Maximal short-term power output from human muscle

Maximal short-term power output was determined in adults and children and its variability under different physiological conditions was examined

Vertebroplasty and Kyphoplasty Can Restore Normal Spine Mechanics following Osteoporotic Vertebral Fracture

Osteoporotic vertebral fractures often lead to pain and disability. They can be successfully treated, and possibly prevented, by injecting cement into the vertebral body, a procedure known as vertebroplasty. Kyphoplasty is similar, except that an inflatable balloon is used to restore vertebral body height before cement is injected. These techniques are growing rapidly in popularity, and a great deal of recent research, reviewed in this paper, has examined their ability to restore normal mechanical function to fractured vertebrae. Fracture reduces the height and stiffness of a vertebral body, causing the spine to assume a kyphotic deformity, and transferring load bearing to the neural arch. Vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty are equally able to restore vertebral stiffness, and restore load sharing towards normal values, although kyphoplasty is better at restoring vertebral body height. Future research should optimise these techniques to individual patients in order to maximise their beneficial effects, while minimising the problems of cement leakage and adjacent level fracture

Neurospora proteome 2000

The filamentous fungus, Neurospora crassa, has an eminent history as a central organism in the elucidation of the tenets of classical and biochemical genetics. Of particular significance are the experiments of George Beadle and Edward Tatum in the 1940s with N. crassa that led to the one gene-one enzyme hypothesis (Beadle and Tatum 1941 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 27:499 506). In six decades, over 1,000 genes have been mapped and characterized (Perkins, Radford and Sachs 2000 The Neurospora Compendium: Chromosomal Loci. Academic Press; Perkins 2000 Fungal Genet. Newsl., this volume), but that leaves perhaps 10,000 or more genes not yet identified by classical genetics. High-throughput, automated partial sequencing of cDNA libraries to generate expressed sequence tags (ESTs) allows for the rapid identification and characterization of preferentially expressed genes in different tissues, as well as the discovery of novel genes (Adams et al. 1991 Science252:1651-1656; Okubo et al. 1992 Nature Genet. 1:173-179)

A study of factors related to primary grade spelling: correlations of factors studied.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

MEASURING THE MASS OF 4UO900-40 DYNAMICALLY

Accurate measurements of neutron star masses are needed to constrain the equation of state of neutron star matter - of importance to both particle physics and the astrophysics of neutron stars - and to identify the evolutionary track of the progenitor stars that form neutron stars. The best measured values of the mass of 4UO900-40 (= Vela XR-l), 1.86 +/- 0.16 Msun (Barziv et al. 2001) and 1.93 +/- 0.20 Msun (Abubekerov et al. 2004), make it a leading candidate for the most massive neutron star known. The direct relationship between the maximum mass of neutron stars and the equation of state of ultra-dense matter makes 4UO900-40 an important neutron star mass to determine accurately. The confidence interval on previous mass estimates, obtained from observations that include parameters determined by non-dynamical methods, are not small enough to significantly restrict possible equations of state. We describe here a purely dynamical method for determining the mass of 4UO900-40, an X-ray pulsar, using the reprocessed UV pulses emitted by its BO.5Ib companion. One can derive the instantaneous radial velocity of each component by simultaneous X-ray and UV observations at the two quadratures of the system. The Doppler shift caused by the primary's rotational velocity and the illumination pattern of the X-rays on the primary, two of the three principal contributors to the uncertainty on the derived mass of the neutron star, almost exactly cancel by symmetry in this method. A heuristic measurement of the mass of 4UO900-40 using observations obtained previously with the High Speed Photometer on HST is given in Appendix A

X-Ray and UV Orbital Phase Dependence in LMC X-3

The black-hole binary LMC X-3 is known to be variable on time scales of days to years. We investigate X-ray and ultraviolet variability in the system as a function of the 1.7 day binary phase using a 6.4 day observation with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) from December 1998. An abrupt 14% flux decrease, lasting nearly an entire orbit, is followed by a return to previous flux levels. This behavior occurs twice, at nearly the same binary phase, but it is not present in consecutive orbits. When the X-ray flux is at lower intensity, a periodic amplitude modulation of 7% is evident in data folded modulo the orbital period. The higher intensity data show weaker correlation with phase. This is the first report of X-ray variability at the orbital period of LMC X-3. Archival RXTE observations of LMC X--3 during a high flux state in December 1996 show similar phase dependence. An ultraviolet light curve obtained with the High Speed Photometer aboard the Hubble Space Telescope shows orbital modulation consistent with that in the optical, caused by the ellipsoidal variation of the spatially deformed companion. The X-ray spectrum of LMC X-3 can be acceptably represented by a phenomenological disk-black-body plus a power law. Changes in the spectrum of LMC X-3 during our observations are compatible with earlier observations during which variations in the 2-10 keV flux are tracked closely by the disk geometry spectral model parameter.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, ApJ in pres

A provisional UniGene clone set based on ESTs from Neurospora crassa

We have constructed a list of N. crassa cDNA clones for which partial sequences exist, toward the goal of maximizing the number of genes represented while avoiding redundancy. This effort employed GenBank sequences from the combined N. crassa EST projects at the University of New Mexico, the University of Oklahoma and Dartmouth College (27,557 ESTs; Nelson et al. 1997 Fungal Genet. Biol.21:348-363; Zhu et al. 2001 Genetics 157: 1057-1065). The current list, subject to ongoing revision, includes 2842 clones and is available at the web site of the Neurospora Genome Project (NGP) at the University of New Mexico (http://www.unm.edu/~ngp/), along with details of its construction. Each cDNA clone in the list represents a unique gene. We have also assembled a UniGene set of cDNA clones for that portion of the UniGene set that is represented in libraries constructed by the NGP at UNM. This UniGene library is comprised of 1786 clones distributed in 20 96-well dishes, and it is available through the Fungal Genetics Stock Center

Abuse Assessment Screen–Disability (AAS-D): Measuring Frequency, Type, and Perpetrator of Abuse toward Women with Physical Disabilities

An interview questionnaire was presented to a multiethnic sample of 511 women, age 18–64 years, at public and private specialty clinics to determine the frequency, type, and perpetrator of abuse toward women with physical disabilities. The four-question Abuse Assessment Screen–Disability (AAS-D) instrument detected a 9.8% prevalence (50 of 511) of abuse during the previous 12 months. Using two standard physical and sexual assault questions, 7.8% of the women (40 of 511) reported abuse. The two disability-related questions detected an additional 2.0% of the women (10 of 511) as abused. Women defining themselves as other than black, white, or Hispanic (i.e., Asian, mixed ethnic background) were more likely to report physical or sexual abuse or both, whereas disability-related abuse was reported almost exclusively by white women. The perpetrator of physical or sexual abuse was most likely to be an intimate partner. Disability-related abuse was attributed equally to an intimate partner, a care provider, or a health professional. This study concludes that both traditional abuse-focused questions and disability-specific questions are required to detect abuse toward women with physical disabilities

Challenges in Enforcing Home Smoking Rules in a Low-Income Population: Implications for Measurement and Intervention Design

Smoke-free homes reduce exposure to secondhand smoke, contribute to lower levels of consumption, and help smokers to quit. Even when home smoking rules are established however, they may not be consistently enforced

Leishmaniosis cutánea y mucocutánea en residentes de los caseríos: Casa Blanca, Volcancillo, Rancho Quemado y La Joya, del municipio de Perquín departamento de Morazán, durante el periodo de julio a septiembre de 2007

Leishmania sp es un parásito que produce la enfermedad de Leishmaniosis en el ser humano, manifestando en la piel de las personas afectadas, lesiones que pueden ser cutáneas o mucocutáneas. En El Salvador se han realizado estudios en la mayoría de los departamentos, donde se ha demostrado la existencia del parásito. En la zona oriental específicamente el departamento de Morazán, más concretamente en el municipio de Perquín, no existían registros acerca de la búsqueda de esta enfermedad, siendo los pioneros en la investigación de esta zoonosis en los habitantes de los caseríos seleccionados. El periodo comprendido para la toma de la muestra en personas que presentaban lesiones en su piel sugestivas a las producidas por el parásito fue de julio a septiembre de 2007. El presente estudio de investigación cuyo tema es: “Leishmaniosis cutánea y mucocutánea en personas que residen en los cantones: Casa Blanca, Volcancillo, Rancho Quemado y La Joya, municipio de Perquín departamento de Morazán, durante el periodo de julio a septiembre de 2007”, se obtuvieron primeramente seleccionando a las personas que presentaban las lesiones características ya sea de Leishmaniosis cutánea o mucocutánea; por otro lado de dicha selección únicamente se encontraron lesiones sugestivas a Leishmaniosis cutánea, por lo tanto los resultados que se presentan a continuación se obtuvieron únicamente trabajando con lesiones cutáneas. Las razones para realizar dicho estudio fueron su ubicación fronteriza con Honduras y la falta de atención en el área de salud por problemas económicos, políticos y sociales que se viven hoy en día. Los habitantes que se seleccionaron fueron 18, únicamente aquellos que presentaron lesiones sugestivas a Leishmaniosis fueron considerados para el muestreo, a estos se les explico las razones y beneficios que se obtendrían al realizarse el trabajo de investigación. A dichas personas se les realizaron diversas pruebas. La primera de ellas fue una prueba inmunológica, la Intradermoreacción de Montenegro, la cual se aplicó para dar mayor peso al diagnóstico, luego la obtención del material mediante la técnica de raspado, para la observación microscópica de cada lámina, así como también la inoculación del medio de cultivo. Los resultados de todas las pruebas antes mencionadas fueron negativos, determinando que dichas lesiones no presentaban el parásito propiamente dicho. Por lo tanto del total de individuos a los que se les tomó muestra, no se obtuvo ningún caso positivo. Del muestreo realizado a los habitantes seleccionados con las pruebas antes mencionadas y de los cuales se obtuvieron resultados utilizando un diseño estadístico completamente al azar. A partir de que no se encontraron casos positivos de Leishmaniosis cutánea y mucocutánea, se aceptaron las hipótesis nulas y se rechazan las hipótesi