Recommendations to ASDENIC for a Potential Water Social Enterprise

Opportunity People living in rural and semi-urban communities in Northern Nicaragua drink contaminated water on a daily basis and struggle with the effects on their health. ASDENIC is in a unique position to create a social enterprise within its organization to provide sustainable clean water solutions to the communities it already serves, and beyond. By distributing and/or manufacturing affordable, effective household water filters, this enterprise could fill an important need through a financially self-sustaining model. Research Activities We conducted 70 semi-structured interviews with potential beneficiaries in six communities: Daraili, Bramadero, Buena Vista, El Pegador, Condega, and Las Sabanas. Additionally, we administered 37 written surveys of 20 questions each and conducted two focus groups with a total of 10 participants, all in rural communities. We met with 15 key informants from local water nonprofits, local governmental organizations, and ASDENIC employees to gather contextual knowledge on the history and infrastructure of water purification efforts. All activities were conducted in Spanish. We took 24 water samples from public and private water taps in rural, peri-urban, and urban areas to test levels of bacterial contamination. In addition, comprehensive water analysis tests funded by Miller Center were conducted, prior to our arrival. These tests assessed bacteriological, material, and chemical contaminants at regional water sources. Our interviews, surveys, meetings, and tests provide a blend of qualitative and quantitative data on the current drinking water situation from environmental, economic, and public health perspectives. Key Findings There is a need. On average, 90% of water tests conducted in rural communities in private and public faucets showed levels of coliform that exceeded WHO guidelines for acceptable drinking water. In addition, the vast majority of participants we interviewed expressed concern about the quality of their drinking water with a smaller, yet still significant portion reporting that someone in their family was currently experiencing diarrheal issues related to their water. There is a market. A majority of individuals we interviewed stated they would be willing to pay for a filter that would provide cleaner water but currently this type of product is not accessible to them

Evaluation of Causes of Death in East of Iran during 2004-2010

Background: Analysis of the leading causes of death in a community and comparing it with other communities is crucial for planning public health policy. The aim of this study was to determine mortality statistics in South Khorasan Province of Iran by using causes of death data which are classified based on the 10th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD10).Methods: In this cross-sectional study, data related to 20281 deaths for the period of 2004 to 2010 which were under the coverage of Birjand University of Medical Sciences were used. These data were collected by the office of statistical system of mortality (Death Registry) and the causes of deaths were classified based on ICD10. The obtained data was analyzed statistically with Pearson's Chi-square (χ2) test, t test and ANOVA in order to find out the pattern of mortality trend in South Khorasan Province.Results: Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) were the leading cause of death (29.8%) with the mean age of 72.6±15.5 in all registered deaths. Moreover, ischemic heart disease (44.87%) and cerebrovascular disease (25.67%) were the most common causes in CVD group, respectively. The second leading cause was unintentional injuries (12.9%) which are mostly due to road traffic accidents. The mean age in this group was 36.8±24. Cancers ranked the 3rd place during the period of study with the mean age of 64.86±18.26. The most frequent cancers are related to stomach (15.3%) followed by liver and biliary system (11.4%), lungs and bronchus (9.5%).Conclusion: Three leading causes of death were cardiovascular diseases, unintentional injuries and cancers which may be prevented by changing life style, diet and reducing risk factors like smoking, obesity and stress

Hierarchical Over-the-Air Federated Edge Learning

Federated learning (FL) over wireless communication channels, specifically, over-the-air (OTA) model aggregation framework is considered. In OTA wireless setups, the adverse channel effects can be alleviated by increasing the number of receive antennas at the parameter server (PS), which performs model aggregation. However, the performance of OTA FL is severely limited by the presence of mobile users (MUs) located far away from the PS. In this paper, to mitigate this limitation, we propose hierarchical over-the-air federated learning (HOTAFL), which utilizes intermediary servers (IS) to form clusters near MUs. We provide a convergence analysis for the proposed setup, and demonstrate through experimental results that local aggregation in each cluster before global aggregation leads to a better performance and faster convergence than OTA FL

Tensile rotary power transmission model development for airborne wind energy systems

Rotary airborne wind energy (AWE) systems are a family of AWE devices that utilise networked kites to form rotors. One such device is the Daisy Kite developed by Windswept and Interesting. The Daisy Kite uses a novel tensile rotary power transmission (TRPT) to transfer power generated at the flying rotor down to the ground. Two dynamic models have been developed and compared; one with simple spring-disc representation, and one with multi-spring representation that can take account of more degrees of freedom. Simulation results show that the angular velocity responses of the two TRPT models are more closely correlated in higher wind speeds when the system shows stiffer torsional behaviour. Another interesting point is the observation of two equilibrium states, when the spring-disc TRPT model is coupled with NREL's AeroDyn. Given the computational efficiency of the simpler model and the high correlation of the results between the two models, the simple model can be used for more demanding simulations

Prospects for detecting the 21cm forest from the diffuse intergalactic medium with LOFAR

We discuss the feasibility of the detection of the 21cm forest in the diffuse IGM with the radio telescope LOFAR. The optical depth to the 21cm line has been derived using simulations of reionization which include detailed radiative transfer of ionizing photons. We find that the spectra from reionization models with similar total comoving hydrogen ionizing emissivity but different frequency distribution look remarkably similar. Thus, unless the reionization histories are very different from each other (e.g. a predominance of UV vs. x-ray heating) we do not expect to distinguish them by means of observations of the 21cm forest. Because the presence of a strong x-ray background would make the detection of 21cm line absorption impossible, the lack of absorption could be used as a probe of the presence/intensity of the x-ray background and the thermal history of the universe. Along a random line of sight LOFAR could detect a global suppression of the spectrum from z>12, when the IGM is still mostly neutral and cold, in contrast with the more well-defined, albeit broad, absorption features visible at lower redshift. Sharp, strong absorption features associated with rare, high density pockets of gas could be detected also at z~7 along preferential lines of sight.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures. MNRAS, in pres

Coibamide A Targets Sec61 to Prevent Biogenesis of Secretory and Membrane Proteins

Coibamide A (CbA) is a marine natural product with potent antiproliferative activity against human cancer cells and a unique selectivity profile. Despite promising antitumor activity, the mechanism of cytotoxicity and specific cellular target of CbA remain unknown. Here, we develop an optimized synthetic CbA photoaffinity probe (photo-CbA) and use it to demonstrate that CbA directly targets the Sec61 alpha subunit of the Sec61 protein translocon. CbA binding to Sec61 results in broad substratenonselective inhibition of ER protein import and potent cytotoxicity against specific cancer cell lines. CbA targets a lumenal cavity of Sec61 that is partially shared with known Sec61 inhibitors, yet profiling against resistance conferring Sec61 alpha mutations identified from human HCT116 cells su ests a distinct binding mode for CbA. Specifically, despite conferring strong resistance to all previously known Sec61 inhibitors, the Sec61 alpha mutant R66I remains sensitive to CbA. A further unbiased screen for Sec61 alpha resistance mutations identified the CbA-resistant mutation S71P, which confirms nonidentical binding sites for CbA and apratoxin A and supports the susceptibility of the Sec61 plug region for channel inhibition. Remarkably, CbA, apratoxin A, and ipomoeassin F do not display comparable patterns of potency and selectivity in the NCI60 panel of human cancer cell lines. Our work connecting CbA activity with selective prevention of secretory and membrane protein biogenesis by inhibition of Sec61 opens up possibilities for developing new Sec61 inhibitors with improved druglike properties that are based on the coibamide pharmacophore.Peer reviewe

Incidence of rotavirus infection in children with gastroenteritis attending Jos university teaching hospital, Nigeria

This study was conducted to determine the incidence of rotavirus infection in children with gastroenteritis attending Jos university teaching hospital, Plateau State. A total of 160 children with acute diarrhea were selected by random sampling. Stool samples were obtained and assayed for rotavirus antigens by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay technique using standard diagnostic BIOLINE Rotavirus kit. Demographic data of parents were also recorded. Rotavirus were detected in faeces of 22(13.8%) children with acute diarrhea, 90.9% of positive cases of rotavirus gastroenteritis were under 2 years of age with highest prevalence in children 7-12 months of age. Males excreted rotavirus at a significant higher rate than females (P < 0.05). Rotavirus excretion was highest when all three symptoms (diarrhea, fever and vomiting) occurred in the same child (7.5%) and lower when 2 symptoms occurred together (diarrhea and vomiting) with 3.8%, diarrhea and fever with 1.3% and lowest when diarrhea occurred alone with 1.3%. Playing with toys, attending day care, distance of source of water from toilet, eating of food not requiring cooking and playing with other children may serve as predisposing factors of rotavirus disease in these children

Invasive thyroglossal duct cyst papillary carcinoma: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>A thyroglossal duct cyst is the most common congenital anomaly of the thyroid gland and midline masses in childhood (70% abnormality in childhood, 7% in adult). Carcinomas arising from a thyroglossal duct cyst are rare (only 1% of thyroglossal duct cyst cases) and characterized by relatively non-aggressive behavior and rare lymphatic spread. They are also diagnosed mostly during the third and fourth decades of life. About 85% to 92% of all thyroglossal duct cyst carcinomas are papillary carcinomas.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We present the case of a 44-year-old Iranian woman with Cacausian ethnicity with a painless anterior neck mass that appeared gradually over three months. She had a history of frequent painful swelling of the anterior part of her neck, which subsided with antibiotic therapy. Thyroid functional tests were normal and a thyroid scinitigraphy showed a cold nodule in the left lobe of her thyroid. A computed tomography scan revealed a large, heterogeneous enhancing soft tissue mass with cystic components in the midline of the anterior neck space. This extended from the base of the tongue,(completely separated from its muscles, to the inferior aspect of the thyroid gland and showed the destruction of the hyoid bone and the thyroid cartilage. The diagnosis of a thyroglossal duct cyst with malignant transformation was maintained. A fine needle aspiration revealed papillary carcinoma.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This patient's case is presented because of its rare, aggressive, and invasive nature and rare and unusual manifestation, as well as its rapid increase in size, the destruction of the hyoid bone, chondrolysis of the thyroid cartilage, lymph adenopathy and the existence of a cold nodule in the thyroid gland.</p

OX40 gene and serum protein expression profiles in patients with Parkinson's disease

Objective: Inflammation of the immune system and the central nervous system has been known as an important predisposing factor for Parkinson's disease (PD). Increased expression of OX40 protein (CD134) is a known factor for increased inflammation and initiation of NF-kappa-B signaling pathway in different diseases. We aimed to investigate the expression of OX40 at the transcript and serum protein levels. Materials and Methods: Twenty individuals with PD and 20 healthy individuals, as controls, were enrolled in this casecontrol study. Expression of OX40 at the transcript level and serum protein levels were measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays respectively. Results: The mean expression level of OX40 was increased in patients but not at a significant level (P>0.05). Consistently, the mean serum concentration of OX40 showed a mild, but non-significant, increase in the patients (P>0.05). Conclusion: We conclude that OX40 expression at either the transcript or protein level has no diagnostic utility in asymptomatic PD. This shows the need for clinical, cellular and interventional research to detect new robust biomarkers. © 2018 Royan Institute (ACECR). All Rights Reserved