Shortening the length of stay and mechanical ventilation time by using positive suggestions via MP3 players for ventilated patients

Long stay in intensive care unit (ICU) and prolonged ventilation are deleterious for subsequent quality of life and surcharge financial capacity. We have already demonstrated the beneficial effects of using suggestive communication on recovery time during intensive care. The aim of our present study was to prove the same effects with standardized positive suggestive message delivered by an MP3 player. Patients ventilated in ICU were randomized into a control group receiving standard ICU treatment and two groups with a standardized pre-recorded material delivered via headphones: a suggestive message about safety, self-control, and recovery for the study group and a relaxing music for the music group. Groups were similar in terms of age, gender, and mortality, but the SAPS II scores were higher in the study group than that in the controls (57.8 ± 23.6 vs. 30.1 ± 15.5 and 33.7 ± 17.4). Our post-hoc analysis results showed that the length of ICU stay (134.2 ± 73.3 vs. 314.2 ± 178.4 h) and the time spent on ventilator (85.2 ± 34.9 vs. 232.0 ± 165.6 h) were significantly shorter in the study group compared to the unified control. The advantage of the structured positive suggestive message was proven against both music and control groups

The Mount Perkins block, northwestern Arizona: An exposed cross section of an evolving, preextensional to synextensional magmatic system

This is the published version. Reuse is subject to Society of Exploration Geophysicists terms of use and conditions.The steeply tilted Mount Perkins block, northwestern Arizona, exposes a cross section of a magmatic system that evolved through the onset of regional extension. New 40Ar/39Ar ages of variably tilted (0–90°) volcanic strata bracket extension between 15.7 and 11.3 Ma. Preextensional intrusive activity included emplacement of a composite Miocene laccolith and stock, trachydacite dome complex, and east striking rhyolite dikes. Related volcanic activity produced an ∼18–16 Ma stratovolcano, cored by trachydacite domes and flanked by trachydacite-trachyandesite flows, and ∼16 Ma rhyolite flows. Similar compositions indicate a genetic link between the stratovolcano and granodioritic phase of the laccolith. Magmatic activity synchronous with early regional extension (15.7–14.5 Ma) generated a thick, felsic volcanic sequence, a swarm of northerly striking subvertical rhyolite dikes, and rhyolite domes. Field relations and compositions indicate that the dike swarm and felsic volcanic sequence are cogenetic. Modes of magma emplacement changed during the onset of extension from subhorizontal sheets, east striking dikes, and stocks to northerly striking, subvertical dike swarms, as the regional stress field shifted from nearly isotropic to decidedly anisotropic with an east-west trending, horizontal least principal stress. Preextensional trachydacitic and preextensional to synextensional rhyolitic magmas were part of an evolving system, which involved the ponding of mantle-derived basaltic magmas and ensuing crustal melting and assimilation at progressively shallower levels. Major extension halted this system by generating abundant pathways to the surface (fractures), which flushed out preexisting crustal melts and hybrid magmas. Remaining silicic melts were quenched by rapid, upper crustal cooling induced by tectonic denudation. These processes facilitated eruption of mafic magmas. Accordingly, silicic magmatism at Mount Perkins ended abruptly during peak extension ∼14.5 Ma and gave way to mafic magmatism, which continued until extension ceased

SSeCKS/Gravin/AKAP12 attenuates expression of proliferative and angiogenic genes during suppression of v-Src-induced oncogenesis

BACKGROUND: SSeCKS is a major protein kinase C substrate with kinase scaffolding and metastasis-suppressor activity whose expression is severely downregulated in Src- and Ras-transformed fibroblast and epithelial cells and in human prostate, breast, and gastric cancers. We previously used NIH3T3 cells with tetracycline-regulated SSeCKS expression plus a temperature-sensitive v-Src allele to show that SSeCKS re-expression inhibited parameters of v-Src-induced oncogenic growth without attenuating in vivo Src kinase activity. METHODS: We use cDNA microarrays and semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis to identify changes in gene expression correlating with i) SSeCKS expression in the absence of v-Src activity, ii) activation of v-Src activity alone, and iii) SSeCKS re-expression in the presence of active v-Src. RESULTS: SSeCKS re-expression resulted in the attenuation of critical Src-induced proliferative and pro-angiogenic gene expression including Afp, Hif-1α, Cdc20a and Pdgfr-β, and conversely, SSeCKS induced several cell cycle regulatory genes such as Ptpn11, Gadd45a, Ptplad1, Cdkn2d (p19), and Rbbp7. CONCLUSION: Our data provide further evidence that SSeCKS can suppress Src-induced oncogenesis by modulating gene expression downstream of Src kinase activity

The 'long' 16th century : a key period of animal husbandry change in England

Although many historians have extensively discussed the agricultural history of England between the Late Middle Ages and the Modern Era, this period of crucial changes has received less attention by archaeologists. In this paper, zooarchaeological evidence dated between the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern period is analysed to investigate changes in animal husbandry during the ‘long’ sixteenth century. The size and shape of the main domestic animals (cattle, sheep, pig and chicken) is explored through biometrical data and discussed in line with evidence of taxonomic frequencies, ageing and sex ratios. Data from 12 sites with relevant chronologies and located in different areas of the country are considered. The results show that, although a remarkable size increase of animals occurred in England throughout the post-medieval period, much of this improvement occurred as early as the sixteenth century. The nature and causes of such improvement are discussed, with the aim of understanding the development of Early Modern farming and the foundations of the so-called Agricultural Revolution

Gravin, an autoantigen recognized by serum from myasthenia gravis patients, is a kinase scaffold protein

AbstractBackground: Subcellular targeting of protein kinases and phosphatases provides a mechanism for co-localizing these enzymes with their preferred substrates. A recently identified mammalian scaffold protein, AKAP79, controls the location of two broad-specificity kinases and a phosphatase.Results: We have identified and characterized another mammalian scaffold protein which coordinates the location of protein kinase A and protein kinase C. We isolated a cDNA encoding a 250 kDa A-skinase anchoring protein (AKAP) called gravin, which was originally identified as a cytoplasmic antigen recognized by myasthenia gravis sera. Sequence homology to proteins that are known to bind protein kinase C suggests that gravin also binds this kinase. Studies of binding in vitro show that residues 1526–1780 of gravin bind the regulatory subunit (RII) of protein kinase A with high affinity, and residues 265–556 bind protein kinase C. Gravin expression in human erythroleukemia cells can be induced with phorbol ester, resulting in the detection of a 250 kDa RII-  and PKC-binding protein. Immunolocalization experiments show that gravin is concentrated at the cell periphery and is enriched in filopodia. Gravin staining is coincident with an AKAP detected by an in situ RII-overlay assay, and a PKA–gravin complex can be isolated from human erythroleukemia cells.Conclusions: We present biochemical evidence that gravin forms part of a signaling scaffold, and propose that protein kinases A and C may participate in the coordination of signal transduction events in the filopodia of human erythroleukemia cells