Jabuka Shoal, a New Location with Igneous Rocks in the Adriatic Sea

Petrographic and XRF analyses of the magmatic rock from Jabuka Shoal, 2300 m west of Jabuka Islet (central Adriatic Sea) revealed that the rock is gabbro. This new location of magmatic rocks in the Adriatic confirms their linear arrangement, and indicates the presence of an important fault line which predisposed the occurrences of magmatic rocks

Від шляхетства до дворянства: до історії польської присутності на Ніжинщині в ХVІІ – першій третині ХІХ століття (за матеріалами формулярних списків)

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REM: A Collaborative Framework for Building Indigenous Cultural Competence

© 2015, © The Author(s) 2015. The well-documented health disparities between the Australian Indigenous and non-Indigenous population mandates a comprehensive response from health professionals. This article outlines the approach taken by one faculty of health in a large urban Australian university to enhance cultural competence in students from a variety of fields. Here we outline a collaborative and deeply respectful process of Indigenous and non-Indigenous university staff collectively developing a model that has framed the embedding of a common faculty Indigenous graduate attribute across the curriculum. Through collaborative committee processes, the development of the principles of “Respect; Engagement and sharing; Moving forward” (REM) has provided both a framework and way of “being and doing” our work. By drawing together the recurring principles and qualities that characterize Indigenous cultural competence the result will be students and staff learning and bringing into their lives and practice, important Indigenous cultural understanding

Two decades of numerical modelling to understand long term fluvial archives: Advances and future perspectives

The development and application of numerical models to investigate fluvial sedimentary archives has increased during the last decades resulting in a sustained growth in the number of scientific publications with keywords, 'fluvial models', 'fluvial process models' and 'fluvial numerical models'. In this context we compile and review the current contributions of numerical modelling to the understanding of fluvial archives. In particular, recent advances, current limitations, previous unexpected results and future perspectives are all discussed. Numerical modelling efforts have demonstrated that fluvial systems can display non-linear behaviour with often unexpected dynamics causing significant delay, amplification, attenuation or blurring of externally controlled signals in their simulated record. Numerical simulations have also demonstrated that fluvial records can be generated by intrinsic dynamics without any change in external controls. Many other model applications demonstrate that fluvial archives, specifically of large fluvial systems, can be convincingly simulated as a function of the interplay of (palaeo) landscape properties and extrinsic climate, base level and crustal controls. All discussed models can, after some calibration, produce believable matches with real world systems suggesting that equifinality - where a given end state can be reached through many different pathways starting from different initial conditions and physical assumptions - plays an important role in fluvial records and their modelling. The overall future challenge lies in the development of new methodologies for a more independent validation of system dynamics and research strategies that allow the separation of intrinsic and extrinsic record signals using combined fieldwork and modelling

Fecal occult blood and fecal calprotectin as point-of-care markers of intestinal morbidity in Ugandan children with Schistosoma mansoni infection.

BACKGROUND: Calprotectin is a calcium-binding cytoplasmic protein found in neutrophils and increasingly used as a marker of bowel inflammation. Fecal occult blood (FOB) is also a dependable indicator of bowel morbidity. The objective of our study was to determine the applicability of these tests as surrogate markers of Schistosoma mansoni intestinal morbidity before and after treatment with praziquantel (PZQ). METHODS: 216 children (ages 3-9 years old) from Buliisa District in Lake Albert, Uganda were examined and treated with PZQ at baseline in October 2012 with 211 of them re-examined 24 days later for S. mansoni and other soil transmitted helminths (STH). POC calprotectin and FOB assays were performed at both time points on a subset of children. Associations between the test results and infection were analysed by logistic regression. RESULTS: Fecal calprotectin concentrations of 150-300 µg/g were associated with S. mansoni egg patent infection both at baseline and follow up (OR: 12.5 P = 0.05; OR: 6.8 P = 0.02). FOB had a very strong association with baseline anemia (OR: 9.2 P = 0.03) and medium and high egg intensity schistosomiasis at follow up (OR: 6.6 P = 0.03; OR: 51.3 P = 0.003). Both tests were strongly associated with heavy intensity S. mansoni infections. There was a significant decrease in FOB and calprotectin test positivity after PZQ treatment in those children who had egg patent schistosomiasis at baseline. CONCLUSIONS: Both FOB and calprotectin rapid assays were found to correlate positively and strongly with egg patent S. mansoni infection with a positive ameloriation response after PZQ treatment indicative of short term reversion of morbidity. Both tests were appropriate for use in the field with excellent operational performance and reliability. Due to its lower-cost which makes its scale-up of use affordable, FOB could be immediately adopted as a monitoring tool for PC campaigns for efficacy evaluation before and after treatment

A dose ranging trial to optimize the dose of Rifampin in the treatment of tuberculosis

The study was funded by the EDCTP (European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership), NACCAP (Netherlands-African partnership for Capacity development and Clinical interventions Against Poverty-related diseases) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.Rationale: Rifampin at a dose of 10 mg/kg was introduced in 1971 based on pharmacokinetic, toxicity and cost considerations. Available data in mice and humans showed that an increase in dose may shorten the duration of tuberculosis treatment. Objectives: To evaluate the safety and tolerability, the pharmacokinetics and the extended early bactericidal activity of increasing doses of rifampin. Methods: Patients with drug-susceptible tuberculosis were enrolled into a control group of 8 patients receiving the standard dose of 10 mg/kg rifampin, followed by consecutive experimental groups with 15 patients each receiving rifampin 20 mg/kg, 25 mg/kg, 30 mg/kg and 35 mg/kg, respectively, for 14 days. In all patients isoniazid, pyrazinamide and ethambutol were added in standard doses for the second 7 days of treatment. Safety, pharmacokinetics of rifampin, and fall in bacterial load were assessed. Measurements and Main Results: Grade 1 and 2 adverse events were equally distributed between the five dose groups; there were 5 grade 3 events of which 1 was a possibly related hepatotoxicity. Areas under the time-concentration curves and peak serum concentrations of rifampin showed a more than proportional increase with dose. The daily fall in bacterial load over 14 days was 0.176, 0.168, 0.167, 0.265, and 0.261 log10CFU/ml sputum in the 10, 20, 25, 30 and 35 mg/kg groups respectively. Conclusions: Two weeks of rifampin up to 35 mg/kg was safe and well tolerated. There was a non-linear increase in exposure to rifampin without an apparent ceiling effect and a greater estimated fall in bacterial load in the higher dosing groups. Clinical trial registration available at www.clinicaltrials.gove, ID NCT01392911.PostprintPeer reviewe