Time until first analgesic requirement, post caesarean section under spinal anaesthesia, in HIV-positive patients at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital

M.Med.(Anaesthesia), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2011BACKGROUND Multiple studies have been conducted comparing the efficacy and duration of analgesia obtained from spinal anaesthesia containing local anaesthetics as well as opioids. The literature available has not considered the individual‟s HIV status as a variable. Postoperative analgesic duration and requirements in this group of patients may differ due to the occurrence of acute and chronic pain syndromes, pain arising from the disease itself, side effects of treatment for HIV infection, or opportunistic infections. Response to opioid analgesia may be altered due to previous opioid exposure, potential increase in nociception, drug interactions and emotional status. OBJECTIVES The primary objective of this study was to determine the time to post-operative analgesic request in HIV-positive and negative individuals having caesarean sections under spinal anaesthesia containing bupivacaine or bupivacaine and fentanyl. The secondary objectives of this study were to determine if factors such as height, ethnicity, level of education, CD4 count, and antiretroviral therapy impacted on the duration of analgesia obtained

Orte des Gestapoterrors im heutigen Niedersachsen

Auszug aus dem Antrag im MWK-Förderprogramm Pro*Niedersachsen – Kulturelles Erbe – Sammlungen und ObjekteExcerpt from a funding proposal to the Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur, the Ministry for Science and Culture of Lower Saxony

Corporate sustainability: a model for a footwear company

As empresas estão cada vez mais na busca da sustentabilidade socioambiental, e este têm sido um dos maiores desafios na gestão dos negócios. Nesse contexto, o objetivo da presente pesquisa consistiu em estruturar um modelo de sustentabilidade para ações internas por parte dos colaboradores de empresas do ramo calçadista, permitindo a ampliação a longo prazo para práticas externas. Utilizou-se como referência bibliográfica métodos de gestão tradicionais para organizar o plano de ação de forma estratégica. O artigo foi estruturado mediante uma pesquisa qualitativa, valendo-se de um estudo de caso, uma empresa localizada no Vale do Sinos, Rio Grande do Sul. As informações foram coletadas por meio de questionário online aos funcionários e, a partir dos resultados, foi possível entender os processos administrativos atuais da empresa e as possíveis intervenções futuras para aplicação de práticas sustentáveis, indicando um formato dividido em ações operacionais a curto prazo, táticas a médio prazo e estratégicas a longo prazo.Companies are increasingly looking for socio-environmental sustainability and this has been one of the biggest challenges in business management. In this context, the objective of this research was to create a sustainability model for a footwear company, considering internal actions on the part of employees, expanding in the long term for external practices. Management methods were used to organize the action plan strategically. The article was structured in a qualitative research, using a case study, where the information was collected through an online questionnaire and from the results it was possible to understand the current administrative processes and possible future interventions for the application of sustainable practices. , indicating a format divided into short-term operational, medium-term tactical and long-term strategic

Zur Struktur von empirischen Sozial-, Verhaltens- und Wirtschaftsforschern: Ein Überblick über die Ereignisse der SOEP-Nutzerbefragungen

Dieses Papier charakterisiert die SOEP-Nutzer, beschreibt ihre Zufriedenheit mit dem SOEP-Service und untersucht ihre Nutzungsgewohnheiten bei der Arbeit mit den Daten. Die Untersuchungen bauen primär auf den Daten der SOEP-Nutzerbefragungen 2004, 2011, 2012 und 2013 auf. Ältere Nutzerbefragungen (in den 1980er und 1990er Jahren) werden kurz dokumentiert. Die Beschreibung der Nutzer konzentriert sich auf deren Forschungsgewohnheiten und bevorzugten Analysemethoden. Im Bereich der Zufriedenheit geht es primär um die Bereiche des Datenzugangs, der Daten selbst und ihrer Dokumentation. Als Besonderheit der 2012er Erhebung wurden Fragen aus der SOEP-Haupterhebung eingebaut, welche einen Vergleich von Nutzern und SOEP-Befragten ermöglichen. Die Ergebnisse geben dabei Einblicke in die Forschungsgewohnheiten von empirischen Sozial-, Verhaltens- und Wirtschaftsforscher. Insbesondere hinsichtlich der verwendeten Statistikpakete und der bevorzugten Datenformate zeichnen sich deutliche Veränderungen ab.This paper describes key characteristics of SOEP users, measures their satisfaction with SOEP service, and studies their habits in the use of the SOEP data. The analysis is based primarily on data from the SOEP user surveys conducted in 2004, 2011, 2012, and 2013. Older user surveys (in the 1980s and 1990s) are documented briefly. The description of users focuses on their research habits and preferred analytical methods. In the area of user satisfaction, the focus is on data access, the data themselves, and data documentation. As a special feature of the 2012 survey, questions from the main SOEP survey were included to allow for a comparison between SOEP users and SOEP respondents. The results give insight into the research habits of empirical social, behavioral, and economic researchers. The results point to significant changes, particularly in the statistical packages used and the preferred data formats

Timing and deciphering mitochondrial DNA macro-haplogroup R0 variability in Central Europe and Middle East

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Nearly half of the West Eurasian assemblage of human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is fractioned into numerous sub-lineages of the predominant haplogroup (hg) R0. Several hypotheses have been proposed on the origin and the expansion times of some R0 sub-lineages, which were partially inconsistent with each other. Here we describe the phylogenetic structure and genetic variety of hg R0 in five European populations and one population from the Middle East.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our analysis of 1,350 mtDNA haplotypes belonging to R0, including entire control region sequences and 45 single nucleotide polymorphisms from the coding region, revealed significant differences in the distribution of different sub-hgs even between geographically closely located regions. Estimates of coalescence times that were derived using diverse algorithmic approaches consistently affirmed that the major expansions of the different R0 hgs occurred in the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Given an estimated coalescence time of the distinct lineages of 10 – 18 kya, the differences in the distributions could hint to either limited maternal gene flow after the Last Glacial Maximum due to the alpine nature of the regions involved or to a stochastic loss of diversity due to environmental events and/or disease episodes occurred at different times and in distinctive regions. Our comparison of two different ways of obtaining the timing of the most recent common ancestor confirms that the time of a sudden expansion can be adequately recovered from control region data with valid confidence intervals. For reliable estimates, both procedures should be applied in order to cross-check the results for validity and soundness.</p

Quantum Circuit Compiler for a Shuttling-Based Trapped-Ion Quantum Computer

The increasing capabilities of quantum computing hardware and the challenge of realizing deep quantum circuits require fully automated and efficient tools for compiling quantum circuits. To express arbitrary circuits in a sequence of native gates specific to the quantum computer architecture, it is necessary to make algorithms portable across the landscape of quantum hardware providers. In this work, we present a compiler capable of transforming and optimizing a quantum circuit targeting a shuttling-based trapped-ion quantum processor. It consists of custom algorithms set on top of the quantum circuit framework Pytket. The performance was evaluated for a wide range of quantum circuits and the results show that the gate counts can be reduced by factors up to 5.1 compared to standard Pytket and up to 2.2 compared to standard Qiskit compilation.Comment: 35 pages, 25 figures, 4 tables, accepted in Quantu

Ovarian cancer G protein-coupled receptor 1 deficiency exacerbates crystal deposition and kidney injury in oxalate nephropathy in female mice

Ovarian cancer G protein-coupled receptor 1 (OGR1) (Gpr68) and G protein-coupled receptor 4 (GPR4) (Gpr4) are proton-activated G protein-coupled receptors that are stimulated upon increased extracellular acidity. These receptors have various physiological and pathophysiological roles in renal acid–base physiology, tissue inflammation, and fibrosis among others. Their function in injured renal tissue, however, remains mostly unclear. To address this, we investigated their role in crystalline nephropathy by increasing the oxalate intake of GPR4 KO and OGR1 KO mice. After 10 days of high-oxalate intake and 4 days of recovery, renal crystal content, histopathology, filtration function, and inflammation were assessed. While GPR4 deficiency did not show major alterations in disease progression, OGR1 KO mice had higher urinary calcium levels and exacerbated crystal accumulation accompanied by decreased creatinine clearance and urea excretion and a decreased presence of regulatory T (Treg) cells in kidney tissue. When lowering the severity of the kidney injury, OGR1 KO mice were more prone to develop crystalline nephropathy. In this setting, OGR1 KO mice displayed an increased activation of the immune system and a higher production of proinflammatory cytokines by T cells and macrophages. Taken together, in the acute setting of oxalate-induced nephropathy, the lack of the proton-activated G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) GPR4 does not influence disease. OGR1 deficiency, however, increases crystal deposition leading to impaired kidney function. Thus, OGR1 may be important to limit kidney crystal deposition, which might subsequently be relevant for the pathophysiology of oxalate kidney stones or other crystallopathies

Vestibular dose correlates with dizziness after radiosurgery for the treatment of vestibular schwannoma.

BACKGROUND Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) has been recognized as a first-line treatment option for small to moderate sized vestibular schwannoma (VS). Our aim is to evaluate the impact of SRS doses and other patient and disease characteristics on vestibular function in patients with VS. METHODS Data on VS patients treated with single-fraction SRS to 12 Gy were retrospectively reviewed. No dose constraints were given to the vestibule during optimization in treatment planning. Patient and tumor characteristics, pre- and post-SRS vestibular examination results and patient-reported dizziness were assessed from patient records. RESULTS Fifty-three patients were analyzed. Median follow-up was 32 months (range, 6-79). The median minimum, mean and maximum vestibular doses were 2.6 ± 1.6 Gy, 6.7 ± 2.8 Gy, and 11 ± 3.6 Gy, respectively. On univariate analysis, Koos grade (p = 0.04; OR: 3.45; 95% CI 1.01-11.81), tumor volume (median 6.1 cm3; range, 0.8-38; p = 0.01; OR: 4.85; 95% CI 1.43-16.49), presence of pre-SRS dizziness (p = 0.02; OR: 3.98; 95% CI 1.19-13.24) and minimum vestibular dose (p = 0.033; OR: 1.55; 95% CI 1.03-2.32) showed a significant association with patient-reported dizziness. On multivariate analysis, minimum vestibular dose remained significant (p = 0.02; OR: 1.75; 95% CI 1.05-2.89). Patients with improved caloric function had received significantly lower mean (1.5 ± 0.7 Gy, p = 0.01) and maximum doses (4 ± 1.5 Gy, p = 0.01) to the vestibule. CONCLUSIONS Our results reveal that 5 Gy and above minimum vestibular doses significantly worsened dizziness. Additionally, mean and maximum doses received by the vestibule were significantly lower in patients who had improved caloric function. Further investigations are needed to determine dose-volume parameters and their effects on vestibular toxicity

The Benefits of Physical Activity on Climacteric Women

As the population ages, there is a need of developing ways to prevent or revert the deleterious effects of aging, especially in climacteric women who suffer with the problems caused by hormonal changes. Exercise is a nonmedicated intervention that can be applied on that population. The benefits of physical activity can positively change body composition, increase levels of muscular strength, balance, and functional capacity. Strength training, aerobic exercise, whole body vibration, and aquatic exercises are some of the modalities that health professionals can prescript to these individuals. Although there are many studies about these exercises, a technique called blood flow restriction is emerging as an alternative to high load exercises but with the same benefits