Ethics Matter: The Morality and Justice Principles of Elected City Officials and their Impact of Urban Issues

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The published version is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9906.2011.00583.xThis article pursues the thesis that ethics matter in urban policymaking. Interviews with 95 elected officials in 12 cities revealed the officials' support for—and opposition to—many principles of political morality and political justice. Officials regarded their ethical principles as almost as important as economic constraints on their policy decisions, and much more important than political, legal, jurisdictional, and cultural considerations. The role of ethics in the resolution of 93 issues that arose in their communities varied from minimal to decisive. On some occasions ethical considerations served mainly as justifications for policy decisions made primarily on other grounds. But more often, significant numbers of officials drew largely, and even primarily, on their own moral judgments when casting their votes on community issues. And some policies were driven by consensual moral understandings

Comparison between aerobic power parameters at different time-averaging intervals in swimming: An update

Sousa et al. (Open Sports Sci J, 3: 22 – 24, 2010) showed that different time averaging intervals lead to distinct VO2 values in a maximal 200m front crawl effort, evidencing higher VO2 values for breath-by-breath sampling, and differences between this latter data acquisition and all the other less frequent time intervals studied (5, 10, 15 and 20 s). These are interesting outputs in the field of exercise physiology applied to swimming once: (1) VO2 assessment is conducted in a swimming pool with a portable gas analyser which allowed breath-by-breath measurements, and not in a swimming flume with a Douglas bag technique or mixing chamber analyser, as traditionally occurs, and (2) the comparison between different time-averaging intervals used to remove breath-by-breath fluctuations during exercise periods has remained neglected, in sport in general and swimming in particular. Therefore, in the present study, we investigate the influence that different time averaging intervals have in aerobic power related parameters (VO2peak and VO2max). Ten subjects performed 200m front crawl effort at supra-maximal intensities (all-out test) and other ten subjects performed 200m front crawl effort at maximal aerobic intensities (100% of VO2max).The intensity at which the 200m front crawl was performed (supra-maximal and maximal intensities) had a significant effect on VO2peak and VO2max values obtained for each averaging intervals studied.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Inaccuracy of accumulated degree day models for estimating terrestrial post-mortem intervals in Cape Town, South Africa

In forensic death investigations, estimating the postmortem interval (PMI) is critical. An accurate PMI estimate increases the speed and accuracy of identifying the remains by narrowing the time frame in which the death occurred, thus reducing the pool of possible decedents. Cape Town, South Africa has a high level of unnatural death, and due to a burdened death investigation system, many remain unidentified. There has been a tendency to broadly apply quantitative models of decomposition across biogeographically unique circumstances. A prime example is the widespread application of the total body score (TBS)/accumulated degree day (ADD) model developed by Megyesi et al. (2005), later refined by Moffatt et al. (2016). However, the appropriateness of applying a single model to a wide range of locations with unique geography and climates remains in question. The aim of the study was to evaluate and compare the accuracy of Megyesi and Moffatt models for estimating PMI in Cape Town, South Africa. Using pig carcasses, Finaughty established baseline data on the rates and patterns of terrestrial decomposition in summer and winter in two different locations in a forensically significant area of Cape Town. Among the baseline data, Finaughty derived TBS values using the Megyesi criteria. The present study used these values to estimate the ADD per the Megyesi and Moffatt models, which would correspond to an estimated PMI. These estimated values were compared to actual ADD values. Estimates of ADD were inaccurate for both models in winter, and only partially in summer. The Moffatt model was more accurate in earlier decomposition stages, with the Megyesi model more accurate in later decomposition stages. These results indicate the Cape Town environments may contain factors that the two models do not consider, producing inaccurate PMI estimations at various TBS’ values. ADD does not depict the entire taphonomic story; the decomposition process appears to be too complex for universal modelling based on a single or narrow suite of variables. Seasonality was an important factor in determining the accuracy of the models, primarily resulting in underestimations of the true PMI values. These findings show the impracticality of applying models developed for- or in one region to any other and support the need to establish regionally-specific equations for estimating PMI in a forensic context. Alternatively, more complex models employing “big data” from a more comprehensive suite of variables which influence the rate and pattern of decay could be developed

An Opportunity to Increase Collaborative Science in Fetal, Infant, and Toddler Neuroimaging

The field of fetal, infant, and toddler (FIT) neuroimaging research—including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), electroencephalography (EEG), magnetoencephalography, and functional near-infrared spectroscopy, among others—offers pioneering insights into early brain development and has grown in popularity over the past 2 decades. In broader neuroimaging research, multisite collaborative projects, data sharing, and open-source code have increasingly become the norm, fostering big data, consensus standards, and rapid knowledge transfer and development. Given the aforementioned benefits, along with recent initiatives from funding agencies to support multisite and multimodal FIT neuroimaging studies, the FIT field now has the opportunity to establish sustainable, collaborative, and open science practices. By combining data and resources, we can tackle the most pressing issues of the FIT field, including small effect sizes, replicability problems, generalizability issues, and the lack of field standards for data collection, processing, and analysis—together. Thus, the goals of this commentary are to highlight some of the potential barriers that have waylaid these efforts and to discuss the emerging solutions that have the potential to revolutionize how we work together to study the developing brain early in life

Mental healthcare in young people and young adults. Report 2

Report I and Report 2 both focus on patients with three common mental health conditions and one behaviour: eating disorders, depression, anxiety and self-harm... Report 2 focuses on an analysis of routinely collected national datasets for patients aged 11-24 years (up to their 25th birthday) and how they used healthcare services over a ten-year period between 2004 and 2014

Identification of non‐reported bupropion metabolites in human plasma

Bupropion and its three active metabolites exhibit clinical efficacy in the treatment of major depression, seasonal depression and smoking cessation. The pharmacokinetics of bupropion in humans is highly variable. It is not known if there are any non‐reported metabolites formed in humans in addition to the three known active metabolites. This paper reports newly identified and non‐reported metabolites of bupropion in human plasma samples. Human subjects were dosed with a single oral dose of 75 mg of an immediate release bupropion HCl tablet. Plasma samples were collected and analysed by LC–MS/MS at 0, 6 and 24 h. Two non‐reported metabolites (M1 and M3) were identified with mass‐to‐charge (m/z) ratios of 276 (M1, hydration of bupropion) and 258 (M3, hydroxylation of threo/erythrohydrobupropion) from human plasma in addition to the known hydroxybupropion, threo/erythrohydrobupropion and the glucuronidation products of the major metabolites (M2 and M4–M7). These new metabolites may provide new insight and broaden the understanding of bupropion’s variability in clinical pharmacokinetics. © 2016 The Authors Biopharmaceutics & Drug Disposition Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/134787/1/bdd2046_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/134787/2/bdd2046.pd