Occurrence of Scleractinian corals from the outer Gulf of Kachchh, West coast of India

Coral reefs of the outer Gulf of Kachchh were surveyed for abundance and occurrences of scleractinian coral. The survey was conducted in the intertidal zone of three selected sites, namely Okha, Mithapur, and Shivrajpur. The maximum live coral cover area percentage was observed at Shivrajpur (72 %) followed by Mithapur (55.5 %) and Okha (45 %). In the present study, 23 species of scleractinian corals belonging to eight different families and 12 genera were recorded. The highest numbers of the scleractinian corals were recorded from the Shivrajpur with 22 species belonging to 12 genera followed by Mithapur with 16 species belonging to ten genera, and Okha 12 species belonging to eight genera. The Poritidae family contributed the highest number of scleractinian coral species assemblage followed by the Faviidae and Merulinidae family at all the stations. Geo-morphology of the coast and anthropogenic pressures are the two factors that seemed to have more impact on the distribution and diversity of scleractinian corals

Exploratory Comparison of Expert and Novice Pair Programmers

We conducted quasi-experiment comparing novice pair programmers to expert pair programmers. The expert pairs wrote tests with a higher instruction, line, and method coverage than the novice pairs and changed the given program skeleton to a larger extent. However, the expert pairs were also slower than the novice pairs. The pairs within both groups switched keyboard and mouse possession frequently. Furthermore, most pairs did not share the input devices equally but rather had one partner who is more active than the other

Biosignals reflect pair-dynamics in collaborative work : EDA and ECG study of pair-programming in a classroom environment

Collaboration is a complex phenomenon, where intersubjective dynamics can greatly affect the productive outcome. Evaluation of collaboration is thus of great interest, and can potentially help achieve better outcomes and performance. However, quantitative measurement of collaboration is difficult, because much of the interaction occurs in the intersubjective space between collaborators. Manual observation and/or self-reports are subjective, laborious, and have a poor temporal resolution. The problem is compounded in natural settings where task-activity and response-compliance cannot be controlled. Physiological signals provide an objective mean to quantify intersubjective rapport (as synchrony), but require novel methods to support broad deployment outside the lab. We studied 28 student dyads during a self-directed classroom pair-programming exercise. Sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system activation was measured during task performance using electrodermal activity and electrocardiography. Results suggest that (a) we can isolate cognitive processes (mental workload) from confounding environmental effects, and (b) electrodermal signals show role-specific but correlated affective response profiles. We demonstrate the potential for social physiological compliance to quantify pair-work in natural settings, with no experimental manipulation of participants required. Our objective approach has a high temporal resolution, is scalable, non-intrusive, and robust.Peer reviewe

Prognostic model to predict postoperative acute kidney injury in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery based on a national prospective observational cohort study.

Background: Acute illness, existing co-morbidities and surgical stress response can all contribute to postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery. The aim of this study was prospectively to develop a pragmatic prognostic model to stratify patients according to risk of developing AKI after major gastrointestinal surgery. Methods: This prospective multicentre cohort study included consecutive adults undergoing elective or emergency gastrointestinal resection, liver resection or stoma reversal in 2-week blocks over a continuous 3-month period. The primary outcome was the rate of AKI within 7 days of surgery. Bootstrap stability was used to select clinically plausible risk factors into the model. Internal model validation was carried out by bootstrap validation. Results: A total of 4544 patients were included across 173 centres in the UK and Ireland. The overall rate of AKI was 14·2 per cent (646 of 4544) and the 30-day mortality rate was 1·8 per cent (84 of 4544). Stage 1 AKI was significantly associated with 30-day mortality (unadjusted odds ratio 7·61, 95 per cent c.i. 4·49 to 12·90; P < 0·001), with increasing odds of death with each AKI stage. Six variables were selected for inclusion in the prognostic model: age, sex, ASA grade, preoperative estimated glomerular filtration rate, planned open surgery and preoperative use of either an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or an angiotensin receptor blocker. Internal validation demonstrated good model discrimination (c-statistic 0·65). Discussion: Following major gastrointestinal surgery, AKI occurred in one in seven patients. This preoperative prognostic model identified patients at high risk of postoperative AKI. Validation in an independent data set is required to ensure generalizability

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance in systemic hypertension

Systemic hypertension is a highly prevalent potentially modifiable cardiovascular risk factor. Imaging plays an important role in the diagnosis of underlying causes for hypertension, in assessing cardiovascular complications of hypertension, and in understanding the pathophysiology of the disease process. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) provides accurate and reproducible measures of ventricular volumes, mass, function and haemodynamics as well as uniquely allowing tissue characterization of diffuse and focal fibrosis. In addition, CMR is well suited for exclusion of common secondary causes for hypertension. We review the current and emerging clinical and research applications of CMR in hypertension

A922 Sequential measurement of 1 hour creatinine clearance (1-CRCL) in critically ill patients at risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)

Meeting abstrac

Superhydrophobic Alkanethiol-Coated Microsubmarines for Effective Removal of Oil

We demonstrate the use of artificial nanomachines for effective interaction, capture, transport, and removal of oil droplets. The simple nanomachine-enabled oil collection method is based on modifying microtube engines with a superhydrophobic layer able to adsorb oil by means of its strong adhesion to a long chain of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of alkanethiols created on the rough gold outer surface of the device. The resultant SAM-coated Au/Ni/PEDOT/Pt microsubmarine displays continuous interaction with large oil droplets and is capable of loading and transporting multiple small oil droplets. The influence of the alkanethiol chain length, polarity, and head functional group and hence of the surface hydrophobicity upon the oil–nanomotor interaction and the propulsion is examined. No such oil–motor interactions were observed in control experiments involving both unmodified microengines and microengines coated with SAM layers containing a polar terminal group. These results demonstrate that such SAM-Au/Ni/PEDOT/Pt micromachines can be useful for a facile, rapid, and efficient collection of oils in water samples, which can be potentially exploited for other water–oil separation systems. The integration of oil-sorption properties into self-propelled microengines holds great promise for the remediation of oil-contaminated water samples and for the isolation of other hydrophobic targets, such as drugs