Charakterystyka cyklonów tropikalnych występujących na obszarze Tajlandii w poszczególnych porach roku i towarzyszących im warunków pogodowych na podstawie danych z lat 2000-2009

The aim of this paper is to characterise tropical cyclones occurring in Thailand in different seasons of the year – together with accompanying weather conditions – based on data from the years 2000–2009. It has been found that most cyclones occur during the rainy season, especially in September and October. They usually bring heavy rain and cause numerous floods, although in most cases they come to Thailand in the tropical depression stage, where the wind speed does not exceed 56 km/h. It has been found that cyclones in the area of Thailand pass through different regions and provinces, depending on the season. In the hot season, mainly southern and northern provinces are exposed, whereas in the rainy season northern and north-eastern ones; towards the end of September also the central provinces, while in the cool season – southern ones. In the analyzed period, most cyclones occurred in the provinces of Nong Khai and Nan, being part of the north-east region and the north region respectively, while no cyclone showed up in the eastern region. It has been found that the routes of some cyclones differ from those widely accepted for a given month, and many of them – especially at the end of the rainy season and the cool season – proceeded over the territory of Thailand in the direction of the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal

Cyklony tropikalne na obszarze Tajlandii

The purpose of this paper is characteristic of tropical cyclones occurring in Thailand, and thus to detect and describe some rules governing them. It was found that cyclones occur over the area of Thailand, mostly in October, and have most of tropical depression strength. Based on the data from the years 1951–2009 184 tracks of the movement of cyclones were analyzed appearing at that time in the area of Thailand, and then determined the regions and provinces most vulnerable to the emergence of the storm in each month of their occurrence. It was found the cyclones penetrate the area of Thailand, usually from the east, covering different regions depending on the month in which they appear. The region most vulnerable to the emergence of the cyclones in the Northeast region, while the provinces through which most of cyclones passed are two provinces in the North – Chiang Mai and Nan

Treatment with Botulinum Neurotoxin Improves Activities of Daily Living and Quality of Life in Patients with Upper Limb Tremor

Background: Botulinum neurotoxin’s degree of effectiveness on upper limb tremor is subject to debate; although this treatment reduces the tremor’s amplitude, a clear functional benefit has not been demonstrated. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of botulinum neurotoxin type A treatment on activities of daily living and quality of life in patients with upper limb tremor. Methods: We retrospectively examined the medical records of 50 consecutive patients treated with botulinum neurotoxin for upper limb tremor that was refractory to oral medication. One month after the injection, the patient was evaluated according to the Quality of Life in Essential Tremor Questionnaire, and the Essential Tremor Embarrassment Assessment. Results: Full data sets were available for 38 patients suffering variously from essential tremor (n = 21), Holmes tremor secondary to a focal brain lesion (n = 8), idiopathic dystonic tremor (n = 4), primary writing tremor (n = 4), and Parkinson’s disease (n = 1). The Quality of Life Essential Tremor Questionnaire and the Essential Tremor Embarrassment Assessment scores improved significantly (p < 0.001) in the study population as a whole, and in the essential tremor and Holmes tremor subgroups. Discussion: Botulinum neurotoxin treatment of patients with upper limb tremor is associated with improved quality of life and activities of daily living, irrespective of the tremor’s etiology. Long-term treatment enables the physician to adjust the injection strategy to the patient’s needs. Our study was limited by its retrospective design. The results must therefore be confirmed in a prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial

Design of the Heat Receiver for the U.S./Russia Solar Dynamic Power Joint Flight Demonstration

A joint U.S./Russia program is being conducted to develop, fabricate, launch, and operate a solar dynamic demonstration system on Space Station Mir. The goal of the program is to demonstrate and confirm that solar dynamic power systems are viable for future space applications such as the International Space Station Alpha The major components of the system include a heat receiver, a closed Brayton cycle power conversion unit, a power conditioning and control unit, a concentrator, a radiator, a thermal control system, and a Space Shuttle Carrier. This paper discusses the design of the heat receiver component. The receiver comprises a cylindrical cavity, the walls of which are lined with a series of tubes running the length of the cavity. The engine working fluid, a mixture of xenon and helium, is heated by the concentrated sunlight incident on these tubes. The receiver incorporates integral thermal storage, using a eutectic mixture of lithium fluoride and calcium difluoride as the thermal storage solid-to-liquid phase change materiaL This thermal storage is required to enable power production during eclipse. The phase change material is contained in a series of individual containment canisters

Hedonic Deficits in Parkinson’s Disease: Is Consummatory Anhedonia Specific?

Background: Anhedonia, the lowered ability to experience pleasure, is one of the non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD) that is underdiagnosed and consequently undertreated. Few studies have investigated anhedonia in PD by taking into account the influence of socio-demographic variables and versus a control group composed of patients with a pure motor neurologic disease other than PD. The aim of this study was to investigate hedonic deficits in patients with PD compared to a control group of patients with non-Parkinson motor neurologic disease (OND), matched for age, gender, level of education, and inpatient/outpatient status. Distinctions between anticipatory and consummatory anhedonia and between endogenomorphic and non-endogenomorphic depression were taken into account. Methods: The study population comprised 49 PD patients and 40 subjects with OND. Anhedonia was rated by using the anticipatory [Temporal Experience Pleasure Scale (TEPS)-ANT] and consummatory (TEPS-CONS) subscales of the TEPS and two subscales extracted from the revised Physical Anhedonia Scale (PAS), measuring physical anticipatory (PAS-ANT) and physical consummatory (PAS-CONS) anhedonias. The Snaith–Hamilton Pleasure Scale (SHAPS) and the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) were also used together with a subscale extracted from the BDI-II (ENDO-BDI-II) for the diagnosis of endogenomorphic depression. Statistical analyses were performed on the whole group and on the PD group. Results: As hypothesized, several anhedonia scores varied with age and gender in the whole population or in the PD group. On univariate or multivariate analyses, only PAS-CONS was specific for PD and only SHAPS scores differed between depression subtypes in the whole population or the PD group. Conclusion: This study suggests that physical consummatory anhedonia could be specific to PD subjects

Nencki Genomics Database—Ensembl funcgen enhanced with intersections, user data and genome-wide TFBS motifs

We present the Nencki Genomics Database, which extends the functionality of Ensembl Regulatory Build (funcgen) for the three species: human, mouse and rat. The key enhancements over Ensembl funcgen include the following: (i) a user can add private data, analyze them alongside the public data and manage access rights; (ii) inside the database, we provide efficient procedures for computing intersections between regulatory features and for mapping them to the genes. To Ensembl funcgen-derived data, which include data from ENCODE, we add information on conserved non-coding (putative regulatory) sequences, and on genome-wide occurrence of transcription factor binding site motifs from the current versions of two major motif libraries, namely, Jaspar and Transfac. The intersections and mapping to the genes are pre-computed for the public data, and the result of any procedure run on the data added by the users is stored back into the database, thus incrementally increasing the body of pre-computed data. As the Ensembl funcgen schema for the rat is currently not populated, our database is the first database of regulatory features for this frequently used laboratory animal. The database is accessible without registration using the mysql client: mysql –h database.nencki-genomics.org –u public. Registration is required only to add or access private data. A WSDL webservice provides access to the database from any SOAP client, including the Taverna Workbench with a graphical user interface

The Livelihood Change of Fishermen Recipient Grant Program of Coalition Party in Lubuk Puding Village Buru District of Karimun Regency of Riau Islands Province

This study was conducted in January 2016 in the village of Lubuk Puding in the District of Buru Karimun Riau Islands Province. The objective of this study was to determine the characteristics of fishing grantees, to determine changes in fishing livelihoods after receiving the grant, and to determine the relationship characteristic of changes, livelihoods and grants program. The method used in this study was survey of 160 grantees fishermen population, in which this study taken as much as 15% of the 160 populations or 24 peoples.Based on the research result, the characteristics of grant recipient are productive fishermenage, low education and the number of family member of fishermen. The livelihood of fishermen grant recipients changed from the preparatory stage to the growth stage, while in food consumption and employment on a fixed income and sanitation and hygiene unchanged. Characteristics with real changes in the livelihoods of fishermen are age which have relationship with income and with the job opportunities, the number of family member has relationship with food consumption and grant, and food consumption have relationships with the grant