Degeneracy between warm and coupled cold dark matter: A clarifying note

Wei et al [PRD 88, 043510 (2013)] have proposed the existence of a cosmological degeneracy between warm dark matter (WDM), modified gravity and coupled cold dark matter (CDM) cosmologies at both the background expansion and the growth of density perturbation levels, i.e., corresponding cosmological data would not be able to differentiate such scenarios. Here, we will focus on the specific indistinguishability between a warm dark matter plus cosmological constant ($\Lambda$) and coupled scalar field-CDM scenarios. Although the statement of Wei et al is true for very specific conditions we present a more complete discussion on this issue and show in more detail that these models are indeed distinguishable. We show that the degeneracy breaks down since coupled models leave a specific signature in the redshift space distortion data which is absent in the uncoupled warm dark matter cosmologies. Furthermore, we complement our claim by providing the reasons which suggest that even at nonlinear level a breaking of such apparent equivalence is also expected.Comment: 6 pages, 1 Figure; revised version, section IV extended and enriched with further discussion, title altered, typos corrected and new references added. Version published in PR

ORAL MANIFESTATIONS IN PEDIATRIC PATIENTS RECEIVING CHEMOTHERAPY FOR LEUKEMIA

Cross-sectional study of 36 children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) or acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Intraoral examination and oral hygiene assessment were performed in all patients. Information was also obtained from interviews of patients’ mothers and a review of medical records. Results: The sample was largely composed of boys (58.3%), ages 5–9 years. The most commonly used chemotherapy regimen was the BFM-95 protocol. Most children (83.3%) had a record of some oral manifestation during treatment. On intraoral examination, 17 children (50%) were found to have at least one oral manifestation. The most frequent manifestation was also mucositis (26.5%), followed by gingival bleeding (23.4%). Lower maternal educational level was associated with increased frequency of mucositis, as were induction chemotherapy and maintenance chemotherapy after relapse. Conclusions: Oral abnormalities were common in children receiving chemotherapy and mucositis was the most prevalent manifestation. Oral lesions were associated with the induction phase of chemotherapy. Mucositis was not associated with oral health status

Nonspecific Skin Reactivity in Epidemiological Studies

Os testes cutâneos por prick constituem o método diagnóstico de eleição no estudo da sensibilização alergénica, sendo no entanto influenciados por diversos factores. Não se encontram disponíveis dados sobre a quantificação da reacti-vidade cutânea inespecífica em estudos populacionais pediátricos, incluindo amostras de raças diversas. Objectivo: Avaliar e correlacionar a reactividade cutânea à histamina em crianças de diferentes raças,bem como a possível influência de factores como o sexo e a atopia. Material e Métodos: Englobado no Estudo Português de Doenças Alérgicas na Criança (PAC Study), foram estudadas 1710 crianças em idade escolar (6 a 12 anos), 244 de raça Negra na República de Cabo Verde, 756 Caucasianas na Ilha da Madeira e 710 de raça Chinesa em Macau. A todas as crianças foram efectuados testes cutâneos por prick com aeroalergenos, utilizando como referência positiva um extracto de histamina a 10mg/ml (Merck Allergopharma). Foi efectuada análise comparativa do diâmetro médio da pápula induzida pela histamina

Ingeniería Forestal y ambiental en medios insulares

Las Islas Canarias a pesar de su reducida extensión y del relativo poco peso específico a nivel mundial, no es ajena a los problemas globales detectados en la conservación de bosques y en la importancia que éstos tienen para obtener beneficios económicos, socioculturales y ambientales. La gestión forestal sostenible es en este sentido esencial para asegurar y compatibilizar los diversos beneficios del bosque. El papel específico de los bosques y su gestión son sin embargo temas aún por conocer en nuestras islas, por lo que el Año Internacional de los Bosques ha representado una oportunidad única para dar a conocer el mundo forestal y acercarlo a nuestra sociedad. El presente libro consta de 25 capítulos donde se ha contemplado la mayoría de los aspectos a tener en cuenta en la planificación y gestión del medio forestal y natural. Desde la historia forestal del archipiélago, hasta el uso y técnicas de manejo de los recursos naturales, incluyendo el agua, la energía en forma de biomasa y la selvicultura

Barriers of mental health treatment utilization among first-year college students: First cross-national results from the WHO World Mental Health International College Student Initiative.

BACKGROUND: Although mental disorders and suicidal thoughts-behaviors (suicidal thoughts and behaviors) are common among university students, the majority of students with these problems remain untreated. It is unclear what the barriers are to these students seeking treatment. AIMS: The aim of this study is to examine the barriers to future help-seeking and the associations of clinical characteristics with these barriers in a cross-national sample of first-year college students. METHOD: As part of the World Mental Health International College Student (WMH-ICS) initiative, web-based self-report surveys were obtained from 13,984 first-year students in eight countries across the world. Clinical characteristics examined included screens for common mental disorders and reports about suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Multivariate regression models adjusted for socio-demographic, college-, and treatment-related variables were used to examine correlates of help-seeking intention and barriers to seeking treatment. RESULTS: Only 24.6% of students reported that they would definitely seek treatment if they had a future emotional problem. The most commonly reported reasons not to seek treatment among students who failed to report that they would definitely seek help were the preference to handle the problem alone (56.4%) and wanting to talk with friends or relatives instead (48.0%). Preference to handle the problem alone and feeling too embarrassed were also associated with significantly reduced odds of having at least some intention to seek help among students who failed to report that they would definitely seek help. Having 12-month major depression, alcohol use disorder, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors were also associated with significantly reduced reported odds of the latter outcome. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of first-year college students in the WMH-ICS surveys report that they would be hesitant to seek help in case of future emotional problems. Attitudinal barriers and not structural barriers were found to be the most important reported reasons for this hesitation. Experimental research is needed to determine whether intention to seek help and, more importantly, actual help-seeking behavior could be increased with the extent to which intervention strategies need to be tailored to particular student characteristics. Given that the preference to handle problems alone and stigma and appear to be critical, there could be value in determining if internet-based psychological treatments, which can be accessed privately and are often build as self-help approaches, would be more acceptable than other types of treatments to student who report hesitation about seeking treatment.status: publishe

WHO World Mental Health Surveys International College Student Project: Prevalence and Distribution of Mental Disorders

Increasingly, colleges across the world are contending with rising rates of mental disorders, and in many cases, the demand for services on campus far exceeds the available resources. The present study reports initial results from the first stage of the WHO World Mental Health International College Student project, in which a series of surveys in 19 colleges across 8 countries (Australia, Belgium, Germany, Mexico, Northern Ireland, South Africa, Spain, United States) were carried out with the aim of estimating prevalence and basic sociodemographic correlates of common mental disorders among first-year college students. Web-based self-report questionnaires administered to incoming first-year students (45.5% pooled response rate) screened for six common lifetime and 12-month DSM-IV mental disorders: major depression, mania/hypomania, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, alcohol use disorder, and substance use disorder. We focus on the 13,984 respondents who were full-time students: 35% of whom screened positive for at least one of the common lifetime disorders assessed and 31% screened positive for at least one 12-month disorder. Syndromes typically had onsets in early to middle adolescence and persisted into the year of the survey. Although relatively modest, the strongest correlates of screening positive were older age, female sex, unmarried-deceased parents, no religious affiliation, nonheterosexual identification and behavior, low secondary school ranking, and extrinsic motivation for college enrollment. The weakness of these associations means that the syndromes considered are widely distributed with respect to these variables in the student population. Although the extent to which cost-effective treatment would reduce these risks is unclear, the high level of need for mental health services implied by these results represents a major challenge to institutions of higher education and governments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).status: publishe