Search

An ATR72 commuter aircraft crashed near Roselawn, Indiana, on 31 October 1994 killing all 68 people on board. Available weather data, including those from a Next Generation Radar, a radar wind profiler, a Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, and pilot reports of icing have been examined in combination with analysis fields from the Rapid Update Cycle model and forecast fields from the Pennsylvania State University/National Center for Atmospheric Research MM5 numerical model. Synthesis of this information provides a relatively complete and consistent picture of the ambient meteorological conditions in the region of the ATR72 holding pattern at [approximately]3.1 km above mean sea level. Of particular interest is the evidence that these conditions favored the development of supercooled drizzle drops within a strong frontal zone, as indicated by cloud-top temperatures of -10 [degrees] to -15 [degrees] C, weak radar reflectivity, and strong, vertical wind shear within the cloud and warm front.

The objectives were to determine risky sexual behavioural trends and health promotion needs among students, to develop an online HIV/STI prevention programme utilising the NMMU intranet portal. Descriptive data regarding demographics, sexual behaviour, internet usage and the relevance of various health promotion messages were included in an online questionnaire. Participants' attitude towards risk behaviour was also assessed using ten outcome questions rated on a five-point Likert scale. Of the 428 students participating in the survey during November 2011, 83 per cent reported being sexually active, 50 per cent reported using a condom during the last time of sexual intercourse, while 43 per cent reported more than two sexual partners during the past 12 months, reflecting high risk behaviour. The topic 'How to convince your partner to use a condom' was rated 'very important' by 72 per cent of the sample. Study outcomes are being incorporated into an online HIV/STI prevention programme developed in collaboration with NMMU students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies indicate that once persons living with AIDS (PLWAs) enter the healthcare system, they run the risk of receiving inadequate care because of being stigmatised by healthcare providers (Bos, Schaalma & Pryor, 2008:450). The purpose of the study was to determine how PLWAs experienced their treatment by professional nurses at primary health care (PHC) clinics in one metropolitan area in South Africa. The study adopted a qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual research design. Purposive sampling was used to select ten participants who fitted the selection criteria from selected public primary healthcare (PHC) clinics in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. In-depth unstructured interviews were transcribed verbatim by an independent person. An independent coder assisted with the data analysis. PLWAs had fewer negative than positive experiences at the participating PHC clinics. Negative experiences included stigma-related encounters and distrust of the lay health counsellors. Positive experiences generally related to the PLWAs' satisfaction with the services received. Based on the findings of the study, guidelines were developed for professional nurses to render more user-friendly comprehensive ART services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Okadaic acid as well as other, structurally different, inhibitors of serine/threonine phosphatases 1 and 2A induce apoptosis in pituitary GH3 cells. Incubation with stepwise raised concentrations of okadaic acid resulted in the isolation of cells that were increasingly less sensitive to the cytotoxic effect of this agent. After about 18 months cells were selected that survived at 300 nM okadaic acid, which is about 30 times the initially lethal concentration. This study revealed that a major pharmacokinetic mechanism underlying cell survival was the development of a P-glycoprotein-mediated multidrug resistance (MDR) phenotype. The increase in mRNA levels of the mdr1b P-glycoprotein isoform correlated with the extent of drug resistance. Functional assays revealed that increasing drug resistance was paralleled by a decreased accumulation of rhodamine 123, a fluorescent dye which is a substrate of mdr1-mediated efflux activity. Resistance could be abolished by structurally different chemosensitizers of P-glycoprotein function like verapamil and reserpine but not by the leukotriene receptor antagonist MK571 which is a modulator of the multidrug resistance-associated protein (MRP). Okadaic acid resistance included cross-resistance to other cytotoxic agents that are substrates of mdr1-type P-glycoproteins, like doxorubicin and actinomycin D, but not to non-substrates of mdr1, e.g. cytosine arabinoside. Thus, functional as well as biochemical features support the conclusion that okadaic acid is a substrate of the mdr1-mediated efflux activity in rat pituitary GH3 cells. Maintenance of resistance after withdrawal of okadaic acid as well as metaphase spreads of 100 nM okadaic acid-resistant cells suggested a stable MDR genotype without indications for the occurrence of extrachromosomal amplifications, e.g. double minute chromosomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]