Scientific Research Publishing

Ambrosia artemisiifolia (common ragweed) is native to North America; it is a monoecious and wind-pollinated herbaceous annual plant that belongs to the Asteraceae family and has expanded its distribution out of its native range to Europe, Australia, Asia, South Africa and South America. And its pollen is known to be highly allergenic. Environmental changes may increase the severity of pollen as stimulated atopic disease by influencing the large-scale distribution and local incidence of allergenic species, the flowering time, the pollen production and the allergenicity of individual pollen grains. It has been shown that elevated CO 2 concentrations result in an increase of A. artemisiifolia growth and pollen production. In this study, the authors altered the gaseous air pollution by linking the pollen and seed production of A. artemisiifolia with elevated NO 2 levels and emphasized that this environmental change affected the pollen amount, as well as phenolic metabolites,

Peatlands refer to areas of land with naturally formed layers of peat. They have an important function in the provision of ecosystem services such as carbon sink, climate regulation, water supply, biodiversity, and others. Recurrent fires in the peatland, especially in Indonesia, have changed peatland functions from carbon sequestration to carbon emission, causing severe environmental and economic problems. Fire prevention requires an understanding of the factors affecting fire in peatland. In this study, the authors aimed to analyze relationship between fire occurrence and land cover type, land management, landholders, and proximity to roads and canals. They compared fire occurrences in 2014 between different land cover types, land management systems, landholders, and proximity to roads and canals in Riau Province, Indonesia. Remote sensing and field data were collected and analyzed. The results showed that shrubland was the most fire-prone land cover, while plantations and m

Diabetes self-management education (DSME) for patients with type 2 diabetes requires efficient teaching methods that make patients want to change lifestyle in terms of their diabetes. The study looked at what might be the active ingredient in this DSME. And the authors aimed to explore how participants in DSME, with an interactive learning method, experienced changes in relation to diet and physical activity.  In the study, the authors studied possible changes in diet and physical activity by semi-structured individual interviews of 16 participants attending DSME. The participants were recruited by convenience sampling from seven different type 2 diabetes DSME groups. The data were collected through the semi-structured individual interviews (20 - 40 minutes) at three points in time: the first before DSME, the second just after the DSME, and again after 6 months and were analyzed by using qualitative content analysis with an inductive analysis strategy. The results showed that

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a condition characterized by a gradual loss of kidney function over time. It is also a pre-condition for end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) undergoing hemodialysis, as well as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, which is the main cause of death worldwide. Therefore, it is vital that CKD prevention measures be established. In particular, socioeconomic status (SES), as represented by income, contributes to non-communicable diseases like CKD. The purpose of this study was to examine the independent association between CKD and individual SES in Japan, with consideration of other metabolic risks. In the present study, the authors analyzed the 2011 National Health and Nutrition Survey by the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare. Specifically, they analyzed 3,557 people out of 8,762 whose serum creatinine was measured. Logistic regression analysis was used to calculate the odds ratio (OR) of CKD by income distinction, after adjustment for age and meta

As is well known, hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS), or vibration-induced white finger (VWF), which is a secondary form of Raynaud’s syndrome, is an industrial injury triggered by regular use of vibrating hand-held tools. According to the related biopsy tests, the main vibration-caused lesion is an increase in the thickness of the artery walls of the small arteries and arterioles resulted from enlarged vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) in the wall layer known as tunica media. The present work developed a mechanobiological picture for the cell enlargement. In the study, the authors analyzed the propagation along the thickness of an infinite planar layer of a soft living tissue (SLT). The work considered acoustic modeling. As a general viscoelastic acoustic model, the work suggested linear non-stationary partial integro-differential equation (PIDE) for the weakly non-equilibrium component of the average normal stress (ANS) or briefly, the acoustic ANS. The PIDE was, in the expon

Kidney transplantation is the gold standard in treatment of patients with terminal kidney failure. To prevent rejection of an allogenic donor organ, it is necessary to suppress the patient’s immune system. The cyclical peptide cyclosporine A (CsA) has been used as an immunosuppressive drug and the macrolide lactone tacrolimus (Tac) has been used in transplantation medicine. For determination of cyclosporine A (CsA) and tacrolimus (Tac) in dried blood spots (DBS) could enable drug monitoring in transplanted patients without the necessity of having to take venous blood samples, the authors developed a method for quantitative determination of calcineurin inhibitors (CNI) by liquid-chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LCMS). And in a study with 68 kidney transplant recipients (KTR, 34 CsA, 34 Tac), the authors tested the clinical application of LCMS monitoring in DBS in comparison to LCMS in whole blood. The results showed that the measuring range was proven for 27.33 to 1345

Microcapsules can contain as the core materials the various substances such as solid, liquid and gas and release optionally them. Also, microcapsules containing water among these core materials have been applied in a lot of fields such as pharmacy, adhesives, agriculture, cosmetics, and so on. The research work was conducted in order to establish the optimum conditions for preparing the expanded polystyrene beads without harmful substances and was aimed at the preparation of the microcapsules containing water and investigation of the effect of the water content on the expansion behavior of microcapsules. In the experiment, microcapsules were prepared with the suspension polymerization method and the suspension polymerization in parallel with interfacial polycondensation method using the multiple emulsion (W/O)/W and adding a few additives. The results demonstrated that with increasing the crosslinking agent concentration in the suspension polymerization method, the water conte

Some studies have shown that urban tree growth is limited by many factors diverging from forest stands such as soil compaction, reduced soil aeration, limited nutrient and water availability, shading through buildings, high nitrogen inputs through pollutants and dog urine as well as vandalism. Especially, global warming can amplify the negative effects of urban microclimates on tree growth, health and well-being of citizens. In this study, to quantify the growth of urban trees influenced by the urban climate, ten urban tree species in four climate zones were assessed in an overarching worldwide dendrochronological study. The focus of this analysis was the species water oak ( Quercus nigra  L.) in Houston, Texas, USA. And 183 water oak trees were chosen for data collection. The results indicated that similar to the overall growth trend, the authors found in urban trees, water oaks displayed an accelerated growth during the last decades. Moreover, water oaks in the city center g

Green tea is an orally ingested beverage popular in Asian and Western communities. The tea is derived from an herbal plant Camellia sinensis . Some studies have shown that green tea has several medical benefits, some of which include reduction in cholesterol level, protection against cardio-vascular diseases, cancer, etc. And its leaves contain many polyphenolic compounds such as ( - )-epicatechin (EC), ( - )-epicatechin-3-gallate (ECG), ( - )-epigallocatechin (EGC), and ( - )epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG). These polyphenol compounds have been implicated to have distinct properties that combat the harmful effects of cell proliferation. They contain certain anti-viral and antibacterial properties that inhibit growth. In this study, 1% green tea and modified lipophilic green tea polyphenols (GTP and LTP) were used in combination with the most commonly prescribed antibiotics to study their effects on gram-positive, gram-negative, and acid-fast bacteria. Six microorganisms in stock

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a progressive and proliferative disease of the small pulmonary vasculature. It is characterized by vasoconstriction, thrombosis in situ , and vascular remodeling and leads to a progressive increase in pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP) and pulmonary vascular resistance to provoke right ventricular dysfunction and ultimately, death. Sildenafil and bosentan are often co-administered for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) treatment. The plasma concentration of sildenafil can be decreased by half if co-administered with bosentan. Many patients take these agents simultaneously in the morning and the evening. The aim of this study was to examine the pharmacokinetics of sildenafil which was interfered with bosentan administration to ascertain whether these agents should be given concomitantly or separately. A two-way crossover study was conducted in 6 PAH patients ( two men; age, 37 - 66 years old ) with combination therapy of sildenafil and

Significant variability in commodity prices and perceived animal welfare concerns around permanent housing of livestock have led to increased global interest in grazing production systems for dairy cows. The objective of the experiment was to determine the effect of feeding three levels (T3.5, T7.0 and T10.5) of energy concentrate (3.5, 7.0 and 10.5 kg cow -1  day -1 ) on total dry matter (DM) and energy intakes, milk yield and composition, nutritional value of milk and rumen pasture neutral detergent fiber (NDF) digestion in grazing dairy cows. Twenty-one multiparous Holstein cows in early lactation (70.2 ± 13 days postpartum) producing 37.1 (±4.7) kg of milk were assigned to a 3 treatments (7 cows/treatment) × 3 periods Latin square design. Parameters of ruminal environment and pasture NDF degradation were obtained using 3 additional cows of the same breed fitted with rumen cannulae. On a wet basis, concentrate was composed by corn grain (68%), soybean meal (22%), wheat bran (8%

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a demyelinating disease in which the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged. It is the most common non-traumatic cause of neurologic disability in young and middle-aged adults and is characterized by a complex pathogenesis in which demyelinating lesions, axonal degeneration and gradual accumulation of sclerotic plaques are mainly responsible for this handicap. Hypovitaminosis D is reported through the literature to be involved in autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS). In the last decade, numerous studies have investigated the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with MS, including rs2248359 (CYP24A1) and rs703842 (CYP27B1) that are involved in vitamin D metabolic pathway. However, results were conflicting, probably due to ethnic differences between the studied populations. In this context, the present study aimed to analyze the association between these two SNPs (rs2248359 (CYP24A1) and

The relationship between speed and safety is characterized by the physics of vehicle motion. Reduced speeds can likely yield safer driving and various techniques are adapted to reduce the speed at high-risk locations though some of the techniques may not be effective sometimes to reduce the driver speed to a recommended level. Rural roads are susceptible to a high rate of crashes, and the crash severities tend to be worse, leading to many fatalities and incapacitating-injury crashes. Studies conducted on crashes at rural intersections of state highways and local roads/streets with two-way stop control have proved that the problem was likely poor judgment by the stopped driver on the minor approach of the speed of an oncoming vehicle and/or safe gap in traffic on the major highway. Several mitigating strategies have been suggested and studied in various studies to improve safety at the two-way stop control rural intersections and at other rural highway segments. In this study,

Giant ragweed is a species of flowering plant in the sunflower family. It is native to North America, and can also be found in orchards and non-cropped areas such as ditches and river banks in southern areas of Canada and the Midwestern and Eastern United States. It is an erect annual broadleaf weed and has a long emergence period lasting from early March to late July. It also has the ability to grow rapidly and can reach heights of up to 6 m. Actually, giant ragweed is also a very competitive weed in row crop production and has been found to drastically reduce soybean yield. In 2008, giant ragweed was the first weed species with confirmed resistance to glyphosate in Canada. As of 2010 there were 48 locations with confirmed glyphosate resistant giant ragweed in Essex, Kent and Lambton counties. In addition, there was suspected resistance to cloransulam-methyl. The objectives of this research were 1) to conduct an expanded field survey on the distribution of glyphosate resistan

In recent years, the Japanese hospital environment has changed significantly. With the current uncertainty, it is important for hospitals to select management strategies to clarify the direction in which they should proceed. However, research on Japanese hospitals’ management strategies has only recently begun with too few studies in this area. Hence, this study clarified the management strategies of Japanese private hospitals and explored the hospital characteristics that affected strategy selection. A self-administered questionnaire was mailed to 5682 private medical institutions operated by medical corporations throughout Japan in March 2013, and 459 responses with no missing data were used for analysis. Factor analysis yielded four factors: “bed conversion and downsizing (Factor 1),” “diversification of medical and nursing care (Factor 2),” “expansion in business scale (Factor 3),” and “expansion of income from non-insured medical care (Factor 4)”. Logistic regression analys

Negative staining is an established method, often used in diagnostic microscopy, for contrasting a thin specimen with an optically opaque fluid. In this technique, the background is stained, leaving the actual specimen untouched, and thus visible. And uranium acetate is used worldwide as a general dyeing solution in this method, but it is extremely difficult to use it by a new purchase at a research institution because it falls under the nuclear regulation substance in Japan. Therefore, the authors in this study examined alternative reagents for negative staining that could replace uranium acetate through bacterial observation with an electron microscope.  In the study, Escherichia coli ,  Pseudomonas aeruginosa ,  Staphylococcus aureus , and  Streptococcus pyogenes  were examined by four stain reagents (phosphotungstic acid (PTA), EMstainer, TI blue, and uranium acetate). Pre-cultured bacteria were stained with each stain reagents on a copper grid, washed with PBS, and observed

Since the 1990s, intervertebral cages have been generally used to provide stability in posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF). However, a number of studies have reported that cage subsidence may compromise clinical outcomes in the osteoporotic vertebral bodies of elderly patients, who are frequently treated with PLIF. Preventing subsidence of intervertebral cages in posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) requires understanding its mechanism, which is yet to be done. In this study, the authors aimed to describe the mechanism of intervertebral cage subsidence by using finite element analysis through simulation of the osteoporotic vertebral bodies of an elderly woman. The data from computed tomography scans of L2-L5 vertebrae in a 72-year-old woman with osteoporosis were used to create 2 FE models: one not simulating implant placement (LS-INT) and one simulating L3/4 PLIF using polyetheretherketone (PEEK) cages (LS-PEEK). Loads and moments simulating the living body were applied

Smoking is a practice in which a substance is burned and the resulting smoke breathed in to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream. And for many people, smoking is associated with enjoyment, but provided evidence indicates it as a disastrous habit. Nowadays, nicotine addiction is viewed more of a psychological than a physical dependency since smoking has been classified in addictions. And several types of psychological techniques have been developed, aiming in increasing the effectiveness of smoking cessation interventions. This study investigated if and how an individual counseling program, based on motivational interviewing, affected lifestyle changes that contributed to smoking cessation and physical activity enhancement. And it was carried out in Trikala, a town located in central Greece. The participants were 8 adults, aged 25 - 54 (mean age = 38.5), 2 men and 6 women. The program consisted of 12 individual weekly counseling sessions based on motivational interviewing. T