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In this paper, the nature of thermally upgraded Kraft electrical insulating papers and their characterization by measurement of nitrogen content is discussed. A historical context and explanation of the basics of the various chemical methods used to measure nitrogen content in electrical papers is presented. The Kjeldahl and Dumas methods for quantifying nitrogen content were compared using six insulating papers in different laboratories in an effort to correlate the results obtained with both techniques. The results provide an insight into the viability of the Dumas combustion method as a proposed industry standard test for measuring the nitrogen content of paper. Moreover, data on the accuracy, reproducibility, and repeatability of the Dumas method is provided for the analysis of thermally upgraded electrical papers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Soil-transmitted helminthiases (hookworms, Ascaris lumbricoides and Trichuris trichiura) are extremely prevalent in school-aged children living in poor sanitary conditions. Recent epidemiological data suggest that Strongyloides stercoralis is highly unreported. However, accurate data are essential for conducting interventions aimed at introducing control and elimination programmes. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 396 randomly selected school-aged children in Amhara region in rural area in north-western Ethiopia, to assess the prevalence of S. stercoralis and other intestinal helminths. We examined stools using three techniques: conventional stool concentration; and two S. stercoralis-specific methods, i.e. the Baermann technique and polymerase chain reaction. The diagnostic accuracy of these three methods was then compared. Results: There was an overall prevalence of helminths of 77.5%, with distribution differing according to school setting. Soil-transmitted helminths were recorded in 69.2%. Prevalence of S. stercoralis and hookworm infection was 20.7 and 54.5%, respectively, and co-infection was detected in 16.3% of cases. Schistosoma mansoni had a prevalence of 15.7%. Prevalence of S. stercoralis was shown 3.5% by the conventional method, 12.1% by the Baermann method, and 13.4% by PCR, which thus proved to be the most sensitive. Conclusions: Our results suggest that S. stercoralis could be overlooked and neglected in Ethiopia, if studies of soil-transmitted helminths rely on conventional diagnostic techniques alone. A combination of molecular and stool microscopy techniques yields a significantly higher prevalence. In view of the fact that current control policies for triggering drug administration are based on parasite prevalence levels, a comprehensive diagnostic approach should instead be applied to ensure comprehensive control of helminth infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the impetus and benefit of establishing a strong assessment culture at the community college level––institutions serving incredibly diverse student populations with fewer resources than their 4‐year counterparts. Best practices and lessons learned from a suburban Chicago community college serve as an example for other community colleges to assist in their pursuit of a strong assessment culture. In order to be successful in its implementation and long‐term health, community college assessment within the student affairs level must be student‐focused while carefully leveraging limited resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander Von Humboldt, considera las colecciones biológicas fundamentales para la gestión integral de la biodiversidad y los servicios ecosistémicos [1], las colecciones biológicas representan el patrimonio natural de un país o región [2], y son la base de estudios taxonómicos, ecológicos, conservación, filogenéticos y biogeográficos [3, 4], permiten el entendimiento de la vida del planeta y la proyección de escenarios futuros incluyendo patrones de cambios de la biodiversidad como respuesta a la transformación de los sistemas naturales y a la acción antrópica sobre el medio ambiente. El Instituto Humboldt (2017 [1]), en su registro único nacional de colecciones biológicas de Colombia, reporta actualmente 208 registros representados principalmente en colecciones zoológicas, herbarios y en menor proporción las xilotecas que son las colecciones encargadas de registrar la diversidad de las especies leñosas. Las colecciones de madera o xilotecas tuvieron sus orígenes en los herbarios, con el propósito de generar estudios básicos anatómicos, conservar la biodiversidad de las especies leñosas, apoyar estudios de ecología funcional, energía, arqueología, paleontología, etnobiología y tecnología de maderas, apoyar acciones de recuperación y conservación del patrimonio histórico y cultural y generar herramientas para el control en el comercio y movilización de la madera ilegal. La Xiloteca UD, "José Anatolio Lastra R", se encuentra adscrita al laboratorio de maderas de la Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas, el cual inició bajo la administración del Instituto de investigaciones y proyectos forestales y madereros fundado el 22 de enero de 1964. Con el propósito de documentar la diversidad forestal del País y generar información básica y de referencia para la investigación científica y aplicada, la Xiloteca UD cuenta con una colección de 4170 especímenes de los cuales 3119 están determinados, agrupados en 88 familias, 340 géneros y 555 especies. Las familias más representativas son Leguminosae, Malvaceae, Lauraceae, Moraceae, Sapotaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Rubiaceae, Meliaceae y Arecaceae y los géneros con mayor número de especímenes son Nectandra, Ocotea, Ormosia, Hieronyma, Aspidosperma, Brosimum, Pinus, Pouteria, Tabebuia y Humiriastrum. La xiloteca cuenta con una colección de tejidos representada por 1646 láminas que corresponden a 195 géneros y un total de 54 familias, de las cuales 79 láminas de tejidos pertenecen a la clase gimnosperma representadas en 8 géneros y 2 familias (Pinaceae y Podocarpaceae) y 1567 pertenecen a la clase Angiosperma predominando Leguminosae, Euphorbiaceae, Malvaceae y Moracea, siendo los géneros más importantes Cedrelinga, Carapa, Guarea, Osteophloeum y Otoba. La Xiloteca UD soporta las siguientes líneas de investigación: caracterización de la diversidad forestal, productos forestales maderables y ecología funcional. Igualmente se proyecta para consolidar la línea de investigación en dendrocronología como aporte al estudio de las dinámicas de crecimiento de las especies vegetales leñosas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander Von Humboldt, considera las colecciones biológicas fundamentales para la gestión integral de la biodiversidad y los servicios ecosistémicos [1], las colecciones biológicas representan el patrimonio natural de un país o región [2], y son la base de estudios taxonómicos, ecológicos, conservación, filogenéticos y biogeográficos [3, 4], permiten el entendimiento de la vida del planeta y la proyección de escenarios futuros incluyendo patrones de cambios de la biodiversidad como respuesta a la transformación de los sistemas naturales y a la acción antrópica sobre el medio ambiente. El Instituto Humboldt (2017 [1]), en su registro único nacional de colecciones biológicas de Colombia, reporta actualmente 208 registros representados principalmente en colecciones zoológicas, herbarios y en menor proporción las xilotecas que son las colecciones encargadas de registrar la diversidad de las especies leñosas. Las colecciones de madera o xilotecas tuvieron sus orígenes en los herbarios, con el propósito de generar estudios básicos anatómicos, conservar la biodiversidad de las especies leñosas, apoyar estudios de ecología funcional, energía, arqueología, paleontología, etnobiología y tecnología de maderas, apoyar acciones de recuperación y conservación del patrimonio histórico y cultural y generar herramientas para el control en el comercio y movilización de la madera ilegal. La Xiloteca UD, "José Anatolio Lastra R", se encuentra adscrita al laboratorio de maderas de la Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas, el cual inició bajo la administración del Instituto de investigaciones y proyectos forestales y madereros fundado el 22 de enero de 1964. Con el propósito de documentar la diversidad forestal del País y generar información básica y de referencia para la investigación científica y aplicada, la Xiloteca UD cuenta con una colección de 4170 especímenes de los cuales 3119 están determinados, agrupados en 88 familias, 340 géneros y 555 especies. Las familias más representativas son Leguminosae, Malvaceae, Lauraceae, Moraceae, Sapotaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Rubiaceae, Meliaceae y Arecaceae y los géneros con mayor número de especímenes son Nectandra, Ocotea, Ormosia, Hieronyma, Aspidosperma, Brosimum, Pinus, Pouteria, Tabebuia y Humiriastrum. La xiloteca cuenta con una colección de tejidos representada por 1646 láminas que corresponden a 195 géneros y un total de 54 familias, de las cuales 79 láminas de tejidos pertenecen a la clase gimnosperma representadas en 8 géneros y 2 familias (Pinaceae y Podocarpaceae) y 1567 pertenecen a la clase Angiosperma predominando Leguminosae, Euphorbiaceae, Malvaceae y Moracea, siendo los géneros más importantes Cedrelinga, Carapa, Guarea, Osteophloeum y Otoba. La Xiloteca UD soporta las siguientes líneas de investigación: caracterización de la diversidad forestal, productos forestales maderables y ecología funcional. Igualmente se proyecta para consolidar la línea de investigación en dendrocronología como aporte al estudio de las dinámicas de crecimiento de las especies vegetales leñosas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Dermatitis is a skin condition caused by multiple causes, including radiotherapy treatment. Pharmacological treatments can become chronic and are not exempt from side effects. The latest recommendations of the American Academy of Dermatology establish the use of natural, nourishing, and moisturizing cosmetic products as prevention and the first therapeutic step for dermatitis. Alantel® is a cream developed to reduce redness and irritation, promote the local immune system, combat immunosenescence, and promote the healing of epidermal lesions. The objective was to evaluate the effect of a cream (Alantel) based on natural products at high concentrations for the preventive and curative treatment (at early stages) of radiation-induced dermatitis in patients with breast cancer. Methods: Our protocol is an experimental, prospective, triple-blind, multicenter, controlled clinical trial with two parallel arms. The experimental group will be treated with Alantel, while the control group will receive another moisturizing cream. Radiotherapy oncology professionals will recruit a total of 88 patients (44 per comparison group) with breast cancer who will receive radiotherapy oncology treatment for 15 days, and they will be randomly allocated to the experimental or control group. Selected patients will be followed up for four visits by primary care physicians for up to 1 week after completion of radiotherapy. The main study variable will be the incidence rate of mild post-radiation dermatitis. An intention-to-treat analysis will be performed, applying a comparison test for independent means and proportions. A bivariate and multivariate analysis will also be developed to check the treatment effect, adjusting for predictive sociodemographic and clinical variables. Discussion: By carrying out this clinical trial, it is expected to verify that Alantel cream, based on natural products at high concentrations, has advantages over a moisturizing cream for the preventive and curative treatment of RD in patients with breast cancer. The COVID-19 pandemic has been influenced by delaying the start of the study. One of the main limitations of this study will be the time required to recruit the patients from the planned sample, given that the selection criteria are restrictive and, although the study is multicenter, recruitment will be coordinated through a single service on radiotherapy oncology. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04116151. Registered on 4 October 2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Screening and brief interventions (SBIs) for heavy drinking are an effective and cost-effective approach to reducing alcohol-related harm, yet delivery rates remain low. This study uses trial data to estimate the cost-effectiveness of alternative strategies to increase SBI delivery. Methods Data from a large cluster-randomized trial were combined with the Sheffield Alcohol Policy Model, a policy appraisal tool, to estimate the cost-effectiveness of eight strategies to increase SBI delivery in primary care in England, Poland and the Netherlands: care as usual (control), training and support (TS), financial reimbursement (FR), referral of patients to an online brief intervention (eBI) and all combinations of TS, FR and eBI. cost-effectiveness was assessed from a healthcare perspective by comparing health benefits (measured in Quality-Adjusted Life Years) with total implementation costs and downstream healthcare savings for each strategy over a 30-year horizon and calculating Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs). Results All trialled strategies were cost-effective compared to control. TS combined with FR was the most cost-effective approach in England (more effective and less costly than control) and Poland (ICER €4632 vs. next-best strategy). This combination is not cost-effective in the Netherlands, where TS alone is the most cost-effective approach (ICER €3386 vs. next-best strategy). Conclusions Structured TS, financial incentives and access to online interventions are all estimated to be cost-effective methods of improving delivery of alcohol brief interventions. TS and FR together may be the most cost-effective approach, however this is sensitive to country characteristics and alternative BI effect assumptions. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov trial identifier: NCT01501552 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Soil transmitted helminths are highly prevalent worldwide. Globally, approximately 1.5 billion people are infected with Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura or hookworm. Endemic countries carry out periodic mass treatment of at-risk populations with albendazole or mebendazole as a control measure. Most prevalence studies have focused on school aged children and therefore control programs are implemented at school level, not at community level. In this study, the prevalence of intestinal helminths, including Strongyloides stercoralis, was examined using a comprehensive laboratory approach in a community in north-western Ethiopia. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 792 individuals ≥5 years old in randomly selected houses in a rural district. Stools were examined using three techniques: a formol-ether concentration, the Baermann technique and a real time polymerase chain reaction test (these last two specific for S. stercoralis). Statistical analyses were performed between two large age groups, children (≤14 years old) and adults (≥15 years old). Results: The prevalence of helminths was 91.3%; (95% CI: 89.3–93.3%). Hookworm was the most prevalent, 78.7% (95% CI 75.6–81.4%), followed by S. stercoralis 55.7% (95% CI 52.2–59.1%). Co-infection with both was detected in 45.4% (95% CI 42.0–49.0%) of the participants. The mean age of hookworm-infected individuals was significantly higher than non-infected ones (p = 0.003). Also, S. stercoralis infection was significantly associated with age, being more prevalent in adults (p = 0.002). Conclusions: This is the highest prevalence of S. stercoralis detected in Ethiopia so far. Our results highlight the need of searching specifically for infection by this parasite since it usually goes unnoticed if helminth studies rely only on conventional diagnostic techniques, i.e. Kato-Katz. Moreover, the focus of these programs on children undermines the actual prevalence of hookworm. The adult population acts as a reservoir for both hookworm and S. stercoralis and this fact may negatively impact the current control programs in Ethiopia which only target treatment of school aged children. This reservoir, together with a lack of adequate water, sanitation and hygiene, increases the probability of re-infection in children. Finally, the high prevalence of S. stercoralis found calls for a comprehensive diagnostic approach in endemic areas in addition to a revision of control measures that is, adding ivermectin to current albendazole/mebendazole, since it is the drug of choice for S. stercoralis. Author summary: Soil-transmitted-helminthiases and schistosomiasis have major programs for control within the neglected tropical diseases agenda. Deworming programs, that is, periodic mass drug administration, with albendazole or mebendazole and praziquantel, for at-risk populations, are the main strategy for control and success in interrupting the transmission of these diseases. But despite huge efforts made, programs are still unsuccessful in controlling STH in endemic areas in Africa. In Ethiopia most parts of the country are suitable for helminth transmission. Mapping for identification of risk areas for hookworm, A. lumbricoides, T. trichiura and Schistosoma spp., has been conducted by the government, in order to prioritize the health agenda. The focus of the interventions are school- aged children. Another species of soil-transmitted helminth, Strongyloides stercoralis, of high morbidity, which requires special laboratory methods for diagnosis and a different treatment drug, is highly underestimated and not included in control programs. With the aim of knowing the prevalence of S. stercoralis and other intestinal helminths at the community level, a population in the rural area of north-western Ethiopia was studied using parasitological and molecular techniques. A high prevalence of helminths at the community level and specifically a high prevalence of S. stercoralis were detected. These results suggest there is a need to revise control programs in order to be able to cut transmission and to ensure universal health coverage that "leaves no one behind". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermally upgraded Kraft (TUK) "Insuldur®" papers prepared from the same batch process but with a different percentage of stabilizing additives (1.2, 2.6 and 4.4% of nitrogen) were studied under accelerated aging at 170 °C. The increment of stabilizing additives in paper with the consequent increment of nitrogen content slows down the rate of molecular chain scission of the cellulose and reduces the paper tensile strength loss rate. However, a progressive reduction in the enhancement of the paper life span by the increment of nitrogenous additives in paper was observed. The cellulose degradation methanol and ethanol markers were found to be reliable and accurate for tracking the aging of TUK papers even with the variation of nitrogen content in paper. A promising correlation between methanol concentration and the paper tensile index with different nitrogen content was determined. This correlation could be used as a basis for developing tools to assess power transformers residual life. FTIR-ATR analyses of dicyandiamide in aged papers showed a rapid reaction and decomposition of dicyandiamide in other compounds that slows down cellulose aging. The nitrogen content of aged paper, measured with the Dumas method, showed a slight variation during the study. This implies that the nitrogen compounds continue to be attached, presumably by polar forces to the paper. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) of new and aged Insuldur® paper samples showed that nitrogen additives improve the thermal stability of paper at high temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]