Acute Effects of Sound Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization (SASTM) on Lower Extremity Flexibility, Isokinetic and Isometric Strength

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)SASTMTM is a myofascial technique used to mobilize soft tissue and aid in the elongation of soft tissue and create physiological change. The purpose of the study was to determine the acute effects of Sound Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization (SASTMTM) on lower extremity hamstring strength (isokinetic & isometric) and flexibility. Thirty division III male athletes with limited ROM of ≤ 90o of knee extension with 90o of hip flexion while lying supine consented to volunteer. Each subject was treated and measured through a double-blinded experimental design where the subjects and tester were unaware of the real treatment being administered and measured. The research consisted of 4 visits (familiarization/baseline, and 3 data collection session). Testing sessions were conducted a week after the baseline session, followed by two sessions, 2 days and a week after the 1st session. Three different modalities (SASTMTM, Therapeutic Ultrasound and “The Stick”) were performed on a treatment leg, and the opposite leg served as a control. Data collection consisted of a warm-up on a cycle ergometer followed by one randomly chosen modality on the treatment leg. Data collection was conducted using a Cybex 300-isokinetic device and a digital goniometer. Isokinetic strength testing was performed at 60, 180 and 240o/s. Isometric testing was collected at 45o of knee flexion. Repeated two-way ANOVA’s (3-Treatment x 3-Time) were used for statistical analyses to determine the effects of interventions and the time on strength and flexibility. The statistical analyses resulted in no significant results (p≤.05) for acute effects for either strength or flexibility with respect to time, treatment or treatment and time interactions

Revised Lithostratigraphy of the Sonsela Member (Chinle Formation, Upper Triassic) in the Southern Part of Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

BACKGROUND: Recent revisions to the Sonsela Member of the Chinle Formation in Petrified Forest National Park have presented a three-part lithostratigraphic model based on unconventional correlations of sandstone beds. As a vertebrate faunal transition is recorded within this stratigraphic interval, these correlations, and the purported existence of a depositional hiatus (the Tr-4 unconformity) at about the same level, must be carefully re-examined. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Our investigations demonstrate the neglected necessity of walking out contacts and mapping when constructing lithostratigraphic models, and providing UTM coordinates and labeled photographs for all measured sections. We correct correlation errors within the Sonsela Member, demonstrate that there are multiple Flattops One sandstones, all of which are higher than the traditional Sonsela sandstone bed, that the Sonsela sandstone bed and Rainbow Forest Bed are equivalent, that the Rainbow Forest Bed is higher than the sandstones at the base of Blue Mesa and Agate Mesa, that strata formerly assigned to the Jim Camp Wash beds occur at two stratigraphic levels, and that there are multiple persistent silcrete horizons within the Sonsela Member. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We present a revised five-part model for the Sonsela Member. The units from lowest to highest are: the Camp Butte beds, Lot's Wife beds, Jasper Forest bed (the Sonsela sandstone)/Rainbow Forest Bed, Jim Camp Wash beds, and Martha's Butte beds (including the Flattops One sandstones). Although there are numerous degradational/aggradational cycles within the Chinle Formation, a single unconformable horizon within or at the base of the Sonsela Member that can be traced across the entire western United States (the "Tr-4 unconformity") probably does not exist. The shift from relatively humid and poorly-drained to arid and well-drained climatic conditions began during deposition of the Sonsela Member (low in the Jim Camp Wash beds), well after the Carnian-Norian transition

Literary studies and the academy

In 1885 the University of Oxford invited applications for the newly created Merton Professorship of English Language and Literature. The holder of the chair was, according to the statutes, to ‘lecture and give instruction on the broad history and criticism of English Language and Literature, and on the works of approved English authors’. This was not in itself a particularly innovatory move, as the study of English vernacular literature had played some part in higher education in Britain for over a century. Oxford University had put English as a subject into its pass degree in 1873, had been participating since 1878 in extension teaching, of which literary study formed a significant part, and had since 1881 been setting special examinations in the subject for its non-graduating women students. What was new was the fact that this ancient university appeared to be on the verge of granting the solid academic legitimacy of an established chair to an institutionally marginal and often contentious intellectual pursuit, acknowledging the study of literary texts in English to be a fit subject not just for women and the educationally disadvantaged but also for university men

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570

Thigh-length compression stockings and DVT after stroke

Controversy exists as to whether neoadjuvant chemotherapy improves survival in patients with invasive bladder cancer, despite randomised controlled trials of more than 3000 patients. We undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the effect of such treatment on survival in patients with this disease

Metal-controlled anion-binding tendencies of the thiourea unit of thiosemicarbazones.

The terdentate ligand 3 (LH, 2-formylpyridine 4-thiosemicarbazone) forms with FeII and NiII 2:1 complexes of octahedral geometry of formula [MII(LH)2]2+. X-ray diffraction studies have shown that in both complexes the thiourea moieties of the coordinated thiosemicarbazones are exposed to the outside and are prone to establish hydrogen-bonding bifurcate interactions with oxoanions. However, spectrophotometric studies in CHCl3 solution have shown that only the poorly basic NO3- ion is able to form authentic hydrogen-bond complexes with thiourea subunits, whereas all the other investigated anions (CH3COO-, NO2-, F-) induce deprotonation of the N-H fragment. The extreme enhancement of the thiourea acidity is based on the coordinative interaction of the sulphur atom with the metal, which stabilises the thiolate form, and it is much higher than that exerted by any other covalently linked electron-withdrawing substituent, for example, NO2