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Key Goal (key + goal)
Selected AbstractsRelationship between intensity of physical activity and health-related quality of life in Portuguese institutionalized elderlyGERIATRICS & GERONTOLOGY INTERNATIONAL, Issue 4 2008Alexandrina Lobo Aims: Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is considered to be the key goal for health promotion in older people. This study explores the relationship between HRQOL and objectively measured intensity of physical activity (PA) in institutionalized older adults. The analysis of the PA patterns of the subjects in relation to recommended levels of PA was also performed. Methods: One hundred and eighty-five residents of long-term care homes aged 65 years or more, volunteered for this study. The Medical Outcome Study Short Form 36-Item health survey (MOS SF-36) questionnaires and the uni-axial MTI Actigraph were used to assess HRQOL and PA, respectively. Participants were classified as less active, reasonably active and more active by tertile of moderated physical activity (MPA). Results: (i) The men represented a greater number of counts/h and min of MPA in all the tertile groups; (ii) men from the less active group had a significantly higher body mass index; (iii) women came third and exhibited less total activity even though they used this time in more intense activities; (iv) there was a higher significant correlation between MPA, physical function and negative association with body pain in relation to the time of institutionalization in both sexes but was more strongly visible in men; and (v) only men presented a significant positive association with physical health, mental health and vitality. Conclusion: Any intensity of PA seems to be better than no activity for HRQOL, but MPA confers greater benefits for the perception of physical function and body pain in the case of institutionalized elderly persons. [source] Signal transduction by the lipopolysaccharide receptor, Toll-like receptor-4IMMUNOLOGY, Issue 2 2004Eva M. Pålsson-McDermott Summary An understanding of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) signal transduction is a key goal in the effort to provide a molecular basis for the lethal effect of LPS during septic shock and point the way to novel therapies. Rapid progress in this field during the last 6 years has resulted in the discovery of not only the receptor for LPS , Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) , but also in a better appreciation of the complexity of the signalling pathways activated by LPS. Soon after the discovery of TLR4, the formation of a receptor complex in response to LPS, consisting of dimerized TLR4 and MD-2, was described. Intracellular events following the formation of this receptor complex depend on different sets of adapters. An early response, which is dependent on MyD88 and MyD88-like adapter (Mal), leads to the activation of nuclear factor-,B (NF-,B). A later response to LPS makes use of TIR-domain-containing adapter-inducing interferon-, (TRIF) and TRIF-related adapter molecule (TRAM), and leads to the late activation of NF-,B and IRF3, and to the induction of cytokines, chemokines, and other transcription factors. As LPS signal transduction is an area of intense research and rapid progress, this review is intended to sum up our present understanding of the events following LPS binding to TLR4, and we also attempt to create a model of the signalling pathways activated by LPS. [source] Joint packet scheduling and dynamic base station assignment for CDMA data networksINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, Issue 2 2008Christian Makaya Abstract In current code division multiple access (CDMA) based wireless systems, a base station (BS) schedules packets independently of its neighbours, which may lead to resource wastage and the degradation of the system's performance. In wireless networks, in order to achieve an efficient packet scheduling, there are two conflicting performance metrics that have to be optimized: throughput and fairness. Their maximization is a key goal, particularly in next-generation wireless networks. This paper proposes joint packet scheduling and BS assignment schemes for a cluster of interdependent neighbouring BSs in CDMA-based wireless networks, in order to enhance the system performance through dynamic load balancing. The proposed schemes are based on sector subdivision in terms of average required resource per mobile station and utility function approach. The fairness is achieved by minimizing the variance of the delay for the remaining head-of-queue packets. Inter-cell and intra-cell interferences from scheduled packets are also minimized in order to increase the system capacity and performance. The simulation results show that our proposed schemes perform better than existing schemes available in the open literature. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Consumer advisors revisited: What drives those with market mavenism and opinion leadership tendencies and why?JOURNAL OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR, Issue 2-3 2009Nicola E. Stokburger-Sauer Consumers with a tendency toward market mavenism (MM) and opinion leadership (OL) represent powerful forces in the marketplace because of their influence on other consumers' consumption decisions. They are thus important consumer groups for both other individuals and companies. Little is known, however, about the motives that drive these individuals. Additionally, research has not explored the consequences of the market mavenism tendency (MMT) and OL. Research is thus needed to tap into and compare factors that influence MMT and OL as well as variables that are influenced by MMT and OL. A key goal of the current study is to determine whether individuals with a tendency toward MM and opinion leaders are consumers who are more or less satisfied and loyal than other consumers. This study investigates product involvement and need for variety (NFV) as antecedents of MMT and OL and looks into their relationship with satisfaction and loyalty. Using data from 1145 German consumers in four product categories (i.e., wine, clothing, cars, and cameras) and applying structural equation modeling, it was found that opinion leaders have higher levels of product category involvement than individuals with a tendency toward mavenism, while the latter have a higher NFV than opinion leaders. Finally, opinion leaders and individuals with a tendency toward mavenism have higher levels of satisfaction, and the first are more loyal consumers, but this varies across product categories. Important implications for marketing theory and marketing practice can be derived. Individuals with a tendency toward MM and/or opinion leaders could, for instance, be integrated as powerful sources in the context of co-producing products and services. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Identification of a spatially efficient portfolio of priority conservation sites in marine and estuarine areas of FloridaAQUATIC CONSERVATION: MARINE AND FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS, Issue 4 2009Laura Geselbracht Abstract 1.A systematic conservation planning approach using benthic habitat and imperilled species data along with the site prioritization algorithm, MARXAN, was used to identify a spatially efficient portfolio of marine and estuarine sites around Florida with high biodiversity value. 2.Ensuring the persistence of an adequate geographic representation of conservation targets in a particular area is a key goal of conservation. In this context, development and testing of different approaches to spatially-explicit marine conservation planning remains an important priority. 3.This detailed case study serves as a test of existing approaches while also demonstrating some novel ways in which current methods can be tailored to fit the complexities of marine planning. 4.The paper reports on investigations of the influence of varying several algorithm inputs on resulting portfolio scenarios including the conservation targets (species observations, habitat distribution, etc.) included, conservation target goals, and socio-economic factors. 5.This study concluded that engaging stakeholders in the development of a site prioritization framework is a valuable strategy for identifying broadly accepted selection criteria; universal target representation approaches are more expedient to use as algorithm inputs, but may fall short in capturing the impact of historic exploitation patterns for some conservation targets; socio-economic factors are best considered subsequent to the identification of priority conservation sites when biodiversity value is the primary driver of site selection; and the influence of surrogate targets on portfolio selection should be thoroughly investigated to ensure unintended effects are avoided. 6.The priority sites identified in this analysis can be used to guide allocation of limited conservation and management resources. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Lost in the field: ensuring student learning in the ,threatened' geography fieldtripAREA, Issue 1 2010Clare Herrick As a result of its importance to the discipline's identity and epistemology, the nature of fieldwork and the fieldtrip itself have recently come under close scrutiny in the education and geographical literature. Moreover, not only is their pedagogical importance being debated, but also their future viability at a time of increasing pressure on institutions to minimise potential risk situations in the field, offer value for money to students as well as following the increasingly common and popular trend of long-haul fieldtrips. This paper therefore critically interrogates the role and use of fieldwork within geographical teaching and learning in the light of its changing and increasingly contested status within the discipline in three parts. First, it outlines and reflects upon the current debate surrounding the threat to the primacy of fieldtrips in geography at a time of ongoing upheaval in higher education. Second, through the empirical example of personal experiences teaching on second-year undergraduate urban geography fieldtrips to San Francisco in December 2007 and 2008, the paper engages with the current discussions of the pedagogical importance of fieldtrips. Third, the paper asks, to what extent teaching in ,the field' might foster the ,experiential' or ,active' learning needed to inspire the kind of ,deep learning' approaches that hold the kind of ,transformative' potential envisaged as a key goal of education more broadly. Through exploring these ideas with reference to recent and relevant experience, the paper aims to critically interrogate the role and value of fieldtrips at a time when their potential demise is being cast as a fundamental assault on geography's founding identity and pedagogical traditions. The paper concludes that despite the threats it faces, the pedagogical significance of fieldwork means that it must remain a fundamental tenet of the geographical educational experience. [source] Biomanufacturing process analytical technology (PAT) application for downstream processing: Using dissolved oxygen as an indicator of product quality for a protein refolding reactionBIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOENGINEERING, Issue 2 2009Shelly A. Pizarro Abstract Process analytical technology (PAT) is an initiative from the US FDA combining analytical and statistical tools to improve manufacturing operations and ensure regulatory compliance. This work describes the use of a continuous monitoring system for a protein refolding reaction to provide consistency in product quality and process performance across batches. A small-scale bioreactor (3,L) is used to understand the impact of aeration for refolding recombinant human vascular endothelial growth factor (rhVEGF) in a reducing environment. A reverse-phase HPLC assay is used to assess product quality. The goal in understanding the oxygen needs of the reaction and its impact to quality, is to make a product that is efficiently refolded to its native and active form with minimum oxidative degradation from batch to batch. Because this refolding process is heavily dependent on oxygen, the % dissolved oxygen (DO) profile is explored as a PAT tool to regulate process performance at commercial manufacturing scale. A dynamic gassing out approach using constant mass transfer (kLa) is used for scale-up of the aeration parameters to manufacturing scale tanks (2,000,L, 15,000,L). The resulting DO profiles of the refolding reaction show similar trends across scales and these are analyzed using rpHPLC. The desired product quality attributes are then achieved through alternating air and nitrogen sparging triggered by changes in the monitored DO profile. This approach mitigates the impact of differences in equipment or feedstock components between runs, and is directly inline with the key goal of PAT to "actively manage process variability using a knowledge-based approach." Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2009; 104: 340,351 © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] The thermohaline expressway: the Southern Ocean as a centre of origin for deep-sea octopusesCLADISTICS, Issue 6 2008Jan M. Strugnell Understanding how environmental forcing has generated and maintained large-scale patterns of biodiversity is a key goal of evolutionary research and critical to predicting the impacts of global climate change. We suggest that the initiation of the global thermohaline circulation provided a mechanism for the radiation of Southern Ocean fauna into the deep sea. We test this hypothesis using a relaxed phylogenetic approach to coestimate phylogeny and divergence times for a lineage of octopuses with Antarctic and deep-sea representatives. We show that the deep-sea lineage had their evolutionary origins in Antarctica, and estimate that this lineage diverged around 33 million years ago (Ma) and subsequently radiated at 15 Ma. Both of these dates are critical in development of the thermohaline circulation and we suggest that this has acted as an evolutionary driver enabling the Southern Ocean to become a centre of origin for deep-sea fauna. This is the first unequivocal molecular evidence that deep-sea fauna from other ocean basins originated from Southern Ocean taxa and this is the first evidence to be dated. © The Willi Hennig Society 2008. [source] In Practice: Principles of PersuasionNEGOTIATION JOURNAL, Issue 2 2001Michael Watkins Drawing on the literatures on negotiation, communication, and persuasion as well as his research on organizational transformation, the author proposes a framework for understanding and enacting the persuasion process in organizations. He lays out key goals of persuasion and ways that skilled leaders can manage the process. The framework focuses attention on the ways leaders shape perceptions of interests and alternatives, as well as how they persuade one-on-one and from a distance. He also highlights the importance of gaining acceptance of ough, unpopular decisions, nothing that the way leaders manage the process can have a major impact on outcomes in such situations. [source] Disease remission and sustained halting of radiographic progression with combination etanercept and methotrexate in patients with rheumatoid arthritis,ARTHRITIS & RHEUMATISM, Issue 12 2007D. van der Heijde Objective The Trial of Etanercept and Methotrexate with Radiographic Patient Outcomes (TEMPO) is a 3-year, double-blind, multicenter study evaluating the efficacy and safety of etanercept, methotrexate, and the combination of etanercept plus methotrexate in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The results after 1 and 2 years of the study have been previously reported. Here we provide the 3-year clinical and radiographic outcomes and safety of etanercept, methotrexate, and the combination in patients with RA. Methods In this randomized, double-blind, multicenter TEMPO study, 682 patients received etanercept 25 mg twice weekly, methotrexate ,20 mg weekly, or the combination. Key efficacy assessments included the Disease Activity Score (DAS) and the DAS in 28 joints. Results Combination therapy resulted in significantly greater improvement in the DAS and in more patients with disease in remission than either monotherapy. This finding was confirmed by longitudinal analysis; patients receiving combination therapy were more than twice as likely to have disease in remission than those receiving either monotherapy. Independent predictors of remission included male sex, lower disease activity, lower level of joint destruction, and/or better physical function. Combination and etanercept therapy both resulted in significantly less radiographic progression than did methotrexate (P < 0.05). Etanercept and combination treatment were well tolerated, with no new safety findings. Conclusion Etanercept plus methotrexate showed sustained efficacy through 3 years and remained more effective than either monotherapy, even after adjustment for patient withdrawal. Combination therapy for 3 years led to disease remission and inhibition of radiographic progression, 2 key goals for treatment of patients with RA. [source] Large scale demonstration of a process analytical technology application in bioprocessing: Use of on-line high performance liquid chromatography for making real time pooling decisions for process chromatographyBIOTECHNOLOGY PROGRESS, Issue 2 2010Anurag S. Rathore Abstract Process Analytical Technology (PAT) has been gaining a lot of momentum in the biopharmaceutical community because of the potential for continuous real time quality assurance resulting in improved operational control and compliance. In previous publications, we have demonstrated feasibility of applications involving use of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) for real-time pooling of process chromatography column. In this article we follow a similar approach to perform lab studies and create a model for a chromatography step of a different modality (hydrophobic interaction chromatography). It is seen that the predictions of the model compare well to actual experimental data, demonstrating the usefulness of the approach across the different modes of chromatography. Also, use of online HPLC when the step is scaled up to pilot scale (a 2294 fold scale-up from a 3.4 mL column in the lab to a 7.8 L column in the pilot plant) and eventually to manufacturing scale (a 45930 fold scale-up from a 3.4 mL column in the lab to a 158 L column in the manufacturing plant) is examined. Overall, the results confirm that for the application under consideration, online-HPLC offers a feasible approach for analysis that can facilitate real-time decisions for column pooling based on product quality attributes. The observations demonstrate that the proposed analytical scheme allows us to meet two of the key goals that have been outlined for PAT, i.e., "variability is managed by the process" and "product quality attributes can be accurately and reliably predicted over the design space established for materials used, process parameters, manufacturing, environmental, and other conditions". The application presented here can be extended to other modes of process chromatography and/or HPLC analysis. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 2010 [source] | |||||||||||||