Augmented Cardiopulmonary Baroreflex Sensitivity in Intradialytic Hypertension.

IntroductionEnd-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients with a paradoxical increase in blood pressure (BP) during hemodialysis (HD), termed intradialytic hypertension (ID-HTN), are at significantly increased risk for mortality and adverse cardiovascular events. ID-HTN affects up to 15% of all HD patients, and the pathophysiologic mechanisms remain unknown. We hypothesized that ESRD patients prone to ID-HTN have heightened volume-sensitive cardiopulmonary baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) that leads to exaggerated increases in sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activation during HD.MethodsWe studied ESRD patients on maintenance HD with ID-HTN (n = 10) and without ID-HTN (controls, n = 12) on an interdialytic day, 24 to 30 hours after their last HD session. We measured continuous muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA), beat-to-beat arterial BP, and electrocardiography (ECG) at baseline, and during graded lower body negative pressure (LBNP). Low-dose LBNP isolates cardiopulmonary BRS, whereas higher doses allow assessment of physiologic responses to orthostatic stress.ResultsThe ID-HTN patients had significantly higher pre- and post-HD BP, and greater interdialytic fluid weight gain compared to controls. There was a significantly greater increase in MSNA burst incidence (P = 0.044) during graded LBNP in the ID-HTN group, suggesting heightened cardiopulmonary BRS. The ID-HTN group also had a trend toward increased diastolic BP response during LBNP, and had significantly greater increases in BP during the cold pressor test.ConclusionPatients with ID-HTN have augmented cardiopulmonary BRS that may contribute to increased SNS activation and BP response during HD

Analysis of recent type Ia supernova data based on evolving dark energy models

We study characters of recent type Ia supernova (SNIa) data using evolving dark energy models with changing equation of state parameter w. We consider sudden-jump approximation of w for some chosen redshift spans with double transitions, and constrain these models based on Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method using the SNIa data (Constitution, Union, Union2) together with baryon acoustic oscillation A parameter and cosmic microwave background shift parameter in a flat background. In the double-transition model the Constitution data shows deviation outside 1 sigma from LCDM model at low (z < 0.2) and middle (0.2 < z < 0.4) redshift bins whereas no such deviations are noticeable in the Union and Union2 data. By analyzing the Union members in the Constitution set, however, we show that the same difference is actually due to different calibration of the same Union sample in the Constitution set, and is not due to new data added in the Constitution set. All detected deviations are within 2 sigma from the LCDM world model. From the LCDM mock data analysis, we quantify biases in the dark energy equation of state parameters induced by insufficient data with inhomogeneous distribution of data points in the redshift space and distance modulus errors. We demonstrate that location of peak in the distribution of arithmetic means (computed from the MCMC chain for each mock data) behaves as an unbiased estimator for the average bias, which is valid even for non-symmetric likelihood distributions.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, published in the Phys. Rev.

Negotiating cultural trauma in tourism

This study responses to call for an evidentiary frame that incorporates the contested views of cultural trauma in dark tourism sites. Central to this contestation is a failure to break down the victim-perpetrator binary that particularly struggles for truth-seeking transnationally and trans-generationally. This requires a new and critical heritage interpretation, addressing traumatic historical lessons and reaching a reconciliation for future integration and inclusivity. With employment of semi-structure interviews and participant observations, this study of the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders illustrates how dark tourism and counter-monuments play a critical role in transforming massacre trauma into commemorative practices. Designing and building new tourism space and artworks as counter-monuments proves to be one significant encoding practice that negotiates more mundane and interactive peacebuilding and reconciliation. Such negotiation contributes to a more meaningful and holistic understanding of cultural trauma, heritage interpretation, memory and identity. Its implications can inspire future research to explore tourism’s transformative potential for remembering, forgetting and healing

Characterization of low-energy magnetic excitations in chromium

The low-energy excitations of Cr, i.e. the Fincher-Burke (FB) modes, have been investigated in the transversely polarized spin-density-wave phase by inelastic neutron scattering using a single-(Q+-) crystal with a propagation vector (Q+-) parallel to [0,0,1]. The constant-momentum-transfer scans show that the energy spectra consist of two components, namely dispersive FB modes and an almost energy-independent cross section. Most remarkably, we find that the spectrum of the FB modes exhibits one peak at 140 K near Q = (0,0,0.98) and two peaks near Q = (0,0,1.02), respectively. This is surprising because Cr crystallizes in a centro-symmetric bcc structure. The asymmetry of those energy spectra decreases with increasing temperature. In addition, the observed magnetic peak intensity is independent of Q suggesting a transfer of spectral-weight between the upper and lower FB modes. The energy-independent cross section is localized only between the incommensurate peaks and develops rapidly with increasing temperature.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figure

Geometric aspects of 2-walk-regular graphs

A $t$-walk-regular graph is a graph for which the number of walks of given length between two vertices depends only on the distance between these two vertices, as long as this distance is at most $t$. Such graphs generalize distance-regular graphs and $t$-arc-transitive graphs. In this paper, we will focus on 1- and in particular 2-walk-regular graphs, and study analogues of certain results that are important for distance regular graphs. We will generalize Delsarte's clique bound to 1-walk-regular graphs, Godsil's multiplicity bound and Terwilliger's analysis of the local structure to 2-walk-regular graphs. We will show that 2-walk-regular graphs have a much richer combinatorial structure than 1-walk-regular graphs, for example by proving that there are finitely many non-geometric 2-walk-regular graphs with given smallest eigenvalue and given diameter (a geometric graph is the point graph of a special partial linear space); a result that is analogous to a result on distance-regular graphs. Such a result does not hold for 1-walk-regular graphs, as our construction methods will show

Enhancement of plasticity in Ti-based metallic glass matrix composites by controlling characteristic and volume fraction of primary phase

In this study, Ti-based metallic glass matrix composites with high plasticity have been developed by controlling characteristic and volume fraction of primary phase embedded in the glass matrix. By careful alloy design procedure, the compositions of ß/glass phases, which are in metastable equilibrium have been properly selected, therefore the mechanical properties can be tailored by selecting the alloy compositions between the composition of ß and glass phases. The relation between the compressive yield strength and volume fraction of ß phase is well described using the rule of mixtures

Painlev\'{e} analysis of the coupled nonlinear Schr\"{o}dinger equation for polarized optical waves in an isotropic medium

Using the Painlev\'{e} analysis, we investigate the integrability properties of a system of two coupled nonlinear Schr\"{o}dinger equations that describe the propagation of orthogonally polarized optical waves in an isotropic medium. Besides the well-known integrable vector nonlinear Schr\"{o}dinger equation, we show that there exist a new set of equations passing the Painlev\'{e} test where the self and cross phase modulational terms are of different magnitude. We introduce the Hirota bilinearization and the B\"{a}cklund transformation to obtain soliton solutions and prove integrability by making a change of variables. The conditions on the third-order susceptibility tensor $\chi^{(3)}$ imposed by these new integrable equations are explained

An Unfinished Canvas: Teacher Preparation, Instructional Delivery, and Professional Development in the Arts

Based on surveys, interviews, and secondary data analyses, identifies deficiencies in teacher preparation, instruction, and development in the arts in California, and recommends minimum training requirements and support for professional development