Factors influencing the upper temperature tolerances of three mussel species in a brackish water canal: size, season and laboratory protocols.

Mussels are the most problematic organisms encountered in the water intake systems of electrical power plants. Various fouling control measures are adopted, among which heat treatment is considered the relatively more attractive from economic and ecological points of view. Thermal tolerance experiments were carried out to determine the effects of mussel size (2-20 mm shell length), season (breeding vs non-breeding), nutritional status (fed vs non-fed), acclimation temperature (5-25 degrees C) and acclimation salinity (1-35%o) on the mortality pattern of three important mussel species, viz.

Upper temperature tolerances of exotic brackish-water mussel, Mytilopsis leucophaeata (Conrad): an experimental study.

The dark false mussel, Mytilopsis leucophaeata is an important mussel colonising the brackish-water systems of temperate and subtropical regions. Of late it has earned notoriety as a biofouling species in industrial cooling water systems. However, there are no published data on the temperature tolerance of this species.

Cognitive-behavioural therapy for refractory psychotic symptoms of schizophrenia resistant to atypical antipsychotic medication. Randomised controlled trial.

Background: There is increasing evidence that cognitive-behavioural therapy can be an effective intervention for patients experiencing drug-refractory positive symptoms of schizophrenia.

Aims: To investigate the effects of cognitive-behavioural therapy on in-patients with treatment-refractory psychotic symptoms.

Method: Manualised therapy was compared with supportive counselling in a randomised controlled study.

Byssal detachment underestimates tolerance of mussels to toxic compounds.

Mussels are sedentary organisms attached to solid substrata by means of byssus threads. Mussels detached from their substratum tend to reattach by producing new byssus threads. Therefore, in bioassays using mussels, if the test animals are in an unattached status, increased byssogenic activity would expose their soft body parts to the toxic compound used.

Recognition of early warning signs in patients with schizophrenia: a review of the literature.

This article reviews and discusses the literature on the recognition of the early warning signs of psychosis. The assumption is that nurses, in the everyday exercise of their profession, can contribute to the prevention of psychotic relapse in schizophrenic patients by the early recognition of warning signs. First, the process of psychotic relapse and the factors that influence it are described.

Effect of moderate alcohol consumption on plasma dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, testosterone, and estradiol levels in middle-aged men and postmenopausal women: a diet-controlled intervention study.

Background: Moderate alcohol consumption is inversely associated with cardiovascular diseases. Changes in hormone levels might in part help explain the positive health effect. This study was performed to examine the effect of moderate alcohol consumption on plasma dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), testosterone, and estradiol levels.

Effect of moderate alcohol consumption on parameters of reverse cholesterol transport in postmenopausal women.

Background: Alcohol consumption is associated with increased high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels. One of the main antiatherogenic functions of HDL is reverse cholesterol transport. Three early steps of reverse cholesterol transport are (1) cellular cholesterol efflux, (2) plasma cholesterol esterification (EST), and (3) cholesteryl ester transfer (CET) to apolipoprotein B-containing lipoproteins.

Relapse prevention in patients with schizophrenia: the application of an intervention protocol in nursing practice.

This article describes the results of a survey conducted among nurses who work in psychiatric care. Within the experimental condition of a randomized controlled trial, they executed an intervention protocol to prevent psychotic relapses among patients with schizophrenia. The central objective of this protocol was early recognition of the warning signs of psychosis and timely performance of actions intended to re-establish the equilibrium of the patient.

Relapse prevention in patients with schizophrenia.

This article describes the development and content of a nursing intervention protocol for the recognition of the early signs of psychosis. Applying this protocol, nurses can contribute to the prevention of psychotic relapse in patients with schizophrenia or a related disorder. The background and construction of the intervention protocol are described.

Spore killing in the fungus Podospora anserina: a connection between meiotic drive and vegetative incompatibility?

Fungi in which the haploid nuclei resulting from meiosis are linearly arranged in asci provide unique opportunities to analyse abnormal segregation. Any meiotic drive system in such fungi will be observed in a cross between a driving and a sensitive strain as spore killing: the degeneration of half the ascospores in a certain proportion of the asci. In a sample of some 100 strains isolated from a single natural population we have discovered at least six different meiotic drive elements (van der Gaag et al.

Effect of type of alcoholic beverages on carbohydrate-deficient transferrin, sialic acid, and liver enzymes.

Background: There are only limited data obtained under well controlled conditions on the effects of moderate drinking on markers of alcohol use disorders. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of moderate intake of different alcoholic beverages on these markers, including carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT), sialic acid (SA), and the liver enzymes gamma-glutamyltransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and alanine aminotransferase.

Methods: Eleven apparently healthy, nonsmoking middle-aged men were included in a 12-week randomized, diet-controlled crossover trial according to a 4 x 4 Latin-square design.

How effective is intermittent chlorination to control adult mussel fouling in cooling water systems?

Mussel control in cooling water systems is generally achieved by means of chlorination. Chlorine is applied continuously or intermittently, depending on cost and discharge criteria. In this paper, we examined whether mussels will be able to survive intermittent chlorination because of their ability to close their valves during periods of chlorination.

Moderate alcohol consumption reduces plasma C-reactive protein and fibrinogen levels; a randomized, diet-controlled intervention study.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of moderate alcohol consumption on the acute phase proteins C-reactive protein and fibrinogen.

Design: Randomized, diet-controlled, cross-over study.

Setting: The study was performed at TNO Nutrition and Food Research, Zeist, The Netherlands.

Kinetics of HDL cholesterol and paraoxonase activity in moderate alcohol consumers.

Background: The inverse association between moderate drinking and coronary heart disease mortality is well established. This study was performed to investigate the kinetics of the alcohol-induced increases in apo A-1, HDL cholesterol, and paraoxonase (PON) activity, as well as to study whether the alcohol-induced increases in PON activity differ within different PON polymorphisms, and to investigate whether moderate alcohol consumption has similar effects on the outcome measures in postmenopausal women as in middle-aged men.

Methods: In a randomized, diet-controlled, crossover study, 10 middle-aged men and 9 postmenopausal women, all apparently healthy, nonsmoking, and moderate alcohol drinkers, consumed beer or no-alcohol beer (control) with evening dinner during two successive periods of 3 weeks.

Control of brackish water fouling mussel, Mytilopsis leucophaeata (Conrad), with sodium hypochlorite.

Though the Conrad's false mussel, Mytilopsis leucophaeata, is an important fouling animal in industrial cooling water systems, there are no published reports on the tolerance of this species to chlorination. A series of experiments was conducted to determine the effects of mussel size (2-20 mm shell length), season (breeding versus nonbreeding), nutritional status (fed versus starved) and acclimation temperature (5-30 degrees C) on the mortality pattern of M. leucophaeata under continuous chlorination (0.

The practice of early recognition and early intervention to prevent psychotic relapse in patients with schizophrenia: an exploratory study. Part 2.

In this article we describe the findings of an exploratory study into the application of early recognition and early intervention methods aimed at prevention of psychotic relapses in patients with schizophrenia. Following the results we described in part 1, we now focus specifically on factors which favourably or adversely affect the use of early recognition and early intervention methods. The following issues will be addressed: (i) information and education; (ii) attitude of health care professionals; (iii) the patient's insight; (iv) acceptance of illness; (v) motivation; (vi) other relevant patient characteristics; and (vii) continuity of care.

The practice of early recognition and early intervention to prevent psychotic relapse in patients with schizophrenia: an exploratory study. Part 1.

In this article we describe the findings of an exploratory study into the application of early recognition and early intervention methods aimed at prevention of psychotic relapses in patients with schizophrenia. We addressed several models of symptom recognition plans and indicated how patients, healthcare professionals and other persons involved may be able to list and evaluate early warning signs systematically. We also paid attention to the role of the patient's family and to the potential effects of using early recognition and early intervention methods.

A controlled trial of cognitive remediation in schizophrenia.

A randomized, controlled trial of a 3-month cognitive remediation program was examined for its efficacy at ameliorating deficits in social and emotion perception in 42 hospitalized patients with schizophrenia. Generalization of training effects to attention, memory, and executive functioning was also examined. The program included an eclectic mix of self-instruction, memory enhancement, inductive reasoning, and compensatory training procedures, while the control condition included participation in a leisure group that was matched to the experimental group for staff involvement time.

Alcohol consumption stimulates early steps in reverse cholesterol transport.

Alcohol consumption is associated with increased HDL cholesterol levels, which may indicate stimulated reverse cholesterol transport. The mechanism is, however, not known. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of alcohol consumption on the first two steps of the reverse cholesterol pathway: cellular cholesterol efflux and plasma cholesterol esterification.