Defects in Mitochondrial ATP Synthesis in Dystrophin-Deficient Mdx Skeletal Muscles May Be Caused by Complex I Insufficiency

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is a chronic, progressive and ultimately fatal skeletal muscle wasting disease characterised by sarcolemmal fragility and intracellular Ca2+ dysregulation secondary to the absence of dystrophin. Mounting literature also suggests that the dysfunction of key energy systems within the muscle may contribute to pathological muscle wasting by reducing ATP availability to Ca2+ regulation and fibre regeneration. No study to date has biochemically quantified and contrasted mitochondrial ATP production capacity by dystrophic mitochondria isolated from their pathophysiological environment such to determine whether mitochondria are indeed capable of meeting this heightened cellular ATP demand, or examined the effects of an increasing extramitochondrial Ca2+ environment. Using isolated mitochondria from the diaphragm and tibialis anterior of 12 week-old dystrophin-deficient mdx and healthy control mice (C57BL10/ScSn) we have demonstrated severely depressed Complex I-mediated mitochondrial ATP production rate in mdx mitochondria that occurs irrespective of the macronutrient-derivative substrate combination fed into the Kreb's cycle, and, which is partially, but significantly, ameliorated by inhibition of Complex I with rotenone and stimulation of Complex II-mediated ATP-production with succinate. There was no difference in the MAPR response of mdx mitochondria to increasing extramitochondrial Ca2+ load in comparison to controls, and 400 nM extramitochondrial Ca2+ was generally shown to be inhibitory to MAPR in both groups. Our data suggests that DMD pathology is exacerbated by a Complex I deficiency, which may contribute in part to the severe reductions in ATP production previously observed in dystrophic skeletal muscle

Repetition of attempted suicide among immigrants in Europe

Objectives: To compare frequencies of suicide attempt repetition in immigrants and local European populations, and the timing of repetition in these groups. Method: Data from 7 European countries, comprising 10 574 local and 3032 immigrant subjects, were taken from the World Health Organization European Multicentre Study on Suicidal Behaviour and the ensuing Monitoring Suicidal Behaviour in Europe (commonly referred to as MONSUE) project. The relation between immigrant status and repetition of suicide attempt within 12-months following first registered attempt was analyzed with binary logistic regression, controlling for sex, age, and method of attempt. Timing of repetition was controlled for sex, age, and the recommended type of aftercare. Results: Lower odds of repeating a suicide attempt were found in Eastern European (OR 0.50; 95% CI 0.41 to 0.61, P < 0.001) and non-European immigrants (OR 0.68; 95% CI 0.51 to 0.90, P < 0.05), compared with the locals. Similar patterns were identified in the sex-specific analysis. Eastern European immigrants tended to repeat their attempt much later than locals (OR 0.58; 95% CI 0.35 to 0.93, P < 0.05). In general, 32% of all repetition occurred within 30 days. Repetition tended to decrease with age and was more likely in females using harder methods in their index attempt (OR 1.29; 95% CI 1.08 to 1.54, P < 0.01). Large variations in the general repetition frequency were identified between the collecting centres, thus influencing the results. Conclusions: The lower repetition frequencies in non-Western immigrants, compared with locals, in Europe stands in contrast to their markedly higher tendency to attempt suicide in general, possibly pointing to situational stress factors related to their suicidal crisis that are less persistent over time. Our findings also raise the possibility that suicide attempters and repeaters constitute only partially overlapping populations

The Duffin-Schaeffer Conjecture with extra divergence II

This paper takes a new step in the direction of proving the Duffin-Schaeffer Conjecture for measures arbitrarily close to Lebesgue. The main result is that under a mild `extra divergence' hypothesis, the conjecture is true.Comment: 7 page

Airports at Risk: The Impact of Information Sources on Security Decisions

Security decisions in high risk organizations such as airports involve obtaining ongoing and frequent information about potential threats. Utilizing questionnaire survey data from a sample of airport employees in European Airports across the continent, we analyzed how both formal and informal sources of security information affect employee's decisions to comply with the security rules and directives. This led us to trace information network flows to assess its impact on the degree employees making security decisions comply or deviate with the prescribed security rules. The results of the multivariate analysis showed that security information obtained through formal and informal networks differentially determine if employee will comply or not with the rules. Information sources emanating from the informal network tends to encourage employees to be more flexible in their security decisions while formal sources lead to be more rigid with complying with rules and protocols. These results suggest that alongside the formal administrative structure of airports, there exists a diverse and pervasiveness set of informal communications networks that are a potent factor in determining airport security levels

Gender distribution of suicide attempts among immigrant groups in European countries—an international perspective

Background: Studies report high rates of suicide attempts for female immigrants. This study assesses variations in the distribution of suicide attempts across gender in immigrant and non-immigrant groups in Europe. Method: Data on 64 native and immigrant groups, including 17 662 local and 3755 immigrant person-cases collected, between 1989 and 2003, in 24 million person-years were derived from the WHO/EURO Multicentre Study on Suicidal Behaviour. Female-to-male ratios of suicide attempt rates (SARs) were calculated for all groups. Results: The cases were combined into four major categories: hosts; European and other Western immigrants; non-European immigrants; and Russian immigrants. The non-European immigrants included higher female SARs than the Europeans, both hosts and immigrants. Unlike the other groups, the majority of suicide attempters among the Russian immigrants in Estonia and Estonian hosts were male. This was also true for immigrants from Curaçao, Iran, Libya and Sri Lanka. When the single groups with a male majority were excluded, the correlation between female and male SARs was relatively high among the European immigrants (r = 0.74, P < 0.0005) and lower among the non-European immigrants (r = 0.55, P < 0.03). Generalized estimating equation analysis yielded a highly significant difference (P < 0.0005) in gender ratios of suicide attempts between hosts (ratio 1.52) and both non-European immigrants (ratio 2.32) and Russian immigrants (0.68), but not the European immigrants. Conclusions: The higher suicide attempt rates in non-European immigrant females compared with males may be indicative of difficulties in the acculturation processes in Europe. Further understanding of factors underlying suicidal behaviour in immigrant and minority groups is necessary for planning effective prevention strategie

Immigration and recommended care after a suicide attempt in Europe: equity or bias?

This report describes the investigation of care recommendations in the medical system across European countries to immigrants who attempted suicide. Data from seven European countries with 8865 local and 2921 immigrant person-cases were derived from the WHO/EURO Multicentre Study on Suicidal Behaviour and ensuing MONSUE (Monitoring Suicidal Behaviour in Europe) project. The relationship between immigrant status and type of aftercare recommended was analysed with binary logistic regression, adjusting for gender, age, method of attempt and the Centre collecting the data. Clear disparities were identified in the care recommendation practices toward immigrants, compared with hosts, over and above differing policies by the European Centre

State-Space Analysis Of Model Error: A Probabilistic Parameter Estimation Framework with Spatial Analysis of Variance

Long-term goals: An over-arching goal in prediction science is to objectively improve numerical models of nature. Meeting that goal requires objective quantification of deficiencies in our models. The structural differences between a numerical model and a true system are difficult to ascertain in the presence of multiple sources of error. Numerical weather prediction (NWP) is subject to temporally and spatially varying error, resulting from both imperfect atmospheric models and the chaotic growth of initial- condition (IC) error. The aim of our work is to provide a method that begins to systematically disentangle the model inadequacy signal from the initial condition error signal.N0001410WX2005

Hadronic production of squark-squark pairs: The electroweak contributions

We compute the electroweak (EW) contributions to squark--squark pair production processes at the LHC within the framework of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). Both tree-level EW contributions, of O(alpha_s alpha + alpha^2), and next-to-leading order (NLO) EW corrections, of O(alpha_s^2 alpha), are calculated. Depending on the flavor and chirality of the produced quarks, many interferences between EW-mediated and QCD-mediated diagrams give non-zero contributions at tree-level and NLO. We discuss the computational techniques and present an extensive numerical analysis for inclusive squark--squark production as well as for subsets and single processes. While the tree-level EW contributions to the integrated cross sections can reach the 20% level, the NLO EW corrections typically lower the LO prediction by a few percent.Comment: 36 pages, 18 figure

A PRODUÇÃO DE MATERIAIS PARA O ENSINO DE LÍNGUA PORTUGUESA E LITERATURA NO CONTEXTO DO ENSINO REMOTO EMERGENCIAL: UMA PROPOSTA A PARTIR DA POESIA SLAM

In this work, of an applied nature and qualitative approach, we focus on the production of an Open Educational Resource (OER) for the context of Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT). For this, we delimited three specific objectives: i) To present an own understanding of Online Education, based on studies on Distance Education (DE), Blended Learning and ERT; ii) Discuss alternatives for the production of teaching materials in the context of Online Education, taking into account the literature on the subject, including some previous research of our own authorship; iii) Demonstrate how it is possible to articulate some of these possibilities in pedagogical practice, with a view to an OER designed for the ERE context. The results suggest that the concept of Online Education refers to a broad category that encompasses three different notions, but with certain characteristics in common: DE; Blended Learning and ERT. In the present work, we demonstrate how certain alternatives available on the internet can be articulated to produce OER in the context of Online Education, with emphasis on ERT. It is necessary to consider, however, that for practices in this direction to have the expected reach and proportion, more investments are needed in the continuing education of teachers, as well as in public policies for access to digital technologies and the internet.En este trabajo, de carácter aplicado y enfoque cualitativo, nos centramos en la producción de un Recurso Educativo Abierto (REA) para el contexto de la Enseñanza Remota de Emergencia (ERE). Para ello, delimitamos tres objetivos específicos, a saber: i) Presentar una comprensión propia de la Educación en Línea, a partir de estudios sobre Educación a Distancia (EaD), Enseñanza Híbrida y ERE; ii) Discutir alternativas para la producción de materiales didácticos en el contexto de la Educación en Línea, teniendo en cuenta la literatura sobre el tema, incluyendo algunas investigaciones previas de nuestra autoría; iii) Demostrar cómo es posible articular algunas de estas posibilidades en la práctica pedagógica, teniendo en cuenta un REA diseñado para el contexto de la ERE. Los resultados sugieren que el concepto de Educación en Línea hace referencia a una categoría amplia que engloba tres nociones diferentes, pero con ciertas características en común: EaD; Enseñanza Híbrida y ERE. En el presente trabajo demostramos cómo se pueden articular ciertas alternativas disponibles en internet para la producción de REA en el contexto de la Educación en Línea, con énfasis en la ERE. Es necesario tener en cuenta, sin embargo, que para que las prácticas en esta dirección tengan el alcance y la proporción esperados, se requieren mayores inversiones en la formación continua de los docentes, así como en políticas públicas de acceso a las tecnologías digitales e internet.Neste trabalho, de natureza aplicada e de abordagem qualitativa, debruçamo-nos sobre a produção de um Recurso Educacional Aberto (REA) para o contexto do Ensino Remoto Emergencial (ERE). Para isso, delimitamos três objetivos específicos, a saber: i) Apresentar um entendimento próprio de Educação On-line, com base em estudos sobre Educação a Distância (EaD), Ensino Híbrido e ERE; ii) Discutir alternativas para a produção de materiais de ensino no âmbito da Educação On-line, levando em consideração a literatura sobre o assunto, incluindo algumas pesquisas prévias de nossa própria autoria; iii) Demonstrar de que modo é possível articular algumas dessas possibilidades na prática pedagógica, tendo em vista um REA elaborado para o contexto ERE. Os resultados sugerem que o conceito de Educação On-line faz referência a uma categoria ampla que abrange três noções diferentes, mas com determinadas características em comum: EaD; Ensino Híbrido e ERE. No presente trabalho, demonstramos de que forma determinadas alternativas disponíveis na internet podem ser articuladas para a produção de REA no contexto da Educação On-line, com ênfase no ERE. É preciso levar em consideração, porém, que para práticas nessa direção terem o alcance e a proporção esperada, são necessários mais investimentos na formação continuada de professores, assim como em políticas públicas de acesso às tecnologias digitais e à internet