1,044 research outputs found
Impact of the Cusa and Operative Ultrasound on Hepatic Resection
New technologies have been developed for liver surgery, and, like all new technologies, they have a
glamour which makes them seem desirable. There is an understanding abroad that they make liver
surgery easier and open up the field to those without special training. But there is no proof that the new
devices are in any way cost-effective, and certainly no proof that liver surgery has become safer since
their advent. Fifty consecutive elective liver resections have been studied, almost half performed with
the aid of the ultrasonic dissector and aspirator and diagnostic intraoperative ultrasound. There was no
mortality in the whole group, but a 24% morbidity. Operative diagnostic ultrasound was thought to
allow more precise planning of surgery. Its use was not associated with any increase in operative time,
nor was there any increase in postoperative morbidity. The ultrasonic dissector and aspirator improved
technique, reflected in a lower blood loss for each case, in fewer transfusions required, in a shorter
postoperative hospital stay and in an ability to achieve these benefits in older patients. Neither device
could be said to offer an entree to instant liver surgery. The use of the two devices apparently offered
savings measured by a fall in the median postoperative hospital stay of 4.5 days, by a saving of 700 mls in
median blood requirement and by a fall in transfusion rate from 64% to 9%
Obstructive Jaundice in Chronic Pancreatitis
Significant obstructive jaundice in chronic pancreatitis is generally considered to be rare. Eleven of 57
consecutive patients with proven chronic pancreatitis have developed significant obstructive jaundice of
more than transient duration. Eight presented as jaundice complicating known pancreatitis and three as
jaundice of unknown cause
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Pairing images of unhealthy and healthy foods with images of negative and positive health consequences: Impact on attitudes and food choice.
OBJECTIVE: To examine the impact of presenting images of foods paired with images of positive and negative health consequences of their consumption on food choice and attitudes. METHOD: Participants (N = 711) were randomly allocated in a 2 × 3 factorial design (Food Type × Affective Valence) to 1 of 6 conditioning procedures that paired images of either energy-dense snack foods or fruit, with (a) images of negative health outcomes, (b) images of positive health outcomes, or (c) a no image control. The primary outcome was food choice assessed postintervention with a behavioral choice task. Secondary outcomes were implicit attitudes (assessed pre- and postintervention) and explicit attitudes (assessed postintervention). RESULTS: Presenting images of negative health outcomes led to more healthy food choices relative to control and positive image conditions, irrespective of whether they were paired with images of energy-dense snack foods or fruit. This relationship was partially mediated by changes in implicit and explicit attitudes. Images of positive health outcomes did not alter food choices. CONCLUSIONS: This study replicates and extends previous research showing that presenting images of negative health consequences increases healthy food choices. Because effects were elicited by manipulating affective valence irrespective of paired food type, these results appear more consistent with an explanation based on priming than on evaluative conditioning. (PsycINFO Database RecordThis is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the American Psychological Association via http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/hea000029
Batalin-Vilkovisky formalism in perturbative algebraic quantum field theory
On the basis of a thorough discussion of the Batalin-Vilkovisky formalism for
classical field theory presented in our previous publication, we construct in
this paper the Batalin-Vilkovisky complex in perturbatively renormalized
quantum field theory. The crucial technical ingredient is a proof that the
renormalized time-ordered product is equivalent to the pointwise product of
classical field theory. The renormalized Batalin-Vilkovisky algebra is then the
classical algebra but written in terms of the time-ordered product, together
with an operator which replaces the ill defined graded Laplacian of the
unrenormalized theory. We identify it with the anomaly term of the anomalous
Master Ward Identity of Brennecke and D\"utsch. Contrary to other approaches we
do not refer to the path integral formalism and do not need to use
regularizations in intermediate steps.Comment: 34 page
Stability in Designer Gravity
We study the stability of designer gravity theories, in which one considers
gravity coupled to a tachyonic scalar with anti-de Sitter boundary conditions
defined by a smooth function W. We construct Hamiltonian generators of the
asymptotic symmetries using the covariant phase space method of Wald et al.and
find they differ from the spinor charges except when W=0. The positivity of the
spinor charge is used to establish a lower bound on the conserved energy of any
solution that satisfies boundary conditions for which has a global minimum.
A large class of designer gravity theories therefore have a stable ground
state, which the AdS/CFT correspondence indicates should be the lowest energy
soliton. We make progress towards proving this, by showing that minimum energy
solutions are static. The generalization of our results to designer gravity
theories in higher dimensions involving several tachyonic scalars is discussed.Comment: 29 page
Are meat options preferred to comparable vegetarian options? An experimental study.
OBJECTIVE: Reducing meat consumption would have substantial benefits both in terms of health and environmental impact, but meat options may be more attractive to customers than meat-free options. This study tested this by presenting UK adults (n = 540) with a series of pictures showing two meal options and asking them to select which they would prefer to eat right now. They completed this task for every possible pair from a pool of six comparator meat-based options and six target options (66 pairs). Participants all saw identical comparator options, and were randomised to see the same pictures of target options but with descriptions that suggested they were either meat-based or vegetarian. RESULTS: Selections were used to rank the options for each individual from 1 (most-selected) to 12 (least-selected). Vegetarian target options were ranked worse [by 1.23 places (95% CI: 1.02, 1.44)] than meat target options. Higher self-reported consumption of meat predicted worse mean rankings of target options when these were vegetarian, but not when target options were meat-based. This suggests meat options are preferred to equivalent vegetarian options and may be more likely to be selected. This has implications for interventions aiming to reduce meat consumption to make diets healthier and more sustainable
Further restrictions on the topology of stationary black holes in five dimensions
We place further restriction on the possible topology of stationary
asymptotically flat vacuum black holes in 5 spacetime dimensions. We prove that
the horizon manifold can be either a connected sum of Lens spaces and "handles"
, or the quotient of by certain finite groups of
isometries (with no "handles"). The resulting horizon topologies include Prism
manifolds and quotients of the Poincare homology sphere. We also show that the
topology of the domain of outer communication is a cartesian product of the
time direction with a finite connected sum of 's
and 's, minus the black hole itself. We do not assume the existence of
any Killing vector beside the asymptotically timelike one required by
definition for stationarity.Comment: LaTex, 22 pages, 9 figure
Protecting the conformal symmetry via bulk renormalization on Anti deSitter space
The problem of perturbative breakdown of conformal symmetry can be avoided,
if a conformally covariant quantum field phi on d-dimensional Minkowski
spacetime is viewed as the boundary limit of a quantum field Phi on
d+1-dimensional anti-deSitter spacetime (AdS). We study the boundary limit in
renormalized perturbation theory with polynomial interactions in AdS, and point
out the differences as compared to renormalization directly on the boundary. In
particular, provided the limit exists, there is no conformal anomaly. We
compute explicitly the "fish diagram" on AdS_4 by differential renormalization,
and calculate the anomalous dimension of the composite boundary field phi^2
with bulk interaction Phi^4.Comment: 40 page
Changing Human Behavior to Prevent Disease: The Importance of Targeting Automatic Processes
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.122691
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