Quality of life in childhood epilepsy with lateralized epileptogenic foci

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Measuring quality of life (QOL) helps to delineate mechanisms underlying the interaction of disease and psychosocial factors. In adults, epileptic foci in the left temporal lobe led to lower QOL and higher depression and anxiety as compared to the right-sided foci. No study addressed the development of QOL disturbances depending on the lateralization of epileptogenic focus. The objective of our study was to examine QOL in children with lateralized epileptiform discharges.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Thirty-one parents of children with epilepsy filled the Health-Related Quality of Life in Childhood Epilepsy Questionnaire (QOLCE). Fifteen children had foci in the left hemisphere and sixteen in the right, as verified with Electroencephalography (EEG) examinations.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found a significant correlation between foci lateralization and reduced QOL (Spearman's rho = 0.361, p < 0.046). Children with right hemispheric foci exhibited lower overall QOL, particularly in five areas: anxiety, social-activities, stigma, general-health, and quality-of-life.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We demonstrated for the first time that in children left- and right-hemispheric foci were associated with discordant QOL scores. Unlike in adults, foci in the right hemisphere led to worse emotional and social functioning demonstrating that seizures impact the brain differentially during development.</p

Measurement of bitumen viscosity in the room-temperature drop experiment: student education, public outreach and modern science in one

Slow flow of the viscous liquid is a thought-provoking experiment that challenges students, academics and public to think about some fundamental questions in modern science. In the Queensland demonstration, the world-longest running experiment earning the Ig Nobel prize, one drop of pitch takes about 10 years to fall, leading to problems of actually observing the drops. Here, we describe our recent demonstration of slowly-flowing bitumen where appreciable flow is observed on the time scale of months. The experiment is free from dissipative heating effects and has the potential to improve the accuracy of measurement. Bitumen viscosity was calculated by undergraduate students during the summer project. The worldwide access to the running experiment is provided by webcams uploading the images to a dedicated website, enhancing student education experience and promotion of science. This demonstration serves as an attractive student education exercise and stimulates the discussion of fundamental concepts and hotly debated ideas in modern physics research: difference between solids and liquids, the nature of liquid-glass transition, emergence of long time scales in a physical process, and the conflict between human intuition and physical reality

Diversity arrays technology (DArT) markers in apple for genetic linkage maps

Diversity Arrays Technology (DArT) provides a high-throughput whole-genome genotyping platform for the detection and scoring of hundreds of polymorphic loci without any need for prior sequence information. The work presented here details the development and performance of a DArT genotyping array for apple. This is the first paper on DArT in horticultural trees. Genetic mapping of DArT markers in two mapping populations and their integration with other marker types showed that DArT is a powerful high-throughput method for obtaining accurate and reproducible marker data, despite the low cost per data point. This method appears to be suitable for aligning the genetic maps of different segregating populations. The standard complexity reduction method, based on the methylation-sensitive PstI restriction enzyme, resulted in a high frequency of markers, although there was 52–54% redundancy due to the repeated sampling of highly similar sequences. Sequencing of the marker clones showed that they are significantly enriched for low-copy, genic regions. The genome coverage using the standard method was 55–76%. For improved genome coverage, an alternative complexity reduction method was examined, which resulted in less redundancy and additional segregating markers. The DArT markers proved to be of high quality and were very suitable for genetic mapping at low cost for the apple, providing moderate genome coverage

Contemporary Management Approaches And Possibilities Of Use Of These Approaches İn Construction Sector

Tez (Yüksek Lisans) -- İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi, Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü, 1996Thesis (M.Sc.) -- İstanbul Technical University, Institute of Science and Technology, 1996Günümüz rekabet koşullarında yönetim kavramı önemli bir yer tutmaktadır. Firmaların faaliyetlerini sürdürebilmeleri için kendilerini sürekli olarak gelişime açık, dinamik geniş görüşlü değişimlere uyum gösterebilen bir yapıda tutmaları gerekir. Gelişen dünya düzeni içinde eski yönetim prensiplerinin yerini yeni yönetim yaklaşımlarına bırakması doğaldır. Bu tezin kapsamında yeni yönetim yaklaşımlarından Toplam Kalite Yönetimi, Tam Zamanında Üretim Yönetimi ve Değişim Mühendisliği tanıtılacaktır. Bu konular tezde iki kısımda incelenmiştir. Birinci bölümden beşinci bölüme kadar bu yönetim yaklaşımlarının endüstri devriminden bu yana gelişmesi, yaklaşımların tarifi, sağladığı faydalar gibi konular incelenmiştir. Altına bölümden sonra ise, inşaat sektörü, bu sektörde faaliyet gösteren firmalar, bu firmaların inşaat faaliyetlerini sürdürürken oluşturdukları organizasyonlar anlatılmaktadır. Sonuç olarakta bu yaklaşımların inşaat sektöründeki uygulanabilirlikleri incelenmiştir.The name of this thesis is "Contemporary Management Approaches and Possibilities of Use of these Approaches in Construction Sector". The purpose of this thesis are to give examples to the contemporary management approaches arised under competition conditions within new world order in current days we have participated in Customs Union, to introduce them, to provide information about their benefits and to put forward the extent to which construction sector, one of most important sectors in Turkey, may benefit from these contemporary management approaches under current conditions. The investigation was handled in two parts. In the first part, Total Quality Management, Just In Time (JIT) Manufacturing and Reengineering, which are referred to as contemporary management approaches, are introduced. In the second part, application possibilities of all these management approaches in the construction sector are handled. In the first part the explanation of contemporary management approaches was initiated by describing the cycles lived hitherto from the emerging of management. The requirement of management arising simultaneously with industrial revolution was first examined by Taylor in scientific terms and the rules suggested by him were maintained up to now by some additions. At initial periods of industrial revolution, production competition was almost absent between companies because of the magnitude of consumer market. Subsequently a competition environment based on production superiority was maintained up to 1960's. Thereafter cost item has become an important criter for competition up to 1970's. In 1980's, competition was replaced by quality which was not important up to that time. In 1990's, speed of production has become an important component. Today' consumers wish to purchase cheapest, fastest and quality product or service. While such developments occur in the world, also some advancements were noted in the field of management. Taylor period's management concept, called as viii management concept of industrial period, was shaded by new management concepts arising due to elevation of education level of people, levels and standards of culture and forces of competition environment. Because companies which are open to innovations and which accommodate rapidly to new world conditions can stand only in a global world. Moreover new concepts have took place in this section. These concepts will be beneficial in the explanation of contemporary management approaches. Management is described as arrangement of association of human and source factors towards certain goals. Quality is all the characteristics which prove capability of a commodity or service to meet a certain requirement. Quality Control is described to be the operational techniques and activities that are used to fulfill requirements for quality. Quality Assurance is described as all those planned and systematic actions necessary to provide adequate confidence that a product or service will satisfy given requirements for quality. The most widespread one among contemporary management approaches within the scope of this thesis is total quality management. This management approach was first suggested by Dr. Armand V. Feigenbaum in 1950's. TQM was started to be implemented in Japan of post-second world war and gained a huge success. TQM aims the implementation of quality control concept at all levels of all kinds of production or service sector by paying attention to customer satisfaction in a way to provide continuos development. The most comprehensive definition of TQM was made by Japanese Industry Standards. According to this definition TQM means the decisive application of quality control by everybody in the company including top level managers, managers, chiefs, employees. This application is carried out by cooperating in all fields of activities of company like market research and development, product planning, design, production planning, purchasing, sale, manufacturing, inspection, after sale services, accounting, personnel, education and is called as Company-Wide Quality Control or Total Quality Control [ 9, Sf: 42] IX Another management approach is JIT manufacturing. JIT manufacturing was suggested by Taichi Ohno, the chairman of Toyota Motor Enterprises in 1940's in Japan. The basic goal of this management approach was specified to be zero inventory and zero fault. So all kinds of activity which does not add directly value on customer, service or product must be decreased to possible minimum degree. One definition made on the subject is as follows: JIT manufacturing is a Japanese management philosophy applied in manufacturing which involves having the right items of the right quality and quantity in the right place and at the right time. JIT manufacturing can not be considered on its own separate from TQM. These approaches are targeted to the same goals and complementary to each other and have to be applied during all the activities. The third approach Reengineering can be implemented only company which has a huge problem that requires a radical change. Like previous two approaches, this approach suggests development by great and comprehensive changes, instead of advancement by continous and small attempts. Customer satisfaction, fastest, cheapest, quality service or production are goals of Reengineering. But ways of reaching to these goals are different. Reengineering focuses on the way by which the works are carried out instead of the way by which organization of company is made. Because according to Reengineering, reaching to sufficient success is not possible if the process followed is wrong whatever the efforts made for quality production. Reengineering has emerged in accordance to the point of view that the management approach of industrial period has lost its function. Reengineering is based on creation of value for process and customer instead of work design, hierarchic management or specialization of labor force. An exact definition of Reengineering is as follows: "Reengineering means basic reconsideration and redical redesigning of work processes in order to provide outstanding developments in fastest performance criterion of our era like cost, quality, service and speed". [ 11, Sf : 29 ]. In the light of these explanations it was concluded that all of these management approaches are in essence based on simple fact: in today's world satisfaction of consumer / customer precedes everything and all possible efforts must be made to rech to success. Only one of above stated management approaches is not sufficient to reach to success. TQM and JIT manufacturing must be implemented continuously. At the same time all the company must be inspected through eyes of a Reengineering implementer. When TQM and JIT approaches proved insufficient or solution does not seem possible via simple arrangements, it is time to implement Reengineering. In the second part of thesis, possibilities of use of above introduced management approaches in construction sector were searched out. During the investigation of this subject, concept of construction, construction sector, respective part of the sector within the economy of Turkey and other industrial branches which contribute to the sector were mentioned about. Subsequently differences between construction and production sectors were investigated. Thus ways of use of approaches like TQM, JIT manufacturing and reengineering in construction sector, which approaches are extensively implemented in the production sector, were compared. During the investigation of possibilities of use of TQM in construction sector, it was determined that quality concept was not sufficiently adopted by small enterprises despite it was adopted by large companies of the sector due to effects of competition environment. On the subject it was seen that the deficiency of quality concept in such small enterprises especially making production in the construction sector has proven a substantial effect over faulty urbanization of the country. Anyway the improvement of this situation is not possible by present control and license systems. Systems available abroad in connection to this subject were examined and a general proposal was brought within the scope of thesis. To take a step in relation to faulty urbanization is possible only by leaving the current system and implementing a new form of proposed system which is adopted to Turkey. Furthermore it was determined that in order to implement TQM as in the production sector, the components required by TQM have to be fulfilled at all stages of construction process. All included in the overall process like marketing division, design division, engineering division, production division, purchasing division and secondary industrial branches must make efforts to maintain quality. XI While examining possibilities of use of JIT manufacturing in construction sector, it was observed that it was possible as much as TQM. TQM, elimination of extravagance and contribution of employees are seen as basic components of JIT manufacturing. The most important subject to be handled here is elimination of extravagance. Companies which are engaged in activities in connection to construction sector were also examined according to their respective customer populations for which they make production. Because the most important component of these approaches is customer satisfaction. In result of investigation it was seen that one part of companies in the construction sector are companies making production for an unknown market and some other part are companies making production dependent on related orders. The biggest difference between these two groups of companies is the presence of a certain real person or legal entity customers for companies making production in dependance to orders. In such a case customer suggests its expectations, conditions and standards at the very beginning of project. Thus as in the case of companies making production for an unknown market, many investigations like market researches and determination of customer expectations become unnecessary. Moreover JIT manufacturing requires timely production. That is to say, making of production commences by respective demand of customer. Making production without order of customer can be reasonable only in case that an excessively demanded product is manufactured and immediately sold at a very suitable place. Otherwise the production made have to be stored until buyers can be found. Inventories are die leading extravagance component according to JIT manufacturing which targets to eliminate this. Especially in the construction sector, cost of product is so much. To make such an investment priorly and men waiting for sales will bring additional cost to product. In this point of view the companies which make production upon orders are more susceptible to implement JIT manufacturing. Due to developing requirements and technology, the size and scope of construction projects have extremely largened. Project managers which emerged in this scope have come to the position to play substantially important roles in regard to Reengineering intensifying on process control. xu Moreover within the scope of Reengineering, radical changes to be made in the process independently from the control of process are important. In result of a research conducted it was determined that making of construction projects as per the viewpoint of last planners like construction foramen's who take part at the last stage of implementation or design squad leader would provide bigger contribution to planning than traditional managers. In conclusion biggest responsibility to reach to success in the construction sector pertains to managers. They are obliged to become open to changes and to have a comprehensive point of view by knowing about all these and similar contemporary management approaches. Only in this way they can direct persons under their management in the correct way and create possibility of implementation for such approaches. Otherwise the efforts of low rank employees prove insufficient in the absence of their support.Yüksek LisansM.Sc

The use of some natural crataegus L. (Hawthorn) taxa from western black sea region of turkey for landscape applications

Crataegus L. (Hawthorn) taxa have approximately 200 species around the world. Some regions in Turkey are accepted by Dönmez [12] as genetic diversity centers for these taxa, and Western Black Sea Region is one of them. From this regard, Karabük, Yenice and Bartin in Western Black Sea Region were selected as study areas. The main aims of the study are to determine Crataegus L. taxa naturally dispersed in the study areas, and to establish their usage opportunities in landscape applications. In this context, Crataegus L. samples collected in the study areas were identified. In accordance with classification criterias, functional and aesthetic features in planting design were determined by performing examinations on Crataegus L. taxa used in different landscape applications (campus and refuge arrangements) in Ankara. Consequently, eight Crataegus L. taxa, of which two were endemic, were detected in the study areas. In addition, the importance and necessity of benefiting from functional, aesthetic and economic aspects of natural Crataegus L. taxa were emphasized to improve the success rates of landscape applications in Western Black Sea Region. © by PSP

Quality of life in childhood epilepsy: Validating the QOLCE

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Prevalence, comorbidities, and correlates of challenging behavior among community-dwelling adults with severe traumatic brain injury: A multicenter study

Objective: Investigate the prevalence, comorbidities, and correlates of challenging behaviors among clients of the New South Wales Brain Injury Rehabilitation Program. Setting: All community-based rehabilitation services of the statewide program. Participants: Five hundred seven active clients with severe traumatic brain injury. Design: Prospective multicenter study. Main Measures: Eighty-eight clinicians from the 11 services rated clients on the Overt Behaviour Scale, Disability Rating Scale, Sydney Psychosocial Reintegration Scale–2, Care and Needs Scale, and Health of the Nation Outcome Scale–Acquired Brain Injury. Results: Overall prevalence rate of challenging behaviors was 54%. Inappropriate social behavior (33.3%), aggression (31.9%), and adynamia (23.1%) were the 3 most common individual behaviors, with 35.5% of the sample displaying more than 1 challenging behavior. Significant associations were found between increasing levels of challenging behavior and longer duration of posttraumatic amnesia, increasing functional disability, greater restrictions in participation, increased support needs, and greater degrees of psychiatric disturbance, respectively (P < 0.004). Multivariate binomial logistic regression found that premorbid alcohol abuse, postinjury restrictions in participation, and higher levels of postinjury psychiatric disturbance were independent predictors of challenging behavior. Conclusions: Challenging behaviors are widespread among community-dwelling adults with severe traumatic brain injury. Services need to deliver integrated anger management, social skills, and motivational treatments

Validation of the Quality of Life in Childhood Epilepsy Questionnaire in American epilepsy patients

The aim of this study was to adapt the Australian Quality of Life in Childhood Epilepsy Questionnaire (QOLCE) and determine its psychometric properties in a North American population. Participants were North American families with children diagnosed with epilepsy. Parents were asked to complete the American QOLCE (USQOLCE) and the Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ). Seventy-one families completed the USQOLCE. The internal consistency reliability of the subscales was good. USQOLCE subscales correlated highly with theoretically similar subscales contained in the CHQ. Theoretically dissimilar subscales on the two instruments did not correlate as well. USQOLCE correlated significantly with a parental rating of seizure severity and an independent measure of degree of postoperative seizure control. This study demonstrated that the USQOLCE is suitable for a North American population with evidence of its reliability and validity including its sensitivity to seizure burden.12 page(s