Penicillin Allergy Assessment and Skin Testing in the Outpatient Setting

Penicillin allergies are among of the most commonly reported allergies, yet only 10% of these patients are truly allergic. This leads to potential inadvertent negative consequences for patients and makes treatment decisions challenging for clinicians. Thus, allergy assessment and penicillin skin testing (PST) are important management strategies to reconcile and clarify labeled penicillin allergies. While PST is more common in the inpatient setting where the results will immediately impact antibiotic management, this process is becoming of increasing importance in the outpatient setting. PST in the outpatient setting allows clinicians to proactively de-label and educate patients accordingly so beta-lactam antibiotics may be appropriately prescribed when necessary for future infections. While allergists have primarily been responsible for PST in the outpatient setting, there is an increasing role for pharmacist involvement in the process. This review highlights the importance of penicillin allergy assessments, considerations for PST in the outpatient setting, education and advocacy for patients and clinicians, and the pharmacist’s role in outpatient PST

A potential library for primary MFL pedagogy: the case of Young Pathfinders

As readers of this journal will know very well, 2010 will see all KS2 (ages 7-11) pupils in England entitled to learn a modern foreign language in normal curriculum time. This development of the commitment to primary language learning should provide an excellent opportunity and experience for pupils, whilst at the same time requiring some radical changes for many teachers, schools and much of the wider language learning community. Recent research has indicated general trends suggesting an increase in primary languages already, in anticipation of this development and even beforehand. One of the most recent studies indicates that 43% of primary children currently learn a foreign language at KS2, either in class or as an extra-curricular activity, although the extent of this learning varies considerably (Driscoll, Jones and Macrory, 2004). It has also been suggested (Muijs et al, 2005) that there are certain aspects of the process that will be particularly demanding if the challenge of providing this entitlement are to be met

Edge Electron Gas

The uniform electron gas, the traditional starting point for density-based many-body theories of inhomogeneous systems, is inappropriate near electronic edges. In its place we put forward the appropriate concept of the edge electron gas.Comment: 4 pages RevTex with 7 ps-figures included. Minor changes in title,text and figure

SPH Simulations of Galactic Gaseous Disk with Bar: Distribution and Kinematic Structure of Molecular Clouds toward the Galactic Center

We have performed Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamic (SPH) simulations to study the response of molecular clouds in the Galactic disk to a rotating bar and their subsequent evolution in the Galactic Center (GC) region. The Galactic potential in our models is contributed by three axisymmetric components (massive halo, exponential disk, compact bulge) and a non-axisymmetric bar. These components are assumed to be invariant in time in the frame corotating with the bar. Some noticeable features such as an elliptical outer ring, spiral arms, a gas-depletion region, and a central concentration have been developed due to the influence of the bar. The rotating bar induces non-circular motions of the SPH particles, but hydrodynamic collisions tend to suppress the random components of the velocity. The velocity field of the SPH particles is consistent with the kinematics of molecular clouds observed in HCN (1-0) transition; these clouds are thought to be very dense clouds. However, the l-v diagram of the clouds traced by CO is quite different from that of our SPH simulation, being more similar to that obtained from simulations using collisionless particles. The $l-v$ diagram of a mixture of collisional and collisionless particles gives better reproduction of the kinematic structures of the GC clouds observed in the CO line. The fact that the kinematics of HCN clouds can be reproduced by the SPH particles suggests that the dense clouds in the GC are formed via cloud collisions induced by rotating bar.Comment: 31 pages, 10 pigures, accepted for publication in Ap

Spin Dynamics of the Triangular Heisenberg Antiferromagnet: A Schwinger Boson Approach

We have analyzed the two-dimensional antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on the triangular lattice using a Schwinger boson mean-field theory. By expanding around a state with local $120^\circ$ order, we obtain, in the limit of infinite spin, results for the excitation spectrum in complete agreement with linear spin wave theory (LSWT). In contrast to LSWT, however, the modes at the ordering wave vectors acquire a mass for finite spin. We discuss the origin of this effect.Comment: 15 pages REVTEX 3.0 preprint, 6 postscript figures ( uuencoded and compressed using the script uufiles ) are submitted separately

Repeatability of foraging behavior following a simulated predation attempt depends on color morph, sex, and foraging metric in Red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus)

Behavioral repeatability greatly affects the capacity of an individual to respond to varying environments. When multiple behaviors within individuals are repeatable and correlated across time or across contexts, it is termed a behavioral syndrome. However, not all behaviors exhibit the same level of repeatability, and relatively few studies have examined repeatability in amphibians. We examined the repeatability of foraging behavior in the Eastern Red-backed salamander (Plethodon cinereus), a color-polymorphic terrestrial salamander, following a simulated predation attempt. We tested several hypotheses: (1) Simulated predation would negatively affect foraging, increasing latency to feed and decreasing the number of prey items eaten in a fixed time period compared to a control group; (2) Because striped color morphs of P. cinereus are more aggressive, striped individuals would exhibit “bold” behavior by resuming foraging sooner and consuming more prey; and (3) Foraging behavior would be more repeatable for males. We found that the predation treatment inhibited foraging behavior, although neither morphs nor sexes differed in either forging metric. The number of prey eaten was repeatable for all groups of salamanders. Latency to feed, however, was not repeatable for control salamanders. Simulated predation induced repeatable latencies, but when morphs and sexes were analyzed separately, only unstriped and male salamanders were repeatable, suggesting characteristics of these groups related to behavioral syndromes drive this response. We speculate that the greater repeatability of the unstriped morph’s latency to feed may result from more frequent encounters with predators in the leaf litter matrix while foraging. Striped salamanders from the source population, in turn, exhibit greater territorial success, and thus may experience more variation in encounters with predators and conspecifics over the course of their lifespans. Our results illustrate the need to carefully define the behavior and subset of the population to be tested when studying behavioral repeatability or behavioral syndromes

Genetic Analysis of a Cryptic Contact Zone between Mitochondrial Clades of the Eastern Red-Backed Salamander, Plethodon cinereus

When evolutionarily divergent lineages adjoin their geographic ranges after a period of isolation, myriad outcomes can occur, from population anastomosis to the evolution of reproductive isolation by way of reinforcement. Hybrid zones represent natural experiments that may indicate whether lineages will maintain their evolutionary independence. Here, we report on a hybrid zone in the Eastern Red-Backed Salamander, Plethodon cinereus, a highly abundant and wide-ranging terrestrial salamander found in the northeastern United States and in southeastern Canada. An earlier study identified six distinct mitochondrial clades across the range of P. cinereus. Populations of two of these clades were as close as 9.6 km apart in Lorain County, Ohio, USA. To investigate the nature of this contact zone, we sampled 316 individuals from 16 sites along a 53-km transect, and analyzed 10 microsatellite loci and one mitochondrial locus. We found a clinal transition for mtDNA haplotypes. In contrast, most studies of terrestrial plethodontid salamanders commonly exhibit sharp boundaries between mtDNA clades. Microsatellite markers, however, revealed little differentiation and weak population structure, suggesting the nuclear cline, if it exists, lies outside of our sampling region. Explanations for the discordance between the mitochondrial DNA and our microsatellite data include lineage sorting, male-biased dispersal, or historical introgression of mtDNA, among other possibilities. We compare our results with other studies of introgression in terrestrial salamanders, and discuss the causes of mitonuclear discordance

A Solution to the Hierarchy Problem with an Infinitely Large Extra Dimension and Moduli Stabilization

We construct a class of solutions to the Einstein's equations for dimensions greater than or equal to six. These solutions are characterized by a non-trivial warp factor and possess a non-compact extra dimension. We study in detail a simple model in six dimensions containing two four branes. One of each brane's four spatial directions is compactified. The hierarchy problem is resolved by the enormous difference between the warp factors at the positions of the two branes, with the standard model fields living on the brane with small warp factor. Both branes can have positive tensions. Their positions, and the size of the compact dimension are determined in terms of the fundamental parameters of the theory by a combination of two independent and comparable effects---an anisotropic contribution to the stress tensor of each brane from quantum fields living on it and a contribution to the stress tensor from a bulk scalar field. One overall fine tuning of the parameters of the theory is required ---that for the cosmological constant.Comment: 16 pages 1 figure. Conclusion about naturalness of hierarchy without bulk interactions changed. Section added on obtaining a natural hierarchy with bulk scalar field. References added. Minor editin

Boundary Effects on Spectral Properties of Interacting Electrons in One Dimension

The single electron Green's function of the one-dimensional Tomonaga-Luttinger model in the presence of open boundaries is calculated with bosonization methods. We show that the critical exponents of the local spectral density and of the momentum distribution change in the presence of a boundary. The well understood universal bulk behavior always crosses over to a boundary dominated regime for small energies or small momenta. We show this crossover explicitly for the large-U Hubbard model in the low-temperature limit. Consequences for photoemission experiments are discussed.Comment: revised and reformatted paper to appear in Phys. Rev. Lett. (Feb. 1996). 5 pages (revtex) and 3 embedded figures (macro included). A complete postscript file is available from http://FY.CHALMERS.SE/~eggert/luttinger.ps or by request from [email protected]

Transcriptomics of shading-induced and NAA-induced abscission in apple (Malus domestica) reveals a shared pathway involving reduced photosynthesis, alterations in carbohydrate transport and signaling and hormone crosstalk

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA), a synthetic auxin analogue, is widely used as an effective thinner in apple orchards. When applied shortly after fruit set, some fruit abscise leading to improved fruit size and quality. However, the thinning results of NAA are inconsistent and difficult to predict, sometimes leading to excess fruit drop or insufficient thinning which are costly to growers. This unpredictability reflects our incomplete understanding of the mode of action of NAA in promoting fruit abscission.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here we compared NAA-induced fruit drop with that caused by shading via gene expression profiling performed on the fruit abscission zone (FAZ), sampled 1, 3, and 5 d after treatment. More than 700 genes with significant changes in transcript abundance were identified from NAA-treated FAZ. Combining results from both treatments, we found that genes associated with photosynthesis, cell cycle and membrane/cellular trafficking were downregulated. On the other hand, there was up-regulation of genes related to ABA, ethylene biosynthesis and signaling, cell wall degradation and programmed cell death. While the differentially expressed gene sets for NAA and shading treatments shared only 25% identity, NAA and shading showed substantial similarity with respect to the classes of genes identified. Specifically, photosynthesis, carbon utilization, ABA and ethylene pathways were affected in both NAA- and shading-induced young fruit abscission. Moreover, we found that NAA, similar to shading, directly interfered with leaf photosynthesis by repressing photosystem II (PSII) efficiency within 10 minutes of treatment, suggesting that NAA and shading induced some of the same early responses due to reduced photosynthesis, which concurred with changes in hormone signaling pathways and triggered fruit abscission.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study provides an extensive transcriptome study and a good platform for further investigation of possible regulatory genes involved in the induction of young fruit abscission in apple, which will enable us to better understand the mechanism of fruit thinning and facilitate the selection of potential chemicals for the thinning programs in apple.</p