Cambrian Trilobites From the Nounan Dolomite and Lower St. Charles Formation (Upper Marjuman to Lower Sunwaptan; Miaolingian to Furongian Series), Smithfield Canyon, Northern Utah

The trilobite faunas that occur with the Steptoean Positive Isotope Carbon Excursion (SPICE) at Smithfield Canyon, Utah, have been reported, but not illustrated. Given the importance of the SPICE at this section for international correlations, the trilobites from new collections from the upper Nounan Dolomite to lower St. Charles Formation at Smithfield Canyon are reported herein and integrated with the previously reported taxa. Trilobite assemblages indicate that the upper Cedaria to the Ellipsocephaloides biozones (Miaolingian Series, Guzhangian Stage to Furongian Series, Jiangshanian Stage) are present stratigraphically below or above the SPICE. Some of the taxa reported herein may represent new species, but they are not represented by well-enough preserved specimens and are left in open nomenclature. However, Kingstonia smithfieldensis n. sp. and Bromella utahensis n. sp. are named on the basis of common and well-preserved specimens. New carbon isotope data from Smithfield Canyon from an overlapping section of the lower St. Charles Formation, that add to the overall shape of the SPICE curve, are presented. The new δ13C values above the Elvinia Biozone range from –0.36‰ to +1.5‰, confirming that the SPICE concludes within the Elvinia Biozone

USCID fifth international conference

Presented at the fifth international conference on irrigation and drainage, Irrigation and drainage for food, energy and the environment on November 3-6, 2009 in Salt Lake City, Utah.Includes bibliographical references.The urban water demand in Southwest Texas has grown rapidly in recent years due to large population increase. Regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) is one important measure for saving water while maintaining crop yield/ net benefit. An RDI field experiment was conducted at the Texas AgriLIFE Research and Extension Center at Uvalde in the summer of 2008 to examine the water saving potential. Seven irrigation schemes and four varieties were assigned to the experimental field to test their effects on lint yield. The results showed that: 1) The threshold of the replacement ratio is between 0.7 and 0.8 in fixed ratio irrigation schemes. Dynamic irrigation schemes showed a higher potential to save irrigation water. 2) The fiber quality was affected more by varieties than by irrigation schemes. A 50X (fixed 50% ratio) scheme has the potential risk to produce relatively lower quality cotton fiber by affecting fiber length and fiber yellowness. Considering its negative effect on lint yield as well, the 50X scheme is definitely not recommended. The two dynamic irrigation schemes, 50D and 70D, showed no negative effect on fiber quality. The 70D scheme has some potential to increase the fiber quality in fiber length, uniformity, fiber strength and reflectance; however, this scheme uses more irrigation water that the 50D scheme. Although further research is needed before making definitive conclusions, both dynamic schemes could be applied to maintain lint yield and fiber quality while saving more water, compared to the fixed ratio irrigation schemes

A multimodal spectroscopy system for real-time disease diagnosis

The combination of reflectance, fluorescence, and Raman spectroscopy—termed multimodal spectroscopy (MMS)—provides complementary and depth-sensitive information about tissue composition. As such, MMS is a promising tool for disease diagnosis, particularly in atherosclerosis and breast cancer. We have developed an integrated MMS instrument and optical fiber spectral probe for simultaneous collection of all three modalities in a clinical setting. The MMS instrument multiplexes three excitation sources, a xenon flash lamp (370–740 nm), a nitrogen laser (337 nm), and a diode laser (830 nm), through the MMS probe to excite tissue and collect the spectra. The spectra are recorded on two spectrograph/charge-coupled device modules, one optimized for visible wavelengths (reflectance and fluorescence) and the other for the near-infrared (Raman), and processed to provide diagnostic parameters. We also describe the design and calibration of a unitary MMS optical fiber probe 2 mm in outer diameter, containing a single appropriately filtered excitation fiber and a ring of 15 collection fibers, with separate groups of appropriately filtered fibers for efficiently collecting reflectance, fluorescence, and Raman spectra from the same tissue location. A probe with this excitation/collection geometry has not been used previously to collect reflectance and fluorescence spectra, and thus physical tissue models (“phantoms”) are used to characterize the probe’s spectroscopic response. This calibration provides probe-specific modeling parameters that enable accurate extraction of spectral parameters. This clinical MMS system has been used recently to analyze artery and breast tissue in vivo and ex vivo.National Institutes of Health (U.S) ( Grant No. P41-RR-02594

Lower extremity compartment syndrome in the acute care surgery paradigm: safety lessons learned

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Integrating Economic Analysis Wiith Biophysical Simulation: Appraising Blackland Corn Production.

60 p

Novel colorectal endoscopic in vivo imaging and resection practice: a short practice guide for interventional endoscopists

Colorectal cancer remains a leading cause of cancer death in the UK. With the advent of screening programmes and developing techniques designed to treat and stage colorectal neoplasia, there is increasing pressure on the colonoscopist to keep up to date with the latest practices in this area. This review looks at the basic principles behind endoscopic mucosal resection and forward to the potential endoscopic tools, including high-magnification chromoscopic colonoscopy, high-frequency miniprobe ultrasound and confocal laser scanning endomicroscopic colonoscopy, that may soon become part of routine colorectal cancer management

Immediate thoracotomy for penetrating injuries: Ten years' experience at a Dutch level I trauma center

Background: An emergency department thoracotomy (EDT) or an emergency thoracotomy (ET) in the operating theater are both beneficial in selected patients following thoracic penetrating injuries. Since outcome-descriptive European studies are lacking, the aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate ten years of experience at a Dutch level I trauma center. Method: Data on patients who underwent an immediate thoracotomy after sustaining a penetrating thoracic injury between October 2000 and January 2011 were collected from the trauma registry and hospital files. Descriptive and univariate analyses were performed. Results: Among 56 patients, 12 underwent an EDT and 44 an ET. Forty-six patients sustained one or multiple stab wounds, versus ten with one or multiple gunshot wounds. Patients who had undergone an EDT had a lower GCS (p < 0. 001), lower pre-hospital RTS and hospital triage RTS (p < 0. 001 and p = 0. 009, respectively), and a lower SBP (p = 0. 038). A witnessed loss of signs of life generally occurred in EDT patients and was accompanied by 100 % mortality. Survival following EDT was 25 %, which was significantly lower than in the ET group (75 %; p = 0. 002). Survivors had lower ISS (p = 0. 011), lower rates of pre-hospital (p = 0. 031) and hospital (p = 0. 003) hemodynamic instability, and a lower prevalence of concomitant abdominal injury (p = 0. 002). Conclusion: The overall survival rate in our study was 64 %. The outcome of immediate thoracotomy performed in this level I trauma center was similar to those obtained in high-incidence regions like the US and South Africa. This suggests that trauma units where immediate thoracotomies are not part of the daily routine can achieve similar results, if properly trained

Geminivirus-Mediated Delivery of Florigen Promotes Determinate Growth in Aerial Organs and Uncouples Flowering from Photoperiod in Cotton

This article discusses geminivirus-mediated delivery of florigen. Florigen acts as a general growth hormone, advancing determinate growth. The findings extend our understanding of florigen as a general growth hormone and could benefit crop management techniques

Temporary Closure of the Open Abdomen: A Systematic Review on Delayed Primary Fascial Closure in Patients with an Open Abdomen

Background This study was designed to systematically review the literature to assess which temporary abdominal closure (TAC) technique is associated with the highest delayed primary fascial closure (FC) rate. In some cases of abdominal trauma or infection, edema or packing precludes fascial closure after laparotomy. This "open abdomen'' must then be temporarily closed. However, the FC rate varies between techniques. Methods The Cochrane Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, and EMBASE databases were searched until December 2007. References were checked for additional studies. Search criteria included (synonyms of) "open abdomen,'' "fascial closure,'' "vacuum,'' "reapproximation,'' and "ventral hernia.'' Open abdomen was defined as "the inability to close the abdominal fascia after laparotomy.'' Two reviewers independently extracted data from original articles by using a predefined checklist. Results The search identified 154 abstracts of which 96 were considered relevant. No comparative studies were identified. After reading them, 51 articles, including 57 case series were included. The techniques described were vacuum-assisted closure (VAC; 8 series), vacuum pack (15 series), artificial burr (4 series), Mesh/sheet (16 series), zipper (7 series), silo (3 series), skin closure (2 series), dynamic retention sutures (DRS), and loose packing (1 series each). The highest FC rates were seen in the artificial burr (90%), DRS (85%), and VAC (60%). The lowest mortality rates were seen in the artificial burr (17%), VAC (18%), and DRS (23%). Conclusions These results suggest that the artificial burr and the VAC are associated with the highest FC rates and the lowest mortality rate