1,020 research outputs found
Critical congenital heart disease screening by pulse oximetry in a neonatal intensive care unit.
ObjectiveCritical congenital heart disease (CCHD) screening is effective in asymptomatic late preterm and term newborn infants with a low false-positive rate (0.035%). (1) To compare 2817 neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) discharges before and after implementation of CCHD screening; and (2) to evaluate CCHD screening at <35 weeks gestation.Study designCollection of results of CCHD screening including pre- and postductal pulse oximetry oxygen saturation (SpO2) values.ResultDuring the pre-CCHD screen period, 1247 infants were discharged from the NICU and one case of CCHD was missed. After 1 March 2012, 1508 CCHD screens were performed among 1570 discharges and no CCHDs were missed. The pre- and postductal SpO2 values were 98.8 ± 1.4% and 99 ± 1.3%, respectively, in preterm and 98.9 ± 1.3% and 98.9 ± 1.4%, respectively, in term infants. Ten infants had false-positive screens (10/1508 = 0.66%).ConclusionPerforming universal screening in the NICU is feasible but is associated with a higher false-positive rate compared with asymptomatic newborn infants
Psychosocial Distress: A Case Study of a Male African American Veteran with End-Stage Colon Cancer
This in-depth single-case-study explored the emergent trauma of psychosocial distress of an older male African-American veteran after being diagnosed with end-stage colon cancer. Using a qualitative case study methodology, three in-depth interviews were conducted which identified the following five themes: (1) the emotional impact of being diagnosed with cancer, (2) experiencing inescapable loss of control and independence, (3) adjusting to nursing home placement, (4) lacking social support, and (5) navigating complicated services. The findings expand our understanding of the need for identifying and managing psychosocial distress. Implications for behavioral health practitioners are discussed
Glueball Regge trajectories from gauge/string duality and the Pomeron
The spectrum of light baryons and mesons has been reproduced recently by
Brodsky and Teramond from a holographic dual to QCD inspired in the AdS/CFT
correspondence. They associate fluctuations about the AdS geometry with four
dimensional angular momenta of the dual QCD states. We use a similar approach
to estimate masses of glueball states with different spins and their
excitations. We consider Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions and find
approximate linear Regge trajectories for these glueballs. In particular the
Neumann case is consistent with the Pomeron trajectory.Comment: In this revised version we made some additional remarks on the text.
We also included 2 more references. The glueball spectrum and Regge
trajectories are unchanged. 10 pages, 2 eps figure
Trauma histories of men and women in residential drug treatment: The Scottish evidence
This article focuses on self-reported child neglect and abuse in residential drug treatment drawing on data from clients in Scotland collected 1996-1999. It notes the lack of adoption of regular screening using validated tools of childhood trauma in men and women. The authors’ findings suggest that the prevalence of childhood abuse histories are higher in female drug users than male drug users but recognises that even with standardised tools there is a wealth of diverse categories of severity of abuse that warn against broad treatment plans for ‘the traumatised’
Mechanical Strength of 17 134 Model Proteins and Cysteine Slipknots
A new theoretical survey of proteins' resistance to constant speed stretching
is performed for a set of 17 134 proteins as described by a structure-based
model. The proteins selected have no gaps in their structure determination and
consist of no more than 250 amino acids. Our previous studies have dealt with
7510 proteins of no more than 150 amino acids. The proteins are ranked
according to the strength of the resistance. Most of the predicted top-strength
proteins have not yet been studied experimentally. Architectures and folds
which are likely to yield large forces are identified. New types of potent
force clamps are discovered. They involve disulphide bridges and, in
particular, cysteine slipknots. An effective energy parameter of the model is
estimated by comparing the theoretical data on characteristic forces to the
corresponding experimental values combined with an extrapolation of the
theoretical data to the experimental pulling speeds. These studies provide
guidance for future experiments on single molecule manipulation and should lead
to selection of proteins for applications. A new class of proteins, involving
cystein slipknots, is identified as one that is expected to lead to the
strongest force clamps known. This class is characterized through molecular
dynamics simulations.Comment: 40 pages, 13 PostScript figure
Hipersuperficies de tipo esférico degenerado
In this work, we dene the hypersurfaces of the spherical type degenerated (in short DST-hypersurfaces), these hypersurfaces has the geometric property that the middle spheres pass through the origin of the Euclidean space. We present a representation for these hypersurfaces in the case where the stereographic projection of the Gauss map N is given by the identity application. We characterizethe DST-hypersurfaces through a diferential equation and we give an explicit example of a two-parameter family of DST-hypersurfaces with planar lines of curvature foliated by (n-1)-dimensional spheres. Moreover, we classify the DST-hypersurfaces of rotation.En este artÃculo, definimos las hipersuperficies de tipo esférico degenerado (en abreviatura DST-hipersuperficies), estas hipersuperficies tienen la propiedad geométrica de que las esferas medias pasan por el origen del espacio Euclidiano. Presentamos una representación para estas hipersuperficies para el caso en que la proyección estereográfica de la aplicación de Gauss N es dada por la aplicación identidad. Caracterizamos las DST-hipersuperficies a través de una ecuación diferencial y damos un ejemplo explÃcito de una familia a dos parámetros de DST-hipersuperficies con lÃneas de curvatura planas foliadas por esferas de dimensión (n-1). Además, clasificamos las DST-hipersuperficies de rotación.
Mapping the energy landscape of biomolecules using single molecule force correlation spectroscopy (FCS): Theory and applications
In the current AFM experiments the distribution of unfolding times, P(t), is
measured by applying a constant stretching force f_s from which the apparent
unfolding rate is obtained. To describe the complexity of the underlying energy
landscape requires additional probes that can incorporate the dynamics of
tension propagation and relaxation of the polypeptide chain upon force quench.
We introduce a theory of force correlation spectroscopy (FCS) to map the
parameters of the energy landscape of proteins. In the FCS the joint
distribution, P(T,t) of folding and unfolding times is constructed by repeated
application of cycles of stretching at constant fs, separated by release
periods T during which the force is quenched to f_q<f_s. During the release
period, the protein can collapse to a manifold of compact states or refold. We
show that P(T,t) can be used to resolve the kinetics of unfolding as well as
formation of native contacts and to extract the parameters of the energy
landscape using chain extension as the reaction coordinate and P(T,t). We
illustrate the utility of the proposed formalism by analyzing simulations of
unfolding-refolding trajectories of a coarse-grained protein S1 with beta-sheet
architecture for several values of f_s, T and f_q=0. The simulations of
stretch-relax trajectories are used to map many of the parameters that
characterize the energy landscape of S1.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figures; accepted to Biophysical Journa
Godel-type Universes in String-inspired Charged Gravity
We consider a string-inspired, gravitational theory of scalar and
electromagnetic fields and we investigate the existence of axially-symmetric,
G\"{o}del-type cosmological solutions. The neutral case is studied first and an
"extreme" G\"{o}del-type rotating solution, that respects the causality, is
determined. The charged case is considered next and two new configurations for
the, minimally-coupled to gravity, electromagnetic field are presented. Another
configuration motivated by the expected distribution of currents and charges in
a rotating universe is studied and shown to lead to a G\"{o}del-type solution
for a space-dependent coupling function. Finally, we investigate the existence
of G\"{o}del-type cosmological solutions in the framework of the one-loop
corrected superstring effective action and we determine the sole configuration
of the electromagnetic field that leads to such a solution. It turns out that,
in all the charged cases considered, Closed Timelike Curves do appear and the
causality is always violated.Comment: 26 pages, LaTex file, a few comments and references added, version to
appear in Physical Review
Virus shapes and buckling transitions in spherical shells
We show that the icosahedral packings of protein capsomeres proposed by
Caspar and Klug for spherical viruses become unstable to faceting for
sufficiently large virus size, in analogy with the buckling instability of
disclinations in two-dimensional crystals. Our model, based on the nonlinear
physics of thin elastic shells, produces excellent one parameter fits in real
space to the full three-dimensional shape of large spherical viruses. The
faceted shape depends only on the dimensionless Foppl-von Karman number
\gamma=YR^2/\kappa, where Y is the two-dimensional Young's modulus of the
protein shell, \kappa is its bending rigidity and R is the mean virus radius.
The shape can be parameterized more quantitatively in terms of a spherical
harmonic expansion. We also investigate elastic shell theory for extremely
large \gamma, 10^3 < \gamma < 10^8, and find results applicable to icosahedral
shapes of large vesicles studied with freeze fracture and electron microscopy.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figure
Human ectoparasites and the spread of plague in Europe during the Second Pandemic
Plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, can spread through human populations by multiple transmission pathways. Today, most human plague cases are bubonic, caused by spillover of infected fleas from rodent epizootics, or pneumonic, caused by inhalation of infectious droplets. However, little is known about the historical spread of plague in Europe during the Second Pandemic (14-19th centuries), including the Black Death, which led to high mortality and recurrent epidemics for hundreds of years. Several studies have suggested that human ectoparasite vectors, such as human fleas (Pulex irritans) or body lice (Pediculus humanus humanus), caused the rapidly spreading epidemics. Here, we describe a compartmental model for plague transmission by a human ectoparasite vector. Using Bayesian inference, we found that this model fits mortality curves from nine outbreaks in Europe better than models for pneumonic or rodent transmission. Our results support that human ectoparasites were primary vectors for plague during the Second Pandemic, including the Black Death (1346-1353), ultimately challenging the assumption that plague in Europe was predominantly spread by rats
- …