Embryogenesis of Heterobranchus longifilis (Curvier and Valenciennes, 1840)

Studies on development of H. longifilis (Curvier and Valenciennes, 1840) were conducted at a temperature of 25EC ( 1Ec) in aquaria tanks continuous development were monitored with the use of wild Heerbrugy photomacroscope and length of yolk and larva were monitored using Stereo Olympus microscope with ocular micrometer. The division into animal and vegetal poles was observed 22 minutes after activation. The first cleavage occurred 65 minutes after activation while the second division which was perpendicular to the first line of division occurred 74 minutes after activation. This was quickly followed by the third and fourth cleavage at 80th and 82nd minutes after activation respectively. Morular stage was reached at 4 hours 20 minutes with formation of optic bud at 14 hours 35 minutes. (DBO) Developing embryo hatched after 27 hours of activation at a mean length of 6.63 and mean yolk length of 2.17. Yolk size decrease at an average rate of 38.5 % till the 5th day of total absorption. Growth of larvae proceeded faster in tail-anus region than in anus-snout portion of the body. The rate of yolk absorption and larva development (survival) as monitored in this work gives important information in Research and development programme for H. longifilis larva - an important aspect of Research development and implementation of appropriate technologies in small scale fisherie

Researcher-Practitioner Partnerships to Impact Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Policy

Points of view in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.The Alaska Department of Public Safety and the UAA Justice Center conducted numerous research projects and published numerous articles on domestic violence, sexual assault, child sexual abuse, and stalking. These research projects were used to develop new multidisciplinary and multifaceted initiatives to combat violence against women in Alaska. This poster describes our researcher-practitioner partnership and its impact on policy and practice.This project was supported by Grant No. 2005-WG-BX-0011 awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.Abstract / Building Partenrships / Context / Sample Results / Importance of Data & Research / Using Data to Develop and Define Intitiatives / Dissemination / From Research to Policy and Practice / Enhancing Partnerships: Future Direction

Learning Tractable Probabilistic Models for Fault Localization

In recent years, several probabilistic techniques have been applied to various debugging problems. However, most existing probabilistic debugging systems use relatively simple statistical models, and fail to generalize across multiple programs. In this work, we propose Tractable Fault Localization Models (TFLMs) that can be learned from data, and probabilistically infer the location of the bug. While most previous statistical debugging methods generalize over many executions of a single program, TFLMs are trained on a corpus of previously seen buggy programs, and learn to identify recurring patterns of bugs. Widely-used fault localization techniques such as TARANTULA evaluate the suspiciousness of each line in isolation; in contrast, a TFLM defines a joint probability distribution over buggy indicator variables for each line. Joint distributions with rich dependency structure are often computationally intractable; TFLMs avoid this by exploiting recent developments in tractable probabilistic models (specifically, Relational SPNs). Further, TFLMs can incorporate additional sources of information, including coverage-based features such as TARANTULA. We evaluate the fault localization performance of TFLMs that include TARANTULA scores as features in the probabilistic model. Our study shows that the learned TFLMs isolate bugs more effectively than previous statistical methods or using TARANTULA directly.Comment: Fifth International Workshop on Statistical Relational AI (StaR-AI 2015

Replication and Meta-analysis of the Association between BDNF Val66Met Polymorphism and Cognitive Impairment in Patients Receiving Chemotherapy.

Cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI) adversely affects cancer patients. We had previously demonstrated that the BDNF Val66Met genetic polymorphism is associated with lower odds of subjective CRCI in the multitasking and verbal ability domains among breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. To further assess our previous findings, we evaluated the association of BDNF Val66Met polymorphism with subjective and objective CRCI in a temporally separate cohort of patients and pooled findings from both the original (n = 145) and current (n = 193) cohorts in a meta-analysis. Subjective CRCI was assessed using FACT-Cog. Objective CRCI was evaluated using computerized neuropsychological tests. Genotyping was carried out using Sanger sequencing. The association of BDNF Val66Met genotypes and CRCI was examined with logistic regression. A fixed-effect meta-analysis was conducted using the inverse variance method. In the meta-analysis (n = 338), significantly lower odds of CRCI were associated with Met allele carriers based on the global FACT-Cog score (OR = 0.52, 95% CI 0.29-0.94). Furthermore, Met allele carriers were at lower odds of developing impairment in the domains of memory (OR = 0.34, 95% CI: 0.17-0.70), multitasking (OR = 0.33, 95% CI: 0.18-0.59), and verbal ability (OR = 0.46, 95% CI: 0.24-0.88). Consistent with the previous study, lower odds of subjective CRCI among patients with the BDNF Met allele was observed after adjusting for potential confounders in the multitasking (OR = 0.30, 95% CI: 0.14-0.67) domain. In conclusion, carriers of the BDNF Met allele were protected against global subjective CRCI, particularly in the domains of memory, multitasking, and verbal ability. Our findings further contribute to the understanding of CRCI pathophysiology

The association of specific executive functions and falls risk in people with mild cognitive impairment and early-stage dementia

Background/Aims: Impairment in executive function is associated with a heightened risk for falls in people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia. The purpose of this study was to determine which aspects of executive function are associated with falls risk. Methods: Forty-two participants with a mean age of 81.6 years and a diagnosis of MCI or mild dementia completed five different executive function tests from the computerised CANTAB test battery and a comprehensive falls risk assessment. Results: A hierarchical regression analysis showed that falls risk was significantly associated with spatial memory abilities and inhibition of a pre-potent response. Conclusion: The concept of executive function may be too general to provide meaningful results in a research or clinical context, which should focus on spatial memory and inhibition of a pre-potent response

Impact of a Hospital’s Antibiotic Stewardship Team on Fluoroquinolone Use at a Long- Term Care Facility

The primary objective of this study was to assess whether a hospital-based antimicrobial stewardship team (H-AST) from an unaffiliated hospital could decrease inappropriate fluoroquinolone use at a local, long-term care facility (LTCF). The H-AST created a multi-faceted intervention campaign that included antibiogram development, provider and family education, and a telephone hotline. Pre- and post-intervention mean defined daily doses per 1000 resident days for antimicrobials were calculated to determine the impact of the campaign. The campaign resulted in a 38.70% decrease in ciprofloxacin utilization, a 16.20% decrease in total FQ consumption, and an 11.68% in total antibiotic consumption. In addition, during the study period the rate of Clostridium difficile infection decreased by 19.47%. Collaboration with a H-AST had a positive impact on antibiotic prescribing at this LTCF

Prevalence and characterization of antimicrobial resistance among gram-negative bacteria isolated from febrile hospitalized patients in central Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Infectious diseases are among the leading causes of death in many low-income countries, such as Ethiopia. Without reliable local data concerning causative pathogens and antimicrobial resistance, empiric treatment is suboptimal. The objective of this study was to characterize gram-negative bacteria (GNB) as pathogens and their resistance pattern in hospitalized patients with infections in central Ethiopia. METHODS: Patients ≥ 1 year of age with fever admitted to the Asella Referral and Teaching Hospital from April 2016 to June 2018 were included. Blood and other appropriate clinical specimens were collected and cultured on appropriate media. Antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) was performed using the Kirby–Bauer method and VITEK® 2. Species identification and detection of resistance genes were conducted using MALDI-ToF MS (VITEK® MS) and PCR, respectively. RESULTS: Among the 684 study participants, 54.2% were male, and the median age was 22.0 (IQR: 14–35) years. Blood cultures were positive in 5.4% (n = 37) of cases. Among other clinical samples, 60.6% (20/33), 20.8% (5/24), and 37.5% (3/8) of swabs/pus, urine and other body fluid cultures, respectively, were positive. Among 66 pathogenic isolates, 57.6% (n = 38) were GNB, 39.4% (n = 26) were gram-positive, and 3.0% (n = 2) were Candida species. Among the isolated GNB, 42.1% (16/38) were Escherichia coli, 23.7% (9/38) Klebsiella pneumoniae and 10.5% (4/38) Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In total, 27/38 gram-negative isolates were available for further analysis. Resistance rates were as follows: ampicillin/sulbactam, 92.6% (n = 25); cefotaxime, 88.9% (n = 24); ceftazidime, 74.1% (n = 20); cefepime, 74.1% (n = 20); gentamicin, 55.6% (n = 15); piperacillin/tazobactam, 48.1% (n = 13); meropenem, 7.4% (n = 2); and amikacin, 3.7% (n = 1). The bla(NDM-1) gene was detected in one K. pneumoniae and one Acinetobacter baumannii isolate, which carried an additional bla(OXA-51) gene. The ESBL enzymes were detected in 81.5% (n = 22) of isolates as follows: TEM, 77.2% (n = 17); CTX-M-1 group, 68.2% (n = 15); SHV group, 27.3% (n = 6); and CTX-M-9 group, 9.1% (n = 2). Based on the in vitro antimicrobial susceptibility results, empiric treatment initiated in 13 of 18 (72.2%) patients was likely ineffective. CONCLUSION: We report a high prevalence of ESBL-producing bacteria (81.5%) and carbapenem resistance (7.4%), with more than half of GNB carrying two or more ESBL enzymes resulting in suboptimal empiric antibiotic therapy. These findings indicate a need for local and national antimicrobial resistance surveillance and the strengthening of antimicrobial stewardship programs