11,683 research outputs found
The Impact of Triclosan on the Spread of Antibiotic Resistance in the Environment
Triclosan (TCS) is a commonly used antimicrobial agent that enters wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and the environment. An estimated 1.1 × 105 to 4.2 × 105 kg of TCS are discharged from these WWTPs per year in the United States. The abundance of TCS along with its antimicrobial properties have given rise to concern regarding its impact on antibiotic resistance in the environment. The objective of this review is to assess the state of knowledge regarding the impact of TCS on multidrug resistance in environmental settings, including engineered environments such as anaerobic digesters. Pure culture studies are reviewed in this paper to gain insight into the substantially smaller body of research surrounding the impacts of TCS on environmental microbial communities. Pure culture studies, mainly on pathogenic strains of bacteria, demonstrate that TCS is often associated with multidrug resistance. Research is lacking to quantify the current impacts of TCS discharge to the environment, but it is known that resistance to TCS and multidrug resistance can increase in environmental microbial communities exposed to TCS. Research plans are proposed to quantitatively define the conditions under which TCS selects for multidrug resistance in the environment
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Assessing plantar sensation in the foot using the FOot Roughness Discrimination Test (FoRDTâ„¢): a reliability and validity study in stroke
BACKGROUND: The foot sole represents a sensory dynamometric map and is essential for balance and gait control. Sensory impairments are common, yet often difficult to quantify in neurological conditions, particularly stroke. A functionally oriented and quantifiable assessment, the Foot Roughness Discrimination Test (FoRDTâ„¢), was developed to address these shortcomings. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate inter- and intra-rater reliability, convergent and discriminant validity of the Foot Roughness Discrimination Test (FoRDTâ„¢). DESIGN: Test-retest design. SETTING: Hospital Outpatient. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-two people with stroke (mean age 70) at least 3 months after stroke, and 32 healthy, age-matched controls (mean age 70). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Roughness discrimination thresholds were quantified utilising acrylic foot plates, laser-cut to produce graded spatial gratings. Stroke participants were tested on three occasions, and by two different raters. Inter- and intra-rater reliability and agreement were evaluated with Intraclass Correlation Coefficients and Bland-Altman plots. Convergent validity was evaluated through Spearman rank correlation coefficients (rho) between the FoRDTâ„¢ and the Erasmus modified Nottingham Sensory Assessment (EmNSA). RESULTS: Intra- and inter rater reliability and agreement were excellent (ICC =.86 (95% CI .72-.92) and .90 (95% CI .76 -.96)). Discriminant validity was demonstrated through significant differences in FoRDTâ„¢ between stroke and control participants (p.05). CONCLUSIONS: This simple and functionally oriented test of plantar sensation is reliable, valid and clinically feasible for use in an ambulatory, chronic stroke and elderly population. It offers clinicians and researchers a sensitive and robust sensory measure and may further support the evaluation of rehabilitation targeting foot sensation. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
The spectral shift function and spectral flow
This paper extends Krein's spectral shift function theory to the setting of
semifinite spectral triples. We define the spectral shift function under these
hypotheses via Birman-Solomyak spectral averaging formula and show that it
computes spectral flow.Comment: 47 page
Anomalies and Schwinger terms in NCG field theory models
We study the quantization of chiral fermions coupled to generalized Dirac
operators arising in NCG Yang-Mills theory. The cocycles describing chiral
symmetry breaking are calculated. In particular, we introduce a generalized
locality principle for the cocycles. Local cocycles are by definition
expressions which can be written as generalized traces of operator commutators.
In the case of pseudodifferential operators, these traces lead in fact to
integrals of ordinary local de Rham forms. As an application of the general
ideas we discuss the case of noncommutative tori. We also develop a gerbe
theoretic approach to the chiral anomaly in hamiltonian quantization of NCG
field theory.Comment: 30 page
Basic hardware interconnection mechanisms for building multiple microcomputer systems
This report presents the current results of a research project which has been concerned with methods for designing and implementing multiple microcomputer systems. The design method is based upon identifying hardware interconnection primitives which may be used to construct the interconnection subsystem which characterizes a given multicomputer architecture. An actual experimental system has been constructed which will permit building nine of ten systems in the Anderson and Jensen architecture taxonomy. (Author)Supported in part by the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut and in part by
the Department of Computer Science, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Californiahttp://archive.org/details/basichardwareint00careNAApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited
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