17,548 research outputs found
Response of Fishes to Revetment Placement
Routine fish sampling with hoop nets was conducted monthly from April through December 1978 along natural and revetted riverbanks on the lower Mississippi River near Eudora, Arkansas, to monitor changes in fish populations affected by placement of new revetment for bank protection. Eighteen species of fish were collected with four species comprising over 75% of the total catch. During the months prior to revetment placement, freshwater drum, Aplodinotus grunniens, was the most abundant (32.7% of the catch) species collected. Following in abundance were the flathead catfish, Pylodictis olivaris, (9.8%), common carp, Cyprinus carpio, (7.8%), and blue catfish, Ictalurus furcatus, (3.3%). After revetment placement in August 1978, the freshwater drum was again the most abundant component, comprising 9.7% of the catch. Gizzard shad, Dorosoma cepedianum, flathead catfish, and blue catfish followed in abundance and comprised 8.9, 4.1, and 3.4% of the total catch, respectively. Catch per effort data indicated that fish were generally more abundant at natural bank stations than revetted bank stations but the difference was not significant. The study suggests that fish inhabiting natural riverbank habitat recover quite rapidly from bank perturbation caused by the placement of revetment
Photon polarisation entanglement from distant dipole sources
It is commonly believed that photon polarisation entanglement can only be
obtained via pair creation within the same source or via postselective
measurements on photons that overlapped within their coherence time inside a
linear optics setup. In contrast to this, we show here that polarisation
entanglement can also be produced by distant single photon sources in free
space and without the photons ever having to meet, if the detection of a photon
does not reveal its origin -- the which way information. In the case of two
sources, the entanglement arises under the condition of two emissions in
certain spatial directions and leaves the dipoles in a maximally entangled
state.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, revised version, accepted for publication in J.
Phys.
Oxytocin injections in the postpartal period affect mammary tight junctions in sows
The potential impacts of injecting oxytocin (OXY) to sows in the early postpartum period on the quality of mammary tight junctions, milk composition, and immune status of sows and piglets were studied. Postparturient sows received i.m. injections of either saline (control [CTL]; = 10) or 75 IU of OXY ( = 10). Injections were given twice daily (0800 and 1630 h) starting on d 2 of lactation (i.e., between 12 and 20 h after birth of the last piglet), totaling 4 injections. Milk samples were obtained before the first injection (d 2 morning [AM]), before the second injection (d 2 afternoon [PM]), and on d 4 PM and d 5 PM. Blood samples were obtained from sows before milking on d 2 AM, d 2 PM, and d 5 PM. On d 5 of lactation, a blood sample was obtained from 3 piglets per litter. Circulating concentrations of prolactin, IGF-I, lactose, and IgA in sows did not differ between treatments at any time ( > 0.10), but OXY sows had less IgG than CTL sows ( 0.10). Injecting OXY to sows in the early postpartum period increased leakiness of the mammary tight junctions, improved composition of early milk, and may potentially affect immune status of neonatal piglets
Kinetic pinning and biological antifreezes
Biological antifreezes protect cold-water organisms from freezing. An example
are the antifreeze proteins (AFPs) that attach to the surface of ice crystals
and arrest growth. The mechanism for growth arrest has not been heretofore
understood in a quantitative way. We present a complete theory based on a
kinetic model. We use the `stones on a pillow' picture. Our theory of the
suppression of the freezing point as a function of the concentration of the AFP
is quantitatively accurate. It gives a correct description of the dependence of
the freezing point suppression on the geometry of the protein, and might lead
to advances in design of synthetic AFPs.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Speeding up gate operations through dissipation
It is commonly believed that decoherence is the main obstacle to quantum information processing. In contrast to this, we show how decoherence in the form of dissipation can improve the performance of certain quantum gates. As an example we consider the realisations of a controlled phase gate and a two-qubit SWAP operation with the help of a single laser pulse in atom-cavity systems. In the presence of spontaneous decay rates, the speed of the gates can be improved by a factor 2 without sacrificing high fidelity and robustness against parameter fluctuations. Even though this leads to finite gate failure rates, the scheme is comparable with other quantum computing proposals
Transient Analysis of X-34 Pressurization System
Two transient operational modes of the X-34 pressurization system were analyzed using the ROCket Engine Transition Simulation (ROCETS) program. The first operational mode considers the normal operation. For the engine burn period, the required helium mass and pressure of each propellant tank were calculated. In the second case, the possibility of failure of the pressurization system solenoid valves, its consequence on the over-pressurization, and simultaneous operation of pressurization and vent/relief systems were evaluated
Shaping the future assistant/associate practitioner workforce; a Hampshire case study
This case study looks at the two-year full-time-equivalent Foundation Degree in Health and Social Care, initially developed in partnership between University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust and Southampton Solent University, Hampshire, UK.
The aim of this collaborative initiative is to develop healthcare support workers to gain and apply the required knowledge, skills, values and behaviours to care for patients/families/other service users and relatives in complex clinical situations, within the emerging role descriptors of an Assistant/Associate Practitioner (AP), often within a specialist/specified context.
Since the initial cohort of students began in January 2012, the foundation degree now has over 100 students/healthcare support workers across the two years and is being delivered in partnership with an increasing number of NHS trusts.
This paper will discuss the innovative and unique features of this foundation degree in health and social care, including the collaborative model of its curriculum design, delivery and management
The role of micrornas in the development of hospital acquired infection in polytrauma patients
Introduction
Traumatic injury is associated with immunosuppression and an increased risk of developing nosocomial infections. However, the immune regulatory mechanisms involved remain unclear.
Objectives
1) To describe genome-wide alterations in micro RNA (miRNA) expression following severe trauma.
2) To explore the potential role of miRNAs in mediating the post-traumatic immunosuppressive phenotype and their potential role in enhancing the risk of nosocomial infections.
Methods
Patients requiring ICU care following traumatic injury were recruited. Whole blood was collected within 2 hours of injury and 24 hours later. Total RNA (containing miRNAs) was isolated utilising PAX Gene and RNA extraction kits (Qiagen). miRNA-sequencing was performed with the Illumina HiSeq2500, and sequences were aligned to the human GRCh37 reference genome. Data analysis was carried out using the DESEQ2 package in R, and miRNAs were considered significantly altered with an adjusted p value of < 0.05. Functional enrichment analysis was performed using Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) on all miRNAs reaching an adjusted p value of < 0.1. mRNA targets of interest were identified using miRBase and TargetScan (http://www.mirbase.org, http://www.targetscan.org).
Results
49 patients were recruited and 25 patients developed nosocomial infections. Expression of 139 miRNAs was significantly altered between 2 hours and 24 hours following injury, with miR-146b, a key inhibitor of pro-inflammatory pathways[1], upregulated to the greatest degree. Figure 1 presents miRNAs that differ between those patients who developed nosocomial infections and those who did not. miR-144-5p was significantly different between the two groups at both time points. a large percentage of mRNA targets for miR-144 are involved the Cell-mediated Immune Response (Figure 2), including the B-cell receptor complex, p38MAPK, GATA3, IgG, BCL6 and the T-cell receptor. in addition, we have previously shown that the miR-374 family of miRNAs is linked to increased IL-10 expression in trauma patients[2]. IPA highlights Cancer, Haematological Disease, Immunological and Inflammatory Disease and Organismal Injury and Abnormalities as important pathways altered between infected and non-infected patients.
Conclusions
These data provide a miRNA signature of severely injured trauma patients who develop hospital acquired infection compared to those who do not, and identify the miR-144 and miR-374b families as being of particular interest for future studies of trauma-induced immune dysfunction
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