Dexmedetomidine as Adjuvant Therapy for Acute Postoperative Neuropathic Pain Crisis

Background: Dexmedetomidine is a potent α2-adrenergic agonist U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved for sedation. While its use as an analgesic has been described in the palliative medicine literature, its use for managing an acute neuropathic pain episode is less well known. Methods: Here we describe the use of adjuvant dexmedetomidine in a patient with metastatic sarcoma suffering from an acute postoperative neuropathic pain crisis. Conclusion: Among patients with acute neuropathic pain for whom additional opioids raises respiratory-related concerns, the use of dexmedetomidine should be considered as a viable treatment alternative.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140116/1/jpm.2013.0556.pd

Defining the human mucosal CD4+ T cell and Mononuclear Phagocyte landscape by high parameter technologies

Tissue resident mononuclear phagocytes (MNP) are among the first immune cells that sexually transmitted pathogens encounter during transmission. These antigen presenting cells rapidly endocytose pathogens and then interact with CD4+ T cells to initiate adaptive immunity. In the case of HIV, the virus can be transferred from MNP to infect CD4+ T cells which are the primary target cell in which HIV undergoes replication. These MNP:CD4+ T cell interaction were originally believed to occur in lymph nodes but there is now an increasing body of evidence that this occurs within tissue at the site of transmission. There has been recent interest in defining the phenotype and the role of CD4+ TRMs in diseases. In HIV, CD4+ TRM have been shown to be a major target for productive and latent infection in the cervix. However, there are limited investigations into the CD4+ T cell landscape in other genital tissues. In this thesis, we optimised the enzymatic digestion process to maintain the cells in their physiological status. We have designed, optimised and implemented a 24-color flow cytometry panel to characterise T cells by memory, residency, activation. CD127 is known to be enriched on TRM. It is also a marker used in blood to identify regulatory T cells by surface expression. By preventing the enzymatic cleavage of surface markers during tissue digestion, we were able to identify a CD127+FOXP3+ T cell subset. We find its expression is dichotomous with TIGIT expression. The CD127+ Tregs express markers that are associated with TRM. Lastly, we examined the mononuclear phagocyte and CD4+ T cell landscape in human anogenital mucosa by single cell RNA sequencing (sc-RNAseq). We apply scRNA-Seq to conclude that Langerhans cells are not the only cells within the stratified epidermal layer of tissues, as the latter also contain conventional DC2 (cDC2). Further, we examine tissue pDCs and Axl+Siglec6+ DCs (ASDCs) by RNA sequencing and compare these to their counterparts in blood

Couplings and Alignment

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The star formation histories of red and blue low surface brightness disk galaxies

We study the star formation histories (SFH) and stellar populations of 213 red and 226 blue nearly face-on low surface brightness disk galaxies (LSBGs), which are selected from the main galaxy sample of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release Seven (DR7). We also want to compare the stellar populations and SFH between the two groups. The sample of both red and blue LSBGs have sufficient signal-to-noise ratio in the spectral continua. We obtain their absorption-line indices (e.g. Mg_2, H\delta_A), D_n(4000) and stellar masses from the MPA/JHU catalogs to study their stellar populations and SFH. Moreover we fit their optical spectra (stellar absorption lines and continua) by using the spectral synthesis code STARLIGHT on the basis of the templates of Simple Stellar Populations (SSPs). We find that red LSBGs tend to be relatively older, higher metallicity, more massive and have higher surface mass density than blue LSBGs. The D_n(4000)-H\delta_A plane shows that perhaps red and blue LSBGs have different SFH: blue LSBGs are more likely to be experiencing a sporadic star formation events at the present day, whereas red LSBGs are more likely to form stars continuously over the past 1-2 Gyr. Moreover, the fraction of galaxies that experienced recent sporadic formation events decreases with increasing stellar mass. Furthermore, two sub-samples are defined for both red and blue LSBGs: the sub-sample within the same stellar mass range of 9.5 <= log(M_\star/M_\odot) <= 10.3, and the surface brightness limiting sub-sample with \mu_0(R) <= 20.7 mag arcsec^{-2}. They show consistent results with the total sample in the corresponding relationships, which confirm that our results to compare the blue and red LSBGs are robust.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables, Accepted for publication in A&

Translationally invariant cumulants in energy cascade models of turbulence

In the context of random multiplicative energy cascade processes, we derive analytical expressions for translationally invariant one- and two-point cumulants in logarithmic field amplitudes. Such cumulants make it possible to distinguish between hitherto equally successful cascade generator models and hence supplement lowest-order multifractal scaling exponents and multiplier distributions.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figs, elsart.cls include

Fundamental Processes in Plasmas. Final report

This research focuses on fundamental processes in plasmas, and emphasizes problems for which precise experimental tests of theory can be obtained. Experiments are performed on non-neutral plasmas, utilizing three electron traps and one ion trap with a broad range of operating regimes and diagnostics. Theory is focused on fundamental plasma and fluid processes underlying collisional transport and fluid turbulence, using both analytic techniques and medium-scale numerical simulations. The simplicity of these systems allows a depth of understanding and a precision of comparison between theory and experiment which is rarely possible for neutral plasmas in complex geometry. The recent work has focused on three areas in basic plasma physics. First, experiments and theory have probed fundamental characteristics of plasma waves: from the low-amplitude thermal regime, to inviscid damping and fluid echoes, to cold fluid waves in cryogenic ion plasmas. Second, the wide-ranging effects of dissipative separatrices have been studied experimentally and theoretically, finding novel wave damping and coupling effects and important plasma transport effects. Finally, correlated systems have been investigated experimentally and theoretically: UCSD experients have now measured the Salpeter correlation enhancement, and theory work has characterized the 'guiding center atoms of antihydrogen created at CERN

The stellar populations of the bluest low surface brightness galaxies

Using optical/near-IR broadband photometry together with Halpha emission line data, we attempt to constrain the star formation histories, ages, total stellar masses and stellar mass-to-light ratios for a sample of extremely blue low surface brightness galaxies. We find that, under standard assumptions about the stellar initial mass function, the Halpha equivalent widths of these objects appear inconsistent with recently suggested scenarios including constant or increasing star formation rates over cosmological time scales. In a critical assessment of the prospects of obtaining ages from integrated broadband photometry, we conclude that even with near-IR data, the ages are poorly constrained and that current observations cannot rule out the possibility that these objects formed as recently as 1-2 Gyr ago. Methods which could potentially improve the age estimates are discussed. The stellar masses of these galaxies are inferred to lie below 10^10 solar masses. This, in combination with low ages, could constitute a problem for current hierarchical models of galaxy formation, which predict objects of this mass to form predominantly early in the history of the universe. The possibility to use the ages of the bluest low surface brightness galaxies as a test of such models is demonstrated.Comment: 13 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in A&

Couplings and Alignment

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