Serious complication 1 year after sacrospinous ligament fixation

Myositis of the gluteal region caused by group A streptococci 1 year after a sacrospinous ligament fixation was recognised as a serious complication of this procedure. Most likely, the infection was spread to the gluteal region through a port d’entree caused by vaginal atrophy, via the non-resorbable sutures. The patient was treated successfully with antibiotics intravenous and local estrogens

Observing Conditions at Mt.Graham: VATT UBVR Sky Surface Brightness and Seeing Measurements from 1999 through 2003

We present measurements of sky surface brightness and seeing on Mt.Graham obtained at the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT) during 16 observing runs between April 1999 and December 2003. We show that the sky surface brightness is significantly darker during photometric conditions, and can be highly variable over the course of a single observing run as well as from one run to the next, regardless of photometricity. In our photometric observations we find an average low-airmass (sec z < 1.2) sky surface brightness of 22.00, 22.53, 21.49, and 20.88 mag arcsec^-2 in U, B, V, and R, respectively. The darkest run (02/00 in U and 02/01 in BVR) had an average sky surface brightness of 22.38, 22.86, 21.72, and 21.19 mag arcsec^-2 in U, B, V, and R, respectively. With these results we show that under the best conditions, Mt. Graham can compete with the darkest sites in Hawaii and Chile, thanks in part to the strict dark-sky ordinances in place in Tucson and Safford. We expect the sky over Mt. Graham to be even darker than our 1999--2003 results during solar minimum (2006--2007). We find a significant improvement of about 0.45 arcsec in our measured stellar FWHM after improvements to the telescope were made in Summer and Fall 2001. Stellar FWHM values are highly variable, with median R-band focus FWHM values in each observing run ranging from 0.97 arcsec to 2.15 arcsec. Significantly sub-arcsecond seeing was occasionally achieved with values as low as 0.65 arcsec FWHM in R. There may possibly still be a significant telescope contribution to the seeing at the VATT, but nearby trees as high as the dome are currently the dominant factor.Comment: 22 pages, 11 figures, to appear in PAS

Evaluating The Perception of Climate Change Among Secondary School Science Teachers for Knowledge-Based Sustainable Development

There appears to be lack of knowledge about the cause and effect of climate change amongst the secondary school students. This asks for evaluation of their source of knowledge in schools through the assessment of their teachers’ knowledge and/or perception about climatic change. The survey research design was adopted and the perception of the secondary school science teachers’ (SSSTs) evaluated using questionnaire. The results showed that SSSTs perception of human activities associated with climate change and the effects of human activities associated with climate is moderate. This was very clear when the grand mean responses of the teachers were found to be 2.81 and 2.61 respectively. The student t-test statistics used at P&gt;0.05 confirmed that there is no significant difference between the perception of urban and rural SSSTs on their perception of climate change. At P&gt;0.05, there is significant difference between experienced and less experienced SSSTs on their perception of climate change.  The research concludes that there is knowledge gap in our secondary school educational system concerning climate change. Therefore, it recommends capacity building in science-teaching education curriculum for knowledge-based sustainable development. Keywords: Curriculum, Global warming, Environmental Education, Greenhouse gases, Deforestation DOI: 10.7176/CER/13-5-03 Publication date:August 31st 2021

Star Clusters in the Nearby Late-Type Galaxy NGC 1311

Ultraviolet, optical and near infrared images of the nearby (D ~ 5.5 Mpc) SBm galaxy NGC 1311, obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope, reveal a small population of 13 candidate star clusters. We identify candidate star clusters based on a combination of their luminosity, extent and spectral energy distribution. The masses of the cluster candidates range from ~1000 up to ~100000 Solar masses, and show a strong positive trend of larger mass with increasing with cluster age. Such a trend follows from the fading and dissolution of old, low-mass clusters, and the lack of any young super star clusters of the sort often formed in strong starbursts. The cluster age distribution is consistent with a bursting mode of cluster formation, with active episodes of age ~10 Myr, ~100 Myr and ~1 Gyr. The ranges of age and mass we probe are consistent with those of the star clusters found in quiescent Local Group dwarf galaxies.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures, accepted by A

Analysis of SLA compliance in the cloud: An automated, model-based approach

Service Level Agreements (SLA) are commonly used to specify the quality attributes between cloud service providers and the customers. A violation of SLAs can result in high penalties. To allow the analysis of SLA compliance before the services are deployed, we describe in this paper an approach for SLA-aware deployment of services on the cloud, and illustrate its workflow by means of a case study. The approach is based on formal models combined with static analysis tools and generated runtime monitors. As such, it fits well within a methodology combining software development with information technology operations (DevOps)

Same-visit HIV testing in Trinidad and Tobago

Abstract Background The Ministry of Health (hereafter, Ministry) of Trinidad and Tobago is responsible for delivery of all health services in the country. The Ministry takes responsibility for direct delivery of care in the public sector and has initiated a process whereby those seeking HIV test results could obtain confidential reports during a single-visit to a testing location. The Ministry requested technical assistance with this process from the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC). The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) played an important role in this process through its partnership with CAREC. Methods Under the technical guidance of CAREC and CDC, the Ministry organized a technical working group which included representatives from key national HIV program services and technical assistance partners. This working group reviewed internationally-recognized best practices for HIV rapid testing and proposed a program that could be integrated into the national HIV programs of Trinidad and Tobago. The working group wrote a consensus protocol, defined certification criteria, prepared training materials and oversaw implementation of "same-visit" HIV testing at two pilot sites. Results A Ministry-of-Health-supported program of "same-visit" HIV testing has been established in Trinidad and Tobago. This program provides confidential testing that is independent of laboratory confirmation. The program allows clients who want to know their HIV status to obtain this information during a single-visit to a testing location. Testers who are certified to provide testing on behalf of the Ministry are also counselors. Non-laboratory personnel have been trained to provide HIV testing in non-laboratory locations. The program includes procedures to assure uniform quality of testing across multiple testing sites. Several procedural and training documents were developed during implementation of this program. This report contains links to those documents. Conclusions The Ministry of Health has implemented a program of "same-visit" HIV testing in Trinidad and Tobago. This program provides clients confidential HIV test reports during a single visit to a testing location. The program is staffed by non-laboratory personnel who are trained to provide both testing and counseling in decentralized (non-laboratory) settings. This approach may serve as a model for other small countries.</p

Assessment of algorithms for mitosis detection in breast cancer histopathology images

The proliferative activity of breast tumors, which is routinely estimated by counting of mitotic figures in hematoxylin and eosin stained histology sections, is considered to be one of the most important prognostic markers. However, mitosis counting is laborious, subjective and may suffer from low inter-observer agreement. With the wider acceptance of whole slide images in pathology labs, automatic image analysis has been proposed as a potential solution for these issues. In this paper, the results from the Assessment of Mitosis Detection Algorithms 2013 (AMIDA13) challenge are described. The challenge was based on a data set consisting of 12 training and 11 testing subjects, with more than one thousand annotated mitotic figures by multiple observers. Short descriptions and results from the evaluation of eleven methods are presented. The top performing method has an error rate that is comparable to the inter-observer agreement among pathologists

The involvement of tau in nucleolar transcription and the stress response

Tau is known for its pathological role in neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other tauopathies. Tau is found in many subcellular compartments such as the cytosol and the nucleus. Although its normal role in microtubule binding is well established, its nuclear role is still unclear. Here, we reveal that tau localises to the nucleolus in undifferentiated and differentiated neuroblastoma cells (SHSY5Y), where it associates with TIP5, a key player in heterochromatin stability and ribosomal DNA (rDNA) transcriptional repression. Immunogold labelling on human brain sample confirms the physiological relevance of this finding by showing tau within the nucleolus colocalises with TIP5. Depletion of tau results in an increase in rDNA transcription with an associated decrease in heterochromatin and DNA methylation, suggesting that under normal conditions tau is involved in silencing of the rDNA. Cellular stress induced by glutamate causes nucleolar stress associated with the redistribution of nucleolar non-phosphorylated tau, in a similar manner to fibrillarin, and nuclear upsurge of phosphorylated tau (Thr231) which doesn’t colocalise with fibrillarin or nucleolar tau. This suggests that stress may impact on different nuclear tau species. In addition to involvement in rDNA transcription, nucleolar non-phosphorylated tau also undergoes stress-induced redistribution similar to many nucleolar protein