Pilot study of the utility and acceptability of tampon sampling for the diagnosis of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Chlamydia trachomatis infections by duplex realtime polymerase chain reaction in United Kingdom sex workers

We aimed to evaluate the acceptability of self-collected tampon samples for the screening of female sex workers for sexually transmitted infections. We recruited 65 sex workers, and 63 agreed to provide tampon samples. The tampon samples were processed by realtime polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Chlamydia trachomatis. Urethral and endocervical swabs were also obtained from 61 of 63 participants and tested using culture (N. gonorrhoeae) and the BD ProbeTec strand displacement amplification (SDA) (C. trachomatis) assay. Tampon sampling was preferred by 95% of the women and all favoured being tested away from genitourinary medicine clinics; the most common reasons cited were avoidance of embarrassment (40%) and convenience (30%). Besides near-universal acceptability of tampon sampling, the tampon sampling-PCR approach described in this study appeared to have enhanced sensitivity compared with conventional testing, suggesting the possibility of a residual hidden burden of N. gonorrhoeae and/or C. trachomatis genital infections in UK female sex workers.

Student Satisfaction Negates Pedagogic Rights, Theirs and Ours!

This article outlines how the potential for students to be co-participants, via a critical education, risks being further co-opted through the marketization of higher education by constructing students as consumers with power over academics to make judgments on pedagogic quality through student satisfaction ratings. We start by outlining the relevant components of marketization processes, and their associated practices of financialization and managerialism that have developed in response to the “legitimation crisis” in HE and argue that these have profoundly altered the university landscape with a significant impact on our working practices. Student engagement is increasingly being appropriated as a quantifiable measurement of “student satisfaction”, which then profoundly alters the teaching and learning experience with different understandings of what acquiring knowledge requires and what it feels like. We draw on our experience of working in the post 1992 sector to describe how we are increasingly working under conditions of “reified exchange” and how this affects our relationships with students, other academics and management, eroding our pedagogic rights and theirs in the process. Specifically, we conclude that marketization is likely to further reduce the institutional space and opportunities for both lecturers and students to exercise their “pedagogic rights” to personal enhancement, social inclusion and civic participation through education.

Bending effects on a textile microstrip antenna

This paper describes the design of a textile microstrip antenna for 2.4 GHz. Two different fabrics are used: one for the dielectric part and another one for the conductor part. The dielectric constant of the dielectric fabric is determined experimentally. The input matching is studied by electromagnetic simulation and experimentally. Since the antenna is meant to be incorporated in the user's clothe, the effect that the antenna bending has on the matching level is also investigated both theoretically and experimentally.

La philosophie des sciences. Une introduction

Ce livre est une introduction à la philosophie des sciences qui se veut accessible aux étudiants. Il résume l'état actuel de la connaissance, en présentant les différents concepts et en proposant une évaluation des résultats fondés et des questions majeures qui restent ouvertes. Il vise à contribuer au développement d'une nouvelle philosophie de la nature qui prend en considération les théories scientifiques, cherchant à élaborer sur leur base une vision de l'ensemble de la nature : il utilise à cet effet les outils conceptuels de la philosophie analytique. La première partie de l'ouvrage dresse un bilan du débat entre l'empirisme logique et ses critiques. La deuxième partie, la partie principale, présente les principaux sujets de la métaphysique de la nature en se focalisant sur la philosophie de la physique. La troisième partie traite les thèmes de l'unité de la nature ainsi que l'unité des sciences. Cette deuxième édition intègre de nouvelles réflexions sur les Fondements physiques et la causalité. Elle ne considère pas la philosophie de la biologie, qui sera spécifiquement traitée dans un ouvrage à paraître prochainement chez le même éditeur. Chaque chapitre, contient un appareil pédagogique avec résumé, questions d'évaluations et propositions de travail, et l'ouvrage est complété d'un glossaire et d'une bibliographie exhaustive : il est donc particulièrement adapté à un support de cours.

Volumetric MRI changes, cognition and personality traits in old age depression.

BACKGROUND: The presence of cognitive and structural deficits in euthymic elderly depressed patients remains a matter of debate. Integrative aetiological models assessing concomitantly these parameters as well as markers of psychological vulnerability such as persistent personality traits, are still lacking for this age group. METHODS: Cross-sectional comparisons of 38 elderly remitted patients with early-onset depression (EOD) and 62 healthy controls included detailed neuropsychological assessment, estimates of brain volumes in limbic areas and white matter hyperintensities, as well as evaluation of the Five-Factor personality dimensions. RESULTS: Both cognitive performances and brain volumes were preserved in euthymic EOD patients. No significant group differences were observed in white matter hyperintensity scores between the two groups. In contrast, EOD was associated with significant increase of Neuroticism and decrease of Extraversion facet scores. LIMITATIONS: Results concern the restricted portion of EOD patients without psychiatric and physical comorbidities. Future longitudinal studies are necessary to determine the temporal relationship between the occurrence of depression and personality dimensions. CONCLUSIONS: After remission from acute depressive symptoms, cognitive performances remain intact in elderly patients with EOD. In contrast to previous observations, these patients display neither significant brain volume loss in limbic areas nor increased vascular burden compared to healthy controls. Further clinical investigations on EOD patterns of vulnerability in old age will gain from focusing on psychological features such as personality traits rather than neurocognitive clues.

La situación actual del stock de merluza a setiembre de 1978

Analiza la información disponible desde 1967 hasta 1978 actualizando los cálculos de la producción potencial hasta agosto de 1978, la información de las estadísticas de captura y esfuerzo de la flota arrastrera y de la flota bolichera que capturó en el área de Chimbote; así como los datos obtenidos por el TAREQ II en el Crucero 7805 y la Operación Eureka XL, realizado entre 19 y 21 de julio de 1978.

Patterns and factors associated with low adherence to psychotropic medications during pregnancy-a cross-sectional, multinational web-based study.

BACKGROUND: No previous studies have explored how closely women follow their psychotropic drug regimens during pregnancy. This study aimed to explore patterns of and factors associated with low adherence to psychotropic medication during pregnancy. METHODS: Multinational web-based study was performed in 18 countries in Europe, North America, and Australia. Uniform data collection was ensured via an electronic questionnaire. Pregnant women were eligible to participate. Adherence was measured via the 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8). The Beliefs about Prescribed Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ-specific), the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), and a numeric rating scale were utilized to measure women's beliefs, depressive symptoms, and antidepressant risk perception, respectively. Participants reporting use of psychotropic medication during pregnancy (n = 160) were included in the analysis. RESULTS: On the basis of the MMAS-8, 78 of 160 women (48.8%, 95% CI: 41.1-56.4%) demonstrated low adherence during pregnancy. The rates of low adherence were 51.3% for medication for anxiety, 47.2% for depression, and 42.9% for other psychiatric disorders. Smoking during pregnancy, elevated antidepressant risk perception (risk≥6), and depressive symptoms were associated with a significant 3.9-, 2.3-, and 2.5-fold increased likelihood of low medication adherence, respectively. Women on psychotropic polytherapy were less likely to demonstrate low adherence. The belief that the benefit of pharmacotherapy outweighed the risks positively correlated (r = .282) with higher medication adherence. CONCLUSIONS: Approximately one of two pregnant women using psychotropic medication demonstrated low adherence in pregnancy. Life-style factors, risk perception, depressive symptoms, and individual beliefs are important factors related to adherence to psychotropic medication in pregnancy.

L'Écho de Paris

1884/12/18 (Numéro 282).

Biblia Ludovici XI regis Franciae.

Avec quelques prologues, arguments et « capitula ». Genesis, sans prologue (2), etc. — Reg. I-IV (82) ; Isaias (125v) ; Jeremias (140v) ; Jeremiae Lament. et Oratio (157v, 159v) ; Ezechiel (160) ; Daniel, I, 1-XIV, 41 (175v) ; XII Proph. min. (181) ; Job (193v), etc. — Ecclesiasticus (239v) ; Oratio Salomonis (252v) ; Paralip. I-II (253v) ; Oratio Manasse (273) ; Esdras I-II (273v) ; Esther (282) ; Tobias (286) ; Judith (289) ; Macchab. I-II (293v). — Evang. Matthaei (311v), Marci (321v), Lucae (328v-329, 338-343v, 336-337, 330), Johannis (331-335v, 344-346) ; Actus Apost. (347) ; VII Epist. canon. (358) ; Apocalypsis (364v) ; XIV Epist. Pauli (370v).

Missale romanum ad usum Turonensem.

F. IV Calendrier romain. F. 1-129v et 145v-198v Temporal. F. 129v-145v Ordo missae. F. 198v Sanctoral. F. 255-280v Commun des saints. F. 282 Messes votives. F. 304 Additions diverses. F. I Prières diverses (XVIIIe s.).

Sacramentarium Figiacense.

F. Iv Notice de l'abandon d'un four par « Armannus de Mora » à Saint-Pierre de Moissac, début XIIe s. (Delisle, Anc. sacram., 226). F. 2 Antiphonale missarum. F. 12v-16 et 22-22v Ordo missae, avec préface simple note???e, addit. XIIe s. (Martène, De ant. eccl. rit., I, 537). F. 16v Incipit, Préface et Sanctus notés, Canon jusqu'à l'Agnus Dei, avec Oremus et Pater notés. F. 23 Temporal et Sanctoral mêlés : translat. et fête de s. Vivien (115 et 121v). F. 145 « Ordo ad consecrandum ecclesiam » (Martène, op. cit., II, 728) et « Missa in dedicatione basilicae ». F. 156v Ordinations. F. 167 « Ordo ad ordinandum abbatem vel abbatissam » (ibid., 425-427). F. 169 Oraisons diverses. F. 178 Messes votives : « pro invasione paganorum [Normannorum] » (211v). F. 231v Prières et bénédictions. F. 239v « Ordo ad visitandum infirmum » (Martène, op. cit., I, 870-880), etc. F. 269 Bénédictions épiscopales, avec addit. du XIIe s. (280). F. 282 Oraisons de la messe du Saint-Sépulcre (XIIe s.). F. 283v « Benedictio lectoris » (XIIe s.).