All Partied Out?

This report presents the initial results from the first specific study on the use of drugs, alcohol and cigarettes within the Northern Ireland Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered (LGB&T) community. Data was gathered from an internet survey of 941 LGB&T people and qualitative research with 37 participants. This work was funded by the Public Health Agency.

Reimbursement for out of Pocket Expenses for Service Users and Carers

The PHA, through the Regional HSC Personal and Public Involvement Forum, have led on the development of an agreed regional policy to ensure that services users and carers are not out of pocket when involved in helping us to plan, deliver, review and evaluate HSC services. Staff are asked to familiarise themselves with the policy and apply it when involving services users and carers in their work.���

Implementació d'un esquema criptogràfic per gestionar de forma segura els historials mèdics dels pacients a través d'una xarxa de comunicacions

En aquest projecte final de carrera es presenta un sistema capaç de gestionar i emmagatzemar leshistòries mèdiques dels pacients. El sistema permetrà realitzar operacions de lectura i modificació de dades sobre els expedients mèdics de manera segura i fiable tenint en compte que els accessos a la informació s'efectuen a través d'una xarxa de comunicació.

Normalització del volum d'arxius de so en format MP3

L'estàndard MPEG-1 Layer III va ser creat fa poc més de 10 anys i en aquest curt espai de temps ha revolucionat el fins aleshores estable món de la música. El fet de poder comprimir tota una cançó en uns pocs 'megues' (3 o 4) sense una pèrdua apreciable de qualitat i la proliferació d'ordinadors connectats a Internet va fer que el tràfic de fitxers en aquest format col·lapsés més d'un servidor. Per això, no és estrany que apareguessin autèntiques col·leccions de fitxers musicals en format MP3 procedents de les fonts més variades. Aquest fet (la diversitat de les fonts) i la variabilitat entre els diferents codificadors fa que el volum del so d'aquests fitxers disti molt de ser semblant. I això és precisament el que procura aconseguir aquest projecte: fer que tota col·lecció de fitxers MP3 soni igual de fort.

Breast awareness looking out for changes (English and 12 translations)

This leaflet is used to support the Northern Ireland breast screening programme and describes how women should check their breasts regularly for any changes that are new to themThis is also available in audio format by clicking here.�

Detection of human growth hormone doping in urine: out of competition tests are necessary.

The misuse of human growth hormone (hGH) in sport is deemed to be unethical and dangerous because of various adverse effects. Thus, it has been added to the International Olympic Committee list of banned substances. Until now, the very low concentration of hGH in the urine made its measurement difficult using classical methodology. Indeed, for routine diagnosis, only plasma measurements were available. However, unlike blood samples, urine is generally provided in abundant quantities and is, at present, the only body fluid allowed to be analysed in sport doping controls. A recently developed enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (Norditest) makes it now possible, without any extraction, to measure urinary hGH (u-hGH) in a dynamic range of 2-50 ng hGH/l. In our protocol, untreated and treated non-athlete volunteers were followed. Some of them received therapeutical doses of recombinant hGH (Norditropin) for one week either intramuscularly (three increasing doses) or subcutaneously (12 i.u. every day). The u-hGH excretion after treatment showed dramatic increases of 50-100 times the basal values and returned to almost the mean normal level after 24 h. u-hGH was also measured in samples provided by the anti-doping controls at major and minor competitions. Depending on the type of efforts made during the competition, the hGH concentration in urine was dramatically increased. Insulin-like growth factor binding proteins and beta 2-microglobulins in urine and/or in blood could be necessary for the correct investigation of any hGH doping test procedure.

Inhibition of mouse mammary tumor virus-induced T cell responses in vivo by antibodies to an open reading frame protein.

Minor lymphocyte stimulating (Mls) antigens specifically stimulate T cell responses that are restricted to particular T cell receptor (TCR) beta chain variable domains. The Mls phenotype is genetically controlled by an open reading frame (orf) located in the 3' long terminal repeat of mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV); however, the mechanism of action of the orf gene product is unknown. Whereas predicted orf amino acid sequences show strong overall homology, the 20-30 COOH-terminal residues are strikingly polymorphic. This polymorphic region correlates with TCR V beta specificity. We have generated monoclonal antibodies to a synthetic peptide encompassing the 19 COOH-terminal amino acid residues of Mtv-7 orf, which encodes the Mls-1a determinant. We show here that these antibodies block Mls responses in vitro and can interfere specifically with thymic clonal deletion of Mls-1a reactive V beta 6+ T cells in neonatal mice. Furthermore, the antibodies can inhibit V beta 6+ T cell responses in vivo to an infectious MMTV that shares orf sequence homology and TCR specificity with Mtv-7. These results confirm the predicted extracellular localization of the orf COOH terminus and imply that the orf proteins of both endogenous and exogenous MMTV interact directly with TCR V beta.

Molecular characterization of astrovirus in stool samples from children in São Paulo, Brazil

The purpose of this study was to characterize astrovirus in faecal samples collected from children with and without diarrhea in São Paulo, Brazil, grouped into two sets: EPM and HU. Detection and genotyping were carried out using reverse transcription nested polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) with specific primers directed towards the genome open reading frame 2 (ORF2). Results for EPM set showed that 66/234 (28.2%) were positive: 28/94 (29.7%) from children with acute diarrhea, 14/45 (31.1%) with persistent diarrhea, and 9/55 (16.3%) from control individuals. No data was available for 15/40 (37.5%) of samples. Mixed infections with other viruses were found in 33 samples. In the HU, 18/187 (9.6%) were positive: 12/158 (7.6%) from individuals with acute diarrhea and 6/29 (20.7%) from control children. Four samples were mixed with other viruses. Out of 66 astrovirus positive EPM samples, 18 (27.2%) were characterized as human astrovirus type-1 (HAstV-1), two (3.0%) as HAstV-2, two (3.0%) as HAstV-3, and three (4.5%) as HAstV-8. Among 18 astrovirus positive HU samples, one (5.5%) was characterized as HAstV-1, six (33.3%) as HAstV-2, and one (5.5%) as HAstV-8. Two HAstV-8 genotyped samples were further confirmed by nucleotide sequencing. Our results shows that astroviruses are circulating in a constant manner in the population, with multiple serotypes, in higher frequency than it was described for other Brazilian regions. For the first time in Sao Paulo, Brazil, it was shown that astroviruses play an important role in children gastroenteritis, as described for most locations where they were detected.

Aproximació al canvi conceptual dels docents respecte a l'ensenyament estratègic de la lectura, a partir d'un curs de formació : una experiència al Cicle mitjà d'Educació Primària

Aquest projecte s'emmarca dins de l'àmbit de l'assessorament psicopedagògic, concretament, en la formació del professorat per a l'ensenyament d'estratègies d'aprenentatge. El tema d'estratègies d'ensenyament/aprenentatge és massa ampli per a poder tractar-lo en un projecte com aquest, amb una limitació temporal que exigeix concretar l'actuació en els punts següents: fer una selecció prèvia d'un determinat conjunt de procediments d'aprenentatge vinculats amb la lectura, situar-lo dins d'un context escolar concret de manera que la formació vagi dirigida als docents del cicle mitjà d'educació primària d'un CEIP del Masnou i centrar l'experiència en dos d'aquests docents.

Comprensión lectora : prácticas de Psicología

Prácticas en la especialidad de Psicología de la educación, realizadas en gabinete privado. Taller de comprensión lectora. Se describen algunas tareas llevadas a cabo en las prácticas: entrevistas, taller de comprensión lectora, evaluación, supervisión.

Population biology of Toxoplasma gondii: what's out and where did they come from

Until recently, Toxoplasma gondii was considered to be clonal with little genetic variability. In this paper we summarize recent genotyping data from chickens in Brazil, and pigs, lambs and white-tailed deer in the USA, to demonstrate the high genetic diversity and geographical distribution of T. gondii. A total of 149 T. gondii isolates from 13 geographical areas of Brazil and 182 T. gondii isolates from pigs, 53 isolates from sheep and 15 isolates from fetal white-tailed deer from USA were genotyped using the 10 RCFP-PCR genetic markers SAG1, SAG2, SAG3, BTUB, GRA6, c22-8, c29-2, L358, PK1 and Apico. Genotyping of 149 T. gondii isolates from free range chickens in Brazil identified 58 genotype groups. No clonal type II lineage was found. Of the 253 isolates from animals from USA, 18 genotypes were identified, predominantly type II. These studies indicate a higher genetic diversity than previously recognized.

Treatment for congenital toxoplasmosis: finding out what works

Evidence for the effectiveness of prenatal or postnatal treatment for congenital toxoplasmosis will be critical to guide policy about prenatal and neonatal screening over the next 10 years, let alone the next 100. Randomised controlled trials are needed to address questions about treatment effectiveness, although cohort studies are also needed to provide information on prognosis, especially disability. Nowhere are such studies needed more than in South America where congenital toxoplasmosis is a major public health problem.

IVA in addition to BMD can change the osteoporosis management in 25% of clinical routine patients

Introduction: Vertebral fracture is one of the major osteoporotic fractures which are unfortunately very often undetected. In addition, it is well known that prevalent vertebral fracture increases dramatically the risk of future additional fracture. Instant Vertebral Assessment (IVA) has been introduced in DXA device couple years ago to ease the detection of such fracture when routine DXA are performed. To correctly use such tool, ISCD provided clinical recommendation on when and how to use it. The aim of our study was to evaluate the ISCD guidelines in clinical routine patients and see how often it may change of patient management. Methods: During two months (March and April 2010), a medical questionnaire was systematically given to our clinical routine patient to check the validity of ISCD IVA recommendations in our population. In addition, all women had BMD measurement at AP spine, Femur and 1/3 radius using a Discovery A System (Hologic, Waltham, USA). When appropriate, IVA measurement had been performed on the same DXA system and had been centrally evaluated by two trained Doctors for fracture status according to the semi-quantitative method of Genant. The reading had been performed when possible between L5 and T4. Results: Out of 210 women seen in the consultation, 109 (52%) of them (mean age 68.2 ± 11.5 years) fulfilled the necessary criteria to have an IVA measurement. Out of these 109 women, 43 (incidence 39.4%) had osteoporosis at one of the three skeletal sites and 31 (incidence 28.4%) had at least one vertebral fracture. 14.7% of women had both osteoporosis and at least one vertebral fracture classifying them as "severe osteoporosis" while 46.8% did not have osteoporosis nor vertebral fracture. 24.8% of the women had osteoporosis but no vertebral fracture while 13.8% of women did have osteoporosis and vertebral fracture (clinical osteoporosis). Conclusion: In conclusion, in 52% of our patients, IVA was needed according to ISCD criteria. In half of them the IVA test influenced of patient management either by changing the type of treatment of simply by classifying patient as "clinical osteoporosis". IVA appears to be an important tool in clinical routine but unfortunately is not yet very often used in most of the centers.