Prader-Willi syndrome: are there population differences?

A 15 1/2-year-old black female with features consistent with the Prader-Willi syndrome is reported. This is the second case report of a black individual and the first case of a black female with the Prader-Willi syndrome. There is an apparent paucity of blacks reported with this condition. Whether this difference is a true difference or represents under-reporting is not known. We urge reporting of individuals representing other racial groups with this disorder and suggest population studies to determine the incidence as well as the true population difference in the Prader-Willi syndrome

Energy Storage Systems For Electrical Microgrids With Pulsed Power Loads

Pulsed power loads (PPLs) are highly non-linear and can cause significant stability and power quality issues in an electrical microgrid. According to the present invention, many of these issues can be mitigated by an Energy Storage System (ESS) that offsets the PPL. The ESS can maintain a constant bus voltage and decouple the generation sources from the PPL. For example, the ESS specifications can be obtained with an ideal, band-limited hybrid battery and flywheel system.https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/patents/1158/thumbnail.jp

High velocity spikes in Gowdy spacetimes

We study the behavior of spiky features in Gowdy spacetimes. Spikes with velocity initially high are, generally, driven to low velocity. Let n be any integer greater than or equal to 1. If the initial velocity of an upward pointing spike is between 4n-3 and 4n-1 the spike persists with final velocity between 1 and 2, while if the initial velocity is between 4n-1 and 4n+1, the spiky feature eventually disappears. For downward pointing spikes the analogous rule is that spikes with initial velocity between 4n-4 and 4n-2 persist with final velocity between 0 and 1, while spikes with initial velocity between 4n-2 and 4n eventually disappear.Comment: discussion of constraints added. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Synthesis of Chiral Nonracemic Tertiary α-Thio and α-Sulfonyl Acetic Esters via SN2 Reactions of Tertiary Mesylates

Syntheses of enantioenriched sulfides and sulfones via substitution of tertiary mesylate with thiolate nucleophile were achieved with modest to excellent success

Optical properties of TiCx (0.64≤x≤0.90) from 0.1 to 30 eV

The stoichiometry-dependent optical properties of bulk samples of TiCx have been determined for four samples in the range 0.64≤x≤0.90. Reflectance and absorptance data taken in the range 0.1-30 eV have been Kramers-Kronig analyzed to obtain the dielectric function and related functions. Interband absorption begins at 0.1 eV or less. The observed interband transitions are interpreted on the basis of existing energy-band calculations. Comparison of optical structure with joint-density-of-states calculations shows that the rigid-band model cannot be applied strictly to explain the x-dependent structure, especially in the 5-10 eV region. The electron-energy-loss functions exhibit two peaks, one near the free-electron plasmon energy and one near 10 eV, both peaks shifting to higher energy as x increases

Prophylactic Laparoscopic Gastrectomy for Hereditary Diffuse Gastric Cancer: A Case Series in a Single Family

This study suggests that a laparoscopic approach for prophylactic total gastrectomy for carriers of CDH1 gene mutation can be performed safely and effectively

Grass or Trees? Performance of riparian buffers under natural rainfall conditions, Australia

Riparian vegetation can trap sediment and nutrients derived from hillslopes. Most research into the effectiveness of riparian buffers has been experimental and little quantitative data exists on performance under natural field conditions. This study reports on grass and tree buffer performance under natural rainfall conditions in two contrasting Australian environments. Buffers receiving runoff from hillslopes cropped with bananas were monitored over a 4-year period in the wet topics of Far North Queensland (FNQ). Runoff, bedload and suspended loads were measured leaving the crop and leaving 15 m wide dense grass and remnant rainforest riparian buffers. The grass buffer was able to trap \u3e80% of incoming bedload and between 30 and 50% of the suspended sediment and nutrient loads. An adjacent rainforest buffer acted as a temporary store of bedload, and a source area for suspended material. Grass and plantation Eucalyptus globulus buffers receiving runoff from grazed pasture were monitored over a 4-year period in a Mediterranean environment of SW Western Australia. Subsurface flow dominated nutrient and sediment transport in this location. A key result was the seasonal difference between the grass and E. globulus buffers. Sediment and nutrient transport occurred throughout the year in the E. globulus buffer, but only in the winter in the grass buffer. Half the annual loads moving within the E. globulus buffer were transported during intense summer storms. This study demonstrates the benefits of grass buffers, particularly on sloping tropical cropped land and identifies limitations on the effectiveness of tree buffers, although these may have ecological benefits

An injectable bone marrow-like scaffold enhances T cell immunity after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is a curative treatment for multiple disorders, but deficiency and dysregulation of T cells limit its utility. Here we report a biomaterial-based scaffold that mimics features of T cell lymphopoiesis in the bone marrow. The bone marrow cryogel (BMC) releases bone morphogenetic protein-2 to recruit stromal cells and presents the Notch ligand Delta-like ligand-4 to facilitate T cell lineage specification of mouse and human hematopoietic progenitor cells. BMCs subcutaneously injected in mice at the time of HSCT enhanced T cell progenitor seeding of the thymus, T cell neogenesis and diversification of the T cell receptor repertoire. Peripheral T cell reconstitution increased ~6-fold in mouse HSCT and ~2-fold in human xenogeneic HSCT. Furthermore, BMCs promoted donor CD4+ regulatory T cell generation and improved survival after allogeneic HSCT. In comparison to adoptive transfer of T cell progenitors, BMCs increased donor chimerism, T cell generation and antigen-specific T cell responses to vaccination. BMCs may provide an off-the-shelf approach for enhancing T cell regeneration and mitigating graft-versus-host disease in HSCT

Monitoring Sarcomere Structure Changes in Whole Muscle Using Diffuse Light Reflectance

doi:10.1117/1.2234278Normal biomechanical and physiological functions of striated muscles are facilitated by the repeating sarcomere units. Light scattering technique has been used in studying single extracted muscle fibers. However, few studies, if any, have been conducted to investigate the possibility of using optical detection to examine sarcomere structure changes in whole muscles. We conducted a series of experiments to demonstrate that optical scattering properties measured in whole muscle are related to changes in sarcomere structure. These results suggest that photon migration technique has a potential for characterizing in vivo tissue ultrastructure changes in whole muscle

Nonlinear power flow control for networked AC/DC microgrids

A method for designing feedforward and feedback controllers for integration of stochastic sources and loads into a nonlinear networked AC/DC microgrid system is provided. A reduced order model for general networked AC/DC microgrid systems is suitable for HSSPFC control design. A simple feedforward steady state solution is utilized for the feedforward controls block. Feedback control laws are provided for the energy storage systems. A HSSPFC controller design is implemented that incorporates energy storage systems that provides static and dynamic stability conditions for both the DC random stochastic input side and the AC random stochastic load side. Transient performance was investigated for the feedforward/feedback control case. Numerical simulations were performed and provided power and energy storage profile requirements for the networked AC/DC microgrid system overall performance. The HSSPFC design can be implemented in the Matlab/Simulink environment that is compatible with real time simulation/controllers.https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/patents/1150/thumbnail.jp