A Preliminary Survey of Insect Fauna around the Lake Chad Basin Area of Borno State, Nigeria

A survey was conducted during dry season of 2011/2012 around the Lake Chad Basin area of Borno State, Nigeria to collect and identify insects inhabiting different habitats in the area. The survey was conducted during dry season between 8.00am to 1.00pm between November and April. Sweep net and aspirator were used to catch insects and 95% alcohol was used to kill the insect specimens. The insect specimens were identified at the Insect Museum, Department of Crop Protection / Institute for Agricultural Research, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Thirty four (34) insect species were identified representing 24 families relating to 8 insect orders. Among the insects identified, were insect pests of agricultural crops and vectors of human diseases. Key words: Insect fauna, Lake Chad, Survey, Insect order, Insect species, dry season, habitats, economic importance

Mixed states: Still a modern psychopathological syndrome?

The aim of this review is to evaluate whether the DSM-5 concept of mixed features \u201cspecifier\u201d provides a definition that reflects the richness and multiplicity of this psychopathological picture pointing out the historical development, clinical concepualisation and proposed therapeutic approach to mixed states. We review and discuss the recent evidence on the presence of mixed features during mania and depression and summarise findings on the conceptualisation of mixed states. Electronic searches of all English-language papers were performed in the MEDLINE and PUBMED database using and cross-listing key words: mixed state, mixed features, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, mania, hypomania, depression. The mixed categorical-dimensional concept used in the DSM- 5 broadens the concept of mixed episodes, introducing substantial changes to the diagnosis of mixed states. This definition appears more appropriate for less severe forms of mixed states presenting clear and detectable mood symptoms with evident improvement compared to the DSM-IV, as the possibility of classifying depression \u201cwith mixed features\u201d. The transition from the classical definition of mixed states to the one reported in the DSM-5 has determined a complex modification of the concept of mixed state. The DSM-IV-TR description, based on the co-presence of symptoms of opposite polarity, was extremely reductive and did not capture the sub-syndromal symptoms of the opposite pole experienced in bipolar and major depressive disorders. The DSM-5 definition of mixed features \u201cspecifier\u201d represents a valid tool to improve the recognition and proper treatment of bipolar mixed patients, reducing misdiagnosis and mistreatment associated with chronic and repetitive exposure to antidepressants and sedatives, although the mixed categorical-dimensional concept does not adequately reflect some overlapping mood criteria, such as mood lability, irritability and psychomotor agitation

Hysteresis of Backflow Imprinted in Collimated Jets

We report two different types of backflow from jets by performing 2D special relativistic hydrodynamical simulations. One is anti-parallel and quasi-straight to the main jet (quasi-straight backflow), and the other is bent path of the backflow (bent backflow). We find that the former appears when the head advance speed is comparable to or higher than the local sound speed at the hotspot while the latter appears when the head advance speed is slower than the sound speed bat the hotspot. Bent backflow collides with the unshocked jet and laterally squeezes the jet. At the same time, a pair of new oblique shocks are formed at the tip of the jet and new bent fast backflows are generated via these oblique shocks. The hysteresis of backflow collisions is thus imprinted in the jet as a node and anti-node structure. This process also promotes broadening of the jet cross sectional area and it also causes a decrease in the head advance velocity. This hydrodynamic process may be tested by observations of compact young jets.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

Predominant polarity and polarity index of maintenance treatments for bipolar disorder: A validation study in a large naturalistic sample in Italy

Background and Objectives: Predominant polarity (PP) may be a useful course specifier in at least a significant proportion of patients with Bipolar Disorder (BD), being associated with several clinically relevant correlates. Emerging evidence suggests that the concept of PP might influence the selection of maintenance treatments, based on a drug polarity index (PI) which measures the greater antidepressive vs. antimanic preventive efficacy of mood stabilizers over long-term maintenance treatment. In this study, we aimed to validate the PI in a large sample of Italian BD patients with accurate longitudinal characterization of the clinical course, which ensured a robust definition of the PP. Materials and Methods: Our sample is comprised of 653 patients with BD, divided into groups based on the predominant polarity (manic/hypomanic predominant polarity—MPP, depressive predominant polarity—DPP and no predominant polarity). Subsequently we calculated the mean total polarity index for each group, and we compared the groups. Results: When we examined the mean PI of treatments prescribed to individuals with DPP, MPP and no predominant polarity, calculated using two different methods, we failed to find significant differences, with the exception of the PI calculated with the Popovic method and using the less stringent criterion for predominant polarity (PP50%). Conclusions: Future prospective studies are needed in order to determine whether the predominant polarity is indeed one clinical factor that might guide the clinician in choosing the right mood stabilizer for BD maintenance treatment

Socio-demographic and clinical characterization of patients with obsessive-compulsive tic-related disorder (OCTD) : An Italian multicenter study

© Copyright by Pacini Editore SrlIn the DSM-5 a new "tic-related" specifier for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) has been introduced, highlighting the importance of an accurate characterization of patients suffering from obsessive-compulsive tic-related disorder ("OCTD"). In order to characterize OCTD from a socio-demographic and clinical perspective, the present multicenter study was carried out. The sample consists of 266 patients, divided in two groups with lifetime diagnoses of OCD and OCTD, respectively. OCTD vs OCD patients showed a significant male prevalence (68.5% vs 48.5%; p < .001), a higher rate of psychiatric comorbidities (69.4 vs 50%; p < .001) - mainly with neurodevelopmental disorders (24 vs 0%; p < .001), a lower education level and professional status (middle school diploma: 25 vs 7.6%; full-Time job 44.4 vs 58%; p < .001). Moreover, OCTD vs OCD patients showed significantly earlier age of OCD and psychiatric comorbidity onsets (16.1 ± 10.8 vs 22.1 ± 9.5 years; p < .001, and 18.3 ± 12.8 vs 25.6 ± 9.4: p < .001, respectively). Patients with OCTD patients were treated mainly with antipsychotic and with a low rate of benzodiazepine (74.2 vs 38.2% and 20.2 vs 31.3%, respectively; p < .001). Finally, OCTD vs OCD patients showed higher rates of partial treatment response (58.1 vs 38%; p < .001), lower rates of current remission (35.5 vs 54.8%; p < .001) and higher rates of suicidal ideation (63.2 vs 41.7%; p < .001) and attempts (28.9 vs 8.3%; p < .001). Patients with OCTD report several unfavorable socio-demographic and clinical characteristics compared to OCD patients without a history of tic. Additional studies on larger sample are needed to further characterize OCTD patients from clinical and therapeutic perspectives.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Electroweak Sudakov Logarithms and Real Gauge-Boson Radiation in the TeV Region

Electroweak radiative corrections give rise to large negative, double-logarithmically enhanced corrections in the TeV region. These are partly compensated by real radiation and, moreover, affected by selecting isospin-noninvariant external states. We investigate the impact of real gauge boson radiation more quantitatively by considering different restricted final state configurations. We consider successively a massive abelian gauge theory, a spontaneously broken SU(2) theory and the electroweak Standard Model. We find that details of the choice of the phase space cuts, in particular whether a fraction of collinear and soft radiation is included, have a strong impact on the relative amount of real and virtual corrections.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figure

THE TOOLS AND MONTE CARLO WORKING GROUP Summary Report from the Les Houches 2009 Workshop on TeV Colliders

This is the summary and introduction to the proceedings contributions for the Les Houches 2009 "Tools and Monte Carlo" working group.Comment: 144 Pages. Workshop site http://wwwlapp.in2p3.fr/conferences/LesHouches/Houches2009/ . Conveners were Butterworth, Maltoni, Moortgat, Richardson, Schumann and Skand

Triple Electroweak Gauge-Boson Production at Fermilab Tevatron Energies

We calculate the three gauge-boson production in the Standard Model at Fermilab Tevatron energies. At $\sqrt s=2$ TeV in $p\bar p$ collisions, the cross sections for the triple gauge-boson production are typically of order 10 femtobarns (fb). For the pure leptonic final states from the gauge-boson decays and with some minimal cuts on final state photons, the cross sections for $p \bar p \rightarrow W^\pm \gamma\gamma, Z\gamma\gamma$ and $W^+W^- \gamma$ processes are of order a few fb, resulting in a few dozen clean leptonic events for an integrated luminosity of 10 fb$^{-1}$. The pure leptonic modes from other gauge-boson channels give significantly smaller rate. Especially, the trilepton modes from $W^+W^-W^\pm$ and $t \bar t W^\pm \rightarrow W^+W^-W^\pm$ yield a cross section of order 0.1 fb if there is no significant Higgs boson contribution. For a Higgs boson with $m_H^{} \simeq 2M_Z^{}$, the triple massive-gauge-boson production rate could be enhanced by a factor of $4-6$.Comment: RevTeX 3.0; 14 pages plus 7 figures; ps files available via anonymous ftp at ftp://ucdhep.ucdavis.edu/han/vvv/vvv.ps,fig*_vvv.p