Interactive effects of prey and p,p′-DDE on Burrowing Owl population dynamics

Author Posting. © The Authors, 2005. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Ecological Society of America for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Ecological Applications 16 (2006): 666–677.We used population models to explore the effects of the organochlorine contaminant p,p'DDE and fluctuations in vole availability on the population dynamics of Burrowing Owls (Athene cunicularia). Previous work indicated an interaction between low biomass of voles in the diet and moderate levels of p,p'DDE in Burrowing Owl eggs that led to reproductive impairment. We constructed periodic and stochastic matrix models that incorporated three vole population states observed in the field: average, peak and crash years. We modeled varying frequencies of vole crash years and a range of impairment of owl demographic rates in vole crash years. Vole availability had a greater impact on owl population growth rate than reproductive impairment if vole populations peaked and crashed frequently. However, this difference disappeared as the frequency of vole crash years declined to once per decade. Fecundity, the demographic rate most affected by p,p'DDE, had less impact on population growth rate than adult or juvenile survival. A life table response experiment of time-invariant matrices for average, peak and crash vole conditions showed that low population growth under vole crash conditions was due to low adult and juvenile survival rates, whereas the extremely high population growth under vole peak conditions was due to increased fecundity. Our results suggest that even simple models can provide useful insights into complex ecological interactions. This is particularly valuable when temporal or spatial scales preclude manipulative experimental work in the field or laboratory.Field work was supported by grants from the U.S. Navy EFA West, California Department of Fish and Game, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to D. K. Rosenberg. Analysis was supported in part by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (R-82908901-0)

WaaZam!: supporting creative play at a distance in customized video environments

We present the design, and evaluation of WaaZam, a video mediated communication system designed to support creative play in customized environments. Users can interact together in virtual environments composed of digital assets layered in 3D space. The goal of the project is to support creative play and increase social engagement during video sessions of geographically separated families. We try to understand the value of customization for individual families with children ages 6-12. We present interviews with creativity experts, a pilot study and a formal evaluation of families playing together in four conditions: separate windows, merged windows, digital play sets, and customized digital environments. We found that playing in the same video space enables new activities and increases social engagement for families. Customization allows families to modify scenes for their needs and support more creative play activities that embody the imagination of the child

The voltammetry of surfaces vicinal to Pt{110}: structural complexity simplified by CO cooling

By flame-annealing and cooling a series of Pt n{110} × {111} and Pt n{110} × {100} single crystal electrodes in a CO ambient, new insights into the nature of the electrosorption processes associated with Pt{110} voltammetry in aqueous acidic media are elucidated. For Pt n{110} × {111} electrodes, a systematic change in the intensities of so-called hydrogen underpotential (Hupd) and oxide adsorption voltammetric peaks (for two dimensionally ordered (1 × 1) terraces and linear {111} × {111}step sites) point to a lack of surface reconstruction with all surfaces adopting a (1 × 1) configuration. This is in contrast to hydrogen cooled analogues which give rise to significant residual surface disorder, probably associated with the excess 50% of atoms remaining atop of the surface upon deconstruction of the {110} − (1 × 2) terrace phase. In contrast, Pt n{110} × {100} stepped electrodes, when cooled in gaseous CO following flame-annealing, show a marked tendency towards surface reconstruction, even at low step densities. Variations in potential of the Pt{110}-(1 × 1) Hupd electrosorption peaks as a function of specific ion adsorption strength and pH point to weak specific adsorption for both anions (including perchlorate and fluoride) and cations (including Na+ and K+). CO charge-displacement measurements of the potential of zero total charge (PZTC) allow inferences to be made concerning the nature of the electrosorbed species in the hydrogen underpotential deposition (Hupd) region. Hence, a coherent interpretation of the complex voltammetric phenomena often displayed by platinum surfaces vicinal to the {110} plane is proposed

Accuracy of SIAscopy for pigmented skin lesions encountered in primary care: development and validation of a new diagnostic algorithm.

BACKGROUND: Diagnosing pigmented skin lesions in general practice is challenging. SIAscopy has been shown to increase diagnostic accuracy for melanoma in referred populations. We aimed to develop and validate a scoring system for SIAscopic diagnosis of pigmented lesions in primary care. METHODS: This study was conducted in two consecutive settings in the UK and Australia, and occurred in three stages: 1) Development of the primary care scoring algorithm (PCSA) on a sub-set of lesions from the UK sample; 2) Validation of the PCSA on a different sub-set of lesions from the same UK sample; 3) Validation of the PCSA on a new set of lesions from an Australian primary care population. Patients presenting with a pigmented lesion were recruited from 6 general practices in the UK and 2 primary care skin cancer clinics in Australia. The following data were obtained for each lesion: clinical history; SIAscan; digital photograph; and digital dermoscopy. SIAscans were interpreted by an expert and validated against histopathology where possible, or expert clinical review of all available data for each lesion. RESULTS: A total of 858 patients with 1,211 lesions were recruited. Most lesions were benign naevi (64.8%) or seborrhoeic keratoses (22.1%); 1.2% were melanoma. The original SIAscopic diagnostic algorithm did not perform well because of the higher prevalence of seborrhoeic keratoses and haemangiomas seen in primary care. A primary care scoring algorithm (PCSA) was developed to account for this. In the UK sample the PCSA had the following characteristics for the diagnosis of 'suspicious': sensitivity 0.50 (0.18-0.81); specificity 0.84 (0.78-0.88); PPV 0.09 (0.03-0.22); NPV 0.98 (0.95-0.99). In the Australian sample the PCSA had the following characteristics for the diagnosis of 'suspicious': sensitivity 0.44 (0.32-0.58); specificity 0.95 (0.93-0.97); PPV 0.52 (0.38-0.66); NPV 0.95 (0.92-0.96). In an analysis of lesions for which histological diagnosis was available (n = 111), the PCSA had a significantly greater Area Under the Curve than the 7-point checklist for the diagnosis of melanoma (0.83; 95% CI 0.71-0.95 versus 0.61; 95% CI 0.44-0.78; p = 0.02 for difference). CONCLUSIONS: The PCSA could have a useful role in improving primary care management of pigmented skin lesions. Further work is needed to develop and validate the PCSA in other primary care populations and to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of GP management of pigmented lesions using SIAscopy.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

Low-Voltage Polymer/Small-Molecule Blend Organic Thin-Film Transistors and Circuits Fabricated via Spray Deposition

Organic thin-film electronics have long been considered an enticing candidate in achieving high-throughput manufacturing of low-power ubiquitous electronics. However, to achieve this goal, more work is required to reduce operating voltages and develop suitable mass-manufacture techniques. Here, we demonstrate low-voltage spray-cast organic thin-film transistors based on a semiconductor blend of 2,8-difluoro- 5,11-bis (triethylsilylethynyl) anthradithiophene and poly(triarylamine). Both semiconductor and dielectric films are deposited via successive spray deposition in ambient conditions (air with 40%–60% relative humidity) without any special precautions. Despite the simplicity of the deposition method, p-channel transistors with hole mobilities of \u3e1 cm2/Vs are realized at −4 V operation, and unipolar inverters operating at −6 V are demonstrated

Tissue multifractality and Born approximation in analysis of light scattering: a novel approach for precancers detection

Multifractal, a special class of complex self-affine processes, are under recent intensive investigations because of their fundamental nature and potential applications in diverse physical systems. Here, we report on a novel light scattering-based inverse method for extraction/quantification of multifractality in the spatial distribution of refractive index of biological tissues. The method is based on Fourier domain pre-processing via the Born approximation, followed by the Multifractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis. The approach is experimentally validated in synthetic multifractal scattering phantoms, and tested on biopsy tissue slices. The derived multifractal properties appear sensitive in detecting cervical precancerous alterations through an increase of multifractality with pathology progression, demonstrating the potential of the developed methodology for novel precancer biomarker identification and tissue diagnostic tool. The novel ability to delineate the multifractal optical properties from light scattering signals may also prove useful for characterizing a wide variety of complex scattering media of non-biological origin

Antioxidant Theranostic Copolymer-Mediated Reduction In Oxidative Stress Following Traumatic Brain Injury Improves Outcome In A Mouse Model

Following a traumatic brain injury (TBI), excess reactive oxygen species (ROS) and lipid peroxidation products (LPOx) are generated and lead to secondary injury beyond the primary insult. A major limitation of current treatments is poor target engagement, which has prevented success in clinical trials. Thus, nanoparticle-based treatments have received recent attention because of their ability to increase accumulation and retention in damaged brain. Theranostic neuroprotective copolymers (NPC3) containing thiol functional groups can neutralize ROS and LPOx. Immediate administration of NPC3 following injury in a controlled cortical impact (CCI) mouse model provides a therapeutic window in reducing ROS levels at 2.08–20.83 mg kg−1 in males and 5.52–27.62 mg kg−1 in females. This NPC3-mediated reduction in oxidative stress improves spatial learning and memory in males, while females show minimal improvement. Notably, NPC3-mediated reduction in oxidative stress prevents the bilateral spread of necrosis in male mice, which is not observed in female mice and likely accounts for the sex-based spatial learning and memory differences. Overall, these findings suggest sex-based differences to oxidative stress scavenger nanoparticle treatments, and a possible upper threshold of antioxidant activity that provides therapeutic benefit in injured brain since female mice benefit from NPC3 treatment to a lesser extent than male mice

The Prevalence of Depersonalization-Derealization Disorder: A Systematic Review

35 pagesDepersonalization-Derealization disorder (DDD) is a psychiatric condition characterized by persistent feelings of detachment from one’s self and of unreality about the outside world. This review aims to examine the prevalence of DDD amongst different populations. A systematic review protocol was developed before literature searching. Original articles were drawn from three electronic databases and included only studies where prevalence rates of DDD were assessed by standardized diagnostic tools. A narrative synthesis was conducted. Twenty-three papers were identified and categorized into three groups of participants: general population, mixed in/outpatient samples, and patients with specific disorders. The prevalence rates ranged from 0% to 1.9% amongst the general population, 5–20% in outpatients and 17.5–41.9% in inpatients. In studies of patients with specific disorders, prevalence rates varied: 1.8–5.9% (substance abuse), 3.3–20.2% (anxiety), 3.7–20.4% (other dissociative disorders), 16.3% (schizophrenia), 17% (borderline personality disorder), ~50% (depression). The highest rates were found in people who experienced interpersonal abuse (25–53.8%). The prevalence rate of DDD is around 1% in the general population, consistent with previous findings. DDD is more prevalent amongst adolescents and young adults as well as in patients with mental disorders. There is also a possible relationship between interpersonal abuse and DDD, which merits further research