1,369 research outputs found
Core and skin temperature influences on the surface electromyographic responses to an isometric force and position task
<p><b>Electromyographic responses of root-mean-square amplitude (RMS; A), mean power frequency (MPF; B) and median power frequency (MDF; C) to passive heating and cooling for the 1-minute isometric force (black bars) and position (open bars) task in 18 participants.</b> Temperature states: initial T<sub>re</sub> and (BASE); hot T<sub>re</sub>, hot (H-H); hot T<sub>re</sub>, cool (H-C); and end of the protocol where T<sub>re</sub> returned to normal and was cool (POST). <sup>a</sup>Significantly different from baseline (BASE). <sup>b</sup>Significantly different from hot core-hot skin (H-H). <sup>c</sup>Significantly different from hot core-cool skin(H-C). <sup>d</sup>Significantly different from end of protocol (POST).</p
Time-Resolved Diffusing Wave Spectroscopy for selected photon paths beyond 300 transport mean free paths
This paper is devoted to the theoretical and experimental demonstration of
the possibility to perform time-resolved diffusing wave spectroscopy: we
successfully registered field fluctuations for selected photon path lengths
that can overpass 300 transport mean free paths. Such a performance opens new
possibilities for biomedical optics applications.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure
Endothermic salts integrated in impermeable suits do not reduce heat strain during exercise
Wearing impermeable garments during work inherently leads to heat strain, even in cold
environments [1]. Phase change materials (mainly paraffin’s or salt [4]) may be used as a thermal
buffer (e.g. [2]) to reduce initial heat stress. Salts can also be used to absorb sweat, which may
enhance the cooling power from the skin.
Recently, specific encapsulated salts utilising KSCN (potassium thiocyanate) have been developed
that consume energy when the KSCN dissolves in water. The heat consumed when the KSCN
(present inside 150 g of capsules containing 60% KSCN salt) dissolves in water is 22410 J (249 J/g *
60% * 150 g). When this solving takes place over a period of 30 minutes, the average power
transfer is 12 W. One (1) g of KSCN-containing capsules absorbs close to 1 g of moisture. If we
assume that 150 g sweat extra can be evaporated from the skin, this yields an extra cooling power
of 182 W for 30 minutes. However this evaporated water from the skin is subsequently absorbed
by the KSCN in the capsules. During this absorption from the gas phase, the condensation heat is
released to the KSCN salt: about 182 W for 30 minutes. However, we hypothesise that this
condensation heat will be partly transferred to the body and partly to the environment [3],
providing a net benefit to the body.
Thus, the total cooling effect due to the salt capsules is composed of two parts:
• The cooling effect of about 12 W due to the heat consumption by the dissolving of the salts in
water;
• The cooling effect of maximal 182 W, which equals the difference between the evaporative
heat and the condensation heat. The latter is generated in the salt capsules that transfer part
of the heat to the environment.
The overall cooling effect should therefore be in between 12 W and 194 W.
The purpose of our study was to test the efficacy of a KSCN-based absorbing salt as a PCM for use
within impermeable protective clothing. We tested the PCM during 20 min of moderate exercise
in a hot (35°C, 40% relative humidity) environment, and hypothesized that thermal strain would be
lower in the PCM compared to the non-PCM condition
Selective Over-Expression of Endothelin-1 in Endothelial Cells Exacerbates Inner Retinal Edema and Neuronal Death in Ischemic Retina
The level of endothelin-1 (ET-1), a potent vasoconstrictor, was associated with retinopathy under ischemia. The effects of endothelial endothelin-1 (ET-1) over-expression in a transgenic mouse model using Tie-1 promoter (TET-1 mice) on pathophysiological changes of retinal ischemia were investigated by intraluminal insertion of a microfilament up to middle cerebral artery (MCA) to transiently block the ophthalmic artery. Two-hour occlusion and twenty-two-hour reperfusion were performed in homozygous (Hm) TET-1 mice and their non-transgenic (NTg) littermates. Presence of pyknotic nuclei in ganglion cell layer (GCL) was investigated in paraffin sections of ipsilateral (ischemic) and contralateral (non-ischemic) retinae, followed by measurement of the thickness of inner retinal layer. Moreover, immunocytochemistry of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), glutamine synthetase (GS) and aquaporin-4 (AQP4) peptides on retinal sections were performed to study glial cell reactivity, glutamate metabolism and water accumulation, respectively after retinal ischemia. Similar morphology was observed in the contralateral retinae of NTg and Hm TET-1 mice, whereas ipsilateral retina of NTg mice showed slight structural and cellular changes compared with the corresponding contralateral retina. Ipsilateral retinae of Hm TET-1 mice showed more significant changes when compared with ipsilateral retina of NTg mice, including more prominent cell death in GCL characterized by the presence of pyknotic nuclei, elevated GS immunoreactivity in Müller cell bodies and processes, increased AQP-4 immunoreactivity in Müller cell processes, and increased inner retinal thickness. Thus, over-expression of endothelial ET-1 in TET-1 mice may contribute to increased glutamate-induced neurotoxicity on neuronal cells and water accumulation in inner retina leading to edema
QCD Corrections to Spin Correlations in Top Quark Production at Lepton Colliders
Spin correlations, using a generic spin basis, are investigated to leading
order in QCD for top quark production at lepton colliders. Even though, these
radiative corrections induce an anomalous gamma/Z magnetic moment for the top
quarks and allow for single, real gluon emission, their effects on the top
quark spin orientation are very small. The final results are that the top (or
anti-top) quarks are produced in an essentially unique spin configuration in
polarized lepton collisions even after including the O(alpha_{s}) QCD
corrections.Comment: 32 pages, REVTeX, 13 Postscript figures, psfig.sty and here.sty are
required. Several references added, Tables 3, 4 and 5 are change
Supersymmetric Relations Among Electromagnetic Dipole Operators
Supersymmetric contributions to all leptonic electromagnetic dipole operators
have essentially identical diagramatic structure. With approximate slepton
universality this allows the muon anomalous magnetic moment to be related to
the electron electric dipole moment in terms of supersymmetric phases, and to
radiative flavor changing lepton decays in terms of small violations of slepton
universality. If the current discrepancy between the measured and Standard
Model values of the muon anomalous magnetic moment is due to supersymmetry, the
current bound on the electron electric dipole moment then implies that the
phase of the electric dipole operator is less than . Likewise
the current bound on decay implies that the fractional
selectron-smuon mixing in the left-left mass squared matrix, \delta m_{\smuon
\selectron}^2 / m_{\slepton}^2, is less than . These relations and
constraints are fairly insensitive to details of the superpartner spectrum for
moderate to large .Comment: Latex, 38 pages, 2 figure
Scaling up experimental ocean acidification and warming research: from individuals to the ecosystem
NERC UK Ocean Acidification Research Programme NE/HO1747X/1 The full text is under embargo until 17.08.1
Recommended from our members
Pan-viral serology implicates enteroviruses in acute flaccid myelitis.
Since 2012, the United States of America has experienced a biennial spike in pediatric acute flaccid myelitis (AFM)1-6. Epidemiologic evidence suggests non-polio enteroviruses (EVs) are a potential etiology, yet EV RNA is rarely detected in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)2. CSF from children with AFM (n = 42) and other pediatric neurologic disease controls (n = 58) were investigated for intrathecal antiviral antibodies, using a phage display library expressing 481,966 overlapping peptides derived from all known vertebrate and arboviruses (VirScan). Metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) of AFM CSF RNA (n = 20 cases) was also performed, both unbiased sequencing and with targeted enrichment for EVs. Using VirScan, the viral family significantly enriched by the CSF of AFM cases relative to controls was Picornaviridae, with the most enriched Picornaviridae peptides belonging to the genus Enterovirus (n = 29/42 cases versus 4/58 controls). EV VP1 ELISA confirmed this finding (n = 22/26 cases versus 7/50 controls). mNGS did not detect additional EV RNA. Despite rare detection of EV RNA, pan-viral serology frequently identified high levels of CSF EV-specific antibodies in AFM compared with controls, providing further evidence for a causal role of non-polio EVs in AFM
Neural Stem Cells as a Novel Platform for Tumor-Specific Delivery of Therapeutic Antibodies
Recombinant monoclonal antibodies have emerged as important tools for cancer therapy. Despite the promise shown by antibody-based therapies, the large molecular size of antibodies limits their ability to efficiently penetrate solid tumors and precludes efficient crossing of the blood-brain-barrier into the central nervous system (CNS). Consequently, poorly vascularized solid tumors and CNS metastases cannot be effectively treated by intravenously-injected antibodies. The inherent tumor-tropic properties of human neural stem cells (NSCs) can potentially be harnessed to overcome these obstacles and significantly improve cancer immunotherapy. Intravenously-delivered NSCs preferentially migrate to primary and metastatic tumor sites within and outside the CNS. Therefore, we hypothesized that NSCs could serve as an ideal cellular delivery platform for targeting antibodies to malignant tumors., and can deliver antibodies to human breast cancer xenografts in mice.Taken together, these results suggest that NSCs modified to secrete HER2-targeting antibodies constitute a promising novel platform for targeted cancer immunotherapy. Specifically, this NSC-mediated antibody delivery system has the potential to significantly improve clinical outcome for patients with HER2-overexpressing breast cancer
Support and Assessment for Fall Emergency Referrals (SAFER 1) trial protocol. Computerised on-scene decision support for emergency ambulance staff to assess and plan care for older people who have fallen: evaluation of costs and benefits using a pragmatic cluster randomised trial
Background: Many emergency ambulance calls are for older people who have fallen. As half of them are left at home, a community-based response may often be more appropriate than hospital attendance. The SAFER 1 trial will assess the costs and benefits of a new healthcare technology - hand-held computers with computerised clinical decision support (CCDS) software - to help paramedics decide who needs hospital attendance, and who can be safely left at home with referral to community falls services.
Methods/Design: Pragmatic cluster randomised trial with a qualitative component. We shall allocate 72 paramedics ('clusters') at random between receiving the intervention and a control group delivering care as usual, of whom we expect 60 to complete the trial.
Patients are eligible if they are aged 65 or older, live in the study area but not in residential care, and are attended by a study paramedic following an emergency call for a fall. Seven to 10 days after the index fall we shall offer patients the opportunity to opt out of further follow up. Continuing participants will receive questionnaires after one and 6 months, and we shall monitor their routine clinical data for 6 months. We shall interview 20 of these patients in depth. We shall conduct focus groups or semi-structured interviews with paramedics and other stakeholders.
The primary outcome is the interval to the first subsequent reported fall (or death). We shall analyse this and other measures of outcome, process and cost by 'intention to treat'. We shall analyse qualitative data thematically.
Discussion: Since the SAFER 1 trial received funding in August 2006, implementation has come to terms with ambulance service reorganisation and a new national electronic patient record in England. In response to these hurdles the research team has adapted the research design, including aspects of the intervention, to meet the needs of the ambulance services.
In conclusion this complex emergency care trial will provide rigorous evidence on the clinical and cost effectiveness of CCDS for paramedics in the care of older people who have fallen
- …