The association between gender and tooth loss in a small rural population of South Africa

Periodontal disease, which attacks the gums and supporting structures of the tooth, is one of the major causes of tooth loss in adults. Few studies on general well-being have compared the differences in oral health between men and women with studies from Europe and USA reporting that there are more edentulous women than men.Among the many factors contributing to tooth loss are poverty, availability and accessibility to dental and other health care as well as cultural traditions. This study examined a population living in a high fluoride area near Cape Town. This isolated community has until recently been unexposed to the diets and habits of the western world and have inter-married for decades. The results of this study indicated that although women had better oral hygiene habits than men, tooth loss was associated with age rather than gender.National Research Foundation of South Afric

Prenatal screening for pre-eclampsia : Frequently asked questions

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Progress on a gas-accepting ion source for continuous-flow accelerator mass spectrometry

Author Posting. © Elsevier B.V., 2007. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms 259 (2007): 83-87, doi:10.1016/j.nimb.2007.01.189.A gas-accepting microwave-plasma ion source is being developed for continuous-flow Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS). Characteristics of the ion source will be presented. Schemes for connecting a gas or liquid chromatograph to the ion source will also be discussed

Impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on a deep-water coral community in the Gulf of Mexico

To assess the potential impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on offshore ecosystems, 11 sites hosting deep-water coral communities were examined 3 to 4 mo after the well was capped. Healthy coral communities were observed at all sites \u3e20 km from the Macondo well, including seven sites previously visited in September 2009, where the corals and communities appeared unchanged. However, at one site 11 km southwest of the Macondo well, coral colonies presented widespread signs of stress, including varying degrees of tissue loss, sclerite enlargement, excessmucous production, bleached commensal ophiuroids, and covering by brown flocculent material (floc). On the basis of these criteria the level of impact to individual colonies was ranked from 0 (least impact) to 4 (greatest impact). Of the 43 corals imaged at that site, 46% exhibited evidence of impact onmore than half of the colony,whereas nearly a quarter of all of the corals showed impact to \u3e90% of the colony. Additionally, 53% of these corals\u27 ophiuroid associates displayed abnormal color and/or attachment posture. Analysis of hopanoid petroleumbiomarkers isolated from the floc provides strong evidence that this material contained oil fromtheMacondowell. The presence of recently damaged and deceased corals beneath the path of a previously documented plume emanating from the Macondo well provides compelling evidence that the oil impacted deep-water ecosystems. Our findings underscore the unprecedented nature of the spill in terms of its magnitude, release at depth, and impact to deep-water ecosystems

Requirements of leaf wetness and temperature for infection of groundnut by rust

Experiments are described to quantify the effects of temp. and duration of leaf wetness on infection of groundnut by Puccinia arachidis. After inoculation, a min. period of leaf wetness, m, was necessary for infection. When leaf wetness duration was >m, lesion density increased with increasing wetness duration to an asymptote, Dmax. The principal effects of temp. were on m and Dmax. The value of m decreased linearly from 6 h, as temp. increased from 15 to 25°C and increased slightly at temp. >25°. Dmax increased with temp. from zero at 8° to a max. at 22°, and decreased to zero again at c. 30°. The experimental results were used to produce a set of curves relating an infection index to leaf wetness duration at different temp. The implications for infection of groundnut crops are discussed in relation to the climate at Patancheru in southern India

Magnetism in Dense Quark Matter

We review the mechanisms via which an external magnetic field can affect the ground state of cold and dense quark matter. In the absence of a magnetic field, at asymptotically high densities, cold quark matter is in the Color-Flavor-Locked (CFL) phase of color superconductivity characterized by three scales: the superconducting gap, the gluon Meissner mass, and the baryonic chemical potential. When an applied magnetic field becomes comparable with each of these scales, new phases and/or condensates may emerge. They include the magnetic CFL (MCFL) phase that becomes relevant for fields of the order of the gap scale; the paramagnetic CFL, important when the field is of the order of the Meissner mass, and a spin-one condensate associated to the magnetic moment of the Cooper pairs, significant at fields of the order of the chemical potential. We discuss the equation of state (EoS) of MCFL matter for a large range of field values and consider possible applications of the magnetic effects on dense quark matter to the astrophysics of compact stars.Comment: To appear in Lect. Notes Phys. "Strongly interacting matter in magnetic fields" (Springer), edited by D. Kharzeev, K. Landsteiner, A. Schmitt, H.-U. Ye

A Model for the Development of the Rhizobial and Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Symbioses in Legumes and Its Use to Understand the Roles of Ethylene in the Establishment of these two Symbioses

We propose a model depicting the development of nodulation and arbuscular mycorrhizae. Both processes are dissected into many steps, using Pisum sativum L. nodulation mutants as a guideline. For nodulation, we distinguish two main developmental programs, one epidermal and one cortical. Whereas Nod factors alone affect the cortical program, bacteria are required to trigger the epidermal events. We propose that the two programs of the rhizobial symbiosis evolved separately and that, over time, they came to function together. The distinction between these two programs does not exist for arbuscular mycorrhizae development despite events occurring in both root tissues. Mutations that affect both symbioses are restricted to the epidermal program. We propose here sites of action and potential roles for ethylene during the formation of the two symbioses with a specific hypothesis for nodule organogenesis. Assuming the epidermis does not make ethylene, the microsymbionts probably first encounter a regulatory level of ethylene at the epidermis–outermost cortical cell layer interface. Depending on the hormone concentrations there, infection will either progress or be blocked. In the former case, ethylene affects the cortex cytoskeleton, allowing reorganization that facilitates infection; in the latter case, ethylene acts on several enzymes that interfere with infection thread growth, causing it to abort. Throughout this review, the difficulty of generalizing the roles of ethylene is emphasized and numerous examples are given to demonstrate the diversity that exists in plants

Spatial and temporal variation of fish assemblage associated with aquatic macrophyte patches in the littoral zone of the Ayapel Swamp Complex, Colombia

ABSTRACT: Aim: The purpose of the present study was to examine spatial and temporal variation in fish assemblage structure associated with aquatic macrophytes in the littoral zone of the ASC. Methods: Specimens were caught between January 2008 and February 2009, over four limnimetric moments, using both cast net and seine net. Data on the temperature, electrical conductivity, pH and dissolved oxygen was recorded for the characterization of the water mass in the sites. Results: A total of 34,151 specimens from 44 species were collected. The most abundant species were Eigenmannia virescens, Astyanax caucanus, Astyanax fasciatus, Roeboides dayi and Cyphocharax magdalenae, which together accounted for more than 75% of the sample. Temporal and spatial comparisons showed variation in the environmental conditions and highlighted the existence of heterogeneous abiotic conditions (p0.05) regarding the fish assemblage structure. The multivariate analysis showed no significant relationship between existing environmental conditions and the fish assemblage (p=0.04). The analysis also showed the absence of a relationship between the fish assemblage and environmental variables with respect to the flood pulse and sampling sites (p>0.05). Conclusion: The uniformity of the fish communities that inhabit aquatic macrophyte patches in the littoral region of the ASC may be related to the availability of suitable habitat in structural terms, that probably supports a more abundant and varied wildlife

Glucose modifies the effect of endovascular thrombectomy in patients with acute stroke: a pooled-data meta-analysis

Background and Purpose: Hyperglycemia is a negative prognostic factor following acute ischemic stroke but is not known whether glucose is associated with the effects of endovascular thrombectomy in patients with large vessel stroke. In a pooled-data meta-analysis, we analyzed whether serum glucose is a treatment modifier of the efficacy of endovascular thrombectomy in acute stroke. Methods: Seven randomized trials compared endovascular thrombectomy with standard care between 2010 and 2017 (HERMES Collaboration). 1764 patients with large vessel stroke were allocated to endovascular thrombectomy (n=871) or standard care (n=893). Measurements included blood glucose on admission and functional outcome [modified Rankin Scale (mRS) range: 0-6; lower scores indicating less disability] at 3 months. The primary analysis evaluated whether glucose modified the effect of EVT over standard care on functional outcome, using ordinal logistic regression to test the interaction between treatment and glucose level. Results: Median (IQR) serum glucose on admission was 120 (104-140) mg/dl [6.6mmol/l (5.7-7.7) mmol/l]. Endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) was better than standard care in the overall pooled-data analysis [common odds ratio (acOR), 2.00 (95% CI 1.69–2.38); however, lower glucose levels were associated with greater effects of EVT over standard care. The interaction was nonlinear such that significant interactions were found in subgroups of patients split at glucose < or > 90mg/dl (5.0mmol/l) [(p=0.019 for interaction, acOR 3.81 (95% CI 1.73–8.41) for patients < 90 mg/dl vs 1.83 (95% CI 1.53–2.19) for patients > 90 mg/dl], and glucose < or > 100mg/dl (5.5mmol/l) [(p=0.004 for interaction, acOR 3.17 (95% CI 2.04–4.93) vs acOR 1.72 (95% CI 1.42–2.08)], but not between subgroups above these levels of glucose. Conclusions: Endovascular thrombectomy improved stroke outcomes compared to standard treatment regardless of glucose levels but the treatment effects were larger at lower glucose levels, with significant interaction effects persisting up to 90 to 100mg/dl (5.0-5.5mmol/l). Whether tight control of glucose improves the efficacy of endovascular thrombectomy following large vessel stroke warrants appropriate testing