To address the challenges in monitoring the continuously accelerating drug overdose epidemic, the King County Medical Examiner's Office in Seattle, Washington, instituted a "real-time" fatal drug ...overdose surveillance project, depending on scene investigations, autopsy findings, and in-house testing of blood, urine, and drug evidence collected from death scenes. Validation of the project's rapid death certification methodology from 2019 through 2021 was performed at the following 3 levels: blood testing, urine testing, and death certification, and for the following 4 drugs: fentanyl, opiate, methamphetamine, and cocaine. For blood testing, sensitivity ranged from 90% to 99%, and specificity ranged from 86% to 97%. For urine testing, sensitivity ranged from 91% to 92%, and specificity ranged from 87% to 97%. The positive predictive value for cocaine was poor for both blood testing (57%) and urine testing (72%). Of 1034 deaths, 807 were certified as overdose by rapid methodology, and 803 (99.5%) were confirmed by formal toxicology results. Manners of death were changed from accident to natural in 3 of 1034 cases (0.29%). Results of this study indicate that the rapid overdose surveillance methodology described in this study offers benefits to families and provides useful, timely information for responding law enforcement and public health agencies.
► Thermal imaging variables differed significantly between strawberry cultivars, indicating low
g
s in ‘Elsanta’ and ‘Totem’ and relatively high
g
s in well watered ‘Elvira’, ‘Florence’ and ...‘Cambridge Favourite’. ► Optimisation of thermal imaging is important for effective screening. ► Validated thermal imaging for estimating stomatal conductance. ► Carbon isotope composition differed significantly between strawberry cultivars: in one experiment leaf δ
13C indicated lowest WUE in ‘Elvira’ and highest WUE in ‘Totem’. ► Significant physiological variation in strawberry. ► But similar response to drought: lowering
g
s and hence increasing WUE.
Cultivars with low stomatal conductance (
g
s) may show high water use efficiency (WUE) under drought conditions, but under optimal conditions low
g
s may result in low vigour. A combination of thermal imaging and carbon isotope composition (δ
13C) analysis offers potential for screening simultaneously for both high
g
s and high WUE. Ten cultivars of strawberry (
Fragaria
×
ananassa Duch.) were grown in well watered or water limited conditions. Thermal images were taken of the plants, with various approaches to determine the optimal protocol for detecting variation in
g
s, including use of reference leaves, grids to maintain leaves horizontal, and collection of meteorological data in synchrony with thermal images. δ
13C of leaves, fruit, and crowns was determined. An index of
g
s derived from the temperature of horizontal leaves and the temperature of wet and dry references showed significant differences between cultivars and between well watered and water limited plants, as did
g
s estimated from leaf temperature, the temperature of a dry reference, and humidity. Thermal imaging indicated low
g
s in ‘Elsanta’ and ‘Totem’ and relatively high
g
s in well watered ‘Elvira’, ‘Florence’ and ‘Cambridge Favourite’. δ
13C of all plant material was higher in water limited than well watered plants and showed significant differences between cultivars. In one experiment leaf δ
13C indicated lowest WUE in ‘Elvira’ and highest WUE in ‘Totem’. δ
13C was inversely correlated with an index of
g
s derived from thermal imaging. Although the results indicate substantial variation in
g
s and WUE between cultivars, generally all cultivars responded to water deficit by lowering
g
s and hence increasing WUE.
A first step in breeding for improved water use efficiency is to determine the extent of adaptation to limited water availability already existing between cultivars. Cultivation of strawberry (
...Fragaria
×
ananassa Duch.) requires irrigation, but to date drought tolerance of different cultivars has not been explored; indeed there has been only limited research on between-cultivar variation for drought tolerance in any fruit crop. To address this issue, 10 cultivars were compared when irrigated to match 100% (control), or less than 70% (water deficit), of evapotranspiration. Transpiration rate, numbers and area of new leaves, dry mass of leaves and roots, and leaf water potential were significantly reduced under the water deficit treatment. Root to shoot dry mass ratio was significantly increased. Water use efficiency (WUE), measured as marketable yield per litre water transpired, increased under water deficit. There were significant cultivar differences for all these variables, and also for photosynthetic rate and for transpiration efficiency (TE), measured as biomass per litre water transpired. Of the two cultivars traditionally grown without irrigation (rain-fed only), one (‘Cambridge Favourite’) showed very high transpiration rates, while the other (‘Totem’) showed very low transpiration rates. Transpiration rates were low for ‘Elvira’, which has been previously considered as drought susceptible, but this was also true of ‘Idea’, which has been considered drought tolerant. Total transpiration was significantly correlated with final leaf area and total biomass. WUE of ‘Elvira’ was high but TE was low. On the other hand, WUE of ‘Hapil’ (for which there is anecdotal evidence of drought tolerance) and ‘Totem’ was low and TE high. ‘Idea’ showed intermediate WUE and TE. Since variation between cultivars in plant canopy and growth and transpiration efficiency was not strongly influenced by environment, genotypic variation in these variables could be utilised in a breeding programme for improved drought tolerance in strawberry. On the other hand, a significant interaction of cultivar and irrigation was found for stomatal conductance, midday osmotic potential at full turgor, marketable yield, and berry mass, suggesting that mechanisms of response to water deficits are not uniform across cultivars.
The report The acquisition of mathematical skills through collaborative work from the educator's perspective in the area of mathematics in the private sector, presents a historical review of ...collaborative learning, and the impact it has had on the lives of students in the specific area of mathematics. The teacher's perspective has been taken into account, and how the teacher involved students in collaborative activities while solving mathematical problems. This research was based on theories of social interdependence. This qualitative research presents results that focus on the importance of collaborative learning in private schools in the areas of mathematics education in a Latin American country. Students of the XXI century will face new demands in different mathematical fields. It should be a priority of all mathematics teachers to teach their students to work collaboratively, and not only to work collaboratively, but also to think mathematically. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of collaborative learning in teaching mathematics from the perspective of educators. Three themes were used to organize the literature reviewed in the report: (a) Cooperative learning; (b) Mathematics skill development in a bilingual environment; and (c) Strategies and games to promote English language learning in a cooperative learning classroom. In conclusion, this action research has shown that cooperative groups have helped to improve Mathematics learning.
5-Hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) were assayed in amygdala, cingulate cortex and caudate nucleus of post-mortem brains from 7 cases of Down's syndrome (6 with the ...neuropathological features of Alzheimer's disease and one with no such features), 9 cases of Alzheimer's disease and 12 controls. 5-HT was markedly reduced in all 3 areas of the pathologically affected Down brains, unaltered in the Down brain with no Alzheimer pathology and reduced in the amygdala and cingulate cortex of the Alzheimer brains. ChAT showed a similar pattern of reduction. These results supply biochemical evidence that 5-hydroxytryptaminergic, as well as cholinergic, neurons are reduced in Down's syndrome with Alzheimer pathology.
Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) measures of right ventricular (RV) mass, volumes, and function have diagnostic and prognostic value in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). We hypothesized that RV ...mass‐based metrics would discriminate incident PAH as redefined by the lower mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP) threshold of >20 mmHg at the Sixth World Symposium on Pulmonary Hypertension (6th WSPH). Eighty‐nine subjects with suspected PAH underwent CMR imaging, including 64 subjects with systemic sclerosis (SSc). CMR metrics, including RV and left ventricular (LV) mass, were measured. All subjects underwent right heart catheterization (RHC) for assessment of hemodynamics within 48 h of CMR. Using generalized linear models, associations between CMR metrics and PAH were assessed, the best subset of CMR variables for predicting PAH were identified, and relationships between mass‐based metrics, hemodynamics, and other predictive CMR metrics were examined. Fifty‐nine subjects met 6th WSPH criteria for PAH. RV mass metrics, including ventricular mass index (VMI), demonstrated the greatest magnitude difference between subjects with versus without PAH. Overall and in SSc, VMI and RV mass measured by CMR were among the most predictive variables discriminating PAH at RHC, with areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve 0.86 and 0.83. respectively. VMI increased linearly with pulmonary vascular resistance and with mPAP in PAH, including in lower ranges of mPAP associated with mild PAH. VMI ≥ 0.37 yielded a positive predictive value of 90% for discriminating PAH. RV mass metrics measured by CMR, including VMI, discriminate incident, treatment‐naïve PAH as defined by 6th WSPH criteria.
An antiserum raised to the extracellular domain (residues 556–566) of the Alzheimer amyloid precursor protein recognized 70 and 88 kDa proteins in Western blots of rat, Alzheimer, Down's syndrome and ...control human brain separated by SDS-PAGE. The 70 kDa protein band was resolved into 5 spots by two-dimensional electrophoresis. The findings provide further evidence that a 70 kDa protein is a metabolite of the amyloid precursor protein and reveal an 88 kDa protein which was reduced in 3 out of 6 brains with Alzheimer pathology.
Right ventricular function has prognostic significance in patients with pulmonary hypertension. We evaluated whether cardiac magnetic resonance-derived strain and strain rate parameters could ...reliably reflect right ventricular systolic and diastolic function in precapillary pulmonary hypertension. End-systolic elastance and the time constant of right ventricular relaxation tau, both derived from invasive high-fidelity micromanometer catheter measurements, were used as gold standards for assessing systolic and diastolic right ventricular function, respectively. Nineteen consecutive precapillary pulmonary hypertension patients underwent cardiac magnetic resonance and right heart catheterization prospectively. Cardiac magnetic resonance data were compared with those of 19 control subjects. In pulmonary hypertension patients, associations between strain- and strain rate-related parameters and invasive hemodynamic parameters were evaluated. Longitudinal peak systolic strain, strain rate, and early diastolic strain rate were lower in PAH patients than in controls; peak atrial-diastolic strain rate was higher in pulmonary hypertension patients. Similarly, circumferential peak systolic strain rate was lower and peak atrial-diastolic strain rate was higher in pulmonary hypertension. In pulmonary hypertension, no correlations existed between cardiac magnetic resonance-derived and hemodynamically derived measures of systolic right ventricular function. Regarding diastolic parameters, tau was significantly correlated with peak longitudinal atrial-diastolic strain rate (r = −0.61), deceleration time (r = 0.75), longitudinal systolic to diastolic time ratio (r = 0.59), early diastolic strain rate (r = −0.5), circumferential peak atrial-diastolic strain rate (r = −0.52), and deceleration time (r = 0.62). Strain analysis of the right ventricular diastolic phase is a reliable non-invasive method for detecting right ventricular diastolic dysfunction in PAH.
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