An analytical investigation of NO sub x control techniques for methanol fueled spark ignition engines

A thermokinetic SI engine simulation was used to study the effects of simple nitrogen oxide control techniques on performance and emissions of a methanol fueled engine. As part of this simulation, a ring crevice storage model was formulated to predict UBF emissions. The study included spark retard, two methods of compression ratio increase and EGR. The study concludes that use of EGR in high turbulence, high compression engines will both maximize power and thermal efficiency while minimizing harmful exhaust pollutants

Trainable Skills of Well-Being: A Nurse Manager Resilience Building Pilot

Background: Nurse Manager burnout is a significant problem in healthcare with many nurse managers planning to leave their role within five years. Opposite of burnout, resilience is the ability to develop coping mechanisms to minimize the negative impacts of stress and burnout. Providing nurse managers with the training and development needed to reduce the effects of stress and burnout is essential to fostering nurse manager engagement and resilience. Local Problem: An engagement survey specific to nurse managers revealed resilience scores at the 1st percentile nationally, the lowest possible rank, indicating a significant need to reduce burnout. Implementing an initiative to improve resilience and well-being, while reducing the risks of nurse manager burnout, is a needed improvement initiative. Methods: A pre and post survey design was used to evaluate stress and burnout. Data analysis includes mean levels of burnout and stress pre and post intervention. Analysis also includes correlations between participant demographics and levels of stress and burnout. Analysis includes the percentage of participants using resilience building interventions pre and post intervention. Interventions: Thirteen nurse managers participated in an eight-week program, offering one-hour sessions via live, web-based format. Each session included psychoeducational information, group guided exercises, and interactive dyad exercises to build connection and support with peers. Between sessions, participants received email resources for encouragement and reinforcement of the weekly topic, including guided exercises to support resilience skill development. Results: Pending data collection Conclusions/Implications: A web based interactive resilience building course is a possible option for teaching skills of well-being to nurse leaders, with the potential to reduce turnover and burnout and improve resilience and engagement

Clinical norms for evaluation of accommodative facility, vergence facility and accommodative/vergence facility

The purpose of this project was to gather normative data on the performance of schoolchildren in grades one and four on the accommodative, prism, and distance rock tests. Since these tests are commonly used as screening devices to assist in diagnosing the asthenopic child, this data can be utilized when assessing and comparing a chiId\u27s performance. Another important purpose in the design of this study was to develop targets for accommodation and prism rock testing that would reduce confounding variables inherent to previously used targets. This study used modified Landolt C targets. As a result, the data has shown that there is a very active transition period of maturity and visual skill level occurring between the first and fourth grade. Clinically, these tests may be utilized to measure the maturational progress of these visual subskills enabling the clinician to make a more accurate diagnosis. The validity of directly applying normative data derived from adult popu·1ations to young children should be avoided

A MULTIDIMENSIONAL PRECLINICAL INVESTIGATION OF FIBROMYALGIA MODELS: SUBCHRONIC SWIM AND BIOGENIC AMINE DEPLETION

Pain is a multidimensional phenomenon, comprised of affective-motivational, cognitive-evaluative, and sensory-discriminative domains. In the presence of pain with no single determinable etiology, such as fibromyalgia, understanding the affective and cognitive dimensions of the disorder is crucial for adequate diagnosis and pain management. However, there is little empirical support for many of the primary animal models of fibromyalgia in replicating this disorder across all the dimensions of pain. Therefore, the current studies sought to evaluate two primary preclinical models of fibromyalgia – the reserpine and subchronic swim stress models – across all three pain dimensions and determine their predictive validity with an FDA-approved fibromyalgia pharmacologic, duloxetine (Cymbalta®). Further, these studies sought to combine these two preclinical models of fibromyalgia pain to determine if their compounded effect better replicates reported clinical manifestations and management profiles across the affective, cognitive, and sensory domains. Overall, the reserpine model was effective in producing mechanical hyperalgesia, and potentially time-dependent thermal hyperalgesia, but ineffective in replicating anxiety- and depression-like behavior. The subchronic swim stress model was effective in producing mechanical hyperalgesia, and time-dependent thermal sensitivity, as well as trending effects of depression-like behavior, but no changes in anxiety-like behavior. The combination of these models produced mechanical sensitivity, and potentially time-dependent thermal sensitivity, alongside anxiety-like behaviors and trending depression-like behaviors. However, all models failed to produce any changes in cognitive function. The administration of duloxetine selectively alleviated effects within mechanical sensitivity and depression-like behaviors but may have offered adverse effects in measures of anxiety-like behavior and overall locomotion. Future research should aim to identify the contexts within which these individual models, and their combination, may best replicate the clinical multidimensionality of fibromyalgia

The Effects of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy on Pain Thresholds and Anxiodepressive Behaviors in a Pre-clinical Fibromyalgia Pain Model

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic, widespread pain disorder generally of a non-inflammatory nature. FM has many known affective and cognitive comorbidities, including fatigue, sleep disturbances, cognitive deficits, and mood disturbances. As a result, FM treatment approaches are mixed in nature and lack a robust characterization that address symptoms on a sensory, affective, and cognitive level. However, there is promise in the implementation of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) for alleviating fibromyalgia pain and comorbidities, despite no work investigating the efficacy of this treatment in prominent preclinical FM models. Thus, this project aims to investigate the affective components, specifically anhedonia and anxiety, associated with an acidic saline model of fibromyalgia in rats. Additionally, we seek to find evidence for the potential efficacy of HBOT in the treatment of a pre-clinical model of fibromyalgia and its associated comorbidities. In this study, forty-eight female Sprague Dawley rats were randomized to a fibromyalgia pain condition or a saline control condition. After verification of the induction of the model using measures of mechanical thresholds, animals were then randomized to receive two 60-minute treatments of hyperbaric oxygen therapy at 2.0 atmospheric absolute (ATA, pressure equivalent to a depth of 33 feet of sea water) or a control treatment with the absence of oxygen/pressure manipulations above 1 ATA (sea level). After the initial treatment session, mechanical thresholds were taken every 24 hours to investigate the effects of hyperbaric oxygen therapy after one session, two sessions, and the period following treatment. Additionally, animals were exposed to an in-cage sucrose preference test for 72 hours, immediately following their second treatment session, to measure between-group anhedonic changes in behavior. 24 hours following treatment, animals were tested for between-group differences using the open-field paradigm, which assessed anxiety-like behavior through changes in locomotion. Results revealed that the acidic saline model was efficacious in replicating pain thresholds indicative of fibromyalgia-like pain. However, data did not provide support for the presence of anxio-depressive comorbidities associated with FM. Additionally, HBOT did not effectively increase mechanical thresholds as expected. Future studies should seek to identify the experimental circumstances within which the negative affective comorbidities associated with FM are presented through the acidic saline model. Additionally, further investigation into the exposure-response relationship between HBOT and the acidic saline model could provide insights into the mechanisms under which this preclinical representation of FM operates

Lower Abnormal Fecal Immunochemical Test Cut-Off Values Improve Detection of Colorectal Cancer in System-Level Screens

Background & aimsNoninvasive tests used in colorectal cancer screening, such as the fecal immunochemical test (FIT), are more acceptable but detect neoplasias with lower levels of sensitivity than colonoscopy. We investigated whether lowering the cut-off concentration of hemoglobin for designation as an abnormal FIT result increased the detection of advanced neoplasia in a mailed outreach program.MethodsWe performed a prospective study of 17,017 uninsured patients, age 50 to 64 years, who were not current with screening and enrolled in a safety-net system in Texas. We reduced the cut-off value for an abnormal FIT result from 20 or more to 10 or more μg hemoglobin/g feces a priori. All patients with abnormal FIT results were offered no-cost diagnostic colonoscopy. We compared proportions of patients with abnormal FIT results and neoplasia yield for standard vs lower cut-off values, as well as absolute hemoglobin concentration distribution among 5838 persons who completed the FIT. Our primary aim was to determine the effects of implementing a lower hemoglobin concentration cut-off value on colonoscopy demand and yield, specifically colorectal cancer (CRC) and advanced neoplasia detection, compared with the standard, higher, hemoglobin concentration cut-off value.ResultsThe proportions of patients with abnormal FIT results were 12.3% at the 10 or more μg hemoglobin/g feces and 6.6% at the standard 20 or more μg hemoglobin/g feces cut-off value (P = .0013). Detection rates for the lower vs the standard threshold were 10.2% vs 12.7% for advanced neoplasia (P = .12) and 0.9% vs 1.2% for CRC (P = .718). The positive predictive values were 18.9% for the lower threshold vs 24.4% for the standard threshold for advanced neoplasia (P = .053), and 1.7% vs 2.4% for CRC (P = .659). The number needed to screen to detect 1 case with advanced neoplasia was 45 at the lower threshold compared with 58 at the standard threshold; the number needed to scope to detect 1 case with advanced neoplasia increased from 4 to 5. Most patients with CRC (72.7%) or advanced adenoma (67.3%) had hemoglobin concentrations of 20 or more μg/g feces. In the group with 10 to 19 μg hemoglobin/g feces, there were 3 patients with CRC (3 of 11; 27.3%) and 36 with advanced adenoma (36 of 110; 32.7%) who would not have been detected at the standard positive threshold (advanced neoplasia Pcomparison < .001). The proportion of patients found to have no neoplasia after an abnormal FIT result (false positives) was not significantly higher with the lower cut-off value (44.4%) than the standard cut-off value (39.1%) (P = .1103).ConclusionsIn a prospective study of 17,017 uninsured patients, we found that reducing the abnormal FIT result cut-off value (to ≥10 μg hemoglobin/g feces) might increase detection of advanced neoplasia, but doubled the proportion of patients requiring a diagnostic colonoscopy. If colonoscopy capacity permits, health systems that use quantitative FITs should consider lowering the abnormal cut-off value to optimize CRC detection and prevention. (ClinicalTrials.gov no: NCT01946282.)

The Fibromyalgia Pain Experience: A Scoping Review of the Preclinical Evidence for Replication and Treatment of the Affective and Cognitive Pain Dimensions

Fibromyalgia is a chronic, widespread pain disorder that is strongly represented across the affective and cognitive dimensions of pain, given that the underlying pathophysiology of the disorder is yet to be identified. These affective and cognitive deficits are crucial to understanding and treating the fibromyalgia pain experience as a whole but replicating this multidimensionality on a preclinical level is challenging. To understand the underlying mechanisms, animal models are used. In this scoping review, we evaluate the current primary animal models of fibromyalgia regarding their translational relevance within the affective and cognitive pain realms, as well as summarize treatments that have been identified preclinically for attenuating these deficits

Effect of Bovine Somatotropin on Neutrophil Functions and Clinical Symptoms During Streptococcus uberis Mastitis

The effect of recombinant bovine somatotropin (bST) on the chemiluminescence, diapedesis, and expression of adhesion receptors (CD11a, CD11b, CD18) of isolated polymorphonuclear leukocytes was studied. The plasma concentrations of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), bST, cortisol, and alpha-lactalbumin were also monitored. In addition, general and local clinical symptoms and the differentiation of circulating leukocytes were also studied during experimentally induced Streptococcus uberis mastitis in cows. Ten cows were infected with 500 cfu of S. uberis O140J in both left quarters. Five cows were subcutaneously treated with 500 mg of recombinant bST 7 d before and after infection, and 5 control cows received the excipient. General (fever, tachycardia, inappetance, and depression) and local symptoms (swelling, pain, firmness, and flecks in milk) were more acute, severe, and longer-lasting in control cows. Treatment with bST had no effect on chemiluminescence and diapedesis of circulating polymorphonuclear leukocytes and no effect on the expression of adhesion receptors. Recombinant bST induced significantly higher IGF-I and bST concentrations in plasma. The leukopenia observed after infection was less pronounced in the bST-treated cows, and the number of circulating band neutrophils and metamyelocytes was significantly lower in the treated group. The concentration of cortisol did not differ between both groups, but the blood concentration of alpha-lactalbumin significantly increased in both groups from 6 d after infection. These results showed that treatment with recombinant bST improves animal welfare by protecting the cows from severe local and general clinical symptoms during subsequent S. uberis mastitis, but that it has no effect on chemiluminescence, diapedesis, and the expression of adhesion receptors of circulating polymorphonuclear leukocytes

Low zone tolerance requires ICAM-1 expression to limit contact hypersensitivity elicitation.

Painting subsensitizing doses of contact sensitizers on skin (low-dose tolerization) induces antigen (Ag)-specific tolerance, known as low zone tolerance (LZT), which has been experimentally demonstrated by the inhibition of contact hypersensitivity (CHS). Although LZT resulted from the inhibition of the sensitization phase, the effects on the effector/elicitation phase remain unknown. L-selectin and ICAM-1 regulate leukocyte influx into inflamed tissues during the elicitation phase of CHS. LZT was investigated in mice lacking either L-selectin or ICAM-1 to evaluate the roles these leukocyte receptors play in LZT during the elicitation phase. Low-dose tolerization effectively suppressed CHS in wild-type and L-selectin-deficient mice, but not in ICAM-1-deficient mice. Low-dose-tolerized ICAM-1-deficient splenocytes effectively suppressed the elicitation phase in naive wild-type recipients. Sensitized ICAM-1-deficient splenocytes showed normal proliferative responses to the sensitizing Ag and generated normal CHS in wild-type recipients. Thus, ICAM-1 deficiency did not affect sensitization. LZT was associated with a lack of ICAM-1 upregulation after elicitation, suggesting a potentially mechanistic role for ICAM-1. The blockade of IL-10, a possible mediator of LZT, produced by hapten-specific suppressor cells, abrogated LZT and restored ICAM-1 upregulation. These results indicate that low-dose tolerization controls CHS by abrogating ICAM-1 upregulation during the elicitation phase

Silver City, 1915 Champion Basketball Team

The ten players of the high school basketball team (1915-1916) from the New Mexico Normal School pose in uniform. Coach Ross B. Wiley stands with the trophy.Note the stripping on the uniform collars, differentiating class rank. See #00936 & #00966.8 bit; 500 ppi; ScanMaker 9800X