Fast room temperature very low field-magnetic resonance imaging system compatible with MagnetoEncephaloGraphy environment

In recent years, ultra-low field (ULF)-MRI is being given more and more attention, due to the possibility of integrating ULF-MRI and Magnetoencephalography (MEG) in the same device. Despite the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) reduction, there are several advantages to operating at ULF, including increased tissue contrast, reduced cost and weight of the scanners, the potential to image patients that are not compatible with clinical scanners, and the opportunity to integrate different imaging modalities. The majority of ULF-MRI systems are based, until now, on magnetic field pulsed techniques for increasing SNR, using SQUID based detectors with Larmor frequencies in the kHz range. Although promising results were recently obtained with such systems, it is an open question whether similar SNR and reduced acquisition time can be achieved with simpler devices. In this work a room-temperature, MEG-compatible very-low field (VLF)-MRI device working in the range of several hundred kHz without sample pre-polarization is presented. This preserves many advantages of ULF-MRI, but for equivalent imaging conditions and SNR we achieve reduced imaging time based on preliminary results using phantoms and ex-vivo rabbits heads

Factors influencing identification of and response to intimate partner violence: a survey of physicians and nurses

BACKGROUND: Intimate partner violence against women (IPV) has been identified as a serious public health problem. Although the health care system is an important site for identification and intervention, there have been challenges in determining how health care professionals can best address this issue in practice. We surveyed nurses and physicians in 2004 regarding their attitudes and behaviours with respect to IPV, including whether they routinely inquire about IPV, as well as potentially relevant barriers, facilitators, experiential, and practice-related factors. METHODS: A modified Dillman Tailored Design approach was used to survey 1000 nurses and 1000 physicians by mail in Ontario, Canada. Respondents were randomly selected from professional directories and represented practice areas pre-identified from the literature as those most likely to care for women at the point of initial IPV disclosure: family practice, obstetrics and gynecology, emergency care, maternal/newborn care, and public health. The survey instrument had a case-based scenario followed by 43 questions asking about behaviours and resources specific to woman abuse. RESULTS: In total, 931 questionnaires were returned; 597 by nurses (59.7% response rate) and 328 by physicians (32.8% response rate). Overall, 32% of nurses and 42% of physicians reported routinely initiating the topic of IPV in practice. Principal components analysis identified eight constructs related to whether routine inquiry was conducted: preparedness, self-confidence, professional supports, abuse inquiry, practitioner consequences of asking, comfort following disclosure, practitioner lack of control, and practice pressures. Each construct was analyzed according to a number of related issues, including clinician training and experience with woman abuse, area of practice, and type of health care provider. Preparedness emerged as a key construct related to whether respondents routinely initiated the topic of IPV. CONCLUSION: The present study provides new insight into the factors that facilitate and impede clinicians' decisions to address the issue of IPV with their female patients. Inadequate preparation, both educational and experiential, emerged as a key barrier to routine inquiry, as did the importance of the "real world" pressures associated with the daily context of primary care practice

Are clinicians being prepared to care for abused women? A survey of health professional education in Ontario, Canada

Background: The current project undertook a province-wide survey and environmental scan of educational opportunities available to future health care providers on the topic of intimate partner violence (IPV) against women. Methods: A team of experts identified university and college programs in Ontario, Canada as potential providers of IPV education to students in health care professions at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels. A telephone survey with contacts representing these programs was conducted between October 2005 and March 2006. The survey asked whether IPV-specific education was provided to learners, and if so, how and by whom. Results: In total, 222 eligible programs in dentistry, medicine, nursing and other allied health professions were surveyed, and 95% (212/222) of programs responded. Of these, 57% reported offering some form of IPV-specific education, with undergraduate nursing (83%) and allied health (82%) programs having the highest rates. Fewer than half of undergraduate medical (43%) and dentistry (46%) programs offered IPV content. Postgraduate programs ranged from no IPV content provision (dentistry) to 41% offering content (nursing). Conclusion: Significant variability exists across program areas regarding the methods for IPV education, its delivery and evaluation. The results of this project highlight that expectations for an active and consistent response by health care professionals to women experiencing the effects of violence may not match the realities of professional preparation

Polyhedral and chemical orders in icosahedral AL-Pd-Mn quasicrystals

Diffraction data and quasicrystallography provide average quasiperiodic structures for real quasicrystals. In the present paper it is reported a detailed analysis of one of these quasiperiodic structures, with the emphasis on complementariety of Mackay-and Bergman-like polyhedra as well as on chemical order aspects

Rapamycin safeguards lymphocytes from DNA damage accumulation in vivo

International audienceSeveral studies reported the benefits of switching from anticalcineurins to mTOR inhibitors to avoid cancer occurrence after organ transplantation. The purpose of our study was to determine in vivo biological markers to explain these benefits. Cellular changes related to cellular senescence and DNA damage were analyzed in peripheral blood lymphocytes. Thirty-five kidney transplanted patients receiving anticalcineurins were investigated: 17 patients were proposed to switch to rapamycin and 18 patients with similar age and transplantation duration, continued anticalcineurins. Rapamycin effects were studied one year after the switch. Thirteen healthy volunteers and 18 hemodialyzed patients were evaluated as control. Compared with the healthy group, hemodialyzed and transplanted patients exhibited a significant decrease in telomere length, an increase in p16(INK4A) mRNA expression and in lymphocytes with 53BP1 foci. A destabilization of the shelterin complexes was suggested by a significant TIN2 mRNA decrease in transplanted patients compared with controls and a significant increase in TRF1, TRF2 and POT1 expression in switch-proposed patients compared with the non-switched subgroup. Rapamycin treatment resulted in a significant decrease in DNA damage and a slight TIN2 increase. In vitro experiments strengthened in vivo results showing that rapamycin but not FK506 induced a significant DNA damage decrease and TIN2 expression increase compared with controls. The roles of rapamycin in the decrease in DNA damage in vivo and the rescue of shelterin gene expression are demonstrated for the first time. These data provide new insights into understanding of how rapamycin may overcome genomic injurie

Una metodologia GIS per la valutazione della suscettibilità da frana

GIS methodology to assess landslide susceptibility: application to a river catchment of central Italy This paper illustrates a GIS supported methodology for the assessment of landslide susceptibility. The methodology involves four steps: survey, site analysis, macro-area analysis, and susceptibility analysis. Statiscal and GIS processing of basical large scale geological dataset leads to the recognition of discriminating parameters (land conditions necessary but not sufficient to trigger landslides) and predisposing factors (conditions that worsen slope stability) separately for each landslides types. The susceptibility function combines GIS data to draw landslide susceptibility maps. These results represent the preliminary step for the assessment of landslide hazard and risk.Published28-306A. Monitoraggio ambientale, sicurezza e territorioN/A or not JCRrestricte

GIS Methodology to Assess Landslide Susceptibility: Application to a River Catchment of Central Italy

This paper illustrates a geographic information system (GIS) supported methodology for the assessment of landslide susceptibility. The methodology involves four operational steps: survey, site analysis, macro-area analysis and susceptibility analysis. The Survey includes the production (or acquisition) of a large-scale litho-technical map, a large-scale geomorphological map, a detailed inventory of past and present landslide events, and a high resolution DTM (Digital Terrain Model. Site analysis leads to the definition of discriminating parameters (commonly, lithological and morphometric conditions necessary but not sufficient to trigger a landslide of a given type) and predisposing factors (conditions that worsen slope stability but are not sufficient to trigger a landslide of a given type in the absence of discriminating parameters). The different predisposing factors are subdivided into classes, whose intervals are established by descriptive, statistical analysis of landslide inventory data. A numerical index, based on the frequency of landslide occurrence, quantifies the contribution of each class to slope instability. Macro-area analysis includes the generation of Litho-Morphometric Units (LMU) by overlaying discriminating parameters, manual drawing of LMU envelopes (macro-areas), generation of predisposing factor maps from the spatial distribution of predisposing factors, and heuristic weighting of predisposing factor indices. Susceptibility analysis includes the generation of Homogeneous Territorial Units (HTU) by overlaying macro-areas and predisposing factor maps, and the application of a susceptibility function to the different HTU. The resulting values are normalized before the generation of the landslide susceptibility maps. The methodology has been applied to the Fiumicino River catchment, located in the western side of Latium Apennine (Central Italy) between 200 and 1300 m a.s.l. and developed on Late Miocene calcarenites, sandstones with clay intercalations, and marls. The resulting landslide susceptibility maps will be employed in environmental management. They also represent the preliminary step for the assessment of landslide hazard and risk