2,009 research outputs found
The radiologic diagnosis of skeletal dysplasias : past, present and future
Skeletal dysplasias have been recognised since recorded history began. The advent of radiography at the beginning of the 20th century and the subsequent introduction of departments of radiology have had tremendous impact and allowed conditions to be identified by their specific radiographic phenotypes. This has been enhanced by the addition of cross-sectional modalities (ultrasound, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging), which have allowed for prenatal recognition and diagnosis of skeletal dysplasias, and by the recent explosion in identified genes. There are more than 400 recognised skeletal dysplasias, many of which (due to their rarity) the practising clinician (radiologist, paediatrician, geneticist) may never come across. This article provides a historical overview of aids to the radiologic diagnosis of skeletal dysplasias
Designing energy dissipation properties via thermal spray coatings
The coefficient of restitution is a measure of energy dissipation in a system across impact events. Often, the dissipative qualities of a pair of impacting components are neglected during the design phase. This research looks at the effect of applying a thin layer of metallic coating, using thermal spray technologies, to significantly alter the dissipative properties of a system. The dissipative properties are studied across multiple impacts in order to assess the effects of work hardening, the change in microstructure, and the change in surface topography. The results of the experiments indicate that any work hardening-like effects are likely attributable to the crushing of asperities, and the permanent changes in the dissipative properties of the system, as measured by the coefficient of restitution, are attributable to the microstructure formed by the thermal spray coating. Further, the microstructure appears to be robust across impact events of moderate energy levels, exhibiting negligible changes across multiple impact events
Effects of pressure on glucose transport in human erythrocytes
AbstractThe operation of the human red cell glucose transporter has been studied at normal and high hydrostatic pressure to identify the step(s) which involve a volume change. Pressure inhibited zero-trans and equilibrium exchange influx to similar extents, by decreasing the Vmax but not significantly changing the Km. The Bmax and Kd of specific [3H]cytochalasin B binding were unaffected by pressure indicating no change to the number or affinity of functional transporters at pressure. Passive glucose transport was inhibited by pressure in a manner consistent with permeation across the lipid bilayer. These data indicate that there is a major change in volume during the translocation step of the glucose transporter which is rate-limiting for transport
Proposing the Communicate Bond Belong Theory: Evolutionary intersections with episodic interpersonal communication
The Communicate Bond Belong (CBB) Theory is an evolutionary and motivational explanation of human communication’s role in the relational functions of social interaction. CBB Theory conceives of all social interactions as energy expending, but posits that only some social interactions are striving behaviors (i.e., actions taken to satiate a need). CBB Theory proposes that social interaction operates within a homeostatic system, developed from internal pressures to satiate a need to belong, shaped by competing desires to invest and conserve social energy, and adaptable to new social circumstances and technological affordances. The theory bridges gaps among evolutionary and social psychology theories and interpersonal communication theories by attending to the multifunctional nature of everyday talk in relation to fundamental human needs
Sensitivity of wardrop equilibria
We study the sensitivity of equilibria in the well-known game theoretic traffic model due to Wardrop. We mostly consider single-commodity networks. Suppose, given a unit demand flow at Wardrop equilibrium, one increases the demand by ε or removes an edge carrying only an ε-fraction of flow. We study how the equilibrium responds to such an ε-change.
Our first surprising finding is that, even for linear latency functions, for every ε> 0, there are networks in which an ε-change causes every agent to change its path in order to recover equilibrium. Nevertheless, we can prove that, for general latency functions, the flow increase or decrease on every edge is at most ε.
Examining the latency at equilibrium, we concentrate on polynomial latency functions of degree at most p with nonnegative coefficients. We show that, even though the relative increase in the latency of an edge due to an ε-change in the demand can be unbounded, the path latency at equilibrium increases at most by a factor of (1 + ε) p . The increase of the price of anarchy is shown to be upper bounded by the same factor. Both bounds are shown to be tight.
Let us remark that all our bounds are tight. For the multi-commodity case, we present examples showing that neither the change in edge flows nor the change in the path latency can be bounded
Efficient measurements, purification, and bounds on the mutual information
When a measurement is made on a quantum system in which classical information
is encoded, the measurement reduces the observers average Shannon entropy for
the encoding ensemble. This reduction, being the {\em mutual information}, is
always non-negative. For efficient measurements the state is also purified;
that is, on average, the observers von Neumann entropy for the state of the
system is also reduced by a non-negative amount. Here we point out that by
re-writing a bound derived by Hall [Phys. Rev. A {\bf 55}, 100 (1997)], which
is dual to the Holevo bound, one finds that for efficient measurements, the
mutual information is bounded by the reduction in the von Neumann entropy. We
also show that this result, which provides a physical interpretation for Hall's
bound, may be derived directly from the Schumacher-Westmoreland-Wootters
theorem [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 76}, 3452 (1996)]. We discuss these bounds, and
their relationship to another bound, valid for efficient measurements on pure
state ensembles, which involves the subentropy.Comment: 4 pages, Revtex4. v3: rewritten and reinterpreted somewha
Dutch patients, retail chicken meat and poultry share the same ESBL genes, plasmids and strains
Intestinal carriage of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) -producing bacteria in food-producing animals and contamination of retail meat may contribute to increased incidences of infections with ESBL-producing bacteria in humans. Therefore, distribution of ESBL genes, plasmids and strain genotypes in Escherichia coli obtained from poultry and retail chicken meat in the Netherlands was determined and defined as ‘poultry-associated’ (PA). Subsequently, the proportion of E. coli isolates with PA ESBL genes, plasmids and strains was quantified in a representative sample of clinical isolates. The E. coli were derived from 98 retail chicken meat samples, a prevalence survey among poultry, and 516 human clinical samples from 31 laboratories collected during a 3-month period in 2009. Isolates were analysed using an ESBL-specific microarray, sequencing of ESBL genes, PCR-based replicon typing of plasmids, plasmid multi-locus sequence typing (pMLST) and strain genotyping (MLST). Six ESBL genes were defined as PA (blaCTX-M-1, blaCTX-M-2, blaSHV-2, blaSHV-12, blaTEM-20, blaTEM-52): 35% of the human isolates contained PA ESBL genes and 19% contained PA ESBL genes located on IncI1 plasmids that were genetically indistinguishable from those obtained from poultry (meat). Of these ESBL genes, 86% were blaCTX-M-1 and blaTEM-52 genes, which were also the predominant genes in poultry (78%) and retail chicken meat (75%). Of the retail meat samples, 94% contained ESBL-producing isolates of which 39% belonged to E. coli genotypes also present in human samples. These findings are suggestive for transmission of ESBL genes, plasmids and E. coli isolates from poultry to humans, most likely through the food chain
Comment on "Magnetoviscosity and relaxation in ferrofluids"
It is shown and discussed how the conventional system of hydrodynamic
equations for ferrofluids was derived. The set consists of the equation of
fluid motion, the Maxwell equations, and the magnetization equation. The latter
was recently revised by Felderhof [Phys. Rev. E, v.62, p.3848 (2000)]. His
phenomenological magnetization equation looks rather like corresponding
Shliomis' equation, but leads to wrong consequences for the dependence of
ferrofluid viscosity and magnetization relaxation time on magnetic field.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Validating scoring systems for fracture healing in infants and young children: pilot study
Background
Recent studies have analysed birth-related clavicular fractures to propose time frames for healing that could be applied to dating of all fractures in cases of suspected child abuse.
Objective
To assess differences in healing rates between femoral fractures and birth-related clavicular fractures in infants and young children.
Materials and methods
A retrospective 5-year pilot study of femoral fractures in children younger than 3 years of age was performed. Anonymised radiographs were independently scored by two radiologists for stages of fracture healing. In cases of reader disagreement, radiographs were independently scored by a third radiologist.
Results
In total, 74 radiographs (30 children) met the inclusion criteria. Fracture healing evolved over time with subperiosteal new bone formation (SPNBF) appearing first, followed by callus then remodelling. A power calculation for a single proportion, with a level of confidence of 95% and a margin of error of 5%, showed that in a definitive study, 359 radiographs would be required.
Conclusion
Although the overall pattern of healing is similar, in this small pilot study, the earliest times for SPNBF and callus formation in femoral fractures appeared to lag behind healing of birth-related clavicular fractures. Remodelling appeared earlier than remodelling of clavicular fractures. A power calculation has determined numbers of femoral radiographs (359) required for a definitive study
- …