Assessment of Potential Impacts to Surface and Subsurface Water Bodies Due to Longwall Mining

Ground movements due to longwall mining operations have the potential to damage the hydrological balance within as well as outside the mine permit area in the form of increased surface ponding and changes to hydrogeological properties. Recently, the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) in the USA, has completed a public comment period on a newly proposed rule for the protection of streams and groundwater from adverse impacts of surface and underground mining operations (80 FR 44435). With increased community and regulatory focus on mining operations and their potential to adversely affect streams and groundwater, now there is a greater need for better prediction of the possible effects mining has on both surface and subsurface bodies of water. With mining induced stress and strain within the overburden correlated to changes in the hydrogeological properties of rock and soil, this paper investigates the evaluation of the hydrogeological system within the vicinity of an underground mining operation based on strain values calculated through a surface deformation prediction model. Through accurate modeling of the pre- and post-mining hydrogeological system, industry personnel can better depict mining induced effects on surface and subsurface bodies of water aiding in the optimization of underground extraction sequences while maintaining the integrity of water resources

Trajectories of depression in sepsis survivors: an observational cohort study

Background: Advances in critical care medicine have led to a growing number of critical illness survivors. A considerable part of them suffers from long-term sequelae, also known as post-intensive care syndrome. Among these, depressive symptoms are frequently observed. Depressive symptom trajectories and associated factors of critical illness survivors have rarely been investigated. Study objective was to explore and compare different trajectories of depressive symptoms in sepsis survivors over 1 year after discharge from ICU. Methods: Data of a randomized controlled trial on long-term post-sepsis care were analyzed post hoc. Depressive symptoms were collected at 1, 6 and 12 months post-ICU discharge using the Major Depression Inventory (MDI), among others. Statistical analyses comprised descriptive analysis, univariate and multivariate, linear and logistic regression models and Growth Mixture Modeling. Results: A total of 224 patients were included into this analysis. We identified three latent classes of depressive symptom trajectories: Over the course of 1 year, 152 patients recovered from mild symptoms, 27 patients showed severe persistent symptoms, and 45 patients recovered from severe symptoms. MDI sum scores significantly differed between the three classes of depressive symptom trajectories at 1 and 6 months after ICU discharge (p = 35 on the Posttraumatic Stress Scale 10 vs. 48.1%/33.3%, p < 0.003); and higher levels of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) using the Short Form-36 scale within 1 month after ICU discharge (p < 0.035). Conclusions: In the first year after discharge from ICU, sepsis survivors showed three different trajectories of depressive symptoms. Course and severity of depressive symptoms were associated with chronic pain, posttraumatic stress and reduced HRQOL at discharge from ICU. Regular screening of sepsis survivors on symptoms of depression, chronic pain and posttraumatic stress within 1 year after ICU may be considered

Manual resistance training: alternative form to increase strength in postmenopausal women after interruption of traditional resistance training

Objetivos: O objetivo do estudo foi verificar o efeito do treinamento resistido manual (TRM) sobre a força muscular de mulheres pós-menopáusicas após interrupção de um programa de treinamento resistido tradicional na musculação. Métodos: A amostra contou com 8 mulheres saudáveis (60,0+7,1 anos), pós-menopáusicas, e que vinham mantendo rotina de treinamento resistido tradicional por, pelo menos, 6 meses antecedentes ao estudo. Todas as voluntárias foram submetidas a testes de repetições máximas para estimativa de 1RM nos exercícios supino reto com barra e leg press horizontal nos momentos pré e pós-intervenção. O programa de treinamento foi composto por 9 exercícios, 3 séries de 15 repetições máximas com 1 minuto de intervalo entres as séries. Os treinos foram realizados 3 vezes por semana, durante 12 semanas. Resultados: Os resultados mostraram aumento significativo na força nos exercícios supino reto com barra (12,8%) e leg press horizontal (15,6%). Conclusão: Conclui-se que um programa de TRM de 12 semanas foi eficiente em aumentar a força muscular de mulheres pós-menopausicas, após interrupção de programa de treinamento resistido tradicional na musculação. Esses achados sugerem que o TRM pode ser uma alternativa para situações nas quais a continuidade do programa de treinamento resistido tradicional não seja possível.Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of manual resistance training (MRT) on muscle strength postmenopausal women. Methods: Eight healthy postmenopausal women (60.0 +7.1 years) and who had been keeping traditional strength training programs for at least 6 months. All participants were evaluated by tests of maximal repetitions to estimate the 1RM barbell bench press and horizontal leg press in pre and post-training. The training program has 9 exercises, 3 sets of 15 maximal repetitions with 1 minute rest interval. The bouts had a frequency of three time for week, during 12 weeks. Results: The results showed significant increase in strength in barbell bench press (12.8%) and horizontal leg press (15.6 %). Conclusion: It is concluded that 12 weeks of MRT program was effective in increasing muscle strength of women coming maintaining a program of strength training for at least 6 months. These findings suggest that the MRT can be an alternative for situations in which the continuity of the traditional strength training program is interrupted

ISAAC, a framework for integrated safety analysis of functional, geometrical and human aspects

International audienceThis paper aims at presenting methods and tools that are developed in the ISAAC project (Improvement of Safety Activities on Aeronautical Complex Systems, www.isaac-fp6.org), a European Community funded project, to support the safety assessment of complex embedded systems. The ISAAC methodology proposes to base as much of the safety analyses as is feasibly possible on simulable and formally verifiable system models that include fault models and can be shared both by safety and design engineers. On one hand, tools were developed to support safety assessment of Simulink, SCADE, Statemate, NuSMV and AltaRica models. On the other hand, formal models are coupled with additional models to address the problems of common cause analysis and human error analysis

EFECTO DE LA ALIMENTACIÓN SOBRE EL CRECIMIENTO Y PRODUCCIÓN DE HUEVOS DE GEOCHELONE (CHELONOIDIS) CARBONARIA (SPIX,1824) BAJO CONDICIONES DE CAUTIVERIO.

Este trabajo se realiz&oacute; con el objetivo de conocer c&oacute;mo la reproducci&oacute;n y el crecimiento de adultos de Geochelone carbonaria se ven afectados con la calidad de la alimentaci&oacute;n, a fin de aumentar la producci&oacute;n de cr&iacute;as en un zoocriade.ro comercial de esta especie. Se realiz&oacute; un seguimiento de la producci&oacute;n de huevos a un mismo lote de 235 hembras durante dos a&ntilde;os con una dieta de 2.17% de prote&iacute;na y 11.1 % de gl&uacute;cidos para el a&ntilde;o 1995 y con una dicta de 6.41 % de prote&iacute;na y 22.18 % de gl&uacute;cidos para el a&ntilde;o 1996. Se encontraron diferencias estad&iacute;sticamente significativas en la producci&oacute;n total de huevos, el tama&ntilde;o promedio de las nidadas y en el n&uacute;mero promedio de nidadas por temporada, siendo todas estas variables mayores con la dieta de 6.41 % de prote&iacute;na. Para ambos a&ntilde;os se reporta un r&eacute;cord para la especie de seis nidadas por a&ntilde;o. Se encontr&oacute; que el porcentaje de hembras sin desove para el segundo a&ntilde;o disminuy&oacute; del 13.61 % al 8.51 %, lo que sugiere que con una dieta de mayor contenido de prote&iacute;na quiz&aacute;s se logre disminuir aun m&aacute;s el porcentaje de hembras que no nidifican. En cuanto al crecimiento y peso se realiz&oacute; un seguimiento a un mismo lote de 135 animales (104 hembras y 3 1 machos) para ambos a&ntilde;os, encontr&aacute;ndose que para las hembras no hubo diferencia estad&iacute;sticamente significativa en los incrementos de tama&ntilde;o y peso bajo ambas dietas. Aparentemente las hembras utilizan los nutrientes de una mejor dieta en producir m&aacute;s huevos y no en aumentar su masa corporal. Con relaci&oacute;n a los machos se encontr&oacute; diferencia significativa en cuanto a los incrementos del largo del carapacho, siendo mayores el primer a&ntilde;o. En cuanto a los incrementos en peso no se encontr&oacute; diferencias en ambos a&ntilde;os. Considerando que estos machos son animales adultos y grandes, es l&oacute;gico pensar que su tasa de crecimiento comience a disminuir con la edad independientemente de la dieta

EFECTOS DE LA DENSIDAD Y LA PROPORCIÓN DE SEXOS EN LA REPRODUCCIÓN EN CAUTIVERIO DEL MORROCOY GEOCHELONE (CHELONOIDIS) CARBONARIA (SPIX1824).

Durante la temporada de reproducci&oacute;n 1995-96 se quiso conocer como la producci&oacute;n de huevos de&nbsp; Geochelone carbonaria&nbsp; se ve afectada por las condiciones del cautiverio, para lo cual se mantuvieron los animales bajo las siguientes condiciones: proporciones de sexo de un macho y tres hembras (1:3) en corrales de 7.5 m2para proporciones de sexo de un macho y siete hembras (1:7) en corrales de 1 5 m2 obtuvieron densidades de 0.57 ind/m2condiciones se realiz&oacute; por duplicado. Con la finalidad de evitar que los resultados de producci&oacute;n de huevos fuesen influenciados por el tama&ntilde;o de la hembra se seleccionaron hembras de tallas muy similares con un largo lineal del carapacho (LC) promedio de 301.53 mm, con una desviaci&oacute;n est&aacute;ndar (DE) de 10.34. Para determinar si la especie puede producir huevos f&eacute;rtiles a un a&ntilde;o despu&eacute;s de la inseminaci&oacute;n, se mantuvieron 10 hembras aisladas de machos en un corral de 30 m2 corrales con proporci&oacute;n de sexo de 1:3 se obtuvo diferencia significativa entre la producci&oacute;n de huevos para diferentes tama&ntilde;os de corral, encontr&aacute;ndose que la producci&oacute;n de huevos aumenta a medida que aumenta el tama&ntilde;o del corral; para la proporci&oacute;n de sexo de 1:7 no se encontr&oacute; diferencia significativa, plante&aacute;ndose que la muerte de dos hembras y la existencia de otras dos con posibles problemas de fertilidad pudo afectar los resultados, recomendando repetir nuevamente este ensayo. En cuanto a la proporci&oacute;n de sexo no se encontr&oacute; diferencia significativa en la producci&oacute;n de nidadas, planteando que un macho puede fertilizar igualmente a tres y siete hembras, sin embargo al observar el porcentaje de hembras que no desovaron en cada uno de los corrales, se obtuvo que para proporciones de sexo de 1:3 este porcentaje disminuye a medida que aumentamos el tama&ntilde;o del corral. Para las proporciones de sexo de 1:7 se encontr&oacute; que el porcentaje de hembras sin desoves aumenta a medida que aumentamos el tama&ntilde;o del corral. En el corral con 10 hembras sin machos no hubo nidadas, sugiriendo que la especie requiere copular cada a&ntilde;o para poder tener &eacute;xito reproductivo

Diseases in Arrau sideneck turtle, Podocnemis expansa, kept in venezuelan farms

Podocnemis expansa se distribuye en los grandes ríos de la Cuenca del Amazonas, Orinoco y Esequibo de Sur América de agua dulce, siendo la mayor tortuga del mundo de caparazón dura, catalogada en peligro y vulnerable por la Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza y de los Recursos Naturales (UICN). En condiciones de cautiverio son más susceptilbles a contraer diferentes enfermedades, a las cuales no estarían expuestas en condiciones silvestres. Una de las principales inquietudes en los zoocriaderos es mantener bajos los índices de mortalidad y trabajar con altas tasas de crecimiento. También tener la seguridad que los tortuguillos liberados estén sanos y que no sean portadores de enfermedades infecciosas, parasitarias o genéticas. Los resultados clínicos de este trabajo fueron recopilados de exámenes clínicos y hallazgos de necropsias e histopatología, en cincuenta neonatos, doscientas veinte crías y juveniles y 7 adultos. También se efectuaron estudios anatomopatológicos en 4 neonatos sintomáticos, realizándose los exámenes bacteriológicos, micológicos e histopatológicos respectivos. Todos los datos reportados en este trabajo fueron recopilados en el lapso de ocho años, 1994 - 2001. Las enfermedades detectadas en los zoocriaderos venezolanos del Programa venezolano de recuperación de esta especie en cautividad fueron clasificadas de acuerdo a su naturaleza en tres etapas: de neonatos: anomalías congénitas, onfalítis, muerte neonatal, dermatitis micótica y septicemia. De crías y juveniles: enfermedad ósea metabólica, avitaminosis A y gota. De adultos: lesiones erosivas y descamativas del caparazón y uñas. Durante los años de estudio, neonatos, crías y juveniles presentaron índices de mortalidad anual mínimos de 1,54% y máximos de 60,50%. La tasa de morbilidad en adultos fue del 100%, pero no se registró la tasa de morbilidad en neonatos, crías y juveniles.395 - 403BimestralThe distribution of Podocnemis expansa is throughout the Amazon, Orinoco and Esequibo river basins in South America. It is the biggest hard shell, fresh water turtle in the world, and is cataloged as an endangered and vulnerable species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In captive conditions they are more prone to acquire different diseases, which in the wild were not hazardous. The main concern in farms, is to keep mortality rates low and to work towards high growth rates. It is also important to ensure that the turtles released are healthy and do not carry infectious, parasitic and genetic diseases. The clinical observations were collected from clinical evaluations and from necropsis and histopathological studies obtained from fifty neonates, two hundred twenty hatchlings and juveniles, and 7 adults. Pathological anatomy studies were performed on 4 symptomatic neonates, and bacteriological, mycological and histopathologic studies were also performed. Data was collected over a period of eight years, 1994-2001. The diseases observed in 2 farms at this Venezuelan Captive Breeding Program were classified acording to their natures in three phases neonates: congenital anomalies, omphalitis, neonatal death, mycotic dermatitis and septicemia. Hatchlings and juveniles: metabolic bone disease, vitamin A deficiency and gout. Adults: presented erosive and descamative lesions of the carapace and claws. In neonates, hatchlings and juveniles annual mortality rates reached a minimum 1.54% and a maximum 60.50% in the three phases during the period of study. Morbidity rates were 100% in adults, but morbidity was not registered in neonates, hatchlings and juveniles