Subtle alterations in cerebrovascular reactivity in mild cognitive impairment detected by graph theoretical analysis and not by the standard approach.

There is growing support that cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) in response to a vasodilatory challenge, also defined as the cerebrovascular reserve, is reduced in Alzheimer's disease dementia. However, this is less clear in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The current standard analysis may not reflect subtle abnormalities in CVR. In this study, we aimed to investigate vasodilatory-induced changes in the topology of the cerebral blood flow correlation (CBF javax.xml.bind.JAXBElement@6894b36 ) network to study possible network-related CVR abnormalities in MCI. For this purpose, four CBF javax.xml.bind.JAXBElement@389286d6 networks were constructed: two using CBF SPECT data at baseline and under the vasodilatory challenge of acetazolamide (ACZ), obtained from a group of 26 MCI patients; and two equivalent networks from a group of 26 matched cognitively normal controls. The mean strength of association ( javax.xml.bind.JAXBElement@58a7138c ) and clustering coefficient ( javax.xml.bind.JAXBElement@5f56d60d ) were used to evaluate ACZ-induced changes on the topology of CBF javax.xml.bind.JAXBElement@13cae62a networks. We found that cognitively normal adults and MCI patients show different patterns of javax.xml.bind.JAXBElement@3fc266b3 and javax.xml.bind.JAXBElement@5f9929b4 changes. The observed differences included the medial prefrontal cortices and inferior parietal lobe, which represent areas involved in MCI's cognitive dysfunction. In contrast, no substantial differences were detected by standard CVR analysis. These results suggest that graph theoretical analysis of ACZ-induced changes in the topology of the CBF javax.xml.bind.JAXBElement@36167af4 networks allows the identification of subtle network-related CVR alterations in MCI, which couldn't be detected by the standard approach

Comparative assessment of satellite- and drone-based vegetation indices to predict arthropod biomass in shrub-steppes

Arthropod biomass is a key element in ecosystems functionality, and basic food item for many species, which must be estimated through traditional costly field sampling in normally just a few sampling points. Arthropod biomass and plant productivity should be narrowly related, as a great majority of arthropods are herbivorous, and others depends on these. Quantifying plant productivity with satellite or aerial vehicles imagery is an easy and fast procedure already tested and implemented in agriculture and field ecology. However, the ability of satellite or aerial vehicles imagery for quantifying arthropod biomass and its relationship with plant productivity has been scarcely addressed. Here, we used Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and satellite Sentinel-2 (S2) imagery to establish relationship between plant productivity and arthropod biomass estimated through ground-truth field sampling in shrub-steppes. We UAV sampled 7 plots of 47.6-72.3 ha at 4 cm pixel resolution, and afterwards downscaling spatial resolution to 50 cm resolution. In parallel, we used S2 imagery from same and other dates and locations at 10 m spatial resolution. We related several vegetation indices (VI) with arthropod biomass (epigeous, coprophagous, and four functional consumer groups: predatory, detritivore, phytophagous and diverse) estimated in 41-48 sampling stations for UAV flying plots, and in 67-79 sampling stations for S2. VI derived from UAV were consistently and positively related with all arthropod biomass groups. Three out of seven, and six out of seven S2-derived VI were positively related with epigeous and coprophagous arthropod biomass, respectively. BNDVI and ENDVI showed consistent and positive relationships with arthropod biomass, regardless of the arthropod group and the spatial resolution. Our results point out that UAV and S2-VI imagery data may be a viable and cost-efficient alternative to quantify arthropod biomass at large scales in shrub-steppes. The relationship between VI and arthropod biomass is probably habitat-dependent and thus, future research should address this relationship including several habitats to validate vegetation indices as proxies of arthropod biomass.This study was partially supported by the European Commission (Life Ricotí project LIFE15-NAT-ES-000802 and Life Connect Ricotí project LIFE20-NAT-ES-000133) and the BBVA Foundation (BBVA-Dron Ricotí project). This paper contributes to project REMEDINAL-3 from CAM

Online teacher development: collaborating in a virtual learning environment

Over recent years educational institutions have been making increasing use of virtual environments to set up collaborative activities for learners. While it is recognized that teachers play an important role in facilitating learner collaboration online they may not have the necessary skills to do so successfully. Thus, a small scale professional development programme was set up and piloted by two distance universities. The aims were to develop teachers’ experience of online group work; to trial a set of pilot activities which would raise awareness of factors contributing to successful collaborative online activity; and to identify professional development needs in this area. This article reports on the hands-on experience of a group of 20 teachers, examines some of the competences that are needed to successfully collaborate in virtual environments, and presents the skills that teachers need to foster online collaborative learning in the virtual classroom. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected, examining the levels of participation among participants, the collaborative activity of two groups, and teacher perception of the collaboration which took place. The skills identified include planning and managing the collaboration, designing appropriate activities, giving clear instructions and getting students to negotiate ground rules for participation, moderating at the right level, and choosing the right environment and the appropriate tool(s). While this study was carried out with language teachers, many of the findings are applicable to other subject areas where growing emphasis is placed on the development of collaborative skills

Qur’anic Ethics for Environmental Responsibility: Implications for Business Practice

Despite the growing interest in examining the role of religious beliefs as a guide towards environmental conscious actions, there is still a lack of research informed by an analysis of divine messages. This deficiency includes the extent to which ethics for environmental responsibility are promoted within textual divine messages; types of environmental themes promoted within the text of divine messages; and implications of such religious environmental ethics for business practice. The present study attempts to fill this gap by conducting a thorough content analysis of environmental themes within the divine message of Muslims (the Qur’an) focusing on their related ethical aspects and business implications. The analysis has revealed 675 verses in 84 chapters throughout all 30 parts of the Qur’an, with environmental content relating to the core components of the natural world, i.e. human beings, water, air, land, plants, animals, and other natural resources. This environmental content and its related ethics are grounded on the belief that humans are vicegerents of God on the earth and their behaviours and actions are motivated by earthly and heavenly rewards. Implications of these findings for different sectors/businesses are also highlighted

Toracotomías de urgencia y emergencia

Se analizaron las historias clínicas de 680 pacientes atendidos con lesiones traumáticas del tórax en 6 hospitales de Ciudad de La Habana, entre 1993 y 1997 y que requirieron de una toracotomía de urgencia o emergencia. En el estudio predominó el sexo masculino (88 %); el síntoma más frecuente fue el dolor torácico (85,29 %) y en los signos, la disminución del murmullo vesicular y la taquicardia. El arma más usada fue la blanca (43,82 %) y fueron más frecuentes las lesiones abiertas (68,08 %). El 69,12 % de las toracotomías fueron de emergencia y el shock (89,95 %), la fuga masiva de aire (6,41 %) y las heridas precordiales (3,63 %) constituyeron las indicaciones más frecuentes; mientras que para las de urgencia lo fueron el hemotórax masivo (67,45 %), la hernia diafragmática (15,56 %), el hemoneumotórax (9,90 %) y las heridas precordiales (3,32 %). La complicación que más se observó fue la sepsis de la herida. La mortalidad global del estudio fue del 17,94 % con un ascenso de 86,95 % en las de emergenciaThe medical histories of 680 patients with traumatic thoracic injuries that received medical attention in 6 hospitals of Havana City between 1996 and 1997 and that required emergency or urgent thoracotomy were analyzed. Males (88 %) predominated in the study. The most frequent symptom was thoracic pain (85.29 %), whereas the reduction of the vesicular sound and tachycardia prevailed among the signs. The steel arm was the most used (43. 82 %) and the open injuries were the commonest (68.08 %).69.12 % of the thoracotomies were emergencies and the shock (89.95 %). The massive escape of air (6.41 %) and the precordial wounds (3.63 %) were the most frequent indications. The massive hemothorax (67. 45 %) , the diaphragmatic hernia (15.56 %), the hemopneumothorax (9. 90 %) and the precordial wounds (3.32 %) were the commonest signs of urgent thoracotomies. The sepsis of the wound was the most usual complication. The total mortality of the study was 17. 94 % with an increase of 86. 95 % in the emergency thoracotomie

Application of microsatellite PCR techniques in the identification of mixed up tissue specimens in surgical pathology

A fragment of tumour was erroneously mixed up with an endometrial biopsy. Microsatellite polymerase chain reaction (PCR) clearly demonstrated the extraneous nature of the fragment. Microsatellite PCR may be useful for the identification of mislabelled or mismatched tissue fragments in surgical pathology specimens. Key Words: mislabelled tissue • mixed up specimens • microsatellite PC