Cortisol concentrations in human skeletal muscle tissue after phonophoresis with 10% hydrocortisone gel

CONTEXT: The delivery of hydrocortisone through phonophoresis is a widely prescribed technique for the treatment of various musculoskeletal inflammatory conditions. However, limited scientific evidence exists to support the efficacy of phonophoresis in delivering hydrocortisone to skeletal muscle tissue in humans. OBJECTIVE: To determine hydrocortisone (cortisol) concentrations in human skeletal muscle tissue after a phonophoresis treatment using 10% hydrocortisone gel. DESIGN: Randomized design in which 12 subjects were randomly assigned to either an ultrasound (sham) treatment or a 10% hydrocortisone phonophoresis treatment. SETTING: Laboratory. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS: Twelve healthy subjects (8 women, 4 men: age = 22.3 +/- 2.64 years, height = 168.28 +/- 8.19 cm, mass = 69.58 +/- 9.05 kg) with no history of musculoskeletal disease, preexisting inflammatory conditions, or recent orthopaedic injuries. INTERVENTION(S): Ultrasound at 1.0 MHz, 1.0 W/cm (2), at a continuous setting for 7 minutes was applied to a standardized area of the vastus lateralis muscle in both groups. The contralateral limb served as the control (no treatment) for both the sham and the phonophoresis groups. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Vastus lateralis muscle biopsies were taken from both legs immediately after treatment, and cortisol concentrations were analyzed using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: We observed no significant difference in muscle cortisol concentration between the contralateral control limb and the treatment limb in either the sham or the phonophoresis group ( P \u3e .05). No significant difference was noted when the treatment limbs in the sham and phonophoresis groups were compared ( P \u3e .05). CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that a 10% hydrocortisone-based phonophoresis treatment did not increase cortisol concentrations in human skeletal muscle tissue

Substantial biases in ultra-short read data sets from high-throughput DNA sequencing

Novel sequencing technologies permit the rapid production of large sequence data sets. These technologies are likely to revolutionize genetics and biomedical research, but a thorough characterization of the ultra-short read output is necessary. We generated and analyzed two Illumina 1G ultra-short read data sets, i.e. 2.8 million 27mer reads from a Beta vulgaris genomic clone and 12.3 million 36mers from the Helicobacter acinonychis genome. We found that error rates range from 0.3% at the beginning of reads to 3.8% at the end of reads. Wrong base calls are frequently preceded by base G. Base substitution error frequencies vary by 10- to 11-fold, with A > C transversion being among the most frequent and C > G transversions among the least frequent substitution errors. Insertions and deletions of single bases occur at very low rates. When simulating re-sequencing we found a 20-fold sequencing coverage to be sufficient to compensate errors by correct reads. The read coverage of the sequenced regions is biased; the highest read density was found in intervals with elevated GC content. High Solexa quality scores are over-optimistic and low scores underestimate the data quality. Our results show different types of biases and ways to detect them. Such biases have implications on the use and interpretation of Solexa data, for de novo sequencing, re-sequencing, the identification of single nucleotide polymorphisms and DNA methylation sites, as well as for transcriptome analysis

Effect of Row Pattern and Spacing on Water Use Efficiency for Subsurface Drip Irrigated Cotton

Cotton production is an important economic base for Far West Texas; however, the region has erratic and limited rainfall and is dependent on limited groundwater supplies. Maximizing water use efficiency (WUE) for cotton lint yield is therefore a strategic goal in conserving limited water resources. In this study different plant row patterns, row spacings and irrigation levels were evaluated to investigate water use efficiency for cotton under subsurface drip irrigation (SDI). An experiment with three row-spacings, two plant row patterns, and four water levels was conducted during three years in Far West Texas. The row spacing treatments were ultranarrow rows (UNR), 0.76 and 1.02-m rows. The row patterns for the 0.76 and 1.02 m row spacings were every row planted, one planted and one skipped, and two rows planted and one skipped. The UNR cotton was solid-planted in 0.25-m rows in 1997 and 0.38-m rows in 1998 and 1999. The drip lines were placed beneath each planted row, except in the case of the UNR rows where the rows were planted over the 0.76-m drip line spacing. The UNR and the 0.76-m row spacing resulted in higher WUE than the 1.02-m row spacing for the highest water level in 1997, and the lowest water level in 1998 for the every row pattern. When the three years of data were combined for analysis, it was observed that for the lowest water treatment (0.6-mm/d inseason irrigation), the UNR spacing produced a higher WUE (0.258 kg/m3) than the 0.76 and 1.02-m row spacings (0.198 kg/m3). The average WUE of the UNR spacing for three years of the experiment was 11.7 and 21.3% higher than the 0.76-m and 1.02-m row spacing respectively. Although, the 0.76-m and 1.02-m row spacing were not significantly different, the WUE of 0.76- m row spacing was 10.5% higher than the 1.02-m row spacing. Therefore, we conclude under our conditions row spacing can have a moderate impact on WUE for SDI systems. The narrower cotton spacing exhibited trends toward higher WUE. When the row planting patterns were analyzed by combining three years of data, it was found that row pattern did not have an influence on WUE for the 0.76-m and 1.02-m row spacings

Field-free platform for Majorana-like zero mode in superconductors with a topological surface state

Superconducting materials exhibiting topological properties are emerging as an exciting platform to realize fundamentally new excitations from topological quantum states of matter. In this letter, we explore the possibility of a field-free platform for generating Majorana zero energy excitations by depositing magnetic Fe impurities on the surface of candidate topological superconductors, LiFeAs and PbTaSe2. We use scanning tunneling microscopy to probe localized states induced at the Fe adatoms on the atomic scale and at sub-Kelvin temperatures. We find that each Fe adatom generates a striking zero-energy bound state inside the superconducting gap, which do not split in magnetic fields up to 8 T, underlining a nontrivial topological origin. Our findings point to magnetic Fe adatoms evaporated on bulk superconductors with topological surface states for exploring Majorana zero modes and quantum information science under field-free conditions

Fermion-boson many-body interplay in a frustrated kagome paramagnet

Kagome-net, appearing in areas of fundamental physics, materials, photonic and cold-atom systems, hosts frustrated fermionic and bosonic excitations. However, it is extremely rare to find a system to study both fermionic and bosonic modes to gain insights into their many-body interplay. Here we use state-of-the-art scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy to discover unusual electronic coupling to flat-band phonons in a layered kagome paramagnet. Our results reveal the kagome structure with unprecedented atomic resolution and observe the striking bosonic mode interacting with dispersive kagome electrons near the Fermi surface. At this mode energy, the fermionic quasi-particle dispersion exhibits a pronounced renormalization, signaling a giant coupling to bosons. Through a combination of self-energy analysis, first-principles calculation, and a lattice vibration model, we present evidence that this mode arises from the geometrically frustrated phonon flat-band, which is the lattice analog of kagome electron flat-band. Our findings provide the first example of kagome bosonic mode (flat-band phonon) in electronic excitations and its strong interaction with fermionic degrees of freedom in kagome-net materials.Comment: To appear in Nature Communications (2020

Field evaluations of a wayside horn at at [sic] a highway-railroad grade crossing.

Federal Railroad Administration, Office of Research and Development, Washington, D.C.Mode of access: Internet.Author corporate affiliation: Transportation Department, Research and Special Programs Administration, Washington, D.C.Report covers the period April 1994 - May 1997Subject code: CDJISubject code: DNBSubject code: DVGISubject code: HBDHSubject code: NHSSubject code: WU*NH