Poliomyelitis in Malta, 1950-1951: An Epidemiological and Clinical Study of the Disease as it Affected the Armed Services

The basis of the treatment of the acute stage of poliomyelitis is presented and the meaning of muscle spasm is discussed. The results of treatment are shown and roughly compared with those of other epidemics

Alien Registration- Macfarlane, Robert G. (Mars Hill, Aroostook County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/33984/thumbnail.jp

Contribution of growth hormone-releasing hormone and somatostatin to decreased growth hormone secretion in elderly men

Objective. The pathophysiology of the decline in circulating growth hormone (GH) concentrations that may occur with ageing remains elusive. We have investigated the potential contributions of decreased endogenous GH-releasing hormone (GHRH) and increased somatostatin secretion to this phenomenon.Design and methods. The strategy used was to stimulate GH secretion in 8 young (20 - 24 years old, body mass index (BMI) 22.8 ± 2.8 kg/m2) and 8 elderly (68- 82 years old, BMI 23.4 ± 1.6 kg/m2) male subjects on separate occasions by means of: (i) intravenous bolus 0.5 ).lg/kg D-Ala2 GHRH(1-29)-NH alone; (ii) 0.5 μg/kg GHRH after pretreatment with two oral doses of 50 mg atenolol (to inhibit somatostatin secretion); (iii) 1.25 mg oral bromocriptine alone (to increase endogenous GHRH and/or inhibit somatostatin); (iv) 50 mg oral atenolol plus 1.25 mg oral bromocriptine; and (v) 0.5 μg/kg GHRH after pre-treatment with 1.25 mg oral bromocriptine.Results. The elderly men had a significantly lower peak and area under curve (AUC) GH response to intravenous GHRH when compared with 8 young men (peak 3.1 ± 1.0 ng/ml v. 21.6 ± 5.0 ng/ ml, AUC 205 ±56 ng/ ml/min v.1 315 ± 295 ng/ ml/ min, P < 0.05). Pre-treatment with atenolol before GHRH administration produced no significant increase in peak and AUC GH response in both groups, whlch remained lower in the elderly men than in their young counterparts (peak 5.5 ±1.8 ng/ ml v. 29.3 ± 7.0 ng/ml, AUC 327 ± 90 ng/ml/min v. 2 017 ± 590 ng/ ml/min, P < 0.05). Bromocriptine alone did not cause a significant rise in GH concentration in either elderly or young subjects (peak 3.1 ± 1.1 v. 8.8 ± 3.2 ng/ ml, P > 0.05). When atenolol was administered before bromocriptine, both groups responded but the elderly subjects had a significantly greater peak and AUC response (peak 3.6 ± 0.7 v. 10:7 ± 2.1 ng/ ml; AUC 191 ± 39 v. 533 ± 125 ng/ ml/ min, P < 0.05). Bromocriptine given before GHRH failed to potentiate GHRH action on GH release in either group. Of 5 elderly men who tmderwent further evaluation of GH secretory ability, 2 subjects had GH levels > 10 ng/ rnl, either basally or after intravenous GHRH. The remaining 3 had an initially impaired GH response to bolus intravenous GHRH. After 100 μg GHRH subcutaneously twice daily for up to 2 weeks the GH responses to intravenous bolus GHRH (0.5μg /kg) were reassessed. One exhibited a normal response (> 10 ng/ rnl) after 1 week of daily GHRH treatment, another had a nearnormal response after 2 weeks (9.7 ng/ rnl), while the third still had an impaired response by the end of the 2-week treatment period (3.2 ng/ ml).Conclusions. The restoration of endogenous GH secretion in these elderly subjects by means of GHRH priming, and the failure of manipulation of somatostatinergic tone to restore a normal GH response to GHRH suggests that somatotroph atrophy due to a reduction in endogenous GHRH secretion is the principal cause of the diminished GH secretion with ageing

Vagueness as Indecision

This essay explores the thesis that for vague predicates, uncertainty over whether a borderline instance x of red/large/tall/good is to be understood as practical uncertainty over whether to treat x as red/large/tall/good. Expressivist and quasi-realist treatments of vague predicates due to John MacFarlane and Daniel Elstein provide the stalking-horse. It examines the notion of treating/counting a thing as F, and links a central question about our attitudes to vague predications to normative evaluation of plans to treat a thing as F. The essay examines how the account applies to normatively defective or contested terms. The final section raises a puzzle about the mechanics of MacFarlane’s detailed implementation for the case of gradable adjectives

Uniform electroactive fiber-like micelle nanowires for organic electronics

AbstractMicelles formed by the self-assembly of block copolymers in selective solvents have attracted widespread attention and have uses in a wide variety of fields, whereas applications based on their electronic properties are virtually unexplored. Herein we describe studies of solution-processable, low-dispersity, electroactive fibre-like micelles of controlled length from π-conjugated diblock copolymers containing a crystalline regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) core and a solubilizing, amorphous regiosymmetric poly(3-hexylthiophene) or polystyrene corona. Tunnelling atomic force microscopy measurements demonstrate that the individual fibres exhibit appreciable conductivity. The fibres were subsequently incorporated as the active layer in field-effect transistors. The resulting charge carrier mobility strongly depends on both the degree of polymerization of the core-forming block and the fibre length, and is independent of corona composition. The use of uniform, colloidally stable electroactive fibre-like micelles based on common π-conjugated block copolymers highlights their significant potential to provide fundamental insight into charge carrier processes in devices, and to enable future electronic applications.</jats:p

A high frame rate, 340 GHz 3D imaging radar for security

Funding: European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. 312745.The need for improved security at airports with high detection performance, high throughput rates and an improved passenger experience is motivating research into new sensing technologies. The European Union funded CONSORTIS project is addressing these aims by demonstrating a system which combines a submillimeter wave radar, a dual-band passive submillimeter wave camera and automatic anomaly detection software for reliable detection while ensuring passenger privacy. In this paper we describe the 340 GHz 16-channel FMCW radar which produces 3D maps of the subject with ∼1 cm3 voxel resolution over a 1 m3 sense volume at multi-hertz frame rates. The radar combines advanced transceiver electronics with high speed mechanical beam steering and parallelized processing to achieve this level of performance.Postprin

Kondo screening in d-wave superconductors in a Zeeman field and implications for STM spectra of Zn-doped cuprates

We consider the screening of an impurity moment in a d-wave superconductor under the influence of a Zeeman magnetic field. Using the Numerical Renormalization Group technique, we investigate the resulting pseudogap Kondo problem, in particular the field-induced crossover behavior in the vicinity of the zero-field boundary quantum phase transition. The impurity spectral function and the resulting changes in the local host density of states are calculated, giving specific predictions for high-field STM measurements on impurity-doped cuprates.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figs, (v2) remark on c-axis field added, discussion extended, (v3) final version as publishe

The Cold Peace: Russo-Western Relations as a Mimetic Cold War

In 1989–1991 the geo-ideological contestation between two blocs was swept away, together with the ideology of civil war and its concomitant Cold War played out on the larger stage. Paradoxically, while the domestic sources of Cold War confrontation have been transcended, its external manifestations remain in the form of a ‘legacy’ geopolitical contest between the dominant hegemonic power (the United States) and a number of potential rising great powers, of which Russia is one. The post-revolutionary era is thus one of a ‘cold peace’. A cold peace is a mimetic cold war. In other words, while a cold war accepts the logic of conflict in the international system and between certain protagonists in particular, a cold peace reproduces the behavioural patterns of a cold war but suppresses acceptance of the logic of behaviour. A cold peace is accompanied by a singular stress on notions of victimhood for some and undigested and bitter victory for others. The perceived victim status of one set of actors provides the seedbed for renewed conflict, while the ‘victory’ of the others cannot be consolidated in some sort of relatively unchallenged post-conflict order. The ‘universalism’ of the victors is now challenged by Russia's neo-revisionist policy, including not so much the defence of Westphalian notions of sovereignty but the espousal of an international system with room for multiple systems (the Schmittean pluriverse)