The effects of the non-native invertebrate predator Bythotrephes longimanus and declining aqueous calcium on crustacean zooplankton communities in Canadian Shield lakes

Over the last several decades, human activities have resulted in environmental changes that have increased the number of stressors that can act on a single environment. In Canadian Shield lakes, two recent stressors, the invasion of Bythotrephes longimanus and calcium decline, have been documented. Widespread acidification of hundreds of North American lakes has resulted in the precipitous decline of lake water calcium concentration. Crustacean zooplankton with high calcium demands are likely to be vulnerable to calcium decline, especially <1.5 mg Ca/L, where survival and reproduction rates are reduced. These taxa are also vulnerable to predation by Bythotrephes that has been implicated in the loss of pelagic biodiversity in soft water lakes. Despite laboratory and field studies aimed at understanding the independent impact of these stressors, it is unclear how their co-occurrence will influence community response. Using a combination of data from a large regional lake survey and field experiments, I examined the individual and joint effects of Bythotrephes and calcium decline on native zooplankton community structure. Results demonstrated that much is known about Bythotrephes and our findings of reduced total zooplankton and species richness, due to the loss of Cladocera, are consistent with field surveys and other experimental studies. While we did not detect strong evidence for an effect of calcium on zooplankton using the lowest calcium concentration among invaded lakes (1.2 mg Ca/L), there is evidence that, as lake water calcium concentrations fall <1 mg Ca/L, per capita growth rates of a broad variety of taxa are expected to decline. At the regional scale, negative effects of Bythotrephes and calcium on abundances of small cladocerans and Daphnia pulicaria, respectively, were in agreement with my experimental observations. We also observed significant interactions between Bythotrephes and calcium for a broad variety of taxa. As Bythotrephes continues to spread and invade lakes that are also declining in aqueous calcium, both stressors are likely to amplify negative effects on Cladocera that appear the most vulnerable. Loss of these important zooplankton in response to both Bythotrephes and calcium decline, is likely to lower zooplankton productivity, with potential effects on phytoplankton and higher trophic levels.

Conventional versus hypofractionated high-dose intensity-modulated radiotherapy for prostate cancer: 5-year outcomes of the randomised, non-inferiority, phase 3 CHHiP trial

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer might have high radiation-fraction sensitivity that would give a therapeutic advantage to hypofractionated treatment. We present a pre-planned analysis of the efficacy and side-effects of a randomised trial comparing conventional and hypofractionated radiotherapy after 5 years follow-up.

METHODS: CHHiP is a randomised, phase 3, non-inferiority trial that recruited men with localised prostate cancer (pT1b-T3aN0M0). Patients were randomly assigned (1:1:1) to conventional (74 Gy delivered in 37 fractions over 7·4 weeks) or one of two hypofractionated schedules (60 Gy in 20 fractions over 4 weeks or 57 Gy in 19 fractions over 3·8 weeks) all delivered with intensity-modulated techniques. Most patients were given radiotherapy with 3-6 months of neoadjuvant and concurrent androgen suppression. Randomisation was by computer-generated random permuted blocks, stratified by National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) risk group and radiotherapy treatment centre, and treatment allocation was not masked. The primary endpoint was time to biochemical or clinical failure; the critical hazard ratio (HR) for non-inferiority was 1·208. Analysis was by intention to treat. Long-term follow-up continues. The CHHiP trial is registered as an International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial, number ISRCTN97182923.

FINDINGS: Between Oct 18, 2002, and June 17, 2011, 3216 men were enrolled from 71 centres and randomly assigned (74 Gy group, 1065 patients; 60 Gy group, 1074 patients; 57 Gy group, 1077 patients). Median follow-up was 62·4 months (IQR 53·9-77·0). The proportion of patients who were biochemical or clinical failure free at 5 years was 88·3% (95% CI 86·0-90·2) in the 74 Gy group, 90·6% (88·5-92·3) in the 60 Gy group, and 85·9% (83·4-88·0) in the 57 Gy group. 60 Gy was non-inferior to 74 Gy (HR 0·84 [90% CI 0·68-1·03], pNI=0·0018) but non-inferiority could not be claimed for 57 Gy compared with 74 Gy (HR 1·20 [0·99-1·46], pNI=0·48). Long-term side-effects were similar in the hypofractionated groups compared with the conventional group. There were no significant differences in either the proportion or cumulative incidence of side-effects 5 years after treatment using three clinician-reported as well as patient-reported outcome measures. The estimated cumulative 5 year incidence of Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) grade 2 or worse bowel and bladder adverse events was 13·7% (111 events) and 9·1% (66 events) in the 74 Gy group, 11·9% (105 events) and 11·7% (88 events) in the 60 Gy group, 11·3% (95 events) and 6·6% (57 events) in the 57 Gy group, respectively. No treatment-related deaths were reported.

INTERPRETATION: Hypofractionated radiotherapy using 60 Gy in 20 fractions is non-inferior to conventional fractionation using 74 Gy in 37 fractions and is recommended as a new standard of care for external-beam radiotherapy of localised prostate cancer.

FUNDING: Cancer Research UK, Department of Health, and the National Institute for Health Research Cancer Research Network.

Don’t expect me to vote for you just because I like you, even if you do make me feel warm inside: a comparison of the validity of non-ipsative measures of party support

The inclusion of non-ipsative measures of party preference (in essence ratings for each of the parties of a political system) has become established practice in mass surveys conducted for election studies. They exist in different forms, known as thermometer ratings or feeling scores, likes and dislikes scores, or support propensities. Usually only one of these is included in a single survey, which makes it difficult to assess the relative merits of each. The questionnaire of the Irish National Election Study 2002 (INES2002) contained three different batteries of non-ipsative party preferences. This paper investigates some of the properties of these different indicators. We focus in particular on two phenomena. First, the relationship between non-ipsative preferences and the choices actually made on the ballot. In Ireland this relationship is more revealing than in most other countries owing to the electoral system (STV) which allows voters to cast multiple ordered votes for candidates from different parties. Second, we investigate the latent structure of each of the batteries of party preferences and the relationships between them. We conclude that the three instruments are not interchangeable, that they measure different orientations, and that one –the propensity to vote for a party– is by far preferable if the purpose of the study is the explanation of voters’ actual choice behaviour. This finding has important ramifications for the design of election study questionnaires.

The minimum number of measurements for colour, sparkle, and graininess characterisation in gonio-apparent panels

Materials with new visual appearances have emerged over the last few years. In the automotive industry in particular there is a growing interest in materials with new effect finishes, such as metallic, pearlescent, sparkle, and graininess effects. Typically, for solid colours the mean of three measurements with repetitions is sufficient to obtain a representative measurement for colour characterisation. However, gonio-apparent panels have non-homogeneous colours, and there are no studies that recommend the minimum number of repetitions for colour, sparkle, and graininess characterisation of this type of panel. We assume that colour panels incorporating special-effect pigments in their colour recipes will require a higher minimum number of measurements than solid colour panels. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to verify this assumption by using a multiangle BYK-mac spectrophotometer, given that it is currently the only commercial device that can measure colour, sparkle, and graininess values simultaneously. In addition, a possible methodology is given for establishing the minimum number of measurements when characterising gonio-apparent materials using a specific instrument, able to be implemented in future instruments when determining multiple appearance attributes (colour, gloss, sparkle, etc.) for many coloration technologies. Thus, we studied the minimum number of measurements needed to characterise the colour, sparkle, and graininess of three types of sample with solid, metallic, and pearlescent coatings respectively. Twenty measurements were made at twenty random positions (different target areas) of 90 samples. The minimum number of measurements for all these variables was determined on the basis of the point at which the cumulative mean value became constant. Thus, applying new statistical tools, it is clearly shown that metallic and pearlescent panels require more colour measurements than solid panels, in particular when geometries are being measured in a specular direction. As regards texture (sparkle and graininess), more measurements are needed for graininess than for sparkle, and more for metallic panels than for pearlescent panels.

Imported Malaria In A Non-endemic Area: The Experience Of The University Of Campinas Hospital In The Brazilian Southeast.

Although malaria in Brazil almost exclusively occurs within the boundaries of the Amazon Region, some concerns are raised regarding imported malaria to non-endemic areas of the country, notably increased incidence of complications due to delayed diagnoses. However, although imported malaria in Brazil represents a major health problem, only a few studies have addressed this subject. A retrospective case series is presented in which 263 medical charts were analysed to investigate the clinical and epidemiological characterization of malaria cases that were diagnosed and treated at Hospital & Clinics, State University of Campinas between 1998 and 2011. Amongst all medical charts analysed, 224 patients had a parasitological confirmed diagnosis of malaria. Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum were responsible for 67% and 30% of the infections, respectively. The majority of patients were male (83%) of a productive age (median, 37 years old). Importantly, severe complications did not differ significantly between P. vivax (14 cases, 9%) and P. falciparum (7 cases, 10%) infections. Severe malaria cases were frequent among imported cases in Brazil outside of the Amazon area. The findings reinforce the idea that P. vivax infections in Brazil are not benign, regardless the endemicity of the area studied. Moreover, as the hospital is located in a privileged site, it could be used for future studies of malaria relapses and primaquine resistance mechanisms. Finally, based on the volume of cases treated and the secondary complications, referral malaria services are needed in the non-endemic areas of Brazil for a rapid and efficient and treatment.

Petroleomics By Electrospray Ionization Ft-icr Mass Spectrometry Coupled To Partial Least Squares With Variable Selection Methods: Prediction Of The Total Acid Number Of Crude Oils.

Negative-ion mode electrospray ionization, ESI(-), with Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) was coupled to a Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression and variable selection methods to estimate the total acid number (TAN) of Brazilian crude oil samples. Generally, ESI(-)-FT-ICR mass spectra present a power of resolution of ca. 500,000 and a mass accuracy less than 1 ppm, producing a data matrix containing over 5700 variables per sample. These variables correspond to heteroatom-containing species detected as deprotonated molecules, [M - H](-) ions, which are identified primarily as naphthenic acids, phenols and carbazole analog species. The TAN values for all samples ranged from 0.06 to 3.61 mg of KOH g(-1). To facilitate the spectral interpretation, three methods of variable selection were studied: variable importance in the projection (VIP), interval partial least squares (iPLS) and elimination of uninformative variables (UVE). The UVE method seems to be more appropriate for selecting important variables, reducing the dimension of the variables to 183 and producing a root mean square error of prediction of 0.32 mg of KOH g(-1). By reducing the size of the data, it was possible to relate the selected variables with their corresponding molecular formulas, thus identifying the main chemical species responsible for the TAN values.

[preservation Of The Fertility And The Ovaries In Women With Benign Adnexal Tumors].

To evaluate the sparing of fertility and ovaries in women submitted to surgical treatment for benign adnexal tumors. Between February 2010 and January 2014, 206 patients were included in this observational study as they were submitted to surgical treatment for benign ovarian tumors at CAISM, a tertiary hospital. Fertility sparing surgery was defined as tumorectomy or unilateral salpingoophorectomy without hysterectomy in premenopausal women. Preservation of the ovary occurred when at least one ovary or part of it was mantained. Of the 206 women with benign tumors, 120 (58%) were premenopausal and 86 (42%) were postmenopausal. There were 36 (30%) ovarian germ cell tumors, 31 (26%) epithelial neoplasms and 11 (9%) sex-cord stromal tumors among premenopausal women. In the group of postmenopausal women, 35 (41%) epithelial neoplasms, 27 (31%) sex-cord stromal tumors and 8 (9%) ovarian germ cell tumors were identified. Among 36 women with non-neoplastic ovarian tumors, 21 (58%) had endometriomas and 8 (22%) functional cysts. Among 22 women with extra-ovarian tumors, uterine leiomyomatosis was the most frequent finding (50%). In the group of women who were ≤ 35 years old, 26 (57%) were treated by tumorectomy and 18 (39%) were submitted to unilateral salpingoophorectomy with sparing of the uterus and the contralateral ovary. Women who were ≤ 35 years old were more frequently operated by laparoscopy which was associated with a higher number of fertility sparing procedures when compared to laparotomy (p<0.01). Twenty-six (28%) women submitted to hysterectomy with bilateral salpingoophorectomy were premenopausal. Although there is a trend to perform only tumorectomy in women who are ≤ 35 years old, a significant number of young women is still treated by salpingoophorectomy. Among 36- to 45-year-old women, only 70% had their fertility spared, while 20% had both ovaries removed. However, whenever possible, we must try to preserve the ovaries, mainly in premenopausal women.

Influence of English language in the number of citations of articles published in Brazilian journals of Ophthalmology

PURPOSE: To determine the association between language and number of citations of ophthalmology articles published in Brazilian journals. METHODS: This study was a systematic review. Original articles were identified by review of documents published at the two Brazilian ophthalmology journals indexed at Science Citation Index Expanded - SCIE [Arquivos Brasileiros de Oftalmologia (ABO) and Revista Brasileira de Oftalmologia (RBO)]. All document types (articles and reviews) listed at SCIE in English (English Group) or in Portuguese (Portuguese Group) from January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2009 were included, except: editorial materials; corrections; letters; and biographical items. The primary outcome was the number of citations through the end of second year after publication date. Subgroup analysis included likelihood of citation (cited at least once versus no citation), journal, and year of publication. RESULTS: The search at the web of science revealed 382 articles [107 (28%) in the English Group and 275 (72%) in the Portuguese Group]. Of those, 297 (77.7%) were published at the ABO and 85 (23.3%) at the RBO. The citation counts were statistically significantly higher (P<0.001) in the English Group (1.51 - SD 1.98 - range 0 to 11) compared with the Portuguese Group (0.57 - SD 1.06 - range 0 to 7). The likelihood citation was statistically significant higher (P<0.001) in the English Group (70/107 - 65.4%) compared with the Portuguese Group (89/275 - 32.7%). There were more articles published in English at the ABO (98/297 - 32.9%) than at the RBO (9/85 - 10.6%) [P<0.001]. There were no significant difference (P=0.967) at the proportion of articles published in English at the years 2008 (48/172 - 27.9%) and 2009 (59/210 - 28.1%). CONCLUSION: The number of citations of articles published in Portuguese at Brazilian ophthalmology journals is lower than the published in English. The results of this study suggest that the editorial boards should strongly encourage the authors to adopt English as the main language in their future articles.

Long-term social recognition memory in adult male rats: factor analysis of the social and non-social behaviors

A modified version of the intruder-resident paradigm was used to investigate if social recognition memory lasts at least 24 h. One hundred and forty-six adult male Wistar rats were used. Independent groups of rats were exposed to an intruder for 0.083, 0.5, 2, 24, or 168 h and tested 24 h after the first encounter with the familiar or a different conspecific. Factor analysis was employed to identify associations between behaviors and treatments. Resident rats exhibited a 24-h social recognition memory, as indicated by a 3- to 5-fold decrease in social behaviors in the second encounter with the same conspecific compared to those observed for a different conspecific, when the duration of the first encounter was 2 h or longer. It was possible to distinguish between two different categories of social behaviors and their expression depended on the duration of the first encounter. Sniffing the anogenital area (49.9% of the social behaviors), sniffing the body (17.9%), sniffing the head (3%), and following the conspecific (3.1%), exhibited mostly by resident rats, characterized social investigation and revealed long-term social recognition memory. However, dominance (23.8%) and mild aggression (2.3%), exhibited by both resident and intruders, characterized social agonistic behaviors and were not affected by memory. Differently, sniffing the environment (76.8% of the non-social behaviors) and rearing (14.3%), both exhibited mostly by adult intruder rats, characterized non-social behaviors. Together, these results show that social recognition memory in rats may last at least 24 h after a 2-h or longer exposure to the conspecific.

A comparison of the leaf-litter ant fauna in a secondary atlantic forest with an adjacent pine plantation in southeastern Brazil

We investigated the influence of Pinus afforestation on the structure of leaf-litter ant communities in the southeastern Brazilian Atlantic Forest, studying an old secondary forest and a nearly 30 year-old never managed Pinus elliottii reforested area. A total of 12,826 individual ants distributed among 95 species and 32 genera were obtained from 50 1 m² samples/ habitat. Of these, 60 species were recorded in the pine plantation and 82 in the area of Atlantic forest; almost 50% of the species found in the secondary forest area were also present in the pine plantation. The number of species per sample was significantly higher in the secondary forest than in the pine plantation. Forest-adapted taxa are the most responsible for ant species richness differences between areas, and the pine plantation is richer in species classified as soil or litter omnivorous-dominants. The specialized ant predators registered in the pine plantation, as seven Dacetini, two Basiceros, two Attini and two Discothyrea, belong to widely distributed species. The NMDS (non-metric multidimensional scaling) ordination also suggested strong differences in similarity among samples of the two areas. Furthermore, this analysis indicated higher sample heterogeneity in the secondary forest, with two clusters of species, while in the pine plantation the species belong to a single cluster. We applied the ant mosaic hypothesis to explain the distribution of the leaf-litter fauna and spatial autocorrelation tests among samples. We argue that the results are likely related to differences in quality and distribution of the leaf-litter between the pine plantation and the secondary area.

An analytical solution for the critical number of particles for stable bose-einstein condensation under the influence of an anisotropic potential

We have considered a Bose gas in an anisotropic potential. Applying the the Gross-Pitaevskii Equation (GPE) for a confined dilute atomic gas, we have used the methods of optimized perturbation theory and self-similar root approximants, to obtain an analytical formula for the critical number of particles as a function of the anisotropy parameter for the potential. The spectrum of the GPE is also discussed.

Within- and between-person variations as determinant factors to calculate the number of observations to estimate usual dietary intake of adolescents

This cross-sectional study describes the variation in the dietary intake of energy and macronutrients based on estimated coefficients of within- and between-person variation and intends to calculate the number of days required to evaluate the dietary intake of adolescents in Piracicaba, Brazil. The sample was made up by ninety-two adolescents aged between eleven and sixteen years. Interviews were performed to assess demographic, anthropometric and dietary variables, which were evaluated by the answers obtained through two 24-hour recalls. Descriptive analyses were performed and variances and Coefficients of variation within- and between-person were obtained by results of one-way ANOVA. The mean energy intake observed was 2,326.2 kilocalories; mean macronutrient intake came to 89.0 grams of fatty acids, 305.3 grams of carbohydrates and 82.2 grams of proteins. Coefficients of within-person variation ranged from 36% to 45%, while between-person coefficients varied from 26% to 31%. Variance ratios ranged from 1.35 (carbohydrate) to 2.62 (protein). The lowest number of observations required to correctly evaluate the usual diet calculated (r = 0.90) was six days, for carbohydrates while the highest was eleven, for proteins. Coefficients of variation were similar to those observed in international studies. We conclude that, in this study, two observations were sufficient to obtain reasonable correlations. However, six evaluations are necessary for these adolescents in order to obtain excellent correlations.

Fully Connected PLL Networks: How Filter Determines the Number of Nodes

Synchronization plays an important role in telecommunication systems, integrated circuits, and automation systems. Formerly, the masterslave synchronization strategy was used in the great majority of cases due to its reliability and simplicity. Recently, with the wireless networks development, and with the increase of the operation frequency of integrated circuits, the decentralized clock distribution strategies are gaining importance. Consequently, fully connected clock distribution systems with nodes composed of phase-locked loops (PLLs) appear as a convenient engineering solution. In this work, the stability of the synchronous state of these networks is studied in two relevant situations: when the node filters are first-order lag-lead low-pass or when the node filters are second-order low-pass. For first-order filters, the synchronous state of the network shows to be stable for any number of nodes. For second-order filter, there is a superior limit for the number of nodes, depending on the PLL parameters. Copyright (C) 2009 Atila Madureira Bueno et al.

Prevalence of non-communicable diseases in Brazilian children: follow-up at school age of two Brazilian birth cohorts of the 1990's

Background: Few cohort studies have been conducted in low and middle-income countries to investigate non-communicable diseases among school-aged children. This article aims to describe the methodology of two birth cohorts, started in 1994 in Ribeirao Preto (RP), a more developed city, and in 1997/98 in Sao Luis (SL), a less developed town. Methods: Prevalences of some non-communicable diseases during the first follow-up of these cohorts were estimated and compared. Data on singleton live births were obtained at birth (2858 in RP and 2443 in SL). The follow-up at school age was conducted in RP in 2004/05, when the children were 9-11 years old and in SL in 2005/06, when the children were 7-9 years old. Follow-up rates were 68.7% in RP (790 included) and 72.7% in SL (673 participants). The groups of low (<2500 g) and high (>= 4250 g) birthweight were oversampled and estimates were corrected by weighting. Results: In the more developed city there was a higher percentage of non-nutritive sucking habits (69.1% vs 47.9%), lifetime bottle use (89.6% vs 68.3%), higher prevalence of primary headache in the last 15 days (27.9% vs 13.0%), higher positive skin tests for allergens (44.3% vs 25.3%) and higher prevalence of overweight (18.2% vs 3.6%), obesity (9.5% vs 1.8%) and hypertension (10.9% vs 4.6%). In the less developed city there was a larger percentage of children with below average cognitive function (28.9% vs 12.2%), mental health problems (47.4% vs 38.4%), depression (21.6% vs 6.0%) and underweight (5.8% vs 3.6%). There was no difference in the prevalence of bruxism, recurrent abdominal pain, asthma and bronchial hyperresponsiveness between cities. Conclusions: Some non-communicable diseases were highly prevalent, especially in the more developed city. Some high rates suggest that the burden of non-communicable diseases will be high in the future, especially mental health problems.

Evaluation of Laser Phototherapy in the Inflammatory Process of the Rat's TMJ Induced by Carrageenan

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate, by light microscopy, the effects of laser phototherapy (LPT) at 780nm or a combination of 660 and 790 nm, on the inflammatory process of the rat temporomandibular joint (TMJ) induced by carrageen. Background: Temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) are frequent in the population and generally present an inflammatory component. Previous studies have evidenced positive effects of laser phototherapy on TMDs. However, its mechanism of action on the inflammation of the TMJ is not known yet. Materials and Methods: Eighty-five Wistar rats were divided into 9 groups: G1, Saline; G2, Saline + LPT IR; G3, Saline + LPT IR + R; G4, Carrageenan; G5, Carrageenan + LPT IR; G6, Carrageenan + LPT IR + R; G7, previous LPT + Carrageenan; G8, previous LPT + carrageenan + LPT IR; and G9, previous LPT + carrageenan + LPT IR + R, and then subdivided in subgroups of 3 and 7 days. After animal death, specimens were taken, routinely cut and stained with HE, Sirius Red, and Toluidine Blue. Descriptive analysis of components of the TMJ was done. The synovial cell layers were counted. Results: Injection of saline did not produced inflammatory reaction and the irradiated groups did not present differences compared to non-irradiated ones. After carrageenan injection, intense inflammatory infiltration and synovial cell layers proliferation were observed. The infrared irradiated group presented less inflammation and less synovial cell layers number compared to other groups. Previous laser irradiation did not improve the results. Conclusion: It was concluded that the LPT presented positive effects on inflammatory infiltration reduction and accelerated the inflammation process, mainly with IR laser irradiation. The number of synovial cell layers was reduced on irradiated group.