Hyperthermia in elliptical patterns

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 1984.MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ENGINEERING.Includes bibliographical references.by Michael G. Curley.M.S

Effect of Harvest Timing and Soil Moisture Content on Compaction, Growth and Harvest Yield in a Miscanthus Cropping System

peer-reviewedHarvesting Miscanthus × giganteus (J.M. Greef & Deuter ex Hodkinson & Renvoize) after shoot emergence is known to reduce yields in subsequent seasons. This research was conducted in Miscanthus to assess the effects on crop response and soil compaction of annually repeated traffic, applied both before new growth in the rhizomes (early harvest) and after shoot emergence (late harvest), at two different soil moisture contents. While an annual early harvest, yields more than a late harvest, because damage to new shoots is avoided, soil compaction may be increased following repeated harvests. Five treatments were tested: (a) An untrafficked control, (b) early-traffic on soil with typical soil moisture content (SMC) (early-normal), (c) early-traffic on soil with elevated SMC (early-elevated), (d) late-traffic on soil with typical SMC (late-normal) and (e) late-traffic on soil with elevated SMC (late-wet). The experiment was conducted on a Gleysol in Co. Dublin, Ireland during 2010 and 2011. Crop response effects were assessed by measuring stem numbers, stem height, trafficked zone biomass yield (November) and overall stem yield (January). Compaction effects were assessed by measuring penetration resistance, bulk density and water infiltration rate. Trafficked zone biomass yield in the early-dry and early-wet treatments was, respectively, 18% and 23% lower than in the control, but was, respectively, 39% and 31% higher than in the late-dry treatment. Overall, stem yield was significantly lower in the late-normal and late-wet treatments (10.4 and 10.1 tdm ha−1 respectively) when compared with the control (12.4 tdm ha−1), but no significant difference was recorded in overall stem yield between both early-traffic treatments and the control. Penetration resistance values were significantly higher in all trafficked treatments when compared with the control at depths of 0.15 m (≥54–61%) and 0.30 m (≥27–57%) and were significantly higher in 2011 when compared with 2010 at depths of 0.15 and 0.30 m. Baler system traffic in Miscanthus significantly reduced yields and significantly increased compaction annually. Miscanthus harvested early, on a dry soil, yielded 1.1 tdm ha−1 more than when harvested late on a dry soil. The yield advantage increased to 1.3 tdm ha−1 when early harvesting on a soil with 40–43% moisture content was compared with late harvesting on a wetter soil (51–52% moisture content). In this study, the magnitude of yield losses from compaction or other causes in early harvests was substantially lower than the yield losses, which resulted from shoot damage in late harvests. It is likely in similar climates that the results of this study would also apply to other perennial crops growing in similar soil type

Wealth Building in Rural America: Perspective, Knowledge, Outlook

Wealth Building in Rural America: Perspective, Knowledge, Outloo

Tight Glycemic Control After Pediatric Cardiac Surgery in High-Risk Patient Populations

Background—Our previous randomized, clinical trial showed that postoperative tight glycemic control (TGC) for children undergoing cardiac surgery did not reduce the rate of health care–associated infections compared with standard care (STD). Heterogeneity of treatment effect may exist within this population. Methods and Results—We performed a post hoc exploratory analysis of 980 children from birth to 36 months of age at the time of cardiac surgery who were randomized to postoperative TGC or STD in the intensive care unit. Significant interactions were observed between treatment group and both neonate (age ≤30 days; P=0.03) and intraoperative glucocorticoid exposure (P=0.03) on the risk of infection. The rate and incidence of infections in subjects ≤60 days old were significantly increased in the TGC compared with the STD group (rate: 13.5 versus 3.7 infections per 1000 cardiac intensive care unit days, P=0.01; incidence: 13% versus 4%, P=0.02), whereas infections among those \u3e60 days of age were significantly reduced in the TGC compared with the STD group (rate: 5.0 versus 14.1 infections per 1000 cardiac intensive care unit days, P=0.02; incidence: 2% versus 5%, P=0.03); the interaction of treatment group by age subgroup was highly significant (P=0.001). Multivariable logistic regression controlling for the main effects revealed that previous cardiac surgery, chromosomal anomaly, and delayed sternal closure were independently associated with increased risk of infection. Conclusions—This exploratory analysis demonstrated that TGC may lower the risk of infection in children \u3e60 days of age at the time of cardiac surgery compared with children receiving STD. Meta-analyses of past and ongoing clinical trials are necessary to confirm these findings before clinical practice is altered

Design and Rationale of Safe Pediatric Euglycemia After Cardiac Surgery (SPECS): A Randomized Controlled Trial of Tight Glycemic Control After Pediatric Cardiac Surgery

Objectives: To describe the design of a clinical trial testing the hypothesis that children randomized to tight glycemic control with intensive insulin therapy after cardiac surgery will have improved clinical outcomes compared to children randomized to conventional blood glucose management. Design: Two-center, randomized controlled trial. Setting: Cardiac ICUs at two large academic pediatric centers. Patients: Children from birth to those aged 36 months recovering in the cardiac ICU after surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass. Interventions: Subjects in the tight glycemic control (intervention) group receive an intravenous insulin infusion titrated to achieve normoglycemia (target blood glucose range of 80–110 mg/dL; 4.4–6.1 mmol/L). The intervention begins at admission to the cardiac ICU from the operating room and terminates when the patient is ready for discharge from the ICU. Continuous glucose monitoring is performed during insulin infusion to minimize the risks of hypoglycemia. The standard care group has no target blood glucose range. Measurements and Main Results: The primary outcome is the development of any nosocomial infection (bloodstream, urinary tract, and surgical site infection or nosocomial pneumonia). Secondary outcomes include mortality, measures of cardiorespiratory function and recovery, laboratory indices of nutritional balance, immunologic, endocrinologic, and neurologic function, cardiac ICU and hospital length of stay, and neurodevelopmental outcome at 1 and 3 yrs of age. A total of 980 subjects will be enrolled (490 in each treatment arm) for sufficient power to show a 50% reduction in the prevalence of the primary outcome. Conclusions: Pediatric cardiac surgery patients may recognize great benefit from tight glycemic control in the postoperative period, particularly with regard to reduction of nosocomial infections. The Safe Pediatric Euglycemia after Cardiac Surgery trial is designed to provide an unbiased answer to the question of whether this therapy is indeed beneficial and to define the associated risks of therapy

Asset Building: Toward Inclusive Policy

This Working Paper has been submitted for inclusion in theEncyclopedia of Social Work\u27s new online edition, which is published by Oxford University Press. Since 1991, a new policy discussion has arisen in the United States and other countries, focusing on building assets as a complement to traditional social policy based on income. In fact, asset-based policy already existed (and still exists) in the United States, with large public subsidies. But the policy is regressive, benefiting the rich far more than the poor. The goal should be a universal, progressive, and lifelong asset-based policy. One promising pathway may be Child Development Accounts beginning at birth, with greater public deposits for the poorest children. If all children had an account, then eventually this could grow into a universal public policy across the life course

High Resolution Images of Orbital Motion in the Trapezium Cluster: First Scientific Results from the MMT Deformable Secondary Mirror Adaptive Optics System

We present the first scientific images obtained with a deformable secondary mirror adaptive optics system. We utilized the 6.5m MMT AO system to produce high-resolution (FWHM=0.07'') near infrared (1.6 um) images of the young (~1 Myr) Orion Trapezium theta 1 Ori cluster members. A combination of high spatial resolution and high signal to noise allowed the positions of these stars to be measured to within ~0.003'' accuracies. Including previous speckle data (Weigelt et al. 1999), we analyze a six year baseline of high-resolution observations of this cluster. Over this baseline we are sensitive to relative proper motions of only ~0.002''/yr (4.2 km/s at 450 pc). At such sensitivities we detect orbital motion in the very tight theta 1 Ori B2B3 (52 AU separation) and theta 1 Ori A1A2 (94 AU separation) systems. Such motions are consistent with those independently observed by Schertl et al. (2003) with speckle interferometry, giving us confidence that these very small (~0.002''/yr) orbital motions are real. All five members of the theta 1 Ori B system appear likely gravitationally bound. The very lowest mass member of the theta 1 Ori B system (B4) has K' ~11.66 and an estimated mass of ~0.2 Msun. There was very little motion (4+/-15 km/s) detected of B4 w.r.t B1 or B2, hence B4 is possibly part of the theta 1 Ori B group. We suspect that if this very low mass member is physically associated it most likely is in an unstable (non-hierarchical) orbital position and will soon be ejected from the group. The theta 1 Ori B system appears to be a good example of a star formation ``mini-cluster'' which may eject the lowest mass members of the cluster in the near future. This ``ejection'' process could play a major role in the formation of low mass stars and brown dwarfs.Comment: To appear in the December 10, 2003 issue of the Astrophysical Journal 21 pages, 14 figures (some in color, but print OK in B&W

Pan-Cancer Analysis of lncRNA Regulation Supports Their Targeting of Cancer Genes in Each Tumor Context

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are commonly dys-regulated in tumors, but only a handful are known toplay pathophysiological roles in cancer. We inferredlncRNAs that dysregulate cancer pathways, onco-genes, and tumor suppressors (cancer genes) bymodeling their effects on the activity of transcriptionfactors, RNA-binding proteins, and microRNAs in5,185 TCGA tumors and 1,019 ENCODE assays.Our predictions included hundreds of candidateonco- and tumor-suppressor lncRNAs (cancerlncRNAs) whose somatic alterations account for thedysregulation of dozens of cancer genes and path-ways in each of 14 tumor contexts. To demonstrateproof of concept, we showed that perturbations tar-geting OIP5-AS1 (an inferred tumor suppressor) andTUG1 and WT1-AS (inferred onco-lncRNAs) dysre-gulated cancer genes and altered proliferation ofbreast and gynecologic cancer cells. Our analysis in-dicates that, although most lncRNAs are dysregu-lated in a tumor-specific manner, some, includingOIP5-AS1, TUG1, NEAT1, MEG3, and TSIX, synergis-tically dysregulate cancer pathways in multiple tumorcontexts

Pan-cancer Alterations of the MYC Oncogene and Its Proximal Network across the Cancer Genome Atlas

Although theMYConcogene has been implicated incancer, a systematic assessment of alterations ofMYC, related transcription factors, and co-regulatoryproteins, forming the proximal MYC network (PMN),across human cancers is lacking. Using computa-tional approaches, we define genomic and proteo-mic features associated with MYC and the PMNacross the 33 cancers of The Cancer Genome Atlas.Pan-cancer, 28% of all samples had at least one ofthe MYC paralogs amplified. In contrast, the MYCantagonists MGA and MNT were the most frequentlymutated or deleted members, proposing a roleas tumor suppressors.MYCalterations were mutu-ally exclusive withPIK3CA,PTEN,APC,orBRAFalterations, suggesting that MYC is a distinct onco-genic driver. Expression analysis revealed MYC-associated pathways in tumor subtypes, such asimmune response and growth factor signaling; chro-matin, translation, and DNA replication/repair wereconserved pan-cancer. This analysis reveals insightsinto MYC biology and is a reference for biomarkersand therapeutics for cancers with alterations ofMYC or the PMN

Genomic, Pathway Network, and Immunologic Features Distinguishing Squamous Carcinomas

This integrated, multiplatform PanCancer Atlas study co-mapped and identified distinguishing molecular features of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) from five sites associated with smokin