Lasing on the D_2 line of sodium in helium atmosphere due to optical pumping on the D_1 line (up-conversion)

A new method is proposed to produce population inversion on transitions involving the ground state of atoms. The method is realized experimentally with sodium atoms. Lasing at the frequency corresponding to the sodium D_2 line is achieved in the presence of pump radiation resonant to the D_1 line with helium as a buffer gas.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Late

Scholarship holders abroad: Returnees in the academic community in Serbia

Rad se bavi našim visokoobrazovnim kadrovima koji su se kao stipendisti postakademskih studija usavršavali u inostranstvu, a potom vratili i zaposlili u Srbiji. Cilj rada je da sagleda kako ova grupa povratnika zaposlenih na fakultetima i naučnim institutima u Srbiji procenjuju svoje iskustvo usavršavanja u inostranstvu. U anketnom istraživanju prikupljeni su podaci o procenama povratnika o tome u kojoj meri smatraju da im je to što su se školovali u inostranstvu značilo da se zaposle u Srbiji, koliko imaju prilike da primene stečena znanja i učestvuju u odlučivanju na svom radnom mestu i koliko se osećaju drugačijim od svojih kolega koji su se školovali i sve vreme radili u zemlji. Kako bi potpunije sagledali položaj povratnika, posebnim upitnikom prikupljene su i procene njihovih kolega o ovim pitanjima.This paper deals with our highly educated professionals who studied abroad as scholarship holders at post-academic studies and then returned and found employment in Serbia. The aim of this paper is to examine how this group of returnees employed at faculties and scientific institutes in Serbia assess their experience of studying abroad. The assessments of the returnees were gathered through a questionnaire. These assessments were on the extent to which the returnees felt their education abroad influenced their employment in Serbia, the opportunities to apply the acquired knowledge and to participate in decision-making at the workplace, and, finally, on how different they felt from their colleagues who acquired all their education and work experience in their own country. To better understand the situation of returnees, a special questionnaire also gathered the assessments of their colleagues on these issues

IxodIdae tIcks of small rumInants In the regIon of ParvomaI, southern BulgarIa

, 2014. ixodidae ticks of small ruminants in the region of parvomai, Southern Bulgaria. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., The species composition and the distribution of ticks from the family Ixodidae, invading domestic goats (Capra aegagrus hircus) and sheep (Ovis aries) near parvomay (region of plovdiv) were studied. The indicators of an invasion (extension invasion and intensity of invasion) and the seasonal changes in the invasion of goats and sheep by tick species were found out. The daily activity of Ixodes ricinus in a habitat near the Gradina village was observed. 637 specimens of goats and 810 specimens of sheep from 12 farms in different villages in the parvomay Municipality were examined, the study was conducted in all four seasons. it is found out that goats and sheep in the regions investigated is invaded by 7 species of ixodidae ticks -Rhipicephalus bursa, Rhipicephalus sanguineus, Ixodes ricinus, Dermacentor marginatus, Haemaphysalis sulcata, Haemaphysalis punctata and Hyaloma plumbeum. The predominant invasive species in both animals is Rhipicephalus bursa. The maximum of invasion in both host species was identified -in the spring by Ixodes ricinus and Dermacentor marginatus; in the summer -the species Rhipicephalus bursa and Rhipicephalus sanguineus; in the spring and autumn seasons -by Haemaphysalis sulcata and Haemaphysalis punctata. Single specimens from the species Hyaloma plumbeum were found in March and november. Changes in the daily activity of ticks of the species Ixodes ricinus were reported -related to the fluctuations of temperature and relative humidity and the solar radiation

Dr Dimitrije Radulović, pionir u oblasti sportske medicine - život i delo

In the historiography of Serbian medicine, there is little data on the life and work of Dr. Dimitrije Radulović. He belonged to the first generation of Serbian doctors of the 19th century. He was born in 1814, in Bela Crkva, completed his studies of medicine in Pest, where he received his title Doctor of Medicine. After Pest, he went to Vienna, where he specialized in obstetrics. Among Serbs, he was the author of the first work in the field which we today call sports medicine. With this work, as well as with his later work, he established important foundations of sports medicine among the Serbian people. He was the first to write about the importance of physical exercise and the impact of different sports on the physical development of children, adolescents, and adults, thus contributing to the definition of optimal physical activity and hygienic-dietary regimes. His goal was to preserve and improve health, i.e. to improve the prevention and curative of various diseases and injuries, as well as the rehabilitation of patients.U istoriografiji srpske medicine malobrojni su podaci o životu i radu dr Dimitrija Radulovića. Dr Radulović pripadao je prvoj generaciji Srba lekara devetnaestog veka. Rođen je 1814. godine u Beloj Crkvi, a studije medicine završio je u Pešti, u kojoj je stekao zvanje doktora medicine. Posle Pešte odlazi u Beč, gde se specijalizuje u oblasti porodiljstva. Među Srbima je bio autor prvog rada iz oblasti koju danas nazivamo sportskom medicinom. Tim radom, kao i svojim kasnijim delovanjem, postavio je temelje sportske medicine među Srbima. Prvi je pisao o važnosti telesnog vežbanja i uticaju različitih sportova na fizički razvoj dece, omladine i odraslih; na taj način dao je doprinos definisanju optimalnih fizičkih opterećenja i higijensko-dijetetskih režima. Cilj mu je bio da se očuva i unapredi zdravlje, odnosno da se poboljšaju prevencija i kurativa različitih oboljenja i povreda, ali i rehabilitacija pacijenata

Electronically delivered, multicomponent intervention to reduce unnecessary antibiotic prescribing for respiratory infections in primary care: a cluster randomised trial using electronic health records—REDUCE Trial study original protocol

Introduction Respiratory tract infections (RTIs) account for about 60% of antibiotics prescribed in primary care. This study aims to test the effectiveness, in a cluster randomised controlled trial, of electronically delivered, multicomponent interventions to reduce unnecessary antibiotic prescribing when patients consult for RTIs in primary care. The research will specifically evaluate the effectiveness of feeding back electronic health records (EHRs) data to general practices. Methods and analysis 2-arm cluster randomised trial using the EHRs of the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD). General practices in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are being recruited and the general population of all ages represents the target population. Control trial arm practices will continue with usual care. Practices in the intervention arm will receive complex multicomponent interventions, delivered remotely to information systems, including (1) feedback of each practice's antibiotic prescribing through monthly antibiotic prescribing reports estimated from CPRD data; (2) delivery of educational and decision support tools; (3) a webinar to explain and promote effective usage of the intervention. The intervention will continue for 12?months. Outcomes will be evaluated from CPRD EHRs. The primary outcome will be the number of antibiotic prescriptions for RTIs per 1000 patient years. Secondary outcomes will be: the RTI consultation rate; the proportion of consultations for RTI with an antibiotic prescribed; subgroups of age; different categories of RTI and quartiles of intervention usage. There will be more than 80% power to detect an absolute reduction in antibiotic prescription for RTI of 12 per 1000 registered patient years. Total healthcare usage will be estimated from CPRD data and compared between trial arms. Ethics and dissemination Trial protocol was approved by the National Research Ethics Service Committee (14/LO/1730). The pragmatic design of the trial will enable subsequent translation of effective interventions at scale in order to achieve population impact. <br/

Comparative effectiveness of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors and human glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogue as add-on therapies to sulphonylurea among diabetes patients in the Asia-Pacific region: a systematic review

The prevalence of diabetes mellitus is rising globally, and it induces a substantial public health burden to the healthcare systems. Its optimal control is one of the most significant challenges faced by physicians and policy-makers. Whereas some of the established oral hypoglycaemic drug classes like biguanide, sulphonylureas, thiazolidinediones have been extensively used, the newer agents like dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors and the human glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogues have recently emerged as suitable options due to their similar efficacy and favorable side effect profiles. These agents are widely recognized alternatives to the traditional oral hypoglycaemic agents or insulin, especially in conditions where they are contraindicated or unacceptable to patients. Many studies which evaluated their clinical effects, either alone or as add-on agents, were conducted in Western countries. There exist few reviews on their effectiveness in the Asia-Pacific region. The purpose of this systematic review is to address the comparative effectiveness of these new classes of medications as add-on therapies to sulphonylurea drugs among diabetic patients in the Asia-Pacific countries. We conducted a thorough literature search of the MEDLINE and EMBASE from the inception of these databases to August 2013, supplemented by an additional manual search using reference lists from research studies, meta-analyses and review articles as retrieved by the electronic databases. A total of nine randomized controlled trials were identified and described in this article. It was found that DPP-4 inhibitors and GLP-1 analogues were in general effective as add-on therapies to existing sulphonylurea therapies, achieving HbA1c reductions by a magnitude of 0.59–0.90% and 0.77–1.62%, respectively. Few adverse events including hypoglycaemic attacks were reported. Therefore, these two new drug classes represent novel therapies with great potential to be major therapeutic options. Future larger-scale research should be conducted among other Asia-Pacific region to evaluate their efficacy in other ethnic groups

Genomic Runs of Homozygosity Record Population History and Consanguinity

The human genome is characterised by many runs of homozygous genotypes, where identical haplotypes were inherited from each parent. The length of each run is determined partly by the number of generations since the common ancestor: offspring of cousin marriages have long runs of homozygosity (ROH), while the numerous shorter tracts relate to shared ancestry tens and hundreds of generations ago. Human populations have experienced a wide range of demographic histories and hold diverse cultural attitudes to consanguinity. In a global population dataset, genome-wide analysis of long and shorter ROH allows categorisation of the mainly indigenous populations sampled here into four major groups in which the majority of the population are inferred to have: (a) recent parental relatedness (south and west Asians); (b) shared parental ancestry arising hundreds to thousands of years ago through long term isolation and restricted effective population size (N(e)), but little recent inbreeding (Oceanians); (c) both ancient and recent parental relatedness (Native Americans); and (d) only the background level of shared ancestry relating to continental N(e) (predominantly urban Europeans and East Asians; lowest of all in sub-Saharan African agriculturalists), and the occasional cryptically inbred individual. Moreover, individuals can be positioned along axes representing this demographic historic space. Long runs of homozygosity are therefore a globally widespread and under-appreciated characteristic of our genomes, which record past consanguinity and population isolation and provide a distinctive record of the demographic history of an individual's ancestors. Individual ROH measures will also allow quantification of the disease risk arising from polygenic recessive effects