The electrocardiogram of combined ventricular hypertrophy of the heart

Combined ventricular hypertrophy was the commonest finding at autopsy in cases studied by cardiac partitioning. A large number of electrocardiographic deflections reflected left or right ventricular hypertrophy in cases with combined ventricular hypertrophy. However, no consistent electrocardiographic pattern was found, in keeping with the wide spread of combinations of left and right ventricular weights present in these cases. A division of the entire series into 6 subgroups resulted in the best correlation between the electocardiographic findings and the degree of left and right ventricular hypertrophy established at autopsy. The electrocardiograms in the cases with combined ventricular hypertrophy have been compared with those of normal subjects and those with isolated right ventricular hypertrophy.S. Afr. Med. J., 48, 1515 (1974)

The electrocardiogram in isolated right ventricular hypertrophy due to chronic respiratory disease

The electrocardiograms of 34 cases with isolated right ventricular hypertrophy diagnosed at autopsy have been analysed. Only subjects having chronic respiratory diseases of long duration were considered. These results have been compared with normal standards for the electrocardiogram which have advantages over those previously published. Thirty-three deflections, or combinations of deflections, of the electrocardiogram were found to characterise the isolated right ventricular hypertrophy group. Although combinations of abnormal electrocardiographic deflections could be found in some of the normal group, they did not conform to those found in the isolated right ventricular hypertrophy group in the vast majority of the cases. As such, 91% of the electrocardiograms of isolated right ventricular hypertrophy were distinctive. These results have been compared with previous reports dealing with the electrocardiographic diagnosis of right ventricular hypertrophy. Attempts at gauging the degree of right ventricular hypertrophy from the electrocardiogram have been made.S. Afr. Med. J., 48, 1480 (1974)

New standards for electrocardiograms of adult males without evidence of cardiac hypertrophy

A statistical analysis has been made of 214 adult male subjects, of whom 59 had not shown cardiac hypertrophy at autopsy, and cardiac hypertrophy had been excluded in the remainder by clinical and radiological study. The statistical analysis consisted of a stepwise linear regression analysis, in which the electrocardiographic deflections were the dependent variables, and age, electrical position of the hear:, height, weight and ponderal index were the independent variables. The normal limits were established by a combination of the stepwise linear regression equations and the percentile limits. Such an approach offers advantages over methods previously used to establish normal limits for the electrocardiogram.S. Afr. Med. J., 48, 1413 (1974)

The Clarens web services architecture

Clarens is a uniquely flexible web services infrastructure providing a unified access protocol to a diverse set of functions useful to the HEP community. It uses the standard HTTP protocol combined with application layer, certificate based authentication to provide single sign-on to individuals, organizations and hosts, with fine-grained access control to services, files and virtual organization (VO) management. This contribution describes the server functionality, while client applications are described in a subsequent talk.Comment: Talk from the 2003 Computing in High Energy and Nuclear Physics (CHEP03), La Jolla, Ca, USA, March 2003, 6 pages, LaTeX, 4 figures, PSN MONT00

Clarens Client and Server Applications

Several applications have been implemented with access via the Clarens web service infrastructure, including virtual organization management, JetMET physics data analysis using relational databases, and Storage Resource Broker (SRB) access. This functionality is accessible transparently from Python scripts, the Root analysis framework and from Java applications and browser applets.Comment: Talk from the 2003 Computing in High Energy and Nuclear Physics (CHEP03), La Jolla, Ca, USA, March 2003, 4 pages, LaTeX, no figures, PSN TUCT00

Students’ entrepreneurial learning through an internship abroad: A cross-cultural experience

Background: Cross-cultural learning provides students with the opportunity for improved self-awareness when they are placed in unfamiliar situations where their understanding of who they are and what they can do is challenged or expanded. This paper built on the concepts of experiential learning in rich contexts and self-image shocks and explored the research question on how cross-cultural learning in entrepreneurship exchange programmes offered students unique personal learning possibilities and outcomes. Aim: The aim was to build new theoretical and empirical knowledge on the influence and importance of cross-cultural learning in entrepreneurship education (EE). Setting: The study involved South African (SA) students taking part in an internship programme in the vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem of Bergen, Norway. Methods: Adopting a longitudinal design and purposive sampling, four SA students were included in the study. Data were acquired from two reflective group sessions, on two separate instances, and a final student reflection report. The interviews were transcribed and coded along with the written reflection reports and these data sources were subjected to thematic analysis. Results: Four themes were uncovered: Learning about the entrepreneurial culture triggers comparison with own culture, Embracing uncertainty and developing entrepreneurial capabilities, Transformational learning through self-image shocks, Can I become a future entrepreneur? Where am I going? Conclusion: The research highlighted the importance of cross-cultural experience and foreignness as powerful triggers in stimulating students’ introspection and development of self-image. Contribution: The research combines two research streams, hence advancing our theoretical conceptualisation of cross-cultural learning in EE

Thin films of PtAl2 and AuAl2 by solid-state reactive synthesis

The intermetallic compounds AuAl2 and PtAl2 are colored purple and yellow respectively. In the past they have been prepared by bulk melting techniques or by co-deposition in a magnetron sputterer. Here, however, we investigate films of AuAl2, PtAl2 and (Au,Pt)Al2 prepared by sequential physical vapor deposition of the elements, followed by in situ solid-state reaction. The microstructure, dielectric functions, optical properties and thermal stability of the resulting films are characterized and compared to those prepared by bulk melting or codeposition. The (Au,Pt)Al2 films show a color gamut that stretches from purple to brassy yellow depending on composition and microstructure. High temperature synchrotron X-ray diffraction experiments show that the (Au,Pt)Al2 phase is metastable, decomposing when heated above 420 °C. In contrast, the pure AuAl2 or PtAl2 phases are stable to about 580 °C before they oxidize or decompose. The alternative possibility of producing the purple-to-yellow color gamut by depositing optical stacks of very thin films of AuAl2 and PtAl2 is also assessed. Either scheme will provide a range of colors lying between those of the binary compound endpoints. Calculations predict that deposition of AuAl2 onto PtAl2 will produce more intense colors than vice versa, an unexpected finding that is worth further investigation.Royal Thai Scholarship. Part of this research was undertaken on the Powder Diffraction beamline at the Australian Synchrotron, Victoria, Australia.http://www.elsevier.com/locate/tsf2016-08-31hb201

Pharmacological aspects of neonatal antidepressant withdrawal

Depression is common in reproductive age women, and continued pharmacologic treatment of depression during pregnancy may be necessary to prevent relapse, which could be harmful for both the fetus and the mother. Although data on drug safety are imperfect and incomplete, the benefits of antidepressant therapy during pregnancy generally outweigh the risks. Neonates who are exposed to antidepressant medications during gestation are at increased risk to have neonatal withdrawal syndrome, although the exact incidence of this complication is unknown because the definition of the syndrome is not clear and withdrawal reactions are probably underreported. Tricyclic antidepressant withdrawal syndrome is most likely related to muscarinergic activity and individual drug half-lives, and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor withdrawal may be due to a decrease in available synaptic serotonin in the face of down-regulated serotonin receptors, the secondary effects of other neurotransmitters, and biological or cognitive sensitivity. Other factors that influence neonatal toxicity or withdrawal include the normal physiologic changes of pregnancy, the altered activity of CYP450 enzymes during pregnancy, drug-drug transporter (PgP and OCT3) interaction, and the presence of genetic polymorphisms in genes influencing drug metabolism. Further research is necessary

Dynamics of the bacterial gut microbiota in preterm and term infants after intravenous amoxicillin/ceftazidime treatment

BACKGROUND: It is important to understand the consequences of pre-emptive antibiotic treatment in neonates, as disturbances in microbiota development during this key developmental time window might affect early and later life health outcomes. Despite increasing knowledge regarding the detrimental effect of antibiotics on the gut microbiota, limited research focussed on antibiotic treatment duration. We determined the effect of short and long amoxicillin/ceftazidime administration on gut microbiota development during the immediate postnatal life of preterm and term infants. METHODS: Faeces was collected from 63 (pre) term infants at postnatal weeks one, two, three, four and six. Infants received either no (control), short-term (ST) or long-term (LT) postpartum amoxicillin/ceftazidime treatment. RESULTS: Compared to control infants, ST and LT infants' microbiota contained significantly higher abundance of Enterococcus during the first two postnatal weeks at the expense of Bifidobacterium and Streptococcus. Short and long antibiotic treatment both allowed for microbiota restoration within the first six postnatal weeks. However, Enterococcus and Bifidobacterium abundances were affected in fewer ST than LT infants. CONCLUSIONS: Intravenous amoxicillin/ceftazidime administration affects intestinal microbiota composition by decreasing the relative abundance of Escherichia-Shigella and Streptococcus, while increasing the relative abundance of Enterococcus and Lactobacillus species during the first two postnatal weeks. Thriving of enterococci at the expense of bifidobacteria and streptococci should be considered as aspect of the cost-benefit determination for antibiotic prescription.</p

Network Modeling Identifies Molecular Functions Targeted by miR-204 to Suppress Head and Neck Tumor Metastasis

Due to the large number of putative microRNA gene targets predicted by sequence-alignment databases and the relative low accuracy of such predictions which are conducted independently of biological context by design, systematic experimental identification and validation of every functional microRNA target is currently challenging. Consequently, biological studies have yet to identify, on a genome scale, key regulatory networks perturbed by altered microRNA functions in the context of cancer. In this report, we demonstrate for the first time how phenotypic knowledge of inheritable cancer traits and of risk factor loci can be utilized jointly with gene expression analysis to efficiently prioritize deregulated microRNAs for biological characterization. Using this approach we characterize miR-204 as a tumor suppressor microRNA and uncover previously unknown connections between microRNA regulation, network topology, and expression dynamics. Specifically, we validate 18 gene targets of miR-204 that show elevated mRNA expression and are enriched in biological processes associated with tumor progression in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC). We further demonstrate the enrichment of bottleneckness, a key molecular network topology, among miR-204 gene targets. Restoration of miR-204 function in HNSCC cell lines inhibits the expression of its functionally related gene targets, leads to the reduced adhesion, migration and invasion in vitro and attenuates experimental lung metastasis in vivo. As importantly, our investigation also provides experimental evidence linking the function of microRNAs that are located in the cancer-associated genomic regions (CAGRs) to the observed predisposition to human cancers. Specifically, we show miR-204 may serve as a tumor suppressor gene at the 9q21.1–22.3 CAGR locus, a well established risk factor locus in head and neck cancers for which tumor suppressor genes have not been identified. This new strategy that integrates expression profiling, genetics and novel computational biology approaches provides for improved efficiency in characterization and modeling of microRNA functions in cancer as compared to the state of art and is applicable to the investigation of microRNA functions in other biological processes and diseases.</p