3,674 research outputs found
Urine collection device
A urine collection device for females is described. It is comprised of a collection element defining a urine collection chamber and an inlet opening into the chamber and is adapted to be disposed in surrounding relation to the urethral opening of the user. A drainage conduit is connected to the collection element in communication with the chamber whereby the chamber and conduit together comprise a urine flow pathway for carrying urine generally away from the inlet. A first body of wicking material is mounted adjacent the collection element and extends at least partially into the flow pathway. The device preferably also comprise a vaginal insert element including a seal portion for preventing the entry of urine into the vagina
Alien Registration- Michaud, Marie B. (Limestone, Aroostook County)
https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/24878/thumbnail.jp
Microbial ecology of Keane Wonder Spring, Death Valley National Park
This research is focused on developing a better understanding of he physiological and phylogenetic diversity as well as environmental abundance of bacteria of the genus: Shewanella in selected desert ecosystems. Prior research from this laboratory has revealed that these bacteria are very abundant in sulfurand organic-rich aquatics habitats. We have selected a number of habitats for detailed investigation (cultivation, molecular ecology and relevant environmental chemistry) including the Tropicana Wash, spring in Death Valley, the lower Virgin River and possibly Big Soda Lame, Nevada
A Fatal Rectus Sheath Hematoma after a Myasthenia Crisis Case Report
Introduction: Rectus sheath hematomas (RSH) generally occur due to damage to the inferior epigastric artery. They are rare causes of abdominal pain or acute blood loss anemia, but are an important diagnostic consideration because they can be cryptic and are potentially fatal.
Clinical Findings: An 85-year-old female who had been admitted to the hospital for 10 days with a myasthenia crisis was found to be abruptly hypotensive with a tender abdominal mass in the left lower quadrant subtly crossing midline. She was on prophylactic anticoagulation during her hospitalization.
Main diagnosis, therapeutics, interventions, and outcomes: The patient was initially stabilized with fluids and received one unit of packed red blood cells. A CT-angiogram of her abdomen and pelvis demonstrated a type III RSH. She underwent a percutaneous inferior epigastric artery embolization via interventional radiology. Unfortunately, she did not recover and was transitioned to hospice, dying one day after discharge.
Conclusion: Although classic teaching about RSHs includes an association with systemic anticoagulation and a physical exam notable for a mass not crossing the midline, it is important to recognize a wider range of presentations including an abdominal mass that crosses the midline, as demonstrated by our patient. Other important risk factors include frailty, immunosuppression, and possibly abdominal injections (particularly heparin)
Offer and use of complementary and alternative medicine in hospitals of the French-speaking part of Switzerland.
BACKGROUND: In 2004, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) was offered by physicians in one-third of Swiss hospitals. Since then, CAM health policy has changed considerably. This study aimed to describe the present supply and use of CAM in hospitals in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and to explore qualitatively the characteristics of this offer.
METHODS: Between June 2011 and March 2012, a short questionnaire was sent to the medical directors of hospitals (n = 46), asking them whether CAM was offered, where and by whom. Then, a semi-directive interview was conducted with ten CAM therapists.
RESULTS: Among 37 responses (return rate 80%), 19 medical directors indicated that their hospital offered at least one CAM and 18 reported that they did not. Acupuncture was the most frequently available CAM, followed by manual therapies, osteopathy and aromatherapy. The disciplines that offered CAM most frequently were rehabilitation, gynaecology and obstetrics, palliative care, psychiatry, and anaesthetics. In eight out of ten interviews, it appeared that the procedures for introducing a CAM in the hospital were not tightly supervised by the hospital and were mainly based on the goodwill of the therapists, rather than clinical/scientific evidence.
CONCLUSION: The number of hospitals offering CAM in the French-speaking part of Switzerland seemed to have risen since 2004. The selection of a CAM to be offered in a hospital should be based on the same procedure of evaluation and validation as conventional therapy, and if the safety and efficiency of the CAM is evidence-based, it should receive the same resources as a conventional therapy
Bayesian Non-Exhaustive Classification A Case Study: Online Name Disambiguation using Temporal Record Streams
The name entity disambiguation task aims to partition the records of multiple
real-life persons so that each partition contains records pertaining to a
unique person. Most of the existing solutions for this task operate in a batch
mode, where all records to be disambiguated are initially available to the
algorithm. However, more realistic settings require that the name
disambiguation task be performed in an online fashion, in addition to, being
able to identify records of new ambiguous entities having no preexisting
records. In this work, we propose a Bayesian non-exhaustive classification
framework for solving online name disambiguation task. Our proposed method uses
a Dirichlet process prior with a Normal * Normal * Inverse Wishart data model
which enables identification of new ambiguous entities who have no records in
the training data. For online classification, we use one sweep Gibbs sampler
which is very efficient and effective. As a case study we consider
bibliographic data in a temporal stream format and disambiguate authors by
partitioning their papers into homogeneous groups. Our experimental results
demonstrate that the proposed method is better than existing methods for
performing online name disambiguation task.Comment: to appear in CIKM 201
Models of Metal Poor Stars with Gravitational Settling and Radiative Accelerations: I. Evolution and Abundance Anomalies
Evolutionary models have been calculated for Pop II stars of 0.5 to
1.0 from the pre-main-sequence to the lower part of the giant branch.
Rosseland opacities and radiative accelerations were calculated taking into
account the concentration variations of 28 chemical species, including all
species contributing to Rosseland opacities in the OPAL tables. The effects of
radiative accelerations, thermal diffusion and gravitational settling are
included. While models were calculated both for Z=0.00017 and 0.0017, we
concentrate on models with Z=0.00017 in this paper. These are the first Pop II
models calculated taking radiative acceleration into account. It is shown that,
at least in a 0.8 star, it is a better approximation not to let Fe
diffuse than to calculate its gravitational settling without including the
effects of . In the absence of any turbulence outside of
convection zones, the effects of atomic diffusion are large mainly for stars
more massive than 0.7. Overabundances are expected in some stars with
\teff \ge 6000K. Most chemical species heavier than CNO are affected. At 12
Gyr, overabundance factors may reach 10 in some cases (e.g. for Al or Ni) while
others are limited to 3 (e.g. for Fe). The calculated surface abundances are
compared to recent observations of abundances in globular clusters as well as
to observations of Li in halo stars. It is shown that, as in the case of Pop I
stars, additional turbulence appears to be present.Comment: 40 pages, 17 color figures, to appear in The Astrophysical Journal,
April 2002 (paper with original high resolution figures can be found at
http://www.cerca.umontreal.ca/~richer/Fichiersps/popII_1.ps
Comparison of the Transmembrane Mucins MUC1 and MUC16 in Epithelial Barrier Function
Membrane-anchored mucins are present in the apical surface glycocalyx of mucosal epithelial cells, each mucosal epithelium having at least two of the mucins. The mucins have been ascribed barrier functions, but direct comparisons of their functions within the same epithelium have not been done. In an epithelial cell line that expresses the membrane-anchored mucins, MUC1 and MUC16, the mucins were independently and stably knocked down using shRNA. Barrier functions tested included dye penetrance, bacterial adherence and invasion, transepithelial resistance, tight junction formation, and apical surface size. Knockdown of MUC16 decreased all barrier functions tested, causing increased dye penetrance and bacterial invasion, decreased transepithelial resistance, surprisingly, disruption of tight junctions, and greater apical surface cell area. Knockdown of MUC1 did not decrease barrier function, in fact, barrier to dye penetrance and bacterial invasion increased significantly. These data suggest that barrier functions of membrane-anchored mucins vary in the context of other membrane mucins, and MUC16 provides a major barrier when present
Exactly solvable models in 2D semiclassical dilaton gravity and extremal black holes
Previously known exactly solvable models of 2D semiclassical dilaton gravity
admit, in the general case, only non-extreme black holes. It is shown that
there exist exceptional degenerate cases, that can be obtained by some limiting
transitions from the general exact solution, which include, in particular,
extremal and ultraextremal black holes. We also analyze properties of extreme
black holes without demanding exact solvability and show that for such
solutions quantum backreaction forbids the existence of ultraextreme black
holes. The conditions,under which divergencies of quantum stresses in a free
falling frame can disappear, are found. We derive the closed equation with
respect to the metric as a function of the dilaton field that enables one,
choosing the form of the metric, to restore corresponding Lagrangian. It is
demonstrated that exactly solvable models, found earlier, can be extended to
include an electric charge only in two cases: either the dilaton-gravitation
coupling is proportional to the potential term, or the latter vanishes. The
second case leads to the effective potential with a negative amplitude and we
analyze, how this fact affects the structure of spacetime. We also discuss the
role of quantum backreaction in the relationship between extremal horizons and
the branch of solutions with a constant dilaton.Comment: 31 pages. In v.2 typo in Ref. [2] corrected, 4 references added.
Accepted in Class. Quant. Gra
Vertical stratification of iron in atmospheres of blue horizontal-branch stars
The aim of this study is to search for observational evidence of vertical
iron stratification in the atmosphere of fourteen blue horizontal-branch (BHB)
stars. We have found from our numerical simulations that five BHB stars: B22,
B186 in the globular cluster NGC 288, WF2-820, WF2-2692 in M13 and B203 in M15
show clear signatures of the vertical stratification of iron whose abundance
increases toward the lower atmosphere. Two other BHB stars (B334 in M15 and
B176 in M92) also show possible iron stratification in their atmosphere. A
dependence of the slope of iron stratification on the effective temperature was
also discovered. It is found that the vertical stratification of iron is
strongest in BHB stars with Teff around 11,500K. The slope of iron abundance
decreases as Teff increases and becomes negligible for the BHB stars with Teff=
14,000K. These results support the hypothesis regarding the efficiency of
atomic diffusion in the stellar atmospheres of BHB stars with Teff > 11,500K.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, 3 table
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