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Spatial prepositions have been studied in some detail from multiple disciplinary perspectives. However, neither the semantic similarity of these prepositions, nor the relationships between the multiple senses of different spatial prepositions, are well understood. In an empirical study of 24 spatial prepositions, we identify the degree and nature of semantic similarity and extract senses for three semantically similar groups of prepositions using t-SNE, DBSCAN clustering, and Venn diagrams. We validate the work by manual annotation with another data set. We find nuances in meaning among proximity and adjacency prepositions, such as the use of close to instead of near for pairs of lines, and the importance of proximity over contact for the next to preposition, in contrast to other adjacency prepositions.

Stroke patients discharged home often require prolonged assistance from caregivers. Little is known about the real-world effectiveness of a comprehensive stroke transitional care intervention on relieving caregiver strain. To describe the effect of the COMPASS transitional care (COMPASS-TC) intervention on caregiver strain and characterize the types, duration, and intensity of caregiving. The cluster-randomized COMPASS pragmatic trial evaluated the effectiveness of COMPASS-TC versus usual care with patients with mild stroke and TIA at 40 hospitals in North Carolina, USA. Of 5882 patients enrolled, 4208 (71%) identified a familial caregiver. A follow-up Caregiver Questionnaire, including the Modified Caregiver Strain Index, was administered at approximately three months post-discharge. Demographics and frequency, duration, and intensity of caregiving were compared between groups. 1228 caregivers (29%) completed the questionnaire. Completion was positively associated with older patient age, white race, and spousal relationship. One-third of the caregivers provided ≥30 hours of care per week and 889 (79%) provided care ≥9 weeks. Average standardized caregiver strain was 21.9 (0–100), increasing with stroke severity and comorbidity burden. Women caregivers reported higher strain than men. Treatment allocation was not associated with caregiver strain. This sample of mild stroke and TIA survivors received significant assistance from familial caregivers. However, caregiver strain was relatively low. Findings support the importance of familial caregiving in stroke, the continued disproportionate burden on women within the family, and the need for future research on caregiver support.

During the 1960s and 1970s, several Brazilian artists lived abroad in ‘artistic exile’. This self-imposed displacement was precipitated by many things: the immaturity of the Brazilian art system, t...

Introduction Heart failure remains a substantive contributor to patient morbidity and mortality rates worldwide and represents a significant burden on the healthcare ecosystem. Faced with persistent physical symptoms and debilitating social consequences, patients follow complex treatment regimens and often have difficulty adhering to them. Purpose In this manuscript, we review factors which contribute to low adherence rates and advance potential single- and multi-factor-based interventions. It is hoped that these observations can lead to improvements in managed care of this vulnerable population of patients. Methods A narrative review of the primary literature was performed on contributing factors with primary focus on the period 2015–2020 using available databases and search engines. Adherence pain points identified were mapped against a series of potential solutions which are presented. Results Enhancement of treatment adherence relies on two approaches viz. single-factor and multi-factor solutions. Single factors identified include electronic reminders, enhanced health education, financial incentives, gamification strategies, community drivers, persona-based modeling, and burden relief of poly pharmacy. Multi-factor solutions combine two or more of the seven approaches offering the potential for flexible interventions tailored to the individual. Discussion and Conclusion Heart failure patients with poor adherence have increased mortality, hospitalization needs, and healthcare costs. This review highlights current single-factor and multi-factor adherence methods. Against a backdrop of diversity of approaches, multi-factor solutions cast the widest net for positively influencing adherent behaviors. A key enabler lies in the development and leveraging of patient personas in the synthesis of successful intervention methods. Deployable solutions can also be envisioned in clinical trials where adherence tracking represents an essential component.

Individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia are often assigned other psychiatric diagnoses during their lives. The significance of changing diagnosis has not been widely studied.Our aim was to examine the association between diagnostic change and later outcome.Individuals' diagnostic history, clinical and social outcomes were extracted from the AESOP-10 study, a 10-year follow-up of first episode psychosis cases. The association between outcome and different patterns of diagnosis over time were assessed using linear or logistic regression.Individuals always diagnosed with schizophrenia (Individuals always and never diagnosed with schizophrenia had different outcomes. In cases of diagnostic instability participants had similar outcomes to those always assigned the diagnosis they changed to irrespective of initial diagnosis.

Optical remote sensing of earth surface processes commonly relies on the red, green, blue (RGB), near-infrared (NIR) and shortwave-infrared (SWIR) electromagnetic bands. Most of the optical sensors...

Computer programming and mathematical algorithms are natural partners in the development of programming skills, logical thought, and a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts. We present the ...

A growing number of studies have been performed regarding the positive effect of physical activity on academic performance. Many of these studies were conducted on children and show that students w...

Background: A western high fat, high carbohydrate diet has been shown to be associated with decreased gut bacterial diversity and reductions in beneficial bacteria. This gut bacteria dysbiosis could develop in early life and contribute to chronic disease risk such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.Objective: To determine how dietary macronutrients are associated with the relative abundance of gut bacteria in healthy adolescents.Methods: Fifty-two obese participants (12-19 years) from two studies, many who were primarily of Hispanic background, provided fecal samples for 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Dietary macronutrients were assessed using 24-hour diet recalls and body composition was assessed using DEXA. General regression models assuming a negative binomial distribution were used to examine the associations between gut bacteria and dietary fiber, saturated fat, unsaturated fats, protein, added sugar, total sugar and free fructose after adjusting for age, gender, race/ethnicity, body fat percentage, study and caloric intake.Results: The genera Eubacterium (Benjamini-Hochberg (BH) corrected p-value = 0.10) and Streptococcus (BH corrected p-value = 0.04) were inversely associated with dietary fructose intake. There were no other significant associations between abundances of gut microbes and other dietary macronutrients, including fiber, fat, protein, total sugar or added sugar.Conclusions: High dietary fructose was associated with lower abundance of the beneficial microbes Eubacterium and Streptococcus, which are involved with carbohydrate metabolism.

I will begin with the journal name itself, as it signals something of the complicated, productive and volatile mix that propelled us towards journal launch and shaped its pages from the first issue...

GeoLink has leveraged linked data principles to create a dataset that allows users to seamlessly query and reason over some of the most prominent geoscience metadata repositories in the United States. The GeoLink dataset includes such diverse information as port calls made by oceanographic cruises, physical sample metadata, research project funding and staffing, and authorship of technical reports. The data has been published according to best practices for linked data and is publicly available via a SPARQL Protocol and RDF Query Language (SPARQL) end point that at present contains more than 45 million Resource Description Framework (RDF) triples together with a collection of ontologies and geo-visualization tools. This article describes the geoscience datasets, the modeling and publication process, and current uses of the dataset. The focus is on providing enough detail to enable researchers, application developers and others who wish to leverage the GeoLink data in their own work to do so. The dataset is available at http://hdl.handle.net/1912/9524.

A picture is never simply a single thing. As both obdurately physical object and intangible semiotic text, both message from the past and interlocutor in the present, the picture tends toward parad...

The hunting and gathering way of life is the most enduring and resilient in human history. However, the ways that a wild food-based subsistence system affects people’s social and economic organisat...

Surfactant-containing water droplets were produced using a 75-Vrms pondermotive force operating at 10 kHz. Heat from a 30-V direct-current source, applied to a 2 × 0.1-mm region of the fluid, was instrumental in rupturing a low-surface-energy liquid membrane and forming the droplet. The low voltage allows quick and accurate dispensing of droplets without dielectric breakdown. Nanoliter-sized (~7.6-nL) butanol-styrene droplets were formed using 133 Vrms at 900 Hz. Microliter-sized oil droplets (~0.6 to 10.5 μL) were formed using high voltage (460 to 672 Vrms at 100 Hz). Oil-water emulsions were formed and moved horizontally, overcoming frictional and surface tension forces. Large oil droplets were also moved to a wider electrode spacing, where the emulsion can take the spherical shape of a target. This was only achieved by transporting the emulsion down an inclined slope (45 deg) using gravity to augment the electric force. All the steps are in place to form targets from oil-water-oil and water-oil...

Excavations in 1970, 1996, and 1999 at Site QJ-280, Quebrada Jaguay, in southern Peru, yielded enough dateable terrestrial plant material to establish an extensive radiocarbon chronology for the site. QJ-280 is one of oldest well-dated fishing sites in the Americas: it was occupied from the terminal Pleistocene to the mid-Holocene (about 13,000–8,300 calibrated years BP) based on 42 terrestrial radiocarbon dates, encompassing the Jaguay and Machas Phases of the local archaeological sequence. In addition to the terrestrial dates, radiocarbon measurements on valves of two marine surf clam (Mesodesma donacium) individuals from a single, well-dated mid-Holocene Manos Phase archaeological context have provided insight into marine upwelling conditions during the occupation of Quebrada Jaguay. The marine reservoir age varied between 130 and 730 14C years during the brief lives of the two clams (up to 5 years each), and varied by up to 530 14C years within an individual valve, suggesting strong and variab...

When yield data from field experiments are combined, the impact of environment on treatment is ignored. The objectives of this work were to determine the frequency for combining year-to-year data. Grain yield mean square errors (MSE) were calculated by-year from two long-term winter wheat experiments (E222 and E502). These trials have been continuously planted to winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L), and both annually receive different nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) fertilizer rates. Relationships between average grain yields, coefficients of variation (CV), and MSE were evaluated over 42 and 41 years for E222 and E502, respectively. The F-statistics (large MSE/small MSE, 39 dfn, 39 dfd, alpha = 0.10) computed from 2 and 3 consecutive years were consistently more than the minimum F-value required to combine sites. For 83 site years of data, combining any 2 or 3 consecutive year periods was not advisable. Individual years should be analyzed and reported on independently.

This paper will examine three diverse microgrid cases in the US, Canada, and the European Union. The paper will explore how microgrids can help build resilient communities, facilitate distributed renewable energy, and ultimately lead to a secure energy future. The cases will include both urban and remote settings and compare the social, legal, and policy lessons learned from these cases to advance microgrid policy for long-term community resilience.

Diets high in saturated fat are associated with elevated risk of heart disease. This study estimates the savings in direct (medical care) costs and indirect (job absenteeism) costs in the US from reductions in heart disease associated with substituting monounsaturated fats (MUFA) for saturated fats.A four-part model of the medical care cost savings from avoided heart disease was estimated using data on 247,700 adults from the 2000-2010 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). The savings from reduced job absenteeism due to avoided heart disease was estimated using a zero-inflated negative binomial model of the number of annual work loss days applied to data on 164,577 adults from the MEPS.Estimated annual savings in medical care expenditures resulting from a switch from a diet high in saturated fat to a high-MUFA diet totaled ∼ $25.7 billion (95% CI = $6.0-$45.4 billion) in 2010, with private insurance plans saving $7.9 billion (95% CI = $1.8-$14.0 billion), Medicare saving $9.4 billion (95% CI = $2.1-$16.7 billion), Medicaid saving $1.4 billion (95% CI = $0.2-$2.5 billion), and patients saving $2.2 billion (95% CI = $0.5-$3.8 billion). The annual savings in terms of reduced job absenteeism ranges from a lower bound of $600 million (95% CI = $100 million to $1.0 billion) to an upper bound of $1.2 billion (95% CI = $0.2-$2.1 billion) for 2010.The data cover only the non-institutionalized population. Decreased costs due to any decreases in the severity of heart disease are not included. Cost savings do not include any reduction in informal care at home.Diets high in saturated fat impose substantial medical care costs and job absenteeism costs, and substantial savings could be achieved by substituting MUFA for saturated fat.

The electric-field–assembly technique proposed for making fusion targets uses the electrical force from dielectrophoresis and electrowetting-on-dielectric phenomena to form droplets of oil and wate...

This study investigated whether safe sex practices, including condom use and partner communication, may be predicted from the interpersonal traits of agency, unmitigated agency, communion, and unmitigated communion. Participants were 375 college students (77% women, 23% men), who completed an online questionnaire assessing the variables of interest. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that high-agency individuals employed greater safe sex practices (p = .001) and had greater communication with their partners about safe sex (p

Community severance occurs when transport infrastructure or motorised traffic divides space and people. Despite the growing awareness of its effects on the wellbeing of local communities, the problem is not usually assessed quantitatively or assigned a monetary value. This paper reviews existing practice and research on quantitative methods dealing with community severance. The problem is first decomposed into a series of questions, which are then used as a base to review the methods found in governmental guidance documents, technical reports, and academic studies. The paper ends with recommendations for the integration of severance issues into transport planning.

Historians of medieval laughter have, over the past few decades, imagined the thirteenth century as a period of Christian rapprochement with laughter and humour. Whereas in the twelfth century and before, laughter was largely associated – in art, exegesis, narrative and in preaching – with diabolism and damnation, the consensus is that in the 1200s and beyond Christian culture began deploying and preaching laughter as a positive spiritual expression and strategy. Above all, scholars have identified this shift with the thought and practice of the Dominican Order. This paper enriches this narrative by analysing the neglected exempla collection of the Dominican preacher Arnold of Liege (d. c.1308). Reading Arnold's collection – which harshly forbids laughter – in relief to a number of similar compilations made by Dominicans in the same period, offers an image of how the significance of laughter had become pluralised in mendicant theology by 1300, and of how old ideas of a radically negative laughter persiste...

Emissions of gases from agricultural and animal feeding operations contribute to climate change, produce odors, degrade sensitive ecosystems, and pose a threat to public health. The complexity of processes and environmental variables affecting these emissions complicate accurate and reliable quantification of gas fluxes and production rates. Although a plethora of measurement technologies exist, each method has its limitations that exacerbate accurate quantification of gas fluxes. Despite a growing interest in gas emission measurements, only a few available technologies include real-time, continuous monitoring capabilities. Commonly applied state-of-the-art measurement frameworks and technologies were critically examined and discussed, and recommendations for future research to address real-time monitoring requirements for forthcoming regulation and management needs are provided.

An interdisciplinary and international group of clinicians and scientists gathered in Philadelphia, PA, to attend the fourth International Research Conference on Multiple Hereditary Exostoses (MHE), a rare and severe skeletal disorder. MHE is largely caused by autosomal dominant mutations in EXT1 or EXT2, genes encoding Golgi-associated glycosyltransferases responsible for heparan sulfate (HS) synthesis. HS chains are key constituents of cell surface- and extracellular matrix-associated proteoglycans, which are known regulators of skeletal development. MHE affected individuals are HS-deficient, can display skeletal growth retardation and deformities, and consistently develop benign, cartilage-capped bony outgrowths (termed exostoses or osteochondromas) near the growth plates of many skeletal elements. Nearly 2% of patients will have their exostoses progress to malignancy, becoming peripheral chondrosarcomas. Current treatments are limited to the surgical removal of symptomatic exostoses. No definitive treatments have been established to inhibit further formation and growth of exostoses, prevent transition to malignancy, or address other medical problems experienced by MHE patients, including chronic pain. Thus, the goals of the Conference were to assess our current understanding of MHE pathogenesis, identify key gaps in information, envision future therapeutic strategies and discuss ways to test and implement them. This report provides an assessment of the exciting and promising findings in MHE and related fields presented at the Conference and a discussion of the future MHE research directions. The Conference underlined the critical usefulness of gathering experts in several research fields to forge new alliances and identify cross-fertilization areas to benefit both basic and translational biomedical research on the skeleton.

Student engagement that yields positive learning outcomes may be tricky to measure. While teachers might consider behaviors such as hand raising as evidence of engagement, observation alone fails to capture motivational factors behind true engagement. To measure engagement, the authors developed an informal tool that allows teachers at all levels to assess their effectiveness in delivering engaging instruction across varying classroom activities and topics.

1. The distribution, metabolism, excretion and hepatic effects of fenclozic acid were investigated following a single oral dose of 10 mg/kg to hepatic reductase null (HRN) mice. 2. The majority of the [(14)C]-fenclozic acid was eliminated via the urine/aqueous cage wash, (55%) with a smaller portion excreted in the faeces, (5%). The total recovery of radioactivity in the excreta over the 72 h period studied was ca. 60%. 3. Metabolism of fenclozic acid in the HRN mice was entirely to the carboxylic acid function and was dominated by amino acid conjugation to glycine and taurine, with lesser amounts of an acyl glucuronide. 4. Whole body autoradiography of mice showed general distribution into all tissues except the brain. Radioactivity was still detectable in the kidney and liver of the HRN mice at 72 h post-dose. Covalent binding studies showed evidence of binding to kidney, liver and plasma proteins however, the degree of binding was less than 50 pmol equiv/mg protein for all tissues. 5. The HRN mouse appears to be a useful in vivo model for the study of the Phase II conjugation metabolism of fenclozic acid in the absence of hepatic cytochrome P450-related oxidative metabolism.

Car use per person has historically grown year-on-year in Great Britain since the 1950s, with minor exceptions during fuel crises and times of economic recession. The ‘Peak Car’ hypothesis proposes that this historical trend no longer applies. The British National Travel Survey provides evidence of such an aggregate levelling off in car mileage per person since the mid-1990s, but further analysis shows that this is the result of counter trends netting out: in particular, a reduction in per capita male driving mileage being offset by a corresponding increase in female car driving mileage. A major contributory factor to the decline in male car use has been a sharp reduction in average company car mileage per person. This paper investigates this aspect in more detail. Use of company cars fell sharply in Britain from the 1990s up to the 2008 recession. Over the same period, taxation policy towards company cars became more onerous, with increasing levels of taxation on the benefit-in-kind value of the ownershi...

State, public, academic, and special libraries are conducting and publishing the results of studies aimed at showing the value of their services and resources. Librarians must be prepared and proactive so when asked to justify budget allocations they have the tools to show their library's value and understand the importance of expressing value in terms familiar to the administrators. By identifying stakeholders and obtaining their buy in, librarians can turn data into evidence of the organization's return on investment (ROI) in the library. ROI is a powerful tool to use when establishing credibility, accountability, and evidence demonstrating the library's value.

Freshwater systems are frequently compromised by excessive macrophyte biomass and cyanobacterial blooms associated with eutrophication and possibly exotic fish. The effects of piscivorous Australian bass (Macquaria novemaculeata), planktivorous gambusia (Gambusia holbrooki [Girard]), and benthivorous carp (Cyprinus carpio L) on water quality in Emigrant Creek Dam (ECD), Australia, were studied in 20 experimental enclosures (depth 1 m, volume 3.2 m3), stocked at a density of 1875 kg/ha. Fish additions had immediate effects on water quality, except for bass, which merely recycled preexisting water column nutrients. Water turbidity, total suspended solids (TSS), total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) concentrations, and chlorophyll a (Chl-a), were all significantly higher in gambusia, but more so in carp enclosures. Assuming a linear relationship, mean daily Chl-a increases in carp enclosures were 4.6 μg/L/100 kg carp/ha. Moreover, Chl-a (>90 μg/L) was positively correlated with TP (r2 = 0.91...

To describe the trend of Acanthamoeba keratitis case reports following an outbreak and the recall of a multipurpose contact lens disinfection solution. Acanthamoeba keratitis is a serious eye infection caused by the free-living amoeba Acanthamoeba that primarily affects contact lens users.A convenience sample of 13 ophthalmology centers and laboratories in the USA, provided annual numbers of Acanthamoeba keratitis cases diagnosed between 1999-2009 and monthly numbers of cases diagnosed between 2007-2009. Data on ophthalmic preparations of anti-Acanthamoeba therapies were collected from a national compounding pharmacy.Data from sentinel site ophthalmology centers and laboratories revealed that the yearly number of cases gradually increased from 22 in 1999 to 43 in 2003, with a marked increase beginning in 2004 (93 cases) that continued through 2007 (170 cases; p0.0001). The outbreak identified from these sentinel sites resulted in the recall of a contact lens disinfecting solution. There was a statistically significant (p ≤ 0.0001) decrease in monthly cases reported from 28 cases in June 2007 (following the recall) to seven cases in June 2008, followed by an increase (p = 0.0004) in reported cases thereafter; cases have remained higher than pre-outbreak levels. A similar trend was seen in prescriptions for Acanthamoeba keratitis chemotherapy. Cases were significantly more likely to be reported during summer than during other seasons.The persistently elevated number of reported cases supports the need to understand the risk factors and environmental exposures associated with Acanthamoeba keratitis. Further prevention efforts are needed to reduce the number of cases occurring among contact lens wearers.

Alpha lipoic acid (α-LA) is a potent biological antioxidant that is found naturally in the human body at very low concentrations, primarily in the mitochondria. However, synthetic α-LA is commercially available as a nutritional supplement and has been shown to be effective at ameliorating symptoms in diseases with an under- lying oxidative stress component. High blood cholesterol is a major cardiovascular dis- ease (CVD) risk factor and is responsive to diet and lifestyle modifications. In addition to high blood cholesterol, there is increasing evidence that supports the independent role of oxidized lipids and lipoproteins, chiefly oxidized low-density lipoproteins (Ox- LDL), in the development of CVD. Lowering total blood cholesterol (TC), LDL choles- terol (LDL-C), and triglycerides (TG) and raising high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels is the most desirable metabolic state for maximum protection against CVD, but can be difficult to achieve through diet and exercise alone. With emerging evidence of reduced LDL-C and TG, increased HDL-C, and blunting of oxidative sus- ceptibility of lipoproteins by α-LA, its use alone or in combination with other dietary supplements may be an effective strategy to modulate multiple metabolic targets of ox- idative stress and cholesterol metabolism to reduce CVD risk. This review examines the current evidence for the use of α-LA in CVD risk reduction and identifies the remaining gaps that must be addressed in this area of research.

The current web is rich in geographically referenced data. Mining, retrieving and sharing these data raises the need for rich geographical place name resources that record spatial and thematic elements of geographical places. Here, possible services offered at a place and human activities that can be practised there are considered useful concepts to discover and encode in place name resources. Recognising this dimension of place description can enhance information retrieval tasks by extending the range of possible queries and search criteria that relate to different place instances. This work proposes an automatic approach for the identification and extraction of service and activity-related concepts from multiple resources of textual descriptions of geographical place types. Frequent affordance patterns are identified and then applied to a corpus of resources to extract service and activity types associated with specific geographical place types. The evaluation experiments undertaken demonstrate the potential value of the approach.

Purpose: Evaluate the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics (PK) of nelfinavir during pregnancy and postpartum in HIV-infected women. Methods: Phase IV, non-randomized, open-label study of nelfinavir 625 mg tablets (1250 mg) in combination with lamivudine/zidovudine twice daily. Primary endpoint was treatment-related or possibly treatment-related gastrointestinal or hepatic adverse events (AEs). Selected maternal and infant outcomes were recorded. Frequent plasma samples were collected for PK studies during the 2nd and 3rd trimesters, and 6 weeks postpartum, to analyze total and free nelfinavir and M8 concentrations. Results: Sixteen HIV+ pregnant women were enrolled. Six mild treatment-related AEs and 3 serious AEs occurred; 1 serious AE (elevated AST) met the primary endpoint. Compared with 6 weeks postpartum, levels of total nelfinavir were reduced by 44% and 46%, total M8 by 82% and 83%, free nelfinavir by 48% and 39%, and free M8 by 83% and 79% in the 2nd and 3rd trimesters, respectively...

The reproductive cycle of Ophidiaster ophidianus (strictly protected status) from Sao Miguel Island, in the Azorean Archipelago was studied. The reproductive strategy; the energy allocation of each sex during the reproductive cycle and the nutritional condition of the population were analyzed. Gonadal index (GI) showed a clear seasonal pattern with spawning between August and October but histological examination revealed that gamete release can occur throughout the entire year. The pyloric caeca index (PCI) showed little annual variation but with an inverse relationship with the GI. Allocation of energy to the gonads and to the pyloric caeca reflected the seasonal reproductive strategy of this species. Individuals were able to simultaneously develop gonads, pyloric caeca, and quickly regenerate lost arms. There was a major expenditure of energy by females compared to males but, sexual size dimorphism was not observed. The reproductive pattern observed in O. ophidianus combining rich food availability and ...

The distribution, metabolism, excretion and hepatic effects of diclofenac were investigated following a single oral dose of 10 mg/kg to wild type and hepatic reductase null (HRN) mice. For the HRN strain the bulk of the [(14)C]-diclofenac-related material was excreted in the urine/aqueous cagewash within 12 h of administration (~82%) with only small amounts eliminated via the faeces (~2% in 24 h). Wild type mice excreted the radiolabel more slowly with ca. 52 and 15% of the dose recovered excreted in urine and faeces, respectively, by 24 h post dose. The metabolic profiles of the HRN mice were dominated by acyl conjugation to either taurine or glucuronic acid. Wild type mice produced relatively small amounts of the acyl glucuronide. Whole Body Autoradiography (WBA) of mice sacrificed at 24 h post dose indicated increased retention of radioactivity in the livers of HRN mice compared to wild type mice. Covalent binding studies showed no differences between the two strains. Metabolism of diclofenac in HRN mice involved mainly acyl glucuronide formation and taurine amide conjugation. This mouse model may find utility in understanding the impact of reactive metabolite formation via routes that involve the production of acyl-CoA or acyl glucuronides of acidic drugs.

The ferritic steels used world wide for nuclear pressure vessels and irradiated structures contain manganese but knowledge of the role of manganese is mainly confined to the unirradiated condition. Information from the mid 1950s to 2009 on the influence of manganese on unirradiated and irradiated properties is analysed. In unirradiated material manganese raises ambient strength, improves notched impact toughness, benefits high temperature strength, promotes dynamic strain aging and enhances creep resistance. However, by combining with carbon and by increasing phosphorus diffusion, manganese increases intergranular embrittlement after thermal aging. Neutron irradiated steels are deleteriously affected by manganese. First, the dose coefficients of irradiation hardening and embrittlement increase linearly with manganese, particularly in steels with uncombined nitrogen, and the morphology of irradiation induced interstitial loops is altered. Second, manganese occurs in irradiation induced Cu rich prec...

This article describes results from a survey of health care professionals in four hospitals serving medium ( 300,000) communities in Colorado and Missouri about health sciences library information and services. Greater proportions of physicians than nurses or nonclinical respondents checked answers about the library's value in patient care, confirming patient management decisions, changing of tests, or changing of therapy. Medical providers indicated that health sciences libraries were of value for a large variety of uses, including changing and confirming patient management decisions and reducing length of stay.

Health and culinary professionals and consumers increasingly seek practical ways to reduce sodium intake, as advised in science-based dietary guidance. In response, this study determined whether draining and rinsing significantly reduces sodium in canned beans. References in dietary guidance and popular literature support this practice; only limited, dated scientific data substantiate this advice, conducted only on past product formulations. Sodium per label-size serving was measured for multiple brands of five canned bean varieties: in packing liquid; drained of packing liquid; and drained of packing liquid and then rinsed. Both draining and draining followed by rinsing significantly reduce sodium in canned beans.

A fledgling disaster management organization in 1984, Jamaica's Office of Disaster Preparedness (ODP) hosted the pioneering international disaster mitigation conference to share information and to contemplate how vulnerability to disasters from natural hazards could be reduced. Over the period 1979–2009, the overall focus of the agency was response, given the plethora of extreme events, and the priority of the Government of Jamaica. The organization was associated with several efforts at disaster mitigation, but the need for building the agency's capacity to lead national efforts to integrate mitigation planning into development did not seem to gain traction among the policy makers. Growing losses since 2004, the evidence of climate change and the need for adaptation, and the regional and international disaster risk management agenda have brought attention to the need for review and development of Jamaica's disaster risk management capacity. This paper examines highlights of the 30-year journey of disaste...

This study is one of very few that has investigated the neuropsychological functioning of both familial and clinical high risk subjects for psychosis. Participants (N = 164) were members of the Northern Finland 1986 Birth Cohort in the following four groups: familial risk for psychosis (n = 62), clinical risk for psychosis (n = 20), psychosis (n = 13), and control subjects (n = 69). The neurocognitive performance of these groups was compared across 19 cognitive variables. The two risk groups did not differ significantly from controls, but differed from the psychosis group in fine motor function. Neuropsychological impairments were not evident in a non-help-seeking high-risk sample.

The double emulsion (DE) droplets used for fabrication of cryogenic foam targets for inertial confinement fusion experiments require precisely controlled volumes. On-chip electric field actuated mi...

This study examined the relationship between the Intrinsic Religious Orientation (IRO) and the Protestant Work Ethic (PWE). The Mirels and Garrett PWE Scale and the Feagin IRO/ERO scale were administered to 241 men and 140 women, aged 19 and older. The PWE and the IRO are significantly correlated, and their correlation remains significant even after partialling out their common correlation with the tendency to describe oneself as a political conservative. These findings support Weber's argument for the religious foundations of capitalism. Suggestions are made for research into conservatism along the lines followed in this study.

Despite achieving optimal LDL-C levels with statin therapy, the risk of cardiovascular events persists in the majority of dyslipidemic patients. In particular, patients with mixed dyslipidemia, who have continued elevation of triglycerides and decreased HDL-C, have substantial residual cardiovascular risk. Thus, patients with multiple abnormal lipid parameters may require combination lipid drug therapy. Current guidelines recommend more intensive goals for LDL-C in high-risk patients, as well as combination treatment with agents that target triglycerides and HDL-C in these patients with mixed dyslipidemia. Clinical trials of rosuvastatin plus fenofibric acid suggest that this is an efficacious and safe strategy for the treatment of mixed dyslipidemia.