Human case of swine influenza A (H1N1), Aragon, Spain, November 2008

A human case of swine influenza A (H1N1) in a 50-year-old woman from a village near Teruel (Aragon, in the north-east of Spain), with a population of about 200 inhabitants, has been reported in November 2008.S

Cosmid-derived markers anchoring the bovine genetic map to the physical map

The mapping strategy for the bovine genome described in this paper uses large insert clones as a tool for physical mapping and as a source of highly polymorphic microsatellites for genetic typing, and was one objective of the BovMap Project funded by the European Union (UE). Eight-three cosmid and phage clones were characterized and used to physically anchor the linkage groups defining all the bovine autosomes and the X Chromosome (Chr). By combining physical and genetic mapping, clones described in this paper have led to the identification of the linkage groups corresponding to Chr 9, 12, 16, and 25. In addition, anchored loci from this study were used to orient the linkage groups corresponding to Chr 3, 7, 8, 9, 13, 16, 18, 19, and 28 as identified in previously published maps. Comparison of the estimated size of the physical and linkage maps suggests that the genetic length of the bovine genome may be around 4000 c

APACHE III outcome prediction in patients admitted to the intensive care unit after liver transplantation: a retrospective cohort study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) III prognostic system has not been previously validated in patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). We hypothesized that APACHE III would perform satisfactorily in patients after OLT</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A retrospective cohort study was performed. Patients admitted to the ICU after OLT between July 1996 and May 2008 were identified. Data were abstracted from the institutional APACHE III and liver transplantation databases and individual patient medical records. Standardized mortality ratios (with 95% confidence intervals) were calculated by dividing the observed mortality rates by the rates predicted by APACHE III. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and the Hosmer-Lemeshow C statistic were used to assess, respectively, discrimination and calibration of APACHE III.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>APACHE III data were available for 918 admissions after OLT. Mean (standard deviation [SD]) APACHE III (APIII) and Acute Physiology (APS) scores on the day of transplant were 60.5 (25.8) and 50.8 (23.6), respectively. Mean (SD) predicted ICU and hospital mortality rates were 7.3% (15.4) and 10.6% (18.9), respectively. The observed ICU and hospital mortality rates were 1.1% and 3.4%, respectively. The standardized ICU and hospital mortality ratios with their 95% C.I. were 0.15 (0.07 to 0.27) and 0.32 (0.22 to 0.45), respectively.</p> <p>There were statistically significant differences in APS, APIII, predicted ICU and predicted hospital mortality between survivors and non-survivors. In predicting mortality, the AUC of APACHE III prediction of hospital death was 0.65 (95% CI, 0.62 to 0.68). The Hosmer-Lemeshow C statistic was 5.288 with a p value of 0.871 (10 degrees of freedom).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>APACHE III discriminates poorly between survivors and non-survivors of patients admitted to the ICU after OLT. Though APACHE III has been shown to be valid in heterogenous populations and in certain groups of patients with specific diagnoses, it should be used with caution – if used at all – in recipients of liver transplantation.</p

Crafting History: How the World Is Made. The Case of Islamic Archaeology

In this paper an archaeological and theoretical perspective that builds a relationship between the concepts of craft and of identity is presented. Both of them are concepts very widely used in archaeological and anthropological theory nowadays, and they have often been linked in field studies. However, these concepts are usually contemplated from very different points of view and with many diverse implications in each case. One of the aims of this paper is to show that craft and identity can be inserted in a common theoretical framework which in turn can be used to understand cultural change or, in other words, history within culture. The paper will start with a necessary theoretical introduction to different concepts related to craft and identity, and then a discussion on how to link these different concepts will follow. In the last part of the paper, this theoretical perspective will be applied to a field which is familiar to the author, that of Islamic archaeology. A case example of the author’s research in the Vega of Granada (southeast Spain) will be brought to the fore. This part of the paper will show how the theoretical discussion developed above can contribute to solve one of the core questions of this field, that of the definition of an Islamic culture and its application to understand the daily life of people living within it

A comparison of Child-Pugh, APACHE II and APACHE III scoring systems in predicting hospital mortality of patients with liver cirrhosis

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to assess the prognostic accuracy of Child-Pugh and APACHE II and III scoring systems in predicting short-term, hospital mortality of patients with liver cirrhosis. METHODS: 200 admissions of 147 cirrhotic patients (44% viral-associated liver cirrhosis, 33% alcoholic, 18.5% cryptogenic, 4.5% both viral and alcoholic) were studied prospectively. Clinical and laboratory data conforming to the Child-Pugh, APACHE II and III scores were recorded on day 1 for all patients. Discrimination was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and area under a ROC curve (AUC). Calibration was estimated using the Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test. RESULTS: Overall mortality was 11.5%. The mean Child-Pugh, APACHE II and III scores for survivors were found to be significantly lower than those of nonsurvivors. Discrimination was excellent for Child-Pugh (ROC AUC: 0.859) and APACHE III (ROC AUC: 0.816) scores, and acceptable for APACHE II score (ROC AUC: 0.759). Although the Hosmer-Lemeshow statistic revealed adequate goodness-of-fit for Child-Pugh score (P = 0.192), this was not the case for APACHE II and III scores (P = 0.004 and 0.003 respectively) CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that, of the three models, Child-Pugh score had the least statistically significant discrepancy between predicted and observed mortality across the strata of increasing predicting mortality. This supports the hypothesis that APACHE scores do not work accurately outside ICU settings

The Policy in the Sphere of Public Debt in the Face of Global Economic Crisis

The fundamentals of formation of the State debt policy under the influence of the global economic crisis were considered. It has been determined that the debt policy in Ukraine does not take into consideration the systemic influence of the internal and external factors, which represent significant risks for the country’s financial system. The level of debt burden on the economy of Ukraine necessitates further scientific research with the purpose of formation of an efficient economic and financial policy. The influence of Ukraine’s cooperation in the sphere of public debt with international financial organizations in the conditions of crisis has been characterized. The main factors of existence of the public debt in foreign currency and the tendencies of development of the world economy in the future have been defined. The macroeconomic factors of influence on the debt sphere of the certain low-income countries were researched. The principles of debt policy in the conditions of the global economic crisis and aggravation of economic challenges have been formulated