The rear-view mirror and the periscope: the meaning of computer-mediated information for refugees

This research-in-progress analyses the meaning of computer-mediated information and how it can contribute to the different aspects of human development. By explicitly recognising that the notion of human development goes beyond indicators of material progress, it adopts the view of human freedom as development. The unit of analysis are individuals who entered New Zealand as refugees, who received a refurbished computer with Internet access upon the successful completion of a government-sponsored, basic computer-training course. Following an inductive approach according to the tenets of grounded theory, the data collected through 10 in-depth interviews is analysed. Although the point of theoretical saturation has not been reached yet, the analysis so far reveals a twofold pattern of the meaning of computer-mediated information. This twofold pattern is expressed in the form of a metaphor by referring to two objects used to produce image representations: the rear-view mirror and the periscope. As a rear-view mirror, computer-mediated information makes possible for the refugees to connect back to their roots. As a periscope, computer-mediated information allows refugees to observe – and to some extent being part of – the activities happening in the host country without necessarily being exposed to other members of the community

Hemodynamic latency is associated with reduced intelligence across the lifespan: an fMRI DCM study of aging, cerebrovascular integrity, and cognitive ability

Changes in neurovascular coupling are associated with both Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia in later life, but this may be confounded by cerebrovascular risk. We hypothesized that hemodynamic latency would be associated with reduced cognitive functioning across the lifespan, holding constant demographic and cerebrovascular risk. In 387 adults aged 18–85 (mean = 48.82), dynamic causal modeling was used to estimate the hemodynamic response function in the left and right V1 and V3-ventral regions of the visual cortex in response to a simple checkerboard block design stimulus with minimal cognitive demands. The hemodynamic latency (transit time) in the visual cortex was used to predict general cognitive ability (Full-Scale IQ), controlling for demographic variables (age, race, education, socioeconomic status) and cerebrovascular risk factors (hypertension, alcohol use, smoking, high cholesterol, BMI, type 2 diabetes, cardiac disorders). Increased hemodynamic latency in the visual cortex predicted reduced cognitive function (p < 0.05), holding constant demographic and cerebrovascular risk. Increased alcohol use was associated with reduced overall cognitive function (Full Scale IQ 2.8 pts, p < 0.05), while cardiac disorders (Full Scale IQ 3.3 IQ pts; p < 0.05), high cholesterol (Full Scale IQ 3.9 pts; p < 0.05), and years of education (2 IQ pts/year; p < 0.001) were associated with higher general cognitive ability. Increased hemodynamic latency was associated with reduced executive functioning (p < 0.05) as well as reductions in verbal concept formation (p < 0.05) and the ability to synthesize and analyze abstract visual information (p < 0.01). Hemodynamic latency is associated with reduced cognitive ability across the lifespan, independently of other demographic and cerebrovascular risk factors. Vascular health may predict cognitive ability long before the onset of dementias

Superconformal Flavor Simplified

A simple explanation of the flavor hierarchies can arise if matter fields interact with a conformal sector and different generations have different anomalous dimensions under the CFT. However, in the original study by Nelson and Strassler many supersymmetric models of this type were considered to be 'incalculable' because the R-charges were not sufficiently constrained by the superpotential. We point out that nearly all such models are calculable with the use of a-maximization. Utilizing this, we construct the simplest vector-like flavor models and discuss their viability. A significant constraint on these models comes from requiring that the visible gauge couplings remain perturbative throughout the conformal window needed to generate the hierarchies. However, we find that there is a small class of simple flavor models that can evade this bound.Comment: 43 pages, 1 figure; V3: small corrections and clarifications, references adde

Do contaminants originating from state-of-the-art treated wastewater impact the ecological quality of surface waters?

Since the 1980s, advances in wastewater treatment technology have led to considerably improved surface water quality in the urban areas of many high income countries. However, trace concentrations of organic wastewater-associated contaminants may still pose a key environmental hazard impairing the ecological quality of surface waters. To identify key impact factors, we analyzed the effects of a wide range of anthropogenic and environmental variables on the aquatic macroinvertebrate community. We assessed ecological water quality at 26 sampling sites in four urban German lowland river systems with a 0–100% load of state-of-the-art biological activated sludge treated wastewater. The chemical analysis suite comprised 12 organic contaminants (five phosphor organic flame retardants, two musk fragrances, bisphenol A, nonylphenol, octylphenol, diethyltoluamide, terbutryn), 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and 12 heavy metals. Non-metric multidimensional scaling identified organic contaminants that are mainly wastewater-associated (i.e., phosphor organic flame retardants, musk fragrances, and diethyltoluamide) as a major impact variable on macroinvertebrate species composition. The structural degradation of streams was also identified as a significant factor. Multiple linear regression models revealed a significant impact of organic contaminants on invertebrate populations, in particular on Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera species. Spearman rank correlation analyses confirmed wastewater-associated organic contaminants as the most significant variable negatively impacting the biodiversity of sensitive macroinvertebrate species. In addition to increased aquatic pollution with organic contaminants, a greater wastewater fraction was accompanied by a slight decrease in oxygen concentration and an increase in salinity. This study highlights the importance of reducing the wastewater-associated impact on surface waters. For aquatic ecosystems in urban areas this would lead to: (i) improvement of the ecological integrity, (ii) reduction of biodiversity loss, and (iii) faster achievement of objectives of legislative requirements, e.g., the European Water Framework Directive

Adherencia, satisfacción al tratamiento y calidad de vida de pacientes con cáncer de mama en el Hospital Universitario del Caribe.(Cartagena, Colombia)

Objetivos: Determinar la adherencia, satisfacción al tratamiento y calidad de vida de pacientes con cáncer de mama. Materiales y métodos: Estudio descriptivo, prospectivo, trasversal,  desarrollado en el Hospital Universitario del Caribe, entre agosto de 2014 y  abril de 2015. La muestra fueron 23 pacientes, diagnosticadas de cáncer de mama. La adherencia, satisfacción al tratamiento y calidad de vida se determinaron con los instrumentos siguientes: Cuestionario simplified medication adherence questionnaire (SMAQ), registro de dispensación del hospital (RD), test de satisfacción ESTAR del Estudio ARPAS adaptado y el cuestionario WHOQOL BREF respectivamente. El cuestionario ESTAR fue  validado por expertos y mediante alfa de Cronbach.   Resultados: El 54,78% de las pacientes (según SMAQ), fueron no  adherentes a quimioterápicos, la satisfacción fue de 3,94 (rango 0-6). La calidad de vida estuvo en un promedio de 3.2 (rango 1-5), con valores de 14,5% y 7,14% en el nivel 5 del rango. La mayoría de dimensiones del cuestionario de calidad de vida guardan una correlación directamente  proporcional con el nivel total de satisfacción al tratamiento; arrojando un dato negativo (-0,3207) únicamente en la dimensión de satisfacción con la eficacia al tratamiento   Conclusiones: La calidad de vida fue media y baja, la adherencia y  satisfacción al tratamiento fueron bajas y se presentó una correlación inversa entre calidad de vida y la satisfacción al tratamiento, probablemente a causa de reacciones adversas indeseables que se constituyen en disminución de la calidad de vida

Adherencia, satisfacción al tratamiento y calidad de vida de pacientes con cáncer de mama en el Hospital Universitario del Caribe.(Cartagena, Colombia)

Objetivos: Determinar la adherencia, satisfacción al tratamiento y calidad de vida de pacientes con cáncer de mama. Materiales y métodos: Estudio descriptivo, prospectivo, trasversal,  desarrollado en el Hospital Universitario del Caribe, entre agosto de 2014 y  abril de 2015. La muestra fueron 23 pacientes, diagnosticadas de cáncer de mama. La adherencia, satisfacción al tratamiento y calidad de vida se determinaron con los instrumentos siguientes: Cuestionario simplified medication adherence questionnaire (SMAQ), registro de dispensación del hospital (RD), test de satisfacción ESTAR del Estudio ARPAS adaptado y el cuestionario WHOQOL BREF respectivamente. El cuestionario ESTAR fue  validado por expertos y mediante alfa de Cronbach.   Resultados: El 54,78% de las pacientes (según SMAQ), fueron no  adherentes a quimioterápicos, la satisfacción fue de 3,94 (rango 0-6). La calidad de vida estuvo en un promedio de 3.2 (rango 1-5), con valores de 14,5% y 7,14% en el nivel 5 del rango. La mayoría de dimensiones del cuestionario de calidad de vida guardan una correlación directamente  proporcional con el nivel total de satisfacción al tratamiento; arrojando un dato negativo (-0,3207) únicamente en la dimensión de satisfacción con la eficacia al tratamiento   Conclusiones: La calidad de vida fue media y baja, la adherencia y  satisfacción al tratamiento fueron bajas y se presentó una correlación inversa entre calidad de vida y la satisfacción al tratamiento, probablemente a causa de reacciones adversas indeseables que se constituyen en disminución de la calidad de vida

Who settles for less? Subjective dispositions, objective circumstances, and housing satisfaction

In recent years there has been growing interest in individuals’ self-perceptions of their wellbeing on the grounds that these complement well-established objective indicators of welfare. However, individuals’ assessments depend on both objective circumstances and subjective, idiosyncratic dispositions, such as aspirations and expectations. We add to the literature by formulating a modelling strategy that uncovers how these subjective dispositions differ across socio-demographic groups. This is then tested using housing satisfaction data from a large-scale household panel survey from Australia. We find that there are significant differences in the way in which individuals with different characteristics rate the same objective reality. For instance, male, older, migrant, and Indigenous individuals rate equal housing conditions more favourably than female, younger, Australian-born, and non-Indigenous individuals. These findings have important implications for how self-reported housing satisfaction, and wellbeing data in general, are to be used to inform evidence-based policy

A predictive model relating daily fluctuations in summer temperatures and mortality rates

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In the context of climate change, an efficient alert system to prevent the risk associated with summer heat is necessary. The authors' objective was to describe the temperature-mortality relationship in France over a 29-year period and to define and validate a combination of temperature factors enabling optimum prediction of the daily fluctuations in summer mortality.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study addressed the daily mortality rates of subjects aged over 55 years, in France as a whole, from 1975 to 2003. The daily minimum and maximum temperatures consisted in the average values recorded by 97 meteorological stations. For each day, a cumulative variable for the maximum temperature over the preceding 10 days was defined.</p> <p>The mortality rate was modelled using a Poisson regression with over-dispersion and a first-order autoregressive structure and with control for long-term and within-summer seasonal trends. The lag effects of temperature were accounted for by including the preceding 5 days. A "backward" method was used to select the most significant climatic variables. The predictive performance of the model was assessed by comparing the observed and predicted daily mortality rates on a validation period (summer 2003), which was distinct from the calibration period (1975–2002) used to estimate the model.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The temperature indicators explained 76% of the total over-dispersion. The greater part of the daily fluctuations in mortality was explained by the interaction between minimum and maximum temperatures, for a day <it>t </it>and the day preceding it. The prediction of mortality during extreme events was greatly improved by including the cumulative variables for maximum temperature, in interaction with the maximum temperatures. The correlation between the observed and estimated mortality ratios was 0.88 in the final model.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Although France is a large country with geographic heterogeneity in both mortality and temperatures, a strong correlation between the daily fluctuations in mortality and the temperatures in summer on a national scale was observed. The model provided a satisfactory quantitative prediction of the daily mortality both for the days with usual temperatures and for the days during intense heat episodes. The results may contribute to enhancing the alert system for intense heat waves.</p

Molecular and Cellular Basis of Microvascular Perfusion Deficits Induced by Clostridium perfringens and Clostridium septicum

Reduced tissue perfusion leading to tissue ischemia is a central component of the pathogenesis of myonecrosis caused by Clostridium perfringens. The C. perfringens α-toxin has been shown capable of inducing these changes, but its potential synergy with perfringolysin O (θ-toxin) is less well understood. Similarly, Clostridium septicum is a highly virulent causative agent of spontaneous gas gangrene, but its effect on the microcirculation has not been examined. Therefore, the aim of this study was to use intravital microscopy to examine the effects of C. perfringens and C. septicum on the functional microcirculation, coupled with the use of isogenic toxin mutants to elucidate the role of particular toxins in the resultant microvascular perfusion deficits. This study represents the first time this integrated approach has been used in the analysis of the pathological response to clostridial toxins. Culture supernatants from wild-type C. perfringens induced extensive cell death within 30 min, as assessed by in vivo uptake of propidium iodide. Furthermore, significant reductions in capillary perfusion were observed within 60 min. Depletion of either platelets or neutrophils reduced the alteration in perfusion, consistent with a role for these blood-borne cells in obstructing perfusion. In addition, mutation of either the α-toxin or perfringolysin O structural genes attenuated the reduction in perfusion, a process that was reversed by genetic complementation. C. septicum also induced a marked reduction in perfusion, with the degree of microvascular compromise correlating with the level of the C. septicum α-toxin. Together, these data indicate that as a result of its ability to produce α-toxin and perfringolysin O, C. perfringens rapidly induces irreversible cellular injury and a marked reduction in microvascular perfusion. Since C. septicum induces a similar reduction in microvascular perfusion, it is postulated that this function is central to the pathogenesis of clostridial myonecrosis, irrespective of the causative bacterium

The Surgical Infection Society revised guidelines on the management of intra-abdominal infection

Background: Previous evidence-based guidelines on the management of intra-abdominal infection (IAI) were published by the Surgical Infection Society (SIS) in 1992, 2002, and 2010. At the time the most recent guideline was released, the plan was to update the guideline every five years to ensure the timeliness and appropriateness of the recommendations. Methods: Based on the previous guidelines, the task force outlined a number of topics related to the treatment of patients with IAI and then developed key questions on these various topics. All questions were approached using general and specific literature searches, focusing on articles and other information published since 2008. These publications and additional materials published before 2008 were reviewed by the task force as a whole or by individual subgroups as to relevance to individual questions. Recommendations were developed by a process of iterative consensus, with all task force members voting to accept or reject each recommendation. Grading was based on the GRADE (Grades of Recommendation Assessment, Development, and Evaluation) system; the quality of the evidence was graded as high, moderate, or weak, and the strength of the recommendation was graded as strong or weak. Review of the document was performed by members of the SIS who were not on the task force. After responses were made to all critiques, the document was approved as an official guideline of the SIS by the Executive Council. Results: This guideline summarizes the current recommendations developed by the task force on the treatment of patients who have IAI. Evidence-based recommendations have been made regarding risk assessment in individual patients; source control; the timing, selection, and duration of antimicrobial therapy; and suggested approaches to patients who fail initial therapy. Additional recommendations related to the treatment of pediatric patients with IAI have been included. Summary: The current recommendations of the SIS regarding the treatment of patients with IAI are provided in this guideline