Does the quantity of enteral nutrition affect outcomes in critically ill trauma patients?

Abstract from Clinical Nutrition Week, Orlando, FL, January 29-February 2, 2005

Complex microwave conductivity of Na-DNA powders

We report the complex microwave conductivity, $\sigma=\sigma_1-i\sigma_2$, of Na-DNA powders, which was measured from 80 K to 300 K by using a microwave cavity perturbation technique. We found that the magnitude of $\sigma_1$ near room temperature was much larger than the contribution of the surrounding water molecules, and that the decrease of $\sigma_1$ with decreasing temperature was sufficiently stronger than that of the conduction of counterions. These results clearly suggest that the electrical conduction of Na-DNA is intrinsically semiconductive.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure

Quantum transport through a DNA wire in a dissipative environment

Electronic transport through DNA wires in the presence of a strong dissipative environment is investigated. We show that new bath-induced electronic states are formed within the bandgap. These states show up in the linear conductance spectrum as a temperature dependent background and lead to a crossover from tunneling to thermal activated behavior with increasing temperature. Depending on the strength of the electron-bath coupling, the conductance at the Fermi level can show a weak exponential or even an algebraic length dependence. Our results suggest a new environmental-induced transport mechanism. This might be relevant for the understanding of molecular conduction experiments in liquid solution, like those recently performed on poly(GC) oligomers in a water buffer (B. Xu et al., Nano Lett 4, 1105 (2004)).Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

High sensitivity GEM experiment on double beta decay of 76-Ge

The GEM project is designed for the next generation 2 beta decay experiments with 76-Ge. One ton of ''naked'' HP Ge detectors (natural at the first GEM-I phase and enriched in 76-Ge to 86% at the second GEM-II stage) are operating in super-high purity liquid nitrogen contained in the Cu vacuum cryostat (sphere with diameter 5 m). The latest is placed in the water shield. Monte Carlo simulation evidently shows that sensitivity of the experiment (in terms of the T1/2 limit for neutrinoless 2 beta decay) is 10^27 yr with natural HP Ge crystals and 10^28 yr with enriched ones. These bounds corresponds to the restrictions on the neutrino mass less than 0.05 eV and 0.015 eV with natural and enriched detectors, respectively. Besides, the GEM-I set up could advance the current best limits on the existence of neutralinos - as dark matter candidates - by three order of magnitudes, and at the same time would be able to identify unambiguously the dark matter signal by detection of its seasonal modulation.Comment: LaTeX, 20 pages, 4 figure

Separation of Oligosaccharides from Lotus Seeds via Medium-pressure Liquid Chromatography Coupled with ELSD and DAD

peer-reviewedLotus seeds were identified by the Ministry of Public Health of China as both food and medicine. One general function of lotus seeds is to improve intestinal health. However, to date, studies evaluating the relationship between bioactive compounds in lotus seeds and the physiological activity of the intestine are limited. In the present study, by using medium pressure liquid chromatography coupled with evaporative light-scattering detector and diode-array detector, five oligosaccharides were isolated and their structures were further characterized by electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. In vitro testing determined that LOS3-1 and LOS4 elicited relatively good proliferative effects on Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus. These results indicated a structure-function relationship between the physiological activity of oligosaccharides in lotus seeds and the number of probiotics applied, thus providing room for improvement of this particular feature. Intestinal probiotics may potentially become a new effective drug target for the regulation of immunity

Multi-performance optimisation framework for the selection of structural alternatives based on sustainable qualities

In recent years, the increasing demand for innovative sustainable policies in building engineering has shifted the decision rationale from traditional performance-based systems towards systems augmented by life-cycle sustainability notions. This paper investigates a novel optimisation framework, which supports the selection of buildings’ structural alternatives at concept stage by applying multiple performance, sustainable requirements. The established model explores ways to effectively compute and process expert knowledge across different stakeholders groups into a consolidated decision-making platform supported by Lean Theory. A systematic procedure based on the Quality Function Deployment is utilised to successfully translate 16 sustainability requirements into 27 corresponding engineering design requirements. The theoretical and mathematical principles of Analytic Network Process are applied on a pilot study to build general decision clusters, identify feedback links amongst the various engineering criteria and determine their inner dependences

Search for new physics in the multijet and missing transverse momentum final state in proton-proton collisions at √s = 8 TeV

Open Access: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0).-- et al.A search for new physics is performed in multijet events with large missing transverse momentum produced in proton-proton collisions at √s = 8 TeV using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.5 fb -1 collected with the CMS detector at the LHC. The data sample is divided into three jet multiplicity categories (3-5, 6-7, and ≥8 jets), and studied further in bins of two variables: the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta and the missing transverse momentum. The observed numbers of events in various categories are consistent with backgrounds expected from standard model processes. Exclusion limits are presented for several simplified supersymmetric models of squark or gluino pair production.We acknowledge the enduring support for the construction and operation of the LHC and the CMS detector provided by the following funding agencies: the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and Research; the Belgian Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique, and Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek; the Brazilian Funding Agencies (CNPq, CAPES, FAPERJ, and FAPESP); the Bulgarian Ministry of Education, Youth and Science; CERN; the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ministry of Science and Technology, and National Natural Science Foundation of China; the Colombian Funding Agency (COLCIENCIAS); the Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Sport; the Research Promotion Foundation, Cyprus; the Ministry of Education and Research, Recurrent financing contract SF0690030s09 and European Regional Development Fund, Estonia; the Academy of Finland, Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture, and Helsinki Institute of Physics; the Institut National de Physique Nucle´aire et de Physique des Particules/CNRS, and Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique et aux E'nergies Alternatives/CEA, France; the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, and Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren, Germany; the General Secretariat for Research and Technology, Greece; the National Scientific Research Foundation, and National Office for Research and Technology, Hungary; the Department of Atomic Energy and the Department of Science and Technology, India; the Institute for Studies in Theoretical Physics and Mathematics, Iran; the Science Foundation, Ireland; the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Italy; the Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the World Class University program of NRF, Republic of Korea; the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences; the Mexican Funding Agencies (CINVESTAV, CONACYT, SEP, and UASLP-FAI); the Ministry of Science and Innovation, New Zealand; the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission; the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the National Science Centre, Poland; the Fundaçao para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal; JINR (Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan); the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, the Federal Agency of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation, Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research; the Ministry of Science and Technological Development of Serbia; the Secretaría de Estado de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación and Programa Consolider-Ingenio 2010, Spain; the Swiss Funding Agencies (ETH Board, ETH Zurich, PSI, SNF, UniZH, Canton Zurich, and SER); the National Science Council, Taipei; the Thailand Center of Excellence in Physics, the Institute for the Promotion of Teaching Science and Technology of Thailand and the National Science and Technology Development Agency of Thailand; the Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey, and Turkish Atomic Energy Authority; the Science and Technology Facilities Council, U.K.; the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. National Science Foundation.Individuals have received support from the Marie-Curie program and the European Research Council (European Union); the Leventis Foundation; the A. P. Sloan Foundation; the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation; the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office; the Fonds pour la Formation à la Recherche dans l’Industrie et dans l’Agriculture (FRIA-Belgium); the Agentschap voor Innovatie door Wetenschap en Technologie (IWT-Belgium); the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS) of Czech Republic; the Council of Science and Industrial Research, India; the Compagnia di San Paolo (Torino); and the HOMING PLUS program of Foundation for Polish Science, cofinanced from European Union, Regional Development Fund; the Consorzio per la Fisica (Trieste); MIUR project 20108T4XTM (Italy); the Thalis and Aristeia programmes cofinanced by EU-ESF and the Greek NSRF; and the National Priorities Research Program by Qatar National Research Fund.Article funded by SCOAP3.Peer Reviewe

Emisión teórica de metano en tres sistemas de invernada para engorda de ganado en Argentina

In this study, the total annual and theoretical emission of methane (CH4) was estimated for cattle subjected to three winter fattening systems used in Argentina. These were extensive, semi-intensive and intensive fattening systems. The estimated annual emission was expressed as animal, live weight, cattle area and surface area used. The crude energy (CE) consumption was estimated on the basis of the method proposed by the Intergovernmental Panel for the Climatic Change (IPCC), and also following the cow equivalent (cE) adapted to the Argentine conditions in this study. To calculate the cE, the annual consumption of concentrates and forage of all the animals present in the farm was considered. At the same time, the digestibility of the consumed foods and the conversion factor of crude energy to methane suggested by IPCC were used. To estimate CH4 emission from the CE consumptions, the conversion CE factor (Ym) suggested by the IPCC, and a second factor (proposed in this study) were used. Independently of the method used to estimate CH4 emission, the results obtained indicate that methane emission, expressed as animal and live weight produced, was higher in the extensive systems; however, the estimation of CH4 emission was greater in the intensive systems in terms of cattle area and used surface area. These results are important considering that eventually the emission of CH4 will be punished as a mean to prevent the development of the greenhouse effect. Thus, it will be necessary to define how to measure and express these results. Today, some people suggest the intensification of animal production in order to reduce the emission of CH4 per animal without considering the emission per cattle area or utilized area and without considering the origin of the livestock feed.En este trabajo se modeló la emisión teórica, total y anual de metano (CH4) proveniente de bovinos en tres sistemas de invernadas comúnmente empleadas para engorda de ganado vacuno en Argentina. Estos fueron sistemas extensivos, semi-intensivos e intensivos. La emisión anual estimada, se expresó por animal, peso vivo producido, superficie ganadera y superficie utilizada. El consumo de energía bruta (EB) se estimó se acuerdo con el método propuesto por el Panel Intergubernamental para el Cambio Climático. (IPCC) y del equivalente vaca (EV) adaptado a las condiciones argentinas en este estudio. Para el cálculo del EV, se tuvo en cuenta el consumo anual de forraje y concentrados de todos los animales presentes en un establecimiento ganadero; como asimismo, la digestibilidad de los alimentos consumidos. Para estimar la emisión de CH4 a partir del consumo de EB, se usó el factor de conversión (Ym) de EB en CH4 sugerido por IPCC. Además, se usó un segundo factor propuesto en este trabajo. Independiente del método para estimar la emisión de CH4, los resultados obtenidos indicaron que la emisión expresada por animal y por peso vivo producido f ue mayor en los sistemas de producción extensivos. Sin embargo, la emisión de CH4 estimada por superficie ganadera o superficie utilizada fue mayor en los sistemas intensivos de producción. La importancia de este aserto reside en eventualmente se sancionara las altas emisiones de CH4 como medida para prevenir el efecto invernadero. Cuando esto suceda habrá que definir, en el caso de la ganadería vacuna, como medir y expresar estos resultados. Actualmente, algunos proponen intensificar la producción animal para reducir la emisión de CH4 por unidad de producto animal, sin considerar la emisión por superficie ganadera o por superficie utilizada y sin considerar el origen de los alimentos

Quality of Life and Clinical Outcomes in Elderly Patients Treated with Ventricular Pacing as Compared with Dual-Chamber Pacing

ABSTRACT Background Standard clinical practice permits the use of either single-chamber ventricular pacemakers or dual-chamber pacemakers for most patients who require cardiac pacing. Ventricular pacemakers are less expensive, but dual-chamber pacemakers are believed to be more physiologic. However, it is not known whether either type of pacemaker results in superior clinical outcomes. Methods The Pacemaker Selection in the Elderly study was a 30-month, single-blind, randomized, controlled comparison of ventricular pacing and dualchamber pacing in 407 patients 65 years of age or older in 29 centers. Patients received a dual-chamber pacemaker that had been randomly programmed to either ventricular pacing or dual-chamber pacing. The primary end point was health-related quality of life as measured by the 36-item Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form General Health Survey. Results The average age of the patients was 76 years (range, 65 to 96), and 60 percent were men. Quality of life improved significantly after pacemaker implantation (P0.001), but there were no differences between the two pacing modes in either the quality of life or prespecified clinical outcomes (including cardiovascular events or death). However, 53 patients assigned to ventricular pacing (26 percent) were crossed over to dual-chamber pacing because of symptoms related to the pacemaker syndrome. Patients with sinus-node dysfunction, but not those with atrioventricular block, had moderately better quality of life and cardiovascular functional status with dual-chamber pacing than with ventricular pacing. Trends of borderline statistical significance in clinical end points favoring dual-chamber pacing were observed in patients with sinus-node dysfunction, but not in those with atrioventricular block. Conclusions The implantation of a permanent pacemaker improves health-related quality of life. The quality-of-life benefits associated with dualchamber pacing as compared with ventricular pacing are observed principally in the subgroup of patients with sinus-node dysfunction. (N Engl J Med 1998;338:1097-104.