Detection of HC11N in the Cold Dust Cloud TMC-1

Two consecutive rotational transitions of the long cyanopolyyne HC11N, J=39-38, and J=38-37, have been detected in the cold dust cloud TMC-1 at the frequencies expected from recent laboratory measurements by Travers et al. (1996), and at about the expected intensities. The astronomical lines have a mean radial velocity of 5.8(1) km/s, in good agreement with the shorter cyanopolyynes HC7N and HC9N observed in this very sharp-lined source [5.82(5) and 5.83(5) km/s, respectively]. The column density of HC11N is calculated to be 2.8x10^(11) cm^(-2). The abundance of the cyanopolyynes decreases smoothly with length to HC11N, the decrement from one to the next being about 6 for the longer carbon chains.Comment: plain tex 10 pages plus 3 ps fig file

A Comparison of Methods to Communicate Treatment Preferences in Nursing Facilities: Traditional Practices versus the Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) Program

Background Traditional methods to communicate life-sustaining treatment preferences are largely ineffective. The Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) Program offers an alternative approach, but comparative data are lacking. Objectives To evaluate the relationship between communication methods (POLST versus traditional practices) and documentation of life-sustaining treatment orders, symptom assessment and management, and use of life-sustaining treatments. Design Retrospective observational cohort study conducted between June 2006 and April 2007. Setting A stratified, random sample of 90 Medicaid-eligible nursing facilities in Oregon, Wisconsin, and West Virginia. Subjects 1711 living and deceased nursing facility residents aged 65 and older with a minimum 60-day stay. Measurements Life-sustaining treatment orders; pain, shortness of breath, and related treatments over a 7-day period; and use of life-sustaining treatments over a 60-day period. Results POLST users were more likely to have orders about life-sustaining treatment preferences beyond CPR than non-POLST users (98.0% vs. 16.1%, P<.001). There were no differences between POLST users and non-users in symptom assessment or management. POLST users with orders for Comfort Measures Only were less likely to receive medical interventions (e.g., hospitalization) than residents with POLST Full Treatment orders (P=.004), residents with Traditional DNR orders (P<.001), or residents with Traditional Full Code orders (P<.001). Conclusion POLST users were more likely to have treatment preferences documented as medical orders than non-POLST users but there were no differences in symptom management or assessment. POLST orders restricting medical interventions were associated with the lower use of life-sustaining treatments. Findings suggest the POLST program offers significant advantages over traditional methods to communicate preferences about life-sustaining treatments

Three particles in a finite volume: The breakdown of spherical symmetry

Lattice simulations of light nuclei necessarily take place in finite volumes, thus affecting their infrared properties. These effects can be addressed in a model-independent manner using Effective Field Theories. We study the model case of three identical bosons (mass m) with resonant two-body interactions in a cubic box with periodic boundary conditions, which can also be generalized to the three-nucleon system in a straightforward manner. Our results allow for the removal of finite volume effects from lattice results as well as the determination of infinite volume scattering parameters from the volume dependence of the spectrum. We study the volume dependence of several states below the break-up threshold, spanning one order of magnitude in the binding energy in the infinite volume, for box side lengths L between the two-body scattering length a and L = 0.25a. For example, a state with a three-body energy of -3/(ma^2) in the infinite volume has been shifted to -10/(ma^2) at L = a. Special emphasis is put on the consequences of the breakdown of spherical symmetry and several ways to perturbatively treat the ensuing partial wave admixtures. We find their contributions to be on the sub-percent level compared to the strong volume dependence of the S-wave component. For shallow bound states, we find a transition to boson-diboson scattering behavior when decreasing the size of the finite volume.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures, 2 table

Decreased mental time travel to the past correlates with default-mode network disintegration under lysergic acid diethylamide

This paper reports on the effects of LSD on mental time travel during spontaneous mentation. Twenty healthy volunteers participated in a placebo-controlled crossover study, incorporating intravenous administration of LSD (75 μg) and placebo (saline) prior to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Six independent, blind judges analysed mentation reports acquired during structured interviews performed shortly after the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans (approximately 2.5 h post-administration). Within each report, specific linguistic references to mental spaces for the past, present and future were identified. Results revealed significantly fewer mental spaces for the past under LSD and this effect correlated with the general intensity of the drug’s subjective effects. No differences in the number of mental spaces for the present or future were observed. Consistent with the previously proposed role of the default-mode network (DMN) in autobiographical memory recollection and ruminative thought, decreased resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) within the DMN correlated with decreased mental time travel to the past. These results are discussed in relation to potential therapeutic applications of LSD and related psychedelics, e.g. in the treatment of depression, for which excessive reflection on one’s past, likely mediated by DMN functioning, is symptomatic

STSE: Spatio-Temporal Simulation Environment Dedicated to Biology

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Recently, the availability of high-resolution microscopy together with the advancements in the development of biomarkers as reporters of biomolecular interactions increased the importance of imaging methods in molecular cell biology. These techniques enable the investigation of cellular characteristics like volume, size and geometry as well as volume and geometry of intracellular compartments, and the amount of existing proteins in a spatially resolved manner. Such detailed investigations opened up many new areas of research in the study of spatial, complex and dynamic cellular systems. One of the crucial challenges for the study of such systems is the design of a well stuctured and optimized workflow to provide a systematic and efficient hypothesis verification. Computer Science can efficiently address this task by providing software that facilitates handling, analysis, and evaluation of biological data to the benefit of experimenters and modelers.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The Spatio-Temporal Simulation Environment (STSE) is a set of <it>open-source </it>tools provided to conduct spatio-temporal simulations in discrete structures based on microscopy images. The framework contains modules to <it>digitize, represent, analyze</it>, and <it>mathematically model </it>spatial distributions of biochemical species. Graphical user interface (GUI) tools provided with the software enable meshing of the simulation space based on the Voronoi concept. In addition, it supports to automatically acquire spatial information to the mesh from the images based on pixel luminosity (e.g. corresponding to molecular levels from microscopy images). STSE is freely available either as a stand-alone version or included in the linux live distribution Systems Biology Operational Software (SB.OS) and can be downloaded from <url>http://www.stse-software.org/</url>. The Python source code as well as a comprehensive user manual and video tutorials are also offered to the research community. We discuss main concepts of the STSE design and workflow. We demonstrate it's usefulness using the example of a signaling cascade leading to formation of a morphological gradient of Fus3 within the cytoplasm of the mating yeast cell <it>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</it>.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>STSE is an efficient and powerful novel platform, designed for computational handling and evaluation of microscopic images. It allows for an uninterrupted workflow including digitization, representation, analysis, and mathematical modeling. By providing the means to relate the simulation to the image data it allows for systematic, image driven model validation or rejection. STSE can be scripted and extended using the Python language. STSE should be considered rather as an API together with workflow guidelines and a collection of GUI tools than a stand alone application. The priority of the project is to provide an easy and intuitive way of extending and customizing software using the Python language.</p

The consistency between treatments provided to nursing facility residents and orders on the physician orders for lifesustaining treatment form. J Am Geriatr Soc

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the consistency between treatments provided and Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) orders. DESIGN: Retrospective chart abstraction. SETTING: Stratified, random sample of 90 nursing facilities in Oregon, Wisconsin, and West Virginia. PARTICIPANTS: Eight hundred seventy living and deceased nursing facility residents aged 65 and older with a minimum 60-day stay. MEASUREMENTS: Chart data about POLST form orders and related treatments over a 60-day period were abstracted. Decision rules were created to determine whether the rationale for each treatment was consistent with POLST orders. RESULTS: Most residents (85.2%) had the same POLST form in place during the review period. A majority of treatments provided to residents with orders for comfort measures only (74.3%) and limited antibiotics (83.3%) were consistent with POLST orders because they were primarily comfort focused rather than life-prolonging, but antibiotics were provided to 32.1% of residents with orders for no antibiotics. Overall consistency rates between treatments and POLST orders were high for resuscitation (98%), medical interventions (91.1%), and antibiotics (92.9%) and modest for feeding tubes (63.6%). In all, POLST orders were consistent with treatments provided 94.0% of the time. CONCLUSION: With the exception of feeding tubes and antibiotic use in residents with orders for no antibiotics, the use of medical treatments was nearly always consistent with POLST orders to provide or withhold life-sustaining interventions. The POLST program is a useful tool for ensuring that the treatment preferences of nursing facility residents are honored. J Am Geriatr Soc 59:2091-2099, 2011. Key words: ethics; end of life; comfort care; palliative care; nursing facility A primary goal of advance care planning is to ensure that treatments are consistent with patient preferences near the end of life. Advance directives have been promoted as an important advance care planning tool that enables individuals to record their preferences to guide treatment decisions in the event of incapacitation, but research suggests that advance directives are generally ineffective at ensuring that treatment preferences are honored because of numerous limitations. 1-3 An alternative approach is the use of medical orders such as do not resuscitate (DNR) that communicate preferences in a format that other healthcare professionals can follow. However, such orders typically focus on one type of life-sustaining treatment and do not address the broad range of potential treatments that may be needed

1962: Abilene Christian College Bible Lectures - Full Text

THE RESTORATION PRINCIPLE” Being the Abilene Christian College Annual Bible Lectures 1962 Price: $3.95 Published by ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE STUDENTS EXCHANGE ACC Station Abilene, Texa