Data and data illustrations supporting the analysis of transcripts from interviews exploring the views and experiences of young men and their parents/guardians regarding testicular health

Abstract Evidence shows young men have poor outcomes from testicular torsion directly attributable to delay in presentation to hospital [1]. Only a third to a half of adolescents present within 6 h with testicular pain, [2,3] There is poor understanding of why adolescents delay in presenting with testicular pain. The authors started without an a-priori hypothesis and designed a thematic qualitative research protocol to explore the phenomena is a naturalistic setting [4,5] . Sixteen young men (11–19 years) and their parents or guardians underwent semi-structured interviews, directed by a topic guide which evolved with subsequent interview findings. Young men were recruited from out of school clubs to minimise the bias associated with schools or hospital recruitment, and were naïve to testicular disease. Verbatim transcriptions were coded, categories and themes formed and final concepts derived utilising a framework methodology. The figure included shows the initial topic guide. The data tables presented show the emergent themes and the final code book. The authors have utilised the analysis to explore the factors impeding young men in presenting early to hospital with testicular pain [6]. The authors feel the data tables and raw data will be of interest to other researchers interested in adolescent health, health access, public health, linguistics and healthcare qualitative methodology

New Permo-Carboniferous geochemical data from central Thailand: implication for a volcanic arc model

Current ideas and models of geotectonic reconstructions of Southeast Asia are reviewed and new data on Late Carboniferous through Middle Permian tuffites and sills from central Thailand are presented in the light of the problems of Southeast Asian palaeogeography. The volcanic rocks of quartz-keratophyric to spilitic composition are associated with platform carbonates and deep basin sediments. Their geochemistry and the character of the accompanying sediments suggest the existence of a Late Palaeozoic volcanic arc separating a subduction zone in the west from a back arc basin to the east. The geotectonic frame of Southeast Asia is explained in terms of repeated accretion of volcanic arcs by the Late Palaeozoic subduction zone along the northern Tethys margin

STATUS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IN SITU ANOA (Bubalus sp.) WITH SUGGESTED IMPLICATIONS FOR THE CONSERVATION BREEDING POPULATION (Status dan Rekomendasi Anoa (Bubalus sp.) In Situ dengan Implikasi untuk Konservasi Populasi Berbiak)

Ringkasan ini menguraikan status konservasi in situ kerbau kerdil Sulawesi. Trend populasi yang dilaporkan dalam dua belas tahun terakhir mengarahkan penulis dalam menyoroti arti penting konservasi populasi berbiak di lokasi ex situ pada masa mendatang. Anoa terdiri dari dua jenis kerbau kerdil Bubalus depressicornis & B. quarlesi endemik Pulau Sulawesi, Indonesia. Kajian distribusi anoa berdasarkan laporan historis dan sebagai hasil data lapang terbaru (1990-an sampai 2002) menyoroti terjadinya penurunan di keseluruhan pulau, terutama di semenanjung selatan dan timur laut. Penurunan terjadi akibat perburuan lokal untuk daging dan kehilangan habitat. Sebagian besar populasi secara cepat mengalami fragmentasi. Konservasi populasi viable pada akhirnya akan membutuhkan pengelolaan metapopulasi dan peran yang lebih besar dari populasi di kebun binatang.Kata Kunci: in situ, anoa, konservasi, populasi berbiak

Finding co-solvers on Twitter, with a little help from Linked Data

In this paper we propose a method for suggesting potential collaborators for solving innovation challenges online, based on their competence, similarity of interests and social proximity with the user. We rely on Linked Data to derive a measure of semantic relatedness that we use to enrich both user profiles and innovation problems with additional relevant topics, thereby improving the performance of co-solver recommendation. We evaluate this approach against state of the art methods for query enrichment based on the distribution of topics in user profiles, and demonstrate its usefulness in recommending collaborators that are both complementary in competence and compatible with the user. Our experiments are grounded using data from the social networking service Twitter.com

Six rapid assessments of alcohol and other substance use in populations displaced by conflict

BACKGROUND: Substance use among populations displaced by conflict is a neglected area of public health. Alcohol, khat, benzodiazepine, opiate, and other substance use have been documented among a range of displaced populations, with wide-reaching health and social impacts. Changing agendas in humanitarian response-including increased prominence of mental health and chronic illness-have so far failed to be translated into meaningful interventions for substance use. METHODS: Studies were conducted from 2006 to 2008 in six different settings of protracted displacement, three in Africa (Kenya, Liberia, northern Uganda) and three in Asia (Iran, Pakistan, and Thailand). We used intervention-oriented qualitative Rapid Assessment and Response methods, adapted from two decades of experience among non-displaced populations. The main sources of data were individual and group interviews conducted with a culturally representative (non-probabilistic) sample of community members and service providers. RESULTS: Widespread use of alcohol, particularly artisanally-produced alcohol, in Kenya, Liberia, Uganda, and Thailand, and opiates in Iran and Pakistan was believed by participants to be linked to a range of health, social and protection problems, including illness, injury (intentional and unintentional), gender-based violence, risky behaviour for HIV and other sexually transmitted infection and blood-borne virus transmission, as well as detrimental effects to household economy. Displacement experiences, including dispossession, livelihood restriction, hopelessness and uncertain future may make communities particularly vulnerable to substance use and its impact, and changing social norms and networks (including the surrounding population) may result in changed - and potentially more harmful-patterns of use. Limited access to services, including health services, and exclusion from relevant host population programmes, may exacerbate the harmful consequences. CONCLUSIONS: The six studies show the feasibility and value of conducting rapid assessments in displaced populations. One outcome of these studies is the development of a UNHCR/WHO field guide on rapid assessment of alcohol and other substance use among conflict-affected populations. More work is required on gathering population-based epidemiological data, and much more experience is required on delivering effective interventions. Presentation of these findings should contribute to increased awareness, improved response, and more vigorous debate around this important but neglected area

Simulated chronic NO 3 − deposition reduces soil respiration in northern hardwood forests

Chronic N additions to forest ecosystems can enhance soil N availability, potentially leading to reduced C allocation to root systems. This in turn could decrease soil CO 2 efflux. We measured soil respiration during the first, fifth, sixth and eighth years of simulated atmospheric NO 3 − deposition (3 g N m −2  yr −1 ) to four sugar maple-dominated northern hardwood forests in Michigan to assess these possibilities. During the first year, soil respiration rates were slightly, but not significantly, higher in the NO 3 − -amended plots. In all subsequent measurement years, soil respiration rates from NO 3 − -amended soils were significantly depressed. Soil temperature and soil matric potential were measured concurrently with soil respiration and used to develop regression relationships for predicting soil respiration rates. Estimates of growing season and annual soil CO 2 efflux made using these relationships indicate that these C fluxes were depressed by 15% in the eighth year of chronic NO 3 − additions. The decrease in soil respiration was not due to reduced C allocation to roots, as root respiration rates, root biomass, and root turnover were not significantly affected by N additions. Aboveground litter also was unchanged by the 8 years of treatment. Of the remaining potential causes for the decline in soil CO 2 efflux, reduced microbial respiration appears to be the most likely possibility. Documented reductions in microbial biomass and the activities of extracellular enzymes used for litter degradation on the NO 3 − -amended plots are consistent with this explanation.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72619/1/j.1365-2486.2004.00737.x.pd

A large data resource of genomic copy number variation across neurodevelopmental disorders

Copy number variations (CNVs) are implicated across many neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) and contribute to their shared genetic etiology. Multiple studies have attempted to identify shared etiology among NDDs, but this is the first genome-wide CNV analysis across autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), schizophrenia (SCZ), and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) at once. Using microarray (Affymetrix CytoScan HD), we genotyped 2,691 subjects diagnosed with an NDD (204 SCZ, 1,838 ASD, 427 ADHD and 222 OCD) and 1,769 family members, mainly parents. We identified rare CNVs, defined as those found in \u3c0.1% of 10,851 population control samples. We found clinically relevant CNVs (broadly defined) in 284 (10.5%) of total subjects, including 22 (10.8%) among subjects with SCZ, 209 (11.4%) with ASD, 40 (9.4%) with ADHD, and 13 (5.6%) with OCD. Among all NDD subjects, we identified 17 (0.63%) with aneuploidies and 115 (4.3%) with known genomic disorder variants. We searched further for genes impacted by different CNVs in multiple disorders. Examples of NDD-associated genes linked across more than one disorder (listed in order of occurrence frequency) are NRXN1, SEH1L, LDLRAD4, GNAL, GNG13, MKRN1, DCTN2, KNDC1, PCMTD2, KIF5A, SYNM, and long non-coding RNAs: AK127244 and PTCHD1-AS. We demonstrated that CNVs impacting the same genes could potentially contribute to the etiology of multiple NDDs. The CNVs identified will serve as a useful resource for both research and diagnostic laboratories for prioritization of variants

Renal Association Clinical Practice Guideline on Haemodialysis

© The Author(s) 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.This guideline is written primarily for doctors and nurses working in dialysis units and related areas of medicine in the UK, and is an update of a previous version written in 2009. It aims to provide guidance on how to look after patients and how to run dialysis units, and provides standards which units should in general aim to achieve. We would not advise patients to interpret the guideline as a rulebook, but perhaps to answer the question: "what does good quality haemodialysis look like?"The guideline is split into sections: each begins with a few statements which are graded by strength (1 is a firm recommendation, 2 is more like a sensible suggestion), and the type of research available to back up the statement, ranging from A (good quality trials so we are pretty sure this is right) to D (more like the opinion of experts than known for sure). After the statements there is a short summary explaining why we think this, often including a discussion of some of the most helpful research. There is then a list of the most important medical articles so that you can read further if you want to - most of this is freely available online, at least in summary form.A few notes on the individual sections: 1. This section is about how much dialysis a patient should have. The effectiveness of dialysis varies between patients because of differences in body size and age etc., so different people need different amounts, and this section gives guidance on what defines "enough" dialysis and how to make sure each person is getting that. Quite a bit of this section is very technical, for example, the term "eKt/V" is often used: this is a calculation based on blood tests before and after dialysis, which measures the effectiveness of a single dialysis session in a particular patient. 2. This section deals with "non-standard" dialysis, which basically means anything other than 3 times per week. For example, a few people need 4 or more sessions per week to keep healthy, and some people are fine with only 2 sessions per week - this is usually people who are older, or those who have only just started dialysis. Special considerations for children and pregnant patients are also covered here. 3. This section deals with membranes (the type of "filter" used in the dialysis machine) and "HDF" (haemodiafiltration) which is a more complex kind of dialysis which some doctors think is better. Studies are still being done, but at the moment we think it's as good as but not better than regular dialysis. 4. This section deals with fluid removal during dialysis sessions: how to remove enough fluid without causing cramps and low blood pressure. Amongst other recommendations we advise close collaboration with patients over this. 5. This section deals with dialysate, which is the fluid used to "pull" toxins out of the blood (it is sometimes called the "bath"). The level of things like potassium in the dialysate is important, otherwise too much or too little may be removed. There is a section on dialysate buffer (bicarbonate) and also a section on phosphate, which occasionally needs to be added into the dialysate. 6. This section is about anticoagulation (blood thinning) which is needed to stop the circuit from clotting, but sometimes causes side effects. 7. This section is about certain safety aspects of dialysis, not seeking to replace well-established local protocols, but focussing on just a few where we thought some national-level guidance would be useful. 8. This section draws together a few aspects of dialysis which don't easily fit elsewhere, and which impact on how dialysis feels to patients, rather than the medical outcome, though of course these are linked. This is where home haemodialysis and exercise are covered. There is an appendix at the end which covers a few aspects in more detail, especially the mathematical ideas. Several aspects of dialysis are not included in this guideline since they are covered elsewhere, often because they are aspects which affect non-dialysis patients too. This includes: anaemia, calcium and bone health, high blood pressure, nutrition, infection control, vascular access, transplant planning, and when dialysis should be started.Peer reviewe

The Interaction of Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars with the Interstellar Medium

We study the hydrodynamical behavior of the gas expelled by moving Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars interacting with the ISM. Our models follow the wind modulations prescribed by stellar evolution calculations, and we cover a range of expected relative velocities (10 to 100 km/s), ISM densities (between 0.01 and 1 cm-3), and stellar progenitor masses (1 and 3.5 Msun). We show how and when bow-shocks, and cometary-like structures form, and in which regime the shells are subject to instabilities. Finally, we analyze the results of the simulations in terms of the different kinematical stellar populations expected in the Galaxy.Comment: ApJ in press, 42 pages, 12 figures, movies of the simulations will be available in the published electronic version of the pape