Key Determinant Factors Research Articles

P-349 Clinical significance of lymph node radio to predict prognosis in colon cancer

Metastases to regional lymph nodes (LN) has been considered to be a strong outcome predictor following surgical resection and a key determinant factor for adjuvant chemotherapy in colon cancer. According to the tumor-node-metastasis system reflected by the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC), which has been the most popular cancer staging system, patients with positive LN involvement without distant metastasis are classified as stage III and they are subclassified into pN1 and pN2 based on the number of involved LN. However, in the current staging system, low LN harvest may lead to inadequate nodal staging which might result in overestimation of patient prognosis. In this perspective, recent studies recommended the lymph node ratio (LNR; the number of positive LN divided ty the number of harvested LN) as a prognostic indicator, rather than current nodal staging by AJCC. In the present study, we investigated the clinical significance of LNR to predict survival outcomes in colon cancer. Patients who underwent radical resection for colon cancer and presented with positive LN involvement from January 2014 to December 2016 were included in the present study. Among the included patients, who were candidates for adjuvant chemotherapy, patients who had not undergone chemotherapy were excluded. Patient medical records were reviewed retrospectively and the number of harvested LN, positive LN and other pathological factors for prognosis including pT stage by AJCC, lymphovascular invasion, perineural invasion and histologic grade were recorded. As survival outcomes, disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were investigated. A total of 84 patients with positive LN involvement who underwent adjuvant chemotherapy were enrolled in the present study. Their median duration of follow-up was 43.5 months (interquartile range, 29.8-56.8 month). The median number of harvested LN was 22 (interquartile range, 16-27) and positive LN was 2 (interquartile range, 1-5). Median LNR was 14.3% (interquartile range, 5.3-25.0%). Hazard ratio (HR) for DFS of LNR by multivariate Cox regression analysis including putative confounding factors for prognosis was 1.009 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.991-1.027), which was not statistically significant. (p=0.338). For OS, the HR of LNR was 1.005 (CI, 0.667-1.005) and it was not significant either. In the present study, LNR was not a significant predictor for prognosis in colon cancer. Further evaluation with a larger cohort with detailed co-variate investigation would be required to verify the clinical significance of LNR.

Influence of Soya Lecithin, Sorbitan and Glyceryl Monostearate on Physicochemical Properties of Organogels

The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of three different organogelators, sorbitan monostearate (SMS), soya lecithin (SL) and glyceryl monostearate (GMS) prepared at different concentrations (12%, 15% and 18%, w/w) on the structural, thermal and mechanical properties of palm olein (PO)-based organogels. Polarized light microscopy analysis revealed needle-like crystals in SMS-PO, rod-shaped tubules in SL-PO and rosette-like aggregates in GMS-PO organogels. Intermolecular hydrogen bonding and van der Waals forces were the main drivers for the self-aggregation of these organogelators in PO, as observed in Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results indicated β’-type polymorphic structure in SL-PO and GMS-PO. As the concentration of organogelators increased, there was a corresponding increase in the firmness, gel-sol transition (Tgs) and melting temperatures of the organogels. SMS-PO with amorphous structure had the lowest firmness, thus produced weaker gel with lower thermal stability. The oil binding capacity (OBC) of both SL-PO and GMS-PO were over 90%, significantly higher than that of SMS-PO organogels. These findings indicate that crystallization is the key determinant factor to the final properties of the organogel networks. This is influenced by the molecular structure and the concentration of the organogelators used.

How Behavior Change Strategies are Used to Design Digital Interventions to Improve Medication Adherence and Blood Pressure Among Patients With Hypertension: Systematic Review.

BackgroundInformation on how behavior change strategies have been used to design digital interventions (DIs) to improve blood pressure (BP) control or medication adherence (MA) for patients with hypertension is currently limited.ObjectiveHypertension is a major modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and can be controlled with appropriate medication. Many interventions that target MA to improve BP are increasingly using modern digital technologies. This systematic review was conducted to discover how DIs have been designed to improve MA and BP control among patients with hypertension in the recent 10 years. Results were mapped into a matrix of change objectives using the Intervention Mapping framework to guide future development of technologies to improve MA and BP control.MethodsWe included all the studies regarding DI development to improve MA or BP control for patients with hypertension published in PubMed from 2008 to 2018. All the DI components were mapped into a matrix of change objectives using the Intervention Mapping technique by eliciting the key determinant factors (from patient and health care team and system levels) and targeted patient behaviors.ResultsThe analysis included 54 eligible studies. The determinants were considered at two levels: patient and health care team and system. The most commonly described determinants at the patient level were lack of education, lack of self-awareness, lack of self-efficacy, and forgetfulness. Clinical inertia and an inadequate health workforce were the most commonly targeted determinants at the health care team and system level. Taking medication, interactive patient-provider communication, self-measurement, and lifestyle management were the most cited patient behaviors at both levels. Most of the DIs did not include support from peers or family members, despite its reported effectiveness and the rate of social media penetration.ConclusionsThis review highlights the need to design a multifaceted DI that can be personalized according to patient behavior(s) that need to be changed to overcome the key determinant(s) of low adherence to medication or uncontrolled BP among patients with hypertension, considering different levels including patient and healthcare team and system involvement.

Design rule for the emission linewidth of Eu[formula omitted]-activated phosphors

We study from first principles the emission linewidth of Eu2+-doped LED phosphors. Based on the one-dimensional configuration coordinate model, an analysis of first principles data obtained for fifteen compounds show that, at working temperature, the linewidth of Eu2+ emission band in solids is negligibly affected by quantum effects, and can be extracted from the Franck–Condon energy shifts. For a fixed Stokes shift, the difference of Franck–Condon energy shifts in the excited and ground states is the key factor for the FWHM determination. Narrow emission Eu2+-doped LED phosphors are expected for the case with large positive value of such difference.

The military and democratisation in post-Mugabe Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT This article discusses the continued dominance of the Zimbabwean military in the political developments in the country. It is the product of data collected through review of available literature and interviews with officials in both the public and private sectors. The article argues that the recent military intervention in electoral politics, the continuing factional wars within ZANU-PF, and the veto of parliamentary resolutions by Zimbabwe’s military largely demonstrate a regression of democracy in which the military elite’s narrow interests are cloaked in the national interest. It establishes that President Emmerson Mnangagwa assumed power in 2017 following the departure of President Robert Mugabe mostly due to pressure from the military, a force that remains the key determinant factor in who rules Zimbabwe. Consequently, the analysis concludes, the Zimbabwean military is likely to continue hamstringing democratisation as long as it remains embedded in the country’s partisan politics.

Vegetation traits are accurate indicators of how do plants beat the heat in drylands: Diversity and functional traits of vegetation associated with water towers in the Sahara Desert

Abstract Water is the key determinant factor of ecosystem balance, especially in hot desert regions facing multiple climatic and edaphic constraints. In the Sahara Desert, vegetation associated to man-made mesic environments such as open-air irrigation channels and oases is little studied. In order to understand the vegetation–water relationship in xeric environments, the present study focused on estimating diversity and determining functional traits of plant communities established around water points developed near water towers in the region of Adrar (Sahara Desert of Algeria). Based on data collected from 31 phytoecological releves, spontaneous vegetation was analyzed using diversity parameters (viz. species richness, diversity, richness estimation and similarity), and plant functional traits ‘PFT’ (viz. life forms, morphological, phytogeographical and dispersal types, Grime’s and Noy-Meir’s strategies). A total of 4695 individuals belonging to 53 plant species and 23 families were collected. Rarefaction and extrapolation curves applied for all the surveys carried out indicated that the estimated species richness is projected to be 77.2 ± 10 species from 31 survey plots and it is predicted to reach up to 116 ± 30 species from 200 survey plots, which represents an increase of 119% of the observed species richness. According to the real spectrum (abundance-based data) of PFT, plant species are mainly hemicryptophytes (54.12%) and arid-actives (69.97%) that adopt various dispersal strategies including anemochores (57.68%) and barochores (36.68%). Grime’s strategies showed the predominance of competitive and stress-tolerant species (52.76%). The phytogeographical analysis revealed the dominance in the strict sense of the Tropical-Mediterranean-Saharo-Arabian element (36.59%) which adapts well to the Saharan climate. This study showed the role of water in shaping the functional characteristics of vegetation in hyper-arid regions. The functional diversity of Saharan vegetation reflects species strategies for a better exploitation of the water and guaranteeing their coexistence in hyper-arid environments.

Key Determinant Factors Affecting the Performance of Small and Medium Scale Manufacturing Enterprise: A Case Study on West Shoa Zone, Oromia National Regional State, Ethiopia

Key Determinant Factors Affecting the Performance of Small and Medium Scale Manufacturing Enterprise: A Case Study on West Shoa Zone, Oromia National Regional State, Ethiopia - written by Tekalign Lemma Woldesilassie , Venkata Mallikhajuna Kishan Ivatury published on 2020/03/02 download full article with reference data and citations

Assessing Industrial Profitability Determinants in Southern Ethiopia: A Case Study of Manufacturing Industries in Hawassa City

The main objective of this study is to assess the key determinant factors affecting profitability of manufacturing industries in Hawassa city. In order to achieve this objective, the researcher used mixed methodology to collect and analyze secondary and primary data from various sources. The quantitative data were collected from the managers of 73 industries with at least five years manufacturing experiences in Hawassa city through census technique. In order to identify the main determinant factors that affect profitability of manufacturing industries, binary logistic regression model was used with stastical package of social science software version 21. The data collected through interview and observation were analyzed qualitatively using narrating for triangulation. After triangulating data from various sources, the result of this study implies that the profitability of manufacturing industries in Hawassa city have been 63.5 times less than their potential profits due to shortage of professional workers. Because of low electric power accessibility, the profits of these industries have been also 42.4 times less than their potential profits. Likewise, lack of modern machineries within these industries has also the probability of decreasing these industries’ profits up to 3604 times. Moreover, low availability of computerized systems most likely contributed to decrease profits of these industries up to 292 times. On the other hand, government protections to the industries and profitability of the industries have significant but negative relations. Accordingly, this study suggests that improvement in those significant and positive key determinant factors from their current low level to medium level will have the probability to increase profits of manufacturing industries in Hawassa city at least 42 times.

Performance Evaluation of Phase and Weather-Based Models in Atmospheric Correction With Sentinel-1Data: Corvara Landslide in the Alps

Phase delay caused by atmospheric effects due to spatial and temporal variations of pressure, temperature, and water vapor content is one of the major error sources in estimation of ground deformation by interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR>). Therefore, accuracy of ground deformation measurement is highly contingent on the robustness of the atmospheric correction techniques. These techniques rely either on auxiliary data such as numerical weather models (NWMs) or on the analysis of the interferometric phase itself. The accuracy in phase delays estimation of mixing effects of turbulent delay in atmosphere and stratified delay in lower troposphere is a key factor in determination of performance of each technique. Hence, the performance evaluation of the techniques is required in order to assess their potentials, robustness, and limitations. This article analyzes and evaluates the performance of four NWMs (i.e., ERA-Interim, ERA5, MERRA2, and WRF) and two phase-based techniques (i.e., linear and power law) to estimate phase delay using Sentinel-1A/B data over the Corvara landslide located in the Alps. The GPS data and GACOS product were used to validate the results. We generally found that ERA5 outperformed among other weather models with a phase standard deviation reduction of 77.7% (with respect to the InSAR phase), a correlation coefficient of 0.86 (between InSAR phase and estimated tropospheric delay) and a less significant error in the velocity estimation of the landslide.

Flattening the Debt Curve: Empirical Lessons for Fiscal Consolidation

This paper reviews the empirical literature to determine which forms of fiscal consolidation successfully reduce debt-to-GDP ratios and impact economic performance. We perform a cross-country analysis of fiscal adjustments in 26 democracies for 1995–2018 and find that expenditure-based fiscal adjustments are notably more successful at lowering debt levels than tax-based adjustments, with successful adjustments focusing around two-thirds on the expenditure side. Expenditure-based adjustments tend to cause small contractions, not significantly different from zero, while tax-based adjustments cause deep and long-lasting recessions. In addition, we find that periods of fiscal consolidation that last more than two years tend to be twice as successful as those that last only two years or less. We do not find the size of the fiscal consolidation to be a key determining factor in the success of fiscal adjustments.

Smallholder Farmers’ Perception and Adaptation Strategies to Climate Change and Variability in Ankesha Guagusa District of Awi Zone, North Western Ethiopia

Agriculture is the main source of livelihood for rural communities in Ethiopia which is highly sensitive to Climate change and variability. Farmers should adapt and their decision to adapt depends on their perception to climate change and variability and other socio-economic factors. The main objective of this study was to assess smallholder farmers’ perception, identifying the major adaptation strategies and determinant factors that affect farmers’ choices of adaptation to climate change and variability in Ankesha Guagusa district, Awi Zone, Ethiopia. Descriptive statistics were employed to assess farmers’ socio- demographic characteristics, perceptions and adaptation measures. A Multi-Nominal Logit model (MNL) was also used to identify the determinant factors that influence the choice of farmer’s adaptation strategies. The study finds that, most of the local farmers perceived decreasing in the amount of seasonal rainfal1, increasing in temperature, increased frequency of drought and flood. In response to these impacts of climate change and variability; farmers used crop diversification, improved and early maturing crops, planting trees and engaging on off-farm activities, credit and taking loss as the most dominant adaptation strategies. The MNL regression analysis showed that agro ecology of woina dega (AEZWD), age, sex, education, family size, farm size, farming experience, income, livestock holding (TLU), access to extension services, credit, access to irrigation and water harvesting schemes and Perception to climate change and variability were the key determinant factors influencing farmers’ choice of adaptation strategies to climate change and variability. farmers’ adaptive capacity is hindered by different factors and focusing on addressing these factors efforts should be made to develop and implement integrated policies and strategies that enhance access to income and farm inputs, agricultural extension services, livelihood diversification, farmers’ awareness on climate change required to build resilience of communities and promote a transition to climate-smart agriculture. Keywords : Climate Change and variability, Perception, Adaptation Strategies, Determinants, MNL model, Ethiopia DOI : 10.7176/JESD/11-1-05 Publication date: January 31 st 2020

The Key Determinant Factors for Social Sustainability in Traditional Settlement

Successful traditional settlements refer to a settlement environment that spontaneously built by residents who consider their existing site integrates with excellent social sustainability indicators. This study aims to determine the critical factors of physical character for social sustainability of a traditional settlement with the objective to identify the types of physical characteristics deemed as significant in daily social interaction among the locals. To achieve this, a quantitative method was employed using questionnaire survey distributed to 400 residents in two historic settlements, namely Kampung Pulau Duyong and Kampung Losong located at Kuala Terengganu. Both sites are selected due to good conservation practices observed concerning the physical landscape. The results generated from the Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) revealed eleven factors (11) related to social sustainability. Such factors then categorised into six latent factors, which are the preservation of local identity, safety, provision of infrastructure, natural qualities, accessibility, and availability of public spaces. The findings recall the relationship between physical aspects and social sustainability as a step towards improvement in historic site preservation efforts.Keywords: social sustainability; traditional settlement; factor analysis; Kuala TerengganueISSN: 2398-4287 © 2019. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/e-bpj.v4i12.1944

E3 ubiquitin ligase MDM2 acts through p53 to control respiratory progenitor cell number and lung size.

The respiratory lineage initiates from the specification of NKX2-1+ progenitor cells that ultimately give rise to a vast gas-exchange surface area. How the size of the progenitor pool is determined and whether this directly impacts final lung size remains poorly understood. Here, we show that epithelium-specific inactivation of Mdm2, which encodes an E3 ubiquitin ligase, led to lethality at birth with a striking reduction of lung size to a single vestigial lobe. Intriguingly, this lobe was patterned and contained all the appropriate epithelial cell types. The reduction of size can be traced to the progenitor stage, when p53, a principal MDM2 protein degradation target, was transiently upregulated. This was followed by a brief increase of apoptosis. Inactivation of the p53 gene in the Mdm2 mutant background effectively reversed the lung size phenotype, allowing survival at birth. Together, these findings demonstrate that p53 protein turnover by MDM2 is essential for the survival of respiratory progenitors. Unlike in the liver, in which genetic reduction of progenitors triggered compensation, in the lung, respiratory progenitor number is a key determinant factor for final lung size.

Extensive Examination of Type- 4 Theory: Resource Dependent Approach

This paper offers an extensive examination of the Type-4 theory that seeks to address the needs of today’s reality through the lens of resource dependence approach. The paper presents a discourse on the features of Type-4 theory and focused on resource as a key factor in power determination and its implications for organizations. The role of resource in power and politics within the organization was also reviewed. It was noted that resource which is mostly external to the organization is most a times linked to its power tussles, a tool to manage uncertainty and decision outcomes and, effectiveness and performance are associated with efficient use of resources. In conclusion, it is affirmed that a firm grip of Type-4 theory is vital for preservation, growth, and survival. Based on our conclusion, we recommend that both profit and non-profit organization that wishes to survive in a contemporary business environment must broaden up to Type-4 theory. Keywords: Type-4 Theory, Resource Dependence Theory, Power, Politics, Decision-Making DOI : 10.7176/EJBM/11-36-12 Publication date: December 31 st 2019

Maternal health service utilisation of adolescent women in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic scoping review

IntroductionSub-Saharan Africa has the highest rate of adolescent pregnancy in the world. While pregnancy during adolescence poses higher risks for the mother and the baby, the utilisation of maternity care to mitigate the effects is low. This review aimed to synthesise evidence on adolescent mothers’ utilisation of maternity care in Sub-Saharan Africa and identify the key determinant factors that influence adolescent mothers’ engagement with maternity care.MethodA systematic review of scholarly literature involving seven databases: ProQuest, PubMed, EMBASE/Elsevier, SCOPUS, PsycINFO, CINAHL and Infomit was conducted. Studies published in English between 1990 and 2017 that examined Sub-Saharan adolescent mothers’ experiences of utilising biomedical maternity care during pregnancy, delivery and the post-partum period were included.ResultsFrom 296 relevant articles 27 were identified that represent the experience of adolescent mothers’ maternal health service utilisation in Sub-Saharan Africa. The review indicates that maternal health service utilisation in the majority of Sub-Saharan African countries is still low. There is also a wide discrepancy in the use of maternity care services by adolescent mothers across countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.ConclusionsThe review reveals that a significant number of adolescents in Sub-Saharan Africa do not access and use maternity services during pregnancy. Several factors from individual to systemic levels contributed to low access and utilisation. This implies that interventions targeting the women, their partners, healthcare professionals, communities and the organisations (local to national) are necessary to improve adolescent mother’s engagement with maternity care in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Target, Suspect and Non-Target Screening of Silylated Derivatives of Polar Compounds Based on Single Ion Monitoring GC-MS.

There is growing interest in determining the unidentified peaks within a sample spectra besides the analytes of interest. Availability of reference standards and hyphenated instruments has been a key and limiting factor in the rapid determination of emerging pollutants in the environment. In this work, polar compounds were silylated and analyzed with gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to determine the abundant fragments within the single ion monitoring (SIM) mode and methodology. Detection limits and recoveries of the compounds were established in river water, wastewater, biosolid and sediment matrices. Then, specific types of polar compounds that are classified as emerging contaminants, pharmaceuticals and personal care products, in the environment were targeted in the Mgeni and Msunduzi Rivers. We also performed suspect and non-target analysis screening to identify several other polar compounds in these rivers. A total of 12 compounds were quantified out of approximately 50 detected emerging contaminants in the Mgeni and Msunduzi Rivers. This study is significant for Africa, where the studies of emerging contaminants are limited and not usually prioritized.

Smallholder Farmers’ Perception and Adaptation Strategies to Climate Change and Variability in Ankesha Guagusa District of Awi Zone, North Western Ethiopia

Agriculture is the main source of livelihood for rural communities in Ethiopia which is highly sensitive to Climate change and variability. Farmers should adapt and their decision to adapt depends on their perception to climate change and variability and other socio-economic factors. The main objective of this study was to assess smallholder farmers’ perception, identifying the major adaptation strategies and determinant factors that affect farmers’ choices of adaptation to climate change and variability in Ankesha Guagusa district, Awi Zone, Ethiopia. Descriptive statistics were employed to assess farmers’ socio- demographic characteristics, perceptions and adaptation measures. A Multi-Nominal Logit model (MNL) was also used to identify the determinant factors that influence the choice of farmer’s adaptation strategies. The study finds that, most of the local farmers perceived decreasing in the amount of seasonal rainfal1, increasing in temperature, increased frequency of drought and flood. In response to these impacts of climate change and variability; farmers used crop diversification, improved and early maturing crops, planting trees and engaging on off-farm activities, credit and taking loss as the most dominant adaptation strategies. The MNL regression analysis showed that agro ecology of woina dega (AEZWD), age, sex, education, family size, farm size, farming experience, income, livestock holding (TLU), access to extension services, credit, access to irrigation and water harvesting schemes and Perception to climate change and variability were the key determinant factors influencing farmers’ choice of adaptation strategies to climate change and variability. farmers’ adaptive capacity is hindered by different factors and focusing on addressing these factors efforts should be made to develop and implement integrated policies and strategies that enhance access to income and farm inputs, agricultural extension services, livelihood diversification, farmers’ awareness on climate change required to build resilience of communities and promote a transition to climate-smart agriculture. Keywords : Climate Change and variability, Perceptions, Adaptation Strategies, Determinants, MNL model, Ethiopia DOI : 10.7176/JRDM/58-02 Publication date : August 31 st 2019

Landsat 8: Utilizing sensitive response bands concept for image processing and mapping of basalts

The spectral signature curve behavior of basalt and its relationship with the surface reflectance (SR) values of Landsat 8 OLI data, (Operational Land Imager), is considered as the key factor for determination of the sensitive response bands for basalt interaction to be used in both Object-Oriented Principal Components (PCA) & Independent Component (ICA) analyses. Also, it is extremely beneficial in develop mathematical formulas which express the best band ratios for the precise illustration and mapping of basalts. The integration of those sensitive bands and the three mentioned methods are the main objectives of the present investigation. This should permit to create the basalt spatial distribution map for a given area. These methods were applied in west central Sinai, Egypt.The measured spectral signature reflectance curve of the basalt was resampled to meet the spectral characteristics of Landsat 8 bands, both curves were carefully examined to determine the most significant response bands for basalts; which were found to be bands 4, 5, 6 and 7. The examined spectral behavior led to three significant band ratios. Moreover, two false color composite (PC1, PC2, PC4) and (IC4, IC3, IC1) in RGB, were determined by execution and examination of the PCA and ICA images, respectively of the study area.ERDAS Imagine (2010) and ArcGIS 10.3 packages were used for digital/mathematical processing steps and to apply the resulted models on the study area.

Purification of high-quality RNA from a small number of fluorescence activated cell sorted zebrafish cells for RNA sequencing purposes

BackgroundTransgenic zebrafish lines with the expression of a fluorescent reporter under the control of a cell-type specific promoter, enable transcriptome analysis of FACS sorted cell populations. RNA quality and yield are key determinant factors for accurate expression profiling. Limited cell number and FACS induced cellular stress make RNA isolation of sorted zebrafish cells a delicate process. We aimed to optimize a workflow to extract sufficient amounts of high-quality RNA from a limited number of FACS sorted cells from Tg(fli1a:GFP) zebrafish embryos, which can be used for accurate gene expression analysis.ResultsWe evaluated two suitable RNA isolation kits (the RNAqueous micro and the RNeasy plus micro kit) and determined that sorting cells directly into lysis buffer is a critical step for success. For low cell numbers, this ensures direct cell lysis, protects RNA from degradation and results in a higher RNA quality and yield. We showed that this works well up to 0.5× dilution of the lysis buffer with sorted cells. In our sort settings, this corresponded to 30,000 and 75,000 cells for the RNAqueous micro kit and RNeasy plus micro kit respectively. Sorting more cells dilutes the lysis buffer too much and requires the use of a collection buffer. We also demonstrated that an additional genomic DNA removal step after RNA isolation is required to completely clear the RNA from any contaminating genomic DNA. For cDNA synthesis and library preparation, we combined SmartSeq v4 full length cDNA library amplification, Nextera XT tagmentation and sample barcoding. Using this workflow, we were able to generate highly reproducible RNA sequencing results.ConclusionsThe presented optimized workflow enables to generate high quality RNA and allows accurate transcriptome profiling of small populations of sorted zebrafish cells.

Small sided games: a scoping review of literature 2006-2016

This article reports the findings of a scoping review of the use of small-sided games (SSGs) as a teaching or coaching pedagogy across four game categories. The selection criteria included empirical research available online, published after January 1 2006 and prior to December 31, 2016, in an academic journal. The data were analysed through an inductive thematic approach which generated two themes: Development and Practical considerations. This review found that SSGs can be used as a deliberate pedagogy to elicit physiological responses for a training effect. Given that the variables associated with SSGs include pitch size, game intensity, and number of players, a key determining factor in the implementation of SSGs includes the objective of the practice activity.