Mortality of federally endangered fishes induced by artificial breaching of the Santa Clara River lagoon, Ventura County, southern California

Fishes of southern California coastal streams and associated coastal lagoons live with a Mediterranean-style hydrological cycle. Winter rains open the lagoons to the ocean; subsequent dry season low flows and changes in sandy beach dynamics closes them for most of the year. Artificial breaching of barrier sand berms can disrupt fish populations and cause mortality. Such breaches have been rarely observed and then only after some time has passed. An artificial breaching at the mouth of the Santa Clara River, Ventura County, CA coincided with an extreme low tide on 17 September 2010. We observed the mortality of thousands of both native and non-native fishes and invasive frogs; including at least thousands of the federally endangered Tidewater Goby (Eucyclogobius newberryi) and seven smolts of the federally endangered southern Steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Despite the many anthropogenic, faunal, and non-faunally related reasons for breaching, our observations confirm such actions can be detrimental to conservation and recovery of threatened and endangered species as well as to other fauna and flora dependent on such habitats

Mechanical tension in the median nerve: The effects of joint positions

Stretch tests are attractive in the diagnosis of nerve root or peripheral nerve lesion. Interpretation of the test results is often difficult since the distribution of tensile forces along the nerve caused by the test manoeuvre is not known. In this study the effect on median nerve tension of 22 positions of the arm was measured with ‘buckle’ force transducers. With the elbow in full extension and the hand in neutral position, altering the position of the shoulder significantly influenced tension in the proximal part of the median nerve; tension in the distal part was not influenced. With the shoulder in 90 ° abduction, dorsiflexion of the hand combined with an extended elbow resulted in an increased tension in both distal and proximal parts of the median nerve. Dorsiflexion of the hand combined with flexion of the elbow caused an increase in tension only in the distal part. At all sites of the median nerve the median nerve upper limb tension test caused a significantly higher tension than the radial and ulnar nerve upper limb tension tests. This study provides insight in the normal distribution of tensile forces along the median nerve and can have clinical consequences. For differentiating nerve root from peripheral nerve lesions a specific provocative tension test for the median nerve is advocated. The results of this study provide a theoretical basis for differentiating between lesions in the proximal and distal parts of the median nerve

Towards integrated youth care : a systematic review of facilitators and barriers for professionals

To overcome fragmentation in support for children and their families with multiple and enduring problems across life domains, professionals increasingly try to organize integrated care. However, it is unclear what facilitators and barriers professionals experience when providing this integrated care. Our systematic review, including 55 studies from a broad variety of settings in Youth Care, showed that integrated care on a professional level is a multi-component entity consisting of several facilitators and barriers. Findings were clustered in seven general themes: ‘Child’s environment’, ‘Preconditions’, ‘Care process’, ‘Expertise’, ‘Interprofessional collaboration’, ‘Information exchange’, and ‘Professional identity’. The identified facilitators and barriers were generally consistent across studies, indicating broad applicability across settings and professional disciplines. This review clearly shows that when Youth Care professionals address a broad spectrum of problems, a variety of facilitators and barriers should be considered. Registration PROSPERO, registration number CRD42018084527

Java GUI for InterProScan (JIPS): A tool to help process multiple InterProScans and perform ortholog analysis

BACKGROUND: Recent, rapid growth in the quantity of available genomic data has generated many protein sequences that are not yet biochemically classified. Thus, the prediction of biochemical function based on structural motifs is an important task in post-genomic analysis. The InterPro databases are a major resource for protein function information. For optimal results, these databases should be searched at regular intervals, since they are frequently updated. RESULTS: We describe here a new program JIPS (Java GUI for InterProScan), a tool for tracking and viewing results obtained from repeated InterProScan searches. JIPS stores matches (in a local database) obtained from InterProScan searches performed with multiple versions of the InterPro database and highlights hits that have been added since the last search of the InterPro database. Results are displayed in an easy-to-use tabular format. JIPS also contains tools to assist with ortholog-based comparative studies of protein signatures. CONCLUSION: JIPS is an efficient tool for performing repeated InterProScans on large batches of protein sequences, tracking and viewing search results, and mining the collected data

Recurrent acute biliary pancreatitis: The protective role of cholecystectomy and endoscopic sphincterotomy

Background: Recurrent attacks of acute biliary pancreatitis (RABP) are prevented by (laparoscopic) cholecystectomy. Since the introduction of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreaticography (ERCP), several series have described a similar reduction of RABP after endoscopic sphincterotomy (ES). This report discusses the different treatment options for preventing RABP including conservative treatment, cholecystectomy, ES, and combinations of these options as well as their respective timing. Methods: A search in PubMed for observational studies and clinical (comparative) trials published in the English language was performed on the subject of recurrent acute biliary pancreatitis and other galls

Effect of shared care on blood pressure in patients with chronic kidney disease: A cluster randomised controlled trial

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is highly prevalent in patients with diabetes or hypertension in primary care. A shared care model could improve quality of care in these patients Aim: To assess the effect of a shared care model in managing patie

The influence of music on mood and performance while driving

Mood can influence our everyday behaviour and people often seek to reinforce, or to alter their mood, for example by turning on music. Music listening while driving is a popular activity. However, little is known about the impact of music listening while driving on physiological state and driving performance. In the present experiment, it was investigated whether individually selected music can induce mood and maintain moods during a simulated drive. In addition, effects of positive, negative, and no music on driving behaviour and physiological measures were assessed for normal and high cognitive demanding rides. Subjective mood ratings indicated that music successfully maintained mood while driving. Narrow lane width drives increased task demand as shown in effort ratings and increased swerving. Furthermore, respiration rate was lower during music listening compared to rides without music, while no effects of music were found on heart rate. Overall, the current study demonstrates that music listening in car influences the experienced mood while driving, which in turn can impact driving behaviour. Practitioners Summary: Even though it is a popular activity, little is known about the impact of music while driving on physiological state and performance. We examined whether music can induce moods during high and low simulated drives. The current study demonstrates that in car music listening influences mood which in turn can impact driving behaviour. The current study shows that listening to music can positively impact mood while driving, which can be used to affect state and safe behaviour. Additionally, driving performance in high demand situations is not negatively affected by music