Imaging of nuclear magnetic resonance spin–lattice relaxation activation energy in cartilage

Samples of human and bovine cartilage have been examined using magnetic resonance imaging to determine the proton nuclear magnetic resonance spin–lattice relaxation time, T1, as a function of depth within through the cartilage tissue. T1 was measured at five to seven temperatures between 8 and 38°C. From this, it is shown that the T1 relaxation time is well described by Arrhenius-type behaviour and the activation energy of the relaxation process is quantified. The activation energy within the cartilage is approximately 11 ± 2 kJ mol−1 with this notably being less than that for both pure water (16.6 ± 0.4 kJ mol−1) and the phosphate-buffered solution in which the cartilage was immersed (14.7 ± 1.0 kJ mol−1). It is shown that this activation energy increases as a function of depth in the cartilage. It is known that cartilage composition varies with depth, and hence, these results have been interpreted in terms of the structure within the cartilage tissue and the association of the water with the macromolecular constituents of the cartilage

Phenobarbital Therapy for Alcohol Withdrawal

For the treatment of alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS), phenobarbital works differently than benzodiazepines. Benzodiazepines activate only gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) whereas phenobarbital has the additional mechanism of inhibiting glutamate receptors. In the absence of alcohol, GABA receptor numbers are increased, and glutamate receptors are decreased causing withdrawal symptoms. By giving phenobarbital, we are counteracting both receptors. This mechanism is associated with less agitation and delirium then what is typically seen with benzodiazepine treatment 1-3. Background: A literature reviewed demonstrated no studies have compared the impact of these two treatment protocols – Dexmedetomidine and Benzodiazepine vs. Phenobarbital and Benzodiazepine – for AWS; therefore, this study seeks to compare the two treatment protocols. recedex (Dexmedetomidine HCL), a Central alpha-2 Adrenergic Agonist, is utilized in the ICU as an adjunctive treatment to the standard of care – benzodiazepines – and is based on CIWA score 1-3. Literature demonstrates Phenobarbital has been used in conjunction with benzodiazepines based on the CIWA scale 1-3. Problem statement: Anticipated that administration of phenobarbital treatment for management of alcohol withdrawal reduces CIWA-Ar scores and improves CAM-ICU Scores when compared to the administration of dexmedetomidine. Methods: Electronic health records were reviewed from this retrospective study for a goal of 50 (up to 100) cases per group [total of 100 (up to 200)] for Henry Ford Allegiance Health (HFAH) patients 18 years of age or older who were treated for alcohol withdrawal syndrome between September 1st, 2017 and January 1st, 2020. Primary measures include assessing outcomes for patients given the following alcohol withdrawal protocols: – Phenobarbital and Benzodiazepine – Dexmedetomidine and Benzodiazepine. Assessed and compared each treatment protocol (Phenobarbital and Dexmedetomidine) for the following variables: number of patients, average change in CIWA-Ar scores, average change in CAM-ICU scores, and average change in RASS scores. Average LOS per patient in each treatment group (Phenobarbital and Dexmedetomidine) was assessed and compared. Looked at changes in outcome variables and differences in length of stay. Results: Dexmedetomidine lowered CIWA scores (9.1 points), which is more than phenobarbital does (5.7 points) within 24 hours of medication administration. (pvalue of 0.067; See Figure 1). Length of Stay for dexmedetomidine cases were in hospital for about 11 days, whereas the phenobarbital cases only had a mean stay of about 9 days (p=0.241; See Figure 2). Conclusion: This study will help identify best practices for the treatment of AWS and may be of benefit to other physicians and their patients. This study adds to the literature for administration of phenobarbital versus dexmedetomidine for AWS management.https://scholarlycommons.henryford.com/nursresconf2021/1009/thumbnail.jp

Spectral approach to linear programming bounds on codes

We give new proofs of asymptotic upper bounds of coding theory obtained within the frame of Delsarte's linear programming method. The proofs rely on the analysis of eigenvectors of some finite-dimensional operators related to orthogonal polynomials. The examples of the method considered in the paper include binary codes, binary constant-weight codes, spherical codes, and codes in the projective spaces.Comment: 11 pages, submitte

Detection and measurement of gamma-ray self-attenuation in plutonium residues

A new method to correct for self-attenuation in gamma-ray assays of plutonium is presented. The underlying assumptions of the technique are based on a simple but accurate physical model of plutonium residues, particularly pyrochemical salts, in which it is assumed that the plutonium is divided into two portions, each of which can be treated separately from the standpoint of gamma-ray analysis: a portion that is in the form of plutonium metal shot; and a dilute portion that is mixed with the matrix. The performance of the technique is evaluated using assays of plutonium residues by tomographic gamma scanning at the Los Alamos Plutonium Facility. The ability of the method to detect saturation conditions is examined

Architecture of the Multi-Modal Organizational Research and Production Heterogeneous Network (MORPHnet)

The research and education (R&E) community requires persistent and scaleable network infrastructure to concurrently support production and research applications as well as network research. In the past, the R&E community has relied on supporting parallel network and end-node infrastructures, which can be very expensive and inefficient for network service managers and application programmers. The grand challenge in networking is to provide support for multiple, concurrent, multi-layer views of the network for the applications and the network researchers, and to satisfy the sometimes conflicting requirements of both while ensuring one type of traffic does not adversely affect the other. Internet and telecommunications service providers will also benefit from a multi-modal infrastructure, which can provide smoother transitions to new technologies and allow for testing of these technologies with real user traffic while they are still in the pre-production mode. The authors proposed approach requires the use of as much of the same network and end system infrastructure as possible to reduce the costs needed to support both classes of activities (i.e., production and research). Breaking the infrastructure into segments and objects (e.g., routers, switches, multiplexors, circuits, paths, etc.) gives the capability to dynamically construct and configure the virtual active networks to address these requirements. These capabilities must be supported at the campus, regional, and wide-area network levels to allow for collaboration by geographically dispersed groups. The Multi-Modal Organizational Research and Production Heterogeneous Network (MORPHnet) described in this report is an initial architecture and framework designed to identify and support the capabilities needed for the proposed combined infrastructure and to address related research issues

Entanglement and four wave mixing effects in the dissipation free nonlinear interaction of two photons at a single atom

We investigate the nonlinear interaction between two photons in a single input pulse at an atomic two level nonlinearity. A one dimensional model for the propagation of light to and from the atom is used to describe the precise spatiotemporal coherence of the two photon state. It is shown that the interaction generates spatiotemporal entanglement in the output state similar to the entanglement observed in parametric downconversion. A method of generating photon pairs from coherent pump light using this quantum mechanical four wave mixing process is proposed.Comment: 10 pages, including 3 figures, correction in eq.(7), updated references, final version for publication in PR

Banner News

https://openspace.dmacc.edu/banner_news/1253/thumbnail.jp

Banner News

https://openspace.dmacc.edu/banner_news/1251/thumbnail.jp