Fatal attraction: do high-technology treatments for end-stage renal disease benefit aboriginal patients in central Australia?

The health problems of Aboriginal Australians, like those of many indigenous peoples, resemble those of the developing world, yet they are dealt with using the tools, techniques, and high-technology medical solutions of first-world health. Such approaches ignore the social components of health and illness, including the need for preventive and educative programs at the primary health care level. The example of endstage renal disease provides a poignant example of the inadequacies of this approach. Central Australian Aboriginal people suffer from a high incidence of kidney disease from numerous causes including non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and glomerulonephritis. The high incidence has led to numbers of people developing end-stage renal disease and moving into the Northern Territory-South Australia renal failure program for dialysis and/or transplantation. In requiring patients to leave their lands, communities and families, this program removes people from the religious and social support network that could ensure a reasonable quality of life in their final years, while offering only marginal extensions of those years. Expensive technology programs are of little benefit and of considerable cost to Aboriginal patients and draw attention away from efforts to reduce the exposure of at-risk Aboriginal people to the factors that facilitate the development of end-stage renal disease.     

Patient education for discharge after coronary bypass surgery in the 1990s: are patients adequately prepared?

Short hospitalizations for patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) require continuous nursing evaluation of patients' discharge education. Six institutions collaborated in surveying 300 postoperative patients with CABG to identify learning priorities and patients' perceptions of the effectiveness of discharge education. Data analysis from the self-administered questionnaire demonstrated consistent patient priorities across institutions. Differences in teaching methods and content did not affect perceived preparedness or importance scores. Regional experience demonstrates that variable teaching efforts meet patients' priorities and provide high overall patient preparedness for discharge. Patients with the shortest hospitalizations had higher preparedness scores.     

Using Survey Data and Mathematical Modeling to Prioritize Water Interventions in Developing Countries

Water Resources Management - A traditional cost-benefit analysis of potential water interventions in a given locality is a laborious and time-intensive process. To help decision makers identify...     

Preparation and characterization of lanthanum silicon nitride

Lanthanum silicon nitride (LaSi₃N₅) powder has been prepared under the relatively mild conditions of 1400 ° C and 1 atm nitrogen. Chemical, X-ray diffraction, solid state nuclear magnetic resonance spectra and morphological information on this powder is presented. The X-ray diffraction data and previously published information have been used to develop a more complete specification of the unit cell dimensions.²⁹Si magic-angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of LaSi₃N₅ show two chemical shifts at –64.5 and –56.5 p.p.m. These shifts reflect two electronically different types of silicon which have been attributed to the effects of quadrupolar¹³⁹La nuclei and their spatial arrangements around silicon atoms.     

Using argumentation to model agent decision making in economic experiments

In this paper we demonstrate how a qualitative framework for decision making can be used to model scenarios from experimental economic studies and we show how our approach explains the results that have been reported from such studies. Our framework is an argumentation-based one in which the social values promoted or demoted by alternative action options are explicitly represented. Our particular representation is used to model the Dictator Game and the Ultimatum Game, which are simple interactions in which it must be decided how a sum of money will be divided between the players in the games. Studies have been conducted into how humans act in such games and the results are not explained by a decision-model that assumes that the participants are purely self-interested utility-maximisers. Some studies further suggest that differences in choices made in different cultures may reflect their day to day behaviour, which can in turn be related to the values of the subjects, and how they order their values. In this paper we show how these interactions can be modelled in agent systems in a framework that makes explicit the reasons for the agents’ choices based upon their social values. Our framework is intended for use in situations where agents are required to be adaptable, for example, where agents may prefer different outcome states in transactions involving different types of counter-parties.     

Annexin 1 Is a Component of eATP-Induced Cytosolic Calcium Elevation in Arabidopsis thaliana Roots

Extracellular ATP (eATP) has long been established in animals as an important signalling molecule but this is less understood in plants. The identification of Arabidopsis thaliana DORN1 (Does Not Respond to Nucleotides) as the first plant eATP receptor has shown that it is fundamental to the elevation of cytosolic free Ca²⁺ ([Ca²⁺]_cyt) as a possible second messenger. eATP causes other downstream responses such as increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitric oxide, plus changes in gene expression. The plasma membrane Ca²⁺ influx channels involved in eATP-induced [Ca²⁺]_cyt increase remain unknown at the genetic level. Arabidopsis thaliana Annexin 1 has been found to mediate ROS-activated Ca²⁺ influx in root epidermis, consistent with its operating as a transport pathway. In this study, the loss of function Annexin 1 mutant was found to have impaired [Ca²⁺]_cyt elevation in roots in response to eATP or eADP. Additionally, this annexin was implicated in modulating eATP-induced intracellular ROS accumulation in roots as well as expression of eATP-responsive genes.     

Reactive processing of polystyrene-co-maleic anhydride/elastomer blends: Processing-morphology-property relationships

The morphology and impact properties of polystyrene-maleic anhydride/bromobutyl rubber blends have been studied as a function of interfacial modification and melt processing conditions. It is found that dimethylaminoethanol (DMAE) serves as a reactive compatibilizing agent for these blends and that the addition of DMAE results in a five-fold reduction In the size of the dispersed phase. Evidence for covalent bond formation between the DMAE and the elastomer and reactive polystyrene phases is presented. The volume average diameter of the minor phase increases significantly as the screw rotation speed and the material throughput increase. In fact, control of various material and processing parameters can be used to effectively control the particle size distribution during compounding. Impact strength measurements are shown to be clearly dependent on the quantity of DMAE in the system as well as the concentration of elastomer. Saturation of the interface with DMAE is shown to be an important consideration.     

Separation and identification of phenolic acids and related compounds by gas chromatography and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

Phenolic acids and related compounds were separated by gas chromatography using three separate columns. One of these columns was coupled to a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer. The trimethylsilyl derivatives could be separated and identified by comparing the relative retention times of the three different columns. However, where there was overlap, the accompanying infrared data clearly distinguished between the questionable derivatives, thus enabling characterization of all derivatives.The use of trade, firm, or corporation names in this article is for the information and convenience of the reader. Such use does not constitute an official endorsement or approval by the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the Forest Service of any product or service to the exclusion of others that may be suitable.