Growth or decline in the Church of England during the decade of Evangelism: did the Churchmanship of the Bishop matter?

The Decade of Evangelism occupied the attention of the Church of England throughout the 1990s. The present study employs the statistics routinely published by the Church of England in order to assess two matters: the extent to which these statistics suggest that the 43 individual dioceses finished the decade in a stronger or weaker position than they had entered it and the extent to which, according to these statistics, the performance of dioceses led by bishops shaped in the Evangelical tradition differed from the performance of dioceses led by bishops shaped in the Catholic tradition. The data demonstrated that the majority of dioceses were performing less effectively at the end of the decade than at the beginning, in terms of a range of membership statistics, and that the rate of decline varied considerably from one diocese to another. The only exception to the trend was provided by the diocese of London, which experienced some growth. The data also demonstrated that little depended on the churchmanship of the diocesan bishop in shaping diocesan outcomes on the performance indicators employed in the study

The potential impacts of climate change on the distribution of Nepenthes and dipterocarps of the Trus Madi Forest Reserve

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MANIPULATION OF THE KINEMATIC CHAlN USING VISUAL BIOFEEDBACK

Feedback has been shown to be an influential component in skill development, yet this has not been assessed in movements involving an explosive proximal to distal sequencing pattern. Novices (n=14) were introduced to a lunge touch task. Visual biofeedback were given on the timing and magnitude of rear leg kinematics. Results showed that those who received feedback adapted their movement patterns by developing extension velocity magnitudes in a summative pattern (pre v post, mean f SD peak ankle angular velocity: biofeedback; 479 * 181 v 889 k 11 7, control; 468 k 106 v 477 f 84 deg.s7), resulting in greater horizontal impulse (mean ? SD: biofeedback; 1.17 ? 0.60 v 1.7 & 0.89, control; 1.33 & 0.33 v 1-48? 0.33 M-s-kg7). The changes were retained after six weeks. These results demonstrate that knowledge of performance based biofeedback interventions alone are effective in developing whole limb contributions in an explosive task

LONGITUDINAL MANIPULATUION OF THE KINEMATIC CHAIN USING A REDUCING BIOFEEDBACK SCHEDULE

Feedback has been shown to be an influential component in skill development, yet this has not been assessed longitudinally in a complex motor skill. Novices (n=32) were introduced to a lunge touch task. Visual biofeedback were given on the timing and magnitude of rear leg kinematics. Results showed that those who received feedback adapted their movement patterns by developing extension velocity magnitudes (40.0%, 24.8% and 28.9% increases for the hip, knee and ankle respectively). The changes were retained across 26 weeks, with a reducing visit schedule of feedback. These results demonstrate that knowledge of performance based biofeedback interventions alone are effective in developing whole limb contributions in an explosive task, and that a reducing visit schedule negates dependence on feedback

Prevalence and factors associated with cryptococcal antigenemia among severely immunosuppressed HIV-infected adults in Uganda: a cross-sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cryptococcal infection is a common opportunistic infection among severely immunosuppressed HIV patients and is associated with high mortality. Positive cryptococcal antigenemia is an independent predictor of cryptococcal meningitis and death in patients with severe immunosuppression. We evaluated the prevalence and factors associated with cryptococcal antigenemia among patients with CD4 counts of 100 cells/mm³or less in Mulago Hospital, Kampala, Uganda. Screening of a targeted group of HIV patients may enable early detection of cryptococcal infection and intervention before initiating antiretroviral therapy. Factors associated with cryptococcal antigenemia may be used subsequently in resource-limited settings in screening for cryptococcal infection, and this data may also inform policy for HIV care.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this cross-sectional study, HIV-infected patients aged 18 years and older with CD4 counts of up to 100 cells/mm³were enrolled between December 2009 and March 2010. Data on socio-demographics, physical examinations and laboratory tests were collected. Factors associated with cryptococcal antigenemia were analyzed using multiple logistic regression.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We enrolled 367 participants and the median CD4 count was 23 (IQR 9-51) cells/mm³. Sixty-nine (19%) of the 367 participants had cryptococcal antigenemia. Twenty-four patients (6.5%) had cryptococcal meningitis on cerebrospinal fluid analysis and three had isolated cryptococcal antigenemia. Factors associated with cryptococcal antigenemia included: low body mass index of 15.4 kg/m²or less (adjusted odds ratio, AOR = 0.5; 95% CI 0.3-1.0), a CD4+ T cell count of less than 50 cells/mm³(AOR = 2.7; 95% CI1.2-6.1), neck pain (AOR = 2.3; 95% CI 1.2-4.6), recent diagnosis of HIV infection (AOR = 1.9; 95% CI 1.1-3.6), and meningeal signs (AOR = 7.9; 95% CI 2.9-22.1). However, at sub-analysis of asymptomatic patients, absence of neck pain (AOR = 0.5), photophobia (AOR = 0.5) and meningeal signs (AOR = 0.1) were protective against cryptococcal infection.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Cryptococcal antigenemia is common among severely immunosuppressed HIV patients in Mulago Hospital, Kampala, Uganda. Independent predictors of positive serum cryptococcal antigenemia were CD4⁺T cell counts of less than 50 cells/mm, low body mass index, neck pain, signs of meningeal irritation, and a recent diagnosis of HIV infection. Routine screening of this category of patients may detect cryptococcosis, and hence provide an opportunity for early intervention. Absence of neck pain, photophobia and meningeal signs were protective against cryptococcal infection compared with symptomatic patients.</p

The Origin of B-Type Runaway Stars: Non-LTE Abundances as a Diagnostic

There are two accepted mechanisms to explain the origin of runaway OB-type stars: the Binary Supernova Scenario (BSS), and the Cluster Ejection Scenario (CES). In the former, a supernova explosion within a close binary ejects the secondary star, while in the latter close multi-body interactions in a dense cluster cause one or more of the stars to be ejected from the region at high velocity. Both mechanisms have the potential to affect the surface composition of the runaway star. TLUSTY non-LTE model atmosphere calculations have been used to determine atmospheric parameters and carbon, nitrogen, magnesium and silicon abundances for a sample of B-type runaways. These same analytical tools were used by Hunter et al. (2009) for their analysis of 50 B-type open cluster Galactic stars (i.e. non-runaways). Effective temperatures were deduced using the silicon-ionization balance technique, surface gravities from Balmer line profiles and microturbulent velocities derived using the Si spectrum. The runaways show no obvious abundance anomalies when compared with stars in the open clusters. The runaways do show a spread in composition which almost certainly reflects the Galactic abundance gradient and a range in the birthplaces of the runaways in the Galactic disk. Since the observed Galactic abundance gradients of C, N, Mg and Si are of a similar magnitude, the abundance ratios (e.g., N/Mg) are, as obtained, essentially uniform across the sample