38,033 research outputs found

    Do lycra garments improve function and movement in children with cerebral palsy?

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    The mother of a 5-year-old boy with athetoid cerebral palsy complains of difficulties putting his Lycra suit on each day. She is keen to know if it actually helps improve his function and movement. STRUCTURED CLINICAL QUESTION In children with cerebral palsy (population), do Lycra garments (intervention) improve function and posture (outcome)? SEARCH STRATEGY The search was performed in October 2009

    Grease Stability Under Vibrating Conditions

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    In Australian industry, centralised lubrication systems are used to deliver grease to various mechanical components, usually bearings. In many situations, the length of the delivery lines is in excess of 20 metres. These lines meander through other pieces of equipment and infrastructure. In some situations when these lines are attached to support devices that are subject to vibration, the delivery pipes have become “plugged” because the oil in the grease has leaked/separated from the grease matrix. This scenario is very costly to the owner/operator of the equipment as a lack of lubrication can cause major repair/maintenance costs. A laboratory test procedure has been devised to evaluate the suitability of various greases to remain stable under these conditions

    Species Profiles: Life Histories and Environmental Requirements of Coastal Fishes and Invertebrates (South Atlantic): American shad

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    De novo Development and Characterization of Tetranucleotide Microsatellite Loci Markers from a Southeastern Population of the House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus)

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    Microsatellites are short tandem repeats (e.g. TAGATAGA) of base pairs in a species’ genome. High mutation rates in these regions produce variation in the number of repeats across individuals that can be utilized to study patterns of population- and landscape-level genetics and to determine parentage genetically. In this project our objective was to develop microsatellite markers for the House Finch, Haemorhous mexicanus. This species has become one of the most well-studied species of songbirds due to its unique geographical, evolutionary, and epidemiological history. Using mist-nets we captured birds on the Arkansas Tech University campus and collected blood samples to obtain genomic DNA. Samples were processed in The Field Museum’s Pritzker Laboratory for Molecular Systematics and Evolution, where we fragmented genomic DNA and isolated fragments that contained potential microsatellites using specially designed biotin labelled probes. These DNA fragments were transformed into competent E. coli cells which were then PCR-amplified and Sanger sequenced. After sequencing DNA fragments from approximately 500 E. coli colonies, we designed and characterized a set of 13 tetranucleotide microsatellite loci. The average number of alleles and heterozygosity found in 12 individuals from Arkansas was 8.69 and 0.80, respectively. This finalized set of microsatellites can be utilized by researchers to determine parentage and characterize genetic differences across House Finch populations

    Inconsistent use of gesture space during abstract pointing impairs language comprehension

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    Pointing toward concrete objects is a well-known and efficient communicative strategy. Much less is known about the communicative effectiveness of abstract pointing where the pointing gestures are directed to “empty space.” McNeill's (2003) observations suggest that abstract pointing can be used to establish referents in gesture space, without the referents being physically present. Recently, however, it has been shown that abstract pointing typically provides redundant information to the uttered speech thereby suggesting a very limited communicative value (So et al., 2009). In a first approach to tackle this issue we were interested to know whether perceivers are sensitive at all to this gesture cue or whether it is completely discarded as irrelevant add-on information. Sensitivity to for instance a gesture-speech mismatch would suggest a potential communicative function of abstract pointing. Therefore, we devised a mismatch paradigm in which participants watched a video where a female was interviewed on various topics. During her responses, she established two concepts in space using abstract pointing (e.g., pointing to the left when saying Donald, and pointing to the right when saying Mickey). In the last response to each topic, the pointing gesture accompanying a target word (e.g., Donald) was either consistent or inconsistent with the previously established location. Event related brain potentials showed an increased N400 and P600 when gesture and speech referred to different referents, indicating that inconsistent use of gesture space impairs language comprehension. Abstract pointing was found to influence comprehension even though gesture was not crucial to understanding the sentences or conducting the experimental task. These data suggest that a referent was retrieved via abstract pointing and that abstract pointing can potentially be used for referent indication in a discourse. We conclude that abstract pointing has a potential communicative function

    Anatomy and Morphometry of Myocardial Capillaries Studied with Vascular Corrosion Casting and Scanning Electron Microscopy: A Method for Rat Heart

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    The present paper describes a procedure for preparing vascular corrosion casts of rat myocardial microvasculature. Essential components of the procedure include: partial self clearing of the heart in vitro; cardiac arrest by infusion of KCl; retrograde aortic root infusion of Mercox-Sevriton casting resin; KOH digestion of ventricular tissue; and desiccation and mounting of casts for scanning electron microscopy. About 50% of rats yielded complete casts. Vasculature closely paralleled muscle fiber orientation. Capillary beds characteristically exhibited branching, many intercapillary cross bridges, and occasional coil-ing. Average capillary cast diameter (5.6 μm) and intercapillary distance (15 μm) are comparable to results from in vivo studies. From preliminary calculations, vascular volume represents about 10% of the ventricular walls. These data indicate that vascular corrosion casts may be useful in the analysis of pathologic states and in determining the role of potential therapeutic interventions
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