Focal Cerebral Infarction in Newborn: Description of Three Cases:

We observed 3 full-term newborns with focal ischemic injury of the middle cerebral artery (MCA), in which diagnosis of MCA stroke was suspected by US and confirmed by CT scan and MRI. A four-year follow-up was carried out to study the effect of neonatal stroke on neurodevelopmental outcome. All children had a history of pre-perinatal risk factors: neonatal cerebral infarction in term infants, in fact, has many possible causes, including bacterial meningitis, inherited or acquired coagulopathies, trauma and hypoxia-ischemia. The prognosis of neonatal MCA infarction depends on early diagnosis, on the CNS plasticity mechanism and, finally, on medical therapy and neuropsychological rehabilitation

Anti-CD20 therapy depletes activated myelin-specific CD8+ T cells in multiple sclerosis.

CD8+ T cells are believed to play an important role in multiple sclerosis (MS), yet their role in MS pathogenesis remains poorly defined. Although myelin proteins are considered potential autoantigenic targets, prior studies of myelin-reactive CD8+ T cells in MS have relied on in vitro stimulation, thereby limiting accurate measurement of their ex vivo precursor frequencies and phenotypes. Peptide:MHC I tetramers were used to identify and validate 5 myelin CD8+ T cell epitopes, including 2 newly described determinants in humans. The validated tetramers were used to measure the ex vivo precursor frequencies and phenotypes of myelin-specific CD8+ T cells in the peripheral blood of untreated MS patients and HLA allele-matched healthy controls. In parallel, CD8+ T cell responses against immunodominant influenza epitopes were also measured. There were no differences in ex vivo frequencies of tetramer-positive myelin-specific CD8+ T cells between MS patients and control subjects. An increased proportion of myelin-specific CD8+ T cells in MS patients exhibited a memory phenotype and expressed CD20 compared to control subjects, while there were no phenotypic differences observed among influenza-specific CD8+ T cells. Longitudinal assessments were also measured in a subset of MS patients subsequently treated with anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody therapy. The proportion of memory and CD20+ CD8+ T cells specific for certain myelin but not influenza epitopes was significantly reduced following anti-CD20 treatment. This study, representing a characterization of unmanipulated myelin-reactive CD8+ T cells in MS, indicates these cells may be attractive targets in MS therapy

Low salinity waterflooding for Enhanced Oil Recovery - stochastic model calibration and uncertainty quantification

We focus on key aspects related to the quantification of the uncertainty associated with modeling of Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) through Low Salinity (LS) water injection in a reservoir. Low salinity waterflooding is an emerging EOR technique in which the salinity of the injected water is controlled to improve oil recovery, as opposed to conventional waterflooding where brine is usually used. Several mechanisms have been proposed to underpin the processes leading to additional oil mobility, but none of them has been conclusively identified as the key driving cause. Literature results suggest that LS water causes an alteration of the wettability of the porous medium, leading to more favorable conditions for oil recovery. In this context, simulation models that represent the process using salinity-dependent relative permeabilities have been developed. Here, we consider a tertiary coreflood experiment performed at Eni laboratory facilities through LS water injection, following sea water flooding. Oil and water relative permeability curves are parameterized through the Corey model. Model parameters and their uncertainties are estimated within a stochastic inverse modeling approach, upon relying on a classical reservoir simulator to simulate the measured oil recovery. The likelihood function is maximized through a joint use of the Latin hypercube sampling and the Metropolis Hastings algorithm, while the process model is coupled with a universal Kriging technique. The posterior sample of model parameters is then employed to quantify uncertainty propagation to a sector model of a selected North-East African sandstone reservoir. This enables us to quantify the impact of parameter uncertainty on the expected oil production resulting from a field scale application of the technique under study. The reservoir simulation reveals the potential of the LS water injection technique to improve the recovery in the considered field

Dignity in Professional Nursing: Guaranteeing Better Patient Care

Nursing professional dignity is a complex topic. This article describes intrinsic and professional nursing dignity and gives some historical background on nursing in Italy as the setting for a qualitative study of dignity conducted in the same country. The study results show the importance of recognition of nursing professional dignity as it relates to professional satisfaction and patient car

Structure of Turbulence in Katabatic Flows below and above the Wind-Speed Maximum

Measurements of small-scale turbulence made over the complex-terrain atmospheric boundary layer during the MATERHORN Program are used to describe the structure of turbulence in katabatic flows. Turbulent and mean meteorological data were continuously measured at multiple levels at four towers deployed along the East lower slope (2-4 deg) of Granite Mountain. The multi-level observations made during a 30-day long MATERHORN-Fall field campaign in September-October 2012 allowed studying of temporal and spatial structure of katabatic flows in detail, and herein we report turbulence and their variations in katabatic winds. Observed vertical profiles show steep gradients near the surface, but in the layer above the slope jet the vertical variability is smaller. It is found that the vertical (normal to the slope) momentum flux and horizontal (along the slope) heat flux in a slope-following coordinate system change their sign below and above the wind maximum of a katabatic flow. The vertical momentum flux is directed downward (upward) whereas the horizontal heat flux is downslope (upslope) below (above) the wind maximum. Our study therefore suggests that the position of the jet-speed maximum can be obtained by linear interpolation between positive and negative values of the momentum flux (or the horizontal heat flux) to derive the height where flux becomes zero. It is shown that the standard deviations of all wind speed components (therefore the turbulent kinetic energy) and the dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy have a local minimum, whereas the standard deviation of air temperature has an absolute maximum at the height of wind-speed maximum. We report several cases where the vertical and horizontal heat fluxes are compensated. Turbulence above the wind-speed maximum is decoupled from the surface, and follows the classical local z-less predictions for stably stratified boundary layer.Comment: Manuscript submitted to Boundary-Layer Meteorology (05 December 2014

Use of ocean colour remote sensing to monitor sea surface suspended sediments

Ocean colour remote sensing (OCRS) from satellite platforms has revolutionised our ability to monitor the interplay of physical and biogeochemical processes in surface waters of the ocean. Since the launch of SeaWiFS in 1996, a continuous time series of OCRS data has been accumulated from a series of satellite sensors giving near daily global coverage. These sensors measure top of atmosphere (TOA) spectral radiance which is corrected for atmospheric effects (~80% of the measured signal in the blue - Gordon 1978) to give water leaving radiances. From these putrely optical signals, it is possible to derive a wide range of higher level products such as chlorophyll concentration, diffuse attenuation coefficients, photosynthetically available radiation (PAR) and a wide range of inherent optical properties (IOPs) to name but a few. In terms of surface area and primary productivity, the global ocean is heavily dominated by deep, oceanic waters, where the optical properties are driven by phytoplankton, associated dissolved organics and water itself. It is little surprise then that early standard OCRS products were developed for optimal performance over these globally significant regions. Standard chlorophyll algorithms were developed using changes in blue-green reflectance ratios (e.g. O’Reilley et al., 1998) that can be related to the effect of changing concentrations of microscopic scale (1µm-200µm) phytoplankton (Kirk,1983) forming blooms that can stretch for thousands of km. More recently, attention has shifted to economically important coastal regions where, for example, harmful algal blooms have potential to cause significant societal and economic impact. OCRS algorithms have been developed to specifically aid in the monitoring of both toxic species e.g. Karenia brevis in the Gulf of Mexico (Stumpf et al., 2003), and also to monitor for extreme eutrophication events where excessive levels of phytoplankton cause the reduction of oxygen dissolved in the water column (hypoxia) leading to animal mortality (e.g. Mallin et al., 2006). The optically complex nature of coastal waters, more generally, presents a particular problem for OCRS applications in these regions. Shallow shelf seas and other inshore waters are subject to the influence of sediment resuspension and freshwater discharge bringing additional loads of coloured dissolved organic materials (CDOM). This results in multiple, independently varying, optically significant components, each of which influences the water leaving radiance spectrum making interpretation of spectral changes significantly more difficult. Many studies have demonstrated the breakdown in performance of standard algorithms (e.g. Chl, McKee et al. 2007) in optically complex coastal waters. In this paper we will focus on the effect of suspended sediment on optical properties of the water column. Suspended sediment has long been known to influence light penetration (Gordon and McCluney, 1975) which can limit primary production and also contribute to hypoxia (Greig et al., 2005). There is interest in monitoring sediment concentration for coastal erosion applications and various OCRS algorithms have been developed that exploit the relatively strong backscattering properties of sediment. For example, Doxaran et al. (2002) successfully presented a sediment algorithm for the highly turbid Gironde estuary. More recently a radiative transfer approach was used to refine this type of approach to incorporate the potential impact of other materials on the red reflectance values that support sediment algorithms (Neil et al., 2011). This algorithm provides estimates of maximum and minimum sediment load concentrations assuming reasonable potential ranges of Chl and CDOM for coastal waters. The aim of this paper is to determine the extent to which the Neil et al. algorithm, which was developed for Irish Sea waters, can be applied to data collected in the North Sea. The ultimate goal is to assess the potential for using OCRS data to monitor suspended sediment concentrations in coastal waters, with monitoring marine turbine arrays an obvious and potentially important application

Nurse Practitioner Role Perception, Job Satisfaction, and Anticipated Turnover in the Middle Atlantic States

Background: The need for nurse practitioners (NPs) in the US has become very evident in recent years. However, the established significance of NPs in the healthcare system does not ensure that NPs are satisfied with their role. To date, no studies have examined NP job satisfaction in the Middle Atlantic States (MAS), which includes New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Only one study, thus far, has looked at NP role perception from the NPs own perspective, and was completed in the Midwest region of the US. Similarly, no studies have examined NP anticipated turnover the Mid-Atlantic region of the US. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a relationship between NP role perception, job satisfaction, and anticipated turnover for NPs in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania using Afaf Meleis’ Transitions Theory. Furthermore, it was determined if there was a statistically significant difference in NP role perception, job satisfaction, and anticipated turnover depending on what state the NP practiced in. Methods: This descriptive correlational study of 190 participants investigated if there was a relationship between NP role perception, job satisfaction, and anticipated turnover in those working in the MAS. Participants completed four instruments: the Advanced Practice Nurse Role Perception Scale (APNRPS), the Misener Nurse Practitioner Job Satisfaction Scale (MNPJSS), the Anticipated Turnover Scale (ATS), and an NP Data Background Questionnaire. Results: Statistical analysis demonstrated NPs in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania viewed their perception of their role as unfavorable (M=2.6 SD=.75), were minimally dissatisfied (M=2.9 SD=.96), and leaned toward leaving their positions (M= 4.2, SD=1.43). A significant, positive relationship was found between job satisfaction and role perception. A negative correlation was found between NP role perception and anticipated turnover. A significant, negative correlation was found between NP job satisfaction and anticipated turnover. There was no significant relationship between NP role perception from state to state. There was no significant relationship between job satisfaction from state to state. There was no significant relationship between anticipated turnover from state to state. Conclusion: This study helped to identify the importance of what work related factors are essential to NPs in order to keep them from leaving their current positions, clinical practice, and even from leaving the nursing profession all together. The vital work of NPs is evident, but keeping NPs satisfied in their jobs and roles is an ongoing challenge. The results of this study should contribute to development and implementation of strategies to mitigate the loss of any additional NPs in the future and keep NPs satisfied and ensure continuous, quality patient care

Cholinergic cells in the nucleus basalis of mice express the N-methyl-D-aspartate-receptor subunit NR2C and its replacement by the NR2B subunit enhances frontal and amygdaloid acetylcholine levels

It is known that glutamatergic and cholinergic systems interact functionally at the level of the cholinergic basal forebrain. The N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDA-R) is a multiprotein complex composed of NR1, NR2 and/or NR3 subunits. The subunit composition of NMDA-R of cholinergic cells in the nucleus basalis has not yet been investigated. Here, by means of choline acetyl transferase and NR2B or NR2C double staining, we demonstrate that mice express both the NR2C and NR2B subunits in nucleus basalis cholinergic cells.We generated NR2C-2B mutant mice in which an insertion of NR2B cDNA into the gene locus of the NR2C gene replaced NR2C by NR2B expression throughout the brain. This NR2C-2B mutant was used to examine whether a subunit exchange in cholinergic neurons would affect acetylcholine (ACh) content in several brain structures. We found increased ACh levels in the frontal cortex and amygdala in the brains of NR2C-2B mutant mice. Brain ACh has been implicated in neuroplasticity, novelty-induced arousal and encoding of novel stimuli. We therefore assessed behavioral habituation to novel environments and objects as well as object recognition in NR2C-2B subunit exchange mice. The behavioral analysis did not indicate any gross behavioral alteration in the mutant mice compared with the wildtype mice. Our results show that the NR2C by NR2B subunit exchange in mice affects ACh content in two target areas of the nucleus basalis.

A new route for the preparation of flexible skin\u2013core poly(ethylene-co-acrylic acid)/polyaniline functional hybrids

Surface modification of polymeric films is a way to obtain final products with high performance for many specific and ad hoc tailored applications, e.g. in functional packaging, tissue engineering or (bio)sensing. The present work reports, for the first time, on the design and development of surface modified ethylene\u2013 acrylic acid copolymer (EAA) films with polyaniline (PANI), with the aim of inducing electrical conductivity and potentially enable the electronic control of a range of physical and chemical properties of the film surface, via a new \u2018\u2018grafting from\u2019\u2019 approach. In particular, we demonstrate that PANI was successfully polymerized and covalently grafted onto flexible EAA substrates, previously activated. The final hybrid materials and the corresponding intermediates were fully characterized via FTIR, XPS, SEM\u2013EDAX, mechanical and electrical tests. The mechanical properties of the films are not detrimentally affected by each treatment step, while a significant increase in electrical conductivity was achieved for the new hybrid materials