6,361 research outputs found
Pulmonary giant cells and their significance for the diagnosis of asphyxiation
This study was performed to prove whether the detection of polynuclear giant cells in lungs is useful for the diagnosis of asphyxiation due to throttling or strangulation. Therefore, lung specimens of 54 individuals with different natural and unnatural causes of death were investigated. In most lungs examined numerous alveolar macrophages with 1-2 nuclei were found. Polynuclear giant cells, which were arbitrarily defined as alveolar macrophages containing 3 or more nuclei, were observed in all groups investigated except in the cases of hypoxia due to covering the head with plastic bags. Apparent differences between the other groups in particular an increased number in cases of throttling or strangulation, could not be observed. Immunohistochemical investigations confirmed the hypothesis that the observed polynuclear giant cells were derived from alveolar macrophages. The immunohistochemical analysis of the proliferation marker antigen Ki 67 revealed no positive reaction in the nuclei of polynuclear giant cells indicating that these cells had not developed shortly before death by endomitosis as an adaptative change following reduction in oxygen supply. The results provide evidence that the detection of pulmonary polynuclear giant cells cannot be used as a practical indicator for death by asphyxiation due to throttling or strangulation
Composite vertices that lead to soft form factors
The momentum-space cut-off parameter of hadronic vertex functions
is studied in this paper. We use a composite model where we can measure the
contributions of intermediate particle propagations to . We show that
in many cases a composite vertex function has a much smaller cut-off than its
constituent vertices, particularly when light constituents such as pions are
present in the intermediate state. This suggests that composite
meson-baryon-baryon vertex functions are rather soft, i.e., they have \Lambda
considerably less than 1 GeV. We discuss the origin of this softening of form
factors as well as the implications of our findings on the modeling of nuclear
reactions.Comment: REVTex, 19 pages, 5 figs(to be provided on request
Effects of Hybrid Cycle and Handcycle Exercise on Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in People with Spinal Cord Injury:A Randomized Controlled Trial
Objective: To examine the effects of a 16-week exercise programme, using either a hybrid cycle or a handcycle, on cardiovascular disease risk factors in people with spinal cord injury.Participants: Nineteen individuals with spinal cord injury >= 8 years.Design: Multicentre randomized controlled trial. Both the hybrid cycle group (n = 9) and the handcycle group (n = 10) trained twice a week for 16 weeks on the specific cycle. Outcome measures obtained pre and post the programme were: metabolic syndrome components (waist circumference, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides and insulin resistance), inflammatory status (C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin (1)-6 and -10), and visceral adiposity (trunk and android fat).Results: For all outcome measures, there were no significant differences over time between the 2 training groups. Overall significant reductions were found for waist circumference (p = 0.001), diastolic blood pressure (p = 0.03), insulin resistance (p = 0.006), CRP (p = 0.05), IL-6 (p = 0.04), IL-6/IL-10 ratio (p = 0.03), and trunk (p = 0.04) and android (p = 0.02) fat percentage. No significant main effects for time were observed for systolic blood pressure, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, IL-10, and trunk and android fat mass.Conclusion: The 16-week exercise programme, using either a hybrid cycle or a handcycle, found similar beneficial effects on metabolic syndrome components, inflammatory status and visceral adiposity, indicating that there were no additional benefits of functional electrical stimulation-induced leg exercise over handcycle exercise alone.</p
Natural Gas Compressibility Factor Measurement and Evaluation for High Pressure High Temperature Gas Reservoirs
The Natural gas compressibility factor is an important reservoir fluid property used in reservoir engineering computations either directly or indirectly in material balance calculations, well test analysis, gas reserve estimates, gas flow in lines and in numerical reservoir simulations. Existing gas compressibility factor correlations were derived using measured data at low to moderate pressures(less than 8, 000 psia) and temperatures (less than 212oF), and an extrapolation to High Pressure High temperature (HPHT) is doubtful. The need to understand and predict gas compressibility factor at HPHT has become increasingly important as exploration and production has moved to ever deeper formations where HPHT conditions are to be encountered. This paper presents laboratory measurement of gas compressibility factors at HPHT natural gas systems and the evaluation of some selected gas compressibility factors correlations. Samples of gas mixtures were collected from the high pressure gas reservoirs from the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Vinci PVT Cell was used to measure the gas compressibility factors for a pressures ranging from 6,000 to 14,000 psia and temperatures at 270oF and 370oF. The new laboratory data was compared to some of the gas compressibility factor correlations/ models used in the petroleum industry. Results showed that majority of the correlations studied overestimated the gas compressibility factor at HPHT. Mean relative and absolute error analysis were done based on the temperature difference; it was found that the total mean relative and absolute errors for the 370o F cases are higher than those for 270oF. Among all the correlations assessed, Hall and Yarborough equation performed better than other existing correlations with a mean absolute error of 3.545 and relative error of -2.668 at 270oF. At 370oF, Beggs and Brills correlation predicted better than other correlations studied with a mean relative error of -4.77 and absolute error of 7.18
Effect of long-term physical activity and acute exercise on markers of systemic inflammation in persons with chronic spinal cord injury: a systematic review
Objective: To evaluate the effect of long-term physical activity (PA) and acute exercise on markers of systemic inflammation in persons with chronic spinal cord injury (SCI)
Fake supersymmetry versus Hamilton-Jacobi
We explain when the first-order Hamilton-Jacobi equations for black holes
(and domain walls) in (gauged) supergravity, reduce to the usual first-order
equations derived from a fake superpotential. This turns out to be equivalent
to the vanishing of a newly found constant of motion and we illustrate this
with various examples. We show that fake supersymmetry is a necessary condition
for having physically sensible extremal black hole solutions. We furthermore
observe that small black holes become scaling solutions near the horizon. When
combined with fake supersymmetry, this leads to a precise extension of the
attractor mechanism to small black holes: The attractor solution is such that
the scalars move on specific curves, determined by the black hole charges, that
are purely geodesic, although there is a non-zero potential.Comment: 20 pages, v2: Typos corrected, references adde
The Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey. VI. The Kinematics of Ultra-compact Dwarfs and Globular Clusters in M87
The origin of ultra-compact dwarfs (UCDs)--objects larger and more massive
than typical globular clusters (GCs), but more compact than typical dwarf
galaxies--has been hotly debated in the 15 years since their discovery. Even
whether UCDs should be considered galactic in origin, or simply the most
extreme GCs, is not yet settled. We present the dynamical properties of 97
spectroscopically confirmed UCDs (rh >~10 pc) and 911 GCs associated with
central cD galaxy of the Virgo cluster, M87. Our UCDs, of which 89% have M_star
> ~2X10^6 M_sun and 92% are as blue as the classic blue GCs, nearly triple the
sample of previous confirmed Virgo UCDs, providing by far the best opportunity
for studying the global dynamics of a UCD system. We found that (1) UCDs have a
surface number density profile that is shallower than that of the blue GCs in
the inner ~ 70 kpc and as steep as that of the red GCs at larger radii; (2)
UCDs exhibit a significantly stronger rotation than the GCs, and the blue GCs
seem to have a velocity field that is more consistent with that of the
surrounding dwarf ellipticals than with that of UCDs; (3) UCDs have a radially
increasing orbital anisotropy profile, and are tangentially-biased at radii < ~
40 kpc and radially-biased further out. In contrast, the blue GCs become more
tangentially-biased at larger radii beyond ~ 40 kpc; (4) GCs with M_star >
2X10^6 M_sun have rotational properties indistinguishable from the less massive
ones, suggesting that it is the size, instead of mass, that differentiates UCDs
from GCs as kinematically distinct populations. We conclude that most UCDs in
M87 are not consistent with being merely the most luminous and extended
examples of otherwise normal GCs. The radially-biased orbital structure of UCDs
at large radii is in general agreement with the "tidally threshed dwarf galaxy"
scenario.Comment: 27 pages, 21 figures. To appear in The Astrophysical Journa
Testing the Meson Cloud Model in Inclusive Meson Production
We have applied the Meson Cloud Model to calculate inclusive momentum spectra
of pions and kaons produced in high energy proton-proton and proton-nucleus
collisions. For the first time these data are used to constrain the cloud
cut-off parameters. We show that it is possible to obtain a reasonable
description of data, especially the large () part of the
spectrum and at the same time describe (partially) the E866 data on and . We also discuss the relative strength of the
and vertices. We find out that the corresponding cut-off
parameters should be both soft and should not differ by more than 200 MeV from
each other. An additional source (other than the meson cloud) of sea antiquark
asymmetry, seems to be necessary to completely explain the data. A first
extension of the MCM to proton nucleus collisions is discussed.Comment: 14 pages, Latex, 6 ps figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev.
The Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey. X. Properties of Ultra-Compact Dwarfs in the M87, M49 and M60 Regions
We use imaging from the Next Generation Virgo cluster Survey (NGVS) to
present a comparative study of ultra-compact dwarf (UCD) galaxies associated
with three prominent Virgo sub-clusters: those centered on the massive,
red-sequence galaxies M87, M49 and M60. We show how UCDs can be selected with
high completeness using a combination of half-light radius and location in
color-color diagrams ( or ). Although the central galaxies in
each of these sub-clusters have nearly identical luminosities and stellar
masses, we find large differences in the sizes of their UCD populations, with
M87 containing ~3.5 and 7.8 times more UCDs than M49 and M60, respectively. The
relative abundance of UCDs in the three regions scales in proportion to
sub-cluster mass, as traced by X-ray gas mass, total gravitating mass, number
of globular clusters, and number of nearby galaxies. We find that the UCDs are
predominantly blue in color, with ~85% of the UCDs having colors similar to
blue GCs and stellar nuclei of dwarf galaxies. We present evidence that UCDs
surrounding M87 and M49 may follow a morphological sequence ordered by the
prominence of their outer, low surface brightness envelope, ultimately merging
with the sequence of nucleated low-mass galaxies, and that envelope prominence
correlates with distance from either galaxy. Our analysis provides evidence
that tidal stripping of nucleated galaxies is an important process in the
formation of UCDs.Comment: 37 pages, 40 figures. To appear in The Astrophysical Journa
Temporal dynamics of hot desert microbial communities reveal structural and functional responses to water input
8 páginas, 4 figuras. -- The first publication is available at https://www.nature.comThe temporal dynamics of desert soil microbial communities are poorly understood. Given the
implications for ecosystem functioning under a global change scenario, a better understanding of
desert microbial community stability is crucial. Here, we sampled soils in the central Namib Desert
on sixteen different occasions over a one-year period. Using Illumina-based amplicon sequencing of
the 16S rRNA gene, we found that α-diversity (richness) was more variable at a given sampling date
(spatial variability) than over the course of one year (temporal variability). Community composition
remained essentially unchanged across the first 10 months, indicating that spatial sampling might be
more important than temporal sampling when assessing β-diversity patterns in desert soils. However,
a major shift in microbial community composition was found following a single precipitation event. This
shift in composition was associated with a rapid increase in CO2 respiration and productivity, supporting
the view that desert soil microbial communities respond rapidly to re-wetting and that this response
may be the result of both taxon-specific selection and changes in the availability or accessibility of
organic substrates. Recovery to quasi pre-disturbance community composition was achieved within one
month after rainfall.We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the National Research Foundation of South Africa (grant no.81779 and TTK2008052000003), the Research Council of Norway (grant No. 180352) and the University of the Western Cape. Partial support was also provided under the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program at PNNL, a multiprogram national laboratory operated by Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy under contract DE-AC05-76RL01830.Peer reviewe
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