418 research outputs found
Seminal plasma enables selection and monitoring of active surveillance candidates using nuclear magnetic resonance-based metabolomics: A preliminary investigation
Background: Diagnosis and monitoring of localized prostate cancer requires discovery and validation of noninvasive biomarkers. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based metabolomics of seminal plasma reportedly improves diagnostic accuracy, but requires validation in a high-risk clinical cohort.
Materials and methods: Seminal plasma samples of 151 men being investigated for prostate cancer were analyzed with 1H-NMR spectroscopy. After adjustment for buffer (add-to-subtract) and endogenous enzyme influence on metabolites, metabolite profiling was performed with multivariate statistical analysis (principal components analysis, partial least squares) and targeted quantitation.
Results: Seminal plasma metabolites best predicted low- and intermediate-risk prostate cancer with differences observed between these groups and benign samples. Lipids/lipoproteins dominated spectra of high grade samples with less metabolite contributions. Overall prostate cancer prediction using previously described metabolites was not validated.
Conclusion: Metabolomics of seminal plasma in vitro may assist urologists with diagnosis and monitoring of either low or intermediate grade prostate cancer. Less clinical benefit may be observed for high-risk patients. Further investigation in active surveillance cohorts, and/or in combination with in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging may further optimize localized prostate cancer outcomes
A retrospective evaluation of the impact of a dedicated obstetric and neonatal transport service on transport times within an urban setting
OBJECTIVE:To determine whether the establishment of a dedicated obstetric and neonatal flying squad resulted in improved performance within the setting of a major metropolitan area.DESIGN AND SETTING:The Cape Town metropolitan service of the Emergency Medical Services was selected for a retrospective review of the transit times for the newly implemented Flying Squad programme. Data were imported from the Computer Aided Dispatch programme. Dispatch, Response, Mean Transit and Total Pre-hospital times relating to the obstetric and neonatal incidents was analysed for 2005 and 2008. RESULTS: There was a significant improvement between 2005 and 2008 in all incidents evaluated. Flying Squad dispatch performance improved from 11.7% to 46.6% of all incidents dispatched within 4 min (p < 0.0001). Response time performance at the 15-min threshold did not demonstrate a statistically significant improvement (p = 0.4), although the improvement in the 30-min performance category was statistically significant in both maternity and neonatal incidents. Maternity incidents displayed the greatest improvement with the 30-min performance increasing from 30.3% to 72.9%. The analysis of the mean transit times demonstrated that neonatal transfers displayed the longest status time in all but one of the categories. Even so, the introduction of the Flying Squad programme resulted in a reduction in a total pre-hospital time from 177 to 128 min. CONCLUSION: The introduction of the Flying Squad programme has resulted in significant improvement in the transit times of both neonatal and obstetric patients. In spite of the severe resource constraints facing developing nations, the model employed offers significant gains
Genetic variation in the endocannabinoid system and response to Cognitive Behavior Therapy for child anxiety disorders
Self-consistent model of ultracold atomic collisions and Feshbach resonances in tight harmonic traps
We consider the problem of cold atomic collisions in tight traps, where the
absolute scattering length may be larger than the trap size. As long as the
size of the trap ground state is larger than a characteristic length of the van
der Waals potential, the energy eigenvalues can be computed self-consistently
from the scattering amplitude for untrapped atoms. By comparing with the exact
numerical eigenvalues of the trapping plus interatomic potentials, we verify
that our model gives accurate eigenvalues up to milliKelvin energies for single
channel s-wave scattering of Na atoms in an isotropic harmonic trap,
even when outside the Wigner threshold regime. Our model works also for
multi-channel scattering, where the scattering length can be made large due to
a magnetically tunable Feshbach resonance.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures (PostScript), submitted to Physical Review
Markovian MC simulation of QCD evolution at NLO level with minimum k_T
We present two Monte Carlo algorithms of the Markovian type which solve the
modified QCD evolution equations at the NLO level. The modifications with
respect to the standard DGLAP evolution concern the argument of the strong
coupling constant alpha_S. We analyze the z - dependent argument and then the
k_T - dependent one. The evolution time variable is identified with the
rapidity. The two algorithms are tested to the 0.05% precision level. We find
that the NLO corrections in the evolution of parton momentum distributions with
k_T - dependent coupling constant are of the order of 10 to 20%, and in a small
x region even up to 30%, with respect to the LO contributions.Comment: 32 pages, 9 pdf figure
Complex PTSD symptoms mediate the association between childhood trauma and physical health problems
The ICD-11 reconceptualized Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a narrowly defined fear-based disorder, and introduced Complex PTSD (CPTSD) as a new diagnosis comprised of PTSD symptoms and symptoms of ‘Disturbances in Self-Organization’ (DSO) that are more reflective of general dysphoria. Previous research suggests that PTSD symptoms mediate the association between childhood trauma and physical health problems, including cardiovascular disease. No study has yet assessed how posttraumatic stress symptoms, as outlined in the ICD-11, influence the association between childhood trauma and somatic problems in adulthood.ObjectiveThis cross-sectional descriptive study examined whether PTSD and DSO symptoms mediated the associations between childhood physical and sexual abuse and childhood emotional abuse and neglect and somatic problems and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) load in adulthood.MethodsGeneral adult population samples from Ireland (N = 1020) and the United Kingdom (N = 1051) completed self-report questionnaires online.ResultsStructural equation modelling results indicated that PTSD and DSO symptoms fully mediated the association between both forms of childhood trauma and somatic problems, and that PTSD symptoms but not DSO symptoms fully mediated the association between childhood trauma and CVD load.ConclusionPsychological interventions that effectively treat CPTSD symptoms may have the added benefit of reducing risk of physical health problems
Optimal Cross-Wind Towing and Power Generation with Tethered Kites
Non-powered flight vehicles such as kites can provide a means of transmitting wind energy from higher altitudes to the ground via tethers. Although there have been many proposals for systems to extract wind energy from higher altitudes, this paper focuses on the use of a light lifting body at the end of a tether to generate useful power. Two major configurations are studied: 1) the kite is used to tow a ground vehicle in the cross-wind direction, 2) the kite is flown to generate power using a ground generator. In both cases, the useful work done by the kite is transmitted to the ground through the tether. Both applications require automatic control of the kite. A simplified system model is used to study the nature of the optimal trajectories of the system for different wind speeds. Numerical results illustrate that optimal power generation requires complex three-dimensional kite trajectories, whereas cross-wind towing requires much simpler trajectories. A feedback tracking controller is demonstrated for tracking the kite trajectories in the presence of unsteady winds
The impact of treatment delivery format on response to cognitive behaviour therapy for preadolescent children with anxiety disorders
Anthropogenic Space Weather
Anthropogenic effects on the space environment started in the late 19th
century and reached their peak in the 1960s when high-altitude nuclear
explosions were carried out by the USA and the Soviet Union. These explosions
created artificial radiation belts near Earth that resulted in major damages to
several satellites. Another, unexpected impact of the high-altitude nuclear
tests was the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that can have devastating effects
over a large geographic area (as large as the continental United States). Other
anthropogenic impacts on the space environment include chemical release ex-
periments, high-frequency wave heating of the ionosphere and the interaction of
VLF waves with the radiation belts. This paper reviews the fundamental physical
process behind these phenomena and discusses the observations of their impacts.Comment: 71 pages, 35 figure
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