Does a twin pregnancy have a greater impact on physical and emotional well-being than a singleton pregnancy?

A prospective, population-based study was conducted to assess the impact of twin pregnancy on a woman's physical and emotional well-being. It compared women's reports of their general health, experience of a range of specific symptoms, and emotional well-being during pregnancy using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. The subjects were 147 women expecting twins and 11,061 women expecting a single child who completed questionnaires at both 20 and 32 weeks’gestation as part of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood. Results suggested that women expecting twins experienced poorer physical well-being but not poorer emotional well-being than those expecting a single child, even though a significant association between poor health and emotional well-being was found for the population as a whole. It was suggested that the transitory nature of a twin pregnancy, the “special’ status of a twin pregnancy, greater social support, and modified expectations about health may buffer the effects of poor physical health on emotional well-being in a twin pregnancy. The findings should alert those who care for women expecting twins to the greater physical stress these women may feel.

Sleep deprivation and brain energy metabolism : in vivo studies in rats and humans

Sleep deprivation leads to increased subsequent sleep length and depth and to deficits in cognitive performance in humans. In animals extreme sleep deprivation is eventually fatal. The cellular and molecular mechanisms causing the symptoms of sleep deprivation are unclear. This thesis was inspired by the hypothesis that during wakefulness brain energy stores would be depleted, and they would be replenished during sleep. The aim of this thesis was to elucidate the energy metabolic processes taking place in the brain during sleep deprivation. Endogenous brain energy metabolite levels were assessed in vivo in rats and in humans in four separate studies (Studies I-IV). In the first part (Study I) the effects of local energy depletion on brain energy metabolism and sleep were studied in rats with the use of in vivo microdialysis combined with high performance liquid chromatography. Energy depletion induced by 2,4-dinitrophenol infusion into the basal forebrain was comparable to the effects of sleep deprivation: both increased extracellular concentrations of adenosine, lactate, and pyruvate, and elevated subsequent sleep. This result supports the hypothesis of a connection between brain energy metabolism and sleep. The second part involved healthy human subjects (Studies II-IV). Study II aimed to assess the feasibility of applying proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H MRS) to study brain lactate levels during cognitive stimulation. Cognitive stimulation induced an increase in lactate levels in the left inferior frontal gyrus, showing that metabolic imaging of neuronal activity related to cognition is possible with 1H MRS. Study III examined the effects of sleep deprivation and aging on the brain lactate response to cognitive stimulation. No physiologic, cognitive stimulation-induced lactate response appeared in the sleep-deprived and in the aging subjects, which can be interpreted as a sign of malfunctioning of brain energy metabolism. This malfunctioning may contribute to the functional impairment of the frontal cortex both during aging and sleep deprivation. Finally (Study IV), 1H MRS major metabolite levels in the occipital cortex were assessed during sleep deprivation and during photic stimulation. N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA/H2O) decreased during sleep deprivation, supporting the hypothesis of sleep deprivation-induced disturbance in brain energy metabolism. Choline containing compounds (Cho/H2O) decreased during sleep deprivation and recovered to alert levels during photic stimulation, pointing towards changes in membrane metabolism, and giving support to earlier observations of altered brain response to stimulation during sleep deprivation. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that sleep deprivation alters brain energy metabolism. However, the effects of sleep deprivation on brain energy metabolism may vary from one brain area to another. Although an effect of sleep deprivation might not in all cases be detectable in the non-stimulated baseline state, a challenge imposed by cognitive or photic stimulation can reveal significant changes. It can be hypothesized that brain energy metabolism during sleep deprivation is more vulnerable than in the alert state. Changes in brain energy metabolism may participate in the homeostatic regulation of sleep and contribute to the deficits in cognitive performance during sleep deprivation.

The social consequences of control: Accounting for indentured labour in Fiji 1879 - 1920

Purpose: This is a study of the social consequences of accounting controls over labour. It examines the system of tasking used to control Indian indentured workers using a governmentality approach in the historical context of Fijian sugar plantations during the British colonial period, from 1879 to 1920. Method/ Methodology: Archival data consisting of documents from the Colonial Secretary’s Office, reports and related literature on Indian indentured labour was accessed from the National Archives of Fiji. In addition, documented accounts of the experiences of indentured labourers over the period of the study give voice to the social costs of the indenture system, highlighting the social impact of accounting control systems. Findings: Accounting and management controls were developed to extract surplus value from Indian labour. The practice of tasking was implemented in a plantation structure where indentured labourers were controlled hierarchically through a variety of calculative monitoring practices. This resulted in the exploitation and consequent economic, social and racial marginalisation of indentured workers. Originality: The paper contributes to the growing body of literature highlighting the social effects of accounting control systems. It exposes the social costs borne by indentured workers employed on Fijian sugar plantations. Practice/ Research Implications: The study promotes better understanding of the practice and impact of accounting as a technology of government and control within a particular institutional setting, in this case the British colony of Fiji. By highlighting the social implications of these controls in their historical context, we alert corporations, government policy makers, accountants and workers to the socially damaging effects of exploitive management control systems.

Middleware for Mobile Sensing Applications in Urban Environments

Sensor networks represent an attractive tool to observe the physical world. Networks of tiny sensors can be used to detect a fire in a forest, to monitor the level of pollution in a river, or to check on the structural integrity of a bridge. Application-specific deployments of static-sensor networks have been widely investigated. Commonly, these networks involve a centralized data-collection point and no sharing of data outside the organization that owns it. Although this approach can accommodate many application scenarios, it significantly deviates from the pervasive computing vision of ubiquitous sensing where user applications seamlessly access anytime, anywhere data produced by sensors embedded in the surroundings. With the ubiquity and ever-increasing capabilities of mobile devices, urban environments can help give substance to the ubiquitous sensing vision through Urbanets, spontaneously created urban networks. Urbanets consist of mobile multi-sensor devices, such as smart phones and vehicular systems, public sensor networks deployed by municipalities, and individual sensors incorporated in buildings, roads, or daily artifacts. My thesis is that "multi-sensor mobile devices can be successfully programmed to become the underpinning elements of an open, infrastructure-less, distributed sensing platform that can bring sensor data out of their traditional close-loop networks into everyday urban applications". Urbanets can support a variety of services ranging from emergency and surveillance to tourist guidance and entertainment. For instance, cars can be used to provide traffic information services to alert drivers to upcoming traffic jams, and phones to provide shopping recommender services to inform users of special offers at the mall. Urbanets cannot be programmed using traditional distributed computing models, which assume underlying networks with functionally homogeneous nodes, stable configurations, and known delays. Conversely, Urbanets have functionally heterogeneous nodes, volatile configurations, and unknown delays. Instead, solutions developed for sensor networks and mobile ad hoc networks can be leveraged to provide novel architectures that address Urbanet-specific requirements, while providing useful abstractions that hide the network complexity from the programmer. This dissertation presents two middleware architectures that can support mobile sensing applications in Urbanets. Contory offers a declarative programming model that views Urbanets as a distributed sensor database and exposes an SQL-like interface to developers. Context-aware Migratory Services provides a client-server paradigm, where services are capable of migrating to different nodes in the network in order to maintain a continuous and semantically correct interaction with clients. Compared to previous approaches to supporting mobile sensing urban applications, our architectures are entirely distributed and do not assume constant availability of Internet connectivity. In addition, they allow on-demand collection of sensor data with the accuracy and at the frequency required by every application. These architectures have been implemented in Java and tested on smart phones. They have proved successful in supporting several prototype applications and experimental results obtained in ad hoc networks of phones have demonstrated their feasibility with reasonable performance in terms of latency, memory, and energy consumption.

Advancing initiatives in care of cognitively impaired patients in acute care settings

In November 2014, the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) released “A better way to care: Safe and high quality care for patients with cognitive impairment (dementia and delirium) in hospital”. http://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/our-work/cognitive-impairment. The handbook is available as three separate resources for the three audiences: clinicians, service managers and consumers. These resources are designed to inform and guide improved care for older patients with cognitive impairment (CI) (dementia, delirium) in acute care settings. In particular, the service managers resource recommends that organisations comprehensively prepare themselves so that they are alert to delirium and the risk it poses for patients, that they can recognise and respond to patients with CI, and that they are able to provide safe and high quality care tailored to individual patient’s needs. Service managers and clinicians should carefully consider the information provided in the resources and judiciously explore how best to modify and adapt everyday care practices where appropriate. It is important that clinical teams respond to the available information as the ACSQHC identifies that dementia and/or delirium is associated with adverse outcomes, including functional decline, increased risk of falls, and increased morbidity and mortality...

Getting a kick out of it: multimodal signalling during male–male encounters in the foot-flagging frog Micrixalus aff. saxicola from the Western Ghats of India

Several anuran species use multimodal signals to communicate in diverse social contexts. Our study describes acoustic and visual behaviours of the Small Torrent Frog (Micrixalus aff. saxicola), a diurnal frog endemic to the Western Ghats of India. During agonistic interactions males display advertisement calls, foot-flagging and tapping (foot lifting) behaviours to signal the readiness to defend perching sites in perennial streams. Results from a quantitative video analysis of male–male interactions indicate that footflagging displays were used as directional signals toward the opponent male, but were less abundant than calls. The acoustic and visual signals were not functionally linked. The call of Micrixalus aff. saxicola thereby did not act as an alert signal. Analysis of behavioural transitions revealed that kicking behaviours (physical attacks) significantly elicited kicks from interacting males. We suggest that foot-flagging displays ritualized from this frequently observed fighting technique to reduce physical attacks.

Revisiting SW J2000.6+3210: a persistent Be X-ray pulsar?

We present a detailed timing and spectral analysis of the Be X-ray binary SW J2000.6+3210 discovered by the Burst Alert Telescope Galactic plane survey. Two Suzaku observations of the source made at six months interval, reveal pulsations at similar to 890 s for both observations with a much weaker pulse fraction in the second one. Pulsations are clearly seen in the energy band of 0.3-10 keV of X-ray Imaging Spectrometer for both observations and at high energies up to 40 keV for the second observation. The broad-band X-ray spectrum is consistent with a power-law and high-energy cut-off model along with a hot blackbody component. No change in spectral parameters is detected between the observations. We have also analysed several short observations of the source with Swift/XRT and detected only a few per cent variation in flux around a mean value of 3.5 x 10(-11) erg cm(-2) s(-1). The results indicate that SW J2000.6+3210 is a member of persistent Be X-ray binaries which have the same broad characteristics as this source.

Getting a kick out of it: multimodal signalling during male-male encounters in the foot-flagging frog Micrixalus aff. saxicola from the Western Ghats of India

Several anuran species use multimodal signals to communicate in diverse social contexts. Our study describes acoustic and visual behaviours of the Small Torrent Frog (Micrixalus aff. saxicola), a diurnal frog endemic to the Western Ghats of India. During agonistic interactions males display advertisement calls, foot-flagging and tapping (foot lifting) behaviours to signal the readiness to defend perching sites in perennial streams. Results from a quantitative video analysis of male-male interactions indicate that foot-flagging displays were used as directional signals toward the opponent male, but were less abundant than calls. The acoustic and visual signals were not functionally linked. The call of Micrixalus aff. saxicola thereby did not act as an alert signal. Analysis of behavioural transitions revealed that kicking behaviours (physical attacks) significantly elicited kicks from interacting males. We suggest that foot-flagging displays ritualized from this frequently observed fighting technique to reduce physical attacks.

A Suzaku view of IGR J16393-4643

The pulsar IGR J16393-4643 belongs to a class of highly absorbed supergiant high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs), characterized by a very high column density of absorbing matter. We present the results of simultaneous broad-band pulsation and spectrum analysis from a 44-ks Suzaku observation of the source. The orbital intensity profile created with the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (Swift-BAT) light curve shows an indication of IGR J16393-4643 being an eclipsing system with a short eclipse semi-angle theta(E) similar to 17 degrees. For a supergiant companion star with a 20-R-circle dot radius, this implies an inclination of the orbital plane in the range 39 degrees-57 degrees, whereas for a main-sequence B star as the companion with a 10-R-circle dot radius, the inclination of the orbital plane is in the range 60 degrees-77 degrees. Pulse profiles created for different energy bands have complex morphology, which shows some energy dependence and increases in pulse fraction with energy. We have also investigated broad-band spectral characteristics, phase-averaged spectra and resolving the pulse phase into peak and trough phases. The phase-averaged spectrum has a very high N-H(similar to 3 x 10(23) cm(-2)) and is described by a power law (Gamma similar to 0.9) with a high-energy cut-off above 20 keV. We find a change in the spectral index in the peak and trough phases, implying an underlying change in the source spectrum.

Vortex dynamics in the studies of looping in tropical cyclone tracks

This paper proposes criteria for predicting the tendency of looping in tropical cyclone tracks using the approach of vortex dynamics. We model the asymmetric structure of a cyclone by a system of vortex patches. The evolution of such system of vortices is simulated by the method of contour dynamics. A new set of exact analytic formulas for contour dynamics calculations is derived, which is shown to be more computationally effective. Based on point-vortex models, we derive analytic formulas for the criteria of looping in a cyclone track. From numerical experiments, the simulated trajectories obtained from the point-vortex system and vortex patch system agree quite well. Hence, the looping criteria obtained from the point-vortex system can be applied by forecasters to stay alert for tendency of looping in a cyclone track. To demonstrate the applicability of the proposed criteria, the trajectory of Typhoon Yancy (9012), whose field data are available from ''TCM-90'', is simulated. The case study shows that the asymmetric structure similar to the pattern of a beta gyre is responsible for its recurvature when Yancy landed Fujian Province, China on 20 August 1990.

Radiotherapy plus nimotuzumab or placebo in the treatment of high grade glioma patients: results from a randomized, double blind trial

Background The prognosis of patients bearing high grade glioma remains dismal. Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) is well validated as a primary contributor of glioma initiation and progression. Nimotuzumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody that recognizes the EGFR extracellular domain and reaches Central Nervous System tumors, in nonclinical and clinical setting. While it has similar activity when compared to other anti-EGFR antibodies, it does not induce skin toxicity or hypomagnesemia. Methods A randomized, double blind, multicentric clinical trial was conducted in high grade glioma patients (41 anaplastic astrocytoma and 29 glioblastoma multiforme) that received radiotherapy plus nimotuzumab or placebo. Treatment and placebo groups were well-balanced for the most important prognostic variables. Patients received 6 weekly doses of 200 mg nimotuzumab or placebo together with irradiation as induction therapy. Maintenance treatment was given for 1 year with subsequent doses administered every 3 weeks. The objectives of this study were to assess the comparative overall survival, progression free survival, response rate, immunogenicity and safety. Results The median cumulative dose was 3200 mg of nimotuzumab given over a median number of 16 doses. The combination of nimotuzumab and RT was well-tolerated. The most prevalent related adverse reactions included nausea, fever, tremors, anorexia and hepatic test alteration. No anti-idiotypic response was detected, confirming the antibody low immunogenicity. The mean and median survival time for subjects treated with nimotuzumab was 31.06 and 17.76 vs. 21.07 and 12.63 months for the control group. Conclusions In this randomized trial, nimotuzumab showed an excellent safety profile and significant survival benefit in combination with irradiation.

Environmental impact assessment of agrochemicals for fish production - a review paper

The environmental impact of agro-chemicals for fish production was extensively reviewed. The positive contribution of agro- chemicals and the devastating effect on aquaculture was x-rayed to alert users to this obvious environmental problem. Lime and fertilizers are commonly used in fish farming to increase pH of pond soil and water and to increase alkalinity and hardness, reduce humic acid content and to initiate primary and secondary productivity. Devastating effect of lime on environment is likely to be minimal. In the case of fertilizers, over utilization of this agro-chemical could impair water quality as phytoplankton bloom become excessive which consequently raises BOD. The use of Therapeutants in aquaculture was discovered to be more popular in Europe and North America than in the tropics (Africa). Commonly used therapeutants include antibiotics and antimicrobials. For fish pathology chemicals like formalin, potassium permanganate, Dipterex and malachite green are widely in use. Effluent from farms where these chemicals are commonly in use can distort the aquatic ecosystem. The changes in water quality, aquatic community structure and productivity caused by intensive aquaculture are typical of the impacts of pollution from a wide variety of sources like sewage, agricultural run-off and effluent discharges from industry

Future of earthquake early warning : quantifying uncertainty and making fast automated decisions for applications

Earthquake early warning (EEW) systems have been rapidly developing over the past decade. Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) has an EEW system that was operating during the 2011 M9 Tohoku earthquake in Japan, and this increased the awareness of EEW systems around the world. While longer-time earthquake prediction still faces many challenges to be practical, the availability of shorter-time EEW opens up a new door for earthquake loss mitigation. After an earthquake fault begins rupturing, an EEW system utilizes the first few seconds of recorded seismic waveform data to quickly predict the hypocenter location, magnitude, origin time and the expected shaking intensity level around the region. This early warning information is broadcast to different sites before the strong shaking arrives. The warning lead time of such a system is short, typically a few seconds to a minute or so, and the information is uncertain. These factors limit human intervention to activate mitigation actions and this must be addressed for engineering applications of EEW. This study applies a Bayesian probabilistic approach along with machine learning techniques and decision theories from economics to improve different aspects of EEW operation, including extending it to engineering applications.

Existing EEW systems are often based on a deterministic approach. Often, they assume that only a single event occurs within a short period of time, which led to many false alarms after the Tohoku earthquake in Japan. This study develops a probability-based EEW algorithm based on an existing deterministic model to extend the EEW system to the case of concurrent events, which are often observed during the aftershock sequence after a large earthquake.

To overcome the challenge of uncertain information and short lead time of EEW, this study also develops an earthquake probability-based automated decision-making (ePAD) framework to make robust decision for EEW mitigation applications. A cost-benefit model that can capture the uncertainties in EEW information and the decision process is used. This approach is called the Performance-Based Earthquake Early Warning, which is based on the PEER Performance-Based Earthquake Engineering method. Use of surrogate models is suggested to improve computational efficiency. Also, new models are proposed to add the influence of lead time into the cost-benefit analysis. For example, a value of information model is used to quantify the potential value of delaying the activation of a mitigation action for a possible reduction of the uncertainty of EEW information in the next update. Two practical examples, evacuation alert and elevator control, are studied to illustrate the ePAD framework. Potential advanced EEW applications, such as the case of multiple-action decisions and the synergy of EEW and structural health monitoring systems, are also discussed.

Cyclops singularis Einsle (1996) in Oxford, a new British record

The authors report the record of Cyclops singularis collected from Peasemoor Piece, a seasonal pond on the outskirts of Oxford. This preliminary note is to alert others to the possibility that C singularis may occur in collections from seasonal ponds in the UK. The recent record of this species in Belgium (Alekseev et al. 2002) indicates that this species is not restricted to its type locality.

Representações sociais do câncer para o familiar do paciente oncológico em tratamento quimioterápico

Considerando-se que a família vivencia e partilha junto com o doente todos os sentimentos, emoções e angústias que envolve o diagnóstico e o tratamento do câncer, o presente estudo teve como objetivos descrever as dimensões das representações sociais acerca do câncer para familiares do cliente oncológico em tratamento quimioterápico ambulatorial em uma unidade de referência para o seu tratamento; analisar a representação social do câncer elaborada por familiares do cliente oncológico em tratamento quimioterápico ambulatorial; e discutir as contribuições do enfermeiro junto à família do cliente oncológico em tratamento quimioterápico ambulatorial a partir da construção representacional do câncer para os sujeitos do estudo. De caráter qualitativo, o caminho metodológico foi construído com base na Teoria das Representações Sociais. Os sujeitos foram 30 familiares que estavam acompanhando o doente durante o tratamento quimioterápico. Os dados foram coletados a partir da realização de entrevistas semi-estruturadas e analisados através da análise de conteúdo de Bardin (1979), sistematizada por Oliveira (2008), com o auxílio do software QRS Nvivo 2.0. Da análise dos dados emergiram seis categorias que compõem o campo representacional e se expressa através das dimensões representacionais concretizadas nas seguintes categorias: sentimentos compartilhados por familiares de clientes oncológicos em tratamento quimioterápico, que mostra que, ao se depararem com a doença e sua dura realidade, os familiares são acometidos por diversos tipos de sentimentos; imagens, metáforas e conceitos no existir da família que enfrenta a doença, onde os familiares revelaram que o câncer é percebido, entre outras coisas, como um monstro que invade a vida das pessoas e dela passa a tomar conta e a dominá-la; preconceitos e estigmas na vivência do câncer, que revelou que ainda hoje existem representações e estigmas presentes na sociedade e em suas construções culturais acerca do câncer; diferentes práticas desenvolvidas no contexto da doença e do processo de adoecimento pelo câncer, que evidenciou as diferentes práticas presentes no discurso dos sujeitos, quais sejam, a de religiosidade no contexto do câncer, a de enfrentamento da doença, a de comunicação-ocultamento e de atitudes da família ao estar no mundo frente ao câncer; o processo de ancoragem e o conhecimento adquirido após a experiência do câncer, onde surgiram os conhecimentos que os sujeitos adquiriram acerca do câncer e alguns elementos do processo de ancoragem do câncer; as vivências do enfermeiro que trabalha em oncologia e suas contribuições junto à família que alerta os enfermeiros para a necessidade de intervenções efetivas direcionadas à assistência integral do indivíduo, levando em consideração a importância da família. Conclui-se que ao se descobrir acompanhando um familiar que tem câncer, a família passa a viver um outro mundo, no qual a possibilidade de morte se mostra de forma inevitável e iminente. Diante disso, a família passa a valorizar não apenas o cuidado dispensado ao doente, mas também anseia por uma atenção profissional que contemple seu existir e seu modo de viver.