Evaluating alcohol, tobacco, and other substance use in pregnant women

Use of tobacco, alcohol, and psychoactive substances during pregnancy is associated with increased risks of preterm birth. Concurrent use of these substances is also quite common and further increases the risk of adverse outcomes. Health-care providers should ask pregnant women about their exposure to tobacco, second-hand smoke, alcohol, and illicit substances (past and present) at every antenatal visit using validated screening instruments and offer brief interventions. Pregnant women with alcohol or substance dependence should be assessed individually and offered psychosocial interventions (e.g. motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioural therapy, contingency management). Pregnant women should be advised to quit and referred to detoxification services or opioid substitution treatment (for opioid users). Pharmacological treatment for maintenance and relapse prevention is not recommended for amphetamine, cannabis, and cocaine dependence and requires individual risk-benefit analysis for alcohol dependence. Opioid maintenance therapy with methadone or buprenorphine is recommended for opiate dependence. Pregnant women who are current tobacco users or have recently quit should be offered psychosocial interventions (e.g. counselling, incentives, social support). Evidence on impact of pharmacological interventions for cessation of tobacco use is limited. Interventions to make public places and homes smoke-free are recommended. Evidence of impact of these interventions in reducing PTB especially in LMIC settings is low and further research recommended

Sustainable utilization of inland water resources: an integrated program for research and management

In both developed and developing countries, there is increased competition for water resources, resulting in deficiencies in supply and in various forms of pollution. In developing countries, the nutritional potential of aquatic resources is very important. To realize this potential, integrated research and management for sustainable water resource use are needed. This requires a sound understanding of the structure and function of aquatic ecosystems. A programme is presented which stresses the interrelationships of the physical, chemical and biological components of aquatic systems and their catchments. The programme consists of 16 stages in 5 phases, which are as follows: System description; System functioning and modelling; Resource assessment/dynamics; Resource potential; and, Resource utilization for sustainability. This programme enables workers within different disciplines to identify how their expertise contributes to the overall research requirements to support resource development

Reducing feed costs in semi-intensive finfish culture: an update on mixed feeding schedules and an idea for enhancing endogenous food supply in ponds

Some interesting ideas on improving the cost-effectiveness of feeding in semi-intensive finfish aquaculture are presented

Reducing feed costs in semi-intensive finfish culture: an update on mixed feeding schedules and an idea for enhancing endogenous food supply in ponds

Fish culture, Feed, Cost analysis, Feeding, Pond culture

Differential metabolism of deoxyribonucleosides by leukaemic T cells of immature and mature phenotype

Experimental evidence has indicated that T lymphoblasts are more sensitive to deoxynucleoside toxicity than are B lymphoblasts. These data have led to the use of purine enzyme inhibitors as selective chemotherapeutic drugs in the treatment of T cell malignancies ranging from T cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia to cutaneous T cell lymphomas. We have compared the toxicities of 2′-deoxyadenosine, 2′-deoxyguanosine, and thymidine for T cell lines derived from patients with T cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia with those for mature T cell lines derived from patients with cutaneous T cell leukaemia/lymphoma. We have found that both deoxynucleosides are far less toxic to the mature T cell lies than to T lymphoblasts and that the mature cells accumulate much lower amounts of dATP and dGTP when exposed to deoxyadenosine and deoxyguanosine, respectively. Similar studies performed on peripheral blood cells from patients with T cell leukaemias of mature phenotype and on peripheral blood T cells demonstrate similar low amounts of deoxynucleotide accumulation. Measurements of the activities of several purine metabolizing enzymes that participate in deoxynucleoside phosphorylation or degradation do not reveal differences which would explain the toxicity of deoxynucleosides for immature, as compared to mature, T cells. We conclude that deoxynucleoside metabolism in leukaemic T cells varies with their degree of differentiation. These observations may be relevant to the design of chemotherapeutic regimes for T cell malignancies.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72479/1/j.1365-2141.1985.tb04067.x.pd

Genetic influences on the difference in variability of height, weight and body mass index between Caucasian and East Asian adolescent twins.

Objective: Twin studies are useful for investigating the causes of trait variation between as well as within a population. The goals of the present study were two-fold: First, we aimed to compare the total phenotypic, genetic and environmental variances of height, weight and BMI between Caucasians and East Asians using twins. Secondly, we intended to estimate the extent to which genetic and environmental factors contribute to differences in variability of height, weight and BMI between Caucasians and East Asians. Design: Height and weight data from 3735 Caucasian and 1584 East Asian twin pairs (age: 13-15 years) from Australia, China, Finland, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Taiwan and the United States were used for analyses. Maximum likelihood twin correlations and variance components model-fitting analyses were conducted to fulfill the goals of the present study. Results: The absolute genetic variances for height, weight and BMI were consistently greater in Caucasians than in East Asians with corresponding differences in total variances for all three body measures. In all 80 to 100% of the differences in total variances of height, weight and BMI between the two population groups were associated with genetic differences. Conclusion: Height, weight and BMI were more variable in Caucasian than in East Asian adolescents. Genetic variances for these three body measures were also larger in Caucasians than in East Asians. Variance components model-fitting analyses indicated that genetic factors contributed to the difference in variability of height, weight and BMI between the two population groups. Association studies for these body measures should take account of our findings of differences in genetic variances between the two population groups. © 2008 Macmillan Publishers Limited All rights reserved.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Event Reconstruction in the PHENIX Central Arm Spectrometers

The central arm spectrometers for the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider have been designed for the optimization of particle identification in relativistic heavy ion collisions. The spectrometers present a challenging environment for event reconstruction due to a very high track multiplicity in a complicated, focusing, magnetic field. In order to meet this challenge, nine distinct detector types are integrated for charged particle tracking, momentum reconstruction, and particle identification. The techniques which have been developed for the task of event reconstruction are described.Comment: Accepted for publication in Nucl. Instrum. A. 34 pages, 23 figure

Social and scientific motivations to move beyond groups in allele frequencies: The TOPMed experience

For the genomics community, allele frequencies within defined groups (or “strata”) are useful across multiple research and clinical contexts. Benefits include allowing researchers to identify populations for replication or “look up” studies, enabling researchers to compare population-specific frequencies to validate findings, and facilitating assessment of variant pathogenicity in clinical contexts. However, there are potential concerns with stratified allele frequencies. These include potential re-identification (determining whether or not an individual participated in a given research study based on allele frequencies and individual-level genetic data), harm from associating stigmatizing variants with specific groups, potential reification of race as a biological rather than a socio-political category, and whether presenting stratified frequencies—and the downstream applications that this presentation enables—is consistent with participants’ informed consents. The NHLBI Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) program considered the scientific and social implications of different approaches for adding stratified frequencies to the TOPMed BRAVO (Browse All Variants Online) variant server. We recommend a novel approach of presenting ancestry-specific allele frequencies using a statistical method based upon local genetic ancestry inference. Notably, this approach does not require grouping individuals by either predominant global ancestry or race/ethnicity and, therefore, mitigates re-identification and other concerns as the mixture distribution of ancestral allele frequencies varies across the genome. Here we describe our considerations and approach, which can assist other genomics research programs facing similar issues of how to define and present stratified frequencies in publicly available variant databases

Mass Transfer by Stellar Wind

I review the process of mass transfer in a binary system through a stellar wind, with an emphasis on systems containing a red giant. I show how wind accretion in a binary system is different from the usually assumed Bondi-Hoyle approximation, first as far as the flow's structure is concerned, but most importantly, also for the mass accretion and specific angular momentum loss. This has important implications on the evolution of the orbital parameters. I also discuss the impact of wind accretion, on the chemical pollution and change in spin of the accreting star. The last section deals with observations and covers systems that most likely went through wind mass transfer: barium and related stars, symbiotic stars and central stars of planetary nebulae (CSPN). The most recent observations of cool CSPN progenitors of barium stars, as well as of carbon-rich post-common envelope systems, are providing unique constraints on the mass transfer processes.Comment: Chapter 7, in Ecology of Blue Straggler Stars, H.M.J. Boffin, G. Carraro & G. Beccari (Eds), Astrophysics and Space Science Library, Springe

The Intentional Use of Service Recovery Strategies to Influence Consumer Emotion, Cognition and Behaviour

Service recovery strategies have been identified as a critical factor in the success of. service organizations. This study develops a conceptual frame work to investigate how specific service recovery strategies influence the emotional, cognitive and negative behavioural responses of . consumers., as well as how emotion and cognition influence negative behavior. Understanding the impact of specific service recovery strategies will allow service providers' to more deliberately and intentionally engage in strategies that result in positive organizational outcomes. This study was conducted using a 2 x 2 between-subjects quasi-experimental design. The results suggest that service recovery has a significant impact on emotion, cognition and negative behavior. Similarly, satisfaction, negative emotion and positive emotion all influence negative behavior but distributive justice has no effect