Pneumocephalus after posterior fossa exploration in the sitting position

Entrainment of air following exploration of posterior cranial fossa in the sitting position was studied in five patients. Intracranial pressure was monitored through a ventriculostomy catheter after closure of the dura. In three patients nitrous oxide was added to the breathing mixture only after the baseline intracranial pressure had stabilised following closure of the dura. A marked rise in intracranial pressure was observed immediately. A rapid decrease in intracranial pressure occurred when nitrous oxide administration was stopped. Two patients were given nitrous oxide from the beginning. No change in intracranial pressure was noted. Computerised tomogram on the first postoperative day revealed a significant amount of air in eight cases.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72920/1/j.1365-2044.1982.tb01711.x.pd

Highlights of recent progress in plant lipid research

Raw fossil material reserves are not inexhaustible and as prices continue to raise it is necessary to find new sources of alternative and renewable energy. Oils from oleaginous field crops (sunflower and rape) with properties close to those of fossil fuel could constitute an alternative source of energy for the production of raw materials. This is the context in which the 18th International Symposium on Plant lipids (ISPL) was held in Bordeaux from 20th to 25th July 2008 at “La Cité Mondiale”. The 18th ISPL gathered 270 researchers from 33 countries. Sixty nine oral communications and 136 posters were presented during the 12 sessions of the Symposium. The sessions have covered all the different aspects of the Plant Lipid field including: Surface lipids: suberin, cutin and waxes, Fatty acids, Glycerolipids, Plant lipids as renewable sources of energy, Seed oils and bioengineering of metabolic pathways, Lipid catabolism, Models for lipid studies: lower plants, micro-organisms and others, Modifications of proteins by lipids, Sphingolipids, sterols and isoprenoids, Lipid signaling and plant stress responses, Lipid trafficking and membrane dynamics, New methods and technologies: functional lipidomics, fluxome, modelling

Genetic Linkage Map Construction in Pearl Millet Using SSR Markers

For pearl millet production in the semi-arid tropics, Sclerospora graminicola is a major biotic constraint causes Downy mildew. The pathogen is heterothallic and frequent recombination leads to evolution of new virulent populations. Identification of resistance to new virulent isolates is a prerequisite for resistance breeding. A very good understanding of ability to manipulate oligogenic and quantitative traits is offered to plant breeders by recent advances in genetic marker technology. In the present investigation genotypic data generated for a total of 88 marker loci (39 Genomic SSRs and 49 EST SSRs) were used to construct a linkage map of the pearl millet mapping population of 188 F8 RIL progenies based on the cross ICMB 89111-P6 x ICMB 90111-P6. A skeleton linkage map of seven linkage groups with a total map length of 725.5 cM (Haldane units) was constructed using data from 74 marker loci for 188 RILs using JoinMap at LOD threshold value of 5.0 and MapMaker/Exp version 3.0b and map was drawn using Map Chart 2.2. The map length of individual linkage groups ranged from a minimum of 32.1cM (LG3) to a maximum of 140.2 cM (LG1). The average inter marker distance was 9.8 cM, with an average density of 0.102 markers/cM. The total number of mapped loci per linkage group (LG) ranged from 5 on LG3 to 23 on LG1

Click Worthy: Stories Encourage Emergency Physicians to Learn More About Opioid Prescribing Guidelines

Narrative vignettes outperform standard summaries in promoting engagement with opioid prescription guidelines among a national sample of emergency physicians

Use of Social Media Across US Hospitals: Descriptive Analysis of Adoption and Utilization

Background: Use of social media has become widespread across the United States. Although businesses have invested in social media to engage consumers and promote products, less is known about the extent to which hospitals are using social media to interact with patients and promote health. Objective: The aim was to investigate the relationship between hospital social media extent of adoption and utilization relative to hospital characteristics. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional review of hospital-related activity on 4 social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, and Foursquare. All US hospitals were included that reported complete data for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey and the American Hospital Association Annual Survey. We reviewed hospital social media webpages to determine the extent of adoption relative to hospital characteristics, including geographic region, urban designation, bed size, ownership type, and teaching status. Social media utilization was estimated from user activity specific to each social media platform, including number of Facebook likes, Twitter followers, Foursquare check-ins, and Yelp reviews. Results: Adoption of social media varied across hospitals with 94.41% (3351/3371) having a Facebook page and 50.82% (1713/3371) having a Twitter account. A majority of hospitals had a Yelp page (99.14%, 3342/3371) and almost all hospitals had check-ins on Foursquare (99.41%, 3351/3371). Large, urban, private nonprofit, and teaching hospitals were more likely to have higher utilization of these accounts. Conclusions: Although most hospitals adopted at least one social media platform, utilization of social media varied according to several hospital characteristics. This preliminary investigation of social media adoption and utilization among US hospitals provides the framework for future studies investigating the effect of social media on patient outcomes, including links between social media use and the quality of hospital care and services

Lynx X-Ray Observatory: An Overview

Lynx, one of the four strategic mission concepts under study for the 2020 Astrophysics Decadal Survey, provides leaps in capability over previous and planned x-ray missions and provides synergistic observations in the 2030s to a multitude of space- and ground-based observatories across all wavelengths. Lynx provides orders of magnitude improvement in sensitivity, on-axis subarcsecond imaging with arcsecond angular resolution over a large field of view, and high-resolution spectroscopy for point-like and extended sources in the 0.2- to 10-keV range. The Lynx architecture enables a broad range of unique and compelling science to be carried out mainly through a General Observer Program. This program is envisioned to include detecting the very first seed black holes, revealing the high-energy drivers of galaxy formation and evolution, and characterizing the mechanisms that govern stellar evolution and stellar ecosystems. The Lynx optics and science instruments are carefully designed to optimize the science capability and, when combined, form an exciting architecture that utilizes relatively mature technologies for a cost that is compatible with the projected NASA Astrophysics budget

Investigating Agrobacterium-Mediated Transformation of Verticillium albo-atrum on Plant Surfaces

Background: Agrobacterium tumefaciens has long been known to transform plant tissue in nature as part of its infection process. This natural mechanism has been utilised over the last few decades in laboratories world wide to genetically manipulate many species of plants. More recently this technology has been successfully applied to non-plant organisms in the laboratory, including fungi, where the plant wound hormone acetosyringone, an inducer of transformation, is supplied exogenously. In the natural environment it is possible that Agrobacterium and fungi may encounter each other at plant wound sites, where acetosyringone would be present, raising the possibility of natural gene transfer from bacterium to fungus. Methodology/Principal Findings: We investigate this hypothesis through the development of experiments designed to replicate such a situation at a plant wound site. A. tumefaciens harbouring the plasmid pCAMDsRed was co-cultivated with the common plant pathogenic fungus Verticillium albo-atrum on a range of wounded plant tissues. Fungal transformants were obtained from co-cultivation on a range of plant tissue types, demonstrating that plant tissue provides sufficient vir gene inducers to allow A. tumefaciens to transform fungi in planta. Conclusions/Significance: This work raises interesting questions about whether A. tumefaciens may be able to transform organisms other than plants in nature, or indeed should be considered during GM risk assessments, with furthe

Deliberating performance targets workshop: Potential paths for emerging PM2.5 and O3 air sensor progress

The United States Environmental Protection Agency held an international two-day workshop in June 2018 to deliberate possible performance targets for non-regulatory fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone (O3) air sensors. The need for a workshop arose from the lack of any market-wide manufacturer requirement for documented sensor performance evaluations, the lack of any independent third party or government-based sensor performance certification program, and uncertainty among all users as to the general usability of air sensor data. A multi-sector subject matter expert panel was assembled to facilitate an open discussion on these issues with multiple stakeholders. This summary provides an overview of the workshop purpose, key findings from the deliberations, and considerations for future actions specific to sensors. Important findings concerning PM2.5 and O3 sensors included the lack of consistent performance indicators and statistical metrics as well as highly variable data quality requirements depending on the intended use. While the workshop did not attempt to yield consensus on any topic, a key message was that a number of possible future actions would be beneficial to all stakeholders regarding sensor technologies. These included documentation of best practices, sharing quality assurance results along with sensor data, and the development of a common performance target lexicon, performance targets, and test protocols. Keywords: Low-cost air quality sensors, Performance targets, PM2.5, Ozon