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The efficacy of treating soilless substrate with a commercial humectant was tested as a means of suppressing drought stress in 4-week-old container-grown Zinnia elegans Jacq. ‘Thumbelina’. The humectant was applied as a substrate amendment at concentrations of 0.0, 0.8, 1.6 and 3.2% by volume prior to withholding irrigation. An untreated, well-watered control was also included. The substrate of treated plants was allowed to dry until the foliage wilted, at which time the plants were harvested and the following measurements taken: number of days to wilt (DTW), xylem water potential (ψx), shoot growth (shoot dry weight, leaf area) and root growth (length, diameter, surface area, volume, dry weight). For drought-stressed plants grown in humectant-treated substrate at concentrations of 1.6 and 3.2%, DTW increased 25 and 33%, respectively. A linear decrease in ψx was observed as the concentration of humectant increased from 0.0 to 3.2%. Linear trends were also noted for both volumetric moisture content (positive) and evapotranspiration (negative) as the concentration of humectant increased. For non-irrigated, untreated plants, stress inhibited shoot growth more than root growth, resulting in a lower root:shoot ratio. For non-irrigated, humectant-treated plants, the length of fine, water-absorbing roots increased linearly as humectant concentration increased from 0.0 to 3.2%. Using humectant-amended substrates may be a management option for mitigating the symptoms of drought stress during the production of container-grown bedding plants such as Z. elegans.

Introduction Spinal cord stimulation is a recognized treatment of chronic neuropathic and vascular pain. Recent data suggest that the use of very high-frequency (HF) stimulation modes does produce analgesia without paresthesia. Aim of the Study To compare the efficacy of HF stimulation (HF spinal cord stimulation [HFSCS]) and sham stimulation on the patient's global impression of change (PGIC), pain intensity, and quality of life. Patients and Methods Forty patients who have achieved stable pain relief with conventional SCS have been recruited. After randomization, HFSCS and sham are initiated in a double-blind randomized two-period-crossover design. Results Complete data were available from 33 patients. The primary outcome was a minimal improvement in the PGIC. The proportion of patients responding under HFSCS was 42.4% (14/33 patients) vs. 30.3% (10/33 patients) in the sham condition. The mean benefit of HF vs. sham was not statistically significant with a proportion of 11.2% in favor of HFSCS (p = 0.30). There was a highly statistically significant “period effect,” irrespective of treatment received, with 51.5% of patients (N = 17) improving at visit 3 vs. 21.2% (N = 7) at visit 5 (p = 0.006). The mean pain visual analog scale (VAS) on sham was 4.26 vs. 4.35 on HFSCS (p = 0.82) and the mean EuroQol five-dimensional (EQ-5D) index with HFSCS was 0.480 vs. 0.463 with sham (p = 0.78). Conclusion This is the first randomized double-blind study on SCS. HFSCS was equivalent to sham for the primary outcome (improvement of PGIC) as well as for both the secondary outcomes (VAS and EQ-5D index). There was a highly statistically significant “period effect” (p = 0.006) with improved PGIC scores in the first study period regardless of the treatment. The same trend was seen for VAS and EQ-5D. It appears that the effect of HFSCS and sham is equal and only the order in the sequence, not the nature of the treatment, seems to dictate the effect.

The proposed study was conducted to analyze the variety of programs offered by public libraries in Canada for children to develop their literacy skills, particularly numeracy literacy skills. The findings included in the paper are based on the thematic analysis of information included on individual libraries’ websites. Key findings suggest that although Canadian public libraries have a few numeracy skills programs in their repertoire, there is a need for greater programming to develop these skills. L’etude proposee a ete menee pour analyser la variete de programmes offerts par les bibliotheques publiques au Canada, destines au developpement des competences, en particulier en litteratie et en numeratie chez les enfants. Les conclusions figurant dans l’etude sont basees sur l’analyse thematique des informations presentes sur les sites Web individuels des bibliotheques. Les principales conclusions suggerent que si les bibliotheques publiques canadiennes ont bien quelques programmes de competences en numeratie dans leur repertoire, il y a un besoin de programmation supplementaire pour developper ces competences.

Physiotherapy management is a key element of care for people with cystic fibrosis (CF) throughout the lifespan. Although considerable evidence exists to support physiotherapy management of CF, there is documented variation in practice. The aim of this guideline is to optimize the physiotherapy management of people with CF in Australia and New Zealand. A systematic review of the literature in key areas of physiotherapy practice for CF was undertaken. Recommendations were formulated based on National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia) guidelines and considered the quality, quantity and level of the evidence; the consistency of the body of evidence; the likely clinical impact; and applicability to physiotherapy practice in Australia and New Zealand. A total of 30 recommendations were made for airway clearance therapy, inhalation therapy, exercise assessment and training, musculoskeletal management, management of urinary incontinence, managing the newly diagnosed patient with CF, delivery of non‐invasive ventilation, and physiotherapy management before and after lung transplantation. These recommendations can be used to underpin the provision of evidence‐based physiotherapy care to people with CF in Australia and New Zealand.

This paper looks at the process of censoring via the differential geometric theory of Amari (1990) . This theory gives both a conceptual framework and a set of useful tools which help in mastering the asymptotic theory of estimation and testing. After briefly reviewing results from the theory, noting the natural geometry enjoyed by exponential and curved exponential families, the paper examines how censoring can be viewed in a geometric way. In particular the issue of information loss and the sampling properties of estimators are examined. Throughout a visual approach is taken in order to aid intuition and to give insight into the geometric theory

We examined the long-term effects of near-future changes in temperature and acidification on skeletal mineralogy, thickness, and strength in the sea urchin Tripneustes gratilla reared in all combinations of three pH (pH 8.1, 7.8, 7.6) and three temperatures (22 °C, 25 °C, 28 °C) from the early juvenile to adult, over 146 days. As the high-magnesium calcite of the echinoderm skeleton is a biomineral form highly sensitive to acidification, and influenced by temperature, we documented the MgCO3 content of the spines, test plates, and teeth. The percentage of MgCO3 varied systematically, with more Mg2+ in the test and spines. The percentage of MgCO3 in the test and teeth, but not the spines increased with temperature. Acidification did not change the percentage MgCO3. Test thickness increased with warming and decreased at pH 7.6, with no interaction between these factors. In crushing tests live urchins mostly ruptured at sutures between the plates. The force required to crush a live urchin was reduced in animals reared in low pH conditions but increased in those reared in warm conditions, a result driven by differences in urchin size. It appears that the interactive effects of warming and acidification on the Mg2+ content and protective function of the sea urchin skeleton will play out in a complex way as global climatic change unfolds.

Points to the unique cultural, ethnic and linguistic identities of the three Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania; despite being for many years under the political and economic sway of one large neighbour or another. For over 500 years, the state of libraries and librarianship has been a reliable measure of varying degrees of freedom and subjugation in these countries. Traces the influences of religion, academic and private collections, Russian rule and the emergence of nationalism, the development of professional librarianship, independence following World War 1, and domination by the Soviet Union. Shows not only the effects of politics on libraries but also their counterbalancing role. Documents past preoccupations with Soviet propaganda and censorship with a view to assessing the current state of libraries as they enter a new era of political freedom, information technology and co-operation. Notes specific projects aimed at establishing Web sites and online public access catalogues (OPACs) in individual countries. Concludes that the fundamental steps to developing Baltic library networks and to decentralize the library system have been firmly established. Attributes these advancements to the unity of the people in their single minded determination to regain and promote the strong national identity that they feel has been denied them for so long.

Despite numerous laws and religious tracts prohibiting homosexuality and the practise of same-sex activity in colonial North America, very few people were ever brought to trial – and even fewer found guilty – for engaging in such “unseemly practises.” Using both primary and secondary sources, this paper attempts to dissect the reasoning behind the relative lack of prosecutions of men thought to have participated in “sodomitical [sic] behaviour”. Issues of community, power, and religion as they related to sodomy will be discussed.

We presented 7 Old World monkeys (Japanese macaques [Macaca fuscata], gray-cheeked mangabey [Lophocebus albigena], rhesus macaques [Macaca mulatta], bonnet macaque [Macaca radiate], and olive baboon [Papio anubis]), 3 chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), 6 members of the parrot (Psittacinae) family, and 4 American black bears (Ursus americanus) with a cognitive dissonance paradigm modeled after Egan, Santos, and Bloom (2007). In experimental trials, subjects were given choices between 2 equally preferred food items and then presented with the unchosen option and a novel, equally preferred food item. In control trials, subjects were presented with 1 accessible and 1 inaccessible option from another triad of equally preferred food items. They were then presented with the previously inaccessible item and a novel member of that triad. Subjects, as a whole, did not prefer the novel item in experimental or control trials. However, there was a tendency toward a subject by condition interaction. When analyzed by primate versus nonprimate categories, only primates preferred the novel item in experimental but not control trials, indicating that they resolved cognitive dissonance by devaluing the unchosen option only when an option was derogated by their own free choice. This finding suggests that this phenomenon might exist within but not outside of the primate order.