EFSUMB Recommendations and Guidelines for Gastrointestinal Ultrasound - Part 1: Examination Techniques and Normal Findings (Short version)

Abstract ▼ In October 2014 the European Federation of Societies for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology formed a Gastrointestinal Ultrasound (GIUS) task force group to promote the use of GIUS in a clinical setting. One of the main objectives of the task force group was to develop clinical recommendations and guidelines for the use of GIUS under the auspices of EFSUMB. The first part, gives an overview of the examination techniques for GIUS recommended by experts in the field. It also presents the current evidence for the interpretation of normal sonoanatomical and physiological features as examined with different ultrasound modalities

EFSUMB Recommendations and Guidelines for Gastrointestinal Ultrasound - Part 1: Examination Techniques and Normal Findings (Long version).

Abstract ▼ In October 2014 the European Federation of Societies for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology formed a Gastrointestinal Ultrasound (GIUS) task force group to promote the use of GIUS in a clinical setting. One of the main objectives of the task force group was to develop clinical recommendations and guidelines for the use of GIUS under the auspices of EFSUMB. The first part, gives an overview of the examination techniques for GIUS recommended by experts in the field. It also presents the current evidence for the interpretation of normal sonoanatomical and physiological features as examined with different ultrasound modalities

Self-energy-part resummed quark and gluon propagators in a spin-polarized quark matter and generalized Boltzmann equations

We construct perturbative frameworks for studying nonequilibrium spin-polarized quark matter. We employ the closed-time-path formalism and use the gradient approximation in the derivative expansion. After constructing self-energy-part resummed quark and gluon propagators, we formulate two kind of mutually equivalent perturbative frameworks: The first one is formulated on the basis of the initial-particle distribution function, and the second one is formulated on the basis of `` physical''-particle distribution function. In the course of construction of the second framework, the generalized Boltzmann equations and their relatives {\em directly} come out, which describe the evolution of the system. The frameworks are relevant to the study of a magnetic character of quark matters, e.g., possible quark stars.Comment: 57 page

Thermal Dileptons from pi - rho Interactions in a Hot Pion Gas

A systematic study of low mass dilepton production from $\pi-\rho$ interactions in a hot medium is presented. Applying finite temperature perturbation theory the dilepton rate, respectively the virtual photon rate, is computed up to order $g_\rho^2$. For dilepton masses below the $\rho$ the two-body reactions $\pi\pi\to \rho \gamma^*$, $\pi\rho\to \pi \gamma^*$, and the decay process $\rho \to \pi \pi \gamma^*$ give significant contributions. Non-equilibrium contributions to the thermal rate are estimated, including the modification of the particle distribution function with non-zero pion chemical potential. The comparison of the dilepton rate with the recent data measured in nucleus-nucleus collisions at SPS energy by the CERES Collaboration is also performed. It is shown that the additional thermal dileptons from $\pi-\rho$ interactions can partially account for the access of the soft dilepton yield seen experimentally.Comment: 21 pages LaTeX, 8 figs with epsfig.sty macro include

Effect of valdecoxib pretreatment on pain and secondary hyperalgesia: a randomized controlled trial in healthy volunteers [ISRCTN05282752, NCT00260325]

BACKGROUND: Induction of the COX-2 isoenzyme appears to play a major role in the genesis of central sensitization after nociceptive stimulation. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of a single, oral dose of the specific COX-2 inhibitor-valdecoxib in attenuating the central sensitization – induced secondary hyperalgesia in a heat/capsaicin pain model in healthy volunteers. METHODS: The study was a randomized, double blind, placebo controlled, crossover, single dose efficacy trial using 20 healthy volunteers. Two hours following placebo or 40 mg, PO valdecoxib, participants underwent skin sensitization with heat/capsaicin, as well as supra-threshold pain and re-kindling measurements according to an established, validated pain model. Subjects rated pain intensity and unpleasantness on a visual analog scale and the area of secondary hyperalgesia was serially mapped. RESULTS: The area of secondary hyperalgesia produced after 40 mg of valdecoxib was no different than that after placebo. Furthermore, there were no significantly relevant differences when volunteers were treated with valdecoxib or placebo in relation to either cold- or hot pain threshold or the intensity of pain after supra-threshold, thermal pain stimulation. CONCLUSION: We demonstrated that a single, oral dose of valdecoxib when does not attenuate secondary hyperalgesia induced by heat/capsaicin in a cutaneous sensitization pain model in healthy volunteers

Effect of microstructural evolution on magnetic properties of Ni thin films

Copyright © Indian Academy of Sciences.The magnetic properties of Ni thin films, in the range 20–500 nm, at the crystalline-nanocrystalline interface are reported. The effect of thickness, substrate and substrate temperature has been studied. For the films deposited at ambient temperatures on borosilicate glass substrates, the crystallite size, coercive field and magnetization energy density first increase and achieve a maximum at a critical value of thickness and decrease thereafter. At a thickness of 50 nm, the films deposited at ambient temperature onto borosilicate glass, MgO and silicon do not exhibit long-range order but are magnetic as is evident from the non-zero coercive field and magnetization energy. Phase contrast microscopy revealed that the grain sizes increase from a value of 30–50 nm at ambient temperature to 120–150 nm at 503 K and remain approximately constant in this range up to 593 K. The existence of grain boundary walls of width 30–50 nm is demonstrated using phase contrast images. The grain boundary area also stagnates at higher substrate temperature. There is pronounced shape anisotropy as evidenced by the increased aspect ratio of the grains as a function of substrate temperature. Nickel thin films of 50 nm show the absence of long-range crystalline order at ambient temperature growth conditions and a preferred [111] orientation at higher substrate temperatures. Thin films are found to be thermally relaxed at elevated deposition temperature and having large compressive strain at ambient temperature. This transition from nanocrystalline to crystalline order causes a peak in the coercive field in the region of transition as a function of thickness and substrate temperature. The saturation magnetization on the other hand increases with increase in substrate temperature.University Grants Commission for Centre of Advanced Studies in Physic

International Paediatric Mitochondrial Disease Scale

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Thermal photon production rate from non-equilibrium quantum field theory

In the framework of closed time path thermal field theory we investigate the production rate of hard thermal photons from a QCD plasma away from equilibrium. Dynamical screening provides a finite rate for chemically non-equilibrated distributions of quarks and gluons just as it does in the equilibrium situation. Pinch singularities are shown to be absent in the real photon rate even away from equilibrium.Comment: 10 pages RevTex, 2 ps figures include

Looking ‘beyond the factory gates’:towards more pluralist and radical approaches to intra-organizational trust research

The aim of this paper is to suggest new avenues for trust research by critiquing the extant literature on this topic. We analyze the most influential research on intra-organizational trust from the perspective of a classic industrial sociology framework from the 1970s – Alan Fox’s work on frames of reference and trust dynamics. Our analysis of intra-organizational trust studies leads us to three conclusions. Firstly, the large majority of intra-organizational trust research has strong unitarist underpinnings, which support a managerial agenda that is potentially detrimental to employees’ and (indeed managers’) long-term interests. Secondly, most of this research fails to explain how trust in organizations is embedded in societal and field level institutions, hence it would benefit from looking ‘beyond the factory gates’ for a more complete understanding of trust dynamics in organizations. In this connection, we argue that Fox’s pluralist and radical perspectives, which are under-represented in intra-organizational trust research, could provide new lines of inquiry by locating internal trust relations in a wider institutional context. Thirdly, Fox’s explanation of how low and high trust dynamics in organizations are embedded in wider society may help address the concerns about under-socialized, endogenous explanations and open the way for structure-agency analyses of building, maintaining and repairing intra-organizational trust