A preliminary study and proposed methodology: Utilisation of pervasive computing (NeXus-4) and questionnaires to determine selected physiological and psychological parameters in participants working at a higher education institute in the UK

High levels of stress are widespread throughout academics in institution offurther and higher education. 3 out of 20 academics from an institute of Higher Education took part in the study presented The NeXus-4 physiological monitoring system wirelessly captured various physiological data associated with stress via a portable system that supported input channels for: blood pressure, heart rate, core temperature and peripheral perfusion. 10-min baseline measurements were recorded, followed by 20 minute experimental recordings during the various academic activities. The two psychological questionnaires were issued and completed prior to recording the physiological data. Results of the current study indicated that there was significant increase in heart rate and bloodflow during marking and lecturing vs. baseline, and lecturing showed higher values compared to marking. Counterintuitively, there was a strong and significant positive correlation between job stress and job satisfaction - suggesting pressure and demands are viewed positivelyin this occupational group. © 2008 IEEE

Čimbenici koji utječu na sadržaj kolesterola u mlijeku krava hranjenih konzerviranim krmivima TMR sustavom tijekom godine

The aim of this study was to evaluate changes in the cholesterol content in the milk of high yielding cows fed a uniform diet composed of conserved feeds over the whole year. The investigations were conducted on 124 Polish Holstein-Friesian cows, selected fromherd yielding 8457 kg milk with 4,58 % and 3,56 % of fat and protein content, respectively. The cows were maintained in a loose barn and fed ad libitum with TMR (total mixed ration) throughout the year. The diets consisted of corn silage and grass silage (at 50:50 ration on dry matter basis) and concentrates with mineral-vitamin mixture additives. Samples of milk were collected individually from each cow at monthly intervals during the whole year. The cholesterol content in milk (mg/dL) and in milk fat (mg/g) was related to the stage of lactation, season of the year, somatic cell count and fat content, but was not affected by the parity. The cholesterol content in daily milk yield (mg/cow/day) depended also on parity. Even though the cows were fed a uniform diet throughout the year according to the TMR system the cholesterol content in milk differed among seasons.Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je ispitati promjene udjela kolesterola u visokomliječnih krava hranjenih obrokom sastavljenim od konzerviranih krmiva tijekom cijele godine. Istraživanja su provedena na 124 holstein-frizijske krave, odabrane iz stada koje proizvode 8457 kg mlijeka s 4,58 % mliječne masti i 3,56 % proteina, respektivno. Krave su držane u otvorenom tipu staja i hranjene ad libitum s potpuno izmiješanim obrokom (TMR, total mixed ration) tijekom cijele godine. Obrok se sastojao od kukuruzne i travne silaže (50:50, na bazi suhe tvari) i koncentrata s mineralno-vitaminskim dodacima. Uzorci mlijeka prikupljani su pojedinačno od svake krave u mjesečnim intervalima tijekom cijele godine. Sadržaj kolesterola u mlijeku (mg/dL) i mliječnoj masti (mg/g) u vezi je sa stadijem laktacije, godišnjim dobom, brojem somatskih stanica i udjelom masti, ali nije bio pod utjecajem redoslijeda laktacije. Sadržaj kolesterola u dnevnoj količini mlijeka (mg/kravi/dan) ovisi također o redoslijedu laktacije. Unatoč hranidbi krava uniformnom prehranom tijekom cijele godine TMR sustavom, sadržaj kolesterola u mlijeku mijenjao se pod utjecajem sezone

The Impact of L-NAME and L-arginine Chronic Toxicity Induced Lesions on Ascites – Pulmonary Hypertension Syndrome Development in Broiler Chickens

The impact of L-arginine (LA), a precursor for synthesis of nitric oxide (NO), and N-w -nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME, LN), a non-selective inhibitor of the enzyme producing nitric oxide (nitric oxide synthase; NOS) chronic toxicity induced lesions on Ascites – Pulmonary hypertension syndrome (PHS) development was investigated in 140 one-day- -old male broiler chickens (ROSS) during the first 5 weeks of life. Every second day the animals were treated intraperitoneally (ip) with L-NAME (10 mg/kg of body weight; BW), L-arginine (100 mg/kg BW), L-arginine and L-NAME in combination (100 mg/kg BW and 10 mg/kg BW, respectively), and with physiological saline (0.90% w/v of NaCl; 0.5 mL/kg BW). Seven birds from each group were euthanized every week. The histopathological examination of the heart, the liver, the lungs, the blood vessels and the lymphoid organs, was performed. Also the organ index values were determined. At the end of the experiment the pre-ascitic condition or ascites – PHS was confirmed in five dead animals in the L-NAME-treated group. In the same group the edema was the most prominent histopathological change confirmed in the heart and in the lungs of the sacrificed chickens. In L-arginine-treated group the congestion and the haemorrhages were the striking changes in the same organs with the highest degree in the last two weeks of trial. While the focal disruption of myocardiofibriole and hepatocytes were predominant lesions in L-NAME-treated chickens (5thand 4th weeks, respectively), in L-NAME/L-arginine-treated group only the mild focal myocardial degeneration was seen. According to the most of the results of present investigation, it was concluded that the consecutive treatment with L-NAME provoked ascites – PHS, while L-arginine has protective effect in this animal model of disease

The association between iliocostal distance and the number of vertebral and non-vertebral fractures in women and men registered in the Canadian Database For Osteoporosis and Osteopenia (CANDOO)

BACKGROUND: The identification of new methods of evaluating patients with osteoporotic fracture should focus on their usefulness in clinical situations such that they are easily measured and applicable to all patients. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the association between iliocostal distance and vertebral and non-vertebral fractures in patients seen in a clinical setting. METHODS: Patient data were obtained from the Canadian Database of Osteoporosis and Osteopenia (CANDOO). A total of 549 patients including 508 women and 41 men participated in this cross-sectional study. There were 142 women and 18 men with prevalent vertebral fractures, and 185 women and 21 men with prevalent non-vertebral fractures. RESULTS: In women multivariable regression analysis showed that iliocostal distance was negatively associated with the number of vertebral fractures (-0.18, CI: -0.27, -0.09; adjusted for bone mineral density at the Ward's triangle, epilepsy, cerebrovascular disease, inflammatory bowel disease, etidronate use, and calcium supplement use) and for the number of non-vertebral fractures (-0.09, CI: -0.15, -0.03; adjusted for bone mineral density at the trochanter, cerebrovascular disease, inflammatory bowel disease, and etidronate use). However, in men, multivariable regression analysis did not demonstrate a significant association between iliocostal distance and the number of vertebral and non-vertebral fractures. CONCLUSIONS: The examination of iliocostal distance may be a useful clinical tool for assessment of the possibility of vertebral fractures. The identification of high-risk patients is important to effectively use the growing number of available osteoporosis therapies

A Latent Class Binomial Logit Methodology for the Analysis of Paired Comparison Choice Data

A latent class model for identifying classes of subjects in paired comparison choice experiments is developed. The model simultaneously estimates a probabilistic classification of subjects and the logit models' coefficients relating characteristics of objects to choices for each respective group among two alternatives in paired comparison experiments. A modest Monte Carlo analysis of algorithm performance is presented. The proposed model is illustrated with empirical data from a consumer psychology experiment that examines the determinants of perceived consumer risk. The predictive validity of the method is assessed and compared to that of several other procedures. The sensitivity of the method to (randomly) eliminate comparisons, which is important in view of reducing respondent fatigue in the task, is investigated.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/74931/1/j.1540-5915.1993.tb00508.x.pd

Electrical output of bryophyte microbial fuel cell systems is sufficient to power a radio or an environmental sensor.

Plant microbial fuel cells are a recently developed technology that exploits photosynthesis in vascular plants by harnessing solar energy and generating electrical power. In this study, the model moss species Physcomitrella patens, and other environmental samples of mosses, have been used to develop a non-vascular bryophyte microbial fuel cell (bryoMFC). A novel three-dimensional anodic matrix was successfully created and characterized and was further tested in a bryoMFC to determine the capacity of mosses to generate electrical power. The importance of anodophilic microorganisms in the bryoMFC was also determined. It was found that the non-sterile bryoMFCs operated with P. patens delivered over an order of magnitude higher peak power output (2.6 ± 0.6 µW m-2) than bryoMFCs kept in near-sterile conditions (0.2 ± 0.1 µW m-2). These results confirm the importance of the microbial populations for delivering electrons to the anode in a bryoMFC. When the bryoMFCs were operated with environmental samples of moss (non-sterile) the peak power output reached 6.7 ± 0.6 mW m-2. The bryoMFCs operated with environmental samples of moss were able to power a commercial radio receiver or an environmental sensor (LCD desktop weather station).The authors are grateful for funding provided by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) (P.B., A.G.S. and C.J. Howe), EnAlgae (http://www.enalgae.eu/, INTERREG IVB NWE) (P.B. and C.J. Howe), the Royal Society URF (C.J. Harrison), the Gatsby Charitable Foundation (Fellowship GAT2962) (C.J. Harrison), the Leverhulme Trust (P.B. and C.J. Howe), the Shuttleworth Foundation (P.B.) and the Department of Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation of South Africa through the South African Research Chair Initiative Chair in Bioprocess Engineering (UID 64778) (S.T.L.H. and D.M.R.I.).This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from the Royal Society Publishing via https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.16024

Do Interventions Designed to Support Shared Decision-Making Reduce Health Inequalities? : A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Copyright: © 2014 Durand et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Background: Increasing patient engagement in healthcare has become a health policy priority. However, there has been concern that promoting supported shared decision-making could increase health inequalities. Objective: To evaluate the impact of SDM interventions on disadvantaged groups and health inequalities. Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials and observational studies.Peer reviewe

The Gluon Impact Factors

We calculate in the next-to-leading approximation the non-forward gluon impact factors for arbitrary color state in the $t$-channel. In the case of the octet state we check the so-called "second bootstrap condition" for the gluon Reggeization in QCD, using the integral representation for the impact factors. The condition is fulfilled in the general case of an arbitrary space-time dimension and massive quark flavors for both helicity conserving and non-conserving parts.Comment: 32 pages, LaTeX, 1 EPS figure, uses epsf.sty and axodraw.st

The Herschel Stripe 82 Survey (HerS): maps and early catalog

We present the first set of maps and band-merged catalog from the Herschel Stripe 82 Survey (HerS). Observations at 250, 350, and 500μm were taken with the Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver instrument aboard the Herschel Space Observatory. HerS covers 79deg 2 along the SDSS Stripe 82 to an average depth of 13.0, 12.9, and 14.8mJybeam −1 (including confusion) at 250, 350, and 500μm, respectively. HerS was designed to measure correlations with external tracers of the dark matter density field—either point-like (i.e., galaxies selected from radio to X-ray) or extended (i.e., clusters and gravitational lensing)—in order to measure the bias and redshift distribution of intensities of infrared-emitting dusty star-forming galaxies and active galactic nuclei. By locating HerS in Stripe 82, we maximize the overlap with available and upcoming cosmological surveys. The band-merged catalog contains 3.3 × 10 4 sources detected at a significance of ?3σ (including confusion noise). The maps and catalog are available at http://www.astro.caltech.edu/hers/