Efficacy of DOTS strategy in treatment of respiratory tuberculosis in Gorgan, Islamic Republic of Iran

We carried out a follow-up cohort study of 260 smear-positive patients (178 on directly observed treatment, short-course (DOTS); 82 on non-DOTS] over a 2-year period to evaluate the efficacy of the DOTS strategy in treatment of tuberculosis (TB). All the patients had had cough for > 3 weeks; 91.9% had fever, 60.8% of them with sputum; and 27.7% had a positive family history. The rate of treatment failure with DOTS was 9.0% at the end of the 2nd month and 1.7% at the beginning of the 5th month. In the control group these rates were 18.3% and 7.3% respectively. The DOTS strategy significantly increased the success rate of TB treatment (P < 0.05)

A Measurement of the UHECR Spectrum with the HiRes FADC Detector

We have measured the energy spectrum of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR) with the HiRes FADC detector (HiRes-2) in monocular mode. A detailed Monte Carlo simulation of the detector response to air showers has been used to calculate the energy dependent acceptance of the air fluorescence detector. The measured spectrum complements the measurement by the HiRes-1 detector down to lower energies. Systematic effects of the assumed input spectrum and composition on the aperture are presented, as well as systematics due to the atmosphere.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures, to be included in the CRIS '04 (Cosmic Ray International Seminar) proceedings (Nucl. Phys. B

Group-work: does it have to be that bad?

Many accreditation bodies and universities require the graduate attribute of &quot;an ability to work in teams&quot; or to &quot;effectively collaborate&quot;. Students invariably dislike working in groups maintaining that &quot;malingerers ride on the back&quot; of those students who work hard and contribute effectively to the outcomes of the group or team. This is the context in which an ALTC/OLT project was established, the project is to consider ways of enhancing group-work in Architecture and design related disciplines. The project has identified the issues associated with group-work, from the perspective of student and lecturer, and has begun to develop strategies to overcome the issues. This paper reports on an assessment intervention made in a subject that involved significant levels of group-work, the initiative gained interesting responses from the students involved. Interestingly the class was multi-disciplinary and with a large percentage of international students. The students articulated during the focus group at the end of the experience were positive about the experience of having to collaborate. This paper reports on the assessment initiative as well as providing some insights into the students\u27 experiences of working in groups

Feeding behavior of brown trout, Salmo trutta fario, during spawning season in four rivers of Lar National Park, Iran

Brown trout, Salmo trutta fario, has a wide range of distribution in the north of Iran and in Karaj, Lighvanchai and Karun Rivers, but there is no report about its feeding behavior in some water resources including the Lar Natural Park. In order to study feeding behavior of this fish during spawning season, a survey was carried out in the rivers of Elarm, Aab-Sefid, Kamardasht and Delichayi in fall 2008. A total of 140 individuals of brown trout were caught by cast net and electro fishing. Mean weight and length of the samples were 130±79.5 g and 216.9±39 mm, respectively. The age of fish was 2 to 6 years and mean age was 3.02±1.3. The mean relative gut length (RLG) of samples was 0.86±1. It was found that brown trout fed on various preys (32 animal groups), that Chironomidae (88.6%), Simulidae (60%), Baetidae (51.4%) and Tipulidae (50%) have had the most frequency in the gut of brown trout. The proportion of food consumed by trout was Diptera 91.5% (Chironomidae pupa and larvae 85.8%), Coleoptera 6.4% and others 2.1%. Cannibalism was seen scarcely. In conclusion, brown trout consumes a wide range of food items in its spawning season. Therefore, it can be classified as euryphagous and carnivaorou

Evaluation of the discovery potential of an underwater Mediterranean neutrino telescope taking into account the estimated directional resolution and energy of the reconstructed tracks

We report on the development of search methods for point-like and extended neutrino sources, utilizing the tracking and energy estimation capabilities of an underwater, Very Large Volume Neutrino Telescope (VLVnT). We demonstrate that the developed techniques offer a significant improvement on the telescope's discovery potential. We also present results on the potential of the Mediterranean KM3NeT to discover galactic neutrino sources.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure, to be published in Nucl. Inst. and Meth. A v2: minor changes, 1 page adde

FLUVIAL LIMESTONE TUFFS FROM THE S. PORTUGAL (LOULE-TAVIRA) AND N. MOROCCO (TETUAN): COMPARISON AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS

Limestone tuff deposits precipitated in fluvial environments are widespread in the northern Morocco and the S Portugal. These deposits represent environmental conditions prone for the carbonate precipitation mainly in areas of Mesozoic limestone substratum with active water seepage from the aquifers. The mesoscopic and microscopic characteristics of tuff deposits from Tetouan (Morocco) and Loule and Tavira (Portugal) are very alike; namely on deposit types (e.g. phytoherm barriers; banded limestones with abundant vegetation macro-remains; carbonates precipitation as cement of some early alluvial conglomerates or interbedded alluvial deposits). The common textural features and macro-facies (e.g. banded calcite in regular layers ; moldic porosity; textures resulting from carbonate precipitation mediated by bacteriological activity) point to a similar origin of these limestone tuffs on both sides of Gibraltar Strait despite their slightly different climatic conditions that are influenced by the active inflow of surface Atlantic water towards the Mediterranean (for the Tetouan region) and by the Azores anticyclone (for the Loulé-Tavira region). The field observations show that the limestone tuffs precipitation is nowadays residual and radiocarbon dating of Portuguese deposits points to a chronological framework for their formation starting in the beginning of the post-Younger Dryas climatic recovery and ending around 2.5 ky BP. The oxygen stable isotopes data show a gradual change in the tuffs isotopic signature through the time interval during which the system remained active, without any particular record of climate events such as the 8.2 ka. The available data and those from monitored modern pluvial characteristics allow the speculation on the parameters controlling the limestone tuffs deposition on both northern and southern sides of the Gibraltar Strait during the Holocene. The carbonate deposition on fluvial systems, such as the studied ones, probably depends on the precipitation / evaporation balance leading to the availability and turbulence of the flowing water along the streams. Acknowledgments: This works was done with the financial support of the FCT Proc. 441.00 CNRST- MARROCOS and PTDC/CTE-GIX/117608/2010 projects and the SFRH/BD/62323/2009 grant

Preeclampsia: Novel Mechanisms and Potential Therapeutic Approaches

Preeclampsia is a serious complication of pregnancy where it affects 5–8% of all pregnancies. It increases the morbidity and mortality of both the fetus and pregnant woman, especially in developing countries. It deleteriously affects several vital organs, including the kidneys, liver, brain, and lung. Although, the pathogenesis of preeclampsia has not yet been fully understood, growing evidence suggests that aberrations in the angiogenic factors levels and coagulopathy are responsible for the clinical manifestations of the disease. The common nominator of tissue damage of all these target organs is endothelial injury, which impedes their normal function. At the renal level, glomerular endothelial injury leads to the development of maternal proteinuria. Actually, peripheral vasoconstriction secondary to maternal systemic inflammation and endothelial cell activation is sufficient for the development of preeclampsia-induced hypertension. Similarly, preeclampsia can cause hepatic and neurologic dysfunction due to vascular damage and/or hypertension. Obviously, preeclampsia adversely affects various organs, however it is not yet clear whether pre-eclampsia per se adversely affects various organs or whether it exposes underlying genetic predispositions to cardiovascular disease that manifest in later life. The current review summarizes recent development in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia with special focus on novel diagnostic biomarkers and their relevance to potential therapeutic options for this disease state. Specifically, the review highlights the renal manifestations of the disease with emphasis on the involvement of angiogenic factors in vascular injury and on how restoration of the angiogenic balance affects renal and cardiovascular outcome of Preeclamptic women