864 research outputs found
Childhood near-drowning - a 12-year retrospective review
The epidemiological findings in 107 patients admitted to Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, Cape Town, between 1976 and 1987 with a diagnosis of near-drowning are reported. Of these patients, 77% were less than. 5 years of age (ratio of boys to girls 2,1: 1) and 46% of accidents occurred In swimming pools, 18% in buckets and only 9% in the sea. The high percentage of bucket near-drownings is unique in published medical reports; this appears prevalent in socially disadvantaged communities. Seventy-six per cent of the children were normal on discharge from hospital, 12% died and 6% had neurological damage. In 6% the final outcome was not known. These results are in keeping with other hospital-based studies. Preventive strategies' are discussed and the need for further research highlighted
Occurrence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in surface waters near industrial hog operation spray fields
Industrial hog operations (IHOs) have been identified as a source of antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, including methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). However, few studies have investigated the presence of antibiotic-resistant S. aureus in the environment near IHOs, specifically surface waters proximal to spray fields where IHO liquid lagoon waste is sprayed. Surface water samples (n = 179) were collected over the course of approximately one year from nine locations in southeastern North Carolina and analyzed for the presence of presumptive MRSA using CHROMagar MRSA media. Culture-based, biochemical, and molecular tests, as well as matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry were used to confirm that isolates that grew on CHROMagar MRSA media were S. aureus. Confirmed S. aureus isolates were then tested for susceptibility to 16 antibiotics and screened for molecular markers of MRSA (mecA, mecC) and livestock adaptation (absence of scn). A total of 12 confirmed MRSA were detected in 9 distinct water samples. Nine of 12 MRSA isolates were also multidrug-resistant (MDRSA [i.e., resistant to ≥ 3 antibiotic classes]). All MRSA were scn-positive and most (11/12) belonged to a staphylococcal protein A (spa) type t008, which is commonly associated with humans. Additionally, 12 confirmed S. aureus that were methicillin-susceptible (MSSA) were recovered, 7 of which belonged to spa type t021 and were scn-negative (a marker of livestock-adaptation). This study demonstrated the presence of MSSA, MRSA, and MDRSA in surface waters adjacent to IHO lagoon waste spray fields in southeastern North Carolina. To our knowledge, this is the first report of waterborne S. aureus from surface waters proximal to IHOs
Domain walls between gauge theories
Noncommutative U(N) gauge theories at different N may be often thought of as
different sectors of a single theory: the U(1) theory possesses a sequence of
vacua labeled by an integer parameter N, and the theory in the vicinity of the
N-th vacuum coincides with the U(N) noncommutative gauge theory. We construct
noncommutative domain walls on fuzzy cylinder, separating vacua with different
gauge theories. These domain walls are solutions of BPS equations in gauge
theory with an extra term stabilizing the radius of the cylinder. We study
properties of the domain walls using adjoint scalar and fundamental fermion
fields as probes. We show that the regions on different sides of the wall are
not disjoint even in the low energy regime -- there are modes penetrating from
one region to the other. We find that the wall supports a chiral fermion zero
mode. Also, we study non-BPS solution representing a wall and an antiwall, and
show that this solution is unstable. We suggest that the domain walls emerge as
solutions of matrix model in large class of pp-wave backgrounds with
inhomogeneous field strength. In the M-theory language, the domain walls have
an interpretation of a stack of branes of fingerstall shape inserted into a
stack of cylindrical branes.Comment: Final version; minor corrections; to appear in Nucl.Phys.
Didactic Software for Autistic Children
In this paper we describe the aims and requirements of a project devoted to designing and developing Open Source didactic Software (SW) for children in the autism disorder spectrum, conforming to the Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) learning technique. In this context, participatory design with therapists and child?s parents is necessary to ensure a usable product that responds to these children?s special needs and respects education principles and constraints of the ABA methodology
Theory of Current-Induced Magnetization Precession
We solve appropriate drift-diffusion and Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equations to
demonstrate that unpolarized current flow from a non-magnet into a ferromagnet
can produce a precession-type instability of the magnetization. The fundamental
origin of the instability is the difference in conductivity between majority
spins and minority spins in the ferromagnet. This leads to spin accumulation
and spin currents that carry angular momentum across the interface. The
component of this angular momentum perpendicular to the magnetization drives
precessional motion that is opposed by Gilbert damping. Neglecting magnetic
anisotropy and magnetostatics, our approximate analytic and exact numerical
solutions using realistic values for the material parameters show (for both
semi-infinite and thin film geometries) that a linear instability occurs when
both the current density and the excitation wave vector parallel to the
interface are neither too small nor too large. For many aspects of the problem,
the variation of the magnetization in the direction of the current flows makes
an important contribution.Comment: Submitted to Physical Review
High Dose Methylprednisolone for Veno-Occlusive Disease of the Liver in Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant Recipients
A realisation of Lorentz algebra in Lorentz violating theory
A Lorentz non-invariant higher derivative effective action in flat spacetime,
characterised by a constant vector, can be made invariant under infinitesimal
Lorentz transformations by restricting the allowed field configurations. These
restricted fields are defined as functions of the background vector in such a
way that background dependance of the dynamics of the physical system is no
longer manifest. We show here that they also provide a field basis for the
realisation of Lorentz algebra and allow the construction of a Poincar\'e
invariant symplectic two form on the covariant phase space of the theory.Comment: text body edited, reference adde
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Preliminary parametric performance assessment of potential final waste forms for alpha low-level waste at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. Revision 1
This report presents a preliminary parametric performance assessment (PA) of potential waste disposal systems for alpha-contaminated, mixed, low-level waste (ALLW) currently stored at the Transuranic Storage Area of INEL. The ALLW, which contains from 10 to 100 nCi/g of transuranic (TRU) radionuclides, is awaiting treatment and disposal. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of several parameters on the radiological-confinement performance of potential disposal systems for the ALLW. The principal emphasis was on the performance of final waste forms (FWFs). Three categories of FWF (cement, glass, and ceramic) were addressed by evaluating the performance of two limiting FWFs for each category. Performance at five conceptual disposal sites was evaluated to illustrate the effects of site characteristics on the performance of the total disposal system. Other parameters investigated for effects on receptor dose included inventory assumptions, TRU radionuclide concentration, FWF fracture, disposal depth, water infiltration rates, subsurface-transport modeling assumptions, receptor well location, intrusion scenario assumptions, and the absence of waste immobilization. These and other factors were varied singly and in some combinations. The results indicate that compliance of the treated and disposed ALLW with the performance objectives depends on the assumptions made, as well as on the FWF and the disposal site. Some combinations result in compliance, while others do not. The implications of these results for decision making relative to treatment and disposal of the INEL ALLW are discussed. The report compares the degree of conservatism in this preliminary parametric PA against that in four other PAs and one risk assessment. All of the assessments addressed the same disposal site, but different wastes. The report also presents a qualitative evaluation of the uncertainties in the PA and makes recommendations for further study
Cmx001 as Therapy for Severe Adenovirus Infections in Immunocompromised Pediatric Patients: Single Experience in 5 Patients
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