Giant Molecular Clouds are More Concentrated to Spiral Arms than Smaller Clouds

From our catalog of Milky Way molecular clouds, created using a temperature thresholding algorithm on the Bell Laboratories 13CO Survey, we have extracted two subsets:(1) Giant Molecular Clouds (GMCs), clouds that are definitely larger than 10^5 solar masses, even if they are at their `near distance', and (2) clouds that are definitely smaller than 10^5 solar masses, even if they are at their `far distance'. The positions and velocities of these clouds are compared to the loci of spiral arms in (l, v) space. The velocity separation of each cloud from the nearest spiral arm is introduced as a `concentration statistic'. Almost all of the GMCs are found near spiral arms. The density of smaller clouds is enhanced near spiral arms, but some clouds (~10%) are unassociated with any spiral arm. The median velocity separation between a GMC and the nearest spiral arm is 3.4+-0.6 km/s, whereas the median separation between smaller clouds and the nearest spiral arm is 5.5+-0.2 km/s.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

Acute hypoxia reduces plasma myostatin independent of hypoxic dose

Background: Muscle atrophy is seen ~ 25 % of patients with cardiopulmonary disorders, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and chronic heart failure. Multiple hypotheses exist for this loss, including inactivity, inflammation, malnutrition and hypoxia. Healthy individuals exposed to chronic hypobaric hypoxia also show wasting, suggesting hypoxia alone is sufficient to induce atrophy. Myostatin regulates muscle mass and may underlie hypoxic-induced atrophy. Our previous work suggests a decrease in plasma myostatin and increase in muscle myostatin following 10 hours of exposure to 12 % O2. Aims: To establish the effect of hypoxic dose on plasma myostatin concentration. Concentration of plasma myostatin following two doses of normobaric hypoxia (10.7 % and 12.3 % O2) in a randomised, single-blinded crossover design (n = 8 lowlanders, n = 1 Sherpa), with plasma collected pre (0 hours), post (2 hours) and 2 hours following (4 hours) exposure. Results: An effect of time was noted, plasma myostatin decreased at 4 hours but not 2 hours relative to 0 hours (p = 0.01; 0 hours = 3.26 [0.408] ng.mL-1, 2 hours = 3.33, [0.426] ng.mL-1, 4 hours = 2.92, [0.342] ng.mL-1). No difference in plasma myostatin response was seen between hypoxic conditions (10.7 % vs. 12.3 % O2). Myostatin reduction in the Sherpa case study was similar to the lowlander cohort. Conclusions: Decreased myostatin peptide expression suggests hypoxia in isolation is sufficient to challenge muscle homeostasis, independent of confounding factors seen in chronic cardiopulmonary disorders, in a manner consistent with our previous work. Decreased myostatin peptide may represent flux towards peripheral muscle, or a reduction to protect muscle mass. Chronic adaption to hypoxia does not appear to protect against this response, however larger cohorts are needed to confirm this. Future work will examine tissue changes in parallel with systemic effects

Nanoelectromechanical Resonator Arrays for Ultrafast, Gas-Phase Chromatographic Chemical Analysis

Miniaturized gas chromatography (GC) systems can provide fast, quantitative analysis of chemical vapors in an ultrasmall package. We describe a chemical sensor technology based on resonant nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) mass detectors that provides the speed, sensitivity, specificity, and size required by the microscale GC paradigm. Such NEMS sensors have demonstrated detection of subparts per billion (ppb) concentrations of a phosphonate analyte. By combining two channels of NEMS detection with an ultrafast GC front-end, chromatographic analysis of 13 chemicals was performed within a 5 s time window

Safety and tolerability of an ovine-derived polyclonal anti-TNFα Fab fragment (AZD9773) in patients with severe sepsis

Sepsis remains a significant medical problem. TNFα is a central cytokine in sepsis pathophysiology. We conducted a phase IIa trial in patients with severe sepsis to assess the safety and tolerability of an intravenously infused ovine-derived polyclonal anti-TNFα Fab fragment (AZD9773)

Aktive Mobilität und Gesundheit : Hintergrundbericht für den nationalen Gesundheitsbericht 2015

Zu Fuss gehen und Velofahren tragen viel zu einer gesundheitsfördernden Bewegung bei. Die vielfältigen positiven Gesundheitseffekte regelmässiger Bewegung sind heute umfassend belegt. Ob in der Freizeit oder im Alltag, zu Fuss gehen und Velofahren - so genannte aktive Mobilität - können viel zu einer gesundheitsfördernden Bewegung beitragen. Zahlreiche Faktoren beeinflussen indessen die Neigung, zu Fuss zu gehen oder mit dem Velo zu fahren, darunter Wegeigenschaften, Alter, Fitness, aber auch Verkehrssicherheit und ganz allgemein die Merkmale von Quartieren und Städten. Die veränderbaren strukturellen Faktoren, insbesondere die Verkehrsinfrastruktur und -Sicherheit stehen im Zentrum zeitgemässer Förderung der aktiven Mobilität. Aus Sicht der Gesundheitspolitik ist eine intersektorielle Zusammenarbeit zwischen Gesundheitssektor und Verkehrs- und Städteplanung erstrebenswert. Bei den Überlegungen werden dadurch auch Gesundheitsfolgen fokussiert

Side-to-Side Knee Strength Imbalances and Increased Odds of Reporting Injury in Military Special Forces Operators

Please see the pdf version of the abstract

Lessons Learned: Using the Caprini Risk Assessment Model to Provide Safe and Efficacious Thromboprophylaxis Following Hip and Knee Arthroplasty

© The Author(s) 2020. Two of the more common potential complications after arthroplasty are venous thromboembolism (VTE), which includes deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolus (PE), and excess bleeding. Appropriate chemoprophylaxis choices are essential to prevent some of these adverse events and from exacerbating others. Risk stratification to prescribe safe and effective medications in the prevention of postoperative VTE has shown benefit in this regard. The Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Syosset Hospital/Northwell Health, which performs over 1200 arthroplasties annually, has validated and is using the 2013 version of the Caprini Risk Assessment Model (RAM) to stratify each patient for risk of postoperative VTE. This tool results in a culling of information, past and present, personal and familial, that provides a truly thorough evaluation of the patient’s risk for postoperative VTE. The Caprini score then guides the medication choices for thromboprophylaxis. The Caprini score is only valuable if the data is properly collected, and we have learned numerous lessons after applying it for 18 months. Risk stratification requires practice and experience to achieve expertise in perioperative patient evaluation. Having access to pertinent patient information, while gaining proficiency in completing the Caprini RAM, is vital to its efficacy. Ongoing, real time analyses of patient outcomes, with subsequent change in process, is key to improving patient care

Tuning ion coordination preferences to enable selective permeation

Potassium (K-) channels catalyze K+ ion permeation across cellular membranes while simultaneously discriminating their permeation over Na+ ions by more than a factor of a thousand. Structural studies show bare K+ ions occupying the narrowest channel regions in a state of high coordination by all 8 surrounding oxygen ligands from the channel walls. As in most channels, the driving force for selectivity occurs when one ion is preferentially stabilized or destabilized by the channel compared to water. In the common view of mechanism, made vivid by textbook graphics, the driving force for selectivity in K- channels arises by a fit, whereby the channel induces K+ ions to leave water by offering an environment like water for K+, in terms of both energy and local structure. The implication that knowledge of local ion coordination in a liquid environment translates to design parameters in a protein ion channel, producing similar energetic stabilities, has gone unchallenged, presumably due in part to lack of consensus regarding ion coordination structures in liquid water. Growing evidence that smaller numbers and different arrangements of ligands coordinate K+ ions in liquid water, however, raises new questions regarding mechanism: how and why should ion coordination preferences change, and how does that alter the current notions of ion selectivity? Our studies lead to a new channelcentric paradigm for the mechanism of K+ ion channel selectivity. Because the channel environment is not liquid-like, the channel necessarily induces local structural changes in ion coordination preferences that enable structural and energetic differentiation between ions.Comment: Main manuscript: 12 pages, 6 figures. Supplementary information: 10 pages, 7 figure