The Lower Pra River Basin (LPRB), located in the forest zone of southern Ghana has experienced changes due to variability in precipitation and diverse anthropogenic activities. Therefore, to maintain the functions of the ecosystem for water resources management, planning and sustainable development, it is important to differentiate the impacts of precipitation variability and anthropogenic acti...

Relatively little attention has been paid to examining the spatial expansion features of cities at various tiers at the regional level in China, especially those located in central and western regions of the country. Based on Landsat satellite imagery from four years—1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010, this paper investigates the spatio-temporal pattern of urban land expansion and its influencing facto...

BACKGROUND Invasive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) infections are major causes of numerous neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) outbreaks. There have been increasing reports of MRSA outbreaks in various neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) over the last decade. Our objective was to review the experience of Staphylococcus...

We used eddy covariance and biomass measurements to quantify the carbon (C) dynamics of a naturally regenerated longleaf pine/slash pine flatwoods ecosystem in north Florida for 4 years, July 2000 to June 2002 and 2004 to 2005, to quantify how forest type, silvicultural intensity and environment influence stand-level C balance. Precipitation over the study periods ranged from extreme drought (J...

Grasslands occupy nearly three quarters of the land surface of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau (QTP) and play a critical role in regulating the ecological functions of the QTP. Ongoing climate change and human interference have greatly affected grasslands on the QTP. Differentiating human-induced and climate-driven vegetation changes is vital for both ecological understanding and the management of hu...

OBJECTIVE The present study aimed to analyse the worldwide trends of adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD), in 1961-1965 and 2000-2003. DESIGN Data were obtained from the FAO food balance sheets in two periods: 1961-1965 and 2000-2003. In order to have a sample from across the world, forty-one countries were selected. The average of available energy for different food groups was calculated...

This work describes radiography studies of the esophagus in chagasic patients of the Mambaí project over a 25 year period. Each person realized two radiographs in four different periods (1975-1976, 1980-1982, 1988-1991 and 1998-2000). The first radiograph was realized in the right anterior oblique position after swallowing 75 ml of barium sulphate solution and another 60 seconds later. In all p...

OBJECTIVE To compare the maternal and perinatal outcomes at Rajavithi Hospital from January 1st, 2000 to December 31st, 2004, (5 years), (3rd period) with those occurring in the previous two periods:1st and 2nd (1965-1970, (6 years) and 1985-1990, (6 years) respectively. MATERIAL AND METHOD Retrospective analysis of various medical records of 196 cases diagnosed pregnancy with heart disease. ...

The nearby BL Lacertae (BL Lac) object Markarian 421 (Mkn 421) at a red shift z = 0.031 was observed to undergo strong TeV γ-ray outbursts in the observational periods from December 1999 until May 2001. The time averaged flux level F (E > 1TeV) in the 1999/2000 season was (1.43± 0.04) ·10−11 ph cm−2 s−1, whereas in the 2000/2001 season the average integral flux increased to (4.19±0.04) ·10−11 p...

This paper addresses current problems of democratic instability in continental Latin America, assuming that all its countries have been at least “minimalist” democracies during the years 2000–07. To identify essential factors leading to instability, it focuses on the countries’ most recent and acute political crises. It considers two periods in the post–cold war years: 1992–99 and 2000–07. The ...