Crash Injury Prediction and Vehicle Damage Reporting by Paramedics

Objective: The accuracy of pre-hospital crash scene details and crash victim assessment has important implications for initial trauma care assessment and management. Similarly, it is known to influence physician perception of crash victim injury severity. The goal of this feasibility study was to examine paramedic accuracy in predicting crash victim injury profile, disability outcome at hospital discharge, and reporting vehicle damage with other crash variables.Methods: This prospective case series study was undertaken at a Southern California, Level I trauma center certified by the American College of Surgeons. Paramedics transporting crash injured motor vehicle occupants to our emergency department (ED)/trauma center were surveyed. We abstracted ED and in-patient records of injured vehicle occupants. Vehicle and crash scene data were obtained from a professional crash reconstruction, which included the assessment of deformation, crash forces, change in velocity, and the source of each injury.Results: We used survey, injury, and crash reconstruction data from 22 collision cases in the final analysis. The median Injury Severity Score (ISS) was five (range 1-24). No enrolled patients died, and none were severely disabled at the time of discharge from the hospital. The paramedic crash injury severity predictions were sensitive for an Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) of 2-4. Paramedics often agreed with the crash reconstruction on restraint use, ejection, and other fatalities at the scene, and had lower levels of agreement for front airbag deployment, steering wheel damage, and window/windshield impact. Paramedics had 80% accuracy in predicting any disability at the time of hospital discharge.Conclusion: Paramedic prediction of injury profile was sensitive, and prediction of disability outcome at discharge was accurate when compared to discharge diagnosis. Their reporting of vehicle specific crash variables was less accurate. Further study should be undertaken to assess the benefits of crash biomechanics education for paramedics and other pre-hospital care providers. [WestJEM. 2009;10:62-67.

A Time Purified Separated Antiproton Beam At The AGS

Physic

Duration learning for analysis of nanopore ionic current blockades

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Ionic current blockade signal processing, for use in nanopore detection, offers a promising new way to analyze single molecule properties, with potential implications for DNA sequencing. The alpha-Hemolysin transmembrane channel interacts with a translocating molecule in a nontrivial way, frequently evidenced by a complex ionic flow blockade pattern. Typically, recorded current blockade signals have several levels of blockade, with various durations, all obeying a fixed statistical profile for a given molecule. Hidden Markov Model (HMM) based duration learning experiments on artificial two-level Gaussian blockade signals helped us to identify proper modeling framework. We then apply our framework to the real multi-level DNA hairpin blockade signal.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The identified upper level blockade state is observed with durations that are geometrically distributed (consistent with an a physical decay process for remaining in any given state). We show that mixture of convolution chains of geometrically distributed states is better for presenting multimodal long-tailed duration phenomena. Based on learned HMM profiles we are able to classify 9 base-pair DNA hairpins with accuracy up to 99.5% on signals from same-day experiments.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We have demonstrated several implementations for <it>de novo </it>estimation of duration distribution probability density function with HMM framework and applied our model topology to the real data. The proposed design could be handy in molecular analysis based on nanopore current blockade signal.</p

Vapor-Phase Oxidation of Benzyl Alcohol Using Manganese Oxide Octahedral Molecular Sieves (OMS-2)

Vapor-phase selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol has been accomplished using cryptomelane-type manganese oxide octahedral molecular sieve (OMS-2) catalysts. A conversion of 92% and a selectivity to benzaldehyde of 99% were achieved using OMS-2. The role played by the oxidant in this system was probed by studying the reaction in the absence of oxidant. The natures of framework transformations occurring during the oxidation reaction were fully studied using temperature-programmed techniques, as well as in situ X-ray diffraction under different atmospheres

Trans-Epithelial Immune Cell Transfer during Suckling Modulates Delayed-Type Hypersensitivity in Recipients as a Function of Gender

INTRODUCTION: Breast feeding has long term effects on the developing immune system which outlive passive immunization of the neonate. We have investigated the transfer of milk immune cells and examined the result of transfer once the recipients were adult. METHODS: Non-transgenic mouse pups were foster-nursed by green fluorescent protein (GFP) transgenic dams for 3 weeks and the fate of GFP+ cells was followed by FACS analysis, immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR for GFP and appropriate immune cell markers. Pups suckled by non-transgenic dams served as controls. RESULTS: Despite a preponderance of B cells and macrophages in the stomach contents of the pups, most cells undergoing trans-epithelial migration derived from the 3-4% of milk cells positive for T lymphocyte markers. These cells homed to the spleen and thymus, with maximal accumulation at 3-4 weeks. By sensitizing dams with an antigen which elicits a T cell-mediated delayed-type-hypersensitivity (DTH) response, we determined that nursing by a sensitized dam (compared to a non-sensitized dam) amplified a subsequent DTH response in females and yet suppressed one in males. DISCUSSION: These results suggest that clinical evaluation weighing the pros and cons of nursing male versus female children by mothers with genetically-linked hypersensitivity diseases, such as celiac disease and eczema, or those in regions of the world with endemic DTH-eliciting diseases, such as tuberculosis, may be warranted

Measuring Orthodontic Treatment Satisfaction: Questionnaire Development and Preliminary Validation

The aims of this study were to develop a reliable self-report measure of consumer satisfaction with orthodontic treatment, and to preliminarily assess its validity

Genetic Transformation of an Obligate Anaerobe, P. gingivalis for FMN-Green Fluorescent Protein Expression in Studying Host-Microbe Interaction

The recent introduction of “oxygen-independent” flavin mononucleotide (FMN)-based fluorescent proteins (FbFPs) is of major interest to both eukaryotic and prokaryotic microbial biologists. Accordingly, we demonstrate for the first time that an obligate anaerobe, the successful opportunistic pathogen of the oral cavity, Porphyromonas gingivalis, can be genetically engineered for expression of the non-toxic green FbFP. The resulting transformants are functional for studying dynamic bacterial processes in living host cells. The visualization of the transformed P. gingivalis (PgFbFP) revealed strong fluorescence that reached a maximum emission at 495 nm as determined by fluorescence microscopy and spectrofluorometry. Human primary gingival epithelial cells (GECs) were infected with PgFbFP and the bacterial invasion of host cells was analyzed by a quantitative fluorescence microscopy and antibiotic protection assays. The results showed similar levels of intracellular bacteria for both wild type and PgFbFP strains. In conjunction with organelle specific fluorescent dyes, utilization of the transformed strain provided direct and accurate determination of the live/metabolically active P. gingivalis' trafficking in the GECs over time. Furthermore, the GECs were co-infected with PgFbFP and the ATP-dependent Clp serine protease-deficient mutant (ClpP-) to study the differential fates of the two strains within the same host cells. Quantitative co-localization analyses displayed the intracellular PgFbFP significantly associated with the endoplasmic reticulum network, whereas the majority of ClpP- organisms trafficked into the lysosomes. Hence, we have developed a novel and reliable method to characterize live host cell-microbe interactions and demonstrated the adaptability of FMN-green fluorescent protein for studying persistent host infections induced by obligate anaerobic organisms