Height estimates for Killing graphs

The paper aims at proving global height estimates for Killing graphs defined over a complete manifold with nonempty boundary. To this end, we first point out how the geometric analysis on a Killing graph is naturally related to a weighted manifold structure, where the weight is defined in terms of the length of the Killing vector field. According to this viewpoint, we introduce some potential theory on weighted manifolds with boundary and we prove a weighted volume estimate for intrinsic balls on the Killing graph. Finally, using these tools, we provide the desired estimate for the weighted height in the assumption that the Killing graph has constant weighted mean curvature and the weighted geometry of the ambient space is suitably controlled.Comment: 26 pages. Final version. To appear on Journal of Geometric Analysi

British industrial relations pluralism in the era of neoliberalism

This article provides a broad overview of the pluralist tradition in UK industrial relations scholarship, identifying its defining characteristics and mapping its evolution in recent decades. It deals in turn with the following: the appreciation of the relative interests of workers and employers that lies at the heart of the pluralist frame of reference, the research agenda that flows from this understanding, pluralist conceptions of context and agency within industrial relations, the standards that pluralists habitually use when assessing the employment relationship, the targets and modes of critique that pluralists direct against intellectual opponents, and the prescriptions that pluralists offer for industrial relations reform. Throughout the article there is a focus on change within the pluralist tradition and the manner in which it has adapted to the hegemony of neoliberalism in the realms of both ideas and policy

Visual, Motor and Attentional Influences on Proprioceptive Contributions to Perception of Hand Path Rectilinearity during Reaching

We examined how proprioceptive contributions to perception of hand path straightness are influenced by visual, motor and attentional sources of performance variability during horizontal planar reaching. Subjects held the handle of a robot that constrained goal-directed movements of the hand to the paths of controlled curvature. Subjects attempted to detect the presence of hand path curvature during both active (subject driven) and passive (robot driven) movements that either required active muscle force production or not. Subjects were less able to discriminate curved from straight paths when actively reaching for a target versus when the robot moved their hand through the same curved paths. This effect was especially evident during robot-driven movements requiring concurrent activation of lengthening but not shortening muscles. Subjects were less likely to report curvature and were more variable in reporting when movements appeared straight in a novel “visual channel” condition previously shown to block adaptive updating of motor commands in response to deviations from a straight-line hand path. Similarly, compromised performance was obtained when subjects simultaneously performed a distracting secondary task (key pressing with the contralateral hand). The effects compounded when these last two treatments were combined. It is concluded that environmental, intrinsic and attentional factors all impact the ability to detect deviations from a rectilinear hand path during goal-directed movement by decreasing proprioceptive contributions to limb state estimation. In contrast, response variability increased only in experimental conditions thought to impose additional attentional demands on the observer. Implications of these results for perception and other sensorimotor behaviors are discussed

Anemia and chronic kidney disease are associated with poor outcomes in heart failure patients

BACKGROUND: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) has been linked to higher heart failure (HF) risk. Anemia is a common consequence of CKD, and recent evidence suggests that anemia is a risk factor for HF. The purpose of this study was to examine among patients with HF, the association between CKD, anemia and inhospital mortality and early readmission. METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort study in two Swiss university hospitals. Subjects were selected based the presence of ICD-10 HF codes in 1999. We recorded demographic characteristics and risk factors for HF. CKD was defined as a serum creatinine ≥ 124 956;mol/L for women and ≥ 133 μmol/L for men. The main outcome measures were inhospital mortality and thirty-day readmissions. RESULTS: Among 955 eligible patients hospitalized with heart failure, 23.0% had CKD. Twenty percent and 6.1% of individuals with and without CKD, respectively, died at the hospital (p < 0.0001). Overall, after adjustment for other patient factors, creatinine and hemoglobin were associated with an increased risk of death at the hospital, and hemoglobin was related to early readmission. CONCLUSION: Both CKD and anemia are frequent among older patients with heart failure and are predictors of adverse outcomes, independent of other known risk factors for heart failure

Deciphering the functional role of spatial and temporal muscle synergies in whole-body movements

International audienceVoluntary movement is hypothesized to rely on a limited number of muscle synergies, the recruitment of which translates task goals into effective muscle activity. In this study, we investigated how to analytically characterize the functional role of different types of muscle synergies in task performance. To this end, we recorded a comprehensive dataset of muscle activity during a variety of whole-body pointing movements. We decomposed the electromyographic (EMG) signals using a space-by-time modularity model which encompasses the main types of synergies. We then used a task decoding and information theoretic analysis to probe the role of each synergy by mapping it to specific task features. We found that the temporal and spatial aspects of the movements were encoded by different temporal and spatial muscle synergies, respectively, consistent with the intuition that there should a correspondence between major attributes of movement and major features of synergies. This approach led to the development of a novel computational method for comparing muscle synergies from different participants according to their functional role. This functional similarity analysis yielded a small set of temporal and spatial synergies that describes the main features of whole-body reaching movements

Evidence That Two ATP-Dependent (Lon) Proteases in Borrelia burgdorferi Serve Different Functions

The canonical ATP-dependent protease Lon participates in an assortment of biological processes in bacteria, including the catalysis of damaged or senescent proteins and short-lived regulatory proteins. Borrelia spirochetes are unusual in that they code for two putative ATP-dependent Lon homologs, Lon-1 and Lon-2. Borrelia burgdorferi, the etiologic agent of Lyme disease, is transmitted through the blood feeding of Ixodes ticks. Previous work in our laboratory reported that B. burgdorferi lon-1 is upregulated transcriptionally by exposure to blood in vitro, while lon-2 is not. Because blood induction of Lon-1 may be of importance in the regulation of virulence factors critical for spirochete transmission, the clarification of functional roles for these two proteases in B. burgdorferi was the object of this study. On the chromosome, lon-2 is immediately downstream of ATP-dependent proteases clpP and clpX, an arrangement identical to that of lon of Escherichia coli. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that Lon-1 and Lon-2 cluster separately due to differences in the NH2-terminal substrate binding domains that may reflect differences in substrate specificity. Recombinant Lon-1 manifested properties of an ATP-dependent chaperone-protease in vitro but did not complement an E. coli Lon mutant, while Lon-2 corrected two characteristic Lon-mutant phenotypes. We conclude that B. burgdorferi Lons -1 and -2 have distinct functional roles. Lon-2 functions in a manner consistent with canonical Lon, engaged in cellular homeostasis. Lon-1, by virtue of its blood induction, and as a unique feature of the Borreliae, may be important in host adaptation from the arthropod to a warm-blooded host

Analyzing musculoskeletal neck pain, measured as present pain and periods of pain, with three different regression models: a cohort study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In the literature there are discussions on the choice of outcome and the need for more longitudinal studies of musculoskeletal disorders. The general aim of this longitudinal study was to analyze musculoskeletal neck pain, in a group of young adults. Specific aims were to determine whether psychosocial factors, computer use, high work/study demands, and lifestyle are long-term or short-term factors for musculoskeletal neck pain, and whether these factors are important for developing or ongoing musculoskeletal neck pain.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Three regression models were used to analyze the different outcomes. Pain at present was analyzed with a marginal logistic model, for number of years with pain a Poisson regression model was used and for developing and ongoing pain a logistic model was used. Presented results are odds ratios and proportion ratios (logistic models) and rate ratios (Poisson model). The material consisted of web-based questionnaires answered by 1204 Swedish university students from a prospective cohort recruited in 2002.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Perceived stress was a risk factor for pain at present (PR = 1.6), for developing pain (PR = 1.7) and for number of years with pain (RR = 1.3). High work/study demands was associated with pain at present (PR = 1.6); and with number of years with pain when the demands negatively affect home life (RR = 1.3). Computer use pattern (number of times/week with a computer session ≥ 4 h, without break) was a risk factor for developing pain (PR = 1.7), but also associated with pain at present (PR = 1.4) and number of years with pain (RR = 1.2). Among life style factors smoking (PR = 1.8) was found to be associated to pain at present. The difference between men and women in prevalence of musculoskeletal pain was confirmed in this study. It was smallest for the outcome ongoing pain (PR = 1.4) compared to pain at present (PR = 2.4) and developing pain (PR = 2.5).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>By using different regression models different aspects of neck pain pattern could be addressed and the risk factors impact on pain pattern was identified. Short-term risk factors were perceived stress, high work/study demands and computer use pattern (break pattern). Those were also long-term risk factors. For developing pain perceived stress and computer use pattern were risk factors.</p

Long-term efficacy of botulinum toxin A for treatment of blepharospasm,hemifacial spasm, and spastic entropion: a multicentre study using two drug-dose escalation indexes

PURPOSE: To investigate the long-term effectiveness and safety of botulinum neurotoxin A (BoNT-A) treatment in patients with blepharospasm (BEB), hemifacial spasm (HFS), and entropion (EN) and to use for the first time two modified indexes, 'botulin toxin escalation index-U' (BEI-U) and 'botulin toxin escalation index percentage' (BEI-%), in the dose-escalation evaluation. METHODS: All patients in this multicentre study were followed for at least 10 years and main outcomes were clinical efficacy, duration of relief, BEI-U and BEI-%, and frequency of adverse events. RESULTS: BEB, HFS, and EN patients received a mean BoNT-A dose with a significant inter-group difference (P<0.0005, respectively). The mean (+/-SD) effect duration was statistically different (P=0.009) among three patient groups. Regarding the BoNT-A escalation indexes, the mean (+/-SD) values of BEI-U and BEI-% were statistically different (P=0.035 and 0.047, respectively) among the three groups. In BEB patients, the BEI-% was significantly increased in younger compared with older patients (P=0.008). The most frequent adverse events were upper lid ptosis, diplopia, ecchymosis, and localized bruising. CONCLUSIONS: This long-term multicentre study supports a high efficacy and good safety profile of BoNT-A for treatment of BEB, HFS, and EN. The BEI indexes indicate a significantly greater BoNT-A-dose escalation for BEB patients compared with HFS or EN patients and a significantly greater BEI-% in younger vsolder BEB patients. These results confirm a greater efficacy in the elderly and provide a framework for long-term studies with a more flexible and reliable evaluation of drug-dose escalation

Direction of Movement Is Encoded in the Human Primary Motor Cortex

The present study investigated how direction of hand movement, which is a well-described parameter in cerebral organization of motor control, is incorporated in the somatotopic representation of the manual effector system in the human primary motor cortex (M1). Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a manual step-tracking task we found that activation patterns related to movement in different directions were spatially disjoint within the representation area of the hand on M1. Foci of activation related to specific movement directions were segregated within the M1 hand area; activation related to direction 0° (right) was located most laterally/superficially, whereas directions 180° (left) and 270° (down) elicited activation more medially within the hand area. Activation related to direction 90° was located between the other directions. Moreover, by investigating differences between activations related to movement along the horizontal (0°+180°) and vertical (90°+270°) axis, we found that activation related to the horizontal axis was located more anterolaterally/dorsally in M1 than for the vertical axis, supporting that activations related to individual movement directions are direction- and not muscle related. Our results of spatially segregated direction-related activations in M1 are in accordance with findings of recent fMRI studies on neural encoding of direction in human M1. Our results thus provide further evidence for a direct link between direction as an organizational principle in sensorimotor transformation and movement execution coded by effector representations in M1

Pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer in two large pooled case–control studies

The association between duration of pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer has not been well characterized in large population-based studies. We conducted detailed analyses to determine the association between pancreatitis onset and pancreatic cancer risk. Data from two case–control studies of pancreatic cancer (n = 4515) in the San Francisco Bay Area and the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center were pooled for analysis (1,663 cases, 2,852 frequency-matched controls). Adjusted odds ratios (OR) were estimated using a random-effects model. In the pooled multivariable model, history of pancreatitis was associated with a 7.2-fold increased risk estimate for pancreatic cancer [95% confidence interval (CI): 4.0, 13]. The risk estimate was nearly 10-fold in participants aged &lt;55 years (OR = 9.9, 95% CI: 3.5, 28). A shorter temporal history of pancreatitis was more closely associated with pancreatic cancer than was a longer temporal history: &lt;3 years (OR = 29, 95% CI: 12, 71), 3–10 years (OR = 2.6, 95% CI: 1.5, 5.6), and &gt;10 years (OR = 1.8, 95% CI: 0.7, 4.5, p trend &lt; 0.001). A short temporal history of pancreatitis was highly associated with pancreatic cancer, suggesting that pancreatitis may be an early manifestation of pancreatic cancer in some individuals. Pancreatic cancer should be considered in the differential diagnosis of individuals with an episode of pancreatitis