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Only Preliminary (only + preliminary)
Selected AbstractsCorrelation between attenuated psychotic experiences and depressive symptoms among Japanese studentsEARLY INTERVENTION IN PSYCHIATRY, Issue 3 2010Hiroyuki Kobayashi Abstract Aims: To examine the emergence of attenuated psychotic experiences, self-disturbance or affective symptoms among younger subjects in the general population and to investigate the intergroup differences on each symptom between adolescents and post-adolescents. Methods: A total of 781 participants, 496 university students (mean age: 19.3 ± 1.1 years) and 285 high school students (mean age: 16.0 ± 0.3 years), were administered self-reported questionnaires. Psychotic prodromal symptoms were evaluated using the PRIME Screen-Revised (PS-R), a 12-item self-reported questionnaire. To measure the cognitive, emotional and physical symptoms associated with depression, the Zung Self-rating Depression Scale (ZSDS), a 20-item self-reported questionnaire, was administered. Results: There were no intergroup differences on the factor score of the PS-R, except the self-demarcation factor (post-adolescents > adolescents), whereas there were significant differences in the factor score of the ZSDS, except for the anxiety factor. Among the post-adolescents, the factors of the PS-R showed a moderate correlation to the cognitive factor on the ZSDS; among the adolescents, the PS-R factors showed a greater correlation to the anxiety factor on the ZSDS than other factors. There were no differences in the distribution of each item of the PS-R between the two groups. Conclusions: The disturbance of self results in difficulty to precisely objectify, especially among adolescents, which would induce more primitive reactions such as agitation, irritability or anxiety; probably, the self disturbance would become an explicit symptom from an implicit experience with advancing age of the subject. Although these data are only preliminary, they could explain the pathway of progression prior to the onset of psychosis, from disturbance within the self to exaggerated self-absorption. [source] The concept of the gas turbine-based hybrid vehicle: system, design and configuration issuesINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENERGY RESEARCH, Issue 9 2006Roberto Capata Abstract The object of this study is a theoretical and experimental analysis of a new hybrid propulsion system for a passenger sedan in which the thermal engine is a small gas turbine set. Some preliminary results on the possibility of replacing the conventional ICE of a hybrid ,series' configuration by a turbogas were presented and discussed in previous papers by the same authors: several possible designs were examined under both a thermodynamic and an operative point of view. This paper presents a summary of the project and constitutes an attempt to put things in a proper engineering perspective: the technical feasibility of the project is assessed via a calculation of the required mission loads, a preliminary design of the most important elements of the propulsive system, the choice of the mission control strategy and the implementation of a numerical system simulator. The experiments that provided a verification for the assumed component efficiencies were carried out, in cooperation with the Research Centre of ENEA-Casaccia, on an ELLIOTT TA-45 group. Our results, though only preliminary, allow for a direct comparison between a GT-hybrid vehicle and a modern diesel car, and indicate that the GT-hybrid may be actually a competitor for the FC-powered vehicle concept. Our ,optimal' configuration is a combination of a 100 kg battery pack and two turbogas set of 5 and 16 kW, respectively. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] A pilot study into the chemical and sensorial effect of thyme and pennyroyal essential oil on hens eggsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, Issue 9 2009Tegan J. Smith Summary Previously, it has been shown that thyme and pennyroyal essential oils have potential as acaricides against the poultry red mite Dermanyssus gallinae. The effect of these oils on the occurrence of taint in hens' eggs was investigated using in vitro immersion tests and in vivo methods where poultry huts containing laying hens were sprayed weekly with oil. Analysis of extracts from eggs by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) showed that no detectable taint was present in hens' eggs. However, consumer sniff tests, although restricted and only preliminary in nature, showed a significant negative response to the smell of both unbroken and cracked open eggs between those taken from poultry huts treated with pennyroyal essential oil and all other eggs tested. Some essential oils, such as thyme, may be more suitable as an acaracidal product than others, such as pennyroyal, for the use within a commercial poultry system for laying hens. [source] New variance expressions for systematic sampling: the filtering approachJOURNAL OF MICROSCOPY, Issue 3 2006XIMO GUAL-ARNAU Summary We present a collection of variance models for estimators obtained by geometric systematic sampling with test points, quadrats, and n -boxes in general, on a bounded domain in n -dimensional Euclidean space ,n, n = 1, 2, ... , and for systematic rays and sectors on the circle. The approach adopted , termed the filtering approach , is new and different from the current transitive approach. This report is only preliminary, however, because it includes only variance models in terms of the covariogram of the measurement function. The estimation step is in preparation. [source] Factors influencing the incidence and prevalence of food allergyALLERGY, Issue 9 2009S. Cochrane Food allergy is an increasing problem in Europe and elsewhere and severe reactions to food are also becoming more common. As food allergy is usually associated with other forms of allergic sensitisation it is likely that many risk factors are common to all forms of allergy. However the potential severity of the disease and the specific public heath measures required for food allergy make it important to identify the specific risk factors for this condition. Food allergy is unusual in that it often manifests itself very early in life and commonly remits with the development of tolerance. Hypotheses that explain the distribution of food allergy include specific genetic polymorphisms, the nature of the allergens involved and the unique exposure to large quantities of allergen through the gut. Progress has been made in developing more specific and testable hypotheses but the evidence for any of these is still only preliminary. Further collaborative research is required to develop an appropriate public health response to this growing problem. [source] Mitochondrial phylogeography of the European sprat (Sprattus sprattus L., Clupeidae) reveals isolated climatically vulnerable populations in the Mediterranean Sea and range expansion in the northeast AtlanticMOLECULAR ECOLOGY, Issue 17 2008P. V. DEBES Abstract We examined the genetic structure of the European sprat (Sprattus sprattus) by means of a 530-bp sequence of the mitochondrial control region from 210 fish originating from seven sampling localities of its distributional range. Phylogeographical analysis of 128 haplotypes showed a phylogenetic separation into two major clades with the Strait of Sicily acting as a barrier to gene flow between them. While no population differentiation was observed based on analysis of molecular variance and net nucleotide differences between samples of the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and the Bay of Biscay nor between the Black Sea and the Bosporus, a strong population differentiation between these samples and two samples from the Mediterranean Sea was found. Further, the biggest genetic distance was observed within the Mediterranean Sea between the populations of the Gulf of Lyon and the Adriatic Sea, indicating genetic isolation of these regions. Low genetic diversities and star-like haplotype networks of both Mediterranean Sea populations point towards recent demographic expansion scenarios after low population size, which is further supported by negative FS values and unimodal mismatch distributions with a low mean. Along the northeast Atlantic coast, a northwards range expansion of a large and stable population can be assumed. The history of a diverse but differentiated Black Sea population remains unknown due to uncertainties in the palaeo-oceanography of this sea. Our genetic data did not confirm the presently used classification into subspecies but are only preliminary in the absence of nuclear genetic analyses. [source] | ||||||||||