1,104 research outputs found
Risk factors for low urinary citrate in calcium nephrolithiasis: low vegetable fibre intake and low urine volume to be added to the list
Risk factors for low urinary citrate excretion were assessed in 34 consecutive male recurrent idiopathic calcium stone formers (RCSF) who collected two 24-h urines while on free-choice diet. Overt hypocitraturia (hypo-cit) was defined as UCitĂV<1.70 mmol/day, and âlow' citraturia (low-cit) as UCitĂV between 1.70 and 2.11 mmol/day. Twenty-three RCSF had normocitraturia (normo-cit), six low-cit and five hypo-cit. UCitĂV positively correlated with urine volume (VOLUME, r=0.44, P=0.009), vegetable fibre intake (fibers, r=0.46, P=0.009) and GI-alkali absorption (alkali, r=0.47, P=0.006), and volume, fibres and alkali tended to be lower among RCSF with low-/hypo-cit. A 3-day NH4Cl loading test (0.95 mEq/kg BW daily in 3 doses) was performed in RCSF as well as in 14 age-matched healthy male controls (C). On a plot of urine pH versus serum bicarbonate, 10 of 11 RCSF with low-/hypo-cit, but only six of 23 with normo-cit (P=0.0004) fell off the normal range, indicating incomplete RTA. Two or more risk factors simultaneously occurred in only four of 23 RCSF with normo-cit, but in eight of 11 with low-/hypo-cit (P= 0.002). In conclusion, incomplete RTA is the most prevalent risk factor for low-/hypo-cit in RCSF, and decreases in vegetable fibres and urine volume emerge as two new risk factors for low urinary CI
Moment of Inertia and Superfluidity of a Trapped Bose Gas
The temperature dependence of the moment of inertia of a dilute Bose gas
confined in a harmonic trap is determined. Deviations from the rigid value, due
to the occurrence of Bose-Einstein condensation, reveal the superfluid
behaviour of the system. In the noninteracting gas these deviations become
important at temperatures of the order of . The role of
interactions is also discussed.Comment: 10 pages, REVTEX, 1 figure attached as postscript fil
Ensemble Prediction of a Halo Coronal Mass Ejection Using Heliospheric Imagers
The Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) and its heliospheric imagers (HIs) have provided us the possibility to enhance our understanding of the interplanetary propagation of coronal mass ejections (CMEs). HIâbased methods are able to forecast arrival times and speeds at any target and use the advantage of tracing a CME's path of propagation up to 1 AU and beyond. In our study, we use the ELEvoHI model for CME arrival prediction together with an ensemble approach to derive uncertainties in the modeled arrival time and impact speed. The CME from 3 November 2010 is analyzed by performing 339 model runs that are compared to in situ measurements from linedâup spacecraft MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging and STEREOâB. Remote data from STEREOâB showed the CME as halo event, which is comparable to an HI observer situated at L1 and observing an Earthâdirected CME. A promising and easy approach is found by using the frequency distributions of four ELEvoHI output parameters, drag parameter, background solar wind speed, initial distance, and speed. In this case study, the most frequent values of these outputs lead to the predictions with the smallest errors. Restricting the ensemble to those runs, we are able to reduce the mean absolute arrival time error from 3.5 ± 2.6 to 1.6 ± 1.1 hr at 1 AU. Our study suggests that L1 may provide a sufficient vantage point for an Earthâdirected CME, when observed by HI, and that ensemble modeling could be a feasible approach to use ELEvoHI operationally
Antimatter and Matter Production in Heavy Ion Collisions at CERN (The NEWMASS Experiment NA52)
Besides the dedicated search for strangelets NA52 measures light
(anti)particle and (anti)nuclei production over a wide range of rapidity.
Compared to previous runs the statistics has been increased in the 1998 run by
more than one order of magnitude for negatively charged objects at different
spectrometer rigidities. Together with previous data taking at a rigidity of
-20 GeV/c we obtained 10^6 antiprotons 10^3 antideuterons and two antihelium3
without centrality requirements. We measured nuclei and antinuclei
(p,d,antiprotons, antideuterons) near midrapidity covering an impact parameter
range of b=2-12 fm. Our results strongly indicate that nuclei and antinuclei
are mainly produced via the coalescence mechanism. However the centrality
dependence of the antibaryon to baryon ratios show that antibaryons are
diminished due to annihilation and breakup reactions in the hadron dense
environment. The volume of the particle source extracted from coalescence
models agrees with results from pion interferometry for an expanding source.
The chemical and thermal freeze-out of nuclei and antinuclei appear to coincide
with each other and with the thermal freeze-out of hadrons.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the conference
on 'Fundamental Issues in Elementary Matter' Bad Honnef, Germany, Sept.
25-29, 200
An Assessment of Computer Use, Knowledge, and Attitudes of Diabetes Educators
A questionnaire to survey attitudes, use, and knowledge of computers was sent to 816 randomly selected members of AADE to determine the degree to which currently available computer resources are used in diabetes education and to investigate the need for future computing resources designed to support diabetes education. Analysis of the data showed that even diabetes educators who use computers infrequently have a generally favorable attitude toward them. Highest use of computers is in noneducational applications, mostly for word processing and record keeping. Most respondents believe that computers have yet to make a major contribution to the teaching and learning process in diabetes education, and few felt adequately prepared for creative use or development of computer applications. Increasing the role of computers in support of patient education will require encouragement and demonstrations of computer efficacy from health care institutions and professional organizations.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68469/2/10.1177_014572179201800107.pd
Center-of-Mass Properties of the Exciton in Quantum Wells
We present high-quality numerical calculations of the exciton center-of-mass
dispersion for GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells of widths in the range 2-20 nm. The
k.p-coupling of the heavy- and light-hole bands is fully taken into account. An
optimized center-of-mass transformation enhances numerical convergence. We
derive an easy-to-use semi-analytical expression for the exciton groundstate
mass from an ansatz for the exciton wavefunction at finite momentum. It is
checked against the numerical results and found to give very good results. We
also show multiband calculations of the exciton groundstate dispersion using a
finite-differences scheme in real space, which can be applied to rather general
heterostructures.Comment: 19 pages, 12 figures included, to be published in Phys. Rev.
The genome and transcriptome of Trichormus sp NMC-1: insights into adaptation to extreme environments on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) has the highest biodiversity for an extreme environment worldwide, and provides an ideal natural laboratory to study adaptive evolution. In this study, we generated a draft genome sequence of cyanobacteria Trichormus sp. NMC-1 in the QTP and performed whole transcriptome sequencing under low temperature to investigate the genetic mechanism by which T. sp. NMC-1 adapted to the specific environment. Its genome sequence was 5.9 Mb with a G+C content of 39.2% and encompassed a total of 5362 CDS. A phylogenomic tree indicated that this strain belongs to the Trichormus and Anabaena cluster. Genome comparison between T. sp. NMC-1 and six relatives showed that functionally unknown genes occupied a much higher proportion (28.12%) of the T. sp. NMC-1 genome. In addition, functions of specific, significant positively selected, expanded orthogroups, and differentially expressed genes involved in signal transduction, cell wall/membrane biogenesis, secondary metabolite biosynthesis, and energy production and conversion were analyzed to elucidate specific adaptation traits. Further analyses showed that the CheY-like genes, extracellular polysaccharide and mycosporine-like amino acids might play major roles in adaptation to harsh environments. Our findings indicate that sophisticated genetic mechanisms are involved in cyanobacterial adaptation to the extreme environment of the QTP
Ensemble Prediction of a Halo Coronal Mass Ejection Using Heliospheric Imagers
The Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) and its heliospheric imagers (HIs) have provided us the possibility to enhance our understanding of the interplanetary propagation of coronal mass ejections (CMEs). HIâbased methods are able to forecast arrival times and speeds at any target and use the advantage of tracing a CME's path of propagation up to 1 AU and beyond. In our study, we use the ELEvoHI model for CME arrival prediction together with an ensemble approach to derive uncertainties in the modeled arrival time and impact speed. The CME from 3 November 2010 is analyzed by performing 339 model runs that are compared to in situ measurements from linedâup spacecraft MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging and STEREOâB. Remote data from STEREOâB showed the CME as halo event, which is comparable to an HI observer situated at L1 and observing an Earthâdirected CME. A promising and easy approach is found by using the frequency distributions of four ELEvoHI output parameters, drag parameter, background solar wind speed, initial distance, and speed. In this case study, the most frequent values of these outputs lead to the predictions with the smallest errors. Restricting the ensemble to those runs, we are able to reduce the mean absolute arrival time error from 3.5 ± 2.6 to 1.6 ± 1.1 hr at 1 AU. Our study suggests that L1 may provide a sufficient vantage point for an Earthâdirected CME, when observed by HI, and that ensemble modeling could be a feasible approach to use ELEvoHI operationally
Rapid motion adaptation reveals the temporal dynamics of spatiotemporal correlation between ON and OFF pathways
At the early stages of visual processing, information is processed by two major thalamic pathways encoding brightness increments (ON) and decrements (OFF). Accumulating evidence suggests that these pathways interact and merge as early as in primary visual cortex. Using regular and reverse-phi motion in a rapid adaptation paradigm, we investigated the temporal dynamics of within and across pathway mechanisms for motion processing. When the adaptation duration was short (188âms), reverse-phi and regular motion led to similar adaptation effects, suggesting that the information from the two pathways are combined efficiently at early-stages of motion processing. However, as the adaption duration was increased to 752âms, reverse-phi and regular motion showed distinct adaptation effects depending on the test pattern used, either engaging spatiotemporal correlation between the same or opposite contrast polarities. Overall, these findings indicate that spatiotemporal correlation within and across ON-OFF pathways for motion processing can be selectively adapted, and support those models that integrate within and across pathway mechanisms for motion processing
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