Measuring Behavior Change Resulting from EORE and the Need for Complementary Risk Reduction Activities

Risk education (RE) in mine action has been around since 1992.[i] However, explosive ordnance risk education (EORE)[ii] operators are still struggling to measure how and whether EORE has resulted in positive behavior change.[iii] Of course, various monitoring and evaluation (M&E) methods have been pursued in the past, predominantly the use of knowledge, attitude, practice, and beliefs (KAPB) surveys; simpler pre-/post-EORE session surveys; the use of proxy indicators such as number of explosive ordnance (EO) accidents or victims; and number of explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) callouts from the community. However, these methods come with some limitations in accurately capturing behavior change. For example, survey questions linked to behavior would normally be prefaced as “what would you do if…” However, this self-reporting of behavior does not necessarily capture actual behaviors; moreover, responses may be biased toward giving the “correct answer” in order to please the organization conducting the survey. Further, research has evaluated the limits of EORE in the context of ongoing conflict, high levels of poverty, and/or insufficient clearance/ordnance disposal capacity. These circumstances lead to a lack of choices for persons living in or near an EO-contaminated environment to adopt safer behavior

Long-range fiber-optic earthquake sensing by active phase noise cancellation

We present a long-range fiber-optic environmental deformation sensor based on active phase noise cancellation (PNC) in metrological frequency dissemination. PNC sensing exploits recordings of a compensation frequency that is commonly discarded. Without the need for dedicated measurement devices, it operates synchronously with metrological services, suggesting that existing phase-stabilized metrological networks can be co-used effortlessly as environmental sensors. The compatibility of PNC sensing with inline amplification enables the interrogation of cables with lengths beyond 1000 km, making it a potential contributor to earthquake detection and early warning in the oceans. Using spectral-element wavefield simulations that accurately account for complex cable geometry, we compare observed and computed recordings of the compensation frequency for a magnitude 3.9 earthquake in south-eastern France and a 123 km fiber link between Bern and Basel, Switzerland. The match in both phase and amplitude indicates that PNC sensing can be used quantitatively, for example, in earthquake detection and characterization.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

La visión parkinsoniana de la figura compleja de Rey-Osterrieth

Visuospatial impairment has been frequently reported in Parkinson’s disease (PD). We present the progressive distorsioned performance of the Rey-Osterrieth complex figure in parkinsonian patients at different stages of the disease (PD de novo, PD on long-term treatment, PD with phychosis and PD with dementia

Trastornos neuropsiquiátricos en la enfermedad de Parkinson

This paper reviews the main neuropsychiatric disorders associated with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and describes the neuropathological hypothesis proposed to explain these symptoms. Development. This disease is usually associated with neuropsychiatric complications such as depression, anxiety and apathy. Besides, psychiatric symptoms are one of the most common side effects of antiparkinsonian drug-therapy. Conclusions. Depression is the most frequent emotional disorder reported in patients with PD. Up to 20% of parkinsonian patients meet DSM-IV criteria for major depressive episode and another 20% for dysthymia, while the prevalence of depression in normal aged population is about 2-8%. The relationship between PD and depression has not been fully established. Some investigators have suggested that depressive symptoms in PD are causally related to the underlying neuropathological process, affecting predominantly serotoninergic and dopaminergic pathways. Alternatively, depression in PD may represent a normal reaction to the progressive physical impairment induced by the disease. Otherwise, up to 20% of parkinsonian patients present levodopa-induced psychiatric complications. Visual hallucinations are the commonest, but delusions, confusional states, sexual disorders and sleep disorders have also been described. Serotonine and dopamine have been implicated in the neuropathological basis of these disorders

Mitochondrial Dynamics and VMP1-Related Selective Mitophagy in Experimental Acute Pancreatitis

Mitophagy and zymophagy are selective autophagy pathways early induced in acute pancreatitis that may explain the mild, auto limited, and more frequent clinical presentation of this disease. Adequate mitochondrial bioenergetics is necessary for cellular restoration mechanisms that are triggered during the mild disease. However, mitochondria and zymogen contents are direct targets of damage in acute pancreatitis. Cellular survival depends on the recovering possibility of mitochondrial function and efficient clearance of damaged mitochondria. This work aimed to analyze mitochondrial dynamics and function during selective autophagy in pancreatic acinar cells during mild experimental pancreatitis in rats. Also, using a cell model under the hyperstimulation of the G-coupled receptor for CCK (CCK-R), we aimed to investigate the mechanisms involved in these processes in the context of zymophagy. We found that during acute pancreatitis, mitochondrial O2 consumption and ATP production significantly decreased early after induction of acute pancreatitis, with a consequent decrease in the ATP/O ratio. Mitochondrial dysfunction was accompanied by changes in mitochondrial dynamics evidenced by optic atrophy 1 (OPA-1) and dynamin-related protein 1 (DRP-1) differential expression and ultrastructural features of mitochondrial fission, mitochondrial elongation, and mitophagy during the acute phase of experimental mild pancreatitis in rats. Mitophagy was also evaluated by confocal assay after transfection with the pMITO-RFP-GFP plasmid that specifically labels autophagic degradation of mitochondria and the expression and redistribution of the ubiquitin ligase Parkin1. Moreover, we report for the first time that vacuole membrane protein-1 (VMP1) is involved and required in the mitophagy process during acute pancreatitis, observable not only by repositioning around specific mitochondrial populations, but also by detection of mitochondria in autophagosomes specifically isolated with anti-VMP1 antibodies as well. Also, VMP1 downregulation avoided mitochondrial degradation confirming that VMP1 expression is required for mitophagy during acute pancreatitis. In conclusion, we identified a novel DRP1-Parkin1-VMP1 selective autophagy pathway, which mediates the selective degradation of damaged mitochondria by mitophagy in acute pancreatitis. The understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved to restore mitochondrial function, such as mitochondrial dynamics and mitophagy, could be relevant in the development of novel therapeutic strategies in acute pancreatitis.Fil: Vanasco, Virginia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Bioquímica y Medicina Molecular. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad Medicina. Instituto de Bioquímica y Medicina Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Ropolo, Alejandro Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Bioquímica y Medicina Molecular. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad Medicina. Instituto de Bioquímica y Medicina Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Grasso, Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Bioquímica y Medicina Molecular. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad Medicina. Instituto de Bioquímica y Medicina Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Ojeda, Diego Sebastian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Retrovirus y Sida. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Retrovirus y Sida; ArgentinaFil: Garcia, Maria Noe. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Bioquímica y Medicina Molecular. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad Medicina. Instituto de Bioquímica y Medicina Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Vico, Tamara Antonela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Bioquímica y Medicina Molecular. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad Medicina. Instituto de Bioquímica y Medicina Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Orquera, Tamara. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Bioquímica y Medicina Molecular. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad Medicina. Instituto de Bioquímica y Medicina Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Quarleri, Jorge Fabian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Retrovirus y Sida. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Retrovirus y Sida; ArgentinaFil: Alvarez, Silvia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Bioquímica y Medicina Molecular. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad Medicina. Instituto de Bioquímica y Medicina Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Vaccaro, Maria Ines. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Bioquímica y Medicina Molecular. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad Medicina. Instituto de Bioquímica y Medicina Molecular; Argentin

Thrill: High-performance algorithmic distributed batch data processing with C++

We present the design and a first performance evaluation of Thrill -- a prototype of a general purpose big data processing framework with a convenient data-flow style programming interface. Thrill is somewhat similar to Apache Spark and Apache Flink with at least two main differences. First, Thrill is based on C++ which enables performance advantages due to direct native code compilation, a more cache-friendly memory layout, and explicit memory management. In particular, Thrill uses template meta-programming to compile chains of subsequent local operations into a single binary routine without intermediate buffering and with minimal indirections. Second, Thrill uses arrays rather than multisets as its primary data structure which enables additional operations like sorting, prefix sums, window scans, or combining corresponding fields of several arrays (zipping). We compare Thrill with Apache Spark and Apache Flink using five kernels from the HiBench suite. Thrill is consistently faster and often several times faster than the other frameworks. At the same time, the source codes have a similar level of simplicity and abstractio

The Structure of Episodic Memory: Ganeri's ‘Mental Time Travel and Attention’

We offer a framework for assessing what the structure of episodic memory might be, if one accepts the Buddhist denial of persisting selves. This paper is a response to Jonardon Ganeri's paper "Mental time travel and attention", which explores Buddhaghosa's ideas about memory. (It will eventually be published with a reply by Ganeri)