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

Wang Bi\u27s Annotation on Laozi\u27s Place in China and Japan: Focusing on Ogyu Sorai

Wang Bi\u27s Annotation on Laozi 『老子』王弼注 is considered one of the representative notes on Laozi. In Chinahowever, it was not until 1781 when this book was included in Sikuquanshu 『四庫全書』 that the study of Wang Bi\u27s note became popular. In Japan, while Wang Bi\u27s note was introduced before the 5th century, it received rare recognition until Okada Touin\u27s Laozi Daodejing Annotated by Wang Bi 岡田東贇 『老子道徳経王弼注』 published in 1734. However, further research reveals that Ogyu Sorai 荻生徂徠 had pointed out in Keishishiyohran 『経子史要覧』 that, in reading Laozi from the view of classical rhetoric 古文辞学 Wang Bi\u27s annotation should be referred to. Keishishiyohran was based on Sorai\u27s dictation before 1728, and it was earlier than both Okada Touin\u27s Laozi Annotated by Wang Bi (1734) and Sikuquanshu (1781). Therefore< judging from evidences currently available, it seems fair to conclude that Sorai was the pioneer who introduced Wang Bi\u27s annotation into the field of Laozi studies

Poly(aspartic acid) with adjustable pH-dependent solubility

© 2016 Acta Materialia Inc.Poly(aspartic acid) (PASP) derivatives with adjustable pH-dependent solubility were synthesized and characterized to establish the relationship between their structure and solubility in order to predict their applicability as a basic material for enteric coatings. Polysuccinimide, the precursor of PASP, was modified with short chain alkylamines, and the residual succinimide rings were subsequently opened to prepare the corresponding PASP derivatives. Study of the effect of the type and concentration of the side groups on the pH-dependent solubility of PASP showed that solubility can be adjusted by proper selection of the chemical structure. The Henderson–Hasselbalch (HH) and the extended HH equations were used to describe the pH-dependent solubility of the polymers quantitatively. The estimate provided by the HH equation is poor, but an accurate description of the pH-dependent solubility can be found with the extended HH equation. The dissolution rate of a polymer film prepared from a selected PASP derivative was determined by fluorescence marking. The film dissolved rapidly when the pH was increased above its pKa. Cellular viability tests show that PASP derivatives are non-toxic to a human cell line. These polymers are thus of great interest as starting materials for enteric coatings. Statement of Significance Poly(amino acid) type biocompatible polymers were synthesized for future use as pharmaceutical film coatings. To this end, we tailored the pH-dependent solubility of poly(aspartic acid) (PASP). It was found that both the solubility and the pKa values of the modified PASP depended strongly on composition. Fluorescent marking was used to characterize the dissolution of a chosen PASP derivative. In acidic media only a negligible amount of the polymer dissolved, but dissolution was very fast and complete at the pH values that prevail in the small intestine. As a consequence, enteric coatings based on such PASP derivatives may be used for drug delivery in the gastrointestinal tract

A unique haplotype of RCCX copy number variation: from the clinics of congenital adrenal hyperplasia to evolutionary genetics.

There is a difficulty in the molecular diagnosis of congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) due to the c.955C>T (p.(Q319*), formerly Q318X, rs7755898) variant of the CYP21A2 gene. Therefore, a systematic assessment of the genetic and evolutionary relationships between c.955C>T, CYP21A2 haplotypes and the RCCX copy number variation (CNV) structures, which harbor CYP21A2, was performed. In total, 389 unrelated Hungarian individuals with European ancestry (164 healthy subjects, 125 patients with non-functioning adrenal incidentaloma and 100 patients with classical CAH) as well as 34 adrenocortical tumor specimens were studied using a set of experimental and bioinformatic methods. A unique, moderately frequent (2%) haplotypic RCCX CNV structure with three repeated segments, abbreviated to LBSASB, harboring a CYP21A2 with a c.955C>T variant in the 3'-segment, and a second CYP21A2 with a specific c.*12C>T (rs150697472) variant in the middle segment occurred in all c.955C>T carriers with normal steroid levels. The second CYP21A2 was free of CAH-causing mutations and produced mRNA in the adrenal gland, confirming its functionality and ability to rescue the carriers from CAH. Neither LBSASB nor c.*12C>T occurred in classical CAH patients. However, CAH-causing CYP21A2 haplotypes with c.955C>T could be derived from the 3'-segment of LBSASB after the loss of functional CYP21A2 from the middle segment. The c.*12C>T indicated a functional CYP21A2 and could distinguish between non-pathogenic and pathogenic genomic contexts of the c.955C>T variant in the studied European population. Therefore, c.*12C>T may be suitable as a marker to avoid this genetic confound and improve the diagnosis of CAH

Einstein boundary conditions for the 3+1 Einstein equations

In the 3+1 framework of the Einstein equations for the case of vanishing shift vector and arbitrary lapse, we calculate explicitly the four boundary equations arising from the vanishing of the projection of the Einstein tensor along the normal to the boundary surface of the initial-boundary value problem. Such conditions take the form of evolution equations along (as opposed to across) the boundary for certain components of the extrinsic curvature and for certain space-derivatives of the intrinsic metric. We argue that, in general, such boundary conditions do not follow necessarily from the evolution equations and the initial data, but need to be imposed on the boundary values of the fundamental variables. Using the Einstein-Christoffel formulation, which is strongly hyperbolic, we show how three of the boundary equations should be used to prescribe the values of some incoming characteristic fields. Additionally, we show that the fourth one imposes conditions on some outgoing fields.Comment: Revtex 4, 6 pages, text and references added, typos corrected, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Effect of side groups on the properties of cationic polyaspartamides

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Polyaspartamides with dialkylaminoalkyl and short chain alkyl side groups were synthesized and characterized in order to prepare polymer films. Their structure was confirmed by nuclear magnetic resonance ( 1 H NMR) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and their thermal decomposition temperature (T d ) was determined by thermogravimetric analysis. The composition of the polymers was adjusted to obtain polyaspartamides with glass transition temperatures (T g ) at around room temperature and the relationship between the structure and the properties was examined. The dissolution profile of polymer films made of polyaspartamides was measured with the help of fluorescent marking to show that dissolution rate of the films depends on the pH and can be controlled by the composition of the polymers

Cauchy boundaries in linearized gravitational theory

We investigate the numerical stability of Cauchy evolution of linearized gravitational theory in a 3-dimensional bounded domain. Criteria of robust stability are proposed, developed into a testbed and used to study various evolution-boundary algorithms. We construct a standard explicit finite difference code which solves the unconstrained linearized Einstein equations in the 3+1 formulation and measure its stability properties under Dirichlet, Neumann and Sommerfeld boundary conditions. We demonstrate the robust stability of a specific evolution-boundary algorithm under random constraint violating initial data and random boundary data.Comment: 23 pages including 3 figures and 2 tables, revte

Effect of side groups on the properties of cationic polyaspartamides

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Polyaspartamides with dialkylaminoalkyl and short chain alkyl side groups were synthesized and characterized in order to prepare polymer films. Their structure was confirmed by nuclear magnetic resonance ( 1 H NMR) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and their thermal decomposition temperature (T d ) was determined by thermogravimetric analysis. The composition of the polymers was adjusted to obtain polyaspartamides with glass transition temperatures (T g ) at around room temperature and the relationship between the structure and the properties was examined. The dissolution profile of polymer films made of polyaspartamides was measured with the help of fluorescent marking to show that dissolution rate of the films depends on the pH and can be controlled by the composition of the polymers

Effect of side groups on the properties of cationic polyaspartamides

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd.Polyaspartamides with dialkylaminoalkyl and short chain alkyl side groups were synthesized and characterized in order to prepare polymer films. Their structure was confirmed by nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and their thermal decomposition temperature (Td) was determined by thermogravimetric analysis. The composition of the polymers was adjusted to obtain polyaspartamides with glass transition temperatures (Tg) at around room temperature and the relationship between the structure and the properties was examined. The dissolution profile of polymer films made of polyaspartamides was measured with the help of fluorescent marking to show that dissolution rate of the films depends on the pH and can be controlled by the composition of the polymers