Side-to-differences of medial elbow anatomy adaptations in youth throwing athletes

Background: Injuries to the medial elbow are common in overhead sports, with the most common occurring at the medial/ulnar collateral ligament (UCL). Injury to the UCL is associated with elbow joint laxity which tends to develop over time in athletes who place their elbows under chronic valgus forces like those present during throwing. 27, 37 This instability is well documented in professional, collegiate, and high school athletes. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the medial elbow joint width and common flexor tendon thickness in the arms of youth baseball players. The hypotheses were (1) the medial elbow joint space would be greater on the dominant arm compared to the non-dominant arm in a resting position, (2) the medial elbow joint space would be greater on the dominant arm compared to the non-dominant arm in the stressed position; and (3) the common flexor tendon would have a greater thickness on the dominant arm compared to the non-dominant arm. Methods: Six participants were included in this investigation.. The width of the medial elbow was measured on ultrasound images of the medial elbow and common flexor tendon. The medial elbow joint space was measured at rest and with an applied valgus stress. Results: There was no significant difference in medial elbow joint space width between the dominant and non-dominant sides at rest or with an applied valgus stress. There was no significant difference in common flexor tendon thickness at the elbow between the dominant and non-dominant sides within subjects. The mean medial elbow joint space width at rest was 3.39mm ± 0.96mm on the dominant side and 3.47mm ± 0.87mm on the non-dominant side. When a valgus stress was applied, the dominant side mean increased to 3.92mm ± 1.02mm and the non-dominant side increased to 4.04mm ± 1.04mm. The mean flexor tendon thickness was 3.8mm ± 0.54 on the dominant side and 3.92mm ± 0.59mm on the non-dominant side. Conclusion and Practical Significance: No side-to-side difference in medial elbow joint space width or flexor tendon thickness was observed in youth baseball/softball athletes. These findings are expected in youth throwers due to their relative inexperience with overhead throwing and lack of accumulated stress on the medial elbow. Maintaining the stability of the elbow as youth throwing athletes age is a vital step in preventing costly injury later in their careers

Quantum lost property: a possible operational meaning for the Hilbert-Schmidt product

Minimum error state discrimination between two mixed states \rho and \sigma can be aided by the receipt of "classical side information" specifying which states from some convex decompositions of \rho and \sigma apply in each run. We quantify this phenomena by the average trace distance, and give lower and upper bounds on this quantity as functions of \rho and \sigma. The lower bound is simply the trace distance between \rho and \sigma, trivially seen to be tight. The upper bound is \sqrt{1 - tr(\rho\sigma)}, and we conjecture that this is also tight. We reformulate this conjecture in terms of the existence of a pair of "unbiased decompositions", which may be of independent interest, and prove it for a few special cases. Finally, we point towards a link with a notion of non-classicality known as preparation contextuality.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure. v2: Less typos in text and less punctuation in titl

Knot Floer homology of Whitehead doubles

In this paper we study the knot Floer homology invariants of the twisted and untwisted Whitehead doubles of an arbitrary knot K. We present a formula for the filtered chain homotopy type of HFK(D(+,K,t)) in terms of the invariants for K, where D(+,K,t) denotes the t-twisted positive-clasped Whitehead double of K. In particular, the formula can be used iteratively and can be used to compute the Floer homology of manifolds obtained by surgery on Whitehead doubles. An immediate corollary is that tau(D(+,K,t))=1 if t< 2tau(K) and zero otherwise, where tau is the Ozsv{\'a}th-Szab{\'o} concordance invariant. It follows that the iterated untwisted Whitehead doubles of a knot satisfying tau(K)>0 are not smoothly slice.Comment: 41 pages, 14 color figures. spelling errors corrected and other minor change

Turbulent Wing-Leading-Edge Correlation Assessment for the Shuttle Orbiter

This study was conducted in support of the Orbiter damage assessment activity that takes place for each Shuttle mission since STS-107 (STS - Space Transportation System). As part of the damage assessment activity, the state of boundary layer (laminar or turbulent) during reentry needs to be estimated in order to define the aerothermal environment on the Orbiter. Premature turbulence on the wing leading edge (WLE) is possible if a surface irregularity promotes early transition and the resulting turbulent wedge flow contaminates the WLE flow. The objective of this analysis is to develop a criterion to determine if and when the flow along the WLE experiences turbulent heating given an incoming turbulent boundary layer that contaminates the attachment line. The data to be analyzed were all obtained as part of the MH-13 Space Shuttle Orbiter Aerothermodynamic Test conducted on a 1.8%-scale Orbiter model at Calspan/University of Buffalo Research Center in the Large Energy National Shock Tunnels facility. A rational framework was used to develop a means to assess the state of the WLE flow on the Orbiter during reentry given a contaminated attachment-line flow. Evidence of turbulent flow on the WLE has been recently documented for a few STS missions during the Orbiter s flight history, albeit late in the reentry trajectory. The criterion developed herein will be compared to these flight results

THE DIVERSITY OF CONVERGENCE: STATE AUTHORITY, ECONOMIC GOVERNANCE AND THE POLITICS OF SECURITIES FINANCE IN CHINA AND INDIA

This dissertation explains contrasting patterns of financial reform in China and India. It focuses on ?securitization? ? the structural shift from credit-based finance (banking) to securities-based finance (stocks and bonds) ? as a politically consequential phenomenon in comparative and international political economy. The analysis revises common theories of the developmental state ? theories derived from Gerschenkron?s emphasis on directed-credit and the state?s role in capital formation ? in light of securitization?s growing global importance in the last twenty years. Contrasting responses to securitization are explained using international and domestic variables including the profile of a country?s exposure to the world economy, the distributional coalition supporting the state and the prevailing structure of property rights. At a theoretical level, the dissertation highlights the political consequences of securitization for state authority in the economy, arguing that directed-credit; 1) enhanced state discretion in the management of distributional coalitions; 2) facilitated the perpetuity of poorly specified property rights; and 3) mitigated the consequences of the country?s position with respect to external trade and investment. Empirically, the research presented here demonstrates that China and India responded differently to the process of securitization, contrary to the expectations of globalization theories that identify finance as a domain in which international forces favoring convergence should be strongest. The thesis also shows that, in contrast to the scholarly depiction of China?s authoritarian system as superior to India?s democracy in the reform process, in the area of finance, Indian and Chinese reform patterns are mirror images: reform with substantive change in India, reform without substantive change in China. Finally, most scholars viewed China?s massive foreign exchange reserves and world-topping volumes of foreign direct investment as signs of economic strength. This thesis suggests the opposite: that these signs indicate Chinese vulnerability is derived from an ?affliction of abundance.? India, however, made a virtue of its weakness, exploiting the ?advantages of adversity.? With little foreign direct investment, few exports, and (until recently) scant hard currency reserves, India chose to develop world-class securities markets and a rich tapestry of securities governance institutions in order to better mobilize and direct corporate finance and attract hard currency through foreign portfolio investment

The Uniqueness Theorem for Entanglement Measures

We explore and develop the mathematics of the theory of entanglement measures. After a careful review and analysis of definitions, of preliminary results, and of connections between conditions on entanglement measures, we prove a sharpened version of a uniqueness theorem which gives necessary and sufficient conditions for an entanglement measure to coincide with the reduced von Neumann entropy on pure states. We also prove several versions of a theorem on extreme entanglement measures in the case of mixed states. We analyse properties of the asymptotic regularization of entanglement measures proving, for example, convexity for the entanglement cost and for the regularized relative entropy of entanglement.Comment: 22 pages, LaTeX, version accepted by J. Math. Phy

A γ-secretase inhibitor, but not a γ-secretase modulator, induced defects in BDNF axonal trafficking and signaling: evidence for a role for APP.

Clues to Alzheimer disease (AD) pathogenesis come from a variety of different sources including studies of clinical and neuropathological features, biomarkers, genomics and animal and cellular models. An important role for amyloid precursor protein (APP) and its processing has emerged and considerable interest has been directed at the hypothesis that Aβ peptides induce changes central to pathogenesis. Accordingly, molecules that reduce the levels of Aβ peptides have been discovered such as γ-secretase inhibitors (GSIs) and modulators (GSMs). GSIs and GSMs reduce Aβ levels through very different mechanisms. However, GSIs, but not GSMs, markedly increase the levels of APP CTFs that are increasingly viewed as disrupting neuronal function. Here, we evaluated the effects of GSIs and GSMs on a number of neuronal phenotypes possibly relevant to their use in treatment of AD. We report that GSI disrupted retrograde axonal trafficking of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), suppressed BDNF-induced downstream signaling pathways and induced changes in the distribution within neuronal processes of mitochondria and synaptic vesicles. In contrast, treatment with a novel class of GSMs had no significant effect on these measures. Since knockdown of APP by specific siRNA prevented GSI-induced changes in BDNF axonal trafficking and signaling, we concluded that GSI effects on APP processing were responsible, at least in part, for BDNF trafficking and signaling deficits. Our findings argue that with respect to anti-amyloid treatments, even an APP-specific GSI may have deleterious effects and GSMs may serve as a better alternative

Extended Red Objects and Stellar Wind Bow Shocks in the Carina Nebula

We report the results of infrared photometry on 39 extended red objects (EROs) in the Carina Nebula, observed with the Spitzer Space Telescope. Most EROs are identified by bright, extended 8.0 um emission, which ranges from 10'' to 40'' in size, but our sample also includes 4 EROs identified by extended 24 um emission. Of particular interest are nine EROs associated with late O or early B-type stars and characterized by arc-shaped morphology, suggesting dusty, stellar-wind bow shocks. These objects are preferentially oriented towards the central regions of the Carina Nebula, suggesting that these bow shocks are generally produced by the interactions of OB winds with the bulk expansion of the H II region rather than high proper motion. We identify preferred regions of mid-infrared color space occupied by our bow shock candidates, which also contain bow shock candidates in M17 and RCW 49 but are well-separated from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon emission or circumstellar discs. Color cuts identify an additional 12 marginally-resolved bow shock candidates, 10 of which are also associated with known late O or early B stars. H II region expansion velocities derived from bow shock candidate standoff distances are ~10 km/s, assuming typical H II region gas densities, comparable to expansion velocities derived from bow shocks in M17 and RCW 49. One candidate bow shock provides direct evidence of physical interaction between the massive stellar winds originating in the Trumpler 15 and Trumpler 14 clusters, supporting the conclusion that both clusters are at similar heliocentric distances.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, MNRAS accepted (2014 October 10