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David J Stevens,1 Sarah Appleton,1 Kelsey Bickley,1 Louis Holtzhausen,2– 4 Robert Adams1,5 1Sleep Health, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, Flinders University, Bedford Park, South Australia, Australia; 2Aspetar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Doha, Qatar; 3Section Sports Medicine, Faculty of Health Science, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa; 4Department of Exercise and Sport Science, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa; 5Respiratory and Sleep Services, Southern Adelaide Local Health Network, Bedford Park, South Australia, AustraliaCorrespondence: David J Stevens, Sleep Health, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, Flinders University, Level 2a, 5 Laffer Dve, Bedford Park, South Australia, 5041, Australia, Tel +61 7306 1816, Email david.stevens@flinders.edu.auPurpose: Little is known about sleep after a concussion, a form of mild traumatic brain injury. Given the importance of sleep for both maintaining brain health and recovery from injury, we sought to examine sleep acutely and subacutely after concussion.Methods: Athletes who experienced a sports-related concussion were invited to participate. Participants underwent overnight sleep studies within 7 days of the concussion (acute phase), and again eight-weeks after the concussion (subacute phase). Changes in sleep from both the acute and subacute phases were compared to population normative values. Additionally, changes in sleep from acute to subacute phase were analysed.Results: When compared to normative data, the acute and subacute phases of concussion showed longer total sleep time (p < 0.005) and fewer arousals (p < 0.005). The acute phase showed longer rapid eye movement sleep latency (p = 0.014). The subacute phase showed greater total sleep spent in Stage N3% (p = 0.046), increased sleep efficiency (p < 0.001), shorter sleep onset latency (p = 0.013), and reduced wake after sleep onset (p = 0.013). Compared to the acute phase, the subacute phase experienced improved sleep efficiency (p = 0.003), reduced wake after sleep onset (p = 0.02), and reduced latencies for both stage N3 sleep (p = 0.014) and rapid eye movement sleep (p = 0.006).Conclusion: This study indicated sleep during both the acute and subacute phases of SRC was characterised by longer and less disrupted sleep, along with improvements in sleep from the acute to subacute phases of SRC.Keywords: mild traumatic brain injury, somnolence, neural trauma, nocturnal activity

Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) and Aspergillus fumigatus (AF) chronically colonize the airways of patients with cystic fibrosis or chronic immunosuppression and mutually affect each other’s pathogenesis. Here, we evaluated IncuCyte time-lapse imaging and NeuroTrackTM (NT) analysis (Wurster et al., 2019, mBio) as a toolbox to study mycelial expansion and morphogenesis of AF during interaction with PA. Co-incubation of AF with supernatant filtrates of wild-type (WT) PA strains strongly inhibited hyphal growth and branching. Consonant with prior metabolic studies, pyoverdine-deficient PA mutants had significantly attenuated inhibitory capacity. Accordingly, purified PA products pyoverdine and pyocyanin suppressed mycelial expansion of AF in a concentration-dependent way. Using fluorescence-guided tracking of GFP-AF293 mycelia during co-culture with live WT PA cells, we found significant inoculum-dependent mycelial growth inhibition and robust precision of the NT algorithm. Collectively, our experiments position IncuCyte NT as an efficient platform for longitudinal analysis of fungal growth and morphogenesis during bacterial co-infection.

Herbage accumulation (HA) data from four sites were combined to (1) address the hypothesis that adjustments to the New Zealand Forage Value Index to account for grass–clover interactions are not required and (2) explore the main effects of clover and nitrogen (N) fertiliser treatments on pasture productivity. In summer and autumn, pastures based on mid-season heading ryegrass cultivars consistently supported a greater clover content than pastures based on late heading cultivars. However, the clover × cultivar interaction was significant in only 2 of 17 HA data sets available for analysis. Thus, the hypothesis is supported. Compared with ryegrass monocultures, mixtures yielded an additional 2.4 (in the Low-N treatment) and 1.2 (High-N treatment) t DM/ha/year. Apparent N transfer from clover to grass was 79 (Low N) and 27 (High N) kg N/ha/year, derived from estimated N fixation efficiencies of 66 (Low N) and 50 (High N) kg N/t clover DM grown.

Concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulphur and sodium were measured in eight perennial ryegrass cultivars grown at four sites in New Zealand (Waikato, Manawatu, Canterbury and Southland). For the macronutrient analyses, herbage samples were collected from pure ryegrass plots, grown with two nitrogen fertiliser rates, with three sites sampled in autumn (April/May) and all four sites in spring (October/November) of 2013. There were significant differences among the cultivars for all elements except potassium, extending the results of earlier research to contemporary commercial cultivars. It is suggested that breeding ryegrass for lowered shoot phosphorus concentration should be prioritised because of the economic and environmental benefits to be gained from farming with reduced phosphate fertiliser requirements.

The development of economic indexing systems for ranking cultivars of forage species requires new knowledge of factors that may influence the scaling of agronomic data collected in controll...

Improved performance of the national ewe flock along with the displacement of finishing farms into hill country has increased pressure on spring pasture production. Increasing spring pasture production to cope with this increased demand is considered one of the main areas of improvement needed in hill country farming. A trial was set up in the South Island of New Zealand to determine the response of spring pasture production to two winter grazing intensities across three levels of sward dead material. Total spring pasture production was unaffected by winter grazing intensity. Winter dead material levels significantly affected total spring pasture production. Plots with high dead material levels (>60%) grew 657 kg DM/ha less than plots with low dead material levels (

Web-based accountability continues to be an important consideration for nonprofit organizations. This research examines the impact of certain variables on web-based accountability in the arts, culture, and humanities sector. A content analysis of eighty nonprofit organizations was performed and multiple statistical analyses were used. Findings indicated that regulatory measures, including the prosecution and a detection index, are the most significant variables for determining web-based accountability for this group of nonprofit organizations.

In the United States alone, it is estimated that that more than 53.5 million Americans have been victims of bullying at work. As one of the largest private-sector employers in the United States, it stands to reason that the foodservice industry is exceedingly susceptible to this workplace phenomenon. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the presence of workplace bullying behaviors in the foodservice industry. A survey of 440 hospitality workers indicated that foodservice workers witness exclusion, verbal abuse, sexual intimidation, inappropriate jokes, teasing, and mean pranks significantly more frequently than non-foodservice hospitality workers. Practical implications and recommendations for future study are provided.

Over the past decade, echinocandins have emerged as first-line antifungal agents for many Candida infections. The echinocandins have a unique mechanism of action, inhibiting the synthesis of β-1,3-d-glucan polymers, key components of the cell wall in pathogenic fungi. Caspofungin was the first echinocandin antifungal agent to become licensed for use. The objectives of this review are to summarize the existing published data on caspofungin, under the subject headings of chemistry and mechanism of action, spectrum of activity, pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, clinical studies, safety, drug interactions, dosing, and an overview of the drug's current place in therapy.

Information Systems (IS) practitioners and educators have equal interest in the content of the Systems Analysis and Design Course (“SAD”). Previous research has examined instructors' perceptions regarding the skills and topics that are most important in the teaching of the SAD course and the class time devoted to each. A similar assessment evaluated SAD course content from a practitioner perspective. Both studies used entropy calculations. A comparison of these studies is presented in this paper. For traditional topics, the group (either faculty or practitioner) with greater agreement believes the topic to be deserving of less class time. For structured and object-oriented topics, the group with the greater agreement also believes the topic to be of greater importance. This analysis demonstrates that practitioners and academics agree on approximately 40% of the SAD skills and knowledge areas.

Throughout the decades of educational reform cycles, the value of homework has proven either meaningful or meaningless depending on the reforming framework. Questions about homework as simply busy work or knowledge work, mere content distraction or content extension, ambivalence toward importance, or discipline of character all cloud any conclusions about homework, good or bad. Our research is a case study of one rural, high school that has created a No Excuses Homework expectation that is embedded in the school's culture. Focus groups of faculty and students, interviews with both the principal and assistant principal, combined with quantitative data reveal a cultural shift within the organization. Three themes emerge as contributors to a cultural transformation around homework expectations: initial and ongoing professional development exploring the creation of meaningful homework assignments and consistent quality expectations, continuous support for students and parents in meaningful homework s...

We have shown heat-killed Saccharomyces (HKY) is a protective vaccine against aspergillosis and coccidioidomycosis. To test the hypothesis that the efficacy of HKY- induced protection may be due to the cross-reactive antigens in the cell walls of the different fungi, we studied the effect of HKY against systemic candidiasis. Male CD-1 mice were given different regimens of HKY subcutaneously prior to intravenous challenge with Candida albicans. Compared to PBS controls, the administration of HKY (6 × 10(7)) 3, 4 or 6 times prolonged survival (all P0.05) and reduced fungal load in the kidney (all P0.05). An HKY dose of 1.2 × 10(8) given 4 times prolonged survival (P = 0.02), but showed dose-limiting toxicity. HKY given by an oral route, or by a subcutaneous route with alum as an adjuvant, did not improve survival. Overall, we found that HKY protects mice from infection by Candida albicans in a dose-and regimen-dependent manner. To understand the protection induced by HKY against different fungal species, additional studies of epitope mapping are warranted.

Fungal infections are increasing, with a changing landscape of pathogens and emergence of new groups at risk for invasive disease. We review current diagnostic techniques, focusing on studies in critically ill patients. Microbiological cultures, the current "gold standard", demonstrate poor sensitivity, thus diagnosis of invasive disease in the critically ill is difficult. This diagnostic dilemma results in under- or over-treatment of patients, potentially contributing to poor outcomes and antifungal resistance. While other current diagnostic tests perform moderately well, many lack timeliness, efficacy, and are negatively affected by treatments common to critically ill patients. New nucleic acid-based research is promising.

School administrators are expected to balance the need for school safety and good order with the rights of students to be free of unreasonable search of their person and property. This balance can be particularly difficult when over-the-counter or prescription drugs are involved. This article summarizes a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that considered the question of how far school administrators can go in their efforts to enforce a drug-free campus policy.

The Candida parapsilosis family has emerged as a major opportunistic and nosocomial pathogen. It causes multifaceted pathology in immuno-compromised and normal hosts, notably low birth weight neonates. Its emergence may relate to an ability to colonize the skin, proliferate in glucose-containing solutions, and adhere to plastic. When clusters appear, determination of genetic relatedness among strains and identification of a common source are important. Its virulence appears associated with a capacity to produce biofilm and production of phospholipase and aspartyl protease. Further investigations of the host-pathogen interactions are needed. This review summarizes basic science, clinical and experimental information about C. parapsilosis.

The sending of unsolicited communications (commonly known as 'spam') is considered as a great intrusion into the privacy of the user of electronic communications services, and is therefore regulated in Article 13 of the ePrivacy directive. At the time of the adoption of the directive, the most common ways of spamming were via telephone, fax, electronic mail and SMS. Technological progress, however, has since created more types of spamming, one of which is Bluespam, i.e. the action of sending spam to Bluetooth-enabled devices, such as mobile phones, PDAs or laptop computers. Although, at first sight, it would seem that Bluespam should be considered as any other type of spam, and would therefore fall under the ambit of Article 13 of the ePrivacy directive, a closer look reveals that the answer is in fact not so obvious.

Two wintering systems common to deer farming in southern New Zealand were studied to determine the relative contaminant losses in overland now from pasture or forage crop grazed during winter. Contaminant concentrations (dissolved reactive phosphorus, total dissolved phosphorus, total phosphorus, particulate phosphorus, suspended sediment, ammonium‐N, nitrate+nitrite‐N, and Escherichia coli) were greater after grazing than before and generally greater from the forage crop than pasture. Dissolved reactive phosphate was an exception, being lost in similar quantities from both wintering systems. On average, all contaminants exceeded national guidelines for lowland surface water quality. Of greatest concern were Escherichia coli from the forage crop system and dissolved reactive phosphorus from both systems, as these may not be filtered by buffer strips or riparian areas and are major causes of contamination problems in the region.

We examined the global epidemiology of C. parapsilosis and assessed the discriminatory capabilities of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and RAPD typing methods. We used EcoRI digestion of cellular DNA to generate RFLP; RAPD analysis on genomic DNA. Band profiles were used to distinguish and group isolates. From 7 diverse geographic areas, 536 isolates obtained over 35 y were placed into 23 RFLP subgroups. Subtype VII-1 was dominant worldwide (82.4% of isolates). Dividing the isolates into VII-1 versus non-VII-1 showed temporal variation for the USA pre-1995 versus post-1995 (p

Most health professionals in training, as well as those in practice, lack the knowledge and skills they need to play an effective role in systems improvement. Until very recently, these competencies were not included in formal (or informal) educational curricula. Interprofessional collaboration - another core competency needed for successful systems improvement - is also inadequately taught and learned. Achieving Competence Today (ACT) was designed as a new model for interprofessional education for quality, safety and health systems improvement. The core of ACT is a four-module active learning course during which learners from different disciplines work together to develop a Quality Improvement Project to address a quality or safety problem in their own practice system. In this paper we describe the ACT program and curriculum model, discuss our strategies for maximizing ACT's interprofessional potential, and make recommendations for the future.

On 16-19 January 2008, the Third Advances Against Aspergillosis Meeting took place in Miami Beach, FL, USA. There were 351 registrants from 26 countries. The two earlier meetings had taken place in San Francisco, CA, 2004 and in Athens, Greece, 2006, and the series has become the place for scientists and clinicians to be updated on developments relevant to all aspects of this fungal genus.

These facets of worker displacement are investigated – definition, detection and consequence. A definition of displacement is sought that permits the identification of those who are truly at risk of adverse consequences because of this event. The detection goal is to indentify data elements in available administrative data sources that can be used for this purpose. A consolidated database is used that represents three states in the US and seven industry sectors, which includes seven years of quarterly employer/industry affliation and earnings pairings. Estimated earnings losses are shown to be sensitive to the definition of displacement that is adopted. Available data elements do not support the reliable prediction of adverse consequences associated with displacement relative to earnings discontinuities that accompany other causal definitations of unemployment.

Tolerances for characteristics of a manufactured product are often specified without full consideration of the manufacturing processes used to produce the product. In addition, even when the designer is aware of manufacturing capabilities, it is difficu..

Three trials to evaluate new grass cultivars, were attempted on a north-facing aspect in North Canterbury, New Zealand, between late March 1980 and early May 1982. The difficulty of establishing new pastures in this steep dry hill country resulted in the failure of the first two trials. The third trial used spaced transplants to evaluate ‘Grasslands. Wana’ cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata L.), ‘Grasslands Maru’ phalaris (Phalaris aquatica L.), and ‘Grasslands Matua’ prairie grass (Bromus willdenowii Kunth). Wana was the most productive, Matua was intermediate, and Maru phalaris was the least productive. Survival was poor, however, and the role of new pastures in improving this extremely dry hill country must take second place to grazing management.

The production and persistence of five oversown grass species and resident pasture, were measured between 1979 and 1987 at six New Zealand sites, under several fertiliser (phosphate and/ or nitrogen (N)) and summer grazing severity treatments. ‘Grasslands Nui’ ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.), ‘Grasslands Wana’ cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata L.) (‘Grasslands Apanui’ at Tekapo), ‘Grasslands Maru’ phalaris (Phalaris aquatica L.), ‘Grasslands Matua’ prairie grass (Bromus willdenowii Kunth), and ‘Grasslands Roa’ tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.), established successfully at most sites. Findlay-Wilkinson analysis of annual total herbage accumulation (THA) of four sites, found that Maru production was above average and resident production was below average. Variation in THA between sites and years was related to variation in annual rainfall (621–1484 mm/ year). Wana was the most persistent grass at all sites (60% of THA after 4–6 years), followed by Nui (51% of THA after 4–6 years). Maru was only pe...

Ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.), cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata L.), phalaris (Phalaris aquatica L.), prairie grass (Bromus willdenowii Kunth), and tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.), vary in their production and persistence during dry conditions. Improved cultivars of these species have been released but not yet evaluated for use in dry hill country, which is typically uncultivatable and of low nitrogen and phosphate fertility. This study tested the production and persistence of these cultivars in a co-ordinated series of experiments on six dry and marginally dry hill country sites of New Zealand for up to 6 years. Fertiliser inputs and summer grazing management treatments determined the adaptability of the new. cultivars to contrasting management strategies. During this time summer rainfall was average at four sites, and below average at two sites. Winter rainfall was average at three sites, and below average at three sites.

A mathematical model is described which provides a rational approach for obtaining, organizing and evaluating the specific information needed for the determination of hazardous waste application on land treatment systems. The model is divided into five modules. These modules represent the principal mechanisms which are assumed to govern the fate of an organic hazardous material in the vadose zone. They are the following: loading conditions, degradation, advective transport, dispersive transport and sorption/desorption. The numerical algorithm for advective transport is described in some detail using a soil-water system as an example. The model is demonstrated for selected aro-matics found in a refinery waste sludge. Application of the model provides a methodology for predicting the behavior of hazardous constituents in soil systems and ranking chemicals according to their need to be controlled.

Simona Bancos, David L Stevens, Katherine M Tyner Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD, USA Abstract: The accumulation of durable nanoparticles (NPs) in macrophages following systemic administration is well described. The ultimate biological impact of this accumulation on macrophage function, however, is not fully understood. In this study, nontoxic doses of two durable NPs, SiO2 and Au, at particle sizes of ~10nm and 300nm were used to evaluate the effect of bioaccumulation on macrophage function in vitro using RAW 264.7 mouse macrophage-like cells as a model system. Cell proliferation, cell cycle, cytokine production, surface marker activation, and phagocytosis responses were evaluated through a panel of assays using flow cytometry and confocal microscopy. The most dramatic change in RAW 264.7 cell function was a reduction in phagocytosis as monitored by the uptake of Escherichia coli. Cells exposed to both 10nm Au NPs and 10nm SiO2 NPs showed ~50% decrease in phagocytosis, while the larger NPs caused a less dramatic reduction. In addition to modifying phagocytosis profiles, 10nm SiO2 NPs caused changes in proliferation, cell cycle, and cell morphology. Au NPs had no effect on cell cycle, cytokine production, or surface markers and caused interference in phagocytosis in the form of quenching when the assay was performed via flow cytometry. Confocal microscopy analysis was used to minimize this interference and demonstrated that both sizes of Au NPs decreased the phagocytosis of E. coli. Overall, our results demonstrate that Au and SiO2 NP uptake by macrophages can influence macrophage phagocytosis in vitro without altering surface markers and cytokine production in vitro. While the biological impact of these findings remains unclear, our results indicate that bioaccumulation of durable NPs within the macrophages may lead to a suppression of bacterial uptake and possibly impair bactericidal activity. Keywords: bioaccumulation, phagocytosis, gold nanoparticles, silica nanoparticles, macrophage function

Influenza and infection with Mycoplasma pneumoniae are common nonbacterial causes of pneumonia. Pneumonia also sometimes occurs as a complication of a viral infection such as varicella. This article describes the clinical picture seen with each type of infection and gives current recommendations for prophylaxis and therapy.

Sulfur analogues of “2-carba” PAF, 1a and 1b, were prepared by an 8-step synthesis using commercially available ethyl levulinate as a starting material.