The effect of handedness on interhemispheric interaction in a simple reaction time task

An individual’s handedness was hypothesised to affect their reaction times when using them to measure interhemispheric interaction. 40 male and female participants filled out an Edinburgh Handedness Inventory and took part in a simple reaction time experiment on a computer. A crossed-uncrossed difference was calculated and a mixed analysis of variance was carried out. The study found a crossed-uncrossed difference of -3.8 milliseconds (ms), while right handers were found to react faster, -2.7ms, than left handers, -4.9ms. No main effect of handedness was found, 0.277 (p=> 0.05) and no interaction between hand and visual field was found, 0.241 (p=> 0.05). Implications and possible methodological limitations of the study are discussed along with alternative explanations for the results found

ELECTRIC BREAKDOWN AS A PROBABILITY PROCESS

ImportanceRecent estimates suggest that more than 26 million people worldwide have heart failure. The syndrome is associated with major symptoms, significantly increased mortality, and extensive use of health care. Evidence-based treatments influence all these outcomes in a proportion of patients with heart failure. Current management also often includes advice to reduce dietary salt intake, although the benefits are uncertain. ObjectiveTo systematically review randomized clinical trials of reduced dietary salt in adult inpatients or outpatients with heart failure. Evidence ReviewSeveral bibliographic databases were systematically searched, including the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, Embase, and CINAHL. The methodologic quality of the studies was evaluated, and data associated with primary outcomes of interest (cardiovascular-associated mortality, all-cause mortality, and adverse events, such as stroke and myocardial infarction) and secondary outcomes (hospitalization, length of inpatient stay, change in New York Heart Association [NYHA] functional class, adherence to dietary low-salt intake, and changes in blood pressure) were extracted. FindingsOf 2655 retrieved references, 9 studies involving 479 unique participants were included in the analysis. None of the studies included more than 100 participants. The risks of bias in the 9 studies were variable. None of the included studies provided sufficient data on the primary outcomes of interest. For the secondary outcomes of interest, 2 outpatient-based studies reported that NYHA functional class was not improved by restriction of salt intake, whereas 2 studies reported significant improvements in NYHA functional class. Conclusions and RelevanceLimited evidence of clinical improvement was available among outpatients who reduced dietary salt intake, and evidence was inconclusive for inpatients. Overall, a paucity of robust high-quality evidence to support or refute current guidance was available. This review suggests that well-designed, adequately powered studies are needed to reduce uncertainty about the use of this intervention.</p

By design : negotiating flexible learning in the built environment discipline

The term &lsquo;flexible education&rsquo; is now firmly entrenched within Australian higher education discourse, yet the term is a contested one imbued with a multiplicity of meanings. This paper describes a process designed to elucidate how the idea of flexible education can be translated into teaching models that are informed by the specific demands of disciplinary contexts. The process uses a flexible learning &lsquo;matching&rsquo; tool to articulate the understandings and preferences of students and academics of the Built Environment to bridge the gap between student expectations of flexibility and their teacher&rsquo;s willingness and ability to provide that flexibility within the limits of the pedagogical context and teaching resources. The findings suggest an informed starting point for educators in the Built Environment and other creative disciplines from which to traverse the complexities inherent in negotiating flexibility in an increasingly digital world

Dynamics of bacterial communities in relation to soil aggregate formation during the decomposition of 13C-labelled rice straw

The addition of fresh organic matter is known to modify both microbial community structure and soil aggregation. The objective of this study was to understand the relationship between the dynamics of the soil microbial community structure in relation to that of their habitats during the decomposition of straw. Soil samples, ground (2000 μm) were measured. Fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) profiling was used to determine total bacterial community structure and FAME based stable isotope probing (FAME-SIP) was used to characterise the straw degrader communities. The mineralisation rate of the native C and the CStraw was high. The formation of macroaggregates (>2000 μm) occurred within 2 days in amended and unamended samples but did so to a greater extent in the amended samples. The CStraw was mainly located in fractions >200 μm, where degraders were the most abundant. The ¹³C-FAME profiles followed the same trends as total FAME profiles through time and within soil fractions, suggesting common dynamics between straw degraders and total bacterial communities: Gram-negative were more important in fraction >200 μm and during the early stages of the incubation while Gram-positive and actinobacteria dominated in fine fractions and at the end of the incubation. Bacterial community structure changed rapidly (within 2 days) in conjunction with the formation of new microbial habitats, suggesting that the relationship between the two is very close

Elimination of Arctic Variant Rabies in Red Foxes, Metropolitan Toronto

To control the arctic variant of rabies virus in red foxes, 332,257 bait doses containing live, attenuated Evelyn-Rokitnicki-Abelseth rabies vaccine were distributed in greater metropolitan Toronto during 1989–1999. Human and pet contact with bait was minimal, and no adverse reactions to the vaccine were noted. Significantly fewer rabid foxes were found during the 17 years after fox baiting (5 cases during 1990–2006) than in the 17 years before (96 cases during 1973–1989). The last report of a rabid fox in metropolitan Toronto was in 1996 (reporting period through September 2006), which confirms that distributing oral rabies vaccine bait is a feasible tactic for the control of rabies in foxes in urban environments

Radium contamination in the area around Dalgety Bay

In this report, the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE) presents a comprehensive review of the radium contamination in the area around Dalgety Bay. This report covers the history of the site, the type and extent of the contamination, the recent investigations and the cancer epidemiology for the area. The report also considers the implications for other similarly contaminated sites

Patient radiation dose issues resulting from the use of CT in the UK

In this report, COMARE presents a comprehensive review of the radiation dose issues associated with CT scans in the UK. The implications of the increase in the numbers of CT scans in the UK are considered in the report, with focus on the number of younger patients undergoing CT scans, who have greater sensitivity to x-rays. The report provides an update on the radiation protection aspects of justification (balancing risk and benefit) and optimisation (balancing the risk from the radiation dose with the quality of the image)

Task design for audiographic conferencing: promoting beginner oral interaction in distance language learning

This paper presents the challenges involved in designing a full set of online tutorial materials for a beginners' Spanish course for distance language learners utilising an online audiographic conferencing VLE for synchronous oral interaction. Although much has been written about task design and task-based learning and teaching (TBLT) in language learning (Johnson, 2003; Klapper, 2003; Ellis, 2000; Nunan, 1989, among others), the shift to an audiographic Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) medium presents a number of challenges to task design which are only just beginning to be documented (Hampel 2003, Hampel & Baber 2003, Hampel & Hauck 2004). Here we will discuss what the challenges are for the design and implementation of activities suited to the development of oral skills in a foreign language in such an environment in the light of current theories of SLA (Skehan, 2003; Doughty & Long, 2003; Doughty, 2000; Long, 1996), task design, and CALL (Warschauer, 1997; Chapelle 1998) and how those challenges were met for the production of a full set of materials for a beginners' Spanish distance learning course at the Open University using a tool that had been deemed unsuitable for that level (Kötter, 2001). We will also present the findings of the developmental testing of a sample of these activities and recommend a model for tasks in an audiographic VLE to promote oral interaction at beginner level

Emergent properties of microbial activity in heterogeneous soil microenvironments:Different research approaches are slowly converging, yet major challenges remain

Over the last 60 years, soil microbiologists have accumulated a wealth of experimental data showing that the usual bulk, macroscopic parameters used to characterize soils (e.g., granulometry, pH, soil organic matter and biomass contents) provide insufficient information to describe quantitatively the activity of soil microorganisms and some of its outcomes, like the emission of greenhouse gases. Clearly, new, more appropriate macroscopic parameters are needed, which reflect better the spatial heterogeneity of soils at the microscale (i.e., the pore scale). For a long time, spectroscopic and microscopic tools were lacking to quantify processes at that scale, but major technological advances over the last 15 years have made suitable equipment available to researchers. In this context, the objective of the present article is to review progress achieved to date in the significant research program that has ensued. This program can be rationalized as a sequence of steps, namely the quantification and modeling of the physical-, (bio)chemical-, and microbiological properties of soils, the integration of these different perspectives into a unified theory, its upscaling to the macroscopic scale, and, eventually, the development of new approaches to measure macroscopic soil characteristics. At this stage, significant progress has been achieved on the physical front, and to a lesser extent on the (bio)chemical one as well, both in terms of experiments and modeling. In terms of microbial aspects, whereas a lot of work has been devoted to the modeling of bacterial and fungal activity in soils at the pore scale, the appropriateness of model assumptions cannot be readily assessed because relevant experimental data are extremely scarce. For the overall research to move forward, it will be crucial to make sure that research on the microbial components of soil systems does not keep lagging behind the work on the physical and (bio)chemical characteristics. Concerning the subsequent steps in the program, very little integration of the various disciplinary perspectives has occurred so far, and, as a result, researchers have not yet been able to tackle the scaling up to the macroscopic level. Many challenges, some of them daunting, remain on the path ahead