Montana Talc; Problems in Physical Properties

General information on talc, including foreign and United States occurrences, origin, and uses is covered. Montana deposits are discussed in greater detail as to location, geology, mineralogy, and mining. Studies of talc by petrographic and x-ray methods and an experiment to determine the porosity are described and discussed.

Paracrine effects of uterine leucocytes on gene expression of human uterine stromal fibroblasts

The endometrium contains a distinct population of immune cells that undergo cyclic changes during the menstrual cycle and implantation. The majority of these leucocytes are uterine NK (uNK) cells, however how these cells interact with uterine stromal fibroblasts remains unclear. We therefore investigated the paracrine effect of medium conditioned by uterine decidual leucocytes (which are enriched for uNK cells) on the gene expression profile of endometrial stromal fibroblasts in vitro using a cDNA microarray. Our results, verified by real-time PCR, ELISA and FACS analysis, reveal that soluble factors from uterine leucocytes substantially alter endometrial stromal fibroblast gene expression. The largest group of up-regulated genes found was chemokines and cytokines. These include IL-8, CCL8 and CXCL1, which have also been shown to be stimulated by contact of stromal fibroblasts with trophoblast, suggesting that uNK cells work synergistically to support trophoblast migration during implantation. The decidual leucocytes also up-regulated IL-15 and IL-15Ralpha in stromal fibroblasts which could produce a niche for uNK cells allowing proliferation within and recruitment into the uterus, as seen in bone marrow. Overall this study demonstrates, for the first time, the paracrine communication between uterine leucocytes and uterine stromal fibroblasts, and adds to the understanding of how the uterine immune system contributes to the changes seen within the cycling endometrium.

Adaptive Rückmeldungen im intelligenten Tutorensystem LARGO

Das intelligente Tutorensystem LARGO für die Rechtswissenschaften soll Jurastudenten helfen, Argumentationsstrategien zu lernen. Im verwendeten Ansatz werden Gerichtsprotokolle als Lernmaterialien verwendet: Studenten annotieren diese und erstellen graphische Repräsentationen des Argumentationsverlaufs. Das System kann dabei zur Reflexion über die von Anwälten vorgebrachten Argumente anregen und Lernende auf mögliche Schwächen in ihrer Analyse des Disputs hinweisen. Zur Erkennung von Schwächen verwendet das System Graphgrammatiken und kollaborative Filtermechanismen. Dieser Artikel stellt dar, wie in LARGO auf Basis der Bestimmung eines „Benutzungskontextes“ die Rückmeldungen im System benutzungsadaptiv gestaltet werden. Weiterhin diskutieren wir auf Basis der Ergebnisse einer kontrollierten Studie mit dem System, welche mit Jurastudierenden an der University of Pittsburgh stattfand, in wie weit der automatisch bestimmte Benutzungskontext zur Vorhersage von Lernerfolgen bei Studenten verwendbar ist.

Pregnancy and birth cohort resources in europe: a large opportunity for aetiological child health research

BACKGROUND During the past 25 years, many pregnancy and birth cohorts have been established. Each cohort provides unique opportunities for examining associations of early-life exposures with child development and health. However, to fully exploit the large amount of available resources and to facilitate cross-cohort collaboration, it is necessary to have accessible information on each cohort and its individual characteristics. The aim of this work was to provide an overview of European pregnancy and birth cohorts registered in a freely accessible database located at http://www.birthcohorts.net. METHODS European pregnancy and birth cohorts initiated in 1980 or later with at least 300 mother-child pairs enrolled during pregnancy or at birth, and with postnatal data, were eligible for inclusion. Eligible cohorts were invited to provide information on the data and biological samples collected, as well as the timing of data collection. RESULTS In total, 70 cohorts were identified. Of these, 56 fulfilled the inclusion criteria encompassing a total of more than 500,000 live-born European children. The cohorts represented 19 countries with the majority of cohorts located in Northern and Western Europe. Some cohorts were general with multiple aims, whilst others focused on specific health or exposure-related research questions. CONCLUSION This work demonstrates a great potential for cross-cohort collaboration addressing important aspects of child health. The web site, http://www.birthcohorts.net, proved to be a useful tool for accessing information on European pregnancy and birth cohorts and their characteristics.

Knowledge and Perception of the Role of Targeted Ultrasound in Detecting Down Syndrome Among a High Risk Population

The purpose of this study was to determine the perception and knowledge of targeted ultrasound in women who screen positive for Down syndrome in the first or second trimester, and to assess the perceived detection rate of Down syndrome by targeted ultrasound in this population. While several studies have reported patient perceptions’ of routine ultrasound, no study has specifically examined knowledge regarding the targeted ultrasound and its role in detecting Down syndrome. A targeted ultrasound is a special ultrasound during the second trimester offered to women who may be at a higher-than-average risk of having a baby with some type of birth defect or complication. The purpose of the ultrasound is to evaluate the overall growth and development of the baby as well as screen for birth defects and genetic conditions. Women under the age of 35 referred for an abnormal first or second trimester maternal serum screen to several Houston area clinics were asked to complete a questionnaire to obtain demographic and ultrasound knowledge information as well as assess perceived detection rate of Down syndrome by ultrasound. Seventy-seven women completed the questionnaire and participated in the study. Our findings revealed that women have limited background knowledge about the targeted ultrasound and its role in detecting Down syndrome. These findings are consistent with other studies that have reported a lack of understanding about the purpose of ultrasound examinations. One factor that seems to increase background knowledge about the targeted ultrasound is individuals having a higher level of education. However, most participants regardless of race, education, income, and exposure to targeted ultrasound information did not know the capabilities of a targeted ultrasound. This study confirmed women lack background knowledge about the targeted ultrasound and do not know enough about the technology to form a perception regarding its ability to detect Down syndrome. Additional studies to identify appropriate education techniques are necessary to determine how to best inform our patient population about targeted ultrasound.

Can prospective usability evaluation predict data errors?

Increasing amounts of clinical research data are collected by manual data entry into electronic source systems and directly from research subjects. For this manual entered source data, common methods of data cleaning such as post-entry identification and resolution of discrepancies and double data entry are not feasible. However data accuracy rates achieved without these mechanisms may be higher than desired for a particular research use. We evaluated a heuristic usability method for utility as a tool to independently and prospectively identify data collection form questions associated with data errors. The method evaluated had a promising sensitivity of 64% and a specificity of 67%. The method was used as described in the literature for usability with no further adaptations or specialization for predicting data errors. We conclude that usability evaluation methodology should be further investigated for use in data quality assurance.