Compromised Rat Testicular Antioxidant Defence System by Hypothyroidism before Puberty

Altered thyroid function during early stages of development is known to affect adversely testicular growth, physiology, and antioxidant defence status at adulthood. The objective of the present study is to investigate the modulation of antioxidant defence status in neonatal persistent hypothyroid rats before their sexual maturation and also to identify the specific testicular cell populations vulnerable to degeneration during neonatal hypothyroidism in immature rats. Hypothyroidism was induced in neonates by feeding the lactating mother with 0.05% 6-n-propyl-2-thiouracil (PTU) through the drinking water. From the day of parturition till weaning (25 day postpartum), the pups received PTU through mother's milk (or) drinking water and then directly from drinking water containing PTU for the remaining period of experimentation. On the 31st day postpartum, the animals were sacrificed for the study. An altered antioxidant defence system marked by elevated SOD, CAT, and GR activities, with decreased GPx and GST activities were observed along with increased protein carbonylation, disturbed redox status in hypothyroid immature rat testis. This compromised testicular antioxidant status might have contributed to poor growth and development by affecting the spermatogenesis and steroidogenesis in rats before puberty as indicated by reduced germ cell number, complete absence of round spermatids, decreased seminiferous tubule diameter, and decreased testosterone level

Quantifying Isoniazid Levels in Small Hair Samples: A Novel Method for Assessing Adherence during the Treatment of Latent and Active Tuberculosis.

BackgroundTuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of death from an infectious pathogen worldwide and the most prevalent opportunistic infection in people living with HIV. Isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT) reduces the incidence of active TB and reduces morbidity and mortality in HIV-infected patients independently of antiretroviral therapy. However, treatment of latent or active TB is lengthy and inter-patient variability in pharmacokinetics and adherence common. Current methods of assessing adherence to TB treatment using drug levels in plasma or urine assess short-term exposure and pose logistical challenges. Drug concentrations in hair assess long-term exposure and have demonstrated pharmacodynamic relevance in HIV.MethodsA large hair sample from a patient with active TB was obtained for assay development. Methods to pulverize hair and extract isoniazid were optimized and then the drug detected by liquid chromatography/ tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS-MS). The method was validated for specificity, accuracy, precision, recovery, linearity and stability to establish the assay's suitability for therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM). Hair samples from patients on directly-observe isoniazid-based latent or active TB therapy from the San Francisco Department of Public Health TB clinic were then tested.ResultsOur LC/MS-MS-based assay detected isoniazid in quantities as low as 0.02ng/mg using 10-25 strands hair. Concentrations in spiked samples demonstrated linearity from 0.05-50ng/mg. Assay precision and accuracy for spiked quality-control samples were high, with an overall recovery rate of 79.5%. In 18 patients with latent or active TB on treatment, isoniazid was detected across a wide linear dynamic range.ConclusionsAn LC-MS/MS-based assay to quantify isoniazid levels in hair with performance characteristics suitable for TDM was developed and validated. Hair concentrations of isoniazid assess long-term exposure and may be useful for monitoring adherence to latent or active TB treatment in the setting of HIV

PENERAPAN TOOLS MANAJEMEN PROYEK PADA PT. KRAKATAU IT CILEGON

PT. Krakatau IT adalah suatu perusahaan yang bergerak di bidang jasa mempunyai visi menjadi penyedia Solusi ICT yang terpercaya di Indonesia. Untuk meningkatkan kinerja pelanggan dengan cara memberikan kepuasan mengenai proyek-proyek dimiliki oleh perusahaan maka diperlukan perencanaan dan eksekusi proyek yang berkualitas. Kualitas proyek dapat dilihat dengan tercapainya penyelesaian proyek sesuai dengan anggaran dan tepat waktu. Saat ini PT. Krakatau IT masih sering mengalami keterlambatan penyelesaian proyek sehingga menimbulkan kerugian, untuk itu peneliti menerapkan tools project management di krakatau IT dalam penyelesaian proyek-proyeknya. Tools Manajemen Proyek yang diusulkan penulis dinamakan dengan  krakatau pro  dilengkapi dengan fitur-fitur mengenai informasi antara rencana dan realisasi penyelesaian pekerjaan sehingga dapat membantu proyek lebih efesien dalam pengelolaan dan pengawasan dalam proyek

Karyomorphological study of Houttuynia cordata Thunb.: an ethnobotanical species of Manipuri community of Tripura, India

Houttuynia cordata Thunb. (Saururaceae), has the chromosome number of 2n = 112 with karyotype formula A2+B98+C12. The size of the chromosomal complement was found to range from 1.52 µm to 3.00 µm with one pair of chromosomes bearing secondary constrictions. The detailed karyotype analysis revealed that chromosomes fall under the Stebbins category of 1A, which indicating slightly asymmetric nature of chromosome. The chromosome tally and conformity of the karyotype in the present study corroborated as a new cytotype being adapted in this area, the north-eastern region of India

Homeowners’ Willingness to Adopt Environmentally Beneficial Landscape Practices in an Urbanizing Watershed

Streams in urbanizing watersheds often experience low flows in summer due to increased water use for residential landscaping and decreased base flow as impervious land cover limits aquifer recharge. Environmentally beneficial landscape practices that save water and infiltrate runoff have the potential to provide multiple ecological benefits including reducing stress on urban streams, but can face opposition by local homeowners. Thus, this study explored attitudes toward landscape water conservation including the barriers and motivations that exist to adoption of water conserving landscape practices by residents in the Ipswich River watershed north of Boston, Massachusetts (USA) that experiences seasonal water shortages. The study used a mail-out and on-line survey with images of different water conserving landscape practices (including rain gardens and native plantings) and questions about homeowners’ watering practices, likelihood of adopting these landscape practices, and attitudes towards environmental issues in the region, including existing water policies to restrict use. The results showed that residents (n=265) were aware of existing water shortages and supportive of water conservation policies. Their willingness to adopt water conserving landscape practices was influenced by aesthetic preference with more support for practices that appeared neat rather than those that appeared unkempt. Barriers to residential adoption of these landscape practices included concern about disease-carrying pests and the perceived cost of landscape change. Knowledge about the environment, as operationalized by membership in a local watershed association, as well as educational attainment and income were statistically significant variables in predicting aesthetic preferences and willingness to adopt landscape practices. Promoting widespread adoption of water conserving landscape practices could benefit from local community support and educational initiatives about the multiple-benefits of these practices, including potential long-term cost savings for homeowners. Residential landscape design and management, however, are only part of overarching policy changes that could address water conservation in urbanizing watersheds

ANALISIS ANTRIAN DALAM PENDAFTARAN PENGOBATAN PASIEN MENGGUNAKAN METODE FISHBONE (STUDI KASUS : RSUD MOEWARDI SOLO)

Abstrak— Persaingan dalam pelayanan didalam rumah sakit saat ini semakin ketat. Hal ini berawal dari pendaftaran pengobatan pasien yang sering kali mengalami antrian yang panjang sehingga menuntut agar pelayanan lebih berkualitas maka mengurangi antrian tersebut. Penelitian ini bertujuan agar rumah sakit memberikan pelayanan yang baik terhadap pasiennya sehingga yang sakit tidak menambah sakitnya dengan lama mengantri. Setelah dilakukan identifikasi berbagai sebab potensial dari satu masalah menggunakan metode fishbone diagaram maka dihasilkan untuk membuat aplikasi online pendaftaran berbasis SMS Gateway atau aplikasi mobile.Kata kunci— Pendaftaran Online, Metode Fishbone, Sms Gateway

Participatory politics, environmental journalism and newspaper campaigns

This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Journalism Studies, 13(2), 210 - 225, 2012, copyright Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/1461670X.2011.646398.This article explores the extent to which approaches to participatory politics might offer a more useful alternative to understanding the role of environmental journalism in a society where the old certainties have collapsed, only to be replaced by acute uncertainty. This uncertainty not only generates acute public anxiety about risks, it has also undermined confidence in the validity of long-standing premises about the ideal role of the media in society and journalistic professionalism. The consequence, this article argues, is that aspirations of objective reportage are outdated and ill-equipped to deal with many of the new risk stories environmental journalism covers. It is not a redrawing of boundaries that is needed but a wholesale relocation of our frameworks into approaches better suited to the socio-political conditions and uncertainties of late modernity. The exploration of participatory approaches is an attempt to suggest one way this might be done