Refusing to Endorse. A must Explanation for Pejoratives.

In her analysis of pejoratives, Eva Picardi rejects a too sharp separation between descriptive and expressive content. I reconstruct some of her arguments, endorsing Eva’s criticism of Williamson’s analysis of Dummett and developing a suggestion by Manuel Garcia Carpintero on a speech act analysis of pejoratives. Eva’s main concern is accounting for our instinctive refusal to endorse an assertion containing pejoratives because it suggests a picture of reality we do not share. Her stance might be further developed claiming that uses of pejoratives not only suggest, but also promote a wrong picture of reality. Our refusal to endorse implies rejecting not only a wrong picture of reality but also a call for participation to what that picture promotes

Clinical profile and drug utilization pattern in an intensive care unit of a teaching hospital in western Nepal

To analyze the clinical profile of patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of Manipal Teaching Hospital (MTH) at Pokhara, Nepal, identify the commonly prescribed drugs, drug categories, dosage forms, antimicrobials, sensitivity pattern of antimicrobials and the treatment outcomes. A cross sectional, descriptive study in which he case records of all the patients admitted in the ICU during 1st August to 30th September, 2007 were collected and the details were entered in the patient profile form. The filled patient profile forms were retrospectively analyzed as per the study objectives. Altogether, 201 patients [males 101 (50.25%)] were admitted. Most common diagnosis was 'Myocardial Infarction /Ischemic heart disease' [13.96 % (n=62)]. The median (interquartile range) of the ICU stay was 3 (2-4) days. Cardiovascular drugs [31.7% (n=761) were the most commonly prescribed. Among the antimicrobials, metronidazole was most commonly prescribed followed by ceftriaxone. The morality rate in the ICU was 17.41 % and the major causes of mortality were cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Antimicrobials was the most common drug category used in the ICU and 'pantoprazole' was the most commonly prescribed individual drug. Cardiovascular and respiratory diseases were major causes of death in the ICU

NMF-based GPU accelerated coronagraphy pipeline

We present a generalized Non-negative factorization (NMF)-based data reduction pipeline for circumstellar disk and exoplanet detection. By using an adaptable pre-processing routine that applies algorithmic masks and corrections to improper data, we are able to easily offload the computationally-intensive NMF algorithm to a graphics processing unit (GPU), significantly increasing computational efficiency. NMF has been shown to better preserve disk structural features compared to other post-processing approaches and has demonstrated improvements in the analysis of archival data. The adaptive pre-processing routine of this pipeline, which automatically aligns and applies image corrections to the raw data, is shown to significantly improve chromatic halo suppression. Utilizing HST-STIS and JWST-MIRI coronagraphic datasets, we demonstrate a factor of five increase in real-time computational efficiency by using GPUs to perform NMF compared to using CPUs. Additionally, we demonstrate the usefulness of higher numbers of NMF components with SNR and contrast improvements, which necessitates the use of a more computationally efficient approach for data reduction

Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis among HIV-Infected Patients Starting Antiretroviral Therapy in Durban, South Africa

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) and describe the resistance patterns in patients commencing antiretroviral therapy (ART) in an HIV clinic in Durban, South Africa. Design Cross-sectional cohort study. Methods Consecutive HIV-infected adults (≥18y/o) initiating HIV care were enrolled from May 2007–May 2008, regardless of signs or symptoms of active TB. Prior TB history and current TB treatment status were self-reported. Subjects expectorated sputum for culture (MGIT liquid and 7H11 solid medium). Positive cultures were tested for susceptibility to first- and second-line anti-tuberculous drugs. The prevalence of drug-resistant TB, stratified by prior TB history and current TB treatment status, was assessed. Results: 1,035 subjects had complete culture results. Median CD4 count was 92/µl (IQR 42–150/µl). 267 subjects (26%) reported a prior history of TB and 210 (20%) were receiving TB treatment at enrollment; 191 (18%) subjects had positive sputum cultures, among whom the estimated prevalence of resistance to any antituberculous drug was 7.4% (95% CI 4.0–12.4). Among those with prior TB, the prevalence of resistance was 15.4% (95% CI 5.9–30.5) compared to 5.2% (95% CI 2.1–8.9) among those with no prior TB. 5.1% (95% CI 2.4–9.5) had rifampin or rifampin plus INH resistance. Conclusions: The prevalence of TB resistance to at least one drug was 7.4% among adults with positive TB cultures initiating ART in Durban, South Africa, with 5.1% having rifampin or rifampin plus INH resistance. Improved tools for diagnosing TB and drug resistance are urgently needed in areas of high HIV/TB prevalence

Cognitive and Behavioral Domains That Reliably Differentiate Normal Aging and Dementia in Down Syndrome

Primary care integration of Down syndrome (DS)-specific dementia screening is strongly advised. The current study employed principal components analysis (PCA) and classification and regression tree (CART) analyses to identify an abbreviated battery for dementia classification. Scale- and subscale-level scores from 141 participants (no dementia n = 68; probable Alzheimer’s disease n = 73), for the Severe Impairment Battery (SIB), Dementia Scale for People with Learning Disabilities (DLD), and Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales—Second Edition (Vineland-II) were analyzed. Two principle components (PC1, PC2) were identified with the odds of a probable dementia diagnosis increasing 2.54 times per PC1 unit increase and by 3.73 times per PC2 unit increase. CART analysis identified that the DLD sum of cognitive scores (SCS \u3c 35 raw) and Vineland-II community subdomain (\u3c 36 raw) scores best classified dementia. No significant difference in the PCA versus CART area under the curve (AUC) was noted (D(65.196) = −0.57683; p = 0.57; PCA AUC = 0.87; CART AUC = 0.91). The PCA sensitivity was 80% and specificity was 70%; CART was 100% and specificity was 81%. These results support an abbreviated dementia screening battery to identify at-risk individuals with DS in primary care settings to guide specialized diagnostic referral

Biological control of lettuce root-knot disease by the used of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis and Paecilomyces lilacinus

The effects of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis and antagonistic fungus Paecilomyces lilacinus (provitan), on the growth and gall development of lettuce infected by root-knot nematodes Meloidogyne spp. was studied both in greenhouse and field environments. In field experiments, lettuce seedlings were cultivated in nematode infested soil, and P. aeruginosa and B. subtilis were applied every week prior to harvesting. Paecilomyces lilacinus was mixed with nematode infested soil two weeks prior to, and again two weeks after planting the lettuce. The results showed that the weight of lettuce planted in nematode infested soil, containing these three tested organisms, was higher than those cultivated in nematode infested soil with no control agents. Bacillus subtilis, P. aeruginosa and P. lilacinus (provitan) also decreased nematode population densities and suppressed nematode infection. As a result fewer galls were developed within the roots. The effects of three tested organisms, B. subtilis, P. aeruginosa and biocontrol agent P. lilacinus, along with bacterial culture supernatants of B. subtilis and P. aeruginosa on root-knot nematodes were examined while being grown in pots. The results show that the average weight of lettuce planted in nematode infested soil and controlled with P. aeruginosa 30 ml was significantly higher (P=0.05) when compared to those treated with other control agents, as well as those grown without control agents. Also shown in this study, B. subtilis, P. aeruginosa and both B. subtilis culture supernatant 50 ml and P. aeruginosa culture supernatant 10 ml, 30 ml and 50 ml significantly suppressed root-gall development within the root system (P=0.05) when compared to those cultivated in nematode infested soil with no control agents. As a result of using these control agents, fewer galls were developed within the roots. Even though, B. subtilis, P. aeruginosa and P. lilacinus (provitan) decreased nematode population densities, the nematode population level was still much higher than the economic threshold level. The supernatants of B. subtilis 50 ml and P. aeruginosa 10 ml, 30 ml and 50 ml significantly decreased nematode population densities (P=0.05). These bacterial supernatants are potentially * Corresponding author: Waraporn Prakob and Jeerapa Nguen-Hom email: [email protected], [email protected] 180 effective agents for controlling root knot nematodes; however further investigation of their use, as well as the development of field application methods for these control agents are needed

The Effect of Locally Delivered Statins on Treating Periodontal Intrabony Defects: A Systematic Review and Metaâ Analysis

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/142319/1/jper0357.pd