53 research outputs found
The Influence of Clay Flocculation and Dispersion on the Covering Power of Clay Coating Colors
Historical Survey
Introduction
A survey of the literature showed that considerable information has been published on the effects of dispersing agents on the viscosity of coating colors and clay slurries. There seemed to be little work done on the effect of the dispersing agent on any other of the properties of the coating
Investigation of the Domain Wall Fermion Approach to Chiral Gauge Theories on the Lattice
We investigate a recent proposal to construct chiral gauge theories on the
lattice using domain wall fermions. We restrict ourselves to the finite volume
case, in which two domain walls are present, with modes of opposite chirality
on each of them. We couple the chiral fermions on only one of the domain walls
to a gauge field. In order to preserve gauge invariance, we have to add a
scalar field, which gives rise to additional light mirror fermion and scalar
modes. We argue that in an anomaly free model these extra modes would decouple
if our model possesses a so-called strong coupling symmetric phase. However,
our numerical results indicate that such a phase most probably does not exist.
---- Note: 9 Postscript figures are appended as uuencoded compressed tar file.Comment: 27p. Latex; UCSD/PTH 93-28, Wash. U. HEP/93-6
Auroral beads at Saturn and the driving mechanism:Cassini proximal orbits
During the Grand Finale Phase of Cassini, the Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph on board the spacecraft detected repeated detached small-scale auroral structures. We describe these structures as auroral beads, a term introduced in the terrestrial aurora. Those on DOY 232 2017 are observed to extend over a large range of local times, i.e., from 20 LT to 11 LT through midnight. We suggest that the auroral beads are related to plasma instabilities in the magnetosphere, which are often known to generate wavy auroral precipitations. Energetic neutral atom enhancements are observed simultaneously with auroral observations, which are indicative of a heated high pressure plasma region. During the same interval we observe conjugate periodic enhancements of energetic electrons, which are consistent with the hypothesis that a drifting interchange structure passed the spacecraft. Our study indicates that auroral bead structures are common phenomena at Earth and giant planets, which probably demonstrates the existence of similar fundamental magnetospheric processes at these planets
Energetic particle signatures above Saturn’s aurorae
Near the end of its mission, NASA's Cassini spacecraft performed several low‐altitude passes across Saturn's auroral region. We present auroral imagery and various coincident particle and field measurements of two such passes, providing important information about the structure and dynamics of Saturn's auroral acceleration region. In upward field‐aligned current regions, upward proton beams are observed to reach energies of several tens of keV; the associated precipitating electron populations are found to have mean energies of about 10 keV. With no significant wave activity being apparent, these findings indicate strong parallel potentials responsible for auroral acceleration; about 100 times stronger than at Earth. This is further supported by observations of proton conics in downward field‐aligned current regions above the acceleration region, which feature a lower energy cutoff above ~50 keV ‐ indicating energetic proton populations trapped by strong parallel potentials while being transversely energized until they can overcome the trapping potential, likely through wave‐particle interactions. A spacecraft pass through a downward current region at an altitude near the acceleration region reveals plasma wave features which may be driving the transverse proton acceleration generating the conics. Overall, the signatures observed resemble those related to the terrestrial and Jovian aurorae, the particle energies and potentials at Saturn appearing to be significantly higher than at Earth and comparable to those at Jupiter
Ancient, independent evolution and distinct molecular features of the novel human T-lymphotropic virus type 4
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Human T-lymphotropic virus type 4 (HTLV-4) is a new deltaretrovirus recently identified in a primate hunter in Cameroon. Limited sequence analysis previously showed that HTLV-4 may be distinct from HTLV-1, HTLV-2, and HTLV-3, and their simian counterparts, STLV-1, STLV-2, and STLV-3, respectively. Analysis of full-length genomes can provide basic information on the evolutionary history and replication and pathogenic potential of new viruses.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We report here the first complete HTLV-4 sequence obtained by PCR-based genome walking using uncultured peripheral blood lymphocyte DNA from an HTLV-4-infected person. The HTLV-4(1863LE) genome is 8791-bp long and is equidistant from HTLV-1, HTLV-2, and HTLV-3 sharing only 62–71% nucleotide identity. HTLV-4 has a prototypic genomic structure with all enzymatic, regulatory, and structural proteins preserved. Like STLV-2, STLV-3, and HTLV-3, HTLV-4 is missing a third 21-bp transcription element found in the long terminal repeats of HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 but instead contains unique c-Myb and pre B-cell leukemic transcription factor binding sites. Like HTLV-2, the PDZ motif important for cellular signal transduction and transformation in HTLV-1 and HTLV-3 is missing in the C-terminus of the HTLV-4 Tax protein. A basic leucine zipper (b-ZIP) region located in the antisense strand of HTLV-1 and believed to play a role in viral replication and oncogenesis, was also found in the complementary strand of HTLV-4. Detailed phylogenetic analysis shows that HTLV-4 is clearly a monophyletic viral group. Dating using a relaxed molecular clock inferred that the most recent common ancestor of HTLV-4 and HTLV-2/STLV-2 occurred 49,800 to 378,000 years ago making this the oldest known PTLV lineage. Interestingly, this period coincides with the emergence of <it>Homo sapiens sapiens </it>during the Middle Pleistocene suggesting that early humans may have been susceptible hosts for the ancestral HTLV-4.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The inferred ancient origin of HTLV-4 coinciding with the appearance of <it>Homo sapiens</it>, the propensity of STLVs to cross-species into humans, the fact that HTLV-1 and -2 spread globally following migrations of ancient populations, all suggest that HTLV-4 may be prevalent. Expanded surveillance and clinical studies are needed to better define the epidemiology and public health importance of HTLV-4 infection.</p
Phenotypic insights into ADCY5-associated disease
Background
Adenylyl cyclase 5 (ADCY5) mutations is associated with heterogenous syndromes: familial dyskinesia and facial myokymia; paroxysmal chorea and dystonia; autosomal‐dominant chorea and dystonia; and benign hereditary chorea. We provide detailed clinical data on 7 patients from six new kindreds with mutations in the ADCY5 gene, in order to expand and define the phenotypic spectrum of ADCY5 mutations.
Methods
In 5 of the 7 patients, followed over a period of 9 to 32 years, ADCY5 was sequenced by Sanger sequencing. The other 2 unrelated patients participated in studies for undiagnosed pediatric hyperkinetic movement disorders and underwent whole‐exome sequencing.
Results
Five patients had the previously reported p.R418W ADCY5 mutation; we also identified two novel mutations at p.R418G and p.R418Q. All patients presented with motor milestone delay, infantile‐onset action‐induced generalized choreoathetosis, dystonia, or myoclonus, with episodic exacerbations during drowsiness being a characteristic feature. Axial hypotonia, impaired upward saccades, and intellectual disability were variable features. The p.R418G and p.R418Q mutation patients had a milder phenotype. Six of seven patients had mild functional gain with clonazepam or clobazam. One patient had bilateral globus pallidal DBS at the age of 33 with marked reduction in dyskinesia, which resulted in mild functional improvement.
Conclusion
We further delineate the clinical features of ADCY5 gene mutations and illustrate its wide phenotypic expression. We describe mild improvement after treatment with clonazepam, clobazam, and bilateral pallidal DBS. ADCY5‐associated dyskinesia may be under‐recognized, and its diagnosis has important prognostic, genetic, and therapeutic implications
Naturalizing Institutions: Evolutionary Principles and Application on the Case of Money
The Auroral Footprint Of Enceladus On Saturn
Although there are substantial differences between the magnetospheres of Jupiter and Saturn, it has been suggested that cryovolcanic activity at Enceladus could lead to electrodynamic coupling between Enceladus and Saturn like that which links Jupiter with Io, Europa and Ganymede. Powerful field-aligned electron beams associated with the Io-Jupiter coupling, for example, create an auroral footprint in Jupiter\u27s ionosphere. Auroral ultraviolet emission associated with Enceladus-Saturn coupling is anticipated to be just a few tenths of a kilorayleigh (ref. 12), about an order of magnitude dimmer than Io\u27s footprint and below the observable threshold, consistent with its non-detection. Here we report the detection of magnetic-field-aligned ion and electron beams (offset several moon radii downstream from Enceladus) with sufficient power to stimulate detectable aurora, and the subsequent discovery of Enceladus-associated aurora in a few per cent of the scans of the moon\u27s footprint. The footprint varies in emission magnitude more than can plausibly be explained by changes in magnetospheric parameters-and as such is probably indicative of variable plume activity. © 2011 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved
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Integrating Emergency General Surgery with a Trauma Service: Impact on the Care of Injured Patients
BACKGROUND:There has been considerable discussion on the national level on the future of trauma surgery as a specialty. One of the leading directions for the field is the integration of emergency general surgery as a wider and more attractive scope of practice. However, there is currently no information on how the addition of an emergency general surgery practice will affect the care of injured patients. We hypothesized that the care of trauma patients would be negatively affected by adding emergency general surgery responsibilities to a trauma service.
METHODS:Our institution underwent a system change in August 2001, where an emergency general surgery (ES) practice was added to an established trauma service. The ES practice included emergency department and in-house consultations for all urgent surgical problems except thoracic and vascular diseases. There were no trauma staff changes during the study period. Trauma registry data (demographics, injuries, injury severity, and procedures) and performance improvement data (peer-review judgments for all identified errors, denied days, audit filters, and deaths) were abstracted for two 15-month periods surrounding this system change. Chi-square, Fisherʼs exact, and t tests provided between-group comparisons.
RESULTS:The trauma staff evaluated a total of 5,874 patients during the 30-month study. There were 1,400 (51%) trauma admissions in the pre-ES group and 1,504 (48%) in the post-ES group, of which 1,278 and 1,434, respectively, met severity criteria for report to our statewide database (Pennsylvania Trauma Outcome Study [PTOS]). There were 163 (12.7% of PTOS) deaths in the pre-ES group compared with 171 (11.9% PTOS) deaths in the post-ES group (p = not significant [NS]). There was one death determined to be preventable by the peer review process for the pre-ES group, and none in the post-ES group. Both groups had 10 potentially preventable deaths, with the remaining mortalities being categorized as nonpreventable (p = NS). Unexpected deaths by TRISS methodology were 36 (2.8%) and 41 (2.9%) for the two groups, respectively (p = NS). There was no difference in the number of provider-specific complications between the groups (23, [1.8%] vs. 19 [1.3%], p = NS). The addition of emergency surgery has resulted in an additional average daily workload of 1.3 cases and 1.2 admissions.
CONCLUSION:Despite an increase in trauma volume over the study period, the addition of emergency surgery to a trauma service did not affect the care of injured patients. The concept of adding emergency surgery responsibilities to trauma surgeons appears to be a valid way to increase operative experience without compromising care of the injured patient
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