Campsurus notatus (Polymitarcidae, Ephemeroptera) a bioturbator in várzea lakes

The Neotropical mayfly Campsurus notatus, occurs abundantly in várzea lakes, requiring about three months for its aquatic development. Contrary to other suggestions its aquatic instars are shown to be sediment feeders. The nymphs burrow continuously in the loose sediment without building stable tubes. This organism is therefore an important agent for bioturbation and consequently for chemical exchange at the sediment/water interface

Schedulability analysis of synchronization protocols based on overrun without payback for hierarchical scheduling frameworks revisited

In this paper, we revisit global as well as local schedulability analysis of synchronization protocols based on the stack resource policy (SRP) and overrun without payback for hierarchical scheduling frameworks based on fixed-priority preemptive scheduling (FPPS). We show that both the existing global and local schedulability analysis are pessimistic, present improved analysis, and illustrate the improvements by means of examples

What is happening to the health of the Croatian population?

AIM: To describe the problems in the interpretation of Croatian mortality data and explore possible reasons for the recorded increase in mortality in the 1990-1999 period, particularly related to different methods of collection and estimation of data on deaths and population. METHODS: Numbers of recorded deaths and population estimates were first obtained from the Croatian Institute for Public Health and examined in detail. The Institute used population estimates supplied by the Croatian Statistics Bureau, which included de jure population data (including all Croatian citizens wherever they live) until 1996 and de facto population data (including only population living in Croatia at least for a year, irrespective of citizenship) since 1996. A different set of population estimates based on de facto estimates since 1992 was obtained from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics. We examined trends in age- and sex-specific death rates from major causes in 1990-1999 period, using the mortality data from the Croatian Institute for Public Health and both sets of population estimates. Lung cancer as a cause of death was examined in more detail, since it is relatively stable over short periods of time. Interviews were undertaken with key informants to identify the reasons for any discrepancies. RESULTS: In Croatia, relatively stable death rates from lung cancer in men ranged from 84/100,000 in 1990 to 79/ 100,000 in 1995. In 1996, a marked discontinuity appeared in the Croatian data, with a 14% increase compared to 1995 (from 79/100,000 to 91/100,000) and a further increase in 1999 (94/100,000), which is not credible on the basis of the natural history of lung cancer. Analysis of mortality rates with de facto population estimates showed more gradual increase from 1992-1996. Methods used to estimate population and mortality during the 1990s were inconsistent and misleading. At present, it is impossible to be certain about the true level of mortality in Croatia during 1990s, as the numerator (deaths) and denominator (population) were incompatible until 1998. CONCLUSION: Major problems in data collection would have been identified if the investigation of unexpected mortality trends in Croatia in the 1990s had been done. Systematic analysis of health patterns should be done as soon as data from the 2001 census become available. Capacities in public health should be strengthened to make this possible. This issue has received little recognition from the international donor organizations, particularly those that use health data

The relationship between global distress, mentalizing and well-being in a German teacher sample

Many studies have linked global distress including higher psychological symptom severity and high levels of stress with low levels of well-being among teachers, indicating a need to identify and empirically evaluate protective factors. Mentalizing—the capacity to understand behavior in terms of intentional mental states—may be a candidate protective factor to mediate this association, enhancing well-being in the face of high levels of global distress. The present study examines whether the capacity to mentalize can buffer subjectively experienced stress and psychological symptom severity in a sample of teachers. 215 teachers completed questionnaires measuring self-rated experiences of stress, psychological symptoms, mentalizing capacities and well-being in a cross-sectional design. Structural equation modeling was used to test mediation effects. Our findings show that mentalizing was positively associated with well-being. In addition, mentalizing counteracted the negative influence of stress and psychological symptom severity. However, a structural equation model assessing the mediating effect of global distress on well-being via mentalizing was not significant. Therefore, the data indicate that teachers’ capacity to mentalize, regardless of psychological symptom load and subjective experience of stress, has a positive impact on their well-being. The study highlights the protective function of mentalizing and forms a framework for psychological interventions to increase teachers’ well-being

Optics in Curved Space

We experimentally study the impact of intrinsic and extrinsic curvature of space on the evolution of light. We show that the topology of a surface matters for radii of curvature comparable with the wavelength, whereas for macroscopically curved surfaces only intrinsic curvature is relevant. On a surface with constant positive Gaussian curvature we observe periodic refocusing, self-imaging, and diffractionless propagation. In contrast, light spreads exponentially on surfaces with constant negative Gaussian curvature. For the first time we realized two beam interference in negatively curved space

Early complications after living donor nephrectomy: analysis of the Swiss Organ Living Donor Health Registry.

We evaluated the prospectively collected data about the incidence of early peri- and postoperative complications, and potential risk factors for adverse outcomes after living kidney donation in Switzerland. Peri- and postoperative events were prospectively recorded on a questionnaire by the local transplant teams of all Swiss transplant centres and evaluated by the Swiss Organ Living Donor Health Registry. Complications were classified according to the Clavien grading system. A total of 1649 consecutive donors between 1998 and 2015 were included in the analysis. There was no perioperative mortality observed. The overall complication rate was 13.5%. Major complications defined as Clavien ≥3 occurred in 2.1% of donors. Obesity was not associated with any complications. Donor age >70years was associated with major complications (odds ratio [OR] 3.99) and genitourinary complications (urinary tract infection OR 5.85; urinary retention OR 6.61). There were more major complications observed in donors with laparoscopic surgery versus open surgery (p = 0.048), but an equal overall complication rate (p = 0.094). We found a low rate of major and minor complications, independent of surgical technique, after living donor nephrectomy. There was no elevated complication rate in obese donors. In contrast, elderly donors >70 years had an elevated risk for perioperative complications

Changes in social inequality with respect to health-related living conditions of 6-year-old children in East Germany after re-unification

BACKGROUND: Since Germany re-unified in 1990, substantial social and economic changes have happened in East Germany, the former socialist German Democratic Republic (GDR). The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of these socio-economic changes in East Germany on the association between social status, measured by parental educational level, and health-related living conditions of children during the ten-year period after re-unification. METHODS: In total, 25,864 6-year-old school beginner children (51.2% male and 48.8% female) participated in cross-sectional studies which have been repeated every year from 1991 to 2000 in East Germany. Parental educational level as a social indicator was the independent variable. Dependent variables included not employed parents, small living space and health-related living conditions (e. g. damp housing, single oven heating and living at busy road). The relationships were described by odds ratios using logistic regression. RESULTS: A large overall effect of parental educational level on health-related living conditions was observed. The time trends showed that the situation regarding small living space, damp housing conditions and single oven heating improved from 1991 to 2000, while regarding not employed parents (1996–2000) and living at busy road (1991–2000) did not, but even deteriorated. 6-year old children with low parental educational level, who lived at the time of re-unification, were often under damp housing conditions and with single oven heating at homes. Nevertheless, this social inequality has almost vanished ten years later. In contrast, we found an increasing gap between low and high parental educational level with respect to the proportion of parents who were not employed (22%: 4% gain), or lived under cramped housing conditions (22%: 37% reduction), or close to a busy road (7% gain: 2% reduction). CONCLUSION: The social inequalities which already existed under the socialist system in East Germany persisted in the system of social market economy between 1991 and 2000. 6-year-old children from families with the lowest social status were living under the worst domestic conditions (e. g. living at busy road, having damp housing conditions, single oven heating and small living space) and for some conditions (e. g. living at busy road and having small living space) the gap betweenlow and high social status was even bigger in 2000 than in 1991