First Signs Of Change Research Articles

The First Signs of Change: Predicting Clinical Deterioration and Mortality at Different Stages During Hospital Admission. A Systematic Review of Risk Prediction Models in Children in Low-And Middle-Income Countries

The First Signs of Change: Predicting Clinical Deterioration and Mortality at Different Stages During Hospital Admission. A Systematic Review of Risk Prediction Models in Children in Low-And Middle-Income Countries

Technology Opportunity Analysis: Combining SAO Networks and Link Prediction

Detecting the first signs of change in one's technological surroundings is a critical factor in the success of an enterprise, and technology opportunity analysis can be a crucial process in identifying those signs. However, the common keyword-based methods of analysis do not fully express the relationships between technologies. Subject-action-object (SAO) analysis offers a solution to this problem but, currently, these methods only consider the relationships that already exist. Yet, intuitively, technology opportunities are most likely to reside in potential connections. To test this notion, in this article we conduct a case study on malignant melanoma of the skin. First, we construct an SAO network of the titles and abstracts of medical documents, then use a link prediction algorithm to identify probable future links between unconnected nodes. These possible new technology combinations are further analyzed with a backtracking algorithm to reveal the most promising technology opportunities. Further analysis of the results combined with medical knowledge confirms the effectiveness of our method.

Effects of sporidesmin on cultured biliary tract cells from Romney lambs that differed in their sensitivity to sporidesmin

AIMSTo investigate the effects of sporidesmin on cells cultured from the epithelial surface of sheep gallbladder walls, and to examine cellular responses to sporidesmin using cultures prepared from the gallbladders of sheep from selection lines that differed in sensitivity to sporidesmin-induced liver damage.METHODSGallbladders were obtained following slaughter of lambs that were selected for resistance or susceptibility to sporidesmin-induced liver damage, or were not selected (controls). Monolayer cell cultures were established after incubation of excised gallbladders with protease to detach the lining epithelial cells from the muscular and connective tissue of the gallbladder wall. Released cells were harvested and transferred to culture flasks or dishes, then incubated with 1 µg/mL sporidesmin and were examined at 5 minute intervals, up to 3 hours, using light microscopy to monitor loss of attachment of cultured cells. Immunofluorescence staining of cell cultures was used to identify cytokeratin 19 as a marker for biliary epithelial cells, and to characterise sporidesmin-induced change in the cellular distribution of actin microfilaments. Gallbladder size was also measured.RESULTSIn cultures incubated with sporidesmin, cells at the margins of sheets of cells showed the first signs of change, becoming unanchored from the culture vessels while remaining attached to the cell mass. This was followed by progressive detachment of sheets of cells and clumps of rounded cells. Disruption of cytoplasmic actin microfilaments with accumulation of actin in the cytoplasm adjacent to the plasma membrane preceded major detachment of cells. Cells from susceptible line lambs were extensively rounded up within 1 hour with complete or almost complete detachment within 2 hours, whereas cultures from resistant line lambs generally only contained detaching rounded-up cells at the periphery of monolayers within 2 hours; detachment observed in cells from the control line lambs was intermediate. There was a trend for gallbladders to be smaller in male lambs from the resistant line compared to the control or susceptible lines.CONCLUSIONSAltered cell adhesion and disruption of microfilament actin in biliary cell cultures incubated with sporidesmin suggest that biliary tract pathology may be due to the effects of the toxin on cytoplasmic and cell surface protein networks that affect the integrity of the epithelial lining of the biliary tract. These effects can be interpreted in terms of the hepatobiliary pathology of facial eczema, including potential differences in sensitivity of biliary tract cells that may contribute to inherited resistance and susceptibility to sporidesmin and hence facial eczema.

α-Motoneurons maintain biophysical heterogeneity in obesity and diabetes in Zucker rats.

Small-diameter sensory dysfunction resulting from diabetes has received much attention in the literature, whereas the impact of diabetes on α-motoneurons (MN) has not. In addition, the chance of developing insulin resistance and diabetes is increased in obesity. No study has examined the impact of obesity or diabetes on the biophysical properties of MN. Lean Zucker rats and Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF) rats were separated into lean, obese (ZDF fed standard chow), and diabetic (ZDF fed high-fat diet that led to diabetes) groups. Glass micropipettes recorded hindlimb MN properties from identified flexor and extensor MN. MN were separated within their groups on the basis of input conductance, which created high- and low-input conductance subpopulations for each. A significant shorter (20%) afterhyperpolarization half-decay (AHP1/2) was found in low-conductance MN for the diabetic group only, whereas AHP½ tended to be shorter in the obese group (19%). Significant positive correlations were found among rheobase and input conductance for both lean and obese animals. No differences were found between the groups for afterhyperpolarization amplitude (AHPamp), input conductance, rheobase, or any of the rhythmic firing properties (frequency-current slope and spike-frequency adaptation index). MN properties continue to be heterogeneous in obese and diabetic animals. Obesity does not seem to influence lumbar MN. Despite the resistance of MN to the impact of diabetes, the reduced AHP1/2 decay and the tendency for a reduction in AHPamp may be the first sign of change to MN function.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Knowledge about the impact of obesity and diabetes on the biophysical properties of motoneurons is lacking. We found that diabetes reduces the duration of the afterhyperpolarization and that motoneuron function is unchanged by obesity. A reduced afterhyperpolarization may impact discharge characteristics and may be the first sign of change to motoneuron function.

МІКРО- ТА УЛЬТРАСТРУКТУРА КРОВОНОСНОГО РУСЛА ЯЄЧКА ЩУРА В НОРМІ ТА ПРИ СТРЕПТОЗОТОЦИНІНДУКОВАНОМУ ЦУКРОВОМУ ДІАБЕТІ

The aim: to set the peculiarities of bloodstream of the testis of white rat in normal condition and under the condition of experimental [artifi cial] diabetes course. Material and methods. The research has been conducted on 40 white mature male rats in the age groups 4.5 to 7.5 months with 130 to 150g of body weight. Research material is represented by ultramicroscopic testicle slice. Experimental diabetes modelling was performed through single intraperitoneal injection of Streptozotocin (“Sigma”, USA), dissolved in 0.1M citrate buffer, pH=4.5 (7mg per 100g of body weight of animals). The diabetes mellitus progression was controlled basing on glucose concentration in blood, which was measured by glucose oxidase test. In 2,4,6,8 weeks after experiment launch, animals in whose blood glucose concentration was above 13.4 mmol/l, were used for research. The selected trend of study is a part of a planned Science Department Anatomy “Structure bodies and bloodstream ontogeny, under the laser irradiation and pharmaceutical, blood circulation disorders, reconstructive surgery and diabetes”, state registration 0110U001854, performed at the Lviv National Medical University named Danylo Halytsky according to the state plan and program. University Animal Care and Use Committee Approval: № 8 from 18th of November 2013. Results. The fi rst signs of change of angioarchitectonics testicular were found on the second week of experimental diabetes. During the following terms bloodstream undergoes signifi cant changes. Vessels with irregular contours, winding in the lumen of blood clots found, the vessel wall is thickened, sklerozovana and stratifi ed. Around the vessels edema and haemorrhage are present. Available desolated areas of capillaries, in the lumens of some capillaries, the aggregation of red blood cells that cover the lumen of blood vessels are found. The lumen of the capillaries is narrowed. In the remaining capillary endothelial cells have the appearance of “standing column”, which is a characteristic feature of the hypoxic state of tissues. Capillary sclerosis, precapillary spaces are dilated. Conclusion. Changing in the diameter of the vessels of microvasculature endothelial is accompanied by swelling and change in the form of their lumen. Adhesion and aggregation of red blood cells are also observed. These changes show that angiopathy is a trigger hypoxia and as a result in 2 weeks of diabetes course micro and ultrastructural organization of the most convoluted seminiferous tubules varies.

First be a woman? rural development, social change and women farmers’ lives in Thessaly-Greece

This research is prompted by a desire to portray how Thessalian women farmers’ lives have been and are still affected by agrarian, economic, political and social transformations that took place in Greece from 1950 onwards. Using a cueing technique, we collected 2034 autobiographical memories from 74 women farmers. In general, the story our data tell indicates that the progress regarding woman’s position within family and society was slow and erratic, whereas it is still underway, since gender role appropriateness remains a robust construction. The analysis proved that the first signs of change appeared in the 1970s, when the migration from Thessaly to Europe brought about some unprecedented ideas on woman’s social and domestic roles. Other factors, such as the modernization of agriculture in 1980s and the consequent economic flourishing, along with the aura conveyed by the new (female) members of farming communities, and the opening of rural societies in 1990s and 2000s, facilitated this change.

From ‘doing’ to ‘doing with learning’: reflection on an effort to promote self-regulated learning in technological projects in high school

Project-based learning is undoubtedly one of the best instructional methods for developing students’ broad learning capabilities, beyond teaching specific subject matter. However, experienced engineering teachers often tend to concentrate on merely teaching pupils the technical side of project work. This paper describes a programme aimed at fostering self-regulated learning among high schools pupils working on projects in electronics, control systems and robotics. The programme sought, for example, to promote pupils’ conceptual knowledge regarding the subjects they dealt with in their projects, enabling the learners to gain experience using simulation, laboratory testing and troubleshooting in a system that they were constructing. The change in project work also required pupils to document systematically all stages of system development and reflect on their learning by preparing a printed or web-based ePortfolio on the project. Outcomes of the in-service training course given to teachers countrywide and the first signs of change in project work in schools are reported.

Communities of circles

The two editors have jointly been involved since 2005 in the series of conventions and international dialogues which have resulted in this special issue. We had both been involved in the Quality movement in industry and shared our frustration at developments, as in the UK the focus was increasingly on Compliance rather than Empowerment. An overwhelmingly top-down process tended to stifle innovation and creativity by individual workers, rather than empowering them to bring about continuous improvement. The first sign of change did not come from the UK or USA, but from Asia. Japan had been the birthplace of Quality Circles, and India hosted their adaptation for schools, with Students’ Quality Circles. It was not possible to visit City Montessori School in Lucknow, India, without being overwhelmed by the energy and enthusiasm of Circles of young people, tackling practical problems, and giving case study presentations of professional standard. With the founder manager Jagdish Gandhi taking a visionary lead, there is an atmosphere that is not so much Hollywood or Bollywood, but ‘‘Qualiwood’’: scale, colour, energy, enthusiasm, discipline, choreography: unforgettable. The editors faced the challenge of going from national and international conventions, to produce a truly international set of articles which can provide a shared resource for ongoing staff development and building of a global movement. At conventions we tend to find twin agendas for student participants and staff advisors. As the movement has grown, the need for development, dialogue and reflection has steadily increased. The resulting collection of articles is the outcome of a truly international ‘‘Community of Circles’’. The directors generals of the national chapters of the World Council for Total Quality and Excellence in Education (WCTQEE) are in almost daily contact, as they recognise how much they have to learn from each other. We see the launch of bilateral projects, often bringing together national groups with histories of tension. The Students’ Quality Circle movement has used the English language, but with approaches to education and work organisation which come from many other countries around the world. We have become accustomed to fluent performances by students from the age of 8. They represent our future. Older members of the WCTQEE Board have come to recognise that we are a Senior Quality Circle. We share our experiences and insights and hope to be of use to our younger colleagues and students. In SQCs, young people of all ages are able to talk about a world at peace, where people of different religions can live and work together, and where a problem shared and tackled can be a problem solved. This is practical collaboration, creating collaborative advantage. The SQC movement has significance beyond education. It offers a human-centred alternative to the dead hand of Taylorism. It provides a route to empowerment in the new global knowledge society. In a world of problems and divisions, we have a movement in many countries which knows that sustainable solutions can be found. It is not R. Ennals (&) Department of Corporate Responsibility and Working Life, Kingston Business School, Kingston University, Kingston Hill, Kingston KT2 7LB, UK e-mail: richard.ennals@gmail.com

Response offset: the first sign of change?

The nature of the relationship between the timing of neural activity (brain time) and the perceived timing of the events represented by that activity (event time) has long been a matter of debate among philosophers. It is tempting to assume a direct relationship between neuronal-onset latencies and corresponding perceptual latencies. However, the perceived timing of a change from stimulus A to stimulus B could, in principle, be based on either the offset of the response to stimulus A or the onset of the response to stimulus B – if indeed there is any direct relationship between brain time and event time at all.

L2 Morphosyntactic Development in Text-Based Computer-Mediated Communication

It has been claimed that CMC represents an ideal environment for promoting L2 development. Previous findings have shown the use of more complex structures in the target language in elec-tronic versus face-to-face environments (e.g., Beauvois, 1992; Kelm, 1992; Kern, 1995; Warschauer, 1996a,b). The present study compares the effect of pedagogical tasks implemented in synchronous face-to-face tasks versus text-based computer mediated communication. The target grammatical feature is the development of past tense verbal endings in Spanish as a second language. The analysis reveals that the first signs of change in developmental stages of morphosyntactic development are more clearly identified in the computer based interaction task than in the face-to-face oral task. It is, thus, possible that aspectual distinctions marked through morphosyntactic means are made more salient in a written interactional format that maintains the functional focus of typical on-line face-to-face exchanges.

Ultrastructure of rat lung following inhalation of ricin aerosol.

Ricin is one of a group of structurally related plant lectins and is extracted from the seeds of the Castor Oil plant, Ricinus communis. Groups of rats were exposed to ricin aerosol by inhalation, total LCt1-11.21 mg.min.m-3 (an approximate LCt30 exposure) and examined, using transmission electron microscopy, at intervals up to 48 h after exposure. The first signs of change in ultrastructure were seen at between 6 and 12 h post exposure in alveolar macrophages and took the form of apoptotic changes primarily in the nucleus. These included heterochromatin condensation at the nuclear periphery and crenulation of the nuclear membrane. There then followed a sequence of changes in the cells of the alveolar wall and blood/air barrier culminating in intra-alveolar oedema at 12 and 15 h after exposure. Damage was first observed in the capillary endothelium and type I epithelial cell changes were evident from 12 h post exposure onward. These changes appeared to be necrotic rather than apoptotic in nature and suggest that mechanisms other than a direct effect of ricin may be involved. Associated with these changes were mixed inflammatory cell infiltrates in the interstitium, isolated type II pneumocyte necrosis and evidence of microvascular microthrombosis. By 48 h after exposure, the intra-alveolar oedema appeared less marked with prominent hyperplasia of type II pneumocytes. The identification that apoptosis of alveolar macrophages plays a significant part in the mechanism of toxicity following exposure to ricin raises the possibility of developing new therapeutic strategies against poisoning by ricin.

Sardine and anchovy regime fluctuations of abundance in four regions of the world oceans: a workshop report

ABSTRACTRegimes of high abundance of sardine (Sardinops sagax and Sardina pilchardus) have alternated with regimes of high abundance of anchovy (Engraulis spp.) in each of the five regions of the world where these taxa co‐occur and have been extensively fished. When one taxon has been plentiful, the other has usually been at a reduced level of abundance, and vice versa. Changes in the four heavily fished regions that support S. sagax–the Japanese, Californian, Humboldt, and Benguela systems–from a regime dominated by one taxon to a high level of abundance of the other have occurred more or less simultaneously. In the Pacific Ocean, sardines have tended to increase during periods of increasing global air and sea temperatures and anchovies to decrease. The Japanese system is dominated by sardines to a greater extent than the other systems, and sardines off Japan appear to increase as the Kuroshio Current cools. At the eastern edge of the Pacific Ocean, sardines colonize cooler areas during periods of warming. The Benguela system is out of phase with the three Pacific systems. The four systems all appeared to be in a state of flux in the 1980s. Increased abundance of the subdominant taxon is often one of the first signs of change. Sardines are relatively sedentary in refuge areas when scarce but change behavior to become highly migratory and colonize cooler areas when abundant. Anchovies, by contrast, expand around a fixed geographic center.

Reformers and the Rural Church, 1900-1950

As the twentieth century dawned, some Americans concluded that the rural countryside was in crisis. Social and economic institutions were rapidly changing and, many feared, dying. A first sign of change was the large rural-to-urban population shift as millions of Americans voted with their feet in favor of city, rather than farm and village, life, leaving behind isolated farmhouses, inward looking villages, and abandoned schools, churches, and general stores. Attempting to study and to ameliorate the negative consequences of rapid city growth, most Progressive Era reformers concentrated their prodigious energies and talents on the receiving end of the rural-to-urban population shift. But by the end of the first decade of the new century, there was also underway a movement to focus reform attention on the consequences of change for rural America. An analysis of the movement to diagnose rural problems, particularly for the churches, illuminates more clearly the orientations and perceptions of the reformers themselves than the problems of the rural people they studied so intently.1 Two institutions attracted the primary attention of rural reformers-the school and the church. Both were perceived as anchors of community life, providing training and socialization for the young and a sense of stability, tradition, and community definition for adults. Rural schools changed more rapidly than churches, but both lagged far behind their urban counterparts in adjusting to the conditions of life in modern America. Standing resolutely on the hillsides, snuggled in the vales, and nestled along the village streets, rural schools and churches evolved from proud symbols of community progress and vitality in the early nineteenth century to beleaguered, dying, and dead institutions by the early twentieth century.2

Scanning Electron Microscopy of Tracheal Epithelium of Chickens Infected with Velogenic Viscerotropic Newcastle Disease Virus

Ultrastructural changes in the tracheal epithelium of chickens infected intranasally with velogenic viscerotropic Newcastle disease virus were examined by scanning electron microscopy. Hypertrophy of the mucus-secreting, or goblet, cells was the first sign of change, followed by disoriented and deformed cilia, hemorrhage, and hyperplasia of goblet cells accompanied by an increase in mucus. By day 7 postinfection, there was a marked decrease in the number of ciliated cells. Submucosal glands and some collagen fibers were exposed to the surface, an indication of loss of the epithelial cells. Macrophages and cell debris were abundant, and hyperplasia of the basal cells was evident in the later stages of infection, probably in an attempt to regenerate the lost epithelium. However, all chickens died 10 days postinfection, before any further work could be done.

Types of damage caused by various cracking and crushing methods used for measuring egg shell strength.

Synopsis The damage caused to egg shells by various cracking and crushing methods was examined in two ways. Externally visible damage was photographed, while internal damage was studied in thin sections of shell prepared after embedding in plastic. With the flat plate, flat‐ended peg and round‐ended peg the shell may crack cleanly over some distance or crack and crumble outwards from the first point of damage. The needle pierces the outer layers of shell and pushes out a cone from the inside of the shell. A falling ball produces clean cracks or damage rather similar to the flat‐ended Peg. When the treatment is stopped before visible damage occurs there is usually a considerable amount of internal damage of a kind which could lead ultimately to the type of damage actually observed. The first sign of change appears to be the formation of twinning planes in the individual calcite crystals. Later the large crystals may break up into small units.

Experiments on the Injection of Pituitary Body (Anterior Lobe) Extracts to Axolotls

Experiments on the Injection of Pituitary Body (Anterior Lobe) Extracts to Axolotls