Sample records for significantly larger increases
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Larger ATV engine size correlates with an increased rate of traumatic brain injury.
Butts, C Caleb; Rostas, Jack W; Lee, Y L; Gonzalez, Richard P; Brevard, Sidney B; Frotan, M Amin; Ahmed, Naveed; Simmons, Jon D
2015-04-01
Since the introduction of all-terrain vehicles (ATV) to the United States in 1971, injuries and mortalities related to their use have increased significantly. Furthermore, these vehicles have become larger and more powerful. As there are no helmet requirements or limitations on engine-size in the State of Alabama, we hypothesised that larger engine size would correlate with an increased incidence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in patients following an ATV crash. Patient and ATV data were prospectively collected on all ATV crashes presenting to a level one trauma centre from September 2010 to May 2013. Collected data included: demographics, age of driver, ATV engine size, presence of helmet, injuries, and outcomes. The data were grouped according to the ATV engine size in cubic centimetres (cc). For the purposes of this study, TBI was defined as any type of intracranial haemorrhage on the initial computed tomography scan. There were 61 patients identified during the study period. Two patients (3%) were wearing a helmet at the time of injury. Patients on an ATV with an engine size of 350 cc or greater had higher Injury Severity Scores (13.9 vs. 7.5, p ≤ 0.05) and an increased incidence of TBI (26% vs. 0%, p ≤ 0.05) when compared to patients on ATV's with an engine size less than 350 cc. Patients on an ATV with an engine size of 350 cc or greater were more likely to have a TBI. The use of a helmet was rarely present in this cohort. Legislative efforts to implement rider protection laws for ATVs are warranted. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Suzana eHerculano-Houzel
2015-06-01
Full Text Available There is a strong trend toward increased brain size in mammalian evolution, with larger brains composed of more and larger neurons than smaller brains across species within each mammalian order. Does the evolution of increased numbers of brain neurons, and thus larger brain size, occur simply through the selection of individuals with more and larger neurons, and thus larger brains, within a population? That is, do individuals with larger brains also have more, and larger, neurons than individuals with smaller brains, such that allometric relationships across species are simply an extension of intraspecific scaling? Here we show that this is not the case across adult male mice of a similar age. Rather, increased numbers of neurons across individuals are accompanied by increased numbers of other cells and smaller average cell size of both types, in a trade-off that explains how increased brain mass does not necessarily ensue. Fundamental regulatory mechanisms thus must exist that tie numbers of neurons to numbers of other cells and to average cell size within individual brains. Finally, our results indicate that changes in brain size in evolution are not an extension of individual variation in numbers of neurons, but rather occur through step changes that must simultaneously increase numbers of neurons and cause cell size to increase, rather than decrease.
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Action video game players and deaf observers have larger Goldmann visual fields.
Buckley, David; Codina, Charlotte; Bhardwaj, Palvi; Pascalis, Olivier
2010-03-05
We used Goldmann kinetic perimetry to compare how training and congenital auditory deprivation may affect the size of the visual field. We measured the ability of action video game players and deaf observers to detect small moving lights at various locations in the central (around 30 degrees from fixation) and peripheral (around 60 degrees ) visual fields. Experiment 1 found that 10 habitual video game players showed significantly larger central and peripheral field areas than 10 controls. In Experiment 2 we found that 13 congenitally deaf observers had significantly larger visual fields than 13 hearing controls for both the peripheral and central fields. Here the greatest differences were found in the lower parts of the fields. Comparison of the two groups showed that whereas VGP players have a more uniform increase in field size in both central and peripheral fields deaf observers show non-uniform increases with greatest increases in lower parts of the visual field.
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Larger Bowl Size Increases the Amount of Cereal Children Request, Consume, and Waste
Wansink, Brian; van Ittersum, Koert; Payne, Collin R.
Objective To examine whether larger bowls bias children toward requesting more food from the adults who serve them. Study design Study 1 was a between-subject design involving 69 preschool-age children who were randomized to receive either a small (8 oz) or large (16 oz) cereal bowl and were asked
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Gas revenue increasingly significant
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Megill, R.E.
1991-01-01
This paper briefly describes the wellhead prices of natural gas compared to crude oil over the past 70 years. Although natural gas prices have never reached price parity with crude oil, the relative value of a gas BTU has been increasing. It is one of the reasons that the total amount of money coming from natural gas wells is becoming more significant. From 1920 to 1955 the revenue at the wellhead for natural gas was only about 10% of the money received by producers. Most of the money needed for exploration, development, and production came from crude oil. At present, however, over 40% of the money from the upstream portion of the petroleum industry is from natural gas. As a result, in a few short years natural gas may become 50% of the money revenues generated from wellhead production facilities
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Why have microsaccades become larger?
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Hansen, Dan Witzner; Nyström, Marcus; Andersson, Richard
2014-01-01
-trackers compared to the systems used in the classical studies, in combination with the lack of a systematic algorithmic treatment of the overshoot. We hope that awareness of these discrepancies in microsaccade dynamics across eye structures will lead to more generally accepted definitions of microsaccades....... experts. The main reason was that the overshoots were not systematically detected by the algorithm and therefore not accurately accounted for. We conclude that one reason to why the reported size of microsaccades has increased is due to the larger overshoots produced by the modern pupil-based eye...
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Wine, M. L.; Cadol, D.
2016-08-01
In recent years climate change and historic fire suppression have increased the frequency of large wildfires in the southwestern USA, motivating study of the hydrological consequences of these wildfires at point and watershed scales, typically over short periods of time. These studies have revealed that reduced soil infiltration capacity and reduced transpiration due to tree canopy combustion increase streamflow at the watershed scale. However, the degree to which these local increases in runoff propagate to larger scales—relevant to urban and agricultural water supply—remains largely unknown, particularly in semi-arid mountainous watersheds co-dominated by winter snowmelt and the North American monsoon. To address this question, we selected three New Mexico watersheds—the Jemez (1223 km2), Mogollon (191 km2), and Gila (4807 km2)—that together have been affected by over 100 wildfires since 1982. We then applied climate-driven linear models to test for effects of fire on streamflow metrics after controlling for climatic variability. Here we show that, after controlling for climatic and snowpack variability, significantly more streamflow discharged from the Gila watershed for three to five years following wildfires, consistent with increased regional water yield due to enhanced infiltration-excess overland flow and groundwater recharge at the large watershed scale. In contrast, we observed no such increase in discharge from the Jemez watershed following wildfires. Fire regimes represent a key difference between the contrasting responses of the Jemez and Gila watersheds with the latter experiencing more frequent wildfires, many caused by lightning strikes. While hydrologic dynamics at the scale of large watersheds were previously thought to be climatically dominated, these results suggest that if one fifth or more of a large watershed has been burned in the previous three to five years, significant increases in water yield can be expected.
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Rundle, Andrew; Wang, Yun; Sadasivan, Sudha; Chitale, Dhananjay A; Gupta, Nilesh S; Tang, Deliang; Rybicki, Benjamin A
2017-06-01
Obesity is associated with risk of aggressive prostate cancer (PCa), but not with over-all PCa risk. However, obese men have larger prostates which may lower biopsy accuracy and cause a systematic bias toward the null in epidemiologic studies of over-all risk. Within a cohort of 6692 men followed-up after a biopsy or transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) with benign findings, a nested case-control study was conducted of 495 prostate cancer cases and controls matched on age, race, follow-up duration, biopsy versus TURP, and procedure date. Data on body mass index and prostate volume at the time of the initial procedure were abstracted from medical records. Prior to consideration of differences in prostate volume, overweight (OR = 1.41; 95%CI 1.01, 1.97), and obese status (OR = 1.59; 95%CI 1.09, 2.33) at the time of the original benign biopsy or TURP were associated with PCa incidence during follow-up. Prostate volume did not significantly moderate the association between body-size and PCa, however it did act as an inverse confounder; adjustment for prostate volume increased the effect size for overweight by 22% (adjusted OR = 1.52; 95%CI 1.08, 2.14) and for obese status by 23% (adjusted OR = 1.77; 95%CI 1.20, 2.62). Larger prostate volume at the time of the original benign biopsy or TURP was inversely associated with PCa incidence during follow-up (OR = 0.92 per 10 cc difference in volume; 95%CI 0.88, 0.97). In analyses that stratified case-control pairs by tumor aggressiveness of the case, prostate volume acted as an inverse confounder in analyses of non-aggressive PCa but not in analyses of aggressive PCa. In studies of obesity and PCa, differences in prostate volume cause a bias toward the null, particularly in analyses of non-aggressive PCa. A pervasive underestimation of the association between obesity and overall PCa risk may exist in the literature. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Larger groups of passerines are more efficient problem solvers in the wild
Morand-Ferron, Julie; Quinn, John L.
2011-01-01
Group living commonly helps organisms face challenging environmental conditions. Although a known phenomenon in humans, recent findings suggest that a benefit of group living in animals generally might be increased innovative problem-solving efficiency. This benefit has never been demonstrated in a natural context, however, and the mechanisms underlying improved efficiency are largely unknown. We examined the problem-solving performance of great and blue tits at automated devices and found that efficiency increased with flock size. This relationship held when restricting the analysis to naive individuals, demonstrating that larger groups increased innovation efficiency. In addition to this effect of naive flock size, the presence of at least one experienced bird increased the frequency of solving, and larger flocks were more likely to contain experienced birds. These findings provide empirical evidence for the “pool of competence” hypothesis in nonhuman animals. The probability of success also differed consistently between individuals, a necessary condition for the pool of competence hypothesis. Solvers had a higher probability of success when foraging with a larger number of companions and when using devices located near rather than further from protective tree cover, suggesting a role for reduced predation risk on problem-solving efficiency. In contrast to traditional group living theory, individuals joining larger flocks benefited from a higher seed intake, suggesting that group living facilitated exploitation of a novel food source through improved problem-solving efficiency. Together our results suggest that both ecological and social factors, through reduced predation risk and increased pool of competence, mediate innovation in natural populations. PMID:21930936
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When the proton becomes larger
CERN Bulletin
2011-01-01
The TOTEM experiment at the LHC has just confirmed that, at high energy, protons behave as if they were becoming larger. In more technical terms, their total cross-section – a parameter linked to the proton-proton interaction probability – increases with energy. This phenomenon, expected from previous measurements performed at much lower energy, has now been confirmed for the first time at the LHC’s unprecedented energy. One arm of a TOTEM T2 detector during its installation at interaction point 5. A composite particle like the proton is a complex system that in no way resembles a static Lego construction: sub-components move inside and interactions keep the whole thing together, but in a very dynamic way. This partly explains why even the very common proton can still be hiding secrets about its nature, decades after its discovery. One way of studying the inner properties of protons is to observe how they interact with each other, which, in technical terms, i...
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Trippetta, Fabio; Ruggieri, Roberta; Lipparini, Lorenzo
2016-04-01
porosity. Preliminary data also suggest a different behaviour at increasing confining pressure for clean and-oil bearing samples: almost perfectly elastic behaviour for oil-bearing samples and more inelastic behaviours for cleaner samples. Thus HC presence appears to contrast the increase of confining pressure acting as semi-fluids, reducing the rock inelastic compaction and enhancing its elastic behaviour. Trying to upscale our rock-physics results, we started from wells and laboratory data on stratigraphy, porosity and Vp in order to simulate the effect of the HC presence at larger scale, using Petrel® software. The developed synthetic model highlights that Vp, which is primarily controlled by porosity, changes significantly within oil-bearing portions, with a notable impact on the velocity model that should be adopted. Moreover we are currently performing laboratory tests in order to evaluate the changes in the elastic parameters with the aim of modelling the effects of the HC on the mechanical behaviour of the involved rocks at larger scale.
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The Larger Linear N-Heteroacenes
Bunz, Uwe H. F.
2015-01-01
© 2015 American Chemical Society. ConspectusThe close structural and chemical relationship of N-heteroacenes to pentacene suggests their broad applicability in organic electronic devices, such as thin-film transistors. The superb materials science properties of azaacenes result from their improved resistance toward oxidation and their potential for electron transport, both of which have been demonstrated recently. The introduction of nitrogen atoms into the aromatic perimeter of acenes stabilizes their frontier molecular orbitals and increases their electron affinity. The HOMO-LUMO gaps in azaacenes in which the nitrogen atoms are symmetrically placed are similar to those of the acenes. The judiciously placed nitrogen atoms induce an "umpolung" of the electronic behavior of these pentacene-like molecules, i.e., instead of hole mobility in thin-film transistors, azaacenes are electron-transporting materials. The fundamental synthetic approaches toward larger azaacenes are described and discussed. Several synthetic methodologies have been exploited, and some have been newly developed to assemble substituted azaacenes. The oldest methods are condensation-based. Aromatic o-diamines are coupled with o-dihydroxyarenes in the melt without solvent. This method works well for unsubstituted azaacenes only. The attachment of substituents to the starting materials renders these "fire and sword" methods less useful. The starting materials decompose under these conditions. The direct condensation of substituted o-diamines with o-quinones proceeds well in some cases. Fluorinated benzene rings next to a pyrazine unit are introduced by nucleophilic aromatic substitution employing hexafluorobenzene. However, with these well-established synthetic methodologies, a number of azaacene topologies cannot be synthesized. The Pd-catalyzed coupling of aromatic halides and aromatic diamines has therefore emerged as versatile tool for azaacene synthesis. Now substituted diaza- and
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The Larger Linear N-Heteroacenes
Bunz, Uwe H. F.
2015-06-16
© 2015 American Chemical Society. ConspectusThe close structural and chemical relationship of N-heteroacenes to pentacene suggests their broad applicability in organic electronic devices, such as thin-film transistors. The superb materials science properties of azaacenes result from their improved resistance toward oxidation and their potential for electron transport, both of which have been demonstrated recently. The introduction of nitrogen atoms into the aromatic perimeter of acenes stabilizes their frontier molecular orbitals and increases their electron affinity. The HOMO-LUMO gaps in azaacenes in which the nitrogen atoms are symmetrically placed are similar to those of the acenes. The judiciously placed nitrogen atoms induce an "umpolung" of the electronic behavior of these pentacene-like molecules, i.e., instead of hole mobility in thin-film transistors, azaacenes are electron-transporting materials. The fundamental synthetic approaches toward larger azaacenes are described and discussed. Several synthetic methodologies have been exploited, and some have been newly developed to assemble substituted azaacenes. The oldest methods are condensation-based. Aromatic o-diamines are coupled with o-dihydroxyarenes in the melt without solvent. This method works well for unsubstituted azaacenes only. The attachment of substituents to the starting materials renders these "fire and sword" methods less useful. The starting materials decompose under these conditions. The direct condensation of substituted o-diamines with o-quinones proceeds well in some cases. Fluorinated benzene rings next to a pyrazine unit are introduced by nucleophilic aromatic substitution employing hexafluorobenzene. However, with these well-established synthetic methodologies, a number of azaacene topologies cannot be synthesized. The Pd-catalyzed coupling of aromatic halides and aromatic diamines has therefore emerged as versatile tool for azaacene synthesis. Now substituted diaza- and
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More 'altruistic' punishment in larger societies.
Marlowe, Frank W; Berbesque, J Colette
2008-03-07
If individuals will cooperate with cooperators, and punish non-cooperators even at a cost to themselves, then this strong reciprocity could minimize the cheating that undermines cooperation. Based upon numerous economic experiments, some have proposed that human cooperation is explained by strong reciprocity and norm enforcement. Second-party punishment is when you punish someone who defected on you; third-party punishment is when you punish someone who defected on someone else. Third-party punishment is an effective way to enforce the norms of strong reciprocity and promote cooperation. Here we present new results that expand on a previous report from a large cross-cultural project. This project has already shown that there is considerable cross-cultural variation in punishment and cooperation. Here we test the hypothesis that population size (and complexity) predicts the level of third-party punishment. Our results show that people in larger, more complex societies engage in significantly more third-party punishment than people in small-scale societies.
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Juvenile exposure to predator cues induces a larger egg size in fish
Segers, Francisca H. I. D.; Taborsky, Barbara
2012-01-01
When females anticipate a hazardous environment for their offspring, they can increase offspring survival by producing larger young. Early environmental experience determines egg size in different animal taxa. We predicted that a higher perceived predation risk by juveniles would cause an increase in the sizes of eggs that they produce as adults. To test this, we exposed juveniles of the mouthbrooding cichlid Eretmodus cyanostictus in a split-brood experiment either to cues of a natural predator or to a control situation. After maturation, females that had been confronted with predators produced heavier eggs, whereas clutch size itself was not affected by the treatment. This effect cannot be explained by a differential female body size because the predator treatment did not influence growth trajectories. The observed increase of egg mass is likely to be adaptive, as heavier eggs gave rise to larger young and in fish, juvenile predation risk drops sharply with increasing body size. This study provides the first evidence that predator cues perceived by females early in life positively affect egg mass, suggesting that these cues allow her to predict the predation risk for her offspring. PMID:21976689
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Larger error signals in major depression are associated with better avoidance learning
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
James F eCavanagh
2011-11-01
Full Text Available The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC is particularly reactive to signals of error, punishment, and conflict in the service of behavioral adaptation and it is consistently implicated in the etiology of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD. This association makes conceptual sense, given that MDD has been associated with hyper-reactivity in neural systems associated with punishment processing. Yet in practice, depression-related variance in measures of mPFC functioning often fails to relate to performance. For example, neuroelectric reflections of mediofrontal error signals are often found to be larger in MDD, but a deficit in post-error performance suggests that these error signals are not being used to rapidly adapt behavior. Thus, it remains unknown if depression-related variance in error signals reflects a meaningful alteration in the use of error or punishment information. However, larger mediofrontal error signals have also been related to another behavioral tendency: increased accuracy in avoidance learning. The integrity of this error-avoidance system remains untested in MDD. In this study, EEG was recorded as 21 symptomatic, drug-free participants with current or past MDD and 24 control participants performed a probabilistic reinforcement learning task. Depressed participants had larger mPFC EEG responses to error feedback than controls. The direct relationship between error signal amplitudes and avoidance learning accuracy was replicated. Crucially, this relationship was stronger in depressed participants for high conflict lose-lose situations, demonstrating a selective alteration of avoidance learning. This investigation provided evidence that larger error signal amplitudes in depression are associated with increased avoidance learning, identifying a candidate mechanistic model for hypersensitivity to negative outcomes in depression.
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Sixteen-Day Bedrest Significantly Increases Plasma Colloid Osmotic Pressure
Hargens, Alan R.; Hsieh, S. T.; Murthy, G.; Ballard, R. E.; Convertino, V. A.; Wade, Charles E. (Technical Monitor)
1994-01-01
Upon exposure to microgravity, astronauts lose up to 10% of their total plasma volume, which may contribute to orthostatic intolerance after space flight. Because plasma colloid osmotic pressure (COP) is a primary factor maintaining plasma volume, our objective was to measure time course changes in COP during microgravity simulated by 6 deg. head-down tilt (HDT). Seven healthy male subjects (30-55 years of age) were placed in HDT for 16 days. For the purpose of another study, three of the seven subjects were chosen to exercise on a cycle ergometer on day 16. Blood samples were drawn immediately before bedrest on day 14 of bedrest, 18-24 hours following exercise while all subjects were still in HDT and 1 hour following bedrest termination. Plasma COP was measured in all 20 microliter EDTA-treated samples using an osmometer fitted with a PM 30 membrane. Data were analyzed with paired and unpaired t-tests. Plasma COP on day 14 of bedrest (29.9 +/- 0.69 mmHg) was significantly higher (p less than 0.005) than the control, pre-bedrest value (23.1 +/- 0.76 mmHg). At one hour of upright recovery after HDT, plasma COP remained significantly elevated (exercise: 26.9 +/- 0.87 mmHg; no exercise: 26.3 +/- 0.85 mmHg). Additionally, exercise had no significant effect on plasma COP 18-24 hours following exercise (exercise: 27.8 +/- 1.09 mmHg; no exercise: 27.1 +/- 0.78 mmHg). Our results demonstrate that plasma COP increases significantly with microgravity simulated by HDT. However, preliminary results indicate exercise during HDT does not significantly affect plasma COP.
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McMullen, Michael K; Whitehouse, Julie M; Shine, Gillian; Towell, Anthony
2011-04-01
Caffeine users have been encouraged to consume caffeine regularly to maintain their caffeine tolerance and so avoid caffeine's acute pressor effects. In controlled conditions complete caffeine tolerance to intervention doses of 250 mg develops rapidly following several days of caffeine ingestion, nevertheless, complete tolerance is not evident for lower intervention doses. Similarly complete caffeine tolerance to 250 mg intervention doses has been demonstrated in habitual coffee and tea drinkers' but for lower intervention doses complete tolerance is not evident. This study investigated a group of habitual caffeine users following their self-determined consumption pattern involving two to six servings daily. Cardiovascular responses following the ingestion of low to moderate amounts caffeine (67, 133 and 200 mg) were compared with placebo in a double-blind, randomised design without caffeine abstinence. Pre-intervention and post-intervention (30 and 60 min) 90 s continuous cardiovascular recordings were obtained with the Finometer in both the supine and upright postures. Participants were 12 healthy habitual coffee and tea drinkers (10 female, mean age 36). Doses of 67 and 133 mg increased systolic pressure in both postures while in the upright posture diastolic pressure and aortic impedance increased while arterial compliance decreased. These vascular changes were larger upright than supine for 133 mg caffeine. Additionally 67 mg caffeine increased dp/dt and indexed peripheral resistance in the upright posture. For 200 mg caffeine there was complete caffeine tolerance. Cardiovascular responses to caffeine appear to be associated with the size of the intervention dose. Habitual tea and coffee drinking does not generate complete tolerance to caffeine as has been previously suggested. Both the type and the extent of caffeine induced cardiovascular changes were influenced by posture.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Floyd, Scott R.; Buchholz, Thomas A.; Haffty, Bruce G.; Goldberg, Saveli; Niemierko, Andrzej; Raad, Rita Abi; Oswald, Mary J.; Sullivan, Timothy; Strom, Eric A.; Powell, Simon N.; Katz, Angela; Taghian, Alphonse G.
2006-01-01
Purpose: To assess the need for adjuvant radiotherapy following mastectomy for patients with node-negative breast tumors 5 cm or larger. Methods and Materials: Between 1981 and 2002, a total of 70 patients with node-negative breast cancer and tumors 5 cm or larger were treated with mastectomy and adjuvant systemic therapies but without radiotherapy at three institutions. We retrospectively assessed rates and risk factors for locoregional failure (LRF), overall survival (OS), and disease-free survival (DFS) in these patients. Results: With a median follow-up of 85 months, the 5-year actuarial LRF rate was 7.6% (95% confidence interval, 3%-16%). LRF was primarily in the chest wall (4/5 local failures), and lymphatic-vascular invasion (LVI) was statistically significantly associated with LRF risk by the log-rank test (p = 0.017) and in Cox proportional hazards analysis (p 0.038). The 5-year OS and DFS rates were 83% and 86% respectively. LVI was also significantly associated with OS and DFS in both univariate and multivariate analysis. Conclusions: This series demonstrates a low LRF rate of 7.6% among breast cancer patients with node-negative tumors 5 cm and larger after mastectomy and adjuvant systemic therapy. Our data indicate that further adjuvant radiation therapy to increase local control may not be indicated by tumor size alone in the absence of positive lymph nodes. LVI was significantly associated with LRF in our series, indicating that patients with this risk factor require careful consideration with regard to further local therapy
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Significance in the increase of women psychiatrists in Korea.
Kim, Ha Kyoung; Kim, Soo In
2008-01-01
The number of female doctors has increased in Korea; 18.9% (13,083) of the total medical doctors registered (69,097) were women in 2006, compared to 13.6% (2,216) in 1975. The proportion of female doctors will jump up by 2010 considering that nearly 40% of the medical students are women as of today. This trend has had strong influence on the field of psychiatry; the percentage of women psychiatrists rose from 1.6 (6)% to 18% (453), from 1975 to 2006 and now women residents comprise 39% (206) of all. This is not only a reflection of a social phenomenon of the increase in professional women but also attributed to some specific characteristics of the psychiatry. Psychiatric practice may come more natural to women. While clinical activities of women psychiatrists are expanding, there are few women leaders and much less women are involving in academic activities in this field as yet. Though there is less sexual discrimination in the field of psychiatry, women psychiatrists are still having a lot of difficulties in balancing work and family matters. Many women psychiatrists also report they've ever felt an implied discrimination in their careers. In this study, we are to identify the characteristics of women psychiatrists and to explore the significance of the increase in women psychiatrists in Korea and the situation in which they are.
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Framing the Discussion: Elections as Components of Larger Political and Cultural Geographies
Knopp, Larry
2016-01-01
It is important to remember that elections are but one piece--albeit an important one--of much larger processes of politics and governance. Moreover, in the United States they are increasingly implicated in the construction of identities and places. What goes on in the course of electoral politics (creating electoral systems and voting districts,…
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More ‘altruistic’ punishment in larger societies
Marlowe, Frank W; Berbesque, J. Colette; Barr, Abigail; Barrett, Clark; Bolyanatz, Alexander; Cardenas, Juan Camilo; Ensminger, Jean; Gurven, Michael; Gwako, Edwins; Henrich, Joseph; Henrich, Natalie; Lesorogol, Carolyn; McElreath, Richard; Tracer, David
2007-01-01
If individuals will cooperate with cooperators, and punish non-cooperators even at a cost to themselves, then this strong reciprocity could minimize the cheating that undermines cooperation. Based upon numerous economic experiments, some have proposed that human cooperation is explained by strong reciprocity and norm enforcement. Second-party punishment is when you punish someone who defected on you; third-party punishment is when you punish someone who defected on someone else. Third-party punishment is an effective way to enforce the norms of strong reciprocity and promote cooperation. Here we present new results that expand on a previous report from a large cross-cultural project. This project has already shown that there is considerable cross-cultural variation in punishment and cooperation. Here we test the hypothesis that population size (and complexity) predicts the level of third-party punishment. Our results show that people in larger, more complex societies engage in significantly more third-party punishment than people in small-scale societies. PMID:18089534
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Possible Evolution of the Pulsar Braking Index from Larger than Three to About One
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Tong, H. [School of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Guangzhou University, 510006 Guangzhou (China); Kou, F. F., E-mail: htong_2005@163.com [Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, Xinjiang 830011 (China)
2017-03-10
The coupled evolution of pulsar rotation and inclination angle in the wind braking model is calculated. The oblique pulsar tends to align. The pulsar alignment affects its spin-down behavior. As a pulsar evolves from the magneto-dipole radiation dominated case to the particle wind dominated case, the braking index first increases and then decreases. In the early time, the braking index may be larger than three. During the following long time, the braking index is always smaller than three. The minimum braking index is about one. This can explain the existence of a high braking index larger than three and a low braking index simultaneously. The pulsar braking index is expected to evolve from larger than three to about one. The general trend is for the pulsar braking index to evolve from the Crab-like case to the Vela-like case.
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Possible Evolution of the Pulsar Braking Index from Larger than Three to About One
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Tong, H.; Kou, F. F.
2017-01-01
The coupled evolution of pulsar rotation and inclination angle in the wind braking model is calculated. The oblique pulsar tends to align. The pulsar alignment affects its spin-down behavior. As a pulsar evolves from the magneto-dipole radiation dominated case to the particle wind dominated case, the braking index first increases and then decreases. In the early time, the braking index may be larger than three. During the following long time, the braking index is always smaller than three. The minimum braking index is about one. This can explain the existence of a high braking index larger than three and a low braking index simultaneously. The pulsar braking index is expected to evolve from larger than three to about one. The general trend is for the pulsar braking index to evolve from the Crab-like case to the Vela-like case.
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Brady, Paul
2016-06-01
The larger holes or larger number of holes we drill in the coracoid, the weaker the coracoid becomes. Thus, minimizing bone holes (both size and number) is required to lower risk of coracoid process fracture, in patients in whom transosseous shoulder acromioclavicular joint reconstruction is indicated. A single 2.4-mm-diameter tunnel drilled through both the clavicle and the coracoid lowers the risk of fracture, but the risk cannot be entirely eliminated. Copyright © 2016 Arthroscopy Association of North America. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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4π Noncoplanar Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy for Centrally Located or Larger Lung Tumors
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Dong, Peng; Lee, Percy; Ruan, Dan; Long, Troy; Romeijn, Edwin; Low, Daniel A.; Kupelian, Patrick; Abraham, John; Yang, Yingli; Sheng, Ke
2013-01-01
Purpose: To investigate the dosimetric improvements in stereotactic body radiation therapy for patients with larger or central lung tumors using a highly noncoplanar 4π planning system. Methods and Materials: This study involved 12 patients with centrally located or larger lung tumors previously treated with 7- to 9-field static beam intensity modulated radiation therapy to 50 Gy. They were replanned using volumetric modulated arc therapy and 4π plans, in which a column generation method was used to optimize the beam orientation and the fluence map. Maximum doses to the heart, esophagus, trachea/bronchus, and spinal cord, as well as the 50% isodose volume, the lung volumes receiving 20, 10, and 5 Gy were minimized and compared against the clinical plans. A dose escalation study was performed to determine whether a higher prescription dose to the tumor would be achievable using 4π without violating dose limits set by the clinical plans. The deliverability of 4π plans was preliminarily tested. Results: Using 4π plans, the maximum heart, esophagus, trachea, bronchus and spinal cord doses were reduced by 32%, 72%, 37%, 44%, and 53% (P≤.001), respectively, and R 50 was reduced by more than 50%. Lung V 20 , V 10 , and V 5 were reduced by 64%, 53%, and 32% (P≤.001), respectively. The improved sparing of organs at risk was achieved while also improving planning target volume (PTV) coverage. The minimal PTV doses were increased by the 4π plans by 12% (P=.002). Consequently, escalated PTV doses of 68 to 70 Gy were achieved in all patients. Conclusions: We have shown that there is a large potential for plan quality improvement and dose escalation for patients with larger or centrally located lung tumors using noncoplanar beams with sufficient quality and quantity. Compared against the clinical volumetric modulated arc therapy and static intensity modulated radiation therapy plans, the 4π plans yielded significantly and consistently improved tumor coverage and
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4π Noncoplanar Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy for Centrally Located or Larger Lung Tumors
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Dong, Peng; Lee, Percy; Ruan, Dan [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California (United States); Long, Troy; Romeijn, Edwin [Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan (United States); Low, Daniel A.; Kupelian, Patrick; Abraham, John; Yang, Yingli [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California (United States); Sheng, Ke, E-mail: ksheng@mednet.ucla.edu [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California (United States)
2013-07-01
Purpose: To investigate the dosimetric improvements in stereotactic body radiation therapy for patients with larger or central lung tumors using a highly noncoplanar 4π planning system. Methods and Materials: This study involved 12 patients with centrally located or larger lung tumors previously treated with 7- to 9-field static beam intensity modulated radiation therapy to 50 Gy. They were replanned using volumetric modulated arc therapy and 4π plans, in which a column generation method was used to optimize the beam orientation and the fluence map. Maximum doses to the heart, esophagus, trachea/bronchus, and spinal cord, as well as the 50% isodose volume, the lung volumes receiving 20, 10, and 5 Gy were minimized and compared against the clinical plans. A dose escalation study was performed to determine whether a higher prescription dose to the tumor would be achievable using 4π without violating dose limits set by the clinical plans. The deliverability of 4π plans was preliminarily tested. Results: Using 4π plans, the maximum heart, esophagus, trachea, bronchus and spinal cord doses were reduced by 32%, 72%, 37%, 44%, and 53% (P≤.001), respectively, and R{sub 50} was reduced by more than 50%. Lung V{sub 20}, V{sub 10}, and V{sub 5} were reduced by 64%, 53%, and 32% (P≤.001), respectively. The improved sparing of organs at risk was achieved while also improving planning target volume (PTV) coverage. The minimal PTV doses were increased by the 4π plans by 12% (P=.002). Consequently, escalated PTV doses of 68 to 70 Gy were achieved in all patients. Conclusions: We have shown that there is a large potential for plan quality improvement and dose escalation for patients with larger or centrally located lung tumors using noncoplanar beams with sufficient quality and quantity. Compared against the clinical volumetric modulated arc therapy and static intensity modulated radiation therapy plans, the 4π plans yielded significantly and consistently improved tumor
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THE SMALL BUT SIGNIFICANT AND NONTRANSITORY INCREASE IN PRICES (SSNIP TEST
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Liviana Niminet
2008-12-01
Full Text Available The Small but Significant Nontransitory Increase in Price Test was designed to define the relevant market by concepts of product, geographical area and time. This test, also called the ,,hypothetical monopolistic test” is the subject of many researches both economical and legal as it deals with economic concepts as well as with legally aspects.
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Holmström, Gerd; Tornqvist, Kristina; Al-Hawasi, Abbas; Nilsson, Åsa; Wallin, Agneta; Hellström, Ann
2018-03-01
Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) causes childhood blindness globally in prematurely born infants. Although increased levels of oxygen supply lead to increased survival and reduced frequency of cerebral palsy, increased incidence of ROP is reported. With the help of a Swedish register for ROP, SWEDROP, national and regional incidences of ROP and frequencies of treatment were evaluated from 2008 to 2015 (n = 5734), as well as before and after targets of provided oxygen changed from 85-89% to 91-95% in 2014. Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) was found in 31.9% (1829/5734) of all infants with a gestational age (GA) of <31 weeks at birth and 5.7% of the infants (329/5734) had been treated for ROP. Analyses of the national data revealed an increased incidence of ROP during the 8-year study period (p = 0.003), but there was no significant increase in the frequency of treatment. There were significant differences between the seven health regions of Sweden, regarding both incidence of ROP and frequency of treatment (p < 0.001). Comparison of regional data before and after the new oxygen targets revealed a significant increase in treated ROP in one region [OR: 2.24 (CI: 1.11-4.49), p = 0.024] and a borderline increase in one other [OR: 3.08 (CI: 0.99-9.60), p = 0.052]. The Swedish national ROP register revealed an increased incidence of ROP during an 8-year period and significant regional differences regarding the incidence of ROP and frequency of treatment. © 2017 Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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Evaluation of Significance of Diffusely Increased Bilateral Renal Uptake on Bone Scan
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Sung, Mi Sook; Yang, Woo Jin; Byun, Jae Young; Park, Jung Mi; Shinn, Kyung Sub; Bahk, Yong Whee
1990-01-01
Unexpected renal abnormality can be detected on bone scan using 99m Tc-MDP. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the diagnostic significance of diffusely increased bilateral renal uptake on bone scan. 1,500 bone scan were reviewed and 43 scans which showed diffusely increased bilateral renal uptake were selected for analysis. Laboratory findings for renal and liver function tests including routine urinalysis were reviewed in 43 patients. 26 of 43 case showed abnormality in urinalysis and renal function study. 20 of 43 cases showed abnormal liver function study and 3 of these cases were diagnosed as hepatorenal syndrome later. 13 of those 20 cases had liver cirrhosis with or without hepatoma. 12 of 43 cases showed abnormality both in renal and liver function studies. 2 of 43 cases showed diffusely increased bilateral renal uptake after chemotherapy for cancer but not on previous scans before chemotherapy. 2 of 43 cases showed hypercalcaemia and 8 of 43 cases had multifocal bone uptake due to metastasis or benign bone lesion. But the latter showed no hypercalcaemia at all. There was no significant correlation between increased renal uptake and MDP uptake in soft tissue other than kidneys. This study raised the possibility that the impaired liver and/or renal function may result in diffuse increase of bilateral renal uptake of MDP of unknown mechanism. It seems to need further study on this correlation.
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Evaluation of Significance of Diffusely Increased Bilateral Renal Uptake on Bone Scan
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Sung, Mi Sook; Yang, Woo Jin; Byun, Jae Young; Park, Jung Mi; Shinn, Kyung Sub; Bahk, Yong Whee [Catholic University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)
1990-03-15
Unexpected renal abnormality can be detected on bone scan using {sup 99m}Tc-MDP. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the diagnostic significance of diffusely increased bilateral renal uptake on bone scan. 1,500 bone scan were reviewed and 43 scans which showed diffusely increased bilateral renal uptake were selected for analysis. Laboratory findings for renal and liver function tests including routine urinalysis were reviewed in 43 patients. 26 of 43 case showed abnormality in urinalysis and renal function study. 20 of 43 cases showed abnormal liver function study and 3 of these cases were diagnosed as hepatorenal syndrome later. 13 of those 20 cases had liver cirrhosis with or without hepatoma. 12 of 43 cases showed abnormality both in renal and liver function studies. 2 of 43 cases showed diffusely increased bilateral renal uptake after chemotherapy for cancer but not on previous scans before chemotherapy. 2 of 43 cases showed hypercalcaemia and 8 of 43 cases had multifocal bone uptake due to metastasis or benign bone lesion. But the latter showed no hypercalcaemia at all. There was no significant correlation between increased renal uptake and MDP uptake in soft tissue other than kidneys. This study raised the possibility that the impaired liver and/or renal function may result in diffuse increase of bilateral renal uptake of MDP of unknown mechanism. It seems to need further study on this correlation.
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St. John's wort significantly increased the systemic exposure and toxicity of methotrexate in rats
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Yang, Shih-Ying; Juang, Shin-Hun; Tsai, Shang-Yuan; Chao, Pei-Dawn Lee; Hou, Yu-Chi
2012-01-01
St. John's wort (SJW, Hypericum perforatum) is one of the popular nutraceuticals for treating depression. Methotrexate (MTX) is an immunosuppressant with narrow therapeutic window. This study investigated the effect of SJW on MTX pharmacokinetics in rats. Rats were orally given MTX alone and coadministered with 300 and 150 mg/kg of SJW, and 25 mg/kg of diclofenac, respectively. Blood was withdrawn at specific time points and serum MTX concentrations were assayed by a specific monoclonal fluorescence polarization immunoassay method. The results showed that 300 mg/kg of SJW significantly increased the AUC 0−t and C max of MTX by 163% and 60%, respectively, and 150 mg/kg of SJW significantly increased the AUC 0−t of MTX by 55%. In addition, diclofenac enhanced the C max of MTX by 110%. The mortality of rats treated with SJW was higher than that of controls. In conclusion, coadministration of SJW significantly increased the systemic exposure and toxicity of MTX. The combined use of MTX with SJW would need to be with caution. -- Highlights: ► St. John's wort significantly increased the AUC 0−t and C max of methotrexate. ► Coadministration of St. John's wort increased the exposure and toxicity of methotrexate. ► The combined use of methotrexate with St. John's wort will need to be with caution.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Richard Dalyai
2014-01-01
Full Text Available Objective. This study investigates the safety and efficacy of a multimodality approach combining staged endovascular embolizations with subsequent SRS for the management of larger AVMs. Methods. Ninety-five patients with larger AVMs were treated with staged endovascular embolization followed by SRS between 1996 and 2011. Results. The median volume of AVM in this series was 28 cm3 and 47 patients (48% were Spetzler-Martin grade IV or V. Twenty-seven patients initially presented with hemorrhage. Sixty-one patients underwent multiple embolizations while a single SRS session was performed in 64 patients. The median follow-up after SRS session was 32 months (range 9–136 months. Overall procedural complications occurred in 14 patients. There were 13 minor neurologic complications and 1 major complication (due to embolization while four patients had posttreatment hemorrhage. Thirty-eight patients (40% were cured radiographically. The postradiosurgery actuarial rate of obliteration was 45% at 5 years, 56% at 7 years, and 63% at 10 years. In multivariate analysis, larger AVM size, deep venous drainage, and the increasing number of embolization/SRS sessions were negative predictors of obliteration. The number of embolizations correlated positively with the number of stereotactic radiosurgeries (P<0.005. Conclusions. Multimodality endovascular and radiosurgical approach is an efficacious treatment strategy for large AVM.
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Demonstrating the value of larger ensembles in forecasting physical systems
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Reason L. Machete
2016-12-01
Full Text Available Ensemble simulation propagates a collection of initial states forward in time in a Monte Carlo fashion. Depending on the fidelity of the model and the properties of the initial ensemble, the goal of ensemble simulation can range from merely quantifying variations in the sensitivity of the model all the way to providing actionable probability forecasts of the future. Whatever the goal is, success depends on the properties of the ensemble, and there is a longstanding discussion in meteorology as to the size of initial condition ensemble most appropriate for Numerical Weather Prediction. In terms of resource allocation: how is one to divide finite computing resources between model complexity, ensemble size, data assimilation and other components of the forecast system. One wishes to avoid undersampling information available from the model's dynamics, yet one also wishes to use the highest fidelity model available. Arguably, a higher fidelity model can better exploit a larger ensemble; nevertheless it is often suggested that a relatively small ensemble, say ~16 members, is sufficient and that larger ensembles are not an effective investment of resources. This claim is shown to be dubious when the goal is probabilistic forecasting, even in settings where the forecast model is informative but imperfect. Probability forecasts for a ‘simple’ physical system are evaluated at different lead times; ensembles of up to 256 members are considered. The pure density estimation context (where ensemble members are drawn from the same underlying distribution as the target differs from the forecasting context, where one is given a high fidelity (but imperfect model. In the forecasting context, the information provided by additional members depends also on the fidelity of the model, the ensemble formation scheme (data assimilation, the ensemble interpretation and the nature of the observational noise. The effect of increasing the ensemble size is quantified by
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Häggman-Henrikson, Birgitta; Nordh, Erik; Eriksson, Per-Olof
2013-10-01
Previous findings, during chewing, that boluses of larger size and harder texture result in larger amplitudes of both mandibular and head-neck movements suggest a relationship between increased chewing load and incremental recruitment of jaw and neck muscles. The present report evaluated jaw (masseter and digastric) and neck [sternocleidomastoid (SCM) and trapezius] muscle activity during the chewing of test foods of different sizes and textures by 10 healthy subjects. Muscle activity was recorded by surface electromyography and simultaneous mandibular and head movements were recorded using an optoelectronic technique. Each subject performed continuous jaw-opening/jaw-closing movements whilst chewing small and large boluses of chewing gum and rubber silicone (Optosil). For jaw opening/jaw closing without a bolus, SCM activity was recorded for jaw opening concomitantly with digastric activity. During chewing, SCM activity was recorded for jaw closing concomitantly with masseter activity. Trapezius activity was present in some, but not all, cycles. For the masseter and SCM muscles, higher activity was seen with larger test foods, suggesting increased demand and recruitment of these muscles in response to an increased chewing load. This result reinforces the previous notion of a close functional connection between the jaw and the neck motor systems in jaw actions and has scientific and clinical significance for studying jaw function and dysfunction. © 2013 Eur J Oral Sci.
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Sallam, Emad S.; Erdem, Nazire Özgen; Sinanoğlu, Derya; Ruban, Dmitry A.
2018-05-01
Larger benthic foraminiferal assemblages from the mid-Eocene (Bartonian) sedimentary successions of the Tethyan carbonate platforms have been studied in southeastern Turkey and northeastern Egypt. In the Hazro-Diyarbakir section (SE Turkey), small-medium miliolids and textularinids are identified from the lower intervals of the Hoya Formation, whereas alveolinids and soritids (porcellaneous) and orbitolinids (agglutinated) increase in diversity and abundance in the upper intervals. The Dictyoconus aegyptiensis (Chapman) and Somalina stefaninii Silvestri are recorded for the first time from the Hoya Formation. The larger benthic foraminiferal assemblage from the Hoya Formation shows a significant similarity to those reported from the Observatory Formation (coeval with the Sannor Formation) in the Cairo-Suez district (NE Egypt). The studied foraminiferal assemblages imply restricted lagoonal-tidal flat palaeoenvironments. Palaeobiogeographically, the larger benthic foraminiferal assemblages recorded in southeastern Turkey and northeastern Egypt carbonate platforms display a strong affinity to the Arabian, Middle East and African platforms. The position of the global sea-level and the plate tectonic organization of the studied region during the Bartonian were the main factors that facilitated faunal exchange within the carbonate platforms.
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Smith, Jeremy C.; Guerreiro, Nelson M.; Viken, Jeffrey K.; Dollyhigh, Samuel M.; Fenbert, James W.
2010-01-01
A study was performed that investigates the use of larger aircraft and alternative routing to complement the capacity benefits expected from the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) in 2025. National Airspace System (NAS) delays for the 2025 demand projected by the Transportation Systems Analysis Models (TSAM) were assessed using NASA s Airspace Concept Evaluation System (ACES). The shift in demand from commercial airline to automobile and from one airline route to another was investigated by adding the route delays determined from the ACES simulation to the travel times used in the TSAM and re-generating new flight scenarios. The ACES simulation results from this study determined that NextGen Operational Improvements alone do not provide sufficient airport capacity to meet the projected demand for passenger air travel in 2025 without significant system delays. Using larger aircraft with more seats on high-demand routes and introducing new direct routes, where demand warrants, significantly reduces delays, complementing NextGen improvements. Another significant finding of this study is that the adaptive behavior of passengers to avoid congested airline-routes is an important factor when projecting demand for transportation systems. Passengers will choose an alternative mode of transportation or alternative airline routes to avoid congested routes, thereby reducing delays to acceptable levels for the 2025 scenario; the penalty being that alternative routes and the option to drive increases overall trip time by 0.4% and may be less convenient than the first-choice route.
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Li, Hao; Li, Haowen; Yue, Haiyan; Wang, Wen; Yu, Lanbing; ShuoWang; Cao, Yong; Zhao, Jizong
2017-07-01
As it grows in size, an intracranial aneurysm (IA) is prone to rupture. In this study, we compared two extreme groups of IAs, ruptured IAs (RIAs) smaller than 10 mm and un-ruptured IAs (UIAs) larger than 10 mm, to investigate the genes involved in the facilitation and prevention of IA rupture. The aneurismal walls of 6 smaller saccular RIAs (size smaller than 10 mm), 6 larger saccular UIAs (size larger than 10 mm) and 12 paired control arteries were obtained during surgery. The transcription profiles of these samples were studied by microarray analysis. RT-qPCR was used to confirm the expression of the genes of interest. In addition, functional group analysis of the differentially expressed genes was performed. Between smaller RIAs and larger UIAs, 101 genes and 179 genes were significantly over-expressed, respectively. In addition, functional group analysis demonstrated that the up-regulated genes in smaller RIAs mainly participated in the cellular response to metal ions and inorganic substances, while most of the up-regulated genes in larger UIAs were involved in inflammation and extracellular matrix (ECM) organization. Moreover, compared with control arteries, inflammation was up-regulated and muscle-related biological processes were down-regulated in both smaller RIAs and larger UIAs. The genes involved in the cellular response to metal ions and inorganic substances may facilitate the rupture of IAs. In addition, the healing process, involving inflammation and ECM organization, may protect IAs from rupture.
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Larger eggs in resident brown trout living in sympatry with anadromous brown trout
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Olofsson, H.; Mosegaard, Henrik
1999-01-01
Freshwater resident brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) in the stream Jorlandaan (southwestern Sweden) had larger eggs (range of actual mean egg wet weights, 65.9-108.5 mg) than both sympatric migratory trout (76.8-84.2 mg) and trout from five other Swedish streams with allopatric resident (23.7-80.1 mg......) or migratory populations (44.5-121.9 mg), after accounting for differences in body size. In Jorlandaan, some resident females even had a larger absolute mean egg weight than any of the migratory females found in the stream Resident trout had low absolute fecundity, and our data suggest that resident females...... in Jorlandan produce large eggs at the expense of their fecundity The extremely large relative egg size in resident Jorlandaan females suggests that the production of large offspring enhances fitness, possibly through increased fry survival....
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Abu-Ghosh, Said; Fixler, Dror; Dubinsky, Zvy; Iluz, David
2015-01-01
Under specific conditions, flashing light enhances the photosynthesis rate in comparison to continuous illumination. Here we show that a combination of flashing light and continuous background light with the same integrated photon dose as continuous or flashing light alone can be used to significantly enhance photosynthesis and increase microalgae growth. To test this hypothesis, the green microalga Dunaliella salina was exposed to three different light regimes: continuous light, flashing light, and concomitant application of both. Algal growth was compared under three different integrated light quantities; low, intermediate, and moderately high. Under the combined light regime, there was a substantial increase in all algal growth parameters, with an enhanced photosynthesis rate, within 3days. Our strategy demonstrates a hitherto undescribed significant increase in photosynthesis and algal growth rates, which is beyond the increase by flashing light alone. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Breast-cancer-associated metastasis is significantly increased in a model of autoimmune arthritis.
Das Roy, Lopamudra; Pathangey, Latha B; Tinder, Teresa L; Schettini, Jorge L; Gruber, Helen E; Mukherjee, Pinku
2009-01-01
Sites of chronic inflammation are often associated with the establishment and growth of various malignancies including breast cancer. A common inflammatory condition in humans is autoimmune arthritis (AA) that causes inflammation and deformity of the joints. Other systemic effects associated with arthritis include increased cellular infiltration and inflammation of the lungs. Several studies have reported statistically significant risk ratios between AA and breast cancer. Despite this knowledge, available for a decade, it has never been questioned if the site of chronic inflammation linked to AA creates a milieu that attracts tumor cells to home and grow in the inflamed bones and lungs which are frequent sites of breast cancer metastasis. To determine if chronic inflammation induced by autoimmune arthritis contributes to increased breast cancer-associated metastasis, we generated mammary gland tumors in SKG mice that were genetically prone to develop AA. Two breast cancer cell lines, one highly metastatic (4T1) and the other non-metastatic (TUBO) were used to generate the tumors in the mammary fat pad. Lung and bone metastasis and the associated inflammatory milieu were evaluated in the arthritic versus the non-arthritic mice. We report a three-fold increase in lung metastasis and a significant increase in the incidence of bone metastasis in the pro-arthritic and arthritic mice compared to non-arthritic control mice. We also report that the metastatic breast cancer cells augment the severity of arthritis resulting in a vicious cycle that increases both bone destruction and metastasis. Enhanced neutrophilic and granulocytic infiltration in lungs and bone of the pro-arthritic and arthritic mice and subsequent increase in circulating levels of proinflammatory cytokines, such as macrophage colony stimulating factor (M-CSF), interleukin-17 (IL-17), interleukin-6 (IL-6), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) may contribute
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Breast cancer-associated metastasis is significantly increased in a model of autoimmune arthritis
Das Roy, Lopamudra; Pathangey, Latha B; Tinder, Teresa L; Schettini, Jorge L; Gruber, Helen E; Mukherjee, Pinku
2009-01-01
Introduction Sites of chronic inflammation are often associated with the establishment and growth of various malignancies including breast cancer. A common inflammatory condition in humans is autoimmune arthritis (AA) that causes inflammation and deformity of the joints. Other systemic effects associated with arthritis include increased cellular infiltration and inflammation of the lungs. Several studies have reported statistically significant risk ratios between AA and breast cancer. Despite this knowledge, available for a decade, it has never been questioned if the site of chronic inflammation linked to AA creates a milieu that attracts tumor cells to home and grow in the inflamed bones and lungs which are frequent sites of breast cancer metastasis. Methods To determine if chronic inflammation induced by autoimmune arthritis contributes to increased breast cancer-associated metastasis, we generated mammary gland tumors in SKG mice that were genetically prone to develop AA. Two breast cancer cell lines, one highly metastatic (4T1) and the other non-metastatic (TUBO) were used to generate the tumors in the mammary fat pad. Lung and bone metastasis and the associated inflammatory milieu were evaluated in the arthritic versus the non-arthritic mice. Results We report a three-fold increase in lung metastasis and a significant increase in the incidence of bone metastasis in the pro-arthritic and arthritic mice compared to non-arthritic control mice. We also report that the metastatic breast cancer cells augment the severity of arthritis resulting in a vicious cycle that increases both bone destruction and metastasis. Enhanced neutrophilic and granulocytic infiltration in lungs and bone of the pro-arthritic and arthritic mice and subsequent increase in circulating levels of proinflammatory cytokines, such as macrophage colony stimulating factor (M-CSF), interleukin-17 (IL-17), interleukin-6 (IL-6), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and tumor necrosis factor
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The cause of larger local magnitude (Mj) in western Japan
Kawamoto, H.; Furumura, T.
2017-12-01
The local magnitude of the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) scale (Mj) in Japan sometimes show a significant discrepancy between Mw. The Mj is calculated using the amplitude of the horizontal component of ground displacement recorded by seismometers with the natural period of T0=5 s using Katsumata et al. (2004). A typical example of such a discrepancy in estimating Mj was an overestimation of the 2000 Western Tottori earthquake (Mj=7.3, Mw=6.7; hereafter referred to as event T). In this study, we examined the discrepancy between Mj and Mw for recent large earthquakes occurring in Japan.We found that the most earthquakes with larger Mj (>Mw) occur in western Japan while the earthquakes in northern Japan show reasonable Mj (=Mw). To understand the cause of such larger Mj for western Japan earthquakes we examined the strong motion record from the K-NET and KiK-net network for the event T and other earthquakes for reference. The observed ground displacement record from the event T shows a distinctive Love wave packet in tangential motion with a dominant period of about T=5 s which propagates long distances without showing strong dispersions. On the other hand, the ground motions from the earthquakes in northeastern Japan do not have such surface wave packet, and attenuation of ground motion is significant. Therefore, the overestimation of the Mj for earthquakes in western Japan may be attributed to efficient generation and propagation properties of Love wave probably relating to the crustal structure of western Japan. To explain this, we then conducted a numerical simulation of seismic wave propagation using 3D sedimentary layer model (JIVSM; Koketsu et al., 2012) and the source model of the event T. The result demonstrated the efficient generation of Love wave from the shallow strike-slip source which propagates long distances in western Japan without significant dispersions. On the other hand, the generation of surface wave was not so efficient when using a
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Males that drop a sexually selected weapon grow larger testes.
Joseph, Paul N; Emberts, Zachary; Sasson, Daniel A; Miller, Christine W
2018-01-01
Costly sexually selected weapons are predicted to trade off with postcopulatory traits, such as testes. Although weapons can be important for achieving access to females, individuals of some species can permanently drop (i.e. autotomize) their weapons, without regeneration, to escape danger. We capitalized on this natural behavior to experimentally address whether the loss of a sexually selected weapon leads to increased testes investment in the leaf-footed cactus bug, Narnia femorata Stål (Hemiptera: Coreidae). In a second experiment, we measured offspring production for males that lost a weapon during development. As predicted, males that dropped a hind limb during development grew significantly larger testes than the control treatments. Hind-limb autotomy did not result in the enlargement of other nearby traits. Our results are the first to experimentally demonstrate that males compensate for natural weapon loss by investing more in testes. In a second experiment we found that females paired with males that lost a hind limb had 40% lower egg hatching success than females paired with intact males, perhaps because of lower mating receptivity to males with a lost limb. Importantly, in those cases where viable offspring were produced, males missing a hind limb produced 42% more offspring than males with intact limbs. These results suggest that the loss of a hind-limb weapon can, in some cases, lead to greater fertilization success. © 2017 The Author(s). Evolution © 2017 The Society for the Study of Evolution.
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Is Parental Involvement Lower at Larger Schools?
Walsh, Patrick
2010-01-01
Parents who volunteer, or who lobby for improvements in school quality, are generally seen as providing a school-wide public good. If so, straightforward public-good theory predicts that free-riding will reduce average involvement at larger schools. This study uses longitudinal data to follow families over time, as their children move from middle…
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Increased intracranial volume in Parkinson's disease
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Krabbe, Katja; Karlsborg, Merete; Hansen, Andreas
2005-01-01
segmentation and outlining of regions in order to identify regional volume changes that might be useful in the diagnosis of the two diseases. RESULTS: Patients with PD had significantly larger intracranial volumes (ICVs) and significantly smaller putaminal and sustantia nigra volumes than controls. MSA...... patients had significantly smaller substantia nigra and caudate volumes than controls but normal intracranial volume. In both patient groups there was a further trend towards smaller amygdala volumes. DISCUSSION: Increased ICV in PD patients is a new finding that may be explained by genetic factors...
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SME routes for innovation collaboration with larger enterprises
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Brink, Tove
2017-01-01
The research in this paper reveals how Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) can contribute to industry competiveness through collaboration with larger enterprises. The research is based on a longitudinal qualitative case study starting in 2011 with 10 SME offshore wind farm suppliers...... and follow-up interviews in 2013. The research continued with a second approach in 2014 within operation and maintenance (O&M) through focus group interviews and subsequent individual interviews with 20 enterprises and a seminar in May 2015. The findings reveal opportunities and challenges for SMEs according...... to three different routes for cooperation and collaboration with larger enterprises: demand-driven cooperation, supplier-driven cooperation and partnerdriven collaboration. The SME contribution to innovation and competiveness is different within the three routes and ranges from providing specific knowledge...
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Groups have a larger cognitive capacity than individuals.
Sasaki, Takao; Pratt, Stephen C
2012-10-09
Increasing the number of options can paradoxically lead to worse decisions, a phenomenon known as cognitive overload [1]. This happens when an individual decision-maker attempts to digest information exceeding its processing capacity. Highly integrated groups, such as social insect colonies, make consensus decisions that combine the efforts of many members, suggesting that these groups can overcome individual limitations [2-4]. Here we report that an ant colony choosing a new nest site is less vulnerable to cognitive overload than an isolated ant making this decision on her own. We traced this improvement to differences in individual behavior. In whole colonies, each ant assesses only a small subset of available sites, and the colony combines their efforts to thoroughly explore all options. An isolated ant, on the other hand, must personally assess a larger number of sites to approach the same level of option coverage. By sharing the burden of assessment, the colony avoids overtaxing the abilities of its members. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Thalidomide has a significant effect in patients with thalassemia intermedia.
Li, YunShuan; Ren, Quan; Zhou, Yali; Li, Pingping; Lin, Wanhua; Yin, Xiaolin
2018-01-01
To investigate the effect of thalidomide in patients with thalassemia intermedia. We observed the effect of thalidomide in seven patients with thalassemia intermedia requiring blood transfusion. Four of the patients were transfusion-independent, and three patients were transfusion-dependent. For the four transfusion-independent patients, hemoglobin concentration increased significantly (≥2 g/dl) in three and moderately (1-2 g/dl) in one. After 3 months of treatment, hemoglobin concentration increased 3.2 ± 1.2 g/dl compared to pretreatment. Among the three transfusion-dependent patients, transfusion was terminated after one month of treatment in one patient and decreased >50% in the other two patients, accompanied by an increase in the average hemoglobin concentration. Thalidomide had a significant effect in patients with thalassemia intermedia. Further studies of a larger scale and more rigorous design are warranted.
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Verdiell, Nuria Calduch
. Recently, there is increasing evidence that this size-selective fishing reduces the chances of maintaining populations at levels sufficient to produce maximum sustainable yields, the chances of recovery/rebuilding populations that have been depleted/collapsed and may causes rapid evolutionary changes...... and the consequent changes in yield. We attempt to evaluate the capability of the larger fish to mitigate the evolutionary change on life-history traits caused by fishing, while also maintaining a sustainable annual yield. This is achieved by calculating the expected selection response on three life-history traits......Many marine fish stocks are reported as overfished on a global scale. This overfishing not only removes fish biomass, but also causes dramatic changes in the age and size structure of fish stocks. In particular, targeting of the larger individuals truncates the age and size structure of stocks...
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Juul-Kristensen, B; Schmidt, H; Pedersen, T Lykke
mobility was measured as HSA using an inclinometer in a standardized protocol format. A multiple regression analysis was used to reveal associations between GJH and horizontal shoulder abduction, adjusted for sex and age. Results Overall, significant associations between GJH and HSA were found. An increase...
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Significant increase of surface ozone at a rural site, north of eastern China
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Z. Ma
2016-03-01
Full Text Available Ozone pollution in eastern China has become one of the top environmental issues. Quantifying the temporal trend of surface ozone helps to assess the impacts of the anthropogenic precursor reductions and the likely effects of emission control strategies implemented. In this paper, ozone data collected at the Shangdianzi (SDZ regional atmospheric background station from 2003 to 2015 are presented and analyzed to obtain the variation in the trend of surface ozone in the most polluted region of China, north of eastern China or the North China Plain. A modified Kolmogorov–Zurbenko (KZ filter method was performed on the maximum daily average 8 h (MDA8 concentrations of ozone to separate the contributions of different factors from the variation of surface ozone and remove the influence of meteorological fluctuations on surface ozone. Results reveal that the short-term, seasonal and long-term components of ozone account for 36.4, 57.6 and 2.2 % of the total variance, respectively. The long-term trend indicates that the MDA8 has undergone a significant increase in the period of 2003–2015, with an average rate of 1.13 ± 0.01 ppb year−1 (R2 = 0.92. It is found that meteorological factors did not significantly influence the long-term variation of ozone and the increase may be completely attributed to changes in emissions. Furthermore, there is no significant correlation between the long-term O3 and NO2 trends. This study suggests that emission changes in VOCs might have played a more important role in the observed increase of surface ozone at SDZ.
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Historical Carbon Dioxide Emissions Caused by Land-Use Changes are Possibly Larger than Assumed
Arneth, A.; Sitch, S.; Pongratz, J.; Stocker, B. D.; Ciais, P.; Poulter, B.; Bayer, A. D.; Bondeau, A.; Calle, L.; Chini, L. P.;
2017-01-01
The terrestrial biosphere absorbs about 20% of fossil-fuel CO2 emissions. The overall magnitude of this sink is constrained by the difference between emissions, the rate of increase in atmospheric CO2 concentrations, and the ocean sink. However, the land sink is actually composed of two largely counteracting fluxes that are poorly quantified: fluxes from land-use change andCO2 uptake by terrestrial ecosystems. Dynamic global vegetation model simulations suggest that CO2 emissions from land-use change have been substantially underestimated because processes such as tree harvesting and land clearing from shifting cultivation have not been considered. As the overall terrestrial sink is constrained, a larger net flux as a result of land-use change implies that terrestrial uptake of CO2 is also larger, and that terrestrial ecosystems might have greater potential to sequester carbon in the future. Consequently, reforestation projects and efforts to avoid further deforestation could represent important mitigation pathways, with co-benefits for biodiversity. It is unclear whether a larger land carbon sink can be reconciled with our current understanding of terrestrial carbon cycling. Our possible underestimation of the historical residual terrestrial carbon sink adds further uncertainty to our capacity to predict the future of terrestrial carbon uptake and losses.
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Designing key-dependent chaotic S-box with larger key space
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Yin Ruming; Yuan Jian; Wang Jian; Shan Xiuming; Wang Xiqin
2009-01-01
The construction of cryptographically strong substitution boxes (S-boxes) is an important concern in designing secure cryptosystems. The key-dependent S-boxes designed using chaotic maps have received increasing attention in recent years. However, the key space of such S-boxes does not seem to be sufficiently large due to the limited parameter range of discretized chaotic maps. In this paper, we propose a new key-dependent S-box based on the iteration of continuous chaotic maps. We explore the continuous-valued state space of chaotic systems, and devise the discrete mapping between the input and the output of the S-box. A key-dependent S-box is constructed with the logistic map in this paper. We show that its key space could be much larger than the current key-dependent chaotic S-boxes.
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Global warming may disproportionately affect larger adults in a predatory coral reef fish
Messmer, Vanessa
2016-11-03
Global warming is expected to reduce body sizes of ectothermic animals. Although the underlying mechanisms of size reductions remain poorly understood, effects appear stronger at latitudinal extremes (poles and tropics) and in aquatic rather than terrestrial systems. To shed light on this phenomenon, we examined the size dependence of critical thermal maxima (CTmax) and aerobic metabolism in a commercially important tropical reef fish, the leopard coral grouper (Plectropomus leopardus) following acclimation to current-day (28.5 °C) vs. projected end-of-century (33 °C) summer temperatures for the northern Great Barrier Reef (GBR). CTmax declined from 38.3 to 37.5 °C with increasing body mass in adult fish (0.45-2.82 kg), indicating that larger individuals are more thermally sensitive than smaller conspecifics. This may be explained by a restricted capacity for large fish to increase mass-specific maximum metabolic rate (MMR) at 33 °C compared with 28.5 °C. Indeed, temperature influenced the relationship between metabolism and body mass (0.02-2.38 kg), whereby the scaling exponent for MMR increased from 0.74 ± 0.02 at 28.5 °C to 0.79 ± 0.01 at 33 °C, and the corresponding exponents for standard metabolic rate (SMR) were 0.75 ± 0.04 and 0.80 ± 0.03. The increase in metabolic scaling exponents at higher temperatures suggests that energy budgets may be disproportionately impacted in larger fish and contribute to reduced maximum adult size. Such climate-induced reductions in body size would have important ramifications for fisheries productivity, but are also likely to have knock-on effects for trophodynamics and functioning of ecosystems.
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Global warming may disproportionately affect larger adults in a predatory coral reef fish
Messmer, Vanessa; Pratchett, Morgan S.; Hoey, Andrew S.; Tobin, Andrew J.; Coker, Darren James; Cooke, Steven J.; Clark, Timothy D.
2016-01-01
Global warming is expected to reduce body sizes of ectothermic animals. Although the underlying mechanisms of size reductions remain poorly understood, effects appear stronger at latitudinal extremes (poles and tropics) and in aquatic rather than terrestrial systems. To shed light on this phenomenon, we examined the size dependence of critical thermal maxima (CTmax) and aerobic metabolism in a commercially important tropical reef fish, the leopard coral grouper (Plectropomus leopardus) following acclimation to current-day (28.5 °C) vs. projected end-of-century (33 °C) summer temperatures for the northern Great Barrier Reef (GBR). CTmax declined from 38.3 to 37.5 °C with increasing body mass in adult fish (0.45-2.82 kg), indicating that larger individuals are more thermally sensitive than smaller conspecifics. This may be explained by a restricted capacity for large fish to increase mass-specific maximum metabolic rate (MMR) at 33 °C compared with 28.5 °C. Indeed, temperature influenced the relationship between metabolism and body mass (0.02-2.38 kg), whereby the scaling exponent for MMR increased from 0.74 ± 0.02 at 28.5 °C to 0.79 ± 0.01 at 33 °C, and the corresponding exponents for standard metabolic rate (SMR) were 0.75 ± 0.04 and 0.80 ± 0.03. The increase in metabolic scaling exponents at higher temperatures suggests that energy budgets may be disproportionately impacted in larger fish and contribute to reduced maximum adult size. Such climate-induced reductions in body size would have important ramifications for fisheries productivity, but are also likely to have knock-on effects for trophodynamics and functioning of ecosystems.
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Global warming may disproportionately affect larger adults in a predatory coral reef fish.
Messmer, Vanessa; Pratchett, Morgan S; Hoey, Andrew S; Tobin, Andrew J; Coker, Darren J; Cooke, Steven J; Clark, Timothy D
2017-06-01
Global warming is expected to reduce body sizes of ectothermic animals. Although the underlying mechanisms of size reductions remain poorly understood, effects appear stronger at latitudinal extremes (poles and tropics) and in aquatic rather than terrestrial systems. To shed light on this phenomenon, we examined the size dependence of critical thermal maxima (CTmax) and aerobic metabolism in a commercially important tropical reef fish, the leopard coral grouper (Plectropomus leopardus) following acclimation to current-day (28.5 °C) vs. projected end-of-century (33 °C) summer temperatures for the northern Great Barrier Reef (GBR). CTmax declined from 38.3 to 37.5 °C with increasing body mass in adult fish (0.45-2.82 kg), indicating that larger individuals are more thermally sensitive than smaller conspecifics. This may be explained by a restricted capacity for large fish to increase mass-specific maximum metabolic rate (MMR) at 33 °C compared with 28.5 °C. Indeed, temperature influenced the relationship between metabolism and body mass (0.02-2.38 kg), whereby the scaling exponent for MMR increased from 0.74 ± 0.02 at 28.5 °C to 0.79 ± 0.01 at 33 °C, and the corresponding exponents for standard metabolic rate (SMR) were 0.75 ± 0.04 and 0.80 ± 0.03. The increase in metabolic scaling exponents at higher temperatures suggests that energy budgets may be disproportionately impacted in larger fish and contribute to reduced maximum adult size. Such climate-induced reductions in body size would have important ramifications for fisheries productivity, but are also likely to have knock-on effects for trophodynamics and functioning of ecosystems. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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St. John's wort significantly increased the systemic exposure and toxicity of methotrexate in rats
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Yang, Shih-Ying [Graduate Institute of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan (China); Juang, Shin-Hun [Graduate Institute of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan (China); Department of Medical Research, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan (China); Tsai, Shang-Yuan; Chao, Pei-Dawn Lee [School of Pharmacy, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan (China); Hou, Yu-Chi, E-mail: hou5133@gmail.com [School of Pharmacy, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan (China); Department of Medical Research, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan (China)
2012-08-15
St. John's wort (SJW, Hypericum perforatum) is one of the popular nutraceuticals for treating depression. Methotrexate (MTX) is an immunosuppressant with narrow therapeutic window. This study investigated the effect of SJW on MTX pharmacokinetics in rats. Rats were orally given MTX alone and coadministered with 300 and 150 mg/kg of SJW, and 25 mg/kg of diclofenac, respectively. Blood was withdrawn at specific time points and serum MTX concentrations were assayed by a specific monoclonal fluorescence polarization immunoassay method. The results showed that 300 mg/kg of SJW significantly increased the AUC{sub 0−t} and C{sub max} of MTX by 163% and 60%, respectively, and 150 mg/kg of SJW significantly increased the AUC{sub 0−t} of MTX by 55%. In addition, diclofenac enhanced the C{sub max} of MTX by 110%. The mortality of rats treated with SJW was higher than that of controls. In conclusion, coadministration of SJW significantly increased the systemic exposure and toxicity of MTX. The combined use of MTX with SJW would need to be with caution. -- Highlights: ► St. John's wort significantly increased the AUC{sub 0−t} and C{sub max} of methotrexate. ► Coadministration of St. John's wort increased the exposure and toxicity of methotrexate. ► The combined use of methotrexate with St. John's wort will need to be with caution.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Satoshi Tanaka
Full Text Available Recent studies suggest that action video game players exhibit superior performance in visuospatial cognitive tasks compared with non-game players. However, the neural basis underlying this visuospatial cognitive performance advantage remains largely unknown. The present human behavioral and imaging study compared gray matter volume in action video game experts and non-experts using structural magnetic resonance imaging and voxel-based morphometry analysis. The results revealed significantly larger gray matter volume in the right posterior parietal cortex in experts compared with non-experts. Furthermore, the larger gray matter volume in the right posterior parietal cortex significantly correlated with individual performance in a visual working memory task in experts. These results suggest that differences in brain structure may be linked to extensive video game play, leading to superior visuospatial cognitive performance in action video game experts.
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Increased steady-state VO2 and larger O2 deficit with CO2 inhalation during exercise
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Østergaard, Lars; Kjær, Kirsten; Jensen, Kurt
2012-01-01
respiratory acidosis with increases in PCO2 and decreases in capillary blood pH (P ... with hypercapnia in heavy exercise (2.24 ± 0.51 L vs. 1.91 ± 0.45 L; P respiratory acidosis increase steady-state in both light and heavy exercise and enlarges O2 deficit in heavy exercise....
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Listing of nuclear power plant larger than 100 MWe
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
McHugh, B.
1976-03-01
This report contains a list of all nuclear power plants larger than 100 MWe, printed out from the Argus Data Bank at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. The plants are listed by NSSS supply. (M.S.)
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Why borrowers pay premiums to larger lenders: Empirical evidence from sovereign syndicated loans
Hallak, Issam
2002-01-01
All other terms being equal (e.g. seniority), syndicated loan contracts provide larger lending compensations (in percentage points) to institutions funding larger amounts. This paper explores empirically the motivation for such a price design on a sample of sovereign syndicated loans in the period 1990-1997. I find strong evidence that a larger premium is associated with higher renegotiation probability and information asymmetries. It hardly has any impact on the number of lenders though. Thi...
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Annual spatiotemporal migration schedules in three larger insectivorous birds
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Jacobsen, Lars Bo; Jensen, Niels Odder; Willemoes, Mikkel
2017-01-01
Background: Knowledge of spatiotemporal migration patterns is important for our understanding of migration ecology and ultimately conservation of migratory species. We studied the annual migration schedules of European nightjar, a large nocturnal insectivore and compared it with two other larger ...
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Sofija Pavković-Lučić
Full Text Available Are larger and/or more symmetrical Drosophila melanogaster (Diptera, Drosophilidae males more successful in matings in nature? Sexual selection in Drosophila melanogaster, related to body size and fluctuating asymmetry in wing length and number of sex comb teeth in males, was tested in natural conditions. Males collected in copula were significantly larger than those collected as a single, while no difference in mean number of sex comb teeth between copulating and single males was observed. On the other hand, single males had greater asymmetry both for wing length and number of sex comb teeth than their mating counterparts. It looks like that symmetry of these bilateral traits also may play a role in sexual selection in this dipteran species in nature.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
MacAfee, I.M.
1983-01-01
Major changes in the current reactor hydraulic systems could be made to achieve a total of about 1500 MW increase of reactor power for P, K, and C reactors. The changes would be to install new, larger heat exchangers in the reactor buildings to increase heat transfer area about 24%, to increase H 2 O flow about 30% per reactor, to increase D 2 O flow 15 to 18% per reactor, and increase reactor blanket gas pressure from 5 psig to 10 psig. The increased reactor power is possible because of reduced inlet temperature of reactor coolant, increased heat removal capacity, and increased operating pressure (larger margin from boiling). The 23% reactor power increase, after adjustment for increased off-line time for reactor reloading, will provide a 15% increase of production from P, K, and C reactors. Restart of L Reactor would increase SRP production 33%
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Collision cascades and sputtering induced by larger cluster ions
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Sigmund, P.
1988-01-01
Recent experimental work on larger cluster impact on solid surfaces suggests large deviations from the standard case of additive sputter yields both in the nuclear and electronic stopping regime. The paper concentrates on elastic collision cascades. In addition to very pronounced spike effects, two phenomena are pointed out that are specific to cluster bombardment. Multiple hits of cluster atoms on one and the same target atom may result in recoil atoms that move faster than the maximum recoil speed for monomer bombardment at the same projectile speed. This effect is important when the atomic mass of a beam atom is less than that of a target atom, M 1 2 . In the opposite case, M 1 >> M 2 , collisions between beam particles may accelerate some beam particles and slow down others. Some consequences are mentioned. Remarks on the nuclear stopping power of larger clusters and on electronic sputtering by cluster bombardment conclude the paper. 38 refs., 2 figs
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Brynjolfsson, Erik; Smith, Michael D.; Yu, (Jeffrey) Hu
2003-01-01
We present a framework and empirical estimates that quantify the economic impact of increased product variety made available through electronic markets. While efficiency gains from increased competition significantly enhance consumer surplus, for instance, by leading to lower average selling prices, our present research shows that increased product variety made available through electronic markets can be a significantly larger source of consumer surplus gains. One reason for increased product...
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Imaging samples larger than the field of view: the SLS experience
Vogiatzis Oikonomidis, Ioannis; Lovric, Goran; Cremona, Tiziana P.; Arcadu, Filippo; Patera, Alessandra; Schittny, Johannes C.; Stampanoni, Marco
2017-06-01
Volumetric datasets with micrometer spatial and sub-second temporal resolutions are nowadays routinely acquired using synchrotron X-ray tomographic microscopy (SRXTM). Although SRXTM technology allows the examination of multiple samples with short scan times, many specimens are larger than the field-of-view (FOV) provided by the detector. The extension of the FOV in the direction perpendicular to the rotation axis remains non-trivial. We present a method that can efficiently increase the FOV merging volumetric datasets obtained by region-of-interest tomographies in different 3D positions of the sample with a minimal amount of artefacts and with the ability to handle large amounts of data. The method has been successfully applied for the three-dimensional imaging of a small number of mouse lung acini of intact animals, where pixel sizes down to the micrometer range and short exposure times are required.
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Dispersal, phenology and predicted abundance of the larger grain ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
The phenology and dispersal of the larger grain borer (LGB) in Africa is described, and comparisons are made between prediction of LGB numbers from laboratory studies and predictions from multiple linear models derived from trapping data in the field. The models were developed in Mexico and Kenya, using ...
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Application of chemical mutagens and radiation in breeding buckwheat for larger seeds
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Alekseeva, E.S.
1988-01-01
Full text: In 1974, seeds of the Viktoriya variety of buckwheat were treated with 20-30 krad gamma radiation and chemical mutagens in the Biophysics Department of the Kishinev Agricultural Institute. For the chemical mutagen treatment, we used N-ethylnitroso-urea NEH (0.025 and 0.012%), N-methylnitroso-urea NMH (0.01 and 0.005%), ethylenimine EI (0.01 and 0.005%), dimethyl sulphate DMS (0.01 and 0.005%) and 1.4-bis-diazoacetyl butane DAB (0.01 and 0.05%). Since some investigators think that different results are produced by changing the order of the treatment, we treated seeds with chemical mutagens before and after irradiation and this was followed by drying. A total of 2400 seeds were treated. Selection started with M 2 seeds produced by M 1 plants. The thousand seed weight of the best ones ranged from 40.7 to 47.8 g, which was 11.9-18.7 g heavier than the control. The large seed size thus selected was heritable. Since larger seeds are very important for the creation of high yielding varieties buckwheat, only families with these characteristics were selected for further work. We observed even some further increase in seed weight in the next generation. It was observed that when planting large seeds, after six days of growth the cotyledons were significantly larger than in the control plants. This characteristic was used in selecting for a high yielding large-seed variety of buckwheat. The plants were selected twice: once for development of large cotyledon leaves and the second time for plant yield. In the fourth generation, the families thus obtained continued to be studied in greenhouse experiments and the same time be propagated under field conditions. The seeds of these families were then combined and under the name Podolyanka in 1976 were subjected to competitive variety testing. Following the competitive variety testing the mutant variety Podolyanka was released in 1984. It is high yielding (2950 kg/ha), has a short vegetation period (matures 17-18 days
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Campbell, Liz A D; Tkaczynski, Patrick J; Lehmann, Julia; Mouna, Mohamed; Majolo, Bonaventura
2018-04-17
Individuals with more or stronger social bonds experience enhanced survival and reproduction in various species, though the mechanisms mediating these effects are unclear. Social thermoregulation is a common behaviour across many species which reduces cold stress exposure, body heat loss, and homeostatic energy costs, allowing greater energetic investment in growth, reproduction, and survival, with larger aggregations providing greater benefits. If more social individuals form larger thermoregulation aggregations due to having more potential partners, this would provide a direct link between sociality and fitness. We conducted the first test of this hypothesis by studying social relationships and winter sleeping huddles in wild Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus), wherein individuals with more social partners experience greater probability of winter survival. Precipitation and low temperature increased huddle sizes, supporting previous research that huddle size influences thermoregulation and energetics. Huddling relationships were predicted by social (grooming) relationships. Individuals with more social partners therefore formed larger huddles, suggesting reduced energy expenditure and exposure to environmental stressors than less social individuals, potentially explaining how sociality affects survival in this population. This is the first evidence that social thermoregulation may be a direct proximate mechanism by which increased sociality enhances fitness, which may be widely applicable across taxa.
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Zhou, Jie; Zhang, Fuliang; Meng, Hengkai; Zhang, Yanping; Li, Yin
2016-11-01
Increasing photosynthetic efficiency is crucial to increasing biomass production to meet the growing demands for food and energy. Previous theoretical arithmetic analysis suggests that the light reactions and dark reactions are imperfectly coupled due to shortage of ATP supply, or accumulation of NADPH. Here we hypothesized that solely increasing NADPH consumption might improve the coupling of light reactions and dark reactions, thereby increasing the photosynthetic efficiency and biomass production. To test this hypothesis, an NADPH consumption pathway was constructed in cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. The resulting extra NADPH-consuming mutant grew much faster and achieved a higher biomass concentration. Analyses of photosynthesis characteristics showed the activities of photosystem II and photosystem I and the light saturation point of the NADPH-consuming mutant all significantly increased. Thus, we demonstrated that introducing extra NADPH consumption ability is a promising strategy to increase photosynthetic efficiency and to enable utilization of high-intensity lights. Copyright © 2016 International Metabolic Engineering Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Suhartono, Suhartono; Savin, Mary C; Gbur, Edward E
2018-04-01
Transmissible plasmids and integrons may play important roles in the persistence and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria throughout aquatic environment by accumulating antibiotic resistance genes (ARG). Class 1 and class 2 integron (intI), mobilization (mob), sulfamethoxazole resistance (sul), and trimethoprim resistance (dfr) genes were PCR-amplified and confirmed through DNA sequencing following plasmid extraction from 139 antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli. E. coli had previously been recovered from wastewater treatment plant effluent and receiving stream water in Northwest Arkansas and isolates had expressed resistance to one to six antibiotics. Almost half of the total isolates (47%) carried putatively transmissible plasmids with mob F12 gene as the most frequently detected mobilization gene. When two or three mob genes were detected per isolate, there was a significant shift in the population toward larger multiple drug resistance (MDR) number. Class 1 and/or 2 integrons were prevalent (46%), and the presence of integron significantly shifted the isolate population toward larger MDR number. More isolates carried single or coexistence of two or three sul genes (99.3%), and single or a combination up to five dfr genes (89.3%) than had exhibited in vitro resistance to the respective antibiotics. These findings indicate not only the role of the wastewater treatment effluent and the stream environment in coaccumulation of ARG with transmissible plasmids and integrons in multiple antibiotic-resistant E. coli populations but also suggest that density of sul and dfr resistance genes within an isolate may serve as a biomarker for mobile MDR in general.
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29 CFR 779.232 - Franchise or other arrangements which create a larger enterprise.
2010-07-01
... 29 Labor 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Franchise or other arrangements which create a larger... Apply; Enterprise Coverage Leased Departments, Franchise and Other Business Arrangements § 779.232 Franchise or other arrangements which create a larger enterprise. (a) In other instances, franchise...
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Increased brain dopamine and dopamine receptors in schizophrenia
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Mackay, A.V.; Iversen, L.L.; Rossor, M.; Spokes, E.; Bird, E.; Arregui, A.; Creese, I.; Synder, S.H.
1982-01-01
In postmortem samples of caudate nucleus and nucleus accumbens from 48 schizophrenic patients, there were significant increases in both the maximum number of binding sites (Bmax) and the apparent dissociation constant (KD) for tritiated spiperone. The increase in apparent KD probably reflects the presence of residual neuroleptic drugs, but changes in Bmax for tritiated spiperone reflect genuine changes in receptor numbers. The increases in receptors were seen only in patients in whom neuroleptic medication had been maintained until the time of death, indicating that they may be entirely iatrogenic. Dopamine measurements for a larger series of schizophrenic and control cases (n greater than 60) show significantly increased concentrations in both the nucleus accumbens and caudate nucleus. The changes in dopamine were not obviously related to neuroleptic medication and, unlike the receptor changes, were most severe in younger patients
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Magagnin, Valentina; Bassani, Tito; Bari, Vlasta; Turiel, Maurizio; Porta, Alberto; Maestri, Roberto; Pinna, Gian Domenico
2011-01-01
The autonomic regulation is non-invasively estimated from heart rate variability (HRV). Many methods utilized to assess autonomic regulation require stationarity of HRV recordings. However, non-stationarities are frequently present even during well-controlled experiments, thus potentially biasing HRV indices. The aim of our study is to quantify the potential bias of spectral, symbolic and entropy HRV indices due to non-stationarities. We analyzed HRV series recorded in healthy subjects during uncontrolled daily life activities typical of 24 h Holter recordings and during predetermined levels of robotic-assisted treadmill-based physical exercise. A stationarity test checking the stability of the mean and variance over short HRV series (about 300 cardiac beats) was utilized to distinguish stationary periods from non-stationary ones. Spectral, symbolic and entropy indices evaluated solely over stationary periods were contrasted with those derived from all the HRV segments. When indices were calculated solely over stationary series, we found that (i) during both uncontrolled daily life activities and controlled physical exercise, the entropy-based complexity indices were significantly larger; (ii) during uncontrolled daily life activities, the spectral and symbolic indices linked to sympathetic modulation were significantly smaller and those associated with vagal modulation were significantly larger; (iii) while during uncontrolled daily life activities, the variance of spectral, symbolic and entropy rate indices was significantly larger, during controlled physical exercise, it was smaller. The study suggests that non-stationarities increase the likelihood to overestimate the contribution of sympathetic control and affect the power of statistical tests utilized to discriminate conditions and/or groups
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[Research progress of larger flexion gap than extension gap in total knee arthroplasty].
Zhang, Weisong; Hao, Dingjun
2017-05-01
To summarize the progress of larger flexion gap than extension gap in total knee arthro-plasty (TKA). The domestic and foreign related literature about larger flexion gap than extension gap in TKA, and its impact factors, biomechanical and kinematic features, and clinical results were summarized. During TKA, to adjust the relations of flexion gap and extension gap is one of the key factors of successful operation. The biomechanical, kinematic, and clinical researches show that properly larger flexion gap than extension gap can improve both the postoperative knee range of motion and the satisfaction of patients, but does not affect the stability of the knee joint. However, there are also contrary findings. So adjustment of flexion gap and extension gap during TKA is still in dispute. Larger flexion gap than extension gap in TKA is a new joint space theory, and long-term clinical efficacy, operation skills, and related complications still need further study.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Nordström Henrik
2012-05-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background In research on event-related potentials (ERP to emotional pictures, greater attention to emotional than neutral stimuli (i.e., motivated attention is commonly indexed by two difference waves between emotional and neutral stimuli: the early posterior negativity (EPN and the late positive potential (LPP. Evidence suggests that if attention is directed away from the pictures, then the emotional effects on EPN and LPP are eliminated. However, a few studies have found residual, emotional effects on EPN and LPP. In these studies, pictures were shown at fixation, and picture composition was that of simple figures rather than that of complex scenes. Because figures elicit larger LPP than do scenes, figures might capture and hold attention more strongly than do scenes. Here, we showed negative and neutral pictures of figures and scenes and tested first, whether emotional effects are larger to figures than scenes for both EPN and LPP, and second, whether emotional effects on EPN and LPP are reduced less for unattended figures than scenes. Results Emotional effects on EPN and LPP were larger for figures than scenes. When pictures were unattended, emotional effects on EPN increased for scenes but tended to decrease for figures, whereas emotional effects on LPP decreased similarly for figures and scenes. Conclusions Emotional effects on EPN and LPP were larger for figures than scenes, but these effects did not resist manipulations of attention more strongly for figures than scenes. These findings imply that the emotional content captures attention more strongly for figures than scenes, but that the emotional content does not hold attention more strongly for figures than scenes.
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2012-01-01
Background In research on event-related potentials (ERP) to emotional pictures, greater attention to emotional than neutral stimuli (i.e., motivated attention) is commonly indexed by two difference waves between emotional and neutral stimuli: the early posterior negativity (EPN) and the late positive potential (LPP). Evidence suggests that if attention is directed away from the pictures, then the emotional effects on EPN and LPP are eliminated. However, a few studies have found residual, emotional effects on EPN and LPP. In these studies, pictures were shown at fixation, and picture composition was that of simple figures rather than that of complex scenes. Because figures elicit larger LPP than do scenes, figures might capture and hold attention more strongly than do scenes. Here, we showed negative and neutral pictures of figures and scenes and tested first, whether emotional effects are larger to figures than scenes for both EPN and LPP, and second, whether emotional effects on EPN and LPP are reduced less for unattended figures than scenes. Results Emotional effects on EPN and LPP were larger for figures than scenes. When pictures were unattended, emotional effects on EPN increased for scenes but tended to decrease for figures, whereas emotional effects on LPP decreased similarly for figures and scenes. Conclusions Emotional effects on EPN and LPP were larger for figures than scenes, but these effects did not resist manipulations of attention more strongly for figures than scenes. These findings imply that the emotional content captures attention more strongly for figures than scenes, but that the emotional content does not hold attention more strongly for figures than scenes. PMID:22607397
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Listing of nuclear power plant larger than 100 MWe
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
McHugh, B.
1975-06-01
This report contains a list of all nuclear power plants larger than 100 MWe, printed out from the Argus Data Bank at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. The plants are listed alphabetically. The report contains also a plant ranking list, where the plants are listed by the load factor (12 months) (M.S.)
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Listing of nuclear power plant larger than 100 MWe
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
McHugh, B.
1975-12-01
This report contains a list of all nuclear power plants larger than 100 MWe, printed out from the Argus Data Bank at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. The plants are listed by country. The report contains also a plant ranking list, where the plants are listed by the load factor (12 months). (M.S.)
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What interventions increase commuter cycling? A systematic review.
Stewart, Glenn; Anokye, Nana Kwame; Pokhrel, Subhash
2015-08-14
To identify interventions that will increase commuter cycling. All settings where commuter cycling might take place. Adults (aged 18+) in any country. Individual, group or environmental interventions including policies and infrastructure. A wide range of 'changes in commuter cycling' indicators, including frequency of cycling, change in workforce commuting mode, change in commuting population transport mode, use of infrastructure by defined populations and population modal shift. 12 studies from 6 countries (6 from the UK, 2 from Australia, 1 each from Sweden, Ireland, New Zealand and the USA) met the inclusion criteria. Of those, 2 studies were randomised control trials and the remainder preintervention and postintervention studies. The majority of studies (n=7) evaluated individual-based or group-based interventions and the rest environmental interventions. Individual-based or group-based interventions in 6/7 studies were found to increase commuter cycling of which the effect was significant in only 3/6 studies. Environmental interventions, however, had small but positive effects in much larger but more difficult to define populations. Almost all studies had substantial loss to follow-up. Despite commuter cycling prevalence varying widely between countries, robust evidence of what interventions will increase commuter cycling in low cycling prevalence nations is sparse. Wider environmental interventions that make cycling conducive appear to reach out to hard to define but larger populations. This could mean that environmental interventions, despite their small positive effects, have greater public health significance than individual-based or group-based measures because those interventions encourage a larger number of people to integrate physical activity into their everyday lives. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.
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Jørgensen, Christina Mørup; Bek, Toke
2017-06-01
Diabetic retinopathy is characterised by morphological lesions in the ocular fundus related to disturbances in retinal blood flow. The two vision threatening forms of retinopathy show specific patterns of distribution of retinal lesions with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) developing secondary to ischaemia and hypoxia in the retinal periphery and diabetic maculopathy (DM) developing secondary to hyperperfusion and increased vascular permeability in the macular area. These differences in the distribution of retinal lesions might be reflected in regional differences in oxygen saturation in the larger retinal vessels. Dual-wavelength retinal oximetry was performed in 30 normal persons, 30 patients with DM and 30 patients with PDR, and the oxygen saturation was measured in peripapillary vessels supplying the four retinal quadrants and in branches from the upper temporal arcades supplying, respectively, the macular area and the retinal periphery. The overall oxygen saturation was significantly higher in diabetic patients than in normal persons and the arteriovenous (AV) saturation difference significantly lower in the patients with DM. The regional variation in oxygen saturation was similar in the three studied groups with a decreasing saturation from the upper nasal through the lower nasal, lower temporal and the upper temporal peripapillary vessels, and with a significantly higher oxygen saturation in venules draining the macular area than in venules draining the retinal periphery. The regional differences in retinal lesions in vision threatening diabetic retinopathy are not reflected in regional differences in the oxygen saturation of larger retinal vessels. The development of vision threatening diabetic retinopathy depends on other factors, such as, for example, regional differences in the retinal microcirculation. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.
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Increasing the statistical significance of entanglement detection in experiments.
Jungnitsch, Bastian; Niekamp, Sönke; Kleinmann, Matthias; Gühne, Otfried; Lu, He; Gao, Wei-Bo; Chen, Yu-Ao; Chen, Zeng-Bing; Pan, Jian-Wei
2010-05-28
Entanglement is often verified by a violation of an inequality like a Bell inequality or an entanglement witness. Considerable effort has been devoted to the optimization of such inequalities in order to obtain a high violation. We demonstrate theoretically and experimentally that such an optimization does not necessarily lead to a better entanglement test, if the statistical error is taken into account. Theoretically, we show for different error models that reducing the violation of an inequality can improve the significance. Experimentally, we observe this phenomenon in a four-photon experiment, testing the Mermin and Ardehali inequality for different levels of noise. Furthermore, we provide a way to develop entanglement tests with high statistical significance.
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Increased NMDA receptor inhibition at an increased Sevoflurane MAC
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Brosnan Robert J
2012-06-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Sevoflurane potently enhances glycine receptor currents and more modestly decreases NMDA receptor currents, each of which may contribute to immobility. This modest NMDA receptor antagonism by sevoflurane at a minimum alveolar concentration (MAC could be reciprocally related to large potentiation of other inhibitory ion channels. If so, then reduced glycine receptor potency should increase NMDA receptor antagonism by sevoflurane at MAC. Methods Indwelling lumbar subarachnoid catheters were surgically placed in 14 anesthetized rats. Rats were anesthetized with sevoflurane the next day, and a pre-infusion sevoflurane MAC was measured in duplicate using a tail clamp method. Artificial CSF (aCSF containing either 0 or 4 mg/mL strychnine was then infused intrathecally at 4 μL/min, and the post-infusion baseline sevoflurane MAC was measured. Finally, aCSF containing strychnine (either 0 or 4 mg/mL plus 0.4 mg/mL dizocilpine (MK-801 was administered intrathecally at 4 μL/min, and the post-dizocilpine sevoflurane MAC was measured. Results Pre-infusion sevoflurane MAC was 2.26%. Intrathecal aCSF alone did not affect MAC, but intrathecal strychnine significantly increased sevoflurane requirement. Addition of dizocilpine significantly decreased MAC in all rats, but this decrease was two times larger in rats without intrathecal strychnine compared to rats with intrathecal strychnine, a statistically significant (P Conclusions Glycine receptor antagonism increases NMDA receptor antagonism by sevoflurane at MAC. The magnitude of anesthetic effects on a given ion channel may therefore depend on the magnitude of its effects on other receptors that modulate neuronal excitability.
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A contribution to radiotherapy of the larger-celled bronchial carcinoma
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Zoubie, I.
1982-01-01
This work consists of a retrospective definition of disease courses of 859 patients with lung tumors and the definition of the survival curves in their dependence on histology, radiation dose and sex. With 721 larger-celled bronchial carcinomas the ratio of men to women was 12:1. The age peak lay between 60 and 70 years. The one/five year survival rate of all included larger-celled bronchial carcinomas (n=701) was, independent from the therapy form, 35.7, resp. 4.78%. The one year/five year survival rates were for the squamous epithelia 31.08/0.58%, for the undifferentiated carcinomas 25.34/3.41%, and for the lung tumors without histology 35.4/5.14%. Lobectomized patients with squamous epithelium carcinoma had in comparison to pneumonectomized patients a clearly higher survival chance. A clearly sex-dependent predisposition for a certain type of carcinoma was not present. (TRV) [de
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Park, Won-Kun; Yoo, Gursong; Moon, Myounghoon; Kim, Chul Woong; Choi, Yoon-E; Yang, Ji-Won
2013-11-01
Cultivation is the most expensive step in the production of biodiesel from microalgae, and substantial research has been devoted to developing more cost-effective cultivation methods. Plant hormones (phytohormones) are chemical messengers that regulate various aspects of growth and development and are typically active at very low concentrations. In this study, we investigated the effect of different phytohormones on microalgal growth and biodiesel production in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and their potential to lower the overall cost of commercial biofuel production. The results indicated that all five of the tested phytohormones (indole-3-acetic acid, gibberellic acid, kinetin, 1-triacontanol, and abscisic acid) promoted microalgal growth. In particular, hormone treatment increased biomass production by 54 to 69 % relative to the control growth medium (Tris-acetate-phosphate, TAP). Phytohormone treatments also affected microalgal cell morphology but had no effect on the yields of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) as a percent of biomass. We also tested the effect of these phytohormones on microalgal growth in nitrogen-limited media by supplementation in the early stationary phase. Maximum cell densities after addition of phytohormones were higher than in TAP medium, even when the nitrogen source was reduced to 40 % of that in TAP medium. Taken together, our results indicate that phytohormones significantly increased microalgal growth, particularly in nitrogen-limited media, and have potential for use in the development of efficient microalgal cultivation for biofuel production.
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Lee, Ryan K L; Graham, Colin A; Yeung, Janice H H; Ahuja, Anil T; Rainer, Timothy H
2012-12-01
An occult pneumothorax (OP) is a pneumothorax not seen on a supine chest X-ray (CXR) but detected on abdominal or thoracic computed tomography (CT) scanning. With the increasing use of CT in the management of significantly injured trauma patients, more OPs are being detected. The aim of this study was to classify OPs diagnosed on thoracic CT (TCT) and correlate them with their clinical significance. Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected trauma registry data. Total 36 (N=36) consecutive significantly injured trauma patients admitted through the emergency department (ED) who sustained blunt chest trauma and underwent TCT between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2008 were included. OP was defined as the identification (by a consultant radiologist) of a pneumothorax on TCT that had not been detected on supine CXR. OPs were classified by laterality (unilateral/bilateral) and location (apical, basal, non apical/basal). The size of pneumothoraces, severity of injury [including number of associated thoracic injuries and injury severity score (ISS)], length of hospital stay and mortality were compared between groups. The need for tube thoracostomy and clinical outcome were also analysed. Patients with bilateral OPs (N=8) had significantly more associated thoracic injuries (median: 2 vs. 1, p=0.01), higher ISS (median: 35 vs. 23, p=0.02) and longer hospital stay (median: 20 days vs. 11 days, p=0.01) than those with a unilateral OP (N=28). Basal OPs (N=7) were significantly larger than apical (N=10) and non-apical/basal Ops (N=11). Basal OPs were associated with significantly more associated thoracic injuries (median: 2 vs. 1, p=0.01), higher ISS (median: 35 vs. 25, p=0.04) and longer hospital stays (median: 23 days vs. 17 days, p=0.02) than apical Ops, which had higher ISS (median: 35 vs. 25, p=0.04) and longer hospital stays (median: 23 days vs. 15 days, p=0.02) than non-apical/basal OPs. Non-apical/basal OPs were associated with more related injuries (median: 2
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Larger fig wasps are more careful about which figs to enter--with good reason.
Liu, Cong; Yang, Da-Rong; Compton, Stephen G; Peng, Yan-Qiong
2013-01-01
Floral longevity reflects a balance between gains in pollinator visitation and the costs of flower maintenance. Because rewards to pollinators change over time, older flowers may be less attractive, reducing the value of extended longevity. Un-pollinated figs, the inflorescences of Ficus species, can remain receptive for long periods, but figs that are older when entered by their host-specific fig wasp pollinators produce fewer seeds and fig wasp offspring. Our field experiments with Ficushispida, a dioecious fig tree, examined how the length of time that receptive figs have remained un-pollinated influences the behaviour and reproductive success of its short-lived fig wasp pollinator, Ceratosolensolmsi marchali. The results were consistent in three different seasons, and on male and female trees, although receptivity was greatly extended during colder months. Pollinators took longer to find the ostioles of older figs, and longer to penetrate them. They also became increasingly unwilling to enter figs as they aged, and increasing numbers of the wasps became trapped in the ostiolar bracts. Larger individuals were particularly unwilling to enter older figs, resulting in older figs being pollinated by smaller wasps. On female trees, where figs produce only seeds, seed production declined rapidly with fig age. On male trees, the numbers and size of fig wasp offspring declined, and a higher proportion were male. Older male figs are harder to enter, especially for larger individuals, and offer poorer quality oviposition opportunities. This study opens an interesting new perspective on the coevolution of figs and their pollinators, especially factors influencing pollinator body size and emphasises the subtleties of interactions between mutualists.
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Increasing the statistical significance of entanglement detection in experiments
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Jungnitsch, Bastian; Niekamp, Soenke; Kleinmann, Matthias; Guehne, Otfried [Institut fuer Quantenoptik und Quanteninformation, Innsbruck (Austria); Lu, He; Gao, Wei-Bo; Chen, Zeng-Bing [Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale and Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei (China); Chen, Yu-Ao; Pan, Jian-Wei [Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale and Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei (China); Physikalisches Institut, Universitaet Heidelberg (Germany)
2010-07-01
Entanglement is often verified by a violation of an inequality like a Bell inequality or an entanglement witness. Considerable effort has been devoted to the optimization of such inequalities in order to obtain a high violation. We demonstrate theoretically and experimentally that such an optimization does not necessarily lead to a better entanglement test, if the statistical error is taken into account. Theoretically, we show for different error models that reducing the violation of an inequality can improve the significance. We show this to be the case for an error model in which the variance of an observable is interpreted as its error and for the standard error model in photonic experiments. Specifically, we demonstrate that the Mermin inequality yields a Bell test which is statistically more significant than the Ardehali inequality in the case of a photonic four-qubit state that is close to a GHZ state. Experimentally, we observe this phenomenon in a four-photon experiment, testing the above inequalities for different levels of noise.
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Electrodialytic removal of cadmium from biomass combustion fly ash in larger scale
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Pedersen, Anne Juul; Ottosen, Lisbeth M.; Simonsen, Peter
2005-01-01
Due to a high concentration of the toxic heavy metal cadmium (Cd), biomass combustion fly ash often fails to meet the Danish legislative requirements for recycling on agricultural fields. It has previously been shown that it is possible to reduce the concentration of Cd in different bio ashes...... significantly by using electrodialytic remediation, an electrochemically assisted extraction method. In this work the potential of the method was demonstrated in larger scale. Three different experimental set-ups were used, ranging from bench-scale (25 L ash suspension) to pilot scale (0.3 - 3 m3......). The experimental ash was a straw combustion fly ash suspended in water. Within 4 days of remediation, Cd concentrations below the limiting concentration of 5.0 mg Cd/kg DM for straw ash were reached. On the basis of these results, the energy costs for remediation of ash in industrial scale have been estimated...
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Toth PP
2012-01-01
Full Text Available Peter P Toth1, Kamlesh M Thakker2, Ping Jiang2, Robert J Padley21University of Illinois College of Medicine, Peoria, and CGH Medical Center, Sterling, 2Abbott, Abbott Park, IL, USABackground: The purpose of this research was to compare the effects of niacin extended-release in combination with simvastatin (NER/S versus atorvastatin monotherapy on high-density lipoprotein (HDL particle number and size in patients with hyperlipidemia or dyslipidemia from the SUPREME study.Methods: This was a post hoc analysis of patients (n = 137 who completed the SUPREME study and who had lipid particle number and size measurements at both baseline and at week 12 by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Following ≥4 weeks without lipid-modifying therapy (washout period, the patients received NER/S 1000/40 mg/day for 4 weeks followed by NER/S 2000/40 mg/day for 8 weeks, or atorvastatin 40 mg/day for 12 weeks. Median percent changes in HDL particle number and size from baseline to week 12 were compared between the NER/S and atorvastatin treatment groups using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test. Distribution of HDL particle subclasses at week 12 was compared between the treatment groups using the Cochran–Mantel–Haenszel test.Results: Treatment with NER/S resulted in a significantly greater percent reduction in small HDL particle number at week 12 compared with atorvastatin monotherapy (-1.8% versus 4.2%, P = 0.014, and a numerically greater percent increase in large HDL particle number (102.4% versus 39.2%, P = 0.078 compared with atorvastatin monotherapy. A significantly greater percent increase in HDL particle size from baseline at week 12 was observed with NER/S compared with atorvastatin (6.0% versus 1.3%, P < 0.001. NER/S treatment also resulted in a significant shift in HDL particle size from small and medium at baseline to large at week 12 (P < 0.0001.Conclusion: Treatment with NER/S resulted in larger favorable changes in number and size of HDL particle
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Maas, M.; Dam-Deisz, W.D.C.; Roon, van A.M.; Takumi, K.; Giessen, van der J.W.B.
2014-01-01
The emergence of the zoonotic tapeworm Echinococcus multilocularis, causative agent ofalveolar echinococcosis (AE), poses a public health risk. A previously designed risk mapmodel predicted a spread of E. multilocularis and increasing numbers of alveolar echinococ-cosis patients in the province of
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Thomsen, Morten Bækgaard; Truin, Michiel; van Opstal, Jurren M
2005-01-01
Increased proarrhythmia in dogs with chronic AV block (AVB) has been explained by ventricular remodeling causing a decrease in repolarization reserve. Beat-to-beat variability of repolarization (BVR) has been suggested to reflect repolarization reserve, in which high variability represents...... diminished reserve and larger propensity for repolarization-dependent ventricular arrhythmia. A subset of chronic AVB dogs (10%) suffers sudden cardiac death (SCD). With the assumption that repolarization defects constitute a potentially lethal proarrhythmic substrate, we hypothesized that BVR in SCD dogs...... are larger than in matched control chronic AVB dogs. From a population of 200 chronic AVB dogs, initially two groups were chosen retrospectively: 8 dogs that died suddenly (SCD) and 8 control dogs. Control dogs had a longer lifespan after AVB (10 to 18 weeks) than SCD dogs (5 to 10 weeks). All dogs had...
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Ecological tolerances of Miocene larger benthic foraminifera from Indonesia
Novak, Vibor; Renema, Willem
2018-01-01
To provide a comprehensive palaeoenvironmental reconstruction based on larger benthic foraminifera (LBF), a quantitative analysis of their assemblage composition is needed. Besides microfacies analysis which includes environmental preferences of foraminiferal taxa, statistical analyses should also be employed. Therefore, detrended correspondence analysis and cluster analysis were performed on relative abundance data of identified LBF assemblages deposited in mixed carbonate-siliciclastic (MCS) systems and blue-water (BW) settings. Studied MCS system localities include ten sections from the central part of the Kutai Basin in East Kalimantan, ranging from late Burdigalian to Serravallian age. The BW samples were collected from eleven sections of the Bulu Formation on Central Java, dated as Serravallian. Results from detrended correspondence analysis reveal significant differences between these two environmental settings. Cluster analysis produced five clusters of samples; clusters 1 and 2 comprise dominantly MCS samples, clusters 3 and 4 with dominance of BW samples, and cluster 5 showing a mixed composition with both MCS and BW samples. The results of cluster analysis were afterwards subjected to indicator species analysis resulting in the interpretation that generated three groups among LBF taxa: typical assemblage indicators, regularly occurring taxa and rare taxa. By interpreting the results of detrended correspondence analysis, cluster analysis and indicator species analysis, along with environmental preferences of identified LBF taxa, a palaeoenvironmental model is proposed for the distribution of LBF in Miocene MCS systems and adjacent BW settings of Indonesia.
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Paradoxical centrally increased diffusivity in perinatal arterial ischemic stroke
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Stence, Nicholas V.; Mirsky, David M.; Deoni, Sean C.L.; Armstrong-Wells, Jennifer
2016-01-01
Restricted diffusion on acute MRI is the diagnostic standard for perinatal arterial ischemic stroke. In a subset of children with perinatal arterial ischemic stroke, primarily those with large infarct volumes, we noted a core of centrally increased diffusivity with a periphery of restricted diffusion. Given the paradoxical diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) appearance observed in some children with perinatal arterial ischemic stroke, we sought to determine its significance and hypothesized that: (1) centrally increased diffusivity is associated with larger infarcts in perinatal arterial ischemic stroke and (2) this tissue is irreversibly injured (infarcted). We reviewed all perinatal arterial ischemic stroke cases in a prospective cohort study from Aug. 1, 2000, to Jan. 1, 2012. Infarct volumes were measured by drawing regions of interest around the periphery of the area of restricted diffusion on DWI. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare means between groups. Of 25 eligible cases, centrally increased diffusivity was seen in 4 (16%). Cases with centrally increased diffusivity had larger average infarct volumes (mean 117,182 mm 3 vs. 36,995 mm 3 ; P = 0.008), higher average apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values in the infarct core (1,679 x 10 -6 mm 2 /s vs. 611 x 10 -6 mm 2 /s, P < 0.0001), and higher ADC ratio (1.2 vs. 0.5, P < 0.0001). At last clinical follow-up, children with perinatal arterial ischemic stroke and centrally increased diffusivity were more often treated for ongoing seizures (75% vs. 0%; P < 0.001) than those without. Centrally increased diffusivity was associated with larger stroke volume and the involved tissue was confirmed to be infarcted on follow-up imaging. Radiologists should be aware of this unusual appearance of perinatal arterial ischemic stroke in order to avoid underestimating infarct volume or making an incorrect early diagnosis. (orig.)
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Paradoxical centrally increased diffusivity in perinatal arterial ischemic stroke
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Stence, Nicholas V.; Mirsky, David M.; Deoni, Sean C.L. [University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine, Department of Radiology, Aurora, CO (United States); Children' s Hospital Colorado, Department of Radiology, Aurora, CO (United States); Armstrong-Wells, Jennifer [University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics (Neurology) and OB/GYN, Aurora, CO (United States); University of Colorado Hemophilia and Thrombosis Center, Aurora, CO (United States)
2016-01-15
Restricted diffusion on acute MRI is the diagnostic standard for perinatal arterial ischemic stroke. In a subset of children with perinatal arterial ischemic stroke, primarily those with large infarct volumes, we noted a core of centrally increased diffusivity with a periphery of restricted diffusion. Given the paradoxical diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) appearance observed in some children with perinatal arterial ischemic stroke, we sought to determine its significance and hypothesized that: (1) centrally increased diffusivity is associated with larger infarcts in perinatal arterial ischemic stroke and (2) this tissue is irreversibly injured (infarcted). We reviewed all perinatal arterial ischemic stroke cases in a prospective cohort study from Aug. 1, 2000, to Jan. 1, 2012. Infarct volumes were measured by drawing regions of interest around the periphery of the area of restricted diffusion on DWI. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare means between groups. Of 25 eligible cases, centrally increased diffusivity was seen in 4 (16%). Cases with centrally increased diffusivity had larger average infarct volumes (mean 117,182 mm{sup 3} vs. 36,995 mm{sup 3}; P = 0.008), higher average apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values in the infarct core (1,679 x 10{sup -6} mm{sup 2}/s vs. 611 x 10{sup -6} mm{sup 2}/s, P < 0.0001), and higher ADC ratio (1.2 vs. 0.5, P < 0.0001). At last clinical follow-up, children with perinatal arterial ischemic stroke and centrally increased diffusivity were more often treated for ongoing seizures (75% vs. 0%; P < 0.001) than those without. Centrally increased diffusivity was associated with larger stroke volume and the involved tissue was confirmed to be infarcted on follow-up imaging. Radiologists should be aware of this unusual appearance of perinatal arterial ischemic stroke in order to avoid underestimating infarct volume or making an incorrect early diagnosis. (orig.)
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Origami-inspired metamaterial absorbers for improving the larger-incident angle absorption
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Shen, Yang; Pang, Yongqiang; Wang, Jiafu; Ma, Hua; Pei, Zhibin; Qu, Shaobo
2015-01-01
When a folded resistive patch array stands up on a metallic plane, it can exhibit more outstanding absorption performance. Our theoretical investigations and simulations demonstrated that the folded resistive patch arrays can enhance the absorption bandwidth progressively with the increase of the incident angle for the oblique transverse magnetic incidence, which is contrary to the conventional resistive frequency selective surface absorber. On illumination, we achieved a 3D structure metamaterial absorber with the folded resistive patches. The proposed absorber is obtained from the inspiration of the origami, and it has broadband and lager-incident angle absorption. Both the simulations and the measurements indicate that the proposed absorber achieves the larger-incident angle absorption until 75° in the frequency band of 3.6–11.4 GHz. In addition, the absorber is extremely lightweight. The areal density of the fabricated sample is about 0.023 g cm −2 . Due to the broadband and lager-incident angle absorption, it is expected that the absorbers may find potential applications such as stealth technologies and electromagnetic interference. (paper)
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Hakan Kaykaç
2009-09-01
Full Text Available We investigated the differences between size selectivity of a commercial codend (40 mm diamond mesh – 40D, a larger mesh codend (48 mm diamond mesh – 48D, and a square mesh codend (40 mm square mesh – 40S for Parapenaeus longirostris in international waters of the Aegean Sea. Selectivity data were collected by using a covered codend method and analysed taking between-haul variation into account. The results indicate significant increases in L50 values in relation to an increase in mesh size and when the square mesh is used in the commercial trawl codend. The results demonstrate that the commercially used codend (40D is not selective enough for P. longirostris in terms of length at first maturity. Changing from a 40D to a 48D codend significantly improves selection, with an increase of about 15% in the L50 values (carapace length 14.5 mm for 40D and 16.6 mm for 48D. Similarly, 40 mm square mesh, which has recently been legislated for EU Mediterranean waters, showed a 12.4% higher mean L50 value (16.3 mm than 40 mm diamond mesh for this species. However, despite these improvements, the 48D and 40S codends still need further improvements to obtain higher selectivity closer to the length at first maturity (20 mm carapace length.
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Bell, Luke; Yahya, Hanis Nadia; Oloyede, Omobolanle Oluwadamilola; Methven, Lisa; Wagstaff, Carol
2017-04-15
Five cultivars of Eruca sativa and a commercial variety of Diplotaxis tenuifolia were grown in the UK (summer) and subjected to commercial growth, harvesting and processing, with subsequent shelf life storage. Glucosinolates (GSL), isothiocyanates (ITC), amino acids (AA), free sugars, and bacterial loads were analysed throughout the supply chain to determine the effects on phytochemical compositions. Bacterial load of leaves increased significantly over time and peaked during shelf life storage. Significant correlations were observed with GSL and AA concentrations, suggesting a previously unknown relationship between plants and endemic leaf bacteria. GSLs, ITCs and AAs increased significantly after processing and during shelf life. The supply chain did not significantly affect glucoraphanin concentrations, and its ITC sulforaphane significantly increased during shelf life in E. sativa cultivars. We hypothesise that commercial processing may increase the nutritional value of the crop, and have added health benefits for the consumer. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.
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Qin, Wei; Hu, Chunsheng; Oenema, Oene
2015-11-01
Global crop yields are limited by water and nutrient availability. Soil mulching (with plastic or straw) reduces evaporation, modifies soil temperature and thereby affects crop yields. Reported effects of mulching are sometimes contradictory, likely due to differences in climatic conditions, soil characteristics, crop species, and also water and nitrogen (N) input levels. Here we report on a meta-analysis of the effects of mulching on wheat and maize, using 1310 yield observations from 74 studies conducted in 19 countries. Our results indicate that mulching significantly increased yields, WUE (yield per unit water) and NUE (yield per unit N) by up to 60%, compared with no-mulching. Effects were larger for maize than wheat, and larger for plastic mulching than straw mulching. Interestingly, plastic mulching performed better at relatively low temperature while straw mulching showed the opposite trend. Effects of mulching also tended to decrease with increasing water input. Mulching effects were not related to soil organic matter content. In conclusion, soil mulching can significantly increase maize and wheat yields, WUE and NUE, and thereby may contribute to closing the yield gap between attainable and actual yields, especially in dryland and low nutrient input agriculture. The management of soil mulching requires site-specific knowledge.
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Qin, Wei; Hu, Chunsheng; Oenema, Oene
2015-11-20
Global crop yields are limited by water and nutrient availability. Soil mulching (with plastic or straw) reduces evaporation, modifies soil temperature and thereby affects crop yields. Reported effects of mulching are sometimes contradictory, likely due to differences in climatic conditions, soil characteristics, crop species, and also water and nitrogen (N) input levels. Here we report on a meta-analysis of the effects of mulching on wheat and maize, using 1310 yield observations from 74 studies conducted in 19 countries. Our results indicate that mulching significantly increased yields, WUE (yield per unit water) and NUE (yield per unit N) by up to 60%, compared with no-mulching. Effects were larger for maize than wheat, and larger for plastic mulching than straw mulching. Interestingly, plastic mulching performed better at relatively low temperature while straw mulching showed the opposite trend. Effects of mulching also tended to decrease with increasing water input. Mulching effects were not related to soil organic matter content. In conclusion, soil mulching can significantly increase maize and wheat yields, WUE and NUE, and thereby may contribute to closing the yield gap between attainable and actual yields, especially in dryland and low nutrient input agriculture. The management of soil mulching requires site-specific knowledge.
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Nakajima, Katsuyuki; Tokita, Yoshiharu; Sakamaki, Koji; Shimomura, Younosuke; Kobayashi, Junji; Kamachi, Keiko; Tanaka, Akira; Stanhope, Kimber L; Havel, Peter J; Wang, Tao; Machida, Tetsuo; Murakami, Masami
2017-02-01
Previous large population studies reported that non-fasting plasma triglyceride (TG) reflect a higher risk for cardiovascular disease than TG in the fasting plasma. This is suggestive of the presence of higher concentration of remnant lipoproteins (RLP) in postprandial plasma. TG and RLP-TG together with other lipids, lipoproteins and lipoprotein lipase (LPL) in both fasting and postprandial plasma were determined in generally healthy volunteers and in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) after consuming a fat load or a more typical moderate meal. RLP-TG/TG ratio (concentration) and RLP-TG/RLP-C ratio (particle size) were significantly increased in the postprandial plasma of both healthy controls and CAD patients compared with those in fasting plasma. LPL/RLP-TG ratio demonstrated the interaction correlation between RLP concentration and LPL activity The increased RLP-TG after fat consumption contributed to approximately 90% of the increased plasma TG, while approximately 60% after a typical meal. Plasma LPL in postprandial plasma was not significantly altered after either type of meal. Concentrations of RLP-TG found in the TG along with its particle size are significantly increased in postprandial plasma compared with fasting plasma. Therefore, non-fasting TG determination better reflects the presence of higher RLP concentrations in plasma. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Glasson, Colleen; Chapman, Kathy; Wilson, Tamara; Gander, Kristi; Hughes, Clare; Hudson, Nayerra; James, Erica
2013-11-01
To determine if localised programmes that are successful in engaging the community can add value to larger fruit and vegetable mass-media campaigns by evaluating the results of the Eat It To Beat It programme. The Eat It To Beat It programme is a multi-strategy intervention that uses community-based education and ‘below the line’ social marketing to increase fruit and vegetable consumption in parents. This programme was evaluated by a controlled before-and-after study with repeat cross-sectional data collected via computer-assisted telephone interviews with 1403 parents before the intervention (2008) and 1401 following intervention delivery (2011). The intervention area was the Hunter region and the control area was the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. Parents of primary school-aged children (Kindergarten to Year 6). The programme achieved improvements in knowledge of recommended intakes for fruit and vegetables and some positive changes in knowledge of serving size for vegetables. Exposure to the programme resulted in a net increase of 0.5 servings of fruit and vegetables daily for those who recalled the programme compared with those who did not (P = 0.004). Increased intake of fruit and vegetables was significantly associated with increasing exposure to programme strategies. The Eat It To Beat It programme demonstrates that an increase in consumption of fruit and vegetables can be achieved by programmes that build on the successes of larger mass-media and social-marketing campaigns.This suggests that funding for localised, community-based programmes should be increased.
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Larger miliolids of the Late Cretaceous and Paleogene seen through space and time
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Vlasta Ćosović
2002-12-01
Full Text Available Spatial and temporal occurrences of the larger (complex miliolids are discussed to give more light on biostratigraphy and paleobiogeographic provinces distribution. Seven generaand 47 species from the Late Cretaceous to Oligocene inhabited shallow marine settings in the Indo-Pacific, Tethyan and Caribbean regions. Of all genera only four (Idalina, Periloculina, Pseudolacazina, Lacazina widespread throughout Tethys in theLate Cretaceous and Paleogene. Single occurrence of Lacazina was recorded further to east (Moluccas. By now the Late Cretaceous genus Adrahentina is known only from the Spain. The newcomer’s Eocene genera were Fabularia and Lacazinella. Fabularia reachedhigh diversity in species term in the Central and Western Tethys and occured as unique genus in Caribbean realm, too. Conversely, during the same period, Lacazinella spread over the southern border of Neo-Tethys reaching New Guinea.On the Adriatic – Dinaric Carbonate Platform, larger miliolids occurred from the Late Cretaceous to Cuisian, having the same biostratigraphically trends and distribution as contemporaneous larger miliolids from the Tethys.
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Yoon, Yongmin; Im, Myungshin; Kim, Jae-Woo, E-mail: yymx2@astro.snu.ac.kr, E-mail: mim@astro.snu.ac.kr [Center for the Exploration of the Origin of the Universe (CEOU), Astronomy Program, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University, 599 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, 151-742 (Korea, Republic of)
2017-01-01
Under the Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) cosmological models, massive galaxies are expected to be larger in denser environments through frequent hierarchical mergers with other galaxies. Yet, observational studies of low-redshift early-type galaxies have shown no such trend, standing as a puzzle to solve during the past decade. We analyzed 73,116 early-type galaxies at 0.1 ≤ z < 0.15, adopting a robust nonparametric size measurement technique and extending the analysis to many massive galaxies. We find for the first time that local early-type galaxies heavier than 10{sup 11.2} M {sub ⊙} show a clear environmental dependence in mass–size relation, in such a way that galaxies are as much as 20%–40% larger in the densest environments than in underdense environments. Splitting the sample into the brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) and non-BCGs does not affect the result. This result agrees with the ΛCDM cosmological simulations and suggests that mergers played a significant role in the growth of massive galaxies in dense environments as expected in theory.
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Montoya, Jorge A; Kent, Charlotte K; Rotblatt, Harlan; McCright, Jacque; Kerndt, Peter R; Klausner, Jeffrey D
2005-07-01
Between 1999 and 2002, San Francisco experienced a sharp increase in early syphilis among gay and bisexual men. In response, the San Francisco Department of Public Health launched a social marketing campaign to increase testing for syphilis, and awareness and knowledge about syphilis among gay and bisexual men. A convenience sample of 244 gay and bisexual men (18-60 years of age) were surveyed to evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign. Respondents were interviewed to elicit unaided and aided awareness about the campaign, knowledge about syphilis, recent sexual behaviors, and syphilis testing behavior. After controlling for other potential confounders, unaided campaign awareness was a significant correlate of having a syphilis test in the last 6 months (odds ratio, 3.21; 95% confidence interval, 1.30-7.97) compared with no awareness of the campaign. A comparison of respondents aware of the campaign with those not aware also revealed significant increases in awareness and knowledge about syphilis. The Healthy Penis 2002 campaign achieved its primary objective of increasing syphilis testing, and awareness and knowledge about syphilis among gay and bisexual men in San Francisco.
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Markes, Alexander R.; Okundaye, Amenawon O.; Qu, Zhilin; Mende, Ulrike; Choi, Bum-Rak
2018-01-01
Multicellular spheroids generated through cellular self-assembly provide cytoarchitectural complexities of native tissue including three-dimensionality, extensive cell-cell contacts, and appropriate cell-extracellular matrix interactions. They are increasingly suggested as building blocks for larger engineered tissues to achieve shapes, organization, heterogeneity, and other biomimetic complexities. Application of these tissue culture platforms is of particular importance in cardiac research as the myocardium is comprised of distinct but intermingled cell types. Here, we generated scaffold-free 3D cardiac microtissue spheroids comprised of cardiac myocytes (CMs) and/or cardiac fibroblasts (CFs) and used them as building blocks to form larger microtissues with different spatial distributions of CMs and CFs. Characterization of fusing homotypic and heterotypic spheroid pairs revealed an important influence of CFs on fusion kinetics, but most strikingly showed rapid fusion kinetics between heterotypic pairs consisting of one CF and one CM spheroid, indicating that CMs and CFs self-sort in vitro into the intermixed morphology found in the healthy myocardium. We then examined electrophysiological integration of fused homotypic and heterotypic microtissues by mapping action potential propagation. Heterocellular elongated microtissues which recapitulate the disproportionate CF spatial distribution seen in the infarcted myocardium showed that action potentials propagate through CF volumes albeit with significant delay. Complementary computational modeling revealed an important role of CF sodium currents and the spatial distribution of the CM-CF boundary in action potential conduction through CF volumes. Taken together, this study provides useful insights for the development of complex, heterocellular engineered 3D tissue constructs and their engraftment via tissue fusion and has implications for arrhythmogenesis in cardiac disease and repair. PMID:29715271
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Tae Yun Kim
Full Text Available Multicellular spheroids generated through cellular self-assembly provide cytoarchitectural complexities of native tissue including three-dimensionality, extensive cell-cell contacts, and appropriate cell-extracellular matrix interactions. They are increasingly suggested as building blocks for larger engineered tissues to achieve shapes, organization, heterogeneity, and other biomimetic complexities. Application of these tissue culture platforms is of particular importance in cardiac research as the myocardium is comprised of distinct but intermingled cell types. Here, we generated scaffold-free 3D cardiac microtissue spheroids comprised of cardiac myocytes (CMs and/or cardiac fibroblasts (CFs and used them as building blocks to form larger microtissues with different spatial distributions of CMs and CFs. Characterization of fusing homotypic and heterotypic spheroid pairs revealed an important influence of CFs on fusion kinetics, but most strikingly showed rapid fusion kinetics between heterotypic pairs consisting of one CF and one CM spheroid, indicating that CMs and CFs self-sort in vitro into the intermixed morphology found in the healthy myocardium. We then examined electrophysiological integration of fused homotypic and heterotypic microtissues by mapping action potential propagation. Heterocellular elongated microtissues which recapitulate the disproportionate CF spatial distribution seen in the infarcted myocardium showed that action potentials propagate through CF volumes albeit with significant delay. Complementary computational modeling revealed an important role of CF sodium currents and the spatial distribution of the CM-CF boundary in action potential conduction through CF volumes. Taken together, this study provides useful insights for the development of complex, heterocellular engineered 3D tissue constructs and their engraftment via tissue fusion and has implications for arrhythmogenesis in cardiac disease and repair.
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How do environmental policies fit within larger strategic planning processes
Crowe, Lynn
2015-01-01
This chapter explores how environmental policies fit within larger strategic processes relevant to sport management and development. It identifies key policy areas such as environmental impact assessment, sustainable land use planning, environmental protection and visitor impact management. Good practice and guidelines which will enable sport managers to integrate their work with these environmental policies are explored. Detailed guidance on design and longer term management and maintenance ...
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Great tits provided with ad libitum food lay larger eggs when exposed to colder temperatures
Schaper, S.V.; Visser, M.E.
2013-01-01
The amount of nutrients deposited into a bird egg varies both between and within clutches of the same female. Larger eggs enhance offspring traits, but as a tradeoff, laying large eggs also infers energetic costs to the female. Income breeders usually lay larger eggs later in the season, when
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Free ammonia pre-treatment of secondary sludge significantly increases anaerobic methane production.
Wei, Wei; Zhou, Xu; Wang, Dongbo; Sun, Jing; Wang, Qilin
2017-07-01
Energy recovery in the form of methane from sludge/wastewater is restricted by the poor and slow biodegradability of secondary sludge. An innovative pre-treatment technology using free ammonia (FA, i.e. NH 3 ) was proposed in this study to increase anaerobic methane production. The solubilisation of secondary sludge was significantly increased after FA pre-treatment at up to 680 mg NH 3 -N/L for 1 day, under which the solubilisation (i.e. 0.4 mg SCOD/mg VS; SCOD: soluble chemical oxygen demand; VS: volatile solids) was >10 times higher than that without FA pre-treatment (i.e. 0.03 mg SCOD/mg VS). Biochemical methane potential assays showed that FA pre-treatment at above 250 mg NH 3 -N/L is effective in improving anaerobic methane production. The highest improvement in biochemical methane potential (B 0 ) and hydrolysis rate (k) was achieved at FA concentrations of 420-680 mg NH 3 -N/L, and was determined as approximately 22% (from 160 to 195 L CH 4 /kg VS added) and 140% (from 0.22 to 0.53 d -1 ) compared to the secondary sludge without pre-treatment. More analysis revealed that the FA induced improvement in B 0 and k could be attributed to the rapidly biodegradable substances rather than the slowly biodegradable substances. Economic and environmental analyses showed that the FA-based technology is economically favourable and environmentally friendly. Since this FA technology aims to use the wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) waste (i.e. anaerobic digestion liquor) to enhance methane production from the WWTPs, it will set an example for the paradigm shift of the WWTPs from 'linear economy' to 'circular economy'. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Association of a behaviorally based high school health education curriculum with increased exercise.
Annesi, James J; Trinity, John; Mareno, Nicole; Walsh, Stephanie M
2015-06-01
Increasing exercise in children and adolescents through academic classes is an understudied area. Potential benefits include associated improvements in health, psychosocial, and quality-of-life factors. A sample of 98 students (M(age) = 14.3) from high school health education classes received six, 40-min lessons incorporating cognitive-behavioral methods to increase exercise over 6 weeks. Significant within-group improvements in exercise, mood, and body satisfaction were found, with slightly larger effect sizes identified for the boys. Increase in exercise was significantly associated with reduced mood distress (β = -.17, p goal setting and self-regulation within high school health education classes may foster increased exercise and associated improvements in mood and body satisfaction. For girls, the positive effects may reinforce one another. © The Author(s) 2014.
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Speaker Input Variability Does Not Explain Why Larger Populations Have Simpler Languages.
Atkinson, Mark; Kirby, Simon; Smith, Kenny
2015-01-01
A learner's linguistic input is more variable if it comes from a greater number of speakers. Higher speaker input variability has been shown to facilitate the acquisition of phonemic boundaries, since data drawn from multiple speakers provides more information about the distribution of phonemes in a speech community. It has also been proposed that speaker input variability may have a systematic influence on individual-level learning of morphology, which can in turn influence the group-level characteristics of a language. Languages spoken by larger groups of people have less complex morphology than those spoken in smaller communities. While a mechanism by which the number of speakers could have such an effect is yet to be convincingly identified, differences in speaker input variability, which is thought to be larger in larger groups, may provide an explanation. By hindering the acquisition, and hence faithful cross-generational transfer, of complex morphology, higher speaker input variability may result in structural simplification. We assess this claim in two experiments which investigate the effect of such variability on language learning, considering its influence on a learner's ability to segment a continuous speech stream and acquire a morphologically complex miniature language. We ultimately find no evidence to support the proposal that speaker input variability influences language learning and so cannot support the hypothesis that it explains how population size determines the structural properties of language.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Sonia Doallo
Full Text Available Binge drinking or heavy episodic drinking is a high prevalent pattern of alcohol consumption among young people in several countries. Despite increasing evidence that binge drinking is associated with impairments in executive aspects of working memory (i.e. self-ordered working memory, processes known to depend on the mid-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (Brodmann areas 46 and 9, less is known about the impact of binge drinking on prefrontal gray matter integrity. Here, we investigated the effects of binge drinking on gray matter volume of mid- dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in youths. We used voxel-based morphometry on the structural magnetic resonance images of subjects reporting a persistent (at least three years binge drinking pattern of alcohol use (n = 11; age 22.43 ± 1.03 and control subjects (n = 21; age 22.18 ± 1.08 to measure differences in gray matter volume between both groups. In a region of interest analysis of the mid-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, after co-varying for age and gender, we observed significantly larger gray matter volume in the left mid-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (Brodmann areas 46 and 9 in binge drinkers in comparison with control subjects. Furthermore, there was a significant positive correlation between left mid-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex volume and Self-Ordered Pointing Test (SOPT total errors score in binge drinkers. The left mid-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex volume also correlated with the quantity and speed of alcohol intake. These findings indicate that a repeated exposure to alcohol -that does not meet criteria for alcohol dependence- throughout post-adolescent years and young adulthood is linked with structural anomalies in mid-dorsolateral prefrontal regions critically involved in executive aspects of working memory.
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Larger amygdala volume in first-degree relatives of patients with major depression
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Nina Romanczuk-Seiferth
2014-01-01
Conclusions: Larger gray matter volume in healthy relatives of MDD patients point to a possible vulnerability mechanism in MDD etiology and therefore extend knowledge in the field of high-risk approaches in MDD.
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Size selectivity of commercial (300 MC) and larger square mesh top ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
In the present study, size selectivity of a commercial (300 MC) and a larger square mesh top panel (LSMTPC) codend for blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou) were tested on a commercial trawl net in the international waters between Turkey and Greece. Trawling, performed during daylight was carried out at depths ...
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Pereira, Jonas P.; Coelho, Jaziel G.; de Lima, Rafael C. R.
2018-05-01
Magnetars are neutron stars presenting bursts and outbursts of X- and soft-gamma rays that can be understood with the presence of very large magnetic fields. In this setting, nonlinear electrodynamics should be taken into account for a more accurate description of such compact systems. We study that in the context of ideal magnetohydrodynamics and make a realization of our analysis to the case of the well known Born-Infeld (BI) electromagnetism in order to come up with some of its astrophysical consequences. We focus here on toroidal magnetic fields as motivated by already known magnetars with low dipolar magnetic fields and their expected relevance in highly magnetized stars. We show that BI electrodynamics leads to larger toroidal magnetic fields when compared to Maxwell's electrodynamics. Hence, one should expect higher production of gravitational waves (GWs) and even more energetic giant flares from nonlinear stars. Given current constraints on BI's scale field, giant flare energetics and magnetic fields in magnetars, we also find that the maximum magnitude of magnetar ellipticities should be 10^{-6}-10^{-5}. Besides, BI electrodynamics may lead to a maximum increase of order 10-20% of the GW energy radiated from a magnetar when compared to Maxwell's, while much larger percentages may arise for other physically motivated scenarios. Thus, nonlinear theories of the electromagnetism might also be probed in the near future with the improvement of GW detectors.
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Significant association between parathyroid hormone and uric acid level in men
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Chin KY
2015-08-01
Full Text Available Kok-Yong Chin,1 Soelaiman Ima Nirwana,1 Wan Zurinah Wan Ngah21Department of Pharmacology, 2Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaBackground: Previous reports of patients undergoing parathyroidectomy and of patients receiving teriparatide as antiosteoporotic treatment have suggested a plausible relationship between parathyroid hormone (PTH and uric acid. However, similar data at population level were lacking. The current study aimed to determine the relationship between PTH and uric acid in a group of apparently healthy Malaysian men.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 380 Malay and Chinese men aged 20 years and above, residing in the Klang Valley, Malaysia. Their body anthropometry was measured, and their fasting blood samples were collected for biochemical analysis. The relationship between PTH and uric acid was analyzed using regression analysis.Results: Increased serum PTH level was significantly associated with increased serum uric acid level (β=0.165; P=0.001. Increased PTH level was also significantly associated with the condition of hyperuricemia in the study population (odds ratio [OR], 1.045; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.017–1.075; P=0.002. All analyses were adjusted for age, body mass index, vitamin D, total calcium, inorganic phosphate, blood urea nitrogen and creatinine levels.Conclusion: There is a significant positive relationship between PTH level and uric acid level in Malaysian men. This relationship and its clinical significance should be further investigated in a larger longitudinal study. Keywords: hyperuricemia, Asian, cross-sectional study, uric acid, urate
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Base stock policies with degraded service to larger orders
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Du, Bisheng; Larsen, Christian
We study an inventory system controlled by a base stock policy assuming a compound renewal demand process. We extend the base stock policy by incorporating rules for degrading the service of larger orders. Two specific rules are considered, denoted Postpone(q,t) and Split(q), respectively. The aim...... of using these rules is to achieve a given order fill rate of the regular orders (those of size less than or equal to the parameter q) having less inventory. We develop mathematical expressions for the performance measures order fill rate (of the regular orders) and average on-hand inventory level. Based...
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Farrelly, Matthew C; Loomis, Brett R; Mann, Nathan H
2007-10-01
We used scanner data on cigarette prices and sales collected from supermarkets across the United States from 1994 to 2004 to test the hypothesis that cigarette prices are positively correlated with sales of cigarettes with higher tar and nicotine content. During this period the average inflation-adjusted price for menthol cigarettes increased 55.8%. Price elasticities from multivariate regression models suggest that this price increase led to an increase of 1.73% in sales-weighted average tar yields and a 1.28% increase in sales-weighted average nicotine yields for menthol cigarettes. The 50.5% price increase of nonmenthol varieties over the same period yielded an estimated increase of 1% in tar per cigarette but no statistically significant increase in nicotine yields. An ordered probit model of the impact of cigarette prices on cigarette strength (ultra-light, light, full flavor, unfiltered) offers an explanation: As cigarette prices increase, the probability that stronger cigarette types will be sold increases. This effect is larger for menthol than for nonmenthol cigarettes. Our results are consistent with earlier population-based cross-sectional and longitudinal studies showing that higher cigarette prices and taxes are associated with increasing consumption of higher-yield cigarettes by smokers.
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Larger foraminifera from a relict structure off Karwar western Indian continental margin
Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)
Setty, M.G.A.P.
of such water masses having been present in the region. Among the larger forms, @iAmphistegina bicirculata, A. radiata@@ var. @ipapillosa@@ and @iOperculina ammonoides@@ indicate mixing, while @iNummulites cumingii@@ and @iBorelis schlumbergeri@@ were relict...
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Increased Mortality in Diabetic Foot Ulcer Patients: The Significance of Ulcer Type
Chammas, N. K.; Hill, R. L. R.; Edmonds, M. E.
2016-01-01
Diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) patients have a greater than twofold increase in mortality compared with nonulcerated diabetic patients. We investigated (a) cause of death in DFU patients, (b) age at death, and (c) relationship between cause of death and ulcer type. This was an eleven-year retrospective study on DFU patients who attended King's College Hospital Foot Clinic and subsequently died. A control group of nonulcerated diabetic patients was matched for age and type of diabetes mellitus. The cause of death was identified from death certificates (DC) and postmortem (PM) examinations. There were 243 DFU patient deaths during this period. Ischaemic heart disease (IHD) was the major cause of death in 62.5% on PM compared to 45.7% on DC. Mean age at death from IHD on PM was 5 years lower in DFU patients compared to controls (68.2 ± 8.7 years versus 73.1 ± 8.0 years, P = 0.015). IHD as a cause of death at PM was significantly linked to neuropathic foot ulcers (OR 3.064, 95% CI 1.003–9.366, and P = 0.049). Conclusions. IHD is the major cause of premature mortality in DFU patients with the neuropathic foot ulcer patients being at a greater risk. PMID:27213157
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Is a larger refuge always better? Dispersal and dose in pesticide resistance evolution.
Takahashi, Daisuke; Yamanaka, Takehiko; Sudo, Masaaki; Andow, David A
2017-06-01
The evolution of resistance against pesticides is an important problem of modern agriculture. The high-dose/refuge strategy, which divides the landscape into treated and nontreated (refuge) patches, has proven effective at delaying resistance evolution. However, theoretical understanding is still incomplete, especially for combinations of limited dispersal and partially recessive resistance. We reformulate a two-patch model based on the Comins model and derive a simple quadratic approximation to analyze the effects of limited dispersal, refuge size, and dominance for high efficacy treatments on the rate of evolution. When a small but substantial number of heterozygotes can survive in the treated patch, a larger refuge always reduces the rate of resistance evolution. However, when dominance is small enough, the evolutionary dynamics in the refuge population, which is indirectly driven by migrants from the treated patch, mainly describes the resistance evolution in the landscape. In this case, for small refuges, increasing the refuge size will increase the rate of resistance evolution. Our analysis distils major driving forces from the model, and can provide a framework for understanding directional selection in source-sink environments. © 2017 The Author(s). Evolution published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of The Society for the Study of Evolution.
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A tutorial on hunting statistical significance by chasing N
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Denes Szucs
2016-09-01
Full Text Available There is increasing concern about the replicability of studies in psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Hidden data dredging (also called p-hacking is a major contributor to this crisis because it substantially increases Type I error resulting in a much larger proportion of false positive findings than the usually expected 5%. In order to build better intuition to avoid, detect and criticise some typical problems, here I systematically illustrate the large impact of some easy to implement and so, perhaps frequent data dredging techniques on boosting false positive findings. I illustrate several forms of two special cases of data dredging. First, researchers may violate the data collection stopping rules of null hypothesis significance testing by repeatedly checking for statistical significance with various numbers of participants. Second, researchers may group participants post-hoc along potential but unplanned independent grouping variables. The first approach 'hacks' the number of participants in studies, the second approach ‘hacks’ the number of variables in the analysis. I demonstrate the high amount of false positive findings generated by these techniques with data from true null distributions. I also illustrate that it is extremely easy to introduce strong bias into data by very mild selection and re-testing. Similar, usually undocumented data dredging steps can easily lead to having 20-50%, or more false positives.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Ana Moreno-Alcázar
2018-05-01
Full Text Available Background: Structural imaging studies of cannabis users have found evidence of both cortical and subcortical volume reductions, especially in cannabinoid receptor-rich regions such as the hippocampus and amygdala. However, the findings have not been consistent. In the present study, we examined a sample of adult heavy cannabis users without other substance abuse to determine whether long-term use is associated with brain structural changes, especially in the subcortical regions.Method: We compared the gray matter volume of 14 long-term, heavy cannabis users with non-using controls. To provide robust findings, we conducted two separate studies using two different MRI techniques. Each study used the same sample of cannabis users and a different control group, respectively. Both control groups were independent of each other. First, whole-brain voxel-based morphometry (VBM was used to compare the cannabis users against 28 matched controls (HC1 group. Second, a volumetric analysis of subcortical regions was performed to assess differences between the cannabis users and a sample of 100 matched controls (HC2 group obtained from a local database of healthy volunteers.Results: The VBM study revealed that, compared to the control group HC1, the cannabis users did not show cortical differences nor smaller volume in any subcortical structure but showed a cluster (p < 0.001 of larger GM volume in the basal ganglia, involving the caudate, putamen, pallidum, and nucleus accumbens, bilaterally. The subcortical volumetric analysis revealed that, compared to the control group HC2, the cannabis users showed significantly larger volumes in the putamen (p = 0.001 and pallidum (p = 0.0015. Subtle trends, only significant at the uncorrected level, were also found in the caudate (p = 0.05 and nucleus accumbens (p = 0.047.Conclusions: This study does not support previous findings of hippocampal and/or amygdala structural changes in long-term, heavy cannabis users. It
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Larger foraminifera distribution on a mesotrophic carbonate shelf in SW Sulawesi (Indonesia)
Renema, W.; Troelstra, S.R.
2001-01-01
Larger symbiont bearing foraminifera typically live in shallow tropical seas. In this study the fauna composition of patch reefs scattered over the Spermonde Shelf (SW Sulawesi, Indonesia), a mesotrophic carbonate shelf, is examined. The foraminiferal fauna of the Spermonde Shelf is characterised by
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Transport properties of a Kondo dot with a larger side-coupled noninteracting quantum dot
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Liu, Y S; Fan, X H; Xia, Y J; Yang, X F
2008-01-01
We investigate theoretically linear and nonlinear quantum transport through a smaller quantum dot in a Kondo regime connected to two leads in the presence of a larger side-coupled noninteracting quantum dot, without tunneling coupling to the leads. To do this we employ the slave boson mean field theory with the help of the Keldysh Green's function at zero temperature. The numerical results show that the Kondo conductance peak may develop multiple resonance peaks and multiple zero points in the conductance spectrum owing to constructive and destructive quantum interference effects when the energy levels of the large side-coupled noninteracting dot are located in the vicinity of the Fermi level in the leads. As the coupling strength between two quantum dots increases, the tunneling current through the quantum device as a function of gate voltage applied across the two leads is suppressed. The spin-dependent transport properties of two parallel coupled quantum dots connected to two ferromagnetic leads are also investigated. The numerical results show that, for the parallel configuration, the spin current or linear spin differential conductance are enhanced when the polarization strength in the two leads is increased
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Developing Renewable Energy Projects Larger Than 10 MWs at Federal Facilities
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
None
2013-03-01
To accomplish Federal goals for renewable energy, sustainability, and energy security, large-scale renewable energy projects must be developed and constructed on Federal sites at a significant scale with significant private investment. For the purposes of this Guide, large-scale Federal renewable energy projects are defined as renewable energy facilities larger than 10 megawatts (MW) that are sited on Federal property and lands and typically financed and owned by third parties.1 The U.S. Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) helps Federal agencies meet these goals and assists agency personnel navigate the complexities of developing such projects and attract the necessary private capital to complete them. This Guide is intended to provide a general resource that will begin to develop the Federal employee’s awareness and understanding of the project developer’s operating environment and the private sector’s awareness and understanding of the Federal environment. Because the vast majority of the investment that is required to meet the goals for large-scale renewable energy projects will come from the private sector, this Guide has been organized to match Federal processes with typical phases of commercial project development. FEMP collaborated with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and professional project developers on this Guide to ensure that Federal projects have key elements recognizable to private sector developers and investors. The main purpose of this Guide is to provide a project development framework to allow the Federal Government, private developers, and investors to work in a coordinated fashion on large-scale renewable energy projects. The framework includes key elements that describe a successful, financially attractive large-scale renewable energy project. This framework begins the translation between the Federal and private sector operating environments. When viewing the overall
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78 FR 18902 - Defining Larger Participants of the Student Loan Servicing Market
2013-03-28
... BUREAU OF CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION 12 CFR Part 1090 [Docket No. CFPB-2013-0005] RIN 3170-AA35... Protection. ACTION: Proposed rule; request for public comment. SUMMARY: The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (Bureau or CFPB) proposes to amend the regulation defining larger participants of certain consumer...
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Performance monitoring and error significance in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Endrass, Tanja; Schuermann, Beate; Kaufmann, Christan; Spielberg, Rüdiger; Kniesche, Rainer; Kathmann, Norbert
2010-05-01
Performance monitoring has been consistently found to be overactive in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The present study examines whether performance monitoring in OCD is adjusted with error significance. Therefore, errors in a flanker task were followed by neutral (standard condition) or punishment feedbacks (punishment condition). In the standard condition patients had significantly larger error-related negativity (ERN) and correct-related negativity (CRN) ampliudes than controls. But, in the punishment condition groups did not differ in ERN and CRN amplitudes. While healthy controls showed an amplitude enhancement between standard and punishment condition, OCD patients showed no variation. In contrast, group differences were not found for the error positivity (Pe): both groups had larger Pe amplitudes in the punishment condition. Results confirm earlier findings of overactive error monitoring in OCD. The absence of a variation with error significance might indicate that OCD patients are unable to down-regulate their monitoring activity according to external requirements. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Significant molecular and systemic adaptations after repeated sprint training in hypoxia.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Raphael Faiss
Full Text Available While intermittent hypoxic training (IHT has been reported to evoke cellular responses via hypoxia inducible factors (HIFs but without substantial performance benefits in endurance athletes, we hypothesized that repeated sprint training in hypoxia could enhance repeated sprint ability (RSA performed in normoxia via improved glycolysis and O(2 utilization. 40 trained subjects completed 8 cycling repeated sprint sessions in hypoxia (RSH, 3000 m or normoxia (RSN, 485 m. Before (Pre- and after (Post- training, muscular levels of selected mRNAs were analyzed from resting muscle biopsies and RSA tested until exhaustion (10-s sprint, work-to-rest ratio 1:2 with muscle perfusion assessed by near-infrared spectroscopy. From Pre- to Post-, the average power output of all sprints in RSA was increased (p<0.01 to the same extent (6% vs 7%, NS in RSH and in RSN but the number of sprints to exhaustion was increased in RSH (9.4±4.8 vs. 13.0±6.2 sprints, p<0.01 but not in RSN (9.3±4.2 vs. 8.9±3.5. mRNA concentrations of HIF-1α (+55%, carbonic anhydrase III (+35% and monocarboxylate transporter-4 (+20% were augmented (p<0.05 whereas mitochondrial transcription factor A (-40%, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1α (-23% and monocarboxylate transporter-1 (-36% were decreased (p<0.01 in RSH only. Besides, the changes in total hemoglobin variations (Δ[tHb] during sprints throughout RSA test increased to a greater extent (p<0.01 in RSH. Our findings show larger improvement in repeated sprint performance in RSH than in RSN with significant molecular adaptations and larger blood perfusion variations in active muscles.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Takagi, Masaru; Cook, Robert; McQuillan, Barry; Gibson, Jane; Paguio, Sally
2004-01-01
In recent years we have demonstrated that 2-mm-diameter poly(α-methylstyrene) mandrels meeting indirect drive NIF surface symmetry specifications can be produced using microencapsulation methods. Recently higher gain target designs have been introduced that rely on frequency doubled (green) laser energy and require capsules up to 4 mm in diameter, nominally meeting the same surface finish and symmetry requirements as the existing 2-mm-diameter capsule designs. Direct drive on the NIF also requires larger capsules. In order to evaluate whether the current microencapsulation-based mandrel fabrication techniques will adequately scale to these larger capsules, we have explored extending the techniques to 4-mm-diameter capsules. We find that microencapsulated shells meeting NIF symmetry specifications can be produced, the processing changes necessary to accomplish this are presented here
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Larger foraminifera of the Devil's Den and Blue Hole sinkholes, Florida
Cotton, Laura J.; Eder, Wolfgang; Floyd, James
2018-03-01
Shallow-water carbonate deposits are well-known from the Eocene of the US Gulf Coast and Caribbean. These deposits frequently contain abundant larger benthic foraminifera (LBF). However, whilst integrated stratigraphic studies have helped to refine the timing of LBF overturning events within the Tethys and Indo-Pacific regions with respect to global bio- and chemo-stratigraphic records, little recent work has been carried out in the Americas. The American LBF assemblages are distinctly different from those of Europe and the Indo-Pacific. It is therefore essential that the American bio-province is included in studies of LBF evolution, biodiversity and climate events to understand these processes on a global scale.Here we present the LBF ranges from two previously unpublished sections spanning 35 and 29 m of the upper Eocene Ocala limestone, as the early stages of a larger project addressing the taxonomy and biostratigraphy of the LBF of Florida. The study indicates that the lower member of the Ocala limestone may be Bartonian rather than Priabonian in age, with implications for the biostratigraphy of the region. In addition, the study highlights the need for multiple sites to assess the LBF assemblages and fully constrain ranges across Florida and the US Gulf and suggests potential LBF events for future integrated stratigraphic study.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Steven R. Randall
2017-11-01
Full Text Available Sub-Saharan Africa is home to 90% of HIV infected (HIV+ children. Since the advent of antiretroviral therapy (ART, HIV/AIDS has transitioned to a chronic condition where central nervous system (CNS damage may be ongoing. Although, most guidelines recommend early ART to reduce CNS viral reservoirs, the brain may be more vulnerable to potential neurotoxic effects of ART during the rapid development phase in the first years of life. Here we investigate differences in subcortical volumes between 5-year-old HIV+ children who received early ART (before age 18 months and uninfected children using manual tracing of Magnetic Resonance Images. Participants included 61 Xhosa children (43 HIV+/18 uninfected, mean age = 5.4 ± 0.3 years, 25 male from the children with HIV early antiretroviral (CHER trial; 27 children initiated ART before 12 weeks of age (ART-Before12Wks and 16 after 12 weeks (ART-After12Wks. Structural images were acquired on a 3T Allegra MRI in Cape Town and manually traced using MultiTracer. Volumetric group differences (HIV+ vs. uninfected; ART-Before12Wks vs. ART-After12Wks were examined for the caudate, nucleus accumbens (NA, putamen (Pu, globus pallidus (GP, and corpus callosum (CC, as well as associations within infected children of structure volumes with age at ART initiation and CD4/CD8 as a proxy for immune health. HIV+ children had significantly larger NA and Pu volumes bilaterally and left GP volumes than controls, whilst CC was smaller. Bilateral Pu was larger in both treatment groups compared to controls, while left GP and bilateral NA were enlarged only in ART-After12Wks children. CC was smaller in both treatment groups compared to controls, and smaller in ART-After12Wks compared to ART-Before12Wks. Within infected children, delayed ART initiation was associated with larger Pu volumes, effects that remained significant when controlling for sex and duration of treatment interruption (left β = 0.447, p = 0.005; right β = 0
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Chen, Yen-Yuan; Chen, Likwang; Huang, Tien-Shang; Ko, Wen-Je; Chu, Tzong-Shinn; Ni, Yen-Hsuan; Chang, Shan-Chwen
2014-03-04
Most studies have examined the outcomes of patients supported by extracorporeal membrane oxygenation as a life-sustaining treatment. It is unclear whether significant social events are associated with the use of life-sustaining treatment. This study aimed to compare the trend of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use in Taiwan with that in the world, and to examine the influence of significant social events on the trend of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use in Taiwan. Taiwan's extracorporeal membrane oxygenation uses from 2000 to 2009 were collected from National Health Insurance Research Dataset. The number of the worldwide extracorporeal membrane oxygenation cases was mainly estimated using Extracorporeal Life Support Registry Report International Summary July 2012. The trend of Taiwan's crude annual incidence rate of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use was compared with that of the rest of the world. Each trend of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use was examined using joinpoint regression. The measurement was the crude annual incidence rate of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use. Each of the Taiwan's crude annual incidence rates was much higher than the worldwide one in the same year. Both the trends of Taiwan's and worldwide crude annual incidence rates have significantly increased since 2000. Joinpoint regression selected the model of the Taiwan's trend with one joinpoint in 2006 as the best-fitted model, implying that the significant social events in 2006 were significantly associated with the trend change of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use following 2006. In addition, significantly social events highlighted by the media are more likely to be associated with the increase of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use than being fully covered by National Health Insurance. Significant social events, such as a well-known person's successful extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use highlighted by the mass media, are associated with the use of
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Kim, Sungroul; Yu, Sol
2018-05-18
The difference of smoker's topography has been found to be a function many factors, including sex, personality, nicotine yield, cigarette type (i.e., flavored versus non-flavored) and ethnicity. We evaluated the puffing behaviors of Korean smokers and its association with smoking-related biomarker levels. A sample of 300 participants was randomly recruited from metropolitan areas in South Korea. Topography measures during a 24-hour period were obtained using a CReSS pocket device. Korean male smokers smoked two puffs less per cigarette compared to female smokers (15.0 (13.0⁻19.0) vs. 17.5 (15.0⁻21.0) as the median (Interquartile range)), but had a significantly larger puff volume (62.7 (52.7⁻75.5) mL vs. 53.5 (42.0⁻64.2) mL); p = 0.012). The interpuff interval was similar between men and women (8.9 (6.5⁻11.2) s vs. 8.3 (6.2⁻11.0) s; p = 0.122) but much shorter than other study results. A dose-response association ( p = 0.0011) was observed between daily total puff volumes and urinary cotinine concentrations, after controlling for sex, age, household income level and nicotine addiction level. An understanding of the difference of topography measures, particularly the larger puff volume and shorter interpuff interval of Korean smokers, may help to overcome a potential underestimation of internal doses of hazardous byproducts of smoking.
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Behavior and Body Patterns of the Larger Pacific Striped Octopus.
Caldwell, Roy L; Ross, Richard; Rodaniche, Arcadio; Huffard, Christine L
2015-01-01
Over thirty years ago anecdotal accounts of the undescribed Larger Pacific Striped Octopus suggested behaviors previously unknown for octopuses. Beak-to-beak mating, dens shared by mating pairs, inking during mating and extended spawning were mentioned in publications, and enticed generations of cephalopod biologists. In 2012-2014 we were able to obtain several live specimens of this species, which remains without a formal description. All of the unique behaviors listed above were observed for animals in aquaria and are discussed here. We describe the behavior, body color patterns, and postures of 24 adults maintained in captivity. Chromatophore patterns of hatchlings are also shown.
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Kucharski, Timothy J; Ferralis, Nicola; Kolpak, Alexie M; Zheng, Jennie O; Nocera, Daniel G; Grossman, Jeffrey C
2014-05-01
Large-scale utilization of solar-energy resources will require considerable advances in energy-storage technologies to meet ever-increasing global energy demands. Other than liquid fuels, existing energy-storage materials do not provide the requisite combination of high energy density, high stability, easy handling, transportability and low cost. New hybrid solar thermal fuels, composed of photoswitchable molecules on rigid, low-mass nanostructures, transcend the physical limitations of molecular solar thermal fuels by introducing local sterically constrained environments in which interactions between chromophores can be tuned. We demonstrate this principle of a hybrid solar thermal fuel using azobenzene-functionalized carbon nanotubes. We show that, on composite bundling, the amount of energy stored per azobenzene more than doubles from 58 to 120 kJ mol(-1), and the material also maintains robust cyclability and stability. Our results demonstrate that solar thermal fuels composed of molecule-nanostructure hybrids can exhibit significantly enhanced energy-storage capabilities through the generation of template-enforced steric strain.
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Functional MRI of CO2 induced increase in cerebral perfusion
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Rostrup, Egill; Larsson, H B; Toft, P B
1994-01-01
The sensitivity of MR gradient echo imaging towards CO2 induced changes in cerebral blood flow was investigated in 10 normal subjects. The subjects were inhaling 5% and 7% CO2 and the experiments were carried out at 1.5 T (n = 6) and 2.0 T (n = 5), allowing a comparison of field strengths....... Additional experiments were carried out using a higher spatial resolution. The largest signal increases were noted in areas corresponding to larger vessels, but significant changes were also conspicuous in deeper cortical and central grey matter. The changes appeared linearly related to the arterial CO2...... tension, within the range of PaCO2 studied. In white matter, the changes were not statistically significant....
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Sequencing Larger Intact Proteins (30-70 kDa) with Activated Ion Electron Transfer Dissociation
Riley, Nicholas M.; Westphall, Michael S.; Coon, Joshua J.
2018-01-01
The analysis of intact proteins via mass spectrometry can offer several benefits to proteome characterization, although the majority of top-down experiments focus on proteoforms in a relatively low mass range (AI-ETD) to proteins in the 30-70 kDa range. AI-ETD leverages infrared photo-activation concurrent to ETD reactions to improve sequence-informative product ion generation. This method generates more product ions and greater sequence coverage than conventional ETD, higher-energy collisional dissociation (HCD), and ETD combined with supplemental HCD activation (EThcD). Importantly, AI-ETD provides the most thorough protein characterization for every precursor ion charge state investigated in this study, making it suitable as a universal fragmentation method in top-down experiments. Additionally, we highlight several acquisition strategies that can benefit characterization of larger proteins with AI-ETD, including combination of spectra from multiple ETD reaction times for a given precursor ion, multiple spectral acquisitions of the same precursor ion, and combination of spectra from two different dissociation methods (e.g., AI-ETD and HCD). In all, AI-ETD shows great promise as a method for dissociating larger intact protein ions as top-down proteomics continues to advance into larger mass ranges. [Figure not available: see fulltext.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Eduardo Gottlieb
2014-06-01
Full Text Available Introduction: Non-adherence to the prescribed dialysis sessions frequency ranges from 2% to 50% of patients. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of detecting and measuring the non-adherence to the prescribed dialysis frequency and to determine the importance of a multidisciplinary approach with the aim of improving adherence. Methods: longitudinal cohort study including 8,164 prevalent hemodialysis patients in April 2010, with more than 90 days of treatment, in Fresenius Medical Care Argentina units that were monitored for 3 years. The survey evaluated: interruption of at least one dialysis session in a month or reduction at least 10 minutes of a dialysis session in a month, during 6 months prior to the survey. Relative mortality risks were evaluated among groups. Results: 648 patients (7.9% interrupted dialysis sessions: 320 (3.9% interrupted one session per month and 328 (4.01% interrupted more than one session per month. After 3 years monitoring, 349 patients (53.8 % remained active in hemodialysis and 299 were inactive due to different reasons: 206 deceased (31.8 %, 47 transfers or monitoring losses (7.25 %, 36 transplanted (5.55 %, 8 changes to PD modality (1.2% and 2 recovered their kidney function (0.3 %.Interrupting one session per month significantly increased the mortality risk comparing both groups (interrupters and non-interrupters: RR 2.65 (IC 95% 2.24 – 3.14. Interrupting more than one dialysis session also increased significantly mortality risk comparing to the non-interrupters: RR 2.8 (IC 95% 2.39 – 3.28. After 3 years monitoring, 41.6 % of interrupters at the beginning had improved their adherence through a multidisciplinary program of quality improvement. Conclusion: Global mortality was greater among patients who interrupted dialysis sessions. A considerable proportion of interrupter patients at the beginning modified their behavior through the implementation of a multidisciplinary program of quality
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Dust captures effectiveness of scrubber systems on mechanical miners operating in larger roadways.
CSIR Research Space (South Africa)
Hole, BJ
1998-03-01
Full Text Available The project was directed towards bord and pillar working by mechanised miners operating in larger section roadways, where the problem of scrubber capture tends to be greatest owing to the limited size of the zone of influence around exhaust...
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A lattice with larger momentum compaction for the NLC main damping rings
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Wolski, Andrzej; Raubenheimer, Tor O.; Woodley, Mark; Wu, Juhao
2004-01-01
Previous lattice designs for the Next Linear Collider Main Damping Rings [1] have met the specifications for equilibrium emittance, damping rate and dynamic aperture. Concerns about the effects of the damping wiggler on the beam dynamics [2] led to the aim of reducing the total length of the wiggler to a minimum consistent with the required damping rate, so high-field dipoles were used to provide a significant energy loss in the arcs. However, recent work has shown that the wiggler effects may not be as bad as previously feared. Furthermore, other studies have suggested the need for an increased momentum compaction (by roughly a factor of four) to raise the thresholds of various collective effects. We have therefore developed a new lattice design in which we increase the momentum compaction by reducing the field strength in the arc dipoles, compensating the loss in damping rate by increasing the length of the wiggler. The new lattice again meets the specifications for emittance, damping rate and dynamic aperture, while having the benefit of significantly higher thresholds for a number of instabilities
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Ratikorn Sanghaw
2017-10-01
Full Text Available A 52-week decomposition study employing the soil larger fauna exclusion technique through litter bags of two mesh sizes (20 and 0.135 mm was conducted in a long-term (18 yr field experiment. Organic residues of contrasting quality of N, lignin (L, polyphenols (PP and cellulose (CL all in grams per kilogram: rice straw (RS: 4.5N, 22.2L, 3.9PP, 449CL, groundnut stover (GN: 21.2N, 71.4L, 8.1PP, 361CL, dipterocarp leaf litter (DP: 5.1N, 303L, 68.9PP, 271CL and tamarind leaf litter (TM: 11.6N, 190L, 27.7PP, 212CL were applied to soil annually to assess and predict soil larger fauna effects (LFE on decomposition based on the initial contents of the residue chemical constituents. Mass losses in all residues were not different under soil fauna inclusion and exclusion treatments during the early stage (up to week 4 after residue incorporation but became significantly higher under the inclusion than the exclusion treatments during the later stage (week 8 onwards. LFE were highest (2–51% under the resistant DP at most decomposition stages. During the early stage (weeks 1–4, both the initial contents of labile (N and CL and recalcitrant C, and recalcitrant C interaction with labile constituents of residues showed significant correlations (r = 0.64–0.90 with LFE. In the middle stage (week 16, LFE under resistant DP and TM had significant positive correlations with L, L + PP and L/CL. They were also affected by these quality parameters as shown by the multiple regression analysis. In the later stages (weeks 26–52, the L/CL ratio was the most prominent quality parameter affecting LFE. Keywords: Mesofauna and macrofauna, Microorganisms, Recalcitrant and labile compounds, Residue chemical composition, Tropical sandy soil
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Ouagoussounon, Issa; Offenberg, Joachim; Sinzogan, Antonio; Adandonon, Appolinaire; Kossou, Dansou; Vayssières, Jean-François
2015-01-01
Weaver ants (Oecophylla longinoda Latreille) are used commercially to control pest insects and for protein production. In this respect fast colony growth is desirable for managed colonies. Transplantation of non-nestmate pupae to incipient colonies has been shown to boost colony growth. Our objectives were to find the maximum number of pupae a founding queen can handle, and to measure the associated colony growth. Secondly, we tested if transplantation of pupae led to production of larger nanitic workers (defined as unusually small worker ants produced by founding queens in their first batch of offspring). Forty-five fertilized queens were divided into three treatments: 0 (control), 100 or 300 non-nestmate pupae transplanted to each colony. Pupae transplantation resulted in highly increased growth rates, as pupae were readily adopted by the queens and showed high proportions of surviving (mean = 76%). However, survival was significantly higher when 100 pupae were transplanted compared to transplantation of 300 pupae, indicating that queens were unable to handle 300 pupae adequately and that pupae require some amount of nursing. Nevertheless, within the 60-day experiment the transplantation of 300 pupae increased total colony size more than 10-fold whereas 100 pupae increased the size 5.6 fold, compared to control. This increase was due not only to the individuals added in the form of pupae but also to an increased per capita brood production by the resident queen, triggered by the adopted pupae. The size of hatching pupae produced by the resident queen also increased with the number of pupae transplanted, leading to larger nanitic workers in colonies adopting pupae. In conclusion, pupae transplantation may be used to produce larger colonies with larger worker ants and may thus reduce the time to produce weaver ant colonies for commercial purposes. This in turn may facilitate the implementation of the use of weaver ants.
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Behavior and Body Patterns of the Larger Pacific Striped Octopus.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Roy L Caldwell
Full Text Available Over thirty years ago anecdotal accounts of the undescribed Larger Pacific Striped Octopus suggested behaviors previously unknown for octopuses. Beak-to-beak mating, dens shared by mating pairs, inking during mating and extended spawning were mentioned in publications, and enticed generations of cephalopod biologists. In 2012-2014 we were able to obtain several live specimens of this species, which remains without a formal description. All of the unique behaviors listed above were observed for animals in aquaria and are discussed here. We describe the behavior, body color patterns, and postures of 24 adults maintained in captivity. Chromatophore patterns of hatchlings are also shown.
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Rodríguez-Avial, Carmen; Alvarez-Novoa, Andrea; Losa, Azucena; Picazo, Juan J
2013-10-01
Staphylococcus aureus is a pathogen of major concern. The emergence of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) has increasingly complicated the therapeutic approach of hospital-acquired infections. Surveillance of MRSA and control measures must be implemented in different healthcare settings, including screening programs for carriers. Our first aim was to determine the prevalence of methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) and MRSA nasal carriage in medical students from the Clínico San Carlos Hospital (Madrid). As the MRSA carrier rate in healthcare workers is higher than in the general population, we hypothesised that carrier rate could be increased during their clinical practice in their last three years. We performed an epidemiologic al study of the prevalence of S. aureus colonisation among a group of medical students, who were sampled in 2008 in their third-year, and in 2012 when this class was in its sixth year. We have found a significant increase in MSSA carriage, from 27% to 46%. There were no MRSA colonisations in the third-year, but one was found in the sixth-year group. The large majority of strains (89%) of strains were resistant to penicillin, and 27% to erythromycin and clindamycin. As 19 coagulase-negative Staphylococcus MR were also identified, a horizontal transfer of genes, such as mecA gene to S. aureus, could have occurred. Medical students are both, at risk for acquiring, and a potential source of nosocomial pathogens, mainly MSSA. Therefore, they should take special care for hygienic precautions, such as frequent and proper hand washing, while working in the hospital. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Alsbjerg, Birgit; Polyzos, Nikolaos P; Elbaek, Helle Olesen
2013-01-01
The aim of this study was to evaluate the reproductive outcome in patients receiving frozen-thawed embryo transfer before and after doubling of the vaginal progesterone gel supplementation. The study was a retrospective study performed in The Fertility Clinic, Skive Regional Hospital, Denmark....... A total of 346 infertility patients with oligoamenorrhoea undergoing frozen-thawed embryo transfer after priming with oestradiol and vaginal progesterone gel were included. The vaginal progesterone dose was changed from 90mg (Crinone) once a day to twice a day and the reproductive outcome during the two...... rate (8.7% versus 20.5%, respectively; P=0.002). Doubling of the vaginal progesterone gel supplementation during frozen-thawed embryo transfer cycles decreased the early pregnancy loss rate, resulting in a significantly higher delivery rate. This study evaluated the reproductive outcome of 346 women...
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Using a Self-Control Training Procedure To Increase Appropriate Behavior.
Dixon, Mark R.; Hayes, Linda J.; Binder, Lisa M.; Manthey, Sharon; Sigman, Connie; Zdanowski, Darlene M.
1998-01-01
A study evaluated teaching a technique for self-control to three adults with developmental disabilities. Concurrent fixed-duration/progressive-duration reinforcement schedules were introduced in which both smaller and larger reinforcers were available immediately. When progressively increasing delays were introduced for the larger reinforcer,…
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Rasamani, Kowsalya D.; Foley, Jonathan J., IV; Sun, Yugang
2018-03-01
Silver-doped silver chloride [AgCl(Ag)] nanoparticles represent a unique class of visible-light-driven photocatalysts, in which the silver dopants introduce electron-abundant mid-gap energy levels to lower the bandgap of AgCl. However, free-standing AgCl(Ag) nanoparticles, particularly those with small sizes and large surface areas, exhibit low colloidal stability and low compositional stability upon exposure to light irradiation, leading to easy aggregation and conversion to metallic silver and thus a loss of photocatalytic activity. These problems could be eliminated by attaching the small AgCl(Ag) nanoparticles to the surfaces of spherical dielectric silica particles with submicrometer sizes. The high optical transparency in the visible spectral region (400-800 nm), colloidal stability, and chemical/electronic inertness displayed by the silica spheres make them ideal for supporting photocatalysts and significantly improving their stability. The spherical morphology of the dielectric silica particles can support light scattering resonances to generate significantly enhanced electric fields near the silica particle surfaces, on which the optical absorption cross-section of the AgCl(Ag) nanoparticles is dramatically increased to promote their photocatalytic activity. The hybrid silica/AgCl(Ag) structures exhibit superior photocatalytic activity and stability, suitable for supporting photocatalysis sustainably; for instance, their efficiency in the photocatalytic decomposition of methylene blue decreases by only ˜9% even after ten cycles of operation.
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In vivo toxicologic study of larger silica nanoparticles in mice
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Chan WT
2017-04-01
Full Text Available Wai-Tao Chan,1–3 Cheng-Che Liu,4 Jen-Shiu Chiang Chiau,5 Shang-Ting Tsai,6 Chih-Kai Liang,6 Mei-Lien Cheng,5 Hung-Chang Lee,7,8 Chun-Yun Yeung,1,3,9 Shao-Yi Hou2,6 1Department of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, MacKay Children’s Hospital, 2Graduate Institute of Engineering Technology, National Taipei University of Technology, 3Mackay Medicine, Nursing, and Management College, 4Institute of Preventive Medicine, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, 5Department of Medical Research, MacKay Memorial Hospital, Hsinchu, 6Graduate Institute of Biochemical and Biomedical Engineering, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei, 7Department of Pediatrics, MacKay Memorial Hospital, Hsinchu, 8Department of Pediatrics, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, 9Department of Medicine, Mackay Medical College, New Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China Abstract: Silica nanoparticles (SiNPs are being studied and used for medical purposes. As nanotechnology grows rapidly, its biosafety and toxicity have frequently raised concerns. However, diverse results have been reported about the safety of SiNPs; several studies reported that smaller particles might exhibit toxic effects to some cell lines, and larger particles of 100 nm were reported to be genotoxic to the cocultured cells. Here, we investigated the in vivo toxicity of SiNPs of 150 nm in various dosages via intravenous administration in mice. The mice were observed for 14 days before blood examination and histopathological assay. All the mice survived and behaved normally after the administration of nanoparticles. No significant weight change was noted. Blood examinations showed no definite systemic dysfunction of organ systems. Histopathological studies of vital organs confirmed no SiNP-related adverse effects. We concluded that 150 nm SiNPs were biocompatible and safe for in vivo use in mice. Keywords: in vivo, mice, silica nanoparticle, nanotoxicity
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Van Der Elst, Nicholas; Shaw, Bruce E.
2015-01-01
Aftershocks may be driven by stress concentrations left by the main shock rupture or by elastic stress transfer to adjacent fault sections or strands. Aftershocks that occur within the initial rupture may be limited in size, because the scale of the stress concentrations should be smaller than the primary rupture itself. On the other hand, aftershocks that occur on adjacent fault segments outside the primary rupture may have no such size limitation. Here we use high-precision double-difference relocated earthquake catalogs to demonstrate that larger aftershocks occur farther away than smaller aftershocks, when measured from the centroid of early aftershock activity—a proxy for the initial rupture. Aftershocks as large as or larger than the initiating event nucleate almost exclusively in the outer regions of the aftershock zone. This observation is interpreted as a signature of elastic rebound in the earthquake catalog and can be used to improve forecasting of large aftershocks.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Nadja Rodrigues de Melo
Full Text Available Candida albicans is a major human pathogen whose treatment is challenging due to antifungal drug toxicity, drug resistance and paucity of antifungal agents available. Myrocin (MYR inhibits sphingosine synthesis, a precursor of sphingolipids, an important cell membrane and signaling molecule component. MYR also has dual immune suppressive and antifungal properties, potentially modulating mammalian immunity and simultaneously reducing fungal infection risk. Wax moth (Galleria mellonella larvae, alternatives to mice, were used to establish if MYR suppressed insect immunity and increased survival of C. albicans-infected insects. MYR effects were studied in vivo and in vitro, and compared alone and combined with those of approved antifungal drugs, fluconazole (FLC and amphotericin B (AMPH. Insect immune defenses failed to inhibit C. albicans with high mortalities. In insects pretreated with the drug followed by C. albicans inoculation, MYR+C. albicans significantly increased mortality to 93% from 67% with C. albicans alone 48 h post-infection whilst AMPH+C. albicans and FLC+C. albicans only showed 26% and 0% mortalities, respectively. MYR combinations with other antifungal drugs in vivo also enhanced larval mortalities, contrasting the synergistic antifungal effect of the MYR+AMPH combination in vitro. MYR treatment influenced immunity and stress management gene expression during C. albicans pathogenesis, modulating transcripts putatively associated with signal transduction/regulation of cytokines, I-kappaB kinase/NF-kappaB cascade, G-protein coupled receptor and inflammation. In contrast, all stress management gene expression was down-regulated in FLC and AMPH pretreated C. albicans-infected insects. Results are discussed with their implications for clinical use of MYR to treat sphingolipid-associated disorders.
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Lecture archiving on a larger scale at the University of Michigan and CERN
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Herr, Jeremy; Lougheed, Robert; Neal, Homer A, E-mail: herrj@umich.ed [University of Michigan, 450 Church St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (United States)
2010-04-01
The ATLAS Collaboratory Project at the University of Michigan has been a leader in the area of collaborative tools since 1999. Its activities include the development of standards, software and hardware tools for lecture archiving, and making recommendations for videoconferencing and remote teaching facilities. Starting in 2006 our group became involved in classroom recordings, and in early 2008 we spawned CARMA, a University-wide recording service. This service uses a new portable recording system that we developed. Capture, archiving and dissemination of rich multimedia content from lectures, tutorials and classes are increasingly widespread activities among universities and research institutes. A growing array of related commercial and open source technologies is becoming available, with several new products introduced in the last couple years. As the result of a new close partnership between U-M and CERN IT, a market survey of these products was conducted and a summary of the results are presented here. It is informing an ambitious effort in 2009 to equip many CERN rooms with automated lecture archiving systems, on a much larger scale than before. This new technology is being integrated with CERN's existing webcast, CDS, and Indico applications.
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Lecture archiving on a larger scale at the University of Michigan and CERN
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Herr, Jeremy; Lougheed, Robert; Neal, Homer A
2010-01-01
The ATLAS Collaboratory Project at the University of Michigan has been a leader in the area of collaborative tools since 1999. Its activities include the development of standards, software and hardware tools for lecture archiving, and making recommendations for videoconferencing and remote teaching facilities. Starting in 2006 our group became involved in classroom recordings, and in early 2008 we spawned CARMA, a University-wide recording service. This service uses a new portable recording system that we developed. Capture, archiving and dissemination of rich multimedia content from lectures, tutorials and classes are increasingly widespread activities among universities and research institutes. A growing array of related commercial and open source technologies is becoming available, with several new products introduced in the last couple years. As the result of a new close partnership between U-M and CERN IT, a market survey of these products was conducted and a summary of the results are presented here. It is informing an ambitious effort in 2009 to equip many CERN rooms with automated lecture archiving systems, on a much larger scale than before. This new technology is being integrated with CERN's existing webcast, CDS, and Indico applications.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Hamrick, Mark W.; Herberg, Samuel; Arounleut, Phonepasong; He, Hong-Zhi; Shiver, Austin; Qi, Rui-Qun; Zhou, Li; Isales, Carlos M.
2010-01-01
Research highlights: → Aging is associated with muscle atrophy and loss of muscle mass, known as the sarcopenia of aging. → We demonstrate that age-related muscle atrophy is associated with marked changes in miRNA expression in muscle. → Treating aged mice with the adipokine leptin significantly increased muscle mass and the expression of miRNAs involved in muscle repair. → Recombinant leptin therapy may therefore be a novel approach for treating age-related muscle atrophy. -- Abstract: Age-associated loss of muscle mass, or sarcopenia, contributes directly to frailty and an increased risk of falls and fractures among the elderly. Aged mice and elderly adults both show decreased muscle mass as well as relatively low levels of the fat-derived hormone leptin. Here we demonstrate that loss of muscle mass and myofiber size with aging in mice is associated with significant changes in the expression of specific miRNAs. Aging altered the expression of 57 miRNAs in mouse skeletal muscle, and many of these miRNAs are now reported to be associated specifically with age-related muscle atrophy. These include miR-221, previously identified in studies of myogenesis and muscle development as playing a role in the proliferation and terminal differentiation of myogenic precursors. We also treated aged mice with recombinant leptin, to determine whether leptin therapy could improve muscle mass and alter the miRNA expression profile of aging skeletal muscle. Leptin treatment significantly increased hindlimb muscle mass and extensor digitorum longus fiber size in aged mice. Furthermore, the expression of 37 miRNAs was altered in muscles of leptin-treated mice. In particular, leptin treatment increased the expression of miR-31 and miR-223, miRNAs known to be elevated during muscle regeneration and repair. These findings suggest that aging in skeletal muscle is associated with marked changes in the expression of specific miRNAs, and that nutrient-related hormones such as leptin
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Hamrick, Mark W., E-mail: mhamrick@mail.mcg.edu [Department of Cellular Biology and Anatomy, Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA (United States); Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA (United States); Herberg, Samuel; Arounleut, Phonepasong [Department of Cellular Biology and Anatomy, Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA (United States); Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA (United States); He, Hong-Zhi [Henry Ford Immunology Program, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, MI (United States); Department of Dermatology, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, MI (United States); Shiver, Austin [Department of Cellular Biology and Anatomy, Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA (United States); Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA (United States); Qi, Rui-Qun [Henry Ford Immunology Program, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, MI (United States); Department of Dermatology, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, MI (United States); Zhou, Li [Henry Ford Immunology Program, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, MI (United States); Department of Dermatology, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, MI (United States); Department of Internal Medicine, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, MI (United States); Isales, Carlos M. [Department of Cellular Biology and Anatomy, Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA (United States); Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA (United States); others, and
2010-09-24
Research highlights: {yields} Aging is associated with muscle atrophy and loss of muscle mass, known as the sarcopenia of aging. {yields} We demonstrate that age-related muscle atrophy is associated with marked changes in miRNA expression in muscle. {yields} Treating aged mice with the adipokine leptin significantly increased muscle mass and the expression of miRNAs involved in muscle repair. {yields} Recombinant leptin therapy may therefore be a novel approach for treating age-related muscle atrophy. -- Abstract: Age-associated loss of muscle mass, or sarcopenia, contributes directly to frailty and an increased risk of falls and fractures among the elderly. Aged mice and elderly adults both show decreased muscle mass as well as relatively low levels of the fat-derived hormone leptin. Here we demonstrate that loss of muscle mass and myofiber size with aging in mice is associated with significant changes in the expression of specific miRNAs. Aging altered the expression of 57 miRNAs in mouse skeletal muscle, and many of these miRNAs are now reported to be associated specifically with age-related muscle atrophy. These include miR-221, previously identified in studies of myogenesis and muscle development as playing a role in the proliferation and terminal differentiation of myogenic precursors. We also treated aged mice with recombinant leptin, to determine whether leptin therapy could improve muscle mass and alter the miRNA expression profile of aging skeletal muscle. Leptin treatment significantly increased hindlimb muscle mass and extensor digitorum longus fiber size in aged mice. Furthermore, the expression of 37 miRNAs was altered in muscles of leptin-treated mice. In particular, leptin treatment increased the expression of miR-31 and miR-223, miRNAs known to be elevated during muscle regeneration and repair. These findings suggest that aging in skeletal muscle is associated with marked changes in the expression of specific miRNAs, and that nutrient
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Big data integration shows Australian bush-fire frequency is increasing significantly.
Dutta, Ritaban; Das, Aruneema; Aryal, Jagannath
2016-02-01
Increasing Australian bush-fire frequencies over the last decade has indicated a major climatic change in coming future. Understanding such climatic change for Australian bush-fire is limited and there is an urgent need of scientific research, which is capable enough to contribute to Australian society. Frequency of bush-fire carries information on spatial, temporal and climatic aspects of bush-fire events and provides contextual information to model various climate data for accurately predicting future bush-fire hot spots. In this study, we develop an ensemble method based on a two-layered machine learning model to establish relationship between fire incidence and climatic data. In a 336 week data trial, we demonstrate that the model provides highly accurate bush-fire incidence hot-spot estimation (91% global accuracy) from the weekly climatic surfaces. Our analysis also indicates that Australian weekly bush-fire frequencies increased by 40% over the last 5 years, particularly during summer months, implicating a serious climatic shift.
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Significant yield increases from control of leaf diseases in maize - an overlooked problem?!
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Jørgensen, Lise Nistrup
2012-01-01
The area of maize has increased in several European countries in recent years. In Denmark, the area has increased from 10,000 ha in 1980 to 185,000 ha in 2011. Initially only silage maize was cultivated in Denmark, but in more recent years the area of grain maize has also increased. Farms growing...
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Effects of Increasing Drag on Conjunction Assessment
Frigm, Ryan Clayton; McKinley, David P.
2010-01-01
Conjunction Assessment Risk Analysis relies heavily on the computation of the Probability of Collision (Pc) and the understanding of the sensitivity of this calculation to the position errors as defined by the covariance. In Low Earth Orbit (LEO), covariance is predominantly driven by perturbations due to atmospheric drag. This paper describes the effects of increasing atmospheric drag through Solar Cycle 24 on Pc calculations. The process of determining these effects is found through analyzing solar flux predictions on Energy Dissipation Rate (EDR), historical relationship between EDR and covariance, and the sensitivity of Pc to covariance. It is discovered that while all LEO satellites will be affected by the increase in solar activity, the relative effect is more significant in the LEO regime around 700 kilometers in altitude compared to 400 kilometers. Furthermore, it is shown that higher Pc values can be expected at larger close approach miss distances. Understanding these counter-intuitive results is important to setting Owner/Operator expectations concerning conjunctions as solar maximum approaches.
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Outcomes of multiple wire localization for larger breast cancers: when can mastectomy be avoided?
Kirstein, Laurie J; Rafferty, Elizabeth; Specht, Michelle C; Moore, Richard H; Taghian, Alphonse G; Hughes, Kevin S; Gadd, Michele A; Smith, Barbara L
2008-09-01
Mastectomy is often recommended when mammography shows a breast cancer with extensive calcifications. We wished to determine whether the use of multiple localizing wires to guide lumpectomy in this setting was associated with increased rates of breast conservation. We also wanted to identify factors that predicted a poor chance of successful lumpectomy, to avoid multiple lumpectomy attempts in a patient who would ultimately require mastectomy. Records of 153 women with breast cancer who underwent lumpectomy for larger lesions that required multiple wire localization and 196 controls who required only single wire localization were reviewed retrospectively. The number of localizing wires, specimen volume, largest specimen dimension, number of surgical procedures, and rates of breast conservation were scored. Seventy-seven percent of patients requiring multiple wire localization had successful breast conservation, compared with 90% of those needing only single wire localization. Only 28% of multiple wire patients required more than 1 excision to achieve clear margins, compared with 36% of single wire patients (p localizing wires for excision. The use of multiple wires can decrease the number of procedures required to obtain clear lumpectomy margins.
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Vijayalakshmi, I B; Chitra, N; Rajasri, R; Prabhudeva, A N
2005-01-01
Transcatheter closure of patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) by Amplatzer duct occluder is the treatment of choice. However, closure of very large ducts in infants with low weight is a challenge for the interventionalist because a large device may obstruct the aorta or left pulmonary artery. Difficulty is also encountered in advancing the device around the curve of the right ventricular outflow tract toward the pulmonary artery; this curve is tight, more or less at a right angle in infants, leading to kinking of the sheath, which increases fluoroscopic time. This is the first reported case of a very large PDA (8.7 mm), larger than the aorta (8.2 mm), successfully closed by an Amplatzer angled duct occluder in an infant weighing 5 kg.
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The Significance of Critical Incidents and Voice to Identity and Agency
Sisson, Jamie Huff
2016-01-01
Human agency is significant to the understanding of professional identities and actions. It is through human agency that individuals can become powerful in changing or authoring their own identities. Stemming from a larger narrative inquiry focused on understanding the professional identities of public preschool teachers, this paper draws on…
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Fiorini, Flavia; Lokier, Stephen W.
2015-04-01
The distribution of larger benthic foraminifera in Recent littoral environment of the United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi and Western regions) was investigated with the aim of understanding the response of those foraminifera to an increase in water salinity. For this purpose, 100 sediment samples from nearshore shelf, beach-front, channel, lagoon, and intertidal environment were collected. Sampling was undertaken at a water depth shallower than 15 m in water with a temperature of 22 to 35˚C, a salinity ranging from 40 to 60‰ and a pH of 8. Samples were stained with rose Bengal at the moment of sample collection in order to identify living specimens. The most abundant epiphytic larger benthic foraminifera in the studied area were Peneroplis pertusus and P. planatus with less common Spirolina areatina, S. aciculate and Sorites marginalis. The living specimens of the above mentioned species with normal test growing were particularly abundant in the nearshore shelf and lagoonal samples collected on seaweed. Dead specimens were concentrated in the coarser sediments of the beach-front, probably transported from nearby environments. Shallow coastal ponds are located in the upper intertidal zone and have a maximum salinity of 60‰ and contain abundant detached seagrass. Samples collected from these ponds possess a living foraminifera assemblage dominated by Peneroplis pertusus and P. planatus. High percentages (up to 50% of the stained assemblage) of Peneroplis presented abnormality in test growth, such as the presence of multiple apertures with reduced size, deformation in the general shape of the test, irregular suture lines and abnormal coiling. The high percentage of abnormal tests reflects natural environmental stress mainly caused by high and variable salinity. The unique presence of living epiphytic species, suggests that epiphytic foraminifera may be transported into the pond together with seagrass and continued to live in the pond. This hypothesis is supported by
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The fluorescence properties of aerosol larger than 0.8 μm in an urban and a PBA-dominated location
Gabey, A. M.; Stanley, W. R.; Gallagher, M. W.; Kaye, P. H.
2011-01-01
Dual-wavelength Ultraviolet light-induced fluorescence (UV-LIF) measurements were performed on ambient environmental aerosol in Manchester, UK (urban city centre, winter) and Borneo, Malaysia (remote, tropical), which are taken to represent environments with negligible and significant primary biological aerosol (PBA) influences, respectively. Single-particle fluorescence intensity and optical equivalent diameter were measured with a Wide Issue Bioaerosol Sensor, version 3 (WIBS3) in the diameter range 0.8 μm≤DP≤20 μm for 2-3 weeks and filters were analysed using energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, which revealed mostly non-PBA dominated particle sizes larger than 1 μm in Manchester. The WIBS3 features three fluorescence channels: Fluorescence excited at 280 nm is recorded at 310-400 nm and 400-600 nm and fluorescence excited at 370 nm is detected at 400-600 nm. In Manchester the primary size mode of fluorescent and non-fluorescent material was at 1.2 μm. In Borneo non-fluorescent material peaked at 1.2 μm and fluorescent at 3-4 μm. The fluorescence intensity at 400-600 nm generally increased with DP at both sites, as did the 310-400 nm intensity in Borneo. In Manchester the 310-400 m fluorescence decreased at DP>4 μm, suggesting this channel offers additional discrimination between fluorescent particle types. Finally, the ratio of fluorescence intensity in two pairs of channels was investigated as a function of particle diameter and this varied significantly between the two environments, demonstrating that the fluorescent aerosol in each can in principle be distinguished using a combination of fluorescence and elastic scattering measurements.
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Fairhall, Chris; Garcia-Mayoral, Ricardo
2017-11-01
We present results from direct numerical simulations of turbulent flows over superhydrophobic surfaces. We assess the validity of simulations where the surface is modelled as homogeneous slip lengths, comparing them to simulations where the surface texture is resolved. Our results show that once the coherent flow induced by the texture is removed from the velocity fields, the remaining flow sees the surface as homogeneous. We then investigate how the overlying turbulence is modified by the presence of surface texture. For small textures, we show that turbulence is shifted closer to the wall due to the presence of slip, but otherwise remains essentially unmodified. For larger textures, the texture interacts with the turbulent lengthscales, thereby modifying the overlying turbulence. We also show that the saturation of the effect of the spanwise slip length (Fukagata et al. 2006, Busse & Sandham 2012, Seo & Mani 2016), which is drag increasing, is caused by the impermeability imposed at the surface. This work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
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TaGS5-3A, a grain size gene selected during wheat improvement for larger kernel and yield.
Ma, Lin; Li, Tian; Hao, Chenyang; Wang, Yuquan; Chen, Xinhong; Zhang, Xueyong
2016-05-01
Grain size is a dominant component of grain weight in cereals. Earlier studies have shown that OsGS5 plays a major role in regulating both grain size and weight in rice via promotion of cell division. In this study, we isolated TaGS5 homoeologues in wheat and mapped them on chromosomes 3A, 3B and 3D. Temporal and spatial expression analysis showed that TaGS5 homoeologues were preferentially expressed in young spikes and developing grains. Two alleles of TaGS5-3A, TaGS5-3A-T and TaGS5-3A-G were identified in wheat accessions, and a functional marker was developed to discriminate them. Association analysis revealed that TaGS5-3A-T was significantly correlated with larger grain size and higher thousand kernel weight. Biochemical assays showed that TaGS5-3A-T possesses a higher enzymatic activity than TaGS5-3A-G. Transgenic rice lines overexpressing TaGS5-3A-T also exhibited larger grain size and higher thousand kernel weight than TaGS5-3A-G lines, and the transcript levels of cell cycle-related genes in TaGS5-3A-T lines were higher than those in TaGS5-3A-G lines. Furthermore, systematic evolution analysis in diploid, tetraploid and hexaploid wheat showed that TaGS5-3A underwent strong artificial selection during wheat polyploidization events and the frequency changes of two alleles demonstrated that TaGS5-3A-T was favoured in global modern wheat cultivars. These results suggest that TaGS5-3A is a positive regulator of grain size and its favoured allele TaGS5-3A-T exhibits a larger potential application in wheat high-yield breeding. © 2015 Society for Experimental Biology, Association of Applied Biologists and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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Anderson, C.A.; Copestake, P.T.; Robinson, L.
2000-01-01
The retrieval precision and recall of a specialist bibliographic toxicity database (TRACE) and a range of widely available bibliographic databases used to identify toxicity papers were compared. The analysis indicated that the larger size and resources of the major bibliographic databases did not,
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An increase in aerosol burden due to the land-sea warming contrast
Hassan, T.; Allen, R.; Randles, C. A.
2017-12-01
Climate models simulate an increase in most aerosol species in response to warming, particularly over the tropics and Northern Hemisphere midlatitudes. This increase in aerosol burden is related to a decrease in wet removal, primarily due to reduced large-scale precipitation. Here, we show that the increase in aerosol burden, and the decrease in large-scale precipitation, is related to a robust climate change phenomenon—the land/sea warming contrast. Idealized simulations with two state of the art climate models, the National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Atmosphere Model version 5 (NCAR CAM5) and the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Atmospheric Model 3 (GFDL AM3), show that muting the land-sea warming contrast negates the increase in aerosol burden under warming. This is related to smaller decreases in near-surface relative humidity over land, and in turn, smaller decreases in large-scale precipitation over land—especially in the NH midlatitudes. Furthermore, additional idealized simulations with an enhanced land/sea warming contrast lead to the opposite result—larger decreases in relative humidity over land, larger decreases in large-scale precipitation, and larger increases in aerosol burden. Our results, which relate the increase in aerosol burden to the robust climate projection of enhanced land warming, adds confidence that a warmer world will be associated with a larger aerosol burden.
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Moore, Carla J; Lowe, Jonathan; Michopoulos, Vasiliki; Ulam, Patrick; Toufexis, Donna; Wilson, Mark E; Johnson, Zachary
2013-03-01
Social subordination in macaques is a well-established model to study the adverse effects of psychosocial stress on a number of health outcomes, including stress-induced eating. The present analysis was conducted to empirically define a meal among free-feeding female rhesus monkeys and to examine the roles of meal patterning (e.g., meal size, meal frequency, and snacking patterns) in findings from a previous study demonstrating that psychosocial stress increases overall caloric intake among subordinate animals with access to a highly palatable diet. Results indicate that all animals, regardless of social status, consumed more frequent meals, larger meals, and more calories in the form of snacks when a highly palatable diet was available. Additional findings suggest that subordinate animals consumed significantly larger meals compared to their dominant counterparts regardless of the dietary environment. Additionally, subordinate females with a history of exposure to the palatable diet consumed significantly more snack calories than both dominant and subordinate animals without previous exposure to the palatable diet when these females were returned to a standard laboratory diet. These findings illustrate how small changes in meal patterns can lead to significant increases in total caloric intake, which if prolonged, could promote the emergence of an obese phenotype. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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The role and significance of green spaces in recent Slovenian residential estates
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Davorin Gazvoda
2001-01-01
Full Text Available The design of new housing estates in Slovenia isn’t improving despite new technologies and expansive professional knowledge in various fields from urban and architectural design to landscape design of open spaces. Low availability of building space and desired growth of returns from given sites by increasing building density and quantity of homes are both diminishing possibilities for adequate design of green surfaces that could significantly improve the quality of the living environment. Comparison with older housing estates shows that green neighbourhood surfaces designed thirty or more years ago are much better. Despite changed social conditions, parameters defining high quality living environments haven’t changed. Therefore at all levels of urban planning and aligned to adequate spatial policies it is necessary to strive for more spacious housing estates with larger shares of suitably designed green surfaces.
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Wang, Lei; Li, Jing; Yang, Fang; E, Yaoyao; Raza, Waseem; Huang, Qiwei; Shen, Qirong
2017-02-01
and Rhodospirillaceae, were found to be the significantly increased by the BOF addition and the genus Lysobacter may identify members of this group effective in biological control-based plant disease management and the members of family Rhodospirillaceae had an important role in fixing molecular nitrogen. These results strengthen the understanding of responses to the BOF and possible interactions within bacterial communities in soil that can be associated with disease suppression and the accumulation of carbon and nitrogen. The increase of apple yields after the application of BOF might be attributed to the fact that the application of BOF increased SOM, and soil total nitrogen, and changed the bacterial community by enriching Rhodospirillaceae, Alphaprotreobateria, and Proteobacteria.
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New nonbinary quantum codes with larger distance constructed from BCH codes over 𝔽q2
Xu, Gen; Li, Ruihu; Fu, Qiang; Ma, Yuena; Guo, Luobin
2017-03-01
This paper concentrates on construction of new nonbinary quantum error-correcting codes (QECCs) from three classes of narrow-sense imprimitive BCH codes over finite field 𝔽q2 (q ≥ 3 is an odd prime power). By a careful analysis on properties of cyclotomic cosets in defining set T of these BCH codes, the improved maximal designed distance of these narrow-sense imprimitive Hermitian dual-containing BCH codes is determined to be much larger than the result given according to Aly et al. [S. A. Aly, A. Klappenecker and P. K. Sarvepalli, IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory 53, 1183 (2007)] for each different code length. Thus families of new nonbinary QECCs are constructed, and the newly obtained QECCs have larger distance than those in previous literature.
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HIPAA is larger and more complex than Y2K.
Tempesco, J W
2000-07-01
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is a larger and more complex problem than Y2K ever was. According to the author, the costs associated with a project of such unending scope and in support of intrusion into both information and operational systems of every health care transaction will be incalculable. Some estimate that the administrative simplification policies implemented through HIPAA will save billions of dollars annually, but it remains to be seen whether the savings will outweigh implementation and ongoing expenses associated with systemwide application of the regulations. This article addresses the rules established for electronic data interchange, data set standards for diagnostic and procedure codes, unique identifiers, coordination of benefits, privacy of individual health care information, electronic signatures, and security requirements.
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Efficiency and Reliability of Laparoscopic Partial Nephrectomy for Renal Tumors Larger than 4 cm
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Faruk Özgör
2015-03-01
Full Text Available Aim: To evaluate safety and efficiency of laparoscopic partial nephrectomy for renal tumors larger than 4 cm. Methods: We retrospectivelly evaluated the medical records of 65 patients who underwent laparascopic partial nephrectomy between May 2009 and June 2013 in our clinic. The patients were divided into two groups according to tumor size. Patients with a tumor 4 cm were included in group 1 (n=45 and group 2 (n=20, respectively. Demographic, perioperative and postoperative parameters were compared between the groups. Histopathological examination and surgical margin status were also evaluated. Results: The mean age of the patients was 59.2±10.9 (range: 26- 81 years. The mean tumor size and the mean RENAL nephrometry score were significantly higher in group 2 than in group 1. The mean operation time and warm ischemia time were similar between groups but estimated blood loss and transfusion requirement were significantly higher in group 2. Convertion to open surgery was seen two patients in group 2 and one patient in group 1. Only one patient underwent radical nephrectomy for uncontrolled bleeding in group 2. There was no difference in preoperative and 3-month postoperative serum creatinine levels between the groups. The incidence of positive surgical margin was 0% and 5% in group 1 and group 2, respectively. Conclusion: Laparoscopic partial nephrectomy for renal tumors is an effective and feasible procedure with acceptable oncologic results. However, tranfusion rate and requiremet of pelvicaliceal system repair were more common in patients with tumor >4 cm. (The Medical Bulletin of Haseki 2015; 53:30-5
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Transabdominal cerclage: the significance of dual pathology and increased preterm delivery.
Farquharson, Roy G; Topping, Joanne; Quenby, Siobhan M
2005-10-01
Transabdominal cerclage is a recognised treatment for cervical weakness with a history of recurrent mid-trimester loss and a failed elective vaginal suture. The emergence of dual pathology, such as antiphospholipid syndrome and bacterial vaginosis, is associated with an increased risk of preterm delivery (RR 2.34, 95% CI 1.15-5.8). The first 40 cases are described where strict adherence to an investigation protocol and consistent treatment plan has been implemented.
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Larger Neural Responses Produce BOLD Signals That Begin Earlier in Time
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Serena eThompson
2014-06-01
Full Text Available Functional MRI analyses commonly rely on the assumption that the temporal dynamics of hemodynamic response functions (HRFs are independent of the amplitude of the neural signals that give rise to them. The validity of this assumption is particularly important for techniques that use fMRI to resolve sub-second timing distinctions between responses, in order to make inferences about the ordering of neural processes. Whether or not the detailed shape of the HRF is independent of neural response amplitude remains an open question, however. We performed experiments in which we measured responses in primary visual cortex (V1 to large, contrast-reversing checkerboards at a range of contrast levels, which should produce varying amounts of neural activity. Ten subjects (ages 22-52 were studied in each of two experiments using 3 Tesla scanners. We used rapid, 250 msec, temporal sampling (repetition time, or TR and both short and long inter-stimulus interval (ISI stimulus presentations. We tested for a systematic relationship between the onset of the HRF and its amplitude across conditions, and found a strong negative correlation between the two measures when stimuli were separated in time (long- and medium-ISI experiments, but not the short-ISI experiment. Thus, stimuli that produce larger neural responses, as indexed by HRF amplitude, also produced HRFs with shorter onsets. The relationship between amplitude and latency was strongest in voxels with lowest mean-normalized variance (i.e., parenchymal voxels. The onset differences observed in the longer-ISI experiments are likely attributable to mechanisms of neurovascular coupling, since they are substantially larger than reported differences in the onset of action potentials in V1 as a function of response amplitude.
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Impact of Alternative Inputs and Grooming Methods on Large-R Jet Reconstruction in ATLAS
The ATLAS collaboration
2017-01-01
During Run 1 of the LHC, the optimal reconstruction algorithm for large-$R$ jets in ATLAS, characterized in terms of the ability to discriminate signal from background and robust reconstruction in the presence of pileup, was found to be anti-$k_{t}$ jets with a radius parameter of 1.0, formed from locally calibrated topological calorimeter cell clusters and groomed with the trimming algorithm to remove contributions from pileup and underlying event. Since that time, much theoretical, phenomenological, and experimental work has been performed to improve both the reconstruction of the jet inputs as well as the grooming techniques applied to reconstructed jets. In this work, an inclusive survey of both pileup mitigation algorithms applied to calorimeter cell clusters and grooming algorithms is done to study their pileup stability and ability to identify hadronically decaying W bosons within the ATLAS experiment. It is found that compared to the conventional reconstruction algorithm of large-$R$ trimmed jets form...
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Magnetic resonance imaging detects significant sex differences in human myocardial strain
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Reynolds Lina M
2011-08-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background The pathophysiology responsible for the significant outcome disparities between men and women with cardiac disease is largely unknown. Further investigation into basic cardiac physiological differences between the sexes is needed. This study utilized magnetic resonance imaging (MRI-based multiparametric strain analysis to search for sex-based differences in regional myocardial contractile function. Methods End-systolic strain (circumferential, longitudinal, and radial was interpolated from MRI-based radiofrequency tissue tagging grid point displacements in each of 60 normal adult volunteers (32 females. Results The average global left ventricular (LV strain among normal female volunteers (n = 32 was significantly larger in absolute value (functionally better than in normal male volunteers (n = 28 in both the circumferential direction (Male/Female = -0.19 ± 0.02 vs. -0.21 ± 0.02; p = 0.025 and longitudinal direction (Male/Female = -0.14 ± 0.03 vs. -0.16 ± 0.02; p = 0.007. Conclusions The finding of significantly larger circumferential and longitudinal LV strain among normal female volunteers suggests that baseline contractile differences between the sexes may contribute to the well-recognized divergence in cardiovascular disease outcomes. Further work is needed in order to determine the pathologic changes that occur in LV strain between women and men with the onset of cardiovascular disease.
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Happiness increases distraction by auditory deviant stimuli.
Pacheco-Unguetti, Antonia Pilar; Parmentier, Fabrice B R
2016-08-01
Rare and unexpected changes (deviants) in an otherwise repeated stream of task-irrelevant auditory distractors (standards) capture attention and impair behavioural performance in an ongoing visual task. Recent evidence indicates that this effect is increased by sadness in a task involving neutral stimuli. We tested the hypothesis that such effect may not be limited to negative emotions but reflect a general depletion of attentional resources by examining whether a positive emotion (happiness) would increase deviance distraction too. Prior to performing an auditory-visual oddball task, happiness or a neutral mood was induced in participants by means of the exposure to music and the recollection of an autobiographical event. Results from the oddball task showed significantly larger deviance distraction following the induction of happiness. Interestingly, the small amount of distraction typically observed on the standard trial following a deviant trial (post-deviance distraction) was not increased by happiness. We speculate that happiness might interfere with the disengagement of attention from the deviant sound back towards the target stimulus (through the depletion of cognitive resources and/or mind wandering) but help subsequent cognitive control to recover from distraction. © 2015 The British Psychological Society.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
O.I. Aisuodionoe-Shadrach
2013-03-01
Conclusions: The sandwich combination of TURP and TUVP for the surgical treatment of BPH with volume larger than 40cc had satisfactory patient safety profile and resulted in significant improvement in IPSS, Qmax and PVR on follow-up at 3 months.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Hsieh, Yi-Chen; Lien, Li-Ming; Chung, Wen-Ting; Hsieh, Fang-I; Hsieh, Pei-Fan; Wu, Meei-Maan; Tseng, Hung-Pin; Chiou, Hung-Yi; Chen, Chien-Jen
2011-01-01
Individual susceptibility to arsenic-induced carotid atherosclerosis might be associated with genetic variations in arsenic metabolism. The purpose of this study is to explore the interaction effect on risk of carotid atherosclerosis between arsenic exposure and risk genotypes of purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP), arsenic (+3) methyltransferase (As3MT), and glutathione S-transferase omega 1 (GSTO1) and omega 2 (GSTO2). A community-based case-control study was conducted in northeastern Taiwan to investigate the arsenic metabolic-related genetic susceptibility to carotid atherosclerosis. In total, 863 subjects, who had been genotyped and for whom the severity of carotid atherosclerosis had been determined, were included in the present study. Individual well water was collected and arsenic concentration determined using hydride generation combined with flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The result showed that a significant dose-response trend (P=0.04) of carotid atherosclerosis risk associated with increasing arsenic concentration. Non-significant association between genetic polymorphisms of PNP Gly51Ser, Pro57Pro, As3MT Met287Thr, GSTO1 Ala140Asp, and GSTO2 A-183G and the risk for development of carotid atherosclerosis were observed. However, the significant interaction effect on carotid atherosclerosis risk was found for arsenic exposure (>50 μg/l) and the haplotypes of PNP (p=0.0115). A marked elevated risk of carotid atherosclerosis was observed in subjects with arsenic exposure of >50 μg/l in drinking water and those who carried the PNP A-T haplotype and at least either of the As3MT risk polymorphism or GSTO risk haplotypes (OR, 6.43; 95% CI, 1.79-23.19). In conclusion, arsenic metabolic genes, PNP, As3MT, and GSTO, may exacerbate the formation of atherosclerosis in individuals with high levels of arsenic concentration in well water (>50 μg/l). - Highlights: →Arsenic metabolic genes might be associated with carotid atherosclerosis. → A case
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Hsieh, Yi-Chen [School of Public Health, College of Public Health and Nutrition, Taipei Medical University, 250 Wusing St., Taipei 11031, Taiwan (China); Lien, Li-Ming [Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan (China); School of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan (China); Department of Neurology, Shin Kong WHS Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan (China); Chung, Wen-Ting [Department of Neurology, Wanfang Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan (China); Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan (China); Hsieh, Fang-I; Hsieh, Pei-Fan [School of Public Health, College of Public Health and Nutrition, Taipei Medical University, 250 Wusing St., Taipei 11031, Taiwan (China); Wu, Meei-Maan [School of Public Health, College of Public Health and Nutrition, Taipei Medical University, 250 Wusing St., Taipei 11031, Taiwan (China); Graduate Institute of Basic Medicine, College of Medicine, Fu-Jen Catholic University, Taipei, Taiwan (China); Tseng, Hung-Pin [Department of Neurology, Lotung Poh-Ai Hospital, I-Lan, Taiwan (China); Chiou, Hung-Yi, E-mail: hychiou@tmu.edu.tw [School of Public Health, College of Public Health and Nutrition, Taipei Medical University, 250 Wusing St., Taipei 11031, Taiwan (China); Chen, Chien-Jen [Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan (China)
2011-08-15
Individual susceptibility to arsenic-induced carotid atherosclerosis might be associated with genetic variations in arsenic metabolism. The purpose of this study is to explore the interaction effect on risk of carotid atherosclerosis between arsenic exposure and risk genotypes of purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP), arsenic (+3) methyltransferase (As3MT), and glutathione S-transferase omega 1 (GSTO1) and omega 2 (GSTO2). A community-based case-control study was conducted in northeastern Taiwan to investigate the arsenic metabolic-related genetic susceptibility to carotid atherosclerosis. In total, 863 subjects, who had been genotyped and for whom the severity of carotid atherosclerosis had been determined, were included in the present study. Individual well water was collected and arsenic concentration determined using hydride generation combined with flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The result showed that a significant dose-response trend (P=0.04) of carotid atherosclerosis risk associated with increasing arsenic concentration. Non-significant association between genetic polymorphisms of PNP Gly51Ser, Pro57Pro, As3MT Met287Thr, GSTO1 Ala140Asp, and GSTO2 A-183G and the risk for development of carotid atherosclerosis were observed. However, the significant interaction effect on carotid atherosclerosis risk was found for arsenic exposure (>50 {mu}g/l) and the haplotypes of PNP (p=0.0115). A marked elevated risk of carotid atherosclerosis was observed in subjects with arsenic exposure of >50 {mu}g/l in drinking water and those who carried the PNP A-T haplotype and at least either of the As3MT risk polymorphism or GSTO risk haplotypes (OR, 6.43; 95% CI, 1.79-23.19). In conclusion, arsenic metabolic genes, PNP, As3MT, and GSTO, may exacerbate the formation of atherosclerosis in individuals with high levels of arsenic concentration in well water (>50 {mu}g/l). - Highlights: {yields}Arsenic metabolic genes might be associated with carotid atherosclerosis. {yields
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Examples of fatigue lifetime and reliability evaluation of larger wind turbine components
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Tarp-Johansen, N.J.
2003-01-01
This report is one out of several that constitute the final report on the ELSAM funded PSO project “Vindmøllekomponenters udmattelsesstyrke og levetid”, project no. 2079, which regards the lifetime distribution of larger wind turbine components in ageneric turbine that has real life dimensions....... Though it was the initial intention of the project to consider only the distribution of lifetimes the work reported in this document provides also calculations of reliabilities and partial load safetyfactors under specific assumptions about uncertainty sources, as reliabilities are considered...
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Burdigalian turbid water patch reef environment revealed by larger benthic foraminifera
Novak, V.; Renema, W.; Throughflow-project
2012-04-01
Ancient isolated patch reefs outcropping from siliciclastic sediments are a trademark for the Miocene carbonate deposits occurring in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. They develop in transitional shelf sediments deposited between deltaic and deep marine deposits (Allen and Chambers, 1998). The Batu Putih Limestone (Wilson, 2005) and similar outcrops in adjacent areas have been characterized as shallow water carbonates influenced by high siliciclastic input, showing low relief patch reefs in turbid waters. Larger benthic foraminifera (LBF) are excellent markers for biochronology and paleoenvironmental reconstruction. This study aims to reveal age and paleoenvironment of a shallow water carbonate patch reef developed in mixed depositional system by using LBF and microfacies analysis. The studied section is located near Bontang, East Kalimantan, and is approximately 80 m long and 12 m high. It is placed within Miocene sediments in the central part of the Kutai Basin. Patch reef and capping sediments were logged through eight transects along section and divided into nine different lithological units from which samples were collected. Thin sections and isolated specimens of larger benthic foraminifera were analyzed and recognized to species level (where possible) providing age and environmental information. Microfacies analysis of thin sections included carbonate classification (textural scheme of Dunham, 1962) and assemblage composition of LBF, algae and corals relative abundance. Three environmentally indicative groups of LBF were separated based on test morphology, habitat or living relatives (Hallock and Glenn, 1986). Analysed foraminifera assemblage suggests Burdigalian age (Tf1). With use of microfacies analysis nine successive lithological units were grouped into five facies types. Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of LBF fossil assemblage indicate two cycles of possible deepening recorded in the section. Based on high muddy matrix ratio in analyzed thin-sections we
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Kim, Han Jo; Bridwell, Keith H; Lenke, Lawrence G; Park, Moon Soo; Song, Kwang Sup; Piyaskulkaew, Chaiwat; Chuntarapas, Tapanut
2014-04-20
Case control study. To evaluate risk factors in patients in 3 groups: those without proximal junctional kyphosis (PJK) (N), with PJK but not requiring revision (P), and then those with PJK requiring revision surgery (S). It is becoming clear that some patients maintain stable PJK angles, whereas others progress and develop severe PJK necessitating revision surgery. A total of 206 patients at a single institution from 2002 to 2007 with adult scoliosis with 2-year minimum follow-up (average 3.5 yr) were analyzed. Inclusion criteria were age more than 18 years and primary fusions greater than 5 levels from any thoracic upper instrumented vertebra to any lower instrumented vertebrae. Revisions were excluded. Radiographical assessment included Cobb measurements in the coronal/sagittal plane and measurements of the PJK angle at postoperative time points: 1 to 2 months, 2 years, and final follow-up. PJK was defined as an angle greater than 10°. The prevalence of PJK was 34%. The average age in N was 49.9 vs. 51.3 years in P and 60.1 years in S. Sex, body mass index, and smoking status were not significantly different between groups. Fusions extending to the pelvis were 74%, 85%, and 91% of the cases in groups N, P, and S. Instrumentation type was significantly different between groups N and S, with a higher number of upper instrumented vertebra hooks in group N. Radiographical parameters demonstrated a higher postoperative lumbar lordosis and a larger sagittal balance change, with surgery in those with PJK requiring revision surgery. Scoliosis Research Society postoperative pain scores were inferior in group N vs. P and S, and Oswestry Disability Index scores were similar between all groups. Patients with PJK requiring revision were older, had higher postoperative lumbar lordosis, and larger sagittal balance corrections than patients without PJK. Based on these data, it seems as though older patients with large corrections in their lumbar lordosis and sagittal balance
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Felix Simkovic
2016-07-01
Full Text Available For many protein families, the deluge of new sequence information together with new statistical protocols now allow the accurate prediction of contacting residues from sequence information alone. This offers the possibility of more accurate ab initio (non-homology-based structure prediction. Such models can be used in structure solution by molecular replacement (MR where the target fold is novel or is only distantly related to known structures. Here, AMPLE, an MR pipeline that assembles search-model ensembles from ab initio structure predictions (`decoys', is employed to assess the value of contact-assisted ab initio models to the crystallographer. It is demonstrated that evolutionary covariance-derived residue–residue contact predictions improve the quality of ab initio models and, consequently, the success rate of MR using search models derived from them. For targets containing β-structure, decoy quality and MR performance were further improved by the use of a β-strand contact-filtering protocol. Such contact-guided decoys achieved 14 structure solutions from 21 attempted protein targets, compared with nine for simple Rosetta decoys. Previously encountered limitations were superseded in two key respects. Firstly, much larger targets of up to 221 residues in length were solved, which is far larger than the previously benchmarked threshold of 120 residues. Secondly, contact-guided decoys significantly improved success with β-sheet-rich proteins. Overall, the improved performance of contact-guided decoys suggests that MR is now applicable to a significantly wider range of protein targets than were previously tractable, and points to a direct benefit to structural biology from the recent remarkable advances in sequencing.
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Estimating the consequences of significant fracture flow at Yucca Mountain
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Gauthier, J.H.; Wilson, M.L.; Lauffer, F.C.
1992-01-01
In this paper a simple model is proposed for investigating the possibility of significant fracture flow at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The model allows an estimate of the number of flowing fractures at Yucca Mountain based on the size of the fractures and the yearly volume of infiltrating water. Given the number of flowing fractures, the number of waste containers they contact is estimated by a geometric argument. Preliminary results indicate that the larger the flowing fractures, the lower the releases of radionuclides. Also, even with significant fracture flow, releases could be well below the limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency
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Estimating the consequences of significant fracture flow at Yucca Mountain
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Gauthier, J.H.; Wilson, M.L.; Lauffer, F.C.
1991-01-01
A simple model is proposed for investigating the possibility of significant fracture flow at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The model allows an estimate of the number of flowing fractures at Yucca Mountain based on the size of the fractures and the yearly volume of infiltrating water. Given the number of flowing fractures, the number of waste containers they contact is estimated by a geometric argument. Preliminary results indicate that the larger the flowing fractures, the lower the releases of radionuclides. Also, even with significant fracture flow, releases could be well below the limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency
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Koppes, Abigail N.; Seggio, Angela M.; Thompson, Deanna M.
2011-08-01
Axonal extension is influenced by a variety of external guidance cues; therefore, the development and optimization of a multi-faceted approach is probably necessary to address the intricacy of functional regeneration following nerve injury. In this study, primary dissociated neonatal rat dorsal root ganglia neurons and Schwann cells were examined in response to an 8 h dc electrical stimulation (0-100 mV mm-1). Stimulated samples were then fixed immediately, immunostained, imaged and analyzed to determine Schwann cell orientation and characterize neurite outgrowth relative to electric field strength and direction. Results indicate that Schwann cells are viable following electrical stimulation with 10-100 mV mm-1, and retain a normal morphology relative to unstimulated cells; however, no directional bias is observed. Neurite outgrowth was significantly enhanced by twofold following exposure to either a 50 mV mm-1 electric field (EF) or co-culture with unstimulated Schwann cells by comparison to neurons cultured alone. Neurite outgrowth was further increased in the presence of simultaneously applied cues (Schwann cells + 50 mV mm-1 dc EF), exhibiting a 3.2-fold increase over unstimulated control neurons, and a 1.2-fold increase over either neurons cultured with unstimulated Schwann cells or the electrical stimulus alone. These results indicate that dc electric stimulation in combination with Schwann cells may provide synergistic guidance cues for improved axonal growth relevant to nerve injuries in the peripheral nervous system.
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Corruption Significantly Increases the Capital Cost of Power Plants in Developing Contexts
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Kumar Biswajit Debnath
2018-03-01
Full Text Available Emerging economies with rapidly growing population and energy demand, own some of the most expensive power plants in the world. We hypothesized that corruption has a relationship with the capital cost of power plants in developing countries such as Bangladesh. For this study, we analyzed the capital cost of 61 operational and planned power plants in Bangladesh. Initial comparison study revealed that the mean capital cost of a power plant in Bangladesh is twice than that of the global average. Then, the statistical analysis revealed a significant correlation between corruption and the cost of power plants, indicating that higher corruption leads to greater capital cost. The high up-front cost can be a significant burden on the economy, at present and in the future, as most are financed through international loans with extended repayment terms. There is, therefore, an urgent need for the review of the procurement and due diligence process of establishing power plants, and for the implementation of a more transparent system to mitigate adverse effects of corruption on megaprojects.
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Significant interarm blood pressure difference predicts cardiovascular risk in hypertensive patients
Kim, Su-A; Kim, Jang Young; Park, Jeong Bae
2016-01-01
Abstract There has been a rising interest in interarm blood pressure difference (IAD), due to its relationship with peripheral arterial disease and its possible relationship with cardiovascular disease. This study aimed to characterize hypertensive patients with a significant IAD in relation to cardiovascular risk. A total of 3699 patients (mean age, 61 ± 11 years) were prospectively enrolled in the study. Blood pressure (BP) was measured simultaneously in both arms 3 times using an automated cuff-oscillometric device. IAD was defined as the absolute difference in averaged BPs between the left and right arm, and an IAD ≥ 10 mm Hg was considered to be significant. The Framingham risk score was used to calculate the 10-year cardiovascular risk. The mean systolic IAD (sIAD) was 4.3 ± 4.1 mm Hg, and 285 (7.7%) patients showed significant sIAD. Patients with significant sIAD showed larger body mass index (P < 0.001), greater systolic BP (P = 0.050), more coronary artery disease (relative risk = 1.356, P = 0.034), and more cerebrovascular disease (relative risk = 1.521, P = 0.072). The mean 10-year cardiovascular risk was 9.3 ± 7.7%. By multiple regression, sIAD was significantly but weakly correlated with the 10-year cardiovascular risk (β = 0.135, P = 0.008). Patients with significant sIAD showed a higher prevalence of coronary artery disease, as well as an increase in 10-year cardiovascular risk. Therefore, accurate measurements of sIAD may serve as a simple and cost-effective tool for predicting cardiovascular risk in clinical settings. PMID:27310982
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Significant enhancement by biochar of caproate production via chain elongation.
Liu, Yuhao; He, Pinjing; Shao, Liming; Zhang, Hua; Lü, Fan
2017-08-01
In this study, biochar was introduced into a chain elongation system to enhance the bioproduction of caproate and caprylate. The concentration of caproate increased to 21.1 g/L upon the addition of biochar, which is the highest level of caproate reported for such a system to date when ethanol was used as electron donor. The addition of biochar created a tougher system with more stable microorganism community structure for chain elongation, in which no obvious inhibition by products or substrates was observed, moreover, the lag phase was reduced 2.3-fold compared to the system without biochar. These reinforcement effect of biochar are attributed to the enhanced conductivity due to the significant enrichment of functional microorganisms via the microbial network surrounding smaller biochar particles, and via the adsorption on the rough surfaces or pores of larger particles, which facilitated electron transfer. Higher amounts of extracellular polymer substances and higher conductivity induced by biochar could contribute to the reinforcement effect in chain elongation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Chiang, Yi-An; Kinoshita, Masato; Maekawa, Shun; Kulkarni, Amod; Lo, Chu-Fang; Yoshiura, Yasutoshi; Wang, Han-Ching; Aoki, Takashi
2016-01-01
Although myostatin, a suppressor of skeletal muscle development and growth, has been well studied in mammals, its function in fish remains unclear. In this study, we used a popular genome editing tool with high efficiency and target specificity (TALENs; transcription activator-like effector nucleases) to mutate the genome sequence of myostatin (MSTN) in medaka (Oryzias latipes). After the TALEN pair targeting OlMyostatin was injected into fertilized medaka eggs, mutant G0 fish carrying different TALENs-induced frameshifts in the OlMSTN coding sequence were mated together in order to transmit the mutant sequences to the F1 generation. Two F1 mutants with frameshifted myostatin alleles were then mated to produce the F2 generation, and these F2 OlMSTN null (MSTN(-/-)) medaka were evaluated for growth performance. The F2 fish showed significantly increased body length and weight compared to the wild type fish at the juvenile and post-juvenile stages. At the post-juvenile stage, the average body weight of the MSTN(-/-) medaka was ∼25% greater than the wild type. However, we also found that when the F3 generation were challenged with red spotted grouper nervous necrosis virus (RGNNV), the expression levels of the interferon-stimulated genes were lower than in the wild type, and the virus copy number was maintained at a high level. We therefore conclude that although the MSTN(-/-) medaka had a larger phenotype, their immune system appeared to be at least partially suppressed or undeveloped. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Techniques for increasing the reliability of accelerator control system electronics
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Utterback, J.
1993-09-01
As the physical size of modern accelerators becomes larger and larger, the number of required control system circuit boards increases, and the probability of one of those circuit boards failing while in service also increases. In order to do physics, the experimenters need the accelerator to provide beam reliably with as little down time as possible. With the advent of colliding beams physics, reliability becomes even more important due to the fact that a control system failure can cause the loss of painstakingly produced antiprotons. These facts prove the importance of keeping reliability in mind when designing and maintaining accelerator control system electronics
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Using a self-control training procedure to increase appropriate behavior.
Dixon, M R; Hayes, L J; Binder, L M; Manthey, S; Sigman, C; Zdanowski, D M
1998-01-01
The present study evaluated a technique for teaching self-control and increasing desirable behaviors among adults with developmental disabilities. Results showed that when participants were initially given the choice between an immediate smaller reinforcer and a larger delayed reinforcer, all participants repeatedly chose the smaller reinforcer. Concurrent fixed-duration/progressive-duration reinforcement schedules then were introduced in which initially both the smaller and larger reinforcer...
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Magnetic nanoparticles formed in glasses co-doped with iron and larger radius elements
Edelman , Irina; Ivanova , Oxana; Ivantsov , Ruslan; Velikanov , D.; Zabluda , V.; Zubavichus , Y.; Veligzhanin , A.; Zaikovskiy , V.; Stepanov , S.; Artemenko , Alla; Curély , Jacques; Kliava , Janis
2012-01-01
International audience; A new type of nanoparticle-containing glasses based on borate glasses co-doped with low contents of iron and larger radius elements, Dy, Tb, Gd, Ho, Er, Y, and Bi, is studied. Heat treatment of these glasses results in formation of magnetic nanoparticles, radically changing their physical properties. Transmission electron microscopy and synchrotron radiation-based techniques: x-ray diffraction, extended x-ray absorption fine structure, x-ray absorption near-edge struct...
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Clinical significance of measurement of hepatic volume by computed tomography
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Sato, Hiroyuki; Matsuda, Yoshiro; Takada, Akira
1984-01-01
Hepatic volumes were measured by computed tomography (CT) in 91 patients with chronic liver diseases. Mean hepatic volume in alcoholic liver disease was significantly larger than that in non-alcoholic liver disease. Hepatic volumes in the majority of decompensated liver cirrhosis were significantly smaller than those of compensated liver cirrhosis. In liver cirrhosis, significant correlations between hepatic volume and various hepatic tests which reflect the total functioning hepatic cell masses were found. Combinations of hepatic volume with ICG maximum removal rate and with serum cholinesterase activity were most useful for the assessment of prognosis in liver cirrhosis. These results indicated that estimation of hepatic volume by CT is useful for analysis of pathophysiology and prognosis of chronic liver diseases, and for diagnosis of alcoholic liver diseases. (author)
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Ventilation efficiency in a low-energy dwelling setting – a parameter study for larger rooms
Dijkstra, D.; Loomans, M.G.L.C.; Hensen, J.L.M.; Cremers, B.E. (Bart)
2016-01-01
Mechanical balanced ventilation systems typically is applied in new and renovated dwellings in The Netherlands. The application assumes an adequate ventilation efficiency but this has not been confirmed for larger rooms (e.g. living rooms with kitchen attached). This study investigates ventilation
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Sunj, M; Canic, T; Baldani, D P; Tandara, M; Jeroncic, A; Palada, I
2013-09-01
Does unilateral volume-adjusted laparoscopic diathermy increase the chances of ovulation in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)? Although unilateral laparoscopic ovarian drilling (ULOD) using adjusted thermal doses was more efficient than bilateral laparoscopic ovarian drilling (BLOD) using fixed doses, the chances of ovulation were improved in patients irrespective of the technique used. The adjustment of the thermal dose to ovarian volume in BLOD increases ovulation and pregnancy rates compared with fixed-dose treatment, but BLOD causes the formation of adhesions, particularly on the left ovary, and increases the risk of damage to ovarian tissue. In contrast, ULOD with a fixed thermal dose minimizes the risk of ovarian tissue damage, and can increase the activity in both right and left ovaries, although this varies in humans and in other species. This prospective, longitudinal, study, between September 2009 and January 2013, included 96 infertile women with PCOS who were unresponsive to clomiphene citrate treatment and had underwent either ULOD or BLOD. After surgery, the groups were followed up for 6 months to assess ovulatory response. Patients were assigned to two groups; one group underwent laparoscopic ovarian drilling of the right ovary alone, while both ovaries were treated in the second group. The ULOD group (n = 49) received thermal doses adjusted to the volume of the right ovary (60 J/cm³). The BLOD group (n = 47) received fixed doses of 600 J per ovary, regardless of its volume. The two treatment groups were matched by the number of participants, age and baseline parameters. The ovulation rate during the first menstrual cycle after LOD was significantly higher in the ULOD group than in the BLOD group [73 versus 49%; absolute risk reduction (ARR), -0.25; 95% confidence interval (CI), -0.44 to -0.03; P = 0.014]. Treatment with ULOD on the right ovary significantly increased the chances of ovulation in patients with a larger right ovary compared
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Downey, Luke A; Sands, Helen; Jones, Lewis; Clow, Angela; Evans, Phil; Stalder, Tobias; Parrott, Andrew C
2015-05-01
The goals of this study were to measure the neurocognitive performance of recent users of recreational Ecstasy and investigate whether it was associated with the stress hormone cortisol. The 101 participants included 27 recent light users of Ecstasy (one to four times in the last 3 months), 23 recent heavier Ecstasy users (five or more times) and 51 non-users. Rivermead paragraph recall provided an objective measure for immediate and delayed recall. The prospective and retrospective memory questionnaire provided a subjective index of memory deficits. Cortisol levels were taken from near-scalp 3-month hair samples. Cortisol was significantly raised in recent heavy Ecstasy users compared with controls, whereas hair cortisol in light Ecstasy users was not raised. Both Ecstasy groups were significantly impaired on the Rivermead delayed word recall, and both groups reported significantly more retrospective and prospective memory problems. Stepwise regression confirmed that lifetime Ecstasy predicted the extent of these memory deficits. Recreational Ecstasy is associated with increased levels of the bio-energetic stress hormone cortisol and significant memory impairments. No significant relationship between cortisol and the cognitive deficits was observed. Ecstasy users did display evidence of a metacognitive deficit, with the strength of the correlations between objective and subjective memory performances being significantly lower in the Ecstasy users. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Sinaki, Mehrsheed; Brey, Robert H; Hughes, Christine A; Larson, Dirk R; Kaufman, Kenton R
2005-08-01
This controlled trial was designed to investigate the influence of osteoporosis-related kyphosis (O-K) on falls. Twelve community-dwelling women with O-K (Cobb angle, 50-65 degrees measured from spine radiographs) and 13 healthy women serving as controls were enrolled. Mean age of the O-K group was 76 years (+/-5.1), height 158 cm (+/-5), and weight 61 kg (+/-7.9), and mean age of the control group was 71 years (+/-4.6), height 161 cm (+/-3.8), and weight 66 kg (+/-11.7). Quantitative isometric strength data were collected. Gait was monitored during unobstructed level walking and during stepping over an obstacle of four different heights randomly assigned (2.5%, 5%, 10%, and 15% of the subject's height). Balance was objectively assessed with computerized dynamic posturography consisting of the sensory organization test. Back extensor strength, grip strength, and all lower extremity muscle groups were significantly weaker in the O-K group than the control group (P controls for all conditions of unobstructed and obstructed level walking. Obstacle height had a significant effect on all center-of-mass variables. The O-K subjects had significantly greater balance abnormalities on computerized dynamic posturography than the control group (P =0.002). Data show that thoracic hyperkyphosis on a background of reduced muscle strength plays an important role in increasing body sway, gait unsteadiness, and risk of falls in osteoporosis.
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The future of wind is growing larger
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Hansen, Jesper
1999-01-01
This article highlights the dramatic developments in wind turbines over the last 20 years, and notes the increase in efficiency, reduced noise emissions, improvements in manufacturing , and refined resource assessment tools. A summary of the wind turbine market is tabulated, and the increasing size of wind turbines, the assembly of the wind turbines, and current designs are discussed. (UK)
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Furtado, Sunil V; Saikiran, Narayanam A; Thakar, Sumit; Dadlani, Ravi; Mohan, Dilip; Aryan, Saritha; Hegde, Alangar S
2014-07-01
Aneurysms of the anterior circulation larger than 2cm have a complex relationship to the anterior skull base, requiring a multi-modality management approach. This retrospective study of 54 patients with such aneurysms who underwent clipping between 2001 and 2012 analyzes clinical and surgical data, aneurysm characteristics and correlates them with respect to the Glasgow outcome score at follow-up and immediate post-operative clinical status. Patients with an outcome score of 5 or 4 were categorized as "good", while those with score 3-1 were "poor". Fisher's exact test and paired T-test (p<0.5) were used to test statistical significance for discrete and continuous variables respectively. 44 (81.4%) patients had a good outcome. Patients with non-ophthalmic/paraclinoid aneurysms had significantly lower incidence of adverse intra-operative events (p=0.035). Patients older than 50 years (p=0.045), with adverse intra-operative events (p=0.015) and post-operative infarction (p<0.001) had a poor outcome compared to those younger than 50 years age and those without adverse intra-operative events or infarctions. The grouped age variable had maximum influence on patient outcome. Location and size of aneurysm did not have an overall impact on surgical outcome. There were 4 mortalities. Primary clipping of proximal non-cavernous aneurysms on the internal carotid artery is associated with adverse intra-operative events. A multi-modality treatment approach in these aneurysms should be individualized, more so in patients older than 50 years. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Durkin, Sarah; Brennan, Emily; Coomber, Kerri; Zacher, Meghan; Scollo, Michelle; Wakefield, Melanie
2015-04-01
Plain packaging (PP) with larger graphic health warnings (GHWs) was implemented in Australia in late 2012. This study examined effects of these packaging changes on short-term changes in quitting-related cognitions and behaviours. We used a series of cohorts of Australian adult cigarette smokers originally sourced from a nationally representative cross-sectional tracking survey, followed up approximately 1 month after their baseline interview (n(weighted)=5441). Logistic regression analyses compared changes in seven quitting-related outcomes over this 1-month follow-up period for the cohorts surveyed before PP, over the period of transition to PP, and during the first year of PP, adjusting for baseline levels of the outcome and covariates. Compared to the referent group of smokers who completed their follow-up survey pre-PP, those who were followed-up in the early transition period showed significantly greater increases in rates of stopping themselves from smoking (OR=1.51, 95% CI (1.08 to 2.10)) and higher quit attempt rates (OR=1.43, 95% CI (1.00 to 2.03)), those followed-up in the late transition period showed greater increases in intentions to quit (OR=1.42, 95% CI (1.06 to 1.92)) and pack concealment (OR=1.55, 95% CI (1.05 to 2.31)), and those followed-up in the first year of PP showed higher levels of pack concealment (OR=1.65, 95% CI (1.01 to 2.72)), more premature stubbing out of cigarettes (OR=1.55, 95% CI (1.01 to 2.36)), and higher quit attempt rates (OR=1.52, 95% CI (1.01 to 2.30)). These findings provide some of the strongest evidence to date that implementation of PP with larger GHWs was associated with increased rates of quitting cognitions, microindicators of concern and quit attempts among adult cigarette smokers. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Talukdar, Hrishikesh [Physical Sciences Division, Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology, Vigyan Path, Paschim Boragaon, Garchuk, Guwahati 781035, Assam (India); Kundu, Sarathi, E-mail: sarathi.kundu@gmail.com [Physical Sciences Division, Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology, Vigyan Path, Paschim Boragaon, Garchuk, Guwahati 781035, Assam (India); Basu, Saibal [Solid State Physics Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai 400 085 (India)
2016-09-30
Graphical abstract: Thin films of protein-polyelectrolyte complexes show larger red-shift in optical emission. - Highlights: • Globular proteins (lysozyme and BSA) and polyelectrolyte (sodium polyacrylic acid) are used to form protein-polyelectrolyte complexes (PPC). • Larger red-shift in optical emission is obtained from the thin films of PPC. • Red-shift is not obtained from the solution of PPC and pure protein thin films. • Larger red-shift from PPC films is due to the energy dissipation as non-radiative form through interactions with nearby atoms. • Red-shift in optical emission is independent on the thickness of the PPC film. - Abstract: Globular proteins (lysozyme and BSA) and polyelectrolyte (sodium polyacrylic acid) are used to form protein-polyelectrolyte complexes (PPC). Out-of-plane structures of ≈30–60 nm thick PPC films and their surface morphologies have been studied by using X-ray reflectivity and atomic force microscopy, whereas optical behaviors of PPC and protein conformations have been studied by using UV–vis, photoluminescence and FTIR spectroscopy respectively. Our study reveals that thin films of PPC show a larger red-shift of 23 and 16 nm in the optical emissions in comparison to that of pure protein whereas bulk PPC show a small blue-shift of ≈3 nm. A small amount of peak-shift is found to occur due to the heat treatment or concentration variation of the polyelectrolyte/protein in bulk solution but cannot produce such film thickness independent larger red-shift. Position of the emission peak remains nearly unchanged with the film thickness. Mechanism for such larger red-shift has been proposed.
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Fouling in your own nest: vessel noise increases biofouling.
Stanley, Jenni A; Wilkens, Serena L; Jeffs, Andrew G
2014-01-01
Globally billions of dollars are spent each year on attempting to reduce marine biofouling on commercial vessels, largely because it results in higher fuel costs due to increased hydrodynamic drag. Biofouling has been long assumed to be primarily due to the availability of vacant space on the surface of the hull. Here, it is shown that the addition of the noise emitted through a vessel's hull in port increases the settlement and growth of biofouling organisms within four weeks of clean surfaces being placed in the sea. More than twice as many bryozoans, oysters, calcareous tube worms and barnacles settled and established on surfaces with vessel noise compared to those without. Likewise, individuals from three species grew significantly larger in size in the presence of vessel noise. The results demonstrate that vessel noise in port is promoting biofouling on hulls and that underwater sound plays a much wider ecological role in the marine environment than was previously considered possible.
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Hartwell, Anne M.; Voight, Janet R.; Wheat, C. Geoffrey
2018-05-01
Benthic octopods cluster on bare rock on Dorado Outcrop, a 3000 m deep basalt exposure. The outcrop hosts intermittent discharge of relatively cool (up to 12.3 °C) hydrothermal fluid that carries about half as much oxygen as bottom seawater ( 54 μM vs. 108 μM). We analyzed 231 h of video footage and still images taken by sub-sea vehicles in 2013 and 2014 that documented the clustered octopods, members of the poorly-known genus Muusoctopus. The largest cluster (102 octopods) occurred in a 19 m2 area of fluid discharge, where the basalt was sediment-free; individual octopods were also seen across the outcrop. The clustered octopods appeared to be brooding eggs and a total of 11 egg clutches were confirmed. None of the 186 eggs closely examined showed embryonic development. The intermittent fluid discharge may clear the basalt of sediment and attract gravid octopods which then spawn. However, the increased temperature and limited oxygen of the discharging fluids may threaten the octopods' survival. Octopods in/near areas of discharging fluid had significantly higher estimated respiration rates (3.1-9.8 contractions/min) than did octopods away from discharging fluid (0.8-6.0 contractions/min). Warm fluids likely increase the octopods' metabolic rate and thus their oxygen demand but provide only limited oxygen. The resultant physiological stress is hypothesized to eventually kill eggs near fluid discharge. We hypothesize, because these eggs do not survive, the population is sustained by a larger pool of undetectable females that brood their eggs inside cool conduits of this and perhaps other, unstudied basalt outcrops.
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Mathew, Jose V., E-mail: josev.mathew@gmail.com; Rao, S.V.L.S.; Krishnagopal, S.; Singh, P.
2013-11-01
The Low Energy High Intensity Proton Accelerator (LEHIPA), being developed at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) will produce a 20 MeV, 30 mA, continuous wave (CW) proton beam. At these low velocities, space-charge forces dominate, and could lead to larger beam sizes and beam halos. Hence in the design of the focusing lattice of the LEHIPA drift tube linac (DTL) using permanent magnet quadrupoles (PMQs), a larger good field region is preferred. Here we study, using the two dimensional (2D) and three dimensional (3D) simulation codes PANDIRA and RADIA, four different types of cylindrical PMQ designs: 16-segment trapezoidal Halbach configuration, bullet-nosed geometry and 8- and 16-segment rectangular geometries. The trapezoidal Halbach geometry is used in a variety of accelerators since it provides very high field gradients in small bores, while the bullet-nosed geometry, which is a combination of the trapezoidal and rectangular designs, is used in some DTLs. This study shows that a larger good field region is possible in the 16-segment rectangular design as compared to the Halbach and bullet-nosed designs, making it more attractive for high-intensity proton linacs. An improvement in good-field region by ∼16% over the Halbach design is obtained in the optimized 16-segment rectangular design, although the field gradient is lower by ∼20%. Tolerance studies show that the rectangular segment PMQ design is substantially less sensitive to the easy axis orientation errors and hence will be a better choice for DTLs. -- Highlights: • An improved permanent magnet quadrupole (PMQ) design with larger good field region is proposed. • We investigate four PMQ designs, including the widely used Halbach and bullet nosed designs. • Analytical calculations are backed by 2D as well as 3D numerical solvers, PANDIRA and RADIA. • The optimized 16 segment rectangular PMQ design is identified to exhibit the largest good field region. • The effect of easy axis orientation
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Mathew, Jose V.; Rao, S.V.L.S.; Krishnagopal, S.; Singh, P.
2013-01-01
The Low Energy High Intensity Proton Accelerator (LEHIPA), being developed at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) will produce a 20 MeV, 30 mA, continuous wave (CW) proton beam. At these low velocities, space-charge forces dominate, and could lead to larger beam sizes and beam halos. Hence in the design of the focusing lattice of the LEHIPA drift tube linac (DTL) using permanent magnet quadrupoles (PMQs), a larger good field region is preferred. Here we study, using the two dimensional (2D) and three dimensional (3D) simulation codes PANDIRA and RADIA, four different types of cylindrical PMQ designs: 16-segment trapezoidal Halbach configuration, bullet-nosed geometry and 8- and 16-segment rectangular geometries. The trapezoidal Halbach geometry is used in a variety of accelerators since it provides very high field gradients in small bores, while the bullet-nosed geometry, which is a combination of the trapezoidal and rectangular designs, is used in some DTLs. This study shows that a larger good field region is possible in the 16-segment rectangular design as compared to the Halbach and bullet-nosed designs, making it more attractive for high-intensity proton linacs. An improvement in good-field region by ∼16% over the Halbach design is obtained in the optimized 16-segment rectangular design, although the field gradient is lower by ∼20%. Tolerance studies show that the rectangular segment PMQ design is substantially less sensitive to the easy axis orientation errors and hence will be a better choice for DTLs. -- Highlights: • An improved permanent magnet quadrupole (PMQ) design with larger good field region is proposed. • We investigate four PMQ designs, including the widely used Halbach and bullet nosed designs. • Analytical calculations are backed by 2D as well as 3D numerical solvers, PANDIRA and RADIA. • The optimized 16 segment rectangular PMQ design is identified to exhibit the largest good field region. • The effect of easy axis orientation
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Genome-wide identification of significant aberrations in cancer genome.
Yuan, Xiguo; Yu, Guoqiang; Hou, Xuchu; Shih, Ie-Ming; Clarke, Robert; Zhang, Junying; Hoffman, Eric P; Wang, Roger R; Zhang, Zhen; Wang, Yue
2012-07-27
Somatic Copy Number Alterations (CNAs) in human genomes are present in almost all human cancers. Systematic efforts to characterize such structural variants must effectively distinguish significant consensus events from random background aberrations. Here we introduce Significant Aberration in Cancer (SAIC), a new method for characterizing and assessing the statistical significance of recurrent CNA units. Three main features of SAIC include: (1) exploiting the intrinsic correlation among consecutive probes to assign a score to each CNA unit instead of single probes; (2) performing permutations on CNA units that preserve correlations inherent in the copy number data; and (3) iteratively detecting Significant Copy Number Aberrations (SCAs) and estimating an unbiased null distribution by applying an SCA-exclusive permutation scheme. We test and compare the performance of SAIC against four peer methods (GISTIC, STAC, KC-SMART, CMDS) on a large number of simulation datasets. Experimental results show that SAIC outperforms peer methods in terms of larger area under the Receiver Operating Characteristics curve and increased detection power. We then apply SAIC to analyze structural genomic aberrations acquired in four real cancer genome-wide copy number data sets (ovarian cancer, metastatic prostate cancer, lung adenocarcinoma, glioblastoma). When compared with previously reported results, SAIC successfully identifies most SCAs known to be of biological significance and associated with oncogenes (e.g., KRAS, CCNE1, and MYC) or tumor suppressor genes (e.g., CDKN2A/B). Furthermore, SAIC identifies a number of novel SCAs in these copy number data that encompass tumor related genes and may warrant further studies. Supported by a well-grounded theoretical framework, SAIC has been developed and used to identify SCAs in various cancer copy number data sets, providing useful information to study the landscape of cancer genomes. Open-source and platform-independent SAIC software is
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Does Movie Violence Increase Violent Crime?
Gordon Dahl; Stefano DellaVigna
2007-01-01
Laboratory experiments in psychology find that media violence increases aggression in the short run. We analyze whether media violence affects violent crime in the field. We exploit variation in the violence of blockbuster movies from 1995 to 2004, and study the effect on same-day assaults. We find that violent crime decreases on days with larger theater audiences for violent movies. The effect is partly due to voluntary incapacitation: between 6PM and 12AM, a one million increase in the audi...
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The somatically significant dose, SSD, and analog of the GSD, the genetically significant dose
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Beentjes, L.B.; Duijsings, J.H.
1992-01-01
The medical applications of radiation comprise three main fields namely: Diagnostic Radiology, Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine. With the new weighting factors of ICRP (IC91a) the effective dose due to medical applications can be established. I is common to separate the effective dose into the genetic part and the somatic part, SED. In dealing with gonad doses it is important to account for the age of the person at the time of exposure as this will influence the number of children still to be expected from that person. The resulting dose will then be called the genetically significant dose, GSD. In a similar fashion this age factor will be important in considering the chance of tumor induction. The age of patients differs considerably from the average age of the general population. This age difference has to be accounted for if a comparison is to be made with other sources of radiation. This justifies establishing a somatically significant dose, SSD. The reduction of the SED value to a SSD for the medical field due to this phenomenon is .6 for diagnostic radiology, .5 for nuclear medicine and .3 for radiotherapy. Also the extension to more organs at risk, which result in a larger number of weighting factors published by ICRP (IC91a) tends to lower the calculated effective doses. (author)
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Larsson, Helena; Rämgård, Margareta; Bolmsjö, Ingrid
2017-07-10
In order to better understand people in demanding medical situations, an awareness of existential concerns is important. Studies performed over the last twenty years conclude that when dying and death come closer, as in the case with older people who are stricken by infirmity and diseases, existential concerns will come to the fore. However, studies concerning experiences of existential loneliness (EL) are sparse and, in addition, there is no clear definition of EL. EL is described as a complex phenomenon and referred to as a condition of life, an experience, and a process of inner growth. Listening to someone who knows the older person well, as significant others often do, may be one way of learning more about EL. This study is part of a larger research project on EL, the LONE study, where EL is explored through interviews with frail older people, their significant others and health care professionals. The aim of this study was to explore frail older (>75) persons' EL, as interpreted by their significant others. The study is qualitative and based on eighteen narrative interviews with nineteen significant others of older persons. The data was analysed using Hsieh and Shannon's conventional content analysis. According to the interpretation of significant others, the older persons experience EL (1) when they are increasingly limited in body and space, (2) when they are in a process of disconnecting, and (3) when they are disconnected from the outside world. The result can be understood as if the frail older person is in a process of letting go of life. This process involves the body, in that the older person is increasingly limited in his/her physical abilities. The older person's long-term relationships are gradually lost, and finally the process entails the older person's increasingly withdrawing into him- or herself and turning off the outside world. The result of this study is consistent with previous research that has shown that EL is a complex phenomenon, but
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Kattge, J.; Knorr, W.; Raddatz, T.; Wirth, C.
2009-04-01
Photosynthetic capacity is one of the most sensitive parameters of terrestrial biosphere models whose representation in global scale simulations has been severely hampered by a lack of systematic analyses using a sufficiently broad database. Due to its coupling to stomatal conductance changes in the parameterisation of photosynthetic capacity may potentially influence transpiration rates and vegetation surface temperature. Here, we provide a constrained parameterisation of photosynthetic capacity for different plant functional types in the context of the photosynthesis model proposed by Farquhar et al. (1980), based on a comprehensive compilation of leaf photosynthesis rates and leaf nitrogen content. Mean values of photosynthetic capacity were implemented into the coupled climate-vegetation model ECHAM5/JSBACH and modelled gross primary production (GPP) is compared to a compilation of independent observations on stand scale. Compared to the current standard parameterisation the root-mean-squared difference between modelled and observed GPP is substantially reduced for almost all PFTs by the new parameterisation of photosynthetic capacity. We find a systematic depression of NUE (photosynthetic capacity divided by leaf nitrogen content) on certain tropical soils that are known to be deficient in phosphorus. Photosynthetic capacity of tropical trees derived by this study is substantially lower than standard estimates currently used in terrestrial biosphere models. This causes a decrease of modelled GPP while it significantly increases modelled tropical vegetation surface temperatures, up to 0.8°C. These results emphasise the importance of a constrained parameterisation of photosynthetic capacity not only for the carbon cycle, but also for the climate system.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Piot, J M; Royer, M; Schmidt-Tanguy, A; Hoppé, E; Gardembas, M; Bourrée, T; Hunault, M; François, S; Boyer, F; Ifrah, N; Renier, G; Chevailler, A; Audran, M; Chappard, D; Libouban, H; Mabilleau, G; Legrand, E; Bouvard, B
2015-01-01
Monoclonal gammopathies of undetermined significance (MGUS) have been shown to be associated with an increased risk of fractures. This study describes prospectively the bone status of MGUS patients and determines the factors associated with vertebral fracture. We included prospectively 201 patients with MGUS, incidentally discovered, and with no known history of osteoporosis: mean age 66.6±12.5 years, 48.3% women, 51.7% immunoglobulin G (IgG), 33.3% IgM and 10.4% IgA. Light chain was kappa in 64.2% patients. All patients had spinal radiographs and bone mineral density measurement in addition to gammopathy assessment. At least one prevalent non-traumatic vertebral fracture was discovered in 18.4% patients and equally distributed between men and women. Fractured patients were older, had a lower bone density and had also more frequently a lambda light chain isotype. Compared with patients with κ light chain, the odds ratio of being fractured for patients with λ light chain was 4.32 (95% confidence interval 1.80–11.16; P=0.002). These results suggest a high prevalence of non-traumatic vertebral fractures in MGUS associated with lambda light chain isotype and not only explained by low bone density
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The erection of larger windmills in the open countryside - an investigation of the visual effects
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
1996-12-01
The future use of larger windmills will result in new visual effects. The investigation points out that these effects will be dependent on the main characteristics of the landscape. Windmills with a height of 90 m will be taller than any other element found in the landscape with the exception of some chimneys, masts, etc. It is shown that very tall windmills should not be set up in large dominating groups, that it is important that the towers are slender and that the blades rotate slowly (in order to give a more peaceful effect), if the landscape should not be spoiled. Large windmills dominate an area of 1 - 3 kilometers, but at a distance of 10 - 12 km they can appear to fade away between woods and large buildings etc. Naturally, large windmills will be prominent on heaths and moors, and would not be welcome where there are buildings of cultural interest or where the landscape is under conservation. They could, it is stated, be placed amongst a group of smaller windmills, as this would help to lessen their dominance, but should not be positioned where one type of landscape merges into another, as here they would show up more. Local boundaries should also be taken into consideration. When planning where to locate windmills the overall visual effect over larger areas should be contemplated in addition to the preservation of views of buildings etc. of historical interest. Photographs should be taken of proposed sites so that paper models can be placed so as to produce an idea of the visual effects of erecting larger windmills in various positions in specified areas
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Shyer and larger bird species show more reduced fear of humans when living in urban environments.
delBarco-Trillo, Javier
2018-04-01
As the natural habitats of many species are degraded or disappear, there is scope for these species to be established in urban habitats. To ease the establishment and maintenance of urban populations of more species we need to better understand what degree of phenotypical change to expect as different species transition into urban environments. During the first stages of urban colonization, behavioural changes such as an increase in boldness are particularly important. A consistent response in urban populations is to decrease the distance at which individuals flee from an approaching human (flight initiation distance, or FID). Performing a phylogenetic generalized least-squares (PGLS) analysis on 130 avian species, I found that the largest changes in FID between rural and urban populations occur in species that are larger-bodied and naturally shy (higher rural FID), two phenotypic traits that are not normally associated with urban colonizers. More unlikely species may thus be able to colonize urban environments, especially if we design cities in ways that promote such urban colonizations. © 2018 The Author(s).
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Mourad, Waleed F., E-mail: Waleed246@gmail.com [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS (United States); Department of Radiation Oncology, Beth Israel Medical Center, New York, NY (Israel); Packianathan, Satyaseelan [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS (United States); Shourbaji, Rania A. [Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Jackson State University, Jackson, MS (United States); Zhang Zhen; Graves, Mathew [Department of Orthopedic Surgery, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS (United States); Khan, Majid A. [Department of Radiology, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS (United States); Baird, Michael C. [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS (United States); Russell, George [Department of Orthopedic Surgery, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS (United States); Vijayakumar, Srinivasan [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS (United States)
2012-03-01
Purpose: To ascertain whether the time from injury to prophylactic radiation therapy (RT) influences the rate of heterotopic ossification (HO) after operative treatment of displaced acetabular fractures. Methods and Materials: This is a single-institution, retrospective analysis of patients referred for RT for the prevention of HO. Between January 2000 and January 2009, 585 patients with displaced acetabular fractures were treated surgically followed by RT for HO prevention. We analyzed the effect of time from injury on prevention of HO by RT. In all patients, 700 cGy was prescribed in a single fraction and delivered within 72 hours postsurgery. The patients were stratified into five groups according to time interval (in days) from the date of their accident to the date of RT: Groups A {<=}3, B {<=}7, C {<=}14, D {<=}21, and E >21days. Results: Of the 585 patients with displaced acetabular fractures treated with RT, (18%) 106 patients developed HO within the irradiated field. The risk of HO after RT increased from 10% for RT delivered {<=}3 days to 92% for treatment delivered >21 days after the initial injury. Wilcoxon test showed a significant correlation between the risk of HO and the length of time from injury to RT (p < 0.0001). Chi-square test and multiple logistic regression analysis showed no significant association between all other factors and the risk of HO (race, gender, cause and type of fracture, surgical approach, or the use of indomethacin). Conclusions: Our data suggest that there is higher incidence and risk of HO if prophylactic RT is significantly delayed after a displaced acetabular fracture. Thus, RT should be administered as early as clinically possible after the trauma. Patients undergoing RT >3 weeks from their displaced acetabular fracture should be informed of the higher risk (>90%) of developing HO despite prophylaxis.
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Gao, Chun; Fang, Long; Li, Jing-Tao; Zhao, Hong-Chuan
2016-02-28
To determine the significance of increased serum direct bilirubin level for lymph node metastasis (LNM) in Chinese rectal cancer patients, after those with known hepatobiliary and pancreatic diseases were excluded. A cohort of 469 patients, who were treated at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Ministry of Health (Beijing, China), in the period from January 2003 to June 2011, and with a pathological diagnosis of rectal adenocarcinoma, were recruited. They included 231 patients with LNM (49.3%) and 238 patients without LNM. Follow-up for these patients was taken through to December 31, 2012. The baseline serum direct bilirubin concentration was (median/inter-quartile range) 2.30/1.60-3.42 μmol/L. Univariate analysis showed that compared with patients without LNM, the patients with LNM had an increased level of direct bilirubin (2.50/1.70-3.42 vs 2.10/1.40-3.42, P = 0.025). Multivariate analysis showed that direct bilirubin was independently associated with LNM (OR = 1.602; 95%CI: 1.098-2.338, P = 0.015). Moreover, we found that: (1) serum direct bilirubin differs between male and female patients; a higher concentration was associated with poor tumor classification; (2) as the baseline serum direct bilirubin concentration increased, the percentage of patients with LNM increased; and (3) serum direct bilirubin was associated with the prognosis of rectal cancer patients and higher values indicated poor prognosis. Higher serum direct bilirubin concentration was associated with the increased risk of LNM and poor prognosis in our rectal cancers.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Kenneth J. McKenzie
2011-09-01
Full Text Available The Alberta government’s 2009 New Royalty Framework elicited resistance on the part of the energy industry, leading to subsequent reductions in the royalties imposed on natural gas and conventional oil. However, the oil sands sector, subject to different terms, quickly accepted the new arrangement with little complaint, recognizing it as win-win situation for industry and the government. Under the framework, Alberta recoups much more money in royalties — about $1 billion over the two year period of 2009 and 2010 — without impinging significantly on investment in the oil sands. This brief paper demonstrates that by spreading the financial risks and benefits to everyone involved, the new framework proves it’s possible to generate increased revenue without frightening off future investment. The same model could conceivably be applied to the conventional oil and natural gas sectors.
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de Rijk, Melissa
2015-01-01
Posterpresentatie Ondernemerschapsmiddag KCO, gehouden op 16 november 2015. Main research question: To what extend does the purchasing activity of incremental and radical innovations of SMEs differ from that of larger companies in the construction sector in the Netherlands?
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Human resource management and career planning in a larger library
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Jelka Gazvoda
1997-01-01
Full Text Available Human resource management is presented as a managerial function which is used to develop potential abilities of the employees to achieve organizational goals.Different perception of the employees is essential - people working in the organization are treated as capital and not as an expenditure. In human resource management the most important view of the employees is their potential growth and professional development, training for acquiring new responsibilities and encouragement for innovation. Library management is becoming more and more complex as the result of introducing new technologies. For this reason libraries need well trained people with potentials to modernize library performance and to overcome the conflict between the traditional organizational culture and the requirements of the modem technologically developed environment. The author presents different techniques of active human resource management, which can be used in larger libraries where an appropriate number of employees exists to realize different programmes with. These are programmes for education, staffing,career planning, stimmulation and reward systems, job redefinition and enrichment,and other forms of internal segmentation.
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Dual cusped protostylid: Case report and clinical significance
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Preeti Bhattacharya
2016-01-01
Full Text Available Protostylids are superstructures on maxillary or mandibular molars, which have rarely been reported in literature, and the significance of their presence has also been underestimated. The dental practitioners may easily misdiagnose a tooth, with such conical tubercles as malformed tooth. Interestingly, this is neither a malformation nor an anomaly but rather an important morphological trait of an individual. Once in a while, one may come across such a distinct morphological trait without being able to diagnose. To the authors' best knowledge, only one similar case has been reported previously, and the second such case internationally. Bearing all such facts in mind, the authors attempt to educate the readers towards the existence of such a trait so that it can be identified and studied in larger numbers. Hence, it is the authors' endeavor to report an unusual case of dual cusped maxillary protostylid along with its clinical significance.
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Increased first and second pulse harmonics in Tai Chi Chuan practitioners.
Lu, Wan-An; Chen, Yung-Sheng; Kuo, Cheng-Deng
2016-02-29
Tai Chi Chuan (TCC) is known to be a good calisthenics for people. This study examined the relationship between pulse harmonics and autonomic nervous modulation in TCC practitioners. Power spectral measures of right pulse wave and heart rate variability (HRV) measures were compared between TCC practitioners and control subjects. Correlation analyses between pulse harmonics and HRV measures were performed using linear regression analysis. At baseline, the total power of pulse (TPp), powers of all individual pulse harmonics, normalized power of the 1(st) harmonics (nPh1) of TCC practitioners were greater, while the normalized power of the 4(th) pulse harmonics (nPh4) of TCC practitioners was smaller, than those of the controls. Similarly, the baseline standard deviation (SD(RR)), coefficient of variation (CV(RR)), and normalized high-frequency power (nHFP) of RR intervals were smaller, while the normalized very low-frequency power (nVLFP) and low-/high- frequency power ratio (LHR) were larger in the TCC practitioners. The TCC age correlated significantly and negatively with nPh1, and nearly significantly and negatively with nPh2 in the TCC practitioners. Thirty min after TCC exercise, the percentage changes in mRRI, SDRR, TP, VLFP were decreased, while the percentage changes in HR, ULFP, nLFP, and Ph2 were increased, relative to the controls. Correlation analysis shows that the %Ph2 correlates significantly and negatively with %mRRI and significantly and positively with %HR. The TCC practitioners had increased baseline total power of pulse and the 1(st) and 2(nd) pulse harmonics, and decreased power of the 4(th) pulse harmonics, along with decreased vagal modulation and increased sympathetic modulation. After TCC exercise, the power of the 2(nd) harmonics of TCC practitioners was increased which might be related to the increase in HR due to decreased vascular resistance after TCC exercise.
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Ruiz-Riquelme, Alejandro; Sánchez-Iglesias, Sofía; Rábano, Alberto; Guillén-Navarro, Encarna; Domingo-Jiménez, Rosario; Ramos, Adriana; Rosa, Isaac; Senra, Ana; Nilsson, Peter; García, Ángel; Araújo-Vilar, David; Requena, Jesús R
2015-11-01
Celia's Encephalopathy (MIM #615924) is a recently discovered fatal neurodegenerative syndrome associated with a new BSCL2 mutation (c.985C>T) that results in an aberrant isoform of seipin (Celia seipin). This mutation is lethal in both homozygosity and compounded heterozygosity with a lipodystrophic BSCL2 mutation, resulting in a progressive encephalopathy with fatal outcomes at ages 6-8. Strikingly, heterozygous carriers are asymptomatic, conflicting with the gain of toxic function attributed to this mutation. Here we report new key insights about the molecular pathogenic mechanism of this new syndrome. Intranuclear inclusions containing mutant seipin were found in brain tissue from a homozygous patient suggesting a pathogenic mechanism similar to other neurodegenerative diseases featuring brain accumulation of aggregated, misfolded proteins. Sucrose gradient distribution showed that mutant seipin forms much larger aggregates as compared with wild type (wt) seipin, indicating an impaired oligomerization. On the other hand, the interaction between wt and Celia seipin confirmed by coimmunoprecipitation (CoIP) assays, together with the identification of mixed oligomers in sucrose gradient fractionation experiments can explain the lack of symptoms in heterozygous carriers. We propose that the increased aggregation and subsequent impaired oligomerization of Celia seipin leads to cell death. In heterozygous carriers, wt seipin might prevent the damage caused by mutant seipin through its sequestration into harmless mixed oligomers. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
DARIO VARRONE
2007-07-01
Full Text Available The Trucco Formation and the Nummulitic Limestone (Dauphinois Domain, Maritime Alps are characterized by abundant larger foraminifera, specifically nummulitids, orthophragminids and encrusting foraminifera. In the Maritime Alps, previous studies suggest a late Lutetian age for the Trucco Formation and a late Lutetian-Priabonian age for the Nummulitic Limestone.Biostratigraphic analysis of the nummulitids, in 11 stratigraphic sections, allowed us to distinguish 3 biozones:MALF1 Zone: defined by the presence of Nummulites brongniarti d’Archiac & Haime, N. puschi d’Archiac, N. perforatus de Montfort, N. striatus (Bruguière, N. cf. dufrenoyi d’Archiac & Haime, N. variolarius/incrassatus and Operculina schwageri Silvestri.MALF2 Zone: defined by the presence of Nummulites perforatus de Montfort, N. striatus (Bruguière, N. cf. dufrenoyi d’Archiac & Haime, N. variolarius/incrassatus and Operculina schwageri Silvestri.MALF 3 Zone: defined by the presence of gr. Nummulites variolarius/incrassatus, N. striatus (Bruguière and Operculina schwageri Silvestri.According to current larger foraminiferal biozonal schemes, the age of these local biozones corresponds to the Bartonian p.p.Moreover, the comparison with biostratigraphic schemes established for the Dauphinois Domain and for the Tethyan area evidences that several typical nummulitid species of the late Bartonian are lacking in the southern Dauphinois Domain, probably due to a paleogeographic control.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Okada, R.D.; Dai, Y.H.; Boucher, C.A.; Pohost, G.M.
1984-01-01
Increased lung thallium-201 (Tl-201) activity occurs in patients with severe coronary artery disease (CAD) on initial postexercise images. To determine the significance of assessing lung Tl-201 on serial imaging after dipyridamole therapy, initial and delayed (2 to 3 hours) Tl-201 imaging was performed in 40 patients with CAD and 26 normal control subjects. Lung Tl-201 activity was quantitated as a percentage of maximal myocardial activity for each imaging time (lung Tl-201 index). The mean initial lung Tl-201 activity was 42 +/- 2% (+/- standard error of the mean) in 26 control subjects, 56 +/- 2% in 25 patients with 2- or 3-vessel CAD (p less than 0.001) and 53 +/- 2% in 15 patients with 1-vessel CAD (p less than 0.005 compared with control subjects) (difference not significant between 1-vessel and multivessel CAD). Dipyridamole lung Tl-201 activity decreased relative to the myocardium from initial to delayed images (p less than 0.001) in patients with CAD but not in control subjects. When a dipyridamole lung Tl-201 index of 58% (mean +/- 2 standard deviations for control subjects) was chosen as the upper limit of normal, 14 of 40 of the CAD patients (35%) had abnormal values and all control patients had values within normal limits. These 14 patients with CAD and abnormal initial lung Tl-201 indexes had rest ejection fractions that were not significantly different from those in patients with CAD, and normal initial dipyridamole lung Tl-201 index (58 +/- 4% and 63 +/- 2%, respectively)
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Moreno-Alcázar, Ana; Gonzalvo, Begoña; Canales-Rodríguez, Erick J; Blanco, Laura; Bachiller, Diana; Romaguera, Anna; Monté-Rubio, Gemma C; Roncero, Carlos; McKenna, Peter J; Pomarol-Clotet, Edith
2018-01-01
Background: Structural imaging studies of cannabis users have found evidence of both cortical and subcortical volume reductions, especially in cannabinoid receptor-rich regions such as the hippocampus and amygdala. However, the findings have not been consistent. In the present study, we examined a sample of adult heavy cannabis users without other substance abuse to determine whether long-term use is associated with brain structural changes, especially in the subcortical regions. Method: We compared the gray matter volume of 14 long-term, heavy cannabis users with non-using controls. To provide robust findings, we conducted two separate studies using two different MRI techniques. Each study used the same sample of cannabis users and a different control group, respectively. Both control groups were independent of each other. First, whole-brain voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used to compare the cannabis users against 28 matched controls (HC1 group). Second, a volumetric analysis of subcortical regions was performed to assess differences between the cannabis users and a sample of 100 matched controls (HC2 group) obtained from a local database of healthy volunteers. Results: The VBM study revealed that, compared to the control group HC1, the cannabis users did not show cortical differences nor smaller volume in any subcortical structure but showed a cluster ( p users showed significantly larger volumes in the putamen ( p = 0.001) and pallidum ( p = 0.0015). Subtle trends, only significant at the uncorrected level, were also found in the caudate ( p = 0.05) and nucleus accumbens ( p = 0.047). Conclusions: This study does not support previous findings of hippocampal and/or amygdala structural changes in long-term, heavy cannabis users. It does, however, provide evidence of basal ganglia volume increases.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Teo, Peter Man Lung; Leung, Sing Fai; Chan, Anthony Tak Cheung; Leung, Thomas Wai Tong; Choi, Peter Ho Keung; Kwan, Wing Hong; Lee, Wai Yee; Chau, Ricky Ming Chun; Yu, Peter Kau Wing; Johnson, Philip James
2000-01-01
Purpose: The aim of the present study was to compare the survival, local control and complications of conventional/accelerated-hyperfractionated radiotherapy and conventional radiotherapy in nonmetastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Methods and Materials: From February 1993 to October 1995, 159 patients with newly diagnosed nonmetastatic (M0) NPC with N0 or 4 cm or less N1 disease (Ho's N-stage classification, 1978) were randomized to receive either conventional radiotherapy (Arm I, n = 82) or conventional/accelerated-hyperfractionated radiotherapy (Arm II, n = 77). Stratification was according to the T stage. The biologic effective dose (10 Grays) to the primary and the upper cervical lymphatics were 75.0 and 73.1 for Arm I and 84.4 and 77.2 for Arm II, respectively. Results: With comparable distribution among the T stages between the two arms, the free from local failure rate at 5 years after radiotherapy was not significantly different between the two arms (85.3%; 95% confidence interval, 77.2-93.4% for Arm I; and 88.9%; 95% confidence interval, 81.7-96.2% for Arm II). The two arms were also comparable in overall survival, relapse-free survival, and rates of distant metastasis and regional relapse. Conventional/accelerated-hyperfractionated radiotherapy was associated with significantly increased radiation-induced damage to the central nervous system (including temporal lobe, cranial nerves, optic nerve/chiasma, and brainstem/spinal cord) in Arm II. Although insignificant, radiation-induced cranial nerve(s) palsy (typically involving VIII-XII), trismus, neck soft tissue fibrosis, and hypopituiturism and hypothyroidism occurred more often in Arm II. In addition, the complications occurred at significantly shorter intervals after radiotherapy in Arm II. Conclusion: Accelerated hyperfractionation when used in conjunction with a two-dimensional radiotherapy planning technique, in this case the Ho's technique, resulted in increased radiation damage to the central
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Serum levels of polyamine synthesis enzymes increase in diabetic patients with breast cancer
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
V Kenan Çelik
2017-09-01
Full Text Available In this study, it was aimed to investigate the relationship between diabetes and breast cancer and the detection of enzymes and ornithine levels in polyamine synthesis pathway in diabetes, breast cancer and diabetic breast cancer patients. Methods: Ornithine, arginine decarboxylase, ornithine decarboxylase and agmatinase levels have been measured in serum of all groups. Ornithine levels were measured spectrophotometrically. Arginine decarboxylase, ornithine decarboxylase and agmatinase levels were determined by ELISA kits. Results: Except for the diabetic group, the levels of enzymes in the polyamine synthesis pathway were increased in all and statistically significant (P < 0.05. The increase in the levels of agmatinase was very important among the enzymes (P < 0.001. Conclusions: Decreased levels of polyamine synthase enzymes in diabetes mellitus were found to be increased patients with breast cancer. Whether and how diabetes-based breast cancer development relates to increase activity of enzymes responsible for polyamine synthesis requires further mechanistic and prospective monitoring studies in larger patient cohorts.
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CROSSWORD PUZZLE INCREASE ATTENTION OF CHILDREN WITH ADHD
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Ah. Yusuf
2017-07-01
Full Text Available Introduction: Attention deficit is one of three main problems of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD. Children experience difficulty of paying attention and concentrating to one or more things or objects. As a results these children cannot perform the task well. Crossword puzzle is one of games that may increase attention and concentration. The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of crossword puzzle to increase attention of children with ADHD. Method: Pre-experimental design was employed in this study. The population was ADHD students in Cakra Autisme Therapy. Seven students were recruited by means of purposive sampling. The independent variable was crossword puzzle and the dependent variable was the increase of attention. Data were collected using observation sheet and analyzed using Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test with level of significance of α≤ 0.05. Result: Result showed that crossword puzzle could increase attention. Respondent’s attention improved from less to good attention, particularly in playing activities (p=0.014. Analysis: This finding suggests that there was differences of attention between pre and post-test. It can be concluded that crossword puzzle can increase attention of the students with ADHD. Discussion: It is recommended for teachers and parents of ADHD children to give them crossword puzzle game everyday at school or at home. Further studies should involve larger sample size and employs another game not only to increase attention, but also reduce hyperactivity and impulsivity of ADHD child.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Angelica B Bernal
Full Text Available BACKGROUND: We have shown recently that maternal undernutrition (UN advanced female pubertal onset in a manner that is dependent upon the timing of UN. The long-term consequence of this accelerated puberty on ovarian function is unknown. Recent findings suggest that oxidative stress may be one mechanism whereby early life events impact on later physiological functioning. Therefore, using an established rodent model of maternal UN at critical windows of development, we examined maternal UN-induced changes in offspring ovarian function and determined whether these changes were underpinned by ovarian oxidative stress. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Our study is the first to show that maternal UN significantly reduced primordial and secondary follicle number in offspring in a manner that was dependent upon the timing of maternal UN. Specifically, a reduction in these early stage follicles was observed in offspring born to mothers undernourished throughout both pregnancy and lactation. Additionally, antral follicle number was reduced in offspring born to all mothers that were UN regardless of whether the period of UN was restricted to pregnancy or lactation or both. These reductions were associated with decreased mRNA levels of genes critical for follicle maturation and ovulation. Increased ovarian protein carbonyls were observed in offspring born to mothers UN during pregnancy and/or lactation and this was associated with peroxiredoxin 3 hyperoxidation and reduced mRNA levels; suggesting compromised antioxidant defence. This was not observed in offspring of mothers UN during lactation alone. CONCLUSIONS: We propose that maternal UN, particularly at a time-point that includes pregnancy, results in reduced offspring ovarian follicle numbers and mRNA levels of regulatory genes and may be mediated by increased ovarian oxidative stress coupled with a decreased ability to repair the resultant oxidative damage. Together these data are suggestive of
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Recombining overlapping BACs into a single larger BAC
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Huxley Clare
2004-01-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background BAC clones containing entire mammalian genes including all the transcribed region and long range controlling elements are very useful for functional analysis. Sequenced BACs are available for most of the human and mouse genomes and in many cases these contain intact genes. However, large genes often span more than one BAC, and single BACs covering the entire region of interest are not available. Here we describe a system for linking two or more overlapping BACs into a single clone by homologous recombination. Results The method was used to link a 61-kb insert carrying the final 5 exons of the human CFTR gene onto a 160-kb BAC carrying the first 22 exons. Two rounds of homologous recombination were carried out in the EL350 strain of bacteria which can be induced for the Red genes. In the first round, the inserts of the two overlapping BACs were subcloned into modified BAC vectors using homologous recombination. In the second round, the BAC to be added was linearised with the very rare-cutting enzyme I-PpoI and electroporated into recombination efficient EL350 bacteria carrying the other BAC. Recombined BACs were identified by antibiotic selection and PCR screening and 10% of clones contained the correctly recombined 220-kb BAC. Conclusion The system can be used to link the inserts from any overlapping BAC or PAC clones. The original orientation of the inserts is not important and desired regions of the inserts can be selected. The size limit for the fragments recombined may be larger than the 61 kb used here and multiple BACs in a contig could be combined by alternating use of the two pBACLink vectors. This system should be of use to many investigators wishing to carry out functional analysis on large mammalian genes which are not available in single BAC clones.
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Practical aspects of NMR signal assignment in larger and challenging proteins
Frueh, Dominique P.
2014-01-01
NMR has matured into a technique routinely employed for studying proteins in near physiological conditions. However, applications to larger proteins are impeded by the complexity of the various correlation maps necessary to assign NMR signals. This article reviews the data analysis techniques traditionally employed for resonance assignment and describes alternative protocols necessary for overcoming challenges in large protein spectra. In particular, simultaneous analysis of multiple spectra may help overcome ambiguities or may reveal correlations in an indirect manner. Similarly, visualization of orthogonal planes in a multidimensional spectrum can provide alternative assignment procedures. We describe examples of such strategies for assignment of backbone, methyl, and nOe resonances. We describe experimental aspects of data acquisition for the related experiments and provide guidelines for preliminary studies. Focus is placed on large folded monomeric proteins and examples are provided for 37, 48, 53, and 81 kDa proteins. PMID:24534088
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The Increase of the Functional Entropy of the Human Brain with Age
Yao, Y.; Lu, W. L.; Xu, B.; Li, C. B.; Lin, C. P.; Waxman, D.; Feng, J. F.
2013-01-01
We use entropy to characterize intrinsic ageing properties of the human brain. Analysis of fMRI data from a large dataset of individuals, using resting state BOLD signals, demonstrated that a functional entropy associated with brain activity increases with age. During an average lifespan, the entropy, which was calculated from a population of individuals, increased by approximately 0.1 bits, due to correlations in BOLD activity becoming more widely distributed. We attribute this to the number of excitatory neurons and the excitatory conductance decreasing with age. Incorporating these properties into a computational model leads to quantitatively similar results to the fMRI data. Our dataset involved males and females and we found significant differences between them. The entropy of males at birth was lower than that of females. However, the entropies of the two sexes increase at different rates, and intersect at approximately 50 years; after this age, males have a larger entropy. PMID:24103922
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Merz, Maximilian; Hillengass, Jens [Department of Radiology, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg (Germany); University of Heidelberg, Department of Hematology, Oncology and Rheumatology, Heidelberg (Germany); Moehler, Thomas M.; Ritsch, Judith; Delorme, Stefan [Department of Radiology, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg (Germany); Baeuerle, Tobias [University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Department of Radiology, Erlangen (Germany); Zechmann, Christian M. [Rinecker Proton Therapy, Muenchen (Germany); Wagner, Barbara; Hose, Dirk [University of Heidelberg, Department of Hematology, Oncology and Rheumatology, Heidelberg (Germany); Jauch, Anna [University of Heidelberg, Institute of Human Genetics, Heidelberg (Germany); Kunz, Christina; Hielscher, Thomas [German Cancer Research Center, Department of Biostatistics, Heidelberg (Germany); Laue, Hendrik [Fraunhofer MEVIS, Bremen (Germany); Goldschmidt, Hartmut [University of Heidelberg, Department of Hematology, Oncology and Rheumatology, Heidelberg (Germany); National Center for Tumor Diseases, Heidelberg (Germany)
2016-05-15
Aim of this prospective study was to investigate prognostic significance of increased bone marrow microcirculation as detected by dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) for survival and local complications in patients with multiple myeloma (MM). We performed DCE-MRI of the lumbar spine in 131 patients with newly diagnosed MM and analysed data according to the Brix model to acquire amplitude A and exchange rate constant k{sub ep}. In 61 patients a second MRI performed after therapy was evaluated to assess changes in vertebral height and identify vertebral fractures. Correlation analysis revealed significant positive association between beta2-microglobulin as well as immunoparesis with DCE-MRI parameters A and k{sub ep}. Additionally, A was negatively correlated with haemoglobin levels and k{sub ep} was positively correlated with LDH levels. Higher baseline k{sub ep} values were associated with decreased vertebral height in a second MRI (P = 0.007) and A values were associated with new vertebral fractures in the lower lumbar spine (P = 0.03 for L4). Pre-existing lytic bone lesions or remission after therapy had no impact on the occurrence of vertebral fractures. Multivariate analysis revealed that amplitude A is an independent adverse risk factor for overall survival. DCE-MRI is a non-invasive tool with significance for systemic prognosis and vertebral complications. (orig.)
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Jennings, Matthew E.; Schaff, Cody W.; Horne, Alexandra J.; Lessner, Faith H.
2014-01-01
Haem-dependent catalase is an antioxidant enzyme that degrades H2O2, producing H2O and O2, and is common in aerobes. Catalase is present in some strictly anaerobic methane-producing archaea (methanogens), but the importance of catalase to the antioxidant system of methanogens is poorly understood. We report here that a survey of the sequenced genomes of methanogens revealed that the majority of species lack genes encoding catalase. Moreover, Methanosarcina acetivorans is a methanogen capable of synthesizing haem and encodes haem-dependent catalase in its genome; yet, Methanosarcina acetivorans cells lack detectable catalase activity. However, inducible expression of the haem-dependent catalase from Escherichia coli (EcKatG) in the chromosome of Methanosarcina acetivorans resulted in a 100-fold increase in the endogenous catalase activity compared with uninduced cells. The increased catalase activity conferred a 10-fold increase in the resistance of EcKatG-induced cells to H2O2 compared with uninduced cells. The EcKatG-induced cells were also able to grow when exposed to levels of H2O2 that inhibited or killed uninduced cells. However, despite the significant increase in catalase activity, growth studies revealed that EcKatG-induced cells did not exhibit increased tolerance to O2 compared with uninduced cells. These results support the lack of catalase in the majority of methanogens, since methanogens are more likely to encounter O2 rather than high concentrations of H2O2 in the natural environment. Catalase appears to be a minor component of the antioxidant system in methanogens, even those that are aerotolerant, including Methanosarcina acetivorans. Importantly, the experimental approach used here demonstrated the feasibility of engineering beneficial traits, such as H2O2 tolerance, in methanogens. PMID:24222618
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Zheng, Louise D.; Linarelli, Leah E.; Brooke, Joseph; Smith, Cayleen; Wall, Sarah S.; Greenawald, Mark H.; Seidel, Richard W.; Estabrooks, Paul A.; Almeida, Fabio A.; Cheng, Zhiyong
2016-01-01
Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is characterized by mitochondrial derangement and oxidative stress. With no known cure for T2D, it is critical to identify mitochondrial biomarkers for early diagnosis of prediabetes and disease prevention. Here we examined 87 participants on the diagnosis power of fasting glucose (FG) and hemoglobin A1c levels and investigated their interactions with mitochondrial DNA methylation. FG and A1c led to discordant diagnostic results irrespective of increased body mass index (BMI), underscoring the need of new biomarkers for prediabetes diagnosis. Mitochondrial DNA methylation levels were not correlated with late-stage (impaired FG or A1c) but significantly with early-stage (impaired insulin sensitivity) events. Quartiles of BMI suggested that mitochondrial DNA methylation increased drastically from Q1 (20 40, morbidly obese). A significant change was also observed from Q1 to Q2 in HOMA insulin sensitivity but not in A1c or FG. Thus, mitochondrial epigenetic changes link to increased diabetes risk and the indicator of early-stage prediabetes. Further larger-scale studies to examine the potential of mitochondrial epigenetic marker in prediabetes diagnosis will be of critical importance for T2D prevention. PMID:27298712
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Sareen, Nishtha; Baber, Usman; Kezbor, Safwan; Sayseng, Sonny; Aquino, Melissa; Mehran, Roxana; Sweeny, Joseph; Barman, Nitin; Kini, Annapoorna; Sharma, Samin K
2017-04-07
Coronary revascularisation based upon physiological evaluation of lesions improves clinical outcomes. Angiographic or visual stenosis assessment alone is insufficient in predicting haemodynamic stenosis severity by fractional flow reserve (FFR) and therefore cannot be used to guide revascularisation, particularly in the lesion subset system formulated. Of 1,023 consecutive lesions (883 patients), 314 (31%) were haemodynamically significant. Characteristics associated with FFR ≤0.8 include male gender, higher SYNTAX score, lesions ≥20 mm, stenosis >50%, bifurcation, calcification, absence of tortuosity and smaller reference diameter. A user-friendly integer score was developed with the five variables demonstrating the strongest association. On prospective validation (in 279 distinct lesions), the increasing value of the score correlated well with increasing haemodynamic significance (C-statistic 0.85). We identified several clinical and angiographic characteristics and formulated a scoring system to guide the approach to intermediate lesions. This may translate into cost savings. Larger studies with prospective validation are required to confirm our results.
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Hohenegger, Johann
2015-04-01
The shells of symbiont-bearing larger benthic Foraminifera (LBF) represent the response to physiological requirements in dependence of environmental conditions. All compartments of the shell such as chambers and chamberlets accommodate the growth of the cell protoplasm and are adaptations for housing photosymbiotic algae. Investigations on the biology of LBF were predominantly based on laboratory studies. The lifetime of LBF under natural conditions is still unclear. LBF, which can build >100 chambers during their lifetime, are thought to live at least one year under natural conditions. This is supported by studies on population dynamics of eulittoral foraminifera. In species characterized by a time-restricted single reproduction period the mean size of specimens increases from small to large during lifetime simultaneously reducing individual number. This becomes more complex when two or more reproduction times are present within a one-year cycle leading to a mixture of abundant small individuals with few large specimens during the year, while keeping mean size more or less constant. This mixture is typical for most sublittoral megalospheric (gamonts or schizonts) LBF. Nothing is known on the lifetime of agamonts, the diploid asexually reproducing generation. In all hyaline LBF it is thought to be significantly longer than 1 year based on the large size and considering the mean chamber building rate of the gamont/schizonts. Observations on LBF under natural conditions have not been performed yet in the deeper sublittoral. This reflects the difficulties due to intense hydrodynamics that hinder deploying technical equipment for studies in the natural environment. Therefore, studying growth, lifetime and reproduction of sublittoral LBF under natural conditions can be performed using the so-called 'natural laboratory' in comparison with laboratory investigations. The best sampling method in the upper sublittoral from 5 to 70 m depth is by SCUBA diving. Irregular
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Kotrschal, Alexander; Rogell, Björn; Bundsen, Andreas; Svensson, Beatrice; Zajitschek, Susanne; Brännström, Ioana; Immler, Simone; Maklakov, Alexei A; Kolm, Niclas
2013-01-21
The large variation in brain size that exists in the animal kingdom has been suggested to have evolved through the balance between selective advantages of greater cognitive ability and the prohibitively high energy demands of a larger brain (the "expensive-tissue hypothesis"). Despite over a century of research on the evolution of brain size, empirical support for the trade-off between cognitive ability and energetic costs is based exclusively on correlative evidence, and the theory remains controversial. Here we provide experimental evidence for costs and benefits of increased brain size. We used artificial selection for large and small brain size relative to body size in a live-bearing fish, the guppy (Poecilia reticulata), and found that relative brain size evolved rapidly in response to divergent selection in both sexes. Large-brained females outperformed small-brained females in a numerical learning assay designed to test cognitive ability. Moreover, large-brained lines, especially males, developed smaller guts, as predicted by the expensive-tissue hypothesis, and produced fewer offspring. We propose that the evolution of brain size is mediated by a functional trade-off between increased cognitive ability and reproductive performance and discuss the implications of these findings for vertebrate brain evolution. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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The cavity-nest ant Temnothorax crassispinus prefers larger nests.
Mitrus, S
Colonies of the ant Temnothorax crassispinus inhabit mostly cavities in wood and hollow acorns. Typically in the field, nest sites that can be used by the ant are a limited resource. In a field experiment, it was investigated whether the ants prefer a specific size of nest, when different ones are available. In July 2011, a total of 160 artificial nests were placed in a beech-pine forest. Four artificial nests (pieces of wood with volume cavities, ca 415, 605, 730, and 980 mm 3 , respectively) were located on each square meter of the experimental plot. One year later, shortly before the emergence of new sexuals, the nests were collected. In July 2012, colonies inhabited more frequently bigger nests. Among queenright colonies, the ones which inhabited bigger nests had more workers. However, there was no relationship between volume of nest and number of workers for queenless colonies. Queenright colonies from bigger nests produced more sexual individuals, but there was no correlation between number of workers and sex allocation ratio, or between volume of nest and sex allocation ratio. In a laboratory experiment where ant colonies were kept in 470 and 860 mm 3 nests, larger colonies allocated more energy to produce sexual individuals. The results of this study show the selectivity of T. crassispinus ants regarding the size of nest cavity, and that the nest volume has an impact on life history parameters.
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Alvarez Feito, Diego; The ATLAS collaboration
2017-01-01
For the high luminosity era of the Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) it is forseen to replace the current inner tracker of the ATLAS experiment with a new detector to cope with the occuring increase in occupancy, bandwidth and radiation damage. It will consist of an inner pixel and outer strip detector aiming to provide tracking coverage up to |η|<4. The layout of the pixel detector is foreseen to consist of five layers of pixel silicon sensor modules in the central region and several ring-shaped layers in the forward region. It results in up to 14 m² of silicon depending on the selected layout. Beside the challenge of radiation hardness and high-rate capable silicon sensors and readout electronics many system aspects have to be considered for a fully functional detector. Both stable and low mass mechanical structures and services are important. Within the collaboration a large effort is started to prototype larger detector structures for both the central and forward region of the detector. The aspect of sy...
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Idei, H.; Hanada, K.; Zushi, H.; Sato, K.N.; Sakamoto, M.; Iyomasa, A.; Kawasaki, S.; Nakashima, H.; Higashijima, A.; Ohkubo, K.; Kubo, S.; Shimozuma, T.; Ito, S.; Hasegawa, M.; Nakamura, K.; Notake, T.; Hoshika, H.; Maezono, N.; Nishi, S.; Nakashima, K.
2005-01-01
A remote steering antenna has been newly developed for Electron Cyclotron Heating and Current Drive (ECH/ECCD) experiments on the TRIAM-1M tokamak. It is a first application of the remote steering antenna to the ECH/ECCD experiments under the conditions relevant to International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. Our launcher is a symmetric direction antenna with extended steering capability. The larger steering angles of 8-19 degrees are available, in addition to that near 0 degree. The output beam from the antenna is the well-defined Gaussian beam with a correct steering angle. The Gaussian content and the steering angle accuracy are 0.85 and -0.3 degrees, respectively. Antenna transmission efficiency in the high power test is evaluated as 0.95. The efficiencies at the low and high power tests are consistent with those in the calculation with higher-order modes. The difference between plasma currents increased at co- and counter-steering injections [+/-19 degrees] is clearly observed in the superposition to the Lower Hybrid Current Driven (LHCD) plasma of the fundamental X-mode injection. (author)
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Exposure to Tumescent Solution Significantly Increases Phosphorylation of Perilipin in Adipocytes.
Keskin, Ilknur; Sutcu, Mustafa; Eren, Hilal; Keskin, Mustafa
2017-02-01
Lidocaine and epinephrine could potentially decrease adipocyte viability, but these effects have not been substantiated. The phosphorylation status of perilipin in adipocytes may be predictive of cell viability. Perilipin coats lipid droplets and restricts access of lipases; phospho-perilipin lacks this protective function. The authors investigated the effects of tumescent solution containing lidocaine and epinephrine on the phosphorylation status of perilipin in adipocytes. In this in vitro study, lipoaspirates were collected before and after tumescence from 15 women who underwent abdominoplasty. Fat samples were fixed, sectioned, and stained for histologic and immunohistochemical analyses. Relative phosphorylation of perilipin was inferred from pixel intensities of immunostained adipocytes observed with confocal microscopy. For adipocytes collected before tumescent infiltration, 10.08% of total perilipin was phosphorylated. In contrast, 30.62% of total perilipin was phosphorylated for adipocytes collected from tumescent tissue (P < .01). The tumescent technique increases the relative phosphorylation of perilipin in adipocytes, making these cells more vulnerable to lipolysis. Tumescent solution applied for analgesia or hemostasis of the donor site should contain the lowest possible concentrations of lidocaine and epinephrine. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE 5. © 2016 The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, Inc. Reprints and permission: journals.permissions@oup.com.
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Backhaus, M; Citak, M; Tilkorn, D-J; Meindl, R; Schildhauer, T A; Fehmer, T
2011-11-01
Retrospective chart review. The aim of our study was to evaluate the mortality rate and further specific risk factors for Fournier's gangrene in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). Division of Spinal Cord Injury, BG-University Hospital Bergmannsheil Bochum, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany. All patients with a SCI and a Fournier's gangrene treated in our hospital were enrolled in this study. Following parameters were taken form patients medical records: age, type of SCI, cause of Fournier's gangrene, number of surgical debridements, length of hospital and intensive care unit stay, co morbidity factors and mortality rate. In addition, laboratory parameter including the laboratory risk indicator for necrotizing fasciitis (LRINEC) score and microbiological findings were analyzed. Clinical diagnosis was made via histological examination. A total of 16 male patients (15 paraplegic and one tetraplegic) were included in the study. In 81% of all cases, the origin of Fournier's gangrene was a pressure sore. The median LRINEC score on admission was 6.5. In the vast majority of cases, a polybacterial infection was found. No patient died during the hospital stay. The mean number of surgical debridements before soft tissue closure was 1.9 and after a mean time interval of 39.1 days wound closure was performed in all patients. Pressure sores significantly increase the risk of developing Fournier's gangrene in patients with SCI. We reported the results of our patients to increase awareness among physicians and training staff working with patients with a SCI in order to expedite the diagnosis.
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When gains loom larger than losses: reversed loss aversion for small amounts of money.
Harinck, Fieke; Van Dijk, Eric; Van Beest, Ilja; Mersmann, Paul
2007-12-01
Previous research has generally shown that people are loss averse; that is, they weigh losses more heavily than gains. In a series of three experiments, we found that for small outcomes, this pattern is reversed, and gains loom larger than losses. We explain this reversal on the basis of (a) the hedonic principle, which states that individuals are motivated to maximize pleasure and to minimize pain, and (b) the assumption that small losses are more easily discounted cognitively than large losses are.
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The significance of MMP-9 examination in serum from embryo of gastric cancer model
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Liu Zhan; Zhao Xuejian; Wang Lu; Li Yulin; Zhang Lihong; Zhang Hong
2003-01-01
Objective: To investigate the changes matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) content from sera of chick embryos during the progression of transformed models of gastric cancer cells on chorioallantoic membrane (CAM). Methods: Morphometric investigation method was used to study the tumor generation on CAM; Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method was used to test MMP-9 concentrations in chick embryos'sera transferred by cancer cells at different points of time; the relationship between MMP-9 and cancer biological characteristics was analyzed. Results: In the group of 1 x 10 6 ·ml -1 gastric cancer cells, a single clot which could be seen by naked eyes appeared at 72 hours after inoculation. With the time going on, the volumes of the clot became larger and larger, and the neovessels on CAM accumulated to the clot. In the group of 1 x 10 6 ·ml -1 gastric cancer cells, the MMP-9 content in sera extremely increased at 72 hours after inoculation and increased continuously till the maxim at 7 days after inoculation. Conclusion: The whole progression of cancer development is accompanied with the increase of MMP-9 concentration. This model is feasible to study the characteristics of gastric cancer
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Identifying significant temporal variation in time course microarray data without replicates
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Porter Weston
2009-03-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background An important component of time course microarray studies is the identification of genes that demonstrate significant time-dependent variation in their expression levels. Until recently, available methods for performing such significance tests required replicates of individual time points. This paper describes a replicate-free method that was developed as part of a study of the estrous cycle in the rat mammary gland in which no replicate data was collected. Results A temporal test statistic is proposed that is based on the degree to which data are smoothed when fit by a spline function. An algorithm is presented that uses this test statistic together with a false discovery rate method to identify genes whose expression profiles exhibit significant temporal variation. The algorithm is tested on simulated data, and is compared with another recently published replicate-free method. The simulated data consists both of genes with known temporal dependencies, and genes from a null distribution. The proposed algorithm identifies a larger percentage of the time-dependent genes for a given false discovery rate. Use of the algorithm in a study of the estrous cycle in the rat mammary gland resulted in the identification of genes exhibiting distinct circadian variation. These results were confirmed in follow-up laboratory experiments. Conclusion The proposed algorithm provides a new approach for identifying expression profiles with significant temporal variation without relying on replicates. When compared with a recently published algorithm on simulated data, the proposed algorithm appears to identify a larger percentage of time-dependent genes for a given false discovery rate. The development of the algorithm was instrumental in revealing the presence of circadian variation in the virgin rat mammary gland during the estrous cycle.
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Genome-wide identification of significant aberrations in cancer genome
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Yuan Xiguo
2012-07-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Somatic Copy Number Alterations (CNAs in human genomes are present in almost all human cancers. Systematic efforts to characterize such structural variants must effectively distinguish significant consensus events from random background aberrations. Here we introduce Significant Aberration in Cancer (SAIC, a new method for characterizing and assessing the statistical significance of recurrent CNA units. Three main features of SAIC include: (1 exploiting the intrinsic correlation among consecutive probes to assign a score to each CNA unit instead of single probes; (2 performing permutations on CNA units that preserve correlations inherent in the copy number data; and (3 iteratively detecting Significant Copy Number Aberrations (SCAs and estimating an unbiased null distribution by applying an SCA-exclusive permutation scheme. Results We test and compare the performance of SAIC against four peer methods (GISTIC, STAC, KC-SMART, CMDS on a large number of simulation datasets. Experimental results show that SAIC outperforms peer methods in terms of larger area under the Receiver Operating Characteristics curve and increased detection power. We then apply SAIC to analyze structural genomic aberrations acquired in four real cancer genome-wide copy number data sets (ovarian cancer, metastatic prostate cancer, lung adenocarcinoma, glioblastoma. When compared with previously reported results, SAIC successfully identifies most SCAs known to be of biological significance and associated with oncogenes (e.g., KRAS, CCNE1, and MYC or tumor suppressor genes (e.g., CDKN2A/B. Furthermore, SAIC identifies a number of novel SCAs in these copy number data that encompass tumor related genes and may warrant further studies. Conclusions Supported by a well-grounded theoretical framework, SAIC has been developed and used to identify SCAs in various cancer copy number data sets, providing useful information to study the landscape of cancer genomes
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Scheyer, Torsten M; Delfino, Massimo; Klein, Nicole; Bunbury, Nancy; Fleischer-Dogley, Frauke; Hansen, Dennis M
2018-01-01
Today, the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Aldabra Atoll is home to about 100 000 giant tortoises, Aldabrachelys gigantea , whose fossil record goes back to the Late Pleistocene. New Late Pleistocene fossils (age ca . 90-125 000 years) from the atoll revealed some appendicular bones and numerous shell fragments of giant tortoises and cranial and postcranial elements of crocodylians. Several tortoise bones show circular holes, pits and scratch marks that are interpreted as bite marks of crocodylians. The presence of a Late Pleistocene crocodylian species, Aldabrachampsus dilophus , has been known for some time, but the recently found crocodylian remains presented herein are distinctly larger than those previously described. This indicates the presence of at least some larger crocodylians, either of the same or of a different species, on the atoll. These larger crocodylians, likely the apex predators in the Aldabra ecosystem at the time, were well capable of inflicting damage on even very large giant tortoises. We thus propose an extinct predator-prey interaction between crocodylians and giant tortoises during the Late Pleistocene, when both groups were living sympatrically on Aldabra, and we discuss scenarios for the crocodylians directly attacking the tortoises or scavenging on recently deceased animals.
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Engels, Klaus; Gollum, Carsten [Uniper Kraftwerke GmbH, Landshut (Germany). Sparte Wasserkraft; Gruber, Karl Heinz [VERBUND Wasserkraft, Wien/Simbach/Toeging (Austria); Poehler, Frank [Bayerische Elektrizitaetswerke GmbH, Augsburg (Germany); Schleich, Albrecht [Rhein-Main-Donau AG, Muenchen (Germany)
2016-11-01
The current price development in the German electricity market results in significant economic challenges also for larger hydropower assets. Although an ideal partner for the transformation of the German energy system (''Energiewende''), the decline of electricity prices increasingly endangers adequate operations and sustainable investments, too. Hence, not only the renewable, emission-free, flexible and decentralised generation is questions but also multiple additional services for the society which are not remunerated by an ''energy only'' market. Price determination mechanisms as well as remunerations system in general need to be reviewed - an improvement of these structures is essential for larger hydropower assets.
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The Larger Bound on the Domination Number of Fibonacci Cubes and Lucas Cubes
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Shengzhang Ren
2014-01-01
Full Text Available Let Γn and Λn be the n-dimensional Fibonacci cube and Lucas cube, respectively. Denote by Γ[un,k,z] the subgraph of Γn induced by the end-vertex un,k,z that has no up-neighbor. In this paper, the number of end-vertices and domination number γ of Γn and Λn are studied. The formula of calculating the number of end-vertices is given and it is proved that γ(Γ[un,k,z]≤2k-1+1. Using these results, the larger bound on the domination number γ of Γn and Λn is determined.
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Crossbreeding to increase beef production: additive and non ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
GScholtz
2013-06-06
Jun 6, 2013 ... Crossbreeding to increase beef production: additive and non-additive effects on weight traits ... total weight of weaned calves. ... Weight traits are not all equally important to efficiency ... values to model total herd productivity. ..... The maintenance requirement of a cow is affected by her weight: the larger the.
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Wu, Jin-Hu; Ferguson, A. Ross; Murray, Brian G.; Jia, Yilin; Datson, Paul M.; Zhang, Jingli
2012-01-01
Background and Aims Some otherwise promising selections of Actinidia chinensis (kiwifruit) have fruit that are too small for successful commercialization. We have therefore made the first detailed study in diploid kiwifruit of the effects of chromosome doubling induced by colchicine on fruit size, shape and crop loading. Methods Flow cytometric analysis of young leaves and chromosome analysis of flower buds and root tips was used to confirm the stability of induced autotetraploids. Fruit weight, size and crop load were measured in the third year after planting in the field and for three consecutive years. DNA fingerprinting was used to confirm the origin of the material. Key Results There was a very significant increase in fruit size in induced autotetraploids of different genotypes of A. chinensis. With the commercially important diploid cultivar ‘Hort16A’, most regenerants, Type A plants, had fruit which were much the same shape as fruit of the diploid but, at the same fruit load, were much larger and heavier. Some regenerants, Type B plants, produced fruit similar to ‘fasciated’ fruit. Fruit of the autotetraploids induced from three female red-fleshed A. chinensis selections were also 50–60 % larger than fruit of their diploid progenitors. The main increase in fruit dimensions was in their diameters. These improved fruit characteristics were stable over several seasons. Conclusions Chromosome doubling has been shown to increase significantly fruit size in autotetraploid A. chinensis, highlighting the considerable potential of this technique to produce new cultivars with fruit of adequate size. Other variants with differently shaped fruit were also produced but the genetic basis of this variation remains to be elucidated. Autoploids of other Actinidia species with commercial potential may also show improved fruit characteristics, opening up many new possibilities for commercial development. PMID:21980192
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Zou, Minzhong; Niu, Jun; Kang, Shaozhong; Li, Xiaolin; Lu, Hongna
2017-08-18
Evapotranspiration (ET) is a major component linking the water, energy, and carbon cycles. Understanding changes in ET and the relative contribution rates of human activity and of climate change at the basin scale is important for sound water resources management. In this study, changes in ET in the Heihe agricultural region in northwest China during 1984-2014 were examined using remotely-sensed ET data with the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). Correlation analysis identified the dominant factors that influence change in ET per unit area and those that influence change in total ET. Factor analysis identified the relative contribution rates of the dominant factors in each case. The results show that human activity, which includes factors for agronomy and irrigation, and climate change, including factors for precipitation and relative humidity, both contribute to increases in ET per unit area at rates of 60.93% and 28.01%, respectively. Human activity, including the same factors, and climate change, including factors for relative humidity and wind speed, contribute to increases in total ET at rates of 53.86% and 35.68%, respectively. Overall, in the Heihe agricultural region, the contribution of human agricultural activities to increased ET was significantly greater than that of climate change.
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van der Weg, Kirian; Majidi, Mohamed; Haeck, Joost D. E.; Tijssen, Jan G. P.; Green, Cynthia L.; Koch, Karel T.; Kuijt, Wichert J.; Krucoff, Mitchell W.; Gorgels, Anton P. M.; de Winter, Robbert J.
2016-01-01
We hypothesized that ventricular arrhythmia (VA) bursts during reperfusion phase are a marker of larger infarct size despite optimal epicardial and microvascular perfusion. 126 STEMI patients were studied with 24h continuous, 12-lead Holter monitoring. Myocardial blush grade (MBG) was determined and
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Dmytriyeva, Oksana; Klementiev, Boris; Berezin, Vladimir
2013-01-01
Metabolites of the commonly used imidazole fungicide prochloraz are androgen receptor antagonists. They have been shown to block androgen-driven development and compromise reproductive function. We tested the effect of prochloraz on cognitive behavior following exposure to this fungicide during...... the perinatal period. Pregnant Wistar rats were administered a 200mg/kg dose of prochloraz on gestational day (GD) 7, GD11, and GD15. The social recognition test (SRT) was performed on 7-week-old male rat offspring. We found an increase in pregnancy length and a significantly reduced pup weight on PND15 and PND...
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Laser-Induced Damage Growth on Larger-Aperture Fused Silica Optical Components at 351 nm
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Wan-Qing, Huang; Wei, Han; Fang, Wang; Yong, Xiang; Fu-Quan, Li; Bin, Feng; Feng, Jing; Xiao-Feng, Wei; Wan-Guo, Zheng; Xiao-Min, Zhang
2009-01-01
Laser-induced damage is a key lifetime limiter for optics in high-power laser facility. Damage initiation and growth under 351 nm high-fluence laser irradiation are observed on larger-aperture fused silica optics. The input surface of one fused silica component is damaged most severely and an explanation is presented. Obscurations and the area of a scratch on it are found to grow exponentially with the shot number. The area of damage site grows linearly. Micrographs of damage sites support the micro-explosion damage model which could be used to qualitatively explain the phenomena
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Nada Verdel
2016-02-01
Full Text Available The time-dependent role of cations was investigated by ageing four different aqueous solutions of cation chlorides. A linear correlation was found between the cations’ Setchenov coefficient for the salting-out of benzene and the increase in the conductivity with time. The conductivity of the structure-breaking cations or the chaotropes increased more significantly with time than the conductivity of the kosmotropes. Since larger water clusters accelerate the proton or hydroxyl hopping mechanism, we propose that the structuring of the hydration shells of the chaotropes might be spontaneously enhanced over time.
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The significance of water ionic strength on aluminium toxicity in brown trout (Salmo trutta L.)
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Alstad, Nina E.W. [Department of Biology, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1066 Blindern, N-0316 Oslo (Norway); Kjelsberg, Birgitte M. [Department of Biology, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1066 Blindern, N-0316 Oslo (Norway); Voellestad, L. Asbjoern [Department of Biology, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1066 Blindern, N-0316 Oslo (Norway); Lydersen, Espen [Norwegian Institute for Water Research, P.O. Box 173 Kjelsaas, N-0411 Oslo (Norway); Poleo, Antonio B.S. [Department of Biology, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1066 Blindern, N-0316 Oslo (Norway)]. E-mail: toni.poleo@bio.uio.no
2005-01-01
The toxicity of aluminium to fish is related to interactions between aluminium and the gill surface. We investigated the possible effect of water ionic strength on this interaction. The mortality of brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) exposed to three different degrees of Al polymerisation was compared in water with increased ionic strength (mean 7.31 x 10{sup -4} M) after additions of the base cations Ca{sup 2+}, Mg{sup 2+}, Na{sup +} or K{sup +}, and in water with no such addition (mean ionic strength 5.58 x 10{sup -4} M). Only a very slight ameliorating effect of increased ionic strength was observed, while the degree of Al polymerisation was of major importance in fish mortality. In addition, it was observed that smaller fish survived the Al exposures for a longer time than larger fish. We hypothesise that this is because larger fish are more susceptible to hypoxia than smaller fish. - Ionic strength has a slight ameliorating effect on Al toxicity in brown trout.
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The significance of water ionic strength on aluminium toxicity in brown trout (Salmo trutta L.)
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Alstad, Nina E.W.; Kjelsberg, Birgitte M.; Voellestad, L. Asbjoern; Lydersen, Espen; Poleo, Antonio B.S.
2005-01-01
The toxicity of aluminium to fish is related to interactions between aluminium and the gill surface. We investigated the possible effect of water ionic strength on this interaction. The mortality of brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) exposed to three different degrees of Al polymerisation was compared in water with increased ionic strength (mean 7.31 x 10 -4 M) after additions of the base cations Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , Na + or K + , and in water with no such addition (mean ionic strength 5.58 x 10 -4 M). Only a very slight ameliorating effect of increased ionic strength was observed, while the degree of Al polymerisation was of major importance in fish mortality. In addition, it was observed that smaller fish survived the Al exposures for a longer time than larger fish. We hypothesise that this is because larger fish are more susceptible to hypoxia than smaller fish. - Ionic strength has a slight ameliorating effect on Al toxicity in brown trout
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Enhanced precipitation variability decreases grass- and increases shrub-productivity
Gherardi, Laureano A.; Sala, Osvaldo E.
2015-01-01
Although projections of precipitation change indicate increases in variability, most studies of impacts of climate change on ecosystems focused on effects of changes in amount of precipitation, overlooking precipitation variability effects, especially at the interannual scale. Here, we present results from a 6-y field experiment, where we applied sequences of wet and dry years, increasing interannual precipitation coefficient of variation while maintaining a precipitation amount constant. Increased precipitation variability significantly reduced ecosystem primary production. Dominant plant-functional types showed opposite responses: perennial-grass productivity decreased by 81%, whereas shrub productivity increased by 67%. This pattern was explained by different nonlinear responses to precipitation. Grass productivity presented a saturating response to precipitation where dry years had a larger negative effect than the positive effects of wet years. In contrast, shrubs showed an increasing response to precipitation that resulted in an increase in average productivity with increasing precipitation variability. In addition, the effects of precipitation variation increased through time. We argue that the differential responses of grasses and shrubs to precipitation variability and the amplification of this phenomenon through time result from contrasting root distributions of grasses and shrubs and competitive interactions among plant types, confirmed by structural equation analysis. Under drought conditions, grasses reduce their abundance and their ability to absorb water that then is transferred to deep soil layers that are exclusively explored by shrubs. Our work addresses an understudied dimension of climate change that might lead to widespread shrub encroachment reducing the provisioning of ecosystem services to society. PMID:26417095
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Circulatory nucleosome levels are significantly increased in early and late-onset preeclampsia.
Zhong, Xiao Yan; Gebhardt, Stefan; Hillermann, Renate; Tofa, Kashefa Carelse; Holzgreve, Wolfgang; Hahn, Sinuhe
2005-08-01
Elevations in circulatory DNA, as measured by real-time PCR, have been observed in pregnancies with manifest preeclampsia. Recent reports have indicated that circulatory nucleosome levels are elevated in the periphery of cancer patients. We have now examined whether circulatory nucleosome levels are similarly elevated in cases with preeclampsia. Maternal plasma samples were prepared from 17 cases with early onset preeclampsia (34 weeks gestation) with 10 matched normotensive controls. Levels of circulatory nucleosomes were quantified by commercial ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay). The level of circulatory nucleosomes was significantly elevated in both study preeclampsia groups, compared to the matched normotensive control group (p = 0.000 and p = 0.001, respectively). Our data suggests that preeclampsia is associated with the elevated presence of circulatory nucleosomes, and that this phenomenon occurs in both early- and late-onset forms of the disorder. Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Pornpattananangkul, Narun; Nadig, Ajay; Heidinger, Storm; Walden, Keegan; Nusslock, Robin
2017-06-01
Although waiting for a reward reduces or discounts its value, some people have a stronger tendency to wait for larger rewards and forgo smaller-but-immediate rewards. This ability to delay gratification is captured by individual differences in so-called intertemporal choices in which individuals are asked to choose between larger-but-delayed versus smaller-but-immediate rewards. The current study used event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine whether enhancement in two neurocognitive processes, outcome anticipation and outcome evaluation, modulate individual variability in intertemporal responses. After completing a behavioral intertemporal choice task, 34 participants performed an ERP gambling task. From this ERP task, we separately examined individual differences in outcome anticipation (stimulus-preceding negativity; SPN), early outcome valuation (feedback-related negativity; FRN), and late outcome evaluation (P3). We observed that both elevated outcome-anticipation (SPN) and late outcome-evaluation (P3) neural processes predicted a stronger preference toward larger-but-delayed rewards. No relationship was observed between intertemporal responses and early outcome evaluation (FRN), indicating that the relationship between outcome evaluation and intertemporal responses was specific to the late outcome-evaluation processing stream. Moreover, multiple regression analyses indicated that the SPN and P3 independently modulate individual differences in intertemporal responses, suggesting separate mechanisms underlie the relationship between these two neurocognitive processes and intertemporal responses. Accordingly, we identify two potential neurocognitive modulators of individual variability in intertemporal responses. We discuss the mechanisms underlying these modulators in terms of anticipation-related processing (SPN) and a saliency bias toward gain (compared to loss) outcomes (P3).
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Working with and promoting early career scientists within a larger community
Pratt, K.
2017-12-01
For many scientific communities, engaging early career researchers is critical for success. These young scientists (graduate students, postdocs, and newly appointed professors) are actively forming collaborations and instigating new research programs. They also stand to benefit hugely from being part of a scientific community, gaining access to career development activities, becoming part of strong collaborator networks, and achieving recognition in their field of study — all of which will help their professional development. There are many ways community leaders can work proactively to support and engage early career scientists, and it it is often a community manager's job to work with leadership to implement such activities. In this presentation, I will outline ways of engaging early career scientists at events and tailored workshops, of promoting development of their leadership skills, and of creating opportunities for recognizing early career scientists within larger scientific communities. In this talk, I will draw from my experience working with the Deep Carbon Observatory Early Career Scientist Network, supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
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Irisin levels increase after treatment in patients with newly diagnosed Hashimoto thyroiditis.
Uc, Z A; Gorar, S; Mizrak, S; Gullu, S
2018-05-18
Irisin is a newly identified myokine secreted by skeletal muscle and has significant effects on body metabolism. Thyroidal functional state has a profound influence on the metabolism of human body. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the possible changes in serum irisin concentrations before and after treatment in hypothyroid subjects. The study included 26 patients with overt hypothyroidism due to Hashimoto thyroiditis and 19 healthy subjects. Baseline serum thyroid function tests and presence of thyroid autoantibodies and levels of creatine kinase (CK) and irisin were measured in both groups. All measurements in the hypothyroid group were repeated after euthyroidism was achieved. Serum irisin levels were significantly lower in the hypothyroid groups than the control group (p treatment (p hypothyroid patients were treated to achieve euthyroidism. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study providing insight that low serum irisin levels significantly increased following treatment to euthyroid state in overt hypothyroid patients with Hashimoto thyroiditis. Larger scale studies are needed to confirm these results and to ensure irisin as a possible biomarker of Hashimoto's thyroiditis.
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Assessment of genetically significant doses to the Sofia population from natural gamma background
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Vasilev, G.; Khristova, M.
1977-01-01
Genetically significant dose to the population of Sofia city was assessed within a program covering larger urban communities in the country. Measurements were made of gamma background exposure rates in the gonadal region. Gonad doses were estimated using a screening factor of 0.73. Based on statistical data for total number of inhabitants and number of people of reproductive age, and on the mean annual gonad doses derived, calculations were made of genetically significant dose to the Sofia population. Base-line data were thus provided for an assessment of extra radiation dose resulting from occupational radiation exposure. (author)
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The expression and clinical significance of HDGF in osteosarcoma
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Chen Z
2015-09-01
Full Text Available Zhiguo Chen,1 Shenghai Qiu,2 Xiaofei Lu31Department of Orthopedics, Linyi People’s Hospital, Linyi City, Shandong Province, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Orthopedics, People’s Hospital of Taiyuan, Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of General Surgery, Jinan Central Hospital affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan City, Shandong Province, People’s Republic of ChinaAim: To investigate the expression of hepatoma-derived growth factor (HDGF in osteosarcoma (OS and the correlation with clinicopathologic factors, prognosis, and tumor progression.Method: HDGF expression in OS tissues was detected by immunohistochemistry. The correlation between HDGF and clinicopathologic factors was analyzed by chi-square test, and the association between HDGF expression and the overall survival rates was evaluated by univariate analysis using Kaplan–Meier method. HDGF concentration in cell medium or cell lysates was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. The effect of extrinsic and intrinsic HDGF on OS cell proliferation was detected by MTT assay after recombinant HDGF stimulation or HDGF knockdown, respectively.Results: Proportion of HDGF high expression was 18.69% (20/107 in OS. HDGF high expression was significantly associated with larger tumor size (P=0.004. With experiments in vitro, we demonstrated that human recombinant HDGF could activate AKT and MAPK signaling pathway, resulting in OS cell proliferation. By knocking down HDGF expression, we proved that intrinsic HDGF was required in OS proliferation.Conclusion: High HDGF expression was significantly associated with larger OS tumor size and could promote OS cell proliferation, indicating that HDGF could be an effective biomarker and a potential drug target in OS treatment.Keywords: hepatoma-derived growth factor, osteosarcoma, tumor size, proliferation, overall survival rate
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Pre study. Prototype of CO2 heat pump system for heating and cooling of a larger building
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Stene, Joern; Jakobsen, Arne
2006-03-01
The activities concerning CO 2 heat pumps during NTNU-SINTEF's strategic research program SMARTBYGG (2002-2006) has lead to an increased interest in planning, building, installing and testing a prototype CO 2 heat pump for heating and cooling of a larger building. In cooperation with Statsbygg and Naeringslivets Idefond a p restudy was initiated in 2005, with the main aim to carry out a set of defined activities, preparing the ground for the realization of a prototype. The following subjects are treated in the p restudy: a technological assessment of the CO 2 heat pumps, a technological assessment of the interaction between the CO 2 heat pump and the secondary systems, a study of the possibilities regarding suitable CO 2 components including compressors, heat exchangers, valves etc., and a presentation of Teknotherm AS (Halden), a Norwegian industrial partner that can project, build and maintain a CO 2 heat pump prototype. During the project period Statsbygg has not found a suitable building where a prototype can be installed. It is recommended that further work is made on the realization of a CO 2 prototype plant by setting up a main project (ml)
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Modern environmental health hazards: a public health issue of increasing significance in Africa.
Nweke, Onyemaechi C; Sanders, William H
2009-06-01
Traditional hazards such as poor sanitation currently account for most of Africa's environmentally related disease burden. However, with rapid development absent appropriate safeguards for environment and health, modern environmental health hazards (MEHHs) may emerge as critical contributors to the continent's disease burden. We review recent evidence of human exposure to and health effects from MEHHs, and their occurrence in environmental media and consumer products. Our purpose is to highlight the growing significance of these hazards as African countries experience urbanization, industrial growth, and development. We reviewed published epidemiologic, exposure, and environmental studies of chemical agents such as heavy metals and pesticides. The body of evidence demonstrates ongoing environmental releases of MEHHs and human exposures sometimes at toxicologically relevant levels. Several sources of MEHHs in environmental media have been identified, including natural resource mining and processing and automobile exhaust. Biomonitoring studies provided direct evidence of human exposure to metals such as mercury and lead and pesticides such as p,p'-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and organophosphates. Land and water resource pollution and industrial air toxics are areas of significant data gaps, notwithstanding the presence of several emitting sources. Unmitigated MEHH releases and human exposure have implications for Africa's disease burden. For Africans encumbered by conditions such as malnutrition that impair resilience to toxicologic challenges, the burden may be higher. A shift in public health policy toward accommodating the emerging diversity in Africa's environmental health issues is necessary to successfully alleviate the burden of avoidable ill health and premature death for all its communities now and in the future.
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Yamakage, M; Yamada, S; Chen, X; Iwasaki, S; Tsujiguchi, N; Namiki, A
2000-07-01
We investigated the concentrations of degraded sevoflurane Compound A during low-flow anesthesia with four carbon dioxide (CO(2)) absorbents. The concentrations of Compound A, obtained from the inspiratory limb of the circle system, were measured by using a gas chromatograph. In the groups administered 2 L/min fresh gas flow with 1% sevoflurane, when the conventional CO(2) absorbents, Wakolime(TM) (Wako, Tokyo, Japan) and Drägersorb(TM) (Dräger, Lübeck, Germany), were used, the concentrations of Compound A increased steadily from a baseline to 14.3 ppm (mean) and 13.2 ppm, respectively, at 2 h after exposure to sevoflurane. In contrast, when the other novel types of absorbents containing decreased or no potassium hydroxide/sodium hydroxide, Medisorb(TM) (Datex-Ohmeda, Louisville, CO) and Amsorb(TM) (Armstrong, Coleraine, Northern Ireland), were used, Compound A remained at baseline (potassium hydroxide/sodium hydroxide produce much larger concentrations of Compound A from sevoflurane in clinical practice. An absorbent containing neither potassium hydroxide nor sodium hydroxide produces the smallest concentrations of Compound A.
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Clinical significance of increased lung/heart ratio in 210Tl stress myocardial image
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Liu Zaoli; Chang Fengqin; Zhang Fengge; Wang Xiaoyuan; Liu Liuhua
1990-01-01
230 cases were studied with 201 Tl stress image. The results showed that the lung/heart ratio closely correlated with the presence and severity of coronary heart disease (CHD). Among them, 18 cases (7.8%) showed significantly elevated lung/heart ratio (> 0.50). It was confirmed that all of the 18 cases have severe CHD with left ventricular insufficiency. The author emphasizes that measurement of the lung/heart ratio during 201 Tl stress myocardial image may be useful for the assessment of the severity, evalation of the left ventricular function and judgement of prognosis in CHD
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Allareddy, Veerasathpurush; Elangovan, Satheesh; Rampa, Sankeerth; Shin, Kyungsup; Nalliah, Romesh P; Allareddy, Veerajalandhar
2015-01-01
To examine the prevalence and impact of gingivitis and periodontitis in patients having heart valve surgical procedures. Nationwide Inpatient Sample for the years 2004-2010 was used. All patients who had heart valve surgical procedures were selected. Prevalence of gingivitis/periodontitis was examined in these patients. Impact of gingivitis/periodontitis on hospital charges, length of stay, and infectious complications was examined. 596,190 patients had heart valve surgical procedures. Gingivitis/periodontitis was present in 0.2 percent. Outcomes included: median hospital charges ($175,418 with gingivitis/ periodontitis versus $149,353 without gingivitis/periodontitis) and median length of stay (14 days with gingivitis/periodontitis versus 8 days without gingivitis/periodontitis). After adjusting for the effects of patient- and hospital-level confounding factors, hospital charges and length of stay were significantly higher (p gingivitis/periodontitis compared to their counterparts. Further, patients with gingivitis/periodontitis had significantly higher odds for having bacterial infections (OR = 3.41, 95% CI = 2.33-4.98, p gingivitis/periodontitis. Presence of gingivitis and periodontitis is associated with higher risk for bacterial infections and significant hospital resource utilization.
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Correia, Pedro M; Coutinho, Gonçalo F; Branco, Carlos; Antunes, Manuel J
2016-07-01
To evaluate the long-term survival of patients undergoing aortic root enlargement (ARE) compared with those with small aortic root (SAR), exploring risk factors for late mortality as well as the influence of patient-prosthesis mismatch (PPM). From January 1999 through December 2010, a total of 3724 patients underwent isolated or combined aortic valve replacement at our institution. From these, 239 (6.4%) had transannular ARE with a pericardial patch, to permit implantation of a larger prosthesis. This study population was compared with a control group of 767 patients (20.6%) who were considered to have SAR, as a prosthesis of size 21 or less was implanted. Mean age was comparable: 70.4 ± 12.5 vs 69.9 ± 9.6 years for ARE and SAR groups, respectively (P = 0.552). Female sex predominated in the control group (81.6 vs 88.0%; P = 0.011). Patients of the ARE group tended to have higher mean body surface area (1.59 ± 0.15 vs 1.57 ± 0.13 m(2); P = 0.061) and were less symptomatic (NYHA III-IV: 49.4 vs 57.9%; P = 0.021). Implantation of bioprostheses was more frequent in the ARE group (76.2 vs 52.3%; P < 0.001), while concomitant procedures were more frequent in the SAR group (25.5 vs 32.2%; P = 0.050). Patients in the SAR group had higher moderate PPM (29.7 vs 50.1%; P < 0.001), but no patient was left with severe PPM. Hospital mortality was not statistically different between ARE and SAR groups (0.8 vs 0.5%; P = 0.632). The overall survival rate for ARE group patients at 5, 10 and 15 years was 82.7 ± 2.5, 64.8 ± 3.8 and 36.0 ± 7.5%, respectively, in comparison with 86.2 ± 1.3, 62.9 ± 2.3 and 38.4 ± 4.3% for the SAR group (P = 0.741). There was no significant difference in long-term survival of ARE patients compared with the age- and gender-matched general population (P = 0.794). Long-term survival was not affected by the presence of PPM. Increasing age, male sex, atrial fibrillation, LV end-systolic dimension, preoperative creatinine and NYHA class III-IV were
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Chinchar, Edmund; Makey, Kristina L; Gibson, John; Chen, Fang; Cole, Shelby A; Megason, Gail C; Vijayakumar, Srinivassan; Miele, Lucio; Gu, Jian-Wei
2014-01-01
The majority of triple-negative breast cancers (TNBCs) are basal-like breast cancers. However there is no reported study on anti-tumor effects of sunitinib in xenografts of basal-like TNBC (MDA-MB-468) cells. In the present study, MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-468, MCF-7 cells were cultured using RPMI 1640 media with 10% FBS. Vascular endothelia growth factor (VEGF) protein levels were detected using ELISA (R & D Systams). MDA-MB-468 cells were exposed to sunitinib for 18 hours for measuring proliferation (3H-thymidine incorporation), migration (BD Invasion Chamber), and apoptosis (ApopTag and ApoScreen Anuexin V Kit). The effect of sunitinib on Notch-1 expression was determined by Western blot in cultured MDA-MB-468 cells. 10(6) MDA-MB-468 cells were inoculated into the left fourth mammary gland fat pad in athymic nude-foxn1 mice. When the tumor volume reached 100 mm(3), sunitinib was given by gavage at 80 mg/kg/2 days for 4 weeks. Tumor angiogenesis was determined by CD31 immunohistochemistry. Breast cancer stem cells (CSCs) isolated from the tumors were determined by flow cytometry analysis using CD44(+)/CD24(-) or low. ELISA indicated that VEGF was much more highly expressed in MDA-MB-468 cells than MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells. Sunitinib significantly inhibited the proliferation, invasion, and apoptosis resistance in cultured basal like breast cancer cells. Sunitinib significantly increased the expression of Notch-1 protein in cultured MDA-MB-468 or MDA-MB-231 cells. The xenograft models showed that oral sunitinib significantly reduced the tumor volume of TNBCs in association with the inhibition of tumor angiogeneisis, but increased breast CSCs. These findings support the hypothesis that the possibility should be considered of sunitinib increasing breast CSCs though it inhibits TNBC tumor angiogenesis and growth/progression, and that effects of sunitinib on Notch expression and hypoxia may increase breast cancer stem cells. This work provides the groundwork for an
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Can NMR solve some significant challenges in metabolomics?
Gowda, G.A. Nagana; Raftery, Daniel
2015-01-01
The field of metabolomics continues to witness rapid growth driven by fundamental studies, methods development, and applications in a number of disciplines that include biomedical science, plant and nutrition sciences, drug development, energy and environmental sciences, toxicology, etc. NMR spectroscopy is one of the two most widely used analytical platforms in the metabolomics field, along with mass spectrometry (MS). NMR's excellent reproducibility and quantitative accuracy, its ability to identify structures of unknown metabolites, its capacity to generate metabolite profiles using intact biospecimens with no need for separation, and its capabilities for tracing metabolic pathways using isotope labeled substrates offer unique strengths for metabolomics applications. However, NMR's limited sensitivity and resolution continue to pose a major challenge and have restricted both the number and the quantitative accuracy of metabolites analyzed by NMR. Further, the analysis of highly complex biological samples has increased the demand for new methods with improved detection, better unknown identification, and more accurate quantitation of larger numbers of metabolites. Recent efforts have contributed significant improvements in these areas, and have thereby enhanced the pool of routinely quantifiable metabolites. Additionally, efforts focused on combining NMR and MS promise opportunities to exploit the combined strength of the two analytical platforms for direct comparison of the metabolite data, unknown identification and reliable biomarker discovery that continue to challenge the metabolomics field. This article presents our perspectives on the emerging trends in NMR-based metabolomics and NMR's continuing role in the field with an emphasis on recent and ongoing research from our laboratory. PMID:26476597
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Can NMR solve some significant challenges in metabolomics?
Nagana Gowda, G A; Raftery, Daniel
2015-11-01
The field of metabolomics continues to witness rapid growth driven by fundamental studies, methods development, and applications in a number of disciplines that include biomedical science, plant and nutrition sciences, drug development, energy and environmental sciences, toxicology, etc. NMR spectroscopy is one of the two most widely used analytical platforms in the metabolomics field, along with mass spectrometry (MS). NMR's excellent reproducibility and quantitative accuracy, its ability to identify structures of unknown metabolites, its capacity to generate metabolite profiles using intact bio-specimens with no need for separation, and its capabilities for tracing metabolic pathways using isotope labeled substrates offer unique strengths for metabolomics applications. However, NMR's limited sensitivity and resolution continue to pose a major challenge and have restricted both the number and the quantitative accuracy of metabolites analyzed by NMR. Further, the analysis of highly complex biological samples has increased the demand for new methods with improved detection, better unknown identification, and more accurate quantitation of larger numbers of metabolites. Recent efforts have contributed significant improvements in these areas, and have thereby enhanced the pool of routinely quantifiable metabolites. Additionally, efforts focused on combining NMR and MS promise opportunities to exploit the combined strength of the two analytical platforms for direct comparison of the metabolite data, unknown identification and reliable biomarker discovery that continue to challenge the metabolomics field. This article presents our perspectives on the emerging trends in NMR-based metabolomics and NMR's continuing role in the field with an emphasis on recent and ongoing research from our laboratory. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Can NMR solve some significant challenges in metabolomics?
Nagana Gowda, G. A.; Raftery, Daniel
2015-11-01
The field of metabolomics continues to witness rapid growth driven by fundamental studies, methods development, and applications in a number of disciplines that include biomedical science, plant and nutrition sciences, drug development, energy and environmental sciences, toxicology, etc. NMR spectroscopy is one of the two most widely used analytical platforms in the metabolomics field, along with mass spectrometry (MS). NMR's excellent reproducibility and quantitative accuracy, its ability to identify structures of unknown metabolites, its capacity to generate metabolite profiles using intact bio-specimens with no need for separation, and its capabilities for tracing metabolic pathways using isotope labeled substrates offer unique strengths for metabolomics applications. However, NMR's limited sensitivity and resolution continue to pose a major challenge and have restricted both the number and the quantitative accuracy of metabolites analyzed by NMR. Further, the analysis of highly complex biological samples has increased the demand for new methods with improved detection, better unknown identification, and more accurate quantitation of larger numbers of metabolites. Recent efforts have contributed significant improvements in these areas, and have thereby enhanced the pool of routinely quantifiable metabolites. Additionally, efforts focused on combining NMR and MS promise opportunities to exploit the combined strength of the two analytical platforms for direct comparison of the metabolite data, unknown identification and reliable biomarker discovery that continue to challenge the metabolomics field. This article presents our perspectives on the emerging trends in NMR-based metabolomics and NMR's continuing role in the field with an emphasis on recent and ongoing research from our laboratory.
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Jung, Hyun Kyung; Moon, Hee Jung; Kim, Min Jung; Kim, Eun-Kyung
2014-01-01
Purpose: To evaluate the accuracy of benign core biopsy of probably benign breast lesions (category 3) 2 cm or larger on the basis of excisional biopsy and long-term follow-up. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 146 category 3 lesions in 146 patients 2 cm or larger which were diagnosed as benign by ultrasound (US)-guided core biopsy. Patients were initially diagnosed as benign at core needle biopsy and then followed up with excisional biopsy (surgical excision, n=91; US-guided vacuum assist...
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Significant Climate Changes Caused by Soot Emitted From Rockets in the Stratosphere
Mills, M. J.; Ross, M.; Toohey, D. W.
2010-12-01
A new type of hydrocarbon rocket engine with a larger soot emission index than current kerosene rockets is expected to power a fleet of suborbital rockets for commercial and scientific purposes in coming decades. At projected launch rates, emissions from these rockets will create a persistent soot layer in the northern middle stratosphere that would disproportionally affect the Earth’s atmosphere and cryosphere. A global climate model predicts that thermal forcing in the rocket soot layer will cause significant changes in the global atmospheric circulation and distributions of ozone and temperature. Tropical ozone columns decline as much as 1%, while polar ozone columns increase by up to 6%. Polar surface temperatures rise one Kelvin regionally and polar summer sea ice fractions shrink between 5 - 15%. After 20 years of suborbital rocket fleet operation, globally averaged radiative forcing (RF) from rocket soot exceeds the RF from rocket CO_{2} by six orders of magnitude, but remains small, comparable to the global RF from aviation. The response of the climate system is surprising given the small forcing, and should be investigated further with different climate models.
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Wilson, Robert M.; Franklin, M. Rose (Technical Monitor)
2000-01-01
Since 1750, the number of cataclysmic volcanic eruptions (i.e., those having a volcanic explosivity index, or VEI, equal to 4 or larger) per decade is found to span 2-11, with 96% located in the tropics and extra-tropical Northern Hemisphere, A two-point moving average of the time series has higher values since the 1860s than before, measuring 8.00 in the 1910s (the highest value) and measuring 6.50 in the 1980s, the highest since the 18 1 0s' peak. On the basis of the usual behavior of the first difference of the two-point moving averages, one infers that the two-point moving average for the 1990s will measure about 6.50 +/- 1.00, implying that about 7 +/- 4 cataclysmic volcanic eruptions should be expected during the present decade (2000-2009). Because cataclysmic volcanic eruptions (especially, those having VEI equal to 5 or larger) nearly always have been associated with episodes of short-term global cooling, the occurrence of even one could ameliorate the effects of global warming. Poisson probability distributions reveal that the probability of one or more VEI equal to 4 or larger events occurring within the next ten years is >99%, while it is about 49% for VEI equal to 5 or larger events and 18% for VEI equal to 6 or larger events. Hence, the likelihood that a, climatically significant volcanic eruption will occur within the next 10 years appears reasonably high.
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Adolescents' media exposure may increase their cyberbullying behavior: a longitudinal study.
den Hamer, Anouk H; Konijn, Elly A
2015-02-01
The aim of this study was to examine the effect of adolescents' exposure to media portraying antisocial and risk behavior on cyberbullying behavior over time. Previous research established relatively high prevalence of cyberbullying behavior among adolescents, although not much is known about the possible predictors of cyberbullying behavior. This study examines the long-term effects of media exposure herein. Furthermore, we examined whether boys and girls differ in this respect. The long-term effects were tested in a longitudinal design with three waves (N = 1,005; age range, 11-17 years; 49% boys). Measured variables: cyberbullying behavior and exposure to media with antisocial and risk behavior content. Results of mixed-model analyses showed that higher levels of exposure to media with antisocial and risk behavior content significantly contributed to higher initial rates of cyberbullying behavior. Moreover, an increase in exposure to antisocial media content was significantly related to an increase in cyberbullying behavior over time. For both boys and girls, higher exposure to antisocial and risk behavior media content increases cyberbullying behavior over time though more clearly for boys than for girls. This study provided empirical support for the amplifying effect of exposure to antisocial media content on adolescents' cyberbullying behavior over time. Results are discussed in view of adolescents' media use and the larger theoretical framework. Copyright © 2015 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Hawcroft, M.; Hodges, K.; Walsh, E.; Zappa, G.
2017-12-01
For the Northern Hemisphere extratropics, changes in circulation are key to determining the impacts of climate warming. The mechanisms governing these circulation changes are complex, leading to the well documented uncertainty in projections of the future location of the mid-latitude storm tracks simulated by climate models. These storms are the primary source of precipitation for North America and Europe and generate many of the large-scale precipitation extremes associated with flooding and severe economic loss. Here, we show that in spite of the uncertainty in circulation changes, by analysing the behaviour of the storms themselves, we find entirely consistent and robust projections across an ensemble of climate models. In particular, we find that projections of change in the most intensely precipitating storms (above the present day 99th percentile) in the Northern Hemisphere are substantial and consistent across models, with large increases in the frequency of both summer (June-August, +226±68%) and winter (December-February, +186±34%) extreme storms by the end of the century. Regionally, both North America (summer +202±129%, winter +232±135%) and Europe (summer +390±148%, winter +318±114%) are projected to experience large increases in the frequency of intensely precipitating storms. These changes are thermodynamic and driven by surface warming, rather than by changes in the dynamical behaviour of the storms. Such changes in storm behaviour have the potential to have major impacts on society given intensely precipitating storms are responsible for many large-scale flooding events.
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Increased putamen volume in adults with autism spectrum disorder
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Wataru eSato
2014-11-01
Full Text Available Basal ganglia (BG abnormalities are implicated in the pathophysiology of autism spectrum disorder (ASD. However, studies measuring the volume of the entire BG in individuals with ASD have reported discrepant findings, and no study conducted volume measurement of the entire substructures of the BG (the caudate, putamen, nucleus accumbens, and globus pallidus in individuals with ASD. We delineated the BG substructures and measured their volumes in 29 adults with ASD without intellectual disabilities and 29 age- and gender-matched typically developed adult controls. We acquired T1-weighted anatomical images and performed semi-automated delineation and volume measurements of the above-mentioned subregions. Total cerebral volumes, sex, and ages were partialed out. Compared with controls, the putamen was significantly larger in the ASD group. The increased volume of the putamen found in high-functioning adults with ASD suggests that structural or histological abnormalities of the putamen may underlie the pathologies of ASD such as repetitive and stereotyped behaviors and impaired social interactions.
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Kim, Su-A; Kim, Jang Young; Park, Jeong Bae
2016-06-01
There has been a rising interest in interarm blood pressure difference (IAD), due to its relationship with peripheral arterial disease and its possible relationship with cardiovascular disease. This study aimed to characterize hypertensive patients with a significant IAD in relation to cardiovascular risk. A total of 3699 patients (mean age, 61 ± 11 years) were prospectively enrolled in the study. Blood pressure (BP) was measured simultaneously in both arms 3 times using an automated cuff-oscillometric device. IAD was defined as the absolute difference in averaged BPs between the left and right arm, and an IAD ≥ 10 mm Hg was considered to be significant. The Framingham risk score was used to calculate the 10-year cardiovascular risk. The mean systolic IAD (sIAD) was 4.3 ± 4.1 mm Hg, and 285 (7.7%) patients showed significant sIAD. Patients with significant sIAD showed larger body mass index (P < 0.001), greater systolic BP (P = 0.050), more coronary artery disease (relative risk = 1.356, P = 0.034), and more cerebrovascular disease (relative risk = 1.521, P = 0.072). The mean 10-year cardiovascular risk was 9.3 ± 7.7%. By multiple regression, sIAD was significantly but weakly correlated with the 10-year cardiovascular risk (β = 0.135, P = 0.008). Patients with significant sIAD showed a higher prevalence of coronary artery disease, as well as an increase in 10-year cardiovascular risk. Therefore, accurate measurements of sIAD may serve as a simple and cost-effective tool for predicting cardiovascular risk in clinical settings.
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de Laat, Jos; van Weele, Michiel; van der A, Ronald
2015-04-01
An important new landmark in present day ozone research is presented through MLS satellite observations of significant ozone increases during the ozone hole season that are attributed unequivocally to declining ozone depleting substances. For many decades the Antarctic ozone hole has been the prime example of both the detrimental effects of human activities on our environment as well as how to construct effective and successful environmental policies. Nowadays atmospheric concentrations of ozone depleting substances are on the decline and first signs of recovery of stratospheric ozone and ozone in the Antarctic ozone hole have been observed. The claimed detection of significant recovery, however, is still subject of debate. In this talk we will discuss first current uncertainties in the assessment of ozone recovery in the Antarctic ozone hole by using multi-variate regression methods, and, secondly present an alternative approach to identify ozone hole recovery unequivocally. Even though multi-variate regression methods help to reduce uncertainties in estimates of ozone recovery, great care has to be taken in their application due to the existence of uncertainties and degrees of freedom in the choice of independent variables. We show that taking all uncertainties into account in the regressions the formal recovery of ozone in the Antarctic ozone hole cannot be established yet, though is likely before the end of the decade (before 2020). Rather than focusing on time and area averages of total ozone columns or ozone profiles, we argue that the time evolution of the probability distribution of vertically resolved ozone in the Antarctic ozone hole contains a better fingerprint for the detection of ozone recovery in the Antarctic ozone hole. The advantages of this method over more tradition methods of trend analyses based on spatio-temporal average ozone are discussed. The 10-year record of MLS satellite measurements of ozone in the Antarctic ozone hole shows a
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Design of reactor internals in larger high-temperature reactors with spherical fuel elements
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Elter, C.
1981-01-01
In his paper, the author analyzes and summarizes the present state of the art with emphasis on the prototype reactor THTR 300 MWe, because in addition to spherical fuel elements, this type includes other features of future HTR design such as the same flow direction of cooland gas through the core. The paper on hand also elaborates design guidelines for reactor internals applicable with large HTR's of up to 1200 MWe. Proved designs will be altered so as to meet the special requirements of larger cores with spherical elements to be reloaded according to the OTTO principle. This paper is furthermore designed as a starting point for selective and swift development of reactor internals for large HTR's to be refuelled according to the OTTO principle. (orig./GL) [de
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Fanxing Meng
2016-05-01
Full Text Available A study was carried out to test the responses of juvenile larger yellow croaker Larimichthys croceus to high Cu intake. Experimental diets were formulated containing three levels of Cu: low Cu (3.67 mg/kg, middle Cu (13.65 mg/kg and high Cu (25.78 mg/kg, and each diet were fed to large yellow croaker in triplicate for 10 weeks. Final body weight, weight gain and feed intake were the lowest in high Cu group, but hepatosomatic index was the highest; Cu concentrations in the whole-body, muscle and liver of fish fed low Cu diet was the lowest; Liver superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidase activities in fish fed high Cu diet were lower than those in fish fed other diets; The higher content of liver thiobarbituric acid reactive substance content was found in high Cu group, followed by middle Cu group, and the lowest in low Cu group; Liver 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, malic enzyme, isocitrate dehydrogenase and fatty acid synthase activities were the lowest in high Cu group, but lipoprotein lipase activity was the highest. This study indicated that high copper intake reduced growth of juvenile larger yellow croaker, inhibited activities of antioxidant enzymes and lipid synthetases, and led to energy mobilization. Keywords: Larger yellow croaker, Copper, Antioxidant enzyme, Lipid metabolism enzyme
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Aditi Gupta
2016-03-01
Full Text Available Epistatic interactions between residues determine a protein's adaptability and shape its evolutionary trajectory. When a protein experiences a changed environment, it is under strong selection to find a peak in the new fitness landscape. It has been shown that strong selection increases epistatic interactions as well as the ruggedness of the fitness landscape, but little is known about how the epistatic interactions change under selection in the long-term evolution of a protein. Here we analyze the evolution of epistasis in the protease of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1 using protease sequences collected for almost a decade from both treated and untreated patients, to understand how epistasis changes and how those changes impact the long-term evolvability of a protein. We use an information-theoretic proxy for epistasis that quantifies the co-variation between sites, and show that positive information is a necessary (but not sufficient condition that detects epistasis in most cases. We analyze the "fossils" of the evolutionary trajectories of the protein contained in the sequence data, and show that epistasis continues to enrich under strong selection, but not for proteins whose environment is unchanged. The increase in epistasis compensates for the information loss due to sequence variability brought about by treatment, and facilitates adaptation in the increasingly rugged fitness landscape of treatment. While epistasis is thought to enhance evolvability via valley-crossing early-on in adaptation, it can hinder adaptation later when the landscape has turned rugged. However, we find no evidence that the HIV-1 protease has reached its potential for evolution after 9 years of adapting to a drug environment that itself is constantly changing. We suggest that the mechanism of encoding new information into pairwise interactions is central to protein evolution not just in HIV-1 protease, but for any protein adapting to a changing
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Buyck, B.; Læssøe, Thomas; Meyer, Marianne
2010-01-01
Guidelines are provided for collecting a group of organisms that has often been overlooked in earlier inventories: the kingdom Fungi and other groups that are traditionally collected by mycologists such as slime molds. After a short introduction on fungi and the feasibility of an ‘all fungal taxa......’ inventory, the authors divide the fungi in six ‘practical’ groups that require specific approaches: slime molds, lichens, parasitic fungi of plants and animals, larger mushrooms, microscopic fungi. Various topics are discussed in relation to three chronological stages (before, during and after...
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Significance of Increasing n-3 PUFA Content in Pork on Human Health.
Ma, Xianyong; Jiang, Zongyong; Lai, Chaoqiang
2016-01-01
Evidence for the health-promoting effects of food rich in n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) is reviewed. Pork is an important meat source for humans. According to a report by the US Department of Agriculture ( http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics ), the pork consumption worldwide in 2011 was about 79.3 million tons, much higher than that of beef (48.2 million tons). Pork also contains high levels of unsaturated fatty acids relative to ruminant meats (Enser, M., Hallett, K., Hewett, B., Fursey, G. A. J. and Wood, J. D. (1996) . Fatty acid content and composition of English beef, lamb, and pork at retail. Meat Sci. 44:443-458). The available literature indicates that the levels of eicosatetraenoic and docosahexaenoic in pork may be increased by fish-derived or linseed products, the extent of which being dependent on the nature of the supplementation. Transgenic pigs and plants show promise with high content of n-3 PUFA and low ratio of n-6/n-3 fatty acids in their tissues. The approaches mentioned for decreasing n-6/n-3 ratios have both advantages and disadvantages. Selected articles are critically reviewed and summarized.
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Significantly increased lifetime of recent microchannel-plate photomultipliers
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Britting, Alexander; Eyrich, Wolfgang; Lehmann, Albert; Uhlig, Fred [Physikalisches Institut, Universitaet Erlangen-Nuernberg (Germany)
2013-07-01
Micro-channel plate photo multipliers (MCP-PMT) are the favored sensors for the DIRC detectors (Detection of Internally Reflected Cherenkov Light) of the PANDA experiment. The main reasons for this are their usability in high magnetic fields of up to 2 T, a time resolution of better than σ = 50 ps and a rate capability high enough to withstand a detected photon rate of about 200 kHz cm{sup -2} at the MCP-PMTs surface, which is anticipated at the average luminosity of 2 . 10{sup 32} cm{sup -2}s{sup -1} in PANDA. Moreover, for the reconstruction of the Cherenkov angle using the planned optics for the barrel DIRC a spatial resolution of about 5 mm at the focal plane is needed. Until recently the major drawback of MCP-PMTs was their limited lifetime which was by far not sufficient to stand the integrated anode charge, which is ∼ 5 C/cm{sup 2} for the Barrel-DIRC and even more for the Disc-DIRC. However, the latest MCP prototype devices show a hugh step forward in this respect. The results of these lifetime measurements are presented. The achieved values are meanwhile close to the PANDA requirements for the Barrel-DIRC.
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Dmytriyeva, Oksana; Klementiev, Boris; Berezin, Vladimir; Bock, Elisabeth
2013-07-01
Metabolites of the commonly used imidazole fungicide prochloraz are androgen receptor antagonists. They have been shown to block androgen-driven development and compromise reproductive function. We tested the effect of prochloraz on cognitive behavior following exposure to this fungicide during the perinatal period. Pregnant Wistar rats were administered a 200 mg/kg dose of prochloraz on gestational day (GD) 7, GD11, and GD15. The social recognition test (SRT) was performed on 7-week-old male rat offspring. We found an increase in pregnancy length and a significantly reduced pup weight on PND15 and PND40 but no effect of prenatal prochloraz exposure on social investigation or acquisition of social-olfactory memory. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.
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Mayes, Susan; Ferris, April-Rose; Smith, Peter; Cook, Jill
2018-06-02
To compare the cross-sectional area (CSA) of hip external rotators, obturator externus (OE) and obturator internus (OI), in ballet dancers and nondancing athletes, and evaluate the relationship between obturator muscle size and hip pain. Case-control study. Elite ballet and sport. 33 male and female professional ballet dancers and 33 age and sex-matched athletes. CSA's of OE and OI measured on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of one hip. Hip pain was scored with the Copenhagen Hip and Groin Outcome Score (HAGOS): HAGOS pain score of 100 was defined as no pain and a score less than 100 was defined as pain. Participants weight and height. Estimated marginal mean CSA of OE was 14% larger in dancers than athletes (p = 0.01, ηp2 = 0.1); the size of OI was similar (p > 0.05). Men and women in both groups had similar sized OI and OE. There was no interaction between the estimated marginal mean CSA of either obturator and hip pain. It appears that ballet selectively increases muscle size of OE, but not OI. Obturator size was not related to mild hip pain, as OE and OI size was similar in dancers and athletes with and without pain. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Shiu-Dong Chung
Full Text Available Although the vermiform appendix is commonly considered a vestigial organ, adverse health consequences after an appendectomy have garnered increasing attention. In this study, we investigated the risks of gallstone occurrence during a 5-year follow-up period after an appendectomy, using a population-based dataset. We used data from the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2005. The exposed cohort included 4916 patients who underwent an appendectomy. The unexposed cohort was retrieved by randomly selecting 4916 patients matched with the exposed cohort in terms of sex, age, and year. We individually tracked each patient for a 5-year period to identify those who received a diagnosis of gallstones during the follow-up period. Cox proportional hazard regressions were performed for the analysis. During the 5-year follow-up period, the incidence rate per 1000 person-years was 4.71 for patients who had undergone an appendectomy, compared to a rate of 2.59 for patients in the unexposed cohort (p<0.001. Patients who had undergone an appendectomy were independently associated with a 1.79 (95% CI = 1.29~2.48-fold increased risk of being diagnosed with gallstones during the 5-year follow-up period. We found that among female patients, the adjusted hazard ratio of gallstones was 2.25 (95% CI = 1.41~3.59 for patients who underwent an appendectomy compared to unexposed patients. However, for male patients, we failed to observe an increased hazard for gallstones among patients who underwent an appendectomy compared to unexposed patients. We found an increased risk of a subsequent gallstone diagnosis within 5 years after an appendectomy.
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Alwin, Jenny; Persson, Jan; Krevers, Barbro
2013-08-01
The aim of this study was to examine relatives' perception of an assistive technology intervention aimed at persons with dementia (PwDs) and their relatives, and to examine whether, and how, experiences of the intervention process differed between relatives valuing the intervention to be of high, and relatives perceiving it to be of low significance. A total of 47 relatives of PwDs within the Swedish Technology and Dementia project were interviewed telephonically using a modified version of the Patient perspective on Care and Rehabilitation process instrument. A total of 46 participants were divided into two groups depending on whether they valued the intervention to be of great significance (GS group; N = 33) or of some/no significance (SNS group; N = 13). Several aspects of the intervention were perceived as highly important, e.g. being shown consideration and respect, and having somewhere to turn. The results indicate that relatives in the GS group perceived certain aspects of the intervention process as highly fulfilled to a larger extent than did relatives in the SNS group. This study illustrates how process evaluations can be used to increase the understanding and to identify improvement aspects of interventions. Process evaluation is a good method for understanding how interventions can be improved - a keystone for quality work. Based on relatives' ratings, a high fulfilment of the AT intervention process was associated with the perception of a significant outcome of the intervention.
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Chemotherapy increases caspase-cleaved cytokeratin 18 in the serum of breast cancer patients
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Ulukaya, Engin; Karaagac, Esra; Ari, Ferda; Oral, Arzu Y.; Adim, Saduman B.; Tokullugil, Asuman H.; Evrensel, Türkkan
2011-01-01
Apoptosis is thought to be induced by chemotherapy in cancer patients. Therefore, the measurement of its amplitude may be a useful tool to predict the effectiveness of cancer treatment sooner than conventional methods do. In the study presented, apoptosis was assessed with an ELISA-based assay in which caspase-cleaved cytokeratin 18 (M30-antigen), a novel specific biomarker of apoptosis, is measured. Thirty seven patients with malignant (nonmetastatic and metastatic) breast cancer, 35 patients with benign breast disease, and 34 healthy subjects were studied. Cancer patients received neoadjuvant chemotherapy consisting of either fluorouracil, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide (FEC) or epirubicin plus docetaxel (ED). Apoptosis was detected before chemotherapy, 24 and 48 h after chemotherapy in the malignant group. It was found that the baseline apoptosis level in either malignant but nonmetastatic group or benign group was not statistically different from that in the control group (p>0.05). However, it was statistically significantly higher in the metastatic group than that in the control group (p<0.05). Following the drug application, M30-antigen levels significantly increased at 24 h (p<0.05). The baseline M30-antigen levels increased about 3-times in patients showing tumor regression. M30-antigen level is increased after chemotherapy and its measurement may help clinicians to predict the effectiveness of chemotherapy sooner in breast cancer cases although confirmative larger trials are needed
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Zongxiang Mei; Chad Pierskalla; Michael Shuett
2007-01-01
Thirty-five or more fee-fishing businesses in West Virginia are often characterized as small businesses, and they could benefit from connecting with larger travel packages that are more likely to attract out-of state anglers. The objectives of this study are to: (1) identify mini-market segments based on fee-fishing experiences; (2) examine how fee-fishing mini-markets...
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van der Leij, Aryan; van Daal, Victor H. P.
1999-01-01
Ten students (age 10) with dyslexia were compared to 10 chronological-age controls and 20 reading-age controls. Response latencies of the students with dyslexia were slower when familiar words, letter clusters, and nonwords had to be named. A larger word-frequency effect and larger word-length effect indicate difficulty with increasing task…
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The earth is flat (p > 0.05): significance thresholds and the crisis of unreplicable research.
Amrhein, Valentin; Korner-Nievergelt, Fränzi; Roth, Tobias
2017-01-01
The widespread use of 'statistical significance' as a license for making a claim of a scientific finding leads to considerable distortion of the scientific process (according to the American Statistical Association). We review why degrading p -values into 'significant' and 'nonsignificant' contributes to making studies irreproducible, or to making them seem irreproducible. A major problem is that we tend to take small p -values at face value, but mistrust results with larger p -values. In either case, p -values tell little about reliability of research, because they are hardly replicable even if an alternative hypothesis is true. Also significance ( p ≤ 0.05) is hardly replicable: at a good statistical power of 80%, two studies will be 'conflicting', meaning that one is significant and the other is not, in one third of the cases if there is a true effect. A replication can therefore not be interpreted as having failed only because it is nonsignificant. Many apparent replication failures may thus reflect faulty judgment based on significance thresholds rather than a crisis of unreplicable research. Reliable conclusions on replicability and practical importance of a finding can only be drawn using cumulative evidence from multiple independent studies. However, applying significance thresholds makes cumulative knowledge unreliable. One reason is that with anything but ideal statistical power, significant effect sizes will be biased upwards. Interpreting inflated significant results while ignoring nonsignificant results will thus lead to wrong conclusions. But current incentives to hunt for significance lead to selective reporting and to publication bias against nonsignificant findings. Data dredging, p -hacking, and publication bias should be addressed by removing fixed significance thresholds. Consistent with the recommendations of the late Ronald Fisher, p -values should be interpreted as graded measures of the strength of evidence against the null hypothesis
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Continues administration of Nano-PSO significantly increased survival of genetic CJD mice.
Binyamin, Orli; Keller, Guy; Frid, Kati; Larush, Liraz; Magdassi, Shlomo; Gabizon, Ruth
2017-12-01
We have shown previously that Nano-PSO, a nanodroplet formulation of pomegranate seed oil, delayed progression of neurodegeneration signs when administered for a designated period of time to TgMHu2ME199K mice, modeling for genetic prion disease. In the present work, we treated these mice with a self-emulsion formulation of Nano-PSO or a parallel Soybean oil formulation from their day of birth until a terminal disease stage. We found that long term Nano-PSO administration resulted in increased survival of TgMHu2ME199K lines by several months. Interestingly, initiation of treatment at day 1 had no clinical advantage over initiation at day 70, however cessation of treatment at 9months of age resulted in the rapid loss of the beneficial clinical effect. Pathological studies revealed that treatment with Nano-PSO resulted in the reduction of GAG accumulation and lipid oxidation, indicating a strong neuroprotective effect. Contrarily, the clinical effect of Nano-PSO did not correlate with reduction in the levels of disease related PrP, the main prion marker. We conclude that long term administration of Nano-PSO is safe and may be effective in the prevention/delay of onset of neurodegenerative conditions such as genetic CJD. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.
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Association between iron level, glucose impairment and increased DNA damage during pregnancy.
Zein, Salam; Rachidi, Samar; Shami, Nadine; Sharara, Iman; Cheikh-Ali, Khawla; Gauchez, Anne-Sophie; Moulis, Jean-Marc; Ayoubi, Jean-Marc; Salameh, Pascale; Hininger-Favier, Isabelle
2017-09-01
Elevated circulating ferritin has been reported to increase the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). When high ferritin translates into high iron stores, iron excess is also a condition leading to free radical damage. We aimed to evaluate the relationship between oxidative stress (OS) induced by iron status and GDM risk in non iron-supplemented pregnant women. This was a pilot observational study conducted on 93 non-anemic pregnant women. Iron status was assessed at the first trimester of gestation. Blood sampling was done at 24-28 weeks' gestation for oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), insulin and biological markers of oxidative damage tests. A significant increase in DNA damage was found in patients who developed GDM. Women with elevated DNA damage had a six-fold increased risk of developing GDM (Exp (B)=6.851, P=0.038; 95% CI [1.108-42.375]). The serum ferritin levels at first trimester were significantly correlated to lipid peroxidation (rho=0.24, p=0.012). The stratified analysis suggests that ferritin is a modifying factor for the correlation of oxidative stress (OS) and glucose intolerance. Moderate ferritin levels due to iron intake without iron-supplement, at early pregnancy is a modifying factor for the correlation of oxidative damage and glucose intolerance in pregnant women. Larger studies to evaluate the risk of food iron intake induced increased oxidative damage in offspring are warranted to propose nutrition advice regarding iron intake in women with a high risk of GDM. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.
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Larger CO2 source at the equatorial Pacific during the last deglaciation
Kubota, Kaoru; Yokoyama, Yusuke; Ishikawa, Tsuyoshi; Obrochta, Stephen; Suzuki, Atsushi
2014-01-01
While biogeochemical and physical processes in the Southern Ocean are thought to be central to atmospheric CO2 rise during the last deglaciation, the role of the equatorial Pacific, where the largest CO2 source exists at present, remains largely unconstrained. Here we present seawater pH and pCO2 variations from fossil Porites corals in the mid equatorial Pacific offshore Tahiti based on a newly calibrated boron isotope paleo-pH proxy. Our new data, together with recalibrated existing data, indicate that a significant pCO2 increase (pH decrease), accompanied by anomalously large marine 14C reservoir ages, occurred following not only the Younger Dryas, but also Heinrich Stadial 1. These findings indicate an expanded zone of equatorial upwelling and resultant CO2 emission, which may be derived from higher subsurface dissolved inorganic carbon concentration. PMID:24918354
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Dual n-back training increases the capacity of the focus of attention.
Lilienthal, Lindsey; Tamez, Elaine; Shelton, Jill Talley; Myerson, Joel; Hale, Sandra
2013-02-01
Working memory (WM) training has been reported to benefit abilities as diverse as fluid intelligence (Jaeggi et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 105:6829-6833, 2008) and reading comprehension (Chein & Morrison, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 17:193-199, 2010), but transfer is not always observed (for reviews, see Morrison & Chein, Psychonomics Bulletin & Review, 18:46-60, 2011; Shipstead et al., Psychological Bulletin, 138:628-654, 2012). In contrast, recent WM training studies have consistently reported improvement on the trained tasks. The basis for these training benefits has received little attention, however, and it is not known which WM components and/or processes are being improved. Therefore, the goal of the present study was to investigate five possible mechanisms underlying the effects of adaptive dual n-back training on working memory (i.e., improvements in executive attention, updating, and focus switching, as well as increases in the capacity of the focus of attention and short-term memory). In addition to a no-contact control group, the present study also included an active control group whose members received nonadaptive training on the same task. All three groups showed significant improvements on the n-back task from pretest to posttest, but adaptive training produced larger improvements than did nonadaptive training, which in turn produced larger improvements than simply retesting. Adaptive, but not nonadaptive, training also resulted in improvements on an untrained running span task that measured the capacity of the focus of attention. No other differential improvements were observed, suggesting that increases in the capacity of the focus of attention underlie the benefits of adaptive dual n-back training.
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Larger black flour beetles (LBFB), Cynaeus angustus, feed on saprophytic fungi found in gin trash piles, and become nuisance pests in homes and businesses. We examined the dose-response of three entomopathogenic nematode species (Steinernema carpocapsae, S. feltiae, and Heterorhabditis bacteriophora...
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Zhu, Guanglong; Peng, Shaobing; Huang, Jianliang; Cui, Kehui; Nie, Lixiao; Wang, Fei
2016-01-01
The yield potential of rice (Oryza sativa L.) has experienced two significant growth periods that coincide with the introduction of semi-dwarfism and the utilization of heterosis. In present study, we determined the annual increase in the grain yield of rice varieties grown from 1936 to 2005 in Middle Reaches of Yangtze River and examined the contributions of RUE (radiation-use efficiency, the conversion efficiency of pre-anthesis intercepted global radiation to biomass) and NUE (nitrogen-use efficiency, the ratio of grain yield to aboveground N accumulation) to these improvements. An examination of the 70-year period showed that the annual gains of 61.9 and 75.3 kg ha−1 in 2013 and 2014, respectively, corresponded to an annual increase of 1.18 and 1.16% in grain yields, respectively. The improvements in grain yield resulted from increases in the harvest index and biomass, and the sink size (spikelets per panicle) was significantly enlarged because of breeding for larger panicles. Improvements were observed in RUE and NUE through advancements in breeding. Moreover, both RUE and NUE were significantly correlated with the grain yield. Thus, our study suggests that genetic improvements in rice grain yield are associated with increased RUE and NUE. PMID:26876641
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Education increases reserve against Alzheimer's disease - evidence from structural MRI analysis
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Liu, Yawu; Julkunen, Valtteri; Paajanen, Teemu; Soininen, Hilkka; Westman, Eric; Wahlund, Lars-Olof; Aitken, Andrew; Sobow, Tomasz; Mecocci, Patrizia; Tsolaki, Magda; Vellas, Bruno; Muehlboeck, Sebastian; Spenger, Christian; Lovestone, Simon; Simmons, Andrew
2012-01-01
The aim of this study was to determine whether years of schooling influences regional cortical thicknesses and volumes in Alzheimer's disease (AD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and healthy age-matched controls. Using an automated image analysis pipeline, 33 regional cortical thickness and 15 regional volumes measures from MRI images were determined in 121 subjects with MCI, 121 patients with AD, and 113 controls from AddNeuroMed study. Correlations with years of schooling were determined and more highly and less highly educated subjects compared, controlling for intracranial volume, age, gender, country of origin, cognitive status, and multiple testing. After controlling for confounding factors and multiple testing, in the control group, subjects with more education had larger regional cortical thickness in transverse temporal cortex, insula, and isthmus of cingulate cortex than subjects with less education. However, in the AD group, the subjects with more education had smaller regional cortical thickness in temporal gyrus, inferior and superior parietal gyri, and lateral occipital cortex than the subjects with less education. No significant difference was found in the MCI group. Education may increase regional cortical thickness in healthy controls, leading to increased brain reserve, as well as helping AD patients to cope better with the effects of brain atrophy by increasing cognitive reserve. (orig.)
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The choice of strategic alternatives under increasing regulation in high technology companies.
Birnbaum, P H
1984-09-01
The strategic response of U.S. high technology companies in the medical X-ray manufacturing industry to increased governmental regulations from 1962 to 1977 is examined. Results suggest that regulations increase consumer and competitor uncertainty, with the consequence that firms select less risky strategies and decrease the riskier new product invention strategy. Larger firms reduce inventions less than smaller firms.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Yamakado, Koichiro; Nakatsuka, Atsuhiro; Kobayashi, Shigeki; Akeboshi, Masao; Takaki, Haruyuki; Kariya, Zentaro; Kinbara, Hiroyuki; Arima, Kiminobu; Yanagawa, Makoto; Hori, Yasuhide; Kato, Hiromi; Sugimura, Yoshiki; Takeda, Kan
2006-01-01
The purpose of the study was to evaluate the feasibility, safety, and therapeutic effects of the combination of renal arterial embolization and radiofrequency (RF) ablation to reinforce the anticancer effect on renal cell carcinomas (RCCs) measuring 3.5 cm or larger. This study was undertaken to evaluate this combined therapy on large RCCs-based tumor geometry. Eleven patients with 12 RCCs 3.5 cm or larger in diameter (3.5-9.0 cm) underwent combined therapy. Two were exophytic tumors, and the remaining 10 tumors had components extending into the renal sinus fat. Tumor vessels were selectively embolized in nine patients and the renal artery was completely embolized in two patients with polyvinyl alcohol or ethanol mixed with iodized oil. RF ablation was percutaneously done under the computed tomographic (CT)-fluoroscopic guidance. Response to treatment was evaluated by dynamic contrast-enhanced CT and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. Tumor enhancement was eliminated after a single RF session in nine tumors (75%), after two sessions in two tumors (17%), and after four sessions in one tumor (8%). Both exophytic tumors (100%) and 7 of 10 tumors having components in the renal sinus fat (70%) were completely ablated with a single RF session. All tumors remained controlled during a mean follow-up period of 13 months and showed significant reduction in tumor sizes (5.2 ± 1.7 cm to 3.6 ± 1.4 cm, p < 0.001). A delayed abscess developed in the ablated lesion in a patient, which was percutaneously drainaged. Combined therapy as described in this report is a feasible, relatively safe, and promising treatment method for large RCCs regardless of tumor geometry
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Tsao, C-C; Campbell, J E; Mena-Carrasco, M; Spak, S N; Carmichael, G R; Chen, Y
2012-10-02
Although biofuels present an opportunity for renewable energy production, significant land-use change resulting from biofuels may contribute to negative environmental, economic, and social impacts. Here we examined non-GHG air pollution impacts from both indirect and direct land-use change caused by the anticipated expansion of Brazilian biofuels production. We synthesized information on fuel loading, combustion completeness, and emission factors, and developed a spatially explicit approach with uncertainty and sensitivity analyses to estimate air pollution emissions. The land-use change emissions, ranging from 6.7 to 26.4 Tg PM(2.5), were dominated by deforestation burning practices associated with indirect land-use change. We also found Brazilian sugar cane ethanol and soybean biodiesel including direct and indirect land-use change effects have much larger life-cycle emissions than conventional fossil fuels for six regulated air pollutants. The emissions magnitude and uncertainty decrease with longer life-cycle integration periods. Results are conditional to the single LUC scenario employed here. After LUC uncertainty, the largest source of uncertainty in LUC emissions stems from the combustion completeness during deforestation. While current biofuels cropland burning policies in Brazil seek to reduce life-cycle emissions, these policies do not address the large emissions caused by indirect land-use change.
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Van Strien, Jan W; Franken, Ingmar H A; Huijding, Jorg
2014-01-01
According to the snake detection hypothesis (Isbell, 2006), fear specifically of snakes may have pushed evolutionary changes in the primate visual system allowing pre-attentional visual detection of fearful stimuli. A previous study demonstrated that snake pictures, when compared to spiders or bird pictures, draw more early attention as reflected by larger early posterior negativity (EPN). Here we report two studies that further tested the snake detection hypothesis. In Study 1, we tested whether the enlarged EPN is specific for snakes or also generalizes to other reptiles. Twenty-four healthy, non-phobic women watched the random rapid serial presentation of snake, crocodile, and turtle pictures. The EPN was scored as the mean activity at occipital electrodes (PO3, O1, Oz, PO4, O2) in the 225-300 ms time window after picture onset. The EPN was significantly larger for snake pictures than for pictures of the other reptiles. In Study 2, we tested whether disgust plays a role in the modulation of the EPN and whether preferential processing of snakes also can be found in men. 12 men and 12 women watched snake, spider, and slug pictures. Both men and women exhibited the largest EPN amplitudes to snake pictures, intermediate amplitudes to spider pictures and the smallest amplitudes to slug pictures. Disgust ratings were not associated with EPN amplitudes. The results replicate previous findings and suggest that ancestral priorities modulate the early capture of visual attention.
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Clinical significance of anismus in encopresis.
Catto-Smith, A G; Nolan, T M; Coffey, C M
1998-09-01
Treatments designed to relieve paradoxical contraction of the anal sphincters during defecation (anismus) have had limited success in children with encopresis. This has raised doubts as to the clinical relevance of this diagnosis in childhood as anorectal dysfunction. Our aim was to determine whether, in patients who had treatment-resistant encopresis, the presence of electromyographic anismus was associated with increased faecal retention. Sixty-eight children with soiling (mean age 8.7+/-2.06 years) were assessed by clinical examination, abdominal radiography and then with anorectal manometry. Patients with electromyographic anismus (n=32; 47%) had significantly increased radiographic rectal faecal retention and were significantly less likely to be able to defecate water-filled balloons. There were no significant differences in response to prior therapy, history of primary encopresis, behavioural adjustment or in sociodemographic data. Our results suggest that electromyographic anismus is associated with obstructed defecation and faecal retention.
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Sundberg, J.
1987-01-01
The heat pump systems investigated in this project supply heat to the following loads: the Adult High School in Oestra Grevie, a cycle factory in Vandsbro, detached houses in Surte and detached houses in the Sandhed area of Orsa. The heat pumps in all four have operated reasonably well. As far as design is concerned the systems are of monovalent type with low-temperature heating systems. Although the Oestra Grevie installation incorporates an oil-fired boiler for supplying heat during the winter to an older part of the school, there is no load-sharing between the boiler and the heat pump. The Vansbro installation incorporates an eletric boiler, but is has not been necessary in practice to use it. As a result, the systems have not suffered from what would normally be the relatively common problems encountered in bivalent systems from joint operation. Total heat and energy demands are generally over-estimated, which has meant that heat pumps are larger than was originally intended. In purely physical terms, specific heat abstraction from the ground in kWh/m/sup 2/ per year for the various systems could be increased by 100-700%, although abstraction should also be related to the intended use of the ground. However, it is clear that it could be higher in the systems investigated here. If building these systems today, optimum system design would enable capital costs to be reduced by 10-35%. However, there does not appear to be any scope for general cost reductions per m of hose in large collector systems: the decisive factors are ground conditions and the distance between the collector and the heat pump in each individual case.
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Grunert, R; Schleifenbaum, S; Möbius, R; Sommer, G; Zajonz, D; Hammer, N; Prietzel, T
2017-02-01
Background: In total hip arthroplasty (THA), femoral head diameter has not been regarded as a key parameter which should be restored when reconstructing joint biomechanics and geometry. Apart from the controversial discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of using larger diameter heads, their higher cost is another important reason that they have only been used to a limited extent. The goal of this study was to analyse the price structure of prosthetic heads in comparison to other components used in THA. A large group of patients with hip endoprostheses were evaluated with respect to the implanted socket diameter and thus the theoretically attainable head diameter. Materials and Methods: The relative prices of various THA components (cups, inserts, stems and ball heads) distributed by two leading German manufacturers were determined and analysed. Special attention was paid to different sizes and varieties in a series of components. A large patient population treated with THA was evaluated with respect to the implanted cup diameter and therefore the theoretically attainable head diameter. Results: The pricing analysis of the THA components of two manufacturers showed identical prices for cups, inserts and stems in a series. In contrast to this, the prices for prosthetic heads with a diameter of 36-44 mm were 11-50 % higher than for 28 mm heads. Identical prices for larger heads were the exception. The distribution of the head diameter in 2719 THA cases showed significant differences between the actually implanted and the theoretically attainable heads. Conclusion: There are proven advantages in using larger diameter ball heads in THA and the remaining problems can be solved. It is therefore desirable to correct the current pricing practice of charging higher prices for larger components. Instead, identical prices should be charged for all head diameters in a series, as is currently established practice for all other THA components. Thus when
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Ceballos, Isabel; Ruiz, Michael; Fernández, Cristhian; Peña, Ricardo
2013-01-01
The arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis is formed between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and plant roots. The fungi provide the plant with inorganic phosphate (P). The symbiosis can result in increased plant growth. Although most global food crops naturally form this symbiosis, very few studies have shown that their practical application can lead to large-scale increases in food production. Application of AMF to crops in the tropics is potentially effective for improving yields. However, a main problem of using AMF on a large-scale is producing cheap inoculum in a clean sterile carrier and sufficiently concentrated to cheaply transport. Recently, mass-produced in vitro inoculum of the model mycorrhizal fungus Rhizophagus irregularis became available, potentially making its use viable in tropical agriculture. One of the most globally important food plants in the tropics is cassava. We evaluated the effect of in vitro mass-produced R. irregularis inoculum on the yield of cassava crops at two locations in Colombia. A significant effect of R. irregularis inoculation on yield occurred at both sites. At one site, yield increases were observed irrespective of P fertilization. At the other site, inoculation with AMF and 50% of the normally applied P gave the highest yield. Despite that AMF inoculation resulted in greater food production, economic analyses revealed that AMF inoculation did not give greater return on investment than with conventional cultivation. However, the amount of AMF inoculum used was double the recommended dose and was calculated with European, not Colombian, inoculum prices. R. irregularis can also be manipulated genetically in vitro, leading to improved plant growth. We conclude that application of in vitro R. irregularis is currently a way of increasing cassava yields, that there is a strong potential for it to be economically profitable and that there is enormous potential to improve this efficiency further in the future. PMID:23950975
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Isabel Ceballos
Full Text Available The arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis is formed between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF and plant roots. The fungi provide the plant with inorganic phosphate (P. The symbiosis can result in increased plant growth. Although most global food crops naturally form this symbiosis, very few studies have shown that their practical application can lead to large-scale increases in food production. Application of AMF to crops in the tropics is potentially effective for improving yields. However, a main problem of using AMF on a large-scale is producing cheap inoculum in a clean sterile carrier and sufficiently concentrated to cheaply transport. Recently, mass-produced in vitro inoculum of the model mycorrhizal fungus Rhizophagus irregularis became available, potentially making its use viable in tropical agriculture. One of the most globally important food plants in the tropics is cassava. We evaluated the effect of in vitro mass-produced R. irregularis inoculum on the yield of cassava crops at two locations in Colombia. A significant effect of R. irregularis inoculation on yield occurred at both sites. At one site, yield increases were observed irrespective of P fertilization. At the other site, inoculation with AMF and 50% of the normally applied P gave the highest yield. Despite that AMF inoculation resulted in greater food production, economic analyses revealed that AMF inoculation did not give greater return on investment than with conventional cultivation. However, the amount of AMF inoculum used was double the recommended dose and was calculated with European, not Colombian, inoculum prices. R. irregularis can also be manipulated genetically in vitro, leading to improved plant growth. We conclude that application of in vitro R. irregularis is currently a way of increasing cassava yields, that there is a strong potential for it to be economically profitable and that there is enormous potential to improve this efficiency further in the future.
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Assignment methodology for larger RNA oligonucleotides: Application to an ATP-binding RNA aptamer
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Dieckmann, Thorsten; Feigon, Juli
1997-01-01
The use of uniform 13C, 15N labeling in the NMR spectroscopic study of RNA structures has greatly facilitated the assignment process in small RNA oligonucleotides. For ribose spinsystem assignments, exploitation of these labels has followed previously developed methods for the study of proteins. However, for sequential assignment of the exchangeable and nonexchangeable protons of the nucleotides, it has been necessary to develop a variety of new NMR experiments. Even these are of limited utility in the unambiguous assignment of larger RNAs due to the short carbon relaxation times and extensive spectral overlap for all nuclei.These problems can largely be overcome by the additional use of base-type selectively 13C, 15N-labeled RNA in combination with a judicious use of related RNAs with base substitutions. We report the application of this approach to a 36-nucleotide ATP-binding RNA aptamer in complex with AMP. Complete sequential 1H assignments, as well as the majority of 13C and 15N assignments, were obtained
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Performance of large-R jets and jet substructure reconstruction with the ATLAS detector
The ATLAS collaboration
2012-01-01
This paper presents the application of techniques to study jet substructure. The performance of modified jet algorithms for a variety of jet types and event topologies is investigated. Properties of jets subjected to the mass-drop filtering, trimming and pruning algorithms are found to have a reduced sensitivity to multiple proton-proton interactions and exhibit improved stability at high luminosity. Monte Carlo studies of the signal-background discrimination with jet grooming in new physics searches based on jet invariant mass and jet substructure properties are also presented. The application of jet trimming is shown to improve the robustness of large-R jet measurements, reduce sensitivity to the superfluous effects due to the intense environment of the high luminosity LHC, and improve the physics potential of searches for heavy boosted objects. The analyses presented in this note use the full 2011 ATLAS dataset, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.7 \\pm 0.2 fb−1 .
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Sauers, Hadley S; Beck, Andrew F; Kahn, Robert S; Simmons, Jeffrey M
2014-11-01
One important benefit of successful patient recruitment is increased generalizability of findings. We sought to optimize enrollment of children admitted with asthma as part of a population-based, prospective, observational cohort study with the goal of enrolling at least 60% of all eligible and staffed patients. Quality improvement methods were used to improve cohort recruitment. Weekly meetings with study staff and study leadership were held to plan and discuss how to maximize recruitment rates. Significant initial variability in recruitment success prompted the team to use small-scale tests of change to increase recruitment numbers. A number of tests were trialed, focusing primarily on reducing patient refusals and improving recruitment process efficiency. Recruitment rates were calculated by dividing eligible by enrolled patients and displayed using annotated Shewhart control charts. Control charts were used to illustrate week-to-week variability while also enabling differentiation of common-cause and special-cause variation. The study enrolled 774 patients, representing 54% of all eligible and 59% of those eligible for whom staff were available to enroll. Our mean weekly recruitment rate increased from 55% during the first 3 months of the study to a statistically significant sustained rate of 61%. This was sustained given numerous obstacles, such as departing and hiring of staff and adding a second recruitment location. Implementing quality improvement methods within a larger research study led to an increase in the rate of recruitment as well as the stability in recruitment rates from week-to-week. Copyright © 2014 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
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Wei, Huaibin; Yu, Huibin; Pan, Hongwei; Gao, Hongjie
2018-05-01
UV-visible absorption spectroscopy combined with principal component analysis (PCA) and two-dimensional correlation (2D correlation) is used to trace components of dissolved organic matter (DOM) extracted from soils in a larger estuarine delta and to investigate spatial variations of DOM fractions. Soil samples of different depths were collected from native halophyte soils along a saline gradient, i.e., Suaeda salsa Comm. (SSC), Chenopodium album Comm. (CAC), Phragmites australis Comm. (PAC), and Artemisia selengensis Comm. (ASC). Molecular weights of DOM within the SSC soil profile were the lowest, followed by the CAC, PAC, and ASC soil profiles. Humification degree of DOM within the ASC soil profile was the highest, followed by the PAC, SSC, and CAC soil profiles. DOM within the soil profiles mainly contained phenolic, carboxylic, microbial products, and aromatic and alkyl groups through the PCA, which presented the significant differentiation among the four native halophyte soil profiles. The 2D UV correlation spectra of DOM within the SSC soil profile indicated that the variations of the phenolic groups were the largest, followed by the carboxylic groups, microbial products, and humified organic materials according to the band changing order of 285 → 365 → 425 → 520 nm. The 2D UV correlation spectra of DOM within the CAC soil profiles determined that the decreasing order of the variations was phenolic groups > carboxylic groups > microbial products according the band changing order of 285 → 365 → 425 nm. The 2D UV correlation spectra of DOM within the PAC soil profile proved that the variations of the phenolic groups were larger than those of the carboxylic groups according to the band changing order of 285 → 365 nm. The 2D UV correlation spectra of DOM within the ASC soil profile demonstrated that the variations of the phenolic groups were larger than those of the other DOM fractions according to the broad cross-peak at
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How the R factor changes as molecules become larger
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Krebs, Frederik C
2000-01-01
The R factors and the numbers of independent atoms for the entire set of molecular organic structures contained in the Cambridge Structural Database were retrieved and analysed. The average R factor for all structures containing the same number of independent atoms was plotted against the number...... of independent atoms. A clear correlation was observed. The plot is suggested to give a graphical overview of how values of the R factor for large-molecule structures with 200-1000 independent atoms increase as the number of independent atoms increases. (C) 2000 International Union of Crystallography Printed...
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Monitoring health spending increases: incremental budget analyses reveal challenging tradeoffs.
Hartman, Micah; Smith, Cynthia; Heffler, Stephen; Freeland, Mark
2006-01-01
With each passing decade, health care has consumed a larger share of gross domestic product (GDP) and Federal budgets. By the 2000-2004 period, society was willing to devote over 20 percent of the cumulative increase in GDP and the cumulative increase in Federal outlays towards health care. The financing challenges are expected to become more acute for private payers as well as Federal, State, and local budgets. With the implementation of Part D in 2006, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget projects that Federal budget pressures will heighten, bringing increased attention to Medicare's long-term fiscal outlook.
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Incidence and significance of pleural effusion after hepatoma surgery
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Song, Jae Uoo; Im, Jung Gi; Ahn, Joong Mo; Kim, Seung Cheol; Kim, Sam Soo; Kim, Seung Hoon; Yeon, Kyung Mo
1994-01-01
We performed this study to evaluate the clinical significance and temporal changes of pleural effusion developed after the resection of hepatoma. We reviewed retrospectively follow-up chest radiographs of 97 patients who had undergone operation for hepatoma and had no radiologically demonstrable postoperative complications. The duration of pleural effusion was classified into five groups and the amount of pleural effusion at one week after operation was graded into four groups. Statistical significance of the relationship between the duration, amount of pleural effusion and five factors, which are location and size of tumor, age of the patients, methods of operation, and preoperative liver function, was studied respectively. Pleural effusion was developed in 63.9% (62/97) and the mean duration was 2.5 weeks. In 92% (52/56), pleural effusion disappeared spontaneously within four weeks. Patients who had hepatoma in upper portion of the right lobe developed more frequent pleural effusion which persisted longer, and was larger in amount at one week after operation(p<0.05). There were no statistically significant differences between pleural effusion and the other four factors. Pleural effusion following hepatoma surgery should not be regarded as a sign of post-operative complication, as it invariably disappears spontaneously within four weeks. Development of pleural effusion is considered to be caused by local irritation and disturbance of lymphatic flow at the diaphragm
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Daigger, Glen T; Siczka, John S; Smith, Thomas F; Frank, David A; McCorquodale, J A
2017-08-01
The need to increase the peak wet weather secondary treatment capacity of the City of Akron, Ohio, Water Reclamation Facility (WRF) provided the opportunity to test an integrated methodology for maximizing the peak wet weather secondary treatment capacity of activated sludge systems. An initial investigation, consisting of process modeling of the secondary treatment system and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis of the existing relatively shallow secondary clarifiers (3.3 and 3.7 m sidewater depth in 30.5 m diameter units), indicated that a significant increase in capacity from 416 000 to 684 000 m3/d or more was possible by adding step feed capabilities to the existing bioreactors and upgrading the existing secondary clarifiers. One of the six treatment units at the WRF was modified, and an extensive 2-year testing program was conducted to determine the total peak wet weather secondary treatment capacity achievable. The results demonstrated that a peak wet weather secondary treatment capacity approaching 974 000 m3/d is possible as long as secondary clarifier solids and hydraulic loadings could be separately controlled using the step feed capability provided. Excellent sludge settling characteristics are routinely experienced at the City of Akron WRF, raising concerns that the identified peak wet weather secondary treatment capacity could not be maintained should sludge settling characteristics deteriorate for some reason. Computational fluid dynamics analysis indicated that the impact of the deterioration of sludge settling characteristics could be mitigated and the identified peak wet weather secondary treatment capacity maintained by further use of the step feed capability provided to further reduce secondary clarifier solids loading rates at the identified high surface overflow rates. The results also demonstrated that effluent limits not only for total suspended solids (TSS) and five-day carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand (cBOD5) could be
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Oikawa Masahiro
2011-12-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background It has been postulated that ionizing radiation induces breast cancers among atomic bomb (A-bomb survivors. We have reported a higher incidence of HER2 and C-MYC oncogene amplification in breast cancers from A-bomb survivors. The purpose of this study was to clarify the effect of A-bomb radiation exposure on genomic instability (GIN, which is an important hallmark of carcinogenesis, in archival formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE tissues of breast cancer by using microarray-comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH. Methods Tumor DNA was extracted from FFPE tissues of invasive ductal cancers from 15 survivors who were exposed at 1.5 km or less from the hypocenter and 13 calendar year-matched non-exposed patients followed by aCGH analysis using a high-density oligonucleotide microarray. The total length of copy number aberrations (CNA was used as an indicator of GIN, and correlation with clinicopathological factors were statistically tested. Results The mean of the derivative log ratio spread (DLRSpread, which estimates the noise by calculating the spread of log ratio differences between consecutive probes for all chromosomes, was 0.54 (range, 0.26 to 1.05. The concordance of results between aCGH and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH for HER2 gene amplification was 88%. The incidence of HER2 amplification and histological grade was significantly higher in the A-bomb survivors than control group (P = 0.04, respectively. The total length of CNA tended to be larger in the A-bomb survivors (P = 0.15. Correlation analysis of CNA and clinicopathological factors revealed that DLRSpread was negatively correlated with that significantly (P = 0.034, r = -0.40. Multivariate analysis with covariance revealed that the exposure to A-bomb was a significant (P = 0.005 independent factor which was associated with larger total length of CNA of breast cancers. Conclusions Thus, archival FFPE tissues from A-bomb survivors are useful for
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Oikawa, Masahiro; Yoshiura, Koh-ichiro; Kondo, Hisayoshi; Miura, Shiro; Nagayasu, Takeshi; Nakashima, Masahiro
2011-01-01
It has been postulated that ionizing radiation induces breast cancers among atomic bomb (A-bomb) survivors. We have reported a higher incidence of HER2 and C-MYC oncogene amplification in breast cancers from A-bomb survivors. The purpose of this study was to clarify the effect of A-bomb radiation exposure on genomic instability (GIN), which is an important hallmark of carcinogenesis, in archival formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues of breast cancer by using microarray-comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH). Tumor DNA was extracted from FFPE tissues of invasive ductal cancers from 15 survivors who were exposed at 1.5 km or less from the hypocenter and 13 calendar year-matched non-exposed patients followed by aCGH analysis using a high-density oligonucleotide microarray. The total length of copy number aberrations (CNA) was used as an indicator of GIN, and correlation with clinicopathological factors were statistically tested. The mean of the derivative log ratio spread (DLRSpread), which estimates the noise by calculating the spread of log ratio differences between consecutive probes for all chromosomes, was 0.54 (range, 0.26 to 1.05). The concordance of results between aCGH and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) for HER2 gene amplification was 88%. The incidence of HER2 amplification and histological grade was significantly higher in the A-bomb survivors than control group (P = 0.04, respectively). The total length of CNA tended to be larger in the A-bomb survivors (P = 0.15). Correlation analysis of CNA and clinicopathological factors revealed that DLRSpread was negatively correlated with that significantly (P = 0.034, r = -0.40). Multivariate analysis with covariance revealed that the exposure to A-bomb was a significant (P = 0.005) independent factor which was associated with larger total length of CNA of breast cancers. Thus, archival FFPE tissues from A-bomb survivors are useful for genome-wide aCGH analysis. Our results suggested that A
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Oikawa, Masahiro; Yoshiura, Koh-ichiro; Kondo, Hisayoshi; Miura, Shiro; Nagayasu, Takeshi; Nakashima, Masahiro
2011-12-07
It has been postulated that ionizing radiation induces breast cancers among atomic bomb (A-bomb) survivors. We have reported a higher incidence of HER2 and C-MYC oncogene amplification in breast cancers from A-bomb survivors. The purpose of this study was to clarify the effect of A-bomb radiation exposure on genomic instability (GIN), which is an important hallmark of carcinogenesis, in archival formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues of breast cancer by using microarray-comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH). Tumor DNA was extracted from FFPE tissues of invasive ductal cancers from 15 survivors who were exposed at 1.5 km or less from the hypocenter and 13 calendar year-matched non-exposed patients followed by aCGH analysis using a high-density oligonucleotide microarray. The total length of copy number aberrations (CNA) was used as an indicator of GIN, and correlation with clinicopathological factors were statistically tested. The mean of the derivative log ratio spread (DLRSpread), which estimates the noise by calculating the spread of log ratio differences between consecutive probes for all chromosomes, was 0.54 (range, 0.26 to 1.05). The concordance of results between aCGH and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) for HER2 gene amplification was 88%. The incidence of HER2 amplification and histological grade was significantly higher in the A-bomb survivors than control group (P = 0.04, respectively). The total length of CNA tended to be larger in the A-bomb survivors (P = 0.15). Correlation analysis of CNA and clinicopathological factors revealed that DLRSpread was negatively correlated with that significantly (P = 0.034, r = -0.40). Multivariate analysis with covariance revealed that the exposure to A-bomb was a significant (P = 0.005) independent factor which was associated with larger total length of CNA of breast cancers. Thus, archival FFPE tissues from A-bomb survivors are useful for genome-wide aCGH analysis. Our results suggested that A
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Jung, Hyun Kyung; Moon, Hee Jung; Kim, Min Jung; Kim, Eun Kyung
2014-01-01
To evaluate the accuracy of benign core biopsy of probably benign breast lesions (category 3) 2 cm or larger on the basis of excisional biopsy and long-term follow-up. We retrospectively reviewed 146 category 3 lesions in 146 patients 2 cm or larger which were diagnosed as benign by ultrasound (US)-guided core biopsy. Patients were initially diagnosed as benign at core needle biopsy and then followed up with excisional biopsy (surgical excision, n=91; US-guided vacuum assisted excision, n=35) or breast ultrasonography (n=20). Of the 126 patients who underwent surgical excision or US-guided vacuum-assisted excision, 114 patients were diagnosed with benign lesions, 10 patients with borderline lesions (benign phyllodes tumor), and two patients with malignant phyllodes tumors. The probabilities of lesions being benign, borderline and malignant were 91.8% (134/146), 6.8% (10/146), and 1.4% (2/146), respectively. Of 13 patients who had growing masses on follow-up ultrasonography, three (23.1%) were non-benign (two benign phyllodes tumors and one malignant phyllodes tumor). US-guided core needle biopsy of probably benign breast mass 2 cm or larger was accurate (98.6%) enough to rule out malignancy. But, it was difficult to rule out borderline lesions even when they were diagnosed as benign.
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Striano, Pasquale; Coppola, Antonietta; Paravidino, Roberta; Malacarne, Michela; Gimelli, Stefania; Robbiano, Angela; Traverso, Monica; Pezzella, Marianna; Belcastro, Vincenzo; Bianchi, Amedeo; Elia, Maurizio; Falace, Antonio; Gazzerro, Elisabetta; Ferlazzo, Edoardo; Freri, Elena; Galasso, Roberta; Gobbi, Giuseppe; Molinatto, Cristina; Cavani, Simona; Zuffardi, Orsetta; Striano, Salvatore; Ferrero, Giovanni Battista; Silengo, Margherita; Cavaliere, Maria Luigia; Benelli, Matteo; Magi, Alberto; Piccione, Maria; Dagna Bricarelli, Franca; Coviello, Domenico A; Fichera, Marco; Minetti, Carlo; Zara, Federico
2012-03-01
To perform an extensive search for genomic rearrangements by microarray-based comparative genomic hybridization in patients with epilepsy. Prospective cohort study. Epilepsy centers in Italy. Two hundred seventy-nine patients with unexplained epilepsy, 265 individuals with nonsyndromic mental retardation but no epilepsy, and 246 healthy control subjects were screened by microarray-based comparative genomic hybridization. Identification of copy number variations (CNVs) and gene enrichment. Rare CNVs occurred in 26 patients (9.3%) and 16 healthy control subjects (6.5%) (P = .26). The CNVs identified in patients were larger (P = .03) and showed higher gene content (P = .02) than those in control subjects. The CNVs larger than 1 megabase (P = .002) and including more than 10 genes (P = .005) occurred more frequently in patients than in control subjects. Nine patients (34.6%) among those harboring rare CNVs showed rearrangements associated with emerging microdeletion or microduplication syndromes. Mental retardation and neuropsychiatric features were associated with rare CNVs (P = .004), whereas epilepsy type was not. The CNV rate in patients with epilepsy and mental retardation or neuropsychiatric features is not different from that observed in patients with mental retardation only. Moreover, significant enrichment of genes involved in ion transport was observed within CNVs identified in patients with epilepsy. Patients with epilepsy show a significantly increased burden of large, rare, gene-rich CNVs, particularly when associated with mental retardation and neuropsychiatric features. The limited overlap between CNVs observed in the epilepsy group and those observed in the group with mental retardation only as well as the involvement of specific (ion channel) genes indicate a specific association between the identified CNVs and epilepsy. Screening for CNVs should be performed for diagnostic purposes preferentially in patients with epilepsy and mental retardation or
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Methadone patients exhibit increased startle and cortisol response after intravenous yohimbine.
Stine, S M; Grillon, C G; Morgan, C A; Kosten, T R; Charney, D S; Krystal, J H
2001-03-01
Brain noradrenergic systems have been shown to be altered in opioid dependence and to mediate aspects of opioid withdrawal. Pre-clinical and clinical studies by others have shown that yohimbine, which increases noradrenergic activity, also increases both baseline and fear enhancement of the magnitude of the acoustic startle response (ASR). In a separate report from this experiment, it was shown that yohimbine produced opioid withdrawal-like symptoms, including anxiety, in clinically stable methadone-maintained patients and also produced elevations in the norepinepherine (NE) metabolite, 3-methoxy-4 hydroxyphenethyleneglycol (MHPG), and cortisol serum levels. The current study reports the effects of intravenous yohimbine hydrochloride, 0.4 mg/kg versus saline (double-blind), on ASR magnitude, plasma MHPG, and cortisol levels in eight methadone-maintained patients and 13 healthy subjects in a double-blind fashion. Yohimbine increased startle magnitude in both groups. There was no basal (placebo day) difference between the startle response of the two groups, but methadone patients had a larger startle magnitude increase in response to yohimbine than healthy controls. Methadone-maintained patients had lower baseline plasma levels of MHPG and similar baseline plasma cortisol levels compared with normal subjects. Yohimbine caused significant elevation in cortisol and MHPG in both groups. Methadone-maintained subjects had higher elevations in cortisol levels and MHPG (methadone main effect) levels in response to yohimbine. However, when MHPG levels were corrected for baseline differences by analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), the yohimbine effect, but not the methadone effect remained statistically significant. These results are consistent with the previous report and support the hypothesis that abnormalities of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and of noradrenergic mechanisms of stress response persist in opioid-agonist maintenance. The ASR effect extends the
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Ferguson, Michael A; Sutton, Robert M; Karlsson, Michael; Sjövall, Fredrik; Becker, Lance B; Berg, Robert A; Margulies, Susan S; Kilbaugh, Todd J
2016-06-01
Cardiac arrest (CA) results in a sepsis-like syndrome with activation of the innate immune system and increased mitochondrial bioenergetics. To determine if platelet mitochondrial respiration increases following CA in a porcine pediatric model of asphyxia-associated ventricular fibrillation (VF) CA, and if this readily obtained biomarker is associated with decreased brain mitochondrial respiration. CA protocol: 7 min of asphyxia, followed by VF, protocolized titration of compression depth to systolic blood pressure of 90 mmHg and vasopressor administration to a coronary perfusion pressure greater than 20 mmHg. platelet integrated mitochondrial electron transport system (ETS) function evaluated pre- and post-CA/ROSC four hours after return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC). Secondary outcome: correlation of platelet mitochondrial bioenergetics to cerebral bioenergetic function. Platelet maximal oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOSCI+CII), P respiration through Complex II (OXPHOSCII, P respiration was not due to uncoupling, as the LEAKCI + CII respiration (mitochondrial respiration independent of ATP-production) was unchanged after CA/ROSC. Larger increases in platelet mitochondrial respiratory control ratio (RCR) compared to pre-CA RCR were significantly correlated with lower RCRs in the cortex (P respiration. Platelet mitochondrial respiration is significantly increased four hours after ROSC. Future studies will identify mechanistic relationships between this serum biomarker and altered cerebral bioenergetics function following cardiac arrest.
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Increased Expression and Aberrant Localization of Mucin 13 in Metastatic Colon Cancer
Gupta, Brij K.; Maher, Diane M.; Ebeling, Mara C.; Sundram, Vasudha; Koch, Michael D.; Lynch, Douglas W.; Bohlmeyer, Teresa; Watanabe, Akira; Aburatani, Hiroyuki; Puumala, Susan E.; Jaggi, Meena
2012-01-01
MUC13 is a newly identified transmembrane mucin. Although MUC13 is known to be overexpressed in ovarian and gastric cancers, limited information is available regarding the expression of MUC13 in metastatic colon cancer. Herein, we investigated the expression profile of MUC13 in colon cancer using a novel anti-MUC13 monoclonal antibody (MAb, clone ppz0020) by immunohistochemical (IHC) analysis. A cohort of colon cancer samples and tissue microarrays containing adjacent normal, non-metastatic colon cancer, metastatic colon cancer, and liver metastasis tissues was used in this study to investigate the expression pattern of MUC13. IHC analysis revealed significantly higher (pcolon cancer samples compared with faint or very low expression in adjacent normal tissues. Interestingly, metastatic colon cancer and liver metastasis tissue samples demonstrated significantly (pcolon cancer and adjacent normal colon samples. Moreover, cytoplasmic and nuclear MUC13 expression correlated with larger and poorly differentiated tumors. Four of six tested colon cancer cell lines also expressed MUC13 at RNA and protein levels. These studies demonstrate a significant increase in MUC13 expression in metastatic colon cancer and suggest a correlation between aberrant MUC13 localization (cytoplasmic and nuclear expression) and metastatic colon cancer. PMID:22914648
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Increasing incidence of thyroid cancer in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Bann, Darrin V; Goyal, Neerav; Camacho, Fabian; Goldenberg, David
2014-12-01
The incidence of thyroid cancer in the United States has increased rapidly and Pennsylvania is the state with the highest rate of thyroid cancer in the country, although the factors driving this increase are unknown. Moreover, it remains unclear whether the increase in thyroid cancer represents a true increase in disease or is the result of overdiagnosis. To compare the increase in thyroid cancer incidence and tumor characteristics in Pennsylvania with the rest of the United States and gain insight into the factors influencing the increased incidence of thyroid cancer. In a population-based study, data on thyroid cancer from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results 9 (SEER-9) registry and the Pennsylvania Cancer Registry (PCR) from 1985 through 2009 were collected and reviewed for information regarding sex, race, histologic type of thyroid cancer, staging, and tumor size at diagnosis. International Classification of Diseases for Oncology, Third Edition code C739 (thyroid carcinoma) was used to identify 110,615 records in the SEER-9 registry and 29,030 records in the PCR. Average annual percent change (AAPC) in thyroid cancer incidence across various demographic groups in Pennsylvania. The AAPC for thyroid cancer in Pennsylvania was 7.1% per year (95% CI, 6.3%-7.9%) vs 4.2% (95% CI, 3.7%-4.7%) per year in the remainder of the United States, and trends in incidence were significantly different (P Pennsylvania than in the rest of the nation, as is the rate of tumors that are larger and higher stage at diagnosis. These findings suggest that rising disease burden has contributed to the increased incidence of thyroid cancer. Etiologic factors promoting the rise in thyroid cancer in Pennsylvania must be investigated and may provide insight into the drivers of the national increase in thyroid cancer.
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AN INCREASE IN THE MASS OF PLANETARY SYSTEMS AROUND LOWER-MASS STARS
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Mulders, Gijs D.; Pascucci, Ilaria; Apai, Dániel
2015-01-01
Trends in the planet population with host star mass provide an avenue to constrain planet formation theories. We derive the planet radius distribution function for Kepler stars of different spectral types, sampling a range in host star masses. We find that M dwarf stars have 3.5 times more small planets (1.0–2.8 R ⨁ ) than main-sequence FGK stars, but two times fewer Neptune-sized and larger (>2.8 R ⨁ ) planets. We find no systematic trend in the planet size distribution between spectral types F, G, and K to explain the increasing occurrence rates. Taking into account the mass–radius relationship and heavy-element mass of observed exoplanets, and assuming those are independent of spectral type, we derive the inventory of the heavy-element mass locked up in exoplanets at short orbits. The overall higher planet occurrence rates around M stars are not consistent with the redistribution of the same mass into more, smaller planets. At the orbital periods and planet radii where Kepler observations are complete for all spectral types, the average heavy-element mass locked up in exoplanets increases roughly inversely with stellar mass from 4 M ⨁ in F stars to 5 M ⨁ in G and K stars to 7 M ⨁ in M stars. This trend stands in stark contrast with observed protoplanetary disk masses that decrease toward lower mass stars, and provides a challenge for current planet formation models. Neither models of in situ formation nor migration of fully formed planets are consistent with these results. Instead, these results are indicative of large-scale inward migration of planetary building blocks—either through type-I migration or radial drift of dust grains—that is more efficient for lower mass stars, but does not result in significantly larger or smaller planets
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AN INCREASE IN THE MASS OF PLANETARY SYSTEMS AROUND LOWER-MASS STARS
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Mulders, Gijs D.; Pascucci, Ilaria; Apai, Dániel, E-mail: mulders@lpl.arizona.edu [Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)
2015-12-01
Trends in the planet population with host star mass provide an avenue to constrain planet formation theories. We derive the planet radius distribution function for Kepler stars of different spectral types, sampling a range in host star masses. We find that M dwarf stars have 3.5 times more small planets (1.0–2.8 R{sub ⨁}) than main-sequence FGK stars, but two times fewer Neptune-sized and larger (>2.8 R{sub ⨁}) planets. We find no systematic trend in the planet size distribution between spectral types F, G, and K to explain the increasing occurrence rates. Taking into account the mass–radius relationship and heavy-element mass of observed exoplanets, and assuming those are independent of spectral type, we derive the inventory of the heavy-element mass locked up in exoplanets at short orbits. The overall higher planet occurrence rates around M stars are not consistent with the redistribution of the same mass into more, smaller planets. At the orbital periods and planet radii where Kepler observations are complete for all spectral types, the average heavy-element mass locked up in exoplanets increases roughly inversely with stellar mass from 4 M{sub ⨁} in F stars to 5 M{sub ⨁} in G and K stars to 7 M{sub ⨁} in M stars. This trend stands in stark contrast with observed protoplanetary disk masses that decrease toward lower mass stars, and provides a challenge for current planet formation models. Neither models of in situ formation nor migration of fully formed planets are consistent with these results. Instead, these results are indicative of large-scale inward migration of planetary building blocks—either through type-I migration or radial drift of dust grains—that is more efficient for lower mass stars, but does not result in significantly larger or smaller planets.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Mitchell R Lucas
2015-03-01
Full Text Available Seed size distinguishes most crops from their wild relatives and is an important quality trait for the grain legume cowpea. In order to breed cowpea varieties with larger seeds we introgressed a rare haplotype associated with large seeds at the Css-1 locus from an African buff seed type cultivar, IT82E-18 (18.5g/100 seeds, into a blackeye seed type cultivar, CB27 (22g/100 seed. Four RILs derived from these two parents were chosen for marker-assisted breeding based on SNP genotyping with a goal of stacking large seed haplotypes into a CB27 background. Foreground and background selection were performed during two cycles of backcrossing based on genome-wide SNP markers. The average seed size of introgression lines homozygous for haplotypes associated with large seeds was 28.7g/100 seed and 24.8g/100 seed for cycles 1 and 2, respectively. One cycle 1 introgression line with desirable seed quality was selfed for two generations to make families with very large seeds (28-35g/100 seeds. Field-based performance trials helped identify breeding lines that not only have large seeds but are also desirable in terms of yield, maturity, and plant architecture when compared to industry standards. A principal component analysis was used to explore the relationships between the parents relative to a core set of landraces and improved varieties based on high-density SNP data. The geographic distribution of haplotypes at the Css-1 locus suggest the haplotype associated with large seeds is unique to accessions collected from Southeastern Africa. Therefore this QTL has a strong potential to develop larger seeded varieties for other growing regions which is demonstrated in this work using a California pedigree.
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Newborn Parent Based Intervention to Increase Child Safety Seat Use
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Xiangxiang Liu
2016-08-01
Full Text Available This paper intends to assess the effect of a maternity department intervention on improvement of knowledge and use of child safety seats (CSS among newborn parents. An intervention study included three groups (one education plus free CSS intervention group, one education only group, and one control group. The participants were parents of newborns in the maternity department of two hospitals. Both of the intervention groups received a folded pamphlet of child passenger safety, a height chart and standardized safety education during their hospital stay after giving birth. The education plus free CSS intervention group received an additional free CSS and professional installation training at hospital discharge. The control group received a pamphlet with educational information about nutrition and food safety. Three months after enrollment, a telephone follow-up was conducted among participants in the three groups. Data on child passenger safety knowledge, risky driving behaviors, and use of CSS were evaluated before and after the intervention. A total of 132 newborn parents were enrolled in the study; of those, 52 (39.4% were assigned into the education plus free CSS intervention group, 44 (33.3% were in the education intervention only group, and 36 (27.3% were in the control group. No significant differences existed in demographics among the three groups. There was a significant difference in newborn parents’ child passenger safety knowledge and behaviors in the three groups before and after the intervention. In addition, the CSS use increased significantly in the education plus free CSS group after the intervention compared to parents in the education only or control groups. Education on safety, combined with a free CSS and professional installation training, were effective at increasing newborn parents’ knowledge and use of CSS. Future studies with larger sample sizes and longer follow-up are needed to determine a long-term effect of the
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Newborn Parent Based Intervention to Increase Child Safety Seat Use
Liu, Xiangxiang; Yang, Jingzhen; Cheng, Fuyuan; Li, Liping
2016-01-01
This paper intends to assess the effect of a maternity department intervention on improvement of knowledge and use of child safety seats (CSS) among newborn parents. An intervention study included three groups (one education plus free CSS intervention group, one education only group, and one control group). The participants were parents of newborns in the maternity department of two hospitals. Both of the intervention groups received a folded pamphlet of child passenger safety, a height chart and standardized safety education during their hospital stay after giving birth. The education plus free CSS intervention group received an additional free CSS and professional installation training at hospital discharge. The control group received a pamphlet with educational information about nutrition and food safety. Three months after enrollment, a telephone follow-up was conducted among participants in the three groups. Data on child passenger safety knowledge, risky driving behaviors, and use of CSS were evaluated before and after the intervention. A total of 132 newborn parents were enrolled in the study; of those, 52 (39.4%) were assigned into the education plus free CSS intervention group, 44 (33.3%) were in the education intervention only group, and 36 (27.3%) were in the control group. No significant differences existed in demographics among the three groups. There was a significant difference in newborn parents’ child passenger safety knowledge and behaviors in the three groups before and after the intervention. In addition, the CSS use increased significantly in the education plus free CSS group after the intervention compared to parents in the education only or control groups. Education on safety, combined with a free CSS and professional installation training, were effective at increasing newborn parents’ knowledge and use of CSS. Future studies with larger sample sizes and longer follow-up are needed to determine a long-term effect of the intervention. PMID
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Treat, Claire C; Bloom, A Anthony; Marushchak, Maija E
2018-03-22
Wetlands are the single largest natural source of atmospheric methane (CH 4 ), a greenhouse gas, and occur extensively in the northern hemisphere. Large discrepancies remain between "bottom-up" and "top-down" estimates of northern CH 4 emissions. To explore whether these discrepancies are due to poor representation of nongrowing season CH 4 emissions, we synthesized nongrowing season and annual CH 4 flux measurements from temperate, boreal, and tundra wetlands and uplands. Median nongrowing season wetland emissions ranged from 0.9 g/m 2 in bogs to 5.2 g/m 2 in marshes and were dependent on moisture, vegetation, and permafrost. Annual wetland emissions ranged from 0.9 g m -2 year -1 in tundra bogs to 78 g m -2 year -1 in temperate marshes. Uplands varied from CH 4 sinks to CH 4 sources with a median annual flux of 0.0 ± 0.2 g m -2 year -1 . The measured fraction of annual CH 4 emissions during the nongrowing season (observed: 13% to 47%) was significantly larger than that was predicted by two process-based model ensembles, especially between 40° and 60°N (modeled: 4% to 17%). Constraining the model ensembles with the measured nongrowing fraction increased total nongrowing season and annual CH 4 emissions. Using this constraint, the modeled nongrowing season wetland CH 4 flux from >40° north was 6.1 ± 1.5 Tg/year, three times greater than the nongrowing season emissions of the unconstrained model ensemble. The annual wetland CH 4 flux was 37 ± 7 Tg/year from the data-constrained model ensemble, 25% larger than the unconstrained ensemble. Considering nongrowing season processes is critical for accurately estimating CH 4 emissions from high-latitude ecosystems, and necessary for constraining the role of wetland emissions in a warming climate. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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Barbieri, Dechristian França; Srinivasan, Divya; Mathiassen, Svend Erik; Nogueira, Helen Cristina; Oliveira, Ana Beatriz
2015-01-01
Postures and muscle activity in the upper body were recorded from 50 academics office workers during 2 hours of normal work, categorised by observation into computer work (CW) and three non-computer (NC) tasks (NC seated work, NC standing/walking work and breaks). NC tasks differed significantly in exposures from CW, with standing/walking NC tasks representing the largest contrasts for most of the exposure variables. For the majority of workers, exposure variability was larger in their present job than in CW alone, as measured by the job variance ratio (JVR), i.e. the ratio between min-min variabilities in the job and in CW. Calculations of JVRs for simulated jobs containing different proportions of CW showed that variability could, indeed, be increased by redistributing available tasks, but that substantial increases could only be achieved by introducing more vigorous tasks in the job, in casu illustrated by cleaning.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Johnson, Skyler B.; Hamstra, Daniel A.; Jackson, William C.; Zhou, Jessica; Foster, Benjamin; Foster, Corey; Song, Yeohan; Li, Darren; Palapattu, Ganesh S.; Kunju, Lakshmi; Mehra, Rohit; Sandler, Howard; Feng, Felix Y.
2013-01-01
Purpose: To investigate the maximum tumor diameter (MTD) of the dominant prostate cancer nodule in the radical prostatectomy specimen as a prognostic factor for outcome in patients treated with salvage external beam radiation therapy (SRT) for a rising prostate-specific antigen (PSA) value after radical prostatectomy. Methods and Materials: From an institutional cohort of 575 patients treated with SRT, data on MTD were retrospectively collected. The impact of MTD on biochemical failure (BF), metastasis, and prostate cancer-specific mortality (PCSM) was assessed on univariate and multivariate analysis using Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazards models. Results: In the 173 patients with MTD data available, median follow-up was 77 months (interquartile range, 47-104 months) after SRT, and median MTD was 18 mm (interquartile range, 13-22 mm). Increasing MTD correlated with increasing pT stage, Gleason score, presence of seminal vesicle invasion, and lymph node invasion. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis identified MTD of >14 mm to be the optimal cut-point. On univariate analysis, MTD >14 mm was associated with an increased risk of BF (P=.02, hazard ratio [HR] 1.8, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.2-2.8), metastasis (P=.002, HR 4.0, 95% CI 2.1-7.5), and PCSM (P=.02, HR 8.0, 95% CI 2.9-21.8). On multivariate analysis MTD >14 mm remained associated with increased BF (P=.02, HR 1.9, 95% CI 1.1-3.2), metastasis (P=.02, HR 3.4, 95% CI 1.2-9.2), and PCSM (P=.05, HR 9.7, 95% CI 1.0-92.4), independent of extracapsular extension, seminal vesicle invasion, positive surgical margins, pre-RT PSA value, Gleason score, and pre-RT PSA doubling time. Conclusions: For patients treated with SRT for a rising PSA value after prostatectomy, MTD at time of radical prostatectomy is independently associated with BF, metastasis, and PCSM. Maximum tumor diameter should be incorporated into clinical decision making and future clinical risk assessment tools for those patients
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Moon, C.; Mitchell, S. A.; Callor, N.; Dewers, T. A.; Heath, J. E.; Yoon, H.; Conner, G. R.
2017-12-01
Traditional subsurface continuum multiphysics models include useful yet limiting geometrical assumptions: penny- or disc-shaped cracks, spherical or elliptical pores, bundles of capillary tubes, cubic law fracture permeability, etc. Each physics (flow, transport, mechanics) uses constitutive models with an increasing number of fit parameters that pertain to the microporous structure of the rock, but bear no inter-physics relationships or self-consistency. Recent advances in digital rock physics and pore-scale modeling link complex physics to detailed pore-level geometries, but measures for upscaling are somewhat unsatisfactory and come at a high computational cost. Continuum mechanics rely on a separation between small scale pore fluctuations and larger scale heterogeneity (and perhaps anisotropy), but this can break down (particularly for shales). Algebraic topology offers powerful mathematical tools for describing a local-to-global structure of shapes. Persistent homology, in particular, analyzes the dynamics of topological features and summarizes into numeric values. It offers a roadmap to both "fingerprint" topologies of pore structure and multiscale connectedness as well as links pore structure to physical behavior, thus potentially providing a means to relate the dependence of constitutive behaviors of pore structures in a self-consistent way. We present a persistence homology (PH) analysis framework of 3D image sets including a focused ion beam-scanning electron microscopy data set of the Selma Chalk. We extract structural characteristics of sampling volumes via persistence homology and fit a statistical model using the summarized values to estimate porosity, permeability, and connectivity—Lattice Boltzmann methods for single phase flow modeling are used to obtain the relationships. These PH methods allow for prediction of geophysical properties based on the geometry and connectivity in a computationally efficient way. Sandia National Laboratories is a
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Teng, Ellen J; Friedman, Lois C
2009-07-01
This study evaluated the effectiveness of a community intervention in increasing awareness of mental health issues and available resources among elderly Chinese Americans. Twenty-seven members of a community church received a 1-h didactic presentation, in English and Mandarin, and completed surveys regarding their help-seeking preferences before and after the intervention. Results were analyzed using a series of Wilcoxon matched-pair signed rank tests and comparing pre- and post-test scores. Findings indicated an increase (pmental health professional for psychiatric symptoms at post-test. A significant increase also was found in preference for consulting a physician for physical symptoms. The pilot educational intervention increased awareness of mental health and treatment issues and the role of mental health professionals, lending support to evaluate the intervention on a larger scale. Greater awareness of mental health among Chinese Americans can be promoted via education forums provided through faith-based organizations. Stigma of mental illness leads many Chinese individuals to seek help for psychiatric problems from primary care physicians. Integrating mental health practitioners in primary care settings may help decrease stigma and encourage appropriate help-seeking behavior.
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Serra-Kiel, J.; Vicedo, V.; Razin, P.; Grelaud, C.
2016-07-01
The larger foraminifera of the lower part of the Jafnayn Formation outcropping in the Wadi Sayq, in the Paleocene series of the eastern Oman Mountains, have been studied and described in detail. The analysis have allowed us to develop a detailed systematic description of each taxa, constraining their biostratigraphic distribution and defining the associated foraminifera assemblages. The taxonomic study has permitted us to identify each morphotype precisely and describe three new taxa, namely, Ercumentina sayqensis n. gen. n. sp. Lacazinella rogeri n. sp. and Globoreticulinidae new family. The first assemblage is characterized by the presence of Coskinon sp., Dictyoconus cf. turriculus Hottinger and Drobne, Anatoliella ozalpiensis Sirel, Ercumentina sayqensis n. gen. n. sp. SerraKiel and Vicedo, Lacazinella rogeri n. sp. Serra-Kiel and Vicedo, Mandanella cf. flabelliformis Rahaghi, Azzarolina daviesi (Henson), Lockhartia retiata Sander, Dictyokathina simplex Smout and Miscellanites globularis (Rahaghi). The second assemblage is constituted by the forms Pseudofallotella persica (Hottinger and Drobne), Dictyoconus cf. turriculus Hottinger and Drobne, Lacazinella rogeri n. sp. Serra-Kiel and Vicedo, Azzarolina daviesi (Henson), Keramosphera? cf. iranica Rahaghi, Lockhartia haimei (Davies), Lockhartia retiata Sander, Sakesaria trichilata Sander, Kathina delseota Smout, Elazigina harabekayisensis Sirel, Daviesina khatiyahi Smout, and Miscellanea juliettae Leppig. The first assemblage can be considered to belong to the Shallow Bentic Zone SBZ2 (early Selandian age), and the second assemblage to the SBZ3 (late Selandian-early Thanetian age).This paper shows, for the first time in the Middle East area, a correlation between the Selandian larger foraminifera and planktonic foraminifera biozones. (Author)
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Serra-Kiel, J.; Vicedo, V.; Razin, P.; Grelaud, C.
2016-01-01
The larger foraminifera of the lower part of the Jafnayn Formation outcropping in the Wadi Sayq, in the Paleocene series of the eastern Oman Mountains, have been studied and described in detail. The analysis have allowed us to develop a detailed systematic description of each taxa, constraining their biostratigraphic distribution and defining the associated foraminifera assemblages. The taxonomic study has permitted us to identify each morphotype precisely and describe three new taxa, namely, Ercumentina sayqensis n. gen. n. sp. Lacazinella rogeri n. sp. and Globoreticulinidae new family. The first assemblage is characterized by the presence of Coskinon sp., Dictyoconus cf. turriculus Hottinger and Drobne, Anatoliella ozalpiensis Sirel, Ercumentina sayqensis n. gen. n. sp. SerraKiel and Vicedo, Lacazinella rogeri n. sp. Serra-Kiel and Vicedo, Mandanella cf. flabelliformis Rahaghi, Azzarolina daviesi (Henson), Lockhartia retiata Sander, Dictyokathina simplex Smout and Miscellanites globularis (Rahaghi). The second assemblage is constituted by the forms Pseudofallotella persica (Hottinger and Drobne), Dictyoconus cf. turriculus Hottinger and Drobne, Lacazinella rogeri n. sp. Serra-Kiel and Vicedo, Azzarolina daviesi (Henson), Keramosphera? cf. iranica Rahaghi, Lockhartia haimei (Davies), Lockhartia retiata Sander, Sakesaria trichilata Sander, Kathina delseota Smout, Elazigina harabekayisensis Sirel, Daviesina khatiyahi Smout, and Miscellanea juliettae Leppig. The first assemblage can be considered to belong to the Shallow Bentic Zone SBZ2 (early Selandian age), and the second assemblage to the SBZ3 (late Selandian-early Thanetian age).This paper shows, for the first time in the Middle East area, a correlation between the Selandian larger foraminifera and planktonic foraminifera biozones. (Author)
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
George eVisu-Petra
2013-03-01
Full Text Available The possibility to enhance the detection efficiency of the Concealed Information Test (CIT by increasing executive load was investigated, using an interference design. After learning and executing a mock crime scenario, subjects underwent three deception detection tests: an RT-based CIT, an RT-based CIT plus a concurrent memory task (CITMem, and an RT-based CIT plus a concurrent set-shifting task (CITShift. The concealed information effect, consisting in increased RT and lower response accuracy for probe items compared to irrelevant items, was evidenced across all three conditions. The group analyses indicated a larger difference between RTs to probe and irrelevant items in the dual-task conditions, but this difference was not translated in a significantly increased detection efficiency at an individual level. Signal detection parameters based on the comparison with a simulated innocent group showed accurate discrimination for all conditions. Overall response accuracy on the CITMem was highest and the difference between response accuracy to probes and irrelevants was smallest in this condition. Accuracy on the concurrent tasks (Mem and Shift was high, and responses on these tasks were significantly influenced by CIT stimulus type (probes vs. irrelevants. The findings are interpreted in relation to the cognitive load/dual-task interference literature, generating important insights for research on the involvement of executive functions in deceptive behavior.
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Atkinson, Matthew; Chukwumah, Chike; Marks, Jeffrey; Chak, Amitabh
2014-02-01
Flat and depressed lesions are becoming increasingly recognized in the esophagus, stomach, and colon. Various techniques have been described for endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) of these lesions. To evaluate the efficacy of lift-grasp-cut EMR using a prototype dual-channel forward-viewing endoscope with an instrument elevator in one accessory channel (dual-channel elevator scope) as compared to standard dual-channel endoscopes. EMR was performed using a lift-grasp-cut technique on normal flat rectosigmoid or gastric mucosa in live porcine models after submucosal injection of 4 mL of saline using a dual-channel elevator scope or a standard dual-channel endoscope. With the dual-channel elevator scope, the elevator was used to attain further lifting of the mucosa. The primary endpoint was size of the EMR specimen and the secondary endpoint was number of complications. Twelve experiments were performed (six gastric and six colonic). Mean specimen diameter was 2.27 cm with the dual-channel elevator scope and 1.34 cm with the dual-channel endoscope (P = 0.018). Two colonic perforations occurred with the dual-channel endoscope, vs no complications with the dual-channel elevator scope. The increased lift of the mucosal epithelium, through use of the dual-channel elevator scope, allows for larger EMR when using a lift-grasp-cut technique. Noting the thin nature of the porcine colonic wall, use of the elevator may also make this technique safer.
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The earth is flat (p > 0.05: significance thresholds and the crisis of unreplicable research
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Valentin Amrhein
2017-07-01
Full Text Available The widespread use of ‘statistical significance’ as a license for making a claim of a scientific finding leads to considerable distortion of the scientific process (according to the American Statistical Association. We review why degrading p-values into ‘significant’ and ‘nonsignificant’ contributes to making studies irreproducible, or to making them seem irreproducible. A major problem is that we tend to take small p-values at face value, but mistrust results with larger p-values. In either case, p-values tell little about reliability of research, because they are hardly replicable even if an alternative hypothesis is true. Also significance (p ≤ 0.05 is hardly replicable: at a good statistical power of 80%, two studies will be ‘conflicting’, meaning that one is significant and the other is not, in one third of the cases if there is a true effect. A replication can therefore not be interpreted as having failed only because it is nonsignificant. Many apparent replication failures may thus reflect faulty judgment based on significance thresholds rather than a crisis of unreplicable research. Reliable conclusions on replicability and practical importance of a finding can only be drawn using cumulative evidence from multiple independent studies. However, applying significance thresholds makes cumulative knowledge unreliable. One reason is that with anything but ideal statistical power, significant effect sizes will be biased upwards. Interpreting inflated significant results while ignoring nonsignificant results will thus lead to wrong conclusions. But current incentives to hunt for significance lead to selective reporting and to publication bias against nonsignificant findings. Data dredging, p-hacking, and publication bias should be addressed by removing fixed significance thresholds. Consistent with the recommendations of the late Ronald Fisher, p-values should be interpreted as graded measures of the strength of evidence
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Development of an Inertia-Increased ABWR Internal Pump
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Shirou Takahashi; Kousei Umemori; Kooji Shiina; Tetsuya Totani; Akihiro Sakashita; Norimichi Yamashita; Takahisa Kondo
2002-01-01
It is possible to simplify the reactor internal pump power supply system in the ABWR without affecting the core flow supply when a trip of all RIPs event occurs by eliminating the motor-generator sets and increasing the rotating inertia of the RIPs. This inertia increase due to an additional flywheel, which leads to a gain in weight and length, requires a larger diameter nozzle with a thicker sleeve. However, a thicker sleeve nozzle and a longer and heavier motor casing may change the RIP performance. In the present study, the inertia-increased RIP was verified through full-scale tests. The rotating inertia time constant for coast-down characteristics (behavior of the RIP speed in the event of power loss) for the inertia-increased RIP was doubled compared with the current RIP. The inertia-increased RIP with the thicker sleeve nozzle maintained good performance and its power supply system without motor-generator sets was judged appropriate for the ABWR. (authors)
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Hitoe, S; Tanaka, J; Shimoda, H
2014-09-01
Dry eye symptoms, resulting from insufficient tear fluid generation, represent a considerable burden for a largely underestimated number of people. We concluded from earlier pre-clinical investigations that the etiology of dry eyes encompasses oxidative stress burden to lachrymal glands and that antioxidant MaquiBright™ Aristotelia chilensis berry extract helps restore glandular activity. In this pilot trial we investigated 13 healthy volunteers with moderately dry eyes using Schirmer test, as well as a questionnaire which allows for estimating the impact of dry eyes on daily routines. Study participants were assigned to one of two groups, receiving MaquiBright™ at daily dosage of either 30 mg (N.=7) or 60 mg (N.=6) over a period of 60 days. Both groups presented with significantly (Peye dryness on daily routines was evaluated employing the "Dry Eye-related Quality of life Score" (DEQS), with values spanning from zero (impact) to a maximum score of 60. Participants had comparable baseline values of 41.0±7.7 (30 mg) and 40.2±6.3 (60 mg). With 30 mg treatment the score significantly decreased to 21.8±3.9 and 18.9±3.9, after 30 and 60 days, respectively. With 60 mg treatment the DEQS significantly decreased to 26.9±5.3 and 11.1±2.7, after 30 and 60 days, respectively. Blood was drawn for safety analyses (complete blood rheology and -chemistry) at all three investigative time points without negative findings. In conclusion, while daily supplementation with 30 mg MaquiBright™ is effective, the dosage of 60 significantly increased tear fluid volume at all investigative time points and decreased dry eye symptoms to almost a quarter from initial values after two months treatment.
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Mayboroda, I. O.; Knizhnik, A. A.; Grishchenko, Yu. V.; Ezubchenko, I. S.; Zanaveskin, Maxim L.; Presniakov, M. Yu.; Potapkin, B. V.; Ilyin, V. A.
2017-01-01
Growth kinetics of AlGaN in NH3 MBE under significant Ga desorption was studied. It was found that the addition of gallium stimulates 2D growth and provides better morphology of films compared to pure AlN. The effect was experimentally observed at up to 98% desorption of the impinging gallium. We found that, under the conditions of significant thermal desorption, larger amounts of gallium were retained at lateral boundaries of 3D surface features than at flat terraces because of the higher bi...
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Arriens, Cristina; Chen, Sixia; Karp, David R; Saxena, Ramesh; Sambandam, Kamalanathan; Chakravarty, Eliza; James, Judith A; Merrill, Joan T
2017-12-01
histopathology had died compared to 2 (3.2%) of non-worsening patients. Biopsy worsening was associated with a significantly greater 15-year risk of ESRD (Hazard Ratio 4.2, p=0.0001) and death (Hazard Ratio 4.3, p=0.022), adjusting for age, gender, race, biopsy class, and treatment. Time between first and second biopsies was 5years in 28. Over a 15-year period, those with <1year between first and second biopsies (presumably enriched for patients with early clinical signs of progression) had a significantly greater risk of ESRD (Hazard Ratio 13.7, p<0.0001) and death (Hazard Ratio 16.9, p=0.0022) after adjusting for age, gender, race, biopsy class, and treatment. A repeat renal biopsy demonstrating worsening pathology increases the risk of ESRD and death more than four-fold compared to non-worsening patients. Given known potential mismatch between biopsy and clinical data, repeat biopsies may add important information and justify changes in treatment not considered on clinical grounds. Earlier detection of poor prognostic signs in those without early clinical deterioration might improve outcomes in enough patients to reconsider cost effectiveness of routine repeat biopsy. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Brand, Jefferson C
2016-02-01
A recent study addressing infection rate after intra-articular steroid injection during ankle arthroscopy gives pause to this practice, with an odds ratio of 2.2 in the entire population that was injected with a steroid simultaneously with ankle arthroscopy compared with patients who did not receive an ankle injection. Big data, used in the study upon which the Editor comments here, suggest that because of a significant increased risk of postoperative infection, steroid injection is not recommended after ankle arthroscopy. Copyright © 2016 Arthroscopy Association of North America. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Rowbotham, R F; Ruegg, P L
2015-11-01
The objective of this study was to identify associations of bedding type and selected management practices with bulk milk quality and productivity of larger Wisconsin dairy farms. Dairy herds (n=325) producing ≥11,340 kg of milk daily were surveyed during a single farm visit. Monthly bulk milk SCC and total bacteria counts were obtained from milk buyers for 255 farms for a 2-yr period. Of farms with the same type of bedding in all pens during the study period, most used inorganic bedding (IB), followed by organic nonmanure bedding (OB) and manure products (MB). Almost all bulk milk total bacterial counts were bedding type. Bulk milk somatic cell score (BMSCS) was least for farms using IB, varied seasonally, and was greatest in the summer. The BMSCS was reduced when new bedding was added to stalls at intervals greater than 1 wk and when teats were dried before attaching the milking unit. The BMSCS for farms using OB was reduced when bedding in the backs of stalls was removed and replaced regularly and when fewer cows with nonfunctioning mammary quarters were present. The BMSCS for farms using MB was reduced when the proportion of cows with milk discarded was less. The rolling herd average (RHA) of herds using IB was 761 and 1,153 kg greater than the RHA of herds using OB and MB, respectively. The RHA was 353 kg greater on farms where farmers understood subclinical mastitis and 965 kg greater on farms milking 3 times daily. Each 1% increase of cows with nonfunctioning mammary quarters was associated with a decrease of 57 kg of RHA. The BMSCS, proportions of cows with milk discarded and proportion of cows with nonfunctioning mammary quarters were least for herds using IB and were associated with increased productivity. Large Wisconsin dairy farms that used inorganic bedding had greater productivity and better milk quality compared with herds using other bedding types. Copyright © 2015 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights
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Increased brain water self-diffusion in patients with idiopathic intracranial hypertension
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Gideon, P; Sørensen, P S; Thomsen, C
1995-01-01
PURPOSE: To investigate changes in brain water diffusion in patients with idiopathic intracranial hypertension. METHODS: A motion-compensated MR pulse sequence was used to create diffusion maps of the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) in 12 patients fulfilling conventional diagnostic criteria...... for idiopathic intracranial hypertension and in 12 healthy volunteers. RESULTS: A significantly larger ADC was found within subcortical white matter in the patient group (mean, 1.16 x 10(-9) m2/s) than in the control group (mean, 0.75 x 10(-9) m2/s), whereas no significant differences were found within cortical...
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Fang, Yongxiang; Wit, Ernst
2008-01-01
Fisher’s combined probability test is the most commonly used method to test the overall significance of a set independent p-values. However, it is very obviously that Fisher’s statistic is more sensitive to smaller p-values than to larger p-value and a small p-value may overrule the other p-values
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Increasing Dominance - the Role of Advertising, Pricing and Product Design
Kretschmer, Tobias; Rösner, Mariana
2010-01-01
Despite the empirical relevance of advertising strategies in concentrated markets, the economics literature is largely silent on the effect of persuasive advertising strategies on pricing, market structure and increasing (or decreasing) dominance. In a simple model of persuasive advertising and pricing with differentiated goods, we analyze the interdependencies between ex-ante asymmetries in consumer appeal, advertising and prices. Products with larger initial appeal to consumers will ...
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Jiao Gu
2016-11-01
Full Text Available High nitrogen (N loading may contribute to recession of submerged macrophytes in shallow lakes; yet, its influences vary depending on environmental conditions. In August 2013, we conducted a 28-day factorial-designed field mesocosm experiment in Lake Taihu at the Taihu Laboratory for Lake Ecosystem Research (TLLER to examine the effects of high N loading on the growth of Vallisneria natans in systems with contrasting sediment types. We ran the experiments with two levels of nutrient loading—present-day external nutrient loading (average P: 5 μg·L−1·day−1, N: 130 μg·L−1·day−1 and P: 5 μg·L−1·day−1, and with three times higher N loading (N: 390 μg·L−1·day−1 and used sediment with two contrasting nutrient levels. V. natans growth decreased significantly with increasing N loading, the effect being dependent, however, on the nutrient status of the sediment. In low nutrient sediment, relative growth rates, leaf biomass and root biomass decreased by 11.9%, 18.2% and 23.3%, respectively, at high rather than low N loading, while the decline was larger (44.0%, 32.7% and 41.8%, respectively when using high nutrient sediment. The larger effect in the nutrient-rich sediment may reflect an observed higher shading of phytoplankton and excess nutrient accumulation in plant tissue, though potential toxic effects of the high-nutrient sediment may also have contributed. Our study confirms the occurrence of a negative effect of increasing N loading on submerged plant growth in shallow nutrient-enriched lakes and further shows that this effect is augmented when the plants grow in nutrient-rich sediment. External N control may, therefore, help to protect or restore submerged macrophytes, especially when the sediment is enriched with nutrients and organic matter.
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Software Tool for Significantly Increasing Airport Throughput, Phase I
National Aeronautics and Space Administration — NASA's Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) Airportal effort seeks to optimize aircraft surface movements through approaches that could double or...
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Substantial increase in acceleration potential of pyroelectric crystals
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Tornow, W.; Lynam, S. M.; Shafroth, S. M.
2010-01-01
We report on a substantial increase in the acceleration potential achieved with a LiTaO 3 pyroelectric crystal. With a single 2.5 cm diameter and 2.5 cm long z-cut crystal without electric field-enhancing nanotip we produced positive ion beams with maximal energies between 300 and 310 keV during the cooling phase when the crystal was exposed to 5 mTorr of deuterium gas. These values are about a factor of 2 larger than previously obtained with single pyroelectric crystals.
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The ATLAS collaboration
2012-01-01
Large radius jets provide one avenue towards efficient reconstruction of massive boosted objects whose decay products are sufficiently collimated so as to make standard reconstruction techniques impractical. The potentially adverse impact of additional proton-proton interactions on such large jets is assessed for a variety of jet types and hadronic final state topologies. The mitigation of these effects via jet grooming algorithms such as trimming, pruning, and filtering is then studied for high transverse momentum jets at $\\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV using an integrated luminosity of 4.7 fb$^{-1}$ collected with the ATLAS detector. A total of 29 jet algorithms and grooming configuration combinations are studied. The application of jet trimming and filtering significantly improves the robustness of large-$R$ jets and reduces their sensitivity to the intense environment of the high-luminosity LHC. The consequence is an overall improvement in the physics potential of searches for heavy boosted objects.
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Bijnagte, J. L.; Luger, D.
2012-12-01
In the Northern parts of the Netherlands exploration of natural gas reservoirs causes subsidence over large areas. As a consequence, the water levels in canals and polders have to be adjusted over time in order to keep the groundwater levels at a constant depth relative to the surface level. In the middle of the subsidence area it is relatively easy to follow the settlements by a uniform lowering of the water level. This would however result in a relative lowering of the groundwater table at the edges of the subsidence area. Given the presence of soft compressible soils, this would result in induced settlements. For buildings in these areas this will increase the chance of damage. A major design challenge lies therefore in the optimisation of the use of compartments. The more compartments the higher the cost therefore the aim is to make compartments in the water management system that are as large as possible without causing inadmissible damage to buildings. In order to asses expected damage from different use of compartments three tools are needed. The first is a generally accepted method of damage determination, the second a method to determine the contribution to damage of a new influence, e.g. a groundwater table change. Third, and perhaps most importantly, a method is needed to evaluate effects not for single buildings but for larger areas. The first need is covered by established damage criteria like those of Burland & Wroth or Boscardin & Cording. Up until now the second and the third have been problematic. This paper presents a method which enables to assign a contribution to the probability of damage of various recognised mechanisms such as soil and foundation inhomogeneity, uneven loading, ground water level changes. Shallow subsidence due to peat oxidation and deep subsidence due to reservoir depletion can be combined. In order to address the third issue: evaluation of effects for larger areas, the method uses a probabilistic approach. Apart from a
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Education increases reserve against Alzheimer's disease - evidence from structural MRI analysis
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Liu, Yawu [University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio University Hospital, Department of Neurology, P.O.Box 1627, Kuopio (Finland); University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio University Hospital, Department of Clinical Radiology, Kuopio (Finland); Julkunen, Valtteri; Paajanen, Teemu; Soininen, Hilkka [University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio University Hospital, Department of Neurology, P.O.Box 1627, Kuopio (Finland); Westman, Eric; Wahlund, Lars-Olof [Karolinska Institutet, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Section of Clinical Geriatrics, Stockholm (Sweden); Aitken, Andrew [South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King' s College London, NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health, London (United Kingdom); Sobow, Tomasz [Medical University of Lodz, Department of Old Age Psychiatry and Psychotic Disorders, Lodz (Poland); Mecocci, Patrizia [University of Perugia, Institute of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Perugia (Italy); Tsolaki, Magda [Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Third Department of Neurology, Thessaloniki (Greece); Vellas, Bruno [Universite Paul Sabatier, INSERM U 558, Toulouse Gerontopole University Hospital, Toulouse (France); Muehlboeck, Sebastian [McGill University, McConnell Brain Imaging Center, Montreal (Canada); Spenger, Christian [Karolinska Institutet, Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Stockholm (Sweden); Lovestone, Simon; Simmons, Andrew [South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King' s College London, NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health, London (United Kingdom); King' s College London, MRC Centre for Neurodegeneration Research, Institute of Psychiatry, London (United Kingdom); Collaboration: AddNeuroMed Consortium
2012-09-15
The aim of this study was to determine whether years of schooling influences regional cortical thicknesses and volumes in Alzheimer's disease (AD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and healthy age-matched controls. Using an automated image analysis pipeline, 33 regional cortical thickness and 15 regional volumes measures from MRI images were determined in 121 subjects with MCI, 121 patients with AD, and 113 controls from AddNeuroMed study. Correlations with years of schooling were determined and more highly and less highly educated subjects compared, controlling for intracranial volume, age, gender, country of origin, cognitive status, and multiple testing. After controlling for confounding factors and multiple testing, in the control group, subjects with more education had larger regional cortical thickness in transverse temporal cortex, insula, and isthmus of cingulate cortex than subjects with less education. However, in the AD group, the subjects with more education had smaller regional cortical thickness in temporal gyrus, inferior and superior parietal gyri, and lateral occipital cortex than the subjects with less education. No significant difference was found in the MCI group. Education may increase regional cortical thickness in healthy controls, leading to increased brain reserve, as well as helping AD patients to cope better with the effects of brain atrophy by increasing cognitive reserve. (orig.)
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Volcanism in slab tear faults is larger than in island-arcs and back-arcs.
Cocchi, Luca; Passaro, Salvatore; Tontini, Fabio Caratori; Ventura, Guido
2017-11-13
Subduction-transform edge propagators are lithospheric tears bounding slabs and back-arc basins. The volcanism at these edges is enigmatic because it is lacking comprehensive geological and geophysical data. Here we present bathymetric, potential-field data, and direct observations of the seafloor on the 90 km long Palinuro volcanic chain overlapping the E-W striking tear of the roll-backing Ionian slab in Southern Tyrrhenian Sea. The volcanic chain includes arc-type central volcanoes and fissural, spreading-type centers emplaced along second-order shears. The volume of the volcanic chain is larger than that of the neighbor island-arc edifices and back-arc spreading center. Such large volume of magma is associated to an upwelling of the isotherms due to mantle melts upraising from the rear of the slab along the tear fault. The subduction-transform edge volcanism focuses localized spreading processes and its magnitude is underestimated. This volcanism characterizes the subduction settings associated to volcanic arcs and back-arc spreading centers.
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Economic and public health impact of 2007-2010 tobacco tax increases in Ukraine.
Ross, Hana; Stoklosa, Michal; Krasovsky, Konstantin
2012-07-01
To evaluate the impact of the dynamic 2007-2010 tobacco tax policy in Ukraine on cigarette prices, cigarette consumption, tobacco tax revenue and the tobacco industry's price strategy. Using data on cigarette sales, cigarette prices, income and tobacco control policies, price elasticities of cigarette demand in Ukraine were estimated using two methods. Annual data were used to generate point price elasticity estimates, while monthly data were used in a two-step Engle-Granger procedure. The point price elasticity estimate is data sensitive and ranges from -0.11 to -0.62, centring around -0.32. The regression model estimates a long-run price elasticity of -0.28. Cigarette consumption fell by 13% in 2009 and 15% in 2010 while the tax revenue increased by US$700 million and by US$500 million in 2009 and 2010, respectively, compared to the previous year. Tax increases have changed the tobacco industry's price strategy from one of shielding consumers from the impact of smaller tax hikes in 2007-2008, to one of increasing industry net-of-tax prices, after recent, larger tax increases. The higher real tobacco excise taxes of 2009 and 2010 have significantly reduced tobacco consumption in Ukraine, resulting in encouraging public health and fiscal gains. It will be important for cigarette prices/taxes to keep pace with inflation and income growth for this impact to be sustained.
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Scope and Significance of Eating Disorders.
Mitchell, James E.; Eckert, Elke D.
1987-01-01
Describes the increasing prevalence of anorexia nervosa and bulimia in many industrialized societies, and their association with significant morbidity and mortality. Discusses the genetic risks for the development of anorexia nervosa, and treatment strategies. Of these, pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy, particularly those incorporating…
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Gillbro, J M; Merinville, E; Cattley, K; Al-Bader, T; Hagforsen, E; Nilsson, M; Mavon, A
2015-10-01
Acetyl aspartic acid (A-A-A) was discovered through gene array analysis with corresponding Cmap analysis. We found that A-A-A increased keratinocyte regeneration, inhibited dermal matrix metalloprotease (MMP) expression and relieved fibroblast stiffness through reduction of the fibroblast stiffness marker F-actin. Dermal absorption studies showed successful delivery to both the epidermal and dermal regions, and in-use trial demonstrated that 1% A-A-A was well tolerated. In this study, the aim was to investigate whether A-A-A could stimulate the synthesis of extracellular matrix supporting proteins in vivo and thereby improving the viscoelastic properties of human skin by conducting a dual histological and biophysical clinical study. Two separate double-blind vehicle-controlled in vivo studies were conducted using a 1% A-A-A containing oil-in-water (o/w) emulsion. In the histological study, 16 female volunteers (>55 years of age) exhibiting photodamaged skin on their forearm were included, investigating the effect of a 12-day treatment of A-A-A on collagen IV (COLIV) and fibrillin-1. In a subsequent pilot study, 0.1% retinol was used for comparison to A-A-A (1%). The biomechanical properties of the skin were assessed in a panel of 16 women (>45 years of age) using the standard Cutometer MPA580 after topical application of the test products for 28 days. The use of multiple suction enabled the assessment of F4, an area parameter specifically representing skin firmness. Twelve-day topical application of 1% A-A-A significantly increased COLIV and fibrillin with 13% and 6%, respectively, compared to vehicle. 1% A-A-A and 0.1% retinol were found to significantly reduce F4 after 28 days of treatment by 15.8% and 14.7%, respectively, in the pilot Cutometer study. No significant difference was found between retinol and A-A-A. However, only A-A-A exhibited a significant effect vs. vehicle on skin firmness which indicated the incremental benefit of A-A-A as a skin
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Increasing the MTU size for Energy Efficiency in Ethernet
Reviriego, P.; Sanchez-Macian, A.; Maestro, J.A.; Bleakley, Chris J.
2010-01-01
The commonly used Maximum Transfer Unit (MTU) on the Internet has remained unchanged for many years at around 1500 bytes due mainly to backward compatibility issues. This is in contrast with link data rate, which has increased by several orders of magnitude. In this paper, a new advantage of using larger MTUs is introduced, namely Energy Efficiency. In wire-line environments, the link power consumption is generally roughly independent of the number of frames that are t...
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Utilizing NaCl to increase the porosity of electrospun materials
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Wright, L.D.; Andric, T.; Freeman, J.W.
2011-01-01
Electrospinning has emerged as a popular method for creating scaffolding materials used in tissue engineering applications to repair or replace damaged tissues. To become a viable scaffold material, however, pore sizes in electrospun materials must be increased to improve cell infiltration. Deposition of NaCl crystals during electrospinning was utilized to help overcome this obstacle. The NaCl crystals are released above the rotating collection mandrel and become incorporated into the poly(L-lactide) electrospun material. The NaCl then leaches out of the electrospun material creating larger pores: average pore diameter of 48.7 μm for PLLA-NaCl electrospinning versus 5.5 μm for PLLA alone electrospinning. Electrospun PLLA scaffolds with NaCl pores have a lower elastic modulus (8.05 MPa) and yield stress (349 kPa) and a higher yield strain (0.04) compared to their traditional counterparts (40.36 MPa, 676 kPa, and 0.0188). Decreased elastic modulus and yield stress would be beneficial to tissue engineering of elastic tissues including skin. The presence of NaCl pores did not significantly affect the cellular proliferation of MC3T3 cells but did allow for cell infiltration into the electrospun material. Therefore, the creation of large pores through NaCl leaching can significantly improve the performance of electrospun materials for tissue engineering applications by improving cellular infiltration.
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Kotsiou, Eleni; Okosun, Jessica; Besley, Caroline; Iqbal, Sameena; Matthews, Janet; Fitzgibbon, Jude; Gribben, John G; Davies, Jeffrey K
2016-07-07
Donor T-cell immune responses can eradicate lymphomas after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT), but can also damage healthy tissues resulting in harmful graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Next-generation sequencing has recently identified many new genetic lesions in follicular lymphoma (FL). One such gene, tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily 14 (TNFRSF14), abnormal in 40% of FL patients, encodes the herpes virus entry mediator (HVEM) which limits T-cell activation via ligation of the B- and T-lymphocyte attenuator. As lymphoma B cells can act as antigen-presenting cells, we hypothesized that TNFRSF14 aberrations that reduce HVEM expression could alter the capacity of FL B cells to stimulate allogeneic T-cell responses and impact the outcome of AHSCT. In an in vitro model of alloreactivity, human lymphoma B cells with TNFRSF14 aberrations had reduced HVEM expression and greater alloantigen-presenting capacity than wild-type lymphoma B cells. The increased immune-stimulatory capacity of lymphoma B cells with TNFRSF14 aberrations had clinical relevance, associating with higher incidence of acute GVHD in patients undergoing AHSCT. FL patients with TNFRSF14 aberrations may benefit from more aggressive immunosuppression to reduce harmful GVHD after transplantation. Importantly, this study is the first to demonstrate the impact of an acquired genetic lesion on the capacity of tumor cells to stimulate allogeneic T-cell immune responses which may have wider consequences for adoptive immunotherapy strategies. © 2016 by The American Society of Hematology.
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Stehling, Christoph, E-mail: christoph.stehling@radiology.ucsf.edu [Musculoskeletal and Quantitative Imaging Group (MQIR), Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA (United States); Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Muenster, Muenster (Germany); Souza, Richard B. [Musculoskeletal and Quantitative Imaging Group (MQIR), Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA (United States); Graverand, Marie-Pierre Hellio Le; Wyman, Bradley T. [Pfizer Inc. New London, CT (United States); Li, Xiaojuan; Majumdar, Sharmila; Link, Thomas M. [Musculoskeletal and Quantitative Imaging Group (MQIR), Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA (United States)
2012-08-15
Purpose: Standard knee MRI is performed under unloading (ULC) conditions and not much is known about changes of the meniscus, ligaments or cartilage under loading conditions (LC). The aim is to study the influence of loading of different knee structures at 3 Tesla (T) in subjects with osteoarthritis (OA) and normal controls. Materials and methods: 30 subjects, 10 healthy and 20 with radiographic evidence of OA (10 mild and 10 moderate) underwent 3 T MRI under ULC and LC at 50% body weight. All images were analyzed by two musculoskeletal radiologists identifying and grading cartilage, meniscal, ligamentous abnormalities. The changes between ULC and LC were assessed. For meniscus, cartilage and ligaments the changes of lesions, signal and shape were evaluated. In addition, for the meniscus changes in extrusion were examined. A multivariate regression model was used for correlations to correct the data for the impact of age, gender, BMI. A paired T-Test was performed to calculate the differences in meniscus extrusion. Results: Subjects with degenerative knee abnormalities demonstrated significantly increased meniscus extrusion under LC when compared to normal subjects (p = 0.0008-0.0027). Subjects with knee abnormalities and higher KL scores showed significantly more changes in lesion, signal and shape of the meniscus (80% (16/20) vs. 20% (2/10); p = 0.0025), ligaments and cartilage during LC. Conclusion: The study demonstrates that axial loading has an effect on articular cartilage, ligament, and meniscus morphology, which is more significant in subjects with degenerative disease and may serve as an additional diagnostic tool for disease diagnosis and assessing progression in subjects with knee OA.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Stehling, Christoph; Souza, Richard B.; Graverand, Marie-Pierre Hellio Le; Wyman, Bradley T.; Li, Xiaojuan; Majumdar, Sharmila; Link, Thomas M.
2012-01-01
Purpose: Standard knee MRI is performed under unloading (ULC) conditions and not much is known about changes of the meniscus, ligaments or cartilage under loading conditions (LC). The aim is to study the influence of loading of different knee structures at 3 Tesla (T) in subjects with osteoarthritis (OA) and normal controls. Materials and methods: 30 subjects, 10 healthy and 20 with radiographic evidence of OA (10 mild and 10 moderate) underwent 3 T MRI under ULC and LC at 50% body weight. All images were analyzed by two musculoskeletal radiologists identifying and grading cartilage, meniscal, ligamentous abnormalities. The changes between ULC and LC were assessed. For meniscus, cartilage and ligaments the changes of lesions, signal and shape were evaluated. In addition, for the meniscus changes in extrusion were examined. A multivariate regression model was used for correlations to correct the data for the impact of age, gender, BMI. A paired T-Test was performed to calculate the differences in meniscus extrusion. Results: Subjects with degenerative knee abnormalities demonstrated significantly increased meniscus extrusion under LC when compared to normal subjects (p = 0.0008–0.0027). Subjects with knee abnormalities and higher KL scores showed significantly more changes in lesion, signal and shape of the meniscus (80% (16/20) vs. 20% (2/10); p = 0.0025), ligaments and cartilage during LC. Conclusion: The study demonstrates that axial loading has an effect on articular cartilage, ligament, and meniscus morphology, which is more significant in subjects with degenerative disease and may serve as an additional diagnostic tool for disease diagnosis and assessing progression in subjects with knee OA.
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Is surgical workforce diversity increasing?
Andriole, Dorothy A; Jeffe, Donna B; Schechtman, Kenneth B
2007-03-01
We sought to determine the extent to which recent increases in levels of gender and racial diversity in the overall resident-physician workforce were evident among core-surgical specialty resident workforces. Chi-square tests for trend assessed the importance of changes from 1996 to 2004 in proportions of women and African Americans in the surgery-resident workforce. Surgery-resident trends were compared with overall resident workforce trends using two-tailed t-tests to compare regression slopes that quantified rates of change over time. Chi-square tests assessed differences between proportions of women and African Americans in the current overall board-certified workforce and their proportions in the surgery board-certified workforce. From 1996 to 2004, proportions of women increased in all seven surgical specialties studied. Compared with the overall trend toward increasing proportions of women in the resident workforce, the trend in one surgical specialty was larger (obstetrics/gynecology, p 0.05), and two were smaller (each p 0.05). Proportions of African Americans decreased in three specialties (each p workforce, except obstetrics/gynecology, remained lower than in the overall board-certified workforce (each p workforces have persisted since 1996 and will likely perpetuate ongoing surgery board-certified workforce disparities.
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Metformin increases pressure pain threshold in lean women with polycystic ovary syndrome.
Kiałka, Marta; Milewicz, Tomasz; Sztefko, Krystyna; Rogatko, Iwona; Majewska, Renata
2016-01-01
Despite the strong preclinical rationale, there are only very few data considering the utility of metformin as a potential pain therapeutic in humans. The aim of this study was to determine the association between metformin therapy and pressure pain threshold (PPT) in lean women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). We hypothesized that metformin therapy in lean PCOS women increases PPT. Twenty-seven lean PCOS women with free androgen index phenotype >5 and 18 lean healthy controls were enrolled in the study. Fifteen of the PCOS women were randomly assigned to be treated with metformin 1,500 mg daily for 6 months. PPT and plasma β-endorphin levels were measured in all women at the beginning of the study and after 6 months of observation. We observed an increase in PPT values measured on deltoid and trapezius muscle in the PCOS with metformin group after 6 months of metformin administration (4.81±0.88 kg/cm(2), PPCOS without treatment group and in controls. We did not observe any significant changes in serum β-endorphin levels in any studied groups during the 6-month observation. We conclude that metformin therapy increases PPT in lean PCOS women, without affecting plasma β-endorphin concentration. Our results may suggest the potential role of metformin in pain therapy. We propose that larger, randomized studies on metformin impact on pain perception should be performed.
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Warming increases the top-down effects and metabolism of a subtidal herbivore
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Lindsey A. Carr
2013-07-01
Full Text Available Ecological theory and experiments indicate that warming can increase the relative strength of top-down effects via alterations to metabolic rates in several different systems, thereby resulting in decreased plant biomass at higher temperatures. However, the general influence of increased environmental temperature on top-down effects is not well understood in systems where organisms experience relatively large variation in temperature. Rapid ocean temperature changes are pervasive throughout the Galápagos Islands due to upwelling and downwelling of internal waves, ENSO events and seasonality. We measured the effect of large, but not uncommon, water temperature variation on the metabolism and grazing rate of a common subtidal herbivore and on photosynthesis of their algal prey in the Galápagos Islands in July 2012. We found that green urchin consumption and metabolism were greater at the higher temperature treatment (28°C, resulting in significantly less algal biomass. Our result that warming increased green urchin metabolic rates, even in a highly dynamic system, provides further support for a mechanistic link between environmental temperature and feeding rates. And further, our findings suggest individual response to temperature results in changes in top-down effects. And if this response is maintained over longer-time scales of days to weeks, this could translate to alterations of larger-scale ecological patterns, such as primary producer community composition and structure.
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Metra, Marco; Cotter, Gad; Senger, Stefanie; Edwards, Christopher; Cleland, John G; Ponikowski, Piotr; Cursack, Guillermo C; Milo, Olga; Teerlink, John R; Givertz, Michael M; O'Connor, Christopher M; Dittrich, Howard C; Bloomfield, Daniel M; Voors, Adriaan A; Davison, Beth A
2018-05-01
The importance of a serum creatinine increase, traditionally considered worsening renal function (WRF), during admission for acute heart failure has been recently debated, with data suggesting an interaction between congestion and creatinine changes. In post hoc analyses, we analyzed the association of WRF with length of hospital stay, 30-day death or cardiovascular/renal readmission and 90-day mortality in the PROTECT study (Placebo-Controlled Randomized Study of the Selective A1 Adenosine Receptor Antagonist Rolofylline for Patients Hospitalized With Acute Decompensated Heart Failure and Volume Overload to Assess Treatment Effect on Congestion and Renal Function). Daily creatinine changes from baseline were categorized as WRF (an increase of 0.3 mg/dL or more) or not. Daily congestion scores were computed by summing scores for orthopnea, edema, and jugular venous pressure. Of the 2033 total patients randomized, 1537 patients had both available at study day 14. Length of hospital stay was longer and 30-day cardiovascular/renal readmission or death more common in patients with WRF. However, these were driven by significant associations in patients with concomitant congestion at the time of assessment of renal function. The mean difference in length of hospital stay because of WRF was 3.51 (95% confidence interval, 1.29-5.73) more days ( P =0.0019), and the hazard ratio for WRF on 30-day death or heart failure hospitalization was 1.49 (95% confidence interval, 1.06-2.09) times higher ( P =0.0205), in significantly congested than nonsignificantly congested patients. A similar trend was observed with 90-day mortality although not statistically significant. In patients admitted for acute heart failure, WRF defined as a creatinine increase of ≥0.3 mg/dL was associated with longer length of hospital stay, and worse 30- and 90-day outcomes. However, effects were largely driven by patients who had residual congestion at the time of renal function assessment. URL: https
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Increase of volume swelling by a temperature gradient
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Herschbach, K.; Schneider, W.; Stober, T.
1996-11-01
The temperature gradient in the cladding of a Fast Reactor fuel pin leads to increased dilatation compared to material irradiations. Investigations of a specially designed fuel pin reached the conclusion that the cause is enhanced volume swelling. It is induced by He-bubbles, which migrate upwards the temperature gradient and coalesce. The critical size of nuclei for void swelling is thus reached much faster. Consequently, the p in deformation is larger than expected from materials irradiations, in the present case (DIN 1.4981 sa) by about 50%. (orig.) [de
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The Dispersion of Employees' Wage Increases and Firm Performance
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Grund, Christian; Westergård-Nielsen, Niels Chr.
does not induce any monetary incentives. Evidence from unique Danish linked employer employee data shows that large dispersion of wage growth within firms is generally connected with low firm performance. The results are mainly driven by white collar rather than blue collar workers.......In this contribution, we examine the interrelation between intra-firm wage increases and firm performance. Previous studies have focused on the dispersion of wages in order to examine for the empirical dominance of positive monetary incentives effects compared to adverse effects due to fairness...... considerations. We argue that the dispersion of wage increases rather than wage levels is a crucial measure for monetary incentives in firms. The larger the dispersion of wage increases the higher the amount of monetary incentives in firms. In contrast, huge wage inequality without any promotion possibilities...
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Significant Lactic Acidosis from Albuterol
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Deborah Diercks
2018-03-01
Full Text Available Lactic acidosis is a clinical entity that demands rapid assessment and treatment to prevent significant morbidity and mortality. With increased lactate use across many clinical scenarios, lactate values themselves cannot be interpreted apart from their appropriate clinical picture. The significance of Type B lactic acidosis is likely understated in the emergency department (ED. Given the mortality that sepsis confers, a serum lactate is an important screening study. That said, it is with extreme caution that we should interpret and react to the resultant elevated value. We report a patient with a significant lactic acidosis. Though he had a high lactate value, he did not require aggressive resuscitation. A different classification scheme for lactic acidosis that focuses on the bifurcation of the “dangerous” and “not dangerous” causes of lactic acidosis may be of benefit. In addition, this case is demonstrative of the potential overuse of lactates in the ED.
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Cooch, Nisha K; Stalnaker, Thomas A; Wied, Heather M; Bali-Chaudhary, Sheena; McDannald, Michael A; Liu, Tzu-Lan; Schoenbaum, Geoffrey
2015-05-21
The ventral striatum has long been proposed as an integrator of biologically significant associative information to drive actions. Although inputs from the amygdala and hippocampus have been much studied, the role of prominent inputs from orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) are less well understood. Here, we recorded single-unit activity from ventral striatum core in rats with sham or ipsilateral neurotoxic lesions of lateral OFC, as they performed an odour-guided spatial choice task. Consistent with prior reports, we found that spiking activity recorded in sham rats during cue sampling was related to both reward magnitude and reward identity, with higher firing rates observed for cues that predicted more reward. Lesioned rats also showed differential activity to the cues, but this activity was unbiased towards larger rewards. These data support a role for OFC in shaping activity in the ventral striatum to represent the biological significance of associative information in the environment.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Svetlana V Kostyuk
Full Text Available Hypermethylation is observed in the promoter regions of suppressor genes in the tumor cancer cells. Reactivation of these genes by demethylation of their promoters is a prospective strategy of the anticancer therapy. Previous experiments have shown that symmetric dimeric bisbenzimidazoles DBP(n are able to block DNA methyltransferase activities. It was also found that DBP(n produces a moderate effect on the activation of total gene expression in HeLa-TI population containing epigenetically repressed avian sarcoma genome.It is shown that DBP(n are able to penetrate the cellular membranes and accumulate in breast carcinoma cell MCF-7, mainly in the mitochondria and in the nucleus, excluding the nucleolus. The DBP(n are non-toxic to the cells and have a weak overall demethylation effect on genomic DNA. DBP(n demethylate the promoter regions of the tumor suppressor genes PTEN and RARB. DBP(n promotes expression of the genes RARB, PTEN, CDKN2A, RUNX3, Apaf-1 and APC "silent" in the MCF-7 because of the hypermethylation of their promoter regions. Simultaneously with the demethylation of the DNA in the nucleus a significant increase in the methylation level of rRNA genes in the nucleolus was detected. Increased rDNA methylation correlated with a reduction of the rRNA amount in the cells by 20-30%. It is assumed that during DNA methyltransferase activity inhibition by the DBP(n in the nucleus, the enzyme is sequestered in the nucleolus and provides additional methylation of the rDNA that are not shielded by DBP(n.It is concluded that DBP (n are able to accumulate in the nucleus (excluding the nucleolus area and in the mitochondria of cancer cells, reducing mitochondrial potential. The DBP (n induce the demethylation of a cancer cell's genome, including the demethylation of the promoters of tumor suppressor genes. DBP (n significantly increase the methylation of ribosomal RNA genes in the nucleoli. Therefore the further study of these compounds is needed
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Mining Significant Semantic Locations from GPS Data
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Cao, Xin; Cong, Gao; Jensen, Christian Søndergaard
2010-01-01
With the increasing deployment and use of GPS-enabled devices, massive amounts of GPS data are becoming available. We propose a general framework for the mining of semantically meaningful, significant locations, e.g., shopping malls and restaurants, from such data. We present techniques capable...... of extracting semantic locations from GPS data. We capture the relationships between locations and between locations and users with a graph. Significance is then assigned to locations using random walks over the graph that propagates significance among the locations. In doing so, mutual reinforcement between...
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Mining significant semantic locations from GPS data
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Cao, Xin; Cong, Gao; Jensen, Christian S.
2010-01-01
With the increasing deployment and use of GPS-enabled devices, massive amounts of GPS data are becoming available. We propose a general framework for the mining of semantically meaningful, significant locations, e.g., shopping malls and restaurants, from such data. We present techniques capable...... of extracting semantic locations from GPS data. We capture the relationships between locations and between locations and users with a graph. Significance is then assigned to locations using random walks over the graph that propagates significance among the locations. In doing so, mutual reinforcement between...
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Yu Gao
Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The human endogenous retroviral family W, Env(C7, member 1 gene (HERVWE1 is thought to participate in trophoblast cell fusion, and its expression is diminished in the placentas of singleton intrauterine growth-retarded pregnancies. However, there is limited information about the role of HERVWE1 in discordant fetal growth in twins. This study was to compare HERVWE1 gene expression between the placentas of discordant monozygotic twins and to identify its regulation by methylation. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Fetuses from twenty-one pairs of monozygotic, dichorionic, discordant twins were marked as "smaller" or "larger" according to birth weight. Placental HERVWE1 mRNA and protein expression profiles were analyzed using quantitative RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry (IHC staining. Methylation profiles of the HERVWE1 promoter region were analyzed using a pyrosequencing assay. DNA methyltransferase (DNMT transcript levels were analyzed by RT-PCR. 5-methyl cytosine (5-MC was stained using an immunohistochemical assay. There was a significant negative correlation between HERVWE1 mRNA levels and birth weight in twins (P0.05. The DNMT3b3 mRNA levels in the smaller group were significantly downregulated compared with the larger group in discordant twins(P<0.05, whereas the DNMT3b7 mRNA levels in the smaller group were significantly upregulated compared with the larger group in discordant twins(P<0.05. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: In discordant, monozygotic, dichorionic twins, HERVWE1 expression was higher in smaller fetuses and lower in larger fetuses. Methylation of the HERVWE1 gene promoter region may participate in the regulation of HERVWE1 gene expression in discordant twin pregnancies.
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Wójcik-Fatla, Angelina; Zając, Violetta; Sawczyn, Anna; Sroka, Jacek; Cisak, Ewa; Dutkiewicz, Jacek
2016-02-01
In the years 2008-2009 and 2013-2014, 1620 and 1500 questing Ixodes ricinus ticks, respectively, were examined on the territory of the Lublin province (eastern Poland). The presence of three pathogenic species causing Lyme disease was investigated: Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, B. afzelii and B. garinii. The proportion of I. ricinus ticks infected with B. burgdorferi sensu lato showed a highly significant increase between 2008-2009 and 2013-2014, from 6.0 to 15.3%. A significant increase was noted with regard to all types of infections with individual species: single (4.7-7.8%), dual (1.2-6.6%), and triple (0.1-0.9%). When expressed as the percent of all infections, the frequency of mixed infections increased from 21.4 to 49.2%. Statistical analysis performed with two methods (by calculating of odds ratios and by Fisher's exact test) showed that the frequencies of mixed infections in most cases proved to be significantly greater than expected. The strongest associations were found between B. burgdorferi s. s. and B. afzelii, and between B. burgdorferi s. s. and B. garinii. They appeared to be highly significant (P eastern Poland, and dramatic enhancement of mixed infections with individual species, which may result in mixed infections of humans and exacerbation of the clinical course of Lyme disease cases on the studied area.
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Significance testing in ridge regression for genetic data
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
De Iorio Maria
2011-09-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Technological developments have increased the feasibility of large scale genetic association studies. Densely typed genetic markers are obtained using SNP arrays, next-generation sequencing technologies and imputation. However, SNPs typed using these methods can be highly correlated due to linkage disequilibrium among them, and standard multiple regression techniques fail with these data sets due to their high dimensionality and correlation structure. There has been increasing interest in using penalised regression in the analysis of high dimensional data. Ridge regression is one such penalised regression technique which does not perform variable selection, instead estimating a regression coefficient for each predictor variable. It is therefore desirable to obtain an estimate of the significance of each ridge regression coefficient. Results We develop and evaluate a test of significance for ridge regression coefficients. Using simulation studies, we demonstrate that the performance of the test is comparable to that of a permutation test, with the advantage of a much-reduced computational cost. We introduce the p-value trace, a plot of the negative logarithm of the p-values of ridge regression coefficients with increasing shrinkage parameter, which enables the visualisation of the change in p-value of the regression coefficients with increasing penalisation. We apply the proposed method to a lung cancer case-control data set from EPIC, the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. Conclusions The proposed test is a useful alternative to a permutation test for the estimation of the significance of ridge regression coefficients, at a much-reduced computational cost. The p-value trace is an informative graphical tool for evaluating the results of a test of significance of ridge regression coefficients as the shrinkage parameter increases, and the proposed test makes its production computationally feasible.
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Uemura, Takeshi; Watanabe, Kenta; Ishibashi, Misaki; Saiki, Ryotaro; Kuni, Kyoshiro; Nishimura, Kazuhiro; Toida, Toshihiko; Kashiwagi, Keiko; Igarashi, Kazuei
2016-04-29
We previously reported that tissue damage during brain infarction was mainly caused by inactivation of proteins by acrolein. This time, it was tested why brain infarction increases in parallel with aging. A mouse model of photochemically induced thrombosis (PIT) was studied using 2, 6, and 12 month-old female C57BL/6 mice. The size of brain infarction in the mouse PIT model increased with aging. The volume of brain infarction in 12 month-old mice was approximately 2-fold larger than that in 2 month-old mice. The larger brain infarction in 12 month-old mice was due to an increase in acrolein based on an increase in the activity of spermine oxidase, together with a decrease in glutathione (GSH), a major acrolein-detoxifying compound in cells, based on the decrease in one of the subunits of glutathione biosynthesizing enzymes, γ-glutamylcysteine ligase modifier subunit, with aging. The results indicate that aggravation of brain infarction with aging was mainly due to the increase in acrolein production and the decrease in GSH in brain. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Advertising in virtual space. An increasing threat for traditional advertising.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Razvan DINA
Full Text Available Traditional advertising media used as a main TV, radio and print media. When the Internet has become one of the most important channels of communication between people, advertising has proposed to use this new medium to promote products and services on the market. Currently, more than 50% of the western countries population and share increasingly larger of population from other countries have Internet access, which creates a huge potential for online advertising.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Hovdenak, Nils; Wang Junru; Sung, C.-C.; Kelly, Thomas; Fajardo, Luis F.; Hauer-Jensen, Martin
2002-01-01
Purpose: Rectal toxicity (proctitis) is a dose-limiting factor in pelvic radiation therapy. Mucosal atrophy, i.e., net extracellular matrix degradation, is a prominent feature of radiation proctitis, but the underlying mechanisms are not known. We prospectively examined changes in matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 (gelatinase A and B) in the rectal mucosa during radiation therapy of prostate cancer, as well as the relationships of these changes with symptomatic, structural, and cellular evidence of radiation proctitis. Methods and Materials: Seventeen patients scheduled for external beam radiation therapy for prostate cancer were prospectively enrolled. Symptoms of gastrointestinal toxicity were recorded, and endoscopy with biopsy of the rectal mucosa was performed before radiation therapy, as well as 2 and 6 weeks into the treatment course. Radiation proctitis was assessed by endoscopic scoring, quantitative histology, and quantitative immunohistochemistry. MMP-2 and MMP-9 were localized immunohistochemically, and activities were determined by gelatin zymography. Results: Symptoms, endoscopic scores, histologic injury, and mucosal macrophages and neutrophils increased from baseline to 2 weeks. Symptoms increased further from 2 weeks to 6 weeks, whereas endoscopic and cellular evidence of proctitis did not. Compared to pretreatment values, there was increased total gelatinolytic activity of MMP-2 and MMP-9 at 2 weeks (p=0.02 and p=0.004, respectively) and 6 weeks (p=0.006 and p=0.001, respectively). Active MMP-2 was increased at both time points (p=0.0001 and p=0.002). Increased MMP-9 and MMP-2 at 6 weeks was associated with radiation-induced diarrhea (p=0.007 and p=0.02, respectively) and with mucosal neutrophil infiltration (rho=0.62). Conclusions: Pelvic radiation therapy causes increased MMP-2 and MMP-9 activity in the rectal mucosa. These changes correlate with radiation-induced diarrhea and granulocyte infiltration and may contribute to abnormal
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Lin, Yingchen; Kelly, Alan L; O'Mahony, James A; Guinee, Timothy P
2017-02-01
The protein content of skim milk was increased from 3.3 to 4.1% (wt/wt) by the addition of a blend of skim milk powder and sodium caseinate (NaCas), in which the weight ratio of skim milk powder to NaCas was varied from 0.8:0.0 to 0.0:0.8. Addition of NaCas increased the levels of nonsedimentable casein (from ∼6 to 18% of total casein) and calcium (from ∼36 to 43% of total calcium) and reduced the turbidity of the fortified milk, to a degree depending on level of NaCas added. Rennet gelation was adversely affected by the addition of NaCas at 0.2% (wt/wt) and completely inhibited at NaCas ≥0.4% (wt/wt). Rennet-induced hydrolysis was not affected by added NaCas. The proportion of total casein that was nonsedimentable on centrifugation (3,000 × g, 1 h, 25°C) of the rennet-treated milk after incubation for 1 h at 31°C increased significantly on addition of NaCas at ≥0.4% (wt/wt). Heat stability in the pH range 6.7 to 7.2 and ethanol stability at pH 6.4 were enhanced by the addition of NaCas. It is suggested that the negative effect of NaCas on rennet gelation is due to the increase in nonsedimentable casein, which upon hydrolysis by chymosin forms into small nonsedimentable particles that physically come between, and impede the aggregation of, rennet-altered para-casein micelles, and thereby inhibit the development of a gel network. Copyright © 2017 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Semeena, V. S.; Lammel, Gerhard
2005-04-01
Slowly degradable, semivolatile organic compounds (SOCs) may undergo more than one volatilization-transport-deposition cycle through the atmosphere (multi-hopping). The significance of this process for the potential for long-range transport (LRT) is addressed for the first time. We use a multicompartment model which in turn is based on a general circulation model. The results suggest that both transport by single-hopping and multi-hopping contribute significantly to LRT of DDT and γ-HCH (lindane) and to accumulation in high latitudes. A larger fraction of the molecules transported by multi-hopping than of the molecules transported by single-hopping is deposited to the world's oceans. Multi-hopping prevails in the boundary layer far from the source regions. However, single-hopping contributes an almost equal amount to the deposition of DDT and γ-HCH in the Arctic.
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Recipe Book for Larger Benthic Foraminifera X-ray Investigation: a Process Approach
Wolfgring, E.; Briguglio, A.; Hohenegger, J.
2012-04-01
During the past years X-ray microtomography (microCT) has become an essential tool in imaging procedures in micropaleontology. Apart from highest standards in accuracy, well conducted microCT scans aim to resolve the whole specimen in constant quality and free from any artifacts or visual interferences. Normally, to get used to X-ray techniques and get usable results, countless attempts are needed, resulting in enormous waste of time. This work tries to provide an insight into how best exploitable results can be obtained from the scanning process concerning Larger Benthic Foraminifera (LBF). As each specimen features different characteristics regarding substantial composition, density and conservation status, it is impossible and probably erroneous to give standardized guidelines even within this systematic group. Depending on the attributes of the specimen and on the desired visualization, several details have to be taken into account. Samples preparation: to get sharp images the X-ray has to cross the specimen along its shortest diameter, for LBF the equatorial view is almost always the best positioning (not for alveolinids!). The container itself has to be chosen wisely as well; it must not affect a flawless penetration of the specimen by the X-ray and has to provide a high degree of stability. Small plastic pipettes are perfect to store the specimen (or specimens) and some cardboard may help in keeping the position. The nature and quality of the paste used to fixate the object and its container are essential in ensuring a smooth rotation of the specimen which is inevitable for the consistent quality of the image and to avoid vibrations. Scan parameters: beside the correct choice of dedicated filters (which are always different depending on the working station), settings for kv, µA and resolution might have to be revised for each new object to deliver optimal results. Standard values for hyaline forms with empty chambers are normally around 80 Kv and 100 u
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Sergio Elías Hernández
Full Text Available To investigate regional differences in grey matter volume associated with the practice of Sahaja Yoga Meditation.Twenty three experienced practitioners of Sahaja Yoga Meditation and twenty three non-meditators matched on age, gender and education level, were scanned using structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging and their grey matter volume were compared using Voxel-Based Morphometry.Grey matter volume was larger in meditators relative to non-meditators across the whole brain. In addition, grey matter volume was larger in several predominantly right hemispheric regions: in insula, ventromedial orbitofrontal cortex, inferior temporal and parietal cortices as well as in left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and left insula. No areas with larger grey matter volume were found in non-meditators relative to meditators.The study shows that long-term practice of Sahaja Yoga Meditation is associated with larger grey matter volume overall, and with regional enlargement in several right hemispheric cortical and subcortical brain regions that are associated with sustained attention, self-control, compassion and interoceptive perception. The increased grey matter volume in these attention and self-control mediating regions suggests use-dependent enlargement with regular practice of this meditation.
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Hernández, Sergio Elías; Suero, José; Barros, Alfonso; González-Mora, José Luis; Rubia, Katya
2016-01-01
To investigate regional differences in grey matter volume associated with the practice of Sahaja Yoga Meditation. Twenty three experienced practitioners of Sahaja Yoga Meditation and twenty three non-meditators matched on age, gender and education level, were scanned using structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging and their grey matter volume were compared using Voxel-Based Morphometry. Grey matter volume was larger in meditators relative to non-meditators across the whole brain. In addition, grey matter volume was larger in several predominantly right hemispheric regions: in insula, ventromedial orbitofrontal cortex, inferior temporal and parietal cortices as well as in left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and left insula. No areas with larger grey matter volume were found in non-meditators relative to meditators. The study shows that long-term practice of Sahaja Yoga Meditation is associated with larger grey matter volume overall, and with regional enlargement in several right hemispheric cortical and subcortical brain regions that are associated with sustained attention, self-control, compassion and interoceptive perception. The increased grey matter volume in these attention and self-control mediating regions suggests use-dependent enlargement with regular practice of this meditation.
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Müller, Andreas M; Born, Marian; Jung, Christian; Flury, Matthias; Kolling, Christoph; Schwyzer, Hans-Kaspar; Audigé, Laurent
2018-01-01
The role of glenosphere size in reverse shoulder arthroplasty (RSA) may be important in prosthetic stability, joint kinematics, rotator cuff tension and excursion, scapular impingement, humeral lateralization, deltoid wrap, and the occurrence of "notching." This study compared short- and midterm clinical and radiographic outcomes for 2 different glenosphere sizes of a single RSA type with respect to implant positioning, glenoid size, and morphology. This retrospective analysis included 68 RSA procedures that were prospectively documented in a local register during a 5-year postoperative period. Two glenosphere diameter sizes of 36 mm (n = 33) and 44 mm (n = 35) were used. Standard radiographs were made preoperatively (ie, baseline) and at 6, 12, 24, and 60 months after surgery. Range of motion, strength, the Constant-Murley score, and the Shoulder Pain and Disability Index were also assessed at all follow-up visits. The effect of glenosphere size on measured outcomes was adjusted for baseline values, patient gender, and humeral head diameter. No significant differences were found in the functional scores between treatment groups at all follow-up assessments. At the 12-month follow-up, patients with a 44-mm glenosphere had greater external rotation in adduction (mean difference, 12°; P = .001) and abduction strength (mean difference, 1.4 kg; P = .026) compared with those with the smaller implant. These differences remained at 60 months. Scapular notching was observed in 38% of all patients, without any relevant difference between the groups. An increase in glenosphere diameter leads to a clinically moderate but significant increase in external rotation in adduction and abduction strength at midterm follow-up. Copyright © 2017 Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery Board of Trustees. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Technique for Extension of Small Antenna Array Mutual-Coupling Data to Larger Antenna Arrays
Bailey, M. C.
1996-01-01
A technique is presented whereby the mutual interaction between a small number of elements in a planar array can be interpolated and extrapolated to accurately predict the combined interactions in a much larger array of many elements. An approximate series expression is developed, based upon knowledge of the analytical characteristic behavior of the mutual admittance between small aperture antenna elements in a conducting ground plane. This expression is utilized to analytically extend known values for a few spacings and orientations to other element configurations, thus eliminating the need to numerically integrate a large number of highly oscillating and slowly converging functions. This paper shows that the technique can predict very accurately the mutual coupling between elements in a very large planar array with a knowledge of the self-admittance of an isolated element and the coupling between only two-elements arranged in eight different pair combinations. These eight pair combinations do not necessarily have to correspond to pairs in the large array, although all of the individual elements must be identical.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Jennifer S McDonald
Full Text Available Magnetic resonance imaging is considered low risk, yet recent studies have raised a concern of potential damage to DNA in peripheral blood leukocytes. This prospective Institutional Review Board-approved study examined potential double-strand DNA damage by analyzing changes in the DNA damage and repair markers γH2AX and 53BP1 in patients who underwent a 1.5 T gadolinium-enhanced cardiac magnetic resonance (MR exam. Sixty patients were enrolled (median age 55 years, 39 males. Patients with history of malignancy or who were receiving chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or steroids were excluded. MR sequence data were recorded and blood samples obtained immediately before and after MR exposure. An automated immunofluorescence assay quantified γH2AX or 53BP1 foci number in isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Changes in foci number were analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Clinical and MR procedural characteristics were compared between patients who had a >10% increase in γH2AX or 53BP1 foci numbers and patients who did not. The number of γH2AX foci did not significantly change following cardiac MR (median foci per cell pre-MR = 0.11, post-MR = 0.11, p = .90, but the number of 53BP1 foci significantly increased following MR (median foci per cell pre-MR = 0.46, post-MR = 0.54, p = .0140. Clinical and MR characteristics did not differ significantly between patients who had at least a 10% increase in foci per cell and those who did not. We conclude that MR exposure leads to a small (median 25% increase in 53BP1 foci, however the clinical relevance of this increase is unknown and may be attributable to normal variation instead of MR exposure.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Whitefoot, Kate S.; Skerlos, Steven J.
2012-01-01
The recently amended U.S. Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards determine fuel-economy targets based on the footprint (wheelbase by track width) of vehicles such that larger vehicles have lower fuel-economy targets. This paper considers whether these standards create an incentive for firms to increase vehicle size by presenting an oligopolistic-equilibrium model in which automotive firms can modify vehicle dimensions, implement fuel-saving technology features, and trade off acceleration performance and fuel economy. Wide ranges of scenarios for consumer preferences are considered. Results suggest that the footprint-based CAFE standards create an incentive to increase vehicle size except when consumer preference for vehicle size is near its lower bound and preference for acceleration is near its upper bound. In all other simulations, the sales-weighted average vehicle size increases by 2–32%, undermining gains in fuel economy by 1–4 mpg (0.6–1.7 km/L). Carbon-dioxide emissions from these vehicles are 5–15% higher as a result (4.69×10 11 –5.17×10 11 kg for one year of produced vehicles compared to 4.47×10 11 kg with no size changes), which is equivalent to adding 3–10 coal-fired power plants to the electricity grid each year. Furthermore, results suggest that the incentive is larger for light trucks than for passenger cars, which could increase traffic safety risks. - Highlights: ► New U.S. fuel-economy standards may create an incentive to increase vehicle size. ► We model firms as choosing vehicle designs and prices in oligopolistic equilibrium. ► Vehicle size increases 2–32% for 20 out of 21 scenarios of consumer preferences. ► Increases in size reduce fuel economy gains from 5–13%, resulting in 5–15% higher CO 2 emissions. ► Incentive is larger for trucks than cars, which may increase traffic safety risks.
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Forecasting multivariate volatility in larger dimensions: some practical issues
Adam E Clements; Ayesha Scott; Annastiina Silvennoinen
2012-01-01
The importance of covariance modelling has long been recognised in the field of portfolio management and large dimensional multivariate problems are increasingly becoming the focus of research. This paper provides a straightforward and commonsense approach toward investigating whether simpler moving average based correlation forecasting methods have equal predictive accuracy as their more complex multivariate GARCH counterparts for large dimensional problems. We find simpler forecasting techn...
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Gaidos, Eric; Mann, Andrew W.
2013-01-01
Statistical analyses of large surveys for transiting planets such as the Kepler mission must account for systematic errors and biases. Transit detection depends not only on the planet's radius and orbital period, but also on host star properties. Thus, a sample of stars with transiting planets may not accurately represent the target population. Moreover, targets are selected using criteria such as a limiting apparent magnitude. These selection effects, combined with uncertainties in stellar radius, lead to biases in the properties of transiting planets and their host stars. We quantify possible biases in the Kepler survey. First, Eddington bias produced by a steep planet radius distribution and uncertainties in stellar radius results in a 15%-20% overestimate of planet occurrence. Second, the magnitude limit of the Kepler target catalog induces Malmquist bias toward large, more luminous stars and underestimation of the radii of about one-third of candidate planets, especially those larger than Neptune. Third, because metal-poor stars are smaller, stars with detected planets will be very slightly (<0.02 dex) more metal-poor than the target average. Fourth, uncertainties in stellar radii produce correlated errors in planet radius and stellar irradiation. A previous finding, that highly irradiated giants are more likely to have 'inflated' radii, remains significant, even accounting for this effect. In contrast, transit depth is negatively correlated with stellar metallicity even in the absence of any intrinsic correlation, and a previous claim of a negative correlation between giant planet transit depth and stellar metallicity is probably an artifact.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Kenneth R. Paap
2015-01-01
Full Text Available In this special issue on the brain mechanisms that lead to cognitive benefits of bilingualism we discussed six reasons why it will be very difficult to discover those mechanisms. Many of these problems apply to the article by Fernandez, Acosta, Douglass, Doshi, and Tartar that also appears in the special issue. These concerns include the following: 1 an overly optimistic assessment of the replicability of bilingual advantages in behavioral studies, 2 reliance on risky small samples sizes, 3 failures to match the samples on demographic characteristics such as immigrant status, and 4 language group differences that occur in neural measures (i.e., N2 amplitude, but not in the behavioral data. Furthermore the N2 amplitude measure in general suffers from valence ambiguity: larger N2 amplitudes reported for bilinguals are more likely to reflect poorer conflict resolution rather than enhanced inhibitory control.
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Does soil compaction increase floods? A review
Alaoui, Abdallah; Rogger, Magdalena; Peth, Stephan; Blöschl, Günter
2018-02-01
Europe has experienced a series of major floods in the past years which suggests that flood magnitudes may have increased. Land degradation due to soil compaction from crop farming or grazing intensification is one of the potential drivers of this increase. A literature review suggests that most of the experimental evidence was generated at plot and hillslope scales. At larger scales, most studies are based on models. There are three ways in which soil compaction affects floods at the catchment scale: (i) through an increase in the area affected by soil compaction; (ii) by exacerbating the effects of changes in rainfall, especially for highly degraded soils; and (iii) when soil compaction coincides with soils characterized by a fine texture and a low infiltration capacity. We suggest that future research should focus on better synthesising past research on soil compaction and runoff, tailored field experiments to obtain a mechanistic understanding of the coupled mechanical and hydraulic processes, new mapping methods of soil compaction that combine mechanical and remote sensing approaches, and an effort to bridge all disciplines relevant to soil compaction effects on floods.
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Global warming without global mean precipitation increase?
Salzmann, Marc
2016-06-01
Global climate models simulate a robust increase of global mean precipitation of about 1.5 to 2% per kelvin surface warming in response to greenhouse gas (GHG) forcing. Here, it is shown that the sensitivity to aerosol cooling is robust as well, albeit roughly twice as large. This larger sensitivity is consistent with energy budget arguments. At the same time, it is still considerably lower than the 6.5 to 7% K(-1) decrease of the water vapor concentration with cooling from anthropogenic aerosol because the water vapor radiative feedback lowers the hydrological sensitivity to anthropogenic forcings. When GHG and aerosol forcings are combined, the climate models with a realistic 20th century warming indicate that the global mean precipitation increase due to GHG warming has, until recently, been completely masked by aerosol drying. This explains the apparent lack of sensitivity of the global mean precipitation to the net global warming recently found in observations. As the importance of GHG warming increases in the future, a clear signal will emerge.
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Navarrette, Chelsea R; Sisson, Joseph H; Nance, Elizabeth; Allen-Gipson, Diane; Hanes, Justin; Wyatt, Todd A
2012-06-01
The lung's ability to trap and clear foreign particles via the mucociliary elevator is an important mechanism for protecting the lung against respirable irritants and microorganisms. Although cigarette smoke (CS) exposure and particulate inhalation are known to alter mucociliary clearance, little is known about how CS and nanoparticles (NPs) modify cilia beating at the cytoskeletal infrastructure, or axonemal, level. We used a cell-free model to introduce cigarette smoke extract (CSE) and NPs with variant size and surface chemistry to isolated axonemes and measured changes in ciliary motility. We hypothesized that CSE would alter cilia beating and that alterations in ciliary beat frequency (CBF) due to particulate matter would be size- and surface chemistry-dependent. Demembranated axonemes were isolated from ciliated bovine tracheas and exposed to adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to initiate motility. CBF was measured in response to 5% CSE, CSE filtrate, and carboxyl-modified (COOH), sulphate (SO(4))-modified (sulfonated), or PEG-coated polystyrene (PS) latex NPs ranging in size from 40 nm to 500 nm. CSE concentrations as low as 5% resulted in rapid, significant stimulation of CBF (pIntroduction of sulphate-modified PS beads ~300 nm in diameter resulted in a similar increase in CBF above baseline ATP levels. Uncharged, PEG-coated beads had no effect on CBF regardless of size. Similarly, COOH-coated particles less than 200 nm in diameter did not alter ciliary motility. However, COOH-coated PS particles larger than 300 nm increased CBF significantly and increased the number of motile points. These data show that NPs, including those found in CSE, mechanically stimulate axonemes in a size- and surface chemistry-dependent manner. Alterations in ciliary motility due to physicochemical properties of NPs may be important for inhalational lung injury and efficient drug delivery of respirable particles.
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Significance of Future Biogenic and Fire Emissions on Regional Aerosol Burden
Lim, A.; Tai, A. P. K.; Val Martin, M.
2017-12-01
Land-use and land cover changes have been found to substantially affect atmospheric aerosols and climate worldwide1,2, but the complex mechanisms and pathways involved in the interactions between terrestrial processes and aerosols are not well understood. Here we use a global coupled aerosol chemistry-climate-land model (CESM with CAM5 using Modal Aerosol Module 3 and CLM4.5 in Satellite Phenology mode) to investigate how aerosols respond to future climate and land-use changes, and in turn, affects cloud cover and other hydrometeorological variables in the long term. Time-sliced simulations are conducted for a base year (2000) as a base case; then three future projected scenarios for year 2050 driven by land-use and climate projections following the Representative Concentration Pathways RCP8.53 are conducted. The first scenario considers future projected biogenic emissions, allowing us to investigate the effect of increased plant activity and enhanced biogenic emissions due to future land-use and climate on aerosol burden. The second scenario considers future biomass burning emissions, allowing us to investigate the effect of increased biomass burning emissions due to future land-use and climate on aerosol burden. The third scenario combines the projected changes in the two emissions. We find that both biogenic and biomass burning emissions contribute significantly to local aerosol and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations. The contribution from biogenic emissions to local aerosol burden is smaller in magnitude (10% to 20%), but the effects are ubiquitous in many places globally. Meanwhile, the contribution from biomass burning emissions can be much higher in magnitude (63%)4, but concentrated in heavily burned regions and occurs only during burning season. Effects of both emissions are not additive since a larger flux of emissions causes greater deposition. The resulting further impacts of land-use change on regional hydrometeorology are also explored
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Wisniewski, Wolfgang, E-mail: wolfgang.w@uni-jena.de [Otto-Schott-Institut, Jena University, Fraunhoferstr. 6, 07743 Jena (Germany); Saager, Stefan [Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP, Winterbergstraße 28, 01277 Dresden (Germany); Böbenroth, Andrea [Fraunhofer Institute for the Microstructure of Materials and Systems IMWS, Walter-Huelse-Straße 1, 06120 Halle (Saale) (Germany); Rüssel, Christian [Otto-Schott-Institut, Jena University, Fraunhoferstr. 6, 07743 Jena (Germany)
2017-02-15
Experiments concerning the information depth of electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) are performed on samples featuring an amorphous wedge on a crystalline substrate and a crystalline wedge on an amorphous substrate. The effects of the acceleration voltage and exemplary software settings on the ability to measure through an amorphous layer are presented. Changes in the EBSD-signal could be detected through a ≈142 nm thick layer of amorphous Si while orientation measurements could be performed through a ≈116 nm thick layer when using a voltage of 30 kV. The complexity of the information depth significant to a given EBSD-pattern and the multiple parameters influencing it are discussed. It is suggested that a “core information depth” is significant to high quality patterns while a larger “maximum information depth” becomes relevant when the pattern quality decreases or the sample is inhomogeneous within the information volume, i.e. in the form of partially crystalline materials or crystal layers in the nm scale. - Highlights: • Experimental evidence of the significant information depth of EBSD is presented. • Effects of the voltage and exemplary software settings are discussed. • Dependence of the significant information depth on the pattern quality is proposed. • The information depth may reach up to 142 nm in Si when using a voltage of 30 kV. • The information depth depends on the available technology.
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Aging increases compensatory saccade amplitude in the video head impulse test
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Eric R Anson
2016-07-01
Full Text Available Objective: Rotational vestibular function declines with age resulting in saccades as a compensatory mechanism to improve impaired gaze stability. Small reductions in rotational vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR gain that would be considered clinically normal have been associated with compensatory saccades. We evaluated whether compensatory saccade characteristics varied as a function of age, independent of semicircular canal function as quantified by VOR gain.Methods: Horizontal VOR gain was measured in 243 participants age 27-93 from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging using video head impulse testing (HIT. Latency and amplitude of the first saccade (either covert – occurring during head impulse, or overt – occurring following head impulse were measured for head impulses with compensatory saccades (n = 2230 head impulses. The relationship between age and saccade latency, as well as the relationship between age and saccade amplitude, were evaluated using regression analyses adjusting for VOR gain, gender, and race.Results: Older adults (mean age 75.9 made significantly larger compensatory saccades relative to younger adults (mean age 45.0. In analyses adjusted for VOR gain, there was a significant association between age and amplitude of the first compensatory covert saccade (β = 0.015, p = 0.008. In analyses adjusted for VOR gain, there was a significant association between age and amplitude of the first compensatory overt saccade (β = 0.02, p < 0.001. Compensatory saccade latencies did not vary significantly by age. Conclusions: We observed that aging increases the compensatory catch-up saccade amplitude in healthy adults after controlling for VOR gain. Size of compensatory saccades may be useful in addition to VOR gain for characterizing vestibular function in aging adults.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Gily Merkado
Full Text Available The Mediterranean Sea is considered as one of the hotspots of marine bioinvasions, largely due to the influx of tropical species migrating through the Suez Canal, so-called Lessepsian migrants. Several cases of Lessepsian migration have been documented recently, however, little is known about the ecological characteristics of the migrating species and their aptitude to colonize the new areas. This study focused on Red Sea soritids, larger symbiont-bearing benthic foraminifera (LBF that are indicative of tropical and subtropical environments and were recently found in the Israeli coast of the Eastern Mediterranean. We combined molecular phylogenetic analyses of soritids and their algal symbionts as well as network analysis of Sorites orbiculus Forskål to compare populations from the Gulf of Elat (northern Red Sea and from a known hotspot in Shikmona (northern Israel that consists of a single population of S. orbiculus. Our phylogenetic analyses show that all specimens found in Shikmona are genetically identical to a population of S. orbiculus living on a similar shallow water pebbles habitat in the Gulf of Elat. Our analyses also show that the symbionts found in Shikmona and Elat soritids belong to the Symbiodinium clade F5, which is common in the Red Sea and also present in the Indian Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Our study therefore provides the first genetic and ecological evidences that indicate that modern population of soritids found on the Mediterranean coast of Israel is probably Lessepsian, and is less likely the descendant of a native ancient Mediterranean species.
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The effectiveness of interventions to increase physical activity among young girls: a meta-analysis.
Biddle, Stuart J H; Braithwaite, Rock; Pearson, Natalie
2014-05-01
Pre-adolescent girls are an important target population for physical activity behaviour change as it may enhance tracking into the crucial period of adolescence. The quantification of intervention effectiveness for this age group of girls has not been previously reported. Studies published in English up to and including August 2013 were located from computerised (MedLine, PsychInfo, Science Direct, Web of Science, EPPI centre databases, and Cochrane Library database) and manual searches. Intervention studies aimed at promoting physical activity, which included pre-adolescent girls aged 5-11 years, and a non-physical activity control/comparison group were included. A random effects meta-analysis was conducted. The average treatment effect for pre-adolescent girls involved in physical activity interventions was significant but small (g=0.314, p<.001). Moderator analyses showed larger effects for interventions that catered for girls only and used educational and multicomponent strategies. Interventions to increase physical activity in pre-adolescent girls show small but significant effects, suggesting that behaviour change may be challenging, but results suggest some strategies that could be successful. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Sidora, V.D.; Mazurik, M.F.; Shlyakhta, A.I.; Kuznetsov, A.A.
1987-01-01
A reliable decrease of triiodotyronine in blood cerum in the region with moderately increased intake of fluorine with drinking water (1.2-3.1 mg/l) is detected. This results in increase of euthyroid goiter among population by 14-16 times, of nodular - by 6 times. In the studied area there is indirect dependence between function of thyroid gland and degree of its hyperplasia, i.e., the larger is the gland, the weaker is its ability to produce hormones. The practical significance of detected dependence lies in the fact, that in surgical removal of the nodes (malignant cases are excluded) not only morphological but functional criteria as well of the gland increase should be taken account of. Such approach to nodular goiter therapy promotes sufficient reduction of postoperative hypothyrosis. These peculiarities of the ratio between the thyroid gland hyperplasia degree and its function under conditions of studied area must be taken account of when selecting methods of conservative treatment of patients with euthyroid goiter
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Moretti, Diego; Schuth, Stephan; Egli, Ines; Zimmermann, Michael B.; Brouwer, Inge D.
2013-01-01
Low iron and high phytic acid content make fonio based meals a poor source of bioavailable iron. Phytic acid degradation in fonio porridge using whole grain cereals as phytase source and effect on iron bioavailability when added to iron fortified fonio meals were investigated. Grains, nuts and seeds collected in Mali markets were screened for phytic acid and phytase activity. We performed an iron absorption study in Beninese women (n = 16), using non-dephytinised fonio porridge (FFP) and dephytinised fonio porridge (FWFP; 75% fonio-25% wheat), each fortified with 57Fe or 58Fe labeled FeSO4. Iron absorption was quantified by measuring the erythrocyte incorporation of stable iron isotopes. Phytic acid varied from 0.39 (bambara nut) to 4.26 g/100 g DM (pumpkin seed), with oilseeds values higher than grains and nuts. Phytase activity ranged from 0.17±1.61 (fonio) to 2.9±1.3 phytase unit (PU) per g (whole wheat). Phytic acid was almost completely degraded in FWFP after 60 min of incubation (pH≈5.0, 50°C). Phytate∶iron molar ratios decreased from 23.7∶1 in FFP to 2.7∶1 in FWFP. Iron fortification further reduced phytate∶iron molar ratio to 1.9∶1 in FFP and 0.3∶1 in FWFP, respectively. Geometric mean (95% CI) iron absorption significantly increased from 2.6% (0.8–7.8) in FFP to 8.3% (3.8–17.9) in FWFP (Pphytase increased fractional iron absorption 3.2 times, suggesting it could be a possible strategy to decrease PA in cereal-based porridges. PMID:24124445
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T.A. Eikemo (Terje); A.E. Kunst (Anton); K. Judge; J.P. Mackenbach (Johan)
2008-01-01
textabstractBackground: The article investigates whether people in Eastern Europe have larger health inequalities than their counterparts in three West European regions (North, Central and the South). Methods: Data were obtained for 63 754 individuals in 23 countries from the first (2002) and
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Development of Quantitative Framework for Event Significance Evaluation
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Lee, Durk Hun; Kim, Min Chull; Kim, Inn Seock
2010-01-01
There is an increasing trend in quantitative evaluation of the safety significance of operational events using Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) technique. An integrated framework for evaluation of event significance has been developed by Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS), which consists of an assessment hierarchy and a number of matrices. The safety significance of various events, e.g., internal or external initiating events that occurred during at-power or shutdown conditions, can be quantitatively analyzed using this framework, and then, the events rated according to their significance. This paper briefly describes the basic concept of the integrated quantitative framework for evaluation of event significance, focusing on the assessment hierarchy
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Increased topsoil carbon stock across China's forests.
Yang, Yuanhe; Li, Pin; Ding, Jinzhi; Zhao, Xia; Ma, Wenhong; Ji, Chengjun; Fang, Jingyun
2014-08-01
Biomass carbon accumulation in forest ecosystems is a widespread phenomenon at both regional and global scales. However, as coupled carbon-climate models predicted, a positive feedback could be triggered if accelerated soil carbon decomposition offsets enhanced vegetation growth under a warming climate. It is thus crucial to reveal whether and how soil carbon stock in forest ecosystems has changed over recent decades. However, large-scale changes in soil carbon stock across forest ecosystems have not yet been carefully examined at both regional and global scales, which have been widely perceived as a big bottleneck in untangling carbon-climate feedback. Using newly developed database and sophisticated data mining approach, here we evaluated temporal changes in topsoil carbon stock across major forest ecosystem in China and analysed potential drivers in soil carbon dynamics over broad geographical scale. Our results indicated that topsoil carbon stock increased significantly within all of five major forest types during the period of 1980s-2000s, with an overall rate of 20.0 g C m(-2) yr(-1) (95% confidence interval, 14.1-25.5). The magnitude of soil carbon accumulation across coniferous forests and coniferous/broadleaved mixed forests exhibited meaningful increases with both mean annual temperature and precipitation. Moreover, soil carbon dynamics across these forest ecosystems were positively associated with clay content, with a larger amount of SOC accumulation occurring in fine-textured soils. In contrast, changes in soil carbon stock across broadleaved forests were insensitive to either climatic or edaphic variables. Overall, these results suggest that soil carbon accumulation does not counteract vegetation carbon sequestration across China's forest ecosystems. The combination of soil carbon accumulation and vegetation carbon sequestration triggers a negative feedback to climate warming, rather than a positive feedback predicted by coupled carbon-climate models
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Dielectric elastomer actuators using Slide-Ring Material® with increased permittivity
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Tsuchitani, Shigeki; Miki, Hirofumi; Sunahara, Tokiharu
2015-01-01
The inclusion of high permittivity nanoparticles in elastomeric materials for dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) is one promising method to achieve large strain at relatively low applied voltages. However, the addition of these nanoparticles tends to increase the stiffness of the elastomer and disturbs the actuation of the DEA. This is attributed to restriction of the chain motion in the elastomer by the nanoparticles. Slide-Ring Material ® (SRM) is a cross-linked polymeric material with freely movable cross-linking sites. The internal stresses in this structure are dramatically homogenized by the pulley effect; therefore, the restriction of chain motion due to the nanoparticles is expected to be significantly reduced. We have employed SRM as a host elastomer for a DEA with the addition of ferroelectric BaTiO 3 (BT) nanoparticles. The effects of BT addition on the permittivity, stiffness and viscosity of the SRM–BT nanocomposites, and the actuation strain of DEAs using SRM were evaluated. The permittivity of the nanocomposites increased linearly with the concentration of BT and reached 3.6 times that for pure SRM at 50 wt%. The elastic modulus and the viscosity remained almost constant up to 20 wt% and then decreased above this concentration. The actuation strain of a planar actuator using SRM and 50 wt% BT was four times larger than that of the DEA with pure SRM. (paper)
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Troć, Anna; Gajewy, Jadwiga; Danikiewicz, Witold; Kwit, Marcin
2016-09-05
Ion mobility mass spectrometry and PM7 semiempirical calculations are effective complementary methods to study gas phase formation of noncovalent complexes from vaselike macrocycles. The specific association of large-ring chiral hexaimines, derived from enantiomerically pure trans-1,2-diaminocyclohexane and various isophthaldehydes, is driven mostly by CH-π and π-π stacking interactions. The isotrianglimine macrocycles are prone to form two types of aggregates: tail-to-tail and head-to-head (capsule) dimers. The stability of the tail-to-tail dimers is affected by the size and electronic properties of the substituents at the C-5 position of the aromatic ring. Electron-withdrawing groups stabilize the aggregate, whereas bulky or electron-donating groups destabilize the complexes. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Staehr, Mette; Hansen, Pernille B L; Madsen, Kirsten
2013-01-01
Experiments were designed to test the hypothesis that COX-2 activity attenuates the blood pressure increase during high NaCl intake by stimulation of eNOS-mediated NO synthesis in the kidney medulla. COX-2(-/-) (C57BL6) and (+/+) mice were fed a diet with 0.004% (LS) or 4% (HS) NaCl for 18 days. ...... pressure during high salt intake and COX-2 activity is not necessary for increased renal NO formation during elevated NaCl intake....... pressure on salt intake and genotype: COX-2(-/-) exhibited higher blood pressure than COX-2(+/+) both on HS and LS intake. COX-2(+/+) littermates displayed an increase in blood pressure on HS vs. LS (102.3±1.1 mmHg vs. 91.9±0.9 mmHg) day and night. The mice exhibited significant blood pressure increases...... during the awake phase (night) that were larger in COX-2(-/-) on HS diet compared to COX-2(+/+). Water intake, diuresis, Na(+) and osmolyte excretions and NOx and cGMP excretions were significantly and similarly elevated with HS in COX-2(-/-) and COX-2(+/+). In summary, C57BL6 mice exhibit a salt intake...
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Jeda Palmer
2017-05-01
Full Text Available Soil organic carbon (SOC is an important and manageable property of soils that impacts on multiple ecosystem services through its effect on soil processes such as nitrogen (N cycling and soil physical properties. There is considerable interest in increasing SOC concentration in agro-ecosystems worldwide. In some agro-ecosystems, increased SOC has been found to enhance the provision of ecosystem services such as the provision of food. However, increased SOC may increase the environmental footprint of some agro-ecosystems, for example by increasing nitrous oxide emissions. Given this uncertainty, progress is needed in quantifying the impact of increased SOC concentration on agro-ecosystems. Increased SOC concentration affects both N cycling and soil physical properties (i.e., water holding capacity. Thus, the aim of this study was to quantify the contribution, both positive and negative, of increased SOC concentration on ecosystem services provided by wheat agro-ecosystems. We used the Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator (APSIM to represent the effect of increased SOC concentration on N cycling and soil physical properties, and used model outputs as proxies for multiple ecosystem services from wheat production agro-ecosystems at seven locations around the world. Under increased SOC, we found that N cycling had a larger effect on a range of ecosystem services (food provision, filtering of N, and nitrous oxide regulation than soil physical properties. We predicted that food provision in these agro-ecosystems could be significantly increased by increased SOC concentration when N supply is limiting. Conversely, we predicted no significant benefit to food production from increasing SOC when soil N supply (from fertiliser and soil N stocks is not limiting. The effect of increasing SOC on N cycling also led to significantly higher nitrous oxide emissions, although the relative increase was small. We also found that N losses via deep drainage were
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Palmer, Jeda; Thorburn, Peter J; Biggs, Jody S; Dominati, Estelle J; Probert, Merv E; Meier, Elizabeth A; Huth, Neil I; Dodd, Mike; Snow, Val; Larsen, Joshua R; Parton, William J
2017-01-01
Soil organic carbon (SOC) is an important and manageable property of soils that impacts on multiple ecosystem services through its effect on soil processes such as nitrogen (N) cycling and soil physical properties. There is considerable interest in increasing SOC concentration in agro-ecosystems worldwide. In some agro-ecosystems, increased SOC has been found to enhance the provision of ecosystem services such as the provision of food. However, increased SOC may increase the environmental footprint of some agro-ecosystems, for example by increasing nitrous oxide emissions. Given this uncertainty, progress is needed in quantifying the impact of increased SOC concentration on agro-ecosystems. Increased SOC concentration affects both N cycling and soil physical properties (i.e., water holding capacity). Thus, the aim of this study was to quantify the contribution, both positive and negative, of increased SOC concentration on ecosystem services provided by wheat agro-ecosystems. We used the Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator (APSIM) to represent the effect of increased SOC concentration on N cycling and soil physical properties, and used model outputs as proxies for multiple ecosystem services from wheat production agro-ecosystems at seven locations around the world. Under increased SOC, we found that N cycling had a larger effect on a range of ecosystem services (food provision, filtering of N, and nitrous oxide regulation) than soil physical properties. We predicted that food provision in these agro-ecosystems could be significantly increased by increased SOC concentration when N supply is limiting. Conversely, we predicted no significant benefit to food production from increasing SOC when soil N supply (from fertiliser and soil N stocks) is not limiting. The effect of increasing SOC on N cycling also led to significantly higher nitrous oxide emissions, although the relative increase was small. We also found that N losses via deep drainage were minimally
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Hybrid Josephson-CMOS Memory in Advanced Technologies and Larger Sizes
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Liu, Q; Van Duzer, T; Fujiwara, K; Yoshikawa, N
2006-01-01
Recent progress on demonstrating components of the 64 kb Josephson-CMOS hybrid memory has encouraged exploration of the advancement possible with use of advanced technologies for both the Josephson and CMOS parts of the memory, as well as considerations of the effect of memory size on access time and power dissipation. The simulations to be reported depend on the use of an approximate model for 90 nm CMOS at 4 K. This model is an extension of the one we developed for 0.25 μm CMOS and have already verified. For the Josephson parts, we have chosen 20 kA/cm 2 technology, which was recently demonstrated. The calculations show that power dissipation and access time increase rather slowly with increasing size of the memory
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Dwarf mistletoe does not increase trunk taper in released red firs in California
Robert F. Scharpf
1977-01-01
Dwarf mistletoe had no noticeable effect on trunk taper of young, dominant and codominant red firs 4 to 22 inches (10.2 to 55.9 cm) d.b.h. Also, taper was not influenced by live crown ratio of infected and uninfected trees. Trees less than 7 inches d.b.h. had significantly more taper than larger trees, irrespective of dwarf mistletoe.
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Zhao, Hai-Rong; Li, Dong-Ping; Ren, Xiao-Ming; Song, You; Jin, Wan-Qin
2010-01-13
Four isostructural inorganic-organic hybrid ferroelectric compounds, assembled from achiral 3-R-benzylidene-1-aminopyridiniums (R = NO(2), Br, Cl, or F for 1-4, respectively) and [PbI(3)](-) anions with the chiral Kagomé-shaped tubular aggregating architecture, show larger spontaneous polarizations.
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Eikemo, T. A.; Kunst, A. E.; Judge, K.; Mackenbach, J. P.
2008-01-01
BACKGROUND: The article investigates whether people in Eastern Europe have larger health inequalities than their counterparts in three West European regions (North, Central and the South). METHODS: Data were obtained for 63,754 individuals in 23 countries from the first (2002) and second (2004)
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Mathes, Tim; Großpietsch, Kirsten; Neugebauer, Edmund A M; Pieper, Dawid
2017-11-29
Immunosuppressive drugs have to be taken through the whole duration of kidney transplant survival to avoid rejection. Low adherence can increase the risk of allograft rejection. The objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of adherence-enhancing interventions (AEI) in kidney transplantation recipients taking immunosuppressive drugs. A search was performed in Medline, Embase, CINAHL, and PsycINFO. The search was performed in May 2016. We included comparative studies on AEI for kidney transplant recipients taking immunosuppressive drugs. The primary outcome was medication adherence. All identified articles were screened according to the predefined inclusion criteria. The risk of bias was assessed with the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Study selection and risk of bias assessment were performed by two reviewers independently. Data were extracted in standardized tables. Data extraction was verified by a second reviewer. All discrepancies were resolved through discussion. Data were synthesized in a structured narrative way. There is no registered or published protocol for this systematic review. We identified 12 studies. The number of participants ranged from 24 to 1830. Nine studies included adults, two children, and one adults and children. Risk of bias was high. The main reasons for high risk of bias were inadequate allocation sequence (confounding) and that studies were not blinded. Eleven studies evaluated AEI consisting of educational and/or behavioral components. All these studies showed an effect direction in favor of the intervention. Intervention effect was only moderate. Most adherence measures in studies on educational and behavioral interventions showed statistically significant differences. Studies that combined educational and behavioral intervention components showed larger effects. All studies that were statistically significant were multimodal. Studies that included an individualized component and more intensive interventions showed larger effects. One
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Potential increase in floods in California's Sierra Nevada under future climate projections
Das, T.; Dettinger, M.D.; Cayan, D.R.; Hidalgo, H.G.
2011-01-01
California's mountainous topography, exposure to occasional heavily moisture-laden storm systems, and varied communities and infrastructures in low lying areas make it highly vulnerable to floods. An important question facing the state-in terms of protecting the public and formulating water management responses to climate change-is "how might future climate changes affect flood characteristics in California?" To help address this, we simulate floods on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the state's primary catchment, based on downscaled daily precipitation and temperature projections from three General Circulation Models (GCMs). These climate projections are fed into the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) hydrologic model, and the VIC-simulated streamflows and hydrologic conditions, from historical and from projected climate change runs, allow us to evaluate possible changes in annual maximum 3-day flood magnitudes and frequencies of floods. By the end of the 21st Century, all projections yield larger-than-historical floods, for both the Northern Sierra Nevada (NSN) and for the Southern Sierra Nevada (SSN). The increases in flood magnitude are statistically significant (at p models, while under the third scenario, GFDL CM2. 1, frequencies remain constant or decline slightly, owing to an overall drying trend. These increases appear to derive jointly from increases in heavy precipitation amount, storm frequencies, and days with more precipitation falling as rain and less as snow. Increases in antecedent winter soil moisture also play a role in some areas. Thus, a complex, as-yet unpredictable interplay of several different climatic influences threatens to cause increased flood hazards in California's complex western Sierra landscapes. ?? 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
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Stanley, Margot R; Koide, Roger T; Shumway, Durland L
1993-05-01
We examined in the field the effect of the vesicular-arbuscular (VA) mycorhizal symbiosis on the reproductive success of Abutilon theophrasti Medic., an early successional annual member of the Malvaceae. Mycorrhizal infection greatly enhanced vegetative growth, and flower, fruit and seed production, resulting in significantly greater recruitment the following year. In addition, the seeds produced by mycorrhizal plants were significantly larger and contained significantly more phosphorus than seeds from non-mycorrhizal plants, an effect which may improve offspring vigor. Infection by mycorrhizal fungi may thus contribute to the overall fitness of a host plant and strongly influence long-term plant population dynamics.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Helen C. Atkinson
2015-01-01
Full Text Available Objective & Design. We undertook a retrospective review of children diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL and treated with modern COG protocols (n=80 to determine longitudinal changes in body mass index (BMI and the prevalence of obesity compared with a healthy reference population. Results. At diagnosis, the majority of patients (77.5% were in the healthy weight category. During treatment, increases in BMI z-scores were greater for females than males; the prevalence of obesity increased from 10.3% to 44.8% (P<0.004 for females but remained relatively unchanged for males (9.8% to 13.7%, P=0.7. Longitudinal analysis using linear mixed-effects identified associations between BMI z-scores and time-dependent interactions with sex (P=0.0005, disease risk (P<0.0001, age (P=0.0001, and BMI z-score (P<0.0001 at diagnosis and total dose of steroid during maintenance (P=0.01. Predicted mean BMI z-scores at the end of therapy were greater for females with standard risk ALL irrespective of age at diagnosis and for males younger than 4 years of age at diagnosis with standard risk ALL. Conclusion. Females treated on standard risk protocols and younger males may be at greatest risk of becoming obese during treatment for ALL. These subgroups may benefit from intervention strategies to manage BMI during treatment for ALL.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Sers Christine T
2010-12-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background While the number of newly sequenced genomes and genes is constantly increasing, elucidation of their function still is a laborious and time-consuming task. This has led to the development of a wide range of methods for predicting protein functions in silico. We report on a new method that predicts function based on a combination of information about protein interactions, orthology, and the conservation of protein networks in different species. Results We show that aggregation of these independent sources of evidence leads to a drastic increase in number and quality of predictions when compared to baselines and other methods reported in the literature. For instance, our method generates more than 12,000 novel protein functions for human with an estimated precision of ~76%, among which are 7,500 new functional annotations for 1,973 human proteins that previously had zero or only one function annotated. We also verified our predictions on a set of genes that play an important role in colorectal cancer (MLH1, PMS2, EPHB4 and could confirm more than 73% of them based on evidence in the literature. Conclusions The combination of different methods into a single, comprehensive prediction method infers thousands of protein functions for every species included in the analysis at varying, yet always high levels of precision and very good coverage.
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Pierce, Angela N.; Zhang, Zhen; Fuentes, Isabella M.; Wang, Ruipeng; Ryals, Janelle M.; Christianson, Julie A.
2015-01-01
Abstract Experiencing early life stress or injury increases a woman's likelihood of developing vulvodynia and concomitant dysregulation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis. To investigate the outcome of neonatal vaginal irritation (NVI), female mouse pups were administered intravaginal zymosan on postnatal days 8 and 10 and were assessed as adults for vaginal hypersensitivity by measuring the visceromotor response to vaginal balloon distension (VBD). Western blotting and calcium imaging were performed to measure transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 (TRPA1) and vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) in the vagina and innervating primary sensory neurons. Serum corticosterone (CORT), mast cell degranulation, and corticotropin-releasing factor receptor 1 (CRF1) expression were measured as indicators of peripheral HPA axis activation. Colorectal and hind paw sensitivity were measured to determine cross-sensitization resulting from NVI. Adult NVI mice had significantly larger visceromotor response during VBD than naive mice. TRPA1 protein expression was significantly elevated in the vagina, and calcium transients evoked by mustard oil (TRPA1 ligand) or capsaicin (TRPV1 ligand) were significantly decreased in dorsal root ganglion from NVI mice, despite displaying increased depolarization-evoked calcium transients. Serum CORT, vaginal mast cell degranulation, and CRF1 protein expression were all significantly increased in NVI mice, as were colorectal and hind paw mechanical and thermal sensitivity. Neonatal treatment with a CRF1 antagonist, NBI 35965, immediately before zymosan administration largely attenuated many of the effects of NVI. These results suggest that NVI produces chronic hypersensitivity of the vagina, as well as of adjacent visceral and distant somatic structures, driven in part by increased HPA axis activation. PMID:26098441
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2006-01-01
A new magnet at CERN is going to allow COMPASS (Common Muon Proton Apparatus for Structure and Spectroscopy) maximum acceptance. Thanks to the 5 tonne, 2.5 m long magnet, which arrived last December, many more events are expected compared to the previous data-taking.
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Hansen, Morten Balle; Villadsen, Anders Ryom
2013-01-01
Managerial networking is an important part of public management. Research has forcefully demonstrated how this aspect of management directly and indirectly is related to organizational outcomes. Much less is known, however, about the determinants of managerial networking. This is especially true ...
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Mud deposit formation on the open coast of the larger Patos Lagoon-Cassino Beach system
Vinzon, S. B.; Winterwerp, J. C.; Nogueira, R.; de Boer, G. J.
2009-03-01
This paper proposes an explanation of the mud deposits on the inner Shelf of Cassino Beach, South Brazil, by using computational modeling. These mud deposits are mainly formed by sediments delivered from Patos Lagoon, a coastal lagoon connected to the Shelf, next to Cassino Beach. The deposits are characterized by (soft) mud layers of about 1 m thick and are found between the -5 and -20 isobaths. Two hydrodynamic models of the larger Patos Lagoon-Cassino Beach system were calibrated against water elevation measured for a 5 months period, and against currents and salinity measured for a week period. The circulation patterns and water exchange through the mouth were analyzed as a function of local and remote wind effects, and river discharges. The remote wind effect mainly governs the quantity of water exchange with the Lagoon through its effect on mean sea level as a result of Ekman dynamics, while river discharges are important for the salinity of the exchanged water masses. Local winds augment the export-import rates by set-up and set-down within the Lagoon, but their effects are much smaller than those of the remote wind. Currents patterns on the inner Shelf during water outflow revealed a recirculation zone south of the Lagoon, induced by the local geometry and bathymetry of the system. This recirculation zone coincides with observed locations of mud deposition. Water, hence suspended sediment export occurs when remote and local winds are from the N-E, which explains why fine sediment deposits are mainly found south of the Lagoon's breakwater. A sensitivity analysis with the numerical model quantified the contribution of the various mechanisms driving the transport and fate of the fine suspended sediments, i.e. the effects of remote and local wind, of the astronomical tide, of river discharge and fresh-salt water-induced density currents, and of earth rotation. It is concluded that gravitational circulation and earth rotation affects the further dispersion of
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Wu, Minrui; Wu, Yanhui; Liu, Chuyao; Cai, Zhiping; Xiong, Neal N; Liu, Anfeng; Ma, Ming
2018-05-12
For Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSNs), sending data with timely style to the stink (or control center, CC) that is monitored by sensor nodes is a challenging issue. However, in order to save energy, wireless sensor networks based on a duty cycle are widely used in the industrial field, which can bring great delay to data transmission. We observe that if the duty cycle of a small number of nodes in the network is set to 1, the sleep delay caused by the duty cycle can be effectively reduced. Thus, in this paper, a novel Portion of Nodes with Larger Duty Cycle (PNLDC) scheme is proposed to reduce delay and optimize energy efficiency for IWSNs. In the PNLDC scheme, a portion of nodes are selected to set their duty cycle to 1, and the proportion of nodes with the duty cycle of 1 is determined according to the energy abundance of the area in which the node is located. The more the residual energy in the region, the greater the proportion of the selected nodes. Because there are a certain proportion of nodes with the duty cycle of 1 in the network, the PNLDC scheme can effectively reduce delay in IWSNs. The performance analysis and experimental results show that the proposed scheme significantly reduces the delay for forwarding data by 8.9~26.4% and delay for detection by 2.1~24.6% without reducing the network lifetime when compared with the fixed duty cycle method. Meanwhile, compared with the dynamic duty cycle strategy, the proposed scheme has certain advantages in terms of energy utilization and delay reduction.
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Chihara, Yuichi; Akamizu, Takashi; Azuma, Masanori; Murase, Kimihiko; Harada, Yuka; Tanizawa, Kiminobu; Handa, Tomohiro; Oga, Toru; Mishima, Michiaki; Chin, Kazuo
2015-08-15
There are reports suggesting that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may itself cause weight gain. However, recent reports showed increases in body mass index (BMI) following continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatments. When considering weight changes, changes in humoral factors that have significant effects on appetite such as acyl (AG) and desacyl ghrelin (DAG), leptin, insulin, and glucose and their interactions, examples of which are AG/DAG and AG/insulin, are important. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that some appetite-related factors had a specific profile before and after CPAP treatment. Metabolic parameters were measured cross-sectionally while fasting and 30, 60, 90, and 120 min following breakfast in no or mild OSA (apnea-hypopnea index fasting and postprandial glucose, insulin, and leptin levels did not differ between no or mild OSA and moderate-to-severe OSA participants, AG and DAG, including AG/DAG and AG/insulin, under fasting and postprandial conditions were significantly increased in the moderate-to-severe OSA patients (p continuous changes in ghrelin secretion in OSA patients existed at least within 3 months of CPAP treatment. Methods to prevent OSA as well as treatment in its early stage may be recommended. © 2015 American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Putter, Roland de; Wagner, Christian; Verde, Licia; Mena, Olga; Percival, Will J.
2012-01-01
Accurate power spectrum (or correlation function) covariance matrices are a crucial requirement for cosmological parameter estimation from large scale structure surveys. In order to minimize reliance on computationally expensive mock catalogs, it is important to have a solid analytic understanding of the different components that make up a covariance matrix. Considering the matter power spectrum covariance matrix, it has recently been found that there is a potentially dominant effect on mildly non-linear scales due to power in modes of size equal to and larger than the survey volume. This beat coupling effect has been derived analytically in perturbation theory and while it has been tested with simulations, some questions remain unanswered. Moreover, there is an additional effect of these large modes, which has so far not been included in analytic studies, namely the effect on the estimated average density which enters the power spectrum estimate. In this article, we work out analytic, perturbation theory based expressions including both the beat coupling and this local average effect and we show that while, when isolated, beat coupling indeed causes large excess covariance in agreement with the literature, in a realistic scenario this is compensated almost entirely by the local average effect, leaving only ∼ 10% of the excess. We test our analytic expressions by comparison to a suite of large N-body simulations, using both full simulation boxes and subboxes thereof to study cases without beat coupling, with beat coupling and with both beat coupling and the local average effect. For the variances, we find excellent agreement with the analytic expressions for k −1 at z = 0.5, while the correlation coefficients agree to beyond k = 0.4 hMpc −1 . As expected, the range of agreement increases towards higher redshift and decreases slightly towards z = 0. We finish by including the large-mode effects in a full covariance matrix description for arbitrary survey
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Pittman, D W; Parker, J S; Getz, B R; Jackson, C M; Le, T-A P; Riggs, S B; Shay, J M
2012-01-01
We aimed to develop a cost-free and sustainable program to influence healthier eating decisions during elementary school lunch. Baseline food and beverage choices were assessed for 9 days during lunch service at two racially and economically diverse elementary schools in Spartanburg County, SC, USA. After being informed that the labeled items on the daily lunch menu represented the healthiest choice, students were allowed to ring a call bell in the cafeteria for public recognition when they chose all of the identified healthiest food and beverage items during lunch service. Using menus matched to the baseline phase, food and beverage choices were measured during a 9-day intervention phase. After 30 days, food and beverage choices were reassessed during a 3-day follow-up phase. Healthiest food & beverage choices increased 49% with >60% of students choosing non-flavored milk over flavored milk during the intervention phase. There was no difference in the success of the program between the two schools. The program continued and healthy eating decisions were significantly sustained at a 30-day follow-up assessment. Public recognition through bell ringing appears to be an effective practice to sustain increases in healthy eating decisions during elementary school lunch and warrants expansion to larger scale, longitudinal trials.
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Agius, Ronald; Nadulski, Thomas; Kahl, Hans-Gerhard; Dufaux, Bertin
2012-02-10
In this paper we present the first assessment of the new German driving licence re-granting medical and psychological assessment (MPA) guidelines by comparing over 3500 urine samples tested under the old MPA cut-offs to over 5000 samples tested under the new MPA cut-offs. Since the enzyme multiplied immunoassay technique (EMIT) technology used previously was not sensitive enough to screen for drugs at such low concentrations, as suggested by the new MPA guidelines, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) screening kits were used to screen for the drugs of abuse at the new MPA cut-offs. The above comparison revealed significantly increased detection rates of drug use or exposure during the rehabilitation period as follows: 1.61, 2.33, 3.33, and 7 times higher for 11-nor-delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol-9-carboxylic acid (THC-COOH), morphine, benzoylecgonine and amphetamine respectively. The present MPA guidelines seem to be more effective to detect non-abstinence from drugs of abuse and hence to detecting drivers who do not yet fulfil the MPA requirements to regain their revoked driving licence. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Calvo-Castro, Laura A; Schiborr, Christina; David, Franziska; Ehrt, Heidi; Voggel, Jenny; Sus, Nadine; Behnam, Dariush; Bosy-Westphal, Anja; Frank, Jan
2018-05-01
Grapevine-shoot extract Vineatrol30 contains abundant resveratrol monomers and oligomers with health-promoting potential. However, the oral bioavailability of these compounds in humans is low (˂1-2%). The aim of this study was to improve the oral bioavailability of resveratrol from vineatrol by micellar solubilization. Twelve healthy volunteers (six women, six men) randomly ingested a single dose of 500 mg vineatrol (30 mg trans-resveratrol, 75 mg trans-ε-viniferin) as native powder or liquid micelles. Plasma and urine were collected at baseline and over 24 h after intake. Resveratrol and viniferin were analyzed by HPLC. The area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC) and mean maximum plasma trans-resveratrol concentrations were 5.0-fold and 10.6-fold higher, respectively, after micellar supplementation relative to the native powder. However, no detectable amounts of trans-ε-viniferin were found in either plasma or urine. The transepithelial permeability of trans-resveratrol and trans-ε-viniferin across differentiated Caco-2 monolayers was consistent to the absorbed fractions in vivo. The oral bioavailability of trans-resveratrol from the grapevine-shoot extract Vineatrol30 was significantly increased using a liquid micellar formulation, without any treatment-related adverse effects, making it a suitable system for improved supplementation of trans-resveratrol. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.
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Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis : Clinical significance and pathogenesis
de Knegt, RJ
2001-01-01
Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a form of liver disease resembling alcoholic liver disease in a patient who does not consume significant amounts of alcohol. Since its first description in 1980 it has been recognized with increasing frequency. The natural course is relatively benign, but
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Nosrat, Irina V; Margolskee, Robert F; Nosrat, Christopher A
2012-05-11
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is the most potent neurotrophic factor in the peripheral taste system during embryonic development. It is also expressed in adult taste buds. There is a lack of understanding of the role of BDNF in the adult taste system. To address this, we generated novel transgenic mice in which transgene expression was driven by an α-gustducin promoter coupling BDNF expression to the postnatal expression of gustducin in taste cells. Immunohistochemistry revealed significantly stronger BDNF labeling in taste cells of high BDNF-expressing mouse lines compared with controls. We show that taste buds in these mice are significantly larger and have a larger number of taste cells compared with controls. To examine whether innervation was affected in Gust-BDNF mice, we used antibodies to neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) and ATP receptor P2X3. The total density of general innervation and specifically the gustatory innervation was markedly increased in high BDNF-expressing mice compared with controls. TrkB and NCAM gene expression in laser capture microdissected taste epithelia were significantly up-regulated in these mice. Up-regulation of TrkB transcripts in taste buds and elevated taste cell-specific TrkB phosphorylation in response to increased BDNF levels indicate that BDNF controls the expression and activation of its high affinity receptor in taste cells. This demonstrates a direct taste cell function for BDNF. BDNF also orchestrates and maintains taste bud innervation. We propose that the Gust-BDNF transgenic mouse models can be employed to further dissect the specific roles of BDNF in the adult taste system.
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Suhir, Ephraim
2015-08-01
Physically meaningful and easy-to-use analytical (mathematical) stress model is developed for a short beam with clamped and known-in-advance offset ends. The analysis is limited to elastic deformations. While the classical Timoshenko short-beam theory seeks the beam's deflection caused by the combined bending and shear deformations for the given loading, an inverse problem is considered here: the lateral force is sought for the given ends offset. In short beams this force is larger than in long beams, since, in order to achieve the given displacement (offset), the applied force has to overcome both bending and shear resistance of the beam. It is envisioned that short beams could adequately mimic the state of stress in solder joint interconnections, including ball-grid-array (BGA) systems, with large, compared to conventional joints, stand-off heights. When the package/printed-circuit-board (PCB) assembly is subjected to the change in temperature, the thermal expansion (contraction) mismatch of the package and the PCB results in an easily predictable relative displacement (offset) of the ends of the solder joint. This offset can be determined from the known external thermal mismatch strain (determined as the product of the difference in the coefficients of thermal expansion and the change in temperature) and the position of the joint with respect to the mid-cross-section of the assembly. The maximum normal and shearing stresses could be viewed as suitable criteria of the beam's (joint's) material long-term reliability. It is shown that these stresses can be brought down by employing beam-like joints, i.e., joints with an increased stand-off height compared to conventional joints. It is imperative, of course, that, if such joints are employed, there is still enough interfacial real estate, so that the BGA bonding strength is not compromised. On the other hand, owing to the lower stress level, reliability assurance might be much less of a challenge than in the case of
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Application of small panel damping measurements to larger walls
Hastings, Mardi C.; Godfrey, Richard; Babcock, G. Madison
1996-05-01
Damping properties of a viscoelastic material were determined using a standard resonant beam technique. The damping material was then applied to 1 by 2 foot gypsum panels in a constrained layer construction. Damping loss factors in panels with and without the constrained layer were determined based on reverberation times after excitation at third-octave band center frequencies. The constrained damping layer had been designed to increase damping by an order of magnitude above that of a single gypsum panel at 2000 Hz; however, relative to a gypsum panel of the same overall thickness as the panel with the constrained layer, loss factors increased only by a factor of three to five. Next modal damping loss factors in 9 by 14 foot gypsum single and double walls were calculated from the experimentally determined quality factor for each modal resonance. Results showed that below 2500 Hz, modes in 1 by 2 foot gypsum panels had nearly the same damping loss factors as modes in a 9 by 14 foot gypsum wall of the same thickness; however, loss factors for the wall were an order of magnitude lower than those of the 1 by 2 foot panels at frequencies above 2500 Hz, the coincidence frequency for 5/8-inch thick gypsum plates. Thus it was inconclusive whether or not damping loss factors measured using small panels could be used to estimate the effect of a constrained damping layer on transmission loss through a 9 by 14 foot wall unless boundary conditions and modal frequencies were the same for each size.
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Potential for increased wind-generated electricity utilization using heat pumps in urban areas
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Waite, Michael; Modi, Vijay
2014-01-01
Highlights: • Large-scale wind power and increased electric heat pumps were evaluated. • A deterministic model of wind power and electricity demand was developed. • Sub-models for space heating and domestic hot water demand were developed. • Increased use of heat pumps can improve the viability of large-scale wind power. • Larger wind power capacity can meet a target utilization rate with more heat pumps. - Abstract: The U.S. has substantial wind power potential, but given wind’s intermittent availability and misalignment with electricity demand profiles, large-scale deployment of wind turbines could result in high electricity costs due to energy storage requirements or low utilization rates. While fuel switching and heat pumps have been proposed as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy reduction strategies at the building scale, this paper shows that heat pump adoption could have additional system-wide benefits by increasing the utilization of wind-generated electricity. A model was developed to evaluate the effects of coupling large-scale wind power installations in New York State with increased use of electric heat pumps to meet a portion of space heating and domestic hot water (DHW) demands in New York City. The analysis showed significant increases in wind-generated electricity utilization with increased use of heat pumps, allowing for higher installed capacity of wind power. One scenario indicates that 78.5% annual wind-generated electricity utilization can be achieved with 3 GW of installed wind power capacity generated electricity equal to 20% of existing NYC annual electricity demand; if 20% of space heating and DHW demands are provided by heat pumps, the 78.5% utilization rate can be achieved with an increase of total wind power capacity to 5 GW. Therefore, this integrated supply–demand approach could provide additional system-wide emissions reductions
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Factoring local sequence composition in motif significance analysis.
Ng, Patrick; Keich, Uri
2008-01-01
We recently introduced a biologically realistic and reliable significance analysis of the output of a popular class of motif finders. In this paper we further improve our significance analysis by incorporating local base composition information. Relying on realistic biological data simulation, as well as on FDR analysis applied to real data, we show that our method is significantly better than the increasingly popular practice of using the normal approximation to estimate the significance of a finder's output. Finally we turn to leveraging our reliable significance analysis to improve the actual motif finding task. Specifically, endowing a variant of the Gibbs Sampler with our improved significance analysis we demonstrate that de novo finders can perform better than has been perceived. Significantly, our new variant outperforms all the finders reviewed in a recently published comprehensive analysis of the Harbison genome-wide binding location data. Interestingly, many of these finders incorporate additional information such as nucleosome positioning and the significance of binding data.
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Development and functional significance of dorsal air bags in ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
Histological examination of the air bags showed that they were integumentary structures composed of an outer epidermis and an inner dermis. The air bags were not connected to the respiratory system. The body temperature (Tb) of Monteiro's Hornbill nestlings increased significantly with increasing age. Comparisons of ...
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Cotton, Laura J.; Pearson, Paul N.; Renema, Willem
2014-01-01
Important long-ranging groups of larger benthic foraminifera (LBF) are known to have become extinct during a period of global cooling and climate disruption at the Eocene-Oligocene transition (EOT) but the precise timing and mechanisms are uncertain. Recent study showed unexpectedly that the LBF extinction in Tanzania occurs very close to the Eocene/Oligocene boundary, as recognised by the extinction of the planktonic foraminiferal Family Hantkeninidae, rather than at the later period of maximum global ice growth and sea-level fall, as previously thought. Here we investigate the same phase of extinction in the Melinau Limestone of Sarawak, on the island of Borneo, Malaysia one of the most complete carbonate successions spanning the Eocene to Lower Miocene. Assemblages of LBF from the Melinau Limestone were studied extensively by Geoffrey Adams during the 1960s-80s, confirming a major extinction during the EOT, but the section lacked independent means of correlation. By analysing rock samples originally studied by Adams and now in the Natural History Museum, London, we provide new bulk stable isotope (δ13C and δ18O) records. This enables us to identify, albeit tentatively, the level of maximum stable isotope excursion and show that the LBF extinction event in the Melinau Limestone occurs below this isotope excursion, supporting the results from Tanzania and indicating that the extinction of LBF close to the Eocene/Oligocene boundary may be a global phenomenon.
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Buysse, Pauline; Bodson, Bernard; Debacq, Alain; De Ligne, Anne; Heinesch, Bernard; Manise, Tanguy; Moureaux, Christine; Aubinet, Marc
2017-04-01
The numerous reports on carbon (C) loss from cropland soils have recently raised awareness on the climate change mitigation potential of these ecosystems, and on the necessity to improve C sequestration in these soils. Among the multiple solutions that are proposed, several field measurement and modelling studies reported that growing cover crops over fall and winter time could appear as an efficient solution. However, while the large majority of these studies are based on SOC stock inventories and very few information exists from the CO2 flux dynamics perspective. In the present work, we use the results from long-term (12 years) eddy-covariance measurements performed at the Lonzée Terrestrial Observatory (LTO, candidate ICOS site, Belgium) and focus on six intercrop periods managed with (3) and without (3) cover crops after winter wheat main crops, in order to compare their response to environmental factors and to investigate the impact of cover crops on Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE). Our results showed that cumulated NEE was not significantly affected by the presence of cover crops. Indeed, while larger CO2 assimilation occurred during cover crop growth, this carbon gain was later lost by larger respiration rates due to larger crop residue amounts brought to the soil. As modelled by a Q10-like relationship, significantly larger R10 values were indeed observed during the three intercrop periods cultivated with cover crops. These CO2 flux-based results therefore tend to moderate the generally acknowledged positive impact of cover crops on net C sequestration by croplands. Our results indicate that the effect of growing cover crops on C sequestration could be less important than announced, at least at certain sites.
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Wilhite, Daniel P; Mickleborough, Timothy D; Laymon, Abigail S; Chapman, Robert F
2013-02-01
The purpose of this study was to estimate the percentage of the increase in whole body maximal oxygen consumption (.VO(2max)) that is accounted for by increased respiratory muscle oxygen uptake after altitude training. Six elite male distance runners (.VO(2max) = 70.6 ± 4.5 ml kg(-1) min(-1)) and one elite female distance runner (.VO(2max)) = 64.7 ml kg(-1) min(-1)) completed a 28-day "live high-train low" training intervention (living elevation, 2,150 m). Before and after altitude training, subjects ran at three submaximal speeds, and during a separate session, performed a graded exercise test to exhaustion. A regression equation derived from published data was used to estimate respiratory muscle .VO(2) (.VO(2RM)) using our ventilation (.VE) values. .VO(2RM) was also estimated retrospectively from a larger group of distance runners (n = 22). .VO(2max) significantly (p altitude (196 ± 59 ml min(-1)), while (.VE) at .VO(2max) also significantly (p altitude (201 ± 36 ml min(-1)), along with a 10.8 ± 2.1 l min(-1) increase in (.VE), thus requiring an estimated 27 % of Δ .VO(2max) Our data suggest that a substantial portion of the improvement in .VO(2max) with chronic altitude training goes to fuel the respiratory muscles as opposed to the musculature which directly contributes to locomotion. Consequently, the time-course of decay in ventilatory acclimatization following return to sea-level may have an impact on competitive performance.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Carlos A. de B. Pereira
2017-12-01
Full Text Available The main objective of this paper is to find the relation between the adaptive significance level presented here and the sample size. We statisticians know of the inconsistency, or paradox, in the current classical tests of significance that are based on p-value statistics that are compared to the canonical significance levels (10%, 5%, and 1%: “Raise the sample to reject the null hypothesis” is the recommendation of some ill-advised scientists! This paper will show that it is possible to eliminate this problem of significance tests. We present here the beginning of a larger research project. The intention is to extend its use to more complex applications such as survival analysis, reliability tests, and other areas. The main tools used here are the Bayes factor and the extended Neyman–Pearson Lemma.
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Outdoor Experiential Learning to Increase Student Interest in Geoscience Careers
Lazar, K.; Moysey, S. M.
2017-12-01
Outdoor-focused experiential learning opportunities are uncommon for students in large introductory geology courses, despite evidence that field experiences are a significant pathway for students to enter the geoscience pipeline. We address this deficiency by creating an extracurricular program for geology service courses that allows students to engage with classmates to foster a positive affective environment in which they are able to explore their geoscience interests, encouraged to visualize themselves as potential geoscientists, and emboldened to continue on a geoscience/geoscience-adjacent career path. Students in introductory-level geology courses were given pre- and post-semester surveys to assess the impact of these experiential learning experiences on student attitudes towards geoscience careers and willingness to pursue a major/minor in geology. Initial results indicate that high achieving students overall increase their interest in pursuing geology as a major regardless of their participation in extracurricular activities, while low achieving students only demonstrate increased interest in a geology major if they did not participate in extra credit activities. Conversely, high achieving, non-participant students showed no change in interest of pursuing a geology minor, while high achieving participants were much more likely to demonstrate interest in a minor at the end of the course. Similar to the trends of interest in a geology major, low achieving students only show increased interest in a minor if they were non-participants. These initial results indicate that these activities may be more effective in channeling students towards geology minors rather than majors, and could increase the number of students pursuing geoscience-related career paths. There also seem to be several competing factors at play affecting the different student populations, from an increased interest due to experience or a displeasure that geology is not simply `rocks for jocks
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Reyna, Valerie F; Chick, Christina F; Corbin, Jonathan C; Hsia, Andrew N
2014-01-01
Intelligence agents make risky decisions routinely, with serious consequences for national security. Although common sense and most theories imply that experienced intelligence professionals should be less prone to irrational inconsistencies than college students, we show the opposite. Moreover, the growth of experience-based intuition predicts this developmental reversal. We presented intelligence agents, college students, and postcollege adults with 30 risky-choice problems in gain and loss frames and then compared the three groups' decisions. The agents not only exhibited larger framing biases than the students, but also were more confident in their decisions. The postcollege adults (who were selected to be similar to the students) occupied an interesting middle ground, being generally as biased as the students (sometimes more biased) but less biased than the agents. An experimental manipulation testing an explanation for these effects, derived from fuzzy-trace theory, made the students look as biased as the agents. These results show that, although framing biases are irrational (because equivalent outcomes are treated differently), they are the ironical output of cognitively advanced mechanisms of meaning making.
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Gao, Wenpei [Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering and Fredrick Seitz Materials Research Lab.; Wu, Jianbo [Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, Fredrick Seitz Materials Research Lab. and Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; Shanghai Jiao Tong Univ. (China). School of Materials Science and Engineering; Yoon, Aram [Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering and Fredrick Seitz Materials Research Lab.; Lu, Ping [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Qi, Liang [Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering; Wen, Jianguo [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Center for Nanoscale Materials and Electron Microscopy Center; Miller, Dean J. [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Center for Nanoscale Materials and Electron Microscopy Center; Mabon, James C. [Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States). Fredrick Seitz Materials Research Lab.; Wilson, William L. [Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering and Fredrick Seitz Materials Research Lab.; Yang, Hong [Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States). Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; Zuo, Jian-Min [Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering and Fredrick Seitz Materials Research Lab.
2017-12-08
Atomic motion at grain boundaries is essential to microstructure development, growth and stability of catalysts and other nanostructured materials. However, boundary atomic motion is often too fast to observe in a conventional transmission electron microscope (TEM) and too slow for ultrafast electron microscopy. We report on the entire transformation process of strained Pt icosahedral nanoparticles (ICNPs) into larger FCC crystals, captured at 2.5 ms time resolution using a fast electron camera. Results show slow diffusive dislocation motion at nm/s inside ICNPs and fast surface transformation at μm/s. By characterizing nanoparticle strain, we show that the fast transformation is driven by inhomogeneous surface stress. And interaction with pre-existing defects led to the slowdown of the transformation front inside the nanoparticles. Particle coalescence, assisted by oxygen-induced surface migration at T ≥ 300°C, also played a critical role. Thus by studying transformation in the Pt ICNPs at high time and spatial resolution, we obtain critical insights into the transformation mechanisms in strained Pt nanoparticles.
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Increased root hair density by loss of WRKY6 in Arabidopsis thaliana
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Markus G. Stetter
2017-01-01
Full Text Available Root hairs are unicellular elongations of certain rhizodermal cells that improve the uptake of sparingly soluble and immobile soil nutrients. Among different Arabidopsis thaliana genotypes, root hair density, length and the local acclimation to low inorganic phosphate (Pi differs considerably, when analyzed on split agar plates. Here, genome-wide association fine mapping identified significant single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with the increased root hair density in the absence of local phosphate on chromosome 1. A loss-of-functionmutant of the candidate transcription factor gene WRKY6, which is involved in the acclimation of plants to low phosphorus, had increased root hair density. This is partially explained by a reduced cortical cell diameter in wrky6-3, reducing the rhizodermal cell numbers adjacent to the cortical cells. As a consequence, rhizodermal cells in positions that are in contact with two cortical cells are found more often, leading to higher hair density. Distinct cortical cell diameters and epidermal cell lengths distinguish other Arabidopsis accessions with distinct root hair density and −Pi response from diploid Col-0, while tetraploid Col-0 had generally larger root cell sizes, which explain longer hairs. A distinct radial root morphology within Arabidopsis accessions and wrky6-3explains some, but not all, differences in the root hair acclimation to –Pi.
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Measurements of recent microchannel-plate photomultipliers with significantly increased lifetime
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Uhlig, Fred; Eyrich, Wolfgang; Lehmann, Albert; Britting, Alexander [Universitaet Erlangen, Physikal. Institut IV (Germany); Collaboration: PANDA-Collaboration
2015-07-01
Microchannel-plate photomultipliers (MCP-PMTs) are the favored sensors for the DIRC detectors (Detection of Internally Reflected Cherenkov Light) of the PANDA experiment. They are usable in high magnetic fields of up to 2T and reach a time resolution of better than 50 ps (σ). The anticipated average luminosity of 2.10{sup 32} cm{sup -2} s{sup -1} in the detector requires a rate capability high enough to withstand a detected photon rate of about 200 kHz cm{sup -2} at the MCP-PMT surfaces. The major drawback until recently was the limited lifetime of MCP-PMTs, which appears to be solved for the latest generation of MCP-PMT prototype devices. The aging parameter is the quantum efficiency as a function of the integrated anode charge, which will be in the region of 5 C/cm{sup 2} for the Barrel- and the Disc-DIRC. We simultaneously measured the aging of several MCP-PMTs, which were treated with different methods to enhance the lifetime. Results of these measurements are presented.
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Phenomenological study on the significance of the scalar potential and Lamb shift
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Yuan Xuhao; Li Xueqian; Ke Hongwei
2011-01-01
We indicated in our previous work that for QED the contributions of the scalar potential, which appears at the loop level, is much smaller than that of the vector potential, and in fact negligible. But the situation may be different for QCD, the reason being that the loop effects are more significant because α s is much larger than α, and secondly the non-perturbative QCD effects may induce the scalar potential. In this work, we phenomenologically study the contribution of the scalar potential to the spectra of charmonium. Taking into account both vector and scalar potentials, by fitting the well measured charmonium spectra, we re-fix the relevant parameters and test them by calculating other states of the charmonium family. We also consider the role of the Lamb shift and present the numerical results with and without involving the Lamb shift. (authors)
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Large-R jets in Atlas Tile Calorimeter current and upgraded geometry
Cecchini, Vincent Egidio
2017-01-01
This report describes a comparative study of two different geometries of the Atlas Tile Calorimeter to assess the performance of an increased granularity upgrade. The current geometry is compared to the upgraded one, needed because of the luminosity increase in the High-Luminosity LHC. Those geometries had been simulated in Geant4 to provide Monte-Carlo events simulations allowing us to compare the behaviour of the upgraded geometry with the current one. Data analysis is made from this simulation to compare the behaviour of the reconstructed jets substructure in the two different geometries.
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Li, Hui; Liu, Qian; Zhang, Qingli; Qin, Erjun; Jin, Chuan; Wang, Yu; Wu, Mei; Shen, Guangshuang; Chen, Chengbin; Song, Wenqin; Wang, Chunguo
2017-01-01
The curd is a specialized organ and the most important product organ of cauliflower (Brassica oleracea L. var. botrytis). However, the mechanism underlying the regulation of curd formation and development remains largely unknown. In the present study, a novel homologous gene containing the Organ Size Related (OSR) domain, namely, CDAG1 (Curd Development Associated Gene 1) was identified in cauliflower. Quantitative analysis indicated that CDAG1 showed significantly higher transcript levels in young tissues. Functional analysis demonstrated that the ectopic overexpression of CDAG1 in Arabidopsis and cauliflower could significantly promote organ growth and result in larger organ size and increased biomass. Organ enlargement was predominantly due to increased cell number. In addition, 228 genes involved in the CDAG1-mediated regulatory network were discovered by transcriptome analysis. Among these genes, CDAG1 was confirmed to inhibit the transcriptional expression of the endogenous OSR genes, ARGOS and ARL, while a series of ethylene-responsive transcription factors (ERFs) were found to increased expression in 35S:CDAG1 transgenic Arabidopsis plants. This implies that CDAG1 may function in the ethylene-mediated signal pathway. These findings provide new insight into the function of OSR genes, and suggest potential applications of CDAG1 in breeding high-yielding crops. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Prognostic significance of silent myocardial ischemia on a thallium stress test
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Heller, L.I.; Tresgallo, M.; Sciacca, R.R.; Blood, D.K.; Seldin, D.W.; Johnson, L.L.
1990-01-01
The clinical significance of silent ischemia is not fully known. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the presence or absence of angina during a thallium stress test positive for ischemia was independently predictive of an adverse outcome. Two hundred thirty-four consecutive patients with ischemia on a thallium stress test were identified. Ischemia was defined as the presence of defect(s) on the immediate postexercise scans not in the distribution of prior infarctions that redistributed on 4-hour scans. During the test 129 patients had angina, defined as characteristic neck, jaw, arm, back or chest discomfort, while the remaining 105 patients had no angina. Follow-up ranged from 2 to 8.2 years (mean 5.2 +/- 2.1) and was successfully obtained in 156 patients. Eighty-two of the 156 patients had angina (group A) and 74 had silent ischemia (group S). Group A patients were significantly older (62 +/- 8 vs 59 +/- 8 years, p less than 0.05). There was no significant difference between the 2 groups in terms of sex, history of prior infarction or presence of left main/3-vessel disease. A larger percentage of patients in group A were receiving beta blockers (60 vs 41%, p less than 0.05) and nitrates (52 vs 36%, 0.05 less than p less than 0.10). There was a large number of cardiac events (myocardial infarction, revascularization and death) in both groups (37 of 82 [45%] in group A; 28 of 72 [38%] in group S) but no statistically significant difference between the groups. Similarly, life-table analysis revealed no difference in mortality between the 2 groups
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Moon, Hee Jung; Kim, Min Jung; Yoon, Jung Hyun; Kim, Eun-Kyung
2016-06-01
The malignancy risk, risk of being high-risk lesions after benign results on ultrasonography-guided 14-gauge core needle biopsies (US-CNBs), and their characteristics in breast lesions of 20 mm or greater were investigated. Eight hundred forty-seven breast lesions with benign results on US-CNB were classified as benign, high risk, and malignant through excision and clinical follow-up. The risks of being malignant or high risk were analyzed in all lesions, lesions 20 to 29 mm, and lesions 30 mm or greater. Their clinicopathological characteristics were evaluated. Of 847, 18 (2.1%) were malignant, 53 (6.3%) were high-risk lesions, and 776 (91.6%) were benign. Of 18 malignancies, 6 (33.3%) were malignant phyllodes tumors and 12 (66.7%) were carcinomas. In benign lesions 20 to 29 mm, risks of being malignant or high risk were 1.6% (9 of 566) and 4.4% (25 of 566). In 281 lesions 30 mm or greater, the risks of being malignant or high risk were 3.2% and 10%. The risk of being high risk in lesions 30 mm or greater was 10%, significantly higher than 4.4% of lesions 20 to 29 mm (P = 0.002). Excision can be considered in lesions measuring 20 mm or larger because of the 2.1% malignancy risk and the 6.3% risk of being high-risk lesions despite benign results on US-CNB. Excision should be considered in lesions measuring 30 mm or larger because of the 3.2% malignancy risk and the 10% risk of being high-risk lesions.
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Increasing self-other integration through divergent thinking.
Colzato, Lorenza S; van den Wildenberg, Wery P M; Hommel, Bernhard
2013-10-01
Increasing evidence suggests that people may cognitively represent themselves and others just like any other, nonsocial event. Here, we provide evidence that the degree of self-other integration (as reflected by the joint Simon effect; JSE) is systematically affected by the control characteristics of temporally overlapping but unrelated and nonsocial creativity tasks. In particular, the JSE was found to be larger in the context of a divergent-thinking task (alternate uses task) than in the context of a convergent-thinking task (remote association task). This suggests that self-other integration and action corepresentation are controlled by domain-general cognitive-control parameters that regulate the integrativeness (strong vs. weak top-down control and a resulting narrow vs. broad attentional focus) of information processing irrespective of its social implications.
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Significance of prostatic weight in prostatism
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Jensen, K M; Bruskewitz, R C; Iversen, P
1983-01-01
In addition to routine evaluation, 68 patients with prostatism underwent blinded urodynamic testing prior to transurethral prostatectomy and were reexamined symptomatologically and urodynamically at 3 and 12 months after surgery to determine if prostatic weight could predict postoperative outcome....... Resected prostatic weight correlated with estimated weight at cystoscopy and with obstructive symptoms, but not with urodynamic variables of infravesical obstruction. Patients with small prostates improved symptomatologically to the same degree as patients with larger glands, although they did not improve...... to the same degree urodynamically. Prostatic weight, therefore, could not be used to predict the outcome of transurethral surgery....
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Achieving increased spent fuel storage capacity at the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR)
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Cook, D.H.; Chang, S.J.; Dabs, R.D.; Freels, J.D.; Morgan, K.A.; Rothrock, R.B.; Griess, J.C.
1994-01-01
The HFIR facility was originally designed to store approximately 25 spent cores, sufficient to allow for operational contingencies and for cooling prior to off-site shipment for reprocessing. The original capacity has now been increased to 60 positions, of which 53 are currently filled (September 1994). Additional spent cores are produced at a rate of about 10 or 11 per year. Continued HFIR operation, therefore, depends on a significant near-term expansion of the pool storage capacity, as well as on a future capability of reprocessing or other storage alternatives once the practical capacity of the pool is reached. To store the much larger inventory of spent fuel that may remain on-site under various future scenarios, the pool capacity is being increased in a phased manner through installation of a new multi-tier spent fuel rack design for higher density storage. A total of 143 positions was used for this paper as the maximum practical pool capacity without impacting operations; however, greater ultimate capacities were addressed in the supporting analyses and approval documents. This paper addresses issues related to the pool storage expansion including (1) seismic effects on the three-tier storage arrays, (2) thermal performance of the new arrays, (3) spent fuel cladding corrosion concerns related to the longer period of pool storage, and (4) impacts of increased spent fuel inventory on the pool water quality, water treatment systems, and LLLW volume
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Diagnostic significance of adenosine deaminase in pleural tuberculosis
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Khurshid, R.; Shore, N.; Saleem, M.; Zameer, N.
2009-01-01
Tuberculosis (TB) is a major cause of pleural effusion, which in TB usually has lymphocytic and exudative characteristics. Analysis of adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity is a very useful diagnostic approach to achieve a more rapid and precise diagnosis in cases of Pleural TB (pTB). Fifty male and fifty female patients presenting with tuberculosis pleural effusion was included in the study. The patients were taken from the medical ward of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital between September 2001 and September 2002. Activity of Adenosine Deaminase (ADA) was estimated by the technique of Sodium dodecyl sulphate electrophoresis (SDS-EF) using 10% polyacrylamide gel. Mean age of males was 45.72+-19.22 years and of female was 43.74+-16.09 years. Mean protein level was 3.39+-0.24 g/dl in males, and it was 3.02+-0.26 g/dl in females. Mean specific gravity both in males and females was 1.020+-0.01. The results show an increased level of enzyme ADA in patients as compared to normal subjects. Estimation of ADA activity may provide basis for rapid and efficient diagnosis of pleural TB in different clinical settings. However study should be extended to larger number of patients to reach a better conclusion. (author)
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Sahi, Helka; Sihto, Harri; Artama, Miia; Koljonen, Virve; Böhling, Tom; Pukkala, Eero
2017-01-17
We aimed to assess the connection between chronic inflammatory disorders (CIDs) and Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC). Merkel cell carcinoma cases diagnosed in 1978-2009 were extracted from the Finnish Cancer Registry and controls from the Population Registry. Information on reimbursed CIDs was linked to clinicopathological data including Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCV) status by qPCR and immunohistochemistry for the large T antigen of MCV (LTA), Ki-67 and tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes. Chronic inflammatory disorders increased the risk of MCC significantly (odds ratio (OR) 1.39, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.03-1.88), specifically connective tissue/systemic diseases (OR 1.75, 95% CI 1.09-1.80) and diabetic conditions (OR 1.51, 95% CI 1.03-2.22). Chronic inflammatory disorders associated with larger tumour diameter (P=0.02) and higher Ki-67 expression (P=0.005). The expression of LTA was seen significantly more often in the absence of CIDs (P=0.05). Patients with CID are at significantly higher risk for aggressive MCC. Merkel cell polyomavirus positivity is more common in MCC patients unafflicted by CID.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Lina Garcia-Mier
2015-01-01
Full Text Available Sweet bell peppers are greatly appreciated for their taste, color, pungency, and aroma. Additionally, they are good sources of bioactive compounds with antioxidant activity, which can be improved by the use of elicitors. Elicitors act as metabolite-inducing factors (MIF by mimic stress conditions. Since plants rarely experience a single stress condition one by one but are more likely to be exposed to simultaneous stresses, it is important to evaluate the effect of elicitors on plant secondary metabolism as mixtures. Jasmonic acid (JA, hydrogen peroxide (HP, and chitosan (CH were applied to fruits and plants of bell pepper as mixtures. Bioactive compounds, antioxidant activity, and quality parameters were evaluated. The assessed elicitor cocktail leads to an increase in the variables evaluated (P ≤ 0.05 when applied to mature fruits after harvest, whereas the lowest values were observed in the treatment applied to immature fruits. Therefore, the application of the elicitor cocktail to harvested mature fruits is recommended in order to improve bioactive compounds and the antioxidant activity of sweet bell peppers.
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van Huls van Taxis, Carine F B; Piers, Sebastiaan R D; de Riva Silva, Marta; Dekkers, Olaf M; Pijnappels, Daniël A; Schalij, Martin J; Wijnmaalen, Adrianus P; Zeppenfeld, Katja
2015-12-01
High idiopathic premature ventricular contractions (PVC) burden has been associated with PVC-induced cardiomyopathy. Patients may be symptomatic before left ventricular (LV) dysfunction develops. N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and circumferential end-systolic wall stress (cESS) on echocardiography are markers for increased ventricular wall stress. This study aimed to evaluate the relation between presenting symptoms, PVC burden, and increased ventricular wall stress in patients with frequent PVCs and preserved LV function. Eighty-three patients (41 men; 49±15 years) with idiopathic PVCs and normal LV function referred for PVC ablation were included. Type of symptoms (palpitations, fatigue, and [near-]syncope), PVC burden on 24-hour Holter, NT-proBNP levels, and cESS on echocardiography were assessed before and 3 months after ablation. Sustained successful ablation was defined as ≥80% PVC burden reduction during follow-up. Patients were symptomatic for 24 months (Q1-Q3, 16-60); 73% reported palpitations, 47% fatigue, and 30% (near-)syncope. Baseline PVC burden was 23±13%, median NT-proBNP 92 pg/mL (Q1-Q3 50-156), and cESS 143±35 kdyne/cm(2). Fatigue was associated with higher baseline NT-proBNP and cESS (PFatigue was independently associated with a significantly larger reduction in NT-proBNP. In patients with nonsuccessful ablation, NT-proBNP and cESS remained unchanged. In patients with frequent PVCs and preserved LV function, fatigue was associated with higher baseline NT-proBNP and cESS, and with a significantly larger reduction in NT-proBNP after sustained successful ablation. These findings support a link between fatigue and PVC-induced increased ventricular wall stress, despite preserved LV function. © 2015 American Heart Association, Inc.
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Increasing coccolith calcification during CO2 rise of the penultimate deglaciation (Termination II)
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Meier, K. J. S.; Berger, C.; Kinkel, Hanno
2014-01-01
during Termination II. This is partly due to an assemblage shift towards larger and heavier calcifying morphotypes, but mainly an effect of increasing coccolithophore calcification. This increase is exactly mirroring the rise in atmospheric CO2, contradicting previous findings from Termination I......Glacial to interglacial environmental changes have a strong impact on coccolithophore assemblage composition. At the same time, glacial terminations are characterised by an increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration. In order to determine how these two processes influence the calcite production...... for the coccolithophore calcification increase during atmospheric CO2 rise. Our results illustrate that even during rising atmospheric CO2 the conditions of the seawater carbonate system can be favourable for coccolithophore calcification. The total CaCO3 production of a coccolithophore assemblage under increasing CO2...
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Carl Rogers and the larger context of therapeutic thought.
Wachtel, Paul L
2007-09-01
Carl Rogers' classic account (see record 2007-14639-002) of the necessary and sufficient conditions for therapeutic personality change is examined in light of developments in theory and practice since the time he wrote. Rogers' ideas, which diverged from and were very largely a challenge to, the dominant psychoanalytic ideology of the era in which he wrote, are considered in relation to new theoretical developments in what has come to be called relational psychoanalysis. They are also considered in light of the greatly increased influence of and substantial evidence supporting behavioral and cognitive-behavioral approaches. Points of convergence and divergence among these approaches are examined. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).
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Van Scoy, Lauren Jodi; Watson-Martin, Elizabeth; Bohr, Tiffany A; Levi, Benjamin H; Green, Michael J
2018-04-01
Discussing end-of-life issues with patients is an essential role for chaplains. Few tools are available to help chaplains-in-training develop end-of-life communication skills. This study aimed to determine whether playing an end-of-life conversation game increases the confidence for chaplain-in-trainings to discuss end-of-life issues with patients. We used a convergent mixed methods design. Chaplains-in-training played the end-of-life conversation game twice over 2 weeks. For each game, pre- and postgame questionnaires measured confidence discussing end-of-life issues with patients and emotional affect. Between games, chaplains-in-training discussed end-of-life issues with an inpatient. One week after game 2, chaplains-in-training were individually interviewed. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Wilcoxon rank-sum t tests. Content analysis identified interview themes. Quantitative and qualitative data sets were then integrated using a joint display. Twenty-three chaplains-in-training (52% female; 87% Caucasian; 70% were in year 1 of training) completed the study. Confidence scores (scale: 15-75; 75 = very confident) increased significantly after each game, increasing by 10.0 points from pregame 1 to postgame 2 ( P game, and shyness subscale scores decreased significantly after each game. Content analysis found that chaplains-in-training found the game to be a positive, useful experience and reported that playing twice was beneficial (not redundant). Mixed methods analysis suggest that an end-of-life conversation game is a useful tool that can increase chaplain-in-trainings' confidence for initiating end-of-life discussions with patients. A larger sample size is needed to confirm these findings.
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Cummings, Jonathon N; Kiesler, Sara; Bosagh Zadeh, Reza; Balakrishnan, Aruna D
2013-06-01
Heterogeneous groups are valuable, but differences among members can weaken group identification. Weak group identification may be especially problematic in larger groups, which, in contrast with smaller groups, require more attention to motivating members and coordinating their tasks. We hypothesized that as groups increase in size, productivity would decrease with greater heterogeneity. We studied the longitudinal productivity of 549 research groups varying in disciplinary heterogeneity, institutional heterogeneity, and size. We examined their publication and citation productivity before their projects started and 5 to 9 years later. Larger groups were more productive than smaller groups, but their marginal productivity declined as their heterogeneity increased, either because their members belonged to more disciplines or to more institutions. These results provide evidence that group heterogeneity moderates the effects of group size, and they suggest that desirable diversity in groups may be better leveraged in smaller, more cohesive units.
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Zwally, H. Jay; Li, Jun; Benner, Anita C.; Beckley, Matthew; Cornejo, Helen G.; DiMarzio, John; Giovinetto, Mario B.; Neumann, Thomas A.; Robbins, John; Saba, Jack L.;
2011-01-01
We derive mass changes of the Greenland ice sheet (GIS) for 2003-07 from ICESat laser altimetry and compare them with results for 1992-2002 from ERS radar and airborne laser altimetry. The GIS continued to grow inland and thin at the margins during 2003 07, but surface melting and accelerated flow significantly increased the marginal thinning compared with the 1990s. The net balance changed from a small loss of 7 plus or minus 3 Gt a 1(sup -1) in the 1990s to 171 plus or minus 4 Gt a (sup -1) for 2003-07, contributing 0.5 mm a(sup -1) to recent global sea-level rise. We divide the derived mass changes into two components: (1) from changes in melting and ice dynamics and (2) from changes in precipitation and accumulation rate. We use our firn compaction model to calculate the elevation changes driven by changes in both temperature and accumulation rate and to calculate the appropriate density to convert the accumulation-driven changes to mass changes. Increased losses from melting and ice dynamics (17-206 Gt a(sup-1) are over seven times larger than increased gains from precipitation (10 35 Gt a(sup-1) during a warming period of approximately 2 K (10 a)(sup -1) over the GIS. Above 2000m elevation, the rate of gain decreased from 44 to 28 Gt a(sup-1), while below 2000m the rate of loss increased from 51 to 198 Gt a(sup-1). Enhanced thinning below the equilibrium line on outlet glaciers indicates that increased melting has a significant impact on outlet glaciers, as well as accelerating ice flow. Increased thinning at higher elevations appears to be induced by dynamic coupling to thinning at the margins on decadal timescales.
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Extra-nodal extension is a significant prognostic factor in lymph node positive breast cancer.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Sura Aziz
Full Text Available Presence of lymph node (LN metastasis is a strong prognostic factor in breast cancer, whereas the importance of extra-nodal extension and other nodal tumor features have not yet been fully recognized. Here, we examined microscopic features of lymph node metastases and their prognostic value in a population-based cohort of node positive breast cancer (n = 218, as part of the prospective Norwegian Breast Cancer Screening Program NBCSP (1996-2009. Sections were reviewed for the largest metastatic tumor diameter (TD-MET, nodal afferent and efferent vascular invasion (AVI and EVI, extra-nodal extension (ENE, number of ENE foci, as well as circumferential (CD-ENE and perpendicular (PD-ENE diameter of extra-nodal growth. Number of positive lymph nodes, EVI, and PD-ENE were significantly increased with larger primary tumor (PT diameter. Univariate survival analysis showed that several features of nodal metastases were associated with disease-free (DFS or breast cancer specific survival (BCSS. Multivariate analysis demonstrated an independent prognostic value of PD-ENE (with 3 mm as cut-off value in predicting DFS and BCSS, along with number of positive nodes and histologic grade of the primary tumor (for DFS: P = 0.01, P = 0.02, P = 0.01, respectively; for BCSS: P = 0.02, P = 0.008, P = 0.02, respectively. To conclude, the extent of ENE by its perpendicular diameter was independently prognostic and should be considered in line with nodal tumor burden in treatment decisions of node positive breast cancer.
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Kopena, Renáta; Martín, José; López, Pilar; Herczeg, Gábor
2011-01-01
Background In spite that chemoreception is important in sexual selection for many animals, such as reptiles, the mechanisms that confer reliability to chemical signals are relatively unknown. European green lizards (Lacerta viridis) have substantial amounts of α-tocopherol ( = vitamin E) in their femoral secretions. Because vitamin E is metabolically important and can only be attained from the diet, its secretion is assumed to be costly. However, its role in intraspecific communication is unknown. Methodology/Principal Findings Here, we experimentally show that male European green lizards that received a dietary supplement of vitamin E increased proportions of vitamin E in their femoral secretions. Furthermore, our experiments revealed that females preferred to use areas scent marked by males with experimentally increased vitamin E levels in their secretions. Finally, female preferences were stronger when vitamin E differences between a pair of males' secretions were larger. Conclusions/Significance Our results demonstrate that female green lizards are able to discriminate between males based on the vitamin E content of the males' femoral secretions. We suggest that the possible cost of allocating vitamin E to secretions, which might be dependent on male quality, may be a mechanism that confers reliability to scent marks of green lizards and allows their evolution as sexual signals. PMID:21552540
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Increased airway reactivity in a neonatal mouse model of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP)
Mayer, Catherine A.; Martin, Richard J.; MacFarlane, Peter M.
2015-01-01
Background Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is a primary form of respiratory support used in the intensive care of preterm infants, but its long-term effects on airway (AW) function are unknown. Methods We developed a neonatal mouse model of CPAP treatment to determine whether it modifies later AW reactivity. Un-anesthetized spontaneously breathing mice were fitted with a mask to deliver CPAP (6cmH2O, 3hrs/day) for 7 consecutive days starting at postnatal day 1. Airway reactivity to methacholine was assessed using the in vitro living lung slice preparation. Results One week of CPAP increased AW responsiveness to methacholine in male, but not female mice, compared to untreated control animals. The AW hyper-reactivity of male mice persisted for 2 weeks (at P21) after CPAP treatment ended. 4 days of CPAP, however, did not significantly increase AW reactivity. Females also exhibited AW hyper-reactivity at P21, suggesting a delayed response to early (7 days) CPAP treatment. The effects of 7 days of CPAP on hyper-reactivity to methacholine were unique to smaller AWs whereas larger ones were relatively unaffected. Conclusion These data may be important to our understanding of the potential long-term consequences of neonatal CPAP therapy used in the intensive care of preterm infants. PMID:25950451
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Thomson, Rebecca L; Coates, Alison M; Howe, Peter R C; Bryan, Janet; Matsumoto, Megumi; Buckley, Jonathan D
2014-03-03
Cross-sectional studies have reported positive relationships between serum lutein concentrations and higher physical activity levels. The purpose of the study was to determine whether increasing plasma lutein levels increases physical activity. Forty-four older adults (BMI, 25.3 ± 2.6 kg/m²; age, 68.8 ± 6.4 year) not meeting Australian physical activity guidelines (150 min/week of moderate to vigorous activity) were randomized to consume capsules containing 21 mg of lutein or placebo with 250 mL of full-cream milk per day for 4 weeks and encouraged to increase physical activity. Physical activity was assessed by self-report, pedometry and accelerometry (daily activity counts and sedentary time). Exercise self-efficacy was assessed by questionnaire. Thirty-nine participants competed the study (Lutein = 19, Placebo = 20). Lutein increased plasma lutein concentrations compared with placebo (p lutein were inversely associated with absolute (r = -0.36, p = 0.03) and percentage changes (r = -0.39, p = 0.02) in sedentary time. Percentage change in plasma lutein was positively associated with the percentage change in average daily activity counts (r = 0.36, p = 0.03). Exercise self-efficacy did not change (p = 0.16). Lutein increased plasma lutein, which was associated with increased physical activity and reduced sedentary time in older adults. Larger trials should evaluate whether Lutein can provide health benefits over the longer term.
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Observed increase in freshwater transport in the East Greenland Current north of Denmark Strait
de Steur, Laura; Pickart, Bob; Macrander, Andreas; Våge, Kjetil; Harden, Ben; Jonsson, Steingrimur; Østerhus, Svein; Valdimarsson, Hedinn
2017-04-01
We present liquid freshwater transports of the shelfbreak East Greenland Current (EGC) and the separated EGC determined from mooring records from the Kögur section north of Denmark Strait between August 2011 and July 2012. The 11-month mean freshwater transport (FWT) of these two branches was 65±11 mSv to the south (relative to a salinity of 34.8). Approximately 70% of this was associated with the shelfbreak EGC and the remaining 30% with the separated EGC. Very large southward FWT ranging from 160 mSv to 120 mSv was observed from September to mid-October 2011 and was foremost due to anomalously low upper-layer salinities. The FWT on the Greenland shelf was also estimated using additional inshore moorings deployed from 2012-2014. While the annual mean ranged from nearly zero during the first year to 18 mSv to the south during the second year, synoptically the FWT on the shelf can be significant. Furthermore, an anomalous event in autumn 2011 caused the shelfbreak EGC to reverse, leading to a large reduction in FWT. This reversed circulation was due to the passage of a large, 100 km wide anticyclone originating upstream from the shelfbreak. The late summer FWT of -131 mSv is two and a half times larger than earlier estimates based on sections in the late-1990s and early-2000s. This increase is likely the result of enhanced freshwater flux from the Arctic Ocean to the Nordic Seas during the early 2010s when also a significant increase of Pacific Water in the EGC was observed. Preliminary results obtained from the long-term ocean observing system in Fram Strait are included to compare the increased FWT seen in 2011-2012 with interannual variations in Arctic freshwater outflow during the last decade.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Lymn Joanne S
2008-06-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Problem-based learning is recognised as promoting integration of knowledge and fostering a deeper approach to life-long learning, but is associated with significant resource implications. In order to encourage second year undergraduate medical students to integrate their pharmacological knowledge in a professionally relevant clinical context, with limited staff resources, we developed a novel clustered PBL approach. This paper utilises preliminary data from both the facilitator and student viewpoint to determine whether the use of this novel methodology is feasible with large groups of students. Methods Students were divided into 16 groups (20–21 students/group and were allocated a PBL facilitator. Each group was then divided into seven subgroups, or clusters, of 2 or 3 students wh each cluster being allocated a specific case. Each cluster was then provided with more detailed clinical information and studied an individual and distinct case-study. An electronic questionnaire was used to evaluate both student and facilitator perception of this clustered PBL format, with each being asked to rate the content, structure, facilitator effectiveness, and their personal view of the wider learning experience. Results Despite initial misgivings, facilitators managed this more complex clustered PBL methodology effectively within the time restraints and reported that they enjoyed the process. They felt that the cases effectively illustrated medical concepts and fitted and reinforced the students' pharmacological knowledge, but were less convinced that the scenario motivated students to use additional resources or stimulated their interest in pharmacology. Student feedback was broadly similar to that of the facilitators; although they were more positive about the scenario stimulating the use of additional resources and an interest in pharmacology. Conclusion This clustered PBL methodology can be successfully used with larger groups of
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Clinical significance of Phosphatidyl Inositol Synthase overexpression in oral cancer
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Kaur, Jatinder; Sawhney, Meenakshi; DattaGupta, Siddartha; Shukla, Nootan K; Srivastava, Anurag; Ralhan, Ranju
2010-01-01
We reported increased levels of Phosphatidyl Inositol synthase (PI synthase), (enzyme that catalyses phosphatidyl inositol (PI) synthesis-implicated in intracellular signaling and regulation of cell growth) in smokeless tobacco (ST) exposed oral cell cultures by differential display. This study determined the clinical significance of PI synthase overexpression in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and premalignant lesions (leukoplakia), and identified the downstream signaling proteins in PI synthase pathway that are perturbed by smokeless tobacco (ST) exposure. Tissue microarray (TMA) Immunohistochemistry, Western blotting, Confocal laser scan microscopy, RT-PCR were performed to define the expression of PI synthase in clinical samples and in oral cell culture systems. Significant increase in PI synthase immunoreactivity was observed in premalignant lesions and OSCCs as compared to oral normal tissues (p = 0.000). Further, PI synthase expression was significantly associated with de-differentiation of OSCCs, (p = 0.005) and tobacco consumption (p = 0.03, OR = 9.0). Exposure of oral cell systems to smokeless tobacco (ST) in vitro confirmed increase in PI synthase, Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) and cyclin D1 levels. Collectively, increased PI synthase expression was found to be an early event in oral cancer and a target for smokeless tobacco
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Fok, Wilson C; Bokov, Alex; Gelfond, Jonathan; Yu, Zhen; Zhang, Yiqiang; Doderer, Mark; Chen, Yidong; Javors, Martin; Wood, William H; Zhang, Yongqing; Becker, Kevin G; Richardson, Arlan; Pérez, Viviana I
2014-04-01
Rapamycin (Rapa) and dietary restriction (DR) have consistently been shown to increase lifespan. To investigate whether Rapa and DR affect similar pathways in mice, we compared the effects of feeding mice ad libitum (AL), Rapa, DR, or a combination of Rapa and DR (Rapa + DR) on the transcriptome and metabolome of the liver. The principal component analysis shows that Rapa and DR are distinct groups. Over 2500 genes are significantly changed with either Rapa or DR when compared with mice fed AL; more than 80% are unique to DR or Rapa. A similar observation was made when genes were grouped into pathways; two-thirds of the pathways were uniquely changed by DR or Rapa. The metabolome shows an even greater difference between Rapa and DR; no metabolites in Rapa-treated mice were changed significantly from AL mice, whereas 173 metabolites were changed in the DR mice. Interestingly, the number of genes significantly changed by Rapa + DR when compared with AL is twice as large as the number of genes significantly altered by either DR or Rapa alone. In summary, the global effects of DR or Rapa on the liver are quite different and a combination of Rapa and DR results in alterations in a large number of genes and metabolites that are not significantly changed by either manipulation alone, suggesting that a combination of DR and Rapa would be more effective in extending longevity than either treatment alone. © 2013 The Authors. Aging Cell published by the Anatomical Society and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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Incretin and islet hormone responses to meals of increasing size in healthy subjects.
Alsalim, Wathik; Omar, Bilal; Pacini, Giovanni; Bizzotto, Roberto; Mari, Andrea; Ahrén, Bo
2015-02-01
Postprandial glucose homeostasis is regulated through the secretion of glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) through the stimulation of insulin secretion and inhibition of glucagon secretion. However, how these processes dynamically adapt to demands created by caloric challenges achieved during daily life is not known. The objective of the study was to explore the adaptation of incretin and islet hormones after mixed meals of increasing size in healthy subjects. Twenty-four healthy lean subjects ingested a standard breakfast after an overnight fast followed, after 4 hours, by a lunch of a different size (511, 743, and 1034 kcal) but with identical nutrient composition together with 1.5 g paracetamol. Glucose, insulin, C-peptide, glucagon, intact GLP-1, and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) and paracetamol were measured after the meals. Area under the 180-minute curve (AUC) for insulin, C-peptide, glucagon, GLP-1, and GIP and model-derived β-cell function and paracetamol appearance were calculated. Glucose profiles were similar after the two larger meals, whereas after the smaller meal, there was a postpeak reduction below baseline to a nadir of 3.8 ± 0.1 mmol/L after 75 minutes (P lunch meals of increasing size elicit a caloric-dependent insulin response due to increased β-cell secretion achieved by increased GIP and GLP-1 levels. The adaptation at larger meals results in identical glucose excursions, whereas after a lower caloric lunch, the insulin response is high, resulting in a postpeak suppression of glucose below baseline.
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Forselv, Kristine J N; Lorentzen, Åslaug R; Ljøstad, Unn; Mygland, Åse; Eikeland, Randi; Kjelland, Vivian; Noraas, Sølvi; Quarsten, Hanne
2018-04-01
Tests for direct detection of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (Bb) in Lyme neuroborreliosis (LNB) are needed. Detection of Bb DNA using PCR is promising, but clinical utility is hampered by low diagnostic sensitivity. We aimed to examine whether diagnostic sensitivity can be improved by the use of larger cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) volumes and faster handling of samples. Patients who underwent CSF examination for LNB were included. We collected two millilitres of CSF for PCR analysis, extracted DNA from the pellets within 24 h and analysed the eluate by two real-time PCR protocols (16S rRNA and OspA). Patients who fulfilled diagnostic criteria for LNB were classified as LNB cases and the rest as controls. Bb DNA in CSF was detected by PCR in seven of 28 adults with LNB. Two were Bb antibody negative. No Bb DNA was detected in CSF from 137 controls. Diagnostic sensitivity was 25% and specificity 100%. There was a non-significant trend towards larger CSF sample volume, faster handling of the sample, shorter duration of symptoms, and higher CSF cell count in the PCR-positive cases. We did not find that optimized handling of CSF increased diagnostic sensitivity of PCR in adults with LNB. However, our case series is small and we hypothesize that the importance of these factors will be clarified in further studies with larger case series and altered study design. PCR for diagnosis of LNB may be useful in cases without Bb antibodies due to short duration of symptoms.
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Metformin increases pressure pain threshold in lean women with polycystic ovary syndrome
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Kiałka M
2016-08-01
Full Text Available Marta Kiałka,1 Tomasz Milewicz,1 Krystyna Sztefko,2 Iwona Rogatko,2 Renata Majewska3 1Department of Gynecological Endocrinology, Jagiellonian University, Medical College, Kraków, Poland; 2Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Jagiellonian University, Medical College, Kraków, Poland; 3Department of Epidemiology, Chair of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kraków, Poland Background: Despite the strong preclinical rationale, there are only very few data considering the utility of metformin as a potential pain therapeutic in humans. The aim of this study was to determine the association between metformin therapy and pressure pain threshold (PPT in lean women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS. We hypothesized that metformin therapy in lean PCOS women increases PPT. Materials and methods: Twenty-seven lean PCOS women with free androgen index phenotype >5 and 18 lean healthy controls were enrolled in the study. Fifteen of the PCOS women were randomly assigned to be treated with metformin 1,500 mg daily for 6 months. PPT and plasma β-endorphin levels were measured in all women at the beginning of the study and after 6 months of observation. Results: We observed an increase in PPT values measured on deltoid and trapezius muscle in the PCOS with metformin group after 6 months of metformin administration (4.81±0.88 kg/cm², P<0.001 on deltoid muscle, and 5.71±1.16 kg/cm² on trapezius muscle. We did not observe any significant changes in PPT values in the PCOS without treatment group and in controls. We did not observe any significant changes in serum β-endorphin levels in any studied groups during the 6-month observation. Conclusion: We conclude that metformin therapy increases PPT in lean PCOS women, without affecting plasma β-endorphin concentration. Our results may suggest the potential role of metformin in pain therapy. We propose that larger, randomized studies on metformin impact on pain
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Feng, Yefeng; Zhang, Jianxiong; Hu, Jianbing; Li, Shichun; Peng, Cheng
2018-03-01
Interface induced polarization has a prominent influence on dielectric properties of 0-3 type polymer based composites containing Si-based semi-conductors. The disadvantages of composites were higher dielectric loss, lower breakdown strength and energy storage density, although higher permittivity was achieved. In this work, dielectric, conductive, breakdown and energy storage properties of four nano-composites have been researched. Based on the cooperation of fluoropolymer/alpha-SiC layer and fluoropolymer/hexagonal-BN layer, it was confirmed constructing the heterogeneous layer-by-layer composite structure rather than homogeneous mono-layer structure could significantly reduce dielectric loss, promote breakdown strength and increase energy storage density. The former worked for a larger dielectric response and the latter layer acted as a robust barrier of charge carrier transfer. The best nano-composite could possess a permittivity of 43@100 Hz ( 3.3 times of polymer), loss of 0.07@100 Hz ( 37% of polymer), discharged energy density of 2.23 J/cm3@249 kV/cm ( 10 times of polymer) and discharged energy efficiency of 54%@249 kV/cm ( 5 times of polymer). This work might enlighten a facile route to achieve the promising high energy storage composite dielectrics by constructing the layer-by-layer topological structure.
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David CASHIN; UNAYAMA Takashi
2012-01-01
Households will purchase more items than usual prior to a value added tax (VAT) rate increase in order to avoid taxation. Since this type of arbitrage requires resources such as shopping time and storage space, the impacts of tax increases vary across households, which has brought distributional effects in the short-run. Using the case of a consumption tax rate increase in Japan in 1997, we show that households who are non-working, with non-working spouses and residing in larger houses, benef...
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Handler, Phoebe; Brabander, Daniel
2012-01-01
In May 2012, the CDC adopted a new sliding scale reference value for childhood lead poisoning, reducing the former 10 µg/dL benchmark by half. Using Massachusetts (MA) as a model state, we estimated the change in the population of 9–47 month-olds at risk for lead poisoning. We then examined the impact of the 5 µg/dL reference value on the demographic characteristics of lead risk in MA communities. We find that the new CDC benchmark will lead to a 1470% increase in childhood lead poisoning cases among 9–47 month-olds in MA, with nearly 50% of the examined communities experiencing an increased prevalence of lead poisoning. Further, the top 10 MA communities with BLLs ≥5 µg/dL have significantly fewer foreign-born residents and significantly larger white populations than the highest risk communities formerly identified by the MA Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program. The CDC’s new 5 µg/dL lead poisoning benchmark will drastically increase the number of children with elevated BLLs and alter the distribution and demographics high-risk communities in MA. PMID:23202824
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Nosrat, Irina V.; Margolskee, Robert F.; Nosrat, Christopher A.
2012-01-01
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is the most potent neurotrophic factor in the peripheral taste system during embryonic development. It is also expressed in adult taste buds. There is a lack of understanding of the role of BDNF in the adult taste system. To address this, we generated novel transgenic mice in which transgene expression was driven by an α-gustducin promoter coupling BDNF expression to the postnatal expression of gustducin in taste cells. Immunohistochemistry revealed significantly stronger BDNF labeling in taste cells of high BDNF-expressing mouse lines compared with controls. We show that taste buds in these mice are significantly larger and have a larger number of taste cells compared with controls. To examine whether innervation was affected in Gust-BDNF mice, we used antibodies to neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) and ATP receptor P2X3. The total density of general innervation and specifically the gustatory innervation was markedly increased in high BDNF-expressing mice compared with controls. TrkB and NCAM gene expression in laser capture microdissected taste epithelia were significantly up-regulated in these mice. Up-regulation of TrkB transcripts in taste buds and elevated taste cell-specific TrkB phosphorylation in response to increased BDNF levels indicate that BDNF controls the expression and activation of its high affinity receptor in taste cells. This demonstrates a direct taste cell function for BDNF. BDNF also orchestrates and maintains taste bud innervation. We propose that the Gust-BDNF transgenic mouse models can be employed to further dissect the specific roles of BDNF in the adult taste system. PMID:22442142
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Smit, Lidwien A M; Boender, Gert Jan; de Steenhuijsen Piters, Wouter A A; Hagenaars, Thomas J; Huijskens, Elisabeth G W; Rossen, John W A; Koopmans, Marion; Nodelijk, Gonnie; Sanders, Elisabeth A M; Yzermans, Joris; Bogaert, Debby; Heederik, Dick
2017-01-01
Air pollution has been shown to increase the susceptibility to community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Previously, we observed an increased incidence of CAP in adults living within 1 km from poultry farms, potentially related to particulate matter and endotoxin emissions. We aim to confirm the increased risk of CAP near poultry farms by refined spatial analyses, and we hypothesize that the oropharyngeal microbiota composition in CAP patients may be associated with residential proximity to poultry farms. A spatial kernel model was used to analyze the association between proximity to poultry farms and CAP diagnosis, obtained from electronic medical records of 92,548 GP patients. The oropharyngeal microbiota composition was determined in 126 hospitalized CAP patients using 16S-rRNA-based sequencing, and analyzed in relation to residential proximity to poultry farms. Kernel analysis confirmed a significantly increased risk of CAP when living near poultry farms, suggesting an excess risk up to 1.15 km, followed by a sharp decline. Overall, the oropharyngeal microbiota composition differed borderline significantly between patients living PERMANOVA p = 0.075). Results suggested a higher abundance of Streptococcus pneumoniae (mean relative abundance 34.9% vs. 22.5%, p = 0.058) in patients living near poultry farms, which was verified by unsupervised clustering analysis, showing overrepresentation of a S. pneumoniae cluster near poultry farms ( p = 0.049). Living near poultry farms is associated with an 11% increased risk of CAP, possibly resulting from changes in the upper respiratory tract microbiota composition in susceptible individuals. The abundance of S. pneumoniae near farms needs to be replicated in larger, independent studies.
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Increased intensity performance of the Brookhaven AGS
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Raka, E.; Ahrens, L.; Frey, W.; Gill, E.; Glenn, J.W.; Sanders, R.; Weng, W.
1985-05-01
With the advent of H - injection into the Brookhaven AGS, circulating beams of up to 3 x 10 13 protons at 200 MeV have been obtained. Rf capture of 2.2 x 10 13 and acceleration of 1.73 x 10 13 up to the transition energy (approx. = 8 GeV) and 1.64 x 10 13 to full energy (approx. = 29 GeV) has been achieved. This represents a 50% increase over the best performance obtained with H + injection. The increase in circulation beam current is obtained without filling the horizontal aperture. This allows the rf capture process to utilize a larger longitudinal phase space area (approx. = 1 eV sec/bunch vs less than or equal to 0.6 eV sec with H + operation). The resulting reduction in relative longitudinal density partially offsets the increase in space charge effects at higher currents. In order to make the capture process independent of injected beam current, a dynamic beam loading compensation loop was installed on the AGS rf system. This is the only addition to the synchrotron itself that was required to reach the new intensity records. A discussion of injection, the rf capture process, and space charge effects is presented. 9 refs., 5 figs
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Enhanced Sucrose Loading Improves Rice Yield by Increasing Grain Size.
Wang, Liang; Lu, Qingtao; Wen, Xiaogang; Lu, Congming
2015-12-01
Yield in cereals is a function of grain number and size. Sucrose (Suc), the main carbohydrate product of photosynthesis in higher plants, is transported long distances from source leaves to sink organs such as seeds and roots. Here, we report that transgenic rice plants (Oryza sativa) expressing the Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) phloem-specific Suc transporter (AtSUC2), which loads Suc into the phloem under control of the phloem protein2 promoter (pPP2), showed an increase in grain yield of up to 16% relative to wild-type plants in field trials. Compared with wild-type plants, pPP2::AtSUC2 plants had larger spikelet hulls and larger and heavier grains. Grain filling was accelerated in the transgenic plants, and more photoassimilate was transported from the leaves to the grain. In addition, microarray analyses revealed that carbohydrate, amino acid, and lipid metabolism was enhanced in the leaves and grain of pPP2::AtSUC2 plants. Thus, enhancing Suc loading represents a promising strategy to improve rice yield to feed the global population. © 2015 American Society of Plant Biologists. All Rights Reserved.
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Briguglio, A.; Fabienke, W.; Wolfgring, E.; Ferrández Cañadell, C.; Hohenegger, J.
2012-04-01
The main function of tests in Larger Benthic Foraminifera (LBF) is to provide their endosymbiotic algae with enough light to obtain net photosynthetic rates and to create sufficient accommodation space. To study the relation between these two factors and to understand how the cell reacts to growth and to the environment, the newly developed technique of X-ray micro-Computer-Tomography (microCT) allows measurement of all characters of complex tests without destruction. Growth studies on 48 specimens of living and fossil species have been performed. The volumes of the lumina have been calculated as well as further 2-dimensional parameters related to volumes as chamber height, chamber width and septal distance. The volumes of chamber lumina represent cell growth in their sequence, thus demonstrating interruptions, increase/decrease or oscillations in growth rates caused by external factors affecting growth during life time (e.g. seasons). Correlations between volumes and the one-dimensional parameters have been calculated to check the form of relationship. According to our results, some parameters seem to oscillate exactly as the volume (therefore accommodating it), while others seem to oscillate constantly around a given growth function. Concerning the palaeobiology, beside the study of specimens with 'normal' growth, thus not drastically affected by external factors, some interesting morphologies have been investigated. Pluriembryonal apparati as well as secondary equatorial layers have been segmented, extracted and quantified in almost 15 specimens of Cycloclypeus carpenteri, 8 twin specimens of nummulitids tests have been also investigated to show where and how the fusion starts and volumetric quantifications of each single spiral in multispiral grown test of some large Eocene Nummulitids has also been calculated to show in which way and when (ontogenetically) a new spiral starts. The combination of all measurements allows interpretation of different biological
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Significance of Lead Residues in Mallard Tissues
Longcore, J.R.; Locke, L.N.; Bagley, George E.; Andrews, R.
1974-01-01
Tissues of adult, lead-dosed mallards that either died or were sacrificed were analyzed for lead. Lead levels in brains, tibiae, and breast muscle of ducks that died and in tibiae of ducks that were sacrificed increased significantly from dosage until death. Lead in the heart, lung, and blood from sacrificed ducks decreased significantly from dosage until death. Lead concentrations in tissues from ducks in the two groups were not significantly different except for the liver, kidney, and lung. Average lead levels in the livers and kidneys of ducks that died were significantly higher than those in ducks that were sacrificed. The mean concentration of lead in the lungs of the ducks sacrificed was significantly higher than the mean level in the lungs of ducks that died. Measurements of the lead concentrations in this study, when compared with lead levels reported in the literature for avian and non-avian species, showed that arbitrary diagnostic levels indicating lead poisoning could be set. In mallard ducks, lead levels exceeding 3 ppm in the brain, 6 to 20 ppm in the kidney or liver, or 10 ppm in clotted blood from the heart indicated acute exposure to lead.
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Cirocco, Robert M; Facelli, José M; Watling, Jennifer R
2016-03-01
Environmental factors alter the impacts of parasitic plants on their hosts. However, there have been no controlled studies on how water availability modulates stem hemiparasites' effects on hosts. A glasshouse experiment was conducted to investigate the association between the Australian native stem hemiparasite Cassytha pubescens and the introduced host Ulex europaeus under high (HW) and low (LW) water supply. Cassytha pubescens had a significant, negative effect on the total biomass of U. europaeus, which was more severe in HW than LW. Regardless of watering treatment, infection significantly decreased shoot and root biomass, nodule biomass, nodule biomass per unit root biomass, F v/F m, and nitrogen concentration of U. europaeus. Host spine sodium concentration significantly increased in response to infection in LW but not HW conditions. Host water potential was significantly higher in HW than in LW, which may have allowed the parasite to maintain higher stomatal conductances in HW. In support of this, the δ(13)C of the parasite was significantly lower in HW than in LW (and significantly higher than the host). C. pubescens also had significantly higher F v/F m and 66% higher biomass per unit host in the HW compared with the LW treatment. The data suggest that the enhanced performance of C. pubescens in HW resulted in higher parasite growth rates and thus a larger demand for resources from the host, leading to poorer host performance in HW compared with LW. C. pubescens should more negatively affect U. europaeus growth under wet conditions rather than under dry conditions in the field. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology.
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McCreesh, Karen M; Purtill, Helen; Donnelly, Alan E; Lewis, Jeremy S
2017-01-01
Exercise imparts a load on tendon tissue that leads to changes in tendon properties. Studies suggest that loading immediately reduces tendon thickness, with a loss of this response in symptomatic tendinopathy. No studies investigating the response of tendon dimensions to load for the rotator cuff tendons exist. This study aimed to examine the short-term effect of loading on the thickness of the supraspinatus tendon and acromiohumeral distance those with and without rotator cuff tendinopathy. Participants were 20 painfree controls, and 23 people with painful rotator cuff tendinopathy. Supraspinatus tendon thickness and acromiohumeral distance were measured using ultrasound scans before, and at three time points after loading (1, 6 and 24 hours). Loading involved isokinetic eccentric and concentric external rotation and abduction. There was a significant increase in supraspinatus tendon thickness in the pain group at 1 (7%, ∆=0.38, 95% CI 0.19 to 0.57) and 6 hours (11%, ∆=0.53, 95% CI 0.34 to 0.71), although only the 6 hours difference exceeded minimal detectable difference. In contrast, there was a small non-significant reduction in thickness in controls. The acromiohumeral distance reduced significantly in both groups at 1 hour (controls: ∆=0.64, 95% CI 0.38 to 0.90; pain: ∆=1.1, 95% CI 0.85 to 1.33), with a larger change from baseline in the pain group. Those diagnosed with painful supraspinatus tendinopathy demonstrated increased thickening with delayed return to baseline following loading. Rehabilitation professionals may need to take into account the impact of loading to fatigue when planning rehabilitation programmes.
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Emery, S; White, M; Gilpin, E; Pierce, J
2002-01-01
Objectives: Several states, including California, have implemented large cigarette excise tax increases, which may encourage smokers to purchase their cigarettes in other lower taxed states, or from other lower or non-taxed sources. Such tax evasion thwarts tobacco control objectives and may cost the state substantial tax revenues. Thus, this study investigates the extent of tax evasion in the 6–12 months after the implementation of California's $0.50/pack excise tax increase. Design and setting: Retrospective data analysis from the 1999 California Tobacco Surveys (CTS), a random digit dialled telephone survey of California households. Main outcome measures: Sources of cigarettes, average daily cigarette consumption, and reported price paid. Results: Very few (5.1 (0.7)% (±95% confidence limits)) of California smokers avoided the excise tax by usually purchasing cigarettes from non- or lower taxed sources, such as out-of-state outlets, military commissaries, or the internet. The vast majority of smokers purchased their cigarettes from the most convenient and expensive sources: convenience stores/gas (petrol) stations (45.0 (1.9)%), liquor/drug stores (16.4 (1.6)%), and supermarkets (8.8 (1.2)%). Conclusions: Despite the potential savings, tax evasion by individual smokers does not appear to pose a serious threat to California's excise tax revenues or its tobacco control objectives. PMID:12035006
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Forbes, Sarah; Cowley, Nicola; Mistry, Hitesh; Amézquita, Alejandro
2017-01-01
ABSTRACT The current investigation aimed to generate data to inform the development of risk assessments of biocide usage. Stabilized domestic drain biofilm microcosms were exposed daily over 6 months to increasing concentrations (0.01% to 1%) of the biocide benzalkonium chloride (BAC) in a simple aqueous solution (BAC-s) or in a complex formulation (BAC-f) representative of a domestic cleaning agent. Biofilms were analyzed by culture, differentiating by bacterial functional group and by BAC or antibiotic susceptibility. Bacterial isolates were identified by 16S rRNA sequencing, and changes in biofilm composition were assessed by high-throughput sequencing. Exposure to BAC-f resulted in significantly larger reductions in levels of viable bacteria than exposure to BAC-s, while bacterial diversity greatly decreased during exposure to both BAC-s and BAC-f, as evidenced by sequencing and viable counts. Increases in the abundance of bacteria exhibiting reduced antibiotic or BAC susceptibility following exposure to BAC at 0.1% were significantly greater for BAC-s than BAC-f. Bacteria with reduced BAC and antibiotic susceptibility were generally suppressed by higher BAC concentrations, and formulation significantly enhanced this effect. Significant decreases in the antimicrobial susceptibility of bacteria isolated from the systems before and after long-term BAC exposure were not detected. In summary, dose-dependent suppression of bacterial viability by BAC was enhanced by formulation. Biocide exposure decreased bacterial diversity and transiently enriched populations of organisms with lower antimicrobial susceptibility, and the effects were subsequently suppressed by exposure to 1% BAC-f, the concentration most closely reflecting deployment in formulated products. IMPORTANCE Assessment of the risks of biocide use has been based mainly on the exposure of axenic cultures of bacteria to biocides in simple aqueous solutions. The current investigation aimed to assess the
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Increased myocardial infarct size because of reduced coronary collateral blood flow in beagles
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Uemura, N.; Knight, D.R.; Shen, Y.T.; Nejima, J.; Cohen, M.V.; Thomas, J.X. Jr.; Vatner, S.F.
1989-01-01
Effects of permanent left circumflex coronary artery occlusion (CAO) were examined in conscious purebred beagles and mongrel dogs, instrumented with miniature left ventricular (LV) pressure gauges, wall thickness gauges in the ischemic zone, catheters in left atrium and aorta, and snares around the left circumflex coronary artery. Blood flow was measured using the radioactive microsphere technique before CAO and at 5 min, 1, 3, and 24 h after CAO. Although CAO reduced myocardial blood flow similarly in beagles and mongrels, significantly less (P less than 0.05) recovery of myocardial blood flow was observed over the following 24-h period in beagles. Infarct size, as determined by triphenyltetrazolium chloride and expressed as percentage of area at risk, was larger (P less than 0.05) in beagles (62.0 ± 5.1%) than mongrels (42.5 ± 4.2%). Thus beagles do not tolerate ischemia as well as mongrel dogs and possess fewer functional coronary collaterals resulting in larger infarcts after CAO
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Freya J I Fowkes
2008-03-01
Full Text Available The heritable haemoglobinopathy alpha(+-thalassaemia is caused by the reduced synthesis of alpha-globin chains that form part of normal adult haemoglobin (Hb. Individuals homozygous for alpha(+-thalassaemia have microcytosis and an increased erythrocyte count. Alpha(+-thalassaemia homozygosity confers considerable protection against severe malaria, including severe malarial anaemia (SMA (Hb concentration 1.1 x 10(12/l as a result of the reduced mean cell Hb in homozygous alpha(+-thalassaemia. In addition, children homozygous for alpha(+-thalassaemia require a 10% greater reduction in erythrocyte count than children of normal genotype (p = 0.02 for Hb concentration to fall to 50 g/l, the cutoff for SMA. We estimated that the haematological profile in children homozygous for alpha(+-thalassaemia reduces the risk of SMA during acute malaria compared to children of normal genotype (relative risk 0.52; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.24-1.12, p = 0.09.The increased erythrocyte count and microcytosis in children homozygous for alpha(+-thalassaemia may contribute substantially to their protection against SMA. A lower concentration of Hb per erythrocyte and a larger population of erythrocytes may be a biologically advantageous strategy against the significant reduction in erythrocyte count that occurs during acute infection with the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. This haematological profile may reduce the risk of anaemia by other Plasmodium species, as well as other causes of anaemia. Other host polymorphisms that induce an increased erythrocyte count and microcytosis may confer a similar advantage.