Long-Term Followup of Dermal Substitution with Acellular Dermal Implant in Burns and Postburn Scar Corrections

Full-thickness burn and other types of deep skin loss will result in scar formation. For at least partial replacement of the lost dermal layer, there are several options to use biotechnologically derived extracellular matrix components or tissue scaffolds of cadaver skin origin. In a survey, we have collected data on 18 pts who have previously received acellular dermal implant Alloderm. The age of these patients at the injury varied between 16 months and 84 years. The average area of the implants was 185 cm2. Among those, 15 implant sites of 14 patients were assessed at an average of 50 months after surgery. The scar function was assessed by using the modified Vancouver Scar Scale. We have found that the overall scar quality and function was significantly better over the implanted areas than over the surrounding skin. Also these areas received a better score for scar height and pliability. Our findings suggest that acellular dermal implants are especially useful tools in the treatment of full-thickness burns as well as postburn scar contractures

Time, institutional support and quality of decision making in child protection:A cross-country analysis

This paper examines perceptions of time and institutional support for decision making and staff confidence in child welfare staffs ultimate decisions – examining differences and similarities between and within the service-oriented Nordic countries (Norway and Finland) and the risk-oriented Anglo-American countries (England and California). The study identifies a high degree of work pressure across all the countries, lines of predominantly vertical institutional support and relatively high confidence in decisions. Finland stands out with higher perceived work pressure and with a horizontal support line, whereas England stands out with workers having a lower degree of confidence in their own and others’ decisions

THE INTRODUCED SABELLID POLYCHAETE TEREBRASABELLA HETEROUNCINATA IN CALIFORNIA: TRANSMISSION, METHODS OF CONTROL AND SURVEY FOR PRESENCE IN NATIVE GASTROPOD POPULATIONS

The sabellid polychaete Terebrasabella heterouncinata (Fitzhugh & Rouse 1999) has a unique life history in which larvae settle on the edge of gastropod shells and rely on shell deposition to create a tube with an opening to the exterior. This worm was accidentally imported to California, USA on abalone from South Africa in the 1980s and spread with abalone shipments to most culture facilities and some public aquaria throughout the state. Its ability to infest California's native gastropods has sparked concern regarding potential establishment in intertidal habitats adjacent to facilities that held sabellid-positive abalone. We examined the ability of T. heterouncinata to transmit between individual turban snails, Tegula funebralis. We found that transmission between T.funebralis did occur, but at a significantly slower rate than that between red abalone Haliotis rufescens. During 2002 to 2006 native gastropods (turban snails and limpets) were collected at most sabellid-exposed sites and no T. heterouncinata were detected; it thus appears that this species has not become established in California. Freshwater exposure was examined as a method to kill T. heterouncinala in shell fragments that may remain after abalone are removed from production or display units. Freshwater immersion for up to 8 hours but not 16 or 32 h resulted in survival of adults and/or larvae resident in brood chambers. In a similar study, motile T. heterouncinata larvae were found to survive up to 32 see of freshwater exposure, whereas none survived a 64-sec exposure. These data can be used by abalone culture and display facilities to establish reliable sanitization procedures to prevent T. heterouncinata transmission or reinfestation

A Generalization of Martin's Axiom

We define the $\aleph_{1.5}$ chain condition. The corresponding forcing axiom is a generalization of Martin's Axiom and implies certain uniform failures of club--guessing on $\omega_1$ that don't seem to have been considered in the literature before.Comment: 36 page

Radiative lifetime measurements of rubidium Rydberg states

We have measured the radiative lifetimes of ns, np and nd Rydberg states of rubidium in the range 28 < n < 45. To enable long-lived states to be measured, our experiment uses slow-moving Rb atoms in a magneto-optical trap (MOT). Two experimental techniques have been adopted to reduce random and systematic errors. First, a narrow-bandwidth pulsed laser is used to excite the target Rydberg state, resulting in minimal shot-to-shot variation in the initial state population. Second, we monitor the target state population as a function of time delay from the laser pulse using a short-duration, millimetre-wave pulse that is resonant with a one- or two-photon transition. We then selectively field ionize the monitor state, and detect the resulting electrons with a micro-channel plate. This signal is an accurate mirror of the target state population, and is uncontaminated by contributions from other states which are populated by black body radiation. Our results are generally consistent with other recent experimental results obtained using a less sensitive method, and are also in excellent agreement with theory.Comment: 27 pages,6 figure

Reading sentences of words wtih rotated letters: An eye movement study

Participants’ eye movements were measured as they read sentences in which individual letters within words were rotated. Both the consistency of direction and the magnitude of rotation were manipulated (letters rotated all in the same direction, or alternately clockwise and anti-clockwise; by 30 or 60 degrees). Each sentence included a target word that was manipulated for frequency of occurrence. Our objectives were threefold: To quantify how change in the visual presentation of individual letters disrupted word identification, and whether disruption was consistent with systematic change in visual presentation; to determine whether inconsistent letter transformation caused more disruption than consistent letter transformation; to determine whether such effects were comparable for words that were high and low frequency to explore the extent to which they were visually or linguistically mediated. We found that disruption to reading was greater as the magnitude of letter rotation increased, although even small rotations impacted processing. The data also showed that alternating letter rotations were significantly more disruptive than consistent rotations; this result is consistent with models of lexical identification in which encoding occurs over units of more than one adjacent letter. These rotation manipulations also showed significant interactions with word frequency on the target word: gaze durations and total fixation duration times increased disproportionately for low frequency words when they were presented at more extreme rotations. These data provide a first step towards quantifying the relative contribution of the spatial relationships between individual letters to word recognition and eye movement control in reading

Unexpected photochemistry and charge-transfer complexes of [CB11H12]2 carborane

Although the [CB11H12]¯carborane does not exhibit an absorption band inUV, its triplet excited state can be generated upon 308 nm laser excitation; also unexpectedly carborane acts as electron donor forming a charge transfer complex with methylviologen that upon illumination gives rise to viologen radical cation.Galletero Pedroche, M.Sales, [email protected]

Convergence and completeness for square-well Stark resonant state expansions

In this paper we investigate the completeness of the Stark resonant eigenstates for a particle in a square-well potential. We find that the resonant state expansions for target functions converge inside the potential well and that the existence of this convergence does not depend on the depth of the potential well. By analyzing the asymptotic form of the terms in these expansions we prove some results on the relation between smoothness of target functions and the rate of convergence of the corresponding resonant state expansion

A Resolved Debris Disk Around the Candidate Planet-hosting Star HD 95086

Recently, a new planet candidate was discovered on direct images around the young (10-17 Myr) A-type star HD 95086. The strong infrared excess of the system indicates that, similar to HR8799, Beta Pic, and Fomalhaut, the star harbors a circumstellar disk. Aiming to study the structure and gas content of the HD 95086 disk, and to investigate its possible interaction with the newly discovered planet, here we present new optical, infrared, and millimeter observations. We detected no CO emission, excluding the possibility of an evolved gaseous primordial disk. Simple blackbody modeling of the spectral energy distribution suggests the presence of two spatially separate dust belts at radial distances of 6 and 64 AU. Our resolved images obtained with the Herschel Space Observatory reveal a characteristic disk size of approx. 6.0 5.4 (540 490 AU) and disk inclination of approx 25 deg. Assuming the same inclination for the planet candidate's orbit, its reprojected radial distance from the star is 62 AU, very close to the blackbody radius of the outer cold dust ring. The structure of the planetary system at HD 95086 resembles the one around HR8799. Both systems harbor a warm inner dust belt and a broad colder outer disk and giant planet(s) between the two dusty regions. Modeling implies that the candidate planet can dynamically excite the motion of planetesimals even out to 270 AU via their secular perturbation if its orbital eccentricity is larger than about 0.4. Our analysis adds a new example to the three known systems where directly imaged planet(s) and debris disks coexist