Treatment of Primary Pulmonary Aspergillosis: An Assessment of the Evidence.

Aspergillus spp. are a group of filamentous molds that were first described due to a perceived similarity to an aspergillum, or liturgical device used to sprinkle holy water, when viewed under a microscope. Although commonly inhaled due to their ubiquitous nature within the environment, an invasive fungal infection (IFI) is a rare outcome that is often reserved for those patients who are immunocompromised. Given the potential for significant morbidity and mortality within this patient population from IFI due to Aspergillus spp., along with the rise in the use of therapies that confer immunosuppression, there is an increasing need for appropriate initial clinical suspicion leading to accurate diagnosis and effective treatment. Voriconazole remains the first line agent for therapy; however, the use of polyenes, novel triazole agents, or voriconazole in combination with an echinocandin may also be utilized. Consideration as to which particular agent and for what duration should be made in the individual context for each patient based upon underlying immunosuppression, comorbidities, and overall tolerance of therapy

The status of ecology in the British environmental impact assessment process

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a process by which the potential environmental impacts of a proposed development are assessed. An assessment of the ecological impacts of a development on ecosystems, habitats and species is required under the 1985 European Directive 85/337/EEC, which is implemented in Britain through the 1988 Town and Country Planning (Assessment of Environmental Effects) Regulations. The status of ecology within the British EIA process was investigated by analysing 179 environmental statements mostly produced between 1989 and 1992. Criteria relating to ecological survey infonnation, consultation, impact prediction and evaluation, mitigation, and monitoring were used. Most of the ecological infonnation presented was of such poor quality, or of such limited quantity, that it was not adequate to assess the ecological implications of the proposed schemes. Only 21% of statements devoted more than 10% to ecology. Only 45% were based on new ecological survey information, with only 59% of surveys conducted by an ecologist. Consultation with a statutory body was reported by 48°c. Potential impacts were identified in 92° o of statements, but only 90 quantified impacts. Although 78% mentioned mitigation measures, only 23° o described them. A major shortcoming was that none gave a commitment to monitor development impacts. It was concluded that a major reason for these shortcomings is a lack of guidance for developers and ecologists involved in ELA. As a potential solution, survey guidelines incorporating a simple scoring system were produced and tested for woodlands, a habitat type particularly prone to development pressure. The shortcomings described relate to the individual project approach to EIA. The European Community is discussing environmental impact assessment of policies, plans and programmes, a process known as strategic environmental assessment (SEA). The need for, and feasibility of, SEA was investigated from an ecological point of view for a habitat (lowland heath), a bio-geographic unit (the coastal zone) and an industry (salmon frming). SEA frameworks for each are outlined and the required legislative changes are discussed. The need for ecologists to involve themselves in EIA initiatives, and to learn lessons from the longer established north American EIA system, is stressed. This will help to enhance the status of ecology within the British EIA process

Neutron-diffraction study of field-induced transitions in the heavy-fermion compound Ce2RhIn8

We present neutron diffraction measurements in high magnetic fields (0 to 14.5 T) and at low temperatures (2.5, 2.3, 0.77 and 0.068 K) on single crystals of the tetragonal heavy fermion antiferromagnet Ce2RhIn8. For B//[110] the field dependence of selected magnetic and nuclear reflections reveals that the material undergoes several transitions, the temperature dependence of which suggests a complex B-T phase diagram. We present the detailed evolution of the integrated intensities of selected reflections and discuss the associated field-induced transitions.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures Proceeding Euro-conference "Properties of Condensed Matter probed by x-ray and neutron scattering"; to appear in Physica

Land Use, Stream Habitat and Benthic Invertebrate Assemblages in a Highly Altered Iowa Watershed

Knowledge of relationships between land cover (i.e., land use) and abiotic and biotic features of headwater streams enhances our ability to predict and effectively assess conditions in a variety of aquatic ecosystems. We evaluated land use effects on stream condition in an Iowa watershed dominated by intensive row crop agriculture and low- intensity urban development by quantifying relationships among land cover, stream invertebrate assemblages and other stream biophysical characteristics (i.e., invertebrate habitat) at 29 sites. On average, 81% of subbasin land cover was agricultural and 6% of land cover was urban across study sites. High nitrate concentrations (range  =  5.6–29.0 mg/L) and high relative abundance of oligochaetes and chironomid midges reflected degraded conditions at all sites. However, agriculture and urban land use appeared to have different effects on stream features. Nitrate concentrations were positively related to agricultural land cover, and turbidity and nitrate concentrations were negatively related to urban land cover (P ≤ 0.05). Invertebrate densities and taxonomic diversity (i.e., total taxa richness, % EPT) were also positively related to agricultural land cover and negatively related to urban land cover. Regardless of land use, highest invertebrate abundance and taxonomic diversity occurred at sites with abundant coarse particulate organic matter, plants and coarse inorganic substrate. Relationships between land cover and invertebrate variables were strong at both local and subbasin measurement scales. Based on invertebrate assemblages, which integrate multiple instream features, we conclude that urban land use had greater adverse effect on stream condition than agriculture in our study watershed. Although impacts of urbanization on stream invertebrates frequently exceed effects of agriculture, this has not previously been demonstrated in Iowa or other Midwestern landscapes so heavily dominated by agriculture

The last glaciers in Western Perthshire

The principal aim of the work described in this thesis was to discover the extent of the last stage of glaciation in the western part of Highland Perthshire.After preparatory stereoscopic study cf aerial photographs, an area of 450 sq. km in Glen Lyon and southern Rannoch Moor was mapped at the 1:10,560 scale and subsequently another 2250 sq. km were mapped at the 1:63,360 scale. Features of special interest, such as outwash terraces and the lake terraces or 'Parallel Roads' of Loch Tulla, were mapped in greater detail and instrumentally levelled.Particular attention was paid to the character and extent of fresh hummocky drift, described by earlier workers as 'hummocky moraine' and thought to belong to a distinct period of glaciation. From examination of thepatt.ern of this hummocky drift and of the constituent sediments it was concluded that the features are basically kames that are often thickly covered with ablation moraine.Eight major valley systems were studied. They include Glen Garry - Glen Errochty, the Loch Rannoch - Loch Tummel valley, Glen Lyon, the Loch Tay valley, Glen Almond, Glen Artney, Loch Voil - Loch Earn and the Trossachs - Teith valleys, in addition to part of Rannoch Moor. The evidence of fresh glacial deposits in these valleys indicates that a system of glaciers existed in the area during the last stage of glaciation.By discussing the valley systems in turn and regarding each as a case that can be justified independently of the others, it is concluded for three reasons that the last glaciers in each area existed during the same lateglacial period. Firstly, there is one clear down -valley limit to the fresh hummocky drift in each valley system. Secondly, with the exception of the isolated Glen Almond area, the spread of moundy drift continues from one valley system to the next via interconnecting valleys. Thirdly, the pattern of glaciers inferred from the evidence appears to be inherently probable.There are five principal reasons for concluding that these glaciers existed during pollen Zone III. Sediments from present or former lakes just outside the limit of the last Glen Almond glacier and just outside the terminal moraine of the last Teith glacier contain pollen from much of the Lateglacial, including the interstadial preceding Zone III, but the earliest deposits found immediately inside the Teith moraine belong to the Postglacial. Secondly, the Teith terminal moraine occupies a position at the mouth of a Highland valley analogous to those of the neighbouring Menteith and Loch Lomond terminal moraines that were dated by pollen and radiocarbon analyses as having been formed in Zone III. Thirdly, a suite of outwash terraces formed beyond the Teith moraine passes into a buried fan that was largely deposited during a period of low sea -level when the adjacent Menteith moraine was being formed, that is in Zone III. Fourthly, whereas the largest glaciers in the thesis area advanced eastwards from the west Highland watershed area, other major glaciers flowed westwards from this watershed to the western coast. It is generally considered on morphological evidence that the glaciers that terminated at Benderloch, Loch Leven, Loch Linnhe, Loch Shiel and Loch Morar represented the Loch Lomond Readvance in Zone III, whilst radiocarbon dating of organic material proves that the Benderloch glaciers existed during Zone III. Fifthly, it seems entirely logical to expect that the limits in the Highland part of western Perthshire that do not happen to have been independently dated by pollen studies should have been formed in the same period as those that have been dated.It is concluded that the last valley glaciers in western Perthshire were part of the Loch Lomond Readvance that is correctly correlated with pollen Zone III

Family Reflections on the District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program: Final Summary Report

During the spring of 2004, the first federally funded voucher program – the District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) - was established. The School Choice Demonstration Project (SCDP) recognized that publicly-funded school vouchers represent a relatively new and unstudied approach to school choice and education reform. To address this need, the SCDP requested and received funding from the Annie E. Casey Foundation to capture the “Parent and Student Voices on the OSP.” A total of 110 families, representing 180 students, that applied during the first two years of the Program volunteered to participate in this study. As the last installment in a four-part annual series that began in 2005, this report summarizes key findings from the previous reports and provides a general overview of the respondents’ “reflections” upon their three or four years in the Program. Using a phenomenological approach, which includes focus groups, personal interviews and keypad polling information gathering techniques, participants were given multiple opportunities to share or describe their experiences. A consumer framework was often used to contextualize the families’ experiences. Their insights continue to shape the scope and direction of the OSP, and they will help inform other efforts to provide low income families with access to quality school options

Cardiac Depression Scale: Mokken scaling in heart failure patients

Background: There is a high prevalence of depression in patients with heart failure (HF) that is associated with worsening prognosis. The value of using a reliable and valid instrument to measure depression in this population is therefore essential. We validated the Cardiac Depression Scale (CDS) in heart failure patients using a model of ordinal unidimensional measurement known as Mokken scaling. Findings: We administered in face-to-face interviews the CDS to 603 patients with HF. Data were analysed using Mokken scale analysis. Items of the CDS formed a statistically significant unidimensional Mokken scale of low strength (H<0.40) and high reliability (Rho>0.8). Conclusions: The CDS has a hierarchy of items which can be interpreted in terms of the increasingly serious effects of depression occurring as a result of HF. Identifying an appropriate instrument to measure depression in patients with HF allows for early identification and better medical management. Keywords: Cardiac Depression Scale, Heart failure, Depression, Mokken scalin

Ventilation of small livestock trailers

A large number of livestock is transported to market in small box trailers. The welfare of animals transported in this way is now assuming greater importance with the onset of tougher EU legislation. This paper presents the first study into the ventilation of small livestock trailers using experimental and computational methods. Wind tunnel studies, using a 1/7th scale model, highlight the important influence of the towing vehicle and trailer design on the airflow within the trailer. Detailed CFD analysis agrees well with the wind tunnel data and offers the ability to assess the impact of design changes

Examining adult-onset offending: a case for adult cautioning

This paper argues that extending formal police cautioning to include first-time, less serious adult-onset offenders is a cost-effective strategy that would enable scarce criminal justice resources to be redirected to provide evidence-based interventions for more serious and prolific offenders who present an ongoing risk of offending. Foreword Very little is known about adult-onset offenders. This makes it difficult to know the most effective way for the criminal justice system to respond to these offenders. This project examined the nature of adult-onset offending in the 1983–84 Queensland Longitudinal Data Cohort and explored whether adult cautioning may be a suitable and cost-effective alternative to current court processing. Half of all offenders in this cohort started offending in adulthood (between 18 and 25 years), however, most adult-onset offenders had just one or two relatively less serious officially recorded offences. The authors argue that extending formal police cautioning to include first-time, less serious adult-onset offenders is a cost-effective strategy that would enable scarce criminal justice resources to be redirected to provide evidence-based interventions for more serious and prolific offenders who present an ongoing risk of offending

Metareasoning about propagators for constraint satisfaction

Given the breadth of constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) and the wide variety of CSP solvers, it is often very difficult to determine a priori which solving method is best suited to a problem. This work explores the use of machine learning to predict which solving method will be most effective for a given problem. We use four different problem sets to determine the CSP attributes that can be used to determine which solving method should be applied. After choosing an appropriate set of attributes, we determine how well j48 decision trees can predict which solving method to apply. Furthermore, we take a cost sensitive approach such that problem instances where there is a great difference in runtime between algorithms are emphasized. We also attempt to use information gained on one class of problems to inform decisions about a second class of problems. Finally, we show that the additional costs of deciding which method to apply are outweighed by the time savings compared to applying the same solving method to all problem instances