Energy and flux variations across thin auroral arcs

Two discrete auroral arc filaments, with widths of less than 1 km, have been analysed using multi-station, multi-monochromatic optical observations from small and medium field-of-view imagers and the EISCAT radar. The energy and flux of the precipitating electrons, volume emission rates and local electric fields in the ionosphere have been determined at high temporal (up to 30 Hz) and spatial (down to tens of metres) resolution. A new time-dependent inversion model is used to derive energy spectra from EISCAT electron density profiles. The energy and flux are also derived independently from optical emissions combined with ion-chemistry modelling, and a good agreement is found. A robust method to obtain detailed 2-D maps of the average energy and number flux of small scale aurora is presented. The arcs are stretched in the north-south direction, and the lowest energies are found on the western, leading edges of the arcs. The large ionospheric electric fields (250 mV m?1) found from tristatic radar measurements are evidence of strong currents associated with the region close to the optical arcs. The different data sets indicate that the arcs appear on the boundaries between regions with different average energy of diffuse precipitation, caused by pitch-angle scattering. The two thin arcs on these boundaries are found to be related to an increase in number flux (and thus increased energy flux) without an increase in energ

Understanding caretakers' dilemma in deciding whether or not to adhere with referral advice after pre-referral treatment with rectal artesunate

BACKGROUND: Malaria kills. A single rectal dose of artesunate before referral can reduce mortality and prevent permanent disability. However, the success of this intervention depends on caretakers' adherence to referral advice for follow-up care. This paper explores the dilemma facing caretakers when they are in the process of deciding whether or not to transit their child to a health facility after pre-referral treatment with rectal artesunate. METHODS: Four focus group discussions were held in each of three purposively selected villages in Mtwara rural district of Tanzania. Data were analysed manually using latent qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: The theme "Caretakers dilemma in deciding whether or not to adhere with referral advice after pre-referral treatment with rectal artesunate" depicts the challenge they face. Caretakers' understanding of the rationale for going to hospital after treatment--when and why they should adhere--influenced adherence. Caretakers, whose children did not improve, usually adhered to referral advice. If a child had noticeably improved with pre-referral treatment however, caretakers weighed whether they should proceed to the facility, balancing the child's improved condition against other competing priorities, difficulties in reaching the health facilities, and the perceived quality of care at the health facility. Some misinterpretation were found regarding the urgency and rationale for adherence among some caretakers of children who improved which were attributed to be possibly due to their prior understanding. CONCLUSION: Some caretakers did not adhere when their children improved and some who adhered did so without understanding why they should proceed to the facility. Successful implementation of the rectal artesunate strategy depends upon effective communication regarding referral to clinic

Duration of unemployment and depression: a cross-sectional survey in Lithuania

BACKGROUND: In spite of a growing economy, unemployment is still a severe socio-economic problem in Lithuania. Nonetheless, no studies have been performed about the associations between unemployment and mental health in Lithuania. The aim of this study was to evaluate the associations between unemployment duration and depression in Lithuania. METHODS: The data was collected in a cross-sectional study in 2005. There were 429 filled-in questionnaires received (53.6% response rate) from unemployed persons registered with the Kaunas Labour Market Office. The severity of depression symptoms was evaluated using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Logistic regression was used to estimate the risk factors for occurrence of depression. Sex, age, place of residence, marital status, education, income and practiced religion were the independent variables. Long-term unemployment was defined as lasting a duration of 12 months or more. RESULTS: The findings showed that long-term unemployed persons had more episodes of a depressive mood in the past 12 months in comparison with the group of the short-term unemployed. In addition, the BDI score mean was higher among the long-term unemployed compared with the short-term unemployed (10.1 ± 8.8 and 14.2 ± 9.5 respectively, p < 0.001). It was estimated that the duration of unemployment and BDI score had a positive correlation (r = 0.1968, p < 0.001). Among the short-term unemployed, the risk of depression increased significantly when the person was female, had an older age and had experienced more episodes of unemployment. Among the long-term unemployed, an older age was the risk factor for development of depression. However, higher education and income were the factors that significantly decreased the risk of developing depression for-short term as well as for long-term unemployed. CONCLUSION: The results indicated that depression is a severe problem in the unemployed population. Depression is more elevated among the long-term unemployed. This leads to arguing for common efforts in providing needed social support and health care to reduce the effects of unemployment on mental health

Maximising the availability and use of high quality evidence for policymaking:Collaborative, targeted and efficient evidence reviews

Abstract A number of barriers have been identified to getting evidence into policy. In particular, a lack of policy relevance and lack of timeliness have been identified as causing tension between researchers and policy makers. Rapid reviews are used increasingly as an approach to address timeliness, however, there is a lack of consensus on the most effective review methods and they do not necessarily address the need of policy makers. In the course of our work with the Scottish Government’s Review of maternity and neonatal services we developed a new approach to evidence synthesis, which this paper will describe. We developed a standardised approach to produce collaborative, targeted and efficient evidence reviews for policy making. This approach aimed to ensure the reviews were policy relevant, high quality and up-to-date, and which were presented in a consistent, transparent, and easy to access format. The approach involved the following stages: 1) establishing a review team with expertise both in the topic and in systematic reviewing, 2) clarifying the review questions with policy makers and subject experts (i.e., health professionals, service user representatives, researchers) who acted as review sponsors, 3) developing review protocols to systematically identify quantitative and qualitative review-level evidence on effectiveness, sustainability and acceptability; if review level evidence was not available, primary studies were sought, 4) agreeing a framework to structure the analysis of the reviews around a consistent set of key concepts and outcomes; in this case a published framework for maternal and newborn care was used, 5) developing an iterative process between policy makers, reviewers and review sponsors, 6) rapid searches and retrieval of literature, 7) analysis of identified literature which was mapped to the framework and included review sponsor input, 8) production of recommendations mapped to the agreed framework and presented as ‘summary topsheets’ in a consistent and easy to read format. Our approach has drawn on different components of pre-existing rapid review methodology to provide a rigorous and pragmatic approach to rapid evidence synthesis. Additionally, the use of a framework to map the evidence helped structure the review questions, expedited the analysis and provided a consistent template for recommendations, which took into account the policy context. We therefore propose that our approach (described in this paper) can be described as producing collaborative, targeted and efficient evidence reviews for policy makers

Self-consistent field theory for the interactions between keratin intermediate filaments

Background: Keratins are important structural proteins found in skin, hair and nails. Keratin Intermediate Filaments are major components of corneocytes, nonviable horny cells of the Stratum Corneum, the outermost layer of skin. It is considered that interactions between unstructured domains of Keratin Intermediate Filaments are the key factor in maintaining the elasticity of the skin. Results: We have developed a model for the interactions between keratin intermediate filaments based on self-consistent field theory. The intermediate filaments are represented by charged surfaces, and the disordered terminal domains of the keratins are represented by charged heteropolymers grafted to these surfaces. We estimate the system is close to a charge compensation point where the heteropolymer grafting density is matched to the surface charge density. Using a protein model with amino acid resolution for the terminal domains, we find that the terminal chains can mediate a weak attraction between the keratin surfaces. The origin of the attraction is a combination of bridging and electrostatics. The attraction disappears when the system moves away from the charge compensation point, or when excess small ions and/or NMF-representing free amino acids are added. Conclusions: These results are in concordance with experimental observations, and support the idea that the interaction between keratin filaments, and ultimately in part the elastic properties of the keratin-containing tissue, is controlled by a combination of the physico-chemical properties of the disordered terminal domains and the composition of the medium in the inter-filament region. Keywords: Stratum corneum, Skin keratins, Intermediate filaments, Unstructured terminal domains, Bridging attractio

Pyruvate: immunonutritional effects on neutrophil intracellular amino or alpha-keto acid profiles and reactive oxygen species production

For the first time the immunonutritional role of pyruvate on neutrophils (PMN), free α-keto and amino acid profiles, important reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced [superoxide anion (O2−), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)] as well as released myeloperoxidase (MPO) acitivity has been investigated. Exogenous pyruvate significantly increased PMN pyruvate, α-ketoglutarate, asparagine, glutamine, aspartate, glutamate, arginine, citrulline, alanine, glycine and serine in a dose as well as duration of exposure dependent manner. Moreover, increases in O2− formation, H2O2-generation and MPO acitivity in parallel with intracellular pyruvate changes have also been detected. Regarding the interesting findings presented here we believe, that pyruvate fulfils considerably the criteria for a potent immunonutritional molecule in the regulation of the PMN dynamic α-keto and amino acid pools. Moreover it also plays an important role in parallel modulation of the granulocyte-dependent innate immune regulation. Although further research is necessary to clarify pyruvate’s sole therapeutical role in critically ill patients’ immunonutrition, the first scientific successes seem to be very promising

A systematic review of outcome and outcome-measure reporting in randomised trials evaluating surgical interventions for anterior-compartment vaginal prolapse: a call to action to develop a core outcome set

INTRODUCTION: We assessed outcome and outcome-measure reporting in randomised controlled trials evaluating surgical interventions for anterior-compartment vaginal prolapse and explored the relationships between outcome reporting quality with journal impact factor, year of publication, and methodological quality. METHODS: We searched the bibliographical databases from inception to October 2017. Two researchers independently selected studies and assessed study characteristics, methodological quality (Jadad criteria; range 1-5), and outcome reporting quality Management of Otitis Media with Effusion in Cleft Palate (MOMENT) criteria; range 1-6], and extracted relevant data. We used a multivariate linear regression to assess associations between outcome reporting quality and other variables. RESULTS: Eighty publications reporting data from 10,924 participants were included. Seventeen different surgical interventions were evaluated. One hundred different outcomes and 112 outcome measures were reported. Outcomes were inconsistently reported across trials; for example, 43 trials reported anatomical treatment success rates (12 outcome measures), 25 trials reported quality of life (15 outcome measures) and eight trials reported postoperative pain (seven outcome measures). Multivariate linear regression demonstrated a relationship between outcome reporting quality with methodological quality (β = 0.412; P = 0.018). No relationship was demonstrated between outcome reporting quality with impact factor (β = 0.078; P = 0.306), year of publication (β = 0.149; P = 0.295), study size (β = 0.008; P = 0.961) and commercial funding (β = -0.013; P = 0.918). CONCLUSIONS: Anterior-compartment vaginal prolapse trials report many different outcomes and outcome measures and often neglect to report important safety outcomes. Developing, disseminating and implementing a core outcome set will help address these issues

Stress System Dynamics during “Life As It Is Lived”: An Integrative Single-Case Study on a Healthy Woman

Little is known about the dynamic characteristics of stress system activity during “life as it is lived”. Using as representative a study design as possible, this investigation sought to gain insights into this area. A healthy 25-year-old woman collected her entire urine over a period of 63 days in 12-h intervals (126 measurements) to determine cortisol and neopterin (immune activation marker) levels. In addition, she filled out questionnaires on emotional state and daily routine in 12-h intervals, and was interviewed weekly to identify emotionally negative and positive everyday incidents. Adjusted cross-correlational analyses revealed that stressful incidents were associated with cyclic response patterns in both urinary cortisol and urinary neopterin concentrations. Urinary cortisol levels first decreased 12–24 h after stressful incidents occurred (lag 1: −.178; p = 0.048) and then increased a total of 72–84 h later (lag 6: +.224; p = 0.013). Urinary neopterin levels first increased 0–12 h before the occurrence of stressful incidents (−lag 1: +.185; p = 0.040) and then decreased a total of 48–60 h following such stressors (lag 4: −.181; p = 0.044). Decreases in urinary neopterin levels were also found 24–36 and 48–60 h after increases in pensiveness (lag 2: −.215; p = 0.017) and depressiveness (lag 4: −.221; p = 0.014), respectively. Findings on emotionally positive incidents sharply contrasted with those dealing with negative experiences. Positive incidents were followed first by urinary cortisol concentration increases within 12 h (lag 0: +.290; p = 0.001) and then by decreases after a total of 60–72 h (lag 5: −.186; p = 0.039). Urinary neopterin levels first decreased 12–24 h before positive incidents occurred (−lag 2: −.233; p = 0.010) and then increased a total of 12–24 h following these incidents (lag 1: +.222; p = 0.014). As with previous investigations on patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), this study showed that stress system response can be considerably longer and more complex and differentiated than findings from conventional group studies have suggested. Further integrative single-case studies will need to be conducted in order to draw firm conclusions about stress system dynamics under real-life conditions