Memory and mutualism in species sustainability: a time-fractional Lotka-Volterra model with harvesting

We first present a predator-prey model for two species and then extend the model to three species where the two predator species engage in mutualistic predation. Constant effort harvesting and the impact of by-catch issue are also incorporated. Necessary sufficient conditions for the existence and stability of positive equilibrium points are examined. It is shown that harvesting is sustainable, and the memory concept of the fractional derivative damps out oscillations in the population numbers so that the system as a whole settles on an equilibrium quicker than it would with integer time derivatives. Finally, some possible physical explanations are given for the obtained results. It is shown that the stability requires the memory concept in the model

Making tourist guidance systems more intelligent, adaptive and personalised using crowd sourced movement data

Ambient intelligence (AmI) provides adaptive, personalized, intelligent, ubiquitous and interactive services to wide range of users. AmI can have a variety of applications, including smart shops, health care, smart home, assisted living, and location-based services. Tourist guidance is one of the applications where AmI can have a great contribution to the quality of the service, as the tourists, who may not be very familiar with the visiting site, need a location-aware, ubiquitous, personalised and informative service. Such services should be able to understand the preferences of the users without requiring the users to specify them, predict their interests, and provide relevant and tailored services in the most appropriate way, including audio, visual, and haptic. This paper shows the use of crowd sourced trajectory data in the detection of points of interests and providing ambient tourist guidance based on the patterns recognised over such data

Targeted Sequencing in Chromosome 17q Linkage Region Identifies Familial Glioma Candidates in the Gliogene Consortium

Glioma is a rare, but highly fatal, cancer that accounts for the majority of malignant primary brain tumors. Inherited predisposition to glioma has been consistently observed within non-syndromic families. Our previous studies, which involved non-parametric and parametric linkage analyses, both yielded significant linkage peaks on chromosome 17q. Here, we use data from next generation and Sanger sequencing to identify familial glioma candidate genes and variants on chromosome 17q for further investigation. We applied a filtering schema to narrow the original list of 4830 annotated variants down to 21 very rare (,0.1% frequency), non-synonymous variants. Our findings implicate the MYO19 and KIF18B genes and rare variants in SPAG9 and RUNDC1 as candidates worthy of further investigation. Burden testing and functional studies are planned

Iranian infertile couples' strategies to manage social interactions after unsuccessful treatments with assisted reproductive technologies

Many infertile couples feel vulnerable after failed treatment cycles and find insensitive remarks or inappropriate support distressing. They fear that the stress of failed treatment cycles may affect their marriage and lead to marriage breakdown. This study explored the strategies a sample of infertile couples used to manage social interactions after unsuccessful treatment with assisted reproductive technologies. A descriptive qualitative study was conducted with 34 participants including nine infertile couples, nine infertile women and two infertile men with primary infertility, two relatives, and three fertility clinic staff. The participants were selected through purposive sampling at an infertility centre in Iran, between 2016 and 2017. Data were collected using semi-structured face-to-face interviews and analysed by qualitative content analysis approach. Participants found some social interactions after failed assisted reproductive treatment cycles to be distressing and painful. They described tolerating painful emotions which cause them sadness and sorrow as well as feeling embarrassed. As a result, they found they needed to maintain their adopting concealment strategies with their families through not permitting speculation, selective disclosure, not giving details and hiding the truth. This study showed that social interactions following failed assisted reproductive cycles can be upsetting for infertile couples. Couples use different strategies to manage potentially distressing social interactions. Healthcare providers and psychologists may provide a space for safe social interactions in order to help couples to use appropriate strategies in these circumstances

Is there a role for melatonin in fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia, characterised by persistent pain, fatigue, sleep disturbance and cognitive dysfunction, is a central sensitivity syndrome that also involves abnormality in peripheral generators and in the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis. Heterogeneity of clinical expression of fibromyalgia with a multifactorial aetiology has made the development of effective therapeutic strategies challenging. Physiological properties of the neurohormone melatonin appear related to the symptom profile exhibited by patients with fibromyalgia and thus disturbance of it’s production would be compatible with the pathophysiology. Altered levels of melatonin have been observed in patients with fibromyalgia which are associated with lower secretion during dark hours and higher secretion during daytime. However, inconsistencies of available clinical evidence limit conclusion of a relationship between levels of melatonin and symptom profiles in patients with fibromyalgia. Administration of melatonin to patients with fibromyalgia has demonstrated suppression of many symptoms and an improved quality of life consistent with benefit as a therapy for the management of this condition. Further studies with larger samples, however, are required to explore the potential role of melatonin in the pathophysiology of fibromyalgia and determine the optimal dosing regimen of melatonin for the management of fibromyalgia

Malignant Tumors of the Central Nervous System

Malignant tumors of the central nervous system in adults comprise a heterogeneous group of malignancies, the largest subgroups comprising astrocytomas, ependymomas, and oligodendrogliomas. Glioblastomas are the most common tumor type, and they have dismal prognosis. Due to differences in cell type of origin, as well as pathogenesis, it is plausible that their etiology also differs between tumor types. The etiology of malignant CNS tumors is largely unknown and no occupational risk factors have been definitively identified. High doses of ionizing radiation increase the risk, but in occupational settings the dose levels appear too small to result in discernible excesses. Several studies have assessed possible effect of extremely low frequency and radiofrequency electromagnetic fields, but the results are inconsistent. Increased brain tumor risk has been reported in agricultural workers, but no specific exposure has been linked to them. Pesticides have been analyzed in several studies without showing a clear increase in risk.acceptedVersionPeer reviewe

Nurses' perceptions of aids and obstacles to the provision of optimal end of life care in ICU

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