365 research outputs found
The effect of chair massage on muscular discomfort in cardiac sonographers: a pilot study
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cardiac sonographers frequently have work-related muscular discomfort. We aimed to assess the feasibility of having sonographers receive massages during working hours in an area adjacent to an echocardiography laboratory and to assess relief of discomfort with use of the massages with or without stretching exercises.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A group of 45 full-time sonographers was randomly assigned to receive weekly 30-minute massage sessions, massages plus stretching exercises to be performed twice a day, or no intervention. Outcome measures were scores of the <it>Quick</it>DASH instrument and its associated work module at baseline and at 10 weeks of intervention. Data were analyzed with standard descriptive statistics and the separation test for early-phase comparative trials.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Forty-four participants completed the study: 15 in the control group, 14 in the massage group, and 15 in the massage plus stretches group. Some improvement was seen in work-related discomfort by the <it>Quick</it>DASH scores and work module scores in the 2 intervention groups. The separation test showed separation in favor of the 2 interventions.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>On the basis of the results of this pilot study, larger trials are warranted to evaluate the effect of massages with or without stretching on work-related discomfort in cardiac sonographers.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>NCT00975026 ClinicalTrials.gov</p
Holocene geomagnetic secular variations recorded by sediments from Escondido Lake (south Argentina)
Soccer Football Pools Act, 1981, No. 26
Purpose We aimed to assess the effectiveness of acupuncture for cancer-related fatigue (CRF) in patients with breast cancer. Patients and Methods We conducted a pragmatic, randomized controlled trial comparing acupuncture with enhanced usual care. Three hundred two outpatients with breast cancer participated. We randomly assigned 75 patients to usual care and 227 patients to acupuncture plus usual care (random assignment of 1: 3 respectively) with minimization controlling for baseline general fatigue and maintenance treatment. Treatment was delivered by acupuncturists once a week for 6 weeks through needling three pairs of acupoints. The usual care group received a booklet with information about fatigue and its management. Primary outcome was general fatigue at 6 weeks, measured with the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI). Other measurements included the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General quality-of-life scale, and expectation of acupuncture effect. Analyses were by intention to treat. Results Two hundred forty-six of 302 patients randomly assigned provided complete data at 6 weeks. The difference in the mean General Fatigue score, between those who received the intervention and those who did not, was -3.11 (95% CI, -3.97 to -2.25; P<.001). The intervention also improved all other fatigue aspects measured by MFI, including Physical Fatigue and Mental Fatigue (acupuncture effect, -2.36 and -1.94, respectively; both at P<.001), anxiety and depression (acupuncture effect, -1.83 and -2.13, respectively; both at P<.001), and quality of life (Physical Well-Being effect, 3.30; Functional Well-Being effect, 3.57; both at P<.001; Emotional Well-Being effect, 1.93; P=.001; and Social Functioning Well-Being effect, 1.05; P<.05). Conclusion Acupuncture is an effective intervention for managing the symptom of CRF and improving patients' quality of life. J Clin Oncol 30:4470-4476. (C) 2012 by American Society of Clinical Oncolog
The contribution of N-rich stars to the Galactic stellar halo using APOGEE red giants
The contribution of dissolved globular clusters (GCs) to the stellar content
of the Galactic halo is a key constraint on models for GC formation and
destruction, and the mass assembly history of the Milky Way. Earlier results
from APOGEE pointed to a large contribution of destroyed GCs to the stellar
content of the inner halo, by as much as 25, which is an order of magnitude
larger than previous estimates for more distant regions of the halo. We set out
to measure the ratio between N-rich and normal halo field stars, as a function
of distance, by performing density modelling of halo field populations in
APOGEE DR16. Our results show that at 1.5 kpc from the Galactic Centre, N-rich
stars contribute a much higher 16.8 fraction to the total
stellar halo mass budget than the 2.7 ratio contributed at
10 kpc. Under the assumption that N-rich stars are former GC members that now
reside in the stellar halo field, and assuming the ratio between first-and
second-population GC stars being 1:2, we estimate a total contribution from
disrupted GC stars of the order of 27.5 at r = 1.5 kpc
and 4.2 at r = 10 kpc. Furthermore, since our methodology
requires fitting a density model to the stellar halo, we integrate such density
within a spherical shell from 1.5-15 kpc in radius, and find a total stellar
mass arising from dissolved and/or evaporated GCs of =
9.6 10 M.Comment: Paper accepted for Publication in MNRA
The chemical characterisation of halo substructure in the Milky Way based on APOGEE
Galactic haloes in a -Cold Dark Matter (CDM) universe are
predicted to host today a swarm of debris resulting from cannibalised dwarf
galaxies that have been accreted via the process of hierarchical mass assembly.
The chemo-dynamical information recorded in the Galactic stellar populations
associated with such systems helps elucidate their nature, placing constraints
on the mass assembly history of the Milky Way. Using data from the APOGEE and
\textit{Gaia} surveys, we examine APOGEE targets belonging to the following
substructures in the stellar halo: Heracles, \textit{Gaia}-Enceladus/Sausage
(GES), Sagittarius dSph, the Helmi stream, Sequoia, Thamnos, Aleph, LMS-1,
Arjuna, I'itoi, Nyx, Icarus, and Pontus. We examine the distributions of all
substructures in chemical space, considering the abundances of elements
sampling various nucleosynthetic pathways. Our main findings include: {\it i)}
the chemical properties of GES, Heracles, the Helmi stream, Sequoia, Thamnos,
LMS-1, Arjuna, and I'itoi match qualitatively those of dwarf satellites of the
Milky Way, such as the Sagittarius dSph; {\it ii)} the abundance pattern of the
recently discovered inner Galaxy substructure Heracles differs statistically
from that of populations formed {\it in situ}. Heracles also differs chemically
from all other substructures; {\it iii)} the abundance patterns of Sequoia
(selected in various ways), Arjuna, LMS-1, and I'itoi are indistinguishable
from that of GES, indicating a possible common origin; {\it iv)} the abundance
patterns of the Helmi stream and Thamnos substructures are different from all
other halo substructures; {\it v)} the chemical properties of Nyx and Aleph are
very similar to those of disc stars, implying that these substructures likely
have an \textit{in situ} origin.Comment: Submitted to MNRAS. 39 page
Knowledge and information needs of young people with epilepsy and their parents: Mixed-method systematic review
The Fourteenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey and from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment
The fourth generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV) has been in
operation since July 2014. This paper describes the second data release from
this phase, and the fourteenth from SDSS overall (making this, Data Release
Fourteen or DR14). This release makes public data taken by SDSS-IV in its first
two years of operation (July 2014-2016). Like all previous SDSS releases, DR14
is cumulative, including the most recent reductions and calibrations of all
data taken by SDSS since the first phase began operations in 2000. New in DR14
is the first public release of data from the extended Baryon Oscillation
Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS); the first data from the second phase of the
Apache Point Observatory (APO) Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE-2),
including stellar parameter estimates from an innovative data driven machine
learning algorithm known as "The Cannon"; and almost twice as many data cubes
from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) survey as were in the previous
release (N = 2812 in total). This paper describes the location and format of
the publicly available data from SDSS-IV surveys. We provide references to the
important technical papers describing how these data have been taken (both
targeting and observation details) and processed for scientific use. The SDSS
website (www.sdss.org) has been updated for this release, and provides links to
data downloads, as well as tutorials and examples of data use. SDSS-IV is
planning to continue to collect astronomical data until 2020, and will be
followed by SDSS-V.Comment: SDSS-IV collaboration alphabetical author data release paper. DR14
happened on 31st July 2017. 19 pages, 5 figures. Accepted by ApJS on 28th Nov
2017 (this is the "post-print" and "post-proofs" version; minor corrections
only from v1, and most of errors found in proofs corrected
Competitive and Cooperative Interactions Mediate RNA Transfer from Herpesvirus Saimiri ORF57 to the Mammalian Export Adaptor ALYREF
The essential herpesvirus adaptor protein HVS ORF57, which has homologs in all other herpesviruses, promotes viral mRNA
export by utilizing the cellular mRNA export machinery. ORF57 protein specifically recognizes viral mRNA transcripts, and
binds to proteins of the cellular transcription-export (TREX) complex, in particular ALYREF. This interaction introduces viral
mRNA to the NXF1 pathway, subsequently directing it to the nuclear pore for export to the cytoplasm. Here we have used a
range of techniques to reveal the sites for direct contact between RNA and ORF57 in the absence and presence of ALYREF. A
binding site within ORF57 was characterized which recognizes specific viral mRNA motifs. When ALYREF is present, part of
this ORF57 RNA binding site, composed of an a-helix, binds preferentially to ALYREF. This competitively displaces viral RNA
from the a-helix, but contact with RNA is still maintained by a flanking region. At the same time, the flexible N-terminal
domain of ALYREF comes into contact with the viral RNA, which becomes engaged in an extensive network of synergistic
interactions with both ALYREF and ORF57. Transfer of RNA to ALYREF in the ternary complex, and involvement of individual
ORF57 residues in RNA recognition, were confirmed by UV cross-linking and mutagenesis. The atomic-resolution structure
of the ORF57-ALYREF interface was determined, which noticeably differed from the homologous ICP27-ALYREF structure.
Together, the data provides the first site-specific description of how viral mRNA is locked by a herpes viral adaptor protein in
complex with cellular ALYREF, giving herpesvirus access to the cellular mRNA export machinery. The NMR strategy used
may be more generally applicable to the study of fuzzy protein-protein-RNA complexes which involve flexible polypeptide
regions
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