Managing IT, April/May 2001

Newsletter for Information Technology Department

Managing IT, February/March 2001

Newsletter for Information Technology Department

Managing IT, January 2001

Newsletter for Information Technology Department

Schizotypy : do not worry, it is not all worrisome

A long-standing tradition in personality research in psychology, and nowadays increasingly in psychiatry, is that psychotic and psychotic-like thoughts are considered common experiences in the general population. Given their widespread occurrence, such experiences cannot merely reflect pathological functioning. Moreover, reflecting the multi-dimensionality of schizotypy, some dimensions might be informative for healthy functioning while others less so. Here, we explored these possibilities by reviewing research that links schizotypy to favourable functioning such as subjective wellbeing, cognitive functioning (major focus on creativity) and personality correlates. This research highlights the existence of healthy people with psychotic-like traits who mainly experience positive schizotypy (but also affective features mapping onto bipolar disorder). These individuals seem to benefit from a healthy way to organise their thoughts and experiences, i.e. they employ an adaptive cognitive framework to explain and integrate their unusual experiences. We conclude that, instead of focussing only on the pathological, future studies should explore the behavioural, genetic, imaging and psychopharmacological correlates that define the healthy expression of psychotic-like traits. Such studies would inform on protective or compensatory mechanisms of psychosis-risk and could usefully inform us on the evolutionary advantages of the psychosis dimension.

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: It's Against the Law, 2001

A two page informational sheet about workplace sexual harassment produced by Iowa Commission on the Status of Women

Response-to-comments about: "Is it really the method for carbon dioxide determination in human postmortem cardiac gas samples using Headspace-Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry valid?" from T. Saffaj and B. Ihssane

Saffaj et al. recently criticized our method of monitoring carbon dioxide in human postmortem cardiac gas samples using Headspace-Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry. According to the authors, their demonstration, based on the latest SFSTP guidelines (established after 2007 [1,2]) fitted for the validation of drug monitoring bioanalytical methods, has put in evidence potential errors. However, our validation approach was built using SFSTP guidelines established before 2007 [3-6]. We justify the use of these guidelines because of the post-mortem context of the study (and not clinical) and the gaseous state of the sample (and not solid or liquid). Using these guidelines, our validation remains correct.

Estudi i disseny de millores IT en centres educatius

El present document intenta donar a conèixer una forma de millorar la funcionalitat i optimitzar els costos d'ús de les Tecnologies de la Informació i la Comunicació (TIC) en l'àmbit dels centres educatius.

Target organ damage: how to detect it and how to treat it?

The early detection of cardiac organ damage in clinical practice is primordial for cardiovascular risk profiling of patients with hypertension. In this respect the determination of microalbuminuria is very appealing because it increasingly appears to be the most cost-effective means to identify cardiovascular and renal complications. Considering the treatment of patients with target organ damage, blockers of the renin-angiotensin system have a key position as they are very effective in regressing left ventricular hypertrophy, lowering urinary albumin excretion and delaying the progression of nephropathy. In high-risk patients with atherosclerosis, the use of a blocker of the renin-angiotensin system is also appealing, and it appears increasingly judicious to combine such a blocker with a calcium antagonist whenever required to control blood pressure.

Is it worth treating fever in intensive care unit patients? Preliminary results from a randomized trial of the effect of external cooling.

BACKGROUND: Antipyresis is a common clinical practice in intensive care, although it is unknown if fever is harmful, beneficial, or a negligible adverse effect of infection and inflammation. METHODS: In a randomized study, rectal temperature and discomfort were assessed in 38 surgical intensive care unit patients without neurotrauma or severe hypoxemia and with fever (temperature >/=38.5 degrees C) and systemic inflammatory response syndrome. Eighteen patients received external cooling while 20 received no antipyretic treatment. RESULTS: Temperature and discomfort decreased similarly in both groups after 24 hours. No significant differences in recurrence of fever, incidence of infection, antibiotic therapy, intensive care unit and hospital length of stay, or mortality were noted between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the systematic suppression of fever may not be useful in patients without severe cranial trauma or significant hypoxemia. Letting fever take its natural course does not seem to harm patients with systemic inflammatory response syndrome or influence the discomfort level and may save costs.

Managing IT, October/November 2000

Newsletter for Information Technology Department

Abaisser la pression arterielle: urgent ou pas urgent? [How urgent is it to decrease high blood pressure?]

Severe hypertension represents a frequent problem for the general practitioner. One has to decide if the blood pressure needs to be decreased immediately (hypertensive emergency), or if the blood pressure maybe progressively decreased in a few hours and normalized in a few days (hypertensive crisis). Thus it is crucial to identify on the basis of the clinical history and a careful physical examination, the patients for whom the arterial blood pressure elevation represents an acute danger for organ damage or a vital threat in the absence of immediate blood pressure control. In the case of hypertensive crisis, oral medication is usually sufficient (slow release or GITS nifedipine, nitroglycerin, labetalol, captopril). The hypertensive emergency sometimes requires an oral medication before the admission to the emergency room, then followed by intravenous drug administration (sodium nitroprussiate, nitroglycerin, labetalol).

Genetik der essentiellen arteriellen Hypertonie [Essential hypertension - which genes can be held responsible for it?].

Hypertension is a common heritable cardiovascular risk factor. Some rare monogenic forms of hypertension have been described, but the majority of patients suffer from essential hypertension, for whom the underlying genetic mechanisms are not clear. Essential hypertension is a complex trait, involving multiple genes and environmental factors. Recently, progress in the identification of common genetic variants associated with essential hypertension has been made due to large-scale international collaborative projects. In this article we review the new research methods used as well as selected recent findings in this field.

High elevation Plantago lanceolata plants are less resistant to herbivory than their low elevation conspecifics: is it just temperature?

Traits that mediate species interactions are evolutionarily shaped by biotic and abiotic drivers, yet we know relatively little about the relative importance of these factors. Herbivore pressure, along with resource availability and third-party' mutualists, are hypothesized to play a major role in the evolution of plant defence traits. Here, we used the model system Plantago lanceolata, which grows along steep elevation gradients in the Swiss Alps, to investigate the effect of elevation, herbivore pressure, mycorrhizal inoculation and temperature on plant resistance. Over a 1200 m elevation gradient, the levels of herbivory and iridoid glycosides (IGs) declined with increasing elevation. By planting seedlings at three different elevations, we further showed that both low-elevation growing conditions and mycorrhizal inoculation resulted in increased plant resistance to herbivores. Finally, using a temperature-controlled experiment comparing high- and low-elevation ecotypes, we showed that high-elevation ecotypes are less resistant to herbivory, and that lower temperatures impair IGs deployment after herbivore attack. We thus propose that both lower herbivore pressure, and colder temperatures relax the defense syndrome of high elevation plants.

Teräsrakenteiden ja putkiston suunnittelu sekä asennus vedenkäsittelylaitokseen

Tässä opinnäytetyössä oli tavoitteena teräsrakenteiden ja putkiston suunnittelu ja hankinta sekä niiden asennuksen valvonta Kemira Kemwater Service Oy:n ja Nordic Aluminiumin Oyj:n vedenkäsittelylaitokseen. Uusien teräsrakenteiden ja putkistojen suunnittelussa tuli hyödyntää olemassa olevia rakenteita, jos se oli mahdollista. Teräsrakenteisiin kuuluivat hoitotaso ja keräyssuppilo. Valmiin hoitotason päälle asennettiin suotopuristin, josta putoava kiintoaine ohjataan keräyssuppilon avulla ruuvikuljettimelle, joka siirtää kiintoaineen siirtolavoille. Hoitotasolta käytetään ja huolletaan suotopuristinta sekä putkistoa. Materiaaleina käytettiin Fe37B ja ruostumatonta terästä. Teräsrakenteiden HEB-palkit valittiin laskettujen taipumien perusteella. HEB-palkkien taipumien minimoimiseksi lisättiin vinotukija. Hoitotason suunnittelussa hyödynnettiin olemassa olevia HEB-palkkeja. Hoitotason elementteinä käytettiin teräksestä valmistettuja kuumasinkittyjä ritilöitä. Hoitotason kahteen jalkaan mallinnettiin säätövarat, jotta hoitotason toinen pää saadaan samaan korkoon kiinteästi olevaan päähän nähden. Jalkojen säätö toteutettiin kahdella M20 x 120- ruuvilla per jalka. Putkisto layout mallinnettiin PI-kaavion mukaiseksi ja siinä oli venttiilit mallinnettuna. Työpiirustuksien valmistuttua suoritettiin tarjouskyselyt urakoitsijoille. Teräsrakenteet ja putkiston asensivat kaksi eri urakoitsijaa. Asennusvalvoja oli paikalla lähes koko asennusajan vastaamassa työturvallisuudesta ja asennuksen sujuvuudesta. Urakoiden valmistuttua teräsrakenteille ja putkistolle suoritettiin luovutustarkastukset. Projekti pysyi aikataulussa ja kustannusarviossa suunnittelun sekä valvonnan osalta.