Geochemical constraints on blueschist- and amphibolite-facies rocks of the Central Cordillera of Colombia: the Andean Barragan region

Subduction zones are one of the most characteristic features of planet Earth. Convergent plate junctions exert enormous influence on the formation and recycling of continental crust, and they are also responsible for major mineral resources and earthquakes, which are of crucial importance for society. A subduction-related geologic unit containing high-pressure rocks occurs in the Barragan area (Valle del Cauca Department) on the western flank of the Central Cordillera of the Colombian Andes. Blueschists and amphibolites, serpentinized meta-ultramafic rocks, graphite-chlorite-muscovite-quartz schists, protocataclasites, and graphite-chlorite-andalusite-andesine-garnet-muscovite +/- titanite schists are exposed in this region. In spite of the petrotectonic importance of blueschists, the high-pressure metamorphism of the Central Cordillera of Colombia has been rarely studied. New geochemical data indicate that protoliths of the blueschist- and amphibolite-facies rocks possessed normal mid-ocean ridge basalt bulk compositions. Ar-40/Ar-39 geochronology for a metapelite rock associated with the blueschists shows a plateau age of similar to 120 million years. We suggest that high-P/T conditions were present from similar to 150 to 125 Ma, depending on the model of generation and exhumation considered.

Herbicides in the upper Poxim River, Sergipe, and the risk of contamination of water resources

Increased agricultural activity in watershed areas has been causing concern over contamination by herbicides in agricultural areas. The problem becomes more important when contamination can affect water for human consumption, as happens with water from the Poxim river, which supplies the city of Aracaju, capital of the State of Sergipe. The aim of this study was to evaluate the risk of contamination by herbicides to both surface and groundwater in the upper sub-basin of the Poxim River, and to detect the presence of the active ingredients Diuron and Ametrine up-river from the sugar-cane plantations. Risk analysis was carried out using criteria from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the GUS index, and the GOSS method. It was observed that several active ingredients are at risk of leaching, demonstrating the importance of monitoring the river to control both the quality of water and the frequency and volume of herbicides used in the region. Based on the results, monitoring was carried out bi-monthly from July 2009 to July 2010 at two sampling points. Water samples were analyzed in the laboratory, where the presence of Diuron and Ametrine was noted. Water quality in the Sub-basin of the Rio Poxim is being influenced by the use of herbicides in the region. There was an increase in herbicide concentration in the surface water during the rainy season, possibly caused by soil runoff.

Effect of acute and chronic GVHD on relapse and survival after reduced-intensity conditioning allogeneic transplantation for myeloma

We evaluated the effect of acute and chronic GVHD on relapse and survival after allogeneic hematopoietic SCT (HSCT) for multiple myeloma using non-myeloablative conditioning (NMA) and reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC). The outcomes of 177 HLA-identical sibling HSCT recipients between 1997 and 2005, following NMA (n = 98) or RIC (n = 79) were analyzed. In 105 patients, autografting was followed by planned NMA/RIC allogeneic transplantation. The impact of GVHD was assessed as a time-dependent covariate using Cox models. The incidence of acute GVHD (aGVHD; grades I-IV) was 42% (95% confidence interval (CI), 35-49%) and of chronic GVHD (cGVHD) at 5 years was 59% (95% CI, 49-69%), with 70% developing extensive cGVHD. In multivariate analysis, aGVHD (>= grade I) was associated with an increased risk of TRM (relative risk (RR) = 2.42, P = 0.016), whereas limited cGVHD significantly decreased the risk of myeloma relapse (RR = 0.35, P = 0.035) and was associated with superior EFS (RR = 0.40, P = 0.027). aGVHD had a detrimental effect on survival, especially in those receiving autologous followed by allogeneic HSCT (RR = 3.52, P = 0.001). The reduction in relapse risk associated with cGVHD is consistent with a beneficial graft-vs-myeloma effect, but this did not translate into a survival advantage. Bone Marrow Transplantation (2012) 47, 831-837; doi:10.1038/bmt.2011.192; published online 26 September 2011

ESMO Consensus Guidelines for management of patients with colon and rectal cancer. A personalized approach to clinical decision making

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the most common tumour type in both sexes combined in Western countries. Although screening programmes including the implementation of faecal occult blood test and colonoscopy might be able to reduce mortality by removing precursor lesions and by making diagnosis at an earlier stage, the burden of disease and mortality is still high. Improvement of diagnostic and treatment options increased staging accuracy, functional outcome for early stages as well as survival. Although high quality surgery is still the mainstay of curative treatment, the management of CRC must be a multi-modal approach performed by an experienced multi-disciplinary expert team. Optimal choice of the individual treatment modality according to disease localization and extent, tumour biology and patient factors is able to maintain quality of life, enables long-term survival and even cure in selected patients by a combination of chemotherapy and surgery. Treatment decisions must be based on the available evidence, which has been the basis for this consensus conference-based guideline delivering a clear proposal for diagnostic and treatment measures in each stage of rectal and colon cancer and the individual clinical situations. This ESMO guideline is recommended to be used as the basis for treatment and management decisions.

The challenges and the limitations in Life Cycle Impact Assessment for metal oxide nanoparticles, a case study on nano- TiO2

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a chain-oriented tool to evaluate the environment performance of products focussing on the entire life cycle of these products: from the extraction of resources, via manufacturing and use, to the final processing of the disposed products. Through all these stages consumption of resources and pollutant releases to air, water, soil are identified and quantified in Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) analysis. Subsequently to the LCI phase follows the Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) phase; that has the purpose to convert resource consumptions and pollutant releases in environmental impacts. The LCIA aims to model and to evaluate environmental issues, called impact categories. Several reports emphasises the importance of LCA in the field of ENMs. The ENMs offer enormous potential for the development of new products and application. There are however unanswered questions about the impacts of ENMs on human health and the environment. In the last decade the increasing production, use and consumption of nanoproducts, with a consequent release into the environment, has accentuated the obligation to ensure that potential risks are adequately understood to protect both human health and environment. Due to its holistic and comprehensive assessment, LCA is an essential tool evaluate, understand and manage the environmental and health effects of nanotechnology. The evaluation of health and environmental impacts of nanotechnologies, throughout the whole of their life-cycle by using LCA methodology. This is due to the lack of knowledge in relation to risk assessment. In fact, to date, the knowledge on human and environmental exposure to nanomaterials, such ENPs is limited. This bottleneck is reflected into LCA where characterisation models and consequently characterisation factors for ENPs are missed. The PhD project aims to assess limitations and challenges of the freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity potential evaluation in LCIA phase for ENPs and in particular nanoparticles as n-TiO2.

ESC/EAS Guidelines for the management of dyslipidaemias: the Task Force for the management of dyslipidaemias of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and the European Atherosclerosis Society (EAS)

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) due to atherosclerosis of the arterial vessel wall and to thrombosis is the foremost cause of premature mortality and of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) in Europe, and is also increasingly common in developing countries.1 In the European Union, the economic cost of CVD represents annually E192 billion1 in direct and indirect healthcare costs. The main clinical entities are coronary artery disease (CAD), ischaemic stroke, and peripheral arterial disease (PAD). The causes of these CVDs are multifactorial. Some of these factors relate to lifestyles, such as tobacco smoking, lack of physical activity, and dietary habits, and are thus modifiable. Other risk factors are also modifiable, such as elevated blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and dyslipidaemias, or non-modifiable, such as age and male gender. These guidelines deal with the management of dyslipidaemias as an essential and integral part of CVD prevention. Prevention and treatment of dyslipidaemias should always be considered within the broader framework of CVD prevention, which is addressed in guidelines of the Joint European Societies��� Task forces on CVD prevention in clinical practice.2 ��� 5 The latest version of these guidelines was published in 20075; an update will become available in 2012. These Joint ESC/European Atherosclerosis Society (EAS) guidelines on the management of dyslipidaemias are complementary to the guidelines on CVD prevention in clinical practice and address not only physicians [e.g. general practitioners (GPs) and cardiologists] interested in CVD prevention, but also specialists from lipid clinics or metabolic units who are dealing with dyslipidaemias that are more difficult to classify and treat.

Simply a nest? Effects of different enrichments on stereotypic and anxiety-related behaviour in mice

Improving the home cages of laboratory mice by environmental enrichment has been widely used to reduce cage stereotypies and anxiety-related behaviour in behavioural tests. However, enrichment studies differ substantially in type, complexity and variation of enrichments. Therefore, it is unclear whether success depends on specific enrichment items, environmental complexity, or novelty associated with enrichment. The aim of this study was therefore to dissociate the effects of environmental complexity and novelty on stereotypy development and compare these effects with the provision of nesting material alone. Thus, 54 freshly weaned male ICR (CD-1) mice were pairwise allocated to standard laboratory cages enriched in three different ways (n = 18 per group). Treatment 1 consisted of cotton wool as nesting material. Treatments 2 and 3 were structurally more complex, including a shelter and a climbing structure as additional resources. To render complexity and novelty independent of the specific enrichment items, three shelters (cardboard house, plastic tunnel, red plastic house) and three climbing structures (ladder, rope, wooden bars) were used to create nine different combinations of enrichment. In treatment 2 (complexity), each pair of mice was assigned to a different combination that remained constant throughout 9 weeks, whereas in treatment 3 (novelty), each pair of mice was exposed to all 9 combinations in turn by changing them weekly in a pseudorandom order. After 9 weeks, stereotypic behaviour in the home cage was assessed from video recordings, and anxiety-related behaviour was assessed in two behavioural tests (elevated zero-maze, open-field). However, no significant differences in stereotypy scores and no consistent differences in anxiety-related behaviours were found between the three groups. These findings indicate that within standard laboratory cages neither complexity nor novelty of simple enrichments have additional effects on stereotypic and anxiety-related behaviour beyond those of adequate nesting material. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Pain management and the effect of guidelines in neonatal units in Austria, Germany and Switzerland

BACKGROUND: Painful invasive procedures are frequently performed on preterm infants admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The aim of the present study was to investigate current pain management in Austrian, German and Swiss NICU and to identify factors associated with improved pain management in preterm infants. METHODS: A questionnaire was sent to all Austrian, German and Swiss pediatric hospitals with an NICU (n = 370). Pain assessment and documentation, use of analgesics for 13 painful procedures, presence of written guidelines for pain management and the use of 12 analgesics and sedatives were examined. RESULTS: A total of 225 units responded (61%). Pain assessment and documentation and frequent analgesic therapy for painful procedures were performed more often in units using written guidelines for pain management and in those treating >50 preterm infants at <32 weeks of gestation per year. This was also the case for the use of opioid analgesics and sucrose solution. Non-opioid analgesics were used more often in smaller units and in units with written guidelines. There was a broad variation in dosage of analgesics and sedatives within all groups. CONCLUSION: Pain assessment, documentation of pain and analgesic therapy are more frequently performed in NICU with written guidelines for pain management and in larger units with more than 50 preterm infants at <32 weeks of gestation per year.

A systematic review on the accuracy and the clinical outcome of computer-guided template-based implant dentistry

Introduction: The aim of this systematic review was to analyze the dental literature regarding accuracy and clinical application in computer-guided template-based implant dentistry. Materials and methods: An electronic literature search complemented by manual searching was performed to gather data on accuracy and surgical, biological and prosthetic complications in connection with computer-guided implant treatment. For the assessment of accuracy meta-regression analysis was performed. Complication rates are descriptively summarized. Results: From 3120 titles after the literature search, eight articles met the inclusion criteria regarding accuracy and 10 regarding the clinical performance. Meta-regression analysis revealed a mean deviation at the entry point of 1.07 mm (95% CI: 0.76-1.22 mm) and at the apex of 1.63 mm (95% CI: 1.26-2 mm). No significant differences between the studies were found regarding method of template production or template support and stabilization. Early surgical complications occurred in 9.1%, early prosthetic complications in 18.8% and late prosthetic complications in 12% of the cases. Implant survival rates of 91-100% after an observation time of 12-60 months are reported in six clinical studies with 537 implants mainly restored immediately after flapless implantation procedures. Conclusion: Computer-guided template-based implant placement showed high implant survival rates ranging from 91% to 100%. However, a considerable number of technique-related perioperative complications were observed. Preclinical and clinical studies indicated a reasonable mean accuracy with relatively high maximum deviations. Future research should be directed to increase the number of clinical studies with longer observation periods and to improve the systems in terms of perioperative handling, accuracy and prosthetic complications.

A Routing Protocol Based on Energy and Link Quality for Internet of Things Applications

The Internet of Things (IoT) is attracting considerable attention from the universities, industries, citizens and governments for applications, such as healthcare, environmental monitoring and smart buildings. IoT enables network connectivity between smart devices at all times, everywhere, and about everything. In this context, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) play an important role in increasing the ubiquity of networks with smart devices that are low-cost and easy to deploy. However, sensor nodes are restricted in terms of energy, processing and memory. Additionally, low-power radios are very sensitive to noise, interference and multipath distortions. In this context, this article proposes a routing protocol based on Routing by Energy and Link quality (REL) for IoT applications. To increase reliability and energy-efficiency, REL selects routes on the basis of a proposed end-to-end link quality estimator mechanism, residual energy and hop count. Furthermore, REL proposes an event-driven mechanism to provide load balancing and avoid the premature energy depletion of nodes/networks. Performance evaluations were carried out using simulation and testbed experiments to show the impact and benefits of REL in small and large-scale networks. The results show that REL increases the network lifetime and services availability, as well as the quality of service of IoT applications. It also provides an even distribution of scarce network resources and reduces the packet loss rate, compared with the performance of well-known protocols.

Commentary: Dedication of Additional Resources to Evaluation and Low-Income Schools is Critical to Increasing Levels of Safe Walking and Bicycling to School

A commentary on Mendoza et al.'s article entitled, "Ethnic Minority Children���s Active Commuting to School and Association with Physical Activity and Pedestrian Safety Behaviors."

Social stressors at work and sleep quality on sunday night ��� The mediating role of psychological detachment

Purpose Recovery is a critical link between acute reactions to work-stressors and the development of health-impairments in the long run. Even though recovery is particularly necessary when recovery opportunities during work are insufficient, research on recovery during weekends, is still scarce. To fill this gap we tested, whether the inability to psychologically detach from work mediates the effect of social stressors at work on sleep quality on Sunday night. Design/Methodology Sixty full-time employees participated in the study. Daily assessment included diaries on psychological detachment and ambulatory actigraphy to assess psychophysiological indicators of sleep quality. Results Hierarchical regression analyses revealed social stressors at work to be related with psychological detachment and with several sleep quality parameters on Sunday night. Furthermore, psychological detachment from work mediated the effect of social stressors at work on sleep quality. Limitations Methodological considerations regarding the use of actigraphy data should be taken into account. Research/Practical Implications Our results show that social stressors at work may lower resources just before people get started into the new working week. Originality/Value This is the first study to show that social stressors at work are an antecedent of psychological detachment on Sunday evening and of objective sleep quality on Sunday.

Saturday Morning Television Advertisements Aired on English and Spanish Language Networks along the Texas-Mexico Border

Objectives: The aim of this content analysis study is to characterize the TV advertisements aired to an at-risk child population along the Texas-Mexico border. Methods: We characterized the early Saturday morning TV advertisements aired by three broadcast network categories (U.S. English language, U.S. Spanish language, and Mexican Spanish language) in Spring 2010. The number, type (food related vs. non-food related), target audience, and persuasion tactics used were recorded. Advertised foods, based on nutrition content, were categorized as meeting or not meeting current dietary guidelines. Results: Most commercials were non-food related (82.7%, 397 of 480). The majority of the prepared foods (e.g., cereals, snacks, and drinks) advertised did not meet the current U.S. Dietary Guidelines. Additionally, nutrition content information was not available for many of the foods advertised on the Mexican Spanish language broadcast network category. Conclusions: For U.S. children at risk for obesity along the Texas-Mexico border exposure to TV food advertisements may result in the continuation of sedentary behavior as well as an increased consumption of foods of poor nutritional quality. An international regulatory effort to monitor and enforce the reduction of child-oriented food advertising is needed. Editors' Note: This article was submitted in response to the first issue of the Journal of Applied Research on Children: Latino Children.

Updated method guidelines for cochrane musculoskeletal group systematic reviews and metaanalyses.

The Cochrane Musculoskeletal Group (CMSG), one of 53 groups of the not-for-profit, international Cochrane Collaboration, prepares, maintains, and disseminates systematic reviews of treatments for musculoskeletal diseases. It is important that authors conducting CMSG reviews and the readers of our reviews be aware of and use updated, state-of-the-art systematic review methodology. One hundred sixty reviews have been published. Previous method guidelines for systematic reviews of interventions in the musculoskeletal field published in 2006 have been substantially updated to incorporate methodological advances that are mandatory or highly desirable in Cochrane reviews and knowledge translation advances. The methodological advances include new guidance on searching, new risk-of-bias assessment, grading the quality of the evidence, the new Summary of Findings table, and comparative effectiveness using network metaanalysis. Method guidelines specific to musculoskeletal disorders are provided by CMSG editors for various aspects of undertaking a systematic review. These method guidelines will help improve the quality of reporting and ensure high standards of conduct as well as consistency across CMSG reviews.

Marital split-up and widowhood in old age: Differential impact on psychological and social well-being

Marital split-up and spousal loss are among the most stressful critical life events. Numerous studies have documented their detrimental effects on well-being, yet the large individual differences in psychological adaptation are still not well understood. Whereas in old age bereavement is normative and can be anticipated, divorce is an ���off-time��� transition for this age group. In contrast to bereavement which has been amply studied, research on later life divorce is still missing despite the increasing relevance of the topic due to the significant increase of divorces in older age. Based on a modified and extended view of Amato���s divorce-stress-adjustment model (2000), the aim of this contribution is to explore the differential impact of marital split-up and widowhood in older age on psychological (life satisfaction) and social well-being (social loneliness), and the adaptation to these critical life events. Our analyses are based on data gathered in a questionnaire study, which is part of the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research LIVES. In a first step we compared three groups of individuals aged 60 to 75 years: a sample of 251 persons with a marital split-up (127 women; 123 men), a sample of 270 widowed persons (170 women; 100 men), and a group of 221 continuously married people (110 women; 111 men), which served as control group. In a second step, we investigated the role of socio-demographic variables, intrapersonal and interpersonal resources and variables of the context of loss as predictors for the psychological adaptation to a marital break-up and loss in old age. First results by ANCOVA indicate significant differences with regard to life satisfaction among the three groups, with divorced persons with the lowest scores, followed by the bereaved ones, and the married controls with the highest. Regarding social loneliness, divorced individuals report higher social loneliness than the bereaved group and the married controls (no significant difference between widowed and the married). In both loss groups, financial and intrapersonal resources, as well as the emotional valence of the loss are the most important predictors for the psychological and social adaptation. However, happiness in the past relationship is an important resource regarding the indicators for adaptation for the widowers, but not for individuals with a marital dissolution.