Weight changes following lower limb arthroplasty : a prospective observational study

The aim of this study was to assess patterns of weight loss/gain following total hip or knee joint replacement. Four hundred and fifty primary lower limb arthroplasty patients, where the current surgery was the last limiting factor to improved mobility, were selected. Over a one year period 212 gained weight (mean 5.03kg), 92 remained static, and 146 lost weight. The median change was a weight gain of 0.50Kg (p=0.002). All patients had a significant improvement in Oxford outcome scores. Hip arthroplasty patients were statistically more likely to gain weight than knee arthroplasty patients. A successful arthroplasty, restoring a patient's mobility, does not necessarily lead to subsequent weight loss. The majority of patients put on weight with an overall net weight gain. No adverse effect on functional outcome was noted

The adaptive problem of absent third-party punishment

Language is a uniquely human behaviour, which has presented unique adaptive problems. Prominent among these is the transmission of information that may affect an individual’s reputation. The possibility of punishment of those with a low reputation by absent third parties has created a selective pressure on human beings that is not shared by any other species. This has led to the evolution of unique cognitive structures that are capable of handling such a novel adaptive challenge. One of these, we argue, is the propositional theory of mind, which enables individuals to model, and potentially manipulate, their own reputation in the minds of other group members, by representing the beliefs that others have about the first party’s intentions and actions. Support for our theoretical model is provided by an observational study on tattling in two preschools, and an experimental study of giving under threat of gossip in a dictator game

Effect of daily restriction and age at initiation of a skip-a-day program for young broiler breeders.

Two experiments were conducted with Cobb feather sex broiler breeders comparing skip-a-day (SAD) feeding programs which began at either 2, 4, 6 or 8 wk of age. A fifth program, daily restriction started at 2 wk of age, was also compared. Chicks hatched in December and July, respectively, in Experiments 1 and 2 were exposed to natural daylight until 20 wk of age. All birds were fed ad libitum until the respective restriction programs began. All grower programs terminated at 20 wk of age. A breeder diet was given daily after 20 wk. Males and females were grown together. Sexual maturity was reached earlier in the 2-wk restriction groups (2-wi SAD in Experiment 1 and the 2-wk daily restriction in both experiments) than in the 8-wk SAD group. Egg production in Experiment 1 was also improved by the early restriction. Fertility and hatchability were not significantly affected by treatment. Based on the results of these experiments a SAD program beginning at 2 wk of age was as good as or better than one initiated at later ages. The 2-wk daily restriction program was equivalent to the 2-wk SAD program

Photoelectro-Photometric Survey of Night Sky Conditions in the Vicinity of Iowa City

During the summer 1962, a systematic survey of night sky conditions in the vicinity of Iowa City was carried out for the purpose of selecting the best site for the proposed research observatory of the State University of Iowa. A photoelectric photometer was attached to the Newtonian focus of an 11-inch reflector whose equatorial mounting was modified to a horizontal system. The equipment was carried by a truck and observations were made at six different sites, ranging in distance from eight to twenty-three miles in all directions from the city. In order to eliminate random errors due to variations in sky conditions from night to night, measurements of scattered city lights and the atmospheric extinctions were taken on at least two different sites during the same night and were repeated for six or seven different moonless nights at each site. As a result, it was concluded that the region about twelve miles south-southwest of the city is least affected by the artificial city light

A NICER Discovery of a Low-Frequency Quasi-Periodic Oscillation in the Soft-Intermediate State of MAXI J1535-571

We present the discovery of a low-frequency $\approx 5.7$ Hz quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) feature in observations of the black hole X-ray binary MAXI J1535-571 in its soft-intermediate state, obtained in September-October 2017 by the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER). The feature is relatively broad (compared to other low-frequency QPOs; quality factor $Q\approx 2$) and weak (1.9% rms in 3-10 keV), and is accompanied by a weak harmonic and low-amplitude broadband noise. These characteristics identify it as a weak Type A/B QPO, similar to ones previously identified in the soft-intermediate state of the transient black hole X-ray binary XTE J1550-564. The lag-energy spectrum of the QPO shows increasing soft lags towards lower energies, approaching 50 ms at 1 keV (with respect to a 3-10 keV continuum). This large phase shift has similar amplitude but opposite sign to that seen in Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer data for a Type B QPO from the transient black hole X-ray binary GX 339-4. Previous phase-resolved spectroscopy analysis of the Type B QPO in GX 339-4 pointed towards a precessing jet-like corona illuminating the accretion disk as the origin of the QPO signal. We suggest that this QPO in MAXI J1535-571 may have the same origin, with the different lag sign depending on the scale height of the emitting region and the observer inclination angle.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter