Chemistry by Mobile Phone (or how to justify more time at the bar)

By combining automatic environment monitoring with Java smartphones a system has been produced for the real-time monitoring of experiments whilst away from the lab. Changes in the laboratory environment are encapsulated as simple XML messages, which are published using an MQTT compliant broker. Clients subscribe to the MQTT stream, and produce a user display. An MQTT client written for the Java MIDP platform, can be run on a smartphone with a GPRS Internet connection, freeing us from the constraints of the lab. We present an overview of the technologies used, and how these are helping chemists make the best use of their time

Infrastructure Development and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme: Evidence from Bankura, West Bengal

Introduction. The immediate goal of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) is to ensure a social safety net for vulnerable groups by providing a fall-back source of employment when other alternatives are scarce. However, its long-term goals are to create durable rural assets and infrastructure which meet local needs and help address chronic poverty and to foster a model of governance based on the principles of grass-root democracy and transparency (Ministry of Rural Development, 2008). While several papers have examined pertinent aspects of the functioning of the programme, such as targeting (Jha et al., 2009), impact on consumption (Ravi and Engler, 2009) and various implementation issues including corruption (Rai, 2008; Institute of Applied Manpower Research, 2008) there is limited work on the quality and upkeep of the infrastructure built through the programme and indeed whether the constructed projects meet local needs. ..

ENTRAINMENT DURING BICYCLE ERGOMETRY IN ELITE CYCLISTS

While it is widely accepted that ventilation increases abruptly at the onset of muscular exercise (D'Angelo and Torelli, 1971; Jensen, Vejby-Christensen and Petersen, 1972; Krogh and Lin~~ard, 1913) the control of the respiratory pattern, i.e., the relationship between ventilation (V', Vi', Ve'), tidal volume (Vt), and respiratory frequency (fR) or respiratory cycle times (Tt, Ti, Te) is not clearly understood (Wasserman, 1978). There are a number of factors, which may be classified as humoral, neurogenic, or neurohumoral, involved in respiratory regulation (Dejours, 1960), but the importance of any single factor is difficult to determine because of the associated problems of controlling for the other variables involved in the total response. One such factor is the coordination of the respiratory pattern to the movement pattern referred to as entrainment. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between the variables that control the respiratory pattern and to test the hypothesis that entrainment would be more prevalent in athletes who were highly trained for a particular mode of exercise, based on a work minimization theory (Priban and Fincham, 1965; Yamashiro and Grodins, 1973; Cherniack, 1980), than in non-athletes unaccustomed to the exercise

Dysregulation of Prostaglandins, Leukotrienes and Lipoxin A4 in Bronchiectasis

Introduction: Bronchiectasis is characterised by excessive neutrophilic inflammation. Lipid mediators such as prostaglandins and leukotrienes have crucial roles in the inflammatory response. Further characterisation of these lipids and understanding the interplay of anti-inflammatory and proinflammatory lipid mediators could lead to the development of novel anti-inflammatory therapies for bronchiectasis. Aim: The aim of our study was to characterise the lipids obtained from serum and airways in patients with bronchiectasis in the stable state. Methods: Six healthy volunteers, 10 patients with mild bronchiectasis, 15 with moderate bronchiectasis and 9 with severe bronchiectasis were recruited. All participants had 60 mL of blood taken and underwent a bronchoscopy while in the stable state. Lipidomics was done on serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). Results: In the stable state, in serum there were significantly higher levels of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), 15-hydroxyeicosatetranoic acid (15-HETE) and leukotriene B4 (LTB4) in patients with moderate–severe disease compared with healthy volunteers. There was a significantly lower level of lipoxin A4 (LXA4) in severe bronchiectasis. In BALF, there were significantly higher levels of PGE2, 5-HETE, 15-HETE, 9-hydroxyoctadecadienoic acid and LTB4 in moderate–severe patients compared with healthy volunteers. In the stable state, there was a negative correlation of PGE2 and LTB4 with % predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 s and a positive correlation with antibiotic courses. LXA4 improved blood and airway neutrophil phagocytosis and bacterial killing in patients with bronchiectasis. Additionally LXA4 reduced neutrophil activation and degranulation. Conclusion: There is a dysregulation of lipid mediators in bronchiectasis with excess proinflammatory lipids. LXA4 improves the function of reprogrammed neutrophils. The therapeutic efficacy of LXA4 in bronchiectasis warrants further studies