Limitations of Online Information on Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm

Background. Patients with AAA face a complex decision, and knowledge of the risks and benefits of each treatment option is essential to informed decision-making. Here we assess the current information on the internet accessible to patients regarding the management of AAA. Study Design. We performed a search on Google using the keywords “abdominal aortic aneurysm” and reviewed the top 50 web sites. We focused on information related to treatment options and alternatives to treatment and the risks of each option. Results. Twenty-seven websites were included in the study. Nearly 30% of websites discussed the risk of mortality and myocardial infarction after open surgery, compared to only 7.4% for both risks after EVAR. Other complications were listed by fewer websites. Fifty-five percent of websites reported that patients had a faster recovery following EVAR, but only 18.5% mentioned the risk of reintervention after EVAR or the need for long-term surveillance with CT scans. Conclusions. While most websites included descriptive information on AAA and mentioned the potential treatment options available to patients, the discussion of the risks of open surgery and EVAR was inadequate. These results suggest that websites frequently accessed by patients lack important information regarding surgical risk

A white dwarf merger as progenitor of the anomalous X-ray pulsar 4U 0142+61?

It has been recently proposed that massive fast-rotating highly-magnetized white dwarfs could describe the observational properties of some of Soft Gamma-Ray Repeaters (SGRs) and Anomalous X-Ray Pulsars (AXPs). Moreover, it has also been shown that high-field magnetic (HFMWDs) can be the outcome of white dwarf binary mergers. The products of these mergers consist of a hot central white dwarf surrounded by a rapidly rotating disk. Here we show that the merger of a double degenerate system can explain the characteristics of the peculiar AXP 4U 0142+61. This scenario accounts for the observed infrared excess. We also show that the observed properties of 4U 0142+6 are consistent with an approximately 1.2 M_{\sun} white dwarf, remnant of the coalescence of an original system made of two white dwarfs of masses 0.6\, M_{\sun} and 1.0\, M_{\sun}. Finally, we infer a post-merging age $\tau_{\rm WD}\approx 64$ kyr, and a magnetic field $B\approx 2\times 10^8$ G. Evidence for such a magnetic field may come from the possible detection of the electron cyclotron absorption feature observed between the $B$ and $V$ bands at $\approx 10^{15}$ Hz in the spectrum of 4U 0142+61.Comment: to appear in ApJ Letter

Reciprocal knock-in mice to investigate the functional redundancy of lamin B1 and lamin B2.

Lamins B1 and B2 (B-type lamins) have very similar sequences and are expressed ubiquitously. In addition, both Lmnb1- and Lmnb2-deficient mice die soon after birth with neuronal layering abnormalities in the cerebral cortex, a consequence of defective neuronal migration. The similarities in amino acid sequences, expression patterns, and knockout phenotypes raise the question of whether the two proteins have redundant functions. To investigate this topic, we generated "reciprocal knock-in mice"-mice that make lamin B2 from the Lmnb1 locus (Lmnb1(B2/B2)) and mice that make lamin B1 from the Lmnb2 locus (Lmnb2(B1/B1)). Lmnb1(B2/B2) mice produced increased amounts of lamin B2 but no lamin B1; they died soon after birth with neuronal layering abnormalities in the cerebral cortex. However, the defects in Lmnb1(B2/B2) mice were less severe than those in Lmnb1-knockout mice, indicating that increased amounts of lamin B2 partially ameliorate the abnormalities associated with lamin B1 deficiency. Similarly, increased amounts of lamin B1 in Lmnb2(B1/B1) mice did not prevent the neurodevelopmental defects elicited by lamin B2 deficiency. We conclude that lamins B1 and B2 have unique roles in the developing brain and that increased production of one B-type lamin does not fully complement loss of the other

Release of cholesterol-rich particles from the macrophage plasma membrane during movement of filopodia and lamellipodia.

Cultured mouse peritoneal macrophages release large numbers of ~30-nm cholesterol-rich particles. Here, we show that those particles represent fragments of the plasma membrane that are pulled away and left behind during the projection and retraction of filopodia and lamellipodia. Consistent with this finding, the particles are enriched in proteins found in focal adhesions, which attach macrophages to the substrate. The release of particles is abolished by blocking cell movement (either by depolymerizing actin with latrunculin A or by inhibiting myosin II with blebbistatin). Confocal microscopy and NanoSIMS imaging studies revealed that the plasma membrane-derived particles are enriched in 'accessible cholesterol' (a mobile pool of cholesterol detectable with the modified cytolysin ALO-D4) but not in sphingolipid-sequestered cholesterol [a pool detectable with ostreolysin A (OlyA)]. The discovery that macrophages release cholesterol-rich particles during cellular locomotion is likely relevant to cholesterol efflux and could contribute to extracellular cholesterol deposition in atherosclerotic plaques

A time of flight method to measure the speed of sound using a stereo sound card

We present an inexpensive apparatus for measuring the speed of sound, with a time of flight method, using a computer with a stereo sound board. Students measure the speed of sound by timing the delay between the arrivals of a pulse to two microphones placed at different distances from the source. It can serve as a very effective demonstration, providing a quick measurement of the speed of sound in air; we have used it with great success in Open Days in our Department. It can also be used for a full fledged laboratory determination of the speed of sound in air.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Physics Teache

Installation instructions for GLiMR version 1.pdf

Here, we describe and demonstrate a geographic information systems-based lithic morphometric research (GLiMR) software approach. GLiMR accurately and rapidly handles a sequence of ArcGIS procedures to extract geometric morphometric data from 2D and 3D scan files of lithic artifacts. GLiMR generates three main types of geometric properties: shape data, topographic data and domain aggregate data. These data can be extracted in ways that support other analyses of artifact form, including Generalized Procrustes Analysis, Principal Components Analysis and Cluster Analyses. We illustrate the use of GLiMR by presenting a basic case study that compares the geometric morphometry of Western Stemmed Tradition projectile points found in two cache features at Idaho’s Cooper’s Ferry site and from other sites in the Columbia River Plateau region of the Pacific Northwest. This collection also includes the XYZ scan files for artifacts used for case study analysis

Effect of strain on stripe phases in the Quantum Hall regime

Spontaneous breaking of rotational symmetry and preferential orientation of stripe phases in the quantum Hall regime has attracted considerable experimental and theoretical effort over the last decade. We demonstrate experimentally and theoretically that the direction of high and low resistance of the two-dimensional (2D) hole gas in the quantum Hall regime can be controlled by an external strain. Depending on the sign of the in-plane shear strain, the Hartree-Fock energy of holes or electrons is minimized when the charge density wave (CDW) is oriented along [110] or [1-10] directions. We suggest that shear strains due to internal electric fields in the growth direction are responsible for the observed orientation of CDW in pristine electron and hole samples.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

The Potential Trajectory of Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae, an Emerging Threat to Health-Care Facilities, and the Impact of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Toolkit.

Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), a group of pathogens resistant to most antibiotics and associated with high mortality, are a rising emerging public health threat. Current approaches to infection control and prevention have not been adequate to prevent spread. An important but unproven approach is to have hospitals in a region coordinate surveillance and infection control measures. Using our Regional Healthcare Ecosystem Analyst (RHEA) simulation model and detailed Orange County, California, patient-level data on adult inpatient hospital and nursing home admissions (2011-2012), we simulated the spread of CRE throughout Orange County health-care facilities under 3 scenarios: no specific control measures, facility-level infection control efforts (uncoordinated control measures), and a coordinated regional effort. Aggressive uncoordinated and coordinated approaches were highly similar, averting 2,976 and 2,789 CRE transmission events, respectively (72.2% and 77.0% of transmission events), by year 5. With moderate control measures, coordinated regional control resulted in 21.3% more averted cases (n = 408) than did uncoordinated control at year 5. Our model suggests that without increased infection control approaches, CRE would become endemic in nearly all Orange County health-care facilities within 10 years. While implementing the interventions in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's CRE toolkit would not completely stop the spread of CRE, it would cut its spread substantially, by half

A Finite-Volume Version of Aizenman-Higuchi Theorem for the 2d Ising Model

In the late 1970s, in two celebrated papers, Aizenman and Higuchi independently established that all infinite-volume Gibbs measures of the two-dimensional ferromagnetic nearest-neighbor Ising model are convex combinations of the two pure phases. We present here a new approach to this result, with a number of advantages: (i) We obtain an optimal finite-volume, quantitative analogue (implying the classical claim); (ii) the scheme of our proof seems more natural and provides a better picture of the underlying phenomenon; (iii) this new approach might be applicable to systems for which the classical method fails.Comment: A couple of typos corrected. To appear in Probab. Theory Relat. Field