Plasma arginine vasopressin concentrations in epileptics under monotherapy

Plasma arginine vasopressin concentrations were determined by radio-immunoassay in 112 adult epileptics who were taking carbamazepine, phenytoin, primidone, or sodium valproate in long-term monotherapy, and in 19 controls. No significant difference was found between the groups, but some epileptics taking carbamazepine and primidone showed low values. Serum concentrations of carbamazepine did not correlate with the concentrations of plasma arginine vasopressin. In conclusion, there was no evidence of a stimulating effect of chronic carbamazepine medication or a special inhibiting effect of phenytoin on the release of vasopressin arginine from the posterior pituitary

RANCANG BANGUN APLIKASI LAYANAN INFORMASI WISATA BUDAYA YOGYAKARTA BERBASIS MOBILE WEB DAN LOCATIONBASED SERVICE SECARA KOLABORATIF

Yogyakarta merupakan salah satu kota yang memiliki potensi pariwisata yang beragam. Potensi wisata tersebut antara lain keindahan alam, peninggalan sejarah, kuliner, dan budaya, Jika potensi ini dapat dioptimalkan, maka akan dapat membantu meningkatkan kondisi perekonomian daerah di sekitar potensi wisata tersebut. Promosi wisata budaya Yogyakarta belum banyak dilakukan. Kegiatan promosi wisata dapat dilakukan dengan memanfaatkan perkembangan teknologi, khususnya teknologi piranti mobile. Aplikasi pengumpulan dan penyampaian informasi wisata budaya Yogyakarta yang akan dikembangkan merupakan aplikasi berbasis mobile web agar dapat diakses melalui berbagai piranti, khususnya piranti mobile, tanpa terikat platform dari piranti yang digunakan. Pemuktahiran informasi mengenai wisata budaya ini dilakukan secara kolaboratif, agar informasi lebih cepat terkumpul. Aplikasi ini juga menyediakan location-based service agar orang yang tertarik untuk mempelajari budaya Yogyakarta dapat dipandu mencapai lokasinya dengan mudah. Dengan adanya sistem ini diharapkan semakin banyak orang yang terlibat untuk berbagi informasi serta semakin tertarik untuk lebih mengenal budaya Yogyakarta

Reinstating class a structural and developmental study of Hong Kong society

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Effect of household-based drinking water chlorination on diarrhoea among children under five in Orissa, India: a double-blind randomised placebo-controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Boiling, disinfecting, and filtering water within the home can improve the microbiological quality of drinking water among the hundreds of millions of people who rely on unsafe water supplies. However, the impact of these interventions on diarrhoea is unclear. Most studies using open trial designs have reported a protective effect on diarrhoea while blinded studies of household water treatment in low-income settings have found no such effect. However, none of those studies were powered to detect an impact among children under five and participants were followed-up over short periods of time. The aim of this study was to measure the effect of in-home water disinfection on diarrhoea among children under five. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We conducted a double-blind randomised controlled trial between November 2010 and December 2011. The study included 2,163 households and 2,986 children under five in rural and urban communities of Orissa, India. The intervention consisted of an intensive promotion campaign and free distribution of sodium dichloroisocyanurate (NaDCC) tablets during bi-monthly households visits. An independent evaluation team visited households monthly for one year to collect health data and water samples. The primary outcome was the longitudinal prevalence of diarrhoea (3-day point prevalence) among children aged under five. Weight-for-age was also measured at each visit to assess its potential as a proxy marker for diarrhoea. Adherence was monitored each month through caregiver's reports and the presence of residual free chlorine in the child's drinking water at the time of visit. On 20% of the total household visits, children's drinking water was assayed for thermotolerant coliforms (TTC), an indicator of faecal contamination. The primary analysis was on an intention-to-treat basis. Binomial regression with a log link function and robust standard errors was used to compare prevalence of diarrhoea between arms. We used generalised estimating equations to account for clustering at the household level. The impact of the intervention on weight-for-age z scores (WAZ) was analysed using random effect linear regression. Over the follow-up period, 84,391 child-days of observations were recorded, representing 88% of total possible child-days of observation. The longitudinal prevalence of diarrhoea among intervention children was 1.69% compared to 1.74% among controls. After adjusting for clustering within household, the prevalence ratio of the intervention to control was 0.95 (95% CI 0.79-1.13). The mean WAZ was similar among children of the intervention and control groups (-1.586 versus -1.589, respectively). Among intervention households, 51% reported their child's drinking water to be treated with the tablets at the time of visit, though only 32% of water samples tested positive for residual chlorine. Faecal contamination of drinking water was lower among intervention households than controls (geometric mean TTC count of 50 [95% CI 44-57] per 100 ml compared to 122 [95% CI 107-139] per 100 ml among controls [p<0.001] [n = 4,546]). CONCLUSIONS: Our study was designed to overcome the shortcomings of previous double-blinded trials of household water treatment in low-income settings. The sample size was larger, the follow-up period longer, both urban and rural populations were included, and adherence and water quality were monitored extensively over time. These results provide no evidence that the intervention was protective against diarrhoea. Low compliance and modest reduction in water contamination may have contributed to the lack of effect. However, our findings are consistent with other blinded studies of similar interventions and raise additional questions about the actual health impact of household water treatment under these conditions. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.govNCT01202383 Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary

Substrate-induced DNA strand misalignment during catalytic cycling by DNA polymerase λ

The simple deletion of nucleotides is common in many organisms. It can be advantageous when it activates genes beneficial to microbial survival in adverse environments, and deleterious when it mutates genes relevant to survival, cancer or degenerative diseases. The classical idea is that simple deletions arise by strand slippage. A prime opportunity for slippage occurs during DNA synthesis, but it remains unclear how slippage is controlled during a polymerization cycle. Here, we report crystal structures and molecular dynamics simulations of mutant derivatives of DNA polymerase λ bound to a primer–template during strand slippage. Relative to the primer strand, the template strand is in multiple conformations, indicating intermediates on the pathway to deletion mutagenesis. Consistent with these intermediates, the mutant polymerases generate single-base deletions at high rates. The results indicate that dNTP-induced template strand repositioning during conformational rearrangements in the catalytic cycle is crucial to controlling the rate of strand slippage

Prevalence of myocardial hypertrophy in a population of asymptomatic Swedish Maine coon cats

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Maine coon cats have a familial disposition for developing hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) with evidence of an autosomal dominant mode of inheritance <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B1">1</abbr></abbrgrp>. The current mode to diagnose HCM is by use of echocardiography. However, definite reference criteria have not been established. The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence of echocardigraphic changes consistent with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in Swedish Maine coon cats, and to compare echocardiographic measurements with previously published reference values.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>All cats over the age of 8 months owned by breeders living in Stockholm, listed on the website of the Maine Coon breeders in Sweden by February 2001, were invited to participate in the study. Physical examination and M-mode and 2D echocardiographic examinations were performed in all cats.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Examinations of 42 asymptomatic Maine coon cats (10 males and 32 females) were performed. The age of the cats ranged from 0,7 to 9,3 years with a mean of 4,8 ± 2,3 years. Four cats (9,5%) had a diastolic interventricular septal (IVSd) or left ventricular free wall (LVPWd) thickness exceeding 6,0 mm. In 3 of these cats the hypertrophy was segmental. Two cats (4,8%) had systolic anterior motion (SAM) of the mitral valve without concomitant hypertrophy. Five cats (11,9%) had IVSd or LVPWd exceeding 5,0 mm but less than 6,0 mm.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Depending on the reference values used, the prevalence of HCM in this study varied from 9,5% to 26,2%. Our study suggests that the left ventricular wall thickness of a normal cat is 5,0 mm or less, rather than 6,0 mm, previously used by most cardiologists. Appropriate echocardiographic reference values for Maine coon cats, and diagnostic criteria for HCM need to be further investigated.</p

An approach to trial design and analysis in the era of non-proportional hazards of the treatment effect

Background: Most randomized controlled trials with a time-to-event outcome are designed and analysed under the proportional hazards assumption, with a target hazard ratio for the treatment effect in mind. However, the hazards may be non-proportional. We address how to design a trial under such conditions, and how to analyse the results. Methods: We propose to extend the usual approach, a logrank test, to also include the Grambsch-Therneau test of proportional hazards. We test the resulting composite null hypothesis using a joint test for the hazard ratio and for time-dependent behaviour of the hazard ratio. We compute the power and sample size for the logrank test under proportional hazards, and from that we compute the power of the joint test. For the estimation of relevant quantities from the trial data, various models could be used; we advocate adopting a pre-specified flexible parametric survival model that supports time-dependent behaviour of the hazard ratio. Results: We present the mathematics for calculating the power and sample size for the joint test. We illustrate the methodology in real data from two randomized trials, one in ovarian cancer and the other in treating cellulitis. We show selected estimates and their uncertainty derived from the advocated flexible parametric model. We demonstrate in a small simulation study that when a treatment effect either increases or decreases over time, the joint test can outperform the logrank test in the presence of both patterns of non-proportional hazards. Conclusions: Those designing and analysing trials in the era of non-proportional hazards need to acknowledge that a more complex type of treatment effect is becoming more common. Our method for the design of the trial retains the tools familiar in the standard methodology based on the logrank test, and extends it to incorporate a joint test of the null hypothesis with power against non-proportional hazards. For the analysis of trial data, we propose the use of a pre-specified flexible parametric model that can represent a time-dependent hazard ratio if one is present

Successful transureteropyelostomy after heminephrectomy of a bilateral hydronephrotic horseshoe kidney: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Horseshoe kidney is a rare congenital malformation that is found in approximately 0.25% of the general population and usually remains asymptomatic.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report a successful transureteropyelostomy after heminephrectomy of the non-functional right moiety in a 25-year-old man with horseshoe kidney who had a combined 50% functional loss and hydronephrosis due to multiple distal ureteral strictures on the functionally remaining left side. Continuous ureteral stenting of the remaining part of the former horseshoe kidney was avoided during a follow-up of 2 years.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Urologists are often faced with technically difficult cases that are not responsive to standard operative procedures, and this case illustrates an individual surgical approach in a clinical situation.</p

Bats Use Magnetite to Detect the Earth's Magnetic Field

While the role of magnetic cues for compass orientation has been confirmed in numerous animals, the mechanism of detection is still debated. Two hypotheses have been proposed, one based on a light dependent mechanism, apparently used by birds and another based on a “compass organelle” containing the iron oxide particles magnetite (Fe3O4). Bats have recently been shown to use magnetic cues for compass orientation but the method by which they detect the Earth's magnetic field remains unknown. Here we use the classic “Kalmijn-Blakemore” pulse re-magnetization experiment, whereby the polarity of cellular magnetite is reversed. The results demonstrate that the big brown bat Eptesicus fuscus uses single domain magnetite to detect the Earths magnetic field and the response indicates a polarity based receptor. Polarity detection is a prerequisite for the use of magnetite as a compass and suggests that big brown bats use magnetite to detect the magnetic field as a compass. Our results indicate the possibility that sensory cells in bats contain freely rotating magnetite particles, which appears not to be the case in birds. It is crucial that the ultrastructure of the magnetite containing magnetoreceptors is described for our understanding of magnetoreception in animals

A radiographic measurement of left atrial size in dogs

The dimensions of the left atrium in cases with mitral regurgitation are an indirect measurement of its severity. The objective of this study was to evaluate the value of a new radiographic measurement, the radiographic left atrial dimension (RLAD), for detecting left atrial enlargement (LAE) in dogs. Thirty one dogs without LAE and 46 dogs with LAE were recruited in a prospective fashion. Reference left atrium dimension was measured by standard left atrium to aorta ratio (LA/Ao) by 2D echocardiography. LAE was considered if LA/Ao > 1.6. Left atrium dimension was then quantified on lateral radiographs by measuring RLAD. Vertebral heart size (VHS) was measured and RLAD was obtained by drawing a line bisecting the 90 degrees angle defined by the long and short cardiac axes lines of the VHS, up to the dorsal edge of the left atrium and comparing its length to T4’s vertebral body length. The correlation of VHS and RLAD methods with LA/Ao was estimated, as well as their sensitivity and specificity for detecting LAE. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves were used to estimate the optimal decision criteria for each method