Two Buildings and Two Towns: Comparison of Abandoned and Repurposed Plants

At the height of apparel manufacturing in the United States in the 1970s, approximately 24,500 establishments were operating within the country (U.S. Bureau of Census, 1987). With massive closings since the 70s, current counts enumerate slightly more than 7,000 U.S. plants in operation. A noticeable number of closings also ensued in textile mills and textile product plants (Borneman, 2011). Two decades later, a similar pattern occurred in U.S. furniture manufacturing (Furniture, 2007). As these establishments tended to be clustered in the U.S. southeast in the 20th century, the burden of abandoned plant buildings looms large in many southeastern states

Oligon-coated contact lens case study: The efficacy of oligodynamic iontophoresis as a contact lens disinfection system as determined by FDA stand-alone protocol

Prototype contact lens cases have been prepared which are coated with an Oligon antimicrobial silicone formulation. The Oligon silicone coating incorporates a conductive additive, silver and platinum powder to set up an electrochemical system, that when contacted by chloride ions found in physiological saline, releases silver ions into the surrounding aqueous medium. Silver ions have been reported in the literature to be a potent antimicrobial agent, showing effectiveness against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria as well as yeasts and molds. This study was designed to study the effectiveness of Oligon coated contact lens cases against FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approved Stand Alone protocol for disinfecting contact lenses for the following organisms: Psuedomonas aeruginosa, Serratia marcenscens, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans, and Fusarium solani. The results of the study conclude that the Oligon cases do not meet the 8 hour FDA stand alone criteria for any of the organisms tested, but with modification, may be an exciting new frontier for the future of contact lens disinfection

Addendum: "The Dynamics of M15: Observations of the Velocity Dispersion Profile and Fokker-Planck Models" (ApJ, 481, 267 [1997])

It has recently come to our attention that there are axis scale errors in three of the figures of Dull et al. (1997, hereafter D97). D97 presented Fokker-Planck models for the collapsed-core globular cluster M15 that include a dense, centrally concentrated population of neutron stars and massive white dwarfs, but do not include a central black hole. In this Addendum, we present corrected versions of Figures 9, 10, and 12, and an expanded version of Figure 6. This latter figure, which shows the full run of the velocity dispersion profile, indicates that the D97 model predictions are in good agreement with the moderately rising HST-STIS velocity dispersion profile for M15 reported by Gerssen et al. (2002, astro-ph/0209315). Thus, a central black hole is not required to fit the new STIS velocity measurements, provided that there is a sufficient population of neutron stars and massive white dwarfs. This conclusion is consistent with the findings of Gerssen et al. (2002, astro-ph/0210158), based on a reapplication of their Jeans equation analysis using the corrected mass-to-light profile (Figure 12) for the D97 models.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Ap

Construct validity of the Actiwatch-2 for assessing movement in people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities

Background: Valid measures to assess either small or assisted performed movements of people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) are required. We analysed the construct validity of the Actiwatch-2 to assess movement in people with PIMD. Method: Twenty-two persons with PIMD were video recorded while wearing an Actiwatch-2. We used 15s-partial-interval recording to record upper body movement, body position and activity situation. Multilevel analyses were used to evaluate if the Actiwatch-2, based on produced counts, could detect changes in these factors. Results: The presence versus absence of upper body movement and an activity situation in which participants were involved versus not involved resulted in significantly higher counts, with a large variety in predicted counts between participants. No relationship between body position and counts was found. Conclusions: The Actiwatch-2 seems able to assess obvious upper body movement in people with PIMD, and whether there is involvement in an activity situation

Moving fast but going slow: coordination challenges for trials of COVID-19 post-exposure prophylaxis

An unprecedented volume of research has been generated in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there are risks of inefficient duplication and of important work being impeded if efforts are not synchronized. Excessive reliance on observational studies, which can be more rapidly conducted but are inevitably subject to measured and unmeasured confounders, can foil efforts to conduct rigorous randomized trials. These challenges are illustrated by recent global efforts to conduct clinical trials of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) as a strategy for preventing COVID-19. Innovative strategies are needed to help overcome these issues, including increasing communication between the Data Safety and Monitoring Committees (DSMCs) of similar trials. It is important to reinforce the primacy of high-quality trials in generating unbiased answers to pressing prevention and treatment questions about COVID-19

Lentiviral gene transfer into the dorsal root ganglion of adult rats

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Lentivector-mediated gene delivery into the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) is a promising method for exploring pain pathophysiology and for genetic treatment of chronic neuropathic pain. In this study, a series of modified lentivector particles with different cellular promoters, envelope glycoproteins, and viral accessory proteins were generated to evaluate the requirements for efficient transduction into neuronal cells <it>in vitro </it>and adult rat DRG <it>in vivo</it>.</p> <p>Results</p> <p><it>In vitro</it>, lentivectors expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) under control of the human elongation factor 1α (EF1α) promoter and pseudotyped with the conventional vesicular stomatitis virus G protein (VSV-G) envelope exhibited the best performance in the transfer of EGFP into an immortalized DRG sensory neuron cell line at low multiplicities of infection (MOIs), and into primary cultured DRG neurons at higher MOIs. <it>In vivo</it>, injection of either first or second-generation EF1α-EGFP lentivectors directly into adult rat DRGs led to transduction rates of 19 ± 9% and 20 ± 8% EGFP-positive DRG neurons, respectively, detected at 4 weeks post injection. Transduced cells included a full range of neuronal phenotypes, including myelinated neurons as well as both non-peptidergic and peptidergic nociceptive unmyelinated neurons.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>VSV-G pseudotyped lentivectors containing the human elongation factor 1α (EF1α)-EGFP expression cassette demonstrated relatively efficient transduction to sensory neurons following direct injection into the DRG. These results clearly show the potential of lentivectors as a viable system for delivering target genes into DRGs to explore basic mechanisms of neuropathic pain, with the potential for future clinical use in treating chronic pain.</p

Short gamma-ray bursts from dynamically-assembled compact binaries in globular clusters: pathways, rates, hydrodynamics and cosmological setting

We present a detailed assessment of the dynamical pathways leading to the coalescence of compact objects in Globular Clusters (GCs) and Short Gamma-Ray Burst (SGRB) production. We consider primordial binaries, dynamically formed binaries (through tidal two-body and three-body exchange interactions) and direct impacts of compact objects (WD/NS/BH). We show that if the primordial binary fraction is small, close encounters dominate the production rate of coalescing compact systems. We find that the two dominant channels are the interaction of field NSs with dynamically formed binaries, and two-body encounters. We then estimate the redshift distribution and host galaxy demographics of SGRB progenitors, and find that GCs can provide a significant contribution to the overall observed rate. We have carried out hydrodynamical modeling of evolution of close stellar encounters with WD/NS/BH, and show that there is no problem in accounting for the energy budget of a typical SGRB. The particulars of each encounter are variable and lead to interesting diversity: the encounter characteristics are dependent on the impact parameter, in contrast to the merger scenario; the nature of the compact star itself can produce very different outcomes; the presence of tidal tails in which material falls back onto the central object at later times is a robust feature of these calculations, with the mass involved being larger than for binary mergers. It is thus possible to account generically in this scenario for a prompt episode of energy release, as well as for activity many dynamical time scales later (abridged).Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ (24 pages, 19 figures

Lentiviral-Mediated Transgene Expression Can Potentiate Intestinal Mesenchymal-Epithelial Signaling

Mesenchymal-epithelial signaling is essential for the development of many organs and is often disrupted in disease. In this study, we demonstrate the use of lentiviral-mediated transgene delivery as an effective approach for ectopic transgene expression and an alternative to generation of transgenic animals. One benefit to this approach is that it can be used independently or in conjunction with established transgenic or knockout animals for studying modulation of mesenchymal-epithelial interactions. To display the power of this approach, we explored ectopic expression of a Wnt ligand in the mouse intestinal mesenchyme and demonstrate its functional influence on the adjacent epithelium. Our findings highlight the efficient use of lentiviral-mediated transgene expression for modulating mesenchymal-epithelial interactions in vivo

Measuring gravitational waves from binary black hole coalescences: I. Signal to noise for inspiral, merger, and ringdown

We estimate the expected signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) from the three phases (inspiral,merger,ringdown) of coalescing binary black holes (BBHs) for initial and advanced ground-based interferometers (LIGO/VIRGO) and for space-based interferometers (LISA). LIGO/VIRGO can do moderate SNR (a few tens), moderate accuracy studies of BBH coalescences in the mass range of a few to about 2000 solar masses; LISA can do high SNR (of order 10^4) high accuracy studies in the mass range of about 10^5 to 10^8 solar masses. BBHs might well be the first sources detected by LIGO/VIRGO: they are visible to much larger distances (up to 500 Mpc by initial interferometers) than coalescing neutron star binaries (heretofore regarded as the "bread and butter" workhorse source for LIGO/VIRGO, visible to about 30 Mpc by initial interferometers). Low-mass BBHs (up to 50 solar masses for initial LIGO interferometers; 100 for advanced; 10^6 for LISA) are best searched for via their well-understood inspiral waves; higher mass BBHs must be searched for via their poorly understood merger waves and/or their well-understood ringdown waves. A matched filtering search for massive BBHs based on ringdown waves should be capable of finding BBHs in the mass range of about 100 to 700 solar masses out to 200 Mpc (initial LIGO interferometers), and 200 to 3000 solar masses out to about z=1 (advanced interferometers). The required number of templates is of order 6000 or less. Searches based on merger waves could increase the number of detected massive BBHs by a factor of order 10 or more over those found from inspiral and ringdown waves, without detailed knowledge of the waveform shapes, using a "noise monitoring" search algorithm. A full set of merger templates from numerical relativity could further increase the number of detected BBHs by an additional factor of up to 4.Comment: 40 pages, Revtex, psfig.tex, seven figures, submitted to Phys Rev