Decision Support Systems adoption in pesticide management.

This paper presents the findings from a survey on factors influencing the adoption of agricultural Decision Support Systems (DSS). Our study focuses on examining the influence of behavioural, socioeconomic and farm specific characteristics on DSS adoption. Using two structural equation models, we investigate how these factors influence the willingness to pay (WTP) and willingness to adopt.

Development of an online pan-European Integrated Pest Management Resource Toolbox.

The IPM IPM Resource Toolbox (Toolbox) has been developed as an interactive, online repository of integrated pest management (IPM) resources. Populated with high priority resources for farmers and their advisors during the project, its structure enables additional resources added over time. The repository is a public interactive website, available to anyone looking to access, understand, and implement IPM.

Regional variations in the acceptance and experience of intimate partner violence in Nigeria: Revisiting cosmopolitan-success and conservative-failure hypothesis.

This study investigates regional variations in the factors associated with acceptance and actual experience of intimate partner violence (IPV) among married women in northern and southern Nigeria - two regions with distinct socio-cultural and economic differences. Data from the 2018 demographic and health survey are analysed to compare these two regions. The sample comprised married/living-with-partner women within the reproductive age of 15-49.

The Role of Adjuvant Single Postoperative Instillation of Gemcitabine for Non-Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Bladder cancer is a heterogeneous disease with variable natural history. Non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer has a favorable prognosis following transurethral resection, but the optimal adjuvant chemotherapy plan is still in debate. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the adjuvant intravesical administration of a single dose of gemcitabine in the outcome of this disease.

Gender differences in the acceptance of wife-beating in Nigeria: evidence from the 2018 Demographic and Health Survey.

The world over, more than one-third of women have been victims of either physical or sexual violence, or both, most of which are perpetrated by intimate partners. Intimate partner violence (IPV) has negative consequences for women's health, socio-economic and psychological wellbeing. Similarly, acceptance of IPV has negative implications for its spread, sympathy for victims, and utilisation of antenatal and postnatal healthcare services among women.

The Role of Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology in the Diagnosis of Gallbladder Cancer: A Systematic Review.

Gallbladder cancer is the most common malignancy of the biliary tract. When diagnosed in an advanced stage it has a very poor prognosis. Therefore, early diagnosis and thorough assessment of a suspicious gallbladder polyp is essential to improve survival rate.

Analytical validation of ONCURIA™ a multiplex bead-based immunoassay for the non-invasive bladder cancer detection.

Background: The objective of our study was to assess the analytical performance of a multiplex assay (Oncuria™) to quantify protein biomarkers towards a bladder cancer associated diagnostic signature in voided urine.

Method: ology: Using Luminex xMAP technology, a custom immunoassay was developed to measure the concentrations of 10 urinary analytes (angiogenin, ANG; apolipoprotein E, APOE; alpha-1 antitrypsin, A1AT; carbonic anhydrase 9, CA9; interleukin 8, IL8; matrix metallopeptidase 9, MMP9; matrix metallopeptidase 10, MMP10; plasminogen activator inhibitor 1, PAI1; syndecan 1, SDC1; vascular endothelial growth factor, VEGF). Selectivity, sensitivity, specificity, precision, linearity, dynamic range, and detection threshold were assessed using recombinant proteins and human urine samples.

Suppression of aspirin-mediated eosinophil activation by prostaglandin E: Relevance to aspirin and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug hypersensitivity.

Background: Aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD) is characterized by severe, sometimes life-threatening reactions to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Mechanisms driving the disease include overproduction of leukotrienes and loss of anti-inflammatory prostaglandin E (PGE) production. Many cell types contribute to the disease; however, eosinophils are markedly elevated and are important drivers of pathologic findings.

Caspase-2 cleavage of tau reversibly impairs memory.

In Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other tauopathies, the tau protein forms fibrils, which are believed to be neurotoxic. However, fibrillar tau has been dissociated from neuron death and network dysfunction, suggesting the involvement of nonfibrillar species. Here we describe a novel pathological process in which caspase-2 cleavage of tau at Asp314 impairs cognitive and synaptic function in animal and cellular models of tauopathies by promoting the missorting of tau to dendritic spines.

Soluble Conformers of Aβ and Tau Alter Selective Proteins Governing Axonal Transport.

Unlabelled: Despite the demonstration that amyloid-β (Aβ) can trigger increased tau phosphorylation and neurofibrillary tangle (NFT) formation in vivo, the molecular link associating Aβ and tau pathologies remains ill defined. Here, we observed that exposure of cultured primary neurons to Aβ trimers isolated from brain tissue of subjects with Alzheimer's disease led to a specific conformational change of tau detected by the antibody Alz50. A similar association was supported by postmortem human brain analyses.

Eosinophil production of prostaglandin D in patients with aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease.

Background: Aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD) differs from aspirin-tolerant disease in part because of eosinophilic tissue infiltration and overexpression of arachidonic acid metabolic pathway components that lead to enhanced secretion of cysteinyl leukotrienes and prostaglandin (PG) D observed constitutively and paradoxically in response to aspirin and other COX inhibitors. We have previously demonstrated the capacity of IFN-γ to drive cysteinyl leukotriene expression and response.

Objective: We investigated eosinophils as a source of PGD production in patients with AERD.

Diet qualities: healthy and unhealthy aspects of diet quality in preschool children.

Background: Diet quality indexes combine the healthy and unhealthy aspects of diet within a single construct, but few studies have evaluated their association. Emerging evidence suggests that predictors differ for the more and less healthy components of children's diets.

Objectives: Our objectives were to determine whether preschool-aged children's frequency of eating healthy foods was inversely related to their intake of unhealthy foods and to determine whether this differed by household income, maternal education, or child race-ethnicity.

Selection on learning performance results in the correlated evolution of sexual dimorphism in life history.

The evolution of learning can be constrained by trade-offs. As male and female life histories often diverge, the relationship between learning and fitness may differ between the sexes. However, because sexes share much of their genome, intersexual genetic correlations can prevent males and females from reaching their sex-specific optima resulting in intralocus sexual conflict (IaSC).

Culturally appropriate health education for Type 2 diabetes in ethnic minority groups: an updated Cochrane Review of randomized controlled trials.

Aims: To give an updated perspective of interventions from additional data collected since our first review, conducted in 2008.

Background: This updated Cochrane Review incorporates new information from recent randomized controlled trials on culturally appropriate diabetes health education interventions.

Methods: An electronic literature search of six databases was repeated, with databases of ongoing trials checked and three journals hand-searched.

Microchip immunoaffinity electrophoresis of antibody-thymidine kinase 1 complex.

Thymidine kinase 1 (TK1) is an important cancer biomarker whose serum levels are elevated in early cancer development. We developed a microchip electrophoresis immunoaffinity assay to measure recombinant purified TK1 (pTK1) using an antibody (Ab) that binds to human TK1. We fabricated PMMA microfluidic devices to test the feasibility of detecting Ab-pTK1 immune complexes as a step toward TK1 analysis in clinical serum samples.

Culturally appropriate health education for people in ethnic minority groups with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Background: Ethnic minority groups in upper-middle-income and high-income countries tend to be socioeconomically disadvantaged and to have a higher prevalence of type 2 diabetes than is seen in the majority population.

Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of culturally appropriate health education for people in ethnic minority groups with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Search Methods: A systematic literature search was performed of the following databases: The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) and Google Scholar, as well as reference lists of identified articles.

Serum detection of thymidine kinase 1 as a means of early detection of lung cancer.

Background: Thymidine kinase 1 (TK1) is a biomarker elevated in several malignancies, including lung cancer. Up-regulation of TK1 is an early event in carcinogenesis and therefore a target for early cancer detection. We have developed a novel Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) to detect TK1 in serum.

Female stress urinary incontinence: office-based urethral bulking agent procedure.

Urethral bulking agents have been used extensively to treat women with stress urinary incontinence due to intrinsic sphincter deficiency. This article presents the authors' experience with one of the currently approved urethral bulking agents, Macroplastique, in a urology office setting.

Amyloid plaque and neurofibrillary tangle pathology in a regulatable mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.

Transgenic mouse models that independently express mutations in amyloid precursor protein (APP) and tau have proven useful for the study of the neurological consequences of amyloid-beta (Abeta) plaque and neurofibrillary tangle pathologies. Studies using these mice have yielded essential discoveries with regard to specific aspects of neuronal dysfunction and degeneration that characterize the brain during Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other age-dependent tauopathies. Most recent transgenic studies have focused on the creation of regulatable models that allow the temporal control of transgene expression.

Androgens regulate neprilysin expression: role in reducing beta-amyloid levels.

Age-related testosterone depletion in men is a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. Prior studies suggest that androgens affect Alzheimer's disease risk by regulating accumulation of beta-amyloid protein (Abeta) by an undefined mechanism. In this study, we investigated the role of the Abeta-catabolizing enzyme neprilysin (NEP) in this process.

Androgen cell signaling pathways involved in neuroprotective actions.

As a normal consequence of aging in men, testosterone levels significantly decline in both serum and brain. Age-related testosterone depletion results in increased risk of dysfunction and disease in androgen-responsive tissues, including brain. Recent evidence indicates that one deleterious effect of age-related testosterone loss in men is increased risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Progestins inhibit the neuroprotective effects of estrogen in rat hippocampus.

Although estrogen has beneficial actions in brain, recent clinical trials demonstrated adverse neural effects of hormone therapy in postmenopausal women. The cause(s) of this disconnect between experimental and clinical findings may include unanticipated effects of progestins. We report that both natural progesterone and the clinical progestin medroxyprogesterone acetate block estrogen neuroprotection.

Amyloid peptides mediate hypoxic increase of L-type Ca2+ channels in central neurones.

Prolonged hypoxia, encountered in individuals suffering from various cardiorespiratory diseases, enhances the likelihood of subsequently developing Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the underlying mechanisms are unknown, as are the mechanisms of neurodegeneration of amyloid beta peptides (AbetaPs), although the latter involves disruption of Ca2+ homeostasis. Here, immunohistochemistry demonstrated that hypoxia increased production of AbetaPs, an effect which was prevented by inhibition of either beta or gamma secretase, the enzymes required for liberation of AbetaP from its precursor protein.