A comparison of the hazard perception ability of matched groups of healthy drivers aged 35 to 55, 65 to 74, and 75 to 84 years

We examined differences in response latencies obtained during a validated video-based hazard perception driving test between three healthy, community-dwelling groups: 22 mid-aged (35-55 years), 34 young-old (65-74 years), and 23 old-old (75-84 years) current drivers, matched for gender, education level, and vocabulary. We found no significant difference in performance between mid-aged and young-old groups, but the old-old group was significantly slower than the other two groups. The differences between the old-old group and the other groups combined were independently mediated by useful field of view (UFOV), contrast sensitivity, and simple reaction time measures. Given that hazard perception latency has been linked with increased crash risk, these results are consistent with the idea that increased crash risk in older adults could be a function of poorer hazard perception, though this decline does not appear to manifest until age 75+ in healthy drivers.

A Raman and infrared spectroscopic study of the mineral delvauxite CaFe3+4(PO4,SO4)2(OH)8•4-6H2O- a ‘colloidal’ mineral

The mineral delvauxite CaFe3+4(PO4,SO4)2(OH)8•4-6H2O has been characterised by Raman spectroscopy and infrared spectroscopy. The mineral is associated with the minerals diadochite and destinezite. Delvauxite appears to vary in crystallinity from amorphous to semi-crystalline. The mineral is often X-ray non-diffracting. The minerals are found in soils and may be described as ‘colloidal’ minerals. Vibrational spectroscopy enables determination of the molecular structure of delvauxite. Bands are assigned to phosphate and sulphate stretching and bending modes. Two symmetric stretching modes for both the phosphate and sulphate symmetric stretching modes support the concept of non-equivalent phosphate and sulphate units in the mineral structure. Multiple water bending and stretching modes imply that non-equivalent water molecules in the structure exist with different hydrogen bond strengths.

Is the mineral borickyite (Ca,Mg)(Fe3+,Al)4(PO4,SO4,CO3)(OH)8•3-7.5H2O the same as delvauxite CaFe3+4(PO4,SO4)2(OH)8•4-6H2O?

The two minerals borickyite and delvauxite CaFe3+4(PO4,SO4)2(OH)8•4-6H2O have the same formula. Are the minerals identical or different? The minerals borickyite and delvauxite have been characterised by Raman spectroscopy. The minerals are related to the minerals diadochite and destinezite. Both minerals are amorphous. Delvauxite appears to vary in crystallinity from amorphous to semi-crystalline. The minerals are often X-ray non-diffracting. The minerals are found in soils and may be described as ‘colloidal’ minerals. Vibrational spectroscopy enables an assessment of the molecular structure of borickyite and delvauxite. Bands are assigned to phosphate and sulphate stretching and bending modes. Multiple water bending and stretching modes imply that non-equivalent water molecules in the structure exist with different hydrogen bond strengths. The two minerals show differing spectra and must be considered as different minerals.

Percutaneous coronary intervention with drug-eluting stents or coronary artery bypass surgery in subjects with type 2 diabetes : evaluation of: Farkouth ME, Domanski M, Sleeper LA, et al. Strategies for multivessel revascularization in patients with diabetes. N Engl J Med 2012;367(25):2375-84, and Contini GA, Nicolini F, Fortuna D, et al. Five-year outcomes of surgical or percutaneous myocardial revascularization in diabetic patients. Int J Cardiol 2012. [Epub ahead of print]

There is debate as to whether percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stents or coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) is the best procedure for subjects with type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease requiring revascularization. There is some evidence that following these procedures there is less further revascularization with CABG than PCI in subjects with diabetes. Two recent studies; the FREEDOM (Future Revascularization Evaluation in patients with Diabetes mellitus: Optimal Management of Multivessel Disease) trial, and a trial using a real world diabetic population from a Registry, have shown that the benefits of CABG over PCI in subjects with type 2 diabetes extends to lower rates of death and myocardial infarct, in addition to lower rates of revascularization. However, the rates of stroke may be higher with CABG than PCI with drug-eluting stents in this population. Thus, if CABG is going to be preferred to PCI in subjects with type 2 diabetes and multivessel coronary disease, consideration should be given to how to reduce the rates of stroke with CABG.

Increase in prevalence of obesity and diabetes and decrease in plasma cholesterol in a central Australian Aboriginal community

Objective: To document change in prevalence of obesity, diabetes and other cardiovascular diease (CVD) risk factors, and trends in dietary macronutrient intake, over an eight-year period in a rural Aboriginal community in central Australia. Design: Sequential cross-sectional community surveys in 1987, 1991 and 1995. Subjects: All adults (15 years and over) in the community were invited to participate. In 1987, 1991 and 1995, 335 (87% of eligible adults), 331 (76%) and 304 (68%), respectively, were surveyed. Main outcome measures: Body mass index and waist : hip ratio; blood glucose level and glucose tolerance; fasting total and high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and triglyceride levels; and apparent dietary intake (estimated by the store turnover method). Intervention: A community-based nutrition awareness and healthy lifestyle program, 1988-1990. Results: At the eight-year follow-up, the odds ratios (95% CIs) for CVD risk factors relative to baseline were obesity, 1.84 (1.28-2.66); diabetes, 1.83 (1.11-3.03); hypercholesterolaemia, 0.29 (0.20-0.42); and dyslipidaemia (high triglyceride plus low HDL cholesterol level), 4.54 (2.84-7.29). In younger women (15-24 years), there was a trebling in obesity prevalence and a four- to fivefold increase in diabetes prevalence. Store turnover data suggested a relative reduction in the consumption of refined carbohydrates and saturated fats. Conclusion: Interventions targeting nutritional factors alone are unlikely to greatly alter trends towards increasing prevalences of obesity and diabetes. In communities where healthy food choices are limited, the role of regular physical activity in improving metabolic fitness may also need to be emphasised.

Tombstone of David Benjamin; Strangriede Cemetery (R 84.7); Hannover Cemeteries Tombs

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Tombstones of Frederike Benjamin nee Salamon and her husband David Benjamin; Strangriede Cemetery (R 84.6 and R 84.7); Hannover Cemeteries; Tombs

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Tombstone of David Benjamin; Strangriede Cemetery (R 84.7); Hannover Cemeteries Tombs

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Tombstones of Frederike Benjamin nee Salamon and her husband David Benjamin; Strangriede Cemetery (R 84.6 and R 84.7); Hannover Cemeteries; Tombs

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Acute and chronic effects of dietary nitrate supplementation on blood pressure and the physiological responses to moderate-intensity and incremental exercise

Dietary nitrate (NO3−) supplementation with beetroot juice (BR) over 4–6 days has been shown to reduce the O2 cost of submaximal exercise and to improve exercise tolerance. However, it is not known whether shorter (or longer) periods of supplementation have similar (or greater) effects. We therefore investigated the effects of acute and chronic NO3− supplementation on resting blood pressure (BP) and the physiological responses to moderate-intensity exercise and ramp incremental cycle exercise in eight healthy subjects. Following baseline tests, the subjects were assigned in a balanced crossover design to receive BR (0.5 l/day; 5.2 mmol of NO3−/day) and placebo (PL; 0.5 l/day low-calorie juice cordial) treatments. The exercise protocol (two moderate-intensity step tests followed by a ramp test) was repeated 2.5 h following first ingestion (0.5 liter) and after 5 and 15 days of BR and PL. Plasma nitrite concentration (baseline: 454 ± 81 nM) was significantly elevated (+39% at 2.5 h postingestion; +25% at 5 days; +46% at 15 days; P < 0.05) and systolic and diastolic BP (baseline: 127 ± 6 and 72 ± 5 mmHg, respectively) were reduced by ∼4% throughout the BR supplementation period (P < 0.05). Compared with PL, the steady-state V̇o2 during moderate exercise was reduced by ∼4% after 2.5 h and remained similarly reduced after 5 and 15 days of BR (P < 0.05). The ramp test peak power and the work rate at the gas exchange threshold (baseline: 322 ± 67 W and 89 ± 15 W, respectively) were elevated after 15 days of BR (331 ± 68 W and 105 ± 28 W; P < 0.05) but not PL (323 ± 68 W and 84 ± 18 W). These results indicate that dietary NO3− supplementation acutely reduces BP and the O2 cost of submaximal exercise and that these effects are maintained for at least 15 days if supplementation is continued.

0.84 ps Resolution Clock Skew Measurement via Subsampling

An all-digital on-chip clock skew measurement system via subsampling is presented. The clock nodes are sub-sampled with a near-frequency asynchronous sampling clock to result in beat signals which are themselves skewed in the same proportion but on a larger time scale. The beat signals are then suitably masked to extract only the skews of the rising edges of the clock signals. We propose a histogram of the arithmetic difference of the beat signals which decouples the relationship of clock jitter to the minimum measurable skew, and allows skews arbitrarily close to zero to be measured with a precision limited largely by measurement time, unlike the conventional XOR based histogram approach. We also analytically show that the proposed approach leads to an unbiased estimate of skew. The measured results from a 65 nm delay measurement front-end indicate that for an input skew range of +/- 1 fan-out-of-4 (FO4) delay, +/- 3 sigma resolution of 0.84 ps can be obtained with an integral error of 0.65 ps. We also experimentally demonstrate that a frequency modulation on a sampling clock maintains precision, indicating the robustness of the technique to jitter. We also show how FM modulation helps in restoring precision in case of rationally related clocks.

CXI-benzo-84 reversibly binds to tubulin at colchicine site and induces apoptosis in cancer cells

Here, we have discovered CXI-benzo-84 as a potential anticancer agent from a library of benzimidazole derivatives using cell based screening strategy. CXI-benzo-84 inhibited cell cycle progression in metaphase stage of mitosis and accumulated spindle assembly checkpoint proteins Mad2 and BubR1 on kinetochores, which subsequently activated apoptotic cell death in cancer cells. CXI-benzo-84 depolymerized both interphase and mitotic microtubules, perturbed EB1 binding to microtubules and inhibited the assembly and GTPase activity of tubulin in vitro. CXI-benzo-84 bound to tubulin at a single binding site with a dissociation constant of 1.2 +/- 0.2 mu M. Competition experiments and molecular docking suggested that CXI-benzo-84 binds to tubulin at the colchicine-site. Further, computational analysis provided a significant insight on the binding site of CXI-benzo-84 on tubulin. In addition to its potential use in cancer chemotherapy, CXI-benzo-84 may also be useful to screen colchicine-site agents and to understand the colchicine binding site on tubulin. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evaluación de cinco cepas de Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. phaseoli en el cultivo del frijol (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) var. Rev. 84

Esta investigación se realizó en el Centro Experimental "La Compañía" ubicada en San Marcos, Carazo, con el objetivo de evaluar la adaptabilidad de las cepas en las condiciones estudiadas, determinar cuál de las cepas es la más infectiva y efectiva en cuanto a la nodulación y determinar su efecto en el crecimiento y rendimiento del cultivo del frijol (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) var. Rev. 84. Los factores evaluados fueren 5 cepas de Rhisoblum leguminosearum by. phaseoli y 3 testigos: 1 Testigo Absoluto (no inoculado. no fertilizado) Y 2 Testigos Relativos (no inoculados y fertilizados). El diseño experimental utilizado fue el de bloques completos al azar (SCA), con 4 repeticiones. La parcela experimental del ensayo fue de 32 (8 m x 4 m), la distancia de siembra fue de 0.1 m entre plantas y 0.4 m entre surcos. Las variables analizadas fueron: número; eficiencia y peso seco de nódulos por planta, peso seco de área foliar y rendimiento. Los datos se procesaron usando análisis de varianza (AHUEVA) y se utilizó la prueba de rangos múltiples de DUNCAN (P ≤ 0. 05). No se observó diferencias significativas para las variables de nodulación y rendimiento, determinándose efecto significativo sólo para el peso seco de área foliar en la I y II etapa de evaluación Sin embargo, se determinó quo la cepa CR-436 fue la que presentó mayor infectividad en el sistema radicular y la cepa CIAT-899, la que presentó el mejor porcentaje de efectividad nodular y con la que se obtuvo el mayor promedio de peso seco de área foliar. El mejor rendimiento fue obtenido con la cepa CR-436.