A Systematic Review on the Efficacy of Iontophoresis as a Treatment for Lateral Epicondylitis

Background and purpose: It is still inconclusive which method of iontophoresis delivers the most medication deepest through the skin, and therefore most effective in treating lateral epicondylitis. The purpose of this systematic review is to analyze the efficacy of treatments for lateral epicondylitis using iontophoresis. Method: The review included articles from peer-reviewed journals with sufficient data related to the purpose and focus of the study. Inclusion criteria included randomized control trials, cohort studies, case studies, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and pilot studies published since 2000. Results: Fourteen relevant studies were identified. Twelve were experimental in vivo studies, two were review studies. All studies were published 2002 through 2015, providing a robust overview of treatments over the last 15 years. Discussion and conclusion: Among studies in this systemic review, pooled data from RCTs pointed to minimal intermediate- to long-term clinical benefit for the nonsurgical treatment of lateral epicondylitis. Of drug treatments, the most frequently used in iontophoresis are dexamethasone and lidocaine. Studies of iontophoresis with dexamethasone show evidence that the combination of treatments may be effective in reducing pain; there is evidence supporting the iontophoretic administration of dexamethasone as an alternative to other medication and oral therapy. Based on this review, it is not conclusive that iontophoresis be recommended as a treatment approach for the management of epicondylitis, however iontophoresis should not be ruled out in treating epicondylitis as it is a dose-response modality. More research and review of research is needed on the use of iontophoresis in managing epicondylitis

Squelched Galaxies and Dark Halos

There is accumulating evidence that the faint end of the galaxy luminosity function might be very different in different locations. The luminosity function might be rising in rich clusters and flat or declining in regions of low density. If galaxies form according to the model of hierarchical clustering then there should be many small halos compared to the number of big halos. If this theory is valid then there must be a mechanism that eliminates at least the visible component of galaxies in low density regions. A plausible mechanism is photoionization of the intergalactic medium at a time before the epoch that most dwarf galaxies form in low density regions but after the epoch of formation for similar systems that ultimately end up in rich clusters. The dynamical timescales are found to accommodate this hypothesis in a flat universe with Omega_m < 0.4. If small halos exist but simply cannot be located because they have never become the sites of significant star formation, they still might have dynamical manifestations. These manifestations are hard to identify in normal groups of galaxies because small halos do not make a significant contribution to the global mass budget. However, it could be entertained that there are clusters of halos where there are only small systems, clusters that are at the low mass end of the hierarchical tree. There may be places where only a few small galaxies managed to form, enough for us to identify and use as test probes of the potential. It turns out that such environments might be common. Four probable groups of dwarfs are identified within 5 Mpc and the assumption they are gravitationally bound suggests M/L_B ~ 300 - 1200 M_sun/L_sun, 6 +/- factor 2 times higher than typical values for groups with luminous galaxies.Comment: Accepted ApJ 569, (April 20), 2002, 12 pages, 6 figures, 1 tabl

A graduate recital in voice

Brent Smith presented his graduate recital on March 3, 2014 at 6:00 p.m. in Davis Hall of the Gallagher-Bluedorn Perfroming Arts Center on the University of Northern Iowa campus. The program consisted of four sets of music, in collaboration with pianist Jessica Schick, by the composers Theron Kirk, Robert Schumann, Francis Poulenc and Tom Lehrer. This abstract discusses musical and historical features of the recital pieces in the order of the program

Photolytic ozonation for protection and rehabilitation of ground-water resources; a mechanistic study

The cleanup of ground-water resources which have been contaminated by anthropogenic organic compounds is difficult and expensive. Furthermore, most treatment methods merely transfer the contaminant to another phase, such as an adsorbant or the atmosphere. A treatment process which produces harmless by-products, could be set up on-site, and does not require the transport of hazardous materials is very desirable for such cleanup operations. Photolyticozonation, the combination of ozone treatment and ultraviolet irradiation, is an oxidative water treatment process which is capable of convert ing virtually any organic pollutant completely to carbon dioxide and water. Thus, it is potentially a very "clean" solution to many contamination problems. There has, however, been disagreement in the scientific literature concerning the effectiveness of the process, due largely to a lack of understanding of the chemistry which is involved. In this project, photolytic ozonation was studied at the laboratory scale, to better understand and, if possible, model the complex chemical reaction mechanism, so that the process can be more easily optimized from an economic stand point. It was shown that hydroxyl radical, the active species responsible for the destruction of organic pollutants, is not generated directly by ozone photolysisas has generally been speculated, but is produced by secondary reactions. A model has been developed which explains the behavior of the process under a variety of conditions and is useful for the prediction of process performance. The model includes parameters, the values of which may be inferred from the chemical structure of the organic pollutant. The reaction system is seen to be "versatile" in that it has alternate pathways by which pollutant destruction may proceed, depending on conditions in the water being treated.U.S. Department of the InteriorU.S. Geological Surve

Galactic winds and stellar populations in Lyman α\alpha emitting galaxies at z ~ 3.1

We present a sample of 33 spectroscopically confirmed z ~ 3.1 Ly$\alpha$-emitting galaxies (LAEs) in the Cosmological Evolution Survey (COSMOS) field. This paper details the narrow-band survey we conducted to detect the LAE sample, the optical spectroscopy we performed to confirm the nature of these LAEs, and a new near-infrared spectroscopic detection of the [O III] 5007 \AA\ line in one of these LAEs. This detection is in addition to two [O III] detections in two z ~ 3.1 LAEs we have reported on previously (McLinden et al 2011). The bulk of the paper then presents detailed constraints on the physical characteristics of the entire LAE sample from spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting. These characteristics include mass, age, star-formation history, dust content, and metallicity. We also detail an approach to account for nebular emission lines in the SED fitting process - wherein our models predict the strength of the [O III] line in an LAE spectrum. We are able to study the success of this prediction because we can compare the model predictions to our actual near-infrared observations both in galaxies that have [O III] detections and those that yielded non-detections. We find a median stellar mass of 6.9 $\times$ 10$^8$ M$_{\odot}$ and a median star formation rate weighted stellar population age of 4.5 $\times$ 10$^6$ yr. In addition to SED fitting, we quantify the velocity offset between the [O III] and Ly$\alpha$ lines in the galaxy with the new [O III] detection, finding that the Ly$\alpha$ line is shifted 52 km s$^{-1}$ redwards of the [O III] line, which defines the systemic velocity of the galaxy.Comment: 38 pages, 27 figures, 4 tables, Accepted for publication in MNRA

The Infrared Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) for TMT: Instrument Overview

We present an overview of the design of IRIS, an infrared (0.84 - 2.4 micron) integral field spectrograph and imaging camera for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). With extremely low wavefront error (<30 nm) and on-board wavefront sensors, IRIS will take advantage of the high angular resolution of the narrow field infrared adaptive optics system (NFIRAOS) to dissect the sky at the diffraction limit of the 30-meter aperture. With a primary spectral resolution of 4000 and spatial sampling starting at 4 milliarcseconds, the instrument will create an unparalleled ability to explore high redshift galaxies, the Galactic center, star forming regions and virtually any astrophysical object. This paper summarizes the entire design and basic capabilities. Among the design innovations is the combination of lenslet and slicer integral field units, new 4Kx4k detectors, extremely precise atmospheric dispersion correction, infrared wavefront sensors, and a very large vacuum cryogenic system

Large-Scale Release of Campylobacter Draft Genomes: Resources for Food Safety and Public Health from the 100K Pathogen Genome Project.

Campylobacter is a food-associated bacterium and a leading cause of foodborne illness worldwide, being associated with poultry in the food supply. This is the initial public release of 202 Campylobacter genome sequences as part of the 100K Pathogen Genome Project. These isolates represent global genomic diversity in the Campylobacter genus