Ventricular Arrhythmias Complicating Coronary Artery Disease: Recent Trends, Risk Associated with Serum Glucose Levels, and Psychological Impact

Introduction: Ventricular arrhythmias (VAs) are common after an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and are associated with worse clinical outcomes. However, little is known about recent trends in their occurrence, their association with serum glucose levels, and their psychological impact in ACS setting. Methods: We examined 25-year (1986-2011) trends in the incidence rates (IRs) and hospital case-fatality rates (CFRs) of VAs, and the association between serum glucose levels and VAs in patients with an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in the Worcester Heart Attack Study. Lastly, we examined the relationship between in-hospital occurrence of VAs and 12-month progression of depression and anxiety among hospital survivors of an ACS in the longitudinal TRACE-CORE study. Results: We found the IRs declined for several major VAs between 1986 and 2011while the hospital CFRs declined in both patients with and without VAs over this period. Elevated serum glucose levels at hospital admission were associated with a higher risk of developing in-hospital VAs. Occurrence of VAs, however, was not associated with worsening progression of symptoms of depression and/or anxiety over a 12-month follow-up period in patients discharged after an ACS. Conclusions: The burden and impact of VAs in patients with an AMI has declined over time. Elevated serum glucose levels at hospital admission may serve as a predictor for in-hospital occurrence of serious cardiac arrhythmias. In-hospital occurrence of VAs may not be associated with worsening progression of symptoms of depression and anxiety in patients with an ACS

Anti-Affirmative Action and Historical Whitewashing: To Never Apologize While Committing New Racial Sins

Apologies, official or otherwise, for historical wrongs are important steps in the road towards reconciliation. More difficult are historical wrongs that have yet to be fully acknowledged. The reemergence of affirmative action in the public consciousness via the Supreme Court represents a striking example of the ways in which our collective consciousness has yet to fully account for our past educational sins: segregation and income inequality. This essay explores the multiple consequences to our historical memory when the anti-affirmative action narrative continues to dominate the public discourse on racism in education. I offer a renewed focus on ‘fenced out’ as the deterministic consideration of racism in education. In doing so, our historical memory and contemporary consciousness regains the potential to differentiate between admissions grievances, and ongoing racists practices such as de facto segregation and income inequality in education

Limitations of cyclic pile load tests by kentledge system in soft clay soil

The paper describes the inadequacies of cycled head-down load tests on two barrettes and one bored pile installed in soft clay soil region in Binh Thanh district, and district 7, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, respectively. The soil profile of these sites consisted of layers of organic soft clay and silt from 22.5 m to 28.6 m depth on compact silty sand or semi-stiff to stiff clays to about 60 m depth and followed by dense to very dense sand. The cross-section area of two barrettes located on the Tan Cang complex area was 2,800 mm by 800 mm, which were constructed using the bucket drill technique with bentonite slurry into 65 m depth.  The bored pile of the Lakeside project in district 7 having a pile diameter was 1200 mm and 80 m depth. All instrumented piles were attached from ten to eleven strain gages levels along the pile shaft to record the deformation data during the load tests. The strain data analysis shows that the shaft frictions of pile portions located in the soft clay soil regions were increased dramatically, and the base resistances were smaller expected by the setting-up of Kentledge and the cyclic loading tests

Effect of the green-emitting CaF2:Ce3+,Tb3+ phosphor particles’ size on color rendering index and color quality scale of the in-cup packaging multichip white LEDs

In this paper, we investigate the effect of the green-emitting CaF2:Ce (3+), Tb (3+) phosphor particle's size on the color rendering index (CRI) and the color quality scale (CQS) of the in-cup packaging multichip white LEDs (MCW-LEDs). For this purpose, 7000K and 8500K in-cup packaging MCW-LEDs is simulated by the commercial software Light Tools. Moreover, scattering process in the phosphor layers is investigated by using Mie Theory with Mat Lab software. Finally, the research results show that the green-emitting CaF2: Ce (3+), Tb (3+) phosphor's size crucially influences on the CRI and CQS. From that point of view, CaF2: Ce (3+), Tb (3+) can be proposed as a potential practical direction for manufacturing the in-cup packaging phosphor WLEDs.Web of Science13235134

Effect of polydispersity on the transport and sound absorbing properties of three-dimensional random fibrous structures

Sophisticated numerical approaches can predict the properties of composite nonwovens. However, for polydisperse random fibrous media, we need to identify microstructural descriptors for accurate predictions. We manufactured polydisperse composite felts with different fibrous structures and characterized them using scanning electron microscope images. The images showed a wide distribution of fiber diameters and a decreasing standard deviation of the azimuthal angle of fibers with increasing compression rate. Current models could not capture the evolution of their transport properties with compression rate. Therefore, we developed a fiber network model for the transport processes of transversely isotropic random fibrous media. The model relates the main visco-thermal dissipation mechanisms to the largest channels within the fluid phase, while the smallest channels lead the inertial behaviors. We estimated the viscous and thermal permeabilities from a representative elementary volume (REV) with a volume weighted average diameter, and the viscous and thermal characteristic lengths from a REV with inverse volume weighted average diameter. A unified empirical model was proposed. The model predictions agree with the experimental results.Comment: 29 pages, 19 figure

Morphological characteristics and genetic diversity of <em>Terapon jarbua</em> (Forrskäl, 1775) in Central, Vietnam

Many environmental factors affect the morphology of migratory fish species, such as salinity, water flow rate, and temperature. However, studies on changes in fish morphology under environmental variations from salt water to brackish water are still limited in many fish species, especially in *Terapon jarbua*. This study aims to investigate the differences in the morphological parameters of *T. jarbua* between the coastal sea (seawater) and lagoon (brackish water); and between male and female fish based on a landmark morphological approach. Additionally, the genetic diversity of *T. jarbua* populations in Central Vietnam was elucidated using the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase subunit I (mtDNA COI) sequence as a molecular marker. The analytical results indicated no sexual dimorphism in the *T. jarbua* population, yet conformational differences exist between the two studied aquatic species. The analysis of 42 mtDNA COI sequences collected from Central Vietnam identified 13 haplotypes with medium genetic diversity and low genetic differentiation between the Tam Giang lagoon and Thua Thien Hue coastal (Fst = 0.028) and not significant (p = 0.126). Most haplotypes obtained are present in reference populations, indicating a high genetic exchange between populations. We proposed that the *T. jarbua* population in Central Vietnam has a stable connection with neighboring populations (China, Taiwan, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan)

Development of a Prediction System for 3D Printed Part Deformation

The Additive Manufacturing (AM) process is applied in industrial applications. However, quality issues of the printed parts, including part distortion and cracks caused by high temperature and fast cooling, result in high residual stress. The theoretical calculation equation shows elastic behavior which is the linear behavior between strain and stress. However, in practice with the additive manufacturing process, strain and stress have nonlinear behavior. So, the prediction of the deformation of a printed part is inaccurate. The contribution of this research is the creation of an Inherent Strain (IS)-based part deformation prediction method during the Selective Laser Melting (SLM) process. To have the deformation in the design stage, we developed software for calculating the IS value and predicting the deformation. The difference between the calculated results and the experimental results is still there, so, we proposed an algorithm and developed an optimization module for the system to minimize this difference. In the final optimal printing process, the parameters are derived in order for the real printing process to have the required quality of the SLM printed part

Hyperglycemia and risk of ventricular tachycardia among patients hospitalized with acute myocardial infarction

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the association of hyperglycemia Tranwith the development of ventricular tachycardia (VT) in patients hospitalized with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) which we examined in the present study. The objectives of this community-wide observational study were to examine the relation between elevated serum glucose levels at the time of hospital admission for AMI and occurrence of VT, and time of occurrence of VT, during the patient\u27s acute hospitalization. METHODS: We used data from a population-based study of patients hospitalized with AMI at all central Massachusetts medical centers between 2001 and 2011. Hyperglycemia was defined as a serum glucose level \u3e /= 140 mg/dl at the time of hospital admission. The development of VT was identified from physicians notes and electrocardiographic findings by our trained team of data abstractors. RESULTS: The average age of the study population was 70 years, 58.0% were men, and 92.7% were non-Hispanic whites. The mean and median serum glucose levels at the time of hospital admission were 171.4 mg/dl and 143.0, respectively. Hyperglycemia was present in 51.9% of patients at the time of hospital admission; VT occurred in 652 patients (15.8%), and two-thirds of these episodes occurred during the first 48 h after hospital admission (early VT). After multivariable adjustment, patients with hyperglycemia were at increased risk for developing VT (adjusted OR = 1.48, 95% CI = 1.23-1.78). The presence of hyperglycemia was significantly associated with early (multivariable adjusted OR = 1.39, 95% CI = 1.11-1.73) but not with late VT. Similar associations were observed in patients with and without diabetes and in patients with and without ST-segment elevation AMI. CONCLUSIONS: Efforts should be made to closely monitor and treat patients who develop hyperglycemia, especially early after hospital admission, to reduce their risk of VT

\mbox{SU}(3)_L \otimes \mbox{U}(1)_N and \mbox{SU}(4)_L \otimes \mbox{U}(1)_N gauge models with right-handed neutrinos

Pisano and Pleitez have introduced an interesting \mbox{SU}(3)_C \otimes \mbox{SU}(3)_L \otimes \mbox{U}(1)_N gauge model which has the property that gauge anomaly cancellation requires the number of generations to be a multiple of 3. We consider generalizing that model to incorporate right-handed neutrinos. We find that there exists a non-trivial generalization of the Pisano-Pleitez model with right-handed neutrinos which is actually simpler than the original model in that symmetry breaking can be achieved with just three \mbox{SU}(3)_L triplets (rather than 3 \mbox{SU}(3)_L triplets and a sextet). We also consider a gauge model based on \mbox{SU}(3)_C\otimes \mbox{SU}(4)_L \otimes \mbox{U}(1)_N symmetry. Both of these new models also have the feature that the anomalies cancel only when the number of generations is divisible by 3.Comment: 8, McGill/94-1