Comparative algological and bacteriological examinations on biofilms developed on different substrata in a shallow soda lake

According to the European Water Framework Directives, benthic diatoms of lakes are a tool for ecological status assessment. In this study, we followed an integrative sample analysis approach, in order to find an appropriate substratum for the water qualification-oriented biomonitoring of a shallow soda lake, Lake Velencei. Six types of substrata (five artificial and one natural), i.e., andesite, granite, polycarbonate, old reed stems, Plexiglass discs and green reed, were sampled in May and in November. We analysed total alga and diatom composition, chlorophyll a content of the periphyton, surface tension and roughness of the substrata and carbon source utilisation of microbial communities. Water quality index was calculated based on diatom composition. Moreover, using a novel statistical tool, a self-organising map, we related algal composition to substratum types. Biofilms on plastic substrates deviated to a great extent from the stone and reed substrata, with regard to the parameters measured, whereas the biofilms developing on reed and stone substrata were quite similar. We conclude that for water quality monitoring purposes, sampling from green reed during springtime is not recommended, since this is the colonization time of periphyton on the newly growing reed, but it may be appropriate from the second half of the vegetation period. Stone and artificially placed old reed substrata may be appropriate for biomonitoring of shallow soda lakes in both spring and autumn since they showed in both seasons similar results regarding all measured features

The Eye of the Beholder: Youths and Parents Differ on What Matters in Mental Health Services

The goal of this study was to examine the degree to which youths and caregivers attend to different factors in evaluating their experiences with mental health programs. Youth (n = 251) receiving mental health services at community agencies and their caregivers (n = 275) were asked open-ended questions regarding the positive and negative aspects of the services. Qualitative analyses revealed some agreement but also divergence between youth and caregivers regarding the criteria by which services were evaluated and aspects of services that were valued most highly. Youths’ positive comments primarily focused on treatment outcomes while caregivers focused more on characteristics of the program and provider. Youths’ negative comments reflected dissatisfaction with the program, provider, and types of services offered while caregivers expressed dissatisfaction mainly with program characteristics. Results support the importance of assessing both youth and caregivers in attempts to understand the factors used by consumers to evaluate youth mental health services

Exposure of a Tropical Soil to mg/kg of Oxytetracycline Elicits Hormetic Responses in the Catabolic Activities of its Microbial Community

Many farmers in developing countries protect their crops with oxytetracycline and fertilize their farmlands with manure from animals that received this drug as growth promoter. In this study, a tropical soil was exposed to 0.1 mg kg−1, 1 mg kg−1, and 10 mg kg−1 of oxytetracycline for 22 days to evaluate whether this antibiotic alters the capacity of a soil microbial community to metabolize 31 carbon sources. The communities exposed to 1 and 10 mg kg−1 of oxytetracycline exhibited reduced catabolic activities for 3 and 6 substrates, respectively. In contrast, the communities exposed to 0.1 mg kg−1 of oxytetracycline showed higher catabolic activities than the controls and the other two treatments for 19 substrates. These data reveal a hormetic response at the community level not previously described for soil bacteria and oxytetracycline.UCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias de la Salud::Centro de Investigación en Enfermedades Tropicales (CIET)UCR::Vicerrectoría de Docencia::Salud::Facultad de MicrobiologíaUCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias Agroalimentarias::Centro de Investigación en Nutrición Animal (CINA

Volume-Targeted Ventilation and Arterial Carbon Dioxide in Neonates

Objectives: To review the arterial carbon dioxide tensions (PaCO2) in newborn infants ventilated using synchronized intermittent mandatory ventilation (SIMV) in volume guarantee mode (using the Drager Babylog 8000+) with a unit policy targeting tidal volumes of approximately 4 mL/kg. Methods: Data on ventilator settings and arterial (PaCO2 levels were collected on all arterial blood gases (ABG; n = 288) from 50 neonates ( 65 mmHg) were determined. Results: The mean (SD) (PaCO2 during the first 48 h was 46.6 (9.0) mmHg. The mean (SD) (PaCO2 on the first blood gas of those infants commenced on volume guarantee from admission was 45.1 (12.5) mmHg. Severe hypo- or hypercapnoea occurred in 8% of infants at the time of their first blood gas measurement, and i

Haemoglobin causes neuronal damage in vivo which is preventable by haptoglobin

After subarachnoid haemorrhage, prolonged exposure to toxic extracellular haemoglobin occurs in the brain. Here, we investigate the role of haemoglobin neurotoxicity in vivo and its prevention. In humans after subarachnoid haemorrhage, haemoglobin in cerebrospinal fluid was associated with neurofilament light chain, a marker of neuronal damage. Most haemoglobin was not complexed with haptoglobin, an endogenous haemoglobin scavenger present at very low concentration in the brain. Exogenously added haptoglobin bound most uncomplexed haemoglobin, in the first 2 weeks after human subarachnoid haemorrhage, indicating a wide therapeutic window. In mice, the behavioural, vascular, cellular and molecular changes seen after human subarachnoid haemorrhage were recapitulated by modelling a single aspect of subarachnoid haemorrhage: prolonged intrathecal exposure to haemoglobin. Haemoglobin-induced behavioural deficits and astrocytic, microglial and synaptic changes were attenuated by haptoglobin. Haptoglobin treatment did not attenuate large-vessel vasospasm, yet improved clinical outcome by restricting diffusion of haemoglobin into the parenchyma and reducing small-vessel vasospasm. In summary, haemoglobin toxicity is of clinical importance and preventable by haptoglobin, independent of large-vessel vasospasm

Implementation of routine outcome measurement in child and adolescent mental health services in the United Kingdom: a critical perspective

The aim of this commentary is to provide an overview of clinical outcome measures that are currently recommended for use in UK Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), focusing on measures that are applicable across a wide range of conditions with established validity and reliability, or innovative in their design. We also provide an overview of the barriers and drivers to the use of Routine Outcome Measurement (ROM) in clinical practice

Trace as an alternative decategorification functor

Categorification is a process of lifting structures to a higher categorical level. The original structure can then be recovered by means of the so-called "decategorification" functor. Algebras are typically categorified to additive categories with additional structure and decategorification is usually given by the (split) Grothendieck group. In this expository article we study an alternative decategorification functor given by the trace or the zeroth Hochschild--Mitchell homology. We show that this form of decategorification endows any 2-representation of the categorified quantum sl(n) with an action of the current algebra U(sl(n)[t]) on its center.Comment: 47 pages with tikz figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1405.5920 by other author

The use of routine outcome measures in two child and adolescent mental health services: a completed audit cycle

Background: Routine outcome measurement (ROM) is important for assessing the clinical effectiveness of health services and for monitoring patient outcomes. Within Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in the UK the adoption of ROM in CAMHS has been supported by both national and local initiatives (such as government strategies, local commissioning policy, and research). Methods: With the aim of assessing how these policies and initiatives may have influenced the uptake of ROM within two different CAMHS we report the findings of two case-note audits: a baseline audit conducted in January 2011 and a re-audit conducted two years later in December 2012-February 2013. Results: The findings show an increase in both the single and repeated use of outcome measures from the time of the original audit, with repeated use (baseline and follow-up) of the Health of the Nation Outcome Scale for Children and Adolescents (HoNOSCA) scale increasing from 10% to 50% of cases. Re-audited case-notes contained more combined use of different outcome measures, with greater consensus on which measures to use. Outcome measures that were applicable across a wide range of clinical conditions were more likely to be used than symptom-specific measures, and measures that were completed by the clinician were found more often than measures completed by the service user. Conclusions: The findings show a substantial improvement in the use of outcome measures within CAMHS. These increases in use were found across different service organisations which were subject to different types of local service priorities and drivers

Sperm design and variation in the New World blackbirds (Icteridae)

Post-copulatory sexual selection (PCSS) is thought to be one of the evolutionary forces responsible for the rapid and divergent evolution of sperm design. However, whereas in some taxa particular sperm traits are positively associated with PCSS, in other taxa, these relationships are negative, and the causes of these different patterns across taxa are poorly understood. In a comparative study using New World blackbirds (Icteridae), we tested whether sperm design was influenced by the level of PCSS and found significant positive associations with the level of PCSS for all sperm components but head length. Additionally, whereas the absolute length of sperm components increased, their variation declined with the intensity of PCSS, indicating stabilizing selection around an optimal sperm design. Given the diversity of, and strong selection on, sperm design, it seems likely that sperm phenotype may influence sperm velocity within species. However, in contrast to other recent studies of passerine birds, but consistent with several other studies, we found no significant link between sperm design and velocity, using four different species that vary both in sperm design and PCSS. Potential reasons for this discrepancy between studies are discussed

Modulation in voluntary neural drive in relation to muscle soreness

The aim of this study was to investigate whether (1) spinal modulation would change after non-exhausting eccentric exercise of the plantar flexor muscles that produced muscle soreness and (2) central modulation of the motor command would be linked to the development of muscle soreness. Ten healthy subjects volunteered to perform a single bout of backward downhill walking exercise (duration 30 min, velocity 1 ms−1, negative grade −25%, load 12% of body weight). Neuromuscular test sessions [H-reflex, M-wave, maximal voluntary torque (MVT)] were performed before, immediately after, as well as 1–3 days after the exercise bout. Immediately after exercise there was a −15% decrease in MVT of the plantar flexors partly attributable to an alteration in contractile properties (−23% in electrically evoked mechanical twitch). However, MVT failed to recover before the third day whereas the contractile properties had significantly recovered within the first day. This delayed recovery of MVT was likely related to a decrement in voluntary muscle drive. The decrease in voluntary activation occurred in the absence of any variation in spinal modulation estimated from the H-reflex. Our findings suggest the development of a supraspinal modulation perhaps linked to the presence of muscle soreness