739 research outputs found
Parental Relocation: Factors Present In Judges’ Decisions
Abstract
The present study examined multiple factors that may account for Canadian judges’ decisions in relocation cases where one parent contests a move away by the other parent and children after separation. The decisions were collected from a stratified random sample of judgments consisting of 50 cases where the relocation was approved and 50 where it was denied. The cases reviewed took place between 1996 and 1999 and followed the highly criticized Supreme Court decision in Gordon v. Goertz.
Cases were analyzed to determine the extent to which child, parent, judicial, move, and legal factors predicted court outcomes. All identified factors were screened for significance at the univariate level. Moves were significantly more likely to be approved by the court in the face of thorough planning, a good reason and clear benefits for the move, and the non-moving parent’s prior limited access with the child. Moves were significantly more likely to be denied by the court in the face of a prior shared parenting plan. Binary logistic regression analysis was applied to the outcome and two factors were found to be predictive of approved moves: in particular, judges’ analysis of parents’ reason for and planning of the move were the most powerful factors in predicting the outcome. Implications for legislative reform and suggested guidelines for the court are discussed from the perspective of enhancing predictability for parents and lawyers considering litigation in regards to relocation
QUANTITATION AND IMMUNOCYTOCHEMICAL LOCALIZATION OF HUMAN SKIN COLLAGENASE IN BASAL CELL CARCINOMA
Human skin collagenase was quantitated by radioimmunoassay in 21 basal cell carcinomas. Immunoreactive collagenase protein was found to be approximately 2-fold greater in extracts of these tumors than in extracts of normal skin, suggesting that this enzyme may be important in the pathogenesis of soft tissue destruction in vivo. To further define the role of collagenase in such destruction, immunofluorescent staining with specific antiserum to human skin collagenase was used to localize collagenase in the basal cell carcinomas. The enzyme was found only in the stromal elements surrounding the tumor islands. No staining of the epithelial components of the basal cell carcinomas was found. These findings suggest that the normal connective tissue elements may have been stimulated to produce an increased amount of collagenase and emphasize the importance of epithelial-stromal interaction in soft tissue invasiveness
Malpositioned endoscopically inserted biliary stent causing massive hematemesis managed with vascular plug and stenting
A 46-year-old man with a history of hepatitis B cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) status post liver transplantation two years ago complicated by HCC recurrence and biliary stenosis presented with hypovolemic shock and melena one month after endoscopic exchange of plastic biliary stents. During endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, patient was found to have hemobilia and developed uncontrollable bleeding after a common bile duct (CBD) sweep managed by insertion of a stent-graft across major papilla into presumed CBD. The bleeding continued with subsequent negative angiography, and a computed tomography angiography showed malpositioned stent-graft between major papilla and inferior vena cava (IVC). This was successfully managed by the deployment of a vascular plug inside the stent graft and excluding it by deploying a stent across the affected area in IVC
Mapping analysis and planning system for the John F. Kennedy Space Center
Environmental management, impact assessment, research and monitoring are multidisciplinary activities which are ideally suited to incorporate a multi-media approach to environmental problem solving. Geographic information systems (GIS), simulation models, neural networks and expert-system software are some of the advancing technologies being used for data management, query, analysis and display. At the 140,000 acre John F. Kennedy Space Center, the Advanced Software Technology group has been supporting development and implementation of a program that integrates these and other rapidly evolving hardware and software capabilities into a comprehensive Mapping, Analysis and Planning System (MAPS) based in a workstation/local are network environment. An expert-system shell is being developed to link the various databases to guide users through the numerous stages of a facility siting and environmental assessment. The expert-system shell approach is appealing for its ease of data access by management-level decision makers while maintaining the involvement of the data specialists. This, as well as increased efficiency and accuracy in data analysis and report preparation, can benefit any organization involved in natural resources management
Effects of a water-soluble formulation of tylvalosin on disease caused by porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus alone in sows or in combination with Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae in piglets
BACKGROUND: The effect of a water-soluble formulation of tylvalosin (Aivlosin® 625 mg/g granules) on disease caused by porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) and Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (Mhyop) was investigated in two animal studies. In a PRRSV challenge model in pregnant sows (n = 18), six sows received water medicated at target dose of 5 mg tylvalosin/kg body weight/day from 3 days prior to challenge until the end of gestation. Six sows were left untreated, with a third group remaining untreated and unchallenged. Sows were challenged with PRRSV-2 at approximately 85 days of gestation. Cytokines, viremia, viral shedding, sow reproductive parameters and piglet performance to weaning were evaluated. In a dual infection study (n = 16), piglets were challenged with Mhyop on days 0, 1 and 2, and with PRRSV-1 on day 14 and euthanized on day 24. From day 10 to 20, eight piglets received water medicated at target dose of 20 mg tylvalosin/kg body weight/day and eight piglets were left untreated. Cytokines, viremia, bacteriology and lung lesions were evaluated. RESULTS: In the PRRSV challenge study in pregnant sows, tylvalosin significantly reduced the levels of serum IL-8 (P < 0.001), IL-12 (P = 0.032), TNFα (P < 0.001) and GM-CSF (P = 0.001). IL-8 (P = 0.100) tended to be lower in uterus of tylvalosin sows. All piglets from tylvalosin sows surviving to weaning were PRRSV negative in faecal swabs at weaning compared to 33.3% PRRSV positive piglets from untreated sows (P = 0.08). In the dual challenge study in piglet, tylvalosin reduced serum IL1β, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12, IL-1α, IL-13, IL-17A, IL-18, GM-CSF, TGFβ1, TNFα, CCL3L1, MIG, PEPCAM-1 (P < 0.001) and increased serum IFNα, IL-1ra and MIP-1b (P < 0.001). In the lungs, tylvalosin reduced IL-8, IL-10 and IL-12 compared to untreated pigs (P < 0.001) and tended to reduce TNFα (P = 0.082). Lung lavage samples from all tylvalosin treated piglets were negative for Mhyop (0 cfu/mL) compared to the untreated piglets which had mean Mhyop counts of 2.68 × 10(4) cfu/mL (P = 0.023). CONCLUSION: Overall, tylvalosin reduced both local and systemic proinflammatory cytokines after challenge with respiratory pathogens in sows and in piglets. Tylvalosin was effective in reducing Mhyop recovery from the lungs and may reduce virus shedding in piglets following transplacental PRRSV infection in sows
Genetic disruption of sod1 gene causes glucose intolerance and impairs b-cell function
Oxidative stress has been associated with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. However, it is not clear whether oxidative damage is a cause or a consequence of the metabolic abnormalities present in diabetic subjects. The goal of this study was to determine whether inducing oxidative damage through genetic ablation of superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) leads to abnormalities in glucose homeostasis. We studied SOD1-null mice and wild-type (WT) littermates. Glucose tolerance was evaluated with intraperitoneal glucose tolerance tests. Peripheral and hepatic insulin sensitivity was quantitated with the euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp. b-Cell function was determined with the hyperglycemic clamp and morphometric analysis of pancreatic islets. Genetic ablation of SOD1 caused glucose intolerance, which was associated with reduced in vivo b-cell insulin secretion and decreased b-cell volume. Peripheral and hepatic insulin sensitivity were not significantly altered in SOD1-null mice. High-fat diet caused glucose intolerance in WT mice but did not further worsen the glucose intolerance observed in standard chow-fed SOD1-null mice. Our findings suggest that oxidative stress per se does not play a major role in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance and demonstrate that oxidative stress caused by SOD1 ablation leads to glucose intolerance secondary to b-cell dysfunction. © 2013 by the American Diabetes Association
Discrete structure of ultrathin dielectric films and their surface optical properties
The boundary problem of linear classical optics about the interaction of
electromagnetic radiation with a thin dielectric film has been solved under
explicit consideration of its discrete structure. The main attention has been
paid to the investigation of the near-zone optical response of dielectrics. The
laws of reflection and refraction for discrete structures in the case of a
regular atomic distribution are studied and the structure of evanescent
harmonics induced by an external plane wave near the surface is investigated in
details. It is shown by means of analytical and numerical calculations that due
to the existence of the evanescent harmonics the laws of reflection and
refraction at the distances from the surface less than two interatomic
distances are principally different from the Fresnel laws. From the practical
point of view the results of this work might be useful for the near-field
optical microscopy of ultrahigh resolution.Comment: 25 pages, 16 figures, LaTeX2.09, to be published in Phys.Rev.
Orientation bias of optically selected galaxy clusters and its impact on stacked weak-lensing analyses
Weak-lensing measurements of the averaged shear profiles of galaxy clusters binned by some proxy for cluster mass are commonly converted to cluster mass estimates under the assumption that these cluster stacks have spherical symmetry. In this paper, we test whether this assumption holds for optically selected clusters binned by estimated optical richness. Using mock catalogues created from N-body simulations populated realistically with galaxies, we ran a suite of optical cluster finders and estimated their optical richness. We binned galaxy clusters by true cluster mass and estimated optical richness and measure the ellipticity of these stacks. We find that the processes of optical cluster selection and richness estimation are biased, leading to stacked structures that are elongated along the line of sight. We show that weak-lensing alone cannot measure the size of this orientation bias. Weak-lensing masses of stacked optically selected clusters are overestimated by up to 3–6 per cent when clusters can be uniquely associated with haloes. This effect is large enough to lead to significant biases in the cosmological parameters derived from large surveys like the Dark Energy Survey, if not calibrated via simulations or fitted simultaneously. This bias probably also contributes to the observed discrepancy between the observed and predicted Sunyaev–Zel’dovich signal of optically selected clusters
Reproducing the Stellar Mass/Halo Mass Relation in Simulated LCDM Galaxies: Theory vs Observational Estimates
We examine the present-day total stellar-to-halo mass (SHM) ratio as a
function of halo mass for a new sample of simulated field galaxies using fully
cosmological, LCDM, high resolution SPH + N-Body simulations.These simulations
include an explicit treatment of metal line cooling, dust and self-shielding,
H2 based star formation and supernova driven gas outflows. The 18 simulated
halos have masses ranging from a few times 10^8 to nearly 10^12 solar masses.
At z=0 our simulated galaxies have a baryon content and morphology typical of
field galaxies. Over a stellar mass range of 2.2 x 10^3 to 4.5 x 10^10 solar
masses, we find extremely good agreement between the SHM ratio in simulations
and the present-day predictions from the statistical Abundance Matching
Technique presented in Moster et al. (2012). This improvement over past
simulations is due to a number systematic factors, each decreasing the SHM
ratios: 1) gas outflows that reduce the overall SF efficiency but allow for the
formation of a cold gas component 2) estimating the stellar masses of simulated
galaxies using artificial observations and photometric techniques similar to
those used in observations and 3) accounting for a systematic, up to 30 percent
overestimate in total halo masses in DM-only simulations, due to the neglect of
baryon loss over cosmic times. Our analysis suggests that stellar mass
estimates based on photometric magnitudes can underestimate the contribution of
old stellar populations to the total stellar mass, leading to stellar mass
errors of up to 50 percent for individual galaxies. These results highlight the
importance of using proper techniques to compare simulations with observations
and reduce the perceived tension between the star formation efficiency in
galaxy formation models and in real galaxies.Comment: Submitted to ApJ 9 pages, 5 figure
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