7,907 research outputs found
Internal anal anal sphincter: Clinical perspective
Objective:
To summarise current knowledge of Internal anal sphincter.
Background:
The internal anal sphincter (IAS) is the involuntary ring of smooth muscle in the anal canal and is the major contributor to the resting pressure in the anus. Structural injury or functional weakness of the muscle results in passive incontinence of faeces and flatus. With advent of new assessment and treatment modalities IAS has become an important topic for surgeons. This review was undertaken to summarise our current knowledge of internal anal sphincter and highlight the areas that need further research.
Method:
The PubMed database was used to identify relevant studies relating to internal anal sphincter.
Results:
The available evidence has been summarised and advantages and limitations highlighted for the different diagnostic and therapeutic techniques.
Conclusion:
Our understanding of the physiology and pharmacology of IAS has increased greatly in the last three decades. Additionally, there has been a rise in diagnostic and therapeutic techniques specifically targeting the IAS. Although these are promising, future research is required before these can be incorporated into the management algorithm
Phase Portraits of general f(T) Cosmology
We use dynamical system methods to explore the general behaviour of
cosmology. In contrast to the standard applications of dynamical analysis, we
present a way to transform the equations into a one-dimensional autonomous
system, taking advantage of the crucial property that the torsion scalar in
flat FRW geometry is just a function of the Hubble function, thus the field
equations include only up to first derivatives of it, and therefore in a
general cosmological scenario every quantity is expressed only in terms
of the Hubble function. The great advantage is that for one-dimensional systems
it is easy to construct the phase space portraits, and thus extract information
and explore in detail the features and possible behaviours of cosmology.
We utilize the phase space portraits and we show that cosmology can
describe the universe evolution in agreement with observations, namely starting
from a Big Bang singularity, evolving into the subsequent thermal history and
the matter domination, entering into a late-time accelerated expansion, and
resulting to the de Sitter phase in the far future. Nevertheless,
cosmology can present a rich class of more exotic behaviours, such as the
cosmological bounce and turnaround, the phantom-divide crossing, the Big Brake
and the Big Crunch, and it may exhibit various singularities, including the
non-harmful ones of type II and type IV. We study the phase space of three
specific viable models offering a complete picture. Moreover, we present
a new model of gravity that can lead to a universe in agreement with
observations, free of perturbative instabilities, and applying the Om(z)
diagnostic test we confirm that it is in agreement with the combination of
SNIa, BAO and CMB data at 1 confidence level.Comment: 39 pages, 12 figures, version published in JCA
High Sensitivity Array Observations of the QSO BRI 1335-0417
We present sensitive phase-referenced VLBI results on the radio continuum
emission from the QSO BRI 1335--0417. The observations were carried out
at 1.4 GHz using the High Sensitivity Array (HSA). Our sensitive VLBI image at
mas ( kpc) resolution shows continuum
emission in BRI 1335--0417 with a total flux density of Jy,
consistent with the flux density measured with the VLA. The size of the source
at FWHM is mas ( kpc) and the derived
intrinsic brightness temperature is K. No continuum
emission is detected at the full VLBI resolution ( mas, pc), with a 4 point source upper limit of 34 Jy
beam, or an upper limit to the intrinsic brightness temperature of
K. The highest angular resolution with at least a 4.5
detection of the radio continuum emission is mas ( kpc). At this resolution, the image shows a continuum feature in BRI
1335--0417 with a size of mas ( kpc) at FWHM,
and intrinsic brightness temperature of K. The extent of
the observed continuum sources at 1.4 GHz and the derived brightness
temperatures show that the radio emission (and thus presumably the far-infrared
emission) in BRI 1335--0417 is powered by a major starburst, with a massive
star formation rate of order a few thousand M_{\odot} {\rm yr}^{-1}z=4.4$ QSO.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, AJ accepte
Morphological regions and oblique incidence dot formation in a model of surface sputtering
We study solid surface morphology created by off-normal ion-beam sputtering
with an atomistic, solid-on-solid model of sputter erosion. With respect to an
earlier version of the model, we extend this model with the inclusion of
lateral erosion. Using the 2-dimensional structure factor, we found an upper
bound , in the lateral straggle , for clear ripple formation.
Above this upper bound, for longitudinal straggle , we found
the possibility of dot formation (without sample rotation). Moreover, a
temporal crossover from a hole topography to ripple topography with the same
value of collision cascade parameters was found. Finally, a scaling analysis of
the roughness, using the consecutive gradient approach, yields the growth
exponents and 0.67 for two different topographic regimes.Comment: 8 pages, 14 figure
Sum rules for spin-Hall conductivity cancelation
It has been shown recently that the universal dc spin conductivity of
two-dimensional electrons with a Rashba spin-orbit interaction is canceled by
vertex corrections in a weak scattering regime. We prove that the zero bulk
spin conductivity is an intrinsic property of the free-electron Hamiltonian and
scattering is merely a tool to reveal this property in terms of the
diagrammatic technique. When Zeeman energy is neglected, the zero dc
conductivity persists in a magnetic field. Spin conductivity increases
resonantly at the cyclotron frequency and then decays towards the universal
value.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
Recommended from our members
Energy overview of Botswana: generation and consumption
Botswana has a basic need to explore its energy concept, this being its energy sources, generation and percentage of the population with access to electricity. At present, Botswana generates electricity from coal, which supplies about 29% (on average) of the country’s demand. The other 71% is imported mainly from South Africa (Eskom). Consequently, the dependence of Botswana on imports posses threats to the security of its energy supply. As a result, there is the need to understand the bases for a possible generation expansion that would substantiate existing documentation. In view of this need, this study investigates the existing energy sources as well as energy consumption and production levels in Botswana. The study would be further developed by making projections of the energy demand up until the year 2020. The key techniques that were used include; literature review, questionnaire survey and an empirical study. The results presented indicated that, current dependable operation capacity (i.e. 100MW) should be increased to 2,595 MW or more assuming 85% plant efficiency. This would then be able to meet the growing demand for energy use. In addition, the installed capacity would be able to support commercial and mining activities for the growth of the economy
Nonlocality of cluster states of qubits
We investigate cluster states of qubits with respect to their non-local
properties. We demonstrate that a Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) argument
holds for any cluster state: more precisely, it holds for any partial, thence
mixed, state of a small number of connected qubits (five, in the case of
one-dimensional lattices). In addition, we derive a new Bell inequality that is
maximally violated by the 4-qubit cluster state and is not violated by the
4-qubit GHZ state.Comment: 5 pages; paragraph V.B contains a comparison with Guehne et al.,
quant-ph/041005
On an exact hydrodynamic solution for the elliptic flow
Looking for the underlying hydrodynamic mechanisms determining the elliptic
flow we show that for an expanding relativistic perfect fluid the transverse
flow may derive from a solvable hydrodynamic potential, if the entropy is
transversally conserved and the corresponding expansion "quasi-stationary",
that is mainly governed by the temperature cooling. Exact solutions for the
velocity flow coefficients and the temperature dependence of the spatial
and momentum anisotropy are obtained and shown to be in agreement with the
elliptic flow features of heavy-ion collisions.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
A study of Antimicrobial Activity, Acute Toxicity and Cytoprotective Effect of a Polyherbal Extract in a Rat Ethanol-HCl Gastric Ulcer Model.
The decoction of the aerial parts of Rhynchosia recinosa (A.Rich.) Bak. [Fabaceae] is used in combination with the stem barks of Ozoroa insignis Del. (Anacardiaceae), Maytenus senegalensis (Lam.) Excell. [Celastraceae] Entada abyssinica Steud. ex A.Rich [Fabaceae] and Lannea schimperi (Hochst.)Engl. [Anacardiaceae] as a traditional remedy for managing peptic ulcers. However, the safety and efficacy of this polyherbal preparation has not been evaluated. This study reports on the phytochemical profile and some biological activities of the individual plant extracts and a combination of extracts of the five plants. METHODS: A mixture of 80% ethanol extracts of R. recinosa, O. insignis, M. senegalensis, E. abyssinica and L. schimperi at doses of 100, 200, 400 and 800 mg/kg body wt were evaluated for ability to protect Sprague Dawley rats from gastric ulceration by an ethanol-HCl mixture. ytoprotective effect was assessed by comparison with a negative control group given 1% tween 80 in normal saline and a positive control group given 40 mg/kg body wt pantoprazole. The individual extracts and their combinations were also tested for antibacterial activity against four Gram negative bacteria; Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922), Salmonella typhi (NCTC 8385), Vibrio cholerae (clinical isolate), and Klebsiella pneumoniae (clinical isolate) using the microdilution method. In addition the extracts were evaluated for brine shrimp toxicity and acute toxicity in mice. Phytochemical tests were done using standard methods to determine the presence of tannins, saponins, steroids, cardiac glycosides, flavonoids, alkaloids and terpenoids in the individual plant extracts and in the mixed extract of the five plants. RESULTS: The combined ethanolic extracts of the 5 plants caused a dose-dependent protection against ethanol/HCl induced ulceration of rat gastric mucosa, reaching 81.7% mean protection as compared to 87.5% protection by 40 mg/kg body wt pantoprazole. Both the individual plant extracts and the mixed extracts of 5 plants exhibited weak to moderate antibacterial activity against four G-ve bacteria. Despite Ozoroa insignis being toxic to mice at doses above 1000 mg/kg body wt, the other plant extracts and the combined extract of the 5 plants were tolerated by mice up to 5000 mg/kg body wt. The brine shrimp test results showed the same pattern of toxicity with Ozoroa insignis being the most toxic (LC50 = 10.63 mug/ml). Phytochemical tests showed that the combined extract of the five plants contained tannins, saponins, steroids, cardiac glycosides, flavonoids and terpenoids. Flavonoids, tannins and terpenoids are known to have antioxidant activity. CONCLUSION: The combined extract of the five plants exhibited a dose-dependent protective activity in the rat ethanol-HCl gastric ulcer model. The extracts also exhibited weak antibacterial activity against four Gram negative bacteria and low acute toxicity in mice and brine shrimps. Although the results support claims by traditional healers who use a decoction of the five plants for treatment of peptic ulcers, more models of gastric ulceration and proper animal toxicity studies are needed to validate possible clinical use of the polyherbal extract. It is also evident that the doses of the crude extracts showing protection of the gastric mucosa are too large for realistic translation to direct clinical application, but further studies using bioassay guided fractionation are important to either identify more practical fractions or active compound/s
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