Relation of Growth Rate from Birth to Three Months and Four to Six Months to Body Mass Index at Ages Four to Six Years

Background. While rapid early weight gain are common in children who become obese later in life, so is growth faltering in the first 3 months of life. Objective. We seek to determine what relationship weight gain in the first six months of age, separated into two 3-month periods, have with the BMI of children ages 4 to 6 years in an inner-city community. Subjects. A convenience sample cohort of 154 children attending an inner-city clinic. Methods. Consecutive charts were reviewed retrospectively. Age, gender, birth weight and weight change in the first and second 3 months of life were introduced as fixed factors using mixed linear models with BMI in years 4 to 6 as the dependent variable. Results. Weight change quartile in the first 3 months of life did not predict of BMI in years 4 to 6; however, weight changes quartiles during months 4 to 6 were significant predictors for subsequent overweight. Conclusion. The data presented herein suggest that, for this specific population, weight gain can be promoted when it is most essential. It is necessary, however, to identify intermediary variables that could affect outcomes in this and other communities

Geometric gauge potentials and forces in low-dimensional scattering systems

We introduce and analyze several low-dimensional scattering systems that exhibit geometric phase phenomena. The systems are fully solvable and we compare exact solutions of them with those obtained in a Born-Oppenheimer projection approximation. We illustrate how geometric magnetism manifests in them, and explore the relationship between solutions obtained in the diabatic and adiabatic pictures. We provide an example, involving a neutral atom dressed by an external field, in which the system mimics the behavior of a charged particle that interacts with, and is scattered by, a ferromagnetic material. We also introduce a similar system that exhibits Aharonov-Bohm scattering. We propose some practical applications. We provide a theoretical approach that underscores universality in the appearance of geometric gauge forces. We do not insist on degeneracies in the adiabatic Hamiltonian, and we posit that the emergence of geometric gauge forces is a consequence of symmetry breaking in the latter.Comment: (Final version, published in Phy. Rev. A. 86, 042704 (2012

A Two-loop Test of Buscher's T-duality I

We study the two loop quantum equivalence of sigma models related by Buscher's T-duality transformation. The computation of the two loop perturbative free energy density is performed in the case of a certain deformation of the SU(2) principal sigma model, and its T-dual, using dimensional regularization and the geometric sigma model perturbation theory. We obtain agreement between the free energy density expressions of the two models.Comment: 28 pp, Latex, references adde

Value of early postoperative epicardial programmed ventricular stimulation studies after surgery for ventricular tachyarrhythmias

The value of early postoperative epicardial programmed ventricular stimulation studies after electrophysiologically-directed surgery for ventricular tachyarrhythmia was assessed in 34 patients who underwent epicardial stimulation within 7 to 30 days (mean 9.8) of surgery and were followed up for at least 6 months. The antiarrhythmic operation performed was an endocardial ventriculotomy (full encircling or limited), an endocardial resection, a wall resection or a combination of these procedures. All these interventions were directed by intraoperative mapping during sinus rhythm. Temporary epicardial wire electrodes left at the time of surgery rather than endocardial catheter electrodes were used to perform the pacing. The stimulation protocol included the introduction of up to three ventricular extrastimuli and incremental burst ventricular pacing performed at twice diastolic threshold (9.2 ± 5.8 mA for the right ventricle and 6.0 ± 3.5 mA for the left ventricle). A study was considered positive when ventricular tachycardia, defined as 10 or more consecutive ventricular beats, was induced by any pacing modality.Nineteen patients (Group I) had a negative study: after stimulation of both ventricles in 15 patients and of the left ventricle only in 4. Fifteen patients (Group II) had a positive study: after stimulation of the right ventricle in nine patients and of the left ventricle in six. The two groups were comparable with respect to preoperative clinical status, surgical procedures performed and postoperative ejection fraction. No arrhythmic events were observed in Group I during a mean follow-up period of 19.5 months (range 4 to 37), whereas seven arrhythmic events (47% incidence) occurred (p = 0.0008) in Group II during a mean follow-up period of 17.7 months (range 5 to 39). These arrhythmic events were sudden death (five patients) and sustained ventricular tachycardia (two patients).It is concluded that temporary epicardially-placed electrodes can be used satisfactorily to perform programmed ventricular stimulation studies in the postoperative period, thereby avoiding the cardiac catheterizations otherwise necessary to perform these studies. In addition, the protocol used in this report of epicardial programmed ventricular stimulation early after surgery for ventricular tachyarrhythmia predicts a good outcome if the study is negative and identifies patients at a high risk for future arrhythmic events when positive

Clonal Expansion of Lgr5-Positive Cells from Mammalian Cochlea and High-Purity Generation of Sensory Hair Cells

Death of cochlear hair cells, which do not regenerate, is a cause of hearing loss in a high percentage of the population. Currently, no approach exists to obtain large numbers of cochlear hair cells. Here, using a small-molecule approach, we show significant expansion (>2,000-fold) of cochlear supporting cells expressing and maintaining Lgr5, an epithelial stem cell marker, in response to stimulation of Wnt signaling by a GSK3β inhibitor and transcriptional activation by a histone deacetylase inhibitor. The Lgr5-expressing cells differentiate into hair cells in high yield. From a single mouse cochlea, we obtained over 11,500 hair cells, compared to less than 200 in the absence of induction. The newly generated hair cells have bundles and molecular machinery for transduction, synapse formation, and specialized hair cell activity. Targeting supporting cells capable of proliferation and cochlear hair cell replacement could lead to the discovery of hearing loss treatments.United States. National Institutes of Health (DE-013023)United States. National Institutes of Health (DC-007174)United States. National Institutes of Health (DC-013909)United States. National Institutes of Health (RR-00168

Overcoming controllability problems in distributed testing from an input output transition system

This is the Pre-print version of the Article. The official published version can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2012 Springer VerlagThis paper concerns the testing of a system with physically distributed interfaces, called ports, at which it interacts with its environment. We place a tester at each port and the tester at port p observes events at p only. This can lead to controllability problems, where the observations made by the tester at a port p are not sufficient for it to be able to know when to send an input. It is known that there are test objectives, such as executing a particular transition, that cannot be achieved if we restrict attention to test cases that have no controllability problems. This has led to interest in schemes where the testers at the individual ports send coordination messages to one another through an external communications network in order to overcome controllability problems. However, such approaches have largely been studied in the context of testing from a deterministic finite state machine. This paper investigates the use of coordination messages to overcome controllability problems when testing from an input output transition system and gives an algorithm for introducing sufficient messages. It also proves that the problem of minimising the number of coordination messages used is NP-hard

An inflammation-targeting hydrogel for local drug delivery in inflammatory bowel disease

There is a clinical need for new, more effective treatments for chronic and debilitating inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Targeting drugs selectively to the inflamed intestine may improve therapeutic outcomes and minimize systemic toxicity. We report the development of an inflammation-targeting hydrogel (IT-hydrogel) that acts as a drug delivery system to the inflamed colon. Hydrogel microfibers were generated from ascorbyl palmitate, an amphiphile that is generally recognized as safe (GRAS) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. IT-hydrogel microfibers loaded with the anti-inflammatory corticosteroid dexamethasone (Dex) were stable, released drug only upon enzymatic digestion, and demonstrated preferential adhesion to inflamed epithelial surfaces in vitro and in two mouse colitis models in vivo. Dex-loaded IT-hydrogel enemas, but not free Dex enemas, administered every other day to mice with colitis resulted in a significant reduction in inflammation and were associated with lower Dex peak serum concentrations and, thus, less systemic drug exposure. Ex vivo analysis of colon tissue samples from patients with ulcerative colitis demonstrated that IT-hydrogel microfibers adhered preferentially to mucosa from inflamed lesions compared with histologically normal sites. The IT-hydrogel drug delivery platform represents a promising approach for targeted enema-based therapies in patients with colonic IBD