Polychaetes of commercial interest from the Mediterranean East Coast of Algeria

Three species of polychaetous annelids are commercially collected, as baits, from natural populations along the coast of Algeria. They are collected by semi-professional bait harvesters supplying a variety of local outlets and are used as bait by local fishermen. Bait harvesters commonly use bleaching liquid (10% in sea water) or a KMnO4 (0.5 to 1% in sea water) solution to force Perinereis cultrifera (Nereididae) individuals out of their algal mat. Hediste diversicolor (Nereididae) and Scolelepis squamata(Spionidae) are dug from intertidal mudflats and sandy beaches. Commercial prices and ways of utilization are given for each species. The necessity for the legislative establishment of a regulatory management plan for worm angling is demonstrated

Doping Dependence of Thermal Oxidation on n-type 4H-SiC

The doping dependence of dry thermal oxidation rates in n-type 4H-SiC was investigated. The oxidation was performed in the temperature range 1000C to 1200C for samples with nitrogen doping in the range of 6.5e15/cm3 to 9.3e18/cm3, showing a clear doping dependence. Samples with higher doping concentrations displayed higher oxidation rates. The results were interpreted using a modified Deal-Grove model. Linear and parabolic rate constants and activation energies were extracted. Increasing nitrogen led to an increase in linear rate constant pre-exponential factor from 10-6m/s to 10-2m/s and the parabolic rate constant pre-exponential factor from 10e9m2/s to 10e6m2/s. The increase in linear rate constant was attributed to defects from doping-induced lattice mismatch, which tend to be more reactive than bulk crystal regions. The increase in the diffusion-limited parabolic rate constant was attributed to degradation in oxide quality originating from the doping-induced lattice mismatch. This degradation was confirmed by the observation of a decrease in optical density of the grown oxide films from 1.4 to 1.24. The linear activation energy varied from 1.6eV to 2.8eV, while the parabolic activation energy varied from 2.7eV to 3.3eV, increasing with doping concentration. These increased activation energies were attributed to higher nitrogen content, leading to an increase in effective bond energy stemming from the difference in C-Si (2.82eV) and Si-N (4.26eV) binding energies. This work provides crucial information in the engineering of SiO2 dielectrics for SiC MOS structures, which typically involve regions of very different doping concentrations, and suggests that thermal oxidation at high doping concentrations in SiC may be defect mediated.Comment: 13 pages. 9 figures, accepted as a transiction in IEEE electron device. TED MS#8035

Effectiveness of a Federal Healthy Start Program in Reducing Infant Mortality

Objective: Infant mortality is an important indicator of the health status of a community. In this analysis, we aimed to evaluate temporal changes in infant mortality rates (IMR) in the Central Hillsborough Healthy Start (CHHS) program service area in Tampa, Florida compared to rates in the rest of Hillsborough County and the state. Method: We conducted a five-year (2010-2014) trends analysis using birth and infant death data extracted from the Florida Community Health Assessment Resource Tool Set (CHARTS). The number of infant deaths and live births were used to calculate and compare IMRs in the CHHS catchment area to those in the rest of Hillsborough County, and the state of Florida. Three-year centered moving averages were directly adjusted to account for differences in the racial/ethnic distribution of mothers across geographic areas. Results: Between 2010 and 2014, the IMR decreased 42.8% in the CHHS service area (from 14.5 to 8.3 per 1,000 live births) compared to decreases of 10.1% and 7.7% in the rest of Hillsborough County and the state of Florida, respectively. Additionally, the infant mortality gap in the CHHS catchment area narrowed from 72% in 2010 to 14% in 2014 compared to the rest of the state, and was eliminated when compared to the rest of Hillsborough County. Discussion: The absolute and relative decreases in IMR in the CHHS catchment area reflect the program’s effectiveness in decreasing disparity in infant mortality. The quality services provided by the CHHS program have had a significant positive impact on the families served

The influence of anaesthetic drug selection for scoliosis surgery on the management of intraoperative haemodynamic stability and postoperative pain – pharmaceutical care programme

Aim: The aim of this study was to conduct a pharmaceutical care programme for two different anaesthetic methods used during scoliosis surgery, to investigate which method ensured better intraoperative haemodynamic stability and postoperative pain control.Methods: A clinical pharmacist actively participated in a prospective randomised double blind study for 40 patients who had a physical status class I-II ASA, scheduled for scoliosis surgery, who were randomly allocated into two groups, 20 in each group. Both groups received midazolam preoperatively, propofol, sevuflorane, atracurium, and either remifentanil infusion 0.2 &mu;g/kg/min for (Group 1 = G1), or the same dose of remifentanil infusion and low dose ketamine infusion 1 &mu;g/kg/min (Group 2 = G2), antidote medications and postoperative morphine. Patients were subject to a pharmaceutical care programme. Heart rate HR, MAP, vital signs, surgical bleeding, urine output, time to accomplish the wake up test, duration of surgery and duration of anesthesia were recorded. In postanesthesia care unit (PACU) for 24 hours, the recoverytime, the first pain score and analgesic requirements were assessed. All drugs used were documented in medical charts for statistical analysis.Results: Intraoperative heart rate and arterial blood pressure were significantly less (p < 0.05) in G1 as compared with G2. In the (PACU) the first pain score recordings were significantly less (p < 0.05) in G2 than G1. The time which passed until the first patient analgesia demand dose was greater in G2 and morphine consumption was greater in G1 than G2 (p < 0.05). The rest of the results were not significantly different between the two groups. None of the patients had any allergic or adverse drug reaction to any of the medications.Conclusions: Adding a low dose ketamine hydrochloride infusion during scoliosis surgery could be applied as a routine therapy to improve the haemodynamic stability during the surgery and reduce the postoperative morphine consumption. A pharmaceutical care programme tested in this study gave a high score for patient satisfaction.Keywords: scoliosis; remifentanil; ketamin