On optimal block resampling for Gaussian-subordinated long-range dependent processes

Block resampling methods are useful for nonparametrically approximating the sampling distributions of statistics from dependent data. Much research has focused on weakly dependent time processes and understanding the large-sample properties of block subsampling (and bootstrap) methods, which has helped to inform implementation through the choice of the best block sizes, particularly for inference about sample means (as a prototypical statistic). However, relatively little is known about resampling performance and best block sizes under strong- or long-range time dependence. We consider a broad class of strongly dependent and possibly non-linear time series, which are formed by a transformation of a stationary long-memory Gaussian series. We determine the estimation error and best block sizes for subsampling (or block bootstrap) variance estimation of the sample mean from such processes. Explicit expressions are given for the bias and variance of block subsampling/bootstrap estimators with overlapping or non-overlapping blocks, which depend intricately amount of non-linearity in the time series as well as a strong dependence coefficient. In contrast, for weakly dependent time series, bias/variance properties of subsampling/bootstrap estimators are completely invariant to the degree of non-linearity in the time series (i.e., a non-issue), and overlapping blocks always induce better performance than non-overlapping blocks regardless of the exact block length choice. However, neither of these aspects remains true for transformation-based long memory time series and, perhaps surprisingly, any amount of non-linearity in the time series destroys advantages of overlapping blocks

Herbal Remedies for Combating Irradiation: a Green Antiirradiation Approach

Plants play important roles in human life not only as suppliers of oxygen but also as a fundamental resource to sustain the human race on this earthly plane. Plants also play a major role in our nutrition by converting energy from the sun during photosynthesis. In addition, plants have been used extensively in traditional medicine since time immemorial. Information in the biomedical literature has indicated that many natural herbs have been investigated for their efficacy against lethal irradiation. Pharmacological studies by various groups of investigators have shown that natural herbs possess significant radioprotective activity. In view of the immense medicinal importance of natural product based radioprotective agents, this review aims at compiling all currently available information on radioprotective agents from medicinal plants and herbs, especially the evaluation methods and mechanisms of action. In this review we particularly emphasize on ethnomedicinal uses, botany, phytochemistry, mechanisms of action and toxicology. We also describe modern techniques for evaluating herbal samples as radioprotective agents. The usage of herbal remedies for combating lethal irradiation is a green antiirradiation approach for the betterment of human beings without high cost, side effects and toxicity

A Review on Adverse Health Effects of Laboratory Volatile Solvents

The main objective of this review is to describe the health effects of commonly used laboratory volatile solvents in institutional laboratories. The most commonly used laboratory solvents such as petroleum ether, methanol, diethyl ether, benzene, acetone, mercury, etc. are having moderate to severe health effects on user. The mode of exposure and duration exposure of volatile solvents has greater effect on user. In a laboratory, when students/ researcher doing experiment unknowingly they are getting exposed with volatile solvents which has grater health (adverse) effect. The severity of the adverse effect varies based on type of exposure and duration exposure. The undesired effects of laboratory volatile solvents are sometime irreversible and may cause life-threatening problems

Chemical composition and antioxidant activity of the crude methanolic extracts of Mentha spicata

The chemical constituents and antioxidant activity of the crude extracts of Mentha spicata were investigated. Phytochemical analysis indicated the presence of sugar, flavonoids and alkaloids in the crude extracts of Mentha spicata. GC-TOFMS (Gas Chromatography Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry) analysis indicated the presence of fatty acid methyl esters (hexa decane, hepta decane, octa decane) terpenoids, terpenoid alcohol, caryophyllene and glycosides. Total phenolic components of the crude extracts was found to be 27.26±0.62 mg/g gallic acid equivalent which was determined by Folin-Ciocalteu method. The DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging activity was found to increase with increasing concentrations and  was found to be 54.84±0.57% with an IC50 value of 25.2µg/ml. The reported antioxidant activity may be due to the presence of flavonoids and fatty acid methyl esters which has the scavenging potential by reducing the free radicals. Â

Safety profile of dextran-spermine gene delivery vector in mouse lungs

A nano-sized polymer, dextran-spermine (D-SPM), was shown to have the capacity to deliver gene to the lung of mouse via intranasal route. In this study, assessments on the safety profile of D-SPM were performed to complement the gene expression results. African green monkey kidney fibroblast (COS-7) and human adenocarcinoma breast (MCF-7) cells transfected with D-SPM/pDNA showed massive reduction in the number of viable cells. As for in vivo study, elevated level of neutrophils was observed, despite the minimal level of pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-12, IFN-γ detected in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of mice treated with the D-SPM/pDNA complexes. Histology profile examinations of the lungs showed mild inflammatory responses, with inflamed areas overlap with healthy areas. Although reduction of mice weight was seen at day 1 post administration, the mice did not show any sign of abnormal behavior or physical appearance. Biodistribution study was performed to determine the ability of the D-SPM/pDNA complexes to infiltrate to other non-intended organs. The result showed that the D-SPM/pDNA complexes were only localized at the lung and no gene expression was detected in other organs or blood. In short, these results indicate that the D-SPM/pDNA exhibited mild toxicity in the mouse lungs

Identifying barriers that affect medical doctors’ learning of dental trauma

BackgroundIt is important that medical doctors are familiar with the management of emergency dental trauma before referring a patient to a dentist. Correct diagnosis and treatment techniques are essential for a predictable and optimal long-term prognosis.AimsThe aim is to identify and categorize statements from the literature related to barriers (factors that hinder learning) on dental trauma for medical doctors.MethodsThe authors reviewed ten papers pertaining to medical doctors’ knowledge of dental trauma and identify some common barriers to learning.ResultsThe barriers identified were classified as internal (factors associated with the learner) or external (factors associated with the learning environment). Internal barriers negatively impact learners and may cause medical doctors to lose enthusiasm or interest in the subject. External barriers, on the other hand, often arise from within the university or teaching hospital and may affect medical students’ and doctors’ theoretical learning of dental trauma or hamper their clinical experience. ConclusionFrom a limited body of literature, this report has identified some common barriers that affect doctors’ learning of dental trauma. Consequently, to further investigate the relevance of these barriers and their impact on dental trauma learning, a systematic review in this area is indicated

Appropriate management of traumatic dental injuries at the hospital emergency department provides a positive impact on patient outcomes

The objective of this case study is to highlight the importance of medical doctors’ management of acute dental trauma. Correct diagnosis and treatment techniques are essential for an optimal long-term prognosis of restored function and aesthetics for the patient. The aim of correct management of acute traumatic dental injuries (TDI) to permanent teeth is to protect patients from inaccurate diagnosis, poor treatment by clinicians and to stabilize the condition before referring to a dentist for permanent dental care. This case shows that appropriate management of acute dental injuries by the emergency doctor prevented the loss of teeth at an earlier age

A brief overview of learning theories in medical education: Using dental trauma as an example

The literature identifies that medical student receive little or no formal dental trauma assessment and management teaching during medical school. To bridge this important gap in medical education, medical educators should look to introduce basic dental trauma teaching into undergraduates’ final year of medical school. To set up a solid foundation for long-term learning, educators should consider which theories are most suited to transfer knowledge effectively to students in particular contexts. Similarly, medical educators should consider which theory or hybrid of learning theories best fits their teaching goals. In the absence of a dental educator at the medical school, offering an online learning approach is an ideal solution for filling medical students’ knowledge gap in assessing and managing dental trauma injuries

Avaliação e manejo da dor em pacientes idosos com e sem demência

Persistent pain is a frequent health problem in the elderly. Its prevalence ranges from 45% to 80%. Chronic diseases, such as depression, cardiovascular disease, cancer and osteoporosis have a higher prevalence in aged individuals and increase the risk of developing chronic pain. The presence of pain is known to be associated with sleep disorders in these patients, as well as functional impairment, decreased sociability and greater use of the health system, with consequent increase in costs. Alzheimer's disease patients seem to have a normal pain discriminative capacity and they may probably have weaker emotional and affective experience of pain when compared to other types of dementia. Many patients have language deficits and thus cannot properly describe its characteristics. In more advanced cases, it becomes even difficult to determine whether pain is present or not. Therefore, the evaluation of these patients should be performed in a systematic way. There are three ways to measure the presence of pain: by direct questioning (self-report), by direct behavioral observation and by interviews with caregivers or informants. In recent years, many pain scales and questionnaires have been published and validated specifically for the elderly population. Some are specific to patients with cognitive decline, allowing pain evaluation to be conducted in a structured and reproducible way. The next step is to determine the type of painful syndrome and discuss the bases of the pharmacological management, the use of multiple medications and the presence of comorbidities demand the use of smaller doses and impose contra-indications against some drug classes. A multiprofessional approach is the rule in the management of these patients.Dor persistente é um problema de saúde frequente no idoso e sua prevalência varia de 45 a 80%. Doenças crônicas, como depressão, distúrbios cardiovasculares, câncer e osteoporose tem alta prevalência em indivíduos idosos e aumentam o risco de desenvolver dor crônica. Nestes indivíduos, a presença de dor está associada a distúrbios do sono, prejuízo funcional, diminuição da sociabilidade e maior procura dos serviços de saúde, com o consequente aumento dos custos de saúde. Pacientes com Alzheimer têm uma capacidade discriminativa dolorosa normal e uma experiência afetiva e emocional da dor mais atenuada quando comparados com outros tipos de demência. Muitos pacientes têm déficits de linguagem e não podem descrever adequadamente as características de sua dor. Em casos avançados, torna-se difícil determinar se a dor está realmente presente ou não. Desta forma, a avaliação destes doentes deve ser realizada de forma sistemática. Há três formas de se avaliar a dor: questionários diretos, observação direta do comportamento ou entrevistas diretas com os cuidadores ou informantes. Nos últimos anos muitas escalas e questionários para dor foram publicados e validados especificamente para a população idosa. Alguns são específicos para pacientes com declínio cognitivo, permitindo que a evolução da dor possa ser conduzida de uma forma estruturada e reprodutível. O passo seguinte é se determinar o tipo de síndrome dolorosa e se discutir as bases do manejo farmacológico. O uso de múltiplas medicações e a presença de comorbidades exige o uso de pequenas doses e impõem contra-indicações para algumas classes de drogas. A abordagem multidisciplinar é a regra no seguimento a longo prazo destes doentes

Phylogenetic study of the Schismatoglottis Nervosa Complex (Araceae: Schismatoglottideae)

The Schismatoglottis Nervosa Complex (Araceae: Schismatoglottideae) currently comprises 10 species: Schismatoglottis adoceta S.Y.Wong, S. elegans A.Hay, S. liniae S.Y.Wong, S. tessellata S.Y.Wong, S. ulusarikeiensis S.Y.Wong, S. matangensis S.Y.Wong, S. simonii S.Y.Wong, S. turbata S.Y.Wong, and S. nervosa Ridl., occurring in Borneo, with each endemic to a specific locality and most to a particular geology; and one species (S. brevicuspis Hook.f.) widespread in Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatera, where it is restricted to granites. Based on analysis of the matK region, a preliminary biogeographical hypothesis for the origins and subsequent taxagenesis of the Nervosa Complex is presented. This study also provides insight into possible evolution of localised mesophytic endemics in everwet, humid, and perhumid megathermal Sundaic forests. Two clades are resolved: one north of, and another south of, the Lupar Divide