Approximately 4.5 million people in the United States who rely on well water are exposed to nitrate-N concentrations exceeding the 10 mg/l standard. In this study in the Southern Willamette Valley in Oregon we reassessed nitrate-N in rural wells sampled in 2000-2001, compared nitrate-N concentrations among geological units, and surveyed residents about their perceptions of well water quality. N...

PURPOSE This study was to explore the impact of anxiety and depression on the quality of life of hemodialysis patients. MATERIAL & METHODS The sample studied consisted of 395 hemodialysis patients. Data was collected by the completion of a specially designed questionnaire for the needs of the present study which apart from socio-demographic and clinical, it also included HADS scale to assess ...

The factor structure of the Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales (RIAS; [Reynolds, C.R., & Kamphaus, R.W. (2003). Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales. Lutz, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.]) was investigated with a large (N=1163) independent sample of referred students (ages 6–18). More rigorous factor extraction criteria (viz., Horn's parallel analysis (HPA); [Horn, J.L. (1...

PURPOSE To investigate the effects of a single prolonged exposure to recombinant epidermal growth factor on the healing of anterior keratotomy wounds in New Zealand white rabbits. METHODS After wounding, eyes were perfused for 1, 2, 4, and 8 hours with either epidermal growth factor solution at a concentration of 50 micrograms/ml or balanced saline solution using a Morgan therapeutic lens (Mo...

BACKGROUND The end of life for cancer patients is the ultimate stage of the disease, and care in this setting is important as it can improve the wellbeing not only of patients, but also the patients' family and close friends. As it is a matter of profoundly personal concerns, patients' perception of this phase of the disease is difficult to assess and has thus been insufficiently studied. Nonet...

Understanding the flows of CO2, water and energy to and from the terrestrial ecosystems is thebasis for revealing roles of terrestrial biosphere in global environmental change. This requires constantmonitoring of diverse ecosystems, rapid sharing of quality-controlled data among the global sciencecommunity and multidisciplinary synthesizing of scientific findings. This session welco...

One of the most crucial palliative care challenges is in determining how patients’ needs are defined and assessed. Although physical and psychological needs are commonly documented in patient’s charts, spiritual needs are less frequently reported. The aim of this review was to determine which explicit, longitudinal documentation of spiritual concerns would sufficiently affect clinical care to a...

Noah Fierer,* Michael S. Strickland, Daniel Liptzin, Mark A. Bradford and Cory C. Cleveland Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA Department of Environmental Scie...

As part of the Fire Lab at Missoula Experiments (FLAME) in 2006–2007, we examined hygroscopic properties of particles emitted from open combustion of 33 select biomass fuels. Measurements of humidification growth factors for subsaturated water relative humidity (RH) conditions were made with a hygroscopic tandem differential mobility analyzer (HTDMA) for dry particle sizes of 50, 100 and 250 nm...

BACKGROUND Despite the burden of progressive incurable disease in Africa, there is almost no evidence on patient care or outcomes. A primary reason has been the lack of appropriate locally-validated outcome tools. This study aimed to validate a multidimensional scale (the APCA African Palliative Outcome Scale) in a multi-centred international study. METHODS Validation was conducted across 5 A...