Wind and air pollution control study of Yerba Buena Center

For McCue - Boone - Tomsick.CER71-72JEC-FHC-ACH-JAG15.June 1972.Includes bibliographical references

Moving beyond DNA sequence to improve plant stress responses

Plants offer a habitat for a range of interactions to occur among different stress factors. Epigenetics has become the most promising functional genomics tool, with huge potential for improving plant adaptation to biotic and abiotic stresses. Advances in plant molecular biology have dramatically changed our understanding of the molecular mechanisms that control these interactions, and plant epigenetics has attracted great interest in this context. Accumulating literature substantiates the crucial role of epigenetics in the diversity of plant responses that can be harnessed to accelerate the progress of crop improvement. However, harnessing epigenetics to its full potential will require a thorough understanding of the epigenetic modifications and assessing the functional relevance of these variants. The modern technologies of profiling and engineering plants at genome-wide scale provide new horizons to elucidate how epigenetic modifications occur in plants in response to stress conditions. This review summarizes recent progress on understanding the epigenetic regulation of plant stress responses, methods to detect genome-wide epigenetic modifications, and disentangling their contributions to plant phenotypes from other sources of variations. Key epigenetic mechanisms underlying stress memory are highlighted. Linking plant response with the patterns of epigenetic variations would help devise breeding strategies for improving crop performance under stressed scenarios

Outputs and Growth of Primary Care Databases in the United Kingdom: Bibliometric Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Electronic health database (EHD) data is increasingly used by researchers. The major United Kingdom EHDs are the 'Clinical Practice Research Datalink' (CPRD), 'The Health Improvement Network' (THIN) and 'QResearch'. Over time, outputs from these databases have increased, but have not been evaluated. OBJECTIVE: This study compares research outputs from CPRD, THIN and QResearch assessing growth and publication outputs over a 10-year period (2004-2013). CPRD was also reviewed separately over 20 years as a case study. METHODS:  Publications from CPRD and QResearch were extracted using the Science Citation Index (SCI) of the Thomson Scientific Institute for Scientific Information (Web of Science). THIN data was obtained from University College London and validated in Web of Science. All databases were analysed for growth in publications, the speciality areas and the journals in which their data have been published. RESULTS: These databases collectively produced 1,296 publications over a ten-year period, with CPRD representing 63.6% (n=825 papers), THIN 30.4% (n=394) and QResearch 5.9% (n=77). Pharmacoepidemiology and General Medicine were the most common specialities featured. Over the 9-year period (2004-2013), publications for THIN and QResearch have slowly increased over time, whereas CPRD publications have increased substantially in last 4 years with almost 75% of CPRD publications published in the past 9 years. CONCLUSION: These databases are enhancing scientific research and are growing yearly, however display variability in their growth. They could become more powerful research tools if the National Health Service and general practitioners can provide accurate and comprehensive data for inclusion in these databases

Impact on house staff evaluation scores when changing from a Dreyfus- to a Milestone-based evaluation model: one internal medicine residency program\u27s findings

Purpose: As graduate medical education (GME) moves into the Next Accreditation System (NAS), programs must take a critical look at their current models of evaluation and assess how well they align with reporting outcomes. Our objective was to assess the impact on house staff evaluation scores when transitioning from a Dreyfus-based model of evaluation to a Milestone-based model of evaluation. Milestones are a key component of the NAS. Method: We analyzed all end of rotation evaluations of house staff completed by faculty for academic years 2010-2011 (pre-Dreyfus model) and 2011-2012 (post-Milestone model) in one large university-based internal medicine residency training program. Main measures included change in PGY-level average score; slope, range, and separation of average scores across all six Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) competencies. Results: Transitioning from a Dreyfus-based model to a Milestone-based model resulted in a larger separation in the scores between our three post-graduate year classes, a steeper progression of scores in the PGY-1 class, a wider use of the 5-point scale on our global end of rotation evaluation form, and a downward shift in the PGY-1 scores and an upward shift in the PGY-3 scores. Conclusions: For faculty trained in both models of assessment, the Milestone-based model had greater discriminatory ability as evidenced by the larger separation in the scores for all the classes, in particular the PGY-1 class

Histopathological changes and antioxidant responses in common carp (Cyprinus carpio) exposed to copper nanoparticles

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Taylor & Francis via the DOI in this recordDespite the rapid increase of nanotechnology in a wide array of industrial sectors, the biosafety profile of nanomaterials remains undefined. The accelerated use of nanomaterials has increased the potential discharge of nanomaterials into the environment in different ways. The aquatic environment is mainly susceptible as it is likely to act as an ultimate sink for all contaminants. Therefore, this study assessed the toxicological impacts of waterborne engineered copper nanoparticles (Cu-NPs) on histology, lipid peroxidation (LPO), catalase (CAT), and glutathione (GSH) levels in the gills of common carp (Cyprinus carpio). Nanoparticles were characterized by XRD and SEM techniques. Before starting the sub-acute toxicity testing, 96 h LC50 of Cu-NPs for C. carpio was calculated as 4.44 mg/l. Then based on LC50, C. carpio of 40–45 g in weight were exposed to three sub-lethal doses of waterborne engineered Cu-NPs (0 or 0.5 or 1 or 1.5 mg/l) for a period of 14 days. The waterborne Cu-NPs have appeared to induce alterations in gill histology and oxidative stress parameters in a dose-dependent manner. The gill tissues showed degenerative secondary lamellae, necrotic lamella, fused lamella, necrosis of the primary and secondary lamella, edema, complete degeneration, epithelial lifting, degenerative epithelium, and hyperplasia in a dose-dependent manner. In the gill tissues, waterborne Cu-NPs caused a decreased level of CAT and elevated levels of LPO, and GSH in the fish exposed to the highest dose of 1.5 mg Cu-NPs/l of water. Our results indicate that the exposure to waterborne Cu-NPs was toxic to the aquatic organisms as shown by the oxidative stresses and histological alterations in C. carpio, a freshwater fish of good economic value

Frequency domain analysis for detecting pipeline leaks

The original publication can be found at http://scitation.aip.org/hyoThis paper introduces leak detection methods that involve the injection of a fluid transient into the pipeline, with the resultant transient trace analyzed in the frequency domain. Two methods of leak detection using the frequency response of the pipeline are proposed. The inverse resonance method involves matching the modeled frequency responses to those observed to determine the leak parameters. The peak-sequencing method determines the region in which the leak is located by comparing the relative sizes between peaks in the frequency response diagram. It was found that a unique pattern was induced on the peaks of the frequency response for each specific location of the leak within the pipeline. The leak location can be determined by matching the observed pattern to patterns generated numerically within a lookup table. The procedure for extracting the linear frequency response diagram, including the optimum measurement position, the effect of unsteady friction, and the way in which the technique can be extended into pipeline networks, are also discussed within the paper.Pedro J. Lee, John P. Vítkovský, Martin F. Lambert, Angus R. Simpson and James A. Ligget

Telemonitoring for Patients With Chronic Heart Failure: A Systematic Review

Background Telemonitoring, the use of communication technology to remotely monitor health status, is an appealing strategy for improving disease management. Methods and Results We searched Medline databases, bibliographies, and spoke with experts to review the evidence on telemonitoring in heart failure patients. Interventions included: telephone-based symptom monitoring (n = 5), automated monitoring of signs and symptoms (n = 1), and automated physiologic monitoring (n = 1). Two studies directly compared effectiveness of 2 or more forms of telemonitoring. Study quality and intervention type varied considerably. Six studies suggested reduction in all-cause and heart failure hospitalizations (14% to 55% and 29% to 43%, respectively) or mortality (40% to 56%) with telemonitoring. Of the 3 negative studies, 2 enrolled low-risk patients and patients with access to high quality care, whereas 1 enrolled a very high-risk Hispanic population. Studies comparing forms of telemonitoring demonstrated similar effectiveness. However, intervention costs were higher with more complex programs ($8383 per patient per year) versus less complex programs ($1695 per patient per year). Conclusion The evidence base for telemonitoring in heart failure is currently quite limited. Based on the available data, telemonitoring may be an effective strategy for disease management in high-risk heart failure patients