Optimizing tools for genomics data: enhancing the integrative genomics viewer with Java functionality for next-generation sequencing
The emergence of next-generation sequencing (NGS) has ushered in the development of genomic tools that enable the visualization of annotations across the genome. An example of such a tool is the Integrative Genomics Viewer (IGV), developed by the Broad Institute, which allows for the visualization of genomic data with greater resolution in grouping, sorting, and filtering options for bioinformatics datasets.
However, the IGV contains some features that are still limited and unrefined. For example, users must manually load files and scale tracks on the IGV application for multiple loci or for multiple samples, making visualization extremely inefficient. Additionally, IGV requires the creation of a batch file that accepts only one specific input, creating inflexibility in its acceptance of different input files. To address these limitations, this project sought to enhance and optimize the current features available in IGV by 1) accommodating different data inputs with varying syntax and 2) by developing an automated snapshot of visualized genomic data in a graphical user interface (GUI) format with greater customizability and accessibility. An architecture class socket was created to integrate IGV’s options into a customizable Java program, and a file input class was designed to read in varying comma separated values (CSV) file inputs. To prevent the IGV from overloading too many binary format sequencing (BAM) files, a file reader class was created to process up to 10 BAMs for optimized data viewing on a standard monitor. Additional classes were created to increase user customizability, including a method that condenses the IGV-generated snapshots into a single PDF or Excel-formatted report.
By generating many reports from various file inputs, the optimized version of this tool possesses several advantages including automation for greater speed, less time spent manually verifying NGS data, customizability for easier interaction with the IGV from a Java Program, and accommodation of various input file formats. Lastly, the development of the GUI interface pairs the visualization of the IGV with the versatility of the Java platform, paving the way for more expedient genomic data analysis for both biologists and bioinformaticians alike.


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Capture the essence of summer with our lemon-printed journals, a vibrant and refreshing addition to your stationery collection. Bursting with zest and charm, these lemon-themed journals are perfect for jotting down your thoughts, ideas, and daily musings. Whether you're planning your next adventure or simply seeking a burst of inspiration, this journal's delightful lemon prints will transport you to sun-soaked days and warm memories. Here are some great options.
Lemon printed journals are a delightful and vibrant addition to anyone's stationery collection. With their refreshing citrus designs, these journals are perfect for adding a pop of color and zest to your everyday note-taking or journaling routine. Whether you're a student, a creative professional, or simply someone who loves to jot down their thoughts, a lemon printed journal is a stylish and practical choice.
These journals also make fantastic gifts for friends, family, or colleagues. The cheerful lemon prints evoke feelings of happiness and positivity, making them an ideal present for birthdays, graduations, or just to show someone you care. The versatility of these journals allows them to be used for a variety of purposes, such as sketching, planning, or organizing thoughts. Their compact size and durable construction make them perfect for on-the-go use, whether it's for capturing inspiration during travels or simply jotting down ideas while out and about.
When considering a lemon printed journal, it's important to look for features that suit your specific needs. Consider factors such as the size, number of pages, and paper quality. Some journals may include additional features like ribbon bookmarks, elastic closures, or pockets for storing loose notes or mementos. Ultimately, a lemon printed journal is not only a practical tool for capturing your thoughts but also a delightful accessory that adds a touch of sunshine to your everyday life.

domain: artistic


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SECURITY guards at Secure St. Lucia Ltd who for two years have been fighting to secure sums amounting to about $700,000 owed to them by their employer will finally be rewarded.
The National Workers Union (NWU), the bargaining agent for the security guards this week said that the impasse “has been amicably resolved.”
The NWU and the management of Secure St. Lucia agreed that $652,440.19 will be paid out to the guards as overtime compensation due for 2012.
According to the NWU the security guards will be paid in small groups in keeping with the company’s cash flow position.
“The company and the union also agreed to conclude the current negotiations expeditiously and use whatever funds that remain to fund the cost of the new industrial agreement between the security services company and the National Workers Union. A memorandum of Understanding to that effect will be signed shortly at the Department of Labour,” the NWU noted Thursday.
It has been a rocky two years for the security guards who have had to undertake several initiatives to get the company to cough up the dough.
At one time last year employees of WASCO Inc. (Water and Sewerage Company Incorporated) and WINERA Ltd (Windward Islands Packaging Company Ltd) had to throw their support behind the security guards in the fight for their overtime payments.
They wrote to the Labour Department calling on Ray Narcisse, who was deputy Labour Commissioner at the time, to stand firm and resolve the matter peacefully warning him that should he fail to maintain industrial justice they would join the security guards in full solidarity.
And for the past 24 months the guards and their bargaining agent and the management of the company have had to attend several meetings at a conciliatory level under the Chairmanship of Narcisse, now Labour Commissioner, in an attempt to resolve the impasse.

domain: politics


The Heliot Europe technology group opened its branch Heliot Slovenia in December 2020 and chose Podim DX 2021 as the first regional event they’d participate in and support as one of the Podim partners.
The Heliot Group is the exclusive Internet of Things (IoT) operator of the Sigfox 0G network in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria and Slovenia. The network is ideal for wider use of IoT applications, as this low-frequency radio technology saves energy, is cost-effective, requires virtually no maintenance, is secure and more suitable for the vast majority of IoT applications than 5G technology.
In addition to supporting the development of Industry 4.0 and the digitalisation of service industries, the Heliot Europe 0G network also supports the implementation of solutions for smart cities. That’s the topic they focused on at Podim.
Tomáš Pavliček, Executive Director of Operations at Heliot Europe, addressed Podim attendees and emphasized the company’s desire to collaborate: “In the Heliot Europe Group, we help companies and cities to obtain the data they need for better management through our network and sensors. This is a great opportunity for startups to develop and grow their solutions for IoT systems and gain new business opportunities.”
Challenges and benefits of smart cities
At Podim, the Heliot Group supported the Smart cities programme block.
The highlight of the programme block was the panel discussion “How to Tackle Complex City Challenges; Business Models and Technology”, which was moderated by Nino Novinec, Sales Director at Heliot Slovenia.
Participating in the discussion were some of the top experts in the field of smart city development:
- Lorenzo Madrid, the author of the book Smart City 1.0 to 4.0, talked about the trends of transformation of urban centres into smart cities, successful smart city cases, and key success factors in the transformation.
- Amrit Dhir from the American company Sidewalk Labs spoke about the hot topic of ownership and storage of collected IoT data, which must be available to cities free of charge.
- Helmut Wöllik from 5G Playground Carinthia talked about two different technologies, IoT and artificial intelligence, their coexistence and access of start-up companies to 5G Playground’s project and data.
- Africa Arevalo Gomez, Director of International Business and Relations at the Spanish technology company Wellness TechGroup, spoke about her experience with increasing the efficiency of urban management, data collection and integration in smart cities, the platform she used, and her experience with the Sigfox protocol.
Nino Novinec said the following about the panel discussion: “We want the startups to think about the possibilities and opportunities that IoT technology provides for better city management. We want to show city managers and residents how they can use IoT to reduce the operating costs of urban services and increase profits.”
We would like to thank the Heliot Group for supporting Podim and sponsoring an extremely interesting programme block that took us into the near future of urban development.
If your startup solution is related to IoT or smart cities, they are definitely the right address for collaboration and support!


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By:- DR. Henry D.R. Carrol (M.R.G.)
Solicitor General Emeritus Of The Gambia,
Senior Oxford-Trained Lawyer &
Founder Senior Law Lecturer (U.T.G.) 2007 to date.
On Friday 29th June 2018, His Excellency President Mr. Adama Barrow, The President Of The Republic Of The Gambia and The Commander-In-Chief Of The Gambia Armed Forces, in his wisdom, decided to reshuffle his Coalition Gambia Government, in pursuance of his Executive Powers, vested in him to do so, by The Gambia’s 1997 Constitution. This political metamorphosis, came as breaking news or “a bolt from the blue” (a totally unexpected occurrence). As a result of the aforesaid prototype (first of its kind) reshuffle, four Honourable Cabinet Ministers, were Officially relieved of their respective Cabinet portfolios, some of them were re-deployed to other Ministries, while the then Vice President & Minister Of Women’s Affairs (Her Excellency Mrs. Ajaratou Fatoumata Jallow-Tambajang), was re-deployed to The Foreign Service. However Mrs. Ajaratou Jallow-Tambajang, later Officially wrote a letter to His Excellency President Mr. Adama Barrow, inter alia informing him, that she has decided to reject her Official re-deployment to The Foreign Service, and His Excellency President Mr. Adama Barrow, has accepted the aforesaid rejection Uberrimae Fidei (Latin:- in utmost good faith).
As a sequel to the Official removal of Her Excellency Mrs. Ajaratou Fatoumata Jallow-Tambajang, as The Vice President Of The Republic Of The Gambia & Minister Of Women’s Affairs, the then Honourable Mr. Ousainou Darboe, the Minister Of Foreign Affairs, International Co-Operation & Gambians Aboard, was Officially appointed as His Excellency The Vice President Of The Republic Of The Gambia & Minister Of Women’s Affairs, by His Excellency President Mr. Adama Barrow, with effect from Friday 29th June 2018. Since His Excellency Mr. Ousainou Darboe was appointed in the aforesaid dual Official capacities, some people have been ignorantly and publicly criticizing his aforesaid appointment, arguing that it was wrong, illegal and unconstitutional. Notable among the aforesaid overt critics were:- Honourable Mr. Mama Kandeh, the leader of The Gambia Democratic Congress (G.D.C.) and Mr. M.C Cham (Jr), the Youth Mobilizer of the G.D.C.
Ignorantia juris non excusat (Latin:-ignorance of the Law is no excuse). The aforesaid critics were saying, that the Official appointment of His Excellency Mr. Ousainiu Darboe, as The Vice President Of The Republic Of The Gambia, was wrong, illegal and unconstitutional, because Honourable Mr. Ousainou Darboe, the leader of the United Democratic Party (U.D.P.), was convicted by The High Court Of The Gambia in 2016, for conducting a public demonstration at Westfield, Serekunda, following the sudden death of Mr. Solo Sandeng (an Executive Member of the U.D.P.), at the then N.I.A., without an Official Clearance for this from the Inspector General Of Police (I.G.P.), in contravention of The Public Order Act (1961). After the aforesaid conviction of Honourable Mr. Ousianou Darboe , he unsuccessfully and consecutively appealed against his conviction, to both The Gambia Court Of Appeal and The Gambia Supreme Court, but unfortunately his 2 aforesaid appeals, were dismissed by the 2 aforesaid Superior Gambian Courts. This in a nutshell, is the basis or substratum why the aforesaid vocal critics of His Excellency Mr. Ousainou Darboe, are erroneously saying, that his recent Official appointment as The Vice President Of The Republic Of The Gambia, was wrong, illegal and unconstitutional.
Section 70 (2) of the aforesaid Constitution reads:- “A person shall be qualified to be appointed as Vice President if he or she has the qualifications required for the election of The President under Section 62.” Now Section 62 (1) of the aforesaid Constitution reads:-“ A person shall be qualified for election as President if:-
(a) He or she is a citizen of The Gambia by birth or descent,
(b) He or she has attained the minimum age of thirty years but not more than sixty-five years ,
© He or she has being ordinarily resident in The Gambia for the five years immediately preceding the election,
(d) He or she has completed senior secondary school education and
(e) He or she is qualified to be elected as a member of the National Assembly.”
Section 62 (1) (b) of the aforesaid Constitution, has now been recently amended by the National Assembly, so that now the amended Clause rightly does not have an upper age limit, within which the age of a Candidate for the Presidency must fall. This is in keeping with International Best Practice and it prevents discrimination on grounds of one’s age, and this is diametrically opposed to the sacrosanct and inviolable provision of Section 33 of the aforesaid Constitution, which contains a general anti-discrimination Clause. A good example of an old politician contesting for the Presidency in Africa, was My Learned Friend, His Excellency Mr. Abdoulaye Wade, a President Emeritus of neighbouring Senegal. In America, old male politicians like:- Mr. Jimmy Carter, Mr. Ronald Regan, Mr. George W Bush etc, were legally and Constitutionally qualified to contest in the political race , to The White House. The Gambia, must therefore not be an exception, to this International Best Practice.
Section 62 (2) of the aforesaid Constitution reads:-“A person who holds the citizenship or nationality of a country other than The Gambia, shall not be qualified for election as President.”
Section 62 (3) of the aforesaid Constitution reads:-“A person who, while holding Public Office In The Gambia has been:- (a) compulsorily retired, terminated or dismissed from such office or (b) has been found guilty of any criminal offence by any court or tribunal established by Law or (c) has been found liable for misconduct, negligence, corruption or improper behavior by any commission or committee of inquiry established by Law shall not be qualified for election as President.” Now let us make a detailed legal analysis, of this important Constitutional provision, vis – a – vis the recent Official appointment of His Excellency Mr Ousainou Darboe, as The Vice President Of The Republic Of The Gambia and Minister Of Women’s Affairs, by His Excellency President Mr. Adama Barrow. Section 62 (3) (b) of the aforesaid Constitution is saying :-“A person who, while holding Public Office In The Gambia has been (b) found guilty of any criminal offence by any court or tribunal established by Law…. shall not be qualified for election as President.”
What Honourable Mr. Mama Kandeh and his fellow critics fail to realize is this , when Honourable Mr. Ousainou Darboe was convicted for leading a public demonstration at Westfield in Serrekunda, after the death of Mr. Solo Sandeng at the then N.I.A.,in 2016, without first of all having an Official Clearance for this from the Inspector General Of Police (I.G.P.), in contravention of The Public Order Act (1961), when he was convicted by The High Court for this Criminal Offence, he did not commit the aforesaid Offence as a holder of a Public Office. On the contrary, he was convicted, when he was the leader of The United Democratic Party (U.D.P.), and this political position , by any stretch of the imagination, does not fall within the ambit of the definition of “a Public Office”, as expressly provided for by Section 230 of the aforesaid Constitution, which reads thus “ “Public Office” includes an Office the emoluments attached to which are pay directly from the Consolidated Fund or directly out of moneys provided by an Act of the National Assembly, and the Office of a member of a local Government Authority or a member of a Public Enterprise or of the staff of a Public Enterprise.” Clearly going by this authoritative definition, the leader of a registered Political Party, is certainly not holding a “Public Office”, therefore he or she is not a Public Officer. Indeed the leader of a Political Party, deals with or work with members of the public, in order to secure the votes of registered voters for his Party, and those voters concerned, should naturally subscribe to The Political Manifesto of his or her Political Party, but all of this, will not make that leader of a Political Party, to be holding “a Public Office.”
Even in a worst case scenario, if the aforesaid conviction, of His Excellency Mr. Ousainou Darboe is a legal impediment to him being Officially appointed as His Excellency The Vice President Of The Republic Of The Gambia, (which is clearly not the case here), be that as it may, His Excellency President Mr. Adama Barrow, can evoke the Executive Powers vested in him under Section 82 of the aforesaid Constitution entitled:- “Prerogative Of Mercy”, and accordingly grant His Excellency Mr. Ousainou Darboe, The Vice President Of The Republic Of The Gambia & Minister Of Women’s Affairs, a Presidential Pardon, which will totally erase any Criminal conviction, which he may have. Section 82 (1) of the said Constitution reads:- “The President may, after consulting the committee established by sub-section 2:-(a) grant to any person convicted of any offence a pardon either free or subject to lawful conditions.” Section 82 (2) of the aforesaid Constitution reads:- “There shall be a Committee on the exercise of the prerogative of mercy consisting of the Attorney General and three other persons appointed by the President subject to confirmation by the National Assembly.”
It is therefore very dangerous for a layman or a laywoman to trespass into a legal territory, and then to start distorting and misrepresenting sacrosanct and inviolable legal and Constitutional principles to the general public. Certainly, such unacceptable and unprofessional misconduct, is not only against Pro Bono Publico (Latin:- for the good of the public), it is also intellectual dishonesty of the highest order. Nemo dat quod non habet (Latin:- nobody gives what he does not have).
After Honourable Mr. Mama Kandeh recently appeared on the popular National Television Programme called “Kerr Fatou” , presented and hosted by Ms. Fatou Touray, on this controversial matter, His Excellency Mr. Ousainou Darboe, The Vice President Of The Republic Of The Gambia & Minister Of Women’s Affairs, was also later invited to the aforesaid T.V. Programme, for him to present his side of the story .Audi Alteram Partem (Latin:- listen to the other side). This one of the two legal principles of The Doctrine Of Natural Justice. In a nutshell, His Excellency Mr. Ousainou Darboe rightly said, that if Mr. Mama Kandeh and his fellow critics, strongly believe that his appointment as The Vice President etc was wrong, unconstitutional and illegal, then they should quickly take the matter to The Gambia Supreme Court for adjudication, and he will be waiting for them there. “A word to the wise, is quite sufficient,” as the age-old and time-honoured adage goes.
Finally, as a Canadian-Trained Theologian, let me terminate this very interesting article, with this very appropriate quotation:-
“…..but let Justice roll down like waters,
And righteousness like an ever flowing stream…”-The

domain: law


text:
Service members and their families can get free basic dental care in Delray Beach on Thursday.
Spodak Dental Group said its their opportunity to thank military personnel and their families for the sacrifices they make each day to ensure our freedom.
Their office is located at 3911 W Atlantic Ave. in Delray Beach.
Veterans, active military members and their families can receive free cleanings, exams, fillings, x-rays, treatment for tooth pain and extractions.
You are encouraged to make an appointment by calling (561) 498-0050.

domain: medical


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Yes, termites can cause allergies due to the proteins in their saliva and droppings. These proteins can trigger allergic reactions in sensitive individuals when inhaled or exposed to skin contact.
Termites are known to release these allergens into the air, and their presence in homes or buildings can lead to symptoms such as sneezing, coughing, wheezing, and skin irritation. It is important to address termite infestations promptly to minimize the risk of allergies and other health issues.
The Connection Between Termites And Allergies
Termites can trigger allergies due to their shed skin and droppings, leading to respiratory issues and skin irritation in sensitive individuals. Regular termite inspection and treatment can help mitigate these potential allergic reactions.
Termites are not only a nuisance when it comes to damaging your home, but they can also have an impact on your health. In this section, we will explore the connection between termites and allergies, focusing on understanding the allergies caused by termites, common symptoms and reactions, and the importance of proper identification and diagnosis.
Understanding The Allergies Caused By Termites
- Termites can release allergens into the air, which can trigger allergic reactions in susceptible individuals.
- These allergens are typically found in termite droppings, saliva, and decomposing termite bodies.
- When inhaled, these allergens can cause the immune system to overreact and produce symptoms similar to other common allergies.
- The allergic reaction is triggered by specific proteins present in the termite allergens.
Common Symptoms And Reactions
- Allergic reactions to termites can vary from mild to severe, depending on the individual’s sensitivity and exposure.
- Some people may experience symptoms such as sneezing, runny nose, itchy eyes, and congestion, similar to hay fever or other respiratory allergies.
- In more severe cases, individuals may develop asthma symptoms, such as coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath.
- Skin irritation, rashes, and hives can also occur upon direct contact with termites or their allergens.
Importance Of Proper Identification And Diagnosis
- Proper identification of termite-related allergies is crucial for effective treatment and management.
- The symptoms of termite allergies can often be mistaken for other respiratory or skin conditions, making accurate diagnosis essential.
- Consultation with a healthcare professional or allergist is recommended for proper assessment and identification of the allergens causing the symptoms.
- Once the specific allergens are identified, appropriate treatment options, such as medication or allergen immunotherapy, can be prescribed to manage the allergies effectively.
Termites can indeed cause allergies due to the release of allergens in their droppings, saliva, and decomposing bodies. This can lead to various allergic reactions, ranging from mild symptoms like sneezing and a runny nose to more severe conditions such as asthma.
It is essential to properly identify and diagnose termite-related allergies to ensure appropriate treatment and management. Consulting a healthcare professional or allergist is key to accurately identifying the allergens and finding the most suitable treatment options. So, if you have been experiencing allergic symptoms and suspect termite allergens to be the cause, seek professional guidance for a proper diagnosis and effective management.
Exploring Termite Allergens
Termites can potentially cause allergies through the presence of allergens in their droppings and saliva. Those sensitive to these allergens may experience symptoms such as sneezing, itching, and difficulty breathing. It is important to take proactive measures to prevent termite infestations and minimize the risk of allergic reactions.
Termites may be small, but their impact on our health can be significant. In this section, we will delve into the identification of termite allergens, the impact of termite infestations on indoor air quality, and the factors that influence the release of these allergens.
Identification Of Termite Allergens:
- Termite saliva, feces, and body parts are known to contain potent allergens that can trigger allergic reactions in sensitive individuals.
- These allergens are proteins, specifically enzymes and proteins found in the digestive system of termites, that can cause allergic symptoms such as asthma, wheezing, coughing, and skin rashes.
Impact Of Termite Infestations On Indoor Air Quality:
- Termites thrive in damp environments, and their infestations can result in higher humidity levels indoors. This creates a favorable environment for mold growth, leading to further indoor air quality issues.
- The constant activity of termites within walls and wooden structures can release their allergenic particles into the air, leading to respiratory problems for those who are sensitive.
Factors Influencing The Release Of Allergens:
- Termite infestations can increase the amount of allergens being released into the indoor environment. Factors that can affect the release of these allergens include:
- The size and activity level of the termite colony.
- The condition and age of the infested wood.
- The level of disturbances, such as vibrations or air movement, that can cause the release of particulate matter containing allergenic proteins.
Termites can indeed cause allergies. Their allergenic proteins found in saliva, feces, and body parts can trigger allergic reactions, leading to respiratory issues and skin reactions. Additionally, termite infestations can adversely affect indoor air quality by promoting mold growth and releasing allergenic particles into the air.
By understanding the identification of termite allergens and the factors influencing their release, we can take proactive measures to minimize the risk to our health.
Understanding The Mechanism Of Allergic Reactions
Termites may cause allergies due to their shed skins and droppings, which contain allergenic proteins. Understanding the mechanism of allergic reactions can help in avoiding potential health risks associated with termite infestations.
Termites, those tiny insects that can wreak havoc on our homes, may not just be a nuisance when it comes to damaging our beloved properties. These pesky creatures have also been known to cause allergic reactions in some individuals. If you’ve ever wondered how termites can trigger allergies, this blog post will shed some light on the mechanism behind these allergic responses.
Allergic reactions occur when the body’s immune system overreacts to a seemingly harmless substance, in this case, the allergens produced by termites. Let’s delve deeper into the role of the immune system and the complications that can arise from these reactions.
The Body’S Immune Response To Termite Allergens
- Termites produce proteins and enzymes that can act as allergens when they come into contact with humans.
- When a person with a sensitivity to termite allergens is exposed to them, their immune system recognizes these substances as threats.
- The immune system goes into defense mode, producing antibodies called immunoglobulin e (ige) specifically designed to combat these allergens.
- Upon subsequent encounters with termite allergens, these ige antibodies trigger the release of chemicals, such as histamines, into the body.
Role Of Histamines In Allergic Reactions
- Histamines are released in response to the allergens and play a crucial role in the symptoms experienced during an allergic reaction.
- Histamines cause dilation of blood vessels, leading to increased blood flow to the affected area, resulting in swelling, redness, and itching.
- They also increase mucus production, causing runny noses, sneezing, and congestion.
- Histamines can also affect the respiratory system, leading to wheezing and difficulty breathing in more severe cases.
Potential Complications And Long-Term Effects
- Allergic reactions to termite allergens can range from mild to severe, with symptoms varying depending on individual sensitivity.
- In some cases, repeated exposure to termite allergens can lead to the development of asthma, a chronic respiratory condition characterized by inflammation and narrowing of the airways.
- Prolonged exposure to termite allergens may also increase the risk of developing other respiratory and allergic conditions, making it crucial to address any potential termite infestations promptly.
Understanding the mechanism of allergic reactions caused by termites can help individuals recognize the symptoms and seek appropriate medical attention. If you suspect you have an allergy to termite allergens, it is advisable to consult with a healthcare professional for proper diagnosis and management.
By taking the necessary steps to control termite infestations and minimize exposure to allergens, you can reduce the risk of allergies and their potential complications.
Identifying High-Risk Groups
Termites can cause allergies in high-risk groups due to the proteins present in their saliva and droppings. Identifying these groups is essential for proper prevention and treatment.
Vulnerable Populations Prone To Termite Allergies
Termite allergies can affect anyone, but certain groups are more susceptible to experiencing severe allergic reactions. Identifying these high-risk populations can help individuals and healthcare providers take appropriate precautions and provide targeted education. Here are some groups that are particularly vulnerable to termite allergies:
- Children: Young children, especially those aged 2-6, have developing immune systems that may react more strongly to allergens like termite droppings and saliva.
- Elderly individuals: As people age, their immune system weakens, making them more susceptible to allergies, including termite-induced allergies.
- Genetics: Family history plays a significant role in determining an individual’s allergic tendencies. If one or both parents have an allergy, their children are more likely to develop allergies as well.
- Pre-existing respiratory conditions: People with pre-existing respiratory conditions, such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (copd), are at higher risk of developing allergic reactions to termites due to their compromised respiratory systems.
- Increased susceptibility: Individuals with compromised immune systems, such as those with hiv/aids or undergoing immunosuppressive treatments, may be more susceptible to termite-induced allergies.
Remember, prevention and early identification are key in managing termite allergies. Understanding the high-risk groups empowers individuals to take proactive measures to minimize exposure and seek appropriate treatment when necessary.
Preventing Termite-Related Allergies
Termites have been linked to allergic reactions, making it crucial to prevent infestations. By taking preventive measures and regularly inspecting your home, you can minimize the risk of termite-related allergies and keep your family safe.
Termites may be small pests, but the allergies they can cause are anything but insignificant. If you or your loved ones have been experiencing unexplained sneezing, coughing, or itchy eyes, it’s essential to consider termites as a potential culprit. Fortunately, there are effective preventive measures you can take to minimize your risk of developing termite-related allergies.
To keep your home safe and your health protected, follow these guidelines:
Effective Prevention And Control Measures:
- Eliminate moisture sources: Repair any leaks, fix plumbing issues, and ensure proper drainage in your home to reduce moisture levels, making it less hospitable for termites.
- Install proper ventilation: Good airflow helps keep humidity in check, making your home less attractive to termites. Consider installing vents in crawl spaces, attics, and other areas prone to dampness.
- Use termite-resistant materials: When building or renovating your home, opt for materials that termites find unappealing, such as concrete, steel, or pressure-treated wood.
- Create a termite barrier: Install physical barriers like metal screens or termite-resistant membranes in the soil around your home to prevent termites from entering.
- Seal any cracks or gaps: Termites can squeeze through even the tiniest openings. Seal cracks in your foundation, walls, and windows to prevent their entry.
- Remove debris and wood piles: Clear any dead wood, piles of leaves, and other debris from your property as they can attract termites. Store firewood away from your home and above ground level.
Effective prevention requires proactiveness, but it’s worth the effort to protect your family and home from termite-related allergies.
Importance Of Timely Termite Inspections:
- Seek professional inspections: Regular termite inspections by professionals can help identify infestations early on, preventing potential allergic reactions.
- Schedule routine checks: In areas prone to termites, it’s advisable to schedule inspections annually or biannually, depending on your region’s termite activity.
- Check for signs of termite activity: Look out for mud tubes, discarded wings, frass (termite droppings), or damaged wood, as these are signs of an infestation.
- Take immediate action: If termites are detected, contact a pest control professional immediately to eliminate the infestation and minimize the risk of allergies.
Being proactive with inspections ensures that any termite activity is promptly addressed, reducing the likelihood of allergic reactions and potential damage.
Maintaining A Clean And Pest-Free Environment:
- Practice good sanitation: Keeping your home clean and clutter-free reduces the chances of attracting termites. Regularly vacuum, dust, and sweep to eliminate food sources that can entice them.
- Store food properly: Store food in airtight containers to prevent easy access for termites and other pests.
- Address moisture issues promptly: Promptly fix any leaks or water damage to prevent excess moisture that can attract termites.
- Maintain landscaping: Trim shrubs and trees that touch your home, as they can act as bridges for termites to access your property.
Maintaining a clean and pest-free environment is crucial in minimizing the risk of termite-related allergies. By following these preventive measures and ensuring regular inspections, you’ll be taking important steps towards maintaining a healthy and termite-free home.
Managing Termite Allergies
Termites can cause allergic reactions in individuals, requiring careful management to alleviate symptoms and prevent further exposure. Understanding the link between termites and allergies is crucial for effective treatment and prevention.
Termite allergies can cause discomfort and irritation for those affected. However, don’t worry! There are various treatment options and management strategies available to help alleviate symptoms and reduce the impact of termite allergies. In this section, we will explore these options in detail.
Treatment Options For Termite Allergies
Managing termite allergies involves addressing both the symptoms and the underlying causes. Here are some effective treatment options to consider:
- Medications: Over-the-counter antihistamines can provide relief from allergic reactions caused by termites. These medications help to reduce itching, inflammation, and other discomforts associated with allergies. Corticosteroid creams or ointments can also be applied topically to alleviate skin irritations caused by termite bites.
- Allergy shots: In more severe cases, allergen immunotherapy, also known as allergy shots, may be recommended. These shots contain small amounts of termite allergens and are administered over a period of time to help build up the individual’s tolerance to the allergen.
- Nasal irrigation: Regularly rinsing the nasal passages with a saline solution can help wash away allergens, providing relief from congestion, sneezing, and other nasal symptoms caused by termite allergies.
- Environmental control: Taking steps to minimize termite exposure can greatly reduce allergy symptoms. This includes sealing cracks and crevices to prevent entry, repairing any termite-infested areas, and implementing effective termite control measures. Consulting with a professional pest control service is essential for long-term management.
Medications And Symptom Relief
When it comes to managing termite allergies, medications play a crucial role in providing relief from symptoms. Here are some commonly prescribed medications and symptom relief strategies:
- Antihistamines: These medications help block the effects of histamine, a chemical released by the body in response to allergens. Antihistamines can effectively relieve itching, sneezing, and watery eyes caused by termite allergies.
- Decongestants: If nasal congestion is a major symptom, decongestants can provide temporary relief by narrowing blood vessels and reducing swelling in nasal passages, allowing for easier breathing.
- Corticosteroids: These anti-inflammatory drugs are available in various forms, such as nasal sprays, inhalers, or oral tablets, and can effectively alleviate inflammation caused by termite allergies.
- Eye drops: For individuals experiencing itchy, red, or watery eyes due to termite allergies, over-the-counter eye drops can provide immediate relief and soothe eye irritations.
Long-Term Management Strategies
In addition to medications and short-term symptom relief, implementing long-term management strategies is vital in controlling termite allergies effectively. Here are some strategies to consider:
- Maintain a clean environment: Regularly clean your home, paying special attention to areas where termites are commonly found, such as basements, attics, and crawl spaces. Ensure proper ventilation to reduce moisture, as termites thrive in damp environments.
- Eliminate termite habitats: Minimize any potential termite habitats around your property by removing woodpiles, decaying leaves, and other organic matter that may attract termites.
- Professional termite control: Consult a professional pest control service to conduct regular inspections and implement effective termite control measures. They can help identify and treat termite infestations promptly, reducing the risk of allergic reactions.
- Seal entry points: Seal any cracks, gaps, or openings in your home’s foundation, walls, and windows to prevent termite entry.
- Consider alternative construction materials: Opting for termite-resistant construction materials can provide long-term relief from termite allergies. These materials are designed to deter termite infestations, reducing the risk of allergic reactions.
Remember, managing termite allergies requires a comprehensive approach that includes both short-term symptom relief and long-term preventative measures. By following these treatment options and implementing effective management strategies, you can minimize the impact of termite allergies and enjoy a more comfortable living environment.
Seeking Professional Help
Termites can potentially trigger allergies, and seeking professional help is crucial to address this issue. With their ability to release allergens into the air, termites can cause respiratory problems and allergic reactions. Professional pest control experts can effectively eliminate termite infestations and provide relief from allergies.
Can Termites Cause Allergies?
Termites not only pose a threat to the structural integrity of our homes but can also have a detrimental impact on our health, particularly for individuals with allergies. While most people associate allergies with pollen or pet dander, termites can also trigger allergic reactions in susceptible individuals.
If you suspect that termites may be the cause of your allergies, seeking professional help is crucial to effectively address the issue and find relief.
When To Consult A Healthcare Professional
If you experience any of the following symptoms and suspect termites may be the cause, it is advisable to consult a healthcare professional:
- Frequent sneezing and a runny nose, especially when indoors.
- Persistent cough or wheezing that worsens at home.
- Itchy or watery eyes, particularly in areas where termites are prevalent.
- Skin rashes or hives that appear without any explainable reason.
- Allergic reactions such as difficulty breathing, chest tightness, or swelling of the face, lips, tongue, or throat.
A healthcare professional can assess your symptoms, perform necessary tests, and determine whether termites are indeed the underlying cause of your allergies. It is essential to seek expert medical advice to receive appropriate treatment and management strategies.
Importance Of A Comprehensive Assessment And Diagnosis
To effectively address allergies caused by termites, it is crucial to undergo a comprehensive assessment and receive an accurate diagnosis. This involves:
- Identifying the presence of termites in your home through professional termite inspection.
- Evaluating the extent of allergen exposure and understanding the specific triggers.
- Assessing the severity of allergy symptoms and their impact on your overall well-being.
- Conducting relevant medical tests to confirm the connection between termites and allergies.
By obtaining a comprehensive assessment and diagnosis, you can gain a clear understanding of the problem, enabling healthcare professionals to develop tailored treatment plans and preventive measures.
Collaborating With Pest Control Experts For Effective Solutions
Addressing termite-induced allergies requires collaborative efforts between healthcare professionals and pest control experts. By working together, they can provide effective solutions to alleviate symptoms and prevent future allergic reactions. Here’s how pest control experts can help:
- Identify and eradicate termite infestations in your home using appropriate treatments.
- Implement preventive measures to minimize allergen exposure and eliminate termite habitats.
- Offer guidance on maintaining a termite-free environment and practicing proper hygiene.
- Educate homeowners on the importance of regular pest inspections and early intervention.
By partnering with pest control experts, healthcare professionals can ensure a holistic approach to managing termite-related allergies, promoting a healthier living environment for individuals affected.
Remember, seeking professional help is vital when dealing with termite-induced allergies. A comprehensive assessment and diagnosis, coupled with collaboration between healthcare professionals and pest control experts, can help you find effective solutions and alleviate the discomfort caused by termites. Don’t hesitate to take action and safeguard your health and well-being.
Frequently Asked Questions Of Can Termites Cause Allergies
Can Termites Cause Allergies?
Termites can cause allergies as they release droppings that contain allergens. These allergens can trigger allergic reactions in sensitive individuals, leading to symptoms like coughing, sneezing, and itchy eyes. It is important to address termite infestations promptly to avoid potential health risks associated with allergies.
Termites may be small creatures, but their impact on human health should not be underestimated. The presence of termites in a home can lead to the release of allergenic particles that can trigger allergic reactions in sensitive individuals. These reactions can range from mild symptoms like sneezing and itching to more severe respiratory problems such as asthma attacks.
It is essential for homeowners to be aware of the potential link between termites and allergies, especially if they notice signs of termite infestation in their property. Prevention is key when it comes to termites and allergies. Regular inspections and effective termite control measures can help mitigate the risk of exposure to allergens and minimize allergic reactions.
Maintaining a clean and dry environment, reducing moisture sources, and promptly addressing any termite infestations can go a long way in safeguarding against allergies caused by termites. While termites are primarily known for the damage they can cause to homes, they can also pose a threat to our health by triggering allergies.
By taking proactive measures to prevent and control termite infestations, we can protect ourselves and our loved ones from the potential health risks associated with these pesky insects.
A Z M Mahadi Hassan is an ardent advocate for sustainable living, spearheading the eco-conscious blog ecolifely.com. With roots in environmental science, he blend personal experience with expert insights, offering practical advice on eco-friendly practices. Growing up close to nature, A Z M Mahadi Hassan cultivated a deep respect for the environment, shaping his mission to make green living accessible. The blog covers topics from zero-waste lifestyles to organic gardening, inspiring readers to embrace minimalism and sustainability. Apart from blogging, he engage in community environmental initiatives, embodying the ethos of his writings in daily life.


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Ahram e Junoon Episode 8 | 30th May 2023 | Geo TV Drama
Ahram e Junoon Episode 8 Geo Tv Drama 30th May 2023 in HD, Pakistani Drama Ahram e Junoon Episode 8 Dailymotion 30th May 2023 Geo Tv Entertainment Live. Watch Ahram e Junoon Drama Episode 8 Full Episode Online in High-Quality Video by HAR PAL GEO TV Youtube Live Streaming.
Pakistani Drama Ahram e Junoon Episode 8 is set to be released on Tuesday, May 30, 2023, at 08:00 PM. The episode will be aired on Har Pal Geo TV officially Pakistani TV Channel. It will also be available to fans across the world via HAR PAL GEO Youtube and Dailymotion streaming platforms.
“Ehraam-e-Junoon” follows the story of a young and immensely beautiful girl named Shanzay, who is filled with pride and stubbornness due to her upper-class upbringing. Shanzay believes that money can buy everything, including happiness.
Despite her high standards, Shanzay is yet to find a man who can impress her until she meets Shayan at an event. Shayan is a handsome young man from a middle-class family, who takes up a job as a pizza delivery boy to make ends meet. Shanzay who is immediately drawn to Shayan wants to provide him with a better lifestyle however, Shayan keeps his distance and refuses to accept any of Shanzay’s advances.
As the story unfolds, Shanzay and Shayan’s paths cross again and again, and Shanzay begins to question her beliefs about love and money. Will Shayan be the one to break through Shanzay’s walls of pride and stubbornness, or will she continue to chase after superficial things?
The drama serial “Ehraam-e-Junoon” promises to take viewers on a rollercoaster ride of emotions as it explores the themes of love, pride, and class differences.
Table of Contents
Ahram e Junoon Episode 8 | Har Pal Geo Tv Drama | 30th May 2023
Ehraam-e-Junoon Drama Cast & Characters – Geo TV
Neelam Muneer as Shanzay
Imran Abbas as Shani
Nimra Khan as Sajeela
Aadi Khan as Jugno
Maira Khan as Nadia
Zainab Qayyum as Samiya
Mehmood Aslam as Kamran
Written By: Jahanzeb Qamar Directed By: Syed Ramish Rizvi Produced By: Abdullah Kadwani & Asad Qureshi Production House: 7th Sky Entertainment


Got a letter from the Bruins today. They’re offering discount tickets for upcoming games for the friends of us season ticket holders, because Nikki Caldwell is a fan-gettin pimp. They’re also opening up a “hospitality room” for us.
Before the Kansas, USC, Arizona State, Stanford and Cal games, the Chancellor’s Room in Pauley Pavilion will be opened for season ticket holders, and at halftime. Light refreshments will be provided, and one of the assistant coaches will visit at 30 minutes before tipoff to give us a scouting report of the opponent. Enclosed in the letter was a pretty laminated hospitality pass for myself and a guest.
Pretty cool, huh? I can’t wait to schmooze, although I’ll have to wait until the USC game Jan. 11, as I’m going to miss the Kansas game this Sunday. Going home to see my people Saturday, but I’ll watch the game on TV.


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Hi friend Ahmet Bekir Great picture.Awesome framing.Excellent perspective and depth
I like it 34
Kind regards from Spain Ferlancor:-)
Many thanks my dear friends Laurel and Ferlancor for your lovely comments to this photo. I shall reply to you by visiting your galleries as soon as time allows :)))
Very Good place!LIKE!
I love 5th Avenue...great shot..like..Scarulu16
Many thanks my dear friends Gyula and Scarulu, for your lovely comments to this photo.
A beautiful picture of the modern city! LIKE.
With best wishes from Riga,
Foarte frumos acest loc!
Felicitari pentru frumoasele imagini!
O seara frumoasa iti doresc.Lidia
GREETINGS FROM NEPAL
Impressive! I liked.
Esta foto me gusta,LIKE42.Muy hermosa esta vista de la avenida mas famosa del mundo!!!
Saludos desde Caracas.
Jardin Botanico UCV
Many thanks my dear Pano friends Boris, zlalem, Lidia, Dewarshi, Samad and filippo, for your lovely comments to this photo. I'll reply to you by visiting your galleries.
Hi, Ahmet - nice view to the street LIKE - thanks for visiting - Greetings from Bohemia
Very , very nice view !
You do not have acrophobia ????
I like it!
My friendly greeting,Natuska
Many thanks my dear friends
votoja and Natuska, for your lovely comments to this photo.
Very beautiful picture. LIKE.
Wonderful city landscape! LIKE-48! Greetings from Ukraine. Yuri.
Many thanks my Pano friends senmax and Yuri, for your comments and likes to this photo, greetings, Ahmet
Beautiful city... kind greetings from Poland... LIKE
Very nice street shot.Greetings,Robert
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Photo taken in Midtown East, New York, NY, USA
New York City Police Foundation
Misplaced? Suggest new location

domain: hobby


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aggiedad77 » July 2nd, 2015,
Thursday News Summaries and Commentaries
Looking Abadi, head of the UN Mission with the US and British ambassadors guard the law
PM Abadi meets with the UN Mission rep to Iraq and both ambassadors from the US and Britain, stressing the need for national reconciliation meetings as well as the importance behind the National Guard Law, the importance of it to all of Iraq as this group will be grounded to provide security in all areas of Iraq on a consistent basis.
He appreciates the support from the three individuals and their respective bodies they represent and hopes for this continued support as Iraq pushes this agenda forward in the coming days and weeks.
Interior announces the arrival of the first shipments of crude national card
Are we being provided with hints of the HCL to come....are these cards the precursor of how the citizens portion will be loaded and provided to them in an automatic and "e" function type of manner....wouldn't that just be the icing on the cake, maybe the cherry atop the ice cream.....keep an eye on this process and see what it brings to the Iraqis.
Image: global markets able to receive bonds that will be launched by the government
Those bonds, the illusive bonds that Iraq continues to talk about, the fervor seems to mount with them, all that seems to be lacking is the credit rating that they seem to suspect or know is coming and will be worthy of them putting these bonds on the open international market....an attraction for a variety of investors no doubt....but not for you and I....these will be high level bonds meant for countries and very large companies or whales to invest in most likely....from the issuance of these bonds they are expecting a number of jobs to be created (20,000 in fact) and that is a good thing for the economy and Iraqi citizens.
Economist: the fiscal deficit for Iraq amounted to $ 7 billion up to the month of May
Well yes the deficit is real and building....thru the end of May it amounted to $7 billion dollars for the year......they need to push the price of oil up over the $56/barrel target....they are close to that but close doesn't count in this game of swim or sink....their nose needs to be above the budget line.....their plans for oil production did not quite meet expectations either....but June is looking like a good month finally.....stay focused and keep pushing for more production....expect some backsliding though if the Kurds do pull out of the oil deal signed with Baghdad like some there are talking of doing.
Deputy for the Kurdistan government warns of "repercussions" of the World Bank loan and invites them to take advantage of the "oil of Kurdistan"
Some Kurd Parliament members are still looking for an agreement between Baghdad and Erbil on the oil issues, thinking such a deal would be more advantageous to Iraq than borrowing $800 million or so from the World Bank....they believe that such a loan would be crippling to Iraq due to constraints the WB would place on Iraq as part of the payout for the loan. Every street corner has an opinion on what is good or bad, if you don't like what this corner is saying....just walk to the next corner or cross the street.
Approval of the owner and director of the prison Ahli Bank stole more than 625 billion dinars
No surprises here, you do the crime then PM Abadi says you do the time...prison time....in this case the owner of the National Bank in Basra and several of his staff get caught taking more than 600 billion dinars....so was it worth 10 years of your life....I seriously doubt it.
Parliament held its second meeting in the presence of 216 deputies
Parliament's second session in a row was just as productive as the first....not being demeaning to them for they were indeed busy....just not with any laws of significant consequence.....but those are coming I am sure....the hokey pokey always starts out just a bit slow to let everyone find the right rhythm.
Abadi adviser: Money Laundering Act contributes funds looted Iraq returns
The Anti-Money Laundering Act/Law has been put on the table for Parliament to deal with now.....remember there is a time gun associated with this and that will be the end of this year so let's not dilly-dally on this until the very end.....get this passed so Iraq stays off the money laundering black list of the world.....in other words....keep this out of the hands of the Finance Committee if you expect to see anything done with it.
Parliamentary Finance denies intention Iraq withdraw any loan from Japan
Someday.....one day....these boys and girls are going to learn to just be quiet and try and identify what their jobs really consist of...until that time....I guess we just have to keep listening to their drivel......for starters and I could be wrong on this...but the Minister of Finance works for the PM....not the government.....if he's working any deals around the world...with Japan or anyone else for that matter I am sure he is doing his job at the request and full understanding from PM Abadi.....not so much from the Finance Committee.....they operate on two completely different planes.....one day they will understand the distinction.
$ 25.5 billion of Iraq's oil revenues during the first half of 2015
Reports are indicating that for the first half of 2015 the oil revenues for Iraq amounted to just over $25 billion dollars...this on an export of 530 million barrels of oil...and based on sales prices ranging from $50-55/barrel.....getting close to the breakeven budget point of $56/barrel....hopes are for the second half of the year to continue to show improvements both in export quantities and oil prices.
Parliament's legal (et): next week will hold consultations between the three blocs to pass important laws
This is a sign of some positive action that could be coming up next week within Parliament....plans by the Legal Committee to get a couple of these more important laws pushed to the forefront of the Parliament agenda hopefully....the National Guard Law, the Federal Court Law, and the Law of Parties....apparently these are close to a vote and are believed to be doable in the very near future.
Banking bonds to ease the Iraqi fiscal deficit
Some say the bonds that Iraq speaks of are going to help ease the burden associated with the budget for 2015 others say these bonds could be harmful.....I say that if they sit around and merely continue to talk about these concerns without taking action that in and of itself will prove harmful for all of Iraq.....get the credit rating....float the bonds out both domestically and internationally as has been proposed and see what happens.....
With the right kind of rating I think the process will be a big boost towards lessening the deficit they now face....on top of this if the Oil Ministry can issue bonds as well to pay off the international oil companies that will be another plus and an incentive for those boys to keep working full speed ahead instead of slowing down because of lack of payment.....bonds....bonds....bonds.....they are seriously cropping up everywhere.....like the stars.
A national plan to attract talent from abroad
Iraq is working on a plan....and enticement plan that could draw professional talent from abroad into the country to help them overcome some serious hurdles in key areas of industry....money, land, and tax exemptions might fare favorably for some who would want to take the risk of coming to the aid of Iraq as they continue to work on economic recovery and the rebuilding of their private sector businesses.
Deputy Kurdish: The government is on track to borrow "800" million dollars
More talk of ill-will should the Iraqis follow through and obtain an $800 million dollar loan from the World Bank....great impositions are seen falling upon the southern part of the country....and this is all for helping with the salary actions for those who work in the power generation sector for Iraq....some think the WB will cause Iraq to cower due to the repayment structuring that is rumored to be going into place with such a loan as this.
Economist: Iraq threatened to enter the black list
Ok, serious business here....listen up Iraq and in particular you Parliament members.....the Anti-Money Laundering Law is in your laps....the COM got thru this fairly quickly and now there are expectations from COM and the CBI for you folks to hustle up and do your job....talk to Michael Jordan for a definition of hustle if you have to.....but "git 'er done" folks that black list is not something you want to wake up one morning and find your name on.....stay away from that like the plague.....sooner would be better than later on this issue.
Kurdish lawmaker: the second year of the parliament will be the enactment of important laws Bus
Bus, train, plane, or automobile.....don't much care how you make it happen....but get some of these laws on the fast track and get them passed.....stop the stonewalling and get on with the show....for your next act...an agenda that has some worthy laws appearing on it.
KRG to set up Foreign Loans Committee
Yes there is definitely austere programs running all through Iraq today due to the fall in oil prices, the fight against DAASH, the issues over liquidity and the list goes on and on.....but are the Kurds getting the short of end of the deal from Baghdad, they have pumped a large amount of oil out of their region this year and have yet to see even half of the budget funds allotted to them in return....
They also have taken in hundreds of thousands of displaces citizens in the past year or so who fled their homes and provinces in front of the nasty dealings they would have faced with DAASH had they stayed home....something needs to give here and some compassion needs to be shown to the Kurds and these people....times are tough yes indeed....but sit down at a table somewhere and strike a deal that can be worked from both angles.
The World Bank in the rescue Iraq from the financial liquidity crisis
Again more talk good and bad about loans from the World Bank.....can they rescue Iraq from a financial crisis and do it in such a way that will not lead to other forms of detrimental consequences for Iraqis.....the WB I am sure will want to see some meaningful concessions being made by the Iraqis....just what at this point is anyone's guess.
Banking bonds to ease the Iraqi fiscal deficit
Article after article on these bonds....they need a credit rating to move things forward....will that credit rating be worthy enough to attract investors....the Iraqis sure seem to think so.....the proceeds from these bonds will be allegedly used to retire some of the deficit associated with the 2015 budget.....they need something north of $20 billion dollars to handle these issues with the budget...meanwhile the Oil Ministry wants to use bonds to raise money to pay what they owe the international oil companies....bonds they are on everyone's check list right now it seems like.
The Investment Committee is a parliamentary laws "important" will raise the capacity of the Iraqi economy!
The Investment Law coming to a Parliament agenda near you....sometime....soon we hear....but soon in Iraq....well never mind on that....we will keep an eye out for this law to surface for a vote and hopefully it does happen and they stop ducking the issue or kicking the can down the road.
Parliamentary power: the Shiite alliance behind disable oil and gas law
Make it so No 1.....wish it were so easy.....problem is the illusive oil and gas law is much like trying to find Carmen Santiago.....where is it....in the budget....in the hands of COM.....it definitely does not seem to be in the lap of Parliament.....just make it happen already....get an agreement ironed out with the Kurds and move the ball forward.....on the attack....proactive.
Araji of the Parliament: Coming Soon gas oil law in the Council of Ministers and the siege on the region
So Araji is a Deputy PM to Abadi.....he's saying that COM has the ball with regard to the oil and gas law.....he spoke at length it seems, mainly focused on energy in other forms than oil....electricity for a big choice and power generation.....all of which is vitally important to Iraq for one reason or another.....but the bottom line is they need to find a agreement stance with the Kurds and then roll forward with the oil and gas law that will help to define many things to many in Iraq.....move it forward.
Break time for me here.....lots to digest today, but mostly all upbeat and positive.....keeping things in motion that is what it is all about....remembering the BEST is yet to come.

domain: news


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With the NTAs right around the corner, Kate Garraway has made a pretty bold promise if Good Morning Britain wins.
GMB is nominated for the gong for Best Daytime Show going up against the likes of This Morning, Loose Women, The Jeremy Kyle Show and Sunday Brunch.
And now 51-year-old Kate has vowed to dye her hair bright orange if the show is voted to win.
Speaking on today’s instalment, Kate’s potential new do was mocked up on screen, giving her a short ginger bob.
“Oh no, I’m not doing that! Could I wear a wig?” she said, before co-host Ben Shephard joked, “When you say you’re not doing it, that could be your natural hair colour, we don’t know.”
“That could be my ten year challenge, you don’t know do you?” Kate added.
But Kate isn’t the only one who’s made a bizarre pledge if the morning telly show takes home the gong, as the star continued, “I’m going to dye my hair lurid GMB orange, Ben’s going to wear gold hot pants, Charlotte is getting something pierced or tattooed, Richard’s wearing a fur coat with no knickers.”
Weatherman Alex Beresford also chipped in, adding, “I’ll dye my beard GMB orange,”
Meanwhile, Susanna Reid also opened up about her vow to go on an ‘eight-hour bender’ following the NTAs.
“Susanna’s promised if we win to go on an eight-hour bender that night and present Good Morning Britain drunk,” Piers Morgan revealed on Loose Women earlier this week.
The 53-year-old then confessed his very own shock promise, adding, “It is going to be worth watching. Secondly, I have decided to offer to go vegan for a week, which I know will actually kill me. So if you vote for us, she will present the show drunk and I will die.”
Well, after Piers recently threw up into a bin after trying one bite of a vegan sausage roll, we can’t imagine that’s going to go very well…


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According to our database1, Alejandro Ortega-Arranz authored at least 6 papers between 2017 and 2019.
Legend:Book In proceedings Article PhD thesis Other
Exploring the Problems Experienced by Learners in a MOOC Implementing Active Learning Pedagogies.
Proceedings of the Digital Education: At the MOOC Crossroads Where the Interests of Academia and Business Converge, 2019
Creating engaging experiences in MOOCs through in-course redeemable rewards.
Proceedings of the 2018 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference, 2018
From Low-Scale to Collaborative, Gamified and Massive-Scale Courses: Redesigning a MOOC.
Proceedings of the Digital Education: Out to the World and Back to the Campus, 2017
Gamifying Collaborative Activities in MOOCs.
Proceedings of Work in Progress Papers of the Experience and Research Tracks and Position Papers of the Policy Track at EMOOCs 2017 co-located with the EMOOCs 2017 Conference, 2017
Marco para el Análisis de la Colaboración y la Gamificación en MOOC.
Proceedings of the Actas de la Jornada de MOOCs en Español en EMOOCs 2017, 2017
How Gamification Is Being Implemented in MOOCs? A Systematic Literature Review.
Proceedings of the Data Driven Approaches in Digital Education, 2017

domain: library


Quote:The police will now stop and frisk people believed to be carrying knives.
An epidemic of stabbings and acid attacks in London has gotten so bad that London mayor Sadiq Khan is announcing broad new "knife control" policies designed to keep these weapons of war out of the hands of Londoners looking to cause others harm.
The "tough, immediate" measures involve an incredible police crackdown, a ban on home deliveries of knives and acid, and expanding law enforcement stop-and-search powers so that police may stop anyone they believe to be a threat, or planning a knife or acid attack.
More @ dailywire.com
Knives and acid aren't the problem here, how insulting.
Un Strigoi printre noi


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Every step from production begin to reselling
Both terms “food chain” and “feed chain” describe the complete production process of foods and feeds, respectively. In the context of Co-Extra, the focus is limited to foods and feeds based on crops. The chains begin with the production of seeds, and include all stages until the final products reach their buyers. Since co-existence requires the separation of GM and conventional produce along the whole production chain, analysing these chains, and identifying potential hotspots of accidental mixing, is a major goal of Co-Extra.

domain: agronomy


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Physiology & Pharmacology Lab of Pharmacy Department, VU is well-resourced with necessary sophisticated machines that are crucial to perform experiments smoothly and obtaining results to elucidate meaningfully. This Lab delegate students to sagaciousness with the scientific exploration of human physiological processes, pinpointing and diagnosis of contagious diseases with further propound treatment methods. The objective of the laboratory is to acquaint the students with the structure and functions of different parts of human body, to impart students the knowledge of investigating the normal microscopic structure of the human cell, to provide the students the apprehension about activities of various organs as well as the composition of body fluids, particularly blood with reference to deviation from the standard / normal conditions that occurs in different diseases affecting human. Lab is facilitated to study of compound microscope, microscopically study of blood cells eg.WBC, RBC and platelets, examination of hemoglobin, differential count of WBC, Total count of RBC and WBC determination of clotting and bleeding time, examination of clot under the microscope, effect of chemical agents of RBC, Fragility test of RBC, determination of erythrocytes sedimentation rate, examination of hem in crystals, determination of blood group, measurement of blood pressure, analysis of components of blood, Effect of different drugs, electrolyte are also studied.
Pharmacology is the study of the effects of drugs on living systems, while a drug can be defined as any chemical substance that exerts effects on a biological system. Broadly, Pharmacology includes how a living system handles a drug (Pharmacokinetics) and how the body responds to a drug (Pharmacodynamics).The objective of Pharmacology lab is to conduct invitro and invivo experiments / demonstrations on the drug’s pharmacological actions, to correlate the instructive teachings with its pragmatic applications, to upskill students to deduce the experimental data on drugs to its clinical application in the pharmacy and hospital, to inspire students for open discussion on the role of these drugs and habit of self-learning.

domain: biology


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FingerprintDive into the research topics of 'Application of sustainable solutions in international service-learning engineering projects'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
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Carlos German Montoya Rodriguez, Mariantonieta Gutierrez Soto, Roger Dzwonczyk, John A. Merrill, Howard L. Greene, Miriam Cater
Research output: Contribution to journal › Conference article › peer-review

domain: literature


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Low cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) amyloid-β1-42 concentration and high total-tau/Aβ1-42 ratio have been recommended to support the diagnosis of prodromal Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and also to select patients for clinical trials.
We tested this recommendation with clinical trials simulations using patients from the Alzheimer Disease Neuroimaging Initiative who fulfilled the following entry criteria: (1) aMCI, (2) aMCI with CSF Aβ1-42 ≤192 mg/mL, (3) and aMCI with total-tau/Aβ1-42 >.0.39. For each criterion, we randomly resampled the database obtaining samples for 1000 trials for each trial scenario, planning for 1 or 2 year trials with samples from 50 to 400 patients per treatment or placebo group, with up to 40% dropouts, outcomes after using the AD assessment scale-cognitive subscale and clinical dementia rating scale with effect sizes ranging from 0.15 to 0.75, and calculated statistical power.
Approximately 70% to 74% of aMCI patients with CSF measures met biomarker criteria. The addition of the low Aβ1-42 or high tau/Aβ1-42 requirement resulted in minimal or no increase in the power of the trials compared with enrolling aMCI without requiring the biomarker criteria. Slightly larger mean differences between the placebo and treatment groups fulfilling biomarker criteria were offset by increased outcome variability within the groups.
Although patients with aMCI or patients with prodromal AD meeting CSF biomarkers criteria were slightly more cognitively impaired and showed greater decline than patients with aMCI diagnosed without considering the biomarkers, the requirement of biomarker-positive patients would most likely not result in more efficient clinical trials, and trials would take longer because fewer patients would be available. A CSF Aβ1-42 marker, however, could be useful as an explanatory variable or covariate when warranted by the action of a drug.
Using data from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), researchers concluded that low cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) amyloid-β1-42 concentrations or high total-tau protein to Aβ1-42 ratios in patients diagnosed with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) predicted progression to Alzheimer’s dementia (e.g., 89% with high t-tau/Aβ1-42 ratio within 1 year) . Those researchers suggested that biomarkers could be used as clinical trials entry requirements to improve the efficiency and reduce the sample sizes of trials. Some others have recommended CSF Aβ1-42 markers for this purpose as well [2-5], and at least one pharmaceutical manufacturer required similar biomarker criteria to support a prodromal Alzheimer’s disease (AD) diagnosis in a targeted design clinical trial .
Research criteria for prodromal or early AD, that is, AD before the onset of dementia, have been proposed on the basis of the fulfillment of the criteria for the equivalent of aMCI by a patient, with an episodic memory deficit that fails to improve on cueing, and a biomarker associated with AD that could be identified and measured by either brain imaging or CSFAβ1-42 or tau protein assays . Moreover, ad hoc groups have recommended that future clinical trials for prodromal AD could be made more efficient by introducing the requirement for a CSF Aβ1-42 biomarker [1,3]. Relying on the ADNI database [5,7], researchers calculated that, to demonstrate a 40% reduction in progression on clinical ratings, with 80% power, an alpha error P ≤ .05, and a 2-year drop-out rate of <40%, about 100 or 150 patients would be required for one or another primary outcome per drug and placebo group for those who are selected by using the biomarker criteria as compared with twice as many without the biomarker criteria.
We empirically tested the potential efficiency of these recommendations by statistically simulating a range of clinical trials scenarios with aMCI patients with or without biomarker inclusion criteria using the same database on which the CSF biomarker recommendations were based .
ADNI is a natural history, nontreatment, observational study aimed at setting standards for brain imaging studies and biomarkers for diagnosis and treatment trials . A total of 59 sites, which were mostly academic, recruited 188 participants with mild AD (i.e., mini-mental state examination [MMSE] scores ranging from 21 to 26), 405 with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) (MMSE ranging from 24 to 30), and 229 with no cognitive impairment, who were followed up with regular assessments [5,7].
The MCI inclusion criteria, detailed in previously published data [5,7], are identical to criteria for the MCI of the amnestic-type used in previous MCI clinical trials on cholinesterase inhibitors [8,9], which required a clinical dementia rating (CDR)  score of 0.5 with the memory box scored at 0.5 or greater, and delayed recall from the logical memory II subscale of the Wechsler memory scale–revised  to be ≤8 for 16 years of education, ≤4 for 8 to 15 years, or ≤2 for 0 to 7 years. Patients were required to be largely intact with regard to general cognition and functional performance, and could not qualify for a dementia diagnosis. As in most current clinical trials, participants could continue using marketed anti-dementia drugs if they had been on stable doses for at least 4 weeks before entry .
The main imaging and biomarkers include brain magnetic resonance imaging, positron-emission tomography, and CSF Aβ and tau protein concentrations [5,7]. The main clinical ratings reflected the following clinical trials outcomes: the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale-cognitive subscale (ADAS-cog) , CDR , MMSE , and functional activities questionnaire . Clinical assessments were carried out at 6-month intervals over the first 2 years.
The ADAS-cog  evaluates memory, reasoning, language, orientation, praxis, language, and word finding difficulty, and is scored from 0 to 70 errors. The CDR  is used to rate impairment (from 0 = not impaired to 3 = severely impaired) in each of the following six categories: memory, orientation, judgment and problem solving, community affairs, home and hobbies, and personal care; and are summed into the CDR sum of the boxes score (CDR-sb) as a severity measure ranging from 0 to 18.
Simulations were conducted under a detailed protocol  to reflect typical clinical trials for an experimental drug for aMCI or early AD with one treatment and placebo group, 1:1 allocation ratio, and parameters selected to be consistent with previously published trials [8,9]. For each trial scenario, a separate set of patients was constructed by randomly choosing from the ADNI dataset with replacement, that is, patients from the dataset could be present in the simulated groups for more than one occasion. Sample sizes of 50, 100, 200, and 400 per group were used; 12- and 24-month-long trials were considered; the ADAS-cog and CDR-sb were the primary outcomes. The placebo group outcome was the score for the patient at the specified time point in the ADNI database. For the treatment group, a range of effect sizes ranging from 0.15 to 0.75 with 0.10 increments were used to compute an expected treatment effect (or slowing down of decline) reflecting very small to moderately large effect sizes . For each patient, an individual treatment effect was randomly generated from a χ2 distribution with a mean equal to the expected treatment effect to allow for a more realistic distribution of declines over time, where a few patients may fail or worsen more markedly than would be predicted by a normal distribution. The individual treatment effect was shifted by subtracting two times the expected treatment effect, then adding the resultant to the patient’s score at the specified time point in the database. Therefore, even when a patient was reused in the analysis, the actual value used would be modified by this randomly selected amount in the treatment arm. In the placebo arm, use of the same patient would lead to a slight underestimation of the variance, thereby slightly improving the statistical power examined later in the text. Dropout rates of 20% and 40% in both the treatment and placebo groups were incorporated into the scenarios.
Patients were selected for the samples in a way similar to when they apply for clinical trials using the following three sets of inclusion criteria: (1) aMCI diagnosis at screening with the logical memory II delayed memory deficit defined previously; (2) aMCI with CSF Aβ1-42 ≤192 pg/mL; and (3) aMCI with t-tau/Aβ1-42 >.0.39. The latter two criteria were specifically recommended as aforementioned , fulfill newly proposed research criteria for AD , and are consistent with criteria for a commercial prodromal AD clinical trial .
The primary analyses were conducted using a mixed effects linear model (covariance pattern model), which adjusts for missing data to test for differences between the baseline and endpoint values for the treatment and placebo groups. The mixed effects model minimizes bias and better controls for type I error in the presence of missing data . For each set of inclusion criteria, a full model was constructed with group effect, visit effect, and group-by-visit interactions, with age and gender as covariates, and a reduced model with visit, age, and gender effects. A compound symmetric covariance structure was used to model the correlation between visits for each participant. Parameters were estimated using maximum likelihood. Probability values for the group (treatment) effect were calculated using twice the difference in the logarithmic likelihood of the full and reduced model, which follows a χ-squared distribution with the appropriate degrees of freedom. Secondary analyses examined last observation carried forward samples to impute missing values and complete cases using the nonparametric Wilcoxon test to detect any differences between treatment and placebo groups as a result of the skewed distributions of the outcomes. For all analyses, the missing data pattern present in the ADNI database was used to realistically simulate dropouts; observations were missing in simulated datasets in cases where they were originally missing in the ADNI database.
One thousand simulations were carried out for each scenario so that estimates of power could be obtained up to three digits. Power was calculated as the proportion of 1000 simulated trials per trial scenario having a P value ≤.05. Analyses were performed using version 2.10.1 of the R programming environment . Mixed model analyses were performed using version 3.1-89 of the nlme package for R . The database was downloaded on December 7, 2009 from http://www.loni.ucla.edu/twiki/bin/view/ADNI/ADNIClinicalFAQ.
The three sets of inclusion criteria were similar with respect to demographic and clinical characteristics, predominantly, patients were Caucasian, male, married, highly educated, and 57.7% of those whose history was ascertained had a family history of dementia (Table 1).
Overall, 54.0% of the patients were APOE ε4 genotype carriers (one or two alleles) and 64% to 66% of the biomarker-positive patients were APOE ε4 genotype carriers. In all, 44.0% used cholinesterase inhibitors (84.9% donepezil), 9% used cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine, 2.4% used only memantine, and 53.5% used neither. Median duration of previous use of cholinesterase inhibitors was 0.97 years and for memantine it was 0.88 years .
Over 95% of the population was classified by investigators as MCI due to AD; 400 of 402 patients (99.5%) fulfilled criteria for aMCI. Aβ1-42 and total tau levels were determined in 199 and 196 patients, respectively, from CSF samples taken at enrollment. Mean and median Aβ1-42 levels were 163.6 ng/mL (SD = 54.8) and 146 ng/mL, respectively; 148 (74.4%) patients had CSF Aβ1-42 levels of <192 pg/mL. Mean and median total tau levels were 103.6 ng/mL (SD = 60.8) and 87 ng/mL, respectively; 137 (69.9%) patients had t-tau/Aβ1-42 of >0.39.
There were statistical trends for the biomarker-positive groups to have slightly worse rating scale scores. Among the aMCI patients, 95.5%, 90.0%, 80.6%, and 72.1% had outcomes available at 6-, 12-, 18- and 24-months, respectively; and 28.5% of them progressed to dementia at 24 months as compared with 35.8% of low Aβ1-42 and 38.8% of high t-tau/Aβ1-42 patients (P = .23).
Patients showed considerable heterogeneity in their clinical course and within each diagnostic group. Plots depicting change in ADAS-cog and CDR-sb over time for random samples of 25 participants in the aMCI and low Aβ1-42 diagnostic groups are available online in supplemental figures.
Power calculations for the mixed model analyses for the three groups are shown across a range of effect and sample sizes providing for 20% and 40% dropouts (Figs. 1--4).4). Power increased with increasing effect size and sample size, but there was generally little difference in power across the three inclusion criteria. For both the ADAS-cog and the CDR-sb, the requirement for biomarker criteria typically resulted in 2% to 5% increase in power, 7% in a few scenarios (Tables 2, ,3;3; Figs. 1--4).4). Although there were greater mean differences between placebo and treatment groups with the biomarker criteria, there were also greater increases in variability which tended to reduce the effect sizes.
Analyses of 12-month trials using the aforementioned scenarios also did not show a meaningful difference in power for the outcomes across the selection criteria. For both the ADAS-cog and the CDR-sb, aMCI alone typically resulted in 2% to 4% increase in power as compared with the additional requirement for biomarker criteria. Secondary analyses of last observation carried forward and complete cases samples showed similar, very small differences between diagnostic groups (Results are available online in supplemental figures and tables).
ADNI was designed to provide information for future clinical trials and it is ideal for evaluating the benefits of the usage of CSF biomarkers [1,3,5,7]. The assessment of expert-proposed targeted trials designs for AD and the performance of Aβ1-42 diagnostic or predictive biomarkers under experimental, clinical trials conditions have not been done previously. The results in this study provide an empirical estimation of the distribution and accuracy of clinical outcomes and potential biases for future AD trials that would use Aβ1-42 biomarkers or a prodromal AD diagnosis as entry criteria . The low Aβ1-42 and the high t-tau/Aβ1-42 criteria when added to an aMCI diagnosis did not meaningfully affect the efficiency of the trials as compared with the aMCI diagnosis alone.
In the more plausible trials scenarios of small effect sizes of 0.35 or less, 40% dropouts over 2 years, and 200 to 400 patients per group, the gain in power was typically 4% or less with either clinical outcome. This small gain must be weighed against the additional efforts of obtaining CSF, analyzing it, and excluding a proportion of aMCI patients. At least 26% of the ADNI aMCI patients who had lumbar punctures would not fulfill the biomarker criteria, increasing cost and time for recruitment by about one-third in exchange for very little or no gain in statistical power.
The considerable heterogeneity among biomarker-positive participants is a likely explanation for our results. Despite greater clinical worsening of about 0.8 ADAS-cog and 0.4 CDR-sb points over 2 years in the biomarker-positive groups as compared with the overall aMCI group without regard to biomarkers, the standard deviations of the outcomes were larger, decreasing the power to detect treatment differences, that is, the within-group effect sizes were about the same. The use of these biomarker criteria for a targeted clinical trial may select from the extremes of the distribution, where increased within-group variability may offset any increase in mean difference between groups.
A notable difference between the ADAS-cog and CDR-sb outcomes was that the within-group effect sizes (i.e., mean change/SD of the change) were generally larger in the case of the CDR-sb. However, this did not translate to more efficient trials using the CDR-sb in preference to the ADAS-cog outcome in terms of treatment effects, power, and required sample sizes.
Longitudinal studies [21-24], including ADNI [1,25], demonstrate that CSF Aβ1-42 and t-tau concentrations predict clinical progression in MCI patients; and subgroups that progress to dementia at differential rates defined by CSF biomarkers can be identified [1,21,23-25]. Although a consistent finding , it has also been consistently observed that either the memory impairment or the CSF abnormalities provided approximately equal predicted clinical declines without differential sensitivity [24,26]. Similarly, in our analyses the biomarker-positive groups showed only fractional differences on mean baseline and changed scores as compared with the aMCI group selected without consideration of CSF biomarkers. Therefore, it appears that positive CSF biomarkers, when obtained in a clinical research environment after an aMCI diagnosis is made—and therefore perhaps in clinical practice as well—may mainly identify more advanced aMCI or prodromal AD; and if so, then cognitive severity appears to be the more pragmatic predictor of decline [24,26]. Further evidence for this is that the 148 aMCI patients with low concentration values of CSF Aβ1-42 scored significantly worse on screening ADAS-cog, CDR-sb, logical memory-delayed, and functional activities than the 51 patients with high CSF Aβ1-42 (data not shown).
These results have substantial implications for clinical trials planning and interpretation. Assumptions that low CSF Aβ1-42 or high t-tau/Aβ1-42 are more relevant selection criteria for clinical trials are based on views that they aid diagnosis and index greater brain Aβ load and neurodegeneration . However, it is not known whether such biomarker-positive patients would be more likely to respond to an experimental drug or whether a therapeutic effect will be detected more readily. The opposite could be true and targeted design trials that select only patients with Aβ1-42 biomarkers may inadvertently select those who are less likely to benefit because they are too advanced. In fact, the use of CSF Aβ1-42 biomarkers after a clinical aMCI diagnosis is made may not achieve the desired goal of identifying prodromal AD patients early enough in their illness course for a disease-modifying drug to show an effect.
Moreover, the efficiency of a targeted clinical trial design where the premise is that the low CSF Aβ1-42 patients will both deteriorate more and be particularly responsive to treatment, depends on the effectiveness of the drug in both the biomarker-positive and -negative groups, the proportion of biomarker-positive patients in the sample, and the accuracy of the assay . When a small proportion of available patients are biomarker-positive and the drug has little benefit for biomarker-negative patients, then in such cases choosing only biomarker-positive patients would indeed require fewer patients than a standard clinical trial design . In this study, 70% to 74% of aMCI patients were biomarker-positive, potentially limiting the usefulness of CSF Aβ1-42 for screening, and there was no meaningful effect on statistical power. For more efficient trials based on preferentially selecting biomarker-positive patients, the treatment in question must be substantially more effective in that group as compared with the biomarker-negative group. It is important to identify and validate biomarkers for diagnosis and prediction of both disease progression and treatment response when designing targeted clinical trials ; however, CSF Aβ1-42 biomarkers may be differentially informative at different stages [4,24].
The results also demonstrate differences between modeling and simulations in estimating power for clinical trials. Typically, parameters for power calculations are obtained using summary statistics from reference groups and, assuming a range of effect sizes, corresponding sample sizes are calculated. This approach depends on the critical assumptions that the reference group adequately represents the characteristics of the planned trial sample and the summary statistics capture the heterogeneity among the trial participants. However, heterogeneity in the pattern of outcomes may be unrecognized using summary statistics, particularly, when the model requires scores to change linearly over time, and could explain why we observed no significant increase in statistical power in biomarker-positive patients, whereas others calculated greater power for the same sample sizes by using summary data. Therefore, the heterogeneity resulting from the sampling process of the simulations better anticipates the heterogeneity that would be observed in a prospective trial.
One limitation to making inferences from these results is that, although ADNI was meant to inform clinical trials methods, it is not itself a randomized trial. Patients volunteered for a study without planned treatment intervention in which lumbar puncture was optional and ratings were not done under the double-blinded conditions of a randomized, controlled trial. Investigators could obtain knowledge related to APOE ε4 genotype, clinical characteristics, test performance, course, severity, and medication use, which could have in turn influenced their diagnosis, clinical ratings, and performing lumbar punctures. Another potential limitation is that the substantial majority who underwent CSF examinations had low Aβ1-42 concentrations and high t-tau/Aβ1-42 ratios, and, although consistent with a European MCI sample , may not represent samples from broader communities or nonacademic clinics. Finally, although the use of cholinesterase inhibitors is allowed in all long-term AD clinical trials , the nearly half the patients using the drugs were slightly more impaired and declined more as compared with those not using them and this may have affected illness course . The random treatment allocations and thousands of simulations ensured that results were not biased in this respect; however, future simulations studies and clinical trials might consider the potential effects of marketed medications on both internal and external validity.
In summary, selecting aMCI or prodromal AD patients for a clinical trial on the basis of CSF Aβ1-42 biomarker criteria will most likely identify relatively more severe patients and not enhance the statistical power of the trials. In the absence of a strong scientific rationale, it may be more practical and clinically relevant to not have Aβ1-42 CSF biomarkers as a criterion for trials entry in this setting and to restrict their use as explanatory or stratification variables when there are reasons to do so.
Data used in the preparation of this article were obtained from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI, NIA U01 AG024904) database (www.loni.ucla.edu/ADNI). As such, the investigators within the ADNI contributed to the design and implementation of ADNI and/or provided data but did not participate in the analysis or the writing of this report. A complete list of investigators in ADNI is listed at: http://www.loni.ucla.edu/ADNI/About/About_InvestigatorsTable.shtml.
Data collection and sharing for this project was funded by the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) (NIH U01 AG024904). ADNI is funded by the National Institute on Aging, the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, and through contributions from the following: Abbott, AstraZeneca AB, Bayer Schering Pharma AG, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eisai Global Clinical Development, Elan Corporation, Genentech, GE Healthcare, GlaxoSmithKline, Innogenetics, Johnson and Johnson, Eli Lilly and Co., Medpace, Inc., Merck and Co., Inc., Novartis AG, Pfizer Inc, F. Hoffman-La Roche, Schering-Plough, Synarc, Inc., the Alzheimer’s Association and Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, with participation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Private sector contributions to ADNI are facilitated by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (www.fnih.org). The grantee organization is the Northern California Institute for Research and Education and the study is coordinated by the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study at the University of California, San Diego. ADNI data are disseminated by the Laboratory for Neuro Imaging at the University of California, Los Angeles. This research was also supported by NIH grants P30 AG010129, K01 AG030514; the Dana Foundation; the USC Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center NIH P50 AG05142; and NIH T32 HL072757.
Contributors: All authors participated in the design of the study, statistical analysis, writing and editing of the manuscript, and all reviewed and approved the final draft.
Conflict of interest statement: [During the 36-month window period before submission] LSS reports being an editor on the Cochrane Collaboration Dementia and Cognitive Improvement Group, which oversees systematic reviews of drugs for cognitive impairment and dementia; receiving a grant from the Alzheimer’s Association for a registry for dementia and cognitive impairment trials; receiving grant or research support from Baxter, Elan Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, Myriad, Novartis, and Pfizer; and having served as a consultant for or receiving consulting fees from Abbott Laboratories, AC Immune, Allergan, Allon, Alzheimer Drug Discovery Foundation, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Elan, Eli Lilly, Exonhit, Forest, GlaxoSmithKline, Ipsen, Johnson & Johnson, Lundbeck, Myriad, Medavante, Medivation, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, Sanofi-Aventis, Schering-Plough, Servier, Toyama, and Transition Therapeutics.
REK declares that he has no conflict of interest. GRC reports having served on data and safety monitoring committees for AntiSense, Sanofi-Aventis, Bayhill, BioMS, Daichi-Sankyo, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Genmab, Medivation, Ono, PTC Therapeutics, Vivus, NHLBI, NINDS, and the NMSS; and having served as a consultant to or receiving consulting fees from Alexion, Accentia, Bayer, Barofold, Biogen-Idec, CibaVision, Enzo, Eisai, Genentech, Millenium, Novartis, Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers, Peptimmune, Klein-Buendel Incorporated, Incyte, Somnus, Teva, Visioneering Technologies.