Weather parameters and nosocomial bloodstream infection: a case-referent study

OBJECTIVE To evaluate if temperature and humidity influenced the etiology of bloodstream infections in a hospital from 2005 to 2010.METHODS The study had a case-referent design. Individual cases of bloodstream infections caused by specific groups or pathogens were compared with several references. In the first analysis, average temperature and humidity values for the seven days preceding collection of blood cultures were compared with an overall “seven-days moving average” for the study period. The second analysis included only patients with bloodstream infections. Several logistic regression models were used to compare different pathogens and groups with respect to the immediate weather parameters, adjusting for demographics, time, and unit of admission.RESULTS Higher temperatures and humidity were related to the recovery of bacteria as a whole (versus fungi) and of gram-negative bacilli. In the multivariable models, temperature was positively associated with the recovery of gram-negative bacilli (OR = 1.14; 95%CI 1.10;1.19) or Acinetobacter baumannii (OR = 1.26; 95%CI 1.16;1.37), even after adjustment for demographic and admission data. An inverse association was identified for humidity.CONCLUSIONS The study documented the impact of temperature and humidity on the incidence and etiology of bloodstream infections. The results correspond with those from ecological studies, indicating a higher incidence of gram-negative bacilli during warm seasons. These findings should guide policies directed at preventing and controlling healthcare-associated infections.

The referent : a new referential methodology and procedure in live drawing

My research in live drawing and new technologies uses a combination of a human figure in live in composition, overlaid with a digital projection of a second human figure. The aim is to explore, to amplify and thoroughly analyse the search for distinctive identities and graphic languages of representation for live and projected models.

Educar des del testimoni: quan l'altre esdevé un referent

El encuentro personal ineludible que precisa todo hecho educativo puede tener múltiples presencias y ausencias que harán que la experiencia de cada persona se viva con una cromática distinta, dejando huellas mas o menos delimitadas y de mayor o menor calado sobre 10 que uno es y vive. Cualquier persona que se quiera educadora deberia tomarse el tiempo suficiente para contemplar el mundo y sus testigos, y para contemplarse a la vez a si mismo como testigo de su propia existencia tanto en relación con sus formas de presencia como en sus silencios en el decir, el hacer y el experenciar (que no experimentar). Éste quiere ser el motivo de reflexión que pretendo abrir desde estas lineas. Atreverse a afirmar que nuestro mundo esta falto de referentes podria inducirnos a pensar en un futuro educativo sin vinculos de tradición ni de cultura, en un presente que seria el vacio entre pasado y futuro, un presente sin anclajes ni raices. El maestro, testigo de referencia para sus alumnos, deberia de ser la mirada de transmisión cultural desde una relación de connotacion provocativamente educativa. Pero jcomo puede un maestro convertirse en testigo de referencia cuando 61 mismo, a menudo, no dispone de la significacion de sus propios referentes? ¿Que puede testimoniarse desde la ausencia de la búsqueda de identidad? El testigo -que en el caso del educador tiene la responsabilidad para con las nuevas generaciones- deberia haber vivido, experienciado y aprendido a significar cuanto quiere o puede o no quiere o no puede testimoniar. Y no se trata de justificar. Lo que uno ama de verdad es siempre injustificable, Únicamente puede vivirse y a 10 sumo transmitirse luego desde 10 que uno es. Identidad, mimesis y testimonio son las gravitaciones que orientan la relación educativa que sugiero. No se trata de buscar el acuerdo ni del discipulo ni del estudiante ni del alumno ni de 10s niños y jovenes de quienes cuidamos. Uno debe estar en posesion de cuanto quiere transmitir; el dialogo empieza con esta pasión.

Barcelona, un referent en educació : Joan Clos. 'Barcelona, un referente en educación : Joan Clos'.

Entrevista al alcalde de Barcelona, Joan Clos, acerca de los retos educativos que existen en Barcelona, la interrelación ciudad-educación y el Proyecto Educativo de Ciudad de Barcelona.

El text cinematogr??fic : enunciaci??, estructura i referent

Resumen basado en el de la publicaci??n

El pressupost de cultura de l'Ajuntament de Barcelona de 1908 : un referent pedag??gic

Resumen basado en el de la publicaci??n

Un projecte de formaci??-acci?? per a professors referent a la comprensi?? lectora

Resumen basado en el de la publicaci??n

Josep M. Perramon: "PostScriptum vol arribar a ser un referent econòmic i cultural en la societat gironina"

La signatura d'un protocol de col·laboració mútua entre la Universitat de Girona i l'associació PostScriptum Alumni UdG significa una nova oportunitat en la creació d'un espai comú per als antics estudiants de la UdG.

Perhaps Triangulation Isn’t Enough: a Call for Crystallization as a Methodological Referent in NOS Research

This research compares the methodological tools employed in NOS research, with analysis of what the comparison implies about the structure of nature of science knowledge. Descriptions of practicing teachers’ nature of science conceptions were compared based on data collected from forced choice responses, responses to a qualitative survey, and course writing samples. Participants’ understandings were scored differently on the Views of Nature of Science Questionnaire (VNOS) than the forced-choice measure, Scientific Thinking and Internet Learning Technologies (STILT). In addition, analysis of the writing samples and observations combined with interviews portrayed more sophisticated, but more variable, understandings of the nature of science than was evidenced by either the survey or the forced-choice measure. The differences between data collection measures included the degree to which they drew upon context bound or context general reasoning, the degree to which they required students to move beyond the simple intelligibility of their responses and allowed students to explore the fruitfulness of the constructs, as well as the degree to which they revealed the interconnection of participants NOS conceptions. In light of the different portrayals of a participants NOS conceptions yielded by these different measures, we call for the use of crystallization as a methodological referent in research.

Moderating effect of allocentrism on the pay referent comparison-pay level satisfaction relationship

Pay referent comparisons (comparisons of one's salary to that of others) such as other-inside (salary of other people in the organisation), other-outside (the market rate), and cost-of- living, have been shown to influence pay level satisfaction. Bordia and Blau (1998) identified family as another referent that had a significant effect on pay level satisfaction in a sample of public and private sector employees in India. The finding was interpreted in view of the importance of family in collectivistic cultures. In the study reported here, the moderating influence of an individual differences variable, allocentrism-idiocentrism (the individual level conceptualisation of collectivism-individualism) on pay referent comparison-pay level satisfaction relationship was investigated. A sample of 146 employees from three public sector organisations in India participated in the study. In line with the predictions, results showed that after controlling for age, tenure, and pay level, pay referent comparisons explained more variance in pay level satisfaction for allocentrics than for idiocentrics. Family and pay level were stronger explanatory variables of pay level satisfaction for allocentrics and idiocentrics, respectively, while cost of living was a significant explanatory variable for both sub-groups.

Indefinite determiner introducing definite referent: a special use of 'yi 'one' + classifier' in Chinese

The indefinite determiner yi 'one'+ classifier' is the most approximate to an indefinite article, like the English a, in Chinese. It serves all the functions characteristic of representative stages of grammaticalization from a numeral to a generalized indefinite determiner as elaborated in the literature. It is established in this paper that the Chinese indefinite determiner has developed a special use with definite expressions, serving as a backgrounding device marking entities as of low thematic importance and unlikely to receive subsequent mentions in ensuing discourse. 'yi+ classifier' in the special use with definite expressions displays striking similarities in terms of semantic bleaching and phonological reduction with the same determiner at the advanced stage of grammaticalization characterized by uses with generics, nonspecifics and nonreferentials. An explanation is offered in terms of an implicational relation between nonreferentiality and low thematic importance which characterize the two uses of the indefinite determiner. While providing another piece of evidence in support of the claim that semantically nonreferentials and entities of low thematic importance tend to be encoded in terms of same linguistic devices in language, findings in this paper have shown how an indefinite determiner can undergo a higher degree of grammaticalization than has been reported in the literature-it expands its scope to mark not only indefinite but also definite expressions as semantically nonreferential and/or thematically unimportant. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Teste de banco : adequação da altura do ergometro a estatura, para individuos a partir de 09 anos de idade, de ambosos sexos, praticantes e não praticantes de atividade fisica

Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Faculdade de Educação Física