Mobile assessment of on-road air pollution and its sources along the East-West Highway in Bhutan

Human exposures in transportation microenvironments are poorly represented by ambient stationary monitoring. A number of on-road studies using vehicle-based mobile monitoring have been conducted to address this. Most previous studies were conducted on urban roads in developed countries where the primary emission source was vehicles. Few studies have examined on-road pollution in developing countries in urban settings. Currently, no study has been conducted for roadways in rural environments where a substantial proportion of the population live. This study aimed to characterize on-road air quality on the East-West Highway (EWH) in Bhutan and identify its principal sources. We conducted six mobile measurements of PM10, particle number (PN) count and CO along the entire 570 km length of the EWH. We divided the EWH into five segments, R1-R5, taking the road length between two district towns as a single road segment. The pollutant concentrations varied widely along the different road segments, with the highest concentrations for R5 compared with other road segments (PM10 = 149 µg/m3, PN = 5.74 × 104 particles/cm-3, CO = 0.19 ppm), which is the final segment of the road to the capital. Apart from vehicle emissions, the dominant sources were road works, unpaved roads and roadside combustion activities. Overall, the highest contributions above the background levels were made by unpaved roads for PM10 (6 times background), and vehicle emissions for PN and CO (5 and 15 times background, respectively). Notwithstanding the differences in instrumentation used and particle size range measured, the current study showed lower PN concentrations compared with similar on-road studies. However, concentrations were still high enough that commuters, road maintenance workers and residents living along the EWH, were potentially exposed to elevated pollutant concentrations from combustion and non-combustion sources. Future studies should focus on assessing the dispersion patterns of roadway pollutants and defining the short- and long-term health impacts of exposure in Bhutan, as well as in other developing countries with similar characteristics.

Achieving Quality: Consumer Involvement in Quality Evaluation of Services

[Excerpt] The aim of this paper is to raise awareness of the fact that changes in the approach towards the “clients” or “consumers” of services for people with intellectual disability do have an important impact on the way the quality evaluation systems of these services should be designed and organised.

Dr. Hans Lehfeld speaking on the phone at his office desk.

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Methicillin Resistance In Staphylococci : Horizontal Transfer of Mobile Genetic Element (SCCmec) Between Staphylococcal Species

Regardless of the existence of antibiotics, infectious diseases are the leading causes of death in the world. Staphylococci cause many infections of varying severity, although they can also exist peacefully in many parts of the human body. Most often Staphylococcus aureus colonises the nose, and that colonisation is considered to be a risk factor for spread of this bacterium. S. aureus is considered to be the most important Staphylococcus species. It poses a challenge to the field of medicine, and one of the most problematic aspects is the drastic increase of the methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) strains in hospitals and community world-wide, including Finland. In addition, most of the clinical coagulase-negative staphylococcus (CNS) isolates express resistance to methicillin. Methicillin-resistance in S. aureus is caused by the mecA gene that encodes an extra penicillin-binding protein (PBP) 2a. The mecA gene is found in a mobile genomic island called staphylococcal chromosome cassette mec (SCCmec). The SCCmec consists of the mec gene and cassette chromosome recombinase (ccr)gene complexes. The areas of the SCCmec element outside the ccr and mec complex are known as the junkyard J regions. So far, eight types of SCCmec(SCCmec I- SCCmec VIII) and a number of variants have been described. The SCCmec island is an acquired element in S. aureus. Lately, it appears that CNS might be the storage place of the SCCmec that aid the S. aureus by providing it with the resistant elements. The SCCmec is known to exist only in the staphylococci. The aim of the present study was to investigate the horizontal transfer of SCCmec between the S. aureus and CNS. One specific aim was to study whether or not some methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) strains are more inclined to receive the SCCmec than others. This was done by comparing the genetic background of clinical MSSA isolates in the health care facilities of the Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District in 2001 to the representatives of the epidemic MRSA (EMRSA) genotypes, which have been encountered in Finland during 1992-2004. Majority of the clinical MSSA strains were related to the EMRSA strains. This finding suggests that horizontal transfer of SCCmec from unknown donor(s) to several MSSA background genotypes has occurred in Finland. The molecular characteristics of representative clinical methicillin-resistant S. epidermidis (MRSE) isolates recovered in Finnish hospitals between 1990 and 1998 were also studied, examining their genetic relation to each other and to the internationally recognised MRSE clones as well, so as to ascertain the common traits between the SCCmec elements in MRSE and MRSA. The clinical MRSE strains were genetically related to each other; eleven PFGE types were associated with sequence type ST2 that has been identified world-wide. A single MRSE strain may possess two SCCmec types III and IV, which were recognised among the MRSA strains. Moreover, six months after the onset of an outbreak of MRSA possessing a SCCmec type V in a long-term care facility in Northern Finland (LTCF) in 2003, the SCCmec element of nasally carried methicillin-resistant staphylococci was studied. Among the residents of a LTCF, nasal carriage of MR-CNS was common with extreme diversity of SCCmec types. MRSE was the most prevalent CNS species. Horizontal transfer of SCCmec elements is speculated to be based on the sharing of SCCmec type V between MRSA and MRSE in the same person. Additionally, the SCCmec element of the clinical human S. sciuri isolates was studied. Some of the SCCmec regions were present in S. sciuri and the pls gene was common in it. This finding supports the hypothesis of genetic exchange happening between staphylococcal species. Evaluation of the epidemiology of methicillin-resistant staphylococcal colonisation is necessary in order to understand the apparent emergence of these strains and to develop appropriate control strategies. SCCmec typing is essential for understanding the emergence of MRSA strains from CNS, considering that the MR-CNS may represent the gene pool for the continuous creation of new SCCmec types from which MRSA might originate.

A high-density association screen of 155 ion transport genes for involvement with common migraine

The clinical overlap between monogenic Familial Hemiplegic Migraine (FHM) and common migraine subtypes, and the fact that all three FHM genes are involved in the transport of ions, suggest that ion transport genes may underlie susceptibility to common forms of migraine. To test this leading hypothesis, we examined common variation in 155 ion transport genes using 5257 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in a Finnish sample of 841 unrelated migraine with aura cases and 884 unrelated non-migraine controls. The top signals were then tested for replication in four independent migraine case-control samples from the Netherlands, Germany and Australia, totalling 2835 unrelated migraine cases and 2740 unrelated controls. SNPs within 12 genes (KCNB2, KCNQ3, CLIC5, ATP2C2, CACNA1E, CACNB2, KCNE2, KCNK12, KCNK2, KCNS3, SCN5A and SCN9A) with promising nominal association (0.00041 < P < 0.005) in the Finnish sample were selected for replication. Although no variant remained significant after adjusting for multiple testing nor produced consistent evidence for association across all cohorts, a significant epistatic interaction between KCNB2 SNP rs1431656 (chromosome 8q13.3) and CACNB2 SNP rs7076100 (chromosome 10p12.33) (pointwise P = 0.00002; global P = 0.02) was observed in the Finnish case-control sample. We conclude that common variants of moderate effect size in ion transport genes do not play a major role in susceptibility to common migraine within these European populations, although there is some evidence for epistatic interaction between potassium and calcium channel genes, KCNB2 and CACNB2. Multiple rare variants or trans-regulatory elements of these genes are not ruled out.

Social marketers playing to win? Experiential value creation in social marketing mobile games

The rapid change of technological trends in the marketplace has increased the difficulty for social marketers to reach consumers using traditional marketing channels (Della et al., 2008). Traditionally, social marketing interventions have typically used more conventional supporting products and services such as water counters for water conservation or condoms for sex safety. However, recently social marketers are witnessing the diminishing effectiveness of more traditional social products and services in encouraging the uptake and maintenance of behaviour. In light of the technological trends in the marketplace and diminishing effect of previous social products and services (Lefebvre, 2009), social marketers have been encouraged to look to alternate means of delivering valuable offerings...

Possible involvement of a calcium-stimulated ATP-hydrolyzing activity associated with mycobacteriophage I3 in the DNA injection process.

Ca2+ ions are necessary for the successful propagation of mycobacteriophage I3. An assay for the phage DNA release in the presence of an isolated cell wall preparation from the host was established, and in this system Ca2+ ions also stimulated the release of DNA. The inhibition of phage DNA injection caused by Tween 80 (polyoxyethylene sorbitan monooleate), a nonionic detergent routinely used in mycobacterial cultures, was reversed by Ca2+. The presence of a phage-associated ATP-hydrolyzing activity was demonstrated. This enzyme was stimulated by Ca2+ ions and inhibited by Tween 80. From this and the behavior of the two agents at the level of DNA injection, as well as the fact that phage I3 has a contractile tail structure, we conclude that the phage-associated ATPase is involved in the DNA injection process.

Unidentified woman on phone; Reichsvertretung der Juden in Deutschland Portraits; Women

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Considering gambling involvement in the understanding of problem gambling: A large cross-sectional study of an Australian population

Instead of regarding a particular type of gambling activity (for example, electronic gambling machines, table games) as an isolated factor for problem gambling, recent research suggests that gambling involvement (for example, as measured by the number of different types of gambling activities played) should also be considered. Using a large sample of the Victorian adult population, this study found that the strength of association between problem gambling and the type of gambling reduced after adjusting for gambling involvement. This finding supports recent research that gambling involvement is an important factor in assessing the risk of problem gambling. The study also provides insights into the measurements of gambling involvement and provides alternative statistical modelling to analyse problem gambling.

Ant colony optimization for reporting cell planning in mobile computing using selective paging strategy

Location management problem that arise in mobile computing networks is addressed. One method used in location management is to designate sonic of the cells in the network as "reporting cells". The other cells in the network are "non-reporting cells". Finding an optimal set of reporting cells (or reporting cell configuration) for a given network. is a difficult combinatorial optimization problem. In fact this is shown to be an NP-complete problem. in an earlier study. In this paper, we use the selective paging strategy and use an ant colony optimization method to obtain the best/optimal set of reporting cells for a given a network.

Evidence for the involvement of a rapidly turning over protease in the degradation of cytochrome oxidase in Neurospora crassa

Treatment of N. crassa cultures with cycloheximide followed by washing and incubation in drug-free fresh medium results in a rapid decline in cytochrome oxidase activity. This is associated with the degradation of higher molecular weight subunits of cytochrome oxidase under these conditions. The protease activity associated with the mitochondrial preparation decreases during cycloheximide treatment and rapidly returns to normal levels on subsequent washing and transfer to drug-free fresh medium. It is suggested that the steady-state level of cytochrome oxidase is governed by a rapidly turning over cytoplasmically synthesized mitochondrial protease.