Continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion therapy in type 1 diabetes: 2013 clinical guidelines and recommendations from the Association of Clinical Endocrinologists of South Africa (ACE-SA)

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The neonicotinoid insecticide Imidacloprid repels pollinating flies and beetles at field-realistic concentrations

Neonicotinoids are widely used systemic insecticides which, when applied to flowering crops, are translocated to the nectar and pollen where they may impact upon pollinators. Given global concerns over pollinator declines, this potential impact has recently received much attention. Field exposure of pollinators to neonicotinoids depends on the concentrations present in flowering crops and the degree to which pollinators choose to feed upon them. Here we describe a simple experiment using paired yellow pan traps with or without insecticide to assess whether the commonly used neonicotinoid imidacloprid repels or attracts flying insects. Both Diptera and Coleoptera exhibited marked avoidance of traps containing imidacloprid at a field-realistic dose of 1 μg L-1, with Diptera avoiding concentrations as low as 0.01 μg L-1. This is to our knowledge the first evidence for any biological activity at such low concentrations, which are below the limits of laboratory detection using most commonly available techniques. Catch of spiders in pan traps was also slightly reduced by the highest concentrations of imidacloprid used (1 μg L-1), but catch was increased by lower concentrations. It remains to be seen if the repellent effect on insects occurs when neonicotinoids are present in real flowers, but if so then this could have implications for exposure of pollinators to neonicotinoids and for crop pollination. © 2013 Easton, Goulson

Personal self-regulation as a variable student (presage)

The self-regulation that people use in daily life has not traditionally been studied by educational psychologists. However, after Zimmerman showed the existence of common processes in different domains, experts have taken an interest in analyzing the self-regulating components common to different spheres (education, work, and health). This model considers personal self-regulation as a presage variable in the teaching-learning process. The Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ) designed by Brown, Miller and Lawendowski has been used most often in the research on personal self-regulation. Several studies have examined this instrument’s psychometric characteristics, leading to development of the Short Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SSRQ). This short version has been shown to be a plausible alternative to the long version, in a Spanish sample (Pichardo et al., in review). There is little research in the educational sphere that treats self-regulation as a presage variable; most cases have focused on the more restrictive variable of self-regulated learning. However, studies have shown the importance of including personal self-regulation, in its full sense, as a presage variable. We can infer that the interaction of personal self-regulation with other variables, whether personal (age, gender) or academic (learning approaches, coping strategies, academic selfregulation, regulatory teaching, resilience, etc.), constitutes an interesting, novel focus when analyzing the teaching-learning process at university. We have seen the value of this study, due to the importance of this variable and the dearth of research studies to date that treat educational variables and personal self-regulation

An empirical model of personal self-regulation and teaching regulatory, to predict the process and the product variables

Introduction. The present study examines how personal self-regulation and regulatory teaching relates to learning approaches, strategies for coping with stress, and self-regulated learning (as process variables of learning) and, finally, how it relates to performance and satisfaction with the teaching-learning process (as product variables). In this investigation, we built two different empirical models based on the presage-process-product paradigms to clarify potential effects of (1) personal self-regulation and (2) regulatory teaching with other cognitive-emotional variables. Method. A total of 1101 students participated in the study (University of Almería and competitive students). In terms of data collection, it is a survey investigation using self-reports (questionnaires and scales) and a cross-sectional strategy. The analyses made to meet the proposed objectives and test hypotheses were structural for develop structural models. Results. The results provide empirical evidence for two models, consistent and significant, integrating variables that are part and influence the teaching-learning process of this educational level (university and candidates). Discusion and conclusion. Findings confirming the importance of the interactive, integrative model of teaching-learning (DEDEPRO), which assumes that self-regulated learning should be connected to regulatory teaching. Variables incorporated into the models validated in this study consolidate the idea that both personal factors and teaching and learning factors should be taken into consideration, since we are dealing with a formal context of teaching-learning.

Blood eosinophils as a biomarker of future COPD exacerbation risk:pooled data from 11 clinical trials

Background Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterised by progressive airflow limitation and chronic inflammation. Predicting exacerbations of COPD, which contribute to disease progression, is important to guide preventative treatment and improve outcomes. Blood eosinophils are a biomarker for patient responsiveness to inhaled corticosteroids (ICS); however, their effectiveness as a predictive biomarker for COPD exacerbations is unclear. Methods This post hoc analysis pooled data from 11 Boehringer Ingelheim-sponsored Phase III and IV randomised COPD studies with similar methodologies. Exacerbation data were collected from these studies, excluding patients from the ICS withdrawal arm of the WISDOM® study. Patients were grouped according to their baseline blood eosinophil count, baseline ICS use and number of exacerbations in the year prior to each study. Results Exacerbation rate data and baseline eosinophil count were available for 22,125 patients; 45.6% presented with a baseline blood eosinophil count of ≤ 150 cells/μL, 34.3% with 150–300 cells/μL and 20.1% with > 300 cells/μL. The lowest exacerbation rates were observed in patients with ≤ 150 cells/μL, with small increases in exacerbation rate observed with increasing eosinophil count. When stratified by exacerbation history, the annual rate of exacerbations for patients with 0 exacerbations in the previous year increased in line with increasing eosinophil counts (0.38 for ≤ 150 cells/μL, 0.39 for 150–300 cells/μL and 0.44 for > 300 cells/μL respectively). A similar trend was identified for patients with one exacerbation in the previous year, 0.62, 0.66 and 0.67 respectively. For patients with ≥ 2 exacerbations, exacerbation rates fluctuated between 1.02 (≤ 150 cells/μL) to 1.10 (150–300 cells/μL) and 1.07 (> 300 cells/μL). Higher exacerbation rates were noted in patients treated with ICS at baseline (range 0.75 to 0.82 with increasing eosinophil count) compared with patients not on ICS (range 0.45 to 0.49). Conclusion We found no clinically important relationship between baseline blood eosinophil count and exacerbation rate. Hence, the current analysis does not support the use of blood eosinophils to predict exacerbation risk; however, previous exacerbation history was found to be a more reliable predictor of future exacerbations. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifiers: NCT00168844, NCT00168831, NCT00387088, NCT00782210, NCT00782509, NCT00793624, NCT00796653, NCT01431274, NCT01431287, NCT02296138 and NCT00975195

Tiotropium/Olodaterol Delays Clinically Important Deterioration Compared with Tiotropium Monotherapy in Patients with Early COPD:a Post Hoc Analysis of the TONADO® Trials

Introduction Since chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a heterogeneous condition, a composite endpoint of clinically important deterioration (CID) may provide a more holistic assessment of treatment efficacy. We compared long-acting muscarinic antagonist/long-acting beta(2)-agonist combination therapy with tiotropium/olodaterol versus tiotropium alone using a composite endpoint for CID. CID was evaluated overall and in patients with low exacerbation history (at most one moderate exacerbation in the past year [not leading to hospitalisation]), Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) 2 patients and maintenance-naive patients with COPD. We assessed whether early treatment optimisation is more effective with tiotropium/olodaterol versus tiotropium in delaying and reducing the risk of CID. Methods Data were analysed from 2055 patients treated with either tiotropium/olodaterol 5/5 mu g or tiotropium 5 mu g (delivered via Respimat(R)) in two replicate, 52-week, parallel-group, double-blind studies (TONADO(R) 1/2). CID was defined as a decline of at least 0.1 L from baseline in trough forced expiratory volume in 1 s, increase from baseline of at least 4 units in St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire score, or moderate/severe exacerbation. Time to first occurrence of one of these events was recorded as time to first CID. Results Overall, treatment with tiotropium/olodaterol significantly increased the time to, and reduced the risk of, CID versus tiotropium (median time to CID 226 versus 169 days; hazard ratio [HR] 0.76 [95% confidence interval 0.68, 0.85]; P <0.0001). Significant reductions were also observed in patients with low exacerbation history (241 versus 170; HR 0.73 [0.64, 0.83]; P <0.0001), GOLD 2 patients (241 versus 169; 0.72 [0.61, 0.84]; P <0.0001) and maintenance-naive patients (233 versus 171; 0.75 [0.62, 0.91]; P = 0.0030). Conclusion In patients with COPD, including patients with low exacerbation history, GOLD 2 patients and maintenance-naive patients, tiotropium/olodaterol reduced the risk of CID versus tiotropium. These results demonstrate the advantages of treatment optimisation with tiotropium/olodaterol over tiotropium monotherapy. PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY COPD is a complicated disease that deteriorates over time. Worsening of COPD is associated with the lungs working less effectively, a fall in quality of life and a rise in sudden flare-ups of the disease. In this study, we looked at lung function, quality of life and flare-ups together using a measure called "clinically important deterioration" (CID). We looked at 2055 people with COPD to compare the effects of taking two bronchodilators (tiotropium and olodaterol) against taking one bronchodilator (tiotropium alone). Bronchodilators are a type of inhaled medication that relax the muscles in the lungs and widen airways, making it easier to breathe. They have also been shown to reduce sudden flare-ups of COPD. Across a wide range of people with COPD, we found that treatment with tiotropium/olodaterol reduced the risk of a CID compared with tiotropium alone. This includes in those patients at an early stage of disease, who may benefit from finding the best treatment option for them as early as possible

Hierarchical Hough all-sky search for periodic gravitational waves in LIGO S5 data

We describe a new pipeline used to analyze the data from the fifth science run (S5) of the LIGO detectors to search for continuous gravitational waves from isolated spinning neutron stars. The method employed is based on the Hough transform, which is a semi-coherent, computationally efficient, and robust pattern recognition technique. The Hough transform is used to find signals in the time-frequency plane of the data whose frequency evolution fits the pattern produced by the Doppler shift imposed on the signal by the Earth's motion and the pulsar's spin-down during the observation period. The main differences with respect to previous Hough all-sky searches are described. These differences include the use of a two-step hierarchical Hough search, analysis of coincidences among the candidates produced in the first and second year of S5, and veto strategies based on a $\chi^2$ test.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, Amaldi08 proceedings, submitted to JPC

From seafood waste to active seafood packaging: An emerging opportunity of the circular economy

Sustainable development is an overarching objective that requires an interdisciplinary approach in order to address the societal challenge concerning climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials. In this context, valorization of abundant and available bio-wastes with high potential to manufacture value-added products is the first step to close the loop between waste and consumption in line with the main goal of the circular economy. In the last years, many research works have been published in the literature regarding novel food packaging. However, most of them are focused on packaging composition (scientific aspects) and some of them on the packaging manufacture (technological aspects), but very few studies are concerned about the influence of bringing novel food packaging systems into the market on environmental, social and economic issues. In this regard, this review intends to fill this gap, considering the potential of developing food packaging from food processing waste in order to create business for food industries, being aware of the food quality demanded by consumers and the environmental care demanded by institutions and society

Characterization of Adherent-Invasive Escherichia coli (AIEC) Outer Membrane Proteins Provides Potential Molecular Markers to Screen Putative AIEC Strains

Adherent-invasive E. coli (AIEC) is a pathotype associated with the etiopathogenesis of Crohn's disease (CD), albeit with an as-yet unclear role. The main pathogenic mechanisms described for AIEC are adherence to epithelial cells, invasion of epithelial cells, and survival and replication within macrophages. A few virulence factors have been described as participating directly in these phenotypes, most of which have been evaluated only in AIEC reference strains. To date, no molecular markers have been identified that can differentiate AIEC from other E. coli pathotypes, so these strains are currently identified based on the phenotypic characterization of their pathogenic mechanisms. The identification of putative AIEC molecular markers could be beneficial not only from the diagnostic point of view but could also help in better understanding the determinants of AIEC pathogenicity. The objective of this study was to identify molecular markers that contribute to the screening of AIEC strains. For this, we characterized outer membrane protein (OMP) profiles in a group of AIEC strains and compared them with the commensal E. coli HS strain. Notably, we found a set of OMPs that were present in the AIEC strains but absent in the HS strain. Moreover, we developed a PCR assay and performed phylogenomic analyses to determine the frequency and distribution of the genes coding for these OMPs in a larger collection of AIEC and other E. coli strains. As result, it was found that three genes (chuA, eefC, and fitA) are widely distributed and significantly correlated with AIEC strains, whereas they are infrequent in commensal and diarrheagenic E. coli strains (DEC). Additional studies are needed to validate these markers in diverse strain collections from different geographical regions, as well as investigate their possible role in AIEC pathogenicity

Hacia un análisis de la gestión de ecoeficiencia minera : un estudio de seis empresas mineras en el Perú

La presente investigación se focalizó en la descripción del estado de la gestión ecoeficiente de seis empresas mineras en el Perú pertenecientes a la gran y mediana minería mediante el análisis de la gestión de los insumos, procesos y exsumos. La muestra utilizada consistió en empresas polimetálicas, cupríferas y auríferas. El instrumento de investigación tomó como base la Guía de Ecoeficiencia para Empresas del Ministerio del Ambiente y la Guía para la Implementación de Producción Más Limpia del Instituto Nacional de Defensa para la Competencia y de la Protección de la Propiedad Intelectual que fue adaptado al sector minero de acuerdo a los Reportes de Sostenibilidad publicados por las empresas mineras durante el periodo 2013 y 2014. Con respecto a la gestión ecoeficiente de los insumos, se analizaron los indicadores de ecoeficiencia de agua, energía, combustible y materiales. Se encontró que el indicador de agua captada fue en promedio 54 m3 por unidad de producción para ambos años, sin embargo, el factor de agua reutilizada presento una mejora debido a la reutilización de hasta cuatro veces del agua captada. En cuanto al indicador de energía y combustible, presentaron un incremento de 2% y 14%, obteniendo un consumo promedio en el 2014 de 2, 274 KwH y 55 Gls por unidad de producción respectivamente. Se observó que las mejores prácticas de ecoeficiencia se dieron en el insumo agua habiéndose logrado en la mayoría de las empresas una tasa de reutilización entre 60% a 100%. Finalmente, en materia de la gestión de exsumos se encontró una importante reducción en los vertimientos líquidos debido a que la mitad de las empresas tuvieron vertimiento cero. Sin embargo, las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero se incrementaron. En resumen, para los años 2013 y 2014 las empresas de la muestra realizaron en mayor medida prácticas ecoeficientes relacionadas al agua, observando en menor medida prácticas ecoeficientes a la energía, combustible y emisionesThis research focused on the description of the state of the eco-efficient management of six mining companies in Peru belonging to the large and medium scale mining by analyzing the management of inputs, processes and exsumos. The sample consisted of polymetallic, copper and gold companies. The research instrument was based on the Ecoeficiency Guide for businesses by the Ministry of Environment and the Implementation Guide for a Cleaner Production by the National Institute for the Defense of Competition and Protection of Intellectual Property, which was adapted to the mining sector according to Sustainability Reports published by mining companies during the period 2013 and 2014. Regarding to the eco-efficient management of inputs, eco-efficiency indicators of water, energy, fuel and main materials were analyzed. It was found that the water collected indicator was on average 54 m3 per unit of production for both years; however, reused water factor showed an improvement due to the reuse of up to four times the collected water. As for the energy and fuel indicator, showed an increase of 2% and 14%, obtaining an average consumption in 2014 2, and 55 Gls 274 KwH per unit of production respectively. It was observed that the best practices of eco-efficiency occurred in the input water reuse rate, which reached 100% in most companies. Finally, regarding to management output a significant reduction was found in the liquid discharges because half of the companies had zero discharge. However, emissions of greenhouse gases increased. In summary for the years 2013 and 2014 the companies in the sample performed eco-efficient practices related to water in greater extent, and observing eco-efficient practices to energy, fuel and emissions in lesser extentTesi