691 research outputs found

    Minimal standards for describing new species belonging to the families Campylobacteraceae and Helicobacteraceae : Campylobacter, Arcobacter, Helicobacter and Wolinella spp.

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    Ongoing changes in taxonomic methods, and in the rapid development of the taxonomic structure of species assigned to the Epsilonproteobacteria have lead the International Committee of Systematic Bacteriology Subcommittee on the Taxonomy of Campylobacter and Related Bacteria to discuss significant updates to previous minimal standards for describing new species of Campylobacteraceae and Helicobacteraceae. This paper is the result of these discussions and proposes minimum requirements for the description of new species belonging to the families Campylobacteraceae and Helicobacteraceae, thus including species in Campylobacter, Arcobacter, Helicobacter, and Wolinella. The core underlying principle remains the use of appropriate phenotypic and genotypic methods to characterise strains sufficiently so as to effectively and unambiguously determine their taxonomic position in these families, and provide adequate means by which the new taxon can be distinguished from extant species and subspecies. This polyphasic taxonomic approach demands the use of appropriate reference data for comparison to ensure the novelty of proposed new taxa, and the recommended study of at least five strains to enable species diversity to be assessed. Methodological approaches for phenotypic and genotypic (including whole-genome sequence comparisons) characterisation are recommended

    Rich Situated Attitudes

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    We outline a novel theory of natural language meaning, Rich Situated Semantics [RSS], on which the content of sentential utterances is semantically rich and informationally situated. In virtue of its situatedness, an utterance’s rich situated content varies with the informational situation of the cognitive agent interpreting the utterance. In virtue of its richness, this content contains information beyond the utterance’s lexically encoded information. The agent-dependence of rich situated content solves a number of problems in semantics and the philosophy of language (cf. [14, 20, 25]). In particular, since RSS varies the granularity of utterance contents with the interpreting agent’s informational situation, it solves the problem of finding suitably fine- or coarse-grained objects for the content of propositional attitudes. In virtue of this variation, a layman will reason with more propositions than an expert

    Negative phenotypic and genetic associations between copulation duration and longevity in male seed beetles

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    Reproduction can be costly and is predicted to trade-off against other characters. However, while these trade-offs are well documented for females, there has been less focus on aspects of male reproduction. Furthermore, those studies that have looked at males typically only investigate phenotypic associations, with the underlying genetics often ignored. Here, we report on phenotypic and genetic trade-offs in male reproductive effort in the seed beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus. We find that the duration of a male's first copulation is negatively associated with subsequent male survival, phenotypically and genetically. Our results are consistent with life-history theory and suggest that like females, males trade-off reproductive effort against longevity

    Is the Internet a useful and relevant source for health and health care information retrieval for German cardiothoracic patients? First results from a prospective survey among 255 Patients at a German cardiothoracic surgical clinic

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    BACKGROUND: It is not clear how prevalent Internet use among cardiopathic patients in Germany is and what impact it has on the health care utilisation. We measured the extent of Internet use among cardiopathic patients and examined the effects that Internet use has on users' knowledge about their cardiac disease, health care matters and their use of the health care system. METHODS: We conducted a prospective survey among 255 cardiopathic patients at a German university hospital. RESULTS: Forty seven respondents (18 %) used the internet and 8,8 % (n = 23) went online more than 20 hours per month. The most frequent reason for not using the internet was disinterest (52,3 %). Fourteen patients (5,4 %) searched for specific disease-related information and valued the retrieved information on an analogous scale (1 = not relevant, 5 = very relevant) on median with 4,0. Internet use is age and education dependent. Only 36 (14,1 %) respondents found the internet useful, whereas the vast majority would not use it. Electronic scheduling for ambulatory visits or postoperative telemedical monitoring were rather disapproved. CONCLUSION: We conclude that Internet use is infrequent among our study population and the search for relevant health and disease related information is not well established

    Effect of carnitine on muscular glutamate uptake and intramuscular glutathione in malignant diseases

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    Abnormally low intramuscular glutamate and glutathione (GSH) levels and/or a decreased muscular uptake of glutamate by the skeletal muscle tissue have previously been found in malignant diseases and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infection and may contribute to the development of cachexia. We tested the hypothesis that an impaired mitochondrial energy metabolism may compromise the Na+-dependent glutamate transport. A randomized double-blind clinical trial was designed to study the effects of L -carnitine, i.e. an agent known to enhance mitochondrial integrity and function, on the glutamate transport and plasma glutamate level of cancer patients. The effect of carnitine on the intramuscular glutamate and GSH levels was examined in complementary experiments with tumour-bearing mice. In the mice, L -carnitine treatment ameliorated indeed the tumour-induced decrease in muscular glutamate and GSH levels and the increase in plasma glutamate levels. The carnitine-treated group in the randomized clinical study showed also a significant decrease in the plasma glutamate levels but only a moderate and statistically not significant increase in the relative glutamate uptake in the lower extremities. Further studies may be warranted to determine the effect of L -carnitine on the intramuscular GSH levels in cancer patients. © 2000 Cancer Research Campaig

    Use of a Javid™ shunt in the management of axillary artery injury as a complication of fracture of the surgical neck of the humerus: a case report

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Axillary artery injury is a rare but severe complication of fractures of the surgical neck of the humerus.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We present a case of axillary artery pseudoaneurysm secondary to such a fracture, in a 82-year-old white woman, presenting 10 weeks after the initial injury, successfully treated with subclavian to brachial reversed vein bypass together with simultaneous open reduction and internal fixation of the fracture. We discuss the use of a Javid™ shunt during combined upper limb revascularisation and open reduction and internal fixation of the fractured humerus.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This case highlights the usefulness of a Javid™ shunt, over other forms of vascular shunts, in prompt restoration of blood flow to effect limb salvage. It can be considered as a temporary measure whilst awaiting definitive revascularisation which can be performed following fracture fixation.</p

    Stressor- and Corticotropin releasing Factor-induced Reinstatement and Active Stress-related Behavioral Responses are Augmented Following Long-access Cocaine Self-administration by Rats

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    Rationale Stressful events during periods of drug abstinence likely contribute to relapse in cocaine-dependent individuals. Excessive cocaine use may increase susceptibility to stressor-induced relapse through alterations in brain corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) responsiveness. Objectives This study examined stressor- and CRF-induced cocaine seeking and other stress-related behaviors in rats with different histories of cocaine self-administration (SA). Materials and methods Rats self-administered cocaine under short-access (ShA; 2 h daily) or long-access (LgA; 6 h daily) conditions for 14 days or were provided access to saline and were tested for reinstatement by a stressor (electric footshock), cocaine or an icv injection of CRF and for behavioral responsiveness on the elevated plus maze, in a novel environment and in the light–dark box after a 14- to 17-day extinction/withdrawal period. Results LgA rats showed escalating patterns of cocaine SA and were more susceptible to reinstatement by cocaine, EFS, or icv CRF than ShA rats. Overall, cocaine SA increased activity in the center field of a novel environment, on the open arms of the elevated plus maze, and in the light compartment of a light–dark box. In most cases, the effects of cocaine SA were dependent on the pattern/amount of cocaine intake with statistically significant differences from saline self-administering controls only observed in LgA rats. Conclusions When examined after several weeks of extinction/ withdrawal, cocaine SA promotes a more active pattern of behavior during times of stress that is associated with a heightened susceptibility to stressor-induced cocaine-seeking behavior and may be the consequence of augmented CRF regulation of addiction-related neurocircuitry

    An Observational Cohort Comparison of Facilitators of Retention in Care and Adherence to Anti-Eetroviral Therapy at an HIV Treatment Center in Kenya

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    BACKGROUND: Most HIV treatment programs in resource-limited settings utilize multiple facilitators of adherence and retention in care but there is little data on the efficacy of these methods. We performed an observational cohort analysis of a treatment program in Kenya to assess which program components promote adherence and retention in HIV care in East Africa. METHODS: Patients initiating ART at A.I.C. Kijabe Hospital were prospectively enrolled in an observational study. Kijabe has an intensive program to promote adherence and retention in care during the first 6 months of ART that incorporates the following facilitators: home visits by community health workers, community based support groups, pharmacy counseling, and unannounced pill counts by clinicians. The primary endpoint was time to treatment failure, defined as a detectable HIV-1 viral load; discontinuation of ART; death; or loss to follow-up. Time to treatment failure for each facilitator was calculated using Kaplan-Meier analysis. The relative effects of the facilitators were determined by the Cox Proportional Hazards Model. RESULTS: 301 patients were enrolled. Time to treatment failure was longer in patients participating in support groups (448 days vs. 337 days, P<0.001), pharmacy counseling (480 days vs. 386 days, P = 0.002), pill counts (482 days vs. 189 days, P<0.001) and home visits (485 days vs. 426 days, P = 0.024). Better adherence was seen with support groups (89% vs. 82%, P = 0.05) and pill counts (89% vs. 75%, P = 0.02). Multivariate analysis using the Cox Model found significant reductions in risk of treatment failure associated with pill counts (HR = 0.19, P<0.001) and support groups (HR = 0.43, P = 0.003). CONCLUSION: Unannounced pill counts by the clinician and community based support groups were associated with better long term treatment success and with better adherence

    Moth biomass increases and decreases over 50 years in Britain

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    Steep insect biomass declines ('insectageddon') have been widely reported, despite a lack of continuously collected biomass data from replicated long-term monitoring sites. Such severe declines are not supported by the world’s longest running insect population database: annual moth biomass estimates from British fixed monitoring sites revealed increasing biomass between 1967 and 1982, followed by gradual decline from 1982 to 2017, with a 2.2-fold net gain in mean biomass between the first (1967–1976) and last decades (2008–2017) of monitoring. High between-year variability and multi-year periodicity in biomass emphasize the need for long-term data to detect trends and identify their causes robustly

    Long-Term Costs and Health Impact of Continued Global Fund Support for Antiretroviral Therapy

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    Background: By the end of 2011 Global Fund investments will be supporting 3.5 million people on antiretroviral therapy (ART) in 104 low- and middle-income countries. We estimated the cost and health impact of continuing treatment for these patients through 2020. Methods and Findings: Survival on first-line and second-line ART regimens is estimated based on annual retention rates reported by national AIDS programs. Costs per patient-year were calculated from country-reported ARV procurement prices, and expenditures on laboratory tests, health care utilization and end-of-life care from in-depth costing studies. Of the 3.5 million ART patients in 2011, 2.3 million will still need treatment in 2020. The annual cost of maintaining ART falls from 1.9billionin2011to1.9 billion in 2011 to 1.7 billion in 2020, as a result of a declining number of surviving patients partially offset by increasing costs as more patients migrate to second-line therapy. The Global Fund is expected to continue being a major contributor to meeting this financial need, alongside other international funders and domestic resources. Costs would be 150millionlessin2020withanannual5150 million less in 2020 with an annual 5% decline in first-line ARV prices and 150-370 million less with a 5%-12% annual decline in second-line prices, but 200millionhigherin2020withphaseoutofstavudine(d4T),or200 million higher in 2020 with phase out of stavudine (d4T), or 200 million higher with increased migration to second-line regimens expected if all countries routinely adopted viral load monitoring. Deaths postponed by ART correspond to 830,000 life-years saved in 2011, increasing to around 2.3 million life-years every year between 2015 and 2020. Conclusions: Annual patient-level direct costs of supporting a patient cohort remain fairly stable over 2011-2020, if current antiretroviral prices and delivery costs are maintained. Second-line antiretroviral prices are a major cost driver, underscoring the importance of investing in treatment quality to improve retention on first-line regimens
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