration of 1000 micro g/ml. JOAB showed a meagre activity of 12% in Glucosidase inhibition assay. The total phenolic and flavonoid contents were significantly higher in JOAE, which also resulted in higher DPPH radical scavenging activity as compared to other fractions and control. JOAE also exhibited higher antibacterial and antifungal activities. The results of current findings suggest that O. arabicus is a potential medicinal plants, which could be subjected to advance column chromatography for lead compounds using a bioassay guided approach. (author)

Biotechnology for uranium extraction and environmental control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Natarajan, K.A.

2012-01-01

India is looking forward to augmenting mining and extraction of uranium mineral for its nuclear energy needs. Being a radio-active mineral, mining and processing of uranium ore deposits need be carried out in an environmentally acceptable fashion. In this respect, a biotechnological approach holds great promise since it is environment-friendly, cost-effective and energy-efficient. There are several types of microorganisms which inhabit uranium ore bodies and biogenesis plays an important role in the mineralisation and transport of uranium-bearing minerals under the earth's crust. Uranium occurrences in India are only meagre and it becomes essential to tap effectively all the available resources. Uraninite and pitchblende occurring along with sulfide mineralisation such as pyrite are ideal candidates for bioleaching. Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans present ubiquitously in the ore deposits can be isolated, cultured and utilised to bring about efficient acidic dissolution of uranium. Many such commercial attempts to extract uranium from even lean ores using acidophilic autotrophic bacteria have been made in different parts of the world. Anaerobes such a Geobacter and Sulfate Reducing Bacteria (SRB) can be effectively used in uranium mining for environmental control. Radioactive uranium mined wastes and tailing dumps can be cleaned and protected using microorganisms. In this lecture use of biotechnology in uranium extraction and bioremediation is illustrated with practical examples. Applicability of environment-friendly biotechnology for mining and extraction of uranium from Indian deposits is outlined. Commercial potentials for bioremediation in uranium-containing wastes are emphasised. (author)

Fish diets in a freshwater-deprived semiarid estuary (The Coorong, Australia) as inferred by stable isotope analysis

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Lamontagne, S.; Deegan, B. M.; Aldridge, K. T.; Brookes, J. D.; Geddes, M. C.

2016-09-01

In 2007, high rates of water extraction combined with a regional drought stopped freshwater discharge to the Coorong, a ∼120 km estuarine and coastal lagoon system at the outlet of the River Murray (Australia). The sources of organic matter sustaining the Coorong food web in the absence of river-borne organic matter and nutrient inputs were evaluated by measuring δ13C, δ15N and δ34S in large-bodied fish and their prey. In general, the δ34S of the food web (mean = 11.3‰; range = 4.32-18.9‰) suggested a comparable contribution from autochthonous pelagic (∼21‰) and benthic (<5‰) primary production. A relatively high δ13C in all organisms (-20 to -9.2‰) was also consistent with a dominant contribution from autochtonous sources to the food web. A Bayesian mixing model framework (SIMMR) was used to estimate the diet of large-bodied fish for statistically-determined prey groups based on their similarity in isotopic composition. Argyrosomus japonicus preyed primarily on Fish Group 1 (small pelagic fish like galaxiids and Hyperlophus vittatus), Rhombosolea tapirina on Invertebrate Group 2 (polychaetes like Capitella spp.) but Acanthopagrus butcheri fed on a wide variety of fish and invertebrate groups. A partial switch in diet to other prey groups suggested larger Ar. japonicus fed on larger prey, such as crabs and adult Aldrichetta forsteri. Despite being numerically abundant at the time, Fish Group 2 (benthic species) was a relatively low proportion of large-bodied fish diets. This probably reflected the tendency of some salt-tolerant members of this group (such as Atherinosoma microstoma) to prefer hypersaline habitats, which the large-bodied fish avoided. As the heavily preyed-on Fish Group 1 included species with a marine component to their life-cycle, marine productivity may also help to maintain this estuarine ecosystem in the absence of river-borne organic matter inputs.

The role of the sarcoplasmic reticulum in the generation of high heart rates and blood pressures in reptiles.

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Galli, Gina L J; Gesser, Hans; Taylor, Edwin W; Shiels, Holly A; Wang, Tobias

2006-05-01

The functional significance of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) in the generation of high heart rates and blood pressures was investigated in four species of reptile; the turtle, Trachemys scripta; the python, Python regius, the tegu lizard, Tupinanvis merianae, and the varanid lizard, Varanus exanthematicus. Force-frequency trials and imposed pauses were performed on ventricular and atrial tissue from each species with and without the SR inhibitor ryanodine, and in the absence and presence of adrenaline. In all species, an imposed pause of 1 or 5 min caused a post-rest decay of force, and a negative force-frequency response was observed in all species within their in vivo frequency range of heart rates. These relationships were not affected by either ryanodine or adrenaline. In ventricular strips from varanid lizards and pythons, ryanodine caused significant reductions in twitch force within their physiologically relevant frequency range. In atrial tissue from the tegu and varanid lizards, SR inhibition reduced twitch force across the whole of their physiological frequency range. In contrast, in the more sedentary species, the turtle and the python, SR inhibition only decreased twitch force at stimulation frequencies above maximal in vivo heart rates. Adrenaline caused an increase in twitch force in all species studied. In ventricular tissue, this positive inotropic effect was sufficient to overcome the negative effects of ryanodine. In atrial tissue however, adrenaline could only ameliorate the negative effects of ryanodine at the lower pacing frequencies. Our results indicate that reptiles recruit Ca2+ from the SR for force development in a frequency and tissue dependent manner. This is discussed in the context of the development of high reptilian heart rates and blood pressures.

The Natural Hospital Environment: a Socio-Technical-Material perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Fernando, Juanita; Dawson, Linda

2014-02-01

This paper introduces two concepts into analyses of information security and hospital-based information systems-- a Socio-Technical-Material theoretical framework and the Natural Hospital Environment. The research is grounded in a review of pertinent literature with previously published Australian (Victoria) case study data to analyse the way clinicians work with privacy and security in their work. The analysis was sorted into thematic categories, providing the basis for the Natural Hospital Environment and Socio-Technical-Material framework theories discussed here. Natural Hospital Environments feature inadequate yet pervasive computer use, aural privacy shortcomings, shared workspace, meagre budgets, complex regulation that hinders training outcomes and out-dated infrastructure and are highly interruptive. Working collaboratively in many cases, participants found ways to avoid or misuse security tools, such as passwords or screensavers for patient care. Workgroup infrastructure was old, architecturally limited, haphazard in some instances, and was less useful than paper handover sheets to ensure the quality of patient care outcomes. Despite valiant efforts by some participants, they were unable to control factors influencing the privacy of patient health information in public hospital settings. Future improvements to hospital-based organisational frameworks for e-health can only be made when there is an improved understanding of the Socio-Technical-Material theoretical framework and Natural Hospital Environment contexts. Aspects within control of clinicians and administrators can be addressed directly although some others are beyond their control. An understanding and acknowledgement of these issues will benefit the management and planning of improved and secure hospital settings. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comparison of myofibrillar protein degradation, antioxidant profile, fatty acids, metmyoglobin reducing activity, physicochemical properties and sensory attributes of gluteus medius and infraspinatus muscles in goats

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Kazeem D. Adeyemi

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The functionality of myofibrillar proteins is a major factor influencing the quality attributes of muscle foods. Nonetheless, the relationships between muscle type and oxidative changes in chevon during ageing are meagrely elucidated. Postmortem changes in antioxidant status and physicochemical properties of glycolytic gluteus medius (GM and oxidative infraspinatus (IS muscles in goats were compared. Methods Twenty Boer bucks (9–10 months old, body weight of 36.9 ± 0.725 kg were slaughtered and the carcasses were subjected to chill storage (4 ± 0.5 °C. Analyses were conducted on GM and IS muscles sampled on 0, 1, 4 and 7 d postmortem. Results Chill storage did not affect the antioxidant enzyme activities in both muscles. The IS had greater (P  0.05 on free thiol, MRA and TBARS. The GM had lower (P  0.05 on consumer preference for flavour, juiciness and overall acceptability. However, IS had higher (P < 0.05 tenderness score than GM on d 1 and 4 postmortem. Intramuscular fat was higher (P < 0.05 in IS compared with GM. Fatty acid composition did not differ between the muscles. However, GM had lower (P < 0.05 n-6/n-3 ratio than IS. The n-3 and n-6 PUFA declined (P < 0.05 while the SFA increased (P < 0.05 over storage. Conclusion The changes in myofibrillar proteins and physicochemical properties of goat meat during postmortem chill storage are muscle-dependent.

A study of outliers in statistical distributions of mechanical properties of structural steels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oefverbeck, P.; Oestberg, G.

1977-01-01

The safety against failure of pressure vessels can be assessed by statistical methods, so-called probabilistic fracture mechanics. The data base for such estimations is admittedly rather meagre, making it necessary to assume certain conventional statistical distributions. Since the failure rates arrived at are low, for nuclear vessels of the order of 10 - to 10 - per year, the extremes of the variables involved, among other things the mechanical properties of the steel used, are of particular interest. A question sometimes raised is whether outliers, or values exceeding the extremes in the assumed distributions, might occur. In order to explore this possibility a study has been made of strength values of three qualities of structural steels, available in samples of up to about 12,000. Statistical evaluation of these samples with respect to outliers, using standard methods for this purpose, revealed the presence of such outliers in most cases, with a frequency of occurrence of, typically, a few values per thousand, estimated by the methods described. Obviously, statistical analysis alone cannot be expected to shed any light on the causes of outliers. Thus, the interpretation of these results with respect to their implication for the probabilistic estimation of the integrety of pressure vessels must await further studies of a similar nature in which the test specimens corresponding to outliers can be recovered and examined metallographically. For the moment the results should be regarded only as a factor to be considered in discussions of the safety of pressure vessels. (author)

Zwischen Wollen, aber nicht können und Können, aber nicht wollen: Übergangsprobleme von Jugendlichen in Japan am Beispiel der „Freeter`` und „NEETs``

Science.gov (United States)

Eswein, Mikiko; Pilz, Matthias

2012-08-01

Caught between wanting but not being able to, and being able, but not wanting to: Transitional problems among Japanese youths based on the examples of "Freeters" and "NEETs" - The study of processes of transition from the education system to employment is particularly important in light of youth unemployment. In Japan this transition process is often declared to be successful. In recent years, however, numerous signs have indicated a change in the situation. This article analyses this problem based on the examples of two Japanese social groups, "Freeters" and "NEETs". These terms refer to young adults who do not immediately move into to regular employment. The article begins by analysing the causes, then comments on education policy measures undertaken to tackle the issue. Drawing on scientifically grounded models it is shown that both social groups are characterised by meagre formal school qualifications. Social background, by contrast, is not particularly relevant; although there are hints that parents' financial means play an increasingly important role in determining whether a young person attends a high-level educational institution. Although public opinion in Japan frequently attributes values and attitudes to these groups that deviate from the norm, this is not conclusively supported by existing empirical findings. Consequently, the reasons for these transitional problems tend to be perceived as being connected to the difficult labour market situation resulting from the ongoing economic crisis. In addition to certain education policy initiatives, Japan will therefore rely heavily in future on the ability to effectively manage the integration of its shrinking cohorts of school and university graduates.

International observatory on mental health systems: structure and operation

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Minas Harry

2009-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Introduction Sustained cooperative action is required to improve the mental health of populations, particularly in low and middle-income countries where meagre mental health investment and insufficient human and other resources result in poorly performing mental health systems. The Observatory The International Observatory on Mental Health Systems is a mental health systems research, education and development network that will contribute to the development of high quality mental health systems in low and middle-income countries. The work of the Observatory will be done by mental health systems research, education and development groups that are located in and managed by collaborating organisations. These groups will be supported by the IOMHS Secretariat, the International IOMHS Steering Group and a Technical Reference Group. Summary The International Observatory on Mental Health Systems is: 1 the mental health systems research, education and development groups; 2 the IOMHS Steering Group; 3 the IOMHS Technical Reference Group; and 4 the IOMHS Secretariat. The work of the Observatory will depend on free and open collaboration, sharing of knowledge and skills, and governance arrangements that are inclusive and that put the needs and interests of people with mental illness and their families at the centre of decision-making. We welcome contact from individuals and institutions that wish to contribute to achieving the goals of the Observatory. Now is the time to make it happen where it matters, by turning scientific knowledge into effective action for people's health. (J.W. Lee, in his acceptance speech on his appointment as the Director-General of the World Health Organization 1.

Assessment of the essential element and heavy metal content of edible fish muscle

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carvalho, M.L.; Santiago, S. [Centro de Fisica Atomica, Faculdade de Ciencias da Universidade de Lisboa, Departamento de Fisica, Lisboa (Portugal); Nunes, M.L. [Instituto de Investigacao das Pescas e do Mar, Lisboa (Portugal)

2005-05-01

The aim of this work was to determine the concentrations of some essential and toxic elements in the muscle of ten species of commercial fish consumed in Portugal. We combined two different techniques for determination of the elements - energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) was used to quantify K, Ca, Fe, Zn, Se, Rb, and Sr and flame atomic-absorption spectrometry for analysis of Cr, Ni, Cu, Cd, Hg, and Pb. The latter technique was used because of its higher sensitivity, because these elements were not detected by EDXRF. The results obtained show a similar pattern for the trace elements. K and Ca are present at the highest concentrations in all the samples studied, from 0.6-1.3% and from 0.04-0.08%, respectively, followed by Zn, Fe, Sr, Se, and Rb. Sr is present at higher concentrations than Rb in all the species studied except meagre. Concentrations of the elements in octopus do not follow this pattern - Fe is present at a higher concentration than Zn. Low concentrations of Cr (0.66-1.5 {mu}g g{sup -1}), Ni (0.11-0.24 {mu}g g{sup -1}), Cd (0.01-0.08 {mu}g g{sup -1}), Hg (0.49-2.74 {mu}g g{sup -1}), and Pb (0.02-0.06 {mu}g g{sup -1}) were observed in all the samples analysed. The concentration of Hg was highest in Helicolenus dactylopterus - 5.4 {mu}g g{sup -1} in one sample. (orig.)

Evaluation of medical countermeasures against organophosphorus compounds: the value of experimental data and computer simulations.

Science.gov (United States)

Worek, Franz; Aurbek, Nadine; Herkert, Nadja M; John, Harald; Eddleston, Michael; Eyer, Peter; Thiermann, Horst

2010-09-06

Despite extensive research for more than six decades on medical countermeasures against poisoning by organophosphorus compounds (OP) the treatment options are meagre. The presently established acetylcholinesterase (AChE) reactivators (oximes), e.g. obidoxime and pralidoxime, are insufficient against a number of nerve agents and there is ongoing debate on the benefit of oxime treatment in human OP pesticide poisoning. Up to now, the therapeutic efficacy of oximes was mostly evaluated in animal models but substantial species differences prevent direct extrapolation of animal data to humans. Hence, it was considered essential to establish relevant experimental in vitro models for the investigation of oximes as antidotes and to develop computer models for the simulation of oxime efficacy in different scenarios of OP poisoning. Kinetic studies on the various interactions between erythrocyte AChE from various species, structurally different OP and different oximes provided a basis for the initial assessment of the ability of oximes to reactivate inhibited AChE. In the present study, in vitro enzyme-kinetic and pharmacokinetic data from a minipig model of dimethoate poisoning and oxime treatment were used to calculate dynamic changes of AChE activities. It could be shown that there is a close agreement between calculated and in vivo AChE activities. Moreover, computer simulations provided insight into the potential and limitations of oxime treatment. In the end, such data may be a versatile tool for the ongoing discussion of the pros and cons of oxime treatment in human OP pesticide poisoning. Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Detection and prevalence of boid inclusion body disease in collections of boas and pythons using immunological assays.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, L; Fu, D; Stenglein, M D; Hernandez, J A; DeRisi, J L; Jacobson, E R

2016-12-01

Inclusion body disease (IBD) of boas and pythons is characterized by the intracytoplasmic accumulation of an antigenic 68 kDa viral protein IBDP, more recently known as the nucleoprotein (NP) of the reptarenaviruses. Blood samples of 131 captive boas and pythons (53 boa constrictors, Boa constrictor; 35 rainbow boas, Epicrates cenchria; 22 ball pythons, Python regius; 5 carpet pythons, Morelia spilota; 6 Burmese pythons, Python bivittatus; 4 Jamaican boas, Epicrates subflavus; 5 anacondas, Eunectes spp.; and 1 green tree python, Morelia viridis) were obtained from 28 collections in the USA. Diagnosis of IBD was initially made by the identification of eosinophilic intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies in hematoxylin and eosin (HE) stained blood films and isolated peripheral white blood cells (PWBC). The overall prevalence of IBD in study snakes was 25/131 or 19% (95% CI = 12.4%, 25.8%) with boa constrictors being more commonly infected (22/53 or 41.5%; 95% CI = 28.2%, 54.8%) than other species in this study. Of the 22 IBD positive boa constrictors, 87% were clinically healthy, 13% had various signs of chronic illness, and none showed signs of central nervous system disease. Using a validated monoclonal anti-NP antibody, NP was confirmed within the isolated PWBC by immunohistochemical staining and Western blots. The presence of reptarenaviruses within blood samples of 27 boa constrictors and three rainbow boas was also assessed by PCR. Among boa constrictors, very good agreements were shown between the observation of inclusion bodies (by HE stain) and the presence of NP (by immunohistochemistry, kappa = 0.92; and Western blots, kappa = 0.89), or the presence of reptarenaviruses (by PCR; kappa = 0.92). Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of mammographic X-ray beams using a phosphor plate

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bustos F, M.; Prata M, A., E-mail: mbustos@ufmg.br [Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Departamento de Engenharia Nuclear, Av. Pte. Antonio Carlos 6627, 31270-901 Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais (Brazil)

2016-10-15

Currently, breast cancer is the second type of cancer more with higher overall incidence recorded in 2015, more than 57,000 new cases according to the National Cancer Institute of Brazil Mammography is now one of the imaging technique most widely used worldwide for the early diagnosis of breast cancer. The computed radiography (Cr) plates are used to obtain digital radiographs, and are widely used for digital mammogram production. This study aims to evaluate the variation response in the exposure of a Cr plate in mammography unit. For this study a mammography device model Graph A F Mammo, made by Vmi and a Cr plate, model Regius, were used for mammography. Experiments were made with two X-ray beams of 20 and 25 kV. Successive exposures of the Cr plate were made in a time range time from 0.5 to 2.5 s., to obtain unprocessed images .raw and subsequently make the measurement of time, air kerma and air kerma rate using a Ray Safe Xi meter. Five measurements for each exposure time were performed and the images were analyzed using the Image J software. A matrix of 21 x 21 pixels was selected in the central region of each image to obtain the intensity value, in grey scale, for each exposure time. From these data, a correlation of the degree of darkening was made with time and the air kerma. The behavior of the curves corresponding to the intensity average values of central pixels in relation to the exposure time and air kerma are similar for both voltages,showing an initially linear behavior and then a plate saturation region, whichever occurs first at the greatest value of the applied voltage. (Author)

Evaluation of mammographic X-ray beams using a phosphor plate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bustos F, M.; Prata M, A.

2016-10-01

Currently, breast cancer is the second type of cancer more with higher overall incidence recorded in 2015, more than 57,000 new cases according to the National Cancer Institute of Brazil Mammography is now one of the imaging technique most widely used worldwide for the early diagnosis of breast cancer. The computed radiography (Cr) plates are used to obtain digital radiographs, and are widely used for digital mammogram production. This study aims to evaluate the variation response in the exposure of a Cr plate in mammography unit. For this study a mammography device model Graph A F Mammo, made by Vmi and a Cr plate, model Regius, were used for mammography. Experiments were made with two X-ray beams of 20 and 25 kV. Successive exposures of the Cr plate were made in a time range time from 0.5 to 2.5 s., to obtain unprocessed images .raw and subsequently make the measurement of time, air kerma and air kerma rate using a Ray Safe Xi meter. Five measurements for each exposure time were performed and the images were analyzed using the Image J software. A matrix of 21 x 21 pixels was selected in the central region of each image to obtain the intensity value, in grey scale, for each exposure time. From these data, a correlation of the degree of darkening was made with time and the air kerma. The behavior of the curves corresponding to the intensity average values of central pixels in relation to the exposure time and air kerma are similar for both voltages,showing an initially linear behavior and then a plate saturation region, whichever occurs first at the greatest value of the applied voltage. (Author)

Quantitative Metrics and Risk Assessment: The Three Tenets Model of Cybersecurity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeff Hughes

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Progress in operational cybersecurity has been difficult to demonstrate. In spite of the considerable research and development investments made for more than 30 years, many government, industrial, financial, and consumer information systems continue to be successfully attacked and exploited on a routine basis. One of the main reasons that progress has been so meagre is that most technical cybersecurity solutions that have been proposed to-date have been point solutions that fail to address operational tradeoffs, implementation costs, and consequent adversary adaptations across the full spectrum of vulnerabilities. Furthermore, sound prescriptive security principles previously established, such as the Orange Book, have been difficult to apply given current system complexity and acquisition approaches. To address these issues, the authors have developed threat-based descriptive methodologies to more completely identify system vulnerabilities, to quantify the effectiveness of possible protections against those vulnerabilities, and to evaluate operational consequences and tradeoffs of possible protections. This article begins with a discussion of the tradeoffs among seemingly different system security properties such as confidentiality, integrity, and availability. We develop a quantitative framework for understanding these tradeoffs and the issues that arise when those security properties are all in play within an organization. Once security goals and candidate protections are identified, risk/benefit assessments can be performed using a novel multidisciplinary approach, called “QuERIES.” The article ends with a threat-driven quantitative methodology, called “The Three Tenets”, for identifying vulnerabilities and countermeasures in networked cyber-physical systems. The goal of this article is to offer operational guidance, based on the techniques presented here, for informed decision making about cyber-physical system security.

Economic struggle and the class culture of workers

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Branko Bembič

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Economic struggles are usually linked to the spontaneous working class ideology of fighting for a mere improvement in wages and working conditions. However, they often transcend their meagre economic results as they are indispensable in the construction of the working class culture of solidarity. Far from being spontaneous, the process of transforming the trade union orientation from class unionism to business unionism in the USA and to social partnership in Europe had to be imposed through social struggles in which capital forced upon workers a pacified form of economic struggle that was required by post-war Keynesianism. The ruling perception of twentieth-century economic struggles was thus shaped by references to the Gramscian concept of hegemony, in which marginal concessions to labour are essential for its successful subordination to capital. However, the intensification of economic struggles in the 1960s and 1970s showed that the hope of integrating labour into capitalist society by marginal concessions underestimated the economic conditions of capitalist discipline. Thus, the neoliberal restoration was primarily concerned with the imposition of capitalist discipline in the “Factory,” which had severe cultural consequences in the sphere of “School and Family.” However, while American neoliberalism orchestrated a frontal attack on organised labour, in Europe the system of industrial relations was preserved, but with disastrous effects on the culture of labour. I grasp these cultural aspects of the neoliberal attack on European labour with the concept of community in resignation, which, unlike the concept of hegemony, explains labour’s subordination in terms of workers’ renouncement of certain rights in the process of forging competitive alliances with capital.

Hydration and nutrition knowledge in adolescent swimmers. Does water intake affect urine hydration markers after swimming?

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Cesare Altavilla

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Little data exists regarding nutritional knowledge and hydration in adolescent swimmers. The aim of this study was to assess the level of nutrition and hydration knowledge and to describe the fluid balance in adolescent swimmers during training. A study was carried out with a cross-sectional descriptive part and a longitudinal part with repeated measurements over five swimming sessions. Eighty-six adolescent swimmers completed a questionnaire to assess their sport nutrition and hydration knowledge. Fluid balance and urine hydration markers were studied during training. Swimmers showed a limited nutrition knowledge (33.26 % ± SD 12.59 and meagre hydration knowledge (28.61 % ± SD 28.59. Females showed lower scores than male swimmers in nutrition and hydration knowledge. Based on urine specific gravity, swimmers started the training close to the euhydrated threshold (1.019 g/mL ± SD 0.008. Although urine specific gravity and urine colour were reduced after the training, there were minimal changes in body mass (-0.12 Kg ± SD 0.31. Sweat loss (2.67 g/min ± SD 3.23 and the net changes in the fluid balance (-0.22 % ± SD 0.59 were low. The poor knowledge in nutrition and hydration encountered in the swimmers can justify the development of a strategy to incorporate nutritional education programmes for this group. Body water deficit from swimming activity seems to be easily replaced with the water intake to maintain hydration. After the training, the urine of swimmers was diluted regardless of their water intake. Dilution of urine did not reflect real hydration state in swimming.

The use of coal refuse as construction aggregates; Utilizacion de los Esteriles de Carbon como Aridos en Construccion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2000-07-01

The objective of this project was to carry out a study which would allow us to determine the nature and properties of coal refuse for its possible use as construction aggregates: roadbeds concrete, bituminous meagres, etc. and to establish criteria of acceptability, placing, and quality control. Two types of refuse, considered to be representative, were chosen (one black and one red) and various trials were performed at a grinding and classifying plant for the obtention of granular materials. The results of these trials determined the most appropriate plant treatment for each type of refuse and established the margin of acceptability, criteria of acceptability, and quality control tests to be applied to the materials obtained from coal refuse for use as construction aggregates. Laboratory testing with both types of refuse mixed with binders (cement, emulsions) were carried out. At the same time, real scale tests, through the construction of concrete slabs in local roads and in trial areas, using the proportions of aggregates and cement that are customary in the area, and also by varying the cement content, substituting it for airborne ash from the thermal La Pereda power station were also performed. From the results obtained, it can be deduced that coal refuse can be used as granular material for roadbeds in different ways: stabilised as gravel-cement, in the form of gravel emulsion, as gravel slag, or by itself. As far as its use in concrete manufacture, it is limited to marginal works. With regard to its decorative use in gardening, it is being used in various town halls in Asturias and Cantabria. (Author)

Possible galactic origin of. gamma. -ray bursts

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Manchanda, R K; Ramsden, D [Southampton Univ. (UK). Dept. of Physics

1977-03-31

It is stated that extragalactic models for the origin of non-solar ..gamma..-ray bursts include supernova bursts in remote galaxies, and the collapse of the cores of active stars, whilst galactic models are based on flare stars, thermonuclear explosions in neutron stars and the sudden accretion of cometary gas on to neutron stars. The acceptability of any of these models may be tested by the observed size spectrum of the ..gamma..-ray bursts. The extragalactic models predict a power law spectrum with number index -1.5, whilst for the galactic models the number index will be -1. Experimental data on ..gamma..-ray bursts is, however, still meagre, and so far only 44 confirmed events have been recorded by satellite-borne instruments. The number spectrum of the observed ..gamma..-ray bursts indicates that the observed distribution for events with an energy < 10/sup -4/ erg/cm/sup 2/ is flat; this makes the choice of any model completely arbitrary. An analysis of the observed ..gamma..-ray events is here presented that suggests very interesting possibilities for their origin. There appears to be a preferred mean energy for ..gamma..-ray bursts; some 90% of the recorded events show a mean energy between 5 x 10/sup -5/ and 5 x 10/sup -4/ erg/cm/sup 2/, contrary to the predicted characteristics of the number spectrum of various models. A remarkable similarity is found between the distribution of ..gamma..-ray bursts and that of supernova remnants, suggesting a genetic relationship between the two and the galactic origin of the ..gamma..-ray bursts, and the burst source could be identified with completely run down neutron stars, formed during supernova explosions.

Integrating network ecology with applied conservation: a synthesis and guide to implementation.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaiser-Bunbury, Christopher N; Blüthgen, Nico

2015-07-10

Ecological networks are a useful tool to study the complexity of biotic interactions at a community level. Advances in the understanding of network patterns encourage the application of a network approach in other disciplines than theoretical ecology, such as biodiversity conservation. So far, however, practical applications have been meagre. Here we present a framework for network analysis to be harnessed to advance conservation management by using plant-pollinator networks and islands as model systems. Conservation practitioners require indicators to monitor and assess management effectiveness and validate overall conservation goals. By distinguishing between two network attributes, the 'diversity' and 'distribution' of interactions, on three hierarchical levels (species, guild/group and network) we identify seven quantitative metrics to describe changes in network patterns that have implications for conservation. Diversity metrics are partner diversity, vulnerability/generality, interaction diversity and interaction evenness, and distribution metrics are the specialization indices d' and [Formula: see text] and modularity. Distribution metrics account for sampling bias and may therefore be suitable indicators to detect human-induced changes to plant-pollinator communities, thus indirectly assessing the structural and functional robustness and integrity of ecosystems. We propose an implementation pathway that outlines the stages that are required to successfully embed a network approach in biodiversity conservation. Most importantly, only if conservation action and study design are aligned by practitioners and ecologists through joint experiments, are the findings of a conservation network approach equally beneficial for advancing adaptive management and ecological network theory. We list potential obstacles to the framework, highlight the shortfall in empirical, mostly experimental, network data and discuss possible solutions. Published by Oxford University

LAND USE/LAND COVER CHANGES IN SEMI-ARID MOUNTAIN LANDSCAPE IN SOUTHERN INDIA: A GEOINFORMATICS BASED MARKOV CHAIN APPROACH

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S. A. Rahaman

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Nowadays land use/ land cover in mountain landscape is in critical condition; it leads to high risky and uncertain environments. These areas are facing multiple stresses including degradation of land resources; vagaries of climate and depletion of water resources continuously affect land use practices and livelihoods. To understand the Land use/Land cover (Lu/Lc changes in a semi-arid mountain landscape, Kallar watershed of Bhavani basin, in southern India has been chosen. Most of the hilly part in the study area covers with forest, plantation, orchards and vegetables and which are highly affected by severe soil erosion, landslide, frequent rainfall failures and associated drought. The foothill regions are mainly utilized for agriculture practices; due to water scarcity and meagre income, the productive agriculture lands are converted into settlement plots and wasteland. Hence, land use/land cover change deduction; a stochastic processed based method is indispensable for future prediction. For identification of land use/land cover, and vegetation changes, Landsat TM, ETM (1995, 2005 and IRS P6- LISS IV (2015 images were used. Through CAMarkov chain analysis, Lu/Lc changes in past three decades (1995, 2005, and 2015 were identified and projected for (2020 and 2025; Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI were used to find the vegetation changes. The result shows that, maximum changes occur in the plantation and slight changes found in forest cover in the hilly terrain. In foothill areas, agriculture lands were decreased while wastelands and settlement plots were increased. The outcome of the results helps to farmer and policy makers to draw optimal lands use planning and better management strategies for sustainable development of natural resources.

Devonian (Emsian-Eifelian) fish from the Lower Bokkeveld Group (Ceres Subgroup), South Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, M. E.; Almond, J. E.; Evans, F. J.; Long, J. A.

1999-07-01

Four major groups of fish are represented by fragmentary remains from South Africa's Lower Bokkeveld Group of Early to Middle Devonian age: the Acanthodii, Chondrichthyes, Placodermi and Osteichthyes. These represent the oldest known occurrences of these groups in southern Africa, as well as an important addition to the very meagre record of earlier Devonian fish from the Malvinokaffric Province of southwestern Gondwana. Bokkeveld fish material comes from the Gydo (Late Emsian) and Tra Tra (Middle Eifelian) Formations of the Western Cape and Eastern Cape Provinces. The cosmopolitan marine acanthodian Machæracanthus is represented only by isolated fin spines which may belong to two different species on the basis of their external ornamentation, cross-sectional outline and internal histology. The elasmobranchs are represented by four elements: (1) a flattened chondrocranium which bears affinity to the Late Devonian-Carboniferous symmoriid (protacrodont) 'cladodont' sharks. It is probably the earliest known (Emsian) shark chondrocranium; (2) an isolated, primitive scapulocoracoid with a very short coracoidal ridge; (3) ankylosed and isolated radials, interpreted as parts of pterygial plates of a paired fin of an unknown chondrichthyan bearing affinity to the Middle Devonian Zamponiopteron from Bolivia; and (4) isolated barlike structures, perhaps gill arch or a jaw elements, thought to be from the same taxon as (3). The placoderms are represented by an incomplete trunk armour and fragmentary, finely ornamented plates of a primitive antiarch. The Osteichthyes are represented by a single large scale of an unidentified dipnoan from the Eifelian of the Cedarberg range, as well as a probable sarcopterygian dermal plate from the Emsian of the Prince Albert area. These are among the earliest sarcopterygian remains recorded from the Malvinokaffric Province.

Land Use/land Cover Changes in Semi-Arid Mountain Landscape in Southern India: a Geoinformatics Based Markov Chain Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Rahaman, S. A.; Aruchamy, S.; Balasubramani, K.; Jegankumar, R.

2017-05-01

Nowadays land use/ land cover in mountain landscape is in critical condition; it leads to high risky and uncertain environments. These areas are facing multiple stresses including degradation of land resources; vagaries of climate and depletion of water resources continuously affect land use practices and livelihoods. To understand the Land use/Land cover (Lu/Lc) changes in a semi-arid mountain landscape, Kallar watershed of Bhavani basin, in southern India has been chosen. Most of the hilly part in the study area covers with forest, plantation, orchards and vegetables and which are highly affected by severe soil erosion, landslide, frequent rainfall failures and associated drought. The foothill regions are mainly utilized for agriculture practices; due to water scarcity and meagre income, the productive agriculture lands are converted into settlement plots and wasteland. Hence, land use/land cover change deduction; a stochastic processed based method is indispensable for future prediction. For identification of land use/land cover, and vegetation changes, Landsat TM, ETM (1995, 2005) and IRS P6- LISS IV (2015) images were used. Through CAMarkov chain analysis, Lu/Lc changes in past three decades (1995, 2005, and 2015) were identified and projected for (2020 and 2025); Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) were used to find the vegetation changes. The result shows that, maximum changes occur in the plantation and slight changes found in forest cover in the hilly terrain. In foothill areas, agriculture lands were decreased while wastelands and settlement plots were increased. The outcome of the results helps to farmer and policy makers to draw optimal lands use planning and better management strategies for sustainable development of natural resources.

Maximization of current efficiency for organic pollutants oxidation at BDD, Ti/SnO2-Sb/PbO2, and Ti/SnO2-Sb anodes.

Science.gov (United States)

Xing, Xuan; Ni, Jinren; Zhu, Xiuping; Jiang, Yi; Xia, Jianxin

2018-08-01

Whereas electrochemical oxidation is noted for its ability to degrade bio-refractory organics, it has also been incorrectly criticized for excessive energy consumption. The present paper rectifies this misunderstanding by demonstrating that the energy actually consumed in the degradation process is much less than that wasted in the side reaction of oxygen evolution. To minimize the side reaction, the possible highest instantaneous current efficiency (PHICE) for electrochemical oxidation of phenol at Boron-doped Diamond (BDD), Ti/SnO 2 -Sb/PbO 2 (PbO 2 ), and Ti/SnO 2 -Sb (SnO 2 ) anodes has been investigated systematically, and found to reach almost 100% at the BDD anode compared with 23% at the PbO 2 anode and 9% at the SnO 2 anode. The significant discrepancy between PHICE values at the various anodes is interpreted in terms of different existing forms of hydroxyl radicals. For each anode system, the PHICEs are maintained experimentally using a computer-controlled exponential decay current mode throughout the electrolysis process. For applications, the minimized energy consumption is predicted by response surface methodology, and demonstrated for the BDD anode system. Consequently, almost 100% current efficiency is achieved (for a relatively meagre energy consumption of 17.2 kWh kgCOD -1 ) along with excellent COD degradation efficiency by optimizing the initial current density, flow rate, electrolysis time, and exponential decay constant. Compared with galvanostatic conditions, over 70% of the energy is saved in the present study, thus demonstrating the great potential of electrochemical oxidation for practical applications. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Living conditions and health. A population-based study of labour migrants and Latin American refugees in Sweden and those who were repatriated.

Science.gov (United States)

Sundquist, J

1995-06-01

To examine whether there are differences in living conditions and self-rated health between South European labour migrants and Latin American refugees and those who were repatriated to Latin America. Analysis of data from a survey (face-to-face interviews) in 1991 of 338 Latin American refugees and 60 repatriated refugees. A random sample of 161 South European and 396 Finnish labour migrants from the Swedish Annual Level-of-Living Surveys 1980-1981 and 1988-89 was analysed. A random sample of 1,159 age-, sex- and education-matched Swedes served as controls. Lund, a medium-sized town in southern Sweden, Santiago and Montevideo, capitals of Chile and Uruguay, respectively, and Sweden. Labour migrants and refugees in particular lived in rented flats while Swedes lived in privately-owned one-family homes. All immigrants and in particular repatriated Latin Americans had low material standard and meagre economic resources compared with Swedes. Being a Latin American refugee, a South European or Finnish labour migrant were independent risk indicators of self-rated poor health in logistic regression (multivariate analyses). Not feeling secure in everyday life and poor leisure opportunities were independent risk factors for poor health with an estimated odds ratio of 3.13(2.09-4.45) and 1.57(1.22-2.00), respectively. This study shows a clear ethnic segregation in housing and other living conditions between Swedes and immigrants, where Latin American refugees and repatriated Latin Americans were most vulnerable. All immigrants had increased self-rated poor health compared with Swedes. Being an immigrant was a risk factor for poor health of equal importance to more traditional risk factors such as lifestyle factors.

Examination of the Fish Price Offered for Sale During 2012-2013 Fishing Season in Sinop, Turkey

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Şennan Yücel

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The aim of the study was to determine the monthly price distribution of the offered fish species for sale within the scope of information received from the centers engaged in the sale of retail fish during 2012-2013 fishing season in Sinop, Turkey. The enterprises were grouped as I (the most, II (middle and III (the least according to the sales volume and fish species. Each group was represented by two different fish enterprise and so a total of six separate enterprises were determined by purpose sampling method. During the study, sale prices and fish species were obtained twice every month at the same time of day. It was determined that anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus ponticus, horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus, bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix, atlantic bonito (Sarda sarda, twait shad (Alosa fallax nilotica, needlefish (Belone belone, mullet (Mugil cephalus, shi drum (Umbrina cirrosa, brown meagre (Sciana umbra, common two-banded seabream (Diplodus vulgaris, annular bream (Diplodus annularis, tub gurnard (Trigla lucerna, picarel (Maena smaris, turbot (Psetta maxima, red mullet (Mullus barbatus, whiting (Merlangus merlangus, scorpion fish (Scorpaena porcus, goby (Gobius niger were offered for sale in fish markets. While the prices of higher economic valued fish species like anchovy, bluefish, atlantic bonito and turbot prices were different between the enterprises, the prices of horse mackerel, red mullet and whiting species were not different. When considering the fish prices based on years, the prices of horse mackerel, bluefish, atlantic bonito, red mullet and haddock during 2012-2013 years were close to the average price of 2008-2012 years and the prices of anchovy and turbot during 2012-2013 years were higher than the average price of 2008-2012 years in Sinop.

A comparative evaluation of antibacterial effectiveness of sodium hypochlorite, Curcuma longa, and Camellia sinensis as irrigating solutions on isolated anaerobic bacteria from infected primary teeth

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Neha Shashikant Dhariwal

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Context: In endodontics, most of the commercial intra-canal medicaments have cytotoxic reactions and because of their inability to eliminate bacteria from dentinal tubules, recent medicine has turned its attention to the usage of biologic medication prepared from natural plants. The literature to testify the efficacy of natural alternatives in primary teeth is meagre and its effects as irrigating solutions need to be evaluated. Aim: To evaluate the antibacterial effectiveness of sodium hypochlorite, ethanolic extracts of Curcuma longa (turmeric and Camellia sinensis (green tea as irrigating solutions against the anaerobic bacteria isolated from the root canals of infected primary teeth. Materials and Methods: Thirty patients were selected based on the selected inclusion and exclusion criteria. Preoperative radiographs were taken. Rubber dam isolation and working length estimation were done, following which thirty samples were taken from the root canals of infected primary teeth using sterile absorbent paper points and transferred to tubes containing thioglycolate transport medium. The bacteria were then isolated using standard microbiological protocols and were subjected to antibiotic sensitivity testing using the three test irrigants. Statistical Analysis: SPSS 18 software using Chi-square test was used for statistical analysis. Results: The most commonly isolated bacteria included Porphyromonas sp., Bacteroides fragilis, Peptostreptococcus, and Staphylococcus aureus. Sodium hypochlorite and C. longa (turmeric showed good antibacterial effect and were effective against most of the isolated bacteria. There was statistically significant difference in the antibacterial effect among the three tested groups (P < 0.001. The least effective was C. sinensis (green tea. Conclusion: The infected primary teeth almost always present with a polymicrobial structure with a wide variety of anaerobic bacteria. The chemo-mechanical preparation plays an important

Ensuring childhood vaccination among slums dwellers under the National Immunization Program in India - Challenges and opportunities.

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Sanjeev; Sahu, Damodar; Agrawal, Ashish; Vashi, Meeta Dhaval

2018-04-04

Almost, one third of the world's urban population resides in slums and the number would double by 2030. Slums denotes collection of people from various communities having a meagre income and living in unhygienic conditions thus making themselves most vulnerable for outbreaks of communicable diseases. India contributes substantially to the global disease burden and under-five mortality rates i.e. 20% attributable to vaccine preventable diseases. Immunization plays a crucial role in combating high childhood mortality rates attributable to vaccine preventable diseases across the globe. This systematic review, provides insights on immunization status in slums, identifies various factors influencing it thus, exploring opportunities that may be available to improve vaccination coverage under the National Immunization Program. Taking into account the above aspects, a review of literature was undertaken in various databases that included studies published between 2006 and 2017. In India, ~33% of the urban population lives in slums with suboptimal vaccination coverage ranging from 14% to upto 90%. Few of the important causes for low coverage included socioeconomic factors such as poor community participation, lack of awareness, frequent migration, and loss of daily income. Hence, mere presence of vaccines in the National Immunization Program doesn't do the job, there is a definite unmet need to emphasize upon the importance of immunization among slums dwellers and take necessary steps. For instance, delivering immunization services at the doorstep (e.g. pulse polio program), community-based education, text messaging as reminders and incentivized immunization services are some of the opportunities that can be explored and implemented to improve immunization status in the slums. Thus, in addition to inclusion of more and more vaccines in the National Immunization Program, there is a definite need to focus on people living in high risk areas in order to improve coverage and

The use of geographic information system and 1860s cadastral data to model agricultural suitability before heavy mechanization. A case study from Malta.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gianmarco Alberti

Full Text Available The present study seeks to understand the determinants of land agricultural suitability in Malta before heavy mechanization. A GIS-based Logistic Regression model is built on the basis of the data from mid-1800s cadastral maps (cabreo. This is the first time that such data are being used for the purpose of building a predictive model. The maps record the agricultural quality of parcels (ranging from good to lowest, which is represented by different colours. The study treats the agricultural quality as a depended variable with two levels: optimal (corresponding to the good class vs. non-optimal quality (mediocre, bad, low, and lowest classes. Seventeen predictors are isolated on the basis of literature review and data availability. Logistic Regression is used to isolate the predictors that can be considered determinants of the agricultural quality. Our model has an optimal discriminatory power (AUC: 0.92. The positive effect on land agricultural quality of the following predictors is considered and discussed: sine of the aspect (odds ratio 1.42, coast distance (2.46, Brown Rendzinas (2.31, Carbonate Raw (2.62 and Xerorendzinas (9.23 soils, distance to minor roads (4.88. Predictors resulting having a negative effect are: terrain elevation (0.96, slope (0.97, distance to the nearest geological fault lines (0.09, Terra Rossa soil (0.46, distance to secondary roads (0.19 and footpaths (0.41. The model isolates a host of topographic and cultural variables, the latter related to human mobility and landscape accessibility, which differentially contributed to the agricultural suitability, providing the bases for the creation of the fragmented and extremely variegated agricultural landscape that is the hallmark of the Maltese Islands. Our findings are also useful to suggest new questions that may be posed to the more meagre evidence from earlier periods.

Plant diversity and biomass of Marudu bay mangroves in Malaysia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hanum, F.; Kudus, K.A.; Saari, N.S

2012-01-01

The mangroves of Marudu Bay in the state of Sabah is situated at the tip of Borneo Island, and at the southern limit of the Coral Triangle whose waters hold the highest diversity of corals, fish, molluscks, crustaceans and marine plant species in the world. The ecosystem shows a deterioration due to unsustainable fishing, pollution and encroachment, and these are impacting the Marudu Bay coastal communities economically. Fishing is the major economic activity here. Realising the importance of conserving the mangroves to uplift the socio-economic livelihood of the coastal community, a resource inventory of the mangroves and its productivity study were carried out. A total of 16 plant species in 12 genera and 9 families were identified. It was also found that 0.7 ha is capable of capturing all the species in the mangrove forest. The mangrove forests of Marudu Bay are dominated by Rhizopora apiculata and R. mucronata. The highest Importance Value index (IVI) was given by Rhizophora mucronata. Total Above Ground Biomass (TAGB) for 1-ha of mangrove forest in Marudu Bay was estimated to be 98.4 t/ha. It was found in other parallel studies that the mangroves of Marudu Bay are productive ecosystems that provide valuable habitats, nurseries and spawning grounds for various commercially important species of fish and invertebrates such as shrimp besides many species of wildlife. The mangroves at Marudu Bay are not only aesthetically attractive but provide opportunities for ecotourism activities that can be undertaken by the local community inhabiting the area to uplift their meagre income, These activities include mangrove cruising, recreational fishing, educational tourism and mangrove honey production, amongst others. This way, the degradation of the mangrove in Marudu Bay can be halted and reversed. (author)

Dirofilariosis in the Americas: a more virulent Dirofilaria immitis?

Science.gov (United States)

Dantas-Torres, Filipe; Otranto, Domenico

2013-10-02

Dirofilarioses are widespread diseases caused by filarioid nematodes (superfamily Filarioidea) of the genus Dirofilaria, which are transmitted by a plethora of mosquito species. The principal agent of canine dirofilariosis in the Americas is Dirofilaria immitis, which may also occasionally infest humans, resulting in pulmonary nodules that may be confounded with malignant lung tumours. Because human cases of dirofilariosis by D. immitis are relatively frequent in the Americas and rare in Europe and other eastern countries, where Dirofilaria repens is the main causative agent, the existence of a more virulent strain of D. immitis in the Americas has been speculated. Recently, a case of human ocular infestation by Dirofilaria sp. was diagnosed in Pará State, northern Brazil, where canine heartworm dirofilariosis is endemic. The nematode was shown to be morphologically and phylogenetically related to D. immitis but it was genetically distinct from reference sequences, including those of D. immitis infesting dogs in the same geographical area. This finding raised questions regarding the aetiology of human dirofilariosis in the Americas, since information on the genetic makeup of filarioids infesting dogs and humans is meagre. Further studies would be needed to better characterize filarioids infesting dogs, wild animals, and humans in the Americas and to assess the existence of a more virulent D. immitis strain in this continent. Finally, the competence of different culicid species/strains from Europe and the Americas as vectors of Dirofilaria species should be investigated. Such studies would help us to understand possible variations in transmission patterns and even to predict possible scenarios that may emerge in the future, with the introduction of non-endemic Dirofilaria species/strains in free areas through importation of infested animals, vectors, or both.

An Update on the Invasion of Weakfish Cynoscion regalis (Bloch & Schneider, 1801 (Actinopterygii: Sciaenidae into Europe

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Pedro Morais

2017-10-01

Full Text Available New information on weakfish introduction vectors, its invasive status, distribution, and use as a fishing resource arose after the publication of “The transatlantic introduction of weakfish Cynoscion regalis (Bloch & Schneider, 1801 (Sciaenidae, Pisces into Europe” by Morais and Teodósio (2016. Currently, the first known report of weakfish in Europe dates back to September 2009, with a specimen captured in the Schelde estuary (Belgium/The Netherlands. This fact suggests that weakfish could have been introduced into Europe via multiple and independent ballast water introduction events, and not through a point-source introduction event with subsequent dispersion as previously hypothesized. It is also unlikely that Schelde weakfish migrated southwards to colonize Iberian aquatic ecosystems. Weakfish have established a population in the Gulf of Cádiz region and have already reached an invasive status in the Sado estuary (Portugal. Weakfish were also captured in several other locations along the Portuguese coast, including the Tagus and Mira estuaries at least since 2013 or 2014, and the Ria Formosa lagoon in 2017. Tagus anglers caught weakfish specimens of ~1 kg and ~40 cm in November 2016, which corresponds to fish of 3+ years of age in the native range. The presence of weakfish in the Tagus estuary is still fairly unknown to local anglers. Sado weakfish has already been sold in local fish markets in southern Portugal for 3 to 10 € kg−1. However, we consider that the weakfish sale price is underrated in comparison with other wild species (e.g., meagre, seabass, gilthead seabream. Increasing sale price will convince fishers to use weakfish as a new fishing resource; however, it is necessary to promote the species among consumers and evaluate consumers’ preference in respect to other species. A putative biological threat might turn into a new valuable fishing resource by implementing adequate management solutions.

(Recognizing Mondoñedo: The Past Projects Itself as Future

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Freire Paz, Elena

2009-12-01

Full Text Available The author approaches the current socio-cultural reality in the town of Mondoñedo (province of Lugo, Galicia, Spain by considering the rapid economic, social and cultural changes that have taken place there over the past few decades. Whereas from an outside perspective the global economic process has resulted in the transformation of certain cultural patterns everywhere, the changes occurred inside any cultural system have brought about the inception of an interesting strategy of a clearly cultural character. Local development in Mondoñedo nowadays rests on making the most of specific cultural resources so as to prompt and energize an area affected by a sharp population decline. The current context also includes the loss of the town’s provincial hegemony to Lugo, the capital, the demise of primary activities and the meagre implementation of secondary activities.

La autora se acerca a la realidad socio-cultural actual creada en Mondoñedo, ciudad del interior de la provincia de Lugo (Galicia, España, teniendo en cuenta las bruscas transformaciones económicas, sociales y culturales acontecidas en las últimas décadas. Si, desde una perspectiva externa, el movimiento económico global ha motivado la transformación de determinadas pautas culturales en todo el mundo, los cambios propiciados desde el interior de cualquier sistema cultural han repercutido en la génesis de una interesante planificación de marcado carácter cultural. El desarrollo local de la zona gira en torno al aprovechamiento de determinados recursos culturales como impulsores y dinamizadores de un territorio estrangulado por un fuerte descenso poblacional, la pérdida de consideración hegemónica de la villa frente a la capitalidad de la provincia, el abandono del sector primario y la escasez de actividades del sector secundario.

Solar hot water for household and institutional use in Bujumbura, Burundi

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Katihabwa, J.

1990-01-01

This paper reports on solar energy which is clean and renewable. It is the primary source for a wide range of energy resources such as biomass, hydraulics, coal, peat and petroleum. Until recently, the sun was the major source of energy used by man to satisfy his needs. The extraction and use of fossil fuels became important with the technological and industrial development that took place in the nineteenth century. For countries without fossil fuels (such as petroleum and coal), solar energy is an important asset. The oil crisis of 1973 clearly showed the limits of fossil fuel consumption. The crisis slowed down and, in some cases, severely hampered economic growth in many developing countries. To this day, fossil fuels remain expensive for many developing countries which have to part with a significant share of their meagre convertible currency resources to import fossil fuels. It is thus imperative that developing countries should investigate the possibility of developing solar energy systems that can reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. In the short term, high investment costs and shortage of qualified manpower are major constraints on the development of solar energy systems. In the long run, however, the benefits of solar energy systems are expected to overcome these constraints. The benefits include low operation costs and non-generation of pollutants. The decentralized nature of solar energy is an asset in the isolated rural areas of Africa. It is possible to build small solar units and this provide energy security and autonomy at the level of a community and even at the level of an individual. Solar energy has, however, one major disadvantage - its energy density is low (1.0 kw per square metre on the earth surface, after taking absorption losses into account)

Eccentric housing finance sources by the urban poor in Zimbabwe: case of Cowdray Park low-income self help housing scheme in Bulawayo

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Trynos GUMBO

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Zimbabwe has a sombre housing crisis in all its urban centres. All attempts by the government to vary housing delivery systems to ameliorate the problem have proved futile as the backlog it inherited from the colonial masters continues to soar. The situation has however been exacerbated by 2005 demolitions and evictions in the country’s major cities that destroyed homes and businesses leaving the majority of the poor and disadvantaged segments of society in deeper poverty, deprivation and destitution. The main challenge to housing the urban poor is housing finance. Public funds are meagre and private funds are not accessible to the poor due to lack of collateral security and inability to service the loans. Fascinatingly, the poor’s income comes from informal sector activities that absorbs a large percentage of the labour force and keeps the economy going while the large modern enterprises continue to reel under the economic downturn. Unfortunately the Zimbabwean informal sector has generally been perceived as a nuisance, a haven for criminals and a menace. Evidence shows that there is a strong relationship between the urban poor’s housing finance, informal sector activities and self-help housing strategies in Zimbabwe. In the pre-2005 Operation Murambatsvina era, the poor were making some construction progress as evidenced by the structures that had developed. This paper calls for active support and facilitation of the poor’s sources of income, and advocates for the involvement of other players such as the private sector and the international community in housing the poor. The Zimbabwe government’s plan to house the homeless and poor on its 250 000 stands countrywide through self-help programmes can only be successful if their sources of income are promoted and facilitated.

Microstructure and spectroscopic investigations of calcium zinc bismuth phosphate glass ceramics doped with manganese ions

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Suneel Kumar, A.; Sambasiva Rao, M. V.; Chinna Ram, G.; Krishna Rao, D.

2018-01-01

Multi-component 10CaF2-20ZnO-(15 - x)Bi2O3-55P2O5:xMnO (0 ≤ x ≤ 2.5) glass ceramics were synthesised by melt quenching technique and heat treatment. The prepared glass ceramics were characterised by XRD, DTA, EDS and SEM. Spectroscopic studies such as optical absorption, EPR, FTIR and Raman were also carried out on these glass ceramics. The XRD and SEM studies have indicated that ceramic samples contain well defined and randomly distributed grains of different crystalline phases. The observed increase of enthalpy from DTA patterns up to 1 mol% of MnO indicates that the crystallisation starts initially from the surface of the material then gradually it is extended to the volume of the material and this influence is meagre at higher concentrations of MnO. The absorption spectra of manganese doped glass ceramics have exhibited two types of conventional bands; one due to Mn2+ ions and other due to Mn3+ ions. The EPR spectra of MnO doped glass ceramics showed a resonance signal around g2 = 2.023 with a six line hyperfine structure and another signal at about g1 = 4.314. The relative intensity and half-width of these two signals are observed to increase with the increase in the concentration of manganese ions up to 1 mol% beyond this concentration it is found to decrease. Such observation indicates the conversion of part of Mn2+ ions into Mn3+ ions in the glass ceramic matrix. The observed increase in the intensity of symmetrical structural units at the expense of asymmetrical structural units from the FTIR and Raman spectra at higher concentration of MnO indicating that Mn2+ ions occupy the network forming positions in the glass ceramic structure.

Appraisal of Farm Forestry Department around Tinderet Forest

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nyambati, R.O; Koech, C.K; Muok, G

2007-01-01

Tinderet forest is one of the most important catchment areas of lake victoria. It is the main source of numerous springs, streams, and rivers that flow into the lake. The forest is also an important habitat for wide variety of water plants and animal species. Although the forest is gazetted as a forest reserve, it has undergone different levels of degradation due to over exploitation of timber, posts, firewood, charcoal and honey by the community living next to the forest. Resource from the forest supplement the communities' meagre income from subsistence farming. A survey was conducted in four Divisions (Chichila, Kipkelion, Fort-Tanan and Tinderet) around the forest to evaluate the status of farm forestry development and underlying reasons for encroachment in the forest. The results showed that, 61% of the people around Tinderet forest were settlers, whose duration of settlement is between 30-40 years. Most farmers were involved in various forms of farming (livestock or crop production) but forestry was not reported as a major activity. Clearing for livestock and crop production, timber for construction and firewood are the main causes of vegetation depletion on farms. Upto 60% of the households were not self reliant on wood products mainly timber and firewood and Fort-Tana (78%) and Kipkelion (70%) were the most affected. Forestry extension services were mainly provided by the Ministry of Agriculture and East African Wildlife Society (EAWS) and were found to be poor on the ground. Other issues that hampered forest development are inadequate provision of germplasm (seed and seedlings). There is therefore a need to build the capacity of the community in the farm forestry through establishment of nurseries and provision of adequate extension services. This would contribute to enhancement of self-reliance in wood products and increased income reducing encroachment into the gazetted forest

Rainwater harvesting and management in rainfed agricultural systems in sub-Saharan Africa - A review

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Biazin, Birhanu; Sterk, Geert; Temesgen, Melesse; Abdulkedir, Abdu; Stroosnijder, Leo

Agricultural water scarcity in the predominantly rainfed agricultural system of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is more related to the variability of rainfall and excessive non-productive losses, than the total annual precipitation in the growing season. Less than 15% of the terrestrial precipitation takes the form of productive ‘green’ transpiration. Hence, rainwater harvesting and management (RWHM) technologies hold a significant potential for improving rainwater-use efficiency and sustaining rainfed agriculture in the region. This paper outlines the various RWHM techniques being practiced in SSA, and reviews recent research results on the performance of selected practices. So far, micro-catchment and in situ rainwater harvesting techniques are more common than rainwater irrigation techniques from macro-catchment systems. Depending on rainfall patterns and local soil characteristics, appropriate application of in situ and micro-catchment techniques could improve the soil water content of the rooting zone by up to 30%. Up to sixfold crop yields have been obtained through combinations of rainwater harvesting and fertiliser use, as compared to traditional practices. Supplemental irrigation of rainfed agriculture through rainwater harvesting not only reduces the risk of total crop failure due to dry spells, but also substantially improves water and crop productivity. Depending on the type of crop and the seasonal rainfall pattern, the application of RWHM techniques makes net profits more possible, compared to the meagre profit or net loss of existing systems. Implementation of rainwater harvesting may allow cereal-based smallholder farmers to shift to diversified crops, hence improving household food security, dietary status, and economic return. The much needed green revolution and adaptations to climate change in SSA should blend rainwater harvesting ideals with agronomic principles. More efforts are needed to improve the indigenous practices, and to disseminate best

A comparative evaluation of antibacterial effectiveness of sodium hypochlorite, Curcuma longa, and Camellia sinensis as irrigating solutions on isolated anaerobic bacteria from infected primary teeth.

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Dhariwal, Neha Shashikant; Hugar, Shivayogi M; Harakuni, Sheetal; Sogi, Suma; Assudani, Harsha G; Mistry, Laresh Naresh

2016-01-01

In endodontics, most of the commercial intra-canal medicaments have cytotoxic reactions and because of their inability to eliminate bacteria from dentinal tubules, recent medicine has turned its attention to the usage of biologic medication prepared from natural plants. The literature to testify the efficacy of natural alternatives in primary teeth is meagre and its effects as irrigating solutions need to be evaluated. To evaluate the antibacterial effectiveness of sodium hypochlorite, ethanolic extracts of Curcuma longa (turmeric) and Camellia sinensis (green tea) as irrigating solutions against the anaerobic bacteria isolated from the root canals of infected primary teeth. Thirty patients were selected based on the selected inclusion and exclusion criteria. Preoperative radiographs were taken. Rubber dam isolation and working length estimation were done, following which thirty samples were taken from the root canals of infected primary teeth using sterile absorbent paper points and transferred to tubes containing thioglycolate transport medium. The bacteria were then isolated using standard microbiological protocols and were subjected to antibiotic sensitivity testing using the three test irrigants. SPSS 18 software using Chi-square test was used for statistical analysis. The most commonly isolated bacteria included Porphyromonas sp., Bacteroides fragilis, Peptostreptococcus, and Staphylococcus aureus. Sodium hypochlorite and C. longa (turmeric) showed good antibacterial effect and were effective against most of the isolated bacteria. There was statistically significant difference in the antibacterial effect among the three tested groups (P < 0.001). The least effective was C. sinensis (green tea). The infected primary teeth almost always present with a polymicrobial structure with a wide variety of anaerobic bacteria. The chemo-mechanical preparation plays an important role in eradicating the population of predominant micro-organisms in treating these teeth with

The use of geographic information system and 1860s cadastral data to model agricultural suitability before heavy mechanization. A case study from Malta.

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Alberti, Gianmarco; Grima, Reuben; Vella, Nicholas C

2018-01-01

The present study seeks to understand the determinants of land agricultural suitability in Malta before heavy mechanization. A GIS-based Logistic Regression model is built on the basis of the data from mid-1800s cadastral maps (cabreo). This is the first time that such data are being used for the purpose of building a predictive model. The maps record the agricultural quality of parcels (ranging from good to lowest), which is represented by different colours. The study treats the agricultural quality as a depended variable with two levels: optimal (corresponding to the good class) vs. non-optimal quality (mediocre, bad, low, and lowest classes). Seventeen predictors are isolated on the basis of literature review and data availability. Logistic Regression is used to isolate the predictors that can be considered determinants of the agricultural quality. Our model has an optimal discriminatory power (AUC: 0.92). The positive effect on land agricultural quality of the following predictors is considered and discussed: sine of the aspect (odds ratio 1.42), coast distance (2.46), Brown Rendzinas (2.31), Carbonate Raw (2.62) and Xerorendzinas (9.23) soils, distance to minor roads (4.88). Predictors resulting having a negative effect are: terrain elevation (0.96), slope (0.97), distance to the nearest geological fault lines (0.09), Terra Rossa soil (0.46), distance to secondary roads (0.19) and footpaths (0.41). The model isolates a host of topographic and cultural variables, the latter related to human mobility and landscape accessibility, which differentially contributed to the agricultural suitability, providing the bases for the creation of the fragmented and extremely variegated agricultural landscape that is the hallmark of the Maltese Islands. Our findings are also useful to suggest new questions that may be posed to the more meagre evidence from earlier periods.

Addressing the computational cost of large EIT solutions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boyle, Alistair; Adler, Andy; Borsic, Andrea

2012-01-01

Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is a soft field tomography modality based on the application of electric current to a body and measurement of voltages through electrodes at the boundary. The interior conductivity is reconstructed on a discrete representation of the domain using a finite-element method (FEM) mesh and a parametrization of that domain. The reconstruction requires a sequence of numerically intensive calculations. There is strong interest in reducing the cost of these calculations. An improvement in the compute time for current problems would encourage further exploration of computationally challenging problems such as the incorporation of time series data, wide-spread adoption of three-dimensional simulations and correlation of other modalities such as CT and ultrasound. Multicore processors offer an opportunity to reduce EIT computation times but may require some restructuring of the underlying algorithms to maximize the use of available resources. This work profiles two EIT software packages (EIDORS and NDRM) to experimentally determine where the computational costs arise in EIT as problems scale. Sparse matrix solvers, a key component for the FEM forward problem and sensitivity estimates in the inverse problem, are shown to take a considerable portion of the total compute time in these packages. A sparse matrix solver performance measurement tool, Meagre-Crowd, is developed to interface with a variety of solvers and compare their performance over a range of two- and three-dimensional problems of increasing node density. Results show that distributed sparse matrix solvers that operate on multiple cores are advantageous up to a limit that increases as the node density increases. We recommend a selection procedure to find a solver and hardware arrangement matched to the problem and provide guidance and tools to perform that selection. (paper)

Addressing the computational cost of large EIT solutions.

Science.gov (United States)

Boyle, Alistair; Borsic, Andrea; Adler, Andy

2012-05-01

Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is a soft field tomography modality based on the application of electric current to a body and measurement of voltages through electrodes at the boundary. The interior conductivity is reconstructed on a discrete representation of the domain using a finite-element method (FEM) mesh and a parametrization of that domain. The reconstruction requires a sequence of numerically intensive calculations. There is strong interest in reducing the cost of these calculations. An improvement in the compute time for current problems would encourage further exploration of computationally challenging problems such as the incorporation of time series data, wide-spread adoption of three-dimensional simulations and correlation of other modalities such as CT and ultrasound. Multicore processors offer an opportunity to reduce EIT computation times but may require some restructuring of the underlying algorithms to maximize the use of available resources. This work profiles two EIT software packages (EIDORS and NDRM) to experimentally determine where the computational costs arise in EIT as problems scale. Sparse matrix solvers, a key component for the FEM forward problem and sensitivity estimates in the inverse problem, are shown to take a considerable portion of the total compute time in these packages. A sparse matrix solver performance measurement tool, Meagre-Crowd, is developed to interface with a variety of solvers and compare their performance over a range of two- and three-dimensional problems of increasing node density. Results show that distributed sparse matrix solvers that operate on multiple cores are advantageous up to a limit that increases as the node density increases. We recommend a selection procedure to find a solver and hardware arrangement matched to the problem and provide guidance and tools to perform that selection.

Differences in prevalence of self-reported musculoskeletal symptoms among computer and non-computer users in a Nigerian population: a cross-sectional study

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Ayanniyi O

2010-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Literature abounds on the prevalent nature of Self Reported Musculoskeletal Symptoms (SRMS among computer users, but studies that actually compared this with non computer users are meagre thereby reducing the strength of the evidence. This study compared the prevalence of SRMS between computer and non computer users and assessed the risk factors associated with SRMS. Methods A total of 472 participants comprising equal numbers of age and sex matched computer and non computer users were assessed for the presence of SRMS. Information concerning musculoskeletal symptoms and discomforts from the neck, shoulders, upper back, elbows, wrists/hands, low back, hips/thighs, knees and ankles/feet were obtained using the Standardized Nordic questionnaire. Results The prevalence of SRMS was significantly higher in the computer users than the non computer users both over the past 7 days (χ2 = 39.11, p = 0.001 and during the past 12 month durations (χ2 = 53.56, p = 0.001. The odds of reporting musculoskeletal symptoms was least for participants above the age of 40 years (OR = 0.42, 95% CI = 0.31-0.64 over the past 7 days and OR = 0.61; 95% CI = 0.47-0.77 during the past 12 months and also reduced in female participants. Increasing daily hours and accumulated years of computer use and tasks of data processing and designs/graphics significantly (p Conclusion The prevalence of SRMS was significantly higher in the computer users than the non computer users and younger age, being male, working longer hours daily, increasing years of computer use, data entry tasks and computer designs/graphics were the significant risk factors for reporting musculoskeletal symptoms among the computer users. Computer use may explain the increase in prevalence of SRMS among the computer users.

Initiation and patterning of the snake dentition are dependent on Sonic hedgehog signaling.

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Buchtová, Marcela; Handrigan, Gregory R; Tucker, Abigail S; Lozanoff, Scott; Town, Liam; Fu, Katherine; Diewert, Virginia M; Wicking, Carol; Richman, Joy M

2008-07-01

Here we take the first look at cellular dynamics and molecular signaling in the developing snake dentition. We found that tooth formation differs from rodents in several respects. The majority of snake teeth bud off of a deep, ribbon-like dental lamina rather than as separate tooth germs. Prior to and after dental lamina ingrowth, we observe asymmetries in cell proliferation and extracellular matrix distribution suggesting that localized signaling by a secreted protein is involved. We cloned Sonic hedgehog from the African rock python Python sebae and traced its expression in the species as well as in two other snakes, the closely-related Python regius and the more derived corn snake Elaphe guttata (Colubridae). We found that expression of Shh is first confined to the odontogenic band and defines the position of the future dental lamina. Shh transcripts in pythons are progressively restricted to the oral epithelium on one side of the dental lamina and remain in this position throughout the prehatching period. Shh is expressed in the inner enamel epithelium and the stellate reticulum of the tooth anlagen, but is absent from the outer enamel epithelium and its derivative, the successional lamina. This suggests that signals other than Shh are responsible for replacement tooth formation. Functional studies using cyclopamine to block Hh signaling during odontogenesis prevented initiation and extension of the dental lamina into the mesenchyme, and also affected the directionality of this process. Further, blocking Hh signaling led to disruptions of the inner enamel epithelium. To explore the role of Shh in lamina extension, we looked at its expression in the premaxillary teeth, which form closer to the oral surface than elsewhere in the mouth. Oral ectodermal Shh expression in premaxillary teeth is lost soon after the teeth form reinforcing the idea that Shh is controlling the depth of the dental lamina. In summary, we have found diverse roles for Shh in patterning the

The Thermochronologist's Progress

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Zeitler, P. K.

2011-12-01

We owe our current understanding of thermochronology less to a series of revolutionary insights than to a somewhat uneven intellectual pilgrimage that over fifty years has progressed in fits and starts. Though hampered at times by overenthusiasm, oversimplification, and misunderstandings, on balance the field advanced thanks to a blend of curiosity-driven research, tool-building motivated by new ideas about Earth science, and improvements in technology. But now that we've exploited most radiogenic systems and the major minerals that host them, and now that our models can devour CPU time along with the best of them, are we done? Have we reached peak thermochron? The answer of course is no, and papers in this session will demonstrate what new technologies and techniques might have to offer in the coming years. However, I will argue that the discipline as a whole has matured to a point where if thermochronology is to remain a mainstream tool as opposed to a weekend sport, we need to get serious about several challenges. The most fundamental challenge is that current geodynamic models (and even more complex models we can envision coding) have outpaced our meagre stockpile of kinetic calibrations, our understanding of detailed isotope systematics, and our ability to generate data with sufficient throughput. These issues will not be addressed adequately through the business-as-usual approach that brought us to our current knowledge, and some community effort will probably be needed to coordinate the hard work that will be required. But any serious attempt to answer important questions with accurate thermal histories that have low and well-defined uncertainties will require that we actually know the kinetics for the specific samples we are analyzing, that we fully understand scatter in the data, that we work with the large sample numbers that are required for some problems like landscape evolution, and that inversion tools fully explore the important aspects of both the

Spatial distribution of Brucella antibodies with reference to indigenous cattle populations among contrasting agro-ecological zones of Uganda.

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Kabi, Fredrick; Muwanika, Vincent; Masembe, Charles

2015-09-01

Indigenous cattle populations exhibit various degrees of agro-ecological fitness and provide desirable opportunities for investments to improve sustainable production for better rural small-scale farmers' incomes globally. However, they could be a source of infection to their attendants and other susceptible livestock if their brucellosis status remains unknown. This study investigated the spatial distribution of Brucella antibodies among indigenous cattle populations in Uganda. Sera from a total of 925 indigenous cattle (410 Ankole Bos taurus indicus, 50 Nganda and 465 East African Shorthorn Zebu (EASZ) - B. indicus) obtained randomly from 209 herds spread throughout Uganda were sequentially analysed for Brucella antibodies using the indirect (I) and competitive (C) enzyme linked Immuno-sorbent assays (ELISA). Recent incidences of abortion within the previous 12 months and routine hygienic practices during parturition were explored for public health risks. Brucella antibodies occurred in approximately 8.64% (80/925) and 28.70% (95% CI: 22.52, 34.89) of the sampled individual cattle and herds, respectively. Findings have shown that Ankole and EASZ cattle had similar seroprevalences. Indigenous cattle from the different study agro-ecological zones (AEZs) exhibited varying seroprevalences ranging from approximately 1.78% (95% CI: 0, 5.29) to 19.67% (95% CI: 8.99, 30.35) in the Lake Victoria Crescent (LVC) and North Eastern Drylands (NED) respectively. Significantly higher odds for Brucella antibodies occurred in the NED (OR: 3.40, 95% CI: 1.34, 8.57, p=0.01) inhabited by EASZ cattle compared to the KP (reference category) AEZ. Recent incidences of abortions within the previous 12 months were significantly (p<0.001) associated with seropositive herds. These findings add critical evidence to existing information on the widespread occurrence of brucellosis among indigenous cattle populations in Uganda and could guide allocation of meagre resources for awareness creation

Mono-jet, -photon and -Z signals of a supersymmetric (B−L) model at the Large Hadron Collider

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Abdallah, W. [Center for Fundamental Physics, Zewail City of Science and Technology,6 October City, Giza (Egypt); Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Cairo University,Giza (Egypt); Fiaschi, J. [School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton,Highfield, Southampton (United Kingdom); Khalil, S. [Center for Fundamental Physics, Zewail City of Science and Technology,6 October City, Giza (Egypt); Moretti, S. [School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton,Highfield, Southampton (United Kingdom)

2016-02-23

Search for invisible final states produced at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) by new physics scenarios are normally carried out resorting to a variety of probes emerging from the initial state, in the form of single-jet, -photon and -Z boson signatures. These are particularly effective for models of Supersymmetry (SUSY) in presence of R-parity conservation, owing to the presence in their spectra of a stable neutralino as a Dark Matter (DM) candidate. We assume here as theoretical framework the Supersymmetric version of the (B−L) extension of the Standard Model (BLSSM), wherein a mediator for invisible decays can be the Z{sup ′} boson present in this scenario. The peculiarity of the signal is thus that the final state objects carry a very large (transverse) missing energy, since the Z{sup ′} is naturally massive and constrained by direct searches and Electro-Weak Precision Tests (EWPTs) to be at least in the TeV scale region. Under these circumstances the efficiency in accessing the invisible final state and rejecting the Standard Model (SM) background is very high. This somehow compensates the rather meagre production rates. Another special feature of this invisible BLSSM signal is its composition, which is often dominated by sneutrino decays (alongside the more traditional neutrino and neutralino modes). Sensitivity of the CERN machine to these two features can therefore help disentangling the BLSSM from more popular SUSY models. We assess in this analysis the scope of the LHC in establishing the aforementioned invisible signals through a sophisticated signal-to-background simulation carried out in presence of parton shower, hadronisation as well as detector effects. We find that significant sensitivity exists already after 300 fb{sup −1} during Run 2. We find that mono-jet events can be readily accessible at the LHC, so as to enable one to claim a prompt discovery, while mono-photon and -Z signals can be used as diagnostic tools of the underlying scenario.

Cutaneous distribution and circadian rhythm of Onchocerca lupi microfilariae in dogs.

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Domenico Otranto

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Among the arthropod-borne nematodes infesting dogs, Onchocerca lupi (Spirurida: Onchocercidae is of increasing zoonotic concern, with new human cases of infection diagnosed in Turkey, Tunisia, Iran and the USA. Knowledge of the biology of this nematode is meagre. This study aimed at assessing the distribution and periodicity of O. lupi microfilariae from different body regions in naturally infested dogs. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Skin samples were collected from six dogs infested with O. lupi but without apparent clinical signs. Two skin samples were collected from 18 anatomical regions of dog 1 at necropsy. In addition, single skin biopsies were performed from the forehead, inter-scapular and lumbar regions of dogs 2-6, in the morning, afternoon, and at night. Two aliquots of the sediment of each sample were microscopically observed, microfilariae counted and morphologically and molecularly identified. Most of the 1,667 microfilariae retrieved from dog 1 were in the right ear (59.6%, nose (26.5%, left ear (6.7%, forehead (3.0%, and inter-scapular (2.9% regions. In dogs 2-6, the overall mean number of microfilariae was larger on the head (n = 122.8, followed by the inter-scapular (n = 119.0 and lumbar (n = 12.8 regions. The overall mean number of microfilariae was larger in the afternoon (153.4, followed by night (75.4 and morning (25.8. CONCLUSIONS: Onchocerca lupi microfilariae were more common in the head (i.e., ears and nose than in the remaining part of the dog's body, indicating they tend to aggregate in specific body regions, which are the best sites to collect skin samples for diagnostic purposes. The periodicity pattern of microfilariae of O. lupi and their concentration in specific body regions is most likely a result of the co-evolution with their as-yet-unknown vector. The detection of skin microfilariae in asymptomatic animals, suggests the potential role of these animals as carriers and reservoirs of O. lupi.

Interplay between economic empowerment and sexual behaviour and practices of migrant workers within the context of HIV and AIDS in the Lesotho textile industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Tanga, Pius Tangwe; Tangwe, Magdaline Nji

2014-01-01

Economic empowerment brings with it a wide range of consequences, both positive and negative. The objective of this paper was to examine the relationship between economic empowerment and the sexual behaviour and practices of migrant workers within the context of HIV and AIDS in the Lesotho textile industry. Data for this paper were extracted from the findings of a larger study which had been conducted concerning HIV and AIDS in the textile industry in Lesotho. Using in-depth interviews, data were collected from 40 participants who were purposively selected from five factories which had been chosen randomly. Empowerment theory was used as a lens to provide meanings for the experiences of the participants. The findings show that the participants were empowered only in certain respects in terms of Kabeer's empowerment model of 'power to' and 'power within', on one hand, and in terms of Malhotra's comprehensive empowerment framework at the household level, on the other, as being employed in the industry enabled them to participate in the economy. Employment in the sector provided the participants with the means to be able to acquire basic needs and the ability to participate in household decision-making: for the female participants, the ability to make independent sexual decisions was also enhanced. These improvements were greeted enthusiastically, particularly by the female participants, given their previously disadvantaged status as a result of coming from rural patriarchal villages with gender-defined hegemonic notions of respectability. The findings also indicate that environmental factors and others, such as meagre salaries, encouraged some of the female workers to engage in transactional sex, while some of the male participants tended to increase their sexual relationships as a result of acquiring employment and income from the industry. It is the contention of the authors of this study that true empowerment requires both vital resources and individual and

An innovative experimental setup for Large Scale Particle Image Velocimetry measurements in riverine environments

Science.gov (United States)

Tauro, Flavia; Olivieri, Giorgio; Porfiri, Maurizio; Grimaldi, Salvatore

2014-05-01

Large Scale Particle Image Velocimetry (LSPIV) is a powerful methodology to nonintrusively monitor surface flows. Its use has been beneficial to the development of rating curves in riverine environments and to map geomorphic features in natural waterways. Typical LSPIV experimental setups rely on the use of mast-mounted cameras for the acquisition of natural stream reaches. Such cameras are installed on stream banks and are angled with respect to the water surface to capture large scale fields of view. Despite its promise and the simplicity of the setup, the practical implementation of LSPIV is affected by several challenges, including the acquisition of ground reference points for image calibration and time-consuming and highly user-assisted procedures to orthorectify images. In this work, we perform LSPIV studies on stream sections in the Aniene and Tiber basins, Italy. To alleviate the limitations of traditional LSPIV implementations, we propose an improved video acquisition setup comprising a telescopic, an inexpensive GoPro Hero 3 video camera, and a system of two lasers. The setup allows for maintaining the camera axis perpendicular to the water surface, thus mitigating uncertainties related to image orthorectification. Further, the mast encases a laser system for remote image calibration, thus allowing for nonintrusively calibrating videos without acquiring ground reference points. We conduct measurements on two different water bodies to outline the performance of the methodology in case of varying flow regimes, illumination conditions, and distribution of surface tracers. Specifically, the Aniene river is characterized by high surface flow velocity, the presence of abundant, homogeneously distributed ripples and water reflections, and a meagre number of buoyant tracers. On the other hand, the Tiber river presents lower surface flows, isolated reflections, and several floating objects. Videos are processed through image-based analyses to correct for lens

Understanding nurses' dual practice: a scoping review of what we know and what we still need to ask on nurses holding multiple jobs.

Science.gov (United States)

Russo, Giuliano; Fronteira, Inês; Jesus, Tiago Silva; Buchan, James

2018-02-22

Mounting evidence suggests that holding multiple concurrent jobs in public and private (dual practice) is common among health workers in low- as well as high-income countries. Nurses are world's largest health professional workforce and a critical resource for achieving Universal Health Coverage. Nonetheless, little is known about nurses' engagement with dual practice. We conducted a scoping review of the literature on nurses' dual practice with the objective of generating hypotheses on its nature and consequences, and define a research agenda on the phenomenon. The Arksey and O'Malley's methodological steps were followed to develop the research questions, identify relevant studies, include/exclude studies, extract the data, and report the findings. PRISMA guidelines were additionally used to conduct the review and report on results. Of the initial 194 records identified, a total of 35 met the inclusion criteria for nurses' dual practice; the vast majority (65%) were peer-reviewed publications, followed by nursing magazine publications (19%), reports, and doctoral dissertations. Twenty publications focused on high-income countries, 16 on low- or middle-income ones, and two had a multi country perspective. Although holding multiple jobs not always amounted to dual practice, several ways were found for public-sector nurses to engage concomitantly in public and private employments, in regulated as well as in informal, casual fashions. Some of these forms were reported as particularly prevalent, from over 50% in Australia, Canada, and the UK, to 28% in South Africa. The opportunity to increase a meagre salary, but also a dissatisfaction with the main job and the flexibility offered by multiple job-holding arrangements, were among the reported reasons for engaging in these practices. Limited and mostly circumstantial evidence exists on nurses' dual practice, with the few existing studies suggesting that the phenomenon is likely to be very common and carry  implications

Access Routes of Internet Finance Dictionaries: Present Solutions and Future Opportunities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Deny Arnos Kwary

2011-10-01

Full Text Available

ABSTRACT: Lexicographers working on finance dictionaries have not properly exploited the fast development of the Internet. This is revealed by the poor utilization of the access routes found in current Internet finance dictionaries. Consequently, users cannot effectively and efficiently find answers to their lexicographical problems. Firstly, there are Internet finance dictionaries which lack technological features and can simply be called meagre Internet dictionaries. Secondly, there are Internet finance dictionaries which utilize so many technological features that users incur high lexicographical information costs. In order to create better access routes, a sound theoretical foundation has to be established. This article shows that the implementation of the modern theory of lexicographical functions, which focuses on the users, results in a better design for future Internet finance dictionaries. With the proper theoretical basis, lexicographers will be able to create state-ofthe- art dictionaries that can provide effective and efficient solutions to lexicographical problems.

OPSOMMING: Toegangsroetes van Internet- finansiële woordeboeke: Huidige oplossings en toekomstige geleenthede. Leksikograwe wat aan finansiële woordeboeke werk, het nie die vinnige ontwikkeling van die Internet behoorlik benut nie. Dit blyk uit die gebrekkige aanwending van die toegangsroetes wat in huidige Internet- finansiële woordeboeke aangetref word. Gevolglik kan gebruikers nie doeltreffend en doelmatig antwoorde kry op hul leksikografiese probleme nie. Eerstens is daar Internet- finansiële woordeboeke waarin tegnologiese kenmerke ontbreek en wat gewoon karige Internetwoordeboeke genoem kan word. Tweedens is daar Internet- finansiële woordeboeke wat so baie tegnologiese kenmerke aanwend dat gebruikers hoë leksikografiese inligtingskoste oploop. Om beter toegangsroetes te skep, moet 'n deeglike teoretiese grondslag gevestig word. Hierdie artikel toon

Of mice and men: Traces of life in the death registries of the 1630 plague in Milano.

Science.gov (United States)

D'Amato, Alfonsina; Zilberstein, Gleb; Zilberstein, Svetlana; Compagnoni, Benedetto Luigi; Righetti, Pier Giorgio

2018-05-30

The death registries of the plague epidemic of 1630, stored at the Archivio di Stato of Milano, have been interrogated via the EVA film technology (ethyl vinyl acetate film studded with crushed strong anion and cation exchangers as well as C 8 resins). The EVA diskettes have been left in contact with the lower right margins of 11 different pages pertaining to the peak months of the raging disease (June through end of September) for 60-90min and then the captured material, after elution and digestion, analysed by mass spectrometry. The main findings: 17 Yersiniaceae family proteins, 31 different human keratins, 22 unique mouse keratins, about 400 peptides from different bacterial strains, 58 human tissue proteins and 130 additional mouse and rat tissue proteins. In addition, >60 plant proteins (notably potato, corn, rice, carrot and chickpeas), likely representing the meagre meals of the scribes, contaminating the pages, were detected. The significance of these unique findings is amply illustrated in the body of the article. Archivists, historians, librarians usually explore the texts of ancient and modern manuscript in order to extract the meaning of the writing and understand the mood, feelings, political, philosophical and/or religious ideas therein expressed by the authors. With the present EVA methodology (the only one, at present, able to access our Cultural Heritage without damaging or contaminating it) we interrogate, instead, the support, be it paper, parchment, wood panel, cloth, canvas and the like, in order to extract invisible data, such as the presence of drugs, medicaments, infectious pathogens, human and environmental contaminants. Metabolites, proteins and peptides thus captured are then analysed via mass spectrometry. The unique data mined by this technology should considerably enlarge the (so far) restricted horizon of the writing exploration and add new insight on the environmental conditions in which such documents were produced as well as

Imprensa, geografia e monopólio. A forma da notícia nas páginas dos jornais dos Estados Unidos / News Geography & Monopoly: The Form of Reports on U.S. Newspaper Internet Sites

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kevin G. Barnhurst

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Resumen: Os jornais americanos que publicam edições eletrônicas na Internet não parecem se reinventar na rede. As versões da web reproduzem o conteúdo de suas edições impressas, de modo que se relacionam similarmente aos leitores. O acesso das notícias on-line pode ser um processo que envolve múltiplos saltos e rolagens na tela e apenas um pequeno número de notícias adicionou recursos, como os hiperlinks para informações adicionais, imagens ou outras possibilidades interativas. As notícias dos jornais on-line diferem muito pouco das formas impressas originais. As versões para a Internet não costumam adicionar ou modificar o texto das notícias e sua apresentação é visualmente limitada, especialmente se comparada com a impressa, que tem uma ampla riqueza tipográfica e apresenta muito mais imagens. Os resultados sugerem que as empresas jornalísticas usam a presença na Internet como um servidor de baixo custo que guarda sua posição no mercado norte-americano e constrói uma barreira para a entrada de competidores geográficos e alternativas ideológicas na arena noticiária norte-americana.Abstract: U.S. newspapers that publish electronic editions on the Internet do not appear to reinvent themselves on line. Instead the Web versions reproduce the substance of their print editions in a way that relates similarly to readers. Reaching stories on line can be a process involving multiple screen jumps and scrolls, and only a few stories have added features, such as hyper-links to additional information, images, or interactive resources. Newspaper stories on line differ very little from those printed in the originating newspapers. The Internet versions do not usually add to or change the text of the stories, and their presentation is visually meagre, especially compared to print, which has a richer typographical range and presents many more images. The results suggest that print publishers use their Internet presence as a low

Political priority in the global fight against non–communicable diseases

Science.gov (United States)

Maher, Anthony; Sridhar, Devi

2012-01-01

Background The prevalence of non–communicable diseases (NCDs) – such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and chronic respiratory diseases – is surging globally. Yet despite the availability of cost–effective interventions, NCDs receive less than 3% of annual development assistance for health to low and middle income countries. The top donors in global health – including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the US Government, and the World Bank – together commit less than 2% of their budgets to the prevention and control of NCDs. Why is there such meagre funding on the table for the prevention and control of NCDs? Why has a global plan of action aimed at halting the spread of NCDs been so difficult to achieve? Methods This paper aims to tackle these two interrelated questions by analysing NCDs through the lens of Jeremy Shiffman’s 2009 political priority framework. We define global political priority as ‘the degree to which international and national political leaders actively give attention to an issue, and back up that attention with the provision of financial, technical, and human resources that are commensurate with the severity of the issue’. Grounded in social constructionism, this framework critically examines the relationship between agenda setting and ‘objective’ factors in global health, such as the existence of cost–effective interventions and a high mortality burden. From a methodological perspective, this paper fits within the category of discipline configurative case study. Results We support Shiffman’s claim that strategic communication – or ideas in the form of issue portrayals – ought to be a core activity of global health policy communities. But issue portrayals must be the products of a robust and inclusive debate. To this end, we also consider it essential to recognise that issue portrayals reach political leaders through a vast array of channels. Raising the political priority of NCDs means engaging with

Geoinformatics for the Mapping of Nexus Between Poverty and Land Degradation in Drylands of Thar Desert

Science.gov (United States)

Gaur, Mahesh

2012-07-01

Poverty and land degradation are major problems in majority of world dry lands, where meagre vegetative coverage (of forests and trees) contribute significantly to rural livelihoods. In order to eradicate poverty in the dry lands, it is important to protect the land from deforestation, fragmentation, degradation, drought and sometimes flash floods. Satellite remote sensing is a critical need for India - for spatial and temporal inter-linking of poverty and land degradation nexus and its prioritization. Remote sensing and geographical information system (GIS) is often used to generate and apply knowledge in the complex local context. Connecting natural resources and ecosystem services with attributes of poverty is amenable through Remote Sensing and GIS. Such linkages in a typical local context are important to recognize while building rural assets and natural resources conservation leading to poverty alleviation. A large proportion of the poor in the Rajasthan state live in resource poor western region who lack productive assets (especially land) and also lack adequate livelihoods skills or capacities due to illiteracy. People are inadequately organized to assert their rights and utilize available resources and services. The state also continues to be plagued by high levels of gender and caste discrimination (World Bank, 2007). Incidence of Poverty: The number of population below poverty line in Rajasthan in 2004-05 were 22.1 percent. The corresponding figures for rural areas are 18.7 percent. In urban areas, the number of poor people are 32.9 percent. Rural poverty situation is significantly better than urban poverty. (HDR, 2008) Despite the fact that poverty rates in Rajasthan are lower than the national average, the incidence of poverty in Western Rajasthan is nevertheless high. The incidence of poverty varies between 11.2% in Jodhpur to as much as 35.2% in Jalore. The poor households suffer from both lack of resources and the means to access them, which

Soil pH management without lime, a strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cultivated soils

Science.gov (United States)

Nadeem, Shahid; Bakken, Lars; Reent Köster, Jan; Tore Mørkved, Pål; Simon, Nina; Dörsch, Peter

2015-04-01

For decades, agricultural scientists have searched for methods to reduce the climate forcing of food production by increasing carbon sequestration in the soil and reducing the emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O). The outcome of this research is depressingly meagre and the two targets appear incompatible: efforts to increase carbon sequestration appear to enhance the emissions of N2O. Currently there is a need to find alternative management strategies which may effectively reduce both the CO2 and N2O footprints of food production. Soil pH is a master variable in soil productivity and plays an important role in controlling the chemical and biological activity in soil. Recent investigations of the physiology of denitrification have provided compelling evidence that the emission of N2O declines with increasing pH within the range 5-7. Thus, by managing the soil pH at a near neutral level appears to be a feasible way to reduce N2O emissions. Such pH management has been a target in conventional agriculture for a long time, since a near-neutral pH is optimal for a majority of cultivated plants. The traditional way to counteract acidification of agricultural soils is to apply lime, which inevitably leads to emission of CO2. An alternative way to increase the soil pH is the use of mafic rock powders, which have been shown to counteract soil acidification, albeit with a slower reaction than lime. Here we report a newly established field trail in Norway, in which we compare the effects of lime and different mafic mineral and rock powders (olivine, different types of plagioclase) on CO2 and N2O emissions under natural agricultural conditions. Soil pH is measured on a monthly basis from all treatment plots. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emission measurements are carried out on a weekly basis using static chambers and an autonomous robot using fast box technique. Field results from the first winter (fallow) show immediate effect of lime on soil pH, and slower effects of the mafic rocks. The

Political priority in the global fight against non-communicable diseases.

Science.gov (United States)

Maher, Anthony; Sridhar, Devi

2012-12-01

The prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) - such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and chronic respiratory diseases - is surging globally. Yet despite the availability of cost-effective interventions, NCDs receive less than 3% of annual development assistance for health to low and middle income countries. The top donors in global health - including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the US Government, and the World Bank - together commit less than 2% of their budgets to the prevention and control of NCDs. Why is there such meagre funding on the table for the prevention and control of NCDs? Why has a global plan of action aimed at halting the spread of NCDs been so difficult to achieve? This paper aims to tackle these two interrelated questions by analysing NCDs through the lens of Jeremy Shiffman's 2009 political priority framework. We define global political priority as 'the degree to which international and national political leaders actively give attention to an issue, and back up that attention with the provision of financial, technical, and human resources that are commensurate with the severity of the issue'. Grounded in social constructionism, this framework critically examines the relationship between agenda setting and 'objective' factors in global health, such as the existence of cost-effective interventions and a high mortality burden. From a methodological perspective, this paper fits within the category of discipline configurative case study. We support Shiffman's claim that strategic communication - or ideas in the form of issue portrayals - ought to be a core activity of global health policy communities. But issue portrayals must be the products of a robust and inclusive debate. To this end, we also consider it essential to recognise that issue portrayals reach political leaders through a vast array of channels. Raising the political priority of NCDs means engaging with the diverse ways in which actors express concern for the

Evaluating cis-2,6-Dimethylpiperidide (cis-DMP) as a Base Component in Lithium-Mediated Zincation Chemistry

Science.gov (United States)

Armstrong, David R; Garden, Jennifer A; Kennedy, Alan R; Leenhouts, Sarah M; Mulvey, Robert E; O'Keefe, Philip; O'Hara, Charles T; Steven, Alan

2013-01-01

Most recent advances in metallation chemistry have centred on the bulky secondary amide 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidide (TMP) within mixed metal, often ate, compositions. However, the precursor amine TMP(H) is rather expensive so a cheaper substitute would be welcome. Thus this study was aimed towards developing cheaper non-TMP based mixed-metal bases and, as cis-2,6-dimethylpiperidide (cis-DMP) was chosen as the alternative amide, developing cis-DMP zincate chemistry which has received meagre attention compared to that of its methyl-rich counterpart TMP. A new lithium diethylzincate, [(TMEDA)LiZn(cis-DMP)Et2] (TMEDA=N,N,N′,N′-tetramethylethylenediamine) has been synthesised by co-complexation of Li(cis-DMP), Et2Zn and TMEDA, and characterised by NMR (including DOSY) spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography, which revealed a dinuclear contact ion pair arrangement. By using N,N-diisopropylbenzamide as a test aromatic substrate, the deprotonative reactivity of [(TMEDA)LiZn(cis-DMP)Et2] has been probed and contrasted with that of the known but previously uninvestigated di-tert-butylzincate, [(TMEDA)LiZn(cis-DMP)tBu2]. The former was found to be the superior base (for example, producing the ortho-deuteriated product in respective yields of 78 % and 48 % following D2O quenching of zincated benzamide intermediates). An 88 % yield of 2-iodo-N,N-diisopropylbenzamide was obtained on reaction of two equivalents of the diethylzincate with the benzamide followed by iodination. Comparisons are also drawn using 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexamethyldisilazide (HMDS), diisopropylamide and TMP as the amide component in the lithium amide, Et2Zn and TMEDA system. Under certain conditions, the cis-DMP base system was found to give improved results in comparison to HMDS and diisopropylamide (DA), and comparable results to a TMP system. Two novel complexes isolated from reactions of the di-tert-butylzincate and crystallographically characterised, namely the pre-metallation complex [{(iPr)2N

Validation of an electrothermal atomization atomic absorption spectrometry method for quantification of total chromium and chromium(VI) in wild mushrooms and underlying soils.

Science.gov (United States)

Figueiredo, Estela; Soares, M Elisa; Baptista, Paula; Castro, Marisa; Bastos, M Lourdes

2007-08-22

An ETAAS method was validated to quantify total Cr and Cr(VI) in mushrooms and the underlying soils. The method includes a sample pretreatment for total Cr dissolution using a wet acid digestion procedure and a selective alkaline extraction for Cr(VI). The limits of detection were, expressed in microg/L, 0.15 and 0.17 for total Cr and Cr(VI), respectively. The linearity ranges under the optimized conditions were 0.15-25.0 and 0.17-20.0 microg/L for total Cr and Cr(VI), respectively. The limits of quantification were, expressed in microg/g of dry weight, 0.0163 and 0.0085 for total and hexavalent chromium, respectively. The precision of the instrumental method for total Cr and Cr(VI) was lower than 1.6%, and for the analytical method, it was lower than 10%. The accuracy of the method for Cr(VI) quantification was evaluated by the standard additions method, with the recoveries being higher than 90% for all of the added concentrations. For total Cr, certified reference materials (lichen CRM 482 and soil sample NCS ZC73001) were used. An interference study was also carried out in a mushroom simulated matrix, and it was verified that the deviations of the expected values were lower than 4.0% for both total Cr and Cr(VI). The validated method was applied to the evaluation of total Cr and Cr(VI) in 34 wild mushrooms and 34 respective underlying soil samples collected in two different regions of Portugal (Beira Interior and TrAs-os-Montes), with different locations regarded as noncontaminated or contaminated areas. The species were identified by a mycologist and subdivided into 10 genera and 15 species: Amanita (rubescens, muscaria, and ponderosa), Boletus (regius), Lactarius (deliciosus, vellereus, and piperatus), Suillus (granulatus and luteus), Tricholoma (acerbum), Agaricus (sylvicola), Volvariella (gloiocephala), Lecopaxillus (giganteus), Macrolepiota (procera), and Psilocybe (fascicularis). The mean values found for total Cr were 1.14 and 1.11 microg/g of dry weight

Global warming and social innovation. The challenge of a climate-neutral society

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kok, M.T.J.; Vermeulen, W.J.V.; Faaij, A.P.C.; De Jager, D. (eds.)

2002-07-01

After the introductory Chapter 1 Chapter 2 presents two long-term visions of a climate-neutral energy system in The Netherlands. It looks at the window of opportunity and shows that there are a number of technically feasible ways to realize drastic emission reductions. At the same time, it is well known that climate change is a tough problem to deal with and that the results of current policies have been relatively meagre. In Chapter 3 a number of dilemmas that play a role in current climate-change policies is identified. The dilemmas are elaborated in the light of desired long-term developments. Both Chapters 2 and 3 illustrate a sharp contrast between the problematic current situation and the substantial targets that need to be achieved over time. The question is how to realize trend breaks and orchestrate the transition towards a climate-neutral societal. In Chapter 4 the governance of technological change and innovation is discussed. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 form the basis on which the authors of the subsequent chapters have written their analysis about the transition towards a climate-neutral society. As a whole, the book provides the reader with an analysis of prospects of long-term climate policies, short-term issues, the societal trend breaks needed to realize substantive emission reductions and possible ways to realize these trend breaks. Chapter 5 analyses households, behaviour and consumption patterns. It assesses future opportunities for drastic changes that would lead to more environmentally sound energy consumption by households and discusses constraints to changes in behaviour. In Chapter 6, the role of local authorities in the transition to a climate-neutral society is discussed. Chapter 7 takes the perspective of materials management as a breakthrough technology for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In Chapter 8, the contribution that information and communication technology (ICT) (as another breakthrough technology) can make to the transition is

The survival strategy of the soil microbial biomass

Science.gov (United States)

Brookes, Philip; Kemmitt, Sarah; Dungait, Jennifer; Xu, Jianming

2014-05-01

The soil microbial biomass (biomass) is defined as the sum of the masses of all soil microorganisms > 5000 µm3 (e.g. fungi, bacteria, protozoa, yeasts, actinomycetes and algae). Typically comprising about 1 to 3 % of total soil organic matter (SOM), the biomass might be though to live in a highly substrate-rich environment. However, the SOM is, normally, only exceedingly slowly available to the biomass. However the biomass can survive for months or even years on this meagre energy source. Not surprisingly, therefore, the biomass exhibits many features typical of a dormant or resting population. These include a very low rate of basal and specific respiration, a slow rate of cell division (about once every six months on average) and slow turnover rate. These are clearly adaptations to existing in an environment where substrate availability is very low. Yet, paradoxically, the biomass, in soils worldwide, has an adenosine triphosphate (ATP) concentration (around 10 to 12 µmol ATP g-1 biomass C), and an Adenylate Energy Charge (AEC = [(ATP) + (0.5 ADP)]/[(ATP)+(ADP) + (AMP)]) which are typical of microorganisms growing exponentially in a chemostat. This sets us several questions. Firstly, under the condition of extremely limited substrate availability in soil, why does the biomass not mainly exist as spores, becoming active, by increasing both its ATP concentration and AEC, when substrate (plant and animal residues) becomes available? We surmise that a spore strategy may put organisms at a competitive disadvantage, compared to others which are prepared to invest energy, maintaining high ATP and ATP, to take advantage of a 'food event' as soon as it becomes available. Secondly, since SOM is available (although only very slowly) to the biomass, why have some groups not evolved the ability to mineralize it faster, obtain more energy, and so gain a competitive advantage? We believe that the reason why organisms do not use this strategy is, simply, that they cannot. Our

Música e imágenes hasta la llegada del cine. (Linterna mágica, armónica de cristal, fantasmagorías y teatro de sombras

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Armell Femenía, Montserrat

2003-12-01

Full Text Available The prehistory of talking movies where the coordination of moving images and sound is concerned, comprises a very extensive period of time of thousands of years stretching from the musical illustration of projected shadows as documented in Ancient China, up to practically the very dawn of cinematography, a technological advance unthinkable today more than ever without the contribution that music and sound have made to the so-called seventh art. This study sets out to offer an overall view of the history of continued human interest in capturing movement in sound and vision at the same moment in time, paying particular attention to certain technical achievements of some relevance (the magic lantern, the harmonic crystal, phantasmagories and the theatre of shadows within the evolution that was to facilitate the birth of the "talkies". A simple introduction to a fascinating and modern world, that, from a purely musicological view is practically nonexistent today (the meagre and marginal bibliography available is the best evidence of that and which requires new and more detailed studies to be done.

La "pre-historia" del cine hablado, en lo relativo a la coordinación de imágenes en movimiento y sonido, supone un período extensísimo de tiempo, que abarca miles de años, desde la ilustración sonora de sombras proyectadas documentada en la antigua China, hasta prácticamente los albores del cinematógrafo, un avance tecnológico impensable —hoy en día más que nunca— sin la aportación que música y sonido han hecho al denominado séptimo arte. El presente trabajo pretende ofrecer una panorámica de la historia de la —documentadamente inconexa, aunque continua— preocupación humana por fijar el movimiento de un modo visual y sonoro a un tiempo, prestando particular atención a algunos logros técnicos de especial relevancia (la linterna mágica, la armónica de cristal, las fantasmagorías, el teatro de sombras, dentro del recorrido

Web-based KAP Intervention on Office Ergonomics: A Unique Technique for Prevention of Musculoskeletal Discomfort in Global Corporate Offices.

Science.gov (United States)

Madhwani, Kishore P; Nag, P K

2017-01-01

, 46.9% had upper back pain, 44.1% had wrist pain, 39.5% had shoulder pain, and 37% had knee pain. The percentages are high as some participants had multiple complaints i.e. 2 or 3 complaints. However, only 40% of these employees had ongoing symptoms at the time of evaluation (past 7 days). A subsequent 3-month evaluation after web-based intervention showed a significant 41-50% decline in ongoing symptoms. We conclude that newer technology using web-based animation graphics is a highly efficient technique to create office ergonomics awareness and has the potential to become a best practice in countries where language is a communication barrier and an on-site visit may not be feasible due to meagre resources.

Why more research needs to be done on echinococcosis in Pakistan.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmed, Haroon; Ali, Shahzad; Afzal, Muhammad Sohail; Khan, Abid Ali; Raza, Hamid; Shah, Zaheer Hussain; Simsek, Sami

2017-07-03

Echinococcosis has a worldwide geographical distribution with endemic foci on every inhabited continent. Due to the frequent outbreaks in different parts of Pakistan in the recent past, echinococcosis is being described as a neglected tropical disease and is considered one of the most neglected parasitic diseases in the country. In endemic regions, predominantly settings with limited resources, there are high numbers of echinococcosis patients, as these communities do not have access to appropriate treatment. In Pakistan, there are limited reports on echinococcosis. The disease is prevalent in human and livestock, but this has not been sufficiently explored yet. Pakistan is an agricultural country and due to the disease's zoonotic mode of transmission, there is a dire need of future research on it. The present paper is an effort to highlight the importance of echinococcosis in Pakistan. There is a dire need for future research on echinococcosis in Pakistan as very few investigations had been carried out on this topic thus far. The prevalence of the disease in neighbouring countries highlights that Pakistan might be at severe risk of this zoonotic infection and further supports the need for more research. In Pakistan, the majority of the population lives in rural areas with limited acess to proper hygienic/sanitary facilities. These conditions favour the outbreak of diseases such as echinococcosis. The limited available data could result in higher outbreaks in the future, and thus cause the already weak healthcare system to overburden. The country has a meagre annual budget for health, which is being spent on known infections such as polio, dengue fever and hepatic viral infections. A proper surveillance system for echinococcosis is required across the country as treatment is usually expensive, complicated and may require extensive surgery and/or prolonged drug therapy. Development of new/novel drugs and other treatment modalities receives very little, if any

Z Kaliningradu na Кёнигсберг – zapotrzebowanie społeczne czy marzenie nielicznych? Społeczna inicjatywa zmiany nazwy miasta

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miłosz J. Zieliński

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Kaliningrad into Кёнигсберг – a social need or a dream of a few? Societal initiative for a change of the city’s name Kaliningrad Oblast of the Russian Federation has been subject to manifold social processes due to its specific history, geographic conditions and other factors. Some of the former resulted in rejecting numerous elements of the Soviet past by a part of the local population. This included the very name of Kaliningrad, as a tribute paid to Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin who has been considered one of the state and party officials responsible for mass purges in the 1930s and 1940s. the purpose of the article is to analyse the initiative put forward by a group of social activists to change the name ‘Kaliningrad’ into ‘Кёнигсберг’ (Königsberg, that is to return to the pre-war name of the city. As authors of the petition refer to previous attempts of changing the name and use them as an important part of their reasoning, the history of the notion has also been outlined with emphasis on the December 1988 discussion noted by Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev, then a Communist Party official. In the article, a brief introduction of the petition is followed by main arguments used by its supporters and the discussion which the document triggered among the local administration and in the media, in particular the Internet. The discussion concentrated on two aspects of the petition. First, controversies around procedural handling of the petition by Kaliningrad Duma. Secondly, fierce debates about phrases used in the document and their political significance in the context of the contemporary identity of Kaliningrad Oblast. Results of the debate and the impact the petition had on broader public opinion, both in Kaliningrad Oblast and the whole of Russia, turned out to be meagre. Only 400 signatures were collected across the country to support the idea. No decisive measures were taken on the administrative level such as

Citrus tissue culture employing vegetative explants.

Science.gov (United States)

Chaturvedi, H C; Singh, S K; Sharma, A K; Agnihotri, S

2001-11-01

Citrus being a number one fruit of the world due to its high nutritional value, huge production of fruits and fruit products, the citrus industry may be considered a major fruit industry. Though citrus orchard area in India is comparable to USA, the produce is far less, while its export is nil. Biotechnology has played an outstanding role in boosting the citrus industry, e.g., in Spain, which is now the biggest exporter of citrus fruit with the application of micrografting. Amongst the fruit trees, perhaps the maximum tissue culture research has been done in citrus during the past four decades, however, the results of practical value are meagre. The shortfalls in citrus tissue culture research and some advancements made in this direction along with bright prospects are highlighted, restricting the review to vegetative explants only. Whilst utilization of nucellar embryogenesis is limited to rootstocks, the other aspects, like, regeneration and proliferation of shoot meristems measuring 200 microm in length--a global breakthrough--of two commercially important scion species, Citrus aurantifolia and C. sinensis and an important rootstock, C. limonia, improvement of micrografting technique, cloning of the same two scion species as well as some Indian rootstock species, employing nodal stem segments of mature trees, of immense practical value have been elaborated. A rare phenomenon of shift in the morphogenetic pattern of differentiation from shoot bud differentiation to embryoid formation occurred during the long-term culture of stem callus of C. grandis. Stem callus-regenerated plants of C. aurantifolia, C. sinensis and C. grandis showed variation in their ploidy levels and a somaclonal variant of C. sinensis, which produced seedless fruits was isolated. Tailoring of rooting in microshoots to a tap root-like system by changing the inorganic salt composition of the rooting medium, resulting in 100% transplant success, and germplasm preservation through normal growth

Energy use pattern in production agriculture of a typical village in arid zone - Part III

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Singh, H.; Mishra, D.; Nahar, N.M.

2004-01-01

India has 31.71 Mha of hot arid areas, of which 61.8% is in Western Rajasthan, commonly known as the 'Thar Desert'. A detailed study of the energy use pattern in production agriculture for a representative village, Pemasar, district Bikaner of zone II (200 mm/yr ≤ annual rainfall < 300 mm/yr) has been conducted. Out of the total geographical area (945.7 ha) of the village, 693.6 ha is cultivable land. The main crops grown in the village are cluster bean, moth bean, groundnut, green gram (Kharif), wheat, mustard, gram, barley and rocket salad (Rabi). In general, Kharif crops are grown as rain fed crops, but due to low rainfall in the zone and the presence of the Indira Gandhi Canal, even Kharif crops are raised under irrigated conditions. However, the area covered under irrigation is meagre as the availability of canal water is very much limited and uncertain. Operation wise, the total energy consumed for rain fed Kharif crops is minimum (1187.6 MJ/ha) for moth bean and maximum (1261.9 MJ/ha) for cluster bean, while for irrigated crops, it is minimum (2847.3 MJ/ha) for moth bean, and maximum (12,809.6 MJ/ha) for groundnut. The average specific energy for cultivation of cluster bean (rain fed), cluster bean (irrigated), moth bean (rain fed), moth bean (irrigated) and groundnut were 11.7, 7.5, 7.7, 7.4 and 11.2 MJ/ha, respectively. Operation wise, the energy consumed for Rabi crops is minimum (3855.6 MJ/ha) for rocket salad followed by 4779.4 MJ/ha for mustard, 4845.2 MJ/ha for gram and maximum (7953.2 MJ/ha) for wheat. The average specific energy for cultivation of wheat, gram, mustard and rocket salad were 11.4, 16.5, 13.2 and 13.7 MJ/ha, respectively. The average values of estimated energy ratio for cluster bean (rain fed), cluster bean (irrigated), moth bean (rain fed), moth bean (irrigated) and groundnut were 2.1, 0.5, 3.4, 3.5 and 3.0, respectively. This suggests that the moth bean crop is more remunerating to the farmers in Kharif as compared to cluster bean

Energy use pattern in production agriculture of a typical village in arid zone - Part III

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Singh, H. E-mail: hsingh11@rediffmail.com; Mishra, D.; Nahar, N.M

2004-09-01

India has 31.71 Mha of hot arid areas, of which 61.8% is in Western Rajasthan, commonly known as the 'Thar Desert'. A detailed study of the energy use pattern in production agriculture for a representative village, Pemasar, district Bikaner of zone II (200 mm/yr {<=} annual rainfall < 300 mm/yr) has been conducted. Out of the total geographical area (945.7 ha) of the village, 693.6 ha is cultivable land. The main crops grown in the village are cluster bean, moth bean, groundnut, green gram (Kharif), wheat, mustard, gram, barley and rocket salad (Rabi). In general, Kharif crops are grown as rain fed crops, but due to low rainfall in the zone and the presence of the Indira Gandhi Canal, even Kharif crops are raised under irrigated conditions. However, the area covered under irrigation is meagre as the availability of canal water is very much limited and uncertain. Operation wise, the total energy consumed for rain fed Kharif crops is minimum (1187.6 MJ/ha) for moth bean and maximum (1261.9 MJ/ha) for cluster bean, while for irrigated crops, it is minimum (2847.3 MJ/ha) for moth bean, and maximum (12,809.6 MJ/ha) for groundnut. The average specific energy for cultivation of cluster bean (rain fed), cluster bean (irrigated), moth bean (rain fed), moth bean (irrigated) and groundnut were 11.7, 7.5, 7.7, 7.4 and 11.2 MJ/ha, respectively. Operation wise, the energy consumed for Rabi crops is minimum (3855.6 MJ/ha) for rocket salad followed by 4779.4 MJ/ha for mustard, 4845.2 MJ/ha for gram and maximum (7953.2 MJ/ha) for wheat. The average specific energy for cultivation of wheat, gram, mustard and rocket salad were 11.4, 16.5, 13.2 and 13.7 MJ/ha, respectively. The average values of estimated energy ratio for cluster bean (rain fed), cluster bean (irrigated), moth bean (rain fed), moth bean (irrigated) and groundnut were 2.1, 0.5, 3.4, 3.5 and 3.0, respectively. This suggests that the moth bean crop is more remunerating to the farmers in Kharif as compared to

The effects of radionuclides on animal behavior

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gagnaire, B.; Adam-Guillermin, C.; Bouron, A.; Lestaevel, P.

2011-01-01

to increased suicides, as well as modification of preferred nesting sites, reduced hatching success and fecundity in birds that live in the Chernobyl zone. No significant effect from caesium exposure was shown in laboratory experiments with rats, but few studies were conducted. Data on radioactive cadmium are not available in the literature, but the effects of its metallic form have been well studied. Cadmium induces mental retardation and psychomotor alterations in exposed populations and increases anxiety in rats, leading to depression. Cadmium exposure also results in well-documented effects on feeding and burrowing behavior in several invertebrate species (crustaceans, gastropods, annelids, bivalves) and on different kinds of fish behavior (swimming activity, fast-start response, anti-predatory behavior). Cobalt induces memory deficits in humans and may be involved in Alzheimer's disease; gamma irradiation by cobalt also decreases fecundity and alters mating behavior in insects. Collectively, data are lacking or are meagre on radionuclide pollutants, and a better knowledge of their actions on the cellular and molecular mechanisms that control animal behavior is needed. (authors)

Radiochemistry and associated nuclear chemistry in the beginning of the twenty-first century

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goeij, J.J.M. de

2002-01-01

third category involves radioactivity as an essential part of a technique. Here two different lines are present. First, radioactivity as a source of ionising radiation to alter material characteristics, e.g. for food conservation, polymerisation and crosslinking of plastics, sterilisation, radiotherapy and pain palliation for patients. The other line is the use of radioactivity to get information on systems and materials, for instance radiotracer methods and nuclear reaction or activation techniques. Quite often these nuclear analytical methods may provide unique information, which cannot be obtained or at least not so easily via other non-nuclear techniques. However, quite often it turns out that these nuclear analytical techniques are not sufficiently used, and when used, they are not exploited to the full extent of their potentials. Additional weak point in studies involving nuclear analytical methods is that the line of approach is too much focussed on the results provided by nuclear analytical technique alone, instead of the actual problem at hand. Necessary additional, mostly non-nuclear techniques, to solve the problem at hand adequately are frequently lacking and/or scientific input from experts from the fields involved is often meagre or even absent. Suggestions are given to improve this situation. (author)

How the food supply harvestable by waders in the Wadden Sea depends on the variation in energy density, body weight, biomass, burying depth and behaviour of tidal-flat invertebrates

Science.gov (United States)

Zwarts, Leo; Wanink, Jan H.

profitability, while many profitable prey are inaccessible. The profitability of prey depends on their size and weight but also on their depth in the mud, since handling time increases with burying depth. A simple biomechanical rule explains why the handling time of small prey increases with bill length and why large, long-billed waders ignore a disproportionately larger part of the small prey. The fraction detectable for visually feeding waders is usually very low, especially when the temperature of the substrate is below 3-6°C. Waders vary their prey choice over the year in response to the changes in the availability and profitability of their different prey species. The food supply harvestable by waders is much lower in winter than in summer. For waders wintering in the Wadden Sea, the food supply may be characterized as unpredictable and usually meagre. Waders wintering in NW Europe are concentrated in coastal sites where the average surface temperature is above 3°C. This probably cannot be explained by a greater burying depth, and only partly by a lower body condition, of prey in colder areas. Yet the harvestable fraction is lower in colder sites, especially for sight-feeding waders, as invertebrates are less active at low temperatures. However, the lower energetic cost of living and reduced chances of the prey being covered by ice may also contribute to the waders' preference for warmer sites.

The role of near-shore industrial waste releases in the dispersion of radionuclides in the NE Irish Sea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hamilton, E.I.

1999-01-01

and Wilson effluents.The retention of actinides in sediments of the NE Irish Sea is believed to be influenced by debris derived from redox recycling. Redox debris can be distributed to depth in sediments through bioturbation. For surface sediments, the distribution is likely to be controlled by sediment mobility. Actinide-enriched magnetite and haematite placer deposits are common in the region, especially in sands. Fractionation and differentiation of iron minerals takes place within the sands as a consequence of energy inputs associated, for example, with tides and storms. Historic data for NE Irish Sea and estuarine sediments provide evidence for a change in facies from muds to sandy silts and a decrease in the concentration of iron over the past 30 years. This will influence the potential behaviour and distribution of actinides in the sediments irrespective of any reductions in discharges. The worst scenario would be continued loss of fine-grained material from the NE Irish Sea and the selective retention of iron minerals and related redox debris, such that the inventory of actinides present in the NE Irish Sea (similar95% of that discharged) becomes associated with surficial sediments. At present, evidence to support this hypothesis is meagre, but it should not be ignored as the iron mineral re-concentration processes are already well-developed. (Copyright (c) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam. All rights reserved.)

Equity and globalisation. On the necessity of equitable, sustainable global energy and resource policies; Gerechtigkeit und Globalisierung. Zur Notwendigkeit einer gerechten und nachhaltigen globalen Energie- und Ressourcenpolitik

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Metzler, Anja

2009-01-15

The trend towards globalisation is steadily increasing and, whether directly or indirectly, gaining an influence on more and more areas of our lives. At the same time, more and more negative effects of human activities attending the globalisation process are becoming apparent, especially for poor populations, but also for future generations. One essential trait of globalisation is that no-one can flee from it - or, to be more precise, from the negative impact of the deeds done in its name. Globalisation therefore poses a global-scale equity problem. This can be demonstrated with particular clarity by reference to current global energy and resource policies. The foremost intent of this thesis therefore is to search for a more equitable and sustainable kind of globalisation than the one being practised at present. As we can learn from the political philosophy of international relations, this primarily requires an internationally binding code of behaviour or regulatory framework. Otherwise, as our present reality teaches us, whatever efforts are made, the outcome will be extremely meagre. This kind of commitment has been demanded on many occasions in the past. However, where it has been codified to date, this has largely only been in the form of inter-country peace orders. The most prominent writings to this end are those of John Rawls. However, theories such as his are no longer commensurate with the complexity of today's globalisation process. The author of the present dissertation therefore addresses the better known of the few approaches that go beyond Rawl's thinking, some of which evolved directly from a critical study of his writings. She deliberately also reviews some of the lesser known works. Based on a critical examination of the practicality of these approaches the author presents a draft for a binding global regulatory framework for the environment, economy and peace. [German] Globalisierungstendenzen nehmen immer staerker zu und beeinflussen

The Disability Tax Credit: Why it Fails and How to Fix It

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wayne Simpson

2016-06-01

Full Text Available When the government establishes a social program whose primary purpose is to help provide support to low-income people with disabilities, its success should be measured on how well it achieves that purpose. Unfortunately, there are reasons to seriously question the usefulness of Canada’s disability tax credit since it is helping so very few of the people it is intended to support. In fact, the credit is helping only a small number of Canadians with disability who qualify for it, and least of all those in the poorest families who receive an average of only $29 annually. The reason is not hard to see: Designing the support as a tax credit means that only those Canadians with disability who earn enough income to have them owing taxes can take advantage of it. Yet it is an unfortunate reality that people with disability are often at low incomes precisely because their disability leaves them unable to work in full-time, wellpaid jobs. Thus, the very people who need this support most are the ones least able to take advantage of it. In other words, the neediest disabled Canadians are receiving the least benefit. Far from being a successful policy, the results of the disability tax credit can only be described as disappointing. There is an uncomplicated way to begin rectifying this: By making the disability tax credit refundable. Along the same lines as a guaranteed minimum income, or negative income tax, those low-income Canadians with disabilities who qualify for the credit but lack sufficient income to benefit from the credit could simply be made eligible for a refund of the amount they cannot claim. Simply doing that, turning this non-refundable credit into a refundable credit, would increase the average benefit for Canada’s poorest families with a disabled person from $29 to $511, increasing their total income by a meaningful 4.1 per cent. Just as importantly, where a meagre 0.2 per cent of these families now get any benefit at all from the

Tinospora cordifolia stem supplementation in diabetic dyslipidemia: an open labelled randomized controlled trial

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kuhu Roy

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Background: Medicinal plants are powerful health promoting nutritional agents. Among the vast library of medicinal plants Tinospora cordifolia (Willd. has been meagrely explored. It belongs to the family Menispermaceae and is a rich source of alkaloid and terpenes. It has hepatoprotective, antioxidant, immunostimulatory, hyperlipidemic, anticancer and antidiabetic properties. The stem contains berberine, palmatine, tembetarine, magnoflorine, tinosporin, tinocordifolin. The stem starch is highly nutritive and digestive. In modern medicine it is called the magical rejuvenating herb owing to its properties to cure many diseases. The stem contains higher alkaloid content than the leaves because of which it is approved for medicinal usage. With a host of phytochemical properties present in the stem, it may hold potential to manage dyslipidemia and dysglycemia, which otherwise has been proven only in pre-clinical studies. Objective: To study the impact of tinospora cordifolia stem supplementation on the glycemic and lipemic profile of subjects with diabetic dyslipidemia. Methods: Type 2 diabetics with dyslipidemia on oral hypoglycemic agents were enrolled. Baseline data on medical history, family history of lifestyle diseases, duration of diabetes diagnosis, drug profile, anthropometric data, dietary data and physical activity data was obtained along with a fasting blood sample for estimating high sensitivity C reactive protein (hs-CRP, hepatic, renal, lipid profile and glycated hemoglobin. The participants were randomized into either of the two groups; intervention group (n=29 received 250mg of encapsulated mature stem of tinospora cordifolia pre meal twice a day along with prescribed dyslipidemic agent and control group (n=30 only on dyslipidemic agents for a period of 60 days. After 60 days all the parameters were re-assessed to analyse the impact of the intervention. Results: Majority of the subjects in both the arms were in the 50-60 years age

The geology and petroleum potential of the North Afghan platform and adjacent areas (northern Afghanistan, with parts of southern Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan)

Science.gov (United States)

Brookfield, Michael E.; Hashmat, Ajruddin

2001-10-01

platform began in the Miocene. Oil and gas traps are mainly in Upper Jurassic carbonates and Lower Cretaceous sandstones across the entire North Afghan block. Upper Jurassic carbonate traps, sealed by evaporites, occur mainly north of the southern limit of the Upper Jurassic salt. Lower Cretaceous traps consist of fine-grained continental sandstones, sealed by Aptian-Albian shales and siltstones. Upper Cretaceous-Palaeocene carbonates, sealed by Palaeogene shales are the main traps along the northern edge of the platform and in the Tajik basin. Almost all the traps are broad anticlines related to Neogene wrench faulting, in this respect, like similar traps along the San Andreas fault. Hydrocarbon sources are in the Mesozoic section. The Lower-Middle Jurassic continental coal-bearing beds provide about 75% of the hydrocarbons; the Callovian-Oxfordian provides about 10%; the Neocomian a meagre 1%, and the Aptian-Albian about 14%. The coal-bearing source rocks decrease very markedly in thickness southwards cross the North Afghan platform. Much of the hydrocarbon generation probably occurred during the Late Cretaceous-Paleogene and migrated to structural traps during Neogene deformation. Since no regional structural dip aids southward hydrocarbon migration, and since the traps are all structural and somewhat small, then there is little chance of very large petroleum fields on the platform. Nevertheless, further studies of the North Afghan platform should be rewarding because: (a) the traps of strike-slip belts are difficult to find without detailed exploration; (b) the troubles of the last 20 years mean that almost no exploration has been done; and, (c) conditions may soon become more favorable. There should be ample potential for oil, and particularly gas, discoveries especially in the northern and western parts of the North Afghan platform.

History of oceanic front development in the New Zealand sector of the Southern Ocean during the Cenozoic: a synthesis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nelson, C.S.; Cooke, P.J.

2001-01-01

The New Zealand sector of the Southern Ocean (NZSSO) has opened about the Indian-Pacific spreading ridge throughout the Cenozoic. Today the NZSSO is characterised by broad zonal belts of antarctic (cold), subantarctic (cool), and subtropical (warm) surface-water masses separated by prominent oceanic fronts: the Subtropical Front (STF) c. 43 degrees S, Subantarctic Front (SAF) c. 50 degrees S, and Antarctic Polar Front (AAPF) c. 60 degrees S. Despite a meagre database, the broad pattern of Cenozoic evolution of these fronts is reviewed from the results of Deep Sea Drilling Project-based studies of sediment facies, microfossil assemblages and diversity, and stable isotope records, as well as from evidence in onland New Zealand Cenozoic sequences. Results are depicted schematically on seven paleogeographic maps covering the NZSSO at 10 m.y. intervals through the Cenozoic. During the Paleocene and most of the Eocene (65-35 Ma), the entire NZSSO was under the influence of warm to cool subtropical waters, with no detectable oceanic fronts. In the latest Eocene (c. 35 Ma), a proto-STF is shown separating subantarctic and subtropical waters offshore from Antarctica, near 65 degrees S paleolatitude. During the earliest Oligocene, this front was displaced northwards by development of an AAPF following major global cooling and biotic turnover associated with ice sheet expansion to sea level on East Antarctica. Early Oligocene full opening (c. 31 Ma) of the Tasmanian gateway initiated vigorous proto-circum-Antarctic flow of cold/cool waters, possibly through a West Antarctic seaway linking the southern Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, including detached northwards 'jetting' onto the New Zealand plateau where condensation and unconformity development was widespread in cool-water carbonate facies. Since this time, a broad tripartite division of antarctic, subantarctic, and subtropical waters has existed in the NZSSO, including possible development of a proto-SAF within the

The Middle East WMDFZ: hopes and fears

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hautecouverture, Benjamin

2014-05-01

the Middle East WMDFZ project is a regional forum for dialogue, and potentially at some point in the future, negotiation. It is nonetheless imperative to call for the Helsinki Conference to take place as soon as possible for at least three reasons: firstly, to avoid continuing to hold, potentially indefinitely, the States parties to the NPT hostage to this regional security process, as has been the case since 1995. The NPT has been weakened by its inability to effectively accompany the process over the past twenty years. Next, because a new milestone must be put down in the diplomatic process, which will allow it to avoid being labelled moribund. In this regard, the EU's action, which has supported the facilitator's work since 2011 on its level, should be recognised. Finally, due to the fact that the Helsinki Conference is the guarantee of the preservation of the diplomatic channels created by the 2010 Final Document, and of the negotiations carried out away from public diplomacy since the end of 2011. The NPT framework continues to offer a stimulus to diplomatic action; it is essential not to ignore it however meagre the results may currently appear to be. (author)

Academic Librarians Have Concerns about Their Role as Teachers. A Review of: Walter, Scott. “Librarians as Teachers: A Qualitative Inquiry into Professional Identity.” College and Research Libraries 69.1 (2008: 51-71.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Virginia Wilson

2008-09-01

the teaching role was valued.The role of teacher spilled over into the other roles of the librarian, i.e., reference service, collection development, etc. Thenext theme was the importance of collegial and administrative support, which is critical to the ability to focus on work as a teacher. The stress of multiple demands emerged as a theme, as time dedicated to teaching was often at the expense of something else. Another theme was the problems with professional education around teaching. Instruction course offerings in library schools were reported to be meagre, and some were badly planned and executed. The fifth theme involved stereotypes and misperceptions. Studies have shown that the academic library profession has been poorly understood by students and faculty. Study participants believed that many of their campus colleagues were either unaware of what they did, or were misinformed by popular culture stereotypes of librarians.Conclusions – The small sample size precluded the making of any definite conclusions based on the study results. Other limitations of the study include the relatively short amount of time spent in the interview process and the narrow range of librarians chosen to participate. The author notes that a subject pool more representative of academic librarians’ full range of opinions regarding the importance of teaching as a professional responsibility would have resulted in more complex themes emerging. While the author is aware of the study’s limitations, he feels there is value in the qualitative research design, in giving voice to individual librarians, and in the provision of insight into some of the research questions found in the literature of learning to teach and of teacher identity. Given the limitations, Walter makes three conclusions about his findings. He points out the lack of a formal introduction to teaching in many library programs which has been explored by other studies and concludes that his study “suggests that

Comparative analysis of the Oskarshamn 3 and Barsebaeck site decommissioning studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hansson, Bertil; Joensson, Lars-Olof

2009-01-01

included. For future cost estimates and in order to permit comparison of results, the power plant owner must clearly specify in the decommissioning plan boundary conditions, what facilities/buildings are included and the decommissioning schedule. Strategies for how to manage plant staff, as well as how the staff will participate in the decommissioning activities, are the responsibility of the power plant owner. To facilitate comparison, it is desirable to have a set of similar boundary conditions, end states etc. In reality, different decommissioning projects will be based on different premises, and it is essential that all conditions be documented clearly and transparently. Experience shows that the method used today, where the estimated decommissioning cost from a reference plant is transferred in almost direct relation to unit size and thermal power, is not accurate, but instead only a small portion is related to thermal power. For this reason, unit- and site-specific decommissioning cost calculations are recommended, based on well defined and transparent documented premises. A decommissioning project can in many ways be compared to a cross between a maintenance outage and the construction of a nuclear facility. Decommissioning is not so far off in time, and it is therefore surprising that such meagre resources are devoted to the detailed planning of the activities in such costly project. Our comment from having read and studied the two studies is that the difference lies not so much in how you calculate the cost of the individual decommissioning cost items, but rather more in how you control the basic costs such as the size of the management group in charge of the decommissioning, the time allotted for the project, the basic costs for the support and service staffs engaged in the project, and of course the execution of the actual decommissioning work. Experience shows that the method used today, where the decommissioning cost from a reference plant is transferred in

Comparative analysis of the Oskarshamn 3 and Barsebaeck site decommissioning studies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hansson, Bertil (Bewon, Loeddekoepinge (Sweden)); Joensson, Lars-Olof (Barsebaeck Kraft AB, Loeddekoepinge (Sweden))

2009-01-15

what is included. For future cost estimates and in order to permit comparison of results, the power plant owner must clearly specify in the decommissioning plan boundary conditions, what facilities/buildings are included and the decommissioning schedule. Strategies for how to manage plant staff, as well as how the staff will participate in the decommissioning activities, are the responsibility of the power plant owner. To facilitate comparison, it is desirable to have a set of similar boundary conditions, end states etc. In reality, different decommissioning projects will be based on different premises, and it is essential that all conditions be documented clearly and transparently. Experience shows that the method used today, where the estimated decommissioning cost from a reference plant is transferred in almost direct relation to unit size and thermal power, is not accurate, but instead only a small portion is related to thermal power. For this reason, unit- and site-specific decommissioning cost calculations are recommended, based on well defined and transparent documented premises. A decommissioning project can in many ways be compared to a cross between a maintenance outage and the construction of a nuclear facility. Decommissioning is not so far off in time, and it is therefore surprising that such meagre resources are devoted to the detailed planning of the activities in such costly project. Our comment from having read and studied the two studies is that the difference lies not so much in how you calculate the cost of the individual decommissioning cost items, but rather more in how you control the basic costs such as the size of the management group in charge of the decommissioning, the time allotted for the project, the basic costs for the support and service staffs engaged in the project, and of course the execution of the actual decommissioning work. Experience shows that the method used today, where the decommissioning cost from a reference plant is

BOOK REVIEW: "...eine ausnehmende Zierde und Vortheil"

Science.gov (United States)

Duerbeck, H. W.; Luehning, F.

son of the founder of the Astronomische Nachrichten, Richard Schumacher, served for some years as an assistant at the Chilean National Observatory, and had married Marie Bulling, a girl of German descent. From her "meagre diary entries" of that time (published in Valparaiso in 2004), the author suspects a "convenience marriage''. Nevertheless, unreliable sources can provide a false picture: the interviewed custodian notes that the wife of the last official observatory director, Hans Oswald Rosenberg, was "Verena Borchardt, a Jewess from St. Petersburg'' (p. 583). This is more than incorrect. The family lived for some years in Moscow (not St. Petersburg), because her father was a representative of various companies, especially his grand-father's Königsberger Thee-Compagnie. In 1880, his daughter Helene was born there - who later married the Kiel astronomer Wirtz. In 1882, the Borchardt family moved to Berlin, where the father became a banker, and where Verena was born. The family was "of reformed confession, of Jewish origin'' (Borchardt, Heymel, Schörder: Marbacher Katalog Nr. 29, 1978): she was "a Jewess'' in Nazi terminology only. On page 583 too, Wirtz' capricious political views are quoted: "The day when the French troops entered Strasbourg was the happiest one in my life'', for which Theiss' paper of 1999 is quoted, and it is stated "source not given''. Now, Theiss uses a study of Duerbeck and Seitter (1990), where the precise reference in the Kiel Acta is given. Another overlooked (although not very informative) source is the voluminous edition of the collected letters (München 1994-2002) of Rudolf Borchardt, the poetical brother of "Vera'' Rosenberg and "Lene'' Wirtz. Another series of peculiar statements refer to the Astronomische Nachrichten (p. 666): Neither did they publish, after 1945, "sometimes only Russian articles'', nor after 1983 "only articles in English'': some "German'' astrometric articles appeared after that year, which will presumably stand

Rice stem borers in Malaya. A proposal to use mutation breeding for their control

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vohra, F C [University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)

1970-03-01

. Various factors pertaining to the morphology, physiology and chemical nature of the rice plant are possibly responsible for the stem borer resistance. Carefully planned experiments have to evaluate their contribution to resistance before successful breeding programs can be undertaken. A wild species of rice in Malaya, Oryza ridleyi Hook. is said to be highly resistant. Similarly, several cultivated varieties are claimed to offer considerable resistance, but none of them can be recommended for commercial planting because of unsatisfactory yield, grain size and appearance, and nutrient and cooking value. Therefore, in order to develop a valuable resistant variety one would have to improve all the above characteristics. Mutation breeding with a high standard variety maybe more promising than a long-term cross-breeding program and should, in the opinion of the author, also be attempted in other countries. Through the co-operation of the authorities of the Serdang Agriculture College, the use of their paddy fields for observation and experimentation has been secured. Preliminary work to assess the type of borer and infestation in the most common rice-varieties namely Mahsuri, Malinja and Ria is already in progress. This is essential because most of the previous work on stem borers in Malaya has been carried out on older varieties which are not much favoured either by the government or by the people. All the four species mentioned earlier have been found attacking the new varieties at Serdang. At present, the data are too meagre to warrant any definite conclusions, but the following possibilities are indicated by the field observation. (a) Some species of borers are more common in one locality than other species, (b) In a particular locality there seems to be a quantitative host variety preference, (c) There is no indication of a relationship between the borer infestation and the habit of the plants, (d) Some varieties are possibly more vulnerable during younger stages. (e

Estudi iconografie de l’església de Sant Joan Baptista d’Orta (Tarragona

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Monlleó i Calcerà, Ángel

1996-06-01

Full Text Available The main chapel of the parish church at Orta (Tarragona which was built during the 15th and 16th centuries, is situated between the central butresses on the Epistle wing, under a crossing vault whose ribbings rest upon four supporting hanging brackets. The keystone is carved with a momogram of Jesus' name; whilst each of the four bracket outlines a polyedral modillion held by their corresponding Atlases: One of the interior ones is an eagle that supports a diamond shaped shield emblazoned with the cross of Malta; the other one represents a naked man knelt in the attittude of prayer. Those at the entrance feature two dressed busts of men respectively holding Aragonese shields illustrating a fruitful, uprooted fig tree and an eight-sided breast plate. Despite the meagre decoration, the iconologic-iconographic study reveals a symbolic design of an extraordinary richness. The monogram presents evidence of Christophic, soteriologic and solar hipertrophics, which aids in the interpretation of the hanging brackets. Therefore, the two interior ones represent literally the passages from the medieval Physiologus and Bestiaries in which the characteristics of the eagle and the derived moral lessons are explained. From this point, the two hanging brackets at the entrance take on the significance of the renewing power of Baptism: of the new man who —according to the Apocalypse— becomes One with the Spirit. Thus, without any objective written evidence on the contrary, it is possible to claim that the chapel was originally the baptistery of the church. This church, it would seem, despite having been neglected by the scientific community, is one of the most notable examples of the sacred buildings of the Gothic-Catalan style in the Terres de I'Ebre.[fr] Bâtie à cheval sur le XVᵉ et le XVIᵉ siècles, entre les contreforts du côté de l'Épître, la chapelle majeure de l'église paroissiale d'Orta se résout en une voûte sur croisée d'ogives dont les

Soils newsletter. Vol. 26, No. 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2003-06-01

the major water potential gradient between the deeper and wetter roots and the drier roots in the topsoil. Several beneficial effects are hypothesised: During the next day the tree and under storey can take up water transported by HL during the previous night, thereby increasing daily water and nutrient uptake. Higher topsoil moisture can also increase mineralization rates and may help to maintain mycorrhizae, which can increase soil nutrient availability. The contribution of such water is thought to be important to the sustainability of traditional rainfed farming systems of the region. A better understanding of this process will help in formulating reforestation programmes and tree management strategies in agro-forestry parkland systems. HL has been demonstrated in native trees in arid savannah regions of North America and Australia. The research being undertaken in Burkina Faso and Niger will involve measurement of soil water potential and analysis of the isotopic composition (2H, 18O) of water from various sources to quantify the amount and flux of water in the system. Both water and fertilizer use efficiency can be markedly increased by delivery through drip irrigation systems compared with conventional surface application methods. Such systems are particularly attractive for perennial orchards and other high value ornamental or vegetable crops in areas of meagre water supply. A regional technical co-operation project (TCP) in Europe involving nine countries, and national projects in Yemen and Libya are extending the fertigation technology to the end-users. In addition, the sub-programme is presently undertaking up-stream planning and pre-project missions for the 2005-06 TC cycle that will focus on the conservation and more efficient utilization of scarce water resources in arid and semi-arid regions

Earth's glacial record and its tectonic setting

Science.gov (United States)

Eyles, N.

1993-09-01

Glaciations have occurred episodically at different time intervals and for different durations in Earth's history. Ice covers have formed in a wide range of plate tectonic and structural settings but the bulk of Earth's glacial record can be shown to have been deposited and preserved in basins within extensional settings. In such basins, source area uplift and basin subsidence fulfill the tectonic preconditions for the initiation of glaciation and the accomodation and preservation of glaciclastic sediments. Tectonic setting, in particular subsidence rates, also dictates the type of glaciclastic facies and facies successions that are deposited. Many pre-Pleistocene glaciated basins commonly contain well-defined tectonostratigraphic successions recording the interplay of tectonics and sedimentation; traditional climatostratigraphic approaches involving interpretation in terms of either ice advance/retreat cycles or glacio-eustatic sea-level change require revision. The direct record of continental glaciation in Earth history, in the form of classically-recognised continental glacial landforms and "tillites", is meagre; it is probable that more than 95% of the volume of preserved "glacial" strata are glacially-influenced marine deposits that record delivery of large amounts of glaciclastic sediment to offshore basins. This flux has been partially or completely reworked by "normal" sedimentary processes such that the record of glaciation and climate change is recorded in marine successions and is difficult to decipher. The dominant "glacial" facies in the rock record are subaqueous debris flow diamictites and turbidites recording the selective preservation of poorly-sorted glaciclastic sediment deposited in deep water basins by sediment gravity flows. However, these facies are also typical of many non-glacial settings, especially volcanically-influenced environments; numerous Archean and Proterozoic diamictites, described in the older literature as tillites, have no

The Serbian state in the work of Byzantine historian Doucas

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Nikolić Maja

2007-01-01

Full Text Available While the first two chapters of Doucas's historical work present a meagre outline of world history - a sketch which becomes a little more detailed from 1261 on, when the narration reaches the history of the Turks and their conquests in Asia Minor - the third chapter deals with the well-known battle of Kosovo, which took place in 1389. From that point on, the Byzantine historian gives much important information on Serbia, as well as on the Ottoman advances in the Balkans, and thus embarks upon his central theme - the rise of the Turks and the decline of Byzantium. Doucas considers the battle of Kosovo a key event in the subjugation of the Balkan peoples by the Turks, and he shows that after the battle of Kosovo the Serbs were the first to suffer that fate. At the beginning, Doucas says that after the death of Orhan, the ruler (o archgos of the Turks, his son and successor Murad conquered the Thracian towns, Adrianople and the whole Thessaly, so that he mastered almost all the lands of the Byzantines, and finally reached the Triballi (Triballous. He devastated many of their towns and villages sending the enslaved population beyond Chersonesus, until Lazar, son of King Stefan of Serbia (Serbias, who ruled (kraleyōn in Serbia at that time decided to oppose him with all the might he could muster. The Serbs were often called Triballi by Byzantine authors. For the fourteenth century writers Pachymeres, Gregoras, Metochites and Kantakouzenos the Serbs were Triballi. However, Pachymeres and Gregoras refer to the rulers of the Triballi as the rulers of Serbia. Fifteenth century writers, primarily Chalcondyles and Critobulos, use only that name. It seems, nevertheless, that Doucas makes a distinction between the Triballi and the Serbs. As it is known, the conquest of the Serbian lands by the Turks began after the battle on the river Marica in 1371. By 1387. the Turks had mastered Serres(1388 Bitola and Štip (1385, Sofia (1385, Niš (1386 and several

Coţofeni-Kostolac culture on the territory of north-eastern Serbia

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Kapuran Aleksandar

2012-01-01

returned to these settlements en route to lowlands and river terraces, while other groups probably continued their journey to gathering centres in valleys near the Danube and the Timok rivers. The next type of settlement belongs to high, multi-layered settlements (Arija baba-Košobrdo, Čoka Kormaroš, Field of Z. Brzanović, Varzari and Smedovac-Grabar-Svračar which represent sunbathed dominant positions, with a good view of the surrounding area, well suited to long-term occupation. Settlements on high elevations of this type are usually linked with landscapes that predominate in grazing areas and in which there are no large forests. The last type of Coţofeni-Kostolac settlement is characteristic of lowland settlements positioned on river terraces. The settlements on the right bank of the Danube, around Ključ (Kladovo- Brodoimpeks, Mala Vrbica, Zbradila-Fund, Korbovo- Obala, Vajuga-Pesak, Jakomirski potok estuary, Velesnica, Ljubič evac-river bank, Ljubičevac-Island, Brzi prun, Slatinska reka estuary, Knjepište, Ruženjka, Kusjak-Bordjej, Kusjak-Motel, Kusjak-Vrkalj, represented points at which shepherd’s flocks could remain for longer periods, waiting for favourable conditions for crossing to the other side of the river. This assumption is based on old maps predating the construction of the accumulation lake. These maps indicate that in the immediate vicinity of these settlements were located small sand islands linked to the river bank, pointing to shallows and crossing points. These sections of the river bank, during prolonged droughts or during cold winters, when ice was formed, could have been places where the river was crossed from one side to the other. Residential architecture cannot be precisely defined, given that the discovered remains of houses are very meagre and lack sufficient elements for reconstruction. The most recent excavations on the Bubanj-Staro Selo settlemant at Niš, indicate an identical type of architectural construction as discovered at