bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Initiating growth hormone therapy in children
Authors: Gilbert Jennifer
Published: June 2018

As growth hormone is an expensive drug that is used over a long period of time, the prescriber must take a number of factors into consideration when supporting a patient and their family in their choice of administration device so that adherence is achieved. This article considers the implications of initiating growth hormone therapy in children. The range of devices available and pitfalls of maintaining a patient on treatment are discussed. The benefits and side effects of treatment with growth hormone are also outlined. A case study is included as an example of the issues which have to be addressed.
Contraception after pregnancy: Making the right choices
Authors: Cooper Michelle , Cameron Sharon
Published: June 2018

The postpartum period is a high-risk time for unintended pregnancy. Increasing access to postpartum contraception should reduce this risk. Unintended pregnancy may lead to abortion or miscarriage, but if the pregnancy continues and has been conceived within 12 months of a previous delivery, a short inter-pregnancy interval will occur. Short inter-pregnancy intervals are associated with a higher risk of negative consequences for the baby such as preterm birth and neonatal death. Most contraceptive methods can be safely initiated after childbirth, and immediate provision from within maternity services has significant advantages. Women should receive accurate information about available methods during the antenatal and postpartum periods, as well as the risks of unintended and short inter-pregnancy intervals. This can support informed decision-making about future reproductive intentions with better outcomes for mothers and babies. Hospital and community services can work together to increase the provision of contraceptive services after pregnancy.
Prescribing in pregnancy and breastfeeding
Authors: Robertson Deborah
Published: June 2018

This article will look at the pharmacological considerations when prescribing for the pregnant or breastfeeding patient. It will illustrate the common issues to consider when prescribing in these groups. Focus will be on pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, but the types of harm that can occur when medications are given in pregnancy will also be discussed. There will be some consideration of prescribing in women of childbearing age.
Gender gap in computing set to worsen as ICT is scrapped
Authors: Henshaw Pete
Published: June 2018

The stark gender gap in computer science means that 30, 000 fewer girls are now taking a key stage 4 computing qualification
The influence of the smartphone: Part 4
Authors: Thornton Stephanie
Published: June 2018

Smartphones are changing the cultural influences on children's development. In part four of her six-part series, Dr Stephanie Thornton considers what we know about the influence of smartphones on young people's mental health
Stepping up to the SLT: Part 2
Authors: Denton Phil
Published: June 2018

In this three-part series, school leader Phil Denton is looking at making the step up to a senior leadership post. In part two, he focuses on making your application…
The mark of success: Part 7
Authors: Bromley Matt
Published: June 2018

In the final article of his seven-part series on effective feedback techniques and practices, Matt Bromley looks at the ‘when’ and the ‘how’ of feedback – and putting evidence into practice
Looking out for the boys
Authors: Stafford Clare
Published: June 2018

The statistics show that boys and young men are more likely to be affected by poor mental health. Continuing her series for SecEd on supporting our most vulnerable young people, Clare Stafford seeks some expert advice
Rare diseases of bone
Authors: Mavrogenis Andreas F. , Igoumenou Vasilios G. , Antoniadou Thekla , Megaloikonomos Panayiotis D. , Agrogiannis George , Foukas Periklis , Papageorgiou Sotirios G.
Published: June 2018

Non-Langerhans cell histiocytosis (N-LCH) summarizes a group of rare diseases with different clinical presentations, pathogenesis and morphology. These include primary cutaneous N-LCH, cutaneous N-LCH with systemic involvement, and primary extracutaneous systemic forms with occasional cutaneous involvement. The juvenile (JXG) and non-juvenile xanthogranuloma (N-JXG) family of histiocytoses are N-LCH: the JXG family consisting of the JXG (cutaneous), xanthoma disseminatum (cutaneous and systemic) and Erdheim-Chester disease (ECD; systemic); and the N-JXG family consisting of the solitary reticulohistiocytoma (cutaneous), multicentric reticulohistiocytosis (cutaneous and systemic) and Rosai-Dorfman disease (RDD; systemic). ECD is a clonal disorder from the JXG family of N-LCH; RDD is a reactive proliferative entity from the non-juvenile xanthogranuloma family of N-LCH. ECD and RDD N-LCH are rare disorders, which are difficult to diagnose, with multi-organ involvement including bone and systemic symptoms, and which respond to therapy in an unpredictable way. The key to successful therapy is accurate identification at tissue level and appropriate staging. Patients should be observed and monitored in a long-term pattern. Prognosis depends on disease extent and the organs involved; it is generally good for RDD disease and variable for ECD.

Cite this article: EFORT Open Rev 2018;3:381-390. DOI: 10.1302/2058-5241.3.170047
Non-traditional processes in higher education in engineering: a conceptual mapping
Authors: Pereira Cleber Augusto , Oliveira Paulo , Reis Manuel J.C.S.
Published: June 2018

Study of the adoption of non-traditional tools as support for Higher Education curricula in Electrical Engineering and Computers. We highlight the use of blended-learning, interactive and remote virtual laboratories, computer simulation, and methodologies, such as Active Learning and Problem Based Learning and their applications in the curricular units of the course. The study is a literature review with the systematization and presentation of the findings through a conceptual map. We concluded that the initiatives that have resorted to new technologies in engineering degrees, as well as reports of similar experiments on this topic, are reduced, not formalized in curricula, and ad hoc.
Analysis and Evaluation of Environmental Management
Authors: MUKHTAROVA Karlygash , TUREKULOVA Dametken , LESBAYEVA Gulnara , YESTURLIEVA Aigul , SAIMAGAMBETOVA Gaukhar
Published: June 2018

Today, Kazakhstan has accumulated a huge amount of environmental, social and ecological problems that prevented the development of the country on a stable basis. The economic growth of the country is mainly due to rising prices for raw materials on world markets and the use of a significant amount of natural resources. At the root of many social and economic problems of the Republic of Kazakhstan is historically an imbalance when the country consumes resources disproportionately in comparison with their production.
On Monitoring and Self-Adaptation to Dynamic Nature of SOA in ReServE Environment
Authors: Kobusinska Anna
Published: June 2018

Reliability is one of the bigest challenges faced by service-oriented systems. Therefore, to solve this problem, we have proposed ReServE - Reliable Service Environment. ReServE increases fault-tolerance of SOA systems and ensures consistent processing despite failures. However, the proposed environment imposes also the performance overhead. Thus, in this paper, we extended ReServE and added a monitoring feature provided by the M3 service. As a consequence, the extended environment can adjust appropriately the load of its modules to the changing interaction and behaviour patterns of service oriented systems. We have experimentally shown that the proposed solution, while providing the required level of reliability, decreases significantly the performance overhead.
Finding the Adequate Location Scenario After the Merger of Fire Brigades Thanks to Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis Methods
Authors: Aldabbas Mohammad , Venteicher Francesca , Gerber Lenna , Widmer Marino
Published: June 2018

This paper addresses the issue of selecting a suitable location for a fire station in canton of Fribourg, as a result of a fire brigades’ merger, by applying Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) methods. Solving the problem of determining fire station locations through various methods has been analyzed in-depth by researchers. However, a different approach, based on application of ELECTRE I and ELECTRE II methods is advanced in this paper. The selection of the most suitable fire station site is obtained by applying the designated methods to five distinctive alternatives (called scenarios), taking into consideration the relatively limited information and specifics, and the extensive number of relevant criteria that summed up to sixty-one. Taking the merger of the three local fire departments as an example, the proposed methods for selecting a suitable location for the fire station demonstrate and justify the reason behind this choice. Research shows that the applied methods have been proven to be useful and powerful tools that exhibited acceptable levels of consistency when selecting the best project. The main finding is that one scenario in particular proved to be preferred over the others and most suitable in determining the fire station location.
The transition from incoherent to coherent random laser in defect waveguide based on organic/inorganic hybrid laser dye
Authors: Xia Jiangying , Xie Kang , Ma Jiajun , Chen Xianxian , Li Yaxin , Wen Jianxiang , Chen Jingjing , Zhang Junxi , Wu Sizhu , Cheng Xusheng , Hu Zhijia
Published: June 2018

This paper systematically demonstrated a variety of experimental phenomena of random lasers (RLs) of N,N′-di-(3-(isobutyl polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes)propyl) perylene diimide (DPP) organic/inorganic hybrid laser dye, which is composed of perylene diimide (PDI) as gain media and polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS) as scattering media at a mole ratio of 1:2. In this work, we observe the transition from incoherent RL in the DPP-doped solutions and polymer membrane systems using dip-coating method to coherent RL in the polymer membrane system with defect waveguide using semi-polymerization (SP) coating method. Meanwhile, we found that the hybrid dye-DPP has a long lasing lifetime compared with the traditional laser dyes, which indicates that the POSS group can suppress the photo-bleaching effect to extend the working life of laser dyes.
Electrically tuned whispering gallery modes microresonator based on microstructured optical fibers infiltrated with dual-frequency liquid crystals
Authors: Yang Chengkun , Zhang Hao , Liu Bo , Liu Haifeng , Wang Chao , Lin Shiwei
Published: June 2018

An electrically tunable whispering gallery mode (WGM) microresonator based on an HF-etched microstructured optical fiber (MOF) infiltrated with dual-frequency liquid crystals (DFLCs) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated for the investigation of the crossover frequency and Freedericksz transition of DFLCs. Experimental results indicate that for applied electric field with operation frequency below the crossover frequency, WGM resonance wavelength decreases with the increment of applied electric field strength. On the contrary, for applied electric field with operation frequency beyond the crossover frequency, WGM resonance dips show red shift as the applied electric field intensity increases. The proposed electrically tunable microcavity integrated with DFLCs is anticipated to find potential applications in optical filtering, all-optical switching, and electrically manipulated bi-directional micro-optics devices.
Between Givers and the Poor: Managing Charity in the Portuguese Empire
Authors: Pinto Sara
Published: June 2018

In the 16th century the Portuguese monarchy established its key charity institution: the Misericórdias. Created to perform the fourteen Works of Mercy, these laic brotherhoods were financially sustained by testamentary legacies and proved to be a very successful mechanism of providing assistance – spiritual and material; becoming the midway between the wills of givers (privileged men and women that looked for spiritual redemption and forgiveness of their souls) and the poor and sick. As the Misericórdias started to spread within the Empire, soon they became a well-functioning network that connected a truly global charity system. They played a role in empire formation as they started to perform as banks, transferring funds, assuming debts and conceding credit. This article analyzes the roles that Misericórdias played, not only in establishing charity but also in establishing the Portuguese’s global empire.
An effective technique for the conformable space-time fractional EW and modified EW equations
Authors: Hosseini K. , Bekir A. , Rabiei F.
Published: June 2018

The current work deals with the fractional forms of EW and modified EW equations in the conformable sense and their exact solutions. In this respect, by utilizing a traveling wave transformation, the governing space-time fractional models are converted to the nonlinear ordinary differential equations (NLODEs); and then, the resulting NLODEs are solved through an effective method called the exp(−ϕ(ϵ))-expansion method. As a consequence, a number of exact solutions to the fractional forms of EW and modified EW equations are generated.
New exact and numerical solutions for the effect of suction or injection on flow of nanofluids past a stretching sheet
Authors: Abd Elazem Nader Y.
Published: June 2018

The flow of nanofluids past a stretching sheet has attracted much attention due to its wide applications in industry and engineering. Theoretical and numerical solutions have been discussed in this paper for studying the effect of suction or injection on flow of nanofluids past a stretching sheet. In the absence of thermophoresis the analytical exact solution of the stream function was obtained in terms of exponential function, while the exact solutions for temperature and nanoparticle volume fraction were obtained in terms of the generalized incomplete gamma function. In addition, in the presence of thermophoresis, the exact solutions are not available. Therefore, the numerical results, carried out by using Chebyshev collocation method (ChCM). It is found that a good agreement exists between the present results and with those published works. Useful results for temperature profile, concentration profile, reduced Nusselt number and reduced Sherwood number are discussed in details graphically. It was also demonstrated that both temperature and concentration profiles decrease by an increase from injection to suction. Finally, the present results showed that increase of the wall mass transfer from injection to suction decreased both reduced Nusselt number and the reduced Sherwood number when Brownian motion parameter and Lewis number increased.
Fractional variational iteration method for solving time-fractional Newell-Whitehead-Segel equation
Authors: Prakash Amit , Goyal Manish , Gupta Shivangi
Published: June 2018

In this paper, Newell–Whitehead–Segel equations of fractional order are solved by fractional variational iteration method. Convergence analysis and numerical examples are presented to show the efficiency of the proposed numerical method. Plotted graph demonstrate the mightiness and accurateness of the proposed technique.
Numerical investigation of MHD stagnation-point flow and heat transfer of sodium alginate non-Newtonian nanofluid
Authors: Sharma Bhuvnesh , Kumar Sunil , Paswan M.K.
Published: June 2018

A rigorous analysis of unsteady magnetohydrodynamic mixed convection and electrically conducting nanofluid model with a stretching/shrinking wedge is presented. First, the governing partial differential equations for momentum and energy conservation are converted to coupled nonlinear ordinary differential equations by means of exact similarity transformation. The homotopy analysis method (HAM) is employed to obtain the analytical approximations for flow velocity and temperature distributions of alumina-sodium alginate naofluid. The solution is found to be dependent on some parameters including the nanoparticle volume fraction, unsteadiness parameter, magnetic parameter, mixed convection parameter and the generalized prandtl number. A systematic study is carried out to illustrate the effects of these parameters on the velocity and temperature distributions. Also, the value of skin friction coefficient and local Nusselt number are compared with copper-sodium alginate and titania-sodium alginate nanofluids.
Overcoming Post-War Traumas and Confl icts through Dialogue in Distributed Cognition
Authors: Banka Augustine
Published: June 2018

The following paper presents a proposal of a theoretical foundation for an application of distributed cognition in overcoming post-war traumas and related social conflicts. The distributed cognition theory states that the cognitive system is a structure distributed between internal-mental and external-objective social world representations across time and space. The basic issue of dialogue in distributed cognition is that distribution as information dissemination in each cognitive component functions in a systemic integrity. The presented perspective of overcoming traumas and war conflicts through dialogue refers to the following aspects of human activity: 1 - the perception of an environment as a construct of own life path and self-image; 2 - active creation of a desired world, life space and desired self; 3 - agentic cognitive mapping of an environment as a real, virtual and potential life space; 4 - a way of elastic control over an environment through discovering objectively present environmental affordances; 5 - achieving agency through discovering possibilities for action rather than barriers; 6 - making the cognitive system more flexible through a change in style of thinking to a constant state of openness to new meanings and values.
Religious Identity Status and Readiness for Interreligious Dialogue in Youth. Developmental Analysis
Authors: Rydz Elżbieta , Wieradzka-Pilarczyk Anna
Published: June 2018

The aim of the article is to show statuses of religious identity in Polish Catholic adolescents. The distinguished statuses result from intensive consolidation processes which are characteristic of this age. Integration of religious identity has an effect on potential openness versus reluctance to interreligious dialogue. The study was conducted on 60 participants at the ages of 18 to 29 using the Scale of Religious Identity by Wieradzka-Pilarczyk (2015) and Centrality of Religiosity Scale Z-15 by S. Huber (2004). Three statuses of religious identity with different developmental possibilities of entering into interreligious dialogue were distinguished.
From Conflict to Mutual Recognition
Authors: Márquez María Inés Nin
Published: June 2018

This document exposes the conflict from the Post-Rational cognitive perspective, understanding the conflict as a relational phenomenon, which emerges when the need of recognition is exposed to its contrary: the non-recognition. “To know oneself” means in fact, to recognize oneself through the mediation of the other (Castiglioni, 2008). An individual develops himself by recognizing the “otherness” that constitutes him. The self (idem/identity) that goes out toward the other and then returns as ipse/selfhood, having acquired self-awareness through the other (Ricoeur, 1993). For this reason, recognition is a fundamental element in the building of human subjectivity (Honneth 1997). Identity is a continuous process that lasts a lifetime. It contains a central nucleus that ensures continuity by which a person is able to recognize him/ herself. In this way individuals learn to define who they are through interactions with others, especially those whom are more significant. Being recognized by others and by the environment offer the individual a sense of unity and coherence about himself. Conflict arises when the other or the environment becomes a threat to the survival of the subjectivity; when the absence or lack of recognition leads to harm in a person (Tello, 2011). Relational experiences are able to engender and ensure recognition, while holding onto an indispensable acceptance of individual differences. They thus allow each one to bring forth their own unique identity.
I Am Not Scared by Conflict
Authors: Tissot Antonella
Published: June 2018

This article is based on the clinical experience in a Family Planning Clinic and, through the two reported cases, takes into account the issue of family conflict in its lights and shadows. The feeling of non-fulfillment that makes man unhappy seems to be the origin of the main family tensions, the extreme consequence of which is seeing the other as an enemy and judge him on the basis of one’s denied Selves. An openness to dialogue with a view to communal reciprocity helps to become more aware of one’s polarities and to accept one’s judging Selves without transfer or fear. The complex path of identification involves having oneself mirrored back, not an enemy to face but a viaticum for transcendence, a window opening itself to the world and our humanity.
Educate to Relationships through Relationships: The Role of Social and Prosocial Abilities in the Construction of Collaborative and Inclusive Educational Communities
Authors: Travaglini Alessia , Bocci Fabio
Published: June 2018

The Youth Report 2014 recognizes the possibility to take positive action towards the others as an element that contributes to let young people achieve a sense of happiness. Despite this, we can observe in schools the presence of individualistic and competitive educational models affirming the predominance of fixed cognitive standards. That can bring to a situation of marginalization of those who are hegemonically located outside of a pre-established definition of norm. Considering these assumptions, the authors have developed an inclusive and prosocial teaching model, based on the Cooperative Learning approach, aimed to encourage prosocial skills among students. The research, that used qualiquantitative data, has involved a sample of 42 students and 12 teachers of the Middle School. The comparison between pre and post test highlights a higher increase in helping dimension and in the subsample of males students, joint to general improvements within teaching-learning processes and relationships.
Jean Vanier and L’Arche as a Witness of Merciful Love
Authors: Kornas-Biela Dorota
Published: June 2018

Jean Vanier is the founder of two major international community-based organizations for people with intellectual disabilities: the L’Arche Communities and the “Faith & Light” movement. He is a great Catholic and a teacher of merciful love. His life is a message to the world that each person is an infinite value for who they are, not for what they can do, and that each person is unique and sacred, no matter of their health condition, disability or fragility. Each person is created in God’s image and each one has an inner beauty, a capacity to love and to be loved, and possesses inherent qualities of belonging, bonding, friendship and spirituality. Persons with intellectual disabilities are a gift for the society. Thanks to the testimony of his life, Jean Vanier has developed the international network of L’Arche Communities all over the world. The communities are based on family-like residential communities, where people with and without intellectual disabilities share life together in the spirit of faith, dignity of every human being, understanding, love and joy. The L’Arche homes and communities are rooted in the ideas of “living with,” and not just “doing for” those with mental disabilities. Weakness carries a secret power within, it can open up the hearts to God’s grace. Our contemporary world strongly needs the weak, as they evangelize us, transform us and help us to be more human. They help us discover that the good news of Jesus is announced not to those who serve the poor, but to those who are themselves poor and need God’s merciful love and forgiveness.
The History of Special Education
Authors: Rossa Carina
Published: June 2018

Practices of exclusion towards deviance based on prejudices or ideologies have been present in every age and in every cultural context, often taking the stigmatization process. Recently UNESCO in 2015 released its latest report indicating that despite the efforts of governments, civil society and the international communities, the Education for All was not yet a reality in the world. The poor, people with mental or physical disabilities, children with learning disabilities “are not in a position” to grow and develop as the others. In particular as regards students with Special Educational Needs, to still a challenge to find a teaching that is “common denominator” for all students without leaving anyone out is still a “inclusive” rather than a “special” that favours the relationship within whole class and relationships outside it.
The Rules of Inquiry Talk in an Inclusive Perspective
Authors: Ruzzante Giorgia
Published: June 2018

This paper aims to highlight the main characteristics of the Community of Inquiry Philosophy for Children (P4C). P4C is an educational movement and a curriculum for the education of critical, creative, and caring thinking that adopts dialogical methodologies. The main purpose of this paper is to declare the rules of Inquiry Talk in an inclusive perspective.
Christian Context of Disability and Special Education Nowadays
Authors: Domagała-Zyśk Ewa
Published: June 2018

Disability studies and special educational needs studies are becoming more and more popular nowadays as researcher got more evidence about both needs and potential of persons with disabilities. Investigating new possibilities and way of normalisations should be definitely based on stable anthropological principle as only then one can be sure that persons with disabilities are treated with brotherhood, dignity and respect, not as object of therapy, rehabilitation and medical procedures, but fully human subjects at every stage of their life. The aim of the paper is to draw fundaments of Christian special education as a perspective that may form a basis for both research and counselling and rehabilitation practice. This perspective founded on principles of Christianity enriched with writings on disability of such persons as John Paul II and Jean Vanier is a guarantee of full development of persons with disabilities and/or special needs.
Theoretical investigation of the derivatives of favipiravir (T-705) as potential drugs for Ebola virus
Authors: Rhyman Lydia , Tursun Mahir , Abdallah Hassan H. , Choong Yee Siew , Parlak Cemal , Kharkar Prashant , Ramasami Ponnadurai
Published: June 2018

Density functional theory (DFT) method was used to compute the structural and vibrational parameters of favipiravir (T-705) in the gas phase. The functional used was B3LYP in conjuction with the 6–311++G(d,p) basis set. We also computed these parameters for unsubstituted T-705 and derivatives of T-705 by substituting fluorine by chlorine, bromine and the cyanide group. There is a good comparison between the computed and experimental parameters for T-705 and therefore, the predicted data should be reliable for the other compounds for which experimental data is not available. We extended our DFT study to include molecular docking involving the Ebola virus viral protein 35 (VP35). The docking results indicate that the T-705 and its chlorine and bromine analogues have comparable free energy of binding with VP35.

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Neurophysiological effects of aging: A P200 ERP study
Authors: Bourisly Ali K. , Shuaib Ali
Published: June 2018

Age-related effects were studied in 14 younger (M = 34 years) and 14 (M = 47 years) older healthy participants. Event-related potential (ERP) recording was done using a 256-channel EEG system. Results indicated that ERP is affected by advanced age. There was a significant difference in P200 mean latency between the younger participants and older participants for the target (low-probability) stimuli, but no such significance was evident for the P200 mean latency during the presentation of the standard (high-probability) stimuli. As for the P200 mean peak amplitude, the results for the target (low-probability) stimuli did show a significant difference between the two age groups, while the results for the standard (high-probability) stimuli did not show any significant difference between the two age groups. The results of this study are explained in light of aging effects on attentional recruitment and frontal lobe intactness.
Photobiomodulation optimization for spinal cord injury rat phantom model
Authors: Shuaib Ali , Bourisly Ali K.
Published: June 2018

Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) causes interruption along the severed axonal tract(s) resulting in complete or partial loss of sensation and motor function. SCI can cause tetraplegia or paraplegia. Both these conditions can have lifelong excessive medical costs, as well as can reduce life expectancy. Preclinical research showed that Photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT), also known as Low-level laser (light) therapy (LLLT), possesses reparative and regenerative capabilities that have the potential to be used as a complimentary or supplementary SCI therapy. Despite the promising effects of PBMT, there are still no standardized irradiation parameters (i.e. different wavelengths, power, fluence, irradiance, beam type, beam diameters, and irradiation time) and there is also a lack of standardized experimental protocol(s), which makes it difficult to compare different studies. It is, nonetheless, essential to standardize such irradiation parameters in order to provide better PBMTs. The aim of this study, therefore, is to evaluate the delivery of light in a 3D voxelated SCI rat model for PBMT using different irradiation parameters (wavelengths: 660, 810, and 980 nm; beam types: Gaussian and Flat beam; and beam diameters: 0.04-1.2 cm) using Monte Carlo simulation. This study also aids in providing standardization for preclinical research for PBMT, which will eventually translate into clinical standardization upon clinical research studies and results.
Sex differences in electrophysiology: P200 event-related potential evidence
Authors: Bourisly Ali K. , Shuaib Ali
Published: June 2018

We conducted an event-related potential (ERP) study using a 256-channel dense sensor array electroencephalography (EEG) system to examine how, and if the P200 neurophysiological signal is sexually dimorphic. We had two groups of participants: females (n= 15, mean age = 40.6 years old) and males (n = 15, mean age = 39.0 years old). ERPs from all participants were recorded while the participants performed an oddball task. Results showed that males on average had a significantly larger P200 peak amplitude and a significantly shorter P200 latency period. These results indicate that the P200 ERP is affected by sex. Therefore, suggesting that sex differences exist on an electrophysiological level, which may aid in better understanding of sex-biased biological influences, behaviors, neuropsychiatric disorders, and general brain function.
Modelamiento de la respiración del mango (Mangifera indica l.) usando el método de sistema cerrado a diferentes temperaturas
Authors: Montoya José Edgar Zapata , Cuartas Camilo Agudelo , Restrepo Claudia
Published: June 2018

Resumen Medir la tasa de respiración de los productos frescos es esencial para el correcto diseño de sistemas de envasado. Para tal efecto, las tasas de consumo de O2 y producción de CO2, suelen ser medidas como datos iniciales del comportamiento del sistema. El objetivo del presente trabajo fue modelar la respiración del mango entero (Mangifera indica L), variedad Tommy Atkins en un sistema cerrado (SC) a tres temperaturas (4, 25 y 35°C) y 90 h en almacenamiento. Inicialmente se ajustó un modelo matemático para predecir la concentración de gases en función del tiempo. Con esta información, se ajustaron dos modelos para predecir las velocidades de respiración. Un modelo de regresión y otro basado en la cinética de inhibición enzimática de Michaelis-Menten (MM). Se ajustó además una ecuación tipo Arrhenius para evaluar el efecto de la temperatura sobre la tasa de respiración y un modelo semi-empírico que predice el efecto del tiempo y la temperatura simultáneamente. Los resultados mostraron que el modelo de MM y Arrhenius obtuvieron los mejores ajustes. En este sistema la velocidad de respiración del mango presenta una dependencia directa con la temperatura y la concentración de los gases, viéndose inhibida por la presencia de CO2 y favorecida por el O2.
WALKING WITH BLOOD FLOW RESTRICTION IMPROVES THE DYNAMIC STRENGTH OF WOMEN WITH OSTEOPOROSIS
Authors: Pereira Neto Elísio Alves , Bittar Simoni Teixeira , Silva Júlio César Gomes da , Pfeiffer Patrick Allan Souza , Santos Heleodório Honorato dos , Sousa Maria do Socorro Cirilo de
Published: June 2018

ABSTRACT Introduction: Improving strength levels is important to women with osteoporosis. Resistance and aerobic exercise are effective means of reaching this goal; however, the use of low-load exercises with blood flow restriction is an alternative to traditional methods of exercise to achieve the same strength gains in this population. Objective: To analyze the chronic effects of aerobic and resistance training combined with blood flow restriction on the maximal dynamic strength (MDS) of women with osteoporosis. Methods: Twenty women (61.40±4.63 years of age, 61.82±12.54 kg, 1.51±0.05 m, 27.16±5.55 kg/m²) were randomly assigned to four groups: 1 - high-intensity resistance training (HI); 2 - low-intensity resistance training with blood flow restriction (LI-BFR); 3 - aerobic training with blood flow restriction (ABFR); and 4 - control group (CG). Unilateral knee extension MDS was assessed using the one-repetition maximum (1RM) strength test before and after the 6th and 12th weeks of intervention. The data were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) with a Bonferroni post-hoc test performed using SPSS (version 21.0), considering a significance level of P<0.05 for all tests. Results: Baseline comparisons showed that HI and CG had lower strength levels than LI-BFR and ABFR groups (P<0.05). The ABFR group exhibited a significant increase in MDS between the 1st and the 6th week (9%, P=0.001) and between the 1st and the 12th week (21.6%, P=0.008). The LI-BFR group exhibited increased MDS between the 1st and the 6th week (10.1%, P=0.001), between the 1st and the 12th week (24.2%, P=0.003) and between the 6th and 12th week (12.8%, P=0.030). The HI group exhibited a significant difference between the 1st and the 6th week (38.7%, P<0.001), between the 1st and the 12th week (62%, P<0.001) and between the 6th and 12th weeks (17.4%, P=0.020), whereas the CG had no significant differences between the timepoints (P>0.05). Conclusions: ABFR and LI-BFR effectively increased the MDS of women with osteoporosis.
Investigating seasonal wind energy potential in Vredendal, South Africa
Authors: Mosetlhe Thapelo Cornelius , Yusuff Adedayo Ademola , Hamam Yskandar
Published: June 2018

Global warming and the energy crisis have necessitated an urgent exploitation and utilisation of renewable energy. Wind energy has gained popularity over the years because of vast availability of its resource. A study was carried out to investigate the stochastic characteristics of the available wind energy at installation sites. Data for a ten-minute interval wind speed collected over a period of five years and measured at a height of 10, 40 and 62 m in Vredendal was considered. Wind speed data was arranged in seasonal format and its statistical distribution investigated based on Weibull, lognormal and gamma distributions. The Anderson-Darling test and Akaike information criterion were used to evaluate the goodness of fit. The results showed that wind power at different heights and time stamps exhibited different statistical distribution. It was found that wind turbines in Vredendal must be installed as high as possible to harness wind power effectively. During summer and spring, there was a high potential for wind power availability compared with that of winter.
Providing a foundation for road transport energy demand analysis: The development of a vehicle parc model for South Africa
Authors: Stone Adrian , Merven Bruno , Maseela Tiisetso , Moonsamy Resmun
Published: June 2018

AbstractIt is key for national economic planning to build the tools to forecast energy demand from major sectors like transport in a credible way. As a starting point, this requires building a sufficiently detailed ‘bottom-up’ picture of technologies and their activity levels in the recent past. A vehicle parc model was developed for South Africa to feed transport demand and data on the fleet into a national energy systems model, the South African TIMES model, which is a least-cost optimisation model of the TIMES/ MARKAL family. Detailed assumptions were developed for 24 vehicle typologies that included the vintage profile, annual mileage and its relationship with age, fuel economy and its improvement over time, and occupancy and load factor. Combining these assumptions, the model was successfully calibrated over 2000–2014 with the national registration database, national fuel sales statistics and, on the freight side, with estimates of the demand for ton.km published by the University of Stellen-bosch’s Department of Logistics (2014 only). A demand for passenger.km was also calculated, which agreed well with national transport surveys. A range of detailed indicators were produced for the vehicle typologies and some interesting trends observed, including the steady dieselisation of the light vehicle fleet over the study period and the stagnation of passenger car fuel economy, despite legislation in the European Union. The present study believes that this updated data-rich picture of the road transport vehicle parc will support other studies and national policy and planning initiatives.
Cluster analysis for classification and forecasting of solar irradiance in Durban, South Africa
Authors: Govender Paulene , Brooks Michael J. , Matthews Alan P.
Published: June 2018

Clustering of solar irradiance patterns was used in conjunction with cloud cover forecasts from Numerical Weather Predictions for day-ahead forecasting of irradiance. Beam irradiance as a function of time during daylight was recorded over a one-year period in Durban, to which k-means clustering was applied to produce four classes of day with diurnal patterns characterised as sunny all day, cloudy all day, sunny morning-cloudy afternoon, and cloudy morning-sunny afternoon. Two forecasting methods were investigated. The first used k-means clustering on predicted daily cloud cover profiles. The second used a rule whereby predicted cloud cover profiles were classified according to whether their average in the morning and afternoon were above or below 50%. In both methods, four classes were found, which had diurnal patterns associated with the irradiance classes that were used to forecast the irradiance class for the day ahead. The two methods had a comparable success rate of about 65%; the cloud cover clustering method was better for sunny and cloudy days; and the 50% rule was better for mixed cloud conditions.
A review of private investment in Tanzania’s power generation sector
Authors: Eberhard Anton , Gratwick Katharine , Kariuki Laban
Published: June 2018

This study investigates recent developments in Tanzania’s electric power generation to understand how to facilitate investment in the sector. Interviews were conducted with key public and private stakeholders; utility data was analysed and critical secondary source documents were reviewed. All interview data was triangulated to ensure integrity of findings. It was concluded that investment in the sector is suboptimal due to a lack of coherent planning; of processes related to contract negotiation; and of a commitment to contract with independent power projects. Research and analysis is limited to generation, but there are also implications for the distribution sector. The value of the findings extends beyond Tanzania across Africa and to other developing regions, where countries struggle to attract investment into electric power generation.
Evaluation of the analgesic and antipyretic properties of African Cleome viscosa
Authors: Opara Chukwuka O. , Usman Kauna
Published: June 2018

Background: Cleome viscosa Linn a plant from the family Capparaceae has been used in traditional medicine in Asia and Africa for the treatment of various diseases including diarrhea, cardiac stimulant, anthelmintic, carminative, anti-inflammatory and antiseptic. Decoction of the whole plant has been used for the treatment of inflammation and as a stimulant while the leaves have been applied externally on wounds and ulcers. The objective of this study is to investigate and evaluate the antipyretic and analgesic properties, toxicity profile and the phytochemical study of the methanolic leaf extract of African Cleome viscosa.Methods: The antipyretic study was performed by adopting the Baker’s yeast induced pyrexia in rats while the analgesic study was performed adopting the tail immersion or tail flick technique. Data generated was analyzed as appropriate using the analysis of variance (ANOVA).Results: The methanolic extract of the leaves of the African Cleome viscosa had a significant (P<0.05) antipyretic and analgesic effects at different time intervals and varying doses when compared with the negative control groups in the respective studies. The preliminary phytochemical study showed the presence of alkaloids, tannins, steroids, glycosides and flavonoids. The extract also proved to be non-toxic in the acute toxicity study carried out at the highest dose of 5000mg/kg body weight administered to the albino rats.Conclusions: The methanolic leaf extract of the plant showed significant antipyretic and analgesic activity in albino rats thus supporting its use in traditional medicine.
Proliferative effect of the calcium channel blocker Nifedipine on human embryonic kidney cells
Authors: Ahmad Jamil L. , Okebaram Chukwudi C. , Ogbuagu Emmanuel O. , Ogbonnaya Chidozie N. , Asobie Geoffrey C.
Published: June 2018

Background: Numerous epidemiological studies have shown a positive as well as negative association between chronic use of calcium channel blockers and the increased risk of developing cancer. However, these associations were enmeshed with controversies in the absence of laboratory based studies to back up those claims. The aim was to determine in mechanistic terms the association between the long-term administrations of nifedipineand increased risk of developing cancer with the aid of human embryonic kidney (HEK293) cell line.Methods: Cell counting using the Trypan blue dye exclusion and 3-[4, 5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2, 5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assays were used to investigate the effect of nifedipine on the growth pattern of HEK293 cells.Results: Nifedipine had a proliferative effect on HEK293 cells growth and this proliferation is more profound at low concentrations of nifedipine than high concentrations and the proliferation was statistically significant (p<0.01).Conclusions: The chronic use of nifedipine is associated with increased proliferation of cells with concomitant elevation of polyamines concentration and elevated polyamine levels have been implicated in many malignant transformations and hence, these provide possible explanation on the link between long term use of nifedipine and development of some human cancers.
A prospective observational pharmacovigilance study of adverse drug reaction monitoring in patients of MDR-TB at tertiary care hospital
Authors: Baig Mirza Shiraz , Kale Monali Raghunath , Lamb Avinash
Published: June 2018

Background: The emergence of drug resistant mycobacteria has become a significant public health problem world over creating an obstacle to effective TB control. ADRs are common in patients of MDR-TB on DOTs-Plus drug regimen. Present study was carried out in tertiary care hospital. Identification of types and frequency of adverse drug reactions in Intensive and continuation phase of MDR-TB Patients.Methods: It was a prospective observational study conducted in Department of TB- Chest and Medicine, Govt. Medical College, Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India. All the MDR-TB patients admitted at the directly observed treatment, short course plus (DOTS plus) Center at Medical College Hospital were enrolled and were monitored for ADRs. The causality and severity of the reactions were determined using Naranjo algorithm and Hartwig questionnaire, respectively.Results: A total of 121 tuberculosis patients of MDR-TB on DOTS therapy were enrolled for the study. Out of 121 patients, 13 were dropouts, 6 died, 7 defaulted so 108 patients assessed for ADRs, 48 patients developed 61 (56.48%) adverse drug reactions. The higher numbers of ADRs were observed in age group 31-40yrs followed by 21-30yrs which were more common in men. Majority of adverse drug reactions were Gastrointestinal (GI) problems 32 (52.45%), followed by Ototoxicity 7 (11.48%) and Psychiatric Manifestations 6 (9.84%) and skin problems 3 (4.92%). On evaluation of the causality of ADRs, majority were found to be Possible (59.02%). The severity assessment showed that most of the patients ADRs were of moderate level (50.82%).Some patients required treatment withdrawal and replacement with other drug and most of the patients were managed with supportive medication without removing anti-tubercular drug from their treatment regimen.Conclusions: ADRs are major factor limiting completion of drug therapy under RNTCP and occurrence of drug resistance which requires attention of all health care professionals.
Knowledge, attitude and practice of needle stick injury and post exposure prophylaxis in undergraduate medical students
Authors: Patel Tejal C , Bagle Tushar R. , Maurya Mitesh , Sharma Varsha
Published: June 2018

Background: Needle stick injury are the most common reason behind occupational blood exposure and most important source of exposure to another person’s blood.Methods: A cross-sectional observational questionnaire-based study of 450 undergraduate medical students which includes 100 from each years, Second year: Part I (II/I: Third Semester), Second year: Part II (II/III: Fifth Semester), Third Year (III: Seventh Semester), Fourth year (IV: Ninth Semester) MBBS and 50 Interns. The participation was voluntary and written consent was taken prior to enrollment. The objectives of study were explained, and validated questionnaire was administered to the students and collected in a single visit after 30-40 minutes.Results: The average age was 21.91±2.03 years. About 406 students were aware of disease transmitted by NSI. 189 students felt that occurrence of NSI, first person to be contacted is Medicine Physician. 208 don’t know of existence of PEP. 164 felt PEP is to be given for 4 weeks. According to 138 students PEP guidelines were proposed by NACO while 101 students felt WHO. 261 students felt that most probable chance of getting NSI was in emergency ward. 363students felt that need for NSI PEP training before clinical exposure is very important. 345 felt the need for insurance of HCWs for diseases transmitted by NSI.Conclusions: Medical students are highly vulnerable to NSI and there is need to provide adequate preventive measures, frequent training for needle stick injury and postexposure prophylaxis to all healthcare workers.