Distribution of selected metals in bottom sediments, water, clams, tubificid mnnelids, and fishes of the Middle Illinois River

This study was designed to assess the potential application for further research of metal contamination in a large mid-western river that is utilized by industries and certain cities as a source of potable water as well as for sewage disposal. Analyses were made for thirteen metals in bottom sediments, twelve in water, and ten in tubificid worms, clams, and fishes. The study revealed that the ten metals, for which analyses were made in biota, do not concentrate along successive tropic levels as is the case with pesticides. Organisms such as clams and worms that inhabit the mud or mud-water interface where metal concentrations were observed to be the highest, exhibited the highest metal concentrations. At higher trophic levels, however, concentrations were lower, with fishes that are primarily carnivorous in nature exhibiting the lowest concentrations. The problem of metal contamination in aquatic systems is just now being recognized as a potential hazard to human health while the degree to which aquatic biota are affected remains speculative. This study, basically a pilot study, outlines procedures by which similar studies can be made and provides data that others may use in assessing the degree of metal contamination in multiple use rivers.U.S. Department of the InteriorU.S. Geological SurveyOpe

Dynamics of manganese, cadmium, and lead in experimental power plant ponds

This study was designed to determine the effect of heated power plant cooling water on the compartmentalization of manganese, lead and cadmium in experimental ponds. Caged channel catfish and green sunfish were kept in an experimental pond and a control pond. Periodically, whole fishes, gill, heart, kidney, liver and musculature were analyzed for the three metals. Concentrations of the three metals in fishes were not affected by the temperature differential maintained during the study. There was no correlation in concentrations of cadmium and lead with age (weight and length) of fishes but manganese concentrations declined slightly with age. The water component of the system contained the lowest concentration of the metals with sediments acting as a characteristic sink. Concentrations of the three metals in water and sediments of the ponds were unaffected by heat inasmuch as concentration differences between ponds were not significant at the .05 level. Aquatic organisms such as snails, fingernail clams, leeches, tubificid annelids and dragonfly nymphs exhibited concentrations of cadmium higher than sediments while snails and duckweed more closely reflected concentrations of manganese in sediments. Tubificid worms and leeches more closely reflected lead concentrations in sediments while fingernail clams and snails exhibited higher concentrations.U.S. Department of the InteriorU.S. Geological SurveyOpe

Lymph Node Staging in the Neck

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145274/1/cpmia0707.pd

Computer-Aided 2D and 3D quantification of human stem cell fate from in vitro samples using Volocity high performance image analysis software

AbstractAccurate automated cell fate analysis of immunostained human stem cells from 2- and 3-dimensional (2D-3D) images would improve efficiency in the field of stem cell research. Development of an accurate and precise tool that reduces variability and the time needed for human stem cell fate analysis will improve productivity and interpretability of the data across research groups. In this study, we have created protocols for high performance image analysis software Volocity® to classify and quantify cytoplasmic and nuclear cell fate markers from 2D-3D images of human neural stem cells after in vitro differentiation. To enhance 3D image capture efficiency, we optimized the image acquisition settings of an Olympus FV10i® confocal laser scanning microscope to match our quantification protocols and improve cell fate classification. The methods developed in this study will allow for a more time efficient and accurate software based, operator validated, stem cell fate classification and quantification from 2D and 3D images, and yield the highest ≥94.4% correspondence with human recognized objects

Modal scattering at an impedance transition in a lined flow duct

An explicit Wiener-Hopf solution is derived to describe the scattering of duct modes at a hard-soft wall impedance transition in a circular duct with uniform mean flow. Specifically, we have a circular duct r = 1,-8 <x <8 with mean flow Mach number M > 0 and a hard wall along x <0 and a wall of impedance Z along x > 0. A minimum edge condition at x = 0 requires a continuous wall streamline r = 1 + h(x, t ), no more singular than h = O(x1/2) for x ¿ 0. A mode, incident from x <0, scatters at x = 0 into a series of reflected modes and a series of transmitted modes. Of particular interest is the role of a possible instability along the lined wall in combination with the edge singularity. If one of the "upstream" running modes is to be interpreted as a downstream-running instability, we have an extra degree of freedom in the Wiener-Hopf analysis that can be resolved by application of some form of Kutta condition at x = 0, for example a more stringent edge condition where h = O(x3/2) at the downstream side. The question of the instability requires an investigation of the modes in the complex frequency plane and therefore depends on the chosen impedance model, since Z = Z(¿) is essentially frequency dependent. The usual causality condition by Briggs and Bers appears to be not applicable here because it requires a temporal growth rate bounded for all real axial wave numbers. The alternative Crighton-Leppington criterion, however, is applicable and confirms that the suspected mode is usually unstable. In general, the effect of this Kutta condition is significant, but it is particularly large for the plane wave at low frequencies and should therefore be easily measurable. For ¿ ¿ 0, the modulus tends to |R001| ¿ (1 + M)/(1 - M) without and to 1 with Kutta condition, while the end correction tends to8without and to a finite value with Kutta condition. This is exactly the same behaviour as found for reflection at a pipe exit with flow, irrespective if this is uniform or jet flow

A Person-Centered Approach to Poststroke Care: The COMprehensive Post-Acute Stroke Services Model

Many individuals who have had a stroke leave the hospital without postacute care services in place. Despite high risks of complications and readmission, there is no standard in the United States for postacute stroke care after discharge home. We describe the rationale and methods for the development of the COMprehensive Post-Acute Stroke Services (COMPASS) care model and the structure and quality metrics used for implementation. COMPASS, an innovative, comprehensive extension of the TRAnsition Coaching for Stroke (TRACS) program, is a clinician-led quality improvement model providing early supported discharge and transitional care for individuals who have had a stroke and have been discharged home. The effectiveness of the COMPASS model is being assessed in a cluster-randomized pragmatic trial in 41 sites across North Carolina, with a recruitment goal of 6,000 participants. The COMPASS model is evidence based, person centered, and stakeholder driven. It involves identification and education of eligible individuals in the hospital; telephone follow-up 2, 30, and 60 days after discharge; and a clinic visit within 14 days conducted by a nurse and advanced practice provider. Patient and caregiver self-reported assessments of functional and social determinants of health are captured during the clinic visit using a web-based application. Embedded algorithms immediately construct an individualized care plan. The COMPASS model's pragmatic design and quality metrics may support measurable best practices for postacute stroke care

Randomized Pragmatic Trial of Stroke Transitional Care: The COMPASS Study

Background The objectives of this study were to develop and test in real-world clinical practice the effectiveness of a comprehensive postacute stroke transitional care (TC) management program. Methods and Results The COMPASS study (Comprehensive Post-Acute Stroke Services) was a pragmatic cluster-randomized trial where the hospital was the unit of randomization. The intervention (COMPASS-TC) was initiated at 20 hospitals, and 20 hospitals provided their usual care. Hospital staff enrolled 6024 adult stroke and transient ischemic attack patients discharged home between 2016 and 2018. COMPASS-TC was patient-centered and assessed social and functional determinates of health to inform individualized care plans. Ninety-day outcomes were evaluated by blinded telephone interviewers. The primary outcome was functional status (Stroke Impact Scale-16); secondary outcomes were mortality, disability, medication adherence, depression, cognition, self-rated health, fatigue, care satisfaction, home blood pressure monitoring, and falls. The primary analysis was intention to treat. Of intervention hospitals, 58% had uninterrupted intervention delivery. Thirty-five percent of patients at intervention hospitals attended a COMPASS clinic visit. The primary outcome was measured for 59% of patients and was not significantly influenced by the intervention. Mean Stroke Impact Scale-16 (±SD) was 80.6±21.1 in TC versus 79.9±21.4 in usual care. Home blood pressure monitoring was self-reported by 72% of intervention patients versus 64% of usual care patients (adjusted odds ratio, 1.43 [95% CI, 1.21-1.70]). No other secondary outcomes differed. Conclusions Although designed according to the best available evidence with input from various stakeholders and consistent with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services TC policies, the COMPASS model of TC was not consistently incorporated into real-world health care. We found no significant effect of the intervention on functional status at 90 days post-discharge. Registration URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT02588664

Measurement of the cross section of high transverse momentum Z→bb̄ production in proton–proton collisions at √s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This Letter reports the observation of a high transverse momentum Z→bb̄ signal in proton–proton collisions at √s=8 TeV and the measurement of its production cross section. The data analysed were collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.5 fb−¹. The Z→bb̄ decay is reconstructed from a pair of b -tagged jets, clustered with the anti-ktkt jet algorithm with R=0.4R=0.4, that have low angular separation and form a dijet with pT>200 GeVpT>200 GeV. The signal yield is extracted from a fit to the dijet invariant mass distribution, with the dominant, multi-jet background mass shape estimated by employing a fully data-driven technique that reduces the dependence of the analysis on simulation. The fiducial cross section is determined to be σZ→bb¯fid=2.02±0.20 (stat.) ±0.25 (syst.)±0.06 (lumi.) pb=2.02±0.33 pb, in good agreement with next-to-leading-order theoretical predictions

Measurement of the branching ratio Γ(Λb⁰ → ψ(2S)Λ0)/Γ(Λb⁰ → J/ψΛ0) with the ATLAS detector

An observation of the $\Lambda_b^0 \rightarrow \psi(2S) \Lambda^0$ decay and a comparison of its branching fraction with that of the $\Lambda_b^0 \rightarrow J/\psi \Lambda^0$ decay has been made with the ATLAS detector in proton--proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8\,$TeV at the LHC using an integrated luminosity of $20.6\,$fb$^{-1}$. The $J/\psi$ and $\psi(2S)$ mesons are reconstructed in their decays to a muon pair, while the $\Lambda^0\rightarrow p\pi^-$ decay is exploited for the $\Lambda^0$ baryon reconstruction. The $\Lambda_b^0$ baryons are reconstructed with transverse momentum $p_{\rm T}>10\,$GeV and pseudorapidity $|\eta|<2.1$. The measured branching ratio of the $\Lambda_b^0 \rightarrow \psi(2S) \Lambda^0$ and $\Lambda_b^0 \rightarrow J/\psi \Lambda^0$ decays is $\Gamma(\Lambda_b^0 \rightarrow \psi(2S)\Lambda^0)/\Gamma(\Lambda_b^0 \rightarrow J/\psi\Lambda^0) = 0.501\pm 0.033 ({\rm stat})\pm 0.019({\rm syst})$, lower than the expectation from the covariant quark model.Comment: 12 pages plus author list (28 pages total), 5 figures, 1 table, published on Physics Letters B 751 (2015) 63-80. All figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/BPHY-2013-08