Spatio Temporal Land Use Land Cover Change Mapping of Malete Elemere: Implication on Development Planning of Emerging Communities

The use of Ecosystem and Biodiversity mapping, land use land cover change detection has been advocated in preparation of developmental master plan in towns and cities. Noticeable changes have been observed within Malete Elemere community since the establishment of Kwara State University Malete, yet its spatial pattern and socio ecological implication have not been investigated. This work seek to determine and produce land cover land use change map of Malete Elemere over the last 10 years and post 15 year periods through change detection techniques so as to evaluate the impact of the establishment of Kwara State university on the settlement spatial development. Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) satellite images of 2005, 2010 and 2015 of the study area were acquired from USGS at spatial resolution of 30 m. Radiometric correction were applied to all the images using radiance modules in Idrisi32 with radiance spectral value set at DN 0 (Lmin) and 255 (Lmax). An unsupervised classification was carried out on the composite images of bands 4,3,2,1 for all the selected years to identify possible maximum spectral reflectance classes, this was followed by supervised classification using training sample from the field survey from which image to image spatio-temporal changes statistics were extracted. To generate a prediction of LULC changes for 2025, Cellular Automata-Markovian transition estimator (CA-Markov) in Idrisi32 was used. Various Kappa statistics was used to evaluate the performance of prediction with an average K statistics of above 0.83 recorded. The result shows that built up area gained an astronomical increase (180%) between 2005 and 2015 while forest lost significantly (34%) within the same periods, with most of the gains occurring in 2010 and 2015 after the establishment of KWASU. By 2025, two Major growth pole centres will emerge along Malete Elemere Axis and one minor in Jenkunu Omoni Axis which will exert a great stress on infrastructural facilities and may create a chaotic condition if left unattended to

Tracking family medicine graduates. Where do they go, what services do they provide and whom do they see?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There are continued concerns over an adequate supply of family physicians (FPs) practicing in Canada. While most resource planning has focused on intake into postgraduate education, less information is available on what postgraduate medical training yields. We therefore undertook a study of Family Medicine (FM) graduates from the University of Toronto (U of T) to determine the type of information for physician resource planning that may come from tracking FM graduates using health administrative data. This study compared three cohorts of FM graduates over a 10 year period of time and it also compared FM graduates to all Ontario practicing FPs in 2005/06. The objectives for tracking the three cohorts of FM graduates were to: 1) describe where FM graduates practice in the province 2) examine the impact of a policy introduced to influence the distribution of new FM graduates in the province 3) describe the services provided by FM graduates and 4) compare workload measures. The objectives for the comparison of FM graduates to all practicing FPs in 2005/06 were to: 1) describe the patient population served by FM graduates, 2) compare workload of FM graduates to all practicing FPs.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study cohort consisted of all U of T FM postgraduate trainees who started and completed their training between 1993 and 2003. This study was a descriptive record linkage study whereby postgraduate information for FM graduates was linked to provincial health administrative data. Comprehensiveness of care indicators and workload measures based on administrative data where determined for the study cohort.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>From 1993 to 2003 there were 857 University of Toronto FM graduates. While the majority of U of T FM graduates practice in Toronto or the surrounding Greater Toronto Area, there are FM graduates from U of T practicing in every region in Ontario, Canada. The proportion of FM graduates undertaking further emergency training had doubled from 3.6% to 7.8%. From 1993 to 2003, a higher proportion of the most recent FM graduates did hospital visits, emergency room care and a lower proportion undertook home visits. Male FM graduates appear to have had higher workloads compared with female FM graduates, though the difference between them was decreasing over time. A 1997 policy initiative to discount fees paid to new FPs practicing in areas deemed over supplied did result in a decrease in the proportion of FM graduates practicing in metropolitan areas.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We were able to profile the practices of FM graduates using existing and routinely collected population-based health administrative data. Further work tracking FM graduates could be helpful for physician resource forecasting and in examining the impact of policies on family medicine practice.</p

Psychometric properties of instruments to measure the quality of end-of-life care and dying for long-term care residents with dementia

Purpose: Quality of care for long-term care (LTC) residents with dementia at the end-of-life is often evaluated using standardized instruments that were not developed for or thoroughly tested in this population. Given the importance of using appropriate instruments to evaluate the quality of care (QOC) and quality of dying (QOD) in LTC, we compared the validity and reliability of ten available instruments commonly used for these purposes. Methods: We performed prospective observations and retrospective interviews and surveys of family (n = 70) and professionals (n = 103) of LTC decedents with dementia in the Netherlands. Results: Instruments within the constructs QOC and QOD were highly correlated, and showed moderate to high correlation with overall assessments of QOC and QOD. Prospective and retrospective ratings using the same instruments differed little. Concordance between family and professional scores was low. Cronbach's alpha was mostly adequate. The EOLD-CAD showed good fit with pre-assumed factor structures. The EOLD-SWC and FPCS appear most valid and reliable for measuring QOC, and the EOLD-CAD and MSSE for measuring QOD. The POS performed worst in this population. Conclusions: Our comparative study of psychometric properties of instruments allows for informed selection of QOC and QOD measures for LTC residents with dementia. © The Author(s) 2011

Interleukin-4 and interleukin-13 enhance CCL26 production in a human keratinocyte cell line, HaCaT cells

Eotaxin-2/CCL24 and eotaxin-3/CCL26 are CC chemokines and their receptor, CC chemokine receptor 3 is preferentially expressed on eosinophils. It was reported that vascular endothelial cells and dermal fibroblasts produced CCL26. However, the regulation of CCL24 and CCL26 production in keratinocytes has not been well documented. We investigated the expression and production of CCL24 and CCL26 in the human keratinocyte cell line, HaCaT cells. Reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction was performed using these cells and Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was carried out using supernatant of these cells. The production of CCL24 in HaCaT cells was slightly enhanced by IL-4 and that of CCL26 was strongly enhanced by IL-4 and IL-13. Furthermore, TNF-α generated a synergistic effect on IL-4 enhanced CCL26 production. Dexamethasone, IFN-γ and the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase inhibitor SB202190 inhibited IL-4 enhanced CCL26 production. IL-4 enhanced production of CCL26 was inhibited by leflunomide and JAK inhibitor 1, but not by JAK3 inhibitor, which indicates that it is mediated by JAK1-STAT6-dependent pathway. This result also strongly suggests the involvement of the type 2 IL-4 receptor in IL-4 enhanced production of CCL26. These results suggest that keratinocytes are involved in the migration of CC chemokine receptor 3 positive cells such as eosinophils in a Th2-dominant situation like atopic dermatitis

Intra- and interchromosomal contact mapping reveals the Igh locus has extensive conformational heterogeneity and interacts with B-lineage genes

Summary: To produce a diverse antibody repertoire, immunoglobulin heavy-chain (Igh) loci undergo large-scale alterations in structure to facilitate juxtaposition and recombination of spatially separated variable (VH), diversity (DH), and joining (JH) genes. These chromosomal alterations are poorly understood. Uncovering their patterns shows how chromosome dynamics underpins antibody diversity. Using tiled Capture Hi-C, we produce a comprehensive map of chromatin interactions throughout the 2.8-Mb Igh locus in progenitor B cells. We find that the Igh locus folds into semi-rigid subdomains and undergoes flexible looping of the VH genes to its 3′ end, reconciling two views of locus organization. Deconvolution of single Igh locus conformations using polymer simulations identifies thousands of different structures. This heterogeneity may underpin the diversity of V(D)J recombination events. All three immunoglobulin loci also participate in a highly specific, developmentally regulated network of interchromosomal interactions with genes encoding B cell-lineage factors. This suggests a model of interchromosomal coordination of B cell development

The Modulation of STAT5A/GR Complexes during Fat Cell Differentiation and in Mature Adipocytes*

Objective: Signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) 5A has been shown to interact with the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) in adipocytes. The aim of this study was to investigate the subcellular locations and modulation of STAT5A/GR complexes during adipogenesis and in mature adipocytes. Research Methods and Procedures: Both 3T3-L1 and 3T3-F442A cells were studied by performing subcellular fractionations, immunoprecipitation, and Western blotting after various treatments. Results: The formation of nuclear STAT5A/GR complexes was regulated in the cytosol and in the nucleus at distinct times during adipogenesis and in mature adipocytes. STAT5A, but not STAT5B, forms a complex with GR in adipocytes. The STAT5A associated with GR in the nucleus is tyrosine phosphorylated. Discussion: The association of STAT5A with GR in the nucleus of adipocytes is modulated by the tyrosine phosphorylation of STAT5A. Both GR and STAT5A are known to have important roles in adipocyte function. Hence, our data suggest that the association of these two transcription factors may be important in the regulation of adipocyte gene expression. Copyright © 2007 NAASO