4,476 research outputs found
Submarine groundwater discharge: an unseen yet potentially important coastal phenomenon
In collaboration with researchers from Florida
State University, Florida Sea Grant introduces an important but poorly known topic:
submarine groundwater discharge. Although nearly invisible, submarine
groundwater discharge influences coastal systems. This brochure helps explain this important phenomenon. (8pp.
Revising old child support orders: The Wisconsin experience
In an effort to make Wisconsin's child support cases more equitable and up-to-date, child support staff reviewed "old" child support orders in thirteen of the state's seventy-two counties. (Reviewing old child support orders is now mandatory under the provisions of the Family Support Act of 1988.) Of the reviewed cases, only 21 percent were revised. Primary reasons for non-revision were the economic circumstances of the noncustodial parent (among welfare cases) and a lack of permission by the custodial parent to proceed (among non-welfare cases). Revised orders increased substantially, an average of $116/month (77 percent). An alternative method of keeping orders current is to express them as a percentage of the noncustodial parent's income; these orders are kept up-to-date automatically and are associated with large increases in collections.
Nivolumab-induced fulminant diabetic ketoacidosis followed by thyroiditis
Five days following the 3rd cycle of nivolumab, a monoclonal antibody, which acts as immune checkpoint inhibitor against the programmed cell death protein-1, for metastatic lung adenocarcinoma, a 56-year-old woman presented at the hospital critically ill. On admission, she had severe diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), as evidenced by venous glucose of 47 mmol/L, blood ketones of 7.5 mmol/L, pH of 6.95 and bicarbonate of 6.6 mmol/L. She has had no personal or family history of diabetes mellitus (DM), while random venous glucose, measured 1 week prior to hospitalisation, was 6.1 mmol/L. On admission, her HbA1c was 8.2% and anti-GAD antibodies were 12 kIU/L (0â5 kU/L), while islet cell antibodies and serum C-peptide were undetectable. Nivolumab was recommenced without the development of other immune-mediated phenomena until 6 months later, when she developed hypothyroidism with TSH 18 U/L and low free T4. She remains insulin dependent and has required levothyroxine replacement, while she has maintained good radiological and clinical response to immunotherapy. This case is notable for the rapidity of onset and profound nature of DKA at presentation, which occurred two months following commencement of immunotherapy. Despite the association of nivolumab with immune-mediated endocrinopathies, only a very small number of patients developing type 1 DM has been reported to date. Patients should be closely monitored for hyperglycaemia and thyroid dysfunction prior to and periodically during immunotherapy
A Chemical and Enzymatic Approach to Study Site-Specific Sumoylation.
A variety of cellular pathways are regulated by protein modifications with ubiquitin-family proteins. SUMO, the Small Ubiquitin-like MOdifier, is covalently attached to lysine on target proteins via a cascade reaction catalyzed by E1, E2, and E3 enzymes. A major barrier to understanding the diverse regulatory roles of SUMO has been a lack of suitable methods to identify protein sumoylation sites. Here we developed a mass-spectrometry (MS) based approach combining chemical and enzymatic modifications to identify sumoylation sites. We applied this method to analyze the auto-sumoylation of the E1 enzyme in vitro and compared it to the GG-remnant method using Smt3-I96R as a substrate. We further examined the effect of smt3-I96R mutation in vivo and performed a proteome-wide analysis of protein sumoylation sites in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. To validate these findings, we confirmed several sumoylation sites of Aos1 and Uba2 in vivo. Together, these results demonstrate that our chemical and enzymatic method for identifying protein sumoylation sites provides a useful tool and that a combination of methods allows a detailed analysis of protein sumoylation sites
Anatomical Variation in the Position of the Umbilicus and the Implications for Laparoscopic Surgery
Anomalous Hall Effect in three ferromagnets: EuFe4Sb12, Yb14MnSb11, and Eu8Ga16Ge30
The Hall resistivity (Rho_xy), resistivity (Rho_xx), and magnetization of
three metallic ferromagnets are investigated as a function of magnetic field
and temperature. The three ferromagnets, EuFe4Sb12 (Tc = 84 K), Yb14MnSb11 (Tc
= 53 K), and Eu8Ga16Ge30 (Tc = 36 K) are Zintl compounds with carrier
concentrations between 1 x 10^21 cm^-3 and 3.5 x 10^21 cm^-3. The relative
decrease in Rho_xx below Tc [Rho_xx(Tc)/Rho_xx(2 K)] is 28, 6.5, and 1.3 for
EuFe4Sb12, Yb14MnSb11, and Eu8Ga16Ge30 respectively. The low carrier
concentrations coupled with low magnetic anisotropies allow a relatively clean
separation between the anomalous (Rho_'xy), and normal contributions to the
measured Hall resistivity. For each compound the anomalous contribution in the
zero field limit is fit to alpha Rho_xx + sigma_xy rho_xx^2 for temperatures T
< Tc. The anomalous Hall conductivity, sigma_xy, is -220 +- 5 (Ohm^-1 cm^-1),
-14.7 +- 1 (Ohm^-1 cm^-1), and 28 +- 3 (Ohm^-1 cm^-1) for EuFe4Sb12,
Yb14MnSb11, and Eu8Ga16Ge30 respectively and is independent of temperature for
T < Tc if the change in spontaneous magnetization (order parameter) with
temperature is taken into account. These data are consistent with recent
theories of the anomalous Hall effect that suggest that even for stochiometric
ferromagnetic crystals, such as those studied in this article, the intrinsic
Hall conductivity is finite at T = 0, and is a ground state property that can
be calculated from the electronic structure.Comment: 22 pages, 13 figures Submitted to PR
Properties of the Interstitial in the Diamond-Type Lattice
Linear combination of atomic orbitalâmolecular orbital cluster calculations using extended HĂŒckel theory suggest that the interstitial carbon atom in diamond prefers an interstitialcy configuration. The predicted minimum-energy configuration changes with charge state, providing a possible example of the Bourgoin mechanism for athermal migration of the interstitial in the presence of ionizing radiation
A Viewing Angle - Kinetic Luminosity Unification Scheme For BL Lacertae Objects
We propose a unified classification for BL Lac objects (BLs), focusing on the
synchrotron peak frequency of the spectral energy distribution. The unification
scheme is based on the angle Theta that describes the orientation of the
relativistic jet and on the electron kinetic luminosity Lambda of the jet. We
assume that Lambda scales with the size of the jet r in a self-similar fashion
(Lambda propto r^2), as supported by observational data. The jets are
self-similar in geometry and have the same pressure and median magnetic field
at the inlet, independent of size. The self-similarity is broken for the
highest energy electrons, which radiate mainly at high frequencies, since for
large sources they suffer more severe radiative energy losses over a given
fraction of the jet length. We calculate the optically thin synchrotron
spectrum using an accelerating inner jet model based on simple relativistic gas
dynamics and show that it can fit the observed infrared to X-ray spectrum of
PKS 2155--304. We couple the accelerating jet model to the unification scheme
and compare the results to complete samples of
BLs. The negative apparent evolution of X-ray selected BLs is explained as a
result of positive evolution of the jet electron kinetic luminosity
. We review observational arguments in favor of the existence of
scaled-down accretion disks and broad emission-line regions in BLs. The
proposed unification scheme can explain the lack of observed broad emission
lines in X-ray selected BLs, as well as the existence of those lines
preferentially in luminous radio-selected BLs. Finally, we review observational
arguments that suggest the extension of this unification scheme to all blazars.Comment: 32 pages, 8 figures, to be published in the ApJ (Oct 20, 1998
On the optimization of low-cost FDM 3D printers for accurate replication of patient-specific abdominal aortic aneurysm geometry
Abstract Background There is a potential for direct model manufacturing of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) using 3D printing technique for generating flexible semi-transparent prototypes. A patient-specific AAA model was manufactured using fused deposition modelling (FDM) 3D printing technology. A flexible, semi-transparent thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), called Cheetah Water (produced by Ninjatek, USA), was used as the flexible, transparent material for model manufacture with a hydrophilic support structure 3D printed with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). Printing parameters were investigated to evaluate their effect on 3Dâprinting precision and transparency of the final model. ISO standard tear resistance tests were carried out on Ninjatek Cheetah specimens for a comparison of tear strength with silicone rubbers. Results It was found that an increase in printing speed decreased printing accuracy, whilst using an infill percentage of 100% and printing nozzle temperature of 255 °C produced the most transparent results. The model had fair transparency, allowing external inspection of model inserts such as stent grafts, and good flexibility with an overall discrepancy between CAD and physical model average wall thicknesses of 0.05 mm (2.5% thicker than the CAD model). The tear resistance test found Ninjatek Cheetah TPU to have an average tear resistance of 83 kN/m, higher than any of the silicone rubbers used in previous AAA model manufacture. The model had lower cost (4.50 GBP per model), shorter manufacturing time (25 h 3 min) and an acceptable level of accuracy (2.61% error) compared to other methods. Conclusions It was concluded that the model would be of use in endovascular aneurysm repair planning and education, particularly for practicing placement of hooked or barbed stents, due to the modelâs balance of flexibility, transparency, robustness and cost-effectiveness
Coupled-barrier diffusion: the case of oxygen in silicon
Oxygen migration in silicon corresponds to an apparently simple jump between
neighboring bridge sites. Yet, extensive theoretical calculations have so far
produced conflicting results and have failed to provide a satisfactory account
of the observed eV activation energy. We report a comprehensive set of
first-principles calculations that demonstrate that the seemingly simple oxygen
jump is actually a complex process involving coupled barriers and can be
properly described quantitatively in terms of an energy hypersurface with a
``saddle ridge'' and an activation energy of eV. Earlier
calculations correspond to different points or lines on this hypersurface.Comment: 4 Figures available upon request. Accepted for publication in Phys.
Rev. Let
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